Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1827-01-03


wor,hv IF commendation. since that would be
to transcribe nearly the whole poem-but we
will give our readers the concluding lines.
Oh, who that knows tender mothers love
That has been nurtured at her generous breast
Enioycd her fond caresses-felt the bliss
Her gentle, wArm, endearng smiles iinpsrt-
Has known her cares-her deep sofcitudes;
Her nightly watchings, and her constant zeai
And can his heart with cold indifference close
Against the ilial yearnings of the bard,
To YOU whose bosoms never more can KNOW
The holy pressure of maternal arms
Partake the Joys, or share the varied grie,s
Of breasts ON which your infancy reposeoi
By all the sacredness in which you hoid
Their ever dear and haowed memories
The muse for him appeals.-And shall her prayers
And tears, in his behalf, be vainly urged
On those whose pilgrimage is still ilumed'
Still smoothed and cheered by kind maternal love-
On those whose souls would brave the burning STAKE
| Or Weld their bodies to the rackng wheel
Ere they would see their mothers whelmed IN WANT
| Oh no! your ardent sympathies proclaim
| Your noble, free munfcence will prove.
| That Collins widowed mother shall receive
| When she again beholds her dying son,
The rich o'erAowings ofyour generous hearts,
The "Triumph Of Truth" with which the
little volume closes, was occasioned by the es'
adjustment in France, Of tn censorship over
the press, and is, in our estimation, deserving
| of equal commentator with the "Appeai =
Indeed the motive Of its publication, STANDS up
on the same ground. Both are published tor
the same benevolent purpose; and while we ais
claim with most earnest sincerity, the least DE-
| sire to fatter Mr.. Bryan, whom we never saw
and probably never shall see, we must indulge
ourselves in the expression of very high es'
innate ofhi. poetic al talents; and still higher
one Of his heart There is no part OF his booS
which does not exalt him in our feelings. lhe
Preface to the Poem is quite sufficient warm
our heart to him." as Goldsmith once said, up
! on different occasion, not emily as man oil &C.
MUS, but as man possessed OF all the amiao'il,
ties Of our nature. He has all the modesty OF
genius, and if we mistake not, too much oil II
| He is, we think, too sensitive-and recedes from
| the rough and remorseless touch of criticism
too readily The effort. Of his muse are cha
racteriscd with life and vigor, which might
we'll be exercised in defending them. But lew
men write so well as Mr.. Bryan, and we express
the opinion with confidence. He will, 1t he
please, one day take proud station among the
line writer's of our country, and we wish him TO
think So We dislike the icy commentator
which oar newspaper reviewers are bestowing
on his productions. They deserve something
more than this cold blooded praise, this irigld
admiration. We have no idea OF
"Damning with faint praise"
any more than we have ofthe pestiferous x inJu'
dicious putting which our countrymen are occa-
sionally in the habit of dealing so Profusely in
We do not say that his published works are OF the
highest order-they make no such pretenslons
and Mr. Bryan's feelings would be shocked by
such claim. But we do say, that they are eVi,
Dental of a capacity to reach that eminence-
and we hope to see him rich, (not in the gifts
Of fortune, for he is too much poet ever to De
vrdIluy,, -. Ur 49,: ~j-:-;-a
coun,rymen, and in that fame which is
'The Poets best reward"