PAYMENTS TO THE SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER, MADE BETWEEN THE TENTH DAY OF MARCH AND THE EIGHTH OF APRIL, 1839. All persons who have made payments early enough to be entered, and whose names do not appear in this published receipt list, or in that of the next number, are requested to give notice of the omission immediately after receiving that No., in order that the correction may be forthwith made. Hines, Richard........whw.......North Carolina........vol 5 ...volá ..New York........vol 5 .....vol 5 .New Orleans.. .vols 4 5 .Unionville, S. C........vol v Longstreet, Rev. Augusta B..wfp..Augusta, Geo......vols 4-5 ..Richmond, Va........vol 5 ..Unionville, S. C........vol v ..Petersburg, Va........vol v Philadelphia, Pa......vols 4-5 Philadelphia, Pa........vol 5 Charlottesville, Va........vol 5 Adams, Miss Mary.............Augusta, Georgia........vol 5 | ....... 1. The Women of France: Describing the remarkable modification which the social position and relative importance of woman have undergone since the birth of modern civilization; and the causes to which the change has been variously attributed-in the course of which, among others, the following distinguished females are noticed: Clotilde, Joan of Arc, Eloisa, Diana of Prictiers, Margaret of Navarre, Scudéry, Dacier, Sévigni, Ninon de l'Enclos, Montespan, Maintenon, Lafayette, Deshoulières, d'Epinay, Deffand, Roland, Corday, De Stael, Genlis, Recamier, Lavalette, &c... 297 2. Letter from Mrs. Jane Mecom to her brother Benjamin Franklin; copied from the original and hitherto unpublished.... 3. The Poet's Destiny. A sequel to the "Poet," published in the March No. of the Messenger. By a Young Lady of Virginia...... 304 305 4. A Mercurial Visitor, with Variations. A humorous sketch, by the author of the "Growing Youth."...... 310 5. Letter from Malta. Visit to the church yards of Malta; Epitaphs; Monument to Sir H. Hotham; Tombs of deceased Americans, &c. By an American residing at Malta....... 6. The Desultory Speculator, No. IV. Sketches of Mem. bers of the Twenty-Fifth Congress-R. H. Menefee, Henry A. Wise, S. S. Prentiss, and Ogden Hoffman. By a gentleman of Washington City........ 314 316 7. Animal Magnetism. Advantage and disadvantage of Animal Magnetism considered, embracing a succinct view of the whole subject, and giving an explanation in accordance with the history and experience of man, the known laws of his being, the plan of God's government, and the relation he sustains to fallen spirits.... 319 8. The Mind. Its limits, changeableness, &c...... 326 9. Thoughts and Reflections-on various subjects, poetical, scientific, literary, philosophical, &c. tastefully expressed and highly interesting. By a Gentleman of Williamsburg, Va... 10. The Copy-Book, No. VI. The Buffalo Hunt-Being a bold attempt to supply an important desideratum in our literature, viz., an article free from quotations, extracts, and incongruous patchwork. By a gentleman of Petersburg, Va........ ORIGINAL PROSE ARTICLES-(CONTINUED.) PAGE 331 11. The Prediction. A Tale of the Huguenots. By a Lady of the Old Dominion...... 12. Currente Calamosities, No. V.; by James F. Otis, author of "The Tree Articles," &c.: comprising a variety of poetical excerpts, from ancient and modern writers, upon topics peculiar to the month of April; with original stanzas, a postscript, &c........ ... 348 13. Dr. Mitchell's Poems. Indecision-a Tale of the Far West, and other Poems; by J. K. Mitchell, M.D. A review of this new and interesting work, with extracts, &c.... 351 328 29. The New Song and the Old Song. (Selected.). 30. The Harp of Judah. (Selected from Mitchell's Poems.) 355 31. Blessed are the Dead which Die in the Lord. (An extract, from "Indecision," and other Poems.). 32. Adieu of Mary Stuart. (From Berenger.). 33. Lines Written for a Young Lady's Album............. 359 34. Lines Written for an Old Lady's Album..... 355 .......... 355 355 359 327 This work is published in monthly numbers, averaging 64 pages each, at $5 the vol. in advance: the postage on each No. for 100 miles or less, is 6 cents; over 100 miles, 10 cents. RICHMOND, VA. T. W. WHITE, PRINTER, OPPOSITE THE BELL TAVERN. II. SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER-COVER. TO DELINQUENT SUBSCRIBERS. We desire most respectfully to say to our delinquent subscribers that we find it absolutely necessary to appeal to their justice. If they do not think our labors worth five dollars a year, why don't they say so in plain English, and after having paid up their subscriptions in full, withdraw altogether. 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B. Landry, Post Master, St. Francisville, Louis'a Wm. H. Owen, Chapel Hill, N. C. George W. Granbery, Sunsbury, Gates Co., N. C. A. G. Southall, Williamsburg, Va. E. Burke Fisher, Pittsburg, Pa. W. F. Pemberton, Augusta, Georgia. No name will hereafter be inserted in the List of Payments on the covers of the Messenger unless the money is actually received. Promises of "remittances hereafter," will not answer our purpose, let them come from what quarter they may. Particular attention is requested to this matter. Agents who have on hand $5 or more, will please remit the same at once to the Proprietor of the Messenger, by mail. PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT FIVE DOLLARS PER ANNUM-THOMAS W. WHITE, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. VOL. V. RICHMOND, MAY, 1839. THE WOMEN OF FRANCE. Une belle femme qui a les qualités d'un honnête homme, est ce qu il y a au monde d'un commerce plus delicieux : l'on trouve en elle tout le mérite des deux sexes.*--La Bruyère. No. V. owing to causes peculiar and local. Among the ancients-I speak now particularly of the Greeks and Romans the condition of woman was scarcely less humiliating, I will not say, degraded. Love, in its purest form, as practised and avowed by its most elegant votaries, was but a refinement of passion, however adorned with the graces of art and imagination. It had nothing holy or reverential in its character. It was of the earth, earthy." However etherialized by the poet, or sublimated by the metaphysician, its essence was not purified from the dross of sensuality. Though the flower was beautiful and fragrant, its root did not spring from the purest soil. It did not partake of that high and generous devotion which exists, I will not say without the hope, but the calculation of reward. Venus, though It may be asserted that no country has produced so many remarkable women as France. No where, too, does the sex occupy such a prominent position or wield so potent an influence. The history of France teems with examples of women who have achieved distinction in almost every career-social, literary, political, even martial. Clotilde, Joan of Arc, Eloisa, Diana of Poictiers, Margaret of Navarre, Scudéry, Dacier, Sévígni, Ninon de l'Enclos, Montespan, Maintenon, Lafayette, Deshoulières, d'Epinay, Deffand, | born of the froth of the ocean, was but the incarnation Roland, Corday, and in our own day, De Stael, Genlis, Recamier, Lavalette; these are but a few of the eminent female names which might be cited. A female biographical dictionary, would be constrained to draw its chief materials from France. I have often busied myself in conjecturing whence might proceed this acknowledged superiority of the sex so characteristic of a particular country. The question is one of difficult solution, since the fact must depend upon a variety of circumstances and influences, many of which are too remote, fugitive, or gradual in their operation, to be readily seized. The discussion of the problem, will, it is hoped, have more than a local interest, as it involves the various causes which promote and modify the development and formation of the female character in general. of material beauty; and Cupid, though graceful and volant, the type and personification of passion alone. The Syrian damsels mourned over the beauty of Adonis ; and it was not for a saintly smile, that the enamored Leander braved the fatal waves of the Hellespont. What would a lover of that day have thought of the poet* who transformed his mistress after death, into the personification of heavenly wisdom; or of himf, who worshipped, through long years of undying de votion, the austere virtue of the object of his hope less affection, mingling with the passionate praises of her beauty, that unmelting purity of spirit, to render himself worthy of which, he came forth from the vulgar herd, and consecrated himself to a life of religious sanctity. Anacreon, Tibullus, Sappho, would have beheld such love with an incredulous smile, and deemed it cold, pale, and visionary, like the passion of the chaste Diana, for the sleeping Endymion. Yet what could be more earnest, heartfelt, and enduring, than the devotion of Dante to his Beatrice, or, of Petrarch to the virtuous Laura, whose every feature he has painted with a poet's pencil and a lover's enthusiasm. The metaphysical transports of Platonism, were of a charac ter very different from this holy feeling, for woman was not deemed worthy to be the object of such "abstracted sublimities." They were but magnificent phrases, sublime ideas, beautiful speculations. Of that classical fountain, Milton, whose spirit was austere and high, rather than tender and affectionate, had drunk deeply, and he describes the reverie of the academics, as noth It is an undisputed fact, that the social position and relative importance of woman, have undergone a remarkable modification since the birth of modern civilization. The attempt to account for this change, has given rise to a very interesting controversy. It has been variously attributed to the ancient manners of the German race, which peopled many of the northern and central countries of Europe; to the softening and benevolent spirit of christianity, and to the influence of feudalism or chivalry. Not rejecting, altogether, the first, and attributing much importance to the second cause, I am disposed, with many writers, to ascribe the most direct and marked effect to the last. Combined, they have essentially modified the whole system of female manners and relations. In this regard, the most culti-ing more than an intellectual exaltation, a metaphysical vated and humane societies of antiquity, present a most disadvantageous contrast with modern civilization. In the East, the cradle of the human race, where more than elsewhere society has retained its primitive stamp, from the earliest period to the present day, woman has been subjected to a state of comparative seclusion and tutelage. If the early manners of the Hebrews present a partial exception to this general remark, it was *A fine woman who has the qualities of a well-bred man, is the most agreeable of persons: she combines the merits of both sexes. passion. "Thus from the laureat fraternity of poets, riper years and the ceaseless round of study and reading, led me to the shady spaces of philosophy, but chiefly to the divine volumes of Plato and his equal Xenophon; where, if I should tell ye what I learned of chastity and love, I mean that which is truly so, whose charming cup is only virtue, which she bears in her hand to those who are worthy, (the rest are cheated with a thick, intoxicating potion, which a certain sorceress, the abuser of Love's name carries about ;) and *Dante. + Petrarch. VOL. V.-38 |