Chapter M: E. H (4)

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.