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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
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
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
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
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 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
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:
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
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 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
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.
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