صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

them to their death. It was not the masses that disliked the rule even of Cæsar; all the Roman historians, without exception, admit that they not only rendered him cheerful obedi. ence as a sovereign, but loved him as a friend and protector; and when he was assassinated by Brutus and Cassius, they wept over him as a benefactor. Then, did the masses of Frenchmen regard Napoleon as having enslaved them? Did they not, on the contrary, almost idolize him? Is not his memory revered by them to this day? Those most opposed to the present emperor at the beginning of his reign, called him Napoleon le Petit, lest he might profit by the prestige of his uncle.

That the British people of his time did not regard Cromwell as a despot, is also sufficiently manifest. Seldom has any English sovereign been more popular; nor has any sovereign conferred more glory on England.

Now, here are three instances in all history, of successful military chieftains causing revolutions in their own favor; for these three, at least fifty scheming politicians have usurped the supreme power, and ruthlessly oppressed their countrymen. Upon the other hand, for the three successful generals who took the supreme power into their own hands, fifty equally successful, though not all equally famous, yielded up their power freely after they had defeated the enemies of their country. The great Scipio took no advantage of having completely and finally destroyed Carthage, the only State of her time able to rival Rome, or dispute with her the empire of the world. Hannibal, who was able to maintain himself for nineteen years in the heart of Italy, defeating the best of the Roman generals at the head of their chosen legions, could at any time during this period, have enslaved his countrymen ; but although his troops were chiefly foreigners, the majority, Celts and Celtiberians, as we have shown in a former number of this journal, he was too generous to be guilty of any such base act. Then, to approach our own time and country, in all the South American States that have established their independence of Spain, there has not been a single instance of the successful general making himself a despot.

If we inquire who have been the most ferocious and

sanguinary tyrants, we shall find that far from being brave captains they were base cowards. This is emphatically true both of Caligula and Nero. The latter especially, was

a great talker; he had quite a voluble and bland tongue; and it is well known that none were more likely to suffer at his hands, than those whom he called his "dearest friends "— amici carissimi.*

But we do not think there is the least danger that Mr. Seymour will be elected. Mayor Hoffman would have been a much more formidable opponent to Gen. Grant, had he been nominated; vastly more reliance could have been placed on his word; and if elected, he certainly would have filled the presidential chair with more dignity and decorum, as well as with more ability than Mr. Seymour.

There is little doubt that General Grant will be elected; and there need be as little doubt that he will again prove himself worthy of the confidence of the American people. As to his dealing harshly with the Southerners, we do not be lieve he will. All know that it is not good, experienced soldiers that are constantly in dread of insurrections, but "non-combatant" politicians-persons who would see their country dismembered and crushed rather than expose their precious lives to the least danger.

Let the General provide himself with a good cabinet and all will go well. He certainly should not set aside all the cabinet of Lincoln and Johnson, but calmly take into consideration what each member has done, and what he has not done, as well as his honesty and fidelity, or his lack of those virtues compared with the functionaries occupying similar positions in the great nations of Europe.+ Pursuing this course he cannot do otherwise than reject two or three, but especially Mr. Seward, for although we do not approve of vituperation or scurrility, we must admit that Judge Black has pretty faithfully described our present Secretary of State, in his recent letter to the President.

* Vide Tacitus, passim.

+ Vide review of Address of Geneva Chamber of Commerce in our last num ber; also Art. III. in No. for Dec. 1867.

IX.-NOTICES AND CRITICISMS.

BELLES LETTRES.

Infelicia. By ADAH ISAACS MENKEN. Philadelphia, &c., 1868.

No publisher's name appears on this book; but it is advertised by J. B. Lippincott & Co., of Philadelphia; and on inquiry we have been informed that it is those gentlemen who introduce it to the American public. But we cannot say we are surprised at this. Why would they refuse to become the sponsors of a book so strongly recommended by the author of "Spiritual Wives?" Whatever panders to vice is very apt to pay; we have no doubt, therefore, that Lippincott has made quite a handsome affair of that work. Well may his countrywomen thank him for giving all the currency in his power to Mr. Hepworth Dixon's estimate of their virtue and fidelity!

He has now a still stronger claim on their gratitude, if it be true that it is he who recommends them this book. But some will ask, Has he a daughter, a wife, or a sister? We do not know whether he has or not; nor do we want to make any inquiry about his private affairs. We only judge him by his public acts; we ask, what would be said of the publisher of a sort of autobiography of Lola Montez, written in what is vulgarly called "prose run mad," and interspersed with eulogies from her paramours, the tout ensemble being styled poems, and attributed to the heroine?

It may be urged that perhaps Mr. Charles Dickens would not have honored Lola with an autograph letter to be prefixed to her "Infelicia," as he has Adah Isaacs Menken, although the former was certainly a more beautiful woman than the latter. Whether she was more virtuous, or as much so, it is not for us to say, although a censorious world has taken nearly equal liberties with the reputation of both. If Lola was not entirely innocent, perhaps Adah was. At least, this must be the belief of Mr. Lippincott; and we all know that an actress of the third or fourth rank is very liable to be slandered, especially when possessed of a certain amount of charms, and imbued with more than ordinary confidence in the honor and fidelity of mankind, especially of men who separate from their wives when they rise in the world!

Be this as it may, the "volume of poems" entitled Infelicia is not worth much. Had it been the work of an angel, it could not have done much good; the profane would have said that, after all, ambrosia must be intoxicating, or otherwise it should be concluded that angels sometimes rave, and utter things which neither gods nor men can understand. At all events, we must confess that we do not understand one fourth of the fine "poetry "attributed to Adah; and this one fourth is half "Proverbial

Philosophy," half "Leaves of Grass." It reads as if Tupper and Walt. Whitman had dictated to Adah alternately, leaving her time, however, But our judgto introduce some theatrical ejaculations here and there. ment and taste may be at fault; our readers may entirely disagree with us. As a matter of course, one of the best "poems" receives the first place. We will not garble this, but give the whole of the first stanza of "Resurgam:"

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

It was one young night in May.

The stars were strangled, and the moon was blind with the flying clouds of a black despair.

Years and years the songless soul waited to drift out beyond the sea of pain where the shapeless life was wrecked.

The red mouth closed down the breath that was hard and fierce.

The mad pulse beat back the baffled life with a low sob.

And so the stark and naked soul unfolded its wings to the dimness of Death! A lonely, unknown Death.

A Death that left this dumb, living body as his endless mark. And left these golden billows of hair to drown the whiteness of my bosom. Left these crimson roses gleaming on my forehead to hide the dust of the grave. And Death left an old light in my eyes, and old music for my tongue, to deceive the crawling worms that would seek my warm flesh.

But the purple wine that I quaff sends no thrill of Love and Song through my empty veins.

Yet my red lips are not pallid and horrified.

Thy kisses are doubtless sweet that throb out an eternal passion for me!
But I feel neither pleasure, passion nor pain.

So I am certainly dead.

Dead in this beauty!

Dead in this velvet and lace!

Dead in these jewels of light!
Dead in the music!

Dead in the dance ! "--p. 9.

Is this poetry or what is it? There are four other stanzas of the same kind, besides the closing one, which is brief and quite sanctimonious:

"How did I die?

No man has wrenched his shroud from his stiffened corpse to say:

'Ye murdered me!'

No woman has died with enough of Christ in her soul to tear the bandage from her glassy eyes and say:

Ye crucified me!'

Resurgam! Resurgam!"-p. 13.

Turning over the leaves of Infelicia somewhat listlessly, we find a poem "after Ossian," entitled "Battle of the Stars," in which Love is made to do everything great and good. But it will remind the classical reader much more of the atheistic Roman, than of the Celtic bardespecially of the passage in which Lucretius makes all things proceed from "Alma Venus," whom he declares to be the only creator of the universe,

Per te quoniam genus omne animantum
Concipitur, visitque exortum lumina solis.

But let us see one or two of the numerous good things Love does in the hands of Adah, and how poetically and gracefully his actions succeed each other. It seems that for some reason or other, he is the particular friend of Garabaldi, and the sworn enemy of Austria:

"It is thy powerful hand that lights up to Heaven the inspired life of Garabaldi. And it is thy undying power that will clothe Italy in the folds of thy wings, and rend the helmet from the dark brow of old Austria, and bury her in the eternal tomb of darkness."-p. 43.

Is not this a curious sort of poetry "after Ossian!" We find more curious still, however, as we proceed-such for example as the following line:

"Their black unmuzzled hounds howl their impatience as we come on watch in our glittering armor.”—p. 44.

The autobiographic part we leave it to others to extract. The moral lessons of Adah, may be very good for a publisher like Mr. Lippincott, but they are not such as we wish to present to our readers. We doubt whether they will pay in any sense, for if they have any charm, it is of a very coarse, outré kind.

[ocr errors]

We would gladly have passed the volume over in silence, but we find it is not alone in the newspapers, it is advertised as the work of a fast woman." Placards as large as a barn door, are posted in all parts of New York headed in the largest letters "Adah Isaacs Menken," and proclaiming that all should read her "revelations." Whether Mr. Lippincott be the author of the sensational placard, we will not undertake to say; it is quite possible that he has a rival in the business of seeking to make money by dragging before the public what decency and manliness, not to mention respect for the sex, should veil from vulgar

gaze.

EDUCATION,

The Scientific Basis of Elucation demonstrated by "an analysis of the Temperaments and Phrenological Facts, in connection with Mental Phenomena and the office of the Holy Spirit in the processes of the Mind. In a series of letters, &c., by JOHN HECKER. Octavo. A. S. Barnes & Co. 1868.

VERILY We Americans ought to be a wonderfully learned people! More text-books are manufactured for us annually than for any other people on the globe. We have now at least five hundred series of "spellers and definers" alone, not to mention grammars, geographies, atlases, etc., etc.; certainly more than the English, Germans and French combined. The last has always new features, all the modern improvements, and of course surpasses all the rest!

VOL. XVII.-NO. XXXIV. 25

« السابقةمتابعة »