Notices of New Works: Pierpont's Poetical Works [pp. 777-779]

1Notices of New Works.
the mountains supply him with mineral wealth and hygean
fountains.
This country, you know, was recovered from the Cherokees but a few years since; and that portion supposed to
have gold, was divided by the state into forty acre lots, and
disposed of by lottery to the people-each man and woman
having one chance. As you may suppose, there was much
variation in the value of these lots; but No. 52 was considered the El Dorado of the whole-and happy would that
man he to whom it might fall. The day came, and it was
announced the portion of a poor man in Green County.
Away went the speculators, Gilpin-like, to gain the prize,
and found the man ploughing in his field. He heard the
glad tidings without emotion, and continued his ploughing;
but when the offer rose to $30,000 cash, he sold it. In a
few days $100,000 was offered, but the infatuated purchaser held on-and only awoke from his Utopian dream, by
the ruinous discovery, that No. 52 was one of the poorest
lots in the region of Dahlonega. About three years since,
the government established a branchli mint here which coins
about $120,000 annually, and probably as much more is
sent away in bullion. The whole population is engaged in
digging for gold; and the face of the country for many miles
presents the appearance of new made graves, or like Perk
la Chaise after the three days revolution in Paris. The gold
is found in deposit on a slate foundation: and sometimes the
slate itself is rich with gold. These are called deposit
mines, and are covered with a bed of pebbles or large stones,
worn smooth by attrition, which must have been deposited
there before the existence of any vegetable substance, for
none is found below; but above them, is an accumulation of
alluvial many feet thick. The appearance of the gold when
found, is as if it had been dropped in a melted state; but it
is very probable it has been washed out of the fissures in
the rock, and worn smooth by the continual action of water.
It is found in the greatest abundance in the bed of the
Chliestatee river, by turning the current-sometimes in large
pieces weighing several hundred pennyweighlts; yet it is
never found in such pieces, in the quartz veins. There, it is
seldomn visible to the eye: but when ground, yields from five
to twenty dollars per day per hand. Whether these mines
are to grow more productive, or work out, is a problem only
to be solved by time; but if we are to judge from the experience of other mineral regions, the true wealth of this
country is but indicated by what has been done. This is
the opinion of an experienced English miner here, to whom
I narrated' the disappointed hopes of the "Walton Company," and he assured me that it could not have been an
entire deception, and that he has no doubt of there being a
rich vein in that place.
Our sympathies are a lways exci ted by the appearance of
a v olume of American verse havi ng any legit imate claim to
the name of Poetry. We ar e e ver ea ger to w elcome such
harbingers of a more tasteful and serene epoch in o ur social history, and bestow praise upon s uch protests against
the oft-repeated charge tat e are the freid are w wol t most anti-poetical
nation und he ae e iter h eaven. Neither are we slow t o appreciate
the disadvantage under which our minstrels labor. Their
fanirs barques ply against a mighty t ide of busy and practical life, and being seldom freighted with marketable produce, are constantly in danger of b eing run down a nd c rush -
ed amid t he heavy barges of trade, or sw ept into ollvioan
by the hurrican e o f politics. In England, men devoted to
the pursuit of le tters or art are accustomed t o associat e in
warm and frank fellowship, thus creasting, as it w ere, a genial atmosphere and fiiendly support, to aid and sustain their
efforts. Our bards, for the most part, are isolated, and must
look almost exclusively to themselves for inspiration.
From the exacting duties of a laborious profession, from the
noisy mart, the bank or pri nting-office, our rhymers send
forth their unpretending strains-the offspring of ardent
minds unconquered by toil and worldliness. When, therefore, these stray effusions are brought together in the form
of a volum e, we cannot but remembe r the circumstances
under which they have been produced, and fe el an instimctive dislike to treat them with the critical severity to which
more deliberate productions are fairly open. In the present case, we the more readily leave the process of dissection
to others, because the faults of Mr. Pierpont's poetry are
perfectly obvious and palpable. They stand out in bold
relief, and may be discerned with little discriminative
power. We are under no apprehension that they will lead
others astray. Probably no one would acknowledge mnore
sincerely than the poet hihmself, that he has often written
carelessly, that he has allowed both his diction and imagery
to offend occasionally against the canons of good-taste, and
allowed several' fugitives from justice' to appear among the
nobler efforts of his muse.
Mr. Pierpont is a man of strong feelings aid active intellect rather than of exquisite fancy or intense sentiment.
He is an inquiring and earnest man, easily interested in all
.that relates to human culture or the discovery of truth.
Hence he has never settled down into the life of mere routine so often followed by his professional brethren. He has
never failed io interest himself with true Yankee curiosity
and spirit, in whatever was going forward in the intellectual
community in which he lives. He has compiled the best
Reader for the New-England schools, invented an excellent
stove, been a very successful student and professor of
Phrenology, identified himself with the T'emperance cause
more than any other professional man in the state, and established an extensive reputation as a lecturer, clergyman,
rhetorician and poet. The versatile and active character of
his mind is amply evinced in his poetry. There is scarcely
a metre, except the Spenserean, he has not attempted; and
but two or three pieces in the volume, that are not devoted
to some of the leading objects of the day. Mr. Pierpont
can at least boast of being a useful poet. He has written
Ordination and Dedlicationl Hymns, Anlniversary Songs and
Odes innumerable. Even his two long poems were prepared for Charitable Occasions, and we perceive that the
poor Newvs-carrier did not solicit him in vain. Without
subscribing to his opinions or being able to enter into all the
occasions of these lyrics, we cannot but express oulr admi'ration of the quick invention and remarkable success they
VOL. VI-98
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777
Notfrrs of -Nrb) Worttq.
Pierpont's Poetical Works. Boston: James Munroe & Co.
Lonclon: John Green-1840.
ATHENS, Sept. 23.
We arrived here last evening, and are again e'oying the
hospitality of this truly Athenian people. I am now seated
by the fire-side of a friend, who would not allow us to rema n at the hotel. We find the cl'irnate very little warmer
than that we left in the mountains, and the atmosphere
much dryer and more elastic. There has not been a case
of fever this year, and I am told that there never are any but
such as may be traced to the grossest impr,idence. You have
therefore nothid.- to apprehend for our health; and as we shall
remain here a month or more, and shall be at Milledgeville
during the session of the Legislature, I may hereafter give
vou further sketches of Geor,-ia scenes, men and manners.
(;. C.
YOUTH AND AGE.-Why try to lay up for age, whose
only real pleasure is recollection, not edjoynient. Age lives
behind, as youth does before it, and the abode of each is in
a world of their own.