New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-04-24

cara In Thymlng OrD1tS SWINGING ~ o"o $500
OF symphonies vibrating through the spheres,
They saw SmilliOns of people" Inere s.OOu
in company Alexander, and Hannibal, ana La
Fayette, and LyCurgus, and Audubon anu
Marco Bozzaris, and Moses, and Sir Jonn
Franklin. Socrates, Chitty, Leonidas, Genera
Custer. Hector, Helen, Napoleon Bonaparte'
Edgar Poe, immortal Washington Tin ltancsh
King David, Stonewall Jackson, austere CnaC-
terton.n Mazzni, Henry VIII, Hawthorne, Cly-
temnestra, Charles Dickens, Commodore Foote'
.Josephus Prince Albert, Christopher Columbus
Oliver Goldsmith, and the Wandering Jew.
Shakespeare sat on a throne, where ne musV
have been exceedingly uncomfortable, for MEL
pomene reached out of cloud and perpetualy
threw atorrents" Of flowers down upon his
head Pygmalion amused himself chiselling
figures on the panels below the chair ana tne
Psalm1st crowned him with laurel. The poe1
meanwhIe talked lot of dreadful ruDOlsh
about ,.o ,..o sv,rnod.
Or imprint Of the palm or fern upon
tn enduring rock;
after which there was applause by the DanaS'
and Paganini played tune on the fiddle lnere
was A dramatic performance, the Tragedy OF
Macmillan in Mexico being represented Dy
Kean. Macready and the elder Booth, Ana
u MANY celebrated actors from All ages and all
q climesn: and the audience consisted OF : Eu-
u ropia's kings,n-an expression which REDUCES
TO certainty the strong presumption ereateu
by the general drift of the poem That DOWhey
ia the kind of man to pronounce European
with the accent on thee
Music was not neglected, for HandePs Mes
siab y WAS sung by ten thousand angels, ana
at the back of the concert stage was a waving
translucent, liquid shining veil OF something or
other. through which trenchant seraphim I'M
rippling passed, careening in the light when
was very disrracting and improper. Elsewhere
Downey and PhantasmagOria saw sapient
trains. horriic apparitiOns, assassns, liberty
trees, snakes, diam0nd-studded canOples, hquld
walls inlaid with sculptures seraphs, plates OF
polished diamond, the belching OF humorous
battles of the gods, spectral shades, Ananlas ana
| Sapphira, Evangeline, and the murKy rene& OI
conceptions grand There was, moreover
GREAT STONE FACE, beaming beneyolence' at
the sight Ct which all grew still. we 90 not
quite make out whether Downey alludes 10
General Grant OF the Cardiff Giant. But PROD"
ably the most remarkable of the curiosltles ex-
hibited by Phantasmagoria on this memorable
excursion was q mechanical marvel described
by Downey in the following beautiful lines;
A massive chain, hung from the loitiest point
| Suspended an immense ohronOmoter-
Ttmekeeper of eternity Twas called
| THE WATCH OF AoEsl On its dial plate.
| In characters OF light Interchangeable.
Tread tho seconds, minutes, hours, months, years
And CENTURIES, which far adown the dim
| And shadowy Vista OF the past have rOlledi
| The hollow spiral chain. link after link,
Showed Rome, Greece, Carthage and Assyria'
| MY utmost stretch OF vision Eden reaohedi
| What lay beyond cloudy veil Obscured.
| Its mighty hands remarked the flight OF tmei
| It's pendulum with oeaseless motion swung,
etc. etc. The capitals and italics are DOwney's'
The idea of aflxing pendulum to watch Is
also his. When finally Der all the scene a
| mighty curtain fell, A curtain measureless In
breadth and height, Trailing the shores of immOr-
tality Athwart the bOundless universe Of space,
Downey must have felt that he had enjoyed a
frst-class show and he parted from his COM
panion with many civil observations, of which
we can only cite the closing wOrdsI
Phantasmagoria. farewell; I leave
Thee now 70 nurse thy offspring in the beams
That never fade, and warmth that never ohils
AMEN.
General Garfield has moved that the Com
mittee on Rules be instructed to report whether
Downey's verses ought not to beSexpunged from
The Record Really it seems to us that General
Garfield is meddling with the privileges OF a
felloy-member. What reason can be given for
strikng out this magnificent argumeDtf Shall
il be sacrificed because it is in verse2 Any
member of Congress has constitutional right
TO address the House or the Senate in verse II
he pleases prose and verse being entirely
eoual before the law. Or ia 1t to be stricken out
because it has been fraudulently incorporated
+, with the proceedings, being an essay that was
never delivered, and on a subject not under
discussion That is a defect which it shares
with thousand other arguments " published
ot the cost Of the Government and distributed
free through the mails. During this session
about 400 pages of The Record have been filled
: with fictitious speeches, every one or which IL
n fraud upon the people. When the House
grants "leave to print" it authorizes member
TO falsify the official report of the debates, and
to insert in The Record any sort OF irrelevant
nonsense he sees TT; and to express displeasure
ut the use which the Wyoming gentleman has
made of the permission is simply ridiculous
We dare say DOwney's argument on the Mura
Decoration bill is not bit more irrelevant Of
! Hlly or dishonest than scores of undeliVereC
; speeches that precede it In the pages of Oul
' National False Intelligencer; and we trust thai
he will be given leave to print an epic poem
every week until Congress is Rhamed into
abolshing the scandalOus abuse which has jus
been 70 conspicuOusy illustrated.
II "strong man. Is not needed, why have
2 | third termI
Senator Jacobs makes it clear enough that tn
| Ia tran mis- to