Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1857-10-14
mApAmE LEvERr,s New BoOK.

NEW YORK ana N OD1Ios
It has been said that the ''very word gsRids COM
prehends ali the loneliness of woman. 1t signines
but the power feel deeply, combined with an m
tellect capable of embodying those feelings INTO
language, and of conveying its images OF truth ana
beauty, from the heart of the writer to the heart Oh
the reader" Iftbis be so, then ia Madame LeVert
eminently of genius; and to be convinced
of this fact has only 10 read her delightful
SOUVENIRS" Her book is like herself and she
is "Veni. Uidi, viei," woman. She disarms all
criticism, and to know her is to love her. Her
fair, open brow, like her warm heart is the abode
of sunshine, and the glance of her eye is calm, |
and kindly, and pure, that of the freshly gath |
cred violets that oft times sleep upon her bosom.
Her voice yelling up in rich "clouded con-
tralto, tones that the very music of the heart
Soft the dreamy luH of Ginning waters-low,
like the singing of the Summer winds, steals upon
our spirits the sweet music of her words. In her
manner, cordial simple, natural, and self possessed,
she is equally above the parvenus pretensions, and
beyond the necessity of art. She possesses, too,
| in eminent degree, that philosophers stone,V
| Of pleasing-Uariety. And, indeed, so fresh, SO
Deep so full of mystical wtcheTy is shat "infnite
variety" that in any degree to illustrate it, we
must borrow the language Of modern writer, who,
when he would describe sentiment, which be
felt be indeScribdbLe said: cit is like the eye of
| the woman first loved to the soul of the poet"
| The world has, for the most part, been bright to
her. and for this her soul bows in child-ike reVer
ence, and pour5 forth its rapturous gratitude to
Hin. who has cast her "lines in pleasant places"
and given to her the ''goodly heritage" of happi-
ness. Beauty always wins its way; it needs neither
| introduction nor apology, and so every where ad-
mirers have gathered around her "thick as leaves
| in Vallambrosa," till her warm, impulsive spirit
feeling the bIessedness of being loved carols forth
like bird amid the dawning, its love- its ecstacy,
and its gratitude.
As is the woman, so is the volume before US.
1t is a work that proves how the highest cultiva-
ton of the intellect may be ennobled by the warm
sympathies and tender affections of nature. She
writes like the bird SINGS because its heart is
gushing over with melody; she writes as the flow
er blooms, because it is bathed in dew, famed by
the breeze, aud kndled up by the sunshine, till it
bursts its enclosing petals, and laVishes its fra
GRANGE and sweet life upon the air. She receives,
as it were by intuition, the idea of the ancient
Creeks, that the whole universe is "Kosmos" of
beauty and order and this she presents to the rea
der not as pleasant theOry-but sublime truth.
And yet at times, as if to prove how truly she is
,Uonpan, faint shadow lies upon her heart, and is
reflected upon the page-telling that she has en-
tered the temple of memory and passing by little
graves at the threshold, still guarded by love and
sorrow, her spirit treads silently the haowed cham
Der of tears.
Prejudced by no sectarian dogma, influenced by
no sectional jealousy, she opens wide the portals
of her heart, and folds the whole world of human
ity in her loving and kindly embrace. With her a
humane eclecticism has taken the place of a
partial creed, she looks upon all her race with
an infinite pity and infinite love-" and, there
fore, the arts, literature. society and systems o.
all countries, through which she has journeyed,
2 are kindly viewed, and literally interpreted.
Beneath her mental wealth the affections exist in
: proportionate strength, and they come gushing up
at every call of sympathy, and tinge all her crea
tions with hues of beauty, as the sun fushes the
rainbow into life, by waving his light through the
soft-dropping shower. That reverence and devO
r ton to her Mother, which shines so beautifully
through her daily life, is here enderly portrayed
and forms an ilIustrous example to the young o
our land for in general they are but too prone tc
neglect to pay that homage and duty to the aged
= which is only their just and rightful due.
: The woman who has given to America such
daughte. as Madame LeVert, should never be for
gotten.
AS to the literary claims of the work before US
it is just what it purports to be. While it exhibit
the strength OF the authors mind, the wonderful
y retentive power of her memory, and the e1ten
= of her requirements, it is not over-crOwded witt
the embellishments of standard pens, and has moth
u ing of the tinsel of the pedant, the trickery
the rhetorician. The style is easy, transformations
q and natural. 1t is rich in incident, the descrip
g tions are vivid and the anecdotes charmingy told
and yet there is no aboring for effect, and delight
# full air of sincerity pervades the whole, cinged wild
the couIer de rose of enthusiasm. She speaks froI
full heart of the beautiful in Nature and Art, o
old and stirring associations of social traits and
the we leone of friends and in all kindness and hor
esty, endeavors to share with others the deightfI
impressions which she has enjoyed AL that hi:
: tory has ehronicled and poetry consecrated com
from her pen flushed with the rose-glOw of her Ell
q thusiastc nature.
= Some one has said that "to be good traveller
It argues one ordinary philosopher. Then il
= Madame LeVert philosopher deed,-the ''WorlC
encir cling" Pieifer is not greater. south win
20 seems to be always passing over her spirit. He
. serenity seems proof against all petty vexation
. she smiles at occasional imposition, and good-nt
turedly abides by all the ellis" that voyagers "ar
heir to-" Ever ready, in her urbanity of soul, t
recognizes the "good in everything, she passes owe
the i'll, dwells upon she agreeable, and uufOds fC
US the "silver lining" of every cloud that Goa
II ath wart her sky. She is the true traveller, on
"a who has learned to reverence Nature, to apprecia
! genius, and to love humanity. And more-she hi
nothing of the selfsuficency and prejudice whic
distinguish too many Of our modern voydg'erS;
such as are so finely satirized in ''As you like it,
Says Rosalind Farewell, monsieur trayeler,-loo
you lisp, and strange suits, disable all the bel
" e6ts of your country; be out of love with yo
nativity; or will scarce think you have swan in
d gondoa." % the contrary travel has only mad
10 Madame LeVert more in love with her nativity
T it has but deepened her sense and pride of D
I'D nonality. She has found the name of an Americi
every where an honorable passp Irt. 1t is fires
and hopeful name,-its associations are of freedo
aud progression. And So surrounded by the DO
ng nagni6cencs of Alpine heights, amid the sOlen
Of ruins OF old imperial Rome, minglng in the roy
" sageantries Of England, aud OF France, she loo
ats back upon her native land eonsecrated to Lber
u o. the genius of WAsHISGFoN, aud exclaims wi
On an exaltant Joy, 81 too, an Americani"
And Il vas this deep sense Of nationality, as ",
ny as the generosity of her nature which prompt.
-. her 20 bestow literally from the sales If a