ABSTRACT
First published Edinburgh Saturday Post, 29 September 1827, p. 164. Never reprinted. A half-inch horizontal line separates this paragraph from the preceding leader (‘[News from Spain and Portugal]’); and a similar half-inch line separates it from the following article (‘[The Catalonian Insurrection; Rumours of the Press]’). All three pieces certainly appear to be continuous with De Quincey’s articles on London politics and English newspapers. This middle article also continues the skepticism about rumours in the London press, which was a recurring theme in De Quincey’s articles, and one that he recalled with pride later in the Post (see pp. 131–2 and 154–5, below). The knowledge of London’s Times and Standard, and the recollection of what ‘we have seen in 50 provincial journals for the last 10 days’, recall De Quincey’s weekly task of reporting on the English papers. In the first sentence, the remark about the ‘official character’ of the Times echoes previous comments about the Times being the ‘official’ organ of the Coalition (see above, p. 81). The implication would have been a loaded one, for many of the extreme Tories who read the Post; and related hints about the London Courier and its relation to the London government may be found on pp. 53 (above) and 185n. and 255–6 (below). Although this short paragraph was probably written in haste, with none of De Quincey’s usual literary allusions (and even a breakdown of grammar in its third sentence), it has some of his favourite devices, including dashes, italics, and the abbreviation ‘viz’. The phrase ‘provincial journals’ recalls ‘We people of the provinces’ (used, similarly, in ironic connection with the London Times) in the leader of three weeks earlier (above, p. 53).
