Page:The Southern Literary Messenger - Minor.djvu/40

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
30
The Southern

by what Pertinax Placid and Democritus, Jr., had written about noses, on pages 445 and 468. The literary notices embrace Featherstonhaugh's translation of Manzoni's "I Promessi Sposi;" Kennedy's "Horse-shoe Robinson" and Fanny Kemble Butler's famous Journal.

The general remarks which the editor deems due to the Messenger and to those who write for it are so fair and judicious that there is a strong temptation to quote them.

No. 10, June, 1835, reverses the order heretofore adopted and opens with an "Editorial Introduction," which heralds and comments on the coming contents. Thus it is learned that "Mr. Poe's story of 'Hans Phaal' will add much to his reputation as an imaginative writer. * * * The story is a long one, but it will appear short to the reader, whom it bears along with irresistible interest, through a region of which, of all others, we know the least, but which his fancy has invested with peculiar charms," etc. It is also hinted that "a voyage to the moon may not be considered a mere matter of moonshine," and it is trusted "that a future missive from the lunar voyager will give us a narrative of his adventures in the orb that he has been the first to explore." The editor could not then have been acquainted with the celebrated hoax in regard to our satellite which was so successfully perp-