New-York daily tribune., 1843-12-27


experience, he possesses what TO Us appear tllt
strong recommendations of having never helt
Office, OF owing nothing to ancestry, party O.
fortune, and of having fought his way to M
present standing by the force of character, of IN
dustry, and of sturdy, manly effort. The fac
that we have not recently hac the good fortune
TO agree with Mr. Ketchum on any public topic
enables US to speak of MS merits without appre
hension of being misled by personal Partially.
DoDoE's PoRTRAIT OF CLAY.-Tbe new por-
trait of HENRY CLAY, painted last summer by J.
w. Dodge, has just been engraved on Steel by II.
S. Sadd, and is now ready for delivery to its sub
scribers. We hesitate not to say that the En-
craving, as well as the Painting, is beyond COM
parison the best OF the many which have been ta-
ken-admirable as a work Of Art and pnequalled
as likeness though many attempts have be'a
made by competent artists. It is al once more
faithful and more pleasing than any other Por
trait, almost every other making Mr.. Clay less
comely than he trulyls.
The fate OF a distinguished man in this matter
Of counterfeit presentment is one to shudder at.
To be made hideous on copper, smouched on
steel, caricaturcd in hthograph, and butchered
outright on wood-how car, he escape the nigh.-
mare A great man should be either SO hand
some as to defy Disagreement or 50 ugly as to
profit by any change of features that clumsiness
may produce. All the extant wood engravlngs
oil Mr.. Clay are horr!b!e-those zoe have published
ION the Wing Almanac worst of ALL 1t is no
fault of ours-we have spent money enough on
them, and gone on from one to the other Like the
man who married fourteen wives in succession,
still hoping to get good one. We have a fourth
now IN preparation, and would start fifth at
once from ths picture II we were not debarred
by copyrig ghs.-No matter: rejoice that there
IS somewhere gOod likeness OF Henry Clay as
any one wao knows hlm may Judge by calling at
tho looking-glass store of Williams " Stevens,
3l3 Broadway. Mr.. William Edmonds is still
hitherto, the exclusive agent for the disposal
OF this Portrait.
IL MATILDA or the Memoirs OF Young
Woman, by EUGENE SUE has been sent u:
IN a compact and neat octave of AIS pages, by
}. Winchester. We found time to peruse TIN:
work thoroughly during recent journey, ano
were never molc powerfully affected. There art
chapters Of terrible energy and lnslght-such d:
VIII compel you to turn back and read then
again, even though 10 read DC agony. The letter
oi Ursula to De Lancry the ravmgs of Matilda OF
,ne deseruon o! he: husband aud It's Consequence
tue decadence and deattl-scene OF Ursula, are o
thus class, wltk many others Indeed, Ursula ane
the influences which made her what she was are
among INC master pieces of modern Literature
In the Novel of Society, the French are doubtless
unequa!led, and this is one OF the best of the
school.
Yet II is by 40 means without faults, and grea,
ones. Matilda Is u noble being, but not OF the
highest order OF Women. She marries o known
and hagran !ioertine the silly hope OF reclaim.
Ing hltn, whlch no wosan OF true dellcacy, to Say
nothing OF common sense, would do. She then
having been tteat.d with every brutality and in
dignity by her husband-as was to be expected
and finally deserted by him, falls IN love with an
other man, and is on the point of attaching
herself toshim, while the wretch who is still her
legal husband still lives She is not above listen
ing 70 conversations intended to be private when
their subject deeply interests her. Then the hero
De Pochegune, falls in love with the abused and
deserted wife, fights duel with indifference and
wounds his adversary; indeed, all the true men
in the book are duellists on provocaton. These
are sad drawbacks, and prove that the standard
OF Partisan fashionable morality must be low In
deed. And yet, strange though ii be, We know
not where beside to find modern book so well
calculated to inspire intense detestatlon of Vice
in general, and especially OF the brutal tyranny
and lust of which Woman IS so often the law
devoted victim as this same Matilda
T After several days of foggy, nasty, English
weather, With occasional Northeast rain and
snow, the clouds commenced discoun.ing at g
great rate about last evening. Up to t 5
morning, tie ran has poured as it pours but
rarely, with prospect of making night OF il.
We look for g freeze directly