Page:Fitz-Greene Halleck, A Memorial.djvu/20

12 those days, would have no objection for his name to be sent down, to posterity in a note, in the appendix to this most musical poem.

As I have said before, the first Croaker paper was published in the Evening Post, March 10th, 1819. The epistle “To Croaker, Junior,” saw the light on the 16th of the same month. But besides these daily contributions to the Post, Drake had written a poem, and Halleck had written another, for the National Advocate, a newspaper edited by Major Noah, and both poems were published within the time in which the Croakers appeared in the Post. I mean to say, that in six days Halleck and Drake had written ten poems; and in those six days they had made the most conspicuous mark in American poetry.

When we examine these light satires, we find them by no means trifling. They are like the Italian chain-mail, delicate in fabric, but impervious to assault. The versification is as various as it is melodious. They are still read with delight, and I may add, that their spirit, their wit, their fancy, their élan, has not been equalled in this country.

Edgar A. Poe, whose versification has placed him somewhere in the ranks of poets, says, “that the political and personal features of these jeux-d’esprit gave them a consequence to which they are entitled on no other account.” Other critics of less note urge, that, as they are merely local poems, they have lived their little life, and will be quietly forgotten, when the actors whose deeds they commemorate have passed from the scene. But there are others who do not agree with Mr. Poe and