any articles for the 'London Review,' which was started as a rival of
the 'Saturday Review.' He found a more permanent outlet for his literary
energies in the 'Cornhill Magazine.' It was started by Messrs. Smith &
Elder at the beginning of 1860 with Thackeray for editor; and, together
with 'Macmillan's Magazine'--its senior by a month--marked a new
development of periodical literature. Fitzjames contributed a couple of
articles at the end of 1860; and during 1861, 1862, and 1863, wrote
eight or nine in a year. These articles (which were never reprinted)
continue the vein opened in the 'Essays by a Barrister.' His connection
with the 'Magazine' led to very friendly relations with Thackeray, to
whose daughters he afterwards came to hold the relation of an
affectionate brother. It also led to a connection with Mr. George
Smith, of Smith, Elder & Co., which was to be soon of much importance.

The articles represented the development of the 'middles,' which he
considered to be the speciality of himself and his friend Sandars. The
middle, originally an article upon some not strictly political topic,
had grown in their hands into a kind of lay sermon. For such literature
the British public has shown a considerable avidity ever since the days
of Addison. In spite of occasional disavowals, it really loves a sermon,
and is glad to hear preachers who are not bound by the proprieties of
the religious pulpit. Some essayists, like Johnson, have been as solemn
as the true clerical performer, and some have diverged into the humorous
with Charles Lamb, or the cynical with Hazlitt. At this period the most
popular of the lay preachers was probably Sir Arthur Helps, who provided
the kind of material--genuine thought set forth with real literary skill
and combined with much popular sentiment--which served to convince his
readers that they were intelligent and amiable people. The 'Saturday
reviewers,' in their quality of 'cynics,' could not go so far in the
direction of the popular taste; and their bent was rather to expose than
to endorse some of the commonplaces which are dear to the intelligent
reader. Probably it was a sense of this peculiarity which made Fitzjames
remark when his book appeared that he would bet that it would never
reach a second edition. He would, I am sorry to say, have won his bet;
and yet I know that the 'Essays by a Barrister,' though never widely
circulated, have been highly valued by a small circle of readers. The