We have sometimes fancied we had reason to dislike the poetical contributions to the Messenger, while we were better suited with the prose. In the number before us there are three articles in verse—“The Laughing Girl,” “A Birth-Day Tribute,” and “Thy Home and Mine,”—which would do credit to any periodical. The Editor is evidently ‘weeding out’ as well as strengthening his crops of contributors, much to the advantage of his work.
“Court Day” and “My First Attempt at Poetry,” are both well done.
A Lecture on Education concludes the contributed articles, and is devoted to a portrayal of the parental faults and misdemeanors which operate as serious obstacles to the inculcation of right principles and correct ideas in the minds of children. We heartily wish it could be read and appreciated by all the parents in our country.
The Editorial Criticisms are spirited but just. “Recollections of Coleridge,” Colton's “Religious State of the Country,” &c. &c. are praised without stint; while Col. Stone's unfortunate “Ups and Downs in the Life of a Distressed Gentleman,” is most unsparingly shown up. We like the independence, the directness, of the Editor, though he sometimes contrives to tread emphatically on the corns of an author for whom we have a tenderness. In the present instance, however, he has managed to be just right throughout, and our appreciation of his labors is graduated accordingly.
From the National Gazette.
The number of the Southern Literary Messenger, for June, contains, among other excellent articles, “A reply to a late article in the Richmond Enquirer in favor of the mandatory right of a State Legislature to instruct a Senator of the United States, and supported by the alleged opinions of King, Jay and Hamilton, as expressed in the Convention of New York.” It is said to be by “a distinguished jurist of Philadelphia;” and the signature of H., together with the internal evidence of the composition, leave no doubt that it is from the pen of the eminent Judge of our District Court. He concludes the article with stating that a week or ten days before the death of Chief Justice Marshall, having called upon that great and good man, the question of instruction being then in high debate in the papers—he said to him that he thought the Virginia doctrine of instructions was inconsistent with all the principles of our government, and subversive of the stability of its foundations. To this the Chief Justice replied, in these words—“It is so; indeed, the Virginia doctrines are incompatible, not only with the government of the United States, but with any government.”
From the Boston Galaxy.
The Southern Literary Messenger is before us. Too much praise cannot be conceded to the publisher of this Monthly. He started on untried ground—but has brought forward his forces with such superior skill, and maintained the combat so manfully, that he has won the entire victory. The Messenger is an honor to the South. The articles it contains are for the most part of a superior order, while a spirit characterizes its editorial department exceedingly gratifying. The number before us has many most valuable articles; and so long as those concerned in its publication exert themselves with their present success, a corresponding flow of patronage must ensue. There is an original manuscript of Ben Franklin—desirable if only as a matter of curiosity—a poem by N. P. Willis, furnished by J. F. Otis, to be found on our outside—an interesting chronology of authors—a story by E. A. Poe, &c.