illumination to the records of the Society. A few passages from the Annual Addresses of the editors will suggest their feeling that they were under a certain necessity of explaining themselves to the public, and will show how they did it.

In the Address of January, 1807, with the manuscript signature in the Athenæum copy, "Dr. Kirkland," these words are found:

Doubtless many men of sense ascribe to us a species of fanaticism, as the spring of that propensity we discover to enlighten, improve, and entertain a publick, which gives us for our pains neither fame nor money. We suggest to them a solution of our conduct, which does not assign us a place greatly below or above the standard of human nature. We are exposed to the influence of that "Esprit de corps", which animates literary association. The pleasures, found in composition and in the exercise of the mental powers puts some of us upon blotting paper. If the cause still appears inadequate to the effect, we must be supposed to feel a desire to be useful in the way which our pursuits and studies direct, or if this seem too elevated a principle, let our services be deemed symptoms and effects of an impulse of more doubtful value ... what a late writer on moral philosophy denominates the passion for reforming the world.

In the Address of January, 1809, the editors say:

The Anthology has hitherto been supported by the unpaid and unregulated contributions of a few literary men, who are pleased when the publick profits by their reading, or shares in their amusements. They have yet had no extraordinary stimulus to write, but the friendly curiosity and occasional encomiums of men like themselves. They are not enlisted in

the support of any denomination of prejudices; nor are they inspired with the fanaticism of literary crusaders, associated to plant their standards on territory recovered from heathens or hereticks. They are satisfied, if they in any way contribute to the mild influence of our common christianity, and to the elegant tranquility of literary life. They are gentle knights, who wish to guard the seats of taste and morals at home, from the incursions of the "paynim host"; happy, if they should now and then rescue a fair captive from the giants of romance, or dissolve the spell, in which many a youthful genius is held, by the enchantments of corrupt literature. If with these objects, they can retain the pleasures of lettered society, Mundaeque parvo sub lare pauperum

Coenae, sine aulaeis et ostro,

Sollicitam explicuere frontem,

they will try to be as insensible to the neglect or contumely of the great vulgar and the small, as they are to the pelting of the pitiless storm without, when taste and good humour sit round the fire within.

Here, too, they speak of "writing only to amuse and meliorate ourselves and others."

In January of 1810, when the end was drawing near, there was no abatement of confidence:

The Anthology is conducted by a society of gentlemen, who derive no direct emolument from their labour, and persist in it, though many a shrewd wise countenance may be covered with a smile at their simplicity, in still continuing to "scribble, scribble." This smile, which is really excited more by goodnatured wonder, than contempt, they can return with one of the same character. Plutus then not being in the number of our household gods, it could hardly be supposed we should be subject to any other reproaches than those of sterility.

Turning from the pages of the magazine in which the editors consciously state their purpose to those in which it is unconsciously expressed, one is impressed with the substantial merit of the periodical. It is manifest that the editors set themselves a high standard and rigorously maintained it. The standard was that of the eighteenth century in England. Something of the attitude of the Society towards innovations in diction and critical values is revealed in the rebuke administered, apparently by Dr. Gardiner, to a young man who defended an American writer from an unfavorable review in the magazine:

Your justification of licit, which you acknowledge is unauthorized, prove you a true disciple of Noah Webster, that scourge of grammar, no less than your sneer at English literature. Yet let us inform you, young Sir, that all sensible Americans will rely on the great writers of that nation [here the purist seems to have nodded] as authorities, till we can produce equal excellence. We know of no American language, that is not Indian, and feel no inclination to resort to the Choctaws, the Chickasaws, the Cherokees, and the Tuscaroras for literary instruction. Whilst we speak and write the English language, we are satisfied to be guided in our own use of that language by approved English writers, by which we shall guard against modern foppery and provincial impurities.

The English tradition of Latin verse-making as a scholarly accomplishment still prevailed, and many experiments in that field are preserved, together with a liberal number of translations from the Latin classics, of which Horace's "Integer Vita" held the place

of a prime favorite. But the range and the strength of the original articles speak for something far more important than the cherishing of any specific literary traditions. Science, theology, literature, travel, indeed all serious matters, received serious and remarkably competent attention. The "Remarker" and "Silva" departments introduced personal and vivacious elements contributing much to the total product. The sincerity and intelligence of the literary criticism were of a high order. Each of these generalizations might be illustrated by "exhibits" in their support. We must content ourselves, however, with one: "The Embargo, or Sketches of the Times, by a Youth of Thirteen," was reviewed in the June number of 1808. The reviewer brought his remarks to an end by saying: "If the young bard has met with no assistance in the composition of this poem, he certainly bids fair, should he continue to cultivate his talent, to gain a respectable station on the Parnassian mount, and to reflect credit on the literature of the country." When prophecy gave place in later years to record, these words would have required but small emendation to provide an admirable definition of Bryant's actual achievement. It is not always so easy as in this instance to place one's self in the position of looking upon the word of the Anthologists as something completely "up-todate" as vitally fresh to the readers of a hundred years ago as any short-lived periodical of our own decade. But whenever and by whatever means one