It is intended that this Work shall be mainly devoted to a consideration of the social wants and rightful claims of the PEOPLE; that it shall appeal to the hearts of the Masses of England. With no expectation or wish to conflict with or supplant any present publication, it is believed that a Work popularly addressed to the sympathies and common sense of the kingdom, must make for itself a large and hitherto unoccupied sphere of instruction, amusement, and utility. It is our belief that the present epoch is pregnant with more human interest than any previous era; as it is also our faith that the present social contest, if carried out on all sides with “conscience and tender heart,” must end in a more equitable allotment of the good provided for all men. To aid, however humbly, in this righteous and bloodless struggle is a truer, a more grateful glory, than any glory blatant in gazettes. And an aroused Spirit begins to feel this. Awakening from a long, vain dream, that showed the many created only to minister to the few, the said Spirit believes—or says it believes-in the universality of the human heart. Hence, it vindicates a common right of happiness; hence, in its new tenderness, it even "babbles o' green fields" for the health and healthful thoughts of the people. So much the better. With Politics-as Party Politics, we meddle not. The day is happily gone by, when Parties-like foul-mouthed vixens-assailed each other with unseemly epithets, that mutual abuse might hide mutual corruption and infirmity. We shall deal with Politics only in their social relation, as operating for the good or evil of the community. Whig and Tory-Conservative and Radical-will be no more to us than the names of extinct genera, iv It will be our chief object to make every essay-however brief, and however light and familiar its treatment-breathe WITH A PURPOSE. Experience assures us that, especially at the present day, it is by a defined purpose alone, whether significant in twenty pages or in twenty lines, that the sympathies of the world are to be engaged, and its support ensured. Whilst dealing with the highest social claims of our countrymen, we shall not exclude from our pages either Sketch of Character-Tale— History-or Romance. Far otherwise. It will be our earnest desire to avail ourselves of all and every variety of literature, if illustrating and working out some wholesome principle. Mere stories, made like Twelfth-night heroes, of mere sugar, we shall certainly eschew. Neither would we have the "light-reader" take alarm at our graver subjects. They, too, it is hoped, may be discussed with no very violent call upon his wakefulness. It is not necessary that such themes-like bullets-should be cast in lead to do the surest service. Such was the pith of the prospectus that six months ago-announced the publication of the present work. We then spoke, certainly, in the fulness of hope. We have now to acknowledge the success that has firmly established the "SHILLING MAGAZINE" as a public organ. It has made a sphere for itself. We nevertheless hope, with each succeeding volume to develope more strength, more various powers; so that the book may be rendered more worthy of the sympathy and encouragement that, from the first Number, so cordially welcomed it. June, 1845. History of St. Giles and St. James, the. (By the Editor). 79, 357, 452, 543 1, 93, 189, 285, 141, 227 Poet before and after Death, the 268 Proposal for a National System of Scientific Duelling, a 437 Chimes, the; a Goblin Story of some Bells that Rang an Old Year out and a New Year in Diaries and Correspondence of James Harris, the first Earl of Malmes- Imagination and Fancy; or, Selections from the English Poets . Narratives of the Merovingian Era; or, Scenes of the Sixth Century, &c. (By Thiery) . 270 |