Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1834-10-08
NocTEs AMBRosIAN E.

to misunderstanding between Hogg, the Et-
trick Shepherd, and Professor Wilson, the editor
of Blackwood, were suspended year or two.-
The Noctes Ambrosana, or Ambrosian nights,
take their name from famous eating house in
Edinburgh, at which the contributors to the Ma
gazne are in the habit of suppns together.-
They pretend to be the report OF conversations
at these meetings. and have all the vivaclty,
wit and richness, that might be supposed to cha
racterise the talk Of such choice spirits animat'
ed by burgundy and punch round supper ia
BILE, with the polish and refined expression i'm
parted by the pen ofProfessor Wilson, in whose
study they are written. The readers Of Black
wood missed them at the end of the numbers
with the same kind of feeling of disappointment
that an epicure may be imagined to experience
who is deprived of the dainty desert with which
he is accustomed to conclude his rich repasts.-
In the August number there is one of them, as
delightful as any of its predecessors, from which
we will make few extracts. Christopher North
represents the editor.-BaH. Amer.
North would give the world my idea of
Faust, were it not that about Goethe the world is
mad.
Shepherd. The mair reason to set her RIGHT
to bring her back to her senses. She's no in
North Goethes idolators--mind ye. exclude
Thomas Carlisle and Hayward, and all minds OF
that order and stamp--are of course not Chris
tians, and use heathenish lingo worse than the
unk nown tongue. 1t is declared by all great and
true German scholars, that the poem OF Faust
in execution is as perfect as in conception mag
tnifcent. and that Goethe has brought to bear
on that wonderful work not only all the creative
energy of rare genius, and all the soul-search-
ing wisdom Of high philosophy, but likewise
all the skill of consummate artist, and all pos
sible knowledge and power over his native
speech. His was the confined inspiration from a
bove that Involuntary moves harmonious num-
bers; and his the regulated enthusiasm from
below, that enables the poet TO interfuse with the
forms of earth the fire of heaven.
Shepherd. A noble panegyric.
Morrill, Not pronounced by me- but the voice
of Europe.
!Shepherd But We hae ma borrowed the words7
North. Not that know of-and they are too
| feeble for Faust To show such a work an En-
glish Poem would require whom? Not twenty
boys-however clever, or better than clever
but one man of mature mind, and that mind Of
the highest order-a mind that with sweepy
sway" could travel through the shadowy into
| the ilIimitabe-and distinguish and command.
the phantoms Of beauty and of grandeur risinR
up from the " unapparent deep" -
Shepherd MIGHT Byron? ~
SSsnhsr .J0 sbellevq TX
North. No-imperfectly and.but in part.
| Shepherd Wordsworth 8a@
North. No-no-no. Wordsworth's world is
not Goethe's world-the Wordsworthian star,
like that OF Jove ITSELF $50 beautiful and large"
is not like the star of Goethe. Both are the
brightest Of the bright; but the breath OF peace
envelopes the one with san ampler ether, d.
viner arr" at its height; the other often looks
troubled and seems to reel in its sphere, with a
| lurid but still celestial light.
The dialogue continues in this strain for a
page or two, when North, in his indignation
against the 'prigs, fribbles. coxcombs, and
sumphs who in their miserable idolatry OF Go
ethe declare that the world is not yet enlighten-
ed enough to comprehend him.-by sudden
turn pours out such long period of ridicule on
Goethe himself, that Hogg exclaims:
| Shepherd. Ma heed's a in confusion-and
what is your real judgment o. Guilty, as you ca
| him, is althegither ayont ma comprehension.
| North. OF all schools Of poetry and criticism,
James, the most contemplate is the Oracular.
| Shepherd That's just what was gaun to say.
| Naebody can with truth say haze bad tenn
per, though it is sometimes rather het and short
Ticker. Like gingerbread not yet cool from
the oven.
Shepherd - but the instant discover that
the awthor O. ony poem that may happen to
| De tfyln 10 10 tdhlI pains u COH-
! ceal his meanin' or his want o. meanin'-and
the first is the warst for weakness is naething to
| wickedness-then l fin ma face CROWN red,
and chockin' in ma thrott as if were threat
end VII .troke o. the apoplex, and, risin' in a
passion, dash the half-wited or deceptious Gre
turs abortive concern VII sic daud on the
floor, that Pve kent 1t slot up again on till the
table, and upset the jug.
In the following passage a generous and
beautiful tribute is paid to Brougham who has
been often bitterly ridiculed in BIackwoods pa
ges.
North. A Reform Ministry! The Lord High
Chancellor Of England giving himself the lie
night after night on the WoolsaCk-
g Ticker. In presence of the Peers, whom he
loads With insult.
Shepherd. And in hearin' o. the hale kintra,
who wonder that theirs nae wisdom in his wig.
North have always admired the man; and
the world, verify believe, will pardon in him
almost any alteration but that from the straight
line of honour and truth. The name of Henry
Brougham-will be eminent in the history of Eng
land; and the great champion Of the education
| r Al -. Al