New-York daily tribune., 1844-05-02

In TIM; Jus, expectation. ."-SHgLLEY.
WAITER LANpoR, when Rugby boy, was Ia
:" ous. among other leats of strength and SKILL ior
he wonderful precision with which he used
cast net and he vas not often disposed to ask
permission of the ow ners Of those ponds or streams
that suited his mornings fancy. One day q farm
er suddenly came down upon him and ordered
him TO dcsst and give up his. net Whcrcuron
LanGo. instantly cast his net over The farmers
head caught him entanclcd him; overthrew
him. and when he was exhausted, addressed the
cnraged and discomited face beneath the meshes,
ill the farmer promised TO behave discrcctly.-
The pride that resented a show of intimidation,
the prudence that instantly iorcsaw the only
means Of superseding punishment, and the promp
titude of will and action, are sufficiently conspcu
GUS. The wiu energy and seli-dependent force
of character displayed by Waiter Landor as boy,
and accompanied by physical power and activity
all of which were continued through manhood
and probably have been so, to great extent
even up TO the present time, have exerted an IN
huence upon his genius of very peculiar kind
a genius healthy, but the heathiulncss no. always
well appled-resolutc, in a lion like sense, but
not intellectually concentrated and continuous !;
and seeming TO be capable of mastering all things
except its own wifu impulses.
lr.
who stands in position unlike that of any other
eminent individual of his time. lie has received
no apparent influence from any one Of his cotem
poraries nor have they or the public received any
apparent influence from him. The absence Of
anv fixed and definite influence upon the public
ia actually as it secms; but that he has exercised
a considerable influence upon the minds OF many
of his cotenporaries is inevitable because so iina
a spirit could never have passed through any com
petcnt medium without communicating It's ecc-
tric forces although from the fineness OF ITS elc
men.s, the effect like the cause, has been ol too
n subtle nature TO leave tangible or visible I'M
Press. ,..-.,....,,-
To all these causes combined rs attributable
the singular fact that although Waller Savage
Landor has been before the public as an author
during the last fifty years, his genius seldom de-
MED, bu, long since generally recognized, and hs
present position admlsslbly in tha; of the highest
rank of au,hors-and no man hlgher--there has
never been any philosophical and critical estimate
of his powers. Admired he has often been abun-
dainty, but the admiration has only been support
ed by extract" or by an off hand opinion The
present paper docs not pretend TO supply this great
deficiency in our literature 1t will attempt to do
no moro than "open up "the discussion.
Walter Landor when at Rugby school, was a
leader in all things, yet who did not associate
with his school-iellows-th infallible sign OF a
strong and original character and course through
life. He was conspicuous there for his resistance
to every species Of tyranny, either OF the masters
and their rules, or the boys and their system oI
making fags, which things he resoutcly opposed
against all odds;" and he was, at the same
time, considered arrogant and overbearing IN his
own conduct He was almost equally famous
for riding out of bounds boxing, leaping, net
casting, stone throwing, and for making Greek
and Latin verses. Many OF these verses were re-
peated at Rugby forty years after he had left the
school. TIE master however, studlousiy
sliyhled him So long, that when n, last the token
was given Of appreciation Of certain Latin verses,
the indignant young classic being Obliged to copy
them out fairly in the 'pay-booS,' added a few
more, commencing with
Il.ec sunt malorum pessina carulinum
Ouot Landor unQuam scripst; at GccIpe
[ 'pdc tuun. dea hava noinen &C
From RugUy to Trinity College, Oxford, was
fhe next remove of Walter I.andor. He was
.rustica,ed' for firing oft gun in the quadrangle;
but as he never intended 10 take degree, he dld
not return. He left Oxford--let all the juvenile
critics who have taken up iacile pens OF Judgment
about Mr. Lander during the last ten years, trcr-
bic as they read, and doubt their own abilities
in the summer of 1898, when he put forth small
volume of poems. They were published by Ca
dell, and il will not be though; very surprising
that the first poems OF young man, at that time
ouite unknown TO the world, should In the llpsc
of fifty wears have become out oi PRINT. lfisneXt
performances NAV, with sufficient trouble, be OBJ
famed They are the poems OF Gebr,' Chry-
saor., the 'Phoceans,' &c, and the very high
encomiums passed upon Gcbir by Southey,
with whom Landor not acquainted TIL some
twelve years afterwards, were accounted as sull
cient fame bv their author. Sou.heys eulogy OF
the poem appeared in the Critical Rev.ew, 10 the
great anger of Clifford, whose translation OF Ju-
yenal' was by no means so much praised m the
same number One of the most stnkingy char
ac;eristic facts IN connection with MIR. Landor is,
that while he has declared his own doubts as TO
whether Nature intended him for q poet, be
cause he could never please himself by any thing
he did of that kind" 1t must be perfectly evident
60 every body who knows his writings, that he
never took the least pans TO please the public
The consequences were almost inevitable.
After leaving Trinity, Dir. Landor passed some
7,onths in London, learning ltaiian. and avoiding
all society; ne then retired TO Swansea, where ne
wrote 'Gebr'-liyed in comparative solitude
made love, and was happy.
The attitude IN whlch tho ctticai hleIa'i u
the time received the poem oil Gcbir,' was very
much the same as though such a work had never
been published. we'll written critique, however,
did appear as one exception, in northern pTovin'
cial paper, in which Mr.. Landor was compared,
in certain respects with Goethe; another we
have also seen, which was full OF grand!y eio-
quent and Just expressions OF applcciation-ptin'-
ed, we believe. in Aberdeen, within two years
since, and signed G.. G.. bat the ealhest wsS Va
written by Southey, as previously stated NO
doubt Mr. Lundor has read the latter, but II Is hs
habit (and one more common among authors oi