Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1857-03-04
CIT Stan6ar6.
RALEIcH. WEDNESDAY. MAR. 4. 1857.
Mr.. simms' Lecture nfSaturday Evening.

Mr.. simms' Lecture onfsaturday EVENING.
". Gilmore Simms, Esq. of South. Carolina, de-
l., red the second of his course of Lectures in the
commons Hall, in This City, en- Saturday evening
,,st-subiect, I" Ante Colonial Discovery in Amer
iea" NJ.
The Lecture, as the title imports, was confined
mainly to events which preceded the establishment
~ permanent Colonies in North America. CHANGING
incidentally at the conquests of Pizarro and Cortez
IN Peru and Mexico, the Lecturer entered upon an
account of the discovery and conquest of Florida by
the Spaniards tracing, at times, with minuteness,
the conflicts and the incidents between the Spaniards
and the Indians, and between the Catholic Spaniards
and the French Huguenots. Florida was discovered
by the Spanish navigator Juan Ponce de Leon, in
1872; and was named by him. For long time the
name was general, in Spanish works, for the Allan
tic coast Of North America, and embraced the Caro-
lnas and Georgia. and west to the Mississippi river,
covering the regions of Louisiana, Alabama, and
Mississippi This opened wide and rich field to
the distinguished Lecturer, and he occupied it in
mastery and impressive manner. The alternate tri'
umphs and disasters which attended every leading
Spanish adventurer were glowingly delineated from
Ponce
of ST. Augustine, and the treacherous and inhuman
murderer of the French Protestant Colonists under
Ribaut His sketch Of Ferdinand de Soto was more
complete than that Of any other character presented
and was admirably executed. Justice was also done
to the Indian tribes. Probably living writer has
so thoroughly studied and comprehended the Indian
character as Mr.. Simms has, He appeared entirely
familiar with the history and customs OF the mighty
nations which once possessed these regions and
which, on the coasts of Florida and on the MISSISSIPPI
nj, encountered AMI destroyed the naughty forces Of
the Spaniard Listening to his illusions to their
dim and touching traditons-to his just and elo-
ouen tributes to their courage and patriotism, and
to his rapid and lifeke descriptions of the country
which they inhabited, and Of that beautiful Indian
princess and Of the "land Of peace"-the Indian
Eden in Gcorgia-one could not fail to be impress
ed with the profound sympathy which he felt for
these scattered and vanished races, and could al
most imagine that their spirit was upon him, and
that he was speaking
"In that language which the Indian deems
Sole in his tabled heaven, which scars behind
The waters-:here, whore swamps and streams
Shall neither stay the chase, nor faint the wind
Where life shall be all mornng-where fatigue
Shall clog the form, tho wandering many league
Mr.. Simms' style as writer Is so well known that
it is not necessary to do more than refer to it, On
this occasion it was rich, stately, and sometimes
gorgeous. His figures of speech were pictures before
the mental eye, exquisitey conceived and finished
and attractive rather for their mild and softened
lustre than for those Hashy and gaudy tints which
characterize the ordinary artist.
He lectured again last (Monday) night, on the
subject of 1.-THE Choice OF Profession" and tonight
Tuesday) he will deliver his concluding Lecture on
"The Ideal and the Practical" We learn that he
contemplates visiting Greensborough this week, in
pursuance of an invitation, and delivering course
of Lectures there