I
On June 7, 1828, the Charleston Courier contained
"Proposals for publishing by subscription, a Weekly Literary Gazette to be
entitled 'The Tablet,'" a prospectus signed by two local literary figures,
James
Wright Simmons, Harvard-educated poet, playwright, and essayist, a man
in his late thirties with experience both in belles-lettres and in
business;
[4] and William Gilmore
Simms, Jr., now twenty-two years old and the author of three modest
volumes of verse and formerly an editor of another Charleston miscellany,
the
Album (1825).
Simms's editorship of the Album probably accounts for
the similarity between the plans proposed for "The Tablet" and those which
had been announced for the Album. Like the
Album, "The Tablet" was to be a weekly "Literary
Miscellany"
of eight pages with an especial appeal to women readers and with the
express purpose of encouraging "native genius." Perhaps the editors'
promise "to exercise no undue severity to what we may reject" is an
admission by Simms that he had been too severe a critic in the
Album for his would-be contributors' propre
amore.[5] Probably, too,
Simmons — the older man — had a calming influence on his
young
and impetuous partner. At any rate, it seems certain that the two men had
at first decided to model their projected journal on the same plan as that of
the Album — a sort of composite of
Salmagundi
and the New York Mirror.[6]
Three weeks later, however, these plans were abruptly cast aside; on
June 27 — the day the original prospectus ceased to appear in the
Courier — Simms and Simmons ran an almost entirely
new
prospectus in the City Gazette, in which they announced their
decision to make their magazine a monthly rather than a weekly. The long,
specific statement of their intentions reads in part:
The Editors of the TABLET having been encouraged by their friends
to extend the plan of the Work to a MONTHLY JOURNAL, notify their
subscribers, that the publication will be issued in this more eligible form.
. . . .
The proprietors have been reduced to believe . . . that in the intervals
between the quarterly appearance of the Southern Review[7] . . . a work of
humbler pretensions, but alike devoted to the cause of literature and fine
arts . . . might not inconsistently . . . put forth its claims to a portion of the
public patronage and regard. . . .
Above all, it will be their [the editors'] object to encourage the efforts
and do justice to the claims of native genius. . . .[8]
Thus the Southern Literary Gazette was born. It is not
difficult to understand why the two young editors decided to "extend" their
proposed weekly gazette into a monthly. Simms, at least, had already tried
his hand at a weekly, and remembering that the Album had
not
achieved overwhelming success, probably was willing enough to transfer his
talents and efforts to the greater latitude allowed by a monthly journal.
Then, too, perhaps finances entered into the decision: the young editors
may have reasoned (logically enough) that twelve sixtyfour page octavo
numbers could be issued at less expense than could fifty-two eight page
quarto numbers; the price per annum remained four dollars. The first
prospectus had announced that "The Tablet" would be "issued as soon as
a sufficient number of subscribers are obtained." It is possible that the
editors or proprietors,[9] seeing that
the desired number of subscribers would not be forthcoming,
determined to use their funds to begin a monthly, which in addition to
lower overhead costs would afford them a longer opportunity between
issues to collect acceptable contributions and — incidentally —
new
subscribers. By concentrating on a few opening monthly
numbers, the editors perhaps felt that they could win the confidence and
support of their native state much more readily than by hurriedly piecing
together weekly issues — and, as has been said, at less initial
expense.
It is significant, however, that although the second prospectus
mentions no department for the "Ladies," such as the first had elegantly
described, the chief purpose of the new gazette remained unchanged: the
encouragement of native genius. In fact, the editors time and again
restated their aims; the "Advertisement" which appears in the front of the
first volume repeats what was said in the second prospectus and adds in a
final paragraph that "the Editors hope they may confidently look for no
small share" of support from "their own immediate townsmen."
Despite their wise change in plans, it was not until September that
Simms and Simmons felt that they had enough subscribers or contributions
to issue their first number. The Charleston newspapers gave the new
magazine favorable publicity,[10] but
the two editors were not entirely pleased with the early issues of their
journal. In the October number they apologized for the "small errors"
which from their "want of practice in proofreading," they had "permitted
to escape [their] view" (I, 128). A statement in the November number
suggests that already the editors were having difficulty in getting enough
material to fill their magazine; apologizing that the number had not been
issued on the first day of the month as the prospectus had promised, they
announced that thereafter they would be forced to use a "somewhat larger"
type in order to issue their numbers promptly "on the fifteenth day of every
month."[11] Further in the same
notice the young journalists stated that "our patronage is too limited as yet
to warrant a continuance of our plan" to publish a series of engravings of
wellknown Charleston public buildings (I, 192).
Whatever the misgivings of its editors, the Southern Literary
Gazette continued to receive the support of the local newspapers.
The
City Gazette of November 27, 1828, for instance, spoke of
the
"sterling richness of the contents" of the November number,[12] and the Courier,
strangely
reviewing the December-January number as late as March 2, 1829, had
nothing but praise for the young literary journal. In closing, the
Courier made a plea in behalf of the new magazine:
We do indulge in the earnest hope, that our Charleston public will
liberally support a work of so much merit, as the one before us. Even the
youthful town of Cincinnati, put[s] out its monthly periodical: And it would
be derogating, indeed, from our liberality, were we to permit ours to fall
through, for want of proper encouragement.
The Gazette . . . purely maintains the spirit of Southern
Literature, which has before this time received commendation abroad. And
it is a fact
too, . . . that that Literature, which springs up and grows in one's soil, is
best suited to its community. . . . There is something manly and candid in
this paper, which we must all admire: and emanating as it does, from the
purest patriotism and justice, we cannot but yield it our support.
A magazine cannot live on praise alone, however, and after five
numbers of the Southern Literary Gazette had been issued,
the
business-minded Simmons decided to let his partner continue the struggle
alone. The two parted with no ill feelings, for Simms probably welcomed
the opportunity to become sole editor of a magazine for the
first
time in his career,[13] and Simmons
was gracious enough, in the announcement of his withdrawal, to express
faith in his colleague's ability. In a statement of his own Simms confidently
predicted the success of the magazine; he announced a "New
Series . . . . [to] be issued on superior paper in an improved form.
. . ." (I, 386).
Plans for the "New Series" were elaborated upon by the editor in the
"Prospectus" apparently issued with the May 15, 1829, opening number.
He frankly admitted that "some [improvement] . . . is thought necessary,"
and having observed that essays "in which abstract points are discussed, and
opinions given, . . . are seldom read," he proposed so "to vary the
character of the contents, . . . as to put something within the reach of every
patron, calculated as well for amusement as instruction." Stating that he had
arranged with A. F. Cunningham, printer, for "the regular
publication of the Gazette," the young editor announced that the journal
would thereafter be issued semi-monthly.
The work [he continued] will be divided into three distinct
departments —
viz. 1. Critical Notices of New
Publications,
principally American, or such of foreign original, as may bear upon our
Institutions, or Literature. 2. Original Poetry. 3. A General Miscellany. It
is contemplated to make this last department particularly comprehensive,
and to include in its formula, Essays, Tales, Sketches, Anecdotes, &c.
To these may be added a fourth department, appropriated to local
occurrences entirely. The whole formed upon the plan of
The
Critic of New York.
[14]
Simms further explained that the critical department, which was to be
modeled on that of the
London Literary Gazette,
[15] would contain
"not only a synopsis of the work reviewed, but a liberal portion of the most
interesting parts, extracted, with a view to the full illustration of the text.
. . ." He requested correspondents to keep in mind "the length of an
article" because "we have certain limits, over which we cannot pass" if the
miscellaneous character of the magazine was to be preserved.
The editor concluded the long prospectus with a general statement of
his objectives. Regretting "the cold indifference" that "has heretofore . . .
repelled the progress" of literature in the South, he expressed confidence
that "the application of individual energies, will go far to remove the
contempt and apathy, into which our mental reputation has fallen."
The Courier of May 16 contained an announcement by
the
new publisher, A. F. Cunningham, promising that "nothing shall be
wanting on his part, to render it [the Gazette] fully equal in
typography and execution, to any periodical from the Southern Press." He
added that he intended to include in each number the words and notes of
"original or selected Music" and occasionally to publish engravings. With
these promises — none of which, unfortunately, he was able to keep
—
Cunningham expressed the hope that his work, "so peculiarly
Southern in its character, and the only semi-monthly in the
South," would not be viewed "by his fellow citizens with apathy or
indifference."
Simms was more fortunate in carrying out his plans than was his
publisher. The first number of the "New Series" was divided into three
sections: "Critical Notices of New Publications," "Original Poetry," and
"General Miscellany" — each of which conformed to the description
given in the prospectus. All of the pieces were brief, there being no fewer
than twenty-three titles in twenty-two pages of actual text. In typography
the new Gazette seemed inferior to the old: the print was
smaller, and the pages were now divided into two columns — hardly
a
convenience to the reader. On the whole, however, the format was not
unattractive, and it was designed to catch the eye of the casual
reader.
In content, the volume comprising the new series is more noticeably
different from the first volume in tone than in merit; the contents of both
are for the most part amateurish, but a flippancy and a good-humored
cockiness — which probably can be traced to Simms's free rein
—
seem to pervade the semi-monthly that were lacking in the monthly. These
traits are apparent particularly in the "Critical Notices," written largely by
Simms, which today are by far the most interesting and most rewarding
sections of the new series. In both volumes, the heavy hand of morality and
sentimentality rules the poetry and the fiction. If Simms succeeded in giving
more appeal to the
Southern Literary Gazette after he took
over
the editorship alone, it is largely because he knew his audience: he
recognized that the long, high-toned "abstract" essays of the monthly
Gazette had discouraged all but the most faithful and avid
readers, and he sought a remedy by making his magazine a semi-monthly,
which had the advantages of being more miscellaneous in content and more
timely in appearance.
For a while the magazine seems to have thrived under the new policy.
At the time the third number went to press, Simms appears to have been
well pleased with the public's response to the appeal for additional
contributors: "Truly have our Correspondents been liberal and attentive. We
. . . have been enabled to close our desk for the first time for the last six
months and take a lounge through King street of an afternoon . . ." (n.s.,
I, 72). And again in the fourth number, Simms asked his correspondents to
have "patience," adding that "In our next we shall endeavor to give them
all a place" (n.s., I, 96).
But apparently the Southern Literary Gazette was still
insecure financially: the failure of the promised engravings to appear
indicates as much. And perhaps it was partly because contributors were
decreasing in number that Simms suggested a month later that Southerners
visiting in the North "should afford us in lieu of their presence, some little
account of the parts they visit, the curiosities they see, and the humors and
thought their adventures may give rise to" (n.s., I, 159).
Simms nevertheless continued to regard the semi-monthly as a more
popular medium with the reading public than the monthly. Indeed, as early
as August he was already mentioning the possibility of converting his
journal into a weekly, in order further to please his readers. In commenting
on John Neal's Yankee and Boston Literary Gazette, Simms
remarked:
The [Yankee's] change from the weekly, to the monthly
form, can hardly be considered of advantage, if we may judge in any
measure of the Boston by the Carolinian taste. With us, nothing is readable,
that requires an effort, and the material of the Quarterly and Monthly, is
wretchedly fatiguing to the summer reader. Even now, we are called upon
to effect another change and make ours a weekly. We could make it
what-ever the public thinks best, could we be paid for it. What says 'The
Yankee' (n.s., I, 159).
It is probable, then, that Simms had already discussed with publisher
James S. Burges the plans for a weekly journal, to begin as soon as the
present volume of the Gazette was completed. Although
Simms's name is nowhere mentioned in the prospectus, Burges obviously
had him in mind as editor:
The Pleiades A WEEKLY LITERARY GAZETTE, TO BE
PUBLISHED IN CHARLESTON, S. CAROLINA.
We have long thought, that a weekly publication entirely devoted to
light and miscellaneous literature, would meet with a ready and liberal
patronage in this community. We now make the experiment. Our editors
have hitherto confined their attention very selfishly to the wants and
requirements of their own sex, leaving unnoticed that finer portion of
creation, to the amusement and instruction of which, as well as that of our
own order, our labors shall in future be equally directed. To them,
therefore, we look for patronage and encouragement.
We propose "The Pleiades," as a receptacle for that light and graceful
literature, original and selected, which is calculated for the occasional
amusement and gratification of the public. As as weekly
melange, in which the gentleman and the lady — the
old and
the young — intelligent and uninformed, will equally find something
to
relieve the weight of graver employment, and to dissipate the burden of
troublesome and unpleasant hours. Original and selected Tales —
Moral
Essays — Poetry, and miscellaneous original and selected literature,
pruned and gathered into shape, will form its principal contents —
over
the morals of which a scrupulous and discriminating caution will be
carefully exercised and maintained.
"The Pleiades" will be published weekly, commencing
on
the first Saturday in November next, in a form of eight medium quarto
pages, and will be put to subscriber at $4 per annum, if paid in
advance, or $5 at the the expiration of six months; Single numbers,
12½ cents each. No subscriptions received for a less term than
one year, when the volume will be completed. . . .
JAMES S. BURGESS, Publisher, Charleston, S. C.[16]
Although this prospectus seems to announce a completely independent
"new" magazine, Simms, upon assuming the editorship, preserved the
identity of his old periodical by entitling the new journal the Pleiades
and Southern Literary Gazette, apparently only a single abortive
issue
of which was to appear before its decease. Thus the third attempt in less
than a year to give the Southern Literary Gazette a new
face (and new life) failed. First announced as a weekly literary gazette,
even before its first appearance it had been modified into a monthly; then,
after six months of limited success, one of its editors had withdrawn and the
other had carried on alone under a new publisher and a new policy,
announcing that thereafter the
Gazette would appear twice
monthly. For another six months, then, the
Gazette was
issued
semi-monthly, again, however, without achieving prosperity. At the end of
this period the second publisher left the field, a third one stepped in
(obviously by prearrangement), and with Simms still at the helm, a "new"
magazine with a new title and policy was issued, only to die after a single
number. This new policy was strikingly similar to that which at the very
beginning had been proclaimed for "The Tablet," under which title, of
course, the magazine never appeared. Thus, the
Southern Literary
Gazette (for all three magazines are now so called) had
gone full circle; first and last announced to be a weekly gazette, it appeared
both monthly and semi-monthly but never actually weekly, because its first
number under that standard was also its last.
Unfortunately, however, that last number (or the first
number in the third series — the number published
under the
title Pleiades) has apparently completely escaped our libraries
and collectors;[17] and because it is not
positively known that a twelfth number for the second series was issued, a
very special problem arises in connection with Simms's assigning the
earliest version of the story of Martin Faber to "some eight
or
ten pages in the second volume" of the Southern Literary
Gazette.[18] It is generally
believed that the second series of the Gazette was concluded
with the eleventh (or October 15, 1829) number;[19] if so, the "Confessions of a
Murderer"
must have appeared in
the single issue of the
Pleiades and Southern Literary Gazette,
for the story is not included in numbers 1-11 of the second series. There
are reasons, however, to believe that the twelfth number of the new series
was issued and that the forerunner of
Martin
Faber
actually
was published (as Simms has stated) in the "second
volume." The Charleston
Courier for October 29, 1829,
contains the following:
The following are the contents of the twelfth Number, for November,
of the Southern Literary Gazette:
1. The Charter Oak; 2. Confessions of a Murderer; 3. On the Death
of an Infant; 4. Epigram; 5. Capt. Hall on his Tour; 6. Epitaph; 7. Bacon's
'Novum Organon Scientiarium[']; 8. Epitaph; 9. Prospects of a National
Literature; 10. To Thee; 11. Chronicles of Ashley River — No. 6;
12.
Stanzas; 13. Glances at Adam Smith; 14. Rain not Wanted; 15. Excerpts;
16. Stanzas; 17. The Opportunity; 18. On Reading the Works of an
American Poet who Died of Want; 19. L'Envoy; 20. Table of
Contents.
This notice, appearing only a few days before the twelfth number was
due, definitely indicates that the November 1, 1829, issue of the
Southern Literary Gazette was planned and assembled with
the
intention of publication. Whether the number ever was
actually
published or whether, as J. Allen Morris guesses, this proposed issue "came
out on Nov. 7, 1829, . . . under the title of the Pleiades and
Southern
Literary Gazette"[20] cannot be
known until at least one or the other number turns up. The brief notice of
the Pleiades and Southern Literary Gazette in the
Courier, November 9, 1829, which closes with the hope that
the
"new weekly miscellany" will "meet with that favor, which its spirited
manner, and neat execution merits," is of no help in solving this perplexing
problem. Unless, however, the prospectus of the Pleiades was
incorrect in stating that the new weekly would consist of "eight medium
quarto pages"[21] and unless Simms's memory failed
him completely in his statement that the "Confessions of a Murderer" filled
"some eight or ten pages," the logical conclusion seems to be that the
"Confessions" did appear in a twelfth number in the second
series. Further support for this contention comes from the fact that the
eleventh number (for October 15, 1829) contains no mention that it would
be the last issue in the "new" or second series, despite the fact
that an additional number was needed to complete what normally constitutes
a volume.
Why the Pleiades failed after a single issue can only be
surmised, but whatever the reason, Simms was not long away from the
editorial fauteuil (as he liked to put it), for at the beginning
of
the new year he became editor and one of the proprietors of the City
Gazette and Commercial Advertiser, the first of four newspapers
with
which he was to have editorial connections.
