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Scottish Enlightenment, diarists and Gibbon
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Grub Street Journal (1730–37) was a satirical literary magazine, its jokey
name synonymous with literary hack work. The Monthly Review became,
in the later part of the century, the most significant and influential of the
literary magazines. The Bedford Coffee-House, in Covent Garden, was
in the 1730s ‘the emporium of wit, the seat of criticism, and the standard
of taste’, as London became the cultural capital of Britain, and London
tastes dominated and influenced the tastes of the nation.
Despite their seeming decorum, many of the magazines and journals
of the eighteenth century did engage in highly critical and controversial
debates. Indeed, many of the age’s writers used journalism as a vehicle
for their ideas, and some fell foul of libel laws and factional disputes
and were subject to prosecution for their ideas.
Daniel Defoe, for example, ran The Review for several years; he
then edited a trade journal, The Mercator, before becoming a novelist.
His strong opinions landed him in prison on more than one occasion.
Defoe is one of the first to write polemically about money, and the
new mercantile ethos in society.
O Money, Money! What an Influence hast thou on all the affairs
of the quarrelling, huffing Part of this World, as well as upon the
most plodding Part of it! . . .
And how art Thou to be obtain’d? How must we court thy favour?
Truly, just as the rest of the World does, where Thou art, we
must seek Thee. . . .
And this brings me down to the Times; Money is now the Business,
raising Money is the Affair, Ways and Means is the Word: . . . and
this is the Foundation of what we call Law, Liberty, and Property,
and the like modern Words very much in Use.
(Daniel Defoe, in The Review, 1707)
Other major figures, from Pope to Dr Johnson, used journalism as an
integral part of their literary careers. Writing, with the advent of journalism
and the growing popularity of the novel, was now a profession.
SCOTTISH ENLIGHTENMENT, DIARISTS
AND GIBBON
In the eighteenth century, the Scottish Enlightenment focused attention