last appeal. But they were comforted by the ber of it. New hopes, new fears, new plans reflection that Charles had been very favorably had arisen, and an element of disquiet had been impressed by all he had seen and heard of Gerald, introduced, the beginning of change, which Mr. and felt sure that he would not withhold his ap- and Mrs. Selden had always feared, they had probation. been so happy hitherto in "a bright little world of their own."

Mrs. Selden steadily suppressing her own regrets constantly endeavored to present the bright side of the picture to her husband; nor were her efforts vain, for the influence she had gained over his mind was so great, that had she been a whit less judicious in its exercise, all their acquaintances would have said he was ruled by his wife, but as it was, such an idea had never occurred to any one, not even to himself. Highly as Mr. Selden appreciated the more lofty virtues of his wife's character, nothing had endeared her so much to him, or given her so much power over his feelings, as her cheerful, uncomplaining manner of bearing their commou trials, and her habit of making the best of every thing; her presence was always like sunshine to him.

Gerald talked to Margaret of Edith, and begged for his sake, that she would become acquainted with her, and be a sister to her; he said he knew it was only necessary for them to be together a little while to love each other very dearly. He gave Margaret a faithful and spirited sketch of Edith's character and peculiarities, as a chart to guide her in their intercourse, a narrative of their early life under his uncle's roof, and a touching description of her bereavement and loneliness of heart. Margaret listened with sympathy and deep interest, and loved him the more for the warmth and tenderness of heart which he evinced, in speaking of Edith and Mr. Fitzgerald, and she promised to make every effort in her power to gain Edith's affections, and lessen her sense of desolation.

Amongst other subjects of interest upon which they conversed they spoke of Clara, and Gerald expressed his gratification at learning that Margaret had been enabled to render any comfort to her wounded spirit, and they found in their generous sympathy and pity for this poor girl a new bond of union. Gerald was much pleased to not. hear of the rejection of Augustus by Virginia, and said he should have delighted to witness his mortification, for he considered him the most heartless human being he had ever known. He told Margaret that Augustus was said to be on the eve of marriage with Miss Gates, and it was whispered he had been driven into this measure by the pressure of heavy gambling debts.

The parting hour at length came, and Gerald left Sherwood, accompanied by many kind wishes and hopes for his safe return. As he bade Virginia adieu, he pressed her hand kindly, and whispered, "Remember your promise."

Hand in hand they had walked through the bright days of their youth, and the soberer years of mature age, and their line had fallen in pleasant places, but now as the shades of evening began to fall upon their path, the storm was gathering over their heads, though they knew it

F*****.

Editor's Cable.

Virginia returned the pressure gently, and re-work. plied, "I have begun already to perform it."

Nothing softens the heart so much as the little word farewell, when a long parting is to take place the thought of all that may happen, the doubt whether we may ever again meet, press upon the heart with au irresistibly saddening and softening effect.

"You do not wish me lost on the passage then," continued Gerald in the same low tone, with a half smile.

"Oh no, God forbid."

A moment more and the farewell greetings were over, the last word was spoken to Margaret and Gerald was gone. But his visit had produced consequences too important to the family at Sherwood to fade from the memory of any mem

JENNY LIND.

The old year has gone out amid the usual festivities of Christmas, and, with such of our readers as reside in RichJenny Lind. The visit of the nightingale to Richmond mond and Charleston, amid the yet lingering cadences of was a great triumph for us. We claim it all as our own It is a fact about which there can be no dispute, that our fervent invocations to the enchantress brought her to our region of the Union. Otherwise she would have been wafted to Havana by steamer, and our immedate fellow-citizens would not have heard her. Think of that, and thank us.

Jenny's visit and concert have already been sufficiently touched upon, by our newspaper friends, but we cannot resist the temptation to say something of it ourselves. We shall be brief, and like the editor of the Bunkum Flag Staff, we ain't goin' to give way to our feelings," but for a different reason,-because we cannot find words to adequately express them. So much by way of preface to

OUR SONG OF REJOICING.

Nunc est bibendum.

Come, fill the cup of jubilce,

And raise a gaudeamus,

For venting thus our Christmas glee
No cynic sure can blame us;

We echo but the daily press-
The joy of Mr. Ritchie-
Our own delight is none the less
We've heard the cantatrice!

Oh, sweet are Jenny's winning ways,
And pure is her soprano,

And excellently well she plays
Upon the grand piano:

And like an angel's is the smile,

That o'er her features brightning
Still flushes round her, all the while,
Its vivid summer-lightning.

How shall we speak of that brief dream
That passed so quickly o'er us,
Wherein we caught the radiant gleam

And heard the heavenly chorus;
Awhile we walked adown the lawn

Of early, beauteous Eden,

Or strayed at rosy break of dawn
Along the hills of Sweden.

And when, next day, her coach and pair
Were to the depot driven,

We stood like Pilgrim at the Fair,
When Faithful flew to heaven.
Alas! the bird, indeed, had flown

On lightest, swiftest pinions,
To seek a yet more sunny zone
Among the Carolinians.

Notices of New Works.

By

REVERIES OF A BACHELOR: A Book of the Heart.
Ik Marvel. New York. Baker & Scribner: 36 Park
Row and 145 Nassau Street. 1850.

Quand une lecture vous élève l'esprit, et qu'elle vous inspire des sentimens nobles et courageux, ne cherchez pas une autre règle pour juger de l'ouvrage; il est bon et fait

de main d'ouvrier. "When a book elevates the soul"says La Bruyere-" and inspires you with lofty and courageous sentiments, seek no other rule by which to judge the work; it is good, and the effort of a master's hand." Surely the reader need not go beyond this little fragment of French criticism to make up his opinion of the work before us. If he possess a soul not altogether rusted over by the corrosion of worldly strifes and cares, he cannot ave read farther than fifty pages, without yielding to Ik Marvel the excellence that is ascribed by the author of Les Caractères to such as touch the best feelings of our

shape he may, so that he take not the grotesque habit of Carlyle, he will be equally successful in moving and softening the feelings. He is at once a true man and a scholar-his eloquence, which gushes forth at times as a flood, could only issue from the depths of a large heart, while his illustrations are such as he alone who has become thoroughly imbued with the best of the world's literature, could supply. Moreover his style is, for the most part, pure, and fragrant with sweet expressions truly original.

The Reveries of a Bachelor may be found at the bookstore of Morris & Brother.

THE WORLD'S PROGRESS: A Dictionary of Dates. With
Tabular Views of General History and a Historical
Chart. Edited by G. P. PUTNAM. New York: G. P.
Putnam, 155 Broadway. 1851.

Mr. Putnam, whose good taste and enterprise as a publisher we have so often had occasion to commend, has long been known as an industrious and faithful student and quite capable of writing books himself as well as of publishing them for others. Some years since, he issued in England a book of" American Facts" which reflected great credit on his tact in compilation. We have not had the time to give the portly volume now on our table, that examination which should precede the expression of an opinion as to its merits, but from a hasty glance, we should inter that Mr. Putnam had not exercised his usual vigilance in preparing it. Some mistakes occur, together with very frequent omissions, which shake the reader's confidence in the accuracy of the whole work. It is really singular, for example, how Mr. Putnam could have blundered into four omissions (on one page) with regard to "American facts" that have transpired within ten years past. Yet on page 152, we find a list purporting to give us the names of Cabinet Officers under the Administrations of John Tyler and James K. Polk, in which neither William Wilkins, Secretary of War, Thomas W. Gilmer, Secretary of the Navy, (who was killed by the explosion on board the Princeton, during his term of office) nor JOHN C. CALHOUN, Secretary of State, all Cabinet Officers under Mr. Tyler, appears. Mr. Polk's Attorney General, Nathan Clifford of Maine, is also ignored. The Dictionary of Dates is without doubt a most excellent and valuable help seeing how greatly such palpable omissions as we work in many respects, but Mr. Putnam himself cannot

have pointed out, must injure its standing as a reliable book of reference.

For sale by Nash & Woodhouse.

AN ADDRESS ON POPULAR EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA, in connection with the Proposed Changes in the Organic Law: Delivered July 13, 1850, at the Annual Commencement of The Richmond College, in the First Baptist Church in the City. By John Howard, Esq., of Richmond. Richmond, Va; Printed by Ritchie & Dunnavant. 1850.

nature.

The readers of the Messenger are already familiar with Our apologies are due to the author for having so long the first two parts of this volume, which were originally deferred a notice of the very excellent Address, a copy of prepared for, and published in, its pages. Numberless which is now before us. The topic discussed is one of were the letters we received, asking the question—“who is the highest interest to all classes, and he has presented it Ik Marvel!" At that time we could only answer "he is in a bold and striking manner. Relieving the dryness of the author of Fresh Gleanings.'" Subsequently, how- statistical detail with the graces of a polished rhetoric, his incognito was dropped, and he was known as Mr. Howard carries the reader along over a field that has Mr. D. G. Mitchell, but a short period only found him little to attract him, and succeeds meanwhile in enforcing behind another domino, and he was applying the lash of conviction of his own views by a logical chain of reasonthe satirist to the fashionable society of New York, as ing. We trust that this able argument may find its way John Timon. Whatever he shall undertake in his pecu-into the hands of every member of our State Convention liar field of writing-that of pathos mingled with playful- and work out the good results, at which the author has ness in the form of sketch or essay-let him assume what aimed, in the great design of popular education.

ever,

THE

A PAPER FOR YOUR FAMILY.

NEW VOLUME NEW FEATURES NEW TYPE.

SERIES FOR 1851.

HOME JOURNAL.

Published weekly in the City of New York, at Two Dollars a Year.

On the first of January next, commences a New Series of this copious, comprehensive, and elegantly printed FAMILY NEWSPAPER, which is now acknowledged to be

THE INDISPENSABLE DRAWING ROOM GAZETTE OF THE COUNTRY.

A home is hardly complete, we think we may venture to say, without the HOME JOURNAL, which is the CHRONICLE OF ALL THAT INTERESTS ALL CLASSES OF SOCIETY, and of the intelligence which most enlivens an American home.

NEW YORK IS THE GREAT CENTRE, and here, at the fountain head of novelty, incident, literature, and foreign news, the Home Journal is edited and published. Its Editors, (GEO. P. MORRIS and N. P. WILLIS,) devote their entire time, skill and experience, to the task of giving, each week,

EVERY THING WORTH KNOWING.

THEY PARTICULARLY KEEP AN EYE ON ALL THE

WHIMS AND NOVELTIES OF NEW YORK SOCIETY,

PRESENTING SKETCHES OF THE

BELLES OF OUR TIME.

And careful portraits of

THE DISTINGUISHED PUBLIC CHARACTERS.

In addition to this, the utmost pains are taken, by translations from French Journals, and by foreign correspondence to prepare such reports of

THE FASHIONABLE GOSSIP OF PARIS,

As will exceedingly instruct and amuse.

We present to our readers, the facts and outlines of all news. In our literary department, we aim at sketches and readable criticism, and in our condensation of the fecund productions of the vast newspaper world of England, we, aim to avoid the tiresome, and the local, and transfer to our columns the pick of English information and brilliancy while we endeavor to select with a true sense of pure morals, true wit, and genuine humor.

In addition to the above, we propose to give, in the course of the coming volume,

One Entirely New Feature,

Which we think will particularly INTEREST THE LADIES, viz:

A SERIES OF RETURNED LOVE LETTERS.

This being a species of composition that interests all readers, we trust to make the numbers of the Home Journal more eagerly looked for, and more carefully preserved than ever.

We have also new correspondents in London and Paris., who will send us much that could never reach us through foreign Journals.

As a New Year's Present from a Gentleman to a Lady,

The Home Journal is one, of which the remembrance is renewed every week, and it is unsurpassed as a gift in good

taste.

TERMS-For one copy, $2, for three advance.

Address,

copies, $5, or one copy for three years, $5-always in Subscribe without delay.

MORRIS & WILLIS,

Editors and Proprietors, 107, Fulton Street, New York.

THE "SOBER SECOND THOUGHT" OF AN OLD SUBSCRIBER.

The following letter will explain itself. We thank our correspondent for his recognition of our claims upon the Southern public, and we trust that his view of the matter will be taken by all such as have, an idea of withdrawing their names from the Messenger. We hold it no good excuse to decline subscribing to the Messenger, because one already takes so many other periodicals-these must be northern, and we submit that the course of our correspondent is much the more consonant with a proper Southern pride-to drop one of the Northern works and continue to foster our own literature.

Greenville, Meriwether Co., Georgia, December 22nd, 1850.

DEAR SIR,-My previous letter, requesting the discontinuance of your periodical, was not dictated from any thing noticed in it, unworthy of a Southern work, but alone because my subscription list, as I thought, had extended too far; but, sir, on reflection, I will continue the Messenger, and curtail my list by dropping some other paper, less devoted, and less energetic, in support of Southern rights. You will therefore see enclosed $10 and continue the magazine.

Yours, &c.

CONDITIONS OF THE SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER.

4. If a subscription is not directed to be discontinued before the first number of a volume has been published, it will be taken as a continuance for another year.

1. THE LITERARY MESSENGER is published in | transmitting payment, is required (besides taking proper monthly numbers. Each number contains not less than evidence of the fact and date of mailing) to retain a mem64 large super-royal pages, printed on good type, and in orandum of the number and particular marks of the note the best manner, and on paper of the most beautiful quality. sent; or subscriptions may be remitted through the Post 2. The MESSENGER is mailed regularly on or about Masters, according to the present laws. the first day of every month in the year. Twelve numbers make a volume, and the price of subscription is $5 per volume, payable in advance;-nor will the work be sent to any one, unless the order for it is accompanied with the CASH. THE YEAR COMMENCES WITH THE JANUARY NUMBER. NO SUBSCRIPTION RECEIVED FOR LESS THAN THE YEAR, UN- 6. The mutual obligations of the publisher and subLESS THE INDIVIDUAL SUBSCRIBING CHOO-scriber, for the year, are fully incurred as soon as the first SES TO PAY THE FULL PRICE OF A YEAR'S No. of the volume is issued: and after that time, no disSUBSCRIPTION, FOR A LESS PERIOD.[7 continuance of a subscription will be permitted. Nor will any subscription be discontinued while any thing remains due thereon, unless at the option of the editor.

5. Any one enclosing a $20 current bill, at one time, with the names of FIVE NEW subscribers, shall receive FIVE copies of the MESSENGER, for one year.

3. The risk of transmitting subscriptions by mail will be assumed by the proprietor. But every subscriber thus

VALUABLE BOOKS-FREE OF POSTAGE.

J. W. RANDOLPH PUBLISHES THE FOLLOWING:

The Proceedings and Debates of the Virginia State Convention of 1829-30. Price $3 or $3 50, according to style of binding. This is a book that every one ought to buy and read.

The Virginia Report of 1799, touching the Alien and Sedition laws, together with the Virginia Resolutions of Dec. 21, 1798. The debates and proceedings thereon in the House of Delegates of Virginia, and several other documents illustrative of the Resolutions. A new and improved edition, by a gentleman of Virginia-$1 50.

A Guide to Commissioners in Chancery, with practical Forms for the discharge of their duties, adapted to the New Code of Virginia, by James M. Matthews, Attorney at Law-8 vo.-$2 50. Commentaries on the Laws of Virginia, by Henry St. George Tucker-3rd new edition2 vols. 8 vo.-$10.

A second edition of an Essay on Slavery, by Thomas R. Dew, late President of William and Mary College, Williamsburg-50 cents.

The Family Companion, or Book of Rare and Useful Receipts, embracing a Cook's, Housewife's, Artist's, and Medical Department, by J. R. Wells. M. D.-25 cents.

The Laws of Good Breeding, or the Science of Etiquette, for Ladies and Gentlemen, containing the Rules and Usages of polite society; a chapter on Women, Courtship and Marriage; with an Appendix, containing additional instruction, maxims, &c., in personal behaviour, conversation, domestic happiness, education, economy, &c., compiled from the most authentic sources-12 cts. Any of the above will be sent by mail in paper covers, free of postage, by remitting the price, -post paid.

Orders for Books, Music, Stationery, Blank Books, or Bookbinding, will receive prompt attention if addressed to 121, Main st., Richmond, Va. January, 1851.

SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER.

JNO. R. THOMPSON, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.

FEBRUARY, 1851.

PAGE.

LOCAL

RICHMOND, VA.

MACFARLANE & FERGUSSON.

THIS WORK IS PUBLISHED IN MONTHLY NUMBERS AVERAGING SIXTY-FOUR PAGES EACH, AT FIVE DOLLARS, PER ANNUM, INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE.