The Covent-Garden Journal/Number 1

by Henry Fielding

THE COVENT-GARDEN JOURNAL.

By Sir ALEXANDER DRAWCANSIR, Knt. Censor of

GREAT BRITAIN.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 1752. Numb. 1.

To be continued every Tuesday and Saturday.

Cedite Scripores

Anglice,

By your leave, Gentlemen.

THE World, it is certain, never more abounded with Authors than at present; nor is there any Species more numerous than of those Writers who deal forth their Lucubrations in small Parcels to the Public, consisting partly of historical, and partly, to use their own Word, of literary Matter. So great, indeed, is their Multitude, that Homer's Simile of the Bees gives us scarce too vast an Idea of them. Some of these visit the Light daily, so that we may apply strictly to them the

Άιεὶ νέον έρχομενάων

Some of them again fly abroad only every other Day; some send forth their Works once a Week; others once a Fortnight; and others more sparingly indulge us only at the End of every Month with their Labours.

When I survey all these wondrous Works in my Mind, I am struck with no less Astonishment, than was the Foreigner when he saw Leadenhall Market; nor can I more conceive what becomes of all this Quantity of Paper, than he could find Consumers for so much Meat. The same Solution will, indeed, serve us both; for there are certainly as many B-ms in the World as there are Mouths.

Here, perhaps, I may seem to have advanced an Argument against my own Appearance, and it will possibly be said, since we have so many, (perhaps, too many,) of these Writers already, what Need have we of adding a new one to the Number?

To this I shall first give the same Answer which if often made by those who force themselves into crowded Assemblies, when they are told the Place is too full already, "Pray, Gentlemen, make Room for me; -- I am but one. Certainly you may make Room for one more."

Secondly, I believe it is usual in all such Crowds to find some few Persons, at least, who have sufficient Decency to quit their Places and give Way to their Betters. I do not, therefore, in the least question, but that some of my contemporary Authors will immediately, on my Appearance, have the Modesty to retire, and leave me sufficient Elbow Room in the World. Or, if they should not, the Public will, I make no Doubt, so well understand themselves, as to give me proper Marks of their Distinction, and will make Room for me by turning others out.

But, in Fact, had the great Numbers of contemporary Writers been any Argument against assuming the Pen, the World would never have enjoyed the Works of that excellent Poet Juvenal, who tells us, that they swarmed in a most prodigious Manner in his Time; but, so far from declining the Poetical Function on that Account, he assigns this as the very Reason of taking it upon him.

---Stulta est Clementia, cut tot ubique

Vatibus occurras, periturae parcere Chartae.

These Reasons, and this Authority, will, I believe, be sufficient Apologies to my Readers; but it may be, perhaps, more difficult to satisfy my Brother Authors themselves, to whom, I would, if possible, avoid giving any Kind of Umbrage. These Gentlemen, I say it with great Concern, are sometimes guilty of adopting Motives unworthy of the Followers of the Muses; and, instead of consulting the true Interest of the Republic of Letters in general, are too apt poorly and meanly to consider their own; and, like mere Mechanics, to be envious and jealous of a Rival in their Trade.

To silence, therefore, effectually, all such Jealousies, and Fears, I do here declare, that it is not my Intention to encroach on the Business now carried on by my Contemporaries, nor to deal in any of those Wares which they at present vend to the Public.

First then I disclaim any Dealing in Politics. By Politics, here, I cannot be understood to mean any Disquisitions into those Matters which respect the true Interest of this Kingdom abroad or which relate to its domestic OEconomy and Government; with none of which these Writers have ever yet concerned themselves. By Politics, therefore, I mean that great political Cause between WOODALL OUT, and TAKEALL IN, Esqs; which hath been so learnedly handled in Papers, Pamphlets, and Magazines, for above thirty Years last past,; and in which the Nation in general are as greatly interested, as they were in the late Contest between Thamas Kouli Kan, and the Sophy of Persia.

Secondly, I renounce all Pretensions to deal in personal Slander and Scurrility, a very extensive article, and of which many of my Brethren have been so long in Possession, that it would be in vain for me to dispute their Title with them.

Thirdly, I do promise, as far as in me lies, to avoid with the utmost Care all Kind of Encroachment on that spacious Field, in which my said Contemporaries have such large and undoubted Possessions; and which, from Time immemorial, hath been called the Land of DULLNESS. A late ingenious Predecessor of mine, in the Wantonness of his Heart, declared, if at any Time he appeared dull, there was a Design in it; on the contrary, I solemnly protest, that if I ever commit a Trespass of this Kind, it will be because I cannot help it. But here I must offer two Precautions. First, that I shall always object to the Evidence of any of the known Proprietors of this Field, as being too much interested in the Cause to be legal Witnesses. And, secondly, if my Pen should, now and then, accidentally be found straying in the said Field, it will not thereby become a Trespasser; as we Wits have, by Prescription, a Right of Common there per Cause de Vicinage, as the Law calls it. This Right we have enjoyed from the Days of Homer, who was sometimes found taking a sound Nap therein.

Thus, I think, I shall leave these Gentlemen in full Possession of all that they at present deal in. But there is another very good Argument to quiet their Apprehensions; the Price of my Paper being by Half, or at least, a third Part, higher than any other. To affect, therefore, any Fear of losing their Customers by my Means, is as absurd, as it would be in the Owners of Stalls, or Wheel-barrows, to affect any Jealousy in Trade of THE GREAT MR. DEARD.

This is a Point, indeed, infinitely below my Consideration; however, at the Desire of my Bookseller, I shall give the Public his Reasons for fixing the Price of Three-pence on this Paper, and which, he hopes, will be abundantly satisfactory.

First, he insists pretty much on the extraordinary Beauty of his Paper, and Print, which alone he thinks to be worth the additional Money.

Secondly, he urges the Quantity of the Matter which this Paper will contain; being, he says, more than double the Quantity of any other, and almost twenty Times as much as is generally contained in the Daily Advertiser. So that, says he,

l. s. d.

If Ditto Contents, in Ditto} 0 0 1.5

Advertiser, be worth--}

Then Ditto Contents, in Dit-} 0 2 6

to Journal, is worth --}

_________________________

Balance in Favor of the Journal, 0 2 4.5

Lastely, he lays some Weight on the superior Goodness of the Matter. On this, indeed, he lays very little Stress; however, he thinks it may be reckoned at something. Modesty forces me to suppress much of what he advances on this Head. One Particular, however, I cannot forbear inserting, as there is something new and whimsical in the Thought; I shall give it in his own Words; 'As you are a Man of Learning, Sir,' says he, 'and well travelled in the Greek and Roman Authors, I shall most probably, in this Paper, import many curious Treasures of Antiquity both from Greece, and Rome. Now, as Gentlemen daily give Hundreds of Pounds for antient Busts, and Statues, they will not surely scruple to give Three-half-pence for an antient Greek or Roman Sentiment.'

This is the Reasoning of my Bookseller; to imagin, indeed, that it is any Concern of mine, would be an Absurdity so great, that I shall not suspect any of my Readers to be capable of it. In an Age when all Men are so ready to serve their Country for nothing, I hope I shall not be thought an Exception. For my own Part, I cannot be supposed, by an intelligent Person, to have any other View, than to correct and reform the Public; and should have taken some Pains to have prevailed with my Bookseller to distribute these Papers gratis, had he not assured me, that such an Example would be of great Detriment of Trade.

INTRODUCTION

To a

JOURNAL of the present PAPER WAR between the

Forces under Sir ALEXANDER DRAWCANSIR,

and the Army of GRUBSTREET.

BEFORE I had fully resolved to draw my Pen, and to take the Field in the Warfare of Writing, I duly considered not only my own Strength, but the Force of the Enemy. I am therefore well apprized of the Difficulties I have to encounter: I well know the present dreadful Condition of the great Empire of Letters; the State of Anarchy that prevails among Writers; and the great Revolution which hath lately happened in the Kingdom of Criticism; that the Constitutions of Aristotle, Horace, Longinus, and Bossu, under which the State of Criticism so long flourished, have been entirely neglected, and the Government usurped by a Set of Fellows, entirely ignorant of all those Laws. The Consequence of which hath been the Dissolution of that antient Friendship and Amity which subsisted between the Author and the Critic, so much to the mutual Advantage of both People, and that the latter hath long declared War against the former. I know how cruelly this War hath been carried on, and the great Devastation which hath been made in the literary World, chiefly by means of a large Body of Irregulars, composed of beaux, Rakes, Templars, Cits, Lawyers, Mechanics, School-boys, and fine Ladies, who have been admitted to the Jus Civitatis, by the Usurpers in the Realms of Criticism, without knowing one Word of the antient Laws, and original Constitution of that Body of which they have professed themselves to be Members. I am, farther, sensible of the Revolt which hath been of the Authors to the Critics; many of the meanest among the former, having become very considerable and principal leaders among the latter.

All these Circumstances put together do most certainly afford a most gloomy Propsect, and are sufficient to dismay a very enterprizing Geenius; but I have often reflected with Approbation on the Advice given to Caius Piso, in Tacitus, to appear in open Arms in Defence of a just and glorious Cause, rather than to await the Event of a tame and abject Submission. How much more noble is it in a great Author to fall with his Pen in his Hand, than quietly to sit down, and see the Press in the Possession of an Army of Scriblers, who, at present, seem to threaten the Republic of Letters with no less Devastation than that which their Ancestors the Goths, Huns, Vandals, &c. formerly poured in on the Roman Empire!

When I had taken a firm Resolution of opposing this Swarm of Vandals, I concerted my Measures in the best Manner I was able.

In the first place I reviewed my VETERANS which were all drawn up in their Ranks before me. The Greeks led by Homer, Aristotle, Thucydides, Demosthenes, Lucian, and Longinus. The Romans under the Command of Virgil, Horace, Cicero, Tacitus, Terence and Quinctilian. A most formidable Body, all in gilt Armour, and on whom I can rely with great Assurance, as I am convinced the Enemy held not the least Correspondence with them; a Circumstance which gives me some little suspicion of my French Forces, of which I have a considerable Body, with Moliere and Bossu at their Head; but though some of the Enemy have been taken dabbling with these, I am well assured they are not likely to come to a perfect good Understanding with them.

Besides these, I have a large Body of English VETERANS, under Bacon and Locke, sent me in by Major-General A. Millar, who is a faithful Ally of the Republic of Letters, and who hath himself raised this Body, all staunch Friends to the Cause.

In the next Place, I have taken sufficient Care to strengthen myself by Alliances with all the Moderns of any considerable Force; but as this hath been carried on by secret Treaties, I cannot, as yet, publish the Names of my Allies.

(To be continued in our next.)