ges of those to whom they once
bowed the knee.

The advancement of the people, and the lowering of the aristocracy, have
both been effected through the medium of the press. The position of
authors has been much altered. Formerly we behold such men as Dryden,
Otway, and many others (giants in their days), humbling themselves for
bread. Now we have seldom a dedication, and of those few we have the
flattery is delicate. The authors look to the public as their patrons,
and the aristocracy are considered but as a part and portion of it.
These remarks equally hold good with respect to the government. Authors
are not to be so easily purchased as formerly; they prefer writing in
conformity with public opinion to writing for government, because they
are better remunerated. Now, if it will be recalled to mind that in the
rapid march of the people, in their assertion of their right to a
greater share in the government of the country, in the pointing out and
correcting of abuses, and in the breaking down of all the defences which
have gradually yielded in so many years, it is the authors and the press
who have led the van, and that in these continual inroads the
aristocracy have been the party attacked,--it is no wonder that there
has arisen, unwittingly perhaps on the part of the aristocracy, a
feeling against the press and against authors in general.

The press has been, and will probably for a long while continue to be,
the enemy of the aristocracy; and it is hardly reasonable to expect that
the aristocracy should admit the enemy within its camp. For, be it
observed, whether a man write a political pamphlet or a novel, he has
still the same opportunity of expressing his sentiments, of flattering
the public by espousing their opinions; and as a writer of fiction,
perhaps, his opinions have more effect that as a pamphleteer. In the
first instance, you are prepared to expect a political partisan; in the
latter, you read for amusement, and unconsciously receive the bias. For
one who reads a political pamphlet (by-the-by, they are generally only
read by those who are of the same way of thinking as the author) there
are hundreds who read through a work of fiction, so that the opinions of
the latter are much more widely disseminated. Now, as most works are
written for profit as well as reputation, they are naturally so worded
as to insure the good-will of the majority, otherwise they would not
have so extensive a sale. The