The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1854-08-18

all these prodIgies at once, and we 60 to Richmond
and back in the steam boat, against wind and tide,
by the aid of no other demons than copper of
water and half chaldron of Goals. Ghosts of all
have been compelled to give up the ghost,
and The Red Sea must possess incredible shoals oil
exercised apparitions. The unicorn is defunct as
an imaginary ANIMAL ii has been recently dis
covered in the interior OF Asia, and now only lives
in stupid reality. Sphinxes, grffns, byPPogrfs,
wiverns, and all The motley combinations OF her.
aldry, will probably, be soon visible at sxpence
head while the thong ht- bewiderng family OF
witches, wizards, and con jurors, spite OF the
demonologv Of King James aQd the authority of
the sorceress of Endor, have been all burnt out
and obliged to move over the way--into the verge
of history. Our judges no longer, like Sir Matthew
Hale, fall upon their knees after cOndemnng an
old woman TO be burnt for wIchcraft, and thank
God that they have not departed from the approved
wisdom and venerable institutions of our ancestors !;
but content themselves with applying the same
phraseoogy to other abuses equally inhuman, and
alike destined to correction in the progress OF light
and reason. Oberon and Titana, and Puck and
Robin Goodfeow, and all the train OF "urchins.
ouphies, fairies green and white," who were wont,
with tiny feet, to imprint the mystic ring upon our
meadows, and drop the magic tester IN cleany
chambers whittier are you fed Ye are gone,
with the "giants of mighty bone and bold enter.
PRISE" TO people the belief Of less sensual nations,
leaving US to grope our lonely way through this
ignorant present, these dark ayes o. the rnd,
this night OF fancy, this tomb of the imagination.
Rousseau's Hermitage, spite Of his pastoral ap-
pellation and the glowing eloquence with which
he has painted its rural charms, found 10 be a
vulgar cockney edifce; while the woods of Mont.
morenci, beneath whose shades his muse received
inspiration have dwindled down into quincunx
of poplars. A vineyard which my maginatlon
had clothed with all sorts of scriptural and poei-
cal embellishments, appeared, upon actual inspec.
ton, little more romantic than potato field. and
infinitely less picturesque than our kentlsh hop
grOunds.-This a violent slap on the mental
face, but my elastic hopes still suggested a cons0-
la;ion: France, said |, is fiat, unlovely country
the least interesting in Europe; but Clarens,
the groves of Carens, which fred the imagination
Of the sensitive author of s'La NouveIle Helose,"
and inspired those eloquent outpourlngs OF love
which . In short fed upon the expecta
ton Of these leafy landscapes, until | arrived in
Switzerland, when, with a throbbing heart, hur.
ried 20 the scene of enchantmcnt, and was horri-
fed by grlsly appnrition Of sumps, the hattowed
woods having lately been cut down by the monks
of ST.. Bernard 10 supply fuel for boiling their mis-
cradle broths and pottages. Still saDguine,
looked forward to Rome: the eternal could not,
al all events, disappoint me. On my arr val, |
engaged an erudte CIcerone, who took me to one
Of the most celebrated remains of antiquity, con-
sistng Of few mouIderng walls scarcely eIeva-
ted above the surface, which | found, according
10 the researches of the most learned Investigators
the unquestonable site either Of theatre or
forum, or palace, or public baths, but they
had not yet settled which. Few of the other ruins
were better defined or appropriated; and as to
The locality of the ancient city, the topographers
agreed in nothing but in ridicung each others
decisions. Thus | went on, tramplIng down some
beautiful illusion at every step took, shatering
with my carriage-whees all the fair forms which
my imagination had set up by the road side, and
perpeuaIiy substituting The real for the ideal to
my own infinite loss in the exchange.
But saved nothing by returning home for the
farther mischief which had refrained from per-
perating myself, had been committed by others
The whole earth had been rummaged by restless
tourists: my table was loaded with travels, and
my pathway beset with panoramas desecrating
everything that holy, familiariZing the
mantle, and reducing the wild and visionary TO
printed scale Of yards, feet, and INCHES. The
world is neghbory the New Riv.
er, and the Terra lncognita is as we'll known
the Greenwich Road. Athens is removed to the
Strand, the North Pole to Leicester Square Mem.
mons head with granite wedge for beard, is
SET up in Great Russell Street, the Pantheon is by
its side, The tomb of Psammis is open to all The
passengers Of Piccadilly, Alexander's sarcopha
gus may be seen every day except Sunday, Cleo
patra's needle is or its way TO Mapping, and all
the wonders Of the world are become as familiar
TO the cockneys OF London as the Chelsea Bun.
house the pump of Aldgae.
All my waking dreams are dissolved, and might
define myself as two-legged matteroffact, but for
the fortunate circumstance that the Illusions of my
sleep seem to become more vivid those Of the
external world fade and die away. The night
mare has not yet been put in the pound, or carried
to the green-yard. The phantasms of the brain,
conjured up by the wizard Moon and the sorceress
Night, are beyond the jurisdiction of travellers,
painters, alIegorists. No meddling thuriel starts
from amid their shadows to withdraw the veil OF
fancy and show me the dowdy features Of truth
thither, therefore, does my imagination delight to
escape from this benumbing world OF matter and
reality, SO gladly abandoning itself to the wild
distractions Of dreams, that | pursue them long
after awake, and when they melt into daylight
can almost sit down, like Caliban, and cry to
sleep again. II.
WELL DoNE.-The Hon. w. w. Pepper, one
Of the Circuit Judges of Tennessee, presented to