New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1848-12-21

tit beauty ana thc power OF these PAGES. Ne
should Ike 70 ireshen our thought and fancy upon
the spiritual exuberance which they afford for
both But pleasure cannot be prolix in the para
graphs Of newspaper. These volumes cannot
but make their own way to the hearts and minds
OF the American peopie-sy. and Of the English
too All who can read with the slightest inteli
gence will find in them understanding Of no less
power than hdeity-s memory Of enormous
grasp, yet OF surprising exactituds,-an magma
ton opulent and choice-which gyrates through
earth and heaven aud ocean-~hich never COM
plains and never whines but which al the same
time does not seem to have passed through those
waves and waters Of deep affection. that steep
the soul in pathos-that give II knowledge Of
a. iul sorrows-that does not seem to have passed
through the tortures OF those who have obtained
peace only by agony, or by age, who have trod
alone the w.nepress Of troubles, that have no ut
tersnce and that have no name. -
The diction Of Mr. Whipple is more than felici-
tious il is muscular and athletic. II answers to
t e thought, aud is true to the feeling. The SEN
fences are not measured they are not short or
long by any rule, but, just as the moods Of mind
are quick or lsr-Grawn out, forth the rapid
or the slow strains Of his language Mr.. Whipple
takes no model, bat follows the prompting M
pulses OF his own mind Sometimes the tones are
Of broad and choral compass, and sometimes they
are of soft and Lydian measure. But, in what
ever key mr. on whatever scale, they never fail OF
music. DIction is thing iiseparable from the
very thought, and il IS thus not merely In fact but
10 conception. Thought and diction are as iudi-
visible as the heat and flame, and both combine
INTO the spritlieht Of language. Mr. Whipples
diction thus corresponds with his mind some
times IL Is transparent, sometimes II IS many
coored but never is il obscure. Now it Is as the
rich bushes Of the rising SUD uxurIating on
howcr-covcred hills then It is as the clear blue of
noon, when intense beams are soitened behind
the azure clouds. At one time II is like the sill
vefcd moon, at ANOTHER i is as the iorked light
ming flashing death upon ,humbugs, or passing
with rapid and humorous streQks across the dark
horizon of intellectual difficulties or literary prob
lens.
We might and could mention faults in this style.
but the faults are so lost in fascination that we
have no power to dwell on them. We do not al.
ways agree with his critical judgments or with
the reasoning which leads him to them, but we
never cease 70 feel the power and the purity Of h.
fall and informing spirit 1t is great thing to
have such spirit near by, and a blessed thing to
feel it. II we could dare to pariicularze the arti-
ces which have pleased us most, without giving
the "why" or the wherefore we should say
that on " Wordsworth that on Byron that ON
Eoglish Critics that on " Coeridge" as Phi
losophcal Critic that on British Critics, and
that on Prescotts Histories
Mr. Whipple has great sympathy with genius,
aud with genius in every form. There seems 10
DO no sphere of literary genius which he has not
contemplated, and to which he cannot do Justice.
We would however, venture to say, that want OF
years or want of opportunities have kept him from
looking at external nature in It's primal simplicity
aud life. The vital and informing power is IN him.
aud ia him richly which can give the stones mean
ing and the clouds a voice, but as yet he has taken
80 the compound clay called Man too much IN ITS
concrete shape and has not sufficiently gathered the
whispcrngs OF the air that surround HIM In mys-
terios But still he has developed rich comb.
nation of faculties, which causes US to wonder and
admire: an intellect piercing, penetratiye, discur-
sive. condcnsing, comprehendng and comprehen-
sivc; perception OF excellence mutiisrious and
intense; a discernment of beauty which nothing
can betray and nothing can deceive; conscious
ness OF right and wrong pure, so determined,
ard SO direct that not the most passionate admi'
ration can beguie or blind it. sensbiity so gen
tie that no Indignation no sarcasm no satire, can
crush down the voice of holy and human pity
From no collection Of Essays with which we are
bar ofk militant md
be auiful passages be extracted but we have
been so charmed along by our general subJect,that
our quotations must be fewer than we would 9TH
erwisc desire How thoroughly the writer under
stands the history and nature Of his art the follow
ing will show
"Itis impossible to cast careless glance over
the literature of the last thirty without perceiv
ing the prominent station occupied BY critics review
ers and essayiss Criticism in the old days OF Monthly
Reviews and Genilemens Magazines was quite an hum
Die occupation, and was chiefly monopohzed BY the
barren rsscals Of letters who scrubbed snned snd
starved in stcs and cellars but II has since been Al
most exalted into creative art and numbers among
It's professors OF the most accomplished writers
of the age Dennis Rhymer Winstanley, Theophilus
Cihber, Grihths, and other eminent hands as wen
the contributors 20 deiunct periodicals and
deceased pamphlets have departed. body and soul and
left not a wreck behind and their places have been
supplied by such men as Colerdge carlyle Macaulsy
Isplh Hszliu Jeffrey. Wilson. Clifford, Macintosh,
sydney smith Hsllsm, Campbell Ialiourd and Brough-
am Indeed every celebrated writer OF the present
century without IL is believed solitary exception has
dabhed OF exceed in criticism. IL has been the road
70 fame and troat and has commanded both applause
and euineas when the unfortunate objects OF u have
been blessed with neither Many OF the strongest minds
of the age will leave other record behind them than
critical essays and popular speeches. To those who
have made criticism business II has led 20 success IN
other professions The EdmsErsA Rsrter, which took
the lesd IN the establishment of the new order Of tsns
was projected In lofty attic by two brieness barns
ters and ttheless parson the former are now lords
and the latter 10 snug prebendary. rejoicing In the
reputation Of being the dvines wit and wttes divine
of the age That celebrated journal made reviewing
more respectable thsn authorship was started 81
time when the degenerscy OF literature demanded
radical reform and sharp vein OF Criticism lts con
t-butors were men who possessed talents and niorma
ton and 90 far held slight advantage over most oil
those they reviewed who did not happen 20 possess
either Grubst Quarterly qusked q IT. foundation As
the Northern comet shot is poeutous glare into me
dark alleys where bsthos and pueruiy ouzzed and
hived The citizens Of Brussels on the night previous
10 Waterloo were hardly more terrorsruck than the
vast array OF fsed authors who, every three months
waited the appearance OF the baleful uminary' and
starting At every sound which oetokened lis arrival
.wh-perea 9TH ~Ai- lT,, tn. 90 comes comes
Here again is noble passage on noble theme