The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-07-01

pfiub representing lady IN the costume OF
"the period" with shepherdess hat and ex-
pansive paniers, rushing down a steep bank
into some water. This is Julie jumping into
the Lake of Geneva to rescue the drown
ing child. No other example of
Rousseau occurs to us as likely TO be
met with in similar situation But the
honors of hanging which neither wit nor
passionate sentiment could achieve for these
two great men, were attained by contem-
porary whom it would be PROCLAMATION to name
in the same day with them in point of literary
merit The simple idyllic creation of Ber-
nardin de st. Pierre-his Paul and Virginia
is incomparably better known, as far as art
can make it so, than any Of the productions
of their genius The charming figures of that
pair of youthful lovers, alone with each other
in their tropical wilderness, have been repro
duced until they have become as familiar to
the eyes of most of us as portraits of ac-
quaintances. The slender romance which
recounts their adventures may be childish
enough, but it combines the three qualities
which lead to this kind of success-natural-
ness, incident, and originality.
Our own times have been prolific in most
extensively read works of fiction; and yet it
is difficult to point out any author who has
realized what we have here called pictorial
popularity. Scott has scarcely attained to it,
universal favorite as he is; you will find him
administrations innumerable, but hardly on the
tavern or cottage wall. Nor has Dickens, nor
Thackeray, One poem only of the present
age can we name which has thoroughly entered
within the dominion of popular art, and even
more so abroad than at home, and that is
Byrons "Mazeppa. And one romance
may be said to ri val it., Dumas
Monte Christie" Many q time have
we noticed, in remote Gasthaus or primitive
Locanda, that when the proprietor has been
adventurous enough to adorn his best rooms
with specimens of taste, he has supplemented
his prints of Saints of the Church and reign
ing sovereigns with series out of ''Mazeppa"
-Mazeppa and the wolves, Mazeppa crossing
the river, Mazeppa and the wild horses, ex-
planned by letter-press in all the common
European languages. 1t is in this instance a
just homage to genius of the highest order.
The fiery vigor of poetry such as that of
''Mazeppa" is a good deal lost on readers
nurtured on Tennyson and Browning, but it
is over-masteringssto less sophisticated minds
And it is most striking from the presence of
that quality which we have insisted on as in
dispensable to similar success-absolute ori-
ginality. short paragraph of Voltaire's
Charles the Twelfth contains the whole
motive" of Mazeppa. All that wonderful
succession of scenes, brought before us like a
moving panorama, as we accompany
the hero in his deadly ride, arose
without extrinsc hint or help in the poets
phantasy. And therefore it is that they lend
themselves so readily to reproduction by the
pencil. And the same is true, of course in a
less exalted degree, of the events and person.
ages of Dumas wild romance which we have
indicated as having recently risen to the
highest rank in respect of this particular
function-that of conveying ideas and emo
tions to those who derive them, primarily,
from pictures and not from study.
OF course we are not instituting any order
of literary merit by these remarks. Whether
to be favorite with the many or the few is
the truer test of literary genius is very COM
prehensive question, and by no means admit
ting of any general answer. But few can
doubt that the tendency of critical Judgment
in the present day is over-fastidious. Not a
single one among our living writer's of high
mark, except Dickens, is known or relished
by the multitude. The fame of most of them
has hardly travelled out of very narrow
circle indeed. The time seems to be APP
preaching when literature, Anteus-like, must
renovate itself by vigorous embrace of our
mother-earth, or perish of over-reinement