THE DUBLIN PENNY JOURNAL. 1834-5. CONDUCTED BY PHILIP DIXON HARDY, M. R. I. A. AUTHOR OF "THE NORTHERN TOURIST," "PICTURE OF DUBLIN," &c. &c. &c. W. F. WAKEMAN, AND W. CURRY, JUN. & CO.; IN LONDON BY RICHARD GROOMBRIDGE; WILLMER AND SMITH Price 58. in Twelve Monthly Parts, and Ge. 6d. bound in Cloth. PREFACE. In presenting our readers with the concluding number of a Third Volume, we are sure it will afford them pleasure to be informed, that our little work not only holds its ground, but is really still on the advance; and that from the encouragement experienced during the past year, we have resolved on carrying forward our Fourth Volume with still greater spirit, and a more determined effort to render the publication deserving of universal patronage. Already we have had drawings made of the various public Statues and Monuments throughout the City, and have one or two new hands at work making sketches of the finest scenery in the country; and having ordered a new Machine from the respectable house of Girdwood and Co. of Glasgow, we trust we shall be able to do greater justice to our wood engravings than has heretofore been the case. That we should have succeeded, situated as Ireland is at the present moment, in establishing here a publication altogether free from party, politics, and personalities, is, we are aware, a matter of surprise to many; and we candidly confess, that it has rather surprised ourselves. It is indeed a circumstance on which we again reflect with satisfaction, that in glancing over the volumes we have published, there is scarcely a single line which we would now wish to expunge, or a sentiment which we would desire to alter. While our object has been to instruct and amuse, we have never wittingly permitted a paragraph to appear which could injure the morals, or hurt the minds or feelings of any of those various classes for whose reading the Journal is designed. In any incidental observations we may have made relative to men and manners, or to the existing state of things, we can conscientiously affirm, that the good of the lower orders of the people was constantly kept in view; and would appeal with confidence to the entire volume, to testify that we have steadily adhered to the promise originally made in our prospectus, not to admit the discussion of subjects connected with party or politics to form any portion of the present work. Of the difficulties of conducting a Journal like ours at the present moment, especially in Ireland, some idea may be formed from the opinion expressed by Lord Chancellor Brougham, with respect to similar publications in England. ere there is a much wider field for them. Before the Select Committee of the House of Commus on the Law of Libel, in June, 1834, he stated, "as a member of the Society of Useful Knowle that "although the Penny Magazine had been enabled to be sold so cheap, in consequence of its immense numbers, and still increasing sale, that that was a price which could not be afforded by any private individual; a society can afford it; and a sale of tens and hundreds of thousands can afford it." Here, then, we have had a task to perform which has been declared impossible for a private individual, by a late Lord High Chancellor of England-and we have performed it. Although we cannot boast of hundreds, we certainly can of tens of thousands; and we still look with confidence, not only for continued, but increased public support. Indeed, had we no other ground on which to claim public patronage than the constant employment which the Journal gives to a number of persons, engaged in the various departments of wood engraving, printing, stereotyping, folding, boarding, &c. the claim would be a valid one, in a country like ours, where encouragement in every branch of the arts and manufactures is s requisite at the present moment. But we have other, and stronger claims-the information the work affords, and the extent to which it serves to make known our country among the different nations of the world. The work is a national one. It is received as such in every direction. Already it has made its way to some of the more distant regions of the earth; and we are at this moment preparing stereotype plates to expedite its more extensive diffusion throughout America, where it is to be reprinted. We shall, however, leave the publication to speak for itself; and again say, that we only claim for it public support while it continues to merit it, by a strict adherence to its avowed principles, and a steady effort to retain the patronage bestowed upon it. June, 1835. |