New-York tribune., 1880-02-08
THE RECORD OF FIFTY YEARS.
"REMINISCENCES OF A JOURNALIST.
BY CHARLES 7. cONGDoN.
LITERARY MEMORIES.

LITERARY CHARACTERIsTiCs-THE 1RANsCENDENTAL
Prgop-INFIUENCE or CARLYLE-MABGARET
FULLER SARAH helm WHITMAN - HENRY
GILTs-IITERAKY REMUNERATION.
In these papers make little attempt to proceed
IN sirict chronological sequence: and perhaps the
reader viii be kind enough 10 consider them rs
scarce more formal than a rambling conversation
a moroogue lacking the convenient suggestions
and Stimulus OF q real table-taik-a meBSai ehat
the guests sightloss and the master OF the humble
feast merely solilOquizcr. though there are ghosts
enough Heaven knows. at the board. AS early as
1887. there began peculiar period on
intellectual aetivily-the era Of what IS called,
though not with much scientific accuracy transcen
dentaslsm. The influence OF Thomas Carlyle upon
American ctters felt about that time. particu-
larry in our colleges. and the name OF that Vener-
able u,an is often conjolned with Mr. Emersohs
tbougss the Two have hardly literary or inteec-
tual trait in common, unless that OF writing uncon
yentioual English may 6e considered. There
was a Carlyle mania IN our college
which resulted IN tine production of what i am
afraid was sad nonsense We all went through what
NAV be regarded as a storm-aud-stresS period Some
OF us manufactured bad poetry, and some OF MS
equally bad prose; we talked of sAains ana
" wiud-bags -; and the more Iucoiuprehenslble
they were the pr0fOunder considered our produe-
tons to be- Yet am even now inclined to think that
there was genuine eaTnestness at the bottom OF IL
ii all it sprawling awkward. hobbie-de-hoy
effort to be manly; and, at least, 1T was moro
wholesome than the Byron fever, which just be-
fore that had 80 soTely tried the constitutions OF
American youth and the patience of their
natural guardians Our efforts 10 write like
Carlyle drove the Professor of Rhetoric nearly
frantic but a little i'm with the actual
soon knocked the nonsense out of us; and we
returned to cur respect for Mmray's Grammar and
for the style of Addison or Macaulay, having dis
covered that an Alteration of sincerity was no bet
ter than a satanic ailectation of falsehood.
All the pretence of supernatural instincts and OF
God-inspIred intuitiOns were not confined to the
college Providence had tOwn-fOlk who wrote poe
try as bad as ours. and two or three who wrote
more nationally than we did. The maiD point was
to be unintellgible. The more nearly we
Justified the mot that Language given to con-
zeal our thonghtS," the successful we con-
sdefe ourselves TO be. 1t is easy to what hap
peued when a young person of no special natural
ability and of small and fragmentary culture
talked according 10 his own notion as Novalis
wrote. Margaret Fuller luot yet a marchoness,
but schO0l-nistress) lived then and pursued her
uobe calling nobiy in Providence. saw her some
smes in company and heard her talk-it would be
hardly proper to say converse for nobody else said
much when she was in the Delphc mood. The
c4trc of a circle Of rapt and devoted admirers she
improvised not merely pamphlets but thick oc-
tavos and quartos. Such astonishing stream OF
language never came from any other woman's
mouth She brought With her. said Mr. Etner-
son, wit, anecdotes, love stories, tragedies,
,eracles" She did not argue l think she had a
way Of treating dissentIens with a crisp contempt
which was distinctly feminine. She bad no taste
for dialectics as she took TO inform those who
did not agree with her. She considered her own
opinion to be conclusive, and little re-
sented anv attempt to change 1T. Yet there
was something eminently elevated in her
demeanor, for If was that of woman swaying all
around her. not by fascinating manner nor yet by
personal beauty of which she had none but through
the sheer force of royal intellect There were Pc
culiarites III her ways and carriage which were not
agreeable; fashion of moving her neck, and Of
hooking at her shoulders as if she admired them;
end her voice was not agreeable. Mr.. Emerson says
that personally she repelled him upon first acquan
sDce bat was so astOnished and charmed by her
elo1uenee by such discourse as had never before
heard from woman. and have never heard from a |
wOman since. that sat in silence, and, II my ears
had been fifty instead Of two should have found |
an excellent nse for them. l do not mean TO say |
that | comprehended all that she said; bad not
read tie philosophers and poets Of Germany as she
had but simply TO listen was enough, without |
cheap understanding. Something like this fascina |
tion must have been exercised by Coleridge over
the listeners who gathered about him at Highgatc
and went away charmed but puzzled; delighted
they knew not why Was it a pleasure analogous
to that Of music' suggestion too delicate for
analysis
There was habit once. which, fortunately is not
now common, OF comparing our American repu-
taaiohs with old staple James. This poet was like
Wordsworth Mr.. Emerson. | believe, was the
American Montaiqne; Miss Fuller was the Ameri-
can DE StaGl Mr. Poe was the American Hoffman,.
This prattle was specially silly when it was about
Mics Fuller who was no like De Stacl than
she was like BetIna, with whom have also heard
her paralleled. Schiller wrote to Goethe Of the
brilliant Frenchwoman: " She insists upon explain
ing everything" am sure that Miss Margaret did
not attempt to explain anything for that would
have been condescension TO which she was not
prone. Schiller speaks also of De Stasps horror
OF the Ideal Philosophy, which she thinks leads to
the mysterious and superstltiOns There was no
likeness there the American lady, like the
French, " passionate and rhetorical" If 4 remem-
Der rightly, she calm in her speech, though &C
casi0nally swift. But she had talent for summing
up coDcisely. as when she said of Goethe think
he had the artists hand and the artists eye bu not
the artists love of structure" This compsctness
sometimes became almost cOmical, when. in |
The Dial, she dismissed Mr.. LoBgfellow's latest
work with only the remark: his is the thnnest |
of all Mr.. Longfeow's thin volumes" which was
hardly kind and scarcely critical. Ii is remarkable
that this noteworthy womsn's fane has already be-
conetraditIonal she Is remembered as a volnble |
taker but much is not said Of her books. She had
olloquisl habits of composition and was rather
careless writer. The work upon which she had be-
slowed the greatest pains lost with her in the
remorseless sea; her literary contributions 30 The
TRIBUNE were not of permanent value; it was her
task to deal mainly with the temporary and eyanes
ent, and to be obliged to work too much from day
TO day. But always, in American literature. she