Litchfield enquirer., 1846-12-10
PLAGIARISM.

Pethaps the most despicabIe species of larceny which man can be guilty of, is that of attempting to palm of the literary productions of other people as his Own.- But decidedly the most JOOlish attempt of the kind which ever came to our knowl- edge, is disclosed in the following article fiom ROBERT HowE GOULD, Esq, (son of the Hate Judge Gould, of this village, which we copy from late English paper.
 The poem alluded to commences
 "Chained in the market place he stood,
 A man of giant franc;
 Amid the gathering multitude
 ~ That sbrunk to hear his name,"&e.
 1t may be found in half of the books of Execution In the country.
 To the Editor of the .Manchester Guardidn.
 Sir,-There are persons, whose fondness for poetry and thirst for literary fame. 60 far out run their talent and their discretion, as occa. sionally to induce them to covet, and at length to appropriate, the compositions of others.
 To this class ot misguided men, belongs one Mr. M. s. Fitzgerland, who, not having the fear of exposure before his eyes, did on an un- fortunate day, to wit, on the 18th of July, 1646, caused to be published, in the .Manehes:er and S0lfo,d .adoertiser and Chronicle, little po- em, entitled " The African Chief," to which he prefixed his own name, as author, In for gettulness, or unconsciousnes, of the fact that it had been written and published some years previously, by the eminent American poet, William Cullen Bryant.
 Now, although MT, Fitzgerland (having os- trich-like, buried his head in the corner of an old periodical where the poem was first anony- mously printed ) trusting to the limited knowl- edge of American poetry ia this country, con sidered himself secured in h.s wrong doing, it so happened, that Mir. Thomas Kenworthy, of Bradford Yorkshire, had made the acquaint. ance ot the poeM in question, under different circumstances. and verify believed 1t to be the production of MT. Bryant. This belief he ex. pressed in letter to the journal above named (sgned 4 Louer of POetry, which, being pub lished, called forth Iejoinder from Mir. FitZ- of thorship, and alleging that he had written and published the lines, so long ago as 1887.
 Al this stage of the dispute, Mir. Kenworthy addressed letter to me, at the Manchester Athenaeum (where was then giving some lec- lures upon American poetry, ) Inquirlng wheth- CT could decide the question. In reply, unhesitatingly asserted, that the poem was Bryaats. and had been published by him in lS32-ive years prior to the time, when MT Fi,z ,erland believed himself to have written il, My letter to Mir. Kenwor,hy, was forward ed by him to the .advertistr and Chronicle, and published in that journal, on the 29th Mo- vember lHst
 On the 18th of the following December, 4 Lover of tav play. writing from Clifton, ad. dressed an epistle to the Chronicle, stating that Mr. Fi,zgeraud was then in New Zealand (where would advise him to remain ; sustain Ing his claims as an author, and requesting the edItsr 10 close his columns against all further attacks upon his .' absent but esteemed friend"
 This IS the whole substance of the letter from the Louer Of Fair Play, although it was encumbered with some irrelevant nonsense, touching the writer's own '' position, as repre- sentative ot an establishment of high rePuts." and a small amount of bombast alleging that "the unwarranted and uncalled for oticious ness of those who pride 10 figure in print @ would be toun1 unjustitied and unmeriled !'
 This very Johnsonian and astounding eli max, was followed by Post ScriptiOsa, stating that he |" incluSed his card. as a guarantee o1 good faith, &c." His support of Mir. Fitzger- lands cla:n. Is in itself, astounding evidence of a faith, more than ordinarily good. It would have been more 10 the purpose, if either his grammar or his logic had deserved similar praise.
 Now. sir, the whole controversy is scarcely worth this long narrative; but there is sub- limity st impudsnce about Mr. Fi,zgerland's claim. and pompous absurdty in the letter of his champion, which ought not to escape chas- tisement.
 Al the time when all this correspondence took place, Mir. Bryant was on the continent of Europe, and has but recently returned to New York without passing through London.
 have written to him about this affair; and l annex his reply. adding, that MT. Bryants personal and literary reputation are both too well.established, to premit doubt of the truth of his statement, even were the collateral ev- idence, to which his letter refers, not in exis. tence.
 As Mir. Fitzgerland thought proper to in- fict his plagiarism upon the Manchester pub lie, trust that you wiil not refuse to make your journal the medium of conveying to the same audience, that exposure of his dIshones- ty, which is a suitable punishment for him, and an act of justice to my eminent countryman. l have the honor to remain, sir. your very obedi-
 ROBT. H. GOULD, of Conn. U. A.