another takes unto himself 'an agreeable widow lady, with a fortune of
L.2000;' a third marches off with 'a young lady endowed with every
accomplishment to make the marriage state happy, with a fortune of
L.5000;' while a fourth _Benedict_, more lucky still, obtains 'a most
amiable, affable, and agreeable young lady, with a fortune of
L.10,000.' We suppose that the best excuse newspaper editors now have
for being less florid in their matrimonial announcements is, that
where the papers formerly had one, they have now at least a dozen of
these interesting notices; so that their brevity may be less owing to
the want of gallantry than to the want of space.

So extremely meagre was the news, both foreign and domestic, that a
considerable portion of the four small pages of the _Chronicle_ was
usually devoted to literature. Extracts were frequently given from the
works of Johnson, Smollett, and other popular writers, and a column
was often occupied by an essay from a contributor to the paper,
generally treating of some social evil or peculiarity, but never
intermeddling with local or general politics. These effusions
displayed a very respectable amount of ability, and the general
getting-up, or what would now be termed the sub-editing of the paper,
was also performed with care and ability. The scraps of news were
always presented rewritten and carefully condensed, instead of the
loose 'scissors-and-paste' style of publication adopted by many
provincial papers of the present day. Notices not only of local
theatricals, but of histrionic matters at Old Drury, were occasionally
given; the number for March 15, 1766, containing a well-written
criticism of '_The Clandestine Marriage; a New Comedy_,' performed
there. As the _Chronicle_ thus had to leave politics for literature,
we may perhaps, in our turn, digress from a consideration of its
pages, to note briefly that this period was set in the very midst of
the celebrated Georgian era, in which this country could boast of more
distinguished men--especially in literature--than at any other period.
In about twenty previous years, many great ones had departed--notably
Pope, Thomson, Fielding. Richardson also had died in 1761, and
Shenstone in 1763; the author of the _Night-Thoughts_ survived till
1765, when his burial was announced in the _Chronicle_ of April 27.
At this time (1765-6), Dr Johnson had reached the zenith of his fame;
Gray was becoming popular; Smollett had written most