The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-09-28


aasafhia: Lippincott, Granbo s. Co. 1852
UNCLE TOMS CABIN AS IT Is. ByW. L. G Smith
1vol., IL mo. Buffilo Derby & Co. 1852.
The WHITE SLAVE or MEMOIRS OF FUGITIVE.
Anonymous. l vol, IL mo. Boston: Tappau &
Whittemore. 1852.
STUDIES ON SLAVERY, IN EASY LESSONS. BY John
Fletcher. VOL, 8 vo. Natchez: jackson Warner.
1852
In these days Of teemipg presses, overlooking book
sellers stalls, and libraries deluged with foods
damp literature, authors a class devoutly to be
pitied. Over two hundred years ago. when America
was wilderness, and France, Britain and Germany
were yet big with undeveloped poetical, literary
and scientific treasure. the caustic philosopher la
mented that he had lived thousand years too late
and that his vocation gone. How much worse
of are we! Where is the man who can boast an
original conception, amaiden subject, virgin idea
Few indeed sIe those to whom it is given to do
moro than tread the beaten track, and grope
along in the footsteps Of their predecessors
Now and then we see young author, fred with
q noble aim of striking new path, lose himself
IN labyrinth Of mysticism, or poison the healthy
impulses OF his heart by sojourn amid the pesti
iontial vspors of morbid sentimentality One strives
to atone for the dearth of ideas by adopting an
eccentric style, utterly variance with tho rules Of
English grammar. Another begets hobgoblins and
elves, and peoples fanciful Pandemonium with
monstrous shapes and impossible sprites. A third
is delivered Of whose hearts have been fashioned
by soue new process thinking, feeling, and acting
like anything but human beings On the whole,
there arc but few modern writers who lay any
claim to originality to whom DR.. johnson might
Sc 49,. .Lo ss
there is much in your book that is new, and much
that is good tho misfortune is, that the part,
which are now not good, and the parts that ars
good are not new"
This could however, hardly apply to tho host Of Tri
ters who, for time past, have been inuadating
the country with moral essays and trcatses religious
and political dissertations, and funny novels apropos
of slavery. They, at least cannot be charged with
the utterance Of anythirg original. From the
crime Of novelty they stand acquitted. They ara
content to republish, i'll a new form, the old srgu-
nents, pro aid con, Which have been banded about
IN juvenile debating sacte5les Ur the last half con-
fury and We ere nos sure that laborious perusal
Of the six volumes whose tttles are Affixed 10 this
paper has eddea any lnng 10 tide stock Of informa-
tion whion VIC derived, soiae years ago, from the
youthful speeches OF Master Jenny and Master
Harry. We aro strongly Inclined to think that our
young friends had ransacked The common store-the
works Of W!berfofce, Charming, Sc, andthe debates
an Parliament and CoDgress--with as much care and
profit az the ladies' ana gontlomen who have under
taken to enighten the world in these latter days An
exception may be made III favor Of Mr. ohm Fletcher,
who has enriched bis yoluIne--a series of reviews
and oritques Of autslavery works, strung together
in very mcthodical tashion-with scraps Of Greek
Hebrew, Syria0, and Cnaldsc, ornaments which
likely TO ensure for IL large sale among the 70 i'd
ing portion OF the community. But leaving the
dead languages out OF tho question, we prefer the
as being leaa rrosy, more earnest, and far more
amusing.
OF the four novels now lying on our tabIe, Mes
Harriet Beecher Sgoses is tho only one which de-
mands leDgthy notice 1t our hands 1t is the type
of the othetB- Though two of them are profsssediy
written TO deye!opc the antagonstic doctrine, they
but lam i'tsions IT their successful procufsor
They pies of the host of trashy publ atoms
which tho news of the sale of nearly ono hundred
thousand opics has called iato existence. Imbucd
with most OF tho faults OF Uncle Tom Cabin, and
destitute of the dramatic skill displayed IN that work.
neither +" Uncle Toms CABIN AS it 49, nor " Aunt
Phiis's Cabin have attained sufficient notprisiy 20
entite thctn to q serious review. Tho errors iato
which Mrs Stove has fallen csnnot be tise OF al.
ventitious success for them though sbe may have
painted slavery in false ooiors, aud disseminated
false philosophy, the Of the picture, when
devoid Of artistic mesr, aud daubed by unskifu
hand, oannes, by reason Of her faults, escape the
penalty duo 10 mediocrity The" White slave isstiu
less deserving OF notices. 1t possesses DO merit OF any
hind whatever, and is repiete with uupasdonable
ADULTS Of style and manner.
The extraordinary sale which Mrs Stoves book
has reached can easily be accounted for. IL vas
published at a time when the iernent produced by
the passing oil the Fugitive Slave law, and the cap
lures made under its provisions was ut lis highest,
and when the sboliticnists were at the ZENITH of
their fury. All those aoso'utists who were ready
to dissolve the Union their views were not Instant
~ carried into effect. eagerly propag ated y work
which iaculcated unconditional emancipation as
religious duty, Nor was the South less anxious TO
become acquainted with q novel, which assailed
their institutions with unwonted virucnce, and
threatened to prove formidable weapon in the
hands OF their enemies. We must in justice add,
what We have already limited, that HUncle Toms ca
bin displays considerable dramatic power, and a
sound knowledge of character we're the personages
all white, should even venture to assert that ma
ny of them sketched in vivid. life-like coors.
Thus, if We calculate how many rabi1 abotionist5
IN the North, how many slaye-owners in the South,
alarmed Mt the alleged success of work which
peaches crusade az ainst their property, and how
many curious idlers, renders for mere amusement
scattered throughout the Union, were likely to be-
come purchasers OF - nee Toms Cabin" we shall
oroba6ly find the figures boasted Of by the publish
ers not far beyond the mark To these causes alone,
we apprthend can it's popularity be ascribed; it can
never rank above absolute mediocriy as an artistic
or philosophical performance.
The FIRST blemish which strikes the reader, ere he
has pcIused dozen pages, is the atrocious vugari-
ty OF tie dicon and the uttor carelessness Of the
style II wcua really seem as though the authoress
Ike those funny people who fancy themselves clliea
upon 10 address foreigners in broken English had
conceived herself bound to adopt the argon Of her
black 3roegcs. It would be a waste Of time 70
quote particular instances: they are scattered
through ivory page. We find hcr using the word
'tauite' In the sense Of "vefy," al idiom wo had
believed PECULIAR to New England farmers. " Mr..
phelby," Gays she, i" had spec1ated largely and
gpise loosely" and /" Old honest Van rrompe vas
one quite considerable landholder.' Sc. With
view probably to strengthen her favorite theory, by
reakins of the whites rs mere cattlc, Mrs. So NO
saws, eft is an undisputed fact that our grandma
thersyuised some tolerably fair men and women She
talks Of tho " princelike movements OF little
piyl. and contrasts them with = her black, keen,
Subtle, cripging, yet acute neighbor"'-a somewhat
poetic She staltles our botanical remnsce noes with
an aliusion to 'hc dying breath ofan Arabian les-
somine:'' aud when she condescends to unbend to
regularity, che perpetrates the following inexcusa'
At each end Of the fireplace rat along legged gentle
49, -, InA no mil