can no more retain or recall the charm of novelty for his subjects than the milliner can prolong the charm of youth. It is not only news, properly so called, which will not keep longer than mackarel: nine-tenths of the other things out of which a newspaper is composed, are merely a kind of surrounding atmosphere, necessary indeed to carry on respiration, and to paint the 'clouds which beautify our days,' but fit for nothing farther. Classical works will be made from such materials when lasting statues are made from ice that melts in the sculptor's hands. The experiment has been tried by as great artists in this line as the world will probably ever see. But to create a permanent interest in temporary topics has surpassed the logic and pleasantry of Pascal, Paul Courier, and Swift. It is a humbling reflection for politicians to think how soon affairs and persons, once the absorbing object of national excitement, pass away-and how often pass away to be utterly forgotten! A few sands fall from the hour-glass which Time is holding in that stern motionless hand, and all is over!

'Hi motus animorum atque hæc certamina tanta
Pulveris exigui jactu compressa quiescunt.'

Different styles of composition are best adapted for different purposes. That which a newspaper writer will find most popular and effective, may be perhaps an additional obstacle in the way of his ultimate reputation. He has to debate in writing. What is wanted of him are the ready arts and talents which that intellectual wrestling-match requires. To be close, personal, and contentious,—to be quick, antithetical, and dramatic,—is on this occasion worth all the refined philosophy and generalized wisdom in the world. When Burke rose in the House of Commons, members crept away to dine. When Pitt or Fox got up, they rushed back from their dinners to their seats. Yet before the generation which so treated them was in its grave, the speeches of Burke had already a thousand readers where the best reported speeches of Pitt or Fox had one! These intellectual distinctions are grounded originally, no doubt, in nature; but they are also undoubtedly multiplied and confirmed by the narrow habits which grow out of the division of labour and favourite pursuits exclusively indulged. The great object of forensic eloquence is the verdict; of Parliamentary eloquence, the vote; of newspaper eloquence, the morning's sale. In comparison, wider views of contemporary celebrity and influence are little thought of; posthumous immortality, not at all. It often happens that a more striking effect may be produced for a short time by cheap and coarse colours. When the work to be done consists of a

rapid succession of electrical effects, and where the canvass may have to be painted over again before the colours are well dry, we may easily guess what the colours are which will usually be laid on. If the matter in hand can be as well done, not to say better, in this light and fugitive manner, critical spectators are not entitled to complain, either for themselves or for posterity. The most that can be expected of persons engaged in the practical business of life is, that when they can reconcile the wants of the present and the future, they will attend to both. When that is impossible, every successive day of course works up its own materials in the way that best may suit itself. And reason requires all who come after, to be satisfied with their share in the practical result of the labours of their predecessors; although they should not be able to derive either instruction or pleasure from a literary study of the means which have been used.

Whatever are the unavoidable conditions in manner as well as matter to which a writer for the daily press is subjected, the public have no choice but to submit. Besides this, there is a farther allowance to be made on account of the circumstances in which he is obliged to execute his task. He is under a constant engagement to write against time; and has to be prepared every four-and-twenty hours with a decisive judgment upon almost all subjects. In as many subjects as demand leisure to collect one's thoughts, patience to master their details, study to comprehend their principles, removal to a little distance in order to take a full view of the whole case, and to get free from the passions and prejudices which surround it,—such a writer is very unfavourably situated for truth. If at all times it is more easy and agreeable to amuse or to excite than to instruct in this profession, frequently room is scarcely left for the alternative. The circumstances are so imperative and controlling, that the character which could always retain its superiority over them is probably nowhere to be found; and certainly is one which will have got into this literary engagement by accident only, and will take the earliest opportunity to get out. We give the youthful editor of a newspaper full credit for beginning with the resolution of being a prudent guide. He must soon find it all but impossible to resist the painful necessity of his position; he will probably end by becoming, in spite of himself, a caricaturist, a dogmatist, or a declaimer. These instances are, to this extent, instances of necessary victims, carrying on an unwholesome occupation, to gratify the wants of a luxurious society. There are books on the maladies, moral and intellectual, incident to authors. This peculiar species of authorship has, in addition, from the very nature of the case, peculiar infirmities of its own. Arising out of the case itself, they can never be entirely

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overcome. The more credit, therefore, is due to those who succeed in reducing their number within the smallest compass, and in mitigating their severity.

Among the external characteristics of occasional literature, and of newspapers more than any other, inasmuch as they are more slight and transitory than any other, the most striking is its complete dependence upon its contemporary public. It is not only that its influence is bounded by it, that it looks to it alone for praise or censure, that it depends on it for its existence, according to the principle by which the nature of the supply is determined by the nature of the demand. In its substance and spirit a newspaper strictly represents the population to which it belongs. Its being and life-blood are derived from them, and were originally and previously theirs. Indeed, its whole life is only (except by accident and for a short period) an anticipation of the opinions and feelings of the classes among which it circulates; and an off-hand application, with more or less success, of their own doctrines and persuasions to this or that occasion as it arises. It is the prerogative of genius to stand upon the mountaintops, to foretell and salute the coming dawn. It can do more. It creates the light by which it is itself to be in due time beheld, and understood and worshipped. On the contrary, the working talents of a country which are derived out of, and identified with its immediate interests, rise but little, if at all, above the surrounding level. They have no light of their own; but reflect what they borrow. They pay back the advantages of which they have had the use, with legal interest, and nothing more. What means or inducement has the proprietor of a newspaper to consult the next generation, more than the proprietor of a theatre? The productions of the market gardener are not so completely 'annuals.' Besides, they only follow the taste and fancy of the consumer. They are not, as it were, a part of himself. In this case, therefore, the first thing to be done towards raising the character of the periodical press of any nation is, to raise the moral and intellectual character of the nation itself. For this we must rely upon a system of national education, going, both in extent and quality, much farther than any thing which we have yet attempted. Mr Hume is right in saying, that, with a better educated people, the journals of the Tory-Radicals would never have succeeded in inflaming any respectable portion of the lower orders against the new poor-law. He might have said more. With a welleducated people they would never have dared to make the wicked experiment how far the understandings of the poor can be mystified upon their best interests, and their passions excited against their most faithful friends. We have a consolation in knowing, that,

to judge by the sale, the maintenance by a newspaper of extravagant opinions is in general far from being a recommendation with any, the lowest class.

Under a free and cheap press, newspapers are perhaps the best representative, at any given time, of the real moral and intellectual state of the greater part of a population. They may have much, to be sure, among themselves, that never gets there; but all that gets there they will have. It is not on a few classical works that the reputation of a country in literature, any more than in architecture, ought to stand. These may represent a glory which has entirely passed away; or the accomplishments and enjoyments of so small a minority of its inhabitants as to he scarce worth mentioning in comparison of the whole. In both cases, the only adequate standard, at any given period, would be the style of its popular writings, and of its domestic buildings. Madame de Staël was paradoxical enough to imagine that a coarse drama and a pure audience was a natural combination. It is a mistake which neither she nor any one else could have committed, when reasoning from the comparative sense, honesty, and decency of newspapers, to the comparative sense, honesty, and decency to be found in their respective readers. Newspapers there must be, and more and more of them. As long as the community is broken up and banded into parties, the black stripe of party prejudice must be stamped upon nearly all their borders. But the vices of party writings, like all other offences of the public press, admit of every variety of degree. The question whether Government will contribute its part towards their reformation, is, in other words, the same question as whether the general standard of education is to be improved. This is the only superintendence to which a government should aspire. It is worth all the licensing and stamp-duties in the world. To complain that any considerable portion of the public press is below what it ought to be, that scandal and slander are attractive qualities in a journal, with too many of the rich,-exaggeration and violence, with too many of the poor,-is to complain, that the tastes and propensities of too many of their fellow-citizens have been left in a condition of which the respectable members of the community have good reason to be ashamed.

The peculiarities by which this description of literature is distinguished from others must be taken into consideration, and equitably and charitably allowed for, before we come to that part of the case, for which the writers themselves are in any way personally responsible. The causes by which the matter and the manner, as well as the occasion and the circumstances of their publications are determined, are independent of them, and are for

the most part beyond their control. Whatever influence newspapers may ultimately exercise, the journalists of any single year have full as little power over the moral and intellectual character of their contemporary public. All that the guardians of civilisation are entitled thus far to expect from them is thisthat they do not make these evils worse than they necessarily are. On the contrary, they should keep every disadvantage down to its lowest term; and avail themselves of all reasonable opportunities to justify, by the nature of their writings, and by their individual qualifications, the splendid titles so freely promised to them by others, and by themselves. They are already considered by many public instructors as a new power to the state. The claim thus set up in their behalf is countenanced to a great degree by appearances, and, to some degree, by the fact. But it is to the 'all hail hereafter' that their more judicious friends are looking. If, however, there be only a shadow of truth in the supposition, it will equally follow, that the talents and character of the individuals by whom our pulpits are to be superseded, and our legislatures to be led, should bear, if possible, some proportion to the dignity of the office. Romantic recommendations are very unlikely to be tried, and if tried, are quite as unlikely to succeed. Not a defect would be removed, not a deficiency supplied, by suggestions inconsistent with the nature of the occupation, or the interest of the parties. Of that we are fully conscious. To take similar cases: We have never blamed the managers of theatres because they did not ruin themselves in endeavouring to elevate the taste of the play-going part of the public. They ought to possess liberal views of their calling and conceptions of their art above, not behind, their age. But in their practice, we would require of them no other course than to watch for favourable occasions, in the conflict betwixt good taste and bad, to give good taste the casting vote, and in all that they actually attempt, to do nothing to corrupt, every thing to raise and to reform. All persons brought by their profession into close and constant contact with the public are justified in claiming, not as an indulgence, but as a right, the benefit of the considerations which Shakspeare so sweetly put forward in his double character of dramatist aud actor in his own excuse:

'Oh, for my sake, do you with fortune chide,
The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds,

That did not better for my life provide,

Than public means, which public manners breeds.
Thence comes it that my name receives a brand,

And almost thence my nature is subdued
To what it works in, like the dyer's hand;
Pity me then, and wish I were renewed.'