Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1859-01-28
LETTER FROM NEW YORK.

CHRISTOPHER QuASpARy. JR.
LETTER FROM NEW YORK.
ICorr.pondsnct IF The Ejcimomf EnYpircr.
New YoES, January -. 1859.
The lecture season continues to be actively
filled by those ambitious t" amuse or 10 Instruct
the curious public. The Rev. Henry Ward
Becchcr had "a jul house." As theatre critics
saw, to hear him, last night, at the Cooper In
stltu,e. The Rev. gentleman is the "Bir"Hm'
If the religions world, of the stripe in which
he most cxalts himself. Having the gilt Of
murine, forth an avalanche OF words oil all sub
iects about alike. sacred and p~ro!anc, he seldom
tails to "drar." He also has 4 free and easy
way Of letting OF contrasts of expressions or
ti,i,rcs of speech. aal abounds in comparisons,
snatchcd al random from what comes upper
most in his mind: DC il COMMON or uncoin;.oa.
I,i,h or low. coarse or refined, it is all one, 81
that = laugh is provoked on the part of his hear
r-s He is 4 man Of words and Of cvancsccnt
thourhts. but deficient in the genius Of ORIG
pality. After Won have listened TO him Tor an
hour. or have read any Of his "staT papers,
or Il sketch of Il speech or sermon, you iccl
aware that Won have been entertained, or, rl-
thpr amused; but YOU feel no less sensible that
he has originated nothing, Impressed no strong
or powerful ;truths, poured forth in the true,
simple. vet original and convincing cloqucncc,
"a which the mind feels constrained to submit
and To r~ccollect. All his harangucs. writings
and savings are cnunciatcd in the sane liorid,
al coDiamdum style. lii imrnaterial whether
lac is preaching from a text Of Scripture. or cy-
- $500. lIn.I,,, f. ,,.t. ~ r,,.n.,,r,,,l,,,,
the Use OF Sharp's rifles, or passing m culogium
on the negro woman Sarah, when introducing
her to his adm!ring congregation, ar congratu-
lating the nondcScript clergyman. Parker: or
whether abusing the Supreme Court, or other
laws and Institutions Of the country, or euiogl-
zing the Ayrshire poet; on all subjects alike, his
speech amrIscs his auditors, but soon vanishes
from the memory. lie is the flash preacher, for
a fash class of hearers. who read little and re-
fleet less, and yet feel determined To he amused.
New York. abounds with such kind Of peo-
pic. Some OF these folks find relief III Thea
tres. others were delighted with l'arnum'S
''Uumbagr," and also rcjo:ccd in the Cable eH-
hibition and speeches. To this class Of people,
Bcechcr is Il God-Scnd. He has the faculty by
CAB and comparisons. To make them laugh; he
manages al lcas; 10 keep them awake, and Tor
a while To draw their thoughts from the store,
or the shop. while the lady portion Of his hear
crS are ~ much delighted at hearing him, "s
though refreshed by the pages Of the last new
and flash novel.
That Burns was the poet o. nature did not
require Mr.. Bccchcr to announce. Every school
,oy knew that: and also, that he painted the
honest virtues of his mother and father, in in
genius verse. Was well understood. But, with
Al due advance for his extraordinary &C.
nus and ~poctical inspiration, his persona!
yrwS in regard to the bigotry OF the Scotch
PleSbytcrians. and the tyranny Of the Kirk, were
so well known and so boldly vcrSiiied b. him.
as hardly TO make his character an appropriate
subject for the eulogy Of Clergyman. who dc.
cla:es that he is called alone to preach "tnrisf
ana him cruciied." Besides, Burns had the
falling Of Tom O. Shantcr, and differed widely
with Bcechcr. and his puritan brethren, on
Temperance and some other opinions, set forth
in seine Of his poems. such rs Joan Harley
corn" Scotch Drink" &c. Had he lived in
Massachusetts,. and published in that commit
ni,y some Of his pieces, he would not, probably
have Jared much better than did the Witches
: and Ouakers. nr Roger Williams, and might
have been expelled from the colony. This great
out CRY ofour Scotch fellow citizens. about their
great Poet, nav all be very well in lis way;
vet. it is a pity that thcy did not do some
thing FOR his poor aud aged sister, who recent
Is died in Scotland, at IN advanced age. She
knit a pair Of handsome stockings from Ayr
shire wooi,en yarn, which were exhibited 1t
! the Worlds Fair. held in the Crystal Palace,
in this city. They failed, however, to draw
more than 4 passing notice in the newspapers,
and both her and the stockings seemed to have
been overlooked ard forgotten By our Scotch
friends, who now make such = great demon
s,ration. and invoke the wordy defamation
from the hero Of the cA~rrh Or he F"r'hrhs,
to help them along. The poor old woman
cked out n solitary existence. on a small pen
sion granted hv Government.
Burns differed from Bccchcr in anothc: re-
spect. Mere accident prevented his proceed
ing TO Jamaica and becoming the ovcrsccr o!
negroes on n sugar plantation; and chance. no;
s~cruplcs. probably prevented his becoming a
West India planter, and the owner Of African
lahorers. Two of his sons have since Tough;
and bIcd in India, one of whom died there the
past year.
There was another wordy orator. in some
rcspcc.s similar to Bccchcr. though not wear
ing clerical cloth, who lccturcd before tie His
torical Society last night We mean David
( Paul Brown. of Philadelphia, who entcrtains
the same class Of people in that city, tina!
Bcccher docs in New York. His lecture. how
ever, last.nisht, though on "Strattor" DPo1
Iron.' was. for once. dilactic and Instructive
considering the t~ritcncSs Of the subject
Bayard TAYLOR and Becchcr had both dis
charged huge blast Of bomhast over the tomb
Of Shakespeare. and the guide hooks are filled
with the same subject, yet, Mr.. Crown man
aged, by way Of interlarding some personal IN
cidcnts, to impart interest and amusement II
his discourse.
Boomers Ledger" made its appearance yes
tcrday. and was n marvel in its way, and II
more respects than one. We do not feel com
petent to ~criticise 4 publication Of this kind
because we are down upon all fictitious ltcra
turc. and because its effects are injurious ant
often result in n sort of social and domestic in
sanity. vile. the funeral services over thu
murdered girl Whiting. ut Boston; there arr
thousands Of cases of social evil brought Il
lirht BY the newspaper press Of the Gay, will
which fiction reading has had Somcthin:
to do
We pass on to the consideration of mor'
practical affairs.
The expansion Of the city banks have appa
rcntIy reached its pinnacle. There is 4 sort "
panic-;hc returns for the past week vary bn
little from those published the previous week
rs will he seen from the following statement:
W,,t.aro. loan. .Sperie. circulation. Deposit
: Jan. Is. al29. 3I9. rs ?i.3.o,'l2 I.536,l63 ?I,ijG.3
Jan =. -. 5000 ?~g.472.0;6 ..E'..3 ?",oGi;i
increase, sl?n.>oj 9.5p ..
decrease, 1922
Thc.cvent so anxiouSIy looked forward 10 by
financial men in Wall street. was consummatcc
Yesterday. The bids for the ten millions LOAF
were opened at Washington. the result Of whici
is before your readers. The aggregate OF til
LII L. nu.o,ninl 10 nLnut 40 non n0M -