The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1870-07-10
The, Hen or tho Fast a3sa tn. ne . or ,ho

We maKe the following saggestive ex-
tract from the splendid orstion recently
delivered by Hon. George H. Pendleton
before the Literary Societies of the Uni
versity of Virginia: Il
. Gentlemen, if I have truly depicted
tne progressive condition of our race
NJ have rightly appreciated the dignity
OF human life-two practical questions
ARISE to every thoughtful mind: Is our
age worthy OF the world? Are we worthy
of our age2 Is our age adding to The
store OF learning? I use the term in its
broadcast sense-as comprehending every
advance in every department of human
experience-and thus ameliorating the
condition OF man. Or are we, like thank
less spendthrifts, living upon the accu-
mulated treasures of those who hayo
gone before us? Not to press forward is
to go back. have already said that the
more material Developments of physical
science are particularly active in this
age. Never before has the condition of
the people been so good. Bad enough
-!t seiii 1s lmmeasurable are the oppor-
t9hlb!es Tor improvement. Yet the march
OF reform has been, with some excep-
nons: steadily onward. Indeed, in this
TACT lies our chiefest danger. It may
eaMiy make us forget that ''all change
mistake the can't of affected humanitn,
rlan!sm Tor generous and active and
noble charity. It may easily lead us to
an undue partiality for the present and
Q forgetfulness of the ilIustrious past.
Ih!s generation cannot equal the names
whlch graced the realms Of imaginative
or philosophical thought in the preced-
ing century. We look in vain for that
galaxy of literary talent which threw
SUCH an etfuigenoe Of glory over the last
decade OF the eighteenth and the begin
nlng OF the nineteenth century.
Where are our Byron, and Scott, and
Moore, and Campbell, and Wordsworth,
and Gowper, and Coleridge, and Shelley,
and Southey, and Mrs. Hemans? WHO
Is giving us in prose i,tion works to
compare with Waverly, or those stories
scarcely inferior, by the author of Pelham
ana ernest Maltravers? Who shall strike
WIN equal hand the chords of human
sympathy which have so often responded
to the touch of Dickens?
Where are our essayists who COMPARE
with the matchless jeffrey and sydney
Smith, and Professor Wilson and Macau-
lay, whose brilliant contributions paye
TO the periodicals. commanding position
IN English literature? Where nre our
historians who can contest the palm of
excellence with Allison and Macintosh.
VINO on the continent today EQUALS
even aspires to rival, the philosophical
reco!lectlons, the glowing thought, the
6rlillant imagery OF Madame de Stael. or
Goethe. OF Chateaubriand, or Lamartine.
or Humboldt?
we may have an occasional flash from
Guizot or Ihlers, but these are the dying
embers OF fires which elowed in the last
generation. Those names belong to O
great past.
In our own country, who presses for
Ward 10 M the place of Washington
Irving or Cooper Who will renew the
pleasure of Knickerbocker and Leather
stocking? Who among our youp0 m on
are to be the successors of Prescott. and
Bancroft, and Motley-of BRYANT. and
Halieok, and Longfellow, and enrich bv
hlgher cultivation the places cleared by
their pioneer labors?
VINO asplres safely to riyal-I will not
say excel-the commentaries of Kent and
story, or those immortal judgments
whlch we owe to the genius, and learn
ing, and fidelity, and purity of Marshall
and Taney?
fonng, ambitious men crowd the halls
OF legislation and aspire to political
honors. Who of them are studying the
characters and seeking with all their
might to attain the excellence of Web.
sterI, and Calhoun, and CIay-of Writ,
and Pinckney, and Benton, and Choate.
and Silas Wright-of Giles, and Taze,
well, and John Taylor, of Caroline, and
Nathaniel Mason-or going back to less
aapplroachable models, Of Jefferson, and
Madison, and Monroe?
ltis true. we are building up States
in the wilds of the Rocky Mountains
with wonderful rapidity. It is true, we
span the continent with rail and wire
and send our thoughts in an instant
across the waters of old ocean itself
1t IS true, we are advancing with unc-
qual speed toward the summit of ma.
tional power and renown. So much the
greater reason why We should not lac
behind in the pathway of purely intel,
ieotual and literary eminence. So much
the greater reason why we should ever
remember that there is something better
than material prosperity, something
Worthler than physical power or accumu.
lated wealth. Let us find both hope and
lacentive in the fact that the aras of
greatest DhYSica1 nctivifv ,o ,o l,oo,> A. -.