CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ENGLISH COLLECTION THE GIFT OF JAMES MORGAN HART PROFESSOR OF ENGUSH Cornell University Library PS 208.C13 3 1924 022 454 882 Cornell University Library .9^ The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022454882 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PHILOLOGY AND LITERATURE SERIES, VOL. 1, NO. 1, PP. 1-87. ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833 WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO PERIODICALS WILLIAM B. CAIRNS, Ph. D. Instructor in Rhetoric in the University of Wisconsin PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF LAW AND WITH THE APPROVAL OF THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY MADISON, WIS, PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY' March, 1898 PRICE 35 CENTS gttUctitt 0f tJte ^niViX&iXvi af pIt»JCOtt»i«* CTontntitte* *f itubUcaiion CHARLES KKNDALL ADAMS, President of the University WILLIAM HEEBEET HOBBS, Bditoe-in-Chief EDITORS Frederick Jackson Turner, Economics, Political Scitnce, and History Charles Forster Smith, Philology and Literature. William Herbert Hobbs, Scitnce Nelson Oliver Whitney, Engineering Economics, Political Science, and Histokt Seeies, Volume 1: No. 1. The Geographical Distribution of the Vote of the Thirteen States on the Federal Constitution, 1787-8, by Orin Grant Iiibby, A. M., Fellow in History, with an introduction by Frederick J. Turner. Pp. 116 pis. 2, July, 1894. Price 75 cents. No. 2. The Finances of the United States from 1775 to 1789, with Especial Reference to the Budget, by Charles J. Bullock, A. 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Pp. 87, March 1898* Price 35 cents. ' BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN Philology and Literature Seriks, Vol. I, No. 1, Pp. 1-87. ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833 WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO PERIODICALS WILLIAM B. CAIRNS, Ph. D. Instructor in Rhetoric in the University of Wisconsin PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF LAW AND WITH THE APPROVAL OF THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY MADISON, WIS. PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY March, 1898 FBICS 35 CENTS TABLE OP CONTENTS. PAGE. Introductory ........ 1 The preceding period 3 Tendencies of the period 3 Political .... 3 Economic .... 4 Educational ..... 6 Religious .... 8 Moral .... 9 Other tendencies 12 Foreign influences 13 English .... 13 Continental .... 20 Classic ..... 23 Previous literary achievements in America 24 Literary tendencies 25 Periodicals ..... 35. The annuals .... 42 Effects of the self-conscious tendency . 4a Haste ..... 43 Geographical divisions 47 The Knickerbocker school . 47 Boston .... 51 Other New England cities . 54 Philadelphia 55 Baltimore .... 57 Other cities in the South 59 The West .... 60 Characteristics of the literature of the times 63 Close of the period 66 Conclusion . ... 67 Appendix A — Periodicals indexed in Poole, founded between 1815 and 1833 . 70 Appendix B — Periodicals not in Poole, founded between 1815 and 1833 . 72 Appendix C — MiscellaneousLists of Periodicals . . . . . 8S Bibliography .... . 8e PEEFAOE. The paper that follows is a preHinmary contribution to the study of American literature from 1815 to 1833. Both the magnitude of the subject and the nature of the data that must be obtained, have made it impossible to attain even approximate completeness. The exact direction of the studies that have been pursued was determined partly by the nature of the subject, and partly by circumstances. Almost at the outset it was found that American magazines of the period under consideration are surprisingly numerous; and a little further reseaxch seemed to show that in them, rather than in published volumes, is to be found the most valuable material, for the literary history of the time. The author soon found, also, that the library in which he must work — the collection of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin — ^while but fairly well equipped with books of the period, was, in respect to magaziaes, unequalled ia the West, and probably unexcelled anywhere. For these two reasons, es- pecial attention has been given to this class of publications. An attempt has been made to consider the social and economic con- ditions that had a bearing on the development of literature, but the writings of individual men have been touched but briefly or no^ at all. Even the list of periodicals given is of necessity ra- complete. It is hoped that the publication of this paper may make easier the collection of additional data, and that it may possibly induce others to investigate some phases of literary de- velopment in America during the same period. The author wishes to express his obligations to Prof. J. O. Freeman, under whose general supervision the study has been IV PREFACE. carried on; to Prof. E. G. Hubbard, who bas given many help- ful suggestions throughout the progress of the work, and who has read both the manusoript and the proof-sheets; to Prof. F. J. Turner, whose suggestio;ns regarding authorities and methods of work have proved invaluable; and to Mr. W. M. Smith, who has given sympathetic aid in various ways. Especial mention must be made of the uniform courtesies of the library staff of the Wisconsin State Historical Society, upon whose good nature the author feels that he has often imposed. AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. INTRODUCTORY. When and where the literature of the American continent had its origin, is a question on which opinions have differed widely. Kiohardson conscientiously begins his history with a discussion of Indian war-chants. In Prof. Moses Coit Tyler's comprehen- sive work, as in several hand-books, the name of the picturesque Captain John Smith heads the list of American authors, and the patriotic citizen is congratulated on the fact that our literature sprang from the British at the time of Elizabethan greatness. Brander Matthews says:^ "It would be possible to maintaia the thesis that American literature began in 1809 with the publica- tion of Irving's Knickerbocker's History of l^ew York." And a recent article by Thomas Wentworth Higginson on The Bvrth of a New Literature^ deals with the early days of the Atlantic Monthly. A national literature is the expression of national tendencies; and before a first date is assigned, it is well to discover when these tendencies began to make themselves felt. Unfortunately, this is not an easy matter; tendencies grow, but they are never bom. A conservation of energy seems to exist in the intellectual as well as in the physical world. Dormant forces are awakened; diffused impulses suddenly become concentrated; old movements change their direction; but only the superficial historian ven- tures to put his finger on a date and say, "At this moment some- I Whitcomb Chronological Outlines of American Literature : Introduction, page ix 'Atlantic Monthly, April, 1897. Mr. Higginson parenthetically acknowledgea the existence of Irving and Cooper. 2 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITT OF WISCONSIN. thing new came into the intellectual life of the world." It is no doubt possible to find in the Uteratuxe of today the effects of some influences that can be traced back to the time of the True Relation, if not to the earlier poets of the Choctaw and the Sioux. Classifications must, however, be made on broad groimds; and if we look at the subject comprehensively, we shall find that American writers of the 17th and 18th centuries did not bequeath much to their successors in the 19th. The close of the second war with Great Britain seems better than any other event to mark the date at which began a continuous and significant movement in American literature — a movement that has continued without real interruption to the present day. Indeed, the historian seldom finds an epoch more distinctly marked than was that which began about 1815. This year saw the close of our war at home,^ and the battle of Waterloo abroad. Both in America and in Europe circumstances favored a re- adjustment of conditions, political, economic, and literary. This was especially true in the United States, where the nation first really saw its destiny. Says Henry Adams:^ "Until 1815, nothing in the future of the American Union was regarded as settled. As late as January, 1815, division into several nation- alities was thought to be possible." And again. :^ "In 1815 for the first time Americans ceased to doubt the path they were to follow. !N"ot only was the unity of their nation established, but its probable divergence from older societies was also well defined." It is the purpose of this study to trace the general course of literature in America from this critical date until another change in conditions occurred about the year 1833; to discover some of the forces that seem to have acted, and what were their re- sults; to note some of the impulses that writers of this period transmitted to their successors; and perhaps incidentally to offer 1 The treaty of peace was signed at Ghent, Dec. 24, 1814, but the news was not received in this country untU the opening of the new year. The battle of New Orleans was fought Jan. 8, 1815. 'History of the United States, ix., 219. "Ibid., ix., 220. CAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 3 filiglit help toward the solution of the question whether there has yet been an American literature in any other than a geo- graphical sense. THE PRECEDING PERIOD. The period just preceding 1815, which Prof. Matthews in- cludes in the beginning years of our literature, was character- ized by great bitterness of feeling, not only toward the common enemy, but between factions at home. Party spirit has rarely, if ever, run higher. The course of the government paralyzed eommerce and touched the pockets of thousands of men. Nat- urally enough intense feelings were aroused, and even disrup- tion of the union was openly spoken of, and no doubt wished by some. Literature, if such it may be called, was mainly devoted to the cause of party, and was largely satirical. Bryant, a boy of thirteen, caught the spirit, and wrote The Embargo, an attack on the dominant party, which went through two editions in as many years. Feseenden produced his Pills, Poetical, Political, and Philosophical, the title of which is suggestive enough of its nature. IngersoU wrote the Inchiquin Letters, a satire on books by English travellers in America; and Paulding the Diverting History of John Bull and Brother Jonathan. Some genius was shown in all these works, and much facility of expression; but the reader of today can only feel that such talents as their au- thors had, were wasted for the sake of a few months' notoriety. A few writers who did exert some slight influence on their suc- cessors will be mentioned in another place. TENDENCIES OF THE PERIOD — APOLITICAL. The most significant political fact at this time was the growth of the national idea. The treaty of peace and the battle of ISTew Orleans had the effect of merging party discontents in a general feeling of national triumph. It was evident that with but scanty resources, and in spite of dissensions at home, the United States could at least hold her own against a powerful enemy. 4 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN. Indeed, tlie theory that the war was a drawn contest seems hardly to ha^ie been thought of; all Americans regarded it as a decided victory, and all exulted in it. The old motto seemed to be reversed: in strength there was union, though there had been disunion when strength was most needed. The promul- gation of the Monroe Doctrine was one of the expressions of this sense of national power. The years just after the war became known by the now fa- mous name of "The Era of Good Feeling", but it must not be supposed that all political antipathies were laid aside. Some odium still attached to New England for its support of the Hart- ford Convention, and in parts of 'New England an especial odium attached to those who had taken part in it. Human nature was the same in those years as in others, and feuds and hostilities, though dormant, still existed. One reason that they did not show more plainly was that th© interest in politics was less than ever before. The natural reaction after great excitement was helped on by influences from abroad. The French craze of an earlier time had had its day, and ITapoleon had disgusted many Ameri- cans who, in spite of hostilities, knew of Continental affairs largely through the English. After Waterloo nothing in the European situation obtruded itself on the Americans, commer- cially or otherwise. As a result, they were willing to let political theories take care of themselves. As Henry Adams pointedly says,^ speaking of the difference between 1801 and 1815, "The Eights of Man occupied public thoughts less, and the price of cotton more." At the same time democracy, which had had its rise a few years earlier, was becoming a settled fact, rather than an aggressive theory. ECONOMIC. This feeling of national greatness must find expression in action. The war was over; political strife was laid aside by com- mon consent: naturally, in a new and undeveloped country at- ' History of the United States, ix,, 104. CAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATURE PROM 1815 TO 1833. 5 tention tiomed. to territorial and commercial expansion. At first some manufacturing industries that had be©n built up dur- ing tlie war were unable to compete with, foreign nTals, but tbis quickly called f ortb inventions to cheapen the cost of pro- duction. Foreign immigrants were just beginning to come in large numbers.^ In the east they tended to make the popula- tion more cosmopolitan, while in the west tbey aided in the ■development of new states. By 1821, Indiana, Mississippi, Illi- nois, Alabama, and Missouri had been admitted to tbe imion, in tbe order named. As' a natural consequence of the rapid ter- ritorial expansion, much attention was paid to means of travel.^ Improvements in steam navigation were introduced, turnpikes were built, and attention turned to canals. Tbe Erie canal was opened in 1825. The completion of Stephenson's first locomotive is anotber event usually assigned to the year 1815, and tbe importance of tbe new invention was recognized in America fully as soon ss in England. At first it was looked upon as of doubtful practical value, but a decade later it was attracting wide atten- tion. The Quincy railroad (operated by borse power) was be- gun in 1825, and finished in 1826.^ The first locomotive was brought to tbe United States in 1828. The "West soon saw what overland communication by steam meant for its future, and by 1830 tbe new mode of travel was a favorite theme of discussion as far west as civilization extended.* As facilities for communication increased, the position of New York gave it a great commercial advantage. Its only rival 1 " During the year 1817, 22,000 immigrants were reported as entering the United States . Twelve or fourteen thousand were probably Irish ; four thousand were German. More than two thousand arrived in Boston, while abont seven thousand landed in New York, and the same number in Philadelphia. The greater part probably remained near where they landed." Adams, History of the United States, ix,, 161. ' For a statement of the relation between facilities for transportation and the contin- uance of the United States as one nation, see Adams, History of the United States, vol- ume i., chapter i, • There seems to be some question about this date, though most chronologies agree on the one given, Johnson's Encyclopedia gives 1826 for the inception and 1827 for the completion of the road. * See several articles in volume i., of the lUiuois Monthly Magazine, Vandalia, 1830. 6 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVEKSITY OP WISCONSIN. to the northward, Boston, had lost heavily during the war. Moreover, all New England was suffering financially from the crippling of its manufactures, and politically from its attitude toward the Hartford Convention. To the southward, Philadel- phia was the center of large interests, but seems always to have deserved a little of the reputation for drowsiness that has been given it by its rivals. The population of New York doubled immediately after the close of the war, while in the same time that of New England increased about one-third. EDUCATIONAL. It is well known that at an early time education received more attention in New England than in the colonies farther south. Massachusetts still held the pre-eminence;^ but by this time fa- cilities for gaining an education were good throughout the north- em states, and most of the authors who vdll be mentioned later took advantage of their opportunities. Paulding said that his education "cost, first and last, about fifteen dollars — certainly quite as much as it was worth ;"^ but none of the writers who belong strictly to the period under consideration made such a boast. Most of them had good academic training, and many at- tended college, even if they did not graduate.^ Academies were generally within reach of any well-to-do farmer, and most of the important New England colleges of today were already in existence. Even the West of- fered opportunities for higher study.* The expense of a col- 1 In 1828 it was estimated tiiat Massachusetts had one stadent in college for every 1, 103 inhabitants ; Connecticut, one for every 1,244; Vermont, one for 1,891; New Hamp- shire, one for 2, 114 ; Rhode Island, one for 2, 636; Maine, one.for 3,260. American Quar- terlyRegister, i., 106. " Wilson, Bryant and his Friends, 133. * Bryant did not complete his course at Williams, on account of lack of means. Cooper was "dismissed" from Yale, and Dana expelled from Harvard. Lounsbury, Life of Cooper, 8; Wilson, Bryant and his Friends, 184. ,* The most prominent colleges and universities in existence before 1815 were : Bowdoin^ Dartmouth, Middlebury, University of Vermont, Williams, Harvard, Brown, Yale, Columbia, Union, Hamilton, Butgers, Pennsylvania, and Princeton ; also, in the south. South Carolina College, William and Mary, Charleston College, University of Georgia, CAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATURE PROM 1815 TO 1833. 7 lege education was not great, even allowing for the difference in the value of money. In 1831 the estimated cost of a year at the various colleges, as given in the catalogues, was as follows: Harvard, $179; Yale, $140 to $190; Dartmouth, $101.22; Wil- liams, $79.50 to $104.75; Waterville, $84; Middlebury, $86; Amherst, $93 to $118; Hamilton, $72 to $1005 University of Pennsylvania, $180 to $201; Brown about $120. Board is listed at from $1 to $1.75 a week, except at the University of Pennsylvania, where it is put at $2.50 to $3. Several colleges offeredj opportunities for situdente to pay their way wholly or partly; students intending to enter the ministry were aided by various societies.^ Except in the classics, the standard of the best colleges was much lower than it is today. The preparatory studies for Har- vard in 1829 were: Latin and Greek grammar, including pros- ody, Greek reader, four gospels, Virgil, Sallust, Cicero's Select Orations, arithmetic, algebra to the end of simple equations, geography. Arithmetic was regularly a freshman study. By this time short courses in the natural sciences had been intro- duced. Transylvania required Constitution of the United States in the senior yeax.^ English literature was not studied under this name, but much time was given to rhetoric and the "elements of criticism." Stu- dents probably read far more literature than they do today. Modem languages were included in the curricula of some col- leges, and in most there were probably opportunities for pursu- ing them. ■University of North CaTolina, and St. Mary's at Baltimore. Between 1815 and 1833 were fonnded Waterville, Amherst, Alleghany, University of Virginia, and Columhian at Washington. In 1830 Harvard had 16 instructors and 247 undergraduates ; Yale 14 instructors and 359 undergraduates. The American Quarterly Register, iii., 127, publishes a Review of Literary Institutions in the Mississippi VaUey in 1830. Twenty-eight institutions are mentioned, having at this time 766 graduates, 1, 430 undergraduates, and 38,666 volumes in their libraries. The most prosperous was Transylvania University at Lexington, Ky., with 300 students. 1 American Quarterly Register, iii., 298. See also other numbers of this journal, which is a mine of information on the state of education from 1827 to 1832. ' For a comparative statement of courses of study and (requirements for entrance to the leading colleges in 1829, see American Quarterly Register, i., 228. 8 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITT OF WISCONSIN. KELIGIOUS. It seemed a natural concomitant of tlie establishment of de- mocracy that the Oalvinistio theology, whieh had so long held sway ia New England, should lose its power. At first the liberal movement was slow, and its course hard to trace. Preachers simply aToided subjects on which their views were not in accord with tradition. A minister could not plausibly be accused of heterodoxy on accoiint of what he did not say, and although there were rumors of heresies, nothing on the surface showed the great change that was taking place in religious thought. The open break between theUnitarians and the Congregational- ists came in 1815. In June of this eventful year The PanopUst charged the followers of the new faith with concealing their real position for unfair purposes, and called upon the church to refuse them communion. Ohaiming replied in a published let- ter to Rev. Samuel Thatcher, and the battle was on. It was found that the liberal party had gained control of Harvard Col- lege — ^its opponents claimed by underhand means. The charge of stealing a coUeg© was a novel one, but it was freely made and indignantly denied. The religious periodicals of the day present both sides of the case at great length. Out of this controversy between the old theology and the new came a great mass of writings which, no doubt, had many eager readers at the time; but they deal either with personalities or with dry doctrinal points, and though characterized by wit and learning, lack the interest possessed by the Transcendental spec- ulations of a few years later. Only in the broadest sense of the word can they be called literature. The movement is interest- ing to the student of literary history mainly for two reasons: it absorbed the energies of many men who might otherwise have excelled in different lines — ^notably "Wm. E. Channing, the elder; and the freedom of thought to which it led had a great influence on the writings of the Boston and Concord men of a generation later. Internal dissensions were not confined to the Congregation- CAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 9 alists. Tlie Quakers also had a controversy between tlie con- servatives and the liberals -within their ranks. This, too, was the time of the OampbelUtes, and of other peculiar sects that had their rise toward the west. The rapid growth of the mis- ■sionary movement and of Sunday schools was characteristic of the period. MORAL. Writers seldom comment fairly on contemporary manners and morals; these subjects are mentioned only for censure or for self-congratulation. Accordingly, pictures of American society at the time under consideration are rather confusiug. English travellers were mostly hostile to America, and exaggerated such faults as they found. On the other hand, Americans had no hesitation in saying of themselves that they were the most cour- teous and most moral people on earth. Among the minor offenses against good taste charged by British travellers, the most prominent were the chewing of to- bacco and the impertinent questioning of strangsfrs. There is no doubt that the strictures on the former offense were largely deserved. The habit of asking questions was characteristic of the West, and, however annoying it might be to a dignified Eng- lish tourist, it was entirely natural. The chief way of getting information as to the doings of the world was still by oral com- munication, and no intelligent man situated as was the Ameri- can pioneer could be expected to refrain from asking questions of the few strangers that came in his way. The charge that the Yankees were tricky and dishonest in business transactions very likely had some basis in the world-wide feeling that a tour- ist is fair game; and in some parts of the country there was probably something of an idea that business was a test of wits, and that the ability to hood-wink a customer gave a sort of right to do so. In many communities the, same feeling still holds among schoolboys with regard to "swapping" knives, and among their elders with regard to trading horses. In spite of all that 10 BULLETIN OP THE TJNIVEK8ITT OP WISCONSIN. was said of Yankee tricks, there are few reported cases of serious- swindling. The temperance agitation had begun, but drinking was in- dulged in to an extent that would npw be called excess. It was quite the proper thing for a young man to be "conviidal." In the set to which Irving belonged ia his erxly days, "It was scarcely good manners not to get a little tipsy; and to be laid under the table by the compulsory bumper was not to the dis- credit of a guest."^ Concerning the prevalence of more serious vices, it is hard to speak vdth certainty; but they were probably indulged ia far less than they are today. Divorces were fewer; and the press gives hints of fewer scandals. Comments on French society and on some of Byron's poems also show, in an iadirect way^ that the people were not thoroughly familiar with vice. In- deed, one can hardly read the minor literature of the time with- out feeling that a large part of would-be fashionable society was in the position of the college freshman who wants to be dissi- pated and doesn't know how. One peculiarity of the time was the great number of refer- ences, in the abstract, to seduction. These are found every- where, and especially in ladies' magazines and periodicals that give the lighter literature. The first inference, might be that the practice condemned was everywhere common; but the very unreality of tone in most of the articles on the subject shows that this could not have been the case.^ It seems rather to be a 1 Warner, Life of Irving (American Men of Letters Series) , 44. " The following specimen from the New York Mirror and Ladies' Literary Gazette, i., 22, (August, 1823), is perhaps worth quoting, punctuation marks and all. SEDUCTION. " No dews give freshness to this blasted soil" The golden god of day had sunk with his brilliant chariot in the west, and left th& world to Cynthia and the glittering lamps of heaven — the tongue of time had spoken ten — oppressed with unusual sorrow I sought the romantic windings of the Hudson. All nature seemed to slumber, and naught was heard save the wild humming from the grove and the murmuring of the stream, which was gently undulated by the passing^ zephyr, I had not wandered far, when methought I heard the sound of hopeless misery. I paused — they were the wild and desolate breathings of a lonely and distracted woman £ I approached with feelingsjof sacred compassion, and beheld what once an angel's form CAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 11 survival, in literature only, of tbe earlier tradition that a woman's virtue was entirely at the mercy of any designing man of pleasing address. This probably came down from English writers of the I7th and 18th centuries through Charles Brock- den Brown and others. It is fully as foreign to the time and place as are references to "the inconstant fair" and extravaganzas of mistress-worship — ^with which it is often found. Fashions change as to what is permissible and what indelicate- in writing and speech; and the literature of this period accord- ing to present views, is sometimes coarse and sometimes prudish. One reviewer^ objects to the Stout Gentleman in. Brace- bridge Hall because the affair with the chambermaid is indeli- cate. On the other hand many passages which Irving wrote, that today could be described only by the word coarse, evidently seemed perfectly proper. In the country, and on the frontier, there probably existed the same conditions that exist among our rural population to- day — comparative purity of life, often accompanied by coarse- ness of speech and actions. In the cities there was still some of the old time gallantry. It was said to be possible for a woman to travel by stage-coach, unattended, throughout the country, without fear of annoyance. had been. She was reclining on the trunk of an aged tree, and supporting with a hand of snow a brain of fixe. I could not, did not, disturb her — I felt Jan awe and veneration which none can dream of. Not far behind her stood a solitary willow, under whose drooping branches I found concealment,— here I observed her and listened to the thrill- ing tones of a voice, sweet and heavenly as the music of a seraph * * * she sang of love, of treachery, and of cruel inconstant man, and a deep melancholy flowed through every line — she tore a portrait from her bosom — kissed it — and placed it there again ; — then with a shriek she rose and wept — tear followed tear adown the cheek where roses once had bloomed — her lily hands she mingled with her jetty hair — she plucked it and gave it to the winds, which seemed to sigh and moan, as lamenting the fall of virtue — and then with fleetness that bid defiance to the rein-deer's speed, she ascended a rugged, barren cliff, whose towering top frowned upon the bubbling stream below — prostrate she knelt before the Throne of Mercy, and breathed a prayer in all the agony of a broken heart — then, rising from her humble posture, she rushed into the gulf beneath — a groan — a struggle — silence reigned — she died I the victim of sbduction n * * * Gboegb. For other articles on the same subject, and in much the same strain see Rural Reposi- tory, Hudson, N. Y.,i., 22, (June, 1824) ; Ladies' Magazine, Savannah, i., 4 (February,. 1819) ; and many other periodicals of about this time. 'Literary and Scientific Repository, iv., 422. 12 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITT OF WISCONSIN. OTHBB TENDENCIES. Few things are harder to imagine than the conditions of an age that differs from our own. The task is especially hard in case of a period that was in some respects so modem, and in some so far removed from the life of today. It is hard to put ourselves in the places of men who read most of the best lit- erature that we read, who lived under the same government, discussed the same political questions, and thought many of the same thoughts, but who had no railroads, no telegraphs, none of the modern conveniences without which it seems as if we could not exist. Even the absence of electric, gas, and kerosene Ughts would seem to us almost an insurmountable obstacle in the way of pursuing literary studies. Books, while in one way and another within the reach of most, were comparatively scarce. JSTot many were published in the United States, and before the war commercial restrictions made it difficult to import.^ This state of affairs of course changed to some extent during this period. American publishers found it profitable to issue editions of English works, which they could reprint without paying royalty;^ and in time many works by American authors were undertaken. Still, reading matter was so rare that there was an incentive to master a good book. Somewhat strangely, the fine arts in America were in a flour- ishing condition. "Washington AUston, a brother-in-law of Dana, a man who seems to have fascinated every one who met him, won fame as a painter both at home and abroad. S. F. B. Maree, later the inventor of the telegraph, was prominent in New York art circles, as were Inman and many others. In music, Uttl© had been produced on this side the water. The old-fashioned tunes were still played at rural dances. Imme- 1 Ticknor, Life of Presoott, 9 ; quoted by Godwin. ' S. G. Gtoodrich, Recollections, ii., 110, says, speaking of the period before 1820: " The successful booksellers of the country — Carey, Small, Thomas, Warner, of Philadel- phia ; Campbell, Duyokinck, Reed, Kirk & M^ioein, Whiting & Watson, of New York ; Beers & Howe, of New Haven; O. D. Coote, of Hartford; West & Richardson, Cum- mings & HUliard, R. P. & C- Williams, S. T. Armstrong, of Boston— were for the most part the mere reproducers and sellers of English books." CAIENS — AMERICAN LITERATURE PROM 1815 TO 1833. 13 diately after the war martial airs were of course popular, and botli commercial and naval interests gave vogue to songs of the sea. In polite circles the fashionably correct thing seems to have been to sing the songs of Bums and Moore, with their countless imitations.-' FOREIGN INFLUENCES — ^ENGLISH. It has already been said that at this time there was little con* nection between European and American politics; but in the field of letters the influence of the old world was more marked. The state of English literature was such as to prove an inspira- tion. Notable publications by Byron, "Wordsworth, and Scott bear the date 1815.^ ITot only these men, but Coleridge, Keats, Moofpe, Maria Edgeworth, Miss Austin, Hallam, Hazlitt, and many others were producing some of their best work about thia time. At no other period since the Elizabethan age had Eng- lish writers been better fitted to exercise strong influence, and on the whole influence for good, upon their contemporaries. The two ideas for which the most prominent of these English writers stood were democracy and love of nature. It was natural that the expression of either of these should be respon- sively met in America. The bold, free romances) of Scott, both in verse and in prose, appealed to a people who knew, by direct acquaintance or close tradition, such picturesque characters as the savage and the backwoodsman, and whose attention had been called by a recent war to the heroic deeds of their ancestors in colonial and revolutionary times. The poems were perhaps more enthusiastically received in America than in England. Young ladies could repeat the whole of The Lady of the Lake from memory. Every versifier attempted the octo'-syllabic meas- ure; even Bryant, at an early age, began an Indian narrative 1 Samuel Longfellow, Life of H. W. Longfellow, i., 14, gives the following list of masic popular in the boyhood of the poet ; The Battle of Prague, Governor Brooks's March, Washington's March, Henry's Cottage Maid, Brignal's Banks, Bonnie Boon, The Last Hose of Summer, Oft in the StUly Night, Money Musk, Fisher's Hornpipe, The Hay- makers. * Byron, Hebrew Melodies ; Scott, Lord of the Isles, Guy Mannering ; Wordsworth, The White Doe of Rylestone, Poems. 14 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVEKSITT OF WISCONSIN. after the manner of Soott.^ Similar results followed tlie pub- lication of the novels. Not only Cooper, but a host of lesser prose writers, were disciples of the author of Waverly. The influence of Wordsworthi is not easy to trace. He is quoted more widely than any other living poet except Byron, and is often referred to in an appreciative way by American writers. The exact form that this appreciation took, however, was not altogether such as would bave been pleasing to Words- worth. One of the most thorougb reviews of the time^ patron- izes the Lyrical Ballads, whicb are said to bave succeeded in spite of "their grossness, their childishness, and their vanity"; gives high praise to The Excursion and otber blank verse poems, and seems to consider Wordsworth best when he is drawing most inspiration from Milton. There were readers, however, who ap- preciated the Lyrical Ballads. Bryant said "that upon opening the book a thousand springs seemed to gush up at once in his heart, and the face of iNature, of a sudden, to change into a strange freshness and life."^ Still, it is doubtful if Wordsworth was widely read. As late as 1834 the American Quarterly Ob- server^ complains; "Just consider the estimation in which Wordsworth is regarded in this country. A small edition of his select poems was published in Boston in 1824, ia beautiful style, and yet a considerable portion of the edition is unsold. In these ten years, what scores of the volumes of Mis. Hemang, 1 Godwin, Life of Bryant, i. , 141. " Atlantic Magazine, New York, ii.,334 and 419 (1825)^ The reviewer says : "TheEx- -cursion * * * contains within its compass more pure and manly poetry, more beauti- ful embodying of pure and noble thoughts, more definite revealing of the secret influ- ences which so wonderfully sway our complicated being, than can be found in almost any other poem since the great English Epic was given to the world. Most seriously and most painfully do wa regret that an obstinate and petulant adherence to the mere form and shadow of a theory, utterly unworthy of the noble mind of Wordsworth, still desecrates, by its intrusion, the sacred structure that he has reared for immortality." " Yet nothing can be easier than the removal of this blot. The change of the word Pedlar as often as it occurs (we believe it occurs but once) to any other of the appella- tions of the old man, the Itinerant, the Traveller, the Wanderer, or the Solitary,— the erasure of some half a dozen lines, and the alteration of as many more, — would obviate the very reasonable complaint of those in whose minds the name of Pedlar is inseparably associated with base uses and vulgar recollections.'* ' Richard H. Dana ; quoted by Godwin, Life of Bryant, i., 104. 'July, 1834; page 147. CAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 15 ■of Scott, Byron, and Pope have been scattered abroad." It is impossible, however, to estimate the influence of an author by the number of volumes sold. The truth probably is that Words- worth was a "poet's poet"; that no living Englishman had a stronger hold on those American writers who themselves had the strongest hold on their own countrymen; but that his works were far less read by the masses than were those of Byron. This was perfectly natural. Wordsworth's appreciation of nature was too subtile to be fully understood by the man of af- fairs. Byron loved nature too, but he loved her most in her grander manifestations, — the ocean and the storm; and he ex- pressed his feelings in a form that could be understood by the American sailor or the American backwoodsman. His democ- racy, too, was of a freer, more aggressive sort than was Words- worth's, and approached nearer to the spirit of the American pioneer. As might be expected, Byron found eager readers, perhaps his most eager readers, in the West. The pioneers saw nature as he saw it, and they regarded the rights of man much as he regarded them. Still, they could not commend, or even excuse his morals. The backwoodsmen were not Puritans, who took pleasure in repressing passions and desires, but rather men whose passions and desires were so natural and whose habits of life were by necessity so restricted, that they could scarcely un- derstand a life given over to cynical vice.-'- The reviews of Byron's works in American magazines and the remarks on his death from press and pulpit are an interesting study. The religious journals treated the poet, as they do to the present day, with patronizing pity. The tone of criticism in the distinctively literary reviews was determined largely by the attitude of the editor toward England and English -writers. Byron was the most popular English writer of the hour; his character and some things in his writings were clearly open to 1 See a very interesting series of articles on The Character of Lord Byron, signed R.N,, in the Cincinnati Literary Crazette for 1825. There are many other notes on Byron and hia work throaehont this volume. See also a review of Don Juan in the Western Review ii., 1. ' 16 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. severe criticism; so that praise or blame miglit be given as de- sii'ed. One writer says, reviewing Marmo Faliero'} "Nor can any lover of poetry, or admirer of genius fail to welcome the productions of tbat great poet, whose writings have given such a high character to the genius of the age, as to establish its equal claim to the homage of mankind, with that of any period of time that has preceded it, and which, moreoter, has so often and strongly moved the deepest sympathies of our hearts." Another,^ discussing the Lament of Tasso, makes free use of such terms as "gross," "despicable," "base," "heinous," "lies," con- demns the poem as utterly worthless — and prints it in full. The great majority of the comments on the poems, however, were free in their phrases.^ The popular enthusiasm was greater than that of the reviews; and the ascendency of the Byronic vers© was much more lasting and marked than that of Scott's octo- syllables. Americans not only wrote Byronic poetry of their own but remodeled that of the poet. Edwin C. Holland, Esq., of Charleston, changed the Corsair into a blank verse melo- drama in four acts, arranged for the stage. The story and the original diction were preserved as far as possible.* . Byron, Scott, and Wordsworth were the three English writers whose influence on the best of American letters was most no- ticeable. But many readers who believed themselves possessed of literary tastes and abilities found more pleasure in other poets. Chief among these were Moore and Mrs. Hemans. Both were recipients of extravagant praise;^ from them > Ladies' Literary Cabinet, iv., 25 (New York, 1821). 2 American Monthly Magazine and Review, i., 422 (New York, Oct. , 1817), This maga- zine was one of the most bitter in its opposition to everything English . ^ Articles are to be found in North American Review, v., 98 and zz., 1 ; Christian Monthly Spectator, vii., 450 ; Analectic Magazine, iii., 334, and iv., 68; United States Lit. erary Gazette, i., 54; and Literary and Scientific Repository, ill., 91. * For a review and extracts see American Monthly Magazine and Review, ill., 88. ^ In the Ladies Literary Cabinet, iv., 195 (1821), is a typical review of LaUa Roohk. A few sentence's will serve as an example : " Among the minor poets of the present day, a. decided preeminence must certainly be given to Thomas Moore." " It must be allowed that the greater number of productions which first appeared from his pen, under the name of Thomas Little, Esq., are a disgrace to a sublime genius. We are happy, how- ever, to learn, that he now condemns many of his former pieces, and Is at present a vIT" tuous and exemplary character, practicing the virtues and enjoying the delights of con OAIKNS — AMERICAN LITEKATTTKE FEOM 1815 TO 1833. 17 doubtless cam© mueli of tloe tendency to be sentimental tliat ifl noticeable in America even, to this days of the Atlwntic Monthly — a tendency often referred ©rroneonsly to the Knick- erbocker school. Great as were living British authors at this time, it was not their writings alone that influenced American letters. Indeed, Americans seem to have viewed English literature from Chaucer to Wordsworth as a unit; and ia accordance with an eclectic tendency, to have chosen what seemed best, without regard to the age or party by which it was produced. In the early years of this century a battle was being fought both in England and on the Continent, between two schools of literature. The contest was so fierce that an Englishman of lit- erary tastes found it hard to keep from arraying himself on one side or the other. At a greater distance, an American could well admit the merits, and also the defects, of both Pope and Wordsworth. The works of both were English literature to him and he judged them with an impartiality perhaps fully aa great as that with which they are looked upon today. In the libraries of the older families of the eastern states the eighteenth century writers held a prominent place.^ They had constituted nnbial felicity." "Among the poems which have appeared in the present agey there is not one in which is contained so large a quantity of varied, rich, romantic, sweet, volnpt- Tions and sublime poetry, as is found in this volume." Among other superlative expres- sions in the collection are " inspired," " sublime imagination," " the richest elegance of romantic poetry," etc. The article is signed " Violanthe." The following sentences are from a review of the fifth American edition of Mrs. Hemans' works, in the Critic, New York, Dec, 1828, page 86: "The language of encomiastic hyperbole connected with her name becomes only the simple language of truth," " The mind of this exalted woman is as much beyond those of the rest of her sex in point of cultivation, as it is in point of natural vigour and capacity." " The'reader who can peruse her productions without acknowledging them rich in all the best and highest,essentials of poetry, has no taste." The significant thing about this criticism is that it evidently expressed the views of a large part of the reading public. 1 Catalogues of these libraries are not so easily accessible as might be desired. The following books are said to have been in the library of Bryant's father (Godwin, Life of Bryant, i., 59) : " Hume, Gibbon, Eollin, Kussell, Gillies, Plutarch, Shakespeare, Spen- ser, MUton, Dryden, Pope, Akenside, Goldsmith, Thompson, Bums, Cowper, Beattie, Falconer, Campbell (Pleasures of Hope), Hogg, Montgomery, Rogers, Scott (Lord of the Isles), Byron (Lara, Bride of Abydos, and Corsair), Southey (Thalaba and Minor Poems), and Wordsworth .(Lyrical Ballads), and in other departments, Burke, Chester 2 18 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. the chief reading of those colonial gentlemen who, whether Tories or rebels in the final struggle, had prided themselves on keeping in touch with all that was best in the culture of the mother country. But the works of the newer school came into these libraries, and the young men read all, and to a certain extent patterned after all. The difference must have been felt; but in the absence of the numerous critical works with which we are familiar, it is doubtful whether it was so clearly recog- nized as it is today. The Addisonian sketches of Irving and the ultra-romantic novels of Cooper were admired by the same readers. The Croaker papers were in the vein of the lighter field, the Spectator, Fielding, Dr. Johnson, Dr. Adam Clark's Travels, Park's Travels, Disraeli's Curiosities of Literature, and Sismondi's Literature of the South of Europe. Besides the greater masters, Mr. Cullen Bryant tells us there were Sanf ord and Herton, and Little Jack : there were Bobinson Crusoe, with its variations. The Swiss Family Bobinson and The New Bobinson Crusoe ; there were a Mrs. Trimmer's Knowledge of Nature, and Berquin's lively narratives and sketches translated from the French ; there were Philip Quarll and Watt's Poems for Children, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and Mrs. Barbauld's writings. Later we had Mrs. Edgeworth's Parent's Assistant and Evenings at Home." The Longfellow library contained (S. Longfellow, Life of H. W. Longfellow, i., 11) ; Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, Dryden, Thompson, Goldsmith, The Spectator, The Ram- bler, The Lives of the Poets, Basselas, Plutarch's Lives ; Hume's, Gribbon's, G-illie's, and Bobertson's Histories ; Hannah Moore's Works ; Cowper, Moore, Bobinson Crusoe, the Arabian Nights, Don Quixote, and Ossian. The Pilgrim's Progress was not there. In the catalogue of Fitz-Greene HaUeck's private library, sold at auction in 1868, are listed the following editions bearing date before 1820. (The length of time that they had been in the poet's possession is of course not known.) Thos. Campbell's Poems, Cole- ridge's Poems, Goethe's Faust, Moore's Poems, Ossian, Shakespeare's Works, Shen- stone's Poems, Thompson's Poetical Works, Bemains of H. K. White. Among the books that HaUeok bought;earliest were Campbell, Bums, and Addison's Spectator, (Wilson, Bryant and his Friends, 251.) The Bryant list of course contains many books that must have been added to the col- lection at a comparatively late date. In this connection it is interesting to note the fol- lowing list of books, recommended by Bryant to a fallow student in 1810. He had read them all before he entered Williams CoUege at the age of 16. | (Wilson, Bryant and his Friends, 430, note.) The list is : Addison's Prose Writings, Bolingbroke's Re- flections in Exile, Goldsmith's Writings, Johnson's Idler, Rambler, aud Adventurer ■ Smith's Longinus ; Johnson's Lives of the Poets ; Alison on Taste ; Johnson's Preface to Shakespeare ; Burke's Writings; Pope's Prefaces to Shakespeare and Homer; Erskine's Speeches; Chapman's Select Speeches; Travels of Anaoharsis ; Langhome's Plutarch ; Fisher Ames' Speeches ; Cumberland's Memoirs ; Beid's Inquiry ; Stewart's Philosophy • Aikin's Letters ; Life of Sir William Jones. At this time it was very usual to begin, or rather preface, a poem or a prose article ■with a quotation from some author. In the Idle Man (1824), and his earliest volume of poems, Dana uses in this way quotations from Crabbe, Wordsworth, Shakespeare, Milton, Addison, Young, Davies, Byron, Cowper, and Sir Thomas Browne. CAIRNS AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 19 veise of +Lie IStli century; but Marco Bossaris and some of Hal- leck's other best work is Byrouio. It miast not be infe-re-^ that the American critics did not see that there were two schools, the old and the new; but rather that they did not feel them to be so far antagonistic that one must be followed at the cost of ignoring the other. The following extract from a review of Don Juan in the Western Review^ ex- presses the general sentiment. The fact that this is the utter- ance of the pioneer Western magazine is significant. "We are not enemies, but are admirers of Pope, and take un- ceasdng pleasure in reading his numbers. . . . But we are not exclusive in our admiration of this regular, smooth and well-balanced verse. We confess that we are entertained, in- structed, and charmed with some of the poets of the new SCHOOL. We see in this school excesses, defects, and many abuses, but also great merits." It seems a little strange that Coleridge should have had so slight an apparent influence on American literature at this time. He was knovm of com'se, but he is seldom quoted, and there seems to be little to show that he was recognized as one of the strong minds of the age. The reasons for this are not clear; but one may lie in the at- titude of the American mind toward philosophy. That the !Amerioans had the power of abstract thought in a high degree 13 shown not only by the writings of men like Jonathan Edwards, but by the fact that laymen followed and seemed to enjoy ser- mons on the most abstruse theological points.^ But this was at an earlier time, and with the development of the bustliug com- mercial spirit there was a decline of interest in things that had no obvious value in dollars and cents. The taste for abstract thought remained among the clergy; but the clergy were not writing much of general interest. The matter-of-fact turn of the western mind also prevented appreciation of Coleridge's more imaginative works. The reader 1 Volume ii,, page 6, Lexington, Ky., 1820. Italics and capitals those of the oiiginaL ' See Tyler, History of American Literature, i., Chaps. >. and vii. 20 BULLETIN OF THE TJNIVEESITT OP WISCONSIN. "wlio felt that tib© story of Rip Van Wmkle was spoiled because ithe twenty years' sleep was not scieflntifically accounted for,* could hardly be expected to enjoy Christdbel or even the Aiv- dent Mariner.'^ These, theories regarding Coleridge's slight hold on America are only tentative. It is possible, also, that his influence was stronger than is here supposed. Hany critics tacitly assume that he was a great force in America at this time; it seems nat- ural that he should have been, and perhaps he was; but, strangely enough, few facts come to light to show it.^ CONTINENTAL INFLUENCE. If Coleridge, the apostle of German thought, accomplished little in America, it is perhaps less remarkable that Germany should accomplish little. Yet the critic is so accustomed to think of the strong German infiuence a few years later, that he is surprised to find that it does not exist at this period in the same degree. In a recent article,* Thomas "Wentworth Higginson speaks 1 See a review in the Western Review, ii., 244. 2 The Atlantic Magazine, ii., 334, speaks of the Ancient Mariner astnonsense. Among- the stanzas quoted in support of this view are some of those most commonly achnired. ^ American reviews of Coleridge's works are not very numerous. The American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review, ii., 105 (Dec, 1817), condemns the style of the Biographia Iviteraria as ungrammatical, and his philosophy as entirely unintelligible ; but praises- his taste with regard to the classics, and his feeling toward Sou they. The reviewer con- tinues: "As this biography is professed to be designed as an introduction to Mr. Coleridge's Sybilline Leaves, we were at pains to procure a copy of that work, but after a slight experiment gave up the idea of reading it." This article is signed " E." The same journal, i., 12, copies notes of Christahel, Eubla Khan, etc., from the British reviews, with an introduction beginning: "We have copied the following article . . . not so much on account of the importance of the piece which it professes to treat, (which is, indeed, too comtemptible to have arrested attention, had not some degree of credit been, heretofore, attached to the name of Mr. Coleridge,) as for the justness of its general criticisms. It is time for the professed guardians of morals and arbiters of taste, to in- terpose the authority with which they are invested, to shield the one, and to rescue the other, from the rude attacks of a wantonness of innovation that has attempted the violation of both." In the Cincinnati Literary Gazette a little note from Count de Soligny on Coleridge as a Talker is given "As an offset to some of the ill-natured witticisms to which this 'singu- larly wild and original' genins has been subjected." In the same issnelGenevieve is given as "a favorable specimen of Mr. Coleridge's poetical powers." * Atlantic Monthly, April, 1897, page 496. CAIENS — AMEKICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 21 of "the cTorrent of thouglit which between. 1816 and 1818 took our whole American, educational system away from the English tradition, and suhstituted the German methods." This change Mr. Higginson places to the credit of four men, Cogswell, Ever- ett, Ticknor, and Bancroft. Ticknor and Everett went to Goet- tingen ia 1815, Cogswell in 1816, Bancroft in 1818. None of them was back in. this country before 1818. These enthusiastic young men were no doubt strongly imbued with the German idea; but they were young men, and their influence, while rela- tively greater than that of an equal number of graduate students today, was by no means sufficient to revolutionize Amerioaji education in. a year or two — certainly not before they returned to this country. Mr. Higginson's dates are too early, or his statement is far too inclusive. As a matter of fact, the literature of this period shows rela- tively few quotations from German authors, or references to German ideas. The language was little studied. Some of the magazines contain original verses in Erench and Italian, but none in German. Editors printed versions of German poems and essays which they were not ashamed to admit were retransla- tions from the French. Henry Adams says:^ "Germany was nearly as unknown as China, until Madame de Stael published her famous work in 1814. Even then young George Ticknor, in- cited by its account of German university education, could find neither a good teacher, nor a dictionary, nor a German book in the shops or the public libraries of the' city or at the college in Cambridge:" Again :^ "Pennsylvania was largely German, and the Moravians were not without learning, yet no trace of German influence showed itseK in the educated and literary class. Schiller was at the end of his career, and Goethe at the zenith of his powers; but neither was known in Pennsylvania, unless it might be by translations of the 'Bobbers' or the 'Sor- rows of Werther.' " Biographers of Emerson convey the im- pression that while at Harvard he was much influenced by Tiek- I History of the United States, 1., 94. In the catalogue of HaUeok's private library is listed Goethe's Fanst, Boston, 1806 ; but this may have been a translation. ' Ibid., i., 123. This statement applies to the time about 1800. 22 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. nor and Everett; yet in 1824, after he had left college, he wrote to his brother:^ "Say particularly whether German and He- brew be worth reading; for though I hate to study them, cor- dially, I yet will, the moment I can count my gains." Emer- son does not seem really to have got into German until about 1829.2 The itineraries of European travelers show the same disre- gard of Germany. As late as 1826-7, when Longfellow went abroad to fit himself for the professorship of modem languages at Bowdoin, he spent 8 months in France, 8 in Spain, 13 in Italy, and 5 in Germany, visiting the countries in the order named. It is true that he wished to spend a few weeks more in Goettingen, but even had his stay been as long as he planned it, it would not have equalled that in Spain.^ When we remem- ber the purpose of his visit to Europe, and the hold that Ger- many had on him when, a few years later, he was writing Outre Mer and Hyperion, these figures are suggestive. Bryant jnade his first trip abroad in 1834, just after the close of the period under consideration. His "original intention had been to spend his time chiefly in Spain, by the language and literature of which he was singularly fascinated; but that coun- try was in the midst of one of its chronic convulsions, and he turned his face towards Italy."* He pass^ a much longer time in France and Italy than in Germany, and the only German cities that he visited were Munich and Heidelberg, the latter, in an intellectual way, probably the most cosmopolitan in the country. Irving's devotion to Spain needs no mention. The example of these men is valuable, because we know their characters, and can allow for any personal bias. Their interests and routes of ti'avel do not seem to have differed much from those of the ma- jority of their countrymen who visited the continent in those years. 1 Cabot, Life of Emerson, i., 109. 'Ibid., i., 160. ° S. Longfellow, Life of H, W. Longfellow, VoL i.. Chaps, vii. to zi. inclnslve. * Godwin, Life of Bryant, i., 308. CAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 23 A few theories may be hazarded as to the preponderance of southern influence over German. In the first place, there was the old political sympathy with Trance, which naturally led to an interest in the Trench language and Kteratuxe. Trance was most closely connected, both geographically and linguistically, with the southern coimtries. In the second place, the study of the classics tended then as now, and more strongly then than now, to make every tourist seek Eome, and iacidentally the other parts of Italy. In the third place, Irving's interest in Spain during the latter part of the period, drew the attention of students to that country. To his influence was no doubt due much of the fascination that its language and literature had for Bryant. Again, the condition of Germany itself was not such as to attract students. There was no center, no head; the many small independent states were moved against each other by petty jealousies. Tinally, the American mind did not seem quite capable of un- derstanding the German. It was not that the Americans were duU, or shallow, or prosaic; but that from their nature, and their experience, or lack of experience,^ they were incapable of feeling what lay at the bottom of the German movement of this time. Nothing indicates this much better than Halleck's re- mark that Goethe's Faust was "The worst book, in the strong- est sense of the word worst, that I have ever read through."^ THE CLASSICS. It has been said that the classics drew attention to Italy. They also had direct influence on literature. Greek and Latin were still looked upon as the basis of a liberal education. Al- most every man who made pretensions to culture read them with greater or less ease. The importance of the natural sciences was being recognized, but they were not yet present in the col- lege curriculum to any extent. So long as this was the case, the old notio n of culture was bound to stand, in spite of occasional 1 See page 10. ' WilBon, Bryant and his Friends, 266. 24 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVEESITY OP WISOONSIN. protests from men who could not see the money value in dead languages. PREVIOUS LITERARY ACHIEVEMENTS IN AMERICA. Although American literature as a connected national devel- opment began after the close of the war of 1812, there was al- ready a great mass of American writings, extending from the earliest settlements to the time of the war itself. That the study of these attempts is not entirely uninteresting will be ad- mitted by any one who has read Prof. Tyler's volumes. StiU, the student of today finds the subject, though fascinating in the selections and comments of Prof. Tyler, dreary enough ia the origirual documents; and eo the reaxiers of an eailier day found it. There were some who felt called upon to worship every- thing American for purely geographical reasons; but the more discriminating saw that little was to be gained froir. the native authors who had gone before. Of the colonial writers, none had much influence. Jonathan Edwards was of course read by theologians, but his writings can hardly be classed as general literature.^ Anne Bradstreet is more interesting as the ancestor of Dana, Channing, Holmes, and Wendell Phillips than as a poet.^ Franklin was indeed read, and exercised a good deal of influence, especially in his own city; and FranMin was a writer of no small literary abili- ties. Still, his popularity was due largely to his labors in be- half of his country, his interest in scientific matters, and the common-sense practicality of his maxims, which appealed to the shrewd commercial instincts of his countrymen. Franklin's life, by Werner, and the first genuine edition of his works, edited by Temple Franklin, appeared in 1817.* Charles Brockden Brown, also a Philadelphian, was the first American novelist of note, and some tendencies in American fiction had their origin with him. His life, by Dunlap, per- 1 Bee Tyler, History of American Literature, ii., 177. • Ibid., i., 277. ' Whitoomb, Chronological Outlines. CAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATtTRE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 25 haps the earliest American biograpliy of an American author, was issued iu 1815. Irving's Knickerbocker's History of New York appeared in 1809, after which the author hvasi silent ten years, until the pub- lication of the Sketch-Book in 1819. During these ten years his style entirely changed; so that Irving himself may be said to belong to the time under consideration, while this one produc- tion ia of the earlier period. The influence of this isolated " work, however, waa great. It was the firstl American book to receive especial notice abroad; and its success, which^ Was toler- ably well-known by 1815, was a great source of encouragement toi American vmters. From this timei on, "Our Own Irving" was always mentioned as an example of what American letters might be. Bryant was a student of this early literature. In a letter written in 1818^ he mentions among the poets tiiat he has read, Dwight, Barlow, Trumbull, Humphrey, Honeywood, Clifton, Paine, Philip Preneau, and Prancis Hopkinson; and others with whom he waa not familiar, Hopkins, Dr. Ladd, and Dr. Ohurclu In July of the same year he published, in the North American Review, an Essay on American Poetry, a review of recent col- lection by Solyman Brown. This essay shows the cooler judg- ment of the time, and even surprises us by its soundness. Dwight and Trumbull, with whom Bryant heads his list, were members of the group known as The Hartford Wits, which flourished ia the eiiriiest years of the century. They attracted much attention for a time, but their fame was unusually short- lived. Other members of the same circle were Hopkins, Strong, Coggswell, and a little later, Mrs. Sigoumey. If LITEJRARy TENDENCIES. The summary of conditions that has already been given haa indicated most of the tendencies that might be expected to oper- ate in the course of literary development. KTo more need be said of the impulses derived from the classics, or from the ro- 1 Godwin, Life of Bryant, i., 154. 26 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN. mantle school; or of the selective tendency that took as models for American literature the best that had been produced in tho mother country. More important than all these was an intense literary self -consciousness, or what might be called a literary bumptiousness. It has already been seen how great was the growth of the national idea. The United States had shown ita ability by land and sea; it was showing its inventive genius, its commercial enterprise, its ability to push rapidly into the new territory of the west. Only the most pessimistic citizen doubted the future greatness of the nation. JSTow a truly great nation must have a great literature; and when this fact was recognized, there began a movement as definite as that toward a new canal, or the introduction of the railroad. It would be impossible to cite the speeches and maga- zine articles on the subject of a national literature put forth be- tween 1815 and 1830. Edward Everett's Phi Beta Kappa ad- dress delivered in 1825 is still read.^ But the discussion of the subject was goiag on ten years earlier. Bryant's Essay on 'American Poetry, already referred to, deals with the past only to look forward. It is often said that in matters of taste America was at this time in a state of servile dependence on England. The follow- ing, from Lounsbury,^ is a strong presentation of this view. The author is speaking of conditions in 1820. "The intellectual dependence of America upon England at that period [1820] is something that it is now hard to under- stand. Political supremacy had been cast ofE, but the suprem- acy of opinion remained absolutely imshaken. Of creative lit- erature there was then very little of any value produced: and to that littie a foreign stamp was necessaory, to give currency outside of the petty circle in which it originated. There was slight en- couragement for the author to write; there was still less for the publisher to print. It was indeed a positive injury ordinarily to the commercial credit of a bookseller to bring out a volume of 1 Works of Edward Everett, i., 9. ' Life of Cooper (American Men of Letters Series) ^ 18. CAIRNS — AMERICAN LITBRATTJRB FROM 1815 TO 1833. 27 poetry or of prose fiction which had heen written by an Ameri- can; for it was almost certain to fail to pay expenses. A sort of critical literature was struggling, or rather gasping, for a life that was hardly worth living; for its most marked characteristic was its servile deference to English judgment, and dread of Eng- lish censure. It requires a painful and penitential examination of the reviews of the period to comprehend the utter abasement of mind with which the men of that day accepted the foreign es- timate upon works written here, which had been read by them- selves, but which it was clear had not been read by the critics whose opinions they echoed. Even the meekness with which they submitted to the most depreciatory estimate of themselves was out-done by the anxiety with which they hurried to assure the world that they, the most cultivated of the American race, did not presume to have so high an opinion of the writings of some one of their countrymen as had been expressed by enthusiasts, whose patriotism had proved too much for their discernment. J^Tever was any class so eager to free itself from charges that im- puted to it the presumption of holding independent views of its own. Out of the intellectual character of many of those who at that day pretended to be the representatives of the highest educa- tion in this country, it almost seemed that the element of manli- ness had been wholly eliminated; and that along with its sturdy democracy, whom no obstacles thwarted and no dangers daunted, the New World was also to give birth to a race of literary cow- ards and parasites." Those who make such statements only repeat what was charged in the periodicals of the time, vnthout recognizing that the fact of its being charged so freely, and often in such an ex- aggerated manner, is proof of its untruth. Doubtless two- thirds or three-fourths of the literary journals then published, di- rected such accusations against their contemporaries; and similar complaints are not uncommon in addresses, prefaces to books, etc. A few typical examples will be sufficient. The Ycmkee and Boston Literary Gazette,^ speaks of a con- 1 Volnme ii., page 13, (1829). 28 BULLETIN OP THE ITNIVBaSITT OP WISCONSIN. temporary as "Trying to set us free from oiir deplorable and ab- ject litBTary vassalage." The Literary and Scientific Repository,^ says, more moder- ately: "It would, lioweveir, be well worth, our while to consider, whether the barbarous natedness of literature, with which they have charged us, and which is in some respects undeaiiable, be not owing rather to fastidiousness of taste, than to paucity of talent among us; whether being without the advantages of the LQstitutions and the associations by which foreign talent has been developed, we have not affected the difficulty of being pleased, which belongs to palates already satiated with literary luxuries; whether we have not aped the arts of the connoisseur, rather than imitated the productions of the artist: — if this be so, we have the faults of our own style of criticism to correct, as well as to resist the prejudice and the injustice of foreign liter- ary tribunals. "It is our business to nourish the stem, rather than to prune the tree. . . . If we could be brought to put the stamp of our own approbation upon our literary coin, without waiting for the image and superscription of the foreign potentates of taste, there would be more of it in the market; and we should grow richer by the liberality of our policy." The same journal,^ reviewing a forgotten poem, Ontwa, says: "Half of the trash which, sanctioned by the title of English novels, circulates through the union, paying its way as it goes, if it was of American origin, would meet with the contempt it de- serves." This feeling persisted to the very end of the period — ^if in- deed it may not be said to persist even today. The fcUowing is from the Western Monthly Magamie for 1883:* "Ji a paltry ignoramus writes a book of travels against us, who so indignant as we? If our flag is insulted, who so quick to re^ sent the affront? If John Bull undertakes to sell us calico 1 Volume ii., page 52, (New York, 1820). " Volume iy., page 86. ' Volame i, page 7, (Cincinnati) CAIKNS — AMERICAN LITEEATUKE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 29 cheaper than we can make it, who can declaim with such pa- triotic eloquence against the danger of being dependent upon foreigners? If an old maid in London, who has a few thousand pounds laid by to support herself and an interesting tom-cat in their old age, chooses to invest it in American bank-stock, with what disdain do we spurn the ignoble idea of enriching ourselves by the use of foreign capital! But while we thus resist and dis- claim foreign influence in matters merely pecuniary, how tamely do we submit to the domination of the British press! While we shrink from the contamination of their cash and their cotton- goods, neither of which could do us any great harm, with what apathetic indifference do we see their books distributed through- out the whole extent of our republic, and exerting a silent but powerful influence on the morals and taste of the country! Now we are very clear in the proposition, that if there is one article of native growth or manufacture, which we are solemnly bound to cherish against all foreign competition, that article would consist in the products of our native intellect. . Our lawyers, physicians, divines, and statesmen are inferior to none in the world; and our authors would be equally successful, if the same inducements were placed before them." It is undoubtedly true that the publication of books by Amer- ican authors was not very profitable;^ but this simply means that there was more money in pirating the works of Byron, Scott, Moore, and others, than in paying copyright to native authors of less ability. American writers had a set of contemporaries difficult to compete with. When they failed to secure the recognition that they felt to be their due they invariably raised the cry of servility to English criticism. That jealousy was at the bottom of lih© dharge may be seen by the fact that both Irv- ■ Goodrich, Recollections, ii., Ill: "It was positively injnrious to the commercial credit of a bookseller to undertake American works, unless they might be Morse's Geog- raphies, classical books, schoolbooks, or something of that class. Nevertheless, abont this time I published an edition of Trumbnll's poems, in two volumes, octavo, and paid him a thousand dollars, and a hundred copies of the work, for the copyright. , . , I quietly pocketed a loss of about a thousand dollars." 30 BULLETIN or THE UNIVERSITY OF WI8C0NHIN. ing^ and Cooper^ were accused of lack of patriotism as soon aa tlieir -writings acquorev.! a considerable sale abroad. The servility consisted simply in the disposition of the read- ing public to buy good books cheap. It was always some other journal than the one making the charge that was gmlty. And the few who did not indulge in this sort of recrimination may be searched almost in vain for examples of truckling to the literary judgment of England. At this very time the English and Scot- tish reviews were at the height of their power; and two or three attempts were made to republish selections from them in. this country.^ But there is no evidence that these reprints were eminently successful, or that those who read them were fully in accord with the views they expressed. There was an unceasing protest against the unfairness with which the English quarter- lies treated America. In 1819, Irving, though in need of money, declined an invitation to contribute to the London Quar- terly at 100 guineas an article, because that periodical had al- ways been hostile to his countrymen.* Even English criticisms on English authors were quoted to be condemned fully as often as to be approved. In many cases American reviews show hostility to English writers evidently for no other reason than that they are English.^ On the other hand, the tendency to praise American authors was, if anything, excessive. Every one of the exaggerated laudations of popular 1 Cincinnati Literary Gazette, March 5, 1825 : " Mr. Irving has done much to lessen our self respect. He could not submit his works to the test of his native air ; his genius must be fanned by the breath of royalty. He could not rise or fall with Ms countrymen ; but must engraft himself upon a foreign stock, till he almost lose his original taste, and become an exotic at home." Literary and Scientific Repository, iv., 86: " Was the author of the Sketch Book so caressed and flattered till the English writers gave us the clue 1 " " See Lonnsbury, Life of Cooper, Chapters viii., ix. ' The Atheneum or Spirit of the English Magazines, Boston, 1817 ; and the New- Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, Philadelphia and New York, 1821 : the latter a literal reprint of the London magazine of the same name. * Warner, Life of Irving, p. 117. " As examples, see a review of Blackwood's Magazine in the Atlantic Magazine, ii., 156 (New York, 1817) ; of The Lament of Tasso, in American Monthly Magazine and Re- view, i.,;422 (New York, 1817) ;'of Marino Faliero, in Literary and Scientific Repository, i., 91 (New York, 1821) ; and of Precaution, Ibid., ii., 371. CAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 31 ■writers already quoted^ can be paralleled by munerous effusions regarding American autbors. Only one or two examples can be cited bere. Tbe first is from a review of Tales of a Traveler in the Atlan- tic Magazi/nev^ "Irving bas tbrown off, for tbe amusement of tbe reading public, wbicb, in tbis country, comprises two-tbirds of tbe adult population, anotber series of tales, wbicb will be pe- rused by all ages, sexes, and conditions, until Englisb literature becomes a dead letter." Anotber specimen, interesting botb because it is from New England and because it is so late in tbe period, is to be found in tbe Hew England Magazine, for 1831.* Tbis is nominally a review of Lectures on American Literature, by Samuel L. Knapp, but it is very largely a glorification of America, and an attack on ber calumniators. It treats of tbe beauty of Amer- ican women, tbe great longevity induced by tbe climate, tbe great excellence of O'Ur domiestio animals, and the stature of Americans — ^gravely referring to one man wbo was six feet nine incbes tall as if be were a typical specimen. Tbe reviewer says: "Long after tbe puny revilers of American genius sball bave supplied tbe grocer witb wrappings and tbe book-worm witb food, tbe Lectures on American Literature will bave a place in tbe library of tbe American scbolar and minister to tbe instruc- tion of American youtb." Tbese lectures tbemselves are interesting. Tbey treat of al- most everytbing but American literature, of wbicb very little is said. Finally, it migbt be said tbat tbe cbarge of servility to Eng- lisb taste at tbis time involves a self-contradiction. England was in tbe midst of a confused literary controversy. Tbere weoje ultra-conservatives, moderate conservatives, and radicals and iimovators of aU sorts and degrees. It must be a fastidious reader wbo could not find among tbem all, some witb wbose doc- J Byron, p. 16 ; Moore, p. 18, note ; Mrs. Hemans, p. 17, note. • Volume i., page 390. • Volume i., page 390. • Volame i., page 115, 32 BULLETIN OF THE tJNIVERSITT OF WISOONSIN. trines of taste lie would agree. To say simply tliat Ameriea fol- lowed England could mean little unless it meant tliat tlie Amer- icans were abject enough to admire English, authors and at the same time to admire the reviews that abused them. This feeling of literary independence was especially marked in the west, where it was nourished by the free spirit of the pio- neer, and by persistent traditions of earlier conflicts. It seems also (but one cannot speak with much certainty) to have been stronger in New England than in New York and Philadelphia, which were now in closer commercial touch with the mother coimtry. The disposition to be too self-assertive doubtless did a good deal of harm to the cause of American letters; but it must not be supposed that it was always carried to excess. Lowell con- veys a wrong impression when he says:^ "Criticism there was none, and what assumed its function was half provincial self- conceit, half patriotic resolve to find swans in birds of quite an- other species." Criticism there was a great deal, and much of it was of a surprisingly high grade. Some of the laudations and invectives that have been cited as extreme examples show by the very English in which they are written that they are not repre- sentative of the best judgment of the country. To a consider- able extent they were the result of an attempt to imitate the slashing style of the British periodicals. But there was pro- duced a considerable body of critical writings of which no nation need have been ashamed. The reader is continually surprised to find American criticisms which pronounce verdicts almost identical vdth those which have been given by the subsequent judgment of seventy-five years — verdicts not alone on the right of books to hold a place in literature, but on the nature of their merits and defects. This is especially true in case of English works, where, as has already been said, distance gave a chance for a fair view. Such comparisons are always dangerous; but it is probably not rash to say that the judgment of today upon Byron, Wordsworth, Scott, and others, was more accurately ex- > Toast, " Onr Literature." CAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 33 pressed by tlie best American criticism than in any reviews of their works that appeared in Great Britain during the same time. Literary self-consciousness showed itself not only nationally, but locally and individually. A great nation, with a great lit- erature, must have a center of culture; and why should not this distinction fall to Boston, or ISTew York, or Cincinnati, or any other postoffice where an aspiring poet chanced to get his mail? The standard formula seems to have been "Athens of " and one or more cities in every state and section were self-styled in this way. Boston was spoken of as "The Literary Emporium" in 1824.^ Cities were no more modest in showing forth their virtues than they are today. The prospectus of the American Quarterly Review says:^ "Philadelphia has within herself a large fund of talent, erudition, and science — ^larger perhaps than any other American city can boast." Judging from the context this statement is intended to be modest. A great literature must be produced by great writers; and the course of reasoning in the minds of many prospective authors seemed to be: Since American literature is all to be written, why should not I be its Homer, or its Shakespeare, or at least its Addison? These were in most cases the men of smaller ability, though Cooper had something of the feeling. But those who were modest enough to doubt their own greatness were eagerly looking for the prophets to appear. One amusing illustration of the serious way in which our lit- erature was looked upon may be found in the attempt to estab- lish an American Academy of Language and Belles Lettres. A circular dated Oct. 1, 1820, says:^ "The objects of such an in- stitution which directly present themselves, are, to collect and interchange literary intelligence; to guard against local or for- eign corruptions, or to correct such as already exist; to settle varying orthography; determine the use of doubtful words and phrases; and generally, to form and maintain, as far as prac- ticable, an English standard of writing and pronunciation, cor- 1 S. Longfellow, Life of H. W. LongfeUow, i., 37. " Philadelphia, 1827. » Literary and Scientific Repository, ii., 68. 3 34 BULLETIN OP THE DNIVERSITT OF WISCONSIN. rect, fixed, and uniform, tlirouglioiit our extensive territoiy. Connected -witli this, and according to future ability, may be such rewards for meritorious productions, and such incentives to improvement in the language and literature of our country, and in the general system of instruction, as from existing circum- stances may become proper." To guard against misapprehen- sion, it is stated: '^t is not designed, independent of England, to form an American language, farther than as it relates to the numerous and increasing names and terms peculiarly Ameri- can." The plan of the organization was as follows: 'Tilembers to be divided into three classes, Resident, who reside in New York; Corresponding, those whose distance prevents their regular at- tendance; and Honorary, those at home or abroad whom the body may think proper expressly to admit as such." Corre- sponding members were to vote en all propositions by writing. The statement of objects is followed by a very patriotic argu- ment in favor of such an Academy, which was said to be espe- cially necessary in the United States on account of the size of the country, and the danger that provincialisms might become troublesome. The headquarters of the Academy were to be iu New York. It was to start with 50 members, and the maximxmi membership was to be 120. The circular is signed by WiUiam S. Cardell, and is accompanied by a number of letters from men who had been asked to express their opinions of the scheme. One thinks it may be of great use in restoring "purity of taste," which he explains to be the proper recognition of Pope, Dryden,. .etc., as against contemporary English writers. Others suggest their own pet ways in which the organization may accomplish good; together these communications form an interesting dec- laration of literary independence. The Academy had a distinguished list of officers, though how they were chosen does not appear. They were: President, John Quinoy Adams; vico-presideaits, Hon. Brockholst Livingston, Hon. Joseph Story, Hon. Wm. Lowndes; oorr^ponding secre- tary, Wm, S. Cardell; recording secretary, Alex. McLeod, D. D. ; CAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATURE PROM 1815 TO 1833. 35 treasiirer, John Steams, M. D.; counselois, Daniel Web- ster, Thos. C. BrowneU, D. D., LL. D., John M. Mason, D. D., Joseph HopMnson, LL. D., Peter S. Du Ponceau, LL. D., John Angnfitin Smith, M. D., president of William and Mary College, Hon. John Lewis Taylor, chief justice of North. Carolina, Hon. Henry Clay, Washington Irving, James Kent, LL. D. ; Honor- ary members, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Jay, Chas. C. Pinckney, James Monroe, John Trumbull, LL. D. As has been said, the seat of the Academy was to be ia New York. In the North American Review^ Edward Everett, repre- senting the New England literary set, makes fun of the whole scheme, and finally calls it "One of the most signal displays of improfitable farce-making we have ever witnessed." Among other things, he accuses the promoters of usiag the names of persons without their consent. The society proposed a medal to Mr. Chas. Botta for his his- tory of the American revolution, also medals for the best history of the United States, book of reading selections, and best popular treatise on natural philosophy, or natural science. Its subse- quent history is lost in oblivion. Indeed it is hard to judge whether there were much more to the movement than the am- bitions of the corresponding secretary, of whose enthusiasm there can be no doubt. PERIODICALS. A still more significant indication of the self-conscious ten- dency, and indeed the most significant literary fact of the period, is the founding of magazines. The industries of book-publish- ing, tKJok-adveirtising, and book-selliTig had not reached their present development, and the issue of a volume by any one au- thor was rather more of an undertaking than it is today. A magazine, however, could be started with slight financial back- ing, and could be filled with short miscellaneous contributions by a variety of authors — material not suitable for publication in 1 Volnme liT., page 350 (1822). 36 BULLETIN OF THE tTNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. a more pretentious form. At this time no single periodical en- joyed the prestige now held by a few of our leading reviews and magazines. Naturally enough, there sprang up in almost eveiy city, and in many country towns, one or more publications repre- sentative of the literary culture and aspirations of that particu- lar locality. It is in these, rather than in the books of the time, that the student must trace the literary development of the na- tion. Writers on this period seem not to have realized the number of these periodicals, or their value as indications both of national characteristics and of local peculiarities. The studies in prep- aration for this paper, have been carried on almost entirely in the library of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin; and the number of such publications discovered in this one collection was a complete surprise, not only to the writer, but to all to whom he has shown the results of his investigation. It is very hard to decide where the line should be drawn be- tween newspapers and magazines. For the purpose of this study, periodicals in which the reporting of current events is made at all prominent have not been considered. On this prin- ciple, many religious and "family" papers have been excluded, even though they contain much literary matter. In cases of serious doubt, it has been assumed to a slight extent that a weekly was a newspaper unless it was clearly something else, while in case of a monthly the opposite has been assumed to be true. Scientific magazines have been included if they were in- tended for general readers, not if they were purely technical. A new series has been counted as a new magazine only in case no information could be obtained regarding the first series, or in case the magazine underwent a radical change. In the library of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin the vmter has found 13Y periodicals begun between 1815 and 1833 which, according to the above test, he has considered as "lit- erary." It must be remembered that this is the result of investi- gation in one library alone, and it is impossible to say how far the list might be extended by research elsewhere. There are no CAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATUEE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 37 complete check-lists or other guides for buyers of these periodi- cals, and catalogues of other libraries are not so arranged as to show readily what they include in this line. As far as can be judged from the meager data gained by inspection of lists and by correspondence, no library surpasses that of the Historical Society of Wisconsin in the number of these periodicals; but it is certain that this collection is not yet even approximately complete. The writer hopes that the publication of this study may make it easier to acquire more data regarding our early periodical literature. In Poole's Index to Periodical Literature axe catalogued 31 periodicals that had their beginnings in this period, 29 of which are found in the library of the Wisconsin Historical So- ciely.^ For convenience, a list of these journals is given in Ap- pendix A. The remaining 108 periodicals, to be found in this library, are listed in Appendix B. Appendix contains a mis- cellaneous list of periodicals that have not been seen, and that are therefore not included in the tabulations that follow. Some of these are known to have been established between 1815 and 1833; others were issued during this period, but the exact date of founding is not known. Of the 139 periodicals that have been examined, about 50 were religious in character; half a dozen were organs of reforms, such as temperance, colonization of the negroes, etc.; and per- haps an equal number were devoted almost exclusively to science and the arts. The rest were more purely literary. The religious periodicals may well be counted with the others because they have a literary as well as a religious character. Many of them review books of general literature, comment on events of general interest, and study the intellectual move- ments of the time in their relations to religious thought. They were produced, not by a religious impulse or by a literary im- pulse alone, but by both acting together. They vary from 4 to 250 pages to the issue, and differ almost as widely in character as in size. Some were scholarly reviews, displaying an amount 1 The two not in this library are the American Inetitnte of Instruction and the Seleat Jonmal. 88 BTTLLKTIN OF THE UNIVBESITT OP ■WISCONSIN. of erudition that appalls a modem reader.^ Several were de- voted to the controversy between the Unitarians and the Oongr©- gationalists; and one to a similar difference among the Quakers.^ Several were denominational organs; and several were published in the interests of missionary societies — especially during the latter part of the period, when the missionary movement had gained considerable force. There were also two or three Sun- day-school papers, the predecessors of the great number that are published today; but evidently distributed to regular sub- scribeirs, and not as premiums for attendance. In tbe West, ex- act theological discussions hiad a lesser place. Magazines were smaller in bulk, and were sometimes less reserved in tone than those in the East — ^the emotional element in religion receiving more attention.* Of the scientific and technical ioumals nothing need be said except that they illustrate the interest in all branches of knowl- edge. The rest of the list is composed of reviews and miscellaneous literary and family journals. A number of magazines, among them those in the West, were of a general character, and contained fiction, reviews, poetry, scientific articles, and miscellaneous es- says;* but there was a tendency, especially among tbose indexed in Poole, to be ambitious, and to engage in religious controversy, or to settie weighty matters after the manner of the Quarterly and the Edinburgh. The American Quarterly Review, of Phila- delphia, was avowedly modeled after these journals. For an 1 For example, the American Biblical Repository, with Hebrew index, G-reek index, and English index to each volume. • The Friend. * The Calvinistic Magazine, Rogersville, Tenn., 1827, contains the following dedication : " To thy cause, Trinne Jehovah, we devote this work. May thy blessing go with it. May sinners be brought to the Saviour, saints advanced in the divine life, and thy king- dom promoted.— And when the dead, small and great, shall stand at thy bar, O may the readers and conductors of this work, with robes washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb, enter into the joy of their Lord, and swell the anthem of redeem- ing love, when earth and time shall be no more," This could hardly be paralleled from an eastern magazine of the time. ♦ Examples are the Western Review and the Western Monthly Magazine ; and, in the East, the Atlantic Magazine, the New England Magazine, and the North American Re- view for the first few volumes. OAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 39 extreme example of American heaviness, the reader has only to refer to this review, each number of which contained 250 im- inviting pages in fine type. For the ladies there were many lighter magazines, with or vyithont colored fashion-plates. These were always advertised as "highly moral." They usually contained some poetry (Mrs. Sigoumey being the favorite author), some "advice," and a considerable amount of slow fiction, in which nature was always described at its loveliest, and virtue always received its reward. All gave lists of marriages, and a few of them brief summaries of other events. They covered the field occupied to- day by a host of papers ranging from the LaMes' Home Journal to the Isfew York Weekly and the Fireside Companion} Another class of magazines aimed to educate the masses. The editor of the Family Magazine, ISTew York, 1833, begins an announcement: "Undertaking, as we do, to furnish a system of general^ knowledge, ." The headings in this journal are ISTatural History, Literature, History, Mythology, Biography.^ Along the same line were the "Libraries," cheap reprints, in per- iodical form, of standard books. Two of these were started in Philadelphia in 1833,* one publishing somewhat heavier works than the other. Two or three early attempts at college journal- ism are also included in the Ust.^ Hope must have sprung eternal in the breasts of the editors and publishers of these magazines, or they would have foreseen the failure that almost surely awaited them. A few ventures, like the North American Review, met a need, and finally estab- lished themselves on firm footing. Some, especially among the religious magazines, were organs of denominations or societies, and so were assured of contributors and subscribers. The great 1 See the Ladies' Magazine and Literary Gazette, Godey's Lady's Book, the Boston Pearl, the New York Mirror, the Casket, etc., etc. * Italics those of the original. ' See also the People's Magazine, the Family Lyceum, the Cabinet of Instraotion, Literature, and Amusement. * Waldie's and Greeabank's. ' The Virginia Museum and Journal of Belles Lettres, University of Virginia ; th» Literary Tablet and the Literary Focus, Miami. 40 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. majority, ho-wever, came into existence as the result of mis- guided enthusiasm, and resulted in literary and financial bank- ruptcy. Every one was ready to admit that a literary magazine was a good thing, but few had the ability, and fewer the time, to furnish readable articles. "We take no pride in writing it all ourselves," says one struggling editor,* a few months after his prospectus* has dwelt on the wide scope of his magazine, and the long list of able contributors whose aid was assured. His exper- ience was that of the majority. Calls for contributions were so frequent that the ingenuity of the editor was taxed to devise new wordings. Gentlemen whose early opportunities had been neglected were urged to send in their producticns with the as- surance that details of spelling and grammar would be attended to in the office. Still the contributions did not come. One man* wrote all the first number of the North American Review except one poem. Of course this state of things did not con- tinue long in case of the North American, and the editor soon had the luxury of being able to decline contributions. Doubtless subscriptions were even harder to secure than arti- cles; but of this we hear little until the journal closes its career with a mournful valedictory,* or suddenly comes to an end with- out any explanation. The fate of previous attempts did not in the least discourage those who had new plans. Men could not believe that a coun- try so great as ours was destined to be would not support a In- timate literary enterprise. The following analogy, used in the announcement of a new magazine, is illustrative of hopefulness, if not of logic: "It is true that the magazines which have been mentioned by name, and many others, were successively discon- tinued; but this no more proves that they were not extensively 1 Illinois Monthly Magazine, i., 144, ' This prospectus is an interesting piece of flowery western prose. The objects of the magazine are set forth at length. Among other things the reader is told : " We wish to collect the scattered rays of intelligence which are dispersed over our country, and by eoncentrating those beams which are now glimmering singly and feebly, to produce a steady brilliance which may illumine the land." The magazine survived two years. " Tudor. * The one in the last number of the Western Review is very good. CAIENS — AMERICAN LITEBATTJRE FKOM 1815 TO 1833. 41 ue«ful, than the death or removal of a minister proves that hi» labors, through a long succession of years, were of no value to his people, or to the church at large. "^ Editors went from the failure of one enterprise to the beginning of the next with con- fidence undiminished. The geographical distribution of these periodicals will be con- sidered later. The distribution by years is shown in the follow- ing table: PERIODICALS FOUNDED EACH YEAR FROM 1815 TO 1833. Year. In Poole. ]!^ot in Poole, Total. 1815 1 2 3 1816 4 4 1817 9 9 1818 1 5 6 1819 3 2 5 1820 1 1 2 1821 ....* 5 5 1822 1 5 6 1823 5 5 1824 1 9 10 1825 3 1 4 1826 2 6 8 1827 , 2 8 10 1828 3 15 18 1829 2 4 6 1830 1 9 10 1831 4 2 6 1832 1 8 '9 1833 5 S 13 -I At first glance this table seems to signify little. A closer examination reveals the existence of a period of activity from about 1816 to 1818; a period of depression following this, until about 1826; and a considerable activity from this date till 1833' (and afterward). The six journals beginning in 1822 and the ten in 1824 were not of such a nature as to be very signifi- 1 Spirit of the Pilgrims, i., 4. 42 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. cant.^ The enthusiasm following the war led to the immediate establishment of a large number of periodicals; the failure of these produced a temporary reaction; and a decade later the movement was resumed. A considerable number of the maga- zines begun in the later years of the period were religious. Of this time also are most of the attempts to enlighten the masses* and a considerable number of the lighter and ladies' magazines.* THE ANNUALS. As if the magazines were not numerous enough to give every aspiring author a chance to publish his work, further opportunity was given by the annuals. These were gift-books with fanciful titles* and elaborate bindings, containing light miscellany in prose and verse, and usually a number of engravings. They made their appearance just before the holiday season, and were the fashionable remembrances of the day. The idea was borrowed from England,'' and is traced by some back through the French to Germany; but it found an excellent opportunity for development in a country where eveiy one was anxiously looking for the coming of a national literature. The number of these books increased year by year, until the fad died as all fads do. Probably the only survival today is to be found in the elaborate volumes issued by the students of some 1 Amon^ them were, in 1822, the Masenm of Foreign Literature, Philadelphia ; the Theological Review aad General Repository of Religious and Moral Information, Bal- timore : the Pilgrim, or Monthly Visitor, New Haven ; the Utica Christian Repository ; the Ohio Miscellaneous Museum, Lebanon ; and the Minerva, or Literary, Entertaining , and Scientific Journal, New York; in 1824, the Telescope, New York; the Christian Telescope, Providence ; the Evangelist, Hartford ; the Rural Repository, Hudson, N. Y. ; the Columbian Historian, New Richmond, Ohio; the Canadian Review, MontreaL * The Cabinet of Instruction, Literature and Amusement, 1828 ; the Family Lyceum, 1832; the Select Circulating Library, Greenbank's Periodical Library, the People's Magazine, the Family Magazine, 1833. ' The Philadelphia Album and Ladies' Literary Portfolio, the Souvenir, the Casket or Flowers of Literature, Wit and Sentiment, 1827 ; the Ladies' Magazine and Literary Gazette, the Worcester Talisman, 1828 ; the Rochester Gem, 1829 ; Godey's Lady's Book, 1830 ; the Boston Pearl, the Cincinnati Mirror and Western Gazette of Literature and Science, 1831 ; the Magnolia, or Literary Tablet, 1833. * Among those for 1829 were the Token, the Pearl, the Talisman, the Atlantic Sou- Tenir, the Remember Me, the Casket, the Literary Souvenir, the Western Souvenir. * Readers of George Eliot will recall a reference to them in Middlemarch. CAIRNS— AMERICAN LITERATURE PROM 1815 TO 1833. 43 colleges; ttougli the "magazinelets" of the last few years ex- press the same spirit. Some of these year-books depended mainly on the arts of the printer and the binder for their attractiveness, while others had more merit. Almost all our better authors contributed to them, as did Tennyson and many others in England; but one or two well-known names were used then as now to float a good deal of trashy material. Among the best for literary merit, though not remarkable for mechanical excellence, is The Talisman, written by Bryant, Verplanck, and Sands, and illustrated by Inman, S. F. B. Morse, and others. This was issued for three years, 1828, 1829, and 1830. EFFECTS OF THE SELF-CONSCIOUS TENDENCY. Introspection regarding liter£.ry matters had its advantages. It was no doubt well that the nation should be stimulated to an interest in letters, and better that it should b© stim- ulated by foolish ideas than not at all. But there were also dis- advantages. Extreme self-consciousness in literary matters is not conducive to the best employment of individual talent, and during the time under consideration no great Kterary mas- terpiece was produced. It is noticeable that no writers of that day are now read more than Irving and Bryant, who were among those least carried away by extravagant notions. HASTE. The reason why so many of these early productions have not survived may be found not so much in lack of genius as in haste and carelessness in composition. A tendency to rush into print cannot be counted unnatural in a new country, where all is activity, where few men have the means for lives of leisure, and where in many cases time for careful revision can- not be found. In this connection it is noteworthy that many authors of this time were engaged in commercial pursuits. Halleck was a clerk in a counting-house; Drake was "in merchandise," and, 44 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVEHSITT OF ■WISCONSIN. after he studied medicine, conducted a drug store in connection with his practice; Charles Spragu© was for many years a bank cashier in Boston; Payne began life as a clerk, and Pierpont ■was at one time a merchant. Charles P. Clinch,^ once well known as critic, dramatist, and poet, was in early life secretary to a shipbuilder, and for nearly half a century was deputy col- lector of the port of New York. On the other hand, the proportion of authors from the pro- fessions of law and divinity was smaller than might have been expected. The theologians were engaged in their contro- versies, and had little time for general literature. Perhaps the brightest lawyers found their most congenial activity in poli- tics. Professors in the colleges contributed their fair share of reviews and special articles to the magazines, but published little else. It must be remembered that whatever the life of the average college professor may be today, it was not one of leisure then, as may be seen by a glance at the number of sub- jects taught by one man.^ The remuneration that authors received for their works was not enough to make literature possible as a means of support, •except for a few favorites, like Irving and Cooper. In many cases nothing was paid for magazine articles, and the compensa- tion was probably never great.^ As is so often the case, the amounts received for literary productions were determined by almost anything except the merits of the writings themselves. Bryant set the price of $2 upon each of his shorter poems in 1 Wilson, Bryant and his Friends, 394. ^ In 1830 Harvard had but 16 members on the instrnctional force, and Yale 14. The fac- ulties of the smaller colleges averaged hardly half as many. ' The Announcement of the Christian Advocate for 1823 says : " Account or apologize- for it as we may, it is still a fact deeply to be regretted, that in our country literary labour has hitherto received no adequate remuneration. This is the real cause that so fev books of solid value, of whatever description, have been written and published in th» United States ; and it is the acknowledged cause that periodical publications have so often been deficient in merit and short in duration. As a matter of justice, then, and believing that in this, as in every other concern, equity and true policy are inseparable,, it has been determined that for every composition inserted in the Christian Advocate^ the author, unless he voluntarily declines it, shall receive a pecuniary compensation to the full extent as liberal as the avails of the work vrill permit." Italics are those- of ,the original. CAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 45 1822;^ and his earlier volumes brought in nothing worth con- sidering. On the other hand, George P. Morris, who, with his writings, is now forgotten, could sell a song unread for $50 at any time; and in 1825 wrote Briar Cliff, a drama, for the copyright of which he received $3,500.^ John Howard Payne also received handsome Gums for his dramas. Trum- bull got $1,000 for the copyright of a single edition of his poems, tho'Ugh his publisher lost money by it.* These men. caught the popular ear, and were paid for popularity; but there were not many such. Much of the best work was done with- out thought or possibility of remuneration. Of writers who could fairly be called literary men, a large number were actively connected with the periodical press, either holding positions on the staffs of daUy papers, or editing some of the numerous magazines and reviews.* In nearly all cases the editor had a financial interest in the periodical, and in some instances undertook the entire business management. Such a life must have been even less conducive to repose than that of a broker's clerk or a bank cashier. These positions were not sinecures. In 1822 Sedgwick writes regarding the editor of the Atlantic Magazine: "Bliss and White, his publishers, are liberal gentlemen; they pay him $500 a year, and authorize an expenditure of $500 more." This latter figure gives a basis for somia interesting computa- tions as to the pay of contributors. The tendency toward haste was increased by other causes, one of which was the desire to get into print before any one else, and so secure a place with the fathers of American liter- ature. Still more important was the influence of English writers. As has been seen, the most popular were Scott, By- ron, and Wordsworth. The example of all these, if not in 1 Godwin, Life of Bryant, i., 192. ' Wilson, Bryant and his Friends, p. 403. ' See note, p. 29. *Dana, Bryant, Poe, Sands, Wm. L. Stone, N. P. Willis, and Samuel Woodworth were a few of the best known men who were engaged in editorial work. It is evident that if every magazine started dnring this time had a " man of letters" as editor, the supply must have been pretty well exhausted. 46 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. favor of quantity rather than quality, was certainly not in favor of careful revision. Early literary success in this country had a similar influence. Cooper wrote as profusely as did Soott,^ and had a dazzling popularity. Irving's model, after 1815, was the Addisonian essay; and this, though not in re- ality easy to write, is likely to seem so to the inexperienced reader. Probably the widest success m poetry was attained by the Croaker papers, dashed ofE from day to day to hit the pre- vailing foibles. Traditions of work done rapidly were carefully preserved. The Old Oaken Bucket is said to have been composed in less than half an hour, on an inspiration derived from a remark at a dioner party.^ Goodrich, in his Recollections,^ tells with much gusto of the composition of Brauiard's once famous lines to Niagara, the points most emphasized beiag that the poem was written in twenty minutes, and that Brainard had never been within five hundred miles of the falls. Admirers o^f Ifeal tell that: "Between October, 1821, and March, 1822, he wrote and published no less than eight large duodecimos, be- sides writing for the Telegraph newspaper and the Portico magazine, and studying, after a desultory fashion, four or five languages."* Bryant stands almost alone in the practice of withholding his poems until they had been subjected to his own cool judgment; and in his critical writings he frequently felt it necessary to advise against lack of pains-taking. In .1 review article,® after speaking of haste as the besetting sin of the writers of the day in America, he says: "There is a re- spect due to the literary world which should restrain an au- thor from publishing his work before he has made it as per- fect as he is able; in like manner as the decorums of civilized society restrain us from ushering ourselves into a polite assem- bly with a long beard, an umbrushed coat, and dirty boots." 1 Between 1820 and 1830 he published 11 novels, besides other writings. ' Wilson, Bryant and his Friends, 379. ' Volume ii., page 148. * Scharfs History of Baltimore, p. 643. Logan was written in six or eight weeks ; Han. dolph in 36 days ; Seventy-siz in 27 days ; and Errata in 39 days. * A review of Pickering's Ruins of Paestum, North American Review, xix., 42, CAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 47 In marked contrast with his method stands that of a man like Percival, in -whose works a few passages of wonderful beauty are found lieipe and tlieire in masses of unrevised Byronic verse. GBOGKAPHICAL DIVISIONS. The distribution of magazines indicates pretty clearly the centers of literary activity. The three points of greatest inter- est iu the East are New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. In the "West, Lexington and Cincinnati made the greatest preten- sions to literary culture. Baltimore must be treated apart from the rest of the South. THE KNICKEKBOCKER SCHOOL. During these formative years the center of literary produc- tion was JSTew York. The material advance of the city just after the war has been seen; and commercial prosperity al- ways brings certain opportunities for literary workers. INew York was already a publishing center. The establishment of the Harpers dates from 1818. New York newspapers were soon admittedly the best in the United States. Her©^ too, were produced, — ^whether by chance or because of occult influ- ence, those who wish may speculate, — ^the two first American writers to win fame abroad. It was natural that young New England men like Bryant, who would naturally have gone to Boston, should be attracted by the advantages of the metrop- olis. Even men who continued to live in New England, like Dana, had many affiliations with the New York set; indeed, the same might be said of authors like Simms, who lived in the South, or like Poe, who lived nowhere in particular.^ The best remembered names of the Knickerbocker school are Irving and Cooper in prose, and Bryant, Halleck, and Drake in verse. To these should be added Sands, Paulding, Verplanck, Woodworth, Hillhouse, and many others, who, though now al- ' Both Dana and Poe are classed as Knickerbocker writers by Wilson, Bryant and his Friends. Simms' presence in New York is often mentioned. 48 B&LLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. most forgotten, were once mentioned with tke greatest names of English literature.^ J^ew York in these days was of course not the unwieldy metropolis that it is now. Men knew each other better, and young men of talent had plenty of opportunity to make ac- quaintances. Several clubs were in existence, modeled some- what on those of Addison's time. One of these, the Bread and Cheese Club, founded by Cooper, was frequented by emiaent lawyers, artists, professors in Columbia College, and writers like Percival, Halleck, Hillhouse, and Sands.^ At a Kttle later time the Sketch Club, or the XXI., included some of the same men, among tho members being Bryant, Verplanck, Halleck, Henry, and John Inman, S. F. B. Morse, Hillhouse, Cole, and Ingham. Meetings were often held at Hoboken, and here several mem- bers plamied and wrote The Talismcm.^ The Athenaeum so- ciety arranged for popular lectures on topics connected with art and literature. Bryant delivered a course under its auspices in 1820, on the subject of Poetry.*' The connection between artists and literary men seems to have been close. They mingled in the same clubs; Morse, Inman, AUston, and others turned their hands to verse and prose occa- sionally; and Bryant lectured on Mythology before the newly- founded Academy of The Arts of Design. The periodicals begun in Ifew York from 1815 to 1833 are given below, arranged by years. This list includes only those in Poole, and others that have been examined, and is of course incomplete. NEW YORK PERIODICALS. 1816. The Christian Herald. The Christian Eegister and Moral and Theological Re- view. , « 1 For a much longer list, mcludiag both earlier and later writers, see Wilson, Bryant «nd his Friends. ' Godwin, Life ot Bryant, i., 208. • Wilson, Bryant and his Friends, 400. ♦Synopses of these lectures are included in his collected works. CAIKNS AMERICAN LITERATURE PROM 1815 TO 1833. -49 1817. The Weekly Visitor and Ladies' Museum. Tlie American MontMy Magazine and Critical Review. Tke Christian Journal and Literary Kegister. The Evangelical Guardian and Eeview. 1818. The (American) Methodist Magazine. 1819. The Ladies' Literary Cabinet. The American Journal of Science. 1820. The Literary and Scientific Kepository and Critical Re- view. 1822. The Minerva, or Literary, Entertaining, and Scientific Journal. 1823. The New Yor]£ Mirror and Ladies' Literary Gazette. 1824. The Atlantic Magazine. The Telescope. 1825. The American Annual Register. 1827. The Olive Branch. 1828. The Critic: A Weekly Review of Literature, Fin© Arts and the Drama. The Cabinet of Instruction, Literature, and Amusement. The Home Missionary and American Pastor's Journal. The Eree Enquirer. The Atlas. The Sailor's Magazine and I^aval Journal. 1831. American Biblical Repository. 1832. The Spirit of Practical Godliness. American RaUroadi Journal and Mechanic's Magazine. The JSTew York and Richmond County Eree Press. 1833. American Monthly Magazine. Knickerbocker Magazine. The Eamily Magazine, or General Abstract of Useful Knowledge. The Mechanics' Magazine and Register of Inventions and Improvements. , " Unless some important periodicals are not included in this list — which is unUkely, — the purely literary publications of high grade were not so numerous as might be supposed. The ' 4 50 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN. varioiis ladies' magazines, cabinets, etc., were light ia cliarac- ter. In the early part of the period, the American Monthly Magazine and Critical i2eOTew,and later \he Literary and Scien- tific Repository and Critical Review, were serious and solid. The Atlantic Magazine was amalgamated after one year with an earlier periodical to form the New York Review and Athenaeum Magazine; and shortly afterward was merged with the U. 8. Gazette of Boston. Bryant and Sands were among the editors while it was stiU ia New York; and among the contributors were Halleck, Dana, Willis, Longfellow, Bancroft, and Caleb Gushing. The American Monthly Magazine and the KnicTcer- iocker Magazine were late attempts of a serious character. Although these magazines were not quite what might have been expected, there was plenty of opportunity for authors to publish. The daily papers were open to verses and sometimes to other work of a purely literary character. The Boston maga- zines were also wiHing to receive contributions of merit, and New York men made use of them freely. As has been said, Irving's Knickerbocker's History of New York appeared in 1809, and therefore belongs to an earlier per- iod. One of its chief missions was to show that the new world could produce a readable book. After the publication of this work the author was silent for ten years, until the advent of the Sketch-Book in 1819. In this sam.e year appeared the Croaker poems, by Drake and Halleck, satires on topics of the day, pub- lished in the Evening Post. The authorship was kept a secret^ and this no doubt increased the excitement which they caused. Today these poems seem flat enough; but we are told that they were the one topic of conversation in New York, and that men held their breath every day until the pr.per was issued, and it was known what person or fad had been lampooned.'^ In 1820 came Cooper's first novel. Precaution, and a year later his first marked success, the Spy. Bryant's first volume of verse made its appearance in 1821.^ Other works issued ia these three 1 See J. 8, Wilson, introduction to Halleok's Works, page vii. ' His juvenile diatribe. The Embargo, was written in 1808, when the author was but 13 years of age. Thanatopsis was published in the North American Review for 1817, but had been composed earlier. OAIRNS — AMERICAN LITBRATTTKE PROM 1815 TO 1833. 51 years were Halleck's Fanny, Verplanck's Bucktail Bards, Dana's Idle Man, the first edition of PerciTal's poems, and two dramas by Hillliouse. It has been seen tbat after 1818 came a period of depression, so to speak, in the industry of founding magazines. It is prob- able that the success of American "writers in these years restored confidence, and led to the activity in starting periodicals that has been noticed for a later period. BOSTON. Although the first place is due to ]N'ew York, so far as literary achievements at this time are concerned, it must not be supposed tiiat Boston was inactive. Both before and after this period her literary eupremaey was undoubted. Just now she freely con- ceded the superior genius of the Knickerbocker writers.^ But it was claimed, perhaps with justice, that the New Eng- land city was the seat of a truer and more widely diffused cul- ture than was to be found anywhere else in America. The Boston journals that have been examined are: BOSTON PBEIODICAIiS. ri 1815. North American Eeview. 1817. The Atheneum or Spirit of the English Magazines. The New England Galaxy and Masonic Magazine. 1818. The American Baptist Magazine and Missionary Intel- ligencer. 1819. Christian Disciple. 1822. The Boston Medical Intelligencer. 1824. Christian Examiner. 1S25* United States Literary Gazette. Boston Monthly Magazine. 1826. American Journal of Education. 1828. Spirit of the Pilgrims. 1 The New England Magazine, of Boston, for 1831-3 gave a series of " Literary Portraits" of American poets. The three given first are Halleck, Bryant, and Percival ; Chas. Spragne and Miss H. F. Gould follow, but the comments upon these indicate that they were not considered the equals of those mentioned before. 52 ' BULLETIN OF THE UNIVEESITT OF WISCONSIN. Tke Yankee, and Boston Literary Gazette. The Ladies' Magazine and Literary Gazette. 1830. American Almanac. Meclianic's Magazine and Journal of Public Internal Improvement. American Annals of Education and Instruction. 1831. American Institute of Instruction. New England Magazine. The Boston Pearl, a Gazette of Polite Literature. 1832. American Monthly Keview. The Family Lyceum. 1833. American Quarterly Observer. Select Journal. The People's Magazine. Boston led, even at tliis time, in the number and the character of her literary magazines.^ The relatively small number estab- lished in the early years of the period is significant of the depres- sion in New England just after the war. Before 1825 the North American was the only important journal of a strictly lit- erary type. After this date the United States Literary Gazette, the Boston Monthly Magazine, the New England Maga3ine,aii.i the American Monthly Review, though all shortrlived, were well-meant attempts to print literature of high grade. The United States Literary Gazette was edited by Theophilus Parsons. After ite amalgamation with the New York Literary Gazette in 1826, it became the United States Review and Liter- ary Gazette, and was edited successively by James G. Carter and Charles Folsom. Longfellow contributed both to this and to the 'American Monthly Magazine before he graduated from coll^5. The New England Magazine, published by J. T. and E. Buck- ingham, contains, among other articles of interest, the first two installments of the Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. 1 In Poole are indexed 12 periodicals of this time from Boston, 5 from New York, and 3 from Philadelphia. This proportion is in part accounted for by the excellence of the Boston publications, in part, no doubt, by the enthusiasm of some patriotic librarian. It is to be regretted that several other magazines, notably some from New York and Philadelphia, have-not been included and thus made available to the general student. CAIBNS — AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 53 The North American Review, established in the year witihi which this study begins, and continuing to the present time, ia worthy of especial consideration. It was founded by "William Tudor, a member of the Anthology Club, which published the Monthly Anthology from 1803 to 1811. Associated with Tu- dor in the early days were Puckminster, J. Q. Adams, G«orge Ticknor, Dr. John Sylvester, John Gardner, and others. Tu- dor wrote all the articles in the first number except one short poem. The Review was at first published every two months in numbers of 150 pages each; after the Yth volume it was issued quarterly. At first it was of a general literary character, but when it became a quarterly it ceased to publish poetry and gen- eral news. In 1817 control of the magazine passed to Judge Willard Phillips, and a little later to a group of yotmg men, mostly lawyers, who chose Jared Sparks as general manager. In 1819 Sparks went to Baltimore, and was succeeded by Ed- ward T. Ohanning. Soon after, the latter was appointed pro- fessor of rhetoric and oratory at Harvard, and Edward Everett assumed control. Dana had been associated with Ohanning, and was mentioned for editor, but "was considered too unpopu- lar."^ He resigned from the editorial staff, and left the Anthol- ogy Club. In 1822 the magazine was again transferred to Sparks, who managed it until 1830, when he was succeeded by Alexander H. Everett, brother of Edward.^ Possibly one reason why Boston produced so little of lasting literary value at this time was that the city was the center of the intense theological controversy that has already been noticed. Some of the brightest minds were engaged in this controversy, but the writings that resulted will never be read again except by the historical student. Next to Dana, who was somewhat erratic, and who never fitted in well with his contemporaries, perhaps the most popular writer was CharlesS^ague, the banker-poet. Sprague was famous as the author of several pieces of verse made to order, 1 Dnyckinck, Cyclopaedia of American Literature, ii. , 90. ' See an article by Poole in Hist, Mag, , iii. , 343. This gives a list of contributors from 1815 to 1859, with the date of the first contribution of each. 54 BtTLLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN, among tiieiri prologues for tke opening of theatres in New York and Philadelphia, a prize ode on Shakespeare, and a Phi Beta Kappa poem on Curiosity, usually considered his best. These are really very good of their kind; but the pride that Boston took in them and their author seems a little strange.'^ OTHEK NEW ENGLAND CITIES. Boston was the only reaUy important literary center iu New England. Next on the list, though not at all comparable, should come New Haven, the seat of a rival college. Since the literary life of a city at this time was pretty well shown by its periodicals, the following grouping of New England magazines is of interest: NEW ENGLAND PERIODICALS. New Haven. I8I9. Christian Monthly Spectator. 1822. Pilgrim, or Monthly Visitor. 1829. Christian Quarterly Spectator. Worcester. 1826. Worcester Magazine. 1828. Worcester Talisman. Andover. 1829. American Quarterly Eegister. Portsmouth, N. H. 1818. The Christian Herald. Hartford. 1821. The Eeligious Inquirer. 1824. The Evangelist. 1826. The Literary Casket. Supplement to the Connecticut Cou- rant. Cambridge. 1815. The Friend of Peace. It will be noticed that most of these were religious; and none were of especial literary value. The Worcester Magazine was devoted to local history. The Literary Gasket was rather light. The Supplement to the Connecticut Courant contained mis- cellaneous matter similar to much that is found in the best of the Sunday dailies at the present time. • For a "literary portrait" of Sprague, see the New England Magazine, iii., 89 (1832). OAIRNS — AMERICAN LITEEATURE PROM 1815 TO 1833. 55 PHILADELPHIA. 'Thiladelphia in 1800 was still the intellectual center of the nation."^ By 1815 this prestige had been lost; but the city waa still the home of much culture. The tone of its intellectual life differed from that of either New York or Boston, and was in- deed somewhat peculiar. This can perhaps be inferred from the nature of the periodicals in the following list: PHILADELPHIA MAGAZINES. 1817. The American Eegister, or Summary Eeview of His- tory, Politics, and Literature. 1818. The Quarterly Theological Eeview. The Latter Day Luminary. 1821. The Presbyterian Magazine. The Literary Gazette, or Journal of Criticism, Science, and the Arts. The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal. (London, reprinted in Phila.) 1822. Museum of Foreign Literature. 1823. The American Sunday School Magazine. The Christii^n Advocate. 1826. The Church Eegister. Journal of the Franklin Institute. The Album and Ladies' "Weekly Gazette. 1827. American Quarterly Eeview. The Philadelphia Album and Ladies' Literary Portfolio. The Souvenir. The Casket; or Flowers of Literature, Wit, and Senti- ment. 1828. The Eeligious Magazine, or Spirit of the Foreign The- ological Journals and Eeviews. The Eegister of Pennsylvania. The Friend. The Christian Magazine and Clerical Eeview. 1 Adams, History of the United States, i., U7. 56 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN. 1830. Godey's Lady's Book. The Protestant Episcopalian and Church Register. The Journal of Law. The Journal of Health. 1832. The North American Magazine. 1833. Greenbank's Periodical Library. The Select Circulating Library. It was the Philadelphia idea that things should be done thor- oughly and profoundly. The very sub-titles in the foregoing list — "Summary Review of History, Politics, and Literature," "Journal of Criticism, Sciertce, and the Arts," etc. — ^are indica- tions of this spirit of thoroughness. Possibly Franklin was in part responsible for the disposition to cover the whole ground of knotwledge, including science. The profundity of the Ameri- can Quarterly Review has already been noted.^ The Quarterly Theological Review printed nothing but reviews and a list of new publications — scorning all extraneous matter. There seemed to be a feeling that the best in the literature of the world should be made easily accessible to the inhabitants of the Quaker city. This is illustrated by the number of reprints — a foim of publication almost peculiar to Philadelphia.^ The va- rious ladies' magazines were much like others of their class, though possibly they aimed a little more at instruction and less at amusement than was usual. All these Philadelphia periodicals were filled, and on the whole ably filled, by local contributors. The average of the work done was very good; but the curse of respectable medi- ocrity was upon it all. Though there must have been ia the city a considerable number of men of culture and some ability, hardly a name has survived to the present. So long as commerce with the Mississippi valley was carried on by means of the Ohio river, Philadelphia was the center of ■ Page 38. > The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Joamal; the Museum of Foreign Litera- ture; the Religious Magazine, or Spirit of the Foreign. TheologicalJoumals and Ke- Tiews ; Greenbank's and Waldie's Libraries, CAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 57 civilization for a great part of the west, and hence exercised a strong literary influence in this region.^ BALTIMORE. From a literary point of view, the only important city south of Philadelphia was Baltimore. This had long been a center of Koman Catholic wealth and culture,^ and at this time it also contained a number of able protestant writers. The Delphian club was a literary organization which in 1818-19 issued a per- iodical known as the Red Booh, of which John P. Kennedy wa& editor. Among the other members were John Neal, Wil- liam Gwynn, Paul Allen, Jared Sparks, Kobert Goodloe Harper,. John Pierpont, Francis S. Key, Samuel Woodworth, and Wil- liam Wirt.^ Neal and Pierpont were northern men who came to Baltimore to start a dry goods store, and it was here that the former wrote his remarkable series of novels.* A little later he went to Lon- don. Pierpont's most famous work, the Airs of Palestine, was also composed in Baltimore just after the failure of the dry goods enterprise. Woodworth was also a northerner. Ken- nedy, a native of Baltimore, became prominent in politics later, servdng as Secretary of the iN'avy under Fillmore. He wrote Swallow Barn in 1832, and Horse-Shoe Robinson in 1835.® Another resident of Baltimore especially dear to the southern heart was Edward Co(l>te Pin^kney. He came of a distinguished southern family, his father 'having served as minister to the court of St. James. He entered the navy, but had to resign because he challenged his superior officer. For a time he 1 Note how great a proportion of the books reviewed in the Western Review, Lexing- ton, Ky., 1819-20, were published in Philadelphia. = The Metropolitan, i., 31 (1830): "Baltimore has, not improperly, been styled the Borne of the United States ; and, indeed, whether we consider the monuments of religion, rare and magnificent in their kind ; or the splendour of the ceremonies of the church ;. or the number, and respectability, and wealth, and piety, of those who profess the Catholic Faith ; there is no one who could question the justness of her claim, or attempt to deprive her of the glory of her title." > Schart, History of Baltimore, 642. * See p. 46. ' Hanly, Southern laterature, 204 ; Beers, Century of American Literature, 124. :58 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN. was professor of rhetoric and belles-lettres in tlie University of Maryland. Next lie went to Mexico, in the hope of entering the Mexican navy and serving in the war against Spain; but be- fore receiving his commission he killed a native officer in a duel, and was forced to flee from the country. He returned to Baltimore, in debt and suffering from disease, and died in 1828, at the age of 26. His remembered works are a few lyrics, notr ably "We break the glass," and, "I fill this cup to one made up of loveliness alone."^ Baltimore periodicals of this time that have been examined are as follows: BAXiTIMORB MAGAZINES. 1816. The Portico, a Kepository of Science and Literature. 1822. The Theological Keview and General Repository of Ee- ligious and Moral Information. 1830. The Metropolitan, or Catholic Monthly Magazine. The Portico was published by Edward J. Coale, and num- bered among its contributors Pin^kney and Key. The Theo- logical Review was edited by James Gray. It was protestant and non-sectarian, and according to the prospectus aimed "to take in literature and every other subject which operates directly upon the religious and moral opinions of the community." Scharf's History of Baltimore mentions the following literary periodicals as established in the city during the years covered by this study: The Itinerant, or "Wesleyan Methodist Visitor, 1828, by Mel- ville B. Cox. Bi-weekly. The Mt. Hope Literary Gazette, "conducted by one of the students of that institution," 1830. The Eed Book, 1819. The Emerald and Baltimore Literary Gazette, 1828. The Minerva, 1829. United with the last preceding. The National Magazine, or Ladies' Companion, a political ^ Beers, Century of American Literature, 180 ; Esmeralda Boyle, Biographical Sketches of Bistinguished Uarylanders, 228. CAIRNS AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 59 and literary monthly, 1831; by Mrs. Mary Chase Barney, daugh- ter of Samuel Chase. OTHER CITIES IN THE SOUTH. The South outside Baltimore may be dismissed almost with a •word. Says Professor Baskervill:^ "Before 1825 the physi- cal and economic conditions of the southern states were such as to render the production of a southern literature a practical im- possibility." This seems to have been literally true. The writers of the eighteenth century were still in vogue, and accord- ing to the eighteenth century fashion literature was looked upon as somewhat disreputable when chosen as a profession, though well enough as the recreation of a gentleman. For this reason, and because of the growing interest in sectional questions, young men of literary tastes drifted into politics, where they produced little of permanent worth. Simms is reported to have said: "1^0, sir, there never will be a literature worth the name in the sC'Uthem states so long as their aristocracy remains based on so many head of negroes and so many bales of cotton."^ Poe and Simms both published volumes of verse in 1827, but there was no school of southern writers, and no literary center farther south than Baltimore. In the anthologies of southern literature, this period is represented by a few selections from Poe and the Baltimore writers, a stray lyric or two, like Henry Wilde's® "My Life Is Like the Summer Kose," and by extracts from the speeches and writings of men loved in the South be- cause of their connection with the lost cause — among them Jef- ferson Davis, Kobert Toombs, and others.* The number of periodicals issued in the South, outside of Bal- timore, seems to have been small. The following have been ex- amined: 1 Publications Modern Language Association, vii., 93. 3 Ibid., 91. ' Wilde was an Irishman by birth, and prominent in Georgia politics, serving soma time in congress. * See Manly, Southern Literature^ Duyckinck, and Stedman & Hutchinson mention hardly a familiar southern name that is not made familiar through politics rather than through literature — excepting of course the Baltimore writers. 60 BULLETIN OP THE tINIVEESITY OP WISCONSIN. SOUTHERN PERIODICALS. Charleston. 1817. The Sunday Visitant, or Weekly Eepoe- itory of Christian Knowledge. 1828. Southern Keview. Eichmond. 1818. The Virginia Evangelical and Literary Magazine. Savannah. 1819. The Ladies' Magazine, Charlottesville. 1829. The Virginia Literary Museum and Journal of Belles Lettree, Arts, Sciences, &c. Bethany, Va. 1830. The Millenial Harbinger. Of these the most important v^as the Southern Review, which lasted but four years. The Yirginia Literary Museum, etc., was a college publication. THE WEST. In contrast with the inactivity of the South was the iaterest taken in literary matters in the West, It is no doubt fortunate that economic and political conditions at this time forced emi- gration from New England rather than from other sections of th© East. The descendants of the puritans combined a love of culture with their practical shrewdness, and, in spite of many "isms" and peculiarities, laid the foundation of what is best in the civilization of the West today. Schools and colleges were estab- lished wherever possible.^ Cities and towns whose names are now almost unknown outside their own county aspired to be cen- ters of letters and learning. The wide distribution of maga- zines is especially interesting: WESTERN MAGAZINES. Lexington, Ky. 1820. Western Eeview. 1829. The Transylvanian or Lexington Literary Journal. 1 See page 6. i CAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATURE PROM 1815 TO 1833. 61 Mt. Pleasant, O. Lebanon, O. New Eichmond, O. Knoxville, Tenn. Oxford, O. Kogersville, Tenn. Vandalia, 111. ■Cincinnati, O. 1824. The Cincinnati Literary Gazette. 1828. Western Monthly Keview. 1829. Sentinel and Star in the West. 1831. Cincinnati Mirror and Western Gazette of Literature and Science.^ 1833. Western Monthly Magazine. 1817. The Philanthropist. 1821. The Moral Advocate. 1822. The Ohio Miscellaneous Museum. 1824. The Columbian Historian. 1826. The Holston Messenger. 1827. The Literary Focus. 1828. The Literary Eegister. 1827. The Calvinistic Magazine. 1831. Illinois Monthly Magazine. * 1832. The Harbinger of the Mississippi Valley.2 Besides these journals, which have been examined by the ■writer, see the list in Venable's Beginnings of Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley, partly given in Appendix C. Haw and crude as the West was, there is a fin de siecle tone to these publications that is not found in the eastern magazines. The appeals for state aid to Transylvania University in 1821,* with their abstract remarks on the value of culture, and their statistics of the money spent in the state by students, might, with the change of a few figures, be taken for a similar request to a legislature in 1897. It is possible to read a western magazine without recognizing the difficulties under which it was pub- lished, until one finds apologies for issues delayed because paper shipped from Pittsburg in November did not reach its destina- tion until April,* or until one reads an article like the following, entitled "Literary Intelligence:"^ ' See Venable, Beginnings of Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley, page 125. ' See note, p. 80. ' Western Review, iv., 92. * Illinois Monthly Magazine, i., 288. « Ibid., i., 142, 144, 62 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. 'We have not a great deal to say under this head; because new booka are not remarkably abundant in Vandalia. Nor do we ex- pect to be able, at any time, to throw much light upon the pass- ing events of the literary world. But we intend to pick up all that we can. ... A work entitled the 'Political Class Booh,' written by Mr. Sullivan, has lately been published at Bos- ton: . . . We have not read it; but are informed that the style is pleasing, and well adapted to the subject." The difficulties of communication made the western maga- zines all the'.more important to the residents of the West. During the war and the years just following, Lexington, Ken- tucky, was the most prominent literary center west of the Alle- ghenies. This, it will be remembered, was the seat of Transyl- vania University; here were gathered a number of men of lit- erary tastes. A literary magazine was established here as early as 1803.^ The Western Review, by James Gibbs Hunt, was begun in 1819 and continued two years. This was well edited, not too ambitious, and is on the whole much more readable than most of its contemporaries. It contained, besides reviews and miscellaneous papers, articles on Indian antiquities, adventures among the Indians, anecdotes regarding the history of the West, and the geology, botany, etc., of Kentucky. Some of these weire written by members of the f acxdty of Transylvania University, some by army officers stationed in the West. The review departr ment was good', rjid its criticisms are an interesting reflection of western thought. It seems strange, even to one bom and edu- cated in the Mississippi valley, to read a review of Don Juan printed in the wilds of Kentucky only six months after the poem appeared. Among other works reviewed in the journal are Mazeppa, The SketclirBooh, and Halleck's Fanny. A few years later Cincinnati made the loudest, and probably the most successful claim to be "The Athens of the West." 1 The Medley. This very interesting journal continued but one year. Mr. Venable de. TOt«s several pages to this work in his Literary Beginnings of the Ohio Valley, and ex" presses the belief that the only copy extant is in the Lexington library. A complete volume, including twelve pages more than Venable ascribes to this copy, is in the library of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. OAIRNS AMERICAN LITERATURE PROM 1815 TO 1833. 63- The city had several newspapers, and some facilities for pub- lishing books. Only ISTew York, Boston, and Philadelphia can show a larger list of literary periodicals established between 1824 and 1833. The Western Monthly Review continued two years. In 1833 James Hall^ issued the first number of the Western Monthly Magazine, a continuation of the Illinois Monthly Magazine, which he had for two years been trying to keep alive at Vandalia. Shortly after 1833 there were several other magazines of interest. These received contributions from eastern as well as from western authors; in one, the reader is surprised to find a hitherto unpublished poem by Keats. The two publications at Mt. Pleasant were devoted to reforms. The Literary Focus and the Literary Register were edited at Miami University. The Illinois Monthly Magazine was one of the most typical of the western journals. Vandalia was at this time the capital of Illinois, and was considered a city of great promise. It was not to be expected that great works of literature would be produced under conditions like those that existed iu the West during pioneer days. Probably the best that was written found its way into the magazines; though some books were pubhsheid by westerners, and highly praised by both eastern and western reviewers. Among the most prolific authors was Timothy PHnt^ who wrote several sketches of western life. The student of to- day is chiefly interested in the fact that the West showed so quick and so keen an appreciation of the tendencies that have siuce be- come dominant in American literature. CHAKACTERISTICS OF THE LITERATURE OF THE TIME. The characteristics of the writings of these early years are not easy to summarize. It should always be borne in mind that these beginnings were not the product of one school or tendency in the mother country, but show the influence of every great English writer. The result was a good deal of a medley at first; 1 Hiram W. Beckwitb contributes a sketch of this pioneer of western letters to the- Chicago Tribune for Sept. 8, 1895. ^64 BULLETIN OP THE QNIVERSITT OF WISCONSIN. but the essential difference between Englisb and American lit- erature, so far as sucb a difference has existed in the last half century, is largely due to this fact. In prose, aside from fiction, Irving set the fashion with a modification of the Addisonian type. In other words, he chose what was best in the English writings of the eighteenth cen- tury, and adapted it to the new conditions. Attempts at the same style are to be found almost everywhere.^ Perhaps it was due to Addisonian influences, working through Irving, that the short stories of the day were so stale, flat, and unprofitable. Irving's bits of fiction seem to be mostly modifi- cations of the Addisonian essay, rather than real stories. Bip van Wmkle and Sleepy Hollow are exceptions to this statement, and it is because the are exceptions that they are the most popu- lar of his sketches. Following the same impulse, many other writers produced stories equally dull, and not half so genially told. Either it is possible to tell after the first few paragraphs exactly how the story will end, or the reader is asked to follow a long series of strange occurrences, only to find that it is "all a dream."^ Not quite all short stories were of this sort. At this time appeared studies in the psychologically horrible, a type which, in the hands of Poe and Hawthorne, became very effective. There had been enough of the purely horrible before; Charles Brockden Brown, for one, was famous for his use of it; but a story like Dana's Paul Felton^ is entirely different from this. In the latter, the horrors are real, no matter how they are ac- eounted for. The facts are stated, and the reader is left to choose between demoniacal possession and insanity, or — ^if he would get the strongest effect, — to think the one theory, and feel the other. How this treatment originated is uncertain. Possibly it 1 Take, for example, the papers in the Talisman. ' Illustrations may be found in any of the annuals ; or, for an example that will not be too wearisome, see Bryant*s early attempts at prose tales, reprinted in his collected works. ' First published in The Idle Man, CAIBNS — AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 65 came from the German;^ but tkere seems very sliglit evidence of this. Possibly it came from contemporary England, by car- rying out in prose what Coleridge hinted in verse. The writer inclines to the opinion that it was a natural American develop- ment from what had preceded. A literature of horrors seema to be a necessity. At times the mind craves something of the sort. Since the days of Walpole, horrors had been introduced without apparent explanation; or, in a few cases, had been ex- plained at the end of the story in some matter-of-fact way. The former plan could not satisfy the business-like American, with his increasing sense of scientific laws; the latter was flat. One course or the other seemed necessary so long as a physical ex- planation was sought for, but a psychological treatment obviated all difficulties. Perhaps the renewed interest in philosophy, and possibly something in the characteristics of the American, mind, should be taken into account. Longer prose fiction was generally patterned after Scott. Those who had not originality enough to follow Scott directly took Cooper's Americanized version as their model. Epics do not seem to have been attempted much, perhaps be- cause they would take too much time. Dramas, however, were common enough. Classical subjects seem to have had the pref- erence. The verse is almost uniformly bad, owing, Bryant thinks, in the case of Hillhouse, to the influence of Milton;^ more probably to the extreme artificiality of everything con- nected with these productions. Hillhouse and Pickering wrote some of the dramas that were most favorably received. Payne, less ambitious and more practical, actually prepared plays for liie stage. From one of these, Glari (1823), comes Horns Sweet Hrnne^—ahnost the only thing from the pens of these would-be dramatists that has survived.® 1 Brandl, Life of Coleridge, page 166, remarks that horrors continued popular in the drama between 1790 and 1800, but that there were fewer robbers, ghosts, tyrants, etc., and more inward convulsions of soul. This the author thinks was due in part to the revo- lution, when executions were of daily occurrence. ' North American Review, xi., 384. ' Others who wrote plays were Clinch, Ingersoll, Morris, and Woodworth. 5 66 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. In lyrie and elegiac poems the eclectic tendency operated most strongly, and all kinds of treatment were attempted. The fugitive verses in the magazines show the iafluence of Moore or of Byron, especially of such lighter work as the Hebrew Melo- dies. A common class of subjects was drawn from the idealized life of the Indians. The couplet of Pope was affected at first, but when an author escaped from it he rarely used it again. Though Halleck and others may have been more generally read, Bryant probably had more influence than any other na- tive poet. In Thcmatopsis and the Forest Hymn he came nearer than any one else to the creation of a national style of blank verse.^ His influence united with that of Wordsworth iu inspir- ing a love for nature in its more simple and quiet forms. Tfi the Buccaneer, Dana obviously takes a hint from Cole- ridge, and the music of the poem seems at times to echo Keats. Others of his poems at this time show traces of "Wordsworth and Cowper. Dana was also a conscious artist in verse, though he began to write rather late inl lifa^ In the preface to the first edition of his poems (1827) he pleads for liberty of versifica- tion, and comments on the monotony of Scott.* CLOSE OF THE PERIOD. The close of the period under discussion is marked by no such definite date as is the beginning; yet between the years 1830 and 1835 a change came over the spirit of the country. In these years occurred the revolutions in France, Poland, and Bel- gium, and the dissemiuation of the spirit of which they were the outcome — a spirit which in England took a different shape, and resulted in the passage of the reform bill and the abolition of slavery. Closely connected with this political upheaval was the • Bryant was a close student of the technique of poetry. As early as 1815 he wrote an assay on Trisyllabic Feet in English Verse, which Iwas later published in the North American Beview, His criticisms of poetry always comment on Tersiflcation. ^ •His first poem, The Dying Crow, was written in 1825, when he was 38 years of age. At Bryant's suggestion the title was changed to The Dying Baven, as it now stands. The Buccaneer was completed in 1826 or 1827. ■ See also several of his letters to Bryant. CAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 67 awakening of religious interest, whieli ia England gave rise to tlie Tractarian moveinent, and in this country to emotional re- vivals ia the west, and a little later to Transcendentalism in New England. Of English writers, Byron, Scott, and Coleridge were dead, and although Carlyle, Euskin, Tennyson and Brown- ing had begun their work, there was a pause in the course of Eng- lish literature until the new men established their positions. At this time, too, German influence was becoming strongly felt. At home the political and social influence of the rapidly-grow- ing west came into prominence. The questions of finance and slavery, which had been getting more and more troublesome srace the early twenties, took a serious form. At this time came forward most of that group of writers who were associated with the Atlantic in its early days, and whose names stall hold the first place in American literature. All the more prominent of these, except Lowell, received their formative training in thia early period, and put forth some writings before its close. The year 1833 has been chosen to end the period of this study, because it stands midway between the old order of things and the new. 1^0 sacredness attaches to it, and any other between 1830 and 1835 might almost as well be chosen. Professor Beers in his recent work makes one period end with 1835, and in a con- tinuous study of American literature this has its advantages. CONCLUSION. It was the mission of the writers in the period that has been considered to learn the lessons that the old world had to teach, to catch the spirit of a new national life, and so to transmit to their successors, in practical working form, what they had learned by unaided experience. It mattered littie whether their own works endured or not, so long as they did this well. No abrupt line of demarcation separates this period from the one that succeeds. Bryant lived, wrote, and exercised a strong influence, almost to the present generation; and Irving and Cooper did not cease writing Tmtil most members of the early 68 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN. 'Atlcmtic group Lad made tJieir reputations. On the oitter hand, Longfellow, Wliittier, Emerson, and others were writing before 1833 — publishing in the better magazines, and coining under the influence of editors and older contributors. Longfellow tells us that the Sketch-Book was his one first book. La spite of the strong personalities of Hawthorne, Holmes, and Lowell, the student of their lives and works feels that they all owe something to Irving. Bryant's early devotion to nature may be traced in different forms in Wbittier and Low- ell.^ The indebtedness of Hawthorne and Poe to Dana iu one particular has been noticed above. To trace in detail the effects of these early labors would re- quire a discussion of all that has been written in America to the present day. This study has dome all that was intended, if it has shown that the writers from 1815 to 1833, having received little from their predecessors, bequeathed to those who followed, the beginnings of a oontiauous development in American literature. The question of how the next generation received this legacy, how it adapted to new conditions the tendencies and usages that have been discussed, how it profited by both successes and fail- jires — ^aiU this cannot be considered here. It would be useless to speculate on what these pioneers, as in- dividuals, might have done had they lived at a later time, or on what might have been the result had abler men occupied their places. Some things that they transmitted to their successors worked for evil; but these came largely from the tendencies of the times; and instead of complaining that their work might have been better done, we should rather congratulate our coun- try that on the whole it was done so well. Both authors and works have met their fate. The very names of some who werg most active are now known only to the stu- dent. Even Irving and Cooper may be taking their places with the authors who, though much praised, are little read. It would 1 Lowell always spoke rather slightingly of this period. He was almost the only writer of the Atlantic group who was nngracions— or unconscious — enough to deny his ob- ligations. CAIBNS — AMEKICAN LITEBATUKE FROM 1815 TO 1823. 69 be absurd to deify these men, or to attempt to force tihem on tihe public of today; but it should not be forgotten that from their half -amusing, haK-pathetic struggles came tendencies and influ- ences that have lasted till the present time, and without which our best achievements in literature would have been possible only by a miracle. 70 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVEESITy OP WISOONSIN. APPENDIX A. ■PerioMcals, Indexed m Poole, Fownded between 1815 and 1833. 1815-^ Boston — ^NortE American Review. 1818-40 N^ew York — (American) Methodist lEagazine. 1819-23 Boston — Christian Disciple. 1819- New York — American Journal of Science. 1819-28 New Haven — Christian Monthly Spectator. 1820-21 Lexington, Ky. — Western Review. 1822-42 Philadelphia — Museum of Foreign Literature (Lit- teU's). 1824-69 Boston — Christian Examiner. 1825-33 New York — ^American Annual Register. 1825-27 Boston— U. S. Literary Gazette. 1825-26 Boston — ^Boston Monthly Magazine. 1826- Philadelphia — ^Journal of the Franklin Institute.* 1826 Worcester — Worcester Magazine. 1827-37 Philadelphia — American! Quarterly Review. 1828-32 Charleston — Southern Review. 1828-33 Boston— Spirit of the Pilgrims. 1828-30 Cincinnati — Western Monthly Review. 1829-43 Andover — American Quarterly Roister.* 1829-38 New Haven — Christian Quarterly Spectator. 1829-71 Princeton — Princeton Review. 1 The two dates indicate the continnance of the magazine. All are now defanct except the North American Review, the American Journal of Science, and the Journal of the Franklin Institute. The Worcester Magazine lived but a single year. * This Jonrnal underwent several slight changes of name. It is the direct descendant of the American Mechanic's Magazine, conducted by Associated Mechanics, New York, 1825. The latter is not in Poole. It was contlnned in Philadelphia as the Franklin Jonr- nal and American Mechanic's Magazine, in 1826. See Bolton, Catalogue of Soientifio and Technical Periodicals, for subseauent changes. > This is the date given bytPoole, The first number was for July, 1827. The paging ia eonsecntive to and including the number for AprU, 1829, and the title-page bears date 1829. In tables in the text, the year 1827 is taken, as this was the real date of founding. CAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 71 1830-61 Boston — ^Amerioan Almanac. 1831-50 "New York — American Biblical Eepository. 1831-48 Boston — American Institute of Instruction. 1831-32 Vandalia, HI. — Illinois Monthly Magazine. 1831-35 Boston — ^ISTew England Magazine. 1832-33 Boston — American Monthly Eeview. 1833-38 New York — ^American Monthly Magazine. 1833-34 Boston — ^American Quarterly Observer. 1833-64 New York — Knickerbocker Magazine. 1833-34 Boston— Select Journal. 1833-36 Cincinnati — Western Monthly Magazine. 72 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN. APPENDIX B. Periodicals not in Poole, Founded between 1815 and 1833. 1815. Cambridge — Tlie Priend of Peace. By Philo Pacifi- cus. Quarterly (irregular). 1815. Albany — The Christian Visitant. I^on-sectarian. Weekly. 1816. Meadville, Pa. — The Alleghany Magazine, or Keposi- toiy of Useful Knowledge. By Eev. Timothy Alden. Monthly. 1816. Baltimore — The Portico, a Repository of Science and Literature. "Conducted by two men of Padua." Monthly. 1816. New York— The Christian Herald. Edited by John E. Caldwell. Weekly. 1816. New York — The Christian Eegister and Moral and The- ological Review. Edited by the Kev. Thos. Y. How, D. D., Asst. Eector of Trinity Church. Semi-annual. 1817. Boston — The Atheneum, or Spirit of the English Magazines. Semi-Monthly. (After 1832, — or Spirit of English Literature and Fashion.) 1817. Boston — The New England Galaxy and Masonic Maga- zine. Weekly. 1817. New York — The Weekly Visitor and Ladies' Museum. Weekly.! 1817. New York — The American Monthly Magazine and Critical Eeview. H. Biglow, Esq., editor and pro- prietor. Monthly. 1817. New York — The Christian Journal and Literary Eegis- ter. Semi-monthly. (Episcopalian.) 1 Sate of founding determined from a later issue. First number not accessible. / CAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 73- 1817. New York — The Evangelical Guardiaii and Keview. By an association of clergymen ia New York. Monthly. Discontinued at end of Vol. 11.^ 1817. Philadelphia— The American Eegister, or Summiary Eeview of History, Politics, and Literature. (Con- ducted by Eobert "Walsh, Jun., Esq.). Semi-annual. 1817. Mt. Pleasant, O.— The Philanthropist. By Chas. Os- bom. Weekly. 1817. Charleston— The Sunday Visitant, or "Weekly Keposi- tory of Christian Knowledge. By A. Eowler, A. M. Weekly. 1818. Philadelphia — The Quarterly Theological Keview; con- ducted by the Kev. Ezra Stiles Ely, A. M. Quar- terly. 1818. Philadelphia — The Latter Day Luminary; by a commit- tee of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions for the TJ. S. Quarterly (irregular). 1818. Boston — The American Baptist Magazine and Mission- ary Litelligencer, (New Series.) Published un- der the direction of the Baptist Missionary Society ia Massachusetts. Committee of Editors, Thos. Baldwin, Daniel Sharp, J. M. Winchell. Bi- monthly.-' 1818. Portsmouth, N. H.— The Christian Herald. By Eob- ert Foster, Monthly.^ 1818. Eichmond — The Virginia Evangelical and Literary Magazrae. Edited by John H. Eice. Monthly. (In 1824 title changed to Literary and EvangeHcaJ Magazine.) 1819. New York — The Ladies' Literaiy Cabinet, Edited by Samuel Woodworth. Weekly. 1819. Savannah — The Ladies' Magazine, Weekly, 1 Bate of fonnduig determined from a later issue. First number not acceesble . 74 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN. 1820. New York — The Literary and Scientific Eepository and Critical Review. (Edited by Col. Gardner.) Quar- terly. 1821. Philadelphia — The Presbyterian Magazine. Edited by Wm. JSTeUl, D. D., with the assistance of a munber of literary gentlemen. Monthly. (Continued after Vol. ii. as The Christian Advocate.)^ 1821. Philadelphia — The Literary Gazette, or Journal of Criticism, Science and the Arts, being a collection of original and selected essays. Weekly. 1821. Philadelphia — The New Monthly Magazine and Liter- ary Journal. London, republished by E. LitteU, Phila., and E. Norris Henry, K Y. Monthly. (After 6th Vol., published by Cummings, HUlard & Co., Boston, press of the North American Ke- view>. Vols. 5 and 6 same press, but published by Oliver Everett, Boston.) 1821, Hartford — The Eeligious Inquirer. Published by an Association of Gentlemen, containing doctrinal, oontroveirsial, historical, and practical matter, and articles of religious intelligence and miscellany. Edited by Eev. Eichard Carrique. Bi-weekly. (Universalist.) 1821. Mt. Pleasant, O. — The Moral Advocate, a monthly publication on war, duelling, capital punishments, and prison discipline. By Elisha Bates. Monthly.^ 1822. New York— The Minerva. (In 1824 becomes The Mi- nerva, or Literary, Entertaining, and Scientific Journal. Edited by George Houston and James G. Brooks.) Weekly. 1822. New Haven — The Pilgrim, or Monthly Visitor. Monthly. 1 Date of foanding determined from a later issue. First nomber not accessible. CAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 75 1822. Baltimore — Tke Theological Eeview and General Ke- pository of Eeligious and Moral Information. Edited by James Gray, D. D. Quarterly. 1822. TJtica, E". Y. — ^The Utica Christian Kepository, contain- ing various pieces on doctrinal and practical sub- jects of religion, mostly original, also a summary of missionary intelligence. Monthly. 1822. Lebanon, O. — The Ohio Miscellaneous Museum. Monthly. (No title-page.) 1823. Philadelphia. The American Sunday School Maga- zine. Monthly.^ 1823. Boston — The Boston Medical Intelligencer. "Weekly.^ 1823. Philadelphia — The Christian Advocate; being a contin- uation of the Presbyterian Magazine. Conducted by Ashabel Green, D. D. (Suspended at end of 12th volume, 1834.) 1823. IsTew York — The ISTew York Mirror and Ladies' Literary Gazette: being a repository of miscellaneous liter- ary productions in prose and verse. Edited by Sam- uel Woodworth. Weekly. 1823. Montreal — The Canadian Magazine and Literary Ke- ipository. Monthly. (Closed with 4th vol.) (A MS. note in library copy speaks of this as "pub- lished by the late Mr. Turner" — evidently meaning that he was the editor.) 1824. New York — The Atlantic Magazine. Monthly. 1824. New York — The Telescope. Published by Wm. Bur- nett & Co. Weekly. (Keligious, undenomina- tional.) 1824. Hartford — The Evangelist, a monthly publication de- voted to subjects connected with experimental and practical religion. Monthly. 1824. Providence — The Christian Telescope; edited by Rev, David Pickering, Providence, R. I. Quarterly. 1 Date of founding determined from a later issue. First number not accessible. 76 BULLETIN OP THE TJNIVBRRITT OF WISCONSIN. (Changed to Cliristian Telescope and Anti-Tkeo- crat at the beginning of the 3d volnine.) 1824. Washington — The TJnited States' Naval Chronicle; by Chas. W. Goldsborough. Annual (?). 1824. Hudson, N. Y. — The Eural Kepository, or semi-month- ly entertaining and amusing journal; containing a variety of original and select articles, arranged un- der the foUomng heads: Popular Tales, Biogra- phy, Traveller, Miscellaneous Communications, Po- etry, etc. Published by "Wm. B. Stoddard. Bi- weekly. 1824. Cincinnati — The Cincinnati Literary Gazette. Pub- lished by John P. Foote. Weekly. (Pub. 1824^5.) 1824. New Richmond, O. — The Columbian Historian. Weekly (irregular). (No title-page.) 1824. Montreal — The Canadian Review and Literary and His- torical Journal. (Edited by Mr. Chisliolme. Only five numbers published.) Quarterly (irregular). 1825. Washington — The African Repository and Colonial Journal. Published by order of the managers of the American Colonization society. Monthly.^ 1826. Philadelphia — The 'Church Register; devoted to the in- terests of religion in the Protestant Episcopal Church. Edited by the Rev. Geo. Waller. Weekly. 1826. Philadelphia— The Album and Ladies' Weekly Ga- zette. By Thos. C. Clarke. Weekly. 1826. Hartford. The Literary Casket; devoted to literature, the arts and sciences. Semi-monthly. 1826. Hartford — Supplement to The Connecticut Courant. Bi-weekly.-' 1826. Boston — ^American Journal of Education. (Edited by William Russell. Monthly. 1 Date of founding determined from a later issue. First number.not accessible. CAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 77 1S26. Knoxville, Tenn. — The Holston ^Messenger; by Tkos. Stringfield. (Methodist.) Monthly.^ 1827. Philadelphia — The Philadelphia Album and Ladies' Literary Portfolio. Edited by Robert Morris. Weekly.! 1827. Philadelphia— The Souvenir. "VVeekly.- 1827. Philadelphia — The Casket; or Flowers of Literature, Wit and Sentiment. By Saml. 0. Atkinson. Monthly. (Continued as Graham's, 1841.) 1827. Auburn, ]^. Y. — The Gospel Messenger. Edited by John C. Eudd. (Episcopal). Weekly. 1827. Oxford, O. — The Literary Eocus; edited by the Erodel- phian and Union Literary Societies, Miami Univer- sity. Monthly.! 1827. EogersviUe, T. — The Calvinistic Magazine, conducted by James Gallaher, Erederick A. Eoss, ajid David Nelson. Monthly. 1827. Montreal — The Christian Sentinel and Anglo-Canadian Churchman's Magazine. Bi-Monthly. (Seems to succeed The Canadian Magazine, Church of Eng- land.) 1827. New York — The Olive Branch. Published weekly by the New York Universalist Book Society. 1828. New York — The Atlas; a select literary and historical periodical. Weekly. 1828. Philadelphia — The Eeligious Magazine, or Spirit of the * Eoreign Theological Journals and Eeviews. Edited by Eev. Geo. Weller. Monthly. (Only 4 vols. published.) 1828. Philadelphia — The Eegister of Pennsylvania, devoted to the preservation of facts and documents and other kinds of useful information respecting the State of Pennsylvania. Edited by Samuel Hazard. Weekly. ' Date of founding determined from a later issue. First number not accessible. 78 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. 1828. Philadelpliia — The Friend, or Advocate of Truth,; A. Eeligious Publication. (Quaker.) Monthly, in 1828, semi-monthly in 1829, weekly in 1830. 1828. ]!il"ew York — The Critic; A Weekly E«view of Litera- ture, Fine Arts, and the Drama. Edited by "Wm. Leggett. Weekly. 1828. ISTew York — The Cabinet of Instruction, Literature and Amusement; containing original essays, extracts from new works, historical narratives, biographical memoirs, sketches of society, topographical descrip- tions, novels and tales, anecdotes, poetry, original and selected, The Spirit of the Public Journals, discoveries in the arts and sciences, useful domestic hints, &c., &c., &c. Semi-monthly. (This be- comes in volume v. The Cabinet of Keligion, Education, Literature, Science, and Intelligence; edited by Rev. John ISTewland Maffett. Vols. ii. and iii. weekly.) 1828. Boston. The Yankee, and Boston Literary Gazette. Edited by John Neal and James W. Miller. Weekly.i 1828. Boston — The Ladies' Magazine and Literary Gazette. Edited by Mrs. Sarah J. Hale. Monthly.^ 1828. Washington — The Washington Theological Repository and Churchman's Guide. (ISTew Series. First series begun in 1819?) (Episcopalian. Under control of the Education Society of Virginia and Maryland. Discontinued in 1830.) Monthly. 1828. Worcester — The Worcester Talisman. By Dorr & How- land. Bi-weekly. (No title-page.) 1828. Oxford, O. — The Literary Register. Edited by the Professors of the Miami University. (Weekly.) (To be continued by C. A. Ward and W. W. Bishop after first volume.)^ 1 Date of founding determined from a later issue. First number not accessible. CAIRNS — AMEEICAN LITEEATUKE PROM 1815 TO 1833. 79 1828. Philadelphia — The Christian Magazine and Clerical Re- view. Edited by Eev. Benjamin and Thos. Q. Al- len. Weekly. 1828. !N"ew York — The Home Missionary and American Pas- tor's Journal. Edited by 'Rev. Absalom Peters, Cor. Sec. of the American Home Missionary So- ciety. Monthly.^ 1828. 'Sew York — The Free Enquirer. (Second Series.) iFrances Wright and Robert Dale Owen, conducting editors. Weekly.^ 1828. iNTew York — The Sailor's Magazine and 'Naval Journal. Published by the American Seamen's Friend So- ciety. Monthly.-^ 1829. Rochester — The Rochester Gem; a Semi-monthly Liter- ary and Miscellaneous Journal, devoted to polite literature, history, biography, essays, poetry, moral- ity, sentiment, wit, &c., &c. Semi-monthly.^ 1829. Charlottesville — The Virginia Literary Museum and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences, &e. Edited at the University of Virginia. Weekly. 1829. Cincinnati — The Sentinel and Star in the West. Edited by J. Kidwell, J. C. Waldo, and S. Tizzard, Weekly. (TJniversalist.) 1829. Lexington, Ky. — The Transylvanian, or Lexington Lit- erary Journal. Monthly. 1830. Philadelphia— Godey's Lady's Book. Monthly.^ 1830. Philadelphia — The Protestant Episcopalian and Church Register, devoted to the interests of religion in the Protestant Episcopal Church. Edited by an Asso- ciation of Clergymen. Monthly. (Seems to suc- ceed the Church Register, a weekly; See above, 1826.) ' Date ot founding determined from a later issue. First number not accessible. 80 BULLETIN or THE UNIVEESITT OF WISCONSIN. 1830. Phikdelplik — The Journal of Law, conducted by an Association of members of tbe bar. Bi-weekly.^ 1830. Philadelphia — The Journal of Health. Conducted by an Association of Physicians. Bi-weekly.^ 1830. Boston — The Mechanics' Magazine and Journal of Pub- lic Internal Improvement; devoted to the useful arts and the recording of projects, inventions and discoveries of the age. Monthly. 1830. Boston — ^American Annals of Education and Instruc- tion. Edited by Wm. C. "Woodbridge. Monthly. (A continuation of the American Journal of Educa- tion.) 1830. trtica — The Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advo- cate; devoted to theoretical and practical religion, free inquiry, religious liberty, and intelligenee. Aaron B. Grosh, editor; Abner E. Bartlett, asst. edi- tor; G. W. Montgomery and E. H. Chapin, corre- sponding editors. (This list of editors taken from volume ix., new series.) Weekly.^ 1830. Baltimore — The Metropolitan, or Catholia Monthly Magazine. Monthly. 1830. Bethany, Va. — The Millennial Harbinger. Edited by Alexander Campbell. (Campbellite.) Monthly. (No title-page.) 1831. Boston — The Boston Pearl, a Gazette of Polite Litera- ture devoted to original tales, legends, essays, trans- lations, travelling, literary and historical sketches, biography, poetry, criticisms, music, etc. Edited by Isaac C. Pray, Jun. Weekly.^ 1831. Cincinnati — The Cincinnati Mirror and "Western Ga- zette of Literature, Science and the Arts; conducted by Wm. D. Gallagher and T. H. Shreve. Weekly.^ 1832. Philadelphia — The E"orth American Magazine. Edited by Sumner Lincoln Fairfield. Monthly.-^ 1 Date of founding determined from a later issue. First number not accessible. OAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATUEB PEOM 1815 TO 1833. 81 1832. New York — The Spirit of Practical Godliness. Monthly. 1832. New York — ^American Railroad Journal and Mechanic's Magazine. (Semi-monthly in 1837; weekly at firet?)^ 1832. Boston — The Family Lyoedim. Conducted by Joeiah Holbrook. Weekly. 1832. Albany — The Temperance Recorder; devoted exclu- sively to the cause of temperance. Published monthly by the executive committee of the New York State Temperance Society. 1832. Steubenville — The Sabbath School Magazine. Bi- monthly.^ 1832. ^ — The Harbinger of the Mississippi Valley. MontUy OY 1832. New York — The New York and Richmond County Free Press. By William Hagadom. Devoted to foreign and domestic news, politics and miscellany. Weekly. 1833. New York — The Mechanics' Magazine and Register of Inventions and Improvements. MontMy. 1833. Philadelphia — Greenbank's Periodical Library, contain- ing in the cheapest possible form a republication of new and standard works. Weekly. 1833. Philadelphia — The Select Circulating Library, contain- ing the best popular literature, including memoirs, biography, novels, tales, travels, voyages, &c. Weekly. 1833. Boston — The People's Magazine. Bi-weekly. 1833. New York — The Family Magazine, or General Abstract of Useful Knowledge; embelliehed with several hundred engravings. Weekly.^ 1 Date of founding determiDed from a later issue. First number not accessible. * But one number of this periodical has been found, and investigation has thus far failed to show the place of publication. It was probably somewhere in Kentnclcy. 6 82 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVEKSITY OF WISCONSIN. 1833. Rochester — ^Youth's Companion and Western New York Sabbath-Seliool Advocate. Bi-weekly. 1833. Hudson, N. T. — The Magnolia, or Literary Tablet; de- voted to literature, moral and sentimental tales, poe- try, &c., &c. Semi-monthly. (Suspended puWiea- tion Sept. 20, 1834.) 1833. Washington — ^Th« Military and Naval Magazine of the United States. Edited by Benjamin Homans. Monthly. CAIRNS — AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 83 APPENDIX C. Miscellaneous Lists of Periodicals. The following are supposed to have been of literary character, but are not included in the tables in the body of the paper be- cause they have not been examiued by the writer: The Weekly Oadet, a weekly started at Cincinnati in 1819. Merged in the Western Spy ia lees than six months.^ The Olio, Ciacianati, 1821-2. Published and edited by John H. Wood and Sam S. Brooks.^ The National Preacher. New York. Vol. i., 1826. Orig- inal sermons by living preachers.® The Focus, established in 1826 at Louisville, Ky., by W. W. Worsley and Dr. Jos. Buchanan. Merged in the Louisville Journal.* The Philadelphia Monthly Magazine. A prospectus an- nounced this magazine to appear in October, 1828, but the mag- azLrie has not been found. Did it appear? The Green Mountain Repository; Vol. i., 1832.^ The foUowiag are given by Venable, Beginnings of Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley, page 124. Some of them did not contain a very great proportion of lite?*ary matter; of most, the writOT has been able to learn noliiing. The Literary Pamphleteer. Paris, Kentucky, 1823. The Western Censor. Indianapolis, 1823-4- The Western Luminary. Lexington, Kentucky, 1824. The Microscope. Louisville, Kentucky, 1824. Weekly. 1 See Venable, Beginnings of Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley, 66. • Ibid., 66. ' In Chicago Public Library . * See Venable, Beginnings of Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley, 40, ^ In Newberry Library, Chicago. 84 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN. The Western Minerva. F. and Wm. D. Gallagher, Cincm- nati, 1826. New Harmony Gazette. Kobert Owen, New Harmony, In- diana, 1825. Transylvania Literary Jonmal. By Prof. Thos. J. Mathews, Lexington, Kentucky, 1829. (A college paper.) Masonic Souvenir and Pittsburg Litsrary Gazette, 1828. Weekly. The Shield. E. C. Langdon, Cincinnati, 182- Weekly. The Ladies' Museum. Joel T. Case, Cincinnati, 1830. The Olive Branch. Circleville, Ohio, 1832. Bi-monthly. The National Historian. Horton J. Howard, St. Clairsville, Ohio. The Literary Cabinet. Thos. Gregg, St. ClairsviEe, Ohio, 1833. The Academic Pioneer and Guardian of Education. Albert Pickett, Cincinnati, 1833. Monthly. The Lexington Literary Journal. John Clark, Lexington, Ky., 1833. The Literary Pioneer. Nashville, Tenn., 1833. The Kaleidoscope. Nashville, Tenn., 1833. The Literary Kegister. Elyria, Ohio, 1833. The following are mentioned as exchanges by The Magnolia, October, 1833. The date at which they were founded is not known; but it is not probable that any of them dated back of 1815: The Parthenon, or Academians' Magazine. Monthly, 64pp. $2.50 per annum, Union College, Schenectady, N. Y. The Literary Inquirer, published semi-monthly under the patronage of the Buffalo Lyceum, Buffalo, N. Y., at $1.50 par annum. The Literary Kegister and Miscellaneous Magazine, pub- lished semi-monthly at Elyria, Lorain Co., Ohio, at $1 per an- num. The Amaranth, published semi-monthly, in East Bridge- water, Mass., at $1 per annum. CAIRNS^-AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 8» The Gem, published semi-monthly in Rochester, N. T., at $1.50 per annum. Parley's Magazine, Boston, $1 per annum. The Pearl and Literary Gazette, Hartford, $2 per annum. The American Quarterly Eegister for October, 1828, gives a list of 38 religious magazines in the United States, and says that there are probably 10 or 12 more published.^ Considering the average life of a periodical it is probable that most of these had been started after 1815. Those not noted in one of this preceding lists are as follows: Middlebury, Vt. — ^Episcopal Eegister. Keene, N. H. — Liberal Preacher. Boston — Missionary Herald. Boston — Baptist Preacher. Boston — Sunday School Treasury. Providence — ^Hopkinsiau Magazine. New Haven — Guardian and Monitor. New York — American Tract Magazine. New York — ^National Preacher. New York — Youth's Magazine. Schoharig, N. Y. — ^Lutheran Magazine. New Brunswick — ^Magazine of the Reformed Dutch Church. Princeton — ^Biblical Kepertory.^ Philadelphia — ^Youth's Priend. Philadelphia — ^United Bretheren Missionary Lat.^ Philadelphia — ^Baptist Tract Magazine. Philadelphia — ^Penn. and Del. Tract Magazine.' Milton, Pa. — ^Religious Farmer.' Carlisle, Pa. — ^Magazine of German Reformed Church. Piiederick, Md. — Evangelical Lutheran Int. Payetteville, N. C. — ^Evangelical Museum. EayettevUle, N. C. — ^Presbyterian Preacher. Zanesville, O. — ^Western Religious Magazine. For a list of Baltimore magazines not examined see page 58. ' In the same connection the editor says : " The whole number of religious newspaperr published in the XTnited States is not far from forty. " ' Quarterly ° Semi-monthly ; all others monthly. 86 BULLETIN OP THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. BIBLIOGEAPHY. By far the most important source of material for this study was the periodicals given in Appendices A and B. The follow- ing list contains some of the books that have been consulted most freely, and from which most help has been gained. It has not been thought necessary to include histories of the United States, which have been useful so far as they treat of this period; or histories of states, counties, and cities; or well-known works of Kterary history and criticism. An attempt has been made to give credit in the foot-notes for specific information obtained from such sources. Beers, Henry A. A Century of American Literature, itfew York, 1878. Bryant, William Cullen. Prose Writings, edited by Parke Godwin. JSTew York, 1884. [Bryant, Verplanck, Sands.] The Talisman. Vols. I and n, ISTew York, 1828, 1829. Vol. Ill, Philadelphia, 1830. Cabot, James Elliot. A Memoir of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Boston and New York, 1888. Cooper, J. Fennimore. Works. Boston. Dana, Eichard Henry. Poems and Prose Writings. E'ew York, 1857. Duyckinck, E. A. and G. L. Cyclopedia of American Lit- erature. JSTew York, 1856. Gamett, Eichard. Life of Ealph Waldo Emerson. London, 1888. Godwin, Parke. A Biography of William CuUen Bryant, with extracts from his private correspondence. E'ew York, 1883. Goodricih, S. G. EecoUections of a Lifetime, or Men and Things I Have Seen. ISTew York and Auburn, 1857. Halleck, Fitz-Greene. The Poetical Writings of, with ex- tracts from those of Joseph Eodman Drake. Edited by James Grant Wilson. New York, 1882. CAIENS — AMERICAN LITERATURE FROM 1815 TO 1833. 87 Irving, "WasMngton. Works. Pliiladelphia, 1872. Ejiapp, Samuel L. Lectures on American Literature, ■with, re- marks on some passages of American history. New York, 1829. Longfellow, Samuel. Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, with extracts from his journals and correspondence. Boston, 1886. Lounsbury, Thomas K. James Eennimore Cooper (Ameri- can Men of Letters Series). Boston, 1883. Niohol, John. American Literature, an historical sketch. Edinburgh, 1886. Percival, James Gates. Poetical Works. Boston, 1859. (Pickering.) The Euins of Psestum, and other composi- tions in Terse. Salem, 1822. Poole, William Frederick. Index to Periodical Literature. Boston, 1882. (Tables, lists, etc.) Kichardson, Chas. F. American Literature, 1607-1885. New York, 1888. Eyland, Frederick. Chronological Outlines of English. Lit- erature. New York, 1890. Sands, Robert C. Writings, in prose and verse, with a memoir of the author. iNew York, 1834. Stedman, Edmund C, and Hutchinson, Ellen Mackay. A Library of American Literature. New York, 1891. Tyler, Moses Coit. A History of Ajnerican Literature. New York, 1878. Venable, W. H. Beginnings of Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley. Cincinnati, 1891. Verplanck, Gulian C. Discourses and addresses on subjects of American history, arts and literature. New York, 1833. Warner, Charles Dudley. Washington Irving. (American Men of Letters Series.) Boston, 1882. Wbitcomb, Selden L. Chronological Outlines of American Literature. New York, 1894. Wilson, James Grant. Bryant and His Friends: Some Bem- inisoences of the "Knickerbocker Writers. New York, 1886. SoiBNOE Sebies, Volume 1: No. 1. On the Speed of Liberation of Iodine in Solutions of Hydro- chloric Acid, Potassium Chlorate, and Potassium Iodide, by Herman Schlundt, Assistant in Chemistry. Pp. 33, December, 1894. Price 35 cents. No. 2. On the Quartz Keratophyre and Associated Rocks of the North Bange of the Baraboo BluSs, by Samuel Weidman. Pp. 21, pis. 3, January, 1895. Price 25 cents. No. 3. Studies in Spherical and Practical Astronomy, by George C Comstock, Director of the Washburn Observatory. Pp. 50, June, 1895. Price 40 cents. No. 4. A Contribution to the Mineralogy of Wisconsin, by William Herbert Hobbs, Assistant Professor of Mineralogy and Petrology. Pp. 48, pis. 5, June, 1895. Price, 40 cents. No. 5. Analytic Keyes to the Genera and Species of North American Mosses, by Charles Reid Barnes, Professor of Botany and Fred DeForest Heald, Fellow in Botany. Pp. 211, January, 1897. Price, $1.00. (Con- cluding Vol. 1.) In preparation : The Action of Dilute Solutions of Electrolytes npon the Sense of Taste, by Louis Kahlenberg, Ph. D., Instructor in Physical Chemistry. Enginebeing Seeies, Volume 1: No. 1. Track, by L. F. Loree, M. Am. Soc. O. B., Special University Lecturer. Pp. 24, April, 1894. Price 25 cents. No. 2. Some Practical Hints in Dynamo Design, by Gilbert Wilkes, M. Am. Inst. E. E., Special University Lecturer. Pp. 16, May, 1894. Price 25 cents. No. 3. The Steel Construction of Buildings, by C. T. Purdy, C. E., Special University Lecturer. Pp. 27, October, 1894. Price 25 cents. No. 4. The Evolution of a Switchboard, by A. V. Abbott, C. E., Special University Lecturer. Pp. 32, pis. 4, October, 1894. Price 35 cents. No. 5. An Experimental Study of Field Methods which wiU Insure to Stadia Measurements Greatly Increased Accuracy, by Leonard Sewal Smith, B. C. E., Instructor in Engineering. Pp. 45, pi. 1, May, 1895. Price 35 cents. No. 6. Railway Signaling, by W. McC. Grafton, C. E., Special Univer- sity Lecturer. Pp. 38, July, 1895. Price 35 cents. No. 7. Emergencies in Railroad Work, by L. F. Loree, M. Am. Soc. C. E., Special University Lecturer. Pp. 42, December, 1895. Price 35 cents. No. 8. Electrical Engineering in Modern Central Stations, by Louis A. Ferguson, S. B., Special University Lecturer. Pp. 33, April, 1896. Price 35 cents. No. 9. The Problem of Economical Heat, Light, and Power Supply for Building Blocks, School Houses, Dwellings, Etc., by G. Adolph Gerdtzen, B. S., Alumni Fellow in Engineering Pp. 69, May, 1896. Price 45 cents. No. 10. Topographical Surveys, their Methods and Value, by J. L. Van Ornum, C. E., Special University Lecturer. Pp. 39, December, 1896. Price 35 cents. Enghneebing Series, Volume 2: No. 1. A Complete Test of Modern American Transformers of Mod- erate Capacities, by Arthur Hillyer Ford, B. S., Fellow in Electrical Engineering, with an introduction by Professor D. C. Jackson. Pp. 88 August, 1896. Price 35 cents. No. 2. A Comparative Test of Steam Injectors, by George Henry Trautmann, B. S., with an introduction by Prof. Storm Bull. Pp. 34, June, 1897. Price 25 cents. In preparation : The Superintendent of Bridges and Buildings, by Onward Bates, C. E., M. Am. Soc. C. E., M. Inst. 0. E., Siipt. Bridges and Biiildings, C, M. & St. P. Ry. 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