Alabama state intelligencer., 1831-08-13
Prom the Illinoi, MontbIy Mapazine.

| PERIoDICALS.-Ih last mail brought me new assortment of Reviews and Magazines. Some of these are old acquaintances, and some are strangers newly arisen in the land; few are clever, and many appear to be destined to brief existence. All, however, are equal ly welcome-some for their merit, some for novelty, some for "auld lang syne." I love periodicals, for the same reason that like oysters, because they are palatabe, and easy of digestion. They may not satisfy the crav- ings of the student who hungers and thirsts after knowledge, and prowes through libra ries like gaunt wolf, seeking whom he may devour. The philosopher may set them down as naught, because they are not apt to contain any thing very abstruse, or unintell- gble. But for one who, like myself, is bless ed with very moderate propensties, never in different, yet never absolutely craving for lite rary food, they are the very things-and es pecially as they may be tossed off in mo- ment with perfect ease and pleasure. Fol master quarto, or even q thin octave, re- quires time and labor; but delicate periodi- cal may be tossed off in an idle moment, with out affrighting the most indolent, or hiring ing upon the employments of the most indus trious man. Like the same popular viand, above alluded to, they are of various quail ties, and may be improved or deteriorated by those who serve them up. In short, a fat pe- rlodlcal, like fat oyster, is good in every month which contains an r, bat the former have this advantage, that they are equally in season throughout the rest of the year. | This is the golden age of periodicals. No thing can be done without them. Sects and parties, benevolent societies and ingenious individuals, all have their periodicals. Sci ence and literature, religion and law, agricul- ture and the arts resort alike to this mode of enllghtening the public mind. Every man, and every party, that seeks to establish new theory, or to break down an old one, com menccs operations, like board of war; by founding a magazine. We have annuals, monthlys, and weeklys-revews orthodox and heterodox-journals of education and hu manity, of law, divinity and physic--maga- zines for ladies and gentlemen-pu publications commercial, mechanical metaphysical, senti- mental, musical, anti-fogmatical, and non-si l cal.
 | "The dog star ragss! nay, s past doubt,
 l All Bedam or Parnassus is let out;
 | Fire m each eye, and papers in each hand,
 l They rage, reeie, and madden round the land.
 What walls can guard me or wha, ,ades can hdei | By land, by water, they renew the charge,
 They stop the chariot, and board the barge"
 | Whether we travel, or stay at home, we are feasted with periodicals to a surfeit-they pervade the atmosphere of the country like an epidemic. Go to tea-party, and you find souvenirs served up with the confectionery; dine with friend and you get reviews with your wine; walk in the street, and fellow assails you with prospectus; take refuge in a bookstore, and your retreat is cut off by huge piles of periodicals.
 For my own part, have no quarrel with the makers of these amusing works, on ac- count of their number; the more the merrier. CT like this rocking ofthe battlements;" there is always something to be gained by the colli- sion of intellect; "when mind meets mind then comes the tug of war"-and peaceful readers may gather up, from amid the heaps of loose ideas, and mutlated volumes, gems of the richest value, as the followers of an ar my gather spoils among the piles of slain. l Iwish, however, to say few words, as to the manner in which some of our literary pe- riodicals are conducted at present. Our edi- tors have become too formal and stately, and fastdious. They are as hard to please as bachelors of forty; and their power of pleas ing is much in the same ratio, Instead of the infinite variety of topics, which once gave in- terest to works of this description, nothing is now admitted but reviews, tales and poetry. Nor is this the worst of it--within even this narrow circle, the wings of authors are clip ped. Nothing will go down but splendid tri- hes-cold, formal, and empty as the noddles that produced them. The delicate wit of Ad- dison and Goldsmith, the wisdom of Johnson, | the humor of the authors of Salmagunda, have all descended to the tomb of the Capt. let's
 am much better pleased with the old fash toned magazine, that we used to read in our youth; within whose well furnished pages the reader, whatever might be his taste, was sure to find something agreeable. Nothing within the range of polite literature was excluded; nor was the editor so fastidions, as to reject a good article merely because it did not belong strictly to that line of writing. There we had biography, original correspondence, criticism, scientific, moral and witty essays, statistics, Ipoetry, anecdotes, riddles and conundrums Here was feast of reason! and that reader must have been dyspeptc indeed, who could not find something to suit his palate. Every one who was blessed with the love for scribbling might then indulge that laudable propensity. If new theory or new ma- chine was invented-if projector thought he had discovered the perpetual motion, or a housewife had struck out an excellent receipt for pickling beef-if difficult problem in mathematics or in love was solved, the read ing world received the earliest intelligence through the pages of periodical. A maga- zine was then to literary people, what Ga zette now is to merchants and politicians, it gave them the news of the day-the chit-chat, scraps, deaths, marriages and all The edi- tor of such work was like the hospitable man, whose door is open to visitors of every degree; while the same functionary in our day, resembles him whose table is spread for few select guests. If the entertainment of the one exhibits more elegance, that of the other displays more variety; the one dazzles for a moment by the splendor of its tinsil or |naments, the other pleases constantly by its good cheer and good humor; the one is very