An Autobiography of Anthony TrollopeTrollope, Anthony
General
An Autobiography of Anthony Trollope
Trollope, Anthony
Novelists, English -- 19th century -- Biography; Trollope, Anthony, 1815-1882
At the same time I was engaged with others in establishing a
periodical Review, in which some of us trusted much, and from which
we expected great things. There was, however, in truth so little
combination of idea among us, that we were not justified in our trust
or in our expectations. And yet we were honest in our purpose, and
have, I think, done some good by our honesty. The matter on which
we were all agreed was freedom of speech, combined with personal
responsibility. We would be neither conservative nor liberal, neither
religious nor free-thinking, neither popular nor exclusive;--but we
would let any man who had a thing to say, and knew how to say it,
speak freely. But he should always speak with the responsibility of
his name attached. In the very beginning I militated against this
impossible negation of principles,--and did so most irrationally,
seeing that I had agreed to the negation of principles,--by declaring
that nothing should appear denying or questioning the divinity
of Christ. It was a most preposterous claim to make for such a
publication as we proposed, and it at once drove from us one
or two who had proposed to join us. But we went on, and our
company--limited--was formed. We subscribed, I think, £1250 each.
I at least subscribed that amount, and--having agreed to bring out
our publication every fortnight, after the manner of the well-known
French publication,--we called it _The Fortnightly_. We secured
the services of G. H. Lewes as our editor. We agreed to manage our
finances by a Board, which was to meet once a fortnight, and of which
I was the Chairman. And we determined that the payments for our
literature should be made on a liberal and strictly ready-money
system. We carried out our principles till our money was all gone,
and then we sold the copyright to Messrs. Chapman & Hall for a
trifle. But before we parted with our property we found that a
fortnightly issue was not popular with the trade through whose hands
the work must reach the public; and, as our periodical had not
become sufficiently popular itself to bear down such opposition,
we succumbed, and brought it out once a month. Still it was _The
Fortnightly_, and still it is _The Fortnightly_. Of all the serial
publications of the day, it probably is the most serious, the most
earnest, the least devoted to amusement, the least flippant, the
least jocose,--and yet it has the face to show itself month after
month to the world, with so absurd a misnomer! It is, as all who know
the laws of modern literature are aware, a very serious thing to
change the name of a periodical. By doing so you begin an altogether
new enterprise. Therefore should the name be well chosen;--whereas
this was very ill chosen, a fault for which I alone was responsible.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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