The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 02, No. 11, September, 1858

"Heads without name, no more remembered,"

his is one of the two or three that are household words on the lips of the nation. And it will so remain and be familiar in the mouths of posterity, with a fame as pure as it is noble. The ear that hath not heard him shall bless him, and the eye that hath not seen him shall give witness to him.

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OBITUARY

The conductors of "The Atlantic" have the painful duty of announcing to their readers the death of CALVIN W. PHILLEO, author of "Akin by Marriage," published in the earlier numbers of this magazine. The plot of the story was sketched at length, and in the brain of the writer it was complete; but no hand save his own could give it life and form: it must remain an unfinished work. The mind of Mr. Philleo was singularly clear, his observation of nature and character sharp and discriminating, and his feeling for beauty, in its more placid forms, was intense and pervading. His previous work, "Twice Married," and the various sketches of New England life, with which the readers of magazine literature are familiar, are sufficient to give him a high place among novelists. He was warm in his friendships, pure in life, and his early death will be lamented by a wide circle of friends. In pace!

1

The massacre of unarmed and unoffending men in Southern Kansas took place near the Marais du Cygne of the French voyageurs.

2

Schol. Vet. ad Nem. Od. 5.

3

Commentators agree, we believe, that there was an error as to the sum. But we tell the story as we find it.

4

DRYDEN, Epistle to Wm. Congreve, 1693.

5

The Threnodia Augustalis, 1685, where the eulogy is equitably distributed between the dead Charles and the living James.

6

Dr. Johnson tells the story of Rowe having applied to Lord Oxford for promotion, and being asked whether he understood Spanish. Elated with the prospect of an embassy to Madrid, Rowe hurried home, shut himself up, and for months devoted himself to the study of a language the possession of which was to make his fortune. At length, he reappeared at the Minister's levée and announced himself a Spanish scholar. "Then," said Lord Oxford, shaking his hand cordially, "let me congratulate you on your ability to enjoy Don Quixote, in the original." Johnson seems to throw doubt on the story, because Rowe would not even speak to a Tory, and certainly would not apply to a Tory minister for advancement. But Oxford was once a Whig, and was in office as such; and it was probably at that period the incident occurred.

7

Battle of the Poets, 1725.

8

"Harmonious Cibber entertainsThe court with annual birthday strains,Whence Gay was banished in disgrace,Where Pope will never show his face,Where Young must torture his inventionTo flatter knaves, or lose his pension."SWIFT, Poetry, a Rhapsody, 1733.

9

"Know, Eusden thirsts no more for sack or praise;He sleeps among the dull of ancient days;Where wretched Withers, Ward, and Gildon rest,And high-born Howard, more majestic sire,With fool of quality completes the choir.Thou, Cibber! thou his laurel shalt support;Folly, my son, has still a friend at court." Dunciad, Bk. I.

Warburton, by-the-by, exculpates Eusden from any worse fault, as a writer, than being too prolix and too prolific.—See Note to Dunciad, Bk. II. 291.

10

Duck stands at the head of the prodigious school in English literature. All the poetical bricklayers, weavers, cobblers, farmer's boys, shepherds, and basket-makers, who have since astonished their day and generation, hail him as their general father.

11

The antiquary may be pleased to know that the "Devil" tavern in Fleet Street, the old haunt of the dramatists, was the place where the choir of the Chapel Royal gathered to rehearse the Laureate odes. Hence Pope, at the close of Dunciad I.,

"Then swells the Chapel-Royal throat;'God save King Cibber!' mounts in every note.Familiar White's 'God save King Colley!' cries;'God save King Colley!' Drury-Lane replies;"

12

"On his own works with laurel crowned,Neatly and elegantly bound,—For this is one of many rulesWith writing Lords and laureate fools,And which forever must succeedWith other Lords who cannot read,However destitute of wit,To make their works for bookcase fit,—Acknowledged master of those seats,Cibber his birthday odes repeats."CHURCHILL, The Ghost.

13

Swift charges Colley with having wronged Grub Street, by appropriating to himself all the money Britain designed for its poets:—

"Your portion, taking Britain round,Was just one annual hundred pound;Now not so much as in remainder,Since Cibber brought in an attainder,Forever fixed by right divine,A monarch's right, on Grub-Street line." Poetry, a Rhapsody, 1733.

14

Whatever momentary benefit may result from satire, it is clear that its influence in the long run is injurious to literature. The satirist, like a malignant Archimago, creates a false medium, through which posterity is obliged to look at his contemporaries,—a medium which so refracts and distorts their images, that it is almost out of the question to see them correctly. There is no rule, as in astronomy, by which this refraction may be allowed for and corrected.

15

London, 1749, 8vo.

16

Charge to the Poets, 1762.

17

If the reader cares to hear the best that can be said of Thomas Warton, let him read the Life of Milton, prefixed by Sir Egerton Brydges to his edition of the poet. If he has any curiosity to hear the other side, let him read all that Ritson ever wrote, and Dr. Charles Symnions, in the Life of Milton, prefixed to the standard edition of the Prose Works, 1806. Symnions denies to Warton the possession of taste, learning, or sense. Certainly, to an American, the character of Joseph Warton, the brother of Thomas, is far more amiable. Joseph was as liberal as his brother was bigoted. While Thomas omits no chance of condemning Milton's republicanism, in his notes to the Minor Poems, Joseph is always disposed to sympathize with the poet. The same generous temper characterizes his commentary upon Dryden.

18

Sonnet upon the River Lodon.

19

Dr. Huddersford's Salmagundi.

20

One of the earlier poems of Alexander Wilson, the ornithologist, was entitled, The Laurel Disputed, and was published in 1791. We have not met with it; but we apprehend, from title and date, that it is a jeu d'esprit, founded upon the recent appointment. The poetry of Wilson was characterized by much original humor.

21

"Come to our fête, and show againThat pea-green coat, thou pink of men!Which charmed all eyes, that last surveyed it;When Brummel's self inquired, 'Who made it?'When Cits came wondering from the East,And thought thee Poet Pye at least." Two-Penny Post-Bag, 1812.

22

TENNYSON, Maud.