Newspapers / Southern Weekly Post (Raleigh, … / Sept. 30, 1854, edition 1 / Page 2
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- ,-r - Til if - Vv. 170 i i t -A :' if "J., '"Hail borrow, Ml nI tlion profoondcat hell, Relieve thy new poMeseor-- ;v ; " ; The mind is its own ptaca and in itself, '- J , Caa make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven." Pope strings five Ks together in one line, in describing the labor of Sisyphus in rolling the atone up hill you can almost hear the poor man panting : With many a weary step and many a groan, Up the high hill, ba heaves the hugeonnd stope." Again the same poet barbs the point of his sarcasm upon h malicious scribbler by a skillful alliteration: s ' " Yet let me flap this bug with gilded wings : i A painted child of dirt that stinks and stings." Gray indulges frequently in alliteratiou, ex. qr. M Weave the warp and weave the woof" ' Ruin seize thee, ruthless King," fcc. J3ut if any one wants to see this figure of speech happily employed on the side of truth and virtue, and perhaps carried to an extreme, let him go to that storehouse of witty and ; , pithy English proverbs : Matthew Henry's Com ; menlary on the Bible. I will just give you a sample or two. On woman's formation Mit of Adam, lie says : "Eve's being ma Je after Adam and out of him puts an honor upon that sex, as . i.'i the glory of the man. The man was dust re-j.-. I. fined, the woman was dust, double refined one " l ,L remove further from the earth !" Gentleman ! stand uncovered in the reseuce of your supe riors! r V Ag-in : Whom G -d appoints to any office he'. anoints for it." Of a man dalbjing with a dan irerous: temptation, he s;is : "The oolih fl . yin-s fifr wins atiil foi away her life bv fi ing. about the ca die " on letting the guilty go unpunished, he says : " Foolish pity spoils the city." Hear this ye juries, who show a mi plac-d .tenderness for murderers, and a cruel indifference to the public jeace ! Take one other aample ofAIIifcration, from, the Latin, and we hav done : ' Juuiures ' ad labores, Seniores ad hon ores." If the young are willing to accept their share of the proverb, of course, we old folk, are very willing to accept of ours. COLLOQUIAL ABUSES. I introduce this part of ray lecture for the juvenile part of my audience, and therefore the rest if the company will please to excuse me if oine of she . mistakes censured are committed only by novices in the language. That miserable baibarism done for did, is too bad,, an I can't be too c- refully avoided. ' He done it without thinking," fec. So when a speaker concludes, he sometimes says: " am done;" for '"I have done." Ifybu werea loaf of bread in the oven, when you were thorough . ly cocked, .you might with piopriety cry out to the baker : " I am done" " Llim and me ta'ked it over "bad as it is, I have heard something like it from the lips of one of our big men, who had been at the University. " Be tween you and I," tho' nearly as bad, I lliave heard from a much greater man. The use of lay for lie (ex. qr. : Let it lay there," " he laid down to sleep,") fec, is a mistake constantly commit ted in respectable conversation and is some times found in first rate authors. Pope, in oue of the finest passages of the Iliad, is guilty of the blunder, and so is Lord Byron in his beau, tiful Address to the Ocean. Addressiixr ocean lie says : Man's steps are not upon thy paths -r-thou dost arise, And shake him from thee- Spurning him from thy bosom to the skies, And seud'st him shivering in thy playful spray, And daahest him again to earth there let him lay, for lie, betrayed by the rhyme. Nor is this the first or the last instance in which a poet has been betrayed into false grammar by the exigencies of his rhyme so fine a one as Henry Kirk White, in hiaV beautiful hymn " The Star of Bethlehem," uses " blowed " for " blew :" J Once on the rdging seas 1 rode . Tho storm was loud, the night was dark ; The ocean yawned, and rudely hlnwed, The wind that tossed my found'ring bark." Having mentioned the twppoets; Lord Byron and II. K. Whit" in connexion, many of my hearers will be reminded of those b autiful and touching lines of Lord Byron on the early death of that ove!y young genius who fell a victim to his too fond pursuit of fame and science. The poet compares him to an eagle brought down from the clouds by 'an arrow fledged from his o wn winr one of the most nohlp nim;iua be found in any poet, but not original with Lord Byron. I quote a part of it, not only to feast t your taste of the "beautiful, but to point out an error in the application of a word, as well as to ..show the, source whence his Lordship borrowed, not to say stole, the idea: Unhappy White .' while life was in its spring, And thy young muse just waved her joyous wing ; The spoiler came ; and all thy promise fair, Has sought the grave to sleep forever there ! . 'Twns'thine own genius gare the final blow. And helped to plant the wound that laid thee low : So the struck eagle stretch'd upon the plain, No more thro' rolling clouds to soar again, View'd his own leather on the fatal dart. And wingd tho shaft that quivered in his heart. Keen wore hia pangs, but keener far to feel, Ho nursed the pinion which impeWd the steel While the game plumage that had wanned his nest. Drank the last lile-drop of his bleeding breast. If it be not sacrilege to take a single plume: from this splendid passage, I would inquire whether it be correct philosophy to say that the feather impels the steel, or only guides it ; and I would claim for Waller the honor of having preceded him in the use of this image. To a lady who killed him with a song to which he himself had composed the words he says : That Eagle's fate and mine are one. Which on the shaft that made him die, Espied a feather of his own, Wherewith he wont to aoar so high. But Waller's is only the skeleton of " the Apollo ;" By ron's is " the Apollo" itself. I am fearful of extending this address be yond all reasonable length, but there are still everal barb ;risras which I wish to jugulate be fore I leave this part cf my subject. Conduct, as an intransitive verb (as 44 he conducted bad ly" she does not know how to conduct") is h r r rid. I have never seen it in any English au thor, yet it is universal throughout New Eng land and even beyond. Scarcely any of their authors, below the first rate, are superior to it. I have met with it in Dr. Nott and Hum phreys, Presidents ofColleges ; Jocob Abbott and Barnes ; but never in the North Ameri- i 'It is not original even with Waller, but comes down from the Greek. .. . can Review, Prescott,- fcc. The Losphorus brought lately so "much into notice by the ope ration of war,vought to be spelled without the A. Cotemporurjf for contemporary and Del phos for Delphi, Bently tried to crush with his enant hand, but tlfey still survive. So miletum C3 ' for miletu8, in one passage of the Bible (" Tro- pbimus have I" left at miletum sick,") has stood uncorrected in all our editious. The word trans- pire, as it meets us at every turn, in the sense of occur, is sickening to every lover f correct language. In its legitimate sense, namely "to leak out, to escape from concealment, it is a beau tiful word, corresponding to its derivation, that is, the breathing rf some vo'ati'e essence through a porous medium. " Congress is sitting with closed doors nothing has yet transpired," is all right But the fashionable-slang : Nothing has yet transpired, the troopj arrived,'' &c, every scholar ejght to be ashamed of. There is orie modern violation of the King's English on which I wish to remark before con eluding ; I mean the alteration of the present participle in-ing in a passive sense : ex. qr. " At tempts were making for the universal progress of 'Christianity" (Ilobt. Hall) very many writers nowadays would say : " attempts were being made I have, f6r many years, been noticing the usus loquendi 'on th s idiom of our language, and hae found that the weight of authority is decidedly against the new fangled phrase and in favor of the old idiom I will quote a few of the foremovt modem English classics. The 'North American Review Hi ds fault with Dick ens for using " the new fanglod and uncouth -oh cism 4 is being done' for the good old Eng lish idiom is doing,' an ab-urd periphrasis" they say, "driving out a pointed aud pithy teVm of the English lano-tia-re." ' When these atrocities were daily perpetrating, -(Sir J. Mcintosh.) " The lamps were lighting." (Miss Edgcworth ) " While these preparations were making in Scotland." (Macaulay.) " Designs which were forming against his throne." (Ibid.) ' Round hia little fleet a boat was rowing." (Ibid.) " While the foulest judicial murder, which had disgraced even these times, was perpetrating." (Ibid.) These are only a few I have selected from a mass of others out of Walter Scott, Hume, Gol smnlt, &c. But all these barbarisms, in single words, are nothing, compared with the wholesale con tamination of our language, by such books as Major Jack Downing, Major Jones's Courtship, and above all, the Ethiopian Melodies. To these last there are still stronger objections. I can not but think that a young lady must lose some thing of her-, refinement by accustoming her mouth to the utterance of such gross vulgarisms, a id must be in some danger of imitating inic-r own speech the slang she finds set to her music and daily utters at the piano. How shocking to hear coming out of an ivory throat and coral lips such strains as this : Oh Miss Lucy's teeth is grinning, Just like a ear of corn ; And her eyes, dey look so winning, Oh would I'd ne'er been born I axed her for to marry Myself, de toder day ; She said she'd rudder tarry So I let her hab her way. But another deformity ot these Ethiop bal lads is, that many of them make sport of hu man miseries, and mock at the affections of the heart, when ascribed to sable lips. This must always impair our fine moral sensibilities: "I would not number on my list of friends The man that causelessly treads upon a worm." DESTINY. I have extended my remarks on the previous topics to such length that a few words only must suffice for our last proposed head : the .destiny of the English language. It has pleased God to make this language the vehicle of thouo-ht and action to the two nations on the face of the earth, which would seem to deserve, if any can, the possession of such a treasure Great Britian and the United States. They are precisely the qa'.ions, who, by the long enjoyment of civil and religious freedom, have made their native tongue the depository of all the glorious speeches and bpoks that have been made for the enlighten ment and i he moral advancement of the human race. In that language alone, since the days of ancient Greece and Rome, have the noble ener gies of the human soul and its heaven born paintings after the great and the good, dared to find an utterance. There have been, no doubt. "mute, inglorious Miitons," Hampdehs, Chat hams, Burkes, Franklins, Henrys, Washington, in France, in Austria, Russia, Turkey and Italy carrying the same sacred flame of patriotism in: their hearts; but it was locked up there, con suming the breasts in which it was imprisoned, and daring not to breathe itself forth for fear of the dungeon and the rack. But happier Tar is it when the divine spark is lighted up in an Anglo-Saxon bosom. For 300 years have the champions of civil and religious liberty and the oracles of moral wisdom been pourino- out their neart-stirnrig strams in the immortal dialect of Sidney, Locke, antf Mikon ; and the consequence has been, that the vast mass of precious thought and feHn'g that has been glowing and working in ten thousand human minds, during thatlono period, has been embodied in the English Lan guage" apples of gold in network of silver " hearts of nature's finest mould embalmed in am ber for the worship of future ages. Alexander of Macedon kept the Iliad of Homer in the jew- efea casket ot lanus. But since the art of printing, we need no other casket for the preser vation of our works of genius than the wide spread volumes of the English language. Blot out the English language, and you would ex tinguish the voice of liberty and truth and right eousness, from the modern world. Oh, how would the tyrants of the earth, political" and ec clesiastical,' rejoice, at the putting out of that fight, at the hushing of that voice ! In the ae of Augustus, it was treaton to read the noble bursts of Cicero, in defence of the liberties of his country ; and in England's Regenerate days, a Charles II, burned the wojrks of Milton, and tried Co seize his person. Bit thanks to Heaven, and- to the Press, his instrument, the etherial -products of the mind do not die with the bodies that enshrine them, but will live coeval with the spirits that gave them birth. Unhappily there t The rule is this: the preposition can in pure latin compounds m always used before consonants, of course is required in contemporary; befora vowels co is used: coital, eo-operaU, coequal, co-adjutor, d-c. But as a pre fix to purely English words, we use co, even before con. onanta: ex. qr. co-worker, co-partner, Ae. is a dark side of the picture. As we shall ever rejoice that some of the proudest monuments of genius and virtue ar? immortalized ir our Eng lish ''tongue, so we must confess with sorrow, tliat the same consecrated language will sare from oblivion some of the poisonous products of nroflitratefirenius. Who but must wish that a Qj j some of tle poems of Moore and By ion had been written in an unknown tongue ? Tom Moore has made penitential confessions on that subject. And well he might, when reproved for his dis solute muse by Lord Byron! "Quis tuierit gracchos de seditione querentes ?" He was once asked if he had never regretted writing some of his pieces. He honestly replied "yes, as soon as I had a daughter old enough to read them !" What an instructive coufession ! the heart of the father smote him for providing matter to taint the purity and wound the dtlicacy of his own daughter's mind ; but felt no compunction for introducing the poison into ten thousand ether families. We have all heard of heaps of matter, somf times being destroyed by spontaneous com bustion. We cannot help wishing there wer such a destiny awaiting the effusions of poluted hearts that the paper traversed by these pens tipped with unhallowed fame should have taken fire under the touch, and scorched the fingers of the writer ; or that he should have found, on re turning to his study, nothing but a mass of ashes where he left his incendiary poe s. But to turn again to the brighter and more hopeful destini 'S of our language. We are b und to congratulate ourselves that Great Britain and the United States, the possessors of English tongue, are already two of the most wide-spread nations on the globe, and destined, we humbly believe, by their commerce, their freedom, their energy and their valor, to influ ence the fortunes of the whole earth. Hence we may catch a -cheering perspective of the splendid destinies of our noble native speech. As it is now read on the banks of the Thames and the Potomac, so it shall, in revolving time be read on the banks of the Wolga and the Yunj; -tse-Kiang; of the Niger and the Nile; and kinole hitherto unknown raptures of truih and hope in the millions of those distant he'mispheres. An electric spirk from an English or American bosom shall shoot athwart the ocean, and create a Washington in St.-Petersburg orPekin. With eyes watching for the dawn of so illustrious a future, upon our country and our language, we may almost ext-lidm. with the old WeUh bard, in Gray's beautiful ode : Visions of glory, spare my aching sight ! Diamond Cct Diamond. We have recently come into possession of facts in regard to a very peculiar Real Estate transaction in this city, the details of which are interesting as illustrative of character, as well as of the method -of doing bu-iness which is considered sharp by a certain class of business men. S,ome time since, a gentleman, whom we will call Mr. A., purchased a piece of ground in Murray street, on which was an oI"d building, which he proceeded to tear down intending to erect in its place a building more suitable for the transaction of his business. About the same time, another gentleman, whom we shall call Mr. B., purchased the adjoining lot, and pro ceeded in the same manner to take down the old building standing upon it, so that the work of demolition-, proceeded upon both at the same time.. After this had been concluded, Mr. A., being ready to build himself, and supposing, quite naturally, that his neighbor would prefer building at the same time, paid him a visit in relation to the matter, when he was boorishly informed by Mr. B., that he should " build when he pleased." Of course, as Mr. A., could not gainsay his right in this respect, the only meth od left for him was to go on by himself. This he accordingly did, and had progressed so far as to have his building "covered in," when he was 6Urprised one day by a visit from his irate neigh bor. " Sir," says Mr. B.. "you are an inch on my ground !" Mr. A. rejoined that he thought it must be a mistake, 't No Sir, it is no mistake you are an inch on my ground." " Well," re turned Mr. A., " all I can say is, if it is so, I am very -sorry, and.it is altogether unintentional ; but I am willing to pay you whatever you say the land is worth." " I want no pay, Sir," an swered Mr. B.; " I want my land !" " Sir," says Mr. A., " I see it is hopeless to try to compro mise this matter with you, but I will give you aouble whatever you say the land is worth rath er than take down my wall." "I want no money I want my land," persisted the stub born Mr. B. Argument and entreaty were alike unavailing, and Mr. A. accordingly proceeded to take down and rebuild his wall. He was per mitted to finish his building now.without furth er interruption. Shortly afterward Mr. B. concluded to build on his lot, and masons and carpenters were set at work to accomplish the object. The work progressed finely, story after story went up as if by magic, and our friend Mr. B. watched the operations day by day with increasing interest? in confident anticipation of being able to occupy the premises by a certaid period. At length the building was entirely finished, from foundation to cap-stone the workmen had departed with their tools the rubbish had been cleared away and Mr. B. was complacently congratulating himself on its successful accomplishment, when he was astonished by a visit from his neighbor Mr. A : " Sir," said he, " I am sony to inform you that you are an inch on my ground?" " Pooh ! nonsense !" returned Mr. B. " Its no nonsense at all," said Mr. A., "I tell you you are an inch on my ground." " Why how can that be," blustered Mr. B., " when l"have only built up to your wall ?" " Ah, that's it !" in the dryest possible manner, answ-ered Mr. A. Our friend Mr. B. was somewhat dumbfounded. " Send for a surveyor, Sir," at length he explod ed, " and we'll see about this." The surveyor was according sent for, who, after a careful measurement of the respective premises, report ed to the crest-fallen Mr. B. that it was indeed true he was Joccupying an inch more land than he was entitled to. A proposition to buy that inch coming it must be confessed, with a bad grace from him was now advanced by Mr. B. "No, Sir," returned Mr. A, " I shall not sell ; you cannot offer me money enough to buy that inch of land. , Take down your will, Sir down with it, to the foundation ; ' I want my land T" Mr. B. came to the conclusion that the game was decidedly against him, and yielded wun tne Dest grace lie could 1 The wall was m taken down and re erected ; and so careful was our very particular friend this time not to tres pass, that he built an inch short of where he had a right to go. It is perhaps unnecessary to explain to the reader that Mr. A. had done the same thing in the first instance. AT. J". Times. From the Georgia Courier. THE PEN AND THE TYPE. The name f Fulton is justly associated with the application of steam to machinery, and the name of Morse with the magnetic telegraph. But; if it remained for Fulton to apply propel ling power to vessels, sufficient to drive them against the dashing currents of our rivers, and for Morse to harness the lightnings, "caught by Franklin," and compel them to serve us as swift messengers it belonged to an age, far back, in the remote depths of antiquity, and to a genius, whose name is scarcely if at all known, to introduce the art to which all other arts owe their protection and advancement, if not their oiigin. If we arrange the whole list into a regular system, giving each one its pro per orbit, the art of writing must take its position as the light-giving and impulsive centre of the entire system. Its presence, as chief a mong the arts, is as necessary to the well-being of all the others, as the presence of the sun is to the well-being of his planets. While other arts of great value, but suited only, to the time being, have run their course and given place to others adapted to the exig ences of advancing time, the art of writing, adapted to all times alike, has retained its posi tion ahd importance ; exercising a controlling influence upon every transformation from the centre to the circumference of its own system. And, not only does it bind the arts together and direct their energies itself serves the world in a manner which, at once, shows its superiority over all other arts. God himself has honored it above all the arts. To its keeping He entrusted his great scheme of human redemption, threw it upon the current of time ; and, with its burd en of "go'od will to man," it visits all generations pours divine light upon the arduous pathway of the returning prodigal, and points him stead ily to his forfeited home in the skies. The steam engine, with its long train of heavy freighted .cars, may run its iron track un rivalled in power the telegraph, taking the lightning's speed, may challenge the sous of science to draw from nature's wide domain an other agent that shall win the race the micros cope alone, may claim the right to unfold the hidden wonders of creation descending and the telescope to unveil the glories of the nocturnal sky, and revel amid the distant splendors of the sidereall heavens but they must not forget that they are but planets in the system shinino- it is true, but with lights borrowed from their more luminous centre but manifestations of in tellect under the control and direction of the PEN. It is the pen that gives visibility and impetus to thought : that treasures up the thoughts of one generation for the use and improvement of the next : that pours gladness into the hearts of friends, separated by intervening mountains aud seas; and that contributes more than any other instrument of art, to the social, moral, and po litical elevation of man. If Memnon, the Egyp tian, is justly entitled to the honor of originat ing the art of forming letters with a pen, he has reared to his memory a monument more, endur ing than the towering pyramids of his country; and, while he has honored his own name, he has conferred a favor on all generations of men. The sciences and moral arts "are progressing towards perfection. Arts, long, known, are un dergoing improvements, and others are being in troduced. The use of steam makes our broad country, as it were, but one neighborhood, and puts us into Europe in less time than a boat, fifty years ago, could run from Plymouth to Halifax. It is true that, while ourselves and our goods are dashing over the earth by the power of steam, our thoughts are darted by tel egraph with a velocity that annihilates time aud distance. I complain not that it is so. I be lieve all these improvements are needed ; and that still more will be required to meet the de mand fifty years to come. But who would be willing to barter off the art of writing for any one or all the discoveries and improvements that have succeeded it ? Blow out the sun, and who could measure the depth and breadth of that darkness that would cover his planets ? B. F. K. FASHIONABLE INTELLIGENCE. The chronicle of fashionable intelligence in the Northern journals are well calculated to make the stomach of their readers heave with, uir tterable emotions. We give below some specimens of a description of particular ladies at one of the Northern watering places: ''Miss A , of Westchester, won universal admiration by the elegant simplicity of her attire, and the grace of her manners. Mrs. D , also of Westchester, has an in tellectual face, and her native goodness of heart and entire freedom from fashionable airs, has made her a great favorite with all. Mrs. Dr. M , of New York, who, by the way, is still almost a bride, was decidedly the richest dressed lady in the room. To a face of surpassing beauty, she unites a noble form ; and what is not a little remarkable, won admiration even fiom her own sex. Miss L , of N. Y., dances with much grace, and dresses with great taste. Miss B , of Bridgeport, had many admir ers, the natural consequence of unaffected sweet ness of manners. Miss Q , of N. Y., was superbly dressed in a white brocade silk, of surpassing richness, and was by many considered the belle of the evening. A small twig of golden wheat, fasten ed in her hair with diamonds, constituted her ornaments, and were worn with much grace. Miss L , of Trinity Rectory, N. Y., was much admired, not alone for her intelligence, but also for her beautiful singing, which contri buted largelyjto the pleasure of the company. Mrs. C , l , wife of a distinguished N. Y. Senator, is a lady of commanding appearance and high literary attainments. Indeed, the lad ies all looked remarkably well, and the festivit ies were kept up till a late hour. What a' remarkable collection of ladies! Beautiful, commanding graceful, musical, intel ligent, intellectual, good. ' Of course, the ladies at these watering places take delight in being thus heralded. Childish Sincerity. A lady who was quite in the lhabit of -'dropping in at her.-neighbor's about meal-times in the hope of obtaining an invitation to partake with the family, was re cently completely nonplussed by the unhesita ting frankness of a child. Knowing that a neighbor's- sujper hour was five, sh called in about four, and settled herself down for a long call. " It takes two to make a bargain," and the lady honored with the call had no idea of giv ing an invitation, if it was in her power to es cape it Accordingly, the hour of five brought no in dications of supper. Time wore on, the sun was near its setting, and still the same. A little girl, the neighbor's daughter, began to grow uneasy. At length, her mother having gone out for a moment, the visitor said : ' You must come over and see me, Mary, some time." " No, I won't," said the child. "Why not?" " Because I don't like you." " But why don't you like me ?" " Because I am hungry and want some sup per." " But," said the visitor, amazed, " I don't pre vent you having your supper, do I ?" 'Yes, you do," said little Mary. "Mother said she shouldn't have supper until you were rrrma if rnn cfno-? till mirlninclt " In less than five minutes the visitor was marching out of the front door with a very red face. She hasn't called to see Mary's mother since. Little Mary, in her childish frankness, has not yet learned the important lesson which after years will not fail to teach her, viz : that " the truth, however excellent or desirable in itself, is not to be spoken at all times." True Flag. Salt your Chimneys.-In building a chimnev, put a quantity of salt into the mortar with which the intercourse of brick are to be laid. The ef fect will be ihat there will never be any accumu lation of soot in that chimney. The philosophy is thus stated : The salt in the portion of mor tar which is exposed absorbs moisture from the atmosphere every damp'day. The soot thus be coming damp, falls down to the fire-place. This appears to be an English discovery. It is used with success in Canada. Dandies vs. Mechanics. It is amusing: to see a creation of broadcloth, patent-leather, hair and bear's grease, sneer as it passes the sun burned laborer. Tailors, shoemakers and hatters can manufacture the one It is only nature that can turn out the man. There is no surer evid ence of an absence of brains, than when donkeys in regimental bray at labor. The crop of fools this yearns as extensive as ever. COMMUNICATIONS METROPOLITAN CORRESPONDENCE. LETTER LXY. New York, September 23, 1854. Eetension of the Metropolis Thirty ,i:vd houses in a stone's throw Southern faces on Broadway Flight from the fever Substantial sympathy for Savannah Gnat mot . tality at Pittsburgh The cholera here Fall u-eather Grisi and Mario Xew Music by Wall-ace Putnam'' s - Magazine and the South English boohs in ovr market Mr. Bohn's latest issues German poetry A splendid booh in preparation l-y Appleton Co. Xotkes of some of their latest issues Harper Sc Brother's new looks. My Dear Post : I have endeavored, at differ ent times, to convey to those of your readers who have never visited this great city, some idea of the rapidity with which it is increasing in size and beauty. Since it cannot stretch itself later ally on account of the two rivers which form its eastern and western boundaries, it extends north ward, up the island of Manhattan, and miles above the City Hall three, four and even five miles is solid metropolis not here a block of houses and there a meadow, but real bona, fide city, with its streets laid off at right angles like a checker board, and nearly all the squares oc cupied by brick and mortar. I consider myself far " up town "my residence being in Eigh teenth street but I can ride yet two miles above me upon paved streets ! The extension of the city is really wonderful. And all this upper part is rapidly becoming densely peopled." The vacant lots diminish in number every week. There are now within a stone's throw of my window no fewer than thirty houses in process oi erection, inese win cost, on an average eight thousand dollars each, beside the value of the ground upon which they stand. This will make a quarter of a million of dollars now bein"1 laid out in stone and brick and wood and lime, within an area of five hundred feet square. And this is not an exception, but there is quite as much extension in various other parts of the city. I am surprised, I confess, that it is so, consider ing the embarrassed state of the money market all the past summer. I have seen many Southern faces upon Broad way of late ; more than I did in the summer. The yellow fever has driven thousands from the Southern cities, and they appear here at least for a day or two. The intelligence from New Orleans, Charleston and Savannah of the malig nity of the prevailing epidemic creates a large amount of sadness and sympathy in all circles. I am glad to see that the popular sympathy for poor desolated Savannah is not expending itself in words alone, but has taken the substantial shape of generous contributions of money many thousand dollars already to relieve the sufferings, and assuage the woes of the sick and dying in that beautiful but ill-fated city. The reports of the progress of cholera in Pittsburgh, show a remarkable mortality there, for the ten days duriug which the disease has been raging. It has claimed at least five hundred victims for the grave The disease has not yet disappeared from our city, but the number of deaths reported weekly, continues to diminish, and it is scarcely a topic of conversation among us. It is a matter of de vout thanksgiving to our citizens that its rava ges have been so slight. The setting in of brac ing autumnal weather cannot fail to reduce the weekly report of deaths still more and more. Speaking of the weather, it would be ungrate ful in me not to express my sense of delight in that which we are now experiencing. It is truly mvdrt weather. I cannot conceive of auobt more exqisite beneath the sun. The nights are; cool enough so for a blanket or two, and the days bright, bracing and beautiful. Oh, how beautiful 1 Excuse me for this rhapsody, but ' our early autumnal ; days 5 are worthy : of an , apotneosis. ... - . . ... y y I hare said nothing for some tima jof the Italian Opera. But it is at present too great a feature of the metropolis to be overlooked. Mr. Hackett is winning golden opinions (and some more substantial things that are. golden also!) by his management of the Grisi and Mario troupe at Castle Garden. There was a great flutter at first about the prices, which are three dollar's for an assured seat and one dollar for a promenade ticket, but they are readily obtained, even to the filling of the vast ampihtheatre of Castle Gar den. Grisi and Mario are appreciated among us : the prima donna as the most magnificent tragic queen of song we have ever had here, and Mario as a tenore of -wonderful taste and skill. The other singers of the troupe are of unequal powers, but several of them are worthy to sus tain the great stars. To hear Grisi is of course indispensable to every person of taste, and our Southern visitors are quite too fond of music (as well as of lions !) to miss the Opera. It is not at all likely that Grisi will make more than this one visit to the United States, and therefore all should hear and see her now, who possibly can. I say see as well as hear, because it is her acting after all, which makes her the Queen she is. While writing about musical matters I will mention the recent issues by the great publish ing house of Win. Hall & Son of several new pieces by Wallace. These are a Grand Concert Polka; an exquisite Barcarolle for the Piano entitled " Souvenir de Naples ;" and two piano forte transcripts of popular sacred themes one Old Hundred and the other the Vesper Jlymn. The former of these t wo will be emininently pop ular, wherever its theme is loved and sung ; and that is throughout Christendom. Besides these, all instrumental pieces, there is an air by Wal lace, to words by Watson "Dreaming of thee forever" sweet and graceful and full of the element of world-wide popularity. The course pursued by the "management" of Putnam's Magazine, in regard to the slavery discussion, is lamented by the best friends of the work here. I deplore it very much indeed, for I wished the magazine well. think the South should drop it at once. I do not wonder at the indignation of the Southern press, but I do wonder at the effrontery of the Editor of Putnam in daring to force his abolition ipicac down the throats of the Southern patrons of the work. I wish I could justly exclude Ilaspir's Magazine from this censure, but I cannot do so, though it has offended less seriously than Put- nam's, English books are coming into our market in shoals, and at prices which astonish us, by their cheapness. The large publishing house of Geo. Routledge &, Co., of London, has established a branch here and will supply the numerous and very attractive books they make in England, to the American public at exceedingly low prices. I shall take occasion to let your readers know more about this agency hereafter. The importation of Mr. Henry G. Bohn's pub lications is a vastly increasing business. The new volumes of all the various series are' sought after with eagerness. The uniform excellence of the books which they 'inbrace is one of the great sercets of their immense popularity. An in different work is never published by Mr. Bohn. The last steamer brought several new volumes of his books. Among them are the fifth of the Vanoriun edition of Gibbon's Rome. Another volume will appear next month, and then the best and cheapest library edition of this great history will be complete. A new work has just been added to the Scientific series. It is En nemoser's History of Magic, translated from the German by William Howitt. This is a book of extraordinary interest in its subject, and in its philosophical treatment no less. It is the pro duction of a subtle and earnest mind, and com prehends (especially with Mary llowitt's curious Appendix) the whole subject of Magic, from beginning to end, that is, its present end, for who shall tell what the end shall be. It is em braced in two volumes, which the curious read er should instantly consult. It is as full of won der as it is of leaves. Messrs. Bangs, Brother it Co., are the agents of Mr. Bohn, and their great success with his books has induced other great London publishers to seek their "aid in in troducing their books to the American public. If they should prove as good and as cheap as the Bohn Libraries are, they wi.'l be welcomed cor dially enough. The Poetry of Germany is the title of a thick "duodecimo volume, just published in this city by Rudolph Garrique. It contains the lyrics of the great masters of song in the Vuterland, both in the original and in spirited translations into English. I need not say that it is a perfect treasure house of gems. Messrs. Appleton & Co., (the largest publish ing house in the United States beyond a ques tion) have in preparation for the holiday season' the most superb book ever made in this country. It is to bear the title of the Republican Court, and is an historical and biographical sketch of the times of General Washington. ' It will be embellished with a large number of exquisitely finished engravings on steel, from portraits of the most beautiful women of those eventful times. What a book for a gift it will be ! Patriotism will suggest its selection above any other and Taste will approve the choice ! It will be a quarto volume, done np in the most beautiful and costly bindings of this lavish age. They have just published a vastly entertaining book in two handsome volumes, entitled " The Vir ginia Comedians, or Old Days in the Old Do minion." It will afford amusement for some of the approaching long nights at the dear fireside of home, if the reader should not happen to get it, and read it all up before they come ! Emanuil Philibert is the title of a thick vol- A Tl' 1. J T . 1 A 1 . -r ume, jusi puonsiiea Dy me .appietons. it is a romance of history, founded upon the European Wars of the sixteenth century and is from the pen of the multitudinous Dumas. It constitutes the second volume of a new series of Standard French novels, which I am free to confess 1 shall not read, save by rare exception ! Life's Lesson, is the simple title of an un pretending but very pleasing story, just published by Harper fe Brothers. The fifth part of their Gazetteer of the World constitutes just one-half of the work. It promises to be the very best Universal Gazetteer, not only of the world but in the world. And now let me come to a close and sign myself Your's, (at the bottom of a page and at the end of a line.) , COSMOS. . RALEIGH, SEPT. 30, 18a4 WILLIAM D. COOKE. i EDITOR A M n rinplcTn Terms TWO DOLLARS PER AOTfTJM, in Advan CLUB PRICES? $5 full price,. .....12 " . Three Copies,. . , Eight Copies,... Ten Copies,. . . Twenty Copies, Jfi, Jf), (Payment in all cases in advance'.) w vvnere acniDot eignt, ten or twenty subscribers j Dui, uiu puisuu limning uy uie ciuu win De entrjeii copy extra. is 0 a 9Zr Postmasters are authorized to act as Agents the Southern Weekly Post. " Mr.'H. P. Doutbit is our' authorized aent for ih States ot Alabama. Mississippi and Tennessee i SCIENCE AND REVELATION. It is becoming quite common, anions superficially enlightened philosophers ,,f enlightened land which lies beyond the p. mac, to display their independence of thought in flippant assaults upon whatever is veiui' and sacred in the institutions by which tlu-v in- surrounded. An attentive observer eai)ht ; perceive that in the midst of communitit s n-. distinguished than any other on the trlolv the prolific growth of religious sects, aud en; prises of true and false benevolence, a maik tendency to skeptical and infidel opinion.-, I been becoming more and more apparent re '"T T- . as some years past, and that it is now quite (:v l- ionable, in certain circles, pretending to sun, r mental cultivation, to array the supposed do opments of modern science against the .-! ;0 testimony of the Holy Scriptures. 4 I The July number of that tainted maiile which has recently made the name of PutXn so offensive to our Southern ears, contain .1 an article of the character to which we nv jd lude, based upon 'the new work of Xott aad Gliddon, entitled ." Types of Mankind;" ajid within the last week we Have been surprised to find a long extract from the said article, apnriv- ingly transferred to the columns of " ARTnrjt's Home Magazine," and introduced with a seii-s of editorial remarks, such as we never would have expected to-see in a periodical so ju-rih distinguished heretofore for its pure and who some morality. We do not attribute to Arthur either the disposition or the ability r. 'to inflict a wound upon the feelings orlhefai ot his readers, by any scientific deductions his own; but we know that his paper h- s wide circulation all over the country, and tl kh f a .at ..3 c.u v.viii laiuim; mwi iue purer anu nxtre conscientious classes of society. It was there fore with considerable surprise that we tumid him, in an article headed, " Is Man oni: (r many ?" endorsing the article in Putnam's Ma azine, on that subject ; 'although it contain. views utterly inconsistent with the historic truth of the Old Testament, and the writer en deavors to reconcile Scripture with the hit. of science and archaeology, by the supp sifitin that the scriptural accounts of the Creation at the Deluge are nothing but shadowy alleiroru concealing some unknown spiritual truth.- - rAery any, - says the editor of )' lloni Magazine," "we can see the opinion rooting it. that it is an error to look into the Bible for h torical or scientific authority ;" Sor are v left without decided evidence that this "popu.llr opinion,' is his own, and we are fully wair uii in the inference that, according to his view, tl history of the Jewish nation, as recorded in se v- eral books of the Old Testament, is no mon-j o be relied upon than the books of Livy or Herb dotus. We seriously and honestly doubt whe: er such sentiments can safely be admitted 1 religious parents into the family circle, whe reverence for the Scriptures is faithfully inc; cated upon the minds of fhe young. The nature o( this insidious assault upon ti sacred authority of the Bible can be easily sfai. r ..... j v. i in lew orus.. v;n tne one nand we have tie literal text of what purports to be the " Wo of God;" on the other, we have the "sav-so ' a few infidel saians, in regard to the meanii A . 1 J cenaiu pnenomena ot geology, or the siiii ncation ot obscure pictures ayd characters d it- covered 'in pyramids, or on tho masonry i i -i i . . f nous long uunea wider the sands of the deseij The hints gathered from these obscure trat are elaborated in the hands of r-h - J J.iJlJ f 11 4. ' 1 , I , uyvu, iigjissiz, ana uiiauon, into a mot )ct.4" He chain of reasoning, the principal object jf .which generally seems to be to discredit all oti present sources of knowledge, without substitu: iug any substantial authority in their place. The facts referred to are utterly beyond the scrutiny of the "popular miud," because not ori man in a million can examine for himself into the "dark places of the earth" where this frag mentary revelation of nature and art lies con cealed from the eyes of all but the privilege! lew. t He whole question therefore, which aris from these modern discoveries, depends for i s solution upon the fairness with which the tw s conflicting revelations have been interpreted by the learned. The contradiction lies between ti;e interprtters of scripture and the inUrprekrs ot tne phenomena ot nature and art, and not, is has been asserted, between the testini. ny of scripture and that of nature. It is highly pre sumptuous, therefore, iu third parties, especially, in those whose knowledge of geology and pie-ture-writing, as well as their acquaintance wit!i theological learning, must be limited to a very superficial degree of acquirement, to-pronounce' the authority of the latter class of interpreters superior to the former. It will be time enough to question the truth of the Mosaic history, when the facts are not only accumulated in sufficient force from the mines and monuments of the world, but the e Ex actness of the interpretation, and the fairness of the arguments deduced from them, shall have been so established, as to carry a necessary coni viction to the 44 2opular mind." That time has not yet arrived. Geology, and the art of inter preting monumental inscriptions, are yet in their infancy. Not one man in a thousand can have access to a sufficient amount of scientific infor mation to form an independent opinion on thesa subjects ; and even if the facts were universally known, it would still depend upon the predis position of the individual, whether the interpret tation would be favorable of otherwise to the Christian faith. I We know that this predisposition, as it exists in the minds of most .of the Freacb and Cocti
Southern Weekly Post (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Sept. 30, 1854, edition 1
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