the beautiful in nature. * * * '_Absence of Mind_' is too _scrappy_.
Its 'examples' seem collated from sundry files of old newspapers,
of various dates. The man however who, in his hurry (at a late hour
on a rainy day) to pay a note, took up in place of an umbrella
an _old broom_, and rushed through Wall-street to the bank, with
the besom over his head, reminds us of the 'absent' clergyman,
who started one winter-Sunday for his church; and having nearly
reached it, the wind blew his cloak open; upon which he turned
about, that it might be blown close around him again: forgetting
this fact, however, he continued to travel in the direction which
he faced, until he arrived at his own door. Here he inquired for
himself; and being told by a waggish servant that he was _not in_,
he departed, with the remark that he should 'call again soon!'
* * * '_The Exile's Song_,' in the present number, was enclosed
in a letter from its author, A. M'CRAW, of Scotland, to the late
lamented Dr. TIMOTHY UPHAM of Waterford, by whose wish it is now
published. It was written in this country, several years since; and
was occasioned by the statement that two persons had been found in a
cave in a forest on the bank of the Kennebeck river, who had sought
seclusion and safety in that wild retreat. Dr. UPHAM was a gentleman
of a highly distinguished family in New-Hampshire, whose mind led
him to appreciate talent whenever and wherever he encountered it.
Scientific and literary honors were tendered him from high sources,
previous to his demise; but it pleased GOD to summon him to that
heaven which is constantly enriching itself with the spoils of earth:
'Quis desiderio sit pudor, aut modus
Tam cari capitis.'
THERE is just now quite a passion for _French Literature_ in this
country, and translations have not only become frequent, but very
indiscriminate. Much that we see is not amiss in its moral tendency,
but more is positively pernicious in its effect upon society. 'What
a strange opinion the world will have of French Society a hundred
years from now! 'Did all married people,' they will say, 'break a
certain commandment? They all do in the novels. Was French society
composed of murderers, of forgers, of children without parents,
of men consequently running the daily risk of marrying their
grandmothers by mistake; of disguised princes, who lived in the
friendship of amiable cut-throats and spotless prostitutes; who
gave up the sceptre for the _savate_, and the stars and pigtails
of the court for the chains and wooden shoes of the galleys?' It
has been well said of BERNARD, (author of '_The Innocence of a
Galley-Slave_,' in our last two numbers,) that 'he is full of fine
observation and gentle feeling; has a gallant sense of the absurd;
and writes in a gentlemanlike style.' * * * HERE is a clever and
characteristic anecdote of 'RANDOLPH of Roanoke,' related by
Mr. HARVEY, a spirited (and he must allow us to add improved)
_racconteur_: ROBERT OWEN told JOHN RANDOLPH that he should live to
see the day when mankind would discover the principle of vitality,
and of course learn to live for ever. 'Are you not aware,' said he,
'that in Egypt, by artificial heat, the people create thousands of
chickens?' 'Yes,' replied RANDOLPH; 'but you forget to tell us who
furnishes _the eggs_. Show me the man who can _lay an egg_, and
I'll agree to your 'parallel case.' The proposition was a poser!
* * * Mr. PEABODY, in his excellent Address at Dartmouth College,
speaks of the tendency of our lighter literature to 'aim primarily
at _impression_,' without much reference to the means adopted to
secure that end. What must he think of Mr. J. H. INGRAHAM'S last
infliction upon the public?--his 'Frank Rivers, or the Dangers of
the Town,' the hero and heroine of which are RICHARD P. ROBINSON
and ELLEN JEWETT? How captivating to tastes kindred with the
author's, will be the headings of the different chapters: 'The two
fine gentlemen; the Meeting with ELLEN; the Consequences;' or, 'The
Naval Officer; the Kept Mistress,' etc. Can there be but one opinion
concerning such shameless '_literary_' expositions as this, among
all right-minded persons? * * * MANY a reader of the KNICKERBOCKER,
residing in the smaller villages of our country, will recognize
'_The Influential Man_' among their 'fellow-citizens.' Our friend
at Tinnecum has drawn from life the sketch in preceding pages, and
with all his accustomed faithfulness. 'Uncle BILLY PINE' reminds
us of the 'influential man' who, when Rip VANWINKLE came back from
the mountains, after his twenty years' sleep, made his way through
a wondering crowd of his Dutch neighbors, with his arms akimbo, and
after gazing at him for a moment, shook his head; 'whereat,' says
our renowned historian, 'there was a general shaking of the head
throughout the whole assemblage.' * * * PARIS has always borne away
the palm in cosmetics, perfumery, fancy toilet-soaps, etc.; but we
suspect that Mr. EUGENE ROUSSEL, late of the French metropolis, but
now of Philadelphia, has the means, by importation and manufacture,
to bring 'nigh us, even to our doors,' the best specimens in this
kind to be found in the gay capital. His stores, at the late fair
of the American Institute, were the admiration of visitors; and
_almost_ outvied the collections of our own artizan, Mr. LLOYD, of
Prince-street, near the Bowery, whose perfumery, for excellence and
cheapness combined, has 'won all suffrages' from the ladies. * * *
WE are glad to learn that the '_American Athenæum_' at Paris is
so well appreciated. Its condition is already flourishing, and its
usefulness and popularity gradually increasing. American books,
newspapers, etc., may be sent free of expense, through the care of
Mr. R. DRAPER, Number fifty-one, Beaver-street, New-York. * * *
JUST one word to 'F.' Do you remember the lord-mayor, who when told
at his first hunting that the hare was coming, exclaimed: 'Let it
come, in Heaven's name!--I'm not afraid on 't?' Have the goodness
to make the application. * * * IT was our intention to have offered
a few remarks upon '_The Embarkation of the Pilgrims_,' the great
national picture, by that distinguished American artist, WEIR, which
is now open for exhibition at the Gallery of the Academy of Fine
Arts, corner of Broadway and Leonard-street. We are _compelled_,
however, to forego this duty, until another occasion. Meanwhile, we
invite the attention of our metropolitan readers to the exhibition,
as one well calculated to repay the most careful examination. * * *
WE receive at a late hour, from a friend in the French capital, the
'Proceedings of a Meeting of the Citizens of the United States in
Paris, at the Royal Athenæum, in March last; embracing an Address
upon the Literary Exchanges recently made between France and
America, by ALEXANDER VATTEMARE.' We shall probably have occasion
to allude more particularly to this pamphlet hereafter. * * *
CRICKET, one of the fine manly games of Old England, is getting
quite in vogue in this country, and excites not a little emulation
between several antagonistic cities and towns. At a dinner which
closed a recent spirited match in Philadelphia, our contemporary,
Mr. PATERSON, of the '_Anglo-American_' weekly journal, gave the
following felicitous 'sentiment:'
'The bat and the wicket,
And the good game of cricket
Till we come to the bucket.
When all must kick it!'
* * * * *
WE find on our table a fervent, heart-full 'Discourse, preached
before the Second Church and Society in Boston, in Commemoration
of the Life and Character of their former Pastor, Rev. HENRY WARE,
Jr., D. D.; by their Minister, CHANDLER ROBBINS.' We shall share
with our readers, in our next issue, the enjoyment we have derived
from contemplating, with our friend and correspondent, the many
virtues whose memory his predecessor has left in vivid greenness
and freshness behind him. * * * WE have lost the letter of our
New-Orleans correspondent, who asked certain questions touching a
foreign correspondence with the KNICKERBOCKER. We liked the tone
of his epistle very much. Write us again. Who are you? what are
you? whence are you? whither are you going? and what have you got
to say for yourself? * * * WE hope our readers will appreciate the
motives, not vain-glorious altogether, we suspect, which impel us
to announce that our TWENTY-THIRD VOLUME will eclipse any previous
volume of the series, _we think_. Looking at our literary stores,
(embodying papers from all our old and favorite contributors, and
embracing articles, beside, from the Dutch and the Turkish, by our
correspondents at Constantinople and Rotterdam,) we acknowledge a
glow of satisfaction, which we hope in due time to transfer to our
readers. As for _matter_, we were never more abundantly prepared;
and for the _manner_, that is to be 'in keeping.' The work is to be
presented upon _entirely new type_, in all its departments; and some
of the _very_ fine type heretofore employed in the editor's portion
of the work will give place to characters more easily perused by
old and young. But 'enough said.' Wait; and 'you shall see what you
shall see.' * * * AMONG many other articles filed for insertion,
or awaiting examination, are the following: 'The White-House, or
the Money-Ghost; a Tale told in the Chimney-corner of a Village
Public-House,' from the Dutch; 'Imaginary Conversations,' by PETER
VON GEIST; 'Mind _vs._ Instinct in Animals,' Number Two; 'Ninah and
Numan,' from the Turkish, etc. 'P. G.'s favor _is_ reserved for
publication, when we can find a place for it. We shall appreciate
his communications. * * * SEVERAL notices of new publications,
(including '_The Rose of Sharon_,' a beautiful and interesting
annual, Barry Cornwall's Poems, 'Nature and Revelation,' 'The
Mysteries of Paris,' and 'The Professor and his Favorites,') omitted
from the present number, will appear in our next.
LITERARY RECORD.
GREENWOOD CEMETERY.--A desideratum is timely supplied by a small
pamphlet before us, containing the rules, regulations, etc., of the
_Greenwood Cemetery_, on the beautiful Heights of Gowanus, near this
city. It contains the names of the officers of the corporation, the
trustees, terms of subscription, rules concerning improvements,
interments, graves, tombs, visitors to the grounds, etc., with a
description of some of the principal monuments already erected. It
is to be regretted that the person who furnished the inscription for
the monument to the beautiful Indian wife, DO-HUM-ME, did not quote
the admirable verse of BRYANT more correctly. In riding through the
grounds the other day, we observed that two words were added to the
last line, which entirely destroy its measure and melody. The four
lines in question are from that exquisite poem, '_The Indian Girl's
Lament_' at the grave of her lover. We cannot resist the inclination
to preserve the following stanzas in these pages, for the admiration
of our readers:
'I'VE pulled away the shrubs that grew
Too close above thy sleeping head,
And broke the forest boughs that threw
Their shadows o'er thy bed,
That shining from the sweet southwest
The sunbeams might rejoice thy rest.
It was a weary, weary road
That led thee to the pleasant coast,
Where thou, in his serene abode.
Hast met thy father's ghost:
Where everlasting autumn lies
On yellow woods and sunny skies.
'Twas I the broidered mocsen made,
That shod thee for that distant land;
'Twas I thy bow and arrows laid
Beside thy still, cold hand:
Thy bow in many a battle bent,
Thy arrows never vainly sent.
With wampum belts I crossed thy breast,
And wrapped thee in the bison's hide,
And laid the food that pleased thee best,
In plenty, by thy side,
And decked thee bravely, as became
A warrior of illustrious name.
Thou'rt happy now, for thou hast passed
The long dark journey of the grave,
And in the land of light, at last,
Hast joined the good and brave;
Amid the flushed and balmy air,
The bravest and the loveliest there.
Yet, oft to thine own Indian maid
Even there thy thoughts will earthward stray,
To her who sits where thou wert laid.
And weeps the hours away,
Yet almost can her grief forget,
To think that thou dost love her yet.
And thou, by one of those still lakes
That in a shining cluster lie,
On which the south wind scarcely breaks
The image of the sky,
A bower for thee and me hast made
Beneath the many-colored shade.
And thou dost wait and watch to meet
My spirit sent to join the blessed,
And, wondering what detains my feet
From the bright land of rest,
Dost seem, in every sound, to hear
The rustling of my footsteps near.'
In the fourth line of the fifth stanza, thus far transferred to
the marble, the words '_the fair_' have been interpolated, in the
inscription to which we have referred. The error is attributable
to one of two causes; an ambition to 'gild refined gold,' or
unpardonable carelessness.
'THE SLEEP RIDER, OR THE OLD BOY IN THE OMNIBUS.'--If the 'Man in
the Claret-colored Coat' had kept his promise, we should not have
been compelled to dismiss this amusing work with a few words of
commendation; but it is 'all along of him,' and we wash our hands
of any thing 'short-coming' in the way of duty. We have read enough
to know that there is an abundant sprinkling of lively, sententious
wit, and shrewd observation of men and things in the volume, and
that it is as replete with contrasts and _abruptions_ as any thing
of LAWRENCE STERNE'S. Lieutenant WHITE, one of the Mesmerised
tale-tellers of the Omnibus, unwinds an exceedingly graphic 'yarn'
which was once 'reeled off' in these pages by a lamented and most
gifted kinsman of the 'Man in the Claret-colored Coat;' and there
are sundry 'scenes, events, and things' recorded in a way peculiar
to the writer, whose productions our readers have often laughed at,
with the fullest exercise of their cachinnatory powers. The terse
hieroglyphical epigraphs at the heads of the chapters have a world
of meaning, most likely; but they require study! Buy the little
book, and read it. It is both '_cheap_ and good.'
THE USE OF CLASSICAL LITERATURE.--We have only space to commend
warmly to the acceptance of our readers a little pamphlet from
the press of Messrs. JAMES MUNROE AND COMPANY, Boston, containing
an Address delivered before the United Literary Societies of
Dartmouth College in July last, by ANDREW P. PEABODY, Esq. It is
a spirited defence of classical literature against the attacks of
those short-sighted persons, the utilitarian or other 'reformers'
of the time, who undervalue the advantages for which they offer
no equivalent. The writer's remarks upon the tendency of modern
literature, and of the taste for which it caters, are worthy of
heedful note.
MR. HILLARD'S DISCOURSE.--We have before us, from the publishers,
Messrs. LITTLE AND BROWN, Boston, 'The Relation of the Poet to his
Age: a Discourse delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of
Harvard University,' in August last, by GEORGE S. HILLARD. We agree
in the main with the verdict of the North-American Review upon this
discourse. Its diction is soft and beautiful, the style nicely
polished, and marked by pictured words, glowing images, and fanciful
expressions; yet, as a whole, the discourse 'lacks precision and
definiteness, in the statement of the leading idea in the mind of
the speaker, and a consequent defect of unity and method.' We would
go as far as Mr. HILLARD, or any other American, in inculcating a
love of, and reverence for, the poetical in our country; its early
struggles, its scenery, and its history as a nation; but with
deference, it seems to us that the Merimac _may_ fail to kindle
the emotions, in ever so patriotic a heart, which the associations
connected with the Tiber might naturally inspire; nor are
'Westminster Abbey, the Alps, or the Vatican,' to be excluded from
a kindred place in the mind of the true poet. We must be permitted
also to doubt whether 'SRUMFRY DAVY,' as Mr. YELLOWPLUSH terms the
great scientific discoverer, could have '_chosen_' to be equally
distinguished as a poet; or whether 'the whistle of a locomotive'
has in it, _per se_, much poetry! The 'Discourse' is executed with
great _neatness_, whether we regard it in a literary or external
point of view, and will be found richly to reward the perusal to
which we cordially commend it.
NORTH-AMERICAN REVIEW.--The last issue of this 'ancient and
honorable' Quarterly is a very good one, although less various
in the style of its papers than one or two of its immediate
predecessors. The 'articles' proper are nine in number, and are
upon the following themes: 'The Military Academy' at West-Point;
'Our Commercial History and Policy;' 'TALFOURD'S Miscellaneous
Writings;' 'Early Laws of Massachusetts;' 'RACZYNSKI'S Modern Art
in Germany;' 'The Independence of the Judiciary;' 'Autobiography
of STEFFENS;' 'Despatches of HERNANDO CORTES;' and 'Dr. OLIN'S
Travels in the Holy Land.' The closing article contains the usual
collection of brief notices of new publications, and opens with a
review of Mr. PARSON'S translation of DANTE'S 'Inferno.' We are glad
to find our own opinion of this excellent performance confirmed by
the liberal praise of the North-American. Passages are given from
CARY'S version, in contrast with that of Mr. PARSONS, and the palm
of superiority, in poetical merit, awarded to our countryman. The
poems of Friend WHITTIER are noticed with approbation; and also, in
one or two instances, rather hypercritically, as it strikes us. The
praise, however, is not scant: 'Mr. WHITTIER commands a vigorous and
manly style. His expression is generally simple and to the point.
Some passages in his poems are highly picturesque; and at times his
imagery is bold and striking.' 'The Norsemen,' written for this
Magazine, 'Raphael,' and 'Massachusetts to Virginia,' are pronounced
'musical, almost without fault; and the imagery and expression noble
and spirit-stirring.'
'COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!'--Poultry merchants and 'cultivators' will have
occasion to thank Mr. MICAJAH R. COCK (_nom de plume_) for his
'American Poultry Book,' a practical treatise on the management
of domestic poultry. It bears the high commendation of the Board
of Agriculture of the American Institute, as 'a work supplying
a deficiency which has long been felt in this department of the
agricultural library, and which should find a place in every
farm-house.' The book originated in an attempt, for the compiler's
behoof, to collect and embody in a methodical form all the various
notices respecting the treatment of poultry in America, scattered
through our various periodical publications. Scarcely any thing pays
the farmer a better profit than poultry, fowls requiring little
attention save at a season of the year when he has comparatively
little to do; they are 'amenable' also to the attention of women,
their best protectors indeed, in case the 'men-folk' _are_ employed.
HARPER AND BROTHERS, publishers.
THE 'ILLUSTRATED COMMON-PRAYER.'--Mr. H. W. HEWET has brought these
excellent numbers to a close, and a very beautiful volume will be
the result. The deserved success which has attended the work, we may
presume, has led the publisher to commence an '_Illustrated Sacred
History of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ_, as recorded in the
Four Gospels; arranged in chronological order; with an appendix and
explanatory notes.' The whole will be embellished with numerous
engravings on wood, illustrating the principal events from the
Annunciation to the Ascension. So far as the internal character
of the work is concerned, it is only necessary to say, that it is
confided to the competent care of the Rev. Dr. WAINWRIGHT, while
the previous publications of Mr. HEWET give assurance that his own
department will not be neglected.
* * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Minor typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected
without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have
been retained as printed.
Mismatched quotes are not fixed if it's not sufficiently clear where
the missing quote should be placed.
Page 452: "If it's deep glories prove untrue"-the transcriber has
changed "it's" to "its".
Page 469: "limitless in it's application"-"it's" changed to "its".
The cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the
transcriber and is placed in the public domain.