Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-05-30
Cor. Davis Grafton.

Cor. Davis Grafton.
Gov. Davis stepped forward and delivered
the following eloquent address, which was read
from manuscript, with an intonation of voice
and freedom of speech that arose at times tc
the imprisoned height of inspirational and
heterogeneous delivery:
Thomas Moore was born on the 2Sth day of
May, 1779, and died on the 25th day of Feb
ruary, 1859. His poetry was, during his life,
the delight of three generations. Our grand
parents counting when he began to write.
They cxpounded their tender sentiments by
his lovc-songs, and men yet on the eastern side
youth by the tidings of his death. Except as
a literary man he was not an important person.
al figure in that long historic vista. He enjoys,
however, the peculiar prerogativc that his poem.
arc part of personal experience. There is
time of life when everyone has read Moore
His poems have been the solace of lovers, the
inspiration of poetic sentiment and the glory
of his native land. To him aud to Burns haf
been given that which other poets have not re.
ceived. They have the affection of all English
speaking people. A feeling of personal kind
linoss glows at hearing their names. We fee
If VIC had known them. as if they had
spoken and written to us. We call them by
the diminutivcs of their Chrstian-namcs
They arc like playmatcs of our youth become
the companions Of our wiser years. We recount
their pr;snks, VIC sing the songs they sang.
Great and peculiar merit has caused this. To
become contemporary with posterity requires
the finest and best humanity in him who
achieves it, That Burns should have done this
is not wonderful. His character was all sim
plicity, and his intellect grand as it was, was
received into popular conception without need
OF definition readily scene of his owl
Scotland where heath, loch, mountains and
daisies are seen at one glance aud at the same
al . h.
sensibilities. Hence his spirit broods over thu
memory and fills the heart with pity, love anc
awe. ,. ..-.-. ....
Moore was different. There was much in hi
character that was complex, inconsistent anc
artificial. He was an accomplished scholar
lie the darling of society. He held uearl,
all his life in subsection to its severest conven
tionalities. His poetry has the variegatcc
characteristics OF his mind and experience. A
one time he tears page from the book of com
mon life and preserves forever the simple rec
ord which it contains, and, rs we raise our eyer
from it, we sec under the glow of Asiatic skie.
the minarcts, towers and domes of some orient
al fame, lighted with colored lamps, ornament
ed with fantastic carvings, sensuous andjspirit
ual at once, and cloying us into languor by it's
excessive artihclality. I.
That he should, Notwithstanding this, win
the hearts of young and old, and hold the af
fections of all who read him is proof of the es
sentlal sweetness of the man. I do not know
any other poet of his time, excepting Burns
whose hundredth birthday would be thus Cd
served. That of Burns was signalized twenty
years ago by commemorative festivity, wher'
Aud Lang Syne was sung and Tam o. Shante
read with tears and laughter, aud tonight tn
Last Rose of Summer will bloom in music TO-
the memory of Moore.
History will record as one of the mos
conspicuous events of this century tn
appearance of the great poets. who
NF Ill
denly and without any apparent instigation b,
exterior events, filled England with such musi
as had never been heard before. English his
tory presents nothing at all comparable to thi
sudden eiiorescence of poetic genius since 9Th
spacious times of great Elizabeth" For NOR
than one hundred years the poetic faculty hat
lain dormant. Since the time of Milton no
one great imaginative poet had appeared.
not unmindful of Dryden and Pope, bu
creative imagination was not an attribute o
either of them. They were men of prodigiou
intellectual powers. They were consummat
masters of poetic art. They were adroit dia
lecticians and controversialists in verse, blu
neither ever wrote line which touches tn
heart, or added one character to the hosts whic
the reader summon from the Elysian field
of thought to solace or to awe him. Their
was not only no poetry during that period, blu
You may turn leaf after leaf of johnson
Lives Of the Poets, and read nothing bu
ponderous commemorative of men who's
names you see for the first time. For a Ion
time Shakespeare left the stage. 1t wa
defled with the lubicities of Wycherle
and Congreye, or was made sOmnOlen
it'll the forgotten inanities of Dryden, Mul
ply and Home. 1t is not difficult to determin
The cause of this apathy. 1t comedies almos
exactly with the period of England's advanc,
ment to commercial and territorial supremacy
which began with the settlement of her inte
nal and dynastic discussions. It covers th
corrupt administration of Walpole, the gloriou
ascendancy of Chatham, and the epoch
conquest during which her power in India W;
finally firmly established. But
change came. Tho colonies b
came independent through mo-
glorious rebellion. The spirit of insurrectio
walked abroad throug bout Ireland. tt
French revolution, the most important ever