As for Dombey, he took to drinking at first-and then to be ing a church-rate martyr. He has since, however, become a reformed character, and is now a clerk in a saving's bank at 18s. a week. Occasionally, however, he and Perch have something comfortable together. the privilege, we would use it to bestow a good word upon the pure writing fluid manufactured by Davi & Black, of John street, in this city. People who write much know the blessings of good ink. Many a clear thought has been rendered obscure by muddy ink; those who wish to write fluently and transpa And what of Edith-erring, beauteous, haughty, impassioned Edith. She, too, was repentant. At first she officiated as a pew-opener at a very fashionable chapel. But she was persecurently, should see to it that their ink stands are filled with the ted by Major Bagstock and Cousin Feenix-both of whom used black ink of Davis & Black, who may be emphatically called the to squeeze her hand when she showed them into pews. At length author's friend. Next to good ink is a good light, for we suppose she retired from the world, and now gets up fine linen at Tooting. that the majority of those who ply the pen, consume a good deal As for Joey B. and Cousin Feenix, they challenged each other of midnight oil, like ourselves, and if we were given to puffing. with respect to Mrs. Dombey. Neither of them, however, apas we once more repeat we are not, it would give us peculiar satpeared at the place of mortal combat, and neither has been seen nor heard of since." isfaction to dilate at some length on the advantage of purchasing lamps, and gas-burners of all kinds, at the elegant establishment of Dietz & Brothers, in William street, who, although serious enough in their business, seemed bent upon making light out of every thing. In all the desirable qualities of elegance, novelty, and cheapness, their establishment will be found Hard to beat. While our hand is in for it, saying what we would like to praise, if it were consistent with our principles, we will name the Phre The following highly commendatory notice of Professor Longfellow's Evangeline appears in the March number of Fraser's Magazine. The Boston Transcript attributes the review to the pen of Professor Whewell, but we never before heard of the learned geologist's being a critic of poetry. Let the criticism be written by whom it may, it is as generous as it is just, but the writer is evidently not entirely familiar with the poets of Amer-nological Cabinet of those famous feel-os-of-us, Fowlers & "This is an American poem, full of beauties of really indigenous American growth; and we hail its appearance with the greater satisfaction, inasmuch as it is the first genuine Castalian fonnt which has burst from the soil of America. The versewriters who have arisen among our Transatlantic cousins have produced many very graceful and pleasing lines, and some ani mated and stirring strains; but still they have done little more than imitate favourite poets of the old country. Echoes of the notes of Mrs. Hemans, and in blank verse, of Mr. Wordsworth, have been the most poetic sounds which the western gales have brought to us. Nor are we surprised at this. Some persons, perhaps, would expect that the new conditions and prospects of man and of society in the United States should give rise to a new spirit in every branch of literature; but those who have reflected how deep in past history lie the roots of all literary excellence, will not expect that anything of value can soon be produced by Anglo-American poets, which does not draw most of its lifeblood from the ancient national heart, the English poetry of past ages: and though this is true of modern English poetry also, Eng; lish writers seem hitherto to have more completely incorporated the historical life of the national mind into their being, so as to be ready to go on to new stages and forms of poetical thought and expression. However this may be, it cannot, we think, be denied, that the poetry hitherto published in America has been strongly marked with a derivative and imitative character; and that its beauties have been rather felicitous adaptations of the jewels of the English Muses than any new gems brought to light from the rocks of the Alleghanies or the sands of the prairies. To this general remark, we conceive the poem of Mr. Longfellow, now before us, to be a happy exception. Not only are the scenes and the history American,-an interest which belongs to many preceding poems (though quite as much to English as to American ones, witness Wyoming, and Madoc, and Paraguay); but the mode of narration has a peculiar and native simplicity; the local colouring is laid on with a broad and familiar brush, and heightened frequently by livelier touches which stick fiery off,' and light up the whole picture. Wells, in Clinton Hall, one of the places in this city worth visiting, and not the less worth visiting because no charge is made for entering. Let us, too, express our sense of the excellences and completeness of that cheap family paper, the Island City, which, it is a satisfaction to learn, is daily spreading itself over this reading country, and enlightening and pleasing the people wherever it goes. The Island City is published by Messrs. Smith, Adams, and Smith, at No 75 Chatham street, Mr. Adams having purchased the interest which the proprietor of this Magazine once had in it The "Island City" is one of a new class of papers, that has recently sprung into existence, and been widely patronized because it is adapted to the wants and necessities of the present time; its proprietors and editors are young and energetic, they have an instinctive perception, of the wants of the people, because they are themselves of them. A philosopher may make a good paper for philosophers, a politician for politicians, a scholar for scholars, and a Book-worm for Book-worms, but the editor of a popular paper, one for the million, must himself be "one of 'em," as the editor of the Island City. And by bestowing this praise upon them, we do not mean to convey the idea that "they ain't nothin' else," because their paper shows that they have a fine taste in literature, a keen eye for passing events in society, a good judgment in the atrical matters, and a most rare and happy faculty of selecting the spiciest paragraphs from their cotemporaries. The Island City is but one dollar a year, and every one can see at a glance, that it is only by gaining an immense circulation that such a paper can be sustained at all, for the profits on each paper can hardly amount to half a mill. It is to the interest of the subscribers to such a work, and the same may be said of our own Magazine, to promote its circulation, for its excellence must in a great degree depend upon the extent of the patronage which the proprietors receive. The proprietor of a literary periodical, establishes a claim upon the good will of his subscribers, very different "Indeed, if there be any general character of imitation in from that which exists between a shop-keeper and his customers. Evangeline, it is rather with reference to German than to Eng-We do not merely sell so much material paper, or print to our sublish models. Some features of the story, or rather of the pictures, and of the mode of narration, bear so much of similiarity to Goethe's Herman and Dorothea, that we cannot doubt Mr. Longfellow to have derived suggestion and impulse from that exquisite poem. Nor is it at all an unworthy course for an American poet, to take for his model the most perfect of domestic epics, the Odyssey of the nineteenth century, the poem more likely to be familiar with our grandchildren than any other which the past generation has produced." If we had the privilege of puffing any body, or any thing, in our Magazine, which we have not, for, considering that good things need no puffing, and that bad ones do not deserve it, we have determined to leave such work to its legitimate sphere, the Daily Papers, and have interdicted it altogether-but, if we ba scribers, we impart to him our thoughts, feelings, hopes, wishes, fears, aspirations, griefs, and pleasures. We not only freely give them all that we possess, but we impart all that we know. We let him into the secret of our likings and dislikings; we expose our weakness, and, in fact, lift off the disguise which we wear to the rest of the world. For all this there is surely something more due than the mere trifle of a dollar a year, although that is all we ask; but it would be a small thing if those whom we are so fortunate as to profit by pleasing, or instructing, should pass the word to their neighbours, that they, too, might enjoy the same blessings, and we be cheered in our labour, and encouraged to go ahead. "First, my fear; then, my court'sy; last, my speech. My fear is, your displeasure; my court'sy, my duty; and my speech, to beg your pardons. If you look for a good speech now, you undo me; for what I have to say, is of mine own making; and what, indeed, I should say, will, I doubt, prove mine own marring. But to the purpose, and so to the venture.' THERE is nothing that tends to crush and kill the germ of great intellect with more certainty than the necessity of money-getting. The imperious cravings of an empty pocket, or of a pocket whose bearer thinks he can never sufficiently fill it, are equal to the obliteration of every thought more exalted than ideas which relate to, or find their origin in, what we have before called one of the meanest faculties of the mind-calculation! Extensive commerce is undeniably a blessing to any country, but it is a melancholy fact, that a nation strictly and enthusiastically commercial, can never be great in any other sphere than that of politics or golden opulence. All the education bestowed upon the children of a generation devotedly addicted to trade, is of a stamp that comprises a prudent knowledge of social and political economy, of history, mathematics, geography, and the importance of having something laid by for a rainy day." The higher branches of intellectual culture-branches which the mercenary mob ignorantly Epilogue to King Henry IV. and vulgarly denominate accomplishments, fitted only to be ranked with the quarter's tuition in dancing received at a boarding school-are neglected as a general thing, and are only consulted and embraced by the select few, whose superior mental capacities drive them to regard the dollar and so-called prudence, as matters secondary to loftier and more spiritual endowments. No man ever studied the art of poetry in musty daybooks and dusty ledgers. The teachin gs of the immortal spirit, seldom, if ever, find a genial response in the bosoms of human bipeds who are in constant correspondence with bales of cotton and codfish, or invoices of silks and shad. The ship-chandler who devotes the flower and freshness of his life to his business, knows the value of a chain cable, and can discuss matter-of-fact correctly-perhaps, eloquently; but he has only a limited comprehension, if any, of the munificient availability of the cultivated and poetical imagination, or of the grandeur and universal benefits of its results. We are a young people; the 66 ment to either. The importations we take, but only because we get them for comparatively nothing. We are not patrons of the arts. Genius is here coerced, by the inextinguishable instinct of self-preservation, to cast aside the pen, close the study, and rush into the tradesman's shop. However doubtingly you may ac cept the declaration, we do unhesitatingly declare that genuises are constrained to eat that they may live. Pigs are subjected to the same demands of nature, but it does not follow that we are no better than pigs. In brief, if we refuse to foster the poet, we must be willing to go without poetry; even the peasant considers his right to dance neutralized if the piper be unpaid. Yes, unless a "change comes o'er the spirit of our dream," we can hope for no better destiny for the great mind than that so many years awarded to FITZ-GREENE HALLECK. descendants of individuals who sought the shores of to a certain extent. But a bad publication is not cheap a newly-discovered country without goods or chat- because it is sold for a shilling instead of a dollar, for tels, and it is but natural, after all, that we should it is dear at any price. The general propensity for seek to concentrate within the limits of our land, bul-gathering harvests of shining coin, together with the lion and value that will hereafter enrich and render bushel-basket system of issuing printed ephemera to independent those who may come after us. We are the exclusion of solid matter for perusal, has begotten a nation of traders as yet; or, to adopt a very modern a contempt for authors. Familiarity is one thing, a phrase, a community of " speculators." We delight respectful intercourse another. At present, as affairs in barter and its paying advantages. We rejoice in stand, a vender of groceries who retires upon the lots, houses, and stocks. We idolize the " equiva- fruits of his honesty and industry, receives more attenlent." We do this by constraint. The time to throw tion, and is awarded more honor, than the indigent off the commercial fetters which enchain our limbs man of letters; consequently, it is better to be a grocer has not arrived; but, let us remark parenthetically, it is than an author. So long as this state of things exapproaching and will greet us kindly. Until then ists, there will be a beggarly account of empty" we cannot expect to own a race of poets. Here and book-shelves. That is, all our reading will be imthere a mighty mind will struggle up amidst the ported. We do not object to the receipt of all that is masses and purify itself from the sordid influences by worthy, let its source be whence it may ; but we would which it is surrounded, but these minds will not speed-be pleased to enjoy, in happy admixture, the domesily be of number sufficient to be nationally clas-tic with the foreign fabric. We offer no encourage sified for their overweening merits. We sacrifice brains to dollars. We prefer broadcloths and ostentatious equipments of jewelry to the marks and evidences of the superior existence of the qualities which humanise and elevate the race of Adam. It is this dollar-ous characteristic of the people of the northern latitudes of this continent that has induced the foreign gossip (miscalled critic) to denounce the American as one who is horn-handed, and pig-headed, hard, persevering, unscrupulous, carniverous, ready for all weathers, with an incredible genius for lying, a vanity elastic beyond comprehension: the hide of a buffalo and the shriek of a steam-engine." We may be excused for applying the harsh term "infamous" to the description quoted, and yet, exaggerated and infamous as it is, it affords the basis of a truthful deduction. There must be a cause for the production of such shocking pictures of ourselves. There is no mistake about it- It may be esteemed impertinent to delve beneath our intellectual atmosphere is thickened by the fog the surface of literary criticism and invade the sanctity and malaria of unintellectual pursuits. We can only of the reviewed author's private concerns, yet, as we complain; there is no remedy at hand to work a needed profess to give "living pictures" of our notabilities, change. We-we, the nation-must grow older to be we cannot refrain from a peep into those concerns wiser. There is a limit to all things, whether they even at the risk of censure. For one, we do not be Real or Ideal. Example is a wonderful lever, believe that if Mr. Halleck had found his muse profitand it is also a curious and powerful stimulant when able, he would have harnessed himself to the car of worthy of imitation, and equal to the promotion of actual labor. Not only did he for years superintend emulation. The few truly great writers who belong the affairs of the wealthiest capitalist in Americato us, will eventually exalt the many to a perfect un- submitting to employ his noble intellect in the examiderstanding of the might of mind. Eventually will nation of bonds and mortgages, the fluctuations in the be discovered men here, who for the guerdon of envi- prices of real estate, &c.-but (we are informed by an able fame, together with a moderate compensation, authority we dare not question) he absolutely pledged will devote their energies and genius to the nurture of himself to abstain from literary pursuits during the an universal taste for letters. "Oh!" remark nine period of his mental immolation. A man like Mr. of every ten of those who peruse this paper, "we are Halleck, in whom the divine inspirations of the poet great readers. No people on the face of the earth were so maturely developed, would not consent thus read more." We admit that such is the fact, and we to trammel his immortal soul except upon compulmust be pardoned for adding, in the spirit of truth, that sion. He must have employed the philosophy of no people think less. One of the most veracious as- Shakspeare's starved apothecary, and yielded rather sertions ever made, is, that a single good book, well to his poverty than his will. Perhaps our temerity, in read, is of more service than one hundred indifferent making these remarks, will constitute a source of books, carelessly or otherwise inspected. We read, offence. We hope not, inasmuch as our excuse may as we do everything else, with a perfect hurricane- be found in Mr. Halleck's position before the public. species of go-aheaditiveness. Quality in books is He belongs to his countrymen and the world, and we rarely considered. We only want subject. We read claim the right of speaking of him freely and in a for amusement, instruction never being sought for, ex-style unalloyed by any mawkish restraint. Admitting cept in schools and colleges. It is a cis-Atlantic opinion, that the more books read the better the reading. There can be no greater mistake. Cheap publications are, we acknowledge, of inestimable value that we touch his feelings closely, we shall do so for the purpose of achieving the " greatest good for the greatest number." In attributing Mr. Halleck's long-standing and re cently-terminated condition in the monetary household of the late John Jacob Astor to the demands of the monster Indigence, rather than to the promptings of Cupidity, we pay a tribute of charity to human nature. The poet and the mere mechanical hireling, present no affinity of taste or conformation. Without contrast there This contrast, as we have loosely reflected above' indescribably charms those who know of it by personal experience. Superficial observers are apt to fancy that, in peculiarities of character are discoverable the off-shoots of genius. Thus, a man who wears strange-looking garments, without any understandaThere are men in the world who exhibit in their ble or rational reason, save that it is his taste to do so, will be respected, or curiously esteemed, for the pospractice, and in their precept of profession and ap- session of mental qualities which are not bestowed pearance, a wide contrast. would be no beauty, either of still life or of human upon the mass of his fe'low beings. These qualities character, and so we may thank the giver of all good may be advantageous, in the imagination of the world, or disadvantageous, but they are unique, and that is for puzzling us with the apparent paradox specified in sufficient. The man thus honoured-for universal nothe initial sentence of this paragraph. Variation tice is something of an honour, if it be not of that kind (Burke has said something like it in different words, which confers infamy or contempt is required to do and with a different motive of application,) con- nothing beside wearing the singular clothes-in all stitutes elegance. Nothing prim or formal ever other ways, to preserve a puzzling and provoking strikes the beholder as being brilliant, or as affording contrast, he must act precisely as if his clothes were delight to any of the senses. It is in light and made like those of other people. Now Mr. Halleck shadow that we discover that which can please us: has positively worn singular clothes--that is, tropeically Of course, different and conflicting qualities must be speaking, and in sundry other respects, he has been skilfully blended, in order to afford the proper degree like the rest of the genus homo. He does not appear of happiness to individuals brought in contact with to have had more than a minute share of respect for them. Diversity of size and shape, in part, comprises the gifts and graces of mind with which the Creator exquisiteness of design and delicacy of finish. A hedge has liberally supplied him. He has hid his light under row is superb in a certain length, but carried to a dis-a bushel-under a bushel, which, like the measure tance of half a mile, or more, it would be monotonous, used to determine the amount of the treasure pilfered fatigueing, and unprofitable for all purposes of orna- from the Forty Thieves, had a very small piece of ment. In each man, as in each garden, we look to precious metal sticking to the bottom. It is inconascertain a number of attractions, alike entertaining, ceivable how he could have repelled the impulses of a and at the same time totally dissimilar in the essentials temperament decidedly poetical, dangerously sarcasof entertainment. The more numerous these attractical, and remarkably energetical. The fire of genius tions-particularly, if man be their owner and distrimay have smouldered only, and a few vigorous butor-the more valuable the object in which they breaths of popular desire may serve to kindle it up to centre. The broader the contrast presented in the its original strength and fervour. It is difficult, howcharacter of an individual, then, the more remarkable ever, to comprehend the possibility of dampening the he becomes, and the more famous, withal, for being ardour of an intellectual flame whose vivid and grateclever. And clever (we use the term in its English ful heat has been felt and candidly acknowledged by sense) he must be, although we shall not at present the inhabitants of two hemispheres. In eighty years, say whether we think such cleverness is either envi- or thereabouts, the mother country has given to the able, useful or commendable. A parson who can people of the nineteenth century, and to posterity, dance and be frivolous, as well as preach sound ser- Byron, Shelley, Southy, Moore, Campbell, Burns, mons-a physician whose skill in music equals that Bloomfield, Coleridge, Tennyson, Keats, and as in the art of healing-a player who can talk of and many others of nearly equal merit, and the name practice piety or a clown who can exhibit the ac- of Halleck, for twenty years at least, has been perquirements of the ripe scholar, is certain of the en-mitted to hold an honourable place in the illustrious joyment of greater celebrity than usually falls to the lot of the humble and unpretending member of either class. In short, combinations of opposite talents are always praised and sought for; but rarely treated with respect when gained. We never saw a parson who would act frivolously-nor a physician who could rival Jullien-nor a player whose polemical theories were particularly edifying; and it belonged but once to our destiny to encounter an educated boor. Intellectual marvels are as scarce as physical monstrosities, and not even the magnetic new lights of the age, in whom we had hoped to find a singular paradox of brain and habit, have succeeded in swelling the number of the former. Mr. Halleck is an intellectual marvel, and he stands in the same relation towards us -us individually—that the educated boor does. He is a man of many, in the crowd yet not of it. He is a poet, yet no poet. With all due deference to his talents, (and, ere we conclude, we shall show that we do not despise them,) we are compelled to say that he has retained local popularity through the marked contrast between his reputation and his movements. catalogue. No poetical anthology of any substance, in the English language, has been printed (during a long interval) and sent out guiltless of his name and his effusions. Surely these incentives ought to have been strong enough to reduce his immaterial ingredients to the component parts of the author, and to nothing else! But no! he was willing to sacrifice the offspring of his mind, and in order to escape the charge of literary infanticide, the innocent conceptions were destroyed before they had had time to live. This is our opinion, which is worth nothing more than that of any other individual of moderate information. Never having been admitted within the precincts of Mr. Halleck's sanctum sanctorum, we are unable to say how many noble poems are lying in his escrutoire ready for the press; or whether there are any. If not, he will favour society by remembering that it is never too late to do good, and acting accordingly.. Fitz-Greene Halleck is a native of Connecticut, and has attained the age of fifty-three years. He has, however, been a resident of New York city since 1813, and is consequently a Knickerbocker by adop tion and association, if not by birth. The writings | see and speak with Mr. Halleck. Seeing the poet which first brought him into notice, were a series of in a public place, Bannister (a short time before he light satires published in the "Evening Post" newspa- died) introduced himself under the pretext of asking per, under the signature of "Croaker & Co." These the proper pronunciation of the Suliote chieftain's appeared in 1819 or 1820, we forget which, and at-name. Mr. Halleck courteously gave the desired intracted a great deal of attention. The authors, (for formation, and at parting, shook hands with the playMalleck was assisted by Joseph Rodman Drake,) pre-er-dramatist very cordially. The honour was too served their incognito during a considerable period, much for poor Bannister, and for a week at least he but at length public curiosity was gratified by an was in his cups, and constantly exclaiming "I have avowal of their true names. We understand that grasped the hand of the author of Marco Bozzaris, the avowal was precipitated by the death of Drake, the greatest, the best poem in the English language, who fell a victim to consumption, and found a grave and one that should exalt Mr. Halleck to a place at the early age of twenty-six. Halleck felt this de- upon the pedestal occupied by Shakspeare." It is privation keenly, and he penned to the memory of principally upon this production that Mr. Halleck's rehis associate one of the most touching tributes ever putation is founded. Strange that one hundred and recorded. The Croaker stanzas excited attention, eleven lines only, can enable a man to leave a name because of their local application. Many of them behind him-a fame which shall bear testimony that his would not be understood by persons unfamiliar with life was not that of a mere animal, whose only care is the city and its conventionalisms of the date of the to satisfy the material wants of the body, and finally publication, consequently but few of the satires are now seek rest in a grave whose obscurity is equal to its to be consulted, save in the files of the Post. They quiet. Leggett, the best of our home reviewers-and comprised, in their tone and bearing, a species of the critics of other lands-have laid great stress upon Hoodiana-now furnishing refreshing examples of Mr. Hallack's adaptedness to humorous satire. They playful humor, then salutary but cutting instances of conceived that to be his forte-his sheet anchor! unsparing, skilful satire. They were written in ac- Satires rarely outlive their authors. As we have cordance with the nicest rules of art, and although said before, the true poet writes for all time, not for their subjects were, in most cases, humble or ridicu- the present alone. The world is his home; nature, lous, the talent evinced in their construction elevated as developed in his own species at large, and to the them above the usual standard of newspaper ephe-eye, his divinity. Were humour-another title for mera. It was about this period that a light satire entitled "Fanny," writen by Mr. Halleck, came from the press, and was well received. Mr. Griswold says that it was on the shelves of the book stores in three weeks from the date of the transcription of the first line. We can easily believe this, for it runs on carelessly enough to the length of fourteen or fifteen hundred lines, without presenting any striking feature calculated to produce a lasting impression. The flow of language is "natural and unstudied," the versification easy, and the frivolity which gives a tone to the whole is as felicitous as the subject will admit, but the effort cannot be considered as one of gigantic proportions, and had Mr. Halleck made no other, his fame would have been indigenous only to Manhattan Island and its environs. The best of his poems is "MARCO BOZZARIS," which is so popular that all the English books designed for students of elocution contain it. It is one of those effusions with which lovers of verse are so well acquainted that they seldom think of the author. Of twenty persons who recite it well, perhaps one thinks it necessary to know to whom he is indebted for it. This poem was a hobby with an unfortunate player and dramatist, whose untimely and melancholy end lately cast a gloomy shadow over the little circle in which his real talents were known. We mean N. H. Bannister, a man who, had circumstances favored him, might have taken his place among the respectable writers of the Jand, instead of wasting the prime of his life in the concoction of balderdash for the cheap theatres of nonsense and sawdust. In his better days, when he affected the duties of the player more than those of the author, Bannister recited MARCO BOZZARIS" everywhere. Towards the close of his eventful career, the vice of intemperance enchained his better faculties and he could recite no more; but his favorite poem was always uppermost in his mind, and the only earnest desire he seemed to entertain was to vapid frivolity in verse-Mr. Halleck's particular endowment, he would not have been enabled to write such stirring, vigorous, faultless martial lyrics as "RED JACKET," "BURNS," and "MARCO BOZZARIS." He was not intended to waste his gifts of intellect in the manufacture of trifles which evince only the cunning of the wit and a poor perception (so far as genuine poetry is concerned) of the ridiculous. The school of letters which recognizes its pupils and graduates in the jesters of the day, cannot justly claim Mr. Halleck for its own. The cap and bells may create laughter and ring a merry peal, now and then, upon his head, but he assumes these humble decorations, if decorations they can be called, only with the motive of enjoying a little desultory recreation, not with the wish that they may be considered the proper adjuncts of his share in literary craft and artisanship. In the hope of sustaining ourself in the position we here assume, we quote the whole of our author's "RED JACKET." RED JACKET, A CHIEF OF THE INDIAN TRIBES, THE TUSCARORAS. COOPER, whose name is with his country's woven, And beautiful as its green world of thought. And faithful to the act of Congress, quoted In Paris, full of song, and dance, and laugh; |