struggling for expression. Moreover, each editor was surrounded by a coterie of friends, with active brains and a propensity to utterance; and these constituted a sort of unpaid staff of editorial contributors, who, in various forms,—in letters, essays, anecdotes, epigrams, poems, lampoons,—helped to give vivacity and even literary value to the paper."[18]

Considering these facts, it is seen that the magazines of the period under discussion played a more important rôle in the cultural development of the people than they do now. They were not as numerous, nor were so many copies of each number issued then as now, but the population was also much smaller, and consequently a smaller number of periodicals sufficed, although relatively they may have been as numerous. One thing seems certain,—in the absence of so much other reading matter, the magazine went into the home and was perused with care by the different members of the household. We have only to refer to the attention given to the almanacs during a period slightly earlier, and these did not attempt to present as much entertaining literature as the magazines. The prominence of these literary periodicals in the development of American thought and culture is usually overlooked, but should certainly be recognized in the history of literature in America.

All this is very pertinent to the subject. The importance of the translations and poems, here reprinted, in bringing things German before the American public depends naturally upon the importance of the channel by which they were introduced. From what has just been said, it is evident that the magazine not only had a wider and freer scope then than now, but also attempted to preserve as high a literary and scholarly standard as was possible for that day. What was admitted to its pages had therefore considerable weight and influence, and became known at once as far as the magazine circulated. It is for this reason that the appearance of so many poems and prose articles relating to the German countries becomes so important, and the interest here aroused was to increase many fold in the decades immediately following.

The publication of translations of German poetry in the American magazines indicates a twofold activity. In the first place it shows active interest and enthusiasm on the part of a few individuals who read and appreciated German literature and who had the ability not only to understand the foreign poetry but also to translate it for their fellow countrymen. How many there were who could read the original, it is impossible to say, but these translators were certainly only a small part of the Americans who understood German. In the second place the appearance of German poems in the magazines indicates a growing acquaintance with German literature, on the part of the public at large. From the fact that the number of translations increased from year to year we may infer that they found favor in the eyes of the readers. Even if the circulation of the individual magazines was small, the combined effect of so many must have been considerable.

It may seem at first thought that relatively few poems have been collected in proportion to the ground covered.[19] There is a limitation, however, that must not be overlooked. Only a small part of each magazine was devoted to poetry and, after the original productions and the republications of English verse (which naturally received first consideration), German could only hope for its share along with the other foreign literatures. It is remarkable how many foreign literatures are represented in the sections of these magazines devoted to poetry. There are translations from the Latin, French, German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Norse (Icelandic), Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Irish, Welsh, Greek, Laplandish, Persian and Turkish. In all this mass of translations, German ranks perhaps third as regards quantity; it is exceeded only by the Latin and French.[20] This is true, however, only for the period to the end of 1810. The situation in the three succeeding decades is very different, but will be discussed at a later time.

There is another reason why these magazines did not contain more translations from the German. The period under consideration coincides very closely with the classical epoch of German literature and many of the masterpieces were not issued until near the end. Hermann und Dorothea appeared in 1797 and Wallenstein three years later, while Wilhelm Tell was not finished until 1804 and the completed Faust (first and second parts) was published twenty-three years after the period closes. The dates of much of the classical German literature precluded the possibility of its being translated until two thirds of the period had passed. However valuable these works are, it is not remarkable that they should not have become known immediately on this side of the Atlantic. For the Germans here, the originals were all that were needed, and it naturally took some time for the English part of the population to realize the worth of the books and to demand translations. These causes, then, prevented the German influence in the magazines from assuming larger proportions.

The period treated in the present study is from 1741 to 1810 inclusive. The year 1741 is chosen as marking the beginning of the American periodicals of a literary type. The publications of an earlier date that were examined were devoted almost entirely to news, or were almanacs that contained no literary material, for example, the New England Kalendar, I, 1706, Boston, or the New Weekly Journal, 1728, Boston. These have been omitted from the list. It is therefore not until 1741 that our period really begins. The two magazines which were to be the pioneers of this extensive class of American literature had been announced in the previous year. The Phila. Weekly Mercury (Oct. 30, 1740) gives the prospectus of a magazine to be edited by John Webbe and printed by Andrew Bradford; while in the Pennsylvania Gazette (Nov. 13, 1740) Franklin announced The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle for all the British Plantations in America. A bitter controversy soon arose,—Franklin claiming that Webbe had stolen his plans, and Webbe accusing Franklin of using his position as Postmaster to exclude the Mercury from the mail. Both magazines were issued in January, 1741; Webbe's journal, The American Magazine; or a Monthly View of the Political State of the British Colonies, ran for three months and Franklin's for six months.[21] With these, then, the investigation for the present subject begins. As has been indicated, the work has been extended to the end of the year 1840. After that, German literature was established as a well known factor in our intellectual development, as is shown by the numerous books of translations and imitations, and the magazines were, henceforth, less important in this particular. The period here treated extends only to the end of 1810. These years witnessed the beginning of the movement and the first period of considerable activity in this field. During the years immediately following