Daily national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1854, 1854-01-25
LITERARY MISCELLANY.
PASSION FLOWERS.

and with no acknowledgement Of authorship
Tcknor, Reed, & Fields, of Boston, have just
issued a volume Of poems, which, if we do not
greatly mistake its character, is destined to
create an interest in the literary world second
only to that produced by the sudden appari-
ton Of Alexander Smith, the Glasgow poet, o
few months ago. The book is not only re-
power a reserved force, on the part Of its au-
thor, which makes the present performance
great as we feel it is, seem but the prelude to
something yet higher and nobler. Several Of
the best poems in the book have their origin
in the writer's memories Of winter residence
in Rome. With deep and passionate appre-
citation Of that ancient capital Of the Pagan
and Christian world, and fully alive to all its
moral and classical associations, the writer
does not, like too many modern pilgrims thith
erward, overlook, in admiration Of art and
beauty, the terrible social and political evils
which form their grim background. No
American, who understands the actual state
Of things in the Papal Territory, can fail to
sympathize with the indignation and scorn and
pity which by turns blaze or wall through
these poems. Rome is PROFESSIONALLY, at this
moment, the worst governed State Of Europe
Socially, politically, morally and spiritually it
is the scandal and opprobrium Of Christendom,
standing libel on the religion Of Jesus A
Government Of spies and priests, propped by
foreign bayonets, and resting on the dungeons
Of thirty thousand political prisoners dying by
inches in their living tombs, there is for the
republican or the Christian who contemplates
it no other alternative than silence or anathe-
ma. Tho repeated denunciation by the Ro-
man lnquisition Of the Romance of Harriet
Beecher Stowe, as heretical seditious, and
damnable, is gratifying evidence Of the I'M
easy consciousness on the part of Ecclesiastical
Light from every quarter is dreaded the triple
mail Of the Great Falsehood is vulnerable to
the smallest arrow Of Truth Even the arts
Of painting and sculpture-the lures which the
harlot and enchantress offers to all who ap-
proach her--may be found in the end dan
while, with scarcely an exception, the galleries
both public and private, Of the city and its
environs, are thrown freely open to inspection,
that Of the Villa Ludovise is jealously guarded
and is to be seen only by means Of a written
permission from its princely owner for there
amidst classic forms, pale gods of heathendom,
and questionable saints of the Romish calendar,
may be seen colossal group-a stalwart bar
barian stabbing himself with his right hand,
while his left supports his dying wife, sinking
ct his feet. 1t is the man and the husband
killing himself and his wife, to avoid the doom
OF Slavery-Uncle Tom and the Declaration
of Independence in marble Let the Holy
College look to it.
As . specimen of the intense power and pas
sionate earnestness of the writer, when dealing
with whatever outrages her sense Of right and
conflicts with her moral and religious convie
tions, we give some of the concluding stanxas
of the poem entitled From Newport to Rome .
She represents herself in the midst OF tho fash
ION and folly Of the great Northern watering
place at the time Of the overthrow of the Ro-
man Republic, and as constrained to break in
upon the music and dancing with her startling
description Of the final struggle Of the doomed
CITY against the combined forces of Papal Des-
potism. The picture is iearfully vivid:
The rich must own the hidden hoard
The brave butchercd whore they stand
And maidens seek at altar-shrines
A refuge from the lawless band.
Till Death, grown sordid, hunts no more
His flying quarry through the street;
And the grim scafold, one by one,
filings bloody morses for his meat
Were Death the worst, the patriots hymn
Would ring triumphant in mine ears;
Bat pangs exquisite awat
Those who still eat the bread Of tears
{" Pale faces pressed to prison bars
Grow sick and agonize with life
And frm lips culver when the guard
Thrusts r,dey back some shrieking wife
There women gathering on the sward,
/ see them, helpful Of each other
The matron soothes the maiden's heart,
The girl supports the trembling mother.
: Sad recognitions. frantic prayers,
Greetings that sobs and spasms smother,
And 0, my = the place resounds,
And 0, my father 0, my brother
:" And souls are wed in nobleness
That ne'er shall mngIe human breath
Loves seed in holy purpose sown,
Loves hope in Gods and Natures faith
~ flag hangs in the Invalides
That ascks with shame the stately dome
'Ta'en from Roman, whom we slew,
Keeping the threshold Of his home
And ye delight in idle tunes
And are content to jig and dance,
When even the holy Maneaise
Sounds for the ueachery Of France
And not voice amongst you here
Calls ON the traitor wrath and hate
And not q wine-cup which ye raise
Il darkened by the victims fate