Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1855-05-31
Irving's Life of Washington.

to the infinite, the spiritual and beautiful
Nothing, it has been said, is more necessary
to the cultivation of the higher sciences than
meditation, and nothing is less suited TO medi- |
tation than the structure of Democratic socie- |
ties.
Now, if there be any truth in this charge |
it is the effect of our situation, not of our in |
situations 1t is first necessary to build houses,
clear lands, and cultivate those branches
which bear directly on every day business.
Afterwards the sweet may be mixed with the
useful
From DR.. FRANKLIN to Professor MORSE
and Lieutenant MAURY, the scientific men
of America have been pre-eminent and no
dence as our own.
But it is insisted, that in literature and the
arts we can never excel. LoNGFELLow and
BRYANT in poetry, PREscoTT and BANCROFT
nature and biography ARE sufficient to disprove
the charge without further enumeration.
A literature of genuine value requires the
elasticity and buoyancy of spirit which attend
the possession of freedom. Even those wri-
tiers who live in despotic countries draw their
inspiration from the history of free communi-
ties. Look to ScHILLER's William Tell
The despot who patronises literature ascribes
to his patronage what it could never produce.
He admres the fresh verdure, and the
fruit not his own.
The man of letters may be courtier,
but, if he writes for immortality, his soul
must be filled BY the study of the great
authors who were quickened into life by
stirring revolutions nnd mighty actions
In the conflict between the good and evil
principles which sway society, the hu-
man soul exhibits pristine vigor and leaves
memorials worthy of ever during remem-
brance. The active and contemplatiye world
produce great deeds; great deeds do not die
with the act done, but live in great thoughts;
and great thoughts are tho food of great
minds.
These desultory remarks were suggested by
reading the choice extract from IRyIsGs Life
| Of Washington, made from advance sheets by
the New York Tribune of May 10Th. This
work is designed to be the browning glory of
WASHINGTON IRvING's literary labors, the
Corinthian capital by which the column of
his fame is to be surmounted. theme
more appropriate could not have been select
ted.
The reality of American story far transcends
the most glorious fctiens. Noble deeds,
brave men, strong passions, perilous times
strange success are the elements which make
romance lovely; and the Life of Washington
exhibits these in the brightest and most per-
feet manifestations.
Our space will only permit one extract, but
that is good one:
THE LOVES OF WASHINGTON.
In one of these manuscript memorials of
his practical studies and exercises, we have
come upon some documents singularly in
contrast with all that we have just ctei and
with his apparently unromantic character.-
In woid, there are evidences in his own
handwriting that, before he was fifteen years
of age, he had conceived a passion for some
unknown beauty, So serious as to disturb his
I otherwise well-regulated mind and to make
him really unhappy. Why this Juvenile at
tachment was a source Of unhappiness we
have no positive means of ascertaining Per-
haps the object of it may have considered
him mere school-boy and treated him as
such; or his own shyness may have been i'm
| Hrll for ahax ~. "A
, versation" may as yet have sat awkwardly
on him and rendered him formal and un-
gainful when he most sought to please
Even in later years he was apt to be silent
and embarrassed in female society. "He
was very bashful young man." said an old
, lady whom he used to visit when they were
/ both in their homage. al used often to wish
that he would talk more"
Whatever may have been the reason, this
early attachment seems to have been a source
of poignant discomfort to him. Ii clung to
him after he took final leave of school i'm
the autumn of 1747 and went to reside with
his brother Lawrence at Mount Vernon
: Here he continued his mathematical studies
and his practice in surveying, disturbed at
times by occurrences of his unlucky passion
Though by no means of poetical tempera-
ment, the waste pages of his journal betray
several attempts to pour forth his amorolls
sorrows in verse. They are mere common
place rhymes, such as lovers at his age are
apt to write, in which he bewals his "poor
restless heart, wounded by Cupid's dart, " and
bleeding for one who remains pitiless of his
griefs and woes"
The tenor of some Of his verses induces us
to believe that he never told his love; but
as we have already surmised, was prevented
by his bashfulness.
h .Ah, wo is me, that should love and conceal;
Long have wished and never dare reyesl.~
1t is difficult to reconcile ones self TO the
idea of the cool and sedate Washington, the
great champion Of American liberty a woe
worn lover in his youthful days, "sighing
like furnace and inditing plaintive verses
about the groves of Mount Vernon We
are glad of an opportunity, however, of pen
etrating to his native feelings and finding that
under his studied decorum and reserve he
had heart of flesh, throbbing with the warm
impulses of human nature.
The merits of Washington were known
and appreciated by the Fairfax family
Though not quite sixteen years of age he.no
longer seemed boy, nor was he treated as |
such. Tall, athletic, and manly for his
years, his early self-training and the code Of
conduct he had devised, gave gravity and
decision to his conduct; his frankness and
modesty inspired cordial regard. and the me-
lancholy of which he speaks may have pro- |
duced softness in his manner calculated to
win favor in ladies' eyes. According to his |
own account, the female society by which he |
was surrounded had soothing effect on that
melancholy. The charms of Miss Carey, the
sister of the bride, seem even to have caused |
aslight fiuttering in his bosom; which, how
ever was constantly rebuked by the remem-
brance of his former passion-so at least we !
Judge from letters to his youthful confdants, !
rough drafts Of which are still to be seen in
his tell-tale journal.
To one whom he addresses as his dear
friend Robin, he writes: my residence is at
present at his lordship's, where might, was
my heart disengaged, pass my time very pleas
antly, as there's very agreeable young lady
living in the same house (Col. George Fair |