Page:Notes by the Way.djvu/99

29 Full information about Cave and the establishment of The Gentleman's Magazine is to be found in Timperley's 'Encyclopædia,' as well as an account of the difficulties he had to contend with in including a resume of the Parliamentary debates. In every department Cave took the most active interest; and Dr. Johnson, who succeeded William Guthrie in 1740 in the task of drawing up the Debates, relates of Cave that he

"used to sell 10,000 of The Gentleman's Magazine; yet such was then his minute attention and anxiety that the sale should not suffer the smallest decrease, that he would name a particular person who he heard had talked of leaving off the magazine, and would say, 'Let us have something good next month.'"

And such was Cave's unremitting care that Johnson observed to Boswell, "Cave scarcely ever looked out of the window but with a view to its improvement."

In The Gentleman's Magazine of the present day biography and history retain the prominence which have always been assigned to them; and under the head of 'Table Talk' matters of current interest are treated, while each number contains at least one short story. Mr. Chatto tells me that the number of contributors of more recent years has exceeded one hundred and fifty.

That this oldest of all the magazines may, for long years yet to come, continue full of life and vigour must be the wish of all who have enjoyed the vivid pictures of bygone times which, in such a consecutive form, are to be found in the pages of The Gentleman's Magazine alone.

The recent death of Dr. Leitner calls to mind that he was the originator of the title "Kaisar-i-Hind " as the official translation in India of "Empress of India." Sir George Birdwood in The Athenæum of the 11th of November, 1876, describes this as being "a most happy translation," and says that the complete style inspite of the mixture of languages might be "Maháráj-Adhirája Srí Rání, Victoria, Kaisar-i-Hind," Great Sovereign over Sovereigns, Consecrated Queen, Victoria, Empress of India. In the Commemoration Gallery at the Oriental Institute at Woking is the only statue in existence representing Her Majesty in this distinctive character, and in an account given in The Daily Telegraph it is stated :—

"It was executed at the time of the Diamond Jubilee by the Italian sculptor Signer Giuseppe Norfini, under the personal instructions of Dr. Leitner, and differs from all others in several essential particulars.