Richmond daily times. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1853, 1852-04-02

S''N' Pte'"eui
omit only three being OF special and temporary char
acter those namely which refer to the Texas and Oregon
question; to the Qominaton for that canuass, and to the
grateful and adiring condemnation of the ausyioas
public services Of Mr. Van Buren,.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF EMINENT AMERI-
CAN LAWYERS, no,o living, aoih aoeU executed
Portraits. Edited by John Livingston, of the
Neao York bar.
This is an age of imposture, and this book is
fair exponent of it. The time was when BIZ
ography was written Of the dead only. The pub
lie then stood chance at least of having faith
full picture setbefore them But the custom has
undergone change fatal alike to truth and inter-
est. We have now accounts of the half-spent
lives of men obtruded upon us, distinguished
either by pert brevity Or tedious length. Uni
form dullness pervades every sketch, one mani
mate formula of extravagant eulogy, varying
scarcely in the moods and lenses employed, being
found to be applied to every character.
There are intermediate points of excellence
with this modern Plutarch. The motto by which
he appears to have been governed is am Cesar,
aut aultus He scatters his praises as a scotsman
scatters grain, broadcast and with an unwithdraw-
ing hand-and we entertain but little doubt but
that they are operated upon by similar reasons
Mr.. Livingston ought to have made his compli-
ments to resemble more nearly the prizes distrib-
uted at the Olympic Games. But as it is the in
discriminate commentator has so debased his
currency, that his gold is worth more than 9TH
er peoples copper.
Many of the individuals, whose unfinished ex-
istence we find recorded in this series, have at
al
en- these appear in some instances to have been
won in the eager pursuit of private gain. The life
OF great man, when carefully composed and in
| the proper spirit, serves for monument over his
grave, and beacon blazing upon promontory, to
guide and to assure others who may be struggling
with the difficulties of the road. But this disn-
guished merit is less rarely to be met with than
the universal flatterer, who compiled these unin-
teresting memoirs, appears to be aware of. His
object not to contribute to his own fame or to
publish that of others, but is to be found in that
love of lucre which forms striking feature in
the national character of his countrymen.
Mr.. Livingston has dragged sturgeon net over
the country and has brought to shore rare
and curious collection of fish. But, yet the num-
Der is large, large enough we suspect, to form Of
itself respectable subscription list. The appeal,
in order to render the enterprise successful has
been made to the love of praise, the strongest and
most Unsuitable appetite that torments humanity.
But why does the biographerconfne himself to
living wights? Why does he not widen his
range and returning to the proper functions of the
species of composition he has undertaken, revive
the memory of iustrious worthless who no longer
| III L
by in silence the tombs of those sages of the AM
erican bar, who, in their generation filled the land
with their fame, and about the events of whose
lives, the public might reasonably be supposed to
feel degree of interest? We suspect an answer
to these questions would evolve the secrets of the
authors motives, and reveal the mercenary prin-
ciple that lies at the bottom of the undertaking.
But we must not overlook the protessed object
of the book. To awake in the bosoms of young
men thirst for honorable distinction, constitutes
the motive to this troublesome task. Oh we am
bilious youths, return your grateful thanks to this
benevolent author, who has exposed himself to
public dersion that he may cherish in your hearts
the noble love of fame! And ye, now sunk
in the Incidence of repose, upon whom the
eternal examples Of Coke, Bacon, Mansfield, Mar
SHALL Kent and Story, have been thrown away,
awake from your inglorious sumbers and behold
what industry, political servility and medi-
ocrity can accomplish. Know that if you olive
like hermit and work like horse''-if you
convert your law books into another God and ia
tigue him with assiduous worship, you may, if
of the right politics, rise to the dizzy height of
District Attorney, Circuit Judge or may, if YOU
are lucky climb up upon the ladder of party poll
tics to yet higher post. This is the lesson the
writer seeks to 1nculcate, this 'the philosophy
that he says he means ''to teach by examples'-
But away with the imposture-it is Yankee
imposition, and deserves to take rank with those
wooden nutmegs with which the sharp New
Englander used to fool his Southern customers
What sort of a profit can it be to any man or boy
to know the spring heads and the courses of all
the creeks and brooks the continent we inhabit1
Let these unimportant streams continue to muir
muir along their obscure and quiet channels
They may diuse pleasant GOODNESS through the at
mosphere, and pretty flowers may bloom upon their
borders but they ought not to be transferred to the
general map, and every crook and turn in their shall
low and devious courses accurately marked out.
Only large rivers the objects ofgenera interest.
We willing to trace through his toilsome
windings the Mississippi, and to mount up with
him to his sources, that we may explore the wild
and rocky gens in which is Graded the mighty
stream which carries in his gigantic arms vast
commerce, and nourishes from his abundant
stores wealthy and populous cities, which, like to
gems, richly and yariously inlay his cultivated
banks.