Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

standing the exclamation of Brutus to the contrary; and though we regard it as equally certain that, if there be such a thing, it is good to promote and bad to resist and discourage it; and that it is not necessarily mere cant to maintain these propositions. This we hold to be just; but we would say something a little different here, viz. that on philosophical principles a good spirit and good feelings are essential to poetry, as an art; they belong to it technically they are essential to its greatest possible excellence; that, though poetry is not good in proportion as it shows them, it is bad in proportion as it shows the want of them; and this, not morally but critically speaking. It is these, which unlock the fountain of tears, cause the blood to thrill, and the flesh to creep with delight,-which make the heart beat quick with a thousand varied emotions; and these are the highest effects of poetry and eloquence.

wall,

173

Have tumbled down vast blocks, and at the base

heaven.

Dashed them in fragments, and to lay thine car
Over the dizzy depth, and hear the sound
Of winds that struggle with the woods below
Come up like ocean murmurs. But the scene
Wanders amid the fresh and fertile meads,
Is lovely round; a beautiful river there
The paradise he made unto himself,
Mining the soil for ages. On each side
The fields swell upward to the hills; beyond,
Above the hills, in the blue distance, rise
The mighty columns with which earth props
There is a tale about these gray old rocks,
A sad tradition of unhappy love
And sorrows borne and ended, long ago,
When over these fair vales the savage sought
His game in the thick woods. There was a maid,
The fairest of the Indian maids, bright-eyed,
With wealth of raven tresses, a light form,
And a gay heart. About her cabin door
The wide old woods resounded with her song
And fairy laughter all the summer day.
She loved her cousin; such a love was deemed
Incestuous, and she struggled hard and long
By the morality of those stern tribes,
Against her love, and reasoned with her heart
As simple Indian maiden might. In vain.
Then her eye lost its lustre and her step
Its lightness, and the gray old men that passed
The accustomed song and laugh of her, whose
Her dwelling, wondered that they heard no more.

though the mightiest spring in the engine, Has splintered them. It is a fearful thing with which he heaves the mass of society; To stand upon the beetling verge, and see he must acquire it by other discipline than Where storm and lightning, from that huge gray that of his books or his masters. The same may be said of goodness as a part of the art of poetry; it belongs to the art, but cannot be taught from its canons. We should not be at all afraid to go through the history of poetry, from its dawn on the Ionian coast down to the present day, in order to find, from an induction of all the case, a confirmation of these views. We believe that, in almost every instance, the character of the poet will appear to have been reflected in his works, and that the tone of his works will afford an indication of his character. It is true there will be some difficult cases in the application of this rule. But it must be remembered that both poetical excellence and moral character are extremely complex ideas; and that opposite and apparently inconsistent traits It is true, bad men may write poetry, may exist both in the life and in the verse. which, in some degree, will produce some To apply these reflections to a parallel of these effects. But then bad men are not case: we consider the moral character of totally bad; few-none are so bad, as not the Waverley novels, though far from being to possess some of the purest and best feel- of one uniform and unspotted excellence, ings. Honor, in some sense or other, love yet as proof positive against the silly paraof parents and of children, admiration of dox, which, in defiance of the strongest incourage, of disinterestedness; susceptibili-ternal evidence, and in contradiction to the ty of being won, soothed, and disarmed by otherwise unanimous voice of Europe and unwearied, patient, long-suffering tender- America, pretends to attribute the portraits ness and care;-these exist in almost every of Flora McIvor, Jeanie Deans, Rebecca, one likely to be applauded as a poet. On and all the other amiable conceptions of these strong, deep virtues, much of what is romantic or suffering goodness, to an unheard pathetic in poetry might rest. of wretch of a Dr Greenfield, driven from society for infamous crimes.

Again, when we admire as poetry what is notoriously vicious and bad, we often admire nothing but wit; and wit and poetry are very different things. We suspect this to be the attractive quality in most of the licentious poetry, which, in past and present days, has gained a high reputation in the world. Now, though poetry is used in such a wide acceptation, in common parlance, that wit in verse would be included under it, yet certainly it is not poetry in any strict sense of terms. We are perfectly willing it should be called so; nor do we aim at any prudish nicety in the use of language. But we only protest against the attempt to prove that poetry may be licentious, because wit may be.

This is no new doctrine in principle, for the ancient schools of rhetoric taught that none but a good man could be an orator," that is, a perfect orator. There may be much fine speaking, graceful gesture, ingenious argument, and extensive learning, without moral goodness. And these go very far toward the composition of an orator; especially where the mass of the auditors may be no better than he who addresses them. But still it is true that all these qualities would appear to greater advanage and produce greater effect, if they were moved and inspired by a strong sense of sterling conscious worth. The reason why, in schools of oratory, less may be said u this point-or would be said if we had any such schools-is, that goodness is a hing beyond the schools to teach. Though apart of the orator's apparatus of power,

POETRY.

MONUMENT MOUNTAIN.

Thou who would'st see the lovely and the wild
Ascend our rocky mountains. Let thy foot
Mingled in harmony on Nature's face,
Fail not with weariness, for on their tops
The beauty and the majesty of earth
Spread wide beneath, shall make thee to forget
The steep and toilsome way. There, as thou
stand'st,
The haunts of men below thee, and above
The mountain summits, thy expanding heart
Shall feel a kindred with that loftier world
To which thou art translated and partake
The enlargement of thy vision. Thou shalt look
Upon the green and rolling forest tops,
And down into the secrets of the glens,
And streams, that with their bordering thickets

strive

To hide their windings. Thou shalt gaze, at once,
Here on white villages and tilth and herds
That only hear the torrent and the wind
And swarming roads, and there on solitudes
And eagle's shriek. There is a precipice
That seems a fragment of some mighty wall
Built by the hand that fashioned the old world
To separate its nations, and thrown down
When the flood drowned them. To the north a
Conducts you up the narrow battlement.
path
Steep is the western side, shaggy and wild
With mossy trees, and pinnacles of flint,
And many a hanging crag. But, to the east,
Sheer to the vale go down the bare old cliffs,-
Their weather-beaten capitals, here dark
Huge pillars, that in middle heaven upbear
With the thick moss of centuries, and there
Of chalky whiteness where the thunderbolt

looks

Were like the cheerful smile of Spring, they said,
Upon the Winter of their age. She went
To weep where no eye saw, and was not found
When all the merry girls were met to dance,
Nor when they gathered from the rustling husk
The shining ear, nor when, by the river side,
They pulled the grape and startled the wild shades
With sounds of mirth. The keen-eyed Indian

And all the hunters of the tribe were out;

dames

Would whisper to each other, as they saw
Her wasting form, and say, The girl will die.
One day into the bosom of a friend,

A playmate of her young and innocent years,
She poured her griefs. Thou know'st, and thou
alone,

She said, for I have told thee, all my love
And guilt and sorrow. I am sick of life.
All night I weep in darkness, and the morn
Glares on me, as upon a thing accurst
That has no business on the earth. I hate
The pastimes and the pleasant toils that once
I loved; the cheerful voices of my friends
Have an unnatural horror in mine ear.
In dreams my mother, from the land of souls,
Calls me and chides me. All that look on me
Do seem to know my shame; I cannot bear
Their eyes; I cannot from my heart root out
The love that wrings it so, and I must die.

It was a Summer morning and they went
To this old precipice. About the cliffs
Lay garlands, ears of maize, and skins of wolf
And shaggy bear, the offerings of the tribe
Here made to the Great Spirit, for they deemed,
Like worshippers of the elder time, that God
Doth walk on the high places and affect
The carth-o'erlooking mountains. She had on
The ornaments with which the father loved
To deck the beauty of his bright-eyed girl,
And bade her wear when stranger warriors came
To be his guests. Here the friends sat them down,
And sung, all day, old songs of love and death,
And decked the poor wan victim's hair with flowers,
And prayed that safe and swift might be her way
To the calm world of sunshine, where no grief
Makes the heart heavy and the eyelids red.
Beautiful lay the region of her tribe
Below her waters resting in the embrace
Of the wide forest, and maize-planted glades
Opening amid the leafy wilderness.

She gazed upon it long, and at the sight
Of her own village peeping through the trees,
And her own dwelling, and the cabin roof
Of him she loved with an unlawful love,
And came to die for, a warm gush of tears
Ran from her eyes. But when the sun grew low
And the hill shadows long, she threw herself
From the steep rock and perished. There was
scooped

Upon the mountain's southern slope, a grave,
And there they laid her, in the very garb

With which the maiden decked herself for death,
With the same withering wild flowers in her hair.
And o'er the mould that covered her the tribe
Built up a simple monument, a cone

Of small loose stones. Thenceforward, all who
passed,

Hunter and dame and virgin, laid a stone
In silence on the pile. It stands there yet.
And Indians from the distant West, that come
To visit where their fathers' bones are laid,
Yet tell the sorrowful tale, and to this day
The mountain where the hapless maiden died
Is called the Mountain of the Monument.

MUSING.

"The blue sky is happy."

B.

I would I were yon lonely bird, that skims
So gladly o'er thy dancing waves, dear lake!
Dipping at times her gray and glancing wing,
And wheeling wide along thy surface blue.
I would I were yon lily on thy breast,
Floating, but fastened to her hidden bed,
Spreading her snow-white petals to the skies,
And shedding forth her fragrance o'er thy waves.
Or would I were yon fleecy, edge-gilt cloud,
Borne like a spirit through the high, blue air,
Holding its course serene through realms of peace,
And imaged forth in thy blue depths below.
But no!-I check my roving fancy's wish.-
Blest as they are, in deep tranquillity,
Perchance not all unconscious of their joys,
I would not be the thing that cannot share
The higher joys of all created things.
Better to gaze-as now I gaze, dear lake-
Upon thy living waves that dance in glee,
Or up to yon blue arch that is all peace,
Or round upon the breeze-stirred, roaring woods,
And green hills smiling in the setting sun,
And know-as well I know-that all is blest.
Better to feel the peace of Nature's face
Stealing across the vain and worldly mind,
And sinking deep into the inmost heart,
Making all good, and pure, and happy there.
Jamaica Plains, August 1.
AGNES.

DESPONDENCY.

Mourn not for those who sweetly sleep,
And softly, gently, sink to rest;
Nor grieve for those who slumber deep
In mother earth's all tranquil breast;
For they at last have ceased to weep,
And hear not now the waves that sweep,
-That sweep their quiet to molest;
For Silence will her vigils keep
When they the lonely turf have prest;
And pain and anguish, wo and strife,
And all the varied ills of life,

They know no more forever;
For death, that breaks all human ties,
The sorrows with the sympathies
Of mortal man can sever,
His heart shall heave again with sighs
Never-oh never!

But mourn for those who live to weep
The wreck that bitter sorrow leaves;
Who cling to life's tempestuous steep
While dark the sullen ocean heaves,
And only hear its dismal swell,
To tremble lest each coming wave,
That they but feebly can repel,
Shall dash them to a yawning gravė ;

[blocks in formation]

Some French literati, whether in jest or
earnest we know not, have planned a most
grand and romantic enterprize; an associa-
tion has been formed for the establishment
of a splendid work, to be called "La France
Romantique." The said company has pub-
lished a prospectus, from which the following
is an extract. "The important work that
we announce has no need of those pompous
preambles with which prospectuses are usu-
ally commenced. The celebrated Sir Walter
Scott has set the fashion of historical ro-
mances; and our France is as fertile as
Scotland in curious traditions and singular
customs. This work will consist of as many
volumes as there have been kings in France.
We have chosen this arrangement, in order
to enter the more easily on the develop-
ment of the idea of a modern writer, that
'every sovereign gives the impression and
features of his own character and manners
to the epoch in which he governs.' But
that which will especially excite the inter-
est of the public, and insure the success of
this enterprise is, that the work will be a
monument of the many customs and usages,
and glory of France, on which will be in-
scribed the origin of various illustrious
families, and on which their history may
be traced from reign to reign down to the

present time."

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER RELATING TO THE

CELEBRATED NATURALIST M. BONPLAND.

Rio Janeiro. During my stay in this country I have obtained pretty circumstan

tial information respecting the events in Paraguay, where Dr Franzia still governs. The following appear to me to be the most authentic particulars relating to the fate of M. Bonpland, which has excited so much interest in France and England, and whereever this courageous and enterprising trav eller is known. About two years and a half ago, M. Bonpland was at Santa Anna, on the east bank of the Rio Parana, where he had formed plantations of the matté, or the tea of Paraguay. About eleven o'clock in the morning he was seized and carried off by a detachment of eight hundred of Dr Franzia's troops. They destroyed the plantations, which were in a most flourishing state, and seized M. Bonpland, and the Indian families whom the mildness of his character, and the advantages of the rising civilization, had engaged to settle near him. Some Indians escaped by swimming, others, who resisted, were massacred by the soldiers. M. Bonpland, taking on his shoulders a part of his precious collection of nat ural history, was conducted to Assumption, the capital of Paraguay, and sent from thence to a fort in quality of physician to the garrison. It is not known how long he remained in this exile; but 1 am assured that he has since been sent for by Dr Franzia, the Supreme Director of Paraguay, and ordered to another part, to superintend a commercial communication between Paraguay and Peru, perhaps towards the province of the Chiquitos and Santa Cruz de la Sierra. M. Bonpland is to complete at that place the making of a great road, at the same time that he will pursue his botanical researches. His friends flatter themselves that the steps taken by the French government, those of the Institute, and of M. Von Humboldt, will not be unsuccessful. General Bolivar has also writ ten a letter to the Supreme Director of Paraguay, in which he claims our country. man, in the most affectionate terms, as the friend of his youth. If M. Bonpland is so fortunate as to return to Europe, he may throw great light on countries hitherto unknown.

CAPTIVE GREEKS.

Paris for two young Greeks, who, when re-
A subscription has been set on foot in
turning to their country, were made prison-
of Barbary, who left them no alternative
ers by an independent Pacha on the coast
between apostacy, death, or a ransom of
20,000 piastres. Too poor to furnish the

ransom, and too conscientious to abandon
neither promises nor threats could shake
their religion, they decided on death; and
their resolution. The delay granted by the
Pacha had nearly expired, when the report
of the devotedness of these two children
(one 17 and the other 13 years of age) ar-
rived in Europe.
menced instantly at Rome, produced hall
A subscription, com-
the amount; the Duke of Orleans has sub-
scribed 2000 francs; and the efforts of phi-
lanthropists in various parts will no doubt
soon procure the liberation of these inter-
esting youths, and their return to the em-
brace of their struggling country.

LETTER OF SIR GODFREY KNELLER.

The following is a literal copy of a letter from this celebrated artist to Mr Pope, and was found in the original manuscript of Pope's translation of the Iliad, which, as is well known, was written upon scraps of paper and the backs of letters.

"Dear friend,—I find them pictures are so very fresh, being painted in three collers, and aught to be new severall days; for as they are, it is impracticable to put them were you intend❜m. It would be pitty they should take dust. Jemmy stays here 8 or 10 days, and will not fail of sending them when reddy; and I am (giving my hearty and humble servis to your dear mother) Your most sincere servant, G. KNELLER."

MONUMENT TO DR BAILLIE.

No individual of the medical profession has ever received such posthumous honours from his brethren as the late celebrated Dr Baillie, who for many years stood decidedly at the head of the faculty in the metropolis of the British empire, and was regarded by all classes as a kind of medical oracle. The colleges of Physicians and Surgeons of London have each of them voted a bust, to be executed by Chantry, and placed in their halls; and the MedicoChirurgical Society propose to have a portrait of him for their library. The members of the medical profession throughout London have likewise resolved to set on foot a subscription, with a view of erecting a monument to his memory in St Paul's or Westminster Abbey. The most distinguished individuals in the profession are warmly engaged in promoting this object.

SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION.

"We

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

1813

[ocr errors]

1814

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

101

1817

[ocr errors]

85

Deaths.
79

201

228

· ...

268

1818
127 1819. ... 356

It appears that they occurred more fre-
quently in some provinces than in others.
They were most frequent in Marienwer-
der 228, and Bromberg 162; then in Bres-
lau 90, and Oppeln 53, in Trier 46, and in
Aachen 58. In nine other provinces the
cases were very rare or totally absent.
Dr Hufeland accounts for this great diver-
sity, by remarking, that the provinces in
which it is frequent are contiguous to forests
containing wolves, as those of Poland,
Prussia, and the Ardennes.

LIST OF WORKS IN PRESS
FOR SEPTEMBER.

At the University Press-Cambridge.
[Several of which are shortly to be published by

CUMMINGS, HILLIARD, & Co. Boston.]
No. II., Vol. 2, of the Boston Journal of
Philosophy and the Arts.

ments.

By Cummings, Hilliard, & Co.-Boston.
A Stereotype Edition of the Bible, in
An Edition of the Bible in Spanish, in

Svo.

12mo.

By Wells & Lilly—Boston.

A System of Universal Geography. By M. Malte-Brun, editor of the Annales des Voyages, &c. 7 vols. 8vo.

By H. C. Carey & I. Lea-Philadelphia.

Narrative of an Expedition to the source of the St Peters, Lake Winnipeck, Lake of the Woods, &c.; performed in the year 1823. By or der of the Honourable John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War; under the direction of Major Stephen H. Long. Compiled from the Notes of Major Long, Messrs Say, Keating, Calhoun, and other gentlemen of the party, by William H. Keating, A. M., &c. &c., Professor of Minerology and Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania, and Geologist and Historiographer to the Expedition.

Plates.

With

Body and Soul; consisting of a series of Lively and Pathetic Stories.

Digest of American Reports. By Thomas P. Wharton, Esq.

Essays on the Variolous, Vaccine and Varioloid Diseases. By Nathaniel Chapman, M. D. Chapman on Fever.

Cooke on Nervous Diseases.

A System of Midwifery. By William P. Dawes, M. D.

LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS
FOR SEPTEMBER.

By Cummings, Hilliard, & Co.-Boston.

A General Abridgment and Digest of American Law. By Nathan Dane, LL. D., Counsellor at Law. Vol. IV.

The Prize Book, No. V., of the Public Institutes of Natural Philosophy, The-Latin School in Boston. LL. D. Fourth American edition, with improve-making Latin Verse; whereby any one of ordinaoretical and Practical. By William Enfield, The Poetry of Numbers, or a Method of ry capacity may be taught to make thousands of A General Abridgment and Digest of Hexameter and Pentameter Verses, which shall be American Law, with Occasional Notes and Com-true Latin, true Verse, and good Sense. By a ments. By Nathan Dane, LL. D. In Eight vol- Poetaster. umes. Vols VI. and VII.

Collectanea Græca Minora. Sixth Cam-
bridge edition; in which the Latin of the Notes
and Vocabulary is translated into English.
Publius Virgilius Maro;-Bucolica, Geor-
gica, et Æneis. With English Notes, for the use
of Schools.

A Greek Grammar, designed for the use
of Schools.

A Greek and English Lexicon.

The Edinburgh Medical Journal contains the following notice of a reported case of spontaneous combustion. have received from Dr Klaatsch of Berlin, an account of some inquiries he made into the particulars of one of the cases of spontaneous combustion, quoted from a French journal, in our number for last October. Taking advantage of an opportunity of communicating with the mayor of Beauvais, where the accident happened, Dr Klaatsch, with the laudable desire of sifting such a wonderful case to the bottom, procured a copy of the report drawn up by the officer of police, who investigated its circumstances. The whole body, according to this report, was found totally consumed except the head and one leg. Near the body stood brass chafingdish, containing embers; and consequently Dr Klaatsch very properly insists that this case connot be considered one of indisputable self-burning. At Seventeen Discourses on Several Texts the same time, we presume there can be of Scripture; addressed to Christian Assemblies in no doubt of its being one of preternatural Villages near Cambridge. To which are added, combustibility; which, we suggested, was Six Morning Exercises. By Robert Robinson. the limit of our belief with regard to all such stories. It appears that the subject of the ease had intended to destroy himself. About a week before his death, he champed and swallowed three fourths of a drinking

a

A Summary of the Law and Practice of
Real Actions. By Asahel Stearns, Professor of
Law in Harvard University.

The Four Gospels of the New Testament
in Greek, from the Text of Griesbach, with a Lexi-
con in English of all the words contained in them;
designed for the use of Schools.

First American Edition.

An Introduction to Algebra. By War-
ren Colburn.

Poetical Works of William Wordsworth.
In 4 vols. 12mo. [Subscriptions received at No 1,
Cornhill, Boston, and at the Bookstore, Cambridge.]

[blocks in formation]

By Jacob B. Moore-Concord, N. H. vision of the New Testament, lately published by the Unitarians. By William Magee, D. D. F. R. S. Reports of Cases Argued and Determin- M. R. I. A., Dean of Cork, Chaplain to his Exed in the Supreme Court of Judicature for the State cellency the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, late S. F. of New Hampshire, between February, 1819, and T. C., and Professor of Mathematics in the UniMay, 1823, inclusive. Collected by W. M. Rich-versity of Dublin. From the fifth, and last, Lonardson and Levi Woodbury. Constituting Vol. don Edition. II. New Hampshire Reports.

By Wilder & Campbell-New York. Hume and Smollet Abridged, and continued to the Accession of George IV. By John Robinson, D. D. With 160 Engravings.

By S. King-New York. The Life of Benjamin Franklin. Written by Himself.

The Wreath. A Collection of Poems

from Celebrated Authors.

By H. C. Carey & I. Lea-Philadelphia.
Narrative of a Pedestrian Journey through
Russia and Siberian Tartary, from the Frontiers of
China to the Frozen Sea, and Kampscatka; per-
formed during the years 1920, '21, 22, and '23.
By Capt. John Dundas Cochrane, R. N.

Tales of a Traveller. Part I. By Geof-
frey Crayton, Gent. Author of "The Sketch
Book," "Bracebridge Hall," &c.
The Witch of New England; a Romance.
The Blank Book of a Small Colleger.
The Inheritance. By the Author of
"Marriage." 2 vols. 12mo. Price, $2,25.

By Abraham Small-Philadelphia.
A History of the Colonies planted by the
English on the Continent of North America, from
their Settlement, to the commencement of that
War which terminated in their Independence. By
John Marshall.

By Fielding Lucas jr.-Baltimore.
A New Pocket Dictionary of the Eng-

lish and Spanish Languages; wherein the Words
which are subject to two or more spellings are
written in their different orthographies. Compiled
from Neuman, Connelly, &c. By Mariano Cubi
y Soler, Professor of the Spanish Language in St
Mary's College, author of a Spanish Grammar, &c.
Gramatica de la Lengua Castellana,
adaptada a toda clase de ensenanza, y al uso de
aquellos estrangeros, que deseen conocer los prin-
cipios, bellezas, y genio del idioma Castellano.
Compuesta por Mariano Cubi y Soler.

A New Spanish Grammar, adapted to every class of Learners. By Mariano Cubi y Soler, Professor of the Spanish Language in St Mary's College.

ADVERTISEMENTS.

WORCESTER'S GEOGRAPHICAL

WORKS.

ELEMENTS OF GEOGRAPHY-ANCIENT AND

MODERN.

CUMMINGS, HILLIARD, & CO. have
published a new and much improved edi-
tion of this work. The Geography is print-
ed in a handsome style, and a new map of
the Eastern and Middle States is added to
the Atlas.

Extracts from Reviews, &c.

"Mr Worcester's Geography appears to
us a most excellent manual. It is concise,
well arranged, free from redundancies and
repetitions, and contains exactly what it
should, a brief outline of the natural and

political characteristics of each country.
The tabular views are of great value."

North American Review.

"We consider the work, in its present state, as the best compend of Geography for the use of schools, which has appeared in our country."

Monthly Literary Journal.

[ocr errors]

Extracts from Reviews, &c.

"We have attentively perused these Sketches,' and have no hesitation in saying that we know of no similar work, in which instruction and amusement are so much combined. The accuracy of the statements, the brevity and clearness of the descriptions, the apposite and often beautiful quotations from books of travels and from other works, continually excite and gratify the curiosity of the reader." Christian Spectator.

"We consider the 'Sketches' well suited to give a large fund of entertainment and instruction to the youthful mind."

North American Review.

"We know of no book which would be more suitable to be read by scholars in our higher schools, and which would excite more interest in the family circle."

R. I. American.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

LY IMPROVED EDITION.

Extracts from Reviews, &c.

"From a careful examination of thy Ge- UNIVERSAL GAZETTEER. A NEW AND GREATography, and a comparison of the work am led to the opinion that it is the most with other productions of like character, I valuable system of elementary geography published in our country."

Roberts Vaux, Esq.

"I have no hesitation in expressing it as my opinion, that it contains more valuable matter, and better arranged, than any similar work of its size I have ever met with." Professor Adams.

"I cannot hesitate to pronounce it, on the whole, the best compend of geography for the use of academies, that I have ever Rev. Dr S. Miller.

seen."

"Of all the elementary treatises on the subject which have been published, I have

By Martin Ruter-Cincinnati, Ohio! An Easy Entrance into the Sacred Lan-seen none with which I am, on the whole, guage; being a concise Hebrew Grammar, without Points. Compiled for the use and encouragement of Learners, and adapted to such as have not the aid of a Teacher. By Martin Ruter, D. D.

WORKS PROPOSED.

so well pleased, and which I can so cheer-
fully recommend to the public."

President Tyler.

SKETCHES OF THE EARTH AND ITS
INHABITANTS.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

"The typographical execution is unusually neat and sightly, and the whole work forms a repository of geographical and staS. Potter, & Co. Philadelphia, propose Comprising a description of the Grand tistical information, greater, we apprehend, publishing by subscripion, Discourses and Disser-Features of Nature; the principal Moun- than is elsewhere condensed into the same tations on the Scriptural Doctrine of Atonement tains, Rivers, Cataracts, and other interest-compass."-North American Review. and Sacrifice and of the principal Arguments ad- ing Objects and Natural Curiosities; also vanced, and the mode of Reasoning employed by of the Chief Cities and Remarkable Edithe Opponents of those Doctrines, as held by the fices and Ruins; together with a view of established Church, with an Appendix, containing the Manners and Customs of different Nations; illustrated by One Hundred Engrav

some Strictures on Mr Belsham's Account of the

Unitarian Scheme, in his Review of Mr Wilber-
force's Treatise; together with Remarks on the Re-ings.

CAMBRIDGE:

PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS,

BY

HILLIARD AND METCALF.

THE UNITED STATES LITERARY GAZETTE.

Published on the first and fifteenth day of every month, by Cummings, Hilliard, & Co. No. 1 Cornhill, Boston.-Terms, $5 per annum, payable in July. VOL. I.

REVIEWS.

Tales of a Traveller, Part II. By Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Author of "The Sketch Book," "Bracebridge Hall," "Knickerbocker's New York," &c. Philadelphia, 1824. 8vo. pp. 212.

In our last number we noticed the first of this new series of Tales; and then remarked that Mr Irving was probably induced to resume this mode of giving his works to the public, by the comparative failure of Bracebridge Hall. Our conjecture is rather confirmed by the speed with which No. 2. follows his brother; the last comer so treads upon the heels of the former, they may almost be considered twins. The interval between the two is quite too short for any one to believe that No. 2. was written-or scarcely corrected-after No. 1. went to the press. We cannot, therefore, suppose that Mr I. chooses to print thus, for the convenience of publishing as he writes,-or for any other reason, but that he is satisfied that the public like this way best.

BOSTON, OCTOBER 1, 1824.

new characteristic of Mr Irving's work.
As, for instance, Buckthorne, describing his
visits to a miserly uncle, says, p. 79, As
my visits cost him nothing, they did not
seem to be very unwelcome. I brought
with me my gun and fishing-rod, and half
supplied the table from the park and the
fish ponds." On the next page but one, he
says he amused himself while there, with
wandering about the grounds, shooting ar-
rows at birds,-" for to have used a gun
would have been treason!"

The story of "Buckthorne, or the Young
Man of Great Expectations," is the longest,
and, we think, the most amusing. We will
extract some passages from the account of
his manner of life with, and exit from, a
crew of strolling players, unto whom he
had joined himself by reason of a "poetical
temperament," which made him run away
from school.

In this way, then, did I enter the metropolis; a
strolling vagabond; on the top of a caravan with a
crew of vagabonds about me; but I was as happy
as a prince, for, like Prince Hal, I felt myself su-
perior to my situation, and knew that I could at
sphere.
any time cast it off and emerge into my proper

No. 12.

a common trait of human nature, and to take place in all communities. It would seem to be the main business of man to repine at government. In all situations of life into which I have looked, I have found mankind divided into two grand parties;—those who ride and those who are ridden. The great struggle of life seems to be which shall keep in the saddle. This, it appears to me, is the funda mental principle of politics, whether in great or little life. However, I do not mean to moralize; but one cannot always sink the philosopher.

Well then, to return to myself. It was deter mined, as I said, that I was not fit for tragedy, and, unluckily, as my study was bad, having a very poor memory, I was pronounced unfit for comedy also: engrossed by an actor with whom I could not pre besides, the line of young gentlemen was already tend to enter into competition, he having filled it for almost half a century. I came down again therefore to pantomime. In consequence, however, of the good offices of the manager's lady, who had taken a satyr to that of the lover; and with my face patchliking to me, I was promoted from the part of the ed and painted; a huge cravat of paper; a steeple crowned hat, and dangling long-skirted sky-blue coat, was metamorphosed into the lover of Columbine. My part did not call for niuch of the tender and sentimental. I had merely to pursue the fugitive fair one; to have a door now and then slammed in my face; to run my head occasionally against a post; to tumble and roll about with Pantaloon and the clown; and to endure the hearty thwacks of Harlequin's wooden sword.

And this is a very good and satisfactory reason. Well may the public enjoy, with How my eyes sparkled as we passed HydeAs ill luck would have it, my poetical temperahigher relish, such exquisite delicacies as park corner, and I saw splendid equipages rolling Irving's Tales,-when they are served up by, with powdered footmen behind, in rich liveries, ment began to ferment within me, and to work out not profusely nor niggardly-but in quan- with lovely women within, so sumptuously dressed metropolis, added to the rural scenes in which the and fine nosegays, and gold-headed canes; and new troubles. The inflammatory air of a great tities calculated at once to gratify and pro-and so surpassingly fair. I was always extremely fairs were held; such as Greenwich Park, Epping voke, but not to satiate the appetite. One sensible to female beauty; and here I saw it in all Forest, and the lovely valley of West End, had a may dine very heartily upon roast beef, its facination, for, whatever may be said of" beauty powerful effect upon me. While in Greenwich and want more the next day; but of cream- unadorned," there is something almost awful in Park, I was witness to the old holyday games of cakes, comfits, and kisses,-it is wiser not The swan-like neck encircled with diamonds; the then the firmament of blooming faces and blue female loveliness decked out in jewelled state. running down hill, and kissing in the ring; and to eat a great deal at once. raven locks, clustered with pearls; the ruby glow-eyes, that would be turned towards me, as I was We do not like this number so well as ing on the snowy bosom, are objects that I could playing antics on the stage; all these set my young we did its predecessor. We do not recol- never contemplate without emotion; and a daz- blood, and my poetical vein, in full flow. In short, lect any thing in it which is not pretty zling white arm clasped with bracelets, and taper I played my characters to the life, and became desgood; neither can we recollect much that transparent fingers laden with sparkling rings, are perately enamoured of Columbine. She was a to me irresistible. My very eyes ached as I gazed trim, well made, tempting girl; with a roguish is more than pretty good. We looked in at the high and courtly beauty that passed before dimpling face, and fine chesnut hair clustering all vain for touches of Mr Irving's exquisite me. It surpassed all that my imagination had con- about it. The moment I got fairly smitten, there satire; for his light, but vivid and happy ceived of the sex. I shrunk, for a moment, into was an end to all playing. I was such a creature sketching of queer character;-for the shame at the company in which I was placed, and of fancy and feeling, that I could not put on a prebroad fun of the Irish Dragoon, or the repined at the vast distance that seemed to inter- tended, when I was powerfully affected by a real vene between me and these magnificent beings. *** emotion. I could not sport with a fiction that beauty, power, and pathos of many parts of How little do those before the scenes know of came so near to the fact. I became too natural in the Young Italian. The general name of what passes behind; how little can they judge, my acting to succeed. And then,—what a situathe number, is "Buckthorne and his from the countenances of actors, of what is pass-tion for a lover!--I was a mere stripling, and she Friends." The Traveller becomes acquaint- ing in their hearts. I have known two lovers quar- played with my passion; for girls soon grow more ed with a sort of literary idler, who writes rel like cats behind the scenes, who were, the mo- adroit and knowing in these matters, than your ment after, to fly into each other's embraces. And awkward youngsters. What agonies had I to sufonly when he must, but then successfully, I have dreaded, when our Belvidera was to take her fer. Every time that she danced in front of the -if we may judge from the society he farewell kiss of her Jaffier, lest she should bite a piece booth, and made such liberal displays of her charms, keeps. He is Buckthorne, and he intro- out of his cheek. Our tragedian was a rough joker I was in torment. To complete my misery, I had ces the Traveller to Literary Life in Lon-off the stage; our prime clown the most peevish a real rival in Harlequin; an active, vigorous, mortal living. The latter used to go about snap-knowing varlet of six-and-twenty. What had a his countenance; and I can assure you that, what- such a competition. raw inexperienced youngster like me to hope from ping and snarling, with a broad laugh painted on ever may be said of the gravity of a monkey, or the melancholy of a gibed cat, there is no more melancholy creature in existence than a mountebank off duty.

don. This subject is very interesting, and there are reasons why we should suppose Mr Irving singularly well qualified to write upon it; perhaps our expectations were extravagant,-but, be the fault where it will, they were greatly disappointed. There are some errors which appear to indicate a backbite the manager, and cabal against his regula- his clothes; and which it is as difficult for a gentle. The only thing in which all parties agreed was to degree of carelessness, which is quite a tions. This, however, I have since discovered to be

I had still, however, some advantages in my favour. In spite of my change of life, I retained that indescribable something, which always distinguishes the gentleman; that something which dwells in a man's air and deportment, and not in man to put off, as for a vulgar fellow to put on

« AnteriorContinuar »