som beside, resting on the very points of a hundred lances, with
their lovely lilac bloom. Those who have lived where teasels grow will
understand this illustration. We doubt not it will seem very pointed and
proper to Neal. It must be remembered that the teasel is a very useful
article in dressing cloth, immense cards of them being set in machinery
and made to pass over the cloth and raise and clean the nap. A criticism
taking in all the good and bad points of these novels, would be too
extensive to pass the door of any review or magazine, unless in an
extra. They are full of the faults and virtues of their author's
unformed character. Rich as a California mine, we only wish they could
be passed through a gold-washer, and the genuine yield be thrown again
into our literary currency.

The character of his poems is indicated by their titles, 'Niagara' and
'Goldau,' and by the _nom de plume_ he thought proper to publish them
under, namely, 'Jehu O. Cataract.' But portions of his poetry repudiate
this thunderous parentage, and are soft as the whispering zephyr or the
cooing of doves. The gentleness of strength has a double beauty: its
own, and that of contrast. Still, the predominating character of Neal's
poetry is the sweep of the wild eagle's wing and the roar of rushing
waters.

We read his 'Otho' years since, when we were younger than now, and our
pulse beat stronger; and we read it 'holding our breath to the end'--or
this was the exact sensation we felt, as nearly as we can remember,
twelve years ago.

The character of Neal's periodical writing was just suited to a working
country, that was in too great a hurry to dine decently. People wanted
to be arrested. If they could stop, they had brains enough to judge you
and your wares; but they needed to be lassoed first, and lashed into
quietness afterward, and then they would hear and revere the man who had
been 'smart' enough to conquer them. John Neal seemed to be conscious of
this without knowing it. A veritable woman in his intuitions, he spoke
from them, and the heart of the people responded. The term 'live Yankee'
was of his coinage, and it aptly christened himself.

Neal went to Europe in 1823, and remained three years. That an American
could manage to maintain himself in England by writing, which Neal did,
is a pregnant fact. But his power is better proved than in this way. He
left America with a vow of temperance during his travels; he returned
with it unbroke