FOOTNOTES:
[9] Mr. Quincy was, during the last war, one of the leading members of the opposition; and, as such, introduced a resolution “that it was unbecoming a Christian people to exult in the triumphs over their enemies.” This resolution was afterwards voted to be erased from the journal of the house.
[10] One who speaks extempore; because in the Western country they use the stump of a tree for a rostrum.
CHAPTER V.
A Literary Party.—The American Press.—Character of Editors—their Rise and Progress.—Influence of Advertisements.—Old and New Federalists.—Mode of operating on the People.
“A field of glory is a field for all.”
Pope’s Dunciad.
I passed an evening at the house of a genuine specimen of a Yankee,—at a sort of literary party, to which nearly the whole Boston tribe of the quill were invited; the master of the house being well able to act as president. My Boston friends, on reading this, will imagine I refer to a gentleman in B***-street; but I can assure them that they are mistaken. I do not mean a man who has at once been promoted to the rank of king of literature, master of the pamphlet and magazine writers of New England, by his wealth and the agreeable manners he acquired in Europe; but a hard-working man, who served his apprenticeship in a printer’s shop, and by dint of perseverance and talent became one of the most powerful organs of public opinion, and a correct English writer. His politics were, from the beginning, those of the Federal school, but honest; his style clear and flowing, his arguments logical and to the point; and he possessed a fund of wit and humour to season the productions of his pen. In his younger days he submitted himself to the arduous and unprofitable task of exposing some of the most glaring follies of his countrymen; for which, though he became in an eminent degree a public benefactor, he was frequently sued for libel, and condemned to heavy fines. Notwithstanding these reverses he had prospered, and become the father of a large family, most of the members of which were distinguished for great ability.
On this occasion he had convened his friends and acquaintances in order to communicate to them his resolution to add a new monthly periodical to the list of those already in existence, and to ask their contribution to so laudable an undertaking. He also told them that for one year at least he was ready to continue it at a loss, remunerating liberally the best papers on politics and belles lettres, to which he proposed to direct his principal attention.