modern instances of so-called successful men, leaving their families in want-not that they were spendthrifts, but simply on account of the miserable pittance which is the wage even of prosperous writers. Ellesmere, in "Friends in Council," did not exaggerate the experience of many clever men now wandering about the streets of London: "Authorship is the last trade I should think of taking up. Sooner would I elect to be one of those men who carry advertising boards, like tabards, before and behind them This would be very superior to making a living by literature." Milverton agreed with Ellesmere, and it would not be difficult to point out scores of dead and living illustrations of all that can be said against any man selecting literature as a profession with the hope of substantial pecuniary reward. The people of England who buy newspapers and magazines do not pay for the paper and printing, let alone the authors' fees. In these enlightened days, when kings and queens even enter the literary lists with scholars and shoemakers, periodicals and newspapers have actually to be sold at a loss. It is the tradesman and the shopkeeper, the merchant, the financier-in short, the advertiser, who pays for the current literature of the day. It is the great pillman, the starchmaker, the cocoa dealer, the jeweller, the insurance agent, the company monger, who present palace and cottage with their periodical literature, with their daily journals, their religious magazines, their literary papers; and this is the danger which threatens the independence of British journalism. It was not so in the early days of newspapers ; it was not so when Mr. Cave first introduced SYLVANUS URBAN to the world. Journalists then had value for their broadsheets, and with all one's respect and admiration for the press of England, it must be admitted that the age of cheap journalism has not tended to strengthen the impartiality of general newspaper criticism. There are many changes-most of them for the better, it must be confessed-since my ancient predecessor wrote his Preface in 1752, wherein he says, referring to his cleverest and best contributors,— "Much the greater part of them conceal themselves with such secrecy, that we correspond with them by the Magazine, and can make no other than this public acknowledgment for favours, which are equally the support and honour of our collection." What an enviable state of things! How vastly surprised would the writer be if he could return to editorial duties in the present day for only a week. I feel sure he would soon desire to go back to the Shades. Apart from the troubles hinted at in the early part of this article, one encounter with the semi-professional gentleman who insists on seeing you, talks to you of good subjects for articles, and then swears you commissioned them, and threatens all sorts of legal proceedings if you do not print them and pay for them whether you print them or not, would settle him. He would surely curse the degeneracy of the age, sigh for the good old times (though they were bad old times in many respects), and be glad to leave the new series of the Gentleman's Magazine in the hands of the shilling editor. I feel that I owe an apology to many of my readers for devoting so much space to what may seem mere personal matter. Perhaps they may forgive me on the ground that, at all events, this preface is outside the ordinary and established groove. If it induces any young man or woman to pause before adopting literature as a profession, it is worth the printing. In these days, when everybody is to be educated, and looking to a future in which a scholar will be the rule and not the exception, I fear authorship must come more and more to be considered as the luxury of those who can afford to disregard its pecuniary rewards; more of a mere help than a crutch; a thing to be proud of for its fame, but not to live upon, more especially in an age of wealth and luxury, when successful business men make fortunes without apparent effort, while the littérateur struggles miserably and in vain to keep up as good an appearance as the rich who patronise him. Of course these words will not discourage the child of genius burning to use his God-gifted powers; and I would be the last to stay his hand. Nevertheless, I warn him; for what can he expect when he counts upon his fingers the most successful of our authors, and carefully studies their most popular books? I commend this present volume of the oldest of all magazines to the friendly criticism of its numerous readers. In the new volume upon which we are now entering I hope to introduce to their notice, in addition to the general attractions of the work, some hitherto unpublished correspondence of Charles Lamb, arranged in the shape of an article by an authoress of distinction; and also some interesting ⚫ biographical notes of the early life of the late Napoleon III., translated from the private diary of a Prussian lady, by the Countess of Harrington. A new novel will follow the short tale, "Making the Worst of it"; "Clytie" will run, I hope, through another volume; the "Life in London" sketches will be continued; and I have, in addition, arranged for the publication of many important and interesting papers in the several departments of history, biography, sports and pastimes, literature, the drama, and society, from the pens of writers accustomed to treat such subjects ably, thoughtfully, and with authority. JOSEPH HATTON. CONTENTS. 219 Buonaparte, The Majorcan Origin of the Family of. By JOHN LEIGHTON, Capital and Labour. An Inquiry into the Law of Conspiracy and the Charles I. A Letter from a Citizen of Another World, to Sylvanus . Urban, Gentleman, of London Cleveland: Royalist, Wit, and Poet. By EDWIN GOADBY Clytie. A Novel of Modern Life. By JOSEPH HATTON :- 144 424 205 237 Isles of the Amazons. By JOAQUIN MILLER. Part V. . Leaves from a Lost Diary. By M. BETHAM-EDWARDS, author of " 'Kitty," L'Empereur est Mort. By the Earl of WINCHILSEA AND NOTTINGHAM Life in a Carriage and a Cart. By "OCTOGENARIAN "Lion King," Three Months with a 479 702 IV.-Forecasting. By RICHARD GOWING . V.-The First Night of the Session. By EDWARD LEGGE VII.-Circles of Society. By SIDNEY L. BLANCHARD . London to the Rocky Mountains, From Love and Death. By G. H. J. My Own Room. A Reverie, in Two Parts. By the Rev. J. GORLE Pointer and Setter Field Trials. By "SIRIUS" Poland, A Voice from. Ostrolenka. By the Earl of RAVENSWORTH "Poor Topsy." By "PATHFINDER " Potter of Tours, The. By GEORGE SMITH Press, The Irish. By T. F. O'DONNELL By CHARLES BRADLAUGH Republican Impeachment, The. {BY JOHN BAKER HOPKINS Smithfield Club Show, The. By "RUSTICUS" Sporting Guns, Smokeless Explosives for. By CADWALLADER WADDY 157 306 392 Chap. XLII.-Of certain Emigrants on Board the Hesperus, and concern- 94 98 mation. Table Talk. By SYLVANUS URBAN, Gentleman 109, 231, 358, 482, 608, 726 Tennyson's Last Idyll. A Study. By the Rev. Dr. LEARY, D.C.L. |