Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1858-08-03


ney O. night, has made msay poor child 50 faint
hearted that neither tho segs q his schOOfslloWs,
the lapse Of time, nor the power of reaee'icn,
nor the lessons Of reason and experience could ever
again render him courageous in tbeaerk; while, On
the other hand, many future hero has caught the
FIRST spark Of valiant enterprise from the tales he
has listened to, Of the wonderful exploits Of Ton
THUMB and Jack the Giant Killer; and many tru-
ant sailor boy, as he rocks in the cradle of the sea-
can date his earliest longing for an 'advsnturOua
life to the moment when he first heard in che ardor
Of childish curiosity, the life and adventures Of
RObinsin Crusoe. --.--..
If this be true ia reference 70 individuals, IT.
true also, to certain extent, when applied to eoms
uunities The wild and marvellous romanees Of
the middle ages we're the nursery tales told to soce'
ty in its childhood In the ghOstly legends Of saints
it lsped its nightly prayer; the amcrous dIttes OF
the Troubadours we're an evening lullaby; snd the
romances Of chivalry we're the maHusls and picture
books Of its school boy days. The first exercised
upon the minds of supersttious nations salutsry
influence which hiss not yet ceased to be felt; the
second were Of great usein soothing the grim visage
of the past aud in softening thefeelingsO OF society
and the power Of the last still exhibits itself IN the
character Of moro then one people, tooneariy allied
to the faithless GaIaor, Of whom it is recorded;
sou'R ne vagait riesi p0rr fle1 q pagfat amour"
From considerations Of the kind he most trivial
tale that exhibits the traits OF national character
or saves from oblivion OF traditionary lore
is not Without It's value 70 The philosopher and his
tOrian. It's the source Of thousand impulses and
Impressions which have gone abroad in society, and
which may SO influence the minds Of men, that the
idle tale shall work the overthrow of States It
matters not whether the tale be true or false whether
its hero had a real or only an imaginary existence
The result will be the same for in the language Of
that strange book Hermippus Rediviyus, There is
less difference than most people imagine between
real aud fegued stories They differ but as morning
and evening shadows; the is the faint picture Of
what has passed; the other is the lively representa-
ton of what may possibly come" Il is enough that
the tale itself is told. that it ads idle lips to repeat
it and curious ears to listen to it, and an empty
chamber in the brain where it may brood in secret
and nurse unquiet fanoies-
And apart from these considerations, what won
derful region is the land of old romance With what
strange feeling do We hang over the dizzy steep of
six centuries and gaze on the pOmp of ohivalry be-
lOW-the tournament and tented field, the lady fair
and little page the wandering knight and the forlorn
damse and all the race of giants, dwarfs and fiery
dragons that seem created only to thWart the amo-
rous purposes Of true Lowell The knight who stands
yOnder by the seaside, Invested of his armOr, and
singing love,lorn dity to the sound of a Lutte, is
Amsds of Gsul lamenting the cruelty of the fair
Oriaue; and the beardless youth in yonder castle
hail. beset BY six armed knights at once, is DaOln
de MsyanCe. While We are speaking, he has slain
Two of them, and thrown the other four out of the
window. YOnder, too goes Tristan de LeOnOis,
stark mad for fAithless Mistress venting his fury
upon shepherds and their focks tearing up trees by
the roofs and humping the heads of bears against
the cliffs around him There, too are the ladies Of
Cornwall. The enchanted goblet they hold in their
hands, is test of their fidelity to their lords; and
there is not who has not spilled the wine upon
her garments. What next? The brave knights of
Brsnhinei have just pitched giant six oubits high,
into the sea- aud good king Arthur has rid the world
of another, whose garments are made of the boards
of kings slain by his own hand There is tilt for
lsdy-lOve and tournament for the prize of valOr.
There is a Oregon that has just disgorged his last
lame; maiden spell OOuud IN marble hallj and
a foolish knight following "Will- with Wisp' in
the shape of lady's stOmaoher, till he is lost in
enchanted forest. And bark that piercing blast
was the dying breath of Roland, bresthed through
his ivory horn, and eohoing far and wide from the
fated pass of ROneesTalles.
The love of romantic fiction seems to be the only
intellectual appetite that undergOes no change with
the lapse of time. The nation in which that feeling
does exist has history and no tradition speaks
Of the time the country in which it has not been
found. "Many now adsyes' says an English writer
of the sixteenth century, "hadd rather reade the
stories of kinge Arthur than the Hole Scriptures
themselves" These tales seem to have held the
same place in that century, which the Wsverly
novels hold in the present. The romances of chiv~
airy were to our forefahers what the historical 70
manees are to US; and marvellous achievements
nay utter impossibilies were to their lively mag
ination, what well authenticated facts are to our
sober reason.
Democratic state Convention of Ohio.