"Silence!" said OLIVER YORKE, rising. "The fact is, that if any of you had your brains about you which, Heaven knows! you have not -- - you would have remembered, that the principal business which called you together was to hear read a Report, on the state and prospects of FRASER'S MAGAZINE." "Oh!" said the company; "is that all? Let it be read!" On which our sagacious Secretary, adjusting his green spectacles on his aquiline nose which has been made the subject of so much jocular animadversion by Dr. Black, of the Morning Chronicle, on what we must continue to think very indelicate, though not insufficient grounds — began to read as follows: "Considering," said he. "Your voice is husky," said we; "take a tumbler of punch.' His eyes filled with tears, and his glass with liquor: both being discharged, he finally began, thus: REPORT. CONSIDERING the immense importance of FRASER'S MAGAZINE to the welfare, moral, intellectual, and physical, of the community at large considering the manner in which it has hitherto been conducted to be beyond all praise — considering the matter and method of the contents to be equally excellent — considering the way in which it has been spoken of, and the deserved praises which it has received from the periodical press, to be unprecedented in number and continuance - considering, by the renewed exertions from time to time of the publisher, and the unsparing outlay of capital invested, that his Journal has been made the most complete of the monthly publications of the queendom --considering that he has always obtained the assistance of the first writers of the day, in every department of literature; among whom are individuals high in office, and competent to write with the best possible information on the movements of parties, the external and domestic policy of the country, and the measures of late and present administrations — considering the literary merit of the articles contributed, the fearless spirit of independence in which the reviews of all new works have been undertaken-considering that this Journal is not connected with any large publishing house, and that the public have therefore a guarantee that its opinions will neither be sold for lucre nor biassed by selfinterest considering that the Magazine has made a successful stand for sound, honest, and wholesome criticism, and that, while the patronage of the public has increased, the zeal of the publisher and the improvement of his pages has increased in a corresponding degree considering all these particulars, and much meditating thereon, both as causes and effects, your Committee feel no little difficulty in suggesting either alteration or amendment in the method hitherto so successfully pursued. Your Committee find, by the testimony of the public press, that every new Number of this excellent Magazine is worthy of its high and increasing reputation that the work keeps up its usual spirit, and is - - - altogether entitled to elevated praise that FRASER appears to outstrip all his contemporaries that, in their opinion, it is just what a Magazine ought to be, its articles being short, light, and varied that REGINA is not only stored to the very hatches, but provided with a well-assorted cargo, suited to all tastes that in every mouth she is in great force-that the Magazine is full of good things --that its eighteen or nineteen articles, various as are their kinds, are all good in their way that admirably written papers are selected for reprint — that FRASER has done good service -- that its papers on science, both moral and physical, its humourous sketches and caustic wit, are varied and interesting in no common degree; while its honest, straightforward politics, always to every cultivated man's taste, render it well worthy of attentive perusal by those who love sensible, and amusing, and vigorous writing that it contains articles which stand high above most magazine articles in utility and truth — that rich, admirable, clever, talented, well-deserving of support, redolent of good things, brilliant, beautiful exceedingly, FRASER maintained his high character in the bracing mouth just past, as in all other months, however qualified, and came forth like a genuine flagon of old October, sparkling, foaming, and strong, bracing the inward man with his generous spirit, capital, varied, and able throughout that great pleasure is at all times felt in receiving FRASER'S ΜΑ MAGAZINE, which is regarded with affection, not only as a depository of talent, but as the representative of virtuous feeling and upright principle — that the work is full of extravagant humour, keen satire, critical shrewdness, varied and agreeable matters of information, and written with distinguished freedom of style that, conducted as it is by the highest talent, it has almost entirely supplanted all rivals that de tous les ouvrages périodiques qui se publient en Angleterre, il n'en est point qui soit mieux rédigé, et qui contienne tant de bons articles, soit sérieux, soit plaisans, que le MAGASIN DE FRASER-- that every Number surpasses the preceding in energy, variety, novelty, and acuteness of argument; abounds in original satire and severity of review; and with the same talent, the same principles, the same independence, and the same genius that it has hitherto displayed, FRASER'S MAGAZINE may confidently step orth on the "Babylonian" arena, without the fear of meeting with an antagonist capable of coping with it - that the Quarterly Review has been indebted to the work for extracts, and that other quarterlies have made its papers the subject of elaborate articles— that every thing in FRASER is first-rate; wit, vivacity, talent, taste, experience, satire, independence, and truth, seem, as it were, to be bound in wizard spells by the authors who have so effectually united their powers for its support -- that REGINA makes her appearance monthly, and she is always proud, powerful, dignified, graceful, and energetic that not only in the critical department FRASER takes its lead among the Magazines, but in the other portions it is distinguished by a brilliance and force that we do not meet with in the pages of its contemporaries that it is rich in banter, always amusing, and has become popular that it is full of clever and curious papers - that the sketches in FRASER'S MAGAZINE are clever that it is decidedly the most witty, pungent, comic, satirical, and clever, of all the monthly periodicals-that its political articles are all of them admirable and consistent, able and fearless; being wellassorted, also, with articles of humour, scraps of poetry, and light reading -- that the extraordinary exhibition of talent, which gave at its commencement such a celerity to the popular career of this work, is equally apparent at its present stage that the serious parts are not heavy, and the humourous not empty that it is light, sharp, and sprightly, with a spice of philosophy running through the articles sufficient to shew that the useful has not been forgotten - that there - is an opulence of genius, a fulness of intellectual light, in the numbers, rarely surpassed in periodical literature — that it is replete with wit and deep thinking -that it is every thing that Blackwood was; witty, caustic, redolent in information, loyal, constitutional — that there is a manifestation of bold moral feeling in its articles highly commendable — that it has established itself in the first rank of periodicals, and is just what a publication of the kind should be: grave and merry, light and learned, offering a rich fund of amusement to every readerthat it may be justly cited as a powerful proof of the high station to which the periodical literature of the day has attained that it still holds on its able, dauntless, and prosperous course that it abounds with acute remarks and fearless criticism- that it is the most impudent, agreeable, good-for-nothing, positive, peremptory, high-mettled, saucy, soul-enchanting, naughty, ne'er-dowell, ever seen — that it runs on its course rejoicing that it has great variety and much important matter, without being tedious and prosy that everbrilliant, fresh, and caustic, full of fire, REGINA shines out in the fulness of flower and fruit, the produce of the genius that enriches her soil, and makes her acceptable to all — that it continues the same slap-dash, keen, and cutting affair, as ever—that the same spirit of biting satire, the same honesty and impartial fairness, still manifests itself (as at the commencement) throughout its diversified pages — that variety and life, intelligence, liveliness and spirit, politics of the right sort, literary articles, which are the production of sound and vigorous minds, spirit and caustic humour, and a full-length portrait of some literary character, enrich every number that FRASER is going on swimmingly; always receives a hearty welcome; is full of spirit and ability; a ready-witted bold blade, complete illustration of his own ensign, smart, powerful, striking, superior to all competitors in his rich, racy wit, his rough honesty, his inimitable humour, his profound philosophy, his amusing ultra-Tory politics, his sterling sense, his vigour and spirit, brilliant and sound—that there was an additional twentycontributor power put on this Magazine, for the purpose of efficiently commencing the new year that a more thorough exposure of Whig faithlessness, incapacity, and rapacity, and a better exposition of Tory principles and feelings, bad never appeared, than in its papers on the "State and Prospects of Toryism" —that REGINA, though always brilliant, has lately acquired, and is acquiring, new and increasing attractions — that new series of articles have been begun, such as the highly interesting and valuable papers of Father Prout -that FRASER has torn the laurels from the brow of Lord Brougham with an unsparing hand, and that the article on his lordship's Theology was worth half-a-crown any day-that the Bridgewater Treatises are thoroughly dissected in several papers that its late Numbers are solid, and in character resemble the Quarterly Reviews - - that it deserves attention, from the depth with which it criticises, and the ability with which it supports the objections to the works under review — and, finally, that a guest more welcome than REGINA enters not the sanctum of contemporary editors; whose presence, as each month they find it on their table, meeting them "like a pleasant thought," they hail with delight; and, gazing on the tasteful, "sober livery," that invests its stores of wit and knowledge, address it in some such strain as that which they once borrowed, with slight alteration, from the excellent Father Prout: "FRASER, at once profound and gay, I ween, Dépôt of brightest intellect thou art! Calm reservoir of sentiment serene! Miscellany of mind, wit's glorious Magazine!'' 58 Report on Fraser's Magazine. - And now, having uttered two of the longest sentences ever spoken or written by the tongue of man or the quill of goose, your Committee think it fit to put a stop to the second period and first paragraph of their Report. They beg, however, in relation to the subject-matter of both, to add, that these Testimonials of Character and Ability have not come from a confined circle of admirers, but from every corner of the kingdom; and it would scarcely be too much to say, from every habitable part of the world. - Aberdeen, America, Athlone, Austria, Aylesbury, Ayr, Ballina, Ballyshannon, Bath, Belfast, Berkshire, Berwick, Birmingham, Blackburn, Bolton, Boston, Bradford, Bristol, Brighton, Bucks, Bury, Cambridge, Carlisle, Carlow, Carmarthen, Carnarvon, Castlebar, Chelmsford, Cheltenham, Chester, Clare, Clonmel, Colchester, Connaught, Cork, Cornwall, Coventry, Cumberland, Derby, Devizes, Devon, Devonport, Dorset, Doncaster, Dover, Douglas, Drogheda, Dublin, Durham, Edinburgh, Enniskillen, Essex, Exeter, Falmouth, Fermanagh, France, Galway, Germany, Glamorgan, Glasgow, Gloucester, Gravesend, Greenwich, Guernsey, Halifax, Hampshire, Hereford, Herts, Hull, Huntingdon, Ipswich, Italy, Jersey, Kendal, Kent, Kerry, Kilkenny, Lancaster, Leamington, East and West Leeds, Leicester, Leinster, Limerick, Lincoln, Liverpool, London, Londonderry, Macclesfield, Maidstone, Manchester, Mayo, Monmouth, Moscow, Newcastle, Newry, Norfolk, Northampton, Nottingham, Oxford, Paris, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Portugal, Preston, Prussia, Reading, Rochester, Rome, Roscommon, Russia, Salisbury, Sheffield, Sherborne, Shrewsbury, Sligo, Spain, Staffordshire, Stamford, Stockport, Strabane, Suffolk, Sunderland, Sussex, Taunton, Tipperary, Tralee, Truro, Tyne, Venice, Vienna, Wales, Warwick, Waterford, Westmeath, Westmoreland, Wexford, Whitehaven, Windsor, Worcester, Wolverhampton, and York. Thus east and west, north and south, the fame of REGINA has been heard. Deep has called unto Deep, and Height to Height, in celebration of her merits. "The rock, like something starting from a sleep, Carried the Lady's voice - old Skiddaw blew His speaking-trumpet; back out of the clouds, And Kirkstone tossed it from his misty head." Nor was not OLIVER YORKE a sharer in the praises of REGINA-in the replication of the sounds his own name was evermore heard. And we are given to understand by him, being examined on his oath, with that tone of touching sentiment and that depth of poetical feeling which render his character so amiable, his melancholy so interesting, and his wit so searching, that at the reverberation he was tempted to proceed in the words of the quotation; and did speak to her Majesty, on whom he was then in attendance, as follows: "Now whether (said I to our PEERLESS QUEEN, Smiled in my face) this were, in simple truth, Of ancient mountains, or my ear was touched Is not for me to tell; but sure I am, THAT THERE WAS A LOUD UPROAR IN THE HILLS!" Such being the facts of the case, your Committee is of opinion, that in order to secure a continuance of the liberal patronage which they have met with, and of the uninfluenced testimonies by the press in behalf of a Magazine which rests its claim to public favour on unremitting exertions, unflinching principle, and strictly impartial criticism, it is only necessary that Messrs. FRASER and YORKE should just proceed as they have already proceeded. But your Committee are given to understand, that both the Publisher and Editor are determined to pile Pelion upon Ossa; and, having attained the utmost point of perfection, to go far beyond it. For this purpose they have accumulated large piles of manuscripts worth their weight in gold, articles which are diamonds of the first water, poems which are indeed precious jewels, and tales which have been declared nonpareil. Your Committee, in conclusion, observe, that a List of Subjects has been submitted to them, and that with the quality of their execution they are very much delighted; and recommend that the articles should be forthwith put to press seriatim, and produced to the public, under the correction of OLIVER YORKE, in the successive Numbers of FRASER'S MAGAZINE, to the honour of REGINA, and the profit of the Publisher. |