THE HESPERIAN STUDENT.
gho giudyite' gcny ooht
HOME.
Home! sweetest word rounl which fond memory clings,
II en von crowned, the bilghtcst Jewol ol nil earthly things,
Blest word wo lovo thecl ofour lives n part
Dew drops or memory, un a world encied honrt.
EBBcrccofBll things pood, nnd pure, ami strong,
Shelter for ngo, protection for thu jotuig,
Uotlor by far than frescoed pnluco dome,
Wns hat loved spot; the Httlu world ol homo.
Poets have sung thy praise In lofty strain,
PuroBt nnd beet, thou lendest In tho tiatu
Of lofty fancy, far romoed from Btrlfo
Thou nrt tho mainspring of domestic llfo.
The houco nnd garden old familiar scenes,
Of lovo and plearure; nnd tho youthful drenmB,
Of any cnstlo, strong nnd tall nnd grand
Ourselves the heroes, honored in tho land.
Mingled together, were oui smiles nnd tears;
Tho Joj nnd sorrows ofour child-hood ) cars,
O It stnr crowni d resting place I from weary care
Wo sought thy shelter, nil wo loved waB there.
All fond rotations, that our lives linvo known,
Aro linked together, in the one woid, homol
Twin-wreathed nround our heart-strings; dear as llfo
F nthcr nnd mother, brother, sister, wife.
No time can homo efface, Wo often roam
And find a resting place, "but only one a home,"
Clustering around our mothers "old nrm chair"
Faith, lovo and duty, ever centered there,
There's music In thy memory molhcrs prayer
So lull of tender plccdings, lingers there,
Nursing of virtue! when this life is pest,
May wo find homo again in heaven nt laBt.
Ivy.
DEQUINCEY.
''"It snpposilion that tlieie is u philosophy of style,
despite the ncutc logic ol Spencer, still rests upon insuf
ficient grounds. 'Hint he, on the contrary, has failed is
proved by ft reduction ad ndbiirdum, since according to
this phiosophy the highest literary excellence is attained
in the bombast nnd rant of Omiiii. Doubtlees an exist
ence so ethereal as poetry cannot be fettered by the iron
dogmatism of science, since whenever it litis been made
untenable to tiny canon ol criticism, its composition has
degenerated to a mere mechanic nrt. To the growth of
imaginative litearturc the restraints of modern society arc
mostlbaneful. The poetic spirit r f the English rice has
been sustained not by intellects nurtured nt the great
Diversities but by men in obscure life whoso bosoms
glowed with a poetic warmth that chill penury could
not lepress. Ihns Chntterion, n lawyer's slave , even
no-v lives deep in tho general heart of men. Thus the
genius of Burns
"Rose like a star that touching earth,
For bo It seems,
Did glorily its bumblo birth
With matchless beams."
and the poets immediately subsequent to Pope failed on
account of having befoic them certain artificial models
which they, In the woids of Horace "Studied ever night
and day."
A distinction however, must bo drawn between thoso
to whom tho university did it truth furnish culture, 3
Gray and Wilson, and thoso whoso altcndiinco wns
merely nominal, as Byron who passed his tlmo in con
vivial plpasuro., Wotdsworth nbsorbed in meditation
nnd Shelley expelled for his hostility to formulas or Dc
Quinccy whoso imperial intellect towered abovo tho triv
ial duties of tho ordinary student. Upon tho latter, how
ever, who so eagerly imbibed the life of antiquity, Greek
culture exercised an influence so complete that ho seems
to have discarded his English intellect and to have res
ceived m its pled an Attic mind. It may be objecteo
hero that DcQttincy received wilhout.ite nid of tho uni
versity that culture which it is wont to afford, but this
thought plausible at first sight is groundless, since there
is an essential diilorenco between forced discipline and
the culture which genius receives it tho pursuit of its
own inclinations.
The group of literary men of which DcQuinccy wa3
a member had fell tho "awakening of an unlookcd for
dawn." But tho morning heralded a storm cloud whoso
floods descending swept away the tried and honored in
stitutions of the past making way for tho Heeling though
imposing structures of the fancy. But what can noble
aspirations avail tho irresolute, or what reality can dis
sipated power give to gorgeous dreams. Even his pr o
jected "Emendation of the Human Intellect," exists
only in name while his fanoy's brightest gleam seems liko
some meteoric will, the wisp in a Lapland midnight of
gloom. In his strange exleiior we can read his wayward
life. Observe the man as he moves through tho rural
lanes of Edinburgh. Tho grotesque figure, the motley
apparel, the inquisitive suspicious eye, the fragile, unsub
stantial form impress you not favorable. Regard him not
however as a mere voluptuary, or as one having a tran
sient fame. Ho who could harangue uu Athenian mob
has slept shelterless on the hills of Wales and in the
streets of London this unsubstantial shadowy form has
eullcted for many weeks the intense pains of cold and
hunger far beyond mortal pen. There is a certain fas-'
dilation in all that pertains to wayward grnius. A
wellpropottioned nature commands respec', but abbcrra
lionB rivet the attention. Within that form reposes na
ture susceptible of tho highest enjoyment and tho mo.it
heartrending pangs; for every nerve that can thrill with
pleasure can also agonize witli pain and tho empyrean of
of possible blessedness is not more high than the abysses
of possible woe arc deep. Within that grotcbquo exterior
dwells an intellect powerful, versatile, comprehending
within its grasp the rich stores of erudition gathered
from every field of thought, combining the dialectic
skill of Aristotle with an infinite imagination and a
Miltonic grandeur with a fervid glowing eloquence, re
sembling in the words of Macauley the tent which tho
fairy, Paribanou gave to prince Ahmed "Fold it nnd it
seems a toy for the hand of a lady; spre:d it and tho
armies of powerful Sultans might repose beneath its
shade."
His learning is indeed prodigious. With an "Acondn
digestion" he devours books, imbibes the learning of
the German schools, imbibes opium, eight thousand
drops each day, and in style which the North American
Revieto dceniB contemptible, to which Spenceriau dogma
will not apply, records visions tumultuous as tho dreams
of Kichtcr, gorgeous as the creations of Milton, approach-
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