Publishers for the People: W. § R. Chambers — the Early Years, 1832-18S0

I I

71-17,976

COONEY, Sondra Miley, 1936- PUBLISHERS FOR THE PEOPLE: W. § R. CHAMBERS — THE EARLY YEARS, 1832-18S0.

The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1970 Language and Literature, general

University Microfilms, A XEROXCompany , Ann Arbor, Michigan

Sondra Miley Cooney

1971 PUBLISHERS FOR THE PEOPLE: W. & R. CHAMBERS

THE EARLY YEARS, 1832-1850

DISSERTATION

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University

Sondra Miley Cooney, B.A., A.M.

The Ohio State University 1970

Approved by

Adviser Department of English ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

X wish to thank first those to whom I am indebted in

Scotland. Had it not been for the assistance and co-operation of Mr. Antony S. Chambers, chairman of W. & R. Chambers Ltd, this study would never have become a reality. Not only did he initially give an unknown American permission to study the firm's archives, but he has subsequently provided whatever I needed to facilitate my research. Gracious and generous, he is a worthy descendent of the first Robert Chambers. All associated with the Chambers firm— directors and warehousemen alike— played an important part in my research, from answering technical queries to helping unearth records almost forgotten.

Equally helpful in their own way were the librarians of the

University of Edinburgh Library and the National Library of

Scotland. Finally, the people of Edinburgh made a signif icant, albeit indirect, contribution. From them I learned something of what it means to a Scot to be a Scot.

In this country I owe my greatest debt to my adviser,

Professor Richard D. Altick, for having been all this time a patient teacher, inspiring scholar, and warm friend. For their years of unlimited faith and confidence in me— and what seems like the same amount of financial assistance— X thank my parents. I am financially indebted as well to the American

ii Association of University Women for the fellowship which made one of my trips to Scotland possible. And, most of all, I am grateful to my husband, James, for having married me--and

William and Robert Chambers. Because of him, I have com pleted this work and retained my sanity, too. VITA

May 31, 1936 Born - Mt. Vernon, Ohio

1958 .... B.A., Manchester College, North Manchester, Indiana

1959 .... A.M., The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

1959-1961 . Instructor, English, Grove City College, Grove City, Pennsylvania

1962-1966 . Teaching Assistant, Department of English, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

1966-1967 . American Association of University Women Fellow

/ 1967-1968 . . Instructor, Department of English, The University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin

1970- . . . Assistant Professor, Department of English, Kent State University, Stark County Branch, Canton, Ohio

FIELDS OF STUDY

Major Field: English Literature

Studies in the Victorian Period. Professor Richard D. Altick TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...... ii

VITA ...... iv

INTRODUCTION ...... 1

Chapter I. THE SCOTTISH EXPERIENCE ...... 5

II. CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL ...... 38

III. CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL: READERS AND CONTENTS ...... 107

IV. CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE ...... 153

V. WILLIAM AND ROBERT ...... 214

APPENDIX A. Chambers's Edinburgh Journal— Weekly Distribution by C i t y ...... 265

B. Works Included in Chambers's Educa tional Course--1835-1849 ...... 268

v INTRODUCTION

Scholars have long recognized that a new era in

English political history began when the first Reform Bill was passed in 1832. A new era in English literary history also began in that year, when the first issue of Chambers"s

Edinburgh Journal, the prototype of penny magazines, appeared.

Because these magazines, and the cheap literature movement of which they were a part, notably assisted in democratizing the reading public, they shaped the attitudes and minds of more men than did all the literary masterpieces of the age. That

t there was a significant relationship between what people read and how they lived, Charles Knight, one of the leaders of the movement, recognized when he observed, "The history of Cheap

Popular Lite.ature is a long and instructive chapter of the history of the condition of the People."^ From the time

Chambers1s Edinburgh Journal appeared in 1832, the name of

W. & R. Chambers of Edinburgh was synonymous with cheap, popular literature. By studying the history of this publish ing firm much can be learned, therefore, about the tastes, interests and values of the Victorian people, especially those of the middle class.

The Old Printer and the Modern Press (London, 1854), p. 179. 2

Before assessing the firm's contribution to Victorian cultural and social history, we must first acquaint ourselves with some pertinent aspects of the earlier Scottish experi ence. It is no mere coincidence, that the first penny weekly of the cheap literature movement came from Edinburgh, for the entire movement was rooted in Scotland. The Scots1 attitude toward the written word and reading, unique in nineteenth- century Great Britain, had its genesis at the time of the

Scottish reformation. Calvinistic emphasis on individual freedom, of which the concomitants were popular education and democratic government, produced an intellectual climate which stimulated reading by all classes and a socio-political climate which minimized rigid class distinctions.

But, important as this Scottish history is, in this study it is but preliminary to evaluating the various Cham bers publications and their readers. Popular literature speaks to particular people at a particular time. For instance, the needs and tastes of early nineteenth-century

Scottish readers unquestionably determined what work the

Chamberses undertook. However, from the first these publica tions were intended for a broadly based reading audience: the Journal was designed (in its own italics) to "suit the 1 convenience of every man in the British dominions." The needs of these readers— and the means by which W. & R.

^Chambers1s Edinburgh Journal. I (1832), 1. Chambers satisfied them— must be appreciated if we are to see

the Victorians as they saw, or wanted to see, themselves.

The history of this firm affords yet another perspec

tive from which to examine the age. This institution was

truly the lengthened shadow of not one, but two men. William

and Robert Chambers were, in the words of a contemporary, men

who, "rising from the people, knew their wants and served

them nobly and well . . . . Because they were of the

people, the story of how they lived in their times is, in

large measure, the story of a significant portion of

Victorian people. Testifying to che extent of their identi

fication with the people is the fact that they chose to serve

their fellow man, not only through their publishing work, but

in other ways as well. To learn about the social problems

which concerned William and the intellectual questions which

occupied Robert is to understand how intimately involved in

the condition of the Victorian people the firm of W. & R.

Chambers was.

Although William was a general printer as well as—

to use the term broadly— the publisher of Robert's writings

as early as 1819, I have decided to concentrate on their

joint activities which began in 1832. The rationale for this

decision I trust the following chapters will make clear. The

■^Obituary of Robert Chambers, Publishers' Circular, April 1, 1871. year 1850 is a natural point for concluding this examination

of the firm, for in the 1850's significant changes took place

in both periodical and book publishing which amply justify

the decade's being regarded as a turning point in the history

of the trade. Although there were many successful productions by W. & R. Chambers during this eighteen-year period, I have

discussed only two in detail— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal

and Chambers's Educational Course. Their People's Editions,

the Miscellany of Useful and Entertaining Tracts and other

ephemeral works which also appeared during these years were

not markedly different from what other publishers put out.

Chambers's Information for the People, in some respects a

Chambers innovation, should be treated as a precursor of

Chambers's Encyclopedia, which is to be a major topic of my projected larger study of the firm to the death of William in 1883.

Unless I have indicated otherwise, the papers, records, and correspondence which I cite in the footnotes are those in the possession of W. & R. Chambers Ltd and its chairman, Mr. A. S. Chambers. The manuscript materials I have consulted in the collections of the National Library of

Scotland are designated by the abbreviation NLS. CHAPTER I

THE SCOTTISH EXPERIENCE

The first issue of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal appeared on February 4, 1832, the very moment when Great

Britain was entering the last crucial period of Reform Bill agitation. ,It was not by chance that a periodical designed

"to take advantage of the universal appetite for instruction which at present exists; to supply to that appetite food of the best kind, and in such form, and at such price, as must suit the convenience of every man in the British dominions"^ would be published in Scotland. For nearly three centuries, there had been developing within Scottish culture a demo cratic sensibility which had fostered, among other things, the Scottish preoccupation with mass education and popular literacy. William and Robert Chambers, their publishing firm and its publications were cleai.ly an outgrowth of this democratic sensibility.

At the heart of this democratic sensibility were certain assumptions about social order which had come into being at the time of the Scottish reformation. Prior to 1560,

Scotland had been allied spiritually with Rome, politically

1CEJ, I C1832), 1.

5 with France. When the so-called Reformation Parliament,

composed of "over a hundred small barons and lairds— all fervent Protestants," convened on its own initiative in

August 1560, the Scots were, in effect, declaring their inde pendence of ecclesiastical and political authoritarianism.^

The Parliament abolished the authority and jurisdiction of the Pope and forbade celebration of the Mass. It also con demned all doctrine and practice contrary to the newly sanctioned Confession of Faith, which was based on the doctrine of scriptural warrant. According to this teaching, the church derived authority for its acts from the Holy

Scriptures alone, not from any representative of Christ on earth.

To promote the new faith and the new church, John

Knox drafted a Book of Discipline. In it he proposed nothing to disrupt the social order. Instead, Knox acknowledged the authority of bishops within the church and the monarch within the state. Parliament did not approve Knox's Book of Dis cipline; but, in 1574, it did approve one drawn up by his successor Andrew Melville. Although many of Melville's proposals were similar to Knox's, they were based on a rad ically different concept of ecclesiastical— and social— order.

This second Book of Discipline disavowed all earthly authority

■*Tor my summary of Scottish history of the pre- Reformation and Reformation period, I am indebted to William Croft Dickinson, Scotland from the Earliest Times to 1603 (London, 1961). This quotation appears on p. 331. as the prerequisite for establishing presbyterian church government. It stated, first of all, that the church had no head on earth; even civil magistrates were accountable to its discipline rather than to their own. Nor was there a hier archy of authority within the church. The responsibility for the direction and government of the entire church did not rest with bishops, but with a General Assembly of representa tives chosen from individual parishes. The local parish was governed by a Session composed of elders elected from its membership; one of the elders was the minister, differing only in that he was a "preaching" elder.

While this spiritual revolution was destroying the power and influence of the Roman church and was establishing the new ecclesiastical order, a corresponding temporal revolution was also taking place. Starting with the "Reforma tion" Parliament dominated by "small barons and lairds," the middle class began to assume more responsibility for the activity and direction of Scotland's society. Sir Henry

Killigrew, an English agent in Scotland, wrote to Lore, lurgh- ley in 1572: "Methinks . . . I see the noblemen's great credit decay' . . . and the barons, boroughs and such-like take more upon them."^* Allying themselves with the barons and burgesses as leaders of society were the ministers of the reformed church. Scotland's middle class further consoli dated its position when the aristocracy was drawn from the

^Quoted in Dickinson, Scotland to 1603. p. 378. 8 country by the union of the thrones in 1603 and the Parlia mentary Union of 1707. On the first occasion, many of the

Scottish nobles followed James VI to London when he became

James I of England. On the second, the aristocracy left

Scotland because little power or prestige was to be enjoyed 1 in Edinburgh when both king and Parliament were in London.

With her aristocracy gone, Scotland became in fact, 2 as well as in spirit, a middle-class country. At the top of the social strata were the doctors, lawyers, ministers,

Wallace Notestein, The Scot in History (New Haven, 1947), p. 187. 2 This is not to suggest that the aristocracy had no part whatsoever in Scottish life at this time. In Edinburgh, particularly, it played an important, albeit contributory, role. John Clive and Bernard Bailyn explain how this occurred in "England's Cultural Provinces: Scotland and America," The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, XI, No. 2 (April, 1954), 200-213. "The Scottish nobility and gentry had largely remained Jacobite and Episcopalian, even after the re-estab lishment of the Church of Scotland. This meant that they were unencumbered by those ascetic proclivities against which even moderate Presbyterians still had to struggle. Too poor to travel abroad, they spent their winters in what was no longer the political but still the legal and ecclesiastical capital, where they wrote and sang ballads, sponsored assemblies and diverse entertainments— fostered, in short, an atmos phere of ease and social grace. But if they were masters of the revels, they were masters of little' else. While Jacobitism kept conscientious younger sons out of professions requiring an oath to the House of Hanover, poverty forced many of them to earn their living as tradesmen. . . . Economic necessity of this sort helped to create in the Old Town of Edinburgh a society in which social demarcations were far from sharply drawn, in which status was as much a function of professional achievement as of birth." Pp. 205-206. 9 1 university professors, and schoolmasters. Writing m the mid-nineteenth century, Henry Cockburn described these men

of the middle and late eighteenth century as "a club, which

recognised members of every description who were respectable

and agreeable, especially from learning and rank. Nor were

even tradesmen, called merchants, absolutely rejected, pro vided their trade was adorned by personal or family eminence." Once the top of society was defined in terms of

ability instead of money, the homogeneity of Scotland's social order became more pronounced. The intellectual aris tocracy was constantly being renewed from below inasmuch as any young man of "pairts" theoretically could become a member of it.^ i Scottish dedication to the principle of mass educa-

1 David Daiches, The Paradox of Scottish Culture (London, 1964), passim: Notestein, The Scot. p. 259; Laurance Saunders, Scottish Democracy: 1815-1840 (Edinburgh, 1950), pp. 88-89.

^Journal of Henry Cockburn (Edinburgh, 1874), XI, 198. 3 For the most vivid account of the intellectual cli mate and national temper of Scotland during the eighteenth century, see Chapters One and Two of Harold W. Thompson's A Scottish Man of Feeling (London, 1931). The first chapter, "The Awakening," treats the years 1707-1745 as anticipatory of the Golden Age and the rise of sentimentalism. The second, "David Hume's Page," gives an exceptionally evocative descrip tion of the Old Edinburgh of Henry Mackenzie's boyhood and youth, and sketches the general literary history of 1751-1756. As Thompson's narrative reaches farther into the nineteenth century (Mackenzie died 14 January 1831), his evaluation of events and people becomes less dependable. The best antidote against his sentimentalization of early nineteenth-century Scotland is Saunders, Scottish Democracy. See also Notestein, The Scot, p. 217. 10

tion, which was a major factor in sustaining her social democracy, also originated at the time of her reformation.

John Knox believed that the purpose of education was "that man might be the better able to serve the church and the 1 commonwealth." Consequently, one of the major provisions of his Book of Discipline concerned the establishing of schools throughout the country so that all boys, rich or poor, could receive an education. Distinguished by "the comprehensive nature of its organisation and . . . its national character" his plan proposed a three-part system: (1) In areas where the people met only once a week, the minister should be responsible for teaching the rudiments of knowledge to the young, especially catechism. (2) Every church in towns of

"any reputation" should provide a schoolmaster capable of teaching grammar and Latin. (3) Every "notable toun" and especially the "toun of the superintendent" should have a 2 college teaching the arts.

When the Scots tried to implement Knox's proposals, they soon discovered that the basic task of providing parish schools was an expensive undertaking. Knox envisioned sup porting the entire system of schools by using the financial resources formerly belonging to the Roman Church. But

Parliament rejected Knox's Book of Discipline— and its

^Dickinson, Scotland to 1603, p. 350. 2 John Clark, The Rise and Development of Scottish Education (Glasgow, 1910), p. 12. : 11 educational provisions— because many of its members had acquired these holdings.^ Yet the Scots did not abandon

Knox's ideal altogether. Even when the country was divided by religious and political controversy during the seventeenth century, Parliament, still believing "in the value of a learned laity as well as a dedicated ministry," passed a series of acts to procure the funds necessary for schools.

The most explicit of these was the act of 1646, which speci fied that the heritors of the parish (owners of heritable property) were to provide and maintain a school house and were to pay the master's stipend. If the heritors failed to act, the presbytery was to appoint "'tuell honest men within 2 the boundis' to set up the school and impose the stent." As

Scotland became increasingly industrialized during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the parish system alone could not provide enough schools. In the cities, there were not enough parishes to keep up with the ever-larger numbers 3 of people moving from the country to work in factories. In

^Dickinson, Scotland to 1603. p. 349. 2 George S. Pryde, Scotland from 1603 to the Present Day (London/ 1962), p. 39. I have used this, the companion volume to Dickinson's, as my basic resource work for modern Scottish history. Further complicating these acts were the periodic religious controversies. Originally, the bishops were to ensure maintenance of the system, but they were deposed by the victorious Covenanters in 1638 who established in 1640 the requirement that schoolmasters subscribe to the Confession of Faith and National Covenant. (Ibid., pp. 35- 36.) 3 Henry Hamilton, The Industrial Revolution m Scot land (Oxford, 1932), pp. 74-75. 12

rural areas, the number of heritors diminished as they became

absentee landlords or as farms were joined for the sake of

agricultural improvement.^

Financial support of parish schools proved less

complex in the long run than co-ordinating the curriculum for

grammar schools and university. This was no problem at first

when both, embodying Knox's essentially medieval philosophy,

taught only the classics. But by the eighteenth century,

there was a growing dissatisfaction with this curriculum.

The townspeople of Perth were the first to revolt. They

opposed study of the classics on the grounds that it did not

prepare their children to enter an expanding commercial

society. They presented to their town council a petition

stressing the advantages of science over "grammatical knowl

edge of dead languages and skill in metaphysical subtleties."

Consequently, when the Perth academy opened in 1761, all

instruction was in English and only "modern subjects such as

mathematics, natural science, astronomy, physics, English,

civil history, the principles of religion and later chemistry, drawing and painting" were taught. Other major towns fol- 2 lowed suit almost at once. Although such curriculum

^R. H. Campbell, Scotland Since 1707: The Rise of an Industrial Society {Oxford, 1965), pp. 6-7; Saunders. Scot^ tish Democracy, pp. 18-21. 2 H. M. Knox, Two Hundred and Fifty Years of Scottish Education; 1696-1946 (Edinburgh, 1953), pp. 13-14; also Pryde, Scotland from 1603, p. 106. Henry Cockburn reports the later revulsion in Edinburgh against classical education in his Journal, X, 69-73. 13

innovation continued into the nineteenth century, the clas

sics were not dropped altogether, for study of them was still

required for the university bound.

The university curriculum did not emphasize intensive

study of the classics so much as thorough general knowledge.

Such subjects as "Greek, rhetoric, moral philosophy, logic,

metaphysics, natural philosophy, and theology" were essential

to the curriculum. Academic specialization, the accepted

practice in English universities, was discouraged in Scotland

primarily because of the influence of the Scottish school of

philosophy. Originating in the eighteenth century, it

"derived its character from the old habit, which academic

England lost in the eighteenth century, of regarding the

world as one. Philosophy was divisible into 'natural,' 'men

tal,' and 'moral,' history into 'natural' and 'political';

whatever bias a man might take, the business of teacher and 2 student was philosophy." This less specialized approach

remained popular in nineteenth-century Scotland not simply because it was traditional. Inasmuch as the universities

were open to all--most boys entered at the age of fourteen— beginning pupils were not equally prepared for university

study. The need to compensate for the disparate training of

"^"Notestein, The Scot, pp. 157-158.

^W. L. Renwick, English Literature: 1789-1815 (Oxford, 1963), p. 198. 14

the students, as much as philosophical principles, influenced

universities to adhere to a broader curriculum.^

In a quite circular fashion, then, the "democracy" of

the lower schools and of the university entrance requirements promoted a "democratization" of the intellect— which enhanced

the democratic social order which, in turn, fostered demo

cratic educational principles. The dynamic of this process was brought into clear view by the Parliamentary Inquiry of

1826 into the Scottish universities. Although primarily an

investigation into administrative deficiencies, it became a direct attack both on Scotland's educational philosophy and 2 on her democratic social order. One of the principal defenders of the status quo, Francis Jeffrey, made the point most clear:

I endorse, on the whole, the justice of the reproach that has been levelled against our general national

See Saunders, Scottish Democracy, pp. 357-358, for a description of the Royal Visitors' reactions to the teaching of elementary courses on the university level. 2 George Elder Davie, The Democratic Intellect (Edin burgh, 1961), p. 26. Part V, "The Universities and the Professions," of Saunders' Scottish Democracy discusses in considerable detail the problems which the Royal Commission examined. He provides a much better treatment of this partic ular incident within the context of the times than Davie does. Despite the thoroughness and depth of his work, Davie unfor tunately isolates the educational controversy from other events taking place at the time. The English attitude toward Scottish university training was not new. In its obituary of Adam Smith, The Times (6 August 1790) said that "his stock of classical learning, though inferior to that of his predeces sor, the excellent Dr Hutcheson, yet much exceeded the standard of Scotch Universities." Quoted in C. R. Fay, Adam Smith: And the Scotland of His Day (Cambridge, 1956), p. 33. 15

instruction— that our knowledge, though more general, is more superficial than with our neighbours. That is quite true, and our system leads to it, but I think it is a great good on the whole, because it enables relatively large numbers of people to get— not indeed profound learning, for that is not to be spoken of— but that knowledge which tends to lib eralise and make intelligent the mass of our popula tion, more than anything else.J-

Even if true mass education had become a reality, it alone could not insure the vitality of Scotland's democratic social order. This fact became evident while the Reformation was still in progress. However admirable, John Knox's and

Quoted in Davie, Democratic Intellect, p. 27; italics in original. Saunders recounts Jeffrey's opposition to sug gested changes in the law curriculum as well. (Scottish Democracy, pp. 346-347.) Saunders' own comment on the Scot tish universities as compared to the English is as follows: "The Scottish academies expounded another tradition of learning with its own preoccupations and achieve ments. An enthusiasm for education was here more conspicuous. It was inspired by strong professional ambition among the students and supported by wide spread popular interest in and respect for academic opportunity and distinction. The country teacher prided himself on the number of his students who went to college; their families pinched to keep them there and shone in the reflected glory; the parish authorities congratulated the student, the parents, the teacher and themselves. Furthermore, the intellectual independence of the more nature students responded to an active teaching in philosophy and science that was not yet conspicuous at Oxford or Cambridge." P. 309. The English, at the time, were under the influence. of the "age of Greek Independence and Classical Humanism. An Hel lenic tradition was to be introduced to a people whose 'civility' was still inspired by the RefOmation and the Enlightenment ..." Ip. 358). Although the Scots success fully resisted imposition of English educational philosophy at this time, the nineteenth century was to see prolonged controversy over educational objectives and eventual conces sion to the English. 16

Andrew Melville's plans for mass education— and social reor

ganization— were undermined by a lack of financial resources.

Scotland's economic situation did not become stronger until

the Union of 1707. At that time, Scotland, impoverished

after the seventeenth-century religious unrest and the Darien

disaster, surrendered her independent Parliament to England

in exchange for a variety of economic advantages. It was

then that Scotland's "internal peace and order encouraged a

secularization of interests and enabled Scottish energies to 1 be devoted at last to material progress."

However dramatic its effects, this change was not rapid, because four inter-related sectors of the economy—

agriculture, industry, trade, and banking— were involved.

Agriculture responded first; once barridrs to trade with

England were eliminated, landowners found there a ready market for their cattle. To increase their chances for profit, they began introducing artificial grasses and began adopting various other innovations in farming methods. Thus, 2 the "improving movement" was born in Scotland. The linen

^W. H. Marwick, Economic Developments in Victorian Scotland (London, 1936), p. 15; Pryde, Scotland from 1603, pp. 54-55. 2 Hamilton, Revolution in Scotland, p. 5. David Daiches contends that the improving movement did not affect real Scottish farming much. It was primarily associated with the gentility, who had acquired their ideas in Holland and England. (Paradox of Scottish Culture, pp. 6-8.) Hamilton notes that the movement became more extensive in the last half of the eighteenth century. There can be no doubt, how ever, that this movement— regardless of its effectiveness in 17 industry's expansion was closely related to agricultural progress. At first, the Union adversely affected the weaving industry, because Scottish woolen fabric, inferior to that woven in England, could not compete on the open market. When flax growing was successfully attempted as part of the

"improving movement," the shift from wool to linen weaving was relatively simple and proved most advantageous.

Trade with the Plantations, which was to be one of the longest-lasting benefits of the Union, was not prosperous in the beginning. The Scots were unaccustomed not only to trading with the West but also to the complicated system of customs and excise which they had acquired from England at 1 the Union. Once the highly profitable tobacco trade was established, however, the traders reaped more immediate and spectacular rewards than did the landowners and manufacturers.

Finally, as a logical consequence of this expanding economic activity, money began to circulate more freely, necessitating 2 the rise of a system of banking.

The experience the Scots gained during this economic revolution stood them in good stead when, after cotton weav ing became the major industry, their Industrial Revolution

the eighteenth century— set the pattern for the greater expansion of the nineteenth century.

■^Pryde, Scotland from 1603, p. 71.

^Ibid., pp. 74-76. 18 I matured in the 1780's. As it developed, Scotland, unlike

England, did not have assets of "expert craftsmanship and 2 investment capital" to rely upon. In the long run, however,

Scotland's strong educational tradition more than made up for her weak commercial tradition. Depending upon their common intellectual experience— their belief in the interdependence of economic and educational progress acquired in the eight- 3 eenth century — all Scotland's social strata shared in and

Hamilton, Revolution in Scotland, p. 1; Pryde, Scot land after 1603, p. 128. It has been suggested that the Revolution had its beginning in 1759, the year in which the Carron iron works started and Parliament passed an act giving Glasgow's town council the power "to cleanse, enlarge and improve the channel of the river Clyde." (Pryde, Scotland after 1603. p. 127.) It was not fully under way, however, until 1780, almost a generation after England's had begun. Moreover, in Scotland the Revolution passed through two dis tinctive stages. One extended from 1780 to 1830, when cotton weaving, replacing linen, became the country's major industry. The second phase, from 1830 to 1880, was marked by "the utili zation of the mineral resources of the belt between the Forth and the Clyde . . . ." (Hamilton, Revolution in Scotland, p. 1.) 2 Pryde, Scotland from 1603. p. 128. 3 This Scottish characteristic bothered Matthew Arnold no end. Reporting on the Continental schools in 1867-68, he said of the Scots' education and culture: "Accordingly, while the aristocratic class of Scotland is by its bringing up, its faults, its merits, much the same as the aristocratic class in England, the Scotch middle class is, in la grande culture, not ahead of the English. But so far as intellectual cul ture has industrial value, makes a man's business work better and helps him to get on in the world, the Scotch middle class has thoroughly appreciated it and sedulously employed it, both for itself and the class whose labour it uses; and here is the superiority to the English and the reason for the superiority of Scotch skilled labourers and Scotch men of business every where." Quoted in Davie, Democratic Intellect, p. 21Q; also Saunders, 19

benqfitted from both the economic and industrial revolutions.

Consequently, the economic changes which resulted as Scotland became increasingly industrialized did not prove so disrup

tive to her social order as they did in England.

Although at the top of society, the intelligentsia

did not hold themselves aloof from economic concerns. Most

followed Scottish common-sense philosophy which easily lent

itself to a pragmatic orientation. From the middle of the

eighteenth century on, Scotland's more reputable philosophers

— Lord Kames and Adam Smith for instance— "were realists: it was useful knowledge they sought to expound."'*' Nor did

academicians stray far from common, every-day concerns.

James Hutton, for one, the father of modern geology, friend

and literary executor of Smith, was actively involved in 2 agricultural improvements. Work carried on in Scottish universities by such scholars resulted in more than one 3 important invention of the Industrial Revolution.

Scottish Democracy, p. 436. Culture, for Arnold, was synon ymous with classical studies; the Scots, as we have seen, were weak in them.

^Pryde, Scotland from 1603, pp. 110-111. In their study of Scotland's Scientific Heritage (Edinburgh and London, 1961), A. G. Clement and Robert H. S. Robertson suggest that the quality of Scots' inventiveness can be accounted for by the fact that the Scots unified their thinking and doing. The relationship between Scottish universities and industries was much more in the current American style than the clas sical style of Oxford or Cambridge (p. 126). 2 Fay, Adam Smith, p. 4. 3 Campbell, Scotland Since 1707. pp. 1-3; Fay, Adam Smith, p. 8. How important this aspect of Scottish culture 20

Landowners, too, responded favorably to this new era:

. . i n [the] early industrial development in Scotland there is little, if any, evidence of that opposition between the industrial and the landed interest that has sometimes been supposed to be characteristic of the Industrial Revolu tion, and there is considerable evidence to the contrary."'*'

David Dale, for one, established several of his factories in cooperation with local lairds. Robert Owen's New Lanark was on the land of no less a notable than the high Tory Lord

Braxfield. Part of this absence of antagonism can be traced to the fact that, as the landowners had become involved in the "improving movement," they had had to learn much about the same organizational and managerial techniques industry used; therefore, the operation of industry was not entirely 2 alien to them.

The significance of an inter-related educational and economic effort was even more apparent on the lower levels of society. At the time of the Industrial Revolution, Scot land's "great human asset was the wide diffusion of education was can be more easily appreciated if we realize that a major problem facing nineteenth-century industrial England was effective integration of academic knowledge and practical know-how. S. G. Checkland, The Rise of Industrial Society in England: 1815-1885 (London, 1964), has an excellent account of this in Section 4, "Practice and Theory Drawing Together," and Section 5, "The Debate of Scientific and Technical Educa tion," in Chapter Three.

^"Stewart Mechie, The Church and Scottish Social Devel opment: 1780-1870 (London, 1960), p. 9; Campbell, Scotland Since 1707, p. 5.

^Pryde, Scotland from 1603, p. 139. , 21

among the people, which made them adaptable workers and good 1 learners." There was no sector of economic activity which

did not depend upon and benefit from educated practitioners.

As "agriculture . . . became both precise and progressive," 2 the successful farmer had to be educated. The hinds

employed by him also needed reading, writing, and simple

arithmetic, and not only for the purpose of their work. For

most, their only distraction from daily routine was religion, 3 and it required that they be able to read the Scriptures.

Both the eighteenth and nineteenth century industrial tradi

tions depended upon educated workers. The weavers had been

able to indulge in education during their years of prosperity.

Even in their years of decline they continued to regard them

selves as intellectually superior. Religious enthusiasts for

the most part, they also read in order to engage in the meta physical disputations inherent in Scottish faith. Later on,

the mechanics of Scottish industry were unique because of

their high intellectual level. From them would come the many

engineers and inventors Scotland contributed to the indus- 4 trialization of other countries. English manufacturers, in

^Ibid., p. 128. 2 Saunders, Scottish Democracy, pp. 38-39.

^Ibid., pp. 52-53. 4 Ibid., pp. 104-106. "... there appears to be a wish in most Scots, reflected throughout the Scottish educa tional system from its early inception, to resist over specialisation and to achieve a wider outlook and comprehension. It is no coincidence that among Scots one 22 particular, eagerly sought these men and prized them both for their high level of skill and for their intelligence.1

However much Scotland's democratic sensibility depended upon a sophisticated social democracy for its devel opment, it would not,actually come of age until a comparable political democracy had been realized. Following the Union of 1707, when the Scots had given up their independent Parlia ment to England, they had lost whatever political conscious ness they had managed to acquire following the Reformation.

They had virtually no opportunity to engage in political activity. Scotland was grossly under-represented in Par liament. In 1793 it was disclosed that Scotland sent forty-five members to Parliament while Cornwall alone sent forty-four. And these members were elected by only 2,643 of

Scotland's nearly two million inhabitants. A larger, more nearly representative electorate could not become a reality until Scottish politics was freed from internal and external restrictions.^ finds many practical idealists, a combination of qualities held to be almost impossible elsewhere. And we believe that a number of Scots rose to the top of their professions because of the breadth and depth of their wisdom and. knowl edge, and not because of any singular or unique achievement." (Clements and Robertson, Scientific Heritage, pp. 126-127.)

1R. K. Webb, "The Victorian Reading Public," Uni versities Quarterly, XII (November, 1957), 31; and "Literacy among the Working Classes in Nineteenth Century Scotland," Scottish Historical Review, XXXIII (October, 1954), 109. 2 George Macaulay Trevelyan, Lord Grey of the Reform Bill: Being the Life of Charles, Second Earl Grey (London, 1920), pp. 73-74. 23

Scotland's political awakening was first stimulated by the popular interest in and support of the French Revolu

tion which developed in Scotland. "From 1792 there [was] no

complete break in the political life of the nation. Until

the victory of reform in 1832, the period from 1792 to 1794, during which the excitement had reached its highest pitch, was regarded by Tory, Democrat, and Whig, as marking an epoch

in the history of the country."'*' The climax of this early period of reform came with the sedition trials of 1793 and

1794. The principal defendant, Thomas Muir, had been

arrested because of a speech he had made before the Edinburgh

Convention of the Friends of the People, an organization

sympathetic to the French cause. He and Thomas Palmer, a

Dundee clergyman tried at the same time, were sentenced to

transportation.

The repression of dissent which these trials sym bolized was out of keeping with traditional Scottish passion for controversy. As a result, the Scots were moved to give

attention to concepts which had little concerned them before.

According to Henry Cockburn, "This was the first time that

Scotland had ever been agitated by discussions upon general principles of liberty. Neither the Union, nor the two Rebel lions, nor even the Revolution, had any of this matter in 2 them." Regardless of how the people may have been stirred,

^Henry TT. Meikle, Scotland and the French Revolution (Glasgow, 1912) , pp. 214-215 ^Memorials of His Time (Edinburgh, 1856), pp. 103-104. 24 years were to pass before they could enliven their theories, for the Tories came into ascendency at this time. There was little hope for political reform against a Toryism which

"engrossed almost the whole wealth, and rank, and public office, of the country, and at least three-fourths of the 1 population.11

Once the French wars had ended, however, there was no repressing either the Whigs or reform in Scotland. The death in 1811 of Henry Dundas, Lord Melville— "King Harry the

Ninth," the consummate "manager" of Scottish politics— 2 weakened the Tory hold over Scotland. Whig leaders with impressive qualifications— among them Henry Cockburn, Francis

Jeffrey, and the other writers of the Edinburgh Review— gained increasing popular support. And a greater number of the people were making their voice heard in political matters.

The training in democratic action, which they had learned in the Kirk, bore fruit in the course of four public meetings in

Edinburgh shortly before and after the close of the war. The purpose of the first, in July 1814, was to petition Parlia ment to end slavery in the West Indies; that of the second, in February 1816, to petition against continuing property and income tax. The third meeting, December 1817, was held to

1Ibid.. pp. 81-82.

^Pryde, Scotland from 1603,. pp. 125-126. 25 protest the erection of buildings on the North Bridge.^-

The fourth of these meetings was the Pantheon meet- 2 ing of December 1820. Held to request the King to dismiss his ministers, the meeting was the turning point for Scottish politics, because it was a triumph for the Whigs and moderate 3 Reform. It was distinguished from the earlier meetings in

Edinburgh "by its being purely political, and in direct and avowed opposition to the hereditary Toryism of Government."

The "great body" who met represented the responsible middle class who had been unceasingly, although not publicly, sup- 4 porting freedom and reform since the days of the Muir trial.

Whatever official London's reaction may have been to this meeting, and to the petition, eventually signed by 17,000 men, there was no doubt as to their effect in Scotland. According to Cockburn's evaluation:

Old Edinburgh was no more. A new day dawned on the official seat of Scotch intolerance. It was plain that a state of things had arisen in which that strange hard hatred of the people, though it might make its own victims miserable, could scarcely recal [sic] the time in which a local aristocracy could settle every thing, for its own behoof, in its own way. The meeting had been held here, but the eyes . of all Scotland were upon it, and all Scotland felt the result.5

1 An account of these meetings from one involved in them appears in Cockburn, Memorials. passim.

^Ibid.. p. 366; Pryde, Scotland from 1603. p. 191. 3 Meikle, Scotland and French, p. 229. 4 Cockburn, Memorials. pp. 376-377.

5Ibid., pp. 377-378. 26

After the Pantheon meeting, any other political activity (there was none to speak of) would have been anti- climactic, indeed, until the Whigs' assumption of power in

1830. Named by Grey to his ministry in that year were the two men who had consistently been the symbols of the Whig party in Scotland. Francis Jeffrey became Lord Advocate;

Henry Cockburn, Solicitor General.^" No longer would the

Scots have to remain quietly frustrated by the opposition of an antagonistic English government. They made this point quite clear at the elections of May 1831 when they returned 2 twenty-four Whigs— a gain of eight— to twenty-one Tories.

When reform finally came to Scotland, it was more sweeping than in England, because Scottish conditions were worse. Indeed, in G. M. Trevelyan's estimation:

If ever an Act of Parliament saved a country from revolution, Scotland was so saved by the Reform Bill. Although in temper, creed, and outlook on life the people were less submissive than the Eng lish, the civil institutions of the country con tained in 1830 no single element of self-government. Scottish democracy had been nursed in the Kirk and in the Kirk alone; and in the new age the Kirk no longer sufficed to contain so strong a s p i r i t . ^

Under the provisions of the Bill, "... Householders rated at £10 replaced the electorate of self-elected Town Councils.

In the counties, the qualifications of Parchment Barons were

■^Meikle, Scotland and French, p. 235.

^Pryde, Scotland from 1603, p. 194. 3 Trevelyan, Lord Grey of the Reform Bill, p. 273. 27 abolished, and the franchise conferred on the proprietors of real property valued at £10 a year, and on tenants, with a nineteen years' lease, paying a rent of £50.

Instead of under 5,000 electors, Scotland would now have 60,000, mostly middle class. Moreover, the provision of new seats reflected the changing distribution of the popula- 2 tion, especially in the cities. But an enlarged electorate was not the only change the Reform Bill brought to Scottish politics. At the end of 1832, when the first election under the new franchise was held, the real nature of Scottish political sympathies was freely expressed. The Whigs won forty-three seats, the Tories only ten. Throughout the remainder of the century, the Scots, whose political activity had been repressed for so long by England and the Tories, 3 were to have their revenge by consistently voting Liberal.

This was the Scotland in which the story of William and Robert Chambers began. They were.born in Peebles, a small Border town some thirty miles southwest of Edinburgh, yet within range of Glasgow's influence. The Chambers family was generally recognized to be "one of the oldest bourgeois families connected with Peebles." For at least two genera-

^Meikle, Scotland and French, p. 237.

^Pryde, Scotland from 1603, p. 194.

^Ibid., pp. 194-195; Notestein, The Scot, pp. 273- 274. 28

tions before James Chambers, the brothers' father, was born,

the family had been successful linen and woollen manufac

turers, accumulating substantial amounts of property in

addition to the valuable tools of their trade. When the

time came for James Chambers to enter trade, cotton manu

facturing was becoming important in Scotland. Consequently, he went to Glasgow in about 1790 to learn cotton weaving.

Returning to Peebles in 1798, he established himself as agent for several Glasgow cotton manufacturers, and set up looms in 2 his home in addition. All told, he directed the work of 3 nearly one hundred weavers who worked in their own homes.

Robert Chambers, unpublished 1833 autobiography, p. 1. In documenting this section, I refer, whenever pos sible, to relevant manuscript sources. I have preferred not to use any edition of the Memoir of Robert Chambers, with Autobiographic Reminiscences of William Chambers unless absolutely necessary. Successive editions of the Memoir were so changed by William Chambers that the reader cannot depend on finding specific incidents mentioned in all editions. (Later editions, with a supplementary chapter by an anonymous writer, are actually entitled Memoir of William and Robert Chambers.) Furthermore, in the Memoir the treatment of the early years of tne brothers' lives, for which William relied upon an autobiographical fragment written by Robert in the 1860's, is inadequate. So far as I can discover, William did not have access to— perhaps did not even know about— an earlier autobiographical reminiscence by Robert, dated June 28, 1833, which provides more detailed information about their childhood. Because the 1860 fragment is more concerned with local history and folklore, it gives little attention to their childhood before stopping completely. For the sake of consistency, therefore, I have used William's unpublished Memoirs of William Chambers as the source of incidents from his life. Even when they also appear in the Memoir of Robert Chambers. some details are subtly changed for the benefit of the- reading public. 2 W. C . , Memoirs of W. C .. pp. 3, 9. 3 R. C., 1833 autobiography, p. 2. 29

With the introduction of machine weaving of cotton, hand weaving throughout Scotland declined. In 1809, therefore,

James set up shop as a cloth merchant in order to have two

sources of income for the support of his family, which by then consisted of six children. William, the oldest, had been born in 1800; Robert, the second child, in 1802. James,

Margaret, Janet, and David were their brothers and sisters.

James Chambers prospered for several years, "and his family enjoyed every comfort which is ever looked for in that rank of life."1

Because of their family's position, William and

Robert were assured of at least adequate educations. When

William was 5, he began attending Kirsty Cranston's dame school. The only textbook used was the Bible; Kirsty's pedagogy was distinguished by her allowing the pupils to 2 leave out all the difficult words as they read. Both boys enrolled at Mr. James Gray's "English" or parish school where, for 2s 3d a quarter, boys and girls learned reading, writing, and simple arithmetic. The Bible, augmented by a reading

"collection" and the Westminster catechism, was the principal text. The brothers then progressed to Mr. James Sloane's grammar school where the classics were the course of study.

1 Ibid., p. 6; R. C., autobiographical fragment, 1860, p. 78. 2 W. C., Memoir of William and Robert Chambers. Thir teenth Edition {Edinburgh and London, 1884), p. 40. 30

There William acquired a life-long distaste, Robert a life long love, for Latin.^

Chambers and his wife were able to make more informal, but equally important, contributions to their sons' educa tions. While teaching penmanship to her servants, Mrs. 2 Chambers taught it to William, too. James Chambers was eager to acquire any learning he could, having been denied a 3 classical education by his own parents. Included in his reading was the then infant Edinburgh Review.4 Stirred by its scientific articles, he and a neighbor set up a telescope through which they— and William and Robert— observed the 5 stars. A subscriber to Sandy Elder's circulating library, he brought home most of the classics of English literature for his sons to read. Moreover, through Sandy, he acquired a set of the Encyclopaedia Britannica which both boys, but 7 more especially Robert, read eagerly.

^■R. C., 1833 autobiography, p. 5. ? W. C., Memoirs of W. C., p. 23. 3 R. C., autobiographical fragment, p. 21. William remarks on the same point in his Memoirs of W. C.. p. 11. 4 R. C., autobiographical fragment, p. 20. 5 Ibid. See also W. C., Memoirs of W. C ., p. 11.

^R. C., 1833 autobiography, p. 9, and W. C., Memoirs of W. C ., p. 30. Another prospectively famous patron of Sandy Elder's was James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd. (Mrs. Garden, ed., Memorials of James Hogg. The Ettrick Shepherd [Paisley and London, n.d.J, p. 24, ) '■ 7 R. C., autobiographical fragment, p. 20. William says that a "familiarity with the volumes of this great work 31

The Chambers's years of prosperity, when they could provide for their sons in this fashion, were short-lived.

In 1811 a band of French prisoners from the Napoleonic wars was sent to Peebles on parole. They did business at the

Chambers shop, and James Chambers, "beguiled by their agree able manners and address, and by the large payments which some of them occasionally made, was prevailed upon to give them credit to an amount nearly commensurate with his whole capital." After a year, the prisoners were moved to Dumfries, and James was left bearing the whole debt. When he was at last forced to declare insolvency, an uncle of his wife's was the chief creditor. On the pretext of setting things right, the uncle manipulated affairs so that he received his share of the assets, while leaving Chambers with only enough to pay his other creditors six to eight pence in the pound. Orig inally his assets had appeared almost equal to the entire debt.

Although the family wanted to stay on in Peebles, bankruptcy was a sin not to be countenanced in a small Scot tish town, especially when the parties involved were a man who liked drink a little too well and a woman who dressed herself and her children in a style superior to that of her neighbors. In a vain attempt to recoup their fortune, the family left Peebles in 1813 for Edinburgh. There Chambers is among the oldest of my recollections." (Memoirs of W. C.. p. 11.) 32 tried to continue his work as a cotton agent. This was not ea^sy in the city where there were few weavers. Often as not, those he employed sold the materials he supplied to buy liquor.

James then turned to an apparently good job as super intendent of a salt work near Musselburgh. The family moved there in August 1815. Chambers, unfortunately, did not have the temperament necessary for working in a subordinate posi tion, and he soon began to fail at his work. Returning from

Edinburgh one day with funds to be used in the business, he was attacked and robbed. The manager of the salt work promptly discharged him. Prom then on, Chambers was a broken man, incapable of purposeful labor. To support the family,

Mrs. Chambers took over a small shop where she sold miscel laneous commodities, including liquor.^

The beginning of William's career was not appreciably affected by these misfortunes. The family still had enough money so that he could be apprenticed, at the age of thirteen as was customary, to an Edinburgh bookseller. During his apprenticeship, he endured some privations because the family could not give him any extra financial assistance. These hardships, as recounted in the Memoir, were not themselves unusual for an apprentice; his almost fanatical economizing

^■R. C. , 1833 autobiography. The direct quotation appears on p. 7. The rest of the material is summarized from pp. 6-13 of the same source. 33 was. Upon completing his apprenticeship in 1819, he set up a second-hand bookstall in Leith Walk. By continuing to live frugally and by improving his business at every chance, he prospered sufficiently so that in 1823 he could leave Leith

Walk and its second-hand shops forever and enter the more respectable world of business.1

His brother Robert's life and prospects, however, were more drastically affected by the family's experiences.

Because he was evidently more studious than William, the family decided that, in the best Scottish tradition, he should train for the ministry. When the family left for

Edinburgh, he stayed behind in Peebles to finish the school year. The master of the grammar school waived his fees when 2 Robert agreed to assist with the junior classes. In the fall of 1814, Robert entered Mr. Benjamin Mackay's academy in Edinburgh. At the end of the first term he had to with draw, because the family did not have money to pay for the full year's instruction. A friend, learning of this, per suaded Mackay to ask that Robert be allowed to stay on gratuitously. He likewise persuaded James Chambers to grant the request.- Robert finished that year; the next year he was to enter both the sixth class at the academy and the human ities class of the University. When classes began, he could

1W. C., Memoirs of W. C ., pp. 134-135. 2 R. C. , 1833 autobiography, p. 9. • 34

not pay the university fees; however, he finished the year at

Mr. Mackay's, leaving school for the last time in the spring of 1816.1

This education had qualified him for no work, it seemed, when he began hunting a job. The family did not have the money to apprentice him to any trade, and he was forced to do whatever came to hand. The jobs he got— copyist for a

Russian merchant, clerk in a merchant's counting house, and ? tutor to children— he invariably failed to keep. The family had almost despaired of seeing him ever amount to anything when William suggested that he try second-hand bookselling.

Taking his own schoolbooks and all the books the family had managed to keep except for the family Bible, Robert set up business in Leith Walk in 1818, a year before William did the same. By 1822, when business on the Walk declined, he moved 3 to a more promising location in the New Town.

While establishing themselves as booksellers, both brothers had the opportunity to acquire some valuable skills.

Besides operating his shop, Robert spent his days "in inno cence and moral improvement," reading and writing. His first sustained writing efforts occurred in 1819-1820 when, besides

^Ibid;, pp. 10-16.

^Ibid., pp. 21-22. 3 A letter from Robert to Mrs. ------Cross, May 7, 1824, recounts that when Leith Walk began to decay in char acter, his business there declined. poetry, he attempted an historical novel in the style of

Scott. He published his first book, Illustrations of the

Author of Waverley, in 1822. His writings were not widely

known until the first number of the Traditions of Edinburgh

appeared in March 1824 and won immediate popularity. In the

years that followed, he wrote, among other books, Walks in

Edinburgh, a seven-volume series on Scottish history for

Constable's Miscellany, Popular Rhymes of Scotland, Picture

of Scotland, and the Gazetteer of Scotland. He frequently

contributed to Scottish periodicals as well. And in 1830 he

took on the editorship of the Edinburgh Advertiser.^ For his

part, William spent these years learning more about the tech

nical aspects of the book trade. He taught himself— and practiced— both bookbinding and printing. He wrote, too,

although on a much more limited scale than Robert. As a com panion to Robert's Picture of Scotland, he compiled the Book

of Scotland. This project led to his being asked to assist ? Robert in writing the Gazetteer.

By the early 1830's, William and Robert, as Edinburgh businessmen, were concerned about the state of both their

^R. C. , 1833 autobiography. The quoted phrase appears on p. 28; the remainder of the paragraph is a summary of pp. 28-45. The information regarding his contributions of periodicals is to be found in letters to the Blackwoods, NLS, 4019.31. and 4040.152. In a letter to James Hogg, he remem bers having provided a number of articles for the defunct Bell's Monthly. (NLS, 2245. 214-215.) 2 W. C., Memoir, 13th ed., Chap. 6, passim. See also R. C., 1833 autobiography, p. 31, and W. C., Memoirs of W. C ., passim. 36

city and their country. Stimulated by the information he had

collected for his Book of Scotland and the Gazetteer and by

the fact that the city of Edinburgh was fast approaching

bankruptcy, William wrote a series of letters to the Edin

burgh Weekly Chronicle. Appearing from July 16, 1831 to

October 8, 1831, they attacked successively the annuity tax,

rent on kirk seats, Town-Council expenditure, the Chapel-

Royal, burgh debt, and ale and beer duty. The Town Council's

handling of these matters convinced William "that the magis

tracy and council [were], in most instances, the most

imbecile and most servile members of the whole community.""*'

That same year he became directly involved in local politics.

He was selected by the merchants of Edinburgh to present to

the Town Council their petition requesting the election of

Francis Jeffrey rather than Robert Adam Dundas as Edinburgh's 2 parliamentary representative.

Robert, then editor of the Advertiser, adopted a

political philosophy more conservative than his brother's.

In fact, taking a "vigorous stand . . . against the prevail-

ing tide of radicalism," he went to great lengths to dis

sociate his paper from more revolutionary newspapers. He

"*"W. C. , An Exposure of the Public Abuses, Connected with the Ecclesiastical and Civic Arrangements of the City of Edinburgh, two numbers (Edinburgh, 1831), No. 2, p. 43. 2 W. C., Story of a Long and Busy Life (Edinburgh and London, 1882), p. 63.

^Letter to ------Blackwood, 1830, NLS, 4714.183. 37

adopted this position because he believed that the mob was

hurrying polite society and government on to "revolution and

vandalism." Disenchanted as Robert was by this state of

affairs, it is no wonder that he was dubious when William

proposed the idea of a magazine to be directed to the masses, 2 . which was to be called Chambers1s Edinburgh Journal.

"'"Letter to Sir Walter Scott, March 30, 1831, NLS, 3917, 156.

^W. C., Memoir, 13th ed., p. 232. In a letter requesting Thomas Atkinson, a Glasgow bookseller, to handle the Journal in that city, Robert expressed his doubts the day before the Journal first appeared in public. He said, "My brother William has started a paper at a singularly cheap price, which must either sell in thousands, or not at all." (Letter written at Edinburgh, February 3, 1832.)

/ CHAPTER II

CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL

By the time Chambers's Edinburgh Journal appeared, periodical publishing had been well established in Scotland, going back to 1642. And by the next century, "cheap" periodicals gained public acceptance, too. As early as 1768,

Ruddiman's Weekly Magazine, containing thirty-two pages, could be "afforded very cheap." As a result, by the winter of 1776 its weekly sale reached 3,000 copies, a figure unprecedented in Scotland.'1' It made no pretense at original ity as its full title indicated: "The Weekly Magazine, or

Edinburgh Amusement, containing the essence of all the maga zines, reviews, newspapers, etc., published in Great Britain; also Extracts from every new Work of Merit, whether political, literary, serious or comical." Nevertheless, the fact that it contained something for nearly every reader undoubtedly 2 helped account for its sale.

Neither Ruddiman's nor any other periodical was

^*W. J. Couper, The Millers of Haddington, Dunbar and Dunfermline: A Record of Scottish Bookselling (London, 1914), p. 127. o G. A. Sinclair, "Periodical Literature of the Eight eenth Century," Scottish Historical Review, II (1905), 145.

38 39 designed for the lower orders. It was not until 1813 that the

Haddington bookseller, printer, and publisher, George Miller, inaugurated a periodical which he hoped would appeal to lower- class readers on the score of both content and price. In his prospectus, Miller stated that the Cheap Magazine, 4d the copy, was to be "adapted to the lowest capacity, calculated to promote the interests of religion, virtue, and humanity, and to dispel the shades of ignorance, prejudice, and error among the lower classes of mankind." The Cheap Magazine's success was limited at best. Although it circulated in every parish in Scotland, and 15,000 to 20,000 copies all told were printed during its lifetime, it was discontinued in Decem- 2 ber 1814. One of the hindrances to its ^uccess was its price. For the audience to which it was directed, 4d was a substantial amount to spend, if only once a month. Further more, although Miller's editorial policy was conservative and the contents carefully selected, the magazine was suspect 3 among its Calvinistic clientele. Alexander Somerville, for

■^Couper, Millers of Haddington, p. 119. It has been recorded that Henry Duncan and William Oliphant had founded a cheap monthly even earlier— the Scottish Cheap Repository in 1808. {Mechie, Church and Scottish Social Development, p. 38.)

2Ibid., p. 121. 3 According to Couper, the magazine usually "included stories of the primitive passions . . . ; poems that resem bled Dr. Watt's well-known didactic verses; papers on the industrial arts and the commoner sciences; hints on etiquette and domestic conduct in every conceivable situation" (p. 121). 40 one, reported that religious readers were alarmed because the

Cheapie, as it was popularly called, "aimed at popularizing philosophical and purely literary subjects, and did not give a predominancy to religion."'*' The truth is. Miller was simply ahead of the times when he published the Cheap Maga zine. Propagation of other than religious knowledge would be unacceptable in Scotland until after the "March of Intellect" of the 1820's and the political agitations in the late 1820's and early 1830's had created the demand for more diversified 2 and secular reading matter.

More specifically, the mechanics' institute movement; the writings of Scott, Campbell, Wordsworth, Southey, and

Byron; and the newer magazines and review^ and the improved quality of newspapers were responsible, according to William

Chambers, for the public's changed attitude toward reading.

^Autobiography of a Working Man. ed. John Carswell ([London], 1951), p. 48. 2 Two decades later, Miller was generally regarded as having prepared the way for Henry Brougham, Charles Knight, and William and Robert Chambers. A Panegyric, "Verses to the Memory of Mr George Miller, An Early Disseminator of Cheap Literature," proclaimed: "Within thy native district, first to rear The 'Press,' which, in thy hands, was doomed to wear A chaster form:— No more, from door to door, The lounging pedlar hawked his poisoned lore; - For now, subservient to one virtuous end, Amusement, with instruction, thou didst blend. And, loi where Brougham and Chambers blaze in day, Thou 'went before, and gently cleared the way'; Unmindful of the magic of a name, In secret toil'd, and 'blush'd to find it fame!'" (J. M., CEJ, IV [1835], 288.) 41

All of these "had vivified and brought to the surface new

orders of readers, and, besides, set a fashion of seeking

recreation in books and periodicals, which was favorable to

any cheapening of these engines of instruction and entertain ment."'*' In other words, once reading became a popular and

acceptable pastime among those belonging to the upper levels of society, it was only a matter of time before their enthusiasm filtered down to the lower classes. And, as a consequence, more reading material had to be produced.

The development and progress of the mechanics' insti tutes during the 1820's evidenced this supply and demand relationship. The movement had originated in Dr. George

Birkbeck's work at the Andersonian Institute in Glasgow during the first years of the century. A group of men who had attended his lectures decided later that the Andersonian no longer served the "mechanic" but artisans, shopkeepers, and 2 the like. They then set up their own institution, the Glas gow Mechanics' Institute, which became the model for the

Edinburgh School of Arts founded in 1821. By 1823, the idea had reached England, and Dr. Birkbeck was invited to help found an institute in London. Although he was somewhat

^Memoir of Robert Chambers, with Autobiographic Reminiscences of William Chambers, Third Edition (New York, 1872), p. 206. 2 In Victorian times, the word "mechanic" had a broader meaning than it has today. It was used to refer to those who worked with machines and who were usually skilled and had received some education. 42 reluctant to do so— he was not sure that English mechanics had enough elementary education to profit from this kind of program— the London Mechanics' Institute was formally opened in 1824. Mechanics' institutes proved so popular that about seventy were founded in 1825 alone, mostly in Scotland, Lon don, the industrial North of England, and the seaports.’**

The mechanics' institute movement accentuated the need for more readily available reading material. Those who attended the institutes could not afford the books then commonly published, and such cheap books as did exist were totally 2 unsuited to this class of readers.

The new pursuit of knowledge was not limited to urban areas of Scotland, as the use of subscription and circulating 3 libraries during this same period attested. Paul Kaufman has shown that during the first half of the nineteenth

Thomas Kelly, George Birkbeck: Pioneer of Adult Education (Liverpool, 1957), p. 209. The last three chapters of this book trace the general history of the mechanics' institute movement. 2 Mabel Tylecote, The Mechanics' Institutes of Lanca shire and Yorkshire before 1851 (Manchester, 1957), P- 31. . This excellent study complements Kelly's necessarily more general treatment of the Mechanics' Institutes noted above. 3 Neither library was a public library as we know them today. Both charged fees. Charges at the “circulating" or commercial libraries were based on the length of time for which a book was borrowed. Typical were rates of 3s per quarter, Is 6d per month, and Id per night. Subscription libraries required an entry fee, which could range from Is to 10s, and varying subscription fees. Some libraries charged as little as Id per week; others, 4 or 6s yearly. (Paul Kaufman, “The Rise of Community Libraries in Scotland," Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America. LIX [Third Quarter, 1965J , 234-260 .) 43 century, but particularly during its first two decades, bor rowings from libraries increased markedly. Two notable centers where this occurred were the libraries of Inner- peffray and the Gray Library at Haddington. At Innerpeffray, there was a total of 4,533 loans between 1801-1850, more than three times the total for the previous fifty years.^ At

Haddington loans between 1805 and 1817 nearly equalled the record for the preceding sixty-five years. Kaufman concludes that "what is arresting in this second period is the similar ity with the sudden increase in loans at the same time at

Innerpeffray. Such coincidence may well be symptomatic of an acceleration in reading throughout Scotland or at least in 2 the Lowlands." Equally significant is the fact that the borrowings were usually of secular books. Regardless of their immediate contribution to the growth of the reading public, the increased activity of the libraries, like the spread of the mechanics' institutes, emphasized that more readily available reading material was needed. Patronizing a library was not easy for those who lived some distance from town.^ And it was almost impossible for the "humbler orders"

1Ibid.. p. 270. 2 Ibid., p. 267. Laurance Saunders has observed that during the 1820's literacy reached such a high point in the Lowlands that in many parishes a tenth or an eleventh of the entire population attended school and "illiteracy [was] so abnormal that it could be regarded as due to culpable neg lect." (Scottish Democracy, p. 251.) 3 W. C., Memoir, 3rd edition, p. 204. 44 to benefit from libraries which charged for borrowing priv ileges.^-

By 1825 the general enthusiasm for reading was so great that Archibald Constable, Edinburgh literary entre preneur and Scott's publisher, estimated that supplying as much reading material as was needed would require a ten-fold increase in publishing output. To help meet this need he projected Constable's Miscellany, a series which was to influence all forms of cheap publishing for years to come.

He announced that he would publish the series, two books at a time, in weekly numbers, the sale of which would be extended "to every newsman and dealer, hawker or what not, throughout the Empire." One of the books would always be

"Entertainment, and one of what may be termed Historical or 2 Useful information . . . ." Both reprints and original works were to be included in the Miscellany. So that his publications would give no offence to "friends of good order and good conduct," Constable excluded all controversial religious and political matter. His ultimate aim was to give respectability to cheap publishing. As he confided to Sir

Walter Scott, "The success of my Miscellany will, I trust, have a beneficial effect in cutting off the trash which, in

■'‘Kaufman, "Rise of Community Libraries," passim. 2 Archibald Constable to Joseph Ogle Robinson, June 1825, in Thomas Constable, Archibald Constable and His Literary Correspondents (Edinburgh, 1873), III, 349. 45

the shape of books, is now circulated by persons without

either character or good principles all over the country, and who not unfrequently lend their influence in promoting the

sale of cheap books to corrupt men's minds and create mis

chief .

Constable died before the project was actually begun.

The Miscellany might have been the success he envisioned, but before his heirs and successors published the first volume in 1826, comparable series were begun by others. When the

Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge was founded in

London under Henry Brougham's aegis in 1826, one of its first projects was the publication of two "libraries"— the Library of Useful Knowledge and the Library of Entertaining Knowledge.

Besides adopting a philosophy similar to Constable's, the

Society went a step further in order to lend respectability to cheap books. The work of its writers and editors was to be closely supervised so that cheap books would no longer be synonymous with scissors-and-paste. Charles Knight, the

Society's publisher, said that "Books professedly 'entertain ing' were to be founded upon exact information, and their authorities invariably indicated. . . . it was the only course by which a new aspect could be given to cheap litera ture, by showing that the great principles of excellence were

^Ibid., III, 329-330. This letter was written from London on 11 October 1825. 46 common to all books, whether for the learned or the unin formed. 11 ^

After respectable cheap books, the next logical publishing innovation was respectable cheap periodicals.

Had Archibald Constable lived, he might have been an inno vator in this field, too. Such an undertaking had been suggested to him before his death by the Rev. Dr. Robert

Morehead, soon after he had heard of the plan for the Miscel lany.

It . . . occurred to me that the lower orders at present are somewhat in the same situation in which the higher and middling ranks were at the time when Mr. Addison and the other authors of the Spectator, etc., took them in hand, and contributed so much to their improvement by dealing out to them constant doses of religious, moral, philosophical, critical, literary sentiment and information, and may be said almost to have formed the minds of the better orders of the people for successive generations. What do you think would be the effect, at this moment, of a periodical paper designed to meet the peculiar circumstances of the lower orders . . . .2

By virtue of his magic name and his unerring knowl edge of the public taste, Constable might have succeeded where lesser figures failed. But as it was, many periodicals sprang up during the 1820's, because of the demand for read ing material, the popularity of journals like the Edinburgh and Quarterly reviews and Blackwood's, and the development of

^Modern Press, p. 241. 2 T. Constable, Constable and Correspondents, II, 448-451. 47

steam printing.1 In most cases, these new periodicals were

hardly an improvement over the old chapbooks. Their contents

were not usually original, whether they were collections of

tired jokes or tales of crime and horror. Even radical polit

ical works bordered on the sensational. Fortunately, most

were short-lived. An exception was John Limbird's Mirror

which, begun in 1822, was published until 1847. Nevertheless,

its illustrations and amusing tone did not disguise the fact 2 that it, too, was a scissors-and-paste product.

The time was not fully ripe for cheap weekly period

icals until the sustained battle for political reform which

started in the late 1820's and reached its peak in 1830-32.

William Chambers believed that political agitation, "by

stirring lip the popular feelings, helped materially to

stimulate the appetite for what would excite, instruct, and 3 amuse." While this psychological factor was undeniably

important, the reading public also wanted to be informed

about rapidly changing events. Not since the time William

Cobbett's Political Register became a two-penny pamphlet in

1816 had interest in the political topics of the day been so

1George L. Nesbitt, Benthamite Reviewing: The First Twelve Years of the Westminster Review: 1824-1836 (New York. 1934), p. 18.

^W. C., Memoir, 3rd ed., p. 206. Also 13th ed., p. 229.

3Ibid.. p. 208. 48 engrossing.^ As a result, classes of society which had never before evinced interest in reading avidly followed political news through newspapers and other publications which they obtained by any means at their disposal. Capitalizing on this new audience with its new interests, publishers started a number of low-priced periodicals in both London and Edin burgh in 1831. The first and best of the Edinburgh publica tions, according to William Chambers, was the Cornucopia, four pages selling for three-halfpence. Because in size it resembled a newspaper, "it was deemed a marvel of cheapness" 2 at a time when newspapers sold for fivepence.

The appearance of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal in

1832, therefore, was "concurrent with a general increase in the demand for periodical works," which William Chambers had seen developing during the thirteen years he had been a book seller."^ The Journal was not the first periodical William and Robert had attempted to publish. In early 1821, a young friend of theirs named Denovan, inspired by Wooler's Black

Dwarf, began the Patriot, a weekly periodical which consisted of the "most uncompromising political tirades." On Denovan's persuasion, William agreed to be its publisher, an action he

"^A. Aspinall, Politics and the Press: c. 1780-1850 (London, 1949), p. 29; P. M. Handover, Printing in London: From 1476 to Modern Times (Cambridge, Mass., 1960), p. 155.

^Memoir, 3rd ed., p. 208 and 13th ed., p. 231. 3 Knight, Modern Press, p. 263. 49

later regretted as a "blunder. because it associated him

with political extremism. Later the same year, William and

Robert collaborated on their own, this time non-political, periodical, the Kaleidoscope, or Edinburgh Literary Amusement.

A fortnightly publication costing threepence, it first

appeared on Saturday, October 6, 1821 and continued through

January 12, 1822. Between it and the Journal there is little kinship. Obviously written by bright, brash young men hold

ing little sacred, it reads today more like a bad imitation,

in miniature, of literary periodicals like Blackwoods.

Nearly sixty years later, William regarded the articles as being "unnecessarily caustic and satirical." In this, their fledgling attempt, the brothers managed or)ly to pay their 2 expenses.

What specific periodicals might have inspired William to undertake such a publication as the Journal is not clear, although his mentioning George Mudie's Cornucopia out of all the other periodicals of 1831 suggests that it might have been one model. He would have been familiar, too, with the

Cheap Magazine. In the Gazetteer of Scotland, on which he

and Robert collaborated just before the Journal appeared,

^Memoirs of W. C ., p. 113.

^W. C., Memoir, 3rd ed., pp. 146-147. Although William had been doing some minor printing before this time, this was the brothers' first joint production. From this time until 1824, William printed and published a number of Robert's writings, but the brothers were never "joint pub lishers" until the Journal was several weeks old. 50 there appears an account of George Miller's work. Commenting on the failure of the Cheap Magazine, it says "such a work, as it was rather a design of the present time than of that when it appeared, might surely be tried again with better hopes of success than at first . . . . Whatever his inspiration, William decided to publish a periodical, of which the leading principle would be "to entertain and instruct, altogether apart from political or sectarian pre possessions, and so, as far as possible, gain universal 2 confidence . . . This was no easy thing, for he had the reputation of being politically radical because of his associ ation with the Patriot and his letters to the Edinburgh

Courant attacking civic corruption and the Town Council.^

Nevertheless, "considering it to be necessary for the success of my experiment that I should not be identified with any political party, I shook myself clear of relationships of that kind, and in reality as well as appearance placed myself 4 aloof from every external influence."

Knowing that he could not handle alone a project of the scope he imagined, he turned to his brothers Robert and

^Quoted in Couper, Millers of Haddington, pp. 125-126. 2 Memoirs of W. C ., p. 149. The Memoir, 3rd ed., pp. 208-213, gives in some detail William’s story of his planning the Journal. The account in the 13th ed., pp. 231- 234, is less full.

^Memoir, 3rd ed., pp. 198-199. 4 Memoirs of W. C ., p. 149. 51

James, botn booksellers, for assistance. "With the enthusi asm of a discoverer" he outlined his plans to Robert, who was not very enthusiastic. He did, however, promise to give

William such assistance as he could, primarily through writing contributions.^" James was to be the publisher, partly because his shop was more centrally located than

William's and partly because William was in such a "paroxysm of hope and fear" over the uncertainty of his undertaking that he considered himself incapable of carrying out the necessary arrangements for publication. Nevertheless, after issuing the prospectus, William managed to keep the public interest stimulated with advertisements, for he "was resolved to leave nothing undone that had a chance of ensuring suc cess .

The "grand leading principle" of Chaml s Edinburgh

Ibid., p. 149. See the Memoir. 3rd e ., pp. 214-215 for a longer account of these early arrangemer: between the two for the editing and publishing of the Jou- .al. Some of the information is repeated in the 13th ed., pp. 231-234. 2 Ibid., pp. 150-151. According to the statement sent by John Johnstone, printer, bills advertising "Publishing Weekly" were printed for Glasgow, Perth, Dundee, Aberdeen, Dumfries, Galashiels, Falkirk, Hawick, Stirling, Berwick, Greenock, Peebles, Alloa, St. Andrews, Dunfermline, Ayr, Cupar, Dunbar, Linlithgow, Lanark, Dunse, Arbroath, Elgin, Montrose, Kirkcaldy, Inverness, Haddington, Dalkeith, and Gilmerton. Another kind was printed for Edinburgh and London, which said "Publishing every Saturday Morning" and "contain ing as much reading as a Newspaper." The same bills were then sent to Paisley, Kelso, Wicks, Oban, Carnwath, Thurso, North Berwick, East Linton, Lauder, Coldstream, Kirkwall, Leven, Stonehaven, Kinross, Falkland, Anstruther, Eddleston, and Newcastle. Journal. to be published every Saturday, was "to take advan

tage of the universal appetite for instruction which at

present exists; to supply to that appetite food of the best

kind, and in such form, and at such price, as must suit the

convenience of every man in the British dominions.11 The

Journal would contain material for every man's taste. There

were to be articles on emigration for the poor man, moral

extracts for old men and women who could not get to church,

educational articles for artisans, informational articles for

ladies and gentlemen of the "old school," fiction for ladies

of the "new school" and young countrywomen in their teens,

as well as special columns for young boys. To ensure that

the Journal's contents maintained their universal appeal,

William stated that it would never seek or be subject to the

"special patronage or approval of any sect, party, or indi vidual." And, at the price of three halfpence the copy, the

Journal could hardly fail to be accessible to every man.'*’

Whatever his emotional state before February 4, 1832,

William managed to do whatever was necessary for the Journal1s success. The first number sold 25,000 copies, and this in

Scotland alone, for it was not sent to London until after the 2 third number. How accurately William had gauged the public's

1CEJ, I (1832), 1. 2 The Memoir, 3rd ed., p. 211, erroneously states that 50,000 copies were sold. The figures in the 13th ed., p. 234, are correct. Section II of this chapter discusses in greater detail this problem of the first number's sale. See Appen dix A for the sale according to town. 53

need for such a periodical was indicated not only by the

Journal's large sale, but also by the fact that imitators of

it appeared almost immediately. "For a time, indeed, there was not a week which had not a new serial; but few of these

candidates for public approval outlived the second or third number."^ There was one, though, which did. Within six weeks, the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge issued the Penny Magazine, which was to become the Journal1s 2 principal competitor. From then until 1846, when the Penny

Magazine discontinued publication, the story of cheap period ical publishing in Great Britain was largely the story of

Chambers1s Edinburgh Journal and the Penny Magazine.

^W. C . , Memoir, 3rd ed., p. 211 and 13th ed., pp. 230-231. 2 Whether or not the Penny Magazine was a deliberate imitation of the Journal has never been clear. The prin cipals involved in founding the two periodicals never dis cussed the point in print, although William Chambers in later years always made quite clear that the Journal was the first such publication and that all others were imitations of it. . Charles Knight's account in Passages of a Working Life, II, 180-181, makes it sound as though he and Matthew Hill con ceived the idea of the Penny Magazine ab ovo. This may be true, but in his unpublished memoirs, William recalled that he sent prospectuses of the Journal to a "few persons of note in England connected with the diffusion of popular litera ture .... Among them was Lord Brougham. I never received a word of reply from one of them" (p. 151). The leaders of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, therefore, were not totally unaware that a new penny magazine was going to be published in Edinburgh. 54

The cheap reading material which was available in

Great Britain early in 1832— chapbooks and the like— provided

nothing for the serious reader. Chambers' and Knight's first

consideration, then, was to fill the needs of these readers.

The cheap papers of the day with their sensationalism and

radical politics, however, had gained such a bad reputation

that the publishers also had to convince potential readers

that cheap publications could have "dignity and merit."'1' The

Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge and Archibald

Constable had demonstrated that this was possible in book 2 publishing; it remained for William Chambers (and Knight) to

apply the hope to periodicals. He was so dedicated to this principle of dignity and merit that, although the Journal

changed in some respects, its standard of quality remained

the same throughout the years.

Slight but significant variations in the Journal were required if it was to attract and retain the patronage of a

changing audience. In fact, the first shift occurred within

six months after publication had begun. The Journal1s first twenty numbers were written for an exclusively Scottish

1CEJ, VI (1837), 8. 2 Richard D. Altick says in The English Common Reader: A Social History of the Mass Reading Public 1800-1900 (Chi- cago, 1957), p. 271, that the SDUK's most important achieve ment was its "publicizing of the idea of cheap, enlightening literature." r ■ ■ 55 audience. The one or more essays per issue, even those on such universal subjects as "Removals," "Fits of Thrift," or

"Cultivations," customarily had a Scottish frame of reference, by virtue of allusions to local places or customs, choice of personal names, or use of phrases such as "the Scots" or

"Scottish practice." The biographical sketches emphasized favorites of Scottish lore— Alexander Murray, Tam o' the

Cowgate, Thomas Blacklock, William Gifford, and John Sobi- eskie. Only two of the sixteen sketches appearing in these numbers were given over to non-Scots. The informative articles reflected the same bias. For instance, a series entitled "On the Formation of Scottish Society" began in issue number 1 and appeared irregularly until number 31. The

Popular Information series dealt with national institutions—

Scottish. At least eight miscellaneous articles treated

Scottish subjects, too. The same was true of literary con tributions. The tales usually had Scottish settings; the few which did not were borrowed from other publications. Poetry, once it was added, was also Scottish.

After the first twenty numbers, however, an amended formula for the contents was devised, which was to vary only slightly over the years. Scottishness was de-emphasized and the contents became more diversified. Series of articles on natural history, science, literature, and history, their subject matter unrestricted as to time or place, were con spicuous additions. Indeed, discussions of Dante, Petrarch, 56

Boccaccio, Ariosto, and Tasso, as well as Homer, Herodotus,

Livy, and Tacitus comprised the literature series of vol ume II. "Sketches of Norway,""Miseries of Savage Life," and

“Language of Birds" shared columns with "Tolbooth of Edin burgh," "Scottish Military Bishop," and the “Battle of

Bannockburn." Fiction was set in divers places— Jamaica,

Ireland, East India, New England, and France. John Galt,

Mungo Park, and Napier of Merchiston were biographical sub jects, but so were Chaucer, Defoe, Linnaeus, and Captain Cook.

The explanation for this abrupt broadening of inter est is simple. After the thirteenth number, the Journal was regularly distributed in England. Its original nationalistic bias, while probably contributing to its immediate popularity in Scotland, would have been a liability in England. Further more, by this time the Penny Magazine was well-established in

England. Although it did not publish fiction and the Journal did, the Journal had to include a wider range of informative articles than before if it were to compete with the Penny

Magazine. William Chambers apologized, however, for including

“entertaining" material but explained, in an obvious allusion to the PM, that "what might be added to its [the Journal's] solidity would detract from its circulation, and, conse quently, lessen its real usefulness."^

Regardless of the nature of the Journal's contents— useful knowledge or entertaining material— the Chamberses set

1CEJ. I (1832), 104. 57 up an unvarying standard of quality which they were to meet in order to prove its respectability as a cheap periodical.

To begin with, editorial policy required that the subject matter of articles be fresh and accurate. Anything less would remind the public of the old scissors-and-paste papers.

One writer's submission on "Canes and Walking Sticks" was rejected, therefore, as "being deficient in originality and interest";^ another's reminiscence of Killarney was returned because of, among other reasons, the "hackneyed nature of the 2 subject." Even experienced writers like Thomas Smibert, who later became a Chambers literary assistant, and John Hill

Burton submitted contributions the Chamberses could not accept. Robert Chambers sent Smibert's article on Thomas

Campbell to the poet himself for his approval of Smibert’s remarks.^ Burton wrote an article on National Education which William Chambers did not like and tried to rewrite.

Having no success with it, he sent the remainder of the material to another writer as the basis for an entirely new 4 paper.

^"Letter from Robert Chambers to an unidentified cor respondent, Edinburgh, April 26, 1845.

^Letter from Mary Salmon to Leitch Ritchie [?], Dublin, June 10, 1848. 3 Letter from Robert Chambers to Alexander Ireland, June 26, 1837. Ireland was to deliver the article to Camp bell .

^"Some Early Contributors to 'Chambers's Journal,'" Chambers's Journal, Series 5, XIV, 711. 58

The Chamberses had also insisted from the first that the Journal be non-partisan in political and religious mat ters. This was no minor consideration in the decades when political and religious controversies were so rife and intense that one wrong remark in an article could alienate a sizeable number of readers. For this reason, W. S. Orr, their London agent, complained when Harriet Martineau's series on prison life was published in 1838. It seemed, he said, a departure from the Chamberses' line of "keeping clear of all kinds of extreme opinions, as very few people see

Miss Martineaus [name] without connecting it with something either laughable or political.""*' One contributor, a certain

M.E.J.S. of Brighton, was so insulted when the editor rejected an article of his because it expressed a political 2 bias that he refused to write any more for the Journal.

Religious subjects were equally delicate to handle. The

Scottish Christian Herald, after rejecting a story by Hugh

Miller, offered to send it to the Journal instead. Miller replied that the story, about a case of conversion, would not be acceptable in lighter periodicals. "Not in Blackwood, I am sure, with all his zeal for the Church, nor in Tait, with all his love of the Dissenters. * Chambers, too, though beyond comparison less exceptionable than either of these, seems to

^"Letter from W. S. Orr to W. & R. Chambers, London, November 26, 1838.

^Letter to Leitch Ritchie, July 25, 1849. 59 have a pretty shrewd guess that stories of this kind are not at all suited to secure to him his hundred thousand readers."^

Of all the Journal's principles, none was more impor tant than that articles should not offend good taste. By insisting that their writers adhere to it, the Chamberses could most effectively reassure their readers that a cheap publication could have "dignity and merit." The editorial statement in volume IV made this point most clear:

We feel that we stand only by our devotion to what is good, and our hostility to what is bad, in ordinary conduct; and if no other consideration made us the friends of virtue, the commercial quality of prudence would come to our aid, and erase the peccant word, paragraph, or article .... We think it the more necessary to make this avowal, as it serves to meet the arguments of those who, taking upon system every degrading view of their species, allege that the bulk of the people of even this enlightened land deliberately prefer an immoral and grovelling literature.

In following this policy, the editors of the Journal rejected, besides those matters which offended moral decency,

"every thing that tends to keep alive the recollection of the superstitions, savagery, and darker vices of the past— even the details of ordinary warfare, and the drolleries of

Quoted in Peter Bayne, The Life and Letters of Hugh Miller (London, 1871), II, 117-118. The Scottish Christian Herald was one of the periodicals started in imitation of the Journal. It made no secret of its sectarianism. It was published "under the sanction and countenance of several of the most Eminent Clergymen of the Established Church of Scotland . . . ." Its contents were said to be "well adapted for perusal both on Sabbath and Week-days." (Oliver & Boyd's New Edinburgh Almanac and National Repository for the Year 1837, p. 54.) 60 ordinary bacchanalian fellowship . . . . Also unacceptable, according to the testimony of a disgruntled contributor, were

"broad pictures (i.e. the kinds of indelicate, crude char acters, scenes, and incidents made popular by Dickens and 2 Ainsworth)," "slang," and "low dialects." There is ample evidence to support his complaint. Leitch Ritchie, the

Journal's sub-editor, was not sure about accepting one story, 3 because William Chambers objected to the murders in it.

William also thought Louisa Hall's "Scenes in Spain" too war like. Although she felt "a little inclined to quarrel with his restrictions," she had to agree that there was an "undue craving" in society for excitement and that "he is right in 4 preserving so calm & moderate a tone in the Journal— ."

CEJ, IV (1835), 1. This did not mean, though, that every story had to have a "moral." Robert Chambers objected to the one which James Hogg had obviously tacked on to the end of "The Watchmaker." He told Hogg, "... your humorous genius is apt to make rather a wry face when attempting any thing of that kind . . . ." Louis Simpson, quoting this passage in James Hogg: A Critical Study (New York, 1962), p. 203, incorrectly attributes the letter to William Chambers. The handwriting on the original (NLS, 2245.220) is Robert's. 2 Letter from Catherine Crowe to ------Chambers, dated only April 29. The Chamberses objected to dialects because they would appeal to a limited number of the Jour nal 's total readership. For this same reason, they rejected William Carleton's story, "Pudding Legend." He agreed with them that the superstition and legend on which it was based were peculiar to Ireland. (Letter from William Carleton to W. & R. Chambers, Clontarf, Dublin, 29 December 1841.) 3 An undirected and undated memorandum signed LR.

^Letter to Leitch Ritchie, Fernhill, Torquay, dated only June 21. . 61

How these principles of decorum were applied is per haps best illustrated by the alterations made in the story of

"Melhatchee," originally published in the Southern Literary

Messenger and taken from an unidentified intermediate source for use in the Journal. Of the seventeen alterations in the text, four were made because references to the nobility of savages and approval of warfare were offensive to moral sentiments. Five references to savagery— including a scalp ing— were deleted or rephrased. Allusions to the "Evil

Spirit" and two incantation scenes were omitted as evidence of superstitious practices. The word devil in the phrases

"squaw devil" and "she devil" was altered to fiend to avoid improper language. And two love scenes, innocuous though 1 they were, were cut out.

Although most contributors usually accepted these

Equally revealing, although not so extensive, are Robert Chambers' revisions of "The Sisters," a tale written by Anna Maria Sargeant for the June 14, 1845 issue of the Journal. One passage originally read: "Meantime the real heir, who had been abroad, made his appearance. The fraud being thus discovered, the pretended Henry Woodville, fearing that he should be apprehended as an impostor, had made an immediate change of residence; but having rendered himself otherwise amenable to the laws, and deeming his person unsafe in his native country, he in the most heartless manner had made known the circumstances to his unhappy victim, together with the dreadful intelligence that, owing to his having married her under a false name, she had no legitimate claim to the title of wife, and then bade her adieu for ever." If was altered to read: "The pending litigation was then quickly terminated, leaving the hero of this story in danger of being apprehended as an imposter. He had, as we have seen, sought refuge in obscurity, but, that proving insufficient to protect him, he was ultimately obliged to leave his native country for the wilds of America." 62 decisions as in accordance with good practice, some occasion ally complained. One young writer refused to allow altera tion of a single word he had written. W. S. Orr finally convinced him that he must do so, because, as he wrote the

Chamberses, they "and not he had the responsibility, and

. . . it was only fair you should have the power at all events of leaving out or softening down improper or doubtful i sentiments." Mrs. Catherine Crowe and Camilla Toulmin both declared that writing to the Journal1s standards restricted 2 them unnecessarily. Another writer refused to submit any more stories until he had gotten into the kind of mood in which he would be "capable of cottoning over the defects of human nature so as to present a picture more likely to chime 3 in with the self love of the multitude.'* But no complaint against the Journal‘s criteria was more eloquent than Dudley

Costello's of September 1849. His story must have been

^"Letter from W. S. Orr to W. & R. Chambers, London, 3 January 1845. 2 Undated letter from Catherine Crowe to Leitch Ritchie; letter from Camilla Toulmin to ------Chambers, April 5, 1844. On an earlier occasion, Mrs. Crowe had been more than gracious about allowing alterations in her stories. In a letter written to Robert Chambers, September 3, 1841, she said, "In writing for you, as I said before, one works for money, & not for fame; and if you purchase my wares, I think you have a right to do what you please with them— which, her parenthesis, I think a very amiable quality in a Contrib utor, & one that is certainly not universal." 3 Undated letter with an illegible, initialled signa ture which may be CM. 63

rejected on grounds of impropriety, for in a letter to Leitch

Ritchie, he remonstrated:

The Virgin of St. Mande arrived safely and in good condition on Wednesday [word unclear]. One of these days I will send the Journal a story to which no objection can be made.■ The hero shall be Monsieur Chapon and the heroine Mademoiselle Poularde,— and I will take care to forewarn the reader that they were both deprived of the power of doing any mischief before they attained to years of indiscretion. How is the population of Scotland kept up? By immigration?!

In the long run, William's and Robert's own contribu

tions, as editors and authors, had the greatest effect on the

Journal's quality. The available evidence indicates that

during the early 1830's when they used few outside contribu- 2 tions, they produced the Journal almost singlehandedly.

William not only contributed to it, but also edited it at the beginning. By the fourteenth number, he persuaded Robert to work for it full-time. Piles of the Journal for 1834, 1835,

and 1837, marked in Robert's hand, provide a record of the

extent and nature of his writing. Of the 164 "familiar

sketches and moral essays" in these three volumes, he wrote

^"September 14 [1849]. 2 Some time soon after the Journal1s founding Robert Chambers had asked Robert Hogg, nephew of James Hogg, to be an assistant on the Journal. His bad health prevented him from accepting, but he occasionally contributed to the early volumes. (Douglas Roxburgh, "The Shepherd’s Nephew, Too, Deserves Recognition," clipping from Edinburgh Evening News, August 1, 1964.) 64 all of 117' and part of 44 others. In addition he wrote 76 articles and at least 15 biographies, 4 tales, and 3 poems.

Unfortunately, there is no record of William's contributions for this period.

Although they had an official literary assistant and used more work from other writers during the 1840's, an author's ledger for the early part of the decade shows that both still wrote for it regularly. From May 25, 1842 to the end of 1844, William produced 151 items; Robert, 217. These totals might have been more nearly the same had the various

"paragraphs" and "small articles" entered under William's name been listed individually. Even at that, the difference is almost equal to the number of "first articles" Robert wrote— 71. By 1847 he calculated that he had written "not much fewer than four hundred separate papers" in fifteen years.'*'

Maintenance of the Journal's standards depended even more upon the brothers' general organization and regulation of the contents. The statement of policy which appeared in the first issue of the Journal was written by William, who was editor at the time but who soon devoted himself to manag ing the business of the firm. He and Robert continued to share the editorial work until 1833, when it became Robert's

1 R. C., Select Writings of Robert Chambers (Edinburgh, 1847), I, iv. The other figures are all drawn from the Authors' Ledger. 65

sole responsibility.1 Even then, both still assisted in the

work. Whenever one of them was absent from Edinburgh, the

other assumed full charge of all the firm's affairs. They

could easily do so, because they shared the same editorial

philosophy, as Robert's later statements show.

Despite these facts and despite Camilla Toulmin's

statement that Robert always yielded to William on trifling 2 matters, Robert was not a puppet editor. When he was in or

near Edinburgh, he directly supervised the Journal, even when 3 literary assistants or sub-editors worked for him. A note

to his sub-editor in the summer of 1847 clearly shows this:

Being anxious to learn whether Journal matters were in such a state that I could go to St Andrews to-morrow, I took home all the proofs/last night,

The editorial statement in the first number of vol ume II, February 2, 1833, refers to the "editors" of the Journal. Subsequent editorial statements all speak of the "editor." There are occasionally comments in the Journal as to the number of people who produce the Journal, but these figures undoubtedly include the literary assistants. See VI (1837), 8 and IX (1840), 280. 2 Mrs. Newton Crosland (Camilla Toulmin), Landmarks of a Literary Life: 1820-1892 (New York, 1893), p. 90. Rein forcing Mrs. Crosland's impression would have been the fact that Robert, when writing for the "editors" of CEJ, customar ily used the first person plural pronoun, although he alone would have been responsible for the letter and its contents. However, William obviously retained veto rights even when not actively engaged in editorial work. See Robert's letter quoted in Chapter V of this study, p. 224, note 1. 3 Walter White records in his journal on more than one occasion that Robert Chambers himself requested specific articles. Two of these requests were made at times when regular assistants were working for the Journal. (The Jour nals of Walter White [London, 1898], pp. 62 and 78.) 66

and I now find there are matters which will about serve for a number. An arrangement which occurred to me is as follows. Our India Connection in Past Times. Terrestrial Magnetism Soiree in a Porter's Lodge Belief and Conviction The Installation Ode (This is a short jeu d'esprit of my own administering a little gentle ridicule for the tom-foolery of the laureate the other day at Oxford. Please to judge of it.) Ascent of the [word unclear] Philosophy for Farmers. Amongst the paragraphs I am anxious that this accompanying one extracted from a criticism on Leigh Hunt should be given, for the sake of the newspaper from which it is extracted. A poem will be needed. I shall see you in the course of the forenoon, to learn what you think of the proposed arrange ment .1

Furthermore; Robert's description of his work and the general tone of his reply to George Combe's suggestion that a maga zine comparable to the Journal might profitably be started in the United States leave no doubt that he considered himself not only editor-in-chief of the Journal. but responsible for much of its success as well:

There is another difficulty which, I fear, I shall not be able to speak of with candour, without some appearance of egotism, or perhaps downright vanity — unless you have already assured yourself that I have in reality no inordinate share of that feeling. Every periodical work of miscellaneous literature, in order to succeed, requires at least one constant writer to give it a strong and abiding character. . . . Without this, a mere assemblage of papers drawn up by various writers, tells poorly on the

The heading of this note says only "Sunday evening." That it was summer of 1847 can be deduced from the fact that Julia Kavanaugh's story, "Soiree in a Porter's Lodge," appeared in the August 7, 1847 issue of the Journal. 67

public mind. When a periodical has such a presiding spirit, it may be said to form a friendship with every one of its readers. . . . Now this is an advan tage which the Journal always had.

I trust entirely to your liberality, and your knowledge of myself and of the world, for a right construction of this account of the Journal. It would be merely misleading you and other people, to overlook the efficacy of my own exertions in that work. I am at the same time ready to allow that the work has been favoured by minor accidents, and par ticularly by the excellent business arrangements of my brother.1

As William and Robert became more involved in direct ing other operations of their expanding business, they could not handle the work of the Journal alone. They had to hire literary assistants who could themselves provide a regular supply of various kinds of material for the columns of the

Journal and also work up that submitted by others. Indeed, so much of this needed to be done that the position of literary assistant eventually became that of sub-editor for the Journal. Although these assistants did not have enough authority to influence the editorial policies, their writing inevitably affected the Journal's quality.

The first of these assistants, Thomas Smibert, had occasionally written for the Journal before assuming his post 2 in July 1840. He was not, as the DNB indicates, sub-editor

^Edinburgh, December 17, 1840. NLS, 7254.1-6. 2 DNB, also W. C., Memoir, 3rd ed., p. 105; Letter from Thomas Smibert to William Chambers, 28 July 1840. Let ter from Robert Chambers to Alexander Ireland, 26 June 1837, refers to Smibert's article on Campbell. Entry in Office Diary for July 27, 1840. 68

of the Journal at any time during his tenure. In fact, in

1842 he left for a position on the Scotsman because William would not agree either to give him more responsibility— the

sub-editorship, perhaps— or to raise his salary of £180 per

year.^ According to the DNB, he wrote 650 articles, tales,

and biographical sketches between 1837 and 1842. He claimed to have been responsible for more than half of the material 2 for some numbers of the Journal.

The position was next offered to T. W. Redhead, who had done freelance translating for Chambers's People's

Editions, but family responsibilities prevented his accepting 3 permanent employment in Edinburgh. W. H. Wills, recommended by Orr, became Smibert's successor in November 1842 at a 4 salary of L300 per year. This increase over Smibert's

salary was probably justified because of Wills’s wide experi ence in writing for and assisting on various periodicals—

Punch among them. Unfortunately, there is no record of the number of his contributions to the Journal during the three years he worked for it. He would have had no small amount of work to do, because Robert Chambers spent most of this period

^"Letter from Thomas Smibert to William Chambers, 7 September 1842.

2Ibid., also CEJ, X (1841), 232. 3 Letter from T. W. Redhead to William Chambers.

^Letter from W. H. Wills to W. & R. Chambers, Novem ber 4, 1842. 69 9 in St. Andrews, writing the Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation. Because Robert was not satisfied by the quality of Wills's work, he was not rehired after completing his three-year commitment to the firm.'*' He returned to London to work on the Daily News with Dickens, with whom he was associ- 2 ated for the rest of his life.

The third assistant to work for the Journal before

1850, Leitch Ritchie, stayed the longest. Although he had 3 worked for the firm on an informal basis during 1846, his official association with it began in 1847. Of all the assistants, his previous experience was the most varied. He had done mostly freelance writing before 1832. In the fifteen years before taking on a post with Chambers, he assisted Charles Heath for nine years, writing thirteen travel books; edited fourteen volumes of the Library of

Romance; and contributed to the Souvenir and Friendship1s

Offering. Next, he edited the Era, a Sunday newspaper, and

1 Letter from Robert Chambers to William Chambers [St. Andrews, December 5 (?), 1842]. 2 He was also associated with the Chamberses for the rest of his life. He became engaged to their sister Janet in 1845 and married her in 1846, after he began working for Dickens. Camilla Toulmin was Janet's bridesmaid (Crosland, Landmarks of a Literary Life, p. 93). 3 In fact, his earliest signed contribution to the Journal was a story entitled "The Midnight Enemy," which appeared on October 23, 1841, pp. 313-314. Letter from Leitch Ritchie to Robert Chambers, Glasgow, 16 July 1846. He is first listed in the firm's Private Ledger in October 1846. 70 the Indian News, which he eventually owned. At the same time, he worked up various financial and commercial papers for the government, and was titular editor of Friendship's Offering.'*'

Ritchie was described by his later co-editor, James

Payn, as a man who in his time "had written upon almost every subject under heaven. His total ignorance of any matter was no obstacle to his undertaking it; he cheerfully sat down to the task of reading it up. To store the mind with general information he held to be sheer extravagance; to acquire what might never be wanted was a waste of time, and he had no time to spare .... On the other hand, if he wanted to write upon a particular subject he would contrive to know more about it in twenty-four hours than any map of general informa- 2 tion could possibly know." Unquestionably, a man of

Ritchie's experience and talents was admirably suited to be literary assistant, sub-editor, and eventual editor of Cham bers 's Edinburgh Journal.

Leitch Ritchie, "Memoranda of seventeen years, from 1832 to 1847, both inclusive." This memoranda was obviously directed to the Chamberses in an attempt to get higher pay. The Private Ledger records that he was paid E450 in 1847, but only £>330 2s 8d in 1848 and £>350 in 1849. From 1850 through 1858 he received £>450 yearly. See Crosland, Landmarks of a Literary Life, p. 97, for an account of his work on Friend ship' s Offering. 2 James Payn, Some Literary Recollections (New York, 1884), p. 120. This book contains numerous references to Leitch Ritchie as well as accounts of Payn's own work as editor of the Journal during the 1860's. His evaluations of William and Robert Chambers as individuals are highly biased. He did not like William at all; therefore, his descriptions and comments must be taken with a grain of salt. From all evidence, the feeling was mutual. 71

Supplementing the work of these literary assistants were stories and articles from individual contributors. As a general rule the writers of non-fiction were usually superior to the writers of fiction. One of the first and most eminent contributors of non-fiction was the poet William Tennant,

Professor of Oriental Languages at St. Andrews University, who wrote at least ten articles from 1833 to 1838 on various aspects of ancient history.^- Hugh Miller, later to become famous as a geologist and editor, began contributing regu larly in 1837. Of his articles, "The Dropping Cave of

Cromarty" and "Gropings of a Working Man in Geology" partic ularly established his reputation as a geologist long before 2 his own books did. William Howitt probably wrote more for the Journal than his two popular travel articles in 1839, 3 although there is now no record to prove this. Both Harriet

Martineau and Gibbons Merle wrote about prisons in the late

1830's. A journalist living in Paris, Merle is hardly 4 remembered now, but his articles were notable at that time.

His report of "The Colony of Mettray" on February 1, 1840 was

■^His poem, Anster Fair, was one of the favorites of early nineteenth-century Scots.

2Bayne, Hugh Miller. II, 109-110, as well as by-lines in the Journal.

2Carl Ray Woodring, Victorian Samplers: William and Mary Howitt (Lawrence, Kansas, 1952), p. 38, and the Jour nal .

4c b e l . 72 the first notice in Britain of the institution which was to inspire many innovations in British penology.^

Although there was no official statement of policy on by-lines during the 1830's, writers of fiction for the Jour nal were frequently identified, for they were among the more popular— though not necessarily the best— writers of the day.

James Hogg's few, rather unimportant, contributions belong to the Journal's early Scottish period. The other writers, however, were all English. The most noteworthy among them,

Mary Russell Mitford, was slightly more than a second-rate talent. Her six tales published during 1836 and 1837 were 2 all in the vein of her most popular work, Our Village.

Agnes Strickland's original series, Scenes and Stories of

Village Life, capitalized on the type of story Miss Mitford had made popular. Of Miss Strickland's other tales, at least two, however, were reprinted from earlier publications. Mary

Howitt, like her husband, contributed to the Journal anony mously; four tales for 1838-1839 are recorded in an existing ledger, but they were, in all likelihood, only part of her total production for the Chamberses.^ By far the most pro lific contributor of fiction was Mrs. S. C. Hall, whose first

^"For a fuller discussion of this subject, see section IV of this chapter. 2 The Friendships of Mary Russell Mitford as Recorded in Letters from Her Literary Correspondents, ed. The Rev. A. G. L'Estrange (New York, 1882), p. 353 and the Journal. 3 Woodring, Victorian Samplers, p. 38, and the Journal. 73 stories appeared in 1839. During the next decade she wrote at least 30 tales, the earliest of which were Stories of the

Irish Peasantry. Originally commissioned by William Chambers, this series was reprinted by the firm throughout the century in various cheap forms, and was one of its most remunerative publications.^"

Records of "literary labour" for the Journal are most complete for the 1840's. The additional evidence reveals that in this decade the criterion for authors' qualifications was the same as in the preceding one. Contributors of non fiction, usually writing anonymously, were well qualified in their various fields. John Wade's name never appeared on any of the.articles he wrote on economic and political subjects, although he was well-known. Indeed, he had become so notorious for his radical writings earlier in the century that public acknowledgment of his contributions would have 2 hurt the Journal. One of the most regular authors on topics related to industry, urban life, and popular education was

^"Office Diary; S. C. Hall, Retrospect of a Long Life: From 1815 to 1883 (New York, 1883), p. 471. 2 His- Black Book, which was a compendium of abuses of privilege in pre-Reform Bill Britain, was virtually a bible for the Radicals. According to E. P. Thompson, he was, next to Francis Place, "the most impressive fact-finder among the Radicals." He later adopted the "ideology of the middle- class Utilitarians, and his popular History of the Middle and Working Classes (1835) [which the Chamberses re-pubiishedJ has this characteristic blend of Radical politics and ortho dox economics, together with industrious compilation of fact." (The Making of the English Working Class [New York, 1964], pp. 769-774.) 74

Thomas Hogg (not to be confused with Shelley's Thomas Jeffer

son Hogg). Although not much is known about him, he

obviously wrote from first-hand experience. He was associ

ated with the Mechanics' Institute of Liverpool and also worked as secretary and paid lecturer to the Lancashire and

Cheshire Union of Mechanics' Institutes at the time he was a

Journal contributor.'*' Writing on these same subjects, as well as on various social institutions, was W. H. Wills. In carrying out assignments for Charles Dickens and his Daily

News, Wills acquired information for occasional Journal articles. Besides the fact that he came from a family of prolific second-rate writers, Bayle St. John's travels in the

Middle East qualified him to write numerous articles on 2 exotic lands. Finally, there were several writers whose miscellaneous articles were derived from varied experience and wide learning— David Masson, Eliza Meteyard, John Heraud, and Charles Mackay.^

Thomas Hogg's address in the Ledger is given as Mechanics' Institute, Liverpool; for his work with the Lanca shire and Cheshire Union see Tylecote, Mechanics' Institutes of Lancashire and Yorkshire, note p. 64. 2 The DNB's entry for Bayle St. John records that he was the second son of Augustus St. John, also a writer. Bayle had gone to Egypt in 1846 where he studied Arabic, preparatory to exploring the North African interior. He journeyed to the oasis of Sirvah to study the route of Alex ander the Great. No Englishman except George Browne (1768- 1813) had ever crossed the Sahara before. 3 Masson, at this time a free-lance writer, became the biographer of Milton and Professor of English literature at London and later at Edinburgh University. Woodring, in 75

Of all these people, no one was better suited, because of diverse and varied experience, to be a contributor

to a popular periodical than Walter White. The majority of his articles for the Journal were on scientific topics,

appropriate subject matter for the librarian of the Royal

Society. By his own reckoning, he wrote 200 articles from

November 1844 until November 1849, meanwhile contributing

just as regularly to other Chambers publications. A model

self-educated working man, he had at one time been a cabinet maker. After suffering several reversals in his trade, he at

last obtained employment as clerk to Joseph Mainzer, who was

attempting to introduce singing classes in order to pacify

restless English workmen. The position was the turning point

of White's career. While Mainzer was lecturing in Edinburgh,

White became acquainted with James Simpson, advocate and

social reformer, who not only submitted White's first

articles to the Chamberses, but also introduced him to the

Victorian Samplers, p. 120, describes Eliza Meteyard, a friend of the Howitts. She wrote first for Douglas Jerrold's Shilling Newspaper; her favorite topics were "early closing of shops, juvenile depravity, and extramural burial." On Heraud, see Crosland, Landmarks of a Literary Life, pp. 283- 287. In the. early 1840's he was editor of the Monthly Magazine. and previously he had been editor of Fraser's for a short time. Mackay at this time was editor of the Glasgow Argus. According to the biographer of Marie Corelli, his daughter, he was hard pressed for money in the 1840's, the time at which he was writing fairly regularly for the Journal (Eileen Bigland, Marie Corelli: The Woman and the Legend [London, 1953], pp"! 17-18) . His most important contribution to the Journal was a long review of "The Poetry of Alfred Tennyson," N.S. IV (1845), 25-29. Mackay was appointed to the staff of the Illustrated London News in 1848 and became its editor in 1852. 76

assistant secretary of the Royal Society in London. White began there as librarian in 1843, was promoted to assistant

secretary in 1861 and finally retired in 1885.*

Writers of fiction during the 1840's were of much the

same calibre as those of the 1830's. Only William Carleton, who contracted to write three stories for the Journal, is 2 regarded today as a writer of any significant talent. But

the most frequent contributors— Camilla Toulmin, Mrs. Cath

erine Crowe, Dinah Mulock, and Percy B. St. John— were 3 familiar to Victorian readers or were to become so. With

1 Journals of Walter White, passim. His record of his contributions was entered in his Journal on November 8 [1849], p. 93. 2 Stories from Carleton. intro. W.'B. Yeats, ed. Ernest Rhys (London, n.d.), p. xiv. Yeats's introduction to these stories has been primarily responsible for reviving Carle- ton's reputation in this century. See also Benedict Keily, Poor Scholar: A Study of the Works and Days of William Carleton (1794-1869) (New York, 1948), p. 177. 3 Crosland, Landmarks of a Literary Life. Mrs. Cros- land, nee Camilla Toulmin, was a regular contributor to early Victorian gift books such as Friendship's Offering, of which she was de facto editor when Leitch Ritchie was its titular editor. Mrs. Crowe first became popular for her novel Susan Hopley. According to her testimony, it was such a success that "young ladies refuse to lay it down to dress for a ball . . . the great men in London sit up all night to read it, & say that they 'can't attend to the Eastern question till they have finished Susan Hopley . . . .'" Letter to ------Cham bers, April 29, no year. She later became a spiritualist and wrote weird novels based upon her experiences with spiritual manifestations. Dinah Mulock's John Halifax, Gentleman was the Victorian middle-class code come to life. It sold 250.000 copies. The sixpenny edition alone accounted for 80.000 sales within a few months (Louisa Parr, "Dinah Mulock (Mrs. Craik)" in Women Novelists of Queen Victoria's Reign [London, 1897], p. 248). Percy B. St. John was a brother of Bayle St. John. His experiences during several years in the 77

the exception of Dinah Mulock's, whose work was always

initialled, the earliest stories by these writers were not

signed. Writers of comparable modest repute who worked less

extensively for the Journal were Mrs. Amelia Opie, Anna Maria

Sargeant, Martin Doyle (pseudonym of the Reverend Mr. Hickey),

Mary Anne Hoare, Julia Kavanaugh, Mrs. John Claudius Loudon,

Dudley Costello, and Charles Manby Smith. The two authors who wrote more stories for the Journal than nearly all of the others combined are unidentified today, apart from their names. William Russell— pseudonymously known as C. Waters and Thomas Waters— wrote, among other stories, the 1848-1849 series entitled "Experiences of a Barrister" and "Recollec tions of a Police Officer." Louisa Hall, not to be confused with Mrs. S. C. Hall, wrote many of the "second" tales for each issue from 1847 on.

And then there was the group of people who enjoyed a degree of popularity in the middle of the century, but who, as even their contemporaries admitted, were forgotten by the latter part of the century. Among these were Captain Bellew, a veteran of the Indian service whose fame resulted from

Memoirs of a Griffin, a story of Anglo-Indian society which appeared when such stories were new;^" Frances Browne, the

United States served as the basis of most of his tales for the Journal and the novels for which he became popular.

^Crosland, Landmarks of a Literary Life, p. 169. 78 1 blind Irish poetess; Mrs. James Gray— Mary Anne Browne—

* niece by marriage to James Hogg and famed for the love poems 2 she wrote at fourteen; Mrs. Emma LeFanu, mother of Joseph 3 Sheridan LeFanu; Julia Pardoe, who was still dressing as a 4 girl when she was middle-aged; and Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, whose Memoir of a Highland Lady endeared her to Scots, and is still valuable for its presentation of late eighteenth, early 5 nineteenth-century Highland culture.

Despite its oft-repeated injunction respecting unsolicited manuscripts, the Journal gained quite early the reputation of being a periodical which would accept the manuscripts of beginning or little-known writers. Although few of the novices ever became George Merediths— in 1849 he had submitted unsolicited his poem "Chiilianwallah," which g appeared in the Journal on July 14 of that year — they could

^Ibid., pp. 241-242. 2 Mary Russell Mitford, Recollections of a Literary Life; or, Books, Places, and People (New York, 1852), p. 223. 3 Nelson Browne, Sheridan Le Fanu (London, 1951).

4S. C. Hall, A Book of Memories of Great Men and Women of the A g e , from Personal Acquaintance (London, n.d.), p. 376.

^This lady's address in the Authors' Ledger— Balti- boys, Blesinton, Ireland— is the only means of identifying her. The address is included in her entry in the BM cata logue. g Meredith's poem appeared in the Journal on July 14, 1849, p. 16. One of the Journal's most famous non-contrib utors was Anne Bront&. In chapter 14 of her biography of Charlotte, Mrs. Gaskell records the story told by Ellen 79

at least receive advice and encouragement from the editor and

perhaps a small sum of money as well. Some, though, did

become fairly successful, for among them were Hugh Miller, 1 Percy B. St. John, Camilla Toulmin, and Dinah Mulock. By

far the greatest number of voluntary contributors, however,

. were those belonging to a group described by the editor in

1847. "Of the prose contributions sent to the Journal, more

came from women in Ireland than in England— very few from

Scotland. Most of the Irish ladies were either wives or 2 daughters of clergy of the established church."

Other writers, both experienced and inexperienced,

were recommended by acquaintances of the Chamberses. James

Simpson's aid to Walter White has already'been mentioned. 3 Mrs. Gaskell forwarded several articles written by others.

Nussey of having surprised Anne one day, reading the Journal. Asked why she was smiling, Anne said that she was pleased to see that they had printed one of her poems. Winifred Gerin points out that Fraser1s was the magazine in question. Anne's poem "The Three Guides" was published in the August 1848 issue (Anne Bront^ [Edinburgh, 1959], p. 301). "Evening Solace," from "Poems by Currer Bell," was reprinted in the March 17, 1849 number of the Journal. p. 176.

1Hugh Miller— W. C., Memoir. 3rd ed., p. 239; Percy B. St. John— letter to W. & R. Chambers from Galveston Harbour, Texas, 13 May 1843. The Office Diary records that an article by Percy B. St. John entitled "Letitia" was returned to Orr in 1838 as unacceptable. Camilla Toulmin— Crosland, Land marks of a Literary Life, passim. Dinah Marie Mulock— letter to W. & R. Chambers, March 28, 1845.

^"Our Correspondents," CEJ, N.S. VII (1847), 77. 3 The Letters of Mrs Gaskell. ed. J. A. V. Chappie and Arthur Pollard (Cambridge, Mass., 1967), pp. 809-810 and 942. See letters 637 and 636a. 80

Agnes Strickland sent two by her sister, Mrs. Traill;1 and

Captain Basil Hall passed on some written by the nephew of 2 the British consul to Turkey. Harriet Martineau's articles on prison reform had been requested by Lord Murray, who needed public support for the bill on prisons he had pre- 3 sented to Parliament. Such recommendations were extremely important if the quality of the Journal was to be maintained.

The Chamberses continually had difficulty locating writers with ability, because Edinburgh was not exactly in the lit erary mainstream at this time. For this reason, they depended upon W. S. Orr, their London agent, to serve as their talent scout as well. It was he who recommended Charles Lever to

William Chambers before Lever had become a writer of impor- 4 5 tance. He also suggested hiring W. H. Wills.

As a general rule, established writers were usually requested to contribute to the Journal; the editor did not await their volunteering. Most of them were writers of fiction, chosen for the type of stories they wrote as well as for the value of their names. Miss Mitford, Mrs. Opie,

1 Authors' Ledger. 2 Letter to Robert Chambers, Malta, 26 November 1841. 3 R. K. Webb, Harriet Martineau: A Radical Victorian (New York, 1960), p. 176. A Entry in Office Diary, December 28, 1839. 5 Letter from Robert Chambers to William Chambers [St. Andrews, December 5 (?), 1842]. 81

Mrs. S. C. Hall, Captain Basil Hall, and the Howitts all began writing on this basis.^

The exertions of William and Robert, their assistants, and their contributors, however, could not produce sufficient attractive, original material to fill the Journal each week.

When it was necessary to borrow supplementary material from other sources, the Journal carefully identified the original source and, if at all possible, the author of these selec tions. Stories by American authors were reprinted because

"their rarity in Britain, and the peculiarity of their literary character" were sure to please readers. (Not to mention the fact that, because they were not protected by copyright laws, they cost the Chamberses nothing.) And according to custom, notices of new books were hardly more than extracts from the works, with perhaps a few introductory remarks or vaguely appreciative comments being the only orig inal material. Finally, the filler which was used came from various sources, often obscure or discontinued periodicals such as the Kaleidoscope or the Literary Gazette. Snippets from books of oddities and anecdotes, "curiosities," and news from provincial and foreign newspapers also filled many a gap or short column.

^"Entries in Office Diary. Captain Hall in CEJ, X (1841), 276.

2CEJ, VII (1838), 8. 82

Nineteenth-century publishers realized that the suc cess' of a cheap periodical did not depend only on quality of contents. More than any other kind of publication, a cheap one had to be produced at a cost low enough so that the publisher could still make a profit. If technological innovations had not brought "speediness of execution, quan tity, and cheapness of labour" to the printing industry in the early nineteenth century, neither Chambers1s Edinburgh

Journal nor any other periodical could have been supplied to the mass reading audience cheaply enough.^- These innovations aided the Chamberses in bringing to the Journal "dignity and merit" as well. Once production costs were cut, they could afford to pay for competent writers and still realize a profit.

Of these innovations, the steam press was the most essential. Although steam was first used in Great Britain in 1817 to print the Times, printing was still essentially a hand operation in 1832. When the Chamberses claimed that

"without the aid of printing-machinery, the tide of knowledge and human improvement would be forced back greatly to the injury of society," they spoke from personal experience. For

’'■"The Art of Printing," Chambers*s Information for the People, No. 35, p. 280. This number of the Information not only discusses the history of printing before the 1830's and the changes in the industry, but is also a detailed account of the Chamberses' own printing establishment. 83

firms doing the Chamberses' work, printing the Journal by

hand press during the first eighteen months was a nightmarish

process. Two presses had to be operated night and day, six

days a week in order to print the 25,000 copies required

weekly in Scotland. Although eight men worked the presses—

plus an extra four who acted as relief during the night— they

were unequal to the task. As a result, the Journal often was

not finished early enough in the week to be sent to country

booksellers by the specified day.^ Furthermore, the work was

so arduous and prolonged that the pressmen, never an abste

mious lot, resorted to drinking in an effort to lighten their

labours. According to William, "immediately that an office

undertook to print the Journal, it assumed the aspect of a

disorderly tavern. On one occasion, I found much of the work

damaged, and the pressmen lying asleep on the floor, the

consequence of a night's carousal." On other occasions, the

pressmen damaged the stereotype plates and wasted great 2 quantities of paper.

These problems occurred because in 1832 few Edinburgh

printers were equipped for large-scale production. Weekly

printing in Edinburgh became so difficult that on one occa

sion, for unexplained reasons, the Journal could not be produced there at any price and had to be sent to Glasgow.

1 Ibid. 2 Memoirs of W. C ., pp. 155-156. 84

William then considered removing the whole operation to

London, where there would be adequate printing facilities.

This drastic step was not necessary when Ballantynes agreed to undertake the job. Finally, the Chamberses solved their printing problems altogether by obtaining their own steam 1 press.

The press, which they installed in October 1833 but did not start operating until January 1834, was an expensive 2 investment. Designed especially for them by Robert Gunn of

Edinburgh and built by Claud Girdwood and Company of Glasgow, 3 it was a variety of book or perfecting machine. It alone cost "upwards of L300" and another L200 was needed to pay for installing it. The machine more than paid for itself, how ever, because it was so economical to use. Originally designed to print either a double sheet of the Journal, Cham bers 's Historical Newspaper, Chambers's Information for- the

"Art of Printing," p. 280; the press was installed by William Tofts, a machinist for Ballantyne's (W. T. Dobson and W. L. Carrie, The Ballantyne Press and Its Founders: 1796-1908 [Edinburgh, 1909J, p. 107).

^"Mechanism of Chambers's Journal," CEJ, IV (1835), 150. 3 Four types of steam presses were m general use in the 1830's: the single machine, a machine with one cylinder for printing newspapers; the double machine, with two cylinders, exclusively used for newspapers; a machine with four cylinders capable of printing two sheets at once, also suitable for newspapers. The fourth type, the book or per fecting machine, printed both sides of the sheet in register (that is, the lines of type on either side were aligned with each other) before it left the machine. This was essential for the book's appearance once the sheets were bound together. 85

People. or two separate sheets of smaller sizes of paper, it

was used to print single sheets only, because it operated so

rapidly. Intended to print 750 sheets an hour— the rate of

the best book machines— it could actually produce 800 or 900

sheets with no difficulty. At the rate of 15 sheets a minute,

it printed 8 , 0 0 0 sheets daily.

The machine was a great saving to the firm also

because of its efficient operation. Only two men superin

tended it, while a third regulated and stoked the steam engine

which ran it. Although steam engines themselves were not

economical for most printers to operate because of the price

of coal, the Chamberses were fortunate in this respect, too.

Coal was mined in Midlothian and therefore was cheaper in

Edinburgh than in other areas. About half a ton, costing

three shillings, was sufficient to operate the steam press

each day.'*'

Installing and operating this machinery was too

expensive for ordinary printers or publishers. Only those who mass-produced a few items could afford it., This was as

true for the Chamberses as for any other publisher. As they

explained the process to their readers:

The mode of publishing in cheap sheets, though vastly profitable to the public, is one which will not be profitable to those who adopt it, or even

^"The Art of Printing," pp. 279-280. See Marjorie Plant, The English Book Trade: An Economic History of the Making and Sale of Books (London, 1939), p. 288, for a dis cussion of the cost of steam power. 86

safe from great loss, unless when much concentrated, and carried on upon a very large scale. The "Edin burgh Journal," for instance, though yielding at present a fair return for labour and outlay, would not be worth carrying on, if its fifty thousand sale were distributed over six or eight similar works, each requiring distinct authorship, distinct typography, and a separate machinery for circula tion over the country. In fact, the price of production comes so near to the retail price, that, unless much business be done upon one system, and that system one of peculiar economy and accuracy, the public alone will derive any advantage from it.l

The press was not, however, the only technological

innovation which significantly advanced the publishing of

cheap periodicals. Stereotyping, although not strictly a new process, had not been widely used until the advent of 2 cheap publishing. The Chamberses soon learned the impor

tance of the process. Before they adopted it, printing

Prospectus announcing Chambers's Information for the People, The Athenaeum, March 9, 1833, p. 160. Charles Knight in The Old Printer and the Modern Press {p. 255), in dis cussing this same problem, said that if it had not been for the improvement in printing, 20,000 copies of the Penny Magazine would have been the most which could have been printed. Hand labour "would have added at least forty per cent, to the cost of production, even if . . . sixteen presses could have been set in motion."

George Todd, "Stereotyping: its purport and its varieties" (1853) quoted in George A. Kubler, A New History ' of Stereotyping (New York, 1941), p. 82. Stereotyping was a Scottish invention, having been used first by William Ged at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The process was still imperfect when the Chamberses started using it. The Journal's pages were so large that the mold often cracked before the stereotyper could remove it from the pan. Some times he had to repeat the process as many as six times before producing perfect plates ("Mechanism of Chambers's Journal," p. 150). The real breakthrough in stereotyping came in 1846 when papier mSche molds replaced plaster of paris (Plant, English Book Trade, p. 301; see also Kubler, Stereotyping, p. 6 6 ). 87 sufficient quantities of each number involved needless and expensive waste of paper,^ because the variable demand for back numbers of the Journal in addition to current sales made it impossible to estimate how many copies would be required at any one printing. Type often had to be set four and five times so that additional copies could be printed for certain early issues. 2 Printing an enormous surplus in the first place was no solution inasmuch as paper, because of the duty, accounted for about one-third of the total production cost.^

It would have been supremely foolish to tie up so much money in stock which might never be sold. If it had not been for the economies resulting from the combination of the steam press and stereotyping (beginning with the twenty-first num ber), the Chamberses estimated that the Journal would have 4 cost at least threepence, rather than three halfpence.

Moreover, by stereotyping the Journal, the Chamberses were able to increase its circulation at little extra cost to

1 CEJ. II (1833), 1.

^"Art of Printing," p. 280. 3 Charles Knight claimed that one of the principal reasons for adopting stereotyping was to save on the outlay of capital in taxed paper (Passages of a Working Life, II, 336). By January 1835, the tax on paper for both London and Edinburgh editions, at 3d per pound weight on the paper, had been £6000.

^"Mechanism of Chambers's Journal," p. 150; "Art of Printing," p. 280, says that it was not until the Chamberses began using stereotypes and the steam press that the Journal produced a satisfactory profit or was "conducted with satis faction to the parties concerned." 88

themselves. Extra plates could be made in Edinburgh and

shipped to agents in other cities who then printed the paper on local presses for a share of the profits. When W. S. Orr first began printing the Journal in London at the last of

April 1832, the Chamberses sent a copy of each issue to him, which he then had to'have reset. This expensive procedure was unnecessary when they were able to ship plates.^- After

arrangements were made in 1833 with Curry of Dublin for a

separate edition to be printed there, the Journal became the first periodical to be simultaneously printed and published 2 in all three capitals of the United Kingdom.

The third innovation to contribute to the development of cheap publishing was the paper-making machine. Without this machine to produce large quantities of the right sizes 3 of paper, the steam press would have been almost useless.

By coincidence, the paper industry was expanding at the very time when steam presses came into more general use. Between

1805 and 1835, the number of paper machines in the United

Kingdom had increased from 6 to 82; the quantity of paper 4 they produced, from 557 tons to 24,475. The right kind of

1,1 Art of Printing," p. 280.

2CEJ, XI (1833), 1. 3 Testimony by George Clowes, printer of the Penny Magazine, before the Select Committee on Fourdrinier's Patent, 1837, quoted in Plant, English Book Trade, p. 331.

4Dard Hunter, Papermaking: The History and Technique of an Ancient Craft, second edition (London, 1957), p. 526. 89

paper was a particular concern of the Chamberses. In the

past, flimsy, poor quality stock had been identified with

cheap periodicals. As collateral proof of the Journal's

higher editorial quality, it was to be printed only on good

paper. The various agreements between the Chamberses and

W. S. Orr reveal the care they exercised on this matter. A

letter to Orr in 1837 emphatically states their policy:

. . . we perceive with pain and vexation that the paper you are now using for vol 6 is as bad as it ever was, and such that makes us feel ashamed of its being in connexion with our works. Placed side by side with ours, it has a very shabby appearance, and in fact causes the London edition of the Journal to seem an inferior production.!

Because Orr persisted in using unsatisfactory paper, later

agreements stipulated that the paper he used was to be "of

a quality, appearance and size strictly resembling or as

nearly as possible resembling the quality, appearance and

size of the paper used by the Messrs. Chambers in their 2 Edition of the work published at Edinburgh . . . ." To ensure uniform quality for both editions, the Chamberses 3 eventually had to buy paper in Edinburgh to ship to Orr.

The effect of these interrelated processes on the

^Draft of a letter from W. & R. Chambers (in William Chambers' handwriting) to W. S. Orr, February 22, 1837. 2 Item 4 of an agreement drawn up between W. & R. Chambers and W. S. Orr, dated April 15, 1847. 3 The Chamberses had an advantage over Orr in that the best British paper at that time was made in Scotland (Plant, English Book Trade, p. 326). 90

economics of cheap periodical publishing is best seen in the

successive changes in the agreements between the Chamberses

and Orr. Beginning with the thirteenth number of the Journal, he was given permission to reprint weekly 6 , 0 0 0 copies from which he received the whole profit. For every additional

thousand copies, he was to pay eighteen shillings, half of his profit on each thousand.^ According to the Chamberses’ calculations, he should have been able to make a profit of

36 shillings, or £1 16s per thousand. Robert Chambers explained to him that "in striking the moiety of profits, we proceed upon the assumption that, after 6000, you have the work at about £2.4 paper and 10/ presswork per thousand, the case-work [typesetting] being paid, with a certain profit besides, by what you have previously sold. You may even get paper, we do not doubt, a little less than this, as we get 2 ours at 20/3 cash."

Once the Journal was stereotyped, however, different terms were necessary, because Orr no longer had the expense of typesetting in London. He was to pay £5 7s for each set of plates. The charge for every thousand copies printed over

6,000 was then lowered from 18s to 15s. After Curry began printing the Irish impression in 1834, the charge on plates

i Draft of agreement between W. & R. Chambers and W. S. Orr. j Letter from Robert Chambers to W. S. Orr accompany ing above agreement. 91

to Orr was reduced to £3, because he had originally supplied

the Irish trade. The charge on copies over the first 6,000

remained the same.^ This was altered in 1838, however, when

paper became cheaper because the duty on it was reduced. As

a result, from July 1, 1838, Orr paid an extra Is per 1,000 2 for the license to print the Journal.

From the beginning William Chambers had refused to 3 include engravings because they were expensive to produce.

As a result, there was that much more space to fill with

print. Eighty-four foolscap pages of manuscript were

required for each number of the original series of the Jour

nal , printed in eight pages, three columns to the page.

"Deducting from one to two pages of quoted matter {though

even in such cases the matter is often partially written off,

in order to purify or simplify expression, and for the

■^Agreement between W. & R. Chambers and W. S. Orr, December 22, 1832.

^Office Diary, May 18, 1838.

^C E J , II (1833), 1. The Fenny Magazine, although it later used engravings regularly, did not do so at first, "for it was impossible to say, before the issue of a few numbers, whether the periodical sale would be twenty thousand or a hundred thousand, and whether a large demand would be a permanent one. It was therefore necessary to have due regard to economy; and thus the attraction of expensive woodcuts could scarcely be ventured upon in the early days of the experiment" (Knight, Passages of a Working Life, II, 181 and 184). Engravings were extremely expensive. Knight later calculated that engravings for the Penny Magazine for 1836 had cost about £.40 per issue (Modern Press, p. 258).

/ 92 purpose of condensation), the average quantity of writing amounts to from sixty to seventy pages weekly."*'

In order to provide this amount of material as cheaply as possible and still maintain the Journal's quality, the

Chamberses established a sliding scale for contributions.

The rate for all material, fiction and non-fiction, was 10s to 15s per column, depending upon the editor's estimate of its quality. William made this point clear in a notation regarding terms proposed to Charles Lever:

Wrote to Mr. Orr telling him to intimate to Mr. Lever at Brussels, the author of Harry Lorrequeer [sic] that we pay from 10/- to 15/- per column, according to our idea of the value of the matter: if he will send two or three pieces we shall be able to say with precision what we shall pay, but if the things come near what we may expect they will at any rate not be paid less than the lowest of these s u m s . 2

He made the same statement to Gibbons Merle, who thought he should have received more for his articles. ‘ Merle was to be paid the "standard" rate of 14s per column for inside matter, although "liberal consideration should be given to his papers, and something more allowed when they rose above ordinary interest— first articles being also to be paid at a higher rate."^ The terms specified for Emma Roberts' fiction were more detailed. She accepted their offer of "twenty pounds a

^"Mechanism of Chambers's Journal," p. 149. The original series of the Journal had 3 columns per page, 8 pages per issue.

^Office Diary, December 28, 1839.

^Ibid., January 17, 1840. 93 sheet, or fifteen shillings per column, provided that not fewer than six or eight columns shall appear in the course of every month."'*'

Popular writers of fiction were frequently asked for a series of tales. The flat payment offered for the group often included a sort of incentive clause, which was simply a variation of the sliding scale. Mrs. Opie was offered L5 5s for each story of three to four columns. Miss Mitford was to receive h4 4s for each of six stories. Mary Howitt was to be paid the same, although it was hinted that she might receive 2 an extra guinea for some tales. The original agreement for

Mrs. S. C. Hall's "Tales and Stories of the Irish Peasantry" contained a very specific incentive clause. In the hope that these stories would improve the Journal's circulation in

Ireland, William wrote to S. C. Hall that Mrs. Hall would receive h 4 4s for each of six articles. If the sale of each number increased in Ireland by a thousand copies, she would 3 be paid an extra guinea for each story.

"'’Letter from Emma Roberts to W. S. Orr, Portlend College, July 5, 1836. 2 Office Diary entries dated September 16, 1836; March 12, 1839; and April 1, 1839, respectively. Miss Mit ford wrote to a friend that "it is one of the signs of the times, that a periodical selling for three-halfpence should engage so high-priced a writer as myself; but they have a circulation of 200,000 or 300,000." She was speaking of the Journal, but confused its circulation with that of the Penny Magazine. (W. J. Roberts, Mary Russell Mitford: The Tragedy of a Blue Stocking [London, 1913J, p. 326.) 3 Office Diary, January 1839. 94

Miscellaneous matter seems to have been paid on the following scale: paragraphs, 2s 6d; "Occasional Notes," 10s.

Poetry was paid for on the same basis. Julia Pardoe received only 10s or 10s 6d per poem, while Dinah Mulock was invari ably paid 10s 6d and Camilla Toulmin 15s. On one occasion, a long two-column poem by Prances Browne received £1.

Rates of payment for the new series of the Journal, which began in 1844, were slightly higher. The same prin ciple of a sliding scale, determined on quality and placement of articles, continued. The base rate was about one-half guinea per column. First articles were ordinarily worth £5.

All of Robert Chambers' first articles were paid at that rate, as were those written by Charles Mackay and Camilla Toulmin.’*'

Amounts paid for inside articles or tales still varied con siderably. Percy B. St. John, who had contributed to the

Journal for many years, received the following payments for tales in 1844: 3% columns, £2 2s; 4 columns, £2 10s;

5 columns, £3. Another 5-column article of his in 1845 was

Unless otherwise indicated, all figures are taken from the Authors' Ledger for the appropriate period. Robert and William Chambers did not write for the Journal simply to save authors' fees. They paid themselves on the same scale that they paid other authors. From May 25, 1842 to the end of 1844, William's contributions were worth a total of £213 12s. He was paid for items often listed in the ledger simply as "paragraphs" or "small articles." More than one entry specifies "altering various articles,"— £1. The total value of Robert's contributions for the same period was £549 8 s 6d. The difference between the two totals— for vir tually the same number of items— is explained by the fact that 71 of Robert's contributions were "first articles" worth £5 each. 95 valued at only £2 12s 6 d. For a 3-column article, Camilla

Toulmin received as little as one guinea.

Although these rates were not equal to those paid by the best literary magazines, they were equal to, and often better than, those of most periodicals, standard-price and cheap ones alike. Charles Lever told his friend Alexander

Spencer that he preferred Bentley1s because they paid £12 12s per sheet while the Dublin University Magazine paid only £7 for double the amount. Because Bentley was too busy to read this particular article, he suggested the Journal next, for 1 it paid better than the Dublin University Magazine.

Howitt1s Journal. published during the 1840's, must have paid at about the same rate as the Journal. In ia desperate attempt to save their periodical, the Howitts reduced their 2 rate of payment to ten shillings a page. When Household

Words came out in the 1850's, Dickens paid a guinea for two columns of prose, the same rate paid by the Chamberses in the

1840's.3

^"Edmund Downey, Charles Lever: His Life in His Letters (Edinburgh and London, 1906), 152. 2 Woodring, Victorian Samplers, p. 130.

3Anne Lohrli, "Household Words and Its 'Office Book,'" Princeton University Library Chronicle, XXVI (Autumn 1964), 33. This record was kept by W. H. Wills, as Dickens' sub editor. Both the Journal, N.S. and Household Words had pages of the same size and two columns of type per page. In the Journal, however, each column consisted of 78 lines while those in Household Words were 67 lines. The Journal's print was smaller. 96

III

Whatever qualities they personally wanted cheap periodicals to have, publishers like the Chamberses could not ignore the needs and demands of the reading audience.

Although circulation figures measure the reading audience's response to a periodical, they cannot explain fluctuations in the popularity of an individual periodical. The fact is that the circulation of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal generally declined, because it operated on essentially the same plan and editorial policy from 1832 to 1849. Contributing to this falling off, too, were increased competition and poor manage ment of the London agency.

According to William Chambers, the first number sold

50,000 copies. After the third, when the Journal was con signed to W. S. Orr for additional distribution in England, the weekly sale reached 80,000.^ The circulation "long remained" at this figure. A partial explanation for this misleading accounting, which William gave in the Memoir of

Robert Chambers, is that he was thinking of the combined cur rent and back issue sales for each week. Other evidence indicated that the sale for each of the first three weeks was 2 actually 25,000 copies. A surplus of 6,000 copies was

^See my earlier discussion of these figures, p. 52, note 2. William may have had in mind the average sales for the original series of the Journal. Average weekly sales from 1832 to 1841 were 59,000 copies; in 1842, 56,000; in 1843, 53,000. 2 In any evaluation of the figures given for the Jour- 97 printed weekly, however, to provide a supply of back numbers.3.

By the end of 1834, the weekly sale in both Scotland and 2 England reached 50,000, including 5,000 back numbers.

Another increase in 1835 brought the average sales to 58,000 3 copies per week. After the peak .of 72,000 copies was 4 reached in 1839, circulation began dropping. In 1840, it was 70,000;3 by 1843, it had slipped to 53,000.^

After the New Series' first number of 90,000 copies in January 1844, an all-time high for any number, the circula- nal, it is necessary to remember that the number printed each week was larger than the number sold. Whenever a source refers to the total "impressions”— the term was used inter changeably to mean total copies and the press-run as a whole — per week, this does not mean that this was the immediate sale. Additional copies were printed each week to supply future demands. After the first few years, the total sales figures usually include back copies sold and, therefore, are not an accurate statement of the copies sold for any partic ular week. In the letter written to W. S. Orr, arranging for his separate impression, which was to begin in April 1832, the Chamberses said that they were printing 30,000 copies weekly. The weekly impression was stated to be 31,000 by April 21, 1832 (CEJ, I (1832), 96).

1 CEJ, II (1833), 1.

2 Ibid., IV (1835), 2.

3Ibid., V (1836), 2.

^Ibid., IX (1840), 230. This figure probably repre sents total sales, including back numbers.

^Letter from Robert Chambers to George Combe, Edin burgh, December 17, 1840 (N.S. 7254.1-6). He states specifically that this figure is “inclusive of sales of old numbers."

^Publication Ledger. 98 1 tion once again declined. Slipping to 87,000 per week in 2 1844, it remained at nearly that figure in 1845, a year of stability followed by an abrupt drop in 1846 to 76,000 copies.

In 1847, 2,000 fewer were sold. The next year, however, brought another sharp decline to 66,000. By 1849, when weekly sales of the Journal were 64,000 copies, the circula tion had fallen by more than 2 0 , 0 0 0 copies per week within just five years.

While the Journal1s circulation was declining, related changes in its distribution practice were occurring.

Although it had been available from the first in either weekly numbers or monthly parts, early sales were confined almost entirely to weekly numbers, which had been priced at three halfpence with the hope that working-class readers could afford to buy it. The first indication of a radical change in the distribution pattern came in 1834 with the announcement that 5,000 copies of the Journal1s London edi tion, approximately a fifth of that edition, were sold in monthly parts. The Edinburgh edition sold best in weekly 3 numbers. But the popularity of monthly parts spread to

Scotland, too. Ten years later, in 1844, the monthly edition

1 CEJ, N.S. II (1844), 16. 2 The Journal on September 6 , 1845 claimed a weekly average sale of 88,000 copies. The Publication Ledger records the weekly average sale for 1845 as 86,192. The figures in the rest of the paragraph are those recorded in the Ledger.

3CEJ. Ill (1834), 32. 99

was selling 40,000 copies, nearly half of the total for both

England and Scotland.^ By 1847, the proportion had changed

again; 50,000 of the total 74,000 copies were sold as monthly 2 parts.

It would be wrong to conclude that here is proof that

"middle-class" readers— or at least readers with more money— purchased the Journal in England. These figures do not reveal much about the social class of the Journal's readers.

However, they do indicate that, whatever their class, more

and more readers came to regard the Journal as primarily a

monthly. This change in attitude developed at the very time when, theoretically, working-class readers would have been

able to purchase monthly parts because of, the generally

improved economy. In actual practice, they probably did not.

Even if their incomes were larger (and in all likelihood they weren't), they could not lay that much money by. At any rate, the typical Journal reader during the 1840's was not the working man who had only a few pennies to spend on amusing or instructive reading material.

The other change in the distribution between 1832 and

1849 resulted from the gradual preponderance of the London edition over the Edinburgh edition. Only 3,000 copies of the 3 first issue were sold in England, but by January of 1833,

1 CEJ, N.S. Ill (1845), 1.

^"Booksellers.11 CEJ, N.S. VII (1847), 8 8 .

3CEJ, I (1832), 104. 100 1 W. S. Orr was selling 20,000 copies weekly. Circulation m

England and Scotland remained about equal until 1835 when the total for both was 58,000 copies, 8,000 more than in 1834. 2 The London edition accounted for most of this increase.

From then on, its sales steadily rose; Edinburgh's continued 3 to fall slightly. Totals for the Edinburgh and London 4 impressions of the Original Series were as follows:

1832 to 1841 total Edinburgh 12,850,000 numbers London 18,847,000

1842 Edinburgh 908,000 London 2,021,000

1843 Edinburgh 833,000 London 1,930,000

By 1845, the London impressions accounted for nearly 70 per cent of the total. Of the 86,000 weekly copies in that year, 5 58,000 were printed in London.

This disparity between the two printings is signifi cant, because it was at the heart of one of the Journal1s major circulation problems in both the 1830's and 1840's.

^Letter from W. S. Orr to W. & R. Chambers, London, October 3, 1836.

2 CEJ, V (1836), 2. 3 Letter from Robert Chambers to William Wilson, December 1835, quoted in James Grant Wilson, "Robert Cham bers," Lippincott's . VIII (July 1871), 21.

^These figures are recorded in the Publication Ledger, 5 Letter from W. S. Orr to William Chambers, London, January 3, 1845. 101

Any weakness in English sales was bound to affect markedly total sales. From the very first, despite the increase that later occurred, circulation in England had left something to be desired. In the early years especially it never came close to equaling its principal competitor, the Penny Maga zine. Although affiliation with the Society for the Diffu sion of Useful Knowledge finally ruined the Penny Magazine, its circulation initially benefited from the Society's influence. Long before the PM appeared, Charles Knight traveled around England establishing Local Associations of the SDUK. As a marketing organization, the SDUK signif icantly aided the PM which reached an eventual circulation of

200,000 copies.^" Chambers's Edinburgh Journal had no such widespread assistance, and none ever developed, because the sales in England depended almost entirely on the unsatisfac tory exertions of the Chamberses' London agent, W. S. Orr.

This is not the point at which to detail the more than twenty years' association between the Chamberses and Orr which became so unpleasant that in the Memoir William Cham bers alluded to Orr as the skeleton in the firm's closet.

From what evidence is available, it seems clear that Orr was 2 the wrong person to have so important a responsibility.

^"Knight, Passages of a Working Life, II, 93. 2 William says in his unpublished memoirs that James Chambers and W. S. Orr were acquainted. Through this connec tion the business arrangement was set up. 102

Although he may not have been deliberately dishonest, he was not a good business man or a good manager. When he was not involved in some financial scrape with partners or creditors, he was neglecting such important matters as the physical quality and appearance of the Journal, failing to advertise and aggressively distribute it, or defaulting on his payments to the Chamberses. In fact, they nearly lost the Journal to

Bradbury and Evans in 1848, because Orr had formed an unacknowledged and unauthorized partnership with that firm.

In the 1840's, when cheap periodicals glutted the market and when the novelty of education for working-class adults waned, an energetic London agent could have materially helped the

Journal withstand the competition which was largely respon sible for its loss of circulation by 2 0 , 0 0 0 copies within five years.

By the 1840's, however, only radical changes in the

Journal's plan and editorial policy could have improved its circulation. The Journal and the Penny Magazine, as the innovators, had virtually had the cheap "respectable" periodical field to themselves in the 1830's. The Saturday

Magazine had been their only serious competitor. The Journal fared better in the long run because it contained fiction in every issue.^ After the PM failed in 1846, Charles Knight

■^The Chamberses fiercely attacked those like the SDUK who were supplying only facts to their readers: "The error appears to us to consist in an imperfect view of the human faculties. By merely acquiring, or 103

gave two explanations. One was that sales diminished because

the IW's engravings, which he described as its only conces

sion to the reader's desire for amusement, were no longer a

novelty after newspapers increasingly illustrated news

stories.^- The other reason was more probable: "without a

large supply of fiction [the Penny Magazine] necessarily 2 ceased to be popular."

By the 1840's, periodicals of all kinds deluged the

market. According to Knight, by 1846 "fourteen penny and

penny half-penny Magazines, twelve Economical and Social

Journals, and thirty-seven weekly sheets, forming separate books, were to be found in the shops of many regular book

sellers,9 and on the counters of all the small f dealers in

rather perusing, a quantity of facts, in which neither our profession nor our locality nor our social relations lead us to take any interest, and which, even if mastered by the memory, lie there undigested, without producing a single new combina tion of ideas or any flow of sentiment heretofore unexperienced, we hardly advance at all in the scale of moral and intellectual being. The most successful result of knowledge of this kind is the production of the unadmired phenomenon called a Walking Encyclopaedia . . . ." (CEJ, V [1836], 1.) Another figure who was to become prominent in cheap publish ing attacked the Chamberses, in turn, for not using engravings in the Journal. In a letter dated only April 19, G. W. M. Reynolds said, "You would oblige me by putting engravings in your Chambers Jl. instead of that trashy poetry & aim a little more at the sciences. I am an influential member of the Chartists in London & am an author as well. I very much admire your Journals [sic] if it was not for the want of engravings & poetry put Tin] instead now." i Passages of a Working Life. II, 322. When he started his own Knight's Penny Magazine^ he omitted woodcuts entirely.

^Modern Press, pp. 280-281. 104

periodicals that had started up throughout the country."^*

Some of the more popular were Punch. The London Journal, The 2 Family Herald, and Eliza Cook's Journal. Of these, The

Family Herald was the most generally popular in England,

attaining a circulation of 125,000 by 1849, nearly double the 3 Journal's for the same year.

The Family Herald gave the reading audience a larger

diet of what it wanted— fiction— and thus beat Chambers1s

Edinburgh Journal at its own game. Each issue usually

included two or three serial stories and another tale as

well. The stories were not serious, i.e. emphasizing moral

values and conforming to good taste. Instead, they were

"harmless, and inclined to a preponderance of affairs of the heart ...... And, in place of instructive articles, the

^Passages of a Working Life, II, 328. 2 J. F. C. Harrison, Learning and Living 1790-1960: A Study in the History of the English Adult Education Move ment {Toronto, 1961), pp. 31-33.

■^Altick, English Common Reader, p. 394. This section of Altick's book, Appendix C, "Periodical and Newspaper Circulation," records the circulations of other Journal com petitors during this period. Howitt’s Journal began with a circulation of 30,000— combined monthly and weekly sales (Woodring, Victorian Samplers, p. 129). 4 Thomas Frost incorrectly gauged the English reading audience when he said that the fiction in the Journal was "even more highly appreciated in the homes of the Scotch peasantry and the artisans of the towns, than by their fel lows south of the Tweed." (Forty Years' Recollections: Literary and Political [London, 1880J, p. 82.) 105

Family Herald printed answers to correspondents' letters.'1'

The success of the Family Herald and its counterparts inevitably affected more serious publications. Those which 2 had not previously included fiction began to do so. Or if, like the Journal. they already published fiction, they assumed the pose of "literary" rather than "instructive" publications. It was as a result of this development in cheap periodical publishing that in 1847 the Journal, for the first time, referred to itself as a Literary Miscellany.

W. S. Orr neatly summed up the whole situation in an

1845 letter to William Chambers:

I was not sorry to receive your communication as it intimates that your attention as well as mine has been drawn to some unpleasant features in the recent statistics of the Journal— in fact I agree with you that here as well as in Scotland rivals of a formid able character are springing up, who should be met with increased energy on all our parts. But above all I should not be sorry to see some fresh literary blood if I may use the Phrase infused into its pages. I say this without for a moment doubting the great ability & untiring industry with which the work has been conducted for fourteen years, but in all that time the same tone has pervaded its pages and nearly the same readers have perused it, while a totally new class of minds have arrived at maturity who require a different pabulum to that of our younger days. The success of Punch, Dickens, Lever and others I think sufficiently prove [sic] that fact and I cannot help thinking that a gradual infussion [sic] of light sparkling articles addressed [to the] imagination as well as to contemporary events would give increased popularity to it. I would not by this

I The Journal had refused, almost from the beginning, to print answers to correspondents. (CEJ, III [1834J, 112.)

^Knight, Modern Press, 277-279. hint at any radical change in the Journal but I think we might retain all the solidity of the Journal and yet fall in, in a quiet way with the popular bent of the readers of the day.l

William Chambers' reply to Orr no longer exists. But it doesn’t really need to. The absence of any significant change in the Journal proves that Orr's suggestions were ignored.

^"Dated January 3, 1845. CHAPTER III

CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL

READERS AND CONTENTS

William Chambers had hoped that the Journal would

appeal to readers of every social class. He thought at first

that he had achieved his goal; an early editorial statement

proclaimed that Chambers's Edinburgh Journal "pervades the

whole of society. I n time, however, it came to be regarded

as a "powerful engine for the regeneration of the middle and 2 lower orders of society." The Journal actually appealed to

an even narrower audience. It had few lower class readers,

for its contents betrayed that it was almost exclusively a

middle-class publication.

There was little likelihood of the Journal's appeal

ing to the upper class. Indeed, it is surprising to discover

that any of its members were aware of the publication's

existence. One who was, the Marquis of Lansdowne, asked

James Simpson, "Who Care] these Chamberses that [have] been

1CEJ, IV (1835), 1. 2 Letter from Robert Chambers to William Wilson, December 1835, quoted in Wilson, "Robert Chambers," Lippin- cott's , p. 2 1 .

107 108

lately making such a stir with their Journal?"^ Another was

the Duchess of St. Albans. She contributed fourteen pounds a

week to a poor woman whose troubles had been publicized by 2 the Journal.

As for the working class, by 1840 the Journal reached

. only a fraction of it at best. In an unusual piece of self-

evaluation, the editorial statement for volume IX, February

1840, described the situation and suggested its cause,

declaring that:

the benefits supposed to be conferred by Chambers's Edinburgh Journal and other cheap publications are probably overrated. The benefits, if there be any, are confined to the respectable order of artisans and others to whom we have alluded; but to the bulk of the rural population, and to the large section composing the inferior class of labourers, they are not extended, simply because such persons either cannot read, or possess tastes altogether incon sistent with literary recreation.3

The Chamberses were not about to alter the Journal's original

plan to lower its standard of quality, even if by so doing

they could have reached such readers, They would have agreed

with Charles Knight that "such partial enlightenment would be 4 general degradation." Certainly they would never have

■^W. C. , Busy Life, p. 49.

2CEJ, III (1834), 328.

^CEJ, IX (1840), 8 . Charles Knight agreed that "even the most successful of the periodical works above a penny— ’Chambers' Journal,' ’Household Words,'— reach only the advanced guard of this class [the multitude— the needy]" (Modern Press, p. 288).

A Knight, Modern Press, p. 298. 109 adopted the expedient, used by the Lloyd publications, of giving the manuscript to ah almost illiterate person— a servant or machine-boy— to read. If the "reader" approved it, the story was accepted.

As a result, whatever lower-class readers the Journal had were "the elite of the labouring community; those who think, conduct themselves respectably, and are anxious to 2 improve their circumstances by judicious means." Of these people, Edwin Chadwick wrote to William Chambers, "I have received some gratifying communications from working men 3 which refer -o your Journal & prove its service." Evidence indicating which members of the lower class read the Journal is spotty at best. Letters to the Journal’s editor suggest that at least some belonged to the elite of Victorian labor: a mechanician [sic]. assistant draper, bootmaker, tailor, coal miner, farmer, weaver, millhand. The principal reason for the Journal's popularity among these readers was not that 4 it provided entertaining as well as informative reading.

**Trost, Forty Years' Recollections, p. 90.

2CEJ. IX (1840), 8 .

2Dated October 17, 1842. 4 Still and all, the Journal’s entertaining articles would have been one reason it was attractive to these readers. Publishers of cheap periodicals, whatever their contents, agreed that the higher levels of the working class were not interested in unadulterated instruction, but wanted amusement. See Tylecote, Mechanics’ Institutes of Lancashire and York shire , pp. 107 and 109; Thomas Kelly, Early Public Libraries: A History of Public Libraries in Great Britain before 1850 110

Instead, working-class readers accepted the Journal because

they regarded the Chamberses as having their interests at

heart. Walter Farquhar Hook, vicar at Leeds, explained this

fact when he discouraged a colleague from starting a magazine

to compete with the Journal. He said:

. . . I doubt whether you or I could get up any thing like the paper of Chambers. I do not mean that we could not imitate him, but we could never command his circulation. I live among that class which reads his works, the working people, and I know them; and without knowing anything of Mr. Chambers I venture to guess that he has risen entirely out of the working class, that he began as a printer's apprentice and was long a journey man printer. Anything done by one of their own "order" the working classes will patronise, and no one can meet their wants or understand them, except a man who has been one of them.l

Such an appraisal was highly paradoxical, for the

Chamberses themselves belonged to the middle class and their

interests and concerns gave the Journal its character. It

was therefore inevitable that the Journal should be most

attractive to the middle class. William's various devices

{London, 1966), p. 190; W. C., Memoir, 3rd ed., pp. 212-213, discussing the reasons for the Penny Magazine's failure; and Alastair R. Thompson, "The Use of Libraries by the Working Class in Scotland in the Early Nineteenth Century," Scottish Historical Review. XLII (April, 1963), 22-23.

^"Letter to Rev. F. Paget, Leeds, December 1844 quoted in W. R. W. Stephens, The Life and Letters of Walter Farquhar Hook (London, 1880),II, 2 33. The Journal's popularity in Leeds was no doubt attributable to the speech William made at the opening of the new Leeds Mechanics’ Institute in 1841 (Tylecote, Mechanics' Institutes of Lancashire and Yorkshire, p. 32). In 1846, it was second in popularity only to Punch. at a time when it had slipped in other areas of England (Harrison, Learning and Living, p. 33). Ill for making it respectable, especially his declared policies of non-partisanship and good taste, would have been appreci ated by these readers particularly. Robert acknowledged that, in writing his very popular essays, "it was my design from the first to be the essayist of the middle class .... For their use I shape and sharpen my philosophical disquisitions on which I have entered."1

Scholars who have evaluated Chambers's Edinburgh

Journal in the course of studying problems of nineteenth- century social and literary history have concluded too frequently that it served as an instrument of self-education primarily by supplying its readers with popularized history, 2 science, biography, and so forth. However, a careful study of the Journal between 1832 and 1849 reveals that it dealt with education in a broad sense. By representing to its

Select Writings. I, iv. William himself thought that the Journal's popularity was due in a large part to Robert's essays (Memoir. 3rd ed., pp. 216-217). 2 Typical of such evaluations is that by J. F. C. Har rison in his generally fine study of adult education, Learn ing and Living. "... the Chambers brothers eschewed all abstract and mentally-exacting topics, and also steered clear of controversial politics and religion. Each number of the Journal commenced with an editorial essay on some innocuous but elevating topic; then came 'instructive' articles on popular science, natural history, literary topics, biograph ical sketches, and historical anecdotes; a short story supplied the essential ingredient of fiction; and the inter stices which remained were crammed with verses, odd snippets of fact, and marvels from all parts of the world." 1X2 readers the nature of their increasingly industrialized society, the Journal helped them comprehend the age and its problems.

The Journal evaluated contemporary public issues from a point of view which is not easily labelled. It could not express a political philosophy. Had it done so it would have violated the Newspaper Stamp Act of 1816 which stipulated that any publication appearing at intervals of less than twenty-six days, exceeding two sheets in size, costing less than sixpence, and containing comments upon the news was 1 subject to a 4d tax. Instead, the Journal assessed the age

Collet Dobson Collet, History of the Taxes on Knowl edge: Their Origin and Repeal (London, 1899), 17-18. Collet complains later (I, 27-29) that the Penny Magazine, and perhaps the Saturday Magazine, should have been stamped. As weeklies, they violated the frequency stipulation of the Act, and they were too large as well. As for their contents, "it is true that the news contained in the Penny Magazine was not the news of the day, but it was fresher than that of Spectator, which was indebted for a good deal of its news to Socrates, Plato, Cicero and Marcus Aurelius." Because both the SDUK and the Church of England, which published the Saturday Magazine, were deeply involved in political contro versies, there was no doubt that the contents of the PM and SM were biased. They might not have contained comments upon the news, but their very existence was commentary in itself. Collet does not mention CEJ in this discussion at all. See Passages of a Working Life (II, 181) for Charles Knight's remarks on the approval of the PM by the Solicitor of Stamps. The Chamberses bypassed the Act by publishing.Cham bers* s Historical Newspaper. Each issue contained a "first article" on some topical matter such as "Position of Parties" (January 3, 1833); "Ireland" (March 2, 1833); "Ecclesi astical Establishments" (March 1834); "Party Spirit— National Education" (May 1832). The remainder usually consisted of reports of the Proceedings of Parliament, accounts of "Foreign History" [News], news of Ireland and Scotland, notices of bankruptcies, new books, births, deaths, and mar riages. At the time it was discontinued, CHN had a circula- 113

from a pragmatic, common-sense philosophy which reflected,

though only faintly and sporadically, the traditional Scot

tish common-sense philosophy. Without a well-defined point

of view the Journal in retrospect seems occasionally incon

sistent and naive. On the other hand, its attitudes could be

more flexible because they were not doctrinaire.

Economic problems had stimulated and intensified much

of the Reform Bill agitation, especially among the lower

classes. Throughout the 1830’s and 1840's, the temper of

Victorian society and the character of its problems continued

to reflect the condition of the economy. The early Victo

rians believed that social harmony depended upon a vigorous

economy, and vice versa. Over these two decades, the Jour

nal 1s treatment of economic subjects reveals increasing

awareness of the complexity of the relationship between 1 society and economics. As popular political activity waned

tion of 10,000 copies. According to the Chamberses, they gave it up because they felt the Educational Course which they were starting was a better means of educating the public. Other testimony suggests that CHN would have been in viola tion of the Stamp Act which was revised in 1836 (Webb, Working Class Reader, p. 74). Collet describes the changes in the Act in History of the Taxes on Knowledge, I, 64-65, 172. 1 In Age of Improvement (London, 1959), Asa Briggs asserts that the years from 1834 to 1846 "were the testing years of the new industrial system as well as of the new Constitution. Before England could cross the threshold into the Victorian age of balance it first had to go through the ordeal of prolonged social and economic crisis ..." (p. 282). In the post-Reform Bill era, the major concern for Victorians was the cleavage within their society. As successive eco nomic crises developed during this period, "they raised 114 and economic conditions improved in 1833 and 1834, the middle class in particular believed that the doctrine of political economy offered the most hope for restored social and economic equilibrium. Because it appealed to men's reason, political economy would enable the working man to understand his contribution to and place in the industrial economy.

Once he understood this, he would be less restless and more productive.^ The Chamberses were not fully committed to the pure doctrine of political economy, as the Journal's contents for this period reveal. They were less interested in abstract matters of capital and labor, wages and population, fundamental questions such as the position of the individual in the new society, the relationship between different social groups and the fate of the Nation" (ibid.. pp. 300-301). The Chamberses were clearly aware of the existence of these ten sions. They envisioned the Journal as helping to restore social balance. "Is it possible— we would say, and say in all humility— to over-estimate the social blessings that may be expected to flow from a work which is thus qualified to re-unite the sympathies of the most opposite and remote orders of the people— which can tell the great about the humble, and the humble about the great, and promote a spirit of natural human kindness amongst all . . (IV [1835], 1). That the Chamberses regarded these economic and social issues as critical is evidenced by the fact that they were almost invariably discussed in the "first article" of each number of the Journal.

■^Economic conditions: Briggs, Age of Improvement, p. 286. Political economy: Chapter 10, "The Effort, to Understand," of S. G. Checkland's The Rise of Industrial Society in England 1815-1885 (London, 1964) is a lengthy dis cussion of the philosophical origins and the basic principles of political economy. R. K. Webb in both the Working Class Reader and Harriet Martineau: A Radical Victorian (New York, 1960) treats not only the nature of political economy but the response to it— especially the popularized version dispensed by Miss Martineau. It was this variety which was discussed in the Chamberses' publications. 115 and the origin and nature of money, than in the specific benefits which machinery could bring to all society, includ- 1 ing the working man.

It was obvious, too, that there was a discrepancy between the results envisioned by political economists and those produced by the conditions of the times. Therefore, the

Chamberses believed in the early 1830's that the working man would have the best chance of improving his lot if he emi grated. "Flight . . . is the only feasible cure of this universal distress." They did not offer this suggestion pessimistically, but as a positive counter to the negative 2 doctrines of Malthusianism. In the first volume alone, over

"Philosophy of British Manufacturers," IV (1835), 229. Other articles on political economy, most of which were abstracted from other sources, were "Waste of Capital and Labour," III (1834), 47-48; "Contrivances to Simplify Labour," III (1834), 255-256; "A Chapter of Political Economy," III (1834), 267-268; "A Few Words to the Labouring and Other Classes," III (1835), 402-403; "Origin and Nature of Money," III (1835), 415; John Wade, "Theory and Practice," IV (1835), 77-78; "The Humbler Employments of London," IV (1835), 212- 213; "Knowledge Leads to Comfort," IV. (1835), 215. The fullest statement of the Chamberses' own attitudes toward work appears in the lead article of CHN. May 1, 1833. They did not believe that it was unqualifiedly good. Instead, it was bad if it shortened life and was morally degrading. See also "Slavery at Home," in the February 2, 1833 number of CHN. Succeeding references are to the Journal. unless otherwise indicated. When possible, the name of an article's author will be supplied. Those articles which were "first articles" in the Journal will be designated by an asterisk. 2 "A Word for the Working Classes," CHN, December 1, 1832, n.p. Robert Chambers, "The Maithus Theory of Popula tion," III (1834), 6 ; *"Room and Rations," IX (1840), 217- 218. See also "A Word upon Population," CHN, April 3, 1833, n.p. 116 twenty articles discussed emigration. Of these, at least twelve were taken from "On the Agricultural Condition of

Canada and part of the United States," a paper by Adam

Ferguson, published by the Highland Society, which described the topography, climate, and general living conditions on the

North American continent. Probably more persuasive, though, were letters from recent emigrants testifying that in the

United States, especially, there were no social classes and no poverty, an abundance of food, and a healthful climate.^

Further encouragement for would-be emigrants came from testimony by James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, about the extent of emigration. "In the industrious village of

Galashiels fifty-two are already booked for transportation.

In the town of Hawick, and its subordinate villages, are double that number. My own brothers, sisters, nephews, and nieces, are all going away; and if I were not the very indi- 2 vidual that I am, I should be the first to depart."

Those who remained at home could exercise control over the conditions of their lives if they worked hard, were

^"Another series was adapted from Timothy Flint’s Geography of the Mississippi Valley. The first of the four articles appeared in II (1833), 356-357. "Letter from Canada to the Ettrick Shepherd," II (1833), 383-384; "Journal of a Transatlantic Voyage," II (1834), 406-407. Information on emigration was so much in demand that the Chamberses devoted several numbers of the Information for the People to this subject. These articles were eventually published as a separate volume (III [1834], 112).

^"Emigration," II (1833), 124. 117 thrifty, and, above all, if they were educated. "Hints to

Clever People" enunciated the philosophy that "wherever you live, whether in towns, or in remote rustic situation, there is always a considerable number of inferior minds around you, liable to be operated upon by you, to good or evil, and upon whom you are, as it were, invited by nature thus to operate."

As the most effective means by which to operate, Robert

Chambers recommended that his readers should not drink, should improve physical conditions according to the prin ciples of physiology, disseminate knowledge, and "try everywhere to establish the supremacy of the intellectual faculties and the moral feelings."^ So that its readers could learn about physiology, the Journal,published articles on various aspects of health, including three devoted to

Dr. C. Turner Thackrah's pioneering work, The Effects of the

Principal Arts, Trades, and Professions, on Health and 2 Longevity.

When almost continuous distress and unrest began in

1837 and continued through the 1840's , it became obvious that political economy alone had made no improvement in British

^■*Robert Chambers, III (1834), 156-157. "The Poor," in CHN, October 1833, states somewhat the same philosophy— that the only way to right society was to cultivate the "minds of the lower classes of the community." "The Indus trious Poor," V (1836), 77-78. 2 Dr. Thackrah was a Leeds physician. For an account of his work, see Harrison, Learning and Living, pp. 11-13. 118

society.^" Although the Journal still preferred to attack

problems through theory, it came, in time, to advocate action

as well. An article called "Periodical Distress," the Jour

nal 1s only recognition of the depression in 1837, used the

rational approach while rebuking businessmen for their "all-

absorbing acquisitiveness." If they did not reform their

ways, society as a whole would suffer, for until "business be

generally done in a more enlightened and conscientious spirit,

and more in accordance with the fundamental principles of

commerce, such derangements will not be avoided, and conse- 2 quently much misery must be occasionally endured."

But this rebuke was mild compared to the Journal1s

attack on the working classes in 1838. The attack was as

unexpected as severe, because, although the trades-union

movement had been active throughout the 1830's, it was the 3 Journal's first reference to workingmen's combinations. The

two most critical essays on the subject, "Strikes— Their

Statistics" and "Jealousies of the Employed Against

^Economic conditions: Briggs, Age of Improvement. pp. 295-296.

^*Robert Chambers, VI (1837), 136. 3 The major years of union activity were 1834 and 1835. According to Briggs, the lot of the workers suffered because of the separation between them and the employers (Age of Improvement, p. 292). R. K. Webb, Harriet Martineau, pp. 129- 133 also discusses worker-employer separation which, he says, continued into the middle of the century, despite the efforts of people or groups such as the Chamberses, the SDUK, Francis Place, and Harriet Martineau. Employers," appeared in close succession on February 17 and

March 3. The basic premise of both was that the laws of

capital and wages, as natural laws, could not be interfered with. The first argued that "the principle of the operatives has too often been by combination and therefore violence to

force up their wages during prosperity, and by combination

and violence to prevent them from falling in adversity; hoping thus to avert from themselves the law of nature . . . .

The only result of such actions was that already severe dis tress increased and that "the warmth even of Christian

charity [is chilled] by the evident and ruinous addition which their own conduct has made to their sufferings."

Naively, the second essay also contended that there was no reason for jealousy between capital and labor because "most

of the masters either have been originally workmen, or at 1 least are the sons of workmen."

The final essay of this 1838 series, "Causes of

Poverty," stated clearly the principle which helped discredit political economy. As the first two essays had implied, the

advocate of political economy could be cruelly unsympathetic

to those affected by economic distress:

If we are right in our account of the causes of poverty, we have already done the best we can to remedy the evil itself; for, when men become con vinced of causes, they can scarcely fail to see how

^■"Jealousies of the Employed Against Employers" was a first article. "The Effects of Combinations," VII (1838), 173. 120

to set about cures. For the poverty which is produced by peculiarities in individuals, we must look for a cure in the improved conduct of indi viduals. The poverty arising from idleness will only be curable, as it has ever been since the beginning of the world, by industry, that which comes from wastefulness will only be cured by economy. It needs no far-fetched philosophy to assure us of these truths. Where poverty arises from prejudice of place or trade, or any other kind of bigotry or short-sightedness, we may hope that increased knowledge and liberalised views will in time provide the appropriate remedy.!

After various investigations in 1839 and 1840 began revealing the shocking truth about lower-class living conditions, the

Journal abandoned abstractions and began instead a crusade to 2 expose the facts of lower-class life. The last articles devoted to pure political economy appeared virtually side-by- side, therefore, with several reports about the lower classes.^ The writer of the first expose entitled "Inquiries

Respecting Food," a two-part essay on the prevalence of near starvation, announced that "this is a subject on which all are alike ignorant, for as yet it has never been the subject, to any serious extent, of philosophical inquiry. It is one, however, of great importance, and we are anxious to do what

■^This was a first article. VII (1838), 321-322; ★"Wages," VIII (1839), 97-98. 2 It may be that the Journal1s interest in such prob lems was stimulated by William Chambers' having studied sanitary conditions in Edinburgh for Edwin Chadwick's Poor Law Commission in the 1840's. See Chapter V, p. 252.

^John Wade, *"Things That May or May Not Happen," IX (1840), 17-18; a series, "Popular Information on Political Economy," written by J. W. Barton, began in IX (1840), 147- 149. There were ten articles in the series which concluded on November 7, 1840. 121

in us lies, by means of a work of unusual circulation, to turn public attention to it." The all-too-evident fact was that "there . . . appears considerable reason to believe that, in the most numerous class of our community, that of the unskilled labourers, rural and manufacturing, underfeeding prevails to a great extent. . . . it is scarce possible to doubt that the evil does largely exist, and not only in times of scarcity, but at all times."'*' The Journal also devoted an essay to Dr. Alison's classic report, Observations on the

Management of the Poor in Scotland, and of its Effects on the

Health of the Great Towns, when it appeared in 1840.

Extracts of the doctor's conclusions and facts along with 2 editorial comment filled two of the Journal1s eight pages.

The Journal intensified its attack on social problems by advocating specific ways of correcting them. The Cham berses believed that, contrary to accepted theory, physical 3 conditions had to be improved before moral conditions. The

■*■*11 Inquiries Respecting Pood," VIII (1839), 9-10 and 25-26; "Condition of the Lower Classes in a Great City," VIII (1839), 71.

^*"The Management of the Poor," IX (1840), 97-98; Robert Chambers, "Illustrations on the Condition of the Poor," IX (1840), 323-324. 3 The Chamberses had begun advocating this principle as early as 1837. "Fallacies Respecting the Poor," VI (1837), 74, attacked a report in the London and Westminster Review of a plan for improving conditions of the poor which had failed. "Moral improvement . . . cannot commence as long as the individual is in the state of utter destitution, and perhaps covered with disease." 122

Journal declared that it seemed highly unreasonable to expect

"all kinds of virtues from human beings when they are unfor

tunate, and only then."'*' Equally unconventional was the

suggestion that although food, clothing, and shelter made

day-to-day living possible, what the philanthropist dismissed

as "luxuries" (in particular, amusement) were required to 2 sustain existence "for a considerable space of time." Men

required amusement, but too frequently there was none avail

able except at the pub. If the middle classes failed to

recognize this fact and to do something about it, they could 3 not condemn the lower classes for turning to drink. Finally,

the working classes needed to be educated, not just for their

own good, but for the whole of society. The experiences of

leading manufacturers in England and on the Continent had proved that the most productive, least troublesome workers 4 were the educated.

^"The Management of the Poor," p. 98. Italics in the original.

^★"Necessaries and Luxuries," IX (1840), 185-186.

^"Necessity of Amusement," VI (1837), 204-205; "Drinking Usages of England," VIII (1839), 167-168; "Workmen in London," IX (1840), 78-79; "Entertainments by Employers to Their Workmen," VIII (1839), 199-200; "Demoralising and Impoverishing Effects of Party Spirit," IX (1840), 84-85.

^"Should Working-People be Educated?" X (1840), 68-70; 75-76; 91-92. "Spitalfields and its Weavers," IX (1840), 123-125. A variation of this question had been discussed three years earlier by Robert Chambers when he advocated improvement of the conditions of female servants in general and wider employment opportunities for all women. *"Female Servants in Large Cities," VI (1837), 112-114; *"Employment 123

The Journal1s crusading was both modified and sharp

ened from 1841 to 1844. Previously, it had discussed problems common to both England and Scotland. Although 1841 and 1842 brought widespread distress to most of Great Britain— the latter being the year of a major crisis— and although a large portion of its circulation was in England, the Journal con centrated almost exclusively on exposing the Scottish poor laws. In so doing, it had its best opportunity to reveal the correlation between stresses in industrial economy and dis ruption of social patterns. Because the new poor law of 1834 had applied to England only, poor relief in Scotland was still provided by the parish, usually from assessments of both landowners and the parish church. A combination of circumstances which had developed over a period of time was making the system obsolete. Country parishes suffered as the

"improving movement" increased the size of farms and reduced the number of landowners and as landowners moved away from the parishes.'*' City parishes found caring for the large numbers of poor within their jurisdiction almost impossible.

Furthermore, the Calvinistic distinction between the deserv ing and undeserving poor, upon which this system was based, was not realistic. Although Scotland’s diversified industry somewhat limited general distress in the 1840's, hand-loom of Females," VI (1837), 305-306; also "Employments for Unmar ried Females of the Middle Classes," X (1841), 317-318.

^"Saunders, Scottish Democracy, p. 248. 124

weavers, Highland crofters, and coal miners were nevertheless

very hard-pressed. These poor and many others like them had worked hard and were deserving of relief, but they were cast

off as though completely undeserving. The Disruption of the

Church of Scotland, which occurred in 1843, also upset Scot

tish poor relief. In many parishes, there were two competing

churches, neither with sufficient funds to maintain the poor.

The first phase of the Journal’s attack began

April 18, 1840, with "The Management of the Poor," the essay presenting Dr. Alison's findings on urban conditions. The

Journal followed up with its own investigations of a town and

a parish. "Picture of the Indigent Class of a Little Town"

revealed that although the Scottish system, unlike the

English, was popularly believed to "keep down pauperism,"

"considerably more than a third— indeed nearly two-fifths—

of the families in the town, are so far pauperised as to be willing to come forward for a share of what may comparatively be spoken of as a small private charity." The real cruelty

of this system lay in the fact that

In this community, a large portion of the people are constantly engaged, during their better years, in labours which tend to the comfort and enrich ment of the rest. For their labour they get only such wages as barely maintain them, leaving no means of providing for old age. Their inevitable fate, therefore, is to fall into helpless penury.^

This most unpopular report induced the minister and other

1 *IX (1840), 169-171. 125 townspeople to band together and present their side of the case. In response to their allegations, the Journal merely reiterated everything it had said previously, mentioning especially that its evidence was based upon first-hand investigation and observation.^

In the report on "The Poor of a Parish," which fol lowed the next year, the Journal restated the policy upon which it made and published these inquiries and its reasons for doing so.

It seems to us that, independently of all the immediate interest arising from the question of provision for the necessitous poor, as a chapter .of national policy, there is some general interest in what we here call an exact statement of the condition of a distinct portion of the poor. Poets, novelists, writers of all kinds, are accustomed to speak of the poor in vague terms, unless it may chance to be their endeavour to concentrate atten tion and sympathy upon some particular specimen of the class. . . . In preparing [this] article . . . we proceeded upon a different plan; we gauged the. poverty of a particular and distinctly marked place, and presented that as a specimen of what we may call a certain species of localities. In this way, the mind of the reader was satisfied with something like exact knowledge. He knew how many poor were there, and what were the means of their support.2

An essay on the "State of the West Highlands and Islands" and miscellaneous articles throughout the two years provided addi tional data for the Journal's campaign.^

^■X (1841), 144.

^William Johnston, X (1841), 247-248 and 254-255. The quotation appears on p. 247.

^*"State of the West Highlands and Islands," X (1841), 161-162; *"Pauper Children," X (1841), 137-138; "A Chapter in 126

There was a hiatus in this discussion in 1842 and

1843, but by the latter half of 1844 the condition of Scot land question was again pressing.'*’ In a series of articles

Robert Chambers personally carried the banner for poor law reform, employing the same arguments as before: (1) The conditions of the labouring classes are worse than anyone realizes. (2) The English may regard the poor law of 1834 as "stingy and unfeeling," but they should shame the wealthy of Scotland "out of the ten-times more merciless system which prevails there." (3) It is the duty of the Journal, which has the "largest circulation of any in the empire," to attack such false, inhuman doctrines as those which support this system.2 the Life of a Poor Man," X (1841), 388-389; *"Self-Doing and Being Done For," XI (1842), 81-82; "The Miserable Classes," XI (1842), 92-93.

"^During these two years there was, however, a revival of interest in emigration, which continued sporadically for the rest of this period. Whenever conditions became worse in Great Britain, emigration increased. "The general distresses of the country, independently of other causes, had created a wide-spread desire to emigrate, and for some time the stream of emigration from the different outports has been pouring with a steady and daily increasing force" (XII [1843], 183). "Emigration— Report of the Poor-Law Commissioners on the Sub ject," IX (1840), 30; "Occasional Notes," X (1841), 117; "Fields for Emigrants in the United States," X (1841)., 383- 384; X (1841), 224; "California— Coming Disappointments," N.S. XI (1849), 316-318; "The Gold Seekers," N.S. XI (1849), 179-181; "Gold-Finding in California," N.S. XI (1849), 61-62; "The United States as an Emigration Field," N.S. XI (1849), 374-376.

2"Vital Statistics of Glasgow— Health of Large Towns," N.S. II (1844), 110-111; "Treatment of the Poor in Scotland," N.S. II (1844), 200-201; "The Poor in Scotland," N.S. II 127

On the whole, the period of relative stability fol

lowing these bitter years of distress— and preceding the new unrest to begin in 1847— was marked by optimism over economic

and social questions.^ During this time, the Journal1s discussions, in their blending of theory and practical pro posals, were more sensible than ever before. Although the

theory still bore overtones of political economy, the

Chamberses' concern for social conditions and the poor law

question had brought them to the realization that social

improvement could be accomplished best if people were more

sensitive. Therefore, the Journal's attention was now directed toward the question of economic morality and the quality of men's relationships to each other. The Journal's

thesis was that it behooved those who had money to use it properly. In fact, it was their moral obligation to do so, because "so bound are we together in interests, that what hurts one hurts all, and we really thrive as much in things

favourable to our neighbour, as in those bearing immediately 2 upon ourselves." If this obligation was not carried out,

the individual was not always at fault, for he was at the

(1844), 365-366. The quotations are selected from the latter two articles. i *"Seventeen Forty-Five and Eighteen Forty-Five," N.S. Ill (1845), 129-131; *"History of a National Mistake," N.S. VI (1846), 145-148.

^"No Person Unimportant," N.S. I (1844), 385-386; "'It is always Circulating Money,'" N.S. II (1844), 65-66. 128 mercy of a system which he could not control. The Journal believed, however, that the evils of the system were simply an extension of human nature. If people were not able to control the system by controlling themselves, then as a last resort the government would have to exercise controls over 1 system and people both.

To forestall the possibility of gover imental inter vention in economic affairs, the Journal recommended a number of ways by which its theory could be implemented. Working men should share to a greater extent with their masters in directing their own fates. The present system was wrong because it tended "to send off the hirers and hired in two 2 different directions." Forms of profit sharing would also be desirable, because they would supplant the "nexus" of

"cash payment." Once the working man was convinced that his fate, like his master's, depended upon his own actions, he would be more responsible. Employers, too, had obligations if this relationship was to improve. If they continued to pay wages at the wrong time (i.e. Saturday night), they could not require their workers to be prudent or temperate. Nor could they demand productivity and stability if they worked

1*"To Want and to Have," N.S. IV (1845), 321-322; ^"Metaphysics of Business," N.S. Ill (1845), 337-339; "Two Sides of a Question," N.S. VI (1846), 273-275.

2 / Speech by Robert Chambers at the 1845 soiree of the firm, N.S. IV (1845), 400. 129 their men beyond the limit which the human body could stand.^

Working men could improve the quality of their rela tionships with one another, as well. They could assist each other in programs for ameliorating their living conditions.

For instance, through co-operatives they could buy food in bulk, therefore more cheaply. Or, they could establish associations to support one other in times of need. Mutual improvement programs, too, were still beneficial to working men, because education was essential for permanent economic 2 and social well-being.

The Journal's optimism respecting social and economic progress, reflected in these theories and proposals, was short-lived, for it gave way to nearly complete pessimism from 1847 on. Although the fact that all society shared

^"Time for Paying Wages," XI (1842), 36; "'The Claims of Labour,'" N.S. Ill (1845), 26-29; "A Working Man's Mem oirs," N.S. Ill (1845), 220-222; "Short Hours," N.S. Ill (1845), 412-413.

^"Provision against the Evil Day," XI (1842), 21-22; William Chambers, "An Evening with the Working Classes," N.S. I (1844), 174-176; Robert Chambers, "A Hint to the Working-Classes," N.S. I (1844), 301-302; "Workmen's Singing Classes," N.S. II (1844), 243; "Reading Aloud in Workshops," N.S. II (1844), 335-336; "Working Men's Evenings— The Hamp stead Reading-Rooms," N.S. V (1846), 175; "The Uxbridge Young Men's Improvement Society," N.S. V (1846), 400; ? Soulsby, "A Suggestion for the Improvement of the Working-Classes," N.S. VI (1846), 381-382; "Doubts as to Working-Men's Building Societies," N.S. VI (1846), 185-187; Thomas Hogg, "Saturday Evening in Liverpool," N.S. VI (1846), 161-163. For the background on both the co-operative movement and the various working-men's societies, see Briggs, Age of Improvement, pp. 303-304, and Harrison, Learning and Living, p. 104. 130

common interests was still being emphasized in early 1847,

notably in an essay entitled "One and All," there was also

the first hint of resistance and antagonism toward Chartism.^-

William Chambers, commenting upon an Irish landlord's plan

for improving the district in which he lived, disagreed with

the policy of giving allotments of land to families. It

would only result in increasing population beyond the land's

capacity to support it. The situation would be little better

than before. He then proceeded to attack a "similar scheme

in England"— the Chartist Land Plan promoted by Fergus

O'Connor. It seemed to William that "a section of indus

trious and well-disposed operatives have, through the agency

of some clap-trap humanity man, been deluded into the fancy

that each of them would be happy if he became the owner of a morsel of land— land situated perhaps, hundreds of miles from

the place of his ordinary occupation. We have no hesitation in denouncing this project as one of the greatest follies 2 ever conceived."

1 *N.S. VII (1847), 241-242; *"The High and the Humble," N.S. VII (1847), 353-355.

2 *"A' Word on Land," N.S. VII (1847), 113-115; the report of Hill's work appeared in "Facts from Gweedore," N.S. VII (1847), 10-14. William was referring to the Chart ist Land Plan promoted by Fergus O'Connor, primarily from 1845-1847 (Briggs, Age of Improvement, p. 310). The article did not please some of the Journal's readers, as "Our Cor respondents," N.S. VII (1847), 221-222, indicated. For the Chamberses' philosophies on the duties of property, see "Fireside Chit-Chat," N.S. VII (1847), 186-188; and William Chambers, *"A Word on the Highlands," N.S.-X (1848), 193-195. 131

It was hardly surprising that when the People's

Charter was presented to Parliament for the third time in

1848, the Journal disapproved, marshalling the old arguments of political economy— if the working man understood its principles, he would realize that the employer was not his enemy. If he envied the middle class its position and wealth, he had only to practice the same reasonableness and restraint its members did.'L Yet, Victorian social and economic philos ophy had changed since the earlier Chartist panic of 1838, for the Journal now turned to practical action as the best way of coping with the undeniably existing distress.

Although emigration reappeared as a program— "Get Thee out of 2 Thy Country" was the recommendation — there was emphasis as well on self-improvement, co-operative programs, and profit sharing. Building societies and model dwellings came into favor, as did proposed legislation for something like unem- 3 ployment compensation.

Robert Chambers, *"Stock and Work," N.S. IX {1848), 353-356; *"Enemies," N.S. X (1848), 97-98; *"Plain Truths for England," N.S. X (1848), 337-339; *"Heads, Hearts, and Handi crafts," N.S. XI (1849), 321-324; review of Mary Barton, reprinted from the Edinburgh Review. N.S. XI (1849), 287.

2 *N.S. X (1848), 129-131.

■^"Efforts at Social Improvement," N.S. VII (1847), 281-284; "Dwellings for the Working-Classes," N.S. VII (1847), 414-415; "The Society for the Improvement of the Labouring Classes," N.S. IX (1848), 13-15; "The Ipswich Museum of Natural History for the Working-Classes," N.S. IX (1848), 103-104; Charles Walker Connor, "Discussion Classes," N.S. IX (1848), 107-109; "Dwellings for the Humbler Classes," N.S. IX (1848), 172-173; David Masson, "M. Louis Blanc's Organisation 132

Not only resurgent Chartism, but also the perennial

Irish question was a depressing matter in 1848.^ The Jour

nal's recommendations for alleviating Ireland's problems, in

William Chambers1s series of essays entitled "Historical

Tableaux," were no more realistic than many others. He

proposed the same solutions for a totally different situation

as he had for Scotland's and England’s problems— the Irish

had not learned self reliance; too much had been done for

them. Irish agriculture would improve immeasurably if entail

were abolished and land tenancy practices were freer. If

these devices proved unsatisfactory, emigration should be

encouraged, and Irish capitalists should be compelled to pro- 2 vide a fund to aid in improving agricultural conditions.

of Labour," N.S. IX (1848), 330-333; W. H. Wills, "The Short- Time and Relay Systems in Factories," N.S. XII (1849), 46-47; "Plan for Maintaining the Independence of the Labouring- Class," N.S. XII (1849), 332.

^"The Irish Poor in Great Britain," VIII (1839), 223; Soulsby, "Report Respecting the Irish Poor," IX (1840), 267-268;"Anecdotes of Irish Labourers," IX (1841), 396-397; "Introduction of the Poor-Law into Ireland," X (1841), 327- 328; William Chambers, "Working of the Poor Law in Ireland." XI (1842), 35;"Notes on Things in Ireland," N.S. II (1844J, 261-263;"Food of the Irish Poor," N.S. IV (1845), 363; Walter White, "What Nature has done for Ireland," N.S. VI (1846), 261-263; *"An Irish Sketch," N.S. VI (1846), 177-180; Mrs. S. C. Hall's "Stories of the Irish Peasantry" had been written to publicize the Irish problem (VIII [1839], 64). See also Mrs. Elizabeth Smith's tale "Hannah White; a Sketch of Irish Humble Life," N.S. IX (1848), 84-87 and 100-103; "The Irish Inundation," N.S. X (1848), 261-264.

2 "Conquests," N.S. VII (1847), 49-52; "Tutelage," N.S. VII (1847), 81-84; "Serfdom," N.S. VII (1847), 209-211. See also "The Mystery of Ireland," N.S. XI (1849), 158-159. 133

And finally, the European revolutions were cause for pessimism in 1848. France's revolutions always concerned

Britain, because of the fear that unrest might spread across the channel. There was particular reason for concern in 1848, for France's problems were not economic or social. In many ways, conditions were better there than in England and

Scotland— there was less degradation and poverty. What might happen in Great Britain where there was real cause for unrest, if the French Revolution became an epidemic? On the other hand, there might not be cause for alarm, because the British political system was superior to the French.'*'

By 1849 it seemed to the Journal that Britons were still not concerned enough about economic•morality. Society was permeated by selfishness which led men to victimize each other, as the condition of the navvies showed. . . i n the eagerness of capital for a 'return,' all has been sacrificed to rapidity in the execution of the work. It is to be hoped that in the general slowing of railway works, time will be obtained to make some arrangements for moralising this huge ? mass of unregulated human nature." Selfishness, too, was at

^■Robert Chambers, *"Glances at Paris in September 1848," N.S. X (1848), 273-276; William Everson, *"An English Workman's Recollections of Paris in 1848," N.S. XI (1848), 1-6 and 19-22; William Chambers, *"The Mystery of France," N.S. XI (1849), 285-287; "Longchamps," N.S. IX (1848), 377-379.

2*"The Navie [sic]," N.S. IX (1848), 33-35. It was no wonder that such attitudes developed in Victorian Great Britain. *"Progressiveness," N.S. X (1848), 65-66, expresses the emphasis on getting ahead which often resulted in selfish ness and ruthlessness. 134 the root of crime. Although more humanely treated than before, men were returning to crime once they were released from prison. Philanthropy, considered for decades to be the most effective panacea for social ills, had become corrupted.

Supposedly the opposite of selfishness, it seemed to have succeeded only in hurting men further. Even when properly motivated, it could easily encourage dependency or it absolved from social duties those who sought money from charities.

Worse, though, was improperly motivated philanthropy. Money given indiscriminately or in the wrong spirit was destructive of donor and recipient alike.^

When the Journal turned from these questions, bas ically economic and political, to questions of social welfare during this period, its position was unchanging in contrast to its gradually modified appraisal of economic matters.

This is not to say that as the Journal dealt with the topics of education, crime, and public health its policy was static or its viewpoint limited. From the beginning, the Journal's

^*"Dilemmas of Humanity," N.S. X (1848), 401-402; "Paupers and Criminals," N.S. XII (1849), 26-27; "Social Morality," N.S. XI (1849), 87-89; ^"Reaction Against Philan thropy," N.S. XI (1849), 113-115; "The Article 'Reaction against Philanthropy,'" N.S. XI (1849), 200; Leitch Ritchie, *"Self-Dependence and Mutual Dependence," N.S. XI (1849), 241-243, and *»The Age of Giving," N.S. XII (1849), 113-115; W. H. Wills, "Patrons of the Poor," N.S. XII (1849), 378-380. See Owen, English Philanthropy, pp. 166-169, for an account of the doubt and hostility which Victorians could often feel towards philanthropy. 135 enlightened recommendations had been ahead of the times.

Therefore, because these problems of Victorian society changed in intensity but not in essential nature, the Journal had to make the same proposals repeatedly between 1832 and

1849 while waiting for its readers and public opinion to catch up.

This was exactly what happened in the Journal1s tire less promotion of national, secular education. Public interest in national education was probably at its highest by the end of the 1830's, when the afterglow of political reform made it seem more feasible than at any previous time. Agree ment on the need for improved education momentarily obscured the controversy over whether it should be provided by church or state. When enthusiasm for national education reached its height in 1838-1839, the Journal made its major statement on the subject. In order "to examine personally the state of public instruction in Holland," William Chambers made a continental tour, visiting Holland, the states of the Upper

Rhine, and Belgium. He reported on his visit in a series of travel articles, "A Few Weeks on the Continent," which first appeared in October 1838, concluding in March 1839. On the basis of his observations, he recommended that in Great

Britain schools should be supported by the government; that they should be open to all regardless of their religion; and 136 that secular and religious instruction should be provided separately.^

By the next decade, the idea of national education had become most unpopular. Problems with Catholicism in

Ireland and with Tractarianism in England made both Church and Dissent more anxious than ever to defend the faith— according to their respective lights— by teaching their children in their own schools. The Factory Bill of 1843, with its provision for government support of elementary schools (which was eliminated from the Bill before passage), was a major crisis in the Church-Dissent struggle over control of education. In the same year Scottish education suffered a setback, as the Disruption of the Church of Scot- 2 land irrevocably tore apart the parish school system.

VII (1838), 304. The series continued into volume VIII— *"Visits to the Schools in Dublin," VIII (1839), 329- 331, also by William Chambers, was an important survey of the state of education in Ireland. "Education in Prussia," V (1836), 244-245; "State of Education in Holland," VII (1838), 84-85; "Education in India," VIII (1839), 38-39. An illu minating treatment of the controversy over national education is G. F. A. Best's article, "The Religious Difficulties of National Education in England, 1800-1870," Cambridge Histor ical Journal. XII (1956), 155-173. His evaluation of the situation in the 1830's is on p. 164. 2 Webb, Martineau. p. 219. During this period only a few miscellaneous articles on education appeared: "Dr Combe on the Management of Infancy— Earliest Mental Education," IX (1840), 183; "Instruction of Youth in Physical Science— High School of Glasgow," IX (1840), 277; "Visits to Educational Institutions. The Broomgate Institution, Lanark," X (1841), 365; *"School-Boy Essays," XII (1843), 25-26; "Horace Mann's Educational Tour," N.S. V (1846), 327-329; Thomas Hogg, "Popular Lecturing," N.S. VI (1846), 150-152; William Wallace Fyfe, "A Dame's School," N.S. VI (1846), 171-173; Walter 137

Given the intensity of these conflicts, the Journal avoided the subject of education almost entirely in the early

1840's. By 1846, however, tensions had relaxed sufficiently so that William Chambers, in a review essay on Walter

Farquhar Hook's pamphlet, On the Means of Rendering more

Efficient the Education of the People, could not only sum up the history of the controversy, but also reiterate the Jour nal's position.

In 1839, when these papers ["A Few Weeks on the Continent"] appeared, England was torn by a contro versy on the subject of elementary education: the government of the day was not undesirous of insti tuting a broad system of national instruction, but, as usual, the scheme was frustrated by sectarian fears— each religious body, to all appearance, being terrified at the possibility of others robbing it of its adherents. . . . After an interval— a kind of dark age— of a few years, it is pleasing to find that the subject of national education is again coming under general discussion. The evil to be removed is, indeed, so monstrous, that it cannot fail to agitate the public mind, when other ques tions of a momentous kind are disposed of. That hundreds of thousands of children are to be allowed to grow up in ignorance of letters, and become in time the parents of children equally ignorant, is too great a crime to be much longer tolerated.1

White, "Chadwick on the Economy of Educated Labourers," N.S. VI (1846), 309-312.

^"Are the People to be Educated or Not?" N.S. VI (1846), 233-236. For an account of Hook's pamphlet, as well as his attitudes toward and work with schools, see Stephens, Walter Farquhar Hook, II, 204-214 and 241-244. Mary Russell Mitford wrote to her friend Charles Boner on December 16, 1847 that William Chambers had recently visited her. During the course of their conversation, he told her that "the obstacles to all education in England and Scotland are the clergy." "I am quite of that mind from my own experience," she wrote, "but I did not expect to hear him say so." (Mary 138

Still, no decisive action was taken, as the Journal pointed out in "National Education— its Obstructors" in 1848. This year, however, the unpopularity of such a system was attrib uted to the "excited state into which the community has been 1 thrown by the political fervours of the last few years."

The Journal could discuss its equally liberal ideas on prison reform and juvenile crime much more freely. The

Victorian public generally agreed that something must be done about what was judged to be the seriously increasing rate of crime. The Journal's task, therefore, was two-fold: to argue that reform, not punishment, was the object of imprison-

Russell Mitford: Correspondence with Charles Boner & John Ruskin' ed. Elizabeth Lee LLondon, 1914J, p. 84.)

^N.S. IX (1848), 186. Other general articles on education were scattered throughout the Journal during 1847. Walter White, "Government Education," N.S. VII (1847), 297- 299; Elizabeth Traies, "Female Education," N.S. VIII (1847), 54-57; "A Visit to Ackworth," N.S. VIII (1847), 151-153; "Willm on the Education of the People," N.S. VIII (1847), 217-220; "Sketches of the History of Education," N.S. VIII (1847), 372-375; "The Scottish Parish Schools," N.S. VIII (1847), 136-138; Charles Walker Connor, "The Educational Institute of Scotland," N.S. VIII (1847), 409-411; "Progress of the Education Question in Scotland," N.S. X.(1848), 183- 184. The expansion of separate educational systems was most marked in the early 1840's, especially after 1843. See Best, "National Education," p. 165, and the Journal's article, "Separate Educational Efforts," N.S. I (1844), 104. "Ten years ago, it did not appear as if educational efforts were to take this turn; there was then some prospect of a national system of education, such as exists in Holland, Belgium, America, and many other countries, by which all our youth might have associated together in their school-days, without regard to differences on one special point. Now, the pros pect seems to be abandoned as hopeless. So be it, since better may not be. But let this great country be aware of the evils of which it is laying the foundations." ment; and to encourage modernization of the prisons them selves. It began its offensive by exposing the inadequacies in the existing system. Reports by Frederic Hill, Inspector of Prisons in Scotland, argued that offenders could not be reformed so long as England's and Scotland's prisons were little more than schools for crime.'*' To remedy this situ ation, Lord Murray, Francis Jeffrey's successor as Lord

Advocate and a personal friend of the Chamberses, introduced a Prison Reform Bill into Parliament in 1838. When it was defeated, the Journal printed Harriet Martineau's articles on

Prison Life in the hope of reviving support for the proposal 2 m Scotland.

Chances for the rehabilitation of prisoners were slim however, so long as they were kept in outmoded, inadequate prisons. The Journal noted with approval, therefore, improve ments being made in prisons and prison conditions. Among the more noteworthy new prisons was Millbank penitentiary, built partly according to Jeremy Bentham's specifications. Equally important were the attempts made to compensate for the

^"Prisons," V (1836), 37-38; "The Present State of Scottish Prisons," V (1836), 223; "Improvements in Prison Discipline," V (1836), 272-275; "Facetiae Connected with Scottish Jails," V (1837), 164-165.

2VIII (1838), 353-354; 362-363; 370-371. Subsequent articles dealing with this question were "Transportation— as a Punishment," VIII (1839), 6-7; "A Few Statistics of Crime in England," VIII (1839), 195-196; "The Wreckers," VIII (1839), 206-207; "Repression," VIII (1839), 215-216; *"Crime, X (1841), 304-305. 140

obsolete structures of old prisons such as Newgate by adopt

ing enlightened supervision and more flexible rules.1

Serious as adult crime was, the incidence of juvenile

crime was becoming more so. Consequently, the Journal was 2 even more concerned about means of dealing with it. Of the

institutions Victorians established for dealing with problem

juveniles— industrial schools, Ragged Schools, and reforma- 3 tory schools— the first were most popular with the Journal.

Their aim, in a general sense, was the prevention of crime.

Poor children were sent to the schools in the hope that if

Gibbons Merle, "The Millbank Penitentiary," VXII (1839), 298-299, and "A Visit to Newgate in May 1839," VIII (1839), 262-263; William Chambers, "Progress of Crime," XII (1843), 222-223, and "Pentonville Prison," XII (1843), 243- 244; Walter White, "The Chaplain's Report on the Preston House of Correction," N.S. Ill (1845), 109-111; "An Hour in Newgate," N.S. IV (1845), 37-39; William Chambers, "Visit to the Central Prison at Perth," N.S. I (1844), 325-327, and "Visit to the Prison at Reading," N.S. X (1848), 290-292; "Liberated Criminals— What Should be Done with Them?" N.S. Ill (1845), 302-303; "What Becomes of Discharged Prisoners?" N.S. XI (1849), 296-297. 2 Owen, English Philanthropy, p. 145, reports that "in 1834 criminals between the ages of ten and twenty who were committed to prison amounted to 1 in 449 of the population, while in 1844 they represented 1 in 304." The problem was made more serious by the fact that "recommittals were consid erably more frequent with juveniles than with adults." The Chamberses' earliest statement on the question of juvenile crime had appeared in Chambers's Historical Newspaper. "Juve nile Criminals," June 183 5. It and the succeeding article in the Journal, "Juvenile Delinquents in America," VI (1837), 13-14, recommended the American policy of treating juvenile offenders differently from adult offenders.

■^Owen, English Philanthropy, p. 146. ^'Self- Helpfulness," IX (1840), 49-50; "Industrial Schools at Okham, Ealing, and Hackney-Wick," IX (1840), 237-238; William Cham bers, "Visit to the Central Prison at Perth," N.S. I (1844), 141

they were kept off the streets and were taught some skills they might become useful, law-abiding citizens rather than criminals. Norwood School of Industry, one of the first

established, possessed the characteristic features of such

institutions— education in elementary subjects, appropriate industrial instruction for boys and girls, and free meals.^

The idea of industrial training gained more popularity in

England after the Colony of Mettray, actually a reformatory, 2 was established in France in 1840. Probably the most influential industrial school in Great Britain was the Aber deen School of Industry. Although the industrial training technique had been used there as early as 1841, the new school opened by Sheriff Watson on May 19 ■, 1845 attracted the most attention. It inspired several comparable institutions 3 in Scotland, notably in Edinburgh and Dundee.

325-327; "Self-Supporting Industrial Schools," N.S. II (1844), 15.

^"English Schools of Industry," V (1836), 165-166; *"A Day at Norwood," VIII (1839), 265-267.

^Gibbons Merle, "The Colony of Mettray," IX (18^0), 10-11. See Owen, English Philanthropy, p. 153 for a descrip tion of the Mettray program and its influence on English penology. 3 William Chambers, "School for Reclaiming Boys," XI (1843), 407, and *"Visit to the Aberdeen School of Industry," N.S. IV (1845), 305-308; "Schools of Industry," N.S. IV (1845), 345-346; "Schools of Industry in Edinburgh," N.S. V (1846), 75-76; William Chambers, "Two Days in Dundee," N.S. VII (1847), 161-164. The Journal's report of the Aberdeen program supposedly had been the very origin of the Edinburgh school. 142

Ragged Schools, more common in England, were less

systematically conceived and managed than Scottish industrial

schools, because they depended on voluntary support. They

provided only low-quality education, and did not usually have

industrial training or free feeding programs.^ The Journal

also called attention to some reformatories, especially those

operated by the Philanthropic Society, a leader in working

with juvenile offenders. The Society's emulation at Redhill

Farm, established in 1848, of Mettray's cottage system and

industrial training inaugurated a new era in the English 2 reformatory movement.

The social issue to which the Journal devoted the most attention before 1849 was sanitary reform. It was the

last of these issues to be taken up, for the movement did not begin until the early 1840's. Before then the fact that

there was any connection between bad sanitary conditions and

"Two Days in Manchester," N.S. VI (1846), 337-340. Owen, English Philanthropy, pp. 150-151, discusses at some length the differences between the two. "Visit to a 'Ragged School,'" N.S. Ill (1845), 357-358; Thomas Hogg, "Visit to Ragged Schools in Liverpool," N.S. VIII (1847), 9 3-95; William Chambers, "A Visit to Westminster— but not the Abbey," N.S. VIII (1847), 113-115.

2"A Visit to Parkhurst," IX (1840), 257-258; Robert Chambers, "Parkhurst Prison for Juvenile Offenders," XII (1843), 230-231; Eliza Meteyard, "English Penal Schools," N.S. X (1848), 170-171; W. H. Wills, "Juvenile Crime and Destitution," N.S. XII (1849), 281-285, and "The Red Hill Reformatory Farm," N.S XII (1849), 347-350. For more information about the work of the Philanthropic Society, at both Parkhurst and Redhill, see Owen, English Philanthropy, pp. 120-121 and 153. 143

society's physical and moral ills had not been established.

By bringing it to public attention and by suggesting remedies

for the situation, the Journal was in the vanguard of this

movement, too. For the most part, the material it obtained

for its campaign came from reports of parliamentary commis

sions— the blue books.

The first of these commissions, the Poor-Law Com

mission, while not immediately involved with sanitary

conditions, made a significant contribution to the sanitary

reform cause. As it administered the Poor Law of 1834, it

acquired systematic and precise information about the;

conditions under which the population of Great Britain lived.

Later on it was responsible, albeit indirectly, for the

agencies which dealt specifically with sanitary reform, the

Chapter 8 , "The Lower Orders," of Checkland, The Rise of Industrial Society, especially the section entitled The Conditions of Living, pp. 251-253, explains the effect of urbanization on sanitary conditions and the reasons why Victorians were slow in dealing with them. On the basis of the Commission's experience, statistical studies became regarded as indispensable for working with social problems. In impressing upon its readers the necessity of national registration and the census, the Journal was indirectly pro moting sanitary reform. "Report of Births, Marriages, and Deaths in England," VIII (1839), 347-348; "The Approaching Census," X (1841), 152; ? Soulsby, "Statistics of Education and Early Marriages," XI (1842), 45-46; "Internal Migration," XII (1843), 381; "Dr Watt's Abstract of the Glasgow Mortality Bill," N.S. Ill (1845), 142-143; "Births, Marriages, and Deaths in England," N.S. Ill (1845), 219-220; "Public Health," N.S. VII (1847), 60-62; William Rhind, "Vital Statistics of Edinburgh," N.S. VII (1847), 126-127; Walter White, "Bills of Mortality," N.S. VII (1847), 373-374, and "The Registrar- General on Influenza," N.S. IX (1848), 189-190; "The Public Health Act," N.S. X (1848), 232-233; "Fluctuation of Mar riages," N.S. X (1848), 266-267. 144

Sanitary Commission and the Health of Towns Commission. As

Poor-Law Secretary, Edwin Chadwick began the investigations which culminated in his 1842 report, the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population. The Journal gave full coverage to the original report, publishing in 1842 a series of five 1 articles based on its findings. In the following year, the

Royal Commission on the Health of Towns was appointed to 2 continue Chadwick's studies. The Journal liberally publi cized its first report made in 1844 and continued regular 3 reports on its activities throughout this period.

The Journal supplemented the Commission reports with informative articles regarding clean air, adequate ventila tion, pure water, and better drainage, for it had become only

"Sanatory Condition of the Labouring Population," XI (1842), 257-258, 266-267, 285-286, 293; Robert Chambers, "Jottings from the Sanatory Reports," XI (1842), 370-371. See "England's Drear and Dirty Land," Times Literary Supple ment, January 6 , 1966, p. 12 for comment upon a re-edition of this report by Edinburgh University. "Sanatory" was a vari ant of sanitary. In vogue at the time it did not become accepted usage. 2 Briggs, Age of Improvement, p. 334.

^"The Health of Towns Commission," N.S. II (1844), 263-265; Walter White, "Health of Towns Commission," N.S. Ill (1845), 41-43, and "Health of Towns," N.S. Ill (1845), 75-78; "Health of Towns in Lancashire," N.S. Ill (1845), 322-324; Walter White, "Use of Opiates Among the Operative Population," N.S. Ill (1845), 346-348. The work of both these commissions was significant for finally stimulating public acceptance of a Public Health Act. Great Britain was in dire need of some kind of sanitary legislation. At the time of William IV's death in 1837, there was no general sanitary law on the Stat ute Book. Later attempts at sanitary legislation by various municipalities were often chaotic and quickly proved inade quate (Checkland, Rise of Industrial Society, p. 253). 145

too evident that "men, women, and children, in varying degree,

were wearing, breathing and drinking refuse."*1' Although

there were few ways of purifying the atmosphere, other than

ridding the streets of great amounts of filth, ventilation in

homes and public buildings could be improved. Dr. D. B.

Reid’s ventilation system in the new Parliament buildings

demonstrated the benefits— and the controversies— which

resulted from applying the principles of ventilation.

Although other public buildings, particularly hospitals, public lodgings, and model dwelling houses also needed to be properly ventilated, the public was little concerned about

the matter of clean air until the return of cholera in the

late 1840's.2 ,

Pure water was essential, of course, for public and

personal cleanliness. It was important, too, for the promot

ing of the temperance movement. If men were to turn from

drinking intoxicating beverages, they had to be offered a

1 Ibid., p. 252. 2 "Physical Agents Affecting Man— The Atmosphere of Cities," IX (1840), 37-38; "Need for Pure Air," X (1841), 335- 336;. "Ventilation and Lighting of the Houses of Parliament," IX (1840), 229-230; "Aerial Poison of Fashionable Drawing- Rooms," XII (1843), 95-96; Robert Chambers, "Dr D. B. Reid on Ventilation, Warming, and Lighting," N.S. I (1844), 226-228; "The Pathology of Chimneys," N.S. VI (1846), 318-320; Robert Ellis, "Visit to the Hospital for Consumption," N.S. VII (1847), 246-248; *»Prevention," X (1848), 97-98; Robert Ellis, "Dry Fogs," N.S. IX (1848), 307-310; David Masson, "General Considerations on Epidemic Diseases," N.S. XII (1849), 190- 191;"Dr Arnott on Ventilation as a Preventive of Disease," N.S. XII (1849), 318-319. 146

decent substitute. In the Journal1s opinion, the British

seemed to have a bad case of "Human Hydrophobia"— they did

not want to get near water to wash in it or to drink it.^

They were not to be blamed. Urban water supplies, especially,

were usually polluted because drainage was so inadequate.

For instance, "graveyard miasma," which Victorians thought

tainted the air and thus caused disease, actually resulted 2 from cemetery drainage polluting water supplies.

The Journal1s discussions of other health questions

were related to this campaign. It reported on the teachings

by Dr, Andrew Combe and Dr. Arnott that good health depended 3 upon good diet, as well as healthful living conditions.

Dr. Arnott1s simple chart outlining the relationship between

^William Chambers, "A Word on Water," N.S. I (1844), 131-133; "The Free Baths and Wash-Houses at East Smithfield," N.S. VIII (1847), 102-104; Robert Ellis, "Natural Law of Cleanliness," N.S. X (1848), 269-271. *N.S. X (1848), 81-82. Some of the Journal's articles on temperance at this time were "A Few Social Facts," N.S. VII (1847), 199-200; *"Moral Economics," N.S. VIII (1847), 385-387; "A Word on a Difficult Subject," N.S. IX (1848), 375-377; "The Economic View of Temperance," N.S. X (1848), 126-127. J. F. C. Harrison says that "for poor housing, lack of sanitation, unemployment, and low wages, the working classes could hardly be held directly responsible; but even the most sympathetic of investigators invariably condemned their habits of drunkenness" (Learning and Living, p. 17).

Mrs. John Claudius Loudon, "On Cemeteries," X (1841), 284-285; "Sanitary Condition of the Population. Internment in Towns," N.S. I (1844), 148-149.

■^"Breakfasts,11 XII (1843), 61; "Effects of Different Aliments on the Mental Faculties," XII (1843), 106-107; "Health--Its Loss and Preservation Depend on Daily Conduct," N.S. I (1844), 77-78. 147 good health and proper food, pure air, and pure water was reprinted with the suggestion that it be copied onto large posters for the edification of the poor.'1'

Throughout the early Victorian period, the Journal attempted to acquaint its readers with the techniques, products, and institutions peculiar to industry, for in order to solve or even understand the social and economic problems confronting them, the Victorians had to become more knowledge able about industrialization. At the beginning of the 1830's when economic conditions were unstable, the Journal itself regarded the supposed benefits of industry somewhat uncer tainly. It published only a few articles,which dealt theoretically with the benefits which industry and its products could bring to society. When times improved toward the end of the decade, the Journal became somewhat more con vinced that industry both evidenced and contributed to human progress. To prove this point, it adopted what was to become its standard mode of treating the topic of industry— the informative article describing an important manufacturing town or factory.2 1 "Dr Arnott's Four Necessaries for Health," N.S. II (1844), 256. 2 *"Rise of Manufactures in Little Towns," VIII (1839), 209-210; "The Deanston Cotton-Works," VIII (1839), 54-55; William Howitt, *"A Peep at the Staffordshire Pot teries," VIII (1839), 345-346; *"Visit to an Establishment for Preserving Fresh Meat," IX (1840), 105-106; Robert Cham bers, "Exhibition of Models and Manufactures at Glasgow," IX 148

By the early 1840's, the Chamberses, like Victorians in general, were more at home in the industrial age. The

Journal1s most characteristic articles during this decade were those written by William Chambers, after he had visited various towns in Great Britain. He told about his trips to

Leeds in 1841, Manchester in 1845, Dundee in 1847, Carlisle and the Welsh coalfields in 1848. The pattern of these articles was unvarying. They were descriptive accounts of the town, including remarks on topography, historical monu ments, charitable institutions, and factories. William rarely exposed bad or unhealthful working or living conditions in these articles. In fact, the Journal so emphasized the benefits of industrialization at this time that it only

(1840), 333-334, and *"Visit to the Times Printing-Office," XII (1843), 169-171; Thomas Hogg, "The Docks of Liverpool," N.S. II (1844), 140-142, and "A Visit to Birkenhead," N.S. Ill (1845), 305-307, also "St Helens and its Glass-Works," N.S. V (1846), 229-231; "Visit to the Pencil Country of Cum berland," N.S. VI (1846), 225-227; Robert Ellis, "From the Piece to the Pattern," N.S, XI (1849), 162-166, "A Day in the Salt Districts," N.S. XI (1849), 181-184, and "A Chapter for Ladies. Manufacture of Thread," N.S. XI (1849), 362-365. Needless to say, such articles were regarded favorably by those whose establishments were so publicized. James Nasmyth wrote to Robert Chambers in March 1839 that he would be glad to help him obtain any information he wanted about the Bridgewater Foundry, "being as I have before stated fully aware of the advantage which such a notice will have in extending the name of our establishment over the country."

■^"Two Days in Leeds," X (1841), 353-355; "Two Days in Birmingham," N.S. I (1844), 369-373; "Two Days in Man chester," N.S. VI (1846), 337-340; "Two Days in Dundee," N.S. VII (1847), 161-165; "Carlisle Bakers," N.S. X (1848), 173- 174; *"A Trip to the Wye and South Wales," N.S. XI (1848), 17-19. 149

occasionally reported on the various parliamentary inquiries

into factory and working conditions.^

The Journal1s initial response to the significant

changes in communication and transportation during these

years was generally optimistic, for they unquestionably con

tributed to social progress. Although not immediately

enthusiastic about penny postage, the Journal eventually

conceded, as the rest of the Victorians did, that it and the 2 railroads would stimulate internal commerce. As for the

Robert Chambers, "Bits from the British Association," XI (1842), 244-245; William Chambers, Series on the parlia mentary report of the Children's Employment Commission, Vol. XI; "Influence of Manufactures upon Health and Life," XII (1843), 293-294; three articles on Female Agricultural Labourers, Vol. XII; "The Slave System of England," N.S. VII (1847), 316-317. The Journal gave better attention to coal mining and the generally poor working conditions in that industry. They were so bad that between 1842 and 1850 two acts were passed regulating them. See Briggs, Age of. Improve ment . p. 335, and Checkland, Rise of Industrial Society, p. 249. ? Soulsby, "Accidents in the Coal-Mines of Northum berland and Durham," IX (1840), 71-72, and "Coal-Mines— Mode of Winning and Working Them," IX (1840), 253-254; "Northern Collieries," XI (1842), 194-195, 202-203, 222-223, 250-251; "Accidents in Mines," N.S. I (1844), 206-207; "Cornish Mines and Miners," N.S. II (1844), 245-247; "Accidents in Mines," N.S. II (1844), 414-416; Robert Chambers, "Visit to the Monkwearmouth Pit," N.S. II (1844), 355-356.

^"New System of Postage," VI (1837), 131-132; "Pro posed New Plan of Postage," VIII (1839), 108-109; "The Penny Postage," XI (1842), 189; W. H. Wills, "The Progress of Penny Postage," N.S. XII (1849), 52-53; "The Post-Office," N.S. XII (1849), 202-204; "The Railways," IX (1840), 201-202; William Chambers, "Railway Union of England and Scotland," XII (1843), 311-312; David Masson, "Origin of the Railway System," N.S. VIII (1847), 298-301; *"Social Effects of Railways," N.S. II (1844), 177-179; "Effect of Cheap Fares," N.S. (1844), 334. 150 electric telegraph, it was sure to be a source of social and moral good, as well as of economic rewards.^"

There was no denying, however, that railroads could also be a source of destruction. The Journal at first expressed concern about the numbers of railroad accidents.

Fortunately, it was later proved that there was no safer mode 2 of travel. The railroad "mania" continued to be cause for apprehension on the part of the Journal. Through it, the railroad's capacity for destroying men morally was fully manifest, because the public was tempted to invest unwisely in often worthless railway stock in the expectation of acquiring great wealth. The Journal's readers were warned not to invest in railway shares unless tht? particular company 3 gave honest public accounts of its financial affairs. More over, so long as the excessive and rapid extension of railroads continued, the physically dangerous and demoraliz ing conditions under which railroad laborers worked were not 4 likely to improve.

^"Electric Telegraphs," N.S. VI (1846), 108; "The Electric Telegraph," IX (1840), 209-210; *"The Electric Tele graph," N.S. Ill (1845), 353-355; Walter White, *"The Highway of Thought,", N.S. IX (1848), 129-131.

^"Railway Accidents," N.S. II (1844), 24; *"The Innocent Railway," N.S. V (1846), 1-3.

^"Chadwick on Railway Labourers," N.S. V (1846), 220-222.

4"The Railway Mania," N.S. IV (1845), 362-363; "The Finance of Railways," N.S. X (1848), 330-332; "Railway Property," N.S. XI (1849), 227-229; "The Railways," N.S. XII 151

By the middle 1840's, there were indications in the

Journal that the Victorians were becoming in attitude as well

as fact an industrialized people. Census returns at this

time showed that in both England and Scotland there were more

industrial workers than agricultural workers.^ Consequently,

even the few articles which the Journal devoted to agricul

tural matters had virtually disappeared by the end of the 2 1040's. When rural problems were discussed, they were 3 treated merely as an extension of urban ones. So totally

(1849), 236-237; William Chambers, "A Cheap Class of Rail ways," N.S. XII (1849), 366-368. Other Journal articles, however, expressed the Victorian enthusiasm and fascination for railways. One in particular, "Railway Literature," N.S. Ill (1845), 177-180, suggested that the train was surely a fit subject for literature. "Composed as a railway train is of mechanical details, and connected as it is with utili tarian maxims and doings, it possesses, we believe, some of the elements of poetry. Sink details— remove it to a dis tance where we only witness its force and speed, and, even as a sight, it becomes sublime. Regard it further as a recent product of man's restless ingenuity— a surprising application of physical principles to the convenience of our race, and the sublimity becomes moral. Here there surely is poetry" (p. 179). See also "Further Gossip from London," N.S. VI (1846), 11-14, and *"Phraseology of the Rail," N.S. VI (1846), 193-194.

■^"Occupations of the People of Great Britain," N.S. II (1844), 282-284.

^"Column for Cottagers— Be Cleanl" III (1834), 368; "Rural Economy," IX (1835), 190-191; "The Working Classes in the Country," V (1836), 93-94; "Experimental Farm," VII (1838), 158-159; "Making and Salting of Butter," VII (1838), 263-264. 3 "Proposed Improvements in English Agriculture," VIII (1839), 189-190; "Scottish and Irish Agriculture," IX (1840), 92-93, 107-108; "English Farmers' Clubs," IX (1840), 364-365; "Small Cottage Farms," XI (1842), 87; "The Bothy System," XI (1842), 111-112; "An Englishman's Tour among 152 had patterns of thought in Great Britain changed since the beginning of the 1830's that when the Journal pointed out the need for enlightened methods of farming in England and Ire land, it stated that farmers would do well to emulate industrialists. If they did, "the improvement that might be made in our agriculture would far exceed the gross produce of the most extensive manufacture, and support the people employed in it both more steadily and healthfully than manu factures have ever done."’*'

Scotch Farmers," XI (1842), 384-385; "Agriculture in England," XII (1843), 22-23; Walter White, "A Society of Land Improv ers," N.S. Ill (1845), 312-314; "Farming Past and Present," N.S. IV (1845), 19-22. / ^".Waste Land— Why Not Improved?" N.S. I (1844), 82-85. CHAPTER IV

CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE

"We have just commenced the publication of a series of educational works, designed to embrace education, physical, moral and intellectual, according to the most advanced views.

Two volumes have appeared— one an Infant-school Directory, and the other (by myself) a history of English literature, designed to introduce young people to our best authors and books of all ages. To all appearance, this will also be a successful undertaking." ,

The advanced views to which Robert Chambers referred in his letter to William Wilson of December 1835^ were those of George Combe, Edinburgh lawyer, exponent of phrenology, and educational theorist. Although there were far better known and more highly regarded educational theorists in both

England and Scotland at the time, there is no evidence at all to suggest that they directly or indirectly influenced 2 Chambers's Educational Course. On the other hand, both

^"Quoted in Wilson, "Robert Chambers," Lippincott1 s, pp. 2 1 -2 2 . 2 Chiefly influential in changing educational prac tices in England were Andrew Bell and Joseph Lancaster. For an account of their work see Chapter 2, "The Humanitarians,"

153 154

William and Robert Chambers knew George Combe and both— albeit in different degrees— accepted the tenets of phrenol ogy. As Robert explained in an 1835 letter to George Combe,

"So much have I in particular been impressed with the truth of the metaphysical department of the science, and with your singularly excellent work, the Essay on the Constitution of

Man, that, in writing upon human nature, I cannot now do in Mary Sturt's study. The Education of the People (London, 1967). Various proponents of educational reform in England had also been impressed by the work of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. Michael Heafford's Pestalozzi: His Thought and Its Relevance Today (London, 1967) is one of the few studies in English on Pestalozzi and his ideas. Important work in education in Scotland was being done by Robert Owen at the experimental schools which he had established in connection with his mills at New Lanark and by David Stow through the Glasgow Educational Society which he founded. The latter is discussed in Sturt, Education of the People, pp. 131-137. I have found no reference to any of these men or their work in any of the personal or public writing of William or Robert Chambers prior to the publication of the Educational Course. On the other hand, during 1834 and 1835 numerous articles on education, especially that type advocated by phrenologists, appeared in the Journal. Four articles taken from George Combe's public lectures on education appeared on February 15, March 1, March 29, and April 12, 1834. "Education of Young Ladies," III (1834), 142-143, was also based on his lectures. Robert Chambers, *"Use and Have," IV (1835), 33-34, 58-59, was indebted to Andrew Combe's Prin ciples of Physiology. Other articles on the same subject were Robert Chambers's "Self-Killing," IV £1835), 129-130, and "Laws of Mental Exercise," IV (1835), 146-147. "Opera tion of the Laws of Nature," IV (1835), 251-252, was extracted from George Combe's Constitution of Man. In volume IV there were also five extracts from Remarks on the Influence of Mental Cultivation and Mental Excitement upon Health by Amariah Brigham, a leading American phrenologist (see John D. Davies, Phrenology: Fad and Science: A 19th-Century Ameri can Crusade [New Haven, Conn., 1955J, pp. 92-93). Robert Chambers's four-part series "How Shall We Be Better?" Ill (1834), 257-258; 282-283; 299-300; 370-371, which came from the Quarterly Journal of Education, also dealt with various educational questions. 155

otherwise that [sic] employ this philosophy both as a system

of mind and of morals. For my brother's part, he so rarely

writes upon human nature, that its effect upon him may be

considered the same as its effect simply upon a common member

of the reading world."'*' Therefore, interested as both

brothers were in educational reform, it should not be con

sidered surprising that they found attractive Combe's educa

tional philosophy which was based on phrenological principles.^

George Combe's interest in phrenology and concern for

education had had their beginnings in his early studies when he read the leading British philosophers— John Locke, Francis

Hutcheson, Adam Smith, David Hume, Thomas,Reid and Dugald

November 25, 1835, NLS, 7234.140-141. In an earlier letter to Combe (December 14, 1833), Robert said that he was not "altogether ignorant of phrenology, or altogether a sceptic. . . . I think phrenology an ill-used science— for it is laughed at by all who have never studied it, and rarely gets a fair hearing" (NLS, 7230.51-52). 2 Like many other nineteenth-century reformers, William and Robert realized that long-lasting reforms could be achieved only if education of the people was begun early. The Educational Course, then, was an extension of the work they had begun with the Journal. "As compared with works addressing themselves to the adult part of the community, a series of educational works, constructed in such a manner as to carry into effect all the most advanced views upon this momentous subject, appears as a moral instrument of tran scending power. From the one, the utmost that can be hoped is a partial improvement upon habits already formed, and formed in a great measure in error; but the other waters the root of future society, and prepares an age in which many of the sins of the present, anticipated, regulated, or eradi cated, shall be comparatively unknown." (CEJ, V [1836], 1.) 156

Stewart. He found that their metaphysics gave no satisfac tory explanation of the source of human action or of the structure and function of the mind and its relationship to the body. When Combe became acquainted with the doctrine of phrenology, however, he thought he had found the explanation for which he was searching.^" He was convinced of this after meeting Gaspar Spurzheim, phrenology's chief propagandist, who came to Great Britain in 1814 to lecture, primarily in answer to the Edinburgh Review's criticism of his work.

Seven months of his three-year British stay he spent in

Edinburgh where Combe heard him lecture and observed his 2 dissection of brains.

From the first, Combe saw that the principles of phrenology, as a philosophy of the mind, could be valuable if applied to education and to the regulation of social conduct in general.

The utility of Phrenology [he wrote] consists in this, that it gives us a clear and philosophical view of the innate capacities of human nature, and of the effects of external circumstances in modify ing them. It points out the manner and extent in which individuals may differ from each other in their natural capacities of feeling and of thinking. . . . In short, it reduced the philosophy of man to a science, by showing us the number and scope of human faculties, the effects of their different com binations in forming the characters of individuals, and their susceptibilities of modification.

1 Charles Gibbon, The Life of George Combe (London, 1878), I, 92-94. 2 Davies, Phrenology: Fad and Science, p. 10.

^Gibbon, Combe. I, 148. 157

So far as he could see, education in his day did not embody these principles. Scottish educational philosophy was strongly infused with Calvinistic doctrine which, affirming man's innate depravity, denied to him any capacity to improve.

Radical social philosophies of education Combe found no more satisfactory. After'visiting Robert Owen's New Lanark school about 1832, he was impressed but unconvinced by the theories practiced there. As he explained to the Reverend David Welsh, a charter member of the Phrenological Society founded in 1820,

"Let [the children] see from infancy the real situation in which they stand as created beings; and point out to what extent they are the arbiters of their own fate, or at least how conduct and happiness are joined. They ought, in addi tion to the natural sciences, to which Owen's Symbolical

Instruction is confined, to be taught the principles of hygiene or dietetics, of political economy, and of the law of the country in which they live."^ Moreover, because Combe's theory stressed the importance of heredity and the varying endowments of men, it was almost diametrically opposed to

Owen's emphasis on environment as most crucial in the educa tional process.^

In April 1833, Combe made a major statement of his educational philosophy in three lectures which he delivered

1 Ibid., I, 163-165. 2 Davies, Phrenology: Fad and Science, p. 168. 158 to the Edinburgh Philosophical Institute. Based for the most part on articles which had previously appeared in the Phreno logical Journal (started by the Society in 1823), the lectures were republished as a pamphlet and then were immediately reprinted in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, at the behest of Robert Chambers. In the lectures Combe made it clear that education should provide "a correct view of the nature of man, and of the objects and duties of life." If this end was to be achieved, "practical knowledge" should be placed above mere acquaintance with words. Therefore, "Greek and Latin [should] constitute only departments of the general system of tuition." A good education was one "which was most fitted to qualify a boy or a girl for the career they were to adopt in life." Instruction in English; arithmetic, and writing was necessary to prepare students for whatever addi tional knowledge "might be necessary to the fulfillment of their practical duties." Because of their practical value, modern languages were preferred to Latin and Greek. Combe particularly urged the study of sciences— chemistry, physi ology, anatomy, natural history, and natural philosophy— because they were the "keys to a useful knowledge of natural objects and the laws of their actions."^

Although the course of study drawn up by Combe was not really innovative, its specific intellectual bias was

1Gibbon, Combe, I, 289-291. 159

unique at the time. This aspect of Combe's philosophy

developed from the importance which phrenology attached to

physical health. Because the mind could not function without

the brain, which was part of the body, a healthy body was

necessary for a healthy brain. Therefore, according to

phrenologists, observance of the laws of physical health was pedagogically imperative. They believed, first, that mental

exercise at an early age permanently damaged the brain. Thus,

children were not to begin school too soon, and their school

day was to be short, with ample opportunity for play and

fresh air. Even more noteworthy was Combe's insistence that

the teacher "should attempt to understand the individual pupil and to encourage right actions by rewards instead of wrong ones by punishments, all the while varying and alternat

ing subjects to prevent boredom." Students should be allowed

"all the liberty in their training that they can take without

abusing it . . . It begets in them the spirit of independ

ence and self-reliance and self-government, . . . induces them to think on their own responsibility, and to feel that

they are accountable for their conduct."'*'

^"Davies, Phrenology: Fad and Science, p. 81. Davies also points out that there were important similarities between phrenological theory and the theories of Continental educators, especially Pestalozzi. "The parallelism between certain phrenological educational theories— the education of the child through his own voluntary activity, the development of inborn faculties by arousing interest and exercise— and the theories of Pestalozzi and Froebel is evident. Since the phrenologists never cited these great Europeans, obviously the assimilation was indirect, unconscious, and a result of 160

The influence of Combe's "advanced views" on Cham

bers’s Educational Course can be easily documented. In

November 1836, Robert Chambers wrote to Alexander J. D.

D'Orsey— another disciple of Combe's and teacher of English

at the Glasgow High School— proposing that he write a volume

for the Educational Course on the method of juvenile educa

tion.^" Robert suggested that D'Orsey concentrate on the

"means and modes" of educating boys between six and fourteen

years of age, "in subordination to the philosophical prin

ciples which we believe are professed by both yourself and us.

Being aware that the principles dictate a method considerably

different in many points from that followed by other teachers,

we think it necessary to mention that we should prefer having

your method stated, without reference to any other, not only

for the sake of avoiding controversy, but because we think

all erroneous and imperfect methods unworthy of attention in

a work professing to unfold the institutes of the art of

'the spirit of the times'" (note, pp. 81-82). For Combe, a logical continuation of these theories was his advocacy of national education. According to Gibbon, "he referred to the Prussian system of compulsory education, and strongly advo cated its introduction into this country. This was more than forty years before the system of compulsory education became law in England; and Combe's foresight of the necessity for such a law earned for him a good deal of severe comment on his readiness to interfere with the liberty of the subject" (Combe. I, 290-291).

^"Combe's biographer notes that D'Orsey was one of Combe's testimonials writers when he applied for the chair of logic at Edinburgh. (Gibbon, Combe, I, 320.) 161 teaching according to the fundamental and unalterable prin ciples of human nature.

Although this letter itself does not indicate that there was any relationship between D'Orsey's "philosophical principles" and George Combe's, other evidence suggests that such was the case. After D'Orsey had lectured in Glasgow in the winter of 1835-1836 on education, a furor ensued. He had probably been advocating phrenologically inspired educational philosophy, for he specially reported on the event to George

Combe. He said that he had heard "of the intention of certain 'Dominies' of the old school to call a meeting of their body for the purpose of demanding 1 a public retraction of the calumnies' advanced in my lecture. In addition to this even my own colleagues have thrown out sundry hints, that it will be necessary for them to have a 'little friendly conversation with their weak brother'— and several of my seeming friends have urged upon me the propriety of letting

Education as a question alone & of attending only to my own 2 subjects of teaching English Reading, Spelling & Grammar."

^"Letter from W. & R. Chambers to A, J. D. D'Orsey, November 7, 1836. The copy of the letter is in Robert Chambers' handwriting.

^January 26, 1836. NLS, 7238.122-123. (Italics in original.) D'Orsey even got into trouble with the Glasgow City Council after he had proposed a lecture tour of Scotland and England for the summer and autumn of 1836. It "commanded" him to refrain from lecturing on education. It then remitted the matter to the High School Committee so that that body could draw up an interdict (Alexander J. D. D'Orsey to George Combe, June 16, 1836, NLS, 7238.128-129). George Combe's own 162

William Chambers was not particularly interested in the specifics of phrenological practices, as we have seen, but he acknowledged the importance its abstract philosophical principles had for the Educational Course. In a letter writ ten to Combe, which accompanied copies of the Course's first two treatises on Natural Philosophy, William said, "If we were in the way of dedicating books I do not know any one to whom these treatises could be more appropriately addressed than to yourself. In writing them I have throughout been governed by the philosophical principles— the doctrine of human improveability [sic]— which you have so ably elaborated; and have taken some pains to render the subject intelligible in a way which I should hope will meet the approbation of 1 those who wish to see the spread of scientific education."

That the basic principles of the Course, quoted in the following extract, were indebted to Combe's teaching is undeniable.

Their [Messrs Chambers] COURSE will, as far as pos sible, embody the code and materials of a complete note, dated June 20, on the letter records that "the Inter dict was not persevered in; but was given up, & M r Dorsey lectured."

b e t t e r written December 7, 1837. NLS, 7242.61. In reply, Combe told William that "the whole of your labours are beyond all praise of mine, and I can only repeat, what I have often said before, that you are doing more for the physical, moral, & intellectual improvement of the united kingdom, than all its established Clergy put together" {December 23, 1837, NLS, 7387.507-508). 163

Elementary Education, Physical, Moral, and Intellec tual, according to the following views (Physical Education.) In order that man may possess a vigorous frame of body and its concomitant sound health, without which every species of moral and intellectual excellence is cramped and frus trated, he must be subjected from the moment of birth to such processes of management, and after wards trained to such habits in food, exercise, cleanliness, and exposure to air, as have been ascertained to conduce to strength and health. (Moral Education.) For the sake of himself and society, he must be habituated, from the dawn of consciousness and feeling to be regulation of the inferior sentiments of his nature, and gradually to the due exercise of the higher sentiments— justice, kindness, and truth, towards his fellow-beings, and veneration towards the objects of his religious faith. (Intellectual Education.) That he may be quali fied for the ready acquisition of knowledge, and the performance of the duties and labours of life, he must be instructed in (1) Reading, at least in his own tongue, (2) Writing, (3) Arithmetic, and (4) Grammar and Composition. That he may enter life with a mind informed respecting that creation of which he is a part, and that society of which he is a member, and qualified as well as may be to perform the part which will fall to his lot, he must be acquainted with at least the elements of the follow ing kinds of knowledge— (1) the Surface of the Earth (Geography); (2) the Structure of the Earth (Geology); (3) the Vegetable Productions of the Earth (Botany); (4) the Animal Creatures of the Earth (Zoology); (5) the Phenomena of the Atmosphere (Meteorology); (6 ) the Elements of Matter and their Combinations (Chemistry); (7) the Mechanical Powers and Relations of the Material World (Natural Philosophy); (8 ) the Science of Measurement (Geometry); (9) the Relation of our Globe to the other component parts of the vast System of Creation (Astronomy); (10) the Physical, Moral, and Intellectual Nature of Man, with reference to the preservation of health, and the attainment of happiness; (11) the Production and Distribution of National Wealth (Political Economy); (12) the History of Nations and Countries, Ancient and Modern, espe cially those in which the Pupil is most interested— of their Literature, Eminent Men, Resources, &c.l

^This text of the statement of purpose of the Educa tional Course is the most detailed of any I have found. It 164

Despite George Combe's initial influence on Cham bers's Educational Course, circumstances eventually forced the Chamberses to adopt a broader educational philosophy.

However faithful they may have wanted to be to their ideal, they had to contend with the reality of the educational situ ation. If their textbooks were to satisfy the needs of schools, modifications in the proposed content of the Course were inevitable. Furthermore, not all of the Chamberses' authors shared their dedication to phrenology. As time went on, Chambers's Educational Course came to be more influenced by Scottish educational practice than by phrenological educa tional theory.'*' appeared on a pamphlet by D. B. Reid entitled "The Study of Chemistry: Its Nature, and Influence on the Progress of Society: Importance of Introducing it as an Early Branch of Education in All Schools and Academies." The pamphlet was printed in 1836, sometime after originally appearing as an article in CEJ, May 28 and June 11, 1836.

^The increasingly hostile attitude of the general public toward phrenology may have indirectly affected the nature of the Course. In 1835, George Combe could recommend to Robert Chambers that he should acknowledge phrenology whenever it was used in any of the firm's publications. First, the public had to become acquainted with its intrinsic worth; second, he should be honestly rewarded for his talents; third, "any periodical writer might at once fix on your works their phrenological parentage, & charge you with a conscious ness either that Phrenology was dangerous & unsound, seeing that you concealed it, or that you were using it dishonestly, and the injury of such a charge would exceed any that could attend a modest & unobtrusive acknowledgement" (letter from Combe to Robert Chambers, November 24, 1835). Even so moderate a course as this was not feasible in 1838, as Combe himself realized: "... Messrs Chambers appear to me to consider the alarm about Phrenology to be so dangerous at the 165

The earliest published statements described the

Course as a short series, which would be completed within a

certain number of volumes. A manuscript draft of the Course prospectus specified the number of volumes as twenty to

thirty. Of these, two or three were to be manuals for the use of parents or teachers; the rest, textbooks for school room use or home study. In just fifteen years (1835-1849), however, the Educational Course had grown to sixty-eight volumes, or sixty-five separate works. (Six were published

in two volumes.) Ten of the sixty-five were new editions of older works; two were atlases. Three books— Music, History of Greece, and History of Rome— were advertised as belonging to the series, but whether they were an integral part of it is not clear.^

It was intended that the three manuals would set present time to the wide circulation of any popular work in which it is brought forward, that they have ceased for some time to allow even its name to appear in their publications" (letter from Combe to Louisa Mary Barwell, February 16, 1838, NLS, 7387.560-561).

^All publication data for the Educational Course textbooks is to be found in the Memorandum Book of W. & R. Chambers Ltd. For a complete list of works in the Educa tional Course from 1835-1850, and their publication dates, see Appendix B. Any scholar wanting to analyze or evaluate nineteenth-century textbooks is handicapped because there are few collections of those still in existence. Chapter 8 , "The Progress of the Schools," of Mary Sturt's Education of the People is particularly valuable for its analysis of a rare collection of textbooks at Liverpool University. Fortunately, most of the Educational Course textbooks discussed in this study are held at the National Library of Scotland, where I have examined them. 166 forth principles and methods of education for children from infancy to the age of fourteen, the year at which Scottish boys left grammar school for the university. James Simpson’s

Infant Education from Two to Six Years of Age was the first book of the Course published.1 The first section of the book discussed general principles of infant training; the second, equipment, diagrams and charts, as well as aims of properly training the child in the use of his senses; the third included lesson plans for a week's instructions; the final one consisted of "those moral lessons which every child requires, whether alone or in school."

The only other volume of the promised manuals to appear was Infant Treatment, Under Two Years of Age (1840) written by Mrs. Louisa Mary Barwell and revised by James

Simpson, probably to bring it more nearly into line with his 2 book. Less a formal textbook than a nineteenth-century

Doctor Spock, Infant Treatment was essential for an educa tional course, because, as the book's introduction makes clear,

. . . a place of great importance must be assigned to that branch [of education] which regards the

1November 1835. 2 An entry in the Office Diary, March 9, 1840, indi cates that Simpson performed this task. It was George Combe who had brought Mrs. Barwell to the Chamberses' attention. She had sent him a copy of a work on "Nursery Government" which he sent on to Robert Chambers (letter from George Combe to Louisa Mary Barwell, March 22, 1837, NLS, 7387.353). 167

constitution of the human being at the first, and the treatment of it in those early years, or rather months, when it is most delicate, and most liable to be affected for good or evil. Then is physical education properly commenced, and upon the treat ment in those years depends much of the success which is afterwards to be striven for in education not only physical, but intellectual and moral. (P. 3)

There is no way of telling why the third manual, which was to have been written by Alexander J. D. D'Orsey, never materialized. No correspondence about it exists, other than Robert Chambers' letter proposing that it treat the

"means and modes by which a public school for boys between six and fourteen years of age is to be conducted."'1' Quite probably some of the material which would have been included in this book later appeared in D'Orsey's extensive pedagog ical introductions to Introduction to English Composition,

English Grammar and Composition, and the various readers he edited.

Of the textbooks, those which came closest to realiz ing the original plan of Chambers's Educational Course were in the "general knowledge," natural philosophy, and reading and composition series. Although advertised and used pri marily as reading books, each book of the "general knowledge" series was actually an elementary, popularized discussion of a particular subject.

The first of the "general knowledge" books— the

"^November 7, 1836. 168

second of the Course to be published— was no casual achieve ment. Robert Chambers' History of the English Language and

Literature (1835) was unique in its time. No such history, he claimed, had been attempted before in textbook form, and no other history, regardless of form, had brought the discus- 1 sion of English literature up to date. Each of the seven periods of English literature— the first covered the earliest

times until 1400, the last 1780 to the present— was discussed generally. Less attention was given to historical background

and literary tendencies than to particular writers. The

thumbnail sketches of all major writers included some biography and reference to important works as well as

extracts. Although of varying quality, the critical evalu

ations of each writer were more noteworthy. That devoted to

Spenser, for instance, called attention to his handling of

characterization in The Faery Queene— the profusion of char

acters and minuteness of description which tended to make the work tedious. The criticism of Goldsmith, however, was

nothing more than the standard approach for the time— moraliz

ing on his vanity, his irregular conduct, and his having died

in debt.

The other "general knowledge" books, with the excep

tion of the Geographical Primer, were also written by Robert

Chambers. The History of the British Empire (1836) comple- 169

merited his literary history. It, too, brought history as

up-to-date as possible, to the reign of William IV. It presented, for the first time, the histories of the three

kingdoms in one narrative. Completing this "historical" set

was Exemplary and Instructive Biography (1836) with its

sketches of such diverse figures as Richard Arkwright,

Francis Bacon, Robert Burns, Columbus, Epictetus, George Fox,

Benjamin Franklin, Joseph Haydn, Hogarth, Samuel Johnson,

Dr. Alexander Murray, Mungo Park; Samuel Richardson, Shake

speare, Thomas Telford, and George Washington.

Although the fourth textbook by Robert Chambers was not historical, it obviously belongs to the "general knowl

edge" category. Destined to become one of the most popular

titles in the Course, the Introduction to the Sciences (1836)

included the customary sciences. One of its sections— "Man—

His Mental Nature"— with its discussion of the faculties of the mind and the moral sentiments, was, however, pure phrenology.

According to William Chambers, the series of Natural

Philosophy treatises, in reality little more than short tracts or pamphlets, was the first series on physical science to be "attempted in a form addressed to common understand ings."^ Three of the six books appearing before 1849, Laws of Matter and Motion, Mechanics (1837), and Hydrostatics

^W. C . , Memoir. 3rd ed., pp. 236-237. 170

(1840), were characterized by simplicity/ not only in the

concepts explained, but also in the very language used.’*'

Mechanics, for instance, was grandiosely intended to carry

"the pupil to the farthest limits of Dynamical and Mechanical

Science to which he can reasonably be expected to proceed 2 without a knowledge of Algebraic and Mathematical formulae."

This same simplicity was not maintained in the other three books published by 1849, Astronomy, Electricity (1848), and

Meteorology (1849). However, because their subject matter,

too, was expounded from a philosophical rather than from a purely factual basis, they were consistent with the earlier treatises.

Traditional Scottish educational practice determined

Alexander J. D. D'Orsey's handling of the grammar and composi tion texts he helped prepare. Since the days of Professor

Jardine who, at the University of Edinburgh, had stressed the

importance of students writing essays to be criticized by

teacher and pupils, more advanced schools in Scotland had emphasized essay writing. Among them was Glasgow High School

^"Andrew Bell was the author of these three treatises. 2 Unless otherwise indicated, such descriptive com ments for individual books have been taken from an 1846 catalogue of the Educational Course, printed at the end of an 1845 edition of History of English Language and Litera ture. 3 Such a change might be expected, because Alexander Bain, not Andrew Bell, was the author of these three. 171 where D'Orsey taught."** D'Orsey's aim in his texts was to teach grammar not as preparatory for study of the classical languages but for reading and writing English. He dis couraged the memorization of rules, insisting that children learn through applying precepts which had been thoroughly and clearly demonstrated to them. The three texts which he pre pared with these principles in mind were Introduction to

English Composition (1839), a simple set of exercises to be used in preparing students for the study of the rules of grammar; Introduction to English Grammar (1845), the more advanced study of the rules of grammar; and English Grammar and Composition, published in two parts in 1842 and 1843.

The remaining books of the Course— those devoted to mathematics, the pure sciences, and the classics— also showed the influence of Scottish practice. In the case of the first two, the practical aspects of the subject predominated. The first mathematics text published, Plane Geometry (1836), prepared by Andrew Bell (no relation to the English educa tional theorist of the same name), was avowedly a re-edition 2 of Playfair's edition of Euclid, which with its emphasis on

"first principles" had been the classic geometry text in

1 The syllabus of the Department of English Language and Literature, High School of Glasgow, Session of 1838-39, states that the plan followed in advanced courses was a modification of the "practical course recommended by the late Professor Jardine" (p. 9). 2 Letter from W. & R. Chambers to Andrew Bell, March 1836. 172

Scotland since 1795.1 Probably the ultimate in practicality was achieved in Bell's Practical Mathematics (1842) and

William Marr's Arithmetic Theoretical and Practical (1847).

The former was described as being "indispensable to Mechanics,

Civil Engineers, & Mariners," and included such topics as

"mensuration of heights, distances, surfaces, and solids; barometric measurement of heights; land surveying; gauging, projectiles; fortification; astronomy; navigation; and other subjects." Marr's book was oriented to commercial mathe matics, containing sections on bills of parcels, commission, profit and loss, partnership, barter, compound interest, 3 annuities, insurance, and stocks.

Scottish educational practice exerted a negative influence on the Course textbooks devoted to the pure sci ences. In Scotland, the more generalized study of nature and the physical universe provided by Natural Philosophy had long been preferred to the individual specialized sciences. There fore, the science books of the Course were designed, on the whole, as "popular" texts for instruction outside the school.

Dr. D. B. Reid's Rudiments of Chemistry (1836), for instance, developed from public lectures on chemistry he gave in

Edinburgh. This concern for the popular audience accounted

^Davie, Democratic Intellect, p. 111.

2 CEJ, XI (1842), 8 . 3 Ms., "Proposed Contents," 173 for Dr. W. B. Carpenter's request that his Zoology (1842) be published anonymously. He feared that his name was not popular enough with the general public for the book to sell.^

A popular rather than a school audience would have been inevitable for David Page's Geology, the last of the pure science books which appeared by 1849. Still essentially a science studied by amateurs, geology had not yet attained the status of a subject appropriate for formal education.

The Classical Series of the Educational Course, first announced in 1847, was the most radical departure from the original purpose of the Course. In the manuscript draft prospectus for the Course, although not in the published statements of policy, the Chamberses specified that neither ancient nor foreign languages were to be included in the

Course, because only a minority would have use for them or have a means of obtaining them. Reality, however, forced 2 compromise. Latin was still a standard course in most, if

Letter from William B. Carpenter to W. & R. Chambers, January 20, 1842. The Chamberses were concerned, moreover, that the style should be appropriate for a popular audience. In discussing the book with Dr. Carpenter, they pointed out "how desirable it is that the matter should be equally cal culated, by the structure of the language, for being announced by a teacher to a class as a series of statements, and for being read by a pupil in private: for this reason, personal pronouns should never appear in it. You will find that this plan is rigidly followed in the Natural Philosophy" (letter from W. & R. Chambers to William B. Carpenter, n.d.). 2 Personal opinion was perhaps equally responsible. Robert Chambers, writing to George Combe as early as Decem ber 12, 1833, disagreed with him on the question of the importance of classical language study. "In the Lectures, I 174 not all, grammar schools in both Scotland and England. In fact, as the century progressed and as it became evident that the more intensive classical study of the English system was becoming more popular in Scotland, any textbook publisher who wished to be competitive had to provide such works.'1' The

Classical Series eventually consisted of twelve works, including large and small Latin grammars and dictionaries.

The editors of the Series were Dr. Leonhard Schmitz, rector of the Royal High School in Edinburgh; and Dr. Carl Gottlob

Zumpt of the University of Berlin. The first book of the

Series to appear was Caesar (1847) followed by Virgil and

Sallust (1848); Quintus Curtius and Cicero (1849); and the first of the grammars, the Advanced Latin■ Grammar (-1849).

am inclined to find this small fault. I rather think you do the learned languages a little— a very little less than justice. You, I observe, would not learn Latin at school. I on the contrary was an apt and, I may say, a zealous scholar, so far as I pursued my classical studies. Perhaps personal recollections may affect the opinions of us both on this subject" (NLS, 7230.49-50).

^See part 3 "The Crisis in Classics," in Davie, Democratic Intellect. He points out in Chapter 9, "The Vernacular Basis of Scottish Humanism," that the Scots were deficient in the pure classics (they were more backward in Greek than the Germans and English, for instance) because they had "never lost sight" of "the ideal of a tripartite course including science and philosophy ..." (p. 203). Latin study, therefore, was not concentrated upon philology but, to the dismay of Oxonians, broadened into considerations of criticism and aesthetics (p. 206). 175

When they inaugurated the Educational Course, William and Robert Chambers decided to apply to it one of the funda mental principles which had contributed so greatly to the success of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal. They were deter mined to prove that quality textbooks, like popular period icals, need not be expensive. So far as an overall standard of quality for the Course was concerned, there was no problem, or so they thought. All that was necessary was that it adhere to the phrenological philosophy of education. Prin cipally affecting the quality of individual books, however, was the calibre of the authors and editors. In this regard, the Course profited because most contributors before 1850 were Scottish teachers.

In its first period of development, thirty-three of the Course's sixty-eight volumes were written in whole or in part by five people, four of whom were teachers. Andrew Bell contributed the.most works— five Natural Philosophy treatises plus ten mathematical texts. Alexander J. D. D'Orsey was far behind Bell with seven books; Leonhard Schmitz and Carl

Zumpt were next with six; Robert Chambers followed with five.

Although David Page wrote only one book for the Course, his contribution as editor from 1843 meant that the Educational

Course was virtually a six-man show.

Probably the best-qualified contributor, according to the Course’s original principles, was Alexander J. D. D'Orsey. 176

The biographical evidence available indicates that he was an experienced teacher as well as an enthusiast of phrenology.

D'Orsey, an ordained minister, had become Head Master of

Glasgow High School's English Department some time before

1849.'*' He took part in other educational enterprises in

Glasgow, serving on the committee which established Queen's

College for ladies and becoming principal of Dalbeth House, a 2 school for gentlemen's sons. His career eventually took him to Madeira and then to England, where he was still writing on the importance of the study of English composition as late as the 1880's.3

James Simpson's Infant Education and his revision of

Mrs. Barwell1s Infant Treatment may have been his only direct contributions to the Course, but his indirect ones were more significant to it and to the whole development of mass educa tion in Great Britain. An Edinburgh lawyer, Simpson was a close friend of the Chamberses, sharing their enthusiasm and concern for popular education. When he undertook lecturing to the Edinburgh working classes on economics, education and moral philosophy in the early 1830's, "many persons of the

^Letter from Alexander J. D. D'Orsey to Robert Chambers, December 7, 1835. 2 This information is included in a prospectus announcing the establishment of Dalbeth House. 3 The later years of D'Orsey1s career can best be traced through successive works attributed to him by the BM Catalogue. 177 old school . . . held up their hands to hear that a gentleman could so far degrade himself . . . . Nevertheless he con- * tinued to lecture to the working classes in Scotland and in

England and to advocate national education before it was 2 generally acceptable to do so. Although he eventually devoted most of his efforts to the latter cause, his name had become anathema in so many quarters that when an association of Free Church, United Presbyterian, and liberal laymen in

Scotland was established to work for national education, both

Simpson and George Combe were excluded from it as dangerous 3 persons.

^"What is Doing in Popular Instruction," CEJ. VI (1837), 282. 2 Speaking at a dinner in honor of William and Robert Chambers, Simpson said, "The cause with which you have joined my name is my shelter. The masses must be educated, said Mr William Chambers, else nothing is done. This is now uni versally acknowledged, and no distinction made in the quality of their education. My own humble efforts have been chiefly in the field of the masses ..." (Proceedings at Peebles, Wednesday, August 4, 1841, On Entertaining and Presenting the Freedom of the Burgh to Messrs William and Robert Chambers, of Edinburgh lEdinburgh, 1841J, p. 19). Lord Cockburn describes in his Journal the nature of Simpson's work and the public response to it. "As an addresser of the lower orders, on the practical truths which they have the greatest interest in knowing, and with a complete exemption from everything cal culated to inflame, he has no existing equal that I am aware of. Sneered at by most of the upper classes, who never try to get the better of his bad common talk and manner, he has given gratuitous courses of lectures in most of the consider able towns of Scotland and England, and has never failed to gain the confidence of the poor by merely speaking to them on the severe but hopeful truths applicable to their position" (II, 8 6 ). 3 Gibbon, Combe, II, 289. Gibbon also tells that Simpson and Combe last met in 1853 when they appeared before 178

For pure academic prestige, no contributors to the

Educational Course surpassed the editors of the Classical

Series. Dr. Leonhard Schmitz (Ph.D. from Bonn in 1841) was

elected Rector of the distinguished Edinburgh Royal High

School in 1846, just the year before his first volume for the

Course was published. During the ensuing years, he so dis

tinguished himself that he was given charge of educating two 2 of Queen Victoria's sons. His colleague, Carl Gottlob Zumpt,

v/as professor of Latin— or Roman as it was called then—

literature at the University of Berlin. His work as a writer

and editor of critical editions of the classics is still

noteworthy. After his death in 1849, his nephew, A. W. Zumpt, 3 became co-editor of the Classical Series.,

Lord Granvill, President of the Committee of the Privy Coun cil on Education, as members of a deputation advocating secular education. Simpson died shortly thereafter (II, 324).

^Sir Archibald Geikie, A Long Life's Work: An Auto biography (London, 1924), p. 11. 2 David Keir, The House of Collins: The Story of a Scottish Family of Publishers from 1789 to the Present Day (London, 1952), p. 173. Schmitz contributed a number of works to Collins's educational series. The two princes he educated were the future King Edward VII and the Duke of Edinburgh. One wonders if Schmitz's educational program for the Prince of Wales was influenced at all by George Combe’s phrenological study of the Prince's head. In 1849 Queen Victoria and Prince Albert called Combe in, hoping that what they considered to be the Prince's tardy intellectual pro gress might be hastened. (Elizabeth Longford, Queen Victoria: Born to Succeed [New York and Evanston, 1964], p. 217.)

3"The Late Dr Zumpt," CEJ. N.S. VII (1849), 332-333. 179

Although several other contributors to the Course were associated with education, their qualifications hardly matched those of the preceding. William Graham (Etymology and Elocution) had taught at the Naval and Military Academy and the Scottish Institution for the Education of Ladies.'*'

William Marr (Arithmetic Theoretical and Practical) was on 2 the staff of Heriot's Hospital (Charity School) of Edinburgh.

Andrew Bell was usually identified in advertisements as

"formerly Mathematical Master in Dollar Institute." His only other teaching experience seems to have been acquired through tutoring and public lectures. On at least two occasions he unsuccessfully offered himself as a candidate for university positions.^

In light of the non-academic character of the pure science section of the Course, it is not surprising to learn that only one of the authors, D. B. Reid, had taught before writing for the Course. Nevertheless, they were, with one exception, eminent in their own fields. Of the group, David

Page, author of the geology text, deserves special attention.

1 CEJ, VI (1837), 280. 2 Marr is so identified on the copyright receipt for this book. o The biographical information for Bell comes from the printed testimonials which he presented May 29, 1845 as a candidate for the Professorship of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at the Andersonian University of Glasgow. He had also been a candidate for the Professorship of Natural Phi losophy at St. Andrews, United College, in 1837. 180

From the time he joined the firm in 1843, he supervised the

Educational Course, assisted in editing the third edition of

Information for the People, and was principal editor of

Chambers's Papers for the People.'*' Another Chambers work with which he was involved was Robert's Vestiges of the

Natural History of Creation. When the book was severely criticized because of certain geological errors, Robert asked 2 Page to make suggestions and criticisms of the third edition.

Page eventually became Professor of Geology at Newcastle-on-

Tyne where he was well-known in his own right as a popular lecturer on geology.^

Dr. D. B. Reid and Dr. William B. Carpenter, both graduates in medicine from the University,of Edinburgh, were best known for non-academic endeavors. Reid was most famous in Great Britain because of his plan for ventilating and lighting the new Parliament buildings. Much concerned about public health problems, he was named to the Sanitary Commis- 4 sion. In 1835, while still a medical student, Carpenter had begun research in physiology, which formed the basis for his

^"Letter from David Page to William Chambers, March 4, 1843, contains his acceptance of the position. A memorandum which he drew up before leaving the firm lists the various projects in which he had taken part. 2 "Our Weekly Gossip," Athenaeum, December 2, 1854, p. 1464. 3 Marion I. Newbigin and J. S. Flett, James Geikie; The Man and the Geologist (Edinburgh, 1917), p. 151.

4DNB. 181

Principles of General and Comparative Physiology (1839), the

"first English book . . . Tto contain] adequate conceptions 1 of a science of biology."

The least academic of the science writers— indeed of all the writers for the Course— was Mrs. John Claudius Loudon.

In fact, according to a female contemporary, Mrs- Loudon had

"acquired, or, at any rate, improved, her knowledge of 2 botany" in order to help her husband. During his lifetime, they had published innumerable journals, encyclopaedias, and other volumes on botany. Despite this work and her experi ence as a writer of grade-B fiction, she was not qualified, as William Chambers' complaints to Robert about her writing testify, to be a writer of science textbooks. On one occasion in particular he commented that "in the way it was going on, it would not have been a popular work, but dry and 3 meagre in the extreme."

The quality of individual texts— and the Educational

Course as a whole— could not be realized unless the material contributed by these authors was effectively presented in the classroom. Individual teachers could not be depended upon to

1 Ibid. It is slightly ironic that Carpenter should have been writing for a phrenologically inspired educational series when he repudiated phrenology as "inconsistent with well ascertained facts regarding the comparative anatomy and embryological development of the cerebrum" (Gibbon, Combe, II, 202-203). 2 Crosland, Landmarks of a Literary Life, p. 184.

^Letter from W. Chambers to R. Chambers, July 5 [1842]. 182

do this, for at this time teacher training in Great Britain,

especially in England, was virtually nonexistent.^" The

educational philosophy which initially shaped Chambers's

Educational Course was equally concerned with the what and

the how of the educational process. According to this philosophy, the best way for a child to acquire knowledge was

"by doing instead of remembering, by concrete illustration 2 rather than abstract reasoning." Because of their concern

that this principle be carried out, the Chamberses had intro duced into some texts innovative elements. Not only were the

contents of these books carefully arranged, but instructions

to teachers regarding pedagogical techniques were included as well.^ ,

See Chapter 7, "The Early Training Colleges," of Sturt, Education of the People, for a discussion of the prob lems involved in training teachers, particularly during the 1840's. Here, as in other aspects of education, English practice was strongly influenced by outside examples, notably Pestalozzi's and David Stow's in Scotland. 2 Davies, Phrenology: Fad and Science, p. 81. See note 1, p. 159 for his remarks on the similarities between the Pestalozzian and phrenological theories. 3 Although both the British and Foreign and the National Societies had given a small amount of totally inade quate teacher training at their central schools for a number of years, the first serious training school was David Stow's in Glasgow, founded in 1838, It was followed by the Batter sea Training Schools, established shortly thereafter. For a description of the two, see Chapters 7 and 5 of Sturt, Educa tion of the People. "At Battersea under Kay-Shuttleworth one of the first college activities was to start the production of a set of school text-books Con pedagogy]. . . . There was at this time no comprehensive book on Education in English, though, naturally, the Germans had already produced some" (Sturt, pp. 151-152). 183

From the standpoint of teacher and pupil, the

Course's reading and "general knowledge" works, which were also used to teach reading, were the most innovative. Both their contents and the proper mode for their presentation departed from accepted practice.^- The contents of reading books of the time were either very abstract or highly frag mented, or both. The Bible, probably the most widely used book for reading instruction, was most unsatisfactory as a text because its contents were so remote from the experience of children. Little better were "elegant extracts" books because they consisted of a hodge-podge of selections, included usually for the beauty of their style rather than 2 the familiarity or concreteness of their substance.

1 Although texts for comparative study are not avail able, what they were like can be rather clearly deduced from what the Chamberses criticize them for. 2 Altick, English Common Reader, pp. 152-153. Although it is unlikely that the situation had changed much, by the late 1840's Horace Mann was more impressed by British reading books than those used in American schools. "A great proportion of the pieces which make up our compilations con sist of oratorical, sentimental, or poetical pieces. The foreign reading books, on the other hand, partake more largely of the practical or didactic. Ours savor more of literature or belles-lettres; theirs of science and the useful arts." (Seventh Annual Report of the Secretary of the Board of Education in The Common School Journal, VI [March 1, 1844-June 15, 1844J, p. 93.) The situation in average Scot tish schools was little, if any, better than in England. A certain John Craig who had tried for sixteen years to intro duce rational education into schools where, in his words, the "beau ideal" was for the children to display their ability to repeat "carritch" [catechism] and the Psalms of David at the time of the "ministerial domiciliary visitation" had this graphic report to make to the Chamberses: . "Well, the examination took place, the children were 184

Since it was unlikely that students using such books read with much comprehension, teachers stressed little more than rote learning. Schools using the methods of the English educators Andrew Bell and Mrs. Trimmer taught "reading" by syllables— all monosyllabic words were spelled, words of

"more syllables [were] broken up and read syllabically."

Little better as a pedagogical technique was questioning on content when it came into fashion. It stimulated only the child's capacity to memorize and'to recite, not to under stand. 1

called to read— those in the lower forms who read the spell books & the Testament did well. The higher classes who read from the Edinburgh Sessional Collection— the lesson Gravitation— pleased all as to their reading, spelling, grammar etc., but when interrogated as to the nature of gravitation, & the extent of the solar system, I was told by his refer ence [sic] these were things that children could not understand, & he would proceed to hear what things they had got by heart for the occasion— one recited the battle of Hohenlinden— another lines from the Pleasures of Hope &, when another interruption took place by the Minister gravely remarking that these were well enough but it would be much more satisfac tory if the bairns could repeat their Psalms and Questions. In this they did not make so good a figure, & I got a gentle reproof . . . ." This examination took place in 1828 or 1829 (letter from John Craig to ------Chambers, November 8 , 1849).

^Sturt, Education of the People, pp. 32-33. Any system of teaching reading could be carried to extremes. In 1849, an article in Chambers1s Edinburgh Journal complained that "in the rage for making children understand all that they read at school reading itself is now too much overlooked. At some schools of no small note, to hear more than a full sentence enunciated at a time is a rarity. It is more common to hear the young learners stopped at the end of three words, that some one of these words may be made the theme of an examination, philological, scientific, and historical, run- The Chamberses' reading books— as a group and

individually— were intended to provide children with a

progressive, logical introduction to their own experience.

Emphasizing the concrete rather than the abstract, these

books were designed not only to convey facts but also to

interest and amuse.^ Following a clear progression of stages,

the readers for each level began with a series of exercises

and concluded with a collection of stories. The First Book

of Reading, for six-year-olds, introduced the vowels, alone

and in easy combinations, in a logical order. This was done

so "that the learner will acquire a clearer idea of those

various sounds, than by reading lessons in which they are 2 introduced promiscuously." The book concluded with lessons

of mixed words— actually short, illustrated stories— on such

topics as the cow, an ass, my dog, a duck, four hens, and a boy. The Second Book of Reading presented the consonants,

singly and in combinations, at the beginning and ends of words. Digraphs were also included. The specimen words were ning off into an episode of several minutes, till the scholar has been perhaps driven into a field of intelligence ten thousand miles away from the point of starting, and himself and his audience are alike tired. The old system of explain ing nothing was bad; but it is almost as bad to make school exercises consist of little besides an eternal jabber from Philips's [sic] 'Million of Facts,’ or 'Maunder's Treasury of Knowledge'" ("Elegant Reading," N.S. XI [1849], 199- 200) .

^MS draft, Educational Course prospectus. 186

ones which could either be acted by the teacher, illustrated

on the blackboard, or represented by objects. Once again,

the stories which concluded the book were rather closely

related to the experience of children. Among them were

"Story of Two Dogs," "A Room," "A Shop,1' "A Garden," "Feeding

Chickens," "Toy Shop," and "Old Woman."

The third reader, Simple Lessons in Reading, was more

advanced in both material and treatment. In the earliest

stories, even easier words such as into and only were divided

into syllables. As the stories progressed, however, only words of more than two syllables were divided. And, finally,

none of the words was given in syllables. From the pedagog

ical standpoint, the preface to this book was of the greatest

importance. It set forth in detail the principles of this

"modern improved plan of instruction in English" and the

correct methods to be used. The whole purpose of the instruc

tion was to discourage rote learning. The child's "faculties

are excited to listen, to comprehend, and to answer. He cons

over and reads his lesson, not with the bald design of repeating it, or drawling monotonously over the words, but of

acquiring information, and exhibiting his little store of knowledge among his schoolfellows. It is almost unnecessary

to say that his progress depends very much, if not altogether, on the tact and professional skill of the master, as well as 187 on the assistance which his parents may give him at home*"^

The "general knowledge" books were constructed according to the same principles of concreteness and logical organization. Most comparable books, in the Chamberses' opinion, were anything but concrete and logical.

In most treatises which have been put forth with the exceedingly laudable view of tutoring the young in what is termed general and useful knowledge, the apparently ruling design has been to crowd as large a number of scientific, historical, and miscella neous facts as possible into the compass of a single work, with little reference either to arrangement or measure, so as to bewilder and fatigue instead of enlightening the mind of the pupil.2

The first of the books, the Rudiments of Knowledge, intro duced the child "in a progressive manner . . . to a knowledge of the external appearances in the natural and social

P. 7. The difference between these books and the more common nineteenth-century readers is almost unbelievable. Most of the latter, according to Mary Sturt, were primarily lists of words, "the actual matter to be read compressed into a few paragraphs, which have little reference to the words learned. After the alphabet, which is generally connected with objects (A stands for Arm; B stands for Barn), come the syllables ba, be, bi, bo, bu, by, ca, ce, ci, co, cy, or reversed ab, ac, ad, and so on. They then proceed to two- letter words, and there are a page or so of sentences like, I am in, or Is he up? . . . The child is then ready for a list of three-letter words . . . The lists of four-, five- and six-letter words follow. In the search for complete ness both the child's natural vocabulary and sense are abandoned. The lists contain such words as trull, whelm, whelp, feud, clew, glew, skrew, as well as shew, and jew. . . . The reading provided begins with an 'easy lesson.' 'He that is a good boy and will mind his book, all will love him’ and goes on to harder matters: 'The words of the preacher the son of David. . . (Education of the People, pp. 166- 167.) 2 MS draft, Educational Course prospectus.- 188

world. ..." Because its lessons were to be based on the

child's experiences, topics such as "Mankind as Nations and

Individuals, the Country, Processes of Husbandry, Size and

Measurement of Objects, and Civil Government" were treated

as concretely as possible. More abstract, and therefore more

detailed, discussions were assigned to others of the general knowledge books. To maintain the amusement as well as the

information level of this book both poems and stories were

used.

Providing the intensive treatment excluded from the

Rudiments were Introduction to the Sciences and the Moral

Class-Book. The former dealt primarily with man's place in

the world and the scientific rules which governed not only his place but that of all life. In this case, emphasizing

the concrete was no particular problem. But it was in the

Moral Class-Book, concerned with moral problems that were highly abstract. Therefore, an ingenious mode of presenta

tion was adopted for making the discussions as concrete as possible. "The various virtues are described chiefly by

means of narratives in which individuals are shown as exem plifying them. To these have been added all those fables of

AEsop and others which are most remarkable for their happy bearing on the important points of human conduct."^ These narratives ranged widely through time and place, from the

^Pp. iii-iv. 189

Greece of Socrates to nineteenth-century Scotland and England.

The remaining books of the Course were devoted to

subjects more remote from the experience of children. Conse

quently, a variety of classroom contrivances was advocated

so that these specialized subjects could be presented in

somewhat the same fashion as the elementary ones. In only

the grammar and composition books could this be achieved by modification of pedagogical techniques rather than reorganiza

tion of subject matter. In common practice, both grammar and

composition had become little more than collections of

abstract rules to be memorized by students. Therefore, when

Alexander J. D. D'Orsey wrote the books of this series, he discussed at length the most effective way to teach these

subjects. In the preface to Introduction to English Grammar, he explained how to handle grammar: "The principle pervading

this treatise requires no apology. It is a triple compound

of precept, example, and practice. To tell is not sufficient;

to show is of great advantage; but TO TRAIN is the grand

secret of success." Each lesson included a definition, description, or explanation of the subject, which was fol

lowed by examples from classic English writers. Finally, words illustrative of the definitions were provided for the

student to work up into sentences.^-

The same emphasis on the concrete and practical was 190 even more central to the composition texts. If a student was to be taught writing successfully, teachers should not assign such abstract topics as "friendship," "government," or "old age" for essays. Rather, "ask him to make a sentence with the word ship, or horse, or gun, &c., and he will not only do it with comparative ease, but with positive pleasure."^

Ill

From their past experience, the Chamberses knew that the public could not be benefited by the material in the

Educational Course unless its books were priced low enough.

As a rule, textbooks, like other books, were too expensive for most people to buy. It was for this reason that the

Bible, occasionally supplemented by spelling books or reading collections, was generally the principal reading book used in

Scottish and English schools. The Chamberses decided, therefore, that the volumes of the Educational Course were to be of "foolscap 8 vo, with neat and firm printed covers, and at prices in each case forming the smallest possible advance 2 upon the cost of production." As with the Journal, the

Chamberses kept production costs low by adopting in their textbook publishing as many as possible of the economies afforded by the new technology.

1Pp. 3-4. 2 MS draft, Educational Course prospectus. 191

Eventually, the prices of the books covered a wide range. The lowest priced, at 6d, was the Introduction to

English Composition (44 pp.), followed by the Geographical

Printer (64 pp.) at 8d. Simple Lessons in Reading (80 pp.)

and Rudiments of Knowledge (80 pp.), as well as the Natural

Philosophy treatises, were lOd. The majority of books, however, sold at about 2s. More specialized works such as

Zoology and Practical Mathematics were priced as high as 4s per volume. How much prices of the Educational Course books differed from competing textbooks can only be estimated, using Andrew Bell’s edition of Plane Geometry as a repre sentative case. The price of 2s "sewed" (i.e. in paper covers) or 2 s 6d in cloth boards or bound was "not above a 2 third of what the work is usually sold for."

The selling price of these books, as this example reveals, was determined primarily by the style of binding.

There were three forms of bindings for Chambers textbooks— sewed in paper covers, bound in cloth boards, or bound in common leather. Publication ledgers show that approximately equal numbers of each initial printing were sewn in paper and boarded in cloth. Only about one third of a printing was bound in leather. For the earliest volumes of the Course,

^The prices given are those advertised in the Jour nal . XI (1842), 104. The information for books published after this date has, where available, been taken from the cover of the book itself.

2CEJ. VI (1837), 280. 192 another attempt at economy was the use of identical designs for paper and cloth covers. The paper ones were grey, printed in black. On the front, within rules, appeared the title, price, publisher's name and place of publication. The back cover bore advertising, usually of the Course itself.

The cloth boards were of drab cloth printed in exactly the same fashion as the paper covers. In addition, the title and price appeared on the cloth spines. By the 1840's, however, when the process of embossing and gold stamping onto cloth had been perfected, the cloth-board volumes were dark grey, embossed, with title and price stamped in gold on the cover.^

Later on, a dark green cloth was used, too. The endpapers of these bindings carried advertising for the Course and other Chambers publications.

Had it not been for fairly recent innovations in bookbinding techniques, the Chamberses would not have been able to lower the cost of their textbooks and to bind them in cloth or leather. Although not constituting a technological revolution as the introduction of the steam press had, these innovations were "the final important mechanization" in book- 2 making. Up until the late 1820's when cloth bindings

have seen as well a dark green, embossed cover, but I have been unable to ascertain whether this was used simultaneously with or at another time than the grey covers. 2 Peter Beilenson, "The Nineteenth Century" in A History of the Printed Book, ed. Lawrence C. Wroth (New York, 1938), p. 247. 193 appeared, books, if bound at all, were handbound in leather, a substantial, permanent— and expensive— form of binding. By the next decade, a binding in a specially devised cloth and

"cased" bindings had both evolved.'*' Although cloth bindings were not to become common on standard-priced books until the 2 1840's, they had appeared on cheap series from the first.

The binding process was still performed almost entirely by hand even for these new forms. The only machines involved 3 were the millboard cutting machine and the rolling machine.

Steam printing and stereotyping, which so dramat ically transformed the economy of printing cheap periodicals, affected book printing as well. It is noteworthy that the

Chamberses' first steam press, so essential for printing the

Journal, was a perfecting machine. An expensive, complex mechanism designed primarily for printing books, it could

Marjorie Plant says that casing as a separate process was mentioned in a bookbinding manual issued in 1835. Obviously being practiced by then, it was probably used earlier. (English Book Trade, p. 351.) 2 Michael Sadleir's classic study of binding, The Evolution of Publishers' Binding Styles: 1770-1900 (London, 1930), is not particularly informative on this point. While it does give an idea of fashions and trends in binding, his remarks and chronology cannot be accepted as final, partic ularly when one is working with cheap, non-fiction publica tions. His observations and illustrations were based primarily on the materials in his personal collection which specialized in "novels . . . , satirical anonyma, and non fiction works of authors mainly known as novelists" (p. 6 ). According to Thomas Constable, the first cloth bindings were used on Constable's Miscellany (Archibald Constable and His Literary Correspondents, III, 310).

^Plant, English Book Trade, pp. 345-347. 194 print both sides of a page in register (i.e. with the printed lines on either side in alignment), precision work for which common steam presses were unsatisfactory. Perfecting machines were so expensive to buy and operate that they could not be run economically unless used for large-volume printing by firms like Chambers, which printed a weekly periodical as well as books.^

All of the books were printed from stereotype plates

— for economic reasons. Once stereotypes were made, copies of a book could be printed as needed. The publisher, there fore, did not need to tie up expensive paper in large initial printings of books which might not sell. This was no minor economy, for the Chamberses' ledgers show that the paper of any book usually accounted for one-third of the total produc tion cost.^

The economy of the Educational Course was subject to more variable costs than was that of the Journal. The most significant difference was due to the fact that woodcuts, an expensive item, were absolutely essential to many books. The

^William Clowes, printer of the Penny Magazine, had this same experience. He, too, acquired a perfecting press, but not for printing books. . .he printed the Penny Maga zine , the first periodical to reach a circulation of six figures. It could not have been produced without the perfector; and the perfector could not have been bought or run without such a periodical contract." (Handover, Printing in London, p. 210.)

This conclusion is based upon my interpretation of printing costs as recorded in various Publication Ledgers of W. & R. Chambers, as are all the following figures, unless otherwise indicated. 195

woodcuts in Bell's Solid Geometry, for instance, cost

£15 11s lOd; those in Zoology, £24; Geology, £23 17s 3^d;

Simple Lessons in Reading, £28 Is 6d. The cuts for Animal

Physiology by Dr. Hamilton not only cost £17 13s 9d, but 1 coloring them as well cost an additional £20 16s. Moreover,

the charge for composition was often high for textbooks on

complex, specialized subjects. The charge for composing

Part I of Practical Mathematics was £56 in comparison to

£18 18s for Animal Physiology and £16 10s 2d for Rudiments of

Chemistry.

Whatever means they used for achieving their goal of

low-priced, good-quality textbooks, the Chamberses did not

economize at the expense of their authors. Admittedly, they

sometimes saved money by using material from another of their publications. In these instances, however, they paid the

author an additional fee for his adapting his original mate

rial. Andrew Bell, for one, received £15 for rewriting

numbers of the Information for the People, "Exhibiting a popular view of the Principles of Mechanics and their appli

cation to Practical purposes," as the second Natural Philos- 2 ophy treatise. Dr. W. B. Carpenter's Zoology, too, had

originally been part of the Information for the People. For

^In order to save on the expense of woodcuts, the firm often asked authors to supply their own. The Office Diary records that this request was made of William B. Carpenter and Mrs. Loudon, for example. 2 Office Diary, entry dated November 14, 1836. 196 both he was paid £90. At other times, the Chamberses cut the cost of their books by writing them themselves. They did not pay themselves for these contributions as they did for their articles in the Journal. The fact that Robert Chambers wrote four of the first six texts of the Educational Course would certainly have helped keep down production costs at the beginning.

As a general rule, the Chamberses paid authors by the equivalent of copyright agreements— the usual practice of the period. For a fixed sum, the author gave up all further claim on the contents of the book, granting the Chamberses the right to reprint in whatever form they chose. The name or experience of the respective authors obviously helped determine the amount of the fees. Dr. Hamilton's payment for

Animal Physiology, for instance, was £42; Dr. Carpenter's for

Zoology (the book form alone, not including the numbers of

Information for the People) was £60. Whether in response to competition or to their own economic growth, the Chamberses increasingly paid more for books between 1835 and 1850.

James Simpson in 1835 received £20 for Infant Education, while Mrs. Barwell's fee for Infant Training (1840) was £50.

William Graham was paid £27 for his first book, Elocution

(1837), but £50 for Etymology (1850). Andrew Bell, partic ularly, benefited from this policy. For his first works,

Plane Geometry (1836) and Solid Geometry (1837), he received

£35 and £30 respectively. The payment was increased to £40 197 for each of the two parts of Algebra, Theoretical and Prac tical , published in 1839. By 1842, he earned L50 per part for the two parts of Practical Mathematics.^-

Not all the books of Educational Course authors were purchased outright. Dr. D. B. Reid and Alexander J. D. 2 D'Orsey were paid by (then uncommon) royalty agreements.

Reid's Rudiments of Chemistry, one of the Course's first publications, went through three editions between 1836 and

1848. With each edition, a new financial agreement was worked out between Reid and the Chamberses. For the first edition— three sheets of thirty-two pages each, to sell in sewed form at not more than one shilling— Reid received Id 3 per copy and one hundred copies at cost price. For the

These payments were probably as good as any paid by competing publishers at the time. In the mid-1860's, Collins was paying only a little more than the Chamberses had ten years earlier. "In the main and in accordance with tradition, educational works were bought outright. Mor rison's Composition (154 pages) was purchased for fc80, Laing's Literature for L60, Dr. Schmitz's Cof the Edinburgh High SchoolJ History of Rome and History of Greece for L75 each, and Dr. Dick's Outlines of Natural History for L100." (Keir, House of Collins, p. 173.) 2 Again, Collins's 1860 figures offer a basis for comparison. "A few volumes were, however, published on a royalty, or, as it was then called, a lordship basis. Mr. Chardenal's three French books brought him, for every 1,000 copies sold L 1 2 2 s. 6 d. for the first book (published at Is. 6d . ), h22 10s. Od. for the second book (2s.), and b50 for the third (3s. 6d.)." (Keir, House of Collins, pp. 173- * 174. ) 3 Letter from W. & R. Chambers to D. B. Reid, March 3, 1836. 198 second edition of 1840, Reid was to add seventy-five pages of new material. He was to provide his own cuts, except new ones amounting to t5, the cost of which would be shared by him and the Chamberses. In return, the Chamberses paid Reid fc75 immediately, the equivalent of 3d per copy on an edition of six thousand. They agreed, also, to pay the same sum for all copies printed above that number.^" The final agreement respecting this work was drawn up in 1848, when differences had arisen between Reid and the Chamberses. Under its terms, the edition was to be four thousand copies. Reid was to add twenty pages of new material and to pay for all cuts.

Besides receiving thirty presentation copies at Is 6d per copy, Reid was paid 3d per copy on four thousand copies.

Once the edition was sold off, the copyright was to revert to him and, for 1 2 guineas, the stereotype plates were to become 2 his property.

Although Alexander J. D. D'Orsey wrote several books for the Educational Course, only Introduction to English

Grammar and Composition was paid for by royalty agreement.

Before final terms were settled, extensive bargaining went on between D'Orsey and the Chamberses. They originally offered him £ 1 0 0 as payment for his complete surrender of the book.

1 Memorandum of agreement between Dr. D. B. Reid and Messrs Chambers respecting a new edition of Rudiments of Chemistry, December 22, 1840. 2 Memorandum of agreement between Dr. D. B. Reid and W. & R. Chambers, May 30, 1848. 199

D'Orsey proposed instead that they pay him £50 for each part

as full payment on an edition of three thousand copies and

that clear profit on future editions be equally divided.^ No

copy of their reply exists, but from D'Orsey's next letter,

it is obvious that they not only had not met his price, but had also suggested that he shorten the work. D'Orsey was

reluctant to alter the book substantially and refused the

agreement on the following grounds:

. . . I think I am most moderate in my expectations, when I look for £100 for the first edition of 6000, and £5 (one twentieth of the published price 2/) for every succeeding thousand. There is, then, no difference between us, except that my interest on your plan terminates with the sale of 2 0 , 0 0 0 copies, and is bounded by £200. If the work should succeed beyond that, as it is certain to do, 5 per cent to the poor author will be a very small allowance from your then ample profits on his labor . . . Or, instead of this, I shall surrender the immediate sum of £1 0 0 , on your agreeing to pay me £ 1 0 for every thousand at 2/, or one tenth of the published price ....^

In compromise, the Chamberses suggested that the work

should be published in two parts. When D'Orsey agreed to

this plan, he proposed a different financial agreement.. For

the first part, he wanted £50 on publication and as full payment for the thousand copies, plus £ 2 for every succeeding

thousand; for the second part, £60 on publication and as full

^"Letter from D'Orsey t o Chambers, January 4, 1841. 2 Letter from D'Orsey to W. & R. Chambers, January 11, 1841. 200 payment for ten thousand, plus £3 per thousand afterwards.^

The final agreements, dated 8 April 1842 and 25 November 1842,

specified that D'Orsey was to receive £80 for each part as full payment on the first ten thousand and £4 for each suc- 2 ceeding thousand. Although D'Orsey won his point on this round, he eventually conceded that the Chamberses had been right in estimating the profit likely from such a book: "I give up the expectation that book-making is to yield remunera tion equal to what teaching will produce, though I did not

contemplate so great a disproporLion. I also consent to

'clear my mind of the idea that such books are a little for tune, ' being convinced that there is much speculation in the matter, but yet I am willing to run all risk in profit and 3 loss so certain am I of the book's success."

Had the Chamberses not practiced as many economies as possible, they could not have afforded to publish cheap text books. As might be expected, their most profitable books had high selling prices. There was, however, no precise correla tion between production costs and profit. Generally speaking,

^"Letter from D'Orsey t o Chambers, January 19, 1841. 2 Copyright agreements between D'Orsey and W. & R. Chambers for the specified dates.

^Letter from D'Orsey to ---- Chambers, n.d. The context suggests that it was written in early 1842, prior to the drawing up and signing of the final agreements. 201

the most profitable books of the Course were expensive to produce.'*' Andrew Bell's Plane Geometry, priced at 2s 6d in

cloth, was the most profitable. With a sale of about 5,000

copies per year by 1849, it returned £2,438 18s 7d. The necessary woodcuts, plus an original payment of £35 to Bell

and subsequent fees of £5 each to him and David Page for revisions, made this a relatively expensive book to produce.

The History of the British Empire and Introduction to the

Sciences, both written by Robert Chambers, were the next most remunerative. By 1849 the profit from the former was

£1,715 18s lid; from the latter, £966 7s 7d. Neither would have been cheap to produce initially, because the British

Empire included a map after the second edition of 1840 and the Introduction to the Sciences had woodcuts from the very beginning. These expenses were offset, no doubt, by the fact that Robert Chambers was not paid for his work. The Intro duction proved so popular that after a year of publication 2 its original price was reduced to Is in cloth and 9d sewed.

Another of Robert Chambers' books, the Moral Class-Book, selling for Is 6d in cloth, was the fourth most profitable book of the Course, accounting for £743 3s. Close behind was

■^Unless otherwise noted, the following information has been drawn from W. & R. Chambers Publication Ledgers. 2 Office Diary, entry dated September 14, 1836. The price was reduced "in consequence of its large sale and the representations of different teachers." It was originally lOd sewed and Is 2d boarded (CEJ, V [1836], 168). 202

William Graham's Elocution with £793 13s gained, despite the expense of the woodcuts included and the £27 paid Graham for the copyright.

On the other hand, unprofitable books, too, could have high production costs. Mrs. Loudon's Vegetable Physi ology. which included woodcuts and for which she was paid £50

— -and David Page another £15 for revisions— did not realize any profit until 1852, eight years after it was published.

Seven years elapsed before Alexander D'Orsey's Introduction to Grammar (1845), for which he was paid £100, made a profit in 1852. The first book of the Classical Series, Caesar

(1847), brought in no profit until 1851, because the literary labor cost £82 and advertising £23 7s 3d.,

David Page’s Geology (1844) and William Marr's Arith metic. Theoretical and Practical (1847) followed exactly the opposite pattern. Although Page received £50 for writing

Geology and the woodcuts for it cost £23 17s 3d, the book made its first profit in 1848, while selling only an average of 800 copies per year. Marr was paid an exceptionally high fee for his book, £111 4s 2d, but within two years it made

£19 7s lid. '

Had the Chamberses not set both quality and cheapness as standards for the Educational Course textbooks from the start, their business would have been seriously threatened in

1847. In that year, an act of the Committee of Council on

Education permanently changed the economics of textbook 203 publishing. As part of its rudimentary program of financial aid to schools, the Committee declared that schools which received its grants— primarily the schools of the (Anglican)

National Society for the Education of the Poor--could use the money to purchase textbooks. For the Chambers firm this would have resulted in orders for nearly as many books as were in the Advocates' Library of Edinburgh. In 1848, the

Poor Law Board asked to be included in the same program, although its schools were supported by local subscription rather than government grant.^

While obviously increasing sales, this program made textbook publishing more costly, hence less profitable. The

Committee approved those textbooks which could be purchased, arranging with the publishers the physical specifications and the prices which the Committee was prepared to subsidize.

According to the 1847 conditions of tender set up by the

Committee, books were to be printed on paper weighing not less than 18% lb. to the Demy perfect ream, or the equivalent weight for other sizes of paper. They were to be cloth bound.

They were to be sewn on cords, not glued together; the backs were to be lined with Scotch mull and drawn in through the

1 Letter from the Committee of Council, October 1847. 2 Letter from Robert Chambers to David Milne, Septem ber 14, 1847. NLS, 3925.300.

^Letter from the Committee of Council, August 17, 1848. 204 cords to form a tight back with colored end papers. The arms of the Committee of Council on Education were to be stamped on the title and last page of each book. In addition, the number which the book bore in the Committee's catalogue was to appear on the back. If publishers submitted books which did not meet these requirements, the Secretary of the Com- 1 mittee could reject them.

Because of the Committee's rigid specifications, publishers could no longer economize on the materials of the book. Making the books was more expensive, too, inasmuch as they had to be bound in cloth, rather than sewn in paper.

Even if a firm felt it could profitably submit its books, it did so at a risk. If not enough of the books made to Com mittee specifications were purchased, the stock on hand was 2 unsaleable. In other words, the Chamberses submitted books

^Conditions of the Tender for books supplied to the Committee of Council on Education, November 9, 1847. 2 A complementary problem arose when the Irish Board of Commissioners had begun supplying books to the Irish National Schools. According to Charles Knight, the Board "was able to sell for sevenpence a book of 17% sheets demy (420 pages), cloth bound. This was the exact cost price of the paper, the machine-work, and binding in the cheapest market." Moreover, the government had no copyright costs to pay. (Modern Press, p. 275.) According to Horace Mann, such a system favorably affected the quality of textbooks. He claimed that when there was no national school system to control schools, the textbooks used were poor. "In some of the book-shops in England, I saw text-books for schools, on no single page of which should a child ever be allowed to look,— books for the young, filled with vile caricatures and low ribaldry, at once degrading to the taste and fatal to the moral sensibilities." He had seen the same thing in Ireland before a National Board of Education had been set over the 205 which they were already publishing for the Committee's approval. If the book was accepted— for its content— the firm printed, in accordance with the Committee's specifica tions, as many books as it thought it could sell. The

Chamberses then had on hand books with identical contents but different physical specifications. On this point specif ically William Chambers disagreed with the Committee and asked permission for his firm to submit books on other terms.

Writing to the Committee on December 20, 1847, he said that he had learned of other publishers often having stock left on their hands when the Secretary of the Committee refused to approve the books. "Any such inconveniences would be greatly increased in our case by reason that the external peculiar ities of the school books would unfit them for another market except at a great sacrifice." He offered this alternative to the Committee's plan:

We beg to state that we shall be at all times ready — on notice duly given— but without any contract or guarantee to execute orders for any quantity of our books in sheets or bound as you wish them, printed on the paper we usually employ, at prices correspond ing to those indicated . . . As our paper is of a superior quality to that which you specify as desir able, we by this offer voluntarily incur a loss in order to get rid of the vexations which unhappily appear to be incidental to the process of tendering and contracting. As an alternative we are willing to execute any orders for our school-books, in schools. ("Seventh Annual Report . . . pp. 88-89.) For additional information on the Irish Board and the influence of its work on later English policy, see Sturt, Education of the People, pp. 64-66, 75-77. 206

sheets, printed on paper furnished by the govern ment, which may thus have the ordering of the externals of these books in its own hands.1

There is no evidence as to what compromise, if any, was reached between the Chamberses and the government. What ever the outcome, the firm not only continued to be included on the government's list of suppliers but more of its books were added to the approved list each year.

The success of Chambers's Educational Course must remain a matter for conjecture, because there are not suffi cient criteria upon which to base a judgment. Those which were relevant to Chambers's Edinburgh Journal— sales figures and audience response— cannot be satisfactorily used to evaluate the Educational Course. Only sales figures are 2 available. Textbooks, unlike periodicals, are essentially

■^Letter from William Chambers to J. P. Kay Shuttle- worth, Secretary of the Committee of Council, December 20, 1847.

2 • Even sales figures are an inadequate indication of the extent to which any book would be used or how many people might be influenced by it. It was not the general rule for each student to purchase his own textbook. In fact, in many schools, especially National Schools, there was usually only one text, of which the contents were printed on cards and displayed before the class (Sturt, Education of the People, p. 34). And David Stow, founder and director of the influen tial Glasgow training college, did not believe in textbooks (ibid., p. 133). The only account available for competitive books is that for the Collins series, Leitch's Practical and Economical Readers, started in 1836. This series of books, bound in full brown sheepskin and containing crude wood-cuts, sold more than one and a half million within fifteen years. (Keir, House of Collins, p. 114.) anonymous works unlikely to elicit much reaction from readers

therefore, response to the Course by its audience is virtu

ally unrecorded. In this case, approval or disapproval by

isolated readers is of little consequence, for textbooks must

meet the needs of institutions, not individuals.

Unquestionably, the needs of schools determined which

books would sell. Given educational practices of the time,

it is not surprising that, by December 31, 1843, four of the

five best selling textbooks of the Course were reading

books.^ The Introduction to the Sciences (1836), which had

sold 71,432 copies, was first, closely followed by the First

Book of Reading (1838), 69,625 copies. Third and fourth

positions belonged to the Second Book of Reading (1838),

56,673; and Rudiments of Knowledge— Third Book of Reading

(1838), 46,089. Plane Geometry (1836), which had sold 29,870

copies, followed as the weak fifth.

This list had changed surprisingly little by 1849.

Only the books in first and fifth positions were different.

Introduction to the Sciences, having sold 120,870 copies, and

the First Book of Reading, 136,563 copies, simply exchanged places on the list. Completely superseding Plane Geometry was the Geographical Primer (1840) which sold 88,665 copies

in nine years. (The Primer was used essentially as a reading

^All of these figures, unless otherwise stated, have been taken from W. & R. Chambers Publication Ledgers. 208 book.) The sales of the third and fourth books had increased to 110,590 and 94,223 respectively.

At this time, other Educational Course books lagged far behind the readers in sales. The Plane Geometry, still selling well, was in sixth place with 63,172 copies. But of the books in seventh and eighth places, History of the

British Empire (1836) and Moral Class-Book (1839), only

47,099 and 41,169 copies were sold. Introduction to English

Composition (1839), Laws of Matter and Motion (1837), and

Simple Lessons in Reading (1841) all sold 30,000 odd copies, while the Rudiments of Chemistry (1836), Mechanics (1847),

Elements of Drawing (1837), and Textbook of English Geography

(1840) accounted for some 20 ,'’OQ each.

As might well be expc od, the most specialized books had the smallest sales. Dr. tv. B. Carpenter's Zoology (1842), selling between 200 and 300 copies a year, reached a total of

2,821 by 1849. Solid Geometry by Andrew Bell (1837) did somewhat better. At a little over 400 copies per year, its sales amounted to 8,253 copies by 1849. Although Mrs. Bar- well 1 s Infant Treatment (1840) accounted for 7,957 sales by

1849, its record was extremely erratic. In 1847, for instance, 1,010 copies were sold but only 448 in 1848.

Two recorded instances of the use of the readers suggest that they may have been more suitable for education ally advanced schools. Glasgow High School, where D'Orsey taught, had the reputation of using progressive principles of 209 education. As early as 1837, the entire school was conducted

according to the principles of PestalozziWhen the History of English Language and Literature was published in 1835,

D'Orsey adopted it immediately and "recommended its use in 2 several other quarters." By 1838-1839, the English Depart ment of the High School, probably on D'Orsey1s recommendation, was using several Chambers books— the First, Second and Third

Books of Reading, Introduction to the Sciences, History of 3 the British Empire, Elocution, and Animal Physiology.

At the Huddersfield Mechanics' Institute one of the more fully developed courses of education for a mechanics' institute, using progressive educational techniques, had been established. The records of the Institute, which Mabel

Tylecote's study The Mechanics' Institutes of Lancashire and

Yorkshire before 1851 has drawn upon, show that the reading classes were designed to improve the general knowledge of the students, as well as their skill in reading and their compre- 4 hension of grammar. No wonder, then, that the Chamberses'

1 Saunders, Scottish Democracy, note p. 436. 2 Letter from Alexander J. D. D'Orsey to Robert Cham bers, December 7, 1835. 3 Syllabus of the Department of English Language and Literature, High School of Glasgow, Session 1838-39, pp. 10- 12.

^"Reading classes included grammar and also aimed at improving the general knowledge of the students. They were carefully graduated. More attention was paid in the junior classes to the actual reading, particularly to pronunciation and the correction of a monotonous delivery, while in the 210

textbooks were "highly regarded and frequently used for class purposes" at Huddersfield.'*' Moreover, various works of the

Educational Course, as well as the Miscellany of Useful and

Entertaining Tracts, were among the "principal works" read by 2 the "juvenile members" at the Institute's library.

It can be surmised with a degree of certainty that

Chambers books other than readers conformed to the programs of even the traditional schools. Proof of this comes from

the Committee of Council's approving several Educational

Course books. Interestingly enough, the Committee selected the more specialized texts. The tender for November 8 , 1847

listed History of the British Empire. Arithmetic Elements,

Laws of Matter and Motion, Mechanics. Animal Physiology,

Vegetable Physiology, Introduction to the Sciences, Elocution,

and Algebra. In February 1848, Plane Geometry and Practical

Mathematics were added to the list. All these books, as well

as Chambers's map of the world and schoolroom maps, remained on the lists through 1848.

Miscellaneous bits of evidence point, too, to the general adaptability of Educational Course texts, elementary more advanced classes wide courses of reading in history, geography, the natural sciences and poetry would be followed, attention being chiefly directed to the subject matter, and composition or dictation often ending the evening's work" (p. 203).

1 Ibid., p. 204.

2Ibid., p. 217. 211

and specialized. The extensive sale of the Introduction to the Sciences is a case in point. According to an announce ment in Chambers1s Edinburgh Journal, it was used extensively

"in schools in every quarter of the United Kingdom."^

Whether or not this was precisely true, over 30,000 copies of it were sold in four years. Simple Lessons in Reading was 2 used in the Ragged Schools of Liverpool; the Moral Class-

Book . translated into Maharatta, could be (and was) used in

India not only because of the moral lessons it provided, but 3 also because of the manner in which they were presented.

Bell's edition of Plane Geometry sold almost as many copies in Ireland as in England and Scotland combined. When William

Chambers visited model schools in Dublin, he learned that the

Irish had not been able to study geometry according to the

"first principles" until this cheap edition had been pub lished.^ In 1847, the Committee of Council on Education, reporting on Scottish schools, used as one of the criteria for distinguishing good schools the inclusion of geography in the curriculum. Seventy of the 258 schools in the coun ties of Stirling, Clackmannan, Linlithgow, and Renfrew did

1 CEJ, IX (1840), 8 .

^"Visit to Ragged Schools in Liverpool,” CEJ, N.S. VII (1847), 93.

3C E J . N.S. VII (1847), 16.

4CEJ, VIII (1839), 329. 212

not teach geography because they had no maps. The better

schools used either Chambers's or Johnson's maps.^

If evidence for a more precise analysis should become

available— and should prove the Course’s commercial success

to be in fact negligible— the ultimate significance of

■Chambers's Educational Course would not be diminished.

Partly inspired by an unconventional philosophy, it advocated

a broadly moral, intellectual secularity at a time when edu

cational institutions and practices were infused with the 2 worst in narrow, anti-intellectual sectarianism. There were

those, however, who recognized that early Victorian society

needed what the Course had to give. Among them were two men,

celebrated for their own vastly different.contributions to

the age, whose appraisals of Chambers's Educational Course

can be considered among the more succinct and accurate made.

One critic, John Stuart Blackie, the noted classical scholar

^■"Government Education," CEJ, N.S. VII (1847), 299. 2 When the Educational Course did come under attack, it was because the Chamberses, in some other way, had offended the sectarian sensibilities of the day. The first such instance on record occurred in 1837. George Combe reported to his nephew a year later that "some minister told them . . . that the Church would never admit their educa tional course into the Parochial Schools, because they had published the constitution of Man ..." (letter from George Combe to Robert Cox, January 19, 1838, NLS, 7387.531-53). According to Combe's biographer, the same reaction occurred when the public began to suspect that Robert Chambers was actually the author of the Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (Gibbon, Combe, II, 188). See also Wilson, "Robert Chambers," Lippincott1s , p. 23 for Robert Chambers' concern for the effect of the Vestiges on the Educational Course. 213 of Aberdeen University, praised the Classical Series of the

Course, because he was "glad to think that the old wall of partition between the Classical men & the Utilitarians, has been so generously broken down by you."^ From the other end of the intellectual and social spectrum spoke G. W. M.

Reynolds, Chartist and penny-dreadful publisher:

The various treatises on the sciences, either written by himself [William Chambers] or under his superintendence, are remarkable for their simplicity, their clearness, and their terseness of description; and jt must be confessed that a better set of schoolbooks for advancing the pupil from the simple rudiments of language to the com plexities of scientific knowledge, have never been offered to the w o r l d . 2

Letter from John Stuart Blackie to Robert Chambers, February 10, 1851. In an earlier letter, Blackie had said, "You are generally considered to be an enemy of Classics; but the position assumed by our modern Realists as the [unclear word] call the Useful Knowledge men is exactly that which the one-sided pedantry and monopolizing spirit of the Latinists imperatively called on them to assume." (May 28, 1847.)

^Reynolds's Miscellany. II N.S. (June 30, 1849), 801. CHAPTER V

WILLIAM AND ROBERT

By 1850 William and Robert Chambers were conducting what they regarded as "a great literary f actory. Acquiring

their first steam press in 1834, they had ten presses working 2 in September of 1845, whose operation had "become one of the

sights of Edinburgh."^ These ten adequately met the firm’s

needs; only two more had to be added during the next twenty 4 years. Output expanded correspondingly. In the year ending

June 13, 1839, the firm printed 10,833 reams of paper.^

During 1845, 25,000 reams were used, the equivalent of a quarter of a million sheets per week, 11 as many as the whole

newspaper press of Scotland issued in a month about the year

1833.". As soon as the ten presses were operating, 50,000

Letter from Robert Chambers to William Wilson, 1850, quoted in Wilson, "Robert Chambers," Lippincott’s , p. 24.

2 C E J . N.S. Ill (1845), 1. 3 Letter from Robert Chambers to William Wilson, 1850, quoted in Wilson, "Robert Chambers," Lippincott1s , p. 24.

^W. C., Memoir, 3rd ed., p. 242.

5C E J , VIII (1839), 200.

214 215 1 printed sheets could be produced daily. To handle this

increasing volume of work, more personnel, from sub-editors

to apprentices, was needed. By June 1843, there were approx- 2 imately 80 staff members. At the end of 1845, the total was 3 150. Over the next five years, further additions raised to

168 the number of people required to keep W. & R. Chambers 4 operating.

Providing adequate premises for such an enterprise

was a continual matter of concern. When Chambers1s Edinburgh

Journal began, the publishing office was located at 19 Water

loo Place. But once the firm undertook its own printing, its presses had to be scattered about town. So that all the

firm's work could be consolidated, William and Robert pur

chased between 1841 and 1848 a series of buildings along the

High Street. Here there was room for the ten presses and all

departments of the firm except the lithographic. Consolida

tion was not achieved until a second series of purchases in

the same area was undertaken in 1849 and completed shortly 5 thereafter.

^Ibid., N.S. IV (1845), 158. The quotation appears in N.S. Ill (1845), 1.

2CEJ, XII (1843), 197.

3Ibid., N.S. IV (1845), 157.

4W. C., Glenormiston: First Paper (Edinburgh, 1849: printed for private use), appendix added February 1850, p. 54.

3Ibid., pp. 54-56. 216

These changes during the firm's first eighteen years were carefully planned. The brothers' goal was to achieve for their firm the greatest possible unity of purpose and procedure. Once this became a reality, they did not consider themselves "publishers in the ordinary sense of the word, but rather authors and editors working out our literary plans through the medium of a printing and publishing concern, which is practically in the hands of a set of subordinates."

Consequently, Robert explained, "the literary man takes in our case his naturally due place as the superior of the mere tradesman publishers. It is a curious problem in literary affairs that we are solving, and probably something may be heard of it twenty years hence.

Sooner than Robert expected, it was recognized that the Chamberses had hit upon an unusually effective system.

They were not without honor in their own country or in Eng land. In fact, as early as 1841 they were given the freedom of their home town, Peebles, for their contributions to 2 publishing. The next year, John Blackwood in a less serious vein told Robert Blackwood that he had suggested to Lockhart,

■^Letter from Robert Chambers to William Wilson, 1850, quoted in Wilson, "Robert Chambers," Lippincott1s , p. 24. 2 The account of this event was published in Proceed ings at Peebles. Wednesday, August 4, 1841, On Entertaining and Presenting the Freedom of the Burgh to Messrs William and Robert Chambers of Edinburgh (Edinburgh, 1841: printed for private distribution). 217 as a perfect subject for a future "Noctes," "Tegg and Cham bers chuckling over their profits . . . ?"^

In succeeding years, the value of the Chamberses' work to the society at large came to be generally acknowl edged. In 1860, Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth told William

Chambers that he regarded him and Robert "as among the fore most educators, and therefore civilizers and Christian 2 teachers of the time." When Disraeli was given the freedom of Edinburgh in 1867, he paid special tribute to this dis tinguished local establishment, saying that "he did not think the name of Chambers would ever be mentioned without a 3 sentiment of gratitude." Disraeli's prediction was still being fulfilled later in the nineteenth century— even at the beginning of the twentieth. One writer commented at the time of William's death that "these two men will ever be held in grateful remembrance, not only by all Scotsmen, but by

English-speaking people in every quarter of the globe, for their successful efforts to introduce the blessings of cheap

1 Quoted in F. D. Tredrey, The House of Blackwood. 1804-1954: The History of a Publishing Firm (Edinburgh, 1954), p. 97.

^Letter from J. Kay-Shuttleworth to W. C., 1860, quoted in W. C., "Memoranda," personal memorandum book.

Quoted in the Glasgow World, February 4, 1932 (clip ping). William referred to Disraeli's remarks, but did not repeat them in his Long and Busy Life, p. 104. See also W. C., Memoir, 13th ed., p. 353. f

218

and instructive literature into this country."^ And accord

ing to Andrew Carnegie, the publications of the firm consti

tuted "a mine of wealth such as has never been bestowed by 2 one family upon any nation."

In explaining their success, the brothers discounted

any "peculiar literary talent," "extraordinary intellectual

gifts," or "fortune" on their part. Rather, they thought

that "foresight, punctuality, and other homely and prudential

virtues"— as well as their belief in the seriousness and

value of their work— had insured realization of the firm's 3 goals. However important these qualities, they are no

guarantee of success, except when possessed by men like

William and Robert Chambers. The two were unquestionably

their own success secret.

When William conceived the idea of Chambers1s Edin

burgh Journal and Robert joined him in publishing it, they

were not novices in the world of print, thanks to their

^[Alexander Ireland], "The Late Dr. William Chambers," Manchester Examiner, May 22, 1883 (clipping). 2 This remark, from a speech delivered by Carnegie at the jubilee of the Chambers Institution in Peebles, appears in the Peeblesshire Advertiser and County Newspaper, Octo ber 23, 1909 and in Carnegie's own William Chambers; An Address Deliverd [sic] at the Celebration of the Jubilee of The Chambers Institution Peebles October 19th, 1909 (n.p., n.d.), p. 13.

3CEJ, N.S. Ill (1845), 2. careers as second-hand booksellers. In the course of his

work, William had become acquainted, he claimed, with all

available books, old and new, and had gained important

insights into business psychology as well. For instance, he

learned how to make merchandise attractive to customers.

Because frequenters of his stall were unaccustomed to getting

new books as cheaply as old ones, they refused to purchase

William's new books, even when he sold them at second-hand prices. "When they were resolute in wishing for used copies,

I said I would take their order and try to accommodate them.

This was not difficult to do, for I had only to cut up the

leaves, make a few cracks in the back, and give some indica

tions of rough handling. So improved, the books were

accepted as a decided bargain. I have known a drop of candle- grease on a title-page to have not a bad effect."^ Robert must have understood his customers well, too. By August 26,

1819, he could record that, in fourteen months, his business had drawn fcl57 2s 6d, of which £61 3s 9d was clear profit.

Moreover, the value of his stock increased accordingly. In

1819 it was worth £26; in 1820, £29; and in 1821, £56 10s.^

In addition, before they turned publishers, the brothers had both added complementary lines to their book selling. Robert established a circulating library in 1820;

2W. C., Memoirs of W. C .. p. 107. 2 Note appearing on inside fly leaf of Robert Chambers' Book of Sales beginning August 26, 1819. 220

William followed suit in 1823. William, as we have noted, learned to do binding, typesetting, and printing. He even tried to improve his writing skill, but in this respect he was less successful than Robert.^ Robert's first and second books, Illustrations of the Author of Waverley and Traditions of Edinburgh, so caught the public fancy in Edinburgh and

Scotland that his name was well-known before Chambers1s

Edinburgh Journal ever appeared. By 1832, he had written 2 twenty-three volumes which grossed L1050.

Over the long term, their native ability was as important to their firm as their experience was. William was a born businessman. A long-time friend, Alexander Ireland, testified that "as an organiser, and user of other men's wits, foreseeing and providing for every possible contingency, he 3 had not many equals." Given his efficiency, perceptivity, and social conscience, he managed the firm in an unusually enlightened fashion. At the firm's annual soiree in 1843, he reported that during the previous year the firm had been inspected by a crown commissioner who, in reporting to Par liament, recommended it "as in some sense a model for factory management." The commissioner was especially pleased with

^W. C., Memoir, 13th ed., Chap. 6 , passim. See also R. C., 1833 autobiography, p. 31, and W. C., Memoirs of W. C .. passim. 2 MS note in Robert Chambers’ handwriting, undated. 3 "The Late Dr. William Chambers," Manchester Examiner, May 22, 1883 (clipping). 221 the library for the employees. He was impressed as well by the school which had been established for the younger boys and to which had been added a Sunday evening school for both boys and girls. Moreover, to encourage thrift and good habits among the workers, the firm had established a savings bank and paid wages on Friday evening, when shops were open, rather than on Saturday.^-

William was fair to those with whom he dealt, knowing that employees gave good work only if they were treated properly. One author, on a visit to the firm, recounted that as she went with William through a room where young girls were folding printed sheets, he stopped several times to 2 praise them for the extra neatness of their work. Negoti ations with contributors to the firm's publications were carried out in the same spirit. Maria Edgeworth remarked about this once when she was discussing a proposal with them:

“Your friend Mrs. [S. C.] Hall has done me the favor to let me see a letter of yours, which if I had seen, & known nothing else of you must have immediately prepossessed me in your favor, but indeed all I have heard from her, convinced me of your kind & worthy character and of your truth & liber- 3 ality in all business."

^C E J , XXI (1843), 198. Marwick, Economic Develop ments in Victorian Scotland, p. 155, provides the information about the day on which wages were paid. 2 Crosland, Landmarks of a Literary Life, pp. 92-93.

^Letter from M. Edgeworth to ------Chambers, 222

However distinguished in business, William, as has

been suggested, possessed almost no literary talent. One

Edinburgh newspaper, reviewing his memoir of Robert in 1872,

called it "one of the most interesting badly written boohs it

has been our lot to review or even to read. There is an

unpardonable carelessness in the frequent crazy, jerky frag

ments of sentences, which impresses vividly on the mind the

fact so freely admitted, that of the two brothers William was

the better business man."^ James Payn, one of the later

editors of the Journal, described William's style as "bald, 2 and his ideas mere platitudes." Although he had enjoyed a

variety of reading in his youth, almost the only books

William read in later years were those he, intended to review

or to use in some other fashion in the Journal. He liked the 3 Waverley novels for their sense of Scottish history; but he

couldn't understand why there was so much fuss about Shake- 4 speare.

Fortunately for the firm's sake, Robert was a born

man of letters. He was not only an avid reader of anything written, but, more important, he possessed an undeniable

Trim, March 9, 1843.

^"Clipping from Edinburgh Courant, "William and Robert Chambers," February 12, 1872. 2 Literary Recollections, p. 111.

^W. C., Memoir, 13th ed., pp. 382-383. 4 Crosland, Landmarks of a Literary'Life, p. 89. 223

writing talent. It was he, rather than William, who knew popular tastes and could sense literary trends. By tempera ment and experience he was perfectly equipped to deal with

contributors on literary matters.^ When he was the Journal1s

editor, it was particularly attractive to beginning writers.

Even if a contribution was not accepted, the writer could count on receiving kind, helpful advice. For this reason,

Charlotte BrontS, after being discouraged by many publishers, wrote "i:he Chamberses for help. "... from them [she recalled] I received a brief and business-like, but civil and sensible reply, on which we acted, and at last made way."

(Their manuscript— published as Poems by Currer, Ellis, and

Acton Bell— was accepted by Aylott and Jones, the publishers recommended by Robert, because they specialized in publishing religious poetry.) What Robert's reply must have been like,

Camilla Toulmin (Mrs. Newton Crosland), who wrote for a variety of Chambers publications, comments at length in her Landmarks of a Literary Life about Robert1s sympathy for and sensitivity toward other authors: "[Robert Chambers] had much more sympathy with the struggles of authors than William had, having himself many more of their idiosyncrasies. . . . He had imagination and sympathy, and one of the kindest hearts in the world. He appreciated everything that was fine in poetry and imaginative literature, and though not so rapid in his judgments as his brother, the comparative slowness was that of one who looks all round a subject before coming to a decision" (p. 8 8 ). 2 Miss Bronte's remark, which originally appeared in the biographical note prefixed to the combined edition of Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey published in 1850, is recounted in Chapter 14 of Mrs. Gaskell1s Life of Charlotte Brontg and in Winifred G^rin, Charlotte Bronte: The Evoiu^ tion of Genius (Oxford, 1967), p. 307. 224

in tone at least, can be guessed from the following rejection

note to an unidentified contributor; "I very much regret

that my brother' has not joined me in thinking the enclosed

contributions suitable. I return them very unwillingly, and would hope that you will not be discouraged from allowing us

a sight of any other little effusions which you may produce

in the intervals of your laborious profession."'*'

Probably the most detailed— and gracious— evaluation

of Robert as editor came from Hugh Miller, who was to dis

agree with him violently on geological questions.

There is perhaps no other writer of the present day who has done so much to encourage struggling talent as this gentleman. I have for many years observed that publications, however obscure, in which he finds aught really praiseworthy, are secure always of getting, in his widely-circulated periodical, a kind approving word— that his criticisms invariably bear the stamp of a benevolent nature, which experi ences more of pleasure in the recognition of merit than in the detection of defect— that his kindness does not stop with these cheering notices, for he finds time, in the course of a very busy life, to write many a note of encouragement and advice to obscure men in whom he recognises a spirit superior to their condition— and that the compositions of writers of this meritorious class, when submitted to him editorially, rarely fail, if really suitable for his journal, to find a place in it, or to be remunerated on a scale that invariably bears refer ence to the value of the communications— not to the circumstances of their authors.2

It is abundantly clear that the manner in which each

"^Letter from R. Chambers t o ------, Novem ber 23, 1840. 2 My Schools and Schoolmasters or The Story of My Education (Edinburgh, 1858), p. 525. 225 brother handled business affairs depended in no small measure upon the effect of their family's misfortunes on their person alities.^" William, whom Robert once described as "from the 2 first dawn of nature as more cold and severe than I," pre ferred to expend his energies on business affairs rather than socializing. He seemed almost driven to overcome the shame of his family's failure. Through prosperity he developed an over-confidence in his own perceptivity and business acumen which combined with his almost machine-like perseverance and efficiency to make him a man misunderstood and disliked by many. Incurably egotistical, he did not hesitate to tell the 3 public how he had made a success of himself. Typical of his

■*Tor a succinct description of their personalities, see W. C. , Memoir, 13th ed., pp. 377-378. 2 R. C., 1833 autobiography, p. 20. 3 William's propensities in this respect were gen erally known. The reviewer in the Edinburgh Courant, writing upon the publication of the Memoir in 1872, remarked that, "Mr William Chambers, it is well enough known, has never been very much afraid of telling his own story. He has paddled his own canoe, and he cares not who knows it. It is also a fact not concealed— and we don't suppose he will take any offence now at a reference to it— that a few years ago he prepared a sort of autobiography, but was induced not to publish it at the time chiefly by the persuasions of his late excellent brother." ("William and Robert Chambers," Febru ary 12, 1872, clipping.) Somewhat more favorably impressed by William’s story was Mary Russell Mitford. Writing to Digby Starkey, she said, "... William Chambers . . . I know well and esteem much. He is one of the best illustrators of self-educated men. His wife told me that for three months, when a lad of eighteen or nineteen, he had set his heart upon a little portable printing-press exposed in a broker's window in Edinburgh for the price of eight shillings and ninepence; every night he walked half a mile round to see if the bargain had been caught up by another. . . . My heart warmed to both 226

proclamations on the subject was a speech which he delivered

at the Jedburgh Mechanics Institute on May 15, 1850. He

opened with the statement that "he went to Edinburgh a poor

boy, he was 'an apprentice for several years and maintained

himself upon a very few shillings a week, he devoted his

evenings to reading, and studied various sciences by the aid

of his spare pennies. He crept through five years in this

way and he could truly say that his education never did begin

till he took it in hands himself."1

Although his family and friends knew William to be

warm and affectionate, his excessive pride and boasting were

a painful joke to them. James Payn, in supporting his con

tention that Charles Dickens used William as the model for

Mr. Bounderby in Hard Times, recounted what William's postur

ing was like.

William was always talking of the poverty of his youth, and hinting, very broadly, at the genius which had raised him to eminence. He was fond of holding forth upon the miseries of a poor lad who had had to "thole" and toil for his livelihood, and had after wards, by diligence and merit, made a great figure wife and husband as they told me this story— lady and gentle man as both are in heart, manner, and acquirements." (The Friendships of Mary Russell Mitford as Recorded in Letters from Her Literary Correspondents, ed. the Reverend A. G. L'Estrange LNew York, 1882J, p. 353.)

^MS transcript of the "Speech of Wm Chambers Esqr at the Soiree of the Jedburgh Mechanics Institution on Wednesday 15 May 1850." The third person is used throughout this transcript. See Tylecote, Mechanics' Institutes of Lanca shire and Yorkshire, p. 43, for an account of William's having spoken at the Leeds Mechanics' Institute. T 227

in the world; and the peroration (for which every body was quite prepared, i.e., with their handker chiefs, not at their eyes, but stuffed in their mouths) used to be always, "I was thvii Boy." All this was hateful to Robert, and gave him, as well it might, extreme annoyance. I remember being applied to by the proprietors of an American magazine to write a sketch of the lives of the two brothers, and applied to Robert for the materials. He laid his hand upon my shoulder, and after expressing in the kindest manner his regret at being obliged to refuse me any favor, declined to give me his assistance. "I am sick of the twice- told— two-hundred-times-told— story," he said; "apply to my brother William, and he will be delighted to tell you the whole truth about it— and more. He will be sure to say that we came barefooted into Edinburgh; whereas, as a matter of fact, we came in the 'Flea.'"!

Robert's reticence about their past was essentially

the counterpart of William's boasting. He, too, had been 2 deeply affected by these experiences. As late as 1854, he

Literary Recollections, pp. 111-112. In attempting to refute Payn's assertion, Mrs. Janet Wills— sister of William and Robert and wife of W. H. Wills, Dickens' col league— wrote a letter to the News, which was copied by an unidentified Edinburgh paper on May 28, 1884. In it she said, "I have the strongest authority for stating that William Chambers did not sit 'to Charles Dickens for the character of Bounderby in his novel of "Hard Times."' Mr Dickens and William Chambers never met in their lives. Dr William Cham bers never lectured on his early career in Edinburgh or elsewhere." I have found no evidence which contradicts Mrs. Wills's assertion that Dickens and William Chambers did not meet. I have provided, in the preceding paragraphs, evidence of the fact that William did indeed lecture on his early life in Edinburgh. 2 Robert's children inherited their father's sensi tivity regarding this matter. Writing to Mrs. Wills on March 23, 1882, William told her, ". . . 1 learnt, through Mrs Priestley [Eliza Chambers] that what I had said regarding Roberts [sic] early struggles, in the 'Memoir,' published in 1872, had given deep offence to certain members of his family. Who these fastidious persons were, I have never learnt— but in the late editions of the work, I have done my best to 228

admitted to Hugh Miller that "I have sometimes thought of

describing my bitter, painful youth to the world, as some

thing in which it might read a lesson; but the retrospect is

still too distressing. I screen it from the mental eye."^

In order to bear the bitterness of these early years, he

cultivated what he termed a "Jew-like patience of contumely,

a quiet steady endurance of all kinds of injuries that could

be offered to my self love, which I had been taught by

repeated disappointments, and which I persuaded myself, by a

powerful exertion of the understanding, to be necessary for 2 my eventual rise."

Although Robert was known in his maturity for his

good humor, geniality, generosity, courtesy, and considerate

ness, these were not characteristic of him earlier. Eager to

get ahead after having been injured, Robert set about doing

so, according to his own admission, in the wrong way. Con

vinced that he could depend only on himself if he was to

suppress any notice of Roberts [sic] children, or their mar riages, which may so far, happily lessen the grounds of complaint." Given Robert's reluctance to talk about his past, it is misleading for Asa Briggs to suggest, as he does in the Age of Improvement, that Robert "was a self-made man with a passion for popularizing all kinds of knowledge. He was a 'precursor' of Smiles as well as of the popular evolutionists" (note, p. 480). Though undeniably self-made and a popular- izer, Robert was less Samuel Smiles' "precursor" (even in the loosest sense of the word) than William was.

^Letter from R. C. to Hugh Miller, March 1, 1854, quoted in Bayne, Life and Letters of Hugh Miller, II, 437-430.

^R. C., 1833 autobiography, pp. 22-23. 229 improve his condition in life, he became self-reliant to the point of becoming anti-social and antagonistic toward others.

While managing his first bookstall, he refused to recognize his old friends from Mackay's academy. They returned the favor. Moreover, he always stayed somewhat aloof from his book-selling colleagues, "so that, in the upward ascent which

I always expected, there might be no paltry friendships to clog my skirts, or taunt me with a forgetfulness of former humility."2

In dealing with his social superiors, however, Robert was eager to the point of impertinence. Nowhere was this more evident than in his relationship with Sir Walter Scott.

During his acquaintance with the older writer, Robert made 3 various requests for assistance. In an especially presump tuous one, Robert, using all the persuasion at his command, referred to his request as a matter "connected with national literature." He then proceeded to recount his early misfor tunes, stating that, although he had been "thrown upon the world (through the misfortunes of my father) without a single advantage but a good education (I began the world at sixteen

^"Letter from R. C. to Hugh Miller, March 1, 1854, quoted in Bayne, Life and Letters of Hugh Miller, II, 439. 2 R. C., 1833 autobiography, p. 26. 3 Robert first met Scott in February 1822 when he wrote out the songs from the Lady of the Lake and presented . them to Scott with a letter of introduction from Constable. (R. C., 1833 autobiography, p. 32.) 230 with two pounds), I have written some twenty volumes and upwards . . . ." These volumes had become so successful that, next to Scott himself, he believed that he was the "favourite national writer of the day in Scotland." Therefore, could

Sir Walter give them some notice in one of his articles for the Quarterly? If he could not, then Mr. Lockhart owed

Mr. Chambers at least a day's work for his contributions to

Mr. Lockhart's Life of Burns. Surely he would not refuse such a notice.'*' Scott declined to notice Robert's work 2 because of his own ill health.

The compatibility which, despite their temperamental differences, added to William's and Robert's effectiveness as a business team had also originated in their boyhood. Sep arated in age by only two years, they had always been each other's companions. When they were only thirteen and fifteen, they were already sharing all their thoughts and aspirations with each other. In later years, Robert recalled that "by

Letter from R. C. to Sir Walter Scott, March 1, 1831, quoted in the Private Letter-Books of Sir Walter Scott, ed. Wilfred Partington TNew York, 1930), PP* 240-241. Robert could hardly have been pleased by Scott's reply. 2 Scott suggested that Robert take up the "old book and curious edition line .... I believe the returns are readier than ordinary retail business it is the means of introducing you to good society & if you had an active cor respondence you might make a great establishment. . . . Think of this the line is highly respectable and when you become skillfull [sic] it is a passport into good society." (Letter from Sir W. Scott to R. C., March 7, 1831 [The Letters of Sir Walter Scott, ed. Sir Herbert Grierson (London, 1932), XI, 484-485J.) 231

our own frequent intercourse . . . everything that either

William or I knew or thought became a common property. We used to join cordially in the most merciless ridicule of all

common-place ideas and common-place people, and appeared

determined that, whatever should be our fortune in life, our own careers should not be of a tame or ordinary kind."^ When both were running their own bookstalls, William lived with

Robert. In the evening, they would discuss matters of busi

ness, or literature, or their prospects of getting on in the world.2

This early ability to understand each other and work together was especially important when they were running a large firm. It enabled them to develop a very flexible operation which was nevertheless highly efficient, as William himself testified: ". . .my brother and I acted on no prescribed rules as regards the amount or the character of individual labour. Nor did we ever reckon our efforts by a money value. Each, according to his own taste or fancy, did what he could for the concern. Instinctively we fell into our respective places; the result being that things moved on 3 with the smoothness of clockwork." So completely did they

"^R. C., 1833 autobiography, p. 20.

2Ibid., p. 28. 3 W. C., Long and Busy Life, p. 38. 232 trust each other that they did not draw up any formal partner ship agreement until 1848.^

As their interests changed over the years, William and Robert easily modified their handling of the firm's affairs. In the late 1830's Robert was beginning to feel the pressure of unrelieved work on the Journal. He had become so depressed by the early 1840's that he began to be concerned for his sanity. Still in this state in 1842, he explained to

William that "now that I am aware of what is the matter with me, and convinced of its cause, I feel comparatively relieved.

There is a very great difference between thinking oneself depraved and thinking oneself diseased; and, knowing the cause, one may have some hope of removing it, and so recover- 2 ing." He recommended, therefore, that they discontinue the

Journal at the conclusion of the twelfth volume. (His recom mendation was not accepted. The firm continued to publish the Journal until 1956.) He felt that he had given his best

^There had been an earlier, but extremely vague, statement of partnership. Dated August 25, 1832, it dis solved the partnership of Robert and James, another brother, as booksellers and of William, Robert, and James as propri etors of the Journal. The evidence would suggest that the 1848 agreement, which specifically states that there had been no other, was drawn up as means of protecting the firm, especially the Journal, against creditors of W. S. Orr, London agent for the Journal. Some of them believed that he had an interest in the Journal.

Letter from R. Chambers to W. Chambers [December 1, 1842]. 233 mind to it and that he could only be a deteriorating contrib utor thereafter.***

Mentally refreshed by having devoted much of the

1840's to scientific studies, Robert returned to full-time work at the firm at the beginning of the 1850's. William was able then to turn his attention to other projects. He found them so engrossing that when a new co-partnery agreement was drawn up in 1853, the shares in the firm were divided with a view to his eventual withdrawal from active participation in its management. Of the twenty-four shares, Robert held eighteen and William, six. Two of Robert's were sold to 2 their brother David and one to Robert's son, Robert junior.

But this arrangement, too, changed. Robert remained the principal director of the firm until the early 1860's when he

Letter from R. Chambers to W. Chambers [Decem ber 5 (?), 1842]. In this same letter, Robert rejected an earlier suggestion of William's that the Journal could continue under supervision of W. H. Wills, then its sub editor. "He may be a very respectable young man on other accounts; but no true literary man, no man with a real gift for literature, could have expressed himself as he has done in the first sentences of that article . . . I was quite alarmed when I read the article, and I cannot understand how Orr should have given him such a high character. It may be as well to get what work from him you can during the currency of the fortunately brief engagement . . . Robert's dis satisfaction with his own work on the Journal had become somewhat generally known at an even earlier date. Having heard of it, Thomas DeQuincey wrote from his debtor's lodg ings on January 23, 1839 offering his assistance to Robert as an essay writer (letter from T. DeQuincey to R. C . , Mrs. Miller's Lodgings, January 23, 1829). 2 This information is included in a printed memoranda drawn up by William Chambers and dated October 19, 1872, "respecting the late David Noble Chambers and his affairs." 234 went to live in London for the purpose of working on the Book of Days. Shortly thereafter his health declined so far that

William took on more managerial responsibilities. When both

Robert and David died in 1871, William stepped in and directed rhe firm once again.

Their relationship was so deep-rooted that it with stood the inevitable stresses which arose. As they grew older, they simply misunderstood each other at times. Such behavior was most typical of William. A memorandum he made while writing the memoir of Robert evidences how little appreciation he could have of his brother's work: "His life not possessing much incident, I infused into the Memoir some reminiscences of my own early struggles and subsequent career; such in fact being inavoidable [sic]. as we were so long intimately associated in literary matters."^ At other times, policy decisions led to disagreements. When W. S. Orr was offered a partnership in the firm, he refused on the grounds of such conflicts having occurred. "I have for many years been a Sort of Dictator in a Small way, and, should dread of all things having to undergo even such discussions with a person I respect so much as your brother as have taken place 2 between you and him occasionally." Yet they endured even these unsatisfactory times because of their need for and

^"Memoranda," 1871.

^Letter from W. S. Orr to [W. C.], January 5, 1852. 235

dependence upon each other, as William made clear in another

of his memoranda: "Robert having gone to reside in London in

March [1861], I am now pretty much alone."'*'

Despite the size and complexity of their publishing

firm's operations, neither William nor Robert confined himself to its affairs. Each also took part in the British

intellectual and social life of the day. The contributions which each made to it reflected their differing personal qualities and talents, just as had their contributions to the firm.

Robert's primary interest was in intellectual matters.

His early productions were primarily studies of Scottish history. One of these, the Traditions of Edinburgh, is highly prized today, for Robert was probably the last person to study the Old Town of Edinburgh thoroughly before it was altered beyond recognition. His enthusiasm for history accounted also for the Biographical Dictionary of Eminent

Scotsmen. During this first period of writing, Robert col lected Scottish folklore and folksongs, producing five volumes on these subjects. His suggestion to Archibald

Constable that he could write a history of the rebellion

■^William Chambers, Memorandum-newspaper clipping book, 1861. 236 of 1745 resulted in five volumes about Scotland's history.^

But, as he himself later remarked, his efforts at this time 2 were those of green youth.

He concentrated in the middle period of his writing on work for the firm. Besides editing and writing for the

Journal, he wrote for the Educational Course and the Informa tion for the People, edited the People's Editions of literary classics, and produced the Cyclopedia of English Literature.

His later writings were essentially serious essays in the historical vein which he had worked on earlier. The two outstanding works of this period were his life of Burns (1851) and the Book of Days (1864). Instead of basing his four- volume study of Burns on those of previous biographers,

Robert methodically collected fresh material, investigated controversial aspects of the poet's life, and, above all, drew upon his own fund of knowledge about native Scottish literature, particularly the country's songs and ballads.

The book profited from his friendship with Burns's relatives and George Thompson, the poet's friend and collaborator.

Robert's contemporaries were especially pleased that he had 3 woven together the poet's biography and his songs. For the

1T. Constable, Constable and Correspondents, II, 469. 7 R. C., Select Writings, I, i v .

^Thomas Carlyle wrote Robert that he found the first volume, which had just been published, "altogether good and pleasant reading. ..." He regarded as a "bold and genial notion, that of intercalating Burns's Poems into the Prose 237 modern-day student of Burnsf this weakens the book, since the poet's work is assessed in light of his life. The texts of the songs are not always accurate, either, since Victorian gentility demanded that they be altered for singing in polite company. The Book of Days, Robert's last major work, was a vast compendium of information--legends, scientific data, folk customs, historical incidents— arranged under the days of the year. He had- intended it to be his magnum opus, but it is an uneven work. Because he was in ill health and unable to get enough assistants, the collection shows evi dence of carelessness. However, there is nothing to equal or surpass it. Reissued in facsimile, it is still a standard work in twentieth-century reference libraries. Unfortunately, the research and writing for this book so taxed his then feeble strength and poor health that he wrote little of note thereafter.^

Narrative of his Life, and treating them as little bursts of musical utterance in the grand unrhymed practiced Tragedy which he enacted under this sunl" One thing about Robert's biographical technique bothered Carlyle. He asked him "whether [he] might not perhaps considerably illuminate [his] Delineation, and overcome the refractory effect of so many minute details, by dividing the history more firmly into masses, into epochs,— into distinct books and chapters? . . . What are the real epochs of Burns's Life; how did one phasis of it grow naturally out of the other,--act after act, scene after scene till the catastrophe arrived? The more you can instruct us about that, and leave that vivid upon our memories, the more shall we feel grateful to you, and enjoy and appropriate all your other merits as a Biographer." (Letter from T. Carlyle to R. C., Chelsea, 24 January, 1851.)

^With the exception of my evaluative comments, the material in these two paragraphs is a summary of information 238

Robert Chambers is perhaps best remembered today, however, for his contribution to Victorian science. It was his Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, published anonymously in 1844, fifteen years before Darwin's more sophisticated Origin of Species, which associated with the theory of evolution "a view of the universe as governed in its history and structure by the manifold ramifications of a single fundamental law."^ Or, as Robert expressed his thesis in the 1853 edition,

The proposition determined on after much considera tion is, that the several series of animated beings, from the simplest and oldest up to the highest and most recent, are, under the providence of God, the results, first. of an impulse which has been imparted to the forms of life, advancing them, in definite times, by generation, through grades of organisation terminating in the highest dicotyledons and verte- brata, these grades being few in number, and gen erally marked by intervals of organic character, which we find to be a practical difficulty in ascertaining affinities; second, of another impulse connected with the vital forces, tending, in the course of generations, to modify organic structures in accordance with external circumstances, as food, the nature of the habitat, and the meteoric agencies, these being the "adaptations" of the natural theolo gian. 2 provided in the Memoir. 3rd ed. Carlyle considered the last biography by Robert, the Life of Smollett (1867), the best thing ever written about Smollett. (R. C. Lehmann [comp. & ed.], Memories of Half a Century: A Record of Friendships [London"] 1918J, pp. 11-12.)

1 Milton Millhauser, Just Before Darwin (Middletown, Connecticut, 1959), p. 87. 2 With this point, quoted in the Historical Sketch to the sixth edition of the Origin of Species, Darwin partic ularly disagreed. However, he also remarked that the Vestiges. once its early faults were corrected, "had done 239

Although discussions of evolutionary principles were not uncommon in scientific circles, it was still the accepted belief at that time that the universe had been created in a single act of will by God, as recorded in the book of Genesis, and that God, by his will, continued to exercise control over all successive creative processes in the universe. When

Robert Chambers suggested that there were instead scientific laws which explained and governed not only the development of the higher life forms, but more especially the origin of life itself, he set off an emotionally charged debate which con tinued, only slightly diminished, well into the twentieth century.^

The writing of a work on evolution by the genial man of letters, the capable editor, the successful publisher, was no accident. It developed naturally out of his varied interests and preoccupations. Curiously enough, its original inspiration was the philosophy of phrenology. Shortly after

Gall's introduction of phrenology to Edinburgh in 1817, the excellent service in this country in calling attention to the subject, in removing prejudices, and in thus preparing the ground for the reception of analogous views" ([New York, 1897], I, xviii-xix).

^Two important studies treating at length the Ves tiges , the development of its theories, and the ensuing controversy are Millhauser's Just Before Darwin and Charles Coulston Gillispie's Genesis and Geology, Harvard Historical Studies, Vol. LVIII (Cambridge, Mass., 1951). I am deeply indebted to them for my understanding of the unique contribu tion of the Vestiges to its age. I have, however, been able to supplement the arguments of both from the primary sources to which I have had access. 240

"science" had attracted Robert. He was already using phren

ological terminology in a letter to a friend, written in

August 1821, referring to the "large developement [sic] of 1 the organ of self esteem in my head." Continuing his study,

he eventually accepted the principles of phrenology so

completely that, as we have seen, he wrote about it in the

Journal and derived from its educational philosophy the basis

for Chambers's Educational Course. He became so satisfied

of the credibility of phrenology that by the late 1830's he 2 set about writing a work on its philosophy.

At almost the same time, he became interested in

geology— a more legitimate science which had also aroused

considerable controversy. That it should have attracted

Robert's attention is not surprising either, for since the

end of the eighteenth century Edinburgh had been the center

of the debate over the opposing Neptunist-Vulcanist theories

of Abraham Gottlob Werner of Freiberg and James Hutton of the

1 Letter from R. Chambers to Mrs. ------Cross, August 1, 1821. 2 Letter from R. Chambers to William Wilson, 1836, quoted in Wilson, "Robert Chambers," Lippincott's, p. 221. His reference to "a philosophical work, which I design to make my chef-d'oeuvre ..." should not be interpreted to mean that he was already working on the Vestiges. In a letter to Alexander Ireland, written perhaps in 1845, he describes the philosophical work in greater detail: "In 1838, being in Manchester, I told Mr James Edmondston, the engraver, that I contemplated a philosophical work, but it was one on the philosophy of phrenology. It was partly written, but never brought near completion." 241

University of Edinburgh.^ Robert seems to have begun giving

serious attention to geology in 1837, for in hat year he

wrote to thank a friend for sending him a cc ’ ::tion of fossil

shells: "it is not only absolutely curious /aluable, but

it is just now peculiarly acceptable to me, ag, as you may

have guessed, in the commencement of a geolo.. fever, and

extremely anxious to make up a little collection of the 2 appropriate objects."

Given his acceptance of the uniformitarian principle 3 which was the thesis of George Combe's Constitution of Man,

it was inevitable that, as Robert studied fossils and other

geological phenomena, he should have concluded that there were laws which governed the development of the successive

stages of life. So far as he was concerned, "human intellect was a phenomenon which differed from the mental equipment of

lower animals only in point of refinement of operation.

Animal instinct . . . was clearly a nervous matter, and the

training of dogs and horses a process no different from educa

tion." Yet he was unwilling to discard theological orthodoxy

altogether. When attacked for asserting that he regarded

"inanimate matter as capable of taking on life and mind by

^Newbigin and Flett, James Geikie, pp. 149-151. 2 Letter from R. Chambers to D. R. Rankin, Septem ber 3, 1837.

^Combe extended this concept "from natural to moral and political philosophy." (Gillispie, Genesis and Geology, p. 190.) 242 its own inherent powers," he explained, "I believe in a personal and intelligent God, and cannot conceive of dead matter receiving life otherwise than from Him, though of course in the manner of order or law.Thus prepared intel lectually, Robert moved to St. Andrews in 1841 to work in private on his book.

During the years he spent in seclusion at his writing,

Robert could not have imagined that publication of the

Vestiges would cause more excitement among the reading public than any book since Scott's Waverley. In fact, as Milton

Millhauser notes in Just Before Darwin, Robert concluded the

Vestiges by remarking that, whatever the response, he expected it to be of little importance to him. The book was such a sensation and demand for it was so great that it went through four editions in its first seven months. By 1860,‘ there were eleven editions. Whether agreeing with its thesis or not, all Victorian Britain seemed to be aware of the

Vestiges. Scientists wrote articles and books about it, novelists and poets referred to it, noblemen and commoners talked and argued about it. Robert Chambers' life was never 2 the same after the Vestiges appeared.

At first, there was objection to the Vestiges based

Ibid., p. 157. Gillispie quotes the latter remark from "Appendix to the Introduction" to the 12th edition of the Vestiges. 2 Just Before Darwin, p. 164. 243 on scientific, not religious, grounds. Shortly after the book was published, Robert expressed his surprise over this to his wife: "Strange to say, there is hardly a word against it on theological grounds, but the scientific men find many faults."3' The criticisms were so serious that before suc ceeding editions appeared both the publishers and Robert, without revealing the author's name, sought assistance from a number of scientists, among them Dr. W. B. Carpenter, the physiologist; David Page, geologist; and Neil Arnott, 2 physicist. As a result, when the fourth edition with the

Sequel to the Vestiges was printed, James Forbes wrote

William Whewell that "the author . . . has improved his knowledge and his arguments so much since his first edition that his deformities no longer appear so disgusting. It was well that he began to write in the fullness of his ignorance and presumption, for had he begun now he would have been more dangerous.

Non-scientists were disposed to consider the Vestiges1 thesis so impossible that the quality of its scientific evidence was of less importance to them. Lockhart told

Croker that he thought it a "work of extraordinary knowledge and ability, dashed with apparently mad extravagance— the

^Letter from R. Chambers to Anne Chambers, undated. 2 Preface to 12th edition of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (London, 1884). 3 Quoted in Gillispie, Genesis and Geology, note p. 287. 244

effect, however, bringing into form all the elements of

infidelity scattered thro1 the modern tomes of Geology,

Botany, Zoology, etc., and written so clearly and powerfully

that the savans anticipate an outburst of orthodox wrath upon

their whole clique." Croker was not at all impressed. He

thought it a "very shallow humbug"— "a curious collection of

facts spoiled for either instruction or amusement by being pressed into the service of an odious, disgusting, revolting

and irrational theory."^ Crabb Robinson, like Lockhart, gave

it only limited approval: "An edifice very skilfully con

structed so that it will stand, though the materials are mere rubbish . . . .

Both scientists and general readers were aware of—

and disturbed by— the Vestiges1 indebtedness to phrenology.

Thomas Sopwith (mining engineer, amateur geologist, fellow member of the British Association of Science and the Royal

Society) told Robert in 1846 that the Geological Society had had a "glorious" meeting at which Adam Sedgwick, one of the most outspoken critics of the Vestiges, had been "in all his glory." When Sopwith suggested that Mrs. Catherine Crowe was the author of the Vestiges, "he [Sedgwick] said it was attributed to Chambers but added he whoever it is, it is some

’'""George Paston" [Emily Morse Symonds], At John Mur r a y 1 s: Records of a Literary Circle: 1843-1892 (London, 1932), p. 49. 2 Henry Crabb Robinson on Books and Their Writers, ed. Edith J. Morley (London, 1938), II, 652. 245

crack-brained phrenologist."^ Harriet Martineau, who unlike

Sedgwick was enthusiastic about the book, had been told by a

friend that Hewitt C. Watson, former editor of the Phren- 2 ological Journal, had written it.

The relationship between the Vestiges and phrenology

was immediately obvious to George Combe. After receiving a

presentation copy from the anonymous author, Combe described

its idea to Mrs. Lucretia Mott. He approved of the fact that

the author "adopts Phrenology as the philosophy of Man; and

argues that his views exalt our conceptions of the Deity, and

do not dispense with Him, as many persons would suppose."

Combe was less pleased, however, by the scientific argument

of the book. He admitted that it displayed "great scientific

learning," but thought it failed when "the author advances

the hypothesis that organised beings, vegetable and animal,

have been evolved out of physical unorganised matter, viz.,

carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, although he adduces

some facts which go a certain length in sustaining this sup position."^

In Scotland, especially, this combination of phren

ology and evolution, Combe and the author of the Vestiges,

^"Letter from Thomas Sopwith to R. Chambers, Janu ary 24, 1846. 2 Webb, Harriet Martineau, p. 296. 3 Letter dated October 10, 1844, quoted in Gibbon, Combe, II, 188. 246 was anathema. In 1845, the Scottish Association for Opposing

Prevalent Errors was formed "to undo the evils perpetrated by the Pope, the Puseyites, George Combe, and the author of the

'Vestiges of Creation.'"1 Two years later, Combe informed

Robert, a similar society (perhaps the same one) called in reinforcements for the cause: "I have just learned that at the meeting on Tuesday of the Society for 'opposing dangerous errors in religion' James Douglas of [unclear word] in the chair, it was resolved to invoke'the aid of Brewster, Buck- land[,] Sedgewick [sic] & other men of high scientific renown, to meet Combe and the author of the Vestiges! There 2 is honour for that author & mel"

As time went on, readers were less upset by the

Vestiges' scientific inaccuracies and its phrenological inclinations than by its "dangerous" doctrine. Charles

Coulston Gillispie in Genesis and Geology, a study of the impact of scientific discoveries upon religious belief before

Darwin, points out that there were far sillier and more erro neous books which, if they bothered the scientists at all, did not stir up such wide-spread controversy. The Vestiges'

"danger" rested in the fact that its thesis seemed to encour age "materialism." At that time, scientists— and non scientists— were still seeking to attribute moral qualities

1 Ibid., II, 275. 2 Letter from George Combe to Robert Chambers, March 11, 1847. 247

to the universe, and scientific laws did not very readily lend themselves to this end. Typical of these people was

Hugh Miller, who believed that the partially educated classes, particularly, would be corrupted by the book. In Footprints of the Creator, his rebuttal of the Vestiges, he said that

"the development doctrines are doing much harm on both sides of the Atlantic, especially among intelligent mechanics, and a class of young men engaged in the subordinate departments of trade and the law."'*'

While the Vestiges was probably Robert Chambers' greatest triumph, it was a limited one at best. His knowl edge of popular opinion told him that it would be a mistake to acknowledge himself as the book's author. The publishing firm, so dependent on public approval, would surely suffer, 2 and he and his family would become social outcasts. For some time, therefore, the guessing game which ensued equalled that occasioned by Waverley's anonymous publication. Among those identified as the Vestiges1 author were Thackeray, 3 Prince Albert, Lyell, Combe, Darwin, and others less likely.

^"Chapter VI of Gillispie's study is devoted to the work of Robert Chambers and Hugh Miller. (The quotation from Hugh Miller is to be found on p. 177.) Chapter VII, "How Useful is Thy Dwelling Place," is equally important for under standing Robert Chambers' work. It discusses the special implications this phase of intellectual history had on the political and educational reform movements of the time and its importance in the shaping of popular education. 2 Lehmann, Memories of Half a Century, pp. 7-8.

■^Gertrude Himmelfarb, Darwin and the Darwinian Revolu tion (Garden City, N.Y., 1959), pp. 208-209. 248

Although not formally revealed until 1884 by Alexander Ire

land, the last person living of the four who originally knew

the secret, the authorship came to be generally suspected

both in Great Britain and America by at least 1846.^ Robert

could, and did, endure loss of prestige because of his

association with the Vestiges. Nominated for Lord Provost

of Edinburgh in 1848, he was forced to withdraw because of

suspicion that he had written the atheistic book. What

acclaim he did receive dwindled away when the Origin of

Species was published.

Robert worked throughout the 1840's and 1850's on geological projects. At the end of 1849, his study of the

Tracings of the North of Europe appeared., His examination of

earth terraces in Scotland resulted in the publication of

Ancient Sea Margins, a work which again involved him in con

troversy. Most Scottish scientists preferred to believe that

Scotland's earth surface had been formed as a result of the

Biblical deluge. Louis Agassiz, however, proposed that extensive ice coverage, such as had occurred in Switzerland, had shaped Scottish topography. In 1852, Robert supported

^So quickly did the word cross the Atlantic that a Boston publishing firm, Gould, Kendall, & Lincoln, with which the Chamberses did business, wrote to say that "the literary circles here are surprised & pleased to learn who is the author of 'Vestiges of Creation',— not dreaming one of the 'regular trade' equal to such a performance." (Letter to W. & R. Chambers, May 30, 1846.) See also letter from R. Chambers to William Wilson, July 1847, quoted in Wilson, "Robert Chambers," Lippincott's, pp. 23-24, and Lehmann, Memories of Half a Century, p. 338. 249

Agassiz's hypothesis, contending that "floating icebergs and

currents of water" could not have produced the phenomena which he had observed.^"

These were his last significant contributions to

genuine science, because in the later 1850's his attention was drawn to the pseudo-science of spiritualism. At first, he was repelled by the interest in spiritual manifestations, the observation of which was becoming a fashionable pastime.

He complained to Alexander Ireland in 1854 that Mrs. Cath erine Crowe had become so affected by manifestations that her friends were beginning to suspect her reason. For his part, he didn't "know what to think of these phenomena. There is something real in them, and there lies their danger, in my opinion. I now forbid any persons under my influence from 2 tampering with the subject." He set out, with the encourage ment of many of his fellow scientists, to determine if there were any scientific means of proving or disproving the 3 existence of spirits. At the home of Camilla Toulmin Cros- land he took notes during seances, recording, for instance, the direction in which the table moved under spiritual

"^Newbigin and Flett, James Geikie, pp. 157-160. 2 Letter from R. Chambers to A. Ireland, March 4, 1854. 3 Archibald Geikie in his autobiography, A Long Life's Work {London, 1924), p. 50, indicates that Robert was not the only person conducting seances in the interest of science. Dr. Gregory, Professor of Chemistry at Edinburgh University, and others were doing the same. 250 influence. At other times, he used a compass in an attempt to detect the presence of magnetism which might account for such movements.^ Although many of his friends— among them

Mrs. Crosland, S. C. Hall, and the William Howitts— chose to believe Robert as enthusiastic about spiritualism as they, 2 this was not the case. In 1862, at a period when supposedly he had accepted spiritualism wholeheartedly, he reported to

Alexander Ireland that he was not completely convinced, because he believed that "all these people play tricks occa- 3 sionally."

Robert received due recognition of his various accom plishments. For his geological work, he was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and of the Geological

Society in London. He also belonged to'the British Associ ation of Science. In 1863, St. Andrews University granted 4 the town's most noted resident an LL.D.

^"Crosland, Landmarks, p. 254. 2 Mrs. Crosland1s remarks to this effect are in Land marks of a Literary Life, passim. S. C. Hall's appear in his Retrospect of a Long Life, pp. 473-474. A biographer of the Howitts, Carl Woodring, discusses their association with Robert Chambers and spiritualism in Victorian Samplers, p. 192.

■^Letter from R. Chambers to A. Ireland, February 28, 1862.

^W. C., Memoir, 13th ed., pp. 325, 336. 251

William Chambers' non-publishing endeavors, by con trast, were more concerned with social issues than intellec tual matters. Here, as in his business activities, he applied to great advantage his capacity to analyze problems and to organize and direct the work of others. The firm was well enough established by the late 1840's so that William's full time was no longer required to superintend it. Mis takenly thinking that he wanted to be dissociated from the city, he'acquired the estate of Gieriormiston in his native

Peeblesshire for £25,500 in 1849.1 During the next decade he confined his outside activities almost exclusively to

Peeblesshire. For sentimental reasons, he bought the house 2 in Peebles where he had attended dame school. For philan thropic reasons, he bought the Queensberry Lodging, a town landmark, and remodeled it to include a reading room, museum, 3 and library. He also became associated with the Peebles

Railway Company and was named its chairman in 1860. His tenure of office was cut short when, in January 1861, the

1W. C., Glenormiston: First Paper, p. 12. 2 He also purchased his birthplace. Ibid., pp. 50-51. 3 In 1910, Andrew Carnegie gave B10,000, under the provision of the Free Libraries Act, for the extension and upkeep of the library. (James Walter Buchan and Henry Paton, A History of Peeblesshire [Glasgow, 1925-1927], II, 151-152.) For some reason, which William did not understand, the library was never particularly popular after it was estab lished (Memoirs of W. C ., p. 162). 252

line was leased in perpetuity to the North British Railway

Company.^

After spending a little more than ten years in these

activities, William began to have second thoughts about what

his real interests were. By 1860, he at last admitted to

himself that "the life of a country gentleman, fascinating as

it appears, was not my rSle." He had managed to endure

country life only by varying it with business and literary

vfork. ^

For William was at heart a man of the city, one who i understood its problems as few others did. His concern with

these problems and study of them had begun even before he

started the Journal. But it was in the early 1840's that he

began to consider these problems seriously. When Edwin

Chadwick, as secretary of the Poor Law Commission, inaugu

rated the study of sanitary conditions in the cities of Great

Britain, he asked William to help prepare the report for

Edinburgh. Before submitting his findings, William visited

other large cities in Great Britain and on the Continent,

coming to the conclusion that Edinburgh was one of the

dirtiest and had the foulest air "in this or any adjacent 3 country." Chadwick, thanking him for his report, said that

^"W. C. , Memoirs of W. C . , p. 162.

^Ibid., pp. 161-162. 3 W. C., "Report on the Sanatory Condition of the Old Town of Edinburgh," Sanatory Inquiry— Towns in Scotland, p. 1. 253

it was the "most complete and important contribution I have

yet received from Scotland."'*' Inspired by what he had

learned, William used the firm's move to the High Street during the 1840's as an excuse for tearing down old buildings, improving air and drainage in that section of the Old Town.

By the end of the 1840's, he had become interested in

a related activity— housing reform. Along with several prominent citizens, including the Reverend William Garden

Blaikie, a leading exponent of improved housing for the work ing classes, he helped establish the Pilrig Model Dwellings

Company in 1849. Although approving of the group's objec tives, he criticized its attempt "to combine philanthropy 2 with commercial success" as uneconomic. He took time from his Peeblesshire work to write an essay’ on improved dwellings in 1855. In it he suggested that London and other large cities whose populations were expanding rapidly should con struct buildings of flats, in the manner of Edinburgh and

Paris.3

Once he resumed residence in the city in early 1860, he took a more active part in housing and city improvement

^Letter from E. Chadwick to W. Chambers, December 13, 1842. 2 Marwick, Economic Developments in Victorian Scotland, p. 2 1 2 . 3 W. C., Improved Dwelling-Houses for the Humbler and Other Classes: Based on the Scottish Dwelling-House System (London, 1855). 254 programs. He could not have undertaken the work at a more suitable time. The day before he was to take the chair at a meeting of co-operative building society recently established by two ministers, Begg and Nisbet, an old tenement in the

High Street collapsed, killing 35 people.'*' Immediately, several separate groups of philanthropically inclined people were formed to promote rehabilitation of the Old Town for the sake of public health and safety. Realizing that such dis organized efforts would be virtually useless, William remarked that, unless these plans were coordinated, “not a single step will have been taken towards the prevention of 2 disasters such as lately occurred."

Following these developments, he decided to write a tract on building societies, and left for a tour of England in late December 1861 to collect evidence. Upon returning to

Edinburgh, he delivered his paper at a meeting of the Archi tectural Institute, where it was so favorably received that he was requested to repeat it at a public meeting on Janu- 3 ary 29, 1862. As a result of the 1861 disaster— and perhaps inspired by William's reports— the city at last decided to take some official steps for remedying living conditions in

W. C., Memorandum-newspaper clipping book, 1861. See also Marwick, Economic Developments in Victorian Scotland, p. 214. 2 W. C., Memorandum-newspaper clipping book, 1861.

3Ibid., 1861-1862. 255

Edinburgh and appointed its first medical officer of health,

Dr. Henry Littlejohn.'1'

When William Chambers was elected Lord Provost of

Edinburgh in 1865, he resolved to take decisive action

against the city's problems. Reminding the Town Council in his inaugural address of the various ways in which his prede

cessors had benefited the city, William said: "Now, gentle men, it would be my ambition to emulate these public benefactors. Every man has his role. Mine seems to consist

in mental occupation in relation to social progress. Without

losing sight of what is proper as regards the ceremonial and festive duties of my office, I should like to be remembered

as a working Lord Provost— one who, with a wish to be useful, has left his mark on the town." Although many projects had been suggested as necessary for the city— a new railway station, improved vegetable markets, a new Town Hall, or a park for the West End— "it appears to me [he said] that all, or mostly all, of these designs must give place for a time to some distinct measures of sanitary improvement." Dr. Little john, who by this time had inspected and reported on the conditions of the city, had revealed that despite everything which had been done, "a large part of Edinburgh still remains exactly what it was before Columbus discovered America, or 2 James IV. perished at Flodden."

■^Campbell, Scotland Since 1707, p. 214. 2 Inaugural Address of the Right Honourable William 256 ** ),'i; By 1867, the Lord Provost was ready to present his ' plan for sanitary improvement to the Town Council. Despite disagreement over the exact specifications of the plan, the

Council finally accepted it. Under the provisions of the

City Improvement Act, the "Town Council as Trustees were empowered to acquire property compulsorily, to form new streets, to erect or lease houses to the value of £ 1 0 , 0 0 0 for evicted tenants, and to levy an assessment up to 4d. in the pound.Because William's term of office expired before the work of the Act was finished, a deputation of

130 doctors, including Sir James Young Simpson, asked him to 2 offer himself for re-election. He did so, and was duly returned to office, but retired as soon as his goals were 3 accomplished. The Act, the implementation of which eventu ally cost the city over a quarter of a million pounds and which resulted in the removal of 2,800 houses, was not entirely successful, primarily because the re-building was

Chambers of Glenormiston. Lord Provost of the City of Edin burgh on His Election by the Town Council, November 10. 1865 [Edinburgh, 1865J, pp. 6-7.

Hi arwick, Economic Developments in Victorian Scot land, p. 218. 2 Address of the Right Honourable William Chambers of Glenormiston, Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh, Decem ber 4, 1868, On his second Election to Office LEdinburgh, 1868J, p. 2 . 3 W. C., Long and Busy Life, p. 107. v. 257

left to private enterprise.^ William realized that it had

not been carried out as he could have wished. Yet he claimed

that, had it been, the death rate for that section of town

would have been fifteen rather than twenty per thousand per 2 year.

Today when many of the buildings erected under the provisions of the City Improvement Act are being demolished—

again in the interests of city improvement— William’s restora

tion of the High Kirk of St. Giles’ must be considered the 3 most lasting evidence of his civic work. It was also, however, his most controversial achievement, because he managed thereby to inflame historic Scottish religious animos

ity. Before the end of the seventeenth century this building had been divided to form four separate places of worship: the

^"Agnes Mure Mackenzie, Scotland in Modern Times: 1720-1939 (Edinburgh, 1941), p. 251. 2 W. C., Long and Busy Life, p. 107.

^In his remarks to the Town Council upon leaving office, William noted that he had suggested the restoration of St. Giles'. It was in this speech that he also described another of his proposals. He believed that Edinburgh needed a free consulting library like the British Museum and stated that the Faculty of Advocates were willing, under certain conditions, to give their library over to such a purpose. (Address of the Right Honourable William Chambers of Glenor miston. Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh, November 25, 1868, Previous to concluding his term of Office LEdinburgh, 1868J, p. 15.) This proposal, which William was probably the first to make, was not realized until 1929 when the Advocates' Library became National Library of Scotland. For the history of this long, slow transfer, see two articles by William K. Dickson, "The Advocates' Library," The Juridical Review, XIV (1902), 1-16, 113-128, 214-227, and "The Advocates' Library," The Library Association Record, N.S. V (September, 1927), 169-178. . . 2,58

High, the Old, the Tolbooth, and the New North Kirks. Early in the nineteenth century it was recommended that at least two of these be removed. The1 city, however, was unable to 1 provide the necessary funds. In 1833 another restoration 2 proposal failed because no money was available. Conse quently, as late as 1863, Lord Provost Lawson considered 3 St. Giles' a problem deserving Government attention.

Because the Town Council traditionally attended services at the High Church— the former choir— of St. Giles',

William Chambers had ample opportunity during his tenure as

Lord Provost to observe the building. He was horrified. Not only was it an architectural nightmare on the inside, but f there was also a "distressing mustiness in. the atmosphere, which ventilation failed to remedy, for the ground was satu rated with human remains, which ought long since to have been 4 removed as dangerous to the health of the congregation." In

W. C., Renovation of St Giles' Cathedral Church (Edinburgh, 1867: privately printed), pp. 3-4. At this time, however, the outside of the building was "restored." Shops built around the outside were torn down, and the walls were given a new casing. William's reaction to this work, which destroyed much of the character of the building, was not unlike that of many modern lovers of old Scottish architec ture: . 1 something better might have been had for the money . . . ." 2 "New Churches in Edinburgh," Chambers’s Historical Newspaper. April 3, 1833, p. 47. •3 Complimentary Dinner to Peter 5. Fraser, Esq. (Edin burgh, 1863: printed for private circulation), p. 1 0 .

4 W . C., Story of St Giles' Cathedral Church Edinburgh (Edinburgh and London, 1879), p. 25. ; 259 November 1867 he called a meeting for the purpose of discuss ing the building's restoration, but was not able to promote the work because he became ill. In 1871, however, a public meeting called for the same purpose appointed a restoration committee and elected William chairman.^

The restoration, to be confined to the High Church, was to be supported by public subscription, as well as by contributions from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and the 2 Government. Begun in June 1872, the work was completed by 3 March 9, 187 3. Despite the improvements made at this time,

William was not satisfied with restoring merely the High

Church. He hoped that the entire building could be opened up as it was before the Reformation. The Restoration Committee approved the next alterations he proposed, which were to cost

£1500. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners and the Magistrates and Town Council, however, would not give their approval unless William would guarantee "that he would be responsible 4 for the expense of the undertaking."

The Town Council minutes for 1875-76 clarify this unusual proviso. When the Council had been asked for a sub scription of £50 for this phase, controversy over the whole

^Ibid., p. 26. 2 W. C., "Memoranda," entry for November 13, 1871.

^W. C . , Story of St Giles', pp. 26, 28.

^Ibid., p. 29. 260 restoration erupted because of what was considered the Popish nature of the changes already made. At issue, among other actions, were the substitution of an altar for the Presby- terian-style central pulpit, the "statues" carved on the new stone pulpit, and relegation of the stone bearing the Ten

Commandments to an obscure place. After much discussion, the

Council voted down the proposal on December 28, 1876, con cluding its stated objections with this rebuke: ". . . it is contrary to every sound and Protestant principle for the

Corporation of Edinburgh to vote funds of the community in payment of these alterations; and that the most effectual means of preventing the extension of the evil is to follow the example of the Government, and leave the innovators to pay the cost of their past misdeeds."^ William's response to the attack was laconic: "As to the guarantee, it will be 2 duly liquidated without troubling any one for subscriptions."

When the restoration was two-thirds complete in 1879,

William was ready to undertake the last phase, improving the nave. Dr. Lees, incumbent of the High Church, learned that although the Ecclesiastical Commissioners would allow the work to go ahead, as soon as it was finished they intended to cut the nave off from the rest of the building and "make money out of it by permitting monuments to be erected, and by

^Minutes of the Town Council of Edinburgh, Session 1875-76, pp. 27, 39, 59-60.

2W. C . , Story of St Giles*, p. 29. 261 admitting the public as to a show place." Although the Com missioners denied Lees 1 report when challenged by the Town

Council and the Presbytery of Edinburgh, William was not convinced. He told a friend that "I look upon the project as only an attempt to cheat me. Possibly, it may have existed solely in the mind of the Commissioner who spoke to

Dr Lees, but it looks ill that I never had a response to my offer [to build a church for the congregation of West St.

Giles' and to pay for the restoration of the nave], and I entertain a poor opinion of the morale of old retired avari cious ministers and people of that sort.'1'*'

In 1881 the final stage of restoration was begun.

Consequently, when William last saw the work at St. Giles', he was pleased. According to Dr. Lees, "on a day in the early spring of 1883, when there was a gleam of sunshine, the old man was borne from his carriage into the nave of St Giles, and seated on a chair looked around on the work then rapidly approaching completion. 'I never could have believed,' he

Copy of letter from W. Chambers to an unidentified correspondent, July 25 [1879?]. In order to protect himself, William had a bill introduced into Parliament concerning the restoration, but even it ran into difficulties. One of the members from Scotland, Sir George Campbell, would not approve it if the word Cathedral was used in the Bill. Yet, if St. Giles' were referred to as a Parish Church, then non- Presbyterians would not want to contribute. But St. Giles' was not historically a parish church. On the other hand, it had only been a cathedral from 1633 until the reign of Charles II. The dilemma was finally resolved by designating St. Giles' as the High Kirk. (Letter from Lindsay Mackersy to William Chambers, July 30, 1879. Mr. Mackersy, a Writer to the Signet, was secretary to the restoration committee.) ' 262 said, 'that the interior was so fine.' . . . The old man looked around on it all, expressing his deep satisfaction, 1 and then departed. He never saw it again."

Two days before he was to preside at the dedication of St. Giles', William Chambers died. The service was held as planned, his nephew Robert reading the address which, characteristically, William had written in advance. The first religious ceremony in an undivided St. Giles' since the

Reformation was the funeral of William Chambers on May 23,

1883.2

The value of William's work did not go unrecognized during his lifetime. One of the new streets formed during the implementation of the City Improvement Act bears his name, and there his statue stands today. Because of his contribu tions to the firm and civic affairs, he was granted an LL.D. 3 by the University of Edinburgh in 1872. In 1881, he was offered a baronetcy which he refused. Although he accepted a knighthood from Queen Victoria in 1883, he did not live to receive it.•4- 4

■'"J. Cameron Lees, St Giles', Edinburgh: Church, College, Cathedral: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day (Edinburgh and London, 1889), 269-270. 2 Ibid., p. 270. See also W. C., Memoir, 13th ed., pp. 365-372.

^W. C., Memoir, 13th ed., p. 322. See also W. C . , "Memoranda," 1872. 4 Ibid., p. 365. Also W. C. , Long and Busy Life, p. 114. William and Robert Chambers did not achieve their success because they were Scotsmen working in Scotland. On the contrary, living at a time when Scotland and England were closer to amalgamation than ever before, they chose not to trade upon their Scottishness. As the Publishers' Circular commented in 1871,

it redounds to their honour that while steeped to the lips in love for Scotland, in adoration .for Burns, whose works they published and whose life Robert wrote, revelling in stories of '45, the High lands, Traditions of Edinburgh, and such like, the publishers fully appreciated the benefit of the union between the two countries, and sought to cement it in every way they could. They were not simply Scotch, they were British. They established a publishing house in the Row, and dated their books from London and Edinburgh. They studied the "Popular Rhymes of Scotland," but no less did they explore London manners and English antiquities. Hence the wideness and success of all they did.^-

Yet William and Robert did not deny their origins either. They could not, for their characters and their work were too thoroughly Scottish— in the broad sense, as defined by David Masson: "Scotticism is not an invariable thing, fixed and intransmutable. It does not consist in vaunting and proclaiming itself, in working in Scottish facts, Scot tish tradition, Scottish reminiscences; . . . it may be driven inwards; it may exist internally as a mode of thought, and there may be efficient Scotticism where not one word is

1 Obituary of Robert Chambers, dated April 1, 1871. © w © ° ‘‘7 (5) ^ 'aJ ~ O . * , * f.- .*;:*.t.vV*\ . 2 6 4 * * ti m « a *v _ ** * - : * * . 1 s.- ' -"*•*'v ■ • • ! V; ■}-• ♦* ...... r^'-V ; * V ' U 4 V, -v!■'.*■*t«'--F*- 5 .vvVi?;?’>■■■,■■’h : v said of the ^Thrstl-e^ and the activity is catholic and cosmopolitan."^

William and Robert were more than men of a particular country. They were men of their age. They possessed in abundance those qualities which have characterized Scots in every century— relentless energy, intellectual acuity, and indomitable pride. They were, as well, quintessentially

Victorian. As members of the middle class, they could speak familiarly to their peers in the age's dominant social class.

Because they used the printing press, the age's most influen tial tool, they could speak forcefully and freely, thereby transcending all political or geographical boundaries. In the final analysis, William and Robert Chambers were, pre eminently, Scottish Victorians.

1 Quoted in Davie, Democratic Intellect, p. 325. Davie is referring to Masson's suggestion, made in 1859, that Scotland's contribution may more truly be in contrib uting to the unity of Great Britain than in being an independent tradition, as a "defeatist spirit." APPENDIX A

CHAMBERS 1S EDINBURGH JOURNAL— WEEKLY DISTRIBUTION

BY CITY

265 CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL— WEEKLY DISTRIBUTION

BY CITY

1832

Edinburgh and Leith 10,000 Elgin 130 Glasgow 4,000 Paisley 300 Perth 1,400 Greenock 200 Aberdeen 1,200 Selkirk 100 Dundee 1,400 Kelso 100 Dumfries 1,000 Jedburgh 102 Dunfermline 400 Montrose 380 Inverness 200 Cupar 260 Stirling 300 Falkirk 337 Arbroath 200 Linlithgow 183 Kirkcaldy 200 Galashiels 132 Dunbar 100 Newcastle, Shields, Haddington 200 Sunderland, Carlisle Lanark 100 other towns in north Hawick 108 of England 2,000 Berwick upon Tweed 130 (CEJ, I [1832], 104.)

1833

London 7,000 Hull 250 Manchester 2 , 1 0 0 Norwich 175 Liverpool 1,400 Bath 75 Leeds 700 Derby 75 Birmingham 375 York 52 Nottingham 250 Bristol 50b

a14,000 copies were disposed of to London booksellers. At least half went through agencies to other towns.

These cities, except for some minor booksellers, were supplied directly by the London publisher. Glasgow 4 ,220 Arbroath 147 Aberdeen 1,653 Hawick 132 Dundee 1,158 Banff 130 Dumfries 800 Kelso 1 2 0 Newcastle 800 Haddington 1 2 0 Perth 788 Alloa 109 Paisley 500 Dumbarton 10 0 Greenock 500 Lanark 1 0 0 Dunfermline 300 Jedburgh 98 Montrose 326 St. Andrews 96 Berwick 261 Dunse 92 Stirling 260 Oban 77 Ayr 243 Linlithgow 72 Falkirk 214 Selkirk 72 Kirkaldy [sic] 191 Peebles 64 Cupar 175 Kinross 64 Elgin 170 Dunbar 64 Inverness 150

The remaining 25,000 copies went to Edinburgh and Dublin.

t aGlasgow's 4 ,220 copies were distributed to booksellers in neighboring towns as well. These towns, in some instances, received copies by other direct agents.

Greenock 84 Hamilton 36 Campbelton 72 Kirkintilloch 30 Airdrie 60 Campsie 30 Kilmarnock 48 Paisley 24 Irvine 48 Maybole 24 Saltcoats 40 Dairy 24

Isle of Skye 40 Orkney Islands 32 Shetland 49 (CEJ, II [1834], 1.) APPENDIX B

WORKS INCLUDED IN CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE

1835-1849

268 WORKS INCLUDED IN CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE

1835-1849

1835 Infant Education from Two to Six Years English Language and Literature

1836 British Empire, History and Present State of the Sciences, Introduction to the Chemistry, Rudiments of Plane Geometry, First Six Books of Euclid Biography, Exemplary and Instructive

1837 Drawing-Book, Second Matter and Motion, Laws of— Natural Philosophy Elocution, Principles of Solid and Spherical Geometry and Conic Sections Mechanics— Natural Philosophy

1838 First Book of Reading, under 6 Years of Age Second Book of Reading, more advanced pupils Third Book of Reading, Rudiments of Knowledge Biography, Exemplary and Instructive, N.E.

1839 English Composition, Introduction to Moral Class-Book, Advanced Reading Lessons Algebra, Theoretical and Practical [two parts] Animal Physiology

1840 Hydrostatics— Natural Philosophy Geographical Primer Drawing-Book, First Geographical Text-Book of England Infant Treatment under 2 Years of Age British Empire, History and Present State of the,

1841 Simple Lessons in Reading Chemistry, Rudiments of, N.E.

269 270

1842 English Grammar and Composition, Introduction to, Pt. 1 Zoology Practical Mathematics, Parts 1 & 2 English Grammar and Composition, Introduction to, Pt. 2

1843 Exercises on Etymology, with appropriate Examples Arithmetic, Introduction to Key to Algebra Sciences, Introduction to the, N.E.

1844 Vegetable Physiology Geology Mathematical Tables

1845 School Atlas, 34 4to maps Grammar, Introduction to

1846 Key to Plane Geometry

1847 Primer Atlas, 9 4to maps Arithmetic, Theoretical and Practical Caesar Key to Practical Mathematics, old edition Copy Books Matter and Motion, Laws of, N.E. Moral Class-Book, Advanced Reading Lessons, N.E.

1848 Virgil Sallust Astronomy— Natural Philosophy Electricity— Natural Philosophy Hydrostatics— Natural Philosophy, N.E. Mechanics— Natural Philosophy, N.E. Plane Geometry, First Six Books of Euclid, N.E. Chemistry, Rudiments of, N.E. History of Rome

1849 Meteorology— Natural Philosophy Latin Grammar, Advanced [?] Quintus Curtius Key to Arithmetic, a Sequel Book Keeping by Single and Double Entry Cicero