EDINBURGH JOURNA CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,''CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c. No. 53. NEW SERIES. SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 1845. A FEW WORDS TO OUR READERS. Ir is nine years since we addressed our readers in a formal manner about ourselves. Will they have patience with an egotism which observes such a long silence? We presume they will, and shall therefore proceed to say a few words about our position and prospects. PRICE 1d. of four storeys, flanked by a powerful steam-engine, and with the noise of ten printing machines continually sounding in our ears. Several of these are engaged in working off impressions, the production of which at a common hand-press, such as formed the sole means of typography a few years ago, would have required nearly the time then requisite for a voyage to India and back. A hundred and twenty persons are required for all the duties which proceed in this large structure, though these have exclusively a regard to works edited by ourselves. Upwards of a quarter of a million of printed whole newspaper press of Scotland issued in a month about the year 1833. Our publications, which at first were expected by the booksellers to be the ruin of their business, do not yield them less than fifteen thousand pounds a-year of profit; while yet the number of ordinary books published each year, instead of being diminished, is considerably increased. These are some of the material details; but who shall say what are the particulars of the moral results of this enormous contagion of paper and print! We willingly allow each man to judge from what he observes in his own familiar circle. We have, for our part, a general and all-sufficient faith. The Journal is now entering upon its fourteenth year. We begin to get letters from lady subscribers, who tell us they commenced reading it when they were little girls, and now have two babies rapidly rising to strike in as readers too. In fact, it is becoming a some-sheets leave the house each week, being as many as the what venerable publication. Well, we trust it is not the worse for that, but somewhat the better. We are at least assured that its acceptance with the public is not less than it ever was, for its sale-raised one-half by the change of size--is not much under ninety thousand copies. The most popular magazines circulate, we believe, from six to nine thousand; but the sale of the Journal in its magazine shape alone (the monthly part being strictly a magazine) is about forty thousand. During the currency of this work, we have brought out several others: a series of books designed to aid in the realisation of an improved education;* a kind of encyclopædia for the middle and working-classes ;† a history of English literature, chiefly intended to introduce the young to the Pantheon of our national authors. And all of these works have met with success hardly less marked than that of the Journal. Indeed, that of the Information for the People has been considerably more, for the average sale of the numbers of that publication has been about a hundred and thirty thousand-a fact, we believe, unprecedented in the same department of literature. More recently we have commenced another work, a series of Tracts designed for the instruction and entertainment of a still humbler class of readers; § and already it would appear as if the ordinary sale of this work is to be greatly beyond that of any other, the impressions required of the first few numbers (all yet prepared) having been in no case less than a hundred and fifty thousand, and in some instances nearly two hundred thousand, copies. Verily, it must be admitted, there is here a vast diffusion of literature, of whatever kind it may be. Or may we not rather say that these things mark an entirely new era in literatare, something which throws all the former efforts of the press into the shade? Let us just look for a moment into the details of this phenomenon. We write at present in a huge building * Educational Course-37 volumes published. ↑ Information for the People, 2 vols. royal 8vo. Cyclopædia of English Literature, 2 vols. royal 8vo. Friends to whom we chance to mention some of these matters, often say to us, 'What a power for good or evil you possess!' There could not be a greater mistake. It is not a power for evil at all. This has been tried, and fully proved, by other editors. Similar works without number have been presented to the public, but, because they pandered to the meaner feelings of our nature, they invariably failed. We have ever felt, that, whatever might be our own inclinations, we must aim at the pure, the elevating, and good, if we would wish our publications to acquire any permanent hold of the public mind. It is a common notion, we believe, among the clever fellows, that the public is to be gulled, tickled, addressed as a child, and that, the lower the tone assumed, they will be the more pleased. Our experience says quite the reverse. We have, and always have had, an unfeigned respect for both the intellectual and moral character of the public. We sincerely believe that the higher sentiments rule its general procedure, and that the grosser souls are in all ordinary circumstances powerless. We therefore never doubted that, in earnestly seeking to give good counsel and innocent entertainment, we were taking the course which common prudence would have dictated, all the sophistications of all the Jenkinsons notwithstanding; and it is thus that we feel assured of our publications being attended with good effects upon the community. They only have a large sale because they address and meet responses in the better feelings of the mass of our Miscellany of Useful and Entertaining Tracts, appearing in countrymen. weekly numbers at a penny and halfpenny each. When the publications of Mr Knight and others are taken into account, it will be seen that the amount of which made it accessible to every class of persons literature now diffused among the people must be some- really desirous of reading, and that in that and several thing very different from what it was a few years ago. other publications, without the slightest extraneous supOn a moderate calculation, we cannot doubt that our port, its editors arrived at and maintained for several own publications are fully doubled by the other works years an extraordinary degree of success. May it not then be asked, what was the cause of this success? of a respectable kind now issued weekly; that is to say, To what are we to attribute the existence of that vast there are not fewer than half a million of cheap sheets ten-machine printing-house? Will it be worth while published every week. Add to these the very con- to listen for a moment to the impressions which were siderable number of cheap book-publications, copyright entertained on that subject by ourselves? Presumand otherwise, and it must be apparent that there is a ing that there may be some curiosity on such a point, moral agency at work in this country such as has never we will here mention that we attribute it not to any been formerly known, except in the most feeble form. peculiar literary talent; we attribute it not to any Is it not now, indeed, for the first time, that the powers fortune had anything whatever to do with it. It arose extraordinary intellectual gifts; neither do we think of the printing-press have been turned to their right solely from the view we took of the duties resting upon account? And yet, after all, it is highly questionable if those who make a profession of the pen. We felt, in anything like full advantage has been taken of the the first place, that foresight, punctuality, and other powers of this marvellous engine. There is no default in homely and prudential virtues, were necessary even for its own mechanism, but the mechanism for the diffusion the purpose of enabling us to possess our minds in peace of its productions is still far from being what is desirable. that peace without which no studious life can be conThe system of bookselling in this country has not under- ducted to any good results. And it was but a corollary from that view, that we should have a publishing sysgone an improvement at all comparable to that which we tem under our own command, as by no other means could have seen in the paper-making and typographical depart- the requisite unity of movement and procedure have ments. No fault is it in the members of that excellent been attained. On this point we would observe inci fraternity. But books such as we refer to ought to be dentally, that we trust yet to make out a problem of no sold by many others besides ordinary booksellers. Why small consequence to men of letters-that is to say, we should it be that tea, tobacco, and even less approvable trust to establish, that to employ a printing and bookarticles demanded by the people, should be purchasable selling system to work out his purposes, is a much more in the smallest quantities in every village in the empire, with all his powers of thought, and the aspirations ateligible position for the literary labourer, than to come and not that literature which has become, in one form tending them, and subordinate these to a man of trade. or another, almost as much a necessary of life as any? We think it will be found that the first position, which Surely, in many of the little establishments where the is ours, is that by far the best fitted to secure indepenneeds and cravings of the frail body are supplied, those dence of action, and even that elevation of mind which of the immortal spirit might also be gratified; and that is supposed to rest apart from trade, as well as exempwithout necessarily diminishing the trade of the ordi- tion from those degrading cares which are so hostile to nary booksellers? One fact will illustrate this. In a little the exercise of the higher faculties, and have been the village, where at one time none of our publications were felt that the tasks assumed by us were of a very different shipwreck of so many votaries of letters. We further sold, a philanthropic gentleman induced a female dealer character from what their external features indicated in small wares to commence selling the 'Tracts.' She to the shallower class of minds. Even to speak of quickly found regular customers for forty copies. Here materialities alone, the aggregate vastness of a cheap were forty copies sold where formerly the work was un-publication was calculated to impress a strong sense of heard of; and we cannot doubt that thousands of places are in the like predicament. There must certainly be some improvement in the bookselling system of the country; we must have this kind of wares presented in many quarters where it formerly was unthought of, ere we can say that the system of cheap publication is complete, or has gathered all its fame.' A benevolent friend has suggested that persons verging upon pauper-humbler classes for the reading of such works, it was ism might often help themselves in some degree to a livelihood, if individuals taking a kindly interest in them were to furnish them with a first stock of such wares. We have had the plan tried in several instances, and have found it effectual.* Perhaps by such means, in addition to all others, the extreme limits of the diffusibility of popular literature might in time be reached. When this point is attained, and great effects begin to become apparent to those who watch the signs of nations, it is not unlikely that the humble services of the individuals now addressing the public will be remembered and inquired into. It will perhaps be recollected that Chambers's Journal was the first periodical work which aimed at giving respectable literature at a price the importance of such a work. What came before the eyes of individuals as a single sheet at an infinitesimal price, presented itself to our sense in colossal piles of paper and print, and large commercial transactions. At the fountain-head, its respectability, in the common sense of the word, could not be matter of doubt, whatever it might in the remote rills of diffusion. remarking the great appetency of the middle and But, impossible not to advance to far higher considerations, and see, in the establishment of such a miscellany as the Journal, the attainment of a predicatorial position such a work, if conducted in a right spirit, might enable hardly paralleled in the country. It fully appeared that its editors weekly to address an audience of unexampled numbers. We felt that by this means a vast amount of unequivocal good might be effected amongst the humbler classes in particular. Coming before them with no stamp of authority to raise prejudice, but as the undoubted friend of all, it could convey counsel and instruction where more august missionaries might fail. Gaining the heart of the poor man, always inclined to jealousy, it might, by dint of its absolute transparent well-meaning, force reproofs and maxims upon him which he would take from no other hand. By such *A mendicant, applying for alms at our office in Glasgow, was a work the young might be, even in the receipt of furnished with two copies of a tract, that he might endeavour to sell them in the streets, and thus make money by a more legitimate amusement, actuated to industrious and honourable mode. He disposed of them in ten minutes, and came back with courses. Everywhere, by presenting entertainment the money to purchase more. Having sold these also, he returned of a pure nature, and of superior attractiveness, that for a new supply, and, in short, his transactions in four hours which was reprehensible might be superseded. Nor reached six shillings, leaving himself a clear gain of one and six-might it be impossible, even in so small a work, to present papers of an original kind in the departments of fancy and humour, as well as of observation and re pence. He was to have come back to renew his efforts next morning; but, unfortunately, from whatever cause, he never re-appeared. flection, such as might be expected to cultivate the higher powers of the popular intellect. While, then, many superficial persons scoffed at the course we had entered upon, we saw in it the means of a large usefulness, and gave ourselves to it with cordial good-will. Determining first upon a few leading principles-particularly that political and theological controversy should never receive a moment's attention; animated by sincere and earnest wishes to promote whatever was clearly calculated to be beneficial to our fellow-creatures in the mass; despising all trivial and petty objects, and aiming ever to confer a dignity upon our own pursuits-we advanced in our course, and persevered in it year after year; never once doubting that the issue would justify and illustrate our first resolutions. The result, we may surely say, is to some extent determined, and that in a manner favourable to the soundness of our views; for how otherwise could it be that (to look no higher for proof) there is at this time no literary system in the country which approaches ours in magnitude? How else should it be that, while all other literary operations are conducted with more or less jarring between associated interests, and while most have to resort to extraneous expedients for success, we scatter the matter of hundreds of thousands of volumes annually over the land, without experiencing the slightest disturbance from sordid details, or ever having to look a moment beyond the intrinsic value of the article itself for a means of arresting public attention. We would, in conclusion, express our humble trust that the ordinary readers of the Journal can be under no risk of misunderstanding the nature of these remarks. We have spoken in the language of earnestness and of truth, on a subject on which we are conscious of entertaining other besides feelings of self-love, and where public interests are, we think, as much concerned as our own. This kind of language usually meets with sympathy, and we humbly hope that on the present occasion there will be no exception from the rule. SHORT NOTES ON THE WEST INDIES. BY A LATE RESIDENT. FIRST ARTICLE. THERE are three things which forcibly attract the eye of a European upon entering a town in one of the West India islands, and these are, the houses, the streets, and the colour of the people. The houses are rendered remarkable from various circumstances. Built chiefly of wood, they are shingled, and not tiled, and are generally painted white, with green Venetian blinds terminating the upper part of the front of each storey. In towns, the streets of which lie on a declivity, it is not unusual to observe the houses perched high above the streets, their elevation being occasioned by the gradual washing away of the soil by the heavy rains which fall at certain seasons. The advantage of such a location is, a slight freedom from the dust which three-fourths of the year flies about in clouds; but perhaps this is counterbalanced by the necessity for more frequently repairing the foundations of the houses, and of adding occasionally to the flights of steps by which they are approached, lest communication with the inhabitants should be entirely cut off. One striking peculiarity of a West India house is the circumstance of its being incapable of almost any species of privacy. The apartments all open into each other, and are so situated, that a stranger on his first entrance has, for the most part, a panoramic view of every one, from the piazza to the kitchen. One of the reasons assigned for the adoption of this style of build. ing is, that it produces a free circulation of air; another, that it enabled the master or mistress, during the periods of slavery, to keep a watchful eye over the proceedings of the slaves. But whatever the cause, to a European so complete an exposure of the whole economy of a domestic establishment is far from pleasing. I have spoken of the piazza. This every one knows to be an apartment of, or adjunct to, the house-half-promenade, half-sitting room. Around this are the Venetian windows placed, and in it the family sit in the cool of the evening, to receive the full benefit of the landwind,' to enjoy social converse, observe the passers-by, or pass the time in other equally important occupations. The houses have no bells, and knockers are not universal; the knuckles, a walking-stick, or an umbrella handle frequently supplying their place. Carpets are unknown, but oil-cloths are sometimes used in their stead, being cooler. The floors are, however, more frequently polished, as in France; with this difference, that the hands and knees are employed in the one case, and in the other the feet. Stoves and grates are of course unnecessary, and the chimney-tops which adorn the roofs of houses in European towns are absent. There are few moneyed builders, or speculations in building, in the West Indies. It therefore follows that there is little uniformity in the situations of the houses, and that a house which requires to be propped up, frequently stands adjacent to one newly erected. This gives the towns an exceedingly irregular and unsightly appearance, notwithstanding that the streets run generally at right angles. The irregular appearance is increased by a want of uniformity in the erection of the approaches to the houses, or flights of steps, and sometimes the absence of any such convenience. The carriage ways are not paved, and I may add, that causeways or flag-pavements for foot-passengers are seldom to be met with. In the rainy seasons, the water accumulates in these streets in floods, and foundations-sometimes old houses are washed away. It is no uninteresting sight to observe the rivers' rushing down the principal streets during a heavy shower of rain, and the circumstances which usually accompany such an event. On come the floods, foaming and frothing at every bound; now eddying deep in a hollow of the street, now whirling round some immoveable obstacle. Away go steps, stones, palings, fences, trees, &c. till one is disposed to think half the town in danger of removal. The streets being usually in straight lines, one is enabled generally to see their whole length: and when the mountains terminate the view at one end and the sea at the other, the effect is beautiful, and compensates in some degree for minor irregularities, bad repairs, or heavy sand. At any rate, while admiring the beauty and grandeur of the distant mountains, or the majesty of the somewhat nearer sea, all remembrance of unsightly defects, even to the droves of hungry pigs which rove in all the dignity of filth and independence about the streets, is lost. But perhaps the different hues observable in the visages of the population, present to the stranger a more interesting, because more extraordinary appearance. There are few shades of human complexion, from the sickly white of the Albino to the deep black of the Mandingo, which may not be observed in one of the towns of the West Indies. To the stranger full of the memory of the roseate complexions of Europe, the sallow tint which pervades most countenances conveys the impression of illness; and a dread of miasma, fever, &c. is apt to come across his mind. In bodily health. however, there are few among those whom he observes inferior to the heartiest peasant in England; and Johnny Newcome' would perhaps be startled to learn, as is asserted on good authority, that he must part with a portion of his florid and robust health before he becomes acclimated, and beyond the probable reach of that terror to Europeans-yellow fever. The Negro Dialect. When the negro addresses a stranger with Huddie, massa,' a little reflection may enable the latter to discover the meaning, 'How do you do, master?" When he says 'Gar-a mightie bless you,' a little further reflection may lead to the discovery, that he intends to exclaim, God Almighty bless you.' When, however, rolling his tongue, and giving a peculiar broadness to his words, he perhaps inquires, An da warra fa, sa, you bin com ya?' the stranger will most probably be fairly puzzled. Nor will he readily learn to comprehend the language of the old Africans. The Creole negro, however, prides himself on his English, and these the stranger may soon very readily understand, although the dialect which is spoken by the Creole is still but of a mongrel description. From hearing the negro dialect so commonly spoken, the younger branches of respectable families insensibly fall into the habit of speaking it. Hence, when children from England arrive in the West Indies, the purity of their language and pronunciation is a subject of general admiration. And, indeed, pure English will always command attention; for even the heads of respectable families are often themselves not free from a touch of the negro brogue,' and many, particularly in country districts, acquire a drawling tone by no means agreeable. It has been charged against the slave proprietors of the West India colonies, that they invented the negro dialect for the purpose of degrading that class of persons, and keeping them in ignorance. This seems rather a far-fetched charge. The most natural mode of accounting for the dialect seems to be, to regard the pronunciation as originally African, and the jumble of words sometimes used, as a natural admixture of the several dialects of the African tongue with the English, Scotch, Irish, French, and Spanish languages. As the African slave happened to be settled on the property, or attached to the establishment of an Englishman, Scotchman, Irishman, Frenchman, or Spaniard, he would learn a portion of the language and accent of each, which would be communicated to his fellow-countrymen, receiving in return a similar communication of what the others had learned; and the whole being uttered according to the best of their ability-but still with a strong infusion of the African accent the dialect now under consideration might readily have been formed. Assuredly it would be impossible to invent it; while the master or mistress, so far from entertaining an idea of intended degradation as attached to it, very frequently uses it in a kind or playful mood, when not required to resort to it for the purpose of rendering him or herself intelligible. An inquiry into the properties of the negro dialect might prove interesting to the philologist. If attempted, among its chief characteristics would be found a frequent elision of terminal consonants, and a fondness for terminal vowels-a constant change in the sound of vowels, most usually from a fine to a broad sound-a brevity of expression, and contraction and union of words-a predilection for the letter r-a substitution of d for th-and probably a collocation of words in a sentence not far removed from classical-the whole forming, as might be expected, a most uncouth and unmusical mode of communicating ideas. The Mixtures.-These mixtures will be the death of us,' observed a lady at the elegant supper-table at a 'ball' given by Sir 'Which?' said a wag; the sweets or the company?' The lady meant the company; but as more than fair justice had been done to the dainties and delicacies of the table, there was some point in the inquiry. the colonies rose brightly and happily for that numerous class of individuals who, first as slaves and subsequently as apprentices, spent their lives in thankless and unrequited toil. It rose serenely and calmly; no noise or bustle, no commotion or disturbance was heard; and as the soft voice of prayer and thanksgiving went abroad upon the breath of morning, a stillness as of the holy Sabbath told that the day would be kept as one of solemn fast. The public offices remained closed, and private individuals did honour to the occasion, in abstaining from pursuing their accustomed daily avocations. At the usual hour of public prayer might be observed thousands proceeding to the several places of worship-chiefly, however, those for whose benefit the great boon had been given. The occasion will induce us to believe that their prayers were fervent, and their thanksgivings sincere. The service over, the emancipated greeted each other with heartfelt congratulations at the arrival of the day which many among them had never expected to behold, but which as a body they had so ardently desired. Their countenances were lighted up with joy, the laugh went round, and each seemed supremely happy. Were there, however, no melancholy hearts on this great day of rejoicing? were all faces lighted up with smiles? or were there not heavy hearts and weeping eyes? There were. The master had been deprived of his property.' He could not sympathise in the general joy. True, compensation in part had been awarded him; yet the certainty with which he could previously look forward to the cultivation of his land had been taken away, and to him the future was now a blank. His heart then was heavy. The great number of persons dependent on the prosperity of the master partook of his doubts and fears. Their hearts were also heavy. A number of females depended for subsistence on the weekly wages which they received for the services of one, two, or three slaves. When the compensation which they had received had been expended, what resource had they left? None, probably, save the parish. Their hearts then were also heavy. Indeed, on this great day of the mighty triumph of justice and benevolence over wrong and despotic principles, it is difflcult to say whether the amount of sorrow and suffering which was felt exceeded or fell short of the amount of joy which seemed so universally to pervade at least one portion of society. Domestic Pets.-In England, the mistress of an establishment pets a parrot or canary bird. In the West Indies, she sometimes also pets a little black or coloured boy or girl, who in the end turns out of course to be entirely useless either to him or herself, or any one else. My next-door neighbour, an old maid, who had apparently passed the grand climacteric, had a little black boy, and although the only servant on her premises, he was converted into a pet. The little fellow, at all times obstinate and remarkably insolent, would sometimes prove refractory, whereupon his mistress would strap him. At length, when matters were about resolving themselves into an appeal to the whip, he would climb up a neighbouring tree, and there, occasionally laughing at the old spinster, he would remain till her rage was over, or he It is some years since those high in authority in the was required to perform some domestic office, when, a colonies overstepped the barriers which prejudice had truce being agreed on, he would leisurely descend. interposed between the social mingling of the several Parties who convert their young servants into pets are classes, and extended their hospitality to respectable not probably aware of the pernicious effect of their inparties, of whatever colour they might be. But no tended kindness, or rather perhaps of the gratification levelling of distinctions gives satisfaction, and conse- of their own feelings. It is impossible to prevent the quently ebullitions of feeling similar to the above occa- individuals petted from forming an erroneous idea of sionally take place. They are, however, chiefly confined their position, and imbibing notions quite incompatible to a class of persons whose day went by with the fall with future service. With these notions they are freof slavery; and a new order of things is quickly spring-quently at the death of their mistresses left unfriended, ing up, and a new class of persons arising, who all seem or, becoming too old to be made pets of, they are cast willing to admit that respectability of education, occu- off, and thus society is burdened with an idle, disconpation, and character, are the only just criteria by tented, ignorant, puffed-up, and ultimately demoralised which to judge of claims for admission into the first race. I have every reason to think that most of the circles of society. profligate women in the West Indies, as well as most of the idle and dissolute of the lower classes, have com The 1st of August.-The day of universal freedom in |