Whether the wild chaos of storm and whirlwind which madly raged over the benighted earth before ‘light was,’ rushed to the dark caverns where the fettered earthquake lay, when order was demanded by the Father of Lights, we can not tell; but surely it is a pleasing thought for the mind engulfed in the unfathomed darkness of uncreated light, to be brought out and suffered to rest on the peaceful bosom of the new creation.  Whether ’the world that then was’ was overflown and perished by the causes set forth, we can not tell.  We regret that we can not now give a more extended and particular notice of this poem; let us hope that ere long we may enjoy the delight of reading its printed form.

That must indeed have been a poem which could inspire such poetry in others.

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The Boston Courier published, over the signature of ‘MIDDLESEX,’ during the months of February and March, a number of articles entitled, Through the Gulf States.  So far as we have examined and compared the series, it appears to be a literal reprint, with a few trivial alterations of dates and statistics, of the Letters from the Gulf States, originally published in the Knickerbocker New York Monthly Magazine, in 1847.

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THE KNICKERBOCKER

FOR 1862.

In the beginning of the last year, when its present proprietors assumed control of the Knickerbocker, they announced their determination to spare no pains to place it in its true position as the leading literary Monthly in America.  When rebellion had raised a successful front, and its armies threatened the very existence of the Republic, it was impossible to permit a magazine, which in its circulation reached the best intellects in the land, to remain insensible or indifferent to the dangers which threatened the Union.  The proprietors accordingly gave notice, that it would present in its pages, forcible expositions with regard to the great question of the times,—­how to preserve the UNITED STATUS OF AMERICA in their integrity and unity.  How far this pledge has been redeemed the public must judge.  It would, however, be mere affectation to ignore the seal of approbation which has been placed on these efforts.  The proprietors gratefully acknowledge this, and it has led them to embark in a fresh undertaking, as already announced,—­the publication of the CONTINENTAL MONTHLY, devoted to Literature and National Policy; in which magazine, those who have sympathized with the political opinions recently set forth in the KNICKERBOCKER, will find the same views more fully enforced and maintained by the ablest and most energetic minds in America.

The KNICKERBOCKER, while it will continue firmly pledged to the cause of the Union, will henceforth be more earnestly devoted to literature, and will leave no effort untried to attain the highest excellence in those departments of letters which it has adopted as specialties.