ROSA VERTNER JEFFREY.

OSA VERTNER JEFFREY was born Rosa Vertner Griffith. Her father, John Griffith, lived near Natchez, was a man of elegant culture, and wrote very pretty little tales and poems, many of his Indian stories having been published in the first-class Annuals, years ago, and several of them highly complimented in England, ("The Fawn's Leap," and "Indian Bride," were quite celebrated.)

Rosa inherits her talents from him; his brother, Wm. T. Griffith, was one of the most eminent lawyers at the bar of Mississippi, in his day. All of the Griffiths are gifted, having graceful manners were charming people. "Rosa" is a granddaughter of Rev. Dr. James Abercrombie, whose memory is highly revered in Philadelphia, and indeed throughout the United States, as an Episcopal minister. Her mother, who was a Miss Abercrombie, was beautiful and accomplished, but died early, leaving four little children; and it was then that Rosa's maternal aunt, Mrs. Vertner, adopted her, and was all that an own mother could be. Her early childhood was passed at a beautiful country place near Port Gibson, Miss., called "Burlington," and owned by her adopted father. She loved that home as she has never loved another, "for the attachments of imaginative children to localities are stronger than those formed in after-life." Some idea of her attachment to that lovely spot may be formed by the perusal of her beautiful poem, "My Childhood's Home." When only ten years of age, she was taken to Kentucky for the purpose of completing her education, and the parting from "Burlington" was her first sorrow. She was educated at the seminary of Bishop Smith, at Lexington, Ky.; was married, at the early age of seventeen, to Claude M. Johnson, a gentleman of elegant fortune.

A friend of Rosa from childhood, says: "Rosa was one of the most beautiful women, physically, that I ever knew; her head and face were perfect as a Greek Hebe. She is large and full, with magnificent bust and arms; eyes, real violet-blue; mouth, exquisite, with the reddest lips; and perfect features; her hair, dark-brown, glossy, curling and

waving over a nobly proportioned brow. She is bright, gay, joyous, and perfectly unaffected in manner, full of fun and even practical jokes, and with the merriest laugh." Such was Rosa the girl.

She is a capital housekeeper, good mother, and was a good wife. She was the mother of six children by Mr. Johnson, two of whom have passed from earth, and has three babies by her last marriage, "a lovely band," of which the mother is justly proud; and although losing a large fortune by the war, she is very, very happy.

Alexander Jeffrey, Esq., her husband, is a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, but has resided in the South for fifteen years, and having married a Southern woman, is now identified with the South.

In 1850, under the signature of "Rosa," she became a contributor to the "Louisville Journal," of which Geo. D. Prentice was editor. A great number of her poems appeared in this journal, although from time to time she contributed to the principal literary journals of the country. In 1857, her poems were published in a volume by Ticknor & Fields, Boston, and elicited from the press throughout the country the warmest tributes of praise.

The following pretty complimentary notice of "Poems by Rosa," was written by the lamented hero-poet, Theodore O'Hara : :

"If in the general distribution of blessings, Providence has been impartial, and so bestowed its favors as to equalize the condition of human beings, there are instances in which exceptions seem to occur that utterly overthrow the idea of universal equity. The author of these exquisite lyrical gems furnishes an example in point. Young, beautiful, accomplished, with every enjoyment which health can covet, or admiration afford, or fortune procure, she might have been denied, without injustice, those brilliant gifts which often alleviate the ills of poverty, or light the darkness of misfortune. But Nature, as if to illustrate the munificence of her bounty, and signalize the object of her favor by a prodigality of blessings, has bestowed upon Mrs. Johnson, in addition to great personal beauty, gentleness of disposition, vast fortune, and all the joys of domestic life, the lofty attributes of genius. We have read this volume with the deepest pleasure. There is scarcely a line which does not breathe the inspiration of true poetry. There is no pretension, no straining after effect, no stilted phraseology, seeking in its pompous flow to dignify, by mere word-draping, trivial commonplace impressions, but a genuine outpouring of that exquisite sensibility which gives to the occurrences of daily life the fascination of romance. We have seldom seen developed in a higher degree that subtile power which clothes with a mantle of tenderness and beauty every object which it touches. Memory and imagination mingle

their trophies in the lovely pictures which she paints; and so faultless is the skill with which they are blended, that some of these poems seem an exquisite tissue of interwoven light and shade. The style is easy and glowing, the language chosen with scrupulous taste, or rather not chosen at all, for it seems to be but an atmosphere of the thoughts which it envelopes, - the imagery is striking and appropriate, and always perfect in its analogies; the sentiment tender and noble, reflecting in beautiful harmony the radiance of intellect with the cheering warmth of true womanly feeling.

"Among the poems which specially excited our admiration we may mention 'The Sunset City,' which is one of the most magnificent specimens of descriptive poetry we have ever read. Every line seems to glow with brilliant gems, and over all is thrown a gorgeous emblazonry of fancy which dazzles and deludes the mind by its sparkling splendor. 'The First Eclipse' is a poem in blank verse, of greater length and of much higher order. In it, the author conceives and describes the lofty mission of science, its noble elevation above the commoner pursuits of life, its glorious achievements and rewards, although the instrument by which its triumphs were accomplished may pass unnoted from the memory of men. The crowning jewel of the casket is 'The Frozen Ship.' This beautiful story exhibits the highest order of poetic merit. The argument is most happily conceived, the surroundings are all grouped with perfect propriety, and the gradual evolution of the denouement is most artistically wrought. The piece abounds in graphic, lifelike descriptions, in delicate tenderness of expression and exquisite beauty of sentiment.

"In perusing these poems and contemplating their countless infinity of gems, we lose the power to discriminate in the general and dazzling impression of their brilliancy, like the Chaldee shepherd, who has gazed upon the starry splendors of the firmament till his overpowered vision can distinguish but one unbroken sheen of glory.”

And the following is from a review of the same volume, from another source:

The most superficial observer cannot fail to be struck with the author's exuberance of thought and imagery. In the vitality of her conceptions there are no extravagances either of sense or expression, no strained similitudes, no maudlin raptures. In her choice of subjects and method of treating them, we see everywhere the constitution of the author's mind. Her favorite themes relate to the beautiful and noble, generally bear the impress of personal experience, and always display her wealth of thought and depth of feeling. Nowhere does she excel in the retrospect of ruined hopes and blighted aspirations, of ideals shattered and trusts betrayed, concerning which, of late, so much has been said and sung. On the contrary, the buoy

ancy of her spirit, her elasticity of temperament, and freshness of feeling, are conspicuous throughout the whole of her verse, and throw a peculiar light and grace over her clear and classic productions. However trite the topic, there is nothing commonplace in her diction, or stereotyped in her manner of treating it. Though many of her pieces display an elaborate and careful finish, her unrepressed vigor of imagination repudiates artificial embellishment, and rejecting the meretricious adornments of poetical dilletantism, prefers a concentrated energy of expression, which is never forced and never feeble.

"In emblems of external beauty and truth, 'Rosa' is singularly felicitous. She has an artistic and subtile sympathy with the beautiful in Nature, a pure intelligence of the true mission of Art as its interpreter, together with an elevated purity of taste, which, emanating from her fine instincts, may, perhaps, render some of her pieces too refined to be popular. But in whatever garb she clothes her jewelled fancies, the splendor of her imagination discards the accepted phrases and smooth commonplaces which are too often met with in the pages of elder poets, and which seem to serve no other purpose than to meet the demands of the rhyme.

"With such robustness, yet such susceptibility, such intensity, combined with such mental strength, 'Rosa's' spirited delineations never degenerate into a mere record of inane sentimentalities, or worn-out pathos. She can be emphatic, without becoming turbulent, intense, yet ever calm and healthful, and while her productions everywhere display a rich and varied culture, in all of them we see the mark of spontaneity. Her dominant, impetuous spirit asserts its individuality in each of her glowing effusions, marked as they are by a superb scorn of all meanness, and by the predominating impulses of an ardent, imaginative, high-souled woman. The elegant movement of her verse, marred by no constraint nor artificiality, is a separate excellence which we would not overlook. Her style is adapted to her themes, and varies readily with each of her changing moods. There is about it a captivating abandon which is in happy accordance with her ethereal and playful fancy.

'Not the least characteristic of Rosa's poetry, and one which is eminently distinctive, is its earnestness! She writes it because she must, and from the fount of her inspiration flows a vein of poetry that is never diluted and never exhausted.

“Gifted with a ready and subtile intuition of whatever is exalted, whether in nature or in character, ‘Rosa' never displays her genius to better advantage than when the thesis of her poem is the affection growing out of her several relations of wife, mother, and daughter. Upon these themes she has lavished, with the enthusiasm of a true poet, her beautiful and touching imagery, her fervor of feeling, her electric flashes of imagination, her vivid conceptions, and above all, imbued the very passion of poetry with such a stainless purity of moral purpose, that the reader finds himself involuntarily losing sight of the authoress in his admiration of the woman."

In the Spring of 1864, Mrs. Jeffrey published through Sheldon & Co., New York, a novel entitled "Woodburn," of which there were only two editions printed, and which was not seen in the far South, except by few. We acknowledge to a preference for the poems of "Rosa," although "Woodburn" is a valuable contribution to our literature.

(From the "Louisville Journal.")

"WOODBURN: A Novel. as forthcoming, we said:

Several weeks ago, in announcing this work

"Where its scene is laid, or what its plot is, or who is its hero or heroine, are points upon which the public as yet have received no inkling; but those who are acquainted with the genius and taste of the fair authoress must feel assured, that, in respect to the scene and plot, as well as in all other respects, the production will be brimful of charm. Her legion of admirers feel a world of curiosity respecting the work, but no solicitude. They confide implicitly, as they well may, in her rare and beautiful powers.'

"We are now able to say that this implicit confidence was not misplaced. It has been nobly justified: Woodburn, in respect to the scene and plot, as well as in all other respects, is indeed brimful of charm. In support of this judgment, we beg to adduce the following notice from the Hartford Courant, which is one of many favorable notices that we might cite, and which throws quite as much light on the scene and plot and principal characters, as we think a person who has not read the novel is entitled to receive.

"It is refreshing to meet, in these days of the sensational Braddon-Wood school of fiction, a story possessing so much real ability as "Woodburn." The scenes are, for the most part, laid at the South; and the many fine pictures of its sunny landscapes, with which the book abounds, relieve the intense interest of the story. Most of the characters are drawn with great cleverness, and a few in such clear outlines that we feel assured we have met them in real life. The hero and heroine, Mr. Clifford and Ethel Linton, are fine characters. Both possess the noblest qualities of mind and heart, and the reader will be in love with them from the first. The villain of the story, who bears the harsh-sounding name of Basil Thorn, is a real villain. For unmitigated scoundrelism and remorseless hatred it would be hard to match him. His miserable death in the woods is a relief to us. Rachel Thorn, a sort of Becky Sharp, but without Becky's triumphs, is a powerfully drawn character. One of the best personages in the book is the narrator herself, Amy Percy-bright, shrewd, honest a girl who, disappointed in her first love, does n't believe in breaking her heart therefor. The plot is ably managed, and the secret that hangs about Doctor Foster and the maniac, is so skilfully concealed until the denouement, that it is impossible to guess at it. There is much acuteness displayed in many of the author's reflections and observations. Her style is clear, compact, and animated, and with occa