Southern telegraph., 1838-10-24

- fiulCulOust II ~ nOL sos ~ udy, lnuccu,
be species Of microscopic sorrow, easily
overlooked by the broad gross eye Of the
world--and you think the sorrow nothing
because you know it will soon be over.
But am not discoursing of the phiIoso-
ply, but of the feeling of life; and | am
sure, that if you were to see and for mo-
ment attend to the gentle sobbings of
weeping child, you would sympathise with
them. What volume of poetry there is
in mothers breast when she hears the
inarticulate wailings Of her infant while
the passing stranger cries, 'tOut upon the
squalling BRAT" and yet that stranger is
susceptible of the emotion which true ex-
preston can excite. With sorrow, with
Joy, and with all human emotions, we II ust
as human beings sympathise-bu but the ex-
preston must not exceed the bounds of
verify, or the capacity Of sympathy. Ii
young girl should have favorite bird, and
that bird should die, she would place the lit
tie corpse in her delicate hand, would smooth
down its feathers, turn the closed beak with
her finger to place the head in the attitude
of life, would sigh and shed tear or two,
smiling the while ather own weakness--as
she would call it, by way of apologising for
giving way to a natural feeling SO far so
good; but if the young lady should be pleas
ed to 90 into Mysteries, to wear mourning, to
close the shutters, to deny herself to all
company, and refuse to be comforted, then
her sorrow would be laughable. All the
expression, therefore, should be in unison
with the average capability of sympathy, so
that we hence discover or discern that the
great art of the poet or the orator is to APP
prehend Alright the general feeling, and to
express it we'll Now, do we not hereby
arrive at the secret of genins, and at the
standard of poetic excellence? But while
we gain knowledge, we gain no power
we may know what genus is, and what is
the standard Of poetic excellence, but we
thereby attain to no ability to express what
we are conscious ought 70 be expressed,-
contemplate moral or physical beauty or
subimity, and have certain definite feel
ngs of delight; may say that they exist,
and any one else may know that they must
exist, but am not able to express them; yet
n man of genius, not feeling more than |
do, clothes these feelings in words, and |
applaud in proportion as his expression ap-
proaches the height or depth of my own.
It's precisely the same with eloquence as it
is with poetry The orator has mighty
power over human hearts, moving and ex-
citing them to pity and indignation, as the
case may be, but then he can only move
them in proportion to their susceptibility,
or, in other words, he can only move them
by expressing their feelings. If an orator
would fain excite indignation against an
oppressor, he must make those whose ndig-
nation heiwould excite sympathise with the
oppressed; but there can be no sympathy
where there is no feeling, and sympathy
cannot go beyond feeling.
For want of rightly considering this, we
often find young and inexperienced barris-
ters making outrageous demands on the
sympathy of jury, and these demands are
successfully met and opposed by the ad-
verse party casting ridicule on their extrav-
agance. How very clearly then do we
see that the genius of the poet and the ora
tor is discerned, not by any peculiar per-
ception of his own, but by the power of ex-
pressing what all can feel and sympathise
with. Even a metaphor or simile, or any
illustrative language, must commend itself
to our Judgment, or il cannot command our
admiration. Hence it is that we are said
to feel the beauty of poetry or eloquence,
And | think see how it is that we enjoy
: and appreciate the fine arts, for in them we
find a reflection Of our own minds, and, as
it we're, an incarnation Of our own feelings
The ignorant, the savage, the brutal and
the stopid have their several and peculiar
4 feelings, and enjoy the expression of them
but their feelings are not of the same ma
ture as those of the cultivated, the refined
+ and the rejecting; therefore the same ex
preston will not suit them. With Millions
Paradise Lost they have no sympathy: bu
rude drinking song from the lips of {
drunkard awakens their feelings, and the.
) cry "Bravo!" They can see no beauty il
the Cartoons of Raphael, utthey admire
: well-panted sign Now, he that amoni
: the rude and ignorant can make or sing
J song which will call forth their applause
man of genius, for he can express thei
I feelings, which they themselves cannot
! lh0hgh they can heartily sympathso wit
!. the expression when another makes it Il
|. them. 1t is also very possible that a ma
: who may have the capacity of admrIn
If and enjoying, by way of the fine arts, Ii
expression of the deepest, aud Purest, al
d sublimest feelings, may not have the pow,
II to give expression even to the lowest, Goa
), sest, or shallowest. The power of giylr
d expression is the great secret of geniu
% and a secret it must ever remain. The P
r ei, the painter, the musician, who pleas
A. you, must not have an apprehension OF fe,
ut ings which yon have not, but must have I
4; power of expressing your feelings-y
be may say exciting, awakening; well, be
IS SO, you cannot awaken that which is not.
nd 10 this line of thought we have an interp
rs tatlOn of the ramnant and roaring misfal