New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-08-21
liberal views, and with the certainty that IL
they benefit Others, they cannot fail III Vne
end of being benefited themselves.
,yoruFR GREAT HISTORIAN.

Mocaulav. Of Bancroft, of Motley and of Pres
cott-we beg leave to add that OF John Tyler
the Younger. who enriches the columns OF MI
Pomorov,s Democrat with historical essays, the
main nnrnose of which is to prove that the
Radical Marty is no better than it should be,
which Nr TYLER does with great force, learn
ing and muscularity of language. Two Things
in Mr. Tvler's compositions can never SUI
fcientlv be admred-his erudtlon and Ills
style. II ia very seldom that so much learn
inc and 40 much grace are so harmoniously
blended in a single production OF the human
mind -,
+ OF Mr.. TYLER's LEARNING. In the single
essay now before us, Mr.. Tyler alludes WIN
the most engaging familiarity to Satan, Mann
mon, Alexandria, India, Arabia, Antioch, AleA-
onder Carthage, Scipio, Rome, Numidia, Cy-
rus the Goths, SodOm and Gomorral, Aiarlc'
Byzantium Death on the Pale Horse, HELL the
Garden of Eden, Palestine, Bagdad, and the
Sacred Sepulchre. From this it will be rightly
inferred that Ithe sweep Of MIR. Tyler is tre'
mendous and his grasp considerable. lie
knows all about everything" the wiz sara
"cens gathered in tribal communities = the
",porgeous fables Of Arabia y" Sclpo-nylnB MS
eagles over Spain and through Numldia' 10
4" the walls of Carthage ~" the memorable de-
&" cree of Ahasuerus -" the indignant wrath
"of Godn-" Alaric and Attila bursting
" aoainst the gates of Peace, climbing the
CAPITAL and hurting Caesar from his
{" stateu-"Death on the Pale Horse armed
with darts and He'll following after HIM -
" the Star in the East conducting the shep-
:" herds to the Virgin -" the shivering OF the
" rod of the Caesars within the walls OF BY
" zantiumr-eto., etc, etc. We can tell youth
ful aspirants for literary distinction that a man
cannot write in this large and loose and lu-
minous and luxurious sort of way. until he mas
wasted innumerable gallons of the very BEST
midnight oil and ransacked libraries without
number Mr.. Tyler the Younger is as familiar
| with antiquity as we are with the adminstra-
tion of his respected and patriotic papa. what
| seems to us the morning twilight OF the world
| il in his eyes blaze of broad sunshine. lie
is as familiar with BabylOnia" $50 he calls ~
"A he is with the City of Richmond. lie Is
acquainted with the Gauls, the Cloths, the
Lombards and the Huns, as with his next-door
neghbors. You would think him just come by rail
and steamboat from Carthage; and as for
Death on the Pale Horse he makes no more
of him than if he were small boy astrde
the oldest mare in all Virginia. Now, this is
what we like. This Is what we may call inn
pressive You cannot help being affected by
such little traits of character. IL you are
something of scholar you bow respectfully to
such a Helluo Librorum; but If, unfortunately,
you are not a scholar you read Mr.. Tylers
Essay with gaping wonder, and at the end
thereof can only gasp out: 80 yes! OF course
Certainly! BY all manner of meansW
9. Or Mr. TrLER's STYLE. OF this, it is hardly
possible to speak with critical calmness, so
rich is it, so noble, so eloquent with sublime
strokes and pretty touches exquisitely inter
mingled. The only fault of Mr.. Tyler's SEN
fences is that they arc trihe long-s0 long,
indeed, that they take away the breath even
of the silent reader. Yet it must be admitted
that they are uncommonly gOrgeOus-there are
no low expressions there are no meager and
| arid patches-all blooms with verbal fecuDdity
and variegatcd magniicence. The following,
which reminds us Of Sherdan's prOse-poetic
play of PizarrO,n must suffice for specimen
of Mr.. Tyler's mastery of dictionaries. On. B..
The feadef will please draw Q long breath
before commencing the fascinating but labori-
| Gus perusaD:
gsd by rstusHsb hurry marvellous and pae,ehb
ale eSSficis sa tb, us had 1o, witnessed the usedp
os dnui and be nsrfJ IL dsry mans door BAbo
the hsIobs Of Ahnssrus called rb the Ind Enin
w God down from bs,rsa the se hand the vail
hh nt5fed LbEdom and consumed h, bsiiA throne and i'm
sssa beJOHd the comprehension Of the undu
those that ig'fsd upon the Cities Of the Plain the
o. Jehovah and SEEK SCION and doHorah kissing In the
babg lis Of His sPpeiIen Me thus drshh WIN carnage
ON crime stepped In .blrge snee abe A" her so
% star BY star expire, and up proud steep rbaAh moneh'
the Eobs Of nsoas ck Iad erors" IN hsr
IOs,sss stand, ,mpres"
If this is MT fine writing, we beg most re-
spectfully to be informed what is. Observe
how involuntarily, in the poetic rush of his
thought, Mr.. Tyler lapses into the heroical de-
casyllabic:
THE burning lake OfHs sppesSsle,s rsEs ..
Up her proud steep barblIiIa mopsrehI ride
What would we not give if We could write
in such beautiful way Alas this gorgeous
ness Of dictiOn, this pyrotechncal brilliancy,
this superb rush of sentences this easy but
gigantic vigor and this winning sweetness of
manner all combine to form q style so pecu-
liar that few modern writers would even at
tempt to initiate it.
1t may be asked by the curious writer what
Mr.. Tyler's Essay" is all about. To this we
can only reply that the vigorous and method
ical writer himself sums up the matter as fol-
lows "With minds illuminated we have been
lied, step by step, to recognize the divine
physical law, and the divine philosophy of
" the soul as remaining alone permanent, con-
"tinuous, and indestructible in the midst of
"the mutations of things and the revolutions
of human affairs" 1t will be seen, there
fore, that what Mr.. Tyler the Younger j., driy-
ing at is that "the divine philosophy Of the
soul is permanent, continuous, hid indie.
" structible." To be sure, nobody has ever