The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1848-04-29
DAILY CRESCENT
CIR EEK LITERATURE:
A LECTURE.
BEFORE THE PEOPLES LycEuM OF NEW ORLEANS
Delivered on the Evening OF April l9, 1913.
BY ALEXANDER DIMETRY.

BY ALEXANDER DiMtIRI.
The material history Of nations in how imperfect soeye
en he cansen anna bat b mo Mind no ia ns a
the records OF time and they spread to the view the heradr
the geneaosy Of seniuse dyna a of the realms
ntelec-the sequel OF written thought linking generation
broken chain inability shrnks before the hercuea
to in recalling few of the names that have exercised al
nHeno on % in ages pa and recurring to tn
triumph OF some gifted pen draft that history, and II
There in literature two distinct and we denet
ofaers oil thought one pertaining the things that
former instituted by philosophy and the sister sciences the
in the poetry the eIoquence and history
people Forwat science not visionary but strict practca
the idea OF God perpeuaed man in the stud,
n ms "ah scenee Then Tie EXPRESSION of the divine
Mans conceptions applied to either the objects Of heaven
| of the human mind
To the eveopement of the latter in Gecian antionty we
SO cprsory but advert TO the influences which climates
morals and have exercised that teemng perot
much the vigorous and original, by how much the
ye NE an to wo In G of the
81 Grecan lefatuTe we might desire fully TO make out it
nations But the absence of even mutiIaed records leave
us but The vanity OF our DESIRES From what regions have
have they been mo- lied What period marks the literary
advent and life Of humanity! Must the first weavngs Of
Judea I? On but we would delight to tower above the
sleeps OF ages and dive into the annals OF human thought
from its earliest dawn to lis sunbust of glorious light But
IN VAIN the origins of that marvel Gus history soude
of o ee Not ony a the
letters wrapped mysterious folds but their progress
Of msnest imitation VIE were the creators and who the
evidently too, from Egypt India after pouring her mind
the land of Mesram, extends her influence Greece
and Athens and Rome modify the civilization of after times
In this universal barter OF ideas and exchange OF doctrines
nf
intellectual hoards The whole of history shows that
ideas other neigboring remote, friendly hostile
race OF men Under thousand conflicting influences well
West the human species have through their moral and
intellectual training They are at this day startled at the
successive they barely cast the reckoning of their
stores their "reminiscences of the past but confused and
the various sources OF their treasures unknown.
To the youngest born OF modern civilization. with
existence as people the history Of the majestic East cannot
but appear peculiarly intricate 1t spreads before Us The
spiritual unity of the land Of Eume aAraby with biblical
associations and wandering hordes-and Hindooan, the
orders of privileged and inferior caes Each Of these great
subdivisions of Eastern antiquity has left its only
general civilization, but on the annals OF literature and OF
the ars-a deep and engmatic mpresshe object of the
Wa 0 or H1 e f snd e f Here
there an egibe or qnestlonaby read
pyramids and inexpIicable embems-a few ritual fragments
such as the Zendavesa Or the laws OF Manouscatteed
relics and shlyered meopes speaking to the inquirer OF the
Necessarily confined within limts-amost isolated
amidst the literary monuments of other nations though
characterized by tone OF wild magnicenee, the remnants
of Arabic poetry long before the period of Mahomet breathe
posm caee by erbeo IN his oenta library contain
an the the ] Of s
has all defaced All the feelings which they embody-
and memorable and fearful in
their expression This of the oasis and the tent
trays of the tbe-the ntoxication of the ensesthe dis
appointments Of and the bitterness of Beneath
hnFSai his nd Nppduy
his quiyerng lanceskiTing the of sands free the
winds that sweep o the M the 10 aSy G
as the Simeon and glowing as his own desert hymns
necessarily confined within limits; and recur
renee to the manners and customs Of that people their mode
be said have inhabited will satisfactorily account for the
fact Bnt far otherwise have Juiea and India modified the
the eye jehovah struggling through all the ycissitudes of
slavery and conquest towards an unknown thoug sublime
in their faint perceptions God OF battle strife and earthly
Cod even ;n then spped OF the thousand abu
his living splendoTs Less gorgeous IN their aneies than the
skifu the useful than the Chadeans the descendants
OF the HycksOs shepherds have rivals in the expression OF
The books long buried the shades of the
thrown open TO the light after centuries Of secuslon
the deep CONSCIOUSNESS the divine idea which lived within
their became purified and sotened down to degenerate
the world But even here must not do injustice to Greece
th XIX a"nrafions of CIVILIZED e burning light
coming the East and reflected by anticipation from the
phioophic schools of Greece Christianity threw sofenng
the nations of the world the unespored paths OF the
futuean earnest and promise OF an almost boundess
peyou TO that which is marked by the influences of Greece
IS Judpa indebted for material notifications of her doctrines
Esypt century before the battle Of Marathon eighty years
stf r SIS before h Chrn era Jerusalem and the first
Temple after heroic desperate resistance were given up
who had already dealt deadly blow the Empire Of the
Pharao transplanted into Babyona the most enlightened
members of the captive nation their the court of
Babylon and the colleges of the learned of the Empire The
wholly them evident in parts ofthe books OF pan
lei and induced habits of ascetic contemplation slnguary
oss ny e 1f Fom he bonans they borrowed he
traditions of good and evil spiT-thelr names the,T
earth and things visible and lnysIbe-togetheT with
Go1 . on en GaGn 9 S Which, the Ease
school OF speculative JUDAISM converted IN after lines mo
which characterized the spiritual Developments of the
Mosaic doctrines and creed But more than this they drew
from the same sources notions but family if at all entertained
before Of the individuality OF mano the migrations and
yicissitudes Of spirits after this eof the body resurrection
IF the dead of their Judgment and their eternity
nankinda mild plant and poetic race-the people of
ern civilization; Whatever may have been its relations
with Egypt and Greece with Persia and China,wheher it
benefited by exchange of thought between those regions
arIest sechngs OF civilization are traced in the Sanscr
looks a century has barely passed by since the labors Of
Aniuefl, enlarged Jones ana nave reEedeI
the world; and their study brings of asonlh
and the minds that explore their mysteries
fancy waners amidst those suberanean temples. which The
gate of the Ganges threaten with hourly INVASION the
gigantic of days gone by, of which the hV'ng
generations know neither the nor nanes-monuments
cared without Order economy ueoy creations OF an
;roanng under luXuriant onaments-mabe riddles whch
cannot read brSins with forests oil columns ana no:S
statues which at teca the idea OF Egypt ana e'a,
freeze and Mexico. OF the architecture OF tha race Ie
erauIe nconcelvahy vast in It's range no % M b
,ar. Epic tragedy, ode and Apologize, S9phsis " te
choolS and dreams of the imagnaton-ther chet
ions of human intelligence and the most driVens systems
II moral philoophy-he doctrines oil Maeriailsh IN its
laked forms OF its disguise under the manyhued mamie OF
tene of higheachlng Spnuam or Inc
deviation of the into system OF Worsnip-the appn-
alton of logic to the purposes of practical HE ard TO the
ticsm OF the -a style of nara i've composIon as e Sc
ycaI and senteutious as that OF the Bible tse-al these
characteristics are wildly ncoherently blended togee ana
strangely magnificent body OF literature lhere
no form of the human mind as revealed llser III, VI
ntioutv bat what bound IN the mysterious chains OF e
undred thousand stics of the Malabarata-the iaa q
in the epic majesty OF the Ramayaha WHICH
,ears singuIar affinity to the Odyssey OF Homer
This poetry of Oriental antiquity Is chafacterzea Dy
sonisng grandeur ideas and vigorous power o. cled-
ion Iuxurant in forms and hnes sparkling with the
or~eonsne of its own sunshine untods It's beauties WIN
n he spjendor and magnIcence OF the early Eden OF the
Torjd and like their deep and majestic nye wheels ITS
road tide into the shoeesS and 1aoiniess oceans Oh
g, nj yaFiatU