. A short history of England's and America's literature, by Eva March Tappan. the critic and poet, Dana ; the essayists, Mitchell, andCurtis of the Easy Chair; while Noah Webster of the Dic-tionary and Spelling-book must not be forgotten. CHAPTER VIII THE NATIONAL PERIOD, 1815- I. EARLIER YEARS, THE SOUTHERN WRITERS 41. Why there was little writing in the South. Thus it was that literature centred about the great citiesof the North. There were several reasons why it couldhardly be expected toflourish in the the first place, therewere no large townswhere publishinghouses h
. A short history of England's and America's literature, by Eva March Tappan. the critic and poet, Dana ; the essayists, Mitchell, andCurtis of the Easy Chair; while Noah Webster of the Dic-tionary and Spelling-book must not be forgotten. CHAPTER VIII THE NATIONAL PERIOD, 1815- I. EARLIER YEARS, THE SOUTHERN WRITERS 41. Why there was little writing in the South. Thus it was that literature centred about the great citiesof the North. There were several reasons why it couldhardly be expected toflourish in the the first place, therewere no large townswhere publishinghouses had been es-tablished and wheremen of talent mightgain inspiration fromone another. Again,there was small homemarket for the waresof the author. Therewere libraries in manyof the stately homes ofthe South, but theirshelves were filled withthe English classics ofthe eighteenth was no lack of intellectual power; but plantation life called for executiveability and led naturally to statesmanship and oratoryrather than to the printed page. There were orators, such. WILLIAM WIRT1772-1834 352 AMERICAS LITERATURE [1772-1835 men as Henry Clay, the great leader; the ardent,brilliant Patrick Henry of earlier times; Robert YoungHayne, equally eloquent in address and in debate; andJohn Caldwell Calhoun, whom Webster called a senatorof Rome. There was almost from the beginning apoem written in one place and a history or a biographyWilliam m another. The most famous of these scat-wlrt» tered writings were produced by William Wirt, 1772-1834 a Maryland lawyer. Early in the century hewrote his Letters of a British Spy, which contains histouching description of The Blind Preacher. In 1817his eminence as a lawyer was proved by his being chosenAttorney-General of the United States, and his abilityas an author by the publication of his Life of PatrickHenry. This book is rather doubtful as to some of, itsfacts, and rather flowery as to its rhetoric, but so vividthat the picture which i
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