of ocean and gardens of vegetation; from these and other reasons these fossils are supposed to be the remains of animals that lived and perished before man was created.

For these reasons, and others which the limits of this article compel us to omit, we are satisfied that brutes were not affected directly in nature, disposition, habits, life, or death by the fall of man. As we have before intimated, there may have been no ravenous beasts in that particular part of earth where God had prepared a home for perfect man any more than they are now found in the thickly populated districts of our country. No lion may have lurked beneath its shades, or roared amid its melody; but over whatever hills he did roam, he roamed in search of prey. No vulture may have disturbed the retreat of those warblers that sung their chorus of welcome to new-born man, but whenever and wherever he took his repast his table was spread with something that had been living.

As they did not fall in the fall, so we do not expect they will be restored in the restoration. We regard those passages which speak of the leopard and the lamb, and the lion eating straw as the ox, figures representing the peaceful spirit that shall prevail in human society rather than a description of any change which is literally to take place in the nature of animals.

ART. VII-PERIODICAL LITERATURE.

THE most perfect criterion for estimating the intelligence and tastes of a nation is the extent and character of its periodical literature. Books may be numerous and possess a high order of merit, and yet the great mass of the people be sunk into an abyss of ignorance and superstition the most profound, provided there be left, amid the general chaos, a cultivated and intellectual circle. Such works are expected to endure, and be studied as eagerly, and with as much profit, by future generations as by that which produced them. But periodicals are read as soon as issued, and cast aside, perhaps, never again to be taken up; and their preservation is of so little importance that after a few weeks or months they can only be found in

those great depositories for every literature, whether valuable or worthless, the public libraries of our large cities. Monthlies and quarterlies, published in pamphlet form, are the only exceptions to this rule, and even they are but carelessly preserved by four fifths of their readers.

Periodicals were originally divided into two classes, organs of news and organs of opinions, the former being the more numerous; but nearly all of our modern publications are of a mixed character, giving a summary of the current transactions of the day, and at the same time advocating certain theories, either in politics or religion, thereby filling a double mission.

To Italy belongs the honor of conceiving the idea of publishing the news of the day to the masses of the people; but the method employed was of rather a clumsy character, and only adapted to towns or large villages. In 1563 the republic of Venice was engaged in an important and bloody contest with Solyman II., and, as the war bore a religious aspect, it absorbed the entire attention of the Venetians, and their anxiety to learn the details of the struggle was so great that reading-rooms were established, and men employed to write a summary of all that transpired and read it to the public. The price of admission into these rooms was a gazetta, a coin no longer in use, and from this, it is believed, that the term gazette has been derived, although it must be admitted that the etymology of the word is somewhat uncertain. These papers were published monthly, and files of the Gazette, in manuscript, for over sixty years, are still preserved in the Magliabecchin Library at Florence. The jealousy of the Venetian government would not permit the publishers to print them, lest matters be secretly circulated of an incendiary or inflammatory character, and all that was written was made subject to the severest scrutiny on the part of the government. Outside of Venice the circulation and reading, even of manuscripts, was prohibited, at the suggestion of Pope Gregory XIII., who appears clearly to have foreseen the consequences to despotism and bigotry of the spread of general intelligence.

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, of England, occasional publications, entitled "Newes from Spaine," etc., made their appearance; but no regular periodicals were published till May,

1622, the story of the existence of the "Mefore, and the duties that period, having been clearly disproved by ed fourpence per unnecessary to enumerate, but which are entire

to all who have investigated the subject. This grow unpopufirst made its appearance on the 23d of the month, wons of Lord "The Weekly Newes from Italy, Germany, etc. shich had Printed by J. D. for Nicholas Bourne and Thos. Arcn off. Succeeding numbers had also attached to them the name inNathaniel Butter, who had rendered himself celebrated by a1 number of occasional publications of a new character during the ten or twelve preceding years. These papers, and some others of a similar character, made their appearance within twenty years; but they chiefly confined their narrations to foreign affairs, as the jealousy of the Crown was so great that the publishers well knew that to discuss home politics would bring down the vengeance of the ruling powers. The first publication of the proceedings in Parliament was made in 1691, when a weekly paper, entitled "Diurnal Occurrences; or, the Heads of several proceedings in both Houses of Parliament," was established; and soon afterward fifteen or twenty more periodicals, usually published at intervals of a week, were started, and, for the first time, they became organs of public opinion as well as news, thereby inaugurating the mixed features of journalism so conspicuous in modern times. The tone of these papers was of the lowest order, and the editors did little else than use harsh invective, which they called argument, and which, in that era of revolution, was well adapted to the tastes of the people, and served to urge them on in their career of madness which was sending hundreds of innocent men, on either side, to the prison and the scaffold. Among the editors of ability who figured at that time was the celebrated Nedham, who changed from a democrat to a loyalist, and back to a democrat, with as much facility as politicians of the present day, always carrying with him his virulence, which he manifested in the bitterest satire. His last paper, which was violently Presbyterian and anti-Carlist, was entitled the "Intelligencer," the first number of which was published in 1655, and which, in conjunction with another journal, laid the foundation for the present "London Gazette."

Soon afterward the newspapers began to discuss, with more FOURTH SERIES, VOL. XIV.-20

those great deposite affairs, and to give a better summary of or worthless, the this gave rise to numerous expedients, on the and quarterlie vernment, to rid themselves of an institution which exceptions to be troublesome. But the people had been so long served by fot of reading papers that it was deemed inexpedient

of

Periodi their complete suppression, and therefore, imme

neely after the restoration, Roger L'Estrange was given a nuonopoly of the right to publish all matters which the government should adjudge suitable for the public, with power to seize and suppress all unlicensed books and papers. As the "Intelligencer" had become firmly established, he was given charge of that journal. In his salutatory he declares that, “Supposing the press in order, the people in their right wits, and news or no news to be the question, a public mercenary should never have my vote, because I think it makes the public too familiar with the actions and counsels of their superiors, too pragmatical and censorious, and gives them not only an itch, but a kind of colorable right and license to be meddling with the government. Then, speaking of the perverted appetites of the people for news, he adds: "So that, upon the main, I perceive the thing requisite, and (for aught I can see yet) once a week may do the business, for I intend to utter my news by weight, not by measure." But this attempted monopoly was a failure, and periodicals multiplied despite the vigilance of L'Estrange, and in 1665 he abandoned the enterprise. His paper, however, was continued and made a semi-weekly, and has been published of uniform size for more than two centuries, having taken the title of "London Gazette" in 1666.

The first daily newspaper, the "London Courant," made its appearance in 1703, and as all efforts to suppress the publication of news by requiring a license had failed, in 1712 a duty of a halfpenny was levied on all papers of a half sheet, and a penny on all of the whole size; and it was believed by this that the publishers would raise the prices so as to prevent the further sale of papers, and in a number of instances these hopes proved but too true. The "Examiner," the "Observer," and the "Spectator" were crushed beneath the weight; even the genius of such men as Swift and Addison was unable to rescue them. But these papers were intended only for the select few; and while they perished those of a more popular character, but

of a decidedly lower tone, flourished as before, and the duties were consequently increased, until they reached fourpence per number without regard to size.

But these efforts to hamper the press began to grow unpopular early in the present century, and by exertions of Lord Campbell and other liberals many of the restrictions which had formerly weighed heavily upon the publishers were taken off. Among these reforms we may mention the repeal of the principle that "the greater the truth the greater the libel," and the admission of the evidence of the correctness of a charge in a prosecution for libel. In 1833 the duty on advertisements, which had been eighty-four cents for each, without regard to length, in England and Scotland, and sixty cents in Ireland, was reduced to thirty-six cents in the former countries, and twentyfour in the latter; and twenty years afterward, in 1853, the tax was abolished altogether. In 1836 the stamp duty on all papers was reduced to two cents, and in 1855 it was taken off entirely.* Before the stamp duty was removed there were none but high-priced papers in England, the lowest amount charged per number being eight cents, and the highest twelve. But, as might be expected, the tax had no sooner disappeared than cheap publications everywhere sprung up, as if by magic, to compete for public favor, and already more than seventy are issued in London alone, forty of which are sold for a penny each, or the same that is charged in this country for first-class papers; and ten at a halfpenny, or one cent, making them within the reach of all. There are, however, no halfpenny journals outside of London. In the southern and eastern counties, out of one hundred and twenty-nine papers, eighty are cheap and forty-nine high-priced, eleven of the former having belonged to the latter category prior to the abolition of the stamp duty. In the western counties there are fifty-three cheap and thirtynine high-priced papers. In the eight counties embraced in the Oxford circuit, the number of both classes is precisely the same as in the western part; and in the six central counties there are

* During the year ending January 5, 1830, the duties on newspapers and advertisements in the United Kingdom, not counting shillings and pence, were as follows: