both they and his readers will accept his apology ; they were all written in haste, when there was little opportunity for correction, and while he was under the pressure of various and urgent duties. Hereafter, however, he hopes to have again around him the aid which he has already so valuably experienced, and to turn it, both for the public and his friends, to more pleasing and more lasting account. THE VILLAGE MAGAZINE. THE RENEWAL.* Jam nova progenies cœlo demittitur alto. VIRGIL. HERE again comes the Village Maga!—the realization of the fabled phoenix, that sprung in freshness and vigour from the yet warm ashes of its former self,- the accomplishment of the poetic vision, in which the cold and bloodless statue was transformed to living and breathing beauty! Here again comes the Village Maga!· not in solemn and ominous silence, as when she first rose to "light, and life, and fame;" but ushered in with sounds of rural revelry and rustic enjoyments-with shouts and feux-de-joie; for it is the FIRST OF SEPTEMBER ! Who that spends his years of feverish existence amidst the perpetual crowd-the ceaseless tumult-the noise, and hurry, and bustle of the Metropolis—where interest concentrates and condenses every feeling of the soul into selfishness, and where the springs of life are worn down by the unchanging and unrelieved monotony of excite * It may be necessary to inform many of our readers, who are unacquainted with the fact of which this article apprises them, that a little work under the title of "The Village Magazine" was some few years ago established and conducted through three volumes with very considerable spirit and success, at the pleasant village of Wath-uponDearne, and that it only ceased in consequence of the inconvenience of managing an affair of this nature in so retired a place. It was chiefly at the instigation of many of the parties connected with the previous publication, that "The Village Magazine" has been recommenced where it can have every advantage of literary assistance, with, at the same time, a probability of greater utility and more extensive circulation. Vill. Mag. Sept. 1838. B ment, can form a just, or even feeble, conception of the joyous buoyancy of spirit and eager ardour of anticipation. which these magic words enkindle in the bosoms of thousands? The cares of state and the weal of nations, the calls of humanity and justice, and the toils of business, are alike unheeded or forgotten, when the First of September summons statesmen and legislators, professionals and merchants, to the exhilarating sports of the field. On every side are heard 66 the rude clamour of the sportsman's joy; On this day, and thus auspiciously introduced, comes forth the Village Maga, redolent with rural feeling and rural imagery-fresh and fragrant as the dewy landscape -transferring into the very bosom of the densely-peopled metropolis verdure more refreshing, and foliage of brighter hues than is furnished by her palace-girded shrubberies, and generating a purer atmosphere than is breathed even in her own beautiful parks: while, in return, it will bear into the peaceful retreats and secluded recesses of the country some portion of the elements of intellectual and commercial activity and greatness, in such incessant and wonderful operation in the noblest of modern cities, and the first capital in the world. Perhaps, indeed, nothing is more surprising than the general ignorance of the metropolitan-or, in accredited and authorized parlance, of the cockney-on almost every subject connected with rural economy and rural occupations, except it be the difficulty, or impossibility, which residents in the country, who have never enjoyed the distinction of a "visit to town," usually experience in forming an adequate conception of the giant size and mighty movements of the great Metropolis. To diffuse reciprocal information, therefore, on these important matters- to bring the town and country into closer contact, and more intimate communion-will in some measure accomplish in a lite rary, and scientific, and intellectual point of view, what railways and steamers effect in reference to business and commerce. Such a purpose the Village Magazine seems admirably calculated to answer, and, therefore, at once establishes a strong and extensive claim on public patronage, by such a reciprocity of benefits. The writer of this rambling article for whose thoughts and feelings would not wander with the boundless freedom of a glorious landscape unfolded and spread before himcherishes a vivid recollection of the deep and singular interest excited throughout the village of Wath-uponDearne and its vicinage, when the day dawned on which that "Curiosity of Literature," the VILLAGE MAGAZINE, first issued from its local press, and won for it the proud cognomen of "Queen of Villages." How would the great Metropolitan bibliopoles-the Longmans and the Murrays have smiled at the novel circumstance and novel mode of village publication! How would the contributors to Blackwood, Fraser, and Tait, have smiled at the motley table of contents, placing in intimate juxtaposition the sober moral essay and the laughable effusions of bashful modesty, the monody on departed worth and ludicrous specimen of the Yorkshire dialect; thus turning with the most pliant facility "From grave to gay from lively to severe." How, too, would the champions of elegant typographythe presiding genii of the Chiswick or the Aldine press have smiled at the magnanimous contempt of regularity and uniformity which every page displayed, by its beautiful variety of type, and by an admirable arrangement of the lines in graceful undulations. Yet was it, as a first attempt, in spite of all defects, most laudable and most creditable; displaying, even in its embryo form, a susceptibility of improvement of which its conductors were not slow to avail themselves, and ultimately attaining a degree and an extent of reputation seldom secured by periodicals of higher pretensions, and more aspiring character. And, "if the Village Magazine did nothing more," observes one of the worthies of "classic Sheffield," "it did, I believe, at least serve as a pleasing bond of union amongst several intelligent individuals in the neighbourhood; and when, on my visits to the banks of the Dearne, I have seen these three indigenous volumes neatly bound and labelled, standing on the bookshelf beside works of far more pretension, I have thought, that should the owner even feel any little self-complacency in the consciousness that some article of his was now contained in those pages, how harmless the vanity,- yea, how praiseworthy the record, compared with those village memorials which, were they to be written at all, the indolence, the ignorance, or the intemperance of but too many even of those who would deem themselves respectable, would compel truth to exhibit.”* True it is-strange would it have been if otherwise— that the Village Magazine was occasionally assailed by the ridicule of the ignorant and the opposition of the prejudiced; yet it terminated its brief but honourable career of three years amidst the unfeigned regret of the intellectual and intelligent. That under such circum-stances it should have fallen at all, affords of itself sufficient matter for regret :— O sua si bona norint ! Yet it died not. The "Phoenix spirit still burned within ;" and it has again sprung up, under other auspices, and with higher aims and objects, to diffuse information and communicate pleasure, not in a limited locality, but throughout the length and breadth of this mighty empire. *Tour of the Don. Two admirable volumes. |