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"From sylvan hills to cliffs that line the deep,
The beacon fires like flashing meteors leap;
On earthern mound the patriot banner gleams,
And high o'er all the startled eagle screams;
The powers shall fail who seek to chain the mind-
And whirlwinds they shall reap who sow the wind.

"Woe! woe! to Britain! trembling tyrant hence;
No longer mock ye, with a 'vain pretence;
This glorious land, by Pilgrims' children trod,
Shall own no master but the living God !
Up all ye drones! ye cankering spirits fly!
Hear while ye may-to-morrow you may die!"

Then couching in its rest his pondrous lance,
He waves his plume and gives a lightning glance :
Down, down the midnight street he holds his way—
Around his charger's heels the lightnings play;
High o'er the house-tops shoots the awful glow,
And faint and fainter rings his cry of woe.

The awe-struck leader stands with list'ning ear;
Before him sweep the mourners and the bier;
Beside him yawns the soldier's hasty grave,
And drums low beat the dead march of the brave.
He starts! o'er western hills the night has curled,
And morning's crimson bathes a waking world.

The night has pass'd-the spectre gone;
And, hark! upon the tented lawn,
From idle lounge and beauty's charms,
The pealing bugles call to arms!
The die is cast-and with the sun
Night sinks on blood-stain❜d Lexington.

And who was he, who 'mid the gloom,
Declared the vile oppressors' doom?
Whose armor spake of olden day,
When belted knights held honor's sway?
A spectre he, from noble urn,

The Bruce-the Bruce, of Bannockburn.
Washington, January, 1839.

J. E. D.

CURRENTE-CALAMOSITIES,

TO THE EDITOR.

FROM THE AUTHOR OF "THE TREE ARTICLES."

Now the truth of the matter is this, my dear Messenger: Some perhaps much too partial friends, have seen fit to suggest the continuation of those sylvan articles, some seven or eight of which have already appeared in your pages from my pen. They throw in my teeth the following passage from the closing paper of the series, published in your December number, and insist upon my using up my material instanter : “A mass of pencilled passages, marked in my books, by numerous dog's-ears offer themselves, for quotation," &c. &c. If you agree, I certainly can have no objection, other than the fear of boring the reader beyond his bearing; and so, if he will promise to cry "ohe! jam satis !" when he finds me "coming it rayther too strong," as Samivel Veller would say, here goes!

But I shall not confine myself to the forest in this new series of papers. I am "out of the woods,” and

shall "hollo" in what vein I choose: discoursing, as freely of the "sermons in stones, books in the running brooks, and good in every thing," as I have hitherto done, and shall yet do, of those eloquent "tongues in trees," some of whose teachings I have endeavored to translate, for the benefit of the indulgent reader.

And, by the bye;-did you see that most horrible of horrid puns, in what one "W" has written in the National Intelligencer, about your sylvan correspondent? He intimates that I have raised in his mind the presumption, that I am lineally descended from Titus Oates,"because vy?" Because I have written Trees-on! Is not that too bad? What-a-stone must have been the heart of the perpetrator of such a pun! But all this, episodically.-Revenons' a moutons.

Here is a string of the dog's-eared passages alluded to, which were turned down for use, but were not used, in the tree papers. I take them as they present themselves.

1. A LANDSCAPE, FROM POPE.

"See Pan with flocks, with fruits Pomona crowned, Here, blushing Flora paints the enamelled ground: Here, Ceres' gifts in waving prospect stand, And, nodding, tempt the joyful reaper's hand." 2. A NIGHT SKETCH, BY GAY. "But when the gloomy reign of night returns, Stript of her fading pride all nature mourns. The trees no more their wonted verdure boast, But weep in dewy tears their beauty lost." 3. FROM "6 THE GRAVE;" BY BLAIR. "Oh! when my friend and I, In some thick wood have wandered heedless on, Hid from the vulgar eye, and sat us down,

Upon the sloping cowslip-covered bank,

Where the pure limpid spring has slid along,

In grateful errors, through the underwood,

Sweet murmuring; methought the shrill-tongued thrush Mended his song of love," &c.

4. AN INVOCATION; BY THOMSON.

"Ye woodlands all, awake! A boundless song Burst from the groves! And when the restless day, Expiring, lays the warbling world asleep,

Sweetest of birds! sweet Philomela, charm
The listening shades, and teach the night His praise!"
5. A PENCIL DRAWING, BY MALLET.
"Far in the windings of a vale,

Fast by a sheltering wood,
The safe retreat of health and peace,

An humble cottage stood."

John Dyer, the author of "The Fleece" and "Grongar Hill," is a true sylvan. He worships Pan with the true devotion of an orthodox believer. See!

6. A MOONLIGHT SCENE, IN FIVE LINES.-Dyer.
"When many-colored evening sinks behind
The purple woods and hills, and opposite
Rises, full-orbed, the silver harvest-moon,
To light the unwearied farmer, late afield,
His scattered sheaves collecting," &c.

7. A GLIMPSE FROM GRONGAR HILL.-Dyer.
"Below me trees unnumbered rise,
Beautiful in various dyes:

The gloomy pine, the poplar blue,

The yellow birch, the sable yew,
The slender fir, that taper grows,
The sturdy oak, with broad-spread boughs."
8. THOMAS WARTON SAYS:
"Musing through the lawny park,
The lonely poet loves to mark
How various greens in faint degrees
Tinge the tall groups of various trees.
While, careless of the changing year,
The pine cerulean (?) never sere,
Towers distinguished from the rest,
And proudly vaunts her winter-vest."
9. THUS LANGHORNE :

"Has fair Philosophy thy love?
Away! she lives in yonder grove!
If the sweet Muse thee pleasure gives,
With her, in yonder grove, she lives!
And if Religion claim thy care,
Religion, fled from books, is there;
For first from Nature's works we drew
Our knowledge, and our virtue too!"

This should have been selected as the standing motto of "the tree papers." So apt!

Here is a fine passage, from "The Village Curate," a poem by James Hurdis, an English poet, who died in 1901.

10. A BOOK TO READ.-Hurdis.
-Let us read

The living page, whose every character
Delights, and gives us wisdom. Not a tree,
A plant, a leaf, a blossom, but contains
A folio volume. We may read, and read,
And read again, and still find something new
Something to please, and something to instruct."
11. A PRETTY SIMILE.-Hurdis.

"But mark, with what peculiar grace yon wood,
That clothes the weary steep, waves in the breeze
Her sea of leaves !"

12. THE TRUE WOOD-FEELING.-Hurdis.
"How peaceable and solemn a retreat,
This wood affords! I love to quit the glare
Of sultry day, for shadows cool as these:
The sober twilight of this winding way
Lets fall a serious gloom upon the mind,
Which checks, but not appals. Such is the haunt
Religion loves,-a meek and humble maid,
Whose tender eye bears not the blaze of day."
"The farmer boy" was a true poet of nature.
him!

13. WOODLAND CONTENTMENT.-Bloomfield.
"Welcome silence! welcome peace!
Oh! most welcome, holy shade!
Thus I prove, as years increase,
My heart and soul for quiet made.
Thus I fix my firm belief,

While rapture's gushing tears descend,
That every tree and every leaf

Is moral Truth's unerring friend.
"I would not, for a world of gold,
That Nature's lovely face should tire;
Fountain of blessings yet untold!

Pure source of intellectual fire!

Hear

Fancy's fair buds, the germs of song,

Unquickened midst the world's rude strife, Shall sweet retirement render strong,

And morning silence bring to life!

"Then tell me not that I shall grow
Forlorn, that fields, and woods will cloy :
From Nature, and her changes, flow
An everlasting tide of joy!

I grant, that summer heats will burn,
That keen will come the frosty night,—
But both shall please,—and each, in turn,
Yield reason's most supreme delight.

"Build me a shrine, and I could kneel
To rural gods,-or, prostrate fall;
Did I not see, did I not feel,

That one Great Spirit governs all. Oh Heaven! permit that I may lie

Where o'er my corse green branches wave; And those, who from life's tumult fly,

With kindred feelings press my grave !"

There's "the baker's dozen!" Perhaps I will give you another batch, (to continue the metaphor,) hereafter. At present, I have a word or two of my own to say to you.

You may remember that the article you did me the honor to publish in your December number was dated at Newburyport, in the state of Massachusetts. I had intended to say something therein of that most beautiful of spots, but feared to tire the reader's patience. It is my native town, and rich, in my estimation, with a thousand treasured recollections. Beautifully situated upon the banks, and near the mouth, of one of the loveliest of American rivers, the Merrimack, down towards the margin of which it slopes gently, it affords a fine view from the river of its regularly laid out streets, and handsome buildings. It is about a mile in length, with a pretty and populous village adjoining it on each extremity, through all of which for some miles extends a wide street, bordered with fine old elms and sycamores, some of which are of enormous growth, and most affluent profusion of foliage. The upper side of this long street is the highest part of the town, and forms the summit of the hill upon which the whole is laid out, amphitheatrically. This ridge is chiefly occupied with dwelling houses of tasteful architecture, surrounded by verdant parks, and ample gardens, with an abundance of trees. There is a beautiful public common upon this street, in the rear of which, deep sunken in the midst of a circular range of hills, is a little lake, famous in that vicinity as the skating ground, for more than one century, of more than four generations. While I was enjoying my late visit to these scenes of my childhood, I derived much enhancement of that enjoyment from watching the progress of an improvement then going on, upon the margin of this mimic lake, which was peculiarly gratifying to my feelings and my taste. They were extending the promenade in front entirely round the pond, so as to take in the entire amphitheatre of hills, as a part of the common. This done, the citizens were called on, each who might wish to do so, to set out, his favorite tree upon the newly laid out grounds. The call was responded to with prompt alacrity, and ere I left the

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"Where is Beauty? where?" Cried echo from her cell;

And the forest wav'd, and the streamlet there In a silvery cascade fell.

The light clouds, floating high,

Threw shadows o'er the green;

And an unseen hand drew out on high
The bow of tinted sheen.

The setting sun-beams threw
On earth a livelier tinge,
And the clouds of a royal-purple hue
Were edged with a golden fringe.
Then autumn's wondrous wand
Touch'd forest, hill and sky,
And sky and hill and forest land
Did glow most gorgeously.

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"A ship laden with bones from Hamburgh arrived at Lossiemouth, on the 25th of Oct. 1829, the property of an agriculturist of Morayshire, and intended for manure. The master of the vessel states that these bones were collected from the plains and marshes of Leipsic, and are part of the remains of the thousands of brave men who fell in the sanguinary battles fought between France and the Allies, in Oct. 1813."--Imperial Magazine, London, 1829.

The bones of the heroes! yes, bear them away
From the spot where they fell on that blood-flowing day,
When Leipsic's wide marshes and trampled plains rung
To the cannons' wild music as dreadful they sung;
The captain and soldier no longer are known-
No crest speaks the rank, and no gold gilds the bone.
And England, the power that o'er Waterloo roll'd
Her legions undaunted in crimson and gold,
And bore to the isle, in the midst of the wave,
The ruler of princes, the brave of the brave,-
Has now their white bones on her cold hill-sides spread,
Gathered up by the boor from the field of the dead.

Ha! there lies the arm of a prince of the blood,
And there a tall grenadier rests in the mud,
And yonder the spider his light web has spun,
Round the skull of the chief, and the breech of a gun;
The worm has dined well with the wolf and the raven,
And the blood of the bold tinges that of the craven.

And say, ye philanthropist, shall not the dust
Of the bones of ambition and rapine and lust,
Bring good to mankind, when they fatten the soil,
And hasten the end of the husbandman's toil-
Make the tall grass to wave and the moss rose to bloom,
Where floated the banner and fluttered the plume?

There leave them to moulder, both horseman and horse,
They slumber as sound as on rampart or fosse;
And plainer the lessons they teach shall be read,
Than when they lay whitening the field of the dead :
There pride may be taught, how the proudest have sank,
When the wolf howled their dirge as the warm blood
he drank.

And when the last trumpet of terror shall sound,

And the dead muster strong from the deep and the

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DESULTORY SPECULATOR.

ACTORS.

dramatic art to be more highly esteemed, and the emperors themselves would occasionally condescend to dispute the crown with a gladiator or a player. History informs us that the empress Domitia died of love for an actor named Paris. Caligula made Apelles a minister of his intimate councils; but this monster, it is well known, was very capricious-for, having heard on one occasion, the cries of a poor player, whom they were flagellating, as was then the custom, he thought his voice so very melodious, that, to prolong the pleasure he experienced, he caused the flagellation to be repeated. In the reign of Constantine, after he had embraced the christian religion, the dramatic art was denounced by the councils, and players were proscribed. St. Leo, in his epistles, has declared, that theatrical spectacles having been invented to corrupt the heart

It is a curious fact, that the greatest actors have been produced in those nations, where they have been the least esteemed as men. Among the Romans the thea trical art was carried to a higher state of perfection than among the Greeks, and the Romans held actors as slaves, while in Greece they were freemen, and devoted to a profession which was far from being considered as dishonorable. Among a people so lively, ardent, and spirited, this art made rapid progress. Eschylus is said to have performed in his own tragedies, and players were sometimes elevated to the offices of state. Among them may be found ambassadors and ministers. Aris-and destroy the soul, no one can doubt but that the todemus, the actor, was sent by Athens, as one of the Devil assists in person, in all these exhibitions—and in ten ambassadors, to treat with Philip of Macedon, who all past ages players have been pursued by the thundid not look upon it as offensive. The most ancient ders of the church. But notwithstanding this hostility, Greek tragedian of whom we have any knowledge, theatrical representations were at last introduced into was Archelaus. Lucian says of him, that when in cathedrals and monasteries. Scriptural subjects were Abdera, he personated the character of Perseus in the frequently thrown into a dramatic form during the midAndromeda of Euripides, and the effect of his perfor- dle ages, and exhibited by monks. These were called mance was such that almost all the spectators were MYSTERIES, or the Sacred Comedy, and originated, acaffected by a species of insanity, and ran about the cording to Warton, in the following manner. At the streets for several days animated by the same passions, fairs, established by Charlemagne in France, and Wilrepeating the same gestures, and exhibiting the same liam the Conqueror, and his Norman successors in Engfury as Archelaus. Satyrus, who distinguished himself land, the merchants, for the purpose of drawing to them as an actor, after Archelaus, though his acting had not large assemblages of people, employed jugglers, minthe same effect, was, nevertheless, of great service to strels and buffoons to amuse those who attended. The Demosthenes. It was he who corrected the defects of arts of these men were gradually extended and imhis elocution, and who taught him finally to declaim | proved, till the clergy observing that these annual celewith as much elegance as himself. This celebrated brations made the people less religious, by producing orator had been ignorant of the art of giving force and idleness and a love of festivals, proscribed the amusegrace to his orations, by a just and impressive elocu- ments and excommunicated the performers. But findtion. His enunciation was embarrassed, painful, and ing that little or no regard was paid to their censures, defective, and he was often hissed in the midst of his they determined to take these recreations into their own finest discourses. Satyrus took him in charge, and hands, and turned actors themselves, and represented succeeded in removing all his defects of elocution. stories taken from the Bible. Music was introduced Greece, however, does not seem to have produced any into the churches, which were employed as the theatres, actor of very great eminence in his art, while the Roman for the representation of holy comedies or farces, such writers speak in high terms of their Esopus and as the festivals among the French called the fete des Roscius, though the profession itself was regarded as Foux, de l'ane, et des Innocens, which became great fainfamous. Cicero has given to the actor the title of vorites. Thus originated the MYSTERIES or Sacred artist; and the two players referred to, by their superior Drama, which is said to have given rise to the first contalents and skill, caused the unjust humiliation of their ception of Milton's sublime epic, the Paradise Lost. state to be forgotten. These two men, the one in tra- Warton also mentions a curious tragedy, written by a gedy, and the other in comedy, attained to great dis- Jew named Ezekiel, in which the principal characters tinction and wealth. Their income must have been were Moses, Sapphira, and God, from the Bush. It immense. Roscius is said to have received daily about one was the first scriptural drama, and written after the dehundred and eighty dollars. Æsop gave an entertainment struction of Jerusalem, to animate, Warton supposes, on one occasion, at which a single dish was served up the dispersed Jews with the hopes of a future deliverwhich cost from three to four thousand dollars, and he ance. Moses delivers the prologue, and his rod is turndied worth several millions. It is related of this actor, ed into a serpent on the stage. The following is a brief that from the impulse of genius and enthusiasm, he so description of another of these religious dramas. The identified himself with the character he was personating, play opens with songs-a little boy first enters, and that he slew an actor near him, whom he mistook for after wishing the audience great pleasure from the exThiestes. Disgraceful as this art was esteemed, how-hibition, retires. The DEVIL then makes his appearance, ever-for the Papian law absolutely interdicted the who drives before him, with a whip, a poor old man, marriage of Roman senators with women who had ever who makes known to him his infirmities; but the inferexhibited themselves on the stage-Roman knightsnal spirit, instead of being moved by pity, twists a serwere sometimes found willing to appear on the boards, even before the downfall of the republic. After this, theatrical enthusiasm continued to increase, and the

pent round his neck, which holds an apple in his jaws. The old man sinks senseless on the ground. DEATH comes, and is preparing to carry off the body, when JɛVOL. V.-3

lation that an actor would participate with him in the joys of Paradise.

SUS CHRIST rushes before it, and with a blow of the cross puts Death and the Devil to flight. He then touches the old man, who is Adam, and who revives by Modern nations do not seem to be less prejudiced the power of his touch-puts a crown upon his head, against the professors of the dramatic art than the anand after making him repeat his prayers, carries him cients. France has produced perhaps the greatest numto heaven. The second act exhibits the ten command-ber of skilful and distinguished actors, and yet a strong ments, and the third the sacrament of baptism. Tar- prejudice exists against them in that nation. In Entarus is then taken, stripped of his habiliments, cast into a cave, and bathed in several pails of water. This is followed by a number of buffooneries-and when the play ends, the same little boy reappears and makes his respects anew to the audience.

gland, however, this prejudice is not carried to quite so great a length. Actors of talent are sometimes received into the best society, and many into families of high rank. Lord Chatham corresponded with Garrick, and his ashes repose in Westminster Abbey, where those of Byron have been refused admittance.

In this country public opinion is not so favorable to the professional player as to the professor of the fine arts; although I do not think the one is less an artist than the other, or less entitled to the respect and admiration which genius and skill in those arts are calculated to beget. A little of the old puritanical feeling still subsists among the descendants of those who brought with them the strong prejudices which formerly existed in England against players; but this is beginning to wear rapidly away, and a more liberal, enlightened and rational sentiment respecting them and their profession now very generally prevails. The most distinguished for talent are admitted freely into the best society, and admired and respected in proportion to their genius as artists and their character as men. But in the United

and medical talent and industry, the occupation of a "poor player, who struts and frets his hour upon the stage," is not one, however alluring the fame may be which it promises, that will induce many to follow it. In this profession, however, no ordinary man can attain perfection or fame. A great actor must be a man of genius-must unite to the intellectual many of the best physical powThe tragedian should be the creature of passion, and possess great sensibility and intelligence, as well as a fine person and a good voice. He should, according to Talma, (himself an admirable model,) be gifted with an imagination which "associates him with the

ers.

The church has always denounced theatrical amusements and those who have made acting a profession. Christian burial has been denied to them-and even in the present century a cure of Paris refused his prayers and church to a beautiful danseuse of France. Yet, what will appear somewhat singular, the stage, after all, has furnished a greater number of saints than most other professions. The lawyers can boast of St. Ives-the physicians and surgeons, of St. Comes and St. Damian the notaries, of St. Crispin, the protector of shoemakers; while the players claim one martyr, St. Gelasin—three male saints, namely saints Genest, Ardaleon and Porphyrus, and one female saint, St. Pelagius. The latter flourished in the fifth century, and exercised her art at Antioch. She was converted by the preaching of Nonus, and, from that moment, renounced the world, its pleasures and pursuits, sold her property, and dis-States, where the most splendid field is opened to legal tributed the proceeds among the poor. She left Antioch, dressed in male habiliments, and, taking the name of Pelagius, retired near Jerusalem, upon the mount of Olives, where she lived as a recluse and led a very austere and religious life. The fame of her good works spread in a short time far and near, and she became in the end quite a celebrated saint. It was not, however, till after her death that her sex was dis covered. Genest lived in the reign of Dioclesian who ordered him to exhibit the christian mysteries, for the purpose of turning them into ridicule. One day, as Genest was exhibiting the ceremonies of baptism, he is said to have been suddenly illuminated by an inter-inspiration of the poet, transports him back to times nal light, and publicly declared his wish to be baptised. that are past, and renders him present and identified This was at first supposed to be a mere feint to exhibit with those historical personages or impassioned beings, his character with greater effect. He was made to that have been created by genius-that reveal to him, perform all the usual ceremonies-re-clad in a white as if by magic, their physiognomy, their heroic stature, robe, conducted before a statue of Venus, and ordered to their language, their habits, all the shades of their chaworship it. But Genest openly protested that he was a racter, all the movements of their soul, and all their real christian, and would not worship either prostitutes peculiarities, and that enable him to enter into the most or wooden idols. This afforded much mirth to the tragic situations and the most terrible of the passions, audience at first, and the emperor himself supposed it as if they were his own." These remarks are very was a mere piece of pleasantry in the actor; but as just. To express passion in all its shades and varieties, soon as they found he was in earnest, the lictors were it must be felt, and the actor must be subjected to all ordered to advance and he was publicly whipped on the extremes and vicissitudes of passion, and consult the stage. Genest, however, remaining firm to his and study in his own nature, before he can exhibit them new faith, Dioclesian sent him to the prefect, and he in all the truth and power of reality. "In my own was put to the torture; but nothing could vanquish person, (says the same tragedian,) in any circumhis constancy, and he was finally decapitated in the stance of my life in which I experienced deep soryear 303. Porphyrus and Ardaleon, both players, row, the passion of the theatre was so strong in me, obtained the honor of martyrdom in the same manner. that although oppressed with real sorrow, and in the They were both converted while representing the chris- midst of the tears I shed, I made, in spite of myself, tian mysteries, and both beheaded. It was the opinion a rapid and fugitive observation on the alteration of St. Thomas that the dramatic art had nothing unlaw-of my voice, and on a certain spasmodic vibration, ful in it, and he cites the authority of St. Paphnucius, which it contracted in tears-and I say it not withwho asserts that it was communicated to him in a reve-out some shame, I even thought of making use of it

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