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[Text: Edgar Allan Poe (???), “[Review of Alexander Dimitry's Lecture on the Study of History, vol. 5, no. 1, July 1839, pp. 5:58-59]
Lecture on the Study of History, applied to the Progress of Civilization. Delivered by Appointment before the Union Literary Society, May 2d, 1829.
A brilliant and bold production, bearing the impress of the mind of its author. With the tenets, however, here so well supported by Mr. Dimitry we will not altogether coincide. They border somewhat too closely, in our apprehension, upon the eloquent mediums of Turgot, Price, Priestly, Condercet, and De Steel — yet, strange to say, none of these names occur in the Lecture with the exception perhaps, of that of Priestly, in an incidental manner! There can be no doubt, however, at wild sparkling fountains our author has imbibed his scarcely tenable notions of the perfectibility of men. For to this end, more than to any other, tend the doctrines and the arguments of the many. In the position itself we have little faith, but great faith in the ability of our friend to make the best of shad topic. This, in the present instance, he has undoubtedly accomplished, in the spirited passage annexed will tastily more fully than any assertion clout own.
“The highest degree of perfection to which man is, by native, declined, grows out of the free and complete development of his individuality, under the influences of beauty, goodness, sad Until, and of his close and brotherly union with his fellow-laborers on earth. The principle of human perfectability will, therefore, when fully developed, induce a state in which mind and matter, reconciled in each other, will produce a lofty and splendid harmony; in which each special order of mind will And a corresponding object, and a proper sphere of action and usefulness; in which man, instead of wasting his power in fruitless strifes, will exert them is subjugating material nature; in which the injury, [page 59:] accruing to one member, and profiting no one, shall be considered, by all, as wrong inflicted on the whole of society; in which the shackling of evil passions will put an end to the conflict between virtue and vice — a conflict which will be survived by a generous emulation, only, among the worthy, to do the moat good ; a state of action, which will not be indolent inaction, and a state of action, which shall have ceased to be tumultuous agitation. Then, and then only, shall the promises of the martyr-God be realized. Then, and then only, shall it be truly said of man that he love! his neighbor am barnacle; for he will love him as a part of a whole, of which he himself is but another part. Then, and then only, shall Japheth's daring seed, as the Roman lyrist calla us, reconquer the symbolical Alden, forfeited by the common ancestor, exulting in the choice spoils which they shall have gathered during their centuries of toil in the fields of the arts and the sciences.
Such is the society which awaits the futurity of the world. Under what combination of circumstance and time it shall be fashioned, cannot be ascertained. But history unerringly points to known sanctions it; while, at the same time, it teaches that it shall be given to man to compass its attainment; for reason embodies certain invariable principles which, when once asserted and grasped by the people, are used by them as a resting point for farther and extended operations. In regard to the principles themselves, their progress will no longer consist in variation, innovation, or change; but their immutability shall be the beets of all improvement, which, out of this condition, would be liable to the same oscillations and doubts, in the midst of which man has hitherto all but fruitlessly consumed his power and his strength. Now, them principles will obtain so soon as natural law — I mean the law deduced from human reason, as a criterion of truth — the law inherent to our sociable nature, and harmonising with humanity in all places and time ; ea sem as that law, in accedence with the moral law of Christianity, shall have every where supplanted the conventional law, which is not booed, however we may try to conceal it, upon the general constitution of human nature, but upon the partial interest of individuals, corporations, cities, wariness, and States — upon the necessity of circumstances and the will of the lawmaker.
That such a society may be realized in a given thus we are bound to believe with as much certainty as we believe that we are gifted with the exercise of reason. We must, otherwise, surrender to the harrowing conviction that our appearance here is but an aimless and embolic farce; that some evil genius, after having engraved in our nature an instinct of that which is impossible, mocks at our insatiable appetences and our panting efforts round a charmed circle, in which we ever return to the starting point; that, after all, the tradition of Tantalus is no fable; and that this world is but a vast gehenna, in which perpetual torture and perpetual disappointment are the inevitable lot of man. But how can we withhold our faith from a doctrine co-extensive with the mind, and brilliant as hope itself? A doctrine for which the Savior suffered on earth; and which martyrs and ages have vindicated with their blood and their lives, offered up in testimony of its truth? Many may view these monitions of history as phantasms of the brain ; or brand rational inductions as Utopian dreams. Let them! When the first troglodyte issued from his cavern into the social world, and returned to his fellow-intelligent brutes with the story of civilization abroad, they met his words with derision and scorn! They, bound in the darkness of their caves and the filth of their clay hovels, could not realize the splendors of the palace and the comforts of its life. They too — had the supercilious word, invented by their imitators, been known — they, too, would have exclaimed, Utopia! They, whose inch-deep intellect, or whose all controlling prejudices, stop at the surface of things, and, viewing the evils only which still afflict society, pronounce the notion of perfectibility to be chimerical and vain, they do not intelligently attend to the sober teachings of reason end truth. Man, as a seminal being, belongs to the world of the senses ; and that is an habitual state of war between his physical powers — a bellum omivorum contra omnes — a war of all against all. But, again, man, as a rational being, also bellows to the world of mind; and, as each, he is destined, by the law of his spiritual nature, to subdue the material world. The complement of that law will be to defeat the belligerence of material forces; and, at some providential period, to await the full and definite triumph of reason, and the consequence prevalence of happiness and peace. Individuals now enjoy that triumph of reason and blessing of peace. Why should they not extend to the collective being called society? To argue that it cannot, is to argue that there is no essential law that will equally apply to man in his individual and social capacity: it is to advance an unnatural, an anti-social, and degrading paradox: it is to strike at the vitality of virtue, through the freedom of man's will, and madly to insult the superhuman wisdom of Him who made man the proxy of his power!”
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[Text: Edgar Allan Poe (???), “[Review of J. P. and W. P. Robertson's Francia's Region of Terror, vol. 5, no. 1, July 1839, pp. 5:58-60]
Francia's Reign of Terror, being a Sequel to Letters on Paraguay. By J. P. and W. P. Robinson. [[Robertson]] E. L. Carey and A. Hart, Philadephia.
The “Letters on Paraguay” were exceedingly well received by the leading public, and this is a matter not at all to be wondered at. Previous to their publication, little, comparatively, was known of the country they described, and that little was shadowy and vague. We know that Paraguay existed; that it was an inland region of South America; that it had been the seat of the Jesuits [page 60:] that it had become independent of the mother country, and finally fallen under the dominion of a certain Doctor Francia. All farther than this has been a knowledge of recant date, due to the literary labors of the Robinson.
Dr. Francia is, beyond doubt, one of the most remarkable characters of the age, and a man whose entire nature has been misunderstood. An array of startling facts here given, will go far to prove him a stern despot and a blood-thirsty tyrant, rather than the prudent and amiable pacificator which ceir imaginations have hitherto painted him.
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[Text: Edgar Allan Poe (???), “[Review of Henry T. Tuckerman's Isabel; or Sicily. A Pilgrimage, vol. 5, no. 1, July 1839, pp. 5:60-??]
Isabel; or Sicily. A Pilgrimage. By Henry T. Tuckerman. Lea and Blanchard, Philadelphia.
Mr. Tuckerman is known as the author of the “Italian Sketch Book,” and of many very readable articles in the magazines and annuals. Without much of profundity, of originality, or vigor, he is more than usually pure in style, and orthodox in sentiment. The present work will, we think, greatly enhance his reputation as a graceful and agreeable writer. The general plan has apparently been suggested by that of Bulwer's Pilgrims of the Rhine — although here the similarity ceases. Frederick Otley, an American gentleman, travels in Europe with the view of alleviating his grief for the loss of a beloved wife, leaving in hie southern home a daughter, in charge of her uncle, his brother. rue absence of the traveller is long continued, and the daughter, having grown to womanhood, forms the design of surprising him by a visit in Sicily, of which country Otley, in his last letter, expressed an intention of making the tour. The uncle accompanies her on the voyage,”and the volume concludes with the re-union of the family. The main, indeed the whole design, is to present the reader with a picturesque account of Sicily, and with the author's own reflections during a tour in that comparatively little travelled portion of the old world. The chain of fiction above mentioned, (which appears to us somewhat supererogatory) is given, says Mr. T., for the purpose of avoiding that egotistical tone from which it is difficult to escape in a formal journal, as well alto obviate the necessity of dwelling upon those unimportant details and circumstances which are common to every tour in Europe, and therefore too familiar to be interesting. There is an air of quiet enthusiasm pervading the whole of this little book, which, insensibly, has its influence upon the mind of the reader — disposing him to think well of Mr. Tuckerman as a man, not less than to be pleased with him as an author. There is much in his character, as we gather it from “Isabel,” of the warmest poetical impulse — of a perfectly unaffected romance.
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[Text: Edgar Allan Poe (???), “[Review of G. P. R. James's Memoirs of Celebrated Women, vol. 5, no. 1, July 1839, pp. 5:60-61]
Memoirs of Celebrated Women. Edited by G. P. R. James, Esq., author of De Orme, Ltfe of the Black Prince, etc. de. E. L. Carey and A. Hart, Philadelphia.
In general we dislike such title-pages as this. There is a misty atmosphere of humbug all about them, through which we peer with a suspicious eye. Time was when the duties of an editor were matter of perfect simplicity — at least so far as concerned the public comprehension of these duties; but “ we have changed all that” as the world grows older, and in every such announcement as we find here, there always lies perdu a very pretty little enigma.
In its solution there are several points to be considered. Sometimes, as in the case of those superb passionate tales the “Recollections of a Chaperon,” the work will be written, as well as edited, by a Lady Dacre. Here there is an affectation of modesty — yet the affectation is not altogether ungraceful. Of all the modern editorship this is, beyond doubt, the species least objectionable.
The editorship protective is of a different class. Here, as in the case of Mr. Willis, (whose fine taste should have taught him more intelligible things,) the author makes a somewhat droll how to a foreign audience, holding fast (God only knows why) to the arm of a Barry Cornwall. However, there is no harm in the world done, and the worst that can happen is a good hearty laugh on the part of the public.
But there is a third order of this editorial hurl-buggery which is positively no joke, and which should never be regarded as such by any decent individual. An example is found in the case of the London publisher, Bentley, who bad the downright impudence to get up, some time ago, a reprint of our own admirable “Nick of the Woods,” and announce it (no doubt to the great edification of Dr. Bird,) as under the editorial supervision of Mr. Benjamin D’Israeli.
In the present instance Mr. James evinces, we think, a sort of half consciousness of being engaged in a rather silly affair. The whole preface has the countenance of un mouton qui rête. “To day,” he says, with the air of an injured man, “it is necessary for an editor to state what be really has done for the work he edits, lest any false impression should be adopted by the public.” Having premised thus much, he goes on to show very clearly that in the case now in question he has done — precisely nothing at all. We could not wish a better commentary upon the whole editorial system. [page 61:]
The work itself (which we are told, is by an aunt of the author of Richelieu) is a plainly written compilation of interesting matters, sufficiently familiar to every ordinary reader of history. We have memoirs of Jaen of Arc, of Margaret of Anjou, of Lady Jane Grey, of Anna Comments, of Madams Je Maintenon, of Elizabeth of England, and of Donna Maria Pacheco.
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[Text: Edgar Allan Poe (???), “[Review of Anonymous (a gentleman)'s Advice to a Young Gentleman on entering Society, vol. 5, no. 1, July 1839, pp. 5:61-??]
Advice to a Young Gentleman on entering Society. By the Author of the “Laws of Etiquette.” Lea and Blanchard. Philadelphia.
Taking up this volume with a strong feeling of prejudice, induced by a certain ad captandum sir in the title, our attention was rivetted by the very initial sentences, and before getting through with the second page we acknowledged the hand of a master, The book is replete with a wordly [[worldly]] wisdom even profound; it is the product of a vigorous and cultivated mind, imbued with a thorough knowledge of its subject, and discussing it con amore.
The leading truths here inculcated, are, we think, the more important, because, being through their very nature confined to superficialities, or apparently so confined, the world at large is easily disposed to fall in with those frequent opinions of the grave and leaned which declare them inessential. But in this case we challenge the judgment of the tribunal, and will not abide by any decision which shall be “grave and learned.” Pour savoir ce qu’il est (Dieu) it faut étre Dieu même, says the Baron de Bielfeld, in speaking of a more august subject; but the spirit of his remark is abundantly applicable to the present matter in hand. To form any just estimate of the importance of habitual intercourse with our fellows, and, more especially, of an attentive regard to the modelling and polishing of our social habits, we must already be men of the world — we must have felt all the miseries of a mauvaise honte, and have revelled in all the luxury of a disenthralment from its bonds.
Upon the evils of an absolutely unsocial existence it is folly to comment. He who has, at any period, entered with heart into the proper spirit of a high society, will find even a temporary withdrawal from its usages (urged, let. us say, by necessity, or induced by disgust, or sought for the severer purposes of study) followed by very serious inconveniences, often by poignant mortification., always by a thorough conviction of man's unfitness for such existence, and of its enervating and debasing influence upon his intellectual powers, if not upon the whole organization of his moral being. Collecting and concentrating in his retirement an imaginary strength, the solitary student makes at length, for some long designed effort, a step into the world of busy life — but this step is feebly and irresolutely advanced. A farther progress fully awakens him to his weakness and his folly. The volition is in abeyance, which should vivify his forces, and impart to them decision. He now faits and perhaps acknowledges his error.
We could name no book whatever, in which are better exemplified the truth of opinions such as these than in the unpretending volume now before us. In almost every respect it is a valuable and exceedingly well written treatise. Among the detailed precepts which farm its body there is, perhaps, little to be found which the letters of Lord Chesterfield have not already given. But without the offensive heartlessness of those very objectionable writings, this American work equals them, at least, in all their reputable points — in vigor of thought and diction, in acumen, in practicability, and in evidences of wordly [[worldly]] knowledge.
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[Text: Edgar Allan Poe (???), “[Review of T. Wyatt's A Synposis of Natural History, vol. 5, no. 1, July 1839, pp. 5:61-62]
A Synopsis of Natural History; embracing the Natural History of Animals, with Human and General Animal Physiology, Botany, Vegetable Physiology, and Geology. Mandated from the latest French Edition of C. Lemmormier, Professor of Natural History in the Royal College of Charlemagne, with Additions from the Works of Cuvier, Damara, Lattpede, etc. Arranged as a Text Book for Schools. By Thomas Wyatt, A. M., Author of Elements of Botany, a Manual of Concholsgy, etc. Thomas Wardle, Philadelphia.
Mr. Wyatt is favorably known to the public as the author of an exceedingly well arranged, accurate, and beautifully illustrated “Conchology,” and has been mainly instrumental, we believe, in drawing that public attention to the science in this country which is now so obviously manifested. We hope that his success with the present publication will be commensurate with the wider range which he has taken. It cannot be denied that a synopsis such as be now puts forth has been long a desideratum. While there has been no deficiency of school books in any one of the sciences embraced within a proper course of Natural History, it must still have occurred to many as singular, that in a study whose very existence may be said to depend upon method, there should have been, hitherto, no attempt at collecting the parts into an easily discernible whole.
As the work of Mr. Wyatt professes to be simply a translation of the well known Tableaux of M. Lemmonnier, we need say little more in the way of recommendation than that all the useful spirit of the original has been preserved — and this we say from personal knowledge, and the closest [page 62:] inspection and collation. In changing the tabular form of the French publication to cute better suiting the purposes of our American schools, some little latitude was of course admissible and unavoidable. The book is a large octavo, beautifully printed on fine paper, and illustrated by forty-nine veil executed plates. Copies, colored with accuracy, under the superintendence of Mr. James Ackermann, are for sale at our principal bookstores. The whole work does credit to all parties, and should be patronized, not less for its intrinsic value than as a matter of just policy, by all Philadelphia/a who have the publishing interest of the city at heart.
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[Text: Edgar Allan Poe (???), “[Review of Brougham's Sketches of Public Characters, Discourses, and Essays, vol. 5, no. 1, July 1839, p. 5:62]
Sketches of Public Characters, Discourses, and Essays. To which is added a Dissertation on the Eloquence of the Ancients. By Henry Lord Brougham. Philadelphia, E. L. Carey and A. Hart.
This is an exceedingly interesting work, and should be in the hands of every one who reads at all. The first volume is made up of the introductions to the different speeches of Lord Brougham, which were intended to dualists the history of certain measures discussed, and, incidentally, of the periods to which they related. The aims is, to give a picture of the times, in an account of the persons who bore the chief part in their transactions, in the supposition that the course of state affairs, their posture at any given period, and the nature of the different measures propounded from time to time, can only be well understood by giving an accurate representation of the characters of those who figured most remarkably upon the stage. This portion of the book embraces a week of detail concerning Cobbett, Stephen, Perceval, Roscoe, Lord Castlereagh, Horner, Wilberforce, Bentham, Sir James Mackintosh, Canning, Huskisson, Grattan, and others.
The second volume is occupied with Lord Brougham's inaugural discourse on being installed Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow; practical observations upon the education of the people; a dissertation on the eloquence of the Ancients; with en appendix of translations from Demosthenes. In the matters here contained, Lord Brougham fully sustains his reputation for sound scholarship as well as profound and luminous criticism. The whole work is imbued with the racy spirit of the author's own intellect — an intellect essentially Demosthenic in the almost rude strength, directness, and impetuosity of its operations. We cannot too pointedly press this excellent publication upon the attention of our reader. The following passage is from a paper on marriage, divorce, and legitimacy.
“To illustrate by example him (Sir William Scott's) singularly relined and pungent wit in conversation, or the happy and unexpected quotations with which he embellished it, or the tersely told anecdotes with which be enlivened it, without for an instant fatiguing his audience, would be difficult — because it is of the nature of the refined essence in which the spirit of the best society consists, not to keep. When some sudden, and somewhat violent change. of opinion were impaled to a learned judge, who was always jocosely termed Mrs. —— , “Varium et mutabile smper femins,” was Sir William Scott's remark. A celebrated physician having said, somewhat more flippantly than beseemed the gravity of his cloth, “ Oh, you know, Sir William, after forty a man is always either a fool or a physician !” May'nt he be both, Doctor?” was the arch rejoinder, with a most arch leer, and insinuating voice, half drawled out. “A vicar was once,” (said his lordship,* presiding at the dinner of the Admiralty sessions) “so wearied out with his parish clerk confining himself entirely to the 100th psalm, that he remonstrated, and insisted upon a variety, which the man promised; but old habit proving too strong for him, the old words were as usual given out next Sunday, ‘All people that on earth do dwell.’ Upon this the vicar's temper could hold out no longer, and, jutting his head over the desk, he cried, ‘Damn all people that on earth do dwell!’ — a very compendious form of anathema,” added the learned chief of the spiritual court.”
FOOTNOTES
[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 62:]
* Sir W. Scott was, during the Latter years of his life, created a peer, by the title of Lord Stowell; but it is by his format name that he is known to the profession, and to the world.
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Notes:
None.
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[S:0 - BGM, 1839] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Criticism - Critical Notices [Text-02]