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OLIYER GOLDSMITH'S LIFE AND TIMES. [BOOK m.
1760. " had not an Oxford Scholar, led there by curiosity, pulled
" a new magazine out of his pocket, in which he said there " were some pieces extremely curious and that deserved " their attention. He then read the Adventures of Sir " Launcelot Greaves, to the entire satisfaction of the " audience, which being finished, he threw the pamphlet " upon the table: * That piece, gentlemen,' says he, ' is " ' written in the very spirit and manner of Cervantes; " ' there is great knowledge of human nature, and evident " ' marks of the master in almost every sentence ; and from " ' the plan, the humour, and the execution, I can venture " ' to say that it dropped from the pen of the ingenious
" ' Doctor------' Every one was pleased with the per-
" formance, and I was particularly gratified in hearing all
" the sensible part of the company give orders for the " British Magazine."
So said the not less anonymous or ingenious Doctor, in
that venture of good Mr. Newbery's which started but twelve days after Smollett's, and in which also had been enlisted the services of the Green Arbour^ Court lodger. "War is the time for newspapers; and the inventive head which planned the Universal Chronicle, with the good taste that enlisted Johnson in its service, now made a bolder effort in the same direction. The first number of The Public Ledger was published on the 12th of January 1760. Nothing less than a Daily Newspaper had the busy publisher of children's books projected. But a daily newspaper was not an appalling speculation, then. Not then, morning after morning, did it throw its eyes of Argus over all the world. No universal command was needed for it then, over sources of foreign intelligence that might controul and govern the money transactions of rival hemispheres. There existed with it, |
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