New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-12-19

closely philosophical thought. If anybndy
| should be interested in our verse-maklng
| Philis, have only to say that she can De easily
looked up. After she returned to Boston from
| London. where, We arc told, "she received
| great deal of attention from the people in the
| higher ranks of life" she was made much OF,
but she married badly, and the disreputable
| man of color with whom she joined her for
tunes killed her quite speedily. She d ed ut
| terly impoverished in 1884. leaving three little
| children, and bsng then only thirty-one wears
old. One can see how the whole tragic drama
w g carried on. First. her master who bought
her out of that African slave-ship, discovered
that she was clever. Learning to read and
write, she began to make verses. Then she
was thought to be q wonder. Then, as
wonder, she was taken 10 England. Then she
! came back TO marry the black man and to die,
after bearing three children. ! think it would
| nave been better for her ii she bad remained
| in the house of Mr.. John Wheatley, even IN
a single condition, and had never written a
| line OF Popes contagious decaayllablc verse.
| In London, she had various attentions he
| Lord Mayor gave her copy OF Fows's edi-
| ton of Paradise Lost. II is melancholy 10
think how matters go IN TINS world IRIS col
ton, winch any OF MS would give W az MONEY
| we had la our pockets TO possess may DC
bought if we have good luck, but most prob
! ably may not be bought at all. Pbiills
Wieatley'. copy is in the library of Harvard
! College. Wien she died, Il was sold tor her
husbands debts Tee Fowls EDITION has be-
come little scarce. dare say That you or l.
dear reader, would pay great deal OF money
for it, if it Were put up at an aucti0a, ana we
had the money III our pockets 100 It, me re-
prints Of Pnlis are worth as much as reIrlnts
are usually. People buy them TO put upon the
shelf. AS if the reading of book wee OF any
consequence
| pause. as any lover of books would. over
this dainty volume, which has been loaned
to me by a friend who has more confidence III
me than, ] am afraid, | have in myself.
What is the Use OF writing poetry II Ne only
tumble into the limited immortality Of the
scarce2 Vet | am not sure that | should not
like TO arse into tie sweet uncertainty OF the
desiderdta. Ii would be exquisite to know
that somebody in 1880 wanted something
printed from my pen-sOmetling which fear
they will not get ins TX, al rh %, 4 pos G' oeng
Works of Ann Eliza Blocker, in Prose and
Verse; Let us see what there Is about Ann
Eliza She was a Scbuyler-in illustnous and
venerable name. | get into such passion
of tenderness in thinking of all the girls OF
that period, how they read and thought and
wro-e, that / am but a bad critic when ! am
called upon to pass upon what they accom-
plished. IL is so little to us 1T was So much
TO them! 1t was not for nothing tnSt MSS
Schuyler WAS fond of her books, reading
" with propriety anything that came to hand,
long before the time that children in common
pass their spelling books" One is TEN tcd
upon eDcountering all these fine things III the
preface to extract gleat deal more than
there's room for. We must, however,
make space for this descl ipfion of the pa e
to which Mrs BleecKer went when she was
married. "On the east side OF 1t was an
elegantly simple garden, who're trniis aid
flower, exotiCS as well rs natives. ION she'd /
with beauty and little beyond the roaring 7.
river If TonahinCk dashed with ia2ldity It's /
foamfng waters among the oroken lccNs t. |
ward the west Law wide cultivated helG'; IN he /
rear a Young orchard, bounded by 4 tblck /
forest; ard in front (after crossing the main I,
d a meadow, through which wandeled +
diulpng stream, stretched Itself to JON ridge
OF tail moulding pines rising in awful grandeur
o.. the shelving brow of grassy mountain !
cauUot 20 on with the extracts. ! have no room 3
fol them. But | think kindly Of Ms. /
Blocker, continually tormen,ed 10y the vIcis-
studes OF our revolutionary war, DR. ven OH !
OF her house and home by the operations OF !
General BurgOyne, and finding a refuge ~ Red .
Hook. No doubt the Muses. went up and down .
with her, and waved their light and gosSamer /
wings over her, rs she threw off ten-syllaUle !
metre and stanzas written III the style If /
trays Elecy. | wish that | had time IA which
to speak OF the cleyerness ct the women or
thai period. | suppose that they always wrote .
from u recollection of what nal pleased them ,
in DRYDEN and Pope ana Gray. Their pens ,
ran lifting uown the page, and, as they had /
caught The music, they reproduced IT,. There /
was. - course, an under influence OF i'm gina ,
ton. There was also great stuck OF
phrases. Mrs. BleeckeI, of course, spoke Of
the silver lily that exdlts her head aud of /
the "cpnmg r.Scs y inch "balmy 0dors
spread" Would that these women who have
II tendency 10 the meircal and who find ,
the ideal swayng their lives, woUld remember
that poetry must have something III 1t without
which it is not poetry VIVA Is the use OF
what the ladys biogr snhers call q" % pleasant
vein of sportive fancy I" Mrs. Blocker died
in 1888, and died in That most melancholy
month of November She might have been
astoniShed at The quality o, the fame when
she destined to secure. Only, the clever
and lady-Iike woman, to be- bid on al auctions
no ba GO pr N !
what was coming 10 herr Heaven only
knOws-l do not. But ] think often of that
period of our literary history, and with .
kindness warner than usual OF It's women. |
knew something of their daughters wien |
was younger. | know exactly the intellectual
ferment into which they thrOwD, and
bow they said to themselves: surely their
is something better than caring FOR this house,
for this husband, fer these children For IL
must be reinem0ered that the natural MUD
was at that time in condition OF particular
activity. The m'n we're talking as wisely as
they could The household was full Of
thoughts. The MOI hers read what hooks there
were and felt under then matroDly SONS
"A veaIniug for what vas best IN human thought
and human production. What ould a
woman ike Mrs Blocker do hut write
poetry, as the leisure OF her opent household
changed into demand Tor industry, ana It
was rot 80 easy g. find resource in coddling
the lutte, ones Upon my word, WISH that
her poetry was better. 1t is not of the lie st
but if you or /, good reader,
write verse, how cOnsOatOry IT would be TO
know that bidders at BOOK auctions would
wrangle over us, aud bind us as beautifully
as Mrs Blocker is bound now before my
eyes Fame is something; but full gilt
pebbled morocco wonder If any of Us will
lver come to such suinptuOus fate
There are so many of those cleVer women be-
tween the time of Mrs. Blocker and the
period al which | write, that hardly know to
what | should give attention. Picked up for
Il e sake of the imprint were the Letters OF
The Rev. John Bennett 10 Young Lady,
The book is only worth locking at as evidence
Of what was considered proper sort OF book
Tor Young lad eS at that time. 1t is full OF
rel gious suggestion, aud OF information OF the
small sort. is there any young lady IN New
ork who would care 10 be told that Tuscany
produced Dante Peiarch, and Mlcnael