New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-09-06


we slmoui ACC that ORC fellow with tho "biach
"uhi,kcrr," ma tho Suaolh cleaners. with ell tho
srihire particularly Of Mrs Nicklcby painted him
uhirlcd in the cars from factory 10 fold. by work
shcps and wods, ia the fatal rcctory. Tho sccno
when he rcac ca the ancient choat tho rapid trans
il from anxiety 20 suspense from suspense to cX-
alto,iop and from oxidation 10 horror, when ho
fleets upon The crime which his triumph unolds arc
terribly PORTRAYED We can almost see him. when
as he pictures himself with cold sweat running
into bis mouth IA if lie had left house on fire,
he turns with trembling hand fro letter to letter,
until reaching n, he drops on the fearful George
"Naisell, son of George Matsell and Elizabeth, his
wife, was baptized privately October 10, and re-
ceiytd December 90
With this great climax the tragedy should have
closed. But Branch draQs in another act for the
purpose of presenting our distinguished Minister
at the Court Of st. James rs shrinking back from
the Matse!l crime in state Of frenzied horror,
which would have occasioned considerable anxiety
to his friends had not our City poet, with playful
transition, relieved the picture by introducing him
a moment after as renewing some past pleasant
"reminiscences of travel together from Saratoga,
which serve to illustrate the character Of our
Branchs acquaintance and the qualities of his
voice With pulpitpicture, which is open to the
objections of profanity urged equally against the
introduction of high-mass in the last scene of
Robert tie Devil by Branch's great contemporary,
Meyerbeer the curtain falls.
Few who have read either this or his earlier
productions, will be inclined to dispute
BioLch's qualities as poet, but we cannot
accord 20 him our laudation as practical man.
Most people had, on Branch's departure,
pretty stroeg conviction that Nj. Wash ngtOn
Natstll was born on the wrong side of tho
ocean, though foT objects Of patriotism or pence
he had thought fit TO forget il. Bat in the roar
of laughter which Briggs's antics hsd created
and the last burlesque of Branch will renew,
all seriousness was and will be lost. II
Briggs would be nothing without Ma.sel,
il is thrice fortunate for Matsell that
he has found such On accuser as Briggs.
We cannot see how these last wan ierings of
Branch improve the premises. If, instead of
exhibiting that selfcOnfdence which is the ac-
compartment Of genius, Branch had placed hs
case in the hands Of some shrewd lawyer, the
world would have lost a poem. but the Briggs
Committee might have gained few facts. AS
it is, We cannot sift from the heap of chat one
solitary grain which Charles O'Conor or James
T Braoy would not crack with FLIP of the
NALL The certificate alleged to have been taken
from IL ST. Brandon's psrish-book is not certi.
fed by any authority which cOu'd be recognized
here. Who can testify to the hand writing OF
that pretty parsou who, as usual, was found
away from his cure Who can identify our
George as the George who figures there Mat
sells are as plenty in Suffolk as peaches in New
Jersey Within the sound Of Brandons bells,
and not a hundred yards from that pleasant par
sonage which Branch go deeply delights to dwell
On, there may be found, to our knowledge,
score of Matsells. Upon every tenth stone 10
that churoh.yard, so full of shadow and solitude,
the name may be read. And had Branch but
questioned the merry cleaners who so fancied
his black whiskeIs, we do not doubt he would
have found little Georg, among them.
But We would put it TO the Alderman, as
was pleasantly put to another Midas by Dean
Swift, "whether he is not travelling ten miles
"to suck bull" What if w. should turn out
a William and not Washington 7 From the
dsys of Marcus Antonius Muresius and julius
Caesar Scaliger down to those OF Augustus
Caesar Hannibal and Caesar Augustus Dodge
men hsve been anxious to robe themselves in
the surreptitious digaity Of a great name
Among bis own lIndoO compatriots this spirit
ia especially strong. At the late gathering OF
the midnight Order IN the PARK, we observed
an Andrew Jackson somebody, and Thomas JEFF
ierson another body, and even Poor Polk was
not so poor but that he found one poor enough
to do his name reverence. At the last display
Of baby America too, the taste Of the rising
generation was expressed in the title of the
prize tlylets who were called, if we remember,
John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, and
William Henry Seward Scott Again the only
distinguished man who ever bore the name Of
Briggs, has taken the second name of frederick,
though We cannot learn that lie was ever related
either to frederick the Great or Frederick
Scbiege. If then a too admirng parent il
some hour of infant precocity, or the chief him
self in some of those moments of anticipatlve
destiny which sometimes pass over great men,
slid the William into Washington, We can bear
TO tread softly on such error.
In sober earnest this Briggs was perhaps for
few weeks bearable, while he added TO our stock Of
harmless pleasure and doubled the effect BY max
ing himself the first victim of the merriment. But
he has become an intolersbe bore and should at
once be squeched Who is to pay for the peram-
bulations of his man Branch-his visit TO country