 Writers who had been dependent on a rich patron in the past were now able to become self-employed by hiring out their services to the newspapers.The values expressed in this new press were overwhelmingly consistent with the bourgeois middle class - an emphasis on the importance of property rights, religious toleration and intellectual freedom in contrast to the restrictions prevalent in France and other nations.London's "The Gentleman's Magazine", first published in 1731, was the first general-interest magazine.