The Express.
London, England, 1847-11-18 00:00:00

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LITERATURE OF THE LOWER ORDERS.
BATCH TRW FOURTH.
We proceed with our reports upon the literature of
the lower orders. The group of serials of this clam to
which we invite the attention of our readers to-day, consists
of The Sportsman's Magazine, a weekly issue of sixteen
~..ost gm, prim 2d., unstamped ; Sporting Life, same aim
pries; Chat, a broad sheet for • halfpenny ; Love,
ditto; The Child with Two Fathers, one penny, etc. The
tide of the first work on our list imperfectly indicates its
contents. A very harmless book—that is, harmless according
to the received moralities on the subject of slaughters by
" flood and field"—might be written under such a designa.
tion. To the uninitiated, it would probably suggest only
hunt-
thought of grouse, game, and trout ; of shootiog,
;no, and fishing ; and the question would naturally *rim—
What interest can these things have for the lower classes,
the readers of Holywell-street publications ? A slight in.
emotion solves the mystery. " Sport " has • far more
comprehensive meaning than this—according to the
Huh or popular interpretation. It includes also the turf,
the cockpit, and the ring, with other di ions of kindred
character, and all the questionable doings therewith con-
nected. These more reprehensible kinds of "sport" are
three most largely treated of by the oracle. Horse-racing
and prize-fighting have especially great attractions for cer-
tain of the most neglected sections of society, and more par-
ticulerly when in their worst forms of low black-lamina and
blackguardism. The amount of gambling done upon the
"great events" of each season is astonishing. In London,
and in all the large provincial towns likewise, there are hun-
dreds of houses in which this active process of social corrup-
tion is carried on. To meet and foster the propensities for
this species of gambling, even amongst the very poorest
classes, the stakes are arranged fr ,m pounds down to pence.
An advertisement is now in the morning journals of a
" sweep " to be held in Holborn, which is to be made up from
a thousand subscribers at one shilling each, which, as the
greater *umber must necessarily be blanks, is in every respect
a lottery, and there'ore illegal. Measures might and ought to
be taken to put these gambling transactions down. By such
works as that under notice, the spirit which incites them Is
fostered and encouraged. The principal feature, however,
of this particular serial, is the ample account which is given
of emery great fight, sad the sayings and doings of the world
of " fancy "—as the members of the prize-ring and their
friends and patrons are commonly denominated. These
brutal and brutalising exhibitions are still of frequent occur-
rence, notwithstanding their well.understood illegality.
They are not, however, now patronised by the higher elutes
in the way they once were. Thirty years ago, Byron could
be seen in the company of Jackson, and known to take
regularly his lessons in boxing, without losing caste.
The hero of fisticuffs was then something of a gentle-
man. But times and ideas have changed. No
man of cultivated intellect, nor, indeed, any man of the
world, would now think of laying " Boxiana" upon his
drawing-room tables, or placing works of • kindred character
conapicuously upon his shelves. The literature of the ring
has retreated into Holywell-street; and it now commands
readers only amongst the very dregs of society—those to
whom coarse, animal, stimulating aliment is most kindred,
and at the same time most dangerous and destructive. Here
they have, week after week, the rabid appetite for the
brutal ministered to without stint.
The work second on our list is issued from the same source :
we notice that an incorporation has recently taken place,
and that is future they will be carried on under the title of
Sporting Life. In the joint issue—which is so fee,
however, an improvement, as it leaves only one
work where before there were two appears a series
of papers called a " History of British Boxing." It
is a biographical history, and consists of a disgusting detail
of each individual ." set-to " of the various persons who have
distinguished themselves in the so-called " manly.art."
This is evidently the attraction of the paper. Next in order
of apparent importance is a series of articles on "Cock
Fighting." Then follows a " History of the Turf," not
such a history as might be written of this old. but, we fear,
somewhat degenerated, English pastime, which, strips of
some of its now attendant circumirtsnees for corruption,
would still be • worthy and useful, as it is • national amuse-
ment ; but a mere catalogue of slang, fit only for the tap-
room and the mews, for which places we apprehend it is
written. Every department of the paper considered,
we think Sporting Life is, however. a decided
improvement upon The Sportsman's Magazine, less
brutish and vulgar, leas exclusively devoted to the
ring—a fact which is not without its significance:
Of this anon.—VAat is not of importance enough to
demand especial notice. It aspires to be considered a sort of
Punch—it is in fact very small beer—or punch minus the
whisky, lemon, and sugar. Its jokes and smart things are
of the dullest, and yet not of the most delicate kind. Love
is apparently by the same hands. It is filled with love tales
and anecdotes, and it is the hardest reading one could well
imagine—except Chat. Neither of them will ever set the
Thames on fire. We notice them only because they represent
a genera—of which we can take so other notice. The Child
with Two Fathers is considered a taking title. Some
time ago The Wife of Two Husbands had a tre-
mendous run amongst the wives and daughters of
the poor and illiterate. As the success of the Mysteries
of Paris produced the " mysteries " of all the great cities
in the world, so has this piquant title produced its imita-
tions. These titles are of themselves sufficiently suggestive
of the stories connected with them. There are several
scores of this kind of weekly issues. " Love and Madness,"
The Gipsy Boy," " The Wife's Tragedy," &c., are
amongst the list. From about half-a-dozen to ten new
specimens of these precious brochures make their appearance
every week i and they all find readers somewhere—a con-
Ramat soil in which they can germinate and flourish. The
fruit thereof, could it be truly traced, would be found to be
indeed bitter.
Yet there is hope even in the midst of this moral laser-
house. The corruption is not uniform. The plague is not
permanent. it waits for the physician; but in the mean-
time it manifests of itself an organic disposition to recovery.
Throughout the whole of its history this low-clue literature
exhibits a constant and spontaneous tendency to improve.
Nature struggles perpetually to east off moral evil, as she
does to recover from physical derangements of the systems.
Tea, five, years ago, the literature of the lower orders was
more rapid and pestilential than it is now : far more. Two
years since, eves, the worst forms of the still existing rem-
nants of it were in the high ascendant. At that time the
Salisbury-square press was much more active and powerful
than it is now. Many hundreds of thousands of copies were
sent off from it over the country weekly. it is difficult to
assign the number, even roundly—but Mr. Lloyd certainly
led the command of the market at that period.
Ever since, however, he has been losing ground,
we believe. We are informed that his circulation
has fallen off at least one half. This certainly marks
an advance in popular tastes—sad indicates a 'gradually
rising level of intelligence in those classes which were his
best customers. It is interesting to know whither the readers,
thus detached, have removed their intellectual banqueting
to. Several new works such as The People's Journal, and
others of a high clam, of which we shall have to speak by-
and-bye—have commenced during the time; and the first
inference would naturally enough be, that the readers lost
by Lloyd had been picked up by Mr. Saunders. But this
would be wrong. The gulf which divides The Penny Some
day Times from The People's Journal is not to be passed in
a stride. Animal propensities—some sympathy with the
ludicrous and the terrible, the natural instinct of full
cizr
children and ungrown men—and the power of decip
letter-press, are all that iv required foe the understanding of
the former. The latter demands no small amount of mental
discipline and cultivation to be brought to its comprehension.
No man who could read the last would for a moment dwell
in contact with the first. They belong to two distinct orders
Of intelligence.
No, the deserters from Lloyd's literature have advanced a
step only forward. The London Pioneer has caught some
of them ; The London Journal still more ; and-TAe Family
Herald, perhaps,
_the remainder. While the lower periodi
cals have declined—declined notwithstanding the attempt
to arrest that tendency by improving their tone and matter
—these three, which are the next higher in rank, but still is
the same genera, have greatly increased in circulation. We
believe the present extent of their innate to be about 20,000
for The London Pioneer ; 50,000 to 60,000 for The London
Journal; and from 70,000 to 80,000 for The Family
Herald. The first two circulate almost exclusively in
large towns—the latter both in town and country, but prin-
cipally amongst females. Some of the former readers of
these last-named periodicals have betaken themselves to the
still better and purer literature which we have referred Sp—
end which has almost wholly sprung up within the two
years just past. The programs from the decidedly low to the
unquestionably high must nemmarily be slow and stage by

Itafleine figures, though they are only approximate and in-
complete, convey some idea of the extent of the evil of whisk
we are treating—as also • significant invitation to the
teachers and guides of the people to come forward and assist
in its suppression. Sound instruction would soon breed a
contempt for unsound literary aliment. Trash would
lose its attractions. Men will not feed on carrion when
wholesome feod is within their reach especially where
the carrion receive, no recommendation from the
manner in which it is dressed. A crusade against minor
tion is far mon feasible in the literature of England than en
that of France. With us it is found only, or at least thielly,
in such periodicals as we are now examining—works which
have no possible recommendation to persons of any taste and
cultivation. In France' on the contrary, sensuality, irre-
ligion' and false notions of honour, are enshrined in works
which, for artistic skill, power over the passions, and know-
ledge of life are perfectly fascinating. Art there seems to
have no higher purpose then to beautify sin, to render it
charming, piquant, agreeable. With us, fortunately, it is
gross, curse, vulgar—as it is always, and ought always to
appear. There we see theuelantholy phenomenon of genius
allied with moral impunty7that most fatal sign of ap-
proaching dissolution of society. This great evil we have
not to contend against. No such social crisis is approaching
in England as that which is foreseen in Paris ; but it is not
less incumbent upon us to use every endeavour to preserve
the moral condition of the labouring classes—the hurt of
our country—pun and sound, by carefully eliminating
every noxious and deteriorating element front their deity
mental food—that food which is to become their principle
of life.
In our next batch we shall look into the political depart-
ment of the literature of the Dower orders.

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN IRILAND.—There are in
Ireland at this moment 2,73.5 Roman catholic priests, 2,203
Roman catholic churches, 26 colleges, 68 convents. 93 nun-
neries, and 42 monasteries.