'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 can. did 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 publie 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! ORIGINAL PAPERS. ART. I. GREAT-BRITAIN AND AMERICA: THOUGHTS AT NIAGARA, • 196 197 II. STANZAS TO A YOUNG LADY. BY W. H. HERBERT, ESQ., • VI. THE DEATH OF A GENTLE MAIDEN: A FANTASY, VIL VIII. IX. X. ODE TO BEAUTY. BY A NEW CONTRIBUTOR, MEADOW-FARM: A TALE OF ASSOCIATION. NUMBER SIX, XL. A NIGHT ON LAKE ERIE. BY PETER VON GEIST, XII. A NEW VERSION OF AN OLD FABLE, XIII. LETTER FROM THE MAIL-ROBBER TO THE EDITOR, XIV. POETICAL EPISTLE TO EDWARD MOXON, PUBLISHER, LONDON, 246 XVI. XVII. XVIII. CA ET LA. BY THE FLANEUR. NUMBER THREE, XIX. THE DYING STUDENT. BY EDMUND BREWSTER GREEN, LITERARY NOTICES : 1. DONNA FLORIDA: A POETICAL TALE. BY W. G. SIMMS, Esq., 2. 3. HARP OF THE VALE: A COLLECTION OF POEMS, EDITOR'S TABLE: 1. JEFFREY AND GIFFORD vs. SHAKSPEARE AND MILTON, ⚫ 259 260 . 261 264 . 265 267 -268 270 2. A NIGHT ADVENTURE IN ENGLAND: THE MYSTERY OF STYLE, 276 GOSSIP WITH READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS, 3. 1. PUSEYISM AND ANTI-PUSEYISM. 2. THE INNOCENCE OF A GALLEY-SLAVE. LITERARY RECORD: GILES'S ORATION AT NATCHEZ; LIFE AND SPEECHES OF HENRY CLAY; THE . 280 NUMBERS have labored to describe this imposing spectacle, but no pen can exhaust the subject, or do full justice to its grandeur. It is great, indescribable, mighty; and the sensations it produces are indefinite, confused, and wholly unlike and above the emotions raised by other scenes and other causes. It would be presumption to offer a description; although the image of the passing moment is so deeply fixed in the mind, that all else can be dismissed at pleasure, and the imagination conduct us, as often as we will, to a seat on Table-Rock where we can again see the dashing waters roll up in billows above the verge, then gliding over, literally tumble into myriads of particles before they are lost in the rising spray. One idea impressed me strongly, while enjoying this triumph of Nature's eccentricities; that the Canada Fall was to the American as Great Britain to the United States. Both of the same majestic pattern, equally lofty, created by the same stream, and side by side; but the former more powerful, more irresistible, more overwhelming; while the latter possesses another kind of beauty, less angry, less furious, less threatening, but yet grand and magnificent, and, take away the other fall, incomparable. Undoubtedly in ages past this mighty tide rolled over in an unbroken sheet; but having worn away in a slow retreat to its present position, a rock unyielding and immovable separated the stream into two unequal divisions; and, judging from the past, the future would seem to forewarn changes equally great. The Canada Fall, however, can gain nothing by the wearings of time. It can have no larger proportion, no higher ledge; but on the other hand, some shifting rock, some rupture in the bed of the river above, may direct the larger share into the American channel, and the relative character of the two be reversed. The comparison to some extent will hold of the two govern ments. Our ancestors were common. The same language, the same literature, and the same religion supplied, and continues to supply us both; and although a rock impassable has divided us, we continue in civilization to stand side by side. Great Britain, however, stretches her dominion through the world. The channel of her power is deeper, and its full current sweeps along with irresistible force. She has attained her full meridian, and stands forth the mammoth power of the present age; with her ensign unfurled to every breeze, and her ambassadors upon every isle. She draws within her influence earth's remotest bounds; but, if we rightly estimate the indications of the times, her political meridian has no higher degree; and when she moves from her present position, it is even more probable that she will 'hasten to her setting' than be borne along in her present attitude by the shifting currents of time. Our republic, in contrast with it, presents the figure of aspiring, expanding youth, and vigorous age. The youth of the parent stock; but, being educated in a different school, and upon another soil, and having shaped out a separate course, founded upon the experience of the past, has formed juster estimates of the dignity and independence of man; of his social immunities; of his inborn liberty; of his equality of right with all mankind; and of his constituting a part of the national sovereignty, rather than its appendage. His free-born genius has unfolded while struggling for these essential principles; and guided by their inspiration, he stretches forward in the career of intellectual and moral expansion, promising ere long to excel immeasurably the sturdy parent, whose genius is encumbered by prejudice, aristocracy, and regalism, and blunted by long and arduous toil. Unlike the two Falls in extent, neither Great Britain, nor any civilized nation, possesses such a valuable, continuous, and available territory as constitutes the American republic. It reaches, with hill and plain, river and mountain, from ocean to ocean. The waters of the Missouri wander for five thousand miles through its breadth, and yet find their source and discharge within its limits. If, excepting Russia, we double all the kingdoms and States of Europe, and suppose the area to be extended over the Union, an empire as large as Spain would still be left: indeed it is almost impossible to appreciate the territorial magnitude of this grand confederacy, on the imposing scale on which its government is instituted. For the beautiful and grand in natural scenery, it is saying little to assert that ours is unrivalled. From that variety which stirs the milder feelings, up to that which rouses the highest emotions, it seems to furnish the whole catalogue of the pleasing and the sublime. It offers to us 'rivers that move in majesty;' the bright and gentle scenery of the inland lake, 'On which the south wind scarcely breaks The image of the sky;' 'Antres vast, Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch heaven;' and lastly, Niagara's rushing tide, the triumph of the grand in nature. |