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