New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1845-11-13

attention has been drawn to this subject ana thut
they are anxious TO offer none but good ana wen
translated books for general reading
| We have no narrowness in our we" oil inc con-
! ,,>n,s of such books We are not afraid oil new
.,o,3ar3s md new examples. Only give enough
of ,hcm variety enough and from welllnentioned,
.,,.,.,,,. minds America can choose what she
xon,s il she has sufficient range OF choice, and II
,hcr, is any real any deep root IN the tastes
and opinions she holds at present, she will not
lightly Weld them Only give her what is good OF
lis kind Her hope is not in ignorance, but IN
knowledge We are. indeed, very fond of range,
md that if there is check there should be counter
check and in this view we arc delighted 10 see
these great Italians domcs!icatcd here. We have
had somewhat too much OF the French and Germans
of late We value unchnngcaby our sparkling and
rapid French friend still the searching hon
est. and in highest sense visionary German genius.
But there is not on earth, and we dare to say II,
will no, be again genius i'ic that OF Italy or that
can compare with it. in its own way Italy ana
Greece were alike in this those sunny skies rlpened
their fruits perfectly The il and honey OF Greece
tho wine of Italy, not only suggest, but satisfy
There We find fulilmen,, elsewhere great achieve.
mcnt only.
Oh. acute. cautious calculating Yankee, oh, grace
full witty. hotbloodcd, f,imsy Sou,hron, and thou,
man OF the West going ahead 100 fast 10 pick up
though, or leave flower upon thy path, look at
these men with their great fiery passions, but will
and intellect still greater and stronger, perfectly sin
cerc from contempt Of falsehood, ii they bad act.
ed wrong they said and felt that they had and that
il vase base and hateful in them sagacious, as child
rem are not from calculation, but because the hne
instincts of nature were unspoiled in them Ispeak
now OF Alfcr and Cellni. Dante had all their in
stinctive greatness and deep-seated fire, with the
reflective and creative faculties beside TO an extent
of which they never dreamed.
He who reads these biographies may take them
from several points of view, pictures of manners,
as sincere transcripts of the men and true times.
they are not and could not be surpassed. That truth
which Rousseau sought so painfully and vain!y by
selibroodinc, subtle analysis, they attained without
an effort. Why they felt they care little, but ~hat
they Eel; they scarcely knew, and where fly or
worm has injured the peach, its passage is exactly
marked, 50 that you are sure the rest is iair and
sound Both as physiological and psychical his
tories they are full! of instruction In Alieri, es-
pecially the nervous disease generated in the frame
bv any uncongenial tension OF the brain the perlod
cal crises in his health the manner in which his &C
cesses of passion came upon him, afford infinite sug
ceslion to one who has an eye for the circumstances
which fashion the destiny of man. Let the physician
compare the furies of Alher with the silent RACES OF
Byron and give the mother and pedagogu the light
in which they are now wholly wanting how TO treat
such noble plants in the early stages OF growth
We think the hated cap would not be put a
second time on the head so easily diseased.
The biography of Celini, it is commonly said, is
more interesting than any romance. 1t is romance
with the character of the hero fully brought out
Ccllin lived in all the fullness OF inward vigor all
the variety Of outward adventure, and passed
through all the signs of the Zodiac IL his circling
course, occasionally raising little vapor from the
art magic. He was really the Orlando Furioso
turned Goldsmith and Angelicas and all the Peers
of France Joined in the show. However, he never
lived deeply; he had time; the creative energy
turned outward too easily, and took those forms
that still enchant the mind of Europe. Alfieri was
very different in this He was like the root OF some
splendid Southern plant, engaged beneath heap of
A
vclo2 his form and excite his coors. but he was
compelled 10 a long and terrible struggle TO get up
where he could be free receive It's influence. In
stitutions language. family, modes OF cducaton-al
were unfit for him; and perhaps no man was ever
called to such efforts, after he had reached manly
age 10 unmake and re make himself before he could
become what his inward aspiration craved. All this
deepened his nature and 1t was deep. 1t is his
great force of will and the compression OF Nature
within its iron grasp, where Nature was so power
full and impulsive, that constitutes the charm OF his
writings II is the man Alferi who moves, nay,
overpowers us, and not his writings, which have no
flow nor plastic beauty. But we feel the vital dy-
namics. and imagine it all.
By US Americans, if really such we ever are TO
be, Alferi should be held sacred godfather and
holy light. He was harbinger of what most gives
this time its character and value He was the friend
of liberty the friend OF man. in the sense that Burns
was-of the native nobleness of man. Soiled and
degraded men he hated. He was, indeed, man OF
pitiless hatred as Of boundless love- and he had Bit
ter prejudices too, but they were from antipaIhes
too strongly intertwined with his sympathies for any
hand less powerful than that Of Death 10 rend them
away.
Blu, space does permit 10 do any justice to such
life Us Alieri's Let others read ii not from their
habual but an eternal point OF view, and they can
not mistake its purport Some will be most touched
by the storms of his youth, others by the exploits
and conquests of his later years, but all will find him.
in the words of his friend Casea "sculptured just
as he was lofty, strange and extreme not only in his
natural characteristics but in every work that did
not seem TO him unworthy OF his generous affections
And where he went far is easy TO perceive his
excuses always flowed from some praiseworthy
sentiment
Among crowd of remarks suggested TO the
mind by re.perusal Of this book to us friend OF
many years standing, We hastily note the following
Alferi knew how 10 be friend and had friends
such as his masculine and uncompromlsnS temper
s,,o5 hin, IN endnre and keen He had even two