In the Ollapodiana of Willis Gaylord Clarke are many of the characteristics of Sanderson; but Clarke lived in a more quiet atmosphere; or perhaps it were better to say, he had a less independent expression. Born and educated in a rural village, and passing his maturer years in a metropolis, he was familiar with almost every variety of life and manners existing in our own country. His perception of the ludicrous was quick, and his taste rejected all that was coarse or depraving. We find in few works such a pleasing combination of elegant comedy and fine sentiment as in the quaint essays above referred to, and in none, perhaps, a truer index to an author's own habits and feelings.

The Charcoal Sketches, and other humorous writings of Joseph C. Neal, are elaborate, but wanting in the grace and spirit which distinguish many productions of their class. Mr. Neal writes as if he had little or no sympathy with his creations, and as if he were a calm spectator of acts and actors, whimsical or comical,-an observer rather by accident than from desire. It is not always so, however, since in some of his sketches he exhibits not only a happy faculty for the burlesque, and singular skill in depicting character, but a geniality and heartiness of appreciation which carry the reader's feelings along with his fancy.

I shall but allude here to Judge Breckenridge's Modern Chivalry, Dr. Gilman's Village Choir, Major McClintock's Yankee Sleigh Ride, Wedding, and other stories, the Jack Downing Letters, (through which runs a very genuine humour of a certain sort,) Mrs. Kirkland's New Home, and other works of a like description written in the northern and eastern states of the Union.

The comic literature of the United States must be looked for chiefly in those parts of the country which have yet furnished little or nothing of a different sort. There is an originality and riant boldness in some of the productions of the South and West which give abundant promise for the future. And what we have, however coarsely stamped, is of the truest metal. It is necessary only to refer to Judge Longstreet's Georgia Scenes, Thompson's Major Jones's Courtship and Chronicles of Pineville, Mr. Thorpe's Mysteries of the Backwoods and Big Bear of Arkansas, Mr. Hooper's Simon Suggs, Morgan Neville's Mike Fink, and to other characteristic productions of southern and western men, to justify expectations of an original and indigenous literature of this kind from the cotton region and the valley of the Mississippi.

Of humorous and satirical poetry we have no lack of quantity, and there are some good specimens. Trumbull's Progress of Dulness and McFingal, Cliffton's Group and Epistle to Gifford, some of the ballads, etc. of Francis Honkinson, Fessenden's Terrible Tractoration, and Democracy Unveiled,

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Verplanck's Bucktail Bards and Dick Shift, Halleck's Fanny, Pierpont's Portrait, Osborne's Vision of Rubeta, The Echo, The Political Greenhouse, and the writings of Sands, Sprague, Holmes, Ward, Benjamin, and others, furnish many passages of humour and caustic wit.

The Essays of a people are among the best indexes to their condition and character. They are often produced by minds transiently released from public affairs, when reflection and speculation employ powers that have been schooled for action. To write just treatises, says Bacon, requireth leisure in the writer and leisure in the reader. The essay is more fit for the nation whose energies and sympathies are lively and diffused. It flourishes most where some degree of cultivation is universal. Like the lecture, it is addressed to those who are familiar with first principles. An era in essay writing was commenced by Steele and Addison, in their periodical papers suggested by the follies of contemporary society. This era closed with the production in America of the Salmagundi of Irving and Paulding, the Old Bachelor of Wirt and his associates, and the Lay Preacher of Dennie. Another era was begun with the Quarterly Reviews,* which, with the magazines, have absorbed so large a proportion of

* It is now more than a century since the first American Monthly Magazine was established in Boston, by Jeremy Gridley. It was continued about three years, and was more successful than any work of its sort commenced before the Revolution. The Massachusetts Magazine, to which Drs. Freeman and Howe and Mrs. Morton were contributors, lasted from 1784 to 1795. In 1803 the Anthology Club was formed, to conduct the Monthly Anthology, which had been established by Phineas Adams. Among its members were Professor Ticknor, Alexander H. Everett, William Tudor, Drs. Bigelow and Gardner, and Rev. Messrs. Buckminster, Thatcher and Emerson, (father of Ralph Waldo Emerson.) The Anthology was discontinued in 1811. In 1812 and 1813 four volumes of the General Repertory and Review-the first American quarterly-were issued at Cambridge, under the editorship of Andrews Norton. It was literary and theological, and contained some very able papers. The North American Review was commenced in 1815 by William Tudor. It was transferred in 1817 to Willard Phillips, and in the same year to The North American Club, the most active members of which were Edward T. Channing, Richard H. Dana, and Jared Sparks, then a tutor in Harvard College. In 1819 Edward Everett became editor, and its circulation increased so rapidly that three editions were printed of some of the numbers. Some of Mr. Everett's articles relating to Greece, British travellers in America, and belles lettres, attracted very general attention abroad as well as in the United States. In 1823 the work was placed under the direction of Mr. Sparks, who conducted it until 1830, when it was purchased by Alexander H. Everett, then just returned from his mission to Spain. Mr. Everett surrendered it to Dr. Palfrey, in 1835, and I believe it passed into the hands of its present editor, Mr. Bowen, in 1842. The Christian Examiner, a very able literary and theological review, in 1818 took the place of The Christian Disciple, which had been published six years under the direction of Noah Worcester. The Examiner has contained some of the best essays of Dr. Channing, Dr. Dewey, the Wares, and other eminent Unitarian clergymen. The Christian Review, also quarterly, and devoted both to literature and religion, was established in 1835, and has contained

the best writing of the present age, and the custom of delivering addresses on festival occasions and before societies, which obtains principally in the United States. These last are chiefly historical and moral, are in many instances by

articles by Dr. Wayland, Dr. Williams, Dr. Sears, and other leading clergymen of the Baptist churches. The Boston Quarterly Review was commenced in 1837, and its contents have been principally written by its editor, Mr. Brownson. The New England Magazine was established by J. T. Buckingham, the veteran and able editor of the Boston Courier, in 1833, and was discontinued on the close of the sixth volume, principally I believe on account of the death of the editor's son and associate, Mr. Edwin Buckingham. The Dial, a magazine of Literature, Philosophy and Religion, was published from 1841 to 1843 under the direction of Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The New York Magazine and Literary Repository was published from 1787 to 1792. No literary periodical of much merit existed in New York until 1822 and 1823, when The Literary Review was published and Robert C. Sands was among its leading contributors. In the early part of 1824 The Atlantic Magazine was commenced, and Sands became its editor. It was afterwards called The New York Monthly Review, and edited by Sands, and Mr. Bryant, who removed to New York in 1825. The Knickerbocker Magazine was started in December, 1832, by C. F. Hoffman, who in 1833 yielded the editorship to Timothy Flint, who was in turn succeeded in the following year by its present editor, Lewis Gaylord Clark. The Knickerbocker has been one of the most successful and brilliant periodicals of the day. Among its contributors have been Irving, Paulding, Bryant, Longfellow, and nearly all the younger writers of much note in the country. The Democratic Review was commenced in Washington, in 1837, by Mr. O'Sullivan, one of its present editors, and Mr. Langtree, his brother-in-law, since deceased. It was removed to New York in 1841. It has been the most successful magazine of a political character in the United States, and has been conducted with ability, dignity, and good taste. The American Monthly Magazine, which had been published several years under Mr. Herbert, Mr. Hoffman, and Mr. Benjamin, was discontinued in 1838. Arcturus, a Journal of Books and Opinion, was continued about two years by Mr. E. A. Duyckinck and Cornelius Mathews, who wrote its principal contents. The American Review, a Whig Journal, was established by Mr. George H. Colton, in 1844. The American Biblical Repository, devoted to biblical and general literature, theological discussion, the history of theological opinions, etc., was founded in 1831 by Edward Robinson, the distinguished orientalist, who conducted it until 1838. Its present editor is Mr. J. H. Agnew. The New York Review (quarterly) was published from 1837 to 1842, during which time its principal writers were the Rev. Drs. Hawks, Henry and Coggswell, and Messrs. Legare, Henry Reed, and Duyckinck.

In Philadelphia Aitkin's Pennsylvania Magazine was the most popular literary periodical before the Revolution. Thomas Paine and Francis Hopkinson were contributors. It was suspended on the approach of the war. Mathew Carey published the American Museum from 1787 to 1792. In 1805 Charles Brockden Brown began the Literary Magazine and American Register, which he continued five years. In 1809, The Portfolio which had been established eight years before, by Joseph Dennie, was changed from a weekly gazette to a monthly magazine. After the death of Dennie, early in 1812, it was edited for a considerable period by the late celebrated and unfortunate Nicholas Biddle, and in 1816 passed into the hands of Mr. J. E. Hall, who conducted it until it was discontinued in 1821. The Analectic Magazine was established by Moses Thomas in 1813, and I believe was published until 1820. Many of the cleverest men in the country, including Mr. Irving, Mr. Paulding, and Wilson (the ornithologist) wrote for these works, which were more widely and generally read than any periodicals which had been or were then published in this country. They were in royal octavo, each number containing from seventy to one hundred pages, and were embellished with engravings scarcely inferior to the best now produced, from original pictures. In 1827 the American Quarterly Review was established, under the direction of Mr. Robert Walsh, and it was continued ten years. The Lady's Book and Graham's Magazine were in the first place monthly selections of periodical litera

our most eminent scholars, jurists and statesmen, and constitute a very important part of our literature.

The humour, repose, simplicity and strong sense of Franklin are conspicuous in nearly every thing he wrote. He is among the most national of our authors. The very spirit of New England lives in The Way to Wealth, The Morals of Chess, and The Whistle, as well as in his Letters, so full of prudence and sagacity. His style is elaborate, and in some respects is better than that of any of his contemporaries. It is familiar, condensed, of pure English, and has considerable variety.

The Lay Preacher of Dennie and his articles in the Portfolio seem to me feeble and affected, though occasionally marked by considerable excellence. It was natural to overrate him, as in his time we had very few writers with whom he could be compared. For several years after the death of Brockden Brown I believe he was the only man in the country who made literature a profession.

Mr. Wirt, in the Old Bachelor and The British Spy, wrote in a natural, copious and flowing style, which was occasionally polished into elegance. It was perhaps too full and ornate for a writer, but was admirable for an orator. The story of the Blind Preacher was in his happiest manner, but his disquisitions on eloquence are more carefully composed, and are vigorous and full of just reflections.

Among our historical essayists a distinguished place is held by Mr. Verplanck. Nearly thirty years ago he undertook in various discourses and reviews the eulogy of the excellent men who had most largely contributed to raise or support our national institutions and to form or to elevate our national character. His sketches have in parts the elaboration of cabinet pictures. His colouring and drawing have the fidelity and distinctness of De Leide and

ture, but for several years their contents have been original, and their extraordinary sale has enabled their publishers to employ the best writers. Graham's Magazine is embellished with the most costly engravings, and has a circulation of nearly thirty thousand copies. Like their predecessors, The Portfolio and The Analectic, the Philadelphia magazines of the present day owe their principal attractions to New York and New England writers.

The Southern Quarterly Review was established in Charleston in 1828, and suspended in 1833. It was recommenced in 1842, and I believe is now edited by the Rev. Mr. Whittaker. Among its most distinguished writers have been Stephen Elliott, Hugh S. Legare, and W. G. Simms.

The Southern Literary Messenger was founded by Mr. T. W. White, in 1834, and since his death has been under the direction of Mr. B. B. Miner. The best writers of Virginia and some of the other states have contributed to it, and it has been from the beginning a very valuable and interesting work. The New Englander, published at Hartford, Conn., has not been very long established, but it is among the first of our periodicals in character.

Wouvermans. He is the most learned of our writers in the history of Dutch colonization, and occasionally his style is marked by a certain humorous gravity which is inherited by the descendants of the New Netherlanders. All his productions are marked by excellent taste and a most genial spirit.

Robert Walsh was editor of the American Quarterly Review, and a contributor to some similar periodicals abroad. His commentaries on books, the drama, and works of art, exhibited industry and good sense, knowledge and reflection, within a limited range; but he lacked the earnest sympathy of such critics as Dana, who views books not only as subjects of intellectual observation, but as appealing to man's primal instincts, and whose comments on works of genius are accordingly not merely technical but psychological.

The works of Dr. Channing have had and will continue to exert a powerful and healthful influence. He is original, even when not new or novel, for he gives his own perceptions of truth. His style owes less popularity to its fluency than to its being a just expression of his character: every faculty of his mind and peculiarity of his position being reflected in it. It is marked by feeling, imagination, and moral energy. When he expresses a common idea, it will be found, on examination, that he gives it a new character, by connecting it with the deepest feelings and instincts. His clear perception of man's duties made him particularly insist on many principles which, though universally admitted, do not influence the conduct. His writings are the sincere expressions of an earnest mind. He makes his readers love virtue and truth. He often convicts us of a superficial perception of what we deemed the commonplaces of religion and morality, and makes us feel their depth and great importance.†

Edward Everett is one of our best specimens of culture and scholarship. His style is copious, graceful, and justly modulated. It shows considerable energy and fancy, and great command of language. His brother, Alexander H. Everett, has less tact and taste, but is perhaps equal to him in extent of knowledge and variety of accomplishments. He is the author of more than fifty articles in the North American Review, of which he was a considerable

⚫ He wrote a large volume in defence of the moral and intellectual character of the country, in which he presents the claims of many insignificant persons to consideration, but does not once in any way allude to Jonathan Edwards, whose simple name was worth all his five hundred pages, for the purpose he had in view. This was perhaps less from ignorance than from prejudice against Edwards's theology and metaphysics.

†Channing is one of those men whose mind is hung upon heaven with golden chords, and whose thoughts vibrate between what is pure below and sublime above.-Dr. Bowring.

Dr. Channing, one of those men who are a blessing and an honour to their generation and their country.-Southey.