division of its profits as
joint proprietor, or his salary as editor, (a matter which its publishers
have always kept distinct from, and in all respects unconnected with, the
payments to contributors,) annual sums have heretofore been paid for
literary _materiel_ greater than the most liberal estimate we have seen of
any annual literary payment by our widely-circulated contemporaries. To
the first poet in America, (not to say in the world, at this moment,) we
have repeatedly paid fifty dollars for a single poem, not exceeding, in
any instance, two pages in length; and the cost of prose papers from
sources of kindred eminence has in many numbers exceeded fifteen dollars a
page. Again: we have in several instances paid twice as much for the MS.
of a continuous novel in these pages as the writer could obtain of any
metropolitan book-publisher; and after appearing in volumes, it has been
found that the wide publicity given to the work by the KNICKERBOCKER has
been of greatest service to its popularity, in more than one subsequent
edition. We should add, however, that we have had no lack, at any period,
of excellent articles for our work at moderate prices; while many of our
more popular papers have been entirely gratuitous, unless indeed the
writers consider the honorable reputation which they have established in
these pages as _some_ reward for intellectual exertion. But 'something too
much of this.' We close with a word touching the pictorial features of the
'_Columbian_.' It has four 'plates' proper, with an engraving of the
fashions; is neatly executed by Messrs. HOPKINS AND JENNINGS, and
published by ISRAEL POST, Number Three, Astor-House. . . . SAINT
VALENTINE'S DAY is just at hand; and a pleasant correspondent, in
enclosing us the following lines, begs us to mention the fact, and to
refer to the festivities of the day. We know of _one_ 'festivity' that
will be a very _recherche_ and brilliant affair, on the evening of that
day; namely, '_The Bachelors' Ball_,' to be given with unwonted splendor
at the Astor-House, under the supervision of accomplished managers, whose
taste and liberality have already been abundantly tested. 'Take it as a
matter granted,' says our friend, 'that very many of your lady-readers
will commit matrimony before the year is done; and tell them so plainly;
for it will gratify their palpitating hearts; and even should it not be
true in every individual case, the disappointed ones will never compla