Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1852-11-17

thoughts consecutive and concatenate. IT'S a
book whence pages have been torn. Louis Ma
poleon has a fixed idea; but fixed idea is not i'd
iocy; he knows what he wants, and he goes
straight to it. deying justice, defying law, de-
no doubt, but still, straight on.
He is not an idiot. He is a man of another
age than our own. He seems absurd and mad,
because he is cut of his place and time. Trans
port him to Spain of the 18th century, and Philip
Il would recognize him; to England, and Henry
VIII would smile ON him; to Italy, and Caesar
Borgia would embrace him. Or even, taking
care to place him beyond the pale of European
civilization, place him, in 1877, at Janina, and
Al ll.Tepelini would grasp him warmly by the
hand. ..s 49, . .ssr. zz..ss.rs .s-e.s-. =
He is of the middle ages, and of the lower En-
pire. That which he does would have seemed
perfectly simple and natural to Michael Ducas, to
Romanus Diogenes, to Necephorus Botoniates, to
the Vandal, Silicon, to Mahomet VI, to Alexan-
der vi, to Ezzelino of Padua, as itseems perfect
ly simple and natural to himself. The only thing
is, that he forgets, or knows not that in the age
wherein we live, his actions will have to traverse
the grand courses of human morality, chastened
by three ages of literature and by the French rev.
olution; and that, in this medium, his actions will
wear their trne aspect, and appear what they are
--hideous. .-.s
His partisans-he has some-complacently par
allel him with his uncle, the first Bonaparte.-
They say: The one accomplished the 18th Bru-
maire, the other the End December: they are two
reconstruct the empire of the West: to make Eu-
rope his vassal: to dominate over the continent
by his power, and to dazzle it by his grandeur; to
take arm chair himself and give footstools- to
the kings; to create his place in history: MINI
rod, Cyrus, Alexander, Hannibal, Cesar, Char
lemagne-Napoleon- be master of the world.
He was SO. He accomplished the 18th Brumaire.
es, to be called Monsigneur, and to live luxuri-
ous1y. To this end he brought about End of De-
cember. Yes. They are two men of ambition:
the comparison is just.
''Let us add, that like the first Bonaparte, the
second alse aims to be Emperor. But that which
somewhat aliays comparison is, that there is, per-
haps, some slight difference betweenthe conquer
ing of an empire and piliering it,
PfepossessiOns and Antipatllies.
Undue prepossession against or in favor Of
some object, is as much to be guarded against as
any ether irrational prejudice. ,s'as: = za=s-
1t is not uncommon to hear people reply when
some particular dish is offered them: ssThank you,
have never eaten any, and nothing could per-
suade me to- touch it.'' Such a prepossession
scarcely would be pardonabIe in women or chill
dren. ass =,5s5 zg-sz -a
An anecdote is related in the life of Talma,
which has formed the subject of drama.
"A poor stroling player, universally rejected, ar
rived at his wits end, in city where the iIustri-
GUS actor was expected. bright idea flashed
across his mind to personate Talma; as whom he |
announced himself. The authorities
Of the town hastened to offer him their homage,
The theatre was crowded. all the world enrap-
tured with his performance. In the midst of his
al popularity, the real Talma arrived; but foresee
ing that prepossession once established in favor
of the imitator was not likely to be easily revers
ed, departed without making himself known.-i
The chances were that he might have been hiss
ed. 7F$ s.# - 80
When Michael Angelo first exhibited the pro-
ductions of his chisel, they treated far in
ferior to the sculptures of the ancient world. In
the seclusion of his studio, and unknown to any
one, he accordingly set to work on statute of
Cupid; of which he broke off the arm, and con-
cealed the mutated statue in the midst of excava-
tions making by the Pope. When the statue was
discovered, all Rome fell into eestacies; pronoun-
cling it to be the work of Phidias or Praxiteles.-
Michael Angelo Immediately produced the mutl-
ated arm, and his former critics were rebuked in
to silence.
At the time when the rage for Italian music
excluded every other composition from the stage,
and the great French composer had fallen in pub
lie estimation, Mehul avenged himself much in
the manner of Michael Angelo. Jealous in the
course of French music, he composed the opera
of the Irato, words by the ingenious Hoffman;
who, to render the illusion complete, made the
libretto as incomprehensible as possible. The
opera was rehearsed in secret, though fifty per-
sons were engaged in it; and it was circulated
in the, world, that the forthcoming opera was a
mere pasticeio, borrowed from the operas recent
ly in vogue in Italy. .s
When the curtain rose, the overture was en-
Enthusiastically applauded. Still more SO, the diff
ferent airs executed by ElleEon, Martin, and the
excellent company of the comic opera. The the
atre was crowded with enthusiastic admirers of
Italian music, whose applause was vehement; one
person declaring that the music was by Floray-
anti. and h that be had heard it at Naples; another
that it was by Cimarosa. At the end Of the ope-
ra, it was announced to be by Mehul, when the