The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-04-24
THE NATIONAL ERA: WASHINGTON, D. c, APRIL a. 1856

tons are such that every man has at least the
prospect of social or political distinction before
him; and, to meet the possibilities of his con-
dition, enlightenment, and acquaintance with
current literature, is in some degree neces-
sity. The Northern author consequently re-
ceives encouragement to write, from crowd of
sympathizing, curious readers all about him.
Hence the fertility of the Northern press.
In the agricultural region" of the South,
on the other hand, flor we speak not of the
cities,) the literary man receives no stimulus
to authorship from the large mass of the white
population in his neighborhood. The non
shareholders, or "poor whites" are an unread
ing class, degraded by the aristocratic institu-
tions of their section, which bar their political
or social advancement, and render knowledge
of books luxury quite unnecessary, and easily
dispensed with. In their hopeless condition, it
is folly to be wise-in the lore of books, at
least. Cicero, in a glowing panegyric of ele-
CANT letters, where he praises them as the
delight of youth and the solace of old age-if
we remember the passage rightly-declares
that such studies rusticantur-i literally, go
with US into the country; or, in other words,
relieve the tedium of rural seclusion. Not so
with the poor white rustics of the South.
These studies do not go to the country with
them. The refined enthusiasm of the scholar
and the man of science is as much beyond their
comprehension as it was to the villager of Pol.
lok,
"Who thought the visual line that girt him round
The worlds extreme
Consequently, the author in the "agricultu-
raj region" of the South must rely in the main,
for his readers, upon a distant community.
The free States must furnish them. And he
must exhibit more persistency than ordinarily
falls to the lot of human nature, if he continue
his efforts as book-wright, without the friendly
sympathy Of an intelligent neighborhood. He
must therefore change either his residence or
his pursuit. Hence, the few successful authors
tant additions made to our literature, in the
agricultural region of the South. The cause
of this, we opine, is not, after all, so much in
the agriculture as in the kind of agriculture
that is pursued there. This position could be
instructively illustrated by an exhibition of the
accounts of our leading publishing houses,
showing from what sections they receive the
principal demands for their issues.
If our remarks were not already too long,
another point might be advanced, derived from
an examination of these noble volumes, name
ly, the Indebtedness of our literature to the
contributions of our foreign-born authors-in
other words, the anti-Know Nothing character
of our literature. Well do the Messrs. Duyck-
inck remark: at is an honor, as it is a most
liberal advantage, to America, that men like
Berkeley, Priestley, DIR. Cooper, Witherspoon,
Nesbit, Follen, Leber, Schaf, Agassiz, Guyot,
have freely joined their contributions to the
stock of our own authors. The country has
received their books, and pro6ted by their les.
sons and experience. 1t cannot grudge the
few pages which justice, no less than gratitude
and affection, assigns to their story"
A vast amount of valuable matter relating
to the personal as well as literary biography
of American authors is embodied in this Cyclic
pedia, which, with the judicious selections from
their writings, will make it necessary book Of
reference to the student of our literature, and
supply a varied entertainment to the merely
casual reader.