Gifts of Genius

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Title: Gifts of Genius
A Miscellany of Prose and Poetry by American Authors
Author: Various
Release Date: February 27, 2006 [EBook #17872]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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GIFTS OF GENIUS:
A Miscellany
OF
PROSE AND POETRY,
BY
AMERICAN AUTHORS.
NEW YORK:
PRINTED FOR C.A. DAVENPORT.

Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1859, by
C.A. DAVENPORT,?in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of New York.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTORY,
OUT AT ELBOWS.--THE STORY OF ST. GEORGE CLEAVE. BY JOHN ESTEN COOKE,
MY SECRET. (From the French.) BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW,
A LEAF FROM MY PARIS NOTE-BOOK. BY H.T. TUCKERMAN,
ON POPULAR KNOWLEDGE. BY GEORGE S. HILLARD,
ON RECEIVING A PRIVATELY PRINTED VOLUME OF POEMS FROM A FRIEND. BY THOMAS BUCHANAN READ,
THE PRINCE AT LAND'S END. BY CAROLINE CHESEBRO,
SEA-WEED. BY JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL,
TREFOIL. BY EVERT A. DUYCKINCK,
MISERERE DOMINE. BY WILLIAM H. BURLEIGH,
THE KINGDOMS OF NATURE PRAISING GOD.--A SHORT ESSAY ON THE 148th PSALM. BY C.A. BARTOL,
TRANSLATIONS. BY THE REV. CHARLES T. BROOKS,
RECOLLECTIONS OF NEANDER, THE CHURCH HISTORIAN.?BY THE REV. ROSWELL D. HITCHCOCK, D.D.,
POEMS. BY JULIA WARD HOWE,
EARTH'S WITNESS. BY ALICE B. HAVEN,
THE NEW ENGLAND THANKSGIVING. BY THE REV. HENRY W. BELLOWS, D.D.,
SONG OF THE ARCHANGELS. (From Goethe's Faust.) BY GEORGE P. MARSH,
A NIGHT AND DAY AT VALPARAISO. BY ROBERT TOMES,
TRANSLATIONS. BY THE REV. THEODORE PARKER,
PAID FOR BY THE PAGE. BY EDWARD S. GOULD,
WORDS FOR MUSIC. BY GEORGE P. MORRIS,
"THE CHRISTIAN GREATNESS." (Passages from a Manuscript Sermon.) BY THE REV. ORVILLE DEWEY, D.D.,
THE BABY AND THE BOY MUSICIAN. BY LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY,
THE ERL-KING. (From the German of Goethe.) BY MRS. E.F. ELLET,
THOUGHTS UPON FENELON. BY THE REV. SAMUEL OSGOOD, D.D.,
POEMS. BY MRS. GEORGE P. MARSH,
A STORY OF VENICE. BY GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS,
THE TORTURE CHAMBER. BY WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER,
THE HOME OF CHARLOTTE BRONT?. BY FRANCIS WILLIAMS,
THORWALDSEN'S CHRIST. BY REV. E.A. WASHBURN,
JUNE TWENTY-NINTH, EIGHTEEN FIFTY-NINE. BY CAROLINE M. KIRKLAND,
NO SONGS IN WINTER. BY T.B. ALDRICH,
BENI-ISRAEL. BY OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES,
BOCAGE'S PENITENTIAL SONNET. BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT,
TO THE PUBLIC.
At the desire of MISS DAVENPORT, for whose benefit this collection of original Miscellanies by American authors has been made, I write this brief Preface, without having had time to read the contributions which it is designed to introduce. The names of the writers, however, many of which are among the most distinguished in our literature, and are honored wherever our language is spoken, will suffice to recommend the volume to the attention of the reading world.
If this were not enough, an inducement of another kind is to be found in the circumstances of the lady in whose behalf the contents of this volume have been so freely contributed. A few years since, she was a teacher in our schools, active, useful, and esteemed for her skillful communication of knowledge. At that time it was one of her favorite occupations to make sketches and drawings from nature, an art in which she instructed her pupils. A severe illness interrupted her duties, during which her sight became impaired, and finally lost. A kind of twilight came over it, which gradually darkened into utter night, shutting out the face of nature in which she had so much delighted, and leaving her, without occupation, in ill health. In this condition she has already remained for five years.
To this statement of her misfortunes, which I trust will commend her to the sympathies of all who are made acquainted with them, as one who was useful to society while Providence permitted, I have only to add the expression of her warmest thanks to those who have generously furnished the contents of the volume she now lays before the public.
W.C. BRYANT.
NEW YORK, June, 1859.
INTRODUCTORY.
This volume speaks so well for itself that it does not need many words of preface to commend it to a wide circle of readers. Its rich and varied contents, however, become far more interesting when interpreted by the motive that won them from their authors; and when the kindly feeling that offered them so freely is known, these gifts, like the pearls