USA > Virginia > City of Richmond > City of Richmond > Virginia, especially Richmond, in by-gone days; with a glance at the present: being reminiscences and last words of an old citizen > Part 13
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Foushee's garden, at the north-western boundary of the city, was quite an extensive and well culti- vated possession. It now forms several squares, and Foushee street passes through it.
At the corner of Broad and Tenth streets, oppo- site the First Presbyterian Church, resided Dr.
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Currie,* a strong contrast to the gentle, kind and graceful physician last mentioned, but he had an extensive practice and accumulated a large fortune, which the other did not, because, like many other physicians, he was more attentive to his practice than to his fees, and earned many which were not worth attention.
Dr. Cringan, who resided in the wooden dwell- ing on Eighth street, in the rear of the United Presbyterian Church, was much esteemed, and in professional deportment held a middle station between the two I have mentioned. His student, Dr. John Adams, became his partner in medical practice.
I remember no other cotemporaries of the oldest physicians I have introduced. Doctors Lyons, Greenhow, Watson, Nelson, Clarke, Trent and Bohannan, succeeded them, and Doctors Chamberlayne, Cullen and Warner, bright names in the faculty, were of still later date, though their cotemporaries for many years. I may have omitted many names of more or less celebrity in years long past, as well as more recent; but if I were to attempt an enumeration of those of later date, I might, if memory served, enlist as many as I allot to the city at the opening of this chapter.
* His house was taken down in 1859 to be supplanted by a Methodist church.
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I will therefore discharge the physicians and turn to their subalterns, the apothecaries, though in old times each doctor was his own pharmaceutist, keeping medicines in his office, which his stu- dents-if he had any-would prepare according to his prescriptions-if they understood them.
There could not be employment for many apoth- ecaries when physicians made up a large portion of their own prescriptions ; but they obtained their medicines from these druggists. About the year 1800, there were but three-if I am correct- occupying the two corners and the centre of the square on Main between Thirteenth and Four- teenth streets. The shop of the brothers Ternan (Irishmen) was at the lower corner, in a part of the same wooden house already twice mentioned as yet standing there. A visit to their shop might have rendered an emetic superfluous, so begrimed with dirt was it and its attendants; but they made a fortune. Crawford's, at the upper corner where the cannon stands erect, was quite a contrast in point of neatness ; but he was less popular, though also from the Emerald Isle, and did not reap so rich a harvest. Duval, the sire and grandsire of apothecaries, occupied the central shop, and was among the first to prepare nostrums in the shape of anti-bilious pills, in opposition to Dr. Church. He also established a pottery and a manufactory of tiles for roofing, but with all his enterprise and
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industry, I doubt if his dirty rivals did not make the most money.
The Medical College is of modern date, having been established in 1837, by the united influences and exertions of Doctors Chamberlayne, Cullen, Warner, Maupin and Bohannan. The Union Hotel was converted into a medical school and hospital. Limbs, instead of cutting capers, were cut in pieces in the ball room-potions were mixed instead of punch-poultices supplanted puddings, and Seidlitz water, champagne. Now, the former order of things is reinstated at the Hotel, and young doctors are diplomatized and patients are physicked in the Egyptian edifice on the old Academy or Theatre Square-so frequently men- tioned in these pages.
The Medical College erected there has acquired stability and celebrity under a succession of com- petent Professors. In 1860, about 200 medical students seceded in a body from the Northern Colleges, in consequence of the John Brown raid at Harper's Ferry, and the excitement created by his admirers, the abolitionists. Thereupon the Virginia Legislature granted $30,000 for the extension of the College and Hospital.
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CHAPTER XXI.
NEWSPAPERS AND PRINTERS.
THE oldest newspaper in Richmond in my young days was " The Virginia Gazette," Federal in politics, published semi-weekly by Augustine Davis, editor and printer. In the former capa- city the implement he chiefly used was the scis- sors, and he resorted to the pen on indispensable occasions only, as in his hands it was a dull one compared with the other. The Gazette was little more than half the size of the present "Dis- patch," but did not contain half as much in matter, and was not more than one-fourth of the broad sheet of the "Richmond Whig" or "En- quirer."
Mr. Davis was Postmaster in those days when the northern mail arrived thrice a week, and was five or six days coming from New York, and he performed in person the duties of the office. The news from Europe was seldom less than five or six weeks old, and occasionally ten. Under such circumstances, the accumulation of news when it came had to be compressed in small space. " Correspondence," foreign or domestic, was not even imagined, and I suspect that term might
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justly be applied to much that appears now-a-days, and has so imposing an aspect, especially under the foreign head, emanating from the garret of "a penny-a-liner," and hashed up from a mass of European papers, or prompted by some stock- jobbers or brokers.
Mr. Davis's Gazette was Federal in politics, and being for many years without any professional edi- tor, rendered no service to the party it professed to espouse. Its Republican opponents sometimes cunningly used it as a tool for their own purposes. Mr. Jones of the "Examiner," and some of his co-laborers, would occasionally send Mr. Davis anonymous articles in reply to their own in the " Examiner," the drift of which would escape Mr. D.'s acumen, and he would publish them, whilst the authors would laugh at the success of their trick, and reply to and expose the weakness of the article they had palmed on their adversary.
The old saying that "a lie in a newspaper is good for two paragraphs," assertion and contra- diction, did not hold good usually in Mr. Davis's time. There could generally be enough of "au- thentic intelligence" collected in three days to fill his short columns, without having recourse to any thing but plain matters of fact, as was the case with newspapers generally ; rendering manufactured news a dull and unprofitable commodity ; so that there were few workmen in that line, and no report-
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ers to exercise their wit on drunken vagrants or quarrelsome couples .* As to false reports, the long interval between the publication of two papers, like hot weather in a fish market, caused the article to spoil before it could be used. Mr. Davis's office was in the same basement, corner of Main and Eleventh, whence " The Enquirer " is now issued. t In the adjoining tenements, also his property, was " the Queen's palace," after the removal from that on Cary street, which the reader will find noted in the history of her reign.
The political or politic toleration declared in Mr.
* It is much to be deplored that many editors at the present day, instead of endeavoring to form or to reform, and to refine the taste of their readers, are too apt to pander to the grossness of the least intelligent of them, and in many instances to render their sheets unfit for the perusal of a family circle Editors who have wives and children should blush to publish what cannot with propriety be read in their own families. Crimes of the most disgusting character are detailed with a minuteness which is not bestowed on worthy and generous actions. "Let this be reformed altogether."
Perhaps this abuse of the public press is an evil inseparable from it, for as long ago as 1802, Chancellor Wythe remarked, that " the occupation of newspaper editors had become lower than that of scavengers; the former brought filth into our streets, the latter cleansed them." This is extracted from a Richmond paper, which was not obnoxious to the charge.
+ In 1860, instead of the cellar on 11th, the " Enquirer', emanates from an attic on 12th street. Whether the change is merely local, its numerous readers can judge.
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Jefferson's inaugural message, " We are all Repub- licans, we are all Federalists," was not exercised in Mr. Davis's case, and he ceased to be Postmaster. His successor made it a sinecure office, by placing it under the charge of Mr. Davis's eldest son. This proscription excited the ire of the editor, and he changed the title of his paper to that of " Pa- triot," a title that disappointed politicians are apt to assume. He employed a pungent and spicy ed- itor named Prentiss, but, if I remember rightly, his paragraphs were too highly seasoned for the taste of his readers.
A contemporary paper, but the junior to the Gazette, was " The Virginia Argus," Democratic (then styled Republican) in politics, and published by Sam'l Pleasants, also semi-weekly. Mr. Pleasants was, like his rival, more expert in wielding the scis- sors than the pen. The two editors did not draw their weapons on each other sanguinarily, though espousing opposite parties, and seldom came in col- lision in their editorials, unless when represented by champions under their masks, and as the editor of the " Argus" was a Quaker, there was no danger of a duel, or of a resort to the peace-maker "if" to avert one. The eyes of " Argus" began to wax dim, when they were suddenly brightened, and he was rendered wide awake by a good genius * who,
* The Spy was discovered to be William Wirt.
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under the mask of " A British Spy," furnished, in 1803, a series of letters which not only kept open the eyes of " Argus," but also those of his readers. They furnished much to interest and amuse the public, and brought a great increase to the sub- scription list of the paper ; but with the departure of the Spy, departed many of the subscribers, and after the war excitement was over, the "Argus " closed its eyes. Its old antagonist, under its patriotic appellation, was extant in 1818 and later.
While these two non-combatants were pursuing their quiet course, there was a furious Republican champion in the field. " The Examiner," edited by Meriwether Jones, who was an editor, not a printer, and in consideration of this qualification and disqualification, he was elected printer to the Commonwealth. It might be curious to see some of the typographical work which was executed in his office for the public. Much of it, however, was underlet to practical printers.
There was a celebrated and notorious hack-writer in Richmond in those days-James Thompson Callender, a well educated Scotchman, an able writer and a great sot. He was employed by the editor of the Examiner in promoting the election of Mr. Jefferson to the Presidency, and good ser- vice he performed-his potations stimulated his pen, and drunk or sober, his paragraphs were ably written. Democracy was in the ascendant, and
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Mr. Jefferson was elected. Callender thought his services might claim a reward, as he saw rewards conferred upon less able partizans. His claim, very properly, was not admitted, and like many other unrewarded partizans, he changed his politics. Just about this time, a practical printer named Pace, who could compose types much better than he could paragraphs, attempted to establish a paper called " The Recorder." It was dying of inani- tion in its cradle, when Callender offered to save its life and make a giant of it. He became the anti- administration combatant, and opened his batteries on Mr. Jefferson in a series of the most furious and Billingsgate articles against him and his principles, moral and political. Callender had been impris- oned for libel during Adams's administration, from whence he was released by the clemency of Mr. Jefferson. He now got back again into his "old quarters in the Richmond jail," (whence he dated his writings,) for a libel on Mr. Hay, district attor- ney, appointed by Mr. Jefferson.
Callender's pen was at the service of whoever would pay for it, and he was employed by some of the members of the legislature to write circulars for them to their constituents at the close of the sessions. As the fee for such a composition was equal to several days' pay, two or more members from counties remote from each other would club together for a circular, chock full of democracy,
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manufactured by a Scotchman for the nonce. One of them would obtain it and place it in the printer's hands, with instructions to adapt the captions and signatures to suit the several members who clubbed their money instead of their wits.
On one occasion the boys in the printing office, who folded and directed the circulars, were so mischievous as to direct them indiscriminately. Thus some of the letters signed by an eastern mem- ber would be sent to a western constituent, and vice-versa, tending to show a remarkable coinci- dence in the sentiments and language of different individuals. One of these boys was afterwards Capt. J. B. Nicolson, of the navy, and the writer admits that he was the instigator, and though not one of the devils, aided and abetted them.
Poor Callender, a martyr to both democracy and federalism, and also to liquor, died a whiskey and watery death. He had one day imbibed too much whiskey before taking his daily bath in the river, and was drowned.
Another hack-writer came to Richmond about 1803 or '4-John Wood, a Scotchman also, and of the most forbidding aspect; but he did not exer- cise his venal pen here; his occupation was that of teacher and surveyor, and he assisted Bishop Madi- son in constructing a map of Virginia. He had previously acquired notoriety by writing a distorted " History of John Adams's administration," about
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the period of its close in 1801, to suit some party purpose, which did not suit Aaron Burr, who con- trived to suppress the book, (but it leaked out,) and employed Wood to write a distorted biography of himself, (Burr,) which he also found it politic to suppress-it was supposed that this second thought arose from a scheme he had in view of ingratiating himself with the Federal party. Wood, soon after his arrival, went to Kentucky, set his venal pen to work on a paper called "The Western World," but he was accompanied from Richmond by a young man named Street, who was to be the fighting editor, for Wood was a great coward, and although an atheist, was afraid of ghosts. His employers soon ceased their pecuniary contributions, and Wood left the beaten path of venality and returned to Richmond to resume that of instruction. Among other things, he published a theory of the tides, based on the principle of the change in the volocity of a cart wheel in its rotary and progressive motion.
A cotemporary and strenuous opponent in politics to " The Examiner," was " The Virginia Fede- ralist," published by Stewart and Rind, and ably edited. The talent it displayed induced some party leaders to cause a change in its place of publication to Washington city, where it appeared under the title of The Washington Federalist.
On the death of Meriwether Jones, his brother
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Skelton, of duelling notoriety,* edited the Exami- ner, but the pecuniary affairs of the establishment had always been embarrassed-subscriptions to newspapers are, notoriously, difficult to collect, and the publication ceased. But the Enquirer, like a Phoenix, arose from its ashes in 1804, and under the judicious and energetic management of Thomas Ritchie, aided by many able contributors, "The Enquirer" acquired a greater circulation and influ- ence than any of its predecessors. Looking at the signatures of its numerous correspondents, one might suppose that all the sages and patriots of Greece and Rome had arisen from their tombs to enlighten the existing generation. If spiritual manifestations had favored that generation, as it curses this, the communications and revelations might thus have been accounted for ; but, in many instances, they would have proved, that intellect is not progressive in a future state, and that the future state is a democratic one. Such was the success of the Enquirer, that Mr. Ritchie found it expedient to attach to it a sort of tender, as a vehicle for city advertisements, and he purchased " The Compiler," which had been commenced by Leroy Anderson and W. C. Shields.
To counteract the influence of the Enquirer,
* In those days "Coffee and Pistols for two" were almost as much in requisition in Virginia as in Ireland.
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there was brought out, in 1824, a powerful oppo- nent, in " The Whig," edited by John Hampden Pleasants. These two papers have been political opponents for many years, and would I could add the antagonism had been political only.
It is deeply to be regretted that our newspapers should be so frequently disgraced by personalities, which have no connection with the subject under discussion, and which tend to show a lack of sound argument, and certainly of good manners. What have become of the rules adopted by a Convention of Editors some years ago ? Like the proceedings of most conventions, they were forgotten after the farewell feast had been eaten, and the fraternal sentiments then expressed, evaporated with the fumes of the wine in which they were drunk. We see no personal abuse of each other by European editors.
Many ephemeral papers have appeared, like meteors, and some of them may " have shed a bale- ful influence." Among the number that sought to enlighten the people, were two "Standards" that struck their colors ; a " Shield " that cease to pro- tect ; a "Star" that was extinguished ; a "Phoenix" from whose ashes no other was hatched ; a " Spirit of '76 " that vanished ; a " Jeffersonian" that was probably a misnomer, and sundry "Times ;" whether dull, or brisk, or hard, they did not become old.
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NEWSPAPERS AND PRINTERS.
PERIODICALS.
The first and grandest attempt to establish a lit- erary periodical in Richmond, was by L. H. Gi- rardin, a learned and scientific French gentleman, who was at one time the principal of a female school. He issued, in March 1805, the prospectus of a monthly magazine in quarto, entitled " Amoenitates " Graphicc, or instructive and amusing collection " of Views, Animals, Plants, Flowers, Minerals, " Antiquities, Customs, and other interesting ob- " jects. Selected and engraved from drawings " after nature, with descriptive and explanatory "sketches in English and French. The text, by " L. H. Girardin, Professor of Modern Languages, " History and Geography in William & Mary Col- "lege. The engravings by Frederick Bosler."
There's a title page for you! and like some empty pretenders, it could not support its title. The first number contained six fine plates, colored, price $2-each succeeding number $1; but no 2d number succeeded, and all that breath was expended in vain.
The next attempt was made about 1807 or '8, by Seaton Grantland, who published a thin but neat monthly, called The Gleaner ; but there were no rich fields to glean from then. Literature was cul- tivated, but not authorship. Even English Maga- zines and Reviews had not then acquired celebrity
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by paying for talent, except the Edinburgh, the great pioneer, then but recently established. The " Gleaner" did not get through its teens when Mr. G., who was both editor and printer and quite a young man, very judiciously transferred himself and his types to Georgia, where he became printer to the State, a member of Congress, and, what was better, acquired a large fortune.
In 1809, the community was waited on by " The Visitor," who called once a fortnight, in a rather brownish garb, but composed of pretty good mate- rials, and in a square form ; in other words, invested in a dingy quarto sheet. As Mr. Girardin's grand project had failed, he felt a sympathy for this modest one, and contributed to its pages, in which appeared what he had probably composed for his own still-born bantling, a long Latin poem, entitled " Monomachia-sive Duello."
The publishers of the " Visitor" were Lynch, a practical printer, an Irishman of diminutive size, and Southgate, a musician, an Irishman of very large size, who filled many of the pages in musical type. The Rev. Mr. Blair, Mr. Munford, and others, kindly furnished contributions. But, of course, the circulation of such a paper was very limited, and, after a few efforts and throbs, it ceased with its second volume, no successor appear- ing to claim the barren realm for many years.
The Southern Literary Messenger originated
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from a remarkable combination in one individual of enterprise, industry and perseverance ; one who could contribute little else than mechanical skill to such a periodical as he succeeded in establish- ing more to his honor than his profit. Thomas W. White commenced the publication in 1834, at a time when even our large cities sustained very few such enterprises. A local sale of 5,000 copies was more probable and feasible in New York or Phila- delphia, than one of 250 in Richmond. Mr. White used every effort to obtain contributions from the best sources, and was even importunate in his ap- plications to the comparatively few writers who at that time had attained to celebrity, and who would bestow any of their talent on what might be con- sidered fugitive literature.
A short time after its commencement, he obtained the services of Edgar A. Poe as editor, which were continued for eighteen months-an unusually long period for that erratic genius to devote to one occu- pation. His successor, for a still shorter period, was H. T. Tuckerman; then it passed into the hands (editorially) of James E. Heath, who wrote for it and selected the material. The Rev. E. H. Chapin rendered the same service at a subsequent period. None of these gentlemen were ever known to the public in the capacity of editor; Mr. White's name remaining on the cover as editor and pro- prietor. After Mr. White's death, the magazine
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was bought by B. B. Minor, who conducted it for four years, when he was succeeded by John R. Thompson. The contributors to the "Messenger" have been very numerous, and represent all parts of the country and all classes of cultivated mind. The list embraces many of the most distinguished names in American literature : Edgar A. Poe, H. W. Longfellow, Mrs. Lydia H. Sigourney, William Gilmore Simms, Amelia B. Welby, Richard Henry Wilde, Philip Pendleton Cooke, H. T. Tuckerman, Louisa J. McCord, Alexander B. Meek, Donald G. Mitchell, Paul H. Hayne, Caroline H. Glover, Jno. Esten Cooke, Geo. D. Prentice, &c., &c. Besides these professional writers, a very large number of persons, eminent in other walks of life, have con- tributed to its pages papers of remarkable ability and cleverness, either with the view of influencing the public mind or pour s'amuser. Professor Dew's strong arguments on the slavery question, Lieut. Maury's " Scraps from the Lucky Bag," the elegant essays of the Tuckers, (Henry St. George and Bev- erly, both eminent as jurists, and George Tucker, the biographer of Jefferson and historian of the U. States,) the notes of travel of Dr. Ruschenberger of the Navy and of P. St. George Cooke of the Army, all attracted great attention to the " Messenger " as they appeared. The "Reveries of a Bachelor," by Ik Marvel, and Joseph G. Baldwin's inimitable " Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi " were
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originally published in the "Messenger " during Mr. Thompson's editorial management of it. But the most popular story ever brought out in its pages was "Judith Bensaddi," by Dr. Henry Ruffner, latterly and widely known as the author of the . "Ruffner Pamphlet," first published in 1847, and afterwards reprinted in consequence of a loud popular demand in 1859.
For the credit of Virginia, and as furnishing a respectable vehicle for the literary productions of her men and women of talent and genius, and also information and amusement to her reading public, it is to be hoped that the "Messenger " will not only be supported, but receive a largely increased patronage. It has striven against adversity, and deserves to taste the sweets of prosperity.
PRINTERS.
The oldest printer whose name I can recall, was Dixon, who came from Williamsburg when its glory departed ; after him, T. Nicholson, the very beau ideal of an old bachelor, if beau and ideal can be thus applied. The work of printing the first vol- ume of Call's Reports occupied his energies for about twelve months. He was Librarian to the Society formed some sixty years ago, and woe to the member who retained a book beyond the limited time! Under his care the library was well sus- 21
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