1859-10-20 The Courant

198 THE COURANT; A SOUTHERN LITERARY JOURNAL. dozen, as they hop, disconsolately through the flooded fields, which lately afforded them shelter? Did you ever fish all the day long from a 'break-water,' with your legs dangling seaward, and get nothing but a crab or two, and a very red face, for all your pains and heat? Did you ever go out patrolling 'properly armed and accoutered,' with—an umbrella, and if you were green at the business, find yourself, at the end of a half-hour, the only man protecting the public peace, the others having slipped round corners and gone home to their beds, after answering to their names? Did you ever bowl along the beach with a 2.40 thorough-goer (or even a pacing nag as gentle as the Prior's palfrey which he lent King Richard), and see the sun set in a glory of dissolving clouds—purple, gold, pink, blue, orange and grey—see it finally disappear, leaving a myriad of faintly-shooting rays, pointing upwards like giant fingers, and then watch the 'crescent in the sky' as the sea ripples and dances in its holy light? and lift up your hat to passing crowds of white-robed Nereids, making the sands merry with their unchecked laughter? or exchange smiles with barefooted children, gathering health, strength and shells by this intimate acquaintance with mother earth?

"Did you ever enjoy your 'tea' heartily after all this and think shrimp salad and deviled crabs 'great inventions?'"

For the Courant. NATURAL AND MORAL LAW.

MR. EDITOR:—The editor of the Boston Post makes the following comments upon the essays of Mr. GRAYSON (of Tennessee), which have lately appeared in the National Intelligencer, and in which the anthor maintains that "National Law" is opposed to the "Moral Law;" so that, as far as they form rules of human action, the one cannot. be obeyed without violating the other:

"W. S. Grayson, in the National Intelligence, is labouring hard to upset the principles of the Declaration of Independence. It is too late in the day. The Tories of 1776 tried their hand at, it, but made poor work, and Mr. Grayson does not get on any better. The soundest thinkers hold that Truth is one and the same, every where; that one truth cannot blot, out or be against, or contradict another truth; while Mr. Grayson lays down the following basis, or starting point:

" 'All that I contend for is, simply, that natural philosophy opposes moral philosophy. But man is a free agent, and hence he may obey either. lf he follow the developments of nature, that rise by natural law, he thereby opposes moral plnlosophy: if, on the other hand, he obeys the latter, he opposes natural disposition.' "

"Mr. Grayson holds, that nature 1s very defective, and hence Jefferson was in error in writing the proposition about the laws of Nature and of Nature's God!"

The moral questions here renewed by Mr. GRAYSON were discussed more than two thousand years ago, between Socrates and the Sophists of Athens—and were satisfactorily and for ever settled, even at that early day, (as far, at least, as the convictions of the right-minded, or of all the sincere searchers after truth, are concemed,) by that Prince of dialecticians and most, athletic of logicians, whose teachings have been preserved as on written gold, in the eloquent pages of his immortal scholars— Plato, Xenophon, and Aristotle. In the "Gorgias" of Plato, three diologists are introduced*—Gorgias himself, Polus and Callicles. Polus, who commences the discussion, soon turns over the management of the argument to Callicles, who, as Mr. GROTE states, is represented as laying down doctrines openly and avowedly anti-social. He distinguishes between the law of nature, and the law—both written and unwritten—of society. According to the law of Nature, Callicles says, the strong man —the better or more capable man—puts forth his strength to the full for his own advantage, without limit or restraint; overcomes the resistance which weaker men are able to offer, and seizes for himself as much as he pleases of the matter of enjoyment. The many, who have the misfortune to be weak, must be content with that which he leaves them, and submit to it as best they can. This, Callicles says, is what actually happens in a stale of nature; this is what is accounted just, as is evident by the practice of independent communities, not included in one common political society, towards each other; this is justice by nature, or according to the law of nature. But, when men come into society, all this is reversed. The majority of individuals know very well, that they are weak, and that their only chance of security or comfort consists in establishing laws to restrain this strong man, reinforced by a moral sanction of praise or blame, devoted to the same general end. They catch him, like a young lion, whilst his mind is yet tender, and fascinate him, by talk and training, into a disposition comformable to that measure and equality which the law enjoins. Here, then, is justice, according to the laws of society: a factitious system, built llp by the many, for their own protection and happiness, to the subversion of thof nature, which arms the strong man with a right to encroachment and license. Justice by nature, and justice by law and society, are thus, according to Callicles, not only distinct, but mutually contradictory. He accuses Socrates of having jumbled the two together in his argument." ϯ

Socrates, in his reply to these specious but shallow rhetors, who thus give a priority to the lower law of nature, and assign a mere second place and factitious character to that of conscience and moral restraint, vindicates the truth and validity of moral distinctions, and of those great ethical principles which are still further and so splendidly illustrated in the other works of his great disciple, Plato, who has left to the world a body of doctrines so pure and spiritual—so nearly approaching to those derived from a higher source—as to have been termed, with an allowable hyperbole, anticipated Christianity. We deem it, therefore, unnecessary to reproduce here the opinions and arguments of either of these great masters of reason, or of those more modern ethieists and deeper instructed teachers, who have shewn that the light of nature, which thus guided their heathen predecessors, like an earlier "Star in the East," to the cradle of Truth, and enabled them to trace the lineaments of the infant Divinity, over whom they bowed with a pure and, as we must believe, with a not unaccepted homage, was a "holy light," and flowed from the same sources as that subsequently shed down for the salvation of mankind on a longlost, sin-soiled, and error-darkened world. If the principles of justice, morality and right were not at least as eternal and as true as those by which the Universe is upheld, and its order and stability has been preserved through all revolving time, it is obvious that society would necessarily fall into confusion; violence would prevail over law, and vice over virtue, and that the whole system, both social and political, would

"Go to rack, with ruin over-spread."

If the principles of morality, and of justice and civil right, were merely conventional, they could neither have borne the wear and tear, the perpetual strain, if we may so phrase it, to which they have been exposed, from the very genesis of society to the present moment; nor would their authority and sway have been illustrated, as they now are, by the glories of an ever-advancing civilization, the irradiance of liberty, and the ever-spreading light of knowledge, that now glance into all "the dark places of the earth,'' and by which, it, has been prophecied—" the veil will be taken off of the nations." Bad as things are, justice retains a superior position over injustice; virtue over vice, right over wrong; and law and order still keep their giant feet planted on the necks of the reluctantes Dracones —the writhing monsters of violence, revolution and anarchy, that are ever struggling up from the abyss, and seeking to "rule or ruin," or to obtain the mastery.

lt is obvious, that as the possession of the high attributes of reason and the moral sense furnish man with means of rising above the state of nature, or the abased condition in which might makes right, and in which he is governed merely by his animal appetite and passions—it is obvious, we say, that he was not intended by his Creator to be ruled by the latter, but by those superior qualities with which He bas so gloriously endowed, and so solemnly crowned him. Hence— "By his proper motion, he ascends"— and always has ascended, wherever free scope or a fair opportunity has been afforded him for the exercise and display of moral energies, and almost boundless intellectual powers. If we had the leisure, or were this the proper place to enter into so deep a subject, we should endeavour to shew that the moral sense is the real source of the reasoning power, and is, properly, the highest and most distinguishing attribute of man. The first efforts of an infant mind are those by which it learns to distinguish between right and wrong, and all children sooner acquire moral than any other class of ideas. A close analysis of the operations of the mind, would serve to shew that every argument or process of reasoning is, in fact, an appeal to the moral sense, or to that nice perception of the distinction between right and wrong, truth and justice, which we acquire through this, the most deep-lying, the subtlest and most unerring of all those faculties by which man has been made an intellectual and accountable being.

But, to return to the subject more immediately before us. We should state, that Mr. GROTE thinks that the accounts given by Plato of the sentiments or philosophy of Callicles, is to be received with some distrust, or, at any rate, with some allowances for the prejudices entertained by the great Academician against the Sophists of the day, whom he considered as masters, indeed, of the weapons of rhetoric and eloquence, but as indifferent to, and ignorant of, moral truth. "Of all places in the world," says Mr. GROTE, "democratical Athens was the last in which the doctrines advocated by Callicles could possibly have been professed by a public teacher.'' It is unnecessary to remind the reader how profoundly democratical was the sentiment and morality of the Athenians—how much they loved their laws, how jealous they were of any nascent or threatening tyranny. Socrates, in this dialogue, (Gorgias), seeks to establish against Callicles, and against the Sophists, that they courted, flattered and truckled to the sentiment of the Athenian people, with degrading subserviency; that they looked to the immediate gratification, solely, and not to the permanent moral improvement, of the people; that they had not courage to address to them any unpalatable truths. etc., etc. That no man who put himself prominently forward at Athens had any chance of success, unless he became moulded and assimilated to the people, and their type of sentiment. How is it conceivable that any Sophist or any rhetor would venture to enforce upon an Athenian public audience the doctrine laid clown by Calliclcs? To tell such an audience "your laws and institutions are all violations of the laws of nature, contrived to disappoint the Alcibiades or Napoleon among you of his natural right to become your master, and deal with you petty men as his slaves. All your unnatural precautions and conventional talk about equal and legal dealings, will turn out, to be nothing better than pitiful impotence, as soon as he finds an opportunity of standing forward in his full might and energy, so as to put you in your proper place, and shew you what Nature intends for her favourites! Conceive such a doctrine propounded by a lecturer to assembled Athenians! That Sophists, whom Plato accuses of flattery to the democratical ear, should gratuitously insult it by the proposition of such tenets, is an assertion not merely untrue, but utterly absurd.'' The only untrue and utterly absurd assertion in the above quotation is, as we humbly think, that made b Mr. GROTE himself, who so hardily accuses Plato and Socrates of misyepresenting and belying the Sophists, who were their contemporaries and their rivals as the teachers of the Athenian youth, to whom they would certainly have set the worst of all possible examples, by calumniating the characters and mis-describing the ethical systems of their popular and well-paid instructors, whom we can more easily believe to have been quacks or specious impostors, than that the son of Sophroniscus, he whom the Oracle pronounced the "wisest of men," or the "Prince of Philosophers "—men who devoted their lives to the study, the development, and inculcation of truth—were the slanderers and envious maligners of the writers and great philosophical lecturers of their day. We do not, at any rate, believe that the task of unmasking or exposing such illustrious fautors or offenders, had they indeed been guilty, would have been left to be now performed, or to such a hand as the "chiel" who had been "takin' notes" of their alleged malpractices and misdoings; or to a punning sage from John o'Grote's house," who falls a-telling against Plato, Xenophon, and Socrates, with as little fear and the same headlong zeal that Don Quixot attacked the flock of sheep, whom he mistook for a host of enemies, and Paynim foes. His ideas of the effect which the teachings ascribed to the Sophists were calculated to produce upon the people of Athens, we regard as no less preposterous and absurd than his attempt to impelLch the account given by Plato, Xenophon, and Socrates, of the character of these teachings, and their authors, whom they personally knew, and frequently disquoted with.* The views and doctrines of these mere rhetors and plausible reasoners, would have been received— whatever may have been their tendency—as mere speculative opinions, at the most: precisely in the same manner as the theories, still so often broached on these subjects, are at the present day, both by the public and the learned. It is, at any rate, evident that the reproduction of these alleged anti-democratic and demoralizing doctrines by Mr. GRAYSON, has, as yet, produced no disturbing effect upon the minds of American Republicans, and have excited no alarm, nor elicited any other remarks than those we have quoted from the Boston Post and ventured make upon them ourselves, in the present communication. CHION.

* What scholars were these! the first, great as the master, of when he humbled himself to be the interpreter. The second, a philosopher, a fine writer, and a leader of armies; and the third, a ruler, for near two thousand years, of the human mind; of whom it was sublimely said, that "He was the Secretary of Nature, and dipped his pen in mind."

ϯ Schleiermacher represents that Plato intended to refute Aristippus, in the person of Callicles; which supposition he sustains, by remarking that Aristippus affirmded that there was no such thing as justice in nature, but only by law and convention. But the affirmation of Callicles is the direct contrary of that which Schleiermacher ascribes to Aristippus. Callicles but only does not deny justice by nature, but affirms it in the most direct manner—explains what it is, that it consists in the right of the strongest man to make use of his strength, without any regard to others—and puts it above the justice of law and society, in respect to authority.

GIANTS.—The bed of Og was twenty-seven feet long and seven feet broad. The height of Goliah was eleven feet ; his coat weighed one hundred and fifty and spear nineteen pounds. The body of Orestes, son of Agamemnon, leader of the Grecian expedition against Troy, was eleven and a half feet high. Maximus, a native of Spain, the Roman Emperor, was nine feet high. Maximus, originally of France, another Roman Emperor, was eight and a half feet high. His wife's bracelets served him for finger rings. His strength was such that he could draw a loaded wagon, break a horse's jaw with his fist, crush the hardest stone with his fingers, and cleave trees with his hand. His voracity was equal to his strength, eating fortytwo pounds of flesh, and drinking nineteen* bottles of wine daily. Byrne and O'Brien, Irish giants, were eight feet high. A Tennessee giant, who died recently, was seven feet high, weighing more than one thousand pounds. The Kentucky giant was seven feet ten inches high.

"Mr. GROTE's style is often as slovenly and incorrect as his classical criticisms are presumptuous and rash and unsound. In the very page from which wo have drawn tho above quotations, we meet with the following figurative sentence: "It is one of the main points of Socrates, in the dialogue, to make out that the practice of Sophists, as well as rhetors, aims at nothing but the immediate gratification of the people, without any regard to their ultimate or durable interest—that they were branches of the widely-extended knack of flattery." The italics in the above arc ours. The practice of the Sophists and rhetors is thus spoken of in the plural, as branches of the knack, or widely-extendetl art, of flattery. Whether it is the knack or its branches that are so widely-extended, is not very clearly made out.

• .. THE COURANT A SOUTHERN LITERARY JOURNAL. 199

For the Courant.

UNIVERSAL MUSIC.

BY MAUD IRVING, I. Music on the hill-tops, In the coming breeze-- Music in the rivulet. Music in the trees, Music in the flowers, Music in the brake-- Where the birds sweet echoes 'Mid the beauty wake. II. Music in the rain-drops, Music in the brook-- Music in the sun-shine of a pleasant look-- Music in the ocean Dashing on the shore-- Music in the thunder's Deep, terrific roar. III. Music in the tempest Husting on with speed; Music in the whirlwind Bending down the reed; Music in the twilight Written in the sky Music in young laughter, And in benuty's eye. IV. Oh, there is gentle music, All around the earth Music full of joyousness, Music full of mirth. Nature teems with melody, All sweet and heavenly fair-- There's music, softest music, In the vocal Everywhere.

INTERESTING ITEMS. NOVEL AND USEFUL INVENTION. We experienced a feeling akin to regret, when, a few days since, the fact was made apparent to us that one of the chieftest and lightest employments of our grandmothers was, in a measure, gone, and that the old ladies to whom the knitting of stockings, while seated in the chimney corner of a winter's evening, was really a source of enjoyment as well as a pleasant task, were henceforth to be debarred the sole privilege of performing the knitting for the family. Goffe's patent knitting machines do away with the necessity of grandmothers or at least so far as they are wanted for their knitting abilities. Like the sewing machine, they are destined to become family institutions ; and hereafter the knitting, for an entire year, of any household may be accomplished in a day or two at most. The machine itself is exceedingly simple in its structure; is easily managed, and scarcely liable to get out of order. It is ornamental in appearance, and occupies but little space. It will knit plain or ribbed work, and by changing the needles, & great variety of styles and stitches can be produced. It may be adapted to very elastic open work, or that which is compact and close. It will knit stockings of any required sizes, for children or adults, and also tight or lose under-sleeves, tippets, ties, and other useful of fancy articles. Either woolen, cotton or silk yarn may be used upon it. The time occupied in knitting a pair of half-hose is about ten minutes. and for a pair of ladies' long hose, eighteen or twenty minutes. These are some of its qualifications, and when we add that its work is performed mainly by simply turning a crank, requiring little skill or judgment on the part of the operator, we think we have said that which is sufficient to induce our city readers at least to visit the sales-room, at 514 Broadway, opposite the St. Nicholas Hotel, where these machines may be seen in operation. Home Journal.

THE BOOK OF JOB.- The book of Job is generally regarded as the most perfect specimen of the poutry of the Hebrews. It is alike picturesque in the delineation of individual phenomena and artistically skilful in the didactic arrangement of the whole work. In all the modern languages in which the book of Job has been translated, its images, drawn from the natural scenery of the East, leave a deep impression on the mind. " The Lord walketh on the heights of the waters, on the ridges of the wave towering high beneath the force of the wind." " The morning red has coloured the margin of the earth, and variously formed the covering of the clouds, as the hand of man. holds the yielding clay." The habits of animals are described--as, for instance, those of the wild ass, the horse, the buffalo, the rhinoceros, and the crocodile, the eagle and the ostrich. We see "the pure ether spread during the heat of the South wind, as a melted mirror over a parched desert."

The poetic literature of the Hebrews is not deficient in variety of form, for, while the Hebrew poetry breathes a war-like enthusiasm from Joshua to Sumuel, the little book of the gleaner Ruth presents us with a charming and exquisite picture of nature. Goethe, at the period of his enthusiasm for the East, spoke of it "as the loveliest specimen of epic and idyl poetry which we possess."-Humboldl's Cosmos.

INCREASE OF NOVELS. --In 1820 there were only twenty-six volumes of novels on the shelves of the British Museum, but there are now seven thousand four hundred, and all these have been written since "Waverly" was begun.

Did you See "Ary Schaffer ?" inquired an artist of a traveller who had just returned from Paris. Nary Schaffer, was the reply.

HIGH-TONED CRITICISM. - Mr. Bartlett, in his Dictionary of mericanisms," refers to the exaggerated style of the newspaer critics: Thus, a Western critic, speaking of the acting of liss Logan, says the way in which she chaunted the Marselise was terrible in its intensity,' and that the impression ade must, create her a name that will never die. This, owever, does not begin with Miss Wyatt, whose performances Springfield, Illinois, are thus described in a criticism in one the papers in that city, •Illumed by the lyric muse, she is magnificent. All nerve, all palpitation, her rounded form is ie fittest setting for her diamond soul! She has grace, which more than beauty, and distinction, which adorns still more an grace. She appears the incarnation of genius!-it strugles within her--inspiration quivers down her snow-white rms; and trembles on her fingers' ends -passion wrestles in er quivering frame, and shudders through her limbs. Her bul flickers in every accent, and looms up in very pantomime, thile serene smiles play about her mouth. Her drapery follows her gestures her gestures her passions. Every atritude a model, every pose is a classic statue.' "

THE New Orleans Picayune rejoices in the beautiful weather: "How graphically does William Howitt describe our June weather, in his enchanting Book of the Seasons! 'It is the very carnival of Nature, and she is prodigal of her luxuries. It is a luxury to walk abroad, indulging every sense with sweetness, loveliness and harmony. How delicious, too, are the evenings become! The frosts and damps of Spring are past: the earth is dry ; the night air is balmy and refreshing; the fragrant breath of flowers steals into our houses ; the rose with its blooms of delicate tint and odour, from the deepest red to the purest pearl; the wreathed and luscious honeysuckle embellish the wayside, and make brave the garden.' To all this our Southern clime adds the exquisite perfume of the orange blossom, the intoxicating incense of the magnolia grandiflora, and the voluptuous breath of the Cape Jessamine, and a thousand other scents and sights the Flora of England, under whose inspirations Howitt wrote, does not furnish.''

THE DOOM OF THE WORLD. The North British Review, discoursing upon the doom of the world, has the following remarks:

"What this change is we dare not even conjecture ; but we see in the heavens themselves some traces of destructive elements and some indications of their annihilative power. The fragments of broken planets; the descent of meteoric stones upon our globe the whirling comets wielding their loose material at the solar surface; the volcanic eruptions in our own satellite: the appearance of new stars, and the disappearance of others, are all foreshadows of that impending convulsion to which the world is doomed. Thus placed on a planet which is to be burnt up, and under heavens which are to pass away; thus residing, as it were, on the cemeteries and dwelling upon a mausoleum of former worlds, let us learn the lessons of humility and wisdom, if we have not already been taught in the school of revelation."

DEARER, YET DEARER, ART THOU, LOVE TO ME. Dear Lanra! when you were a flirting young miss, And I was your dutiful swain, Your smiles could exalt to the summit of bliss, Your frowns could o'erwhelm me with pain You were dear to me, then, love; but now you're my wife, It is strange the fond tie should be nearer, For when I am paying your bills, on my life, You seem to get dearer and dearer!

THE battle of Kohn, fought between the Austrians and Prussians, was lost by the latter. Their king, immediately after his defeat, meeting with a Prussian soldier who had received a wound in his face, inquired: "In what beer shop did you get that scar?" "In one," replied the soldier, "where your majesty paid the reckoning."

AN ENGLISH MUSSELMAN. The Madras (E. I.) Atheneum has heard from Cevlon the news that the Hon. Mr. Stanley, a son of Lord Stanley, of Alderney, has become a Musselman, and from the fact of its being mentioned in three local journals, the Atheneum entertains no doubt of the truth of the report.

A GERMAN writer observes that in the United States there is such a scarcity of thieves they are obliged to offer a reward for their discovery.

AN EDITOR closes his leader in this unhappy strain: "The sheriff's officer is waiting for us in the other room, so we have no opportunity to be pathetic; we are wanted, and must go. Delinquent subscribers, you have much to answer for! Heaven may forgive you, but we never can.''

MRS. MAIR,. a grand-daughter of Mrs. Siddons, is giving readings from Shakespeare's plays in London. At the invitation of Lady Noel Byron, a small party of private friends recently attended the reading of Macbeth.

SAMUEL BOYCE was a well-known literary author of the last century. Dr. Johnson, among other acts friendly sympathy, frequently solicited alms for Boyce; and having once received a guinea, he bought some roast beef and a bottle of port wine. But when Boyce sat down to enjoy this "manna in the wilderness,'' he commenced a serious quarrel with the doctor because he had not also added some mushrooms or catsup.

SELF-REPORTING.-A discovery has been made in England, by means of which sounds, either of the voice or of musical instruments, may be made to record themselves. The mark made on the paper by a particular note is , always the same. The inventor believes that his apparatus will be capable of reporting a speech, which may be written off verbatim.

ACCORDING to the Talmud, one party of the Rabbins allowed divorces, when a woman had only been so unfortunate as to suffer her husband's soup to be burnt. What a burning shame!

PUNNING SERMON.-The following curious string of puns is taken from a scarce work published in the reign of James I. A divine more willing to play with words than to be serious in expounding his text, spoke thus in his sermon: "This dial shows that we must die all; yet, notwithstandmg, all houses are turned into ale houses; our cares are turned into cates; our Paradise into a pair o' dice ; matrimony into a matter o' money; and marriage into a merry age. Our divines have become dry vines; it was not so in the days of Noah-ah no !"

OUR BEST PARLOURS.-DO not keep a solemn parlour, into which you go but once a month, with the parson or sewing society. Hang around your walls pictures which shall tell stories of mercy, hope, courage, faith, and charity. Make your living-room the largest and most cheerful in the house. Let the place be such that when your boy has gone to distant lands, or even when, perhaps, he clings to a single plank in the lone waters of the wide ocean, the thought of the still homestead shall come across the desolation, bringing always light, hope, and love. Have no dungeon about your house; no room you never open; no blinds that are always shut.

LEARNING AND WISDOM. --The learned man is only useful to the learned ; the wise man is equally useful to the wise and the simple. The merely learned man has not elevated his mind above that of others; his judgments are not more penetrating, his remarks not more delicate, nor his actions more beautiful than those of others. It is wholly different with the wise man; he moves far above the common level ; he observes every thing from a different point of view; in his employments there is always an aim, in his views always freedom, and all with him is above the common level.- Jean Paul Richter.

ARE these pure canaries? asked a gentleman of a birddealer, with whom he was negotiating for a "gift for his fair,' " Yes, sir," said the dealer, confidentially, "I raised them 'ere birds from canary seed." It was deemed sufficient proof of their purity.

A TRULY grateful heart may not be able to tell its gratitude, but it can feel, and love, and act.

CARL MARIA VON WEDER's works, with biographical notice, are soon to be published under the supervision of his son.

The books in the library belonging to the British Museum occupy twelve miles of shelf. The painting and sculpture galleries of the Palace of Versailles extend over six miles.

Half the secrets in the world are disclosed in order that those who possess them may let their friends know that they hold them.

There are few who know how to be idle, ancl innocent, and the very first step out of business is usually into vice and folly.

A TOUCHING story is related of a Zouave who had picked up a wounded Austrian and was carrying him out of the melee. As he was trudging along with the man upon his back, cautiously looking around, he perceived that the poor fellow, with a pair of scissors which he hnd contrived to draw from his pocket., was cutting off a lock of his preserver's hair to keep as a memento.

BEAUTIFUL PICTURE.-A mother teaching her child to pray, is an object at once the most sublime and tender the imagination can coneeive. Elevated above earthly things, she seems like one of those guardian angels, the companions of our earthly pilgrimage, through whose ministrations we are inclined to do good and turn from evil.

How IS IT," said a gentleman to Sheridan, "that your name has not O attached to it ?- -Your family is Irish, and no doubt illustrious." "No family has a better right to O than our family," said Sheridan, "for we owe every body."

LIFE, "O, World! so few the years we live, "Would that the life which thou dost give "Were life indeed ! "A1as ! thy sorrows fall so fast, "Our happiest hour is when at last "'The soul is freed."

From the "Stanzas by Don Jorge Manrique,'' which were found in the author's pocket, after his death on the field of battle, at Canavete, 1497.-Longfellow's Translation of same.

"THE law," said Judge Ashurst, in a charge, "is open to all men, to the poor as well as the rich." "And so is the London Tavern," added Horne Tooke, who was present.

LOVE OF POWER. Grattan said Edmund Burke was so fond of arbitrary power, he could not sleep upon his pillow, unless he thought the King had a right to take it from under him.

The sea is the largest cemetery, and its slumberers sleep without a monument. All grave-yards, in other lands, show some symbol of distinction between the great and the small, the rich and the poor; but in that ocean cemetery, the king, the clown, the prince, and the peasant, are alike undistinguished.

POLITE LOYALTY.--At the time Queen Elizabeth made her first public entry into Coventry, the mayor, attended by a numerous cavalcade, went out to receive her majesty in state. On their return, the weather being warm, as they passed through a small brook the mayor's horse attempted several times to drink, which was as often checked by his rider. which the queen observing, said: "Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor, pray let your horse drink, Mr. Mayor." But the good-mannered magistrate, veiling his bonnet, and at the same moment bowing very low, replied: "Nay, nay, may it please your most gracious majesty's horse to drink first.'

AMERICAN LOVE OF NOVELS. The people of the United States shOw a strong predeliction for a light and fictitious literature. Of two thousand old and new volumes issued in this country in a recent year, about one-half were works of fiction or imagination. In France only one-ninth are works of the same class, and England works of fancy constitute only one-seventh of the whole number published.

GEORGE the IV., when Prince of Wales, used to return the bows of all persous in the street, except beggars. He justified the omission by remarking, that to return a beggar's bow, without giving him any thing, would be mockery ; and to stop to give him a sixpence would seem ostentatious in a prince.

MISPLACED honours and titles are a splendid sign to a wretched inn ; an illuminated frontispiece to a contemptible book ; a lofty arch overshadowing a gutter.

A BURGLAR was once frightened out of his scheme of robbery by the sweet simplicily of a solitary spinster, who, putting her night-capped head out of the window exclaimed, "Go away ! aren't you ashamed?"

200 THE COURANT; A SOUTHERN LITERARY JOURNAL.

For the Courant.

LOW TIDE.

Low is the tide of life to-day, The rocks of woe loom far and high, And sea-gulls spring athwart the way, With wings that darken as they fly.

The very shells upon life's beach Sing songs of sadness and of woe, And white-topped waves of joy retreat. While darkened waters round me flow.

Life's sands, left naked to my gaze, Seem deep and treacherous sands of sin, And gaddened wails around me rise From those whose feet have sunk therein.

And sheeted ships seem bearing near, Then pase again beyond the sight; Thus hopes, when seeming near their crown, Are sunk in darkness and in blight.

And gazing, can see no land Beyond the blue waves' dash and roar; And so, beyond death's yawning sea, I cannot see the other shore.

"Tis low tide on life's beach to-dayThe beach by wearied feet oft trod ; When will high water come again The tide is rising -bless our God!

Wsconsin. HA'l'TIE 'l'YNO,

THE COURANT $ PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY, AT Columbia, S. c., BY W. W. WALKER, JR., & Co., AT TWO DOLLARS PER ANNUM, INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE.

Rates of Advertising: One square of eight lines, or less, solid Minion, one insertion $1.00. each subsequent 50. All advertisements from parties at a distance must be paid in advance.

CONGAREE RESTAURANT, FIRST DOOR ABOVE JANNEY'S HOTEL. STORK & HUSSUNG Would respectfully inform their friends and the public generally that they have now opened their EATING ESTABLISHMENT, and solicit a share of patronage. Meals furnished at all hours by experienced caterers, FISH, GAME, OYSTERS, ETC., IN SEASON. The best of Liquors, Wines, and Lager Beer always on hand. October 20, 1859. 25--2

CAROLINA HIGH SCHOOL, Columbia, S. C. PRINCIPALS A. B. BRUMBY, A. M. Latin and Mathematies. J. WOOD DAVIDSON, A. M.-Greek and English. ASSISTANT, T. BEZANCON-Graduate University France-French. Terms $30 per session. May 5, 1859. 1--tf

SOUTH CAROLINA INSTITUTE FAIR. TO be held in Charleston, NoYomber 15th, 1859. Competition open to all. Fair for the promotion of AR'l', MECHANICAL INGENUITY aud INDUSTRY, At their large and commodious Building in the City of Charleston, S. C., commencing on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15th, 1859.

Suitable Premiums will be given for the best specimens in Art, Mechanism and other branches of Inclnstry ; also for Cotton, Rice, Sugar, Tobacco, Corn, Wheat, Rye, Oats, Potatoes, and other Agricultural Products.

All Articles entered for Premiums, must be sent in on or before Friday, the eleventh day of November next, and directed to the care of Mr. Thomas Aimar, Clerk of the South Carolina Institute, Charleston. Articles may be sent after that day for EXHIBITION ONLY.

Contributors to the Fair are respectfully requested to send full descriptions of the articles, and such general information as may be of use to the Judges, and suitable for publication. Every attention will be paid to all articles sent for exhibition.

Aug. 1859. l6--tf.

LAGER BEER, (AT THE SIGN OF l'HE GOLDEN BUCK.) WE now inform tho citizens of Columbia and the surrounding country, that we are able to supply them with the healthiest LAGER BEER in the world. It is brewed out of malt ancl hops and mineral spring water. For sale by the barrel, dozen and gallon. Every two hours a small barrel put fresh on draught. JOHN SEEGERS & CO., No 101 Richardson Street. Aug. 11-59. 15-tf.

ALLEN & DIAL, IMPORTERS and Dealers in English and American Hardware and Cutlery, Iron, Steel, Nails, Castings, Mill-Stones, Bolting Cloths, Mill-Irons, Sugar Pans, India Rubber and Leather Belting, Carpenters', Placksmiths' and Tanners' Tools, Housekeepjng and Furnishing Hardware, Agricultural Implements, Lime, Cement, Plaster, Paints, Oils, French and American Window Glass, Guns, Rifles, Pistols, Shot-Belts, Powder-Flasks, Powder, Shot, &c.; wholesale or retail at tho sign of the Golden Pad-Lock, Columbia, S. C. J. M. ALLEN. J. C. DIAL. May 19, 1859 3--tf

WEARN & HIX, NO. 170 MAIN STREET, COLUMBIA, S. C., ARE prepared to execute Portraits, from Miniature to Life Size, in all departments of the Photographic Art. The public are invited to call and inspect specimens of the new and beautiful IVORYTYPE. May 5, 1859. 1--ff

THE FOURTH ANNUAL FAIR OF THE State Agricultural Society OF SOUTH CAROLINA, WILL BE HELD AT COLUMBIA, On the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th of November, 1859. PHE Executive Committee of the State Agricultural Society of South Carolina, beg leave to call the attention of the citizens of South Carolina, and the Southern States, to their approaching Annual Festival. The Premium List is a very comprehensive one, and Premiums will be awarded on every article of merit coming within the range of the AGRICULTURAL, HORTICULTURAL, and MECHANICAL Departments, as well as the FINE ARTS, LADIES' FANCY WORK, and DOMESTIC ECONOMY. In addition to the large and admirably-arranged Halls for the accommodation of Exhibitors, the Committee have made other very important improvements, which will add much to the comfort and enjoyment of visitors. SPACIOUS AMPHITHEATRE

will also be in readiness, to seat some thousands, and add to the interest of the Exhibition. The track for the exercise and display of " fast trotters' has been put in order, and the trotters already entered promise something exciting. Visitors will be passed over all the Railroads in the State, during the week of exhibition, for one fare. All articles and animals, intended expressly for exhibition, will be passed, (at the owners' risk) over all the Railroads in South Carolina without charge, except the South Carolina Railroad, and Cheraw and Darlington Ronds, which will demand one-half freight. Visitors should take the precaution to procure Return Tickets when they pay their fare, to avoid ombarrassment and delay. Exhibitors will please give the Railroad Officers timely notice of such animals and articles as they may wish transported, as well as the time and point of delivery, A. P. CALHOUN, J. A. METTS, R. HARLEE, W. R. ROBERTSON, D. W. RAY, R. J. GAGE, J. F. MARSHALL, Executive Committee. Oetober I 1859. 23

THE FORTH ANNUAL FAIR OF THE State Agricultural Society OF SOUTH CAROLINA, WILL BE HELD AT COLUMBIA, On the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th of November, 1859.

THE Executive Committee of the State Agricultural Society of South Carolina, beg leave to call the attention of the citizens of South Carolina, and the Southern States, to their approaching Annual Festival. The Premium List is a very comprehensive one, and Premiums will be awarded on every article of merit coming within the range of the AGRICULTURAL, HORTICULTURAL, and MECHANICAL Departments, as well as the FINE ARTS, LADIES' FANCY WORK, and DOMESTIC ECONOMY. In addition to the large and admirably-arranged Halls for the accommodation of Exhibitors, the Committee have made other very important improvements, which will add much to the comfort and enjoyment of visitors.

A SPACIOUS AMPHITHEATRE

will also be in readiness, to seat some thousands, and add to the interest of the Exhibition. The track for the exercise and display of fast trotters has been put in order, and the trotters already entered promise something exciting.

Visitors will be passed over all the Railronds in the State, during the week of exhibition, for one fare. All articles and animals, intended expressly for exhibition, will be passed, (at the owners' risk) over all the Railroads in South Carolina without charge, except the South Carolina Railroad, and Cheraw and Darlington Roads, which will demand one-half freight. Visitors should take the precaution to procure Return Tickets when they pay their fare, to avoid embarrassment and delay. Exhibitors will please give the Railroad Officers timely notice of such animals and articles as they may wish transported, as well as the time and point of delivery,

A. P. CALHOUN, J. A. METTS, R. HARLEE, W. R. ROBERTSON, D. W. RAY, R. J. GAGE. J. F. MARSHALL, Executive Committee.

October 6, 1859, 23--6

FAMILY GROCERIES. J. N. & T. D. FEASTER HAVE on hand, and are still receiving, a choice article of Sugar-Cured Hams, Bacon Strips, Sides and Shoulders, Lard, Goshen and Country Butter, Smoked and Pickled Beef, Pork and Tongues, Mackerel, Salmon, Shad and White Fish, Extra Family Flour, Rice, Potatoes, Beans, &c., Pickles, Preserves, Spice, Pepper, Ginger and many othor articles appertaining to the GROCERY business, which they offer at Low Prices for CASH.

A carefully selected assortment of the best Wines, Brandies, Ale, &c., kept constantly on hand, all of which we Warrant Pure.

Give us a trial, and we will endeavor to give satisfaction. Our terms are strictly CASH.

June 30, 1859. 9--ff

S. G. COURTENAY & CO., No. 9 BROAD STREET, BOOKSELLERS and Stationers, Cheap Publications, Magazines and Newspapers. Ch:trleston, S. C. [May 5, 1859 1-tf

URSULINE ACADEMY OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, COLUMBIA, S. C. THIS Institute has resumed its Academic exercises, in the building lately known as the "AMERICAN HOTEL." It is hoped it will receive the patronage it merits.

TERMS PER SESSION: Board and Tuition, including washing, mending, etc., etc., $110 EXTERN PUPILS--Senior Class, $30 Junior Class, $20 Preparatory Class, $16 Languages, Music, Drawing, Painting, Postage, Books, Stationery and Embroidery, form extra charges. Further information may be obtained at the Academy. 22-4 Sept. 29

PAPER COMMISSION WAREHOUSE. AND PRINTERS' DEPOT, FOR the sale of Writing, Printing, Envelope, and Colored Papers, Cards, and Printing Materials of all kinds. Agent for L. JOHNSON & Co., Type Founders, R. HOE & Co., and other Printing Press makers. Printing Inks, of best quality, at Manufacturers' Prices.

TO MERCHANTS. The subscriber begs to call attention to his Large Stock of Writing and Wrapping Paper of all kinds, which he will sell very low for cash, or short credit on large sums.

JOSEPH WALKER, 120 Meeting Street, May, 5, 1859 1-f Charleston, S. C.

DR. M. GROSS & CO.'S UNRIVALLED. Vegetable Compound, the HYGIENE BITTERS. For sale, wholesale and retail, by

JOHN SEEGERS & CO., Agents, Oct. 6, 1859. 23--tf. Columbia, S. C.

TO TRAVELERS. SCHEDULE OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA RAILROAD.

Northern Route. Stations. D. Trains. N. Trains. Leave Charleston, 10.25 a. m. 8.30 p. m. Arrive at Kingsville, (Junction of the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad).. 4.50 p. m. 4.40 a. m. Arrive at Columbia, 6.30 p. m. 6.45 a. m. Arrive at Camden, 7.20 p. m. Leave Camden, 4.10 a. m. Leave Columbia, 5:00 a. m. 1.30 p. m. Leave Kingsville, 6.45 8. m. 3.30 p. m. Arrive at Charleston, 1.00 p. m. 11.00 p. m.

Western Route. Leave Charleston, 5.45 a. m. 2.30 p. m. Arrive at Augusta, 1.15 p. m. 11.15 p. in. Leave Augusta, 10.10 3. m. 8.15 p. m. Arrive at Charleston, 5.30 p. m. 5.20 a. m.

Through Travel Between Augusta and Kingsville. Leave Augusta, 10.10 a. m. 8.15 p. m. Arrive at Kingsville, 4.50 p. m. 4.40 a. m. Leave Kingsville, 6.45 a. m. 3.30 p. m. Arrive at Augusta, 1.15 p. m. 11.15 p. m. May 5, 1859 1--tf

P. W, HOADLEY. ATTORNEY AT LAW AND SOLICITOR IN CHANCERY, (Formerly of Columbia, S. C.,) LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS.

PARTICULAR attention given to the collection of claims in any part of the State, buying and selling of lands, locating swamp and overflowed lands, entering land at the General Land Offices and paying taxes on lands in any county in Arkansas. June 16, 1859 7--ly

F'. PATTERSON & CO., WHOLESALE and Retail Dealers in Books, Stationary, Faucy Goods, Daily and Weekly Newspapers, Magazinees, &c. Corner of King and Society Streets, Charleston, S. C.

N. B.--Miscellaneous and Mail Orders for Goods, whether in our line or not, promptly attended to. [May 5, l 859. 1--tf

COLUMBIA ATHENEUM, NO. 1944 RICHARDSON STREET, LIBRARY contains about 2,800 volumes. Reading Room has on file leading English and American magazines, and newspapers from the principal cities of the Union. Proprietorship--One Hundred Dollars. Annual Subseription Five Dollars per annum, payable in advance.

The Library and Reading Room are open, daily, from 9, A. M., to 1, P. M., from 3 to 5, and from 7 to 10, P. M. Hon. W. C. PRESTON, Pres't.

W. W. WALKER, Jr., Secretary. May 19, 1859 3--tf

WOOD, EDDY & co's SINGLE NUMBER LOTTERIES! (CHARTERED BY THE STATE OF GEORGIA.) CAPITAL PRIZE FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS! Tickets only Ten Dollars! WOOD, EDDY & Co., MANAGERS. (Successors to S. SWAN & Co.)

THE following Scheme will be drawn by Wood, Eddy & Co., Managers of the Sparta Academy Lottery, in each of their Single Number Lotteries for September, 1859, at Augusta, Georgia, in public, under the superintendence of Commissioners. Class 36 draws Saturday, September 3, 1859; Class 37 draws Saturday, September 10, 1859; Class 38 draws Saturday, September 17, 1859; Class 39 draws Saturday, September 24, 1859. On the plan of Single Numbers. 50,000 Tickets. Five Thousand Four Hundred and Eighty-Five Prizes! Nearly one prize to every nine Tickets.

Magnificent Scheme, to be Drawn each Sat'y in Sept'r. 1 Prize of $50,000 1 Prize of $1,500 1 20,000 50 Prizes of 1 46 500 1 10,000 100 6 400 1 5,000 100 300 1 4,000 100 4 150 1 3,000 100 100

Prizes of $400 Approximating to $50,000 Prizes are $1,600 4 300 20,000 1,200 4 250 10,000 1,000 4 46. 225 5,000 900 4 15 200 4,000 800 4 150 3,000 600 4 100 1,500 400 5,000 20 are 100,000 5,485 Prizes amounting to $320,000

WHOLE TICKETS $10; HALVES $5; QUARTERS $2 50. Remember that every prize in the above Scheme is drawn, and payable in full without deduction.

Certificates of Packages will be sold at the following rates, which is the risk:

Certificates of Packages of 10 Whole Tickets $80 Half 40 Quarter 20 Eighth 10

SPARTA ACADEMY LOTTERY. Class No. 513, draws Wednesday, September 28th, 1859, on the Three Number Plan. Seventy-eight Numbers Fourteen drawn ballots. Nearly one prize to every two Tickets.

ONE GRAND PRIZE OF $30,000! 1 Prize of $13,742 5Prizes of $1,500 5 Prize of 2,000 10 600

34,412 PRIZES AMOUNTING TO $567,962! Whole Tickets $10; Halves $5; Quarters $2 50.

In ordering Tickets or Certifieates, enclose the money to our address for the Tickets ordered, on receipt of which they will be forwarded by first mail.

The List of drawn Numbers and Prizes will be sent to purchasers immediatoly after drawing.

Purchasers will please write their signatures plain, and give their Post Office, County and State.

All prizes of $1,000 and under, paid immediately after the drawing; other prizes at the usual time of Forty Days.

Notice to Correspondents.

Those who prefer not sending money by mail, can uso the Adams Express Company, whereby money for Tickets, in sums of Ten Dollars, and upwards, can be sent us, at our risk and expense, from any city or town where they have an office. The money and order must be enclosed in a Government Post Office Stamped Envelope, or the Express Company cannot receive them.

All, communicat!ons strictly confidential. Orders for Tickets or Certificates, by mail or Express, to be directed to

WOOD, EDDY & CO., Augusta, Georgia, or WOOD, EDDY & CO., Atlanta, Georgia, or WOOD, EDDY &SPARTA ACADEMY LOTTERY.

A list of the numbers that are drawn from the wheel, with the amount of the prize that each one is entitled to, will be published af'.ter _every drawing, in the following papers :-Augusta (Ga.) Const1tut1onalist, Mobile Register, Nashville Gazette, Richmond Dispatch, Paulding (Miss.), Clarion, and New York Times. May 26 1859 4-ly