The Nevada journal., 1858-04-09

HHISneS IL III klnd OF Whisper winch
the reporters quick ear can hardly ap-
prebend. His usual time for a speech
is three hours, during which period he
wanders from Dan to Bersheba, and re-
cites his little dictionary of politics from
Alpha to Omega. In fact l am inclined
to think that Senator Johnson is a vul-
gar demagogue of ordinary mental cali
be. was pleased with his opposition
to the army bill, but now am satisfied
that it was intended to make home cap.
ital, and to thwart those southern sena-
tors whose appreciation of him is by no
means commensurate with his egetism.--
Cor. Missouri Democrat.
| The SICKNESS OF WIN. II. PREsCoTT.
This distinguished historian has lately
experienced an attack protabl of par
alytic nature, and of such character
that for some hours his life was almost
despaired of. By prompt and skillful
medical treatment, he has, however,
been so far restored, that his physicians
look forward to a perfect recovery of his
literary powers He, himself, however,
it is said. views the matter differently,
and regards it as warning that he is
very soon, if not Immediately, to have
the ink left to dry forever in pen that
has contributed the most lasting benefits
to his age and glory to his country.
He is one of the few men which the
United States has produced who have
devoted their lives to literature. not with
any view to immediate gain of the sup
ply of daily. necessities, but from a de-
sire to produce works of imperishable
merit. When quite young man, and
a graduate with high honors at Cam
bridge, he devoted himself to illustrat-
ing the history of the American CONT
nent. Sparks and Bancroft have done
the same, and have both published far
more. Sparks has collected and pre-
served voluminous materials and thrown
great light upon the revolutionary peri
cd of our country, and the biography of
the chief of actors in that gigantic strug-
gle. Bancroft has commenced further
back, and with vigorous pen, and a
more glowing and gorgeous style of col
oring, painted the early settlement of
the infant colonies from which this coun-
try was formed.
But Mr.. Prescott has taken a still wi
der view of the province of history, and
by his "Ferdinand and Isabella" his
Conquest of Mexico" and among the
very first historical writers, not only of
the present age and of the English
tongue, but of all ages, and every Ian
guage.
Possessed of an independent fortune,
he has devoted capital a life and thou
sand labors and contrivances to sur
mount the difficulties of his position and
his undertaking. For large part OF
his life he has been almost blind, and
every ray of light that entered his room
has had to be tempered to the delicacy
of an eye-sight which even then did not
allow him either to read or write.
Yet he has thoroughly ransacked the
Spanish literature of three centuries for
his materials, procured original docu-
ments from European governments and
ecclesiastical archives, and reviewed
them with such breadth and compass
of mind as make them unfold more knOwl-
edge of the customs of tribes and nations
now extinct than any one of the writers
alone was able to gather, through CO.
temporary and eye witness. The skill
with which he has reconstructed the So
cial system of the Aztecs and the Peru
vians, and the bold and graphic pen with
which he has sketched the outline, the
origin and the effects of their peculiar
institutions, is only exceeded by the skill
with which he has filled in the details OF
his narrative
If he has not ordinarily the energy
and terseness of Tacitus, it is only be-
cause he deliberates to make his nara
tive more flowing, simple and lucid. His
writing is equal soithat of Hume in GER
tain purity and elegance combined with
dignity, but he has spent hou in study
ing and weighing every authority where
Hume would have been too idle to open
books in his own library, even to correct
the grossest blunders. He is never cum
bered with partisan details like Allison,
nor does he like Macaulay, allow the
vivid sketches of such details to divest
him from the flowing, majestic current
of history. Where too look for a more
perfect specimen of historical writings,
we do not know. Certainly not in the
English language, and hardly among
the ancients.-Philadezphia Ledger.
Antidote .tor Poison-A correspond
ent of the London Literary Gazette,
speaking of the number of deaths occur
ring from accidental poisoning, says:
venture to affirm there is scarce even
cottage IN this country that does not
contain an invaluable, certain, immedi-
ate remedy for such events-nothing
more than dessert spoonful of mustard
mixed with tumber of warm water,
and drink Immediately. 1t acts as an
emetic, and is always ready, and may be
used with safety in any case where one
is required. By making this simple an
tidote known, you may be the means of
saving many fellow creature from an
untimely end.