Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-01-30
selves in studying the footprint. along the

selves in studying the footprints along the
/ roads.
Mr. Lockhart returned to the Indians. al
have lately been reading an exceedingly
clever American novel, entitled the Pioneers,
! by Cooper. His descriptive power Ia very
| great, and think he has opened y new Geld
| Of romance, especially In the hunters along
the frontiers, who, in their intercourse vitS
savages, have become hall ssvages them
selves. That border life is full of incident,
| adventure, poetry; the character ST L.sther-
stocking is original and striking"
81 have not seen the Pioneers" said Scott;
| " but have read the Pilet by the same su-
thor, which has Just been published. II is
very clever, aud | think il will turn out that
his strength lies in depicting sea life and ad-
venture We really have no good sea-tales.
genius"
But, papa" said our hostess, I should
hlnk II rather narrow field Only a few
persons 90 to sea, and the language Of sailors
Is so technical as to be hardly underTtood by
people generally. II seems TO me that sea-
tales can never excite the sympathy Of the
great mass Of readers, because they have had
| no experience of Its life and manners"
g 1t is no doubt a task Of some difficulty"
said Sir Walter, ito bring these home to the
hearts of the reading million; nevertheless, to
a man of genius for 1t, the materials are ample
and Interesting Ali our minds are full of
| associations Of dsrGer, Of daring, and adven-
| ture With the sea and those who have made
that element their home And besides, this
book TO which refer the Pilot-counects its
| story with the land. 1t is perhaps more in
terestirg TO ne because / perfectly well recol-
lrct the time when Paul Jone,-yhose char
acter Is somewhat reflected in the hero Of the
story-cane up the Solway in 177S in tho
Ranger, though | was then less th an ten years
old be kept the whole coast in a state Of
alarm for some time, and was in fact the great
Sca.ecrow Of that age and generation" !"
" Mr. Cooper is man Of genius" said
Lockhart; Z" no one can deny that but IL
seems to ne that Brockden Brown was the
most remarkable writer Cf fiction that Amer
lea has produced There is a similarity in his
style TO that Of the Radcliffe school, and in the
tone of mind TO GodEin's Caleb Williams; but
IN his machinery he is highly original. In
his display Of the darker passions, be sur
passes all his models >
That may be true" said Sir Walter, "but
il is neither a wholesome nor a popular spe-
cies Of literature. 1t is almost wholly ideal;
it is not In nature it is in fact contrary TO it,
Its scenes, incidents, characters do not repre-.
sent life they are alien to common expert
ence. They do not appeal to a wide circle Of
sympathy IN the hearts of mankind. The
chief emotion that IL excites is terror or won
der. The suggestive manner oftreating every
subject, aims at keeping the mind constantly
on the rack Of uncertainty This trick Of art
was long ago exhausted. Brown had wonder
ful powers, as many of his descriptions show;
but 1 think he was led astrsy by falling under
the influence Of bad examples, prevalent at
his time. Had he written his own thoughts.
he would have been, perhaps, immortal; in
writing those Of otherc, bis fame was Of course
ephemeral.
Tie conversation turned upon Burns. Scott
knew him we'll. He said that Tam Shsnter
was written TO please a stOnecutter, who had
executed a monument for the poet father, on
condition that he should write him a witch
story, in verse. He stated that Burns was &C
cUstOc:ed, In his correspondence, more espe-
cislly With ladies, TO write an elaborate letter
and then send copy Of II TO several persons,
modifying local and personal passages to suit
each Individual He said that Of some Of these
letters, be had three or four copies thus sd
dressed to different persons, and sl in the
poet handwriting.