Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/33

HISTO EPICAL SKETCH. 17 The next in order, 'mong our city bards, Comes for his share of laurels, young " Juveuis,"! Who nobly from his poetry discards All sense and harmony ; therefore (between us) He has obtained my warmest, best regards, And I will ever be his kind Msecenas, While he, as usual, writes without a thought, or Instead of ink, he uses milk and water. Oh ! how I love his lamb-like sort of style ! It is so soft, so tender, and so simple ! 'Tis so much like a little baby's smile, That scarcely raises on its cheek a dimple ! It makes one " feel all over so ; " meanwhile It vails the little sense as with a wimple ; And each charmed reader feels himself a lover, Until he falls asleep — and all is over. In course, "Favonius" and "Puero" come. Who, being much alike, I link together ; Although no poets, they have jingled some. But when, or where, or for what end — or whether Just so so, or still meaner — I am mum. Except to di-op this friendly hint to either — He who writes ill, the less he writes the better. And hence, let rhyme no more your genius fetter. And last of all, some half a score or so, "Fudge," "Momus," "Umbra," "Tom," and "Dick," and "Harry," " Kentucky Bard," " Snip." " Sneezer," and " Quiz & Co.," All aim to write, and all alike miscarry ; Like geese of passage flying to and fro, Unused in any climate long to tarry — In short, the fag-end of the rabble, Attracting notice only by their gabble. In the early part of the year 1821, a competitor for the prose and poetic contri- butions of the young writers of Oliio, Kentucky, and Indiana, vrhich The Spy and Cadet had chiefly monopolized, was issued at Cincinnati. It was a semi-monthly quarto paper, called The Olio.^ The encouragement given by these journals to local literature was the inspiring cause of the first effort on the part of a literary society, m the West, for development of poetic ability. In the year 1818, the students of Cincinnati College formed a society for mutual literary improvement, which they denominated The Philomathic. The first members were John H. and Junius James, George Mackey Wilson," Lemuel D. Howells, Robert T. Lytle, and Edward L. Drake. Afterward, William Henry Harrison, Thomas Peirce, Daniel Drake, Benjamin Drake, Peyton Short Symmes, and other 1 A writer for the Spy and Cadet, who published a small pamphlet, containing poems, at Cincinnati, in 1822. 2 John H. Wood and S. S. Brooks were the editors and publishers ; Robert T. Lytle, John H. James, Lemuel Rey- nolds, Solomon Smith, and Dennis M'Henry, the principal contributors — all of whom had been, and continued to be, contributors to the Spy and Cadet. The Olio was continued about one year. 3 Son of ReT. Joshua L. Wilson, well known for many years as Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Cin- cinnati.