PERIODICALS 



monthly miscellanies which have now beco the 



forum <if civilisation. Milton. Marvell, and Defoe 

 would all have been regular contributors to our 

 monthly review, if these publications had existed 

 in their time. As they wen- without those con 

 venirncfs of a more complex civ HI-AI ion th.-v were 

 under the neci-wity of publishing .ich of their 



...,....,,... ,,--. , .,- then own n-k. and reij 

 seldom to their own profit. In these as in other 

 department* of human activity the middleman has 

 been found indispensable alike for the profit of the 

 producer and the convenience of consumers. The 

 modem review i- the monthlv market where 

 author- sell their wares, and of late the excessive 

 multiplication of such roarta has led to the pnhlica 

 lion of a kind of clearing-house of periodical litera- 

 ture in the Herinr of Rene** in London and New 

 York, and hi Remit dtt Remit* in Paris. 



The history of periodical literature in the 18th 

 century as usually told in encyclopedias is little 

 letter than a parade of epitaphs from the tomb 

 tone* of defunct reviews. Two notable facts, 

 however, stand out clearly discernible on these 

 sepulchral tablets. The first, the literary position 

 given for the first time to periodical publications 

 ;i-on'- editor>hip of the Hjiertatur, although 

 it was as little of a magazine as it was of a news- 

 sheet ; and the second, the birth of the first monthly 

 magazine of the modern type, when Cave the pub- 

 lisher brought out the lltntlrman's Mm/nzinf in 

 17.11. I If the \\'rrl.ly Memorial* fur the Ingenious, 

 publi-hed for twelve months in 1689, or the Cmtlf- 

 iiviH't Jiiiiriuil i,r Mtmtlily Mijtrrl/iiiii/, which 

 appeared in 1002, nothing need he said. The 

 lirntlrman'i .Wiiiiazmr, after making a fortune for 

 continued to flourish ever since. 

 .-land may claim the honour of having in- 

 : the magazine. Scotland has the unques- 

 tioned right to be regarded as the originator of 

 thr n-view. A new era in jieriodiciil literature 

 dawned when half-a-dozen brilliant voung Scots- 

 men, with the a*si-iance of Sydney Smith and a 

 few ! gifted Southron-, decided to e-tabli-h the 

 Rdib*rgk Review (q.v.i in the Whig interest in 

 IHOS. Their enterprise was rewarded ny an imnic 

 diate and signal success. The wit, the talent, the 

 audacity, and the sheer impudence of the young 

 reviewers startled the limited world of letters from 

 centre to circumference. , in ,| convin. ed the Tories 

 hi DO leas titan seven years that it was indispens. 

 tblr to counter the blue ami yellow organ of 

 militant Whiggrry by a quarterly of unini|>eaeh 

 able orthodoxy. Tim- it was that of the Kilin- 

 Imrgh was born the Qtuirtirly I'l.v.), and the two 

 great quarterlies have held the held ever since as the 

 1 authoritative c\|M>ncnl- of the most re-| t 



able and scholar I v element of the two great parties. 

 The honour of initiative in these matters was not 

 Mined to thr Scottish \\higs. Fifteen years after 

 the Keiil,ryh first msde its appearance ft Scottish 

 poWUHrron UM other side, William lilarkwood by 

 name, achieved fame and fortune by an equally 

 bsppy lrok<- in the publication of' Bhnh00MT4 

 Mayncmr, a half crown monthly which may lx> 

 n-gKidrd as the |*rrnl of the |Hiliticul monthly 

 MOdUny. lUnri-wond was to the Kilinliiirijlt anil 

 ihr (i,,., r t,,l,i what the saucy frigate WHS to the 

 Utely thrw docker. It ap|miml twelve time- a 

 jrW. ajfnin.i their four numl>cr : it was infinitely 

 Ol* varied. It pnbli-h.d ,.. r in| liction. |Kn-trv. 

 PTOM>, and that msrvdlon- \iiipcMium. tin 

 Ambrimana. the swmt of which i-rishl with 

 CbrMopher North. This again ...miH-lled the 

 Owr side to retort bv the publication of monthlie. 

 which are for the nul part n<it only dead, but for 

 gotten The |>oet Campbell did liis best in Col- 

 wnVJfonM/ir. but foradosen ve*r the ascendency 

 of the tracatat tmt Wlliant Maya was undisputed. 



Then in 1830 came Prater a nmga/.iuc which, 

 after many vicis-itudes under many edit' 

 now extinct, while lilaclctcood still Mouii-hes. less 

 brutallv truculent in its Toryism than of >ore, but 

 .-till bright, brilliant, and scholarly. 



The Scottish initiative so remarkably asserted in 

 the Eilinliurtjli among the quarterlies and Jl/ni'l. 

 wood among the monthlies was not exhausted. In 

 1832 Chatubtri* Jonrtinl made it* appearance, 

 marking the commencement of a new and more 

 popular phase of niogazinedom. It was published 

 weekly, but was also issued in monthly part-. 

 More than half a century has passed, and ( '/inm/i- m 

 | is still 'familiar in our mouths a- household word-.' 

 j Cossetl's Family Paper (now known as Cassell's 

 Faintly Magazine) was not started till 18.~>:c. The 

 old J'l-iuitf ttagatint I Is.'f'J). published by the Society 

 for the Diirusion of I'seful Knowledge, deserve- 

 bononrable mention. It was succeeded by the 

 Leisur? llniir in IS.VJ, still one of the best illus 

 trateil si\|>eiinies, published by the Religions Tract 

 Society. Charles Dickens founded HoMtelutld 

 Words in 1850, and All the Year Hound iu J859. 



In 1859 Macmillan again a Scot published the 



1 first shilling magazine. This new departure was 



1 rapidly followed by the publication of the torn/till, 



under the editorship of Thackeray, which at once 



achieved a phenomenal success ; of Ti ////./< linr, 



edited by George Augustus Sala : and of London 



Society, which has always relied chiefly upon fiction 



for ito circulation. 



In 1865 George Henry Lewes founded the Fort- 

 night!;/ Hii-ini-. an avowed imitation of the Revile 

 !/* I ! nr Miiiii/cx. It was started as a medium for 

 the discussion of 'subject* which interest cultivated 

 and thoughtful readers,' and it was to be published 

 at intervals 'neither too distant for influence on 

 passing questions, nor too brief for deliberation. 

 Sir I^evves was soon succeeded by Mr John Morley. 

 who, in the sixteen years during which he WM editor, 

 gave a distinctive character to the new periodical 



literature of -time. The success of the h'nrtni<ilitl ;i 



led to the publication of the <'ii>itiiii/mi-nrii ( ISIilil. 

 with a bias a- pronounced in favour of Christianity 

 as the Fortnightly was biassed in favour of Agnos- 

 ticism. This again was followed eleven %e:n 

 by the publication of the A" itirti nitli I 'iiiti/n/. a mis- 

 cellany entirely free from editorial bias of any Kind. 

 These three reviews have a practical monopoly of the 



field. They have as neighbour! or ) r relations 



they can hardly 1 described a- either rival- or 

 oompetiton the Xntinnal Uenetp ( 1883), which i- 

 C'onservative; and the Westminster, which, origin 

 ally founded in 1824 as a quarterly, was converted 

 in ISH7 into a monthlv, while still remaining tine 

 to it- original philosophical Itadical principles. 

 All these arc iiiiblished at half a crown. Most of 

 them publish fKith signed and unsigned ai tieles 

 the JatHtteuUk iV//rjy alone ha.- consistently 

 icfnscd to insert any article not signed bv the real 

 name of the author. The circulation of the .\in< - 

 ti:nth Crittiti-i/ in the highest. It is the only half- 

 clown review with more than I'J.OOO subset ilicrs. 



In 1850 the Minithl,/ l',i.-ht was founded by 

 Miss Youge ; it is written for young girls. 

 Another < 'lunch of Knglaud shilling maga/inc was 

 rl,rri/ liiiiM' Miii/iir.im-, issued from I SMI 

 to is'.M. Similar wns the Miiixfrr, a si\|>cmiy, 

 founded ill 1S1I4. In IH(kl I;,,,M! ]\',,nlx. founded 

 by Mi Sliahan, under the ediloiship of Ih 

 N'orman Maclcod, achiev<il so great a sn 

 as a sixpenny monthly, that it was followed in 

 I8ft4 by the publication of the Sniiilnii Mu<i" 

 i-dited bv l)r Gulhrie. The prosperity of the sis 

 pennies led to the extinction of some of the older 

 magazines. The English ft/ii.itratftt .!/ 

 started in 1883, has repeatedly changed ite manage- 

 ment. In 1HH-2 l.niiijiiiun't made its appearance at 



