iiWlliWi»!M^H«aH«BlftHi9l aiocttcU Iniucraitg Slibrata atliata. J?eai ^mk BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF HENRY W. SAGE 1891 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022228674 Cornell University Library PS 3317.S82 Wilde's Summer rose; or The lament of t 3 1924 022 228 674 WILDE'S 8UMMEE E08E ; THE LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. AN AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN, MYSTEKY AND EXPLANATION OF HON. K. H. WILDE's ALLEGED PLAGIAKI8M; BY ANTHONY BARCLAY, ESQ., AND WITH HIS PERMISSION PUBLISHED BT THE GEORGIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. ^(^L(~ SAVANNAH: 1871, ^5o<^4-l^ Entered according to act of Congress", in the year 1871, BY THE GEORGIA HISTORICAL SOCIET?, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. J. H. Estill, Pjiinter, 111 Bay Street. PREFACE. ^ The Georgia Historical Society offer no apology for giving to the public this little volume. Apart from its intrinsic literary excellence, the matter is essentially Georgian, and as such claims the consideration of all who feel an interest in the literature as v?ell as the history of this State. It is true that neither of the persons, principally con- cerned in the transactions unfolded in the following pages, was born in Georgia. Mr. Wilde was a native of Ireland; Mr. Barclay was born a British subject, and remains so. The personal, literary and political history of the former is weU known — his best days having been spent in the service of his adopted State. Mr. Barclay has been a resident of Savannah, for more than fifty years; for, though occupied a long time as British Commissioner to direct the survey and to determine the boundary line from the river St. Lawrence to the Lake of the Woods, and afterwards as British Consul at New- York, he never failed to spend in Savannah some portion of each year, 4 iPREFACE. always most highly respected by her people for his many virtues and thorough classic culture. In presenting this volume to the public, we feel that we furnish nothing new to those who, during Mr. Wilde's Hfetime, read the same vindication of him, in the periodi- cals and nevi'spapers of that day, and by the same friendly hand: But as the materials of the singular and interest- ing controversy, respecting Mr. Wilde's claim to the authorship of "The Summer Rose," lay scattered out of the reach of all except the industrious and favored few, it was believed that the collection and publication of these materials would not only subserve a literary purpose, but put into a condensed and authentic form, the origin, his- tory and settlement of a controversy, which, at the time, excited deep interest, and which will hereafter and for- ever associate the names of the two principal persons connected with it. The prefatory note of Mr. Barclay will show that the manuscript was not intended for the press; and the committee to w-hom the pubUcation has been intrusted, take this method of returning to Mr. Barclay the thanks of the Society for his courteous permission to print it. Besides the "narrative " itself and the papers embraced in it, the committee have taken the liberty to print other papers having an intimate relation to the primary affair. Mr. Barclay's extract, (from Sir Charles Ly ell's " Sec- ond Visit to the United States -of North America,") may. PREFACE. 5 in one sense, be considered as the end of his contribution to the "strange, eventful history"; but the committee have deenied it proper to prefix to that extract the Review, by APIS, ia " The Southern Magazine," of a recent arti- cle which shows that the history of Mr. Wilde's alleged plagiarism was not then fuUy understood. The Committee of the Georgia Historical Society. Savannah, March, 1871. To the Hon. Edwakd J. Haedbn. Savannah, Jan'y 26th, 1871. My dear Sir: — In compliance with your request, I have written for you the narrative, from alpha to omega, contained in this book, of the origin, mystery and eclaircissement of the translation into Greek of Mr. Wilde's touching verses, the Lament of the Captive. I could not have volunteered so small an affair for your acceptance. "With the greatest respect and regard, I am, My dear sir. Your humble servant, ANTH. BAECLAY. • The North American Magazine, No. XXVI., December, 1834, Vol. V., contains the following article: PLAGIARISM. Perhaps the history of letters, though it abounds with examples of singular coincidences, both in idea and expression, cannot present a more extraordinary instance of plagiarism than that which it now becomes our duty, as a literary critic, to unfold. Ten or twelve years since, a little poem appeared, which was attributed to the Hon. R. H. Wilde, M. C. of Georgia; and it has probably been republished through a hun- dred different inedia. The pathetic and tender feelings which it conveys, the exquisite truth of its images, and the melody of its verse, con- spired to confer upon the reputed author of this little poem a fame which nothing so brief had previously ever secured even to the masters of Q WILDE S SUMMER ROSE ; OR THE the lyre. We know not that the verses which we publish below were ever actually asserted by Mr. Wilde to be his original composition; but opportunities, almost without number, have, occured to enable the honorable gentleman to disclaim the title of author, and assume that, merely, of translator. No such opportunity, however, has been improved; and, until a recent period, the cis-Atlantic world of letters were pleased to award to Mr. Wilde, who, we have heard, is an accomplished gentleman and schol- ar, the possession of a poetical genius peculiarly felicitous. A weekly periodical* of New- York, combining the laic with the clerical, during the last summer published a communication which claimed for an Irish Bard the original composi- tion of the verses, which for so long a period had been attributed to Mr. Wilde. " We wish," said the editor of the print to which we refer, " we wish to pluck the stolen laurels from the Honor- able Plagiarist of G-eorgia, and replace those * The Catholic Eegister and Diary. LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 9 offerings of the Irish muse on the literary shrines of Innisfallen, to which the poetic genius of O'Kelly, the esteemed and popular Bard of pas- sion and patriotism, o/'i(;'ma%consecrated them." And the vain-glorious detector indulged in ex- pressions of exulting folly with which we shall not stain these pages. His correspondent pro- ceeded to assert, with true Hibernian impetuosity and confidence, that " O'Kelly, the far-famed author of the ' Curse of Donerail,' who has sung wildly, though sweet- ly, of the unrivaled beauty and picturesque scenery of Killarney's Lake, and of the sublime grandeur of the Griants' Causeway, has published nothing possessing more pathetic beauty, in the same compass, than the following touching lines, ascribed by your good friend, Mr. Noah, of the Evening Star, to the Hon. Richard H. Wilde, of G-eorgia, and published a few days since, with some verbal alterations, in that paper. I, how-' ever, send you the original." Now, the original verses, from which those of Mr. Wilde and those of the far-famed O'Kelly 2 lO WILDES SUMMER ROSE; OR THE are nothing but translations, were written by Alcseus of Mitylene, one of the sweetest of all the erotic bards of ancient G-reece, twenty-four hundred years ago ! The proof of this assertion we now proceed to exhibit. Nothing but fragments of Alcseus' works have descended to us, through the ruins of revolutions, the convulsions of decaying empires, and the barbarism and darkness of the middle ages; but, one of his fragments, which we now reprint side by side with a Latin translation, as Mr; Wilde's version stands vis a vis with that of O'Kelly, is, line by line and word by word, the original, from which the little poem, that has enjoyed and conferred so much reputation, is derived. Some of the G-reek phrases — such is the exceedingly beautiful significance of the original — it was impossible for any English translator to convey with equal energy and eloquence; but, by comparing the G-reek with the Latin, our prose* translation with the G-reek, * Too faulty to be worth inserting. LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. I I and the versions of Wilde and O'Kelly Avith all, not a doubt can remain in the mind, of any scholar, that whatever renown this poem has acquired, or may acquire, belongs exclusively to the enthusiastic and inspired lover of Sappho. We hope that Mr. Wilde has never assumed the authorship of this poem; for we should indeed regret to award to his knowledge what is due only to his genius, and to confer upon his ingenuity that which is due only to ingenuous- ness. But, having now fulfilled the duty of a literary critic, and for the first time unfolded the whole subject before our men of letters, we shall not shrink from the responsibility of the exposition. We have now presented this matter fairly before the world; and it remains yet to learn whether the verses of Mr. Wilde and O'Kelly were translated from the Latin translation, or derived directly from the original G-reek. 12 WILDES SUMMER ROSE) OR THE From the Fragments of Alcceus. 1. Tw poSif) Bspivca 6 /3io? jnov 6/xoto?, Upwi tea $oi/3co dvaTtTvffffovri avSfoV Hpiv 6e NvS iniGKia^ri avrov jxekaivex, Ta etii naXkEi daxpvovffa- TiS d ai, rii ai, in' e)a.oi daKpvSei ,• 3. Toi? (pvXXoi? rfji OTtwpa? 6 /3io5 jxov opioio?, Avpaii TpE/^ovffi xai si? yijv ^ anoppEEiv etoi/^OiS' AXXoxposi ta (pvXXa, juoyi? avta avvexEi to Sev- dpov, "AstatUj Evnkaata, xai TEXsvttjffovra. 4. T(av cpvXXcov St apxo/xivcoy aTCo^rjpaivEa^ai, Enl taii- aitoyovaii (Ttevei divSpov jj/yaeuo'oj', "AvEfj-Oi /J.SV xXaisi dsvdpov ayXcottov Tis Sk JJ.E, tii jXE ano^avovta nXavfjEi-, LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 1 3 ODE (o /Sz'o? jxov) ALC^I. Versio Latina. 1. Eosse sestivse mea vita est similis, Mane Phoebo explicanti florem; Sed, priifsquam illam Nos atra obumbret, PoUa, desiccanda, pallentia, cadunt: 2. Blanda vero ros super rosam distillat, Moribundse adhibens pro fragantia potum; Ceu, perituram pulchritudinem dellens: Quis autem, eheu ! quis, ebeu ! me deplorabit ? 3. Poliis autumni mea vita est similis, Aura trementibus et in terram defluere paratis: Colorem mutant folia; vix ilia retinet arbor, InstabiUa, fragilia et decedenda: 4 Incipientibus autem foliis exsiccari, Sobolem gemet arbor vidua; Arborem Unguis orbatam lameutatur ventus: ■Quis autem me, quis me moribundum deflebit? 14 WILDES SUMMER ROSE; OR THE 5. Td) §r]}xari sv ipdjj.j^cp 6 /3{o? /xov o/iowS^ Qvrjrwv EvrvTTov/Aeva) nodwv en' anrf^i rrji ^Aeff- Ov Ttplv TCapopixrjGErai kXvSoov, affraBj)? xat. vypo ?, "H i'xyo? ev//.eTa/3Xr/rov atpaviffetai ei? aiwva. 6. 'AXV, mi i'xyia ftporov ocnotpifiEa'bai Xvnovfxeva,. Td HV)xata ffvvexeS KataXa/x^dvei TrivS-oS- Eyoo tfj Sdncpoi juov rov i'poora 8,aGov SedooKa, Tii, ei jxri '2ditq>a>, jxe jxovov, Movffav HokXiarrf, 3-prjvT]ffei ,• ' 'Arri in return for. ' 'Anoppseiv beautifully applied to the falling of hair and the shedding of leaves. "The Island of Lesbos was the birth-place and resi- dence of Alcseus and Sappho. That poet was the ardent but unsuccessful admirer of the poetess. The last two- Hnes, with the reference to Lesbos, are the principal grounds upon which this ode is ascribed to Alcseus. The word /uovov refers to the life of celibacy to whick his love to her and her cruelty to him had destined him, and which his fidelity determined him to close by a corresponding death. LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 1 5 5. Vestigio in arena mea vita est similis, Hominis impresso pedibus super litus Lesboiim; Non prius irruerit aestus inconstans et liquidus, Quam vestigium mutabile evanescet in seternum. 6. Sed, quasi vestigia humana delere mcerentes, Undas perpetuus invadit luctus: Quamdiu vivebam, Sappho'i meum dabam amorem ; Quis, nisi Sappho Musarum pulcherrima, me deso- latum luffebit ? 1 6 wilde's summer rose; or the THE SIMILE. Written on the beautiful beach of Lehinch, in the county of Clare; By Patrick O'Kellt, the Irish Bard. 1. My life is like the summer rose, That opens to the morning sky; But, ere the shades of evening close, Is scattered on the ground — to die: , 2. But, on the rose's humble bed The sweetest dews of Night are shed; As if she wept such waste to see; But who, alas ! shall weep for me ? 3. My life is like the autumn leaf. That trembles in the moon's pale ray; Its hold is frail — its date is brief; Restless — and soon to pass away: 4. Yet, ere that leaf shall fall and fade, The parent tree shall mourn its shade; The winds bewail the leafless tree: But who shall then bewail for me? LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 1 7 LINES, By E. H. Wilde, Esq., of Augusta, Georgia. 1. My life is like the * Summer Eose, That opens to the morning sky; But, ere the shades of eyening close. Is scattered on the ground — to die: 2. But, on the roses humble. bed The sweetest dews of Night are shed; As if she wept such waste to see: But none shall weep a tear for me. 3. My life is like the autumn leaf. That trembles in the moon's pale ray; Its hold is frail, its date is brief, Eestless, and soon to pass awayr 4. Yet, ere that leaf shall fall and fade. The parent tree shall mourn its shade; The winds bewail the leafless tree; But none shall breathe a sigh for me. * Summer Rose is the popular name of the species. 3 1 8 wilde's summer rose; or the 5. My life is like the print, whicli feet Have left on Lehinch's desert strand; Soon as the rising tide shall beat. The track will vanish from the sand: 6. Yet, as if grieving to efface The vestige of the human race, , On that lone shore loud moans the sea: Who but the Nine shall moan for me? LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 1 9 5. My life is like the print, which feet Have left on * Tampa's desert strand; Soon as the rising tide shall beat, This track -will vanish from the sand: 6. Tet stiU, as grieving to efface All vestige of the human race, On that lone shore loud moans the sea: But none shall e'er lament for me. 'Coast of Florida. 20 WILDES SUMMER ROSE; OR THE The North American Magazine, in its No. XXYIIL, February, 1835, comes to the ques- tion whether the G-reek ode was written in sport. On this point the writer of that article asks (p. 272) : " Would any man, (if the deed were possible to any but a Porson,) devote himself to the protracted toil necessary for such a task of translating Mr. Wilde's verses into Greek, and prove himself, by new images* quite equal to his original, merely for the pleasure of humbugging the literary world ? " The same number of the North American * Here the Magazine has a note, as follows : " Let us suppose for a moment that this unfortunate Greek ode is a translation of Mr. "Wilde's verses : it follows, then, that the translator blundered in his business, and produced ■ from his own brain more poetry than he found; for where, in Mr. W.'s poem, shall we find that beautiful metaphor, ' the voiceless tree among its children moans ' ? — and where shall we find the name of Sappho, the most beau- tiful of the Muses, or any reference to the solitude of the lyrist ? There are also other words and lines in the Greek as pregnant with poetry as any in Mr. Wilde's verses. The alleged hoaxer must have had an infinite regard for the hoaxed, thus to augment the attractions of this poem by additions of his own." LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 21 Magazine, at page 273, quotes from the Literary and Catholic Sentinel, of Boston, under date January" 3d, 1835, as follows: "The next packet from Liverpool arriving at New- York will, in all probability, bring Mr. O'Kelly's answer, which shall, we predict, not only estab- lish irrefutably the claim of Mr. O'Kelly of being the original translator from the Greek of AlcoBus, bat fasten on Mr. Wilde the plagiarist's badge. As soon as Mr. O'Kelly's letter arrives, we will give* it to our readers, with appropri- ate comments." It has not yet been given — in January, 1871. 22 WILDES SUMMER ROSE; OR THE ORIGIN OF THE GREEK ODE. For four months after the first appearance of the Greek ode, it was a subject of astonishment, wonder, faith, and but little doubt of its genu- ineness. The only matter for wonder in the mind of one person was, that it should be a question of general interest where it was heard of, for more than a few days. As the Mytilene in which it was produced is now well known, the following narrative may be amusing to you, being a brief account of its origin ; of the means adopted to bring it into notice ; and of the efforts made to obtain the veritable Odes of Alcaeus, among which it was fully expected that it would be found. To proceed, then, with those details. The Greek lines, called Ode, were not in- tended to go before the public, in print. Such an idea never entered the mind of the writer of them, when they were being composed. They were first designed exclusively for a few friends, who, one happy sultry Wednesday evening in LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 23 the month of: August, 1834, had accidentally met at the house, iii Savannah, of GrRiECULTis, when one of their topics of conversation was the then recent charge brought against Mr. Wilde, of his plagiarism of " My life is like the summer rose," etc., from the so-styled Irish bard, O'Kblly. One of the party ascribed Mr. Wilde's pretty A'^erses to a Greek original. When the visitors had dispersed, GtRJ^cttltts observed to one of his household who had been present: "Well, to-morrow I shall be at leisure ; I will translate Mr. Wilde's verses into Grreek, and when that simple man sees the Greek and is told that the ideas throughout are almost identical, he will put it down as clear proof of his correct information in classic literature. " Thus originated the idea of a Greek translation. When, on the next morning, Thursday, that vulgar necessity of breakfast was disposed of, Gk^culus retired to his library and began at To) podcp S'epivcp. Before the hour for dinner had arrived, Gr-^culus sought the partner of his sympathies, and said, to her, "It is done: 24 WILDES SUMMER ROSE; OR THE while I have been writing the GTreek, I have come to the belief that it may puzzle some per- sons of more learning than the one for whom it was first intended; and I shall try it." So, on the succeeding day, Friday, he wrote a transla- tion of his Greek into Latin, which rendered the meaning of the Greek intelligible to many who could not read that language. He added three short notes, merely to produce a verisimil- itude to the work of a scholiast: he prepared the verses in form as designed to be issued by hira — the Greek on one page, and the Latin corres- ponding therewith on the opposite page — stanza by stanza — also the lines ascribed to O'Kelly, and those of Mr. Wilde, arranged in similar manner, on opposite pages, as set forth in this book. The draft of the manuscript was thus complete. He determined that a fair copy of it should, on the loUowing day, be put into such a channel as would be sure to float it about on a good current of curiosity; but his own hand- writing was not to appear. A. youth in his own family wrote the Greek characters beautifully, LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 25 and was to be depended upon for reticence; and he gave him notice to repair to the library, the next morning, for the purpose of copying the whole. On Saturday he was there, and finish- ed all in good style. G-RiEcuLUS then fixed on an excellent, cheerful friend, with whom he was intimate — the pastor of a church in Savannah^ who had intelligence, inquisitiveness, and crit- ical taste in literary matters, and would value the stray paper, whether genuine or counterfeit, as a person into whose possession the paper should be directed. To effect that object, a let- ter was written to him by one Terence Doyle, enclosing the G-reek lines and their appurte- nances, as just found by him, which he rep- resented to be unintelligible to him ; but he doubted not that the pastor in his great learn- ing would understand to what they related, and know what disposition to make of them. The letter was written in a strange hand. The packet was left, that evening, at the par- sonage, by a person attired as Terence Doyle. On Monday, when Gr^oulits was at dinnef, 4 26 wilde's summer rose; or the having three or four friends to give enjoyment to his meal, a servant announced: "The Rev- erend Mr. wishes to see you in the hall." Gtb^culus thought, "Now comes the charge," and immediately went out to the pastor, and begged him to join his guests at the dinner- table. " No, no," he said; " stop a moment ;'" and draw- ing out a packet, he opened it at the G-reek ode, and handed it to Gtrjeculus, saying: "There! is not that strange ?" Gtr^culus fixed his eyes on the first lines of the ode; continued so for a few moments as if reading them; and then, look- ing the parson in the face, remarked to him: " Why, those lines are identical in thought and in all the parts of speech with Mr. Wilde's pret- ty verses, 'My life is like the summer rose,' called Lament of the Captive." " Is it not ex- traordinary?", he said. G-r^culits, whose con- science had made a coward of him, perceived that he was unsuspected, and took courage. The parson proceeded : " Have you a copy of Al- caeus?" GrR^cuLus answered that commenta- tors differed about the fragments ascribed to LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 27 him ; tliat he had a volume of G-reek odes by various authors, but that he did not remember that this one was in it ; that he would get the book for him, however, before he went away. The parson added: "Well, I have written to Petigru to search the Charleston Library for Alcaeus, and to send it .to me if he find it." They then joined the company at the dinner- table, and the parson's wonderful possession became the topic of conversation. The ;desired volume was not found in the Charleston Library. Terence Doyle's manu- script was submitted to the knowing ones in Savannah, by whom several copies of it were made. One of them was sent to the President of the College at Athens, Georgia, where, if any- where, spuriousness should have been detected. He was reported to have pronounced the G-reek to be pure and ancient, but he could not say whether it was of Alcasus or not, as his odes were not in the library there. Curiosity about it continued to exist in Savannah for some time. In November, 1834, when G-b^culxjs had 28 wilde's summer rose; or the ceased to think of the matter, he removed with his family to reside in New- York, believing that his foundling would never be heard of again. How great was his surprise, then, to receive on the 9th of January, 1835, in that, city, a letter dated Washington, January 7th, 1835, from Mr. Wilde, making inquiry about the authorship of the G-reek ode, of the publication of which in print GrK-s:ouLus was not then informed. Thereupon ensued the denouement of the affair, as contained in an article published in a weekly literary paper of that time ■ — ■ The New- York Mirror of February 28th, 1835 — ^of which the following is a copy. Note. — Before proceeding with that copy, it is pleasant to relate that the dear, good, amiable pastor never, after the denouement of the mys- tery, met Gr^culus, without asking him, with 3i smile, whether he had another Greek ode for him yet. LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 29 Niw-TonK HiRBOn, Febbwaet 28, 1836. MY LIFE IS LIKE A SUMMER ROSE. HON. MB. ■WILDE, o'keLLT, AND JlLCMVS. Pew of our readers, we imagine, are igno- rant of the various claims which have been lately brought forward, in the periodicals and newspapers, to the authorship of the beautiful lines, beginning, " My life is like the summer rose," which have been some twenty years be- fore the public as the acknowledged, and until lately the unquestioned, production of Richard Henry "Wilde, a distinguished representative in Congress from the State of G-eorgia. After this long acquiescence in the claims of that gentleman, his title has lately been contest- ed, first by a friend of 'Kelly, an Irish bard, and secondly by critics appearing in behalf of no less a personage than Alcaeus, a G-reek lyric- al poet who flourished about six hundred years before the Christian era. In the one case, Mr. Wilde is charged with downright plagiarism ; in the other, with palming upon the world a trans- 30 WILDES SUMMER ROSE; OR THE lation from the Grreek as an original composition of Ms own. Both of these charges are equally derogatory to his character as a man of honor; and, however indifferent himself and his friends may be to his reputation as a poet, it was hardly expected that they would sit quiet under imputations that so nearly affect his reputa- tion for candor and veracity. As one among his many friends and admirers, we have taken the pains to make a thorough examination into these respective claims, and now lay the result before our readers — beginning with a brief detail of the origin of the lines in question, the circumstances under which they were written, and the manner of their coming before the public. We shall avail ourselves, for this purpose, of Mr. Wilde's own language in a letter to an intimate friend in this city : "The lines in question, you will perceive, were originally intended as part of a longer poem. My brother, the late James Wilde, was an officer of the United States army, and held a subaltern rank in the expedition of Colonel LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. ■ 3 1 John Williams against the Seminole Indians of Florida, which first broke up their towns and stopped their atrocities. When James returned, he amused my mother, then alive, my sisters and myself, with descriptions of the orange - groves and transparent lakes, the beauty of the St. John's river and of the woods and swamps of Florida, a kind of fairy land ^ — of which we then knew little except from Bar- tram's ecstacies — interspersed with anecdotes of his campaign and companions. As he had some taste himself, I used to laugh and tell him I 'd immortalize his exploits in an epic. Some stanzas were accordingly written for the amuse- ment of the family at our meetings. That, alas ! was destined never to take place. He was killed in a duel. His violent and melancholy death put an end to my poem ; the third stanza of the first fragment, which alludes to his fate, being all that was written afterwards. The verses, particularly the 'Lament of the Cap- tive,' wel-e read by the family and some inti- mate acquaintances; among the rest, the present 32 WILDES SUMMER ROSJE ; OR THE Secretary of State,* and a gentleman then a student of medicine, now a distinguished phy- sician in Philadelphia. The latter, after much importunity, procured from me, for a lady in that city, a copy of .'My life is like the sum- mer rose,' with an injunction against publicity, which the lady herself did not violate; but a musical composer, to whom she gave the words for the purpose of setting them, did ; and they appeared, I think, first in 1815 or 1816, with my name and addition at full length, to my no small annoyance. Still, I never avowed them; and though continually republished in the newspapers with my name, and a poetical reply, I maintained that newspapers were no authority, and refused to answer further. I resisted even the inclination to say that there was no personal allusion in the lines — no small effort of self-control, considering how vexatiously certain the contrary assumption appeared." * Mr. Forsyth. LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 33 The following are fragments of tHe poem alluded to in the foregoing statement; from which it will appear how naturally the lines claimed for O'Kelly and Alcaeus incorporate themselves with the subject-matter preceding them. They will also serve to show, what indeed Mr. Wilde has proved in many other instances, that if he is not the author of the verses claimed by O'Kelly, he' is capable of writing others quite as good: Fragment I. [The first and second stanzas of this Frag- ment in the New-York Mirror, consisting of nine lines each, are here omitted, having been introduced merely to show Mr. "Wilde's poetic talent; but the third stanza, being an inter- esting allusion to his brother's death, is as follows :] I too had once a brother ; he was there Among the foremost, bravest of the brave ; To him this lay was framed with fruitless care ; Sisters for him the sigh in secret gave; 5 34 WILDES SUMMER ROSE; OR THE For him a mother poured the fervent prayer. But sigh or prayer availeth not to save A generous victim in a villain's snare : He found a bloody but inglorious grave, And never nobler heart was racked by baser glaive. [Fragment II., a long one, and Fragment III., are here omitted for the same reasons as were the two stanzas of Fragment I.] Fragment IT. 'T is many moons ago ; a- long, long time Since first upon this shore a white man trod. From the great water to the mountain clime, This was our home ; 't was given us by the God That gave you yours. Love ye your native sod? So did our fathers too, for they were men : They fought to guard it, for their hearts were brave ; And long they fought! We were a people then. This was our country ; it is now our grave : Would I had never lived, or died this land to save! When first ye came, your numbers were but few. Our nation many as the leaves or sand : Hungry and tired ye were ; we pitied you. We called you brothers ; took you by the hand ; But soon we found ye came to spoil the land : LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 36 "We quarreled, and your countrymen we slew, Till one alone of all remained behind ; Among the false he only had been true, And much we loved this man of single mind. And ever while he lived to him were kind. He loved us too, and taught us many things. And much we strove the stranger's heart to glad ; But to its kindred still the spirit clings. And therefore was his soul forever sad ; Nor other wish or joy the lone one had. Save on the solitary shore to roam, Or sit and gaze for hours upon the deep That rolled between him and his native home ; And when he thought none marked him, he would weep. Or sing this song of woe which stUl our maidens keep : LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. My life is like the summer rose, That opens to the morning sky; And ere the shades of evening close. Is scattered on the ground — to die: 36 Wilde's summer rose ; or the Yet, on that rose's humble bed The softest dews of Night are shed; As if she wept such waste to see: But none shall drop a tear for me! My life is like the autumn leaf, That trembles in the moon's pale ray; Its hold is fraU, its date is brief — Restless, and soon to pass away: Yet, when that leaf shall fall and fade. The parent tree will mourn its shade ; The wind bewail the leafless tree : But none shall breathe a sigh for me! My life is like the print, which feet Have left on Tampa's desert strand ; Soon as the rising tide shall beat. Their track will vanish from the sand : Yet, as if grieving to efface AU vestige of the human race. On that lone shore loud moans the sea: But none shall thus lament for me! The first part of the fourth Fragment is the supposed indignant address of a savage chief to one of the American officers : the latter LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 37 part, the lament of a Spanish captive, the last survivor of Panfilo de Narvaez's ill-fated expe- dition. See G-arcilasso de la Vega — Historia de la Florida — for an account of the sufferings of Juan Ortiz Tom : 1, cap : XVII. With regard to the claim of 'Kelly, the first circumstance that will strike the reader is its having remained in abeyance for such a long period ; and that it is now presented, for the first time, after a lapse of some twenty years of entire oblivion. This is the more remarkable, from the fact that the lines in question were published upwards of ten years ago, in a selection of American poems called "The Columbian Lyre," printed at Grlasgow, in Scotland, and afterwards copied in various ways botTi in England and Ireland. Still, no claim was advanced in behalf of the Irish bard, whose name is now for the first time brought forward for the purpose of plucking the wreath which Mr. Wilde has so long worn without a rival. On subsequent inquiry, we learn that 'Kelly is a sort of wandering 3? wilde's summer rose ; or the bard, whose education and habits render it next to impossible that he should have written verses so remarkable for their delicate senti- ment and polished elegance. They distinctly indicate a mind of rich cultivation, purified by the habitual indulgence of sentiments which could hardly be felt, and certainly not so expressed, by any but a person of the high- est refinement of mind. The first stanzas of the piece, in our opinion, furnish other conclu- sive evidence against the claim of 'Kelly. The allusion to the rose — " That opens to the morning sky, And, ere the shades of evening close, Is scattered on the ground — to die" — could only apply, even with poetical justice, to the Florida rose, which, as Mr. Wilde states in the note, "opens, fades, and perishes during the summer in less than twelve hours." It would be false and forced in relation to any other species of rose, and could only naturally present itself to the imagination of a south- ern poet, who alone would be likely to be fa- LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 39 miliar with its touching poetical associations. The probability of its occurring to an Irish bard of the character of 'Kelly, is so remote as in our opinion to amount to a complete bar to his pretensions. There are many other reasons why we discard the claim of 'Kelly entirely. In the first instance, he was put forth as the original author ;.but when the Fragment of the G-reek poet was placed before the public in such an imposing form, and the original Greek produced, the same authority, which had chal- lenged the authorship for O'Kelly, then claimed the verses as a translation, and charged Mr. Wilde with copying that. Surely, these incon- sistencies, and this entire change of ground, indicate somewhat distinctly that the counsel for O'Kelly has not thoroughly studied his case, and is not quite so well acquainted with the facts as he would wish to appear. As yet, the claim of O'Kelly rests, as we believe- — for we have seen no other — on the authority of an anonymous writer in "The New- York Weekly Register and Catholic Diary", of the ninth of 40 WILDES SUMMER ROSE; OR THE August, 1834. That our readers may have all proof before them, we subjoin the letter of the unknown correspondent, the comments of the editor, and the verses claimed by O'Kelly. Both the letter and the comments are equally distinguished by arrogant discourtesy. "We cheerfully give insertion to the follow- ing communication from our respected corres- pondent in Albany, as we wish to pluck the stolen laurels from the honorable plagiarist of G-eorgia, and replace those' offerings of the Irish muse on the literary shrine of Innisfallen, to which the poetic genius, O'Kelly, the es- teemed and popular bard of passion and patri- otism, originally consecrated them. The white feathers of the singing Swan of Killarney, thanks to the detection of our correspondent, have not been long suffered to remain as feloni- ous ornaments in the black wings of the G-eor- gian Grander." ' ' To the JEditor of the Register and Diary : That the daw may not strut his brief hour in LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 4I the borrowed plumage of the eagle, I would beg leave to call your attention to the fol- lowing : ' O'Kelly, the far-famed author of the Curse of Doneraile', who has sung wildly, though sweetly, of the unrivaled beauty and pictur- esque scenery of Killarney's lake, and of the sublime grandeur of the G-iants' Causeway, has published nothing possessing more pathetic beauty, in the same compass, than the follow- ing touching lines ascribed by your good friend, Mr. Noah of the ' Evening Star ', to the honor- able Richard Henry Wilde, of G-eorgia, and .published a few days since, with some verbal alterations, in that paper. I, however, send you the original, together with the answer by our talented young countryman, Mr. J. O'Leary, of Cork; by your publishing which, in the 'Eeg- ist-er ', together with a few prefatory remarks of your own, I shall feel much indebted to you; Hoping that our common yet dear country may not be robbed of her just meed of poetic fame, nor a plagiarist receive the applause more 6 42 WILDES SUMMER ROSE; OR THE justly due to one who feels proud of having merited a portion of Erin's ancient bardic lore, I remain yours, respectfully, J. C. P. Albany, July 8th, 1834. THE SIMILE. Written on the beautiful beach of Lehinch, in the county of Clare;' By Pateick O'Kelly, the Irish Bard." [ The verses here introduced in the New - York Mirror, as O'Kelly's, correspond, ver- batim, with those inserted at pp. 12-14 of this manuscript (see printed pages 16-18), as claimed by O'Kelly. The whole is therefore here omitted.] We appeal to the candor of our readers, to say whether the 'mere naked assertion of an anonymous writer, couched in such language as this, and backed simply by a copy of the ''original" verses of O'Kelly, as he is pleased to call them, without explaining from what source they are derived, or producing one single proof of their authenticity ; whether LAMENT GF THE CAPTIVE, 43 ;such flimsy assertions as these, sanctioned by no name, and supported by no authority what- ever, ought to weigh for a moment against twenty years of quiet acquiescence in the claim of Mr. Wilde. Perhaps no poem, ever written in this country, has had a more extensive cir- culation in newspapers and periodicals ; and yet now, for the first time, it is seen and rec- ognized by the anonymous writer, and claiined for the far-famed author of the " Curse of Don- eraile". By the way, the answer of Mr. J. O'Leary, of Cork, is not given in the Diary. .Was it verbatim with the answer to. these lines by a lady of Baltimore, and therefore with- held from a principle of gallantry ? Or did the editor suspect that two plagiarisms would be rather too much for the public credulity? Fur- thermore, as yet the claim of O'Kelly remains entirely unsupported by any testimony, except the mere assertion of a friend ; although that friend has been repeatedly challenged to pro- duce either direct or circumstantial evidence of the plagiarism. The . charge made in one 44 wilde's summer rose; or the form is reiterated in another ; but no proof whatever adduced, and no explanation of the delay in making this serious attack on the ve- racity and honor of a gentleman. Assuredly, if 'Kelly is the author of th^ lines in question, as his friends appear so zealous in his behalf, they might ere this have procured from some quarter or other something like demonstrative proof in the shape of 'Kelly's works, or hia own declaration — for we believe he is still living — or the testimony of some responsible person, who might at least offer circumstantial, if not direct, evidence in behalf of his claim. Nothing, however, of this kind has been pro- cured to support a pretension which is rendered equally frivolous and improbable, as well by the whole train of circumstances attending it as by that internal, evidence which to persons of taste and judgment is the most infallible of all testi- mony. Taking this into consideration, we do not hesitate to pronounce the charge against Mr. Wilde to be entirely unsupported by any authority that should, in the slightest degree. LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 45 weigh against the character and veracity of that gentleman. We now come to the formidable claim of the old G-reek poet, which however is easily put to sleep. Notwithstanding the testimony of the editor of the North American Magazine, that the Fragment he published is a genuine frag- ment which has hitherto escaped all the re- searches of the learned, we think we could easily prove that, though pure G-re^k, it is neither Alcaic Greek, nor intended by the author for Greek poetry, or any other kind of poetry. It is thus analyzed by a young gen- tleman, a native of Philadelphia, whose com- munication we have now before us, and would insert at length, had we room or were it nec- essary to our purpose. It was written immedi- ately after the appearance of the G-reek Ode, but miscarried in the transmission, and only came to hand lately. "That it is not the production of an ancient G-reek poet, is con- clusively proved by the absence of the dialects which, as it were, incrust the Greek poetry of 46 wilde's summer rose ; or the the age; of Alcaeus. Few, very few, modern hands, it is believed, can manage these, and the able but discreet , author of the 'Fragment' has wisely avoided them. The whole produc- tion is pure and well -arranged G-reek, but is very different from the Greek of the poets of the age to which it is referred. But, in fact> it is not poetry at all. The piece, though very ingeniously managed, is evidently, prosaic. The fragments of Alcaeus are accessible to perhaps few; but let those to whom they are not so turn to the fragment of Simonides, a poet nearly contemporary with Alcaeus, as given by Warton , in Hawkesworth's Adventurer, number eighty-nine, and make the comparison. The difference is as obvious as between the poetry of Spenser and the prose of Groldsmith. To this we might add what every scholar knows, or ought to know before he pretends to be a critic in Greek poetry, that Alcaeus wrote uni- formly in one measure peculiar to himself, and hence called the Alcaic. The pure fragment brought forward by the ' North American Mag- LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 47 azine', is assuredly no more Alcaic than the English translation of that gentleman's true version of the original." To settle the question, however, beyond all controversy, we give the following letters. From that of Mr. Barclay, it will be seen that the Fragment in question, from which some twenty years aigo Mr. Wilde translated his fine lines, was written a few months since, in Savan- nah, by a gentleman now resident in this city, with the sole view to his own amusement and that of a few private friends. That it found its way to the public, and became the foundation of a charge against Mr. Wilde far more formi- dable than the claim of the Irish pretender, was entirely contrary to his wishes or expect- ations, and is equally a subject of regret. Few among the scholars of modern date could prob- ably have achieved this harmless pleasantry; and we feel assured that none could have been more pained and surprised at learning its ulti- mate destination and consequences. 48 wilde's summer rose; or the Washington, 7th January, 1835. Dear Sir: Eelying on our past acquaintance, and your known urbanity, to pardon the liberty I take, permit me to say, without farther preface, that circumstances, which it is unnecessary to detail, concur in pointing you out as the author of a translation, into Greek, of some fugitive verses long attributed to, but only recently avowed by, me. If you are, I am sure the task was executed only to amuse the leisure hours of a gentleman and scholar, or at most for the sport it might afford you to mystify the learned. In the latter, you have been so eminently success- ful, if the work is yours, that a result has been produced, the reverse no doubt of your inten- tion, so far as respects myself. I have been stigmatized with plagiarism, and compelled, such was the importance some of my friends attached to the charge, to deny it in person. Since then, an article in the G-eorgian, of the twenty-seventh of December, goes far to excul- pate me from the pillage of Alcaeus ; and excel- LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 49 lent reasons have been given, by Greek schol- ars, to show the piece is modern. Nevertheless, as I have been compelled to do penance, pub- licly, in sheets once white, for this sin of my youth, it would relieve me somewhat, since I must acknowledge the foundling, to have no dispute about the paternity. The G-reek frag- ment is so well executed as to deceive many of some pretensions to scholarshipi. I am therefore desirous of obtaining for publication, in such form as you choose, your avowal of the authorship ; or, if you prefer it, your simple authority for the fact. If I am wrong in ascrib- ing it to you, your acquaintance with the soci- ety of Savannah will perhaps enable you to inform me to whom I should address myself. Permit me to renew the assurance of the high respect and regard with which I have the honor to be, dear sir. Your obedient servant, Richard Henry Wilde. To Anthony Barclay, Esq., of Savannah — now in New- York. 7 So wilde's summer rose; or the New- York, January 24th, 1835. My Dear Sir : I was not apprised, when I addressed you on the 9th instant, nor for some days after, that my prose translation, into Grreek, of your beautiful ode, beginning "My life is like the summer rose," had been published ; otherwise, I could not at that short time have passed over the circum- stance in utter silence. It was written for individual amusement with exclusively half a dozen acquaintance in Savannah, and without the slightest intention of its going farther. This assertion will account for the abundant defects, and they will vouch for its truth. I as little believed that any credit, beyond the hour of surprise among my acquaintance before mentioned, would be awarded to my crude translation as I apprehended that any doubt could be created concerning the originality of your finished production. Metre and proso- diacal quantity were designedly disregarded ; LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 5 1 and this fact was sufficient to detect the spu- riousness of the attempt, and to vindicate me from any suspicion of expecting a successful de- ception. If that effect has in any degree been brought about, I must repeat, (to employ your language,) that a result has been produced, the reverse of my intention as far as regards your- self, from whose brow I have had good reason to believe, for the last sixteen years or more, that modesty alone detained the poetic wreath. I cannot say how extremely I regret the indis- creet publication. Truly reluctant, however, as I am, to come before the public, I shall feel strong inducement to be resigned, if the trans- lator succeed in dragging his author out of con- cealment, and that event contribute to strip all masks and to bestow honor where honor is due. With great truth and regard, I am Your faithful servant, Anthony Barclay. Hon. Richard Henry Wilde, M. C, Washington, D. C. 52 Wilde's summer rose; or the Note by the Oommittee of the Georgia Historical Society. — In giving place to the following Re- view, we beg to call attention to the fact that the industrioas, learned, and usually correct Mr. AUibone, in the third volume of his "Critical Dictionary," page 2718, in publishing the re- viewed "note" of Mr. Stille, except the first sentence, adds : " We are not a little amazed at the alleged skepticism of this plain-spoken 'Oxford scholar.'" From "The Southekn Magazine," Maboh, 1871. EBYIBWS. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, held at Phila- delphia, for promoting Useful Knowledge. Vol. XT. A. pamphlet, whose title is given above, has recently been brought to our notice. It con- tains, among other contributions, an article headed "Obituary Notice of Horace Binney, Jr., by Charles J. Stille." It is written in a fervent spirit, as if stimulated by the author's grateful recollection of the deceased as the gen- tle and firm Christian, the accomplished scholar, LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 5^ and the acceptable associate of all refined and good men. He sets forth Mr. Binney's purity and goodness ; the powerful influence of his character upon those around him ; his extreme modesty, and utter aversion to display or ostentation of any kind ; his genuine scholarly instincts ; his love of the familiar intercourse of the wise, the true, and the good ; his familiarity ' with ancient literature and ancient history ; the classical spirit, with which he was imbued, forming the basis of all his canons of taste and criticism ; his character as a conservative churchman, with a devout and earnest spirit upholding a high standard of Christian life and duty ; his maintaining his convictions with courage and constancy; his unassuming manner ; his innate sense of courtesy, preserving him from the slightest taint of arrogance ;— with a heart as simple as a child's and as tender as a woman's ; his life was nurtured and strength- ened by the two great principles out of which all true excellence springs — trust in Grod and devotion to duty. 54 wilde's summer rose; or the No doubt Mr. Binney not only consulted his taste, but measured his capacity, in the course of life which he adopted. The obituary is a well-written, neat, and pleasing memorial. Our author has made mention of Mr. Binney's proficiency in the ancient G-reek language. In connection with this point, our memory of a lit- erary jeu d'esprit, which was perpetrated in Savannah so long ago as the year 1834, affect- ing, (as it was thought,) the candor and reputa- tion of an honorable, accomplished gentleman of G-eorgia, and calling forth opinions and crit- icisms of both scholars and pretenders. North and South, in the United States, has lately been revived by an incidental reference to it in a note at page 375 of the pamphlet under consid- eration, in which the writer remarks, as follows : "The following anecdote will illustrate Mr. Binney's familiarity with the Greek style : Mr. Richard Henry Wilde, once a member of Con- gress from G-eorgia, and an accomplished scholar, had written some beautiful verses, beginning, 'My life is like the summer rose,' etc., which. LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 55 being published in the newspapers, became widely known. Some time after, Mr. Wilde was surprised to find in a G-eorgia newspaper a Greek ode purporting to have been written by Alcseus, an early Eolian poet of somewhat ob- scure fame, and it was claimed that Mr. Wilde's verses were simply a translation of this ode; the ideas in both being almost identical. As Mr. Wilde had never heard of Alcseus, he was much puzzled to account for this resemblance of the two poems. At the suggestion of a friend, the G-reek ode was sent to Mr. Binney, for exami- nation and criticism. He at once, much to the relief of Mr. Wilde, pronounced it a forgery, pointing out wherein its style differed from that of classical Greek. It turned out, afterwards, that the ode in question had been written by an Oxford scholar, on a wager that no one in that university was sufficiently familiar with the style of the early Greek poets to detect the counter- feit. To carry out this scheme, he had trans- lated Mr. Wilde's verses into Greek." Mr. Stille has made some singular mistakes. 56 wilde's summer rose; or the we think, in Ms narrative respecting the G-reek translation of the graceful verses of the Hon. R. H. "Wilde; and several matters, which he states as facts, are errors. The Greek ode, rep- resented to be a fragment of Alcaeus, was never found in a Georgia newspaper, as stated by Mr. Stille. It first made its appearance in Georgia and elsewhere, in August, 1834, by means of manuscript copies. It was printed, for the first time, in the North American Magazine of De- cember, 1834, published in Philadelphia, which charged Mr. Wilde with plagiarism by transla- tion from the Greek. The prevailing and growing indifference, or aversion even, in the United States, to deriva- tive orthography, in deference to the unlearned majority, appears to have affected the author of the obituary — in writing Eolian instead of JEolian. Some of his learned brothers of the American Philosophical Society ought to have been good-natured enough to recommend him to adhere, in that case, to literary exactness; also to have hinted to him that the "poet of LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 57 somewhat obscure fame", as he describes Al- cseus, who lived 600 years b. c, was as well known in character as was Homer, Sophocles, Euripides, Anacreon. His poetical productions are reported by ancient writers to have been many; and they were- of such finished beauty that the great Roman rhetorician and writer, Quintilian, who lived in the first century of the Christian era, wrote on him a splendid eulogium. The extant fragments of Alcseus may be found in Ath6n£eus. Men may become as familiar with authors, whose works they have never seen, as with countries which they have never visited. The writer of the obituary has ad- mitted that Mr. Wilde was " an accomplished scholar "; yet, a few lines farther on, he says of him, that he "had never heard of Alcseus." He unquestionably deserved the former charac- ter, being an ornament to the best society; and he was doubtless as well acquainted with the fame of Alcaeus, as all other men of learning who are not exclusively devoted to ancient 8 58 wilde's summer rose; or the literature. He never considered the Glreek poet to be " of obscure fame." Our author remarks, that, when the Greek ode was referred to Mr. Binney, he at once pro- nounced it a forgery; pointing out wherein its style differed from that of classical Grfeek. Now, we happened to be a contemporary of Mr. Wilde, and corresponded with him in regard to this very subject. He wrote, in Jan- uary, 1835, that it had been analyzed by a young gentleman, a native of Philadelphia, meaning (no doubt) Mr. Horace Binney, Jr., who stated: "that it is not the production of an ancient Grreek poet, is conclusively proved by the absence of the dialects which, as it were, incrust the G-reek poetry of the age of Alcaeus. Few, very few, modern hands, it is believed, can manage these ; and the able but discreet author of the 'Fragment' [as the Grreek was termed] has wisely avoided them. The whole production is pure and well-arranged Grreek." The above statement found its way into print in a New- Yorh Mirror, a weekly paper of enter- LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 5 9 taining literature, of February, 1835. How different it is from the remark of the writer of the obituary, that Mr. Binney " pointed out wherein its style differed from that of classical Grreek," to wit, "the whole production is pure and well-arranged G-reek." The most amusing part of our author's note to his obituary is the concluding paragraph, in ^ which he says : "It turned out afterwards that the ode in question had been written by an Oxford scholar, on a wager that no one in that University was sufficiently familiar with the style of the early Greek poets to detect the counter- feit. To carry out this scheme, he had translated Mr. "Wilde's verses into G-reek." The so-called Oxford scholar, with whom we have been pretty well ELcquainted, was in Savannah when he wrote the Greek in question, (at a time when Mr. Wilde was absurdly charged with plagiarism of his verses from the Irish bard, O'Kelly,) to amuse himself by testing the scholarship and credulity of a few friends in that place, whom he had heard discussing the matter. He is now 6o wilde's summer rose; or the living in GTeorgia. He designedly made no attempt at dialect or metre, though he might have done both with success ; but he depended on the rhythm and melody of his lines to cause it to be taken for granted that they were proso- diacal — "numerisque fertur lege solutis"; — and in this he was not disappointed, for even Mr. Binney is not reported to have remarked upon the fact that there was no metre in the ode; and although it is said in the note that he often read the G-reek Testament, it did not require a very intimate acquaintance with prosody to do that. As the Alcaic measure, introduced by Alcseus, from whom it takes its name, is but little known, perhaps he passed the ode as such. GtRJEculus, in his jocose composition, anticipated this as likely with some of its critics. He never made the wager spoken of. There were a thousand men in Oxford, he well knew, who would in- stantly have detected the joke, and would not have left it for Mr. Binney to discover that there was no -/Eolic (or Alcaic) brogue in its dialect — but that "it is pure G-reek," Attic. The LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 6 1 writer of it himself informed his friend, Mr. Wilde, that he was the author of it, as soon as he heard of its publication, about the 9 th of January, 1835; and he received Mr. "Wilde's thanks expressed in beautiful and playful terms. It is as desirable in literary as in forensic matters to arrive at facts. On this account these observations are written. APIS. Savannah, Jan. 25th, 1871. Sir Charles Ltell, the well-known geolo- gist, in his book called "A Second Yisit to the United States of North America," speaking of Mr. Wilde, gives the following narrative: "He is well known in the literary world as the author of a work on the 'Love and Madness of Tasso,' published in 1842 ; and perhaps still more gen- erally by some beautiful lines, beginning, ' My life is like the summer rose,' which are usually supposed to have derived their tone of touching melancholy from his grief at the sudden death of a brother ; and soon after of a mother, ^ho 62 wilde's summer rose ; or the never recovered the shock of her son's death. As there had been so much controversy about this short poem, we asked Mr. Wilde to relate to us its true history, which is curious. He had been one of a party at Savapnah when the question was raised whether a certain professor of the University of G-eorgia understood G-reek ; on which, one of his companions undertook to translate Mr. Wilde's verses, called 'The Com- plaint of the Captive,' into Greek prose, so arranged as to appear like verse, and then see if he could pass it off on the professor as a fragment of Alcseus. The trick succeeded; al- though the professor said that, not having the works of Alcseus at hand, he could not feel sure that the poem was really his. It was then sent, without the knowledge of Mr. Wilde or his friends, to a periodical at New- York, and pub- lished as a fragment from Alcseus, and the Sen- ator from Georgia was vehemently attacked by his political opponents, for having passed off a translation from the Greek as an original com- position of his own. LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 63 Soon after this afifair, Captain Basil Hall men- tioned, in his 'Schloss Hainfeld,' (chap. 10,) that the Countess Purgstall had read the lines to him, and would not tell him who was the author; but he had little doubt that she had written them herself. The verses had become so popular that they were set to music ; and the name of Tampa, a desolate sea-beach on the coast of Florida, was changed into Tempe, the loveliest of the wooded valleys of G-reece, in the concluding stanza : — ' My life is like the prints, whicH feet Have left on Tampa's desert strand; Soon as the rising tide shall beat, All trace will vanish from the sand: Yet, as if grieving to efface All vestige of the human ra^e, On that lone shore loud moans the sea; But none, alas ! shall mourn for me.' In the countess' version, Zara has been substi- tuted for Tampa." [As a part of the history of the times, we 64 wilde's summer rose; or the print the following from the Savannah Geor- gian, of 27th December, 1834, written by Dr. R. D. Arnold, then one of the editors of that paper; afterwards one of the founders, and now a Curator, of the G-eorgia Historical So- ciety. — The Committee.'] Mr. Wilde and " Mt Life is like the Sum- mer Rose." — On the 26th of August last, at the request of several of our subscribers, we published in the Georgian an article from the New-York Weekly Register and Catholic Diary, accusing Mr. Wilde of plagiarizing this cele- brated little sonnet from the Irish poet O'Kelly. In complying with the request of our subscrib- ers, who believed the accusation to be true, we observed : "We trust that the correspondent of the ' Diary ' is mistaken; " and further ob- served, in relation to settling the point : " It is a dispute, however, which the Fair may more appropriately settle. We hope, however, all contests may be conducted in verse, and no sharper weapons used than the plumes of the LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 65 eagle dipped in the fragrant attar of roses." It is evident, from this language, what we thought of the charge; and we only awaited a denial from Mr. Wilde to give it a place in our columns. Mr. Wilde did not deny the charge of the correspondent of the " Diary," and it gradually traveled the round of the newspapers. Since that time, we have come into possession of the following facts, which will vindicate Mr. Wilde against the charge of having plagiarized from 'Kelly, {who was alive at the visit of George 4ih to Ireland.) As long ago as 1822, a gentleman of this city sent a copy of Mr. Wilde's " Summer Eose " to Scotland, with a view to publication with some poems from the pen of the late Denison, in a literary periodical then publishing in G-reenock, entitled the " Coronal." The piece of Mr. Wilde was actually published in G-las- gow, Scotland, in a small volume of poems entitled the "Columbian Lyre," which v.olume is now lying before us. The gentleman who 9 66 Wilde's summer rose; or the communicates this, says that he has every reason to believe that Mr. Mennons, the editor of the " t/oronal," published Mr. Wilde's fugitive in the Grreenock Advertiser, of which he was also editor. In the same volume, there also appears an answer to the Summer Rose, by a lady of Baltimore. One of the evidences of the plagiarism offered by the correspondent of the "Diary" was, that, in the same volume in which O'Kelly's piece was published, there was an answer to it by Mr. J. O'Leary, of Cork. So much for the charge of plagiarism from the Irish Bard. In relation to Alcseus, whom the editor of the North American Magazine, Mr. Sumner Lincoln Fairfield, ignorantly terms "one of the sweetest of all the erofo'c bards of ancient G-reece," when every school-boy knows, that, although he was in love with Sappho, his reputation arose from lyric poetry, the truth is as follows : Soon after the appearance of the article from the " Diary," in our columns, a friend received LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 67 an anonymous letter, enclosing a copy of G-reek and Latin verses purporting to be the source from which Wilde and O'Kelly had drawn their inspiration, which the writer said he had found among the fragments of Alcjeus. They were shown to us, and our friend and ourselves agreed that it was a clever piece of mystification; and, but for the want of G-reek type, they should have then appeared in our columns, not with the remotest idea of injuring Mr. "Wilde, but as a harmless piece of mystification ; a tub to literary minnows who think themselves whales. The whole circumstance had passed out of our mind, until an article in the G-lobe, of the 18th inst., apprised us that the verses in ques- tion had been published in the North American Magazine as a real and true G-reek original, and that their publication and the indorsement hj the learned Theban of the Magazine had excited warm feelings on the part of Mr. "Wilde's friends. Passing by the illiberal charge made by the National Intelligencer about the inability of any one of the Jackson party to translate English 68 wilde's summer rose; or the into Latin or G-reek, we beg to disabuse that print of its delusion about its being "the work of some learned Whig to hoax the Grlobe." "We believe, for we did not see them written, that the Grreek and Latin verses in question were written by neither " whig " nor " tory " — without the design of traducing Mr. Wilde, or hoaxing the Grlobe in particular — but merely as a_/eM d' esprit. We are extremely sorry that we did not ask for a copy of them ; but we recollect well that the closeness of the translation alone caused us to say it was a clever hoax. We had no idea, neither do we believe had the author, that a clever hoax would have seriously invalidated the claim of Mr. Wilde to originality. The editor of the Magazine says : " This fragment, with the Latin translation, was transmitted from G-eoTgia to our friend Dr. Bartlett, of the New- York Albion, and by him transferred to us for publication." We have seen nothing to change our opin- ion of the claim of Mr. Wilde to originality, in relation. to the verses commencing, "My life is like the summer rose." LAMENT OF THE CAPTIVE. 69 Much as we differ from Mr. Wilde, on politi- cal points, we take great pleasure in expressing our warm admiration of him as a man of taste, genius, and classical attainments. In concluding this volume, the Committee beg to say they deem it unnecessary to add anything, of their own, in praise of the poetic, chaste, and melodious verses of Mr. Wilde — "The Lament of the Captive;" or, as bet- ter known, "The Summer Rose." Ever since its first appearance, the little poem has won the admiration of all lovers of the beautiful in art. Its highest praise is, perhaps, to be found in the unwillingness of any one to yield gracefully the palm to Mr. Wilde. Hear what a genuine critic says. Hon. G-EORGE P. Marsh, in his "Lectures on the English Language," discussing the ques- tion of "imitative words," that is, words which 70 WILDES SUMMER ROSE. call up "resemblance between the sound and the sense," observes, at page 570 : "I know, however, in the whole range of imitative verse, no line superior, perhaps I should say hone equal, to that in Wilde's cele- brated nameless poem : Yet, as if grieving to efface All vestige of the human race. On that lone shore loud moans the sea. Here the employment of monosyllables, of long vowels and liquids, without harsh conso- nantal sounds, together with the significance of the words themselves, gives to the verse a force of expression seldom if ever surpassed."