The Litchfield County post. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1826-1829, 1826-11-21

ON THE EFFECT OF NAMES.

ON The REJECT OF NAMES.
The generality Of mAnkind win hardly ad-
NIT that much OF the beauty Of poetry and
considerable part of the effect Of Acti-
tiOus history depends on the choice Of the
names Of persons and places. They 70
be snre.eonstitute no positive beanty, bsit the
want Of them Is most severely felt. Without
commenting in the least upon vulgar names,
we shall find that unrOmantic names very
powerfully disgust. Take the following asan
example. Edmund Mortimer. and Emily
Tityalan were deeply attached to each ether,
but Mortimer had powerful and rich rival in
Augustus Howard earl Of Norfolk. Mortimer
had just received the t6nderest assurances Of
attachments and was returning from the cot
tage Of his Emily elate with hope, when a
press gang drags him on board ship Of war,
and as he passes the late scene Of his bliss he
is appalled, At the loud shrieks Of gricfand sees
his Emily without the power of relief. at
tempting to fly from band Of villains, with
HOwardat their head. Emily seizes one Of
their daggrrs and plunges il in her own bosom.
and her beloved Mortimer soon dies victim
to despair. Now this is very affecting de-
tail and might furnish the bases Of a very in
teresting story, but how completely viii all in-
tercst cease when we alter the names. For the
above names substitute Timothy 1uSmutton,
Tahitha Higinbottom and Barnabas Muggins.
and let the ideas and incidents remain the
same. Read the sentence over with the sub
stituted names and Judge for yourself. Tim
othy Tugmufton and Tabitha HigiabOttOm
were deeply attached to each other, but Tug
mutton had a powerful and rich rival in Bar
nabas Muggins. Tugmutton had just receiv-
ed the tcnderest assurances Of attachment,
and was returning from the cottage of his
Tabitha elate With hope, when . press-gang
drags him on board ship Of war, and as he
passes the late scene Of his bliss, he IL appal-
led at the loud shrieks OF grief, and sees his
Tabitha without the power Of relief attempt
ing to fly from band Of villains, with Mug
gins at their head. TAbitha seizes one Of their
daggers and plunges it in her bosom. and her
beloved Tugmutton soon dies a victim to
despair. Dutch names to us have the same
irregularities Of sound, though perhaps farail-
lar, aud even romantic to them. How de-
ligh.ful would our blank verse read with such
names as Onderdank, Overocker. Ouster-hout.
Hock-strasser, -Hogeboon. Halsapple. and O.
ven the pcnsionary Schimmel-pennick himself
with the whole throng Of Van Wrinkles. Van
Bu,nmels. Van Warts, Van Oysters and Van
Pelts.. Neither are the New England names
less subject to ridicule. Our Return Strong,
Preserved Fish, Patience noolittle, Delight
Moore, are Of this kind. The frst settlers Of
this country, were particularly faulty in Civ
ing names to places. They should have re-
hected that this might be great nation. and
what to them was but the mountain that
bounded their prospect, the river that carried
their produce to market and the bay that re-
ceiyed their shipping. might in after ages swell
the pages Of history, or the numbers of the Pc
ct Us places OF great and heroic actions. How
win Onion river, Sugar river. Licking. Salt.
Chicasabungo creek, Duck creek, Sandy riv-
er, Bald eagle creeA, Big buffaloe creek and
thousand like them SQUAD ine poetry. Sup
posing Washington had been sseeesssfnl a
the battle Of Brandywine-hew would chs
tpoet speak Of that redoubted Held! What !
in his passage through Delawafe be had dis
|tinguishea himself at Duck creek, cross roads
we may well exclaim with Dysohs
"Duck creek, cross roads! whata name!
To gil tho trump Of future lame"
What il Campbell had been obliged in BIZ
beautiful ballad Of Hohenlinden to lay tn
tscene in New Hampshire. then we shoult
have heard, -
l In Coos when the sun was low,
Il An bioodless lay tn untrodden snow Il
il And dark as winter was the dow
or Sugar rolling rapidly.
The names Of our mountains are no less rep
Irehensible. Mount Tom, Saddleback. Jack
mountaip, &c. are examples. Hew fnel.
lScott would have sung.
Fl climb'd the dark brow OF the might
r. Mount Tom. a
|. IAgaiu we apd Cold river passing by Saddle
Tls--.s .-E T.