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not behindhand, and the ladies also took a lively part in the discussion. Seldom do we hear among us such sensible and coherent remarks.

RICHMOND, Virginia, May 20th.

On the 17th of May, we proceeded in the steam-packet to Wilmington; on the 18th, the weather continuing very warm, per railway to Weldon; whence we came the following night, by railway and stage-coach, to Richmond. The night was of course cooler than the day; but still very oppressive. I shared my seat, which was not more than sufficient for one, with a very tall gentleman, who had no place at all. At first I kept about half the space; but when my companion fell asleep, he stretched out his gigantic limbs, which had hitherto been folded up, after the fashion of a pair of tongs, and laid himself upon me in such wise that, as Dabelow says, I felt as if annihilated. Presently we had a new arrangement. I stretched my legs straight out from the seat; and he formed with his a bridge across me, resting the monstrous arch against the frame of a closed cross-window. To provide against the danger of breaking down, it was proposed to pass a sling beneath these immense pedestals, and hoist them higher up; but as his head was already considerably lower than his feet, a further elevation of them seemed too great a violation of the order of nature. These and similar things the Americans take very coolly, and never lose their composure; being intent only on the great object, viz. to go ahead! I can more readily enter into this, than into their dull, dry, severe Sundays, on which the negroes alone display any cheerfulness or enjoyment of life. These indeed strut about proudly among their belles, with ruffled shirts, white gloves, walking-canes, &c., in which European dandies would find it hard to outshine them. The negresses, in their white dresses and pink ribbons, render the contrast of their skin as conspicuous as our ladies.-Among the whites, the men are in proportion much larger and stronger than the women; partly, no doubt, in consequence of their manner of life.

WASHINGTON, May 26th, 1844.

The capitol of Richmond (which resembles the Maison Quarrée at Nismes) is admirably situated, and, like the Acropolis of Athens, presents itself in bold relief to all parts of the country round. There stands Houdon's statue of Washington, very interesting a faithful likeness, but destitute of true artistic con

ception and elevation. It has tight breeches and boots, thin legs attached to an inelegant belly, and is provided with a queue behind and a walking-stick. But the benevolent, noble countenance of Washington is the main point.

Thursday the 23d, early in the morning, we rambled from Charlottesville (Virginia) through woods and clover-fields, up towards Monticello, the residence of Jefferson. A place enclosed with a half-decayed wall attracted our attention. A half sunken tomb, neglected and in disorder, was there; and a damaged granite pyramid, already inclined to one side, with a partly defaced inscription containing the date of a birth and a death.*

Here, where the pressure of outward circumstances, the perishable nature of man's works, and the indifference of posterity and of nations, made themselves most bitterly felt, faith in true virtue and immortality rose with renewed vigor in my breast. "Put off thy shoes; for this is holy ground!" So said I within myself; until there intervened the disturbing thought of the many clergymen who affect to acknowledge the merits of Jefferson-Brutus is an honorable man!-and then add with a sigh, "But alas, he was an unbeliever!" In the infallibility of which of the numberless sects ought he then to have believed? What is belief, what unbelief? Intolerance, and the opinion that they possess the truth entirely and exclusively, are interwoven into the being and nature of theologians much more deeply and intimately than they themselves are aware of. Even those who sincerely strive after liberal views, and even pass for liberal men, are at length fettered within equally narrow bounds. When one of these expels the whole Catholic, and another the whole Protestant world, together with all philosophizing minds, from the temple, -how should Jefferson find grace? His memorable declaration of 1785, on behalf of Virginia, respecting religious liberty, is even grander and more comprehensive than the Declaration of Independence. With these two banners of victory, he will pass through the fiery ordeal of succeeding ages. If a church or a school rejects all toleration, and seeks to prove the necessity of maintaining even by force one and the same faith throughout the earth, and of establishing and supporting a universal church independent of the state and of the community, the plan at least is consistent and all of a piece. But what shall we say, when an American divine receives and adopts the so-called free-will system of Jefferson; and then condemns him, because he asks toleration for Jews, Mohammedans, and Pagans? Where are his Christian equity and charity, when, without proof, he slanderously

Jefferson's family and relatives directed money to be appropriated for the restoration of the monument; but either it was not sufficient, or has not been properly employed; or else time has again shown his power to destroy.

adds: that Jefferson declared and maintained all his great truths and principles, only to degrade Christianity? Consequently this "arch infidel" did not rejoice, but complacently laughed in his sleeve, because the great principles of his Declaration were true. When they want to level one of the gigantic forest trees in this country, but do not venture a direct attack upon it so as to fell it at once, they very gently peel off the bark round the trunk to the width of an inch; then the tree must die and fall to the ground, though its branches reached to heaven. Even so the stigma of infidelity is traced with airs of pretended sanctity around the name of Jefferson, in the hope that his glory will in like manner wither away. But he was a man who would have torn the sword and firebrand from the hands of Albas and Torquemadus, and their iron-bound textbooks from the war and damnation loving combatants of certain theological schools. He would also have put down the modern fashionable shrugging of the shoulders and hanging of the head, the feigned regrets, and the sweet honeydroppings with which many besmear the lips of their gaping auditors, that they may goodnaturedly or stupidly swallow the tough and indigestible things prepared for them.

WASHINGTON, 28th May.

On a

On one side of the steps of the capitol is placed a group in marble by Persico, brought from Naples. There is Columbus, stepping far forward, with his left hand placed very awkwardly on his hip, and his right stretched upwards, and holding a globeor a ninepin ball. Beside him is an Indian woman in a strangely contorted attitude, expressive either of hope or fear. Both knees are awfully twisted; her hands are too sharply turned; and to look at her from behind, she seems The whole group is exactly in the style and spirit of an extravagant actor. bridge in Paris such specimens of art may be in vogue; but I cannot approve, much less admire the work. Another new statue, by Greenough the American, represents Washington sitting, larger than life, in Roman costume, or rather like a Jupiter Tonans, with the upper part of his body quite naked. Notwithstanding many meritorious points in the work, this mode of conception and treatment does not exactly suit me ;* and I heard an American remark, that poor Washington must be cold and sadly want to put on a shirt! Rauch has been far happier in attempts

The strict philologist would also find not a little to criticise in the inscription on the fourth side: Simulacrum istud, ad magnum libertatis exemplum, nec sine ipsa duraturum, Horatius Greenough faciebat.

of this nature especially as regards the management and embellishment of drapery.

It is certainly very instructive to hear judgments passed on our native works in distant countries, whether they depart from or coincide with the ordinary opinion. I subjoin an extract from an article on Göthe's Egmont in the North American Review. After enumerating and acknowledging many great merits on the part of Göthe, the reviewer proceeds: "But what shall we say of the moral sense or intellectual perceptions of the poet, or of his regard for historic truth, who represents Egmont, the husband of an illustrious wife, and (like John Rogers) the father of nine children; the patriot, the hero, and statesman, the admired and beloved of a whole nation,-as the licentious lover of a low-born girl, whom he himself has seduced; and who thinks to heighten the tragic effect of a great and bloody historical catastrophe, by adding to it the self-poisoning of a fictitious paramour? It was bad enough for poor Egmont to have his head cut off by Alva; but it is far worse to have his character murdered by Göthe. What a conception of the romantic poetry must Göthe have formed, if he thought it necessary to intermingle lust and suicide with the shedding of patriotic blood, to give his dreams the romantic stamp. The true romantic spirit, made up of honor, courtesy, chastity, and the Christian virtues, appears to have been lightly esteemed by Göthe, either as a source of poetical effect, or as a controlling principle of life. A romantic hero, in his estimation, was a man who showed his lofty spirit by seduction and licentiousness. A rake, and his mistress, and his mistress's mother, were to him a highly 'æsthetic' group, and the very incarnation of romantic poetry."

This criticism, in its direct reference to individual facts, and to a certain work of art, has a distinct meaning and also a portion of truth. But Mr. Putnam goes into generalities with his accusations, when he says: "We can look upon Göthe as the embodiment of moral indifference. His want of moral sympathies was remarkable; and a moral duty he seems never to have recognised. He was cold, selfish, and deceitful. In Germany his name is synonymous with dissoluteness." If, as Mr. Putnam asserts, Germans said such things to him, he should not have repeated them, thus nude et crude, to the exclusion of other testimony.

Here is another very interesting specimen from the abovementioned American periodical : "If the novel be intended as a mirror of actual life, either past or present, it should contain not only events, but men and women. Character should be exhibited, not didactically, but dramatically. We demand human beings, -not embodied antitheses, or personified qualities, thoughts, or

passions. The author has no right to project himself into his characters, and give different proper names to one personality. We want a forcible conception and consistent development of individual minds, with traits and peculiarities which constitute their distinction from other minds. They should be drawn with sufficient distinctness to enable the reader to give them a place in his memory, and to detect all departures, either in language or action, from the original types. We desire beings, not ideas; something concrete, not abstract.

"To fulfil this condition seems easy; but the scarcity of men and women in current romances and plays proves at once, that it is difficult and indispensable. A wide range of what is sometimes called 'characterization' is very rarely found, even in the works of men of genius, or rather men with geuius. Byron's power in this respect only extended to one character, and that was his own, placed in different circumstances and modified by varying impulses. When he aimed at a larger range, and attempted to give freshness and life to individual creations, the result was feebleness and failure, which the energy and splendor of his diction could not wholly conceal. Manfred, Childe Harold, and Don Juan are the different names of one mind. Shakspeare's Timon comprehends them all, and is also more naturally drawn. Innumerable instances might be given, of strenuous attempts made in this difficult department, which have ended in ignominious failure. Dr. Young's Zanga and Shiel's Pescara are ideas and passions embodied. Iago is a man, possessing ideas and passions.

"In truth, to be successful in the exact delineation of character, requires a rare combination of powers,-a large heart and a comprehensive mind. It is the attribute of universality, not of versatility, or subtilty. It can be obtained only by outward, as well as inward observation. That habit of intense brooding over individual consciousness, of making the individual mind the centre and circumference of every thing, which is common to many eminent poets of the present age, has turned most of them into egotists, and limited the reach of their minds. They are great in a narrow sphere. They have little of that clear catholicism of spirit, which is even tolerant to opposite bigotries,' which seeks to display men as they are, not as they may be, or ought to be; which is not fanatical for one idea, and seeks not to be considered as the one inhabitant of the whole earth. Most of our great poets of the present century have taken the world into their hands, and made it over again, agreeably to a type of excellence in their own imaginations. The current subjective metaphysics of the day pursues the same method. Egotism in poetry and philosophy meets us every where. The splendid mental qualities often exercised in

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