HOW TO MAKE A NEWSPAPER, WITHOUT CREDIT OR CASH. THE recent increase in the number of newspapers, in this metropolis, is not the least remarkable among the various changes of the present times. In every street, the announcement of a newspaper meets the eye. In one street, particularly, the passenger, viewing both sides, presenting a newspaper prominent in every window, may, without any great stretch of imagination, fancy himself between two menof-war, with their guns pointed from their port-holes, ready to pour a broadside into each other. The guns here used, it is true, do not carry heavy metal; and the pellets with which they are charged are not so destructive of life and limb as cannon-balls. Yet they, nevertheless, do great execution: their fire is often galling, and the damage considerable. To what extraordinary impulse or creative power is this rapid growth in this department of the public press to be ascribed? Is it to "the march of intellect?" to the wondrous efficacy of which the country is indebted for its present superabundant crop of orators, in the pot-house and in the parliament; in the latter of which, for every orator who figured on that stage a few years ago, may now be reckoned twenty, all would-be rivals of Cicero and Demosthenes; from a mortal conflict with any of whom Pitt or Fox, if living, would shrink into a corner, and there hide their diminished heads. No! "the march of intellect" proceeded for several years in double quick time, without producing any such effect; and it is only now, when the march has become slow, and intellect, tired out by the rapidity of its pace, is beginning to flag, that the town is surprised with this extraordinary change in the public press. Is it, then, to any present extraordinary degree of excitement in the public mind? By no means. Any excitement now existing is a dead calm, the unruffled surface of a summer sea, the face of a polished mirror, compared with the excitement produced by the revolutionary war of France, its stupendous events, its varying fortunes, and the immense interests at stakee-or even with that produced It is true, the assaults upon the church, the cutting and carving of the constituency of the House of Commons, the disfranchisement of ancient boroughs, and the attacks upon the outworks of the constitution, are of less magnitude, and on a minor scale, than the cutting and carving of continental Europe, the conflicts of numerous armies in the field, the capture of fleets and fortresses, down to the glorious victories of Trafalgar and Waterloo, the subversion of old kingdoms, and the erection of new; yet still it must be allowed that these domestic scenes come more home to "men's business and their bosoms," and that the interest excited by the mania of reform was intense. But all this excitement passed away without any material effect upon the growth of revolutionary war, nor the more recent newspapers. Well, then, if neither the mania of reform, has given rise to the present abundant crop, where are we to look for its cause? The answer is obvious. To the recent act of parliament diminishing the duties that affect newspapers, which, by reducing the price, increases the consumption, and enables the little capitalist to embark quired large pecuniary means. If, then, in an undertaking that previously rethe reduction of the requisite amount of capital has worked such an important change, what honours may not the individual justly claim who shall discover how a newspaper may be established without any capital at all, without credit or cash, or any other financial means whatsoever; and thus, by this noble discovery, render newspapers still more numerous, and the means for the diffusion of useful knowledge complete! To these honours the writer of this article now proceeds to establish his claim; but, content with the character of a disinterested patriot, he seeks no higher reward, and gives to the world at large all the profits to be derived from his invaluable discovery. Some years ago the metropolitan booksellers, in concert with several members of the trade in the country, resolved to undertake the establishment * lication; both printed by a popular book-printer, and carried on at his residence in Salisbury Square, Fleet Street. After a short trial, the editor + remonstrated against this system, alleging that the proprietors should have an office and materials exclusively their own, with a superintending printer, who could give to the papers his undivided attention, and who should act under the immediate direction of the editor. But although the soundness of his advice was acknowledged, and amendment as often promised, no change took place until the expiration of about ten months from the commencement of the papers; at which time he received a note from one of the proprietors, § in compliance with which he waited upon that gentleman at his house, and there met also another of the proprietors, || they being two of the most important and active members of the body. They expressed their regret that they had not followed his advice, and their fears that it was now too late to attempt it, as the disappointment of the proprietors was so great, they were confident there was not spirit remaining in the partnership to raise a new subscription; that the funds that had been provided were now exhausted; and that, in this extremity, a gentleman had made an offer of 1000l. for a third of the property in the papers; which, however, they hesitated to accept, as it would necessarily interfere with his position. In answer to this communication, the editor requested that his interest should not be considered a bar to their acceptance of so advantageous an offer; and with this understanding they parted upon the most friendly terms, the editor not entertaining, at the time, the slightest idea that he should ever become connected with the British Press and Globe again. There was at that time an individual named Robert Heron, whose memory Mr. D'Israeli has recorded, in his romance entitled the Calamities of Authors, in which the said Heron is made to sustain a prominent part. He was * Mr. T. Gillett. then a member, though not an important one, of the Wittinagemot, the name given to a particular box in the Chapter Coffeehouse, Paternoster Row, in which many of the booksellers resident in that quarter, as well as authors, and other literary, scientific, and professional men, were in the habit of meeting in the morning and evening, to read the newspapers, talk politics, or engage in other amusing conversation. He was an author-not an original one, but rather a biblical cobbler, or compounder, or patcher-up of books, in which he was not over-scrupulous in arrogating to himself the labours of others. He had read much, had a great deal of vanity, was fluent in speech, and a better orator than writer. This was the man destined to be the new editor and purchaser of one-third of the copyright of the two papers, the British Press and the Globe, for a sum of 1000l., at which time he had not a pound in his possession, nor knew where to get one. The reader will here ask, How did he manage? How did he obtain the 1000l.? Did chance throw it in his way? Did he pick it up in the street? No. Did he borrow it? No; none but a madman would lend him a tenth of the money. Did he steal it? No: neither did he discover the philosopher's stone, nor the purse of Fortunatus-no, none of these. The following is the mode in which he procured the money : : Heron was a native of Peterhead, in Scotland, and was acquainted with a countryman of the name of M'Dowall, a printer in London. Addressing this individual, he said, "M'Dowall, I have purchased a third of the property in the British Press and the Globe newspapers for the sum of 1000l., and am to be sole editor, with the entire management of the concern. There has been a dreedful waste of money. A large fortune has been lavished upon them. All the people aboot them have been receiving laird's seleries, and doing nothing for them; but, with the great body of all the booksellers of England at my bauck, + George Lane. During the French revolutionary war, the newspaper containing the latest intelligence from abroad was the most sought for it was, therefore, necessary that the editor should be always at hand, and have all his means and assistants ready, to avail himself immediately of its arrival, the time of which was uncertain. Mr. Murray, then of Fleet Street, now of Albemarle Street. with my taulants and management, the paupers will soon become a mine of wealth: I shall have a Golconda of my own, my boy. Now, M'Dowall, it is my intention to divide my third, which you may see is a great bargain, a noble spaculation, into five shares of 2001. each; and if you will take one at that price, which is only at the rate of what I myself pay, you shall be the pranter, with a selery of five guineas a-week. Mind, I only want your eye over the concern, not meaning to interfere with your own business." M'Dowall's eyes were naturally as dull as any two old leads in his printing-office they now actually glistened with all the brightness of a shilling. The offer was accepted, and the parties shook hands in confirmation of the bargain. Heron, resuming: "I think you pranted a country newspaper, the Berkhampstead Chronicle?" M'Dowall answered, "Yes." "And who were the stationers that supplied the pauper ?" continued lleron. "Messrs. Massey and Sandell," replied M'Dowall: "their warehouse is situated in the neighbourhood of the Mansion House-I think, in Sherbourne Lane." Perhaps," rejoined Heron, "they would have no objiction to supply the British Press and the Globe?” thought he was dealing with shrewd men of business, such as he had a right to presume the proprietors of the British Press and Globe must be. They did not, therefore, hesitate to accept the offer; and every prudent dealer will probably be of opinion they would deserve a crown of their own foolscap, as a mark of their folly, had they done so. "What is well begun," says the adage, “is half done." Fortune now appeared to smile upon Mr. Heron. He was of an ardent temperament, and resolved to embrace her while she was in the humour. Encouraged by his success, and again addressing himself to his friend, he said, "Who was the proprietor of the Berkhampstead Chronicle?" M'Dowall answered: "The Rev. Dr. Dupre, of Berkhampstead, was the proprietor, and also its editor; but finding that it did not succeed, and having lost a good deal of money in the undertaking, he thought fit to abandon it." This answer might have discouraged a less bold speculator than our hero from making any application to the Rev. Dr. Dupre; but Heron was not a man to be easily diverted from his purpose. Where a taste for dabbling in a newspaper has once existed, he knew a single failure will not cure the party of his folly, just as he had learned, from his own experience, that a man who has acquired a taste for gin will not be frightened from a repetition of the glass by one solitary sick headach: besides, he had sense and sagacity enough to know that, if a man loses any thing, it is perfectly natural that he should look for it in the place where the loss occurred, as affording a better chance of his finding it there than any where else. Nothing daunted, therefore, by the intelligence of the reverend doctor's previous failure, he proposed to his friend that they should go to Berkhampstead, and offer a share in the contract to the doctor. A chaise and pair was immediately engaged; and, at an early hour on the ensuing morning, the two gentlemen set off for Berkhampstead. The doctor was fortunately at home; and M'Dowall introduced his friend to him as the expected that any traded of all observers magnus Apollo of the bookselling trade, observers" of M'Dowall assented; and off they went to Messrs. Massey and Sandell, to whom Heron repeated the same tale of past mismanagement, and the golden prospects that now presented themselves. The circulation of the papers, he admitted, was very small; but once relieved from the weight that now oppressed them, they would fly up like a skyrocket, and it was impossible to anticipate the height of prosperity which they should attain. The exclusive right to supply the stationary of a concarn of such immense magnitude, he conceived, would be a desirable object to any house, and that they, Messrs. Massey and Sandell, should enjoy, as a matter of course, in the event of their becoming the purchasers of a share. Now, Messrs. Massey and Sandell were very honourable and respectable men; but it is not to be the case at length. The doctor, at first, shewed no inclination to entertain the question-indeed, he appeared rather averse; but his repugnance gradually gave way before the persuasive eloquence of Heron, who, to do him justice, it must be admitted, was a man of address, and prepared to answer every objection. Supported as he was by the examples of Messrs. Massey and Sandell, and M'Dowall, whom the doctor had known by experience to be a prudent man of business, the victory of Heron soon became complete; and the doctor finally consented to become the purchaser of a 2001. share. Mr. Thomas Dupre, the son of the doctor, was at this time a student at the university, preparing for holy orders; and to the mind of Heron, ever fertile in resources, and ready to take advantage of every little circumstance that could be possibly turned to account, the accidental mention of that young gentleman's name, in the course of conversation at table, suggested the idea, and inspired the hope of still further success. was about to achieve a new conquest; but having already exhausted all his argument and eloquence upon the "golden prospects of the British Press and the Globe, under his future management, he was obliged to break fresh ground, and open a new battery upon his reverend host. After a short digression to some common-place topics, resuming the subject of the papers, he said, " He "Do you not think, doctor, that the leading article in the daily newspapers dwells too much upon politics? They serve up nothing but politics,foreign and domestic, Whig and Tory, Bonaparte and the Bourbons. They seem to think that their readers care for nothing in the world but some one or another of these matters. Now, I propose to make the church the subject of my leading article occasionally in our papers. Do not you think that it will be an agreeable variety, very acceptable to the reader?" The Doctor (gruffly). "I think religion is best advocated in the pulpit. I do not like to see religion mixed up with politics, in the pulpit, the press, or any where else." Heron. "You may be very reight, very reight, doctor; but novelty and variety, you know, are very desirable quelities in a newspaper; and I pra relity, or a moral essay under a particular head, would be a great improvement?" The Doctor. "No journal is allowed to inculcate any thing immoral. I must therefore presume, that the matter of every journal must of necessity be of a moral tendency." Heron (resuming). "These prenters belonging to the newspapers, or compositors as they call themselves, appear to be very oidle fellows, and pay leetle or no attention to the observance of the Sabbath. On this day, established among Christians for public worship, they ley in bed during the morning; or straggle into the fields, where they frolick about; or visit the tea-gardens in the suburbs, where they play at skittles, or indulge in ale and biscuits, instead of spending their time in acts of piety and devotion. Now, I am determined to correct this vacious system. I am determined that every individual belonging to the establishment of the British Press and the Globe, down to the printer's devil inclusive, shall go to church every Sunday morning and Sunday evening-that is, twice in the day regularly-upon pain of immediate dismissal from the concern.' The doctor made no observation; but when relating the conversation some time after to a friend, he said, "I ought to have known that in this parade about religion, the man was speaking to my cloth; and flattered himself that he had a simpleton to deal with, of whose credulity and ignorance he could take advantage." t The extravaganza, however, does not appear to have made a very serious or unfavourable impression at the time upon the doctor; as we find, before the visitors took their leave at Berkhampstead, he was persuaded to purchase a share of 2001. for his son, Mr. Thomas Dupre also; who, Heron observed, must, as a student of the University, be a leeterary character, and as such should receive a leeberal weekly selery for contributing an article occasionally to the British Press and the Globe." An early day having been appointed for the completion of the contract, in London, all the parties met accordingly. Four shares, amounting to 8001. had been disposed of; and the remaining one, it was understood, Heron had reserved to himself: but he now seemed out of spirits, and ob by a person on whom he relied for an advance of the 2001. required to make up the 1000l. which he had undertaken to pay to the booksellers. To avoid, therefore, any delay, he proposed that his friends should divide his share equally among them, he himself remaining content with his position of sole editor of the paper. This proposal was without difficulty accepted; and the 1000l. having been paid at the time, it was handed over to the party authorised by the booksellers to conclude the bargain. Types, presses, and all the other materials necessary for printing the papers were now purchased, and a house taken, to which they were transferred, and where it was intended they should be carried on in future. The house so taken is situated at the end of Wych Street, at the back of St. Clement's, in the Strand; but, it being out of repair, a temporary accommodation was provided for the new editor in the Angel Inn, which is directly in its rear; and here he proposed to take up his abode, until the apartments in the office should be ready for his reception. The temporary accommodation so provided was a front room in the inn, commanding a view of the gateway leading from the street; and here the new editor took his station, enthroned amidst metropolitan and provincial newspapers, with a pile of old Greek and Latin authors on a sidetable. The porter was an Irishman, of the name of Daniel Manning. He had been for several years warehouseman to Mr. Gillett, in Salisbury Square, and in that situation had become acquainted with the persons of the gentlemen in the book trade. This man, whenever he could be spared from the office, Heron stationed near the window of the apartment, with strict orders to watch the gateway, and give him notice the moment he should perceive a bookseller of any eminence entering the premises. No pointer was ever more intent upon his game than was Daniel in his look-out for a bookseller. The moment the expected approach was announced, Heron became violently excited, exclaiming, with extraordinary energy, Sprad them oot, Daniel,-sprad them oot,-sprad them oot, make haste!" Daniel was as active and before, the bookseller had time to enter the room there were half a dozen old musty books spread out ready to meet his eye. Upon one of these occasions, the following dialogue took place. The Bookseller (advancing to the editorial table, and looking over Heron's shoulder). “Oh, dear! Cicero ! Demosthenes! Tacitus! Euripides! You are very fond of the classics, I perceive, Mr. Heron?" Heron. “Oh, yes, sir, I am very fond of the classics. When I feel tired with the drudgery of my business, such as reading law and parliamentary reports, I like to indulge myself for a few moments with a dip into some old favourite author. It refrashes the mind, as a dip into the living stream refrashes the body of the tired traveller on his toilsome way." Bookseller. "And you find it useful, too, in the higher department of your editorial duty?" Heron. "Yes, yes; you are very reight, sir, very reight: a leading article should display all the flowers of rhetoric to the greatest advantage; and quotations from the classics, while they add to the variety, afford, like the green leaves in a bouquet, relief to the eye, with additional grace and beauty to the composition. An apt quotation from a celebrated Greek or Roman author not only enforces the argument which it illustrates, but becomes also a great embellishment." Bookseller. "So it does, Mr. Heron. I perceive in your language that you have profited by your devotion to the classics." Heron. "So I have been often told. I unconsciously catch the spirit of the author I have just perused, and my pen naturally falls into the track of his style. Indeed, I cannot conceive how it can be otherwise." Bookseller. "Then Cicero and Demosthenes, I presume, are the models you propose for yourself among the ancients; Pitt and Fox among the moderns?" Heron. "Why, yes; none of them are defecient in power, in forceful energy, and harmony of expression; but Pitt-for the reports of whose speeches I was celebrated when in the gallery of the House of Commons- is rather chary of ornament and embel |