Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Early praise for Clement C. Moore's 1825 lecture on the Hebrew Bible


The professor shows that he has entered intimately into the spirit of Hebrew poetry....

With "Philo-Hebrœus," as the contributor of this forgotten letter to the editors of the New York American subscribed himself, self-identifying as a friend or lover of the Hebrew language and people, I would heartily recommend Clement C. Moore's wonderful Lecture introductory to the course of Hebrew instruction as, among its many virtues, a strong inducement "to the study of Hebrew poesy." Although two centuries now have passed, the pseudonymous writer's insight that Professor Moore had "entered intimately into the spirit of Hebrew poetry" remains suggestive and potentially valuable I think for a better understanding of Moore's own poetry, including the world-famous rhymes describing A Visit from St. Nicholas.

The lecture so warmly endorsed by "Philo-Hebrœus" was delivered by Clement C. Moore at Christ Church in New York City on November 14, 1825, nearly three years after he wrote "Visit" aka "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" to entertain his kids.

New York Evening Post - November 14, 1825

In 1798 Clement C. Moore graduated from Columbia College, first in his class. In 1809 he published his important two-volume work, A compendious lexicon of the Hebrew language, duly honored as the "first work of the kind in America" in Allibone's Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors Volume 2 (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1874) page 1351. In 1813 "Clem" married Catherine Elizabeth Taylor, called "Eliza" in the family circle, after a courtship that Moore allegorized in a seven-page manuscript poem, 
The bride's version may be found in verses she wrote titled 
Upon receiving his honorary degree of L. L. D. from Columbia College in 1829, Moore was identified in at least one newspaper listing as "Clement C. Moore, Professor of Hebrew literature in the General Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary, New-York" (Middlebury, Vermont American, August 19, 1829). When first appointed his formal title was "Professor of Biblical Learning." Later on, "Professor of Oriental and Greek Literature."

Here then is the full text of the published endorsement by "Philo-Hebrœus," transcribed below from the New-York American, for the country of Friday, December 16, 1825; found on genealogybank.com. At this time the editors being addressed were David Johnston Verplanck and Charles King, Moore's good friend and later president of Columbia College.

TO THE EDITORS OF THE AMERICAN.

Messrs. Editors— As I observe that you often appropriate a column of the first page of your paper to subjects connected with literature, and am persuaded that this contributes to make the American acceptable to a large class of your readers, I beg the favor of an insertion of the following remarks, if they should meet your approbation. If the object of them be not strictly and exclusively literary, it is however so closely associated with the best interests of learning, as to merit the attention of our enlightened and discriminating citizens.

The cause of literature and science is evidently gaining ground among us, and taking a stand somewhat proportioned to its elevated character and intrinsic value. The style of education in the more common schools is improving, and Columbia College is becoming better known, and consequently more highly appreciated, not only for the ability of its professors, but for the practical efficiency of its course of instruction; which, to say the least, in classical literature, yields the palm to none of her sister colleges in the United States. And there is in our city another institution which in time will have no little influence on its literary character—I mean the Episcopal Theological Seminary. I have silently, Messrs. Editors, watched the origin and progress of this school with no little interest; and although I freely acknowledge that the direct effect which it must produce upon the interests of the Episcopal church (of which I am a member,) in raising the literary and religious character generally of our clergy, constitutes in my mind its highest value, yet I beg leave to express the opinion that in a literary view merely, it is deserving of consideration. I have attended all its public exercises, and seldom have I come away without satisfaction, mingled however, (let me add without offence,) with no small portion of regret when I saw so few comparatively of the learned men of our city giving to those exercises the sanction of their presence. It is to me a gratifying circumstance that the necessary effect of the establishment of this Theological College will be to lessen the facilities of admission into the ministry to the unworthy, and to give the friendly hand of encouragement to the destitute and pious youth who is willing to pursue a laborious course of study, alike honourable to its projectors, and to those whose diligence and perseverance enable them to surmount its difficulties. I am glad to see that the faculty of this institution require, in addition to testimonials of moral and religious character, that the applicant for admission shall be able to read and analyze Latin and Greek classics, and possess a general knowledge of the principles of rhetoric and of natural and moral philosophy. This is as it should be. I hope they will never diminish their terms of admission; for in proportion to the requisitions not only demanded ostensibly, and on paper, but really secured by a careful and rigid examination in our higher schools, will be the attainments actually made in the lower. If this remark needed any illustration, it were easy to prove its truth by comparing the present state of our grammar schools with what it was some years ago, and tracing the difference to the increased requisitions of admission into Columbia College.

My attention has been directed to the subject of the Theological Seminary, from having lately read a "Lecture introductory to the course of Hebrew instruction," given in it by Professor Moore. In the present day, when so few of the middle-aged clergy of all denominations are well skilled in the language of the Old Testament, it is a circumstance both of surprise and gratification, that a layman of wealth, and family, and character, induced by no other considerations than the love of learning and of the Bible, should have acquired such accurate and extensive acquaintance with this most venerable and ancient tongue, as we know to be the case with this gentleman. Nor is it in Hebrew literature only that Mr. Moore's attainments are of the most respectable character. The purity and elegance of his composition, the soundness of his views, and the practical good sense of his reflections, mark the man of classical taste, of discriminating mind, and of sober judgment; and it is hoped that the example of one who can appreciate the excellencies of Greek tragedians and orators, and enjoy in his own language the author who is distinguished by a judge altogether competent, as "the greatest of all Italian and of all Christian poets,"🞷 will excite to the study of Hebrew poesy, not only the candidates for the ministry among us, but young gentlemen of leisure and literary taste.

It is with the view of promoting this object, that I beg leave to invite attention to the professor's lecture. It will abundantly repay the trouble of perusal. He examines some of the objections which are frequently urged against the study of Hebrew, makes some remarks on the origin and nature of the language, and notices the characteristics of its prose and poetry.

To every Christian who is persuaded of the divinity and inspiration of the scriptures, it must be undoubtedly a source of great satisfaction, that those sacred records are receiving increased attention in our country. The whole genius and character of the authors respectively, taken in connexion with their public and private history, as far as the imperfect remains of olden times will permit it to be investigated, and with the vast world of contemporary antiquity, is becoming more and more developed, opening before the inquirer a new scene of variegated attraction of splendid sublimity, which no one can enjoy but the indefatigable traveller who has mounted to the summit of this, to most men, new and glorious creation. As curious and interesting records of antiquity, the various works which the Old Testament contains are worthy of attention by the student, even if his object is confined to literary fame and mental improvement, "the volume of Hebrew Scriptures," as the lecturer well remarks in his introduction, "is a book, whose antiquity surpassing that of all others, should alone be a powerful title to the respect of mankind; a book, which has for ages excited the liveliest interest and keenest curiosity among the profane as well as the religious; among its opponents as well as its defenders; which affords to the curious rich treasures in various departments of literature, and which, even under all the disadvantages of translation, calls forth the admiration of the orator and the poet." And if this is the case, under the acknowledged disadvantages of a version, however excellent as a whole, our own confessedly is,✝ "what must have been the enjoyment of those to whom the lofty effusions of Isaiah, the divine strains of the royal Psalmist, and the unrivalled imagery of the book of Job, were addressed in their native language!" The professor shows that he has entered intimately into the spirit of Hebrew poetry, when he tells us, that its "blaze of magnificence arises not from the selection of words or arrangement of phrases, but is due to the subjects treated of, to the imagery employed, to the feelings which are expressed and awakened, to the boldness of its flights, the awfulness of the idea it presents, and to the immensity of its range, 'as high as heaven'—'deeper than hell.' The effect of this poetry upon the mind, resembles that produced by the view of the great works of nature; it is irregular, but with an irregularity which could not be changed without destroying its effect. It is the voice of the thunder or of the whirlwind which strikes our ear; it is the expanse of the firmament which meets our eye: all creation rises before us; it is the voice of nature inspired by nature's God."

The few specimens from professor Moore's Lecture which I have given, will I trust, excite sufficient interest in your readers to peruse the whole of it, and at the same time awaken an attention to Hebrew literature. While the poets of Italy receive from an enlightened community that attention which is due to the models of elegance and taste; while the range of German literature, as splendid as it is immense, is beginning to be traversed; while the monuments of Greek and Roman composition are advancing daily to that honorable station among us, which their unrivalled excellence demands, let us not pass unnoticed the less known and less eulogized but not less meritorious Hebrew poet. He will astonish by the grandeur of his conception and the splendour of his imagery; he will awaken feeling by the tenderness and resignation with which he opens the depths of his grief; and what must ever raise his value in the estimation of every one who thinks it important to mingle the utile with the dulce, he will communicate that instruction which will elsewhere be sought in vain; that wisdom which "is the brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of his goodness." 

PHILO-HEBRŒUS.

🞷 This is Schlegel's eulogy of Dante. See Lect. IX.

✝ On this point Mr. Moore has expressed himself with feeling and strength; and his remark cannot but give satisfaction to the mere English writer. 

New-York American for the country
December 16, 1825

Related posts: 

Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)