jl PREFACE TO THE EIGHTH VOLUME. 



The Theatres ; the Proceedings of Scientific Societies, abroad and at 

 home; and the general progress of knowledge. Public Events, Com- 

 merce, and Society, have been made a regular and important feature. 

 Our reviews of new publications have been conducted in a spirit which 

 may bear comparison with that of performances of much higher preten- 

 sion, and comprehend all the prominent literature of the day. Of their 

 ability we must, of course, leave the public to judge ; yet to their fair- 

 ness, sincerity, and diligence, we challenge public examination. 



But the characteristic of our work, that principle on which we are 

 most inclined to establish our stand in public opinion, is impartiality. 

 We absolutely are free, in the clearest sense of the word. Having no 

 obligation to any of the influential bodies of the state, and seldom think- 

 ing of public men, on either side of the legislature, but with astonish- 

 ment and regret at the splendid opportunities of public good which they 

 fling away in the heat of party ; or at the depth of national scorn which 

 they defy in the rage of avarice and ambition ; we follow none. We 

 speak the truth of all. Our opportunities often supply us with peculiar 

 means of ascertaining where the truth is to be found ; our mere location 

 in tlie metropolis, the very head-quarters of all that is active in general 

 life, of the new, the strange, and the important ; the spot to which every 

 man of research comes, from eveiy corner of the earth ; the scene of the 

 chief workings of the popular mind ; and of those councils by which 

 every empire of the globe is, in its measure, influenced ; gives an incal- 

 culable advantage in point at once of truth and promptitude. 



In the career which we have thus commenced, we shall proceed. If 

 we could feel no other stimulant than public favour, of that we have had 

 sufficient to urge us to persevere ; for, in this point The Monthly 

 Magazine has made, even since the commencement of the year, a very 

 remarkable progress. But the chief source of our gratification in this 

 pati'onage is its proof, that the public mind is with us on the great ques- 

 tions which we have conscientiously endeavoured to uphold ; that there 

 is a sincere and unpolluted spirit stiU alive in the nation ; and that, 

 whoever speaks the truth out of a sound heart, according to the wisdom 

 of the old fathers of English freedom and virtue, will find an echo in the 

 general bosom of the land. 



