The New York herald., 1869-09-15
luE IU gEGEs OF AMERICA.
How the Young Ones Are Sfruus'ed by the
Old Ones.

Prom advance sheets Of Onward for october.]
Que would suppose that IN this land OF iree
that no knight OF the stylus, however young, need
jesr having his wax blurred or 0bliterated until the
pabllc should have fair opportunity Of examining
the characters traced upon It and judging OF their
quality. 1t lie now more than half hundred years
since the great song bird Byron, while warbIing his
wasps or rather Grones Of the literary hive; more
than hall century since he turned and stung them
back. one might imagine that the lesson would
hour, as In the days Of English Bards and Scotch
Reviewers wasps Of the same sort are active and
viruient a. then-watchful to waylay, rob and mur-
der every bee that bears honey beneath its wings.
Now, as then, the young nedging who makes at
tempt to soar up toward the summit Of Parnassus is
attacked and struck down by some old 9rlzzled
hawk who has never been able to wing hls Night
beyond the piedmont Of the poetical mountain.
any monarchical country aflicted with the curse OF
conservatism, aud which generally means only the
conservation Of curse. No one cognlzant Of the
years either In free thought or free speech would
fecI surprised In being told that the Crokers OF
one bit more bitter than the .'croakers' OF to-day
The Hepworth Dxons and all the clique OF modern
disappointed litterateurs are just as capti0us aud
spitefttl as were the EdInburg Reviewers when By.
broke through their traps Of petty C0ntrivance
AMI scattered tner gins 10 the iour corners OF the
earth. 10 may not seem strange that these traps
there once more used with pcrnicious effect Like
causes produce Ike consequences, and In the Old
causes.
But IN the New World, where the causes have
ceased to exist II does surprising that the
sequences should still contnuc-a paradox and q
puzzle. Yet such Is in reality the case. Typed after
Byron himself Is the young struggling genius Ol
America: modelled upon the English barda OF bis
sCoTn and the -cofcD reviewers Uf his 0etestatiou
are the Lowells. Longfellows and Wttiera with tle
Mutual Admiration Society that sG.tans thom, per.
petually dinnng into American ears that tdess
poetasterB are poets.
And 30 also with the prose writers endorsed by
this same Mutual Admiration Society the BAncrofs,
reaching even The thId category of genius. 10 say
nothing Of tue long lisI OF tbosa scarce touching
upon the sixth-such as the Pagtons, Bayard Tag
Ors Call HanliltoDs, 1rowbridges and that endless
list OF almost iudicfous names who have for the
Last quarter OF censury been the exclusive caterers
OF American literature, furnishing with the vcrles,
Kit hen stun Of cheap stale thought--lurnshing
nnd cufsing Il.
Let Us hope that chs Atlantic Byron will soor
arse snd snite, nip aud thigh this miserable moi
OF presumptuous litterateurs, pseudo philosophers
pulling poet3eters, trausetndentM essayiSts--al
cramners from the encJ copedias alike charla
pretenders IN prose a. ia verse.
As jet this great nation, numbering nigh forty mil
lions Of minds, on the average highly cultivaccd
than any otner upon the earth, scarcely 10 sai,
10 possess o literature. II s some exception Il
to quote the magnificent romances OF Fenilnor,
Cooper, and the s0ul-stIrrng strains O
Fltz-Grecne Halleck, who, alas like the swan
sang but one song and then expir cd
But unfortunately these exceptions arc no
strengthened either by the turgld historical con
ceits 0f q Prescott. the yapid diletantism OF al
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