IX , 111.
circumventing Parliament.10 The Debates were prefaced with the statement, “ An Appendix to Captain Lemuel Gulliver's Account
of the famous Empire of Liliput,” or they appeared as “ A Letter from a member of Parliament to his country friend ;" or as the
“ Proceedings of the Political Club;" only the first and final letters of speakers' names were printed , names were given through anagrams, or the names of eminent Romans were attached to the various speakers, - various expedients were used since “ Parliament then kept the Press in a kind of mysterious
awe,which made it necessary to have recourse to such devices.” With reporters forbidden to report and printers forbidden to
print, the authoritativeness of the accounts of parliamentary debates may well be questioned . It was the custom of Cave and one or more friends to gain access to the House of Commons, secretly to take a few notes giving the substance of the argu
ments, and then to compare notes in a neighboring tavern. This crude material was then reduced to a form suitable for the Gen tleman's Magazine, by William Guthrie , or later by Samuel John son.12 It was in this reduction that opportunities existed for the 10 " It was no part of Cave's original design to give the debates in either house of parliament, but the opposition to the minister, and the spirit that
conducted it, had excited in the people a great eagerness to know what was going forward in both , and he knew that to gratify that desire was to en crease the demand for his pamphlet. Indeed the experiment had already
been made, for the speeches in parliament had for some timebeen given in the Political State of Great Britain , a publication above spoken of, and though drawn up by persons no way equal to such an undertaking, were
well received . These for the most part were taken by stealth , and were compiled from the information of listeners and the under -officers and door keepers of either house ; but Cave had an interest with some of the members
of both , arising from an employment he held in the post-office, that of inspector of the franks, which not only gave him the privilege of sending his
letters free of postage, but an acquaintance with , and occasions of access to many of them .
" Of this advantage he was too good a judge of his own interest not to avail himself." - Sir John Hawkins, Life of Samuel Johnson , p . 85. 11 Cave himself agreeably explained the situation : “ The candid Reader, who knows the difficulty , and sometimes danger, of publishing Speeches in Parliament, will easily conceive that it is impossible to do it in the very
words of the Speakers. With regard to the major part, we pretend only to represent the sense, as near as may be expected in a summary way ; and
therefore, as to any little expression being mistaken, which does not affect the scope of the argument in general, we hope, as not being done with design , it will be favourably overlooked . ” — John Nichols , The Rise and
Progress of the Gentleman's Magazine, p . xiii; Gentleman's Magazine, 1737. 13 Sir John Hawkins, Life of Samuel Johnson, pp . 85-87.
