Scarcely a production of Mr. Simms has been unmarked by a cordial reception from the best literary journals; and the praise of the London Metropolitan and Examiner—the former when under the conduct of Thomas Campbell, the latter of Albany Fonblanque—was generously bestowed, especially on Atalantis; of which the Metropolitan said, "What has the most disappointed us is, that it is so thoroughly English: the construction, the imagery, and, with a very few exceptions, the idioms of the language, are altogether founded on our own scholastic and classical models;" and Fonblanque, in reviewing a tale by Simms, entitled, Murder will Out, said, "But all we intended to say about the originality displayed in the volume has been forgotten in the interest of the last story of the book, Murder will Out. This is an American ghost story, and, without exception, the best we ever read. Within our limits, we could not, with any justice, describe the whole course of its incident, and it is in that, perhaps, its most marvellous effect lies. It is the rationale of the whole matter of such appearances, given with fine philosophy and masterly interest. We never read any thing more perfect or more consummately told."
But the testimony of the critical press, or even of the successful sale of an author's works, is not so suggestive of merit as the fact that his productions have entered into the popular mind; and this tribute Mr. Simms has received in the fact that in regions which he has identified with legends created for them by his own genius, localities of his different incidents are pointed out with a sincere belief in their historical verity. The dramatic powers manifested in his novels, have been still more largely displayed in his Norman Maurice, a play of singular originality, in design, character, and execution, the nervous language and felicitous turns of expression in which remind us of the best of the old dramatists. We have heretofore expressed in the International a conviction that Norman Maurice is the best American drama that has yet been published—the most American, the most dramatic, the most original.
As a member of the Legislature of his native State, and on various public occasions, Mr. Simms has vindicated a title to fame as an orator; and a recent nomination for the presidency of the South Carolina College, although he declined being a candidate, is an evidence of the impression which his ability, information, and high character have produced on his fellow citizens.
His intense intellectual activity, united with a habitually reflective and philosophical mode of thought, and unwearied laboriousness, enable him to accomplish an almost incredible amount of literary labor. The catalogue of his works which is subjoined, gives but an inadequate idea of what he has really performed; for multifarious productions, many of them of the highest order in their respective classes, are scattered in the pages of periodicals, or still in manuscript; while the unceasing demands on his pen, with his arduous editorship, prevent him from accomplishing many fruitful designs, whose inception he has hinted in various ways. To his intellectual gifts, he unites a brave, generous nature, a kindly, and strong heart, a genial, impulsive, yet faithful and determined disposition, warm affection and friendship, a spirit to do and to endure, and a soul as much elevated above the petty envies and jealousies which too often deform the genus irritabile, as it is in large sympathy with the beautiful, the true, the just—with humanity and with nature.
P.
CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WORKS BY MR. SIMMS.
1. Lyrical and other Poems: 18mo, pp. 208, Charleston, Ellis & Noufvillle, 1827.
2. Early Lays: 12mo. pp. 108, Charleston, A. E. Miller, 1827.
3. The Vision of Cortes, and other Poems: Charleston, J. S. Burgess.