Chapter 10

In 1825 Dr. Williams P. Dewees and John D. Godman were associated with Dr. Chapman in the editorship. 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 multitudinous 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 _Saturday Evening Post_. T. Cottrell Clarke was appointed editor. He retired in 1826 and founded the _Ladies' Album_, 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 _Saturday Courier_. Other editors of the _Post_ at various times were Benjamin Mathias, founder of the _Saturday 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 _Saturday News_, the _Saturday Bulletin_ and the _Saturday 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 Analectic Journal_ was edited by Dr. John Eberle and Dr. George McClellan and published quarterly between June, 1824, and August, 1826.

The _Æsculapian Register_ was published from June 17, 1824, to December 8, 1834. Several physicians united in its editorship, 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.

The _North American Medical and Surgical Journal_, January, 1826, to October, 1831, was published quarterly.

The _Album and Ladies Weekly Gazette_, begun June 7, 1826, by T. C. Clarke, changed its name to the _Philadelphia Album and Ladies' Literary Port Folio_, and was edited by Robert Morris after consolidation with the _Ladies' Literary Port Folio_.

The _Casket, Flowers of Literature, Wit and Sentiment_ was a magazine published in newspaper form. It was made out of the _Saturday Evening Post_, and was first issued by Samuel Coate Atkinson, at No. 36 Carter's Alley, January 1, 1827. Elizabeth Margaret Chandler (1807-1834) won a prize for the "Slave Ship" offered by the proprietor of the _Casket_.

Charles Alexander, the well-known publisher, solicited William E. Burton to establish a literary journal in Philadelphia, and Burton, who was sympathetic yet dogmatic, possessed of excellent literary taste, but never more positive than when in error, founded in July, 1837, the _Gentleman's Magazine_. The fifth and sixth volumes, 1839, were conducted by Burton and by Poe. The seventh volume, 1840, was conducted by George R. Graham. The poetry of Burton's was painfully bad, redeemed only in the faintest degree by the verses of J. H. Ingraham and C. West Thomson.

Elwood Walter began and Edmund Morris continued the _Ariel_, a fortnightly literary journal, first issued from No. 71 Market Street, May 5, 1827.

The _Philadelphia Monthly Journal of Medicine and Surgery_ was published by R. H. Small and edited by Dr. N. R. Smith from June, 1827, until February, 1828.

The _Friend_, a weekly periodical begun October 13, 1827, was published in the interest of the Orthodox Quakers.

The _Philadelphia Monthly Magazine_, October, 1827-September, 1829; published by J. Dobson, 108 Chestnut Street. The magazine was projected by Dr. Isaac Clarkson Snowden. It was to give information on the fine arts, sciences and literature, and contained frequent articles on American literature. Snowden was born at Princeton, 31st of December, 1791. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania, and lived in Bucks County in ill-health. He conceived the plan of the magazine in the spring of 1827. At his death the magazine passed into the hands of B. R. Evans and was enlarged eight pages. A series of good articles began November, 1828, and ran through five numbers, on the History of Literature in Pennsylvania, by R. P. S. (Richard Penn Smith).

The _Ladies' Literary Port Folio_ was begun December 10, 1828. It was published in quarto form by Thomas C. Clarke, No. 67 Arcade.

An association of physicians published every fortnight after September 9, 1829, the _Journal of Health_. Henry H. Porter, at No. 108 Chestnut Street, was the publisher of this sixteen page magazine, whose motto was "Health--the poor man's riches, the rich man's bliss."

The _Banner of the Constitution_ was a weekly journal of New York City, from December, 1829, to May, 1831. In the latter month it was transferred to Philadelphia, because, as the editor explained, "As Pennsylvania is without a single paper bold enough to speak out the language of truth in the strong terms befitting the actual crisis of affairs, we have resolved to transfer our establishment to Philadelphia and to resume our old position on the field of battle."

The _Protestant Episcopalian and Church Register_ was "devoted to the interests of religion in the Protestant Episcopal Church." It was begun in January, 1830, became the property of John S. Littell in 1838, and on January 5, 1839, appeared in a fresh guise as the _Banner of the Cross_.

_Godey's Lady's Book_ was the chief financial success among the Philadelphia magazines, and, after the _Port Folio_, enlisted the services of the greatest number of the best writers. The circulation, largely due to its popular colored fashion plates, increased to 150,000 a month. It was begun in July, 1830, by Louis A. Godey, who continued to direct his continuously prosperous journal until 1877. Some of the earliest compositions of Longfellow, Holmes, Poe, Bayard Taylor, Lydia H. Sigourney, Frances Osgood and Harriet Beecher Stowe appeared in this magazine.

For many years the _Lady's Book_ was edited by Sarah Josepha Hale. She was born in Newport, New Hampshire, 24th October, 1788, and died in Philadelphia 30th April, 1879. From 1828 to 1837 she edited, in Boston, the _Ladies' Magazine_. When that magazine was united in 1837 with _Godey's Lady's Book_, Mrs. Hale became editor of the latter periodical, and made her home in Philadelphia in 1841. She was the originator of the Seamen's Aid Society. She organized the fair whereby the fund for the completion of the Bunker Hill monument was raised. It was through her zealous insistence that Thanksgiving Day was made a national holiday. She published many books in prose and verse, and some fugitive poems, "Mary's Lamb," "It Snows," and "The Light of Home," that were everywhere known.

Another ladies' magazine was the _Ladies' Garland_, published by John Libby, April 15, 1837-June, 1838.

The _Herald of Truth_, a liberal religious weekly, was published by M. T. C. Gould, No. 6 North Eighth Street, for a short time after January, 1831.

The _Presbyterian_ was begun February 16, 1831.

The _Lutheran Observer_ was also commenced in 1831. It was a continuation of the _Lutheran Intelligencer_, founded in March, 1826, which was the first Lutheran periodical issued in America.

The _Philadelphia Liberalist_, edited by Rev. Zelotes Fuller, was issued weekly after June 9, 1832.

The _Atlantic Journal and Friend of Knowledge_ was edited in Philadelphia in 1832 by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. The editor was a celebrated botanist, who was born in Constantinople in 1784, and died in Philadelphia, September 14, 1842. His father had been a Philadelphia merchant. Rafinesque became professor of botany in Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky. Eight numbers only of the _Atlantic Journal_ appeared.

The _Cholera Gazette_, July 11, 1832-November 21, 1832, a weekly paper, was published by Carey, Lea and Blanchard. It was edited by George Washington Dickson, a popular negro minstrel, who published in New York, in 1839, another weekly called the _Polyanthus_.

The _North American Quarterly Magazine_ was begun in Philadelphia, in 1833, by Sumner Lincoln Fairfield, the author of "The Cities of the Plain." Fairfield was born in Warwick, Mass., June 25, 1803. The sad story of his life of sickness and distress was told by his wife (Jane Frazee) in 1846. She collected the money that made the existence of the magazine possible, and her pertinacity and courage kept the magazine alive for five years. Concerning the origin of the enterprise she writes:

"I returned to my home after having obtained the number of eight signatures, amounting to forty dollars. My husband took little notice of my success for a time. I paid the house rent and secured the comforts of a home. Each day I set apart for my visits five or six hours. In this way I soon laid aside the means sufficient to issue the first number of the _North American Quarterly Magazine_. When I had accumulated the sum of seven hundred dollars I gave it into the hands of Mr. Fairfield. He seemed amazed at my success. He found a dwelling to rent on Tenth, near Chestnut Street. To this pleasant abode we immediately repaired. In a very short time the work was out, and once more my heart rejoiced" (Autobiography of Jane Fairfield, p. 97).

Fairfield always contended that Bulwer stole from him the plot of his "Last Days of Pompeii." The story as told by Mrs. Fairfield is as follows: "His great poem, 'The Last Night of Pompeii,' was finished in 1830, and soon after its publication my husband sent copies to England, to Bulwer. He also wrote him a very long letter, but never received either an acknowledgment of the poem or the letter. Bulwer's novel of a similar title appeared about two years afterward, and, it is only _justice to the poet_ to say, was in _every_ respect an entire and most flagrant plagiarism. The Argument, the Introduction of the Two Lovers, Converted Christians, Forebodings of the Destruction, The Picture of Pompeii in Ruins, The Forum of Pompeii, The Manners and Morals of Campania Portrayed, Diomede, the Praetor, The Night Storm, Vesuvius Threatening, Dialogue of the Christians--the scenes of the _whole plot_, even the names of characters, _were all taken from this most grand and sublime poem_" (Autobiography of Jane Fairfield, p. 90).

The _North American Quarterly Magazine_ ceased in 1838.

_Waldie's Select Circulating Library_, furnishing the best popular literature, price five dollars for fifty-two numbers, containing matter equal to fifty London duodecimo volumes; printed and published weekly by Adam Waldie, No. 6 North Eighth Street, Philadelphia. It was begun January 15, 1833, and was edited by John Jay Smith (1798-1881). Smith had been the editor of the _Saturday Bulletin_, 1830-32, _Littell's Museum_, _Walsh's National Gazette_ and the _Daily Express_. The magazine reprinted standard works and published original reviews and literary notes.

The _American Lancet_, edited by F. S. Beattie, began February 23, 1833, and was published fortnightly by Turner and Son.

The _Spy in Philadelphia and Spirit of the Age_, a weekly journal advocating purity in politics, censured the vices of the time for a few weeks after July 6, 1833.

The _Advocate of Science and Annals of Natural History_ was conducted by W. P. Gibbons, 1834-5.

The _Gentleman's Vade-Mecum, or the Sporting and Dramatic Companion_, January 1, 1835-June 25, 1836, contained original dramas and musical compositions, fast heats and pictures of celebrated racers. Charles Alexander, its publisher, sold it to Louis A. Godey, Joseph C. Neal and Morton McMichael, who made out of it the _Saturday News and Literary Gazette_, which began its course July 2, 1836, and ultimately became a part of the _Saturday Evening Post_. The editor of both publications was Joseph Clay Neal (1807-1847), who also edited the _Pennsylvanian_, a Democratic daily newspaper, from 1831 to 1844, succeeding James Gordon Bennett in the editorial chair. At the time of his death he owned the _Saturday Gazette_, which he and Morton McMichael had established. His "Charcoal Sketches" (Philadelphia, 1837), which Charles Dickens republished in London, were originally contributed to the _Pennsylvanian_ under the title, "City Worthies." His wife, Alice Bradley Haven (1828-1863), contributed, while a school-girl, several sketches under the name of Alice G. Lee to the _Saturday Gazette_. She was generally known as "Cousin Alice," and under this name assumed editorial charge of the _Gazette_ after her husband's death.

The _Radical Reformer and Workingman's Advocate_ was published weekly after June 13, 1835, by Thomas Bro., at No. 124 South Front Street. In October it was issued fortnightly.

The _Botanic Sentinel and Literary Gazette_ (August 12, 1835-June 15, 1840), published weekly by J. Coates.

The _Independent Weekly Press_, "upholding the right of free discussion, given to us by our God and guarded by the laws of our country," was published December 5, 1835. It hoped and intended to be a literary paper, but the quality of its literature is inferior even to that of its infantile contemporaries.

_Every Bodie's Album_ was a monthly miscellany of "humorous tales, essays, anecdotes and facetiæ," and the other symptoms of albuminous fever. It was begun July 1, 1836. It was a large magazine, containing a number of absurd engravings. Charles Alexander, the publisher of the _Vade-Mecum_, issued this magazine also.

The _Eclectic Journal of Medicine_ (November, 1836-October, 1840) was published monthly by Barrington and Haswell, and edited by John Bell.

_Saturday Chronicle_ was published weekly by Matthias and Taylor, Number 84 South Second Street, from 1836 until 1840.

The _Weekly Messenger_ was published from 1836 to 1848.

Adam Waldie built up a lumbering weekly journal, January 6, 1837, which he called _Waldie's Literary Omnibus_. This carry-all was devoted to "news, books entire, sketches, reviews, tales, and miscellaneous intelligence."

The _Philadelphia Visitor and Parlor Companion_, a fortnightly journal, published from March, 1837, by W. B. Rogers, Number 49 Chestnut Street, and edited by H. N. Moore, was filled with toys of fashion and shreds of social folly.

The _American Journal of Homoeopathy_, a bi-monthly publication, was begun August, 1838, by W. L. J. Kiderlen & Co.

The _United States Magazine and Democratic Review_ was started some time in 1838 and published until 1840.

GRAHAM'S MAGAZINE.

"My name has figured, I assure you, on the covers of Graham and Godey, making as respectable an appearance, for aught I could see, as any of the canonized bead-roll with which it was associated."

So Holgrave tells Miss Phoebe Pyncheon in the "House of Seven Gables," and voices Hawthorne's and New England's appreciation of the merit and supremacy of the two Philadelphia magazines which in the middle of this century engaged the services and elicited the abilities of the best American writers.

Mr. George R. Graham, whose name was once known wherever books were read in America, and whose intimate relations with American literature seemed "too intrinse t'unloose," has quite outlived the memories of his countrymen. Few are aware that the generous and able publisher who gave employment to young James Russell Lowell, who awarded the prize for the "Gold-Bug" to Edgar Allan Poe, and who was almost the first to pay American authors for their work, is still living in Orange, New Jersey. He has outlived health and fortune as well as fame. And now, rich only in memory, and the precious store of reminiscences of nearly four-score years, he lies in the Memorial Hospital at Orange contentedly awaiting the end, neither anxious to go nor eager to remain.

His few personal wants and the necessary comforts of his age are fully provided by Mr. George W. Childs, whose liberal hand, prompted by his generous heart, never wearies in doing deeds of generosity.

Mr. Graham has told me in detail the story of his magazine. He was the owner and editor of _Atkinson's Casket_, when, in 1841, William E. Burton, the actor, came to him with the request that he should buy the _Gentleman's Magazine_, of which Burton had been the proprietor for four years. Burton explained that money was needed for his new theatre, that the magazine must be sold, that it numbered thirty-five hundred subscribers, and that it would be sold outright for thirty-five hundred dollars. Graham, who at that time had fifteen hundred subscribers to his own magazine, accepted the offer, and the _Gentleman's Magazine_ was transferred to him. "There is one thing more," said Burton, "I want you to take care of my young editor." That "young editor," who in this manner entered the employ of George Graham, was Edgar Allan Poe. Mr. Graham bears clear and willing testimony to the efficient service rendered by Poe to the new magazine, which, now combined with the _Casket_, took the name of its new owner. He found little in Poe's conduct to reprove, nor does he remember any cause beyond envy and malice for Griswold's truculent slanders. A quarrel of an hour led to Poe's dismissal, but the friendly relations between the wayward poet and his former employer remained unsevered. From New York, Poe sent Graham the manuscript of a story for which he asked and received fifty dollars. The story remained unpublished for a year, when Poe again appeared in the editorial room and begged for the return of the manuscript, that he might try with it for the prize of one hundred dollars offered for the best prose tale. Graham showed his "love and friending" for the author by surrendering the story, and the judges awarded to Edgar Poe the prize for the "Gold-Bug."

After the dismissal of Poe, the magazine, still under Graham's management, was edited by Ann Stephens and Charles J. Peterson, until Rufus Wilmot Griswold sat in the responsible chair. James Russell Lowell was a subordinate editor of the magazine as early as 1843, and in April of that year communicated to Nathaniel Hawthorne the desire of the editor, Edgar Allan Poe, that he too should become a contributor. In 1845 Lowell was married and continued to reside with his wife in Philadelphia. The following letter was the first written by Mrs. Lowell from Philadelphia to her friend Mrs. Hawthorne:

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 16, 1845.

MY DEAR SOPHIA:--I wished to write to you before I left home, but in the hurry of those last hours I had no time, and instead of delicate sentiments could only send you gross plum-cake, which I must hope you received. We are most delightfully situated here in every respect, surrounded with kind and sympathizing friends, yet allowed by them to be as quiet and retired as we choose; but it is always a pleasure to know you can have society if you wish for it, by walking a few steps beyond your own door.

We live in a little chamber on the third story, quite low enough to be an attic, so that we feel classical in our environment; and we have one of the sweetest and most motherly of Quaker women to anticipate all our wants, and make us comfortable outwardly as we are blest inwardly. James's prospects are as good as an author's _ought_ to be, and I begin to fear we shall not have the satisfaction of being so _very_ poor after all. But we are, in spite of this disappointment of our expectations, the happiest of mortals or spirits, and cling to the skirts of every passing hour, although we know the next will bring us still more joy.

Your most happy and affectionate

MARIA LOWELL.

"Nathaniel Hawthorne and his Wife," Vol. I, p. 283.

The house so happily described, and in which Lowell so pleasantly lived while he wrote for _Graham's_ and won a high place on its "canonized bead-roll," was the old house, still standing at the northeast corner of Fourth and Arch Streets, which had been built for the residence of William Smith, editor of the _American Magazine_ (1757-8).

Griswold introduced James Fenimore Cooper to Mr. Graham in the editorial sanctum, and Graham bought from him his lives of the naval commanders, and engaged him to write a serial story. Cooper wrote "The Isles of the Gulf," afterward known as "Jack Tier," and received eighteen hundred dollars for it; "though," says Graham, "the money might as well have been thrown into the sea, for it never brought me a new subscriber."

Longfellow's "Spanish Student" appeared for the first time in _Graham's Magazine_, and Longfellow also contributed "Nuremberg" (June, 1844), "The Arsenal at Springfield" (May, 1844), "Dante's Divina Commedia" (June, 1850), "Childhood" (March, 1844), "Belfry of Bruges" (Vol. 22).

Poe published here "The Murders of the Rue Morgue," three chapters on Autography (Nov., Dec., 1841-Jan., 1842), a review of Horne's "Orion" (March, 1844), "Dreamland" (June, 1844), "To Helen," "Israfel," "A Few Words about Brainard," "Life in Death," "The Mask of the Red Death" (May, 1842), numerous reviews of new books, and "The Conqueror Worm" (Vol. 22).