The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1852-03-10
"Wednesday Morning, March 10, 1852.
sorrnEss LrTEsAnr MrssENcEn-Thc March

scrTHEss LITERARY MEssENGER-The March
No. OF this periodical is lying our table. The
Messenger has peculiar claims upon the South, and
we have often expressed surprise that its circu
laiion sod its popularity not greater than they
arc. II lie true the mammoth monthlies," Harper
and thed International, sold at much more
moderste price, but certainly we hazard nothing in
saying that cultivated and iudicious taste would
at all times prefer the Messenger to those at any
price And whyi For the ST nple reason that its
best articles are superior in point, strength and
usefulness 10 tue very best which appear in Harper
and lite rival Readers do not ask for Amusement,
amusement, amusement, all the time. Men some.
times think, and at such times they require food for
thought yet, one would really think from the suc.
OF these Northern Magazines that the class of
mere Idle readers nothing less than the whole
reading public itself
wepredict these will have their day Long after
they have disappeared entirely from booksellers
counters, the Messenger and kindred works we
feel convinced, will still flourish, and grow stronger
with the gradual return of purer and more ele-
waited taste From first to last the Messenger has
been useful work. The tales and sketches which
Gil its pages are but for variety Its great excel
i.nce lies 10 those humorous and striking historical
and philosophical papers which scattered
through every volume from the time of Mr. White,
its founder, to the present These papers are in
our eyes, of such value, that we think no historian
OF Virginia should neglect making many of them
study Long after the idle tales and ephemeral
slight reading" of the Northern Magazines in gene.
raj have passed away and been forgot N, these
dusty and discolored numbers of the Messenger
will be sought for and preserved-for time only
adds TO the value of such writing
The present No. contains Notes and Common
taries on Voy age to China, "Michael Bonham, or
the Fall of Bexar." "Short Sermons from Partisan
Stories, -" Chapter X of the History of Richmond"
"ShsdOws of the Mountain Pine" "The Poetry of
Judge Jackson" "Queen Victoria" and the usual
variety of original poetry.
We have not read the article China. but find
it highly spoken OF by the press-the former por-
ton. The "Fan OF Bexar" is a dramatic tale of
Texas, and we think we recognize the pen of
Southern writer of some note. The dispatch of
Don Esteban, Governor of San Antonio on the to-
tai rout of the "Texian Yankeyos," is as good
thing in its way we have ever seen. The History
of Richmond has reached our own days. Certain
ly it is q most valuable production-historically
q
of great interest, and they are precisely those
which should be recorded at once-local remains.
cences and traditions, not to be "found ia the
books" His STYLE however, strikes us as altogether
too difuse and the "lciters" descriptive of Rich
mond are not bensfitted by the companion he him.
self suggests with "The British Spy" of Writ.
Short Sermons" and queen Victoria" are ar.
ticles Of point and merit "Perley" affixed to the
former, is, we fancy, the DE- plume of Mr. Ben
jamin Perley Poore, author of the "Rise and Fell
of Louis Philippe" The Shadows of the Noun.
tain Pine" consist OF a series of most agreeable
sketches descriptive of winter scenery in Virginia.
and are written after the style of Professor VIII.
sons articles in Blackwood some twenty wears ago.
Having exhausted our space, we can say nothing
OF the original poetry of this No., except that Mr..
senseneys " Madonna" contains some striking lines
Gan editor and poetD and that "X Y. T." has
been won ierfuly successful in his parody ON Var.
row Unvisited, considering duly the difficulty of
rhynlngt to Lola. Who tx Y 4 )" by the byeqr