THE SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER: DEVOTED TO EVERY DEPARTMENT OF LITERATURE AND THE FINE ARTS. Au gré de nos desirs bien plus qu'au gré des vents. _Crebillon's Electre_. As _we_ will, and not as the winds will. RICHMOND: T. W. WHITE, PUBLISHER AND PROPRIETOR. 1834-5. SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER. VOL. I.] RICHMOND, NOVEMBER 1834. [NO. 3. T. W. WHITE, PRINTER AND PROPRIETOR. FIVE DOLLARS PER ANNUM. The _Publisher and Proprietor_, has made such arrangements for the management of the _Editorial Department_, as he hopes will be satisfactory to his patrons. If the circulation of the "Messenger" continues to increase, he has it in contemplation not only to secure regular able contributions, but also to embellish some of his monthly numbers with handsome lithographic drawings and engravings; but the cost cannot be prudently incurred without an enlargement of his list. He therefore hopes that such of his friends as feel an interest in the successful prosecution of this first serious attempt to establish a literary periodical south of the Potomac, will aid him in extending its circulation--as the best means of ensuring its continuance and utility. _If each of his subscribers would only procure an additional one_, the work would not only be _firmly established_ but greatly _increased in value_. The Publisher avails himself of this opportunity to inform the correspondent of the Portland Advertiser that the latter is mistaken in respect to the place of his nativity. The Publisher did once reside in the city of Boston, and can freely bear testimony to the high character, the generous feelings and the noble accomplishments of its citizens--but he was only a sojourner among them; having been born, and for the most part reared in the Ancient Dominion. If he were not a full blooded Tuckahoe Virginian, he would like to be a Bostonian. All communications of every kind must be addressed to T. W. White, _Publisher and Proprietor_. The issuing of the present number has been delayed in consequence of the change to a _monthly_ instead of a semi-monthly publication. The Publisher hopes that the change will be agreeable to his patrons. He is firmly persuaded of its expediency in various respects. For the Southern Literary Messenger. SKETCHES OF THE HISTORY And Present Condition of Tripoli, with some accounts of the other Barbary States. No. I. _Washington City, November, 1834_. Agreeably to my promise, I send you the sheets containing _Sketches of the History and present condition of Tripoli, with some account of the other States of Barbary_ which may perhaps be found worthy of insertion in the "SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER." They are the fruits of researches made for my amusement, into the history of those countries, and to which I was led by information accidentally obtained respecting the present condition of affairs in Tripoli.