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nonsense of Eton boys. In America now, our most intellectual men contribute to the Magazines: every month gives vent to some valuable outpouring from JONES, WILLIAMS, or Mrs. BROWN.'

'Do you ever see the KNICKERBOCKER?'

SEATSFIELD: MUNDT sends it to me now and then, and it is undoubtedly facile princeps. Every article is invariably fine; but it always, I have noticed, grows finer toward the last page, until it becomes almost too fine for weak eyes.'

'Do you not think that QUOD is good?'

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SEATSFIELD: QUOD?—quid est quod? I never read it.'

I confess that I thought it rather small in SEATSFIELD to affect not to have read QUOD; but even admitting this frailty, no one can say that it proves him to be one easily jealous.' He professed however to be a huge admirer of JOHN WATERS; and the celebrated 'Ollapodiana' I believe he knew by heart. I remarked that many of our greatest men were quite unknown, and dwelling unsuspected in every-day society.

SEATSFIELD: 'Very true: Many are poets that have never penned their inspirations.' How many ages did Niagara roar unheard amid the solitude, before the engravers found it out? Depend upon it, Sir, that those men who are much talked about before they are forty years old, are not really great men.'

Whom do you consider as very great men?'

SEATSFIELD: 'The author of 'WASHINGTON, a National Epic,' is a great man; but he is almost unknown, except to a select ring of admirers: the common herd laugh; so do clowns at a tragedy.'

But do you consider him truly our greatest poet?'

SEATSFIELD: 'I would not say that, for his work is a part only; it is indeed the germ of great psychological unfoldings; but perhaps when the canvass is wholly unrolled, it may prove faulty. PoE is a man of nearly equal ability, but his genius condescends to dally with the diminutive. His soul-grasp is indeed vigorous, but his relish for the beautiful breaks up the wholeness of his life-imagery into brilliancy of detail. There is a splendor in his general survey of outward things which too often decoys him from the stern fillingup and elaborate job-work which is absolutely demanded to render a work truly artistical.' "I think it is this impatience of minute craftsmanship which is the main defect of American poesy.'

SEATSFIELD: Right; our genius is over-ardent, and the excess of imagination leads us into matter-of-fact. This may appear a paradox, but I guess you can solve it. I say that common-place becomes poetry to us, because we are too much in the poetical mood to attend to poetical expression. The vivid eye and lightning-like brain outstrip the duller conceptions of the tongue. The English are heavier than we: they partake of the Dutch nature, and have produced better poets, from the simple fact that they have less of that youthful snatch at excellence which is the characteristic of American genius. They are dull fellows, who do task-work admirably, but they lack the ignea vis.'

'But do you consider SHAKSPEARE a dull fellow?'

SEATSFIELD: 'No, Sir; but he lived in the American age of England. He had a good deal of the rough-and-tumble poet, and wrote slap-dash what came uppermost. In America we have many writers of the same order; and in fact, our state of society in America, with its headlong rail-road action, its frequent reverses, its repudiative tendencies, its helter-skelterism and go-aheadivity, very nearly resembles the condition of England in the sack-drinking, tobacco-smoking, horse-riding, deer-stealing, purse-taking days of Sir Walter Raleigh, Bardolph, Pistol, the Earl of Essex, Drake, Walsingham, and Corporal Nym. England, Sir, in those times, was very much like Illinois at present.'

'One would think then that some poet should arise in the far West, of the Shaksperian stamp.'

SEATSFIELD: Doubtless there will. He must be born there if any where. England is past bearing such men: she can barely produce a small BYRON or two every half century. VOL. XXIII.

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She is not even capable of appreciating such minds now. SHAKSPEARE'S fame in England has now become altogether traditional: it is only in America and in Germany that he is truly understood.'

'Don't you think that Scorт understood him?'

SEATSFIELD: No, Sir; not as SCHLEGEL does- -not as MUNDT does. I have heard MUNDT descant for hours upon choice passages in Pericles and Titus Andronicus,' which have entirely escaped the commendation of any British commentators. SCHLEGEL considers the Yorkshire Tragedy' one of SHAKSPEARE'S highest creations; MUNDT believes Gammer Gurton' one of his early productions, before his style was formed. This now would never have been conjectured by an Englishman: those British are obtuse dogs.'

I observed that if SHAKSPEARE was alive now, he would probably go to America and settle.'

SEATSFIELD: 'Of course he would: what is there in modern England to suit a whole nature like his? His inner habit of man would be wholly at variance with the present race of Britons. Sir, if he was able to, he would immediately take passage for Boston in the Acadia. If he could not afford to go in the cabin, he would not abhor the steerage; nay, I'll warrant you he would prefer it, for the sake of studying character.'

'What a sensation would his arrival in Boston create!'

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SEATSFIELD: No, Sir; I think not. "Twould be an entirely different affair from DICKENS's arrival; no dinner-giving, no speech-making, no levées at the Tremont-House. I imagine Mr. SHAKSPEARE, attired in a sober suit of drab, landing at the Boston wharf and walking with his staff and bundle up to the Bite Tavern.' No young literati would find him there. LONGFELLOW or PIERPONT would leave no cards for him at the bar. No professor would invite him to Cambridge; no Lyceum would desire him to give a lecture. You would not find him going about in processions with badge and banner, and boasting of the mad days that he had seen.' Deacon GRANT would never make a temperance delegate of him. No, Sir; you would find him at the National Theatre, awaiting the result of negotiations pending with Mr. PELBY; or he would soon make his way quietly to New-York, and engage himself at the Chatham or the Bowery. In the evening you might observe him at the 'Shades,' or the 'Ram's-Head House,' probing the mysteries of the human heart over a mug of ale. Of a Sunday morning you might meet him in the fields at Hoboken, musing amid the clover, and picking up similes from the 'meanest flower that blows.' Noiselessly thus would he glide through American existence, winning a silent immortality; until, o'erwearied with the jarring world, he might retreat to some remote settlement in the West, and only occasionally correspond with the Magazines,'

"I think he would write for the KNICKERBOCKER.'

SEATSFIELD: Very likely: every month would fetch forth another number of 'Mackbeth' or 'Othello.'

Here SEATSFIELD proposed to go and get a mint-julep in honor of the day, and our conversation was interrupted for half an hour.

'REMARKABLE VISIONS.'- This little volume, lately put forth by JORDAN AND COMPANY, Boston, comprises highly important revelations concerning the life after death. It is a translation from the German, of an account of several remarkable visions, which were vouchsafed to a young and truly pious maiden, and 'which were caused neither by excitement of mind, nor by the wild dreams of an overwrought imagination, but were solely the effect of a feeble system of nerves, by means of which she was transported into a state of spiritual sight-seeing; and it was in this state of body that her spirit rose from the earth into higher regions, and was thereby enabled to see and hear things which are concealed from the natural eye and ear of man; and, in this state she was conducted into the empire of departed spirits, and saw things which are of the highest interest to the church and the world.' 'It was a great while ago; a good way off; and perhaps it was n't so;' as the Indian unbeliever said to the missionary.

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN. WE resume and conclude our remarks upon the exhibition of the National Academy of Design; but not without being conscious that there are very many meritorious works of art which we have left unnoticed. To some of these we may hereafter incidentally refer. We are well pleased to learn that the exhibition has been unusually well attended; and we trust that while it shall remain open, not only our citizens generally, but strangers from other cities and the country, will embrace the opportunity to visit it. There is no place in the metropolis where an hour or two may be spent so agreeably.

KNEELAND, H.- Mr. KNEELAND has four busts in the exhibition. One, the head of a distinguished citizen, is first among the minutely-faithful likenesses which our artist has produced. Another, of a young lady, is graceful, pleasing, and expressive, and is moreover an exact counterpart of the original. Mr. KNEELAND is winning his way, and in the right way too, to deserved distinction in his line of art.

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T. H. MATTESON.- No. 251: Whirling the Plate.' This is a bold attempt for an artist so little known; but nothing venture nothing win' is a maxim we like to see acted upon by a young man. In the design and composition he has succeeded well, and shows that he has the right material in him, if he will only be patient in bringing it out. The story too, is well told; but the picture lacks in color and finish; the one showing his inexperience and the other his impatience. A hand or foot in a cabinet-picture requires not only as much but more attention to every little reflection and minute marking, than in a picture of lifesize. If he will follow our advice, he will not only surprise the public but himself, in some of his future works.

MOONEY, N. A.- The best of this artist's portraits is No. 67, which is admirably drawn, a capital likeness, and generally agreeable in effect. There is visible, to be sure, a little dryness and chalkiness of manner; but for fidelity of likeness, Mr. MOONEY is seldom surpassed. S. A. MOUNT, N. A.- Mr. MOUNT exhibits but one painting, No. 92. It is a good portrait; natural and animated, and forcible in expression, and does credit to the artist.

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W. S. MOUNT, N. A.- No. 94: Portrait of Rev. Dr. SEABURY.' This is not Mr. MOUNT'S department, nor the one in which we like most to see him exercise his talent. It is well drawn, as is every thing from his hand, is a good likeness, and is only deficient in color and effect. There is, it strikes us, too much of the bricky red in the shadows, and opacity in the lights, to be agreeable to the general eye. No. 274, Portrait of B. STRONG, Esq.,' miniature size, is far more pleasing, both in color and effect; and it satisfies us that if Mr. MOUNT Wishes to take up portraiture, he will succeed better in pictures of this size. No. 315 is a repetition of the same subject in the REED gallery, which we regret to see, because we know that Mr. MOUNT does not lack original subjects on which to exercise his ability; and borrowing from one's earlier works without improving upon them, looks as if an artist had exhausted his ideas.

W. PAGE, N. A. - Mr. PAGE exhibits but one picture, and we know not whether to call it a drawing or a painting. It looks most like the former; and as such, is beautifully elaborate and true. It has great rotundity, with a skilful concealment of the means by which it is produced; and in this respect Mr. PAGE generally excels.

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N. A. POWELL, A. - No. 135: Portrait;' an agreeable little picture, containing all the usual arrangement of color observable in pictures which are intended principally to gratify the eye.

T. P. ROSSITER, A.- No. 184: Vestal Virgin.' A more chaste and simple picture than we have hitherto seen from this young artist; perhaps not all that we should expect from a four years' residence and study in Europe.

P. F. ROTHERMEL.-No. 81: DE SOTO Discovering the Mississippi ;' a large and attractive picture; pleasing in color and general effect, bold in execution, and fertile in imagination; but not entirely satisfactory in expressing the subject. We are happy to perceive that

it has been purchased by the American Art Union; and we think it will be a valuable accession to their collection.

A. S. SCHOFF.No. 362: another line-engraving by a young artist, who, like Mr. JONES, bids fair to become very prominent in this department of the art.

J. H. SHEGOGUE, N. A.-No. 153: Senora DE GONI; a clever picture executed with fidelity to the original. The composition is pleasing, the neck particularly well painted, and the instrument and accessories executed with more than usual care. No. 260, ‘portraits of three children,' is an agreeable picture, possessing great sweetness of color and effect, and much of the happy manner of Mr. SULLY. No. 167, 'Gift from Brazil,' another clever picture, of a more fanciful character.

H. C. SHUMWAY, N. A.-Miniature of a Gentlemen;' an excellent likeness, but too red in color. We regret that Mr. SHUMWAY has not sent in more specimens of his talents, as he ranks high among our miniatures painters.

F. R. SPENCER, A., exhibits several good portraits, generally pleasing in color, and faithful likenesses.

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THOMAS SULLY, H.- No. 44: The Sisters:' good in composition, attractive in color, and possessing all the characteristics of this artist's style.

J. A. TALBOT, A.- No. 56: a landscape of considerable size and merit. The middleground and distance are well drawn and colored, but the fore-ground lacks force and interest. As a whole, however, it is a very meritorious work. We are glad to perceive that this also will be distributed among the subscribers of the American Art Union.

C. G. THOMPSON. -No. 246: Portrait of a Lady:' one of his best productions. The general color is good, aud the details carefully executed. Mr. THOMPSON has several other portraits of much merit in the collection.

T. THOMPSON.-Several marine views, evincing great knowledge in this particular department. There is no pretension to effect, or composition, or color; but there are truth and fidelity to nature, which render them particularly worthy of notice.

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W. T. VAN ZANDT.- No. 12, the First Sorrow,' is an effort of great merit, by an artist whose name we have not noticed before in the Academy.

S. L. WALDO, a veteran portrait-painter, exhibits for the first time in many years in the National Academy of Design. His works as usual show striking likenesses and great facility of execution.

S. B. WAUGH. — - No. 229: Brigand delivering up his arms at Sonino.' An excellent composition, forcibly and boldly painted; with great depth of color and brilliancy of effect. A brigand, weary of his predatory life, leaves the mountain fastnesses to surrender up his arms to the church, under whose protection he seeks safety and pardon. A number of priests assemble at the door of the convent to receive the penitent, who with his family and worldly goods around him kneels to receive benediction. To those who have lived any time in Italy, this is doubtless a subject of not unusual occurrence; and it is one of those pictures which conveys a moral lesson, which we shall always hail with delight, believing that painting has a higher aim than merely to please the eye. Mr. WAUGH has several portraits in the Academy, which are pleasing in color and effect.

C. E. WEIR.- No. 174: Compositor Setting Type;' a faithful representation of a subject which, under ordinary execution, would perhaps be devoid of general interest; but it is extraordinarily painted, being finished with a fidelity and truth equal to Daguerreotype. As a piece of still-life, it is surpassingly fine and beautiful, although devoid of imagination. The portraits of this gentleman are by no means equal to this picture, either in truth or carefulness of execution.

J. WHITEHORNE, N. A., has three portraits, in his usual style: fidelity of resemblance we presume is their greatest recommendation; yet they are by no means as attractive as his pictures of last year.

T. WIGHTMAN. - No. 145: A Fruit Piece;' painted with unusual care and truth to the objects represented, which is the highest merit in pictures of this class.

W. W. WOTHERSPOON. No. 148: View of North-East Lake.' A beautiful little picture. The sky, middle-ground and distance are expressed with a truth and delicacy worthy of an older artist.

The collection this year is we believe greater than at any former period; but the additional number arises out of the great influx of portraits, which we are aware are sent more to please the sitters or their friends than the artists themselves, and consequently not expected to be noticed in a cursory review like the present.

THE EDITORSHIP OF A MONTHLY MAGAZINE.-Let those of our readers who may at any time have fancied, in looking over our pages, that the task of editing a monthly publi cation like the KNICKERBOCKER could not after all be so very difficult a matter, peruse the following just and truthful remarks of our friend and contemporary, the editor of The Columbian.' The close of the passage which we quote may perhaps remind the reader of these words in a 'gossip'-ing subsection of our own, in one of our numbers several months since: Often have we sat, with a 'dubious' paper in hand, hesitating for an hour whether to 'print or burn;' thinking of the fervent wishes of the writer, and the labor he had bestowed upon his production. Every part, every period, had been considered and re-considered, with unremitting anxiety. He had revised, corrected, expunged, again produced and again erased, with endless iteration. Points and commas themselves perhaps had been settled with repeated and jealous solicitude. All this may be, and yet one's article be indifferent, or unsuited to our pages.' But hear our worthy contemporary: The life of a daily newspaper-editor is beatitude, compared with that of the unhappy wight chained to the oar of a magazine. Truly was it said by MARRYAT, after a year's trial, 'He who enlists in the service of a monthly periodical makes himself a slave to a hard master.' The toil that appears to the reader is but an infinitesimal fraction of that which he must undergo; and the toil is light, compared with the discomfort and the annoyance. Unlike that on a newspaper, the work on a magazine is never done, finished, brought to an end. The journalist must work hard, to be sure, in his hours of labor; and he knows, when the work of one day is finished, that another day is before him, in which the same routine of work is to be gone over again. But there is such a thing as an end to his work, once every twentyfour hours; when his forms have gone to press he has done with them, at least for a time. But the unhappy wight of the magazine can lay no such flattering unction to his soul. The wheel to which he is bound is perpetually rolling. Every day and all day there is something for him to do or be thinking of doing. While the number for the next month is in hand there is a voice ever saying unto him, 'Write;' or if the command is not to write, it is to read proof, look after the printers, provide pieces of just such a length to fill up just such a fraction of a page as happens to need filling, and a legion of other requirements, many of them trifling enough in themselves, but in the aggregate overwhelming; and the moment that number is got out of his way he must be going through the same course for the next. But this is only a tithe of the duties belonging to his responsible government; all this time acres of manuscript, more or less, are waiting his perusal a great deal more patiently than the writers, every one of these last expecting his or her particular contribution to be attended to immediately, and not a few of them writing letters or notes of inquiry which come to the soul of the recipient like thorns into the flesh. If he undertakes to answer all by individual responses through the post-office, in that alone he has work enough cut out for a great deal more than every moment of his possible leisure, supposing leisure to be one of the possibilities of his condition, which it is not; if he answers only by a general Notice to Correspondents,' some are displeased, others do not see his notices, and at the very best he may think himself well off if two or three 'reminders' do not reach him, more or less curt and peremptory in tone, before the number containing the notice is pub

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