of the slightest taste that the contributors were possessed of genius
of a very high order, and that _The Germ_ was not wantonly so
entitled, for it abounded with the promise of a rich harvest to be
anticipated from the maturity of those whose youth could accomplish
so much.

But we expressed also our fear lest the very excellence of this
magazine should be fatal to its success. It was too good--that is to
say, too refined and of too lofty a class, both in its art and in its
poetry--to be sufficiently popular to pay even the printer's bill.
The name, too, was against it, being somewhat unintelligible to the
thoughtless, and conveying to the considerate a notion of something
very juvenile. Those fears were not unfounded, for it was suspended
for a short time; but other journals after a while discovered and
proclaimed the merit that was scattered profusely over the pages of
_The Germ_, and, thus encouraged, the enterprise has been resumed,
with a change of name which we must regard as an improvement. _Art
and Poetry_ precisely describes its character. It is wholly devoted
to them, and it aims at originality in both. It is seeking out for
itself new paths, in a spirit of earnestness, and with an undoubted
ability which must lead to a new era. The writers may err somewhat at
first, show themselves too defiant of prescriptive rules, and mistake
extravagance for originality; but this fault (inherent in youth when,
conscious of its powers, it first sets up for itself) will after a
while work its own cure, and with experience will come soberer
action. But we cannot contemplate this young and rising school in art
and literature without the most ardent anticipations of something
great to grow from it, something new and worthy of our age, and we
bid them God speed upon the path they have adventured.