of the review was greatly widened, and for pungency and thoroughness of criticism, for good English and for breadth of view, it was so strikingly marked, that it became a signal example of how a magazine may at once be lifted to a higher level without being compelled to turn a somersault. The advertisement, however, which Crosby & Nichols put forth no doubt with a dignified elation, excited Lowell’s ire, and he gave vent to his annoyance in a rhymed letter to his colleague:-- “DEAR CHARLES,-- I am mad as a piper And could bite those old files like a viper, Reading their d--d advertisement For donkeys, and not for the wise, meant, (Which undoubtedly tickles Messrs. Crosby and Nichols To the innermost jecur Or brain--where they’re weaker!) I feel as if the rogues meant to work us Like the clowns of a travelling circus, Blowing their trumpets before us In a brazen and asinine chorus, Sending advance troops of blackguards To blear all the fences with placards,-- ‘This is the famous Dan Rice, sirs, Whose jokes are beyond any price, sirs, And this is that eminent man Joe Grimes, so sublime on the banjo, And especially great in the prances Of the best Ethiopian dances!’ Why, I feel my shamed visage o’erdarkle With my last evening’s waterproof charcoal! Dear Charles, all your articles toss by And see Messrs. Nichols and Crosby: Curl up your moustache like a bandit And tell ’em we never will stand it To be treated (I put here one _more_ curse) Like a couple of literate porkers (Nay, a literate one would much rather Be made into pork like his father.) I’d go, but must hurry to college To help the confusion of knowledge, So remain Your true friend, as you know well, !!!!‘The world famous James Russell Lowell Shuperior every way vastly To the late justly-favorite Astley!!!!’”