342 



CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



Provincial Skeiclws. By the Author of '* The Usurers Daughter/' 

 " The Puritan's Grave," &c., &c., &c. London : Churton. 



{Continued from our last Number.) 



Brief as we must necessarily be, we yet contrive to redeem our 

 promise of hist month by reverting once more to the contents of 

 this amusing volume. 



Under the head " Country Newspapers" the facetious Author 

 has concocted an article which, whether correct or not in its out- 

 line. Proprietors and Editors can best explain, but it is altogether 

 of so ludicrous a complexion, that our readers perhaps will not 

 be displeased to descend for a few seconds from the lofty pin- 

 nacle of science to smile at the whimsical manner in which the 

 important business of Newspaper Editorship is treated by this 

 disciple of the laughter-loving philosopher. 



'* Country newspapers are curiosities, not for their rarity, for they 

 abound and super-abound ; but for the peculiarity of their literary cha- 

 racter. The English language in a country newspaper bears the same 

 relation to the English language in general, as a rustic in his Sunday 

 clothes bears to the general population of any large town or city. There 

 are varieties of style, yet there is a oneness of character in it. The 

 language of the editor differs from the language of his correspondents, 

 and the original and local matter differs also from the extracts made from 

 the London papers. But we shall be best able to speak of so compre- 

 hensive and complex a matter as a country newspaper, by taking up the 

 matter analytically and viewing the several parts distinctly. A country 

 newspaper is composed of various elements : firstly, of extracts from the 

 London papers ; — secondly, of local intelligence ; — thirdly, of the editor's 

 leading article ; fourthly, of literary criticism ; — and fifthly, of original 

 correspondence — and very original that is. 



** In the first place then, let us speak of the extracts from the London 

 papers. People in the country like to know what is going on in London, 

 and the editors of country papers generally give their readers a conden- 

 sation of intelligence under the title of multum in parvo. This is a kind 

 of Hamiltonian system of conveying the greatest possible degree of intel- 

 ligence in the smallest possible number of words, so that one paragraph 

 is made to do the work of twenty. For instance. ** On Monday last 

 his Majesty dined with the Duke of Wellington. — Ducks are selling in 

 Leadenhall Market at four shillings the pair. — The Siamese ambassador 

 wore a yellow coat at Lady B — 's rout. — It is Lady C. and not Lady D. 

 who has eloped with Lord F. — An affair of honour took place between 

 two journeymen pastrycooks of the New Cut ; the parties met at the 

 back of Bethlehem Hospital and after firing two rounds of blank cart- 

 ridge, the seconds interfered to prevent farther bloodshed. The cause of 

 the quarrel is supposed to have been a dispute about the weight of a 

 twopenny loaf. — ^There is no truth in the report that the Dowager Duchess 

 of Horaleydown is about to bestow her hand on General Fitzhigginbo- 



