ABSTRACT
The THEATRICAL INQUISITOR; or, Literary Mirror was a London monthly magazine (its later, longer-running subtitle was Monthly Mirror) that began in 1812 and continued through 1821 (sixteen volumes in the first series, one in “new series”), when it was absorbed by Gold’s London Magazine (q.v.). From the evidence of haste and carelessness in the reviews themselves, it can be surmised that contributors to the Theatrical Inquisitor were not encouraged, by monetary or other rewards, to take pains with their work. Yet occasionally – as in the review of Shelley’s Cenci – there is a perceptive review.
