1832.] [ 39 ] 



XEW YEAR'S HINTS roit THE MANAGEMENT OF THE MAGAZINE. 



IN A PRIVATE LETTER TO THE EDITOR. 



WHEN you parted from me on the steps of the Albion in Aldersgate 

 Street, to attend the splendid dinner given by Mr. Alaric Watts on his 

 being appointed sub-editor of your justly-admired, widely-circulated, 

 &c. magazine,* you reiterated a request you had before made, that I 

 would send you something lively for your January number, adding, 

 that you were fortunate enough to possess the assistance of more than 

 twenty contributors, who were of great weight in the literary world. 

 Of the weight of the papers with which these gentlemen may favour 

 you, I entertain not the least doubt ; for my own part, I am too busily 

 engaged at present in the composition of my Lives of the Pick- 

 pockets, for the Library of Useful Knowledge, to be able to devote much 

 time to your assistance ; but I cannot allow the opportunity to escape 

 me of offering you a few hints for the management of your magazine, 

 which an experience of some years has particularly suggested to me. 

 You may remember the Hints from a Veteran Contributor, that ap- 

 peared some years ago in a periodical which has been long gathered to 

 its fathers : they did not, however, at all touch upon that branch of the 

 subject to which I propose most especially to call your attention. For 

 the better understanding of these hints, it may be advisable to arrange 

 them under six distinct heads ; and, in the first place, I would say a few 

 words respecting your conduct as editor. 



Hint the First. In lifting " the banner of a new periodical," to bor- 

 row Mr. Diike's phrase in the Athenaeum, or in commencing a new 

 year with an established one, you will, of course, perceive the impera- 

 tive necessity of exerting those conciliatory manners for which, among 

 your friends, you are so celebrated. Enemies, of course, you will meet with 

 in abundance, but your chief perils will arise from your friends. Maga- 

 zine friendship is nothing but a species of coin current in the literary 

 world, and given in exchange for a bank note, or a draft on Drum- 

 mond's. 



But this subject will be treated of under the head of Contributors. 



I have not seen .your prospectus, and am not certain if you intend 

 issuing one ; it is, however, a matter of much import, and deserving of 

 your serious consideration. Mr. Taylor, the lamented Editor of the 

 London Magazine, was the most graceful writer of an address to the 

 public I ever remember. Whatever the staple of your prospectus may 

 be, you must on no account omit the reiteration of two things, viz. 

 that you are "perfectly unbiassed by any bookselling influence/' and 

 that te your work has been established solely with a view of promoting 

 the interests and well-being of literature." I never yet heard of an 

 editor (and I have known many) who admitted the image of " dirty 

 lucre" to come between him and his patriotism, at least in public. The 

 public has ever been, and continues to be, as you are, I doubt not, well 

 aware, remarkable for the willing ear it turns to every kind of plea- 

 santly-conveyed deception. You will find the press, generally, a very 

 serviceable ally ; and this leads me to 



* Our friend and contributor has committed some strange mistake - however, 

 we have no time for alterations. Mr. Watts is not the sub-editor of this journal ; 

 on the contrary, our coadjutor happens to be a gentleman universally esteemed, 

 and quite remarkable for liis equanimity of temper. [Ed. 



