The Portland daily press., 1871-01-17
Who is 81, N2O

A }. N, who, we suspect, is pseudo j. N.
and neither j. N. of Ephesus nor ]. N. of
Syracuse, joins "Tray, Blanche and Sweet
heart" and all the other "little dogs" that
have just now joined in the cry against us.
Driven out of the Advertiser, he instantly be-
takes himself to the Argus, that general re-
ceptacle for such garbage and slops as any
body chooses to throw into it. Making use
OF this time honored organ of Shareholders
and rum sellers, he expresses much gratifca-
ton that we speak of"J. n" as if Everybody
must know who J. N. is" Certainly, every
body knows there are three or four of them
WHO write for the papers, but all of them have
lost their individuality in such strange fash
ion as must give philosophers new difficulty
in treating the metaphysical question of per-
sonal identity. Nobody can tell one from the
other Only few months ago every daily
paper in Portland had ]. N. that it claimed
as the only genuine one, while the Sunday
Star disputed the claims of all of them in be-
halt OF its own special and particular J. n,
whom it boastingy proclaimed "the best J. N.
in town." But years ago there was, it seems,
j. N. who had a well-established identity.
He was famous in the same way as the Eng
lishman that was known solely as "the gen.
tleman who had been kicked by a Duke"
The original J. N. was known only as the
man whom Lowell thought it worth while to
satirize in his Fable for Critics, which has
just been republished. We have no doubt
that our venerable friend expressed as much
satisfaction when Lowell published what fol-
lows, as he does in his Recollecti0ns of a
Somewhat too Busy Life, wien critic speaks
of his "Niagara" as "swash of magnif-
cence:"
"There swaggers John Neal who has wasted 10 Maine
The To-, sinews and chords OF his pugi list brain,
Preferred to believe that he was already;
Too hasty to wait till Arts ripe fruit should drop,
lie must pull down an uDripe and colicky crop:
Who 10 X to the law, and had this sterling plea for it
1t required him t1 quarrel and paid him lee for it:
man who's made less than he might have, because
He always has thought himself more than he was
Who, with very good nataral gifts as a bard,
Broke the strings OF his Tyre by striking too ard
And cracked halt the notes OF truly fine voice
Because song drew less instant attention than noise
b, pen do not know how much strength is in poise
That he goes the farthest who goes tar enough,
and that all beyond that is just bother and stuff
No vain man natures, he makes too much new
wo0d
His blooms are too thick for the fruit to be good:
Tvs the modest man ripens, tits he that achieves,
just what's need, d of sunshine and shade he re
ceves;
Grapes to mellow require the cool dark of their
leaves;
Neal wants balance; he throws his mind always too
Tar
whisking off focks of comets but never a star:
He has 50 much muscle and loves 20 to show 1t
That he strips himself naked to prove he's poet,
AMI to show he could leap Arts wide ditch ii he
tried
Jumps Clean oer it and into the ditch tother side;
He has strength but there's nothing about him in
keepIg;
One gets sureier onward by walking than leaping;
He has used his own sinews himself TO distI ess
And had done vastly more had ho done vastly less
In letters too soon IS as bad as too late;
Could he only have waited he might have been great:
But be pumped Tito Helicon up 10 the waist
And mudded the stream he took his first ia