The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-02-24

-"fron morn
To rosn be fell troEl noon to dewy eve,
r sumn.ers day and with the setting
Dept feri the zenith, Ike falling stai,
o.. Leinnos, the d3Gssn lille"
His description Of vocal n, ugic in tie Allegro is
ano her instance OF tho same kind
Ard ever sgsinst eatirg cares
Lap ne ia soft Lydian ais
NsIried 70 immortal verse,
Such rs tie melting BcUl my PIERCE
In notes, with nspy winding bout
OF LIKED sweetness long drawn out,
With werton Iced and giddg cunning,
The melting voice Though mazes running,
Untwis;ing All the chEioe that lie
The hidden eou' tfk,Imo1y.
That 0rphtus' self ma ! heaye his head
Frtc, golden slurller, bed
OF neapd E,ysieu flowers, and hear
Such Grains as w6n,d hayo charmed the ear
or Piuto 70 have quite get free
His half regaine Fury dice y
hardly know anything which surpasses these
exquisite Ines-so poctical, nnd ut the same time,
so thoroughly and absolutely English, and 80 free
from ell foreign idiom.
The frat three e.anz0s of Grays Eegy in
Country Church Yard, arc also remarkable Tor the
power and accuracy with vhieh rural scenery is
presented, by grouping together many objects ia
one picture.
Another poetical instance Of the Same beauty, is
the Burial OF Sir John Moore
There are remarkable instances Of tho same skill
in writing in Of The English prose writer's aud
especially in the productions Of Daniel De Foo No
boy doubts that eveIy tang told OF Robinson Crusos
ia exactly true, becaueo ell lie 80 circumstantially
the contrary, that the hissorian of tho Plague of
London actually cav al that he described, although
De Foe WAS not born till afterwards.
II is wei known saying, that the e with cir,
cumstance is exceedingly calculated to deceive and
that is true, and it is equally true, rot only tina.
fictitious history gers credit ard belief By the skill
fu ute of circumstance, bat TINT truo history, also,
may eeriye much additional interest from the same
source.
In general however, historical facts arc to 30 ro-
lated VII a rather close and exclusive regard TO
such, and such only as sre important.
Tho art Of historical composition owes ito origin
to the institutions of political freedom Under the
defpotisns Of the Ganees aad the Indus, poetry
neulished With oriental lpsuriance, from the ear
lest times netinth immense compass ofthat rich,
iIimeval literature, thtro is 10 history in she high
sense of chat term. The banks Of tho Eilo we're
crowded with historical uonumentsnnd memorials
stretching back iuto tho remotest antiquity and
recent reearchcs havs discovered historical records
q the Pha.aoha in The scrolls Of papyrua, sone OF
Tie IL ss ancient as lie books o. Noses But IN ali
thtse there Is 70 history competed accordingto tho
Jrncipcs d art. u Greece, tho epic song, found.
ca II tIadi.ionery legends, long preceded historical
competition. remember Tbcn thought 1t the
greatest Worder in tho HoilJ, tia. the poems of
Homer should have been wilton at period so re.
mote, hat tho earliest Grecian history should have
given no account q their author. did not then
knor, OF had net then considered, that poetisal
writings, hymns, Songs, accounts OF personal adj
ventures Ike those CT Hercules and Jason, were, in
the natpro CT things, earlier than regular historical
narratives EercdCtus Informs US that Homer lived
four hundred years before his timo. There is,
nevertheless, something very wonderful in tho po-
ems oi Homer. IN general, II - true OF The lam
Fuorcs oil rati0rs That, in their earliest ages, they
contain The substantial bono and snew characters
tic OF their idiom yet that they orc rough, imper-
/ feet, ard without polish Thus Chaucer wrote Eng
lib. but " is what cal old Erglsh, and i: hes
rot Tic snoothneeS and auercy bcoDgingto the style
Of Pore ana ddison. And Spenser wrote English,
but. though rich AID gorgeous, i. has uotthc pro-
cision ara accuracy Of those later writer's, III