rite well, is most
certain; but it is at least equally so, that they have little
encouragement to exercise the power in any manner more dignified
than becoming the editor of a newspaper or a magazine. As far as
I could judge, their best writers are far from being the most
popular. The general taste is decidedly bad; this is obvious,
not only from the mass of slip-slop poured forth by the daily and
weekly press, but from the inflated tone of eulogy in which their
insect authors are lauded.

To an American writer, I should think it must be a flattering
distinction to escape the admiration of the newspapers. Few
persons of taste, I imagine, would like such notice as the
following, which I copied from a New York paper, where it
followed the advertisement of a partnership volume of poems by a
Mr, and Mrs. Brooks; but of such, are their literary notices
chiefly composed.

"The lovers of impassioned and classical numbers may promise
themselves much gratification from the muse of Brooks, while the
many-stringed harp of his lady, the Norna of the Courier Harp,
which none but she can touch, has a chord for every heart."

Another obvious cause of inferiority in the national literature,
is the very slight acquaintance with the best models of
composition, which is thought necessary for persons called well
educated. There may be reason for deprecating the lavish expense
of time bestowed in England on the acquirement of Latin and
Greek, and it may be doubtful whether the power of composing in
these languages with correctness and facility, be worth all the
labour it costs; but as long as letters shall be left on the
earth, the utility of a perfect familiarity with the exquisite
models of antiquity, cannot be doubted. I think I run no risk of
contradiction, when I say that an extremely small proportion of
the higher classes in America possess this familiar acquaintance
with the classics. It is vain to suppose that translations may
suffice. Noble as are the thoughts the ancients have left us,
their power of expression is infinitely more important as a study
to modern writers; and this no translation can furnish. Nor did
it appear to me that their intimacy with modern literature was
such as to assist them much in the formation of style. What they
class as modern literature seems to include little beyond the
English publications of the day.

To speak of Chaucer, or even Spenser, as a modern, appears to
them inexpressibly r