ABSTRACT
The ECLECTIC REVIEW (monthly; 1805–1868) began as the organ of the Eclectic Society, a group that urged greater cooperation between the evangelical members of the Church of England and Protestant dissenters. During the first series (1805–1813) the guiding lights of the journal were Daniel Parken (editor, 1806–1811), John Foster (1770–1843), and the poet James Montgomery (1771–1854). In 1814 Josiah Conder (1789–1855) purchased the journal, began a new series, and set the liberal, enlightened tone of the Eclectic (with astringent advice from Foster) until he sold it in 1836 to devote his full attention to the Patriot, a liberal religious and political weekly newspaper. The general progress of the Eclectic Review is documented in biographies or memoirs of Conder, Foster, and Montgomery, and marked copies of some volumes now in the London Library have enabled John O. Hayden to identify many of the literary reviewers.
