The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-07-10
II z OID NJ AN
Beaver Dam Springs, June %, 1874
Defender OfIhe "FIedsIing''
EsRRI.


EGeg.
To the Editors of the Herald and Mat:
Ills hard to say ii greater want of skill
Appears in writing or in judging i'll;
But of the two less dangerous is tn Offense
TO tire our patience than mislead our sense.
There is, in some lonely crevice OF our
country, self-cOnstituted censor of ey-
erything pOetical, who sits in frOwning
judgment upon unfortunate forms, :"
and rushes frantically into print to tell
the world what ne knows abOuLEnglish
grammar. 1t is unnecessary @Ay that
he has again proved the truth OF the old
adage, that IA little learning is dan
gerOus thing" Now, we would respects
fully suggest to this would~be critic
that it would be better il he would SIM
form" himself at least as to the elamen-
tary principles OF criticism ba1Ore he
again ventures into the columns of
newspapers in that capacity. While Is
is perfectly natural, ard therefore ex-
cusabie, for an author to set some value
upon his productions, it does not CRATE.
upon the feeling of others, and j. harm
less. But our critic puts an inordis
nate estimate upon his judgment, and
does not hesitate to tell us that he be-
lieves in the wonderful perspicuity of
his own intellect. Had the author in
question appended note to his 'poem"
telling US il was "beantiful," It would
have been as pardCnahlG as the critics
1laSbaSke9 Option OF MS oSRn advice,
which he 50 arrOg fntiy prOnOunces
wholesome" Those alone who have
themselves written well have a right o
censure; and upon this principle Cudg-
ing from his two letters) this critic has
not even the shadow of a right. Let
him then reserve the residue of his sat
tic compound" (of which he boasts so
largeiy,) to preserve" himself, never
forG citing the first law OF nature, In
our humble opinion, a man was never
so much in need OF an antlseptic as this
veritable "critic." Certain it is, that if
10 Goes not institute a shrinking pro-
cess in his organism by some means,
he will bust" like that unfortunate
feline which was the Chattel OF one Fur-
gerson. We would advise hiu To read
that "pOem;" it will teach him moral
lesson, and show him what comes of
Glowing up the back" Our "eritic"
should examine the dimensions of his
craft, and when he finds it so diminu-
tive, (as he surely will,) he should le-
member the old adage about little boats
keeping near tao shore. Let him, like
Xenoorates of old, study the graces, and
remember, obi remember, that he is not
the Nemesis to aYenge the Muse of Poo
sy. Obscurity is his friend; let him be
careful how he deserts it to become
that thing which
"-neither can for wits nor critics pass,
As heGUy mules are neither horse nor ass -
He should cherish the fountain from
which flows the ''milk of human kind
ness" and let it saturate and dissolve
the hard places in his heaTt--those in
durated Jumps Of"attic salt" Then his
office would be to soOthe the poet in the
gloomy hodrs of loves distractiDn-to
take his head lovingly on his boz
som, and cool his fevered brow with the
hand of affection, and to administer a
few drops of soothing syrup, and take a
sup himself now and then. But if he
will not take advice, we will leSve him
to his fate, and bid him adieu thusly:
Go wondrous creature! mount where SCIENCE
guides,
Go measure earth, weigh air, command the
tides;
Instruct the planets in what OrbS to run,
Correct old time and regulate the sun;
Go teach eternal wisdom how to rule,
Then sink into thyself and be fool.
IDIER.