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Article THE NEWSPAPER. Page 1 of 1
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Newspaper.
THE NEWSPAPER .
: This folio of four pages , happy work ! Which not e ' en critics criticise , that holds Inquisitive attention while I read Fast bound in chains of silence , which the fair , Though eloquent themselves , yet fear to break , What is it but a map of busy life , Its fluctuations and its vast concerns ? Tis pleasant through the loop-holes of retreat
To peep at such a world . To see the stir Of the great Eabel , and not feel the crowd . " A NEWSPAPER is so true a type of the caprice and levity oi Englishmen , that it may be stifed their Coat of Arms . —The Turkish Koran is not half so sacred to a rigid Mahometan , a Parish Dinner to an Overseera Turtle Feast to an Aldermanor an
Elec-, , tion to a Freeholder , as a Gazette is to an English Quidnunc . If this informs him of a Naval Armament , he toasts tlie Admirals in halfpints a-piece , wishes them success , gets drunk with loyalty , and goes with his head full of 74 ' s , 6 4 * 3 frigates , transports , fireships ! — -But a Newspaper , whose contents is not sanctioned by authority , is necessarily so much more the receptacle of invention ; thence we hear
—It is said—A correspondent remarks—Whereas , & c . — -all serve to please , surprise , and inform—We hear can alter a man ' s face as the weather would a barometer . —It is said can distort another like a fit of the spasm . —If can make some cry , while suppose makes others
laugh ; while a Whereas is like an electrical shock ; and though it often runs to the extremity of the kingdom , in unison with the rest , they altogether forma very agreeable mixture . But particular and domestic occurrences form a very essential part of this folio : thus ' a marriage hurts an old maid , mortifies a young one , while it consoles a poor dejected husband , who is secretly pleased to find another is fallen into his case . A deathif a wifemakes , husbands envy the
, , widower , while perhaps some of the women who censure his want of decent sorrow , marry him in a month after!—In fine , every person is put in motion by a newspaper . It is a bill of fare , containing all the luxuries , as well as the necessaries of life . Politics , for instance , have of late been the roast beef of the times—Essays the plumb-pudding , and Poetry the fritters , custard , and all the et eastern of the
table , usually denominated trifles . Yet the four winds are not liable to-more mutability than the vehicles of these entertainments;—foi instance , on-Monday it is whispered , on Tuesday it is rumoured , on Wednesday it is conjectured , on Thursday it is probable , on Friday it is positively asserted , and on Saturday it is premature . But notwithstanding thissome how or anothera'l are eventually pleased ;
, , for as the affections of all are divided among Wit , Anecdote , Poetry , Prices of Stock , the Arrival of Ships , & c . a Newspaper is a repositary where every one has his hobby-horse ; without it , coffee houses ,. & c . would be depopulated , and the country villages , the Curate , the Exciseman , and many others , lose the golden opportunities of appearing as wise as QUIDNUNC *
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Newspaper.
THE NEWSPAPER .
: This folio of four pages , happy work ! Which not e ' en critics criticise , that holds Inquisitive attention while I read Fast bound in chains of silence , which the fair , Though eloquent themselves , yet fear to break , What is it but a map of busy life , Its fluctuations and its vast concerns ? Tis pleasant through the loop-holes of retreat
To peep at such a world . To see the stir Of the great Eabel , and not feel the crowd . " A NEWSPAPER is so true a type of the caprice and levity oi Englishmen , that it may be stifed their Coat of Arms . —The Turkish Koran is not half so sacred to a rigid Mahometan , a Parish Dinner to an Overseera Turtle Feast to an Aldermanor an
Elec-, , tion to a Freeholder , as a Gazette is to an English Quidnunc . If this informs him of a Naval Armament , he toasts tlie Admirals in halfpints a-piece , wishes them success , gets drunk with loyalty , and goes with his head full of 74 ' s , 6 4 * 3 frigates , transports , fireships ! — -But a Newspaper , whose contents is not sanctioned by authority , is necessarily so much more the receptacle of invention ; thence we hear
—It is said—A correspondent remarks—Whereas , & c . — -all serve to please , surprise , and inform—We hear can alter a man ' s face as the weather would a barometer . —It is said can distort another like a fit of the spasm . —If can make some cry , while suppose makes others
laugh ; while a Whereas is like an electrical shock ; and though it often runs to the extremity of the kingdom , in unison with the rest , they altogether forma very agreeable mixture . But particular and domestic occurrences form a very essential part of this folio : thus ' a marriage hurts an old maid , mortifies a young one , while it consoles a poor dejected husband , who is secretly pleased to find another is fallen into his case . A deathif a wifemakes , husbands envy the
, , widower , while perhaps some of the women who censure his want of decent sorrow , marry him in a month after!—In fine , every person is put in motion by a newspaper . It is a bill of fare , containing all the luxuries , as well as the necessaries of life . Politics , for instance , have of late been the roast beef of the times—Essays the plumb-pudding , and Poetry the fritters , custard , and all the et eastern of the
table , usually denominated trifles . Yet the four winds are not liable to-more mutability than the vehicles of these entertainments;—foi instance , on-Monday it is whispered , on Tuesday it is rumoured , on Wednesday it is conjectured , on Thursday it is probable , on Friday it is positively asserted , and on Saturday it is premature . But notwithstanding thissome how or anothera'l are eventually pleased ;
, , for as the affections of all are divided among Wit , Anecdote , Poetry , Prices of Stock , the Arrival of Ships , & c . a Newspaper is a repositary where every one has his hobby-horse ; without it , coffee houses ,. & c . would be depopulated , and the country villages , the Curate , the Exciseman , and many others , lose the golden opportunities of appearing as wise as QUIDNUNC *