OBSERVATIONS 1 DOCTOR STEVENS'S HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 'Whatovergrownpieceoflumberhavewehere?criedthecurate." DonQuixote. "''J'ofWisKvC^"^^ A V ANN AH MDCCCXLIX. OBSERVATIONS DOCTOR STEVENS'S HISTORY OF GEORGIA A History of Georgia, from its first Discovery by Europeans, to the Adoption of the present Constitution, mdccxcviii. By Rev. William Bacon Stevens, M.D., Professor of Belles Lettres, History, etc.,in the University ofGeorgia, Athens. In two volumes. Vol. I. New York, 1847. 8yo.pp. 503. The Preface of this book announces that it was undertaken in the year 1841, and that every facility has been afforded for its composition, both by the Historical Society, and by private individuals. The title-page proclaims its author to be a Pro- fessor of Belles Lettres and History, and fixes the date of its publication in the year 1847. Thus the inferences that it is accurate in state- ment and correct in style, are only not suggested. Six years would give ample time for frequent and deliberate revivsions, for the rectification of mistakes ! 4 OBSERVATIONS ON DR. STEVENS S committed in haste, or through negligence, and for the removal of any redundancies or improprieties of language. Six years did elapse between the com- mencement and publication. Thenaturalconclusionfromthepreliminaryparade of the author's advantages is, that he has availed himself of them that the volume which he "pre- ; sents" (for and in consideration of the sum of two dollars and fifty cents per copy) to "A/s heloved state, as an offering offirst fruits^ from the harvest of her past memorials,"f is, what it ought to be. Nor is there any disclaimer offered to repress such a conclusion. There is not the slightest appearance of a modest diffidence of his own abilities, not a *Threepagesbeforethis(Preface,p.ix.),wefindDoctorStevenswriting thus: "Entering a fieldof enquirywhich has been reaped byfour prede- cessors,Icould scarcelyexpecttodomorethangleanhereandthereasheaf whichthesicklehadspared, or the reaper neglected." As theynowstand, these two declarations are directlycontradictory. One ofthem must be — untrue, orperhapshehasonlyputthecartbeforethehorse. Thefigure — ofreaping, &c.,isstaleenough, DoctorStevens,withanoriginalityquite ingenious, turnsittopsy-turvy. He begins bygleaningwith the humility ofa Ruth after the reapers, and endswithgathering thewhole harvest, and offering"thefirstfruits" "tohisbelovedstate," Georgia. PoorGeorgia h—ersisawoman'sname,hershasbeenawoman'sfate! Trusting—yielding deserted! To the empty mouth that gave her empty professions she returnedabundanceoffood, andseatedignoranceinthechairoflearning. Butwhat in the recipientofhergenerositywasungratefulabandonment, hasbeenforGeorgiaahappydeliverance. fPreface,p.xii. — — ; HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 6 single admission of imperfection, not a doubt as to the adequacyofhis powers to his work, not a hint of a possibility of its not being immaculate. The tone of the Preface is that of presumptuous egotism; the rest of the workis marked by shallow- ness and incapacity. We looked for "a thing of life," and behold an abortion ! for comeliness, and behold a monster! It is put forward, too, with a pert confidence worthy of the hero of nursery re- nown : "LittleJackHornersatinthecorner, EatingaChristmaspie: Heputinhisthumb,and hetookoutaplum, Andsaid'WhatagoodboyamI!'" Indeedaserene self-satisfaction pervades thewhole performance. Ifanything were wanting to complete the absurdity of the book, this would do it. Self- conceit is ridiculous, and impotence is ridiculous but united in such proportions as this book exhibits — — both in such monstrous development rare! For a man to talk nonsense is bad enough; but to talk nonsense with the air of one uttering wisdom vanity can carry folly no farther. With equal self-approbation, and equal uncon- sciousness of the fantastic figure she cut, did Madge Wildfire lead good little Jeanie Deans up the church 6 OBSERVATIONS ON DR. STEVENS'S — aisle before the amazed congregation. But poor Madge was crazed. The Preface contains no apology for defects, but it gives a reason for introducing this miserable bantling of a meretricious muse to our notice. It declares the work was written to supply the want, long felt, of a history of Georgia. The deficiency truly has been remedied. The gap has been filled up. But how? Rags have been stuffed into the broken window, and the hole is no longer oj^en. The tempestis kept out, but so is the light. Yet perhaps 'tisrather fortunate for the Historical Society that this book has proved a failure. "Were it what it assumes to be, it would have necessarily covered the whole ground, and rendered the future labours of the Society works of supererogation.* Nothing would have remained for that respectable association to do, but to hold meetings and elect members. The main purpose of its formation being accomplished, there would have been little use in the protraction of a feeble and languishing existence. The completion of an accurate and well-written history of Georgia will necessarily be a finishing stroke to the Society. It will be the fulfilment of its function. If, however, it should survive that event, and still linger on, it must degenerate from *SeeAppendix. ; HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 7 the dignity of a Society down to a mere club of Jonathan Oldbucks. With this view, we regard the failure of this book as its chiefest merit; the Society being thereby relieved from an unpleasant and probably unforeseen — predicament a position of uselessness and insigni- ficance. Certainly Doctor Stevens's work can never cause such a deplorable catastrophe. Instead of a history, it is a sort of historical patchwork, in which the pieces about Georgia are rather more numerous than the others. It abounds, too, in errors as to fact, which in the course of our remarks we shall endea- vour to expose, and shall not hesitate to rebuke and is also distinguished for a style so grandilo- quent, so preposterous, so pompous, so corrupt, so grotesquely incongruous with the simplicity of the subject, that every attempt we have made to give it serious consideration has ended in a hearty fit of laughter. It is difficult to condemn what is so delightfully absurd. We have a kindness for its — very faults they have afforded us so much merri- — ment. It is too ridiculous for contempt we laugh and pity. — The big words about little things the ambitious — diction, not unfrequently rising into nonsense the ''laboured nothings" lavished with indiscriminate — 8 OBSERVATIONS ON DR. STEVENS S — profusion upon themost trivialoccasions all remind US irresistibly ofthe issue ofthe famous labour "Parturiuntmontes,nasceturridiculusmus." It is indeed very funny to observe how every sub- ject which affords the slightest opening for a burst of impassioned loquacity, is relentlessly tortured into — some relation with the history of Georgia how the meagre theme ofour early annals has been expanded into a volume competent to contain an ancient — empire's story how the simple, dry details have been bedizened with rhetorical decorations, like an old, enduring dowager's withered phiz set about with flowers, till we are revolted at a contrast which makes dryness seem drier, ugliness more hideous, and even bloom repulsive. But not even this is quite so amusing as the self-satisfaction evinced throughout the book, the triumphant air with which the nonsense is produced, and the conviction, everywhere apparent, that this "fine writing"will achieve for the author his coveted literary immortality. The frequent repetition ofthese tropes and figures, however, diminishes the amusement to be derived from them; they cease to be diverting, and become tiresome. The reader is at last fatigued by the eternal glitter, though it be but the glitter of tinsel. ! HISTORY OF GEORGIA. 9 and he is palled and sickened by the exuberant flow of an insipid and ornate twaddle. Mr. Diedrich Knickerbocker commences his cele- brated History of New York with an account of the — creation of the world his first book "containing divers ingenious theories and philosophic specula- tions concerning the creation and population of the world, as connected with the history of New York." Doctor Stevens has not sufficient hardihood to ascend to quite so remote a period, but contents himself with beginning with the discovery of Ame- rica. He accordingly devotes his first book to an account of early voyages to the southern coast gene- rally, and of settlements in Florida and S(mth Caro- lina; diversified by digressions which carry him as far South as the ruins of Central America, and into discussions respecting their probable origin and the characteroftheinscriptionsuponthem; in the course of which we are indulged with a good deal of stuff — — about Echo gigantic columns halls of banqueting — — — silent chambers Shemitic art and so forth. All of which, digressions about Central America, narra- tives of Spanish settlements in Florida, and of French settlements in Carolina, no doubt throw great light on the history of Georgia This first book also contains a short notice of 2 — 10 OBSERVATIONS ON DR. STEVENS S the Indians; which, from the miniitia3 introduced into it, would seem to be the result of contem- porary observation, if not the offspring of imagina- tion. "They lived," says our author,=^ "in their native wildness, amid the sublime solitudes of Ame- — rica; now hunting the timid deer now paddling — the birch canoe now dancing at their simple — festivals now going forth, painted and plumed for — battle or now, gathered around their council fires, to the grave debates of —chiefs and warriors." And he might have gone on "now kissing their wives — — now smacking their lips ^now eating their dinner — — and now going without now snoring asleep — now yelling awake" and so on in the same strain for ever, with equal appositeness and with equal propriety. We will select from this first book jjesides, a sentence which contains a curious specimen of the metamorphosis of poetic beauty into prosaic non- sense. It occurs in a laboured parallel between Alaric and De Soto, who should henceforth be (!) doubtless considered notables in the history of Georgia. "Like Alaric, who ravaged the Roman empire, De Soto came from a far country to waste and to destroy. The one poured his barbarian hordes from * Page 44.