The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1871-06-13

and to substantiate the point "a sugges-
tiyeness of amorous desire often decending
to unrelieved brutal lust should .fnd a
place in American literature to day, our
critic quotes the empty verbal trash that
he attributes to E. p. Whipple, but
which is perhaps "child of his own
brain" and which in its inherent vileness
in pandering to rascality and villainy
would find place better fitting its char
acter in the columns of the Police NeicS
than in public print assuming the char
acter of decency and responsibility.
Here, our critic at one bold stroke at
tempts from his position as editor to pop
ularise "ust" and introduce "rogues" into
good society.
Here, we get clear view Of detor-
nifty, in his mental photograph that we
find in his article that is from social
and moral point Of view at once hideous
and detestable.
Here we find, in moral character,
the mature condition of the worst elements
that are ripened from the sunshine and
soil Of sensuality and sentimentalism in
the sensational field of literature.
Onr critic continues: "The writer in
the Pennsylvania quotes passages from
Bret Harte and John Hay, intermingled
with quotations from Shelly, Tennyson,
Bryant, &C., which seems to indicate that
one trouble with him is that he cannot
separate the language from the sense, the
idea from the dress in which it is presen-
ted"
Here the quality Of the faculty of pen
etration and discrimination in our critics
mind becomes obvious. In treating of
the slang element in American literature
simply asserted : "The expression
shoald be that child of the thoughts
legitimate offspring" In illustration OF
this point | further remarked: "In the
most happy expressions of the poet and
prose writer in our language - in each
famous couplct and striking sentence that
have become familiar household words
stamped, as it were indelibly upon the
public mind the dignity, the sweetness and
the grace of the expression invariably ap
proximate if not equal, the inherent nobili
ty of the thought it utters.
Now here is capital instance Of tn,
almost helpless condition of menta
amaurosis in which the dupe Of the sen
sltional school of literature gropes ant
} stumbles on his way.
In my article copied from The Pcnsyl
vanian, | said nothing relative to thu
character of the thought in the poems
crtised, merely demonstrated against tn
, coarse, vulgar expression of the thought
the indecent wretched garments of vul
J garity and profanity.
, What, would respectfully ask, ha
this to do with the following senseles
f paragraph found in our critics effort?
. 1--WE cannot understand perhaps that
2 man may be capable of heroic deed
though his hat is battered and his COW
t hide boots muddy
Surely this is bad enough, but the eli
i materic period of total obscurity in ou
! critics mental vision is not reached til
=. the following assertions:
"'The writer quotes the following line
1 and dcnounces them as blasphemy,
And Christ amt a-going to be toe hard
c On man that died for men"
: Now here is total obscurity Of menti
: vision on the part OF our critic, or III
qualified unmitigated ialsehood.
r Blindness is deserving ofpity and con
t niseraton, so | will not believe our crit
y guilty of utter, wlful misrepresentation
The following is mhat and aH | di
o say on the point IN question, regardin
i it purely from an acsthetical rather tina
from theological point of view.
+ "What pure, chaste, noble sentiment
l. what refined morality is this Whi
:. unity in thought
l. Gone wife in Matches under the hill
&c And a"qth~ here in Pike"
=. ''But he never hunked and he never lied -
G. "And Christ aint a-goiug to he t,, ham
On II man that dcd tor man."
G. Now l respectfully assert without iei
N of contradiction by any person Of goC
1t taste, that if either Of the above quot
" tions,o if the poem from which the abo'
" quotations are taken, is genuine poet
1t then the following description of "fit,
ID that occurred between two roughs in A
De kansas, that | met many years ago in
st Southern paper, belongs to the san
ly class ;
vs. They fit like rival Thomas eats,
IA Or. like n brace of mad he rats
Hair teeth. skin, buttons filled the air
Around whore lit this fighting pair,
ne Until at length all scattered round
~ They lay in bits upon the ground;
- So dreadfully this pair they fit,
'S \. they struck, tore and gouged and bit.
Vi The truth OF the matter probably
o. that the concience of our critic for u m
III meni rising above his perverted litera
AZ taste so strongly impressed his will wi
= the conviction that the atrocious ribald
T. of John Hay, above quoted, is essenti
ly blasphemy that he unconciously UTE
AZ ed it as fact, attributing it to my pt
d. in obedience to higher motive than tn
of wilful misrepresentation.
- In this topic Of our subject the vi
he ness and baseness Of our critics meni
taste stand out in his intellectual chari
an ter. with a boldness and effrontery II
J that deserve reproach, aud execration
III. 1t will be observed that he sanciiC
o' and defends the quotation,
y And Christ amt a-going to be too hand
nu On man thai died for mtn"
from "Jim Bludso," as true to the c,
MS rect principles Of aesthetics, consider
If, from a literary point of view; in the
"u words:
m' The theological question involved
ur these lines-much debated at present
lie both sides of the water We do not care
"d discuss. But if the dea contained
them mere expressed Tins, blessed is
PIE who died that others may live would
-. still be blasphemous ?"
.'c The italics are mine, the emphasz
lu- 4 =. 4 Al Il