The latter have been described above, but their light-foot Mercuries (their errand-boys) must not be passed unnoticed. We have an affection for the little creature, who, be it storm or sunshine, rain or snow, duly brings our newspaper at breakfast-time. It would be a hard heart indeed that could grudge him his Christmas-box annually petitioned for in verse from the Catnach mint. Charles Lamb has celebrated an annual dinner given in days of old to the chimneysweeps. Had he lived till this time he might have recorded-as he only couldthe annual dinner of the newsvenders' boys. But as such blazon may not be, let us take the account of their last festival, evidently from the pen of some precocious imp of the tribe. We sorely suspect our own juvenile, whom we have more than once caught, on returning from an early walk through the green-lanes in our neighbourhood, taking a furtive glance at the columns of our newspaper, totally regardless of the plight we should have been in had the tea and toast been ready before it arrived.

"The newsvenders' servants' anniversary dinner, which is given by the proprietors of the London papers to the newsvenders and their servants, took place yesterday at Highbury Barn Tavern, and was very numerously attended by the class for whom it was more particularly intended, and their wives. The dinner, or rather series of dinners-for there were two, not to mention a tolerably solid supper at eight o'clock, for those whose engagements prevented their earlier attendance,—was plain and substantial, and was duly honoured by the guests, whose style of dealing with the viands set before them would seem to prove that the calling of a newsman is by no means a hindrance to the possession of a remarkably sound and vigorous appetite. Indeed we have seldom seen more able performers than the lads who partook of the first dinner at one o'clock; meat-pies, pudding, and drink vanished with inconceivable celerity, and the cry was still for more. At last the young folks were satisfied, and their elder brethren and their families then partook of the second dinner at three o'clock, which being finished, the chairman rose and proposed successively the Queen,' 'Prince Albert,' and the Proprietors of the London Newspapers,' all which toasts were drunk with the most vociferous applause. After rising from the table the company proceeded to amuse themselves in the grounds till nine o'clock, when the ball, which usually succeeds these festivities, being opened under the able direction of that skilful but eccentric master of the ceremonies, dancing-master Wilson, the ladies and gentlemen present commenced dancing, which they kept up with great spirit long after we were compelled to depart. The festivities of the day were well conducted by Mr. Wylde, the chairman, assisted by the stewards, and seemed to give general satisfaction; and the company, though abundantly uproarious, appeared to enjoy themselves greatly after their own way. To the credit of the party it should be observed, that out of nearly five hundred individuals, young and old, who were present, we did not see one tipsy man or woman."

It is a more delicate matter dealing with the character and position of the literary labourers in the newspaper vineyard. They wield goose-quills too, and are noways slow to betake themselves to their tools, either in attack or defence. A great deal of melancholy cant has of late been vented about the social estimation of journalists as below their deserts. The intellectual character of British journalists, too, it has been said by those who ought to know better, is

inferior to the French. Neither assertion is true. The cry about the degraded status of journalists has been got up by a knot of kid-glove democrats, who wish to be pets of the saloons, as some French journalists are. The prestige which attaches to the literary character in France, and to writers in journals along with the rest, cannot be expected here. In England a man takes his place in public esteem, not on the strength of his profession, but of his personal character-and may this long be the case. No one need expect to find here a company awed into respect by the announcement that he is Mr. editor of the , but neither need he fear, if his conduct is what it ought to be, that the announcement will make him less regarded. Journalists may command, and do, and have commanded, as much respect in this country as members of any other profession. As to the alleged superiority of the French newspaper press, it is, in respect of news, both as concerns quantity and quality, decidedly inferior to the English; and, without any wish to undervalue the high talents dedicated to journalism in France, there have been, and are, talents quite as high embarked in the profession in London. That the character of mercantile speculation preponderates in our newspapers is, in so far as politics are concerned, rather an advantage than the contrary. The fears of proprietors put a check upon such crude and rash speculations as distinguished the French Globe' in the days of its St. Simonianism. There may be less of the parade of scientific inquiry in English journals, but there is more of practical statesmanship. The men who are trained to political controversy in association with the party-leaders of their day, and the most active members of the great mercantile interests, are trained in a better school than sentimental and imaginative belle-lettrists, like Lamartine and De Tocqueville.

Within our limits it would be impossible to sketch the characters of 139 newspapers, and a bare list of their names would be tedious. All that can be done is to group them in classes, indicating the peculiarities of each class by a few of the more prominent individuals belonging to it. The daily papers are a class by themselves. They are in the news department less narrators of events than mirrors of the transactions themselves. The full, almost verbatim, reports of speechifying meetings, the long collections of protocols and other official documents, are given with a conscientious fidelity that renders these papers sometimes almost as tiresome as the facts they chronicle. There was a time when the newspapers were not allowed to report the proceedings of Parliament, and then they must have been deficient in a very interesting feature. But the fidelity with which the debates in Parliament are now reported has become wearisome. The public has been surfeited with Parliamentary eloquence. To wade through these interminable columns, a man would require to have no other avocation. So strongly is this felt, that all the daily papers are now in the habit of giving, along with their full Parliamentary report (which is intended probably as a matter of record or a pièce justificatif), an abstract of it in the editorial columnand few readers, we suspect, venture upon any more. Each of the leading daily papers has a strongly-marked spirit of individuality, impressed upon it in some instances by the first projector, and retained through many changes of proprietorship and editorship. The Times' is right John Bull; always vigorous and vehement, sometimes to a degree ludicrously disproportioned to the subject of dis

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cussion. Shrewd and energetic, it is borné in the last degree when any question comes to be discussed in which the insular prejudices of England come into play. The Standard' is marked by clear logic, strong prepossessions, and a high gentlemanly tone. It is the paper of a ripe scholar, and withal somewhat of a recluse. The Globe' is characterized by a diplomatic retenue and the natural easy tone of a man of the world. This it inherits from a former editor: the present writers have caught up his mantle, but a flippancy at times breaks out which contrasts disagreeably with the usual tone of the paper. The Post' is apt to be looked upon as a mere fashionable paper: this is a mistake-there is much vigorous writing and unconventional thought, both in the literary and political departments. The Chronicle' and 'Herald' are undergoing a transmutation, so that we rather conjecture what they are to be than know what they are: the latter is improving in vigour and variety.

The London weekly papers are literary, or political, or sporting, or fashionable, or agricultural, or commercial, or blackguard. To these may be added class papers.

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There are only two exclusively literary papers: the Athenæum' and the 'Literary Gazette.' The leading political weekly papers are the 'Spectator,' 'Examiner,' John Bull,' Weekly Dispatch,' and Weekly Chronicle.' The circulation of these papers, according to the latest stamp returns, is—of the 'Spectator, 3850; of the Examiner,' 6312; of the John Bull,' 3750; of the Weekly Dispatch,' 66,666; and of the Weekly Chronicle,' 17,083. The Weekly Chronicle' and the Examiner' represent the opinions of two sections of the middle-class liberals; the Dispatch' is affected by the hard-headed artisans; the John Bull' is still nominally the representative of the class which yet glories in the designation of Tory, though its real rank is rendered questionable by the rising conservative journal the Britannia.' Bell's Life in London' is the only exclusively sporting paper. It is a goodly mass of small type, recording all feats in racing, hunting, boating, coursing, cricketing, and, in short, every ing that flourishes in the fields of merry England. The Sunday Times,' however, supplies its readers with a fair proportion of sporting intelligence. The 'Era,' a paper of only a few years' standing, is looked up to by some sporting characters as a fair record of the events of the turf. The circulation of Bell's Life' is 18,750; of the Sunday Times,' 21,666; of the Era,' 4958. The so-called fashionable papers are the Court Journal' (1491), and Court Gazette (666): they are patronised by the same class that patronised the fashionable novels in their day. Foremost among the agricultural papers stands one of the oldest London papers, the 'Old Bell's Messenger.' This journal has for forty years been considered, par excellence, the farmers' journal: 17,333 copies circulate almost exclusively among the farmers. The Mark Lane Express' is rather the journal of the corn-factors than of the agriculturists: 4500 are circulated weekly among the frequenters of corn-markets. The commercial journals are the Journal of Commerce,' and the Mercantile Journal' (both excellent papers in their way), with a whole host of Prices Current,' Trade Lists,' ' Circulars,' &c. &c. Almost every class and profession have now their special journals: soldiers and sailors have their Military and Naval Gazette,' and United Service Gazette;' the gardeners have a 'Gazette' and a Chronicle;' the lawyers have their 'Jurist;' and the justices

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of the peace a paper which takes their name; speculators in steam and railways have the Railway Times;' the colonial interest has its Colonial Gazette;' and some colonies (as for example New Zealand) have journals of their own published in London. Every sect in religion almost has its newspaper :-the evangelical churchmen have their Record;' the high-churchmen their Church Intelligencer;' the ruling body of the Dissenters their Patriot;' and their opposition the Nonconformist: one section of the Wesleyans patronise the Watchman;' another the Wesleyan Chronicle;' and our Roman Catholic brethren have their Tablet. Perhaps the blackguard papers above alluded to may be named as class papers, and the best way to put a stop to them may be to mark down as blackguards all their supporters. The Illustrated Newspapers' are a recent invention. The novelty of the speculation insured them a large circulation at first, and they still in part retain it; though some old experienced traders shake their heads, and "much question whether one illustrated paper will exist three years longer.",

THIS Once-flourishing and influential Society has been so long reposing beneath the shadow of its laurels, that now, when it arouses itself to renewed vigour and action, it must not be surprised to find its very existence, much more its services, forgotten, and that its greeting with the public generally will be at first little else than a repetition of the remark and question: "The Society of Arts !-what Society is that?" There may be something mortifying in this, but it cannot be helped, that is one consolation; another may be found in the respectable antiquity of the custom of forgetting what is no longer of service to us. "There's hope," says Hamlet, in a passage applying with still greater force to societies than to individuals, "a great man's memory may outlive his life half a year: but, by 'r lady, he must build churches then." Now, if there had been any alternative but the building of churches, this Society must have been remembered for at least its half year of lifelessness or inaction, so many, so various, and so important are the good things it has done for the development and promotion of the arts, manufactures, and commerce of England. To this Society some of our 2 A

VOL. V.