New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-12-13
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
TYLER's AMERICAN LITERATURE.

Of American Literature, which gives the inoSV nOpo-
full promise of being important natohai "olA'
embraces the period from 1907 to lI6o' the laI'eI
date marking the close OF the colonial epoch' anu
the commencement of the revolutionary suugE'e'
In the nlan of the author it is not intended to pre-
sent dictionary of all American writer's OF COM
plete bibho1aphical account of all American books
He has wisely limited his purpose to giving ms
tory of those American productions ia the EngllSh
language which possess an intrinsic value as liter
ature and are significant opponents of the develop
tnent of the American mind. In the preparation OF
the work. he has adopted broad and cOmprehen-
siye system The entire mass Of American writ
ings during the colonial times, so far as they can
now be found in the public and private libraries Oh
the country, has been submitted to dllgent examl-
nation it is not easy to place too high an estimate
on the difficulty and labor OF such process Moth
ing but a ardent devotion TO literary pursuits, and
the habit of patient and exact scholarship could
have brought it to complete accomplishment.
From the heaps of rubbish which have thus come
under his eve Professor Tyler has made lUdlclOuS
selection of such matter found to evlnce any
considerable literary merit to illustrate the pro-
Rress Of literary composition during the early
periods of American history.
The birth of American literature, as described by
Professor Tyler cOeval with the first settlement
OF the country. 1t dates from the year 1907, when
Themselves to American soil, began tObe Americans.
Among the Englishmen who crowded together be-
hind the palisades in jamestown were some who
laid the foundations of American literature. The
writer of the first American book, according to
the author was the famous adventurer and
pioneer. Captain John Smith He classes this hero
of romance among the noble specimens of manhood
which abouuded in the Elizabethan age, such as
Sir Philip Sidney, Sir Walter Raleigh, and others,
10 say nothing of Bacon, Shakespeare, and ben
Jonson. Captain John Smith was prohhc
author, but only three of his books We're written
during his residence in America, and hence
these alone can be regarded as belonging
to the literature of the country. a True
Relation of Virginia must be considered as the
earliest production of American literature. This
was written during the first thirteen months OF the
first American COLONY and gives a simple and
picturesque description Of the events, of which at
that time Smith was the eyewitness. The work was
published IN London III the year l6US
the same year in which John Milton hrst
saw the light. Professor Tyler characterlzes
it as a work that was written, not in lettered
ease. not in "the still air of delightful
studies" but "uuder rotten tent IN the wilder
ness, perhaps by the Pickering blaze of pine-knot
in the midst of tree-stunps. and the filth and
clamor of pioneers camp and within the fragile
palisades which alone shielded the little band of
cOlOnsts from the everhOverlng peril of an Indian
massacre 1t not composed as literary effort
but for the information of the English public, and
especially of the stockholders of the Virginia Com
pany. 1t betrays the hand of the bluff soldier,
describing IN pithy English the adventures OF the
day, but with equal defiance Of the principles OF
literary composition and of English grammar. The
second title on the list of American writings is the
reply of Smith to fantastic and querulous letter
from the London stockholders of the company.
This is brief production, but vigorous and trench
ant in its Tone transcript of the intense spirit of
the writer and glowing with the light 1t casts into
that primal bOt-bed of wranging, Incidence, and
misery, the village Of Jamestown" Its sentences
hy as straight and hard bullets. The specimens
quoted by Professor Tyler characteristic and
may serve models of explicit assertion, without
any waste of words" For the charge of this
voyage of two or three thousand pounds" says the
plain-spoken Captain John, 1--WE have not re-
eeived the value of an hundred pounds. From your
ship we had not provision in victuals worth twenty
pound; and we are more than two hundred to live
upon this the One-half sick. the other little
better. For the sailors, confess they daily make
good cheer; but our diet is little meal and water,
and not sufficient of that. Though there be fish IN
the sea- fowls in the air, and boasts In the
woods, their bounds are so large they so wild and
we so weak and Ignorant we cannot much trouble
Ihave sent you him home lest the company should
cut his throat. When you send again, entreat you
rather send but thirty carpenters, husbandmen, gar
deners, fishermen blacksmIths, masOns, and diggeTs
up of trees roots, well provided than thousand
such as VIC have; for except we be able both to
lodge and to feed them, the most will consume
with want Of necessities, before they can be made
good for anything" Professor Tyler refers to the
shock which must have been given to the dainty
nerves of those loTdly patrons in London by this
epistOlary retort, which communicated to England
foretaste of what proved to BIO the incurabe
American habit of talking back to her" Captain
John Smiths letter." he remarks. in the first de-
cade OF the seventeenth century, is a premOnitOry
symptom Of the Declaration of Independence"
Before proceeding to the early literary produc-
tions Of New-England the author closes his extend
ed description of the primitive Virginia literature,
with some suggestive remarks on the peculiar fea-
lures of the respective colonies. There is common
tradition, SAYS Professor Tyler, that Virginia was
originally peopled to large extent by families of
wealth and rank in England On the other hand,
il is often affirmed that the first families of Virginia
were descended from fugtiyes, and criminals, and
other Englishmen of equivOcal character. The
truth, in the opinion of the author. lies between
these two extremes For the first forty years, most
of the settlers in Virginia were of inferior quality;
many of them were Outcasts from the streets of
London; Migrants who wandered TO Virginia
because they had to wander somewhere; gentlemen
of fashion who were out at the elbow; aristOcras
gone to seed1 For some time after the first few
ship-lnads had gone ont TO Virginia, and the
had come back of the troubles of the colOusts, not
even paupers and knaves would go there Of their
own accord and the company IN London, as an an
Gent scribe records, became humble sutOrs to
his Majesty" to compel "vagabonds and condemned