New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1847-07-27
NEW-YORK TRIBUNE.

CONVERSATIONS IN ROME Between an Artist
Catholic. ard Critic By WILLIAM ELLERY CHAN
NNc Boston Crosby Nichols.
This the third appearance Of our author before
sepublic His two series Of Poems published be.
r. this book have shown depth of thought and
,rception OF beauty which have won for them
rsse and admiration from such critics as Carly lc
Imerson and S. NJ. Fuller; whose valuable com.
osnda,ion has enabled him 10 bear with iortitude
nh faith the chill reception which every writer OF
rroDg parts and esoteric merit at first meets from
;e American public Not here, as in the genial
ierary world Of Europe, is the strange star hailed
with blessings and admiration at its first rising -
We At first test the genuineness OF its beams by
making it shine upon the darkness which compre-
lendeth it not This is owing to the want OF
literary world here, and 10 our caution, not wholly
unpraisewortby, in testing novelties by time. Let
no one say that our people have not hearts keen
% feel and laures 10 crown genius in which they
have At las, learned to have faith SO far from be.
ing backward in this respect, they are the most
eager people 10 the world TO bail those gifted mes
sengers Of beauty and truth, that raise us from
.ransitory practical life to nobler and sublimer
thoughts Let Charming abide his time it shall
urely come.
This book has awakened in our minds feelings
4 the highest artistic delight. 1t has been our
,assion 10 hang over the faded monuments of past
dory, and 10 trace in the imperfect records Of
dent times that noble spirit Of heroism and of art,
shich may never live again so perfectly as OF yore.
We are not among those who blindly dote upon an
tquity to the disparagement of to-day. If ndivid-
nas so devotedy noble and genially beautiful do
not now greet eyes and we something
greyed to observe the spirit Of calculation toti
Gcranten, frcaQ Heatri, we console ourselves by
observing the pyramidal aud colossal foundations
upon which the present day is built, and, inspired
with the modern grandeur Of Shakespeare and Nil.
ton, our Imagination loves to fancy the genius of
modern times eliminating in stupendous proper
tons which shall dwarf all the beauties OF the past.
We behold the army Of scientific men, oviscerating
al. nature and making our imagination faint with
realities more grand than its highest vgor thought
70 iabricale. We mark the dissatisfaction Of the
great literary world with all its nttainments-the
strelchings OF a young giant whose arms Vulcan
has not yet forged. We do no injustice to the
present but our soul is kindled and throbs with
rapture in the contemplation Of tho past The long
sue Of Greek and Roman heroes we have cherish
ed in our most siIectonate admiration. The thrill
ling genius ID Greek letters aud the Roman Poets
have often revealed 10 our heart the unutterable
satisfaction Of intellectual life. But ah. that dream
OF every fancy, that golden vision OF the fragment
AIRY, geological remains of past genius, that signing
desderatum of the past-the Eternal City Never
had we beheld it, never had fancy thrilled with
its artistic beauties neyer-till now We feel in
the living and original portraits OF this author, as
if those pieces OF sculpture, those "wildernesses
of architecture" those painters dreams, stepped
forth from nothing to the full view of fancy and
were seen by ourselves.
This is no exaggeration we say in the most so
Der earnest that in our Judgment there is no book
to be found where the beauties OF that City are
portrayed with so living and original an aspect as
by our author and we recommend every lover OF
times bygone, every wonderer at ancient arts
every one wishing in one word to see Rome with
out going there, not to deny themselves the trea
sures OF this book.