Washington sentinel., 1854-01-08

modern art When Mr. Hawthorne begins one
of his stories, he seems TO become so perfectly
absorbed with his leading mora.-which, by the
way, is not always unexceptionable-tha he
no longer has eyes or memory of anything IN
the universe but for exactly those things which
will serve him best for illustrations and argu-
ments and steps in his poetical proof of the
moral proposition he sets out with. With all
his rigid adherence to this point, there, is,
however, no sense of hardness, difficulty, and
confinement in his style. His language, though
for an American extraordinarily accurate, is
always light and free; his illustrations and in
cidents, though often startlingly odd, and, for
the moment, apparently unrelated, have never
the air of being far-fetched, but seem rather to
be the best possible for the occasion; and the
narrative, though curiously elaborated, is so
well c0atrasted and proportioned in its several
parts, that it makes, when we have finished, an
impression fnll of simplicity and totality. His
tales always deserve double reading, one for
the story and one for the art, which is so com
plete that it is scarcely possible to comprehend
all its bearings on the first perusal, though that
which we do comprehend on the first perusal
is of itself entirely satisfactory and sufficient.
This is great test of genuiness of an imagi-
native work. In proportion to its truth, depth,
and power, work of art is like work of ma
ture, mountain, for example, which exhibits
a clear and organic outline in the distance at
which nothing else can be seen; on a nearer
approach the blue and perpendicular surface
resolves itself into an orderly system of sub
ordinate peaks forests, and ravines, and these,
on closer acquaintance, exhibit their geologi.
cal and botanical characteristics all is order
and proportion, view it how you will, carefully
or carelessly, near far of, with the telescope,
the naked eye, or with the microscope. Shaks-
peares plays are the rivals of nature in this
excellent composition of parts; and in the
same direction, though at vast distance, the
tales of Hawthorne follow"
| Again the Review says:
"We have devoted the larger portion Of our
| space to the writings of Mr.. Hawthorne, be-
cause we believe that he is altogether the most
remarkable prose writer yet produced by Amer
lea. His writings are highly condensed, which
is more than can be said Of nine-tenths of the
| American novelists, essayists, historians, or
theologians; and they are admirably consecu-
tive and well brought out, which is more than
we can say of any but one or two individuals
of the remaining tenth, who like Ralph Waldo
Emerson and Longfellow, are condensed, but
ejaculatory and incapable of pursuing thought
or story with logic and determination. He
also writes pure English, which is what the
Americans ought, just now, chiefly to look to-,
| for, as we shall show, they are in danger Of
| abusing their noble Inheritance of a pure
sweet, and powerful language, by an admixture
of slang, fippancies, and false grammar which
will become u chronic and even an incurable
| disease, unless it is seasonably withstood and
checked by writers like Mr.. Hawthorne"
The interminable Mrs. Harriet Beecher
Stowe comes in for her share of praise, and
share, though not her due share, of censure
1t is to her style, her corrupt English and
coarse expressions that the chief objections
are made, in the Review. But we quit
Madame Stowe. The theme is distasteful
The following extract will give some idea of
| the reviewers estimate of Elizabeth Wethe-
rell.
| "But the language of Mrs. Stowe seems
quite refined if we compare it with that of
Elizabeth Wetherell. The very considerable
merits Of this ladys writings render the pecu-
liarities of her diction extremely to be regret
ed and we are sorry to say that want of re.
finement is not confined to the language of her
dramatic persons. 'Queech is, indeed, a book
without parallel, except in the Wide, Wide
World and it is very high praise to say of it,
as we can, that the natural refinement and
beauty Of some of the characters renders the
book readable in spite of the surprising vulgar
ity Of most of them. Unless we are very much
mistaken in our inlerences from her writings,
this authoress has spent her days in quiet
country life-the happiest and best of all modes
of life, but one which is not the best prepara-
ton for the painter Of fashionable manners. The
country people, in the remarkable novel called
'Queechy,' are all true and forcible-coarse,
but never vulgar; and had the characters been
made of such persons, the work would have
been unexceptionable. But when the author.
ess attempts, as with the greatest confidence
she does, to describe the best society of New
York, Paris, and London, her failure is too
great to be absurd; it is melancholy to behold
the working of such a ruinous mistake"
Mr.. Longfellows "Kavanagh and "Hype-
rian" are not so kindly dealt with. Some
compliments, however, are paid him, for in
stance:
/" He has subtle power of observation, a
very graceful fancy, and considerable general
information, and these qualities, when the au-
thor by happy chance forgets himself and lives
in his subject, combine to produce some very
pleasant Eight reading, though, at best, there
is an air of fippancy, which seems to be insep-
arabic from his STYLE
1t should be remembered, however, that
Professor Longfellow is here dealt with as a
prose writer and not as poet.
The article concludes with the following
passage:
ain concluding this hasty notice, we must
congratulate our brothers upon the very de-
cided and really, because unconsciously, indie
pendent ground they have taken of late in fc.
tional literature. The works which we have
now noticed, with many others whose merits
we have not been able, through want of space,
to consider, are far more in their promise than
in their performance, though that is by no
means trifing. We can scarcely hope too
much from the writer's of America, if they will
only be careful to remember that their Ian.
guage is, or ought to be, English.
For the Washington Sentinel.
Hon. Alex. c. Morton Of Georgia.
The above named gentleman to whom, re.