Till all their living world in flame expires. Crimes sound their moral ruin's cause aloud, And shuddering heaven rings with cries of brother's blood." "Greenfield Hill" shows that in Puritan New England, a peaceful, quiet, contented life was possible, and that, in Dr. Dwight at least, later Puritanism was tempered to a genial, kindly humanity. Barlow, the youngest of the Connecticut group of writers, though less brilliant than Trumbull, and having Joel Barlow, less influence on contemporary thought, through 1754 1812. dignity of character and intellectual accomplishment, than Dr. Dwight, is no less interesting as a man than either. He was graduated from Yale in 1778, and seems to have supported himself during his course by going to war in the vacations. He studied theology for six weeks, was licensed to preach, and officiated very acceptably as a chaplain in Washington's army. After the declaration of peace he settled in Hartford as a lawyer and was connected with a newspaper. In 1787 he published by subscription the "Vision of Columbus," a poem of six thousand lines in the heroic couplet, in which Columbus in disgrace in Spain is conducted by a seraph to a celestial vantage point from which the seraph courteously shows him a panorama of the glories of North and South America. A year or two later he went to London as the agent of a land company, but discovered that a good title to the tract could not be conveyed. In London he made many friends, and after a year or two he went to Paris, where he met with remarkable success socially and in mercantile business, and rapidly acquired a handsome fortune. He was very highly esteemed by leading men in France and America, and was elected a member of the Constituent Assembly. In 1795 he was appointed consul to Algiers, and accomplished with great ability and resolution, and with the sacrifice of a large amount of his private means, the difficult task of obtaining the release of the American prisoners held by the Dey. In 1805 he returned to America and lived much of the time in Washington, interesting himself in political and educational questions. In 1808 he published in London an enlarged edition of his poem under the title of "The Columbiad," which was brought out in very sumptuous form, but did not have the success of the earlier edition. In 1811 he was appointed minister to France. To accomplish his object of negotiating a commercial treaty, and obtaining compensation for some American property unjustly confiscated, a personal interview with Napoleon, then engaged in his ill-fated Russian campaign, was necessary. Mr. Barlow set out to meet him at Wilna, but the exposure of a journey in a carriage and the miserable accommodations on the way brought on an inflammation of the lungs, of which he died. at an obscure village in Poland. In readiness in acquiring grasp of public affairs and in skill in managing diplomatic questions with address and patience, Barlow was no less remarkable than Franklin, and he is far Franklin's superior in adaptability for elegant culture. Our country has hardly done him justice for his self-sacrificing devotion to her interests, because his liberalism in religion estranged those of his earlier friends who had the largest influence on public opinion. Barlow was not a poet, but an accomplished man of letters. We cannot find a strong, vigorous passage in the "Vision," though the versification is correct and the seraph's sentiments are highly creditable to his head and heart. He speaks of the condor as a bird spreading twenty-four feet and able to carry a man in his talons, and this is the nearest approach to a poetic flight in the book. Belief in the future of the country is evident in the lines of all these poets, possibly tinged too much with pride in mere bigness, but still a belief resting in trust in the people and enthusiasm for the democratic principle. Barlow's version of the Psalms of David before alluded to and his semi-humorous poem on "Hasty Pudding" give us the best impression of his facility in verse. The old instrument of Pope and Denham and Johnson was pretty well worn out when he essayed to use it, and Coleridge and Wordsworth had not yet sounded the note which was to express the aspirations and impulses of a fuller and more complex phase of civilization. Political During the last decades of the century much political discussion of a high order of excellence was given to the public, notably the papers of Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, gathered together under the title of the Federalist." " These are historical rather than literary, and there is no imaginative element in them. They should be studied by all young men. It has been well pointed out by Professor Tyler that the Declaration of Independence is a document which in dignity of diction amply represents the resolution of a people, and is, from the literary point of view, entirely adequate and inspiring. It might be supposed that the success of the Revolutionary War would have called out in literary form some note of national exultation. But success is not always inspiring, for there is something unromantic and material about it, and the great theme is always the tragic fall of a nation and the heroism of a patriotic struggle against fate. Besides, the success of the Revolution and the separation from England left a great deal to be done. It was necessary to appeal to common sense and moderation and to discuss the nature of government logically and philosophically before a nation could be founded. The forma tion of the Constitution was the great critical work which occupied the best thought of the nation, and it called for a tempered reasoning, the spirit of compromise, practical examination of history, and judgment based on knowledge of the American communities. This work was well and nobly done and it was all-engrossing, pressing, and dominant. The national foundations of England are ten centuries old, and though we borrowed much from the mother country and profited by her experience, it is impossible to build a nation in a generation. In fact, the work is not complete yet, and we can hardly be surprised that our Revolutionary fathers found so much to do in the higher branches of statesmanship and administration that they had little leisure to spend in the "criticism of life." The Revolution produced a crop of ballads, rhymed squibs, and doggerel songs like the "Battle of the Kegs Ballads of the by Francis Hopkinson of Philadelphia, whose Revolution. son Joseph wrote "Hail Columbia." "Bold Hathorne" (Hawthorne's grandfather, the captain of a privateer) is a lively ballad, but most of the ballad literature of the period is strictly ephemeral. The "Ballad of Nathan Hale" has in one or two stanzas a fine imaginative quality, but falls sadly in others. The first two stanzas are a real inspiration : — BALLAD OF NATHAN HALE The breezes went steadily through the tall pines, As stilly stole by a bold legion of horse, 66 For Hale in the bush; for Hale in the bush. Keep still," said the thrush as she nestled her young, The brave captain heard it and thought of his home He warily trod on the dry rustling leaves As he passed through the wood; as he passed through the wood, And silently gained his rude launch on the shore, As she played with the flood; as she played with the flood. The guards at the camp on that dark, dreary night, Five minutes were given, short moments, no more, He prayed for his mother, he asked not another, The faith of a martyr the tragedy showed, As he trod the last stage; as he trod the last stage, Character As his words do presage; as his words do presage. The literature of America up to the breaking out of the Revolutionary struggle is almost entirely devoid of artistic quality, and is interesting only as the expression istics of Early of a community of men of vigorous prejudices and thorough intellectual honesty. The Puritans entirely repudiated the idea that there was anything divine in the principle of beauty which forms so American Literature. |