Newspaper Page Text
34
fleets credit upon its contributors, and their ad
mirable leader, its editor. Mr. Thompson has
conducted the work with ability and zeal worthy
of all praise.
Graham's Magazine, for February. [Phila
delphia : Geo. R. Graham.] This is decidedly the
most imposing number ever issued of this popular
Magazine. Our honest wonder is how any cir
culation can make make such issues profitable.
Here are 112 pages of closely printed matter,
several fine steel engravings, and numerous wood
cuts, the latter more beautiful than any we have
met with in an American periodical before. The
high character of the literary contents of “Gra
ham” is proverbial, and altogether it deserves un
bounded success.
The Lantern, No. 1. [249 Fulton-st., New-
York.] A humourous journal after the manner
of Punch. If it is not too far after its London
prototype in spirit, its success must be great. We
hope it will succeed. For sale by Courtenay
Wienges.
£3iiolriql Sl-ebilies.
Kentucky and Alabama have each a “natural
bridge,” scarcely less remarkable than that ot
Virginia. * * The mercury fell to 32° below
zero at Franconia, N. H., in the recent very celd
week. * * Conflagrations occurred simulta
neously a few days since, in New-York, Boston
and Philadelphia—and by means of the telegraph,
the three cities were conscious of their common
calamity. * * Parker's Journal of the 10th,
has a capital stroke of irony levelled at the mo
dest assumptions (!) of (, The Home Journal .” *
* A countrymen who saw the Greek Slave at
the World’s Fair, said he thought she must have
been raised “ where cotton was dreadful scarce .”
* * Turner, the celebrated English landscapist,
died on the 19th ultimo, aged 7G. * * Mr.
Simms is contributing a series of graphic “Home
Sketches” to the Literary IVorld. * * Mr.
Longfellow’s Golden Legend , is a metrical ver
sion of a German mediaeval story, well known to
literary antiquarians. * * The employes of
the Harper’s, in New-York, had a Christmas fes
tival of their own, with a sumptuous Temperance
dinner—toasts, speeches, Shakspeare prizes, &c.
* * There were 11,500 miles of rail-way in
operation in the United States on the first of Jan
uary, 1852. Their extent will be nearly doubled
within this year. * * The tragedy of Hamlet,
for tweuty-one years interdicted by the govern
ment, was again performed quite recently at Co
penhagen. * * Professor Moses Stuart, the
celebrated Hebraist and Theologian, died at An
dover, Mass., on the 4th inst. * * The fires
in New-York city for the yar 1851, amount to an
average of one for every day, except the last—
the total number being 3G4. * * The last
new steam-ship of the Cunard Line is called The
Arabian, and is said to be very swift. * *
Barnum, it is said, has generously contributed to
the relief of Mr. Spooner, the purchaser of his
Museum—recently destroyed by fire in Philadel
phia—by giving him $5,000, and cancelling some
SOUTHERN LITERARY GAZETTE.
obligations which he held. * * The Christmas
story, by Mrs. Hull, in the present number, merits
a perusal by all our readers. * * Punch thinks
that the worst of all storms is storming a barri
cade. * * The Yazoo river has been so much
higher than the Mississippi, that its inflow was
for days too rapid to be stemmed by the steamers
seeking to ascend it. * * The large number
of 11,217 pictures lias been imported into England
during the year 1851. * * Steps have been taken
towards the establishment of an Art Gallery in
Louisville, Ivy. * * The exhibition of Leutze’s
great picture of Washington crossing the Dela
ware, has been exceedingly well patronized. * *
Signorina Maberlini will give a grand concert at
Hibernian Hall sometime next week. The an
nouncement will, doubtless, create no small stir
among our musical readers. * * The steam-ship
Marion, arrived at her wharf on Monday night—
only two nights at sea. * * They have had
considerable snow in the Crescent city.
£bei)fs hi ii}e 013 UUoH3.
England.— The resignation of Lord Palmerston, Secreta
ry of Foreign Affairs, has occasioned general surprise and
regret. It is rumoured to have resulted from the coldness
with which the Ministry regard the Secretary’s liberal views
towards Kossuth and his cause. His successor is Lord Gran
ville, a young but highly gifted nobleman.
Fresh hopes for the safety of Sir John Franklin have sprung
up in consequenceof recent information received through the
captain of a whaler, who saw the intrepid navigator later
than any one else has reported him.
France.— No additional intelligence of moment has reach
ed us from Paris. The majority of Louis Napoleon is very
great—exceeding, it is supposed, that of 1847. So far there
is no check to his prosperity, but the shadows are dark about
him. It is stated that the “liberty of the press” is to be cir
cumscribed by heavy bonds, to do nothing displeasing to
the Regent.
Water Spouts in Sicily.—Two immense water spouts,
with hurricane accompaniements, recently passed over this is
land and nearly deluged it, destroying 500 human beings, and
immense numbers of animals—the crops, buildings, &c
Hailstones and masses of ice fell over a large tract of the is
land.
Fire in Canton China.— A fire occurred in the city of
Canton, on the Bth of October, which destroyed 500 houses.
Earthquake in TußkEY.— On the 13th of October ase
vere earthquake occurred at Berat, which threw down a
military fortress and buried 400 soldiers in the ruins. It also
did great injury to several churches, a mosque, and hundreds
of private dwellings.
Übeqfe ii] li)g lYeto dJtioHS.
Kossuth’s Movements— Our last number reported the
Magyar chief at Washington, as the guest of the nation, he
made an eloquent speech at the Congress dinner, and had pro
duced a very favourable impression. He has gone to Anna
polis, Md., and thence he goes to Harrisburg, Pa., at the invi
tation of the State Assembly. Thence again—
‘ Westward the hero takes his course !*
Our Spanish Relations.— Our difficulties with Spain
are at length happily adjusted. The American prisoners are
all pardoned.
Massachusetts.— This State has re-elected Governor
Boutwell, by a considerable majority.
Steamboat Destroyed.— The steamer “Magnolia,”
of Savannah, burst her boiler at St. Simon’s Island, Ga., on
the 9th instant, and soon after sunk. Her commander, Capt,.
McNelty, and twelve others belonging to the boat were killed.
The passengers escaped without injury.
Desperate Assault.— Mr. Junius (Tea) Smith, of
Greemille District, S. 0., was assaulted on the night of the
23d ult., at his own door, and felled to the ground. The villain
afterwards beat him severely, and then made his escape unre
cognized.
Steamboats BuRNKD.-The telegraph of the 15th inst.,
from New Orleans, reports the destruction, by fire, of the
steamboats Washington and Martha Washington, on the
Mississippi river, with loss of life.
For the Southern Literary Gazette.
SONNETS.
i.
Life.
Suffering ! and yet magnificent in pain !
Mysterious! yet like spring-showers in sun,
Veiling the light their melodious rain—
Life from the world beyond,hath radiance won ■
Its gloomiest phase, is as the clouds that mourn
’Neath the majestic brightness of the arch—
Where nobler orbs in deathless daylight burn,
And God’s great pulses beat their music-march-
The Heaven we worship dimly, girt with tears,
The spirit-heaven, what is it but a life,
Lifting its soul beyond our mortal years,
That oft begin, and ever end with strife—
Strife we must pass to win a happier height,
Nature but travails to reveal us—light.
ii.
Death.
Then whence, oh! Death! thy dreariness ?—we
know
That every flower the breezes’, flattering breath
W oos to a blush, and love-like murmuring low,
Dies but to multiply its bloom in death-
The rill’s glad prattling infancy that fills
The woodlands with its song of innocent glee,
Is passing t'nro’ the heart of shadowy hills
To swell the eternal manhood ol the sea,
And the great Stars, Creation’s minstrel-fires
Are rolling toward the central source of light,
Where all their separate glory but expires,
To merge into one world’s unbroken might.
There is no death, but change ; soul elaspeth soul,
And ail are portion of the immortal whole.
0.
THE PLAIN OF LEON.
[From “Nicaragua; its People, Scenery, Monumentsaml
the Proposed! Inter-oceanic Canal.” By E.[G. Squier.—
From the press of I). Appleton & Cos. New-York.]
“ 1 had left my companions behind, and
stood alone on the borders of this ocean
of verdure. Stretching away, chequered
with hedge-rows and studded with tree
clumps and tall palms, the eye traversed
leagues of green fields, belted with
forests, and bounded on the right by high
mountains, their regular cones rising like
spires to heaven, while low hills of emer
ald circled round on the left, like the seats
of an arnpitheatre. In front the view was
uninterrupted, and the wearied eye sought
in vain to discover its limit. A purple
haze rested in the distance, and beneath
it the waves of the great Pacific rolled
in, unbrokenly from China and the In
dies !
“It was the beginning of the rainy
season, and vegetation had shot up in re
newed youth and vigour; no dust had yet
dimmed the almost transparent green of
the leaves, nor had the heat withered the
delicate blades of grass and spires of
maize which carpeted the level fields; nor
the young tendrils which twined delicate
ly around the branches of the trees, or
hung, blushing with buds and flowers,
from the parent stem. Above all shone
[Jan. n