Romantic Triangles: Author-Publisher-Reader Relations in Early Nineteenth Century British Literary Magazines: with particular reference to the Familiar Essays of Charles Lamb, William Hazlitt, and Thomas De Quincey by Christopher J. Skelton-Foord B.A.(Cantab.), M.Litt. (Aberdeen) A Master's Dissertation, submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Master of Arts Degree of the Loughborough University of Technology September 1992 Supervisor: Diana Dixon B.A., M.Phil.(Leicester), Dip.Lib.(London), A.L.A. Departme·nt of Information and Library Studies '. @ C. J. Skelton-Foord, 1992 - iii - ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am glad to acknowledge my debt to my research supervisor, Diana Dixon, for advice and friendly guidance which have helped to ensure that writing my dissertation remained challenging and enjoyable. I am grateful to the staff of the British Library Document Supply Centre; Manchester Central Library; and the University Li braries of Aberdeen, Cambridge, Leicester, Loughborough, Manchester, Nottingham, and Staffordshire (especially its Assistant Humanities Librarian, Cathryn Donley) for their courtesy in making available to me their collections. Special thanks go to Mrs Hilary Dyer and Professor John Feather for their kind assistance at Loughborough, to Brandon High and John Urquhart for their encouragement and example, and to the School of English Studies, Journalism and Philosophy at the University of Wales College of Cardiff, whose award of a Corvey Senior Studentship in Bibliography from October 1992 provided me with the reassuring focus of knowing that my research into the production and reception of literature in the Romantic a~e could progress a stage further. Finally, I am very pleased to thank my sister, Cathryn, and my parents, Pat and Ben. Their continuous supply of generosi ty, interest, and support has been invaluable. - iv - DECLARATION This dissertation has been composed, and is a record of work undertaken, by myself. It has not been presented previously in application for any other degree. All quotations are acknowledged by quotation marks or by single- line spacing and indented paragraphs. The sources of all information used and illustrations reproduced are given. Dwsk('1-tllr ~ r \ Signed ...... ·~r~,::· .......... ~ ~ .. Date - v - TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgements iii Declaration iv List of Plates with their Sources vi Abstract viii Introduction 1 References to the Introduction 5 CHAPTER I Literary History Literary Development 6 Redefining the Kingdom 6 Towards the "New" Magazines and the Familiar Essay 13 References to Chapter I 24 CHAPTER II The Literature of Symbiosis 27 Critical Theory and the Romantic Periodicals 27 Writing, Culture, and the Market Place 33 References to Chapter 11 40 CHAPTER III Charles Lamb 43 "Who is Elia?" 43 Reading in Con-text 54 References to Chapter III 63 CHAPTER IV William Hazlitt 66 Vocation and' the Magazine Essay 66 Style and the Reader 76 References to Chapter IV 84 CHAPTER V Thomas De Quincey 87 Prisoner of the Press 87 Fashioning a Readership 98 References to Chapter V 106 Conclusion 109 Bibliography III - vi - LIST OF PLATES WITH THEIR SOURCES Page 1. Watercolour drawing of Charles Lamb 12 By G.F. Josepb, ARA, lB19. British flusellB Print Room. IPbotograph by Derrick E. ~itty.) Reproduced from Lord David Cecil. A Portrait of Charles Laob. London: Constable, 1983, half-title page. 2. Miniature of Wil1iam Hazlitt at 13 22 By John Hazlitt. Maidstone liusellB and Art GaUery. Reproduced froo John Kinnaird. Wi11iam Hazlitt: Critic of Po.er. New York: Columbia University Press, 1978, p. 9. 3. Portrait of William Wordsworth at 28 34 By Wi1liao Shuter, 1798. Coroel! University Library. Reproduced frow Lord David Ceci!. A Portrait of Charles Lamb. London: Constable, 1983, facing p. 48. 4. Portrait of Thomas De Quincey 37 By Sir John Watson Gordon, c. 1845. National Portrait Gallery. Reproduced from Richard Caseby. The Opium­ Eating Editor: Thomas De Quincey and The V1stEorland Gazette. Kendal: Westmorland Gazette, 1985, frontispiece. 5. Aquatint detail from "The South-Sea House" 45 By Sutherland, after Pugin and Rowlandson. Rudolph Ackernann's The Microcosm of London, 1818-1811. IPhotograph by Derrick E. Witty.) Reproduced fro. Lord David Cecil. A Portrait of Charles Lamb. London: Constable, 1983, facing p. 33. 6. Portrait of Samuel Tay10r Coleridge at 23 56 By Peter Vandyke, 1795. National Portrait Gallery. Reproduced from Lord David Ceci1. A Portrait of Charles Lamb. London: Constable, 1983, facing p. 49. 7. Replica, signed 1825, of William Hazlitt 67 from the cbalk-drawing by William Bewick, 1822. National Portrait Gallery. Reproduced from Jobn Kinnaird. ,'illiam Hazlitt: Critic of Power. New York: Columbia University Press, 1978, p. 281. 8. Portrait of Charles Lamb at 29 as a Venetian Senator 71 By William Hazlitt, 1804. National Portrait Gallery. Reproduced from ~innifred F. Courtney. Young Charles Lamb 1775-1802. London and Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1982, frontispiece. 9. Miniature of William Hazlitt at about 35 83 By John Hazlitt. Maidstone Museum and Art Gallery. Reproduced from William Hazlitt: Selected Writings. Ronald Blythe, ed. Harnonds.·orth: Penguin, 1987, front cover. - vii - LIST OF PLATES WITH THEIR SOURCES Page 10. Photograph of Town End "Dove Cottage", Grasmere 97 Reproduced from Richard Caseby. The Opil11Il-Eating Editor: Thomas De Quincey and The Westmorland Gazette. Kendal: Vestmorland Gazette, 1985, p. 107. 11. Chalk detail of Thomas De Quincey 103 From a sketch of De Quincey, his daughters, and his granddaughter hy lames Archer, RSA, 1855. Reproduced from Richard Caseby. The Opium-Eating Editor: Thomas Oe Quincey and The Westmorland Gazette. Kendal: West[orland Gazette, 1985, p. 114. - viii - ABSTRACT This five-chapter account of the production and reception of literature in British magazines examines selected familiar essays from the first half of the nineteenth century by Charles Lamb (1775-1834), William Hazlitt (1778-1830), and Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859), many of which appeared during the 1820s. Literary­ critical and historical analyses of the essays and their publication are provided, with reference to the wider bibliographical and biographical contexts of the three authors. Chapter One delineates the development of essay writing in periodicals from the eighteenth century into the nineteenth, considering the growth of the publishing industry and the reading public, and the nature of Romanticism. The discussion identifies James Boswell's "The Hypochondriack", familiar letters, and the pre-1820 essays of Leigh Hunt, Charles Lamb, and William Hazlitt from The Reflector and The Examiner as precursors of the familiar essay. Details of the inception of the Edinburgh and Quarterly Reviews, and Blackwood' s and the London magazines are provided. Chapter Two defines a symbiotic relationship between authors, publishers, and readers, in the contexts of early nineteenth century pronouncements on the magazine trade and modern critical theory concerning the reading of literature. Editorial and publishing practices, and the notion of writing for a living are also considered. Chapter Three critical examines some of Lamb's magazine essays, collected as Elia and The Last Essays of Elia, by exploring the li terary persona of Elia, the autobiography which informs the essays, the importance of The London l1agazine to Lamb's career, and the fluidity of the author-reader relations. Reference is also made to Lamb's earlier and later magazine contributing, his literary relationship with Coleridge, and his letters. Chapter Four explores Hazli tt's notions of authorship and his literary style, as revealed in his essays, particularly the "Round Table" series from The Examiner, and the "Table-Talks" from the London and New Monthly magazines. He challenges the reader with dichotomies of thought: common sense/common place, genius/skill, and Montaigne/Dr Johnson. Hazlitt's Shakespearean drama criticism, and, how his essays and lectures went to make up his books are both related to the discussion. Chapter Five explores the constraints of the magazine market upon De Quincey, the importance to his career of the Edinburgh magazines of Blackwood's, Tait's, and Hogg's, and intricacies of author-publisher-reader relations in his familiar essays, especially Confessions of an English Opium-Eater from the London. His literary relationship to Wordsworth, and bibliographical problems in the De Quincey canon inform the context. - 1 - INTRODUCTION How was magazine literature produced and received in Britain during the early nineteenth century? This study seeks primarily to answer that question, demonstrating how the relationship between authors, publishers, and readers was sometimes conducive, sometimes antagonistic to the work of the magazine essayist and to the way in which his work was read. It has been undertaken in the hope that Romantic Triangles will be of interest and of use to students and researchers in the fields of: English literature, librarianship, periodicals bibliography, and publishing history. The title indicates clearly the scope of this study. However, in the belief that literary history generally neither respects nor knows chronological boundaries, I have felt free to progress from the late eighteenth century (and sometimes earlier) and into the mid-nineteent~ century whenever a wider historical perspective is useful in developing and complementing my central thesis. Nevertheless, there is an emphasis in my discussion upon literature