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Article THE ORIGIN OF LITERARY JOURNALS. ← Page 2 of 2
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The Origin Of Literary Journals.
that Sallo had the satisfaction of seeing it , in the next year , imitated throughout Europe ; and his Journal , at the same time , translated into ¦ Various languages , But , as most authors lay themselves too open to the severe critic , the animadversions of Sallo were g iven with such malignity of Avit and asperity of criticism , that the Journal excited loud murmurs , and the most heart-moving complaints possible . Sallo , after having published only his third Journalfelt the irritated Avasps of
, literature-thronging so thick about him , that he very gladly abdicated the throne of criticism . The reign of his successor , Abbe Galloys— -intimidated by the fate . of Sallo—was of a milder kind . He contented himself with only giving the titles of books , accompanied with extracts ; Such a conduct Avas not offensive to their authors , and yet was not unuseful to the public .
I do not , however , mean to favour the idea , that this simple manner of noticing books is equal to sound and candid criticism . On the model of the Journal des Sea-vans were formed our Philosophical Transactions ; with this difference , hoAvever , that they only notice objects of science , such as physics and mathematics . The Journal of Leipsic , entitled Acta Eruditorum , appeared in 1682 , under the conduct of the erudite Menkentiis , professor iu the university of that
city . The famous Bayie undertook for Holland a similar ivork in 1684 ; and his NowvelUs de la Republique de Lettres appeared the first of May in that year . This new Journal was every where Avell received ; and deserved to be so , for . never Avere criticisms given Avith greater . force . He possessed the art of comprisiiig , in short extracts * the justest notion of a book , Avithout adding any thing irrelevant or impertinent . Bayle discontinued this work in 16-78 after having given
, thirty-six volumes in izmo-. Others continued it to 1710 , Avhen it AA'as finally closed . A Mr . de la Roch formed an English Journal , entitled Memoirs of Literature , about the commencement of this century , . which is Avell spoken of in the Bibliotheque Raisonnee . It was afterwards continued by Mr . Reid , under the title of the Present State of the Republic Of Letters . He succeeded very well ; but , being
obli' ' ged to make a voyage to China , it interrupted his useful labours . He was succeeded by Messieurs Campbell and Webstfer ; but the last , for reasons of which I am ignorant , being dismissed , it Avas again resumed by Mr . Campbell . This journal does by no means rival Our modern Reviews . I do not perceive that the criticism is more valuable ; and certainly the entertainment is inferior . Our eider Journals seem only to notice a few of the best publications ; and this not AA'ith great animation of sentiment , or elegance of diction .
Of our modern Journals it becomes me to speak with caution . It is not treading on ashes still g lowing with latent fire , as Horace expresses it , hut it is rushing through consuming flames . Let it be sufficient , that from their pages we acquire a rich fund of critical observations ; and by them are taught something of the delicacy of taste , and something of the ardour of genius . V
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Origin Of Literary Journals.
that Sallo had the satisfaction of seeing it , in the next year , imitated throughout Europe ; and his Journal , at the same time , translated into ¦ Various languages , But , as most authors lay themselves too open to the severe critic , the animadversions of Sallo were g iven with such malignity of Avit and asperity of criticism , that the Journal excited loud murmurs , and the most heart-moving complaints possible . Sallo , after having published only his third Journalfelt the irritated Avasps of
, literature-thronging so thick about him , that he very gladly abdicated the throne of criticism . The reign of his successor , Abbe Galloys— -intimidated by the fate . of Sallo—was of a milder kind . He contented himself with only giving the titles of books , accompanied with extracts ; Such a conduct Avas not offensive to their authors , and yet was not unuseful to the public .
I do not , however , mean to favour the idea , that this simple manner of noticing books is equal to sound and candid criticism . On the model of the Journal des Sea-vans were formed our Philosophical Transactions ; with this difference , hoAvever , that they only notice objects of science , such as physics and mathematics . The Journal of Leipsic , entitled Acta Eruditorum , appeared in 1682 , under the conduct of the erudite Menkentiis , professor iu the university of that
city . The famous Bayie undertook for Holland a similar ivork in 1684 ; and his NowvelUs de la Republique de Lettres appeared the first of May in that year . This new Journal was every where Avell received ; and deserved to be so , for . never Avere criticisms given Avith greater . force . He possessed the art of comprisiiig , in short extracts * the justest notion of a book , Avithout adding any thing irrelevant or impertinent . Bayle discontinued this work in 16-78 after having given
, thirty-six volumes in izmo-. Others continued it to 1710 , Avhen it AA'as finally closed . A Mr . de la Roch formed an English Journal , entitled Memoirs of Literature , about the commencement of this century , . which is Avell spoken of in the Bibliotheque Raisonnee . It was afterwards continued by Mr . Reid , under the title of the Present State of the Republic Of Letters . He succeeded very well ; but , being
obli' ' ged to make a voyage to China , it interrupted his useful labours . He was succeeded by Messieurs Campbell and Webstfer ; but the last , for reasons of which I am ignorant , being dismissed , it Avas again resumed by Mr . Campbell . This journal does by no means rival Our modern Reviews . I do not perceive that the criticism is more valuable ; and certainly the entertainment is inferior . Our eider Journals seem only to notice a few of the best publications ; and this not AA'ith great animation of sentiment , or elegance of diction .
Of our modern Journals it becomes me to speak with caution . It is not treading on ashes still g lowing with latent fire , as Horace expresses it , hut it is rushing through consuming flames . Let it be sufficient , that from their pages we acquire a rich fund of critical observations ; and by them are taught something of the delicacy of taste , and something of the ardour of genius . V