New-York daily tribune., 1845-01-21

him that the dullost conservative cannot say it IS
a blind enthusiasm thai has joined him with the
Movement party. He well expresses the grounds
Of such a faith. "IIe Ohc Poeg knows tha. the
whole powefof God is behind him, as the drop of
water in the little creek feels that it is moved or
ward by the whole weight of The rising ocean,
As to his Poets, the comments on Chaucer are
feeling and discerning, and the extracts well.
chosen and well-placed Unloading characters
tics of Chapman he has seized with great force.
Some things are admirably thought and said of
this Poet.
The following remarks, upon Ford, please us
we'll:
"His plets raise him, and carry him along with
them whittier they please, and il, is generally only
at their eliminating points that he shows much
strength; ard then it 10 the strength of passion, not
| OF reason. Indeed, | do not know but it should
rather be called weakness. He puts his characters
in situations where the heart that has drop Of blood
in ii finds it easier TO be strong than weak. His he
roes show that fifIl strength which grows out Of
intense excitement, rather than healthy muscular
action; il dUes not rise with the difficulty dange.
they in and, looking down on it, assert calmly
the indispensable sovereignty of the soul, even
after the flesh is overcome, but springs forward in
an exulting gush Of glorious deEpairto to grappe with
death and fate. In truly noble bravery of soul,
the interest is wholly the fruit of Immortality; here
il is the Sodom. apple ofmortality. In the one case
we exult 10 see the infinite overshad0w aud divert
;he iaita in the other, we cannot restrain kind Of
| romantic enthusiasm and admiration al seeing the
weak cIey so gailantly defy the overwhelming
| power which ii we'll knows must crush ii. High
| genius may be fiery and ndinpe;uUus, bur it can never
bully and lock big; it does not defy death end tu-
tur,y, for doubt OF lis monarchy over them never
] ovethushed ite serene countenance.
"JoHY-Shakspeare' characters seem to modify
| his plols as much as they are modified by them in
turn. This may be the result Of his unapproachabe
art; for art in him is but the tracing OF nature 10 her
prinordial laws is but nature piecipitated, as ii
were, by the inalible test Of philosophy. In his
plays, as in life, there is perpetual seesaw Of cha
| racter and circumstance now one uppermost, now
the other. Nature is never afraid TO reason in Cir
Gle. We must let her assume her premises, and make
| our deductions logical accordingly. The actors IN
| Shakspeare's dramas are only overcome by much
they fail below their ideal, and are wanting 10
/ some attribute Of true manhood. Wherever we go
witt, him, the absence Of virtue always suggests
| is presence; the want OF any nobleness makes
| feel It's beauty the more keenly.
| PHILIP.-But Ford's heroes are strong only in
their nperfectons, and it is TO these that whatever
admiration we yield them is paid They interest us
only so far as they make us forget our quiet
| calm ideal. This is the very stamp of weakness.
|
| natural greatness. They morbid and unhealthy;
for, in TRUTH what call greatness and nob!eness
but entire health TO those only who are denatura
| lied themselves does il seem wonderful 10 the ma
tural man they are ao customary and unconscious
| as the beating of his heart, or the motion OF his
lungs, and as necessary Therefore ii is that praise
always surprises and humbles true genius; the
| shadow of earth comes then between them and their
starry ideal with cold and dark eclipse. In Ford's
characters, The sublimty if there be any. s that of
defiant despair.
ga contemporary thus graphically describes him:
| Deep in n dump John Ford was alone gnt,
With folded arms and melancholy hat
A couplet which brings up the central figure on
the tte-page to the old edition Of the Anatomy Of
Melancholy" very vividly before our eyes. His de-
pendence on things out of himeef is SHOWN also in
| bis historical play Of Perkin Warbeck, in which,
having no very exciting plot 10 sustain him, he is
very gent!emeniy ard very dull He does rot fur
nish so many isolated passages which ore complete
\ in themselves, qualify remarkable in the old
draratiats, among whom only Shakespeare united
penectness Of tne parts with strict adaptation and
harmony of the whole. A play Of Shakespeare g
seems like one Of those basaltic palaces whose root
is supported by innumerable pillars, each formed OF
many crystals perfect in themselves"
But presently, when Mr.. Lowell criticises in
detail Ford's tragedy of The Broken Heart,
in his remarks upon the beautiful scene between
Orgilus and penthea, he seems quite untiscern-
ing as TO the feelings Of Penshea and The mo-
tives which induce her to act Us she does Also
in what he says of Calanthas "saving up her
heart-break, as it were, until it can conia in with
proper effect at the end of the tragedy; though
there is some truth in his remarks he seems TO
leave out of sight the main-spring Of the charac.
| ter, a greatness which Ford had the soul TO feel
was proper to the heroic character. and which
very uuheroic persons have been able to feel
through him; the property, mean, OF being IN
cxpectedly equal 20 anguish and horror, in pro-
portion TO their assault. The mind of Calantha
rose instantaneously to the occasion, and like
the Roman, when tho drop too much came IN
the cup, she gave no groan, but folded the robe
over her breast, and died smiling"
Indeed, we should dispute many of MIR. Low
oll's criticisms in detail and are seldom entire
lg pleased with them; but newspaper limits do
not elow of such an examination. Neither does
he challenge it; he does not profess to give tina
results oflong acquaintance through varied mood,
which, with books as with living acquaintance,
can alone enable us TO give even as just an cstl-
mate ss cur imperfections permit, the sum total
of our best Judgment
.'Allthe false values gore"
But he offers the flowing mood of the day, and he
who does not value it as clarified criticism, may
find bis prof, in it for the companionshp of stlm,
ulus and suggestion. He says very well,
"Wa do not agree, nor should We be pleasant com
| nsniors if we did This would be dull world in-
degd if all our opinions must (bend7 to one standard;
when all our hearts do, we shall see blue sky and
| not sooner
Two points he seems to labor unnecessarily.
If he addresses very ignorant audience, he talks
too finely for them; if cultivated one, he will
fad such truths recognized far more distinctly
than he states them. lst. That the principles
which peryade the Fine Arts are Identical and
that nothing bat partial organization prevents
I. trac pr