ABSTRACT
Fraser'sMagazine,whilsthavingasubstantialreadershipamong thecountrygentry,carriedanumberofarticlesoncontroversial socialissuesoftheday,aswellaspublishing-withacertain reluctance-fictionwhichdealtwithsimilartopics.Charles Kingsley'sYeast,describinghardshipamongtheagricultural poor,appearedinitbetweenJuly-December1848(publishedin novelform1851),althoughJohnParker,theeditor,begged Kingsleytobringittoaspeedyend,sinceitwasupsettinghis readers.Thisarticle,bytheMancunianRobertLamb(1812-72), istypicalofthemoderatestyleofthemagazine.Itconveysasense ofdismayandhorrorthatsomuchpovertyshouldexist,and shouldremainoutsidetheconsciousnessofthecomfortably-off, yetitisanxioustotemperthisbyoptimisticglancestowards England'sindustrialfuture,andbyreassuringthereadersthat notallmastersareexploitative,uncaringtyrants.Itsclassicalreferenceindicatestheeducational,andhencesocialbackground whichitsreadersmaybeassumedtoshare.
