" [Footnote: "Retrospect of a Long Life,
from 1815 to 1883." By S.C. Hall, F.S.A., i. p. 126.]
An inspection of the file of the _Representative_ justifies Mr. Hall's
remarks. The first number contained an article by Lockhart, four columns
in length, on the affairs of Europe. It was correct and scholar-like,
but tame and colourless. Incorrectness in a leading article may be
tolerated, but dulness amounts to a literary crime. The foreign
correspondence consisted of a letter from Valetta, and a communication
from Paris, more than a column in length, relating to French opera. In
the matter of news, for which the dailies are principally purchased, the
first number was exceedingly defective. It is hard to judge of the
merits of a new journal from the first number, which must necessarily
labour under many disadvantages, but the _Representative_ did not from
the first exhibit any element of success.
Mr. Murray found his new enterprise an increasing source of annoyance
and worry. His health broke down under the strain, and when he was
confined to his bed by illness things went worse from day to day.
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