Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/34

 18 HISTORICAL SKETCH. gentlemen, well known at that daj, were elected members of a branch of the society, composed of graduates and persons interested in literary affairs. In that circle orig- inated the enterprise of offering a gold medal of the value of fifty dollars for the best original poem by a citizen of the Western country, which should be sent to the Sec- retary of the society, between the fifteenth of November, 1821, and the first day of April, 1822. The poem was required to consist of not less than four hundred lines, and, to merit the award, be worthy of publication, the society jiledging itself to print it in acceptable form. The only restriction as to subject was that " if any natural scenery, historical incidents, or existing institutions were commemorated, they should be of a Western character." The committee appointed to decide upon the merits of the poems competing for the prize, was composed of John P. Foote, John D. Godman,^ and Benjamin Drake. Twelve poems were received by the officers of the society.^ Extracts from four of them, " The Muse of Hesperia," by a citizen of Cincinnati, " The Banks of the Ohio," by a lady of Madison, Indiana, " The Story of Osage to Ben Logan," written in Ross county, and " Retrospection," written in Muskingum county, Ohio, were published in The Spy and Cadet. The medal was awarded to " The Muse of Hesperia, a Poetic Reverie," and "The Banks of Ohio" was adjudged next in merit. " The Muse of Hesperia " was pubhshed by the Philomathic Society on heavy paper from clear type,^ in the eai-ly part of the year 1823. It was then announced that the author had declined making himself known to the society, so as to receive the medal awarded his poem. The President of the society, in a preface to the pamphlet containing "The Muse," said it was not given as the best exhibition of poetic talent in the West, but as the best submitted to the committee. For several weeks after its appearance, lively discussion upon its authorship and upon its merits was had in the Gazette and Liberty Hall^ and in The Spy and Cadet. The author- ship was not certainly ascertained for ten or twelve years. It was then fixed upon Thomas Peirce.^ Both on account of its origin and its characteristics, " The Muse of Hesperia " is peculiarly appropriate for the conclusion of this Sketch. It embodies a just appeal to the Bards of the West for oi'iginal study and treatment of themes suggested by the scenery, history and romance of the Hesperian valleys. Such facts, showing the origin of literary enterprises, and the encouragement and development of poetical literature in the West, after 1821, as could be ascertained, have been given in the Biographic Notices which precede the specimens of that literature selected for this volume. 1 Then editor of The ^Yestern Quarterly Reporter, a medical journal, published by John P. Foote, which was dis- continued with the sixth number, when Dr. Godmau removed to Philadelphia. 2 John H. James, President; Geo. M. Wilson, Secretary. 3 J. H. Looker & S. Reynolds (publishers of the Spy and Cadet), printers. 12mo, pp. 52. 6 Biographic Notice, page 36.
 * Then edited by Benjamin F. Powers.