New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1849-02-01
Iiternry Famc.


evening AS, Rev HrSsr GrrEs delivered the Third Of
his Course Of Lecture. on Don 9six0re, N Clinton
Hal to q numerous and respectable audience. The
subjects we're the Censorship Of the Librsry-Li,s
rsry Fame We give an abstract OF hi. discourse
Fame. said he. Ia 70 be obtained BY al who seek Il
and literary fame especially IL Is not TO be essery
sought After yet it's no; 10 Be despised agrees
be when given when accorded II Is pleasant /. wei
as profitable l. il degrading when run after. The
sresss, value IN having the ears Of is In hearing
the truth That de.isnsied Glory belongs 10 men
whose persons command awe. and whose presence Is
oheutnes destruction. Glory Is founded on the cs
pseity Of exciting mans tercer passions Fame 10
power setting on human reason or sympsthies-s pow
which calls into exercise multucss Of IDEAS, or
which sgskens from age 20 age plessurs5e emotions
will rot say that Fame in instance belongs 70 SIGHT
ing that the sword Is sacred bur certainly
the rare and few. Mere fghting cannot con-
fer Fame for tigers ssht better than men and bull
dogs better than tigers. The bay which crowns Ho-
rer or ShAkspesre keeps fresh in the atuosg here Of
living hesrts-the laurel which crowns Cesar or q
Hannibal Il nourshed in the blood OF dying thousands
Fame said the lecturer cannot 5e had merely for the
esor the merits Of some often lie IN o5scurity ard
are unknown 70 the world bnt when the OF
their appearance arrives they hear the cal and obey
IL they come from the hut or the castle, 70 tell the
mission with which they are commissioned The com
monesi experience contains an ium0risity-sn ever
lasting import We hear much Of an age being prossc
Every sge prOssic ia ltself but IS prossic 10
the man Of seuius-he who can lay hold upon the
Dsathless and with them bind his svn name forever
And thi. ia sne Fame must come 'or II sought 81
ter the desire Is almost invariably attended with dis
appointment and Of al dsapPontments in this uncer-
tain world nothing Is CALLING 20 the character whom
il most Affects as that OF literary celebrity.
In speaking OF those whose hopes OF fame were
blasted the lecturer cautions those whose aspirations
LEAD them errngy TO indulge in bright yet Creamy an
cipaons Of the future which s not their lot 70
realize he says The mists that hang upon the future
are the msts of morning the gems that sparkle in TIE
flowers are but the devs Of Summer Who Can tell the
grandeur thai, lies behind the mist Who can tell the
Eden Of JOY Of which these flowers the border The
clears away the mist and dries up the dew How does
the dreamer droop when he discovers that he stands
IN rocky field and nat his labor musI be mon tot
He mstOOk his position mistook ardent consciousness
for evidences Of power: enthus for Imagination,
and admiration Of excellence for the ability 10 attain it
But this Il one who will bear his disappointment vel
b. will not close his eyes-he will open them % see
where he il and that once determines he will occupy
II Ike man and Ike man do the wo.k given him
But others porsevers 70 the last and then not
WINGED We see this In their histories without number
We may say Of them Those mechanics did al they
coud-they cut down tree and shaped Il, but they
could infuse spirit into it stl remains what II
was block.
Fame doe. not come BY wshus-because genius or
power does not come by wishing Locke wrote his i'm
mortal essays for Conversation Club Chesterfield his
wicked but polished letters TO refine the manners OF
son that could not be refined Psscals Provincial Let
ters were composed in a temporary controversy. In
deed the position that epstosry compositions hold is
not the east determined and those that have attained
It have been written without the east view TO H. sNtt
had anxiety for literary fame, and be cared a. little
about the literary opinion OF his contemporaries "a he
did Of their moral opinion yet his fame "a immortal
Had Bloomfield been justice OF the peace instead OF
farmers boy the world would have known little about
him IL had been better for poor Bloomfield 10 have re-
NAMED AZ the pow and for Kirk White literary fame
hi. death came time enough, Could Shakespeare have
discovered through the mysterious future the millions
~, aptfa nah nd
poetry that convused audiences such must have given
him exceeding exultston-mghiy his soul was, yet
IL would have felt the enlargement OF new Joy ~ ne
saw men weeping and laughing over his pages, not on
the Thames only but upon the banks OF the Gsnses and
the most remote regions OF the earth.
The question said Mr. Giles, has often been asked
why is there no American Literature The literature
OF a Nation 10 not thing OF yoliuon. We cannot VIII
a Poet into existence could said he, more east
ly vote ourselves farm. Literature Ia but the pro
gressiye ideal Of a nation existence. nation works
out her literature she does her destiuyshe az the
same grows her material and .pins her thread Il
the spirit that determines nationality In literature.
Romeo and Juliet is An Italian suoect-true 10 ltssn
lie yet In every part OF IL we can discover That II -
the work OF an Engsnman The spirit OF nation 70
the condensation OF i's experience. IL melancholy
truth but being true 10 IL no crime TO tell IT, that the
Ioitiest genius has taken hs material out 81 Ia" si.s
records Of human guilt and human sutertngs. Time
IL required to supply literary genius with subjects TO
invest them with mythc interest and 20 stamp them
with artistic value Il il needed % bring forth men
-
have been splendid seing anywhere, but to be the
wizard that he was, IL necessary that he should
dwell where was old-where wierdlike echoes
were heard in the glen-where the ruined castle and
the shroudsd abbey nave become immOrtalized oy his
most potent necromancy.
In literature the first and ruling motive should not be
10 gain name but say what should bs said, and to
writa what should be written, and then 10 lay ones
head upon the pillow for the sht for the grave 10
the strength Of pure motive man 10 always safe II
does not embitter the heart III asource Of originality
l. N.aN af.rf mr.
of authors he may not gain celebrity but he cannot
fail of usefulness he may have no large tributes OF
applause; he admire genius the more readily, and
be will endeavor TO help the rfnid
The man who lives only Ia applause, lives In the
sound Of death. Fame 10 eysnesesnt when compared
with goodness-si best It rests upon the work Ol man
and only in his breath il lives, but the work OF man
must p-ri.h and the breath Of must die for the
work OF m an 10 founded upon sand and mis- breath 10 a.
yspor Goodness sbideth for ever-ever eternal In
the world and In heaven