Although the self-important, out of self-concern, give praise sparingly, and the mean measure theirs by their likings or dislikings of a man, and the good even are often slow to allow the talents of the faulty their due, lest they bring the evil into repute, yet it is the wiser as well as the honester course not to take away from an excellence because it neighbors upon a fault, nor to disparage another with a view to our own name, nor to rest our character for discernment upon the promptings of an unkind heart. Where God has not feared to bestow great powers we may not fear giving them their due; nor need we be parsimonious of commendation, as if there were but a certain quantity for distribution, and our liberality would be to our loss; nor should we hold it safe to detract from another's merit, as if we could always keep the world blind; lest we live to see him whom we disparaged praised, and whom we hated loved. Whatever be his failings, give every man a full and ready commendation for that in which he excels; it will do good to our own hearts, while it cheers his. Nor will it bring our judgment into question with the discerning; for strong enthusiasm for what is great does not argue such an unhappy want of discrimination as that measured and cold approval which is bestowed alike upon men of mediocrity, and upon those of gifted minds. WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT 1794-1878 William Cullen Bryant was born at Cummington, a small town in Massachusetts, in 1794. His father was a physician of considerable mental attainments, and Bryant's early training under private tutors was extensive and thorough. In 1810 he entered the sophomore class of Williams College, which he left a year later to devote himself to the study of law. From his earliest boyhood Bryant was a lover of nature, and at fourteen he had written some verses his father thought worth publishing. At eighteen he wrote “ Thanatopsis," the noblest poem yet written in America, but owing to his innate modesty it remained hidden in his desk for several years till it was discovered by his father, who sent it to the North American Review," in which it was published in 1817. The next year “ To a Waterfowl" was published in the same magazine three years after it was written. Bryant also wrote at this time a review of a collection of American poetry which appeared later in a somewhat changed form as an "Essay on American Poetry." In this paper, which is interesting to-day both on account of its subject-matter and the date of its appearance, Bryant passed in review all the writers of verse on this side of the Atlantic who had ventured into print save, as he expressed himself, some whose passage to that oblivion toward which, to the honor of our country they were hastening," he did not wish to interrupt. 66 In 1825 Bryant abandoned the practice of law, leaving Great Barrington for New York to devote himself entirely to literary pursuits. In 1826 he became connected with the “Evening Post," of which he continued to be the editor and principal proprietor till his death. While struggling to secure a foothold in New York, Bryant contributed to the magazines many of his finest poems. For "The Death of the Flowers" he received a remuneration of two dollars, and was "abundantly satisfied." In 1821, soon after reading "The Ages" before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Harvard, Bryant published a small volume containing many of his best poems. Ten years later a second volume was published, containing about eighty additional poems, and others were added to subsequent editions. In 1863 appeared "Thirty Poems," consisting wholly of later work. In 1870 his translation of the Iliad appeared, followed two years later by his translation of the Odyssey. Most of Bryant's energies were, however, of necessity directed to his journalistic activity, especially during the stormy period of the slavery agitation of secession and reconstruction. His idea of the importance of an editor's mission was a lofty one, and he made the "Evening Post" a power during the half century that he was identified with it. He died in 1878. Bryant's literary style, both in poetry and prose, is marked by great purity and elegance. His editorials, written invariably in the confusion of a newspaper office, were models of English prose. In our estimate of Bryant we must be guided by the quality of his work rather than its quantity. As a poet of nature he holds justly the foremost place among the poets of America. O' ESSAY ON AMERICAN POETRY F the poetry of the United States different opinions have been entertained, and prejudice on the one side and partiality on the other have equally prevented a just and rational estimate of its merits. Abroad our literature has fallen under unmerited contumely from those who were but slenderly acquainted with the subject on which they professed to decide; and at home it must be confessed that the swaggering and pompous pretensions of many have done not a little to provoke and excuse the ridicule of foreigners. Either of these extremes exerts an injurious influence on the cause of letters in our country. To encourage exertion and embolden merit to come forward, it is necessary that they should be acknowledged and rewarded. Few will have the confidence to solicit what is wantonly withheld, or the courage to tread a path which presents no prospect but the melancholy wrecks of those who have gone before them. National gratitude, national pride-every high and generous feeling that attaches us to the land of our birth, or that exalts our characters as individuals -ask of us that we should foster the infant literature of our country, and that genius and industry, employing their efforts to hasten its perfection, should receive from our hands that celebrity which reflects as much honor on the nation which confers it as on those to whom it is extended. On the other hand, it is not necessary for these purposes-it is even detrimental to bestow on mediocrity the praise due to excellence, and still more so is the attempt to persuade ourselves and others into an admiration of the faults of favorite writers. We make but a contemptible figure in the eyes of the world, and set ourselves up as objects of pity to our posterity, when we affect to rank the poets of our own country with those mighty masters of song who have flourished in Greece, Italy, and Britain. Such [This essay was first published in the "North American Review" for July, 1818.-EDITOR.] extravagant admiration may spring from a praiseworthy and patriotic motive, but it seems to us that it defeats its own object of encouraging our literature, by seducing those who would aspire to the favor of the public into an imitation of imperfect models, and leading them to rely too much on the partiality of their countrymen to overlook their deficiencies. Were our rewards to be bestowed only on what is intrinsically meritorious, merit alone would have any apology for appearing before the public. The poetical adventurer should be taught that it is only the productions of genius, taste, and diligence that can find favor at the bar of criticism; that his writings are not to be applauded merely because they are written by an American and are not decidedly bad; and that he must produce some more satisfactory evidence of his claim to celebrity than an extract from the parish register. To show him what we expect of him, it is as necessary to point out the faults of his predecessors as to commend their excellences. He must be taught as well what to avoid as what to imitate. This is the only way of diffusing and preserving a pure taste, both among those who read and those who write, and, in our opinion, the only way of affording merit a proper and effectual encouragement. It must, however, be allowed that the poetry of the United States, though it has not reached any high degree of perfection, is yet, perhaps, better than it could have been expected to be, considering that our nation has scarcely seen two centuries since its founders erected their cabins on its soil, and that our citizens are just beginning to find leisure to attend to intellectual refinements, to indulge in intellectual luxury, and to afford the means of rewarding intellectual excellence. For the first century after the settlement of this country, the few quaint and unskilful specimens of poetry which yet remain to us are looked upon merely as objects of curiosity, are preserved only in the cabinet of the antiquary, and give little pleasure if read without reference to the age and people which produced them. After this period a purer taste began to prevail. The poems of the Rev. John Adams, written in the early part of the eighteenth century, which have been considered as no bad specimens of the poetry of his time, are tolerably free from the faults of the generation that preceded him, and show the dawnings of an ambition of correctness and elegance. The |