New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-07-31

plagiarism 10 very much like another charge in
criminal tribunals-easy to be made and hard to DO
di.proyed. When an author addresses himself to
bis work. it 10 not bis habit to take sworn witnesses
into bis study in order that the originality OF his
productions may, if necessary, be verified upon
oath. He relies upon the faith of his fellow-men,
upon bis own character, upon the unmistakable
ear.marks of his bantliDg. About question of
veraciy 90 about question Of taste, there can be
no dispute. The pursuits Of literature are still
logged by "toil, envy, want" although we be-
lieve that "the patron and the JAIL have gone out
Of fashion. 1t is therefore needless and gratui-
tous aggravaton for us to play upon the rrtability
Of any poet by doubling the Legitimacy Of his verses
The late Mr.. Poe, who was exceedingly clever in
every thing he undertook, was particularly clever
in detecting plagarsms 10 American writer's; and
was wont upon all possible occasions to assault Mr.
LongfellOw with great asperity. But we think
such work thankless enough ct the best. Who
would with to play VidOcq to the Nine MUSES. J
Who would care to be thiefcatcher-general to the
literary world, detecting nice adaptations, faint
rtcolections, or unconscious imitatiOnsl Ha thing
be good why should we be ernice about its pa
rentage7
But, when man is charged with stealing bodily,
as Mr.. Butler now is, the affair becomes really
serious "NOthing to Wear Was clever poem.
Its manner was not by any means original but it
was neatly executed, and its moral was not only
une1ceptonabe but timely. After man has done
q smart thing of this kind it cal not be pleasant to
be charged with pilfering from schoolgirl. Such
odd events are, however, always happening. Every
body will remember the musty old story that
Bru s'ey Sheridan stole the comedy Of The R'rat',
and that it was in fact written by consumptive
young woman of Bath, who, after finishing the
character of Bob Acres, succumbed to her COM
plant. Sheridan WAS too lazy to make formal
reply to the CHARGE but we do not think that it was
ever credited By any man Of sense. We are AFRAID
ttat Miss Peeks case must be just as summary
dismi,sed. We must take Mr.. Buffers word
Literary men are not in the habit of reproducing az
their own, poetcsl waits picked up in the street.
cars. No one capable Of writing as Mr.. Butler can
write, would be guilty Of such blunder.
Suppose that we should write to the newspapers
that the following lines were written by our great
grandmother:
Come, gentle Spring! ethereal mildness, come,
And from the bosom Of yon dropping cloud
While music wakes around, vailed in q shower
or shedowins roses our plains descend"
Suppose that we should declare that it had always
been q tradition in the family that our great
grandmother was the authOress of the lnes-that
we possessed copy Of them in her handwriting
that she dropped them in the streets of London in
1928, and that Scotch thief by the name of
Jenny Thomson picked them up and published
them as bis own. Who would believe US And
yet this is Miss Pecks case exactly. AT the risk
of FORGETTING reputation for galantry, we must
remain incredulous. The young woman cannot be
in her spDspa