73 



CHAPTER XXI. 

 LITERARY JOURNALS. 



In the former part of the seventeenth century, 

 " it was a consolation, at least for the unsuccess- 

 ful writer, that he fell insensibly into oblivion. If 

 he committed the private folly of printing what 

 no one would purchase, he had only to settle the 

 matter with his publisher : he was not arraigned 

 at tire public tribunal, as if he had committed a 

 crime of magnitude *." But in the latter part of 

 that century, Periodical Criticism began to bran- 

 dish its formidable weapon, and those who under- 

 took to write for the public were placed in a new 

 situation. Publications made at stated intervals, 

 giving accounts and abstracts of new books, and 

 announcing new discoveries and improvements 

 in science, then took their rise, and have been 

 ever since continued. The eighteenth century is 

 chiefly remarkable for an increase of their num- 

 ber, for various changes in their form and charac^ 

 ter, for their more general circulation, and for a 

 corresponding extension of their influence on the 

 taste and opinions of the public. 



The flrst work of this kind ever undertaken 

 was the Journal des Scavans, published at Paris, 



* Curiosities of Literature, vol. i, p. i^ 



