Chapter The Close of Eighteenth Century of Index by Simonds History of American Literature

Shelley, who gave them a high rank. Both Poe and Hawthorne were undoubtedly influenced by them. They reflected strongly the characteristics of the romantic school of fiction that arose in Germany and England near the close of the eighteenth century. The plots of these stories are psychological and are based on mystery; the incomprehensible and the horrible are invoked to stimulate interest. There is a marked solemnity of diction which reinforces the peculiar style of the narrative, and the emotions are played upon in the sentimental manner of the romance then in vogue abroad. The general tone of the narratives may be properly described as morbid, -- a tone which pervades the series as a whole.

In Wieland, the principal characters are introduced under the spell of a mysterious catastrophe suggesting the attack of some malignant force which may be the product of electricity, or of spontaneous combustion. Mysterious voices are heard which are finally accounted for by the confession of an ill-disposed ventriloquist. A dreadful crime is committed by a person insane with religious mania; and disaster overwhelms an entire family through the operation of these mysterious agencies which, at the last, are but unsatisfactorily explained. In Arthur Mervyn, the scene is laid in Philadelphia during an epidemic of yellow fever (1793), and the ghastly details of that visitation are faithfully reproduced. In Edgar Huntley, there is an attempt at murder committed during temporary madness; the madman afterwards commits suicide while the intended victim escapes. The principal personage in the story is a somnambulist.

These novels of Charles Brockden Brown are not unimpressive in their realistic portrayal of horrible and loathsome scenes, and in their appeal to the sentiments of curiosity and terror; they fail in characterization and in life-likeness. Yet they compare not unfavorably with contemporary English narratives like William Godwin's Caleb Williams (1794) and Mrs. Radcliffe's Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) or Matthew Lewis's The Monk (1795). A significant feature of Brown's work is the fact that he always made use of American scenes; in Edgar Huntley, he employed the incidents of Indian warfare to good purpose.

Periodicals.

In connection with this account of our literary beginnings in the eighteenth century, we must not fail to note the earliest appearance of periodical literature in America -- a very important phase of intellectual life. Newspapers came first, and were established in the following order: --

1704. The Boston News Letter (continued to 1776).

1719. The Boston Gazette (first issue, Dec. 21).

1719. The American Weekly Mercury (Phila., Dec. 22).

1721. The New England Courant (Boston).

1725. The New York Gazette.

1728. The Pennsylvania Gazette (Franklin's).

Before the end of 1765, there were in the colonies forty-three newspapers, nearly all weeklies, and in comparison with the modern journal very diminutive affairs. News was not abundant and not often up to date. Prominence was given to correspondence from England. Letters from local politicians, anecdotes, essays, poems, lampoons, etc., were introduced. In the latter part of the century, some literary value was claimed by the newspapers. It was not until 1784 that the daily newspaper began to appear -- with the founding of The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser, at Philadelphia.

Two or three literary magazines were established in the colonies previous to the Revolution. Such were The General Magazine, started in Philadelphia, in 1741, and The American Magazine and Historical Chronicle, established in Boston in 1743. The Royal American Magazine, started in Boston in 1774, was one of the most elaborate of these publications; few of them survived more than a few months. One interesting periodical of the Revolutionary period was The Pennsylvania Magazine, edited by Thomas