: The Agony Column of the Times 1800-1870 by Clay Alice Editor - Newspapers

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Editor: Alice Clay

Transcriber's Notes

THE AGONY COLUMN OF THE "TIMES" 1800-1870

EDITED BY ALICE CLAY

London CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY 1881

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.

INTRODUCTION.

Readers of newspapers cannot fail to be struck by the mysterious communications which daily appear, and I venture to hope my selection of some of the most remarkable may interest those who peruse these pages.

Most of the advertisements selected show a curious phase of life, interesting to an observer of human existence and human eccentricities. They are veiled in an air of mystery, with a view of blinding the general public, but at the same time give a clue unmistakable to those for whom they were intended.

At the early period of 1800 the "Agony Column" seems to have been the chief medium for matrimonial advertisements; but, unfortunately, we are left considerably in the dark, and our curiosity as to whether the young nobleman eventually married the unknown "Catholic widow" is not gratified; but we do learn something, namely, that love at first sight was not so rare in those days as it is supposed to be in the present unromantic age.

There is little doubt that lovers separated by unfortunate circumstances, or by angry parents, as well as bachelors meditating matrimony, have found in the "Agony Column" a safe means of secret correspondence. With what despair did "One-winged Dove" beseech her lover, the "Crane," to return to her! Sorely must her patience have been tried as she scanned the paper in vain day after day for four months. The answer came at last , but only to kill every hope.

Through our daily walk in life we brush up against millions of fellow-men, yet of how few amongst them do we know anything? We each live in a world of our own; we draw a circle, as it were, around us, within which centre all our interests. How lightly our feelings are touched by what happens outside our circle is shown by the exclamation that escapes our lips as we read a fresh tragedy in the daily papers. The actors in it are unknown to us, and in a moment or two the paper is laid aside with a smile on our lips--the news that blighted many lives forgotten! But if it comes within the charmed circle, how different our feelings!

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