oted .
Akin to letters to the editor are the " answers to correspon dents,” the prototype of which Jebb finds to be the oracles of
ancient days. “ Any one,” he says, “ who reads the columns of Answers to Correspondents in a prudently conducted journal will
recognize the principal types of oracle. . . . In editing an oracle, it was then , as it still is, of primary importance not to make bad mistakes.” 35 But themore immediate and direct ancestor of the " answers to correspondents” was The Athenian Gazette, a publication that
originated in the fertile brain of the versatile John Dunton. The idea seemed to him of such importance that he remarked to his
friends who were with him when it occurred to him , “ Well, Sirs,
I have a thought I will not exchange for fifty guineas." 36 The thirsting for information in regard to love and marriage, history
and philosophy, religion and politics , nature and science , and all other subjects on earth , in the heavens above, and in the waters under the earth . It evidently met the long-felt want, for Dunton
says, “ We were immediately overloaded with Letters, and some times I have found several hundreds forme at Mr. Smith's Coffee
house in Stocks Market, where we usually met to consult matters.” The name of the paper was soon changed to The Athenian Mer cury, later the questions and answers were collected in four
volumes under the title The Athenian Oracle. Being an Entire Col lection of All the Valuable Questions and Answers in the Old Athen ian Mercuries, and a still later selection in one volume,37— 50 perennial is the curiosity in regard to the curiosities of the past.
Imitation is the sincerest flattery and Dunton soon quarrelled with Defoe saying, “ This man has doneme a sensible wrong , by interloping with my 'Question -Project', Losers may have leave to speak ; and I here declare, I am 200l the worse for De Foe's
clogging my 'Question-Project . His answering Questions Weekly 35 R . C . Jebb, " Ancient Organs of Public Opinion ,” Essays and Addresses, P. 157 , 36 The Life and Errors of John Dunton , I, 188. Dunton 's own naïve account of his “ darling Project ” should be read in order to appreciate fully the conditions that made the questions and answers so popular .
37 The Athenian Oracle, edited by John Underhi
