Page:The Southern Literary Messenger - Minor.djvu/220

This page has been validated.
196
The Southern

and he is characterized as he so richly deserved by B., who was probably his bosom-friend, Wm. M. Blackford, Sr., then of Lynchburg, Va.

David Paul Browne, the supporter of Mr. White, has a work on "Christianity in the Legal Profession": "The Forum; or Forty Years' Full Practise, at the Philadelphia Bar," two volumes. The Messenger reviews it. R. E. C. considers the problem of Free Society. Holt Wilson investigates Cotton, Steam and Machinery. Mozis Addums indites his humorous and racy letters to Billy Ivvins. Dr. Geo. W. Bagby, the author of these orthographic epistles, afterwards became widely known as the successor of Mr. Thompson and a writer outside the Messenger.

Death has partly changed the defenders of the South on the subject of slavery. A new one steps forth, James P. Holcombe, who grapples the question: "Is Slavery Consistent with Natural Law?" In the early part of his career, Mr. Holcombe seemed to have fine powers, mainly of acquisition, but he kept progressing, until he became highly distinguished both as a writer and a speaker. Among the positions which he held was that of associate professor, with Dr. John B. Minor, in the Law School of the University of Virginia. There are other prose writers. The poetical offerings are so abundant that only a part can be adverted to. John E. Cooke has