Choice Specimens of American Literature, and Literary Reader Part 1

Choice Specimens of American Literature, And Literary Reader.

by Benj. N. Martin.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

The former edition of this work was prepared simply as a supplement to Shaw's "Choice Specimens of English Literature." Though it extended to a larger size than had been antic.i.p.ated, and was therefore issued in a separate volume, it still proved so straitened in point of s.p.a.ce as to be in some important respects defective and inadequate. The decision of the publishers to reprint it in an enlarged form furnishes to the editor a welcome opportunity to correct its deficiencies, and to make several important emendations.

When the work of collecting suitable extracts from the great body of our literature was fairly entered upon, it soon became apparent that little aid could be had from the earlier manuals. Besides being in great measure obsolete, they were from the beginning disproportionate, and geographically too local in subject and spirit; both of which may be deemed grave defects.

The last twenty years have made great changes in American authors.h.i.+p.

Many new names must now be added to the older lists, and many formerly familiar ones must be dropped from them. Hence these extracts have for the most part been derived, with a.s.siduous care, directly from the collected works of our standard authors. This part of my labor has been greatly facilitated by the courtesy of the gentlemen connected with the Society, the Mercantile, and the Astor, Library, whose constant kindness I gratefully acknowledge.

The princ.i.p.al alterations which will be found in this edition are the following.

1. The extracts, formerly, of necessity, brief and fragmentary, have given place to more extended and coherent pa.s.sages.

2. A much larger s.p.a.ce has been allotted to the more eminent authors.

Such writers as Franklin, Jefferson, Calhoun, Webster, Wirt, Irving, Cooper, Hawthorne, Channing, Beecher, Prescott, Motley, Shea, Bryant, Poe, Emerson, and Lowell, have been much more adequately exhibited.

3. Many later writers have been added, so that the work more fully represents the rapid development of literary effort among us.

4. A few writers, formerly included, have been dropped from the list, not always as less deserving a place, but sometimes as having less adaptation to the purposes of the book.

Much care has been bestowed upon the dates of the several authors, and in bringing up details of information to the latest period. The same pains have been taken to furnish a just representation of the writers, too often overlooked in our manuals, of the Southern and Western portions of our country. Though often wanting in mere grace of style, they are apt to be original and vigorous; and often possessing valuable material, they are well worthy of perusal. In all these respects this collection has been carefully elaborated; and the editor hopes that it will be found to give a somewhat proportionate and complete view for its compa.s.s, of our best literature.

In adapting the selections to Mr. Tuckerman's interesting "Sketch of American Literature," specimens have generally been taken from several authors in each of his groups. Some names not found in his "Sketch,"

have been introduced, chiefly for the fuller ill.u.s.tration of the literature of the south and west. In this particular, Coggeshall's "Poets and Poetry of the West" has afforded great a.s.sistance. Among the more recent aids of the same kind, I must also mention Davidson's "Living Writers of the South," and Raymond's "Southland Writers."

Especial acknowledgment is due to the "Cyclopedia" of the Messrs.

Duyckinck; Appleton's "Annual Cyclopedia" has furnished many important dates; and I have occasionally been indebted to the works of Allibone, Cheever, Griswold, Cleveland, Hart, and Underwood. Not only the local literature however, but the several professions, and the great religious denominations, are also represented by prominent writers.

It seemed unnecessary to treat the female writers as a distinct cla.s.s; they are, therefore, arranged under the departments to which they respectively belong, as Essayists, Novelists, Poets, &c.

I should be claiming a merit which does not belong to me, should I fail to say, that, for much of the labor which this treatise has involved, I am indebted to the co-operation of my brother, Mr. William T. Martin, whose acquaintance with our literature has not often been surpa.s.sed, and whose valuable aid and counsel have been freely afforded me.

The hours which have been spent in culling extracts from so many able and entertaining writers, though laborious, have been to the editor full of interest, and often of delight. He trusts that these fruits of his labor will be useful, in imparting, especially to his youthful readers, not only an acquaintance with the best of our national authors, but a taste for literature, and a good ideal of literary excellence, than which few things in intellectual education are more to be esteemed. If successful in these respects, he will be abundantly satisfied; and in this hope, he submits his work to the judgment of the public.

CHAPTER I.

RELIGIOUS WRITERS OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES.

=_Roger Williams, 1598-1683._= (Manual, pp. 480, 512.)

From his "Memoirs."

=_1.=_ EXTENT OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.

There goes many a s.h.i.+p to sea, with many hundred souls in one s.h.i.+p, whose weal and woe is common, and is a true picture of a commonwealth, or a human combination or society. It hath fallen out, sometimes, that both Papists and Protestants, Jews and Turks, may be embarked into one s.h.i.+p. Upon which supposal, I affirm that all the liberty of conscience, that ever I pleaded for, turns upon these two hinges; that none of the Papists, Protestants, Jews, or Turks, be forced to come to the s.h.i.+p's prayers, nor compelled from their own particular prayers or wors.h.i.+p, if they practice any.... If any of the seamen refuse to perform their service, or pa.s.sengers to pay their freight; if any refuse to help, in person or purse, towards the common charges or defence; if any refuse to obey the common laws or orders of the s.h.i.+p concerning their common peace or preservation; if any shall mutiny and rise up against their commanders and officers; if any should preach or write, that there ought to be no commanders nor officers, because all are equal in Christ, therefore no masters nor officers, no laws, nor orders, no corrections nor punishments,--I say I never denied but in such cases, whatever is pretended, the commander or commanders may judge, resist, compel, and punish such transgressors, according to their deserts and merits.

=_Cotton Mather, 1663-1728._= (Manual pp. 479, 512.)

From the "Antiquities," or Book I, of the "Magnalia."

=2.= PRESERVATION OF NEW ENGLAND PRINCIPLES.

'Tis now time for me to tell my reader, that in _our age_, there has been another essay made, not by French, but by English PROTESTANTS, to fill a certain country in America with _Reformed Churches_; nothing in _doctrine_, little in _discipline_, different from that of Geneva.

Mankind will pardon _me_, a native of that country, if smitten with a just fear of encroaching and ill-bodied _degeneracies_, I shall use my modest endeavors to prevent the _loss_ of a country so signalized for the _profession_ of the purest _Religion_, and for the _protection_ of G.o.d upon it in that holy profession. I shall count my country _lost_, in the loss of the primitive _principles_, and the primitive _practices_, upon which it was at first established: but certainly one good way to save that _loss_, would be to do something, that the memory of _the great things done for us by our G.o.d_, may not be _lost_, and that the story of the circ.u.mstances attending the _foundation_ and _formation_ of this country, and of its _preservation_ hitherto, may be impartially handed unto posterity. THIS is the undertaking whereto I now address myself; and now, _Grant me thy gracious a.s.sistances, O my G.o.d! that in this my undertaking I may be kept from every false way._

=_Jonathan Edwards, 1703-1758_=. (Manual, p. 479.)

From the "Inquiry, &c., into the Freedom of the Will."

=_3._= MEANING OF THE PHRASE "MORAL INABILITY."

It must be observed concerning Moral Inability, in each kind of it, that the word _Inability_ is used in a sense very diverse from its original import.... In the strictest propriety of speech, a man has a thing in his power, if he has it in his choice, or at his election; and a man cannot be truly said to be unable to do a thing, when he can do it if he will. It is improperly said, that a person cannot perform those external actions which are dependent on the act of the will, and which would be easily performed, if the act of the will were present. And if it be improperly said, that he cannot perform those external voluntary actions which depend on the will, it is in some respect more improperly said, that he is unable to exert the acts of the will themselves; because it is more evidently false, with respect to these, that he cannot if he will; for to say so is a downright contradiction: it is to say he cannot will if he does will. And in this case, not only is it true, that it is easy for a man to do the thing if he will, but the very willing is the doing; when once he has willed, the thing is performed; and nothing else remains to be done. Therefore, in these things to ascribe a non-performance to the want of power or ability, is not just; because the thing wanting is not a being able, but a being willing. There are faculties of mind, and capacity of nature, and everything else sufficient, but a disposition; nothing is wanting but a will.

=_Samuel Davies, 1725-1761._= (Manual, p. 480.)

From his "Sermons."

=_4._= LIFE AND IMMORTALITY REVEALED THROUGH THE GOSPEL.

So extensive have been the havoc and devastation which death has made in the world for near six thousand years, ever since it was first introduced by the sin of man, that this earth is now become one vast grave-yard or burying-place for her sons. The many generations that have followed upon each other, in so quick a succession, from Adam to this day, are now in the mansions under ground.... Some make a short journey from the womb to the grave; they rise from nothing at the creative fiat of the Almighty, and take an immediate flight into the world of spirits.... Like a bird on the wing, they perch on our globe, rest a day, a month, or a year, and then fly off for some other regions. It is evident these were not formed for the purposes of the present state, where they make so short a stay; and yet we are sure they are not made in vain by an all-wise Creator; and therefore we conclude they are young immortals, that immediately ripen in the world of spirits, and there enter upon scenes for which it was worth their while coming into existence.... A few creep into their beds of dust under the burden of old age and the gradual decays of nature. In short, the grave is _the place appointed for all living_; the general rendezvous of all the sons of Adam. There the prince and the beggar, the conqueror and the slave, the giant and the infant, the scheming politician and the simple peasant, the wise and the fool, Heathens, Jews, Mahometans, and Christians, all lie equally low, and mingle their dust without distinction.... There lie our ancestors, our neighbors, our friends, our relatives, with whom we once conversed, and who were united to our hearts by strong and endearing ties; and there lies our friend, the sprightly, vigorous youth, whose death is the occasion of this funeral solemnity. This earth is overspread with the ruins of the human frame: it is a huge carnage, a vast charnel-house, undermined and hollowed with the graves, the last mansions of mortals.

=_Nathaniel Emmons,[1] 1745-1840._=

From his "Sermons."

=_5._= THE RIGHT OF PRIVATE JUDGMENT.

The right of private judgment involves the right of forming our opinions according to the best light we can obtain. After a man knows what others have said or written, and after he has thought and searched the Scriptures, upon any religious subject, he has a right to form his own judgment exactly according to evidence. He has no right to exercise prejudice or partiality; but he has a right to exercise impartiality, in spite of all the world. After all the evidence is collected from every quarter, then it is the proper business of the understanding or judgment to compare and balance evidence, and to form a decisive opinion or belief, according to apparent truth. We have no more right to judge without evidence than we have to judge contrary to evidence; and we have no more right to doubt without, or contrary to, evidence, than we have to believe without, or contrary to, evidence. We have no right to keep ourselves in a state of doubt or uncertainty, when we have sufficient evidence to come to a decision. The command is, "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." The meaning is, Examine all things; and after examination, decide what is right.

[Footnote 1: A Congregational clergyman of Ma.s.sachusetts, original in theology, and eminently lucid in style.]