BME-MlOP^l^Ll BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF Henrg W. Sage XS91 /\.B.11\.D li-jlljA.^! 3081 Cornell University Library PN 4900.S7M66 Southern literary messenger 1834-1864. 3 1924 027 502 370 Cornell University Library 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/cu31924027502370 THE SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER The Southern Literary Messenger 1 834-1 864 BY BENJAMIN BLAKE MINOR, LL. D. Editor and Proprietor from 1 843 to 1 847 "Au£^^ de nos desirs, bien plus qu'augre des vents'' — Crebillon's Electre As we will, not as the winds will NEW YORK AND WASHINGTON THE; NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1905 KsN^SSov COPYRIGHT, 1905 BY BENJAMIN BLAKE MINOR, LL. D. DEDICATION The foulowing wobk is apfectionatelt dedicated to the authob's kindeed and descendakts, and to those of the CONTKEBUTOBS TO THE SotJTHEEN LiTEBASY MESSBNGEB, IN ALL PAETS OF THE UNITED STATES. Riclimoiid, Ya., January 2nd, 1905. CONTENTS Preface 11 First Volume 13 Second Volume 36 Third Volume 61 Fourth Volume 68 Fifth Volume 70 Sixth Volume 74 Seventh Volume 81 Eighth Volume 87 Ninth Volume 96 Benjamin Blake Minor's Administration 103 John Reuben Thompson's Administration 161 George W. Bagby's Editorship 209 Frank H. Alfrlend's Editorship 231 Appendix A — ^List of Contributors 237 Appendix B — ^Brief Sketch of the Author 245 ILLUSTRATIONS The Author Frontispiece Facing page James B. Heath. First Editor. From an oil portrait owned by his grandson. Prof. R. H. Dabney, who kindly furnished it 15 Edgar Allan Poe. Second Editor. From the beautiful minature owned by Mr. Robert Lee Taylor, who so generously granted to this work the great privilege of being the first to use it 36 Lieut. Mathew Fontaine Maury, V. S. N. Third (known) editor. Borrowed from his Life. By his daughter, Mrs. Nannie Corbin 89 Benjamin Blake Minor. Fourth Editor. From an old portrait painted in Richmond (about 1845) whilst he was editing the Messenger, by Mr. Thomas C. Ruckle, of Baltimore, Md 104 La Visionnaire. Mrs. Virginia Otey Minor. From an oil portrait painted in Columbia, Tenn., some time after her marriage, by a Mr. Hart, of Philadelphia. . 125 John R. Thompson. Fifth Editor. Kindly given by Mr. Charles Marshall Graves, though he expects to make public use of it himself. Such friendly liberality evokes the warmest appreciation 161 Wm. Macfarlane. Kindly furnished by hi& grand- daughter, Mrs. C. W. Morris, and her brother, Wm. Mac. Jones 166 John W. Fergusson. Kindly furnished, on request, by his children. Macfarlane & Fergusson were with the Messenger from its beginning; printed it, published it and finally owned both the Magazine and its print- ing establishment 176 Dr. George William Bagby. Sixth Editor. Kindly fur- nished, on request, by his estimable relict 209 PREFACE The long life of The Southern Literary Messen- ger, the honorable position which it attained and the salutary inflnence it exerted, not only upon gonthem but American Literature, entitled it, in the estimation of many of its friends, to a fair yet a loving commemoration. It was repeatedly suggested to the author that he ought to prepare such a tribute, because he had owned and edited the dear old Magazine for more than four years and was also familiar with the rest of its long and honorable career. At length, at the instance of Dr. James A. Harrison, of the University of Virginia, the work now offered to the public was prepared and sub- mitted to him. He has approved it and is one of the kind friends who have aided in getting it published. To him and the others who have done likewise and to all who would have done so, hearty thanks are tendered. This sketch goes somewhat into detail, in order that it may be a sort of substitute for a set of the Messenger, which it is now very difficult and ex- pensive to obtain. A full set of the Messenger II 12 Preface would now cost about |150.00. Whereas this, the only substitute, costs but |2.00. It will necessa- rily be personal and reminiscent ; but the author trusts it will be adjudged that he has preserved a proper mean between an allowable egoism and an obtrusive and offensive egotism. Richmond, Va., Jan. 2nd^ 1905. The Southern Literary Messenger The First Volume Early one morning in August, 1834, a citizen of Eichmond, Va., might be seen on its main street walking actively, but without hurry or bustle, down toward Shockoe Creek. He was of medium stature, but rather portly for his height, and was neatly attired in material of no mean quality, with a long black frock-coat and a beaver hat. He saluted pleasantly such acquaintances as he met, who cordially reciprocated, for though there was nothing striking or commanding about him, he was well known and highly respected. He walked on untU he came to the corner of Fif- teenth street, immediately opposite the old Bell Tavern (since the St. Charles Hotel). There he ascended some outside steps on Fifteenth street to the second floor, over Anchor's shoe store, and seated himself in the back room. For he was in 13 14 The Southern his own job-printing oflSca In a short time, his foreman, Wm. Macfarlane, and one of his boys, Jno. W. Fergusson, came in and handed him the first number of The Southern Literary Messen- ger, which the stitcher and binder had brought in late the evening before; and Thos. W. White ex- amined, with pride and hope, the work which his enterprise and perseverance had inaugurated. Of it he announced himself only as printer and proprietor, but spoke of engaging an editor. It was to be published twice a month at $5.00 a year, but its continuance was to depend upon its success. Each number was to contain 32 royal octavo pages, which were divided by a black line into two equal columns. On the first page, a brief "publisher's notice" introduces letters of commendation and encouragement from Wash- ington Irving, J. K. Paulding, J. Fenimore Coop- er, J. P. Kennedy, John Quincy Adams and Peter A. Browne, of whom Mr. Paulding and Mr. Browne were contributors to the first volume. Then comes an appparent contribution, entitled "Southern Literature," and signed H. This is really the initiatory editorial and was written by Mr. James E. Heath, who faithfully and disinter- estedly performed the part of editor for nine numbers of the first volume and continued to be Mr. White's friend and adviser. Mr. James E. Heath was a native of Virginia, Literary Messenger 15 a gentleman of literary culture and a pleasing and graceful writer. He once published a novel entitled "Edge Hill," descriptive of Virginia scenes and manners, and aided everything that was calculated to promote the interests and honor of his native State. He was, for many years, her eflScient First Auditor and was thus enabled to give so much assistance to Mr. White ; who, however, never interrupted him during business hours. Young Fergusson was often his messenger to Mr. Heath's residence. One stormy liight, to enable this messsenger to make his trip, he presented him a pair of overshoes. But they turned out to be the wrong sort of snow ahoes; for Fergusson lost one in the snow and was not much, if any, better off than if he had had none. But Mr. White used to go frequently to Mr. Heath's, with letters and contributions, over which they spent nearly the whole night. One stormy evening, Mr. Heath admitted him all buttoned up and mufled, and when he loosened his overcoat he placed upon a table a large bottle of champagne, which by no means checked their ardor in that night's work. In this first number are poems by Mrs. Sig- ourney and Hon. R. H. Wilde, who afterwards avouched that he was the author of "My Life is Like the Summer Rose." There are also notices of Mr. Kennedy's eulogy of Wift and of IJey. l6 The Southern Stephen Olin's inaugural as President of Ran- dolph-Macon College. Its other contents are varied and interesting. So that the second num- ber was prepared and issued, but not until Oc- tober 15, 1834. It opens with a short address "To the public and especially to the people of the Southern States," thanking them for the patronage it had received and appealing for an increase. It also says : "The publisher makes his grateful acknowl- edgments for the friendly and liberal support received from various gentlemen residing in the States north of the Potomac. Many in that quar- ter, of literary and professional distinction, have kindly extended their patronage." This number, also of 32 pages, contains a letter, with some prefatory comments, to a Law Student, from the celebrated Wm. Wirt, and a short story, founded on fact, "Misfortune and Genius," signed H., which may have been from the facile pen of Mr. Heath : also an essay disputing the old adage that "Example is better than precept," which is signed M. and was written by Mr. Lucian Minor, always a true and trusted friend of Mr. White and his beloved Messenger. Among the known contribu- tors were Edgar Snowden, Nugator (Landon Carter), Mrs. Sigoumey, Peter A. Browne and Dr. Powell, the geologist. There are also some discriminating book notices, including Bulwer's Literary Messenger 17 "Pilgrims of the Rhine," and the poetical re- mains of Lucretia Maria Davidson. At the close, we have the "Editorial Remarks" to and about contributors and contributions. The editor kept up the plan of these remarks until about the end of the first volume. He makes an unjust attack upon Fairy Tales, but some were afterwards ad- mitted. Thus it has been shown how The Southern Lit- erary Messenger was started upon its compara- tively long life of 30 years. The third number was issued in November, after some delay on account of the impori;ant change from a bi-monthly publication to a monthly. Consequently Volume I. contains 13 numbers. The proprietor announces that he has made arrangements for the management of the editorial department and has it in contempla- tion, when his subscription list should enable him, "not only to secure regular able contribu- tions, but also to embellish some of his monthly numbers with handsome lithographic drawings and engravings," and this promise he repeated, with the same proviso. No attempt, however, was made to introduce illustrations into the Messenger until after Mr. Thompson's long ed- itorship, and that was a ridiculous failure. Mr. Robert Greenhow opens this number with the first of his long series of "Sketches of Tripoli r8 The Southern and the other Barbary States." Mr. Greenhow was of Richmond, but wrote from Washington, where he was connected with the State Depart- ment, as translator of foreign dispatches. Mr. Lncian Minor commences his discriminating and conservative Letters from New England, revised and greatly improved for the Messenger. Like Bayard Taylor in Europe, he made many of his explorations afoot. These letters have, in recent years, been collected and published in book form under the auspices of J. Eussell Lowell. They were borrowed by the Messenger from the Fred- ericksturg Arena, to which they were sent, be- cause that newspaper was edited by Wm. M. Blackford, a literary gentleman, and a friend and connection of Mr. Minor. Mr. Blackford was afterwards a contributor. P. A. Browne and Mrs. Sigourney continue their contributions. There is copied from The Norfolk Beacon a warm defence of N. P. Willis, by Hugh Blair Grigsby, the editor of that paper and a friend and fellow- student of Mr. Willis. Poems are contributed by R. H. Wilde, of Georgia, by Judge A. B. Meek and D. Martin, of Alabama. The Messenger takes from The Western Monthly Magazine, of Cincinnati, its notice of the first volume of the "Collections of The "Virginia Historical and Phil- osophical Society," of which Rev. Jonathan P. Gushing, a Northern man, and its founder, was Literary Messenger 19 president and Mr. Heath also an officer. Shortly afterwards, Mr. White offered to make the Mes- senger the organ of that Society and that offer was accepted, with thanks. Judge Marshall be- came its president. It expired, however, in 1837 ; but was revived in 1847, mainly through the in- strumentality of Mr. B. B. Minor and Col. Thom- as H. Ellis, of Richmond, in co-operation with Wm. Maxwell, ex-president of Hampden-Sidney, and that distinguished and liberal-minded jurist, Com. Eobinson. This number also contains a friendly review of "Poems, by a Collegian," Charlottesville, 1833. This collegian was Mr. Thomas Semmes, a law- yer of Alexandria, Va., whose promise was nipped by an early death. There is a notice also of another volume of poems, by another Virgin- ian, Mr. Frederick Speece; also a greeting to Mr. M. M. Eobinson, editor of the Compiler, who had had the boldness to issue a specimen number of his new weekly Literary Jowrnal. Of course, there must be a good deal of other matter, in prose and verse, to fill 64 such pages. The number closes with quite a long editorial on the objects of the Messenger, the character of its contributions and what it had already accom- plished, with extracts from numerous letters of congratulation, praise and caution. The fourth number was issued, after a little 20 The Southern delay, in Decembra*, and its pages were filled with the usual variety of prose and poetry, original and selected. Several of those writers already named continue to appear; but there is some- thing new in "A Lecture on the Study of Law, by Beverly Tucker, Professor of Law in the college of William and Mary," and published by request of the students. Judge Nathaniel Beverly Tucker became one of the ablest and most abundant con- tributors to the Messenger. He not only wrote for it, but produced works which were reviewed in it. He was a half-brother of the celebrated John Bandolph, of Boanoke, and was once a cir- cuit judge in the State of Missouri. But he re- turned to his native State and was placed in the college chair which his father had filled and adorned and which he occupied the rest of his Ufa His full brother, Judge Henry St. Geo. Tucker, was professor of Law in the University of Virginia a part of the same time; and these two were succeeded by the brothers, John B. Minor, at the University, and Lucian, at William and Mary. The editorial department is quite prominent in this number. Mr. Heath was genial and kind- hearted and he admits that he may have erred on the side of leniency in publishing some of the contents of the Messenger. But he maintains that its purpose was not only to furnish a vehicle Literary Messenger 2 1 for approved and practiced writers, but also to incite and call forth the slumbering and unde- veloped talents of the Southern people. At the same time, Mr. Heath was a man of taste, judg- ment and pure ethical principles. Despite some flattering notices, to which he refers, he pounces ui)on "Vathek, an Oriental Tale," by Mr. Beck- ford, and pronounces it to be "the production of a sensualist and an infldel — one who could riot in the most abhorred and depraved conceptions and whose prolific fancy preferred as its repast all that was diabolical and monstrous, rather than what was beautiful and good." Some of his correspondents did not concur in this severe con- demnation, but he adhered to it and adduced some high authorities to sustain him. The publisher offers to patrons and the public the compliments! of the season. With its fifth number, the Messenger glides in- to the year 1835. Greenhow and Minor continue. Wilde contributes and claims the authorship of his disputed poem. There is again a variety of prose and poetry, original and selected. One article, interesting from its history, is "The Man- uscript Poems of Mrs. Jean Wood," then de- ceased. She was the wife of Gen. James Wood, a distinguished officer of the Revolution, who be- came Governor of Virginia. "She wrote neither for fame, nor the public eye, and this circum- 22 The Southern stance alone will impart an additional inter- est to the natural and unstudied effusions of her muse." Several of those effusions are presented, some of which were composed as far back as 1808. Judge N. B. Tucker furnishes a note on Black- stone, Volume I, page 523, on Slavery, and thus opens the discussion of a subject in which the Messenger was bound to take a leading part for several years. The Judge was replied to in the next number; but in the present one the editor says: "Whilst we entirely concur with him that slavery as a political, or social, institution is a matter exclusively of our own concern, as much so as the laws which govern the distribution of property, we must be permitted to dissent from the opinion that it is either a moral or political benefit. We regard it, on the contrary, as a great evil, which society sooner or later will find it not only to its interest to remove or mitigate, but will seek its gradual abolition, or amelioration, under the influence of those high obligations im- posed by an enlightened Christian morality." The aggressions of abolition and fanaticism caused the Messenger to reverse its position. There is quite a difference of opinion in regard to Bulwer. In a notice of his "Last Days of Pompeii," ostensibly editorial, it is said : "We are free to confess that it has raised Mr. Bulwer 50 Literary Messenger 23 per cent, at least in our estimation." But this notice, with a long extract from the work, is fol- lowed by a review, borrowed from The North American Magazine, in which "The Last Night of Pompeii;" a poem, and "Lays and Legends," by Sumner Lincoln Fairfield, are taken up, along with Bulwer : the author of Pelham, etc., etc., is severely excoriated, "as a sophist in ethics, a libertine in love, a smuggler and plagiarist." There is a ludicrous incident in connexion with a poem, by Zarry Zyle, "A Song of the Sea- sons." The editor comments on this "quaint cognomen." A correspondent from Shepherds- town, Va., near which Zarry lived, pitched into his poem for its obscurity and other faults. The poet, in his true name Larry Lyle, replied sharply and spiritedly. Anyhow, the editor and his printers had mistaken two L's for two Iz- zards. The editor gives his contributors a de- served lecture on their MSS. In regard to the tale "The Doom," the editor raises the question whether he ought to have admitted it and from his own statement he should not. Among other things, he says he had to ex- purgate it "of certain profane and unchaste al- lusions." The discussion of Governor Tazewell's Eeport to the Legislature, on the subject of a Deaf and Dumb Asylum, is continued. 24 The Southern The editor plaintively says : "From our North- ern and Eastern friends we have received more complimentary notices than from any of our Southern brethren without the limits of our own State. We say this not in a reproachful spirit to our kindred, but in a somewhat sad conviction of mind, that we who live on the sunny side of Mason and Dixon's line are not yet sufficiently inspired with a sense of the importance of main- taining our just rights, or rather our proper rep- resentation in the Eepublic of Letters." As a part of this number was not printed until February, it contains, as also does No. 6, a notice of the anniversary meetings of "The Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society;" at which Prof. George Tucker, of the University of Vir- ginia, delivered a "learned, elaborate and elegant address," and Wm. Maxwell, Esq., of Norfolk, played off upon them the unintentional joke of presenting to them "the identical pistol with which Capt. John Smith killed the Turk GruaJ- go, at the siege of Regal ; and, in his peculiarly happy manner, dilated upon the singular good fortune and heroic qualities of that extraordi- nary man." The evidence of the pistol's identity was afterwards given. It is highly probable that Prof. Chas. Deane and Dr. Alex. H. Brown were not present on that veritable occasion. The Mes- senger now became the organ of that Society, of Literary Messenger 25 which Chief Justice Marshall was then president and James E. Heath corresponding secretary. No. 6, February, 1835, moves on with gratify- ing success. Its three series are continued: the third of which is "Letters from a Sister, on For- eign Travel," by Leontine; who she was is not known. Peter A. Browne gives more "Hints to Students of Geology." The venerable and ex- perienced teacher Jas. M. Garnett's Address be- fore the Institute of Education of Hampden-Sid- ney College is presented. Jos. Martin's Virginia Gazetteer is noticed and used. Lafayette had died in 1834 and great honors were paid to his memory, as had been to him, in person, in 1824, and John Quincy Adams and Edward Everett send their grand orations on the distinguished Marquis. They are confided to Judge Tucker, who gives them a critical review, partly favorable and partly trenchant. He also reviews in fine style Mrs. Jameson's "Beauties of the Court of Charles II." A Virginian replies to the Judge's note on Blackstone and notice is taken of that great jurist as a poet, with "The Lawyer's Fare- well to his Muse." All intermediate spaces are well filled. The editor had given warning that he intended to be more strict in regard to poetic contributions and a reasonable improvement might be expected among the votaries of the Nine. 26 The Southern The editor touches up quite racily his corre- spondent from Shepherdstown, who did not con- fine his remarks to the effusion of Zarry Zyle, and also one Fra Diavolo. He publishes letters of commendation and encouragement from Penn- sylvania (Judge Hopkinson), North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Ohio, Tennessee, western Virginia and District of Columbia. The launching of the Messenger has of neces- sity been somewhat dwelt upon. A friendly cor- respondent wished that it had been christened "The Launch." Our gallant craft has been suc- cessfully cruising for over six anxious months and now she receives a very distinguished re- cruit. On page 333 of the seventh number, for March, appears Mr. E. A. Poe with his "Berenice — a Tale," of which the editor said : "It will be read with interest, especially by the patrons of the Messenger in this city, of which Mr. P. is a native and where he resided until he reached manhood. Whilst we confess that we think there is too much German horror in his subject, there can be but one opinion as to the force and elegance of his style. He discovers a superior capacity and a highly cultivated taste in compo- sition." The author says : "I have a tale to tell in its own essence rife with horror." Mr. Poe was not a native of Richmond. Among the other known writers for this num- Literary Messenger 27 ber were Greenhow, Larry Lyle, M. M. Noah, N. P. Willis, L. H. Sigoumey, Alex. Lacy Beard, and a strong wish is felt that others were also known. There is a sharp review of a passable novel, "The Cavaliers of Virginia, or the Becluse of Jamestown: An Historical Eomance of the old Dominion. By the author of *A Kentuckian in New York.' " Also a friendly notice, with an extract, of "Scraps. By Jno. Collins McCabe." This author was self-educated and became a faithful and useful minister of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Virginia. He was the father of the distinguished teacher and sjveaker, W. Gordon McOabe, of Virginia. The "Scraps" consist of both poems and tales. The editor has some further sparring with correspondents, and Larry Lyle replies to his Shepherdstown censor. McCabe became a contributor. In. April, the Messenger makes its eighth ex- cursion. Mr. Poe appears again with "Morella," another of his horror-tales, and the editor gives him this send-off : "Morella will unquestionably prove that Mr. Poe has great powers of imagina- tion and a command of language seldom sur- passed. Yet we can not but lament that he has drunk so deep at some enchanted fountain, which seems to blend in his fancy the shadows of the tomb with the clouds and sunshine of Ufa We 28 The Southern doubt, however, if anything in the name of style can be cited which contains more terrific beauty than his tale." This number contains the promised address of Prof. Geo. Tucker, before the Historical and Philosophical Society, as the alternate of the Hon. James McDowell ; "Indian Lover," by D. D. Mitchell, U. S. A. ; "The Last Indian," a poem by Larry Lyle; another of Minor's Letters from New England, and a number of essays, sketches, tales and poems. There is an answer and coun- terpart, by Mrs. Dr. Buckley, of Baltimore, to Mr. Wilde's "My Life is Like the Summer Rose." The critical notices have some internal evidence that Mr. Poe may have had a hand in them. No. 9, for May, begins with an important no- tice by the publisher, who states that he has made an arrangement with a gentleman of ap- proved literary taste and attainments, to whose special management the editorial department has been confided;" and who would devote his exclusive attention to the work. He pays a high tribute to Mr. Heath (but without naming him), and thanks him most gratefully for the able and disinterested assistance which he had so long rendered. Then he and his new editor fill up his pages with the usual variety. Prof. Thomas R. Dew, president of renowned William and Mary, from whose pen a contribution has been solic- Literary Messenger 29 ited, commences his "Dissertation on the char- acteristic differences between the sexes and on the position and influence of Woman in Society." He was a bachelor then ; but became a fortunate benedict. This learned dissertation should be re- published in handsome form, in memoriam of its author and for the benefit of the living. There is a description of the House Mountain, of which there was another, in 1837, in the Col- legian of the University of Virginia, by James H. Rawlings, a student of William and Mary, a great admirer of President Dew and the room- mate of B. B. Minor. Mr. Poe gives us his very short tale, "Lion- izing," on which the editor remarks : "It is an in- imitable piece of wit and satire and the man must be far gone in a melancholic humor whose risibility is not moved by this tale. Although the scene of the story is laid in the foreign city of Fum Fudge, the disposition which it satirizes is often displayed in the cities of this country^— even in our own community, and will probably still continue to exist, unless Mrs. Butler's Jour- nal should have disgusted the fashionable world with Lions." Lionizing is really fun on nosol- ogy. Noses occupied a prominent place in liter- ature, before that of Cyrano de Bergerac in re- cent times, and by a singular coincidence even the Messenger had prepared the way for Mr. Poe 30 The Southern by what Pertinax Placid and Democritus, Jr., had written about noses, on pages 445 and 468. The literary notices embrace Featherstonhaugh's translation of Manzoni's "I Promessi Sposi;" Kennedy's "Horse-shoe Eobinson" and Fanny Kemble Butler's famous Journal. The general remarks which the editor deems due to the Messenger and to those who write for it are so fair and judicious that there is a strong temptation to quote them. No. 10, June, 1835, reverses the order hereto- fore adopted and opens with an "Editorial In- troduction," which heralds and comments on the coming contents. Thus it is learned that "Mr. Poe's story of 'Hans Phaal' will add much to his reputation as an imaginative writer. * * • The story is a long one, but it will appear short to the reader, whom it bears along with irresist- ible interest, through a region of which, of all others, we know the least, but which his fancy has invested with peculiar charms," etc. It is also hinted that "a voyage to the moon may not be considered a mere matter of moonshine," and it is trusted "that a future missive from the lunar voyager will give us a narrative of his ad- ventures in the orb that he has been the first to explore." The editor could not then have been acquainted with the celebrated hoax in regard to our satellite which was so successfully perpe- Literary Messenger 31 trated by Eichard Adams Locke, in the 'New York Sun, only a few weeks later. A great deal was said and written about both of them. Mr. Foe's was a mere jeu d'esprit ; Mr. Locke's a veritable sell, based upon alleged discoveries made with Lord Rosse's mammoth reflecting telescope. In 1848, there was a French work of a somewhat similar purport, which claimed to have been translated from the English of one Mr. D'Avis- son. Mr. D. D. Mitchell appears again. There was another Mitchell (Ik Marvel) whom the Mes- senger helped to develop, at a subsequent date, under Mr. John E. Thompson. Mrs. Willard, the famous educator of Troy, N. Y., contributes to the tide that had been running in honor of Lafay- ette; Leontine's Letters and Lionel Granby keep on. There are more visits to the Virginia Springs and more of English Poetry, and full and numerous Literary Notices ; among which Judge Tucker reviews pointedly Mr. Geo. Bancroft's History, and beautifully, Sparks's Writings of George Washington. Whilst the editor could not approve "Vathek," it can Henry Vethake, for his fine address delivered at his inauguration as President of Washington College, Lexington, Va. Longfellow; Miss Leslie; Thos. Moore, as Historian; De Tocqueville; Mrs. Sigourney and others receive fair cognizance. 32 The Southern Judge Tucker leads No. 11, July, with the Valedictory to his Law Class, published at their request; and is followed by a number of others, in prose and verse, the greatest of whom is his own associate. President Thos. R. Dew, with Part II. of his "Dissertation on the Characteristic Dif- ferences between the Sexes." At length a poem "To Mary." E. A. P. and "The Visionary — a Tale," by Edgar A. Poe, arrest the eye. There is no comment upon them. Mrs. Sigoumey has a pathetic poem "On the Deaf, Dumb and Blind Girl." But what the editor has to say of the ef- fusions in verse that get into his basket is quite amusing : "The quantity of rhyme poured in up- on us is a matter of admiration. The effusions which we consign to outer darkness monthly are past enumeration. Such, for instance, as con- tain the following lines" — ^which are then given. The literary notices show that the new editor has been at his post, with industry and inde- pendence. Allusion has already been made to the change to which the Messenger was forced in its position on slavery. There are some pregnant remarks on this question, at page 650-1. In No. 12, August, we meet again several of our old friends, especially President Dew; and Mr. Poe favors us with "a Tale, Bon-Bon ;" and "The Coliseum— a Prize Poem." If the editor Literary Messenger 33 took no note of him last month he amply makes up for it this time, with what follows : "As one or two of the criticisms in relation to the tales of our contributor, Mr. Poe, have been directly at variance with those generally expressed, we take the liberty of inserting here an extract from a let- ter, which we find in the Baltimore Visitor. That paper having offered a premium for the best prose tale and also one for the best poem, both these premiums were awarded to Mr. Poe, by the Committee." They were John P. Kennedy, J. H. B. Latrobe and James H. Miller, who gave the prize to "A MS. Found in a Bottle," one of the sixteen tales of the Folio Club. The editor con- tinues: "We presume this letter must set the question at rest. 'Lionizing' is one of the tales here spoken of. 'The Visionary' is another. * * * "When such men as Miller Latrobe, Ken- nedy, Tucker and Paulding speak unanimously in terms of exalted commendation of any literary production, it is nearly unnecessary to say that we are willing to abide by their decision." The literary notices are numerous, but con- densed. In future the comments upon articles published are to be discontinued. With the thirteenth number, September, 1835', the first volume comes to its close and the pub- lisher, in ushering it, "is gratified that his past endeavors to please have been crowned with sue- 34 The Southern cess, anticipates with confidence that with the continued patronage of the public, the forthcom- ing volume shall in no respect be behind, if it does not outstrip its predecessor." The contents of this number are from several who have been already named and from a number of anonymous writers. Along with Mrs. Sigour- ney, we hear again from Eliza, of Saco, Maine, who has been a frequent contributor to this vol- ume. There is another Tale, by Edgar A. Poe — "Loss of Breath ; k la Blackwood," and a poem of two stanzas — "Lines written in an Album," by E. A. P. The critical notices are again well attended to and one of them on Harper's Classical Library and touching upon Euripides, Sophocles and ^schylus smacks of Greek Literature appreci- atively. There is an extract from Munford's Homer. Thus ends the first and crucial year of the most esteemed and longest lived Southern Liter- ary Magazine that ever was attempted. This Volume, with the Index, contains 788 large pages. The Second Volume There was a hiatus of the months of October and November before the commencement of Vol- ume II. in December, 183^ It opens with an im- portant Publisher's Notice : "The gentleman re- ferred to in the ninth number of the Messenger, as filling its editorial chair, retired thence with the eleventh number, and the intellectual department is now under the conduct of the proprietor, as- sisted by a gentleman of distinguished literary talents." Then referring to his contributors, he continues: "Among these we hope to be par- doned for singling out the name of Mr. Edgar A. Poe; not with design of making any invidious distinction, but because such a mention of him finds numberless precedents in the Journals on every side, which have sung the praises of his uniquely original vein of imagination and of hu- morous, delicate satire." Who was the editor for only two numbers is not known,* but the distinguished assistant was *A very well-informed and warm friend of the Messenger, Mr. J. H. Whitty, says that Mr. E. V. Sparhawk, a literary gentleman of high ability, was this second editor. He was employed in one of the State offices and died suddenly in the Capitol Building about 1850. He left a wife, who was a Miss Warrell, but no children. Mr. Fergusson says he carried MSS. and proof-sheets to Mr. Sparhawk's residence, out near Gamble's Hill. 35 36 The Southern undoubtedly Mr. Poe, who, though not formally announced as editor, was soon proclaimed such, all over the country. As early as page 13 there are "Scenes from an unpublished Drama," by Ed- gar A. Poe. On page 33 is his Prize Tale, "MS. Found in a Bottle;" from "The Gift," edited by Miss Leslie. Mr. Kennedy had tried to induce Gary & Hart to publish all sixteen of Poe's Tales of the Folio Glub, but they would only consent to insert the above in Miss Leslie's Annual for that year. The Messenger reproduced it and gave Miss Leslie a flattering notice. The critical notices embrace 28 pages and some of them are trenchant and one of them murder- ous. That is a review of "Norman Leslie : A Tale of the Present Times," New York, Harpers. Though the v/ork is anonymous, the reviewer speedily drags to light the author as "nobody but Theodore S. Fay, one of the editors of the New York Mirror," and then proceeds to demolish him. Among other things he says: "As re- gards Mr. Fay's style, it is unworthy of a school- boy. The editor of the New York Mirror has either never seen an edition of Murray's Gram- mar, or he has been a-Willising so long as to have forgotten his vernacular language. Let us examine one or two of his sentences at ran- dom." Here we have a "blistering detail;" a "blistering truth;" a "blistering story," and Literary Messenger 37 a "blistering hand," — ^to say nothing of innumer- able other blisters interspersed throughout the work. "But we have done with Norman Leslie: if ever we saw such a silly thing, may we be — blistered." Besides his reviews of books, Mr. Poe thought proper to take full notice seriatim of the Edin- burg; the Westminster; the London Quarterly; the North American, etc., and he adhered to this. He gives a very favorable critique of the "Ad- dress on Education, delivered by Lucian Minor, before the Institute of Education of Hampden- Sidney College;" which was published in pam- phlet form, although it appeared in the present number of the Messenger. Among the reviews are those of several South- em works, viz. : "The Heroine-Cherubina," by Eaton Stanard Barrett ; a new edition published in Richmond, by P. D. Bernard, Mr. White's son- in-law ; the second volume of Conway Robinson's "Practice in the Courts in Virginia," also pub- lished in Richmond ; Maxwell's "Life of the Rev. Dr. John H. Rice ;" Walker Anderson's "Oration on the Rev. Dr. Joseph Caldwell, late President of the University of North Carolina ;" Rev. D. L. Carroll's "Inaugural Address, as President of Hampden-Sidney College," published in Rich- mond, by Mr. White. There are also tributes to 38 The Southern Washington Irving, Miss Sedgwick and Mrs. Sarah J. Hala Among the poets of this number are two Elizas, far apart, — one from Maine and the other of Richmond. The second number for January, 1836, con- tains "A Pseon ;" "Metzengerstein, a Tale in Imi- tation of the German ;" "Scenes from an Unpub- lished Drama," all by Poe; and seventeen pages of critical notices, by the same. The first of these is a grouping review, not unkind perhaps for Poe, of the poems of Mrs. L. H. Sigourney, Miss H. F. Gould and Mrs. E. F. EUett. He is quite savage towards Simms' "Partisan, a Tale of the Revolution," and particularly towards its brief and unobjectionable dedication to the author's friend, Richard Yeadon, Jr. He is far more favorable to Prof. Lieber's "Reminiscences of the Great Historian Niebuhr," to the Har- per's re-publication of "Robinson Crusoe" and even to Miss Sedgwick's "Tales and Sketches." There is a Prize Poem, "The Fountain of Ob- livion," by a Virginian. This number introduces a new feature in a supplement of eight pages, which consists of a short Publisher's Notice and the expressions of the Press in regard to the Mes- senger; not only in Virginia, but in several other States, North, South and West To the next number, Mr. Poe contributes a Literary Messenger 39 tale, "The Due De L'Omelette" (which gives rise to some eriticism) ; a poem, "The Valley Nis," a prose sketch of Palestine, and a number of crit- ical notices, of which there are 32 pages. But of these. Judge Beverly Tucker was probably the author of the splendid article on Chief Justice Marshall, in review of three orations in honor of that great jurist, by Horace Binney in Philadel- phia; Dr. Joseph Story, in Boston, and Edgar Snowden, in Alexandria, D. 0. Mr. Poe transfixes Mr. Morris Mattson, of Philadelphia, author of "Paul Ulric; or the Ad- ventures of an Enthusiast." He says : "When we called 'Norman Leslie' the silliest book in the world we had certainly never seen 'Paul Ulric' * * * Of Mr. Mattson's style the less we say the better. It is quite good enough for Mr. Mattson's matter," etc. Yet he gives this silly book a review (with extracts) of seven pages. He lets off with a kind word, "Eose Hill, a Tale of the Old Dominion," by a Virginian, an unpre- tending duodecimo of about 200 pages. There are discriminating but favorable re- views of Martin's Gazetteer of Virginia; "The Confessions of Emilia Harrington," by Lambert A. Wilmer, of Baltimore ;" Lieut. Alexander Sli- dell's "American in England;" H. F. Chorby's "Conti, the Discarded, with other tales and fancies;" "Noble Deeds of Woman," two vol- 40 The Southern umes; Bulwer's "Rienzi;" Dr. Peter Mark Roget's "Animal and Vegetable Physiology, con- sidered with reference to Natural Theology," in noticing which some strong objections are pre- sented to the plan which was adopted for the Bridgewiater Treatises ; and "Mathew Gary's Au- tobiography." Besides some very good prose in this number are a poem, "A Lay of Ruin," by Miss Draper; one, "Living Alone," by T. Flint; and one, on Greece, by Eliza, of Maine. One of the prose articles is a biographical sketch of Jonathan P. Gushing, born March 12, 1793, at Rochester, New Hampshire. With a collegiate education, a love of study and a laud- able ambition, he settled in the South, for the sake of his health, and though an Episcopalian, was made president of Hampden-Sidney College, and though a Northern man, led Virginians to the formation of their first State Historical So- ciety, of which they elected him the first presi- dent This number closes with a unique paper en- titled "Autography," which consists of 24 short letters, from distinguished i)ersons, with a fac- simile of the signature of each. This ingenious matter attracted so much comment that it was extended in August up to 38 letters, the last of which is from Theodore S. Fay, at whom some Literary Messenger 41 fun is poked. Indeed, there are editorial remarks upon all the letters. To the March number Mr. Poe contributes, be- sides critical notices, a tale, "Epimanes," fol- lowed by a short poem "To Helen." The prose articles are long and strong: the study of the Classics is ably defended; President Thomas E. Dew expounds, for the Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society, "The Influence of the Fed- erative Eepublican System of Government upon Literature and the Development of Character;" and the Eev. E. F. Stanton discusses the im- portance of "Manual Labor Schools, as Connect- ed with Literary Institutions." There are also the Inaugural of Judge Henry St. George Tucker as president of the aforesaid Society, and Mr. Maswell's speech in honor of Judge Marshall, their late president. Mr. J. F. Otis lets out his mind on the poetry of Eobert Bums, as do others on a variety of topics ; and the Tripoli and Lionel Granby serials are continued. The critical notices commend Dr. F. L. Hawks' "Ecclesiastical History of Virginia;" Mrs. L. Miles' work on Phrenology; Judge Longstreet's celebrated "Georgia Scenes" and "Traits of the Famous Boston Tea Party;" of the actors in which there were then ten survivors. But with a short sword the critic dispatches "Mahmoud," probably a reprint, by the Harpers, from a Lon- 42 The Southern don publication. It is condemned as a useless tres- passer upon the Anastasius of Mr. Hope. Judge Longstreet became a zealous Methodist preacher and no doubt a good many of his hearers, like ourselves, could not help, whilst listening to him, thinking of his "Georgia Scenes," of which Mr. Poe said : "If these Scenes have produced such effects upon our cachinnatory nerves — upon us who are not 'of the merry mood,' and, moreover, have not been unused to the perusal of somewhat similar things — ^we are at no loss to imagine what a hubbub they would occasion in the unin- itiated regions of Cockaigne. What would Christopher North say to them?" etc., etc. April opens with an unpublished lecture, on "The Providence of God in the Government of the World," by Benjamin Franklin, and some letters of his, which had appeared in print. Mr. Poe furnishes "Some Ancient Greek Authors, Chronologically Arranged;" "A Tale of Jeru- salem;" the explanation of Maelzel's "Chess- player ;" and fourteen and a half pages of critical notices, of which ten and a half are devoted to the poems of Jos. Eodman Drake and Fitz Greene Halleck. This is a remarkable paper and eminently characteristic of the editor. He first defends himself against the strictures of Willis Gaylord Clark, Col. Stone and the 2Vew Yorh Mirror : Col- Literary Messenger 43 onel Stone, of the New Yorh Commercial Adver- tiser, had declared that "by far the greater num- ber of those (Mr. Po^s critiques) we have read have been flippant, unjust, untenable and uncrit- ical." The Knickerbocker and the Mirror refused for some time to exchange with the Messenger. Mr. Poe then goes into an analysis of poetry and American criticism and gives Mr. Drake an alem- bic sifting. He ridicules the "Culprit Fay" and assigns its author to an ordinary rank as a poet. He thinks "Bronx" is his best. He is less severe towards Halleck, but does not give him any high place and thinks his best is his tribute to his friend, Drake, which he copies. He then reviews Paulding and Manly on Slavery ; "Bubbles from the Brunnens of Nassau ;" and has a short reply to Theodore Fay's claim that the sale of a book is the proper test of its merit : "To save time and trouble we will believe it, and are prepared to acknowledge as a consequence of the theory, that the novel, 'Norman Leslie,' is not at all compar- able to the 'Memoirs of Davy Crockett,' or the popular lyric of Jim Crow." There is also a dra- matic poem in five scenes: "The Death of Eobe- spierre." This number closes with eight pages of notices of the Messenger, by widely scattered news- papers. The Richmond Compiler, along with much that is complimentary, ventures to say: 44 The Southern "That Mr. Poe, the reputed editor of the Messen- ger, is a gentleman of brilliant genius and en- dowments is a truth which I believe will not be controverted by a large majority of its readers. For one, however, I confess that there are occa- sionally manifested some errors of judgment, or faults in ta,ste, or whatever they may be called, which I should be glad to see corrected. I do not think, for example, that such an article as 'The Due De L' Omelette' ought to have ap- peared. * ♦ * Mr. Poe is too fond of the wild, unnatural and horrible. Why will he not permit his fine genius to soar into purer, brighter and happier regions? Why will he not disen- thral himself from the spells of German enchant- ment," etc. » * * "When he passes from the region of shadows into the plain, practical dissecting room of criticism, he manifests great dexterity and power. He exposes, the imbecility and rotteness of our ad captandum, popular lit- erature, with the hand of a master," etc. Another writer dubbed some things Mr. Poo's "queer- ities." The appearance of the April number was greatly delayed. Now the month of May had come, on the 16th of which Mr. Poe was married, "at the house where they all lived, by the Eev. Amasa Con- verse," to his cousin Virginia Clemm, and went on editing the Messenger pretty much in his old Literary Messenger 45 fashion. Mr. Fergusson is not sure as to the house in which the marriage was solemnized : he knows that he received some of the wedding cake. He thinks that Mr. Poe and his wife were for a while at the same place where he had been boarding and that was the three-story building, kept by the Yarringtons, at the corner of Twelfth and Bank streets, and in the rear of the present Richmond Dispatch. He used to carry matters for the Messenger to Mr. Poe at the Yarringtons'. Very singularly, years afterwards, when Macfar- lane and Fergusson owned the Messenger they removed it to that very building and issued it thence until they sold it, when it was carried to Washington, near the close of the great war. The night of the evacuation, their printing office was fired, "lock, stock and barrel." The May number opens with something about the Benjamin Franklin MS. from Alice Adder- tongue. Oliver Oldschool comes again and L. A. Wilmer has a poem "On the Death of Camilla." Mr. Poe has a sonnet and a poem, "Irene." Thereafter, he furnishes an editorial on the or- igin of Lynch's Law and fifteen pages of critical notices. The first of these pitches into Lieut. Slidell's "Spain Revisited," though he had commended his other work ; and he handles with undue slash and length the author's letter of dedication, as 46 The Southern he had done Simms' to Yeadon. He charges Slidell with many "niaiseries, an abundance of very bad grammar and a superabundance of gross errors in syntactical arrangement." The next is Anthon's "Sallust." The last crit- ical notice which Mr. Poe wrote for the Messen- ger was of Anthon's "Cicero." He was very par- tial to that gentleman as an author and they were also personal friends. He recommends Mrs. Trollope's "Paris and the Parisians" to all lovers of fine writing and vivacious humor, and touches up the Americans for having been un- necessarily atrabilious towards her book of fium- ■flummery about the good people of the Union. He praises highly Paulding's "Life of Washing- ton." — By the by, a Francis Glass, of Ohio, pub- lished a Vita Washingtonii, in Latin, which was reviewed ironically in the Messenger for Decem- ber, Mr. Poe is favorable to Mr. Robert Walsh's "Didactics" and Mr. J. Fenimore Cooper's "Sketches of Switzerland." Mr. Walsh was a contributor to the Messenger. Mr. Cooper sup- pressed a good part of his work for fear that it would not be acceptable to his own countrymen. A criticism by O. (probably J. F. Otis), of Gren- ville Mellen's poems, is adopted, and Mr. Poe adds, in full, "a spirited lyric," by Mellen, with which he was "specially taken" and which was Literary Messenger 47 sung at Plymouth on the anniversary of the land- ing of the Pilgrims, December 22d, 1620. The June number must have been prepared in May and partly after Mr. Poe's marriage, and he contributes to it only the critical notices, of fifteen pages, and a short editorial about the "Eight of Instruction ;" which Judge Hopkinson, of Philadelphia, strongly opposes, in opening the number. There is a poetical tribute to G. D. Perdicaris, the learned and patriotic Greek; Eliza of Maine holds on and we have the usual variety of prose and poetry, including another lecture, on "The Obstacles and Hindrances to Education," by the veteran James M. Garnett. The Critiques begin with "A Pleasant Peregri- nation through the Prettiest Parts of Pennsyl- vania, Performed by Peregrine Prolix, Philadel- phia;" etc., of which is written: "It is very cer- tain that Peregrine Prolix is a misnomer, that his book is an excellent thing and that the Pref- ace is not the worst part of it." Its title is a pleasant alliteration. It receives over five pages. The editor does not altogether approve of "No- tices of the War of 1812," by John Armstrong, once Secretary of War. But how he lets him- self out over "The Letters, Conversations and EecoUectionS'of S. T. Coleridge;" and pleads for an American publication of the "Biographia Lit- eraria." He is kind to the Rev. Calvin Colton's 48 The Southern "Change to Episcopacy" and to Lieut. M. F. Maury's "Work on Navigation." But he retal- iates with vigor upon Ool. Stone, by averring that his "Ups and Downs in the Life of a Dis- tressed Gentleman" is "an imposition upon the Public," which he proceeds to demonstrate; and thus winds up : "The term -flat is the only gen- eral expression which would apply to it. It is written, we believe, by Col. Stone, of the 'New York Commercial Advertiser, and should have been printed among the quack advertisements, in a spare corner of his paper." Clark had ascribed quackery to Poe, and Stone had approved it: Messenger for April, p. 327. Mr. Poe is more friendly to "Watkins Tottle and other Sketches, by Boz," than was a former editor to the same author, who was still un- known. With a few good words for "Flora and Thalia, or Gems of Flowers and Poetry," this number closes with a rebuke to Mr. Whittaker, of the Southern Literary Journal, of Charleston, S. C, because he, instead of recognizing the Messenger as a coadjutor in the same cause, seemed "disposed to unite with the Knicker- bocker and New York Mirror, in covert, and therefore unmanly, thrusts at the Messenger." Now the July number brings us "Letters from Eandolph;" "Example and Precept," by Pauld- ing; "Erostratus;" "Miseries of Bashf ulness ;" Literary Messenger 49 "British Parliament, in 1835," translated from Revue des Deux Mondes ; teacher Garnett again ; "National Ingratitude," by Matthew Carey; more of the "Diary of an Invalid;" "Love and Constancy," by E. Bnrke Fisher; and a number of poems, long and short, by Eliza, J. F. Otis, M. Carey, Jno. C. McCabe and others. Unless Mr. Poe wrote "Erostratus," there is nothing of his but thirteen pages of critical notices. These embrace "Random Recollections of the House of Lords," by Mr. Grant, a young Scotch reporter; Mrs. Sigourney's "Letters to Young Ladies;" "The Doctor," which he thinks was not written by Southey, but its wit and humor have seldom been equaled; "Frederick Von Raumer's England, in 1835;" a reprint of "Memoirs of an American Lady" — partly before the Revolution, by Mrs. Grant of Laghan ; "Cam- perdown, or News from Our Neighborhood," and a sequel, by an anonymous author, both of which are approved. The poems of W. D. Gallagher are handled both with and without gloves : "Life on the Lakes" is pretty well scored ; but "Russia and the Russians," by Leigh Ritchie, an Ameri- can reprint without the illustrations, is highly lauded. There is another eight-page Supplement of Notices of the Press, some of which employ a true and friendy candor that is tolerated. But 50 The Southern the Newhern (North Carolina) Spectator is taken to task severely for its strictures. Its editor is charged with being aggrieved because his poor poetry had been rejected, and, after having his objections to the Messenger answered, is thus dismissed: "If the editor of this little paper does not behave himself we will positively publish his verses." The Eichmond papers were all friendly to the Messenger; but the Compiler particularly so. It was then edited by Gallagher and also had a correspondent, X. Y. Z., whose observations upon the Messenger were fair, discriminative and in- dependent. They probably had some influence. I think X. Y. Z. was Judge John Eobertson, the author of "Kiego, or the Spanish Martyr." To the August number Mr. Poe contributes two poems: "Israfel" and "The City of Sin;" some editorial matter and eighteen and one-half pages of critical notices. But he has numerous favorite assistants in filling his other columns. Several prose writers appear as poets : Mr. Paul- ding, Dr. Eobert M. Bird, Mrs. Ellett, and W. Maxwell. Mr. Simms not only furnishes some stanzas, but has a poetical tribute paid to him. There is quite a long poem, by Omega, of Eich- mond, on "Marcus Curtius." Mrs. Sigoumey opens the number and Mr. P. P. Cooke makes his debut. Literary Messenger ^i Mr. Henry Lee sends from Paris an extract from the second volnjne of his "Life of Napo- leon," about the battle of Lodi. There are more Letters of John Eandolph and various other good things. Perhaps Mr. James E. Heath wrote one, on "The Influence of Names." The "Editorial" embraces the extracts from Burke to which Judge Hopkinson referred in discussing "The Right of Instruction," and "Pinakidia, or Tablets," which manifest Mr. Poe's extensive reading. There are notices of fifteen publications, from Rev. Orville Dewey's "The Old World and the New," to N. P. Willis' "Inklings of Adventure." As a Mr. Slingsby he describes Willis, "with a pretty face and figure, — fair, funny, fanciful, fashionable and frisky." One of the productions reviewed is "Elkswat- awa; or the Prophet of the West," by Jas. S. French, a Virginian and author of "Eccentrici- ties of David Crockett." The heroine was a Miss Mattie Rochelle, who became a daughter-in-law of President Tyler. Last, we have the other installment of Autography, referred to in Feb- ruary. PRESS NOTICES OF THE AUGUST NUMBER [The Courier and Daily Compiler, August 31, 1836.] The August number of the Southern Literary Messenger has been well received by most of the editorial corps who 52 The Southern have noticed it. These commendations may be valued, be- cause they emanate from sources beyond the influence of private friendship; and therefore it is that suggestions of improvement should be, and we have no doubt will be, duly regarded by the editor and publisher. No periodical in the country has been so successful in obtaining the aid of able and distinguished writers; and quantity of matter is much greater than need be. "We entirely agree with the editor of one of the prints that a choice tale in each num- ber would add to its attraction, as something is due to the tastes of those who have neither time nor relish for the higher grades of literature. Specimens of the writing we refer to have often been given in the Messenger, but the supply may not be as abundant as needful. The hint, we are sure, is enough to prompt the effort to obtain regular contributions of this sort. The criticisms are pithy and often highly judicious, but the editors must remember that it is almost as injudicious to obtain a character for regular cutting and slashing as for indiscriminate laudation. Mb. Poe's Reply September 2, 1836. To the Editor of the Compiler : Dear Sir — In a late paragraph respecting the Southern Literary Messenger, you did injustice to that Magazine, and perhaps your words, if unanswered, may do it an injury. As any such wrong is far from your thoughts you will, of course, allow the editor of the Messenger the privilege of reply. The reputation of a young Journal, occupying a conspic- uous post in the eye of the public, should be watched by those who preside over its interests, with a jealous atten- tion, and those interests defended when necessary and when possible. But it is not often possible. Custom debars a Magazine from answering in its own pages (except in rare cases), contemporary misrepresentations and attacks. Against these it has seldom, therefore, any means of defence Literary Messenger 53 — the best of reasons why it should avail itself of the few which through courtesy fall to its lot. I mean this as an apology for troubling you today. (a.) Your notice of the Messenger would generally be regarded as complimentary, especially as to myself. I would, however, prefer justice to compliment, and the good name of the Magazine to any personal consideration. The con- cluding sentence of your paragraph runs thus: "The criti- cisms are pithy and often highly judicious, but the editors must remember that it is almost as injurious to obtain a character for regular cutting and slashing as for indis- criminate laudation." The italics are my own. I had supposed you aware of the fact that the Messenger had but one editor — it is not right that others should be saddled with demerits which belong only to myself. (b.) But this is not the point to which I especially object. You assume that the Messenger has obtained a character for "regular cutting and slashing;" or if you do not mean to assume this, every one will suppose that you do — ^which, in effect, is the same. Were the assumption just, I would be silent and set about immediately amending my editorial course. You are not sufficiently decided, I think, in saying that a -career of "regular cutting and slashing is almost as bad as one of indiscriminate laudation." It is infinitely worse. It is horrible. The laudation may proceed from — philanthropy, if you please; but the "indiscriminate cutting and slashing" only from the vilest passions of our nature. But I wish to examine briefly two points — ^first, is the charge of "indiscriminate cutting and slashing" just, granting it adduced against the Messenger, and second, is such charge adduced at all? Since the commencement of my editorship, in December last, 94 books have been reviewed. In 79 of these cases, the commendation has so largely predominated over the few sentences of censure that every reader would pronounce the notices highly laudatory. In seven instances, viz.: in those of "The Hawks of Hawk Hollow;" "The Old World and the New;" "Spain Revisited;" the poems of Mrs. 54 The Southern Sigourney, of Miss Gould, of Mrs. Ellet and of Halleck praise slightly prevails. In five, viz.: in those of Clinton Bradshaw, "The Partisan," "Elkswatawa," "Lafitte" and the Po-Drake, censure is greatly predominant; while the only reviews decidedly and harshly condemnatory are those of "Norman Leslie," "Paul Ulrlc" and "Ups and Downs." The "Ups and Downs" alone is unexceptionably condemned. Of these facts you may at any moment satisfy yourself by reference. In such case the difficulty you will find in classing these notices, as I have here done, according to the predominance of censure, or commendation, will afford you sufficient evidence that it can not justly be called "Indiscriminate." But this charge of "indiscriminate cutting and slashing" has never 'been adduced, except in four instances, while the rigid justice and impartiality of our Journal have been lauded, even ad nauseam, in more than four times four hundred. You should not, therefore, have assumed that the Messenger had obtained a reputation for this "cutting and slashing" — ^for the asserting a thing to be famous is a well known method of rendering it so. The four instances to which I allude are the New7>ern Spectator, to which thing I replied In July; The Commercial Adver- tiser, of Colonel Stone, whose "Ups and Downs" I had occasion (pardon me) to "use up;" the New York Mirror, whose editor's "Norman Leslie" did not please me, and the Philadelphia Gazette, which, being conducted by one of the subeditors of the Knickerbocker, thinks it is its duty to abuse all rival magazines. (0.) I have only to add that the inaccuracy of your expres- sion in the words: "The August number of the Southern Literary Messenger has been well received by most of the editorial corps who have noticed it," Is of a mischievous tendency in regard to the Messenger, You have seen, I presume, no notices which have not been seen by myself, — and you must be aware that there is not one, so far, which has not spoken In the highest terms of the August number. Literary Messenger 55 I can not, however, bring myself to doubt that your re- marks upon the whole were meant to do the Messenger a service and that you regard it with the most friendly feel- ings In the world. Respectfully, The Editor of the Messenger. COUEIEK AND COMPILEB'S REJOINDBE. [Sept. 2, 1836. Bichmoncl Courier and Daily Compiler.'] OallaJier and Davis. (a.) The idea that "injury" may accrue to the Messenger from what we have said may have arisen from the "jealous attention" above alluded to, but we doubt whether the public will concur in the opinion. At all events, we can not appreciate that sort of jealousy which deems it proper to defend "reputation" for such slight causes. (b.) We should have thought a critical eye would have observed that this was a mere typographical error. We did not mean to assume the editor had already obtained "a character for regular cutting and slashing." We only warned him against that unenviable sort of reputation. He has chosen to transpose our words and use the word "Indiscriminate," which makes us say what we did not say. There Is surely a vast difference in the import of the terms. "Regular" dissection might be just and proper, from the nature of the subjects reviewed; but "indiscriminate" would imply the indulgence of a savage propensity In all cases whatsoever. The enumeration, therefore, of the cases in which praise predominated was scarcely necessary to a de- fence, because this defence is "adduced" against a charge which was never made ty us. The admission that the re- views of three works were "harshly condemnatory" is enough of itself to justify the warning which we had the temerity to utter; and the further avowal that Col. Stone's "Ups and Downs" was "unexceptionably condemned" would sustain the Idea that the laudation ad nauseam of the, "rigid justice and impartiality" of the editor was not entirely merited. No perfectly dispassionate mind can assent to i;6 The Southern the proposition that the works thus "Harshly" and "unex- ceptlonably condemned" deserved a total and unqualified reprobation. The thing is not reasonable. (c.) We are not willing to admit the "inaccuracy" of this expression. A single exception is enough to justify the use of the word "most," and that exception, if we remember aright, the Baltimore Chronicle furnished. We can not, therefore, allow the "inaccuracy" of the intimation towards the Messenger. We make no professions here as to the nature of our "feeling" for that journal. If these have not been rightly understood, it is not probable that we can now make them palpable. One thing, however, we will venture to remark, in "rigid justice," and that is that one so sensitive as the editor of the Messenger, and so tolerant of a difference of opinion, may probably be led to reflect whether any provo- cation should induce the conductor of a grave literary work to censure "harshly" and "unexceptionably." Those who wield a ready and satirical pen very rarely consider that the subjects of their witticisms have nerves as sensitive as their own; and the Instance before us shows the necessity of learning patiently to bear as well as "rigidly" inflict the lash of criticism. It is not probable we shall ever again disturb, even by a hint, the current of laudation, having had another confirmation of the truth, that giving advice, even with the best of motives, is rather an unthankful business. The enterprise of the Messenger is strikingly indicated by the opening of the September num- ber. The first act of Bulwer's "Cromwell" and an extract from Chorley's "Memoirs of Mrs. Hemans" are obtained, in advance, from their publishers and are succeeded by Garnett's con- cluding Lecture and divers worthy associates. Literary Messenger 57 One commanding article is a defence of the Eight of Instruction, by Eoane, in reply to Judge Hop- kinson. Morna and Simms furnish most of the poetry. Mr. Poe does nothing but editorial work, and in ten pages reviews, without any harshness, "Philothea," a romance by Mrs. Child ; "Sheppard Lee," written by himself, and the "Life and Literary Remains of Wm. Hazlitt," by his son, E. L. Bulwer and Sergeant Talfourd. This number ends with a sad item : "The illness of both publisher and editor will, we hope, prove a sufficient apology for the delay in the issue of the present number and for the omission of many promised notices of new books." The critical notices are all that Mr. Poe con- tributes to the October number. He immolates "The Swiss Heiress ; or the Bride of Destiny. A Baltimore Tale." "It should be read by all who have nothing better to do. We are patient and having gone through the whole book with the most dogged determination, are enabled to pro- nounce it one of the most solemn of farces. Let us see if it be not possible to give some idea of the plot." Having given that, he concludes: "Humph ! And this is the Swiss Heiress ; to say nothing of the Bride of Destiny. However — it is a valuable 'work' — and now in the name of 'fate, foreknowledge and free will,' we solemnly consign it to the fire." Prof. Roszel's Address ^8 The Southern at the Commencement of the Dickinson College ; Wraxall's Memoirs, posthumous; American Al- manac; Cooper's "Switzerland, of 1832," and President Dew's Address are all treated in a more friendly manner and old William and Mary is held up very high. Chorley's Memorials of Mrs. Hemans are beautifully presented. Dr. Robert W. Haxall, of Richmond, had been fortu- nate enough to give a good dissertation on the "Physical Signs of Diseases of the Abdomen and Thorax." In the review of Capt. Basil Hall's "Skimmings at Schloss Hainfield," a singular thing is quoted: The Countess of Purgstall placed in his hands, in such a way as to intimate that she was the author, R. H. Wilde's "My Life is Like the Summer Rose." This happened in Lower Styria; but she was a Scotch lady and had travelled. Then come very just critiques of G. P. R. James; Bland's "Maryland Chancery Re- ports;" Lucien Bonaparte's "Memoirs;" and "Madrid in 1836," by a resident officer. Among the prose writers for this number (November) besides Greenhow, are Roane again ; E. W. S. of S. C. College on "Classical Bibliog- raphy" and Mrs. E. F. Ellett on "Alfleri and Schiller." There is also a long and ambitious poem, "Moses Pleading before Pharaoh," in the form of a dialogue between them. Literary Messenger 59 The Muse of Mrs. EUett leads ofE the last num- ber of the second volume and further on she has a long review of the "Tragedies of Silvio Pel- lico." There is the Address of President Dew, at the opening of William and Mary, and a num- ber of other good things. A Mr. Edwin Saun- ders contributes a poem, "Universal Sympathy, a Winter's Night Thought," dated London, Janu- ary, 1836. The critical notices dwindled to four pages, including some extracts from the books examined, which were the American edition of the British and Foreign Review; Mr. Z. Collins Lee's Address before several Literary Societies of Baltimore; and the "Papers of the Pickwick Club," of which it is now known that Mr. Dickens was the author, and he receives a far higher esti- mate than that which the Messenger first gave him. Then it is said: "A press of business, con- nected with some necessary arrangements for the third volume, has prevented us from paying the usual attention to our critical department. We have many books lying by us which we propose to notice fully in our next." This was in November and "our next" was dated January, 1837. So that there was a hiatus of 9. whole month during which the Messenger's force, editorial and other, had to withstand, in 6o The Southern the capital of Virginia, the festivities of Christ- mas and New Year's Day. The facts just above stated, plainly show that trouble was brewing somewhere. The Third Volume Volume III, January, 1837, opens with "A Visit to My Native Village, after an Absence of Thirty Years," by Hon. James K. Paulding, to which succeeds "A Ballad," by E. A. Poe. Shortly after, he commences his serial sea story of "Arthur Gordon Pym." Then, he has a "Son- net, to Zante." But, at the bottom of page 72, the reader is startled at the following curt announce- ment: "Mr. Poe's attention being called in an- other direction, he will decline, with the present number, the editorial duties of the Messenger. His critical notices for this month end with Prof. Anthon's 'Cicero' — what follows is from another hand. With the best wishes to the Magazine, and to its few foes as well as many friends, he is now desirous of bidding all parties a peaceable fare- well." He had, however, furnished for this large number of 96 pages much more material than has been enumerated. At its close, Mr. White informs his patrons that "Mr. Poe, who has filled the editorial department for the last 12 months with so much ability, retired from that station, on the 3rd inst., and the entire manage- 6i 62 The Southern ment of the work again devolves upon myself alone. Mr. P., however, will continue to furnish its columns, from time to time, with the effusions of his vigorous and popular pen." He also states that Mr. Poe was the. author of the reviews of Bryant's Poems, George Balcomhe, Irving's As- toria, and Reynold's Address, on the South Sea Expedition. Thus, it will be seen how large a portion of this grand number was contributed by his pen. But it may have been executed some time prior to January; because the con- tents had to be made up in advance and the Messenger strove to appear on or very near the 20th of each month preceding the one for which it was dated. This number must, however, have been partly prepared and printed in Janu- ary and several delays have already been noted. This review of Wm. C. Bryant's poems might find a place in any edition of Foe's works, be- cause of its subject and mode of treatment. It shows what special pains Mr. Poe was even then taking towards perfecting his own poetry and what were his ideas of true poetry. There is, too, one striking passage in it He compares Bryant with Young and Cowper, with whom he has many points of analogy, and says : "He has a juster appreciation of the beautiful than the one; of the sublime, than the other, — a finer taste than Cowper; an equally vigorous and far Literary Messenger 63 more delicate imagination than Young. In re- gard to his proper rank among American poets there should be no question whatever. Few — at least few who are fairly before the public, have more than very shallow claims to a rivalry with the author of Thanatopsis." What did he mean by those words, "few who are fairly before the public"? Was he yet to be there? In his review of "Geo. Balcombe" he discloses the fact that Judge Beverly Tucker was its author. But Judge Tucker had also written "The Partizan Leader" and immediately after Mr. Poe's resignation comes a full review of this work by Judge Abel P. Upshur, an exceedingly able man and a very fine writer. There is also a. critical review of Bulwer's new play: "The Duchess de la Valli^re;" so that the Messenger had other reviewers besides Mr. Poe. This initial number of a third volume is a great one. The next number for February is reduced to the usual 64 pages and goes through without any assistance from Mr. Poe, except a. second part of his sea story, "Author Gordon Pym." It closes without any evidence of editorial super- vision, except some notes "To our readers." Some of the leading features of this number are the Address of Hon. Thos. W. Gilmer before the Virginia Historical Society; "Notes and Anec- dotes, Political and Miscellaneous, drawn from 64 The Southern the Portfolio of an OfiScer of the Empire," trans- lated by a gentleman residing in Paris, and which are continued; "A Tale of the 14th Cen- tury," by Mrs. E. F. EUett, and poems, by Mrs. Sigourney and Dr. W. Gilmore Simms. The March number is the first that ever bore the name of T. W. White as editor and proprie- tor, but that statement was kept up until his death. Mr. Poe besought the proprietor to re- instate him as editor, but Mr. White, in terms firm yet kindly, refused to do so. That number was reduced to 48 pages, and though those were well filled there was little evidence that an editor was at the helm. In April, the work returns to its normal 64 pages and shows that an editor has again mounted the tripod; but he is not always there. Who, if anybody, was recognized as editor dur- ing the residue of this year can not be averred. There are a number of new contributors, some of whom furnish very good substitutes for edi- torial work. Some of the serials, especially "Oon- stantine, or the Rejected Throne," by Mrs. Har- rison Smith, are completed and others com- menced; several long and ambitious poems are given; there are animated discussions of Miss Edgeworth's "Helen" and the "Pickwick Papers"; articles by Prof. Francis Lieber and John W. Draper; and in December, the Ora- Literary Messenger 65 tion delivered at Yorktown, on October 19th, by the Hon. John Tyler. There are also some orig- inal letters by Mr. Jefferson. There are, too, some reviews which show that Mr. Poe was not the only critic who could use the scalpel, and one of Wordsworth, which rejoices that the tide of appreciation had turned in his favor. Who, if anybody, was the chief editor after Mr. Poe is not known ; but Mr. White must have had assistance. Mr. Heath and other literary friends were in Eichmond and Mr. Minor was practicing law at Louisa C. H. near by. One high authority has asserted that Judge Henry St. Geo. Tucker was for a while the editor of the Messen- ger, but his duties as president of the Supreme Court of Virginia rendered it impossible for him to hold that position. Mr. Fergusson says that material aid was afforded by the Rev. E. H. Chapin, who came frequently, to the office, and a Mr. Sparhawk, to whom he often carried proofs and MSS. He was employed in one of the offices in the basement of the Capitol. Mr. Chapin came to Kichmond about 1836 and preached for a con- gregation of Universalists and Unitarians, on Mayo street. He was born in New York, but received his collegiate education in Vermont. He was young, but had decided literary tastes and aspirations. In 1840, he went to Massachu- setts and finally got to New York City, where a 66 The Southern large church was built for him, by Universalists, on Fifth avenue and 45th street. He became quite distinguished as an author and an orator. Mr. Thomas Willys White was not a literary man; but an excellent printer, who had served part of his time in Boston, and no doubt his ex- perience and observation there stimulated his enterprise and were of good service to him in undertaking the Messenger, in which he had higher aims than procuring a monthly job of printing. For he had a liberal spirit and a proper State pride. He could write a very .cor- rect and diplomatic letter, well calculated to obtain what he desired, and he was an indefatig- able correspondent. It is probable that his not being a literary character was an advantage to him in his efforts to establish the Messenger, by drawing out the cordial cooperation which was extended to him. His sentiments towards Northern people conciliated them, whilst his being a native of Virginia strengthened him in the South. A correspondent of the Portland Advertiser once claimed him for the North and he corrected the mistake in the following terms : "The publisher did once reside in the city of Bos- ton and can freely bear testimony to the high character, generous feelings and the noble accom- plishments of its citizens ; but he was only a so- journer among them, having been bom and for Literary Messenger 67 the most part reared in the Old Dominion. If he were not a full-blooded Tuckahoe Virginian, he would like to be a Bostonian." Volume I. 65. He was a native of historic Yorktown, Va. The Fourth Volume An editorial, "The New Year," opens Volume IV. Besides a holiday salutation to subscribers, readers and contributors, it lays great stress upon the benefits of practice in writing. The Messenger continues its useful feature of pre- senting in full, or in reviews, excellent addresses by distinguished authors. Thus we have Samuel L. Southard, Jos. R. Ingersoll, Edward Everett, D. L. Carroll, Beverly and Geo. Tucker, Henry Ruffner, James E. Heath, Geo. D. Armstrong, Henry L. Pinckney, etc. Among the new contributors are C. W. Ever- est, Dr. Jno. L. Martin, Chas. Campbell, Char- lotte Barnes, W. W. Andrews, C. M. F. Deems, F. W. Thomas, and Horatio King. There are essays, sketches and stories. With the aid of the Edinburgh, Review, Lord Bacon is extensively considered. Judges Carr, Taney and other dis- tingues are sketched; Miss Martineau and Bul- wer are reviewed ; justice is done to Simms, who, with all the fair drawbacks and discounts against him, is the hero and leviathan of South- ern Literature. Judge Harper furnishes his 68 Literary Messenger 69 able "Memoir on Slavery," corrected; the Mes- senger makes friends with the New Yorh Mirror and boosts both Willis and Morris; and these and other matters compose an interesting volume of 800 pages. The editor's Book Table is rather neglected, though in the May number a review department is announced and authors and pub- lishers invited to send their works. The beginning of this year was a trying, time for Mr. White. He had had to endure the slow and painful death of his invalid wife, which occurred on the 11th of December, 1837, in her 43rd year. In the October number is an obituary notice of her and a hearty tribute to her by the faithful Eliza, of Maine. In the April number is a spirited defence of Mr. Jefferson, against a scandalous attack upon him, by The New York Church Quarterly. In six numbers is a "Jour- nal of a Trip to the Mountains, Caves and Springs of Virginia," by a New Englander. But a stop must be made, else the next volume will never be reached and this intended sketdi be- come as voluminous as RoUin's "Ancient His- tory ;" or an improved Encyclopaedia. The Fifth Volume The fifth volume, of 852 pages, commences with "renewed thanks to our subscribers, con- tributors, and the public generally, including the corps editorial, for their generous support and indulgence for the last four years." It says that "the Messenger ought to be considered as still an experiment" and appeals for more of "that powerful metallic spring, which puts all human machinery into motion." Then, as early as page two, is the advent of the renowned Mathew Fontaine Maury, a second lieutenant in the U. S. Navy and only 33 years of age; but he grew and attained until he became about the most complete and best rounded of our great men. A special map was engraved to make more effective his great "Scheme for Re-building Southern Commerce." Even then he foresaw what part steam was to play in navigation. Among the other new contributors, many of them in both prose and verse, to this fine volume are Dr. Harvey Lindsly; Landon C. Garland; Wm. J. Duane; Jane Taylor Lomax; E. A. Stock- ton; 0. F. Hoffman; Park Benjamin; Eugene 70 Literary Messenger 71 Vail, private secretary to Hon. W. H. Crawford when he was U. S. Minister to France; Wm. 0. Bryant; (copied), Hugh M. Garland, Jr.; Maria G. Milward; J. N. Reynolds; Longfellow; Seba Smith; S. M. Janny; W. Wallace; W. B. Fair- child ; Rev. E. H. Ohapin ; Gen. Lewis Cass, who sent his MSS. from Paris, whilst he was U. S. Minister, and Dr. John L. Martin. There are a good many re-publications, one of which is a course of lectures on Phrenology, by Dr. George Combe. The Messenger under Mr. Poe espoused Phrenology. Now, we also have the two lectures of Dr. Thomas Sewall against it. That very strong man, Judge Abel P. Upshur, was to have been the anniversary orator of the Virginia Historical Society ; but serious sickness prevented and he sends to their organ what he would have said to them, on "Domestic Slavery." He bore a very prominent part in the adminis- tration of President Tyler, until his career was ended by the explosion of the large gun, the "Peacemaker," which was under exhibition, on the Potomac. Two other eminent Virginians, Gov. Gilmer and Commodore Kennon, shared his fata Dr. Henry Myers, of Richmond, won the prize offered for the best address upon the opening of the Avon Theatre, in Norfolk, Va. A competitor 72 The Southern was also from Eichmond and both poems appear, in the December number, side by side. Eev. Dr. Henry Euffner, after occupying four numbers with "Notes of a Tour from Virginia to Tennessee," takes everybody by surprise with his admirable story, "Judith Bensaddi," and be- fore the interest in that had subsided brought forth its worthy sequel, "Seclusaval." Among the addresses are those of John Tyler, Geo. E. Dabney, Z. Collins Lee and E. H. Chapin. Besides Judge Tucker, William and Mary is rep- resented by her Professors, Saunders and Mil- lington. There are good essays, tales, reviews and notices of living American poets, and a wish is felt to know their authors, — especially of those of the Bridgewater Treatises and "The Character of Medea," from Chapel Hill. Notice is again taken of the "Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence" and of "New Views of the Solar System." There are versions in five lan- guages of Morris' "Woodman, Spare that Tree," under the title of "Delphian Amusements." N. C. Brooks writes those in Latin and Greek ; Eev. H. Scheib, the one in German; Prof. I. A. Pizarro, that in Spanish. The one in Greek is also printed in English type. In his early contributions, Mr. Poe quoted some Greek, which was put in En- glish type; but it was not long before Mr. White procured a font of Greek type and the Messenger Literary Messenger 73 printed Greek, whenever it was required. Unless Mr. Simms wrote (as he probahly did) "Inter- national Law of Copyright," he has nothing in this volume until we come to eight of his "Early Lays," in December. There is still a paucity of bibliographical matter. A friendly notice of the Collegian, which had been started by James P. Holcombe and others at the University of Virginia, closes the year 1839. A future editor of the Messenger was a contributor to the Colle- gian. One fact becomes striking: from how many States, not Southern, the contents of the Messen- ger were furnished. The Sixth Volume One thing noticeable in the volume for 1840 is its three double numbers, which caused some grumbling. Subscribers and other readers did not like to be deprived of their welcome monthly visitor and, when at length it arrived, they had more good reading than they could well manage, with the usual demands upon their time. The January (and February) number is ush- ered by a short poem, "The Dying Eagle," from Poe's friend, William Wallace, of Kentucky. Then comes "The New Year," in which the pub- lisher makes a strong and touching presentation of his side of the case. He says that the work may now be regarded as established and yet that depended upon the manner in which his patrons responded to his appeal for greater promptitude in attending to their pecuniary obligations. He refers to his unremitting and disinterested labors, though "he is of a delicate frame," and what he urges and proposes ought to have been perfectly irresistible. He is also full of thank- fulness. Rev. Mr. Ohapin offers "A Christmas Ode," and a Baltimorean, W. F. F., makes a full 74 Literary Messenger 75 and able defence of Dr. Ohanning against an attack upon him by Lord Brougham, in the Edin- burgh Review. Then prose and poetry, of great variety, mostly original, but some selected and some translated, alternate, until 128 pages are well filled, in the new and beautiful dress that had been provided. Among the new contributors are Edward Par- mele, H. T. Tuckerman, between whom and Mrs. Seba Smith is a discussion in regard to Shelley ; Edmund Bohun, Conway Eobinson, M. Morgan, M. D., U. S. N.; Thos. Nelson, Elihu Burritt, F. M. Hubbard, S. Teackle Wallis, Lewis J. Cist, Dr. J. E. Snodgrass, Rufus W. Griswold, Prof. W. H. Fonerden, Geoi^ia; Chas. Lanman, Lydia Jane Pierson; Jas. T. Fields, who was then a clerk in a Boston bookstore, but became one of. the best-posted of litterateurs and the intimate friend of Charles Dickens; R. Browne, Ken- tucky; A. M. F. Buchanan, Mrs. E. J. Eames, W. G. Howard, Ohio; J. W. Mathews, Cornelia L. Tuthill, who wrote "Virgina Dare, or the Colony of Roanoke;" Ro. How. Gould, Geo. D. Strong, Dewitt E. Roberts, Mrs. Mary E. Hewitt, Payne Kenyon Kilbourn, G. Waterston, Geo. B. Wallis, Ohio; L. L. Noble, A. F. Olmstead, etc. Some of the longest and most important arti- cles are anonymous; e. g., "White and Black Slavery," R. T. H.; "My Uncle's Unpublished 76 The Southern MSS."; "The History of an Adventurer," with its sequel ; "The Motherless Daughters," by a Vir- ginian, — ascribed to Prof. Geo. E. Dabney, of Washington College, a ripe scholar and a fine writer, who was afterwards brought to Rich- mond College. The story, "The German's Daugh- ter," attracted a good deal of attention. Its author was "a talented young lady, a native of Amelia county, Va." Her initials, T. H. E., have been met with before. Judge Upshur penned, as hardly any one else could have done, the sketch of Mr. Jefferson, in review of Prof. Geo. Tucker's "Life of the Sage of Monticello." "The Abbot, or Hermit of the Falls," W. C. P. (reston?), S. C, was highly commended. Mr. Heath and Lucian Minor reappear. Mr. Minor is greatly honored. He has removed to Char- lottesville to experiment with his hobby, — an ut- terly independent, impartial and no-sided news- paper. But there is a surmise that he may have been so partial as to have addressed a poem, on page 678, "To Mrs. S. P. Q., on her marriage. M., Louisa Co." He did write poetry and translate Greek odes. Eliza, of Maine, contributes some prose; but has become bolder in her poetic flights. So has Egeria, of Clark's Mills, Ohio, who has a poem, in three parts. Harry Bluff (Lieut. Maury, still incog.) makes three draws of remarkable "Scraps from the Literary Messenger jy Lucky Bag." No. III., "Details of the School Ship," had, no doubt, much to do with the found- ing of the U. S. Naval School at Annapolis. Maury preferred going to West Point, because of the advantages for study thera But when circumstances placed him in the Navy, he strove to improve himself and it in every way that he could, and he succeeded so admirably that many friends of the Army had their jealousy excited; and probably President Jefferson Davis unduly sympathized with them. Judge A. B. Long- street, author of the famous "Georgia Scenes," has become president of Emory College, Georgia, and delivered a fine inaugural. Rev. Mr. Chapin, who is said to have assisted Mr. White edito- rially, has delivered a Fourth of July Oration before the Military of Richmond and has issued in Boston a volume, containing six of his lec- tures on the "Duties of Young Men," which is very favorably noticed and extracts taken. The new publications of the day receive better attention and there is a notice of an address delivered by James L. Minor, Secretary of State, on the laying of the cornerstone of the Univer- sity of the State of Missouri, at Columbia. He went from Fredericksburg, Va., as a young teacher and lawyer, to Missouri, about 1830. He gave up the law, but gained and held influential positions there. It was partly through his in- yS The Southern strumentality that an ex-editor of the Messenger was called, in 1860, to the presidency of that university. The whole civilized world has recently been deeply interested in the obsequies of England's great and lamented Queen. The Messenger has some poems addressed to her in the early years of her reign : one in January of this volume, on her Coronation, by Miss Charlotte M. S. Barnes, of New York. This volume is a splendid one and after all that has been said, how much has had to be omitted. The New York Express, among many complimentary things, said of the Messenger: "Not on the South alone, however, but on the whole country it is shedding its genial influence. Like Washington and Jefferson and Marshall, the Messenger is the honored child of Virginia, but like them, too, its wide-spreading influence and high reputation have become the common property of the whole land." The Messenger has made up with the Knicker- hocker and favors it and the Gentleman's Maga- zine. It says : "We are pleased to find that our old assistant, Edgar A. Poe, is connected with Burton in the editorial management of the Gen- tleman's Magazine. Mr. Poe is favorably known to the readers of the Messenger as a gentleman of fine endowments; possessing a taste classical Literary Messenger 79 and refined, an imagination affluent and splendid, and withal, a singular capacity for minute and mathematical detail. We always predicted that Mr. Poe would reach a high grade in American literature, but we also thought, and still think, that he is too much attached to the gloomy Ger- man mysticism to be a useful and effective writer, without a total divorce from that sombre school. Take, for example, the tale of 'The Fall of the House of Usher,' which is understood to be from his pen. It is written with great power, but leaves on the mind a painful and horrible impression, without any redeeming ad- monition to the heart. It resembles a finely sculptured statue, beautiful to the eye, but with- out an immortal spirit. We wish that Mr. Poe would stick to the department of criticism : there he is an able professor and he uses up the vermin who are continually crawling, unbidden, into the literary arena, with the skill and nonchalance of a practiced surgeon. He cuts them up by piecemeal and rids the Kepublic of Letters of such nuisances, just as a good officer of police sentences to their proper destination the night- strollers and vagabonds who infest our cities. We sincerely wish Mr. Poe well and hope that he will take our advice in good part." When Lea & Blanchard published Mr. Poe's "Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque," they 8o The Southern are treated thus: "To say that we admire Mr. Poe's style, abstractly considered, is more than we can say and speak truly; neither can we per- ceive any particular beneficial tendency that is likely to flow from his writings. This, of course, is a mere matter of opinion and we may differ in saying so from many. At the same time, the possession of high powers of invention and im- agination — of genius — is undoubtedly his. His productions are, many of them, in Literature like Martin's in the Pine Arts. His serious sketches all bear the marks of bold, fertile genius. There is the dark cloud hanging over all ; there are the dim, misty, undefined shapes in the ba.ckground. But amid all these arise huge and magnificent columns, fiashing lamps, rich banqueting vessels, gleaming tiaras and sweet, expressive faces. But the writings of Mr. Poe are well known to the readers of the Messenger" etc., etc. The Seventh Volume This volume, VII., is the largest that was ever issued, for it has 876 pages; yet several others have exceeded the appointed number. Mrs. Seba Smith has the honor of ushering in the year 1841 with a poem on "Youth and Old Age," and afterwards attention is directed to her "Sinless Child," her "Powhatan" and other productions. The editorial, "The New Year; to our subscribers," is rather stilted, but thankful and hopeful, and has some remarks which are here quoted : "It is true we hold our Messenger as peculiarly the herald of Southern talent. * * * We have made and, by every considera- tion of kindred and sympathy, shall make our Journal the medium for the defence and exposi- tion of Southern interests and Southern rights. * * * In all this we have been sectional, and we humbly opine that if we had not been so, not only would the proud word that stands first in our title be a mockery and a sound, but we should stand recreant to gratitude and to duty. * * * Above the discordant strife of sectarism and the heated atmosphere of party, in a region of 8i Sz The Southern freer and purer light, we have endeavored to foster generous talent wherever we have found it and to present to our readers the thoughts of truthful and loving spirits; in whatever section of our one broad land their fountains have gushed." Such continued the tone and purpose of the Messenger during the whole time of Mr. White's successor. There are some thirty new contributors, who, with many of those already mentioned, fill up the teeming pages with every variety of compo- sition and some translations. There are two double numbers. May and June and July and August; and there are some very long articles, in both sizes of type; e. g., "A review of Oapt. Marryatt and his Diary," probably by Jno. Blair Dabney, one of the best writers for the Messen- ger, occupies near 24 pages of the smaller type; and another writer takes him to task for having wasted so much on such a trifling subject. Gen. Lewis Cass also requires 24 pages of larger type, for his second paper, which is an account of the Island of Cyprus, the fabled kingdom of Aphro- dite. Harry Bluff, too, has large space for No. IV. of his Scraps, in which he insists upon re- organizing the Navy. From the beginning he has been deservedly a pet with the Messenger and none other of its contributors ever gave it ' such great influence. His probings of the Navy Literary Messenger 83 stirred up the wrath of some high official, so that he came after Harry very hotly. The Messenger admitted his reply ; but had to expurgate his MS. However, Harry marshalled more facts and floored the aroused dignitary. At length Harry became known and the July number contains a sketch of M. F. Maury. It tells how sedulously he improved himself after he left the school of Bishop Jas. H. Otey, in Franklin, Tenn., and en- tered the U. S. N. But it omits one fact which had a blessed effect upon his subsequent career, beginning with his appearance as a writer for the great public. Whilst a mere midshipman and pursuing, with the aid of diagrams drawn on cannon balls, professional studies, he felt keenly his inferiority to his messmates and the ship's officers in Belles Lettres and resolved to make up his deficiencies. So he added good literature to his studies, in which he was generously aided by a brother of Washington Irving, who had a well selected library with him. Maury never after slighted good literature, though he may have somewhat undervalued the classical languages, which he would hardly have done had he re- mained with his great friend Bishop Otey, for he was devoted to the Classics and had taught them in the University of North Carolina. Indeed a writer from Frankfort, Ky., criticises Maury for 84 The Southern being too narrow in regard to the acquisition of languages in his school ship for the Navy, This volume is quite full of the Navy. There are three sets of "Extracts from the Journal of an American Naval Officer;" four letters from Union Jack to Henry Clay and a sketch of Judge Abel P. Upshur, whom President Tyler had made the Secretary of the Navy. What an earnest ap- peal does this sketch embrace for the Judge to ex- ert his position and influence in promoting re- forms in the Navy! There is a discussion as to the moral tendency of the "History of an Adventurer" and its Se- quel, by a critic whom Mr. White consulted, and the author. The critic is very strait-laced, but not offensive, and the controversy is agreeably courteous. The eleven chapters of "The Quakeress" are fin- ished ; but other tales are going on, though there are several short ones. There are some lengthy and even pretentious poems. Judge Meek writes one, "The Nuptial F^te, an Irregular Poem." Geo. B. Wallis continues one : "Arabella, a Story of the Texan Eevolution." Notice is taken of "Po- cahontas," a poetical legend, by a lady of Rich- mond, Mrs. John G. Mosby, published in book form. There are two poems from the pen of Ex- President John Q. Adams, and oh! how many others. Our good and distinguished Ex-Secre- Literary Messenger 85 tary of the Navy, J. K. Paulding, has got out a collection of his poems. There is a review of Navarrete's work on "Spain," which Mr. S. Teackle Wallis, of the Baltimore Bar, contrib- uted, as he did previous articles on Spain and her literature. There was a memorable celebration in Eich- mond, on this 22d of February. Virginia had voted swords of honor to eight of her sons, who had distinguished themselves in the military and naval service of their country, in and about 1812 ; and on the above great anniversary they, or their representatives, received those swords, on thj» Southern portico of the Capitol, from Gov. Thoa Walker Gilmer, in the presence of thousands of spectators, many of whom had been drawn from all parts of the State and from other States. The Messenger records the event. Near the close of the year Miranda furnishes a vivid description of Pennsylvania scenery, as she enjoyed it in a journey, with her father, from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, by river and canal. Her father was Maury's Tennessee teacher. Bishop Otey, and some years later she became a frequent contributor to the Messenger', as La Vis- ionnaire, etc. Governor Gilmer and Wm. G. Minor, of Mis souri, write about the importance of obtaining and preserving the records of the Colonial his- 86 The Southern tory of Virginia, a subject which the Messenger resumed with earnest zeal under Mr. White's successor. In most of the numbers, the bibliographical de- partment receives due attention and a merited tribute is paid to the American publishers for the vast improvements they have introduced, in every aspect of their beneficent business. The Eighth Volume Here is another large and rich volume of 800 pages, with a January number of 104. But this time the editor has no poetic herald : at once, he extends New Year's greetings to patrons and friends. He is exultant as well as grateful and r might appear to be boastful, were it not that he is able to state some big facts. He says : "With- in the last year, our subscription list has in- creased largely and fresh numbers are daily lengthening it. Never has the circulation of the Messenger been as great as it now is." * ♦ • "If the Messenger has been good in times past, it shall be better in times to come. It has never had such a list of correspondents as those whose pens are now engaged to adorn its pages. To them and not to us belongs the honor of its excel- lencies ; to them we feel and acknowledge our ob- ligations." Begging them to excuse any seeming neglect of their offerings, he adds: "We have bushels of these now before us and every mail brings fresh supplies to the pile. With the grow- ing popularity of the Messenger, such has been the increase of contributors, that it would now 87 88 The Southern keep one person constantly employed to overhaul MSS. and do nothing else." Yes, the number of contributors, new and old, is very striking, as is also the wide range from which they come, besides "the Sunny South- land." By way of contrast, we next have a long bio- graphical notice of the founder, in Pennsylvania, of the Brackenridges, or Breckenbridges, and a shorter Memoir, by the Eev. William Norwood, of the Rt. Rev. Richard Ohanning Moore, the venerable and beloved Bishop of Virginia. Na- sus (Miss Susan Walker, of Fredericksburg,) gives us a good story about "Female Influence," and several other Virginia ladies contribute tales and novelettes. Tuckerman tells of Keats and other poets; and DeLeon, of South Carolina, sev- eral times indulges in a similar vein. Consul An- drews runs his "Knights of Malta" through the volume. After the fifth paper on "Arabian Literature" (author still unknown), we come upon "The Uni- versity of Virginia," written by a friendly and admiring alumnus, B. B. Minor. Here shall be slipped in something which has been held in re- serve. Mr. White must have had some trusted editorial help right at hand. The notices of new works — especially in May — and other indica- tions prove this; and it would be very gratifying 1 1 J i 1 ■■>.,'* ■' " ■ 7-. 7^ Literary Messenger 89 if it could be known who that editor was. Rev. Mr. Ohapin had gone back to the North and nothing can be ascertained in regard to Mr. Spar- hawk spoken of by Mr. Whitty and Mr. Fergus- son. It is known, however, that a good deal of editorial assistance was rendered by Lieut. M. F. Maury, from Washington City. This editorship was greatly facilitated by the Hon. Wm. B. Lewis, Auditor of the U. S. Treasury Depart- ment, who granted the Messenger the liberal use of his franking privilege. This privilege was af- terwards much restricted; but Major Lewis had no scruples about promoting the plans and ob- jects of the Southern Literary Messenger. That Maury edited the above article on the "Univer- sity of Virginia" is shown by his handwriting on the MS. and he was still editing the Messenger, in the same way, when it was sold. Mr. N. O. Brooks has published a poem on the Church and is complimented for "a fine classical style blended with a hallowed spirit of piety." Park Benjamin reappears and has started in New York the weekly New World, which the Messenger lauds very highly. Erastus Brooks has something about the Congressional Burying- ground, in Washington. Mrs. Seba Smith favors us with the seven parts of her poem the "Sinless Child." John Blair Dabney (?) pokes exquisite fun at the proposed "Whisker Order," by which 90 The Southern the beard of sailors and soldiers was to be cur- tailed. "Ancient and Modem Eloquence" is an excellent essay by Mr. Anon. The Messenger has captured the Navy and the Army and was so overwhelmed with communica- tions stirred up by Harry Bluff, that it had to reject many of them. But one, by Commander L. M. Powell, in favor of a Naval School is ad- mitted. Then we have a full review of the report of Judge Upshur, as Secretary of the Navy. There are 26 chapters of "Scenes and Adventures in the Army," by a captain of TJ. S. Dragoons, St. George Cooke, father-in-law of General J. E. B. Stuart. There are also three long instal- ments of "Extracts from the Journal of An American Naval Officer." But the feather belongs to the cap of Harry Bluff for his grand disserta- tion on "The Eight of Search," which took Lord Aberdeen by surprise and turned in our favor the tide of diplomacy. In the same connection may be mentioned the review of Henry Whea- ton's work on "The Right of Search and Visita- tion," claimed by England. There is a discussion, pro and con, of "The Protective Policy," not as a question of party, but one of political economy. But the editor, seeing the danger, stopped the controversy. "Grecian and Roman Poetic Literature" is treat- ed ably and at considerable length, by B., and Literary Messenger 91 several quotations are printed in Greek. The Greek Dramatists are also reviewed by Charles Minnigerode, when he was a professor of Human- ities in William and Mary. He became dis- tinguished as an Episcopal minister and was, during the war of the Southern Confederacy, rec- tor of St. Paul's Church, Eichmond, which was attended by President Davis and Gen. E. B. Lee ; and he visited Mr. Davis in his prison at Fortress Monroe. No other magazine in this country could have dared to present such articles as the Messenger did. The reviewer of Navarrete had spoken of Ir- ving's unacknowledged indebtedness to that author, in his "Life of Columbus ;" for which the KmcJcerbocker called the reviewer to account. He replies and maintains his point. There are some interesting papers on "Blind- ness and the Blind," from the State Institute for the Blind, at Staunton. Elm, the Eev. E. L. Magoon, writes well about "The Patriotism of St. Paul" and "Christianity and Patriotism." He was pastor of the Second Baptist Church, in Eichmond, and, wishing to improve his pulpit deliverances, had the inde- pendence and good sense to take lessons in elo- cution from Forrest, the actor. But the goody- goodies censured him. He was called to Cincin- 92 The Southern nati and there gratified his ambition as orator and author. Now we come to "Riego, or the Spanish Mar- tyr, a Play in five acts," by the celebrated Judge John Robertson, who kept his pet secret for many years. At last, whilst he was preparing a new and revised edition, he dropped a proof sheet, which fortunately was found and handed to him by a particular friend. He bound that friend to silence and it was several years yet ere it leaked out that one so highly distinguished in law and politics had such a penchant for poetry and the stage. At one time he had strong hopes that his Riego would be put upon the boards by Mr. Boucicault, of New York. The "Genealogy of Ideas" is from the fertile brain and facile pen of Edward Wm. Johnston, who was so well known as a correspondent of the National Intelligencer. He was brought to Rich- mond to edit the Daily Whig, but literature was more his forte than politics. Before the great in- ternecine war, he removed to Missouri and was for several years the learned librarian of the Mercantile Library of St. Louis. He was a brother of Gen. Jos. E. Johnston and I often met him in St. Louis. Blackwood's Magasine had made a vitupera- tive attack upon our peerless Washington aud, of course, he is heartily defended. Washington Literary Messenger 93 Alston's tale, "Monaldi," is artistically com- mended by a South Carolinian of Cheraw and the author's reputation as a painter is also set forth. Alston gives us a sonnet. Mrs. Anna Cora Mowatt (gracefully reviewed by Poe) has several poems. She attained some rank as an actress; but became Mrs. Wm. F. Eitchie and entered Richmond society, where her culture and taste aided laudable undertakings. Once, on a visit to Mt. Vernon, she charmed her fellow pas- sengers with her fine elocution. Jane Tayloe Lomax, besides her verses and "Love Sketches," treats of Madame de Genlis and Madame de Stael. She was the daughter of Major Lomax, U. S. A., and a niece of Judge John Tayloe Lomax. "Napoleon, Wellington," etc. Lieut. General Dumas translated into French "Napier's History of the Peninsular War" and the Journal des De- bats reviewed it. Alpha translates this review for the Messenger. Archaeus Occidentalis (who was he?) carries through, in nine chapters, his Pennsylvania story, "The Hunchback." Book notices draw very diverse things into close companionship; e. g., "Lomax's Learned Digest, of the Laws of Real Property," in 3 tomes, is right between "The Youth's Mirror," for Sabbath Schools, and "Random Shots and South- ern Breezes," containing critical remarks on the 94 The Southern Southern States and Institutions; with semi- serious observations on men and manners, by Louis F. Tasistro, a traveling play actor. There are notices of Mrs. Wm. 0. Rives' "Tales and Souvenirs of her Residence in Foreign Lands ;" of "Pocahontas," a long poem, by a lady of Richmond, Mrs. Mosby ; of "Lewis and Clark's Famous Expedition," just published by the Har- pers; of R. W. Griswold's "Poets and Poetry of America" and hosts of other productions. As to addresses, the Messenger had been so liberal that a rule of excluding them was adopt- ed ; but when the old veteran educator, James M. Garnett, appeared before an Education Conven- tion, in Richmond, an exception was made in his favor. Another exception was made for Judge Beverly Tucker, who had spoken before the Tem- perance Society of William and Mary. The ed- itor said that the Judge's contributions had be- come "like angels' visits and he would fain woo him again into his columns." There is an abundance of poetry and much of it real. The editor took pains to collect 16 "beautiful little pieces of poetry," which he pub- lishes together as "Minstrelsy from Yankee Land." Besides, he has several of his approved authors from that same land and elsewhere. Yet the volume closes with something peculiar about poetry. A friend of Mr. White addresses an Literary Messenger 95 earnest letter to him complaining of the lack of inspiration on the part of his poetasters and urg- ing him to devise some means . of working an amelioration in his poetical department. Ac- cordingly Mr. White offers an honorarium of a silver medal, or cup, of the value of |10, for the best poem, of not less than 75 nor more than 150 lines, which should be sent in on or before the first day of February next. Five competent and impartial gentlemen were appointed to make the award. But the liberal-minded, enterprising, indefatig- able and originative founder of the Messenger was not to be permitted to witness the result of the above proposal. The paralytic was then ly- ing on a couch which Death was already draping. The Ninth Volume The year 1843 (volume nine) was a sad one for the Messenger. Though no intimation of it has been given, a dark and deepening shadow is gathering over it. Still, the January number commences with an "Extract from an Unpub- lished Poem" by E. B. Hale; and then "The Ed- itor's Address," in which he speaks of "looking blithely ahead and forming new plans." He again lays stress upon the necessity of more punctuality in attending to the terms of subscrip- tion ; but tenders many and hearty thanks. "Not- withstanding the tightness of the times, there is a noble band of those who have stood by us man- fully and have proudly borne us along the walks of Literature." Next, we have "The Navy and the West," being a review of the "Proceedings of the City of Mem- phis," on the subject of establishing there, by the United States, an Armory and Naval depot and dockyard. Maury's writings in the Messenger did procure such an establishment, but it was abandoned before the Confederate war. He also advocated one on the Atlantic coast of the South- 96 Literary Messenger 97 ern States. Our Federal Government has va- cated the one it had at Port Royal, S. C, but is planting another at Charleston. The rest of this number contains the usual variety, but without any very long articles. Mrs. Mowatt, Paul Gran- ald, P. Spencer Whitman, J. K. Paulding and E. B. Hale contribute poetry. Maria G. Milward sends a tale in eight chapters; George Waterston, of Washington, D. C, one shorter, "The Wan- derer." Mr. S. Teaekle Wallis returns vigor- ously the fire of the KnicTceriocJcer about Irving and Navarrete. Lord Bolingbroke's political character and writings and Miss Lomax's "Love Sketches" are continued. There are two reviews, Northern and South- ern, and neither favoring their circulation, of Mr. Dickens' "American Notes;" and notices of several other new publications, including the Southern Quarterly Review, and Harper's Li- brary of Select Novels. The Messenger heari;ily seconded the efforts of the publishers to cheapen the cost to the public of good reading. How cheap it is nowadays ! The badge of mourning around the first page of the February Messenger indicates the decease of its remarkable founder. His obituary is from his loving and admiring friend, James E. Heath ; who speaks of him as he felt and as his subject richly deserved. 98 The Southern As far back as September, at the supper table of the Astor House, in New York, Mr. White was struck, whilst conversing familiarly with a friend, with paralysis. His friends hoped that he might be restored to health and usefulness; but their hopes were delusive. He held out, how- ever, until the 19th of January, when, in the 55th year of his age, he was called to reap the eternal reward of a virtuous and well spent life. The celebrated Eev. Dr. Wm. S. Plumer, in his funeral discourse, paid him a very high tribute. Its indomitable founder and strenuous main- tainer was now taken, but the Messenger had to go on and it did. Messrs. Macfarlane and Fer- ■gusson were still in the office; literary friends were in Richmond and Maury in Washington, but becoming more involved in official duties and the demands which his growing reputation caused to be made upon him. Mr. White's son- in-law, Peter D. Bernard, was in Richmond, where he also had a printing office and was oc- casionally a publisher. He rendered the Messen- ger such assistance as he could. But there was no one to carry on that extensive and winning epistolization, by which Mr. White had accom- plished so much. Next to the mournful obituary are cases of mutiny at sea, to be continued; articles by of- ficers of both Army and Navy ; another "Descrip- Literary Messenger 99 tion of Naples," and neither author seems to have obeyed the injunction, "See Naples and then die;" Consul Andrews continues his "Knights of Malta;" Prof. Minnigerod'e finishes his Greek Dramatists; Miss Lomax sketches Eacine; and Robert L. Wade gives "The Fair Maid of Flan- ders," a short story. Poetry is afforded by Payne Kenyon Kilbourn, Lewis J. Cist, a young business man of Cincin- nati; Mrs. A. M. F. Annan; Pauline; and Anon, who sings "How to plant and cook potatoes." There is also some poetry by and about the Davidsons and a review, with extracts, of a satiri- cal poem delivered by Park Benjamin, before the Mercantile Library Association of New York, on its 22nd anniversary. The number closes with notices of new books and a picture and announce- ment of St. Ann's Hall, for Female Education, at Flushing, L. I. Henceforward the name of Mr. White disappears. The first thing for March is the prize poem. The appointed awarders were Thomas Eitchie, the veteran but vivacious editor of the Enquirer; Dr. Henry Myers, who had won the prize for the Theatre in Norfolk; Dr. Augustus L. Warner, formerly professor of Anatomy in the University of Virginia, and now one of the chief founders of the Eichmond Medical College; Wm. B. Chit- tenden, an Eastern gentleman of recognized liter- lOO The Southern ary culture and the secretary of the James River and Kanawha Canal Co., and Jas. E. Heath. They assigned the first place to Miss Evelyn H. Tay- lor, of Virginia, for her poem, "To a New Pen," which is the leader. Then and afterwards seven of the unsuccessful contestants are given and E. B. Hale and Mrs. E. J. Eames seem to have been among their authors. For nearly six months the Messenger, though so heavily bereaved, keeps up and on punctually and perseveringly. Many of its old contributors adhere to it and a goodly number of new ones seek its favor. Nasus (Miss Walker) tries poetry as well as prose. Mrs. Sigoumey, Judge Meek, Wm. Oland Bourne, Lewis J. Cist, Henry B. Hirst and his sister. Park Benjamin and others still value the Messenger. Judge John Robert- son furnishes his "Riego," except Act V. Mr. Heath procures the re-publication of the long poem, "Rhododaphne; or the Thessalian Spell," in the belief that its author was a Virginia poet, Richard Dabney. He had quite a contro- versy in regard to its authorship, which was at last settled against him by Mr. Dabney's sister, who stated that he had disclaimed the author- ship. Consul Andrews now engages in a "Historical Sketch of St. John of Jerusalem." Toga Oivilis and an Official Military Seaman have a lengthy Literary Messenger loi discussion about proper rules and regulations for the government of the Navy. Besides his edito- rial duties, Maury prepares one of his valuable papers, in which he recommends "Blank Charts on Board Public Cruisers." Miss Lomax has be- come Mrs. Worthington and removed to Ohio; but still writes ; and there is a large quantity of excellent reading matter before August arrives. But there is one noticeable feature in several numbers, a great deal of quoted material. Too heavy drafts are made upon Allison's "History of Europe;" Brande's "Encyclopaedia;" Mur- ray's "Encyclopaedia of Geography;" Johnston's "Farmer's Encyclopaedia" and Borrow's "Bible in Spain." By so much borrowing, which was continued from Southey's "Life of Nelson," a heavy burden was laid upon the work, which probably injured it. Some time before his attack in New York Mr. White had removed the Messenger to the Muse- um Building, on the southeast corner of the Cap- itol Square, where Franklin street runs up to it. There was an entrance to the Square on the north side of the Museum. Such it once had been and it was founded by the efforts of a Mr. Lawton, in 18 — ; but his collection had been scattered and destroyed and the building was rented out by the State, which owned it. It was a large structure of two good stories and a cellar. I02 The Southern It was entered by a flight of steps soon after go- ing out of Franklin and had, on each floor, two long and large rectangular rooms and several smaller ones in front, without interfering with the two stairways in the vestibula The first floor and one of the large upper rooms were occu- pied by the Richmond Whig, then edited by John Hampden Pleasants and Alexander H. Mosely. The Southern Literary Messenger had one of the large rooms, on the second floor, for printing, mailing and storing, and two smaller ones — one for the fine hand lever press and the other for the editor and proprietor. The editorial room was a marvel of plainness and simplicity. There was no carpet, nor upholstering; only tables, wooden chairs, a small desk with pigeon-holes, in which were some letters from highly distinguished men and women, and a small iron safe, with a solid brass key almost as ponderous as that of the Bastille at Mt. Vernon. Yet Mr. White would have made room for Lord Bacon to have written Shakespeare's plays; or Henry B. Hirst to have composed "The Eaven." This editorial room opened into both of the others. The press was worked by a man who could operate like a steam engine. But he would have his sprees and sever- al times gave his employers a terrible scare. Dur- ing his absence work had to proceed and so much type got locked up in forms and otherwise tied (^^Y^^^^-rT^^ Literary Messenger 103 up in matter to be printed, that there was scarce- ly enough left for daily use. Then, "at the eleventh hour," the pressman would straighten himself and come to his neglected task. After carefully examining a few of his printed wetted sheets, he made his obedient machine roll and fly and bend with such speed and expertness as to relieve the alarm which he had created. Both kindness and expediency prevented his dismissal. The rest of the force were exemplary and punc- tual. Macfarlane was foreman, clerk and mailing man; the Fergusson brothers and he were com- positors and the printed sheets were carried to the house of a Mr. Toler, who folded, stitched and covered them. A tall, strong, good-looking, faith- ful and polite colored hireling, Wyatt, was jan- itor and messenger. Mr. White issued the first number of the Mes- senger in August, 1834: his connexion with it ended in August, 1843 ; nine years. Benjamin Blake Minor's Administration The August number, 1843, was issued on the 5th inst., but bore upon its front the name of Benjamin Blake Minor, as its editor and pro- prietor. His negotiation for the purchase had to be carried on with the administrator, for the sake of the legal title; but for terms, with P. D. Bernard, as the representative of Mr. White's I04 The Southern family. By the middle of July, the treaty was concluded and the new editor became the pur- chaser of the Messenger, with all its materials for printing and publishing and all the unpaid subscriptions for the current year, 1843. He took possession on the 15th of July and immedi- ately made, in the city papers, an announcement of the changed position of affairs. Those papers and many others treated him very fairly and kindly. His first new subscriber was Mrs. Lou- isa G. Allan, the widow of Poe's benefactor, who had been the new editor's friend for several years. IRichmond Whig, Tuesday, July 18, 1843.] TO THE PUBLIC The Southern Literary Messenger. Having succeeded to the rights and duties of editor and proprietor of the Southern Literary Messenger, I take this early opportunity of presenting a brief address to its old and tried patrons and to the public generally. The value and importance of the work are too obvious to need com- ment. It has enjoyed a reputation almost unrivalled and, consequently, a popularity almost universal. For these it was indebted to the ardor, enterprise and industry of one who was, in some respects, pre-eminently qualified to sus- tain it. Mr. White gave his heart and his life to the Messenger. His career is now closed; and in his death the work of his love has received a blow, which some may have thought, or feared, would prove fatal. Their fears may be realized, if they fail in the performance of their part. I am resolved that so far as lies in me, they shall not he; and I may say for those whose genius and learning have made the Literary Messenger 105 Messeriger what it is, that they, too, are thus resolved. Let the hand of liberal patronage be opened and let the gifted minds pour forth their treasures, and the work shall pros- per and shall be worthy of patronage. For myself, I desire only a fair compensation for my labors, on which I depend; and the rest shall gladly be given to the cause of literature and whatever credit there may be in the effort to promote Its improvement and extension. Give the enterprise encour- agement and the spirits to delight, amuse and instruct will be called and will come. Why should not the work meet with more than its for- mer success? Educated millions may be its patrons. A small fraction of those who can well afford it would place it on an immovable foundation. The North may well re- ceive it as nearly the only representative of Southern liter- ature. The vast unoccupied field of the South might hail it, as the distant lover does the messenger bird of his lady- love. The Southern Review is just risen from its ashes. Long life and success attend it. A competitor — rather a coadjutor — cannot injure it. A rival it shall not have. "The Chicora" folded itself for support in the leaves of "the Magnolia;" but the leaves which sheltered it are now withered and dead — like those of its own pure flower, when its season is past. Peace to them and a speedy resurrec- tion to immortality. There are one or two literary publi- cations issued farther South. But to the whole South, from the Potomac to the Gulf of Mexico (and to the West, whose institutions and interests in respect of mental culture are identical), the Messenger bears nearly the only fruits of the literary enterprise and efforts of her sons, the incitement of her genius and the constant vindication of her rights and peculiar institutions. It is not intended to make the work local, — no, the em- pire of mind is one; but it shall never cease to he Southern. Some of the Southern States have done nobly. Georgia has even surpassed Virginia, in her generous support. Nor has the North rejected it, but has, in many sections, extended a io6 The Southern liberal hand. Let old friends hold fast and new ones en- list in its behalf and the Messenger will seek to reward them, by bringing them solace, amusement and instruction, diffusing a spirit of literary ambition and a taste for let- ters and maintaining the cause of "true religion and virtue." I shall address the patrons of the work in the next num- ber, and will not now occupy their attention any longer. I will take leave to say to subscribers that the subscriptions for 1843, which are now due, have been conveyed to me, and as great expense must necessarily be concurred in pub- lishing the work and making payments of the purchase money, they will render invaluable assistance by speedily remitting to me their dues for the present year. Their sub- scriptions will be much more valuable from being paid at this time, and if remitted, the heavy loss of collecting them will be saved. Having purchased the back numbers of the Messenger, I offer the following inducement to those who will now subscribe. For six dollars in advance and free of postage they shall receive Volumes VIII and IX, for the years 1842 and '43. It is not the intention of the editor to abandon the legal profession, but (probably confining himself to the city) will pursue it promptly. Any editors of newspapers, re- ligious or secular, who feel a sufficient Interest in the Messenger, will confer a favor by giving this address an in- sertion, or calling public attention to it. Beit J. B. Minob. Richmond, July 15, 1843. But he had to complete the August number and addressed himself earnestly to that task. The printers were setting up the article on "Har- per's Family Library," page 494. It is believed that a call had been made for "copy" upon Lieut. Maury and that he, under the pressure upon him, cut from Southey's "Life of Nelson," in Ear- Literary Messenger 1 07 pet's Family Library, enough to make eight pages of the Messenger, and sent them as "copy" ; and there they are! This was his last editorial act, but far from his last act of friendship. He gave the new editor great encouragement and assist- ance. Indeed, they had been friends from the time that one was a school-boy in Fredericksburg and the other there as a young middy in the U. S. Navy; and now that school-boy was the son-in- law of his old teacher, whom they both loved and honored. An address to the patrons of the Messenger was prepared and matters so arranged that the address, of three pages, is the leader. Some things were provided to come after the "Life of Nelson" and attention paid to the Editor's Table, which contains notices of the death of Washing- ton Alston and of Hon. H. S. Legare. In that of Mr. Legare, the editor made a courteous call upon the Hon. Wm. 0. Eives to pay a tribute to his memory and Mr. Eives responded cordially. The editor had, when a student at the University, been more than once a guest at Castle Hill, the home of the Eiveses. This last half of July would have been a time of anxious labor, with the best of health ; but the editor was seized by "the Tyler Grip," which was then prevalent, and had to perform part of his work under its inspiring influence, with faith- [o8 The Southern ful Wyatt as his channel of communication with the office. The September number was prepared in Au- gust. Its first article, "A Peep at Caracas, from the Journal of a Traveller," was by Wm. M. Blackford, of Fredericksburg. He was U. S. Charge at Bogota; was a warm friend of the Mes- senger, of Maury, of Lucian Minor and of the editor, whose Sunday School teacher he had been. Another draft is made upon Mr. Allison for the "Mental Grandeur of the Reign of Geo. III." and for a "Sketch of Lord Brougham;" and the editor alludes to the fact that the death of that versatile genius had once been reported and been extensively commented upon, so that he knew what the then survivors thought of him. A sea-going surgeon replies to an official mili- tary seaman, about the regulations of the Navy. Consul Andrews concludes his "St. John, of Je- rusalem." Nasus gives the "Story of Lona D' Al- varez." She and the editor were acquainted and her brother, afterwards Judge A. H. Walker, of New Orleans, set the editor to reading Fenimore Cooper's novels, when they were school-mates in Fredericksburg. "The Basque Provinces of Spain" was translated from the French, by a gentleman, Wm. Duane, of Philadelphia. A. Judson Crane, a lawyer of Richmond, contrib- Literary Messenger 109 utes an essay on Literature, its toils and re- wards. Hon. Wm. 0. Rives pays a cordial trib- ute to his friend H. S. Legare, late Attorney General of the IT. S. Prof. Pike Powers supplies "A Defect in the Science of Mathematics." He was a teacher in Staunton ; professor pro tern, of Mathematics in the University of Virginia, after the death of Prof. Bonnycastle, who had taught him ; and became a useful and venerable minister of the Episcopal Church. He died, at an ad- vanced age, in Richmond, where he had been for years the rector of St. Andrew's Church. "My Schoolmaster, or Blackstone made Easy," is from the elegant pen of Lucian Minor, "the Father Mathew of Virginia," who died in Williams- burg whilst he was professor of Law in William and Mary. The Sons of Temperance erected a monument over his grave. "The Ice Mountain of Hampshire Co.," by 0. B. Hayden, is copied from Silliman's Journal, because Mr. Hayden and the editor were friends at the University of Virginia, when he was the assistant of Prof. Wm. B. Rogers in the Geological Survey of Virginia. He afterwards contributed to the Messenger and became a prominent lawyer in Smithfield, Va. Mrs. Maria G. Buchanan, of Georgia; Rev. Wm. B. Tappan, of Boston; Mrs. E. J. Eames and others contribute poetry, and the editor pays some attention to new works, after a brief refer- no The Southern ence, by way of appeal and thanks, to "Our- selves." And now the Messenger is fairly em- barked under its new regime. In October, 1843, some of the same writers ap- pear and some new ones; and there are transla- tions from the German. 0. Campbell continues. Of him much remains to be said. Simms re- turns. The able review of Wilde's "Austria" is by Hon. Muscoe E. H. Garnett, who was cut off even before he had attained his prime, but had gained high and merited distinction. The tale, "The Fatal Effects of Insincerity," is by the editor's "better half." She was the "Miranda" who described Pennsylvania scenery, from a canal boat on the Kiscaminakee River, and he was the young lady to whom her letter was addressed and who gave it to Mr. White for the Messenger. During their twelve months' en- gagement, they both contributed to the Guard- ion, the magazine of the Columbia Female In- stitute, Tennessee, which was founded by her father and in which she had been highly edu- cated. Mrs. Worthington reappears. The Ed- itor's Table is the more interesting, because Dr. T. C. Reynolds, Chas. Campbell and Mr. Heath figure in it, as well as the editor. November opens with "A Visit to the Graves of Luther and Melanchthon," by T. C. Reynolds, LL. D., Heidelbergensis. He was a man of great Literary Messenger in self-conceit, but of learning and ability to sustain it. He had recently returned from Germany and took hold of the Messenger very warmly, because he was in full accord with its objects and he and the editor had been friends at the University of Virginia. He contributed other articles and sometimes assisted editorially, besides paying his subscription. He was a lawyer and for a while edited a Democratic paper in Petersburg. He migrated to St. Louis, Mo., where he engaged actively and prominently in politics. He was sent as TJ. S. Minister to Spain and claimed to be able to speak well seven languages. When the Southern Confederacy war broke out, he was lieu- tenant-governor of Missouri and he and Gov. Claiborne Jackson both espoused the cause of the South and left Missouri for the Confederate army. After the war, he returned to St. Louis, resumed the practice of law and was made coun- sel for that city. He was an unsuccessful candi- date for the U. S. Senate. In St. Louis he and the editor revived their old acquaintance. He was twice married and his prospects seemed bright and cheering. But he came to a sad and sudden end, by falling, or throwing himself down the shaft of the elevator in a large public build- ing in St. Louis. He was a native of Charleston, S. C, and once introduced the editor to his family by letter. His father was the "Bosher" 112 The Southern of Charleston and furnished the best carriages and other stylish vehicles. He was liberal and gave his children the best advantages of educa- tion. One of his sons was once the pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Richmond, Va. The editor, by invitation of the Eeynoldses, witnessed a four mile race at Charleston. Dr. Thomas Oaute Reynolds' graduating thesis at Heidelberg, in Latin, was reviewed in the Messenger. After a long absence, a nameless traveller comes back with chapter seven of glimpses into his biography and takes up the memorable can- vass of 1840 — to be continued. Mr. Waterston and Mr. Brooks have well posted us in regard to the Congressional burial ground. The editor gives a full review of the papers of Col. Theodorick Bland, Jr., edited by Charles Campbell. Gen. Francis H. Smith discourses about the U. S. Military Academy, and Dr. Wm. Maxwell Wood, U. S. N., about the spirit of Democracy. Hon. John M. Patton, whilst acting gov- ernor of Virginia, was so struck with some peti- tions for pardon which were presented to him, that he sent them to the Messenger. The poets for this number are Judge Meek, Simms, Dr. Myers, H. B. Hirst, Prof. Minnigerode, Mary E. Hewett and some anonymous, Literary Messenger 113 The Editor's Table is more extended than us- ual. Besides many notices of new works, there is something special to the editors and publishers of periodicals and a "Plus and Minus," which is a candid statement of the pros and cons, in re- gard to the successful management of the Mes- senger. In addition to his numerous exchanges, the best publishing houses in all the republic sent him many valuable works. The commonest reci- procity demanded that all these should receive proper attention, and how could that be given, without an examination? In this there were pleasure and instruction, but a vast deal of labor. It had, however, to be encountered, as well as that of deciphering, digesting, adjudging and correcting the MS. that were offered for type- setting. The young and energetic editor cheer- fully undertook this Herculean task and sedu- lously devoted himself to the preparation of the last number of Volume IX. In the December number, several of the same writers appear, but there are added J. N. Eey- nolds, and W. , of Westmoreland county, Va,, in prose, and P. P. Cooke and Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz, in verse. Mr. Cooke and his brother John Esten Cooke became widely known in lit- erary circles. His uncle, St. George Cooke, U. S. A.J was 9,lso p, contributor, The Editor'^ Table is 114 ^^^ Southern again full and he discusses M. Vattemare's sys- tem of International Exchanges of Works of Sci- ence, Literature and Art. The volume closes with a general summary: "What's doing." 1844. He had now issued five numbers and made announcements for the volume of the ensu- ing year — the tenth. On the cover is, besides the Prospectus, "a parting word to our patrons," in which a remarkable fact is stated: "When the Messenger was in its infancy, the Hon. R. H. Wilde obtained near 100 subscribers in Augusta alone and for several years collected and remit- ted every stiver of their subscriptions." The ar- rangements of Mr. White for publishing, circu- lating and collecting were retained, with some extensions, and the office force was the same. The cover was often an important thing, for it con- tained some editorial overflow, a list of payments and a few advertisements. The volumes ought always to be bound with it. Yale College Law School was advertised there : so were the Univer- sity of Virginia, and that of Maryland, William and Mary, and the admirable schools of Mrs. Mead, Fred. W. Coleman and others. The new editor never for one moment supposed that he was adequately equipped for the work in which he had volunteered ; but his ambition and tastes led in that direction. For several years, the Messenger had been at the head of American Literary Messenger 115 magazines. But at length it was in the market and its sale hanging fire. Who were competing for it is not recalled. This delay, however, was likely to increase the weight of the blow which it had received from the death of its founder. Still, the editor boldly took the helm, with enthusiasm and hope, though he was only about 25^^ years of age. The coincidence of his natal day, the 21st of October, with a great event was never adverted to, until the World's Fair in Chicago called at- tention to the 400th anniversary of Columbus' grand discovery on that day in 1492. Instead of having devoted himself to Litera- ture, he was practicing and really still studying Law. But he had long enjoyed Literature inci- dentally and had had good advantages of educa- tion, embracing a five years' delightful college career. Having never been averse to study he had, before he attained the age of twenty years, obtained a diploma in Moral Philosophy and Po- litical Economy from the University of Virginia, under Prof. Geo. Tucker, and another in the same department, from William and Mary, un- der its renowned teacher of those subjects, the president, Thos. R. Dew; the degree of LL.B. from the same institution, under Judge N. B. Tucker, and a license to practice law, signed by three Virginia judges. At school and at college he was as much addicted to general reading as ii6 The Southern he could find time for, and sometimes his studies directed his reading. Whilst he was engaged with Brown's "Moral Philosophy" at the Uni- versity, being amused with the allusions to Mar- tinus Seriblerus, he got from the library a com- fortable English edition, in six or eight volumes, of the works of the author of Seriblerus' Mem- oirs, and perused the whole edition. It may not be generally known that about the time he assumed charge of the Messenger, the editor was a candidate for the chair in the Uni- versity that had been vacated by Prof. George Tucker and obtained a number of very strong testimonials, among which were those from his two preceptors. Prof. Geo. Tucker and President Thos. R. Dew. He was beaten by Dr. McGufEy, who had already attained what he could only hope for. Had he then been placed in the service of his Alma Mater, he would have striven to achieve for his department what Dr. John B. Minor did for that of law; and yet that grand teacher was defeated two or three times, by men of greater present prominenca An incident occurred which was more amusing than humiliating. One day Wyatt brought into the plain editorial sanctum a card, which was soon followed by a handsome, well dressed and stately gentleman. He was greeted quite cor- dially, invited to a seat and an effort made to Literary Messenger tif draw him into conversation. But he remained dignified and reserved. At length he said that he desired to see the editor as he had called for that purpose. His surprise was very poorly concealed when he was informed that it was the editor who was trying to entertain him. He said he had ex- pected to find an older and different person. Of course, he knew the editor's name : so he was told that no doubt an older and different man ought to be the editor of such a work and that he prob- ably expected to meet Mr. Lucian Minor. He tried to retrieve his blunder, and the editor, to relieve his embarrassment. He was "the learned Greek," Geo. D. Perdicaris, who had been hon- ored in Richmond and has been mentioned be- fore. Wm. 0. Bryant, George Bancroft, Park Benjamin, Horace Greeley and others may have felt a similar surprise, but if so, they concealed it better than the Greek. He was the father of the Perdicaris who was held in captivity lately in Africa. A gentleman now living in Richmond told' me he had met this younger Perdicaris in Paris, France. The Hon. J. K. Paulding, however, "set him up." He rendered the Messenger a gratifying service, for which the editor sent him, in appro- priate terms, a draft for twenty dollars. After- wards the editor called upon him at his residence in New York, when he took him to his library Ii8 The Southern and showed him a fine folio edition, in two vol- umes, of the works of Chaucer, with this inscrip- tion : "Presented by the Editor of the Southern Literary Messenger." He said he deemed that the most complimentary use which he could make of the remittance he had received. His whole deportment was cordial and courteous. But the New Year is awaiting us. The editor gives his warm greeting to his patrons and then offers them a fine poetical translation of Goethe's "Iphigenia at Tauris," which is a very notable matter. Prof. Minnigerode, so familiar with an- cient Greek, was even more proficient in German, which he taught to his elder colleague. Judge Beverly Tucker; and that genius translated this drama, in five acts. So that it will be continued. Dr. Simms discusses "International Copyright ;" the review of Mr. Webster's "Bunker Hill Ora- tion" is continued; so is "Blindness and the Blind;" De Leon takes an unfavorable view of Cheap Literature; C. Campbell pursues his an- tiquities; "Darby Anvil," a new Georgia scene, is presented; some one in Richmond gives a "Tale of the French Revolution," and the editor, besides a full list of notices of new works, re- views "Donna Florida" and "Tupper's Proverb- ial Philosophy." Besides Judge Tucker, Judge Meek, William Oland Bourne, the Hirsts, N. O. Brooks, Mrs. Literary Messenger 119 Hewitt and D. H. Robinson, of Mississippi, contribute poetry. The cover contains encourag- ing notices of the press, from Maine to Alabama. It also exhibits the names of the avowed and known contributors to the Messenger from its beginning, which the editor had, with much labor, searched out and classified. It is a re- markable catalogue and ought to be exhumed. It embraces, of both prose and poetical writers, men, 26 ; women, 14 ; of only prose writers, men, 89; women, 5, and of poetical writers, men, 82; women, 22. It is not claimed that this list is perfect. In the next number a new feature commences. The Messenger had become a sort of organ of the United States Army and Navy, and now A Subaltern undertakes, by a series of "Notes on Our Army," to render it a service similar to that which Harry Bluff had done the Navy. He was a man of patriotic military spirit, of ability and integrity, but of a very different temperament from Maury's. He, too, had been a pupil of Bishop Otey. He was then Lieutenant Braxton Bragg, U. S. A., and afterwards a lieutenant- general of the Southern Confederacy. He continued his "Notes" and stirred up a hornets' nest, which hotly buzzed very near the editor's head. But Bragg came generously to the rescue, and the hornets subsided. I20 The Southern The editor declined, because of its temper, a communication from Lieutenant 0. H. Talcott, U. S. A. Whilst A Subaltern was thus scoring the abuses in the Army, he was stationed at Fort Moultrie, and the editor visited Charleston. One day a well-manned boat, with several Army officers aboard, came up and took the editor to the Fort, where a memorable day was spent. General Armistead, a Virginian, was in command, and besides Bragg, Wm. T. Sherman (then his par- ticular friend and his Philo in the Messenger), Van Vliet and Churchill were there. The weather was superb, the time at the Fort de- lightful and the ride to and fro exquisite. And this high enjoyment was kept up until past mid- night; for that evening an elegant gentleman, Mr. Robert N. Gourdin, escorted him to the St. Cecilia ball, one of the special social func- tions of Charleston. In addition to all this, he had much pleasant intercourse with Mr. Mitchell King, Bishop Gadsden and his brother; Mr. Richard Yeadon, Simms' great friend; the fas- cinating Doctor S. H. Dickson, Mr. Wm. Elliott, the champion captor of Devil Fish, and several others. Dr. Dickson introduced him to his literary club, where an agreeable and instructive evening was passed and more of the literati met. Dr. Dickson became an able contributor to the Literary Messenger I2i Messenger, and the faculty of the Eichmond Med- ical College once authorized the editor to try to get him to be their associate ; and he came very near succeeding. Dr. Dickson was afterwards invited to both New York and Philadelphia. He died in the latter city, highly distinguished. He was genial and brilliant and also wrote good poetry. ■- ^i"^ The Magnolia, a monthly, of Charleston, S. C, had been discontinued and the Messenger got some of its contributors. In this (February) number are two new writ- ers. Dr. T. H. Chivres, who defends Shelley, and the Rev. J. N. Danforth, of Alexandria, D. C, who treats of the influence of the Fine Arts on the moral sensibilities, and there is a tale of Washington, D. C. The Editor's Table, after "A Word to Every Subscriber," comments upon a convention of the colleges of Virginia, which had been lately held in Richmond, and then takes up Mr. Everett and Prince Albert. Our minister, a learned man, had been honored with D. C. L. by Oxford University. The students made a rumpus, be- cause he was a dissenter, and three eminent English lawyers declared the conferring of the degree null and void. Queen Victoria visited Cambridge and had her consort, not a man of much learning, dubbed D. C. L. The editor, who 122 The Southern has always been a thorough American, contrasts the two cases. He next gives an account of an approaching meeting, in Washington, (which he attended) of "The National Institute for the Promotion of Science and Letters;" and of the biographies of the celebrated Randolph, of Roan- oke. Then there is a note about Cheap Publica- tions. He had issued some tirades against "Cheap Literature." The editor never favored this, as it was defined; but was firm in supporting the cheapening, for the sake of the reading public, of good productions. There is also a goodly number of notices of new works, from Brantz Mayer's "Mexico," along by "Martin Ohuzzlewit" and "Harper's Pictorial Bible," etc., etc., down to "Lea and Blanchard's Complete Confectioner, Pastry Cook and Baker," "Silliman's Journal" and Hannah More's Works, — over five pages of small type. Tucker's "Iphigenia" again opens the March number, and the other poets are Mrs. Swift, Mrs. Eames, H. P. Vass, E. B. Hale, Dr. J. L. Martin, D. H. Robinson, and C. D. Smith, of "Virginia. In prose are Simms, Campbell, Bragg, Miss Walker, Consul Andrews, who has taken up the superstitions of the Maltese people; C. B. Hay- den, on the distribution of insanity in the United States, and some others. Holgazan, Dr. Rusch- enburger, U. S. N., the author of several works Literary Messenger 123 for schools, etc., helps out the Editor's Table; but the editor also spreads a hospitable board. In April, Mr. John Blair Dabney, a scholarly citizen of Virginia, and a fine writer, replies to Simms and De Leon, on the subject of "Inter- national Copyright," to which he was opposed. His brother. Prof. George E. Dabney, was also a fine contributor. A new writer appears, Jas. L. Hunter, of Alabama, on "Poetical Similarities." An anony- mous reviewer of Tennyson's poems is not at all complimentary. The welcome Lucian Minor reappears, as Q. Q., with "Gossip about a Few Books." Subaltern continues: so do Nasus and the Consul ; and several of the usual contributors are on hand. But perhaps the most important article is that for which this number was en- larged and delayed: A letter addressed to the Hon. Thomas Walker Gilmer, as Secretary of the Navy, by President London C. Garland, of Randolph-Macon College, on the organization of the Marine Observatory, in Washington. Mr. Garland had an interview with the Secretary and was requested to reduce his suggestions to writ- ing. But whilst doing so, Governor Gilmer was killed by that terrible explosion on the Princeton. Mr. Garland was greatly staggered, but at length concluded to finish his paper and offer it to the Messenger. It is dated February 29, 1844, and is 124 ^^^ Southern able and interesting. The Observatory was or- ganized and Lieut. M. F. Maury placed in charge of it, and there he remained, until he voluntarily left it, for the Southern Confederacy: It was rumored that President Garland had more than his eye upon it. He was afterwards called to the Chancellorship of Vanderbilt University, where he once received this quondam editor with great cordiality and courtesy. He died there at an advanced age, full of well-earned honors. Sawyer's "Life of Randolph, of Roanoke," had come out; and, with the motto: "The Lion was Dead that received the Kick," Judge Tucker, who was a half-brother of Mr. Randolph, gives Mr. Sawyer a vigorous kick. The editor had to take some leaves out of his extension table, having lent them to Mr. Garland. Dr. Samuel H. Dickson now gives an original and liberal review of "Slavery in the French Colonies," in which he differs from some of the views held by Dr. Simms, Judge Harper and other Southern writers. And then comes the prize tale. As far back as November the editor had offered |25.00, or its equivalent in any way preferred by the winner, for the best tale. James E. Heath, Gustavus A. Myers, a lawyer well posted in matters literary, and Wm. B. Chitten- den, already described, had been appointed the committee of award and they had made their de- LA VISIONNAIRE. (^^/2%^«-*-<^T-. Literary Messenger 125 cision in favor of "Stephano Oolonna, or Love and Lore; A Tale of the 15th Century." Of its authorship they had not the remotest idea, but it turned out to belong to Mrs. Minor, the spouse of the editor, and the author of "The Fatal Ef- fects of Insincerity," in last year's Messenger. Perhaps she took her prize in some "preferred equivalent." La Visionnaire was the consort of the editor. She was Virginia Maury Otey, eldest child of the Kt. Rev. James Hervey Otey, D. D., and Eliza D. Pannill, his wife. She was graduated in 1840 with high distinction, at the Columbia (Tennessee) Female Institute, which was founded and watched over by her father. Among her teachers there were a Mrs. Shaw, from Phil- adelphia, and her attractive daughter, Annie. Misses Shaw and Otey became bosom friends. Miss Shaw married the Eev. Dr. Wm. H. Oden- heimer, of Philadelphia, who was afterwards made Bishop of New Jersey. Miss Otey was a bright scholar and highly ac- complished. She was an excellent musician and performed on and sang to the piano, guitar and harp. She was also a fine reader, and the ex- pression which she gave to the sentiments of her songs, together with her distinct enunciation, greatly enhanced the effect of her exquisite sing- ing. She was 9. ready writer in both prose and 126 The Southern verse. The Columbia Institute had a monthly magazine, The Guardian, to which she was a con- tributor. She was a lover of the poetry of earth and also of what Byron calls "The Poetry of Heaven." She made a pet of the star Aldebaran and addressed to it a poem in The Guardian. It is a singular coincidence that whilst she was writing for The Guardian, the unknown college student whom she afterwards captivated was contributing to The Collegian, of the University of Virginia. During their engagement, he sent her an article which she had published in The Guardian, and she sent him one which Mr. White issued in the Southern Literary Messenger. Miss Otey was ambitious and her zealous devo- tion to her numerous scholastic duties rendered a recuperation of her health desirable. Soon after her graduation her father took her to the Green- brier White Sulphur Springs, in Virginia. With health restored, she got to Petersburg, Virginia, where she paid a double visit to her mother's brother, Oapt. Wm. Pannill; for she went to Raleigh, N. C, to visit her father's brother Mr. Walter Otey and returned to Petersburg. In October, 1840, Mr. B. B. Minor had settled there and commenced the practice of law. He was led irresistibly into the society of this fascinating stranger, and whilst she was in Raleigh sent her a parody on one of her songs. Literary Messenger 127 In the spring of 1841, Bishop Otey came and took his daughter to Philadelphia, where he left her for some time with their friends, the Oden- heimers, whilst he was engaged in important business in New York and Boston. Of course, Mr. Minor very soon rejyorted himself in Phila- delphia and made the agreeable discovery that he had been at a college in Pennsylvania with two of Mrs. Odenheimer's brothers, one of whom was his classmate. Mrs. Shaw was with her daugh- ter. After this delightful sojourn in Philadel- phia, Mr. Minor removed to Eichmond and con- tinued the pursuit of his profession. On the 26th of May, 1842, Miss Otey and Mr. Minor were married in Columbia, Tenn., in St. Peter's Church, Qf which her father had been the rector, the Rt. Rev. Leonidas Polk, Bishop of Louisiana, performing the ceremony. A long bridal tour, by way of Niagara Falls, was before them ; but on their route, they visited his great- uncle. Gen. James Taylor, at Newport, Ky., his brother-in-law, at Kenyon College; friends in Philadelphia, and parents and other kin in and near Fredericksburg. During his year's resi- dence in Richmond, and before, he had prepared the way pretty well for the kindly reception of his bride. They were keeping house in Richmond, when he, in July, 1843, became editor and proprietor 128 The Southern of the Southern Literary Messenger. She often assisted him in certain branches of his editorial work, and during his long absence in the winter of 1845-6, had charge of the magazine, with the right to call to her aid my friends, Mr. Gustavus A'. Myers and Thomas C. Reynolds. Her own contributions will be made known. Her best poetical effusions are not in the Messenger. On the 23rd of April, 1900, she was called to her final reward in the 78th year of her age, and laid to rest in beautiful Hollywood. She had celebrated her golden wedding in Richmond. During her long life she gave her influence and efforts to many worthy causes, charitable, aes- thetic, religious, educational and patriotic. She was an eflScient coadjutor in the formation of the Ladies' Mount Vernon Association and the pro- curing by it of Washington's home. We visited Mt. Vernon, when its then owner, Mr. John A. Washington, was there and were hospitably received. The editor advocates the annexation of Texas, in a review of several documents on that subject. No. 5 of these is as follows: "Reply to Gov- ernor Gilmer's letter, by Hon. J. Q. Adams and several other Northern members of Con- gress, and Governor Gilmer's rejoinder to the same." But annexation became too much of a party question for the pages of the Mes- Literary Messenger 129 senger and was dropped. But slavery was a different thing. June had come and in April the National Institute had held a very successful meeting in Washington. Judge B. Tucker had been invited to read a paper before it. He ac- cepted and informed the secretary that his sub- ject would be : "The Moral and Political Effect of the Eelation between the Caucasian Master and the African Slave." He had made considerable progress in his preparation, when he received a letter advising him to forbear the subject. He had felt "delighted at an opportunity to plead the cause of Humanity at the bar of Philosophy ;" but now could not. So after consulting his warm friend, Judge Upshur, he completed his work, addressed it to the Hon. Chas. J. IngersoU, and offered it to the Messenger, which makes it its leader for June and continues it. There are two new writers this month, Wm. Gary Crane, afterwards president of Baylor Uni- versity, in Texas, and biographer of Gen. Samuel Houston ; and Hon. Wm. Boulware, U. S. Charg6 at Naples. Rev. John C. McCabe and Lewis J. Cist return. Subaltern, gets in his No. 5. Holgazan, Dr. Ruschenberger, and the editor do up the new works. At the National Institute, there was one great paper, whose subject was not interdicted and which captivated all who heard it. It was on 130 The Southern "The Gulf Stream and Currents of the Sea," by M. F. Maury, Lieut. U. S. N. The editor was sojourning with the author, knew what was com- ing and had the promise of it for the Messenger before it was delivered. It was afterwards ex- panded into the author's "Physical Geography of the Sea." An edition in pamphlet form was given to the author. Another new writer makes his appearance and becomes very highly distinguished, having been at the time of his death a professor for many years in the University of Virginia. He is Geo. Frederick Holmes, a native of Demerara. De Leon deals with Dabney. Dr. Dickson is a poet also and his poems are reviewed. The prize tale runs on and its author writes a poem "To a Mocking-Bird, Heard During Sickness." Whilst in Washington, the editor called at the Treasury Department and thanked Auditor W. B. Lewis for his favors to the Messenger. Besides his ability, he was of commanding pres- ence and great urbanity. President Jackson had brought him from Tennessee. The editor told him that he was a son-in-law of that State and whose daughter he had won ; and how, when he went for his bride, he had met Gov. Jas. K. Polk and Mr. Van Buren and had spent a day at the Hermitage with General Jackson, and what he had seen of the Shelbys, Rutledges, Foggs, Ca- Literary Messenger 131 trons and others of Nashville. The Major was a friend of that father-in-law, and knew all these persons, and continued personally the service of his frank. But that was not required now as much as it had been. Still it was quite useful. An unknown aeronaut makes a six days' jour- ney to the moon; more letters of Pliny, Jr., are translated by Philip Howard, Assistant State Librarian; and after many things in prose and verse, the editor closes with his book-notes. In September Judge Tucker leads off with the first part of "Gertrude," an original novel, in which his half-brother, Randolph, of Eoanoke, is to figure conspicuously. Mr. J. Tyler Headly becomes a contributor and his works "Washington and His Generals" and "Napoleon and His Marshals" are afterwards reviewed. Henry C. Lea, of Philadelphia, re- views, in full, Wm. Howitt's "Rural and Domes- tic Life of Germany." More will be said of Mr. Lea. Sometimes the editor wished to say some things not exactly editorially and adopted the nom de plume Americus South, with the motto: "In the Union and For the Union; In the South and For the South," intended to be indicative of the true position of the Messenger. One of the articles which he wrote under the above signa- ture is the leader for October, 1844, and entitled 132 The Southern "French and English Propagandism." This is soon followed by a consideration of Lord Aber- deen's Letter, as "the most extraordinary State paper of the age." It had reference to Texas. A new writer now enlists, with "Oicisbeo, or Customs of Sicily," by Lieut. Wm. D. Porter, U. S. N. There have been other new contributors. The editor commences his appeal to the Legislature in regard to the Colonial Records of Virginia, and notices the Society of Alumni of her Uni- versity, before which B. Franklin Minor had delivered the annual address. The editor, Hol- gazan and Americus South spread a full book table. In November, "Gertrude;" "The Sciote Cap- tive," by Nasus; Holmes' "Letters on Litera- ture;" "Cicisbeo;" the "Appeal for Colonial Eecords," with letters from President Tyler and other influential sources, run on and the number is filled and closed, as usual, with prose, poetry and books. Mr. Edgar A. Poe becomes a contributor for December, with "The Literary Life of Thingum Bob, Esq." Later he furnished "The Editor of the Goosetherumfoodle." Something was after- wards learned about this production. It was sent to the editor by Mr. Poe under this arrange- ment made between them by correspondence. Literary Messenger 133 He was desirous of having Mr. Foe's assistance, especially in the critical department, and agreed to pay him the price he asked ($3.00 for each printed page), for a monthly critical paper. The editor wished to help his magazine and was willing also to be of some service to Mr, Poe. On this last account, the articles he sent were paid for, though they were not worthy of his pen, nor of the kind stipulated for. "Thingum Bob" makes eight pages and is a hit at somebody — George R. Graham, it has been said. This is the first known contribution from Mr. Poe since he left the editorial chair. The able review of Disraeli's "Ooningsby" is by Hugh R. Pleasants, brother of Jno. Hampden Pleasants, and the first editor of the Bichmond Dispatch. The Editor's Table, in "An Adieu to our Pa- trons and Friends," has cordial thanks to them — especially to contributors, and kind and lib- eral words for all co-laborers in the fields of literature. The cover contains opinions of the press, from Maine to Georgia, The New York Tribune says: "Mr. Minor, the new editor of this strong-minded and high-toned periodical, shows himself perfectly competent to the task he has imposed upon himself. The range of sub- jects, too, treated of in the Messenger is almost as broad as the whole field of human interest; 134 The Southern and when we open it we feel a most refreshing certainty of having encountered somebody who dares to talk, to have opinions and to defend them." The Cincinnati Morning Herald says: "We always welcome the Messenger, though a portion of its contents is occasionally repugnant to our ideas of truth and right. It is well conducted and always contains something to interest and instruct. * * ♦ There is one thing we like about this periodical, a manly independence. We like it as a whole, but think this feature of it especially commendabla" The Portsmouth, Va., Old Dominion "hits the nail on the head" practically : "We cherish this work as the most valuable monthly visitor we have and as worthy of the patronage of every Southerner. Give the proprietor a glorious start in the eleventh volume." There are a number of other compliments and commendations. The editor made several excursions in the in- terest of his magazine, and one had been to the North prior to the period that has now been reached. As soon as Mr. Thos. Ritchie, Sr., heard that he was meditating such a trip, he ten- dered him some excellent letters — actually gave them — to Bryant, B. F. Butler (not him of the Confederate war), and Bancroft, who then lived in Boston. Mr. Ritchie had always been kind to Literary Messenger 135 him, though they were on different sides in poli- tics, and all the above distinguished gentlemen were on Mr. Eitchie's side. In New York Mr. Bryant introduced the editor to his son-in-law, Park Benjamin. But he met a good many in that city to whom he needed no introduction, such as Paulding, Greeley, Tucker- man, Reynolds, Mr. and Mrs. Seba Smith, Mrs. Hewitt, James Lawson, a warm friend of Dr. Simms; Geo. P. Morris and others; did not see N. P. Willis. Mr. Greely, who was editor of the Tribune, was very cordial. The last time the editor saw him was when he was signing, in Richmond, the bail-bond of President Jefferson Davis. Yale College was also visited and a pleasant interview had with Professor Silliman, Sr. In Hartford an agricultural fair was holding in and around the State Capitol. A visit was paid to the neat cottage of Mrs. Sigoumey ; but she was not at home. In Boston, time passed pleasantly and profitably, outside of its many things and places of deep interest, in company with Mr. Geo. Bancroft, J. Freeman Clarke, Jas. T. Fields and others. The British Consul in Boston, Mr. T. C. Grat- tan, was a man of literary culture and more of a gentleman than G. P. R. James, who was Brit- ish Consul in Richmond. He had a literary 136 The Southern circle at his house, which was much enjoyed, as was also a good time with Judge Story over at Harvard. A similar treat was afforded by Rev. Dr. Wayland, president of Brown University, at Providence, R. I. Besides all these pleasant places was Philadel- phia, where were Dr. J. K. Mitchell, Browne, Duane, Gilpin, Henry 0. Lea, the Hirsts, J. O. Neal, Godey, Graham, and others. Something, too, was seen of J. Fenimore Cooper, in the book- store of Gary and Hart. The attentions of H. C. Lea were particularly gratifying and were cor- dially reciprocated by the Messenger, which, how- ever, was well repaid by his contributions. He was then young, but well educated and full of literary enthusiasm and ambition. He em- ployed himself in the publishing house of Lea and Blanchard. He succeeded them and built up a very large business in the publication of medi- cal works, made a large fortune and became the author of several learned and valuable works. The Messenger developed him as a writer. He composed some poetry and was a fine classical scholar, as was shown by his "Greek Sympo- sium." The Hirsts, too, were developed by the Messeniger. Wherever he went the editor always paid his respects especially to publishers and was deeply interested by what was shown him in the grand establishment of the Harpers. Literary Messenger 137 In January, 1845, he keeps up his appeal to the Legislature for the Colonial Records of Vir- ginia and is fortified by Charles Campbell, Con- way Robinson and Amerieus South. Lucian Minor comes again, gossipping about books. Bragg's notes on the Army get to No. 7. Hugh R. Pleasants finishes "Coningsby." These, with Mrs. Worthington, W. D. Porter, etc., fill the number, until we come to the Editor's Table, on which is an abundance of greetings and thanks and book-making intelligence. In December five prizes were offered, viz. : 1. For the best paper on the present state of American Letters, their prospect and means of improvement, $50.00. 2. The best review of the works of some native prose writer, $35.00. 3. The best review of the works of some native poet, 135.00. 4. The best original tale, |35.00. 5. The best original poem, $35.00. One of these was awarded to a review of Long- fellow. It has some notable companions. For Harry Bluff draws from the Lucky Bag another scrap, on "Lake Defences and Western Inter- ests;" De Leon, in his "Vision of Wagner, a Pupil of Faust," shows how he could write a tale, as well as other things; Gertrude, after some delay, reappears; Bragg, of the Army, and 138 The Southern Dr. W. Maxwell Wood, of the Navy (but then In Peru), contribute and the editor has, at some trouble and expense, obtained a copy of Capt. John Smith's "News from Virginia," in 1608, — the first document relating to the colony at Jamestown that was ever published. There is also a strong setting forth of the University of Virginia, in a review of President Wayland's book: "Thoughts on the Present Collegiate System of the United States." He had omitted that University ! The new editor made the Mes- senger its warm friend during his whole admin- istration. He now offers also "The Morning Song of the Mocking-bird," calling out julep, julep, julep, by his friend. Gen. Wm. B. Talia- ferro. A "Stranger," from Baltimore, has come in with some good poetry. Nasus sets "The Wheel of Life" to revolving. H. O. Lea helps Stranger; and so do Mrs. Eames, H. B. Hirst, E. B. Hale, Simms, and Edgar A. Poe, with "The Raven." "The Eaven" had appeared in the American Whig Review, and the Evening Mirror in New York; but Mr. Poe wrote to the editor and re- quested him to relax his rule in regard to re- publications, and let "The Raven" come out "in the beautiful typography of the Messenger." He also said that he wished to make some changes in it. His request, quite diplomatically pre- Literary Messenger 139 sented, was complied with in March, 1845, p. 186. He did make a few changes, which were, with his careful criticism, improvements. The editor reviews numbers 94 and 95 of Harper's Family lAhrary, containing the "Pur- suit of Knowledge Under Difficulties; its Pleas- ures and Eewards," with eminent examples; which was first published in England. The re- view is substantially the thesis on "The Grandeur of Self-Made Men," which he delivered in the old Bruton Church in Williamsburg, when he re- ceived from William and Mary his degree of LL. B. On reading the book, he saw the appro- priateness of the thesis and resolved to put them together. Gertrude, after some delay, reappears, along with other good things, as already stated. In April, 1845, p. 256, is the following edito- rial : "Literary criticism : E. A. Poe, Esq. We regard faithful criticism as indispensable to the excellence of a literary journal ; and in addition to the able reviews which we frequently present to our readers, we design to impart greater vigor and value to the critical department, generally. Under the present rapid multiplication of books, it needs an Argus to watch and guard the press. To enable the Messenger to discharge its part, we have engaged the services of Mr. Poe, who will contribute monthly a critique raisonne of the most important forthcoming works in this 140 The Southern country and in Europe. All publishers are in- Tited to send their works. * » * The Mes- senger is very miscellaneous and takes particular pains in noticing and advertising publications in all branches of Art, Literature and Science." Of course, such an announcement would never have been made without due authority; but it was never in the least part fulfilled by Mr. Poe. Another paper of the National Institute is given, from J. C. Picket, United States Charg6 at Lima, Peru, on the fate and character of Major Andr6, and an inhabitant of the Middle States zealously defends the United States against the accusations of Mr. Geprge Catlin in his work about the North American Indians. Many of the usual writers and some new ones, in both lines, bring us to May, when Miss Susan Walker finishes her prize story, "The Wheel of Life." No prize was awarded for the best poem ; — none of those offered having come up to the standard of the judges. Wilkes' "U. S. Exploring Expedition" is re- viewed at length, and Miss Mary E. Lee, of Charleston, S. C, translates "Walpurgis Night," from the German of Zschokke. Besides other prose, there are nine poetical pieces and a full Editor's Table. The Messenger has been giving attention to the Oarolinas, during the Revolution, and to the Literary Messenger 141 services of Guilford Dudley, of North Carolina. This brings in the memorable visit of the editor to Raleigh, in behalf of the Messenger. Just about the time of his arrival, one of that State's greatest men, — if not the greatest, — Judge Wm. Gaston, ended his splendid career, and the whole community was filled with grief. The remains were kept in state for a whole week, as the weather was wintry, for his scattered family to come to the funeral. This, of course, arrested the editor's operations, except socially. A young lawyer, Perrin Busbee, of literary aspira- tions, took the editor in hand and was of great service to him, besides his letters of introduction to Judge Duncan Cameron and Weston E. Gales. Thus, the editor met, not only them, but Gov. Morehead, Wm. A. Graham, Geo. E. Badger, George Mordecai, Henry W. Miller, Mr. Henry, Bishop Ives, Rev. Dr. Mason, Prof. Smedes, Judge Iredell and the venerable and sociable Judge Thomas Ruflfin. Judge Gaston was a Ro- man Catholic and was interred according to the rites of that Church. Making acquaintances, especially with con- tributors, was always highly agreeable, but soliciting subscribers not at all so. But owing to this lingering in Raleigh, there was a piece of good luck. Gov. Morehead not only subscribed to the Messenger, for the State Library, but or- 142 The Southern dered all the volumes from the beginning, at full price, and to be handsomely bound ! The route from Raleigh was by Fayetteville, Camden and Cheraw to Columbia, where there was delightful intercourse with De Leon, Pro- fessor EUett and his wife and that eloquent orator and conversationalist the Hon. Wm. C. Preston, who had abandoned politics for the presidency of South Carolina University. Charleston has been mentioned. Augusta was the place in which Mr. Wilde had spread the Messenger. There, time passed very pleasantly and Governor Jenkins and Mr. Ebenezer Starnes are particularly remembered. Mr. Starnes was a contributor and became eminent as a judge. In Savannah were Bishop Stephen Elliott, a high man in every respect ; Mr. Wm. B. Hodgson, who had been United States Consul in Egypt; Judge R. M. Charlton; Isaac K. Teft, the prop of the Georgia Historical Society, and Dr. W. A. Caruthers, a Virginian, related to the Spotswoods and the author of a novel in honor of the Knights of the Golden Horse-shoe. In after years, the editor became further familiar with Savannah, through two of his sons who re- sided there, and one of whom married there. August. The year 1845 is running on and so is the Messenger, and many new writers enlist in its cause. The editor still manifests his fidelity Literary Messenger 143 to the University of Virginia, and gives a sketch of the progress of Archseological Science in America. Mr. W. 0. Scott, of Virginia, dis- courses on the present state of American Letters ; their prospects and means of improvement. In August, Hon. Robert M. T. Hunter, so long the able and vigilant United States Senator for Virginia, discusses at length the Massachusetts proposition for abolishing the slave representa- tion, as guaranteed by the Constitution; and Americus South, in a letter to Harry Bluff, opens the Warehousing System. Still there is room for seven other prose articles and eight poetical ones, besides some notices of new works. In September the Southern views of slavery are presented, in a masterly manner, in a 16-page review of the published correspondence, on both sides of the great subject, between the Rev. Doc- tors Fuller, of South Carolina, and Wayland, of Rhode Island. Americus South recurs to the Warehousing System and calls upon Harry Bluff to take it up, as the Messenger had derived from him and his merchant cousin of the same name, all that it knew on the subject. Mrs. Sigoumey comes again. Miss Matilda F. Dana, I. McLellan, Jr., and others have poetry and there is "The Drought; an Improwise," by Mrs. B. B. Minor. The drought had been very distressing. 144 ^^^ Southern Nearly 26 pages are given to an address to the Memphis Oonyention, by Harry Bluff, upon the Warehousing System, and a number of other important topics. Some time previously he had furnished The Southern Quarterly Review a long and brilliant article, such as his pen alone could have produced, on "The Maritime Interests of the South and West." The Messenger repub- lishes the greater part of it and addresses that, not only to the Memphis Convention, but to Congress. Whilst attending to these imi)ori;ant public matters, the Messenger does not neglect its lit- erary features, but makes them highly attractive, with the aid of a number of favorite writers, be- sides some things by the editor. There is a humorous sketch, "Canvassing," by Gen. Talia- ferro, the author of the Mocking-bird julep song. Gertrude is finished in 25 chapters, with a hint that there may be a sequel to it; but the author doubts whether he could ever man himself for that painful task. The Memphis Convention was deemed of such importance that Eichmond sent to it delegates, of whom the editor was one, and he attended. On his way thither, he visited Dr. W. Gilmore Simms, at his country seat. Woodlands, and purchased from him his magazine that it might be incorporated with the Messenger, with the Literary Messenger 145 new title : "The Southern and Western Literary Messenger and Review." The editor knew that such a title was too long and cumbrous; but yielded to the doctor's preference. He wished his bantling to show some signs of survival and thought it would make the change more accepta- ble to his patrons. This new title only stated what the Messenger had been already. The editor was pleased to meet at last his abundant contributor and correspondent, and was satisfied with the cordial reception extended to him. Of course, this meeting had been prearranged. The editor sent to his office an address "To Our Patrons and the Friends of Letters in the South and West," dated New Orleans, November 8th, 1845, announcing this union of the South Carolina and Virginia magazines, which came out in the December number during his absence. In New Orleans he was so fortunate as to get passage on the same steamer that was to carry to Memphis Mr. Calhoun, the already designated president; Gen. E. P. Gaines, and other distin- guished delegates. A grand public reception to Mr. Calhoun had been provided for at Natchez, and Congressman Jefferson Davis was the ap- pointed spokesman; but an accident to our boat threw her arrival at Natchez into the night and the reception in the city had to be given up. Still, Mr. Davis, with his committee and a good 146 The Southern many other citizens, came on board and there was an informal, social reception, until the cap- tain gave notice that he was compelled to start. Some distance below Memphis, a fine steamer with flags, music and a large company of ladies and gentlemen, met the disabled Maria, and cheered and saluted her with vast enthusiasm. The two boats were lashed side by side, so that there was easy and constant communication be- tween them. It was November, but the weather was fine and the finish of the long passage was enchanting. The editor was delightfully enter- tained by Dr. Shanks and family, was made a vice-president of the Convention, and had the op- portunity of addressing it. By agreement with Harry Bluff, he introduced the Warehousing System and obtained a highly favorable report from a majority of the Committee to whom it was referred; but owing to a division in the Com- mittee, a vote by the Convention was not pressed. The system was afterwards adopted by Congress and is still in operation. The Messenger had the honor of inaugurating it. But the affair at Memphis most congenial with the subject in hand was the banquet by and for the members of the press, — editors, of whom some were delegates, correspondents and reporters; a bright and jolly set. They all knew and valued the Messenger and on that account its editor was Literary Messenger 147 called to preside. The company was large and embraced a few guests, who were invited for appropriate reasons. Hardly ever, anywhere, has there been, for the same length of time (and the session was not a short one), such a contin- uous flow of eloquence, wit, repartee, guying, story-telling and song. The menu included good • wine and other potables. The absence of George D. Prentice was much regretted: his Courier was represented by its manager, who, though he enjoyed the fun, did not contribute to it as Prentice would have done. The editor first met Mr. Prentice in Eichmond. He once tried to see him and some other friends of the Messettger in Louisville, for which he came very near being separated from his family, by the greedy haste of a steamboat captain, who started off with them, without their protector, in violation of his own agreement. Fortunately, he was hailed, "rounded to" and took on board his fuming pas- senger. To have shot him might not have been in self-defence, but would have been a just retri- bution for his scoundrelism. From Memphis the editor went up to St. Louis, in company with some old friends who had set- tled there and some new ones he had made. The boat which bore them was not large, because of the low stage of the river, and had to be kept "trimmed." On board were the editors of the 148 The Southern two leading journals of St. Louis, A. B. Cham- bers, of the RepubliGcm (Whig), aad Shadrack Penn, of the Democrat. The positions of these two papers have become reversed. Mr. Penn was a very heavy man, and a great humorist; so that wherever he was a crowd flocked around him to hear his jokes. The mate kept his weights rolling about from place to place, but could not keep his boat in trim. At length he discovered that Mr. Penn was the cause of it. He politely took charge of that weighty gentleman, placed him where it was desirable and the difficulty was removed. The editor had in St. Louis an A-1 time and made as much as possible of the Western part of his new title. Years afterwards, he renewed most agreeably two of the acquaintances he then formed. Mr. Thomas Allen was once a political editor in the "city of magnificent distances." He once remarked, in St. Louis, that he was holding thirteen presidencies: two of these were of The Iron Mountain E. E. Co. and of the first Univer- sity Club. He has passed away, highly honored. The other, James E. Yeatman, still lives and is as urbane, upright and cultured as he is vener- able. "Eichard Carvel" is dedicated to him by its admiring author. In 1845, his mother, then Mrs. John Bell, of Nashville, was visiting him. She would have graced the White House, if Mr. Literary Messengef t/\f) Bell had been elected president, in 1860. She and her daughter cordially invited the editor to ac- company them to Nashville, on his way home. But this he declined because he wished to visit some near relatives near Milliken's Bend, in Louisiana. On the 28th of November, the editor started for New Orleans, on his way home. Fortu- nately for them, the Bell party had already gone. The weather was inclement and the river was filled with floating ice. A few miles north of Cairo, his steamer, Palestine, was stranded by the ice upon a sand-bar and her pas- sengers were in a precarious and uncomfortable state for several days. On the fourth day, whilst some of them were making a raft, on which the editor worked, even by night, that he might have a claim to go ashore on it, a yawl, which had been wagoned from Cairo, was launched and reached the steamer. In it the editor got to land, and afterwards to Cairo, on a wagon without body or seat. Thence a new passage was taken, on a bet- ter boat; but she stopped very often for freight and frequently got aground ; so that, with a visit of one day to relatives at Milliken's Bend, 19 days were occupied in getting from St. Louis to the Crescent City ! The editor employed part of this time in composing some letters to his friend John Hampden Pleasants, in favor of railroads 1^0 The Southern in Virginia, and against the extension of the James Eiver and Kanawha Canal. Pleasants styled them "Mississippi Letters" and published them in the Whig, which he was editing, just un- der the Messenger. This remarkable "Winter Trip Down the Mississippi" is recorded in the January number of 1846. When he reached home, nothing had been heard of him for more than three weeks and some of his friends were calling on his wife in a spirit of delicate condolence ; but she was more hopeful than they. During this long absence, the Mes- senger had been under her charge; and Gustavus A. Myers and Dr. T. 0. Reynolds had promised to render such assistance as might be requested. January, 1846. After an unavoidable delay, the first number of Volume XII. appears, bear- ing "A few Words to our Patrons," dated Janu- ary 14, 1846. The principles upon which the union of the two Magazines would be conducted are unmistakably declared. Among the books noticed ate a collection of L. J. Cist's poems and Munford's "Homer." The editor once met Mr. Cist and his father in Cincinnati. The father, too, was a man of literary industry and a sta- tistician. As to Munford's "Homer," the editor was, on every account, proud of it and greeted it most cordially. It was reviewed by Judge Bev- erly Tucker, in the Messenger, and splendidly, in Literary Messenger 151 the Southern Quarterly, by Prof. Geo. F. Holmes. "Wilful Love, a Tale," which leads the Febru- ary number, is from the pen of Mrs. B. B. Minor, and the editor has a short reference to the Mem- phis Convention and the Warehousing System. M. R. H. Gamett reviews Paget's "Hungary and Transylvania;" Dr. S. H. Dickson has a fine essay on the difficulties in the way of the histo- rian; Wm. M. Blackford has reviewed Chas. J. IngersoU's "History of the War of 1812;" there are tales, sketches and poetry by Mary G. Wells, Mrs. Buchanan, of Mississippi; W. 0. Jack, of Georgia; Mrs. Brandegee, of Connecticut, and others, and over five pages of bibliography. The year 1846 runs on and so does the Messen- ger. Boulware and Andrews, whose name has been changed to Winthrop, keep on ; so do Nasus and Mrs. Worthington. H. B. Macdonald, of Pennsylvania, and J. M. Legar6, of South Caro- lina, come forth, whilst P. P. Cooke and the "Stranger" expand; Mary E. Lee continues to translate and originate; W. C. Scott, of Virginia, handles well "Poetry and Religion." Dr. W. Bowen, D. R. Arnall, Benj. T. Cushing and W. G. Blackwood set in with the poets; "Maine," who is Mrs. Anna Peyre Dinnies, renders both prose and verse; J. S.Allen, of Kentucky, reviews Phrenology and other subjects; and the July number had to be enlarged to save time in get- 1^2 The Southern ting out Judge Tucker's review of Munford's "Homer." The friends of the U, S. Army and Navy keep them before the public; and Mr. Cal- houn's report to the Senate, on the "Memorial and Proceedings of the Memphis Convention," is presented. Dr. W. J. Tuck, Prof. Holmes and Thomas W. Storrow furnish good reading. Wm. G. Hale, son of Mrs. S. J. Hale, of Philadelphia, then a young teacher in Richmond and who has become highly distinguished as a scholar, pro- fessor and author, offers "Leaves from English Catalogues." His cousin, Geo. S. Hale, who was with him in Richmond, went back to Boston, where he became an eminent lawyer. The "Susan, of Henrico county," Va., was a very interesting young lady ; Miss Susan Archer Telley, from sickness almost a mute, who was well received in society and wrote very respect- able verse. Henry C. Lea, of Philadelphia, who has done so much for the Messenger, for mere love, re- views, in October, "^gidii Menagii Poemata, Quintaeditio, 1668." E. W. Johnston and Hugh R. Pleasants still show their learning and abil- ity: Pleasants takes hold of "The Prince," by Machiavelli. Chas. B. Hayden r6sum6s Geology, in a review of the works of Henry D. Rogers and Chas. Lyell. Some of the poets become am- bitious; one actually tackles Niagara; Lino, of Literary Messenger 153 Memphis, has a long and long-lined "Legend of the Oak," and Miss M. B. Macdonald ventures upon a dramatic sketch: "The Priestess of Beauty." In November, the death of President Thos. E. Dew is lamented. It occurred in Paris, where he had just arrived with his accomplished bride. The editor also speaks of his hopes, expectations and intentions for the next year. Several writers still unknown have furnished excellent articles of nearly every sort. Perhaps too much space is devoted to the civil war in the Carolinas and Georgia, during the Eevolution, based upon the "Journal and Letters of Samuel Curwen, a loyal- ist refugee in England," by Geo. Atkinson Ward. But after the matter was once admitted, it was hard to stop it. The last things in the Messenger for 1846 show how it kept up to date in important matters : the discovery of explosive cotton, on earth, and of the planet Neptune, in the heavens. The editor has all along endeavored to be faithful to all who had favored him with their patronage and gives the following notice: "The January Messenger, 1847, will be issued with accustomed punctual- ity, as far as practicable. But as, in the mean- time, the office will be removed to the new quar- ters prepared for it, some delay may be occa- sioned thereby." If so, due allowance is craved. 1^4 Th^ Southern The Law Building, the Messenger's new home, was erected in 1846, upon the site of the Gov- ernor's old and unsightly stahle, on the south- east corner of the Capitol Square. That stable was bought from the State, under an Act of the Legislature which provided for the demolition of the rusty Museum and putting in its place a handsome structure for the accommodation of the Supreme Court of Appeals, the General Court and the Circuit Courts of Richmond. There were also some public conveniences which had become intolerable nuisances and were like the "rank offence" of the murder of the King, in Hamlet: they "smelt to Heaven." My plan then was to convert the stable into convenient quarters for the Messemger only, by putting in a new front, with good doors and win- dows; running up the second story and covering all with a new roof. But when the front wall of the stable and its old roof were taken down, the rear stone wall lost its support and tumbled in, carrying with it a good part of the end walls; so that a new scheme had to be devised. In order to get the benefit of the land and the location, the Law Building was conceived. It fronts on Franklin street 60 feet and runs into the Capitol Square 30 feet. It has four stories, each divided by a central stairway and had a swinging balcony along the whole front. On the Literary Messenger 155 first two floors were eight lawyers' offices, each with two rooms. The other two floors had large rooms ; one of which, overlooking the Square, was occupied by the Virginia Historical Society ; the other three were used for printing and mailing the Messenger; but the editorial rooms were the eastern law office on the second floor, with a sep- arate stairway from the street. Possession of these new quarters was taken in January, 1847. After the Whig Building, at the comer of 13th (Governor) and Franklin streets and the new State Court House, just inside the Square, were finished and the nuisances near by removed, the improvement to this previously repugnant south- east corner of the Square was about equal, relatively, to that of the Jefferson Hotel, even before it was impaired by the fire. Surely the damage by that confiagration ought to be speed- ily repaired. It is a shame that people who get money for nothing should be so much less public- spirited with it than he who made it for them. For some years the red brick Whig Building, painted to match the stucco of the Law Building, has been combined with it in a hotel, which has several times changed its name. At present there seem to be two, the Whig, the Davis House; the Law, the Franklin House. The editor also purchased from, Governor "Ex- tra Billy" Smith another notch of the Capitol 156 The Southern Square and erected thereon a building of the same dimensions as the Law Building, in the rear of it and connected with it by a bridge. One whole floor was the Armory of "The Richmond Blues." In it and a part of the Law Building lent for the purpose, the celebrated Seventh Regi- ment of New York was so royally entertained, when it escorted hither the remains of President James Monroe, in 1858. In the room of the Vir- ginia Historical Society, which the city had re- moved to the Athenaeum, iced champagne flowed for several hours, from a plated cistern with four spigots. In cutting down the Square the bank was found to be a deposit of marl, with in- numerable marine shells. The dirt was carted to the foundation of the old Danville railroad depot near the river. When Gov. Wise was having the Square grad- ed some remnants of those old nuisances were dug up, and he thought he had discovered a valu- able bed of nitre. In February, 1847, the editor sold to Macfar- lane and Fergusson all the printing materials of the Messenger and contracted with them as his publishers. They were now to be his tenants and their property was on the third and fourth floors of the Law Building. From these new and ample quarters the Janu- ary number for 1847 was issued. It opens with Literary Messenger 157 a review of Robt. R. Howison's "History of Vir- ginia," from the trenchant pen of John M. Dan- iel, who attained great celebrity as editor of the Examiner, and was once U. S. Oharg6 at Naples. Some controversy springs np about Ourwen's Journal and there is the usual miscellany in prose and poetry. An unknown Southron gets in another instalment of his Collection of Poems, mostly imaginative. The editor "contents him- self with an earnest and sincere greeting to all patrons — present and prospective, of not only a Happy New Year, but a Happy year. He has over six pages of notices of new works, in small type, which show that he could not have been idle. He also refers to the historical features of the Messenger and announces the publication by it of Charles Campbell's "History of Virginia." This came about as follows : The editor had taken up the "History of Vir- ginia" under the title of "Contributions," in imitation of the example of Rev. Dr. P. L. Hawks, in his "Church History of Virginia," and had kept them going for several months. But he found that, with proper attention to the Messen- ger, it was impracticable for him to make the necessary research. His intimate friend, Charles Campbell, had finished his "History of Virginia" and was looking out with some anxiety, for a publisher. He proposed to Mr. Campbell to let 1^8 The Southern the Messenger have his MS. ; and promised that it should be neatly printed from new type and an edition given him in Messenger form. This offer was cheerfully accepted; the editor prepared an introduction and the publication was com- menced. Another edition was published by Lip- pincott, and the work is so scarce that a copy of it lately sold for fifteen dollars. Gen. Leslie Combs, of Kentucky; Wm. N. Stanton, W. J. Barbee and C. 0. L. become con- tributors. The editor investigates those remark- able brass French cannon in the Armory yard, at Richmond, and takes great pleasure in noticing the volume of observations made by the National Astronomical Observatory, under Lieut. M. F. Maury. H. 0. Lea takes in hand, in one paper, nine new poets. Alfred Duke comes out with the novelette, "The Fortunes of Esther, the Jewess ;" and the editor, with "The Legal Profession and How it was Treated by the House of Burgesses of Virginia," which he wrote for the Legal Ob- server, of New York. He also reviews, in full, Lanman's "Summer in the Wilderness." The poems of P. P. Oooke and Don Paez and other poems, by another Virginian, are also reviewed. Publicola, of Mississippi, presents strongly "The Present Aspect of Abolitionism." The tale, "Woe and Weal ; or the Transitions of Life," by a Literary Messenger 159 lady of Virginia, is probably the production of Mrs. Julia M. Cabell, who was a Miss Mayo, of Richmond, and a warm friend of the editor. She once made quite a stir by taking off in the Messenger Mrs. Louisa G. Allan, as Dolly Dumps. Rev. E. L. Magoon sketches Patrick Henry. Mrs. Worthington is called to her rest and tributes are offered in memoriam. J. M. Legar6 continues. The editor notices all the colleges of Virginia. Dr. Francis L. Hawks, an eminent orator, historian and divine, was elected presi- dent of William and Mary, but declined and ac- cepted that of the embryo University of Louis- iana. Judge Tucker, Wm. H. Macfarland, Wm. C. Rives, Rev. Jno. T. Clarke, Sidney S. Brad- ford, P. P. Cooke and J. G. Holland were all con- tributors just about the close of the editor's ad- ministration. There was one writer, H. R., of Virginia (Henry Ruffner, president of Wash- ington College), who kept expanding and at last got off three articles, which may be worthy of the attention of any professor who values Anglo- Saxon and old English. They are "Essays on the Early Language and Literature of England." In this volume is a full discussion, in which Dr. Simms tates a leading part, of the question whether the brave Michael Rudolph, of Lee's Le- gion, was Marshal Ney, of France. i6o The Southern The October number, 1847, is the last one which bore the name of B. B. Minor as editor and proprietor. Its cover had the Prospectus, dated September 17th, of the Virginia Female Institute, in Staunton, with him as its principal. Without the least solicitation on his part, the friends of that institution made him such flatter- ing overtures and promises, that he unadvisedly yielded and removed, with his family, to Staun- ton. Mr. Jno. E. Thompson's salutatory appears at the close of the October nhmber, and his formal address, at the beginning of November; and in this number the late editor says "A few Plain Words at Parting." Of his successor he writes : "Well endowed by nature, having enjoyed the advantages of the best collegiate' education, fond of literature, acquainted with its best authors, accustomed to the use of his pen and quite en- thusiastic in his devotion to the Messenger, he bids fair to raise it above its present high and honorable position." Mr. Thompson said that the retiring editor would be one of his contributors. He did send from Staunton one paper, "Stars and Steamers," which was issued in June, though it is dated April 13th. The work had always to be made up in advance and no doubt there were turned over to Mr. Thompson a number of MSS. that had j^ (/^. JAon^^^ Literary Messenger i6l been received and some of them accepted. The above is the last communication of the retired editor to the Messenger. When, at the end of his first session, he voluntarily resigned his headship of the Virginia Female Institute, returned to Eichmond and resumed the practice of law, he had to employ his pen in behalf of his profession. Whatever credit may be granted him, or de- nied, it must be admitted that he, for four years and a quarter, conducted the Southern, Literary Messenger, with a loving zeal, a staunch inde- pendence and the best intentions. He retains his attachment to the Messenger and may occa- sionally put himself in Mr. Thompson's com- pany. Mr. John Reuben Thompson's Administration 1847-1860 In seeking the control of the Messenger Mr. Thompson was influenced by the same considera- tions that Mr. Minor had been. He was young, but quite well posted in literature and the author of some published prose and poetry. He was an alumnus of the University of Virginia, a gradu- ate of its Law School, under Judge Henry St. George Tucker, and now a member of the Rich- mond Bar. He was a very agreeable gentleman ; i62 The Southern of medium stature, neat in person and pleasant in appearance and address. In flnishiing Volume XIII., he had several serials, articles already accepted, and had agreed to complete Campbell's History. Indeed, a large majority of its contributors were bound to hold on to the Messenger and he very soon obtained new ones. One of these is "Ik Marvel," with whose notes of foreign travel he had been much taken. Just after his greetings for the New Year, 1848, Mrs. Sigoumey and Lieut. Maury stand by him. That wonderful Jno. Quincy Adams had asked the lieutenant-superintendent to give a written description of the National Observatory and here it is, — Maury-esque: "Ik" begins very modest- ly, with "A Man Overboard," less than one page. But how he has developed and expanded as Don- ald G. Mitchell! In one of his late works, "Queen Anne and the Georges," he gives a sketch of Beckford's "Vathek," in which he says: "He reaches at last, in company with the lovely Mi- ronihar, the great hall of Eblis; here we have something horrific and Dantesque — something which I am sure had its abiding influence upon the work of Edgar Poe." P. P. Cooke furnishes a critique, not unfriend- ly, upon Poe's prose and poetry, as a sequel to Mr. Lowell's "Memoirs," a few years before. In Literary Messenger 163 this time Mr. Poe had produced some of his best things, including "The Eaven." Mr. Cooke makes a very common mistake, when he says "Mr. Poe edited the Messenger for several years;" it was only one year. Cooke becomes a regular story- teller. The Virginia Historical Society holds its first annual meeting under its new organization, in the Capitol, December 16, 1847, and its president, Wm. C. Rives, delivers an address. This new or- ganization was in succession to and substitution for "The Historical Department of the Society of Alumni of the University of Virginia," which had, upon the motion and plan of B. B. Minor, been formed and set in operation, in 1845-46. Upon its invitation, the Hon. Wm. C. Rives had delivered an address before it at the University. The "new organization" was effected mainly through the instrumentality of Mr. Minor, Col. Thos. H. Ellis and Conway Robinson, aided by Ex-president Wm. Maxwell, who was to be sec- retary and librarian, with a salary. The edito- rial work for the first number of Volume XIV. occupies eight pages and is well done. Another new contributor was Henry A. Wash- ington, then a young lawyer in Richmond. But his paper on "The Social System of Virginia" changed his career. It led to his election to the Chair of History, etc., in Wiliam and Mary Col- 164 The Southern lege. There he married the daughter of Judge Tucker and was appointed editor, for the Fed- eral Government, of the papers of Mr. Jefferson, which Congress had bought. This caused him to spend, with his wife, much time in Washington, where he came, by an accident, to an untimely end, when he had accomplished only a part of his task. Mr. 0. M. Farmer, Richmond, has ventured to publish a book of his poems and is "rowed up Salt River." But 0. F. Hoffman's poems are treated very differently. Another new contributor is Geo. W. Thomp- son, who vindicates the title of Virginia to the North Western Territory and her rights upon the Ohio. But three of the oldest stand by him, — Heath, Lucian Minor and Lieut. Maury. This last writes, at the request of the Hon. T. Butler King, M. C, one of his prophetic letters on "Steam Navigation to China." Sidney Dyer, H. H. Clements, W. C. Richardson and Wm. H. Hol- combe are among the new poets ; and Mr. Thomp- son obtains two regular correspondents, W. W. M. and G. B. M., in Paris. There is another re- view of Howison's "History of Virginia," more favorable than that by Mr. Daniel, and just after it appears the "Stars and Steamers" of the late editor, Mr. Minor. J. M. Legar6 has gotten out a collection of his Literary Messenger 165 poems and they are encouragingly reviewed. Mr. Thompson furnishes much good matter for the North as well as the South and some very fine essays, whose authors are unknown, except a satirical one by J. B. Dabney. M. F. Maury de- fends the Dead Sea Expedition, under Lieut. Lynch ; Edgar A. Poe reviews the poems of Mrs. S. Anna Lewis and discusses, in two articles, "The Rationale of Verse." Park Benjamin trans- lates valuable matter from Lamartine and there is a review of "Early Voyages to America," pre- pared for the Virginia Historical Society by Conway Robinson. Mr. Thompson is success- fully attentive to his special department and some of the good anonymous writing may have been from his pen. P. H. H., of Charleston, is probably Paul Hayne, just peeping out. About this time, the Messenger paid a good deal of attention to European matters; Magyar and Croatian, German, Italian and French. There are several letters from the Paris corre- spondent, W. W. Mann, and Park Benjamin writes some from New York. Phil Cooke still writes stories ; and Mr. Thompson copyrights, in his own name, but author not given, "The Cheva- lier Merlin." He was P. P. Cooke. Sidney Dyer indulges in "The Pleasures of Thought," not as long as those Pleasures on which Campbell, Aken- side and Rogers have dilated, but still in thirty- i66 The Southern eight nine-line stanzas. One E. C, of Virginia, dares eighteen sonnets, with explanations "be- twixt and between." H. T. Tuckerman still keeps up his sketches of celebrities. Some one reviews Longfellow and his "Evangeline" rather tartly; and it was said that he discontinued his gratui- tous copy of the Messenger. Yet, he afterwards wrote to Thompson about Poe. Lieut. Maury presents, in person as well as in print, the National Observatory to the Virginia Historical Society. He also discusses "The Isth- mus Line to the Pacific." Virginia's orator, Ex- Governor James McDowell, makes in Congress such a gi-eat speech that S. L. O. reviews and lauds it. Ik expands in "The Reveries of a Bach- elor" and other things. Mr. Thompson, under the signature of (Greek) Sigma, contributes poetry, viz. : "Stanzas on the Proposed Sale of the Natural Bridge;" and some to Amelie Louise Eives, on her departure for Paris. Mr. Poe and Thompson have become ac- quainted and Mr. Poe, when in Richmond, fre- quents the editorial sanctum. He is now quite a regular contributor and furnishes five papers of Marginalia and a review of the poems of Frances Sargent Osgood. A number of new poets appear and several old ones. But death claims three favorite supporters, — Mary G. Wells, Mary E. Literary Messenger 167 Lee and Edgar A. Poe. The editor notices each. In that of Mr, Poe he quotes a letter from Long- fellow and copies "The Bells" and "Annabel Lee." Of the latter he says: "The day before he left Richmond, he placed in our hands, for publica- tion in the Messenger, the MS. of his last poem, which has since found its way (through a corre- spondent of a Northern newspaper with whom Mr. Poe had left a copy), into the newspaper press and been extensively circulated. As it was designed for this magazine, we publish it, though our readers may have seen it before." This was in November, 1849. Poe is gone, but Thompson and the Messenger live on. He tries to get out his December number in time for it to be a Christmas memento to his readers, to one and all of whom he heartily says, "Benedicite." Charles Lanman has come again; Ik Marvel holds on ; Lucian Minor remains faithful ; Yalla- busha puts forth Junius E. Leigh as her poet and other localities have their fledglings. But Gr. W. Thompson has a poem, "God's Minstrelsy;" Simms has a longer one, "Metacom of Montaup ;" Mrs. Evans, Mrs. Dinnies, Mrs. Osgood and Mrs. Eames, J. M. Legar6, R. H. Stoddard and P. H. Hayne all contribute. Hon. B. P. Porter, of South Carolina, d6buts. J. M. C. (Mrs. Dr. Ca- bell and sister of Mrs. Gen. Scott) continues. "The Chevalier Merlin" and "The Seldens of i68 The Southern Sherwood" run on ; but a new edition of Kev. Dr. Ruffner's "Judith Bensadi" and its sequel has been called forth. There is much good essaying and reviewing. Mr. Thompson uses both Sigma and his own signature. He has a poetical retro- spect of 1849; a dirge for the funeral of Presi- dent Taylor; and Lines to Mrs. L. G. R., on her marriage. He had heard the famous Swedish Nightingale in New York and wishes her to de- light the people of Richmond as she had him. So he invokes his Muse to petition both her and her P. T. Bamum to come hither. They did come and this writer paid |144.00 for 12 tickets, for himself and some friends to hear her. When the works of Poe came out in the edition (1850) of Willis, Lowell and Griswold, Mr. Thompson merely expressed his great disappoint- ment. But the next month, during his absence, a review of that same edition got into the hands of his printers and he did not see it until it had gone through the press. It "lambasted" the whole edi- torial trio. Thompson inserted a note, in which he largely eased off Willis and Griswold, but let the flagellation remain, as deserved, on the back of Mr. Lowell. Mr. Wm. Burke, a gentlemanly and scholarly teacher of a good many bright young men of Vir- ginia, translates into excellent verse three books of Virgil's ^meid. He also translated, in sim- Literary Messenger 169 ilar style, a good part, if not the whole, of Lu- can's "Pharsalia," as is mentioned during Mr. Minor's editorship. Mr. Burke became a phy- sician. In publishing Poe's review of Headly and Channing, Mr. Thompson says: "From advance sheets of 'The Literati,' a work in press by the late Edgar A. Poe, we take the following sketches, as good specimens of that tomahawk- style of which the author was so great a master. In the present instances, the satire is well de- served." The corner-stone of the Washington Monu- ment is laid and the Messenger records all the proceedings. President-elect Zachary Taylor and his son Richard and here and a number of other distingu6s. Miss Margaret Junkin wields her pen, which made her so widely known as Mrs. Preston. Philip Pendleton Cooke dies and fitting tributes are paid him ; one by Dr. R. W. Griswold. It is very probable that the editor opens Vol- ume XVII. with sonnets, on "The Four Greatest Blessings of Life : Old Wine to Drink ; Old Wood to Bum ; Old Books to Read and Old Friends to Love." The signature this time is (Greek) Kap- pa Sigma. Claiming the credit of having brought Jenny Lind to Richmond, he addresses to her a "Song of Rejoicing." lyo The Southern Aglaus, turns out to be Henry H. Timrod: so that he, Hayne, Legar§, Hon. B. F. Porter, Simms, and Azim, also of South Carolina, were all sustaining Thompson at the same time. The Messenger contains the whole of the drama "Norman Maurice, or the Man of the People." Mulchinock, Barhydt, a lady of Eichmond and others send poetry. The city of Richmond has turned the Academy into the Athenaeum for pub- lic lectures, etc., and Judge John Robertson de- livers the opening address. Thackeray delivered there his lectures on the Georges. P. D. Bernard issues a new edition of "Riego" and J. B. Dab- ney, alluding to the unnecessary incog, of the author, reviews it very favorably. It was a proof-sheet of this edition which Judge Robert- son lost, but luckily it fell into the hands of his particular friend, Mr. B. B. Minor, who was re- quested to keep mum, and he did. Dr. Jno. P. Little writes the "History of Rich- mond." Lieut. Maury has another of his great papers, on "The Commercial Prospects of the South." Mr. Thompson truly says of this very great man: "The views of Lieut Maury are marked in a high degree with the originality and lucidus ordo which characterize everything that comes from his pen. His style, too, is singularly pure and fresh and at times becomes really poet- ical, showing that had he not been one of the Literary Messenger 171 first savants, lie might have been one of the most distinguished litterateurs of the age." When, if ever, will Maury's "Vision of the Val- ley of the Amazon" be realized? He afterwards issued a tract upon "The Amazon and the At- lantic Slopes of South America." The question of slavery is still discussed. That versatile genius and prolific yet elegant writer, Judge Nathaniel Beverly Tucker, is no more and Mr. Thompson pays him a high and appropriate tribute. It is worth noting that two young ed- itors of the Messenger were trained in the Law by two brothers. Mr. Thompson was at the Uni- versity of Virginia, under Prof. Henry St. Geo. Tucker, who had been president of the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia. Mr. Minor com- menced at the University under Prof. Jno. A. Davis, but finished at William and Mary, under Prof. Beverly Tucker, who had been a circuit judge in Missouri. It has been seen how both of these brothers were intimately connected with the Messenger. Mr. Thompson also made editorial excursions and recorded them. He was taken to task for some strictures he gave on his accommodations at the vaunted Charleston Hotel; and it was hinted that he was treated well enough for a bachelor. He admits this impeachment, but in- sists that even a bachelor was entitled to better 172 The Southern than he received. Did Ik Marvel give embodi- ment to bachelor Thompson's reveries? If there was any advantage in matrimony, Mr. Thompson's predecessor had that; for he was very much married and celebrated his golden wedding, in Richmond, after Mr. Thompson had been called to the Spirit land. When he was at the Charleston Hotel, he had not the least cause for complaint. But that may have been because he was in company with Mr. Wm. Elliott and his two attractive daughters. Mr. Thompson, how- ever, was willing to marry. The accomplished lady whose hand he tried to win married quite late a widower with several children. She is now an elite widow, with nothing but step-children, and is very highly esteemed. Mr. Thompson pub- lished an article on old bachelors, by F. W. Shel- ton. But then Mr. Thompson could write poetry, which Minor could not, and if he ever attempted it, he had the good sense not to rush it into print Mr. Thompson's poetry, too, has flashes of wit and ripples of pleasantry and humor. He was fond of epigrams, jeux d'esprit and even good puns; and of all these he published a goodly number. Mr. Minor ought to have offered the only thing from his pen which Mr. Thompson might have been likely to accept, an epitaph on a dog. Literary Messenger 173 Mr. Minor's chum at William and Mary pre- sented him a fine pointer-puppy, which he had named Dew, after the revered president. This pet had to be left to the nurture of a physician and farmer, in what were the future battle fields of Grant and Lee, around Spottsylvania 0. H. The farmer used the physician's science in agri- cultural improvement and already had a fine flock of sheep. Some of these were found dead and Dew was suspected of being the cause; but was spared for further evidence. This was soon given by the death of several other valuable lambs and the dog was caught flagrante de- licto. He was very properly lynched. The father's kindness to his son was stronger than his grief over his lost sheep.and he actually wrote an apologetic letter on the fate of the pet. He was more than exonerated and the son sent to his younger sister the following EPITAPH FOR A DEPARTED DOG: Dew is fallen, but not from Heaven; By loving hand the blow was given. Dew falls on flowers while we sleep; But this Dew fell upon the sheep. His paws in blood he did imbrue And met the fate that was his due. Once again I invoked the Comic Muse. In At- lanta, Ga., I boarded at the same house with the express agent and his wife, who had a bright and 174 -^^^ Southern interesting son, whom they were disciplining too restrictively. He asked their permission to ob- tain a goat that he might play with it, train it to draw, etc. They refused it. I sympathized with the little fellow and addressed to his parents in Hudibrastic style a petition to gratify their dis- appointed only child. I put in it as much fun as I could and also as much persuasion. It tickled the parents and they handed it around among the boarders, one of whom was the widow of a Gov- ernor of Georgia. I would like to see how I rhymed it at that time. Anyhow, it brought out Capricorn and the boy was made happy. He got outdoor exercise and had something to manage and guide. Then, too, goat wagons are often very useful. I would also very much like to see now the leader I wrote the day on which Mr. John Hamp- den Pleasants made me edit, in his place, the Richmond Whig. In a Northern "School Eeader" (fifth or sixth), I once saw quite a good poem ascribed to me as the editor of the Southern Literary Mes- senger; but I knew nothing about it. At another time, Mr. Thompson describes a sermon of Henry Ward Beecher's which he went from New York to Brooklyn to hear. In Savannah, Ga,, he saw Mr. I. K. Teft's un- usually large and unique collection of auto- Literary Messenger 1 75 graphs, and visited Mr. Alexander A. Smets' re- markable library, with its great rarities. He also met Gen. Henry E. Jackson, one of the poets of Georgia. J. A. Turner reviews Jackson's poems. "The Seldens of Sherwood" is concluded in fifty-four chapters ; but who the author, F , was is unknown. Hugh E. Pleasants sketches the Virginia Constitutional Convention, of 1829- '30. Oliver P. Baldwin starts the Weekly Mag- nolia,. He was so quiet and retiring a gentleman, that his abilities as a writer and speaker were for some time unknown. They became widely ac- knowledged, but not because of his fading Mag- nolia. He for some time edited the Dispatch and came to deliver eloquent public lectures and ad- dresses. Who furnished Notes and Comments on that long trip to China? A Southron writes "Michael Bonham, or The Fall of Bexar," a tale of Texas, in five parts. Moncure D. Conway comes in. Hon. John Y. Mason writes about a line of French steamers from Norfolk. He was both a State and a Federal Judge; our Minister to France and Secretary of the TJ. S. Navy. L. M. translates for his father, aged 77, Cicero's Cato, the elder, a treatise Be Senectute. This must have been the filial Lucian Minor. The sermons preached at the University of Virginia by differ- 176 The Southern ent able men, on the "Evidences of Christianity," have been volumed and are reviewed. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is reviewed and Lord Morpeth re- buked. Prof. Henry A. Washington delivers be- fore the Virginia Historical Society an address on the first constitution of Virginia, 1776. There are honors paid to Henry Clay, and the editor has sonnets on the death of Mr. Webster. He well sustains his department. Sketches of the Flush Times in Alabama are introduced and take like Longstreet's "Georgia Scenes." There is a common impression that the price of subscription to the Messenger was reduced from $5.00 to $3.00, when the form of publication was changed. This is a mistake. Up to the end of Volume XVIII. (1852), Mr. Thompson was both editor and proprietor. But by January, 1853, he had made an arrangement with his publishers, by which they became the proprietors and he their editor. It was then that the subscription was reduced to $3.00 ; but there was not the least change in the form or character of the work. It was thought that the reduction might, by a large accession of new subscribers, strengthen it finan- cially. Mr. Thompson went on editing it in his usual style and Volume XIX. is very similar, in every respect, to its predecessors. In his first Editor's Table, he makes a strong showing in behalf of the Messenger. These tables L?{7. Literary Messenger IJJ are copious and varied and sometimes graced and seasoned by his own verses. The notices of new works evince taste, judgment and industry. Paul Hayne has become the editor of W. C. Rich- ards' Southern Literary Gazette and a poetical- contributor of the Charleston Weekly News and visits Richmond. Thos. B. Bradley addresses R. H. Stoddard poetically. He and his cousin, Miss Julia Pleasants, of Alabama, get out together a volume of their poetry. James 0. Bruce delivers a fine address before the Society of Alumni of the University of Virginia. The constant friend, Tuckerman, brings forth his "Month in Eng- land." Jos. G. Baldwin, author of the inimitable "Flush Times," collects them in a book. He shows what he can do, in a serious style, by his "Representative Men," beginning with Jackson and Clay. Poe was charged with plagiarizing from Tennyson the poem : "Thou wast that all to me, love," etc. Mr. Thompson defends Poe and acquits him upon the testimony of Tennyson. We feel indebted to Mr; Thompson for a full and accurate version of Muhlenburg's "I Would Not Live Alway." John Brown's raid and execution ; the appear- ance of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" with its key, and Mrs. Stowe's visit to England could not allay feeling on the subject of slavery there, or in any section of this perturbed country. Mr. Thomp- 178 The Southern son fires off an epigram, which was stolen by the New York Dwy-Book: When Latin I studied, my Ainsworth in hand, I answered my teacher that sto meant to stand. But if asked I should now give another reply, For Stowe means, beyond any cavil, to lie. Dr. Geo. F. Holmes reviews "The Key to the Cabin" and Mrs. Ex-President Tyler addresses a telling epistle to the Duchess of Sutherland and the other ladies of England, of her stripe. Mr. Thompson refers to the useful services of Historian Campbell in behalf of a public library in Petersburg, and Thos. S. Gholson's address at its opening. Mr. C. and Mr. B. B. Minor started for Petersburg, in the winter of 1840-1, a Library and Beading Boom, in the new Ex- change Building, in which Mr. Minor had his first law oflace. L. I. L.; S. L. C; T. V. Moore, etc., are good contributors. There are poems from the pens of Francis S. Key, Mrs. Dr. Hicks, C. Q. M. Jordan, Mary J. Windle, Virginia L. Smith (Mrs. French), Musoeus, Tenella, T. H. Chivers, Caroline Howard and Thackeray. Oh! that two years' voyage to China ! Let's have all three Isthmian canals — Panama, Nicaragua, Te- huantepec — and Eads' ship railway, too, to shorten the route to the Celestial Empire. Simms has been long missing: he has taken Literary Messenger 179 charge, for a new proprietor, of the Southern Quarterly Review. With a poetical L'Envoi the editor closes his good work for 1853 and in due time puts out the inviting commencement of it for another year. But he had had a visit to the Crystal Palace with J. G. Baldwin! The first Editor's Table for 1854 is full of thanks and congratulations and says that the list of subscribers is constantly increasing. This cheering statement is repeated later. We have also a description of Beecher's tabernacle and congregation and of one of his anathema-ic ser- mons against the South. He even prayed that the babes, whom he had just baptized, might not become slaveholders. The Messenger runs on very well, when in June we learn that Mr. Thompson is absent and therefore the acting editor, John Esten Cooke, has taken the liberty of publishing an address, on "Colonial Life of Virginia," which Mr. Thomp- son had delivered in the Eichmond Athenaeum. But said absence is not accounted for, until we have, in July, an editorial letter from Europe, dated London, June 2nd. This is followed by two others from London and one from Paris, dated July, 1854 ; and there are two others, with- out date, which may have been written after his return. He seems to have slipped abroad, with- i8o The Southern out any notice through his magazine. The Ed- itor's Table was suspended, but notices of new books pretty well kept up during his absence. That long voyage to China having ended, an- other traveller makes a shorter overland journey to the East and finally reaches China. In those days, the Messenger was nearly as full of China as are the magazines of the present stirring era. There is a long and learned discussion of "Why do Mills Run Faster by Night Than by Day?" The debate got so heated that one of the arguers said his opponent, L., had come at him, "bulging ad hominem cum pitchforJco;" — like Senator T. of South Carolina. A typographical error as to mills started another question, equal- ly scientific, "Why do mules run faster by night than by day?" There are long articles on "Free Schools and the University of Virginia," and on "Universities and Colleges." The eloquent and gifted B. Johnson Barbour delivers an address before the Literary Societies of Virginia Mili- tary Institute. Hugh Blair Grigsby describes, by request, the library of Randolph, of Roanoke. There are translations from French and German, some tales and reviews of Thackeray, Hilliard and Bulwer; and the latter's oration, in defence of Classical Literature, before the University of Edinburgh. But this defence has been as well Literary Messenger i8i made in the Messenger, by Geo. E. Dabney and others. Mrs. Virginia Maury (Otey) Minor, of Eich- mond, offers "A Bouquet of Memories, or Spring Scenes on Land and Water," in prose and verse, descriptive of the pleasures of her visit to the home of Dr. Austin Brockenbrough (the uncle- in-law of her husband ) , in Tappahannock, Va. Mr. Thompson defends the Messenger against an assault of Putnam's Magazine, in New York. He is a warm friend of Sculptor Gait, who is in Richmond, and wishes him to be employed to execute a statue of Mr. Jefferson, for his Uni- versity, and he rejoices when the Legislature ap- propriates ten thousand dollars for that purpose. The London Critic is very savage towards Ed- gar A. Poe. Whilst Mr. Thompson deprecates it, he issues it. M. LL. W. H. has loomed up in prose and verse ; the approved Tenella hails from Raleigh; B. L. G., Miss Talley, Henry Ellen, Hayne, T. V. Moore, Julia Pleasants, Kllgour, Dr. Bendan, A. B. Seals, Everest, Eames, J. A!' Turner, Mrs. Sigoumey, E. L. Hines and others supply poetry. To correct various misprints of "Annabel Lee," Mr. Thompson reprints it from the MS. which Mr. Poe gave him five days before his death. Some one at the University reviews Marion Harland's "Alone." The editor lets volume XX. [§2 The Southern slip off, as he had done to Europe. During the Confederacy war, he revisited London and Paris and abode some time in each. The Messenger is about to attain its majority and is the oldest monthly of its kind in the Uni- ted States, except The Knickerbocker, which is only six months its senior. The editor renders hearty thanks to patrons, contributors and the press and says : "Yet, we deem it proper to tell the Southern people that for years past the Mes- senger has met with only the most meagre patronage and now stands in need of enlarged means, or it must share the fate of other similar works which have preceded it and perished. * * * We shall omit no exertion to main- tain its good repute to the last;" and thus he en- ters upon the twenty-first year and furnishes five pages of literary notices. Jos. G. Baldwin has published his celebrated "Party Leaders" aiid is reviewed ; W. S. Grayson has iMstome quite a writer on Mental Philoso- phy; Arago's "Memoirs of my Youth" is trans- lated and Augusta Greenwood writes "Shade and Sunshine," in nine chapters. There is a dis- cussion about the English language, based upon Rev. R. W. Bailey's Manual of that great tongue, and Dr. S. H. Dickson delivers an address be- fore the New England Society, which had been published, but not copyrighted. Mr. Thomi)son, Literary Messenger 183 at first, intended only to make extracts from it, but concluded to take the whole, with an apology to the author. Dr. Dickson is the elegant gentle- man who is so highly spoken of during Mr. Minor's editorship and who was so near becom- ing a professor in the Richmond Medical College. Passing by a number of good things, we come to an editorial note of a lecture on "The Geology of Words," delivered before the Athenaeum by the Rev. Thos. V. Moore, a distinguished Presby- terian divine of Richmond, who removed to Nashville, Tenn. And still further on, the editor resumes his "Notes on European Travel" and takes us to Wiesbaden, Frankfort, Baden Baden, Strasburg, etc. He promises to gratify numer- ous correspondents, by continuing these notes, which have been so long deferred by the tempo- rary loss of all his papers on his return voyage. He has yet to go through Northern Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy. He sometimes breaks out into rhyme. "A Kingdom Mortgaged" is a sequel to the serial of Gaston Phoebus. Under the title "The Daughters of Washington" is an account of the formation, in Richmond, of the association of ladies for the purchase of Mt. Vernon. Isaac McLellan, of New York, aids them with a poetic appeal. A review of the poems of Owen Meredith, who 184 The Southern has been a contributor to the Messenger, and now resides in Paris, where Mr. Thompson met him, is taken from the London Examiner. Smithson's bequest; its objects and issues are presented. "Gonsalvo of Cordova; or The Conquest of Gra- nada," in nine books, is translated from the Spanish, by A. Roane; the Ladies' Mt. Vernon Association have a celebration and Rev. J. Lan- sing Burrows makes an address for them and so does Beverly R. Wellford, Jr. Tenella, besides some poetry, contributes hec "Reminiscences of Cuba." Marion Harland (Miss Hawes, of Richmond) has out her "Hid- den Path," which is noticed. There is an ex- ceedingly able article of 44 pages on : "The Black Race in North America; Why was their Intro- duction Permitted?" The editor says that the author had commenced it two years ago; but threw aside his half-completed MS. Very re- cently, at the urgent instance of a number of gentlemen to whom the leading views were ex- plained and who thought the present crisis de- manded it, he resumed his work and finished it. Mr. Thompson thought it was worth publishing, without being divided, notwithstanding its length. Who was the author? There is an investigation, in continuance of that instituted by Mr. B. B. Minor, of those ex- traordinary brass French cannon in the armory Literary Messenger 185 at Richmoiid. Mr. B. B. Minor furnishes copies of some interesting revolutionary MSS. found in an old iron chest in the basement of the Capitol and relating to the raising of money for the sol- diers of the EeTolution, by the ladies of Alex- andria and Fredericksburg, including Washing- ton's mother. S. S. C, of Columbus, Ga., and S. A. L., of Washington, Pa., are frequent contributors. Poetry is freely interspersed. Mr. Jas. Barron Hope, as literary executor of the late Henry Ellen, distributes with a liberal hand Mr. Ellen's poetical estate. Besides other things, Mr. Ellen undertakes a long poem, in two cantos: "Leoni Di Monota, a Legend of Verona." Meek, Eames, Sigourney, Cist, Leigh, and other old friends appear ; whilst there are a number of new Muse-courters, including the Eev. Wm. Love, Marion Harland, etc. Two works, by Richmond ladies, are expected: one by Miss Susan Archer Talley and the other by Mrs. Anna Cora (Mow- att) Ritchie. Besides his notices of new works, the editor closes the year with a brief address to his pa- trons, in which he says : "We are truly gratified to announce that the apprehensions which were so seriously felt and so frankly stated by the pro- prietors, two months ago, are so far allayed that arrangements have been entered into for the pro- [86 The Southern longed existence of the work, at least during 1856. * * * Whatever may be the ulti- mate fate of the Messenger, there have been drawn forth, by the recent appeal to the public, expressions of kindly regard for the work and of appreciation (only too flattering) of the editor's services in Southern Literature, both on the part of the press and of private individuals, which he can never cease to remember with gratitude." 1856. Now comes the change in the form of "The Ancient Mariner," — the Messenger: "the number of pages is increased, while the size of the page, always cumbrous, will be diminished. More material will be given and in a more con- venient form." A new design is adopted for the cover and there are to be two volumes a year. So that there is a "New Series, Volume I., January to June. John E. Thompson, editor: Macfar- lane, Pergusson & Co., proprietors." The orig- inal title of the Messenger had been very prop- erly restored from the too heavy one, which Minor and Simms had given it at the time of their union, in 1845. The year opens with a companion to that long article already referred to, viz.: "Africa in America." But the general tenor of the contents seems to be more lightsome than heretofore. A translation from Emile Souvestre is continued. "North and South Carolina Colleges" is copied Literary Messenger 187 from Duychink's Cyclopaedia, and the death of Rev. Dr. Henry, president of South Carolina Col- lege, is announced and lamented. The editor gives a hearty greeting to his patrons, with thanks for having enabled him "to address the Southern public once more in behalf of their literature." He renews his appeal for support and cites the example of an old contributor, who has sent him twelve new names. Cecilia gives another touch to "Tennyson's Portraiture of Woman." S. A. L., recurring to what had occurred in the previous volume, takes up the Astronomer of the Georgia University. Hugh Blair Grigsby directs attention to the early history of Virginia and her convention of 1776. Prescott and Macaulay are well reviewed. Mr. Thackeray visits Richmond and delivers, in the Athenaeum, his lectures on "The Royal Georges of England." (Mr. Thompson gave him a supper at his father's, where wit and other things flowed.) Historian George Bancroft makes a fine address at a grand celebration at King's Mountain, S. C. Thomas B. Holcombe discusses "The Moral Tendency of Goethe's Writ- ings," and S., "The Pursuit of Truth." The Rev. Wm. N. Pendleton, of Lexington, Va., dis- courses upon the "Philosophy of Dress," an ad- dress he had prepared, by invitation, for the Athenaeum. Mrs. Wm. F. Ritchie did produce [88 The Southern another work, entitled "Mimic Life." "The Uni- versity of Virginia; its Character and Wants" are again frankly considered. Duychink's "Cy- clopaedia of American Literature" furnishes a sketch and portrait of Simms, and a picture of Woodlands. Mr. Thompson is very enthusiastic over the eloquence of Edward Everett; first, in his ora- tion, in Richmond, March 19, 1856, on "Washing- ton," for the Ladies' Mount Vernon Association ; and afterwards, at the inauguration of the Dud- ley Astronomical Observatory, at Albany. But Mr. Thompson does not notice another exhibi- tion, in Richmond, of the eloquence and liberal- ity of the eminent New Englander. By request he delivered, for some good local object, his fin- ished lecture on "Charity." Mrs. B. B. Minor was a founder and vice-president of the Mt. Ver- non Association. She gave the orator a lunch and cleared his throat for his eloquence with some of her noted ambrosia, which he highly com- mended. There is a tribute, with a portrait, to Dr. Francis Lieber, and Jos. G. Baldwin treats, in his own style, of the genius and character of Alexander Hamilton. The great writer and logician, Dr. Albert Taylor Bledsoe, is brought forward with his "Liberty and Slavery." When he was professor of Mathematics in Literary Messenger 189 the University of Virginia, his proper chair would have been that of Moral Philosophy. John Hampden Pleasants, "The Murat of the Press," sketches Virginia's distinguished son and Jefferson's trusty coadjutor, Jos. C. Cabell. Judge Abel P. Upshur, though dead, expounds the true theory of government. L. C. B., of Westmoreland county, was not much of a prophet, though he may have been a good deal of a philosopher, in his lengthy paper on "The Country in 1950; or the Conservatism of Slavery." E. De Leon sends from Egypt his "Pilgrimage to Palestine." Gov. H. A. Wise delivers an ora- tion, on the "Fourth of July," before the Virginia Military Institute, and citizens of Lexington, and Ex-President John Tyler a lecture, before the Petersburg Library Association, on "The Dead of the Cabinet." Could Bossuet have done it better? Hugh S. Legar6, Abel P. Upshur, Thos. W. Grilmer, what a trio! And Commodore Bev- erly Kennon perished by the side of Upshur, Gilmer, Gardiner and Maxcy on the Princeton. There is much good lighter reading, of which is "Lilias," a novel, by Lawrence Neville, author of "Edith Allen." The poetry, too, is abundant : From Owen Meredith, T. B. Aldrich, T. Dunn English, Baron Hope Ellen, Adrian Beaufain, Bob Ruly, Amie and others. But one curious 190 The Southern thing must not be omitted : The account of Ben Bannaker, the negro astronomer of Maryland. Mr. Thompson's own work is conspicuous. Besides his notices of new works and his lively and instructive Editor's Table, he gives us another batch of his "Notes of European Travel," his "Keminiscences of Rome" and two special poems. One, on "Patriotism," was spoken be- fore the convention of the Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity, in Oarusi's Saloon, Washington, January 3, 1856. It is largely satirical. The other, on Virginia, was delivered before the Vir- ginia Alpha of the Phi Beta .Society, in the chapel of William and Mary, July 3, 1856, and was published by order of that Society. The society was inaugurated at William and Mary, suspended by the Revolution and revived at the same place, when Wm. Short, of Philadelphia, its only surviving member and its last president, was present. In heralding his 24th volume (New Series, Volume III.) Mr. Thompson says: "The New Year opens well for Southern Letters. There are gratifying evidences, in many quarters of our beautiful and genial section of the country, of a rich blossoming of thought, a quickening of latent genius, a gushing forth of the bright waters of poetry from what has so long been thought a sterile and unsympathizing soil." Literary Messenger 191 The volume is extensively Virginian and his- torical. There is a history of "The Virginia Navy of the Revolution," in three numbers, with an addendum, which would be news to a great many, and accounts of three celebrations on the spot of the settlement of Jamestown. These celebrations have been revived by the association for the preservation of Virginia antiquities and measures have already been started for a grander commemoration and an Exposition, on the 13th of May, 1907, the 300th anniversary of the gene- sis of these United States. There are two controversies : Superintendent Fras. H. Smith, of the Virginia Military Insti- tute, made an elaborate report on the Progress of Education in Virginia, in which he claimed that his Military State Institution had greatly improved the colleges and academies of the State, in their curricula, methods and discipline. A friend of the University warmly reviews this report, which brings out a strong defender of Superintendent Smith. The university and col- lege man comes again, even more so, and stirs up the Smith man. The next spat involved the editor. He had published, from the Church Review, a laudatory sketch of Dr. John Esten Cooke, after whom his friend, the rising young author, was named. Dr. Cooke's family were of Maryland; but he. 192 The Southern like Poe, was born in Boston, whilst his parents were there temporarily; but he gained his chief distinction in Kentucky, where he was a teacher and author in medicine and theology. But he changed his relations from the Methodist to the Episcopal Church and published a work against the validity of Presbyterian Ordination. On this account, the Presbyterian organ in Richmond be- rates the Messenger and its editor very severely. Mr. Thompson defends himself very successfully ; and this fact may be added to show how ill- judged was this attack. When the church of that remarkable man, Rev. Dr. Moses D. Hoge, was dedicated, Mr. Thompson had, by invitation, composed a hymn for the occasion. Still, there was room for much good literary matter. Paul H. Hayne has become not only an editor, but a lecturer. He is noted for his son- nets, and Thompson pops off one at him, for his volume of them. Among the contributors are Jno. P. Kennedy, W. S. Grayson, H. T. Tucker- man, E. A. Pollard, Ex-President John Tyler, Gov. H. A. Wise, S. A. L. of Washington, Pa., and Prof. J. M. Fishbum. There are reviews of St. Geo. Tucker's tale of Bacon's Rebellion, Perci- val's poems and of the Edinburgh Review, of October, 1856, for its assault upon the United States. Among the poets are Barron Hope (who now Literary Messenger 193 has out a volume), G. P. R. James," A. Judson Crane, Amie, S. A. Talley, John Esten Oooke, Caroline Howard, Emeline S. Smith, Adrian Beaufain, T. Dunn English, George E. Sense- ney, T. B. Aldrich, Matilda, E. A. Oakes and B. B. Foster. We have unexpectedly more of the editor's European excursions. He had put all his trav- els in a book, which was actually printed in New York; but the whole edition was incinerated. After a while, the publisher discovered, in a drawer, a single set of the printed sheets, which he had handsomely bound and sent to Mr. Thomp- son. So we now' have in the Messenger, all that he chose to tell of that famous foreign trip. Amie wrote a poem on the lone volume ; which is said to be still in existence. Bishop Mead's "Old Churches and Families of Virginia" is reviewed; also Foe's "Eaven" and its origin traced to Wilson's "Noctes Ambrosi- anse, in Old Ebony," number 41, for March, 1829, and to Mrs. E. B. Browning's "Lady Ger- aldine's Courtship." The novel "Lilias," by Laurence Neville, is finished. Mr. Thompson tenders to every one concerned a courteous and persuasive "Vive, valeque." The volumes for 1858 have recognition of both the Army and the Navy. They are also histori- cal, — Virginian and Revolutionary. Mr. 0. 194 ^^^ Southern Campbell has a bout with Mr. Richard Randolph in relation to the treatment of Patrick Henry, as to his military rank, by the Committee of Safety, in 1775, and Mr. Campbell completely vindicates the statements contained in his His- tory. Probably that committee rendered a greater public service by keeping Mr. Henry out of the Colonial Army and making him Governor of Virginia. Announcement is made of a new and improved edition of Campbell's "History of Virginia," with an appeal in its behalf. There are numerous selections, probably furnished by Mr. Campbell, from the Lee papers. One of the main literary features is a copy- righted novel, by a lady of South Carolina: **Vemon Grove; or Hearts As They Are." Very soon after it was finished, it was issued from New York in book form, and very well received. It turns out that the Zarry Zyle ; or Larry Lyle, of the earlier years of the Messenger, was P. P. Cooke. 1858. This was the year of the inauguration of the grand Washington Monument, in Rich- mond, on the 22nd of February. The March number contains the opening ode, by Mr. Thomp- son, and the oration, by the Hon. R. M. T. Hun- ter, which had been printed in advance. But the celebration is recorded in the April number. Literary Messenger 195 The writer was there and felt a deep personal interest in everything that related to the Wash- ington Monument, because he had set the ball in motion, through the Virginia Historical Society. The assemblage was grand, despite the weath- er, which was inclement and signalized by a driv- ing snowstorm. Yet a large multitude stood and faced it for hours. The venerable minister's (Dr. Adam Empie) supplications were heard by only a few; the stentorian bellowing of the Masonic orator (Eobert G. Scott, Sr.) was un- intelligible, and then it came to Governor Wise, whose usual eloquence rang out clear and dis- tinct. One could hardly refrain from shouting aloud: "Thank God for stump-speaking!" The Messenger spreads this brief speech, in large type, on its pages. Mr. Hope did not give his terminal ode to the press, because he wished to deliver it in other places. At length the writer sought refuge from the storm in the Capi- tol, and there, from a window in the State Li- brary, saw Mr. Hunter speaking and the rest of the proceedings. Only a few feet away, the widow and child of the deceased sculptor, Craw- ford, were viewing the same scenes. The Kev. Dr. Oilman, one of the literary orna- ments of Charleston, S. C, is no more. Thomp- son knew him and pays friendly tribute to him. Lucian Minor died in Williamsburg, July 8th, 196 The Southern and he is characterized as he so richly deserved by B., who was probably his bosom-friend, Wm. M. Blackford, Sr., then of Lynchburg, Va. David Paul Browne, the supporter of Mr. White, has a work on "Christianity in the Legal Profession" : "The Forum ; or Forty Years' Full Practise, at the Philadelphia Bar," two volumes. The Messenger reviews it. K. E. 0. considers the problem of Free Society. Holt Wilson in- vestigates Cotton, Steam and Machinery. Mozis Addums indites his humorous and racy letters to Billy Iwins. Dr. Geo. W. Bagby, the author of these orthographic epistles, afterwards be- came widely known as the successor of Mr. Thompson and a writer outside the Messenger. Death has partly changed the defenders of the South on the subject of slavery. A new one steps forth, James P. Holcombe, who grapples the question : "Is Slavery Consistent with Nat- ural Law?" In the early part of his career, Mr. Holcombe seemed to have fine powers, mainly of acquisition, but he kept progressing, until he became highly distinguished both as a writer and a speaker. Among the positions which he held was that of associate professor, with Dr. John B. Minor, in the Law School of the University of Virginia. There are other prose writers. The poetical offerings are so abundant that only a part can be adverted to. John E. Cooke has Literary Messenger 197 one, "Honoria Vane;" so have Amie, Mabel, Hayne, English and Timrod. Simms is still absent, but his place is fully supplied by Adrian Beaufain, with his "Areytos; or Songs of the South." Mr. G. P. E. James, as British Consul, had come from Norfolk to Eichmond and is now about to change officially to Venice. His friends present him with a silver julep bowl, property inscribed, and Mr. Thompson adds a compli- mentary poem. We can not concur in his esti- mate of Consul James. To us he was not a gen- tleman ; but a selfish and exacting John Bullite. Putnam's spiteful monthly has "gone where the woodbine twineth;" but Mr. Thompson has to watch the rising Atlantic Monthly, which is decidedly anti-Southern. Charles Dana is now connected with the once friendly Tribune, and has published his "Cyclopedia of American Liter- ature." Mr. Thompson shows up its one-sided injustice to the South. He is generous to all his brother and sister poets and to some competing literary ventures, especially Russell's Monthly, of Charleston, S. C. His sketch of the great French actress, Eachel, with a contrast between her and Charlotte Bront6, is a good specimen of his style and sentiments. It is, too, a sort of postscript to his "Notes of Foreign Travel," for he had two interviews with Eachel, in Paris. 198 The Southern Mr. Thompson says: "Once more we greet our subscribers in a new volume of the Messen- ger. The good old magazine has, we hope, some vitality in it yet, and we confidently appeal to the contents of the present number for the interest and piquancy which our contributors lend to its pages. With the new year, we have formed new associations with writers in various parts of the country, which will enable us to maintain the character of the Messenger and make it still worthier of the Southern public. * * * It is for them we strive and it is their encourage- ment we most desire." He also trusts that the cherished literary friends of the work are held to it by such ties of enduring affection and pleas- ing reminiscence, that they will not withdraw their valued aid. Miss Susan A. Talley opens with a fine prose article on "Reading." There is a good deal more from the Lee papers and early letters from Arthur Lee, whilst he was pursuing his educa- tion in Europe. There are "Letters from a Spinster," by J. D. P. Tuckerman takes hold of Balzac and afterwards of Sleep. A Traveller treats of "The Thugs of India" and afterwards of "Funeral Rites in the East" and religious novels are discussed. Venerable William and Mary is burned a short time before a celebration there, on its 166th aniversary, to which Hon. Literary Messenger 199 Edward Everett had been invited. He sends a reply, full of interest and sympathy. Bishop Percy's "Eeliques of Ancient Eomance Poetry" is reviewed. Catherine of Eussia is portrayed (from the London Times). John E. Cooke fur- nishes some Eevolutionary letters, from Gen. Steuben and others. Alex. H. Sands delivers before the Hollins In- stitute, at commencement, an address, "The In- tellectual Culture of Woman." He was a lawyer of Eichmond, of some literary self-culture. . From friendship for the work and its proprietors, he, after Mr. Thompson's retirement, rendered the Messenger some editorial service, but was never employed as editor, as has been by some sup- posed. There is a full review of several of the works of Dr. Simms, who is still absent, but engaged in his faithful labors. The poems of Aldrich are attended to. Moses Adams describes the tab- leaux of "Paradise and the Peri," in Eichmond, in aid of the Mt. Vernon fund. They were really beautiful and magnificent, which was mainly due to the taste and skill of Mrs. Wm. F. Eitchie, who had learned a good deal of stage scenery, costumes and effects whilst she was "on the boards" as Mrs. Mowatt. She was also a splen- did reader and explained the tableaux. The writer's people were in them with her and one of 200 The Southern his sons was, for some services which he ren- dered, dubbed by Miss Cunningham a "Knight of Mt. Vernon," Mr, Thompson also republishes, from a Richmond newspaper, an humorous ex- travaganza of Dr. Baglj, in which he divides our globe between an American and European Re- public and a Russian Empire, and reduces to very subordinate places in the Republic many of those who now claim to be "the hub of the Uni- verse" and the tip-top of civilization. An Ala- bamian reviews Dr, R. Shelton Mackenzie's five volumes of the works of John Wilson — Chris- topher North, Coventry Patmore's poems are specially noticed. There is "The Polite Art of Novelling, a Didactic Fiction by G, Buggini WufBcks"; a satire. But there is also a copy- righted novel : "Greenway Court ; or The Bloody Ground," which is, at its close, acknowledged by John E, Cooke, Bulwer's "What Will He Do With It?" is doubly reviewed. E. T. defends Lord Macaulay against the assault upon him in the June number of Blackwood. The Messenger started the "Rev- eries of a Bachelor." It now has those of a wid- ower. It also has observations on "The Caesars of De Quincey," Gen, Wm. H. Gaines, in a letter to Gen. Henry Lee, April first, 1810, describes the battle of Eu- taw. F. Pardigon translates for the Messenger, Literary Messenger 201 from his own history, some transactions of the French Revolution of 1848. E. A. Pollard, of New York, pays a month's visit to his old Blue Ridge home. Praed's poems are extensively ex- hibited. There is a review of the "Memoirs of Robert Houdin," ambassador, author and con- jurer; also "Kate," a novelette, and a sketch, in two parts, of "Foolometers." The poetry is abundant. How Amie has ex- panded! Mr. Thompson might have made her Mrs. Editor. Fanny Fielding, of Norfolk, comes forth in both poetry and prose. A young lady of Virginia looks into a mirror a century old and is inspired with 175 lines of good poetry. Maria Gertrude Buchanan has a long ode on Virginia. Mr. Thompson has : "Poesy, an Essay in Rhyme," delivered before the Literary Societies of Colum- bian College, at the Smithsonian Institution, June 28th, 1859. The projected celebration at William and Mary was held on the 19th of February, notwith- standing the late conflagration, and St. George Tucker delivers a semi-epic poem, from which large extracts are given in the Editor's Table. Then, on the Fourth of July, at the close of the session, Hugh Blair Grigsby delivers there, be- fore the students, an oration, with the whole of which the Messenger favors its readers. This year, the editor made two notable excur- 202 The Southern sions : One was on the Baltimore & Ohio R. R., in company with Judge Warren, of Boston, Com- mander M. F. Maury, N. P. Willis, Bayard Tay- lor and Hon. Jno. P. Kennedy. They had plenty of grand scenery, excellent cheer ( cognac for the cele-irandi and lager for the cele-heerimi) and lots of fun. Maury was full of humor and pleas- antry. But the other excursion was of greater interest and higher sentiment, being a pious pil- grimage to the site of ancient Jamestown. By pre-agreement of a year, a party went from Bran- don, in a small steamboat chartered for the pur- pose, anchored at Jamestown and went ashore in boats. It consisted of sixteen ladies and gentle- men, who hailed from four States and from Hali- fax. They were there to see all that could be found of the historic place, to recall the associa- tions of the past and especially to plant ivy upon the remnant of the old brick church tower. Among them were the venerable and versatile Thomas Ritchie, Sr., whose daughter was the proprietress of Brandon, and the Hon. Edward Everett. They searched and viewed everything and planted the ivy. But Mr. Thompson was gently constrained to address the orator of Mas- sachusetts "in such unstudied phrases of welcome as he could command and the occasion sug- gested." Mr. Everett made a beautiful and very happy reply. After some refreshments at the Literary Messenger 203 house of the manager of the plantation, the pil- grims returned to hospitable Brandon. Mr. Thompson makes an earnest appeal for the preservation of whatever remains of Jamestown and its protection from the stormy winds and tides. The A. P. V. A. now have well in hand the work for which he entreated and the Federal Government is helping them to stay the en- croachments of the waters, which have already enrivered nearly the whole of what was so long the capital of Virginia, Once more the editor salutes his patrons and the public : "With the present number, the Mes- senger enters upon the second quarter of a cen- tury of its existence. Twenty-five years have been completed since its first appearance and a second generation of readers have grown up in the interim. The occasion is interesting in itself; but it is rendered doubly so by the pres- ent excited state of feeling in the United States." He then takes a view of the troublous state of our country and argues that, whether the Union be preserved, or severed, the South ought to maintain its own independent position in the Republic of Letters. He shows how much less sectional the Messenger has been in its literary work than the Northern magazines and how just and impartial it has been toward litterateurs "beyond the Tweed." 204 The Southern "The sins of Bryant, the editor, have not dead- ened us to the beauties of Bryant the poet." When Thompson was taken to his rest, he was the literary editor of Bryant's Paper; and when the University of Virginia had their celebration of his memory, the testimonial of him by Park Ben- jamin was as cordially received as any that was given. Washington Irving is no more and in addition to his own tribute, the editor copies Tuckerman's loving and tearful account of the obsequies at Sunnyside. England loses Macaulay and that sad event is duly commemorated. At this time, there are in the Messenger two controversies re- lating to Macaulay. One concerns his unfavor- able opinions of the United States and the au- thenticity of his letter to the Hon. H. S. Randall, the biographer of Jefferson. The Messenger ob- tains and publishes the letter, of whose genuine- ness there could be no doubt. The other is about Macaulay's characterization of the infamous Duke of Marlborough and is carried on by E. T. and W. G. M., who writes from Westover, Va., whereas Wm. G. Minor, who might have done it, was probably in Missouri. E. T. contributes other things in prose and verse. Mr. Thompson says, with more than surprise, that Chas. A. Dana's "Household Book of Poetry" does not contain "Home, Sweet Home" ! ! Literary Messenger 205 He captures a floating poem, "How Strange," by Florence Percy, because he thinks it is from the pen of his pet. But he is mistaken, for Amie still writes, but from San Francisco, and says Florence Percy is in Italy. The Lee papers, "Letters of a Spinster," "Rev- eries of a Widower," and "Foolometers," by Pro- crustes, Jr., are still running. Mozis Addums copyrights his "Blue Eyes" and "Battlewick, a Winter's Tale." Rev. W. Carey Crane, in an address before the Historical Society of Missis- sippi, gives the history of that State. John Esten Cooke contributes poetry and "Recollec- tions of a Contented Philosopher," from South- ern Field and Fireside. His sketch of Jefferson also is taken from Appleton's Cyclopaedia. When he so unexpectedly commenced his literary ca- reer he was the Sunday School teacher of Mr. B. B. Minor's sons, in the days of good old Dr. Adam Empie, the first rector of St. James, Rich- mond, and used to visit his scholars and their parents, who always gladly welcomed him. He was never employed as editor of the Messenger, but rendered it valuable service, in every way. Mabel, a poetess of Mississippi, sends prose sketches, "Unloved," and "The Little Flower." Mrs. M. J. Preston, the Margaret Junkin of for- mer days, reviews con amore, Elizabeth B. Browning. 2o6 The Southern There is much discussion about "The Ancient Ballad of the Nut Brown Maid" and its author- ship. Hugh Blair Grigsby reviews fully and finely (in the Richmond Enquvrer, whence the notice is transferred) Campbell's new and en- larged "History of Virginia." "The Eaces of Men" is by Henry A. Washington, Professor of History and Constitutional Law in William and Mary. He has been spoken of. Procrustes, Jr., presents "Great Men a Misfortune;" and some one treats of Descartes and his method. We have also "a Dish of Epics" and other side dishes which will have to stand aside. But the life-like statue of the great orator and commoner of the West, Henry Clay, is unveiled, with becom- ing ceremonies; and B. Johnson Barbour de- livers an eloquent oration. His mother, the widow of Gov. James Barbour, was the origi- nator of the movement which led to the posses- sion of the statue, and president of the associa- tion formed for the purpose of raising the neces- sary funds. Mr. Barbour and Mr. Thompson were warm admirers and strong adherents of Mr. Clay and once, when he lost the nomination for the presidency of the United States, they both wrote him letters of deep regret and Mr. Thomp- son sent him one of his poems. The way in which Mr. Joel T. Hart, the self- made sculptor of Kentucky, came to be engaged Literary Messenger 207 to execute the statue was this : Mr. B. B. Minor had in Tappahannock, Va., a school-mate, John Custis Darbey, of Richmond county. Darbey studied medicine and settled in Lexington, Ky., where he became distinguished and influential. He knew Hart's history, believed in his genius and resolved to befriend him. Hart prepared what was r^arded by his friends as a model bust of Mr. Clay and brought it to Richmond, along with a letter of introduction and unreserved recommendation, from Dr. Darbey to Mr. Minor. This letter, a careful examination of the model (for Mr. Minor was personally acquainted with Mr. Clay), and some study of the artist himself induced him to give his assistance to Mr. Hart. He had no voice in the matter, but put the sculp- tor in contact with those who had and after a full and fair investigation the contract was awarded to Hart He also made a statue of Mr. Clay for New Orleans. We have seen his chef d'oeuvre, "The Triumph of Virtue," in the exposition of Louisville, whose ladies purchased it at a liberal price. Of the poetry in this volume Susan Pleasants, now Mrs. Oreswell, of Louisiana, is one author. Amie, T. Dunn English, Cameron Risque, Fanny Fielding and W. W. Turner are others. The Editorial Table for May, 1860, opens thus : "The editorial conduct of this magazine will pass 2o8 The Southern comes a valedictory well enough conceived and expressed, so far as it goes. But there is not one word of any reason for the change, or of what he intends to do, or whither to go. He compliments his successor, but does not name him. The next month, however, that successor, Dr. Geo. W. Bagby, another young man, informs us that on the 15th of May, from 5 P. M., at Zetelle's restaurant, a complimentary dinner was given to Mr. Thompson, by a number of his friends and admirers. Mr. W. H. Macfarland presides, with Mr. Thompson on his right. Among the invited guests are Jno. E. Cooke, Dr. H. G. Latham, of Lynchburg, and Dr. Bagby. Mr. Thompson re- sponds to a speech from Mr. Macfarland; there were toasts and other speeches and Dr. O. Bell Gibson sings a song of his own making, in which there is an allusion to the Field and Fireside. Mr. Thompson recites, by request, the poem he wrote for the Old Dominion Society of New York, on their first anniversary, and which was read at their dinner, by the Hon. Alex. Boteler. Mr. Macfarland stood very high in Richmond and had had a good deal of experience on such oc- casions. He was a little pompous in his manner and appearance; but was a Christian gentleman of high character and generous spirit. He was also a good writer and speaker and was selected /f }lO/^y' Literary Messenger 209 as the orator for the public celebration in honor of the Hon. Benjamin Watkins Leigh. Mr. Leigh was truly a great man and the orator eulogized him appropriately and deservedly. His effort was published in the Messenger. The celebration took place in the Capitol Square, where preparations had been made for it, in the walk which runs now at the foot of the steps to the new State Library. Though Mr. Thompson did not tell it to the readers of the Messenger, he had accepted a po- sition with the Field and Fireside, a weekly agri- cultural and literary journal of Augusta, Ga. He had given it several flattering notices in the Mes- senger, which stated that it was edited (perhaps founded) by his friend and Paris correspondent, W. W. Mann. Mr. Thompson did a good part by the Messenger for about thirteen years. Dr. Geoegb W. Bagby's Editorship 1860 The leader for Editor Bagby's first number is : "The Difference of Eace between the Northern and Southern People." It was his purpose to ad- mit and even solicit articles treating of public affairs, but they were to be done in fairness and "with breadth of contemplation" and non-parti- zan. He says that the above leader is open to 2IO The Southern some objection on the score of personality, a fact that was overlooked in the hurry of the recent editorial change. But such a mistake should not be repeated. Klutz writes "Hannibal: a Nig- ger," in several parts. There is an extended no- tice, with illustrations, for a mock heroic poem published in Richmond and entitled "The Mock Auction, or Ossawotomie sold." Chapel Hill, N. C, puts in a plea for wine-bibbing. W. S. Gray- son discusses "Civil Liberty." There is a short lecture, not on the Devil. "Crawford, the Sculp- tor," is borrowed from the biographical sketches of Geo. W. Greene. The poetry is anonymous, except that by J. H. Hewitt, John D. Stockton and Jno. R. Thompson. The Editor's Table is very copious and a part of its contents have been already given in the account of the complimentary dinner extended to Mr. Thompson, to whom the new editor pays a high and deserved tribute. Among many other things, the editor says: "We desire especially to obtain home-made, purely Southern articles — tales, stories, sketches, poems that smack of the soil. We want the tone of the Messenger to be something different from the common run of magazines — we want it to be as distinct in char- acter and style as are our people and institu- tions." As to illustrations, he means to continue them and hopes to be able to draw Porte Crayon Literary Messenger 211 from the Harpers and to keep him employed at home. He notices the three great political con- ventions and comes very near trenching, if he does not really do so, upon the principle which he had laid dow*n. Governor Littleton W. Taze- well and Peter Parley have departed this life. "The Negro Eaees" opens the second volume of this year. This may he (?) hy Prof. H. A. Washington, having been delivered as a lecture in his lifetime. Some one commences "The Knight of Espalion, a Eomance of the Thir- teenth Century." Life and Literature in Japan are described and illustrated. "Not a Fancy Sketch," is by Mabel. Klutz gives "The Widow Huff and her Son." Then we have "The One- eyed Beauty with Two Eyes," from Blaokwoodl "The Future of American Railways" is taken from the Atlantic Monthly \ Dr. W. H. Hol- combe writes a poem, "The Southern Man." He has published a volume of his poems. Susan A. Talley is inspired by a lily. Cameron Eisque poetizes on the old Latin caution, "Festina lente." Some one, in an ode styled "Virginia," tries to stir up her sons to maintain the re- nown of their fathers. The Editor's Table is an extension one and new leaves are put in for quips, quirks, "wise saws and modern instances," which are spread thereon almost to surfeiting. Judge Peter V. 212 The Southern Daniel, Hon. Wm. 0. Preston and Theodore Parker have gone to their fathers. J. R. Thomp- son and John E. Cooke are preparing a work on "The Poets and Poetry of the South" and there is some curiosity as to what Mr. Dana will think of it. What he might think of it would not be known; hut what he would say of it could be very easily foretold. There are proofs given that the Yankees sold Indians into slavery in the Southern States, about 1716. New publications are well attended to. Wyndham Robertson gives an account of the marriage of Pocahontas and some other inci- dents of her life. He was one of her descendants. Klutz now takes up "Love in the Country." "Fun from North Carolina" is illustrated. Grayson resumes "Civil Liberty." R., of Ten- nessee, describes a week in the Great Smoky Mountains. He seems to have been a forerunner of our Chas. Egbert Craddock. We have the let- ter of H. S. Randall to the Nem York, Times, in regard to Lord Macaulay's opinions of Mr. Jef- ferson. Mr. Randall makes his side of the case very clear. "The Knight of Espalion" keeps on. Among the poets, E. A. C. writes "The Rain Storm;" John D. Stockton, "The River;" Fanny Fielding, "Jenny Blossom," and "Lines to a Literary Messenger 213 Bouquet of Spring Flowers Gathered in a Cem- etery," and Acmet, "Repentance." The editor declares that the Baltimore & Ohio R. R. Co. is no soulless corporation, but a body of educated and polished gentlemen, because they give elegant and luxurious free transporta- tion, from Wheeling to the lions of the Federal metropolis and the monuments of Baltimore, to a thousand Western editors and their wives, for two of the most beautiful months of the year. The writer knows what that means ; for he was a guest of that company when it celebrated its completion to Wheeling and carried thither and brought back and feasted all the way, going and returning, such a multitude of the officials and citizens of Maryland and Virginia. It was an excursion of excursions. Mr. G. P. R. James is no more and is kindly remembered. But here is a slap at a better man : "N. P. Willis has joined the church. Look out for the litany served up in letters from Idlewild. The Apostles' Creed will be done into double- nouns immediately." W. B. Reese, Jr., thinks he proves that Horace Walpole was Junius. E. T. commences "The Conquered Heart ; or The Flirt of the White Sul- phur." There are a glorification of Franklin, by Richard H. Anderson, and a hit at Richmond society, — "Who's Who?" in six chapters. Then 214 The Southern we have Horace Greeley and his lost work, "The Knight of Espalion," etc. Finley Johnson, Cor- nelia, Cameron Eisque and Alton (E. A. Pol- lard?) contribute poetry. The Editor's Table names eighteen places of public resort: it also contains some variety and some fun. Three Virginia works are noticed, two of which are commended, viz. : "The Lost Princi- ple; or The Sectional Equilibrium," by Barba- rossa, and the new edition of Sam Mordecafs "Richmond in By-gone Days." The authors of the other, Eev. Philip Slaughter and Prof. A. T. Bledsoe, are scored and ridiculed: They had undertaken to solve the problem, "Why are so many more men than women Christians?" Did they put it in that way? The novel "Beulah," by Mrs. Augusta J. Evans, is reviewed and there is afterwards a dis- cussion as to her and George Eliot. Mr. Gray- son propounds the question : "Is slavery right?" E. T. concludes "The Flirt of the White Sul- phur." "The Mill on the Floss," by the English Evans, is reviewed by E. T. "The Knight of Es- palion" (21 chapters) is concluded. Reese, Jr., comes again, with Walpole and Junius. As to poetry, Stephen R. Smith, of Alabama, writes about Maud; some one, quite extensively, on Cuba ; F. J. still more so, on a variety of sub- Literary Messenger 21 5 jects; and one other, on Dreaming — not Achiev- ing. The editor pounces upon some of his delin- quents. He has had a pleasant summer tour, of which he will give an account. He says his "readers may look out for quite a collection of novelties, the combined effect of which will be to give the Messenger a livelier aspect and a more cheerful tone than ever before. They will also add to its usefulness." Some Richmond books are among those noticed. Well, the next number opens with the poem, "The Two Voices," by Thos. Dunn English, read before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of William and Mary, on the Fourth of July, 1860, with the correspondence between Prof. Joynes, Secretary of that Society, and the author, who writes from Pond Cottage, Fort Lee, N. J. The editor had invited papers on popular physical science, because Southern people were so ignorant of that subject. He now adopts some of Faraday's lectures, with diagrams. Skitt, who had been thar, sketches Ducktown. "Northern Mind and Character" is not particu- larly conciliatory. "The Mourner's Portfolio," by E. A. Pollard, the author of "Black Diamonds," presents a medley of prose and verse. "A Mis- sissippi Hero" is illustrated. The Rev. E. Boy- den, of Albemarle county, Va., enlarges upon the 2i6 The Southern Epidemic of the Nineteenth Century; which he holds the anti-slavery fanaticism to be. He thus concludes: "Baseless in reason, as in Scripture, Uke the wild frenzy of the old Crusades, this epi- demic 'African fever' shall infallibly pass away; not, perhaps, till it has disjoined and destroyed this otherwise sound and well compacted body of States, glorious in their youth and strength and happy promise." There are "Wild Sports in India," by Capt Henry Shakespear, and the Tribune's translation of "The Musquitoe," from La Science pour tous. Sarah J. C. Whittlesey writes a poem, "Sum- mer is Over;" somebody writes one to his wife; F. J. describes, in three cantos, Tom Johnson's "Country Courting;" Preston Davis sends Lines and some Sonnets, from Hartford, Conn. ; Wm. J. Miller, of Baltimore, and of the U. S. A., in Mexico, celebrates "The Dead in the Chaparral," and Mary Copland composes "Love's Flowers." The Editor's Table has a half-length portrait of Adelina Patti and an account of the trip to Niagara and Canada, including the Saguenay. It is announced that Mr. Thompson intends to deliver in Southern cities his lecture on Poe. The writer had the pleasure of hearing it in Kichmond. There is a special poem, by James Wood Davidson, of Columbia, S. C, to Mrs. Literary Messenger 217 Clemm, the "more than mother" of Edgar A. Poe. We are informed : "We had the assurance of Mr. Brodie that he would furnish us regularly with fashion plates. He has disappointed us. We must make other arrangements." Was Mr. Brodie's fashion plate depot in the South? Marion Harland's "Nemesis" is tartly noticed; but not so "The Sunny South;" five years' ex- perience of a Northern governess in the land of the sugar and the cotton. Edited by Prof. J. H. Ingraham, of Mississippi. Lady Mary Wortley Montague, with the por- trait scene, in which she, Pope and Kneller are pictured, opens the number for December. Dr. A. E. Peticolas translates from Dumas, Jr., "The Pigeon Prize; or Variations on a Paradox." There is another of Faraday's lectures, with dia- grams, and more leaves from a "Mourner's Port- folio." C. compares and contrasts Thackeray and Dickens. "Bricks" is a humorous and satiri- cal rub-a-dub of folks at the Eainbow Sulphur Springs, Va., and is by E.- H. Anderson, of Eich- mond. He died early. "Le petit Oootis" is a sad but lively sketch of college life and friendship. "Death and Burial of De Soto" is a long and ambitious poem, anonymous; also, B.'s "North- man's Cause." Fanny Fielding re-appears. The editor is not merely a humorist : He can write seriously, vigorously and argumentatively. 21 8 The Southern He now, in a long article, commits the Messenger to Secession and urges Virginia to enter into it quickly. He takes no special leave of his pa- trons. The commencement of the great internecine war between the North and the South is now nigh : still the Messenger moves steadily on but becomes intensely secessional. The editor clam- ors from Washington as well as at home, for the secession of Virginia, and gathers from news- papers strong adjuvant articles by J. Randolph Tucker, James Lyons and M. E. H. Garnett. He exults in John M. Daniel's return to the Exam- iner and says : "His pen combines the qualities of the scimitar of Saladin and the battle axe of Coeur de Leon and he is wielding it like a very Orlando. Had he entered the fight six months ago, Virginia would now be in the Southern Confederacy." Virginia seceded on the 17th of April. Sumter had been taken, Lincoln had called for 75,000 men to maintain the Union and the Peace Congress had failed. In the mean- while the Messenger had issued four numbers; filled with the usual variety of prose, poetry and editorial matter, with a few illustrated articles and a fashion plate from Brodie, of New York. Simms returns; F. R. S. begins "A Story of Champaigne;" the author of "Black Diamonds" writes "The Story of a California Faro Table;" Literary Messenger 219 Dr. W. H. Holcombe, from Louisiana, presents "The Alternative: A Separate Nationality, or the Africanization of the South;" some one dis- cusses "The Disfederation of the States" and a number of others furnish a good deal of interest- ing reading. The borrowed contribution of Attorney Gen- eral J. E. Tucker is entitled "The Great Issue and our Eelations to it," and occupies 28 pages. His nephew, St. Geo. Tucker, helps the same cause, with a poem on "The Southern Cross." Tenella reappears and is now in Texas. In the May number (gotten up in April), the editor says : "A war most unholy and unnatural has begun. * * * As we write, the Virginia Convention is in secret session and the people are impatiently awaiting the passage of an ordi- nance of secession. * * * As to the issue of this war we have no fears. The "^rebels' of the South will conquer just as surely as the 'rebels' of '76 conquered." And he predicts that Wash- ington will ere long be in the possession of the Confederates, though probably a mass of ruins. Among the strong articles of this month are: "The one Great Cause of the Failure of the Fed- eral Government," by an Alabamian; "The Dutch Eepublic," a review of John Lothrop Motley, by Wm. Archer Cocke, a lawyer of Eich- mond and author of a treatise on "Constitution- 220 The Southern al Law, and the New Republic, — the Southern Confederacy." The Editor's Table has frequently some good poetry — original and copied. This one, besides "Virginia; Late but Sure," by Dr. Holcombe, copies a luscious description of hugging and kiss- ing, by Annabel Montfort. L. W. Spratt, in a letter to Hon. John Perkins, delegate from Louisiana, considers the "Slave Trade and the Southern Congress." John R. Thompson's "Poem for the Times" is taken from The Mercury. Mary J. Upshur, of Norfolk, sends forth her verses, "Little Footsteps." Oats, of Virginia, addresses "The Massachusetts Regi- ment, in a prose, not a prize poem, dedicated (without permission) to the Mutual Admira- tion Society of the Modem Athens, of which the Atlantic Monthly is at once the trumpet and the organ." "Nicaragua, its Monuments," etc., etc., is illus- trated. "A Story of Champaigne" is running on. But who wrote "The Gathering of the Southern Volunteers," to the air of La Marseillaise? Here comes the announcement: "Dr. G. W. Bagby has left for the war. * ♦ ♦ Many friends have come forward and offered to assist the proprietors in the editorial department, whose services have been thankfully received." They appeal earnestly to their subscribers to en- Literary Messenger 221 able them to cany on the work, despite the great obstacles they were encountering, among which were the soldiering of some of their force, in ad- dition to their editor, and the difficulty of ob- taining printing materials. They had already been driven to paper of inferior quality. J. M. Kilgour, of Frederick, Md., dedicates to his friend Capt (now General) Bradley T. John- son his "Harp of the South, Awake!" Now steps forth a new author, who, however, has been favorably heralded, the Hon. Wm. M. Burwell. He brings a historical novel, which continues into the next year: "Exile and Em- pire." Prior to this time, this writer had long been intimate with Mr. Burwell, who was prom- inent in the political and social life of his native and beloved Virginia. He and his family had a fine old mansion in Liberty, since foolishly and disastrously hoomed into Bedford City. He was a man of high and refined culture and particu- larly fond of old English poetry, whose language was quaint and sometimes required a glossary. He used to exercise himself in composing verses after that style. Owing to his public spirit, free hospitality and neglect of economics, a reverse of fortune overtook him and he removed to New Or- leans, where he took hold of De Bow's Review. But his devotion to literature never abated and here we have some of its fruits, — ripe and pleas- 222 The Southern ing. He once edited "The Age," in Eichmond. Mrs. M. S. Whitaker furnishes a serial tale, to which there are many excellent sequents. The South is well defended both outside of the Edi- tor's Table and in it, which is full and well sus- tained. "Alice Dawson," a long love-story in verse, is anonymous. B., of Orange county, sends a poem: "The Great Fast Day in the South, June 13th." Can that be B. Johnson Barbour? Mary J. Upshur, of Norfolk, appears again. Su- san A. Talley opens her "Battle Eye." Mrs. S. A. Dickins utters a "Monologue to the Sea- breeze," at Sullivan's Island. W. S. Bogart, of Norfolk and afterwards of Savannah, tells of the historic landmarks in lower Virginia; and E. 0. Mead, of Australia. Mr. Spratt's letter to Honorable Delegate Per- kins, about the slave trade by the Southern Con- federacy, is ventilated; and so on. Well, the battle of Bull Run, or first Manas- sas, has been fought and the Messenger cele- brates the great victory; and also the one at Bethel. The reasons are given for Magruder's burning Hampton. Mrs. Whittaker's poem on Manassas, July 21, 1861, is copied from the Rich- mond Enquirer. The Messenger again appeals to its subscribers and to Southerners who are not such. Literary Messenger 223 From Clinch Mountain in East Tennessee, we descend to Manassas' fields, to hear Susan A. Talley recount the victory there. Then we fol- low W. S. B. and Mr. Burwell, but as we pass from one to the other, we hear Dr. Holcombe's strain about "Christian Love in Battle," an inci- dent at Manassas. W. Howard Perigo, of Ken- tacky, si'ngs of "Untnown Heroes." There is a candid letter to the Rev. Dr. Stephen H. Tyng, rebuking him for his "bloody zeal" and contrast- ing him with venerable Bishop Meade. Yes, after Dr. Tyng's long and apparently affectionate affiliations with the Episcopalians of Virginia betta* things might well have been expected from him. Mildred has a long poem styled "The Visita- tion." Klutz makes a new story out of an old one. Dr. Holcombe addresses poetically General Winfield Scott. A comparison and parallel are run between the hattles of Pharsalia and of Manassas. The leader of the Editor's Table for Septem- ber is injudicious and extravagant, even to ab- surdity. The wonder is who jwoduced it. The acting editor corrects some mistakes made by W. S. Bogart. Mrs. Mary S. Whittaker describes Manassas after the battla There are no notices of new publications. Even before communica- tion with the North was cut off, publishers, ex- 224 The Southern cept Harper & Brothers and Ticknor & Fields, had stopped sending their works to the Messen- ger. A few are published in Kichmond and afterwards noticed. Holt Wilson makes reflec- tions on the present crisis. Iris, a new poet of Fauquier county, feels very much "Alone." Bur- well continues, and so do Mead and W. S. B. with A, sonnet and a poem between. "Boston No- tions" is a letter and reply. The letter, from Fred. S. C, of Boston, expresses some Eastern "notions"; the reply is by M. E. L., of Norfolk. Pharsalia and Manassas is continued. Dr. Hol- combe poetizes on "Sic Semper Tyrannis." Klutz's new old story inins on and a lady of Maryland offers an appeal to her State, from a dying soldier at Manassas. The Editor's Table has become critical, slash- ing and rasping. It contains a letter from the eminent Dr. Cartwright on the war-spirit among the women. What is it? What has caused it? Also a fine article from the N. O. Delta, on "A New Development of Southern Literature." Mrs. Browning is dead and a tribute to her is "extracted from an abolition print, the Atlantie Monthly, but in spite of that, it is well worth reading." She is afterwards reviewed by Sam- uel B. Holcombe. Tenella, who had been called for by the editor, returns with a letter and a poem on "Sadness." After the battle of Bull Literary Messenger 225 Run, Yankee Doodle do was changed to Yankee Doodle done. "The Mystic Circle of Kate's Mountain" was composed by John Howard, a lawyer of Rich- mond. A few years ago, he republished it and showed it to this writer. It is a full poetical de- scription of a visit which a party of ladies and gentlemen at the Greenbrier White, in 1860, made to the lofty Kate and hoisted upon a tall oak on its highest peak the first secession flag. Towards the close of 1861, the contributors of verse are Dr. Holcombe, Rev. Dr. John 0. McCabe (now a Chaplain, C. S. A.), Mary J. Up- shur, Henry C. Alexander, Dr. Ticknor, Mrs. S. A. Dinkins, of South Carolina, and James B. Randall, who does justice to Gen. Sterling Price— "Old Pap." The prose writers are Dr. Holcombe, Klutz, W. S. Bogart, Augusta Washington, Burwell, Fannie G. Ireton, Iris, of Fauquier county, Mead, W. S. Grayson, and others anonymous. One leading editorial is devoted to stirring up the subscribers and inciting them to do speedy justice to the proprietors, who have done so much to entitle them to gratitude, liberality and prompt payment. Another deplores the contin- ued inactivity of the Confederate armies and urges a more vigorous and aggressive policy. Three sisters of southwestern Virginia resent 226 The Southern the onslaught which the acting editor made upon some of his female contributors, and do it so hap- pily, that they are invited to send their effusions. One of them, Leola, sends "God and Liberty," respectfully inscribed to the Virginia Cavalry. She also makes another poetic contribution. Dr. Bagby's physical condition did not permit him to remain long with the army, and the maga- zine still flies his name as editor. Its literal^ character is well sustained and some new writers enlist; among them Oapt. W. T. Walthall, of Alabama, indites three letters to an Englishman, in behalf of the Confederate cause; and R. H. Anderson writes "Latter-day Fiction: Charles Eeade." This was the bright young Eichmonder and humorist, already mentioned, who died early of consumption. Lona Lee, of Alabama, is a new recruit. So is W. Gordon McCabe, who sends from the camp of the Howitzers both prose and verse. On one occasion he sat down chiefly to review Dante's "Divine Comedy ;" but got so in- terested in his lesser works, that, Felix-like, he deferred the greater one to "a more convenient season." W. G. M. reappears, from a camp. Who was he? Eev. Eobert E. Howison, already a historian of Virginia, commences the "History of the War;" which causes so many copies to be sold that the usual edition is readily exhausted and room is made for this home demand by strik- Literary Messenger 207 ing off a number of delinquent subscribers; who are thus taunted : "Dear literary paupers, faire- well. May you be happy. May you find some one else simple and rich enough to furnish you with reading matter free of cost. Good-bye." Then the work is put upon a cash basis. Paul Hayne and Simins come back. Laura Bibb Eogers is a new contributor, with a short story; so is Lillian E. Messenger, with a poem; so is J. F. S., of Eichmond, with a story; so is A. W. Dillard, with a review of Oarlyle's philosophy and style; so is J. A. Via, with "The Death of Ashby;" so is G. Tochman, the Pole, with his Letters. Having had the "Eeveries of a Bach- elor," we now have "The Eeverie of an Old Maid." S. Teackle Wallis reappears from "Fort War- ren Dungeon." James T. Shields is of the new ones; also Margaret Stilling, Samuel B. Davies, Gervase Eookwood and Ellen Key Blunt. There are a number of articles; entirely anonymous, be- sides many by well known authors. Mr. Ghas. Deane's denial of the rescue of Smith by Poca- hontas is combatted ; and "The Lady Eebecca" is sketched by W. S. Bogart. Mr. Burwell's novel is concluded and in the meanwhile he receives attention as follows: "The best epigram of the war is the following, which we wager came from the pen of the ae- 228 The Southern complished and witty author of 'Exile and Em- pire.' We know of no other man who could have done it; in fact, to the best of our belief, he is the only epigrammatist in all the South." "Henceforth when a scoundrel is kicked out of doors. He need not resent the disgrace; But say, 'My dear sir,' I am eternally yours, For your kindness in 'changing my hose.' " This is a shaft at Gen. McOlellan. There is also a good supply of poetry, among which are J. R. Thompson's "Ashby;" "Battle Rainbow," and "Burial of Latane;" Susan A. Talley's "Story of the Merrimac" and Randall's "My Maryland." The Rev. J. Collins McCabe also writes a poem about Maryland; and there is one about her not coming. The editor continues to be warlike, advisory, supervisory, eclectic, facetious and sometimes atrabilious. He still harps upon illustrations and refers to the rapid success of the Southern Illustrated News. The appearance of the Mes- senger was unavoidably greatly delayed and there were in this year four double numbers. Yet it pulled nobly through. It did likewise, month after month, for 1863, with one double number for November and December. Among the new contributors are P. W. Alexander, F. H. Alfriend, Samuel B. Davies, Lamar Fontaine Literary Messenger 229 (author of "All quiet along the Potomac to- night"), Henry C. Alexander, Margaret Pigot, R. B. Witter, Jr., W. S. Forest, Barry Cornwall, Gerald Massey, A. Jeffery, Edward S. Joynes, professor in William and Mary, Wm. M. Semple, Robert Leslie, Dr. Stuart (on "The Anglo-Saxon Mania") and Geo. Fitzhugh. There is "The Fire Legend — a Nightmare," from an unpub- lished MS. of the late Edgar A. Poe. Of old friends, Tenella shows how she can write prose as well as poetry; Judge A. B. Meek returns, with a War Song; Wm. M. Burwell has a witty poem, "John Bull Turned Quaker," and we have J. R. Thompson's poetic report of a de- bate on "Neutrality in the English Parliament," which was copied into the London Punch. Mr. Howison's history (in which he inserts Mr. Thompson's famous "On to Richmond") is to be continued into the next year; as is also Pilia's novel, "Agnes." E. A. Pollard is publishing a history of the war. The Messenger had to en- large its monthly editions and to raise its sub- scription price. The Editor's Table continues bellicose and querulous, yet hopeful and even pious. It says : "But God does not intend that they shall obtain it (the whole South). In mercy to them, as well as to us, He has decreed, we firmly believe, the independence of the South, as the best pos- 230 The Southern sible solution of existing troubles. In this con- fident hope and belief, we must and will struggle on till the goal is won." Later on it says : "At present, our case is not hopeless, even supposing Charleston to be lost and Chattanooga abaa- doned, without a struggle, and East Tennessee imperilled." Poetasters are scored for sending "two much trash in rhyme. What is called poetri/i by its authors, is not wanted. Fires are not accessible at this time of year and it is too much trouble to tear up poetry. If it is thrown out of the win- dow, the vexatious wind always blows it back." Facetiae are still prominent and Dr. Bagby announces that he is collecting materials for two books — one "Southern Heroes and Heroic Inci- dents," and the other "Humorous Anecdotes^ of the War." He requests the assistance of all who are friendly to him, or to the enterprise, and he afterwards states that he has matter for three volumes, with considerable winnowing. But there is a very good article showing what the South had done in the way of publications, de- spite its blockade by land and sea. West and Johnston actually published Hugo's "Les Mis- 6rabtes,?' besides a number of other works. The immortal Stonewall has "crossed over the river and is resting under the shade of the trees" of everlasting lif&. The editor says: "Our idol Literary Messenger 231 has been taken from us. The man we delighted most to honor, the chieftain loved and trusted beyond all others is no more." January, 1864. Jackson can now rest, but Lee and his other friends whom he left in the Wilder- ness cannot. The war goes on and so does the Messenger, but like Jackson's corps, it has a new commander. Wedderbum and Alfriend have become its proprietors and Frank H. Alfriend editor. Still, the old regime finishes the January number for 1864 and issues a very impolitic and unnecessary valedictory, in which its past is hugely decried and wonderful improvements by the new parties are promised. They "bid their friends and readers a cordial, hearty and hopeful farewell." What is the difference be- tween cordial and hearty? Filia's "Agnes" and Howison's history, with prose and poetry by others, old and new, fill the number. Among the new contributors are Mollie E. Moore and Edward Porter Thompson. Ikey Ingle also, writes ; but this may be only a nom de plume. Frank H. Alfeiend's Editoeship In the February and following numbers, Mr. Alfriend assTiSi-! the editorial department and puts in it some good writing, in his style, which 232 The Southern is different from that of his predecessors. He sometimes has three divisions, Editor's Table, Notices of New Works, and Omnibus, which last carries the facetiae. At length he procures a few fashion plates, which he explains editorially. He gets hold of a number of Harper's Magazine and finds in it the following characteristic effu- sion: "It is only to repeat history to say that the Puritan element has saved our civilization. It is the moral influence in it. * * * If the Eevolution of 1688 was the regeneration of Eng- land, Puritanism was the controlling influence of that Eevolution." And this assertion is suc- ceeded by a glorification of Massachusetts as "the foremost of all human Societies, politically, morally and socially." Of course, our editor pitches into such preposterous pretensions and explodes them. The editor dwells a good deal upon the war and has a monthly record of it, in addition to Howison's history. Whilst he thinks this is bound to be its last year, he is hopeful as to its result, but does not undertake to direct every- body engaged in it. Mr. Pollard's piquant brochure, "The Two Nations;" Barron Hope's poems; some school books and a number of other works are noticed, among which is "The Second War of Indepen- dence in America," by E. W. Hudson, late acting Literary Messenger 233 Secretary of Legation to the American Mission at Berlin. One of the new contributors is Pro- fessor Scheie De Vere, of the University of Vir- ginia, who tells about General Suwaroff and again of Sir Charles Napier. From choice, or necessity, the magazine be- comes smartly eclectic. One selection is Dick- ens' "In Memoriam of Thackeray." This June number was probably not issued until late in July. It closes with a few literary notices, some "Foreign Selections" and "Varie- ties." Just before these is the Editor's Table, which, alluding to the alarm that had called the citizens to the field, ends as follows: "When, by the grace of his Excellency, Gov. Smith, who had discovered that the enemy were aware of the presence of the militia among the defenders of the capital and would, therefore, desist from any contemplated attack upon the city, our employes were suddenly and without premonition returned to their avocations, we found ourselves much in the condition of a party surprised and ambus- caded — totally unprepared for such an unex- pected event. We have gone to work, however, with alacrity and zeal, in order that our readers may have the Messenger at the earliest possible moment, assured that the reduction in the quan- tity of editorial matter is more than compensated 234 -^^^ Southern for by the valuable and interesting matter in the body of the number." This was le dernier mot of the venerable Mes- senger, for though no hint was given of its dis- continuance, no further number of it is now known. But there is a fact which is very little known, that in January, 1864, Wm. M. Burwell and Ernest Legarde, editors, started in Rich- mond, The Age, a Southern Eclectic Magazine, monthly. Still, some of its contents were orig- inal. It was, of course, a competitor of the Messenger, but treated it cordially. It offered to supply the disappointed subscribers to The Record, which had failed. In January, 1865, it managed, "a:fter an extended suspension" of three-fourths of a year, to get out its fifth num- ber and promised more, but we have never seen them. The price of this No. 5 was five dollars. The price of the Messenger was raised to five dollars a year ; then to eight dollars, next to ten dollars, finally to fifteen dollars a year. Richmond had now no monthly literary periodical. Farewell to thee, dear old Messen- ger, thou patriarch and Nestor of American monthly magazine literature. Requiescas in honore. So far as is known to this warm friend, only one red-snapper, "scalawag" critic has wished thee an earlier demise. The Messenger is spoken of designedly as the Literary Messenger 235 Fepresentative of Americark literature, though it was bound to be Southern also. It had hun- dreds of contributors from every portion of our even then wide Eepublic. At the same time, it is true that its founder was a Virginian and its six known editors were also Virginians. 1. James B. Heath, distinguished and hon- ored. See what is said about E. V. Sparhawk, on p. 35. 2. Edgar Allan Poe, of whom his biographer and the Virginian editor of his works will take good care. 3. Matthew Fontaine Maury, who died in Lexington, Va., in 1873, at the acme of a world- wide fame. He left a wife, children and grand- children. 4. Benjamin Blake Minor, who is still living and enjoying literature in Eichmond. He has children and grandchildren. 5. John Eeuben Thompson, who died unmar- ried, in 1873. His writings will probably be collected and published. 6. Dr. George W. Bagby, who died in 1883, leaving a widow, children and grandchildren, in Eichmond. The widow has published two vol- umes of his Miscellanies. 7. Prank H. Alfriend, who died a benedict. He wrote a. "Life of President Jefferson Davis." Mr. John W. Fergusson is still living and is 236 The Southern with his son largely engaged, in Richmond, in the printing business. They published The South- ern Planter. Mr. Wm. Macfarlane has been dead some time, but has descendants. THE END. APPENDIX A Contributors to the Southern Literary Messenger "In the South and for the South : In the Union and for the Union." Editor B. B. Minor's motto. NORTHBEN AND EASTERN Hon. J. K. Paulding Mathew Carey H. T. Tuckerman W. B. Fairchild A. F. Olmstead C. W. Everest Geo. S. McKiernan Paul Granald Sir E. L. Bulwer Park Benjamin Rev. Jones, U. S. N. L. H. Sigourney Seba Smith E. J. Eames Mary E. Hewitt Jane L. Swift Charlotte M. S. Barnes Lydia J. Pierson Paul A. Browlie E. L. Wade Melanchthon L. Woolsy James F. Otis J. M. MeJilton E. B. Fisher Judge J. Hopkinson Lieut. A. Slidell Dr. M. Morgan, U.S.N. Elihu Burritt Charles Lauman J. K. Fisher J. Eoss Browne Wm. Carleton Erastus Brooks Hon. Lewis Cass G. L. Tallmadge James Dixon 237 238 The Southern George D. Strong John Dupuy S. A. Roszel, A. M. Prof. J. H. Ingraliam Jos. Addison Alexander W. W. Andrews James Crane, M. D. L. M. Powell, U. S. N. Gilchrist Horatio King George Lepner John W. Draper, M. D. Samuel F. Glenn W. S. W. Ruschenberger J. N. Reynolds Wm. Maxwell Wood C. L. Tuthill Sarah J. Hale William G. Hale Henrietta Shuck D. P. Browne T. Flint William Cutter N. P. Willis H. W. Long-fellow C. F. Hoffman Rufus W. Griswold George B. Wallis R. H. Gould Dewitt C. Roberts Payne K. Kilboume Wm. Falconer Luzerne Ray J. S. Kidney Spencer W. Cone Thomas B. Read John Quincy Adams John Marshall G. F. Barstow E. W. B. Canning D. C. Nevin Benj. F. Butler John McMuUen Washington Alston George W. Flagg J. Strong Rice W. M. Rodman G. G. Foster P. Spencer Whitman Lindlay Murray Edwin Sanders Chas. M. F. Deems J. E. Dow Edmund Law Lewis St. Maur L. P. Davidson, U.S.A. Wm. Oland Bourne Henry B. Hirst Literary Messenger 239 Anna M. Hirst Emma Willard Miss E. Draper Lucretia M. Davidson Anna Cora Mowatt Harriet M. Jenks E. H. Stockton Mary Howitt Henry 0. Lea Henry D. Gilpin Wm. J. Duane Rev. Wm. B. Tappan Eev. J. T. Headly W. D. Porter Dr. J. K. Mitchell Donald Mitchell Eliza of Saco, Maine J. C. Picket Matilda F. Dana Mary G. Wells Thos W. Storrow George A. Ward J. G. Holland Mrs. Brandegee H. B. Macdonald Robert Walsh Benj. Franklin R. H. Stoddard Mrs, Osgood Wm. M. Thackeray Isaac McLellan Owen Meredith E. A. Duychink F. Pardigon J. H. Hewitt John D. Stockton W. B. Reese, Jr. Preston Davis Charles Dickens G. P. R. James Southern and Western James E. Heath 0. Austin Woodruff Judge N.Beverly Tucker Henry J. Brent Edgar A. Poe Dr. N. 0. Brooks George Watterston Dr. John C. McOabe Dr. W. Gilmore Simms Prof. Ohas. Minnigerode Dr. J. E. Snodgrass 0. M. Farmer Wm. G. Howard Mrs. E. F. Ellett 240 The Southern Jane T. Lomax Evelyn H. Taylor Mrs. Harrison Smith Mrs. Maria G. Milward William Wirt W. Byrd Powell Eobert Greenhow Samnel H. Myers Lucian Minor James M. Garnett D. D. Mitchell Prof. George Tucker Thomas R. Dew Judge H. St. G. Tucker William Maxwell John Randolph Dr. Francis Lieber Henry Lee Edward Parmele Conway Robinson John B. Dabney Dr. Thos. Nelson R. Browne T. H. Shreeve Thos. W. Gilmer Wm. G. Minor J. W. Edmundson Jno. M. Duffield Edwin De Leon W. J. Tuck, M. D. Edward W. Johnston Jas. W. Alexander Prest. John Tyler Landon 0. Garland Henry Ruffner, D. D. Mathew F. Maury Harvey Lindsly Abel P. Upshur George E. Dabney S. Teackle Wallis G. F. Struv6 Ohas. Carter Lee William Burke Rev. A. D. Pollock Charles Campbell Judge Harper Tucker Coles Prof. J. Millington Prof. Robert Saunders Prof. Merillat Rev. E. L. Magoon Rev. R. W. Bailey Solon Borland John M. Patton, Sr. Wm. M. Blackford Chas. B. Hayden A. Judson Crane William C. Rives Literary Messenger 241 Thos. C. Reynolds Francis H. Smith Mrs. Wm. C. Rives Catharine Cowles R. H. Wilde A. B. Meek D. Martin Warren R. Davis H. M. Williams Alex L. Beard Hugh Blair M. S. Lovett William Munford Lambert A. Wilmer Robert M. Bird Phil P. Cooke L. A. Gobright Wm. P. Shepherd Henry Myers, M. D. Lewis J. Cist W. H. Fonerden Caleb B. Upshur J. W. Matthews Isaac Strohm F. J. Murphy, M. D. Isaac F. Sheppard L. L. Noble Geo. W. Turner Fred W. S. Grayson John Tomlin Chas. H. Lewis Hubbard M. Daley B. Johnson E. B. Hale Geo. Horton (colored) R. F. Fergusson, Jr. Henry Thompson J. Carroll Brent Geo. W. Thompson G. B. Singleton S. W. Inge B. W. Huntington Fred W. Thomas S. M. Janney Wm. Wallace Lucy L. Johnson Thos. J. George Ann Roy Ann M. F. Annan Juana M. Knight Esther Wetherald S. J. Howe Catharine Gelpin E. C. Clemens C. E. Gooch Marion Horton E. A. Dupuy Maria G. Buchanan 242 The Southern Caroline Lee Hentz Martha W. Frazer Ben Blake Minor Virginia Otey Minor John M. Daniel A. B. Longstreet D. H, Robinson Hugh R. Pleasants Oliver P. Baldwin Henry A. Washington WyndhaiQ Robertson John Robertson Wm. H. Macfarland Rev. J. N. Danforth Dr. John P. Little John Howard Alex H. Sands John Esten Cooke St. Geo. Cooke, U.S.A. Susan Walker Rev. Pike Powers M. R. H. Garnett R. M. T. Hunter Mary E. Lee J. M. Legare George D. Perdicaris Braxton Bragg Wm. T. Sherman Dr. S. H. Dickson J. L. Martin H. P. Vass 0. D. Smith Jas. L. Hunter W. Carey Crane Wm. Boulware Geo. F. Holmes Wm. B. Taliaferro Ebenezer Starnes Wm. C. Scott John C. Calhoun Wm. C. Jack Mrs. Buchanan J. S.Allen Susan A. Talley Leslie Combs W. J. Barbee Wm. N. Stanton Julia M. Cabell Alfred Duke John T. Clarke Sidney S. Bradford John R. Thompson Thos. Jefferson Fras. S. Key Sidney Dyer H. H. Clements W. C. Richardson Wm. H. Holcomb Literary Messenger 243 W. W. Mann Paul H. Hayne Junius E. Leigh B. F. Porter Henry H. Timrod J. A. Turner Moncure D. Conway John Y. Mason Thos. B. Bradley Julia Pleasants Joseph G. Baldwin Mrs. President Tyler Thos. S. Gholson Thos. V. Moore Mrs. Dr. Hicks Mary J. Windle Virginia L. Smith V. L. C. Q. M. Jordan Hugh Blair Grigsby E. L. Hines A. B. Seals Jas. Barron Hope Augusta Greenwood Marion Harland Thos. B. Holcomb Wm. N. Pendleton J. Hampden Pleasants Laurence Neville T. B. Aldrich T. Dunn English Adrian Baufain John P. Kennedy E. A. Pollard Henry A. Wise J. M. Fishbum Emeline S. Smith George E. Senseny R. A. Oakes B. B. Foster Caroline Howard James P. Holcomb Holt Wilson Gen. W. H. Gaines Maria G. Buchanan ^Fanny Fielding Cameron Risque Wm. M. Burwell Richard H. Anderson Finley Johnson Stephen R. Smith Rev. E. Boyden W. J. Miller S. J. C. Whittlesey Mary Copeland Arthur E. Peticolas J. Randolph Tucker James Lyons St. George Tucker 244 The Southern L. W, Spratt Mary J. Upshur Wm. A. Cocke J. M. Kilgour W. S. Bogart E. O. Mead S. A. Dickins Mary S. Whittaker W. Howard Perigo Doctor Oartwright Samuel B. Holcomb James B. Eandall Henry C. Alexander Augusta Washington Mrs. S. A. Dinkins Fannie G. Ireton Oapt. W. T. Walthall W. Gordon McOabe Robt. E. Howison Laura B. Rogers Lilian R. Messenger A. W. Dillard J. A. Via Sidney Lanier G. Tochman Jas. T. Shields Margaret Stilling Gervase Rookwood Ellen Key Blunt Samuel B. Davles P. W. Alexander Margaret Pigot R. B. Witter, Jr. W. S. Forrest Barry Cornwall Gerald Massey A. Jeffery Edward S. Joynes Wm. M. Semple Robert Leslie Dr. Stuart George Fitzhugh Frank H. Alfriend MoUie E. Moore Edward P. Thompson Prof. Scheie De Vere Thos. H. Ellis Philip Howard. APPENDIX B Brief Sketch of the Authoe Benjamin Blake Minor, fourth President of the State University of Missouri, was born in Tappahannock, Essex county, Va., October 21, 1818, son of Dr. Hubbard Taylor and Jane (Blake) Minor. He was named for his maternal grandfather, who was a successful merchant, and owned vessels which traded with the West Indies and along the Atlantic coast, and was also a Virginia planter. His paternal grandfather, Thomas Minor, of Spottsylvania county, was a planter, but had served his country through the whole of the Kevolutionary War, as lieutenant, adjutant, captain, and aide-de-camp. His great- grandfather, James Taylor, of Caroline county, was a prominent patriot and public servant, a personal friend of Washington, and a kinsman of Presidents Madison and Taylor. He was a mem- ber of the House of Burgesses, of the conventions of 1775-'6, and of 1788, and of the State Senate. He was also chairman of the Committee of Safety of Caroline and lieutenant of that county. 24S 246 The Southern Benjamin Minor was educated in private schools in Essex, until he was twelve years of age, when he was sent to the classical academy of Mr. Thomas Hanson, in famous Fredericksburg. There, w'ith some additional aid in mathematics and French, he was prepared for college. In the fall of 1833, he was admitted to the junior class of Bristol College, on the Delaware, above Phila- delphia, and at the end of the session gained one of the honors and was advanced to the senior class. Bristol College was a manual labor insti- tution, under Episcopalian auspices, and Mr. Minor found the experience gained in its car- pentry department useful in after life. His father was now willing to trust him at the University of Virginia, which both preferred, and he matriculated the next session of 1834-'5, and continued there three years. During these he obtained distinctions and diplomas in a num- ber of the schools, including his favorite, moral philosophy and political economy, and commenced the study of law. In 1836, Professor Charles Bonnycastle offered him the position of principal of an academy in Baton Rouge, La., but he de- clined it. When, however, that professor pro- posed to hiin to live in his family and teach his children a few hours each day, this was readily accepted, for it did not take him away from the University. Moreover, he was fond of teaching, Literary Messenger 247 and was already engaged in Sunday School work. He also took an active part in the Wash- ington and Jefferson Societies and represented one of them at a public celebration in Charlottes- ville, on the 22nd of February. In 1837 the So- ciety of Alumni was formed, and he became a member of it. His collegiate course of five years was finished at venerable William and Mary, in 1837-'8. There he obtained another diploma in moral and political science under its distin- guished president, Thomas R. Dew, and the de- gree of LL. B., under Judge N. Beverly Tucker, and also a license to practice law. But not being of "lawful age," he spent the next year in writing in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of Fredericksburg and attending sessions of the legislature and other things in Richmond. In October, 1840, he settled in Petersburg and commenced the practice of his profession, also taking some part in the exciting presidential campaign. In the spring of 1841, he removed to Richmond. May 26, 1842, was married to Vir- ginia Maury Otey, eldest child of the Right Rev. James Hervey Otey, Episcopal Bishop of Ten- nessee. His literary tastes were very decided, and in July, 1843, he purchased The Southern Literary Messenger, and owned and edited it for more than four years. 248 The Southern In 1845, he purchased from Dr. William Gil- more Simms his Southern and Western Magor sine, of Charleston, S. C, and merged it in the Messenger. In 1845, he was a delegate to the Memphis Convention, over which Mr. Calhoun presided, and was one of its vice-presidents, and introduced the Maury Warehousing System, In the summer of 1847, he disposed of his periodical, and removed to Staunton, Va., to take charge of "The "Virginia Female Institute," to which he had been urgently called, without any solicita- tion. But the trustees had made such flattering ofPers to induce his acceptance that they had not the means of fulfilling them. So he voluntarily resigned, returned to Richmond, and resumed the practice of law, which literature and educa- tion had destroyed. To help the law, he founded and fathered "The Home School for Young La- dies," but did not teach in it. While engaged in practice, he wrote for some law journals and edited a new and complete edi- tion of the Reports of Chancellor George Wythe, with a memoir of him, and a new edition of Hen- ing and Munford's Reports of the decisions of the Supreme Court of Virginia, In Richmond, Mr. Minor was called to various positions in which he endeavored to be useful. He was warden and register of St. James church and its delegate to the Diocesan Council; the Literary Messenger 249 corresponding secretary of the Virginia Bible Society; the secretary of the Virginia African Colonization Society, of which the Governor was president; one of the founders of the Eichmond Library Company, and of the Male Orphan Asylum ; the chief revivor of the Virginia Histor- ical Society, and a life member of it; the origi- nator, through that society, of the movement which led to the erection of the Washington Monument ; one of the directors of the Richmond Anthenseum, and lieutenant-colonel of the Nine- teenth Regiment of Virginia Militia, one of the city regiments. In the summer of 1860, he was elected presi- dent of the University of the State of Missouri, which made him also professor of moral and po- litical science, and was installed October 2d of that year. He completed the session of 1860-'l, and began that of 1861-'2, continuing even while the University buildings and grounds were occu- pied by Federal soldiers. It was the unanimous decision of the faculty that such continuance was their duty, that "the seed com might not be de- stroyed." But the curators who had elected President Minor were removed by the provisional State authority, then in power, and new ones of the "loyal" stripe appointed, who, in March, 1862, closed the institution, "discontinued" the faculty, and stopped their salaries. President 250 The Southern Minor was allowed to occupy for a short time his residence on the University campus, and was then turned out by military authority. The only ground of complaint against him was his political opinions. These were well known at the time of his election, and he could not change them, and never attempted to con- ceal them. He remained near Columbia with most of his family, now a large one (two of his sons being in the Confederate army) until the end of the four years for which he had been elected, teaching a boys' school and delivering illustrated lectures on astronomy in Columbia and other towns, with great success. His illus- trative apparatus was purchased for him by that noble gentleman, Elder J. K. Rogers, presi- dent of Christian College. In September, 1865, leading citizens of St. Louis invited President Minor to open in that city a boarding and day seminary for girlsi, which he did. They liberally aided him in his outfit and sent him their daughters. Four years later he suspended this school by an arrange- ment with one of his chief competitors, and for a time was engaged in the business of life-insur- ance, but finally devoted himself to lecturing on astronomy and the Bible In this work he was seconded by every prominent educational insti- Literary Messenger 251 tution in Missouri, and many in other States. His tours were made in seven or eight States be- sides Missouri, and included a part of Virginia. In Leadville, Colorado, he achieved one of his most brilliant successes, a splendid comet being visible at the time; and stars are so bright in Colorado. These lectures were enlarged and im- proved successors to some which were given free in Staunton. They were entitled, "Evenings with the Stars and the Bible," and were fully and finely illustrated by means of a sciopticon. From two to six were offered at one place. The same places were frequently revisited. On one occasion eight of these entertainments were given in the same town in Missouri. In 1889, Professor Minor was constrained by personal and family considerations to return to Eichmond, where he at present resides, engaged in literary work and as secretary of the Virginia Society of the Sons of the American Kevolution, and sometimes its delegate to the National Con- gress, Sons of the American Revolution. In 1891, the State University of Missouri conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL. D., which was especially gratifying, as it afforded a com- plete vindication of his past career there and elsewhere. As above stated, he was already an LL. B. of William and Mary. — The Nat. Cyclop. 252 The Southern of Amer. Biog., Vol. VIII., p. 184. New York : J. T. White & Co., ISm.—Vvrgima School Jour- nal, June, 1904. sr^'7fpR5B?5ig , S»Iti»?»?iUr»3i.--