| Citation |
IL.783.077
1 Sep 1783:21
From the Edinburgh Evening Post. On the Advantage and
Amusement derived from the reading of Newspapers.
It has been often observed, that there is not so
inconsistent, so incoherent, so heterogeneous, although so
useful and agreeable thing, as a public newspaper; the very
ludicrous contrast in advertisements, the contradictory
substance of foreign and domestic paragraphs, the oppositive
opinions and observations. . . [1 column on items in
newspapers] One person's affections lie in the price of
stocks, and the arrival of our East and West-India fleets;
another's in a dreadful battle, either by sea or by land, in
which he solaces himself that he can read the account free
from its dangers; a third places his delight in a curious
anecdote; a fourth in a tale of scandal; a fifth, in horse-
races; a sixth, in theatrical intelligence; a seventh in
songs & poetry; and I really know a person, of an humane
disposition, whose inward feelings are gratified in a degree
proportioned to the bloody circumstances that accompany the
relation of a murder. Thus is a newspaper, a magazine, or
toy-shop, where every one has his hobby-horse; and thus all
capacities and descriptions are periodically furnished with
instruction, amusement and information. Without it, coffee-
houses, ale-houses, and barbers shops, would undergo a
change next to depopulation; and our country villages, the
curate, the excisement, and the blacksmith, would lose the
self-satisfaction of being as wise as our first ministers of
state. [signed] Quidnunc.
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