The Southern post and literary aspirant. (Macon, Ga.) 1837-1837, September 16, 1837, Image 1
THE SOUTHERN POST.
AND LITERARY ASPIRANT.
TWO DOLLARS IN ADVANCE-THREE DOLLARS AT THE END OF THE YEAR—SI 25 SIX MONTHS.
*3. R. HANLRXTER & CO.
Miscellaneous Dcpartment.
From the London Athenaeum.
AMERICA.
[continued.]
Orator} r is the proper growth
of a republic. It is now in Amer
ica, as it was once in Athens—
the fire and energy of its mast r
minds find their readiest vent in
public addresses, and will, in this
shape, live with posterity when
other exponents of the age are
indistinct or forgotten. We do
not tli nk the orations of America
are known in England, and yet,
to produce but the half-dozen
which lie before us, would be to
answer at once ti e gfeat outcry
for something national and pecu
liar. There is no anniversary in
America—no occurrence of pub
lic interest—no death of adisiin
guised individuil, in their own
country or abro id, which has a
refence to tiie history of the.r in
dependence—nothing in any way
bearing on their feeling lor the
republic , which is not commemo
rated in an oration —and one, too,
in which the utmost liberty is giv
en to the speaker, and which,
from the excitement that prevails,
(and tiie Americans arc the most
excitable people upon the earth
on national topics,) kindles all
that there is in the speaker’s soul
of enthusiasm and eloquence.—
These orations are delivered, in
the first place, to crowded audi
ences, copied and commented on
in all the newspapers, printed and
circulated most widely in the form
%/
of pamphlets ; and the most stri
king and fervid pass iges are then
extracted into school-books, and
given as lessons in eloquence to
the youth of the country. There
is no caleulaiing tiie effect of this
per petual supply of fuel to the fire
of republicanism. The United
States will sit under a monarchy,
when they can produce no more
such orators as Webster and Ev
erett, or when theit* speeches are
expunged from the school-books,
and oration to a public assembly
becomes a capital crime—and not
before.
We have mentioned the names
of the two most distinguished
public speakers in the United
States, Daniel Webstrr and Ed
ward Everett: the first is well
known in England as a statesman
and jurist; and an elaborate pa
per, on his pleadings and orations,
appeared in a late number of the
Law Magazine ; we refer the rea
der to that review, for varied spe
cimens of his composition, and
appeal to them, if th re has been
any thing, since the days of Burke,
of equal force and fervor.
*****
Edward Everett is a very young
man and is less known abroad.—
Ilis rote has been a distinguished
one from tne first: at cighcen
years of age he was “ s t eti” (an
American word, which means
chosen by vote of the church as
a regular pastor) over one ol the
largest and most enlightened Uni
tarian congr- gations in Boston.
His youth and singular eloquence
drew crowds whenever he preach
ed, and, aiter the great Ch inning,
lie was the most chaste writer, and
fervent speaker in that remarka
ble sect. His health failed in a
year or two, and he was sent a
oroad at the expense of Ills con
gregation, and made the best use
of Ins tune m two years’ travel in
Europe. He returned, in exteri
or, a polished man of the world,
and iro.ii a doubt of his health, or
a more ambitious reason, gave up
tiie puipit ior the professorship of
languages in the wealthy and long
established University of Harvard.
He achieved m a year or two a
brilliant reputation as a Greek
and Oriental scholar, and having
made nnnself all that a professor
could, looked about ior another
arena, and stood for a Represon
tive to Congress. He was elec
ted by acclamation, and has ever
smee been a colleague of Web
ster's, in representing the core of
New England in the Congress of
the United States—die most in
telligent and educated portion of
tne republic. Tics is, of course,
his last change, and being still
under thirty, and in die full vigor
ot Ins health and powers, he has
played a part mostly of reserve,
and managed lus cards warily and
well. He speaks seldom in the
House, but, when he does, it is
with all the eifect of an aim direc
ted with unerring judgment.
Everett is about tlie middle
height, very fair, and of the most
modest and simple, and yet per
fectly thorough-bred address,—
His features are not remarkable,
but his face is the very imprint of
openness and candor, and is per
haps well described by the word
in cresting. His oratory is form
ed upon the Channing model, t ie
peculiar emphasis of which he
still retains; but there is much
about him which is entirely his
own, and which marks him for a
peculiar place in men’s admira
tion. Absolute control of every
power, nerve, muscle, and re
source, is the great feature of his
character, and if it is true that he
who can govern himself may go
vern the world, he is, of conse
qu :nee, sure in his ambition. His
voice, like Chanmng’s is peculiar
ly sweet and persuasive, and his
skill in playing upon its tones is
something marvellous. lie is not
REASON, SEPTEMBER 16, 1837.
a violent orator, and is sparing of
gesture, and h;s sentences are
weighed in their music, as his
ihougii.s are in their plausibility
and progression, in scales of gos
samer. Antony's speech over the
budy of C esar contains the se
cret oi his (loquence ; he exc tes
by seeming to shrink from and
suppress the feelings of his audi
ence. Sir Pe iron el Flash’s simi
le ol the surgeon's knife, which
44 works in the wounds of others,
nut ieels nothing itself,” is some
thing m ins way. It would be
unfair, as well as difficult to de
cide whether he had no feeling,
or whether his ambition were the
stronger spirit; but, feeling, it is
certain, li never shows, except
as a most subtly thrown make
weight of oratory. The Ameri
can republic is, in this age, pro
bably, the political instrument of
the most compass ever turned to
the music of power, and, in our
opinion, Everett is the man by
whom its stops are most cunning
ly understood. He has the two
advantages, we may add, of hav
ing married a lady of wealth and
power ul connections, and o ’ be
ing, what he can have no tempta
tion not to be, a true patriot, and
a man of most honorable and un
blemished character.
Os the American poets, Bryant
has written the best As a
poet, in the highest sense of the
word, Percival and Dana are both
far before turn ; but Bryant has
taste and judgment,and these aux
iliaries to genius often produce
an immediate eifect superior to
the higher efforts of genius itself.
Bryant chooses always a subject
perfectly within his range and fi
nishes it with the most elaborate
stud . His illustrations are fitted
into, not flung upon, his theme.
He writes rarely, and yet not al
ways w ell, for though a man past
the prime of lift', there are but
three or lour of his pieces that
have done any thing towards
building up his fame. Delicacy
and sweetness are the better
strings of his lyre. One of his
sonnets, addressed to a girl dying
of consumption, closes thus :
Glide softly to thy rest, then ! Death should come
Gently to one of gentle mould like thee,
As light winds, wandering through groves of bloom,
Detuch the ddirxite blossoms from the tree.
It is this apt and graceful talent
for similitudes which distinguish
es Bryant. The three things
which are most quoted of his, are
“Thanutopsis,” “Lines to a Wa
terfowl,” and “ The Evening
W md,” and this last we will quote
as the best thing he has done, and
tie most finished production that
ns yet come from an American
pen:
VOX.U2&SI—3.
Spirit that breathost through tuy lai re, *hou
That cool’st the twilight of the sultry <ia’,
Grfttefull ■ flows thy freshness round rm brow;
Thou hast been out upon the Jeep at ; h ,
Rifling all day the wild blue waves till ti> .
Roughening their crests, and scattering high their
spray,
And swelling the white sail. I welcome thee
To the scorched land, thou w anderer of the sea !
Nos I alone—a thousand bosoms round
Inhale thee in the fulness of delight;
And languid forms rise up, and pulses hound
Livelier, at coming «»f the wind of mght;
And languishing to hear thy grateful sound,
Lies the vast inland stretch beyond the sight. 1
Go forth into the gathering shade ; go forth,
God’s blessing breathe ujam the fainting earth !
Go, rock the little wood-hird in his nest,
Curl the still waters, bright with star?, and rouse
Tne wide old wood from his majestic rest,
Summoning from the innumerable boughs
The strange, deep harmonics that haunt his breast y
Pleasant shall be thy way where meekly bows
The shutting flower, and darkling water- pass,
And, ’twixt the o’ershadowing branches and the
grass.
The faint old man shall lean his silver head
To feel thee ; thou shalt kiss the child asleep,
And dry the moistened curls that overspread
His temples, while his breathing grows more deep ?
And they wiio stand about the sick mail’s bed,
Shall joy to listen to thv distant sweep,
And softly port his curtains to allow
Thy visit, grateful to his burning brow\
Go—but the circle of eternal change,
That is the life of nature, shall restore,
With sounds and scents from ail that mighty range,-
Thee to thy birth-place of the deep once mote ;
Sweet odors in the sea uir, sweet and strangt,
Shall tell the home-sick mariner ol the shore ;
And listening to thy murmur, he shall deem
He hears the rustling leal and running stream.
Bryant is a man somewhat past
forty, and was bred to the law*
Foets seldom like such 44 uncon
genial lore,” and with a large
family growing up on his hands,
and no practice, he found huusc. If
under the necessity of trying
something else, and undertook
Uie editorship of the Evening
Post , a political paper of ext< u
sive circulation in New-York.—
Politics m the United Siates ra
ther soil the fingers, but he found
the truth of the old proverb “and r
ty work brings clean money,” and
alter a few years’ close attention
to it, he has lately crossed the wa
ter with his family, and is now in
Italy, whitewashing his fancy,
probably.
[to be continued.]
BEAUTY AND HEALTH.
Females should be early taught
the important fact, that beautv
cannot, in reality, exist indepen
dent of health ; and that the one
is absolutely unattainable by any
practice inconsistent with tiie
other. In vain do they hope to
improve their skin,—to give a
44 roseate hue” to their cheeks, or
to augment the grace and symme
try of their lorms, unless they are
cautious to preserve the whole
frame in health, vigor and activ
ity. Beauty of complexion, and
to a certain extent, that of shape
also, is nothing more than visible
health—a pure mirror oi the per
fect performance ot the internal
functions, and of their harmony