Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1879-03-27
BAYARD TAYLOR.


Mr.. President, in presenting this res.
olutlon 1t may not be improper for me
to add that Mr.. Taylor was one of my
constituents. / knew him very well
and for many years. He was born in
Kennett Square. Chester county, about
q half century ago, near one OF the
Revolutionary war.
There beautifully flows the Brandywine,
on aud forever from dawn to decline
Under the bridges and arches Of trees,
Gliding the landscape aud cooling the brceSe,
Parting their pastures and swelling their stores
FlOwering perfuming the sinuous shores,
Chasing the SQUIRREL disporting above,
swsctsning the tanager's carol of love-
With dresiners In quest OF The Muses. shrine,
In the haunted dolis Of the Braudywinc.
There, in q pleasant district, in the
midst OF cultivated people, his blame
less and ambitious boyhood forecast the
meritorious man. With high purpose,
correct principles and exceptional gifts,
he passed through all the tests and lures
and straits of life untainted and un.
harmed. His industry seemed like an
impulsive instinct or an obligation of
conscience. IL was not spasmodic or
erratic or aimless,or misdirected, but dis
eliminating and constant 1t was more
serviceable than friends or funds, and
insured them both. 1t made him
prompt to sieze occasions and meet emer.
gencies. IL exceeded his necessities
and increased with his success. Ii made
his volumes valuable and out-number
his matured years. lie travelled and
girdled the globe with his journeys.
He viewed nearly "all places that the
eye of heaven visits regions grim
with perpetual rock, or ice, or sea, or
sand, or attractive with arabic areas, or
wilderness of floral bloom, or forest
shade. Nature in all her contrasts of
motion, forms and colors. growths and
waste. And her phenomena from the
arctic twilight TO the torrid noon
through all the seasons and through ell
the zones.
But he was no less devotee of books
those stores of quaint and current
learning-those sweet friends of schol.
ars, those arsenals of genius. those 81
lent oracles OF thought which mould
the character of persons, States and
eras. He was fond of art-the delicious
trophies Of the chisel and the pencil
which multiply and perpetuate the
changing phase of beauty-and deco.
rates the porches and temples, the Val.
hallas and Vaticans, with the immortal
counterfeits of nature.
He cultivated language, which opened
new sources of intelligence and new
fields for energy. His efficient render.
ing of Faust shows his thoroughness in
German, while his facility in divers
tongues amazed those who heard him
in their native speech, as in some sort
they were amazed who heard the Apos.
ties on the day of Pentecost. But his
labors are manifested in his productions;
they allure the imagination after his
wandering steps as if fragrant, like
those of Venus, who left behind her
trail of flowers. Over that middle, tide
less Sea, bordered with continents and
gemmed with islands amidst once
worshipped elements and glorious cities
and storied coasts-by altars Of love and
fountains of song. and monuments OF
genius, and cradles of religion fro1i
Jupiter TO Jesus. Over the solemn
wastes of glowing sand, where Hagar's
seed still camp beneath their catuel
skins and wave the hostile hand. and
where the Howadjis on their pilgrimage
carol, as they plod their dreary way, the |
holy verses of the Koran or the Kaaba. |
Along the alluvial shores where the |
Lotos blooms and the Apis reigned- |
where every temple was like a city, and !
every city like an empire--and whose /
wonderous ruins still seem to echo the /
vaunt of Osymandias, II am king of |
kings, and who would exceed my fame. |
let him surpass my works" Over the /
strange and fableridden region of the |
farthest East, with its white elephants /
and pagodas and its pomp Of silken
fleece and jewel craft. Amidst the /
swarming multitudes and unvaryine /
customs Of the ilowery realm OF old |
Cathay. Through those curious Me. /
diaevat towns, with their grand Cathe- /
dral towers. where the old Masters /
carved and painted, and the great Com.
posers swelled the litanies with their /
incompatible music. Over the vine /
clad slopes Of Grenada, rife with the re. /
miniscences and relics of Moorish /
chivalry and taste. Along the glitter. |
ing gulches of the Pacific Sierras. |
Among the snow.clad hills of the Polar /
North, where they sang Of Thor and |
Odin. and where the Vikings unfurled |
their icy sails for voyages OF booty and |
adventure.
And then how easily he leads us, as it /
were, through the ivory gate Of dreams, |
into the ideal land-into the world of |
I airy form-through galleries of graces |
and vistas Of delight, amidst vivid pic |
lures and obvious passions, instructive |
fancies and attractive shows ell harmo |
nious as reality. What facility and |
eloquence, what tenderness and sweet |
ness, what spirit and fitness, what
splendor and wisdom in his versesI His /
Muse may not indeed, with exulting
strength, soar upwards with the might. |
Ter Bards, to the highest heaven of in. |
vention. But sweeping along with |
easy wing and inspiring breath, over
various featured nature, she transmutes |
the voiceless landscape and the latent |
thought into imperishable song. How
exquisite his Idyls Of the fields. How |
enkindling his heroic strainsl What
melting pity in his tones Of grief |