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be out of place here, to suggest a few subjects which we consider specially adapted to these pages, viz., Poetry, Reviews, Essays, Novellettes, Correspondence, or any articles on general and current topics tending to encourage and cultivate habits of thought. We embrace this opportunity also to assure intending contributors, that as our only aim is to render the Magazine worthy of the Association, so, in the selection of papers we shall be guided solely by the one test of excellence.

In conclusion, we would express the hope, that the "Central Literary Magazine" may be another and enduring link in that chain of intellectual emulation and social goodfellowship by which we are already so closely bound together.

OUR MAGAZINE COVER.

THE following brief description of the Cover of our Magazine will enable the reader to understand and appreciate the thoughtful conception, as well as the artistic execution, of the design, for which we are indebted to our indefatigable member Mr. J. W. Tonks.

In the bas-relief at the top, in outline, is an Altar, which, as the fillet upon it shows, is sacred to Apollo and the Muses. On the front of the stone upon which it stands are depicted the torch of genius, the laurel crown, the pen and pencil, encircled by the endless snake-emblem of eternity. Behind the Altar is a "Greek about to meet Greek," indicating the intellectual warfare in which this Association is chiefly engaged, whilst the horses represent the ancient symbol of the human intellect. The conventional "Tree of Knowledge" at the back of the bas-relief, hints at the various branches of study which the Magazine and the Association desire to encourage; and the star of five rays above it points to that fellowship which alone can ensure success in the pursuit of truth.

At the base, Minerva's Owl is intended to foreshadow the wisdom that we hope to see displayed in our pages. The rose, shamrock, thistle, oak, dolphin, and leek-emblems of nationality, being surrounded by a bor. der composed of the ivy, to represent friendship; and the olive-peace and good-will.

THE ANNALS OF THE ASSOCIATION.

With the publication of this, the first number of the "Central Literary Magazine," the Association which many of us have so long loved and honoured, enters upon a new phase in its existence; and, we trust, into a new sphere of usefulness. Hitherto, while its influence has been lasting, its utterances have been fugitive; we aspire to make them permanent. Hitherto its members have been restricted to the verbal expression of their feelings; we aspire to supplement the opportunities for mental culture, and for the formation of individual opinion, which the Association has ever afforded, by others, which will at once allow a larger scope for careful consideration, possess a character of greater permanence, and open a field, as we hope, for the exercise of intellectual power on the part of some who have hitherto been silent members.

It has been thought that a chronicle of the rise and progress of the Association would form an appropriate part of its first essay in purely literary work; and however brief and imperfect such a chronicle must of necessity be, it is hoped it will not be without interest as the history of an old and valued institution, or without instruction as a record of its difficulties and dangers, and of the means by which they have been surmounted, and its present prosperity has been attained.

Like most, perhaps we may say like all other things, the "Central Literary Association" had a very small commencement. Magnitude has but a slight influence upon progress, but the principle of vitality is all important. That which possesses health, and can plead a valid raison d'etre, will grow great be its beginning never so minute; while that which lacks these qualities will dwindle into nothingness, be its opening as promising, and its tending as careful as it may. Hence it is not without some pride in the innate value of our Society, that we record the modest and unostentatious labour of its earlier years. It has given

help and pleasure to many outside the ranks of its own members, it has sought help or patronage from none. Self-helpful and self-sustaining; all that it has gained it has earned, and in the honest satisfaction of an honourable want, it has become useful and prosperous.

We are indebted to Mr THOMAS GRIFFITHS, (who divides with Mr. HENRY ALLBUTT, the honor of being the father of the Association), for an account of the actual origin of our Society. The idea of providing a means by which individual judgment might be cultivated, by fair and temperate discussion, was first started in a conversation between these gentlemen and Mr. J. D. DAVIES, (now in Australia); and the first friends of the Association are still numbered amongst its staunchest, and most honoured supporters. This conversation took place, early in November, 1856, and at a meeting, held at the offices of the Freehold Land Society, on the 7th of the same month, Messrs JAMES TAYLOR and SAMUEL EDWARDS being present, in addition to the three gentlemen already named; the Association was called into being, by the first resolution. "That a 'Central Association' for literary purposes be now

formed." A sub-committee was appointed, consisting of Messrs. GRIFFITHS, ALLBUTT, DAVIES, EDWARDS, and PICKERING, (all, with the exception of Mr. DAVIES, still members); and at two subsequent meetings, the first code of Laws was submitted and approved.

The first meeting of the Association for actual work, took place, on November 28th, 1856, and the rule being then, that the meetings should be weekly, the fourth Friday in every month being devoted to Readings, the evening was occupied, by a selection from the "Merchant of Venice," by Mr. R. PARDOE, and a speech by Macaulay, on the Maynooth question, read by Mr. ALLBUTT. The first debate, was held on the 5th December following, and was on the question of the interference of England, in the affairs of other nations. The Association possessed no President during its first Session, and appears to have numbered under twenty members. It's existence was at this time, to use the words of one of its founders "a struggle, and involved a great amount of labour, on the part of a few persons, who attached themselves warmly to the Association."

The first Annual Meetiug was held on November 13th, 1857, at the Clarendon Hotel. No record of this Meeting is extant, but from succeeding minutes it appears that Mr. JAMES TAYLOR was then elected first President of the Association: the records of attendance prove also that the numerical strength of the Society must have greatly increased. That its condition was, however, still one of difficulty, may be judged from the following somewhat amusing extract, from the minutes dated November 27th, 1857. "Then, no other member offering anything for the evening's amusement, the Secretary read extracts from Volney's Ruins of Empires, which were not received with the satisfaction the subject merited." The latter expression is a somewhat dubious one, except the members might have been supposed to have derived a prophetic satisfaction from the assurance that their Association would survive the Ruin of many Empires, then flourishing and apparently stable.

It would be impossible in the space at our disposal, to attempt anything like a detailed account of the doings of the Society during the sixteen years of its present duration;—and indeed, while the minutes of the meetings have been kept with great care and regularity, the loss of the annual reports for earlier years, has rendered the statistics of its growth, in great measure, a matter of conjecture. It is proposed therefore simply to chronicle, as an aid to many pleasant memories on the part of the older members, the chief landmarks in the history of the Association.

The practice of holding the meetings weekly, was abandoned after the first session, and from this period also, it was so far from being a recognised rule to devote a certain number of evenings to readings, that the course was evidently only resorted to in cases when it proved difficult or impossible to arrange for a debate.

The second Annual Meeting was held at Dee's Royal Hotel, on September 3rd, 1858. Mr. H. ALLBUTT being appointed the first Vice

President. The attendance is characterised as "good, though by no means so large as was expected." The first semi-public meeting appears to have been held on December 3rd, in the ensuing session, the subject for discussion being, somewhat singularly, the same as that debated on the first evening of the Association's existence. The minutes record the presence of a considerable number of ladies and friends. At the following meeting, it was moved.—“That any proposed member shall on the evening of his introduction, discourse on the subject under consideration for the space of fifteen minutes." This proposition failed to meet with a seconder, and would indeed, had it passed into law, have produced effects of an unlooked for character in succeeding sessions, when a dozen or more of new members have been admitted upon the same evening.

At the third Annual Meeting, which was held at the Hen and Chickens Hotel, 35 were present, and 13 new members were added to the Association. The place of meeting, which had hitherto been at the offices of the Freehold Land Society by permission, was now changed to the Athenæum Rooms; but the change being by no means conducive to comfort, it was decided in the following March, to remove to the room in the Hen and Chickens Hotel, since, with the interval of one session, occupied by the Association. *

The first Lecture delivered under the auspices of our Association, was given in the Athenæum Rooms by Mr. R. LOVERIDGE, the subject being "Are the Planets inhabited." The attendance is not specified. At this time a fear seems to have been entertained that the literary character of the Asssociation was not receiving due attention, and efforts were made to meet the difficulty by the alternation of lectures with debates. Accordingly, in the course of the session, Mr. FREDERICK GAVIN lectured on "Household Poetry," and Mr. ALFRED Browett on "Ireland and the Irish." Experience has proved that the Association must depend upon debate, as the principal means of maintaining the interest of members, but several plans have from time to time been devised, with the view of affording encouragement to work of a more purely literary character. The establishment of the Magazine has been promoted with the same object, and this project undoubtedly affords the fairest prospect of success, now that the Association has attained a magnitude which renders such an undertaking feasible.

The fourth Annual Meeting was attended by fifty members and friends, and the first extract notice by the public press, is inserted at the foot of the minutes in the form of a cutting from the "Daily Post" of Sept. Ioth, 1860. The session of 1860-61 is memorable for the First Annual Conversazione, instituted as a friendly re-union of the members, and as a means of promoting that social intercourse which is one of the primary objects, as it has certainly been one of the most pleasing results, of the

* It may be interesting to note here, that our Sister Association, the Birmingham and Edgbaston Debating Society, (with whom we have long amicably divided well-nigh the whole of the particular class of work which we undertake that is done in the town), was formerly located in the same building.

Society. The Conversazione was held at the Temperance Hall, on February 1st 1861, and the entertainment provided was purely of a literary, scientific, and musical character. About 180 persons were present, and the experiment was very satisfactory in all respects except that of pecuniary profit; the net result being a loss of £7 10s. 6d., which was made good by the Committee.

Up to, and long after this time, the minutes contain frequent evidences of the exceeding difficulty of inducing a sufficient number of members to take part in the debates. Those who have joined during the late years of the Association, when the problem has been rather to find time sufficient for intending speakers, and when debates upon interesting subjects have been more than once adjourned, can little imagine the difficulties through which the Society has struggled, or appreciate the debt of gratitude owing to a few old members, without whose persistent help its present prosperity would have been unattainable. Notices of postponement on account of insufficient attendance are by no means unfrequent; it is recorded of one meeting that the speeches were all of a "neutral character," and the incomprehensible result of another is that while three members followed the opener in the negative, no one whatever could be found to second the affirmative; yet the voting proved-affirmative, 16; negative, 1.

The minutes of the sixth annual meeting are of an encouraging character. Fifteen new members were nominated, and the Treasurer reported "a gratifying balance in hand." The full number of officers was shortly afterwards made up by the election of the first auditor, Mr. H. HATCH. The first debate of this session appears to have been very successful, and was adjourned; and the record of attendance generally shows a considerable increase. The Conversazione was held at Nock's Hotel,—dancing forming the latter portion of the evening's entertainment. A long account is inserted from the "Daily Post," of Dec. 18th, 1862. A summer excursion was also held in May, 1863-Warwick and Kenilworth being the places visited.

The first printed list of members was issued at the commencement of the succeeding session. The Conversazione was omitted this year. As all previous meetings of this character had resulted in a loss of greater or less magnitude, the question of their desirability was the subject of anxious and prolonged discussion by the committee. An attempt was made during the session to improve the attendance of members by the change of the night of meeting from Friday to Wednesday; but the alteration was decided upon too late to be carried into effect, until the session of 1864-5. The first public dinner of the Association was held on the 25th April, 1864, in commemoration of the tercentenary anniversary of the birth of Shakespeare, and was largely attended.

Shortly after the opening of the next session, it was found that the alteration of the night of meeting necessitated, also, a change of rooms, and from October 18th, 1864, the debates were held at the Royal Hotel.

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