Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1858-01-04
Local INFELLiaENCE.


ray gave his inimitable series of word paint inu.
upon the English Humorists, at carusi,s, no
such gathering Of the literary clans has been
wnesse1 IN this city, as that on Saturday MI Int.
70 I aeA Cnafies hiackay discourse upon poetry
anu yong Nearly every resident quifl -dFiyer Of
note was present, and also the army of vIsj,;n,
PaPer-stainers, who make washfnptop ibef5
nesodnsrers during The session. The fashion of
.ne metropolis was there, and the people wee
there so II Is not strange that the spacipn. phil
harmonic Hall was somewhat more than fnjI.
ana mat not few who came late were Obliged
PTec,..I. sn =, WITH promenade seats !"
Pedrdnce at the reading desk and entered upon
his lecture. He is a man entirely unpretendip,,
ppeafanee, but has what Fowler would IN
npeo'eu cali "a good hesd' upon his shoulders
nc commenced by saying u was dificult TO de-
me what poetry was. As in the case OF beauty
shere Is no standard Of universal acceptation
some see beauty in nature only in the wild
mountain and laundering waterfall some In the
qulet plain and village, and others in the dim
aisles OF the forest 80, too, in art-some recog-
me beauty only In the works of Michael Angelo
foriRaphael some in the Dutch sc hool and 9th
'ers IN the pre- Raphaelites.
In respect to female beauty, almost every ma
ton and age has its particular standard A sim
liar diversity of opinion was found i'm resnect 70
poetry. Plato held that poetry came nearer 10
vital truth than history itself Lord Bacon
Nth0uSht the proper element of poetry was fiction
lies Fiction and falsehood however. the lee
tarer maintained were two different things The
&snmarians were equally at fault in their def.
'asd prose frequently is, as for example NcPber
sons oss;an, CaTlyle's History of the French
Hevoiution, the Essays of Emerson, Sterne;s
sentimental Journey, Irving's sketch hook the
. Pilgrims Progress, Genesis. the stories Of rs.
: Their and Ruth, the Psalms the Book of lob
Ezehiei and jeremiah. An eminent London
Puoiisher mad said that the lines
Love flows like the Solway
And Gibbs like its tide,n ..r -.
contained more sublimity than anvtb;ng Inv
Sn sPedie: Muton or Homer, The world was
tnii o. verse and rhyme which had more music
OF goose The late Thomas Hood whom tie
So,lo was only beginning TO appreciate as a poet.
n"1u Poetry as prose verse and worse Dou,
gas Jefroid admitted only two di visions prose
OF worse" Leigh Hunts definition of poetrv
was "a passion for truth and beauty combined -
IN an great poets, imagination and fancy were
iouhf IN union and when to these were Joined =
aoVe ofuuth-whethcrt they write PLAYS like Shak
speare, allrgories like Spencer epics like Milton
BALLADS Ike Wordsworth, or songs like Blu ms
fhe poet Is To teach, exalt and inspire TO insn,r
the humble with dignity. and the despondtnt
WIZ hope to I'LL all men with love of God and
one another; tn convert bad into good and good
into better for time and eternity
W hen we find man who says he does not un-
ueistdho poetry, We may assume that he is def
Sieht In education; but when a man asserts that
ne positively dislikes poetry, we NAV set him
down as hard, unfeeling man, whose esteem
ana symPath,es are confined to the small piece
OF clay bounded by his own oveTcoat,
Song signifies something that may be sunr-a
short poem that may be set to music No other
DESCRIPTION Of poetry appeals so directly to the
may know Homer, Virgil and Dante by their i'm
mortal names, hut know nothing of their works
song comes home to the people in the field and
smithy. IL diminishes their yriefs and teac hes
them the nobility of labor and the dignity of
man. 's''' "
From the earliest history the voice of sony has
nraa, lhstructlns the people in Peace, and
lnSIinY them IN war. Song may be called the
elder sister of History. The ancient sonu-wri-
tsrs sang to their own music. as Milan, David
Homer, Pindar, and the Troubadours Po, Il
now, are not musicians, and a consequence
tney write songs that never can be sung unless a
Mnrrent measure is adopted for each stanzf
MS norance OF music in the modern poet lie IDS
MN TO end his lines with unlnanageable conso-
nants, and thus drives the composer in seeking
Tor open vowes, to adapt music to utter trash hut
winch is capable of musical utterance. Nova
Gays, TOO, singers never give their hearers a
chance TO know whether they are singing En-
giish, Italian, or Choctaw They clip the fnaI
Sonsondnts with their teeth, and swallow the
was common TO depreciate song writing and
the old saying ran, sold for a song but this
phrase had lost its significance. Who could rS-
innate In money value that noble song of Burn,,s
" Mans a Man for "a that; which for tbrre
quarters OF century has incuIcated self RELIANCE
ana self. IesPrct amongst all classes Of people,
george the Fourth, who was STYLED the irst
gentleman in Europe, said he had rather be a
gentleman and no king, than king and no gen
tieman He got that sentiment from the hearts
Shakespeare, from Pope who wrote can honest
mans the noblest work OF God - from obert
Burns, poet, plowman and gentleman
- Honie sweet home, y was another sono de-
serving recognition. The words were nv an
American, but was composed in England was set
10 slcilian air by an EngIishman-Sir Henry
Bishop-and achieved its fast popularity in Eng.
land. Though widely POPULAR i'm ENGLAND
ana America II had never been appreciated In
continental Europe, for the singular reason that
VIZ, Wln the exception OF Germany none of these
in fhsir
the Word :" home" History gives many exam
pies Of the influence of songs upon nationx-such
Siomwrnis : Put yonr trust in God my boys,
ana keep your powder drv;' the Cavalier song
Inc Ming shall enjoy his own again." and the
1aihOus = LillIbGll-ro.;' which Duke Wharton
Doas,ed drove James III. from his throne. James
H. had occasion to remember another popuIar
song when the Cornish miners emerging from
underground in formidable numbers, raised the
sog "n,ch was presently echoed from one end of
the land to the other.
'And shall Trelawney die,
And must TreIawney die,
men l~lce three Thousand Cornish men
shall know the reason why ~
which so frightened tie King that he let Sir
reason why" NN
The lecturer dwelt upon the influence exsrted
by other popular songs, rs God Save the Kino
originally an old Jacobite song and th, Nsr
settles Hymn, written by a Young French lien
tenant, and which gave a strong impetus TO the
French revolution. The present ruler Of tho
French, though he fears Dat little fears his
song and To whistle it in the streets of Paris
SUBJECTS the guilty person to Imprisonment or
odhlshiheht The naval songs Of Dibdin did
powerful service in England in making the navy
popular He spoke of the immense influence rx-
efted IN France by the son"-wiiter, BeranycT
who died the other day, having outiivrd scv.n
FORMS OF government in France, and helped to
oSerturn nany of them, and who i'm death crea
tea As much alarm to Government as in life At
Beranser's funeral Napoleon called out neatly
2Vo,OCO soldiers in the streets of Paris 10 guard
against a popular outbreak
thti iattefiy, the critics held that love- war
ana Wine were the only subjects for the song
writer, but In modern times song has taken q
WueI range. song was invariably found on the
side of right; Ii had been said that mu.ic is
Po"erless 10 express any mean or base idea and
'his was true OF song. Did any body ever know
oil song on the side Of tyrann, or wickedne.s,
Or Mackay concluded by recfting two original
compositions, which Were received with n,ucI,.
.PpldnSe-the nfst little love song, entitled
q SEASONS and Reasons, - and the other a ballad
founded upon acircun>tance which he Proceeded
10 relate Ia Australia, h in this country the
liuH n 4