ABSTRACT
The old distinction between the “review” and the “magazine” was still in force at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The function of the former was to survey politics, literature, science, and art; the latter, as its name implied, was a storehouse of literary and antiquarian learning with an infusion of more fanciful prose and verse. The Gentleman's Magazine, the greatest of its kind, continued uninterruptedly till mid-Victorian times and with vicissitudes almost to our own day. It was without party affiliations and existed solely to instruct and entertain. The organs of political and religious opinions which after 1802 had to struggle against fresh, vigorous rivals had once numbered great men of letters among their occasional contributors, but in general they were written by slovenly and ill-paid hacks who as literary critics made scarcely a pretense to independence, being cowed by their editors. These in turn were dependent upon the booksellers whose wares they advertised; consequently they did not dare to criticize adversely. Criticism was not only venal but quite non-selective. Whether valuable or worthless, books that were advertised were noticed.
