Bibliography. His Autobiography (Philadelphia, 1887, two vols.), was edited by his sons, one of whom, A. Haller Gross, was born in Kentucky; Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography (New York, 1887, v. iii).
KENTUCKY
[From Autobiography of Samuel D. Gross, M. D. (Philadelphia, 1887, v. i.)]
It was pleasant to dwell in the land of Boone, of Clay, and of Crittenden; to behold its fertile fields, its majestic forests, and its beautiful streams; and to associate with its refined, cultivated, generous-hearted, and chivalric people. It was there that I had hoped to spend the remainder of my days upon objects calculated to promote the honor and welfare of its noble profession, and finally to mingle my dust with the dust and ashes of the sons and daughters of Kentucky. But destiny has decreed otherwise. A change has come over my life. I stand this evening in the presence of a new people, a stranger in a strange place, and a candidate for new favors.
THE DEATH OF HENRY CLAY
[From the same]
The admirers of Mr. Clay cannot but regret the motives which induced him to spend his last days at Washington. It was a pitiful ambition which prompted him to forsake his family and his old friends to die at the capital of the country in order that he might have the éclat of a public funeral. Broken down in health and spirits when he left his old home, unable to travel except by slow stages, he knew perfectly well that his days were numbered, and that he could never again see Kentucky. How much more dignified would it have been if he had breathed out his once precious life in the bosom of his family and in the arms of the woman who for upwards of half a century had watched over his interests, reared his children with a fond mother's care, loved him with a true woman's love, and followed him, wherever he was, with her prayers and her blessings!
[THOMAS H. CHIVERS]
Dr. Thomas Holley Chivers, the eccentric Southern poet, and maker of most unusual verse forms, was born near Washington, Georgia, December 12, 1807. He was instructed in the classics by his mother, and, choosing medicine as his vocation, he went to Lexington, Kentucky—most probably making the long journey on horse-back—and entered the medical school of Transylvania University. Chivers matriculated in November, 1828, and took up his abode at the old Phœnix Hotel, as his father was wealthy and liberal with him. He took one ticket and made it during his first year. The college records show that he returned for the fall session of 1829, and that, during his second year, he took two tickets, graduating on March 17, 1830. The thesis he submitted for his degree of Doctor of Medicine was Remittent and Intermittent Bilious Fever. Kentucky was the birthplace of the first poems Chivers wrote, and, very probably, the birthplace of his first book, Conrad and Eudora, or The Death of Alonzo (Philadelphia, 1834). This little drama, intended for the study, was set in Kentucky, and founded upon the Beauchamp-Sharp murder of 1825, which was still the chief topic of conversation in the State when the poet reached Lexington in 1828. Chivers's second book of poems, called Nacoochee (New York, 1837), contained two poems written while a student of Transylvania, entitled To a China Tree, and Georgia Waters. A short time after the publication of this book Chivers and Edgar Allan Poe became acquainted; and the remainder of their lives they were denouncing and fighting each other. It all came about by Chivers claiming his Allegra Florence in Heaven, published in The Lost Pleiad (New York, 1845), as the original of The Raven. Of course, the world and the critics have smiled at this claim and let it pass. After Poe's death Chivers claimed practically everything the Virginian did to be a plagiarism of some of his own poems. His most famous work was Eonchs of Ruby (New York, 1851). This was followed by Virginalia (Philadelphia, 1853); Memoralia (Philadelphia, 1853); Atlanta (Macon, Ga., 1853); Birth-Day Song of Liberty (Atlanta, Ga., 1856); and The Sons of Usna (Philadelphia, 1858). Bayard Taylor, in his famous Echo Club, mentioned Facets of Diamond as one of the poet's publications, but a copy of it has not yet been unearthed. Dr. Chivers died at Decatur, Georgia, December 19, 1858. No more pathetic figure has appeared in American letters than Chivers. Had he been content to write his poetry independently of Poe or any one else, he would have left his name clearer. He was a wonderful manipulator of verse-forms, but he was not what Poe was—a world-genius.