The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1826-02-01

irallties and passions of mortality. In pro-
nouncing his panegyric, fact authorizes not
fancy nor poesy TO throw, around his virtues
and his character, an halo OF incompatible
glory. We may not clothe him with the
robes OF an angel or God. He was man.
and, perhaps, great, and a good man; but,
to represent him any thing more, is downright
dedication. Thus much for the dead. But
what garlands of praise are to be woven Tor
the brow Of the illustrious living! Nome
except of texture, peculiarly modest and
delicate and those too sparingly, very spar
ingly. If we speak not their panegyric at all.
we do well-if we come not up In our enco-
miums to the altitude of their merits, we still
do no harm--but, if we go beyond, We inev-
itably disgust. In speaking Of the war
r,or, the statesman, and the orator, while oD
the stage of action, there is certain limited
license we NAV take in delineating their meF-
its, provided we portray them with the deli
cate touches of a master pencil. But further,
we may not go. The moment we step be-
yond the bounds of deCorum in our encoml-
ums, they degenerate into downright flattery
and bombast. 1t has become very popular, at
the present day, to eulogize the living, and
that, too, in strain of the most bald and bare
faced praise. Butt this popularity is not al
demonstration of its rectitude. Every shout
of the rabble is not an oracle, nor every etfu-
sion of brainless scribbler of rhymes, the
sanctifcatiou of custom. Some OF those poet
| ia scraps, which have come forth into being,
written within few short months, at such a
lavish rate, from the pen of sycophancy, have
been insufferabIy disgusting and nauseating-
and it is high time, that the good sense OF the
public should rebuke the whole herd ofrhyn-
ers from the republic of letters, and consign
| thair aYbap TO he iurnn oh
Iivion they deserve. These forward aspirants
after the fame of the magic Tyre, have never
drank at the fountains of Heicon. They new
err inhaled the spirit of Parnassus, nor have they
ever breathed the pure and exhilarating at
mosphere of Miltonic or Homeric song. For
the sparkling waters Of Castaly, they must
have mistaken some stagnant pool, whose sur
face was shrouded with fogs, and the region
of whose margin was impregnated with duh
ness. Instead of being surrounded with the
scenery of fairy land, that springs up on the
banks of the muses. streamlet, or listening to
the viewless choirs that hover over IFS crystal
line fountains, and strike their harps in its
cloudless atmosphere, these scribblers have
looked out upon the, unnspiring prospect OF
gloomy marshes, and heard no melody undu-
lating around them, but the monotonous chime
of the frog pond. Ilftofthis pond, they have
dabbled their clam shells, imagining it Cas-
Italia, and have analysed the drsught they
have taken, and its elements>have proved to
be either, the lovelorn ditty, or the overstrain-
Il ed panegyric, or absolute nonsense, according
4 r,rv~~sss- vf ssrI1;y uotiun.
| venerate the patriot, the statesman. or
! the orator, as sincerely as does the person
who looks at him with the magic eye of Don
Quixotte, and magni6es his very foibles into
virtues; and is all raptures and inspiration ;
and pours forth enthusiasm with all the mel
ody which the metriaal collocation of spon-
dees and dactyles can give to versifcation.
But, because venerate the patriot, the states
man, or the orator, will not defy them
They are men>like others-eat and drink and
sleep and wake like others-breathe the same
common atmosphere with others, aud are NOR
tal as well as others.
These remarks were suggested, by perus-
ing sonnet, in late number of the United
States Literary Gazette, venerable nomen)
"a sonnet, in praise of one, high in the ranks
of statesmen and orators. ! know not what
effect it may have had upon others. but il inn
mediately associated, in my mind, all the con
temptible trash of the whole spawn of son
neteers, through every graduation of fulsome-
ness-through every species of bombast and
versiied nonsense, from the loYelorn ditties of
the waxen-hearted Petrarch, down to the
&c original bar-gown'' Of Capel Loft, and the
might gown and slippers" of G. Colman.
shall not speak much of the literary or
classic merits of this sonnet. 1t would not al
ter my opinion Of it, were it written in STYLE
OF the purest Attic elegance, for, he who
wrote it, ought to know, that there is - time
to speak, and a time TO keep silence" There
may be very extreme cases, where praise may
he 70 Al "a L
tered with that inimitable grace and delicacy.
which offend not the most classic and refined
taste. But these cases are rare. One of them
may be, where some parsonage has conferred
upon nation some signal favor. 1t might
then be ingratitude and niggardlness to with
hold praise. But, il it must be granted, lei il
} not disgust by its badness and indelicacy,
Perhaps, il there ever was time when pan
egyric might uneXceptionably be lavished up
on living merit, it might have been to the ssna-
toms guest" on the memorable 18th of June.
1925, while standing on one Of the first battle
fields of the Revolution, with all the ascot
atoms of that struggle clustering around
with the ashes of heroes slumbering beneath
and the spirits of the champions of indepen-
dence leaning from the blue canopy, and wit
Messing the solemnities of the OCCASION Yet
we remember that il was then said and well
SAID, that monuments and eulogy belong TO
the dead" But the character of the orator
who pronounced it must since have under
gone surprising Transformation, if he can now
| digest without nauseating that supremely del
icate morsel ofpanegyrc which the sonneteer.
under the signature Of j. has preferred him.
We will transplant that Parnassian flower
into these columns, that our readers may ex-
anime its hue and texture for themselves.
To DANIEL WEBSTER.
"lmmortal man. whose eloquence outstrips
Rome's, Athens, England's, ancient, modern,
all
heard thee utter words, which were keen whips
For thine opponents. Through the crowded
hall