The Litchfield County post., 1827-01-19

1 Moreote can read the ancient poet or histori- an with more familiarity than an Englishman can read even Chaucer, much less the Chron- lcles of the ancient Briton or the Saxon. The customs, modes of salutation, superstitiOns, sports of ancient Greece, are largely retained Tn the interior; and this strong similarity au- Jthentlcated in every color of national mind and manners, is found in the very spot which
 was the known and peculiar seatOf the unuol- iuted aud exclusive blood of ancient Greece. The conclusion is natural; the actual lineage that once filled the earth with its intellectual splendor, still exists, however limited; and when once it has been delivered from Its house of bondage, from the grave, which has had the power only over its form, not over its spirit, it may stand forth in some still mo- bier stature of power and genius imperisha- blc
 1 The geographical formation of Greece gives us even some assurance ofthis renewed vigor From the beginning, Providence has done nothing imperfectly; it has made the people for the land and the land for the people. By the division of the finest portion of the terri tory into islands, or fragments of coast near | ly lnsular, the most curious and complete provision of which there is any example on 1 earth, was made for the perpetual excitement of the national genius. It is proof of the design of this arrangement, that nearly the whole of these matchless labours by which the Greek name lives, were achieved within sight of the sea-. The inland districts the en- tire mountain country to the north, west, and ] east were comparatively unintellectual Even where the distance was trivial what were the 1 intellectual trophies of Argolis, Laconia. or Arcadia The Islands were the original seat of all the true trumphs. Attica, itself penin- sular, and raised into sudden supremacy by the defeat of the Persians was but the bor- 1 rover from their treasures until she and her illustrious tributaries all fell under the suc- ctsssive yokcs of Sparta, Macedonia, and Rome.
 The singular deyeopement of ability in the Egean islands has long attracted the eye of the philosopher, and two theories have been formed for it's explanation. The one, the early freedom of their Constitutions the other, the rivalry of island with island. But neither theory, nor both put together, will solve this interesting problem. Republican, ism is not favorable to the arts. Itmay foster oratory, and the other meals of acquiring po- litical influence, hut its nature is to be narrow in its xpenditure,-inconsistan in it's patron- age,-and contemptuous of the arts. Even Athens was indebted for its noblest works to the reign of man, who held its sceptre with ESs Yet even Pericles was arraigned for the ex- penditure of public money in the Parthe- non,-Phidia perishcd in prison, and fell victim to the parsimony of a popular assem- bly,.
 The great patterns Of modern Italy were despots, or bodies allied to despotism. The Medci were despOts, the Popes were des- pots, the great monastic communities were | remote from all contAct with the popular spi- Tit of their day. What was the patronage of the French Republic, compared with any e. qual period ofthe reign of Louis the XIV !-- Despotsm loves luxury, and loves it in way the most inaccessible to the people-it is lav- ish, and after the first satiety of the senses, must look for it's indulgence in ornament and splendor. It expends its superhuties on fine pictures and statutes; it gratifes its own tastes by magnificent architecture and if it stoop to solicit popularity in any form, solcits by dazzling the public eye and feels some faint atonement for its public evils in the bril- liant profusion and lasting grandeur of its public memorials. This was the history of taste under the whole long line of French dcspotism, under the despots who lorded it over the nominal republics of modern Italy, under even the sluggish sun-withered, half Af- rcan sovereignty of Spain. Republicanism even in it's mildest form, is spirit of labOur, narrow equality ofmeans, ofstruggle and sus- picion, the rugged denizen ofa scanty and re- luctant soil-the genius of the spade and the sword. Despotism is the lordly and volupt- uous spirit that disdains to shake it's wings in the open air of Heaven, shape of the palace and ofthe banquet-the picture and the song; the splendid sensualist encircled by splen- dour.
 The mutual rivalry of the islands is not suf- fcient for the problem. There are but few evidences of general competition. The pub lie rivalry was almost totally limited to the fatal struggle ofthe sword. The only places open to the competition of the Greek blood were the games, as the Olympian and Isthy- milan. But these were notoriously, almost without exception, for manual and bodily dis play.
 l The real solution may be in that primitive work of nature, by which the region was di- vided into islands, in general sufficiently large | for separate governments, yet sufficiently near to make whole. Emulation is the secret of all extraordinary emineuce; and the true em- ulation is like the true tlade, internal. The separate existence of those little communities supplied sources of emulation, in which even the confgura:ion of other parts of the globe can afford no parallel. To be the first poet. ' -4- E.. L s.l.- Ii