I have long enjoyed Matt Milliner's writing at his own site. He has now joined the crew at The Public Discourse. His latest offering, on the importance of culture and its complex relationship to conservativism is now available at the site.
It is not my intention to ridicule a great man for avoiding plays; Witherspoon’s was a different time and his decision was, I believe, justified. John Adams, an acquaintance of Witherspoon, was faced with a similar quandary. When confronted with the luxury of Parisian Society, he famously stated: “I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.”
Both Witherspoon and Adams, faced with a choice between pressing duty and an appreciation for Molière and Mozart, wisely chose duty. It is a choice that Witherspoon and Adams needed to make, but a choice that we—being generally more disposed to the arts than were Popular-party Calvinists, and enjoying the relative degree of political stability that Adams lacked—need not make. Yet, the contemporary American heirs of Witherspoon and Adams rarely seem to get around to enjoying one of the rights that Adams hoped to secure for us: the right to both cultivate and savor the arts.
"Yet, the contemporary American heirs of Witherspoon and Adams rarely seem to get around to enjoying one of the rights that Adams hoped to secure for us: the right to both cultivate and savor the arts."
Nor, in its stead, do we "wisely cho(o)se duty."
Posted by: Bill R | September 12, 2009 at 01:16 AM