The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1843-01-01

TrMpERArcK-Mr. Wallace of Kentucky, long
and favorably known as one OF our sweetest ana
most fancifu poets wlllrepeat In the course OF lew
evenings, the address which he delivered on Satur-
day evening last before most respectable and IN
teligent audience, at Concert Hall, Broadway, on
ssthe poetry of temperance" subject peculiarly
fitted for his brilliant mind. AS Mr. w IS about to
reneat this discourse, we will offer few Observa-
lions on it. less however, to do to the speaker the
Justice which he deserves, or to bring more proml-
nently before the public his literaty reputation, al
ready so widely appreciated than 70 auiqnlsI oui
readers not to neglect this opportunity OF hearing
I - eloquent orator on mos fascinating suo|eci
r rcs' ,osition and style of this address, which
me colIir.~ 10 fair criterion tor opinion, are
rich hord and fancitu, SSnm The case with poet
imagery which, Gas is too selu Illustration, and
| ical speakers) is always true in Ito ,ional thar
has the happy effect OF appearing more ra' This
dramatic, more collateral than ornamental.
his mechanism of diction, is admirably adapted
the subject, and frightened through the discourse IN
fine keeping, from first to last. When to this we
add the intrinsic ability, the thorough knowledge,
the vigorous mental grasp with which he treated his
well-seected materiel and the lofty philosophical
views in which he presented it. we hesitate not to
pronounce Mr.. Wallace one OF the most accomplish
ed orators of the day. and as fully sustaining the
rank acceded to him by those who have heard him.
Some passages in the discourse alluded to, which
we annex. will justify these remarks and give the
reader some idea OF the ground we havel for ex-
pressing them.
Mr.. w. said hundreds have attempted the defni-
ton of poetry. The Greeks, think, have given us
the best. Their words for poet mean the creator
Of what? of the beautiful-of the sublime. Then
poetry is creation-a creation of the beautiful and
the sublime. Even in its lowest efforts-combina-
tions-t is inventive; and when it ascends higher,
it seems endowed with divine power-calling up
from the invisible forms of light, loneliness and
glory; framing world whose soil would not stain
the foot of the most radiant essence. | speak it
reverentaly when say that the architect of the
universe is poet-the rst-the greatest poet the
Creator, whose thought, beautiful and sublime, is
expressed in the material around us in man--the
hower-the river-the ocean-the mountan-the
volcano-the heavens-the sars-the systems of
worlds, that stretch and on, throughout the aw-
full and unboundsd fields of space. They are his
language-his words-spoken by the lips of omni
potence and transcribed on the tablets of eternity
Again, alludlng to the unwriten "poetry of tenn
perance," Mr. w. eloquently observes "lt has beau
ty-it has subnrty-it has lruth-it has order 1t
is never soiled, marred, or dsarranged by any an.
tagonstic principle Its oveliness is the loneliness
of sobrety. Its grandeur is the grandeur of Him
who is shrined in the splendor of eternity
Let hearts be thrilled by its musiclet our souls
be exalted by its majesty-et our natures be puri-
fed by It's spotless aspect So that we may feel all its
beauty and all its slory-let us, in our own lfe-po-
ems, initiate IT,"
The intended repetition of this fine production
compels u.s. in Justice to Mr. W. to intrench no fur
ther it at present. but hope return to it at an
opportunity more favorable and justifable