PERIODICAL, a publication which appears continuously at regular intervals, and whose contents may be devoted to criticism, polities, religion, literature, science, arts, amusement, or general and miscellaneous subjects. Those periodicals which consist of a collection of critical essays arc called reviews.
The earliest periodical in Great Britain seems to have been the Philosophical Tranvor tions of the Royal &wiety, which first appeared in 1665, and contained notices of books as well as original papers. Periodicals professing to notice the books that were being pub lished appoared soon after from time to time under the name of All the Worhe of the Learned; and in 1692 appeared the Gentlemen's Journal, or Monthly .Mircellany, properly speaking, the first :English magazine. The Gentleman's Alagazine was ftunded in 1731 by Cave the printer, a periodical which secured a fortune for its proprietor, and, after survivinr• all its competitors, still exists. though lately somewhat assimilated in form to the new class of magazines. The periodical literature of Scotland was long represented by the Seats Magathie, founded in 1739. The first Foglish periodical dial attempted anything like criticism was the _Monthly Review, begun in 1799. It was followed in 175G by the Critical Review, founded by Sinollett; and these two were long the lead ing periodicals of their el,:ss, though their criticism was but meager and unsatisfac toryiacconling to our present. notions. Another critical journal, called the Ant, Jacobin, was established in 1198. In 1802 a new era in criticism was inaugurated by the establishment in Scotland of the Edinburgh Reviav (q.v ); which was followed in London by the Quarterly Rechw, of about equal merit and opposite politics, sup ported by sir Walter Scott. S. T. Coleridge, Heber, and at a later period by Hartley Coleridge, lord Mahon, and Gladstone. Another very important peri odical. Mark/pond's litiagazine, sprung up in Edinburgh in 1817. tinder the auspices of John Wilson and Lockhart, as much above the literary mark of former magazines. as the Edinburgh and Quarterly were above the mark of strongly devoted to the interests of conservatism, and, in its early years, somewhat violent in its polities. The review, in the course of lime, became the favorite medium for all par ties to disseminate their views on political, literary, or theological subjects. Of various reviews after the model of the Edinburgh and Quarterly, and puhlisacd, lika them, four times in the year, some, as the North British Rake and National Review. after having had a flourishing exis..ence for sonic time, succumbed to the demand for cheaper periodicals, appearing at more frequent intervals. Among existing reviews appearing quarterly may he mentioned the Edinburgh and Qvarterly, which are still among our foremost periodicals; the Westminster Review, established 1824, characterized by freedom in handling philosophical aml theological topics, and containing essays by J. S. Mill. Carlyle. Grote. Sterling, and lord Houghton; and the Dublin Rtnew,
Roman Catholic, founded in 1836. )any of the newer reviews appear monthiy. Of these, the Contentroram, Review and the Nineteenth, Century are both very ably cominctod; as is also the Fortnightly Review (at first•published twice a month), considered thu organ of the very advanced liberal party. There are also weekly reviews, which unite with the review more or less of the character of a newspaper: of these, the most widely circu lated and influential are the Athenaum„ established in 1828, the &ita•tlay -lievicie, in 1856; and the Academy, in 1869, at first published monthly. Other more or less recently established reviews are Nature (1869), a weekly (illustrated) journal devoted to the inter ests of natural science; the Popular Science Review (quarterly); and Mind (quarterly), established in 1870, and devoted to mental science. The articles in the older reviews are generally anonymous; in the newer, it has become to a large extent the practice for the authors to adhibit their names, The greater part of magazines or periodicals of a more miscellaneous character appear monthly, and their system of management is somewhat similar to that of reviews; but the articles arc generally shorter, the subjects more varied, consisting often of tales and novels, which appear there as serials, continued from number to number. Some of the most popular novels of the prdsent day have first been published in magazines. Black wood was the precursor of various monthly magazines of repute, the most important being Fraser's Magazine, established in 1850, which still preserves a high literary charac ter. The usual price of these periodicals is 2s. 6d.; but m 1859-60, several new maga sines, Macmillan3 Magazine, the Cornhill, Temple Bee, London Society, and the St. James's Magazine, were started at the cheaper price of a shilling, tinder favorable auspices, and the number of these shilling magazines is increasing. In Great Britain, there are now many weekly periodicals, chiefly of an instructive and amusing kind, price from a penny to threepence each. This class of publications received an impetus and proper direction by the issue of Chambers's Journal and the Penny Magazine of the " Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge" in 1832. It is customary for the publishers of these weekly sheets to issue them accumulatively in parts monthly under a cover, wherefore they hugely answer the purpose of monthly magazines. The rate of payment for writ ing in the higher class reviews is usually £10, 10s. per sheet of 16 demo 8vo pages; in the weekly periodicals, half aguinea to a guinea per cohnun is ordinarily paid, but in some instances the price paid is very much greater; such particularly is the case as regards novels.