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LITEMEY
Jfcmpmwicf
GEORGIA.
L. LINCOLN VEAZEY, Editor.
= THURSDAIAIOKNING, JUNE 3,1858.
WOMAN IN PROSE-may be a less attractive
theme than the one ive last week discussed;
but assuredly it will not appear so to any who
consider truth not only more strange, but also
more valuable, than fiction. Woman has played
no unimportant part in the sternly real portions
of the world’s history. She has done her share
of labor, and done it well; she has endured no
bly, more than her share of suffering, and it is
right that she should receive that meed of praise
which, though justly deserved, has been long
withheld. Among men, she has been alternately
the theme of abuse and panegyric. Wit has
directed at her follies the keenest shafts of its
quiver, while rhetoric has expended itself in eu
logizing her virtues. Yet, few, either of those
who lauded or condemned, understood her na
ture or appreciated her character.
The idea obtained at a very early day that
woman was in every particular man’s inferior.
Among the fathers of our race, her position was
one of social inequality and degradation. For
ages, and even until this day, among barbarous
nations, she was a mere slave, whose highest duty
was to supply the wants of her lordly rulers and
maintain their indolent gentility. The wisest of
their sages could not see that her degraded state
was not her normal condition, and Mohamet,
swayed by the prejudices of those whom he sought
to make proselytes, denied her a soul. It
was not until the religion of our Saviour sent its
holy influences into the world, that she attained
her true rank—that of man’s dependent in the
rough life struggle, whom it is his duty to defend
—his social equal, and his superior in tenderness,
affection and love.
Before the people of Europe had become fully
reconciled to this new doctrine, they ran into
the absurdities of the opposite extreme. To chiv
alry, whatever might have been its errors —and
they were neither small or few—woman must
consider herself largely indebted. Though it had
its origin in war, and carnage was the aliment of
its support, it held respect and gentleness to
females to be as essential to the true chevalier as
personal bravery. The knight who breathed his
vows to his lady-love, and then hurried off with
lance and shield to meet the foe, made her the
subject of his daily thoughts and nightly dreams.
Gradually all those surroundings which proclaimed
her mortal faded from his view. She became
clad in the light of transcendent beauty and spot
less purity; and in imagination, her presence
guarded him during the battle’s fury, as in Gre
cian song the Love Godess hovered with protec
tive arm over the form of her dastard favorite.
Those ideas, though visionary in themselves, were
practical in their effects. Woman was lifted as
far above, as she was formerly sunk below, lier
proper level. She ceased to be the humble plant
constantly trodden down, yet patiently struggling
for existence, and became the tender hot-house
plant which the breath of winter would destroy.
Her true station is a medium between these.
She should neither be bought and sold as a chat
tel, and made the object upon which man may
expend the little tyrannies of his nature, or wor
shipped as a being of superior order. The Cre
ator has endowed her with talents, and assigned
her a sphere where they may be legitimately ex
ercised. Whether or not the limits of her action
have been too much narrowed by the customs of
society, and the law of public opinion, is a ques
tion we are not now disposed to argue. But with
in the province that has been allowed her, she
has been more universally faithful in the dis
charge of her duty than the other sex. Her of
fice has not been a sinecure, nor her foot-way one
of unbroken smoothness. She has seldom been
•called on to endure the rude shocks of the out
ward world, and to undergo the hardships which
the struggle for life imposes; but in the retire-
ment of the domestic circle, she has encountered
mountain difficulties, which nothing else than
strong faith and untiring energy could overcome.
None save God can know the heart-rending
struggles upon which her unmurmuring patience
has placed the seal of eternal silence; yet, we do
know that she has aided and sustained man when
his care-worn spirit would have sunk beneath the
continued frowns of misfortune. She has given
him her prayers, her cheering words of encour
agement, her soft swisperings of hope, by which
he went forth to labor with a stouter heart and a
stronger arm. Nor has she shrank from perform
ing whatever of toil her hands found to do; for
no true woman, be her condition and circumstan
ces what they might, ever eat the bread of idle
ness.
But all of the sex are not such as we have de
scribed. There are many whose souls are the
exti-eme opposites of their magnificently swelling
robes, and whose aspirations never ascend higher
than the gaudy trimmings that surmount their
•crests. Their sole happiness lies in dress and
display ; their only ambition is to be without a
compeer in their devotion to fashion. To these
unworthy considerations they will sacrifice their
•own peace of mind, and that of all with whom
they are connected. So far from relieving their
husbands in financial pressures and distress of
business, they make the difficulties still greater.
Many of these poor, deluded victims of fashion
>could not forego a late style of bonnet or anew
-diess, if bankruptcy and a poor house stared them
in the face. We have no doubt but that the
fearful financial crisis which has oppressed this
•country for the last twelve months, was owing in
no small degree to the thoughtless extravagance
<of wives and daughter’s. These are not women,
but merely the dwarfed, contorted forms of what
would have become such, had not a false system
•of education weakened their energies, deadened
their moral sensibilities, corrupted the purity of
their desires and perverted their aspirations.
Yet, with many, these frivolities, this devotion
to fashion and love of admiration, are only arti
ficial externals, and constitute no part of their
real natures. The leaves which adorn and beau
tify -the trees of the forest, though full of grace
:and elegance, may be blown off by the first rude
‘blast of wind. But when these are swept away,
‘they leave bare a trunk of firmness mid strength
which will withstand the rudest shocks of the
storm. So is it with woman. Wire# basking
under the smileß of fortune, in the lap of luxury,
she seems as pliant as the osier that sways to
• every breeze ; but let misfortune come indeed,
nd, having thrown these trivial things aside, she
will summons that strong “ divinity of soul” which
danger cannot frighten or disaster crush. Timid
as the fawn in hours of safety, she stands un
moved when the proud are humbled and the
brave quake with fear.
In religion, as in everything in which the af
fections of the heart are concerned, woman has
ever been man’s superior. Even when indoctri
nated with the tenets of a false faith, she exhib
ited a zeal, a fervor, a depth of devotion, a purity
of thought and an uprightness of deportment
which rendered her a model for those who claimed
intellectual superiority. It was this which placed
her in heathen temples, and rendered her the
recognised medium through whom the Gods held
converse with men. While our Saviour was on
earth, Jlis female followers adhered to Him with
an unflinching faithfulness, and when the sub
lime drama had closed, were “ last at the cross
and earliest at the grave.” Since then, the
brightest ornaments of the Christian faith, in
every land, have been women. Man can fight
for his religion: can march to the cannon’s mouth;
can lay his head upon the block, endure the
agonies of the rack and brave the terrors of the
stake. But woman can do more than all this:
she can live for it—live a life of meek humility
and unobtrusive toil with a hope of no reward,
save that which a just Taskmaster may give.
Woman has been appointed, by the will of.her
maker, to the most responsible relation which
the world knows. It has often been remarked,
and always with much of truth, that the mother
occupies the position to her offspring of their
second Creator. Ife has breathed into them the
breath of life, but her delicate hand must shape
the outlines bf their moral character. Such an
office invests her with more true dignity than
the empty splendors which surround enthroned
potentates can ever confer. If the sculptor can
look with a glow of pride upon the life-like form
which his chisel has cut from marble, with how
much more pride may she contemplate the char
acter of one whom her untiring care, wise counsel
and gently instilled instructions have contributed
to mold into symmetrical consistency. Talk of
great men; of their achievements and the fame
they have won; but while you do this, be not
silent in regard to the mothers to whom they
are indebted for their greatness.
LAUGHTER is, as much as thought or language,
a mark of distinction between the reasoning
and brute creation. Whatever signs of being
pleased animals may exhibit, they never laugh.
It is even more exclusively confined to human
•beings than the use of words; for all irrational
creatures, especially those of the higher orders,
have some means of communication intelligible
to eaeh other. They have, too, some method of
conveying to us an impression of every emotion
by which they may be agitated, but none which
resemble laughter.
As this is an important mark of distinction be
tween brutes and men, it also serves to distin
guish men from each other. There is nothing in
which people differ more widely or significantly,
than in their manner of laughing. Some never
laugh at all. A meagre smile partially parting
their lips, is their nearest approach to a pleased
expression of countenance. Others laugh as
silently as if they were committing some offence
for which they were fearful of being apprehended
and brought to punishment. Some always laugh
as constrainedly as if they did it at some point
less tale that lias been related for tlieir amuse
ment, while others throw their souls into each
effort of cachinnation, as if they never expected
the enjoyment again. There is the empty, mean
ingless laugh of those who laugh at everything,
and “tho loud laugh that speaks the vacant
mind.”
There is a moral in laughter, and it is one wor
thy of our consideration, as trifling as it may
seem. Much of the soul is spoken forth in this
wordless expression of inward pleasure. It is just
as impossible for a mean man to be delivered of
a good, hearty laugh, as it is for him to manifest
honest, noble principles, and more so; for, the
one he may hypocritically counterfeit, but the
other he never can. Men sometimes laugh while
performing acts of wickedness, but it is not that
cheerful laugh which it charms the ear to listen
to, and the eyes delight to see. It is more often
the demoniac chuckle, which Satan might echo
from the depths of Pandemonium.
We love laughter ; it has a healthy, invigorating,
life-preserving influence; it drives care and des
pondency from the brow, and lifts loads of sor
row from the heart. There is little of earthly
happiness in which it is not in some way con
cerned : for, though there be a negative pleasure
which is calm and silent, laughter must ensue
from all positive enjoyment. It deserves to be
cultivated and promoted by allproper means for
the sake of the benefits which it confers, both on
the mental and physical systems. “ Laugh and
grow fat,” is a prescription which, if followed,
will prove more safe and efficacious than many of
those issued from our doctor shops.
“ Who’er expects a perfect piece to see,”
Expects what he will never find anywhere,
and least of all, in the columns of newspa
pers. , There are many reasons why writers for a
daily or weekly press should be more inaccurate
than any other class. In the first place, he has
always to write with a hurried pen, frequently
throwing liis manuscript to the compositor before
the ink is dry, with all its errors uncorrected.
Then he must compose with a mind harassed by a
multitude of other cares, not seldom having it to
do as a task when no muse imparts her inspira
tion. His time is public property to be broken
in upon by any who may choose to favor (?) him
with their company, and must arise sometimes
while all aglow with a heated paragraph, to wel
come with a bland smile someone whom, just at
that time, he would prefer to know was in Siberia
or at Botany Bay. If you, then, who tlirow aside
a paper in disgust, because each sentence is not
formed with perfect accuracy and adorned with
all the gaudy images of rhetoric, you knew all the
circumstances under which they were composed
and written, would be moved more in sorrow
than in anger.
The following touchingly simple lines were ex
tracted by the Home Journal from the lately pub
lished book of Miss Mulock. The authorship ol
them is unknown:
‘“Do ye think of the days that are gone, Jcanie,
As ye sit by the fire at night ?
Do ye wish that the morn would bring back the time,
When your heart and your step were so light ?’
* I think of the days that are gone, Robin,
And of all that 1 joyed in then ;
But the brightest that ever arose on me,
1 have never wished back again.’
1 Do yc think of the hopes that arc gone, Jeanie,
As yc sit by your fire at night?
Do ye gather them up as they faded fast,
Like buds with an early blight V
‘ I think of the hopes that are gone, Robin,
And I mourn not their stay was fleet;
For they fell as the leaves of the red rose fall,
And were even in sassing, sweet.’
‘Do ye think of the friends that arc gone, Jcanic,
As ye sit by your lire at night?
Do ye wish they were round you again once more,
By the hearth that they made so bright?’
‘ I think of the friends that are gone, Robin;
They are dear to my heart as then;
But the best and dearest among them all, t
1 have never wished back again.’ ”
“ Deem it not an idle thing
A pleasant word to speak;
The face you wear, the thoughts you bring,
A heart may heal or break.”
How little do we know, when a word issues
from our lips, where it will end, and what effects
it will produce. A word spoken in the lightness
of jest may tell fatally or happily on our own or
another’s destiny. The slanderous whisper,
breathed with an injunction of secrecy, may ruin
the proudest hopes of a life. There are no tri
fles in this world of realities, save in appearance
only; but every word and every act is connected
with some other which renders it a link in the
chain of destiny.
The Second Annual Fair of the Gass County
Agricultural Society will be held at Cass Depot,
on the 30th of September and Ist of October
next.
Newton s, Hawkins, convicted of murder at
the last Superior Court of Gordon county, was
hung at Calhoun on the 21st inst.
•*••<>
The Supreme Court commenced its session at
Athens on Monday and closed on Tuesday. There
were about five cases on the docket, four of which
were heard and one continued.
Henry W. Geiger, a son of Col. 11. H. Geiger,’
of Jasper county, a student of Emory College, was
drowned in Yellow River, near Oxford, on the
afternoon of Monday, 24th inst., while bathing.
A little daughter of David Ennis, of G irarcl, Ala.,
while in Columbus, a few days -since, overturned
a vessel of starch just taken from the fire, and
and was so badly burned that she died the same
night.
O.v Friday evening last, (28th ult.) we were
visited by a very heavy storm of wind from the
south-west, attended by the fall of a large quan
tity of rain. The two following days were cool
and cloudy, highly unfavorable, wo should think,
to wheat crops not in a very advanced state of
ripening.
“ Salvation of Infants, or Children, in the King
dom of Heaven,” is the title of a little pamphlet
of twenty-four pages, which lias been laid on our
table by the Southern Baptist Publication Society,
S. C. It is from the graceful and able pen of
Rev. J. P. Tustin, Editor of the ,sbut hern Baptist.
The American Cotton Planter <(’• Soil of the South is
an able agricultural monthly, published at Mont
gomery, Ala. and edited by Dr. N. B. Cloud and
C. A. Peabody, Esq. We have received the June
number, which is filled with matter of interest
and importance to those for whom it is specially
designed. Price, SI.OO a-year.
The ThomasviHe-Enterprise says : The wheat and
oat props throughout this section have been en
tirely destroyed by rust, and we learn that in
some places it is beginning its in-roads upon corn.
There will not be sufficient wheat and oats made
to furnish seed for the next season, and it is
greatly feared that the corn crop, notwithstanding
the favorable season,,will be very short.
Blackwood’s Magazine for May contains Part 3d
of an able essay on “Food and Drink,” Part 12 of
Bulwer’s, “What will he do with it?” “Antiqui
ties of Kei;tcll,” “Colleges and Celibacy—A Dia
logue,” “ Zanzibar, or Two Months in East Afri
ca,” “The roorbeah Mutiny,” “Italy—of the
Arts, the Cradle and tho Grave,” and “ Oude.”
Re-published by L. Scott & Cos. New York, at
83.00 a-year.
The London Quarter?>j Review for April opens
with a long and interesting paper on “The Early
Life of Dr. Johnson.” Besides this, it contains
“Fictions of Bohemia,” “Italian Tours and
Tourists,” ‘"'l'he progress of English Agricul
ture,” “Michael Angelo,” “Public Speaking”—a
splendid article, “ Siege of Lucknow” and “ France
and the Late Ministry.” Ite-published from the
British advance sheets, by L. Scott & Cos. New
York, at $2.00 a-year; one of the Reviews and
Blackwood, $5.00.
An Insurance Company was organized in Atlan
ta to take risks against disastei by fire or flood,
and insure the lives of slaves, Ac. The following
is a list of the officers for the ensuing’year:
Bolling Baker, President ; J. D. Lockhart,
Secretary; Dr. Jos. P. Logan, Medical Exami
ner.
Directoi s.—Bolling Baker, Thomas M. Jones, of
Fayetteville, J. R. Wallace, A. W. Stone, and J.
JD. Lockhart.
We are indebted to some unknown friend for a
copy of the Catalogue of the Officers, Students and
Alumni of Emory College, for the scholastic year
1857-’B. This Institution, located at Oxford, Ga.
is, as is well known, under the direction and pat
ronage of the Methodist Episcopal denomination
of this State, and they support it in a manner
worthy of all commendation. The Catalogue
now before us shows it to be in a highly prospei*-
ous condition, there being in attendance, during
the present term, 175 students, of which 122 be
long to the college classes, viz: 2G Seniors, 3G
Juniors, 41 Sophomores, 23 Freshmen and 0 Ir.
regulars.
THE names of the great Orators who have
flourished in the British realm during the
last hundred years, are’ almost as familiar to
American ears as those of our own. But of their
histories, their respective manners, the character
and rank of their genius, and what they severally
accomplished, comparatively little is known. We
are too much disposed to estimate lowly the
merits of the Orators and Statesmen of the old
world from the impression which many have re
ceived, that the elevated positions which they
occupied, and all the honors which accrued
therefrom, descended to them by hereditary
right. It is a fact, however, worthy of note, that
most of those who have been most conspicuous
in British history for the last century, arose from
the common ranks, and some never received any
patents of nobility. The last number of the Lon
don Quarterly contains a sketch of eacli of these,
beginning with the “Great Commoner,” and com
ing down to Lord Derby in chronological order,
from which we take the following extracts:
Earl of Chatham.
The first Mr. Pitt, the earliest, since the time of
Queen Anne, of the great orators of whom we
have specimens sufficient to enable us to judge of
his style, had been at small pains to qualify him
self for his part in other particulars, but a peren
nial flow of parliamentary eloquence can no more
exist without prompt language than without a
tongue, and he had taken especial care to furnish
his memory with a copious vocabulary. Lord
Chesterfield asserts that he had very, little politi
cal knowledge, that his matter was generally flim
sy, and his arguments often weak. This is con
firmed by Dr. King, whostates that lie was dermoid
of learning, unless it was a slight acquaintance
with the Latin classics, and his sister, Mrs. Anne
Pitt, used to declare sarcastically—for being of
the same haughty temperament they agreed, as
Horace Walpole says, like two drops of fire—that
the only book lie had read was Spenser’s Fairy
Queen,’ which drew from Burke the remark that
whoever was master of Spenser ‘had a stronghold
of the English language.’ But lie had hot trusted
to the bright and roman tic iancy of Spenser alone
to supply him with the materials for contests so
unlike the source from whence he fetched his
aid. Ho studied tliefamous divines of ourchurch,
and especially Barrow, with the same view. Not
only did he attain to a readiness which never
failed him, and in the consciousness of power de
lighted to avail himself of any opportunity to re
ply, but according to Lord Chesterfield every
word he employed was the most expressive that
could be used. What remains of his eloquence
would not bear out this last eulogium, but the re
ports are meagre, and cannot be trusted for more
than an occasional fragment of which the vigor
proves the accuracy. Nevertheless it is certain
from cotemporary accounts that, like all men who
speak much, and trust to the inspiration of tlie
hour, he sometimes made bad speeches, and
would often interpose between his brighter sallies
long passages of commonplace rhetoric. A bold,
brief, and pointed mode of expressing daring
truths, sometimes by metaphor and sometimes
by antithesis, is the characteristic of his most stir
ring appeals. He put had to.say into,the
strongest words the English tongue would afford,
and, possessing a spirit as dauntless as his lan
guage, the attempt to check him invariably drew
from him an indignant arid defiant repetition of
the offence. Herice he was a terrible antagonist,
who awed his opponents by the fierceness and
courage of his invectives, and on popular ques-
I tions roused enthusiasm by the short and vehe
ment sentences in which he embodied the fever
-isll passions of* his hearers. It required tlie ut
most energy of style to sustain the commanding
tone he,assumed, and he would Have been ridic
ulous if ho had not boon subiiino.’ Ofhis manner
we can with difficulty form an idea from the des
criptions which have come down to us, but all are
agreed that every art of elocution and action aided
his imposing figure and bis eagle eye. So consum
mate was his gesture and delivery that Horace
Walpole often calls him ‘Old Garrick.’ This as
much as his command of language must have been
the result of study, and well deserved it for the
effect which it produced.
Edmund Burke. ;
In 17G6 Johnson announced to Longton that!
Burke, who had recently obtained a seat in Par j
Lament, ‘ had made two speeches in the House
for repealing the Stamp Act, which were publicly
eommendeci by Mr. Pitt, and had filled the town
with wonder.’ This was the appropriate start of
a man who, whether as a statesman, a thinker, or
an orator, was without an equal. Pitt and Fox
were great, but Burke belongs to another order
of beings, and ranks with the Shakespeares, the
Bacons, and Newtons. He was what he called
Charles Townsend— ‘ a prodigy’—and the conclu
sion of Moore, after reading the debates ot the
time, that his speeches, wnen compared with those
ofhis ablest cotemporavies, ivere ‘almost super
human,’ must be shared by every one who adopts
the same means of forming a judgment. John
son said ‘he did not grudge his being the first
man in the House of Commons, for he was the
first man everywherebut the House of Com
mons was not composed of Johnsons, and when
the novelty had worn off they grew tired of his
magnificent harangues. His manner was against
him. Grattan, who heard him shortly after he
had entered Parliament, and while he was yet lis
tened to ‘ with profound attention,’ and received
the homage due to ‘acknowledged superiority,’
states that there was a total want of energy in his
delivery, and of gracein his action. Later liewas
noted for frequent outbreaks of impetuosity bor
dering upon passion, but they rather conveyed the
idea of irritability of temper than earnestness of
feeling, and were thought no improveiueut upon
the frigid tone of his early displays. His voice,
which he never attempted to discipline, was
harsh when he was calm, and when he was excited
he often became so hoarse as to be hardly intelli
gible.
The very circumstance which diminished the
interest ofhis oratory when it was delivered adds
to it now. The less it was confined to temporary
topics, and tlie more it dealt in permanent prin
ciples, the greater its value to posterity. Those
whose own horizon was bounded by party preju
dices could not even perceive how vast was the
reach of his vision in comparison with their own.
the profligate Wilkes, who, in his popular time, j
was at best an ape mimicking the fierceness of the j
tiger, said, in the days when, the pretended pa- j
triot had subsided into the sleek and docile
placeman, that Burke bad drawn his own charac
ter in that of Rousseau —‘much splendid brilliant
eloquence, little solid wisdom.’ In our age the
wisdom and the eloquence would be pronounced
to be upon a par. They are both transcendanf,
and tho world has n'ever alforded a second exam
ple of their union in anything like tlie same de
gree. Ilis language was nervous, his sentences
polished, his abundant metaphors grand and orig
inal. Though his style is never stilted, it lias a
rare majesty both in thought and expression. Oc
casionally lie descends to phrases and images
which arc too homely for the general train of his
discourse; but these blots are not frequent. Ilis
commonest fault is rather a monotony of dignity,
which wants the relief of passages dressed in a
more familiar garb. ll© has tho further defect
of moving too slowly over his ground. There is
no repetition in his language, nor much tautology
in his sentences. But he dwells long upon one
idea, and reiterates it as a whole or in its parts
under manifold forms.
Charles Fox.
Conversation Sharpe relates of Mr. Fox that he
sometimes put the arguments of his adversaries
in such an advantageous light that his friends
were alarmed lest he should fail to answer them.
To state one by one the arguments of the opposi
tion, and one by one to reply to them, was the
characteristic of his speaking, and without the
aid of this text upon which to hang his comments
lie could make little progress. His opening
speeches were almost always bad, Until he got
warmed with his subject he hesitated and stam
mered, and he often continued for long together
in a tame and commonplace strain. Even in his
highest flights he indulged in incessant repeti
tions, was negligent in his language, and was nei
ther polished nor exact in his style. Notwith
standing these defects he exercised a prodigious
influence over his hearers. ‘He forgot himself,’
says Sir James Mackintosh, ‘and everything
around him. Ho darted fire into his audience.
Torrents of impetuous and irresistible eloquence
swept along their feelings and convictions.’ There
is nothing in his finest passages which would seem
to answer to this description, for to the calm eye
of the reader they are married by the want of
condensation and finish, and their faults are per
haps more conspicuous than their beauties. But
if his speeches are considered with reference to
the influence they might exert when delivered
with vehemence to partizans who were excited
upon the topics of which they treat, and who
would only slightly remark during the rapidity
of utterance the negligence which reigns through
out his best declamation, it is easy to understand
the impression they made. There is a rough vig
or and animation in his phraseology, a force or
plausibility in his reasoning, and a fertility in his
counter arguments which would be highly ellec
tive whilst the contest raged.
William Titt,
Lord Chatarn brought up his son to be an ora
tor, and the reason he came forth a consummate
speaker in his youth was that lie had been learn
ing the lesson from boyhood. None of the negli
gence of Fox was apparent in him. His senten
ces, which fell from him as easily as if he had
been talking, were as finished as if they had been
penned. They were stately, flowing, and harmo
nious, kept up throughout to the same level, and
set off* by a fine voice and a dignified* bearing.
But it must be confessed that there is a large
measure of truth in the criticism that he spoke 7 a
state-paper style. Though the language is sono
rous, pure, and perspicuous, and though it per
fectly defines the ideas he intended to convey, it
is wanting in fire, and those peculiar felicities
which arrest attention, and call forth admiration.
In our opinion he was greater as a minister than
as an orator if his speeches are to be judged as
literary compositions, and not solely for their
adaptation to a temporary purpose, which they
most effectually served. His father was less equal
and his manner indeed entirely different from
that ofhis son, but in the energy and picturesque
ness of his brightest flashes, Lord Chatham
was as superior to Mr. Tittas Pitt was superior to
Lord Chatham in argument and the knowledge
of politics and finance.
It. 13. Sheridan.
Sheridan as an orator was very inferior to the
persons with whom his name is usually associated.
1 1 is taste was radically vicious. II is favorite sen
timents were claptrap, his favorite phraseology
tinsel. The florid rhetoric, the apostrophes, and
the invocations which imposed upon his listeners
appear now to be only lit to be addressed to* the
gallaries by some hero of a melo-clrama. Burke
said of his speech on the Begums in Westminis
ter Hall, at the impeachment of Warren Hastings,
‘ That it is the true style; something neither prose
nor poetry, but better than either.’ Moore had
the short hand writers’ report, and though his
own taste at that time was sufficiently- oriental,
he pronounced it to ‘be trashy bombast.’ I here
is occasionally in Sheridan a line image ora splen
did sentence, but his most highly wrought passa
ges belong in general to the class ol the false su >-
lime.
llis wit, which was the chief excellence, was
equally known to have been studied in the closet
oven before Moore printed from las papers the
several forms through which many oi Ins sar
castic pleasantries have passed from their first germ
to the last edition which he produced m public.
Pitt in replying to him spoko of his hoarded re
partees and matured jests.’ Every person who
has been upon the stage remains more or less an
actor when he is off. Sheridan, the son. of a
player, and himself a dramatist and the manager
of a theatre, had contracted this habit, and car
ried to charlatanry bis vain attempts to conceal
liis labored preparation.
Lord Canning.
Cnnnin” is an evidence that wit and eloquence
may find a full exorcise in the exposition of facts
and in reasoning upon details.ns well as m vague
and superficial generalities. Ills style was lighter
than that of Pitt and his language more elegant,
disclosing in its greater felicity his more intimate
acquaintance with the masterpieces of literaturo.
His graceful composition would hay e enlivened any
topic 6VCn it Ills satirical pleasantry had been
less bright and abundant. The point in which
he fell below the highest orators was in his de
el amatory passages, which aresomewhat deficient
in that robustness and power, that grandeur and
magnificence which thrill through the mind. The
effect of his speaking was even diminished by the
excess to which lie carried his painstaking, by the
evident elaboration of everjr word he uttered, by
the over-fastidiousness which prevented his for
getting in his subject his care for the garb in
which he clothed it, He needed a little more of
that last art- by which art is concealed ; but what
intense application did not enable him to reftveh
would certainly have not been gained through in
dolence, except by the sacrifice of all the merits
which have rendered him famous.
Lord Brougham.
Lord Brougham, who comes next in this line
or illustrious orators, whom we have named in a
chronological series, has, like Cicero, discoursed
nS!m Up ° n h ! S!irt; autl n °t Cicero himself has
insisted more strenuously upon the absolute ne
eess.ty of incessant study of the best models, and
diligent use of the pen. His speeches, a selec
tion from winch, in two volumes, has been re
cently published, are an evidence that he has
done both in his own person. His familiaritv
with Demosthenes is attested by his imitation of
some of bis noblest passages; and he is generally
understood to have writ ten several of his celebra
ted perorations again and again. No man has
spoken more frequently offhand, or has had a
more inexhaustible supply of language, knowl
edge, and sarcasm at command. He, if any
one, might have been supposed capable of dispens
ing with tho prepe at ion he has practised and en
forced ; and we could desire nostronger illustration
of the eternal truth, that excellence and labor
are never disjoined. In the speeches of Pitt,
Fox, Sheridan, and Canning, we seek in vain for
specimens of oratory which, when separated from
the context, would give an adequate idea of their
powers, and do justice to their renown. Their
most perfect pages would disappoint those whose
opinion of their genius is chiefly derived from
traditionary fame. In the ease of Lord Brough
am, the best panegyric of his highest eloquence
is to transcribe it.
My Love.
BY FRANCIS DE HAES JANVIER.
“ 1 my love in spring time.”—Charles Mack.iv.
I.
I loved my love iiTspring time,
When like a budding flower,
The promise of her loveliness
Tlnfolded every hour—
I loved her for her heartlessness,
Half trustful, half afraid—
T loved my love in Spring time,
A pure, retiring maid !
11.
I loved my love in Summer
For promises fulfilled,
For influence on my wayward heart,
Like heavenly dewdistiled—
I loved her lbisweet sympathy,
Which drew Iter to my side—
I loved my love in Summer—
A beauteous, blushing Biide !
111.
I love my love in Autumn
For lovelines mature,
For golden stores of happiness,
, All gathered and secure—
I love her for approving smiles,
Which brighten all my life
I love ray love in Autumn ;
A lovely, loving Wife!
IV.
I’ll love my love in Winter,
Though on herbrowmay fall,
Like snow flakes in the eventide,
Time’s silver coronal—
Though deoponing furrows multiply,
And beauty disappear—
I’ll love my love in Winter,
As I’ve loved her ALL THE year !
Foolish Virgins.
In olden times there were “five foolish virgins .”
We are afraid that there are fully as many as
that number at this present clay. Some of them
were born foolish; some of them were made fool
ish by the examples of their weak-minded mo
thers ; and some of them havo made themselves
foolish.
. See that dashing belle, flounced from her heels
to her arm pits, and bedizened with jewelry,
pearls, gems and precious stones. Her mother
thinks Ler an angel; and she thinks herself an
archangel; but she is a “foolish virgin”—that is
all she is. He who made her endowed her with
au immortal soul, and pointing her to an eternal
hereafter, said to her, “ Let not your adorning
be outward, the adorning of plaiting the hair, of
wearing gold, or of putting on apparel, but let it
be the bidden man of the heart, even the orna
ment of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the
sight of God of great price.” But all the adorn
ing that this foolish virgin has is outward. She
has no solid education, no mental culture, and no
noble and generous heart. She is not qualified
for any usefulness in this world, usefulness except
as a frame on which to exhibit dry goods and the
dressmaker’s skill. Ancl when she shall appear be
fore her Maker, stripped of her “outward adorn
ing,” and without that precious “ ornament of the
heart,” what a miserable figure that foolish virgin
will cut. ft is awful to think of the future of
these mere butterflies of fashion. What is she
good for ? She knows not how to earn an honest
livelihood. She could not make a loaf of bread,
nor roast a turkey, nor bake a pudding. She
could not knit a tidy, though she oftens knits
her brow. She could not darn a stocking, though
she could darn everything else. The most sim
ple article of dress that adorns her useless body
she could not make. “ She toils not, neither
does she spin, yet Solomon, in all his glory, was
not arrayed like her.” She has very little mind.
Tier head is well nigh as hollow as a yellow
pumpkin. She can only talk of theatres, balls,
fashion and beaux. Her moral nature is wholly
uncultivated. She spends more in examining
fashion plates than in examining her poor little
heart; more time in reading love stories than in
reading the blessed Bible. What on earth is she
good for? She is a bill of useless expense to her
father, and a barren fig tree in the great moral
vineyard.* The world would be better off if this
foolish virgin no longer encumbered (lie ground.
And one of these days the scythe of Time will
cut her down, and the miserable flirt will go to
her account. Girls, young women, consider your
wavs. Have a high and worthy purpose. Make
yourselves a blessing to this world. Abhoi to ie
Flora M’Flimsev, as you would abhor to be any
other fool. Be‘useful, be modest, be good, be
“wise virgins,” and when the great bridegroom
shall come, you shall go with him to the mar
riage. ,
Wit and Sarcasm
Were united when Lord Chatham rebuked a
dishonest Chancellor of the Exchequer by finish
ing a quotation the latter iiad commenced. The
debate turned upon some grant of money for the
encouragement of ai t, which was opposed Dy the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, who finished his
speech against Lord Chatham’s motion by saying,
“‘Why was not this ointment sold and the money
given to tlie poor?’” Chatham rose, and said,
“ Why did not the noble Lord complete the quo
tation', the application being so striking? As he
lias shrunk from it, I will finish the verse for him
* This Judas said, not that he cared for the poor,
but because he was a thief and carried the bag. ,!)
It was coarse wit when Lord Byron, who was
groaning with agony from a severe attack of colie,
and exclaiming, “ Lord help mo? I am dying,”
was told by Trclawnev, “Not to make such an in
fernal fuss about dying.”
Luttrell tells a story of Sir F. Gould, who had a
habit of adding the phrase “on the contrary”
to every thing he said; a gentleman saying to
him, “So I hear Gould, you eat three eggs every
morning for breakfast?” “No,” roplied Sir
Francis, “you are mistaken; on the contrary
—” “ What tho devil,”said Luttrell, “does the
contrary of eating three eggs mean ?” “ Laying
them of course!” said Sheridan. This was ready
wit.
• i i•• .
The Tender Passion.— -Thackeray says, that
“ when man is in love with one woman in a fami
ly, it is astonishing how fond he becomes of every
person connected with it. He ingratiates him
self with tho maids; he is bland with the butler;
he interests himself with tho footman ; he runs
on errands for the daughters; he gives advice
and lends money to the young son at College; he
pats little dogs, which he would kick otherwise ;
he smiles at old stories, which would make him
break out in yanns were they uttered by any one
but papa; he drinks Sweet Port wine, for which
he would curse the steward and the whole com
mittee of a Club ; he bears even with the can
tankerous old maiden aunt; he beats time when
darling Fanny performs her piece on the P ian ° ;
and smiles when wicked, lively little Bobby up
sets the coffee over his shirts.”
It is not well for a man to pray cream and live
skim-milk. - - , ■
The national debt of Spain amounts to £l4<V
000,000 sterling.
The Legislature of Oregon, at its last session
divorced 00 couples. 7
The population of Cleveland, Ohio,lias increased
from 17,000, in 1851>,-to G(),000.
~f f
There are theatres in Paris, twen
ty-three in London, and ten in New York.
They are pot reformers who simply abhor evil.
Such men become in the end abhorrent them
selves.
Carry holy principles with “you into tlie .world,
and the world will become hallowed by their pre
sence.
The name of Yuma is proposed for anew Ter
ritory, to be formed from the western division of
Utah.
Anew post office lias been established in Carroll
county, (la., called “Central Point. J as. F. Reevds,
postmaster.
The Bainbridge Georgian says that tlie prospects
tor fine crops of corn and cotton iii that country
are very flattering.
Fb e Hon. Edward Erakhie, Secretary of tho
British Legation at .Turin, is appointed to the
same post at Washington.
.Governor A\ illard of Indy, is lying very low
with a severe attack oi pneumonia or congestion
of the lungs. Ilis recovery is doutful.
There is a purple half to the grape, a mellow
and crimson half to the peach,, a sunny half to
the globe, and a better half to man.
Kirwan says that a pious Scotchman used to
pray, “O Lord keep me right ; for thouknowest
if 1 go wrong, it is very hard to turn me.”
Nearly two thousand British subjects are cal
culated to be in Rome at the present time, and as
many more Russians, French and Americans.
The F reach government is seriously thinking of
intjwrting one hundred thoijsand negroes into Al
geria, to give an impetus to production there.
The specie reserve of the Philadelphia Banks
amounts to over seven millions of dollars. Tho
circulation is slightly under two million and a
half.
Tho Class of ’AT in Hamilton College, N. Y,,
instituted a fund of £SO, which was to be appro
priated to the purchase of a Silver Cup, as a prize
to the first boy born to any member of the Class.
Tho accounts from the agricultural districts of
France are cheering, Tlie wheat crops promised
an early and an abundant harvest. The vine
yards, generally, likewise presented a fine appear
ance.
Ft is currently rumored that Janies M. Buch
anan, Esq., of Baltimore, has received the appoint
ment of Minister to Denmark in place of the
Hon. Henry M. Hettinger, whose commission
has expired.
-m * ■>*>■ • *■
Among Jho patents issued from the United
States Patent Office, for the week ending May IS,
1858, each bearing that date, is tlie following:
.1 ohn M. Hall, of WaiTcnton, < )a. For improve
ment in plows,
Tho number of newspapers in the State of New
York is 559, and other periodicals 112; aggregate
circulation of dailies 3 12,7.83, semi-weeklies 40,-
387, weeklies 1,284,340, semi-monthlies, 204,000,
monthlies, 1,287,050.
The extent of the teritory and variety of cli
mate of the United States, may be realized in
the fact that in certain parts of Texas the- wheat
crop is now ready for the scythe, while at the
North it is just beginning to grow.
Ministers are not the costliest articles in the
country after all. In the United States, the
clergy cost 812,000,000 per year; criminals,
840,000,000; lawyers, 870,000,000; ardent spirits,
$200,000,000; and eveu dogs oversßo,ooo,ooo.
The clergymen stand at the lowest figure on this
list it appears.
-
Death of an Episcopal Bishop.— Letters re
ceived from Arkansas announce tlie death of tlie
Rt. Rev. Geo. \V. Freeman, Bishop of tho Dio
cese of Texas and Arkansas. The event took
placejat Little llock, Arkansas, the 28tli ult.
Bishop Freeman was 68 years of age. In early
life lie resided in North Carolina and Delaware.
Francis, Duke of Luxembourg, was a celebrated
French general, and much deformed. His uni
form success, when contending with V idiam 111.,
of England, rendered him an object of jealousy
to that prince, who once, in the bitterness ot his
heart, called him “hump-back.” “What does
he know of my back?’’ said tlie marshal, “he
never saw it.”
The national debt of England, caused by the
accumulated expenses oi former wars and foimei
deficiencies between receipts and payments is, in
round numbers, £800,000,000; tlie interests ol
which and expenses of management, &c., annu
ally amounts to about £28,000,000. equal to more
than $100,000,000, and lias to be provided for out
of the receipts ol tlie year.
The widow of Joe Smith, the Mormon, still re
sides at Nauvoo, but she cares nothing for the
saints, and lias married a tavern keeper, who
thinks all prophets humbugs. Young Joe, who
should by light have been the head ol the Mor
mons, is a stout gawky of twenty-two, who hates
Brigham Young, and curses tlie Salt Lakers.
Nauvco was once a place of twenty thousand in
habitants, but is now a place of ruins.
I IRichmond boasts the largest flouring mill in the
world. Itis ninety-six feet front, one hundred
and sixty-five feet deep, one hundred and twen
tv-onc feet high in front, divided in twelve sta
rves. Each floor contains about 14,560 superficial
feet; including the two floors in the roof, tho
total will be about 155,000 square feet, or rather
more than three and a half acres. Altogether,
the avaliblc space within the walls is about 200,-
000 square feet.
Mr. Everett’s Southern Tour. — Mr. Everett
lias returned from tlie Southern tour. Since the
month of November lie lias repeated his discourse
on “ The Character of Washington,” for the bene
fit of the Mount Vernon Fund, twenty-three
times, with in aggregate net receipt of 814,-645 ;
and his address on “ Charity,” fourteen times, for
the benefit of various charitable institutions, with
an aggregate net receipt of $12,433. The net pro
ceeds of his oratorical labors for the last six
months, for the benefit of the Mount Vernon
fund and various charitable institutions, is 827,-
078—. Y. F; PosU
The shyloek who with head erect, with honest
people mingles, should cease to shave his felloip
men, and go to shaving shingles.
The lawyer would bo better otfo bis conscience
far less pliant, who owned a little farm in foe and
made that farm his client.
Wc have some doctors in our midst, with taleni>
thoy should use, by practicing the healing art, m
heeling boots and shoes.
The minister whose sage advice a useful
teaches, should mind and “watch as well as pray,
and practice what he preaches.
The world should havo its docket called, and
sluggards all defaulted ; and those should be tlie
“ upper ten,” whom labor lias exalted.
Handwriting of SovE^mNS.— How
tic is the signature of Ciueen LlizabetlC stateW,
tall and queen-like, commanding and
but defaced with ignoble power and vanity , hei
varTed remarkably at different periods, as
liana viu r en rv the Seventh wrote a cold
Stand- uifo .he M
strong and self-willed ; Richard the Third wrote
a vigorous, reckless and dashing Y Anne Boleyn
wrote a steady composed hand, not without ele
gance ; Catherine Parr’s writing is pedantic, with
much cold, persevering energ* ; Mary, Queen oi
Scots a plain and elegant hand, with much clear
ness and firmness; Edward the Sixth wrote a
hand of laborious pedantry ; Queen Anne wrot
a motherly hand; James the First, a vulgar, and
[ obtrude hand.