五　研究书目

关于摩理思的艺术观和社会观，正想较为详细地写一点，忽被痼疾的胃病所袭，从前星期起便躺在床上，全不能执笔了。只得将现在座右的关于摩理思的参考书籍，勉强介绍上，以供好学之士的参考罢。

摩理思的全集，是以他的女儿，May Morris所编纂，有她的序文的

　　　Collected Works，24 vols.，Longmans，Green＆Co.

作为标准的；和诗篇散文的诸著作，都是朗曼斯社出版，也能得到各样装钉的单行本。传记最确，最详，而且别的许多传记家，都从中采取材料者，是

　　　The Life of William Morris. By J. W. Mackail. 2 vols.

这因了插画和装钉之差，有三种版本。他的社会运动的事，在第二卷里详细地写着。

评传是麦克密兰社的《文人传》中，现代的诗人诺易斯所作，只有百五十页的简单的一本最扼要；他的社会改造论的事，见于此书第八章。

Willam Morris. By Alfred Noyes.

　　（Macmillan’s English Men of Letters.）

又，《家庭大学丛书》中也有

William Morris； His Work and Influence. By A. Clutton—Brock.

　　　　（London， Williams and Norgate.）

这因为室伏氏已经在杂志《批评》上引用过，所以从略。要知道装饰艺术以外的方面的摩理思，是最便当的好著作。

但是要知道为思想家艺术家的摩理思，则式凯尔印行的《近世文人传》丛书之一的

William Morris，a Critical Study. By John Drinkwater.

　　　　　　　（London，Martin Secker.）

是好的。著者Drinkwater氏不但是现今英国新诗坛的第一人，批评的方面也有好著作。这人的评论集“Prose Papers”（Elkin Mathews出版）里面，就也有《摩理思论》。

还有，论摩理思的社会主义的，则有因为《马克斯论》这一种著作，在日本已经大家知道的斯派戈的书——

The Socialism of W. Morris. By John Spargo.

　　　　Westwood，Mass. The Ariel Press.

此外有——

W. Morris，a Study in Personality. By Arthur Compton—Rickett.

With an Introduction by Cunninghame—Graham.（Herbert Jenkins.）

这书和普通的传记异趣，倒是竭力要活写为人，为艺术家的摩理思全体的，计分《人物》、《诗人》、《工艺家》、《散文作家》、《社会改造论者》五篇，是从各方面都明快地加以论述的佳作。

又，以评坛的新人物出名的Holbrock Jackson的《摩理思传》，也是大家知道的单行本。

W. Morris，His Writings and Public Life. By Aymer Vallance.

（Bell＆Sons. 1897.）

这书现在我的手头没有，但记得插画似乎非常之多。

还有并非传记一类，而论摩理思或是记述的东西，则有——

Clough，Arnold，Rossetti，＆Morris；a Study. By Stopford A.Brooke.

（London；Sir Isaae Pitman＆Sons.）

Men of Letters. By Dixon Scott. （Hodder and Stoughton.）

Memorials of Edward Burne—Jones. By Lady Burne Jones.

All Manner of Folk. By H. Jackson. （Grant Richards.）

Views and Reviews. By Henry James. （Boston；the Ball Pub. Co.）

Twelve Types. By G. K. Chesterton.

Corrected Impressions. By George Saintsbury.

Adventures among Books. By Andrew Lang.

Shelburne Essays，7th Series. By Paul Elmer More.

此外见于杂志的评论之类，在这里都省略了。正值日本的思想界的注意，要从Marxism进向摩理思的艺术底社会主义的时候，意以为或者可供些怎样的参考，我便在病床上试作了这参考书目。

补遗——

William Morris and the Early Days of the Socialist Movement. By J.Bruce Glasier.With an Introduction by May Morris，and two portraits.

（Longman，Green & Co.）

ON THE STUDY OF ENGLISH

Address given at the Interscholastic English Meeting held on October4th，1919，under the joint auspices of the Osaka Higher CommercialSchool and the Osaka Asahi Shimbun.

Mr. Chairman，Ladies and Gentlemen:

I esteem it a favour to have been asked to speak before such a large andearnest audience as I see before me this evening，in a foreign language inwhich all of you are so deeply interested and which I have been studyingfrom my childhood and teaching for many years On an occasion like this it ishardly necessary to dwell on the desirability of encouraging young studentsin the study of English as one of the most important means of promoting thecommercial or economic relations between Japan and our friendly English—speaking nations on both sides of the Atlantic，as was already mentioned inthe advertisement of this meeting. But from a purely idealistic or literarypoint of view I should avail myself of this opportunity of calling yourattention to some of the reasons for the importance we attach，to the study ofthe English language in this country. For about a week I have been so ill thatI have not been able to prepare any properly systematized lecture；what I amgoing to give is just a few disconnected remarks which happened to flashthrough my head when I was invited to give a talk here.

Everything human in the world，after having risen from necessity ofcircumstances，has undergone further changes and modifications to meet theneed of the people of successive generations，The development of thenational language is no exception to the rule. English is the language of thepeople of democracy and liberty，who have enjoyed freedom of speech morethan any other nations of the world and developed their language so as tomeet this necessity of their inner life. The Anglo—Saxons，after untiringefforts lasting many centuries，have made their mother—tongue parexcellence the language for oration，most splendid in the world. In strikingcontrast with this ，the Japanese language has no oratorical literature worthyof the name in its long histroy covering more than a score of centuries.Having lain under the despotism of the feudal government，our ancestorsentirely neglected to improve our language in that direction.

As I wrote a few years ago in the Asahi Shimbun， spoken Japanese oftoday still remains a language not of publicity but of privacy，good only fora namby—pamby chat in a boudoir or a tête—a—tête of old—fashionedpoliticians in a four—mat—and—half conclave. It has，indeed，delicacyand beauty of nuance as well as flowing smoothness of soumd，not at allcomparable with the“hissing”of English; but it has no such splendid powerand lucidity as we find in modern Eglish when it is spoken before a greataudience.

Read or hear the speeches given by the Japanese politicians of thepresent day，and compare them with those of Premier Lloyd—George orPresident Wilson，Mr. Bryan or even other and lesser stars of oratory inEngland or America，and you will realize how poor and feeble are thespeeches delivered by the Japanese speakers，not only in their contents butalso in their expression or the formal elements of their speech. This is nodoubt partly due to the fact that the Japanese language is very flaccid andweak as a language for public speaking，having been the tongue of a peoplewho have enjoyed no freedom of speech under a hideous absolutism formany centuries，and who even today try to keep their lips sealed up as far aspossible，believing in the old silly saying“From the mouth comes that whichis evil，”Kuchi wa wazawai no mon，which is only a one—sided truth.Shall we be satisfied with the present condition of our mother—tongue whenwe are so rapidly becoming democratized？

Language study is not merely a matter of the vocal organs ，as someadvocates of the so— called “practical” English in this country are very apt tobelieve，but it must be the study of the real spirit or of the ideals of thepeople who speak the language. Study English elocution and you will be ableto appreciate to the full the true spirit of a“Nation subtle and sinewy todiscourse”which has enjoyed for long “the liberty to know，to utter，and toargue freely according to conscience，”as the great author of theAreopagitica，John Milton，wrote nearly three hundred years ago.

I venture to say it is one of the most serious duties of the presentgeneration to inspire with a new spirit or genius the Japanese language，thegreatest treasure we are proud to have inherited from our fathers， and toleave it to posterity enlivened and enriched with new foreign elements ofeloquence，that we may have our Burke and our Webster in future Japaneseliterature，just as our remote ancestors modified and remoulded our belovedtongue by introducing new elements from the classical Chinese language andliterature，whose influence gave rise to the elegant letters of the subsequentages.

Now there is another point to which I should like to call your attentionin this connection. The thorough study of any foreign language naturallyleads to the study of and liking for its literature，which is absolutelynecessary for the understanding and appreciation of the peoples’ real life，spiritual as well as material. I think I can safely assert that nothing can give aclearer perspective of the inner life of a nation thanits literature. It was thelate John Morley who said that literature is an expression of the best thoughtof the people，but I should say，going a step further，that literature is thetruest and sincerest expression of the ideals of a nation. Politicians maysometimes be time—servers，merchants and businessmen may do anythingto meet their practfcai purposes，but poets are always themselves，or true tothemselves，because they must be sincere before everything in order to begreat poets; no insincere man can write true poetry.

When I think of the truth of the famous saying，Tout com-prendre，c’est tout pardonner，—To understand everything is to pardon everything，—and when I recall many occasions of international fricton in history，which，in the majority of cases，were caused by the mere lack of mutualunderstanding，I must here emphatically call your attention to the greatimportance of studying literature for promoting a friendly internationalrelation.

Study the inner life of a people，and you will begin to thoroughly likethem. I do not know any American or European who has studied Japaneseliterature，and yet does not like the people who has produced it. I do notknow any Japanese who has studied Milton，Shelley and Browning，orWhittier，Emerson and Whitman，that does not admire the great ideals ofthe English—speaking peoples.

In order that this assertion of the importance of studying literature forperfect international understanding may not be looked upon as a meredreamer’s phantasy，let me cite in this connection a few remarkable factsfrom recent diplomatic history. In England it was a remarkable feature in theliterary world for the twenty years preceding the outbreak of the Great Warthat Continental literature was freely introduced to her reading public. It wasin this period that hundreds and hundreds of critical works and translations ofthe modern literature of France，Russia，Italy，Spain and Scandinaviaappeared in English. You know that the English people in the age of QueenVictoria was well-known as a people who，with their traditionalcomplacency，cared least for the language and literature outside their own;but from about the beginning of the present century，they began eagerly toread the literature of Continental Europe. When we find this new literarytendency in England exactly coinciding with King Edward’s breaking awayfrom the traditional diplomatic policy of so—called “glorious isolation，” toinitiate his policy of entente cordiale，who can deny the close relationbetween the appreciation of literature and the friendly diplomatic relationswhich culminated in the triple entente at the beginning of the Great War？During the wartime a prominent English journal went so far as to suggest anew term，the “literary alliance”，which means nothing other than theperfect mutual understanding of two nations by each studying the other’sliterature. Mr. Edmund Gosse，one of the greatest living writers，uscd theterm literary entente to designate the close alliance of England and France.

Again，in this connection，you will be reminded of the friendlyrelations between France and Russia before the war，a connection whichwas founded not only on the closely—related financial circumstances of thetwo countries，but on their mutual understanding through literature. In thelatter part of the Nineteenth Century，you know，Russian literature wasintroduced into France by such an eminent diplomat—author as the Vicomtede Vogue，followed by many others，and it was very widely read by Frenchreaders. On the other hand，it is no exaggeration to say that the genius ofRussian literature in the last century was practically developed by thepowerful influence of such French authors as Flaubert，Maupassant andZola.

I do not wish to bore you any longer by enumerating a long list of suchexamples，as I suppose every reader of diplomatic history will find a greatmany similar instances even more convincing and more conclusive than thosewhich I have pointed out.

Now let me mention by way of illustration some mistaken ideas of themoral life of the Japanese people，very common among the English—speaking peoples，which will be easily corrected or eradicated by theirreading of Japanese literature. It is a common belief in England and Americathat Bushido is still governing the inner life of the New Japan. It is very truethat Bushido remains even in the present time as a sentiment among the olderpeople of this country，but if they make any study of contemporary Japaneseliterature，which is the truest portrayal of the modernized Japan，they willeasily find that Bushido is nothing more than a bit of out—of—date bric—à—brac in the eyes of the younger generation who have been educated onentirely different principles.

Another misconception，very common in England and America，isthat the Japanese are a bellicose and aggressive people. To correct thismistaken idea，nothing is better than to recommend them the reading of thebest Japanese dramas，novels and poetry of the age of the Tokugawa，which were nothing other than the outcome of the absolute peace enjoyed bythe Japanese people for three hundred years. The study of Tokugawaliterature will fully convince the English—speaking public that no nation canproduce such literature that did not enjoy a three-century-long stretch ofabsolute peace. This stretch of absolute peace lasting three hundred years hasno parallel in the history of any nation in the world，and will they still thinkany warlike people can truly enjoy such a long period of utter quiet tocreate‘things of beauty”？

To return to my subject. It is true that English Iiterature is studied in thiscountry and is not such a sealed treasury as Japanese literature is to theEnglish reading public ；but if you make it the sole end of your study ofEnglish merely to be skillful in the thrust and parry of every day conversationor to be good at commercial correspondence，entirely neglecting the studyof literature，the perfect mutual understanding between us and the English—speaking nations will be beyond our reasonable expectation for ever. In orderto understand the real Britain or the real America，you need not go far acrossthe ocean to visit London or New York or Chicago，but stay here and read inthe cozy corner of your study or by the fireside some of the best and greatestworks of British or American authors. Read Chaucer and Milton，readRuskin and Carlyle，read Emerson and Hawthorne，and you will find thatthe Anglo—Saxon is no nation of“shop—keepers”，that there is the forcibleundercurrent of idealism running through their materialistic civilization，andyou will get the correct idea of what is their true spirit of democracy andliberty，what is the foundation of their moral life，and what does the presentAnglo——Saxon superiority in the world consist in. This kind of study mayappear to some of you very unpractical；but please remember that nothingcan be more practical than the unpractical in all matters concerning our moraland intellectual life.