The Philadelphia Magazines and their Contributors 1741-1850 Part 11

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

The _Eclectic Repertory and a.n.a.lytic Review, Medical and Philosophical_, was commenced in October, 1811, and continued until October, 1820. It was published quarterly, and edited by an a.s.sociation 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 Was.h.i.+ngton" (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 Was.h.i.+ngton. 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 t.i.tle 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 _Sat.u.r.day 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 _Sat.u.r.day 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" pa.s.sed 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 c.o.xe, 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 publis.h.i.+ng 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 t.i.tle 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.

Was.h.i.+ngton 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 Was.h.i.+ngton Irving and myself commenced the publication of _Salmagundi_, an irregular issue, the object of which was to ridicule the follies and foibles of the fas.h.i.+onable world. Though we had not antic.i.p.ated 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 Maecenases, 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. Was.h.i.+ngton Irving was in Europe, and the muse of Pindar c.o.c.kloft 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 Was.h.i.+ngton 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 Was.h.i.+ngton 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 rivals.h.i.+p, 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 Fas.h.i.+on's choicest circle is hinted at in Halleck's "f.a.n.n.y:"

"And though by no means a _bas bleu_, she had For literature a most becoming pa.s.sion; Had skimm'd the latest novels, good and bad, And read the Croakers, when they were in fas.h.i.+on; 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, Was.h.i.+ngton Irving. "The reader will not fail of hearing, in good time, all about the worthy c.o.c.kloft 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 _conge_.

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 publis.h.i.+ng 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. G.o.dman were a.s.sociated with Dr. Chapman in the editors.h.i.+p. 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 mult.i.tudinous 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 _Sat.u.r.day Evening Post_. T.

Cottrell Clarke was appointed editor. He retired in 1826 and founded the _Ladies' Alb.u.m_, 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 _Sat.u.r.day Courier_. Other editors of the _Post_ at various times were Benjamin Mathias, founder of the _Sat.u.r.day 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 _Sat.u.r.day News_, the _Sat.u.r.day Bulletin_ and the _Sat.u.r.day 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 a.n.a.lectic Journal_ was edited by Dr. John Eberle and Dr. George McClellan and published quarterly between June, 1824, and August, 1826.

The _aesculapian Register_ was published from June 17, 1824, to December 8, 1834. Several physicians united in its editors.h.i.+p, 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.