Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/138

 122 GEORGE D. PRENTICE. [1830-40. in the crowded ways of dusty cities, or hovering about the fog-mantled pool of politics, but feel that the same spirit has the power to soar up to the sun, and "Bathe his plumage in the thunder's home ! " In the case of George D. Prentice, we see the phenomenon of the Poet, the Phi- losopher and the Politician swallowed up by the quaint and laughable Gargantua of the Wit. FalstaflP-like, he is not only witty in himself, " but the cause that wit is in other men." So popular is he as a paragraphist that a volume of his " wit and wis- dom " has been widely circulated.* The many-sided mind that made the masterly editor and politician, has given to Mr. Prentice that universality of genius that can alone constitute the truly gi'eat poet — the possession of that common sense which corrects the erratic caprices of genius, and gives its true weight and value to every subject and idea. Such is the kaleidoscopic nature of the brain of George D. Prentice. His pathos is counterbalanced by his humor ; his sublimity is matched by his wit ; the keen subtlety of his sarcasm finds its counterpoise in that overwelling fountain of sentiment, in whose translucent depths gems of beauty dance forever. No proposition is too broad for his comprehension, no abstraction too evasive, no flower of fancy too delicate, and no mici'ocosm too minute for his inspection. In wit, he catches the joke in the very seed, as it were, before it blossoms into a laugh. He marks a jest ab ovo, before its head is fairly out of the shell, and you never fear for your pun or point. Whether you wander off into the fairy realm of Romance with him, and walk tlie Valhalla galleries of ideal temples and castles, or pensively meditate under green, summer boughs, by a blue and idle brook, he is equally genial. Mr. Prentice, by private correspondence and by timely notices in his Journal, has caused many a blossom of poetry to blow in hearts that otherwise might only have worn a purple crown of thistles. Many will be able to say of him in after-time, what one gifted protege in song of his has so sweetly sung, the lamented "Amelia : " The bright rose, when faded, Flings forth o'er its tomb Its velvet leaves, laded With silent perfume. Thus round me will hover. In grief or in glee, Till life's dream be over. Sweet memories of thee. Mr. Prentice married a daughter of Joseph Benham, of Cincinnati, one of the brightest ornaments of the Ohio bar. Mrs. Prentice inherited her father's talent, and is a brilliant and accomplished woman. Finally, bold, vindictive and scathing politician that Mr. Prentice is in public, modesty, humility and kindness cluster about him in private life ; and where the ten- drils of his friendship attach themselves, no storm of passion or winter of adversity ever weakens their hold.
 * I'rciitUoaua, or Wit aud Humor in Paragraphs. Derby & .Tackson, New York, 1S59. 12mo, pp. 306.