26 FEBRUARY 1831, Page 1

TEE important business of various kinds, requiring instant attention, has

led, in the present Number, to an encroachment on the columns usually devoted to Lite- rature.

Next week will inform us of the Collective Wisdom of the House of Commons re- garding Reform. We purpose to bestow great pains In displaying the Spirit of the Debates. We did think of giving them verbatim ; but, considering how much wearisome and idle stuff may be expected to accompany the talent and eloquence of the Honourable House, we are confident of being able to do more justice to the question, the speakers, and our intelligent readers, by another me- thod than theclumsy expedient of a Double Number, filled with a transcript or abridgment of the reports in the Daily Papers. We shall illustrate the subject by various documents, and the reason of every man who gives a reason for his vote shall be fairly rendered.

In a few copies of our first edition last week, by an unaccountable blunder of the printer, part of an article on the Budget was substituted for the close Of the article on the Quarterly Review's Manifesto against Reform. It must have puzzled those readers who unluckily obtained the incorrect copies, before the mistake was discovered.