PUTNAM'S MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF American Literature, Science, and Art. VOL. II. JULY TO DECEMBER, 1853. NEW-YORK: G. P. PUTNAM & CO., 10 PARK PLACE. M.DCCC.LIII. P325,3 HARVARD ENTERED according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by G. P. PUTNAM & CO., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New-York. JOHN F. TROW, 49 Ann Street. ༣ PUBLISHERS' NOTICE. THE present number of "Putnam's Monthly" completes the second volume, and the first year of its existence. In referring to the progress of the work so far, it is not worth while for the publishers to indulge in much self-glorification, or at least to do more than reiterate what was said at the close of the first volume; yet they have cause for honest congratulation in the successful establishment of "Putnam's Monthly" as a fixed fact. The character and extent of this success has been far beyond their most sanguine expectations. They have had the good fortune of enlisting in the enterprise some of the ablest pens in the country; and they deem it a special cause for satisfaction, not only that among their regular contributors and earnest co-operators are included many of the most eminent and respected of our literary men of various positions and shades of religious and political opinion-but also that the general management of the Magazine, and the character of its contents, have been such as to meet the cordial approval of a large majority of the most judicious and intelligent readers. It is also pleasant to know, that while eminent and well-known writers have occupied a goodly portion of our pages, these pages have also been the means of introducing some younger writers of excellent promise, whose newly opened mines may doubtless yet produce as much pure metal as those which have been longer under contribution. Of the nine hundred and eighty articles which we have received, our two volumes could contain only about one in ten; and the most ungenial part of our task has been that of declining papers of interest and ability, which would fill half a dozen magazines as large as ours. Our space, and not our will, has been the arbiter in many of these instances. We would here return our cordial thanks to all those who have |