But to return to my "Aurora companions; they were nearly all characters, and to show how capable they were of the " dodge" practice to which I have alluded, I need only state that to save themselves the trouble, they contrived to throw the Chancellor's speech in bringing in the budget on me, whose experience did not extend to even easy debates, and a pretty budget I made of it! But the fourth estate was not then so enormously potential as now, and my budget passed wonderfully without much opposition or censure. Our editor was originally intended for the Kirk, and was a well-informed person; but to see him at or after midnight in his official chair, a-writing his "leader," was a treat for a philosopher. With the slips of paper before him, a pot of porter close at hand, and a pipe of tobacco in his mouth, or casually laid down, he proceeded secundum artem. The head hung with the chin on his collar-bone, as in deep thought a whiff-another-a tug at the beer-and a line and a half, or two lines committed to the blotted paper. By this process, repeated with singular regularity, he would contrive, between the hours of twelve and three, to produce as decent a newspaper column as the ignorant public required. Among my other coadjutors were Mr. Robinson, also educated for the Kirk, and a quiet man, Mr. Cooper, the author of a volume of poetry, which procured him the countenance of the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire; and Mark Supple, an Irish eccentric of the first water; he it was, who, waking out of an intoxicated doze, and seeing Mr. Abbot on the treasury bench (the house being in committee), called out "Master Speaker, as you seem to have nothing to do, I call upon you for a song if ye plaze." The fierce indignation of the Chair rose hotly against this breach of privilege, and the Serjeant-at-Arms was sent up to the gallery to take the offender into custody; but Supple adroitly escaped by pointing out a peaceful quaker, sitting two or three seats below him, as the culprit, and the affair assumed so ludicrous an aspect, that it ended in the worthy broadbrim being turned out in spite of his protestations of innocence, and without having fees to pay. Mark was, indeed, the licensed wag of the gallery, and to my apprehension and recollection possessed more of the humour of a Dean Swift, without acerbity or ill-nature, than any individual perhaps that has lived since his date. His drollery was truly Swiftish, and the muddling, snuffling, quaint way with which he drawled it out, imparted an extra laughable originality all his own. Decorous people ought not to laugh at funerals, or the anecdotes of Supple related in the mourning coaches which followed his hearse, would, much as he was really regretted, have convulsed Niobe all tears. With clews like these we tread the maze of state, Pleased with the guides who can so well deceive, THE life of a reporter is somewhat of an anomalous one; his tasks require considerable skill and judgment to execute them neatly and properly. His fidelity must be assured, for his responsibility is great, and the character of the journal to which he belongs depends upon his truth, and the public intelligence is fed or misled by his representations. The class ought to have taken a higher stand in literature and general estimation than they appear to have done; one prominent cause of which is probably to be found in the nature of their employment. They are (not so much as they were) nightbirds; but yet are, to a certain extent, debarred from the social relations and pursuits of day. At first the occupation is exciting, and always improving, and I know no better preparatory school for the bar, or almost any description of public life, than the training of a session or two in parliamentary drudgery. It is like reviewing, and by forcing the mind to consider many interesting and important questions, it creates a sort of universality of talent, not always superficial but always ready; this is a great advantage, and we have only to look around us for men who have attained high celebrity and station, which may be clearly traced to this kind of schooling. In a little time, however, the sameness of the work, notwithstanding its varieties, becomes exceedingly unsatisfying and irksome, Occasionally a brilliant affair may light up the imagination, but the tedium of a long continuance of mediocrity to deal with is wearisome beyond endurance. To divert this, and in their nocturnal transitions between the house and the printing-office, or at the close of the business, it is most natural for the reporter to seek some relaxation and amusement, and this induces a habit of tavern recreations, entertaining clubs, and whimsical debating societies, to pass the intermittent hour, till all is over. In the olden times inebriety, or rather indulgences closely approaching it, was almost the rule; now, we believe it to be the rare exception: for parliament, with its afternoon meetings, and watchman-like call of “ past twelve o'clock," to wind up proceedings, does not demand such heavy sacrifices from those who are its organs to the wide world. Our Aurorean establishment went on very well for a while, but as the great morning paper recently observed, "If you want anything spoilt or ruined, you cannot do better than confide it to the management of a committee." The truth was exemplified in the present case, and proof afforded of what I have always seen since that period, namely, that there must be a despotic power at the head of a periodical publication, or it must fall to pieces. Now our rulers of the hotel dynasties, though intelligent and sensible men, were neither literary nor conversant with journalism; thus under any circumstances their interference would have been injurious, but it was rendered still more fatal by their differences in political opinion, and two or three of the number setting up to write "Leaders" themselves. The clashing and want of ensemble was speedily obvious and detrimental; our readers became perfect weathercocks, and could not reconcile themselves to themselves from day to day. They wished, of course, to be led, as all wellinformed citizens are, by their newspaper; and they would not blow hot and cold in the manner prescribed for all the coffee-room politicians in London. In the interior, the hubbub and confusion of the republic of letters was meanwhile exceedingly amusing to the looker-on; we were of all parties and shades of opinion; the proprietor of the King's Head was an ultra-tory, and swore by George the Third as the best of sovereigns,—the Crown Hotel was very loyal but more moderate, the Bell Inn would give a strong pull for the Church,—whilst the Cross-Keys was infected with Romish predilections. The Cockpit was warlike, the Olive Tree pacific, the Royal Oak patriotic, the Rummer democratic, the Hole in the Wall seditious. Many a dolorous pull at the porter-pot and sapientious declination of his head had the perplexed and bemused editor, before he could effect any tolerable compromise of contradictions for the morning's issue at the best, the sheet appeared full of signs and wonders. Public vacillation and internal discords soon produced their inevitable effects. Aurora, "the pride of the day," passed her meridian, and began to get low in the horizon. Her gold-scattering turned out to be rather an artistic fancy in painting her, than a substantial reality. I had succeeded to the uneasy post of editor on the exhaustion of the pot and pipe, but vain were my efforts, and the darkness of night overtook the bright divinity of the morning. Another of my connexions with the press was not of long |