The Camden daily journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1864-1864, 1864-07-16
sEorbid Listl,essne!,s.s.


Morbid Listlessness =
Afessers. Editors: The writer of this short
preface was once. reused from ftof deep des.
pondeIcy aud listlesspess to earnest and vigo-
rons action, by the passage suoten below He
looks back to The day upon which he read it
as marked IN the history of bis life,. and takes
pleasure in laying it before, the public. It.
: taken from letter of Basil Montagu, to the
|, s,son.and. biographer of Sir James Mackintoslr:
4 "After bredkfast, we prpceededto the vii
lage of Weston, where Cowper once lived, and
tolnSny of his fayorite walks where, by the as
sistancs of our friendly guide. andthe poets
description in the task, We easily traced the
cbridge, the, pheasant's nest, t,,ani, never to
be forgotten, his favorite elm trees. To Bed
fcrd at length we reluctantly proceeded. With
Cowper's sand filte your father was deeply I'M
pressed--his conversation trircd upon lbe sub
ject of genius, soft rs the air to receive I'M
prcssions. and its liability to derangement; a
subject which, from Ills medical and meta
sFhgsisSf knowledge, be vas ois st.li'neuthernost
competent TO explain. I at thistime had a sort
of'norhidN wish to seclude myself from public
life. Never indulge it, earnestly. exclaimed
your father, 'tis.the most fatal of all delusion {;
the sad deusion by which Cowper was wrecked.
Oar happiness depends. not upon torpor; not
upon sentmentaiity, but upon the duo, exer-
ciscs Of our varions faculties. II is not acquired
BY signing for wretchedness and stunning the
wretched, but by vigorously discharging our
duty to. society. Remember what Bacon Says,
with whom yon seem as much delighted as |
am, that. nitliis theatre of mars life, God and
angels only should be lookerson.' Let me
impore you never to yield to this longing after
seclusion. This sensibilitv,' lc added 'ifright-
ly directed, leads to what is, great and gooi;
wrongly directed, to vice aud. crime; but ii
indulged in,mewlipg. pulling scptimentaGty, it
is to me most ;loatllsome never can forget
the earnestness with which lie spoke. 'IfCow-
per- he said, had attended to Bscol,'s adnioui.
ton, tha. torpid minds cannot engage too sbon
in active life, but that sensihity should stand
back until it has passed the meridian Of its
years instead Of beirg one Of the mest wretch
ed, he might hase been one Of the happfst of
men, go
The EseLIs:r PARK-The English Park is
one of those things peculiarly, English which
are to be seen nowhere but in England; atesst
we venture to say that there is nothing at all
like II in three out'of four quarterss Of this our
globe; the wide,' grassy slopes, the majestic
trees, the dim chickering's Of farest ground, bro
ken with savannahs, and crossed bEmany a
path and many walk, the occasional rirnt
; or piece of water, the resting pace,the acove
the ruin of the old mansion where our fathers
dwelt, now lapscd into the domain of Time,
but carefully guarded from any hands but his,
with here and there some slope ofthe ground,
OF some tnrn Of the path, bringing us suddenly
upon bright and unexpected prospect of %
distant landscape far beyond-'all nature and
all art.n There is norhing Hkeit on earth.
d.few things are half 50 beautiful; for it is
tranquil without being dull, and calm without
being cherries.
The Ex.Queen of Naples is ina very delicate
! state Of health. An endeayor, made BY q pa
pal dignitary, to effect q reconciliation with the
Il