Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXIV, No. 1, January 1849

Part 1

Chapter 12,958 wordsPublic domain

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GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE. VOL. XXXIV. January, 1849. No. 1.

Table of Contents

The Belle of the Opera What is Beautiful? Kate Richmond’s Betrothal The Corsair’s Victim A Dirge for O’Connell The Illinois and the Prairies A Dream of Italy The Letter of Introduction Dirge The Fugitive The Gentle Step Barbara Uttman’s Dream Sunset Upon “The Steine-Kill” A Song The Old New House The Wounded Guerilla Lines Speak Kindly Marie Love, Duty and Hope Do I Love Thee? Ode to Shelley Marion’s Song in the School-Room All About “What’s in a Name.” Game-Birds of America.—No. XII. Visitants From Spirit-Land History of the Costume of Men Maple Sugar To My Love Softly O’er My Memory Stealing Cathara The Departed The Dead The Homestead of Beauty Gems From Late Readings Editor’s Table Review of New Books

Transcriber’s Notes can be found at the end of this eBook.

GRAHAM’S

AMERICAN MONTHLY

MAGAZINE

Of Literature and Art.

EMBELLISHED WITH

MEZZOTINT AND STEEL ENGRAVINGS, MUSIC, ETC.

WILLIAM C. BRYANT, J. FENIMORE COOPER, RICHARD H. DANA, JAMES K. PAULDING, HENRY W. LONGFELLOW, N. P. WILLIS, CHARLES F. HOFFMAN, J. R. LOWELL.

MRS. LYDIA H. SIGOURNEY, MISS C. M. SEDGWICK, MRS. FRANCES S. OSGOOD, MRS. EMMA C. EMBURY, MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS, MRS. AMELIA B. WELBY, MRS. A. M. F. ANNAN, ETC. PRINCIPAL CONTRIBUTORS.

G. R. GRAHAM, J. R. CHANDLER AND J. B. TAYLOR, EDITORS.

VOLUME XXXIV.

PHILADELPHIA: SAMUEL D. PATTERSON & CO. 98 CHESTNUT STREET. 1849.

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CONTENTS

OF THE

THIRTY-FOURTH VOLUME.

JANUARY, 1849, TO JUNE, 1849.

All About “What’s in a Name.” By CAROLINE C——, 62 A Recollection of Mendelssohn. By J. BAYARD TAYLOR, 113 A Voice from the Wayside. By CAROLINE C——, 300 Barbara Uttman’s Dream. By Mrs. EMMA C. EMBURY, 43 Christ Weeping Over Jerusalem. By JOSEPH R. CHANDLER, 189 Cousin Fanny. By M. S. G. NICHOLS, 354 Doctor Sian Seng. From the French, 123, 174 Deaf, Dumb and Blind. By AGNES L. GORDON, 347 Editor’s Table, 79, 153, 215, 273, 330, 387 Eleonore Eboli. By WINIFRED BARRINGTON, 134 Fifty Suggestions. By EDGAR A. POE, 317, 363 For and Against. By WALTER HERRIES, Esq. 377 Game-Birds of America. No. XII., 68 Gems from Late Readings, 78, 149, 211 History of the Costume of Men. By FAYETTE ROBINSON, 71, 140, 196, 264, 319 Honor to Whom Honor is Due. By Mrs. LYDIA JANE PEIRSON, 192 Jasper Leech. By B., 15 Kate Richmond’s Betrothal. By GRACE GREENWOOD, 8 Love, Duty and Hope. By ENNA DUVAL, 56 Lessons in German. By Miss M. J. BROWNE, 118 Mormon Temple, Nauvoo, 257 Mr. and Mrs. John Johnson Jones. By ANGELE DE V. HULL, 277 Montgomery’s House, 330 May Lillie. By CAROLINE H. BUTLER, 365 Passages of Life in Europe. By J. BAYARD TAYLOR, 307 Passages of Life in Europe. By J. BAYARD TAYLOR, 373 Reviews, 81, 151, 213, 270, 334, 385 Rose Winters. By ESTELLE, 258 Reminiscences. By EMMA C. EMBURY, 325 Speak Kindly. By KATE SUTHERLAND, 53 St. Valentine’s Day. By J. R. CHANDLER, 110 The Belle of the Opera. By J. R. CHANDLER, 1 The Illinois and the Prairies. By JAMES K. PAULDING, 16 The Letter of Introduction. By Mrs. A. M. F. ANNAN, 26 The Fugitive. By the VISCOUNTESS D’AULNAY, 37 The Old New House. By H. HASTINGS WELD, 47 The Wounded Guerilla. By MAYNE REID, 50 The Young Lawyer’s First Case. By J. TOD, 85 The Man in the Moon. By CAROLINE C——, 91 The Wager of Battle. By W. GILMORE SIMMS, 99 The Chamber of Life and Death. By PROFESSOR ALDEN, 129 The Lost Notes. By Mrs. HUGHS, 144 The Naval Officer. By W. F. LYNCH, 157, 223, 286 The Unfinished Picture. By JANE C. CAMPBELL, 182 The Adventures of a Man who could Never Dress Well. By M. TOPHAM EVANS, 199 The Plantation of General Taylor, 206 The Poet Lí. By CAROLINE H. BUTLER, 217 The Recluse. By PARK BENJAMIN, 232, 298 The Missionary, Sunlight. By CAROLINE C——, 235 The Brother’s Temptation. By SYBIL SUTHERLAND, 243 The Gipsy Queen. By JOSEPH R. CHANDLER, 250 The Darsies. By EMMA C. EMBURY, 252 Taste. By Miss AUGUSTA C. TWIGGS, 310 The Man of Mind and the Man of Money. By T. S. ARTHUR, 312 The Picture of Judgment. By W. GILMORE SIMMS, 337 The Battle of Life. By LEN, 362 The Birth-Place of Benjamin West, 378 The Young Dragoon. By C. J. PETERSON, 379 Unequal Marriages. By CAROLINE H. BUTLER, 169 Western Recollections. By FAY. ROBINSON, 178 Wild-Birds of America. By PROF. FROST, 142 Wild-Birds of America. By PROFESSOR FROST, 208 Wild-Birds of America. By PROF. FROST, 267 Wild-Birds of America. By PROF. FROST, 322 Wild-Birds of America. By PROF. FROST, 382

POETRY.

A Dirge for O’Connell. By ANNE C. LYNCH, 15 A Dream of Italy. By CHARLES ALLEN, 25 A Song. By GIFTIE, 46 A Song. By RICHARD WILKE, 112 A Twilight Lay. By W. HORRY STILLWELL, 128 An Hour Among the Dead. By J. B. JONES, 148 A Billet-Doux. By FRANCES S. OSGOOD, 177 A Summer Evening Thought. By COUSIN MARY, 285 A Sonnet. By FAYETTE ROBINSON, 306 A May Song. By S. D. ANDERSON, 316 Ariel in the Cloven Pine. By BAYARD TAYLOR, 324 Cathara. By WALTER COLTON, U. S. N. 76 Christine. By E. CURTISS HINE, 90 Dirge. 36 Do I Love Thee? By RICHARD COE, JR. 60 Dreams of Heaven. By M. E. THROPP, 378 Earth-Life. By J. BAYARD TAYLOR, 133 Extract. By HENRY S. HAGERT, 181 Egeria. By MARY L. LAWSON, 195 Florence. By HENRY B. HIRST, 165 Fancies About a Lock of Hair. By S. D. ANDERSON, 207 From Buchanan. By RICHARD PENN SMITH, 297 Human Influence. By MARIE ROSEAU, 191 Jenny Lind. By Miss M. SAWIN, 269 Lines. By R. T. CONRAD, 52 Love. By CHARLES E. TRAIL, 173 Lost Treasures. By P. D. T., 242 Lines to an Idea that Wouldn’t “Come.” By FRANCES S. OSGOOD, 285 Luna. An Ode. By H. T. TUCKERMAN, 297 Marie. By CAROLINE F. ORNE, 55 Marion’s Song in the School-Room. By Mrs. FRANCES S. OSGOOD, 61 Maple Sugar. By ALFRED B. STREET, 73 My Bird Has Flown. By Mrs. E. W. CASWELL, 117 My Study. By WM. H. C. HOSMER, 377 Night. By Miss AUGUSTA C. TWIGGS, 372 Ode to Shelley. By J. BAYARD TAYLOR, 61 On a Diamond Ring. By CHARLES E. TRAIL, 231 Parting. By Mrs. LYDIA JANE PEIRSON, 329 Paraphrase. By RICHARD PENN SMITH, 361 Requiem. By WM. H. C. HOSMER, 109 Rome. By R. H. STODDARD, 234 Reminiscences of a Reader. By the late WALTER HERRIES, Esq., 249 Raffaelle D’Urbino. By W. H. WELSH, 352 Sunset Upon the Steine-Kill. By KATE DASHWOOD, 46 Summer’s Bacchanal. By J. BAYARD TAYLOR, 206 Sonnet to Machiavelli. By FAY. ROBINSON, 251 Storm-Lines. By J. BAYARD TAYLOR, 270 Stanzas. By Mrs. O. M. P. LORD, 346 Steinhausen’s Hero and Leander. By H. T. TUCKERMAN, 364 Stanzas for Music. By HARRIET S. HANDY, 376 The Corsair’s Victim. By WM. H. C. HOSMER, 14 The Gentle Step. By HARRIET J. MEEK, 42 To My Love. By HENRY H. PAUL, 73 The Departed. By Mrs. MARY S. WHITAKER, 76 The Dead. By “AN AULD HEAD ON YOUNG SHOUTHERS,” 77 The Homestead of Beauty. By S. D. ANDERSON, 77 The World. By R. H. STODDARD, 89 The Ennuyee. By Mrs. S. A LEWIS, 90 The Mirror of Life. By ANNA, 97 To the Thames, at Norwich, Conn., By Mrs. LYDIA H. SIGOURNEY, 98 The Song of the Axe. By C. L. WHELER, 98 The Past. By Miss CAROLINE E. SUTTON, 112 The Phantasmagoria. By A. J. REQUIER, 120 The Beating of the Heart. By RICHARD HAYWARDE, 122 The Highland Laddie’s Farewell. By AUGUSTA C. TWIGGS, 128 The Old Year and the New. By CLARA, 143 The Dial-Plate. By A. J. REQUIER, 168 The Icebergs. By PARK BENJAMIN, 173 The Heart’s Confession. By HENRY MORFORD, 188 The Precious Rest. By RICHARD COE, Jr., 207 The Pine-Tree. By CAROLINE MAY, 210 To My Little Boy. By Mrs. HENRIETTA L. COLEMAN, 212 To Mother. By ANNIE GREY, 231 Thermopylæ. By Mrs. MARY G. HORSFORD, 242 The Unsepulchred Relics. By Mrs. GOODWIN, 249 The Brother’s Lament. By AMELIA B. WELBY, 251 The Unmasked. By S. ANNA LEWIS, 257 The Zopilotes. By FAYETTE ROBINSON, 263 The Rustic Shrine. By GEO. W. DEWEY, 296 The Grass of the Field. By CAROLINE MAY, 309 To an Absent Sister. By MARY G. HORSFORD, 309 Thoughts. By MARIE ROSEAU, 346 Turn Not Away. By HENRY MORFORD, 353 The Sleep of the Dead. By S. G. HAGERT, 361 The New Search After Happiness. By E. FOXTON, 371 Visitants from Spirit-Land. By E. CURTISS HINE, U. S. N. 70 Vincente Filicaja’s Sonnet to Italy. By FAYETTE ROBINSON, 384 What is Beautiful? By AUGUSTA, 7

MUSIC.

Softly O’er My Memory Stealing. Words by S. D. Patterson. Music by John A. Janke, Jr. The Bells of Ostend. Words by W. L. Bowles. Music by J. Hilton Jones. Oh, Have I Not Been True to Thee? Written and adapted to a beautiful melody by John H. Hewitt. Adieu, My Native Land. Words by D. W. Belisle. Arranged for the piano by James Piper. Virtue’s Evergreen. Words by Theodore A. Gould. Music by Theodore Von La Hache. I Can’t Make Up My Mind. Words from Hood’s Magazine. Arranged for the piano by C. Grobe.

ENGRAVINGS.

Day on the Mountains, engraved by W. E. Tucker. The Belle of the Opera, engraved by W. E. Tucker. The Wounded Guerilla, engraved by Rice. Oglethorp University, engraved by Rawdon & Co. A Valentine, engraved by W. E. Tucker. Home Treasures, engraved by Addison. The Mirror of Life, engraved by Wilmer. Portrait of Mrs. Davidson, by Rawdon & Co. Christ Weeping Over Jerusalem, by W. E. Tucker. Why Don’t He Come, engraved by Addison. The Bridal Night, engraved by Addison. View of the Plantation of Gen. Taylor. The Gipsy Queen, engraved by Thomas B. Welsh. The Church of St. Isaac’s, engraved by A. L. Dick. The Miniature, engraved by an American Artist. Paris Fashions, from Le Follet. May Morning, engraved by T. B. Welsh. View of Tortosa, engraved by J. Dill. Paris Fashions, from Le Follet. The Star of the Night, engraved by Addison. The Cottage Door, engraved by Humphreys. Col. Washington at the Cowpens. Paris Fashions, from Le Follet.

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GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE.

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VOL. XXXIV. PHILADELPHIA, JANUARY, 1849. No. 1.

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THE BELLE OF THE OPERA.

AN ESSAY UPON WOMAN’S ACCOMPLISHMENT, HER CHARACTER AND HER MISSION.

BY JOSEPH R. CHANDLER.

[SEE ENGRAVING.]

It is not a small thing to be an engaged writer for a magazine that has admittance into numerous families, and, by the costliness and adaptation of its decorations, and the general proclivity of its contents, is in no small degree the handbook of young females.

A good book, an octavo or quarto, upon sound morals or religious doctrines comes like a wholesome breeze, “stealing and giving odors”—but then, like that breeze, it is only occasional—a current rushing in but rarely, and seldom finding the right object within its healthful influence. But the magazine is the atmosphere in which the inmates dwell; they are constantly within its influence, and their general life, their mental sanative properties become imbued with its qualities: And this is the more important as the influence is commenced at home, and upon the female portion; so that it becomes constantly, permanently, and extensively operative upon, and through others.

The writers for this magazine seem to have been impressed with this idea of these consequences, and hence the importance of their contributions; or the editor has been exceedingly careful in his winnowing, to allow nothing to pass the sieve that might be productive of evil in the field which he is called to cultivate.

The writer of this article is deeply impressed with the importance of his position, and the danger of an error. A magazine that is devoted to taste, the arts and the fashions, it would seem, from the opinions of some, must be in a great degree light, and in no degree instructive, save in the very subject of taste, fashion and the arts, to which it is ostensibly devoted, and according to the general acceptation of the words, taste and fashion, and the ordinary uses to which the arts are applied.

“A magazine, then, of polite literature, of the arts and fashions, must be for the day—must treat of ephemeral subjects—must make the fashions of female dresses a leading and permanent matter of thought—must recommend amusements as matters of life-consideration, and erect the finer arts as an image of universal worship.”

We say plainly that we differ from those who make this estimate of periodical literature. We cannot consent to such a degrading standard for the monthly press—we certainly will not submit ourselves or our pen to this shortening process of the Procrustean bed of literature—we will do what we can to keep “Graham’s Magazine” from such debasement—we will do it for the long established character of the periodical, and for what we think it capable of—we will do it for our own credit—and, most of all, we will do it for the good of that large portion of society to which this magazine supplies the mental _pabulum_. When we furnish forth the table of those who look to our catering, we will take care that there shall be no poison in the ingredients, no “death in the pot.”

But in a secular magazine there _must_ be light reading—all, or nearly all, the contents must be of a kind addressed to the fancy as well as the understanding—and consequently of a character to excite the censure, or at least forbid the approach, of the ascetic. Nay, it must greatly differ from the class of periodical literature devoted to, and sustained upon sectarian religious grounds. The task, the labor of the magazine editor is to sustain the high moral tone of his work, and yet have it the vehicle of fashion, taste and the arts—to take the pure, the good, and the beneficial, and give to them attractions for the young and gay—or, to take that which is attractive for the young and the gay, and make it the vehicle of high moral truth—of sober, solid reflection, the means of heart-improvement, and the promoter of home joys—to overlay the book with gold, and with sculptured cherubim, and all the magnificence of taste and ingenuity—but to be sure that within are the prophet’s rod—the shew-bread of the altar—and the written law of truth.

Our sense of the duty of a magazine writer of the present time, is rather hinted at than set forth in the above remarks. The subject is one that might command the pages of a volume, and if properly handled would be made eminently useful to writers and to readers. Our attention was awakened to the subject by an examination of the exquisitely executed picture of “THE BELLE OF THE OPERA,” with which that accomplished artist, W. E. Tucker, has enriched the present number of this Magazine. We do not know that he who drew the figure had such a thought in his head as the improvement of magazine literature; and it is probable that Tucker when he exhausted the powers of engraving, or almost all its powers, to produce the figure, was impressed rather with the importance of his contribution to the artistic importance of periodicals, than to the high moral influence which he was aiding to promote. But true genius, wherever exercised, is suggestive—and the beautifully drawn figure is as promotive of useful reflection as the best composed essay. Hence the fine arts and literature are allied—allied in their elevating influence upon the possessors, and their power of meliorating and improving the minds of the uninitiated. Hence they go hand in hand in the path of usefulness—hence they are united in this Magazine.

The Belle of the Opera! Will the reader turn back once more and look at the picture? How full of life—how much of thought—how self-possessed—how desirable for the possession of others—how conscious of charms—and yet how charmed with the tasteful objects represented.

The Belle of the Opera! To be that—to be “the observed of all observers,” in a house crowded with objects for observation, to be made preeminent by exceeding beauty is “no small thing.” It must be costly—it must demand large contributions from other portions of the possessor of the proud object. If acres went to enrich the dress of the ancient nobility of England, something as desirable and as essential to the possessor, as those acres were to the British nobility, must have been sacrificed to perfect the attractions of the Belle of the Opera. Were they social duties? were they domestic affections? were they the means of womanly usefulness? of healthful and almost holy operation upon the minds of others? were they prospective or present? is present moderate but growing happiness sacrificed, or is the present enjoyment of distinction so great as to balance all of immediate loss, and to make the sacrifice that of future peace, future happiness, future domestic usefulness, future social consequence, all that makes mature womanhood delightful, all that makes age respectable and lovely?

Such reflections and such pregnant queries arise in the mind, when we contemplate the representation of such loveliness, so displayed. (I might say such loveliness displayed, for the representation is loveliness itself.) And the moralist has taken just such a beauty, (if his mind ever “bodied forth” the forms of things _so_ unknown,) and marked upon all the display “vanity and vexation of spirit”—the very display, and especially the place of the display, warranting the conclusion.