New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-11-15
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

WEBSTER AND HIS MASTERPIECES By,sR.,,
p aEFEr D LID 2vols, Emo Aaban M a.
fao. Miller. ortOu naissn.
The coed effect OF these volumes Is greatly mpsreS
BY the strain Of exaggerated eulogy which pervsdss
their composition. In the view Of the writer, M.
Webs ter combined In bis character all the qa,.
ties of human greatness. His portrait Is drawn 10
colors OF intolerabe spleDdor. The glorious coup,
of virtues which 60 TO make up consunmse m,nl-
ness are brought for sard in such glazing prominence
20 destroy all true biographical perspective. Accord
ing to the author Mr. Webster not only great, but
crMdiose-not only man to wcring preeminent above
his felo~s, but very Titan of the TitsRs. Hs
career is science-the chief Of all the sciences-Ae
science of human life. 4" In his life, the age wait
self comprehended." The profession Of the law hx
occasionally hsd ga Hamilton, Pnckncy, Clay,
Story to redeem il from utter insigaifcance-but
in the hsnds of Daniel Webster it was In fact sub
line" His speech against Mr.. Hsyne made known
"the full strength the vast sweep the unryaled and
ressiless might efbs massive energetic and imperial
mind" The day OF lie delivery will scarcely dnd
parallel for hundred generations" From the cor
clusion of that day, the world has been able to
derstand, how much Of every possible endowment,
how much of every manner and measure OF attain
meut how much OF every element that can enter into
the mental and moral constitution of man compre
bended in the name often used, but seldom fathomed
Of Daniel Webster Even the last will and testament
of Mr.. Webster comes in for share of the exrsys-
giant eulogium with which the biography oyerdows.
at is without precedent-ts so perfectly original
and vet so beautifully adapted to his case that mass
ever be admired a model Of its kind Dsnicl
w,bsters personal be auty ELECTS some of Me- Tedts
most sonorous sentences. 1t was the beauty ihx
lie embodied IN sub!nity. II was the beaafy OF tho
ocean, when lying notionless, and clear, and deep,
beneath The spectators glance IL was tho oeau'y OF
the overhangng sky, broad and boundlos', which,
serene and quiet it may be today, carries within It.
self vasness OF power, that, tomorrow, may shake
heaven and cause the earth TO remble TO ts poles.
One more specimen OF the worthy biographersgrand-
uoauence will suffice. Ii is from passage showing
what sort of poet Mr.. Webster would have been,
IL his mind had taken that direction. " He might
have been poet and his poetry would have BEEN not
the eloquent volubiity OF Homer, nor the placid
statenoss of Virgil, nor the minute philosopher Of
Jucretius nor the refined sentmentafsm Of PetrNch,
nor the cold msgnoquence of Corueie, nor the sen.
suous warmth Of Schiller, nor the feminine dclcscy
Of Addison, no- the verbal opulence of Thomson,
nor the shorn and shaven evenness and balanced
accuracy of Pope, but something entirely his own.
II seems most probable that he would have combined
the dramatic power of shakspere with the high sub
Unity of Dante, or ef Milton. He was the only man
of this century or of the preceding centuries, that
could have composed Hamlet, the Inferno, or Paradise
Lost"
The second volume Of the work consists of seec
tons from Mr.. Webs'eIs principal speeches, includ
ing bis masterpiece in each department of the great
field of intellectual action which he occupied in
life."