THE SECOND VOLUME
There was a hiatus of the months of October and November before the commencement of Volume II. in December, 1836. It opens with an important Publisher's Notice: "The gentleman referred to in the ninth number of the Messenger, as filling its editorial chair, retired thence with the eleventh number, and the intellectual department is now under the conduct of the proprietor, assisted by a gentleman of distinguished literary, talents. Then referring to his contributors, he continues: "Among these we hope to be pardoned for singling out the name of Mr. Edgar A. Poe; not with design of making any invidious distinction, but because such a mention of him finds numberless precedents in the Journals on every side, which have sung the praises of his uniquely original vein of imagination and of humorous, delicate satire."
Who was the editor for only two numbers is not known, [1] but the distinguished assistant was
- ↑ A very well-informed and warm friend of the Messenger, Mr. J. H. Whitty, says that Mr. E. V. Sparhawk, a literary gentleman of high ability, was this second editor. He was employed in one of the State offices and died suddenly in the Capitol Building about 1850. He left a wife, who was a Miss Warrell, but no children. Mr. Fergusson says he carried MSS. and proof-sheets to Mr. Sparhawk's residence, out near Gamble's Hill.
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