New-York tribune., 1879-02-04

almost complete recuse, shrank from pub
licity, while the other, never losing his inter-
est in government and society, paid but Ill
vided attention To the Muse, and gave much
of his strength and talent to politics. Yet
even his collected poems seem yOlumln0us
when they are compared with the like pro-
ducnOns of Mr.. Dana, written at long lnier-
walls, published apparently with certain re-
luctance, and, if read at all at present, read
only by those old d-fashioued people who have
never become quite rccOnciled to the pccu-
| liarities of modern poetry. There is some
! thing in the life of this excellent
man Just departed which strongly reminds
MS of the cloistcred career. if career II could
| be called, of Gray. We have much thought,
much study and much requirement, with but
limited original production, though what we
! have is of the first rate. As we READ the
carefully constructed and highly artistic verse
of either, finding in both something OF OBJ
scurity, with tendency TO lapse into phllo-
sOphical speculation, we feel that we have to
do with a writer whom only n slight change
in temperament might have rendered much
more important. Great things were naturally
expected Of the author of :" The Buccaneer
and of "The idle Man" If these anticlpations
have not been gratifcd, ouI disappointment
has come from that pcculiarity of NIr. Dlna's
character which led him to Undcrvalue pOpu-
larity, to care little for numerous audience
if only he could find iii one, and to find the
highest pleasures i'll pursuits quite apart from
the dust and turmoil of the world.
Yet the life which this gifted man led, III
his study and by the scashorc, has surely its
value in this age Of low aims aud mean en-
dcavOrS of over haste and of over heat. Mr.
Dana WIS that rare person in America, a man
without a profession and without any publg
employ m"nt Enjoying a competency OF for
tune quite sufficient for his simple tastes ami
inexpensive habits, he was enabled to escape
from work which would have been daily
dissatisfaction, and for which nature had done
ANYTHING but fit him. Many such men we do
not need, but one such at intervals Is bless
ing, teaching lls that there are higher things
than those for which we do battle with such
crasclcss tcuacity-d man to whom we may
turn with love and reverence, because he has
not. like us, the dust of the arena upon bis gar
mcnts but walks in the clcany byways of the
world. dreaming dreams which are noolcr than
our realities. careless of the tranSitory, and
alI men OF letters can he like this one. who,
full of years and of honors, has just gone to
nj, resting place; but all, and especially men
of letters, can learn from lie which was
great without ambition, and nobly successful
without material results, that the words oi
Colc1idgc. hackucycd as they are, have a deep
and abiding signiicancc-ihat poetry may i'll
deed be Its own exceeding great rcWard.'
I'm more WAYS than one and IN the best
sense. Mr.. d ma was one OF Our American
aii,tocratS, coming ~ he did OF a line Of solid
and publicly useful men, the best products Of
the religious and intellectual culture Of Massa-
chuSctts He cared little for novelties Of faith,
a. he cared little for novelties Of literature.
lie belonged 10 Il different If not to Il stronger
generation than Ours. lie certainly mad "A
hospiiable mind for whatever was Ot real
value IN modern performance, rs his early ai-
,ycci3tIon o. Wordsworth and COeridge >uil-
rirntiy proved but he was nurturcd upon
. stronger diet than even their works could
furnish. and familiar from the first with what
j. oldest and best III English literature. When
our own was young and inchodtc, and we had
only advanced to mcdiOcrlty, he set the nya-
liable example OF serious and sincere and
thoroughly original work. 80 he earned the
gratitude of a generation which hardly re-
mcnibrIcd him, and scarcely knew how much
it owed to him. When oar standard of lit
crary excellence was low, he was faithful to a
much higher one. When our poets were few
and commonplace, hc showed them what
poetry should he. When they became numer
ou- anl NOISY, he lapacd into silence and has
silence was the beS, music Of all