se many had to be
imported from abroad, and those printed here could not be sold as
cheaply as now. These conditions favored the magazines, which were
inexpensive and furnished to their readers, besides original matter,
republications of the best literature of Europe. They kept the public
abreast with the times and supplied the place now occupied by the
numerous libraries and books which can be purchased at a moderate
cost.

Another element which the magazine of a century ago did not have to
contend with so vigorously was the newspaper. The modern newspaper is
becoming larger and larger, and is making increased demand every day
on the time and interest of the public. In the eighteenth century and
the first decade of the nineteenth this was not the case. To be sure,
there were many newspapers, gazettes and advertisers, but they were
comparatively small in size, consisting usually of only four or six
pages. "At the period of the American Revolution, journalism had
nowhere reached [an] advanced stage of effectiveness. In America,
especially, the newspapers were petty, dingy, languid, inadequate
affairs; and the department of the newspaper now devoted to editorial
writing, then scarcely existed at all."[16] Many editors considered
the news available to be sufficient merely for a weekly instead of a
daily issue. This is not surprising. With the absence of the modern
telegraph, telephone, ocean cable and steam railroad the facility for
getting news from a distance was greatly diminished. Then, too, as the
population of the country was much smaller than now, the most
important domestic news could be told in a few columns. All this
tended to keep the newspapers within moderate proportions, and
although they were numerous, it is safe to say that they did not make
such a demand on the reader's time as to divert his attention from a
more serious kind of literature. People had, therefore, plenty of
leisure for careful perusal of the magazines, and these, by giving in
many cases a summary of the news, decreased the necessity for the
newspaper. For advertisements and business announcements the gazettes
and advertisers were the main source, but for general information and
current literature persons did not have to devote so much attention to
the newspaper.

[Footnote 16: M. C. Tyler, _The Literary History of the
American Revolution_, I, 1763-1776, New York, 1897, p. 18.]

As far as can be learned, the magazine in this earl