| This study focuses on twelve magazines, seven of which were printed or proposed in Baltimore, and the rest in various cities throughout the South. The Monthly Mirror, or Maryland Museum was proposed by Phillip Edwards in 1793. It was probably never printed, nor was The Maryland Magazine, proposed by James Angell for George Keatinge. Two numbers of The Musical Magazine may have been published by Andrew Law in Baltimore about 1792. Phillip Edwards printed The Free Universal Magazine for the Rev. Abel Sarjent in 1793-94. Baltimore boasted three major magazines: The Maryland Pocket Magazine printed in 1796 by Christopher Jackson for George Keatinge, The Weekly Museum published in 1797 by John Smith and Christopher Jackson, and The General Magazine, or Impartial Review published in 1798 by Andrew Hanna and Henry Greene.;Five southern magazines were printed in other parts of the South. The Key was published in Frederick-Town, Maryland, by John Cary in 1798. In Charleston, South Carolina, the South Carolina Weekly Museum was published for eighteen months in 1797-98 by William Primrose Harrison and Thomas Bartholomew Bowen. Two essay periodicals also appeared in Charleston: The Traiteur printed for Henry Jackson by Peter Freneau in 1795-96 and The Vigil printed by W. P. Young in 1798. The National Magazine, a republican political journal, was printed in Richmond, Virginia, in 1799-1800 by Henry Pace for James Lyon.;Collectively, these southern magazines are important for their additions in three areas: what they contribute to the body of American literature, how they reflect peculiarly southern attitudes, and how they address the political climate of the country. The most notable stories included in these magazines are the first fictional treatment of the John Smith-Pocahontas legend and a tall tale which introduces the first "ring-tailed roarer" to American fiction. Selections indicate what appealed to the southerners' sense of humor and give new insight into their attitudes toward slavery, dueling, women, Indians, and politics, although most editors attempted to maintain political neutrality. The magazines cover a range of what interested Americans: farming, government, science, health, marriage, morals, religion, education, the professions, travel, biography, anecdotes, fiction, and poetry. These fall into the realm of literature, too, since the fine arts and useful arts were not so clearly distinguished in the eighteenth century as they are today. |
