Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/535

1850-60.] Son; a plea for the Maine Law," was brought out in the fall of 1851. Six large editions of this work have been sold in this country, and a sale of thirty thousand copies in England was acknowledged by the foreign publishers.

The years between 1852 and 1855 were devoted by Miss Fuller almost entirely to study—only venturing upon authorship to write an occasional "prize story," or to fulfill a magazine engagement. During these years she carefully canvassed the field of English Literature in its higher walks of Philosophy, Criticism, Biography and Poetry. In 1856 Derby & Jackson, of New York, published "The Two Wives," a sad story (founded in fact) of the ruin wrought by the Mormon faith. The work still has a good sale.

In July, 1856, Miss Fuller was united in marriage to O. J. Victor, and removed, the year following, to New York City, where she still resides, pursuing the career of authorship successfully.

Mrs. Victor is understood to be the author of those humorous papers published in Godey's Lady's Book, entitled "The Tallow Family in America," and "Miss Slimmen's Window;" collected and published in an illustrated volume by Derby & Jackson, of New York, in 1859. She is also said to be the author of several humorous and satirical poems which have excited no little curiosity in literary circles, viz.:—"What's in a Name? a High Life Tragedy;" "Starting the Paper;" "The Stilts of Gold;" "The Ballad of Caleb Cornstalk." The "Arctic Queen"—a poem of marked originality and of striking character—published in a private edition at Sandusky, Ohio, in 1856, is from her pen. Those somewhat remarkable stories published in the Art Journal, of New York City, "Painted in Character," "The Phantom Wife," "From Arcadia to Avernus," are attributed upon good authority to her hand. It will be perceived by this record of her labors that Mrs. Victor is unusually endowed; her success has been remarkable in poetry of imagination and fancy: in humor and satire, prose and verse; in fiction and romance; in tales of purely imaginative creation; as well as in the departments of literary criticism, and essays upon popular themes.

The selections for these pages are made from late poems Mrs. Victor has acknowledged. It is to be hoped that she will confess to the ownership of the humorous poems above named, by gathering them for publication in a volume. It will prove an acceptable contribution to our humorous literature.

"Body and Soul" is a poem of true inspiration. It shows a power in its development which renders its impression a lasting one. It has come back from England with high approval. "The Red Hunters," as a description of the fearful phenomenon of a prairie on fire, is a vivid, stirring characterization. "The Honeysuckle "stands in strong contrast to these two just named, being a pure piece of fancy, woven with exquisite grace, and showing the author's extreme sensibility to the spiritual expressions of nature. "The Two Pictures" has the fire of imagination in its finely rhythmed diction. "The Wine of Parnassus" is conceived in the spirit of a poet who has quaffed deeply at the Parnassean spring.