Richmond daily times. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1853, 1852-05-17

into any picture. dealers, or into that escharnel
nous" for deceased portraits, the marine store
shop, and look at the shadowy host of mean-
| choly individuals in court SUITS reeiinentals BAG
wigs, and eanoncals and after that, if you trust
| yourself to canvass OF stone, you deserve to be
forgotten.
| "All very WELL" somebody says, ewith re-
spect to portraits painted, and busts ehiselled by
artists of no great reputaton--go to Laurence,
Canora, or F1armaa, and you are sure of n
| distinguished fame at once" That we contend
| is an error. The artist will carry you to POS
terlty it is true. But how? Why, as Law
renee, Canova, or a Flaxman, as the case may
De. Ills name will be prominent and absorb
| ing. as to swallow up yours. In q century, or
| perhaps half that time, your identity will be
clean gone, and then you will be mortified to find
that you have only let your face out fer the bene
fit of another. And in the majority of cases.
this is only fair, for, in general, portrait Or a
bust is memorial more for domestic affection
than public fame. Round the family hearth, it
may give man sort Of Immortality at least
hold him IN preservation to the end of color and
canvass, as curious looking old quiz, worth.
something for the cut of his nese the set of his
pigtail, or the blink of his eye. But once out of
doors, and at large once cut your family ties and
connexions, and you longer portrait
but painting; no longer bust, but a piece of
sculpture You become a fine piece of color, u
glorious conception, magnificent head, or a no.
Bile design.
There is one mode of introducing name to
the public, that seems to us rather strange is not
more frequently adopted. We alude to TASTY
dish such as the coteiette de Mainkenon. O;
piquant sauce, such as .'Hdrrey's," for one Of
the best secrets for bequeathing lasn memorial
of ourselves is to connect name with pleasing
associations. Let US see, now, what has been
done in this branch. How old is the Chelsea
Bun, or the Banbury Cake We believe that
both are lost in the vapors of culinary antiquity.
But as these toothSome compounds are named af-
| ter towns, that is of no consequence otherwise
than deprving some ingenious cook of lasting
| fame. Then, again, there is 'sSally Luan," and
we wonder who she was.
This to say the least Of it, is cheerful sort
of proxy. We should always be making our APP
pearance at joyous ea.parties, where we sbould
be toasted and buttered, and made the vehicle of
sweet compliments to the still sweeter ladies'
Made of the best flour and the freshest eggs. on
ly think of that Why our own name would
then be, literally, in everybody's mouth, and
more homage would be done to US in this way at
single tea meeting, than would be rendered to
u.s. if We carried our heads even so high as a
mountain, in thousand years. Surely there
is room for good spicy ''Gingerbread nut, or
toothsome ''Bun," well adapted to carry a mas
culine reputation of heavy weight over the OBJ
securing mists of the next haf-dozen Centuries
To speak the truth, we once thought of doing a
little in this department of Fame ourselves. We
tried our hand at a ''6uscmt' and burnt our fin
gers "Aoernethv," however, has succeeded
better, and we confidently reckon upon his repu.
tatlon, depending more uponhis farinaceous COM
pound than upon his Blue Pill.
Indeed, We know not what may be thought of
our tastes i'll so important matter but we
confess we do not fancy an extended period to
our existence through the agency of mere ply
sic. We mean such a distinction does not seem
the way to glory. Hobbs Gout Pills, and Dobb's
Antibilious ditto, don't make pleasant proxies:
they convey notion of suffering unsuted to our
taste. we do not wish to so down to poste1ity on
the lid of pill box. However, we should have no
objection to be known as physician, as Escua-
Plus, or Galen, or Harvey, or Jenner or any otn-
er great benefactor of our species.
Some people have an odd notion of slowing
themselves away for centuries; boarding up their
fame, as itwere, under the foundation Stone of a
hospital, or church, as the case may be. They
literally bury themselves, in the hope of turning
up again among some remote generations of men,
Well-and yet, even this mode of "Reminiscences
mas Its merits, for on some of the walls of the
buried town of Pompeii, the rude scrawlings of
the Roman soldiers are still visible. How strange
that these insignificant scratches, made perhaps
with nail, during the monotony of military du-
ty, the labor of an idle moment-these mere
hints of ambition-should have lived through
centuries than the proudest productions of hu-
man toll
And is it not strange, knowing how universal
this desire Tor ptsthumous fame is, that the in
ventors and discoveries of printing the steam
engine gas, the electric telegraph, and hosts of
others, should not have had the wit to bind their
names to their discoveries ? Ten to one, but in
the course Of time they will be forgotten, for it
IS all very we'll to talk about that great gossip.
the press, keeping the names OF these worthless
fresh IN our memories. 1t really does no such
tning. 1t preserves them, perhaps, in those great
10 To- nf u r1oIro
But what a miserable renown is that Our notion
IS, that the thing invented should be chained to
the inventors name; be bound to it, like cap-
tive to vlctor's car, and ought always to be at
hand to grace his triumphs. In many instances
this has been done. Everybody knows that
I,acquard,s loom was invented by Jacquard and
there is an end of the matter. In like manner
Volta and Galvani have bequeathed their names
TO posterlty. Mac Adam has paved his way to
respectable fame. LundYtoot is not to be sneez-
ed at Mesmer has tackled his name to notion,
that will tickle the fancies of coming generations.
SIR Humphrey Daoy's lamp will burn forever, and
Ddguerre also is safe as long as the sun shines.
1t would be easy to go on multiplying instances
OF similar contracts between individuals and DOS
terity, but that would be beside our purpose
Our end Is gained by showing its practcability.
However, we never think of this subject with pa
thence, and as rule, when ''Gravstation" is men.
TONED, we bow our head in reverence to SIR Isaac
11'e"'ofs' we onouiu pe Happy, every time we
look at our watch, to couple the act with the
mention of the inventors name, if we knew it
And when at sea in dreary winter night, near
some dangerous but Efog-hidden shore, when
''howling winds and gathered blasts" are urging
the plunging vessel through boiling sea, we ne
yer think of that unceasing wonder, the "mari-
ner's compass, with any other feelings than We
neratlon, and secret determination to discover
the dlscoverer's name, if possible.
ms sort OF torgetfulness and ingratitude, in
not keeping the names of the greatest benefac-
tors of mankind constantly before us, is the more
annoying when we know that Immortality is