302
NOTES AND QUERIES. [I2s.ii.0cr.i4.i9i6.
Following him John Taylor, who had been
the dramatic critic, became editor. He was
the author of ' Monsieur Tonson,' and was
avowedly promoted to the editorship that he
might forward the cause of a clique at Court,
in return for a substantial bribe. Dr.
Wolcot (Peter Pindar) used to write verses
and whimsical articles, and John Taylor, in
his memoirs (vol. ii. pp. 265-70), relates that
" they often remained at the office till three
in the morning," when they " were pleasantly
supplied with punch." Taylor held the posi-
tion for only two years, and was dismissed by
the proprietor, whose name is not known,
because he " thought I had not devil enough
for the conduct of a public journal."
In 1791 the paper was cast in heavy damages for libel, the action being brought by Lady Elizabeth Lambert, daughter of the Countess of Cavan. in consequence of a gross charge made against her. The jury awarded her 4,OOOZ: damages, probably the largest amount up to that time given against a newspaper.
In the following year Richard Tattersall became proprietor, and the paper was chiefly known for advertisements of horses and carriages. He was reimbursed for any loss by the Prince Regent, but he was not satisfied ; the circulation was only 350, and in 17 95 he sold the paper to Peter and Daniel Stuart for 600Z., this amount including the entire plant. Daniel took sole control, and he may be regarded as the real founder of The Morning Post, as from the date of his management its prosperity was established. He made the paper independent of party, but he and his brother do not appear to have been over-scrupulous, for in the year following its purchase Timperley records :
" 1796, February 7th, a forged French news- paper, called L'rlair, circulated in London. On the 3rd of July a verdict of 100Z. was given against D. Stuart of The Morning Post for sending the paper to the proprietors of The Telegraph ; and on the following day a verdict of 1.5007. was given against Mr. Dickinson for falsely accusing Mr. Goldsmid, the money broker, of the forgery."
Stuart secured a strong staff of contri- butors, including his brother-in-law James Mackintosh (afterwards knighted), Coleridge, Southey, Lamb, and Wordsworth all young men. Daniel Stuart at this time was only 29, while Mackintosh was but a year older ; Coleridge was 25 ; Charles Lamb but 25 when he joined in 1800 ; and Southey only a year older than Lamb. With such a staff the circulation of the paper rapidly increased, and Fox Bourne, in ' English Newspapers,' devotes a chapter to Daniel Stuart's writers, and re-
cords that Coleridge's ' Fire, Famine, and"
Slaughter,' which appeared in the paper on
the 8th of January, 1798, " caused some-
excitement and not a little indignation by
its allusion to Pitt ' letters four to form his
name.' ' Another of Coleridge's poems,
' The Recantation,' appeared on the 16th of
April of that year. To get Coleridge to do
any regular work was an impossibility ; lie
w r ould not attend to his engagements, and
went off to Germany with Wordsworth,.
Southey in his absence supplying the de-
ficiency. In the autumn of 1 799, on his return
to England, Stuart tried to fix him, taking a
room for him in King Street, Covent Garden,
and for some months he wrote a series of
articles on French politics. In these he so
denounced Bonaparte, and so severely
criticized the peace of Amiens, that Fox
referred to them in the House of Commons as
a principal cause of the renewal of the war
(' Biographia Literaria,' vol. i. p. 222).
Grant, in his ' History of the Newspaper
Press/ devotes much space to Coleridge's
connexion with The Morning Post, and his
" sterling honesty " as a journalist. He used
to insist that if he became editor of t he-
paper he " should not be interfered with as
to the manner in which he would conduct it.' r
Writing to Stuart on Catholic Emancipation^
he said : " If I write, I must be allowed to
express the truth and the whole truth."
Of Stuart's high opinion of Coleridge there can be no question, and but for the latter's unfortunate habit entirely due to ill-health and nervous depression he would have- gladly taken him into partnership. Un- happily, as we all know, quarrels arose, and when, in 1835, Coleridge's ' Table Talk ' appeared with the statement that in one year he had raised the sale of The Morning Post to 7,000 copies, Stuart, in The Gentleman'? Magazine, disputed this ; and Grarit shows the impossibility of such an increase, as " no morning paper ever attained a circula- tion of even 5,000 for many years after- wards."
I have confirmed this statement by reference to the Stamp Returns, and I find that in 1837 the sale was under 2,600, and, although it showed a steady increase until 1846, had then only reached 3,350. In the year of the Great Exhibition it had fallen to 2,600, and 1854, the last year for which the Stamp Return was issued, showed only a very slight increase.
Charles Lamb, as readers of ' Elia ' will remember, in his essay ' Newspapers Thirty- Five Years Ago,' speaks of " Dan Stuart " as " one of the finest-tempered of editors ""
