Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1854-01-26

brilliant intellect. sur charged viii the eeotrici
fy Of thought. If he made historical blum
der, il was as have said, in the hurry Of writ
ting and he made them in common with all mel
who write n hastily ms he did, especially IN com
mon with The other person whose portrait - plac-
cd in the same frame with his. 1t II surprising,
that while Mr.. Grigsbys memory retained tho
historical bnnders of the one. II should have let
slip entirely the historical plumbers of the other.
| IL was the former editor of the Enquirer not the
former editor IF the Uhie,who threatened, Han
nibal-like. 10 carry the war into Africa ana WI"
spoke of Tnreoi a. the celebrated minister ct
| Louis N.Y." oonfonnding the tarthaginan
General with bis rynl seipio. aud the oontempo-
| rnrv of condnreet with Colbert, his predecessor
| hy a whole century.
There was one point in which Mr. Peasants
was deficient and that deficiency he regretted all
his life lie never attained tn tho power OF read
| ing the Greek and Latin classics with fnciiity.-
His carly instructors, he said, not probably being
great profoienis themselves, gave him such u
hearty distaste for the ancient languages, that he
ever nfter found II impossible to overcome his re-
| nnenanee Yet, there were few men OF his time
| who could lay better elam 10 such knowledge
of their contents as could be derived from Eng
lisb TRANSACTIONS. lie had rend. and re read, and
read again, before he was ten years old, Pope's
translation of the Iliad. and could, even at that
curly age. repeat hundreds of lines, which had
struck his fancy, from every one of the twenty
four books. He had. even at that early age,
he has frequently told the writer of this article,
conceived the idcn Of writing an epic poem him
self and he had selected the lesser A ax rs his
hero. Contrary TO the feeling of every one else,
who, n far az we know. ever read the Hind, he
espoused the canse of the 1roans; and young Ms
he was, the Understandable pomp with which the
author surrounds his hero, did not prevent him
8. IN d.toxtino Aclillf n cold bloo1cd.
ardly murderer. who. clothed with arms which no
wenpon could penetrate, and endued with
strength which no mortal could resist, slaughter
ed enemies who were infants in his hands, and
refused burial Ia their remains, that their shades
might undergo the penalty OF one hundred years
wandering upon the banks OF the terrific styx.--
Unable ~ he wns. To read one word Of Greek,
and, probably, not having opened n Greek book
since he had left college, we will venture to say.
thai he had caught from the abused, underrated
but never equalied translation of Pope. more of
the Homerie spirit than ninety nine III one hum
dred OF ilose scholars, who will talk by the hour
about digammas and dialects, quantities and par
tices, accents aud elisions. He wished fervcnt
" Ia read Homer IN the original--but he wished
to foud m as nun, mol n II mere gammarian
81 dlaeoile.an. and II h knew that II knowledge
of grammar and dialects was necessary to prop
or understanding Il him, he regarded thcm
keys which. n II unlock the treasure, not rs
the treasure Itself.
Again, he read Lutin with not enough facility
to make il agreeable 10 him; yet he was well nc
quainted with Liyy, and expressed his regret
that the works Of Niobuhr and Arnold had dis
PEELED the i'll sons into which he had been led
by the vivid pictures af that author We may
add that few men were better acquainted with
the substance of Tacitns, though, Of course, his
slender remnant of Latin did not allow him to
appreciate the merits of his un rnnslatcable sly lie,
and with the history OF Rome, in her decline, lie
had been familiar from hoyhood, as he bad gath
cred il from what has been called 'the luminous
pages of Mr. Gihbon.n But the history aud the
literature of England we're his principal objects
of study, II hut can properly called study which,
as in his case, was little more than recreation
from the worry and annoyance of II most Disagree
able profession.
We have probably said too much, certainty we
have said more than we intended TO say when we
commenced. As the sole surviving brother oi
Mr.. T., we clam 10 know more with regard to the
extent Of his requirements than any other person
whatever. We watched his career with the
most anxious care from our earliest recollection,
aud there wis no person TO whom he ever so fll
" aud unrescrNcdly confdcd himself