Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1858-07-03

JOHN q. SAKE delivered his new Poem be-
fore the Psi Epsilon Fraternity at New York,
on the Goth ult. OF the performance the Dali
iy Times thus discourseth =
John G. SAKE, the poet and humorest, of Vermont
the magnet Of the occasion, and Of the ladies' eyes
was next introduced. 1t is impossible, in limited
space, to do him Justice Like the thunders Of Jove,
he must be heard to be Appreciated
The subject of his Poem was " Love"-in the most
general Specification of the word not merely the des-
poc, dangerous delicious" Love- that is usually rep
resented with wings and abow-and-arow, but various
other species Of ove-love maternal patriotic, phan-
thropic, and Divine. The Poem opens with an
nouncement that the theme is old, yet ever fresh and
new:
Old as the angels who from Heaven above
Looked down on Eden with divinest love;
Young MS the seraph who but yestemight
First saw the splendor of celestial light
The Poet then proceeds to declare that Love" has
been the avote theme and chief Of the Poets
since the origin of verse-from Homer and Anacreon
down
To the last minstrel who, in print, essayed
melting sonnet to village maid!
Love, kindng once the beauteous Heen's breast,
Set Troy a-blaze; great Homer sirgs the rest.
SO grew the Wdd, and the grand old Greek
An alluson to Horace as at once the most sensible
and charming of the classic love-poets and tribute
to the higher genius of Burns,
that mightiest poet Of the heart,
Whom Nature blessed beyond the power Of art,
concluded the introduction.
Coming to the business Of the poem, the poet sang
first Of maternal love; then OF love of countryvndi-
eating and applnuding true patriotism and satirizing
the spurious article in It's various form, as exhibited
in the noisy native demaeogue and in class ofsmsl
noabilitics from abroad often seen in the Wards of
Gotham. What NEWCOMER does not recognize the
likeness of certain blood " Red Republicans"
-" Patriots" hedged upon foreign strand,
Reluctant exiles from willing land
Of petty growth beneath their native sky,
But, like bad news, enlarging as they fly;
Hirsute and hungry; bright with gems Of paste
On ""~a'sed hands and DIRTY linen placed
Phanthropy-true and false-was the next sub
topic Of the poet in which he alternated from grave
to gay, from lively to severe" cordially recognizing
the true benefactors Of maDkind, from the good Sa
marian of the New Testament, to Florence Nightn-
gale, of recent history, denouncing and dicu ling the
malignant philanthropist;"
Whom all have seen,
Dyspeptic saow, and Of sombre mien.
This j. his motto and his daily song,
" One truth is clear, whatever is, is wrong"
Next came the Love Of the Sexes-the principal
topic of the poem-in which the poet reveled, as a
poet should, in all the various moods Of the grand
passion, -discoursing, in tell-tale way, of Loves
young dream"
When bouncing Julia, whose bewitchng notes
Broke half the hearts that beat in spencer coats
Aimed, but too well, her wicked skill ut mine
Caught, like founder, with single line
slender lasso which the maiden threw,
Coiled in the foldings Of a hR,.-dour!
Then came passage on Wedlock, rap at Free
Love-" humorous picture Of an Old Bachelor, por-
trait Of Coquette a story OF " True Love-" and so
ended this part of the poem, which occupied about
half Of the whole. The poem closed with brief and
reverent passage on " Love Divine" from which we
quote the concluding lines:
The thoughtful Pagan worshipper of Jore,
In Heavens lond thunder heard no voice OF love-
Fen the rnpt Hebrew bowed his spirit down
In shuddering awe before J,hOrdh's frown;
The Christian sees, with reverentia awe,
The God Of Hosts" that trembling Moses saw;
But sees S1riour smiling from above,
And in Our Father learns that God is Lore.
Mr.. SAKE kept the audience in an uproar from the
commencement to the close Of his poem. Laughter
and applause fought long for the mastery but at the
close of the last the latter carried the day and
the audience carried pleasing recollection of the
casion home with them.