University of Virginia Library

William Gilmore Simms and the Southern Literary Gazette
by
John C. Guilds

One aspect of William Gilmore Simms's career largely overlooked is his role as the most important magazine editor of the Old South. William Stanley Hoole's article[1] briefly outlines Simms's editorial career, but much material now available was unused by Hoole. William Peterfield Trent's biography[2] gives an inadequate picture of Simms the editor; probably because he did not see many of them, Trent discusses comparatively few of Simms's magazine articles. More recent studies of the Album and Cosmopolitan reveal that even as a youthful editor Simms displayed the seemingly effortless versatility and fecund but careless creativity that were to earmark his efforts as a mature writer; already he had developed the credo for his literary career.[3] An even more important magazine in the biography of Gilmore Simms is sandwiched between the Album and the Cosmopolitan: the Southern Literary Gazette, another early Charleston periodical (1828-1829), contains valuable revelations of his development as editor, critic, poet, and writer of fiction. This article is an account of Simms's editorial and authorial connections with this ambitious but ill-fated journal.

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:

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:

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.

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:

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:

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:

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.

II

In examining the Southern Literary Gazette for Simms's contributions, one quickly discovers that the editor of the Gazette was almost literally the author of the Gazette. Some idea of how great a portion of the magazine is his own work can be gained from the fact that no fewer than twenty-eight of the forty-one poems in the first volume were written by this amazingly facile young man. And because his partner, James Wright Simmons, contributed at least six of the thirteen poems not ascribed to Simms, it is apparent that the two editors wrote at least eighty per cent of the verse to appear in their joint venture. Indeed, the only poem in the first volume of the Gazette that definitely can be assigned to someone other than Simms or Simmons is William Henry Timrod's "Time's Trophies."[22]

Probably the two young co-editors wrote just as high a proportion of prose in the first volume as they did of the poetry, but the authorship of the prose contributions is exceedingly difficult to establish because (except in rare cases) there are not even pseudonyms or initials to serve as clues. There is no reason, however, to believe that Simms and Simmons (particularly Simms) were any less prolific in writing prose than poetry. On the contrary, if indeed they were hard pressed for contributors, they probably were forced to write many last-minute articles to fill in vacant pages in their journal. At any rate, it seems safe to assume that Simms wrote far more prose for the six numbers in the first volume than the seven titles (not including book reviews) that definitely can be ascribed to him.

Upon taking over the sole editorship of the Gazette at the beginning of the new series, Simms was faced with the problem either of getting more contributors or of writing his magazine practically alone. And again, either by choice or by necessity, he seems to have borne the

major responsibility for keeping the pages filled. To the eleven available numbers of the new series, he contributed at least thirty-two poems, ten essays, three "sketches" or brief short stories, and one series of tales published in five installments — not to mention a new section entitled "Critical Notices," which must have been almost altogether his own work. Furthermore, on the basis of internal evidence four other poems and eight other prose titles can probably be added to this impressive list.

In all, then, Simms's contributions — probable and proved, to both new series and old — number 101, still excluding all book reviews and notices for correspondents or subscribers. These 101[23] contributions embrace sixty-four poems, twenty-three essays, nine sketches (as Simms liked to call his brief short stories), and the five "Chronicles of Ashley River" — a series of tales of colonial Indian warfare. Almost half of these contributions are unsigned in any fashion; the remainder are signed with fourteen pseudonyms[24] as follows: "Alwyn," one; "Amand," two; "E.," nine; "Florio," two; "G.," thirteen; "Linus," four; "M.," nine; "Mary," one; "P.," two; "R. H.," one; "S.," two; "Vidal," one; "Walterboro'," one; and "W. G. S.," four. Six of these noms de plume — "E.," "Florio," "G.," "M.," "P.," and "S.," — had also been used in the Album.

Perhaps the outstanding work in the Southern Literary Gazette is "The Lost Pleiad," sometimes considered the best of Simms's generally inane poetry. This earliest version is essentially the same poem collected in Poems Descriptive, Dramatic, Legendary and Contemplative (1853), although Simms expanded it from forty-four to fifty-three lines and revised (even rewrote) many individual lines. In nearly every case the revision improved the poem. "The Lost Pleiad" in any version stands far above the other poetry in the Southern Literary Gazette, most of which is mediocre. One wonders if the success of "The Lost Pleiad" could have had any bearing on Simms's choice of Pleiades as the title for the new journal he edited for James S. Burges. The title (both of the poem and of the magazine) perhaps suggests that the work was intended primarily for women readers.

Probably the best of the other Simms poems in the Southern Literary Gazette are those that he selected for the 1853 and the 1860 editions of his poems, among which are "The Streamlet," "The Spring," "Fancy," "Morning in the Forest," "Lights of Hearts and Love," "Lines" (beginning "My life is in the yellow leaf"), "Concealed Character," "The Grave in the Forest," and a few of his "Songs" and "Sonnets." Also worthy of comment is "Great is the Yemassee," a poem included in the second of the "Chronicles of Ashley River": "Great is the Yemassee" is the original of the highly effective "Mighty is the Yemassee" which appears in Chapter XXII of The Yemassee (1835).

But if Simms did not write a piece of prose fiction for the Gazette equal in merit with "The Lost Pleiad," his sketches and tales taken as a group far surpass his poems taken collectively. The five "Chronicles of Ashley River," in which Simms depicted "one of those sad and grievous encounters between the whites and the savages of the western wilderness" (n.s., I, 176), anticipate his novels of Indian warfare in colonial South Carolina, The Yemassee and The Cassique of Kiawah. Sergeant Rory M'Alister, a loquacious but manly Irishman with heavy brogue, and Redfoot, a cunning, intelligent Yemassee chief who speaks perfect English, are both well-conceived characters. The "Chronicles" are episodic and melodramatic but nevertheless display some of the author's skill as a narrator.

In "Indian Sketch" (later revised, expanded, and retitled "Oakatibbe; or the Choctaw Sampson") Simms made some interesting comments on the distorted portrayals of Indian character in contemporary novels and poems:

Already, then, Simms's interest in the Indian and his insistence upon realistic treatment of history had combined to make him highly critical of the romantically conceived "savage."[25]

Another of the more interesting pieces of fiction in the Southern Literary Gazette is the sketch entitled "A Picture of the Sea." One wonders if Poe, who, as Sergeant Edgar A. Perry, was stationed at Fort Moultrie near Charleston in 1828, did not read this tale in the December number of the Gazette.[26] If so, certain passages in "A Picture of the Sea" may have given him the germ for his own "MS. Found in a Bottle," which in 1833 won the story contest conducted by the Baltimore Saturday Visitor. The similarities between these two supernatural tales of the sea are in some ways too striking to be ignored: both are narrated in the first person by a ship passenger who professes disbelief in superstition, but is awed by it; in both a sudden furious storm strikes after the sea has taken on a mysterious foreboding appearance; in both a huge ship manned by immortals (the "Flying Dutchman" theme) suddenly and unaccountably appears during the storm to crash down upon and sink the narrator's ship; in both there are at first two survivors, one of whom later is killed, and in both the narrator (the sole survivor) faces certain death, which fact presents a peculiar problem for the author. Simms got out of this difficulty in the conventional manner — by having the narrator awaken from a dream; Poe solved the problem much more artistically by putting to use the idea made explicit by his title. There is no question of plagiarism, of course, because Poe (granted that he had seen Simms's story) used his own genius to carve a new tale from the mere framework supplied by Simms. But "A Picture of the Sea" would be no discredit to any writer: the descriptions of the storm and of the frightening appearance of the phantom ship are vivid and terrifying; the grim struggle to death between the unheroic narrator and the other survivor over possession of a spar large enough to support only one of them is an early example of Simms's realism.[27]

Among the best of the other tales in the Southern Literary Gazette are "The Cypress Swamp," "The Fisherman — A Fact," and "Omens of War — A Recollection," all three signed with the pseudonym, "E." Simms obviously incorporated some of "The Cypress Swamp" — which is in reality a mere descriptive sketch — into those scenes in The Partisan that have their setting in the South Carolina lowlands swamps.[28] "The Fisherman — A Fact" is a delightful story of a Southern gentleman who attempts to recover the fortune he has lost through folly and hard luck by fishing each day for a water-buried treasure, which he hopes to ensnare on his fishing hook. His strange actions convince his Negro assistants that he is the devil himself "'wid a big fishing line in 'e hand, ready for hook your poor spirit, 'fore 'e lef your body'" (n.s., I, 244). Humor and irony were not Simms's fortes, but in this tale he handled both much better than he was wont to do. "Omens of War — A Recollection" is another early treatment by Simms of a Revolutionary War theme. It has to do with a veteran of the Revolution who in 1776 had seen a vision of approaching war similar to the phenomenon witnessed by the citizens of a little town in interior South Carolina sometime during "the summer of eighteen hundred and eleven, a short time before the declaration of the war with Great Britain" (n.s., I, 179).

Other stories deserving mention include those demonstrating Simms's great fondness for German literature. One, "The Dead Lover," published anonymously in the February, 1829, number, is a ghost story based partly on Burger's "Lenore" and partly on the Faust legend.[29] "The Dead Lover" ranks higher as a work of art than does the greatly expanded version published in 1837 under the title "The Spirit Bridegroom." Most of the mystery and suggestive power of the original are

destroyed by the over elaboration of details in the story in its later form. If, however, the number of the Gazette containing the "Confessions of a Murderer" were available, that tale would certainly prove the most interesting in the entire series. Even without the opportunity to examine the "Confessions of a Murderer" at first hand, however, one is not hard pressed to find a clue as to its probable inspiration. In February, 1829, there appeared in the Gazette the first of two installments of "The Criminal, from the German of Schiller."[30] "The Criminal," like Martin Faber (and apparently, then, also like the "Confessions of a Murderer"), attempts to show how environment and circumstance can make a criminal — even a murderer — of an ordinary man.[31] Both "The Criminal" and Martin Faber are psychological studies in the degeneration of character, and both carry the implication that society is at least partly to blame for the crimes committed by the hero. Thus there are similarities in setting, tone, plot, and purpose in "The Criminal" and Martin Faber; there is Simms's own assertion of the close resemblance of Martin Faber to the "Confessions of a Murderer"; there is knowledge that Simms was a great admirer of Schiller; and there is the fact that a translation of Der Verbrecher was readily available in the pages of the Gazette itself: the accumulated evidence leads one to believe that Simms had Schiller's story in mind and perhaps in hand when he sat down to write the "Confessions of a Murderer."

In fact, although Professor Cardwell has pointed out that in Charleston "Knowledge of German, to all literary purposes, was practically non-existent in the earlier years of the nineteenth century" (pp. 32-33), there are other indications in the Southern Literary Gazette that Simms was quick to perceive the great potentialities in the study of German literature. One finds awareness on Simms's part (in the essay entitled "German Literature") that "At present there is, perhaps, no portion of Literary history of more importance to us, than that of Germany. Rising as we are into a state of refined Literature, and about to establish for ourselves a national character, it must be advantageous to examine those principles by the adoption of which her people have risen up to an independence of thought, and have become eminent in

the several departments of learning" (n.s., I, 197). In later years Simms was to write appreciative criticisms of Goethe and Fouque as well as of Schiller.[32]

For purposes of discussion, Simms's essays and critical notices can probably best be treated together. The essays are of almost no importance as works of literature, because it is obvious that most of them were written to be mere space-fillers. Some few, however, like most of the reviews, are interesting in that they reflect the author's opinions on literary or cultural matters or in that they pertain to editorial policy. An essay of the latter type is the "Introduction" to the first volume — an essay which obviously must embody ideas that both Simms and Simmons held and had discussed together. In the opening paragraph the editors made it clear that one of their purposes was to condemn American dependence upon and imitation of British literary taste:

In closing their "Introduction" the editors asserted that "it will be their earnest and zealous endeavour to give to the Southern Literary Gazette a character as sterling as may be consistent with the nature and the ends implied and embraced in a monthly paper devoted to the Fine Arts and general Literature." To fulfill this pledge, Simms and Simmons announced that "they will consider it their bounden duty to exercise a rigid censorship, not less over the manners than the matter

of their pages. . . ." With this goal in view the editors hoped that contributors would "bestow such care and attention upon the articles they may send for insertion . . ., as may render them not wholly unworthy of the taste and intelligence, which . . . the Editors have every reason to believe will be brought to the perusal of this and the ensuing numbers . . ." (I, 8). This emphasis upon the moral as well as the aesthetic function of the work again indicates that the Southern Literary Gazette was designed for parlor reading by fashionable Charleston ladies and gentlemen.

Thoughts of his women subscribers may also have prompted Simms's highly complimentary remarks about "Female Editors" in the seventh number of the new series. The essay is definitely designed to please and to flatter women readers as well as the women editors involved. "A new epoch," Simms began, "may be noted in the Literature of the United States, at this time; and one, calculated, as well from its novelty as interest, to excite no little wonder and admiration. We mean the Editorship of sundry Literary Journals, by Ladies. . . ." He singled out for particular praise two magazines "edited by Ladies, who, no doubt, are fully as handsome and delightful, as they are intelligent. . . . The Journals we refer to, are 'The Ladies Magazine' edited by Mrs. Sarah J. Hale, and 'The Bower of Taste,' by Mrs. Katharine A. Ware. . . . they do high credit to the fair conductors, and are well worthy the patronage of the fairer portion of the community. We hope they have it" (n.s., I, 167-168).

The unsigned essay "Modern Biography" in the December, 1828, Gazette calls contemporary biographers to task for carelessness in their art. In the light of Simms's later efforts at biography, the following comments seem worthy of record:

Some of Simms's most significant remarks, however, appear in the piece entitled "Modern Criticism" (n.s., I, 173-174). In this essay he took his stand for "fair and impartial criticism," the benefits from which "can no more be doubted than the common advantages which result from education." He defined

It follows, then, Simms added, "that to merit the high and distinguished title of critic," one must possess more than genius and reputation: Later Simms pointed out, however, that "with some few exceptions. . . . our critics of today" do not answer The critic who "lashes without mercy" when "his strictures should assume the form of friendly advice" particularly aroused Simms's contempt. Such a critic, he said, "is rather more bent upon displaying his peculiar skill, than improving the defects of the author. It is this shameful want of discrimination which has cast an indelible stain upon some of the foreign reviews of every thing American. . . ." This severe criticism, Simms summed up in conclusion, "so far from advancing the literature of a country, rather retards it, and sometimes stunts it in its growth." Although Simms was later to write much with regard to the functions of a critic, this essay penned at the age of twenty-three is one of the best expressions of his ideas on the subject. These ideas he maintained consistently throughout his career.

Perhaps the most sensational piece of criticism in the Southern Literary Gazette is the review of Leigh Hunt's Lord Byron and His Contemporaries. Simms was quick to rush to the defense of the darling of his magazine, Byron, who "is hallowed time and again in criticism and is constantly imitated" (Cardwell, p. 208) in the pages of the Gazette. He set the tone for his appraisal of Hunt's work in his opening sentence: "Really these pages are not calculated to inspire the reader with the most exalted opinion of human nature: a very sorry picture on the contrary do they present of its infirmities, its meanness and its malice." Later he pointed out the great damage Hunt had done to Byron under the pretense of friendship:

"The only portion of the work worth reading," Simms added, "is an account of Shelley and Keats," both of whom he termed "men of genius."[33] But Simms did not dwell long on Hunt's treatment of Shelley and Keats; he had raised the bludgeon over Hunt's head for his mistreatment of Byron, and he did not lower it until he had pummeled the "half bred, half educated cockney" for seven long pages. In conclusion Simms asked, "Are not the friends of Lord Byron . . . ashamed of themselves? Here is a man [Hunt] whom he sheltered and perhaps fed, foremost of the vile crew who seek to hunt down his memory because its lustre throws their own in the shade?" (I, 41-47).

Scott was idolized almost as much as was Byron. In reviewing Anne of Geierstein, or the Maiden of the Mist Simms tried to put into practice his theory that a critic "must not regard the person writing, but the thing written." Although Simms openly admired (and acknowledged his own debt to) "the truly astonishing and seemingly unfailing powers of a man, who is the wonder of this, and must be that of every succeeding age," he did not "pretend or affect to believe the present productions of this wonderful man's pen, as good as his secondrate previous writings . . ." (n.s., I, 126).

Simms found little to his liking in the well-known last novel of one of the great figures in eighteenth-century English literature, Henry Fielding. According to Simms, the defect of Amelia, which first had been published in 1751, "is its utter want of plot. The denouement, such as it is, turns, as it were, upon a sort of casualty, which is contrary to all received notions relative to this class of productions." He admitted, however, that Fielding had "succeeded, not to the life, perhaps, so much as the letter of his fancy" in his attempt "to draw the character of a perfect wife." "The rest of the characters," he added, "are mere sketches, or glimpses of our moral nature. There is not one elaborate or well drawn picture, no 'emphasis and thinking' about any of the persons . . ." (n.s., I, 15).

Although French was almost certainly the most widely read foreign literature in early nineteenth-century Charleston (Cardwell, p. 14), there is little discussion of the literature of France within the covers of the successive volumes of the Southern Literary Gazette. High respect for the French is indicated, however, by the fact that the critical judgment of Mme. de Stael was used by a writer in the Gazette to support his own defense of modern drama (I, 89); then, too, the essay on "The Fine Arts" includes a discussion of both Grecian and French drama. Spanish literature also received attention: essays on that subject appear in both the September 15 and October 15 numbers of the new series (n.s., I, 205-206 and 259-260).

Naturally, however, most of the critical comments in a journal devoted to the encouragement of national letters pertain to American writers. One of the early reviews deals with Notions of the Americans (1828), "another leaf" to Cooper's "brilliant laurel." Characteristically Simms (for he doubtless was the reviewer) praised the book for its "method" and for its "style," but also pointed out that "Mr. Cooper is singularly, we had almost said, ludicrously minute in some of his descriptions. . . . we are informed that you have 'egress from and ingress to the house, by its front and rear!' This is indeed new, and quite extraordinary." Simms later drew an interesting comparison between Cooper and Irving:

Despite his admiration for Byron, Simms nevertheless felt that the English poet had exerted a bad influence upon English and American poetry in general. In heaping praise upon the Sketches of N. P. Willis in September, 1828, he commented:

This last observation was certainly well-founded, Simms remarked, "if we are to consider Mr. Percival's last Clio, (No. 3) as the clever work of our cleverest verse maker."[34] He added, however, that he had "long since ventured to dissent from the received 'lex scripta' of our friends at the North and his fellow citizens, in assigning that preference to Mr. Bryant. . . . We look forward to better things, particularly when a work so clever in promise as the 'Sketches' before us, is the subject of our present remarks."

Simms pointed out, however, that the "scriptural" character "which Mr. Willis has endeavored to give his poetry" follows the leadership of another misguided school — that of the popular English poetess, Mrs. Felicia Dorothea Hemans:

Later, Simms's treatment of Willis was not to be so kindly. In the July 1, 1829, number of the new series of the Gazette Simms stated that "the journals which have heretofore picked only the bones of unhappy authors, have now beg[u]n to pick one another." Because he saw "no reason why this should not be the case," Simms then proceeded to pick the bones of Willis and his American Monthly Magazine. He insisted, however, that "It is only because we are satisfied of the ability of Mr. Willis and his contributors to do well, that we have been disposed to make them do better" (n.s., I, 73, 78).[35]

Perhaps the review in the Gazette that best illustrates the editor's plea for regionalism appears in the June 1 number of the new series. The book under question is Edgehill: A Novel "by a Virginian,"[36] but the volume in hand is simply used as a springboard for a discussion of Southern publishing and literature. The notice opens as follows:

Later Simms admitted that he had "skimmed over Edgehill . . . not to review it. We dreaded the effects of our southern prejudices in favor of a southern publication; but the journals generally, have already spoken a favorable doom and we are satisfied" (n.s., I, 33-34).

Tales and Sketches, by a Country Schoolmaster, a book published anonymously by William Leggett, "late editor of the New York Critic," prompted Simms to comment on the disadvantages under which an author turned editor labors. "The Sketches," he wrote, "are just such as he [Leggett] may be supposed to have written, while conducting a Literary Journal." He pointed out that Leggett possessed talent: that if he "carefully arranged his materials and methodized his plan," he could write a novel of the West "fully as interesting and excellent as 'The Prairie.'" Simms concluded by saying: "If he will but let the 'Critic' go to the _____ in peace, and have nothing to do with any other Editorial chair; (an occupation, vile enough, heaven knows,) . . . take up Flint's books on the West,[37] and hatch a decent plot before he puts pen to paper, we shall have much pleasure, in commencing our next volume, to open with 'The Perogue' an American (?) Romance, in two volumes, & c. & c." (n.s., I, 102).

Because the Southern Literary Gazette had promised its genteel readers that it would "exercise a rigid censorship" over morals, manners, and matters, it is not surprising to find Simms — a firm believer in the moral function of literature — saying of James K. Paulding's Tales of the Good Woman — "we do not know that we have ever read a volume of a more exalted, purely toned morality. Each story . . . has in view the inculcation of a sound rule, or the suppression of an improper principle" (n.s., I, 157-158).

Simms's "Indian Sketch" is not the only writing in the Southern Literary Gazette that illustrates his interest in and knowledge of the American Indian. In a long review entitled "North American Indians"[38] in the initial number, Simms stated in greater detail the convictions that he was to repeat in the "Indian Sketch" two months later:

Doubtless Simms's travels through the Indian country with his father and his Uncle James during his 1824-1825 visit to Mississippi largely account for his realistic conception of the Indian.[39]

At least one fellow South Carolina author was reviewed by Simms in the Gazette. A Selection from the Miscellaneous Writings of the

Late Isaac Harby, Esq.,[40] "arranged and published by Henry L. Pinckney and Abraham Moise, for the benefit of his family," came under consideration in the first number of the new series. Simms praised Harby particularly for his early efforts in behalf of the literature of his home state:

In addition to the notice of Harby's Writings, Simms also was editorially concerned with another phase of Charleston's literary culture — its theater. Under the heading "Our Theatre" in the November, 1828, issue, Simms wrote such a stinging criticism of the production then being performed in the Charleston Theatre that the following month it was deemed necessary (probably by Simmons) to announce that "the Editors" did not wholly agree with "the opinions of the correspondent before adverted to, of our November number" (I, 265). There can be little doubt that Simms was the author of the first review since it is signed "M.," a pseudonym he used elsewhere in the Gazette. Apparently the retraction is another example of the older, more business-minded editor having a moderating influence on the less compromising nature of his partner. Simms's initial review is interesting because it voices objections to the "system of Starring," which it termed "totally destructive of every other system of good Theatrical management." "We denounce the present system entirely," Simms added, "as not calculated to satisfy the public, reward the manager, or what is more important, encourage and bring forward dramatic talent in the humbler actors thus kept back, and absolutely ruined by it" (I, 191).

On one occasion Simms is known to have rushed to the defense of the Gazette's highly regarded cross-town rival, the Southern Review. When Robert Walsh[41] irreverently called "the last number of the

Southern Review, 'a collection of political pamphlets,'" Simms blazed: "Why, you unblushing varlet, how dare you style the Southern Review, or any other review, 'a collection of political pamphlets' — you who, under cover of a literary title, made your miserable American Review a vehicle for slanderous vituperation, and the virulent outpourings of a party spirit, which you have no longer either the credit or ability to support" (I, 262-263). This outburst illustrates once again the boldness and the daring of the self-assured young editor — the same fiery impetuosity which the calmer Simmons tried on several occasions to cool.

Among the "Critical Notices" in the new series of the Southern Literary Gazette, it was customary to include reviews of contemporary magazines as well as of books. The review of the New York Mirror is notable because the Mirror was one of the journals used as a guide in establishing the Album and (probably) the Southern Literary Gazette. As would be expected, Simms had high words of praise for the Mirror, "without exception, the neatest Journal of Literature in the country." He particularly commended the "manly and honest" tone and the "novel courtesy" of the Mirror in dealing with the literature and the politics of the South. Such treatment, he concluded, "will teach us that the prospect is not wholly visionary, which is to bring us into the rank and repute of civilization and exalt us from our present state of barbarism, into equality and esteem" (n.s., I, 127).

Simms's review of the Baltimore Minerva and Emerald, in which he spoke of Rufus Dawes, its editor, as "an American poet of some cleverness" and jokingly complained of the inferior paper on which the Minerva was printed (n.s., I, 24), apparently incited an angry reply from Dawes; Simms treated this answer humorously in his satirical essay entitled "'The Baltimore Minerva and Emerald,' ads. 'Ourselves,'" in which he conducted a mock trial, with Dawes the plaintiff and Simms himself the defendant. The verdict: not guilty on all counts. In conclusion Simms wished "friend DAWES. . . . all manner of success" (n.s., I, 216).

A unique feature in the Gazette is the cutting criticism of Simms's poetry by a correspondent who signed his name "Massachusettensis." A letter to the editor explains how Simms found himself in the unusual position of printing in his own magazine a castigation of his own writings:

Immediately below appears the stinging critique in which such phrases as the following abound: "author of small wares," "effusion of youthful prurience and puerility," "foolish and weak favor of a few of his friends," "pertinacious determination of the author, still to thrust himself before the community," and "three volumes of absurd crudities" (n.s., I, 214). Knowing his fun-loving nature, one wonders if Simms did not contrive the whole scheme in an attempt to draw attention to his poetry by obviously exaggerating its faults. Simms must have known that an attack upon anything Southern by a person styled "Massachusettensis" would have enlisted the support of patriotic South Carolinians. At any rate, "Our Own Poetry!" doubtless made good reading for the subscribers to the Southern Literary Gazette.

In the essay entitled "Letters in America" in the second number of the new series, Simms summed up his views on some of the chief faults of American literature. The thing that he insisted on most in the establishment of a national literature was independence — independence from English fashion and English taste. The black picture of American letters is nevertheless tinged with the color of hope:

Of even more concern than the degraded literary taste of the American people was their continued dependence upon England for

guidance in literature and criticism. "We have it on the authority of an American writer of some celebrity," Simms wrote, "that the Messieurs Carey and Lea, (the most intelligent and respectable booksellers and publishers we have . . .) have asserted that with the exception of one or two . . . , no work of American origin will pay its expenses, unless previously spoken of in some of the British Journals or Reviews."

Perhaps it is fitting to close with an excerpt from Simms's "Diablerie — No. 2," in which he good-naturedly described an event that must have occurred all too often during the thirteen months that he sat in the editor's chair of this early Charleston literary periodical:

Of Simms's contributions to the Southern Literary Gazette it may be said that some are remarkably good — some trash. Much of the material was later reworked and published in other magazines or in books. In general, the prose — whether fiction or criticism — is superior to the poetry, although, as has been stated, a few individual poems stand out. But it is Simms the critic who is best revealed in the pages of the Southern Literary Gazette; and despite his youth and inexperience, he emerges as a surprisingly sound and mature judge of literature. Yet until recently his criticism had been almost completely overlooked.[42] But before one comes to a settled conclusion on the accomplishments

of this highly productive young editor, he should remember Simms's own dictum: "As long as the Editor is compelled, as we have frequently been, to write one half of his book himself, one half of what he writes, must be trash" (n.s., I, 80).

APPENDIX
SIMMS'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE
SOUTHERN LITERARY GAZETTE
I. Poetry

                                     

Alwyn	"Fancy," I, 386.(PDDLC)[1]
Amand	"Sonnet" (I will breathe music in the little bell), I, 128.
	"Streamlet, The," I, 280-281. (PDDLC)
E.[2]	"Love and Prudence," n.s., 59.
	"Song" (However lone, in after years), n.s., 195.
	"'Time is ever silently turning his Pages,'" n.s., 87.
	"To Myra," n.s., 258.
	"Watchman! What o' the Night?" n.s., 17.
Florio	"Recollections," n.s., 128.
	"To _____" (Forgive me, if my looks are sad), n.s., 87.[3]
G.	"Adelle's Mouth," I, 264.
	"Allemayne," I, 356.
	"Charleston," n.s., 118.
	"Head-Ache," I, 286.
	"Light of Hearts and Love," n.s., 104. (Poems)
	"Moonlight," I, 281.
	"Serenade," I, 185.
	"Soldier's Farewell, The," n.s., 246.
	"Song" (Oh! linger yet awhile —), n.s., 59.

                                                           

	"Summer Night Wind," I, 220. (SP&P; VOC; PDDLC)
	"To a Cloud," n.s., 241.
	"Women," I, 266.
Linus[4]	"Adventure, An," I, 47-49.
	"Elegy" (Who lives there now, deserving praise), I, 119.
	"Petrified City," I, 348-349.
	"Wilderness, The [Part First]," I, 141-142.
	"Wilderness, The [Part Second]," I, 206-208.
Mary	"Spring, The," I, 297. (Poems)
P.	"Imitation of a Sonnet of Minzoni's [sic]," n.s., 59.
	"Song" (Oh! frailer than hope or than pleasure), n.s., 160. (Poems)
S.[5]	"Roses O'er a Sepulchre," I, 63.[6]
	"Sonnet" (The groves are bending to the mournful breeze), I, 21.
Vidal[7]	"Song of the Irish Patriot," I, 215.
	"Ashley River," I, 108-111. (VOC)
W.G.S.	"Incident, An," I, 158.
	"Shipwreck, The," I, 149-150. (SP&P)
	"Stars, The," I, 235-236. (VOC)
Unsigned	"April," n.s., 35-36. (SP&P)
	"Canzonet" (The jewell'd brow of night), n.s., 184. (SP&P; Areytos; Poems)
	"Concealed Character," n.s., 17. (Poems)
	"Cottage Life," I, 8. (SP&P)
	"Dirge of the Leaves," n.s., 58. (VOC)
	"Grave in the Forest," n.s., 58. (Poems; cf. SP&P)
	"Great is the Yemassee," n.s., 129. (Yemassee)
	"Last Leaf, The," I, 30. (VOC)
	"Lines" (My life is in the yellow leaf), n.s., 128. (Poems; SWMMR, II, 106)
	"Lost Pleiad, The," I, 73-74. (SP&P; VOC; PDDLC; Poems)
	"Miniature, The," I, 89. (L&OP; PDDLC; Poems; Album, I, 161-162; SWMMR, II, 86)
	"Morning in the Forest," n.s., 36. (PDDLC)

                     

	("Night's veil is over Ashley . . ."), n.s., 176.[8]
	"Night-Watching," n.s., 86. (PDDLC)
	"On the Death of an Obscure Citizen," n.s., 238. (PDDLC)
	"Sketch, A," n.s., 128. (L&OP)
	"Song" (I have no joy when thou art far), n.s., 206. (SWMMR, I, 134)
	"Song" (Tomorrow to-morrow—/The sound on my heart), n.s., 258. (Poems)
	"Sonnet" (My portrait—would it serve when I am dead), n.s., 17. (Poems; SWMMR, II, 94)
	"Sonnet" (The heart that is not gentle, has no eye)[9]
	"Sonnet" (Voices are on the winds—I hear them now), n.s., 160. (PDDLC)
	"Stanzas" (And thou hast lost dominion's throne), n.s., 161. (SWMMR, I, 317)
	"Stanzas" (Meeting to sever,), n.s., 87. (Areytos)

II. Prose

                                     

E.	"The Cypress Swamp," n.s., 211-212.
	"The Fisherman—A Fact," n.s., 242-246.
	"Love and Love-Tokens," n.s., 207-208.
	"Omens of War—A Recollection," n.s., 179-181.
G.	"Literary Societies," I, 58-61.
M.[10]	"Law School, in South Carolina," n.s., 193-195.
	"Modern Criticism," n.s., 173-175.
	"Our Theatre," I, 190-192.
	"Perversion of Man's Powers," n.s., 134-136.
	"Piety and Virtue," n.s., 68-71.
	"Slander," n.s., 182-184.
	"Thanksgiving," n.s., 261-263.
	"Usury," n.s., 239-240.
R. H.	"Errors in Shakspeare's Tempest," I, 186-187.[11]
Unsigned	"'The Baltimore Minerva and Emerald,' ads. 'Ourselves,'" n.s., 216.
	"Chronicles of Ashley River—No. 1," n.s., 115-116.
	"__________ No. 2," n.s., 129-130.
	"__________ No. 3," n.s., 176-178.
	"__________ No. 4," n.s., 208-210.

                 

	"__________ No. 5," n.s., 247-252.
	"Critical Notices," passim.[12]
	"The Dead Lover," I, 282-286.
	"Diablerie—No. 1," n.s., 119-120.
	"__________ No. 2," n.s., 143-144.
	"The Festival of Isis," n.s., 169-173.
	"Indian Sketch," I, 142-149.
	"Introduction," I, 1-8. [probably in conjunction with Simmons]
	"A Picture of the Sea," I, 208-215.

III. Other Contributions Probably by Simms[13]
A. Poetry

       

Unsigned	"Canzonet" (Come with me, sweetest), n.s., 178.
	"Sonnet" (Here on this bank of bruised violets), n.s., 160.
	"Sonnet" (To-morrow I shall meet a laborer), n.s., 160.
	"To my Little Daughter," n.s., 103.

B. Prose

                   

Massachusettensis	"Our Own Poetry!" n.s., 214-215.
Walterboro'	"Angling," n.s., 257-258.
Unsigned	"Battle of Fort Moultrie," n.s., 137-142.[14]
	"A Consideration of the Principle of Self-Love," I, 216-219.
	"Eliza: A Sketch," n.s., 44-45.
	"Female Editors," n.s., 167-168.
	"Letters in America," n.s., 46.
	"The Love of Study," n.s., 18-19.
	"Modern Biography," I, 221-235.
	"Shakspeare— 'The Tempest,'" n.s., 202-204.

Postscript

After "William Gilmore Simms and the Southern Literary Gazette" had been in page proof, the long missing November 1, 1829, number of the Southern Literary Gazette was discovered by a graduate research assistant, Mr. James E. Kibler, Jr., among uncatalogued materials in the Kendall Collection of the South Caroliniana Library. In a brief supplementary article in the next volume of Studies in Bibliography I shall examine the significance of the discovery of this apparently unique copy, containing (as Simms and the Charleston Courier had said it did) the "Confessions of a Murderer," which will be included in Simms's Stories and Tales, scheduled for publication in 1968 in the Centennial Edition of Simms.

J. C. G.

Notes