New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-12-17

tD.ee ATTRACTIONS nave no power 10 Keep niin
!, from the fields. If literature has been the
business of his life, outdoor pleasures have al
lured him BY their charming contrasts. hls
daily habits, We find, have a smack of ascen'
cism, though be is a Disciple of no popular
school of reform Mix is more familiar to his
lips than wine, yet be does not disdain the hoar
Of moderate conviviality. He eats little AMI
NAL food, but is not afraid TO enjoy roast goose
lest be should provoke the ghosts OF bis ances-
tors. He has no love for artificial music, but
delights in the varied harmOnies OF wood and
wave. He is fond of long rural walks and OF
| pymnastic exercises. POetical composition
tries him SO severely that his efforts OF that
kind are rare.
Bidding good morning to the poet ofnature, we
| find ourselves at Round Hill in Northampton,
where was commenced the work that records
our history in manner which secures It's final
perlnanence. Lying in the heart Of Massachu-
sets, Northampton is one Of the most beautiful
Of country towns. Looking over quiet and
richly cultivated landscape, the view from
Mount Holyoke is lovely and tranquil, embra-
cling gentle green hills and fair and fertile mea-
dows, watered by the River of Pines. Pastoral
peace broods over this valley. Golden plenty
waves in its meadows, while gentle mountains
undulate around, covered with green woods.
A fresh sweetness and virginia. purity every
where breathe benediction. The history that
dates it's first volume from the Valley of the
Connecticut, exhibits "a wild vigor and luxurl-
ant wisdom in its style of treatment, proud
| buoyancy, as lift shared the energetic career of
the country it describes 1t has no withered,
scholastic air. The historian has not curiously
culled flowers and offered them to US pressed,
but with generous hands he gathers all the
beauties of the field and heaps them before us
wet with morning dew"
Of the personalities of Mr. Bancroft, we
learn some interesting particulars. He was
the son of one Of the most distinguished Cnita-
rian diynes of the last halfccntury. Brought
up in an atmosphere Of grave and humane
catholicity, his constant lesson was the suprem-
est liberty of moral investigation. AT the age
Of seventeen, lie went to Germany and studied
at G0ttngen. While there, though mere
youth, he often preached to the quiet German
congregations in the vicinity, in their native
tongue. Pursuing his studies with ardOr, and
stirred by singular intellectual restlessncss,
Lis mind darted'thrOugh the fields of scholastic
culture, living Tie sweets, quite ignorant Of
their future use. In Berlin, he became ac-
qnainted with Schleiermachcr, Wolf and Savig-
ny. He first saw Goethe in Jena. The old man
was walking in his garden in the morning, clad
with German carelessness in heavy loose coat
and trousers, without a waistcOat. He talk
cd pleasantly of many things as they strOlled
Inquiring about Lord Byron, who was then at
the height of his fame, he remarked, though
without passion or i-feeling, that the English
poet had modelled his Manfred upon Faust
The young student afterward met Lord Byron
in Italy, and visited him at his villa near Leg
horn. Byron denied the charge of Goethe
about Manfred and said that he had never
read Faust. 1t was in the year 1S21, while he
was writing Don Juan. When his visiter rose
| to take leave the poet took down q volume
containing the last cantOs he had then written
of the poem and wrote his name in them, as a
remembrance from Noel Byron" The ca
reer of the historian, after returning to this
country, is a matter Of public record, and
leaving him at his summer retreat on the
sloping cliffs of Newport, we proceed TO the
residence of DANA on the rocky shore of Cape
Ann. We are thus introduced to the author
of THE Idle Man"
Let me beg the readers Indulgence in asking him -
transport hlnsc 10 the place where am this moment
writing. II If old farmhouse about four miles by the
road from Dsnas residence though but FOR the project
ing ledges ana deeply indened cover It would be much
lealer. From my window, looking westward over the
meadows near the shore can almost see there IL is
bright August morning; calm that the swell Is
audible the beautiful willowined beach Just below
me. Locking seawHrd the rocky i-lets visible
iICm Mr.. Danas housc and the high point ON which
stands solitary oak long watcher over the waters,
Tut blasted the early part of this summer 10y lightning
inland are meadows and far-oh iarinhous0s with deep
green wooded hills IN the distance Around me all
si ana singing in the hot sun except only the thresh
ers, who are making rural sound in yonder barn.
Let each Of my readers play with his fancy" and
think he hears with the noise OF carriage jolting
along down the long lane that leads here where
seldom comes 1t spproaches-nearer-and now il
ccGsos ON the grcenswsrd under the window. We look
cut and perceive plain country dOublGseaied wagon
IN viii, Ia are gentleman and two little girls He is /
preparing 10 descend and ], recognizing him 20 down
to meet him. We tnd az o.uerly gentleman OF sixty or
heieabout, with couIienance bearing the marks OF
and thought but having nost pleasant half sad
expression; voice Of peculiar sympathetic quality and
manner very frank and simple yet conveying an i'm
preston Of singular refinement, Beyond tins there is
little to notice, except that he Is somewhat under the
middle hight, unusually square-shouldered and wears
loose brown linen fTock and paIalesi hat evidently
designed 10 keep the .un of
We viii now, at his invitation, step in and ride over
with him 20 dnc-premsng however, that the reader .
shGll expect no set conversation poctica, critical
ether beyond what might naturally suggest itself TO
thinking and educated persons, long scqusn,ed, and /
experienced IN LIE driving along old country road
with children IN charge, full OF questions and sage
observations any this hemisphere and age prob
ably produce