"
The mind must be distracted with the multiplicity of its recollections;
all that is great or good or glorious in our nature, must be identified
with some forcible remembrance; and heroes, poets, statesmen, patriots,
legislators, philosophers, and the historical events connected with
their names, must congregate before us in sublime and touching
similitude. "Alas, poor country!"--On those shores the monuments of
science and of art, which drew admirers from the remotest corners of the
earth, are now demolished by the savage and cowardly slaves of a despot,
who is himself a slave; the eloquence which swayed the passions of
applauding multitudes is dumb; the pencil of Appelles that breathed over
the canvass, and the chisel of Praxiteles that gave life and animation
to shapeless blocks, are now no more; and the all-powerful lyre, whose
sweeping chords would rouse the soul to rage or melt it into pity, is
now, and perhaps FOR EVER, mute and unstrung!
These observations, which you may think too enthusiastic, were elicited
by the perusal of an article in your No. 388, entitled "A Desultory
Chapter on Localities." Your Correspondent states, that "it is needless
to travel to foreign countries in search of localities.
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