Page:The Southern Literary Messenger - Minor.djvu/171

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Literary Messenger
153

Memphis, has a long and long-lined "Legend of the Oak," and Miss M. B. Macdonald ventures upon a dramatic sketch: "The Priestess of Beauty."

In November, the death of President Thos. R. Dew is lamented. It occurred in Paris, where he had just arrived with his accomplished bride. The editor also speaks of his hopes, expectations and intentions for the next year. Several writers still unknown have furnished excellent articles of nearly every sort. Perhaps too much space is devoted to the civil war in the Carolinas and Georgia, during the Revolution, based upon the "Journal and Letters of Samuel Curwen, a loyalist refugee in England," by Geo. Atkinson Ward. But after the matter was once admitted, it was hard to stop it.

The last things in the Messenger for 1846 show how it kept up to date in important matters: the discovery of explosive cotton, on earth, and of the planet Neptune, in the heavens. The editor has all along endeavored to be faithful to all who had favored him with their patronage and gives the following notice: "The January Messenger, 1847, will be issued with accustomed punctuality, as far as practicable. But as, in the meantime, the office will be removed to the new quarters prepared for it, some delay may be occasioned thereby." If so, due allowance is craved.