-WASHINGTON IRVING-
CHAPTER XIV.
JOURNALS AND JOURNALISTS.
There was no illustrated paper in 1837: there was no Punch. On the other hand, there were as many London papers as there are to-day, and nearly as many magazines and reviews. The Times, which is reported to have then had a circulation not exceeding 10,000 a day, was already the leading paper. It defended Queen Caroline, and advocated the Reform Bill, and was reported to be ready to incur any expense for early news. Thus, in 1834, on the occasion of a great dinner given to Lord Durham, the Times spent 200l. in having an early report, and that up from the North by special messenger. This is not much in comparison with the enterprise of telegraph and special correspondents, but it was a great step in advance of other journals. The other morning papers were the Morning Herald, the Morning Chronicle, the Morning Post, of which Coleridge was once on the staff, the Morning Advertiser, which already represented the interest of which it is still the organ, and the old Public Ledger, for which Goldsmith had once written.
The evening papers were the Globe, which had absorbed six other evening papers; the Courier; the Standard, once edited by Dr. Maginn; and the True Sun.
The weeklies were the Examiner, edited by the two Hunts and Albany Fonblanque; the Spectator, whose price seems to have varied from ninepence to a shilling; the Atlas; Observer; Bell’s Life; Bell’s Weekly Messenger; John Bull, which Theodore Hook edited; the New Weekly Messenger; the Sunday Times; the Age; the Satirist; the Mark Lane Express; the County Chronicle; the Weekly Dispatch, sometimes sold for 8½d., sometimes for 6d.; the Patriot; the Christian Advocate; the Watchman; the Court Journal; the Naval and Military Gazette; and the United Service Gazette.
Among the reporters who sat in the Gallery, it is remarkable that two-thirds did not write shorthand; they made notes, and trusted to their memories; Charles Dickens sat with them in the year 1836.
Yours truly
J Croker
-JOHN WILSON CROKER-