PER ART. VI. PERIODICAL LITERATURE.* ERIODICAL Literature is a creation of modern times. Nothing of the kind was known in ancient Greece or Rome. During the continuance of what are usually called the Dark Ages, the literature of Europe was almost exclusively pent up within the recess of the cloister, and claimed as the exclusive property of a class of men separated from ordinary society, and devoted to the services of religion. The priesthood of religion was also the priesthood of letters-not so much owing to the jealousy of the priest, as is commonly supposed: the constitution and condition of society did not admit of a more liberal arrangement. At that period the priest was on the whole, the people's best friend. He was favourable to their enlightenment, as far as the inevitable prejudices of his education and his limited means permitted him to be. The printing press, that greatest of all illuminators, had not been invented. There were no other methods of disseminating intellectual light but by the living voice and manuscript writings. Much more might certainly have been accomplished by these means had their capabilities been fully developed; but every age must act according to its own ideas-it cannot exceed itself. Oral instruction had, to a great extent, sunk into desuetude. The pulpit was no longer looked upon as the grand fountain of knowledge, whence flowed living streams of Divine truth to refresh and save. And of what use, beyond the precincts of the cloister, were the most gorgeously finished MSS., when not one in a thousand of the people could decipher their mystic characters? Nor does it appear that there was any general wish or aspiration in the bosom of society to possess the key of knowledge. Intellectual death shed its torpid influence and stretched its gloomy pall over all classes. The belted baron who swayed absolute authority over broad domains, and who at times led forth thousands of bold retainers to the tented field, was little better than a titled brute incapable of writing his own name. Ignorant of the very alphabet of literature-knowing nothing of religion but what had been shed upon him through the camera obscura of superstition, his existence was consumed between bloody feuds and drunken revelry. You either find him tilting in the gay tournament, or rushing into the lists of death on the battle field, or carousing with lords and vassals in his baronial halls. His life was little better than a development of the forces and propensities of the animal. The fascinating charms which the pen of romance has shed around the old English baron, are to a very great extent utterly delusive, especially in connection with the period to which we now refer. The indubitable facts of history compel us to view him as a powerful but ignorant animal, inflated with pride * Substance of a Lecture.-ED. and governed by lust; and if all this be true of the flower of society-of those men who formed the gilded apex of the social pyramid-what must have been the condition of the common people? The fact that they were for the most part deprived of personal freedom and reduced to positive serfdom, is demonstrative evidence of their intellectual prostration. They were looked upon as beasts of burden, upon whom the most cruel treatment might be inflicted with impunity, and as designed for nothing higher than to administer to the gratification of their superiors. Instructing them in the principles of general knowledge was out of the question; such an idea was not likely to enter the minds of their lords, and had it once entered it would have been instantly scouted as ridiculous. Had it not been for the kindly attention of the priests of religion, their condition would have been one of unmitigated wretchedness; for, corrupted as religion had become, and unfaithful as its ministers too generally were, the common people had no other quarter to which they could apply for instruction or consola tion. Since the beginning of time nothing has so completely changed the condition of society as the invention of printing. No sooner did the press begin its operations than sacred and profane literature became emancipated from the crypts of the monastery, placing its precious treasures within reach of the laity as well as the clerisy. Literature was no longer considered the exclusive birthright of the priest or the perpetual denizen of the cloister. When once exhumed from the murky tomb wherein it had been confined for ages and permitted to appear in the pure light of heaven, it was recognised as a boon designed for universal man, irrespective of social distinctions, and fitted to be spread over the entire breadth of God's green earth. The choicest productions of ancient genius-the philosophy, the poetry, the oratory of the Greek and Roman mind, multiplied to an extent which would have astonished their authors, courted the acquaintance of general society. The writings of the early fathers, some of which embodied much precious theology, though mixed with no little dross, were reproduced and circulated. The schoolmen, with their voluminous logomachies and intellectual subleties, once more appeared among living men. But what was of infinitely greater moment to the interests of the world, and to the cause of literature, the sacred writings were liberated from their unwholesome confinement. Much jealousy was manifested by the old custodiers of God's holy book, lest it should become public property; nor was this to be wondered at. A great change had already passed over the ideas of society. The opinion was rapidly gaining ground, as light increased, that the Church had grossly degenerated; that the priesthood was corrupt; that consequently a radical reformation was requisite. Nothing favoured this opinion more than the free circulation of the Bible, and as the priests saw their craft to be endangered thereby they strenuously attempted to prevent it. But despite their efforts the holy volume was given to the world, dissipating the gloom which hung over the nations, arousing the souls of men to a higher condition of spiritual life, scattering broadcast the seeds of intellectual improvement, and leading to those wonderful changes in civil and religious society recorded in modern history. The times immediately preceding and following the Reformation of the sixteenth century are surrounded with such a halo of splendour that there is danger of us being misled into a false judgment respecting them. During those periods and even down to a comparatively recent date, literature, though not confined to the sacerdotal caste, was possessed almost exclusively by the noble and the rich, while the masses of the people, the working classes, were cut off from touching the precious treasure. The press dealt only in works of ponderous size and costly price, putting it beyond the power of poor people to purchase or read them. In the days of Elizabeth and James something in the form of newspaper publications was attempted, but the jealousy of the sovereign on the one hand and the indifference of the people on the other, rendered the attempt comparatively abortive. During the civil wars between Charles and his people, the press was sedulously employed by the contending parties in working off innumerable pamphlets and sheets, conveying intelligence to their friends and arguing at large the questions that divided them. The establishment of the "Royal Philosophical Society," in the reign of Charles the Second, led to the publication of the first grand literary periodical, called "Philosophical Transactions," a periodical which has been continued to the present time. The influence which that learned serial exerted upon the intellectual condition of this nation and upon the progress of the human mind thoroughout Europe is incalculable. The firstrate scholars of the day contributed to it the ripest: fruits of their genius. Sir Isaac Newton, the Hon. R. Boyle, and their illustrious compeers, enriched its pages with their choicest productions. But that periodical was intended for the intellectual savans of societythe literati of the age. It was far above the comprehension and the purse of ordinary men. However, there can be no doubt that apart from the other advantages resulting from its publication it exerted a potent influence in the creation of other periodicals, adapted to the condition of people who had not received a learned education. These miscellanies wisely combined amusement with instruction, addressing themselves to the imagination as well as the judgment, and communicating pleasure with profit. Addison, and the other essayists of his day, were eminently successful pioneers in the fields of periodical literature. Their papers were alternately "grave and gay, lively and severe,' now pronouncing a religious homily with cathedric tone; anon sparkling with the brilliant coruscations of wit and humour: on one page lashing the fopperies and vices of the age with merciless severity, on the next laughing folly out of countenance; at one time dealing in profound and subtle criticism, at another trimming the wings of butterfly fancies: "every thing by turn and nothing long." The "Spectator" will always stand in the front rank of English classics, so long at least as elegance of diction, refinement of taste and literary tact are held to be of importance. Dr. Johnson, whose colossal intellectual proportions strike us with awe, did not impair his dignity in the least by his rambles in the fields of periodical literature. He could descend from the high chair of state, in which he dictated to the literati of the English nation, to write short periodical papers for the illumination of the people, without losing anything of the intellectual pomp for which he was distinguished. His "Rambler" is wanting in the versatility, the sprightliness, the humour, the simplicity of the "Spectator," but it is nevertheless a work of the highest merit. Splendour of language sustained by splendour of thought; the grandest conceptions invested with the grandest drapery, characterize every page; putting us in mind of some stupendous Gothic structure with its fretted vaults, its beetling turrets, and its antique windows, or suggesting the recollection of some ancient forest walk, o'erhung with the sweeping branches of the giant oak, whose rich foliage, partly shutting out the light of heaven, impart a solemn magnificence to the scene. In addition to the intrinsic excellences of those early periodicals, they were, for that time, remarkably cheap-not beyond the purchasing ability of poor people. While their literary character was so high that the best educated people of the land might read them with advantage, their price placed them within reach of the poorest, so that by their means the extremes of society were brought together to feast on equal terms at the banquet of knowledge. On this account those illustrious essayists are worthy of the highest praise. By opening the fountains of knowledge to the whole of the British people, by presenting the fruits of their genius in such a form that the poor as well as the rich might feast upon them, they conferred an incalculable good upon their own times, and made the way comparatively easy to their successors in the walks of periodical literature. From that time periodical publications became so numerous that it is impossible to characterise them all without writing a volume. Since the opening of the present century they have multiplied with amazing rapidity, and the cry has continually been, “They come, they come;" one troop after another, until now they are being scattered over the land numerous as the flakes of snow, "thick as autumnal leaves in Valambrosia." It is not to be ex pected that I shall attempt in this paper a critical examination of each periodical now issued from the press. I shall be obliged to confine myself to general views, and only to particularize when it is necessary for illustration. The influence of periodical literature upon the intellectual character of society is without doubt exceedingly great. Whether it be an unmixed good may be legitimately questioned. The unlimited variety, the novelty, the incompleteness, and in many cases the flippancy of the articles with which periodicals are furnished seem to be unfavourable to a healthy condition of mind, tend to produce mental dissipation, and to create a distaste for sober and consecutive habits of thought. Devotion to this sort of literature is judged to be incompatible with the love of those profounder works which the great spirits of the past have bequeathed to us. The Elizabethan and Puritan giants have to hide their heads among the dust of old-fashioned libraries, that the puny scribblers of the present day may strut their brief hour on the public stage, regaling our feelings and tickling our fancy with their flippant antics. The superficial, the showy, the fanciful—whatever tends to amuse and excite supersedes the solid and majestic.-Now it must be admitted that there is too much truth in these allegations; at the same time it will be found, if I mistake not, that these frivolous, dissipating tendencies, are evidenced chiefly, if not exclusively, among those persons who have the opportunity and are in the habit of reading a large number of periodical works. Go into the cottage of a working man-he who in olden times would have been of little more account than a beast of burdenand mark the influence of periodical literature upon the intellectual character of him and his family. His limited means prevent him in the most of cases having more than one serial publication, and he is therefore anxious that it be a good one-one that will fully compensate him for the money he lays out in its purchase. The return of that winged messenger is anticipated and hailed with almost as much joy as if it were an angelic visitor. How eagerly the table of contents is scanned; how carefully the leaves are cut open, and with what gusto do each and all of the family circle capable of reading become acquainted with its manifold treasures. When the healthful excitement of the first reading is over it is returned to again and again until the whole of it is mastered, and its mental nutriment becomes incorporated with the existence of that family. Nor is this all. Desires are enkindled after more elaborate productions. The short, pithy essay on geology or astronomy or natural philosophy, or on any of the other sciences, has opened a vista of intellectual glory before the eye of the mind, to explore which becomes a passion, leading to the husbanding of a little money with which to purchase some celebrated author, or |