New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-11-27
THE MAGMA TON IN NEW:ENGLAND.
LECTURE OF THE REV. DIR. osGooD.


was delivered last evening BY the Rev Samuel Os-
coed. D. D., in Clinton Hall, Aston place, before nu-
merous and intelligent audience The theme of the
discourse was " The Imagination in New-England,"
ard Il could hardly have fallen ibts ADLER hands 1t
was listened to with profound interest throughout,
aboundpg as it did with many beauties.
At the beginning of the lecture Dr. O.good said that
II was not an uncommon idea that New-England was
the home Of coy prudepce and cold calculatoRsthat
the people were frigid as the climate. A super
fetal view might corfrm this notion. The Puritins
left behind them the arts and poetry, aud probablysiid
rot much care TO see them cuiy ated among them be-
cause the art and poetry of that under the
patronage of the nsitutioIs otthe tine, at the hands Of
which they had been much oppressed Ii seemed to
no the east of the regrets poets and artists did
OF accompany them; indeed they seemed to think the
me pnaton connected with the robes of the scaret
woman whose foot they were determined never should
be upon their so But God knew them better than they
knew themselves. They started with originality OF
cha, ac'er which is to produce farer and better
fruit than any speculative ingenuity. The ndepend-
ence Of the Puritan matched by bis spiritual faith,
and how could these fail to give play to the magma
tou Their enterprise bore out their independence
and faith. Their imagination was not dainty rev
erence but a solemn matter that one Gay WAS to be-
come reality. Indeed, it was prominently practical
faculty DESTINED often to presage the attanments othe
future Itwas at work when the mind went forward
fom the present. 1t appeared in all heroic grandeur
as well ss In all beauty; the oak poem "a
well as the rose and it lived when the rose had
passed away The P1itans had nCh'Gg Of o the
EN- Europe which in England had not as yet
taken root. Then leading writer's of New-EngAnd
knew nothing of poetry though some OF
them had been educated the same classes with John
Milton The irregular doggere Of John Cotton we
would hardly ascrbe to man of his education, while
the H. ymes OF the New England Psalm Book were 8,
law breaking that we wondered how they could have
been ever set to music. The power of Imagination
was found often to show itself where il the least
expected and the imagination of the Purtans showed
itself in resi- life. Father Ward, in his prose writing,
had written in veins Of maginauve humor that we're
worthy Of Shakespeare in taking off the foil es OF that
COY While at other times bis imagination had exalted
Itself 10 the springs of pure poetry HIS ailuso9 10
ibe sdsge that truth never grows ole" was repe,e
with tesu,iul inn gery. Cotton athtr too had given
evidences Of an active imagination which oentiGes
| showed itsef in beautiful sentences. And though
Matter eulogized the poetic eenu, OF Ann Bra1s!reet
rhetoric poDderons as he had swallowed poly
| eot dictionary ard mad never yet got 1t out OF his
tAioat yet tho lecturer thought We would be compelled
| TO give preference to Ann Hutchinson. To have
heard Der and Henry Vane speak of the iu limitations
Of the spiritual light would have been richer feast
| than to hsye listened 10 the words Of Mather
| ard Ann Brsdstreet. New England people had taken
the lead in descriptions of nature-perhaPs because OF
the shcrness of their Summer they prized il the
Hints q this love Of nature appeared in the writing,
OF the early Puritan poets but we were more pleased
With casuo eiimpses of /; that showed themselves in
the works Of writers who did not thiak Of what they
were doing. In Winsows account Of the Plymouth
country, il William Woods description of New.En-
gonG frees, there was much thawa beautiful. Fair
taturo opened more and the Puritan heart, until
she obtained from it aud love. The human
heart must have some kind of ritual, All Mother Ma
ure got the better Of Puritan stricnes and gave it
one. Jonathan Edwards found much poetry in little
flower The mention Of his name led Us To the second
century Of New England life. The events of the
tablisbmen of our Republic eminently suggestive
oil exercise OF the Imagination. But the war did not
create much il brought out tue poetry OF the Rev
olution. Two minds the lecturer regarded having
sore more than any others TO give impetus to the
exercise of the imagination in country. Tney were
jonathan Edwards, the metaphyscian and theoogiaD,
and Benjamin Franklin the mechanic, philosopher aud
state snan. Edwards taught the great truths Of the
souls spirituality and the worthessness of every life
that was bliLd to the divine truth dead to the ve
OF God With all bis severity, and perhaps his super
stuoB. Edwards a majestic ide alst, and bis works
ficu first 10 last declare that sense Of ideal beauty
ruth and goodness belonged to our original nature,
and thai is not himself until he loves the beautiful,
tie good aud the true that have their being in the
Supreme. In his way, Ed wards Dante of his
tine. There could be no dealty without some sde-
qus,e Of the beautiful in that form in which had
pessej Geo TO embody much in the heart and form
ofwonap. Dante dreamed Of fair girl whom he never
married, and who after her early death was ever with
him throughout his life OF Sarah Pierepont ions
than EDWARDS wrote in most exalted strain and she
subsequently, became his wife and the mother OF DIS
eleven cLildIen, and who was ready to say tnat the
POritaLs wife bad not done as much to brng heaven
to earth BE rce the heroine Of Dante yre Frank
the faculty discovery ard invention that could be
called cor structiye imagination. lie was tue
architect Of cur industrial life. lie Imagined
the ration itself before the nation was, and he was
probably more than any the designer OF the Amer
icAn Union He had the Jaws OF natural science in his
local before he discovered them TIE New England
boy after reading his life, started out from bus home
with better feeling Of self reliance lie was KIDD OF
ttrestns NeRiOn, as Edwards kind OF hyperoorean
Dslte Tie Yankee agreat deal OF an ldeaist,
even il Lis love Of money. He made it tell. Instead
Of being dead with him. II had hviDg voice IN Tue
rho were working for practical purposes Artis-
tic elabort;ion had lot done as much BEFORE tie
R yOluiiOn people seemed 10 have lived IN long meter
in Oh Hundred and St. Martins-but the Revolu.
ton put into them the spirit Of Yankee Doodle aud Han
Coiun bia. Ii we were 10 choose Dr. Charming and
D6niel Webster az examples OF Ne~-Lhglana nhoa Vi
Il Pre- se>i century must be struck with the ict
that their best passages were inspired In practical
sfsiIs. Webster had left some magnificent proofs
of hs power Of yision. His reply to bayne OF South
Ca DINA in the Senate, and his oranon al plymouth
Rcck afford examples of ths The exteh TO
which Bancroft and Prescott are read IN New
Er GARD proved that when the truth Is WV
Idly told ii lie quite as charming as fiction.
The uost fascinating Interpreter OF the writings of
SweCeuborg WAS TheOpLilus Parsons, q Yankee law
YER Mathematics itself figured as an ldeaist, for
Professor Perce was almost Pythagorean In his phlo
sophy. BY Whittiers songs OF labor WORK was almost
turrtd into tI.v Viewed with all hi, crotchets and
i.ms Ucrsoe Gieeley was & kind OF Orphic Franklin
Who + setting the machines and workshops Of the land
into grand haruot ical dance; and perhaps ou nota
ole fellow Citizen in bis drab coat would not quarrel
with them II thew were 10 say that he calling out
the feures Of q huge industrial waltz In which the
steam epgire was taking the Iced But what pame
be;ter deserved TO be designated the type Of New
Frelard jmseipaton thsn Bryantf Not even Dana,
LorefeTor Lowell or Whittier. Bryant ref led the