On, in thy mission! 'T is a holy power That which thou wieldest o'er a people's heart: And wastes of mind, that never knew a flower, Bloom now and brighten, 'neath thy magic art. Hearthstones are cheerful that were chill before; And softened beams, like light that melteth through The stained glass of old cathedrals, pour Stream upon stream of beauty. All that's true, All that is brave and beautiful, 't is thine-- High office, high and holy! thus to shed, Sun-like, and sole, in shadow or in shine, Thoughts that bedew and rouse minds cold and dead, Startling the pulse that stirred not. This is thine! Be proudly humble: 't is a power divine! _New Orleans, October_ 1, 1847. ALTUS. MARGINALIA BY EDGAR A. POE. We mere men of the world, with no principle--a very old-fashioned and cumbersome thing--should be on our guard lest, fancying him on his last legs, we insult, or otherwise maltreat some poor devil of a genius at the very instant of his putting his foot on the top round of his ladder of triumph. It is a common trick with these fellows, when on the point of attaining some long-cherished end, to sink themselves into the deepest possible abyss of seeming despair, for no other purpose than that of increasing the space of success through which they have made up their minds immediately to soar. * * * * * All that the man of genius demands for his exaltation is moral matter in motion. It makes no difference _whither_ tends the motion--whether for him or against him--and it is absolutely of _no_ consequence "_what_ is the matter." * * * * * In Colton's "American Review" for October, 1845, a gentleman, well known for his scholarship, has a forcible paper on "The Scotch School of Philosophy and Criticism." But although the paper is "forcible," it presents the most singular admixture of error and truth--the one dovetailed into the other, after a fashion which is novel, to say the least of it. Were I to designate in a few words what the whole article demonstrated, I should say "the folly of not beginning at the beginning--of neglecting the giant Moulineau's advice to his friend Ram." Here is a passage from the essay in question: