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

HOMES or AMERICAN AUTHORS. svo PIP 49,
o. r Putnam Co.
The aristocracy Of letters finds piece even
in republic. Americans, perhage, are even
more prone to literary hero.worship than o'nef
nations. We are ready to acknowledge the
claims Of intellectual distinction, whiie We
quarrel Justify with all pretensicns drawn iio,i'
inferior sources. Pride of birth legltimateiy
there con be none, as those who most plume
themselves on their pedigree cannot LOOK lar
hack without falling upon tin-peddler, or
m.ler of wooden.ware, among their honored
ancestors; SO that they cannot put on any airs
nv reason of their descent without becoming
ridiculous in the eyes Of those who are still
implicated in the respectable yocations alluded
20. Still more inadmissible is the pride Of
wealth. To say nothing Of it's intrinsic vul-
rarity, the assumption of superiority in pro-
portion to the length Of purse, can be sustained
but for short time, and is even more limited
in point of local extension How little are the
moueyed magnates of our cities known beyond
the area of Change where they reside The
great man of his own business circle, whose
word is law to a crowd of humble retaners,
who struts the monarch Of the hour in the
presence Of his dependents, and who fancies
that the sun and moon should be eclipsed when
he approaches shrnks to the narrowest dlmen-
sions beyond the charmed sphere which he fills
with such an inefIably comfortable sense
of bis own importance. Official diStinc-
tons, no doubt, are q shade better, but
after all, they lay no foundation for an
American aristocracy. 1t is certainly great
thing to have served ones country in the hour
Of peril, to have discharged worthy trusts in a
worthy manner, to have justified the public
suffrage by discretion in counsel and vigor in
action, to have uttered high truths in high
places, to have given an impulse to the devel-
Opment of pregnant ideas by the advocacy OF
wise measures, to have represented the princi-
pies of republican freedom beneath the shadow
of q despOtic crown, to have used Office for
the education Of the national heart and con-
science and for the advancement of humanity
but, apart from the intellect, the feelings, the
personal traits, of which exalted Office is made
the scene, it excites 10 permanent interest,
and hardly serves even A" to point moral or
adorn tale" 1t is the men, Henry Clay and
Daniel Webstcr-the living, flesh and blood
realities, the touches of nature which were re-
vealed to the public eye by their official posi-
tion,-that will continue to awaken interest,
long after their official honOrs (such as they
were) will be forgotten. The great author, on
the contrary has received patent OF nobility
from the universal consent of the race. Him
we are proud to honor by sense of natural
right. To him we prOiler our choicest gifts of
reverence and love- The names that are most
familiar from one end of the American CONT
nent to the other are those Of the poets, the
nOvelists, the historians, whose works are found
alike in the palace of the millionaire and the
lOg-cabin of the settler. They not only kndle
respect, but awaken curiosity. We love TO
to know what manner of men they are in their
daily life. We would see them before the fire
on their own hearths, listen to their talk in the
freedom of the social board, trace out the
sources Of their inspiration in the natural
haunts which they frequent, and try to catch
the secret of their power in the influences
which surround them.
This pardonable desire may to very con-
siderable extent, find qualification in the pres
ent unique volume. Ii describes the homes of
several of the most eminent men of letters in
this country, entering into quite minute de-
tail concerning their various domcsticties and
giving prcfusiOn of personal anecdotes and
incidents. that make us feel as ii the men whom
We had known only from their books were old
acquaintance. Though executed by hands of
unequal ability, the volume exhibits uniform
good taste, u delicate sense OF propriety, and
freedom from coarse exaggeraton; while sew
eral Of the sketches are written with genial
vivaci,y, and fine undertone of humor, that
would betray apractised and vcrsatilepen, even
If the names of the writer's were not announced.
we are NOT 10 suppose that the Sumptuous
homes Of American authors to which We are
introduced in this volume, Illustrate the sue.
cess of literature as q profession in this coun-
try. 1t is the same here as elsewhere. Gen.
ius rarely grows rich by it's own creations. Au-
thorship, as has been truly said, is a good
crutch, but apoor staff. Unless awriterknows
how to produce something of immediate mar
ketable value, he may stave in the midst OF
his Intellectual riches. In America as the
world over if an author gains wealth, it is due
more to his common sense than TO any other
gift. If he has diligence, promptness, frugali
ty, a knack of turning an honest penny with
ready hand, and the qualities which command
respeet among business men, he NAV make his