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"In this (the Grub-street historians had heard) two of the London Magaziners jined underhand; but, the design not succeeding, they had so much dexterity in their management, as to make their co-partners in the London contribute to the reparation of their losses by the Ladies, under pretence of ingaging the proprietors thereof to lay it down."

I have before mentioned, that when the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE was first established, the number for each month was not published until after some days of the following month had elapsed. During our rivalry with the London Magazine, every possible effort was made to obviate this delay, and, indeed, to win the race in respect to time. It soon became the practice to have the magazines ready for the first day of the month; but they were still, and for many years after, named after the month that was past. In 1736 Mr. Cave was annoyed by another interloper, put forward by a discarded servant, who not only had the presumption to advertise a fictitious Gentleman's Magazine, but, in order to substitute his fabrication more effectually, announced that the number for March would be ready on the 25th of that month, which was a week before the regular period of publication. His advertisement, in the Weekly Miscellany of the 20th of March, was as follows:

Thursday, March 25, will be Publish'd, Price Six Pence, adorned with a curious Cut of Merlin's Cave, and printed in a fine legible Character,

The GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE:

AND

MONTHLY ORACLE.
For March 1736.

Containing more in Quantity by Eight Pages, and greater Variety than any thing of the Kind; particularly, I. The Solution of several curious Questions: And, II. A Chronology for March: Also, a Proposal of several Prizes to be contended for: A Critique on the 7th Poem in the Gentleman's Magazine Extraordinary, which gained the 501.; Merlin to Sylvanus Urban on his Impartiality, and on his Management in the Decision of his Poetical Prizes, &c.

By MERLIN the SECOND, the same Hand that first rais'd, and for near five Years compiled and conducted the Gentleman's Magazine, or Monthly Intelligencer.

Printed by J. ILIVE at Aldersgate, and Sold by the Booksellers in Town and Country; by whom may be had any former Month.

Mr. Cave met this attack by a counter-statement, which appeared in the next number of the same paper :—

April 1. will be publish'd as usual from St. John's Gate, price 6d.
(Neatly printed on a fine Paper, and stitcht in blue Covers)

The GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE for March 1736, Containing a Variety of original Poems, Letters, and learned Dissertations: Together with the History and Disputes of the Month, &c., &c. By SYLVANUS URBAN, Gent., whose Plan to entertain the Publick, and successful Endeavours in executing the same, bave occasioned twelve several Imitations of it since the Year 1731.

INVIDUS alterius rebus macrescit opimis.

London, Printed by EDWARD CAVE, at St. John's Gate, for the Author; and sold by the Booksellers.

Where may be had compleat Setts, or any former Month, from Jan. 1731. Also, The GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE EXTRAORDINARY, containing the Poems for the FIFTY POUNDS (and other inferior Prizes) which were paid the 1st of March, according to the Decision of the Judges, and even the Opinion of most of the Candidates themselves.

I believe the imposture of The Gentleman's Magazine and Monthly Oracle was continued for several months, but for how long I do not now the last century, and does not contain any trace of this, or several other works that I have occasion to name.

recollect, and probably no series 9 has been preserved, even if any single numbers have escaped.

I had almost forgotten to state that there was an earlier attempt of the like character made by a printer named Rayner, who set out a Grub-street Gentleman's Magazine in or before 1735.

Among our other early but ephemeral rivals, whose very existence it is now difficult to trace, were The Universal Magazine, The General Magazine, The Oxford Magazine, The Distillers' Magazine, The Country Magazine, The Manchester Magazine, The Leeds Magazine, and The Dublin Magazines.

The booksellers of Dublin and Edinburgh took the liberty to reprint the London Magazines, as those of America have done in more recent times. In the Preface to the London Magazine for 1741, it is asserted that "besides the many thousands sold in England and the Plantations, the London Magazine is now reprinted both at Edinburgh and Dublin, which is an honour no other Magazine has ever yet met with;" but at the very same time it was the boast of Sylvanus Urban that—

"The GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE is read as far as the English Language extends, and we see it reprinted from several Presses in Great Britain, Ireland, and the Plantations.” (Preface to 1741.)

In January, 1739, the Edinburgh booksellers (Sands, Brymer, Murray, and Cochran,) started The Scots Magazine. The preface to the first volume, which was written with much candour, attributed the success which had attended the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE to "the industry and influence" of the proprietor, the variety of which it consisted, and the unusual quantity it contained," in comparison with previous attempts of the same character. It added that,

"The kind reception which the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE met with, quickly produced a rival; and as it is much easier to improve the plan of another, than to form one, 4 I find from advertisements that No. XVI., April 1, 1737, was "Printed by J. Ilive at Aldersgate Street, for James Hodges, at the Looking-Glass on London Bridge." Also, No. XX., for the following August, in which the Parliamentary Debates were copied from the London Magazine for July.

See GENT. MAG. vol. v. p. iv.

All these are mentioned in a note to the Preface of the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE for 1738. Some of the same titles were resumed by fresh undertakings at subsequent dates. The Universal Magazine, published by John Hinton, in Paternoster-row, which ran a long career, made its first appearance in January, 1747. A new Oxford Magazine was started in July, 1768. "The Country Magazine; or, Gentleman's and Lady's Pocket Companion," of which No. I. was published on the 1st of April, 1736, was peculiarly devoted to cookery and domestic matters, as appears by an advertisement of the year 1737. It was printed by James Read, Whitefryers, the printer of Read's Weekly Journal. The Town and Country Magazine, which was subsequently successful for many years, commenced in January, 1769.

In the British Museum (Tracts on Ireland, 979,) I find a single copy of a conjoint Gentleman's and London Magazine for June, 1760. This was, in fact, not a reprint of either, but in reality a new rifacciamento, made up at Dublin from the materials furnish d by the English Magazines, with the additions of an historical "Chronologer for Ireland," and three plates of its own, viz., 1, a plan of Carrickfergus ; 2, a portrait of Handel; 3, a new bathing machine. It is a remarkable instance of servile imitation, and of the adaptation of a borrowed title where a new one would have been more appropriate. It was printed for John Exshaw, at the Bible in Dame-street, and sold for "a British Six-pence each Month."

"As to influence, none was or could be used, nor was any intended. The author desired to be secret, for obvious reasons, but his name was the more divulged by his enemies."-Remark by Cave himself on the above passage, in the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE, Preface to vol. XXII.

GENT. MAG. VOL. XLVII.

с

the London Magazine appear'd with some advantage; And, had not the managers of that work discover'd so much prejudice against the Gentleman to whom they owed its existence, it would probably have had superior success. But, as it is, they are both enabled to appear with far more advantage than any works of the same kind which preceded them."

It is then alleged that the Scots Magazine had been started because the demand of the London Magazines was "considerable in this kingdom," and "our distance from the place of their publication rendered their contents stale before they came to hand." This Scots Magazine had a long career. It continued down to July, 1817, and was then succeeded by the Edinburgh Magazine.

The year 1750 was particularly productive of new but very ephemeral periodicals: among which were The Polite and General Entertainer, by Mercurius Dubliniensis, (which did not arrive at a second number); The Kapelion, or Poetical Ordinary, (which soon expired); The Magazine of Magazines; The Grand Magazine, (both of which barely survived the year); and The Living World, (which died at Number III.). There was also The Traveller's Magazine in being during part of that year. The memory of these butterflies was placed on record in our preface for 1750; and in 1751 this literary bill of mortality grew to still longer dimensions:

"The Magazine of Magazines, the Grand Magazine, the Theological Magazine, the Quaker's Magazine, the Royal Magazine, the British Magazine, the Lady's Magazine, the Prisoner's Magazine, and the Student, are since dead, most of them boasting of their increasing vigour, and the favour of the public, till their spirits were quite exhausted, and their bodies consigned to the trunkmakers. Of those that survive, it is expected that, if they climb May hill, they will scarce get over the Fall of the leaf. The poor Old Woman has already had several fainting fits, from which she has with difficulty recovered."

The Old Woman, sure enough, soon hobbled to her grave, for the next year records her decease.

In some cases, at this early period (as occasionally since), the title "Magazine" was taken for books which were not properly of the Magazine class. One instance was The Magazine of Architecture, Perspective, and Sculpture, by Edward Oakley, architect, living at the Three Doves, in Brewer-street, Golden-square; which was published in monthly numbers, but completed in a series of sixteen, 1737, 8vo.

In 1735, The Literary Magazine was the title adopted for a review, or new "History of the Works of the Learned;" of which Ephraim Chambers was editor. The title was continued during two years, after which the same (or a similar) work went on without it. The Literary Magazine, to which Dr. Johnson subsequently contributed, was set on foot (after the death of Edward Cave) in May, 1756. It lasted little more than two years, and was immediately succeeded, in August 1758, by another Grand Magazine, published by T. Kinnersley *.

I shall not pursue this subject further, at least for the present. To enumerate the whole race of my descendants and namesakes would indeed, in a bare list, occupy many pages, and it may truly be said of them, "their name is Legion." I have now mentioned the principal of those which arose during Mr. Cave's lifetime; and I propose to return, in my next paper, to our own internal affairs, and to some personal anecdotes of my honoured parent, who left me to struggle with the world alone when I had arrived at the age of twenty-three.

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THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF BOSTON,

LINCOLNSHIRE a.

THE publication of this magnificent volume must be considered an event in the archæological world. Few towns in England, or in any other country, can boast of so complete a record of its history and antiquities, and everything else relating to it. The fact also that it owes its existence in part to the interest taken in the subject by the inhabitants of Boston, in Massachusetts, adds considerably to its importance. The Americans, having no medieval antiquities in their own country, seem to feel only the more keen and lively interest in those of the mother-country, more especially those with which their own ancestors are in any way connected. It is an instinctive feeling of human nature to love to have an ancestry to look back upon, as well as a future destiny to look forward to. The author of this elaborate work is fortunate in being able to gratify his friends and connections at the same time that he satisfies his own taste and ambition. The work is every way creditable to him, and few have been enabled to shew so good a result of the labour of a long life ;- -a labour of love it must have been, for no mercenary spirit could have collected such a mass of materials, nor have received the assistance of so many friends :

"The author began to collect materials for the History of Boston' in 1804, and h's intention to prepare such a work for publication was announced in 1807. He was fully aware that he was entering upon untrodden ground; but he also felt that it was a field which ought to be traversed and explored-that it was a rich soil, and, if properly and diligently cultivated, would yield a valuable and exuberant harvest. He industriously continued his labour of collecting and arranging until 1819, when, by his removal to the United States, this work was interrupted, and there did not appear any probability that he would be, at any future period, able to resume it. The materials which he had collected were therefore arranged for the press, and published in 1920, under the title of 'Collections for a Topographical and Historical Account of Boston, and the Hundred of Skirbeck, in the County of Lincoln.' When

the author finally returned to England in 1846, he found that the Collections' had been favourably received by the public, and that copies of the work were scarce and difficult to be procured. He was solicited to prepare a new, enlarged, and corrected edition; he was not unwilling to undertake the work, although quite aware of the labour which it would involve. Indeed, he never lost sight of his original intention, but had, during a residence of more than a quarter of a century in the United States, carefully collected all the information which he there met with relative to his native district; but he knew that much remained to be done before he could complete such a History of Boston' as he was ambitious to produce. The author continued his labours until 1851, and from that time he has almost incessantly applied himself to the accomplishment of his object."-(p. vi.)

Such a list of friends and coadjutors as here follows, it has rarely been our lot to read; and the author records their names with evident satisfaction. Some of them are from the other side

"To these and other gentlemen, who liberally and kindly forwarded to the author many valuable books, which have been of the greatest service to him in compiling the too brief account of the PILGRIM FATHERS, and other early emigrants from Boston and its neighbourhood, he feels under the greatest obligations. The kind

of the Atlantic:

ness which he has experienced in this respect, as well as in others which he can only allude to, and not express, is an additional corroboration, were any necessary, of the unity of feeling and purpose which exists between the respective people of Old and New England. ESTO PERPETUA!"— (p. x.)

"The History and Antiquities of Boston, Lincolnshire. By Pishey Thompson. Illustrated with One Hundred Engravings." (Boston: John Noble, jun. Royal Svo., and large paper, folio. 812 pp.)

The former edition of the work, published in 1820, was duly noticed in our pages at the time; but it is so much enlarged and improved in every way, that it may fairly be considered as a new work: and it is evidently so considered on the spot, by those most conversant with the subject, since we learn that the Town-Council of Boston have had a large-paper copy handsomely bound in morocco for presentatation to the town library of Boston, Massachusetts, with a suitable inscription outside, and a letter signed by every member of the council, to accompany it.

The first division relates to the early history, chiefly in the time of the Romans, with an account of their roads, their works of drainage, and such other particulars as can be gleaned from existing remains, or other sources; but these are very scanty, and differ little from the history of the same period and people in other places.

The second division relates to the time of the Anglo-Saxons and Danes. For this period also there is no specific history.

The third division relates to the middle ages, beginning with the Norman Conquest; and here the separate history of Boston really begins. It is well known that the inhabitants of the Fen country resisted the Normans successfully for several years

"But the Isle of Ely was not the only portion of the Fens which resisted the army of the Conqueror. The more immediate neighbourhood of Boston furnished some brave men, who successfully opposed the invaders; we find it recorded that,

"The country of Holland being, at the Conquest, very strong by abundance of water: the Hollands, the Welles, and the Lords of Kyme, being confederate together (as by old men, from man to man, I have been credibly reported), kept out the Conqueror by force, till at length he had it by composition and agreement, that they should keep their lands still; and so the grant to the Hollande's at that time from the Conqueror passed in this sorte, Notiscat omnibus Anglis, Francis, et Alienigenis, nos Willum: Regem redidisse Radulpho Milite de Holand totum dominium suum de Esteveninge, tam libere, honorifice, quiete et in pace, sicut aliqui alio de Baronibus nostris de nobis tenent, teste, &c.'

"These estates of the Hollands, the Wells, and the Kymes, were probably held by what was then known as allodial tenure, which signified an hereditary and perpetual estate, free, and in the power of the possessor to dispose of by gift or sale, but subject to the common and constant tax of hidage. The king was, on the death of an allodial tenant, entitled to relief.

"The families of Holland and Kyme were for a long time closely connected with this neighbourhood."-(p. 34.)

"We do not find anything upon record relating to Boston until 1171 (17 Henry II.), when the town was the property of

Conan, Earl of Richmond. He died in this year, when it fell into the hands of the Crown, under the title of the Honor of Conan.' The king retained it a considerable time, since Ralph de Glanville, in the 21st and 29th of that reign, accounted under that title at the Exchequer for the farm of the town. The town, at least so much as lay on the east side of the river, continued to be held by the Crown until the 25th Henry III. (1241), and the profits thereof were, from time to time, answered for at the Exchequer, either by the king's receiver or farmer, or by the men of the town."-(p. 36.)

"The manufacture of woollen cloth appears to have been carried on at Boston to a considerable extent during the twelfth century, for Hoveden says: Hugh Bardolf, and certain others of the king's justiciaries, came to St. Botulph's, A.D. 1201, to seize certain cloths which were not according to the statute-"two ells wide between the lists;" but instead of taking them in the king's name, the merchants persuaded the justiciaries to leave them for a sum of money, to the damage of many.' The dealers in cloth in those days appear to have been sharp traders; for in the year 1198 a statute was issued ordering that dyed cloths should be of equal quality throughout, and that the merchants who sold such goods should not hang up red or black cloths at their windows, nor darken them by penthouses, to prevent any from having a good light in buying their cloths. Two peculiar kinds of cloth are mentioned about this time-russets and halberjects or hauberjets The first was an inferior kind of cloth often spun by rustics, and dyed by

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