Part 14

'M.'s curt notelet is impertinent and ungentleman-like. His article was a mere _ébauche_, and very indifferent at that. The _nuclei_ of his associations were objects of the very smallest kind, and the language was kept down to a sympathetic degradation and due correspondence with the thoughts. The article was 'respectfully declined,' and in the manner prescribed by its author; and for this we are berated in no measured terms. 'Go to; you are a fishmonger.' * * * THE '_Lines to Old Ocean_' possess a kind of latent rough-and-tumble sublimity, not unlike a good borrowed thought smothered in windy words by JOHN NEAL. But we like DICKENS'S prose picture of 'the main' much better: 'The sea never knows what to do with itself. It hasn't got no employment for its mind, and is always in a state of vacancy. Like them polar bears in the wild-beast shows, as is constantly a-nodding their heads from side to side, it never _can_ be quiet.' This is at least '_clear_ to the meanest capacity.' * * * IT is said of RICHTER, that his foremost thought about a wife was, that she should be able to 'cook him something good.' Our Port-Chester epigrammatist seems to have a taste for the fragile in his estimate of the sex:

'LOVELY woman's a flower, so when you address her, If you wish to retain, I advise you to press her.'

The others 'will do.' They bide their time; as also the 'Night on Lake Erie.' * * * THE recent death of WASHINGTON ALLSTON, the painter, the poet, in all respects the man of genius, has left a void which will not soon be filled; and _one_ there is, in a foreign land, who will feel this sad event in his very heart of hearts. WASHINGTON IRVING and WASHINGTON ALLSTON were for many years friends of as confiding a faith and firm an attachment as DAMON and PYTHIAS. They rose to fame abroad together; were constant mutual advisers in literature and art; and at one time, when they were residing temporarily in Rome, we came near losing our renowned author, through the love he bore his friend, and a desire to unite with him in the common pursuit of his delightful art. We shall hope to obtain for these pages a tribute from the pen of Mr. IRVING to the memory of his illustrious friend. * * * HERE is a fact related by an eastern correspondent, that raises HANDY ANDY'S character for truth and veracity greatly in our estimation. It matches the best blunder recorded by that amusing narrator: 'Not many days since, a little child, two years old, the son of a poor Irish widow, lay in the middle of a new road, kicking up a dust, and roasting in the sun. Presently came along an Irish teamster, who in the most deliberate and careless manner walked his team over the little fellow, and crushed him to death. Some dozen or twenty Irish shanties were in full view of the catastrophe; and as might be expected, there was a rush and an ullulloo from a hundred women at once. While some took up the dead body, others shouted after the teamster, who, apparently unconcerned, was making slowly off. They forced him back to the scene of the catastrophe, where they did not hesitate to accuse him of having caused it purposely. Pat of course denied it strenuously, declaring that he did not see the child, and was therefore wholly blameless. But with a hundred fierce eyes glaring upon him at once, and fifty tongues hissing in his ear, he became confused, began to waver, and finally gave up the point entirely, probably as a peace-offering to his tormentors: 'Thrue, thrue, Mistress CONOLLY,' said he to one of them, while he scratched his head sorrowfully, 'I _did_ see the boy lying there, 'pon me word; _but I thought he was asleep!_' This, Mr. C., is a positive fact.' * * * DID you ever peruse these '_Lines written upon a Watch?_' We derive them from a favorite contributor, who informs us that his honored father, in winding up his watch, used often to repeat them:

'COULD but our tempers move like this machine, Not urged by passion, nor delayed by spleen, But true to Nature's regulative power, By virtuous acts distinguished every hour; Then Health and Joy would follow, as they ought, The laws of motion and the laws of thought: Sweet Health, to pass the present moments o'er, And endless Joy, when Time shall be no more!'

'ONE more last word' to '_Mein Herr of Albany_,' to whom we alluded in our last number. We admit the justice of your satire; but with deference, it strikes us that it does not require a cimeter to cut down a gnat. HOOD somewhere mentions an Irishman who apologized to the keeper of a menagerie for insulting his elephant by a rude assault upon his most prominent feature. He couldn't resist, he said, the only chance he had ever had to pull a nose that he could take hold of with both hands! Our correspondent has a kindred excuse, certainly, in _one_ sense, but not in another. 'Fleas are not lobsters,' nor are asses elephants. * * * A VERY charming story, friend 'G.' of Illinois; simple, well-told, and _not too long_--the bane of kindred performances. Love-stories should _end_ once in a while, by way of novelty. How many novelists have elaborated chapter after chapter, to depict the true-hearted constancy which is better described in these four lines:

'I LO'E nae a laddie but ane, He lo'es nae a lassie but me; He's willing to make me his ain, And his ain I am willing to be.'

'T.'S manuscript is _wretched_. The words are strung together like a bunch of onions. Some of the conglomerated syllables reminded us of a sign in London, mentioned by HOOK, whereby a plain manufacturer of Roman cement was turned into a manufacturer of _Romancement_; as if he were anxious to solicit business from the prolific fashionable novelists of the time. * * * WE do _not_ accept '_The Signs of the Times_.' The writer looks through a pair of very dark spectacles, we should say. Going upon the assumption that every man is a rascal until he _proves_ himself an honest man, would be a course as unjust to a community as to an individual. Our correspondent seems to think that 'the world is in a state of bankruptcy; that it owes the world more than the world can pay, and ought to go into chancery and be sold!' The best-laid plans of _honest_ men, our censor should remember, often fail. The race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong, as many a delving, toiling 'two-footed worker' can bear witness:

'DAME FORTUNE is a fickle gipsy, And always blind, and often tipsy; Sometimes for years and years together She'll bless you with the sunniest weather, Bestowing honor, pudding, pence, You can't imagine why, or whence; Then in a moment. Presto, pass! Your hopes are withered like the grass.'

WE have received a very indignant epistle from '_The Mail-Robber_,' who read our last number at Saratoga, where he is temporarily sojourning. We shall present it to our readers, with another poetical epistle, in our September issue. 'Mohawk, a Cluster of Sonnets,' by our friend H. W. ROCKWELL, Esq.; 'Green places of the City,' by Mrs. HEWITT; and 'Thoughts at Niagara,' are in type for our next. A word here to a few correspondents whose articles were not named in the large list enumerated in our last, or who have not been privately advised of the reception and disposition of their papers: Where is our venerable friend to whom we have been indebted for '_The Young Englishman?_' We look for him in our next. The 'Treatise of Books' by 'R.' struck us as rather stiltish and labored in its style, although its _thoughts_ were unexceptionable. It was declined, however, because our port-folios contained three or four papers on the same theme, for whose insertion at some future day we have been looking for several months. The 'Treatise' awaits 'R's order at the publication-office. 'H. W. R.'s indignation at the silly charge of plagiarism of '_The Southern Pinewoods_' by BRYANT--whose lines on '_The Prairies_,' written for the KNICKERBOCKER, furnished every thought and simile for the imitation--would be thrown away upon a 'weak invention.' The whole affair is a stupid joke, not worth a resurrection. 'Chronicles of the Past,' by an esteemed friend and contributor, is filed for insertion. 'Peter Brown and Dolly Cross,' a Legendary Ballad, and 'Night and Morning,' by 'W. H. H.,' bide their time. They are 'booked.' 'T.'s 'Lines on the Death of a Young Girl' are under 'hopeful' advisement. We shall be glad to receive the 'Inquiry concerning the Manifestation of Mind by the Lower Orders of Animals.' The theme is a fruitful one. Notices in type, of several new publications, are _unavoidably_ omitted.

LITERARY RECORD.

'WASHINGTON: A NATIONAL POEM.'--Who was it contributed five pounds toward the payment of the English national debt? He was such a benefactor to Britain, in a pecuniary point of view, as the author of this 'WASHINGTON' poem is to our national literature. To judge from his high-sounding preface, one would think that MILTON was to be out-done, and the fame of by-gone poets utterly eclipsed. The writer went into a 'state of retiracy' and 'threw himself into his task.' He 'read, mused, and meditated; wrote and re-wrote.' He rose early and reposed late; 'sleepless himself, to give to others sleep!' He 'prepared himself long and laboriously' for his great effort, and 'laid his foundations deep.' And the result is, that he has given us an _original_ poem which sets criticism at defiance. In this judgment, unless 'we bedoubt them o'ermuch,' to use our poet's words, his readers will at least agree with us. Since the 'travail in spirit' of Dr. M'HENRY, in bringing forth 'The Antediluvians' in twelve books--an ominous number in the present instance also--we have seen nothing to compare with the pains and perils which our poet must have suffered and dared, in giving birth to the literary offspring under notice. Our candid and deliberate advice to the author is, to bottle up Book First in spirits, and strangle its eleven brothers.

'ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE CROTON AQUEDUCT.'--We regret that we did not receive this noble work of Mr. F. B. TOWER, of the Engineer Department, in time for adequate notice in the present number. As it is, we cannot forbear to call public attention to its great merits. The volume is a superb quarto, containing upward of twenty large and exceedingly well-executed engravings, illustrating all the important structures on the entire line of the Aqueduct, from its source; its tunnels, aqueducts, bridges, reservoirs, fountains, etc. In the letter-press, which we should not omit to add does great credit to the care and skill of the printer, Mr. OSBORN, we find a clear and comprehensive history of the preliminary measures which led to the accomplishment of this great enterprise, together with accounts of the aqueducts of ancient Rome, and of the Romans in other parts of Europe, as well as of the modern Roman, Italian, French, Mexican, and South American works, of a kindred character. Messrs. WILEY AND PUTNAM are the publishers.

'CLONTARF, OR THE FIELD OF THE GREEN BANNER,' is the title of an Irish Historical Romance, in verse, by JOHN AUGUSTUS SHEA, which reaches us at too late an hour for adequate perusal and notice. Not to pass it wholly by, however, we are fain to say, that in hastily reading a passage here and there through the volume, we have been struck with the warm spirit of freedom which it breathes, the easy flow of its versification, and its frequently agreeable imagery and faithful pictures of passion. The poetical introduction is fervid and felicitous. A few minor poems, which have acquired general celebrity, among them that fine address to the ocean, 'Likeness of Heaven!' etc., close the volume; which being published by APPLETON AND COMPANY is of course in good keeping in its externals.

THE NORTH-AMERICAN REVIEW, for the July quarter, is an excellent issue of that always respectable Quarterly. The leading paper, upon the life and character of THOMAS PAINE, is written with great power, and with evident familiarity with all the details of the history of its notorious subject. STEPHENS'S 'Travels in Yucatan' and Miss BREMER'S novels are noticed in terms of well-deserved praise. These, with an entertaining and instructive article upon the cod, mackerel, and herring fisheries, are all which we have found leisure to read. The remaining papers are upon the 'Mutiny of the Somers,' DRAKE'S 'Northern Lakes and Southern Invalids,' 'The School and the School-master,' 'The Nestorian Christians,' 'Classical Studies,' and the usual briefer 'Critical Notices.'

MR. NISBET'S LECTURE.--We have perused the lecture delivered before the Georgia Historical Society at Savannah, by Mr. EUGENIUS A. NISBET, with satisfaction and pleasure. The writer's remarks upon the drama; the tendency of French literature; the necessity of an international copy-right law; the intellectual inheritance which we have derived from England; and the influence of domestic airs and national songs; are exceedingly forcible and just. We commend especially Mr. NISBET'S argument in favor of literary protection to those liberal-minded casuists who would at the same time pick an author's brains and his pockets, and defend the justice of the operation, on the ground that the victim could not help it, and that _somebody_ would rob him if _they_ did not!

* * * * *

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.

The cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.