The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-04-18

ne only escaped the Ruillotino by a long chalk
mark on the door of his cell. when says
Mr.. Mitchell, I'VE consider tho dignity, the
elevation and the reasonablencss Of 80 much
that he says in his for the separation
OF the colonies from England. and the many pas
sages even in the Age of Reason, one hardly
knows how to account for the ribaldry which be-
longs to so many OF his later writings; ribald
about old friends and bonefactors; ribald about
religions ribald about the public which had hon.
orod him. Jealous, morbid. crazcd by his vani-
tics; his clever mind, at intervals, blazing
through tho clouds and foulnesses which his
own designations and selfish arrogance had
created; dying, ut last, after long stages of
drunkenness. and, as many report, with a nose
an bloated as Bardolph's."
Joel Barlow, dimiy remembered as the author
OF Tho Hasty Pudding" and the epic Column.
bad was not only a poet in his way, but also,
as Mr.. Mitchell recalls. an ambitious and
mammon.seeking" man, who. after eighteen
years OF residence on the other side of the Allan
tic, returned to America very rich and very
French. and built q beautiful country house,
still standing on the banks Of the Potomac, near
Washington. He died an Ambassador to France.
1t 10 not generally known that, when a chaplain
In the Continental army, he was employed by
the Connecticut authorities to rcvamp and mako
musical tho old Psalm book; some of his
versions mot with great favor. and. we
are told. are still to be found in the ac-
credited psalmodies. As for the ambi-
tious and elaborate "Columbiad,' fine print,
and paper. and Illustrations, and Paris elabo-
ration still left it a stale and heavy book. "we
are moro proud" remarks Mr.. Mitchell, "of a
good many others Of the Hartford coteric than Of
Barlow: yet / think he has been unduly abused.
John Adams. in q letter to Washington tOcto-
Der, 1888, when alluding to a paper Of Barlow's,
Is somewhat rash when he says: Tom Paine is
not a more worthless fellow and continues: 1t
Is not often we meet with a composition which
betrays 30 many and so uncquivocal symptoms
Of blackness OF heart But that was in the
middle OF n political campaign. No such excuse
belongs to some modern historians who have
put him into the glare of an abusive and damna-
tory rhetoric"
Discussing Charles Brockden Browns ven.
lures in fiction. the author OF this book points
out that tho scene Of the novel Arthur Mer-
vyn" Is laid In the time $500 when the yellow
fever devastated Philadelphia and New York.
or the ravages OF this scourgc Brown had full
personal knowledge. He had himself been sub
ject to attack. and had watched over the fatal
issue in the case of some Of his dearest friends.
Mr.. Mitchell considers Browns description of the
street scenes in Philadelphia as wonderfully
vivid; they almost take rank. he thinks, with
Defoe's story Of the London plague. There are
certain chapters whose details surpass in hor-
rible truthfulncss all the newest French cxposi-
tions OF realism" There Is. however, no we'll
evolved story in Arthur Mervyn;' 1t might
stop a hundred pages before il ends, and the au-
thor says that he finished 1t with tho same sense
of relief and Of fatigue with which we nigh: &c.
up from a long and disorderiy game OF chess, In
which the knights had como on crazy gallops
and the bishops all moved awry, with only q
stale mats at the sad.
Some interesting pages are devoted 10 John
James Audubon. tbs author o. The Birds of
America" which cos. $loC. 900 to publish
and for each copy o. which an original
subscriber paid a Thousand dollars. Unlike
Alexander Wilson. who, although a native
Of Scotland. may b. termed an American
naturalist, Audubon had boon reared in luxury.
Born in Louisiana Of a French father. who was
In tho French royal navy, and Of a mother who
was Of Spanish blood, changes. adventures,
perils. losses, and sutferings had belonged to
him all his life. AS a boy. he hac wandered
under tho tropio tanglcs OF San Domingo;
and, his mother losing her lifo there in
a negro Instruction, no had gone to
Paris and had been taught art there in the study
OF the great David; had gone thence to u country
place Of his father on the SchIylkill; had aston
ished the natives Whereabouts with his French
graces. his satin short clothes. his hyacinthine
locks; had mado conquest Of the charming
daughter OF an English neighbor. BLACKWELL; had
been counsclled by his future fathcr.in.law to
lay tho basis of an assured future by going into
trade: had gone into trade and had miserably
failed in 1t; had allowed n fortune left by his
father to slip through his slippery, generous,
and most impracticable fingers; had married;
bad Ennf UA0n all hta t--F
begun in the tropics; had made his coun try
house on the Schuylkil a museum of most
beautiful, unstable things; had tried n venture
AZ milling, and failed; merchandising again,
and failed: his partners all riddlcd him; his
friends all loved him and tho birds all sang
to him." Mr.. Mitchell goes on to observe
that IL Audubon yearned for money 1t was
only to spend it; Ito spend 1t on homo Injuries
and on the first interesting poor man ho
might encounter. He was full of endurance,
capable o: all manner of fatigue; could tramp
through swamps or forests, or swim rivers
in his bird.bunts. He had an ineffaceablo
love for tho picturesque; would never set
up q heron or a hawk (which he stuffed with
skill, save in tho most pio-
~turesgue of attitudes, and was as i~nsistent upon
tho picturesque in his own hair, his hat, his
small clothes. or his jerkins. But in those early
days Of our nationality 1t did not pay to be pic
turesque; It's doubtful II 1t does now. Finding
his domestic livelihood imperilled. no taught
drawing. took portraits, taught music, taught
dancing even, and there are stories of his aston
ishing a great assemblage of young Mississippians
tat Natchez, / Think with his famboyant Graces
in tho ballroom, fiddle bow in hand. and
his locks and toilet OF last Partisan chic. His
wife, a woman Of most admirable prudence and
sagacity, was always a governing balance
wheel; and 1t was largely through her wise saw
ings and hor urgence that he started for England
to negotiate for the publication of those amaz-
ingly life.liko bird pictures which had been
growing In number year by year in his portfolio
and which are now. and always will be. so honor.
ably associated with tho name OF the great
naturalist"
The author recalls that between ls47 and 1880
he caught sight, on one or two occasions, of James
Feninloro Cooper strolling along Broadway