Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE TIMES, THE CHANGE OF TIMES, AND THE PRESENT TIMES. This, I must allow, is not only rather, but a very, indefinite term as a heading to any article ; for it might, under ordinary circumstances, be supposed to relate to the Times newspaper, the once known "Times" coach, the now well-known times-table of the railroads, or the equally well-known, but, as it should seem, little-to-be- trusted present times era. That it does not in any way relate to that stupendous machine, the Times paper, I hope any or all of those who have flattered me by reading what I have ventured to present to the public, will feel at once convinced of; for I must have taken leave of every particle of common sense I ever possessed, if I selected such a subject for my pen ; for if I said that the mode of publication of this leviathan journal is perfection, and that its leading articles are so written as to be a safe beacon by which every man may safely steer his course, from the statesman to the most unimportant member of society, I should be only saying what would be tantamount to informing the reader that we derive light from the sun ; and any panegyric of mine on such a journal would be of about as much consequence to it as would be the opinion of an omnibus conductor to Sir Robert Peel, if that opinion was that the ex-minister was a man of talent; and if, on the other hand, I was weak enough to say a word that could be construed into dispraise, it would only show that either I wrote on subjects that I had not read, or if I had read, that I had not sense to appreciate the talent that produced them. What I have said will satisfy the reader that the article on The Times has nothing to do with that great engine that carries public opinion with it, whether as first, second, third-class, or penny-a-mile...