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THE
Philadelphia Magazines
AND THEIR
CONTRIBUTORS

1741-1850

BY

ALBERT H. SMYTH,

_A. B._, _Johns Hopkins University_,

_Professor of English Literature in the Philadelphia High School;
Member of the American Philosophical Society._

PHILADELPHIA:
ROBERT M. LINDSAY
1892




TO

J. G. ROSENGARTEN

A TOKEN OF THE
GRATITUDE AND AFFECTION OF THE
AUTHOR




PREFACE.


This study in the history of the Philadelphia magazines was undertaken
at the request of Professor H. B. Adams, and the results were first read
at a joint-meeting of the Historical and English Seminaries of the Johns
Hopkins University. At a later date they were again read before the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The subject has been found so rich,
and the materials so interesting, that, in spite of my best efforts to
be brief, the article has grown into a book. It has been with no little
distrust that I have made this wide excursion from my chosen studies,
but the generous aid and encouragement of friends, who are learned in
our local lore, have given me heart to complete and to publish the
results of these researches.

A complete list of the Philadelphia magazines is impossible. Many of
them have disappeared and left not a rack behind. The special student of
Pennsylvania history will detect some omissions in these pages, for all
that has here been done has been done at first hand, and where a
magazine was inaccessible to me, I have not attempted to see it through
the eyes of a more fortunate investigator. I have done my best to make
the story, dull and dreary as it surely is at times, not unworthy of its
subject, or of the city that it describes, and of which I grow fonder
year by year.

My grateful thanks are due to my friends, Professor H. B. Adams, Dr.
James W. Bright, Mr. Charles R. Hildeburn, Professor John Bach McMaster,
Hon. S. W. Pennypacker and Mr. F. D. Stone, for thoughtful suggestions
and valuable information.

I am deeply indebted to Mr. George W. Childs for his unfailing interest
and assistance. To Mr. George R. Graham, Dr. Thomas Dunn English, Mr.
John Sartain and Mr. Frank Lee Benedict I owe some of the most important
facts in this little volume.

                                   ALBERT H. SMYTH.

  _Philadelphia, 5 February, 1892,
  126, South Twenty-second Street._


  "Sweet Philadelphia! lov'liest of the lawn,"
  Where rising greatness opes its pleasing dawn,
  Where daring commerce spreads th' advent'rous sail,
  Cleaves thro' the wave, and drives before the gale,
  Where genius yields her kind conducting lore,
  And learning spreads its inexhausted store:--
  Kind seat of industry, where art may see
  Its labours foster'd to its due degree,
  Where merit meets the due regard it claims,
  Tho' envy dictates and tho' malice blames:--
  Thou fairest daughter of Columbia's train,
  The great emporium of the western plain;--
  Best seat of science, friend to ev'ry art,
  That mends, improves, or dignifies the heart.

  _The Philadelphiad_, Vol. I, p. 6, 1784.




INTRODUCTION.


To relate the history of the Philadelphia magazines is to tell the story
of Philadelphia literature. The story is not a stately nor a splendid
one, but it is exceedingly instructive. It helps to exhibit the process
of American literature as an evolution, and it illustrates perilous and
important chapters in American history. For a hundred years Pennsylvania
was the seat of the ripest culture in America. The best libraries were
to be found here, and the earliest and choicest reprints of Latin and
English classics were made here. James Logan, a man of gentle nature and
a scholar of rare attainments, had gathered at Stenton a library that
comprehended books "so scarce that neither price nor prayers could
purchase them." John Davis, the satirical English traveller, who said of
Princeton that it was "a place more famous for its college than its
learning," did justice, despite of his own nature, to Logan and to
Philadelphia when he wrote: "The Greek and Roman authors, forgotten on
their native banks of the Ilissus and Tiber, delight by the kindness of
a Logan the votaries to learning on those of the _Delaware_." The
eagerness of Philadelphia social circles for each new thing in
literature enabled booksellers to import large supplies from England and
to undertake splendid editions of notable books. Dr. Johnson was made to
feel amiable for a moment toward America on being presented with a copy
of _Rasselas_ bearing a Philadelphia imprint.

The first American editions of Shakespeare and of Milton, of "Pamela"
and of "The Vicar of Wakefield" were printed in Philadelphia. In the
same city, in 1805, Aristotle's "Ethics" and "Politics" were published
for the first time in America. A little later came the costly
"Columbiad" and the great volumes of Alexander Wilson. Robert Aitken, at
the Pope's Head, issued the first English Bible in America in 1782, and
his daughter, Jane, printed Charles Thomson's translation of the
Septuagint in four superb volumes in 1808. Robert Bell successfully
compiled Blackstone's _Commentaries_ in 1772, "a stupendous enterprise."
Bell did much by his good taste and untiring industry to advance the
literary culture of the city. "The more books are sold," he declared in
one of his broadsides, "the more will be sold, is an established Truth
well known to every liberal reader, and to every bookseller of
experience. For the sale of one book propagateth the sale of another
with as much certainty as the possession of one guinea helpeth to the
possession of another."

"The Philadelphiad" (1784) gives us a glimpse of the motley society that
loitered in Bell's Third Street shop.

  "Just by St. Paul's, where dry divines rehearse,
  _Bell_ keeps his store for vending prose and verse,
  And books that's neither--for no age nor clime,
  Lame, languid prose, begot on hobb'ling ryme.
  Here authors meet who ne'er a sprig have got,
  The poet, player, doctor, wit and sot;
  Smart politicians wrangling here are seen
  Condemning Jeffries or indulging spleen,
  Reproving Congress or amending laws,
  Still fond to find out blemishes and flaws;
  Here harmless _sentimental-mongers_ join
  To praise some author or his wit refine,
  Or treat the mental appetite with lore
  From Plato's, Pope's, and Shakespeare's endless store;
  Young blushing writers, eager for the bays,
  Try here the merit of their new-born lays,
  Seek for a patron, follow fleeting fame,
  And beg the slut may raise their hidden name."

The Philadelphia magazines, from Franklin's to Graham's, furnished ample
opportunities for "young blushing writers eager for the bays." Their
articles, it is true, were often a kind of yeasty collection of fond and
winnowed opinions, but among these shallow fopperies there would at
times be heard a strain of higher mood. Nor is the story of these
magazines altogether without its pathos. American writers, after the
Revolution which lost England her colonies, felt themselves to be under
the opprobrium of the literary world. They felt keenly the sneers of
English men-of-letters, and winced under injustice and invective that
they were not strong enough to resent. The insolence of British
travellers was especially provoking. J. N. Williams, a Philadelphian,
stung by some offensive criticism by a wandering Englishman, wrote,
"America looked not for a spy upon the sanctity of her household gods in
the stranger that sat within her gates; she scarce supposed that the
hand of a clumsy servant like the claws of the harpies could utterly mar
and defile the feast which honest hospitality had provided."

The _Port Folio_, in 1810, was moved indignantly to declare that
foreign critics grounded their strictures "upon the tales of some
miserable reptiles who, after having abused the hospitality and patience
of this country, levy a tax from their own by disseminating a vile mass
of falsehood and nonsense under the denomination of Travels through the
United States."

Sydney Smith waved American literature contemptuously aside in the
_Edinburgh Review_. _The Quarterly_ was brutal in its attacks upon timid
transatlantic books. William Godwin reproached American ignorance, and
proceeded to locate Philadelphia upon the Chesapeake Bay. No wonder that
the _Port Folio_ exclaimed in 1810, "The fastidious arrogance with which
the reviewers and magazine makers of Great Britain treat the genius and
intellect of this country is equalled by nothing but their profound
ignorance of its situation."

The insolence of Great Britain affected American writers in two ways.
Some it stung into violent hatred or sullen antagonism, others it
coerced into timid imitation and servility. Upon Dennie and his
associates it had the latter effect, and the _Port Folio_ vigorously
resisted all "Americanisms" in politics and in letters, and sought to
conciliate England and to win the coveted stamp of English approbation
by unlimited adulation of the favorites of the hour. "To study with a
view of becoming an author by profession in America," wrote Dennie, "is
a prospect of no less flattering promise than to publish among the
Esquimaux an essay on delicacy of taste, or to found an academy of
sciences in Lapland."

Upon Brackenridge and Paine the truculent criticisms of England acted as
a lively stimulus, and they went profanely to work "to resent the
British scoff that when separated from England the colonies would become
mere illiterate ourang-outangs."

Thomas Green Fessenden, one of the contributors to the _Farmers' Weekly
Museum_, and to Dennie's _Port Folio_, wrote in the preface to his
"Original Poems" (Philadelphia, 1806), "Although the war, which
terminated in a separation of the two nations, inflicted wounds which,
it is to be feared, still rankle, yet the more considerate of both
countries have long desired (if I may be allowed a transatlantic simile)
that the hatchet of animosity might be buried in the grave of oblivion"
(page 6). A little further on he confesses his timidity, when, speaking
of the political leaders at home, he says, "I could have enlarged on the
demerits of these political impostors, but I feared I might disgust the
English reader by such exhibitions of human depravity" (p. 7).

A serener voice is that of John Blair Linn, brother-in-law of Charles
Brockden Brown, who was not out of love with his nativity, nor
accustomed to disable the benefits of his country. In his "Powers of
Genius," which was beautifully reprinted in England, we read:

     "I shall not attempt to conceal the enthusiasm which I feel for
     meritorious performances of native Americans. Nor can I repress my
     indignation at the unjust manner in which they are treated by the
     reviewers of England. America, notwithstanding their aspersions,
     has attained an eminence in literature, which is, at least,
     respectable. Like Hercules in his cradle, she has manifested a
     gigantic grasp, and discovered that she will be great. The wisdom,
     penetration and eloquence of her statesmen are undoubted--they are
     known and acknowledged throughout Europe. The gentlemen of the law,
     who fill her benches of justice, and who are heard at the bar, are
     eminently distinguished by the powers of reason, and by
     plausibility of address.... Our historians have not been numerous.
     Some, however, who have unrolled our records of truth claim a
     considerable portion of praise.... The prospect before us is now
     brightening. Histories have been promised from pens which have
     raised our expectations. The death of our great Washington has left
     a subject for the American historian which has never been surpassed
     in dignity.... From the poems and fictions of the Columbian Muse,
     several works might be selected, which deserve high and
     distinguishing praise. The poetry of our country has not yet, I
     hope, assumed its most elevated and elegant form. Beneath our
     skies, fancy neither sickens nor dies. The fire of poetry is
     kindled by our storms. Amid our plains, on the banks of our waters,
     and on our mountains, dwells the spirit of inventive enthusiasm.

     "These regions are not formed only to echo the voice of Europe,
     but from them shall yet sound a lyre which shall be the admiration
     of the world.

     "From the exhibition of American talent I indulge the warmest
     expectations. I behold, in imagination, the Newtons, the Miltons
     and the Robertsons of this new world, and I behold the sun of
     genius pouring on our land his meridian beams.

     "In order to concentrate the force of her literature, the genius of
     America points to a National University, so warmly recommended, and
     remembered in his will, by our deceased friend and father. Such an
     establishment, far more than a pyramid that reached the clouds,
     would honor the name of Washington" (p. 81).

The Philadelphia writers had their own little thrills, and their own
little ambitions, and amid the poverty of their intellectual
surroundings they refreshed themselves with visions of the giant things
to come at large. James Hall, in his "Letters from the West," wrote:
"The vicinity of Pittsburg may one day wake the lyre of the
Pennsylvanian bard to strains as martial and as sweet as Scott; ...
believe me, I should tread with as much reverence over the mausoleum of
a Shawanee chief, as among the catacombs of Egypt, and would speculate
with as much delight upon the site of an Indian village as in the
gardens of Tivoli, or the ruins of Herculaneum."

American critics soon caught the contagion of sneering censure, and
caused the _Port Folio_ to say, in 1811: "American critics seem, in
almost all cases, to have entered into a confederacy to exterminate
American poetry. If an individual has the temerity to jingle a couplet,
and to avow himself descended from Americans, the offence is absolutely
unpardonable." When Fenimore Cooper published his first novel, he
suppressed his name and wrote instead, "PRECAUTION, by _an Englishman_."

Still, a notable feature of the American magazines was a general
insistence upon or, perhaps, a preference for subjects out of American
history, or articles dealing with what might be called American
archæology--sketches of the life and character of "the ancients of these
lands"--or, at least, contributions that were tricked out in some local
garb or color. The minds of young American writers turned with alacrity
to the subjects that lay nearest to them and which were intimately
connected with the life of the country. A national literature was never
altogether absent from their thoughts, however the fear of English
censure or ridicule may have checked the aspiration. John Webbe, in his
prospectus to the first American magazine, said that the new venture
would be "an attempt to erect on neutral principles a publick theatre in
the centre of the British Empire in America" (_Amer. Weekly Mercury_,
October 30, 1740).

A discussion of the Philadelphia magazines takes us back to a time when
Philadelphia led all the cities of the country in culture, in commerce,
in statecraft and in authorship. Every new experiment in literature was
first tried in Philadelphia. Her's was the first monthly magazine
(January, 1741), and her's, too, the first daily newspaper (_Amer. Daily
Advertiser_, December 21, 1784). The first religious magazine was
_Sauer's Geistliches Magazien_ (1764)--for which Christopher Sauer cast
his own type, the first made in America--and the first religious weekly
was _The Religious Remembrancer_ (September 4, 1813). Philadelphia led
off with the first penny paper (_The Cent_) in 1830; and the first
mathematical journal (_The Annulus_), and the first _Juvenile Magazine_
(1802), and the first illustrated comical paper on an original plan,
_The John Donkey_, in 1848, were all Philadelphia adventures.

There is scarcely a notable name in the literature of America that is
not in some way connected with the Philadelphia magazines. Dennie and
Brown, the first professional men-of-letters on this continent, were
Philadelphia editors. Washington Irving edited the _Analectic Magazine_.
James Russell Lowell, Edgar Allan Poe and Bayard Taylor were editorial
writers on _Graham's Magazine_, and John Greenleaf Whittier edited _The
Pennsylvania Freeman_.

Bryant and Cooper and Longfellow and Hawthorne and a hundred lesser men
were constant contributors to the Philadelphia journals.

A striking difference between the older magazines and the recent ones is
the conspicuous absence from the journal of a century ago of what is
commonly called "light literature." Magazines were then conducted by
scholars for scholars. "Popular" essays and silly novels had not yet
depraved the taste of readers who could relish Somerville and Shenstone,
Savage and Johnson. Articles appeared monthly in the _Port Folio_ that
could not by any chance win recognition from an editor of these days.
One of the favorite amusements of the _Port Folio_ gentlemen was the
translation of Mother Goose melodies and alliterative nursery rhymes
into Latin, and especially into Greek. These curious translations, in
which the object was to preserve in the Greek, as far as possible, the
verbal eccentricities of "butter blue beans" and other intricate verses
of infantile memory, are scattered up and down the pages of the _Port
Folio_, together with fresh versions of Horace and dissertations upon
classical rhetoric.

But the curtain has fallen on all this scholastic bravery. The dust of a
dry antiquity has settled upon the laborious pages of these ragged
tomes, undisturbed save by some "local grubber," or by some
"illustrator" in search of portraits for a rich man's library.

Magazines increase and fill the demand of the public, but they are not
cut upon the ancient pattern. The gradual accumulation of books about
books, of criticisms on both, of reviews of the critics, of newspaper
accounts of the reviews, of weekly summaries of the newspapers, seems to
be carrying us ever further from the face of reality into a mere
commerce of ideas on which no healthy soul can live.




THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.


The type of the monthly periodical was fixed when Edward Cave, in 1731,
founded in London _The Gentleman's Magazine_. Ten years later, and at
the very time that Samuel Johnson, at St. John's Gate, was preparing for
"Sylvanus Urban, Esq.," the reports of the parliamentary debates,
Benjamin Franklin and Andrew Bradford issued in Philadelphia the first
monthly magazines in America.

These two magazines appear to have been conceived in jealousy and
brought forth in anger. In the _Philadelphia Weekly Mercury_ of October
30, 1740, is the announcement of a prospective magazine to be edited by
John Webbe and printed by Andrew Bradford, to be issued monthly, to
contain four sheets, and to cost twelve shillings Pennsylvania money a
year. The magazine, it was promised, should contain speeches of
governors, addresses and answers of assemblies, their resolutions and
debates, extracts of laws, with the reasons on which they were founded
and the grievances intended to be remedied by them; accounts of the
climate, soil, productions, trade and manufactures of all the British
plantations, the constitutions of the several colonies with their
respective views and interests; of remarkable trials, civil and
criminal; of the course of exchange and the proportion between sterling
and the several paper currencies, and the price of goods in the
principal trading marts of the plantations. One thing only the new
magazine should not contain: its pages should never be smeared by
falsehood, nor sullied by defamatory libelling.

In the _Pennsylvania Gazette_ of November 13, 1740, Franklin announced a
monthly magazine to be called _The General Magazine and Historical
Chronicle for all the British Plantations in America_. The price was to
be nine-pence Pennsylvania money, with considerable allowance to shopmen
who should take quantities. The brevity of Franklin's advertisement is
in strong contrast to the learned length of Webbe's pedantic prospectus.
He claims that the idea of the magazine had long been in his mind, and
that Webbe had stolen his plans. Before he had divulged the scheme to
Webbe he had proceeded so far in the matter as to choose his writers and
to buy his small type.

Webbe wrote a wrathful reply in the _Mercury_ of November 13, and
continued it under the title of "The Detection" through three numbers.
He admitted that Franklin did communicate to him his desire to print a
magazine, and asked him to compose it. But this did not restrain him
from publishing at any other press without Mr. Franklin's leave. In the
third number of "The Detection," Webbe accused Franklin of using his
place of Postmaster to shut the _Mercury_ out of the post, and of
refusing to allow the riders to carry it. Up to this point Franklin had
made no reply to Webbe's abuse, but upon this new attack he dropped the
advertisement of the magazine and put a letter in its stead in the
_Gazette_ of December 11. He acknowledged it to be true that the riders
did not carry Bradford's _Mercury_, but explained that the
Postmaster-General, Colonel Spotswood, had forbidden it because Mr.
Bradford had refused to settle his accounts as late Postmaster at
Philadelphia.

Webbe had the last word in the controversy in a reply to this letter
(_Mercury_, December 18), in which he showed that Franklin had not
complied with the order of Colonel Spotswood until the personal letters
appeared in the _Mercury_.

In January of the following year Andrew Bradford published _The American
Magazine; or a Monthly View of the Political State of the British
Colonies_.

Three days later Franklin issued _The General Magazine and Historical
Chronicle for all the British Plantations in America_.

Three numbers only of Bradford's periodical appeared, and only one copy
is known to exist. It is lodged in the New York Historical Society.

Franklin's magazine contained parliamentary proceedings, extracts from
sermons, a bit of verse of more than Franklinian foulness, rhymes
eulogizing Gilbert Tennent, and a manual of arms. The title-page wore
the coronet and plumes of the Prince of Wales. Franklin ridiculed his
rival's magazine in doggerel verse; his own he made no mention of in
his autobiography. Its publication ceased in June, 1741.

_The General Magazine_ had given accounts of the excited discussion that
followed the visits paid to the colonies by George Whitefield. Tens of
thousands listened to the impressive sermons of the eloquent divine,
delivered from the balcony of the courthouse, which stood then on High
Street, in the centre of the city. There Franklin and Shippen and
Lawrence and Maddox might daily be seen, and there Benjamin Chew and
Tench Francis and John Ross might daily be heard. From that balcony John
Penn, freshly arrived from England, "showed himself to his anxious and
expectant people." One block east of the ancient courthouse was the
London Coffee-house, and there, too, were the publishing houses of those
days. Directly opposite to the Coffee-house, on the north side of High
Street, was the shop of the famous bookseller from London, James
Rivington, whose father in 1741 published Richardson's "Pamela," and
supplied six editions of it in a twelvemonth. Immediately to the west
was Robert Aitken, who published the _Pennsylvania Magazine_ and the
first English Bible in America. And hither, to the old Coffee-house, in
1754, William Bradford removed his famous hereditary press, and three
years later printed the third Philadelphia magazine.

The first William Bradford arrived in Philadelphia in 1685, and brought
with him the second printing press that was set up in British North
America. Upon it, in the following year, he printed the first Middle
Colony publication, the "Kalendarium Pennsilvaniense." His son, Andrew
Sowle, named after a London printer of Friends' books, to whom the
father had been apprenticed, continued the business, and from 1712 to
1723 was the only printer in Pennsylvania. From his press, at the sign
of the Bible, issued the first American magazine. Andrew's nephew,
William Bradford, grandson of the first William, transferred the
business to the London Coffee-house, and in October, 1757, published the
first number of "_The American Magazine and Monthly Chronicle for the
British Colonies_. By a Society of Gentlemen. Printed and sold by
William Bradford." The policy of the new magazine was to support the
cause of the crown against France, and the Penns against Franklin and
the Friends.

The French and Indian war brought the magazine into existence. "That
war," says the editor in his preface, "has rendered this country at
length the object of a very general attention, and it seems now become
as much the mode among those who would be useful or conspicuous in the
state, to seek an acquaintance with the affairs of these colonies, their
constitutions, interests and commerce, as it had been before, to look
upon such matters as things of inferior or secondary consideration." The
editor further relates the origin of the enterprise: "It was proposed by
some booksellers and others in London, soon after the commencement of
the present war, to some persons in this city who were thought to have
abilities and leisure for the work, to undertake a monthly magazine for
the colonies, offering at the same time to procure considerable
encouragement for it in all parts of _Great Britain_ and _Ireland_.

"The persons to whom the proposal was made, approved of the design, but
gave for answer, that if it was to be a work of general use for all the
_British_ colonies, and not confined to the affairs of a few particular
ones, it could not be carried on without establishing an extensive
correspondence with men of leisure and learning in all parts of
_America_, which would require some time and a considerable expense.
This, however, has at length been happily effected, and proper persons
are now engaged in the design, not only in all the different governments
on this continent, but likewise in most of the _West India_ Islands."

At the head of each issue of the magazine is a vignette in which the
French and English treatment of the Indian are contrasted. In the middle
of the picture an Indian leans upon his gun; on the left is a Briton
reading from the Bible, beneath his arm is a roll of cloth, symbolizing
the dress and manufactures of civilized life; on the right is a
Frenchman, extravagantly dressed, offering to the savage a tomahawk and
purse of gold. The vignette has the inferior motto: _Prævalebit
æquior_, and the title-page the further legend: _Veritatis cultores,
Fraudis inimici_.

The first number (October, 1757) gave a variety of pleasing and
extraordinary information to curious readers: Indians, "broods of French
savages;" earthquakes, St. Helmo's fire, phosphorescence, aurora
borealis, mermen and mermaids, sea-snakes, _krakens_, etc., were jostled
together in charming confusion.

The editor of the new magazine was the Rev. William Smith, first provost
of the College of Philadelphia. He was born near Aberdeen, Scotland, in
1727, and was invited to take charge of the Seminary of Philadelphia in
1752. His personality made the magazine a very fair representative of
the culture and refinement of Philadelphia society, when already through
the influence of the college and library the city was becoming "the
Athens of America," as, at a later date, it was frequently called.

Smith published in eight successive numbers of the magazine a series of
papers called "The Hermit," and signed "Theodore." He desired these
contributions to be considered in the nature of a monthly sermon.... "In
composing these occasional lectures, I shall be animated with the
thoughts that they are not to be delivered to a single auditory, and in
the presence of persons among whom there might be many of my enemies,
but to this whole continent, and in a manner that can never create
prejudices against my person or performances, as I am to be forever
concealed" (Vol. I, p. 43).

The earliest reference to the genius of Benjamin West is in the
_American Magazine_, p. 237, where of the 19-year-old Chester County boy
it is said, "We are glad of this opportunity of making known to the
world the name of so extraordinary a genius as Mr. West. He was born in
Chester County, in this province, and, without the assistance of any
master, has acquired such a delicacy and correctness of expression in
his paintings, joined to such a laudable thirst of improvement, that we
are persuaded, when he shall have obtained more experience and proper
opportunities of viewing the productions of able masters, he will become
truly eminent in his profession." This note accompanies a poem upon one
of Mr. West's portraits which, the editor remarks, "We communicate with
particular pleasure, when we consider that the lady who sat, the
painter who guided the pencil, and the poet who so well describes the
whole, are all _natives of this place, and very young_."

The poet so happily applauded for his skill did indeed turn his verse
and his compliment gracefully.

  "Yet sure his flattering pencil's unsincere,
    His fancy takes the place of bashful truth;
  And warm imagination pictures here
    The pride of beauty and the bloom of youth.

  Thus had I said, and thus, deluded, thought,
    Had lovely Stella still remained unseen,
  Whose grace and beauty to perfection brought
    Make every imitative art look mean."

The poem was dated Philadelphia, February 15, 1758, and signed
"Lovelace."

R. W. Griswold, "Poets and Poetry of America" (p. 24) gives Joseph
Shippen (1732-1810) the credit of the lines, and Moses Coit Tyler
assigns them to the same source (History of American Literature, II,
240). Another poem by Shippen, "On the Glorious Victory near Newmark in
Silesia," was contributed to the magazine in March, over the signature
"Annandius."

Hearty appreciation of earnestness and ability in the young is a
characteristic of this _American Magazine_ and of its editor, who, with
the true teacher's instinct, freely awarded superb and splendid praise
to the humble and obscure for good work done. Among the young men who
received recognition was Francis Hopkinson, whose first poem appeared in
the first number (p. 44), "Ode on Music, written at Philadelphia, by a
young gentleman of seventeen, on his beginning to learn the
harpsichord." In the following month Hopkinson contributed two poems in
imitation of Milton, "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso," the first dedicated
to B. C--w, Esq. (Benjamin Chew), under whom the author studied law, and
the latter a tribute of affection to William Smith.

  "And thou, O S--th! my more than friend,
  To whom these artless lines I send,
  Once more thy wonted candor bring,
  And hear the muse you taught to sing;
  The muse that strives to win your ear,
  By themes your soul delights to hear,
  And loves like you, in sober mood,
  To meditate of _just_ and _good_.

  Exalted themes! divinest maid!
  Sweet Melancholy, raise thy head;
  With languid look, oh quickly come,
  And lead me to thy _Hermit home_.

  Then let my frequent feet be seen
  On yonder steep romantic green,
  Along whose yellow gravelly side,
  _Schuylkill_ sweeps his gentle tide.

  Rude, rough and rugged rocks surrounding,
  And clash of broken waves resounding,
  Where waters fall with loud'ning roar
  Rebellowing down the hilly shore."[1]

[1] Alluding to William Smith's home at Falls of Schuylkill. There is a
further description in prose of Smith's summer home upon page 123 of the
magazine.

The other poems by Hopkinson in the _American Magazine_ are, "Ode on the
Morning" (page 187), "On the taking of Cape Breton" (page 552) and
"Verses inscribed to Mr. Wollaston" (the portrait painter).

The most remarkable poem in the magazine appeared in March, 1758. It
occupied seven octavo pages, and drew in its wake three closely-printed
pages of learned notes. It set forth its subject "On the Invention of
Letters and the Art of Printing. Addrest to Mr. Richardson, in London,
the Author and Printer of Sir Charles Grandison and other works for the
promotion of Religion, Virtue and Polite Manners, in a corrupted age."
The anonymous author lived in Kent County, Maryland. "His intimacy with
Mr. Pope," he says, "obliged him to tell that great Poet, above twenty
years ago, that it was peculiarly ungrateful in him not to celebrate
such a subject as the INVENTION OF LETTERS, or to suffer it to be
disgraced by a meaner hand."

It may not be amiss to note that the author credits Koster with the
glory of the invention of printing.

  "Ah! let not Faustus rob great Koster's name
  Like him, who since usurp'd Columbus' fame.
  Pierian laurels flourish round his tomb;
  And ever-living roses breathe your bloom!"[2]

[2] Which reminds us of Sandys's translation of a fifteenth century
epitaph:

  "Let Koster's fame live ever in our hearts
  Unshar'd; whose art preserves all other arts."

Many wild conjectures have been made as to the identity of the Kentish
man who contributed this long, careful and learned poem to American
literature, but the author has hitherto remained unknown. In the summer
of 1891, while reading in the British Museum, I found a copy of the
_American Magazine_, annotated throughout in a contemporary hand, and
apparently the gift of a Philadelphian to an Englishman who had visited
the colonies. This would seem to be evident from the character of the
notes, which read sometimes like the following:

"This poem was written by Francis Hopkinson, _whom you will remember in
Philadelphia_." Unfortunately, many of the historical notes have been
cut away in the binding of the book. In this volume the author of the
poem in question is named and clearly defined. To James Sterling, the
author of "The Parricides" and "The Rival Generals," must be given
whatever credit this poem, written in Maryland, can confer upon its
author.

Among Sterling's other poetic contributions is to be noted "A
Pastoral--To his Excellency George Thomas, Esq., formerly Governor of
Pennsylvania, and now General of the Leeward Islands." This poem was
written in 1744, on the occasion of the death of Alexander Pope, by "one
of the first encouragers of this magazine." The Governor saw the
manuscript and gave permission for its publication. It is an invitation
to the muses to visit these lands:

  "Haste lovely nymphs, and quickly come away,
  Our sylvan gods lament your long delay;
  The stately oaks that dwell on Delaware
  Rear their tall heads to view you from afar.
    The Naiads summon all their sealy crew
    And at _Henlopen_ anxious wait for you.

       *       *       *       *       *

  But hark, they come! The _Dryads_ crowd the shore,
  The waters rise, I hear the billows roar!
  Hoarse Delaware the joyful tidings brings,
  And all his swans, transported, clap their wings."

The author's apologetic introduction of these enthusiastic verses to the
editor is worth preserving:

"As this _poetical brat_ was conceived in _North America_, you may, if
you please, suffer it to give its first squeak in the world through the
channel of the _American Magazine_. But if it should appear of a
_monstrous_ nature, stifle the wretch by all means in the birth, and
throw it into the river _Delaware_, from whence, you will observe, it
originally sprung. The parent, I can assure you, will shed no tears at
the funeral. If _Saturn_ presided at its formation instead of _Apollo_,
it will want no _lead_ to make it sink, but fall quickly to the bottom
by its own natural heaviness, as I doubt not many other modern
productions, both in prose and verse,

  ('Sinking from thought to thought--a vast profound')

would have done, had they been put to the trial."

The last of Sterling's contributions to the _American Magazine_ was an
"Epitaph on the late Lord Howe:"

  Patriots and chiefs! Britannia's mighty dead,
  Whose wisdom counsel'd, and whose valor bled,
  With gratulations, 'midst your radiant host,
  Receive to _glory_ Howe's heroic ghost;
  Who self severe, in Honor's cause expir'd,
  By native worth and your example fir'd,
  In foreign fields, like Sidney, young and brave,
  Doom'd to an early not untimely grave.
  Death flew commission'd by celestial love,
  And, scourging earth, improv'd the joys above.

  Impassive to low pleasure's baneful charm,
  Inur'd to gen'rous toils, and nerv'd for arms,
  He saw, indignant, our worst foes advance
  With strides gigantic--_Luxury_ and _France_!
  A martial spirit emulous to raise,
  He fought, as soldiers fought, in Marlbro's days.
  His country call'd--the noble talents given,
  'Twas his t'exert--success belonged to heaven!
  High o'er his standard and the crimson shore
  Plum'd victory hover'd, till he breathed no more.
  'Midst piles of slaughter'd foes--"_French_ slaves, he cry'd,"
  "My _Britons_ will revenge"--then smil'd and dy'd!

The unknown annotator of the British Museum copy writes against these
lines, "I cannot yet learn who was the author of this noble epitaph."
But it is clearly by Sterling. In the letter that accompanies the poem
he writes: "Please to know that the grandfather of the late Lord Howe,
when in a high employment in the reign of Queen Anne, was a generous
patron to the father of the author of these lines, by presenting to her
Majesty a memorial of his long services in the wars of Ireland, Spain
and Flanders, and by farther promoting his pretensions to an honourable
post in the army, of which he would have been deprived by a
court-interest in favour of a younger and unexperienced officer." This
letter is written from Maryland. It corresponds with all that we know of
Sterling's life. His gratitude was unfailing to those who had helped the
advancement of his father. In his dedication of "The Rival Generals"
(London, 1722), Sterling, addressing himself to William Conolly, Lord
Justice of Ireland, wrote: "Nor can I omit this occasion of testifying
my gratitude to your Excellency, who so generously contributed, in the
First Session of this Parliament, to do my Father that Justice in his
Pretensions which was deny'd him in a late reign."

In July, 1758, _The American Magazine_ published James Logan's letters
to Edmund Halley establishing Thomas Godfrey's claim to the invention of
"Hadley's quadrant." Thomas Godfrey, a glazier by trade, was one of the
original members of Franklin's "Junto," and boarded in Franklin's house
on High Street. He was born in Bristol, Pa., in 1704. While working for
James Logan, at Stenton, he accidentally discovered the principle upon
which he constructed his improvement upon Davis's quadrant. The new
instrument was first used in Delaware Bay by Joshua Fisher, of Lewes.
"Mr. Godfrey then sent the instrument to be tried at sea by an
acquaintance of his, an ingenious navigator, in a voyage to Jamaica, who
showed it to a captain of a ship there just going for England, by which
means it came to the knowledge of Mr. Hadley" (_American Magazine_, p.
476). The Royal Society of England, after hearing James Logan's
communication, decided that both Godfrey and Hadley were entitled to the
honor of the invention, and sent to Godfrey household goods to the
value of two hundred dollars.

In spite of the clearest facts and undoubted dates, the quadrant is
still persistently miscalled by the name of its English appropriator.[3]

[3] The remains of Thomas Godfrey were removed by John Watson from the
neglected spot where they were laid to Laurel Hill Cemetery, and in 1843
a monument was erected over them by the Mercantile Library Company of
Philadelphia. Near by, and close to the river, is the grave of Charles
Thomson, "the man of truth," the Sam. Adams, of Philadelphia, marked by
an Egyptian obelisk of granite.

"Junius" is the signature to a neat poem called "The Invitation" in the
_American Magazine_ for January, 1758, and appended to it is the
following editorial note: "This little poem was sent to us by an unknown
hand, and seems dated as an original. If it be so, we think it does
honor to our city; but of this we are not certain. All we can say is
that we do not recollect to have seen it before." This poem, which
William Smith thought to be an honor to Philadelphia, was the
composition of Thomas Godfrey the younger, then a youth of twenty-one
years. Editorial encouragement won from him an "Ode on Friendship" in
August, and an "Ode on Wine" in September. Young Godfrey was apprenticed
to a watchmaker, but through the friendly influence of the Provost of
the College he obtained a lieutenant's commission in the provincial
forces raised against Fort Du Quesne. He died of fever when only
twenty-seven years of age, and his poems, with an "account of T.
Godfrey," were published by Nathaniel Evans in 1767.

Nathaniel Evans knits together, in a manner, this _American Magazine_
and the _Port Folio_, as he was the biographer of Godfrey, who was a
contributor to the former, and the Petrarch-lover of Elizabeth Graeme or
Mrs. Ferguson, a helper of the latter. That he was hopeful of his city's
future is evident from the following prophecy, which makes a part of his
"Ode on the Prospect of Peace," 1761:

  "To such may Delaware, majestic flood,
    Lend from his flow'ry banks a ravish'd ear,
  Such notes as may delight the wise and good,
    Or saints celestial may induce to hear!
  For if the Muse can aught of time descry
    Such notes shall sound thy crystal waves along,
  Thy cities fair with glorious Athens rise,
    Nor pure Ilissus boast a nobler song."

Godfrey's chief claim to recognition in the history of American
literature is his authorship of the "Prince of Parthia," the first
dramatic work produced in America. It was written in 1758, and acted at
the new theatre in Southwark, Philadelphia, April 24, 1767.

Several of the contributors to the magazine were members of the faculty
of the college. Ebenezer Kinnersley, chief master of the English School,
summarized the month's progress in philosophy; John Beveridge supplied
the readers of the magazine with Latin poems, which were too lightly
timbered for the loud praise of William Smith, who pronounced them of
equal merit with the choicest Latinity of Buchanan, Erasmus and
Addison.[4]

[4] "The Trustees of the College of this city, who have never spared
either pains or expense to supply every vacancy in the institution with
able masters and professors, having been informed of Mr. Beveridge's
capacity, experience and fidelity, were pleased at a full meeting, on
the 13th of this month (June, 1758), unanimously to appoint him
Professor of Languages and Master of the Latin School, in the room of
Mr. Paul Jackson" (_American Magazine_, p. 437).

Thomas Coombe, assistant minister of Christ Church, translated some of
Beveridge's Latin poems, and was himself the author of "The Peasant of
Auburn; or, the Emigrant," published in 1775, and intended as a
continuation of "The Deserted Village."

A collection of poems came from distant Virginia from the pen of Mr.
Samuel Davies (1724-1761), the dissenting minister in Hanover County,
Virginia, who made use of the pseudonym "Virginianus Hanoverensis."

Davies accompanied Gilbert Tennent to England in 1753, and successfully
solicited funds for the College of New Jersey. He at first declined to
succeed Jonathan Edwards as President of Princeton College, but on the
invitation being repeated he accepted, and presided over the college for
eighteen months. In a note to one of his sermons occurs the following:
"That heroic youth, Colonel Washington, whom I cannot but hope
Providence has preserved in so signal a manner for some important
service to his country."

The magazine also contained the usual number of miscellaneous articles
signed with the alliterative and indicative names that were then in
vogue--Timothy Timbertoe, Richard Dimple, Hymenæus Phiz and the like.

Galt, in his life of Benjamin West (p. 77), says that "Dr. Smith
largely contributed to elevate the taste, the sentiment and topics of
conversation in Philadelphia." He certainly conducted the _American
Magazine_ to a considerable literary and financial success; and the
magazine came abruptly to an end on the completion of its first year in
consequence of Dr. Smith's visit to England, where his worth was
recognized and rewarded with honorary degrees from Oxford, Aberdeen and
Dublin.

On the 2d of January, 1769, the American Philosophical Society, the
oldest learned society in America, was formed by merging into one
organization the "American Philosophical Society" and the "American
Society held at Philadelphia for promoting useful knowledge." Benjamin
Franklin was chosen president. In this month and year, January, 1769, a
new magazine appeared in Philadelphia, printed at the press of the
Bradfords, as we learn from Hall and Sellers' _Pennsylvania Gazette_ of
January 12, 1769, which continued the title of _The American Magazine_.
The editor and proprietor, Mr. Lewis Nicola, was a member of the
American Philosophical Society, having been elected to membership April
8, 1768, and held the office of curator for 1769.

In a certain sense his magazine became the voice of the Society; for
each number, except the first, contained an appendix of sixteen pages
made up of the Society's publications. Nicola was born in Dublin,
Ireland, in 1717. He served in the English army, but in 1766 resigned
his commission, emigrated to America, and settled in Philadelphia.

He was town-major of Philadelphia during the Revolution, wrote several
military works, but is chiefly remembered for his letter to General
Washington in May, 1783, asking him to accept the title of King of the
United States.

The magazine contained various practical articles and sketches of
American occurrences. In the February number was a large and curious
engraving, the only one in all the issues of the magazine, representing
the manner of fowling in Norway. The engraver is unknown.

The price of the magazine was 13 shillings, Pennsylvania currency. It
was suspended in September, 1769.

"_The Pennsylvania Magazine, or American Monthly Museum_, Vol. I, 1775,
Philadelphia, printed and sold by R. Aitken, printer and bookseller,
opposite the London Coffee-house, Front Street," was published amidst
preparations for war. The publisher apologized for lack of variety in
the year's work, by saying that we in America "are deprived of one
considerable fund of entertainment which contributes largely to the
embellishment of the magazines in Europe, viz., discoveries of curious
remains of antiquity.... We can look no further back than to the rude
manners and customs of the savage aborigines of North America ... but
the principal difficulty in our way is the present importunate situation
of public affairs ... every heart and hand seems to be engaged in the
interesting struggle for American Liberty."

Thomas Paine arrived in Philadelphia in 1775, with letters from
Franklin, and was immediately employed by Aitken as editor of the
_Pennsylvania Magazine_, with a salary of £25, currency, a year. In his
preface to the first number, January 24, 1775, Paine wrote: "We presume
it is unnecessary to inform our friends that we encounter all the
inconveniences which a magazine can possibly start with. Unassisted by
imported materials we are destined to create what our predecessors in
this walk had only to compile; and the present perplexities of affairs
have rendered it somewhat difficult for us to procure the necessary
aids. Thus encompassed with difficulties, the first number of the
_Pennsylvania Magazine_ entreats a favorable reception; of which we
shall only say, like the early snowdrop, it comes forth in a barren
season, and contents itself with modestly foretelling that _choicer
flowers_ are preparing to appear."

The vignette of the _Pennsylvania Magazine_ represents the Goddess of
Liberty, with a pole and a liberty-cap, holding a shield with the
Pennsylvania arms. On the right of the figure is a mortar inscribed "The
Congress." In the foreground is a plan of fortifications with cannon
balls. In the background are cannon with battle-axes and pikes. A gorget
with "Liberty" upon it is hanging on a tree, and beneath it the motto

  "Juvat in Sylvis habitare."

The magazine had numerous illustrations: a portrait of Goldsmith, plans
of a threshing machine, an electrical machine, Donaldson's dredging
machine, etc., etc.

Francis Hopkinson and Witherspoon were among the earliest contributors.
William Smith and Provost Ewing assisted in later numbers. Benjamin Rush
and Sergeant and Hutchinson imparted to Paine, in their walks in State
House yard the suggestions of "Common Sense," the pamphlet which "had a
greater run than any other ever published in our country," and which, as
Elkanah Watson said, "passed through the continent like an electric
spark. It everywhere flashed conviction, and aroused a determined
spirit, which resulted in the Declaration of Independence, upon the 4th
of July ensuing. The name of Paine was precious to every Whig heart, and
had resounded throughout Europe."

A department of the _Pennsylvania Magazine_, called "Monthly
Intelligence," reported the progress of the war, and furnished
engravings of the battles, and of General Gage's lines. It was the first
illustrated magazine published in the city. It was also the first that
made more than one volume. The second volume began in January, 1776,
and ended in July, 1776. The last number contained the Declaration of
Independence.

Phillis Wheatley, negro servant to Mr. John Wheatley, of Boston, and
daughter of an African slave, published her only volume of poems,
dedicated to the Countess of Huntingdon, in 1773. The best, if the word
may be applied to such performances, of her occasional poems, published
after 1773, and which have never been collected into a volume, was a
poem "To his Excellency Gen. Washington," in the _Pennsylvania Magazine_
of April, 1776:

  "Celestial choir! enthron'd in realms of light,
  Columbia's scenes of glorious toils I write."

The poem was dated October 26, 1775, and sent with a letter to
Washington, who replied (Feb. 2, 1776):

"However undeserving I may be of such encomium and panegyric, the style
and manner exhibit a striking proof of your poetical talents; in honor
of which, and as a tribute justly due to you, I would have published the
poem had I not been apprehensive that while I only meant to give the
world this new instance of your genius, I might have incurred the
imputation of vanity. This, and nothing less, determined me not to give
it place in the public prints."

Another President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, with less
urbanity, but more acumen, said of these verses that they were beneath
criticism.[5]

[5] "It is true that Mr. Jefferson has pronounced the poems of Phillis
Wheatley below the dignity of criticism, and it is seldom safe to differ
in judgment from the author of 'Notes on Virginia,' but her conceptions
are often lofty, and her versification often surprises with unexpected
refinement. Ladd, the Carolina poet, in enumerating the laurels of his
country, dwells with encomium on 'Wheatley's polished verse;' nor is his
praise undeserved, for often it will be found to glide in the stream of
melody. Her lines on imagination have been quoted with rapture by Imlay,
of Kentucky, and Steadman, the Guiana traveller, but I have ever thought
her happiest production the 'Goliah of Gath'" (John Davis, p. 87).

Paine himself printed some virile verses in the magazine, notably the
lines "On the Death of Wolfe" (though not published for the first time),
signed "Atlanticus," "Reflections on the Death of Clive," and "The
Liberty Tree."

Bradford's magazines had failed because of the imperfect communication
between the colonies. Aitken's magazine, throughout its life of
eighteen months, is overshadowed by the war, and the grave news
successively reported from both sides of the ocean.

The next Philadelphia editor was the eccentric social wit, Hugh Henry
Brackenridge, the author of the capital political satire, "Modern
Chivalry" (1792), the first satirical novel written in America. He was a
native of Scotland, born in 1748, but was only five years of age when
his father settled in York County, Pennsylvania. He was graduated from
Princeton College in 1771, in the same class with Philip Freneau, in
conjunction with whom he delivered, at the commencement, a poem in
dialogue upon "The Rising Glory of America," which was published by
Robert Aitken in 1772.

Francis Bailey was the publisher who had the courage to undertake
another monthly magazine in the midst of the war, and with Brackenridge
as editor, which insured some pungent writing, he issued in January,
1779, the first number of "_The United States Magazine_; a Repository of
History, Politics and Literature." "Our attempt," said the editor, "is
to paint the graces on the front of war, and _invite the muses to our
country_." This, it will be noticed, is the second express invitation to
the Maids of Parnassus to "migrate from Greece and Ionia," and to "cross
out those immensely overpaid accounts." The first was extended during
the French and Indian war, and the second in the very aim and flash of
the Revolution. That the muses did not immediately accept the
invitation, and "placard 'Removed' and 'To Let' on the rocks of their
snowy Parnassus," we are reminded by the opening lines of the "Epistle
to W. Gifford," written by another Philadelphia poet, William Cliffton,
at the very close of the century.[6]

[6] William Cliffton (1772-1799) was the son of a blacksmith in
Southwark. His poem "The Group" (1793) was written in ridicule of the
Commissioners of Southwark.

  "In these cold shades, beneath these shifting skies,
  Where fancy sickens, and where genius dies;
  Where few and feeble are the muse's strains,
  And no fine frenzy riots in the veins."

The editor, in his preface to the reader, asks the very pertinent
question, "For what is man without taste, and the acquirements of
genius? An ourang-outang with the human shape and the soul of a beast."
His excuse for the magazine is that it is started to refute the British
scoff, that when separated from England, the colonies would become mere
"illiterate ourang-outangs," and proceeds to the axioms that "We are
able to cultivate the belles-lettres, even disconnected with Great
Britain;" and that "Liberty is of so noble and energetic a quality, as
even from the bosom of a war to call forth the powers of human genius in
every course of literary fame and improvement."

The vignette for the magazine was made by Pierre E. Du Simitiere
(P. E. D.), who also made the one that adorned the _Pennsylvania
Magazine_. It represented a triumphal arch with a corridor of thirteen
columns, the arch decorated with thirteen stars, symbolizing the States,
Pennsylvania being the Keystone. Under the arch is the figure of Fame,
with cap of liberty and trumpet.

The artist was a native of Switzerland, who arrived in Philadelphia in
1766. His collection of curiosities he opened to the public under the
name of "The American Museum."

The first number of this magazine contained certain verses in
explanation of the emblematic vignette:

  "The arch high bending doth convey,
  In a hieroglyphic way,
  What in noble style like this
  Our united empire is!
  The pillars, which support the weight,
  Are, each of them, a mighty State;
  Thirteen and more the vista shows,
  As to vaster length it grows;
  For new States shall added be,
  To the great confederacy,
  And the mighty arch shall rise
  From the cold Canadian skies,
  And shall bend through heaven's broad way
  To the noble Mexic Bay!
  In the lofty arch are seen
  Stars of lucid ray--thirteen!
  When other States shall rise,
  Other stars shall deck these skies,
  There, in wakeful light to burn
  O'er the hemisphere of morn."

As might be expected from Brackenridge's management, the magazine was
full of wit and scurrility. The January (1779) number contained
Witherspoon's delightful satire upon James Rivington, the Royal Printer,
of New York. It was a parody of Rivington's "Petition to Congress," and
was called "The Humble Representation and Earnest Supplication of J. R.,
Printer and Bookseller in New York--To his Excellency Henry Laurens,
Esq." And Dr. Witherspoon, who was President of Princeton College when
Brackenridge was a student there, supplied his former pupil during his
year's editorship with many a sly sarcasm and bit of grave philosophy.

"The Cornwalliad, an Heroic Comic Poem," was begun in March, 1779, and
was continued through several numbers. It described various incidents in
the British retreat to New York after the battles of Trenton and
Princeton.

In the January number was begun a series of articles under the title of
"The Cave of Vanhest," concerning which the following letter was written
October 2, 1779, by Mrs. Sarah Bache to Benjamin Franklin: "The
publisher of _The United States Magazine_ wrote to you some time ago to
desire you would send him some newspapers, and sent you some of his
first numbers. I suppose you never received them. I now send six, not
that I think you will find much entertainment in them, but you may have
heard that there was such a performance, and may like to see what it
is; besides, its want of entertainment may induce you to send something
that may make the poor man's magazine more useful and pleasing. Tell
Temple 'The Cave of Vanhest' is a very romantic description of Mr. and
Mrs. Blair's house and family; the young ladies that the traveller
describes and is in love with are children, one seven months younger
than our Benjamin, and the Venus just turned of five."

The most amusing episode in the history of the magazine was the quarrel
that arose between its editor and General Charles Lee. Brackenridge
published in full, in Vol. I, p. 141, a letter written by "an officer of
high rank in the American service to Miss F----s (Franks), a young lady
of this city." The letter contained a humorous challenge growing out of
a merry war in which Miss F. had said that "he wore green breeches
patched with leather," and the writer declared that he wore "true sherry
vallies," that is, trousers reaching to the ankle with strips of leather
on the inside of the thigh. Lee immediately published in the
_Pennsylvania Advertiser_ an angry letter upon "the impertinence and
stupidity of the compiler of that wretched performance with the pompous
title of the magazine of the United States." In reply, Brackenridge
compared Lee, as usual, to his favorite ourang-outang, and added: "You
are neither Christian, Jew, Turk nor Infidel, but a _metempsychosist_!
You have been heard to say that you expect when you die to transmigrate
to a Siberian fox-hound, and to be messmate to Spado." Upon this Lee, in
a rage, called at the office with the intention of assaulting the
editor. Brackenridge's son cleverly relates what followed. General Lee
"knocked at the door, while Mr. Brackenridge, looking out of the
upper-story window, inquired what was wanting. 'Come down,' said he,
'and I'll give you as good a horse-whipping as any rascal ever
received.' 'Excuse me, General,' said the other, 'I would not go down
for two such favors.'"

Besides the publication of the State Constitution and a windy war over
female head-dress and hard money, there is little else to say of _The
United States Magazine_. But near the close of the volume the appearance
of an imitation of Psalm 137, with the foot-note, "by a young gentleman
to whom, in the course of this work, we are greatly indebted," brings
for the first time into notice, if not into prominence, a writer
destined to display the finest sense of poetic form and the nicest
delicacy of poetic sentiment to be found among his contemporaries in
America, and who, through his opposition to Hamilton and the
Federalists, should win from Washington the epithet of "that rascal
FRENEAU."

Philip Freneau was born in New York in 1752; he had been a classmate at
Princeton of James Madison and Brackenridge, and on his return from the
Bermudas in 1779, he assisted the latter in his editorial work in
Philadelphia. The first edition of his poems was prepared in
Philadelphia by Francis Bailey, the publisher of _The United States
Magazine_, in 1786.

Freneau was one of the first American poets to be read and appreciated
in England. At the time when Byron was making merry with the notion of
an American poet bearing the name of Timothy (Dwight), Campbell was
appropriating a line, "The hunter and the deer--a shade" from Freneau's
"Indian Burying Ground," and knitting it into "O'Connor's Child," and
Sir Walter Scott in "Marmion," by altering a single word, was
transparently concealing his theft from "The Heroes of Eutaw."

In December, 1779, the suspension of the magazine was announced, the
editor declaring in explanation that the publication was "undertaken at
a time when it was hoped the war would be of short continuance, and the
money, which had continued to depreciate, would become of proper value.
But these evils having continued to exist through the whole year, it has
been greatly difficult to carry on the publication; and we shall now be
under the necessity of suspending it for some time--until an established
peace and a fixed value of the money shall render it convenient or
possible to take it up again."

For seven years no one attempted another magazine, and then in
September, 1786, by a combination of publishers, _The Columbian
Magazine, or Monthly Miscellany_, modelled upon the _Gentleman's
Magazine_ and the _London Magazine_, began its career. It was the most
ambitious enterprise of the kind that had yet been undertaken in
America. The printing facilities were still very limited, and the
subscription lists for all publications small. In 1786 there was one
daily paper printed in Philadelphia, and but three or four weekly ones.
In the same year four printers after much deliberation agreed to print a
small edition of the New Testament. "Before the Revolution a
spelling-book, impressed upon brown paper, with the interesting figure
of Master Dilworth as a frontispiece, was the extent of American skill
in printing and engraving." Improvements came very rapidly, and before
the end of the first decade of the nineteenth century Barlow's
_Columbiad_ was magnificently printed in Philadelphia, and the great
undertakings of Rees' "Cyclopædia" and Wilson's "Ornithology" entered
upon. The monthly expense of printing the _Columbian_ was said to be
£100, which was paid to mechanics and manufacturers of the United
States. The magazine was inaugurated by Matthew Carey, T. Siddons, C.
Talbot, W. Spotswood and J. Trenchard.

Carey published, in the first number, "The Life of General Greene,"
whose portrait was the first in the volume. He also contributed "The
Shipwreck," "A Philosophical Dream" (a vision of 1850), and "Hard
Times." In the "Philosophical Dream" Carey made the first suggestion of
a canal to unite the waters of the Delaware and Ohio. He withdrew from
the _Columbian Magazine_ in December, 1786, finding that the quintuple
team could not work well together.

Charles Cist, another of the combination, was born at St. Petersburg,
August 15, 1738, was graduated at Halle, and, upon coming to
Philadelphia in 1773, entered into partnership with Melchior Steiner,
with whom he published Paine's "Crisis"--"These are the times that try
men's souls." He died in Philadelphia, December 2, 1805.

John Trenchard became sole proprietor of the publication in January,
1789. He was an engraver by profession, having studied under James
Smithers, and engraved most of the plates for the magazine. His son,
Edward Trenchard, entered the navy, visited England and induced Gilbert
Fox, then a 'graver's apprentice, to return with him to America. In this
country Fox became an actor, and for him Joseph Hopkinson wrote "Hail
Columbia."

"The Foresters, an American Tale," was written for the _Columbian_ by
Jeremy Belknap, who sought to portray humorously in it the history of
the country and the formation of the Constitution.

The _Columbian_ of May, 1789, gave an elaborate account of Washington's
progress to New York, with the notable receptions at Gray's Ferry and at
Trenton.

In July, 1790, the name of the magazine was changed to "The Universal
Asylum and Columbian Magazine, by a Society of Gentlemen." Benjamin Rush
was one of its most faithful contributors. A number of the engravings
and several of the articles illustrated the agricultural improvements of
the times. John Penington contributed in 1790 "Chemical and Economical
Essays to Illustrate the Connection between Chemistry and the Arts." The
editor of the _Columbian Magazine_ for nearly three years was Alexander
James Dallas, a sketch of whose life is to be found in a later magazine,
the _Port Folio_, of March, 1817. Dallas was born in Jamaica, but
received his earliest education near London from James Elphinstone,
through whom he became acquainted with Dr. Johnson and Dr. Franklin. He
became a citizen of Philadelphia in 1785, studied law, edited the
_Columbian_, held various offices of trust in the State, and became
successively Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of War for the
United States. Robert Charles Dallas, brother of the editor, author of
the "History of the Maroons" and a score of other works, is best known
as the friend and counsellor of Lord Byron. His last work was his
"Recollections of the Life of Lord Byron from 1808 to 1814." It was at
his request that Byron published "Childe Harold," and to him Byron gave
the profits arising from that and four other of his poems. Dallas was
related to Lord Byron through the marriage of his sister with the poet's
uncle. George Mifflin Dallas, son of the editor of the _Columbian_,
became Vice-President of the United States under President Polk. His
commencement oration at Princeton, in 1809, on the "Moral Influence of
Memory," is printed in the _Port Folio_ of that year (Vol. II, p.
396[7]). Two members of the family, Rev. A. R. C. Dallas, son of Robert
Charles, and his cousin, Rev. Charles Dallas, served at Waterloo, and
were afterward prominent in philanthropic work.

[7] John Quincy Adams' commencement oration "On the Importance and
Necessity of Public Faith to the Well-being of a Government," was
inserted in the _Columbian Magazine_ (1787) by Jeremy Belknap.

A. J. Dallas reported for the _Herald_ and for the _Columbian_ the
debates of the State Convention until the Federalists, annoyed by the
publications, withdrew their subscriptions from the _Columbian_, which
led Benjamin Rush to write to Noah Webster (February 13, 1788): "From
the impudent conduct of Mr. Dallas in misrepresenting the proceedings
and speeches in the Pennsylvania Convention, as well as from his
deficiency of matter, the _Columbian Magazine_, of which he is editor,
is in the decline."

Nevertheless the _Columbian_ continued to prosper. The circulation at
times made necessary a second edition, which was reset at considerable
expense, and often contained additional articles.

The final number appeared in December, 1792. The principal motive for
the suspension, the editors declared, "is to be found in the present law
respecting the establishment of the post-office, which totally prohibits
the circulation of monthly publications through that channel on any
other terms than that of paying the highest postage on private letters
or packages." A futile attempt was made to continue the magazine in
January, 1793, under the title, "_The Columbian Museum, or Universal
Asylum_: John Parker, Phila." The only number that I have seen contains
sixty pages.

In January, 1787, or one month after withdrawing from the management of
_The Columbian Magazine_, Matthew Carey published the first number of
_The American Museum, or Repository of Ancient and Modern Fugitive
Pieces, etc., Prose and Poetical_, which proved to be the first really
successful literary undertaking of the kind in America. General
Washington said of it in a letter dated June 25, 1788: "No more useful
literary plan has ever been undertaken in America." John Dickinson in
the same year also commended it. Governor Wm. Livingstone wrote: "It far
exceeds in my opinion every attempt of the kind which from any other
American press ever came into my hands." Among others who swelled the
chorus of praise were Governor Randolph of Virginia, Ezra Stiles of
Yale, Timothy Dwight, Francis Hopkinson and Provost Ewing. "Citizen"
Brissot, in his "New Travels in the United States" (1788), considered
Carey's _Museum_ to be "equal to the best periodical published in
Europe." The first number attracted great attention; Franklin furnished
the first article, "Consolation for America;" Benjamin Rush followed
with an "Address to the People of the United States",[8] the burden of
which was that the "Revolution is not over;" already the cry was going
up for civil service reform to deliver the country from the oppression
of politics. The edition--one thousand copies--was soon exhausted. "I
had not means," said Carey, "to reprint it. This was a very serious
injury, many persons who intended to subscribe declining because I could
not furnish them the whole of the numbers."

[8] Benjamin Rush's papers in the _Museum_ and in the _Columbian_ were
printed in book form, "Essays--Literary, Moral and Philosophical," 1798.

The work of editorship was no novelty to Matthew Carey. He had had full
and fiery experience in both Ireland and America. He was born in Ireland
in 1760, and became acquainted with Dr. Franklin in Paris while living
there to avoid prosecution at home. He was imprisoned for the
publication of the _Volunteer's Journal_ in Dublin. He arrived in
Philadelphia, November 15, 1784, and in the following January began to
publish the _Pennsylvania Evening Herald_, the first newspaper in the
United States to furnish accurate reports of legislative debates. He was
wretchedly poor, but Lafayette laid the foundation of his fortune by a
generous gift of four hundred dollars in notes of the Bank of North
America. The first pamphlet that Carey published in Ireland was a
treatise on duelling. Soon after his arrival in America he gave a
practical illustration of the text by engaging in a duel with Colonel
Oswald, in which he received a wound that stayed him at home for more
than a year.

_The American Museum_ was the first magazine in Philadelphia to reflect
faithfully the internal state of America. Bradford's magazines,
intensely loyal, looked across the ocean and saw little at home worthy
of record. Paine and Brackenridge expended their erratic genius in
abusive satire upon the Tories; the _Columbian Magazine_ avoided the
serious political problems of the times, and granted much of its space
to agricultural improvements and the beginnings of manufactures.

In almost every page, however, of the _Museum_ the reader catches
glimpses of the anxieties and disorders of the critical years of party
strife that attended the making and adoption of the Constitution. The
social order was weak, there was a general revolt against taxation. "I
am uneasy and apprehensive, more so than during the war," wrote Jay to
Washington, June 27, 1786. David Humphreys, one of the "Hartford Wits,"
who came into prominence at the close of the war, and who at this time
(1786) was engaged in the composition of the _Anarchiad_ and other
satirical verse, aimed at the disorder of the time, contributed to _The
Museum_ his poem on the "Happiness of America." Francis Hopkinson's
gentle prose satires and his poems of revolutionary incidents reappeared
in its pages. Anthony Benezet uttered his oft-repeated protest against
the iniquity of slavery. Philip Freneau's odes found place almost
monthly in the poet's corner. Through several numbers ran a series of
articles, though not for the first time published, "On the Character of
Philadelphians," signed Tamoc Caspipina, the pseudonym of the Rev. Jacob
Duché, brother-in-law of Francis Hopkinson, and derived from the initial
letters of his title as "the assistant minister of Christ's Church and
St. Peter's in Philadelphia, in North America."

I cull from volume five a few specimen articles to illustrate the wealth
of local and national history embedded in this popular periodical:

VOL. V, p. 185.--Report on the petition of Hallam and Henry to license a
theatre in Philadelphia.

P. 197.--Account of the battle of Bunker Hill.

P. 220.--Letters of "James Littlejohn"--_i.e._, Timothy Dwight.

P. 233.--Franklin on food.

P. 235.--Duché's Description of Philadelphia.

P. 263.--Insurrection in New Hampshire.

P. 293.--Dr. Franklin's Prussian Edict.

P. 295.--Impartial Chronicle, by W. Livingstone.

P. 300.--Poetical address to Washington, by Governor Livingstone.

P. 363.--Earthquake in New England.

P. 400.--Battle of Long Island.

P. 473.--Franklin's idea of an English school.

P. 488.--"How to Conduct a Newspaper,"--Dr. Rush.

The same cause that led to the suspension of the _Columbian Magazine_
put a period also to the _American Museum_, and in the same month. On
December 31, 1792, Matthew Carey, in bidding farewell to the public that
had supported his undertaking, ascribed its failure to "the
construction, whether right or wrong, of the late Post-Office law, by
which the postmaster here has absolutely refused to receive the _Museum_
into the Post-Office on any terms." Although the circulation of the
magazine had been large for those days, the publisher had derived small
profit from his venture. The subscription price, $2.40 per annum for two
volumes, making together more than one thousand pages, was too low; and
during the six years, between 1786 and 1792, Carey was always poor, and
in his _Autobiography_ declares that during those years he was never at
any one time the possessor of four hundred dollars. But in those years
of personal penury and public turmoil, Matthew Carey laid the foundation
of the American system of social science.

Six years after the suspension of the magazine, Carey attempted to
re-animate it, and published _The American Museum, or Annual Register of
Fugitive Pieces, Ancient and Modern_, for the year 1798, printed for
Matthew Carey. Philadelphia: W. & R. Dickson, Lancaster. Matthew Carey,
whose introduction was dated June 20, 1799, wrote of the renascent
publication, "If this _coup d'essai_ be favorably received, I shall
publish a continuation of it yearly." No other volume was ever issued.

_The Medical Examiner_ was published in 1787, and made one volume octavo
of 424 pages. It was edited by J. B. Biddle.

_The Philadelphia Magazine_, the first that ever bore the name of the
city, made two volumes. The first volume extended from February to
December, 1788, and contained 448 pages. The second volume began in
January, 1789, and closed in November of the same year (416 pages). The
magazine is said to have been edited by Elhanan Winchester. His
"Lectures on Prophecies" are bound up with the second volume of the
periodical. The lectures were originally issued in each volume.

_The Arminian Magazine_, Vol. I, 1789, pp. 600; Vol. II, 1790, pp. 620,
was published by Prichard and Hall, in Market Street, and was edited by
John Dickins, the scholarly pastor of the church that he named the
"Methodist Episcopal."

In magazines addressed to women, Philadelphia has always been fertile
and successful. "The first attempt of the kind made in this country" was
"_The Lady's Magazine and Repository of Entertaining Knowledge_, Vol. I,
for 1792. By a Literary Society. Philadelphia: W. Gibbons, North Third
Street, No. 144."

The motto chosen by the editors was "the mind t'improve and yet amuse;"
and the fair sex, who are supposed to have received the proposals for
the work with "extraordinary marks of applause," are assured that "the
greatest deference shall be paid to their literary communications," and
they are promised month by month offerings of "the most _lively prose_
and _pathetic verse_."

The magazine contains anecdotes, poems, female correspondence,
similitude between the Egyptians and Abyssinians, manners and customs of
the Egyptians, schemes for increasing the power of the fair sex, essays
on ladies' feet, etc., etc. It began June, 1792, and lived until May,
1793.

_The Philadelphia Minerva_ was filled with old and new fugitive pieces.
It was published weekly by W. T. Palmer, at No. 18 North Third Street,
beginning in 1795 and ceasing in July, 1798.

_The Pennsylvania Magazine_, of the very slightest significance, was
issued in 1795, and made one volume.

_The American Monthly Review or Literary Journal_. Jan.-Aug., 1795.
Phila.: S.[amuel] H.[arrison] Smith.

_The American Annual Register, or Historical Memoirs of the United
States_, made one volume in 1796.

_The Literary Museum, or Monthly Magazine_. Jan.-June, 1797. "Printed by
Derrick and Sharples, and sold by the principal booksellers in Phila.
Price, one quarter of a dollar."

_The Methodist Magazine_ was founded by John Dickins in January, 1797,
and was edited by him until his death, in 1798 (September 27). It was
printed by Henry Tuckness. It was chiefly made up of sermons.

_The American Universal Magazine_ consisted chiefly of selections from
other periodicals. The first volume began Monday, January 2, 1797, and
was completed March 20, 1797. It was embellished with Du Simitiere's
portrait of William Penn. It was "printed by S.[amuel] H.[arrison] Smith
for Richard Lee, No. 131 Chestnut Street." It was commenced as a weekly
journal, but after January 23 it was published biweekly. After February
6 it was printed by Budd and Bartram, and contained frequent articles
favoring the abolition of slavery. It was taken in hand by new printers
on March 6, and sent out by Snowden and McCorkle.

The second volume ran from April 3 to June 13, and was printed by the
proprietor, Richard Lee, at No. 4 Chestnut Street.

The third volume, July 10, to November 15, 1797, informed the patrons of
the publication that the editor "would be assisted by a gentleman whose
literary abilities have been frequently sanctioned by public
approbation." It was printed by "Samuel H. Smith and Thomas Smith."

The fourth volume, with which the publication ended, lived from December
5, 1797, to March 7, 1798.

Philadelphia, in 1793, had been visited by the terrible scourge of
yellow fever. In 1798 the pestilence returned, and repeated in
Philadelphia the horrors recorded of London in the previous century.

During this year certain magazines were published in the city that may
almost be called journals of the plague.

_The Philadelphia Monthly Magazine, or Universal Repository of Knowledge
and Entertainment_, was begun in January, 1798, and printed for Thomas
Condie, stationer in Carter's Alley (No. 20). It lasted through the
year, and made two volumes. The publishers appended to the second volume
"A History of the Pestilence, commonly called Yellow Fever, which
almost desolated Philadelphia in the months of August, September and
October, 1798. By Thomas Condie and Richard Folwell." The history
contains 108 pages, an appendix of 31 pages, and a list of all the names
of those who died of the fever--3,521 in all. In the month of September
alone 2,004 persons died of the plague, being one in every twenty-five
of the total population.

This magazine contained the first long biographical sketch of
Washington. The "Memoirs of George Washington, Esq., Late President of
the U. S.," ran through the months of January, February, March, May and
June, 1798.

It is in this magazine that we find the earliest notice of Mrs. Merry,
who was the first eminent actress that crossed the ocean. "Biographical
Anecdotes of Mrs. Merry of the theatre, Philadelphia, by Thomas Condie,"
April, 1798 (Vol. I, p. 187). With a reputation in England second only
to Mrs. Siddons, this brilliant actress was added to the American stage
by Mr. Wignal, of the Philadelphia Theatre, who had gone abroad in 1796
to recruit his company and, if possible, to engage some first-rate
actors in London. Mrs. Merry arrived at New York in October, 1796, and
made her first appearance in the Western World in December in the
character of _Juliet_. She was the daughter of John Brunton, of the
Norwich Theatre, and the wife of "Della Crusca" Merry, the well-known
playwright and author.

_The Weekly Magazine of Original Essays, Fugitive Pieces and Interesting
Intelligence_, was begun February 3, 1798. It was conducted by James
Watters, of Willing's Alley, a young man who was the manager for
Dobson's American edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. The first
article in the periodical introduces us to the first professional man of
letters in America. It is "The Man at Home," by Charles Brockden Brown.
Although unsigned, no one familiar with Brown's style could read a page
without discerning him in the short snap-shot sentences of the story. On
page 228 of the first volume three pages of the "Sky-Walk" are
"extracted from Brown's MSS." The singular title of this unfinished
story, which was afterward woven into the web of "Edgar Huntley," seems
to have been as puzzling to readers then as now, and it is explained in
a stray note on page 318 of the magazine as "a popular corruption of
Ski-Wakkee, or Big Spring, the name given by the Lenni Lennaffee (sic)
or Delaware Indians to the district where the principal scenes of this
novel are transacted." "The Man at Home" ran through thirteen numbers of
the first volume, which closed on April 28.

In the second volume (page 193) Brown commenced the publication of his
first important novel, "Arthur Mervyn, or Memoirs of the Year 1793," the
first chapter of which appeared June 16, 1798. It contained vivid
descriptions of the scenes during the pestilence of 1793-8. Brown's
genius naturally dealt with weird and sombre subjects and extraordinary
passions and experiences. While occupied with this romantic narrative of
the horrors of the plague, his intimate friend, Elihu Hubbard Smith, who
had introduced him to the "Friendly Club," in New York, died of the
fever, and his own life was for a time in danger by it.

The third volume of the magazine (August 4, 1798-April 6, 1799) was
printed by Ezekiel Forman, the young and gifted editor, James Watters,
having died of the fever. A commemorative note of the stricken editor is
to be found in the number bearing date February 2, 1799 (page 129).

In consequence of Watters' death, no number of the magazine was
published between August 25, 1798, and February 9, 1799. The property
was then bought from the late editor's mother, and was continued until
June 1, 1799, when it came abruptly to an end, leaving the fourth volume
unfinished and with only 256 pages.

_The Weekly Magazine_ had carried upon its covers in 1798 a proposal to
publish the novel, "Sky Walk, or the Man Unknown to Himself," a few
pages of which had been given in the magazine. The manuscript was known
to be with James Watters, but its fate is unknown; it probably was
destroyed with the rest of the unfortunate editor's papers.

One other Philadelphia publication was terminated in consequence of the
plague, which, although properly classified as a newspaper, is yet of so
much literary and historical interest that it would seem to deserve a
place in this narrative. _Porcupine's Gazette and United States Daily
Advertiser_ was published by William Cobbett on Second Street, opposite
Christ Church. It was first issued on Saturday evening, March 4, 1797.
Up to that time no such cut and thrust weapon had been seen in America,
and no such truculent foul-mouthed editor had plucked a pen out of his
pilcher by the ears on this side of the Atlantic. We had known editors
who were learned in profanity and gifted in vulgarity, but none that had
just such a bitter trick of invective as William Cobbett, or "Peter
Porcupine," as he was pleased to call himself. He was born at Farnham,
in Surrey, in 1762, within a stone's throw of Sir William Temple's Moor
Park, where lived for ten years the greatest master of virile and
virulent English in all the long annals of our literature. It is a
curious coincidence that the first book that fell into the well-nigh
penniless hands of Cobbett was "The Tale of a Tub," and in it he
discovered and appropriated the secret of Jonathan Swift's burning
English.

In Philadelphia, Cobbett advocated the extremest Tory principles, and
requested the contributors to his paper, "whether they write on their
business or mine, to pay the postage, and place it to my account. This
is a regulation I have been obliged to adopt to disappoint certain
Democratic blackguards, who, to gratify their impotent malice and put me
to expense, send me loving epistles full of curses and bawdry."

During the prevalence of the plague, Cobbett ejected his venomous
superfluity upon Dr. Benjamin Rush, comparing him to Doctor Sangrado, in
Gil Blas, because he advocated blood-letting as a remedy for the fever.
Rush, stung into retaliation, sued Cobbett, and recovered from him five
thousand dollars. This, together with an additional three thousand
dollars, the cost of the suit, ruined Cobbett, and he removed to
Bustleton, August 29, 1799, where he continued for a short time to
publish his "_Gazette_," weekly. The last barbed arrow, quivering with
scorn, was fired from Bustleton, January 13, 1800, and the author
returned to England.

Cobbett also published, in Philadelphia, _The Political Censor_, or
_Monthly Review_, which lasted from March, 1796, to March, 1797.

A German magazine was published in Philadelphia, in 1798:
_Philadelphisches Magazin für die deutschen in Amerika_. Philadelphia:
H. and J. R. Kämmerer.

_The Dessert to the True American_ measures a year from July, 1798 to
July, 1799.

The last magazine published in Philadelphia in the eighteenth century
was the _Philadelphia Magazine and Review, or Monthly Repository of
Information and Amusement_. It was begun in January, 1799, and printed
for Benjamin Davies, 68 High Street. In announcing this work, the editor
alluded to the unsuccess that had attended all efforts to establish
magazines in Philadelphia, and he believed the cause to be the spurious
patriotism that led the editors to reject whatever was not of native
production. The magazine was strongly "anti-Gallican" in character. It
closed its career with its first volume.

I have made no mention in this necessarily incomplete enumeration of the
eighteenth century magazines of an early religious publication, _The
Royal Spiritual Magazine_, by Joseph Crukshank, 8vo, 1771. A few stray
numbers exist, but I have never seen a copy of it. How long it was
published I do not know.

Christopher Sauer printed, at irregular intervals, in 1764, the
_Geistliches Magazien_. There are fifty numbers in the first volume.
Sauer cast his own type, and this magazine is therefore printed, as he
himself says on page 136 of the second volume, with the first type made
in America.




THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

THE PORT FOLIO.


At the beginning of this century Philadelphia was the most attractive
city in America to a young man of brains and ambition. It was the seat
of an active social, political and literary life. Poet George Webbe
noticed in 1728 the leadership of Philadelphia in all matters pertaining
to the higher life of the country, and prophesied:

  Rome shall lament her ancient fame declined,
  And Philadelphia be the _Athens_ of mankind.

General Lee might petulantly exclaim in 1779, "Philadelphia is not an
Athens," and Neal might write in _Blackwood's Magazine_ that the
Philadelphians were "mutton-headed Athenians," but the name became a
favorite one with which to characterize the thriving Pennsylvania town
which exercised such sovereign sway and masterdom over its sister
cities. Benjamin West, in a letter to Charles Willson Peale (September
19, 1809), predicts that Philadelphia will in time "become the seat of
refinement in all accomplishments ... the _Athens_ of the Western
Empire." Harrison Hall and the gentlemen who published and maintained
the _Port Folio_ always styled Philadelphia the "_Athens_ of America."

As the capital of the government it was the centre of wealth and
fashion. Fine old mansions and gardens adorned Chestnut and High
Streets; Judge Tilghman in the Carpenter Mansion, Israel Pemberton in
Clarke Hall, Thomas Willing, the merchant prince, at Third and Walnut,
and his partner, Robert Morris, at Sixth and High Streets, Edward
Shippen at Fourth and Walnut, the Norris family in their home upon the
site of the U. S. Bank and Custom House, and in their great mansion at
Fair Hill, the Hamiltons at Bush Hill and the Woodlands, dispensed
lavish hospitality.

William Bingham, father-in-law of the eminent banker Alexander Baring,
who was afterwards Lord Ashburton, entertained in grand style. General
Washington drove out from the Morris mansion along the unpaved streets
south of Chestnut Street in a coach drawn by six horses and attended by
two footmen. In his stables on Minor Street was a stud of twelve or
fourteen horses. General John Cadwallader, father-in-law of the second
Lord Erskine, in his great house at Second and Spruce, made liberal use
of his immense fortune.

In the first year of this century the University of Pennsylvania, which
had played so great a part in the Revolution, and to which Louis XVI
had, in 1786, made so generous a donation, was removed to its new home
in the spacious buildings erected for the executive mansion. The
Philadelphia Library, which had been Franklin's first scheme for public
improvement, and which had been enriched by the generous gifts of James
Logan, was furnishing such opportunities for literary work as were
unknown elsewhere. John Quincy Adams sought in vain to cultivate in
Boston the "Wistar parties" that Caspar Wistar had made so famous in
Philadelphia. One hundred years ago there was only one scientific
foundation within this Republic that was not in Philadelphia, and that
was the American Academy in Boston. The American Philosophical Society
in its venerable hall in State House Yard numbered Presidents
Washington, Jefferson and Adams among its members. The best scholars of
Europe and America read its "Transactions" or contributed to its
"Proceedings." From his private observatory David Rittenhouse made the
earliest astronomical observations in this country, and rested his
transit instrument upon the ancient stanchions that still maintain their
place in the Philosophical Society window looking out upon the fine old
trees planted by the father of John Vaughan, secretary and librarian of
the society. The only Natural History Museum in this country was opened
in 1802 at Third and Lombard by Charles Willson Peale; and far out on
the Schuylkill at Gray's Ferry, John Bartram, whom Linnæus called "the
greatest natural botanist of the world," had planted the first botanic
garden.

The number of foreign exiles who at this time were moving in
Philadelphia society gave a cosmopolitan character to the city, and lent
to it the air of foreign capitals. Talleyrand, Beaumais, Vicomte de
Noailles and his brother-in-law Lafayette, Volney, the Duc de
Liancourt, and General Moreau, and at a later date Joseph Bonaparte and
Murat, were but a few of the distinguished members of the "French
colony."

JOSEPH DENNIE, the most interesting figure among American editors, came
to Philadelphia in 1799 as clerk to Timothy Pickering, who was then
Secretary of State, and his brilliant social qualities soon won him
recognition in the city. "The American Addison" he was called then, a
title he had won by the easy grace and pleasing melody of his style.[9]
He was born in Boston, August 30, 1768, and was sent to Harvard College,
where he proved a jibbing pupil, and was rusticated for a term of six
months. He industriously read all the books that were proscribed by the
Faculty, and ignored those studies that were recommended to him. His was
a brilliant but undisciplined mind, strongly independent, impetuous,
fond of contradiction, full of surprises, "studious of change and fond
of novelty," as he often defined himself. Soon after beginning the study
of law, Dennie wrote, "In the infancy of a profession 'tis chimerical to
talk of undeviating integrity. Let hair-brained enthusiasts prate in
their closets as loudly as they please to the contrary, a young
adventurer in any walk of life must take advantage of the events and
weaknesses of his fellow-mortals, or be content to munch turnip in a
cell amidst want and obscurity." Of course, all this is very outrageous,
but altogether what we should expect from such "unimproved mettle, hot
and full." He abandoned the law, and was among the first men in America
to devote himself to literature.

[9] When British reviewers styled Dennie "the American Addison," the
_Aurora Gazette_ broke forth into the following horse-laugh: "Exult, ye
white hills of New Hampshire, redoubtable Monadnock and Tuckaway! Laugh,
ye waters of the Winiseopee and Umbagog Lakes! Flow smooth in heroic
verse, ye streams of Amorioosack and Androscoggin, Cockhoko and
Coritocook! And you, merry Merrimack, be now more merry!"

His first experience in journalism was as editor of the _Tablet_ in
Boston, May 19, 1795. The paper lived just thirteen weeks.

Dennie next tried his Bohemian fortunes in Walpole, N. H., and
contributed to the _Farmer's Weekly Museum_, a good and popular journal
that had been founded in 1790, the papers entitled "The Lay Preacher,"
upon which rests his literary fame. Of this magazine he became editor
in 1796, and at once gathered about him a number of noble swelling
spirits who contributed racy and original reading to the "Farmer's"
subscribers.[10]

[10] Dennie always remained faithful to his New England friends. T. G.
Fessenden had been one of the contributors to the _Farmer's Museum_;
when his "Terrible Tractoration" appeared, Dennie wrote to the _Port
Folio_, "To Connecticut men studious either of Hudibrastic or solemn
poetry, we look with eager eyes for the most successful specimens of the
inspiration of the Muse." Fessenden was the last to maintain the fame of
the "Hartford Wits;" and the glory of "McFingal," and "The Conquest of
Canaan" and the "Anarchiad," and the "Political Green house" and "The
Echo" faded with the failing of the _Farmer's Museum_.

The publisher became bankrupt in 1798, and Dennie pilgrimaged to
Philadelphia, without fortune and without a patron. His service under
Pickering was of short duration.

In connection with Asbury Dickins, a son of John Dickins of the
_Methodist Magazine_, he began, January 3, 1801, the publication of the
_Port Folio_, by Oliver Oldschool, Esq., the best of Philadelphia
magazines, which he continued to edit until his death, in 1812. Dennie's
strong personality and engaging qualities of mind and heart attracted
attention, and made him many friends. With genuine editorial tact and
skill he drew to himself all the literary ability of the city, which was
then "the largest and most literary and most intellectually accomplished
city in the Union," to quote the words of a later editor of the _Port
Folio_, Dr. Charles Caldwell. There was scarcely a more picturesque
figure in Philadelphia in the first decade of this century than that
presented by the editor of the _Port Folio_. It would be necessary to go
to London and to Oliver Goldsmith to find another to outshine this
Oliver Oldschool as Buckingham saw him slipping along Chestnut Street to
his office "in a pea-green coat, white vest, nankeen small-clothes,
white silk stockings and pumps, fastened with silver buckles which
covered at least half the foot from the instep to the toe." Dennie was
but 44 years of age when he died; Buckingham says he was "a premature
victim to social indulgence." Those were the days of hard drinking and
of high thinking. Nothing so frugal as a cup of Madeira and a cold
capon's leg would satisfy Dennie's epicurean soul. He was a social
creature, and those _noctes ambrosianæ_ of the Tuesday Club when Tom
Moore, who celebrated the club in his eighth epistle, or some other
lover of Anacreon was the guest, were often kept up until it was too
late to go to bed. Wine songs and Martial-like epigrams of pointed
indecencies are correspondingly brisk and plentiful in the pages of the
_Port Folio_.

In the introduction to the magazine Dennie stated that the word _Port
Folio_ was not to be found in Johnson's Dictionary, and proceeded to
define it as "a portable repository for fugitive papers." "Editors," he
continued, slyly satirizing his contemporaries, "ambitious of sonorous
or brilliant titles, frequently select a name not intimately connected
with the nature of their work. We hear of the _Mirror_ and the _Aurora_;
but what relation has a literary essay with a _polished plane of glass_,
or what has politics to do with the _morning_?[11]" The editor began with
a "lilliputian page" because he was warned by "the waywardness of the
time." "A waywardness which," he explains, "alludes to our indifference
to elegant letters, the acrimony of our party bickerings, and to the
universal eagerness for political texts and their _commentary_.... Amid
such 'wild uproar' the gentle voice of the Muse is scarcely audible." In
these early years of the century literature was wretchedly paid. John
Davis, the vivacious English writer of travels, offered, in 1801, two
novels to any bookseller in the country who would publish them, on the
condition of receiving fifty copies. The booksellers of New York could
not, he said, undertake them, for they were dead of the fever. It is
interesting to find Dennie writing in his introduction, "Literary
industry, usefully employed, has a sort of draught upon the bank of
opulence, and has the right of entry into the mansion of every
Mæcenas.... Authors far elevated above the mire of low avarice have
thought it debasement to make literature common and cheap."

[11] The editor of the _Aurora_ retorted in kind, and dubbed the _Port
Folio_ "Portable Foolery."

The _Port Folio_ at once sprang into popular favor. In the life of
Josiah Quincy, by his son, we read, "The _Port Folio_ was very far
superior in literary ability to any magazine or periodical ever before
attempted in this country. Indeed, it was no whit behind the best
English magazines of that day, and would bear no unfavorable comparison
with those of the present time on either side of the water. Its
influence was greatly beneficial in raising the standard of literary
taste in this country, and in creating a demand for a higher order of
periodical literature and for more exact and careful editorship."

Dennie was a daring and devoted lover of England. He had no patience
with American innovations that, as it seemed to him, were certain to
lose history by being severed from the traditions of England. When the
doctrine of social equality was flaunted before him, or the glittering
clauses of the Declaration of Independence were quoted to him, his
indignation forgot all discretion. He was soon bandying hot words with
the _Aurora_, and marking with his scorn every new phase of Americanism.
Speaking in his editorial person he declared:

"To gratify the malignancy of fanatics he will not asperse the
Government or the Church, the laws or the literature of England.
Remembering that we are _at peace_ with that power--that the most
wholesome portions of our polity are modelled from hers--that we kneel
at shrines and speak a language common to both, he will not flagitiously
and foolishly advert to ancient animosities, nor with rash hand attempt
to hurl the brand of discord between the nations." In the same
connection he attacks Gallic philosophy and the equality of man, the
latter of which he styles an "execrable delusion of hair-brained
philosophy." Others might speak of "the _Republic_ of letters;" with
Dennie it was the _Monarchy_ of letters. Several articles ran through
the _Port Folio_ of 1801 on the sentiment and style of the Declaration
of Independence, characterizing that famous document as a "false and
flatulent and foolish paper." In the same volume (page 215) Dennie,
offended by the introduction of some new Americanism into politics,
writes:

"Unsatisfied with _acting_ like fools, men begin to enlarge their scheme
and talk and write from the vocabulary of folly. All this, however,
quadrates with the character of a good republican; as he hates England,
why not murder _English_?" In April, 1803, Dennie denounced Democratic
Government, and prophesied that of it would come "civil war, desolation
and anarchy." His pranks had now become too broad to bear with, and on
the Fourth of July this latest publication of his was condemned as "an
inflammatory and seditious libel," and a bill of indictment was found.
The case was tried in November, 1805, Ingersoll and Hopkinson appearing
for the defence. The verdict reached was "not guilty," and Mr. Joseph
Dennie had the triumphant pleasure the next week in his report of the
case to define democracy for the benefit of his enemies as "a fiend more
horrible than any that the imagination of the classical poets ever
conjured up from the vasty deep of their Pagan Hell."

When Dennie learned that a certain Noah Webster was to publish "A
Columbian Dictionary" containing "American corrections of the English
language," he had a few suggestions to offer. The Columbian language he
understood to be an elegant dialect of the English, but, he went on,
"there is one remark which I would wish with deference to submit to our
great lexicographer before I finish this paper. As his dictionary, I
understand, is to be the dictionary of the vulgar tongue in New England,
would it not be better to prefix to it the epithet _Cabotian_ instead of
Columbian? Sebastian Cabot first discovered these Eastern States, and
ought not to be robbed of the honor of giving his name to them. I would,
therefore, propose calling New England Cabotia, the other States
America, and the Southern continent Columbia." He then proposed, in
irony, a list of a few "Cabotian words"--happify, gunning, belittle,
quiddle, composuist, sot, etc. _Lengthy_ he stigmatizes as "a foolish,
flat, unauthorized, unmusical Indian word".[12] In conclusion (_Port
Folio_, I, page 370), "let then the projected volume of _foul and
unclean_ things bear his own Christian name and be called NOAH'S ARK!"

[12] "Lengthy" is the American for long. It is frequently used by the
_classical_ writers of the New World.--(John Davis' "Travels in the
United States," page 126.)

We meet the first notice of Benjamin West, as a boy of 19 years, in
Bradford's second _American Magazine_. In the first volume of the _Port
Folio_ we find the first of a long series of sketches in praise of
West's genius and generosity. "It is a melancholy and miraculous
circumstance," the satirical writer begins, "that this American artist,
after experiencing the good fortune to be born and educated in
Pennsylvania, should sullenly retreat to England and exchange the
glorious privileges of our happy, tranquil and rising Republic for the
smoke and servility of the city of London. It is perfectly inexplicable
that he should barter citizenship for knighthood, that he should receive
a king's money, and, more provoking still, be soothed by regal praise.
What are titles, honours and gold to an independent Republican who,
remaining at home, might have had the noblest and amplest opportunities
of _giving away_ as many pictures as he pleased."

It is a singular history, that of the boy from Chester County, whom
Byron called--

  The dotard West,
  Europe's worst daub, and poor England's best.

The Archbishop of York, for whom he had painted his "Agrippina landing
with the Ashes of Germanicus," presented the young American to George
III. "The Departure of Regulus from Rome" won for him the royal favor.
In 1768 he was one of the founders of the Royal Academy, and in 1792 he
succeeded Sir Joshua Reynolds as President of that institution.

The _Port Folio_ is full of accounts of "Christ Healing the Sick,"
West's generous gift to the Pennsylvania Hospital, and of his "Death on
the Pale Horse," and his "Paul and Barnabas" in the Pennsylvania
Academy.

In a letter from West to Charles Willson Peale, dated November 3, 1809,
and published in the _Port Folio_ of the following year, reference is
made to a young gentleman, studying under his directions, "whose talents
only want time to mature them to excellence," and West desires his
friends in Philadelphia to procure for the young man the means of
studying another year. That rising artist, who had early felt the
generous assistance of Benjamin West, was Thomas Sully, who had the
honor, in 1837-8, of painting the scene of Queen Victoria's coronation,
and his daughter, to save her Majesty fatigue, stood for her, wearing
the royal robes.

John Trumbull, son of "Brother Jonathan" the patriot, who painted the
famous "Declaration of Independence," was imprisoned for treason in
London, and was only released by Benjamin West, to whom he had been
introduced by Franklin, becoming his surety. Gilbert Stuart, greatest of
American portrait painters, who has graven the face of Washington upon
our memories, learned his art and received his earliest encouragement in
the English home of Benjamin West. It is a matter of interesting and
singular memory that a Boston boy, John Singleton Copley, sent
anonymously to West, in 1760, a portrait which at once attracted
attention. It was "The Boy and the Flying Squirrel," the boy
representing Copley's half-brother, Henry Pelham. Through West's
influence the picture was exhibited at Somerset House. Through West
again, Copley was elected a fellow of the Society of Artists of Great
Britain. When he crossed the ocean to make his home near West, he took
with him his Boston-born son, John Singleton, Jr., who became in 1827,
the year that the _Port Folio_ suspended, Lord Chancellor of England,
and was raised to the peerage as Baron Lyndhurst. To Lyndhurst, as the
greatest of orators, Lord Lytton dedicated his _St. Stephen's_.

The leading article of the _Port Folio_ of May 28, 1803, is devoted to
young Leigh Hunt, and treats him as an American poet, and assures the
public that he "is a deserving object of patronage." Again, in June 11,
1803, some sonnets and odes are quoted from Hunt's _Juvenilia_, Hunt
being then a lad of 19 years, and the author is said to be a "blossom
from our own garden." Although the editor lays claim to Leigh Hunt as a
Philadelphian and to his works as American, he is advised to abide in
London: "Let him remain in London, 'the metropolis of the civilized
world,' and remember with the judicious Sancho that St. Peter is very
well at Rome.... It affords the editor the purest pleasure to have it in
his power to advance the claims of a child of genius, a nephew of Sir
Benjamin West, an honor to that country from which he is descended and
to that which protects him."

Isaac Hunt, the father of the author of "The Story of Rimini," and
Benjamin West married sisters, daughters of Stephen Shewell, merchant,
in Philadelphia. Leigh Hunt, in 1810, writing in the _Monthly Mirror_,
gave an eloquent and tender description of his mother, Mary Shewell,
which was reprinted in the _Analectic Magazine_ of Philadelphia, in
1814. "Here, indeed," he exclaimed, "I could enlarge both seriously and
proudly; for if any one circumstance of my life could give me cause for
boasting, it would be that of having had such a mother. She was indeed a
mother in every exalted sense of the word, in piety, in sound teaching,
in patient care, in spotless example." The father, Isaac Hunt, came to
Philadelphia from the Barbadoes, was graduated at the College of
Philadelphia, read law in the city, and was admitted to the bar in 1765.
He was an uncompromising Tory. It is said that on one occasion he
pointed out to a bookseller a volume of reports of trials for high
treason as a proper book for John Adams to read. Alexander Graydon, one
of the faithful contributors to the _Port Folio_, in his "Memoirs of a
Life Chiefly Passed in Pennsylvania," relates the following incident
which, no doubt, led to the accident of Leigh Hunt's birth in England,
and to the loss of "Abou ben Adhem" to America: "A few days after the
carting of Mr. Kearsley, Mr. Isaac Hunt, the attorney, was treated in
the same manner, but he managed the matter much better than his
precursor. Instead of braving his conductors, like the Doctor, Mr. Hunt
was a pattern of meekness and humility; and at every halt that was made
he rose and expressed his acknowledgments to the crowd for their
forbearance and civility. After a parade of an hour or two, he was set
down at his own door, as uninjured in body as in mind. He soon after
removed to one of the islands, if I mistake not, to Barbadoes, where, it
is understood, he took orders."

Leigh Hunt was not the only English poet of far-shining fame who was of
American origin. Percy Bysshe Shelley was the grandson of a quack doctor
in Newark, N. J., who, according to a local tradition, married the widow
of a New York miller. Fitz-Greene Halleck lived and died in an old house
in Guilford, Connecticut, built upon ground that had belonged to Bysshe
Shelley, before he went to England and became master of Castle Goring.
Many another great life in England was bound with strands of intimate
connection to the history of America. John Keats's brother George made
his home in Kentucky, and his descendants are still residents of
Philadelphia. Tench Francis, the merchant, who was for many years the
agent for the Penns in their domain, and who was the first cashier of
the Bank of North America, was a cousin of Sir Philip Francis, the
reputed author of the "Junius" letters. Sir Philip wrote to Tench's
brother, Turbott, whom he called, familiarly, "Tubby:" "At present I am
bound to the Ganges, but who knows whether I may not end my days on the
banks of the Ohio? It gives me great comfort to reflect that I have
relatives, who are honest fellows, in almost every part of the world. In
America the name of Francis flourishes. I don't like to think of the
quantity of salt water between us. If it were claret I would drink my
way to America." The name of Francis certainly flourishes in
Philadelphia. The intricate little settlement of Francisville, within
the city, perpetuates the name of the family.

It has always been asserted and believed that Gulian Crommelin
Verplanck, of New York, was the first American editor of Shakespeare. A
few jottings from the _Port Folio_ will show that he has too rashly been
placed upon the pinnacle, and that the honor justly belongs to Joseph
Dennie.

The _Port Folio_ of February 11, 1804 (p. 46) advertises "the first
complete edition of Shakespeare in this country, from the text of the
best editors of Shakespeare. To be published by Hugh Maxwell and Thomas
S. Manning." No editor's name is mentioned, but in the following month
(March 10, 1804) Dennie tells the whole story: "The editor, having, at
the request of his publisher, undertaken to superintend a new edition of
the Plays of Shakespeare, is particularly desirous of inspecting the
first folio edition. This is probably very scarce, and may be found only
in the cabinet of some distant virtuoso. But the owner of this rare book
will be very gratefully thanked if the editor can have permission to
consult it for a short season." Later on (April 14, p. 119) Dennie
confesses some further "wants:" "During some weeks in which the editor
has been engaged in researches respecting the text of Shakespeare he
has had frequent occasion to acknowledge the kindness of many literary
gentlemen who have directed his attention to many books auxiliary to his
labors. But notwithstanding his own inquisitiveness and the aid of
others, he still has not had the good fortune to find the following, for
the whole or any one of which he will be particularly obliged:--'Remarks
on Shakespeare's Tempest,' 'An Essay on the Dramatic Character of Sir
John Falstaff, by Mr. Maurice Morgan, 8 vo, 1777,'" etc., etc.

After this there can be no doubt that the useful notes to the 1807
edition, signed "J. D.," are from the pen of Joseph Dennie. Although he
edited but one volume, he is the first American editor, and the honors
are transferred from New York to Philadelphia.

Charles Brockden Brown was the first man in America to cultivate
literature as a profession; Dennie was the second. When inaugurating the
_Port Folio_ he wrote of himself: "He has long been urged by a sober
wish, or, if the sneering reader will have it so, he has long been
deluded by the visionary whim, of making literature the handmaid of
fortune, or at least of securing something like independence, by
exertion, as a man of letters."

Of course Dennie and his colleagues who drew their poetry from Pope and
their prose from Addison had no sympathy with the new romantic poetry
that at the time of the birth of the _Port Folio_ was issuing from the
English Lakes. "William Wordsworth" said the _Port Folio_ of 1809
"stands among the foremost of those English bards who have mistaken
silliness for simplicity, and, with a false and affected taste, filled
their papers with the language of children and clowns" (_P. F._, Vol.
VII, p. 256).

The first American edition of Wordsworth was published in Philadelphia
in 1802. It is exceedingly rare, and bears the following imprint:

LYRICAL BALLADS, | with | other poems: | In Two Volumes. | By W.
WORDSWORTH. | [Motto] Quam nihil ad genium, papiniane, tuum! | Vol. I. |
From the London Second Edition. | PHILADELPHIA: | _Printed and sold by
James Humphreys,--At the N. W. Corner of Walnut and Dock street, 1802._
2 _vols._ 120. VOL. I, _pp._ xxii-159. VOL. II, _pp._ 172.

The earliest notice of John Howard Payne is in the _Port Folio_, new
series, Vol. I, p. 101 (1806). Payne was then a lad of fourteen years,
and already editor of the _Thespian Mirror_ in New York.

The _Port Folio_, new series, Vol. II, p. 421, contains an account of
the first dramatic performance composed in North Carolina, "NOLENS
VOLENS; or, _The Biter Bit_," written by Everard Hall, a gentleman of
North Carolina.

Dennie died January 7, 1812, and was buried in St. Peter's churchyard. A
monument was erected to him, and the inscription carved upon it, which
errs only in the place of his nativity, was written by his friend, John
Quincy Adams:

                    Joseph Dennie,
          Born at Lexington, Massachusetts,
                   August 30, 1768;
         Died at Philadelphia, January 7, 1812;
     Endowed with talents and qualified by education
            To adorn the senate and the bar;
          But following the impulse of a genius
          Formed for converse with the muses
  He devoted his life to the literature of his country.
            As author of "The Lay Preacher,"
        And as first editor of the _Port Folio_,
      He contributed to chasten the morals, and to
            Refine the taste of this nation.
       To an imagination lively, not licentious,
              A wit sportive, not wanton,
             And a heart without guile, he
       United a deep sensibility, which endeared
        Him to his friends, and an ardent piety,
         Which we humbly trust recommended him
                      to his God.
    Those friends have erected this tribute of their
                Affection to his memory;
       To the mercies of that God is their resort
              For themselves and for him.
                       MDCCCXIX.

John Quincy Adams, who wrote the lines upon the monument, was an old and
valued friend of Dennie's, and one of the earliest contributors to the
_Port Folio_.

His "Tour Through Silesia," afterward reprinted in London in two octavo
volumes, first appeared in the _Port Folio_ in 1801. He also contributed
to the first number of the magazine a version of the thirteenth satire
of Juvenal, and intended to continue the translation of Juvenal, but
abandoned the project when Gifford's work was announced. A brother of
John Quincy Adams, who was a resident of Philadelphia, had been a
fellow-student with Dennie at Harvard.

The obituary notice of Dennie in the _Port Folio_ of February, 1812, did
not satisfy his friends. His life was related at greater length,
accompanied by a silhouette, in May, 1816 (_Port Folio_, page 361). This
time the affection and admiration for the man found right expression. It
was said that Dennie had "erected the first temple to the muses on his
natal shore;" and "when the Muse of History shall hereafter narrate the
story of our rapid progress from ignorance, poverty and feebleness, to
knowledge, splendor and strength, the name of Dennie will be inscribed
among the most worthy of those who laboured to procure these invaluable
blessings" (page 170).

A complete list of the contributors to the _Port Folio_ would be the
history of literature in Philadelphia for the first quarter of this
century. The articles were almost never signed, and while the thin
disguises of assumed names are in most cases easily penetrable, some
that occur infrequently are only identified with much difficulty.

The last editor of the _Port Folio_, Mr. John E. Hall, published in 1826
"The Philadelphia Souvenir, a collection of fugitive pieces from the
Philadelphia press, with biographical and explanatory notes." The book
was intended to be "a sort of _cairn_ to the memory of the circle of
friends which Mr. Moore has commemorated in his immortal poems." The
commemoration to which Mr. Hall refers is found in Moore's "eighth
epistle," addressed "To the Honourable W. R. Spencer:"

  Yet, yet forgive me, oh you sacred few,
  Whom late by Delaware's green banks I knew;
  Whom, known and lov'd through many a social eve,
  'Twas bliss to live with, and 'twas pain to leave.
  Not with more joy the lonely exile scann'd
  The writing traced upon the desert sand,
  Where his lone breast but little hop'd to find
  One trace of life, one stamp of human kind,
  Than did I hail the pure, th' enlightened zeal,
  The strength to reason and the warmth to feel,
  The manly polish and the illumin'd taste,
  Which,--'mid the melancholy, heartless waste
  My foot has travers'd,--oh you sacred few!
  I found by Delaware's green banks with you.

The only pleasant memories of America that Thomas Moore carried back
with him to England were of the "nights of mirth and mind" spent "where
Schuylkill winds his way through banks of flowers." He was in
Philadelphia in the autumn of 1804, and was lionized by the _Port
Folio_; the eighth epistle in the "Poems Relating to America," from
which the lines above are quoted, was written at Buffalo, and it was
from Buffalo also that Moore sent to Dennie the manuscript of the
beautiful "Lines on Leaving Philadelphia," which was published in the
_Port Folio_ of August 31, 1805 (Vol. V, p. 271), and reprinted in
Brockden Brown's _Literary Magazine_, January, 1806 (Vol. III, p. 27).


LINES WRITTEN ON LEAVING PHILADELPHIA.

  Alone by the Schuylkill a wanderer rov'd,
    And bright were its flowery banks to his eye;
  But far, very far were the friends that he lov'd,
    And he gazed on its flowery banks with a sigh.

  O Nature, though blessed and bright are thy rays,
    O'er the brow of creation enchantingly thrown,
  Yet faint are they all to the lustre that plays
    In a smile from the heart that is fondly our own!

  Nor long did the soul of the stranger remain
    Unblest by the smile that he languished to meet;
  Though scarce did he hope it would soothe him again,
    Till the threshold of home had been prest by his feet.

  But the lays of his boyhood had stol'n to their ear,
    And they lov'd what they knew of so humble a name;
  And they told him, with flattery welcome and dear,
    That they found in his heart something better than fame.

  Nor did woman--O woman! whose form and whose soul
    Are the spell and the light of each path we pursue;
  Whether sunn'd in the tropics or chill'd at the pole,
    If a woman be there, there is happiness too.

  Nor did she her enamouring magic deny,--
    That magic his heart had relinquished so long,--
  Like eyes he had loved was _her_ eloquent eye,
    Like them did it soften and weep at his song.

  Oh, blest be the tear, and in memory oft
    May its sparkle be shed o'er the wanderer's dream;
  Thrice blest be that eye, and may passion as soft,
    As free from a pang, ever mellow its beam!

  The stranger is gone--but he will not forget,
    When at home he shall talk of the toils he has known,
  To tell with a sigh what endearments he met,
    As he stray'd by the wave of the Schuylkill alone.

It is interesting to remember that the woman in the poem,

  Like eyes he had loved was her eloquent eye,

was the wife of Joseph Hopkinson, the author of "Hail Columbia," whose
house at Fourth and Chestnut Streets was the resort of Dennie and the
wits.

Moore also contributed to the _Port Folio_ "When Time who steals our
Hearts Away," "Dear, in Pity do not Speak," "Good-night, Good-night, and
is it so?" "When the Heart's Feeling," "Loud sung the Wind," and "The
Sorrow long has worn my Heart."

Among the _Port Folio_ gentlemen who may have met "Anacreon" Moore, and
who were Dennie's faithful coadjutors, were John Blair Linn, John Shaw,
Francis Cope, Robert H. Rose, Thomas I. Wharton, Charles J. Ingersoll
and his brother Edward, Condy Raguet, Robert Walsh, John Sanderson, John
Syng Dorsey, Royall Tyler, Robert Hare, Dr. Nathaniel Chapman, Alexander
Graydon, Josiah Quincy, John Leeds Bozman, William B. Wood, General
Thomas Cadwalader, Philip Hamilton, Richard Rush, Richard Peters,
Gouverneur Morris, Joseph Hopkinson, Horace Binney, Alexander Wilson,
Charles Brockden Brown and Samuel Ewing. To this list must be added the
bright names of Sarah Hall, Mrs. Elizabeth Ferguson and Harriet Fenno.

The editors and editorial helpers of the _Port Folio_ from the death of
Dennie until 1827, when the magazine finally ceased, were Paul Allen,
Nicholas Biddle, Dr. Charles Caldwell, Thomas Cooper, Judge Workman,
John Elihu Hall, and his three brothers James, Thomas Mifflin, and
Harrison.

JOHN BLAIR LINN (1777-1804), the author of the "Powers of Genius"
(1801), a popular work which was splendidly reprinted in London,[13] was
the son of Dr. William Linn, of Shippensburg, who presided successively
over the destinies of three colleges--Washington, Rutgers and Union--and
was for many years a regent of a fourth--the University of the State of
New York. John Blair was graduated from Columbia, read law with
Alexander Hamilton, wrote an unsuccessful drama, "Bourville Castle," and
on June 13, 1799, was installed as joint-pastor of the First
Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia. He engaged in controversy with Joseph
Priestley, but his best achievements were "Valerian," a narrative poem,
and "The Death of Washington" (1800). John Blair Linn was a
brother-in-law of Charles Brockden Brown. A biographical sketch of him
was written for the _Port Folio_ in 1809 (page 21), and again in 1811
(89-97). Brown also published a review of his life and work in the
_Literary Magazine_, Vol. II, page 554.

[13] The Powers of Genius, a poem in three parts, by John Blair Linn,
A.M. Albion Press. Printed by J. Cundee, Ivy Lane, for F. Williams,
Stationers' Court, and T. Hurst, Paternoster Row, 1804.

JOHN SHAW (1778-1809) was born in Annapolis, May 4, 1778, and lost at
sea January 10, 1809. He studied medicine in the University of
Pennsylvania, and visited Algiers as a ship-surgeon in 1798. He died on
a voyage to the Bahama Islands.

The best poem that he contributed to the _Port Folio_ was:

  Who has robbed the ocean cave,
    To tinge thy lips with coral hue?
  Who from India's distant wave
    For thee those pearly treasures drew?
      Who, from yonder Orient sky,
      Stole the morning of thine eye?

  Thousand charms thy form to deck,
    From sea, and earth, and air are born;
  Roses bloom upon thy cheek,
    On thy breath their fragrance borne.
      Guard thy bosom from the day,
      Lest thy snows should melt away.

  But one charm remains behind,
    Which mute earth can ne'er impart;
  Nor in ocean wilt thou find,
    Nor in the circling air, a heart.
      Fairest! wouldst thou perfect be,
      Take, oh take that heart from me.

All his offerings to the _Port Folio_ were signed "Ithacus." His poems
were collected and published in 1810, together with a memoir and
extracts from his foreign correspondence.

FRANCIS COPE contributed essays to the _Port Folio_ in 1812. He was an
occasional writer for several years, signing his papers with the
initials "C. F."

ROBERT H. ROSE is the author of the "Sketches in Verse," published in
1810, nearly all of which had previously appeared in the _Port Folio_,
where the "Sketches" were termed "a kind of chalk drawings." One of
them, "To a Market Street Gutter," was a parody of the "Ode to the
Raritan," and was the cause of John Davis writing the "Pursuits of
Philadelphia Literature".[14]

[14] There is no mention of Robert Rose in Duyckinck, or Allibone, in
Appleton's Encyclopædia of American Biography, or in the admirable
Stedman-Hutchinson Library of American Literature.

The _Port Folio_ of May, 1816 (page 361), has a frontispiece engraving
of "Silver Lake," the seat of Robert Rose, in Susquehanna County, on the
New York line.


ODE TO A MARKET STREET GUTTER.

_A Specimen of Local Description._

  O sweetest Gutter! though a clown,
  I love to see thee running down;
  Or mark thee stop awhile, then free
  From ice, jog on again, like me;
  Or like the lasses whom I meet,
  Who, sauntering, stray along the street,
  As if they had nowhere to go!
  At times, so rapid is thy flow,
  That did the cits not wish in vain
  Thou wouldst be in the pumps again,
  But like a pig, whose fates deny
  To find again his wonted sty,
  You turn, and stop, and run, and turn,
  Yet ne'er shall find your "native urn."
  How oft has rolled down thy stream
  Things which in song not well would seem,
  Ere scavengers their scrapers plied
  To drag manure from out thy tide,
  Or hydrants bade thy scanty rill
  Desert its banks and cellars fill.
  Last Thursday morn, so very cold,
  A morn _not_ better felt than told,
  Then first in all its bright array,
  Did I thy "frozen form" survey;
  And, goodness! what a great big steeple!
  What sights of houses! and such people!!
  And then I thought, did I not stutter,
  But verse could, like _some poets_, utter,
  How much I'd praise thee, sweetest Gutter!

After the publication of this parody John Davis printed "The
Philadelphia Pursuits of Literature. By Juvenal Junius of New Jersey.
Phila.: John Davis, 1805."

  "Then Muses aid me! and I'll fain review
  The Philadelphia lounging scribbling crew."

Davis had met the gentlemen of the _Port Folio_ and had all the
information necessary for stinging satire of the Mutual Admiration
Society that met at Meredith's and Hopkinson's or at Dennie's office. In
his "Travels" (p. 203), he writes: "At Philadelphia I found Mr. Brown
(C. B.), who felt no remission of his literary diligence by a change of
abode (from New York). He was ingratiating himself into the favor of the
ladies by writing a new novel, and rivalling Lopez de Vega by the
multitude of his works. Mr. Brown introduced me to Mr. (Asbury) Dickins,
and Mr. Dickins to Mr. Dennie; Mr. Dennie presented me to Mr. Wilkins,
and Mr. Wilkins to the Rev. Mr. Abercrombie; a constellation of
American geniuses, in whose blaze I was almost consumed.... Rev. Mr.
Abercrombie was impatient of every conversation that did not relate to
Dr. Johnson, of whom he could detail every anecdote from the time he
trod on a duck till he purchased an oak-stick to repulse
Macpherson."[15]

[15] Abercrombie's prospectus for a new edition of Johnson's Works--"to
be comprised in fourteen octavo volumes, with new designs and plates.
Phila.: 1811"--is contained in the _Port Folio_, Vol. VI, p. 98.

In the "Philadelphia Pursuits" Davis wrote of Dennie:

  "There's no clown from Walpole to Hell-Gate,
  But ribaldry from him has learned to prate."

And again:

  "Such is our Dennie! high exalted name,
  Eager alike for dollars and for fame."

Two Philadelphians only escaped the sting of the adder:

  "With Clifton, Nature's poet, who shall vie?
  Though low he lies, his works shall never die.
  And Linn, distinguish'd for his moral lays,
  Shall, by his strain, Columbia's triumph raise."

"The Sketches in Verse" was magnificently printed for C. and A. Conrad
by Smith and Maxwell in 1810.

To "a pastoral love-ditty" that began--

  "Where Schuylkill o'er his rocky bed
  Roars, like a bull in battle"--

Rose appended the note:

     "Our American names, although some of them are truly savage, are
     not much worse than many of those with which we might be furnished
     by other nations in abundance; and Schuylkill would not have
     offended the ears of Boileau more than the Whal and the Leck, the
     Issel and the Zuiderzee."

THOMAS I. WHARTON (1791-1856), a distinguished Philadelphia lawyer, was
a frequent contributor, and for a time was editor of the _Analectic
Magazine_.

CHARLES J. INGERSOLL, the author of "Inchiquin the Jesuit's Letters on
American Literature and Politics," was born in Philadelphia, October 3,
1782, and died there May 14, 1862. His first boyish composition is in
the _Port Folio_ of October 24, 1801. It is entitled "Chiomara," and is
introduced by the editor as the work of a "youth ambitious of the fame
of Chatterton." Chiomara is a Gaul, who kills a Roman in defence of her
honor.

EDWARD INGERSOLL, a younger brother of Charles, wrote poems for the
_Port Folio_ on the events of the times, and named them "Horace in
Philadelphia." All his poems, of whatever nature, were signed "Horace."

CONDY RAGUET (1784-1842) published in the _Port Folio_ some interesting
letters on the "Massacre of St. Domingo." He had gone as supercargo to
Hayti, and lived there during the exciting scenes of the Revolution. He
also contributed numerous papers to the _Port Folio_ upon "Free Trade."

JOHN SANDERSON (1783-1844) was professor of Greek and Latin in the
Philadelphia Central High School. He wrote, at the suggestion of
Theodore Hook, a capital volume of Parisian sketches, called the
"American in Paris," which Jules Janin translated into French. Portions
of his "American in London" appeared in the _Knickerbocker Magazine_. He
successfully opposed, in a pamphlet signed "Riberjot," the plan of
excluding the classical languages from Girard College. He was an
intimate friend of John E. Hall, and contributed to the _Port Folio_.

JOHN SYNG DORSEY (1783-1818) succeeded Dr. Wistar as professor of
anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania. He published an edition of
Cooper's "Surgery," and "Elements of Surgery," the latter of which was
adopted as the text-book in Edinburgh.

ROYALL TYLER was born in Boston, near Faneuil Hall, July 18, 1757. He
studied law under John Adams, was made a judge of the Supreme Court in
1794, and, in 1800, became chief justice. He was one of the closest
friends of Joseph Dennie, and when the latter became editor of the
_Farmer's Weekly Museum_ he wrote for him a medley of verse and social
and political skits under the general title "From the Shop of Messrs.
Colon and Spondee."

These papers he continued to write for the _Port Folio_. They "are
divided between Federal politics, attacks on French democracy, the Della
Cruscan literature, and the fashionable frivolities of the day." He also
wrote for the _Port Folio_, in 1801, a series of similarly varied
articles, richly reminiscent, entitled "An Author's Evenings."

ROBERT HARE (1781-1858), father of Judge J. I. C. Hare, who was
professor of chemistry and natural philosophy in William and Mary
College, and, later, professor of chemistry in the University of
Pennsylvania, published a number of moral essays in the _Port Folio_
under the pen-name of "Eldred Grayson."

DR. NATHANIEL CHAPMAN (1783-1850) used the pen-name of "Falkland."

ALEXANDER GRAYDON (1752-1818), a man of elegant manners and author of a
useful and entertaining volume of "Memoirs of a Life chiefly passed in
Pennsylvania within the last Sixty Years," published, in the _Port
Folio_, in 1813-14, a series of chatty paragraphs styled "Notes of a
Desultory Reader." He lived in the "Slate-Roof House," at Second Street
and Norris' Alley, where he had an opportunity of meeting men of rank
and fame.

JOSIAH QUINCY (1772-1864), whose opinion of the _Port Folio_ has been
already quoted, contributed to it a series of articles, beginning
January 28, 1804, in the style of Swift, and signed "Climenole".[16]

[16] The name of the flappers, employed by the inhabitants of Laputa to
arouse them from their scientific reveries.

JOHN LEEDS BOZMAN (1757-1823) studied at the University of Pennsylvania,
and read law in the Middle Temple, London. He contributed both prose
and verse to the _Port Folio_.

GENERAL THOMAS CADWALADER (1779-1841) furnished the magazine with
translations of Horace.

RICHARD RUSH (1780-1859) was admitted to the Philadelphia bar in 1800,
and successfully defended William Duane, of the _Aurora_, on a charge of
libelling Gov. Thomas McKean. He occasionally contributed official and
personal anecdotes to the _Port Folio_.

RICHARD PETERS (1744-1828), the witty judge of Belmont, extended
princely hospitality at his country seat. His association with the most
distinguished men of Europe and America stored his memory with the
choicest bits of political and personal history. These odd old ends,
stolen out of the secret chronicles of the time, and decked with his
rare wit, were given upon irregular occasions to the _Port Folio_.

GOUVERNEUR MORRIS (1752-1816) contributed political satires in both
prose and verse to Dennie and his confrères.

JOSEPH HOPKINSON (1770-1842), whose authorship of "Hail Columbia" has
been already referred to, wrote the articles upon Shakespeare that
appeared in the _Port Folio_ between 1801 and 1806. His house at Fourth
and Chestnut Streets was a favorite meeting-place for Dennie and the
wits.

HORACE BINNEY (1780-1875), one of the most distinguished lawyers at a
time when a Philadelphia lawyer was a synonym for skill and cleverness,
wrote in moments, snatched from a busy and almost breathless profession,
some of the clearest and most careful sketches of classical literature,
as well as the shrewdest of political satires to be found in the early
volumes of the _Port Folio_.

HARRIET FENNO, daughter of John Ward Fenno, founder and editor of the
_United States Gazette_, signed her verses "Violetta."

MRS. ELIZABETH FERGUSON was the woman who carried to Washington the
letter written by Dr. Duché urging concessions to the British as the
only means of saving the country from spoliation and ruin. She was a
daughter of Dr. Thomas Graeme, a Scottish physician, and granddaughter
of Sir William Keith. Father and daughter lived for a time in the
Slate-Roof House, then in the Carpenter mansion at Sixth and Chestnut,
and finally at Graeme Hall in Montgomery County. Her life was written in
the _Port Folio_ of 1809 (Page 524). Letters from her appear in various
numbers of that magazine, always signed "Laura." Nathaniel Evans wooed
Miss Graeme as "Laura" in true Petrarchan fashion. The Philadelphia
Library possesses the MS. of a translation of Fénelon by Mrs. Ferguson.

She visited Europe in company with Dr. Richard Peters, of Philadelphia,
and everywhere her brilliant conversation and refined manners won her
recognition and applause in literary society. Laurence Sterne was
fascinated by her. "She took a seat upon the same stage with him at the
York races. While bets were making upon different horses, she selected a
small horse that was in the rear of the coursers as the subject of a
trifling wager. Upon being asked the reason for doing so, she said 'the
race was not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong.' Mr.
Sterne, who stood near to her, was struck with this reply, and turning
hastily toward her begged for the honor of her acquaintance. They soon
became sociable, and a good deal of pleasant conversation took place
between them to the great entertainment of the surrounding company"
(Knapp, "Female Biography," page 217).

She wrote a parody upon Pope which was printed with Nathaniel Evans'
poems (1772):

  How happy is the country parson's lot!
  Forgetting bishops, as by them forgot;
  Tranquil of spirit, with an easy mind,
  To all his vestry's votes he sits resigned.
  Of manners gentle and of temper even,
  He jogs his flocks, with easy pace, to heaven.
  In Greek and Latin pious books he keeps,
  And, while his clerk sings psalms, he--soundly sleeps.
  His garden fronts the sun's sweet orient beams,
  And fat church-wardens prompt his golden dreams.
  The earliest fruit in his fair orchard blooms,
  And cleanly pipes pour out tobacco fumes.
  From rustic bridegroom oft he takes the ring,
  And hears the milkmaid plaintive ballads sing.
  Back-gammon cheats whole winter nights away,
  And Pilgrim's Progress helps a rainy day.

ALEXANDER WILSON was born in Paisley, Scotland, July 6, 1766, and died
in Philadelphia, August 23, 1813. "The Poems and Literary Prose of
Alexander Wilson" was edited by A. B. Grosart, and published at Paisley
in 1876. "With the exception of Allen Ramsay, Ferguson and Burns, none
of our Scottish vernacular poets have been so continuously kept in print
as Alexander Wilson" (Grosart). Seven biographies of him attest the
lively interest felt in his personality and his work. In Scotland he was
apprenticed to a weaver, and, after serving his time, he continued to
work at the loom for four years more. He published "Watty and Meg" in
1792, an anonymous poem, the authorship of which was commonly ascribed
to Robert Burns. He came to America in 1794, worked for a year at his
trade, and subsequently taught at various schools in Pennsylvania and
New Jersey. In 1802 he settled at Kingsessing, now in the city of
Philadelphia, close by the home of Bartram, the botanist. Here he taught
the "Union" School. It was in a picturesque spot. Before its doors were
cedars and "stripling poplars planted in a row, and old gray white
oaks."

But birds were more attractive to him than boys. They commanded him, as
the nightingale did the gypsy steward, and he followed them into
untrodden wildernesses. Thomas Bradford undertook to publish Wilson's
colossal "Ornithology." It was to be distinctly an "American" work. It
was to be printed on American paper; and Amies, the paper-maker, even
declared that he would use only "American" rags in making it. Seven
volumes appeared during the author's life, or between 1808 and 1813.

Wilson published the "Rural Walk" in Brown's _Literary Magazine_ of
August, 1804, and the "Solitary Tutor" in the same publication, October,
1804. The former poem was reprinted in the _Port Folio_ of April 27,
1805. Dennie was charmed with the poem, and explained that he reprinted
it because the author "delights in pictures of American scenery and
landscape, and wisely therefore leaves to European poets their
nightingales and skylarks, and their _dingles_ and _dells_. He makes no
mention of yews and myrtles, nor echoes a single note of either
bullfinch or chaffinch, but faithfully describes American objects,
though not entirely in the American idiom." The following four stanzas
from the "Rural Walk" may give a conception of Wilson's close
observation and nice fidelity to nature.

  "Down to the left was seen afar
    The whitened spire of sacred name,[17]
  And ars'nal, where the god of war
    Has hung his spears of bloody fame.

  "There upward where it (Schuylkill) gently bends,
    And Say's red fortress tow'rs in view,[18]
  The floating bridge its length extends--
    A lively scene forever new.

  "There market-maids in lively rows,
    With wallets white, were riding home,
  And thundering gigs, with powdered beaux,
    Through Gray's green festive shades to roam.

  "Sweet flows the Schuylkill's winding tide
    By Bartram's green emblossom'd bowers,
  Where nature sports in all her pride
    Of choicest plants and fruits and flowers."

[17] Christ Church.

[18] Dr. Benjamin Say's house at Gray's Ferry.

Wilson, in 1804, undertook a journey to Niagara. The adventures by the
way and the sight of the stupendous cataract supply the theme of his
longest and most ambitious poem, "The Foresters." It was published with
illustrations in successive numbers of the _Port Folio_ of 1809, Volumes
I, II and III. The entire poem contained 2,000 lines. The _Literary
Magazine_ contains a part of the poem. This appearance, I believe, has
never been noted. It is to be found in Volume IV, page 155. The lines
were written August 12, 1805, and were published in the same month. In
the literary intelligence of the same month the future publication of
"The Foresters" is glanced at.

A prose letter and a poem, "The Pilgrim," by Wilson, are in the _Port
Folio_, June, 1809, page 499. Alexander Wilson and John James Audubon
met in Louisville, Ky., whither the latter had gone after disposing of
his farm upon the Perkiomen Creek, near Philadelphia. Wilson conceived a
dislike for Audubon, and wrote to the _Port Folio_ concerning
Louisville, "Science or literature has not one friend in this place."
Audubon, into whose mind no thought of publishing his own fine drawings
had yet come, refused out of jealousy to add his name to the
subscription list for Wilson's "American Ornithology." Robert Buchanan
wrote, "If Audubon had one marked fault it was vanity; he was a queer
compound of Actæon and Narcissus--having a gun in one hand and
flourishing a looking-glass in the other." Grosart is much too severe
when he styles Audubon "a great dilettante impostor."

After Wilson's death three supplementary volumes to his "Ornithology"
were added by Charles Lucien Bonaparte, and it was Lucien Bonaparte's
son, Prince Canino, who first suggested to Audubon the publication of
his collections.

One of Wilson's most intimate friends was the engraver Alexander Lawson,
with whom he became acquainted through William Bartram, and from whom he
learned to draw. Lawson was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland, December 19,
1772. He came to Philadelphia in 1792, engraved four plates for
Thomson's "Seasons" for Thomas Dobson, and died in 1846. His daughter,
Mary Lockhart, was a contributor to _Graham's Magazine_.

It was Wilson's wish that he should be buried "in some rural spot where
the birds might sing over his grave." His wish was fulfilled, and his
body was laid away in the quiet old-world burial ground of old Swedes'
Church.

SAMUEL EWING was born in Philadelphia August 16, 1776. He was placed in
the counting house of John Swanwick. Upon the failure of his employer,
Ewing studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1800. He was a
contributor to the _Port Folio_ from the first. He wrote for it a series
of articles, entitled "Reflections in Solitude." All his contributions
were signed "Jacques."

In 1809 he founded _The Select Reviews and Spirit of the Foreign
Magazines_, which he edited for three years, until it was sold to Mr.
Thomas and the title changed to the _Analectic_, when the editorship
passed into the hands of Washington Irving. Samuel Ewing helped to
establish the _Athenæum_ in Philadelphia, and was for a time
vice-president of that institution. He died in Philadelphia, February 8,
1825. Samuel Ewing's father was the Rev. Dr. John Ewing, Provost of the
University of Pennsylvania, whose contributions have been noted in the
earlier magazines. A short account of his life is prefixed to his
lectures on natural philosophy, "A Plain Elementary and Practical System
of Natural Experimental Philosophy. By the late Rev. John Ewing.
Philadelphia, 1809. Revised by Robert Patterson." John Ewing was born
June 22, 1732, in Nottingham, Cecil County, Maryland; was graduated
from Princeton 1752; received the degree of D.D. from Edinburgh; enjoyed
the friendship of Robertson, the historian, and died in Philadelphia,
September 8, 1802. An interesting anecdote is related in the life of Dr.
Ewing (page 16). In 1773 he dined at Dilly's with Dr. Johnson. He
remembered the silence that fell when Johnson entered the room. "He
attended to nothing but his plate; ... having eaten voraciously, he
raised his head slowly, and looking round the table surveyed the guests
for the first time." The conversation turning upon America, Ewing
defended the colonies. "What do you know, sir, on the subject?" Johnson
demanded. Ewing had been cautioned to avoid contradiction, but the
warning was forgotten. "Sir, what do you know in America; you never
read; you have no books there," thundered on the "great cham." "Pardon
me, sir," blandly replied the Philadelphian, "we have read the
'Rambler.'" This civility instantly pacified him.

This anecdote reminds us that the Americans did not always fall their
crests when in the presence of Dr. Johnson. It is a familiar story that
when Johnson demanded of Gilbert Stuart, "Sir, where did you learn
English?" the ready-witted young artist replied, "Out of your
dictionary, sir." Bishop William White, first Bishop of Pennsylvania,
has left, in a letter to Bishop Hobart, his memory of an interview with
"that giant of genius and literature, Dr. Samuel Johnson." "Having dined
in company with him in Kensington, at the house of Mr. Elphinstone, well
known to scholars of that day, and returning in the stage-coach with the
doctor, I mentioned to him there being a Philadelphia edition of his
'Prince of Abyssinia.' He expressed a wish to see it. I promised to send
him a copy on my return to Philadelphia, and did so. He returned a
polite answer, which I printed in Mr. Boswell's second edition of his
'Life of the Doctor.'" Richard Rush relates in the _Port Folio_ that
when his father, Dr. Benjamin Rush, attended a meeting of "The Club" in
London, Goldsmith asked him a question about the North American Indians,
when Johnson remarked that there was not an Indian in North America
foolish enough to ask such a question. Whereupon Goldsmith retorted,
"There is not a savage in America, sir, rude enough to make such a
speech to a gentleman."

Dr. Ewing's daughter, Sarah, born in Philadelphia October 30, 1761,
married John Hall, of Baltimore, the son of a Maryland planter. In
January, 1824, she contributed to the _Port Folio_ "A Picture of
Philadelphia as it is." In a letter to a Scotchwoman (1821) she wrote:
"Your flattering inquiry about my literary career may be answered in a
word. Literature has no career in America. It is like wine, which we are
told must cross the ocean to make it good." Sarah Hall died in
Philadelphia April 8, 1830.

Her eldest son, John Elihu Hall, was born in Philadelphia December 27,
1783; studied law, and edited the _American Law Journal_ 1808-1817. He
was for a time professor of rhetoric in the University of Maryland. In
the _Port Folio_ of March, 1806, encouraged by Thomas Moore, he
commenced the publication of the "Memoirs of Anacreon," but suspended
the work after a few instalments had appeared. In 1820 (Vol. IX, p.
401), he resumed the articles. Most of the Anacreontic odes occur, and
the "biographical tissue" gave the papers a resemblance to Hardwicke's
"Athenian Letters" and to the "Anacharsis" of Abbé Barthelemy. "Sedley"
was the signature used by J. E. Hall in his _Port Folio_ papers. In 1812
he published serially in that magazine his literary miscellany, entitled
"Adversaria."

His brother, James, born in Philadelphia August 19, 1793, died near
Cincinnati, July 15, 1868, published in the _Port Folio_ of 1821 his
"Letters from the West," afterward published in book form by John Elihu.
Another brother, Thomas Mifflin Hall (1798-1828), wrote several poems
for the magazine. Harrison Hall (1785-1866), a third brother, published
the _Port Folio_ and wrote a book on "Distillation," which went through
several editions here, and was reprinted in England.

JOHN ELIHU HALL became editor of the _Port Folio_ in February, 1816. Its
history up to that time may be briefly stated. It was at first a weekly
quarto, printed by H. Maxwell and sold by William Fry, opposite Christ
Church. In 1806 the quarto size was changed to octavo. In 1809 the
magazine appeared monthly instead of weekly, and continued from that
time to be a monthly publication. In the prospectus issued at the time
of this change the magazine was said to be "edited by Oliver Oldschool,
assisted by a confederacy of men of letters." In its new dress it
"cherished the hope that it might bear a comparison with any of the
foreign journals." In 1804 the price had been raised to six dollars. The
issue of July 21, 1804, was in deep black lines, in mourning for
Alexander Hamilton. The issue of July 23, 1808, was a memorial number to
Fisher Ames. The "Oliver Oldschool" figurehead was abandoned in January,
1811, and "conducted by Jos. Dennie, Esq.," took its place; for, the
editor explained, "Since the magazine is no longer _political_, the
appellation of Oliver Oldschool is no longer expedient or necessary."
During Dennie's last illness his place in the editorial chair was taken
by Paul Allen (1775-1826), who wrote poems, and prepared the "Travels of
Lewis and Clarke" for the press, and who must not be confounded with
another eccentric Bohemian, James Allen, brother to the Sheriff of
Suffolk, who wrote under the inspiration of the West Indian
muses--sugar, rum and lemon-juice--who "wore ruffles--and they hung in
tatters about his knuckles."

January, 1812, told of Dennie's death and "that the confederacy of
scholars disbanded almost as soon as it was formed." At this time the
_Port Folio_ was the oldest literary journal in America.

NICHOLAS BIDDLE became the next editor. He supplied the magazine with a
number of articles upon paintings, old and new, and resigned his charge
early in 1812. Dr. Charles Caldwell was requested to succeed him. "I
accepted the proposal," he says, in his "Autobiography," "in less than a
minute, and in less than one hour began to prepare for the performance
of the duty it enjoined" (_Autobiography_, page 322). Caldwell entered
upon his task under an engagement to furnish ninety-eight pages of
matter for each number, and this matter would have to be to a great
extent original. In six months Caldwell increased the number of
subscribers twenty-five per cent. The war naturally became the theme of
greatest interest. General Brown declared that "he reported himself, and
ordered his officers to report themselves in their connection with all
interesting events of the army, as regularly to the editor of the _Port
Folio_ as they did to him, or as he did to the Secretary of War." In
this way the magazine obtained some interesting and valuable
biographical notes of military and naval officers. Dr. Caldwell employed
as assistant editor the famous and versatile THOMAS COOPER. Cooper was
an Englishman, who was born in London in 1759, and had been a member of
the National Assembly of France. He quarrelled with Robespierre, and
challenged him to a duel. Robespierre swore revenge, and Cooper, knowing
that flight alone could save him from the Jacobin Club, returned to
England. He was censured by Burke, and replied in a bitter and abusive
pamphlet. He followed his intimate friend, Mr. Priestley, to America and
lived with him at Northumberland, where Coleridge and Southey dreamed of
establishing an Eden of Pantisocracy. When Cooper came to Philadelphia,
Washington and Jefferson and Jay and Madison were there. Cooper lent his
pen to Jefferson and the Democrats, and was paid by them. He was
appointed to a judgeship, but soon removed. He was elected professor of
chemistry and moral philosophy in Dickinson College, and from there he
went to the chair of chemistry in Columbia College, South Carolina. He
left Philadelphia in 1819, and died in the South in 1840.

JUDGE WORKMAN was a second assistant writer. The most extensive
contributions that Dr. Caldwell made to the magazine were his reviews of
"An Essay on the Causes of the Variety of Complexion and Figure of the
Human Species," by Samuel Stanhope Smith, President of Princeton
College. The reviews covered ninety pages and dealt with a philosophical
and experimental examination of the strange case of Henry Moss, a
Maryland negro, whose name, as Dr. Caldwell says, is as well known to
the readers of periodicals as was that of John Adams or Thomas Jefferson
or James Madison. Moss was a full-blooded African, whose skin, save in a
few spots, turned white. Caldwell's critiques appeared in the _Port
Folio_, 1814, pp. 8 and 457, and also in the _American Review_, II, 128,
166.

Dr. Caldwell at this time edited _Delaplaine's Repository_, and Smith
had his revenge in a telling criticism of that work in the _Analectic
Magazine_, to which Caldwell replied in 1816. To finish the story, there
is to be found in the _Port Folio_ of 1820, page 153, an article on S. S.
Smith, with portrait, which is as ample in praise of the essay as
Caldwell was liberal in detraction. Caldwell resigned his editorship in
1816. In the next month Oliver Oldschool the Fourth made his appearance
in the person of John Elihu Hall.

The magazine was still well manned and well maintained. Philadelphia
still kept her leadership in culture and literary production. In 1814
only twenty new books were annually put forth in America, and yet in
April of that year the _Port Folio_ declared, "From facts within our own
knowledge, we fearlessly assert that Philadelphia contains scholars not
a few whom Europe herself would be proud to acknowledge." In 1817 the
_London Monthly Magazine_ began to copy from the _Port Folio_.

But about 1820 the prestige of Philadelphia begins to fade and her
ancient influences to hang about her "like a giant's robe upon a
dwarfish thief." In this year (_Port Folio_, page 463) is heard the
first note of alarm. New England is gaining; "with such rivalry
Philadelphia must yield the proud title which she has borne, or rouse
from the withering lethargy in which she slumbers." New York jealousy is
increasing. In 1820 Salmagundi says that "one of the editors of the
_Port Folio_ was discharged--for writing common-sense." These trifles
indicate a shifting of the balance of power. Three years more, and the
cry of discontent and peevish querulousness reaches its height.

"With the exception of some scores of verses 'tempered with lovers'
sighs' and oozing from the brains of 'lunatics, lovers and poets,' the
last volume contains very few communications from any friend to us and
our cause. In the days of our first predecessors such was the number and
zeal of contributors that the editor was obliged to exchange the labor
of composition for that of selection, and he often expatiated with
gratitude upon the learning, the liberality and the industry of his
voluntary assistants. Although they wore their visors up before the
public, most of them are now known to us, and we can recognize many of
them at home and abroad, pushing their fortunes at the bar, in the desk
or the academy, or serving their country in high and honorable stations.
They were all quickened with the fervid spirit of enterprise and
adventure. They combined learning and wit and genius with industry,
perseverance and ambition. They laid the foundation of a work which has
outlived all its rivals and contemporaries; but they have left few to
inherit and emulate their disinterested devotion to the cause of
letters.... England, that detestable country where _everyone_ has been
starving for the last century, where _everyone_ has been crushed by the
load of taxes, and _everyone_ has been flying from home to avoid the
oppressions of the Ministry, prints several thousand copies of a
magazine, and the whole edition is sold and paid for in twenty-four
hours. These matters are ordered differently here. Instead of
_purchasing_ our newspapers and magazines we subscribe for them."

Alack-a-day! the world went very well in the consulship of Plancus! No
doubt even in the best and soundest of their times the magazines did
suffer by the subscription plan. The remaining stock of the _Analectic
Magazine_ was sold for seven cents a volume in sheets, and the stock of
the _Literary Gazette_, its successor, brought but six and a quarter
cents per pound.

Hall took the opportunity presented by the publication of "The Lives of
the Signers," by his friend and contributor, John Sanderson, to trouble
the deaf public again with his bootless cries:

"Oh! that we could boast a reading public; and that we could say, with
truth, that any other books than a few novels and poems and, generally,
an elegant folio Bible, kept for ornament and family dignity, were to be
found in half the splendid mansions of Philadelphia. But 'we can procure
the book at the Philadelphia Library.' Yes, and the author of an
excellent work must be left to beg and starve, and his wife and children
must be doomed to penury because their natural protector was a literary
man and an author, who conferred honour on his species. _Burn_ the
Philadelphia Library, we say. Aye! _burn_ it! if this must be its
influence, to deprive meritorious authors and enterprising artists of
their sustenance and of the means of continuing their labours. Let those
who cannot afford to purchase valuable works, who wish to peruse scarce
tomes, the work of former generations, resort to the library; but let
our rich merchants, our thrifty lawyers and the elegantly neat Quaker
proprietors of the soil of this city, who have sons and daughters to be
educated for usefulness and happiness, be ashamed to creep into the
repository of rare, ancient and learned volumes, and ask in a soft voice
of the librarian, '_Is Sanderson's Biography in?_' and to add, '_My
daughters wish to see it._'"

In 1822 the _Port Folio_ was reduced to making selections from the
literary and political journals of Europe after the manner of _The
Select Reviews_ which Ewing had edited.

The final suspension of the _Port Folio_ was preceded by an
international quarrel. John Neal was in England in 1834, and his offer
to write for _Blackwood's Magazine_ in that year a series of sketches of
"American writers" was accepted, and the first instalment appeared in
_Blackwood's_ of September, 1824, page 305. The author could name only
three writers "who would not pass just as readily for an English writer
as for an American." The trio consisted of Paulding, Neal and Brown. The
article was signed "X. Y. Z." and was written in the favorite
_Blackwood's_ "bludgeon" style. Neal says of himself, "He is undeniably
the most original writer that America has produced--thinks himself the
cleverest fellow in America, and does not scruple to say so--he is in
Europe now." When he approached the date of the _Port Folio_, Neal paid
his compliments, displaying unmistakable malice, to John E. Hall. "Hall
had the misfortune, some years ago, to fall acquainted with Mr. Thomas
Moore, the poet, while Mr. Moore was 'trampoosing' over America. It
spoilt poor Hall--turned his brain. He has done little or nothing since
but make-believe about criticism, talk dawdle-poetry with a lisp, write
irresistible verses under the name of 'Sedley' in his own magazine,
twitter sentimentally about 'little Moore,' his 'dear little
Moore'--puffing himself all the time anonymously in the newspaper,
while he is damning himself, with unmistakable sincerity, twelve times a
year in his own magazine. We do not think very highly of the
mutton-headed Athenians at Philadelphia; but we do think, nevertheless,
that Mr. John E. Hall is a little too much of a blockhead even for their
meridian."

Hall published a scathing review in the _Port Folio_, December, 1824, of
the author of "Logan" and "Randolph," the Baltimorean who was writing
for _Blackwood's_. In volume 19 (1825, p. 78) this "nauseous reptile" is
still further reviewed. Neal is quoted as saying, "Dennie is dead, John
E. Hall is alive; Dennie was a gentleman, John E. Hall is a blackguard;"
and Hall retorts that Neal is a "liar of the first magnitude," who
prefers "English guineas to Baltimore horsewhips."

The _Port Folio_ was now making a desperate struggle for life. Its
publication was suspended from January to July, 1826, and again from
January to July, 1827. Its budget was finally closed in December, 1827.


FROM THE PORT FOLIO TO GRAHAM'S.

The _Ladies' Museum_ was commenced in February, 1800, and made five
numbers.

The _Philadelphia Repository and Weekly Register_ was commenced in 1801.
It was edited and published by David Hogan, and later by John W. Scott.
It was popular and original.

The first magazine published in America for children appeared in
Philadelphia in 1802--the _Juvenile Magazine, or Miscellaneous
Repository of Useful Information_, Phila., 1802, printed for Benjamin
Johnson and Jacob Johnston.

It was followed by the _Juvenile Olio_ in the same year. This magazine
was edited by "Amyntor" a citizen of Philadelphia, and was published by
David Hogan.

Charles Brockden Brown, the most important of Philadelphia writers, the
first professional man-of-letters in America, and the predecessor of all
cis-Atlantic novelists, was born in Philadelphia, January 17, 1771, and
in that city he founded, in 1803-4, the _Literary Magazine and American
Register_.

Brown had been educated until his sixteenth year in the school of Robert
Proud, the historian of Pennsylvania. He then studied law with Alexander
Wilcox, of Philadelphia. His health, which had been ever poor, suffered
still further from enthusiastic attention to the needs of a
belles-lettres club of nine members, and to the law society of his
native city. The _Columbian Magazine_ of August, 1789, contained his
first published article. It was entitled "The Rhapsodist," and was
continued through several numbers of the magazine.

A close friendship sprang up between Brown and Elihu Hubbard Smith, and
Brown made his home in New York, where Smith introduced him to "The
Friendly Club." After the plague visited New York and Smith died of the
fever, Brown returned to Philadelphia to spend the remainder of his
life.

The first number of the _Literary Magazine and American Register_ was
published by John Conrad, who had made a liberal arrangement with the
editor, on Saturday, October 1, 1803. Brown's prospectus, which filled
the first three pages, is so characteristic of the author, and so
interesting as a contemporary comment upon magazines and their purposes,
as to admit of complete quotation.


_The Editor's Address to the Public:_

"It is usual for one who presents the public with a periodical work like
the present, to introduce himself to the notice of his readers by some
sort of preface or address. I take up the pen in conformity to this
custom, but am quite at loss for topics suitable to so interesting an
occasion. I cannot expatiate on the variety of my knowledge, the
brilliancy of my wit, the versatility of my talents. To none of these do
I lay any claim, and though this variety, brilliancy of solidity, are
necessary ingredients in a work of this kind, I trust merely to the zeal
and liberality of my friends to supply me with them. I have them not
myself, but doubt not of the good offices of those who possess them, and
shall think myself entitled to no small praise if I am able to collect
into one focal spot the rays of a great number of luminaries. They also
may be very unequal to each other in lustre, and some of them may be
little better than twinkling and feeble stars of the hundredth
magnitude; but what is wanting in individual splendour will be made up
by the union of all their beams into one. My province shall be _to hold
the mirror up_ so as to assemble all their influence within its verge,
and reflect them on the public in such manner as to warm and enlighten.

"As I possess nothing but zeal I can promise to exert nothing else; but
my consolation is, that aided by that powerful spirit, many have
accomplished things much more arduous than that which I propose to
myself.

"Many are the works of this kind which have risen and fallen in America,
and many of them have enjoyed but a brief existence. This circumstance
has always at first sight given me some uneasiness, but when I come more
soberly to meditate upon it my courage revives, and I discover no reason
for my doubts. Many works have actually been reared and sustained by the
curiosity and favour of the public. They have ultimately declined or
fallen, it is true; but why? From no abatement of the public curiosity,
but from causes which publishers or editors only are accountable. Those
who managed the publication have commonly either changed their
principles, remitted their zeal, or voluntarily relinquished their
trade, or last of all, and like other men, have died. Such works have
flourished for a time, and they ceased to flourish, by the fault or
misfortune of the proprietors. The public is always eager to encourage
one who devotes himself to their rational amusement, and when he ceases
to demand or to deserve their favour they feel more regret than anger in
withdrawing it.

"The world--by which I mean the few hundred persons who concern
themselves about this work--will naturally inquire who it is that thus
addresses them. 'This is somewhat more than a point of idle curiosity,'
my reader will say, 'for from my knowledge of the man must I infer how
far he will be able or willing to fulfil his promises. Besides, it is
great importance to know whether his sentiments on certain subjects be
agreeable or not to my own. In politics, for example, he may be a
malcontent; in religion an heretic. He may be an ardent advocate for all
that I abhor, or he may be a celebrated champion of my favourite
opinions. It is evident that these particulars must dictate the
treatment you receive from me, and make me either your friend or enemy:
your patron or your persecutor. Besides, I am anxious for some personal
knowledge of you that I may judge of your literary merits. You may
possibly be one of these, who came hither from the old world to seek
your fortune; who have handled the pen as others handle the awl or
needle; that is, for the sake of a livelihood, and who, therefore, are
willing to work on any kind of cloth or leather, and to any model that
may be in demand. You may, in the course of your trade, have
accommodated yourself to twenty different fashions, and have served
twenty classes of customers; have copied at one time a Parisian, at
another a London fashion, and have truckled to the humours, now of a
precise enthusiast, and now of a smart free-thinker.

"''Tis of no manner of importance what creed you may publicly profess
on this occasion, or on what side, religious or political, you may
declare yourself enlisted. To judge of the value or sincerity of these
professions, to form some notion how far you will faithfully or
skilfully perform your part, I must know your character. By that
knowledge, I shall regulate myself with more certainty than by any
anonymous declaration you may think proper to make.'

"I bow to the reasonableness of these observations, and shall therefore
take no pains to conceal my name. Anybody may know it who chooses to ask
me or my publisher. I shall not, however, put it at the bottom of this
address. My diffidence, as my friends would call it, and my discretion,
as my enemies, if I have any, would term it, hinders me from calling out
my name in a crowd. It has heretofore hindered me from making my
appearance there, when impelled by the strongest of human
considerations, and produces, at this time, an insuperable aversion to
naming myself to my readers. The mere act of calling out my own name, on
this occasion, is of no moment, since an author or editor who takes no
pains to conceal himself, cannot fail of being known to as many as
desire to know him. And whether my notoriety make for me or against me,
I shall use no means to prevent it.

"I am far from wishing, however, that my readers should judge of my
exertions by my former ones. I have written much, but take much blame to
myself for something which I have written, and take no praise for
anything. I should enjoy a larger share of my own respect, at the
present moment, if nothing had ever flowed from my pen, the production
of which could be traced to me. A variety of causes induces me to form
such a wish, but I am principally influenced by the consideration that
time can scarcely fail of enlarging and refining the powers of a man,
while the world is sure to judge of his capacities and principles at
fifty, from what he has written at fifteen.

"Meanwhile, I deem it reasonable to explain the motives of the present
publication, and must rely for credit on the good nature of my readers.
The project is not a mercenary one. Nobody relies for subsistence on its
success, nor does the editor put anything but his reputation at stake.
At the same time, he cannot but be desirous of an ample subscription,
not merely because pecuniary profit is acceptable, but because this is
the best proof which he can receive that his endeavours to amuse and
instruct have not been unsuccessful.

"Useful information and rational amusement being his objects, he will
not scruple to collect materials from all quarters. He will ransack the
newest foreign publications, and extract from them whatever can serve
his purpose. He will not forget that a work, which solicits the
attention of many readers, must build its claim on the variety as well
as copiousness of its contents.

"As to _domestic_ publications, besides extracting from them anything
serviceable to the public, he will give a critical account of them, and,
in this respect, make his work an American Review, in which the history
of our native literature shall be carefully detailed.

"He will pay particular attention to the history of passing events. He
will carefully compile the news, foreign and domestic, of the current
month, and give, in a precise and systematic order, that intelligence
which the common newspapers communicate in a vague and indiscriminate
way. His work shall likewise be a repository of all those signal
incidents in private life, which mark the character of the age, and
excite the liveliest curiosity.

"This is an imperfect sketch of his work, and to accomplish these ends,
he is secure of the liberal aid of many most respectable persons in this
city and New York. He regrets the necessity he is under of concealing
these names, since they would furnish the public with irresistible
inducements to read what, _when_ they had read, they would find
sufficiently recommended by its own merits.

"In an age like this, when the foundations of religion and morality have
been so boldly attacked, it seems necessary, in announcing a work of
this nature, to be particularly explicit as to the path which the editor
means to pursue. He, therefore, avows himself to be, without
equivocation or reserve, the ardent friend and the willing champion of
the Christian religion. Christian piety he reveres as the highest
excellence of human beings, and the amplest reward he can seek for his
labour is the consciousness of having, in some degree, however
inconsiderable, contributed to recommend the practice of religious
duties.

"As, in the conduct of this work, a supreme regard will be paid to the
interests of religion and morality, he will scrupulously guard against
all that dishonours or impairs that principle. Everything that savors of
indelicacy or licentiousness will be rigorously proscribed. His poetical
pieces may be dull, but they shall, at least, be free from
voluptuousness or sensuality, and his prose, whether seconded or not by
genius and knowledge, shall scrupulously aim at the promotion of public
and private virtue.

"As a political annalist, he will speculate freely on foreign
transactions; but in his detail of domestic events he will confine
himself as strictly as possible to the limits of a mere historian. There
is nothing for which he has a deeper abhorrence than the intemperance of
party, and his fundamental rule shall be to exclude from his pages all
personal altercation and abuse.

"He will conclude by reminding the public that there is not, at present,
any other monthly publication in America; and that a plan of this kind,
if well conducted, cannot fail of being highly conducive to amusement
and instruction. There are many, therefore, it is hoped, who, when such
a herald as this knocks at their door, will open it without reluctance,
and admit a visitant who calls only once a month; who talks upon every
topic; whose company may be dismissed or resumed, and who may be made to
prate or hold his tongue at pleasure; a companion he will be, possessing
one companionable property in the highest degree--that is to say, a
desire to please.--_Sep. 1, 1803_."

The contents of the magazine corresponded with the contents of the _Port
Folio_; there were the same abuse of Wordsworth, criticisms of Milton
and Shakespeare, and articles upon "literary resemblances." In November,
1803, Brown began to publish in the magazine his "Memoirs of Carwin, the
Biloquist." The following poem, written during the prevalence of the
yellow fever, in 1797, appeared in the _Literary Magazine_ for
September, 1806.


PHILADELPHIA--AN ELEGY.

Written during the prevalence of the Yellow Fever in 1797.

  Imperial daughter of the West,
    Why thus in widow'd weeds recline?
  With every gift of nature blest,
    The empire of a world was thine.

  Late brighter than the star that beams
    When the soft morning carol flows:
  Now mournful as the maniac's dreams,
    When melancholy veils his woes.

  What foe, with more than Gallic ire,
    Has thinned thy city's thronging way,
  Bade the sweet breath of youth expire,
    And manhood's powerful pulse decay?

  No Gallic foe's ferocious band,
    Fearful as fate, as death severe,
  But the destroying angel's hand,
    With hotter rage, with fiercer fear.

  I saw thee in thy prime of days,
    In glory rich, in beauty fair,
  When many a patriot shar'd thy praise,
    And nurs'd thee with maternal care.

  Columbia's genius, veil thy brow,
    Guardian of freedom, hither bend:
  The prayer of mercy meets thee now,
    With healing energy descend.

  Chase far the fiend whose burning tread
    Consumes the fairest flower that blows;
  Bends the sweet lily's bashful head,
    And fades the blushes of the rose.

  E'en now ill-omened birds of prey
    Through the unpeopled mansions rove:
  Quench'd is that eye's inspiring ray,
    And lost the breezy lip of love.

  Yet guard the FRIEND, who wandering near
    Haunts which the loitering Schuylkill laves,
  Bestows the tributary tear,
    Or fans with sighs the drowsy waves.

  And while his mercy-dealing hand
    Feeds many a famished child of care,
  Wave round his brow thy saving wand,
    And breathe thy sweetness through the air;

  'Till borne on Health's elastic wing,
    Aloft the rapid whirlwind flies;
  The coldest gale of Zembla bring,
    And brace with frost the dripping skies.

  Yet bring the naiads, bring their urns,
    Haste, and the marble fount unclose,
  Through streets where Syrian summer burns,
    'Till all the cool libation flows

  Cool as the brook that bathes the heath
    When noon unfolds his silent hours,
  Refreshing as the morning's breath
    Adown the cleansing streamlet pours.

  Imperial daughter of the West,
    No rival wins thy wreath away;
  In all the wealth of nature drest,
    Again thy sovereign charms display;

  See all thy setting glories rise,
    Again thy thronging streets appear;
  Thy mart a hundred ports supplies,
    Thy harvests feed thy circling year.

The magazine lived five years and made eight volumes octavo.

In 1806 Brown began to edit and John Conrad to publish the _American
Register_. It contained abstracts of laws and public proceedings,
reviews of literature and of foreign and domestic scientific
intelligence, American and foreign State papers, etc. After five volumes
had been published, Charles Brockden Brown died in his house at Eleventh
and George Streets, on the 19th of February, 1810. It was in this house,
which was _not_ upon the east side of Eleventh Street, as Neal asserted
in _Blackwood's Magazine_, nor was it "a low, squalid, two-story house,"
that Thomas Sully saw him, and said: "I saw him a little before his
death. I had never known him--never heard of him--never read any of his
works. He was in a deep decline. It was in the month of November--our
Indian summer, when the air is full of smoke. Passing a window one day,
I was caught by the sight of a man with a remarkable physiognomy,
writing at a table in a dark room. The sun shone directly upon his head.
I never shall forget it. The dead leaves were falling then--it was
Charles Brockden Brown."

Of the obscure ground in which the body of this literary pioneer was
laid George Lippard wrote in the _Nineteenth Century_ (p. 27):

"The time has come when the authors of America, the men who view with
pride the growth of a pure and elevated National literature, should go
to the Quaker graveyard and bear the bones of Brockden Brown to that
Laurel Hill which he loved in his boyhood; yes, let the remains of the
martyr author sleep beneath the shadow of some dark pine, whose
evergreen boughs, swaying to the winter wind, bend over the rugged cliff
and sweep the waters of the Schuylkill as it rolls on amid its hilly
shores, like an image of the rest which awaits the blessed in a better
world. Then a solitary column of white marble, rising like a form of
snow among the green boughs, shall record the neglect and woe and glory
of the author's life, in a single name--Charles Brockden Brown."

"Wieland," the most powerful of Brown's novels, was published in
Philadelphia in 1798. It was followed by "Ormond, or the Secret Witness"
(1799), "Arthur Mervyn" (1799), "Edgar Huntley, or the Memoirs of a
Sleep-Walker" (1801), "Clara Howard" and "Jane Talbot" (1801). All these
romances dealt with sombre and mysterious or terrible subjects.
"Wieland" was a story of monstrous crime occasioned through the agency
of ventriloquism. "Arthur Mervyn" contained vivid descriptions of the
yellow fever pestilence in Philadelphia in 1793. "Edgar Huntley"
followed the fortunes of a somnambulist in the mountain fastnesses of
Western Pennsylvania.

When Brown began to write "the churchyard romance" was in fashion, and
novelists revelled in tales of horror and of terror, dwelling long and
painfully upon the most loathsome details of some ghastly bit of fancy.
It was the time of Lewis's "Tales of Terror," of Walpole's "Castle of
Otranto," of Beckford's "Vathek," and of Mrs. Radcliffe's "Mysteries of
Udolpho" and Mrs. Shelley's "Frankenstein." William Godwin, too, wrote
ghostly stories of crime and supernatural agencies, and from Godwin,
Charles Brockden Brown caught his style. The influence of Godwin is
noticeable in Brown's first work, "Alcuin, a Dialogue on the Rights of
Women" (1797). Godwin's "Falkland" and "Caleb Williams" are the models
of "Wieland" and "Ormond."

It is interesting to find young Percy Bysshe Shelley confessing his
obligations to the Philadelphia novelist, and saying that Brown's novels
had influenced him beyond any other books. Traces of "Wieland" are to be
found deeply stamped upon "Zastrozzi" and "St. Irvyne." It is a singular
chapter of literary history that records the progress of William
Godwin's social theories and tales of horror across the Atlantic to an
obscure house in Philadelphia and their return in a new literary form
into the hands of William Godwin's son-in-law, Percy Bysshe Shelley,
himself a poet of American descent.

The British magazines of 1804 contain flattering notices of Brown, and
his novels were reprinted and read with interest and critical approval
in England. At home he has fallen into undeserved oblivion, and the
attempts in 1857 and 1887 to revive the interest in his works proved
fruitless. His style had in it no elements of permanent life, but he was
the first to discover the capabilities of romance in America, and used
in all his books American characters and scenery.

Sir Walter Scott so greatly admired the works of the American novelist
that he named the hero of Guy Mannering after him and gave to another of
the characters of the same story the familiar name of "Arthur Mervyn."

Benjamin Smith Barton (1766-1815), a nephew of David Rittenhouse, and
the successor of Benjamin Rush as professor of the theory and practice
of medicine in the University of Pennsylvania, edited the _Philadelphia
Medical and Physical Journal_ from November 1, 1804, to May, 1807. It
was published irregularly by J. Conrad and Co.

The _Evening Fireside, or Literary Miscellany_, Philadelphia, 1805-1806,
was established by a literary club, and published by Joseph Rakestraw.
The second volume, which began January 4, 1806, completed the work.


DRAMATIC MAGAZINES.

Notes on the stage and criticism of the drama had frequently been given
place in the _Port Folio_, and Brown's _Literary Magazine_ had published
a farcical account of a "Theatrical Campaign" by Dick Buckram (Vol. I,
p. 222), but the first magazine in America that attempted to take the
theatre for its province was the _Theatrical Censor_, By a Citizen,
first published in Philadelphia, December 9, 1805, and continued until
November 17, 1806.

It was succeeded by the _Theatrical Censor and Critical Miscellany_, by
Gregory Gryphon, Esq., Philadelphia, Saturday, October 11, 1806. Both
these periodicals were issued during the theatrical season only, and the
latter one was published in the interest of the theatres of
Philadelphia, New York, Boston and Charleston. It was published on
Saturdays, and made sixteen pages octavo.

The second _Theatrical Censor_ was followed by the _Thespian Mirror_, in
New York, edited by John Howard Payne, then a youth of fourteen years.
Still later came the _Boston Magazine_ and the _Polyanthus_.

Matthew Carey introduced the third theatrical journal to the
Philadelphians. It was the _Thespian Monitor and Dramatick Miscellany_,
by Barnaby Bangbar, Esq. (1809). It was begun Saturday, November 25,
1809. There is but a single issue of this publication in the British
Museum, and its contents are almost entirely biographical. This copy was
the property of John Howard Payne.

In 1810 Samuel T. Bradford was the most enterprising publisher in
Philadelphia. With his partner, Inskeep, he printed in 1812 the _Port
Folio_. With the same partner he issued in January, 1810, the _Mirror of
Taste and Dramatic Censor_. The editor was Stephen Cullen Carpenter, an
Irishman, who had entered the East India service, where he remained
fourteen years, retired with the rank of major, and returned to England.
He wrote political pamphlets at the commencement of the French
Revolution, and was made reporter of Debates in Commons by Edmund Burke.
He reported the trial of Hastings, and came to America about 1800, and
edited a magazine in South Carolina until he was engaged by Bradford and
Inskeep to conduct the _Mirror of Taste_.

The magazine was of small octavo size, each number contained about one
hundred pages, and was illustrated with a fine portrait of an actor or
actress. The regular performances at the theatres were criticised with a
good deal of pungency and acumen. It is said in the preface that "London
boasts several periodical publications founded on the _Drama_ alone. In
America there has not yet been one of that description." In January,
1811, the magazine changed hands, and was published by Thomas Barton
Zantzinger & Co., in the Shakespeare Buildings at Sixth and Chestnut
Streets.

At the close of the first year of the magazine a dramatic event occurred
that caused unusual excitement in Philadelphia, and led to important
consequences. The great tragedian, George Frederick Cooke, whom Edmund
Kean pronounced "the greatest of all actors, Garrick alone excepted,"
arrived in New York and appeared on 21st October, 1810, as _Richard III_
before two thousand spectators in the Park Theatre.

It was then that he requested the great audience to stand while "God
Save the King" should be played, and during the storm that followed
calmly took snuff until the audience acceded to his demand.

From New York he proceeded to Philadelphia. No such acting had been seen
in America. The excitement among play-going people was extraordinary.
"He was to play _Richard_ on a Monday night, and on Sunday evening the
steps of the theatre were covered with groups of porters, and other men
of the lower orders, prepared to spend the night there, that they might
have the first chance of taking places in the boxes. I saw some take
their hats off and put on night-caps. At ten o'clock the next morning
the door was opened to them, and at that time the street in front of the
theatre was impassable. When the rush took place, I saw a man spring up
and catch hold of the iron which supported a lamp on one side of the
door, by which he raised himself so as to run over the heads of the
crowd into the theatre. Some of these fellows were hired by gentlemen to
secure places, and others took boxes on speculation, sure of selling
them at double or treble the regular prices. When the time came for
opening the doors in the evening, the crowd was so tumultuous that it
was evident there was little certainty that the holders of box tickets
would obtain their places, and for ladies the attempt would be
dangerous. A placard was therefore displayed, stating that all persons
who had tickets would be admitted at the stage door before the front
doors were opened. This notice soon drew such a crowd to the back of the
theatre that when Cooke arrived he could not get in. He was on foot with
Dunlap, one of the New York managers, and he was obliged to make himself
known before he could be got through the press. 'I am like the man going
to be hanged,' he said, 'who told the crowd they would have no fun
unless they made way for him.'"

The writer of these lines was Charles Robert Leslie, who, on the night
in question, occupied a place in the flies, and from that aerial station
"first saw George Frederick Cooke, the best _Richard_ since Garrick, and
who has not been surpassed even by Edmund Kean" (Autobiography of C. R.
Leslie, p. 18). Soon after this memorable night Leslie made a likeness
of Cooke which attracted Bradford's attention, and a fund was speedily
raised by subscription to enable the young artist to study painting two
years in Europe. Armed with letters to English artists, Leslie sailed
from New York on the 11th of November, 1811, in company with Mr.
Inskeep. So slight a circumstance gained for him an introduction into
the great world of West and Allston, and Landseer and Fuseli, and Samuel
Taylor Coleridge, and gave to England and the world the treasures of the
Vernon and the Sheepshank's collections.

In the preface to the _Mirror of Taste_ (Vol. IV) the editors recognize
the importance to them of the visit of Cooke. The magazine "rose into
estimation just at that singular crisis when a great theatrical
character unexpectedly visiting this country held a new light to the
stage, and, pointing out the true dramatic representation, opened to our
people a new train of thought, gave to the public mind a new spring, and
imparted an impulse before unfelt, with a just and elegant direction to
the general taste, roused the feelings and perceptions from listlessness
and sloth, and infused into the best bosoms of the nation a generous
spirit, which gave new life to the arts, quickened them into action and
effect, called forth the infant genius of a LESLIE to the public view,
and bade breathing portraits start from the canvas of a Sully."[19]

[19] Sully's painting of Cooke as _Richard III_ in the Philadelphia
Academy of the Fine Arts.

The father of Charles Robert Leslie was Robert Leslie, who had been a
watchmaker at Elktown, Md., and had removed to Philadelphia in 1786. He
was a member of the American Philosophical Society and a friend of Rush
and Barton and Wistar and Physick. It was while residing in London that
Charles Robert was born, October 19, 1794. An elder sister, Eliza, was
born in 1787 in Philadelphia. She won a prize for a story, "Mrs.
Washington Potts," in _Godey's Lady's Book_, and afterwards edited the
_Gift_, an annual, and _Miss Leslie's Magazine_, a monthly publication
(1843).

_Blackwood's Magazine_ in 1824 congratulated America on C. R. Leslie's
success. He never lost his profound respect and affection for Samuel
Bradford, and named his second son after him. In the second year (1813)
of Leslie's residence in London, Washington Allston's health became
seriously affected, and he resolved to visit Bristol. Coleridge, who was
affectionately attached to Allston, followed him thither. "The house was
so full," writes Leslie, in his autobiographical recollections, "that
the poet was obliged to share a double-bedded room with me. We were kept
up late in consequence of the critical condition of Allston, and when we
retired Coleridge, seeing a copy of Knickerbocker's History of New York
which I had brought with me, lying on the table, took it up and began
reading. I went to bed, and think he must have sat up the greater part
of the night, for the next day he had nearly got through Knickerbocker.
This was many years before it was published in England, and the work
was, of course, entirely new to him. He was delighted with it" (p. 23).

THE ANALECTIC.--Washington Irving, who had met Allston in Rome in 1804,
and who was for a time almost swerved from his literary purpose by his
desire to become a painter, and with whose first literary triumph
Coleridge thus became familiar, was also a Philadelphia editor. In 1809
E. Bronson and others began to print upon their Lorenzo press _The
Select Reviews and Spirit of the Foreign Magazines_, edited by Samuel
Ewing. The magazine was bought by Moses Thomas, in 1812, who changed its
name to the _Analectic_. Irving was its editor in 1813-14. He
contributed to it some of the essays of the "Sketch Book," "Traits of
Indian Character," and "Philip of Pokanoket." He reviewed Robert Treat
Paine, E. C. Holland, Paulding and Lord Byron, and wrote for it
biographies of Lawrence, Burrows, Perry and Porter.[20]

[20] It is not a little remarkable that the list of Washington Irving's
contributions to the _Analectic Magazine_ should have come to me in an
Athenian newspaper.

+Tô 1813 ho Erbing anelabe tên syntaxin tou periodikou
"Anakletik', hekdidomenou kata mêna en Philadelpheia. En aunô egrapse
pollas biographias tôn periphanesterôn andrôn, hôn hai kyriôterai eisin
hai tôn Amerikanon Pôrter kai Mporrôs kai tôn Anglôn poiêtôn Byrônos,
Mouar kai Kampellou."--EBLOMAS.+ December 1, 1890.

Paulding and Verplanck wrote for the magazine, signing their articles
"P." and "V."

William Darlington (1782-1863), Pennsylvanian, after whom was named the
Darlingtonica California (a species of pitcher-plant), went to India as
ship's surgeon in 1806, and published in the _Analectic Magazine_ a
sketch of his voyage called "Letters from Calcutta."

The _Analectic_ contains a number of valuable portraits. The first
lithograph ever made in America is in this magazine for July 1819. It
represents a woodland scene--a flowing stream and a single house upon
the bank. It was made by Bass Otis, who followed the suggestions of
Judge Cooper and Dr. Brown, of Alabama. The drawing was made upon a
stone from Munich, presented to the American Philosophical Society by
Mr. Thomas Dobson, of Philadelphia. The _Analectic Magazine_ was finally
converted into the _Literary Gazette_ and died one year later (December,
1821).[21]

[21] "I observe," said a gentleman at the Athenæum, "that the form of
the _Analectic Magazine_ was changed on the first of this month." "No,"
replied his friend, "it has been _weakly_ for some time past."


WITTY AND SATIRICAL MAGAZINES.

The _Tickler_ was edited by George Helmbold, and was first issued,
September 16, 1807, under the pen-name of "Toby Scratch 'Em." It had for
its motto:

  "Curst be the verse, how well soe'er it flow,
  That tends to make one worthy man my foe,
  Give virtue scandal, innocence a fear,
  Or from the soft-eyed virgin steal a tear."--_Pope._

It was to be issued every Wednesday morning, at the price of four
dollars per annum, from 131 South Front Street. The first volume of
fifty-two numbers was not completed until February 8, 1809. Helmbold
enlisted in the army and was promoted to a lieutenancy at Lundy's Lane.
After the war he kept the Minerva Tavern at Sixth and Sansom Streets. He
afterward edited the _Independent Balance_.

The _Trangram, or Fashionable Trifler_, by "Christopher Crag, Esq., his
Grandmother and Uncle," was published in Philadelphia by George E. Blake
in 1809. It foreshadowed its wit and its satire in its introductory
parody of _Macbeth_:

  "How now, ye cunning, sharp and secret wags,
    What is't ye do?
  A deed with a double name."

In the first number was an address by "The Publisher to the
Purchaser.... The conductors of this paper, being a kind of whimsical
and negligent gentry of easy habits and inconstant disposition, its
continuation will not so much depend upon the patronage that may be
given to it as upon their own humours and caprices. It is, as Johnson
says of its title--'Trangram--an odd, intricately-contrived thing,' and,
therefore, in its appearance will be as irregular in its size or
proportions as unequal, and in its pecuniary value as unstated, though
always as reasonable, as any other oddly-contrived thing ever was, or
is, or ought to be." The publisher, George Blake, was a Yorkshireman and
a music dealer in South Fifth Street. He told William Duane that the
editors were Mordecai M. Noah, Alexander F. Coxe, a son of Tench Coxe,
and in 1814 a member of the bar, and a third person "whose name he
seemed unwilling to mention" (Duane). Only three numbers were printed,
the triple team quarrelled, and the publication ceased.

Mordecai Noah was born in Philadelphia, July 14, 1785. After his removal
to New York, about 1816, he became the owner or editor of a number of
magazines and newspapers.

The _Trangram_ is full of local gossip and scandal cleverly concealed.
Andrew Hamilton figures in it as "Dapper Dumpling." J. N. Barker, the
author of "Superstition," is "Billy Mushroom." Joseph Dennie is
nicknamed "Oliver Crank." William Warren is dubbed "the tun-bellied
manager."

The account of a walk through the city streets ends with "the
description of the defence of his friend would doubtless have continued
until we reached the end of our journey had we not by this time arrived,
where mathematicians never could arrive, at the Square Circle,"--that
is, at Centre Square, Broad and Market Streets.

The third number, February 1, 1810, contains accounts of "Jeremy
Corsica" (Jerome Bonaparte) and his visit to Philadelphia, and to
"Bangilore" (Baltimore), and his acquaintance with Miss "Cornelia
Pattypan," or Patterson.

The _Beacon, erected and supported by Lucidantus and his Thirteen
Friends_, was published by W. Brown, and began its course Wednesday,
Nov. 27, 1811. It aimed to surpass _The Spirit of the Reviews_, the
_Dramatic Censor_ and the _Port Folio_, but it is believed to have made
only two numbers. The purpose of the magazine was defined in the second
number, December 11, 1811: "We propose to develop to our readers the
machinery and composition of our Philadelphia Society."

The _Luncheon_ was a monthly satirical paper "boiled for people about
six feet high by Simon Pure." Its first appearance was in July, 1815.
The second number contained an abusive article upon William McCorkle. In
January, 1816, Lewis P. Franks, the editor of the _Luncheon_, confessed
himself the author of the libel and declared that the alleged biography
of McCorkle was false, and that the journal would be discontinued.

The _Independent Balance_ was published weekly by "Democritus the
Younger, a lineal descendant of the Laughing Philosopher." It was
established, March 20, 1817, by George Helmbold, the first editor of the
_Tickler_ and late of the United States Army.

The second volume had a vignette of a sportsman shooting a bird, with
the motto:

  "Whene'er we court the tuneful nine,
  Or plainer prose suits our design,
  Then fools may sneer and critics frown
  At every corner of the town,--
  Condemn our paper or commend;
  One aim is ours, our chiefest end:
  With well-poised gun and surest eyes
  To shoot at Folly as it flies."

Helmbold died in Philadelphia, December 28, 1821. The magazine, after
passing through several hands, finally became the property of L. P.
Franks, who published it at "No. 1 Paradise Alley, back of 171 Market
Street, between Fourth and Fifth Streets." At this time it was edited by
"Simon Spunkey, Esq., duly commissioned and sworn regulator,
weigh-master and Inspector General." Its motto proclaimed its purpose to
anatomize the wise man's folly as plain as way to parish church:

  "I claim as large a charter as the wind
  To blow on whom I please."

The _Critic_, by Geoffrey Juvenile, Esq., No. 1, January 29, 1820.

Every number of the _Critic_ contains some quip or satire at the expense
of James Kirke Paulding, and his "Backwoodsman" is particularly levelled
at. Paulding is dubbed "The Cabbage Bard," and the caustic reviewer
proceeds to write: "We _had_ a Dennie and a Clifton, yet the classical
elegance of the one has not availed to preserve his countrymen from
being intoxicated by the quaintness and affectation of the Salmagundi
school, and the purity and wit of the other have as little proved
powerful to save his work from being deserted for the bathos and
silliness of the 'Backwoodsman.' I remember them both. In private life
they united qualities which are seldom found together, brilliancy of
conversation and modesty of deportment. In their writings they were
chaste without being tame, and elevated without being extravagant. Alas!
I little thought to have lived until their light should be hidden by a
cloud of delirious bats who had left their native obscurity and madly
rushed to uncongenial day, vermin which are likely to be of direful omen
to our country unless the land be speedily cleansed of them."

The greatness of Philadelphia is the inspiration and the pride of the
_Critic_. "Having often heard Philadelphia called the 'Athens of the
United States,' 'the birthplace of American literature,' I was naturally
delighted at the prospect of a visit to so celebrated a city" (p. 14).
And again: "Philadelphia with all its faults and follies is, in a
literary and scientific point of view, the first city of the Empire" (p.
20). The _Critic_ fired its last arrow May 10, 1820.

Dennie's _Port Folio_ continued to be the admiration and the despair of
contemporary editors and authors. In 1821 appeared the _Post-Chaise
Companion or Magazine of Wit_. By Carlo Convivio Socio, Junior Fellow of
the Royal Academy of Humorists. It was begun in January, 1821, and was
issued from 15 North Front Street. In its first "leader" it deprecated
comparison with the favorites of the hour: "With the venerable Mr.
Oldschool, who for almost twenty years has delighted or instructed the
'mind of desultory man,' I would not presume to enter into a
competition, still less should it be provoked with the profound labours
of the editor of the _Analectic Magazine_ and his host of 'the most
eminent literary men' who promised to eclipse the dissertations of the
famous Northern lights" (p. 3).

The little paper contains a long article on Mr. Kean's acting (pages
37-51).

The _Philadelphia Medical Museum_ was conducted by John Redman Coxe for
five years, from 1805 to 1810, and was published by A. Bartram.

The _Eye_, by Obadiah Optic, was published every Thursday by John W.
Scott, from January to December, 1808, at three dollars a year. It was
filled with odd, historical and alliterative articles.

The _Philadelphia Repertory_, a weekly literary journal, was published
in 1810 by Dennis Hart.

The _Eclectic Repertory and Analytic Review, Medical and Philosophical_,
was commenced in October, 1811, and continued until October, 1820. It
was published quarterly, and edited by an association of physicians, and
published by T. Dobson and Son.

It was continued in January, 1821, as the _Journal of Foreign Medical
Science and Literature_, conducted by S. Emlen, Jr., and William Price,
and published by Eliakim Littell. It finally ceased October, 1824.

The _Freemason's Magazine and General Miscellany_ was published from
1810-1812 (?). It was edited by George Richards, a school-master and
clergyman of the Revolution. He was the author of "An Historical
Discourse on the Death of General Washington" (Portsmouth, 1800), and of
a number of patriotic poems of the Revolution.

ROBERT WALSH began, in 1811, the publication of the first quarterly that
was issued in the United States. It was the _American Review of History,
of Politics, and General Repository of Literature and State Papers_, and
was published for two years, in four volumes, by Farrand and Nichols.

Walsh was born in Baltimore in 1784. He was educated in Catholic schools
in Baltimore, and at the Jesuit College at Georgetown. While at college,
in 1796, he delivered a political address before General Washington. He
began the practice of law in Philadelphia. In 1817-18 he edited the
_American Register_.

The _National Gazette_, a daily newspaper, was established by him in
Philadelphia in 1819, and his connection with it did not cease until he
sold it, in 1836, to William Fry.

The _Philadelphia Register_ had been a weekly paper, the title of which
was changed, in 1819, to the _National Recorder_. It was founded in 1818
by E. Littell and S. Norris Henry. In July, 1821, it changed its name
for the second time, and became the _Saturday Magazine_. De Quincey's
"Confessions of an English Opium Eater" and the essays of Charles Lamb
were published for the first time in America in the pages of the
_Saturday Magazine_. In the following year (1822) the magazine became a
monthly publication, and was called the _Museum of Foreign Literature
and Science_. In this year (1822) it was edited by Robert Walsh. Toward
the close of 1823 the proprietor gave notice that Mr. Walsh was no
longer connected with the _Museum_. It was then conducted by Eliakim and
Squier Littell. In 1843 the publication office was removed to New York,
and the magazine was called the _Eclectic Museum of Foreign Literature
and Science_. Littell had no connection with the magazine in this phase
of its history. He went to Boston, and in 1844 established _Littell's
Living Age_, of which he remained the proprietor until his death, May
17, 1870.

After retiring from the editorial chair of the _Museum_, Walsh
successfully resuscitated the _American Quarterly Review_, which he
published from March, 1827, to 1837.

The _Review_ was published by Carey, Lea and Carey. It appeared in
March, June, September and December. Each number contained two hundred
and fifty pages, and the subscription price was five dollars per annum.
Some of Walsh's original works had met with approval in England. His
"Letter on the Genius and Disposition of the French Government" passed
through four editions in England, and was commended by Lord Jeffrey in
the _Edinburgh Review_ (Vol. XVI, p. 1). The _American Quarterly Review_
did not share the same happy fate. The _Monthly Review_ said of it, "It
is as dull a work of the kind as any that we know of. It is heavier even
than the _Westminster_ when burthened by the lucubrations of Jeremy
Bentham." Neal, in _Blackwood's_ (XVI, 634), sarcastically styled Walsh
"The Jupiter of the American Olympus."

Walsh was United States Consul at Paris from 1845-1851, and remained in
France until his death, February 7, 1859.

Joseph Delaplaine, in April, 1812, respectfully solicited the patronage
of the public to the _Emporium of Arts and Sciences_, "conducted by John
Redman Coxe, M.D., professor of chemistry in the University of
Pennsylvania." The magazine was published monthly, beginning in May,
1812. It made three volumes, but two volumes only were published in
Philadelphia. The second volume was conducted by Thomas Cooper, who, in
1813, removed the magazine to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where it was
printed by Kimber and Richardson.

The _Religious Remembrancer_ was begun by John Welwood Scott on the 4th
of September, 1813. It was the first religious weekly published in the
United States, and was three years in advance of Willis's _Boston
Recorder_.

Two children's papers publishing about this time were: the _Juvenile
Magazine--Religious, Moral, and Entertaining Pieces in Prose and Verse_,
"compiled by Arthur Donaldson," Philadelphia, 1811, published monthly,
twelve and a half cents per number. The _Juvenile Port Folio_, a weekly
miscellany, was published by Thomas G. Condie, Jr., 22 Carter's Alley,
in 1813.

A French weekly was started in 1815, _L'Abeille Americaine, Journal
Historique, Politique, et Litteraire a Philadelphie_, A. J. Blocquerst,
130 South Fifth Street. Matthew Carey took subscriptions for the work,
which continued several years.

The _Parterre: by a Trio_ (Cora and Charles Chandler), 1816, printed by
Probasco and Justice, 350 North Second Street. This worthless little
weekly was begun June 15, 1816, and ended June 28, 1817.

The _American Register, or Summary Review of History, Politics and
Literature_--Phila.: Thos. Dobson, 1817-1818--made two volumes.

The _American Medical Recorder_ appeared in 1818, supported by a number
of physicians. It was a quarterly publication. The title was changed in
1824 to the _Medical Recorder of Original Papers and Intelligence on
Medicine and Surgery_. It was merged in 1829 into the _American Journal
of the American Sciences_.

The _Ladies' and Gentlemen's Weekly Literary Museum and Musical
Magazine_ was a weekly publication begun, January 1, 1819, by H. C.
Lewis, No. 164 South Eleventh Street.

Washington Irving's first literary adventure was the publication of
_Salmagundi_. It was begun in New York, January 14, 1807, by Irving and
James Kirke Paulding. The origin of the venture is not quite clear, but
it was an outcome of the alert and gay society in New York, of which
Brevoort and Paulding and the Irvings were conspicuous members.

Mr. Paulding said of the enterprise, "It was when fairly initiated into
the mysteries of the town that Washington Irving and myself commenced
the publication of _Salmagundi_, an irregular issue, the object of which
was to ridicule the follies and foibles of the fashionable world. Though
we had not anticipated anything beyond a local circulation, the work
soon took a wider sphere; gradually extended throughout the United
States, and acquired great popularity. It was, I believe, the first of
its kind in this country; produced numerous similar publications, none
of which, however, extended beyond a few numbers and formed somewhat of
an era in our literature. It reached two volumes, and we could easily
have continued it indefinitely, but the publisher, with that liberality
so characteristic of these modern Mæcenases, declined to concede to us a
share of the profits, which had become considerable, and the work was
abruptly discontinued. It was one of those productions of youth that
wise men--or those who think themselves wise--are very apt to be ashamed
of when they grow old."

In 1819 Paulding attempted to revive _Salmagundi_, and a "second series"
was published fortnightly in Philadelphia, 108 Chestnut Street, by Moses
Thomas, from May 30, 1819, to August 19, 1820. Evert A. Duyckinck, in
his preface to the latest issue of the first series, writes, "Some ten
years or more after the conclusion of _Salmagundi_, Paulding ventured
alone upon a second series. Washington Irving was in Europe, and the
muse of Pindar Cockloft was silent. It was a dangerous undertaking, for
the very essence of a _Salmagundi_ is the combination of choice
ingredients--a product of many minds.... Yet it contains many delightful
pages."

The publication is referred to by Paulding in a letter to Washington
Irving, January 20, 1820: "I must now make two or three explanations
concerning myself and proceedings. Hearing last winter from William
Irving that you had finally declined coming home, and finding my leisure
time a little heavy, I set to work and prepared several numbers of a
continuation of our old joint production. At that time and subsequently,
until Gouverneur Kemble brought your first number [of the Sketch Book]
down to Washington with him, I was entirely ignorant that you
contemplated anything of the kind. But for an accidental delay my first
number would have got the start of yours. As it happened, however, it
had the appearance of taking the field against you, a thing which
neither my head nor heart will sanction. I believe my work has not done
you any harm in the way of rivalship, for it has been soundly abused by
many persons and compared with the first part with many degrading
expressions. It has sold tolerably, but I shall discontinue it shortly,
as I begin to grow tired, and I believe the public has got the start of
me. It was owing to Moses that I did not commence an entire new work."

The reputation of the periodical in Fashion's choicest circle is hinted
at in Halleck's "Fanny:"

  "And though by no means a _bas bleu_, she had
    For literature a most becoming passion;
  Had skimm'd the latest novels, good and bad,
    And read the Croakers, when they were in fashion;
  And Dr. Chalmers' Sermons, of a Sunday;
  And Wordsworth's Cabinet, and _the new Salmagundi_."

In closing his introduction to the new series, Paulding alluded
gracefully and affectionately to his tried and generous friend and
former fellow-worker, Washington Irving. "The reader will not fail of
hearing, in good time, all about the worthy Cockloft family; the learned
Jeremy, and the young ladies who are still young in spite of the lapse
of ten years and more. Above a dozen years are past since we first
introduced these excellent souls to our readers, and in that time many a
gentle tie has been broken, and many friends separated, some of them
forever. Among those we most loved and admired, we have to regret the
long absence of one who was aye the delight of his friends, and who, if
he were with us, would add such charms of wit and gayety to this little
work that the young and the aged would pore over it with equal delight."

The Protestant Episcopal Church established the _Episcopal Magazine_ in
January, 1820. It was conducted by Rev. C. H. Wharton and Rev. George
Boyd. The former editor, Charles Henry Wharton, was born in St. Mary's
County, Maryland, June 5, 1748. Notley Hall, the family estate, was
presented to the family by Lord Baltimore. Wharton was educated in
Jesuit schools and ordained a deacon and a priest of the Roman Catholic
Church. In the last years of the Revolution he was chaplain to the Roman
Catholics in Worcester, England, to whom, in 1784, after joining the
Church of England, he addressed his celebrated "Letter." He was a member
of the American Philosophical Society, and for a short time President of
Columbia College. In 1813-14 he was co-editor with Dr. Abercrombie of
the _Quarterly Theological Magazine and Religious Repository_.

The _Episcopal Magazine_ was published by S. Potter & Co. and printed by
J. Maxwell.

The _Rural Magazine and Literary Evening Fireside_, a monthly
publication by Richards and Caleb Johnson, was begun in January, 1820.
Its purpose was to give correct views of the science of agriculture. It
also contained articles on slavery, a sketch of Benezet, etc. But the
farmers were not inclined to write out their ideas of agriculture, and
the bucolic journal, after binding its monthly sheaves into a single
volume, asked its own _congé_.

Nathaniel Chapman was the only begetter of the _American Journal of the
Medical Sciences_, which, in its seventy years of history, has known the
touch of so many skilful editorial hands. Chapman issued it as a
quarterly from the publishing house of M. Carey and Son. It was then
called the _Philadelphia Journal of the Medical Sciences_.

In 1825 Dr. Williams P. Dewees and John D. Godman were associated with
Dr. Chapman in the editorship. Dr. Isaac Hays was added to the staff in
February, 1827, and in November the name of the magazine was changed to
the _American Journal of the Medical Sciences_, and Dr. Isaac Hays
became sole editor, to be in turn succeeded by his son, Dr. I. Minis
Hays. The history of its changes and extension would take us far beyond
the chronological boundary of this book. Nearly every physician of note
in America has contributed at some time to its pages, and nearly every
notable triumph of American medicine has found fitting record somewhere
in its multitudinous numbers.

The _Reformer_ was a monthly religious and ethical publication issued in
1820.

Robert S. Coffin, who had written popular verses under the name of the
"Boston Bard" while a compositor in the office of the _Village Record_,
at West Chester, Pa., came to Philadelphia in 1821 and began a literary
paper, which he called the _Bee_. Not more than two hundred subscribers
were secured, and Coffin sold the unsuccessful paper to Charles
Alexander, who had formerly been employed upon Poulson's _Daily
Advertiser_. On the 4th of August, 1821, Atkinson and Alexander, in the
office once occupied by Benjamin Franklin, back of No. 53 Market Street,
began the publication of the Philadelphia _Saturday Evening Post_. T.
Cottrell Clarke was appointed editor. He retired in 1826 and founded the
_Ladies' Album_, a weekly literary paper, which ultimately merged into
the _Pennsylvania Inquirer_. Morton McMichael succeeded Clarke in the
editorial chair of the _Post_, and, when he too resigned, became the
first editor of the _Saturday Courier_. Other editors of the _Post_ at
various times were Benjamin Mathias, founder of the _Saturday
Chronicle_, Charles J. Peterson, Rufus W. Griswold, H. Hastings Weld and
Henry Peterson. The _Post_ had few important rivals among the family
newspapers and it absorbed a number of the young literary journals. The
_Saturday News_, the _Saturday Bulletin_ and the _Saturday Chronicle_
were merged into the _Post_. Mrs. Henry Wood's early novels, written in
her obscure days before the time of "East Lynne," were published in it.

The _Episcopal Recorder_, established in 1822, and edited by Rev. B. B.
Smith, Bishop of the P. E. Church in the United States, has always
admitted into its pages articles by leading clergymen of whatever sect
or creed.

The _Erin_, a weekly paper containing Irish news, was published in
August, 1822, by Hart & Co., No. 117 South Fifth Street.

Rev. G. T. Bedell, who had established the _Episcopal Recorder_, was
also the editor of the _Philadelphia Recorder_ (1823), likewise a
religious weekly published in the interest of the Protestant Episcopal
Church.

The _Arcadian_, a literary periodical, of the year 1823, was published
by A. Potter and Co.

The _American Monthly Magazine_, January, 1824, to June, 1824, was
edited by James McHenry and published by Job Palmer.

The _Medical Review and Analectic Journal_ was edited by Dr. John Eberle
and Dr. George McClellan and published quarterly between June, 1824, and
August, 1826.

The _Æsculapian Register_ was published from June 17, 1824, to December
8, 1834. Several physicians united in its editorship, and R. Desilver,
of 110 Walnut Street, was its publisher; its motto: "Ars longa, vita
brevis."

The _American Sunday School Magazine_ (1824-1831) was the first
Sunday-school-teacher's journal issued in America.

_La Corbeille_, a weekly journal published in 1824. The editor was a
gallant Cavalier, who warns the ladies in the first number that novel
reading "induces a sickly diathesis of the mind, or mental marasmus."

In June, 1824, there were published in Philadelphia the _Port Folio_,
the _Museum_, the _American Monthly_ and nine other magazines, four
religious, three medical and two political. It was in this year that
_Blackwood's Magazine_ congratulated America on Charles Robert Leslie's
success in art.

The _Reformer_, published in 1824, by Theophilus R. Gates, aimed to
"expose the clerical schemes and pompous undertakings of the present day
under the pretence of religion, and to show that they are irreconcilable
with the spirit and principle of the Gospel."

The _Christian_ was a weekly paper of 1824.

The _Philadelphian_, a large folio sheet, containing religious articles,
was founded in May, 1825, by S. B. Ludlow, and published weekly at No.
59 Locust Street. William F. Geddes and Dr. Ezra Styles Ely were among
its editors.

The _North American Medical and Surgical Journal_, January, 1826, to
October, 1831, was published quarterly.

The _Album and Ladies Weekly Gazette_, begun June 7, 1826, by T. C.
Clarke, changed its name to the _Philadelphia Album and Ladies' Literary
Port Folio_, and was edited by Robert Morris after consolidation with
the _Ladies' Literary Port Folio_.

The _Casket, Flowers of Literature, Wit and Sentiment_ was a magazine
published in newspaper form. It was made out of the _Saturday Evening
Post_, and was first issued by Samuel Coate Atkinson, at No. 36 Carter's
Alley, January 1, 1827. Elizabeth Margaret Chandler (1807-1834) won a
prize for the "Slave Ship" offered by the proprietor of the _Casket_.

Charles Alexander, the well-known publisher, solicited William E. Burton
to establish a literary journal in Philadelphia, and Burton, who was
sympathetic yet dogmatic, possessed of excellent literary taste, but
never more positive than when in error, founded in July, 1837, the
_Gentleman's Magazine_. The fifth and sixth volumes, 1839, were
conducted by Burton and by Poe. The seventh volume, 1840, was conducted
by George R. Graham. The poetry of Burton's was painfully bad, redeemed
only in the faintest degree by the verses of J. H. Ingraham and C. West
Thomson.

Elwood Walter began and Edmund Morris continued the _Ariel_, a
fortnightly literary journal, first issued from No. 71 Market Street,
May 5, 1827.

The _Philadelphia Monthly Journal of Medicine and Surgery_ was published
by R. H. Small and edited by Dr. N. R. Smith from June, 1827, until
February, 1828.

The _Friend_, a weekly periodical begun October 13, 1827, was published
in the interest of the Orthodox Quakers.

The _Philadelphia Monthly Magazine_, October, 1827-September, 1829;
published by J. Dobson, 108 Chestnut Street. The magazine was projected
by Dr. Isaac Clarkson Snowden. It was to give information on the fine
arts, sciences and literature, and contained frequent articles on
American literature. Snowden was born at Princeton, 31st of December,
1791. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania, and lived in Bucks
County in ill-health. He conceived the plan of the magazine in the
spring of 1827. At his death the magazine passed into the hands of B. R.
Evans and was enlarged eight pages. A series of good articles began
November, 1828, and ran through five numbers, on the History of
Literature in Pennsylvania, by R. P. S. (Richard Penn Smith).

The _Ladies' Literary Port Folio_ was begun December 10, 1828. It was
published in quarto form by Thomas C. Clarke, No. 67 Arcade.

An association of physicians published every fortnight after September
9, 1829, the _Journal of Health_. Henry H. Porter, at No. 108 Chestnut
Street, was the publisher of this sixteen page magazine, whose motto was
"Health--the poor man's riches, the rich man's bliss."

The _Banner of the Constitution_ was a weekly journal of New York City,
from December, 1829, to May, 1831. In the latter month it was
transferred to Philadelphia, because, as the editor explained, "As
Pennsylvania is without a single paper bold enough to speak out the
language of truth in the strong terms befitting the actual crisis of
affairs, we have resolved to transfer our establishment to Philadelphia
and to resume our old position on the field of battle."

The _Protestant Episcopalian and Church Register_ was "devoted to the
interests of religion in the Protestant Episcopal Church." It was begun
in January, 1830, became the property of John S. Littell in 1838, and on
January 5, 1839, appeared in a fresh guise as the _Banner of the Cross_.

_Godey's Lady's Book_ was the chief financial success among the
Philadelphia magazines, and, after the _Port Folio_, enlisted the
services of the greatest number of the best writers. The circulation,
largely due to its popular colored fashion plates, increased to 150,000
a month. It was begun in July, 1830, by Louis A. Godey, who continued to
direct his continuously prosperous journal until 1877. Some of the
earliest compositions of Longfellow, Holmes, Poe, Bayard Taylor, Lydia
H. Sigourney, Frances Osgood and Harriet Beecher Stowe appeared in this
magazine.

For many years the _Lady's Book_ was edited by Sarah Josepha Hale. She
was born in Newport, New Hampshire, 24th October, 1788, and died in
Philadelphia 30th April, 1879. From 1828 to 1837 she edited, in Boston,
the _Ladies' Magazine_. When that magazine was united in 1837 with
_Godey's Lady's Book_, Mrs. Hale became editor of the latter periodical,
and made her home in Philadelphia in 1841. She was the originator of the
Seamen's Aid Society. She organized the fair whereby the fund for the
completion of the Bunker Hill monument was raised. It was through her
zealous insistence that Thanksgiving Day was made a national holiday.
She published many books in prose and verse, and some fugitive poems,
"Mary's Lamb," "It Snows," and "The Light of Home," that were everywhere
known.

Another ladies' magazine was the _Ladies' Garland_, published by John
Libby, April 15, 1837-June, 1838.

The _Herald of Truth_, a liberal religious weekly, was published by
M. T. C. Gould, No. 6 North Eighth Street, for a short time after
January, 1831.

The _Presbyterian_ was begun February 16, 1831.

The _Lutheran Observer_ was also commenced in 1831. It was a
continuation of the _Lutheran Intelligencer_, founded in March, 1826,
which was the first Lutheran periodical issued in America.

The _Philadelphia Liberalist_, edited by Rev. Zelotes Fuller, was issued
weekly after June 9, 1832.

The _Atlantic Journal and Friend of Knowledge_ was edited in
Philadelphia in 1832 by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. The editor was a
celebrated botanist, who was born in Constantinople in 1784, and died in
Philadelphia, September 14, 1842. His father had been a Philadelphia
merchant. Rafinesque became professor of botany in Transylvania
University, Lexington, Ky. Eight numbers only of the _Atlantic Journal_
appeared.

The _Cholera Gazette_, July 11, 1832-November 21, 1832, a weekly paper,
was published by Carey, Lea and Blanchard. It was edited by George
Washington Dickson, a popular negro minstrel, who published in New York,
in 1839, another weekly called the _Polyanthus_.

The _North American Quarterly Magazine_ was begun in Philadelphia, in
1833, by Sumner Lincoln Fairfield, the author of "The Cities of the
Plain." Fairfield was born in Warwick, Mass., June 25, 1803. The sad
story of his life of sickness and distress was told by his wife (Jane
Frazee) in 1846. She collected the money that made the existence of the
magazine possible, and her pertinacity and courage kept the magazine
alive for five years. Concerning the origin of the enterprise she
writes:

"I returned to my home after having obtained the number of eight
signatures, amounting to forty dollars. My husband took little notice of
my success for a time. I paid the house rent and secured the comforts of
a home. Each day I set apart for my visits five or six hours. In this
way I soon laid aside the means sufficient to issue the first number of
the _North American Quarterly Magazine_. When I had accumulated the sum
of seven hundred dollars I gave it into the hands of Mr. Fairfield. He
seemed amazed at my success. He found a dwelling to rent on Tenth, near
Chestnut Street. To this pleasant abode we immediately repaired. In a
very short time the work was out, and once more my heart rejoiced"
(Autobiography of Jane Fairfield, p. 97).

Fairfield always contended that Bulwer stole from him the plot of his
"Last Days of Pompeii." The story as told by Mrs. Fairfield is as
follows: "His great poem, 'The Last Night of Pompeii,' was finished in
1830, and soon after its publication my husband sent copies to England,
to Bulwer. He also wrote him a very long letter, but never received
either an acknowledgment of the poem or the letter. Bulwer's novel of a
similar title appeared about two years afterward, and, it is only
_justice to the poet_ to say, was in _every_ respect an entire and most
flagrant plagiarism. The Argument, the Introduction of the Two Lovers,
Converted Christians, Forebodings of the Destruction, The Picture of
Pompeii in Ruins, The Forum of Pompeii, The Manners and Morals of
Campania Portrayed, Diomede, the Praetor, The Night Storm, Vesuvius
Threatening, Dialogue of the Christians--the scenes of the _whole plot_,
even the names of characters, _were all taken from this most grand and
sublime poem_" (Autobiography of Jane Fairfield, p. 90).

The _North American Quarterly Magazine_ ceased in 1838.

_Waldie's Select Circulating Library_, furnishing the best popular
literature, price five dollars for fifty-two numbers, containing matter
equal to fifty London duodecimo volumes; printed and published weekly by
Adam Waldie, No. 6 North Eighth Street, Philadelphia. It was begun
January 15, 1833, and was edited by John Jay Smith (1798-1881). Smith
had been the editor of the _Saturday Bulletin_, 1830-32, _Littell's
Museum_, _Walsh's National Gazette_ and the _Daily Express_. The
magazine reprinted standard works and published original reviews and
literary notes.

The _American Lancet_, edited by F. S. Beattie, began February 23, 1833,
and was published fortnightly by Turner and Son.

The _Spy in Philadelphia and Spirit of the Age_, a weekly journal
advocating purity in politics, censured the vices of the time for a few
weeks after July 6, 1833.

The _Advocate of Science and Annals of Natural History_ was conducted by
W. P. Gibbons, 1834-5.

The _Gentleman's Vade-Mecum, or the Sporting and Dramatic
Companion_, January 1, 1835-June 25, 1836, contained original dramas and
musical compositions, fast heats and pictures of celebrated racers.
Charles Alexander, its publisher, sold it to Louis A. Godey, Joseph C.
Neal and Morton McMichael, who made out of it the _Saturday News and
Literary Gazette_, which began its course July 2, 1836, and ultimately
became a part of the _Saturday Evening Post_. The editor of both
publications was Joseph Clay Neal (1807-1847), who also edited the
_Pennsylvanian_, a Democratic daily newspaper, from 1831 to 1844,
succeeding James Gordon Bennett in the editorial chair. At the time of
his death he owned the _Saturday Gazette_, which he and Morton McMichael
had established. His "Charcoal Sketches" (Philadelphia, 1837), which
Charles Dickens republished in London, were originally contributed to
the _Pennsylvanian_ under the title, "City Worthies." His wife, Alice
Bradley Haven (1828-1863), contributed, while a school-girl, several
sketches under the name of Alice G. Lee to the _Saturday Gazette_. She
was generally known as "Cousin Alice," and under this name assumed
editorial charge of the _Gazette_ after her husband's death.

The _Radical Reformer and Workingman's Advocate_ was published weekly
after June 13, 1835, by Thomas Bro., at No. 124 South Front Street. In
October it was issued fortnightly.

The _Botanic Sentinel and Literary Gazette_ (August 12, 1835-June 15,
1840), published weekly by J. Coates.

The _Independent Weekly Press_, "upholding the right of free discussion,
given to us by our God and guarded by the laws of our country," was
published December 5, 1835. It hoped and intended to be a literary
paper, but the quality of its literature is inferior even to that of its
infantile contemporaries.

_Every Bodie's Album_ was a monthly miscellany of "humorous tales,
essays, anecdotes and facetiæ," and the other symptoms of albuminous
fever. It was begun July 1, 1836. It was a large magazine, containing a
number of absurd engravings. Charles Alexander, the publisher of the
_Vade-Mecum_, issued this magazine also.

The _Eclectic Journal of Medicine_ (November, 1836-October, 1840) was
published monthly by Barrington and Haswell, and edited by John Bell.

_Saturday Chronicle_ was published weekly by Matthias and Taylor,
Number 84 South Second Street, from 1836 until 1840.

The _Weekly Messenger_ was published from 1836 to 1848.

Adam Waldie built up a lumbering weekly journal, January 6, 1837, which
he called _Waldie's Literary Omnibus_. This carry-all was devoted to
"news, books entire, sketches, reviews, tales, and miscellaneous
intelligence."

The _Philadelphia Visitor and Parlor Companion_, a fortnightly journal,
published from March, 1837, by W. B. Rogers, Number 49 Chestnut Street,
and edited by H. N. Moore, was filled with toys of fashion and shreds of
social folly.

The _American Journal of Homoeopathy_, a bi-monthly publication, was
begun August, 1838, by W. L. J. Kiderlen & Co.

The _United States Magazine and Democratic Review_ was started some time
in 1838 and published until 1840.


GRAHAM'S MAGAZINE.

"My name has figured, I assure you, on the covers of Graham and Godey,
making as respectable an appearance, for aught I could see, as any of
the canonized bead-roll with which it was associated."

So Holgrave tells Miss Phoebe Pyncheon in the "House of Seven Gables,"
and voices Hawthorne's and New England's appreciation of the merit and
supremacy of the two Philadelphia magazines which in the middle of this
century engaged the services and elicited the abilities of the best
American writers.

Mr. George R. Graham, whose name was once known wherever books were read
in America, and whose intimate relations with American literature seemed
"too intrinse t'unloose," has quite outlived the memories of his
countrymen. Few are aware that the generous and able publisher who gave
employment to young James Russell Lowell, who awarded the prize for the
"Gold-Bug" to Edgar Allan Poe, and who was almost the first to pay
American authors for their work, is still living in Orange, New Jersey.
He has outlived health and fortune as well as fame. And now, rich only
in memory, and the precious store of reminiscences of nearly four-score
years, he lies in the Memorial Hospital at Orange contentedly awaiting
the end, neither anxious to go nor eager to remain.

His few personal wants and the necessary comforts of his age are fully
provided by Mr. George W. Childs, whose liberal hand, prompted by his
generous heart, never wearies in doing deeds of generosity.

Mr. Graham has told me in detail the story of his magazine. He was the
owner and editor of _Atkinson's Casket_, when, in 1841, William E.
Burton, the actor, came to him with the request that he should buy the
_Gentleman's Magazine_, of which Burton had been the proprietor for four
years. Burton explained that money was needed for his new theatre, that
the magazine must be sold, that it numbered thirty-five hundred
subscribers, and that it would be sold outright for thirty-five hundred
dollars. Graham, who at that time had fifteen hundred subscribers to his
own magazine, accepted the offer, and the _Gentleman's Magazine_ was
transferred to him. "There is one thing more," said Burton, "I want you
to take care of my young editor." That "young editor," who in this
manner entered the employ of George Graham, was Edgar Allan Poe. Mr.
Graham bears clear and willing testimony to the efficient service
rendered by Poe to the new magazine, which, now combined with the
_Casket_, took the name of its new owner. He found little in Poe's
conduct to reprove, nor does he remember any cause beyond envy and
malice for Griswold's truculent slanders. A quarrel of an hour led to
Poe's dismissal, but the friendly relations between the wayward poet and
his former employer remained unsevered. From New York, Poe sent Graham
the manuscript of a story for which he asked and received fifty dollars.
The story remained unpublished for a year, when Poe again appeared in
the editorial room and begged for the return of the manuscript, that he
might try with it for the prize of one hundred dollars offered for the
best prose tale. Graham showed his "love and friending" for the author
by surrendering the story, and the judges awarded to Edgar Poe the prize
for the "Gold-Bug."

After the dismissal of Poe, the magazine, still under Graham's
management, was edited by Ann Stephens and Charles J. Peterson, until
Rufus Wilmot Griswold sat in the responsible chair. James Russell Lowell
was a subordinate editor of the magazine as early as 1843, and in April
of that year communicated to Nathaniel Hawthorne the desire of the
editor, Edgar Allan Poe, that he too should become a contributor. In
1845 Lowell was married and continued to reside with his wife in
Philadelphia. The following letter was the first written by Mrs. Lowell
from Philadelphia to her friend Mrs. Hawthorne:

  PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 16, 1845.

     MY DEAR SOPHIA:--I wished to write to you before I left home, but
     in the hurry of those last hours I had no time, and instead of
     delicate sentiments could only send you gross plum-cake, which I
     must hope you received. We are most delightfully situated here in
     every respect, surrounded with kind and sympathizing friends, yet
     allowed by them to be as quiet and retired as we choose; but it is
     always a pleasure to know you can have society if you wish for it,
     by walking a few steps beyond your own door.

     We live in a little chamber on the third story, quite low enough to
     be an attic, so that we feel classical in our environment; and we
     have one of the sweetest and most motherly of Quaker women to
     anticipate all our wants, and make us comfortable outwardly as we
     are blest inwardly. James's prospects are as good as an author's
     _ought_ to be, and I begin to fear we shall not have the
     satisfaction of being so _very_ poor after all. But we are, in
     spite of this disappointment of our expectations, the happiest of
     mortals or spirits, and cling to the skirts of every passing hour,
     although we know the next will bring us still more joy.

  Your most happy and affectionate

  MARIA LOWELL.

"Nathaniel Hawthorne and his Wife," Vol. I, p. 283.

The house so happily described, and in which Lowell so pleasantly lived
while he wrote for _Graham's_ and won a high place on its "canonized
bead-roll," was the old house, still standing at the northeast corner of
Fourth and Arch Streets, which had been built for the residence of
William Smith, editor of the _American Magazine_ (1757-8).

Griswold introduced James Fenimore Cooper to Mr. Graham in the editorial
sanctum, and Graham bought from him his lives of the naval commanders,
and engaged him to write a serial story. Cooper wrote "The Isles of the
Gulf," afterward known as "Jack Tier," and received eighteen hundred
dollars for it; "though," says Graham, "the money might as well have
been thrown into the sea, for it never brought me a new subscriber."

Longfellow's "Spanish Student" appeared for the first time in _Graham's
Magazine_, and Longfellow also contributed "Nuremberg" (June, 1844),
"The Arsenal at Springfield" (May, 1844), "Dante's Divina Commedia"
(June, 1850), "Childhood" (March, 1844), "Belfry of Bruges" (Vol. 22).

Poe published here "The Murders of the Rue Morgue," three chapters on
Autography (Nov., Dec., 1841-Jan., 1842), a review of Horne's "Orion"
(March, 1844), "Dreamland" (June, 1844), "To Helen," "Israfel," "A Few
Words about Brainard," "Life in Death," "The Mask of the Red Death"
(May, 1842), numerous reviews of new books, and "The Conqueror Worm"
(Vol. 22).

After Griswold left the _Magazine_ Mr. Graham assumed more of the
literary management, and engaged E. P. Whipple to write the editorial
reviews of the more important books, which he continued to do until
1854.

Nathaniel Hawthorne included many of his early contributions to this
magazine in his "Twice-Told Tales." "The Earth's Holocaust" appeared in
May, 1844.

George D. Prentice wrote verses. "Fanny Forester" (Mrs. Judson) sent
some brilliant sketches, and Phoebe and Alice Cary, and Grace
Greenwood were faithful correspondents. From the South came verses and
prose tales by William Gilmore Simms. Other captain jewels in Graham's
carcanet were the gifts of Miss Sedgwick, Frances S. Osgood, N. P.
Willis ("it was very comfortable that there should have been a Willis"),
James K. Paulding, Park Benjamin, W. W. Story, Geo. W. Bethune, Mary
Lockhart Lawson, Charles Fenno Hoffman, Alfred B. Street and Albert
Pike.

Among the Philadelphians who rendered frequent aid to the editor were
Joseph C. Neal, Richard Penn Smith, Dr. J. K. Mitchell, Robert Morris
and Thomas Dunn English, the author of "Ben Bolt," who would seem to
have tasted the fountain of eternal youth, and has gone to Congress in
1890 a jolly, thriving candidate.

William Henry Herbert (Frank Forester) furnished a number of sporting
sketches and other articles.

The circulation of _Graham's Magazine_ when at the top of popularity was
thirty-five or thirty-seven thousand. Mr. Graham sold out in 1848, but
bought back the property in 1849. He finally parted with it in 1854.

Washington Irving alone, among the far-shining men of letters in the
country, had no connection with _Graham's_. The _Knickerbocker Magazine_
of New York found place for all that the facility of his pen could
create, and guarded jealously the productions of their "crack writer."

_Graham's Magazine_ began with volume eighteen, being the addition of
the ten volumes of Atkinson's _Casket_, and the seven volumes of
Burton's _Gentleman's Magazine_. This first volume, 1841, contained
Poe's "Descent into a Maelstrom" and his "Murders in the Rue Morgue."

The twenty-first volume, 1842, presents the name of Rufus W. Griswold
upon the cover. The thirtieth volume was edited by Graham alone; the
thirty-second by Graham and Robert T. Conrad; the thirty-fifth by
Graham, Joseph R. Chandler and Bayard Taylor; the fiftieth by Charles
Godfrey Leland. On the first of January, 1859, _Graham's Magazine_
became the _American Monthly_.

On March 15, 1838, John Greenleaf Whittier became editor of the
_Pennsylvania Freeman_, published at 31 North Fifth Street. He was
successor to Benjamin Lundy.

Graham's particular patent of nobility is the fact that he was the first
of American publishers to pay fair prices to American authors.

The _Lady's Amaranth_ was another venture of 1838, and was issued from
No. 274 Market Street.

Adam Waldie was the publisher of the _American Phrenological Journal and
Miscellany_, begun in November, 1838.

The _Philadelphia Reporter_ was called into being in 1838, at No. 45
North Sixth Street, but no physic could prolong its sickly days, and it
was discontinued in a few months' time.

The _Christian Observer_ was a weekly Presbyterian journal commenced in
1838, and was for many years published from No. 134 Chestnut Street.

The _Baptist Record_ was a religious publication continued from 1838 to
1857.

The _American Phrenological Journal_ was issued from No. 46 Carpenter
Street from 1838 to 1841.

The _Farmer's Cabinet_, devoted to agriculture, was published from 1838
to 1850.

The _Ladies' Companion_ was published by Orrin Rodgers for two years
following 1838.

Rodgers also published the _Medico-Chirurgical Review_, about 1838. Its
life, however, was short.

_Peterson's Ladies' National Magazine_.--It was George R. Graham who
first suggested to his friend, Charles J. Peterson, then editor of the
_Saturday Evening Post_, the publication of a fashion journal, patterned
upon the popular French periodicals. _Peterson's Magazine_ is now (1891)
in its fiftieth year, and is still the best and most popular publication
of its class. Its circulation has been as high as one hundred and
sixty-five thousand. It is to-day a stock company, of which Mrs. C. J.
Peterson is President. The same glittering row of writers who
contributed to _Graham's_ helped also in the making of _Peterson's_.

Frances Hodgson Burnett published her first story, "Ethel's Sir
Lancelot," in _Peterson's_ for November, 1868. The story filled five
pages. Mrs. Frank Leslie thinks that Mrs. Burnett's first literary work
was for Frank Leslie in 1867 or 1868, and that she received her first
check in payment for an article in _Frank Leslie's Magazine_. Mrs.
Leslie says that Mrs. Burnett was then living in Knoxville with her
brother who was a civil engineer.

Mr. Peterson died March 4, 1887. The following editorial note appeared
in _The Philadelphia Inquirer_ of Monday, March 7, 1887:


CHARLES J. PETERSON.

"No man was ever more beloved by his friends--and among them were those
who were great and good in all that constitutes intellectual greatness
and moral goodness--than Charles J. Peterson, whose death occurred on
Friday night last. He was one of that group of men who half a century
ago began to make Philadelphia famous as the literary centre of the
country. Liberally educated, trained to the law, he turned naturally to
literature, to which his brilliant mind, his ripe scholarship, his
fervid imagination, his refined taste directed and impelled him. He
survived nearly all of those who had but a brief while before or after
him entered upon the world of letters in this city. At that time the
best literary thought of the nation was expressed through the medium of
_Graham's Magazine_, of which Mr. Peterson was the editor. Among his
learned and brilliant associates were James Russell Lowell, Edgar Allan
Poe, Dr. Rufus Griswold, Dr. Bird, Richard Penn Smith, Professor J. K.
Mitchell, Judge Conrad, Morton McMichael and Louis A. Godey. Of all
these men with whom Mr. Peterson worked and lived upon the most intimate
terms of literary companionship Mr. Lowell now alone survives. Fifty
years ago they were the names which gave to American literature
distinction, and made Philadelphia the most prominent centre of genius
and talent. Among his contemporaries Mr. Peterson held distinguished
rank, and had he continued his literary career there can be no doubt
that he would have continued to hold it even in the army of writers who
in recent years have become so famous.

"But Mr. Peterson put aside writing to become a publisher, in which he
achieved remarkable and deserved success, and subsequently he wrote but
infrequently, and then only brief brochures intended solely for private
circulation among his friends, but which showed the fertility of his
mind, his rare fancy, fine taste and ripe judgment.

"But while Mr. Peterson was commonly known as an author, editor and
publisher, he was best known by those who enjoyed the happiness and
privilege of his acquaintanceship, friendship or more affectionate
relations, as a man of the noblest character, the tenderest
sensibilities, the most refined and gentle qualities. Advancing age, a
great and sorrowful loss, that of an only son by sudden death, induced
him to withdraw from the society that had always welcomed his presence,
but in his seclusion he did not grow misanthropical or morbid. His faith
in God and men seemed to grow stronger and greater the nearer he
approached the end, and in dying he was close to both. His nature was
most generous and affectionate; and age, which so often dulls and
hardens the finest characters, left his brilliant and gentle to the
end. He was a man of large benevolence, giving largely to those who in
his wise judgment were worthy, and his bounty to authors and old
associates who had struggled and fallen by the way was measured only by
their needs. He was a good citizen and a good man; those who knew him
best loved him best. We can speak of him only as he was in that part of
his daily life with which all who happily knew him were familiar. His
life within his own home, which was his own, and into which we would not
intrude, was noblest of all, full of refinement, love and chivalric
devotion. His loss will most be felt there, though there is no friend
who shared his friendship upon whom it will not fall heavily and
sorrowfully."

The _Botanic Medical Reformer and Home Physician_ was published monthly
by H. Hollemback and Co., and edited by Dr. Thomas Cooke. It was begun
May 7, 1840.

The _Philadelphia Repository_ (1840-1852) was begun by William Henry
Gilder (1812-1864) father of Richard Watson Gilder, editor of the
_Century Magazine_. The first William Henry, grandfather of Richard
Watson, laid the corner-stone of Girard College. William Henry the
second continued to edit the _Repository_ about one year; he
subsequently published in Philadelphia the _Literary Register_, a
quarterly review.

The _Literalist_ was published from 1840 to 1842 at No. 67 South Second
Street. James Rees edited the _Dramatic Mirror and Literary Companion_,
August 14, 1841, at No. 15 North Sixth Street.

The _Young People's Book_ (September, 1841-August, 1842) was published
at No. 101 Chestnut Street, and was edited by John Frost, professor of
history in the Central High School.

It was the _Dollar Magazine_, commenced January 25, 1843, that offered
the prize in June, 1843, for the best story, and, as already related,
Edgar Allan Poe entered the lists of fame, and drew the prize in the
lottery with the "Gold-Bug." Hawthorne published here, in 1851, "The
Unpardonable Sin." The publishers of the _Dollar Newspaper_ were the
publishers of the _Ledger_. When Mr. George W. Childs purchased the
_Ledger_ he bought also the _Dollar Magazine_, and changed its name to
the _Home Weekly and Household Newspaper_.

The _Occident and American Jewish Advocate_ was published monthly by
Isaac Leeser from No. 118 South Fourth Street, and was continued from
1843 to 1847.

The _Legal Intelligencer_ began December 2, 1843, and, published weekly
from that time to the present, is the oldest law journal in the United
States. It was founded by Henry E. Wallace, and has been edited by J.
Hubley Ashton, Dallas Sanders and Henry C. Titus.

Miss Eliza Leslie, sister to Charles Robert Leslie, after winning her
first literary distinction with her story, "Mrs. Washington Potts," in
_Godey's Lady's Book_, began, with the aid of T. S. Arthur, the
publication in January, 1843, of _Miss Leslie's Magazine_. In the
address of "The Publisher to the Public" the new venture is thus
introduced and commended: "_Miss Leslie's Magazine_! There is something
in the very name that foretokens a prosperous career. It is a name
associated with the pleasantest passages of our current American
literature--with the most brilliant triumphs of our most brilliant
periodicals. Who does not remember 'Mrs. Washington Potts' and that
exquisite tease, 'Old Aunt Quinby,' and the 'Miss Vanlears,' and their
pseudo-French gallant; and 'Mrs. Woodbridge,' and her economical mamma,
and the thousand other creations of Miss Leslie's admirable pencil; and
remembering these, who would not venture to predict that her magazine
must be eminently successful? _We_ know that it will be." The first
number contained contributions by T. S. Arthur, Mrs. Anna Bache, N. P.
Willis, Virginia Murray, John Bouvier, Mrs. L. H. Sigourney, Morton
McMichael and Mrs. S. C. Hall.

Again, in February, the publisher advanced before the public with a
modest little speech: "We foresaw that our magazine would create a
sensation, but we had no idea that it would produce such a commotion as
it has done. Everybody is in rapture with it, and the whole town has
been crowding to get a peep at it--for, to say the truth, such has been
the demand that we could not possibly keep pace with it.... We have
already received a larger number of actual subscriptions than were ever
before obtained for any periodical in the same period; and we do not
hazard anything in predicting that before the expiration of our first
year we shall have a greater circulation than any other monthly
publication.... And then our contributors are all persons of genuine
merit--men and women who write understandingly, and who know how to
mingle entertainment with profit. No mawkish sentimentality--no diluted
commonplaces--no pompous parade of swollen words--no tumid prosiness can
find admission into our columns, for we shall avoid alike the hackneyed
author whose reputation takes the place of ability, and the unfledged
scribbler whose crudities are utter abominations. We care nothing for
mere names, though a good deed is none the worse for coming from a good
hand; but the small fry of literature--the lackadaisical
geniuses--Heaven bless the mark--who, scum-like, float upon the surface,
soiling what they touch and disturbing by their presence what, but for
them, might be free from offence--we hold in utter abhorrence."

In _Miss Leslie's Magazine_ for April, 1843, appeared the first specimen
of lithotinting that had been attempted in America. It was the work of
an artist named Richards, who had seen several productions of Mr.
Hullmandel, of London, who had been experimenting in this style.

The first illustrated comic paper on an original plan published in
America was the _John Donkey_. The editors of the paper were G. G.
(Gaslight) Foster and Thomas Dunn English. Foster was a reporter on the
_North American_ who had written sketches of New York, notably the
account of the illuminated clock of the Seward House, and who had been
brought to Philadelphia by Morton McMichael. English was born in
Philadelphia, June 29, 1819, and in his seventeenth year was a
contributor to Philadelphia newspapers. He was graduated in medicine at
the University of Pennsylvania in 1839, and after studying law was
admitted to the bar in 1842. His famous song, "Ben Bolt" first appeared
in the _New York Mirror_ in 1843.

The first illustrated comic paper in America, the _Lantern_, was started
by John Brougham. "This paper," said Foster and English, "professes to
be funny. Let us make a paper that professes to be stupid"--and the
_John Donkey_ was published monthly by G. B. Zieber at Third and
Chestnut Streets, and Zieber and Foster and English shared regularly in
the profits. Nearly all the articles were written by English. The artist
of the magazine was Felix O. C. Darley; Henry L. Stephens designed many
of the prints, and Hinckley was the engraver of the magazine. Barnet
Phillips, the author of the _Struggle_, a journalist born in
Philadelphia, November 9, 1828, helped in the composition of the _John
Donkey_. The circulation rose to twelve thousand, when Zieber failed,
and Foster went out, and the circulation dropped to three thousand. The
first volume was completed in June, 1848, and only a few numbers of the
second volume were issued.

_Metcalfe's Miscellany_ was begun in March, 1841, and edited by Dr.
Thomas Dunn English. The contents were "entirely original," both stories
and verse. The subscription price, one dollar per year, in advance.
English was invited to edit the magazine by Metcalfe, who had been a
printer in the office of _Poulson's Daily Advertiser_, and who knew that
English wrote editorials for that paper. J. Ross Browne, author of the
_California Sketches_, wrote Oriental sketches for Metcalfe's.

The _Nineteenth Century_ was begun in January, 1848. It was published by
G. B. Zieber and Co., and edited by C. Chauncey Burr. The first volume
was embellished with a steel engraving of Horace Greeley, and the second
volume with an engraving of John Sartain. The motto upon the title-page
was Goethe's famous "Light, more light still."

The first number was dedicated to Douglas Jerrold. "The Heart Broken," a
story of Brockden Brown's life, death and burial, was contributed by
George Lippard: "He became an--author! Yes, a miserable penster, a
scribbler, a fellow who spills ink for bread! For a career like this he
forsook the brilliant prospects of the bar. Yes, he set himself down in
the prime of his young manhood to make his bread by his pen. At that
time the cow with seven horns, or the calf with two heads and five legs,
exhibited in some mountebank's show, was not half so rare a curiosity
as--an American author!"

Among the contributors to the magazine were Mrs. Sigourney, T. B. Read,
Bayard Taylor and Dr. Furness.

The _Friends' Review_ was the creation of the Orthodox Friends, in
1847. Its first editor was the mathematician, Enoch Lewis, who continued
to direct it until his death, in 1856. A remarkable literary incident is
associated with the issue of January, 1848. In that month Elizabeth
Lloyd (Howell), widow of Robert Howell, of Philadelphia, contributed
anonymously to the _Review_ a poem, entitled "Milton's Prayer for
Patience," in which the Miltonic manner was so deftly imitated, that
even the very elect in criticism were deceived by it, and the poem was
actually printed in the Oxford edition of Milton as Milton's own lament
for his loss of sight.

Most of the Philadelphia magazines of the last fifty years have been
enriched by the busy hand of Mr. John Sartain, and two of the most
interesting of the city's periodicals were owned and edited by him. Mr.
Sartain, who has won the highest place in the history of American
engraving, was born in London, England, October 24, 1808. He came to
America in 1830, and settled in Philadelphia at the persuasion of Thomas
Sully. No living engraver has accomplished as much work as this untiring
and skilful artist. But it is not as an artist or an interpreter of art
alone that he has won high honor; his literary labors, though less
conspicuous and less splendid, are significant and interesting.

_Campbell's Foreign Monthly Magazine_ began September 1, 1843. It was
published monthly for one year by James M. Campbell, of 98 Chestnut
Street, when it was bought outright by Mr. John Sartain, who changed the
title to _Campbell's Foreign Semi-Monthly, or Select Miscellany of
European Literature and Art_ (September, 1843, to September, 1844).
Sartain engraved a plate for each number, and compiled a laborious
miscellany of the latest intelligence in art, science and letters. Many
famous bits of literature appeared for the first time in America in this
magazine. "The Bridge of Sighs," "The Song of the Shirt" (Vol. V, p.
211), "The Haunted House" (Hood), "The Pauper's Funeral" and "The Drop
of Gin" (Vol. V, p. 138) were first published in these pages.

In 1848 Mr. Sartain purchased the _Union Magazine of Literature and
Art_, edited in New York by Caroline Matilda Kirkland, the American Miss
Mitford. The name of the magazine was changed, and _Sartain's Union
Magazine_ appeared in January, 1849, edited by Mrs. Kirkland and
Professor John S. Hart, of the Central High School. For a few months Dr.
Reynell Coates acted as editor, but in the third year of its history Mr.
Sartain assumed complete charge of his magazine. In 1852 it again
returned to New York, when it was merged into the _National Magazine_.

Longfellow contributed frequently to the magazine. His translation of
"The Blind Girl of Castèl Cuillè" appeared here in January, 1850. Poe
contributed "The Bells" (November, 1849) and his "Poetic Principle"
(October, 1850). Harriet Martineau wrote for _Sartain's_ her "Year at
Ambleside," which ran through the year 1850, and T. Buchanan Read,
George Henry Boker and Frederika Bremer were frequently in the pages of
the magazine.




POSTSCRIPT.


Since the final revision of these pages I have learned that Samuel
Stearns was the editor of the second volume (1789) of the _Philadelphia
Magazine_. He was a physician and astronomer, born in Bolton, Mass., in
1747, and died in Brattleborough, Vt., in 1819. He made the calculations
for the first nautical almanac in this country, which he published in
New York, December 20, 1782. Twenty-eight years of his life were spent
upon a "Medical Dispensatory," which he left unfinished at his death.

Of one publication of the eighteenth century, the _Philadelphia Nimrod_
(1798), I have made no mention. Although for a long time a hot questrist
after it, I have not been fortunate enough to come by a copy, and of its
history I am mainly ignorant.

My list of the medical, theological and scientific periodicals of the
present century is by no means complete, but it may be serviceable for
future correction and extension.

There was a publication in Philadelphia, in 1811, entitled the _Cynic_,
"by Growler Gruff, Esquire, aided by a Confederacy of Lettered Dogs." It
wore the motto:

  We'll snarl, and bite, and play the dog,
                      For dogs are honest.

It was published weekly from September 21 to December 12. The principal
purpose of the little paper was to censure and abuse the theatrical
managers of the city for abolishing the old theatre boxes.

A dramatic review which has a station in the file, and not i' the worst
rank either, is the _Whim_, published by John Bioren, No. 88 Chestnut
Street, at twenty cents a number. It was a small paper issued during the
theatrical season and for sale at the Falstaff tavern. The editor, James
Fennell, was born in London in 1766, and died in Philadelphia, June 14,
1816. He came to America in 1793 and made his first appearance in
Philadelphia. He published "The Wheel of Truth," a comedy; "Picture of
Paris;" "Linden and Clara," a comedy; and "Apology for My Life,"
Philadelphia, 1814. The first number of the _Whim_ appeared Saturday,
May 14, 1814. The argument for the publication was founded upon the
pre-eminence of Philadelphia among the cities of the nation, "The city
of Philadelphia professedly and avowedly declaring itself the _Athens of
the United States_" (p. 8). The journal ceased, I believe, with the
tenth number, dated July 16, 1814.

It has been no part of my task to discover and describe the early
magazines of the State, though that had been an attractive piece of
literary exposition--to the expounder, at least. In conclusion, however,
it may not be amiss to recite a few of the earlier examples of
provincial editing.

The first magazine west of the mountains was the _Huntingdon Literary
Museum and Monthly Miscellany_. It was edited by William Rudolph Smith,
a grandson of Dr. William Smith, of the _American Magazine_ (1757-8),
and Moses Canan. It was printed by John McCahan and published in 1810.
Its editors defined it to be "the first asylum for the varieties of
literature that ever had been published west of the Susquehannah" (p.
576). The magazine ceased in December, 1810, with the complaint that
"with the exception of some pieces of poetry from several gentlemen in
Philadelphia, and an essay on the early 'Poetick Writers,' the editors
have received no _original_ matter."

A still earlier periodical was the _Gleaner_, "a monthly magazine,
containing original and selected essays in prose and verse," Stacy
Potts, Jr., editor, Lancaster, 1808-9.

Carlisle possessed two religious magazines of early date--the _Religious
Instructor_, "under ministers of the Presbyterian Church, Carlisle,
1810;" and the _Magazine of the German Reformed Church_, edited by Rev.
L. Mayer, and continued by Rev. Daniel Young, begun in 1828, and making
three volumes.

Another semi-religious periodical was the _Literary and Evangelical
Register_, "containing scientifical, evangelical, statistical and
political essays and facts, together with missionary intelligence and
miscellaneous articles, interspersed with poetry." This magazine was
edited by Eugenio Kincaid and published at Milton, Pennsylvania. It was
begun in July, 1826, and continued until June, 1827.

The _Village Museum_, "conducted by an association of young men" (Vol.
I, 1819-20), was published by Gemmill and Lewis at York, Pennsylvania.
It bore for its motto:

  Along the cool-sequestered vale of life
  We keep the noiseless tenor of our way.

The magazine is full of the neighborhood and gay with local color. It
ceased in July, 1820.




INDEX.

  Abeille Americaine, L', 193

  Abercrombie, James, 122, 198

  Adams, John, 144

  Adams, John Quincy, his commencement oration, 65; 88-9;
    his epitaph on Joseph Dennie, 110-11

  Advocate of Science, The, 212

  Æsculapian Register, The, 202

  Aitken, Jane, 10

  Aitken, Robert, 10, 27, 48

  Album, The, 205, 206

  Alexander, Charles, 200, 214

  Allen, James, 141

  Allen, Paul, 117, 141

  Allston, W., 178

  "American Addison, The" (Joseph Dennie), 90

  American Annual Register, The, 75

  American Journal of Homoeopathy, The, 215

  American Journal of the Medical Sciences, The, 199

  American Lancet, The, 202

  American Magazine, The (No. 1), 26, 28

  American Magazine, The (No. 2), 28, 34, 35, 39, 41, 43, 46, 220, 242

  American Magazine, The (No. 3), 46, 47

  American Medical Recorder, The, 193

  American Monthly Magazine, The, 202

  American Monthly Review, The, 75

  American Museum, The, 67-73

  American Phrenological Journal, The, 224-225

  American Philosophical Society, 46, 89, 177, 180, 198

  American Quarterly Review, 191

  American Register, 166; (Dobson's), 193

  American Review (Walsh's), 189

  American Sunday School Magazine, The, 202

  American University Magazine, The, 76

  Analectic Magazine, 123, 145, 178-180, 188

  "Anarchiad, The," 70

  "Annandius" (pen-name of Joseph Shippen), 33

  Annulus, The, 20

  Arcadian, The, 202

  Aristotle, 10

  Arminian Magazine, The, 74

  Arthur, T. S., 232

  "Arthur Mervyn" (memoirs of the year 1793), 80

  Ashburton, Lord, 87

  Atkinson's "Casket," 217, 223

  "Atlanticus" (pen-name of Thomas Paine), 52

  Atlantic Journal and Friend of Knowledge, 209

  Audubon, John James, 134, 135

  Aurora, The, 94, 127


  Bache, Mrs. Anna, 232

  Bailey, Francis (publisher), 53, 60

  Banner of the Constitution, 206

  Banner of the Cross, 207

  Baptist Record, 225

  Barker, J. N., 183

  Baring, Alexander, 87

  Barlow, Joel, 10, 62

  Bartram, John, (his botanical garden), 89; 131

  Barton, Benjamin Smith, 170, 177

  Beacon, The, 184

  Bedell, Rev. G. T., 202

  Bennett, James Gordon, 213

  Benjamin, Park, 222

  Bethune, Geo. W., 222

  "Ben Bolt," 222, 234

  Bentham, Jeremy, 191

  Bell, Robert, 10;
    his Third Street shop, 11

  Beveridge, John, 44

  Belknap, Jeremy, 64, 65

  Benezet, Anthony, 70, 199

  Biddle, J.B., editor of Medical Examiner, 73

  Biddle, N., 117, 142

  Binney, Horace, 116, 128

  Bingham, William, 87

  Bioren, John, 232

  Bird, R. M., 227

  Blackwood's Magazine, 177, 191, 203

  Blake, Geo., 182

  Blackstone, publication of his "Commentaries," 10

  Boston Magazine, 171

  Botanic Sentinel, 214

  Boker, Geo. H., 239

  Botanic Medical Reformer, 229

  Bouvier, John, 232

  Bonaparte, Charles L., 135

  Bonaparte, Jerome, 183

  Bozman, John Leeds, 116, 126-7

  Brougham, John, 234

  Brown, J. Ross, 235

  Bremer, Frederika, 239

  Brackenridge, H. H., 14, 53-60, 69

  Bradford, Andrew, 23, 26, 28, 69

  Bradford, Samuel, 172, 177

  Bradford, William, 28

  Brissot, "Citizen," 68

  Brown, Charles Brockden, 15, 20, 79-80; 108, 114, 116, 117, 121,
        150, 152-170, 236

  Bryant, William Cullen, 20

  Bulwer, his plagiarism of "Last Days of Pompeii," 210, 211

  Burton, Wm. E., 217, 223

  Burnett, Frances Hodgson, her first story, 226

  Burr, C. Chauncey, 236

  Buckingham, J. S., 93

  Burns, Robert, 131

  Burke, Edmund, 143, 172

  Byron, Lord, 65, 100, 179


  Casket, The, 218, 223

  Cary, Phoebe and Alice, 222

  Campbell's Foreign Magazine, 238

  "Cabotia" (New England), 99

  Cadwalader, John, 88

  Cadwalader, Thos., 116, 127

  Caldwell, Dr. Charles, 93, 117, 142, 143

  Carpenter, Stephen C., 172

  Carey, Mathew, 62, 63, 67-73; 172

  Cave, Edward, founder of the _Gentleman's Magazine_, 23

  Cent, The, the first penny paper, 20

  Childs, Geo. W., 217, 230

  Chandler, Jos. R., 224

  Christian Observer, The, 224

  Christian, The, 203

  Chapman, Dr. N., 116, 126, 199

  "Chiomara" (Ingersoll), 123

  "Climenole" (pen-name of Jos. Quincey), 126

  Chew, Benjamin, 27, 34

  Cholera Gazette, The, 209

  Cist, Charles, 63

  Clarke, T. Cottrell, 200

  Cliffton, William, 54, 122, 186

  Coffin, R. S., 200

  Cooper, Thomas, 117, 143, 192

  Cooke, Geo. F., his visit to America, 177

  Coxe, Alexander F., 182

  Coxe, John R., 188, 192

  "Cousin Alice" (pen-name of Alice Haven), 213

  Conrad, Robert T., 224, 227

  Coates, Reynell, 239

  Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 143, 176;
    introduction to Irving, 178

  Cobbett, William, 82, 83

  Condie, Thomas (History of the Plague in Philadelphia), 77-8;
    his biography of Mrs. Merry, 78

  Copley, John Singleton, 102

  "Columbiad, The," 10, 62

  Columbian Magazine, The, 61-67, 153

  Cope, Francis, 116, 119

  "Common Sense," origin of the pamphlet, 50

  Coombe, Thos., 44

  Cooper, James Fenimore, his publication of "Precaution," 18; 20, 220,
        221

  Corbeille, La, 202

  Cynic, The, 241

  "Crisis, The," publication of, 63

  Crukshank, Joseph, 84

  Critic, The, 185, 187


  Dallas, A. J., 64-67

  Dallas, G. M., 65

  Dallas, Robert C., 65

  Davies, Samuel, 45

  Davis, John, 9, 52, 95;
     his "Pursuits of Philadelphia Literature," 119-122

  Darley, F. O. C., 235

  Darlington, Wm., 180

  De Quincey, Thomas, first publication in America of "Confessions of
        an English Opium Eater," 190

  Delaplaine's Repository, 144

  Delaplaine, Joseph, 192

  Dennie, Joseph, 13, 14, 20, 90-99;
    the first American edition of Shakespeare, 107-108;
    his opinion of Wordsworth, 109;
    his death, 110-112; 122, 125, 132, 141, 151, 183, 186

  Dessert to the True American, 84

  Dickson, Geo. W., 209

  Dickens, Charles, reprints "Charcoal Sketches" in London, 213

  Dickins, John, 74, 76, 92

  Dickins, Asbury, 92, 121

  Dollar Magazine, 230

  Dorsey, John Syng, 116, 124-5

  Dramatic Mirror, 230

  Duché, Jacob, 71, 128

  Duane, William, 127

  Dwight, Timothy, 68, 71


  Eclectic Journal of Medicine, The, 214

  Ely, Ezra Styles, 203

  Elphinstone, James, 64

  "Eldred Grayson" (Robert Hare), 126

  Emporium of Arts and Sciences, The, 192

  English, Thomas Dunn, 222, 234-235

  Episcopal Magazine, The, 198

  Episcopal Recorder, 201

  Erin, The, 201

  Everybodie's Album, 214

  Evans, Nathaniel, 43, 130

  Erskine, Lord, 88

  Evening Fireside, The, 170

  Ewing, Provost, 50, 68, 136, 137

  Ewing, Samuel, 116, 135-136, 179

  Eye, The, 188


  "Falkland" (pen-name of Dr. Chapman), 126

  Farmer's Cabinet, 225

  Farmer's Weekly Museum, 14, 91, 92, 125

  Fairfield, Sumner Lincoln, 209

  Fennel, James, 241

  Fenno, Harriet, 116, 128

  Ferguson, Mrs. (Elizabeth Graeme), 43; 116, 128

  Fessenden, Thos. Green, 14, 92

  First Dramatic Writing in North Carolina, 110

  First Religious Weekly in America, 142

  "Forester, Frank" (pen-name of W. H. Herbert), 223

  Foster, Geo. G., 234

  "Foresters, The" (by Jeremy Belknap), 64

  Fox, Gilbert, 63

  Francis, Tench, 27

  Francis, Sir Philip, his Philadelphia associations, 106

  Franklin, Benjamin, 12, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 41, 46, 57, 65, 68,
        69, 71, 72, 88, 200

  French Colony, The, 89-90

  Freneau, Philip, 53, 59-61, 70

  Franks, Lewis P., 184, 185

  Freemason's Magazine, 189

  Friends' Review, 236-237

  Fuller, Zelotes, 209

  Furness, Dr. W. H., 236


  "General Magazine," the second in America, 24, 26, 27

  _Geistliches Magazien_, 19, 85

  Gentleman's Magazine (London), 23

  Gentleman's Magazine (Burton's), 217

  Gentleman's Vade-Mecum, 212

  Gilder, W. H., 229

  Girard College, laying of the corner-stone, 230

  Gift, The, 177

  Gleaner, The, 243

  Griswold, Rufus W., 201, 218, 223, 227

  Godwin, William, 13, 168-169

  Godfrey, Thomas, his invention of the quadrant, 41, 42

  Godfrey, Thomas, the younger, 42-44

  Graham, Geo. R., 215-225

  Graham's Magazine, 12, 26, 215-224

  Graydon, Alexander, his account of the "carting" of Isaac Hunt, 105;
        116, 126

  Graeme, Dr. Thos., 128

  Graeme, Miss (Mrs. Ferguson), 129

  Goldsmith, Oliver, 138

  Godey's Lady's Book, 177, 207-208

  Godey, Louis A., 207, 213, 227

  Greeley, Horace, 236


  Hadley, his right to the invention of the quadrant, 41

  Hale, Sarah Josepha, 207-208

  Hall, Everard, author of "Nolens Volens," 110

  Hall, Harrison, 87, 117, 140

  Hall, James, 17, 117, 140

  Hall, John E., 113, 117, 124, 139, 140-141, 148

  Hall, Sarah, 116, 139

  Hall, Mrs. S. C., 232

  Halleck, Fitz Greene, 105

  Hamilton, Philip, 116

  Hamilton, Andrew, 183

  Hare, Robert, 116, 125-6

  Hart, John S., 239

  Hays, Dr. I., 199

  Haven, Alice Bradley, 213

  Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 20, 216, 219, 230

  Herald of Truth, 208

  Helmbold, Geo., 181, 184, 185

  Herbert, W. H., 223

  Hoffman, Charles Fenno, 222

  Holmes, O. W., 207

  Home Weekly and Household Newspaper, 231

  Hood, Thomas, first appearance of his poems in America, 238

  Hook, Theo., 124

  "Horace in Philadelphia," 124

  Hopkinson, Francis, his first poem, 34; 35, 50, 68, 70

  Hopkinson, Joseph, origin of "Hail Columbia," 63; 98, 115, 116, 127,
        128

  Humphreys, David, 76

  Hunt, Leigh, his Philadelphia origin, 103-5

  Huntingdon Literary Museum, 242-3


  Irving, Washington, 20, 178-179, 194, 223

  Ingersoll, C. J., 98, 116, 123

  Ingersoll, Edward, 116, 124

  "Ithacus" (pen-name of John Shaw), 119

  Independent Balance, 181, 184

  Independent Weekly Press, 214

  "It Snows," 205


  Jay, John, 70, 143

  Jefferson, Thomas, 52, 89, 143, 144

  Jerrold, Douglas, 236

  John Donkey, The, 20, 234-235

  Johnson, Samuel, his "Rasselas" printed in Philadelphia, 10; 23, 64,
        94, 137-138

  Journal of Health, 206

  Juvenile Magazine, 20, 152, 192

  Juvenile Port Folio, 193

  Juvenile Olio, 152

  "Junius" (signature of T. Godfrey), 42


  Kean, Edmund, 173, 188

  Keats, John, 106

  Keith, Sir Wm., 128

  Kirkland, Caroline M., 238-9

  Kincaid, Eugenio, 243

  Kinnersley, Ebenezer, 44

  Knickerbocker Magazine, 223

  Koster, the inventor of printing, 36


  Ladies' Album, 201

  Ladies' and Gentlemen's Literary Museum, 193

  Ladies' Companion, 225

  Ladies' Garland, 208

  Ladies' Literary Port Folio, 206

  Ladies' Museum, The, 152

  Lady's Amaranth, 224

  Lady's Magazine, The, 74-5

  Lafayette, 69

  Lantern, 234

  Lawson, Alex., 135

  Lawson, Mary Lockhart, 135, 222

  Lee, Gen. Charles, his quarrel with Brackenridge, 58-9; 86

  Legal Intelligencer, 231

  Leland, Chas. Godfrey, 224

  Leslie, Mrs. Frank, 226

  Leslie, Charles Robert, 175-178, 203, 231

  Leslie, Eliza, 177, 231

  Lines Written on Leaving Philadelphia (T. Moore), 114-115

  Linn, John Blair, 15, 116-118, 122

  Lippard, George, 167

  Literalist, 230

  Literary and Evangelical Register, 243

  Literary Magazine, 132-153, 171

  Literary Museum, 75-6

  Literary Register, 230

  Lithograph, the first American, 180

  Littell, E., 189-191

  Littell's Living Age, 191

  Livingstone, Governor, 67, 71-2

  Lloyd, Elizabeth, her poem on Milton, 237

  Logan, James, his library at Stenton, 9;
    his letters to Halley, 41;
    his gifts to the Philadelphia Library, 88

  Longfellow, H. W., 20, 207;
    first appearance of noted poems, 221; 239

  Lowell, James Russell, 20, 216, 218-219, 227

  Lundy, Benj., 224

  Lutheran Observer, The, 208

  Luncheon, The, 184

  Lytton, Lord, 103

  Lyndhurst, Baron, 102-103


  Madison, James, 143, 144

  Magazine, the first monthly, 19, 28;
    the first religious, 19;
    the first mathematical, 20;
    the first juvenile, 20;
    the first humorous, 20

  Magazine of the German Reformed Church, The, 243

  Martineau, Harriet, 239

  "Mary's Lamb," 208

  Matthias, Benjamin, 201

  McHenry, James, 202

  McMichael, Morton, 201, 213, 227, 232, 234

  Medico-Chirurgical Review, The, 225

  Medical Examiner, The, 73

  Medical Review and Analectic Journal, 202

  Merry, Mrs., 78-79

  Metcalfe's Miscellany, 235

  Methodist Magazine, The, 76, 92

  Milton, John, first American edition of, 10; 163

  Mirror of Taste and Dramatic Censor, 172, 184

  Miss Leslie's Magazine, 177, 231-234

  Mitchell, Dr. J. K., 222, 227

  Moore, Thomas, 94, 113-116, 139, 150

  Morris, Gouverneur, 116, 127

  Morris, Robert, 87

  Morris, Robert (poet), 222

  Moss, Henry, 144

  Murray, Virginia, 232


  National Gazette, The, 189-191

  National Recorder, The, 190

  Neal, John, 149-151, 166, 191

  Neal, Joseph, 86, 213, 222

  Newspaper, the first daily, 19;
    the first penny, 20

  Nicola, Lewis, 46, 47

  Noah, Mordecai M., editor of "Trangram," 182

  North American Medical and Surgical Journal, The, 203

  North American Quarterly Magazine, The, 209-211


  Occident and American Jewish Advocate, The, 231

  "Ode to a Market Street Gutter," 120-1

  "Oldschool, Oliver," see Joseph Dennie.

  "Optic, Obadiah," 188

  Osgood, Frances, 207, 222

  Otis, Bass, 180


  Paine, Thomas, 48, 50, 52, 63, 69

  "Pamela," first American edition, 10; 27

  Parterre, The, 193

  Paulding, James Kirke, 150, 179, 186, 194, 222

  Payne, John Howard, earliest reference to, 110 (editor of the
        Thespian Mirror), 171

  Peale, Charles Willson, 87, 89, 101

  Pemberton, Israel, 87

  Penn, John, 27

  Penington, John, 64

  Pennsylvanian, The, 213

  Pennsylvania Evening Herald, The, 69

  Pennsylvania Freeman, The, 20, 224

  Pennsylvania Magazine, The, 28, 48-53, 55, 75

  Peters, Richard, 116, 127, 129

  Peterson, Charles J., 201, 218, 225, 226-229

  Peterson's Ladies' National Magazine, 225

  "Philadelphiad, The," quoted, 11

  "Philadelphia--An Elegy," 164

  Philadelphia Liberalist, 209

  Philadelphia Library, 88

  Philadelphia Magazine, The, 73-4, 240

  Philadelphisches Magazin, 84

  Philadelphia Minerva, 75

  Philadelphia Monthly Magazine, 77

  Philadelphia Magazine and Review, 84

  Philadelphia Medical Museum, 188

  Philadelphia Medical and Physical Journal, 170

  Philadelphia Nimrod, 240

  Philadelphia Repository, The, 229

  Philadelphia Repository and Weekly Register, 152

  Philadelphia Register, 190

  Philadelphia Repertory, 188

  Philadelphia Recorder, 202

  Philadelphia Visitor, 215

  Phillips, Barnet, 235

  Physick, Dr., 177

  Pike, Albert, 222

  Pickering, Timothy, 90, 92

  Poe, Edgar Allan, 20, 207, 216-223, 227, 230, 239

  Polyanthus, The, 171, 209

  Political Censor, The, 83

  Pope, A., 109

  Porcupine's Gazette, 82-3

  Port Folio, The, 12, 13, 14, 18, 21, 43, 64, 87, 92-151, 163, 171,
        184, 203

  Post-Chaise Companion, The, 187

  Potts, Mrs. Washington, 177, 231

  Potts, Stacy, Jr., 243

  Poulson's Daily Advertiser, 235

  Prentice, George D., 222

  Presbyterian, The, 208

  Priestley, Joseph, 117, 143

  "Prince of Parthia," first American Drama, 44

  Protestant Episcopalian, The, 207


  Quarterly Theological Magazine, The, 198

  Quincey, Josiah, 95, 116, 126


  Radical Reformer, The, 213-214

  Rafinesque, C. S., 209

  Raguet, Condy, 116, 124

  Rakestraw, Joseph, 170

  Randolph, Governor, 67

  Read, T. B., 236, 239

  Rees, James, 230

  Rees' Cyclopædia, 62

  Reformer, The, 200, 203

  Religious Instructor, The, 243

  Religious Remembrancer, The, the first religious weekly, 19; 192

  Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 101

  Richards, George, 189

  Rittenhouse, David, 89, 170

  Rivington, James, 27, 56-7

  Robespierre, 143

  Rose, Robert H., 116, 119-123

  Ross, John, 27

  Royal Spiritual Magazine, 84

  Rural Magazine, 179

  Rush, Benjamin, 50, 64, 66, 68, 72, 83, 170, 177

  Rush, Richard, 116, 127, 138


  Salmagundi, 146, 194-195

  Sanderson, John, 116, 124, 148

  Sartain, John, 236-239

  Saturday Chronicle, 215

  Saturday Evening Post, 200-201, 225

  Saturday Magazine, 190

  Sauer, C., 19, 85

  Scott, Sir Walter, 17, 61, 170

  Sedgwick, Miss, 222

  "Sedley" (pen-name of J. E. Hall), 140, 150

  Select Reviews and Spirit of the Foreign Magazines, The, 179, 184

  Sigourney, L. H., 207, 232, 236

  Simitiere, Pierre E. Du, 55, 76

  Simms, William Gilmore, 222

  Shaw, John, 116, 118-119

  Shakespeare, first American edition of, 17; 163

  Shelley, Percy Bysshe, his American origin, 105, 169

  Shewell, Mary, mother of Leigh Hunt, 104

  Shippen, Edward, 87

  Shippen, Joseph, 33

  "Sketches in Verse," 119

  Smith, Rev. B. B., 201

  Smith, Elihu Hubbard, 113

  Smith, G. H., 75, 76-77

  Smith, John Jay, 212

  Smith, Richard Penn, 206, 222, 227

  Smith, Sydney, 13

  Smith, Samuel Stanhope, 144

  Smith, Dr. Wm., editor of The American Magazine, 31;
    poem to, 34;
    his home at the Falls, 35; 42, 44, 46, 50, 220, 242

  Smith, William R., 242

  Southey, Robert, 143

  Spy in Philadelphia and Spirit of the Age, The, 212

  Stephens, Mrs. Anne, 218

  Stephens, H. L., 235

  Sterling, James, 37, 40

  Sterne, Lawrence, 129

  Stearns, Samuel, 240

  Stiles, Ezra, 67

  Story, W. W., 222

  Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 207

  Street, Alfred B., 222

  Stuart, Gilbert, 138

  Sully, Thomas, 101, 166, 177, 237

  Swift, Jonathan, 82


  "Tamoc Caspipna" (pseudonym of Jacob Duché), 71

  Taylor, Bayard, 20, 207, 224, 236

  Temple, Sir William, 82

  Tennent, Gilbert, 26, 45

  Thanksgiving Bay (made a National Holiday through Mrs. Sara Josepha
        Hale), 208

  Theatrical Censor (first dramatic magazine in America), 171

  Theatrical Censor and Critical Miscellany, 171

  Thespian Mirror, 171

  Thespian Monitor and Dramatick Miscellany, 172

  Thomson, Charles, 10, 42

  Thomas, Moses, 12, 195

  Tickler, The, 181

  Tilghman, Judge, 87

  "Toby Scratch 'Em" (pen-name of George Helmbold), 181

  Trangram, The, 181-183

  Trenchard, John and Edward, 63

  Trumbull, John, 102

  Tuesday Club, The, 94

  Tyler, Royall, 116, 125


  United States Magazine, The, 53-61

  United States Magazine and Democratic Review, The, 215


  Vaughan, John, 89

  Verplanck, G. C., his edition of Shakespeare, 107-8

  Vicar of Wakefield, 10

  Village Museum, 243-4

  "Violetta" (pen-name of Harriet Fenno), 128

  Waldie, Adam, 211, 215, 224

  Waldie's Select Circulating Library, 211-212

  Waldie's Literary Omnibus, 215

  Wallace, Henry E., 231

  Walsh, Robert, 116, 189-192

  Washington, George, 16, 17, 45, 47, 51, 52, 64, 67, 70, 72, 78, 87,
        89, 117, 143, 189

  Watson, Elkanah, quoted, 50

  Watters, James, 79-81

  Webbe, Geo., 86

  Webbe, John, 19, 24, 25

  Webster, Noah, 66, 98-99

  Weekly Magazine, The, 79-81

  Weekly Messenger, The, 215

  West, Benjamin, earliest reference to, 32; 45, 86, 99-103, 176

  Wharton, C. H., 198

  Wharton, Thomas, 116, 123

  Wheatley, Phillis, 51, 52

  Whim, The, 241

  Whipple, E. P., 221

  Whitfield, George, 27

  White, Bishop William, 138

  Whittier, J. G., 20, 224

  "Who has robbed the Ocean Cave?" 118

  Willing, Thos., 87

  Williams, J. N., 12

  Willis, N. P., 222, 232

  Wilson, Alexander, 10, 62, 116, 130, 135

  Winchester, Elhanan, 74

  Wistar Parties, 88, 117

  Witherspoon, Dr., 50, 56-57

  Wood, Wm. B., 116

  Wood, Mrs. Henry, 201

  Wordsworth, the first American edition of, 109-10; 163

  Workman, Judge, 117, 144


  Young People's Book, The, 230


  Zieber, G. B., 235, 236