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The
Lady's Magazine; |
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| When you consider the
eagerness with which mankind make their addresses to the
shrine of beauty, you may not be a little surprised, that
you should be so totally neglected by the learned. The
press groans with monthly collections calculated for the
peculiar entertainment or improvement of men; and variety
of articles are strewed, with no sparing hand, by those
who would steal into the notice of the public, by
catching the favourite inclination of the times. Yet, as
your sex is in this age more employed in reading, than it
was in the last, it is something surprising that no
periodical production should at present exist calculated
for your particular amusement, and designed to improve as
well as delight. There is a kind of female elegance, appropriated to the fair sex; which is overlooked in compositions intended for men; but is necessary to fix your attention, or to gain your applause. The many avocations from domestic economy call for some amusement which might instruct at the same time as it relaxes. With this view the following work is presented to the radiant eyes of beauty. The subjects it treats of are such as are appropriated to the fair. Subjects that may tend to render your minds not less amiable than your persons. But as external appearance is the first inlet to the treasures of the heart; and the advantages of dress, though they cannot communicate beauty, may at least make it more conspicuous, it is intended in this collection to present the sex with most elegant patterns for the Tambour, Embroidery, or every kind of Needlework; and, as the fluctuation of fashions retards their progress into the country; we shall by engravings inform our distant readers with every innovation that is made in the female dress, whether it respects the covering of the head, or the clothing of the body. As this is a branch of information entirely new, we shall endeavour to render it the more worthy of female attention, by an assiduity that shall admit of no abatement, and by an earliness of intelligence which shall preclude anticipation. Dress is like the sun-shine introduced in the designs of Titian, it animates tee figures, and gives them all their embellishment. It should not then be thought strange, that we assign a particular department of our work to this elegant subject. In this we consult not only the embellishment but likewise the profit of our patronesses. They will find in this Magazine, Price only Six-pence, among Variety of other Copper-Plates, a pattern that would cost them double the money at the Haberdashers; and by the progressive improvement made in the art of pattern-drawing be furnished with drawings that will shew both the elegance of their taste, and their own perfection in managing the needle. The benefits of our performance will not be circumscribed within this narrow sphere. Every branch of literature will be ransacked to please and instruct the mind, besides the engravings designed to adorn the person. Interesting Stories, Novels, Tables, Romances, intended to confirm chastity and recommend virtue will be inserted every month. The whole treasure of the Muses will be displayed to the inspection of reason; and the house-wife as well as the peeress shall meet with something suitable to their different walk in life. A lady of some eminence in the literary world has promised to enrich our collection with a sentimental journey, during her progress through the kingdom; and as she intends, after she has completed her tour through this island, to extend her travels through the continent, we doubt not, but this article will be as entertaining to the imagination, as it will be instructive to the understanding. This is only a part of our bill of fare; if this
should seem sufficient to excite curiosity, we beg leave
to add, that we have stores in reserve, which will show
that, though we should not claim, we deserve to meet with
the patronage of the fair sex; and under such auspices
may look on encouragement as certain and success as
inevitable. |
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| The first issue of the Lady's Magazine appeared in August 1770 as a joint venture between the bookseller John Coote and publisher John Wheble. During April 1771 Coote sold his interest in the publication to the publishers George Robinson and John Roberts. The resulting dispute between Coote and Wheble led to a trial in July 1771 which found in favour of Robinson and Roberts. Undeterred, Wheble continued to publish a rival Lady's Magazine, but was forced to concede defeat to Robinson and Roberts in December 1772, when the final issue of Wheble's magazine appeared. The following is Robinson's and Roberts' published commentary on the dispute in the July 1771 issue. | ||
| The Authors and Proprietors of the LADY'S
MAGAZINE gladly seize every Opportunity of acknowledging
their Obligations to the fair Patronesses, and the
Public, for the generous Encouragement they have afforded
this Work, and for their Discernment and Justice in
discovering the malignant Attempts of a desperate
ADVENTURER. From the legal Detail on Monday July 8, 1771, in the Court of KING'S-BENCH, GUILDHALL, the Ladies can no longer hesitate in deciding which is the genuine Work, and will therefore please to order the ORIGINAL LADY'S MAGAZINE, published by Robinson and Roberts, who will spare no Pains, Labour, or Expence, to render it a Miscellany in all Respects worthy of a place in the Libraries of the Ladies of Great Britain and Ireland. To evince the flagitious Conscience of the Publisher of the spurious Magazine, under the same Title, it is only necessary to represent what the Judge declared from the Bench: In summing up the Evidence in his Charge t the Jury, he said, "That a Publisher's using the Mark of another to vend his own Goods was fraudulent, illegitimate and injurious to the Party whose Mark he assumed; that Wheble had been guilty of a simple Fraud, not only in publishing a Pamphlet under a false signature, and endeavouring to impose I on the Public as a Continuation of the genuine Work, but also in pretending that the real MAGAZINE, purchased by the Plaintiff, was surreptitious and an Imposition upon the Public; and, besides, that Wheble's Behaviour was highly treacherous to the original Proprietor, Mr. Coote, to whom he could be considered in no other Light than as a Servant or Agent." With such a respectable Authority on their Side, the Proprietors required no other Advocates than Truth, Justice and the Merit of their Work to recruit it to their fair Readers whose Patronage they flatter themselves constantly to obtain so long as their invariable Study shall be to deserve it. |
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The Lady's Magazine (1770 - 1800)