From the Petersburg Constellation.
We briefly announced a few days ago, the receipt of the February number of the Southern Literary Messenger. It is one of the richest and raciest numbers of that Journal yet issued from the Press. The judicious introductory article on the necessity of select reading; the continuation of the Historical sketches of the Barbary States; Palæstine; the Biographical notice of the late Professor Cushing of Hampden Sidney College; the Review of the Eulogies on, and Reminiscenses of the late Chief Justice Marshall, are among the solid treasures of the Messenger of this month. Sketches of Lake Superior in a series of Letters which are "to be continued;" the Cousin of the Married and the Cousin of the Dead, a translation from the French; Lionel Granby, Chapter 8; the Castle Builder turned Farmer, and Rustic Courtship in New England, have each their beauties, excellences and peculiarities. Of the lighter contributions, of the diamonds which sparkle beside the more sombre gems, commend us, thou spirit of eccentricity! forever and a day to our favorite Edgar A. Poe's Duc de L'Omelette—the best thing of the kind we ever have or ever expect to read. The idea of "dying of an Ortolan;" the waking up in the palace of Pluto; of that mysterious chain of "blood red metal" hung " parmi les nues," at the nether extremity of which was attached a "cresset," pouring forth a light more "intense, still and terrible" than "Persia ever worshipped, Gheber imagined, or Mussulman dreamed of;" the paintings and statuary of that mysterious hall, whose solitary uncurtained window looked upon blazing Tartarus, and whose ceiling was lost in a mass of "fiery-colored clouds;" the nonchalance of the Duc in challenging "His Majesty" to a pass with the points; his imperturbable, self-confident assurance during the playing of a game of ecarté; his adroitness in slipping a card while his Infernal Highness "took wine" (a trick which won the Duc his game by the by,) and finally his characteristic compliment to the Deity of the Place of "que s'il n'etait pas de L'Omelette, il n'aurait point d'objection d'etre le Diable," are conceptions which for peculiar eccentricity and graphic quaintness, are perfectly inimitable. Of the criticisms, the most are good; that on Mr. Morris Mattson's novel of "Paul Ulric," like a former criticism from the same pen on Fay's "Norman Leslie" is a literal "flaying alive!" a carving up into "ten thousand atoms!" a complete literary annihilation! If Mr. Morris Mattson is either courageous or wise, he will turn upon his merciless assailant as Byron turned upon Jeffrey, and prove that he can not only do better things, but that he deserves more lenient usage! Last but not by far the least in interest, is Mr. Joseph A. Q. Z. Miller's "Autography." We copy the whole article as a literary treat which we should wrong their tastes did we suppose for a moment would not be as highly appreciated by each and all of our readers, as it is by ourself.
From the Baltimore Chronicle.
The Southern Literary Messenger. The last number of this periodical is, perhaps the best that has appeared, and shows that the favor with which its predecessors have been received has only added stimulus to the exertions of its enterprising proprietor and very able Editor. The number consists of 70 pages, all of which are taken up with original matter. The prose articles are generally of high merit—but the poetry of the present number is inferior to that of some of the preceding. The critical notices are written in a nervous style and with great impartiality and independence. The Editor seems to have borne in mind the maxim of the greatest of reviewers—"the judge is condemned when the guilty is acquitted." The application of this severe rule to all criticism would impart greater value to just commendation and render the censure of the press more formidable to brainless pretenders. The public judgment is constantly deluded and misled by indiscriminate puffing and unmerited praise. The present Editor of the Messenger is in no danger of doing violence to his feelings in this respect.
From the Boston Mercantile Journal.
The Southern Literary Messenger.—This is a periodical which it is probably well known to many of our readers, was established a little more than a year since, in Richmond, Va. It is issued in monthly numbers of about seventy pages each, and is devoted to every department of Literature and the Fine Arts. Containing much matter of a brilliant and superior order, evidently the productions of accomplished scholars and Belles Lettres writers, with able and discriminating critical notices of the principal publications on this side the Atlantic, the Southern Literary Messenger is equal in interest and excellence to any Monthly Periodical in the country, and we are glad to learn from the February number that it has already received extensive and solid patronage.