Page:The Southern Literary Messenger - Minor.djvu/76

 64 the Portfolio of an Officer of the Empire," translated by a gentleman residing in Paris, and which are continued; "A Tale of the 14th Century," by Mrs. E. F. Ellett, and poems, by Mrs. Sigourney and Dr. W. Gilmore Simms.

The March number is the first that ever bore the name of T. W. White as editor and proprietor, but that statement was kept up until his death. Mr. Poe besought the proprietor to reinstate him as editor, but Mr. White, in terms firm yet kindly, refused to do so. That number was reduced to 48 pages, and though those were well filled there was little evidence that an editor was at the helm.

In April, the work returns to its normal 64 pages and shows that an editor has again mounted the tripod; but he is not always there. Who, if anybody, was recognized as editor during the residue of this year can not be averred. There are a number of new contributors, some of whom furnish very good substitutes for editorial work. Some of the serials, especially "Constantine, or the Rejected Throne," by Mrs. Harrison Smith, are completed and others commenced; several long and ambitious poems are given; there are animated discussions of Miss Edgeworth's "Helen" and the "Pickwick Papers"; articles by Prof. Francis Lieber and John W. Draper; and in December, the