AustLit

Matthew Measure is a pseudonym for a collection of unnamed authors. In a letter sent to the Editor of the Commercial Journal and Advertiser, Matthew Measure writes: 'In coming to this Colony, three or four of us, to while away the ennui and monotony of a life on board ship, started a M S paper, which we kept up till we arrived at our destined port. Many of the articles caused great amusement, perhaps from the wish to be pleased with our efforts to amuse; but what ever merit or demerit they might possess, they were bona fide the coinage of our own inventions.'

In a notice To Correspondents addressed to Matthew Measure, the Editor of the Commercial Journal and Advertiser, indicates that Matthew Measure and the poet Whimsa are the same author: 'We are obliged to Matthew Measure, and, poetically speaking, to Whimsa; and although he (or they) will not appear in any other shape than a ghost, or by proxy, in forwarding his or their communications, we shall not, on that account, cast him, or them, aside.' (5 December 1838 p. 2).