The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-03-25
LITERARY NOTICES.

prcoLLFcrIoNS OF LITERARY LIFE; or, Books
Places, and People. By Mary Russell Milford au-
thor of "Our Village" /" Bedford Regis" New
York Harper Brothers, publishers. For sale
by Franck Taylor, Pennsylvania avenue "aSn-
ington, ID. G.
A pleasant chatty, fragmentary book is this;
o,yine contrary to our expectations, but lew
Irief plimpses of the personal life OF the ami
able and graceful authoress, but disPlay"s
many evidences of her kindness, TASTE gener-
ons admiration and sympathy. 1t is little
more than record of her poetic friendships
and literary enthusiasts, enforced by frequent
and lengthy quotations 1t reminds us OF a
brilliant piece of patchwork, put toge'her ny
some tasteful and loving maiden lady, IRON
scrops of the best dresses and gay waiS'coa'S
Of her dear five hundred friends.
There are scattered through the book some
passages of delicious description, which re'hlnu
ne Of those early admirations Of ours the
rare exquisite sketches of "Our village ou'
the volume is chiefly made up from the wrl-
tinos of fayorite English and American poe's
with warm eulogies and loving annotatiohs
In pleasing ourself we are sure to please such
Of our readers as have not yet seen this curl
Gus composite, but really delightful book, by
copying that portion referring to Mr.. Whittier
In the chapter headed american Poets Miss
Milford says
81 did n great injustice, the other day. when
7 said that the Americans had at last great
noet should have remembered that poets,
like sorrows
Come not single spies,
D6f Up 4aItsJ bns.A ~
There is commonly flight OF those singing
birds as we had ourselves at the beginning OF
the present century; and besides, Professor
Longfeow, Bryant, Willis, Lowell, and Poe,
do the highest honor to America.
She person, however whom have most
injured myself in forgetting, for my injustice
could not damage a reputation such as his, was
John G. Whittier, the most intensely national
of American bards.
Himself member of the Society of Friends,
the two most remarkable of his productions
are on subjects in which that active although
peaceful sect take lively interest: the Anti
Slavery cause, in the present. and the persecu-
ton of the Quakcrs, which casts such deep
disgrace on the memory of the Pilgrim Fathers
and their immediate successors, in the early
history of New England.
Strange it seems to u.s. in this milder age,
that these men. themselves flying from the in
tolerance of the old country, should, the mo-
ment they attained to anything like power,
nay, even while dsputing with the native In
dams not the possession of the soil, but the
mere privilege Of dwelling peacefully therein,
at once stifcn themselves into bigotry and
persecution not excelled by the horrors of the
Star Chamber-should, as soon as they attained
the requisite physical force, chase and scOurge,
and burn, and sell their fellow-creatures into
slavery for that very exercise Of private judg-
ment on religious subjects, that very determine
ton to interpret freely the Book of Life which
had driven themselves into exile. Oh many are
the causes of thankfulness which we owe to
the Providence that cast us on a more enlight-
ened age but for nothing ought we more de-
youtly to render thanks to God, than that in
our DAYS. the deeds recited in Mr.. Whittiers
splendid ballad of Cassandra Southcote would
be impossible.
His poem itself can scarcely be overrated.
The march of the verse has something which
reminds us of the rhythm of Mr.. Macaulays
fine classical ballads something which is re-
semblance, not imitation; while in the tone OF
mind of the author his earnestness, his eiO-
quence, his pathos, there is much that resem-
bles the constant force and occasional beauty
of Ebenezer Elliot While equally earnest,
however, and equally eloquent there is in Mr..
Whittier not only more sustained, but
higher tone than that of the Corn-Law Rhy-
mer 1t would indeed be difficult to tell the
story of terrible oppression and mercful
dellverance-a deverance springing from the
justice, the sympathy, the piety of our coun-
ttrymen, the English captains, with more stri-
king effect"
Miss Milford here proceeds to quote the bal
lad of "Cassandra Southcote," followed by the
spirited lyric of Massachusetts, to Virginia."
which she calls powerful and eloquent poem,
and after, closes her notice with this true and
striking remark:
"lf Slavery be a reproach, and too just
reproach it is to the Southern States, surely,
the citizens of New England may justly pride
themselves upon the poetry which has arisen
out Of the sin and shame of their brethren.
Time will inevitably chase away the crime, for
national crimes are in their very nature tran
sient while the noble illusions that sprang
from that foul source, whether in the verse OF
the poet or the speeches of the orator, are i'm
perishable'
There are also in this volume, most kind and
eulogistic notices of Longfellow, Halleck,
Holmes and Hawthorne On the whole, we
are quite ready to accept it as an amende hon
orable for all the harsh, discourteous and I'M
falr critlques which have fallen from British
reviewers for these twenty years-as "sperma-
ceti for the inward bruise" of our national
vanity.
ARCTIC SEARCHING EXPEDITION. Journal of
Boat Voyage through Ruperts Land and the Are
tic Sea, in search of the Discovery Ships undcr
command of Sir John Franklin. With an Appen-
dix on the Physical Geography Of North America.
BY Sir John Richardson, C. b., +. r. s, Inspector
of Naval Hospitals and Fleets. New York Harper
Brothers. For sale by Franck Taylor Pennsyl-
Nania avenue Washington, ID. C.
we have as yet been able to read but por-
non oil this interesting work but we are well
aware that books on subjects of such deep and
universal interest and addressed TO so positive
popular want need no more than a simple
announcement
bohNS HANDBOOK OF WASHINGTON Illustrated
WIN twenty engravings of Public Buildings &c.
Washington Published by Cassimcr Bohn and
Taylor Maury.
This IL an excellent little work. which we
would recommend to all strangers visiting
Washington.
DARIEN; or, The Merchant Prince A Historical Ro
nance. by Eliot Warburton. author of "The
Crescent and the Cross" &c. New York Harner
Brothers. For sale by Franck Taylor. Pennsvl
Vania avenue, Washington.
We have but just found this romance on our
liable and so are unable to pronounce upon its