The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-05-13

We are told that, In early youth, VIRGIL
conceived the idea of celebrating the wars OF
the Romans in immortal verse. But the in
tended epic was crushed in the bud by diff
6culty which did not strike the poet on the
frst conception. The names Of the ancient
Italians were SO rugged, and so barbarous,
that his muse would not consent to hitch them
into verse and as poet uninspired by the
muse is no poet at ALL he was compelled to
forego his design, ana the world lost forever
the great work that might possibly have result
ed from it.
We have often thought what q difficulty
poet would have to encounter, who should
make an epic in this region. We say nothing
Of the patronymics-the SMITHS, TuoAPsoNs,
JoHssoss and JoSEsEs, that it would be neces-
sary to hitch into rhyme. But how could q
poet immortalize our streams and cur noun
tains? HOMER made Scamander and ST.
mois illustrous. VIRGIL made the Tiber
classical, the four rivers of Paradise, and
"Abanar and PharpAar, lucid streams"
shine more beautifully in the pages of
MILTON, than they did In their proper person.
Of late airs "Auld Ayr" and the banks of bon
ny Doune are familiar 10 our ears as strains
of oft-repeatsd music, through the song OF
BuRxs. Thel rivers and lakes Of Scotland
murmur and fash through the pages OF ScoTr.
BYRON makes US familiar with the Tagus and
the Rhine, as with our own bed chambers.-
But what bard is SO strong in verse that he
can make James River and Gillie's Creek aud
Shockoe. and Westham, and Falling Creeks
all proper streams enough, and wanting no.
thing but immortal song to make them I'M
nortal-anything but Vulgarf Suppose We
take a hero, SMITH, famous for killing In
dams, as ACHILLES was fameh tor killing Iro-
ans, and place him in similar predlcament
with AcH1LLEs,when Simois and Xanthus join
ed streams to overwhelm him--suppose we put
him in the falls of James River near HAXALL's
milIs-uhat muse will condescend, upon our
invitation, to sing the horrors Of the diving
Rock," or the dark mystery that closes around
Little Hell?" What divinity shall We invoke
to cut the knot of the difficulty when We shall
nave once gotten him in the water? And
our mountains; noble mountains they are,
beyond doubt. Ida was not nsOre worthy
20 be the favorlte resort of Jupiter, Than some
of them. Olympus certainly did not bet
ter deserve to be the home of all tho Gods /;
the place where Vulcan constructed palaces
for them all, from the laundering ma esty Oh
Jove down to the insinuatlng grace OF Mercury.
And mountains are favorItes in the eyes OF
the poets Not bard but has something 10
say about them, from HOMER to TENSION
The Scottish poets especially have made us
| familiar with every spur and clif OF their
highlands. The old poets tell US not only OF LIZA
and OLYMPUS, but OF Parnassus, PeliOn, o.
| "a. Atlas. and thousand others. Ia BYRON
poems, the crags of Susitania, and the cliffs o.
Albania, shine like their own snowy tops, wlier
the rays Of the setting sun fall upon tn GIN
And beautiful as they are, they are not inor'
beautiful than our own deep blue mountains
But how shall we put Rockfsh Gap, or tbs
Peaks of Otter, or the Sugar Loaf, or th'
Warm Spring Mountain into rhyme; or, If you
insist on it, into blank verse? 1t seems to u
very difficult to be done. Let US try GU
| hand: