gcls_courant_012 5

THE COURANT; A SOUTHERN LITERARY JOURNAL. 85
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The Courant.
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COLUMBIA, S. C., THURSDAY, JULY 14, 1859.
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THE COURANT.
Subscriptions for the Courant will be received at the Book-
store of Mr. P. B. GLASS, in this City, where single copies can
be obtained every week.
The following gentlemen have been appointed Traveling
Agents for the Courant.
G. W. MEETZE, JAS. S. BALLEW,
THOS. P. WALKER, W. THOS. WILKES,
W. C. WINN.
Mr. MEETZE will visit Lexington and Edgefield Districts, Mr.
BALLEW, Laurens and Newberry, Mr. WILKES, Chester, Mr.
WALKER, Richland, and Mr. WINN, Abbeville, and adjoining
Districts--during the present month.
We cordially recommend these gentlemen to the kind atten-
tions and courtesies of our friends.
WM. W. WALKER, JR., & CO.
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ROUSE'S VERSION.
Our contemporary of the Due West Telescope is strangely mis-
taken in his interpretation of what we said in the Courant of
the 26th of May. We spoke of fashion, as imperious in litera-
ture as in dress, and said that once "the much-abused Rouse's
Version was the ton as much as Tennyson's 'Golden Languors'
are now." Nevertheless, it is funny to us, in the nineteenth
century to see what pleased the sterner and better men of other
times. Read, for example the following: (then followed an
extract from an exchange.)
"It is now some years since the old-style HYMNS, originally
adopted and sung in the Puritan Churches," &c. We then quo-
ted some very absurd stanzas from some of these hymns. We
have rather too much Scotch-Irish blood in our veins to be igno-
rant of the fact that the version of ROUSE is of the Psalms; and
we hope, too much manliness to be ashamed to acknowledge
with reverence that brave old ancestry which sang the stern
English of Rouse's version to the swelling Music of "Dundee"
or "Mear," or the "Old Hundredth."
Besides, Rouse's version is an important item in the history
of our language, and it would be strange, indeed, if a man who
ever hopes to be a scholar should go to laughing at an author or a
version because it happened to be different from the prevailing
dialect of his own time.
Personally, some of these Psalms are dear to our heart as the
first poetry we ever learned; while others must always remain
models of stern, manly English, and that far engage the atten-
tion of every ingenious and discriminating critic of our lan-
guage.
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"LIZZIE CLARENDON."
We are sure that all our readers will peruse, with melancholy
interest, the appreciative and genial paper on this gifted child
of song, contained in this number of the Courant. It is, as
may be seen, from the pen of Mrs. MARTIN, herself a poetess,
and therefore better qualified to speak of the early lost and
highly-gifted Lizzie Clarendon. Had she lived to a good old
age, we doubt not that she would have ranked with the He-
mans and Osgoods; as it is, she has left some striking monu-
ments of her genius, which show what she would have attained
to, by the culture of the art which she loved with such ardor.
Not that we would be understood to say that she left nothing
but "buds of promise;" far from it--some of her productions
are in the highest strain, and would have done credit to Mrs.
Browning. Her poetry was remarkable for fluency, grace and
tenderness.
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RUSSELL'S MAGAZINE.
The July number of our Charleston monthly has been duly
received. Mr. TRESCOTT'S admirable oration before the South
Carolina Historical Society, is the first article--and in spite of
the stupid attempts of the N. Y. Tribune to ridicule it, we are
sure that it will command everywhere the respectful attention
which it deserves. The papers on Henry the Fowler, the Nu-
mancia of Cervantes, Aztec Civilization, &c., will well repay
for the time occupied in a careful reading.
The Editor's Table contains a just and very feeling tribute to
the memory of Mr. JAMES LEGARE, the Carolina poet--author
of "Orta undis," &c.
The Magazine is now firmly established in respect of the
patronage which it has commanded, by the monthly publica-
tion of some of the best articles which have ever graced the
pages of an American periodical.
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SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER.
For July has duly arrived. The leading article is a very able
paper, taken from the London Times, on Sir William Hamilton's
Philosophy. "The polite art of novelling" is continued; it
has some rather striking points; some decidedly good hits, and
much tart criticism. The Editor's table is good, and the notices
of new books discriminating.
For the compliment paid to ourself we are under obligations
to the Messenger, while we agree with his correspondent that it
would be well for our journal if we had some more such contri-
butions as the exquisite Sonnet in English and Latin by our
gifted Professor of Latin in S. C. College. The Sonnet is quo-
ted in this issue of the Messenger; as it deserves.
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La BORDE'S HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE.
We are glad to learn that Dr. La Borde's long-expected vol-
ume on the History of the College will be published on the first
of August. All former Students, and alumni will, of course,
procure copies of it. This book will contain as much interesting
and valuable information, inasmuch as, in the words of the
publisher, it comprises "a full and accurate history of the Col-
lege, from its first endowment by the State Legislature, with
Biographical Sketches of its Presidents and Professors, and a
complete catalogue of its Students down to the present admin-
istration.
Orders will be received by P. B. GLASS, and the work will
be forwarded by mail on receipt of TWO-DOLLARS, and TWEN-
TY-TWO CENTS in postgate stamps."
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SHELLEY.
We find the following statement going the rounds of the
press:
"The Shelley Memorials," edited by Lady Shelley, the wife
of the poet's son, will be published some time in the present
month. They are intetnded to counteract the injurious effects
of some recent biographies, and to put the public in possession
of all the facts requisite to form a true and impartial estimate
of the character and actions of Percy Bysche Shelley, and will
contain letters and documents of interest never before publish-
ed. Among the letters is an "Essay on Christianity," calcu-
lated, it is said, to present the poet's religious ideas in a very
different light from that in which they have been hitherto
viewed."
The principal matter to be "corrected" in reference to this
mis-used and misunderstood genius, is the villainous edition of
his poetical works which Messrs. LITTLE & BROWN, of Boston,
have been circulating, with the other miserably imperfect edi-
tions of the British poets. Some of the finest passages in Shiel-
ley's works have been omitted, while the corrections are, almost,
all of them, the deadest failures that it has ever been our mis-
fortune to meet with. It is said that the Boston edition of the
British poets is copied from the Pickering (English) edition;
but in the case of Shelley, the American Editor has made all
sorts of improvements (?) of his own.
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THE HOME JOURNAL AND THE MERCURY.
Of all the papers published at the North, there is not one so
uniformly just to Southern men, books and journals, as the
Home Journal of MORRIS & WILLIS. The extract below will
show how well they appreciate the merits of our excellent con-
temporary, the Charleston Mercury. It is, we suppose, gener-
ally understood that the literary department of the Mercury is
presided over by Dr. GILMORE SIMMS.
THE CHARLESTON MERCURY.--Of the southern journals,
among our exchanges, there are few for which we look more
anxiously than the Charleston Mercury. Although, strictly
speaking, it is a commercial sheet, yet it contains so many fine,
original poems, admirable literary articles, and high-toned edi-
torials, that we take pleasure in its perusal, and feel confident
that its conductor, R. B. Rhett, jr., is a scholar as well as an
able editor. An important feautre of the Mercury--particular-
ly for business men in all parts of the country--in its review of
the southern market: containing the most reliable quotations
of prices of native and foreign productions. This complete
and correct summary of the market makes the Charleston
Mercury an almost indispensable paper in the counting-houses
throughout the entire land, while its criticisms, under the head
of "Our Literary Docket," stamp it as an acceptable journal
for the library and the centre-table.
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BELLE BRITTAIN IN SOCIETY.
We have no doubt that our readers will all laugh heartily to
see the absurdity of Col. Fuller, alias "Belle Brittain," re-
proved as it deserved, and as every other toady ought to be.
The idea of a man going about self-glorifying, on the score of
some little attention which he received abroad!
"The London Critic, of June 11th, commenting on a state-
ment in the N. Y. Tribune to the effect that Col. Fuller was
quite a lion in the elegant circles of the British metropolis, re-
marks that 'the fact will be entirely new to those who have
the honor of moving within the circumference of those circles.'"
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"ADAM BEDE."
From the Saturday Press we extract the following, which is
certainly as refreshin as controversies of the sort usually are:
"A Mr. Joseph Liggins--"Phœbus, what a name!"--has
not only declared himself the author of "Adam Bede," but has
been receiving contributions on the ground that the Messrs.
Wm. Blackwood & Sons gave so little for the work in question,
a fact which the Messrs. Blackwood deny, and also publish a
letter from Mr. George Eliot, the reputed author of the work,
claiming the honor for himself. The whole question is one of
the literary disputes about which the public can hardly form
an opinion, as not knowing either party and having to decide
between two flat contradictions. The best way we know of, is
to decide upon the probability of a book like "Adam Bede"
being written by a person named George Eliot, or by one hav-
ing "nothing to wear" but the name of Mr. Liggins."
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GHOST.--The result of a disordered nervous system, or a
vivid imagination, assisted by a little credulity, and judicious-
ly mixed with a moderate dose of mental anxiety, or, better
yet, as much remorse as will lie in the point of a dagger.
There is more meaning and philosophy than at first sight ap-
pears in Coleridge's answer to Lady Beaumont, when she asked
him whether he believed in ghosts--"O no, madam, I have
seen too many to believe in them." He had sense enough to
see that his senses had been deceived.
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LITERARY NOTICES.
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"THE POETICAL WORKS OF EDGAR ALLEN POE, WITH AN ORIG-
INAL MEMOIR." Redfield: New York, 1859. Blue and Gold.

The complex term, Blue and Gold, is very well understood
with us now; so much so, that it conveys all that is necessary
to say of the mechanique of this little volume. It seems to us a
fair specimen of that style. It contains a portrait of POE, an
original Memoir, the collection of his poems that he himself
approved, and his Lecture on the Poetic Principle.
We think highly of the edition, and commend it to those who
wish POE'S poems in so convenient a form. It is a pity, how-
ever, that the Editor should have left uncorrected a blemish in
one of the finest poems of POE. We refer to the close of the
fourth stanza of Annabel Lee. The last two lines in this
edition (so in all of Redfield's editions) are, incorrectly, given
thus:

"That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee."

This is false measure. Poe himself saw it, and in the MS.
copy, left with Mr. Thompson, of the Southern Literary Mes-
senger, it is writen thus:

"That the wind came out of the cloud, chilling
And killing my Annabel Lee."

To those holding the same theory of poetry with POE, this
is not an unimportant point. Another error, typographical
perhaps, is in the Poetical Principle. The name of Edward
Coates Pinkney, in the two other editions, was given as Edward
Coote Pinkney. In this we have Edward Coate Pinkney.
These blemishes are quite inessential, we hold, and deserve
notice mainly because of the persistency with which they are
retained; for the Editor has not wanted in advisors we are
aware.
Upon the portrait we are not competent to testify, for we
ourself never saw POE Nor shall we take this occasion of
discussing the Poetic Principle. The poems themselves do not
call for comment at this day. And in the "Original Memoir,"
there are only a few poitns that call for mention. It is written
in simple narrative style, unambitious and clear. It gives a
succinct epitome of POE'S erratic and lonely life. If humanity
could profit by the knowledge of what a sensitive and gifted
being can suffer, it might be well to give all the details--tell
what they said of him, however unfeeling the tale--"drag his
frailties from their dread abode," whatever be the consequences.
We do not oppose the course. We rather like it; at least, we
pass it without censure. But the extreme difficulty of getting
at the "plain unvarnished tale," the very truth, is so great,
that it should teach all, except those without sin, to be very
cautious in receiving, but especially so in repeating, so-called
facts, in such cases. We are speaking of POE. Dr. Griswold
had some reason, doubtless--a credulous nature, some personal
wrongs, an unforgiving heart, we dare not guess--for giving
the array of damning circumstances and insinuations against
POE, that so swell the "Memoir" he wrote. We judge not.
We have elsewhere endeavored to show that Dr. Griswold's
statements are not all correct; and we would not have men-
tioned his name in this connection, had not the anonymous
Memoirist before us, taken occasion to indorse, in a general
way, Dr. Griswold's Memoir. But our anonymous Memoirist
has gone a step farther--has repeated some of Dr. Griswold's
misstatements. It is painful to use such a term; but we in-
tend to show that "misstatements" is the correct word. We
select, prominent among them, that story of POE'S engagement
to "an accomplished literary lady of Rhode Island," and the
dissolution of the engagement. The terms and phrases here
used, are similar in every respect to those used before; and
we quote the statement before us:
"The day was appointed for their marriage; and to disen-
tangle himself from this engagement, he visited the house of
his affianced bride, where he conducted himself with such in-
decent violence, that the aid of the police had to be called in to
expel him. This, of course, put an end to the engagement."
Dr. Griswold wrote in 1850. Two years after that--in April,
1852--the statement was repeated in Tait's Magazine (British);
and, in reference to this, in a letter to the New York Tribune,
in June of the same year, William J. Pabodie, Esq., of Provi-
dence, says:
"Mr. Poe wa s frequently my uest during his stay in Prov-
idene. In his several visits to the city I was with him daily.
I was acquainted with the circumstance of his engagement,
and with the causes which led to its dissolution. I am author-
ized to say, not only from my personal knowledge, but also from
the statements of ALL who were conversant with the affair, that there
exists not a shadow of foundation for the stories above alluded to."
Mr. Pabodie is a native and citizen of Providence, a lawyer,
and a man of letters, occupying a position in society that en-
titles him to an audience under any circumstances. The
anonymous Memoirist before us, with a carelessness that might
be called unscrupulous, has ignored Mr. Pabodie's testimony,
and gravely repeats what the friends of POE might be excused
for considering a malignant falsehood. We believe that our
Memoirist, though careless, is not guilty of intentional wrong
--that he did not know that the statement was not a fact. We
infer this from the tone of the Memoir, which seems fair enough.
If we were noticing Dr. Griswold's Memoir, there are some
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