New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-12-19
RECOLLECTIONs OF A READER.
BY CHARLES T. CONGDON.
AMERICAN LITERARY LADIES.

MRS. ANNE BRADsTREEr-MRs. PILLS wHEATLEY,
THE BOSTON SLAVE GIRL-MRs. ANN ELIZA
BLxECKER-cu sIosrrY AND SCARCITY or HER
BONA DiDAciiC BOOK oP THE PERIoD-rHE
AUTHORIZES OF CHARLOTTE TEMPLE--MIss HAN
NAH ADAMS
fn my last chapter had something to say OF
the relation of w)men to books, and men
tioned Sc, ci.lly two or three Englishwomen
who had distinguished themselves in letters,
NV heart, NJ may b. I'm 'gined, was upon the
other side of the sea. We may we'll take a
higher interest in cur own literary ladies, OF
whom propose to say something. There were
even Puritan women who were superior TO
prose. We must begin, | Suppose, with Mrs.
Aune Bradstrcet, who came to Massachusetts
In 1880. with heI husband. simon Bfadstreet,
wlo was the Governor OF the State: Her hrst
book was entitled The Tenth Muse, lately
sprung no in America" The first edition was
published in London in 1850. The first Boston
edition was published in 1878. trust that
out OF my menton of them nobody Will be
tempted to read these poems. We, who are
accustomed to the sweetly flowing rhythm of
our modern versitics'ioO, who do not care 10
have our poetry dry and logical and historical,
and, in fact, prosaic, who have been purturtd
upon the suphony If 1ennys0n and upon his
reproduction of Greek metres. until VT have
bacome delicate in our tastes, and ep'cures of
resonance, would not relish the rugged llues OF
Mrs Anne Brads,reet at all. There 49, no doubt,
o great dea! OF learning in her poeuy. but it is
of kind winch we have grown TO like little.
II IL somewhere between Dryden and Pope,
without the strength of the one OF the elegance
of the other. The learning swamps the sentl-
ment The page moves but rugged Ii is all
curious and quaint, hut we soon have enough OF
il and glad "a we Were to obtain the book. at
n considerable price, we are still gladder of the
privilege oi closing IL, and OF putting IL back
upon the shelf, only to be exhibited a. evi
dence of orr luck in collecting Mrs. Brad
street. if she loved praise, VAS fortunate IN heI
n. ha,. IN loH Nj
wouli have been bad policy, not TO eulogize the
poems of the wife of the Governor OF Massi-
chusetts. She was complmentel IN verse AS
bal as her own. She was affirmed 10 be "a
right On Bartas girl" Now / suppose that
there are not many people who will read this,
who have read line oi Du Bartas. French
poet who was great favorite in England long
after he died Of his wounds received at the
Battle of lvry, III 1880. They called INN
"Diyinen They compared him iayOIably wit
ArioSto. he wrote a poem on the Creation of
the Would which everybody read then, and
which probably mob dy could read now. Mrs.
Dradstreet doubtless perused iiiml IN the trans-
lation of Sylvester, and proud, / suppose. she
was 10 be likcned TO him. y We young ladies,
who sit down cOmpacently. and having thrown
on three or four stapZas. send inem ID thls
magazine OF the other! Will you please to
think OF Mrs. Anne Bradstreet, working away at
her Complete Discourse md Description OF
the Four Elements, Constitute rs, Ages OF Man,
Seasons of the Year, together with an exact
Epdome of the -Four Monarchies, VIZ, the
Assyrian Persian, Grecian, Roman ! GOOD
Heavens think OF woman, and married
woman, and the IN >ther of eight ciIldren, sing
ing in verse about these wonderful thlngS!-
those children of whom she wrote: Il have
eight birds ha'cht Ill tie nest: roar cocks
there We're and hens the rest" Without caring
to read Mrs. Bradstreets poems, hold her III
h:ch respect rs do those of all women who
seek place IN letters. The Effort is credit
able whatever may b. the outcome. | am
tempted. though il - gong llttle out OF the
way to ask why women of our day do not GULL
waite poetry as al elegant acC0mp llShIncnt, with
no ulteriOr designs upOn fame, end with no in
teution to ask publisher e pinot. 1t Will be
seen at once by these young women who read
me, that Mrs. Anne BradStreet Is. after all, no
better tor hcr publishing, unless she might, If
still here in the flesh, consider 1t fame to be
known 10 dozen q Two OF b0o6 collectors. L
fancy, dear Young LADIES' that 1t VIII DC worse
with yOuI verses than with hers. She lived III
o historic period. She was enc OF the very few
in Boston who wo ed the Muse IN pettc0ats.
That WAS WHY she was so much admired Ivy
grave clergymen, by the pTesideGis OF Harvard
College, and blythe political authorities OF the
Province. All misses and madames now,
exduisitoly IS they may write, have no such
chance. They could not produce poems up
the Creation of the World, and the touI Mon
alcleS, even it they tried, and nobody would
read them even if they were produced. There
is 10 Du Bartas now TO idOiiZe and to initiate,
nor would he be thought worthy OF revelenoo
even though he printed Discourses and Desrtip-
lions pelDetua.lv. We nave grown fashions.
Whether this is for better or for WClSe, viii
not venture 10 ask.
A young woman OF color, born IN Africa.
bIOaght to this county as "A slave, offered III
the slave market of Boston, and there bought,
could hardly be expected TO write English
verses Such WAS the astonishing fortune Of
Mis- Phillis Wneatley, OF whom a notable thing
is that the market ia which she was sold was
Boston. She was only SIX wears ot1 wien tins
T. n. 10 nj hnss 10
born. only little while before, upon the GOl
Coast or the Slave Coast, or some other coast
of Africa The chance that this little black
girl. when she was landed as a mere piece OF
merchandise, in Boston, would actually write
a book OF poems, must have been somewhat |
slim. But sine seems to have been born, away |
over there III Africa. with curious notion of |
turning OF the same sort OF GeCaSylaDlc metre |
which Mr.. Pope found so useful. She had the /
honor of having her poems published i'll London |
when she was only nineteen years old. and they |
were dedicated to the good old religious COun- |
tess of Huntingdon. MI. Sparks the oiO-
grapheI OF Washington thinks that the poems |
contained in this volume EXHIBIT the most |
favorable ey idence on record OF the capacity OF |
the African intellect for imp Ovenent' I'm |
proven, mt in whatf Mr.. Sparks did not mean |
that it WIS any improvement for this little |
African negIcss to be brought here merely 10 |
write PCpes stanza, which anybody can write
who has four fingers and thumb TO count upon |
withal How tor tunaie il is that verse makers
should always haze biography 6neI than their |
verses! 1t is little odd that PhiIis should
have so betaken herself TO poetry, but the
secret of 1t is | fancy. that 10 the fanny of Mr..
Whear ey, who bought her aud who gave her
name, the poetry of the sixteenth century must
often have been read aloud. She caught the
ten syllable fascination. Who can blame heI
Think of the scores who have caught il since
cannot see that PhiIs Wheltley's verses are
any worse than those of Hayley's "Triumphs
Of Temper" OF which Byron said 50 Witty,
hat they tr,umphed over his.' Little Phillis,
imiable M dOubt as she was, and with Il notable
an native capacity for being instructed, no.
gnere shows more than good ear and "A tact in
arranging words modern young ladies, black
d white, with poetical aspirations, scarcely
seem t. have much mole. When the Rev.
George Whitefeld died at Newburypot, Mass,
m ITO, 1t was quite natural, the demise being
tnlked of In reliOinlLs families That |