Wisconsin herald, and Grant County advertiser. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1844-1845, 1845-08-30

lhgs. L thougnt that 1t was probably
an old book overlooked, or that the
author was an old man who had passed
his life in boarding up shrewd apothc-
gins, and had at last given them to the
world in compact chapters. Great was
my surprise day or two since, on
coming home to my lodgings, to find a
card on my table bearing the authors
name-Mr. Martin Farquhar Upper.
called on Mr.. Upper the next day
with some curiosity-picturing to my
sell, however, a grey-headed patriarch,
and preparing myself to treat him with
proper reverence, and express very
gratefully my sense Of the honor Of his
visit. i was shown into n very elegant
library Of well thumbcd books, by a
servant in mourning livery, and after
employing myself a few minutes in
looking at the statuary and other marks
of taste around me, enter--a very
young man with black curling locks,
twenty-seven at the utmost, rudy and
handsome, and with manner boyishly
cordial One draws his breath very
long after such an overturn of his an
ticipations
/ believe VIC have made for this gem
tlcman, a large parish of enthusiastic
admirers, and J am quite sure that
''Proverbial Philosophy" is now treas
ured as book, not merely to read, but
to study and live with, (after the man
ncr of a 'Uade-mecun,) by thousands
of lovers Of thought in our reading
country. To these it will be interest
ing to know, that Mr.. Upper has
written several other delightful hooks,
which l shall send you, and which you
can extract from, as did from the 9TH
or, till the publishers see fit to give you
an American edition of them. | am
not sure whether The Crock Of Gold"
has not been rc-publshed already, but
"The Modern Pyramid" has not. nor
has Geraldine, and other poems"
nor a smaller volume called +" A Thou
sand Lines"
He has kindly presented these to me,
| anu Siitiil SlfC Nou dIIOuAI VI
them as / read them.
Mr.. Topper is man Of fortune, and
has a beautiful residence in the coun-
try as well as house in town-caring
little for the profits of literature, and
writing only to please himself. He is
the most courageously natural man,
in his manners and conversation as well
as his books, whom | ever met with
Considering the aristocratic class he
belongs to, this is much more a wonder.
He talks directly at the truth, with DO
DISCUSSES, no heed of usagcs. no re-
serves, and no apparent dread Of being
misunderstood. His account Of his
reasons for writing his Prover5ial Phi
losophy, (givcn me in ten minutes after
we first met, but so connected with his
private iilr tibet could not repeat it, J
was to my mind, one of the most beau
tiful instances Of bold and frank sim
plicity possible to conceive. His mind
/ follows no other mans. II runs, as the
French say, q traUerS, TO every thing.
How he preserves his originality is the
though with secluded habits,
and the complete hedgings-in OF wealth
and individual privacy in this country,
he is probably in the only place and
circumstances in the world where it
would long continue.
The most refreshing and newest
wonder of London, lust now, is the ice
" from Lake Wenham," an innocent
Massachusetts, lake, that, a year or two
ago, had very little idea Of becoming
London lion. (How suddenly we do
sometimes become famous, TO be sure J
Beautifully painted carts, lettered
WEsHAM IcE," 90 about the city,
, and wherever they stop TO take out a
block, crowd collects, and there is no
limit TO cockney admiration of it
Something of the kind was wanted from
our country, by the way, 10 show that
nature, at least, had not "repudiased."
But what they have done, hitherto,
withou ice, seems natural enough TO
ask. / Just remember that we always
drank tepid water in the summer time
in London, and that the hook and cham
pagne had never the rccupcrating twang
that delights the dry throat on the Polk
side of the Atlantic. Now-when the
hook has been passed round after the
soup-there is a general exclamation
and discussion Of the new luxury, and
the conversation commonly passes from