MARGINALIA. BY EDGAR A. POE. "Gênes dans ce temps achetait tout le blé de l'Europe." FOR an hour I have been endeavoring, without success, to make out the meaning of this passage-which I find in a French translation of Lady Morgan's "Letters on Italy." I could not conceive how or why all the corn of Europe should have been bought, or what corn, in any shape, had to do with the matter at issue. Procuring the original work, after some trouble, I read that "the Genoese, at this period, bought the scorn of all Europe by," etc., etc. Now, here the translator is by no means so much in fault as Lady Morgan, who is too prone to commit sin with the verbum insolens. can see no force, here, in the unusuality of "bought," as applied to scorn-(although there are cases in which the expression would be very appropriate) -and cannot condemn the Frenchman for supposing the s a superfluity and a misprint. There is a double entendre in the old adage about Truth in a Well; but, taking the profundity of Truth as at least one of the meanings-understand ing it to be implied that correct ideas on any topic are to be fished up only from great depths, and that to have common sense it is necessary to be abysmalthis being taken as the moral of the adage, I have my objections on the spot. The profundity of which so much is said, lies more frequently in the places where we seek Truth than in those where we find her. Just as the moderately-sized shop-signs are better adapted to their object than those which are Brobdignagian, so, in at least three cases out of seven, is a fact (but especially a reason) overlooked solely on account of being excessively obvious. It is almost impossible, too, to see a thing that lies immediately beneath one's nose. I may be wrong—and no doubt I am -still it is a fancy of mine that much of what people call profundity has been fairly thrown away on that ever-recurring topic, the decline of the drama. 13 Were the question demanded of me "Why has the drama declined?" my answer should be-" It has not; it has only been left out of sight by every thing else." The dramatic art, more than any other, is essentially imitative, and thus engenders and keeps alive in its votaries the imitative propensity, as well as the imitative power. Hence one drama is apt to be fashioned too nearly after another-the dramatist of to-day is prone to step too closely in the foot-prints of the dramatist of yesterday. In a word there is less originality-less independence-less thought less reference to principles-less effort to keep up with the general movement of the time--more supinenessmore bullet-headedness-more rank and arrant conventionality in the drama than in any other single thing in existence which aspires to the dignity of Art. This spirit of imitation, developed in adherence to old, and therefore to uncouth models, has not, indeed, caused the drama to “decline," but has overthrown it by not permitting it to soar. While every other art has kept pace with the thinking and improving spirit of the age, it alone has remained stationary, prating about Eschylus and the Chorus, or mouthing Euphuism because "the Old English masters" have thought proper to mouth it before. Let us imagine Bulwer to-day presenting us a novel after the model of the old novelists, or as nearly on their plan as "The Hunchback" is on the plan of "Ferrex and Porrex :"-let him write us a "Grand Cyrus," and what should we do with it, and what should we think of its inditer? And yet this "Grand Cyrus" was a very admirable work in its day. The fact is, the drama is not now Sculpture, perhaps, excepted. supported, for the simple reason that it does not deserve support. We must burn or bury the old models. We need Art, as Art is now beginning to be understood:-that is to say, in place of absurd conventionalities we demand principles founded in Nature and in common sense. The common sense even of the mob, can no longer be affronted, night after night, with impunity. If, for example, a play-wright will persist in making a hero deliver on the stage a soliloquy such as was soliloquized by no human being in ordinary life-ranting transcendentalism at the audience as nothing conceivable ever before ranted, short of a Piankitank candidate for Congress-splitting the ears of the house and endangering the lives of the orchestra, the while that a confidential friend who holds him by the shoulder is supposed not to hear a syllable of all that is said :-if the playwright, I say, will persist in perpetrating these atrocities, and a hundred worse, for no better reason than that there were people simple enough to perpetrate them five hundred years ago-if he will do this, and will not do anything else to the end of time-what right has he, I demand,to look any honest man in the face, and talk to him about what he calls "the decline of the drama ?" "The Alphadelphia Tocsin !"*(Phoebus, what a name to fill the sounding trump of future fame!) and "devoted to the interest of the laboring classes!"-by which, I presume, are intended the classes who have to pronounce, every morning, the great appellation of the paper itself. Such a work should not want editors, and accordingly we are informed that it has eight. What on earth is the meaning of Alphadelphia? Is the "Alphadelphia Tocsin" the tocsin of the city of the double A's?-if so, the idea is too easily slipped into that of the A double S. I fully agree with Simms (W. Gilmore) that the Provençal troubadour had, in his melodious vocabulary, no title more appropriate than the Cuban Areytos" for a collection of tender or When in the mouth of Vasco Nunez, in "The Damsel of Darien" (its author's least meritorious novel, by the bye) the like originally ran, By Samana's yielding shore. Sounding shore would have been still better. Altogether I prefer this "Indian Serenade" to any of Mr. Simms' poems. These and other imitations, however, are but the inevitable sins of the youth of genius-which invariably begins its career by imitation-an imitation, nevertheless, interspersed with vivid originality. I think I have before observed Title of a new journal published at Alphadelphia, Michigan. "Ayretos, or Songs of the South." that, in letters, a copyist is, as a general rule, by no means necessarily unoriginal, except at the exact points of the copy. Mr. Simms is, beyond doubt, one of our most original writers. an It is really difficult to conceive what must have been the morbidity of the German intellect, or taste, when it not only tolerated but truly admired and enthusiastically applauded such affair as "The Sorrows of Werter." The German approbation was, clearly, in good faith:-as for our own, or that of the English, it was the quintessence of affectation. Yet we did our best, as in duty bound, to work ourselves up into the fitting mood. The title, by the way, is mistranslated :-Lieden does not mean Sorrows but Sufferings. The works of Christopher Pease Cranch are slightly tinged with the spirit of mixed Puritanism, utilitarianism, and transcendentalism, which seems to form the poetical atmosphere of Massachusetts-but, dismissing this one sin, are among the truest of American poetry. I know nothing finer of its kind (and that kind is a most comprehensive one) than one of his shorter pieces entitled, MY THOUGHTS. Many are the thoughts that come to me Any seems a losing. When they come, they come in flocks, From the sheltering heather. Some so merry that I laugh; Some are grave and serious; There are thoughts that o'er me steal, Some have dark and drooping wings, Children all of sorrow; Some are as gay, as if to day Could see no cloudy morrow- One by one they come to me On their destined mission; There is, here, a great deal of natural fancy-I mean to say that the images are such as would naturally arise in the mind of an imaginative and educated man, seeking to describe his " thoughts." But the main charm of the poem is the nice, and at the same time, bold art of its rhythm. Here is no merely negative merit, but much of originality—or, if not precisely that, at least much of freshness and spirit. The opening line, barring an error to be presently mentioned, is very skilful-and, to me, the result is not less novel than happy. The general idea is merely a succession of trochees (for the long syllable, or cæsura proper, at the end of each odd line, is a trochee's equivalent) but, in lieu of a trochee, at the commencement of the opening verse, we have a trochee and a pyrrhic (forming the compound foot called, in Latin, Pæon primus, and in Greek, arpoloyos.) Here is a very bold excess of two short syllables-and the result would be highly pleasurable if the reader were prepared for it-if he were prepared, my monotone, to expect variation. As it is, he is at fault in a first attempt at perusal, and it is only on a second or third trial, that he appreciates the effect. To be sure, he then wonders why he did not at first catch the intention:-but the mischief has been committed. The fact is that the line, which would have been singularly beautiful in the body of the poem, is in its present position, a blemish. Mr. Cranch has violated a vital law of rhythmical art, in not permitting his rhythm to determine itself, instantaneously, by his opening foot. A trochaic rhythm, for example, should invariably commence with a trochee. I speak thus at length on this apparently trival point, because I have been much interested in the phenomenon of a marked common-place-ness of defect, involving as marked an originality of merit. BRAZIL.* (Concluded.) BUT Don Pedro VII., although proclaimed with the highest enthusiasm, never fixed himself firmly in the affections of his people. He continued to reign about ten years, during which time the country was prosperous, and advanced rapidly in the path of improvement. His war against Montevideo was, however, unsuccessful; and, while it checked the prosperity of Brazil, resulted in the loss of a province to the empire. There were also several insurrectionary movements in the distant provinces during his reign. But it was, probably, his continual interference in the affairs of Portugal, and his partiality to native Portuguese in the distribution of his public favors, that most excited against him the prejudices of a people, whose success in rebellion had made them at once bold and restive. A variety of popular agitations succeeded each other, widening the breach between the emperor and the patriots, till the latter, in a tumultuous assembly, demanded the dismissal of the ministry. This demand brought the affairs of the empire to a crisis. The Emperor, after a variety of subterfuges, finally declared that he would suffer death rather than consent to the dictates of a mob, and gave utterance to the offensive remark, that “he was willing to do everything for the people, but nothing by the people." As soon as this answer was made known at the Campo where the multitude had assembled, the most seditious cries were raised, and the troops of the Emperor deserted his cause and went over to the populace. Pedro, at length, finding that all was lost, and that he must either yield to the people or abandon the crown, chose the latter alternative, and abdicated in favor of his son, Don Pedro II., then a lad of six years old; and immediately took his departure for Portugal. These events took place in April, 1831, and the next nine years were signalized by violent party contests, hav ing their origin in the disposition of the regal power during the minority of the heir to the throne. Several changes were made in the regency, and dispositions to cast off the imperial yoke were manifested in different parts of the empire. One party succeeded another in the administration with great rapidity, but none of them had the good fortune long to satisfy the expectations of the people. The constitution provided that the minority of the Emperor should terminate when he had attained the age of eighteen. He was now fifteen, but a motion was made by the opposition in the House of Deputies, in favor of abolishing the regency, and vesting him at once with the imperial sovereignty of Brazil. This movement was highly satisfactory to the populace; and the constitutional objections to it, though urged with great power and eloquence, were urged in vain. The people were seized with the idea-the popular excitement became intense-the deputies yielded to the clamor of the multitudethe regency was declared to be at an end, and young Pedro, in defiance of the fundamental law of the empire, was brought before the deputies, took the oath of office, and acceded to the full exercise of his prerogatives as Emperor. He was crowned on the 18th of July, 1841, with great ceremony, parade and splendor. Since this event, there have been several changes in the ministry, and the affairs of the empire do not appear to have been more stable than before. There have been disturbances in Rio Grand do Sul, San Paulo, Minas Geraes and Ceara ; but for some time past the country has been more quiet. In 1842 the Emperor was married to the Princess Donna Theresa, sister to the king of the Two Sicilies. In the following year, 1843, the Emperor's sister, Donna Francesca, was married to the Prince de Joinville, son of Louis Philippe, king of France. In 1844, * SKETCHES OF RESIDENCE AND TRAVELS IN BRAZIL; Embracing Historical and Geographical Notices of the Empire and its several Provinces. By Rev. Daniel P. Kidder, A. M. In two volumes, with illustrations. Philadelphia: Sorin & Ball. London: Wiley & Putnam. 1845. another sister, Donna Januaria, Imperial Princess and heir to the Brazilian throne, was married to the Count of Aquilla, of Naples, brother to the Empress. These alliances are regarded as giving strength and respectability to the Brazilian throne, and have given much gaiety to the court scenes at Rio, though they have not materially improved the finances, or relieved the treasury. "No one," says Mr. Kidder, "can reflect upon the history of these children, the descendants of the Braganzas, without emotion. Never was parental solicitude more intense than has been the unwavering anxiety of the Brazilian nation in their behalf. Thrown upon its protection in a state of virtual abandonment and orphanage, they were cherished as the fondest objects of the nation's hopes," and during the eight years of the Emperor's minority, "amid all the political agitations and party intrigues of so long a period, neither individuals nor factions presumed to question the prerogatives of the youthful monarch," but all bore towards him the warmest affections and the most enthusiastic reverence." The Palace of Boa Vista, occupied by the young Emperor and his bride at Rio, is a building of considerable size and splendor, located in a suburb about four or five miles from the denser portion of the city. It was originally a private residence, and was presented by its generous owner to Don John VI. It has been gradually enlarged and improved, and rendered very suitable to the purposes to which it is devoted. The Emperor and his sister here received their education, under the direction of a tutor appointed by the go vernment. There is probably no country in the world where a subsistence is so easily procured as in Brazil. Mr. Kidder observes," that the stern voice of necessity-work or die-never disturbs the day-dreams of the Brazilian as he yawns in his hammock during the bright hours of sunshine. The great mass of the lower classes live as they list. Their wants are few and simple, and to a great degree confined to the spontaneous productions of nature." This circumstance is undoubtedly the chief bar to the advancement of the country. "If the people were only industrious in collecting what nature fur nishes so bountifully to their hands, they could not avoid being rich. If enterprising cultivation were added to that degree of industry, there is no limit to the vegetable wealth which might be drawn from this treasury of nature." Although wheat may be grown in the southern provinces, yet no attention is paid to its cultivation. Large quantities of flour are imported from the United States, and bread is used for food in the cities and towns along the coast; but in the interior there are thousands of people who have never tasted, or even seen, what in this country is regarded as the staff of life. Mr. Kidder relates an anecdote of a Matuto from the far Sartao, who, in one of his visits to the coast, resolved to gratify his curiosity, and test for himself the qualities of that bread of which he had heard so much. He accordingly went to a baker and purchased a hatfull of rolls. He then seated himself under the shade of an out-spreading tree, and commenced paring them as he would have done an orange or banana. But even at that, the taste did not please him, and he threw them away as unfit to be eaten. In some parts of Brazil melaneia, or water-melons, grow to a large size, and are produced in such unwonted profusion, as to be sold at 18 or 20 cents per hundred. The inhabitants, especially the Indians and mixed races, use them as a principal article of food.But a better and more usual substitute for the bread of the north is mandioc, the principal farinaceous substance of Brazil. It is an indigenous plant, and was known to the Indians long before the discovery of the country by Europeans. The Portuguese, on taking possession of the country, soon acquired the habit of using it, and by applying to its cultivation and preparation the arts of a more advanced condition, greatly improved it, and brought it into very general use as food. It is now to be found on every Brazilian table, forming a great variety of healthy and palatable dishes. The striking peculiarity of this valuable plant is the union, in its fibrous structure, of a deadly poison with a substance highly nutricious and healthful. The root is the part used. It is ground into a pulp, then subjected to high pressure, by which means the |