The Poetry of Mary Robinson: Form and Fame

Bell’s Laureates II 69

of poems in the Oracle in 1794, when the paper was bought by Peter

Stuart. Robinson was for four years Bell’s laureate, although her

poems also would appear in other Treasury- supported papers such as

the Whitehall Evening Post and the Star. Before 1794, Robinson did

not publish in an opposition newspaper.

The Laura Maria Brand

When Robinson’s poetry started appearing in June of 1789, the main

interest of the Oracle was competing with the World on a cultural

rather than a political front—probably because, until Stuart’s crew

came aboard, Bell was better equipped to report fashion than news.

Bell mostly regarded the paper as a way of promoting the sale of his

books, which was far more lucrative than selling daily newspapers. In

addition, in June of 1789 Pitt’s government increased the newspaper

tax to drive opposition papers out of business (Werkmeister, London

325). So, it was safer, until a political patron could be secured from

either side, for the paper to avoid controversy and factionalism. Bell

established himself as conductor of the paper, the position Topham

held at the World, and declared in the first issue of the paper on 1 June

1789 that “APOLLO is the Standard, and he directeth THE ORACLE

OF TRUTH!” This was an invitation to correspondents that unabash-

edly alludes to the previous success of his Apollo Press, to his naked

Apollo statue as a symbol of his phallic authority, and more generally

to the god of poetry—all promising even greater literary acclaim than

the World could do. On 8 August 1789, Bell acknowledged in the

paper the effect that Pitt’s “new impost” had on its circulation but

cheerfully reported that sales have “far exceeded” previous figures

and are rising daily because “the Public have discernment enough

to discover merit, and spirit enough to reward it.” On 9 December

1789, the Morning Post gleefully announced that Topham’s despised

World has been “abandoned by its original choir of minstrels, the

poetic DELLA CRUSCA and his tuneful disciples ANNA MATILDA and

LAUR A.” Bell repackaged the Della Crusca network’s poetry as The

British Album, featuring the previously unpublished poems “The

Interview,” in which Della Crusca deplores Anna Matilda’s attach-

ment to another, and her final “To Della Crusca,” in which she prom-

ises to write a poem for him upon his imminent death. Bell proudly

announced on 1 December the forthcoming publication of this new

edition, including such special features as “revised and corrected”

versions of the poems, a new arrangement of the series, characteristi-

cally elegant printing—not in the manner of Poetry of the World but of

9780230100251_04_ch02.indd 699780230100251_04_ch02.indd 69 12/28/2010 11:08:26 AM12/28/2010 11:08:26 AM

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