LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 CALIFORNIA 
 
 SAN DIEGO
 
 CHAPTERS 
 
 HISTORY OF JOURNALISM 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 PRINTED BY 
 
 SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE 
 LONDON
 
 ENGLISH NEWSPAPERS 
 
 of goumalism 
 
 BY 
 
 H . R. FOX BOURNE 
 
 AUTHOR OF 'THE LIFE OF JOHN LOCKE' 'A MEMOIR OF SIR PHILIP SIDNF.V 
 
 'ENGLISH MERCHANTS' 'ENGLISH SEAMEN UNDER THE TUDORS' 
 
 ' THE STORY OF OUR COLONIES ' ETC. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES 
 VOL. I. 
 
 CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY 
 
 1887 
 
 ITfie riglit of translation is reserve d~\
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 A COMPLETE account of English Newspapers, past and 
 present, would fill many volumes, which, when written, 
 would probably find very few readers. In this book 
 only such a selection from the profuse details at hand 
 is offered as may sufficiently indicate the nature and 
 quality of the whole, and may serve especially to show 
 the connection of journalism in its several stages with 
 the literary and the political history of our country. 
 So much as is here said about the chronology and 
 mechanism of newspapers, from their first rude com- 
 mencement down to the present day, will, I hope, fill 
 many gaps and correct many errors in previous works 
 on the subject. But my aim has chiefly been to call 
 attention to the ways in which newspapers have in- 
 fluenced the general progress of society sometimes 
 hindering as well as helping it, and have been used as 
 agents for such help or hindrance. 
 
 From Milton's day onwards, the value of news- 
 papers as auxiliaries to their public work, whether
 
 vi PREFACE 
 
 good or bad, has been recognised by politicians as 
 like and unlike one another as Bolingbroke, Walpole. 
 Burke, Fox, Pitt, Canning, Peel, Russell, Palmerston, 
 and Gladstone ; and while several of these, and many 
 other statesmen, have themselves been journalists, they 
 have been assisted or resisted in each generation by 
 professed men of letters like Defoe, Swift, Steele. 
 Fielding, Coleridge, Leigh Hunt, and Albany Fon- 
 blanque not to mention any writers of our own 
 times. The relations of newspapers with politics, in 
 successive generations and under various direction, are 
 worth understanding. So, too, are the relations of 
 newspapers with literature. Some of our most eminent 
 journalists have not been men of letters by profession, 
 and some famous authors have not enhanced their fame 
 by their newspaper work. Though journalism is a 
 branch of literature, moreover, it has rules and methods 
 of its own ; and much that may be good as journalism 
 is faulty as literature. But journalism has progressed 
 as a phase of authorship, no less than as a powerful 
 engine for the political advancement of the community, 
 during the past two centuries and more. It has only 
 been possible for me to take a rapid survey of this 
 progress. Yet I trust that 1 have been able to throw 
 light on some lines of our nation's growth which have 
 hitherto been overlooked or inadequately traced.
 
 PREFACE vii 
 
 Many incidents and episodes in the history of jour- 
 nalism had previously been touched upon by Nichols, 
 Chalmers, and other antiquaries, and by writers of 
 gossip-books and memoirs ; but the first published effort 
 to treat of that history as a whole or in a separate work 
 appears in ' The Fourth Estate : Contributions towards 
 a History of Newspapers and of the Liberty of the 
 Press,' written by Frederick Knight Hunt in 1850. 
 This painstaking and instructive work was followed in 
 1859 by ' The History of British Journalism from the 
 Foundation of the Newspaper Press in England to the 
 Repeal of the Stamp Act in 1855,' from the pen of 
 Alexander Andrews. From both books I have obtained 
 much help ; but, diligent as their writers were, they left 
 many things unsaid and said many things inaccurately. 
 Their narratives closed, moreover, at dates now some- 
 what remote, Knight Hunt the more trustworthy 
 though the less compendious of the two being in- 
 tentionally reticent, indeed, about much that had 
 happened in his own time. Since then we have had 
 from the late James Grant two stout volumes on ' The 
 Newspaper Press : its Origin, Progress, and Present 
 Position,' and a supplementary volume on ' The Metro- 
 politan Weekly and Provincial Press,' which were pub- 
 lished in 1871 and 1872, but which, though some of his 
 own reminiscences are acceptable, did not contribute
 
 viii PREFACE 
 
 much towards elucidation of the subject. Mr. Charles 
 Pebody's ' English Journalism and the Men who have 
 Made it,' issued in 1882, is a bright little shilling 
 volume, mainly compiled from Grant's book, but avoid- 
 ing most of its blunders and containing some fresh r.nd 
 welcome information. Neither this, however, nor Mr. 
 Joseph Hatton's ' Journalistic London : being a Series 
 of Sketches of the Famous Pens and Papers of the Day,' 
 also issued in 1882, occupies much of the ground on 
 which I have ventured to tread. Nor do such other 
 books as Mr. Henry Sampson's comprehensive and en- 
 tertaining ' History of Advertising from the Earliest 
 Times ' and Mr. Mason Jackson's ' Pictorial Press ; 
 its Origin and Progress.' 
 
 Except as regards recent events, and matters of 
 general history and biography concerning which it 
 would have been mere pedantry to cite authorities, I 
 have been careful to specify in the text or in foot- 
 notes all the sources of my information as to facts and 
 anecdotes given in these volumes. A great many state- 
 ments in the later chapters are unvouched for, as they 
 are based either on my own knowledge or on the in- 
 formation of friends. 
 
 To all these friends some of Ions: standing and 
 
 o o 
 
 some who, strangers before, have shown their friend- 
 ship by the valuable help they have rendered me I
 
 PREFACE IX 
 
 tender my hearty thanks, which are none the less 
 hearty because so many prefer to be anonymous that 
 I think it better to mention no names at all. I must, 
 however, acknowledge my great indebtedness to the 
 authorities of the British Museum, both for the ready 
 help they have given in answering my inquiries, and for 
 the special facilities they afforded me towards consult- 
 ing the splendid collection of old and new newspapers 
 in their charge. 
 
 By way of excuse for my dealing with so large a 
 theme as newspaper history, I may mention that my 
 own experience as a journalist extends over more than 
 twenty years. That experience has helped me to much 
 of the information here given, and is my warrant for 
 the comments and suggestions I have ventured to make. 
 If I have devoted rather more space less than a dozen 
 pages in all to the affairs of ' The Examiner ' and 
 ' The Weekly Dispatch ' while they were under my 
 charge, and to other papers to which I have contributed, 
 than to some matters of equal or greater importance, 
 it was only because I had fuller and more precise 
 knowledge of those papers than of others with which 
 I am acquainted only at second hand and as a reader, 
 and was thus better able to use them for purposes of 
 general illustration. In the references it seemed neces- 
 sary to make to public questions connected with news-
 
 X PREFACE 
 
 paper politics and tactics I have not attempted to con- 
 ceal my own opinions ; but, though living persons and 
 present concerns have been frankly spoken about on 
 occasion, I trust that I have in no case exceeded the 
 limits of fair and honest criticism, or allowed personal 
 feeling to bias either the praise or the blame that it 
 appeared incumbent on me to offer. 
 
 41 PRIOKT ROAD, BEDFORD PARK, LONDON, W. 
 November 3, 1887.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OUR EARLIEST NEWSPAPERS. 1621-1660. 
 
 I'AGK 
 
 Old newswriters and newsmongers News pamphlets Nathanirl 
 Butter, and his ' Conrant ' and ' Weekly News ' Newspaper 
 difficulties under James I. and Charles I. The 'Diurnals,' 
 'Passages,' and 'Mercuries' of the Civil War time John 
 Birkenhead and ' Mercurius Aulicus ' Marchmont Nedham and 
 ' Mercurius Britannicus ' Seventeenth century ' mercenary 
 pens ' The Long Parliament's licensing ordinance John 
 Milton's ' Areopagitica ' Nedham and ' Mercurius Pragma- 
 ticus ' Gilbert Mabbott's censorship 'The Perfect Diurnal,' 
 and f Mercurius Politicus ' Milton's censorship and his work in 
 ' Mercurius Politicus ' Other commonwealth censors Ned- 
 ham's later career 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 UNDER THE LICENSING ACTS. 1660-1695. 
 
 Early control over the press The Licensing Act Charles II. 's 
 licencers ; John Birkenhead and Roger L'Estrange ' The King- 
 dom's Intelligencer ' and ' Mercurius Publicus ' ' The Intelli- 
 gencer ' and ' The News ' L'Estrange's censorship The case 
 of Twyn Origin of ' The London Gazette ' ' The City Mercury ' 
 and ' Mercurius Librarius' In lieu of the Licensing Act 
 Chief Justice Scroggs's law Henry Carr and ' The Weekly 
 Packet ' ' Heraclitus Pvidens ' and L'Estrange's ' Observator ' 
 Coffee-houses and newsletters Newspapers under James II. 
 and after the accession of William III. Revival and abandon- 
 ment of the Licensing Act ....... 27
 
 Xll CONTENTS OF 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OUTCOME OF THE EEVOLUTION. 1695-1714. 
 
 VAGE 
 
 Newspapers of William III. '3 reign : ' The Flying Post ' ; ' Intelli- 
 gence ' ; ' The Postboy ' ; ' The Postman ' ; ' The English Post ' 
 Dawks's and Dyer's newsletters Newswriters in trouble ; 
 Dyer, Salisbury, and Tutchin Tutchin's ' Observator ' Daniel 
 Defoe and his ' Review ' ' The Daily Courant ' ' The Evening 
 Post ' Choice of newspapers in 1709 Steele and Addison, and 
 ' The Tatler ' Their scandalous rivals ' The Spectator ' The 
 Tory government and ' The Examiner' ' The Whig Examiner' 
 and ' The Medley ' Jonathan Swift Mrs. Manley Swift's 
 spite The newspaper stamp duty and advertisement tax 
 Journalism under Bolingbroke ' The Guardian ' and ' The 
 Englishman ' Steele's quarrel with the government and expul- 
 sion from the House of Commons Walpole on the liberty of 
 the press ........... 54 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 IN WALPOLE'S DAYS. 1714-1742. 
 
 Sir Robert Walpole's policy towards the press Addison's and 
 Steele's later work : ' The Freeholder,' ' The Plebeian,' and 
 ' The Old Whig ' London newspapers in 1714 Defoe's employ- 
 ments under the Whigs; ' Mercuriua Politicus,' 'Dormer's 
 Newsletter,' 'Mist's Journal,' ' The Whitehall Evening Post,' 
 and ' The Daily Post ' Defoe's place in journalism John Tren- 
 chard and Thomas Gordon ; their ' Cato Letters ' in ' The 
 London Journal' Press prosecutions in George I.'s reign 
 ' The True Briton ' and other papers ' The Craftsman ' ; Boling- 
 broke and his ' Oldcastle Letters ' Walpole's corrupting influ- 
 ence Some Whig hacks ' The London Crier,' and ' The 
 Grub Street Journal ' Old-fashioned parliamentary reporting ; 
 Edward Cave and Samuel Johnson ...... 9G 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 WALPOLE'S LEGACIES. 1742-1760. 
 
 Results of Walpole's policy Henry Fielding's journalism ; ' The 
 Champion,' 'The True Patriot,' and 'The Jacobite Journal ' 
 Some other journalists : Guthrie, Amhurst, and Ralph Field- 
 ing's ' Covent Garden Journal ' ' The Public Advertiser ' and 
 other newspapers Some Georgian essay-papers ' The Test ' 
 and 'The Con-Test' Johnson and Foote on the journalism of 
 their time 131
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME Xlli 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 WILKES AND JUNIUS. 1755-1772. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The transition from Whig to Tory supremacy Entinck and ' The 
 Monitor 'Smollett and ' The Briton 'John Wilkes and ' The 
 North Briton ' Charles Churchill The earlier numbers of 
 'The North Briton' 'The Auditor' Wilkes's opposition to 
 Lord Bute No. 45 The persecution of Wilkes His imprison- 
 ment for libel and expulsion from the House of Commons His 
 ultimate triumphs The letters of Junius in ' The Public Adver- 
 tiser' Junius's share in the Wilkes controversy His attacks 
 on Sir William Draper and the Duke of Grafton His letter to 
 George III 149 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 THE WOODFALLS AND OTHEKS. 1760-1788. 
 
 The Woodfall family Henry Sampson Woodfall and ' The Public 
 Advertiser' 'The Public Ledger' and other papers of the 
 time 'The Middlesex Journal' Thomas Chatterton's news- 
 paper work Prosecutions of Henry Sampson Woodfall and 
 others for libelling the king Lord Mansfield's ruling William 
 Woodfall and ' The Morning Chronicle ' The reporting of 
 parliamentary debates The struggle between ministers and 
 printers ' The Morning Chronicle ' under William Woodfall 
 ' The Morning Post ' under Henry Bate and others Some 
 other journals Crabbe on newspapers ..... 191 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 THE LIBEL ACT. BEFORE AND AFTER 1792. 
 
 The results of Lord Mansfield's ruling Mr. Serjeant Glyn's 
 motion Dovvdeswell's Libel Bill Several press prosecutions 
 Home Tooke and others Erskine's arguments Fox's Libel 
 Act The political situation in Pitt's time The crusade against 
 sedition Pitt's newspaper legislation and his management of 
 the country papers The reaction 229
 
 XIV CONTENTS OF 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 IN JAMES PEBBY'S TIME. 1779-1811. 
 
 PA OK 
 
 James Perry's start in life His work on ' The General Advertiser ' 
 and 'The Gazetteer' 'The Morning Herald' under Bate 
 Dudley The first John Walter and ' The Daily Universal 
 Register ' The commencement of ' The Times ' ' The World ' 
 and 'The Diary' ' The Morning Chronicle' under Perry His 
 contributors His enterprise Walter's competition with him 
 Daniel Stuart and his connections Peter Stuart and ' The Star ' 
 ' The Morning Post ' and ' The Courier ' under Daniel Stuart- 
 Progress of 'The Times' under the second John Walter- Some 
 other papers; 'The Morning Advertiser,' 'The British Press,' 
 'The Day,' ' The Aurora,' 'The Globe,' 'The Traveller,' 'The 
 Sun,' and ' The True Sun ' The weekly papers : ' Johnson's 
 Sunday Monitor,' 'The Observer,' ' Bell's Weekly Messenger,' 
 and ' Bell's Weekly Dispatch ' 248 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 DANIEL STUAET'S WKITEKS. 1795-1811. 
 
 Daniel Stuart's editing of ' The Morning Post ' Sir James Mackin- 
 tosh Samuel Taylor Coleridge's work on ' The Post,' and 
 Stuart's relations with him His poems and leading articles 
 Other contributors : Robert South ey, William Wordsworth, and 
 Charles Lloyd Charles Lamb's ' Fashionable Intelligence ' 
 George Lane's assistant editing Colendgt's later dealings with 
 Stuart His work on ' The Courier,' and his difficulties with 
 Peter Street its editor His retirement from journalism . . 292 
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 ANTI-JACOBINS AND KEFOBMEBS. 1797-1815. 
 
 Effects of the French Revolution on English journalism Coleridge 
 on Jacobinism Ministerial terror and terrorism Canning and 
 ' The Anti- Jacobin ' Pitt's Newspaper Act and press prosecu- 
 tions William Cobbett and his passage from Toryism to 
 Radicalism 'The Porcupine' and ' Cobbett's Political Register' 
 
 The Peltier case Prosecutions of Cobbett John Hunt and 
 
 Leigh Hunt' The News ' ' The Examiner ' Its political atti- 
 tude and quarrels with the government Its progress Its 
 mockery of the Prince Regent Leigh Hunt in prison John 
 Hunt's character .... ..... 315
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME XV 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 DURING THE EEGENCY. 1811-1820. 
 
 I'AOE 
 
 Tory persecution of Radical newspapers The prosperous papers 
 Progress of ' The Times ' The second John Walter's intro- 
 duction of steam printing His writers and editors : Edward 
 Sterling, Henry Crabb Robinson, Sir John Stoddart, Thomas 
 Barnes, and John Payne Collier ' The New Times' 'The 
 Morning Chronicle ' James Perry and his staff : John Black, 
 Thomas Moore, and William Hazlitt The other daily papers- 
 ' The Literary Gazette ' ' The Indicator 'Leigh Hunt and ' The 
 Examiner' A foreigner's view of English journalism in 1820 . 352 
 
 CHAPTEE Xin. 
 
 AFTER TWO CENTURIES. 1820. 
 
 A review of the progress of English newspapers and journalism 
 The rise of the Scotch, English provincial, Irish, and American 
 press ............ 373
 
 ENGLISH NEWSPAPERS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OUR EARLIEST NEWSPAPERS. 
 16211060. 
 
 ENGLISH newspapers only began in the second half of 
 the eighteenth century to assume their modern shape, 
 and to claim the place they now hold in politics and 
 literature. But they were started early in the seven- 
 teenth century, and their preliminaries can be traced 
 much farther back. 
 
 Newsletters preceded newspapers. In far-off times, 
 before the art of printing was known, few who were 
 not ecclesiastics could read or write, and those, them- 
 selves chiefly ecclesiastics, whose public duties made 
 them seek or need more news of the day than was 
 conveyed in official minutes, or circulated in alehouse 
 gossip or the tittle-tattle of the market-place, had to 
 trust to the correspondence of friends or of hired agents 
 for their information. So it continued long after the 
 printing-press had been invented. During the reigns 
 of Queen Elizabeth and James I., ministers of state, 
 merchants, and all others whose interests or obli- 
 gations extended beyond ear-shot, had newswriters 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 2 OUR EARLIEST NEWSPAPERS CH. i. 
 
 in their pay. 1 The many who could not afford to 
 employ news -writers of their own picked up at second- 
 hand such chit-chat, true or false, trivial or serious, as 
 was allowed to reach them by the fortunate few ; and 
 among the gossip-haunts in London, three hundred 
 years or so ago, before coffee-houses were in vogue, the 
 old Exchange and the old church of St. Paul were 
 famous. ' These be news cast abroad to feed the 
 common sort,' says one in John Florio's 'Second Fruits,' 
 published in 1591. ' Prognostications, news, devices, 
 and letters from foreign countries, good Master Caesar, 
 are but used as confections to feed the common people 
 withal.' To which good Master Ctesar replies, ' I am 
 almost of your mind, for I seldom see these written 
 reports prove true. A man must give no more credit 
 to Exchange news and Paul's news than to fugitives' 
 promises and players' fables.' 
 
 With or without good cause, it was the fashion of 
 book-writers to make merry over the readiness of our 
 ancestors to be gulled by primitive newsmongers ; but 
 written and verbal newsmongering was a profitable 
 trade, and printed newsmongering was soon combined 
 with it. ' If any read nowadays,' Burton lamented in 
 his ' Anatomy of Melancholy,' in 1614, ' it is a play- 
 book or a pamphlet of news.' Perhaps the trade was 
 not too much caricatured by Ben Jonson in ' The Staple 
 of News,' which was performed in 1625, In this heavy 
 comedy Cymbal is ' master of the Staple,' that is, owner 
 or manager of a shop or office for the collection and dis- 
 
 1 We are told, for instance, how, quite late in Elizabeth's reign, Sir 
 Robert Sidney, Sir Philip Sidney's younger brother, ' kept a correspond- 
 ence with Rowland White, the post-master, a notable busy man, who 
 constantly writ over to him at Flushing, when he was resident there as 
 governor, the news and intrigues of the court,' and how, in consideration 
 of White's services, Sir Robert ' allowed him a salary.' Collins, Memorials 
 of State, preface, and vol. ii. p. 4, note.
 
 1621. IN BEN JONSON'S TIME 3 
 
 tribution of news, and he is proud to describe his 
 business to young Pennyboy : 
 
 This is the outer room, where my clerks sit, 
 And keep their sides, the register in their midst : 
 The examiner he sits private there within : 
 And here I have my several rolls and files 
 Of news by the alphabet, and all are put 
 Under their heads. 
 
 The heads are various ' authentical and apocryphal ; 
 news of doubtful credit, as barbers' news ; tailors' news ; 
 porters' and watermen's news ; news of the season ; 
 vacation news, term news, and Christmas news ; news 
 of the faction, as the Reformed news, Protestant news, 
 and Pontifical news,' and much else, causing Pennyboy 
 to exclaim, ' This is fine, and bears a brave relation ! ' 
 
 One of Cymbal's customers is a countrywoman, who 
 hurries in, asking for 
 
 A groat's worth of news, I care not what, 
 To carry down this Saturday to our vicar. 
 
 And the newsvendor's answer is 
 
 O, you are a butter- woman ! Ask Nathaniel, 
 The clerk there. 1 
 
 Ben Jonson was here punning on the name of 
 Nathaniel Butter, a name memorable in newspaper 
 history. 
 
 Long before any regular newspaper was produced, 
 and while the rigid Tudor laws against unlicensed 
 printing were in force, stray news-pamphlets and news- 
 ballads were issued, some of them with the sanction, 
 others in defiance, of the authorities. 2 They were small 
 quarto books, of twelve or more pages, with no more 
 
 1 TIic Staple of News, act i. scene 2. 
 
 - Among the earliest extant were News out of Kent, in doggerel rhyme, 
 printed in 15G1, and New News, containing a short Rehearsal of Stukeleu's 
 and Morris's Rebellion, printed in 1579. 
 
 B 2
 
 4 OUR EARLIEST NEWSPAPERS CH. i. 
 
 than three or four hundred words in a page, and 
 generally, when not reporting noteworthy occurrences 
 in England, they merely translated and reproduced the 
 summaries of foreign news-writers. 1 One of these publi- 
 cations, entitled, ' News from Spain,' was ' imprinted at 
 London for Nathaniel Butter,' in 1611. Another, and 
 more important, was ' The Courant, or Weekly News 
 from Foreign Parts,' ' taken out of the High Dutch/ 
 and dated October 9, 1621, of which Butter was also 
 the publisher. 
 
 Butter seems to have been during at least thirty 
 years the busiest English vendor of printed news, and 
 to him must be accorded foremost rank among the pre- 
 cursors of journalism in our country. His occupation 
 was chiefly that of ' a writer, or transcriber rather, 
 of books,' as he calls himself in one of his publica- 
 tions ; but he sometimes appears as a printer, and 
 amono; his rivals or associates during the rei<m of 
 
 O O O 
 
 James I. were two firms of printers or booksellers 
 Nicholas Bourne and Thomas Archer, whose shops 
 were ' at the Royal Exchange, and in Pope's-head 
 Palace,' and Nathaniel Newberry and William Sheffard, 
 ' under St. Peter's Church, in Cornhill, and in Pope's- 
 head Alley, at the sign of the Star.' We may take it 
 for granted that Butter was the manager of some such 
 establishment for the collection and dissemination of 
 gossip as Ben Jonson introduces us to in ' The Staple 
 
 1 The Gazzetta of Venice, an official news-sheet which began to be cir- 
 culated in manuscript early in the sixteenth century, and to appear in 
 print before its close, and other foreign pioneers of journalism, such as 
 the Cologne Gallo-Belgkns, started in 1588, now and then found their way 
 into England. The English Mercuric, of which four drafts in manuscript 
 and three printed numbers are in the British Museum, and which latter 
 purported to have been ' imprinted at London ' in 1588, and to have been 
 ' published by authority, for the suppression of false reports,' accepted as 
 genuine by Chalmers and other antiquaries, was in 1839 shown by Thomas 
 Watts to be a clumsy forgery.
 
 1621-1622. NATHANIEL BUTTER'S 'WEEKLY NEWS' 5 
 
 of News,' circulating it in written letters and by word 
 of mouth as well as through the printing press, and 
 that in this latter department he was assisted by Bourne 
 and Archer, Newberry and Sheffard, and others, as 
 publishers. Whatever may have been the nature and 
 variety of the imprinted news that he distributed, his 
 printed work was chiefly made up of translations from 
 foreign newsletters, and even these were of the baldest 
 description. To him, however, belongs the credit of 
 having started the plan of issuing periodical news- 
 sheets, which were the forerunners of regular news- 
 papers. 
 
 Of ' The Courant, or Weekly News,' only the num- 
 ber for October 9, 1621, with that title, is known to us, 
 and, though a goodly assortment of similar news-pam- 
 phlets of later date, evidently parts of one series, are 
 extant, so many appear to have been lost, and there is so 
 much confusion arising from variations of title, and from 
 the frequent substitution of other names for Butter's in 
 the imprints, that it is impossible to ascertain the order 
 and sequence in which they were issued, or to discrimi- 
 nate between Butter's own share in the undertaking and 
 the shares of Bourne, Archer, and others who were evi- 
 dently in some sort of partnership with him. Most of 
 these pamphlets are called ' Weekly News,' but nearly 
 all have different sub-headings, and in some the head- 
 ings are quite distinct, nor are the dates at regular 
 intervals. Thus, in the ' Weekly News ' for August 23, 
 1622, Butter announced that ' the two former "News," 
 the one dated the 2nd, the other the 13th, do carry 
 a like title and have dependence one upon another, 
 which manner of printing he doth purpose to continue 
 weekly, by God's assistance, from the best and most 
 certain intelligence ; ' but he straightway broke his 
 rule, producing ' Two Great Battles very lately Fought,'
 
 6 OUR EARLIEST NEWSPAPERS OH. i. 
 
 on September 2, and ' Count Mansfield's Proceedings 
 since the Last Battle,' on September 9, and styling 
 neither of them ' Weekly News.' It did not occur to 
 him to number his papers till October 15, 1622, when 
 what may be regarded as the first of a fresh series 
 of ' Weekly News ' was marked No. 1. After that the 
 numbering was consecutive for a twelvemonth, another 
 start with No. 1 being made in October 1623 ; but the 
 titles were still varied. Sometimes we have ' The News 
 of this Present Week,' sometimes ' The Last News,' 
 sometimes ' More News,' and occasionally quite different 
 headings, as in the number styled ' Brief Abstracts out 
 of Divers Letters of Trust, Relating the News of this 
 Present Week.' l 
 
 From all this, and much more which it would be 
 tedious to recount, it appears that journalism was in its 
 infancy when Butter and his friends worked at it. 
 Oar earliest newspapers were certainly brought out 
 very irregularly. They were also but scantily supplied 
 with such information as we look for in newspapers- 
 nowadays. Home affairs being eschewed through fear 
 of the licencer, foreign events of importance were for 
 the most part dealt with very superficially, and trivial 
 concerns often received inordinate notice. Such few 
 comments as were given along with the scraps of news 
 were shallow and commonplace. 2 Faulty and slight, 
 
 1 Valuable collections of these old news-pamphlets or primitive news- 
 papers are in the British Museum and the Bodleian libraries. Nichols 
 gives a careful list in his Literary Anecdotes, vol. iv. pp. 39-97. See also 
 Knight Hunt's, Fourth Estate, chapters ii. and iii., and Alexander Andre ws's 
 History of British Journalism, chapters ii., iii., and iv. In both these 
 works, however, there are several blunders which the careful student will 
 detect. 
 
 - Instance this paragraph in the Weekly News for October 1622 : 
 ' A true relation of the cruel execution done in Ommelburg, a town in the- 
 bishopric of Mentz, upon the persons of two ministers or preachers of the 
 Gospel, by the instigation of the Jesuits. 'Tis most manifestly known to-
 
 1622-1641. NATHANIEL BUTTER'S 'WEEKLY NEWS' 7 
 
 however, as were the primitive newspapers of the 
 closing years of James I.'s reign, they made a good 
 beginning of the enterprise that was to grow in later 
 generations. 
 
 The greater stringency of the press censorship 
 under Charles L, culminating in the memorable and 
 execrable Star Chamber ' decree concerning printing ' 
 of July 11, 1637, which revived all the tyranny of 
 Tudor times, hampered even Butter's modest trade in 
 newsmongering, but his ' Weekly News ' continued to 
 be issued at intervals, with frequent interruptions from 
 the licencers, and in spite of other obstacles, till 1641. 
 The last number which has come down to us, entitled 
 ' The Continuation of the Foreign Occurrences for Five 
 Weeks Last Past,' and dated January 11 in that year, 
 contains this curious announcement to the ' courteous 
 reader ' : ' We had thought to have given over printing 
 our foreign avisoes, for that the licencer (out of a par- 
 tial affection) would not often let pass apparent truth, 
 and in other things oftentimes so cross and alter, which 
 made us almost weary of printing. But he being 
 vanished and that office fallen upon another, more 
 
 all the world that hatred, envy, and dissension reign mightily nowadays ; 
 the son is against the father, and the sister against the brother, and in gene- 
 ral we are so exasperated one against another that if we could drown one 
 another in a spoon, we would not fetch a pail ; as partly appeareth by this 
 present example. Johannes van der Veech and Lambertus Liber, being 
 two Protestant preachers, and having disputed against certain priests at 
 Krugsganck, the Jesuits caused them to be apprehended and afterwards 
 most cruelly to be' executed within the town of Ommelburg, August 30, 
 1622, when the hangman with red-hot pincers pulled the flesh from their 
 bones (so that a heart made of stone would have taken compassion on 
 them), and put them to death with great martyrisation. But they have 
 suffered it patiently, as a sheep that is brought to the slaughter-house. 
 About three days after the same, one of the priests, who was called Pater 
 or Father John, aged ninety-six years, was taken about twelve o'clock 
 from his table and was never seen afterwards. Therefore let us pray unto 
 God that He will not judge us according to our deserts, but grant us ever- 
 lasting salvation.'
 
 8 OUR EARLIEST NEWSPAPERS CH. i. 
 
 understanding in these foreign affairs, and, as you will 
 find, more candid, we are again, by the favour of his 
 majesty and the state, resolved to go on printing, if w r e 
 shall find the world to give a better acceptation of them 
 than of late by their weekly buying them. It is well 
 known these novels ' that is, news or newspapers ' are 
 well esteemed in all parts of the world but here by the 
 more judicious, which we can impute to no other but 
 the discontinuance of them and the uncertain days of 
 publishing them, which, if the post fail us not, we shall 
 keep a constant day every week therein, whereby every 
 man may constantly expect them.' 
 
 These sad yet sanguine sentences remind us that the 
 arbitrariness and harshness of the licensing authorities 
 were not the only hindrances to newspaper prosperity 
 in Stuart times, though these, of course, did quite as 
 much harm indirectly as directly. It was bad enough 
 to be liable to delays in the mails and difficulties with 
 the printers, but it was worse to have to trim and twist 
 every item of news that could bear any offensive inter- 
 pretation so as to propitiate the censors and avoid the 
 risk of incurring the wrath of courtiers and politicians 
 in office. Readers Avould naturally be few when they 
 could never be certain of receiving on the appointed 
 days even such scanty and garbled information as was 
 allowed to appear in the ' Weekly Xews.' Butter, how- 
 ever, had himself partly to blame. Hampered as he 
 was by his surroundings, it was his own fault, or a mis- 
 fortune he might have prevented, that his mode of 
 writing was not merely tedious and graceless, but often 
 ungrammatical. 
 
 The ' Weekly Xews/ promising to begin a new term 
 of life with the number of January 11, 10-11, seems to 
 have died on that day ; but in the same year Butter 
 took part in an extension of newspaper enterprise
 
 1641. UNDER THE LONG PARLIAMENT 9 
 
 which, with the advent of the great civil war, was then 
 commenced. 
 
 One of the many good results of the overthrow 
 of the Star Chamber in February 1641 was that the 
 censorship of the press, though not abolished, was 
 suspended or disorganised for some time. The old 
 restrictions, which had been tightened under the guid- 
 ance of Archbishop Laud, were ignored ; and during 
 -two or three years there was practically no control over 
 authors and printers. 1 Books of all sorts were freely 
 published, and with them news-sheets in abundance, 
 the Long Parliament itself setting an example by 
 ordering to be issued an authentic account of the 
 business done by it and of the principal events offi- 
 cially reported to its members from various parts 
 of the country. ' The Diurnal Occurrences, or Daily 
 Proceedings of both Houses in this great and happy 
 
 1 'From the beginning of the Long Parliament,' says Professor 
 Masson, ' there had been a relaxation, or rather a total breakdown, of 
 the former laws for the regulation of the press. In the newly found 
 liberty of the nation to think and to speak, all bonds of censorship were 
 burst, and books of all kinds, but especially pamphlets on the current ques- 
 tions, were sent forth by their owners very much at their own discretion. 
 The proportion of those that went through the legal ceremonial of being 
 authorised by an appointed licencer, and registered in the Stationers' 
 books by the Company's clerk under further order from one of the Com- 
 pany's wardens, must, I should say, have been quite inconsiderable in 
 comparison with the number that flew about printed almost anywhere 
 and anyhow. . . . The Parliament tried to institute a new army of cen- 
 sorship in the form of Committees for Printing, and licencers appointed 
 by these Committees. Such licencers were either members of Parliament 
 selected for the duty, or parliamentary officials, or persons out of doors in 
 whom Parliament could trust. Through 1641 and 1642 I find the follow- 
 ing persons, among others, licensing books : John Pym, Sir Edward 
 Deering, the elder Sir Henry Vane, Mr. (Century) White, and a Dr. 
 Wykes ; but I find evidence that the Parliamentary Committee of Printing 
 had really, in a great measure, to leave the licensing of books to the 
 Warden of the Stationers' Company. . . . Censorship and regulation 
 had ' (in 1643) ' become an absolute farce.' Life of Milton, vol. iii. pp. 
 .261-268.
 
 1 OUR EARLIEST NEWSPAPERS OH. i. 
 
 Parliament from the 3rd of November, 1640, to the 3rd 
 of November, 1611,' was a stout volume; but it was 
 followed by weekly issues of ' Diurnal Occurrences,' 
 each generally containing eight closely-printed pages 
 in small quarto, and any one was free to reproduce the 
 matter thus supplied by authority, with such other- 
 items of news as he chose, provided he did not grossly 
 abuse the liberty allowed to him. 
 
 Several weekly papers were accordingly started in 
 1641 and the following years, among them being one 
 by the indefatigable Butter, with this pretentious title 
 to its first number : ' The Passages in Parliament, from 
 the 3rd of January to the 10th, more fully and exactly 
 taken than the ordinary one hath been, as you will find 
 upon comparing.' 'And,' it was added, as an earnest 
 of Butter's intention to avoid such confusion as had 
 arisen from the appearance of his ' Weekly Xews ' under 
 various headings, ' although the week past doth yield 
 many remarkable passages, as hath been any week 
 before, yet you shall expect no more expression either 
 now or hereafter in the title than " The Passages in 
 Parliament," &c.' A more important paper was ' The 
 Kingdom's Weekly Intelligencer,' ' sent abroad to pre- 
 vent misinformation,' and issued by authority of the 
 Long Parliament in opposition to King Charles, whose 
 claim to sovereignty had not yet been openly denied, 
 which first appeared in July 1642 ; and there were other 
 1 Intelligencers,' and other ' Passages,' and other ' Diur- 
 nals.' All these were bald and often clumsily written 
 chronicles, but, having so much of importance to re- 
 cord concerning the progress of the civil war, they were 
 far in advance of the earlier newspapers, and they in their 
 turn were soon improved upon. A great advance in 
 journalism appeared in the ' Mercuries ' which began in.
 
 1641-1048. THE 'DIURNALS' AND THE ' MERCURIES ' 11 
 
 1643. 1 About the facts of the civil war these ' Mer- 
 curies ' are not safe informants, but of its humours 
 they afford amusing and instructive illustration. 
 
 The first of the English ' Mercuries ' was ' Mercurius 
 Aulicus,' commenced in January 1643 as a counterblast 
 to ' The Kingdom's Intelligencer,' edited for some time 
 by John Birkenhead, and published regularly every 
 week for about three years, after which it appeared at 
 uncertain intervals. ' The world hath long enough 
 been abused with falsehoods,' we are told in the open- 
 ing paragraph of the first number, ' and there's a 
 weekly cheat put out to nourish the abuse amongst the 
 people, and make them pay for their seducement. And 
 that the world may see that the court is neither so 
 barren of intelligence as it is conceived, nor the affairs 
 thereof in so unprosperous a condition as these pam- 
 phlets make them out, it is thought fit to let them truly 
 understand the estate of things, that so they may no 
 longer pretend ignorance or be deceived with untruths.' 
 
 ' Mercurius Aulicus,' issued from Oxford, where 
 Charles I. had established himself after the battle 
 of Edgehill, was the special champion of the Eoyal- 
 ist cause, which it advocated, as Anthony a Wood 
 said, ' with a great deal of wit and buffoonery.' 
 
 1 ' Mercury ' was a favourite name both for old newspapers and for 
 those who distributed them. A Mercure Francais, started in Paris in 
 1613, lived on till 1G47. There were also a Mercure Suisse and a Genevan 
 Mercure cVEtat. Some of the numbers of Butter's Weekly Neu m s were 
 said to be ' printed for Mercurius Britannicus,' and one of Butter's other 
 publications, issued in 1636, was described as The Principal Passages of 
 Germany, Italy, France, and other Places, all faithfully taken out of 
 good originals by an English Mercury. Towards the close of James I.'s 
 reign, says an old writer (Ha rlcian MSS., British Museum, cod. 5,910), 
 ' if I mistake not, began the use of Mercury women, and they it was who 
 dispersed them to the hawkers. These mercuries and hawkers, their 
 business at first was to disperse proclamations, orders of council, acts of 
 parliament, c.' The mercury women are sometimes referred to in old 
 plays.
 
 12 OUR EARLIEST NEWSPAPERS CH. i. 
 
 Birkenhead, a clever young man of about eight- and - 
 twenty, when he began it, had at one time been secre- 
 tary to Archbishop Laud, and commended himself to 
 king and courtiers by talents which even his friendly 
 biographer could not applaud. ' The truth is,' we are 
 told, ' had he not been too much i>iven to bantering 
 
 7 ~ O / 
 
 which is now taken up by vain and idle people, he 
 might have passed for a good wit ; and, had he also 
 expressed himself grateful and respectful to those that 
 had been his benefactors in the time of his necessity, ' 
 which he did not, but rather slighted them, showing 
 thereby the baseness of his spirit, he might have passed 
 for a friend and a loving companion.' l He had a 
 worthier colleague and successor in the production of 
 ' Mercurius Aulicus ' in Peter Heylin, who, however, 
 was more successful as a writer of serious books than 
 as a journalist. In the weekly newspaper Birkenhead 
 ' pleased the generality of his readers with his wag- 
 geries and buffooneries far more than Heylin.' 2 
 
 The coarse smartness and violent partisanship of 
 ' Mercurius Aulicus ' made it famous, and its success 
 led to the appearance of many rivals, both Royalist and 
 Parliamentarian. Of these the foremost in time, and 
 for a while in influence, was ' Mercurius Britannicus, 
 Communicating the Affairs of Great Britain for the 
 Better Information of the People,' which was started in 
 London in August 1G43. Its conductor was March - 
 mont Xedham, then only three-arid-twenty, who had 
 been an usher in the Merchant Taylors' School, and 
 was a lawyer's clerk in Gray's Inn when, according to 
 Anthony a Wood, ' siding with the rout and scum ol 
 the people, he made them weekly sport by railing at all 
 that is noble in his intelligence, called " Mercurius 
 
 1 Wood, Athenae Oxonienses, vol. iii. p. 1203. 
 - Ibid. p. 55G.
 
 1643. JOHN BIRKENHEAD AND MARCHMONT NEDHAM 13 
 
 Britannicus," wherein his endeavours were to sacrifice 
 the fame of some lord or person of quality nay, of the 
 king himself to the beast with many heads.' Con- 
 cerning his ' scurrilous pamphlets ' we are told that 
 ' flying every week into all parts of the nation, 'tis in- 
 credible what influence they had upon numbers of 
 unconsidering people, who have a strange presumption 
 that all must needs be true that is in print. This was 
 the Goliath of the Philistines, the great champion of the 
 .late usurper, whose pen he was in comparison with 
 the others, like a weaver's beam.' l Nedham proved 
 himself a match for Birkenhead, and outlived him as a 
 journalist. He was one of the few men of that day who 
 made a regular trade of newspaper writing, and, un- 
 fortunately for his reputation though not for his 
 personal advantage he was an unblushing time- 
 server. 2 
 
 It would have been surprising if the liberty accorded 
 to newspaper writers by the overthrow of the Star 
 Chamber had not degenerated into licence among the 
 unscrupulous, or been put to bad uses by corrupt hands ; 
 and we find it was so. ' Sir John Gell, of Derbyshire/ 
 we read in Mrs. Lucy Hutchinson's memoir of her hus- 
 band, ' kept the diurnal makers in pension, so that 
 
 1 Wood, Athenx Oxonienses, vol. iii. p. 1180. 
 
 2 Before the end of 1644, there were at least a score of weekly papers 
 in circulation besides those named above. Among the number were 
 John Taylor's Mercurius Aquaticrus, or the Water Poet's answer to all 
 that hath or shall be writ by Mercurius Britannicns, as Royalist as 
 Mercurius Aulicus was ; Mercurius Anylicus, or a Post from the North ; 
 The Military Scribe, which undertook to give such news as the Royalists 
 cared to publish ; and The Spy, ' communicating intelligence from Oxford 
 in the interests of the Parliamentarians. So keen was the newspaper 
 war that when Bruno Ryves, late chaplain to the king, produced his 
 Mercurius Busticus, or the Country's Complaint, recounting the Sad 
 Events of this Lamentable War, George Wither, the Republican poet, 
 opposed to it another Mercurius Rusticus, with this motto, ' By your 
 leave, gentlemen, when seriousness takes not effect, perhaps trifling may.'
 
 14 OUR EARLIEST NEWSPAPERS CH. i. 
 
 whatever was clone in the neighbouring counties against 
 
 cj O O 
 
 the enemy was attributed to him ; and thus he hath in- 
 directly purchased himself a name in story which he 
 never merited. Mr. Hutchinson, on the other side, that 
 did well for virtue's sake, and not for the vainglory of 
 it, never would give anything to buy the flatteries of 
 those scribblers, and when one of them once, when he 
 was in town, made mention of something done at Not- 
 tingham with falsehood, and had given Gell the glory of 
 an action in which he was not concerned, Mr. Hutchin- 
 son rebuked him for it ; whereupon the man begged his 
 pardon, and told him he would write as much for him 
 the next week. But Mr. Hutchinson told him he 
 scorned his mercenary pen, and warned him not to be 
 in any of his concernments ; whereupon the fellow was 
 awed, and he had no more abuse of that kind.' l 
 
 The wielders of mercenary pens were not always so 
 easily awed, and worse offence was caused by the scurri- 
 lous and malicious language with which the journalists 
 of rival parties assailed the opposite camps than by the 
 garbled reports in which they overrated or underrated 
 the exploits of the soldiers or politicians of their 
 own sides in the civil war. In the newswriters' abuse 
 of their privileges, as well as in many of the bulkier 
 publications issued in those years, there was some ex- 
 cuse, if no justification, for the ordinance of the Long 
 Parliament, dated June 14, 1643, ' for the regulating 
 of printing, and for suppressing the great late abuses 
 and frequent disorders in printing many false, scanda- 
 lous, seditious, libellous, and unlicensed pamphlets, to 
 the great defamation of religion and government.' - 
 
 1 Memoirs of Colonel Tlutchinsoii. 
 
 ~ A previous ordinance of March 0, 1043, had empowered the Com- 
 mittee for Examinations to cause houses in which it was suspected that 
 presses were ' kept and employed in the printing of scandalous, lying 
 pamphlets,' to be searched, to destroy any obnoxious literature they found
 
 1644. MILTON ON PKESS CENSORSHIP 15 
 
 This order, which remained in force, with frequent 
 .additions, for half a century, caused grievous annoyance 
 and much hindrance to the healthy progress of news- 
 paper enterprise ; but it was as ineffectual and as un- 
 profitable as Milton declared that it would be and must 
 be in his ' Areopagitica,' the eloquent ' speech for the 
 liberty of unlicensed printing, to the parliament of 
 England,' which was boldly printed, without any li- 
 <3encer's imprimatur, in 16-14. Milton scornfully and 
 plaintively discoursed on the question of book-licensing 
 in general, and insisted forcibly on the sacred duty of 
 allowing complete freedom to every sort of literature 
 and to every channel for the utterance of unfettered 
 opinion, without much notice of the restraints it was 
 sought to impose on newspapers ; but, a year after the 
 ordinance had been issued, he fairly taunted the Long 
 Parliament on its failure to suppress even such a scur- 
 rilous publication as ' Mercurius Aulicus.' ' Do we not 
 see, not once or oftener, but weekly,' he exclaimed, 
 ' that continued court-libel against the parliament and 
 city printed, as the wet sheets can witness, and dis- 
 persed among us, for all that licensing can do ? Yet 
 this is the prime service, a man would think, wherein 
 this order should give proof of itself. " If it were ex- 
 ecuted," you'll say. But certain, if execution be remiss 
 or blindfold now, and in this particular, what will it be 
 hereafter, and in other books ? ' a 
 
 there, and also the presses put to such evil uses, and to severely punish 
 the printers and vendors. The later and more stringent order provided 
 that ' no book, pamphlet, paper, nor part of any such book, pamphlet, or 
 paper, shall from henceforth be printed, bound, stitched, or put to sale 
 by any person or persons whatsoever, unless the same be first approved 
 of and licensed under the hands of such person or persons as both or either 
 of the Houses of Parliament shall appoint for the licensing of the same, 
 and entered in the register book of the Company of Stationers, according 
 to ancient custom.' 
 
 1 Areopagitica (Arber's edition), p. 53.
 
 16 OUR EARLIEST NEWSPAPERS CH. u 
 
 In so far as the Lons; Parliament's licensing ordi- 
 
 o o 
 
 nance had any result at all on newspapers, it seems 
 only to have increased the number and the virulence 
 of the illicit but freely circulated Royalist prints. Seve- 
 ral new papers were started in 1644 and the following 
 years, one of special note, though short-lived, being 
 ' Mercurius Pragmaticus.' 
 
 After having conducted 'Mercurius Britannicus' for 
 nearly four years in the interests of the Parliamentary 
 party, Marchmont Nedham got into trouble with the 
 authorities, and went over to the side of Charles I, 
 'In 1647,' says his mocking biographer, 'he left the 
 blessed cause, and, obtaining the favour of a known 
 Royalist to introduce him into his majesty's presence 
 at Hampton Court, he then and there knelt before him 
 and desired forgiveness for what he had written against 
 
 o o 
 
 him and his cause ; which being readily granted, he 
 kissed his majesty's hand, and soon after wrote " Mer- 
 curius Pragmaticus," which, being very witty, satirical 
 against the Presbyterians, and full of loyalty, made him 
 known to and admired by the bravadoes and wits of 
 those times.' l Nedham's new paper was a very clever 
 and unscrupulous advocate and exponent of Royalist 
 views, the prose of each number being prefaced by some 
 smart verses, of which these, in the number for October 
 5, 1647, may serve as a specimen : 
 
 A Scot and Jesuit, joined in hand, 
 
 First taught the world to say 
 That subjects ought to have command 
 
 And princes to obey. 
 
 Then both agreed to have no king : 
 
 The Scotchman, he cries further, 
 No bishop 'tis a goodly thing 
 
 States to reform by murther. 
 
 1 Wood, Atlienx Oxonieiises, vol. iii. p. 1180.
 
 1647. NEDHAM AS A ROYALIST 17 
 
 Then th' Independent, meek and sly, 
 
 Most lowly lies at lurch, 
 And so, to put poor Jocky by, 
 
 Resolves to have no Church. 
 
 The king dethroned, the subjects bleed, 
 
 The Church hath no abode : 
 Let us conclude they're all agreed 
 
 That here there is no God. 
 
 Language like that could hardly be tolerated. On 
 November 27, 1647, the House of Commons appointed 
 a committee ' to find out the authors of " Mercurius 
 Pragmaticus " and " Mercurius Melancholicus " ' an- 
 other seditious newspaper ' to punish them and the 
 printers and sellers of them, and to seize the impressions 
 of them.' 1 
 
 Nedham was not caught, nor was his journal 
 suppressed, but the attempt to reach him was part of 
 a vigorous effort to revive and enforce the licensing 
 ordinance of 1643. On September 20 Sir Thomas 
 Fairfax, writing to the Speaker of the House of Lords, 
 enclosed ' some printed pamphlets not only very 
 scandalous and abusive to this army in particular, but 
 indeed to the whole kingdom in general,' and urged 
 ' that these and all of the like nature be suppressed for 
 the future.' The appeal was promptly responded to. 
 On September 30 both Houses of Parliament agreed to 
 another ordinance ' for the better regulation of print- 
 ing,' imposing heavy penalties on ' what person soever 
 shall make, write, print, publish, sell, or utter any 
 book, pamphlet, treatise, ballad, libel, or sheet of news 
 whatsoever, or cause so to be done, except the same be 
 licensed by both or either House of Parliament, or by 
 such persons as shall be thereunto authorised by one 
 or both Houses of Parliament, with the name of the 
 
 1 Whitelocke, Memorials, vol. ii. p. 281. 
 VOL. I. C
 
 18 OUR EARLIEST NEWSPAPERS CH. i. 
 
 author, printer, and licencer thereunto prefixed.' And 
 in order that this rule might be carried out, if possible, 
 one Gilbert Mabbott, who had already ' approved him- 
 self faithful in the service of licensing and likewise in 
 the service of the houses and the army,' was formally 
 appointed to the office of licencer. 
 
 The ordinance of 1647 appears to have had small 
 result. Nedham, by shifting his own places of residence 
 and often changing his printers, contrived to bring out 
 his ' Mercurius Pragmaticus ' every week from Septem- 
 ber 1647 till January 1649, and, after three months' 
 interruption, he started another series in April 1649, 
 which, however, was soon discontinued. Other sedi- 
 tious prints also appeared from, time to time, and, after 
 vainly endeavouring through a year and a half to per- 
 form his duties as censor, Mabbott abandoned it in 
 disgust, his resignation being accepted by parliament 
 in May 1649. Mabbott's statement of his reasons for 
 retiring are interesting. The first, showing how utterly 
 useless and mischievous was his office, was that ' many 
 thousands of scandalous and malignant pamphlets have 
 been published with his name thereunto as if he had 
 licensed the same, though he never saw them, on pur- 
 pose, as he conceives, to prejudice him in his reputation 
 amongst the honest party of this nation.' The other 
 reasons show that he was too much of Milton's way of 
 thinking, and too honest and intelligent a man, to be 
 a good press censor. ' That employment, he conceives, 
 is unjust and illegal as to the ends of its first institu- 
 tion, viz. to stop the press from publishing anything 
 that might discover the corruption of church and state 
 in the time of popery, episcopacy, and tyranny, the 
 better to keep the people in ignorance and carry on 
 their popish, factious, and tyrannical designs for the 
 enslaving and destruction both of the bodies and souls
 
 1643-1G49. CENSORSHIP UNDER THE PARLIAMENT 19 
 
 of all the free people of this nation. Licensing; is as 
 great a monopoly as ever was in this nation, in that all 
 men's judgments, reasons, &c. are bound up in the 
 licencer's as to licensing : for if the author of any sheet, 
 book, or treatise write not to please the fancy and come 
 within the compass of the licencer's judgment, then he 
 is not to receive any stamp of authority for publishing 
 thereof.' l 
 
 Mabbott's duties as licencer of books and newspapers 
 in general appear to have included such special respon- 
 sibility for the contents of the semi-official journals 
 which were published at this time as made him practi- 
 cally their editor. As early as 1642 the ' True Diurnal 
 of Parliamentary Intelligence ' had had its weekly 
 information vouched for by the signature of 'Jo. 
 Browne, Cler. Parliamentor.,' and though neither this 
 nor the ' Perfect Diurnal' that succeeded it in 1643 was 
 altogether in the nature of a government gazette, the 
 paper specially favoured by parliament was of course 
 expected to furnish just such information as the 
 authorities wished to have communicated to the public. 
 When General Fairfax proposed the appointment of 
 Mabbott as censor in 1647 he suggested, ' in order that 
 the kingdom's expectation may be satisfied in relation 
 to intelligence till a firm peace be settled, considering 
 the mischiefs that will happen by the poisonous writings 
 of evil men sent abroad daily to abuse and deceive the 
 people, that, if the house shall see fit, some two or 
 three sheets shall come forth weekly, which may be 
 licensed and have some stamp of authority with them ; ' 
 and from this date more than before, we may infer, the 
 ' Perfect Diurnal,' under Mabbott's guidance, was the 
 authentic organ of the parliament and the army. It 
 was so yet more after the execution of Charles I. in 
 
 1 Perfect Diurnal, May 21-28, 1649.
 
 20 OUR EARLIEST NEWSPAPERS OH. i. 
 
 January 1649 and during the eleven years of the 
 Commonwealth- 
 Through nearly all those years the versatile March- 
 mont Nedham was, strange to say, the official journalist. 
 Having abandoned the Parliamentary party or been 
 abandoned by it, and having defied it by the clandestine 
 production of his ' Mercurius Pragmaticus ' from Sep- 
 tember 1647 until Charles L's death, he did not long 
 remain faithful to his sovereign's son. The second 
 series of ' Mercurius Pragmaticus,' begun on April 24, 
 1649, was, it is true, stated on the title to be ' for Kino- 
 Charles II., ' but Nedham's loyalty was soon frightened 
 out of him. ' Being narrowly sought after,' says his 
 biographer, ' he left London, and for a time skulked at 
 Minster Lovel, near Binford in Oxfordshire, in the 
 house of Dr. Peter Heylin. At length, he being found 
 out, imprisoned in Newgate, and brought into danger 
 of his life, Lenthall, the Speaker of the House of Com- 
 mons, who knew him and his relations well, and John 
 Bradshaw, President of the High Court of Justice, 
 treated him fairly, and not only got his pardon, but, 
 with promise of rewards and places, persuaded him to 
 change his style once more.' 1 
 
 The changed style, changed in matter, not in 
 manner, appeared in a new paper, of which the first 
 number was published on Thursday, June lo, 1650. 
 with this title, ' Mercurius Politicus, comprising the 
 Sum of all Intelligence, with the Affairs and Designs 
 
 * ' O 
 
 now on foot in the Nations of England, Ireland, and 
 Scotland in defence of the Commonwealth and for 
 the Information of the People.' c Why should not the 
 Commonwealth have a fool as well as the king had ? ' 
 Nedham frankly asked in his opening article. ' 'Tis 
 a point of state, and if the old court humours should 
 
 1 Wood, Athene Oxonienses, vol. iii. p. 1180.
 
 1650-1652. NEDHAM AS A COMMONWEALTH-MAN 2 I 
 
 return in this new form, 'twere the ready road to pre- 
 ferment and a lady's chamber. But you'll say I am 
 out of fashion because I make neither rhymes nor faces 
 for fiddler's pay like the royal " Mercurius," yet you shall 
 know I have authority enough to create a fashion of 
 my own and make all the world to follow my humour.' 
 
 We must conclude either that the Council of State, 
 which managed the Commonwealth while Cromwell 
 was fighting its battles in Ireland and Scotland, was 
 very scantily supplied with men competent to conduct 
 its official journal, or that Nedham had great influence 
 at the republican court, when we find this shameless 
 turncoat advanced to the post. He occupied it with 
 no little ability, if without much credit, however, for 
 nearly ten years. On May 24, 1650, besides a sum of 
 50/. granted him for arrears, an allowance of 100/. a 
 year was made to him ' for service done to the Com- 
 monwealth,' l and this, equal to about 35CW. in modern 
 value, was evidently the stipend attached to his 
 duties as editor of ' Mercurius Politicus ' and occasional 
 writer of other pamphlets on behalf of the government. 
 He may have received other payments, or a share of 
 the profits from the printer and publisher, but about 
 this there is no information. 
 
 During some time, a year or more, JSTedham had 
 assistance in his work from a famous man of letters. 
 From January 1651 till January 1652 John Milton, in 
 connection with his employment as one of the secretaries 
 to the Council of State, acted as censor of the press 
 under the Commonwealth, and though there is no proof 
 that the author of ' Areopagitica ' himself wrote much 
 or anything for ' Mercurius Politicus,' there are num- 
 berless and unmistakable marks of his influence on 
 the tone of its articles and the construction of its 
 
 1 Masson, Life of Milton, vol. iv. p. 220.
 
 22 OUR EARLIEST NEWSPAPERS en. i. 
 
 sentences at this period. Nedham's rollicking style, 
 flippant and abusive, is not abandoned, bat subdued, 
 and its rough humour is strangely interspersed with 
 touches of Miltonic grandeur. Along with the gossip- 
 ing reports of news and rambling comments upon it, 
 moreover, we find, in the year of Milton's censorship, 
 grave and thoughtful articles in ' Mercurius Politicus,' 
 discussing political methods and propounding theories 
 of government in ways that are altogether different 
 from anything to be met with in this or other old 
 newspapers before, and for some time after, the years 
 1651 and 1652. It is certain, at any rate, that by 
 virtue of their several offices Milton had just then to 
 be in frequent communication with Nedham, and was 
 in a position to control if not to dictate to him. 1 
 
 There is nothing to show that Milton, to whom the 
 duties of press censor and book licencer must have been 
 irksome, and on principle offensive, was more tyrannical 
 than it was necessary for him to be during his term of 
 office. If he put a curb on Nedham's scurrilous pen, 
 he seems to have meddled little, perhaps because he 
 could not meddle effectually, with the rival and 
 seditious papers that were still plentiful, though not so 
 numerous as in the times of civil war. 
 
 The censorship was more severe after he retired 
 from it. On December 28, 1652, the House of 
 Commons ordered ' that it be referred to the Council of 
 State to take care for suppressing the weekly pamphlets 
 
 1 'One can imagine through those months,' says Mr. Masson, 'Ned- 
 ham's weekly visits to the invalid Milton in his Whitehall apartments, 
 bringing the proofs of each forthcoming number of Mercurius with him,, 
 and their consultations over the articles, and Milton's occasional criticisms 
 and perhaps suggestions and improvements.' Life of Milton, vol. iv. p. 
 3'2G. In 1056 a series of articles, which had appeared in 1651 in Mer- 
 cmius Politicks, was reprinted anonymously in a volume entitled The 
 Excellency of a Free State, or the Itiijht Constitution, of a Commonwealth, 
 which might easily pass for a clumsy and inferior work by Milton.
 
 1661-1060. MILTON AND OTHER PRESS CENSORS 23 
 
 or any other books that go out to the dishonour of the 
 Parliament and prejudice of the Commonwealth, and 
 also to examine the authors, printers, and publishers of 
 the books called " Mercurius Britannicus " ' now an 
 anti- Republican paper ' and " The Scout " ' another 
 seditious journal ' or any other books of that nature, 
 and that they have power to imprison the offenders, 
 and to inflict such other punishment on them as they 
 shall think fit ; and Mr. Scott ' apparently the Major 
 Thomas Scott who was too staunch a Republican for 
 Cromwell ' is to take especial care hereof.' l Harsher, 
 and probably less of a dead letter, was an order of 
 September 5, 1655, on the lord protector's authority, 
 that ' no person whatever do presume to publish in 
 print any matter of public news or intelligence without 
 leave of the secretary of state.' 2 
 
 / 
 
 During the ensuing three years, at any rate, the 
 press censorship, taken in hand by Secretary Thurloe 
 himself, Avas a reality, and matters were hardly mended 
 in the time between. Oliver Cromwell's death and 
 Charles II.'s instalment as king, when they were to be 
 anything but mended. Under the protectorate there 
 appear to have been only two authorised newspapers, 
 ' Mercurius Politicus ' and ' The Public Intelligencer,' 
 This latter, ' communicating the chief occurrences 
 and proceedings within the dominions of England, 
 Scotland, and Ireland, together with an account of 
 affairs from several parts of Europe,' according to the 
 title-page, had been started in the autumn of 1655, and 
 was, indeed, practically a Monday edition of ' Mercurius 
 Politicus,' the publishing day of which was Thursday. 
 Both papers were edited by Nedham, and printed by 
 Thomas Xewcombe, ' in Thames Street, over against 
 
 1 Journals of the House of Commons, vol. vii. p. 23C. 
 2 Masson, Life of Milton, vol. v. p. 51.
 
 24 OUR EARLIEST NEWSPAPERS OH. i. 
 
 Baynard's Castle,' whose name appears in the books of 
 the Stationers' Company as the registered proprietor, 
 under licence from Secretary Thurloe. 
 
 Time-serving and versatile as he was, Xedham was 
 unable to retain his post after the break-up of the 
 Commonwealth, and he fell into some disgrace with the 
 dominant faction in 1659. On May 13 he was sus- 
 pended by order of the House of Commons from the 
 management of ' The Public Intelligencer ' though not 
 
 o O O 
 
 apparently of ' Mercurius Politicus.' On August 15, 
 however, the House resolved ' that Marchmont Nedham, 
 gentleman, be and is hereby restored to be writer of 
 u The Public Intelligencer " as formerly.' * He still had 
 friends in power, perhaps his old patron, Speaker 
 Lenthall, being chief of them, and when, falling in with 
 the change in politics, the two official papers were re- 
 shaped in January 1660 with slightly altered titles 
 ' Mercurius Publicus ' in the one case, and ' The Parlia- 
 mentary Intelligencer ' in the other both avowedly 
 ' published by order of the Council of State,' he retained 
 the editorship of both for three months. 2 
 
 But the crisis came for him, and he was finally 
 dismissed in April 1660, while the Convention Parlia- 
 ment was being elected. In the number of ' The 
 Parliamentary Intelligencer' for April 16 'the reader 
 is desired to take notice that whereas Marchmont 
 Xedham is, by order of the Council of State, discharged 
 from writing or publishing any public intelligence 
 by order of the said Council, Giles Dury and Henry 
 
 1 Journals of the House of Commons, vol. vii. p. 758. 
 
 - Other newspapers were allowed to appear, or could not be prevented 
 from appearing, at this time. One was An Exact Account of the Daily 
 Proceedings in Parliament, with Occurrences from Foreign Parts, started in 
 December 1658; another, A Particular Advice from the Office of Intelli- 
 gence near the Old Exchange, started in June 1659, and the title of 
 which was soon altered to Occurrences from Foreign Parts.
 
 1659-1060. THE END OF NEDHAM'S CAREER 25 
 
 Muddiman are authorised henceforth to write and 
 publish the said intelligence, the one upon the Thursday 
 and the other upon the Monday, which they do intend 
 to set out under the titles of " The Parliamentary In- 
 telligencer " and "Mercurius Publicus." 
 
 Not waiting for the return of Charles II., whom he 
 had known and flattered long before, while he was 
 producing ' Mercurius Pragmaticus,' but whom he had 
 persistently vilified during ten years in ' Mercurius 
 Politicus,' Nedham took shelter for a time in Holland, 
 whither he was pursued, not by armed men but by 
 the mockery of his Eoyalist contemporaries. A printed 
 squib, ' An Hue and Cry after Mercurius Politicus/ 
 appeared on May 10, describing his antecedents and 
 personal appearance in such terms as these : 
 
 But if at Amsterdam you meet 
 
 With one that's purblind in the street, 
 
 Hawk-nosed, turn up his hair 
 And in his ears two holes you'll find, 
 And, if they are not pawned, behind 
 
 Two rings are hanging there. 
 His visage meagre is, and long, 
 His body slender, &c. 
 
 He was in England again in October 1660, however, 
 having, we are told, ' for money given to an hungry 
 courtier, obtained pardon under the great seal, which 
 was his defence oftentimes against several attempts 
 to hale him before a justice, and so to prison for 
 treason.' His career as a journalist was over ; but, 
 having studied medicine as well as law in his youth, 
 ' he exercised the faculty of physic to his dying day, 
 which was a considerable benefit to him.' He died in 
 1674, four years after Milton, his senior by twelve 
 years, and his sometime associate in Commonwealth 
 journalism. Even his spiteful biographer and political 
 opponent was constrained to admit that ' he was a
 
 26 OUE EARLIEST NEWSPAPERS OH. i. 
 
 person endowed with quick natural parts, was a good 
 humanitarian, poet, and born droll, and, had he been 
 constant to his cavaliering principles, he would have 
 been beloved by and admired of all ; but, being 
 mercenary and valuing money and sordid interest, 
 rather than conscience, friendship, or love to his prince, 
 he was much hated by the Royal party to his last, 
 and many cannot yet endure to have him spoken of.' l 
 
 In his days, and with his help, faulty as it was, 
 journalism had made important progress, and acquired 
 far more dignity and influence than were allowed to it 
 in the generation following. 
 
 1 Wood, Athenaz Oxonienses, vol. iii. p. 1180.
 
 27 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 UNDEB THE LICENSING ACT. 
 16601695. 
 
 WHEN the art of printing began in Europe all literature 
 was either in the hands of the clergy or under the 
 Church's immediate management, and during at least 
 a century none but outrageous lawbreakers thought of 
 disputing or meddling with the ecclesiastical preroga- 
 tive. In England, the authority of popes and cardinals 
 being repudiated by Henry VIII., he claimed like power 
 for himself and his ministers, and the royal right to 
 absolute control over the press was taken for granted, 
 or angrily insisted upon as often as it was questioned 
 or controverted, down to the time when the Common- 
 wealth usurped the functions of the Crown. An ordi- 
 nance of the Star Chamber in 1585, denouncing the 
 ' enormities and abuses of disorderly persons possessing 
 the art of printing and selling books,' which had been 
 growing during half a century, limited the number of 
 master printers to twenty, besides the establishments 
 allowed to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, 
 placed these and everything issued from their presses 
 under stringent supervision, and made penal all other 
 printing or publishing. Nothing was to be put to 
 press without previous licence of the archbishop of 
 Canterbury or the bishop of London, except what 
 was ordered of the queen's printer, or legal matter
 
 28 UNDER THE LICENSING ACT en. n. 
 
 appointed by the chief justices, and inquisitorial powers 
 over printers and booksellers were assigned to the 
 Stationers' Company. This ordinance prevailed, or 
 was violated at peril, until 1637, when the harsher 
 ordinance of the Star Chamber already referred to was 
 published ; and before and after that date there was 
 cruel persecution of many producers of books, with 
 great hindrance to the producers of newspapers, 
 though these latter rarely brought on themselves such 
 sufferings as were heroically borne by Prynne, Bast- 
 wick, Burton, Lilburn and others. The fall of the Star 
 Chamber in 1641, as we have seen, liberated the press 
 to some extent, and the milder tyranny of the Long 
 Parliament and the Commonwealth leaders was not 
 searching or capable enough to prevent a very con- 
 siderable growth of newspaper enterprise while 
 Charles I. was being held at bay and Charles II. was 
 kept out of his kingdom. With the Restoration, 
 however, press censorship was restored, and, for some 
 time and to some extent^ it was more disastrous in its 
 effects, on newspapers at any rate, than it had been 
 before the interregnum began. 
 
 Charles II. was on the throne nearly two years 
 before he and his ministers were able to get their Avay. 
 A bill for the regulation of printing, as adopted by the 
 House of Lords, was rejected by the Commons in July 
 1661. But the Licensing Act passed on May 19, 1662, 
 renewed most of the obnoxious provisions of the Star 
 Chamber ordinances of 1585 and 1637. On the plea 
 that ' by the general licentiousness of the late times 
 many evil-disposed persons had been encouraged to 
 print and sell heretical and seditious books,' it again 
 limited the number of master printers to twenty, all of 
 whom were to be in London, except one in York and 
 those employed by the crown and the universities ; it
 
 1660. CHARLES II.'S LICENCERS 29' 
 
 assigned the licensing of all historical works and poli- 
 tical writings to the secretary of state, of all legal 
 
 CD v O 
 
 works to the lord chancellor and the judges, and of all 
 works on religion, philosophy, and physics to the arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury and the bishop of London ; and 
 it threw on these ecclesiastics the task of seeing that 
 the Stationers' Company and other responsible bodies 
 did their duty, and that all unlicensed printers and 
 writers of unlicensed books and pamphlets were severely 
 punished. This act, frequently renewed, was in force till 
 1679, when worse tyranny than it sanctioned began to 
 be carried on without parliamentary authority. Re- 
 vived in 1685, it continued in operation till 1695. Of 
 its disastrous effects during more than thirty years 
 some evidence may now be given. 
 
 The spirit that prompted it began to work before 
 the Act itself was passed. There was less immediate 
 change than might have been expected, however, in the 
 style of the authorised newspapers. Marchmont Ned- 
 ham, having been dismissed in April 1660, both ' The 
 Parliamentary Intelligencer ' and ' Mercurius Publicus ' 
 were continued pretty much as heretofore till the end 
 of the year by Henry Muddiman and Giles Dury, of 
 whom we know very little, and who were probably 
 employed merely as stopgaps. 1 Nedham's real successor 
 was his old rival of the early period of the civil wars, 
 John Birkenhead ; and Birkenhead soon gave place to 
 a sterner censor. 
 
 Birkenhead had had many experiences since the 
 time when he started ' Mercurius Aulicus.' For the 
 skill and scurrility shown by him in his conduct of that 
 court organ Charles I. had, somewhat inconsequen- 
 tially, got him appointed to the chair of moral philo- 
 
 1 Pepys said of Muddiman that he was ' a good scholar and an arch 
 rogue.'
 
 30 UNDER THE LICENSING ACT CH. n. 
 
 sophy at Oxford university; but in 1648 he was 
 deprived by the Presbyterian visitors both of this post 
 and of his All Souls fellowship, and after that, we are 
 told, ' he retired to London, suffered several imprison- 
 ments for his majesty's cause, and lived by his wits at 
 helping young gentlemen at dead lifts in making poems, 
 songs, and epistles on and to their respective mistresses, 
 as also in translating and writing several little things, and 
 other petty employments.' l Better fortune and more 
 sedate occupation came to him with the Restoration. 
 In November 1660 he was appointed one of the licen- 
 cers under the Clarendon ministry, apparently with 
 particular oversight of the authorised newspapers, into 
 which, however, he was either not allowed or not in- 
 clined to import any of the ' wit and buffoonery ' in 
 which he had indulged seventeen years before. 2 
 
 On the first Monday in January 1661 ' The Par- 
 liamentary Intelligencer ' came out with an altered title, 
 as ' The Kingdom's Intelligencer of the Affairs now in 
 a citation in England, Scotland, and Ireland, too-ether 
 
 o o / o 
 
 with Foreign Intelligence ; to prevent False News ; 
 published by authority ; ' and the first paragraph an- 
 nounced that ' the Parliamentary Intelligencer (as he 
 has good reason) hath changed his name, the par- 
 liament itself (from whom he borrowed that compila- 
 tion) being now dissolved, though 'tis not in the 
 power of malice or folly to misname that parliament 
 since his majesty hath pleased with his own sacred lips 
 to call it the healing and the blessed parliament.' It 
 was followed on Thursday by ' Mercurius Publicus,' also 
 ' to prevent false news,' and ' published by authority,' 
 with a fresh No. 1. Each paper extended to sixteen 
 
 1 Wood, Atlienx Oxonienses, vol. iii. p. 1203. 
 
 2 Birkenhead is described by Aubrey as a man ' of middling stature, 
 great goggle eyes, and not of a sweet aspect.'
 
 1661. 'THE KINGDOM'S INTELLIGENCER' 31 
 
 small quarto pages, generally in large print, and 
 portions of the matter in each being repeated in its 
 successor, so that buyers of only one series might have 
 as much weekly information as was thought good for 
 them furnished very little news, either true or false. 
 The first number of ' The Kingdom's Intelligencer,' for 
 instance, contained a few scraps of foreign and domestic 
 gossip, a bald catalogue of the acts passed by the Con- 
 vention Parliament just dissolved, and the text or sub- 
 stance of Sir Harbottle Grimston's address, as Speaker 
 of the House, dissolving it on behalf of King Charles. 
 There were also in the number two trade advertisements, 
 this novelty in journalism having been introduced a 
 few years before in the Commonwealth newspapers. 1 
 
 Meagre as were the papers allowed to appear during 
 the first three years of Charles II. 's reign, they were 
 larger and fuller than the authorities desired, and to 
 Birkenhead a stricter successor in the control of them 
 was found. Birkenhead seems to have retained his office 
 while the Licensing Act was being forced through par- 
 liament, and for fifteen months after. But he was busy 
 and prospering in other ways. Through royal favour 
 he was made Doctor of Civil Law by Oxford university 
 in April 1661, and member of parliament for Wilton 
 in the following May. He was knighted in November 
 
 1662, and in 1663 he was appointed Master of Requests, 
 with a good salary and chance of pickings without limit. 2 
 
 1 One of the two advertisements is curious enough to be worth quot- 
 ing : ' Sir Kenelm Digby's sympathetical powder, prepared by Promethian 
 fire, curing all green wounds that come within the compass of a remedy, 
 as also the toothache infallibly, is to be had at Mr. Samuel Speed's, 
 at the Printing-press in St. Paul's Churchyard.' This earlier one had 
 appeared in the Mercurius Politicus of September 30, 1658 : ' That ex- 
 cellent and by all physicians approved China drink, called by the Chineans 
 tcha, by other nations " tay" alias "tee," is sold at the Sultaness' Head 
 Coffee-house in Sweeting's Rents, by the Royal Exchange, London.' 
 
 2 Wood, Athense Oxonienses, vol. iii. p. 1206.
 
 32 UNDER THE LICENSING ACT CH. n. 
 
 Therefore tie made way in the licensing office for Roger 
 L'Estrange. 
 
 This L'Estrange, born in 1616, had been a zealous 
 fighter and schemer for Charles I., had been caught and 
 sentenced to death as a spy and conspirator against the 
 Parliament in 1644, but had escaped with four years' 
 imprisonment in Newgate, after which he had passed a 
 restless life, partly on the continent, partly in England, 
 until the Restoration brought him into favour. One 
 of many pamphlets written by him in Commonwealth 
 times was a fierce attack on Milton, entitled ' No Blind 
 Guides;' another was ' Treason arraigned in answer to 
 Plain Speech,' the ' plain speech ' there denounced 
 having, as he said, been at first regarded by him as 
 ' either Nedham's or Milton's, a couple of curs of the 
 same pack.' 1 In June 1663, evidently with a view to 
 bringing himself into notice, he published another 
 pamphlet, ' Considerations and Proposals in order to 
 the Regulation of the Press, together with divers In- 
 stances of Treasonous and Seditious Pamphlets, proving 
 the Necessity thereof.' In this treatise L'Estrange com- 
 plained that the Licensing Act, which had been passed a 
 year before, was by no means so stringently enforced as 
 it might be. ' That spirit of hypocrisy, scandal, malice, 
 error, and illusion that actuated the late rebellion,' he 
 said, was ' reigning still, and working not only by the 
 same means, but in very many of the same persons and 
 to the same ends ; ' and there was no hope of its being 
 repressed unless the severest measures were adopted, 
 not only towards printers and authors, but also towards 
 ' the letter- founders, and the smiths and joiners that 
 work upon presses, with the stitchers, binders, stationers, 
 hawkers, mercury women, pedlars, ballad-singers, posts, 
 carriers, hackney coachmen, boatmen, and mariners.' 
 
 1 Masson, Life of Milton, vol. vi. p. 326.
 
 1663. L'ESTRANGE'S NEWSPAPER MONOPOLY 33 
 
 Besides such ' ordinary penalties ' for the issuing of 
 treasonable or seditious literature as ' death, mutilation, 
 imprisonment, banishment, corporal pains, disgrace, 
 pecuniary mulcts,' he thought that the humbler 
 offenders the mercury women, hawkers, and so forth 
 ought to be ' condemned to wear some visible badge 
 or mark of ignominy, as a halter instead of a hatband, 
 one stocking blue and another red, a blue bonnet with 
 a T or S upon it.' The upshot of all the complaining 
 and proposing was that competent and duly-paid press 
 licencers ought to be appointed, and that informers 
 should be well bribed to bring offenders to justice. 
 
 Roger L'E strange' s pamphlet promptly had the 
 result that he doubtless chiefly desired. In August 
 1663 he was appointed 'surveyor of the imprimery 
 and printing presses,' and to him was assigned ' the 
 sole licensing of all ballads, sheets, printed portraitures, 
 printed pictures, books, and papers,' except such as had 
 already been arranged for, and also ' all the sole pri- 
 vilege of writing, printing, and publishing all narra- 
 tives, advertisements, mercuries, intelligencers, diurnals, 
 and other books of public intelligence, and printing of 
 all ballads, plays, maps, charts, portraitures, and pic- 
 tures, not previously printed, and all briefs for collec- 
 tions, play-bills, quack- salvers' bills, customs and 
 excise bills, post-office bills, creditors' bills and 
 tickets, in England and Wales, and with power to 
 search for and seize unlicensed and treasonable, schis- 
 matical, and scandalous books and papers.' 1 In plain 
 words he was constituted censor in general of all printed 
 or printable matter coming within the purview of the 
 secretary of state under the Licensing Act, head of a 
 sort of ' criminal investigation department ' for the 
 hunting down of all unlicensed literature and all its 
 
 1 Nichols, Literary Anecdotes, vol. iv. p. 54. 
 VOL. I. D
 
 34 UNDER THE LICENSING ACT CH. n. 
 
 producers and distributors, and sole monopolist of the 
 entire trade of journalism throughout England and 
 Wales. Of those functions he formally retained as many 
 and so much as he could down to 1 G88, and he exercised 
 them vigorously for some time. 
 
 In August 1663, ' The Kingdom's Intelligencer' and 
 ' Mercurius Publicus,' which mayor may not have been 
 edited up till then by Muddiman and Dury, or by one of 
 them, with or without the real or nominal supervision 
 of Birkenhead, were discontinued. Their places were 
 taken by ' The Intelligencer, published for the Satis- 
 faction and Information of the People, with Privilege,' 
 the first number of which appeared on Monday, August 
 31, and ' The News, published for the Satisfaction and 
 Information of the People, with Privilege,' the first 
 number of which appeared on Thursday, September 3. 
 Reduced in size to eight small pages apiece, half the size 
 of their predecessors, these two papers furnished be- 
 tween them all the information which Charles II. 's 
 subjects were privileged to get, and with which they 
 had to be satisfied, unless they could supplement them 
 by written newsletters, which now came into fashion 
 again, or by such stray publications as were issued in 
 defiance of the law and were generally of a very coarse 
 quality. 
 
 More than half of the first number of ' The Intelli- 
 gencer,' the rest comprising two and a half pages of 
 foreign news and one page of advertisements, was 
 occupied with L'Estrange's prospectus of his new un- 
 dertaking. ' His majesty,' as he said, ' having been 
 lately and graciously pleased to commit the privilege of 
 publishing all intelligence, together with the survey and 
 inspection of the press, to one and the same person,' he 
 thus explicitly declared his views and intentions : 'As to 
 the point of intelligence, I do declare myself (as I hope 
 I may in a matter left so absolutely indifferent, whether
 
 1663. L'ESTRANGE'S 'INTELLIGENCER' 35 
 
 any or none), that, supposing the press in order, the 
 people in their right wits, and news or no news to be 
 the question, a public mercury should never have my 
 vote ; because I think it makes the multitude too fami- 
 liar with the actions and counsels of their superiors, too 
 pragmatical and censorious, and gives them not only 
 an itch, but a kind of colourable right and licence, to be 
 meddling with the government. All which (supposing 
 as before supposed) does not yet hinder but that in 
 this juncture a paper of that quality may be both safe 
 and expedient truly if I should say necessary perhaps 
 the case would bear it, for certainly there is not any- 
 thing which at this instant more imports his majesty's 
 service and the public than to redeem the vulgar from 
 their former mistakes and delusions, and to preserve 
 them from the like for the time to come ; to both which 
 purposes the prudent management of a gazette may 
 contribute in a very high degree. For, besides that it 
 is everybody's money, and in truth a great part of most 
 men's study and business, it is none of the worst ways 
 of address to the genius and humour of the common 
 people, whose affections are much more capable of being 
 tuned and wrought upon by convenient touches in the 
 shape and air of a pamphlet than by the strongest reason 
 and best notions imaginable under any other and more 
 sober form whatsoever. To which advantages of being 
 popular and grateful must be added, as none of the least, 
 that it is likewise reasonable and worth the while, were 
 there no other use of it than only to detect and disap- 
 point the malice of those scandalous and false reports 
 which are daily contrived and bruited against the 
 government.' 
 
 L'Estrange hoped, at starting, that 'once a week may 
 do the business, for I intend to utter my news by weight 
 and not by measure,' whence it would appear that the
 
 36 UNDER THE LICENSING ACT CH. n, 
 
 publication of ' The News,' as a Thursday sequel to 
 Monday's ' Intelligencer,' was an afterthought ; but if 
 so, he was quickly led to act on his announcement that, 
 ' if I shall find, when my hand is in, and after the 
 planting and securing of my correspondents, that the 
 matter will fairly furnish more, without either uncer- 
 tainty, repetition, or impertinence, I shall keep myself 
 free to double at pleasure.' He did 'double' in his 
 opening week, and even then had none too much space 
 for the news the public might have been glad to receive, 
 though much of the news he gave was hardly worth 
 printing. Here is a specimen paragraph from the Bath 
 correspondent's letter of August 29, in the second 
 number of ' The Intelligencer :' ' His majesty dined 
 with Sir John Talbot [at Newbury], and thence 
 marched to Bath, where their majesties, attended by 
 divers eminent persons, and all the maids of honour, 
 entered the town on horseback, to the abundant satis- 
 faction of the people, who had thereby the blessing of 
 so illustrious and divine a prospect. 7 
 
 In his prospectus L'Estrange gave some account of 
 his licensing and inquisitorial plans in general, as well 
 as of his own editorial ideal. He had discovered that 
 there were far more printers in London than the law 
 allowed, and than in his opinion there was legitimate 
 occupation for. ' I find it in general, with the printers 
 as with their neighbours, there are too many of the 
 trade to live by one another. But more particularly I 
 find them clogged with three sorts of people foreigners, 
 persons not free of the trade, and separatists ; ' and in 
 the retrenchment he contemplated, he said, ' the refor- 
 mation may begin there.' He invited all honest citizens 
 to help him in his reforming work. Whoever brought 
 him information leading to proof about ' any printing- 
 press erected and being in anv private place, hole or
 
 1663. THE PERSECUTION OF TWYN 37 
 
 corner, contrary to the tenor of the late act of parlia- 
 ment,' should receive a reward of forty shillings, ' with 
 what assurance of secrecy himself shall desire.' To 
 anyone who gave siaiilar proof of a seditious and un- 
 licensed book being in the press, and rendered ' his aid 
 to the seizing of the copies and the offenders,' he offered 
 a reward of five pounds, and, among other bribes, one 
 of five shillings was proposed to anyone helping to 
 convict the hawker of an unlicensed book, pamphlet, 
 or newspaper. All promiscuous selling of books and 
 papers was obnoxious to him. ' The way as to the 
 vent that has been found most beneficial to the master 
 of the book has been to cry and expose it about the 
 streets by mercuries and hawkers ; ' but as ' under 
 countenance of that employment is carried on the 
 private trade of treasonous and seditious libels,' 
 L'Estrange declared his intention of putting a stop to 
 it. Even ' The Intelligencer' or ' The Xews,' if any- 
 one desired to buy a copy, must be procured from the 
 printing and publishing office or from an accredited 
 and respectable agent. 
 
 L'Estrange, while carrying on his newspaper mono- 
 poly, did his utmost to enforce his threats as ' surveyor 
 of the imprimery and printing presses.' It is on 
 record that one October evening in 1663, acting on in- 
 formation he had received, he proceeded with four 
 assistants to the house of a seditious printer named 
 Twyn in Cloth Fair. According to one of the assis- 
 tants' evidence, ' they knocked at least half an hour 
 before they got in,' it being long past midnight, and 
 while they waited they ' heard some papers tumbling 
 down and heard a rattling above.' Admitted at length, 
 they were in time to seize some type that had been 
 broken up and some sheets which had not been de- 
 .stroyed, and which set forth in black and white, among
 
 38 UNDER THE LICENSING ACT CH. n, 
 
 other political heresies, the monstrous doctrine that 
 ' the execution of judgment and justice is as well the 
 people's as the magistrate's duty, and if the magistrates 
 prevent judgment, the people are bound by the law 
 of God to execute judgment without them and upon 
 them.' 
 
 Here was ample occasion for arraigning Twyn be- 
 fore the King's Bench. Twyn's apprentice being one 
 of the witnesses against him, he admitted that he had 
 undertaken to print the pamphlet, which he 'thought 
 was mettlesome stuff, but knew no hurt in it,' for a sum 
 of forty shillings, and in excuse he urged his poverty 
 and the need of earning money to procure bread for his 
 family. The jury found him guilty. ' I humbly beg 
 mercy,' exclaimed Twyn. ' I am a poor man and have 
 three small children.' ' I'll tell you what you shall 
 do,' said Chief Justice Hyde ; ' ask mercy of them that 
 can give it, that is of God and the king.' ' I humbly 
 beseech you to intercede with his majesty for mercy,' 
 Twyn murmured. ' Tie him up, executioner ! ' shouted 
 the judge. ' I speak it from my soul, I think we have 
 the greatest happiness in the world in enjoying what 
 we do under so gracious and good a king ; and you, 
 Twyn, in the rancour of your heart thus to abuse him, 
 deserve no mercy.' An example should be made of 
 men who thus advocated disobedience to such a mo- 
 narch ; and the sentence passed on Twyn accordingly 
 was that he be hanged by the neck, cut down before he 
 was dead, shamefully mutilated, and his entrails taken 
 out ; ' and, you still living, the same to be burnt before 
 your eyes, your head to be cut off, and your head and 
 quarters to be disposed of at the pleasure of the king's 
 majesty.' ' I humbly beseech your lordship,' the printer 
 cried again, ' to remember my condition and intercede 
 for me.' ' I would not intercede for my own father in.
 
 1665. 'THE OXFORD GAZETTE' 39 
 
 this case if he were alive,' was the judge's rejoinder. 
 Twyn was therefore led back to Newgate and hurried 
 thence to Tyburn, where the main portion of the 
 sentence was carried out, his head and the fragments of 
 his body being afterwards set up ' on Ludgate, Alders - 
 gate, and the other gates of the city.' l 
 
 Other victims in abundance, though none of them 
 quite so cruelly used, were found for Chief Justice Hyde 
 and other judges during many years by L'Estrange in 
 his capacity of persecutor of printers and suppressor of 
 seditious books, but his career as newspaper monopolist 
 was brief. 
 
 When in the autumn of 1665 Charles II. sought 
 shelter in Oxford from the Great Plague, he and his 
 courtiers wanted newspapers to read, yet feared to touch 
 ' The Intelligencer ' or ' The News,' which, coming from 
 London, might be infected. Therefore Leonard Litch- 
 field, the university printer, was authorised or ordered 
 to bring out a local paper. On Tuesday, November 
 14, the first number of ' The Oxford Gazette ' appeared, 
 and it was continued afterwards through eleven weeks 
 on Thursdays and Mondays. It was meagre enough, 
 but, though comprised in only two double-columned 
 pages of folio, each number contained nearly as much 
 matter as one of L'Estrange's papers, and it soon 
 became a formidable rival to those papers, especially 
 as Thomas Newcombe, the old printer of the Common- 
 wealth organs, was allowed to reproduce its sheets in 
 London ' for the use of some members and gentlemen 
 who desired them.' How angry L'Estrange was at 
 this competition and overriding of his privilege may be 
 inferred from the fact that on Tuesday, November 28, 
 he brought out the first number of a ' Public Intelli- 
 gence,' matching ' The Oxford Gazette ' in size, with 
 
 1 State Trials, vol. vi. p. 539.
 
 40 UNDER THE LICENSING ACT CH. u. 
 
 this preface : ' You may perceive, my masters, that 
 your ' Intelligencer ' has changed his title, his form, and 
 his day, for which I could give you twenty shrewd 
 reasons if I were not more obliged to gratify a point of 
 prudence in myself than a curiosity in others, and I 
 do assure you there is both discretion and modesty in 
 the case. This short account will satisfy the wise, 
 and I shall leave the rest to content themselves at 
 leisure.' 
 
 We can imagine the quarrelling and heartburning 
 that must have occurred over this business. L'Estrange 
 was not a man to yield meekly to interference with his 
 ' rights.' But he had to yield now, and the issue of the 
 turmoil was that, the new ' Intelligence ' dying in its 
 infancy, and the old ' Xews ' being soon discontinued 
 the plague, moreover, being over and King Charles 
 being back at Whitehall ' The Oxford Gazette ' was 
 succeeded by ' The London Gazette,' which made its 
 first appearance, labelled as Xo. 24, on February 5, 
 1666, and which has kept alive, altering its size and 
 character from time to time, clown to this day. 
 
 When it started it was only an ordinary newspaper, 
 furnishing very little news, and that not always or 
 often accurate, but treating in its way of whatever was 
 thought to be interesting or safe reading for the public. 
 From the first, however, it was more strictly an official 
 organ than any of the older ' Diurnals,' ' Mercuries.' or 
 ' Intelligencers ' had been. Its Oxford pioneer having 
 apparently been edited by Henry Muddiman, we are 
 told that after a few r numbers had appeared ' Mr. Joseph 
 Williamson, under secretary of state, procured the 
 writing of them for himself, and thereupon employed 
 Charles Perrot, M.A., and fellow of Oriel College 
 in Oxon, who had a good command of his pen. to do 
 that office under him, and so he did, though not con-
 
 1666-1679. 'THE LONDON GAZETTE' 41 
 
 stantly, to about 1671. 51 Except in its emptiness and 
 worthlessness there was nothing notable about ; The 
 London Gazette ' in these or later years. 2 
 
 Yet, such as it was, it was almost the only news- 
 paper allowed to Charles II. 's subjects till near the end 
 of his reign. A few ribald sheets, licentious but not 
 trenching on forbidden ground, passed the censorship, 
 and appeared from time to time ; but these were crude 
 and coarse forerunners of the magazines rather than 
 newspapers, and everything in the nature of political 
 information or controversy was sternly repressed by the 
 licencers. Though L'Estrange had been ousted from 
 the official editorship, he was still licencer of papers, 
 and therefore able to prohibit them. The only im- 
 portant paper during ten years, indeed, except ' The 
 London Gazette,' and hardly a rival to it, was a specu- 
 lation of the licencer himself. ' The City Mercury, or 
 Advertisements concerning Trade,' started in November 
 1675, was, as its title announced, a trade organ. It 
 bore this business-like announcement : ' Advertise- 
 ments received at the Intelligence Offices, upon the 
 Royal Exchange, and next door to the Pigeon Tavern, 
 near Charing Cross. Complaints rectified on appli- 
 cation to Mr. Roger L'Estrange, in GifFord's Buildings, 
 Holborn.' 
 
 In the same category, but of later date, must be 
 placed a humbler paper, depending on advertisements 
 alone for its profits, a ' Domestic Intelligence,' ' pub- 
 lished gratis for the promoting of trade,' which was 
 begun in 1679 by Nathaniel Thompson, and also a pre- 
 cursor of literary journals, ' Mercurius Librarius, or a 
 
 1 Wood, Athenx Oxonienses, vol. iii. p. 1185. 
 
 2 For a long time, down to 1696 at any rate, a version of the Gazette 
 was issued in French Gazette de Londres, ' publie'e arec privilege.' In 
 1678, as appears by the Commons' Journals, the printer got into trouble 
 by mistranslating an important passage about popish recusants.
 
 42 UNDER THE LICENSING ACT CH. n. 
 
 Faithful Account of all Books and Pamphlets.' which 
 appeared in 1680. ' All booksellers that approve of 
 the design of publishing this catalogue weekly, or once 
 in fourteen days at least/ it was said in the first 
 number of i Mercurius Librarius,' ' are desired to send 
 in to one of the undertakers any book, pamphlet, or 
 sheet they would have in it, so soon as published, that 
 they may be inserted in order as they come out. Their 
 books shall be delivered them back again upon demand. 
 To show they design the public advantage of the trade, 
 they will expect but sixpence for inserting any book, 
 nor but twelvepence for any other advertisement relating 
 to the trade, unless it be excessive long.' The book- 
 sellers' trade was not brisk enough to supply many of 
 the coveted advertisements, and of course no criticism 
 of books was offered in ' Mercurius Librarius.' 
 
 The somewhat greater liberty accorded to printers 
 and authors in the later years of Charles II. was partly 
 due to the growth of public opinion, and partly to the 
 lapsing, for a time, of the Licensing Act itself, conse- 
 quent on the same cause. There was no extension of 
 liberty to political writers opposed to the dominant 
 party, however, and the cessation of the Licensing Act 
 only resulted in an outburst of worse tyranny. The 
 short parliament of 1679, dominated by John Locke's 
 friend, the first Earl of Shaftesbury, which passed the 
 Habeas Corpus Act, and which was dismissed in order 
 to prevent the threatened passing of the Exclusion 
 Bill, had no chance of refusing to renew the expiring 
 Licensing Act, as it would certainly have done ; but the 
 parliamentary strength of those who now began to be 
 called Whigs by no means lessened the zeal or weakened 
 the power of the courtiers, henceforth to be styled 
 Tories, who ruled the bench, and from it overawed the 
 country.
 
 1680. TYRANNY AT ITS HEIGHT 43 
 
 On May 12, 1680, just a year after Charles II. had 
 begun to imitate his father's attempts to govern without 
 a parliament, appeared a proclamation ' for suppressing 
 the printing and publishing of unlicensed newsbooks 
 and pamphlets of news.' ' Whereas,' it announced, 
 ' it is of great importance to the state that all news 
 printed and published to the people, as well concerning 
 foreign as domestic affairs, should be agreeable to 
 truth, or at least warranted by good intelligence, that 
 the minds of his majesty's subjects may not be dis- 
 turbed or amused by lies or vain reports, which are 
 many times raised on purpose to scandalise the govern- 
 ment, or for other indirect ends ; and whereas of late 
 many evil-disposed persons have made it a common 
 practice to print and publish pamphlets of news without 
 licence or authority, and therein have vended to his 
 majesty's people all the idle and malicious reports that 
 they could collect or invent, contrary to law, the con- 
 tinuance whereof would, in a short time, endanger the 
 peace of the kingdom, the same manifestly tending 
 thereto, as has been declared by all his majesty's judges 
 unanimously ; his majesty, therefore, considering the 
 great mischief that may ensue upon such licentious and 
 illegal practices, if not timely prevented, hath thought 
 fit, with the advice of his privy council, strictly to 
 prohibit and forbid all persons whatsoever to print or 
 publish any newsbooks or pamphlets of news not 
 licensed by his majesty's authority.' l That was 
 clearly an usurpation by the crown of powers which, 
 formerly conferred upon it by parliament, had lapsed 
 in theory and in law ; and for having had a leading- 
 hand in recommending it Chief Justice Scroggs was 
 impeached in 168 1. 2 
 
 1 London Gazette, May 17, 1680. 
 
 2 State Trials, vol. vii. p. 1127 ; vol. viii. pp. 184 and 197.
 
 44 UNDER THE LICENSING ACT en. ir. 
 
 The immediate occasion of this royal and judicial 
 lawlessness was the appearance of an especially ob- 
 noxious article in a Protestant newspaper, ' The Weekly 
 Packet of Advice from Rome/ which had contrived, in 
 defiance of the Licensing Act, to issue its first number 
 in December 1678, and had continued to expose and 
 attack the machinations of the Duke of York, after- 
 wards King James II. , and his partisans. The article 
 in question, which appeared in April 1680, was in this 
 style : ' There is lately found out by an experienced 
 physician an incomparable medicament called the 
 wonder-working plaister, truly Catholic in operation, 
 somewhat of kin to the Jesuits' powder, but more 
 effectual. The virtues of it are strange and various. 
 It will make justice deaf as well as blind,' &c. For 
 writing or publishing it Henry Carr, ' of the parish 
 of St. Sepulchre, gentleman,' the conductor of ' The 
 Weekly Packet,' was arraigned at Guildhall before 
 Chief Justice Scroggs, Mr. Recorder Jeffreys being 
 the prosecuting counsel. Though Stevens, the printer, 
 refused to give criminating evidence, and though Sir 
 Francis Winningtoii, the defendant's counsel, urged 
 that there was no proof of authorship, the judge made 
 short work of the trial. ' You see what a case we are 
 in, gentlemen,' he exclaimed to the jury ; ' you see 
 what a sort of people we are got among ! ' Then he 
 laid it down as ' law,' that, ' to print or publish any 
 newsbook or pamphlet of news whatsoever is illegal ; 
 it is a manifest intent to the breach of the peace.' ' If 
 so be that printers and booksellers will undertake to 
 print news foolishly they ought to be punished, and 
 shall be punished if they do it without authority, 
 though there is nothing reflecting 011 the government, 
 as an unlawful thing.' ' You do not swear,' he added, 
 ' nor are you bound to swear here, that he was the
 
 1680. THE PERSECUTION OF HENRY CARR 45 
 
 publisher of the book, but if you find him guilty you 
 only swear you believe it so.' The jury, less compliant 
 than most in those days, spent an hour in arriving at a 
 verdict of guilty and earning Scroggs's praise, ' You 
 have done like honest men ! ' l 
 
 What sentence was passed on Carr. or what punish- 
 ment he endured, is not recorded. Probably he re- 
 canted, for we are told of him that ' after King James II. 
 came to the crown, he was drawn over so far by the 
 Roman Catholic party, for bread and money's sake, and 
 nothing else, to write on their behalf, and to vindicate 
 their proceedings against the Church of England in his 
 mercuries, which weekly came out, entitled " Public 
 Occurrences Truly Stated." 
 
 There were many other state trials in these evil 
 days for 'unlicensed printing.' Some victims escaped 
 with fines, others were imprisoned or put in the pillory; 
 but though the motives and intentions of the authorities 
 were as tyrannical as they could have been in the 
 darkest period of Star Chamber rule, or as they were 
 when L'Estrano;e, still a licencer and now Sir Roger, 
 
 O O 
 
 was fresh in office, and when Twyn was hanged, muti- 
 lated, and quartered, less judicial murder and actual 
 torture of condemned offenders were ventured upon. 
 The motives and intentions, however, were none the 
 less reprehensible because they were partly impotent 
 and wholly contemptible, and all the contempt the 
 authorities brought upon themselves was not enough to 
 render them quite impotent. The six years during 
 which Charles II. and his minions did not dare to seek 
 renewal of the Licensing Act were ugly years. The 
 
 1 State Trials, vol. vii. pp. 1111-1130. 
 
 2 Wood, AtJienx Oxonienses. Wood speaks of him as Henry Cave, 
 evidently an error, as the ' certain scribbler, in his Weekly Packet of 
 Advice from Rome,' referred to by Wood, can only have been Carr.
 
 46 UNDER THE LICENSING ACT en. n. 
 
 impeachment of Scroggs, for advising the proclamation 
 of 1680, for ordering unlawful search after what were 
 pretended to be unlawful publications and their pro- 
 ducers, and for other treasons against equity and 
 morality, fell through, and the threat of it only led to 
 his dismissal ; and Chief Justice Scroggs was succeeded 
 after a year's interval by Chief Justice Jeffreys. Mat- 
 ters were worse under James II. than under Charles 
 II., and not mended all at once when William of 
 Orange came over to try his hand at righting them. 
 Yet lessons in liberty, in the ways of winning it and 
 in the ways of using it, were being slowly and painfully 
 learnt, for which we who live in happier times and 
 who profit by their misfortunes should not be ungrate - 
 ful to the luckless pioneers who caused them to be 
 taught. 1 
 
 Unable, with their utmost violence, to prevent the 
 publication of all obnoxious newspapers, either in the 
 year before or in the few years after the lapsing of the 
 Licensing Act, King Charles and his ministers allowed 
 and encouraged the appearance of journals friendly to 
 them, and they even sought by banter, and what pur- 
 ported to be argument, to curb the rebellious spirit that 
 their terrorism could not frighten. ' Heraclitus Ridens, 
 or a Discourse between Jest and Earnest, where many 
 a True Word is pleasantly spoken in Opposition to 
 Libellers against the Government,' was an authorised 
 comic weekly which was begun in February 1681 and 
 continued till August 1682 ; and a more important 
 ministerial organ, offering criticism on news instead of 
 
 1 See the Journals of the House of Commons, the State Trials, the news- 
 papers of the day, and other contemporary matter. Hallam devoted a 
 few pages to the subject in the thirteenth chapter of his Constitu- 
 tional History ; but strangely little lias been said on it by modern 
 writers, even by Macaulay.
 
 1681. L'ESTKANGE'S ' OBSERVATOR ' 47 
 
 news itself, was ' The Observator,' started by Sir Roger 
 L'Estrange in April 1681. 
 
 Still a zealous paid servant of the government, 
 though his functions as licencer and 'surveyor of im- 
 primery and printing presses ' were legally in abeyance, 
 L'Estrange did what he could to earn his money. ' My 
 business,' he said in the first number of ' The Obser- 
 vator,' ' is to encounter the faction and to vindicate 
 the government, to detect their ' meaning only the 
 faction's ' forgeries, to lay open the rankness of their 
 calumnies and malice, to refute their seditious doctrines, 
 to expose their hypocrisy and the bloody design that 
 is carried on under the name and semblance of religion, 
 
 o " 
 
 and, in short, to lift up the cloak of the true Protestant 
 (as he christens himself) and to show the people the 
 Jesuit that lies skulking under it.' ' The Observator ' 
 was not to be a weekly paper, but to appear ' oftener 
 or seldomer as I see occasion.' As it happened, it was 
 issued twice a week at first, and afterwards three or 
 sometimes four numbers were printed every week, each 
 in two folio pages of the size of ' The Gazette; ' and it was 
 kept up with some cleverness till the eve of the Revolu- 
 tion. 1 It was written in ' question and answer ' that is, 
 in the form of a desultory debate or controversy between 
 a typical Whig and a typical Tory. As a matter of 
 course, all the wisdom and virtue were on the side of 
 the Tory ; but we see clear evidence of the dire ex- 
 tremity in which the Stuart party now found itself, in 
 the fact that so hot-headed and unscrupulous a cham- 
 pion of despotism as L'Estrange deemed it necessary 
 to make even a pretence of arguing with Ins foes. That 
 
 1 ' In 1687,' says Wood, 'he was obliged to lay down Tlie Observator, 
 as he could not agree with the toleration proposed by his majesty 
 [James II.], though in all other respects he had gone the utmost 
 lengths.'
 
 48 UNDER THE LICENSING ACT en. IT, 
 
 he did this grudgingly, and without change from hi& 
 old prejudice against public discussion or enlighten- 
 ment, is clear enough. ' "Tis one thing in the house, 
 another in the press,' he said in one of his numbers ; 
 ' and there are many cases that may be fairly enough 
 agitated in a regular debate that may yet be of per- 
 nicious consequence in the exposure of them to the 
 people. I have observed very ill effects many times 
 from the ordinary written papers of parliament news 
 by making the coffee-houses and all the popular clubs 
 judges of those counsels and deliberations which they 
 have nothing to do withal.' l 
 
 The coffee-houses thus referred to had by this time 
 become formidable centres of political discussion and 
 agencies for the spread of political information. To 
 them resorted all who were interested in public affairs, 
 and not able to buy the newspapers for themselves, or 
 not satisfied with the small information and unsafe 
 guidance they found in them. 2 There were Tory 
 coffee-houses as well as Whig coffee-houses, at which 
 rival partisans not only read and talked over the 
 printed papers, but furnished one another with fuller 
 details than the papers contained, and often got sight of 
 the news-letters which, as in the days before news- 
 papers began, were now widely circulated. So it was 
 in London, and so, too, in the provincial towns which 
 
 1 The Observator, March 21, 1684. 
 
 - As far back as 1663 an old versifier, who objected both to coffee- 
 shops and to newspapers, complained of- 
 These less than coffee's self, these coffee men, 
 These sons of nothing, that can hardly make 
 Their broth for laughing how the jest doth take, 
 Yet grin and give ye, for the vine's pure blood, 
 A loathsome potion not yet understood 
 Syrup of soot, or essence of old shoes, 
 Dashed with diurnals or the book of news. 
 
 Andrews, History of British Journalism, vol. i. p. 64.
 
 1682. COFFEE-HOUSE POLITICS 49 
 
 were dependent on London for nearly all their news. 
 Roger North tells us of his brother John, who was 
 Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and who died in 
 1682, that 'whilst he was at Jesus College, coffee was 
 not of such common use as afterwards, and coffee- 
 houses but young. At that time, and long after, there 
 was but one, kept by one Kirk. The trade of news 
 also was scarce set up ; for they had only the public 
 " Gazette " till Kirk got a written news-letter circulated 
 by one Muddiman. But now the case is much altered, 
 for it is become a custom, after chapel, to repair to one 
 or other of the coffee-houses, for there are divers, where 
 hours are spent in talking, and less profitable reading 
 of newspapers, of which swarms are continually sup- 
 plied from London. And the scholars are so greedy 
 after news, which is none of their business, that they 
 neglect all for it ; and it is become very rare for any of 
 them to go directly to his chamber after prayers with- 
 out doing his suit at the coffee-house, which is a vast 
 loss of time.' l 
 
 ' So fond are men in these days,' Chief Justice 
 Scroggs complained, when he was trying Henry Carr 
 for his article in ' The Weekly Packet,' ' that when 
 they will deny their children a penny for bread, they 
 will lay it out for a pamphlet ; and the temptations are 
 so great that no man can keep twopence in his pocket 
 because of the news.' 2 Against this appetite, and the 
 political turmoil which caused it and by which it was 
 increased, no tyranny could prevail. In spite of the 
 efforts of unscrupulous judges and courtly politicians 
 to establish a more grinding despotism without the 
 Licensing Act than had been maintained under it, 
 several unlicensed newspapers were circulated, and com- 
 
 1 Life of Dr. John North ; see also Roger North's Examiner, p. 133. 
 
 2 State Trials, vol. vii. p. 1120. 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 50 UNDER THE LICENSING ACT CH. n. 
 
 peted successfully with the authorised journals, during 
 the last years of Charles II. 's reign. 
 
 It was different in the three and a half disastrous 
 years in which James II. was allowed to occupy the 
 throne. The Licensing Act was promptly revived for 
 a term of seven years from 1685, and thus gave a form 
 of legality to the persecution which the king and such 
 agents as Kirke and Jeffreys were quite ready to indulge 
 in without any excuse in law. Xewspaper history, there- 
 fore, throughout this dismal period is almost a blank. 
 Such journals as were sanctioned by the authorities 
 continued to be published, giving even more meagrely 
 and partially than heretofore so much news as those 
 authorities deemed suitable for public reading, but it 
 does not appear that a single fresh paper was started, 
 and the men who were brought to trial and punished 
 by Judge Jeffreys and others under the Licensing Act 
 were writers of books, like Richard Baxter and Samuel 
 Johnson, the theologian, not writers of newspapers. 
 
 Happier times began when James was deposed and 
 William of Orange accepted as king. On December 12, 
 1688, the very day after James's flight, three new 
 papers were started, ' The Universal Intelligencer,' ; The 
 English Currant,' and ' The London Courant.' ' The 
 London Mercury ' followed on the 18th, and ' The 
 Orange Gazette' on the 31st, 'The London Intelli- 
 gencer' being added to the list on January 15, 1689. 
 Xone of these, nor others which began to be issued 
 shortly afterwards, call for much notice. Most of them 
 were bald records of news, differing little in matter from 
 ' The London Gazette,' with which they corresponded in 
 size. 1 They are interesting, however, as evidence that, 
 
 ' T\vo papers of this period call for mention. One was TJtc AtJienictn 
 3[eirnr>j (called The Athenian Garotte in the first number), started in 
 March 1090 by John Dunton, an eccentric printer, who tells us in his
 
 1685-1688. FKOM JAMES II. TO WILLIAM in. 51 
 
 though the legal restrictions on a free press were still 
 in existence, these were by no means so stringently 
 
 Life and Errors (p. 248) that it was intended ' to open the avenue, 
 raise the soul, and restore the knowledge of truth and happiness that had 
 wandered so long unknown and found out by few.' A sort of seventeenth- 
 century Notes and Queries, dealing with philosophical or fanciful, instead 
 of with antiquarian matters, The Athenian Mercury was issued weekly till 
 February 1696, when Dunton converted it into a quarterly magazine, on 
 the ground that ' as the coffee-houses have the Votes every day and nine 
 newspapers every week/ there was hardly room for his periodical, although 
 he designed ' to continue it again as a weekly paper as soon as the glut of 
 news is a little over.' The other paper was A Collection for the Improve- 
 ment of Husbandry and Trade, commenced in 1692 by John Houghton, 
 F.R.S., and continued till 1703, which gave information and advice on 
 various subjects, but which soon came to be especially an advertising 
 channel, the editor constituting himself in a curious way an intermediary 
 between his advertisers and his readers. Here are some specimens of his 
 announcements : ' I have met with a curious gardener, that will furnish 
 anybody that sends to me for fruit trees and floral shrubs and garden 
 seeds. I have made him promise, with all solemnity, that whatever he 
 sends me shall be purely good, and I verily believe he may be depended 
 on.' ' If any want all kinds of necessaries for corpse and funerals, 1 can 
 help to one who does assure me he will use them kindly ; and whoever can 
 keep their corpse till they get to London, and have a coffin set down, may 
 have them afterwards kept any reasonable time.' ' If any divine or their 
 relicts have complete sets of manuscript sermons upon the Epistles and 
 Gospels, the Catechisms or Festivals, I can help to a customer.' 'Mr. 
 David Rose, chirurgeon and man-midwife, lives at the first brick house 
 on the right in Gun Yard, Houndsditch, near Aldgate, London. 1 have 
 known him these twenty years.' ' If any want a wet-nurse, I can help 
 them, as I am informed, to a very good one.' 'If any justice of peace 
 wants a clerk, I can help to one that has been so seven years ; under- 
 stands accounts ; to be a butler ; also to receive money. He also can 
 shave and buckle wigs.' ' If I can meet with a sober man that has a 
 counter-tenor voice, I can help him to a place worth thirty pounds the 
 year, or more.' 'I want a complete young man that will wear a livery, 
 to wait on a very valuable gentleman ; but he must know how to play on 
 a violin or flute.' ' One that has waited upon a lady divers years and 
 understands all affairs in housekeeping and the needle, desires some such 
 place. She seems a discreet, staid body.' 'I know of several men and 
 women whose friends would gladly have them matched, which I'll endea- 
 vour to do, as from time to time I shall hear of such whose circumstances 
 are likely to agree ; and I'll assure such as will come to me it shall be done 
 with all the honour and secrecy imaginable. Their own parents shall not 
 manage it more to their satisfaction ; and the more comes to me, the 
 better I shall be able to serve 'em.' 
 
 E 2
 
 52 UNDER THE LICENSING ACT OH. ir. 
 
 enforced. There had for a long time past been freedom 
 of the press in Holland, and King William was in no 
 mood to make much use of the tyrannical opportunities 
 offered to him in England. It must be noted, too, that 
 with very few exceptions the newspapers, old and new, 
 which touched on politics, sided with the Whigs who 
 were now in the ascendant, such Tory criticisms and 
 complaints as were ventured upon not being thought 
 dangerous enough to need suppressing, so that there 
 was small provocation for tyranny. James Fraser, 
 ' commonly called Catalogue Fraser, from his skill in 
 books and constant frequenting of auctions,' who took 
 the place of L'Estrange 1 as licencer under the new 
 ministry, was, we are told, 'kind and temperate,' 2 and 
 little or no difficulty occurred till 1692, when, for too 
 much liberality, Fraser was dismissed. Edmund Bohun, 
 who succeeded him, was more meddlesome, 3 but before 
 he or anyone else could work much mischief, licencer- 
 ships had been abolished. 
 
 The Licensing Act, brought up for renewal in 
 February 1693, was passed, notwithstanding some 
 vigorous protests, in which Halifax and other Whig- 
 peers took active part, but only for two years. In 
 February 1695, the House of Commons decided, with- 
 out a division, that it should not be again renewed. 
 The Lords thought otherwise, and there was a dispute 
 
 1 L'Estrange died in 1704 at the age of eighty-seve n. 
 
 2 Dunton, Life and Errors, p. 350. Dunton says that his own pay- 
 ments in licensing fees to Eraser amounted, during several years, to at 
 least 30?. a year, and ' I suppose other booksellers were as forward as 
 myself to have recourse to him, which made his salary very considerable ; 
 and he deserved every penny of it.' From the same informant we learn 
 that at least one of Eraser's subordinates, Robert Stephens, ' the mes- 
 senger of the press,' did not object to taking presents when he was wanted 
 to wink at questionable publications. This, however, was probably oftener 
 the case with books and pamphlets than with newspapers. 
 
 3 Macaulay, History of England, chap. xix.
 
 1688-1695. THE BEGINNING OF LIBERTY 53 
 
 between the houses on the matter. A string of weighty 
 arguments which had been drawn up by John Locke 
 was, however, submitted to the conference at which the 
 question was to be decided on April 18, and the Lords 
 surrendered. 1 Thus the way was opened, though not 
 quite cleared, for far more progress of newspaper enter- 
 prise than had hitherto been possible. 
 
 1 Macaulay, History of England, chap. xix. Some account of this 
 business is given in my Life of John Locke, vol. ii. pp. 311-316.
 
 54 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 OUTCOME OF THE KEVOLUTIOX. 
 16951714. 
 
 NEWSPAPERS improved but slowly after the R 
 of 1688. They increased in numbers and gained a little 
 independence, even while the Licensing Act continued ; 
 but they were still small clumsy sheets, issued once, 
 twice, or, in the case of ' The London Gazette,' thrice a 
 week, generally offering two double-columned folio pages 
 for a penny, and furnishing only a scanty supply of 
 news, either dry and not always accurate official in- 
 formation, in which the most important matters were 
 rarely taken account of, and very rarely indeed taken 
 due account of, or composed of brief and inaccurate 
 scraps of gossip, chiefly from abroad and about foreign 
 events. As caterers of news they were crude and faulty, 
 and as critics and commentators they were yet more 
 defective. Such as they were, however, they were 
 popular. ' The press was again set to work/ said a 
 writer in one of them in 1712, referring to the change 
 wrought by the Revolution, ' and such a furious itch of 
 novelty has ever since been the epidemical distemper,, 
 that it has proved fatal to many families, the meanest 
 of shopkeepers and handicrafts spending whole days in 
 coffee-houses to hear news and talk politics, whilst their 
 wives and children wanted bread at home, and, their 
 business being neglected, they were themselves thrust
 
 1695. WILLIAM III.'S NEWSPAPERS 00 
 
 into gaols or forced to take sanctuary in the army. 
 Hence sprang that inundation of " Postmen," " Post- 
 boys," " Evening Posts," " Supplements," " Daily 
 Courants," and " Protestant Postboys," amounting to 
 twenty-one every week, besides many more, which have 
 not survived to this time, and besides " The Gazette," 
 which has the sanction of public authority.' l 
 
 Immediately after the abolition of the Licensing Act 
 several new papers, taking advantage of the greater 
 freedom now allowed by law, were started. First in 
 the field was 'The Flying Post,' begun on May 11, 
 1695, by George Ridpath, described as 'a considerable 
 scholar, well acquainted with the languages, a Scotch- 
 man, and designed first for the ministry but, by some 
 unfortunate accident or other, the fate of an author 
 came upon him.' 2 His nationality showed itself in the 
 prominence given to Scotch news in ' The Flying Post,' 
 which was ' highly valued and sold well,' and in which 
 Ridpath announced in his first number, ' our design is 
 not to interfere with " The London Gazette," but to 
 pursue another method, there being many things below 
 its cognisance that are urgent to be know r n, and may give 
 further light into present transactions.' 
 
 ' Intelligence, Domestic and Foreign,' followed on 
 May 14, and was continued on Tuesdays and Fridays 
 
 1 TJte British Mercury, August 2, 1712. This was a shrewd combina- 
 tion of a touting miscellany and a newspaper, ' printed for the Company 
 of the Sun Fire Office, in Threadneedle Street, behind the Royal Ex- 
 change, London, where policies are delivered out for insuring houses, 
 movable goods, furniture, and wares from loss and damage by fire, in any 
 part of Great Britain, for the value of 500?. each policy to any person who 
 shall take them, paying the stamp duty and the first quarter, namely two 
 shillings, if they desire no British Mercury ; or two shillings and sixpence, 
 if they will have it.' The British Mercury was thus, to all intents and 
 purposes, a halfpenny newspaper. When the Stamp Act of 1712 ruined 
 many papers, it was able to boast itself strong enough to sustain no 
 damage. 
 
 - Dunton, Life and Errors, p. 229.
 
 56 OUTCOME OF THE REVOLUTION CH. m. 
 
 for a short time ; but it seems never to have won much 
 favour, and soon dropped out. Its conductor was 
 Benjamin Harris, a zealous Whig, who had suffered for 
 his politics several years before, especially through 
 his support of the Exclusion Bill in 1681. ' Some time 
 since,' he said in his preface, ' I published an " Intelli- 
 gence," with the like title, wherein upon all occasions I 
 vigorously asserted the laws and liberties of England 
 against the bold and open violators of both, which pro- 
 cured me so many inveterate enemies, that to save my 
 life and my family from rain, I was compelled to be an 
 exile from my native country for above eight years ; l 
 but now being returned, I know no reason why I may 
 not endeavour in some measure to retrieve my losses 
 and misfortunes by the same methods under the happy 
 government of his present majesty who hath so glo- 
 riously restored and confirmed our rights and privileges 
 to us.' Harris proposed ' to make reflections ' as well 
 as to give news, but his honest efforts were surpassed 
 by younger rivals. After the failure of his ' Intelli- 
 gence,' he started another paper, ' The London Post.' 
 
 ' The Postboy, an Historical Account of the Public 
 Transactions of this Nation,' which first appeared on 
 May 17, was a diligent reporter of foreign, and particu- 
 larly of Spanish events-, as well as of events nearer 
 home, though these, alike in ' The Postboy' and in 
 other papers, were only few, vague, and briefly reported, 
 as in the following sentences : ' 'Tis said that the Tsar 
 of Muscovy was at the playhouse on Saturday to see the 
 opera.' ' 'Tis believed that the Earl of Portland is by 
 
 1 ' In Charles II. 's reign,' says Dunton, ' they fined him 500/. and set 
 him once in the pillory, but his Avife, like a kind rib, stood beside him to 
 defend her husband against the mob. After this, having a deal of mercury 
 in his natural temper, he travelled to New England, where lie followed 
 bookselling, and then coffee-selling, and then printing, but continued Ben 
 Harris still.' Life and Errors, p. 293.
 
 1695. A BUDGET OF 'POSTS' 57 
 
 this time at Paris.' ' I hear that the revel in the Temple 
 will end on Friday next, at which time there is to be 
 .a masquerade.' l ' The Postboy,' commenced by one 
 Thomas, acquired more influence when it fell into the 
 hands of Abel Boyer, afterwards author of ' Annals of 
 Queen Anne ' and other books, and compiler of a long 
 popular English and French dictionary, of whom we 
 are told that he *' writes and translates like the famous 
 L 'Estrange/ and ' is the greatest master of the French 
 language and the most impartial historian of any we 
 have in England.' 2 
 
 ' Post ' was now as favourite a name for newspapers 
 as ' Diurnal ' or ' Mercury ' had formerly been, and 
 prominent among other journals started in 1695 were 
 ' The Postman,' edited by a French Protestant named 
 Fonvive, and ' The English Post,' edited by Nathaniel 
 Crouch. According to contemporary evidence, Crouch 
 ' is a very ingenious person, and can talk fine things 
 upon any subject,' and of Fonvive it was reported that 
 ; his learning deserves respect and his gravity a weekly 
 panegyric ; his sagacious look is an index of his 
 thoughtful soul ; he is ever cheerful (the gaming of 
 600/. a year by a penny paper would make any man 
 so) ; to carry on his weekly chronicle as to foreign 
 news he has settled a good correspondence in Italy, 
 Spain, Portugal, Germany, Flanders, Holland, &c.' 3 
 
 Though newspapers were so plentiful at this time, 
 news-letters were not yet out of fashion, and ' The Flying 
 Post ' invited its readers, if they liked, to combine the 
 two arrangements. ' If any gentleman has a mind to 
 oblige his country friend or correspondent with this 
 
 1 The Postboy, January 18 and 20, 1697. 
 
 2 Dunton, Life and Errors, p. 240. 
 
 3 Ibid. Dunton praises some other old newspaper men, and speaks of 
 others as ' a rabble of scandalous hackneys, fit for no company or honour 
 but a house of correction.'
 
 58 OUTCOME OF THE KE VOLUTION CH. nl. 
 
 account of public affairs,' it was announced, ' he may 
 have it for twopence of J. Salisbury, at the Rising Sun, 
 in Cornhill, on a sheet of fine paper, half of which 
 being blank he may thereon write his own private 
 business or the material news of the day.' Ichabod 
 Dawks, who started his ' News-letter ' in August 
 1696, went further in the same direction. His paper 
 was printed from type in imitation of handwriting, and 
 thus specially recommended in its prospectus : ' This 
 letter will be done upon good writing-paper, and blank 
 space left that any gentleman may write his own pri- 
 vate business. It does undoubtedly exceed the best of 
 the written news, contains double the quantity, with 
 abundance more ease and pleasure, and will be useful 
 to improve the younger sort in writing a curious 
 hand.' 
 
 Whether or not ' Dawks's News-letter ' was much 
 used as a copy-book among the ' younger sort,' some 
 older people, of the Sir Roger de Coverley sort, liked 
 to get their news in this way. ' It is our custom at 
 Sir Roger's, upon the coming in of the post,' Addison 
 wrote in the ' Spectator,' ' to sit about a pot of coffee, 
 and hear the old knight read Dyer's letter, which he 
 does with his spectacles upon his nose and in an 
 audible voice, smiling very often at those little strokes 
 of satire which are so frequent in the writings of that 
 author.' l 
 
 Dyer's news-letters were not printed, but he was a 
 printer who got into trouble more than once. In the 
 early years of William III.'s reign his manuscript re- 
 ports of current events, strongly flavoured with Jacobite 
 opinions, circulated widely among the Tories and Stuart 
 sympathisers, and gave great offence to the govern- 
 ment. Dyer had been twice imprisoned for seditious 
 
 1 The Spectator, July 26, 1711.
 
 1695. DYER AND HIS NEWS-LETTER 59' 
 
 publications before 1694, when, much to the annoyance 
 of the authorities, he was acquitted on a charge of 
 having turned the Lancashire plot into ridicule. 1 In 
 December of the same year he was summoned to appear 
 at the bar of the House of Commons, and there repri- 
 manded ' for his great presumption ' in taking notice of 
 the proceedings of parliament. 2 This appears to have 
 been the first instance in William's time of insistance 
 on a parliamentary privilege which led to much quar- 
 relling and petty persecution in later years. Besides 
 reprimanding Dyer, the House of Commons passed a 
 resolution ' that no news-letter writers do, in their let- 
 ters or other papers that they disperse, presume to in- 
 termeddle with the debates or any other proceedings of 
 the house.' Dyer was not thereby silenced. ' Such a 
 gentle rebuke,' it was said, ' could not reform a fellow 
 who wrote for two very necessitous causes for the 
 Jacobite party and for bread. But the Lord Mohun 
 rebuked him more effectually some time after ; for, 
 finding him at one of his factious coffee-houses and 
 showing him a letter wherein his lordship was named, 
 Dyer owned it, not knowing my lord, who immediately 
 laid on him with a cudgel he had provided for that 
 purpose, and made him swear to have no more to say 
 of the Lord Mohun.' 3 That example was followed with 
 worse results afterwards by other aggrieved noblemen 
 and gentlemen. 
 
 Parliament, meanwhile, though it would not, or 
 could not, emulate the old tyrannies, persisted in such 
 minor persecutions as were in its way, especially in 
 assertion of what it regarded as its right to immunity 
 from all criticising or even reporting of its conduct. 
 
 1 Macaulay, History of England, chap. xx. 
 - Knight Hunt, fourth Estate, vol. i. p. 104. 
 3 Kennet, History, vol. iii. p. 666.
 
 60 OUTCOME OF THE REVOLUTION CH. in. 
 
 The House of Commons having in 1696 sanctioned the 
 issue of exchequer bills, ' The Flying Post ' hazarded 
 this mild statement in its number for April 1, 1697 : 
 ' We hear that when the exchequer notes are given out 
 upon the capitation fund, whosoever shall desire specie 
 on them shall have it at 5-|- per cent, of the society 
 of gentlemen that have subscribed to advance some 
 100,000^.' On the ground that this was a malicious 
 insinuation, tending to damage the credit of the ex- 
 chequer bills, the house ordered the printer, John 
 Salisbury, into custody. 1 There was even some talk of 
 reviving the Licensing Act as a necessary means to 
 keeping the press in order, and a bill to this intent was 
 brought in. It was defeated on the motion for its second 
 reading, and never heard of again, but many efforts 
 were made to act upon its spirit. After William III.'s 
 death in March 1702 the Tories, whom Queen Anne 
 favoured, were as tyrannical as they dared to be. 
 Happily, they were not able to do much. 
 
 One of their victims was John Tutchin. an old 
 offender though a young man when he died. Tutchin, 
 a stripling at the time, had in the days of James II. 
 been condemned to imprisonment for seven years and 
 to be Avhipped once every year through all the market 
 towns in Dorsetshire because he had written some 
 seditious verses. Having caught suiallpox while in 
 gaol, he had been released through the influence of 
 friends with money enough to buy a pardon ; but his 
 early sufferings only made him a more zealous politician 
 than before. 2 In conjunction with John How, the 
 
 1 Parliamentary History, vol. v. p. 1104. No complaint, however, was 
 made of friendly notices ; thus The Postman of May 7, 1097, said of the 
 exchequer bills, ' They are found by experience to be of extraordinary 
 use to the merchants and traders of the city of London and all other 
 parts of the kingdom.' 
 
 '-' Knight Hunt, Fourth Estate, vol. i. pp. 169-172.
 
 1702-1701. JOHN TUTCHIN'S ' OBSERVATOR ' 61 
 
 printer, he started ' The Observator,' a new paper 
 which adopted L'Estrange's lapsed title and imitated it 
 in some other respects, though on different party lines, 
 on April 1, 1702. 1 It was in the nature of a weekly 
 pamphlet rather than a newspaper, and, after the nine- 
 teenth number, was in the form of a series of dialogues 
 between an outspoken Whig and a countryman. One 
 of his friends spoke of him as ' the loyal and ingenious 
 Tutchin, the bold assertor of English liberties, the 
 scourge of the highfliers, the seaman's advocate, the 
 detector of the Victualling Office, the scorn and terror 
 of fools and knaves, the nation's Argus ; ' and, it was 
 added, ' he writes with the air of a gentleman and sin- 
 cerity of a Christian.' 2 The government did not like 
 Tutchin's way of writing. In January 1704 the House 
 of Commons resolved ' that " The Observator " from 
 December 8 to 12 contains matter scandalous and 
 malicious, reflecting on the proceedings of the house, 
 tending to the promotion of sedition in the kingdom, 
 and that Tutchin, the author, How, the printer, and 
 Bragg, the publisher of that paper, should be taken 
 into custody by the sergeant-at-arms.' 3 No action 
 appears to have been pursued against How or Bragg, 
 but Tutchin was arrested, bailed out for 1,000^., and 
 brought up for trial at the Queen's Bench Court in 
 November. He was found guilty by the jury ; but on 
 a plea from his counsel that there had been an error in 
 the indictment, the judges decided in his favour, leave 
 being given for a new trial. This never came off, and 
 Tutchin persevered with his plain speaking in ' The 
 Observator ' for some while. In his case, as in Dyer's 
 
 1 From the evidence given at the trial in 1704, it appears that How 
 paid Tutchin half a guinea for writing each number of The Observator. 
 Howell's State Trials, vol. xiv. p. 1105. 
 
 - Dunton, Life and Errors. 3 Commons' Journals, vol. xiv. p. 270.
 
 '62 OUTCOME OF THE REVOLUTION CH. in. 
 
 however, and with worse result, private hands adminis- 
 tered to him the punishment that the law did not 
 sanction. He was waylaid one night and so cruelly 
 beaten that he died soon afterwards. 1 
 
 A far greater man had in the meanwhile come for- 
 ward to continue and vastly improve upon the sort of 
 work attempted by Tutchin as an independent journal- 
 ist. Daniel Defoe, born in 1661, had written much 
 besides ' The True-born Englishman ' before his 
 ' Shortest Way with Dissenters,' published in 1702 
 and, before its satire was understood, welcomed by the 
 Tories caused him to be put in the pillory and locked 
 up for nearly two years in Newgate ; but it was his 
 imprisonment that started him in journalism. During 
 the first six months in which he followed his new 
 calling, indeed, the work was actually done in his New- 
 gate cell. 
 
 The first number of ' A Weekly Review of the 
 Aifairs of France, purged from the Errors and Partiality 
 of News-writers and Petty Statesmen of all Sides,' 
 appeared as an eight-page quarto on February 19, 1704. 
 With the fifth number it was reduced to a four-page 
 paper, printed in smaller type, and with the seventh it 
 began to be issued twice a week. Before the end of 
 the year the issues were increased to three a week, with 
 monthly supplements, and the title altered to ' A Re- 
 view of the Affairs of France, with some Observations 
 011 Transactions at Home,' on February 27, 1705 was 
 again altered to ' A Review of the State of the English 
 Nation/ on January 1, 1706. Under the latter title it 
 was carried on without further change till May 1713. 
 when Defoe, once more imprisoned, abandoned it. to 
 find plenty of occupation in other ways after his re- 
 lease and until his death in 1731. During its nine 
 
 1 Knight Hunt, vol. i. p. 173 ; Andrews, vol. i. pp. 07, 08.
 
 1704-1713. DANIEL DEFOE AND HIS ' REVIEW ' 63 
 
 years' run, however, his ' Review ' revolutionised Eng- 
 lish journalism. 
 
 Even from the first Defoe only in part discussed 
 * the affairs of France ' in his clever paper. Affairs in 
 general were his theme, though he found special matter 
 for comment in the foreign complications with which 
 his country was then burdened. When he spoke of 
 France and past or distant occurrences, his allusions 
 were mainly to England or to the wars it was engaged 
 in, and to other matters near and present. ' This 
 paper,' he said in his opening paragraph, ' is the foun- 
 dation of a large and very useful design, which, if it 
 meet with suitable encouragement, permUm snperiorum, 
 may contribute to setting the affairs of Europe in a 
 clearer light, and to prevent the various uncertain 
 accounts and the partial reflections of our street scrib- 
 blers, who daily and monthly amuse mankind with 
 stories of great victories when we are beaten, miracles 
 when we conquer, and a multitude of unaccountable 
 and inconsistent stories which have at least this effect, 
 that people are possessed with wrong notions of things, 
 and nations wheedled to believe nonsense and contra- 
 dictions.' 
 
 It was a better sort of journalism that Defoe under- 
 took to introduce, a journalism that would be critical 
 and instructive, exposing follies and falsehoods, en- 
 forcing truths, and elucidating principles. ' Xot,' he 
 explained, ' that the author thinks it worth while to 
 take up your hours always to tell you how your pockets 
 are picked and your senses imposed upon ; only now 
 and then when 'tis a little grosser than ordinary.' In his 
 second number Defoe introduced a ' Mercure Scandale, 
 or advice from the Scandalous Club, being a weekly 
 history of nonsense, impertinence, vice, and debauchery.' 
 This, filling a third or half of each number, was a
 
 64 OUTCOME OF THE REVOLUTION CH. in. 
 
 satirical commentary on such occurrences of the day 
 and such social tendencies as seemed to him especially 
 absurd or obnoxious, necessary to be laughed at or 
 severely blamed, and it frequently and freely found fault 
 with the statements and opinions given in such con- 
 temporary papers as ' The Postman ' and ' The Flying 
 Post.' For the rest, Defoe's articles, generally one in 
 each number, were grave yet abundantly humorous 
 essays on questions of immediate moment, whether 
 dealing with passing events or with their general bear- 
 ings, causes, or effects, and whether connected with 
 politics, religion, trade, or any other phase or depart- 
 ment of human conduct. At first he paid most atten- 
 tion to the European war, and was a zealous advocate 
 of peace ; then he argued persistently in favour of the 
 union between England and Scotland ; and after that he 
 
 o t 
 
 paid particular attention to commercial affairs and was 
 a pioneer of free trade. ' I saw,' he said in the preface 
 to his third yearly volume, ' a parcel of people caballing 
 together to ruin property, corrupt the laws, invade the 
 government, debauch the people, and enslave and em- 
 broil the nation ; and I cried " Fire ! " or rather 
 I cried "Water ! " for the fire was begun already. I 
 saw all the nation running into confusion and directly 
 flying in the face of one another, and cried out "Peace ! " 
 I called upon all sorts of people that had any senses to 
 collect them together and judge for themselves what 
 they were going to do.' Those sentences, written in 
 1706, express the purpose and the effort, and indicate 
 the manner and the method of ' A Review ' before Defoe 
 allowed himself to become a tool of the Tories. It was 
 not, strictly speaking, a newspaper, but it contained 
 much better journalism than there had been in England 
 before, not matched by anything of the same kind aimed 
 at by his contemporaries, and, due allowances being
 
 1704-1713. DEFOE'S WORK AS A JOURNALIST 65 
 
 made for the man and his times, not often surpassed by 
 any who have followed him. 1 
 
 Unfortunately, though Defoe evidently began his 
 newspaper work as an honest politician, and may have 
 convinced himself all along that he was honest and only 
 doing his best and utmost to advance the interests of 
 his country, he came to be very much of a timeserver. 
 Set in the pillory in 1702 for enraging the Tories by 
 language so outspoken that it enraged many Whigs as 
 well, and too independent all through his life to be 
 much liked by any party or any leader, he thought it 
 politic, better for himself and perhaps better for the 
 country, to adapt himself to the varying conditions of 
 the ugly society in which he moved. He sided to some 
 extent now with Tories, now with Whigs, and now with 
 Tories again, according as the one or the other party 
 was in the ascendant. As he said, frankly and cyni- 
 cally, ' It occurred to me, as a principle for my conduct, 
 that it was not material to me what ministers her 
 majesty was pleased to employ : my duty was to go 
 along with every ministry, so far as they did not break 
 in upon the constitution and the laws and liberty of 
 my country ; my part being only the duty of a subject, 
 viz., to submit to all lawful commands, and to enter 
 into no service which was not justifiable by the laws ; 
 to all which I have exactly obliged myself ,' 2 
 
 While Defoe's ' Review' was instructing many readers 
 and offending many, newspaper enterprise in more 
 commonplace lines was progressing. A step forward 
 was made on March 11, 1702, three days after Queen 
 
 1 Dunton, who praised smaller men more lavishly, says of Defoe that 
 he ' is a man of good parts and very clear sense. His conversation is in- 
 genious and brisk enough.' Life and Errors, p. 239. That was in 1705, 
 however, when A Review had been only just started. 
 
 2 Defoe, An Appeal to Honour and Justice (1715). We shall see more 
 of Defoe's policy, or weakness, in the next chapter. 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 66 OUTCOME OF THE REVOLUTION en. m. 
 
 Anne's accession, when ' The Daily Courant,' the first 
 English daily paper, appeared, giving on a single folio 
 page six short paragraphs of news translated from ' The 
 Harlem Courant,' one from ' The Amsterdam Courant,' 
 and three from ' The Paris Gazette,' followed by this 
 advertisement : ' It will be found from the foreign prints 
 which from time to time, as occasion offers, will be 
 mentioned in this paper, that the author has taken 
 care to be duly furnished with all that comes from 
 abroad in any language. And, for an assurance that 
 he will not, under pretence of having private intelli- 
 gence, impose any additions of feigned circumstances to 
 an action, but give his extracts fairly and impartially, 
 at the beginning of each article he will quote the 
 foreign paper from whence 'tis taken, that the public, 
 seeing from what country a piece of news comes with 
 the allowance of that government, may be better able 
 to judge of the credibility and fairness of the relation. 
 Nor will he take upon him to give any comments or 
 conjectures of his own, but will relate only matter of 
 fact, supposing other people to have sense enough to 
 make reflections for themselves.' Here was a sneer at 
 the contemporaries who, in the interests of the Whig, 
 Tory, or other factions with which they sympathised, 
 were getting more and more into the way of ' making 
 reflections ' in the course of their news -reporting, even 
 where they did not write leading articles or essays 
 like Tutchin and Defoe. ' This " Courant," as the title 
 shows,' it was added, ' will be published daily, being 
 designed to give all the material news as soon as every 
 post arrives, and is confined to half the compass, to 
 save the public at least half the impertinences, of ordi- 
 nary newspapers.' 
 
 This modest forerunner of ' The Times ' was issued 
 by a bookseller named Mallet, 'next door to the King's
 
 1702. THE FIRST DAILY PAPER 67 
 
 Arms Tavern, at Fleet Bridge,' and without advance 
 on its original plan till April 22, when, doubled in 
 quantity of matter by the filling up of the hitherto 
 blank second page with news and advertisements, it 
 bore the imprint of Samuel Buckley, ' at the sign of 
 the Dolphin, in Little Britain.' Buckley was one of the 
 most successful of the old tradesmen in news. ' He 
 was originally a bookseller,' we are told, ' but follows 
 printing. He is an excellent linguist, understands the 
 Latin, French, Dutch, and Italian tongues, and is 
 master of a great deal of wit. I hear he translates out 
 of the foreign papers himself.' l He was now owner of 
 a primitive magazine, ' The Monthly Register/ was soon 
 to be Steele's and Addison's publisher for ' The Spec- 
 tator,' and only gave up ' The Daily Courant ' in 1714 
 to take charge of ' The London Gazette.' 5 
 
 Several other new papers were started in Queen 
 Anne's reign, to compete more or less skilfully and 
 profitably with those which had survived from the 
 crowd begun in the almost unfettered days of William 
 III. One was ' The Evening Post,' which had short 
 life in 1706, but was revived more auspiciously on 
 September 6, 1709, partly to give special prominence 
 to English news, seeing, as the editor said in his first 
 number, that ' we read more of our affairs in the 
 Dutch papers than in any of our own.' That remark 
 applied to serious matters. Of scandalous gossip there 
 was more than enough ; and Defoe's ' Review ' had pro- 
 duced several imitators in the way of satire and criti- 
 cism, though chiefly in different styles, and themselves 
 
 1 Dunton, Life and Errors. 
 
 - Besides the penny edition of the Courant, there was another. The 
 number for September 21, 1V05, announces that ' the news of every post- 
 day's Courant is constantly printed with the news of the day before on a 
 sheet of writing paper, a blank being left for the conveniency of sending 
 it by the post, and may be had for 2d.' 
 
 F 2
 
 68 OUTCOME OF THE REVOLUTION on. in, 
 
 differing, from that used by him. In 1709 there were 
 eighteen separate papers published in London, issuing 
 in all thirty-five numbers every week ; and there was 
 some excuse for the clever device of a fresh money- 
 grubber who on September 27, to some extent an- 
 ticipating the modern ' Public Opinion,' started ' The 
 General Postscript, being an Extract of all that is most 
 material from the Foreign and English Newspapers, with 
 Remarks upon the "Observator," "Review," " Tatlers," 
 and the Rest of the Scribblers, in a Dialogue between 
 Novel and Scandal.' 
 
 A list, with satirical notes, printed in the first 
 number of that miscellany, helps us to see what was 
 the journalistic provision offered to Londoners at 
 breakfast-time or supper-time on each day of the week 
 in the autumn of 1709. Besides ' The Daily Courant.' 
 conducted by Buckley, here described as ' Socinus 
 Editor, a Modern Whig,' which of course appeared 
 every morning, there was ' The London Gazette ' on 
 Monday, Thursday, and Saturday, said by another writer 
 to be ' the truest and most cautious of all the gazettes 
 I know ; it inserts no news but what is certain, and 
 often waits for the confirmation of it before it pub- 
 lishes it.' l There also appeared ' The Supplement,' an 
 alternate edition of ' The Postboy,' 'by Jacobus Abellius,. 
 a postscriptorian,' otherwise Boyer ; ' The General Re- 
 mark,' ' by the most learned and laborious Pavius, 
 projector and operator extraordinary ; ' ' The Female 
 Tatler,' ' by Scandalosissima Scoundrelia and her two 
 natural brothers ; ' and ' The General Postscript,' whose 
 editor called himself ' Novellus Scandalus, an ubi- 
 quitarian,' all on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; 
 and ' The British Apollo,' ' by a society of gentlemen 
 
 1 Misson, quoted by Mr. Ashton, Social Life in the Reign of Queen 
 Anne, vol. ii. p. G6.
 
 1709. PAPERS IN QUEEN ANNE'S DAY 69 
 
 consisting of Abednego Simpleton only,' on Monday 
 alone. Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, 
 
 * The Postman,' ' by M. Hugonotius Politicus Gallo- 
 Anglicus, a spiteful commentator,' otherwise Fonvive, 
 Boyer's ' Postboy,' and ' The Flying Post,' still edited 
 by Ridpath, or ' Scotus Fanaticus,' tripped one another 
 up in the morning ; while the evening rivals were 
 
 * The Evening Post,' ' by Compositus Fatuus, a de- 
 facer of languages,' and ' The Postboy Junior,' another 
 venture of Boyer's ; and ' The City Intelligencer.' ' by 
 Mr. Nibble-news, a paragrapharian,' catered particu- 
 larly for commercial readers. On Tuesday, Thursday, 
 and Saturday also, Defoe, ' Yerbosus Enthusiasticus, a 
 modernist,' brought out his ' Review,' with which on 
 the same days competed the young ' Tatler,' 'by 
 Scriptor Furiosus, a superintendent and court intelli- 
 gencer,' otherwise Richard Steele, ' The Rehearsal 
 Revived,' ' by Agitatus Maximus, an antediluvian,' and 
 1 The Whisperer,' ' by Mrs. Jenny Frivolous, a near 
 relation to Jacobus Abellius, the postscriptorian.' And 
 besides all these papers there was a new series of ' The 
 Observator,' now conducted by Ridpath as a successor 
 to Tutchin, which appeared every Wednesday and 
 Saturday. Thus there were six distinct publications 
 to read or choose from on Monday, twelve on Tuesday, 
 ,six on Wednesday, twelve on Thursday, six on Friday, 
 and thirteen on Saturday. In addition to these were 
 some smaller papers, ' Dawks's News-letter,' posted 
 every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday evening for a 
 subscription of thirty shillings a quarter, and Dyer's 
 and other written news-letters. 
 
 About journalism in his day Addison made some 
 amusing remarks in 1709, the year, it may be noted, 
 in which the victory at Malplaquet promised to bring 
 to an early close Marlborough's long campaigning and
 
 70 OUTCOME OF THE REVOLUTION CH. m. 
 
 the stream of war news that gave the journalists plenty 
 to write about. ' That,' he said, 'is the ingenious fra- 
 ternity of which I have the honour to be an unworthy 
 member : I mean the news- writers of Great Britain, 
 whether Postmen or Postboys, or by what other name 
 or title so ever dignified or distinguished. The case of 
 these gentlemen is, I think, more hard than that of the 
 soldiers, considering they have taken more towns and 
 fought more battles. They have been upon parties and 
 skirmishes where our armies have lain still, and given 
 the general assault to many a place when the besiegers 
 were quiet in their trenches. They have made us 
 masters of several strong towns many weeks before 
 our generals could do it, and completed victories when 
 our greatest captains have been content to come off 
 with a drawn battle. Where Prince Eugene has slain 
 his thousands, Boyer has slain his ten thousands. This 
 gentleman can, indeed, be never enough commended for 
 his courage and intrepidity during the whole war. He 
 has laid about him with an inexpressible fury, and, like 
 the offended Harms of ancient Rome, made such havoc 
 among his countrymen as must be the work of two or 
 three ages to repair. It must be confessed, the re- 
 doubted Mr, Buckley has shed as much blood as the 
 former, but I cannot forbear saying (and I hope it 
 will not look like envy) that we regard our brother 
 Buckley as a kind of Drawcansir who spares neither 
 friend nor foe, but generally kills as many of his own 
 side as the enemy's. It is impossible for this sort of 
 men to subsist after a peace. 1 Every one remembers 
 
 1 Addison was here almost plagiarising Shirley's mockery of ' news- 
 makers ' in his Love Tricks, produced in 1625, nearly ninety years before. 
 ' A peace concluded is a great plague upon them, and if the wars hold out 
 we shall have stores of them,' says Gasparo. ' They are indeed bastards, 
 not sons of war and true soldiers, whose divine souls I honour. Yet they 
 may be called great spirits, too, for their valour is invincible. These, 1
 
 1709. ADDISON ON NEWSPAPERS 71 
 
 the shifts they were driven to in the reign of King 
 Charles II., when they could not furnish out a single 
 paper of news without lighting up a comet in Germany 
 or a fire in Moscow. There scarce appeared a letter 
 without a paragraph on an earthquake. Prodigies were 
 grown so familiar that they had lost their name, as a 
 great poet of that age has it. I remember Mr. Dyer, 
 who is justly looked upon by all fox-hunters in the 
 nation as the greatest statesman our country has pro- 
 duced, was particularly famous for dealing in whales, 
 insomuch that in five months' time (for I had the 
 curiosity to examine his letters on that occasion) he 
 brought three into the mouth of the river Thames, 
 besides two porpoises and a sturgeon. The judicious 
 and wary Mr. Ichabod Dawks hath all along been the 
 rival of this great writer, and got himself a reputation 
 from plagues and famines, by which in those days he 
 destroyed as great multitudes as he had lately done by 
 the sword. In every dearth of news, Grand Cairo was 
 sure to be unpeopled.' l 
 
 That clever skit, if not Addison's first exploit in 
 journalism, was his first contribution to ' The Tatler,' 
 which his friend Steele had begun on April 12, 1709. 
 
 Steele, Addison's bosom friend till near the end of 
 the latter's life, was, like him, now thirty-five years old. 
 He had in May 1707 been appointed gazetteer or re- 
 sponsible editor of ' The London Gazette,' with a salary 
 of 601. a year, which was soon increased to 300/., and 
 
 say, will write you a battle in any part of Europe at an hour's warning, 
 and yet never set foot out of a tavern ; describe you towns, fortifications, 
 leaders, the strength of the enemy, what confederates, every day's march. 
 Not a soldier shall lose a hair, or have a bullet fly between his arms, but 
 he shall have a page to wait on him in quarto. Nothing destroys them 
 but want of a good memory, for if they escape contradiction they may be 
 chronicled.' At which Antonio exclaims, ' Oh, brave trade ! ' 
 1 The Tatler, May 21, 1709.
 
 72 OUTCOME OF THE HE VOLUTION CH. in. 
 
 his income from other sources raised the total to at 
 least 1,000/., which placed him in a far more comfort- 
 able position than any of the regular journalists could 
 boast of. His duties as gazetteer were not onerous > 
 and, occupied with other literary and various concerns, 
 he appears at this time to have taken no more interest 
 in party politics than was necessary to his station as a 
 friend and favourite of the men in power, and especially 
 of Robert Harley, then chief secretary of state, and 
 afterwards Earl of Oxford. This was the day of new 
 journalistic ventures, however, and Steele's aptitude for 
 such work inclined him to start one, partly, but only 
 in part, on the lines of Defoe's ' Review,' and in coin- 
 petition with such other papers already in the field 
 as the revived ' Observator ' and ' The British Apollo, 
 or Curious Amusements for the Ingenious, to which 
 are added the most material occurrences, foreign and 
 domestic, performed by a society of gentlemen ' this 
 last being a scurrilous sheet that had been started in 
 February 1708. Hence ' The T a tier.' 
 
 ' Though the other papers which are published for 
 the use of the good people of England,' Steele wrote 
 in his first number, ' have certainly very wholesome 
 effects, and are laudable in their particular kinds, they 
 do not seem to come up to the main design of such 
 narrations, which I humbly presume should be princi- 
 pally intended for the use of politic persons who are so 
 public-spirited as to neglect their own affairs to look 
 into transactions of state. It is both a charitable and 
 necessary work,' he added, ' to offer something whereby 
 worthy and well-affected members of the community 
 may be instructed, after their reading, what to think ; 
 which shall be the end and purpose of this paper, 
 wherein I shall, from time to time, report and consider 
 all matters of whatsoever kind that shall occur to me.'
 
 1709-1711. STEELE AND 'THE TATLER 73 
 
 Steele's evident intention was that ' The Tatler ' should 
 be a critical newspaper, offering more criticism than 
 news, discussing all sorts of questions, whether political 
 or not, and dealing with political matters in an im- 
 partial spirit and without sympathy for those political 
 gamblers and office-seekers, of either party, of whom 
 he said, in a later number, ' We have a contempt for 
 such paltry barterers, and have, therefore, all along in- 
 formed the public that we intend to give them our 
 advices for our own sakes, and are labouring to make 
 our lucubrations come to some price in money, for our 
 more convenient support in the service of the public.' 
 
 In the earlier numbers of ' The Tatler,' nearly all 
 written by Steele, but under Swift's pseudonym of 
 Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq., and purporting to give wise 
 and kindly tittle-tattle of various sorts from various 
 centres, due attention was paid to politics in the section 
 dated from St. James's Coffee-house. Touching this 
 -section it \vas even said, by way of a joke, in the pre- 
 liminary announcement, ' I desire all persons to consider 
 that I am at a very great charge for proper materials 
 for the work, as well as that, before I resolved on it, I 
 had settled a correspondence in all parts of the known 
 and knowing world.' Gradually, however, politics 
 dropped out of the paper, perhaps under the influence 
 of Acldison, who was in Ireland when ' The Tatler ' was 
 started, and only discovered that it was Steele's by the 
 style of writing, but who, even before his return to Lon- 
 don, gave great assistance to his friend, and began to write 
 for it after the eighteenth number. With the eighty- 
 third number it became entirely non-political, hence- 
 forth discussing only social, literary, and miscellaneous 
 .subjects, on the plan that was soon to be continued in 
 ' The Spectator.' 
 
 Receiving a little help from Swift, Congreve, and
 
 74 OUTCOME OF THE REVOLUTION CH. in. 
 
 other friends, and following Defoe with more gracious- 
 ness in their humour, Steele and Acldison put into 
 ' The Tatler ' a genial healthy spirit which delighted 
 the reading public ; some of whom were also delighted 
 with the examples of base rivalry and spurious imita- 
 tion it provoked. Mrs. Manley learnt to be a trenchant 
 journalist by her practice as ' Mrs. Crackenthorpe ' in 
 ' The Female Tatler ' which began to appear on July 8, 
 1709 ; and ' The Whisperer' was quite as scurrilous an 
 outcome of female journalism in Queen Anne's day. 1 
 
 It is not pleasant to find Defoe classed with Mrs. 
 Manley, but we need not be surprised that the grand 
 jury of Middlesex should have sent up this present- 
 ment on October 15 :' Great numbers of printed papers 
 are continually dispersed in and about this city, under 
 the names of '' The Female Tatler," sold by A. Bald- 
 win, the " Review of the British Nation," and other 
 papers under other titles (the authors and printers of 
 which are unknown to the jury), which, under feigned 
 names, by describing persons, and by placing the first 
 and last letters of the words and otherwise, do reflect 
 on and scandalously abuse several persons of honour 
 and quality, many of the magistrates, and abundance of 
 citizens, and all sorts of people ; which practice we 
 conceive to be a great nuisance, does manifestly tend to 
 
 1 Women were printers and publishers, as well as newspaper writers 
 at this time. Dunton said of Mrs. Tacy Sowle, ' She is both a printer as. 
 well as a bookseller, and the daughter of one, and understands the trade 
 very well, being a good compositor herself. Her love and piety to her 
 aged mother is eminently remarkable, even to that degree that she keeps 
 herself unmarried for this only reason (as I have been informed), that it 
 may not be out of her power to let her mother have always the chief com- 
 mand in her house. I have known this eminent Quaker for many years, 
 have been graciously treated at her house, and must do her the justice 
 to say I believe her a conscientious person.' He also speaks of Mrs. Eliza- 
 beth Harris as ' the beautiful relict of my worthy friend, Mr. John Han-is. 
 She printed my Panegyric oti the Lurd Jeffreys, and other copies, that sold 
 well.' Life and Errors, pp. 300. 301.
 
 1709-1711. 'THE TATLER' AND ITS RIVALS 75"? 
 
 the disturbance of the public peace, and may turn to 
 the damage, if not ruin, of many families if not pre- 
 vented. We, therefore, humbly hope this honourable 
 court will take such effectual care to prevent these 
 abuses as to their great wisdom shall seem meet.' l 
 ' We hear,' said ' The British Apollo,' itself a bold 
 offender, ' that my Lord Chief Justice and the whole 
 court were highly satisfied with this presentment.' 
 But nothing came of it. Mrs. Manley was in too inti- 
 mate relations with some powerful Tories, and too 
 serviceable to their party, for any prosecution of her to 
 be approved of. Proceedings against her were com- 
 menced in November, but she was bailed out, and not 
 afterwards interfered with. 
 
 Whatever little persecution was then possible was 
 reserved for the Whigs. Steele's old patron, Harley, 
 being now a Tory, and with Henry St. John, soon to 
 be Lord Bolingbroke, at the head of public affairs, 
 Steele was in 1710 deprived of his gazetteership, the 
 excuse being that Harley had been satirised under cover 
 of a dramatic criticism in No. 193 of ' The Tatler,' the 
 mildest and best-mannered of all the papers published 
 at this time. ' The Tatler ' itself came to an end with 
 its No. 271, on January 2, 1711, not because of perse- 
 cution or any falling off in its popularity, but because 
 Steele and Addison were preparing to issue in lieu of it 
 a more ambitious and altogether non-political journal. 
 'The Spectator' began on March 1, 1711, and was 
 continued every week-day without interruption until 
 December 6, 1712. As it was in no sense a newspaper, 
 however, only a varied and instructive series of short 
 essays issued in daily pennyworths, it hardly here con- 
 cerns us, except in so far as it now and then com- 
 mented pleasantly on one or other of its rivals or the 
 
 1 Andrews, British Journalism, vol. i. p. 114.
 
 76 OUTCOME OF THE REVOLUTION. CH. in. 
 
 news-reading tastes of the public. A more important 
 event in newspaper history was the appearance, on 
 August 3. 1710, of ' The Examiner, or Remarks upon 
 Papers and Occurrences.' 
 
 This was the earliest of an inharmonious group of 
 papers which, with much ability and more acrimony, 
 carried on a fierce political war during the closing 
 years of Queen Anne's reign. Developing and syste- 
 matising the crude plan of L'Estrange's ' Observator ' 
 of thirty years before, which Defoe in his ' Review ' 
 and others had improved upon, it was, with the 
 exception of L'Estrange's ' Observator,' the first 
 attempt at a distinct and inspired ministerial organ, 
 propounding the opinions that the government of the 
 day wished the public to hold with as much authority 
 as had hitherto been, and still was, shown in the state- 
 ment, through ' The London Gazette,' of facts that the 
 government of the day wished the public to believe 
 and be satisfied with. Prompted and guided by St. 
 John, the chief secretary of state, who himself wrote 
 some of its articles, its editor was Dr. William King, 
 Steele's successor in the gazetteership, a smart writer of 
 verse and prose, a skilful jurist, and a notorious de- 
 bauchee. Its chief writers at starting were Matthew 
 Prior, the poet and diplomatist, who had gone over with 
 his patrons from the Whig to the Tory side, and Dr. 
 Francis Atterbury, afterwards the bishop of Rochester 
 who was sent to the Tower for his High Church and 
 Jacobite partisanship. ' The Examiner,' as Addison said 
 five years later, with bias but not inaccurately, ' was the 
 favourite work of the party. It was ushered into the 
 world by a letter from a secretary of state, setting 
 forth the great genius of the author, the usefulness of 
 Ids design, and the mighty consequences that were to be 
 -expected from it. It is said to have been written by
 
 1710. 'THE EXAMINER' AND ITS OPPONENTS 77 
 
 those among them whom they looked upon as their 
 most celebrated wits and politicians, and was dispersed 
 into all quarters of the nation with great industry and 
 expense. Who would not have expected that at least 
 the rules of decency and candour would be observed in 
 such a performance ? But, instead of this, you saw all 
 the great men, who had done eminent services to their 
 country but a few years before, drafted out one by one 
 and baited in their turn. No sanctity of character or 
 privilege of sex exempted persons from this barbarous 
 usage. Several of our prelates were the standing 
 marks of public raillery, and many ladies of the first 
 quality branded by name for matters of fact which, as 
 they were false, were not heeded, and, if they had been true, 
 were innocent. The dead themselves were not spared.' * 
 ' I see the town every day imposed upon,' it was 
 stated in the first number of ' The Examiner ' itself, 
 ' by false wit, false learning, false politics, and false 
 divinity ' ; and, the other papers being so grievously at 
 fault, ' some of these papers I intend to examine and 
 set people right in their opinions. 7 As the Whigs 
 considered that people were in danger of being set 
 wrong in their opinions by this Tory organ, they 
 started on September 14, when it was six weeks old, 
 ' The Whig Examiner,' ' to give all persons a re-hearing 
 who have suffered under any unjust sentence of " The 
 Examiner,"' and pausing in his less boisterous work 
 for ' The Tatler,' Addison wrote most or all of its ar- 
 ticles. ' The Whig Examiner ' lived through only four 
 numbers, however, and its place was taken by ' The 
 Medley,' which was begun on October 5, with Addison 
 as one of its contributors ; other contributors being 
 Steele, Oldmixon, 2 Dean Kennet, afterwards bishop of 
 
 1 The Freeholder, February 24, 1716. 
 
 ~ Oldmixon says, in his querulous Memoirs of the Press from 1710 to
 
 78 OUTCOME OF THE EEVOLUTIOX. en. m. 
 
 Peterborough, and Samuel Garth, the famous physician, 
 besides the editor Arthur Maynwaring, who appears to 
 have written most of its articles, with more solidity than 
 wit, until it was merged in some way with ' The Flying 
 Post,' still conducted and expanded as a political news- 
 paper by Ridpath. Steele and Addison, the best writers 
 on the Whig side, were not at their best in political 
 controversy, and they were no match for their old 
 associate, now their bitter enemy, Jonathan Swift. 
 
 Swift, who had been pushing his way in London off 
 and on during several years, joined the staff of ' The 
 Examiner ' on November 2, when thirteen numbers had 
 appeared, and put plenty of vigour into the next thirty- 
 three, being the great apologist of the Tories in its 
 columns till June 14, 1711, when his place was taken by 
 Mrs. Manley. He retired, he said, because he could no 
 longer be anonymous, and because the enmities he had 
 provoked made his life unbearable, and even rendered it 
 dangerous for him to go about after dark. ' No, no,' 
 he wrote to Stella, ' I'll walk late 110 more ; I ought to 
 venture it less than other people, and so I was told.' l 
 ' Those little barking pens,' he said in his last ' Examiner ' 
 article, ' which have so constantly pursued me I take to 
 be of no further consequence to what I have writ than 
 the scoffing slaves of old placed behind the chariot to 
 put the general in mind of his mortality, which was but 
 a thing of form, and made no stop or disturbance in the 
 show. However, if these perpetual snarlers against me 
 had the same design, I must own they have effectually 
 compassed it, since nothing can or will be more mortify- 
 ing than to reflect that I am of the same species with 
 
 1740 (p. 13), that for his work on The Medley he was promised 100?. down 
 and a salary of 100/. a year ; ' but alas ! that emolument I heard of, but 
 never received.' 
 
 1 Swift, Journal, June 30, 1711.
 
 1710-1711. SWIFT'S WORK ON 'THE EXAMINER' 79 
 
 creatures capable of uttering so much scurrility, dul- 
 ness, falsehood, and impertinence, to the scandal and 
 disgrace of human nature.' 
 
 o 
 
 Not in dulness, but in some of the other faults he com- 
 plained of, Swift was at least on a par with most of his 
 opponents, and if he was surpassed in any or all of them, 
 it was chiefly by writers on his own side. In so far as 
 there was less ribaldry in the newspapers and magazines 
 of 1712 and the two or three previous years, than there 
 had been in 1709 and earlier, this was due to the good 
 
 7 O 
 
 work of Steele and Addison in ' The Tatler ' and ' The 
 Spectator,' and to the efforts of some others to follow 
 their example. In politics licence had sunk to licen- 
 tiousness, and all the present gain from recent progress 
 in political journalism was marred by the outrageous 
 coarseness indulged in by those who made it their trade. 
 If Mrs. Manley no longer poured out her malicious and 
 scandalous trivialities in ' The Female Tatler,' it was 
 a doubtful benefit that she should be free to exasperate 
 
 Oo 
 
 Swift's vices of style in ' The Examiner.' 
 
 Swift, leaving ' The Examiner,' or perhaps still 
 secretly writing for it from time to time, did not 
 abandon journalism, and he came to be the special 
 object of attack by writers to whom he had given 
 lessons in scurrility and vituperation, but whom he could 
 not convert to Toryism. On these he revenged himself as 
 far as he could. It was apparently by his advice that 
 several printers, publishers, and editors, writers in ' The 
 Protestant Postboy,' a new paper, ' The Flying Post,' 
 i The Medley,' and other journals, fourteen men in 
 all, were sent to Newgate in the course of 171 1. 1 'A 
 rogue that writes a newspaper called " The Protestant 
 Postboy." ' he wrote to Stella on October 10 in that 
 year, ' has reflected on me in one of his papers, but the 
 
 1 Andrews, British Journalism, vol. i. p. 10G.
 
 80 OUTCOME OF THE REVOLUTION. CH. nr, 
 
 secretary has taken him up, and he shall have a squeeze 
 extraordinary. He says that " an ambitious tantivy T 
 missing his towering hopes of preferment in Ireland, is 
 come over to vent his spleen on the late ministry," &c. 
 I'll tantivy him with a vengeance ! ' In another letter 
 he complained : ' These devils of Grub Street rogues that 
 write " The Flying Post" and " Medley " in one paper 
 will not be quiet. They are alwa) r s mauling the lord 
 treasurer, Lord Bolingbroke, and me. We have the 
 dog under prosecution, but Bolingbroke is not active 
 enough. But I hope to swinge him. He is a Scotch 
 rogue, one Ridpath.' Again : ' One Boyer, a French 
 dog, has abused me in a pamphlet, and I have got him 
 up in a messenger's hands. The Secretary promised 
 me to swinge him. I must make that rogue an example 
 to others.' 
 
 The secretary of state here referred to, Henry St. 
 John, Lord Bolingbroke, was mainly responsible for 
 the proposal to impose a tax on newspapers, ostensibly 
 as a means of increasing the revenue, but really as an 
 unwise attempt to interfere with the liberty of the press, 
 which was acted upon in 1712, and talked about more 
 than a year before. ' They are here intending,' Swift 
 wrote on January 31, 1711, 'to tax all little printed 
 papers a halfpenny every half-sheet, which will utterly 
 ruin Grub Street, and I am endeavouring to prevent it.' 
 Swift's endeavours appear to have been in the other 
 direction ; but, with or without his approval, the busi- 
 ness was postponed for twelve months. At length, in 
 her message to parliament in February 1712, Queen Anne 
 complained of ' the false and scandalous libels, such as 
 are a reproach to any government,' which were then 
 plentiful, so that ' by seditious papers and factious 
 rumours, designing men have been able to sink credit, 
 and the innocent have suffered,' and she invited it ' to
 
 1712. THE FIRST NEWSPAPER STAMP DUTY 81 
 
 find a remedy equal to the mischief.' The House of 
 Commons, loyally deploring this ' abuse of the liberty 
 of the press,' promised to curb it, and, after some delay 
 and some altercation, it was decided that the most 
 * effectual way for suppressing libels ' would be ' the 
 laying a great duty on all newspapers and pamphlets.' 
 
 That was done, not openly, but by some clauses that 
 the ministers smuggled into an Act of Parliament, passed 
 on June 10, 1712, which was chiefly concerned with the 
 duties to be raised on soaps, silks, calicoes, linens, and 
 other articles. By this act, which was to come into force 
 on August 1, and to last for thirty- two years, ' all 
 newspapers, or papers containing public news, intelli- 
 gence, or occurrences,' were to be taxed at the rate of a 
 halfpenny apiece, if printed on half a sheet of paper or 
 less, or a penny if on a whole sheet and not more, and 
 of two shillings a sheet if of larger size. A tax of a 
 shilling was also imposed on every advertisement ap- 
 pearing in ' any printed paper, such paper being dis- 
 pensed or made public weekly or oftener.' l 
 
 ' This is the day,' Addison wrote in ' The Spectator ' 
 of July 31, 'on which many eminent authors will pro- 
 bably publish their last words. I am afraid that few of 
 our weekly historians, who are men that above all others 
 delight in war, will be able to subsist under the weight 
 of a stamp and an approaching peace. A sheet of blank 
 paper that must have this new imprimatur clapped upon 
 it before it is qualified to communicate anything to the 
 public, will make its way in the world but very heavily. 
 In short, the necessity of carrying a stamp and the im- 
 probability of notifying a bloody battle will, I am 
 afraid, both concur to the sinking of those thin folios 
 which have every other day retailed to us the history 
 of Europe for several years last past. A facetious friend 
 
 1 10 Anne, c. 19, 101. 
 VOL. I. G
 
 82 OUTCOME OF THE REVOLUTION CH. m. 
 
 of mine, who loves a pun, calls this present mortality 
 among authors " the fall of the leaf." As for ' The 
 Spectator,' Addison announced that, 'in this great crisis 
 of the republic of letters,' after considering whether or 
 not he should throw up his pen ' as an author that is 
 cashiered by Act of Parliament,' he and his colleagues 
 had decided to continue their enterprise, raising the 
 price from a penny to twopence ; and he added sarcas- 
 tically, ' I consider that the tax on paper was given for 
 the support of the government, and, as I have enemies 
 who are apt to pervert everything I do or say, I fear 
 they would ascribe the laying down my paper on such 
 an occasion to a spirit of malcontentedness, which I 
 am resolved none shall ever justly upbraid me with. 
 No, I shall glory in contributing my utmost to the 
 public weal, and if my country receives five or six 
 pounds a day by my labours, I shall be very well 
 pleased to find myself so useful a member.' 
 
 Swift was more cynical and more gleeful. ' Grub 
 Street has but ten days to live ; then an Act of Parlia- 
 ment takes place that ruins it by taxing every half sheet 
 at a halfpenny,' he wrote to Stella on July 19 ; and on 
 August 7, ' Do you know that all Grub Street is dead 
 and gone last week ? Xo more ghosts or murders now 
 for love or money. I plied it pretty close the last fort- 
 night, and published at least seven penny papers of my 
 own, besides some of other people's, but now every single 
 half sheet pays a halfpenny to the queen. " The Obser- 
 vator" is fallen; the " Medleys " are jumbled together 
 with " The Flying Post" ; " The Examiner" is deadly 
 sick ; " The Spectator " keeps up and doubles its price 
 I know not how long it will hold. Have you seen the 
 red stamp the papers are marked with ? Methinks the 
 stamping is worth a halfpenny.' 
 
 Grub Street was not ruined, however, by the passing
 
 1712-1714. EFFECTS OF THE STAMP DUTY 83 
 
 of the Stamp Act. Many newspapers and essay- sheets, 
 especially those of small circulation, were crushed ; 
 even i The Spectator,' so far as Steele was concerned in 
 it, coming to an end on December 6, 1 to be revived, 
 not very successfully, by Addison alone in June 1714, 
 and then continued through only six months. But 
 Grub Street remained, and some of the worst habits of 
 the worst traders in it were strengthened instead of 
 being weakened through the pretended effort of Lord 
 Bolingbroke and the Tory party to improve the press 
 by throwing obstacles in its way. The newspapers 
 that survived quarrelled with one another, and per- 
 petrated ' libels ' as freely as heretofore. 2 Those 
 
 1 Steele says in this last number that the tax had ' brought into the 
 Stamp Office, one week with another, above 201. a week arising from this 
 single paper, notwithstanding it at first reduced it to less than half the 
 number that was usually printed before.' Whence we may infer that its 
 circulation had fallen from about 3,200 to about 1,600. 
 
 3 Here, from The Postboy of April 1, 1714, is a sample of the way in 
 which most journalists abused one another : ' In The Flying Post of last 
 Tuesday we have a very unusual specimen of the author's modesty in 
 
 owning and recanting the lie he had so impudently fixed on Dr. S 1 
 
 [Sacheverell] in his former paper. But 'tis very remarkable that, by en- 
 deavouring to excuse this lie, he unluckily falls into his habitual sin again 
 no less than three times in this single paragraph. ... So little credit is to 
 be given to this infamous weekly libel, filled with lies of the author's own 
 invention, or such as are taken up at second-hand and vouched by him, 
 without the least regard to truth, common sense, or common honesty.' 
 Abel Boyer, in The Postboy, claimed to be especially virtuous. In the 
 number of September 15, 1713, he wrote : ' Last night William Thompson, 
 Esq., came to the proprietor of this paper, and told him that if he did not 
 insert the following paragraph in his paper of this day, ' ' God damn him ! 
 he would cut his throat, and he had a penknife in his pocket for that pur- 
 pose." For which the proprietor of this paper designs to prosecute him 
 according to law, but thought fit to publish this that the nation may be 
 judges whether a person of such a character is proper to be employed 
 in his station in the law, or whether our constitution ought to be entrusted 
 in such hands as will not scruple to commit murder whenever it may 
 serve their purpose.' There was sly humour in some of The Postboy's 
 paragraphs. Thus we are told on January 29, 1713, that ' on Monday last 
 that facetious and merry gentleman in the pulpit, Mr. Daniel Burgess, 
 departed this life, to the great mortification of his female auditors.'
 
 84 OUTCOME OF THE KEVOLUTION CH. in. 
 
 journalists who dabbled in politics wrote for party 
 ends, and seldom shrank from taking bribes for what 
 they penned in worthless praise of friends or gross 
 abuse of opponents, unless they were influential or 
 ambitious enough to aspire to office instead of looking 
 for crowns or guineas in ready money ; and those who 
 shunned politics were apt only to make almost baser 
 use of their talents, such as these were, in dishing up 
 stale or false scandal for the entertainment of a gaping 
 public. There were, as we shall see, some honourable 
 exceptions in the last years of Queen Anne's reign r 
 and in George I.'s, but the press, merely crippled and 
 irritated for a while by the imposition of the stamp 
 duty, got a worse name than it had before, and deserved 
 it. It grew ; but its growth for a time, and a long 
 time, was crooked. Though it gave more news than 
 formerly, the news, even when it purported to be about 
 matters of serious importance, was often garbled and 
 trumped up. 
 
 Addison, who laughed and grieved over this state 
 of things, attributed it to its right causes, the chief of 
 which he found to be ' that eternal thirst which is the 
 portion of all our modern newsmongers and coffee- 
 house politicians.' ' You must have observed,' he said, 
 ' that men who frequent coffee-houses and delight in 
 news are pleased with everything that is matter of fact, 
 so it be what they have not heard before. A victory 
 or a defeat is equally agreeable to them. The shutting 
 of a cardinal's mouth pleases them one post, and the 
 opening of it another. They are glad to hear the 
 French court is removed to Marli, and are afterwards 
 as much delighted with its return to Versailles. They 
 read the advertisements with the same curiosity as 
 the articles of public news, and are as pleased to hear 
 of a piebald horse that is strayed out of a field near
 
 1712. ADDISON ON THE THIRST FOR NEWS 85 
 
 Islington as of a whole troop that has been engaged in 
 any foreign adventure. In short, they have a relish 
 for everything that is news, let the matter of it be what 
 it will, or to speak more properly, they are men of a 
 voracious appetite but no taste.' ' There is no humour 
 in my countrymen which I am more inclined to wonder 
 at than their general thirst after news. There are 
 about half a dozen ingenious men who live very plenti- 
 fully upon this curiosity of their fellow- subjects. They 
 all of them receive the same advices from abroad, and 
 very often in the same words, but their way of cooking 
 it is so different that there is no citizen who has an eye 
 to the public good that can leave the coffee-house with 
 peace of mind before he has given every one of them a 
 reading. These several dishes of news are so very 
 agreeable to the palate of my countrymen that they are 
 not only pleased with them when they are served up 
 hot, but when they are again set cold before them by 
 those penetrating politicians who oblige the public with 
 their reflections and observations upon every piece of 
 intelligence that is sent us from abroad. The text is 
 given us by one set of writers, and the comment by 
 another.' l 
 
 The gracious moralist of ' The Spectator ' was content 
 to make fun of the news -lovers and their tradesmen 
 so long as the news itself was harmless, but about 
 the harmful matter that abounded in the newspapers 
 he used stronger language. ' Our satire,' he said, ' is 
 nothiDg but ribaldry and Billingsgate. Scurrility passes 
 for wit, and he who can call names in the greatest 
 variety of phrases is looked upon to have the shrewdest 
 pen. By this means the honour of families is ruined, 
 the highest posts and greatest titles are rendered cheap 
 and vile in the sight of the people, the noblest virtues 
 
 1 The Spectator, August 8, 1712.
 
 86 OUTCOME OF THE REVOLUTION CH. in. 
 
 and most exalted parts exposed to the contempt of the 
 vicious and the ignorant. Should a foreigner who knows 
 nothing of our private factions, or one who is to act 
 his part in the world when our present heats and 
 animosities are forgot should, I say, such an one form 
 to himself a notion of the greatest men of all sides in 
 the British nation who are now living from the charac- 
 ters which are given them in some or other of those 
 abominable writings which are daily published among 
 us, what a nation of monsters must we appear ! ' 
 
 Here, too, Addison pointed to the main source of 
 the evil he complained of, and he suggested what he 
 was sanguine enough to believe its surest remedy. 
 ' That which makes it particularly difficult to restrain 
 these sons of calumny and defamation is that all sides 
 are equally guilty of it, and that every dirty scribbler 
 is countenanced by great names, whose interests he 
 propagates by such vile and infamous methods. I have 
 never yet heard of a ministry who have inflicted an 
 exemplary punishment on an author that has supported 
 their cause with falsehood and scandal, and treated in a 
 most cruel manner the names of those who have been 
 looked upon as their rivals and antagonists. Would a 
 government set an everlasting mark of their displeasure 
 upon one of those infamous writers who makes his court 
 to them by tearing to pieces the reputation of a com- 
 petitor, we should quickly see an end put to this race 
 of vermin that are a scandal to government and a re- 
 proach to human nature. Such a proceeding would 
 make a minister of state shine in history, and would 
 fill all mankind with a just abhorrence of persons who 
 should treat him unworthily and employ against him 
 those arms which he scorned to make use of against his 
 enemies.' 2 
 
 1 The Spectator, August 7, 1712. 
 
 2 Ibid.
 
 1712-1713. JOURNALISM UNDER BOLINGBROKE 87 
 
 Those who were ministers of state when Addison 
 wrote thus were in no mood to shine in history, or in 
 their own day, by help of such policy as he recom- 
 mended. Henry St. John, Lord Bolingbroke, and 
 Eobert Harley, Earl of Oxford, not too kindly disposed 
 towards one another, were the men in power, and, 
 having got rid of the Duke of Marlborough and of some 
 dangerous young Whigs like Robert Walpole, they 
 were scheming to obtain lasting authority in England 
 under the altered conditions incident to the ending of 
 the War of the Succession abroad and the prospect of a 
 speedy Hanoverian succession at home. All the news- 
 papers and political writers that could be bought or 
 were thought worth buying had to be employed in 
 forwarding their interests and slandering their enemies, 
 and the journalists who declined to become dupes or 
 slaves under Tory guidance might not look for pro- 
 tection from those in office. 
 
 Steele was rather more of a politician than Addison, 
 and it would seem that one of his reasons for giving 
 up ' The Spectator' in December 1712 was a desire to 
 embark in some more serious enterprise, one in which 
 he should be better able to take part in the journalistic 
 strife then going on. ' The Guardian,' which he started 
 as a daily half sheet on March 12, 1713, however, 
 though soberer in its plan as well as in its title than 
 his first venture, was not intended to be, any more than 
 ' The Tatler,' a political paper. ' The main purpose of 
 the work,' he said in the first number, ' shall be to 
 protect the modest, the industrious ; to celebrate the 
 wise, the valiant ; to encourage the good, the pious ; to 
 confront the impudent, the idle ; to contemn the vain, 
 the cowardly ; and to disappoint the wicked and pro- 
 fane.' Steele's design was, in the guise of Nestor 
 Ironside now, as formerly in the guise of Isaac
 
 88 OUTCOME OF THE KEVOLTJTION CH. HI. 
 
 Bickerstaff, and with the help of Addison and other 
 friends, Pope being one of the contributors to ' The 
 Guardian/ merely to moralise and to influence public 
 opinion by gentle satire and sly humour, not to criticise 
 the events of the day or the action of party leaders and 
 partisans. But he gradually came to the conclusion 
 that something more was needed. Before seven weeks 
 were over he found himself engaged in a controversy 
 with ' The Examiner,' still conducted as a violent Tory 
 organ, with Swift and Mrs. Manley l among its writers ; 
 and the quarrel grew. At length Steele resolved to 
 enter boldly into the political arena. He was elected 
 member of Parliament for Stockbridge in the autumn 
 of 1713. The last number of ' The Guardian. ' appeared 
 on October 1, and the first of ' The Englishman ' on 
 October 6. ' It is not now a time,' he said in the latter, 
 ' to improve the taste of men by the reflections and 
 railleries of poets and philosophers, but to awaken their 
 understanding by laying before them the present state 
 of the world like a man of experience and a patriot. 
 It is a jest to throw away our care in providing for the 
 palate when the whole body is in danger of death, and 
 to talk of amending the mien and air of a cripple that 
 has lost his legs and arms.' 
 
 ' The Englishman,' published thrice a week till 
 February 15, 1714, could not, like Steele's earlier 
 papers, be charged with too much mildness and lack of 
 party spirit. Essays of the old sort often appeared in 
 it, but as freely as he thought fit, and generally sign- 
 ing what he wrote with his own name, Steele denounced 
 in very plain language the conduct of ' my lord,' that 
 is, of Bolingbroke, and contradicted as plainly the 
 
 1 ' It is nothing to me,' he said in No. 52, ' whether the Examiner 
 writes against me in the character of an estranged friend or an exasperated 
 mistress.'
 
 1713-1714. STEELE AS A POLITICAL JOURNALIST 89 
 
 articles written in ' The Examiner ' to excuse or defend 
 the government by ' your man,' as Swift was here 
 styled. He also from time to time stated emphatically 
 the Whig principles of government which were being 
 subverted by the men in power. On December 17, 
 1713, for instance, after complaining of the political 
 disasters then most visible to him, he said : ' I can 
 attribute the original of all these misfortunes to nothing 
 but the ministers, who, to make their court to their 
 princes, flatter their ambition with the notion of their 
 being greater than our laws, and that such weak cob- 
 webs were designed only to tie up the feeble hands of 
 silly subjects and not those of a mighty monarch ; and 
 thus, by unjustly endeavouring to make them greater 
 than the laws have made them (for every Act of 
 Parliament is a compact between the prince and the 
 people, and the prince is as much bound by it as the 
 meanest of his subjects), they make both the prince and 
 people uneasy, occasion jealousies and distrusts one of 
 the other, and, when once the mutual confidence is 
 broken between the prince and his people, the prince 
 may be taught to think the people do not deserve his 
 protection and the people to think their liberties worth 
 defending.' 
 
 That was bold language to use at a time when Queen 
 Anne's intellect, never too strong, was failing, and her 
 speedy death was being counted upon, and when des- 
 perate schemes were on foot, with Bolingbroke's con- 
 nivance, for overturning the Act of Succession and 
 placing on the throne the heir of James II. in lieu of 
 the Princess Sophia or her son, the Elector George 
 of Hanover. But Steele used more language of this 
 sort, both in other numbers of ' The Englishman ' 
 especially in its fifty- seventh and last and in a 
 pamphlet entitled ' The Crisis,' and he can hardly
 
 90 OUTCOME OF THE EE VOLUTION CH. in. 
 
 have been surprised at being taken to task for it. In 
 February 1714 the queen complained in the speech with 
 which she opened parliament that ' there are some who 
 have arrived to that height of malice as to insinuate that 
 the Protestant succession in the House of Hanover is in 
 danger under my government.' What followed is worth 
 noting. 
 
 On March 11 the House of Commons was invited 
 to take into consideration that part of the queen's 
 speech, it being alleged by Mr. Auditor Foley ' that 
 unless means were found to restrain the licentiousness 
 of the press and to shelter from malicious and scanda- 
 lous libels those who had the honour to be in the ad- 
 ministration, they who by their abilities were best 
 qualified to serve their queen and country would 
 decline public offices and employments,' and by Sir 
 William Wyndham, that ' some of Mr. Steele's writings 
 contained insolent injurious reflections on the queen 
 herself, and were dictated by the spirit of rebellion.' ' I 
 think they have begun very unhappily and ungracefully 
 against me, and I doubt not but God will turn their 
 malice to the advantage of the innocent,' Steele wrote 
 to his wife on the same evening ; adding, ' Lord Halifax, 
 in the House of Lords, told the ministry that he be- 
 lieved if they would recommend " The Crisis " to her 
 majesty's perusal she would think quite otherwise of 
 the book than they do.' 
 
 On the following day, March 12, Lord Oxford's 
 brother, Mr. Auditor Harley, on behalf of the govern- 
 ment, laid before the Commons a formal complaint 
 against certain passages in ' The Englishman ' of January 
 19 and February 11, and in ' The Crisis,' 'all said to be 
 written by Richard Steele, Esquire,' and Steele wa& 
 ordered to attend in his place next morning, he having 
 previously kept away by the advice of Lord Halifax,
 
 1714. STEELE ON HIS DEFENCE 91 
 
 who, as Mrs. Steele was informed by her husband, 
 ' thought it would be better to have the first attack 
 
 o 
 
 made in my absence.' 
 
 The next morning was Saturday, and there was ' a 
 great concourse of members and spectators ' to hear 
 the obnoxious passages read and discussed, and after 
 several speakers had ' severely animadverted on the 
 rancour and seditious spirit conspicuous in those writ- 
 ings,' Steele was called upon to answer for himself. 
 Thereupon he said that, ' being attacked on several 
 heads without any previous notice, he hoped the house 
 would allow him at least a week's time to prepare for 
 his defence.' This was objected to by Foley and Harley, 
 who were in the position of prosecuting counsel, and 
 who proposed that the adjournment should be only till 
 Monday. These men, though High Churchmen now, 
 had formerly been strict Presbyterians, and had not 
 lost the canting style of speech and manner acquired in 
 their younger days. The temptation to ridicule them 
 was too great for Steele. ' Assuming their sanctified 
 countenance,' as we are told, he 'owned, in the meek- 
 ness and contrition of his heart, that he was a very 
 great sinner, and hoped the member who spoke last, 
 and who was so justly renowned for his exemplary 
 piety and devotion, would not be accessory to the accu- 
 mulating the number of his transgressions by obliging 
 him to break the Sabbath of the Lord by perusing such 
 profane writings as might serve for his justification.' 
 This appeal so amused the house that it sanctioned a 
 postponement of the business till Thursday. 
 
 On that day, the House being cleared of strangers, 
 with the exception of Addison and a few others per- 
 mitted to assist in the inquiry, Foley moved that Steele 
 should be asked whether he acknowledged the passages 
 objected to. Steele promptly declared that ' he wrote
 
 92 OUTCOME OF THE REVOLUTION CH. in. 
 
 and published the said pamphlets, and the several para- 
 graphs there which had been complained of and read to 
 the house, with the same cheerfulness and satisfaction 
 with which he had abjured the Pretender.' Foley then 
 proposed that Steele should withdraw, but after a hot 
 debate, he was allowed to remain and make a speech 
 in his defence, after listening to the arguments of his 
 assailants. His proposal, however, that each paragraph 
 should be separately discussed, he being permitted to 
 rebut the speeches made upon each in turn by a speech 
 of his own, was overruled, after another debate in which 
 Robert Walpole, General Stanhope, Lord Finch, and 
 others, supported his plea, and it was resolved that ' he 
 should proceed to make his defence generally upon the 
 charge given against him.' The ' general ' reply which 
 he then made lasted nearly three hours. With Addison 
 sitting near, ' to prompt him. upon occasion,' it is reported, 
 'he spake to several heads, with such a temper, modesty, 
 unconcern, easy and manly eloquence, as gave entire 
 satisfaction to all who were not inveterately prepossessed 
 against him.' 
 
 Then ensued the main debate, in which the creat 
 
 o 
 
 speech was made by Walpole. ' Why,' asked Walpole, 
 ' is the author answerable in parliament for the things 
 which he wrote in his private capacity ? And if he is 
 punishable by law, why is he not left to the law ? By 
 this mode of proceeding, parliament, which used to be 
 the scourge only of evil ministers, is made by ministers 
 the scourge of the subject. The ministers are suffi- 
 ciently armed with authority ; they possess the great 
 sanction of rewards and punishments, the disposal of 
 the privy purse, the grace of pardoning, and the power 
 of condemning to the pillory for seditious writings 
 powers consistent with, and naturally arising from 
 their exalted situation, and which they cannot too
 
 1714. STEELE'S EXPULSION FROM PARLIAMENT 9 
 
 jealously guard from being perverted to answer indirect 
 or criminal purposes. In former reigns the audacity of 
 corruption extended itself only to judges and juries ; 
 the attempt so to degrade parliament itself was till the 
 present period unheard of. The liberty of the press is 
 unrestrained ; how then shall a part of the legislature 
 dare to punish that as a crime which is not declared to 
 be so by any law passed by the whole ? And why 
 should this House be made the instrument of such a 
 detestable purpose ? ' 1 
 
 Neither Walpole's eloquence nor Steele's prevailed. 
 On the division taken after this memorable debate of 
 March 18, 1714, the author of the outspoken articles in 
 ' The Englishman ' and ' The Crisis ' was expelled from 
 the House of Commons by a majority of 245 against 
 152. No further punishment fell upon him ; but this 
 was enough to mark the change that had come over the 
 newspaper world within twenty years of the lapsing 
 of the Licensing Act, and as one consequence of the 
 Revolution of 1688. The crown no longer claimed 
 the right of openly and directly controlling the press, 
 but the House of Commons, though it dared do no 
 more than that, allowed itself to be so far the lawless 
 tool of the ministers of the crown as to expel from its 
 body the member who had dared to quarrel with them 
 and their agents in print. 
 
 1 Parliamentary History, vol. vi. pp. 1265-1268 ; Coxe, Walpole, vol. i. 
 p. 72 ; Nichols. Epistolary Correspondence of Steele, vol. i. p. 318. ' This,' 
 says Hallam (Constitutional History, chap, xvi.), ' was perhaps the first 
 instance wherein the House of Commons so identified itself with the 
 executive administration, independently of the sovereign's person, as to 
 consider itself libelled by those who impugned its measures.' It is signi- 
 ficant of the variation in political progress that a few weeks before the 
 House of Commons expelled Steele for writing against the Tories, the 
 House of Lords more Whig than Tory had censured the printer and 
 publisher of The Public Spirit of the Whigs, for the writing of which Lord 
 Oxford had secretly paid Swift 100L
 
 94 OUTCOME OF THE REVOLUTION CH. in 
 
 A pretty incident occurred in the course of the 
 debating on Steele's case. One of his supporters was 
 Lord Finch, son of the Earl of Nottingham, whose 
 daughter, Lady Charlotte Finch, had some time be- 
 fore been slandered by an anonymous writer in ' The 
 Examiner.' Steele had taken up the cudgels on be- 
 half of Lady Charlotte in ' The Guardian,' and thereby 
 won the gratitude of her brother. Lord Finch, at this 
 time a young member of the House of Commons, rose 
 with a full heart to protest against Steele's expulsion, 
 but, ' being embarrassed by an ingenuous modesty and 
 over- deference to an assembly in which he had not yet 
 been accustomed to speak, he sat down in a visible con- 
 fusion.' ' It is strange I can't speak for this man, 
 though I could readily fight for him,' he murmured. 
 The words were overheard, and a cry of ' Hear him ! 
 hear him ! ' ran through the house. Lord Finch was 
 thus induced to rise again, and, it is recorded, ' though 
 he appeared to have utterly forgot what he rose up to 
 speak, yet the generous motive which the whole com- 
 pany knew he acted upon procured him such an 
 acclamation of voices to hear him, that he expressed 
 himself with a magnanimity and clearness, proceeding 
 from the integrity of his heart, that he made his very 
 adversaries receive him as a man they wished their 
 friend.' l So Steele had some reward for his brave 
 journalism, and some compensation for the troubles it 
 brought upon him. He had other reward and compen- 
 sation in the approval of his own conscience. ' It is 
 not for me,' he remarked on one occasion, ' to say how 
 I write or speak, but it is for me to say I do both 
 honestly ; and when I threw away some fame for 
 letters and politeness to serve the nobler ends of jus- 
 tice and government, I did not do it with a design to 
 
 1 Epistolary Correspondence of Steele, vol. i. p. 328.
 
 1714. STEELE'S COMPENSATION 95 
 
 be as negligent of what should be said of me with 
 relation to my interests. No, wit and humour are 
 the dress and ornament of the mind, but honesty and 
 truth are the soul itself.' l 
 
 Having discontinued ' The Englishman,' probably 
 by the advice of his political friends, in January 1714, 
 Steele started, on February 25, another essay paper, 
 ' The Lover,' dealing, as its title implied, solely with 
 domestic and and social questions, and this was appear- 
 ing while his expulsion from the House of Commons 
 was in progress. It ran through forty numbers, and 
 was followed on April 22 by ' The Reader,' intended as 
 a direct opponent of ' The Examiner,' of which, how- 
 ever, only nine numbers were published. But neither of 
 these miscellanies, nor any of the friendly or unfriendly 
 rivals produced by other hands at this time, can be 
 reckoned among newspapers, and therefore they do not 
 concern us here. 2 Of Steele's and Addison's latest con- 
 tributions to political journalism a little will be said 
 presently. A new stage in the history of the press 
 began with the turmoil consequent on the death of 
 Queen Anne and the accession of George I., in August 
 1714. 
 
 1 Forster, Biographical Essays (on Steele, Defoe, and others), p. 241. 
 
 3 Characteristic of the times and the political agitation then going on 
 was The Patriot, a respectable essay-sheet, started on March 22, 1714, 
 and discontinued on January 22, 1715, when its clever young editor, 
 John Harris, said : ' Having seen his sacred majesty King George peace- 
 ably proclaimed, happily arrived, crowned, and a public day of thanks- 
 giving for these memorable mercies joyfully and solemnly observed, I 
 have nothing further to say to the world.' He had other reasons for 
 abandoning his probably not very lucrative task. ' As it has become too 
 generally known that it is writ by a person who has not yet seen two-and- 
 twenty,' he said, ' I would not be guilty of the arrogance to think the 
 town should attend to that which I might very reasonably expect they 
 should from The Patriot.'
 
 96 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 IN WALPOLE'S DAYS. 
 17141742. 
 
 SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, as the first of ' the great com- 
 moners ' was styled from 1721 when he was knighted, 
 till 1742 when he was made Earl of Orford, was a man 
 of note almost as soon as, at the age of twenty-four, he 
 became a member of parliament. He was influential 
 enough under Queen Anne's Whig ministers to be an 
 object of great hatred to the Tories, who, immediately 
 after they acquired supremacy in 1712, avenged them- 
 selves by sending him to the Tower. His turn came in 
 1714, when the accession of George I. at once brought 
 
 7 O O 
 
 him to the front ; and, though he was out of office be- 
 tween 1717 and 1723, he was really the most powerful 
 man in England during seven-and-twenty years, and 
 actual head of the government during twenty-one. In 
 those years English newspapers were very materially 
 altered, and in large measure through his personal 
 action. 
 
 The temper that he showed was well expressed in 
 his speech on behalf of Richard Steele in March 1714, 
 while he was waiting for Queen Anne's death and the 
 downfall of her Tory counsellors. As we have seen, 
 he claimed for the press unrestrained liberty in so far 
 as the crown and the parliament were concerned, but 
 to the executive he assigned the power that he denied
 
 1714. NEW THRALDOM FOR JOURNALISM 97 
 
 to the legislature. ' The ministers,' he said, ' are suffi- 
 ciently armed with authority. They possess the great 
 sanction of rewards and punishments, the disposal of 
 the privy purse, the grace of pardoning, and the power 
 of condemning to the pillory for seditious writings.' 
 There was abundant cynicism in those words, addressed 
 to a Tory House of Commons, led by Tories whose 
 overthrow Walpole eagerly sought, in his own interests 
 and in the interests of the ' plain Whig principles ' of 
 which he was a zealous champion. The cynicism was 
 no less, nor less apparent, in his dealings with the 
 press throughout his long term of mastership. He did 
 not favour the pillory much ; but he made ample use of 
 the privy purse. He preferred the system of rewards 
 to the system of punishments, bribery to coercion ; but 
 his influence and its corrupting effects were not weak- 
 ened or reduced, they were only made wider and more 
 degrading, by the shrewdness with which he played his 
 political game. 
 
 The game, however, was not invented by Walpole. 
 It had been in vogue all through Queen Anne's reign, 
 and if the chief discredit of participation in it in those 
 days falls upon Tory leaders and Tory scribes, on 
 Harley and St. John, Swift, Mrs. Manley, and others, it 
 was mainly because the Tories then had more to risk 
 and more to lose than the Whigs. Nor were the 
 Whigs slow in following the precedents set for them in 
 the early years of George's reign, while Walpole was 
 steadily making for himself the position he was to hold 
 after 1720, and while he still had Whig rivals, clever 
 men and his seniors, to compete with. 
 
 The deterioration was gradual, and much excuse 
 must be found for it in the fact that it was inevitable. 
 Addison, who has told us how matters stood in Queen 
 Anne's time, also throws some light on the state of 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 98 IN WALPOLE'S DAYS en. iv. 
 
 affairs under King George. ' There is scarce any man 
 in England,' he wrote in 1716, ' of what denomination 
 so ever, that is not a freethinker in politics, and hath 
 not some particular notions of his own, by which he 
 distinguishes himself from the rest of the community. 
 Our nation, which was formerly called a nation of 
 saints, may now be called a nation of statesmen. Al- 
 most every age, profession, and sex among us has its 
 favourite set of ministers and scheme of government. 
 Our children are initiated into factions before they 
 know their right hand from their left. They no sooner 
 begin to speak, but Whig and Tory are the first words 
 they learn. They are taught in their infancy to hate 
 one half of the nation, and contract all the virulence 
 and passion of a party before they come to the use of 
 their reason.' Newspapers fostered this popular taste, 
 and were encouraged by it. ' Of all the ways and means 
 by which this political humour hath been propagated 
 among the people of Great Britain, I cannot single out 
 any so prevalent or universal as the late constant appli- 
 cation of the press to the publishing of state matters. 
 We hear of several that are newly erected in the country, 
 and set apart for this particular use. For it seems the 
 people of Exeter, Salisbury, and other large towns are 
 resolved to be as great politicians as the inhabitants of 
 London and Westminster, and deal out such news of their 
 own printing as is best suited to the genius of the market 
 people and the taste of the country.' T ' As our riews- 
 
 1 Here are the titles and commencing dates of some of the oldest pro- 
 vincial papers : The Edinburgh Gazette, lb'99 ; The Edinburgh Courant, 
 1705 ; The Norwich Postman, 1708 ; The Edinburgh Flying Pod, 1708 ; 
 The Scots Postman, 1701) ; Berro-ui's Worcester Journal, 1709 ; The New- 
 castle Courant, 1711 ; The Norwicli Courant, 1714 ; The Salisbury Postman, 
 1715; The Exeter Mercury, 1715; The Edinburgh, Evening Courant, 1718; 
 The Caledonian Mercury, 1720 ; The Gloucester Journal, 1722 ; The Heading 
 Mercury, 1723 ; 71 ie Hereford Times, 1739 ; Aris's Birmingham Gazette, 
 1741 ; and Kcene's Bath Journal, 1744.
 
 1714-1716. ADDISOX IN 'THE FREEHOLDER' 99 
 
 writers,' Addison went on to say, ' record many facts 
 which, to use their o\vn phrase, " afford great matter 
 for speculation," their readers speculate accordingly, 
 and, by their variety of conjectures, in a few years 
 become consummate statesmen. Besides, as their 
 papers are filled with a different party spirit, they 
 naturally divide the people into different sentiments, 
 who generally consider rather the principles than the 
 truth of the news-writer. This humour prevails to 
 such a degree that there are several well-meaning per- 
 sons in the nation who have been so misled by their 
 favourite authors of this kind that in the present con- 
 tention between the Turk and the Emperor they are 
 won over insensibly from the interests of Chris- 
 tianity and become well-wishers to the Mahometan 
 cause. In a word, almost every news-writer has his 
 sect, which (considering the natural genius of our 
 countrymen to mix, vary, or refine in notions of state) 
 furnishes every man, by degrees, with a particular 
 system of policy.' 
 
 ' The Freeholder,' in which these sentences appear, 
 was itself a respectable example of the infirmity or 
 extravagance that Addison mildly condemned. Addi- 
 son's fortunes, never very gloomy, had brightened with 
 the change of sovereigns. He had been appointed chief 
 secretary to the Earl of Sunderland, Greorge I.'s lord- 
 lieutenant of Ireland, and part of his duty was now 
 the assistance of the government by journalism. Ac- 
 cordingly, in ' The Freeholder,' of which fifty-five num- 
 bers were issued between December 23, 1715, and 
 June 29, 1716, he undertook to demonstrate the legality 
 and expediency of the Hanoverian succession against 
 the Jacobites, who were then causing; some trouble in 
 
 O 
 
 Scotland, and seeking to make converts in England. 
 For his literary service in this paper Addison was 
 
 H 2
 
 100 IN WALPOLE'S DAYS en. iv. 
 
 further rewarded, and for the reward he was expected 
 to render further literary service. His friend Steele, 
 who had also profited by the return of the Whigs to 
 power, was more independent, or subject to other influ- 
 ence ; and a lifelong friendship between these two was 
 for a little while disturbed by their taking different 
 sides on a question that arose in 1719. In that year 
 the Stanhope ministry brought in a bill fixing a limit 
 to the number of peers and depriving the crown of 
 that one of its prerogatives by which it could bestow 
 titles and place in the House of Lords on as many as it 
 chose. Walpole, at this time out of office and to some 
 extent in disgrace, opposed it on the ground that it 
 would tend to establish an oligarchy in Enoland, and 
 
 O J O 
 
 ISteele started ' The Plebeian ' on March 11 to give 
 popular expression to the same opinion. Addison, who 
 was now a secretary of state, replied on the 19th in ' The 
 Old Whig,' and some angry words were addressed on 
 paper by each of the ' Spectator ' partners to the other, 
 Steele reproaching himself afterwards when, the Peerage 
 Bill being dropped and both the ephemeral journals 
 at an end, Addison died also in June. l The Plebeian ' 
 and ' The Old Whig ' were unimportant and uninterest- 
 ing publications, but by reason of their faultiness they 
 all the better illustrate the downward progress that 
 journalism was now taking through the pressure upon 
 it of political partisanship. 1 
 
 More notable illustration was furnished by the 
 career of another and more business-like, but less pros- 
 perous journalist. Daniel Defoe, who started his 
 ; Review' in 1701 as an outspoken and thoroughly in- 
 
 1 Steele's last work in journalism was in The Theatre, which he started 
 in January 1720 as a protest against the threatened revocation of his 
 patent at Druvy Lane, worth u'OO/. a year. The patent Avas taken from 
 him, but it was restored on Walpole's return to power. Steele died in. 
 1729.
 
 1714. DEFOE'S LATER JOURNALISM 101 
 
 dependent paper, as we have seen, had trimmed and 
 wavered during the second half of Queen Anne's reign, 
 holding, as he alleged, and perhaps honestly considered, 
 that he was steadfast to the fundamental principles ol 
 good government and the essential conditions of national 
 welfare, but shifting his ground and varying his lan- 
 guage according as Whigs or Tories, or factions of either 
 party, were in the ascendant. He, more than any other 
 man, led the way in the best and worthiest development 
 of journalism, being the first conspicuous exemplar of 
 the value of political criticism, pungent and persuasive, 
 as an adjunct of mere news- writing ; but he had not 
 moral fibre enough to keep him up to his ideal, and 
 there is much that is distressing in his later career as a 
 man of letters the ten years or so in which, writing 
 ' The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe ' and other works 
 that he acknowledged and that have made his name a 
 household word, he wrote much more anonymously, 
 and, if with what he may have regarded as patriotic 
 purpose, trickily and with lamentable lack of self- 
 respect and honour from those around him. 1 
 
 ' A Review,' which never recovered from the harm 
 done to it by the Stamp Act, had expired in May 1713, 
 and in the same month had been started a new paper, 
 ' Mercator,' which, though Defoe denied the ' author- 
 ship,' was evidently inspired and mainly written by 
 him. It carried on, in identical terms, the work Defoe 
 had lately undertaken in ' A Review ' advocacy of 
 commercial alliance with France and enforcement of 
 views tending in general to a policy of as much free 
 
 1 For what follows about Defoe's later work I am mainly indebted to 
 Mr. William Lee's Daniel Defoe, Ids Life and Recently Discovered Writings. 
 With amazing industry Mr. Lee has brought together a mass of new infor- 
 mation about Defoe's life in his first volume, and he has filled the second 
 and third with a valuable collection of articles and sketches contributed 
 to the various papers and magazines for which Defoe wrote anonymously-
 
 102 IN WALPOLE'S DAYS CH. iv. 
 
 trade as was possible in the eighteenth century. These 
 were views not favoured by the Whigs, and there was 
 frequent contradiction of them in ' The Flying Post,' 
 still conducted by George Ridpath, and the cleverest of 
 those journals then published which were not essay- 
 sheets but strictly newspapers. The other London 
 papers of importance issued in 1714, it may be noted, 
 were besides ' The London Gazette ' and ' The Daily 
 Courant,' which was still the only daily print ' The 
 Postboy ' and ' The Evening Post/ offering Tory defi- 
 ance thrice a week to the Whig opinions of ' The Flying 
 Post ' ; the moribund ' Examiner ' and ' The Weekly 
 Packet,' both Tory ; and ' The British Merchant,' which 
 supported the commercial policy of the Whigs. Several 
 of the old journals had died out or lost influence during 
 the struggle of parties incident to George l.'s succession 
 to Queen Anne, and a new variety of journalism came 
 into fashion before the end of the year. As improve- 
 ments on the plan of ' The Weekly Packet,' a Saturday 
 budget of sparse news and feeble comment, there were 
 started among other Saturday sheets, generally supply- 
 ing six double-column quarto pages of matter for three- 
 halfpence, ' The Weekly Journal or British Gazetteer,' 
 conducted in the Whig interests by George Read, a 
 printer and publisher in Whitefriars, ' The Weekly 
 Journal or Saturday's Post,' a Tory organ, for which 
 Nicholas Mist of Great Carter Street was responsible 
 these, to avoid confusion, being usually distinguished 
 from one another as 'Read's' and 'Mist's' and 
 ' Applebee's Original Weekly Journal,' also a Tory 
 champion, issuing from Fleet Ditch. With the two 
 last-named, and with many more, Defoe was to be 
 connected. 
 
 While Oxford was in prison and Bolingbroke in 
 exile, consequent on the Whig supremacy under King
 
 1714. DEFOE'S LATER JOURNALISM 103 
 
 George, Defoe, who had been employed by both the 
 Tory leaders, and especially by Oxford, had his share of 
 discomfiture and disgrace, and he found it necessary to 
 change his plans before the new king arrived, or the 
 new ministers Halifax, Stanhope, Wharton, Pnlteney, 
 and others were installed. The last number of 
 ' Mercator ' appeared on July 20, 1714, and on the 27th 
 Defoe embarked on a singularly impudent venture. 
 Though at political feud with ' The Flying Post,' he 
 had had some dealings with its printer, William Hurt, 
 against the wishes of Ridpath, and, at his instigation, 
 Hurt took advantage of Ridpath's temporary absence 
 to bring out ' The Flying Post and Medley,' which 
 purported to be even more loyal to the Whig cause than 
 Ridpath's paper really was. The number for August 
 14 contained a fulsome panegyric of George I., crediting 
 him with more graces and virtues than any other human 
 being had ever possessed, and describing him as a man 
 'born for council, and fitted to command the world.' 
 In a subsequent number Defoe so slandered the Tory 
 Earl of Anglesey, that the latter brought an action 
 against him for scandalous libel. These proceedings 
 put a stop to the sham ' Flying Post,' about which, as 
 there was no law of copyright then, Ridpath could only 
 impotently complain, and Defoe was somewhat sobered. 
 The proceedings were dawdled over a year or more, 
 and he used the interval in writing several pamphlets, 
 among others, 'An Appeal to Honour and Justice; being a 
 True Account of his Conduct in Public Affairs,' in which, 
 with a force that almost convinced his contemporaries, 
 and may have almost satisfied himself, he denied that he 
 had been guilty of political dishonesty, and in which he 
 uttered many shrewd opinions that were doubtless 
 honest. ' It has been the disaster of all parties in this 
 nation,' he said, ' to be very hot in their turn, and, as
 
 104 IN WALPOLE'S DAYS CH. rv. 
 
 often as they have been so, I have differed from them 
 all, and ever must and shall do so.' He declared him- 
 self averse to all violence in party warfare, and urged the 
 government and the people ' to attain at the happy calm 
 which is the consideration that should move us all. He 
 would merit to be called the nation's physician.' he 
 added, ' who would prescribe a specific for it. I think 
 I may be allowed to say a conquest of parties will never 
 do it ; a balance of parties may.' 
 
 The trial of Defoe for libelling Lord Anglesey did not 
 come on till July 1715. He was then found guilty, but 
 sentence was deferred till October. In the interval he 
 made his peace with the Whig ministers, who satisfied 
 the lord chief justice that he ought to be pardoned 
 ' all former mistakes ' on account of the service he was 
 henceforth to do them. The terms of the contract and 
 his efforts to comply with it were naively recorded by 
 himself. ' In considering which way I might be ren- 
 dered most useful to the government,' he wrote in 1718, 
 ' it was proposed by my Lord Townshend that I should 
 still appear as if I were, as before, under the displeasure 
 of the government and separated from the \Yhigs, and 
 that I might be more serviceable in a kind of disguise 
 than if I appeared openly, Upon this foot a weekly 
 paper, which I was at first directed to write, was laid 
 aside, and the first thing I engaged in was a monthly 
 book, called " Mercurius Politicus." In the interval of 
 this, Dyer, the news-letter writer, having been dead, and 
 Dormer, his successor, being unable by his troubles to 
 carry on that work, I had an offer of a share in the 
 property as well as in the management of that work. I 
 immediately acquainted my Lord Townshend of it, who, 
 by Mr. Buckley, 1 let me know that it would be a very 
 
 1 The printer of The London Gazette, and as such a sort of literary 
 agent for the government of the day.
 
 1715-1726. DEFOE 'IN A KIND OF DISGUISE' 105 
 
 acceptable piece of service ; for that letter was really 
 very prejudicial to the public, and the most difficult to 
 come at in a judicial way in case of offence given. My 
 lord was pleased to add, by Mr. Buckley, that he would 
 consider my service in that case, as he afterwards did. 
 Upon this I engaged in it, and that so far that, though 
 the property was not wholly my own, yet the conduct 
 and government of the style and news was so entirely 
 in me that I ventured to assure his lordship the sting 
 of that mischievous paper should be entirely taken out, 
 though it was granted that the style should continue 
 Tory as it was, that the party might be amused and not 
 set up another, which would have destroyed the design ; 
 and this part I therefore take entirely on myself still.' l 
 
 The elaborate fraud on the public, and the Tory 
 party especially, which Defoe thus entered upon in 
 1715, with Lord Townshend for his first patron and 
 partner, was continued, it would seem, under other 
 secretaries of state till 1726. The new ' Mercurius 
 Politicus,' a shilling magazine of ' monthly observations 
 on the affairs of Great Britain.' was brought out reoru- 
 
 O o 
 
 larly till September 1720, or later ; ' Dormer's News- 
 letter,' in manuscript, was circulated, as ' Dyer's ' had 
 been, among the Tory squires and the parsons with 
 Jacobite sympathies until August 1718 ; and in August 
 1717, a third periodical was added to these two, ' to be 
 kept, mistakes excepted,' as Defoe said, ' to pass as 
 Tory papers, and yet be disabled and enervated, so as 
 to do no mischief or give any offence to the govern- 
 ment.' This third periodical was ' Mist's Weekly 
 Journal.' Lord Sunderland, Addison's special friend, 
 being now secretary of state, ' with his lordship's 
 approbation,' wrote Defoe, ' I introduced myself, in the 
 
 1 This and other self -damnatory letters of Defoe's were found by Mr. 
 Lee in the State Paper Office in 1864.
 
 106 IN WALPOLE'S DAYS CH. iv. 
 
 disguise of a translator of the foreign news, to be so far 
 concerned in this weekly paper of Mist's as to be able 
 to keep it within the circle of a secret management, also 
 prevent the mischievous part of it ; and yet neither 
 Mist or any of those concerned with him have the least 
 guess or suspicion by whose direction I do it.' Mist 
 seems after this to have noticed that there was some- 
 thing wrong in the political tone of his paper, and he 
 had to be brought to some extent into the conspiracy, 
 whereupon he agreed that ' his paper shall, for the 
 future, amuse the Tories, but not affront the erovern- 
 
 o 
 
 meiit,' 011 condition that it should ' seem on the same 
 side as before, rally " The Flying Post," the Whig 
 writers, and even the word " Whig," &c., and admit 
 foolish and trifling things in favour of the Tories.' 
 
 In this way, through ' Mist's Journal,' Defoe was 
 able to advance the Whig cause under pretence of being 
 a Tory, by one or more trenchant articles which he 
 wrote every week from August 1717 till November 
 1718. A quarrel with Mist, who thought the Whiggism 
 was too pronounced, then led to Defoe's withdrawal ; 
 but the circulation of the paper suffered so much by 
 his absence that he was called back after ten w r eeks, 
 and he steadily continued the work from the end of 
 January 1719 till July 1720, writing occasional articles 
 after that till October 1724. In the meanwhile he also 
 wrote for other papers. Between June 1720 and March 
 1726 he was a regular contributor to the other Tory 
 Saturday paper, ' Applebee's Original Weekly Journal,' 
 which, during those six years, gave remarkable evidence 
 of his power and versatility almost at the close of a 
 long and busy life. 
 
 Besides writing for already established papers, Defoe 
 assisted in starting two new ones which acquired fame 
 and influence ; and it is characteristic of him and his
 
 1717-1726. DEFOE IN VARIOUS NEWSPAPERS 107 
 
 journalistic ways that these should have been, or should 
 have purported to be, of rival politics. ' The White- 
 hall Evening Post,' issued on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and 
 Saturdays, was commenced on September 18, 1718, by 
 Wilkins, of Little Britain, as a Whig newspaper, and 
 more of a ministerial organ than ' The Flying Post,' 
 which had now passed into the hands of Matthew 
 Jenour of Giltspur Street. Defoe wrote for its first 
 number, and for most of the others, till June 1720, and 
 was able, perhaps glad, to give straightforward expres- 
 sion in it to the opinions he professed to hold, although, 
 seeing that he passed for a Tory, he was obliged to be 
 strictly anonymous. His Tory cloak had to be worn 
 in the more important journal, ' The Daily Post,' the 
 only daily rival at that time of ' The Courant,' which 
 on October 24, 1719, began to be printed by Meers, of 
 the Old Bailey, in ostensible opposition to the govern- 
 ment. Defoe contributed to ' The Daily Post ' during 
 five and a half years, his most notable contribution 
 being the original of ' Robinson Crusoe,' which ran 
 through a hundred and sixty-five numbers ; l and he 
 may be credited with the introductory article in the 
 first number. ' The multitude of papers already pub- 
 lished is no discouragement to us at all,' it was there 
 said. ' Tis the misfortune of the town to have much 
 news but little intelligence, truth ill-told, lies ill- 
 covered, parties ill-served, and, in a word, the readers 
 vilely imposed upon on all sides.' The new paper pro- 
 posed to give ' a just account of facts, neither lessening 
 one side nor magnifying the other, with clear and un- 
 biassed reasonings to explain doubtful cases.' ' If ever 
 this were useful,' it was added, 'we think 'tis so now, 
 when almost every transaction is set in a false light, 
 when misrepresentation is, as it were, the business of 
 
 1 No. 125 to No. 289.
 
 108 IN WALPOLE'S DAYS CF. iv. 
 
 every writer, and whether they speak of private persons 
 or of public, the character of no man seems to be safe, 
 but scandal and slander make havoc of men's reputa- 
 tions without mercy.' 
 
 Defoe was an adept in some of the vices he under- 
 took to expose and correct. If the truths he told, 
 when he told truths, were not ill-told, nor the lies, 
 when he told lies, ill-covered, and if the parties he 
 undertook to serve were only too well served by him, 
 he was without a peer in the art, when he chose to use it, 
 of showing transactions in a false light and of making 
 
 o o o 
 
 a business of misrepresentation. His journalistic career 
 between 1716 and 1726 was not honourable to him, 
 and, from an ethical viewpoint, it was a melancholy 
 ending of the work that he so brilliantly commenced in 
 1704. When all his faults are acknowledged, however, 
 plenty remains for us to admire. In ' Mist's ' and 
 ' Applebee's,' in ' The Whitehall ' and ' The Daily Post,' 
 he enlarged and improved upon the style and method of 
 journalism that he had initiated in ' A Review.' When 
 he was not bound to serve some petty party interest, he 
 wrote like a statesman, a philosopher, and a philanthro- 
 pist ; and these three qualities, or this single quality in 
 three phases, could never be quite obliterated even when 
 his prescribed theme was of the meanest sort. Through 
 all his sophistry, and under all his cynicism, in spite of 
 all his mockery, and only the more plainly because of 
 his exuberant humour, his wisdom, his generosity, and 
 his patriotism show themselves. He was exceptionally 
 far-seeing, profoundly intelligent, and as honest as his 
 temperament and his surroundings allowed him to be. 
 He held, and boldly stated, singularly advanced views 
 on the principles of good government, the essentials of 
 true justice, the primary and fundamental conditions of 
 social welfare in all its gradations and variations. He
 
 1716-1726. DEFOE'S SERVICES TO JOURNALISM 109 
 
 was nearly as much of a free-trader as Richard Cobden, 
 nearly as much of an utilitarian as John Stuart Mill. 
 If he was writing on the education of children, on the 
 treatment of prisoners, on the marriage laws, or on any 
 other of the hundred other aspects in which from day to 
 day ' the social problem ' in its stupendous unity and its 
 kaleidoscopic diversity presented itself to him, he ex- 
 hibited remarkable freedom from the traditions of his 
 day, or, if he was fettered by them, he made it clear 
 that he felt their bondage. 
 
 He was almost the inventor of leader writing, his 
 ' letters introductory ' in ' Mist's ' and : Applebee's ' 
 being nearer approaches to the modern editorial method 
 than were the essays in his own Review,' or in ' The 
 Tatler ' or The Spectator ' of Steele and Addison. 
 He surpassed Steele and Addison again, as regards 
 everything but literary grace, in anticipating the modern 
 functions of the ' special correspondent,' and in him, not 
 in any of his contemporaries, we see the promise of 
 modern ' society journalism.' His tittle-tattle was, for 
 the times, notably free from coarseness, and as notably 
 free from venom. He ridiculed constantly, but did not 
 often sting ; and he found for his political writings an 
 audience among the class for which Addison and others 
 had catered by their more genial and frivolous essays. 
 ' They have of late,' it was said by him or some one 
 else concerning such papers in 1725, in 'Applebee's,' 
 ' been taken in much by the women, especially the 
 political ladies, to assist at the tea-table.' 
 
 In October 1728, two and a half years before his 
 death at the age of seventy, Defoe wrote the prelimi- 
 nary article of ' The Universal Spectator,' an essay sheet 
 started by his son-in-law, Henry Baker. It was not a 
 newspaper, but Defoe's definition of ' a good writer ' 
 is worth quoting from it. ' The character of a good
 
 110 IX WALPOLE'S DAYS OH. iv. 
 
 writer, wherever he is found, is this,' he said. ' that he 
 writes so as to please and serve at the same time. If 
 he writes to please, and not to serve, he is a flatterer 
 and a hypocrite ; if to serve and not to please, he turns 
 cynic and satirist. The first deals in smooth falsehood, 
 the last in rough scandal ; the last may do some good, 
 though little ; the first does no good, and may do 
 mischief not a little ; the last provokes your rage, the 
 first provokes your pride, and, in a word, either of 
 them is hurtful rather than useful. But the writer 
 that strives to be useful writes to serve you, and at the 
 same time, by an imperceptible art. draws you on to be 
 pleased also. He represents truth with plainness, 
 virtue with praise ; he even reprehends with a softness 
 thot carries the force of a satire without the salt of it, 
 and he insensibly screws himself into your good opinion, 
 that as his writings merit your regard, so they fail not 
 to obtain it.' Defoe did not reach his ideal, but few or 
 none others in his clay went so near it. 
 
 Two of the ablest political writers on the Whig 
 side at this time were John Trenchard and Thomas 
 Gordon. Trenchard, son of the Sir John Trenchard 
 who was William III.'s secretary of state, had written 
 several political pamphlets in the early years of the 
 century, the most forcible of which were in condem- 
 nation of the then new-fanoled notion of a standin^ 
 
 ~ o 
 
 army ; and he was nearly sixty years old, iu August 
 1719, when he started ' The Thursday Journal,' called 
 after the first number ' The London Journal,' as a rival 
 to the Tory ' Mist's,' and Applebee's, and with more 
 vigour and independence than were shown in ' Head's.' 
 Associated with him in this enterprise, and indeed 
 doing the larger part, under his guidance, was Gordon, 
 his junior by more than twenty years, and a Scotch- 
 man who had come to seek his fortune in London. ' He
 
 1719-1723. JOHN TRENCHARD AND THOMAS GORDON 111 
 
 was not fond of writing,' Gordon said concerning 
 Trenchard ; ' his fault lay far on the other side ; he 
 only did it when he thought necessary.' ' But,' adds 
 his friend, ' he was the best tutor that I ever had, and 
 to him I owed more than to the whole world besides. 
 From a perfect stranger to him, and without any other 
 recommendation than a casual coffee-house acquaintance 
 and his own good opinion, he took me into his favour 
 and care, and into as high a degree of intimacy as ever 
 was shown by one man to another.' ! Between them 
 they made ' The London Journal ' a great success. The 
 South Sea Bubble was at that time almost full blown, 
 and even Walpole's prudent warnings and threats could 
 not deter the people from the fascinations its blowers 
 offered to them. The crash came, however, in 1720, 
 and then Trenchard and Gordon, who in the earlier 
 numbers of their ' Journal ' had vainly joined in 
 Walpole's expostulations, found ready listenei-s to their 
 reiterated demands for 'public justice on the wicked 
 managers of the fatal scheme.' The series of articles, in 
 the form of letters signed Cato, which they wrote, 
 attracted immediate and wide attention. 
 
 The Cato letters, numbering a hundred and forty- 
 four, and running from November 1720 till December 
 1723 dealt with many other subjects besides the South 
 Sea Bubble and its blowers. One had reference to a 
 proposal favoured by some tyrannical Whigs for 
 reviving the censorship of the press in order to put a 
 stop to the libels and seditious talk then plentiful in it. 
 On this matter Cato spoke sensibly. ' As long as there 
 are such things as printing and writing,' he said. ' there 
 will be libels ; it is an evil arising out of a much greater 
 good, and as for those who are for locking up the press 
 because it produces monsters, they ought to consider 
 
 1 Gordon's preface to the reprint of Gate's Letters.
 
 112 IN WALPOLE'S DAYS OH. iv. 
 
 that so do the sun and the Nile, and that it is something 
 better for the world to bear some particular incon- 
 veniences arising from general blessings than to be 
 wholly deprived of tire and water. Of all sorts of libels 
 scurrilous ones are certainly the most harmless and 
 contemptible. Even truth suffers by ill-manners, and 
 ill-manners prevent the effect of lies.' It was an article 
 in the previous week's number of ' Mist's/ though not 
 one of those written by Defoe to ' amuse the Tories ' 
 and serve the Whig government, that led Cato to speak 
 thus. ' The author of it,' he went on to say, ' must 
 surely be mad. He talks as if distraction were in his 
 head and a firebrand in his hand, and nothing can be 
 more false than the insinuations which he makes and 
 the ugly resemblances which he would draw. The 
 paper is a heap of falsehood and treason, delivered in 
 the style and spirit of Billingsgate and, indeed, most 
 of the enemies of his majesty's person, title, and govern- 
 ment, have got the faculty of writing and talking as if 
 they had their education in that quarter. However, as 
 bad as that letter is, and I think there cannot be a 
 worse, occasion will never be taken from scurrilous and 
 traitorous writing to destroy the end of writing. We 
 know that in all times there have been men lying upon 
 the watch to stifle liberty under a pretence of suppress- 
 ing libels ; like the late King James, who, having 
 occasion for an army to suppress Monmouth's rebellion, 
 would needs keep it up afterwards, because forsooth 
 other rebellions might happen for which he was 
 resolved to give cause ! I must own that I would 
 rather many libels should escape than the liberty of 
 the press should be infringed.' l 
 
 1 Cato's Letters, No. 32. Trencliard held in private the same sensible 
 views about libels which his colleague for the article above quoted from 
 was Gordon's expressed in public. ' He was very merry with those who
 
 1718-1721. PROSECUTIONS FOR LIBEL 113 
 
 Neither its editors' disapproval of libel prosecutions 
 nor their loyalty to the Whig ministry saved ' The 
 London Journal ' from being proceeded against for its 
 plain speaking. In June 1721 Benjamin Norton Defoe 
 was committed to Newgate on the charge of having 
 written in it a ' scandalous and seditious libel,' the pur- 
 port of which is not recorded. As this young man was 
 Daniel Defoe's son, however, the government's indefa- 
 tigable scribe appears to have induced the authorities to 
 quash the trial. At any rate we hear no more about it. 1 
 
 Others were less fortunate. Though Walpole and 
 his colleagues were of opinion that they could gag the 
 press more completely and more advantageously to 
 themselves by bribes than by penalties, this policy took 
 some time in working out, and in the meanwhile it was 
 often considered necessary to deal roughly with the 
 more violent and outspoken Tories. Even Mist, while 
 Defoe was using his ' Weekly Journal ' as a ministerial 
 catspaw, was threatened in. July 1718 and actually 
 fined 50/., set in the pillory, and sent to prison for three 
 months after trial at the King's Bench in February 
 1720. 2 More than that, on May 28 in the same year 
 the House of Commons unanimously resolved that an 
 article in that day's number of ' Mist's Journal,' the 
 one which aroused Trenchard's scorn in ' The London 
 Journal,' was ' a false, malicious, scandalous, infamous, 
 
 wrote scurrilously against him,' his friend tells us, 'and laughed heartily 
 at what they thought he resented most. Not many days before he died, 
 he diverted himself with a very abusive book written by a clergyman and 
 pointed personally at him, by a clergyman highly obliged to his family, 
 and always treated with great friendship by himself.' Trenchard, who in 
 conjunction with Gordon had written an earlier series of papers entitled 
 The Independent Whig, which were several times reprinted and almost 
 as popular as Cato's Letters, died in 1723, before the second series was 
 finished. Gordon married his widow and lived on till 1750. 
 
 1 Lee, Daniel Defoe, vol. i. p. 352. 
 
 * Andrews, vol. i. pp. 121, 122. 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 114 IN WALPOLE'S DAYS CH. iv. 
 
 and traitorous libel, tending to alienate the affections of 
 his majesty's subjects and to excite the people to sedi- 
 tion and rebellion, with an intention to subvert the 
 present happy establishment, and to introduce popery 
 and arbitrary power'; and it was also resolved that 
 ' a humble address be presented to his majesty, express- 
 ing the abhorrence of the house of the libel and its 
 detestation of the author, assuring his majesty that it 
 would stand by him and his family, and requesting that 
 he would give the most effectual orders for prosecuting 
 and punishing the printer and publisher of this and all 
 other libels.' Mist was again committed to Xewgate ; 
 a reward of 1,000/. was offered for the apprehension of 
 Dr. Gaylard, the writer of the article, of a journeyman 
 printer named Nathaniel Wilkinson, and of one of 
 Mist's apprentices ; and on July 5 Wilkinson was cap- 
 tured and locked up. 1 The excessive loyalty of the 
 House of Commons seems to have exhausted itself at 
 this stage, and the matter here dropped, perhaps at the 
 instigation of Defoe, whose secret relations with the 
 offending newspaper could not have been conveniently 
 disclosed ; but though they did not finally part com- 
 pany till 1724, Defoe had much less to do with Mist, 
 and busied himself chiefly elsewhere, after this affair. 
 
 Mist, in spite of the service he did to the govern- 
 ment by inserting Defoe's articles, suffered so much for 
 his Toryism that he may be pardoned for feeling a 
 malicious pleasure at his political and trade rivals being 
 punished. This happened at least once to ' Read's 
 Journal ' when it offended the House of Lords, not so 
 Whiggish as the House of Commons. In ' Mist's 
 
 1 Journals of tJte House of Commons, vol. xix. p. 502. '1 have not 
 observed any case more recent than this of Mist,' says Hallam, 'wherein 
 anyone has been committed on a charge which could not possibly be inter- 
 preted as a contempt of the house, or a breach of privilege.' Constitu- 
 tional History, chap. xvi.
 
 1721-1723. PROSECUTIONS FOR LIBEL 115 
 
 Journal' of March 30, 1723, it was reported that 'on 
 Saturday last one Mr. Read, a printer of a Whig 
 journal, out of his abundant zeal to the present govern- 
 ment, having printed in his said scurrilous paper of that 
 day what he calls a list of the conspirators against his 
 majesty, unadvisedly and foolishly inserted the name 
 of a noble lord, viz. the Earl of Stafford, for which our 
 poor weak brother was taken into custody by the 
 gentleinan-usher of the black rod by order of the House 
 of Lords.' Four months later, the number of ' Mist's 
 Journal ' for August 3 shows us how the example of 
 petty tyranny set by parliament was followed in lower 
 quarters. ' Last Tuesday,' we there read, Mr. Payne, 
 publisher of a printed paper called ' The True Briton,' 
 was committed to Xewgate by the lord mayor and 
 court of aldermen for contempt of the authority of that 
 court in Monday's paper, and another before.' 
 
 ' The True Briton ' was a paper that the young 
 Duke of Wharton, by birth a Whig but now a Tory 
 and a reckless supporter of the Pretender, had lately 
 started as part of a journalistic crusade against the 
 government, which was carried 011 so violently and 
 unscrupulously that there would have been some slight 
 excuse for the repressive measures adopted by the 
 authorities, if only these could have been successful and 
 could have been saved from the accompaniment of de- 
 moralisation in the favoured as well as in the condemned 
 portion of the press. 
 
 It was Wharton who had engaged in such a serious 
 altercation in the House of Peers with Lord Stanhope 
 in February 1721, that the latter had a fit of apoplexy 
 and died in the course of a few hoars ; and though the 
 result of this catastrophe was that Walpole became 
 premier and was quickly able to make himself dictator 
 of English affairs during more than twenty years, the 
 
 i 2
 
 116 IX WALPOLE'S DAYS CH. iv. 
 
 immediate issues were thought favourable to ' the high- 
 fliers,' as they were called. The last six years of George 
 I.'s reign and the first three or four years of George II. 's 
 were years of rioting and plotting throughout the coun- 
 try, aggravated by financial troubles consequent on the 
 craze for speculation, of which the South Sea scheme 
 and its collapse had merely been conspicuous instances ; 
 and the disloyal newspapers did much to foment the 
 general disturbance. Besides ' The Daily Post,' which 
 Defoe was commissioned to keep in order, and in con- 
 nection with which ' The British Journal,' a weekly 
 miscellany, was started in 1722. the Tories now had a 
 'Daily Journal,' published by Applebee along with his 
 older ' Original Weekly Journal,' so that with ' Mist's 
 Journal' they had three Saturday papers. They also 
 had ' The Postboy' and ' The Evening Post,' a younger 
 paper both issued three times a week and other organs, 
 amono; which was another new-corner, ' The Freeholder's 
 
 o 
 
 Journal,' as well as the Duke of Wharton's ' True 
 Briton ' ; and most formidable of all for a time was ' The 
 Country Journal, or The Craftsman,' soon to be known 
 simply as ' The Craftsman,' the first number of which 
 appeared on December 7, 172(j. 
 
 On its title-page ' The Craftsman ' was said to be 
 ' by Caleb Danvers, Esq.' Caleb Danvers was a pseudo- 
 nym for Nicholas Amhurst, the witty author of ' Terras 
 Filius,' which had mocked at Oxford Toryism in 1721, 
 but now a Tory hack, in the pay of William Pulteney, 
 who, having quarrelled with the Whigs and gone out of 
 oificein 1717, was at present and for many years a fierce 
 opponent of Walpole and his policy. Pulteney wrote 
 smart articles for ' The Craftsman,' but its smartest 
 contributor was Lord Bolingbroke, lately returned from 
 his eight years' residence in France, and as anxious to 
 use and abuse the liberty of the press in attacking the
 
 1726-1731. BOLINGBROKE AND 'THE CKAFTSMAN ' 117 
 
 government of the day as lie had been anxious in 
 Queen Anne's time, and when he was master of the 
 situation, to check all newspaper licence that was not in 
 accord with the views put forward by himself, and for 
 him by Swift and Mrs. Manley in * The Examiner/ In 
 January and February 1727 Bolingbroke published 
 three pamphlets, ' The Occasional Writer,' in which, in 
 the guise of a Grub Street hack, he made pretended 
 offer to become a hireling under Walpole, and this 
 device enabled him to pour out many pages of bitter 
 sarcasm against the Whig administration. He put his 
 pen to ampler and fiercer use in the articles that be- 
 tween 1728 and 1731 he contributed to ' The Crafts- 
 man,' under the signature of Humphrey Oldcastle, and 
 with the title of ' Remarks on the History of England.* 
 These scathing letters showed but a superficial know- 
 ledge of history, and they wilfully misrepresented the 
 stages of political evolution by statement of which the 
 writer sought to convict the Whigs of every conceivable 
 crime against the state ; but they served as channels 
 for trenchant abuse of Walpole and his colleagues, and 
 while they were being published, ' The Craftsman,' it is 
 said, had a circulation only equalled by that of ' The 
 Spectator ' in its palmiest days. The Oldcastle letters 
 were, until the time of Junius, the most brilliant and 
 memorable specimens of this sort of journalistic work 
 produced in England in the eighteenth century. 1 
 
 Bolingbroke was too important an enemy for even 
 Walpole to be bold enough to try and silence by a state 
 prosecution, but the comparative freedom now allowed 
 to newspaper publishers and writers in all but one im- 
 
 1 The Drapier's Letters with which in 1724 Swift discredited Wood's 
 halfpence, are notable evidence both of the writer's skill and of the strength 
 of journalism at this time ; but they belong rather to the newspaper 
 history of Ireland than to that of England.
 
 118 IN WALPOLE'S DAYS CH. iv, 
 
 portant particular, presently to be referred to, clearly 
 indicates the change that had taken place in ministerial 
 dealings with the press. Walpole had by this time 
 brought so many papers and their writers under his 
 control that he could well afford to disregard the 
 attacks made upon him by such as were not of his way 
 of thinking. Newspapers became more numerous, and 
 most of them were considerably enlarged during the 
 twenty years of his supremacy, but he cruelly de- 
 graded them by the system of wholesale bribery that he 
 adopted. In the earlier period of Whig domination under 
 the House of Hanover, writers like Steele and Addisoii 
 were able, with a clear conscience, to support the 
 ministry of the day, knowing that lucrative and digni- 
 fied offices would be given to them as rewards for their 
 journalistic services, and less successful though not less 
 capable writers like Defoe were able to do brilliant work 
 while scribbling to order. This was a state of things, 
 however, which could not go on without lowering the 
 character of the men who consented to become party 
 tools, and rendering the press far less serviceable than 
 it was intended to be to the politicians who thus cor- 
 rupted the newspaper trade, and compelled honest men, 
 if they desired to continue honest, to keep out of 
 it. There is little worth recording, and very little that 
 is not lamentable, about journalistic history during 
 these years. 
 
 The Stamp Act of 1712 having come to be care- 
 lessly acted upon and often evaded by printers, who 
 contrived to issue as pamphlets what were really news- 
 papers, or who ' printed their news upon paper between 
 the two sizes mentioned by the law,' a committee of the 
 House of Commons, in February 1721, probably at Wai- 
 pole's instigation, called on the authorities to see that 
 'for any sheet of paper on which any journal, mercury.
 
 1724 WALPOLES NEWSPAPER POLICY 119 
 
 or any other newspaper whatsoever shall be printed, 
 there shall be paid a duty of one penny sterling, and 
 for every half- sheet thereof the sum of one halfpenny 
 sterling.' 1 This was nothing more than a proper in- 
 sistance on observance of the existing law, but it en- 
 abled the government to put some additional pressure 
 on those papers which it did not wish to encourage, and 
 in connection with this business we have a ' complete 
 and private list of printers, humbly laid before the 
 Lord Viscount Townshend,' which distinguishes those 
 who were i well-affected to King George.' It specifies 
 Buckley, of Amen Corner, who still published ' The 
 London Gazette ' ; Matthew Jenour, of Giltspur Street, 
 who now had charge of ' The Flying Post ' ; Leach, of 
 the Old Bailey, who printed ' The Postman ' ; Parker 
 the elder, of Salisbury Street, who printed ' The Half- 
 penny Post/ a recently established paper ; Read, of 
 Whitefriars, who issued another ' Halfpenny Post ' as 
 well as his ' Weekly Journal ' ; and Wilkins, of Little 
 Britain, who continued to be in charge both of ' The 
 Whitehall Evening Post ' and of ' The London 
 Journal.' When the list was prepared there were in all 
 three daily papers in London, ' The Courant,' ' The Daily 
 Post,' and ' The Daily Journal,' ten that were pub- 
 lished thrice a week, three of them at the price of a 
 halfpenny apiece, and five weeklies ; and this list does 
 not include ' The Daily Advertiser,' which in 1724 began 
 to be published, along with the tri-weekly ' Flying Post,' 
 by Jenour, or some other papers. The number was 
 increased in 1729 by ' The Daily Gazetteer,' Walpole's 
 particular organ, and during many years as authorita- 
 tively inspired by him in matters of opinion and the 
 general news he wished published as was ' The London 
 Gazette ' in respect of bald official announcements. The 
 
 1 Journals of the House of Commons, vol. xx. p. 387.
 
 120 IN WALPOLE'S DAYS CH. iv. 
 
 old ' Daily Courant,' however, the pioneer of English 
 daily papers, held its ground, and was in 1733 said to 
 contain ' the best precis on the side of the ministry,' 
 among its writers being the premier's son, Horace Wal- 
 pole, Dr. Bland, and Matthew Concanen. 1 
 
 Concanen, who retired from journalism in 1731, on 
 his being rewarded with an attorney-generalship in 
 Jamaica, was till then one of the busiest of Walpole's 
 scribes, and he was ranked with the lowest by Pope 
 when he ridiculed the exploits of the Whig performers 
 and others in swimming and diving after such base prizes 
 as they could aim at : 
 
 True to the bottom, see Concanen creep, 
 A cold, long-winded native of the deep." 
 
 Among Concanen's most energetic colleagues, both 
 in ' The Gazetteer ' and in ' The Courant,' were a smart 
 writer, who preserved his anonymity by styling himself 
 Osborn, to be generally known as Mother Osborn by 
 his opponents, and William Arnall, who bore the pseu- 
 donym of ' Francis Walsingham, Esq.' Arnall, an 
 attorney's clerk, who worked his way into favour, had 
 a weekly paper, ' The Free Briton,' started for him to 
 edit, and he did so much for others also that he was able 
 to boast that he got ' for Free Britons and other writings 
 
 o o 
 
 in the space of four years no less than 10,997^. 6*. 8</. 
 out of the treasury.' 6 Pope spoke scornfully in his 
 ' Dunciad ' of Arnall and Osborn, as well as of Con- 
 canen and the other political writers whom he scorned 
 to name. 
 
 1 Gentleman's Magazine, vol. iii. p. 91. 
 
 2 The Dunciad, bk. ii. 11. 299, 300. 
 
 3 Warburton's note to The Dunciad. ' He writ for hire and valued 
 himself upon it,' says Warburton, ' but frequently, through his fury or 
 folly, he exceeded all the bounds of his commission, and obliged his 
 honourable patron to disavow his scurrilities.' Of course both Pope and 
 Warburton were biassed critics.
 
 1724. POPE ON SOME JOUKNALISTS 121 
 
 Next plunged a feeble, but a desperate pack, 
 With each a sickly brother at his back. 
 Sons of a day ! just buoyant on the flood, 
 Then numbered with the puppies in the mud. 
 Ask ye their names ? I could as soon disclose 
 The names of these blind puppies as of those. 
 Fast by, like Niobe (her children gone), 
 Sits Mother Osborn, stupefied to stone ; 
 And monumental brass this record bears : 
 ' These are, ah no ! these were the gazetteers.' 
 Not so bold Arnall ; with a weight of skull, 
 Furious he dives, precipitately dull. 
 Whirlpools and storms his circling arms invest, 
 With all the might of gravitation blest. 
 No crab more active in the dirty dance, 
 Downward to climb, and backward to advance ; 
 He brings up half the bottom on his head, 
 And loudly claims the journals and the lead. 
 
 Though Pope's goddess of literary garbage awarded 
 the ' pig of lead ' to Arnall, she, or her laureate, came 
 to no decision as to 
 
 Who best can dash through thick and thin, 
 
 And who the most in love of dirt excel, 
 
 Or dark dexterity of groping well, 
 
 Who flings most filth and wide pollutes around 
 
 The stream. 
 
 And, under a different metaphor, when his hero was 
 asking himself 
 
 Shall I, like Curtius, desperate in my zeal, 
 O'er head and ears plunge for the commonweal ? 
 Or rob Rome's ancient geese of all their glories, 
 And cackling save the monarchy of Tories ? 
 
 Pope ranked at least one Tory editor with one Whig 
 editor 
 
 'Tis the same rope at different ends they twist ; 
 To dulness Ridpath is as dear as Mist. 1 
 
 Mist got into trouble again in 1728, although press 
 punishments were fewer in George II. 's days than in 
 
 1 TJie Dunciad, bk. ii. 11. 305-322, 276-280, 209-212, 207, 208.
 
 122 IN WALPOLE'S DAYS 
 
 CH. 
 
 George I.'s. For publishing in the number of his 
 ' Weekly Journal' for August 24 an especially offensive 
 letter from the Duke of Wharton, now sheltering him- 
 self in France, Mist was proceeded against by the 
 government, and he thought it prudent to seek a 
 hiding, like his aristocratic friend, across the channel. 
 
 O ' 
 
 Two members of his staff, however, were caught and 
 put in the pillory on June 19, 1729, and some months 
 before that date ' Mist's Journal ' had been discontinued 
 after a famous and chequered life of nearly twelve years. 
 ' Mr. Mist's friends,' we are told, 'consulting together, 
 thought it expedient to change the title,' and in October 
 1728 appeared the first number of ' Fog's Weekly 
 Journal,' under the same management, but generally 
 ' writ with more caution.' l The caution was not always 
 observed. In March 1732 the printer and publisher of 
 ' Fog's ' were imprisoned for ' defaming the memory of 
 King William.' 2 
 
 Some of the old papers that survived were in a 
 moribund condition. Of ' Applebee's,' no longer made 
 brilliant by Defoe, it was regretfully remarked in 1733, 
 that ' a pack of modern wits and upstarts have almost 
 kicked him out of doors, so that the memoirs of dying 
 criminals are become the most peculiar entertainment 
 of his paper ; ' while ' Read's,' it was complained, was 
 ' taken up with relating piecemeal Voltaire's " Life of the 
 King of Sweden,"' tales about the Inquisition, and so 
 forth which led to the mocking suggestion that ' it 
 might not be amiss to print the Bible this way, that so 
 people who are frightened at a large volume might be 
 drawn in to read the Scriptures.' 3 
 
 1 Gentleman's Magazine, vol. iii. p. 01 ; Andrews, vol. i. p. 132. 
 Defoe's last known contribution to journalism appeared in Fog's for 
 January 11, 1729. 
 
 2 Andrews, vol. i. p. 132. 
 
 3 Gentleman'' s Magazine, vol. iii. p. 91. This, as will be seen in
 
 1724-1741. THE DEGRADATION OF JOURNALISM. 123 
 
 With all the money at his disposal Walpole did not 
 find it easy to keep the Whig papers up to the mark. 
 Even Trenchard's ' London Journal,' after he and 
 Gordon had left it, was so far independent, or, as we 
 are told, ' gave the government so much uneasiness, 
 about 1726, about the South Sea scheme, that they 
 thought fit to buy it into their own hands,' and the 
 writer known as Osborn was set to edit it. 1 There came, 
 indeed, to be one editorial supervision of all Walpole' s 
 bought or hired papers, and from the office of ' The Daily 
 Gazetteer ' orders were given for the systematic advocacy 
 of ministerial policy by its several organs ' the author 
 of " The Free Briton " on Thursdays, the author of " The 
 London Journal" on Saturdays, as usual ; the gentle- 
 men of "The Daily Courant" will choose for themselves 
 such days as may be convenient to them ' ; 2 and so on. 
 ' Into this, as a common sink,' wrote Bishop Warburton, 
 ' w r as received all the trash which had before been dis- 
 persed in several journals and circulated at the public 
 expense of the nation. 3 The authors were the same 
 obscene men, though sometimes relieved by occasional 
 essays from statesmen, courtiers, bishops, deans, and 
 doctors. The meaner sort were rewarded with money, 
 others with places or benefices, from 100/. to 1,000/. a 
 year.' 4 When, on Walpole's downfall, a secret committee 
 was appointed by parliament to inquire into his con- 
 duct, it reported that in the ten years between February 
 
 another chapter, was actually done at a later date by at least one country 
 newspaper. 
 
 1 Gentleman's Magazine, vol. iii. p. 91. 
 
 2 Andrews, vol. i. p. 138. 
 
 3 It was the custom, when Dr. Bland was editing The Gazetteer, to 
 allow it to be sent about post free. Hence Pope's couplet in The Dun- 
 dad : 
 
 Ye shall not beg, like gratis-given Bland, 
 Sent with a pass and vagrant through the land. 
 
 4 Notes to The Dunciad.
 
 124 IN WALPOLKS DAYS CH. IT. 
 
 1731 and February 1741 he had distributed to the 
 authors and printers of newspapers at least 50,077/. 185. 
 of the public money. 1 Pulteney, speaking in the House 
 of Commons in 1740, openly described the writers in 
 the Whig journals as ' a herd of wretches, whom neither 
 information can enlighten nor affluence elevate.' ' If 
 their patrons,' he said, ' would read their writings, their 
 salaries would quickly be withdrawn ; for a few pages 
 would convince them that they can neither attack nor 
 defend, neither raise any man's reputation by their 
 panegyric, nor destroy it by their defamation.' Walpole 
 declared, perhaps with truth, that he did not take the 
 trouble to examine what he so lavishly paid for. ' I do 
 not often read the papers of either party, except when 
 J am informed by some who have more inclination to 
 such studies than myself that they have risen by some 
 accident above their common level/ And he added, 
 scornfully, ' I have never discovered any reason to exalt 
 the authors who write against the administration to a 
 higher degree of reputation than their opponents.' 2 
 
 Stray efforts were made to improve the newspapers, 
 even the most corrupt of which, in the natural pro- 
 cess of growth and to meet the increasing demand for 
 information, advanced in size and gave more actual 
 news, true or false, than had been supplied by their 
 forerunners. Of the fresh papers started from time to 
 time most were merely ministerial organs, but a few 
 aimed at independence, like ' The London Crier,' which 
 was started in 1733 as a daily paper, ' in opposition to 
 the booksellers, who, having all the newspapers in their 
 hands except " The Craftsman," shut out of the said 
 papers the advertising of everything that does not go 
 through their hands, and endeavour to suppress by 
 
 1 Andrews, vol. i. p. 138. 
 
 '* Parliamentary History, vol. xi. p. 882.
 
 1733-1742. SOME NEW PAPERS 125 
 
 all the ways in their power whatever they have not 
 a concern in.' l An earlier and less ambitious but more 
 successful venture was ' The Grub Street Journal,' a 
 Thursday miscellany of literary and general news, with 
 witty verses and bright essays interspersed, which was 
 started in 1730 by a non-juring clergyman named 
 Kussel, and which had Pope for one of its early con- 
 tributors. It was altered to l The Literary Courier of 
 Grub Street ' in 1737, and lived long under that title. 
 ' The Champion, or The Evening Advertiser,' com- 
 menced in 1739, is interesting because its first editor 
 was Captain ' Hercules Vinegar, of Pall Mall,' whose 
 real name was Henry Fielding. But this leads us into 
 a later period, as also does ' The Generous London 
 Morning Advertiser,' a strange daily collection of 
 fiction not too chaste, of more or less scandalous news 
 items and of advertisements, 'given gratis to all who 
 are or will become subscribers to the numbers of the 
 Family Bible and other books published by William 
 Raynor,' which was started in 1739, and in 1742, 
 ceasing to be ' generous,' was charged for and known 
 as ' Raynor's Morning Advertiser. 7 
 
 ' The Gentleman's Magazine,' commenced in January 
 1731 as a monthly miscellany, was not a newspaper, 
 but it holds important place in the history of news- 
 papers, as to it, in large measure, we owe the estab- 
 lishment of one of the principal functions of modern 
 journalism. 2 Edward Cave, its enterprising projector, 
 
 1 Gentleman's Magazine, vol. iii. p. 91. 
 
 2 The first number, of forty-two pages in double column, contains 
 nineteen pages of extracts from the weekly and other papers of the pre- 
 vious month, a digest of home and foreign news, and some original poems 
 and other miscellaneous matter. This arrangement was continued for 
 some time, but gradually original matter squeezed out the reprints. 
 ' Newspapers are of late so multiplied,' it was said in the prospectus, ' as 
 to render it impossible, unless a man makes it his business, to consult
 
 126 IN WALPOLE'S DAYS CH. iv. 
 
 had been connected for some years with ' Mist's 
 Journal,' and after that had established an agency for 
 supplying the London papers with country news at 
 a charge of a guinea a week. He had also written 
 news-letters for the country papers, in which he fur- 
 nished some account of the proceedings in Parliament. 
 For this latter, being a breach of privilege, he was 
 taken into custody and reprimanded, if not otherwise 
 punished, in March 1727. His continuance and ex- 
 pansion of the offence in ' The Gentleman's ' helped 
 materially to secure an important reform. 
 
 Infringement of the prerogative of parliament to 
 conduct its business secretly, and to have no other 
 report of that business published than it authorised or 
 its printed minutes and acts supplied, was an old 
 offence, for which many culprits were severely dealt 
 with before the time of the Commonwealth, and even 
 before any newspapers were started. The Long Parlia- 
 ment, as we have seen, was more gracious and reason- 
 able, but with the Restoration the old order was 
 revived, and all who circulated in writing or in print 
 the least information about the speaking or voting in 
 either house were at the mercy of any who cared to 
 bring them to book. To check the growth of what 
 it regarded as a serious scandal, the House of Com- 
 mons, on January 23, 1722, resolved ' that no news- 
 writers do presume, in their letters or other papers that 
 they disperse as minutes, or under any other denomi- 
 nation, to intermeddle with the debates or any other 
 proceedings of the house ; also, that no printer or 
 publisher of any printed newspaper do presume to 
 
 them all. Upon calculating the number of newspapers it is found that 
 (besides divers written accounts) no less than two hundred half-sheets per 
 month are thrown upon the press only in London, and about as many 
 printed elsewhere in the three kingdoms ; so that they are become the 
 chief channels of amusement and intelligence.'
 
 1722-1738. EARLY PARLIAMENTARY REPORTING 127 
 
 insert in any such papers any debates or any other 
 proceedings of this House or any committee thereof ; l 
 and like announcements were made in 1729 and at 
 other times. 
 
 The rule was, of course, systematically broken, and 
 a large part of so much as we know of parliamentary 
 history, apart from actual legislation, down to the close 
 of the eighteenth century, is derived from the illicit 
 or grudgingly tolerated reports that were written down 
 by members and others at their peril. In Queen 
 Anne's reign Abel Boyer was suffered to issue in a 
 monthly pamphlet, styled ' The Political State of Great 
 Britain,' a meagre and cautiously worded sketch of the 
 debates in parliament, and this publication was con- 
 tinued till 1735, after which it was replaced by an 
 annual ' Historical Register,' containing a similar epi- 
 tome. In 1736 Cave began to procure and to print in 
 ' The Gentleman's Magazine ' much fuller parliamentary 
 reports than had hitherto, except on special and rare 
 occasions, been published. His bold venture was soon 
 imitated in ' The London Magazine,' which had been 
 started in rivalry to ' The Gentleman's '; and the com- 
 petition that ensued was helpful to the public. 
 
 These reports were at first compiled for ' The Gentle- 
 man's ' by William Guthrie, destined to become a 
 typical newspaper hack, and for ' The London ' by 
 Thomas Gordon, Trenchard's old colleague on ' The 
 London Journal.' 2 They were brief but apparently 
 accurate epitomes of the principal speeches, communi- 
 cated either by the speakers themselves or by other 
 members who had heard them. Soon, however, they 
 gave offence, all the greater because of their popularity. 
 In April 1738 Arthur Onslow, the Speaker of the 
 
 1 Journals of the House of Commons, vol. xx. p. 98. 
 ~ Parliamentary History, vol. ix. preface.
 
 128 IN WALPOLE'S DAYS CH. iv. 
 
 House of Commons, called its attention to the practice 
 as one that ' a little reflected on the dignity of the 
 House/ which he invited to adopt ' some method of 
 stopping it.' Walpole. Pulteney, and others discussed 
 the matter in varying tones, but all agreed that this 
 was an abuse that ought to be prevented. ' If we 
 do not put a speedy stop to this practice,' said Sir 
 Thomas Wilmington, ' it will be looked upon without 
 doors that we have no power to do it, for the public 
 will very justly think that if we had such a power we 
 would exercise it ; and then, sir, what will be the con- 
 sequence ? Why, sir, you will have every word that 
 is spoken here by gentlemen misrepresented by fellows 
 who thrust themselves into our gallery. You will have 
 the speeches of this house printed every day. and we 
 shall be looked upon as the most contemptible as- 
 sembly on the face of the earth.' That was the general 
 opinion, and it was resolved, without a division, that 
 it was ' a high indignity to, and a notorious breach of 
 the privilege of, this house,' for any account of its 
 proceedings to be printed by ' any newspaper of any 
 denomination ' ; and an emphatic warning was given 
 that ' this house will proceed with the utmost severity 
 against such offenders.' l 
 
 Cave, however, refused to be silenced. Hitherto he 
 had published his reports of speeches with only the first 
 and last letters of the speakers' names for instance, 
 
 W e standing for Walpole. In the number of ' The 
 
 Gentleman's Magazine ' for June 1738 he began ' An 
 Appendix to Captain Lemuel Gulliver's account of the 
 famous empire of Lilliput,' which purported to give 
 ' debates in the senate of Great Lilliput,' and in which the 
 parliamentary speeches were reported under easily un- 
 derstood disguises, such as Walelup for Walpole ; and 
 
 1 Parliamentary History, vol. x. pp. 800-811.
 
 1738-1743. DR. JOHNSON'S PARLIAMENTARY REPORTS 129 
 
 the House of Commons, probably through fear of pro- 
 voking further ridicule by further meddling, did not 
 interfere with him. His Lilliput debates, rivalled 
 by similar arrangements in ' The London ' and other 
 publications, were continued till 1752, when the old 
 plan of printing the initial and final letters of the 
 speakers' names was resumed without opposition. 
 
 Between November 1740 and February 1743 Cave 
 employed Samuel Johnson as editor or author of this 
 portion of ' The Gentleman's.' i The debates in parlia- 
 ment,' says Bos well, ' which were brought home and 
 digested by Guthrie, whose memory, though surpassed 
 by others who have since followed him in this depart- 
 ment, was yet very quick and tenacious, were sent by 
 Cave to Johnson for his revision ; and after some time, 
 when Guthrie had attained to greater variety of employ- 
 ment and the speeches were more and more enriched by 
 the accession of Johnson's genius, it was resolved that 
 he should do the whole himself from the scanty notes 
 furnished by persons employed to attend in both houses 
 of parliament. Sometimes, however, as he himself told 
 me, he had nothing more communicated to him than 
 the names of the several speakers and the parts which 
 they had taken in the debate.' l 
 
 In later days Johnson was inclined to take credit or 
 to reproach himself for more invention in his reports 
 than as appears by comparing them with other epi- 
 tomes 2 they contained. When he was dining with 
 Foote and other friends one day, conversation turned on 
 a speech of Pitt's. ' Many of the company remembered 
 the debate,' we are told, ' and many passages were cited 
 from the speech, with the approbation and applause of 
 all present. During the ardour of the conversation 
 
 1 Boswell, Life of Johnson, chap. iii. 
 ~ See preface to Parliamentary History, vol. xii. 
 VOL. I. K
 
 130 IN WALPOLE'S DAYS en. iv. 
 
 Johnson remained silent. When the warmth of praise 
 subsided, he opened his mouth with these words : " That 
 speech I wrote in a garret in Exeter Street." The com- 
 pany was struck with astonishment. After staring- at 
 each other for some time in silent amaze, Dr. Francis 
 asked how that speech could be written by him. "Sir." 
 said Johnson, " I wrote it in Exeter Street. I never 
 was in the gallery of the House of Commons but once. 
 Cave had interest with the doorkeeper. He and the 
 persons under him got admittance. They brought 
 away the subject of discussion, the names of the 
 speakers, the side they took, and the order in which 
 they rose, together with notes of the various arguments 
 adduced in the course of the debate. The whole was 
 afterwards communicated to me, and I composed the 
 speeches in the form they now have in ' Parliamentary 
 Debates,' for the speeches of that period are all printed 
 from Cave's Magazine." To this discovery Dr. Francis 
 made answer, " Then, sir, you have exceeded Demos- 
 thenes himself ! " The rest of the company were lavish 
 in their compliments to Johnson. One in particular 
 praised his impartiality, observing that he had dealt 
 out reason and eloquence with an equal hand to both 
 parties. " That is not quite true, sir," said Johnson ; 
 ' ; I saved appearances well enough, but I took good care 
 that the Whig dogs should not have the best of it." ' l 
 
 1 Sir John Hawkins, Life of Johnson.
 
 131 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 WALPOLE'S LEGACIES. 
 17421760. 
 
 WALPOLE'S aims were better than his methods. Coming 
 to power when a firm hand and a shrewd head were 
 needed to save England from the ruin with which it 
 had been threatened in the blundering years of Whig 
 and Tory rivalry and treachery before and after the 
 passing of the crown from Queen Anne to George I., to 
 establish something like order at home, and, by avoid- 
 ance of foreign quarrels, to help the nation to hold its 
 own abroad, he did his work and used his opportunities, 
 not too honestly, but with consummate skill. We 
 who have profited so much by his achievements must 
 make allowances for the faults that were incident to 
 them. His Whiggism was worthier than that of many 
 of the Whigs around him, whom he overawed and 
 bribed and forced to conform to his policy ; and it was 
 yet worthier than that of the Tories, whom he crippled 
 and coerced, and who, more shameless in their trickery, 
 were wholly unpatriotic alike in their objects and in 
 their plans for reaching them. Even journalism gained 
 as well as lost by his treatment of it, and if the vices 
 he encouraged were continued under the ministers who 
 succeeded him Carteret for a year, Pelham for eleven 
 years, Newcastle for three, and after that the older 
 Pitt it largely owed to him much of the virtue it was 
 acquiring. 
 
 K2
 
 132 WALPOLE'S LEGACIES OH. v. 
 
 The most notable figure in newspaper history during 
 the second half of George II. 's reign was that of "Henry 
 Fielding, who, ho\yever, being a novelist and a play- 
 wright far more than he was a journalist, had much 
 less actual connection with newspapers than some hun- 
 dreds of his contemporaries. Fielding, who settled in 
 London in 1727 when he was twenty, and, as he told 
 his cousin Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, 'had no 
 choice but to be a hackney writer or a hackney coach- 
 man,' and who, as Lady Mary said, ' would have ap- 
 proached much nearer to Congreve's excellences, if not 
 forced by his necessities to publish without correction, 
 and throw many productions into the world he would 
 have thrown into the fire if meat could have been got 
 
 o 
 
 without money or money without scribbling,' l had 
 scribbled much before November 1739, when he started 
 ' The Champion/ of course with some one else's money, 
 and with one James Ralph for his colleague. ' The 
 Champion,' published on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and 
 Saturdays, and giving in each number an ' index to the 
 times ' in the shape of briskly written items of news, as 
 
 / 
 
 well as lively articles purporting to be by ' Captain 
 Hercules Vinegar, of Pall Mall,' supported Walpole in 
 his opposition to the movement for involving England 
 in the Spanish war then, raging. But, though ' The 
 Champion ' continued for some time longer, Fielding's 
 employment on it see IDS to have lasted only about half 
 a year, and we next meet with him as a newspaper 
 writer in ' The True Patriot and the History of our 
 Own Times,' which was started on November 5, 1745. 
 
 Much had happened in the interval. Walpole, 
 forced by popular opinion to consent to join in the war, 
 when he exclaimed, ' They may ring their bells now, 
 but they will soon be wringing their hands,' gradually 
 
 1 Lady M. W. Montagu, Letters and Works, vol. iii. pp. 93, 94.
 
 1739-1745. FIELDING AS A JOURNALIST 133 
 
 lost his influence, and had to retire from office in Feb- 
 ruary 1742, accepting sham dignity as Earl of Orford, 
 which he bore uneasily during three years before his 
 death ; and Carteret was actual premier under the nomi- 
 nal headship of the venerable Spencer Compton, Lord 
 Wilmington, until the latter's death in July 1743, when 
 the Pelham administration began. Henry Pelham, a 
 staunch adherent of the Walpole policy, was nominee 
 of the dying but still powerful Earl of Orford, and till 
 1754 he undertook to act, under other conditions, on 
 his friend's instructions. His chief rival was the first 
 William Pitt, the report of whose memorable speech on 
 behalf of the Prince of Wales in 1736 Dr. Johnson 
 claimed to have himself concocted, and a man now too 
 eager for advancement to be very careful as to the 
 means by which he rose. Pitt's politics were shifty, 
 but his sympathies were at this time altogether with the 
 Tories ; and it is to his credit that he did much to con- 
 vert Toryism from Jacobitism, and to reconcile it to 
 the new circumstances which had arisen under Wai- 
 pole's guidance. The younger school of Tories called 
 themselves Patriots, and more or less emphatically and 
 consistently repudiated the Jacobites, who were pre- 
 paring for the last spurt of rebellion which occurred in 
 1745. It was this new Toryism or sham Patriotism 
 that Fielding now undertook to expose, along with 
 much else, in ' The True Patriot.' 
 
 The introductory article of this paper says some 
 hard things about the journalism of that day. ' In 
 strict obedience to the sovereign power fashion,' wrote 
 Fielding, ' being informed by my bookseller, a man of 
 great sagacity in his business, that nobody at present 
 reads anything but newspapers, I have resolved to con- 
 form myself to the reigning taste. The number, indeed, 
 -of these writers at first a little staggered us both ; but
 
 134 WALPOLE'S LEGACIES CH. v, 
 
 upon perusal of their works I fancied a little imperfec- 
 tion in them all, which somewhat diminished the force 
 of this objection.' Fielding found, in fact, three ' little 
 imperfections ' the first, that ' there is scarce a syllable 
 of truth in them ' ; the second, that ' there is no sense 
 in them ' ; and the third, that ' there is in. reality 
 nothing at all in them.' ' Paragraphs which contain 
 neither wit nor humour nor sense nor the least import- 
 ance,' he urged, ' may be properly said to contain 
 
 nothing. Such are the arrival of my Lord with 
 
 a great equipage ; the marriage of Miss , of great 
 
 beauty and merit ; and the death of Mr. , who 
 
 was never heard of in his life, &c. Xor will this 
 appear strange if we consider who are the authors of 
 such tracts viz. the journeymen of booksellers, of 
 whom, I believe, much the same may be truly predi- 
 cated as of these their productions. But the encourage- 
 ment with which these lucubrations are read may seem 
 more strange and more difficult to be accounted for ; 
 and here I cannot agree with my bookseller, that their 
 eminent badness recommends them. The true reason 
 is. I believe, simply the same which I once heard an 
 economist assign for the content and satisfaction with 
 which his family drank water-cider viz. because they 
 could procure no better liquor. Indeed, I make no 
 doubt but that the understanding as well as the palate, 
 though it may out of necessity swallow the worse, will 
 in general prefer the better.' 
 
 In proposing to offer something better Fielding pre- 
 tended to be more independent than he was. ' I do 
 not live within a mile of Grub Street,' he said, ' nor am 
 I acquainted with a single inhabitant of that place. I 
 am of no party a word which I hope, by these my 
 labours, to eradicate out of our constitution, this being, 
 indeed, the true source of all those evils which we have
 
 1745-1748. FIELDING'S 'TRUE PATRIOT' 135 
 
 reason to complain of.' The highest price hitherto 
 charged for any newspaper had been twopence. For 
 ' The True Patriot ' giving four large pages with three 
 columns in each, a leader or essay generally filling one 
 page, and being followed by a compact and classified 
 epitome of news, and two or three columns of lively or 
 satirical ' we hears ' a charge of threepence was made. 
 ' I desire my reader,' Fielding said, ' to weigh fairly 
 with himself, whether he does not gain six times the 
 knowledge and amusement by my paper compared to 
 any other. I leave to his determination whether three- 
 pennyworth of truth and sense is not more worth his 
 purchasing than all the rubbish and nonsense of the 
 week which will cost him twenty times as much.' 
 
 ' The True Patriot ' was not so wonderful a paper 
 as it promised to be ; but it helped to bring the Pre- 
 tender's cause into contempt, and, when this was con- 
 sidered to be no longer necessary, it was discontinued 
 in April 1746. It was followed, however, by ' The 
 Jacobite Journal,' ' by John Trott-plaid, Esq.,' which 
 appeared every Saturday, from December 5, 1747, till 
 November 5, 1748, when Fielding thought that he and 
 his associates for he does not seem to have written 
 much in it himself had thrown off fireworks enough 
 to signalise the defeat of the party they mocked. 
 
 The Jacobite Journal ' was an elaborate joke which 
 greatly amused the town, while it lasted. It purported 
 to be written in the Jacobite interest, and to set forth 
 the folly and madness of this party in the boldest way. 
 ' We scorn,' Mr. Trott-plaid was made to say, ' to regu- 
 late our conduct by the low documents of art and 
 science, like the Whigs. We are governed by those 
 higher and nobler truths which nature dictates alike to 
 all men and to all ages ; for which reason very low 
 clowns and young children are as good and hearty
 
 136 WALPOLE'S LEGACIES CH. v. 
 
 Jacobites as the wisest among us ; for it may be said 
 of our party as it is of poets, " Jacobita nascitur, non 
 fit." Tn his fifteenth number Fielding gave what pro- 
 fessed to be a prose translation from a lately-discovered 
 Latin poem ' De Arte Jacobita,' commencing thus : 
 ' Come, Tisiphone, from hell ! Bring with thee ill- 
 judging zeal and obstinate bigotry, and inspire me 
 with all thy furies, while I teach the black art of 
 Jacobitism ! ' 
 
 Fielding ridiculed much besides Jacobitism among 1 
 
 o S3 
 
 the rest the way in which, by use of asterisks and 
 dashes and italics and so forth, journalists at that time 
 were fond of writing or of emphasising their foolish 
 statements. ' In this dress,' he said, ' I intend to abuse 
 the * * * and the * * * ; I intend to lash not only 
 the m stry, but every man who hath any p ce or 
 p ns on from the g vernm t, or who is entrusted 
 with any degree of power or trust under it, let his r-nk 
 be ever so high or his ch-r-cter never so good. For this 
 purpose I have provided myself with a vast quantity of 
 It dian letter and asterisks of all sorts. And as for all 
 the words which I embowel, or rather envoicd, I will 
 never so mangle them but that they shall be as well 
 known as if they retained every vowel in them. This 
 I promise myself, that when I have any meaning they 
 shall understand it.' 
 
 If the public laughed at Fielding's humour, those 
 against whom it was directed resented it. ' Old Eno> 
 
 o o 
 
 land, or the Broad Bottom Journal,' which had been 
 started by William Guthrie in April 1745 and had 
 Lord Chesterfield for one of its contributors, described 
 the author of ' Joseph Andrews ' in its number for 
 March 3, 1748, as ' a needy vagrant who long hunted 
 after fortunes, scored deep at taverns, abused his bene- 
 factors in the administration of public affairs, hackneyed
 
 1748. 'THE JACOBITE JOURNAL' AND 'OLD ENGLAND' 137 
 
 for booksellers and newspapers, lampooned the virtuous, 
 ridiculed all the inferior clergy in the dry unnatural 
 character of Parson Adams, related the adventures ot 
 footmen and wrote the lives of thief- catchers, bilked 
 every lodging for ten years together and every alehouse 
 and every chandler's shop in every neighbourhood, and 
 defrauded and reviled all his acquaintances, meeting and 
 possessing universal infamy and contempt.' And when 
 ' The Jacobite Journal ' was discontinued, ' Old England ' 
 of November 20 proposed an epitaph for its imaginary 
 conductor 
 
 Beneath this stone 
 
 Lies Trott-plaid John ; 
 His length of chin and nose, 
 
 His crazy brain, 
 
 Unhumorous vein 
 In verse and eke in prose. 
 
 Guthrie, who edited ' Old England,' and who had 
 formerly been provider of the notes that Johnson worked 
 up in the parliamentary reports of ' The Gentleman's 
 Magazine,' was one of the most zealous scribes in the 
 employ of the Broad Bottom Government, as it was 
 called, of which Pelham was the head, and the dis- 
 cordant members of which followed Walpole's example 
 in some respects and departed from it more and more 
 in others. ' In the year 1745-6,' Guthrie wrote to a 
 member of Lord Bute's administration as soon as it was 
 formed, in June 1762, ' Mr. Pelham, then first lord of 
 the treasury, acquainted me that it was his majesty's 
 pleasure I should receive, till better provided for, which 
 never has happened, 200Z. a year to be paid by him and 
 his successors in the treasury. I was satisfied with 
 the august name made use of, and the appointment has 
 been regularly and quarterly paid me ever since. I 
 have been equally punctual in doing the government 
 all the services that fell within my abilities or sphere of
 
 138 WALPOLE'S LEGACIES CH. v. 
 
 life, especially in those critical situations that call for 
 unanimity in the service of the crown. Your lordship 
 may possibly now suspect that I am an author by pro- 
 fession. You are not deceived, and will be less so if 
 you believe that I am disposed to serve his majesty 
 under your lordship's future patronage and protection 
 with greater zeal, if possible, than ever.' l It was a bad 
 day for journalism when the term ' author by profession ' 
 was recognised as appropriate to one who sold what- 
 ever skill in writing he had to the men in office, and 
 when 200/. a year was acceptable pay to a prominent 
 tradesman in this line. Guthrie, however, doubtless 
 had other sources of income, and he wrote histories as 
 well as newspaper articles and pamphlets. 
 
 Guthrie was luckier than some others of his class. 
 Of Amhurst, who had begun ' The Craftsman ' in 1726 
 to carry on the Tory fight, it was said that ' after being 
 the drudge of his party for the best part of twenty years 
 together, he was as much forgotten in the famous com- 
 promise of 1742 as if he had never been born, and when 
 he died of what is called a broken heart, which hap- 
 pened within a very few months afterwards, became 
 indebted to the charity of his very bookseller for a 
 grave a grave not to be traced now because then no 
 otherwise distinguished than by the freshness of the 
 turf borrowed from the next common to cover it.' 2 
 
 That pathetic account of Amhurst was given by 
 James Ralph, Fielding's associate in ' The Champion ' 
 between 1739 and 1712, and afterwards for some years 
 a busy hanger-on of the Prince of AVales's faction, 
 which was then doing all it could to stir up mischief 
 between George II. and his ministers and to promote 
 confusion in the country. Ralph had been a poetaster 
 
 1 D'Israeli, Calamities of Authors. 
 
 2 James Ralph, The Cane of Authors.
 
 1742-1749. FIELDING'S CONTEMPORARIES 139 
 
 before he became a journalist, and had caused Pope to 
 exclaim 
 
 Silence, ye wolves, while Ralph to Cynthia howls, 
 And makes night hideous. Answer him, ye owls. 1 
 
 He was put to edit ' The Remembrancer ' as an organ 
 of the Prince of Wales in 1749, with money found by 
 Bubb Dodington and others. According to Dodington, 
 to whom he acted for some time as a sort of private 
 secretary, he was ' a very honest man,' but ' ready to 
 be hired to any cause ' ; and in the course of his career 
 as a scheming intermediary between rival plotters ' he 
 actually put himself to auction between the two con- 
 tending parties the Bedfords and Pelhams and, after 
 several biddings, was bought by the Pelhams.' 2 He 
 died, poor and disgraced, in 1762. 
 
 In days when nearly every journalist obtained, or 
 sought without obtaining, some post or pension as a 
 reward for political service, it would have been strange 
 if none had fallen to Fielding ; and though the office 
 bestowed upon him was a strange one, considering that 
 he had no technical knowledge of the law and was 
 himself somewhat of a vagabond, he acquitted himself 
 worthily in it. In 1749, through the influence of his 
 friend George Lyttelton, then a lord of the treasury, 
 he was made a justice of the peace for Middlesex and 
 Westminster. This work, and the writing of ' Tom 
 
 1 The Dunciad, bk. iii. 11. 105, 1G6. Warburton says in a note : 
 ' This low writer attended his own works with panegyrics in the journals, 
 and once in particular praised himself highly above Mr. Addison. He 
 was wholly illiterate and knew no language, not even French. Being 
 advised to read the rules of dramatic poetry before he began a play, he 
 smiled, and replied, " Shakespeare writ without rules." He ended at last 
 in the common sink of all such writers, a political newspaper, to which he 
 was recommended by his friend Arnall, and received a small pittance for 
 pay.' 
 
 Diary of Bubb Dodington, preface.
 
 WALPOLE'S LEGACIES OH. v. 
 
 Jones ' and ' Amelia/ gave him plenty of occupation 
 for the remaining five years of his life ; but he found 
 time to project and write much for ' The Covent Garden 
 Journal,' which appeared every Tuesday and Saturday 
 from January 4 till November 25, 1752, and which 
 soon had for a rival ' The Drury Lane Journal,' edited 
 by Bonnell Thornton. ' The Covent Garden,' ' by Sir 
 Alexander Drawcansir, knight, censor of Great Britain,' 
 dealt with political, literary, and general matters, as well 
 as theatrical, giving both news and comments, and was 
 a wise and witty example of this kind of journalism in 
 the best form then possible. In the seventy- second 
 number, however, Fielding said, ' I shall here lay down 
 a paper which I have neither inclination nor leisure to 
 carry on any longer ' ; and he invited his readers to 
 transfer their favour to ' The Public Advertiser,' which 
 was to be commenced on December 1 as a new and im- 
 proved series of ' The General Advertiser.' 
 
 The announcement concerning this reconstructed 
 journal is interesting. After eighteen years of progress, 
 say its proprietors, ' they have determined to enlarge 
 the plan of their paper, and for that purpose have 
 settled a real correspondence at Paris and at the Hague, 
 in order to receive a better and more authentic account 
 of foreign affairs than hath hitherto been transmitted, 
 and have also taken every method in their power to 
 procure the most early intelligence of all material trans- 
 actions in Great Britain and Ireland (fit to be made 
 public).' They take credit for having kept their 
 columns clear of matter not ' fit to be made public,' and 
 for never having ' indulged the liberty of aspersing the 
 characters of particular persons.' They further announce 
 that they ' will continue as usual the playbills of both 
 the theatres, which are in no other paper, and all other 
 advertisements with which the public may be pleased
 
 1752. ' THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER ' 141 
 
 to favour it.' l Moreover, ' Mr. Justice Fielding gives 
 notice that all advertisements and articles which con- 
 cern the public and which come from his clerk's office 
 shall for the future be inserted in this paper only.' 
 
 What was Fielding's connection with ' The Public 
 Advertiser ' and its predecessor is not clear ; but as this 
 was the paper afterwards made especially famous by the 
 letters of Junius, its antecedents are worth tracing. 
 ' The Daily Post,' which, as we have seen, Defoe had a 
 hand in starting in 1719, had continued to flourish, and 
 it outlived ' The Daily Courant,' its older rival. Henry 
 Woodfall, the head of a famous family of printers, be- 
 came its principal proprietor in 1726, and the shares 
 rose to such value that for one of them, ' one-third of a 
 tenth,' 28/. was paid in 1737 to Theophilus Gibber by 
 Henry Woodfall the younger. 2 Woodfall and his part- 
 ners altered the name to ' The London Daily Post and 
 General Advertiser,' which was again altered to ' The 
 General Advertiser' in 1744, and became ' The Public 
 Advertiser' at the close of 1752. ' The Daily Adver- 
 tiser,' started by Matthew Jenour in 1724, to which Sir 
 John Hill contributed between 1751 and 1753 a series 
 of articles styled ' The Inspector,' which caused some 
 excitement, was a separate paper ; and there were others, 
 most of them short-lived, of kindred names. One such 
 was ' The London Advertiser and Literary Gazette,' of 
 which the first number was published in March 1751, 
 which informed its readers that ' custom has established 
 it as the present plan of a paper of this kind that it 
 consists of three distinct parts an introductory disser- 
 
 1 ' Before this time,' says John Bee in his Life of Foote, ' the news- 
 papers or rather one of them only paid the theatres 2001. annually for 
 intelligence as to what was going on at the respective houses, whereas at 
 present nearly five times that sum, per estimate, is received by the papers 
 for theatrical advertisements from all the houses.' 
 
 2 Nichols, Literary Anecdotes, vol. i. p. 300.
 
 142 WALPOLE'S LEGACIES en. v. 
 
 tation, articles of intelligence, and advertisements : the 
 first is always intended to have some entertainment, the 
 second some truth, and the third some business.' 
 
 Other new papers appeared in abundance during 
 these years, but the low state of public morality and the 
 vicious influences exerted upon journalism kept most 
 honest men out of the field, or caused many of the 
 cleverest to prefer essay writing in the style of Steele 
 and Addison to political controversy. ' The Rambler/ 
 which Johnson started in March 1750, was one of a larce 
 
 ' o 
 
 group or series of essay-sheets, including ' The Adven- 
 turer,' which Hawkes worth, who had succeeded Johnson 
 as writer of the parliamentary reports in ' The Gentle- 
 man's Magazine,' began in April 1752 ; i The World,' 
 commenced in January 1753 by Edward Moore, who 
 obtained help from Lord Chesterfield, Horace Walpole, 
 and others ; ' The Connoisseur,' of 1754, with George 
 Colman and Bonn ell Thornton as ' Mr. Town Critic and 
 Censor General ' ; and ' The Dreamer,' edited by Dr. 
 William King. Such papers as these were in their 
 nature ephemeral, as also were the more political 
 weeklies occasioned by the quickening of party strife 
 after the death of Pelham in 1754. 
 
 The last six years of George II. 's reiim were critical. 
 
 j o o 
 
 TValpole's policy, both what was best and what was 
 worst in it, had been so far departed from even by 
 those who professed themselves his followers, that new 
 tactics became necessary, and a political revolution was 
 only deferred, in so far as it was deferred, while people 
 waited for the old king's death and his grandson's 
 accession. The ablest statesman, perhaps the only real 
 statesman, of that day was the elder Pitt, who felt free 
 to use his strength as soon as Pelham was out of the 
 way. and who was master of the situation even while 
 the Duke of Newcastle held office as premier. But the
 
 1752-1757. SOME GEORGIAN ESSAY-PAPERS 143 
 
 situation was troubled, and to the perplexed public 
 many journalists, both of the old school and of a new 
 one, offered themselves as guides. 
 
 In November 1756, for instance, appeared the first 
 number of ' The Test,' edited by Arthur Murphy, 1 which 
 undertook to maintain ' the true principles of Whiggism 
 as they were understood and felt at the glorious Revolu- 
 tion, as they were felt by Mr. Steele, Mr. Addison, the 
 late Duke of Argyle, and the noble band of patriots 
 who gloriously stepped forth in the latter end of Queen 
 Anne's reign when a faction had surrounded the throne, 
 and men of brilliant but dangerous parts had usurped 
 the administration.' ' The Test ' made Pitt the special 
 object of its attack ; and on November 23 it began to 
 be opposed by ' The Con-Test,' edited in the Tory in- 
 terest by Philip Francis, the translator of Horace and 
 Demosthenes. 2 ' This paper,' it was announced, ' will be 
 continued occasionally so long as the envy and prejudice 
 of mankind shall render a " Con-Test " necessary.' It 
 outlasted ' The Test,' which was discontinued in July 
 
 1 Murphy started The Gray's Inn Journal, in the style of The Covent 
 Garden Journal, in 1752. ' During the publication of The Gray's Inn 
 Journal, a periodical paper which was successfully carried on by Mr. 
 Murphy alone,' says Boswell (Life of Johnson, chap, xi.), 'he happened 
 to be in the country with Mr. Foote, and having mentioned that he was 
 obliged to go to London in order to get ready for the press one of the 
 numbers of that journal, Foote said to him, " You need not go on that 
 account. Here is a French magazine in which you will find a pretty 
 Oriental tale. Translate that and send it to your printer." Mr. Murphy 
 having read the tale, was highly pleased with it, and followed Mr. Foote's 
 advice. When he returned to town, this tale was pointed out to him in 
 The Bambler, from whence it had been translated into the French maga- 
 zine. Mr. Murphy then waited upon Johnson to explain this curious 
 incident. His talents, literature, and gentlemanlike manners were soon 
 perceived by Johnson, and a friendship was formed which was never 
 broken.' Murphy, who was not very successful as a playwright, was 
 rewarded for his political writing with a commissionership of bankruptcy. 
 He translated Tacitus and wrote a Life of Garrick. 
 
 2 Francis, whose Con-Test won him the chaplaincy of Chelsea Hospi- 
 tal, was the father of Sir Philip Francis.
 
 144 WALPOLE'S LEGACIES CH. v. 
 
 1757. Murphy, however, produced ' The Auditor,' again 
 in opposition to Pitt, in January 1762. A more impor- 
 tant paper, ' The Monitor,' begun in 1755, will be men- 
 tioned hereafter. 
 
 Papers of a different sort were ' The London 
 Chronicle,' appearing thrice a week, which was started 
 by Dodsley in 1756 ; and ' The Universal Chronicle or 
 Weekly Gazette,' which was started by Newberry in 
 April 1758. For the former Johnson wrote the pre- 
 liminary article, being paid a guinea for it, and two 
 or three others. To the latter he contributed the 
 series of essays afterwards re-issued as ' The Idler.' 
 These essays were inserted in ' The Universal Chronicle ' 
 on the plea that ' the occurrences of the week were 
 not sufficient to fill the columns,' but they at once 
 became its chief attraction, and Johnson had, in 
 January 1759, to prepare an advertisement warning the 
 publishers of other papers who had ' with so little 
 regard to justice or decency' reprinted them into their 
 own columns without permission or acknowledgment, 
 that ' the time of impunity was at an end.' ' Whoever/ 
 he said, ' shall, without our leave, lay the hand of 
 rapine upon our papers, is to expect that we shall 
 vindicate our due by the means which justice pre- 
 scribes and which are warranted by the immemorial 
 prescriptions of honourable trade. We shall lay hold 
 in our turn on their copies, degrade them from the 
 pomp of wide margin and diffuse typography, contract 
 them into a narrow space, and sell them at a humble 
 price ; yet not with a view of growing rich by confisca- 
 tions, for we think not much better of money got by 
 punishment than by crimes/ 1 
 
 1 Though Johnson was reasonably proud of his essays, he was also, 
 according to Boswell, proud of the speed with which he turned them off. 
 ' Mr. Langton remembers Johnson, when on a visit to Oxford, asking
 
 1758. DR. JOHNSON ON NEWSPAPERS 145 
 
 Though Johnson wrote for newspapers, he sneered 
 at them. ' One of the principal amusements of the 
 Idler,' he said, ' is to read the works of those minute 
 historians, the writers of news, who, though contemp- 
 tuously overlooked by composers of bulky volumes, are 
 yet necessary in a nation where much wealth produces 
 much leisure, and one part of the people has nothing to 
 do but to observe the lives and fortunes of the other. 
 To us, who are regaled every morning and evening 
 with intelligence, and are supplied from day to day 
 with materials for conversation, it is difficult to con- 
 ceive how man can subsist without a newspaper, or to 
 what entertainment companies can assemble in those 
 wide regions of the earth that have neither " Chronicles " 
 nor "Magazines," neither "Gazettes" nor " Advertisers/ J 
 neither " Journals " nor " Evening Posts." All foreigners 
 remark that the knowledge of the common people of 
 England is greater than that of any other vulgar. This 
 superiority we undoubtedly owe to the rivulets of 
 intelligence which are continually trickling among us, 
 which every one may catch, and of which every one 
 partakes.' And he added more severely : 'The compi- 
 lation of newspapers is often committed to narrow and 
 mercenary minds, not qualified for the task of delight- 
 ing or instructing, who are content to fill their paper 
 with whatever matter is at hand, without industry to 
 gather or discernment to select. Thus journals are 
 daily multiplied without increase of knowledge. The 
 tale of the morning paper is told in the evening, and 
 the narratives of the evening are brought out again in 
 
 him one evening how long it was till the post went out, and, on being 
 told about half an hour, he exclaimed, " Then we shall do very well ! " 
 He, upon this, instantly sat down and finished an Idler, which it was 
 necessary should be in London the next day. Mr. Langton having signified 
 a wish to read it, " Sir," said he, " you shall do no more than I have done 
 myself." He then folded it up and sent it off.' Life of Johnson, chap. x. 
 VOL. I. L
 
 146 WALPOLE'S LEGACIES ca. v. 
 
 the morning. These repetitions, indeed, waste time, 
 but they do not shorten it. The most eager peruser of 
 news is tired before he has completed his labour, and 
 many a man who enters the coffee- house in his night- 
 gown and slippers is called away to his shop or his 
 dinner before he has well considered the state of 
 Europe.' l ' In Sir Henry Wotton's jocular definition,' 
 Johnson wrote in angrier mood, ' an ambassador is said 
 to be a man of virtue sent abroad to tell lies for the 
 advantage of his country. A news -writer is a man 
 without virtue who writes lies at home for his own profit. 
 To these compositions is required neither genius nor 
 knowledge, neither industry nor sprightliness, but con- 
 tempt of shame and indifference to truth are absolutely 
 necessary.' 2 
 
 Samuel Foote, the great theatrical manager of that 
 day, and a prolific writer of comedies smart enough to 
 please the town, satirised the baser sort of pressmen 
 in many of his pieces. In one of them, for instance, 
 Margin, an editor, is congratulating himself on the 
 
 O ' ' O O 
 
 growth of his circulation from 1,230 copies in Septem- 
 ber to 2,006 in June 'good increase for the time, con- 
 sidering, too, that the winter has been pretty pacific ; 
 dabbled but little in treasons, and not remarkably scur- 
 rilous, unless, indeed, in a few personal cases ' when 
 his ' authors,' Pepper, Plaster, Rumour, O'Flam, 
 Forge'em, Fibber, and others, come in for instructions. 
 The first two are political writers by profession, but 
 Margin proposes other work to them for the present. 
 
 Margin. As both the Houses are up, I shall adjourn your political 
 warfare till their meeting again. 
 
 Pepper. Don't you think the public would bear one skirmish more 
 before we close the campaign ? I have a trimmer here in my hand. 
 
 Plaster. To which I have as tart a retort. 
 
 Margin. No, no ; enough for the present. It is, Plaster, the proper 
 
 1 The Idler, May 27, 1758. 2 Ibid., November 11, 1758.
 
 1773. SAMUEL FOOTE ON NEWS-WRITERS 147 
 
 timing the subject that gives success to our labours. The conductor of a 
 newspaper, like a good cook, should always serve things in their season. 
 Who eats oysters in June ? Plays and parliament houses are winter pro- 
 visions. 
 
 Pepper. Then half the satire and salt will be lost. Besides, if the great 
 man should happen to die or go out ? 
 
 Margin. Pshaw ! it will do as well for the great man that comes in. 
 Political papers should bear vamping, like sermons. Change but the 
 application and text, and they will suit all persons and seasons. 
 
 Plaster. True enough ; but, meantime, what can we turn to ? for we 
 shall be quite out of work. 
 
 Margin. I warrant you, if you are not idle, thei'e's business enough. 
 The press teems with fresh publications histories, translations, voyages 
 and what with letters from Paris or Spa, inundations, elopements, dismal 
 effects of thunder and lightning, remarkable causes at country assizes, and 
 with changing the ministry now and then, you will have employment 
 enough for the summer. 
 
 Plaster. And so enter upon our old trade in the winter. 
 
 Margin. Ay ; or, for variety, as it must be tiresome to take always 
 one side, you, Pepper, may go over to administration, and Plaster will 
 join opposition. The novelty may, perhaps, give fresh spirits to both. 
 
 Pepper. With all my heart. A bold writer has now no encouragement 
 to sharpen his pen. I have known the day when there was no difficulty 
 in getting a lodging in Newgate, but now, all I can say won't procure me 
 a warrant from a Westminster justice. 
 
 Margin. You say right ; hard times, Master Pepper, for persecution 
 is the very life and soul of our trade. But don't despair. Who knows 
 how soon matters may mend ? 
 
 Then Rumour and O'Flam, ' collectors of para- 
 graphs,' are called up. 
 
 Margin. Well, Rumour, what have you brought for the press ? 
 
 Rumour. I have been able to bring no positives. 
 
 Margin. How 1 no positives ? 
 
 Rumour. Not one. I have a probability from the Court end of the 
 town, and two good supposes out of the city. 
 
 Margin. Hand them here. [Reads]. ' It is probable that if the King 
 of Prussia should join the Tsarina, France would send a fleet into the 
 Mediterranean, which, by giving umbrage to the maritime powers, will 
 involve Spain by its family compact ; to which if Austria should refuse to 
 accede, there may be a powerful diversion in Poland, made conjointly by 
 Sweden and Denmark ; and, if Sardinia and Sicily abide by the treaties, 
 the German princes can never be neuter ; Italy will become the seat of 
 war, and all Europe be soon set in a flame.' Vastly well, Master Rumour, 
 finely confused and very alarming. [To clerk]. Dingey, give him a 
 shilling for this. I hope no other paper has got it ? 
 
 L 2
 
 148 WALPOLE'S LEGACIES CH. v. 
 
 Rumour. 0, fie, did you ever know me guilty of such a 
 
 Margin. True, true. Now let us see your supposes. [Beads.] ' It is; 
 supposed, if Alderman Mango should surrender his gown, he will be suc- 
 ceeded by Mr. Depiity Drylips ; and, if my Lord Mayor should continue 
 ill of the gout, it is supposed swan-hopping will cease for the season.' That 
 last suppose is fudged in. Why, would you cram these upon me for a couple ? 
 
 Rumour. As distinct as can be. 
 
 Margin. Fie, remember our bargain. You agreed to do the Court of 
 Aldermen always for sixpence. 
 
 Rumour. What, if a Common Hall should be called ? 
 
 Margin. O, then you are to have threepence a motion ; I know that 
 very well ; I am sure no gentleman can accuse me of being sneaking. 
 Dingey, give him sixpence for his supposes. Well, Phelim O'Flam, any 
 deaths in your district 1 
 
 O'Flam. The devil a one. 
 
 Margin. How, none 1 
 
 O'Flam. O, yes, a parcel of nobodies that died worth nothing at all ; 
 fellows that can't pay for a funeral. Upon my conscience, I can't think 
 what becomes of the folks. For my part, I believe all the people who 
 live in town fall down dead in the country ; and then, too, since Dr. 
 Despatch is gone to Bath, patients linger so long. 
 
 Margin. Indeed ! 
 
 O'Flam. To be sure they do. Why, I waited at the Jolly Topers a 
 matter of two days and a half for the last breath of Lady Di Dropsy, for 
 fear some other collector should catch it. Mr. Margin, I shall quit the 
 mortality walk, so provide yourself as soon as you can. 
 
 Margin. I hope not. 
 
 O'Flam. Why, what will I do 1 I am sure the deaths won't keep me 
 alive. You see I am already stripped to my shroud. Since November, 
 the suicide season, I have not got salt to my porridge. 1 
 
 That and Foote's other sketches of newspaper men 
 were, of course, grotesque exaggerations ; but there 
 was a measure of truth in them, and they show that in 
 the middle of the eighteenth century journalism had 
 made considerable progress towards some of the faults 
 and failings that unfair critics tell us are peculiar to 
 the nineteenth. 
 
 1 Foote, The Bankrupt, act iii. scene 2. This amusing play was not 
 produced till 1773, and some of the passages quoted above were evidently 
 prompted by the press prosecutions referred to in the next chapter. In 
 the main, however, it was doubtless quite as correct for George II. 's as 
 for George III.'s reign.
 
 149 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 WILKES AND JUNIUS. 
 17551772. 
 
 THOUGH English newspapers had been growing during 
 nearly a century and a half before the reign of 
 George III. began, their modern history only dates 
 from that reign, and their recent progress has been in 
 large measure due to the new contest, or the old contest 
 under new conditions, forced upon them as champions 
 of popular rights and exponents of public opinion in 
 opposition to the efforts of the crown and its advisers 
 to maintain an authority, and perpetuate institutions, 
 that were becoming intolerable to the nation. The 
 mysterious author of the letters of Junius was the 
 ablest and most memorable warrior in this journalistic 
 struggle, but the war, lasting long after he ceased to 
 write, was commenced before he took up the pen, and 
 before George III. occupied the throne. 
 
 When, with Henry Pelham's death in March 1754, 
 the ' Broad Bottom Administration,' of which he had 
 been the capable head, came to an end, George 11. 
 exclaimed, ' Now I shall have no more peace ' ; and to 
 others besides the old king the trouble was great. 
 Under Pelham's management of affairs the long feud 
 between Whigs and Tories had been brought to a 
 pause. Sir Robert Walpole's policy had been so firmly 
 established in principle and so much altered in practice,
 
 150 WILKES AND JUNIUS CH. TI. 
 
 that, while wide differences of opinion and yet wider 
 differences in tactics arose among those who called 
 themselves Whigs, there were not many left who chose 
 to call themselves Tories, and of these only a few held 
 to the traditions of Harley and St. John. Jacobitism 
 had been stamped out with the crushing of the rebellion 
 of 1745, and the new Toryism that was to be strong 
 under the guidance of the younger Pitt had not yet 
 shaped itself. The elder Pitt was Pelham's ablest sur- 
 vivor, and an abler man than Pelham ; but now he 
 claimed to be a Whig, and, if not particularly honest, and 
 less consistent than he was honest, he was too demo- 
 cratic and too patriotic to be liked by the Whigs who 
 held him in awe. These other Whigs were nearly all 
 of them contemptible place-seekers, full of a mercenary 
 greed that Pitt in no way shared with them. Forty 
 years' experience on the other hand had convinced the 
 Tories that, all attempts to effect a Stuart restoration, 
 being futile, their only chance of influencing public 
 affairs, and of forcing their way into office, was in 
 accepting the Hanoverian succession and much else 
 which their fathers had resented. They had been 
 avowed malcontents, underhand plotters, and open- 
 mouthed preachers of sedition, throughout Walpole's 
 time and Pelham's, and, George II. being now more 
 than seventy years old. they waited impatiently, and 
 witli not a little anxiety, to see what benefits they and 
 their cause might get from the impending change of 
 monarchs. For this change they had to wait more than 
 six years, during which the young Prince of Wales was 
 kept in such seclusion that few could tell what line he 
 would take, although much was hoped from the known 
 leanings of the prince's tutor or governor, the Marquis 
 of Bute, and the known influence of this disreputable 
 nobleman over the prince's lately widowed mother.
 
 1755. WORK FOR 'THE MONITOR' 151 
 
 That was the state of things while the Duke of 
 Newcastle and the elder Pitt, separately or jointly, 
 administered the nation's affairs after 1754 ; and it was 
 by way of putting a newspaper check on the schemers 
 at court that ' The Monitor ' was started in August 
 1755, and carried on a brave war during more than six 
 years, before and after George III.'s accession. From 
 the dedication of the first volume we learn that ' The 
 Monitor ' was originated that is, apparently, the 
 necessary money was found for it by Richard Beckford, 
 alderman of Farringdon Without, and member of parlia- 
 ment for Bristol, who seems to have been a younger 
 brother of the more celebrated Alderman William 
 Beckford, who was member for London in two parlia- 
 ments and thrice lord mayor before his death in 1770. 
 Richard Beckford died in 1756; 1 but his political 
 opinions were steadily maintained in ' The Monitor,' 
 which had for its editor John Eiitiiick, who wrote a 
 ' History of London,' and compiled a Latin Dictionary 
 with which some schoolboys are still familiar. 
 
 The task that ' The Monitor ' took upon itself was 
 ' to commend good men and good measures, and to 
 censure bad ones, without respect of persons, and to 
 awaken the spirit of liberty and loyalty for which the 
 British nation was anciently distinguished, but which 
 was in a manner lulled asleep by that golden opiate 
 which weak and wicked ministers for many years had 
 too successfully tendered to persons of all ranks as 
 a necessary engine of government, though, in truth, 
 nothing less than a libel upon their own measures, 
 which could not be justified upon principles of wisdom 
 and integrity.' In its pages there were to be ' no sar- 
 castical reflections upon majesty, no seeds of disaffection, 
 no imputations to persons without evident facts or 
 
 1 Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xxvi. p. 91.
 
 152 WILKES AND JUNTOS CH. vi. 
 
 probabilities to support them, no attempts to weaken 
 the hands of government, 110 wilful misrepresentation of 
 men and measures, or the least design to impose upon 
 the understanding of the people ' ; but ' a dutiful re- 
 gard shown to the prince upon the throne, without 
 foolish and fulsome flattery, a true zeal for a Protestant 
 succession and for a religious observance of the Act of 
 Settlement, a manly reprehension of ministers when 
 they do amiss, a modest panegyric upon them when 
 they act wisely ; which proves that the controversy is 
 not about men, but measures, and that party is entirely 
 out of the design.' 
 
 ' The Monitor ' was not a newspaper in the sense 
 of a paper supplying news. It was a six-paged folio, 
 furnishing each Saturday as forcible a political essay as 
 Entiiick could write or get written for him, somewhat 
 on the plan adopted long before by Steele and Addison, 
 and now followed by Johnson and others, but unlike 
 most of these, and following the example of Defoe, and 
 more recently of Fielding, when he was grave, in 
 sticking to politics, and keeping clear of social and 
 literary subjects. England, when it started, was about 
 to embark, under Pitt's guidance, in the Seven Years' 
 War, and was grievously hampered in its progress by 
 squabbles and jealousies of statesmen, courtiers, and 
 adventurers of every sort. ' We are on the brink of 
 two precipices,' it was boldly asserted in the first 
 number, ' chained by a most heavy debt and other great 
 and imminent dangers from within, and just on the 
 point of war with a great and powerful enemy, the 
 event of which may determine our being as a free and 
 independent nation. Nothing less than a vigorous ex- 
 ertion of our natural rights, and unanimous consensus, 
 with the divine assistance, in the defence of our liberties, 
 king, and country, can prevent us from sinking under
 
 1755-1762. 'THE MONITOR' AND ITS WARNINGS 153 
 
 the weight of such multiplied and growing evils.' ' Let 
 us endeavour,' it urged, ' to restore the integrity of 
 government, and root up corruption, the principal 
 -source from which all our domestic evils have sprung.' 
 
 In that temper ' The Monitor ' entered on its self- 
 appointed mission, and it persevered in it during the 
 remainder of the Duke of Newcastle's administration^ 
 through the years in which Pitt was premier, and for 
 some time after. Fearlessly discussing the week's 
 events, and illustrating its views by appeals to history 
 and the teachings of philosophers, it delighted and 
 instructed a large section of the London public, and 
 became a terror to ministers, and yet more to the dis- 
 honest schemers who were out of the ministry, and 
 who, while Pitt was in office, gathered more and more 
 round the Earl of Bute. 
 
 ' Lord Bute called on me, and we had much talk 
 about setting up a paper,' wrote the fussy and un- 
 scrupulous Bubb Dodington on December 20, 1760. 1 
 That was only seven weeks after George III. had 
 become king, three months before Bute had forced 
 himself into a secretaryship of state, and seventeen 
 months before he considered himself stroii^ enough to 
 
 o o 
 
 usurp the premiership. If, throughout this interval, 
 there was much or frequent ' talk about setting up 
 a paper ' in opposition to ' The Monitor,' there was 
 nothing but talk till after May 22, 1762, on which day, 
 rumour having anticipated Bute's coup d'etat of the 
 following week, ' The Monitor ' came out with an article 
 of special vehemence, not naming the usurper, but 
 clearly pointing at him, and tendering some plain advice 
 and warning to the young king. ' A wise prince,' it 
 said, ' ought to resolve never to give himself up totally 
 to those he advances to power. His prudence will call 
 
 1 Bubb Dodington's Diary, p. 219.
 
 154 WILKES AND JUNIUS CH. vi. 
 
 upon him to distrust the smallest beginnings, and 
 preserve him from the temptation of superficial qualities. 
 He will show a confirmed hatred to flattery, and won't 
 allow anything- but truth and justice to influence his 
 actions, and he will be persuaded in his own mind that, 
 if he does not preserve a love of truth, and show a 
 particular regard to those who are capable and honest 
 enough to tell it to him, he shall sooner or later be 
 delivered by divine justice into the hands of a favourite 
 that shall make the people mourn, and eclipse the glory 
 of the crown.' This and much more to the same effect 
 was stronger language than Bute and his friends could 
 meekly submit to. The} 7 - took counsel together, and on 
 May 29. just a week after the publication of this direct 
 attack upon them in ' The Monitor,' the first number of 
 ' The Briton ' was issued. 
 
 The editor chosen for ' The Briton ' was Tobias 
 Smollett an unwise choice, for Smollett, skilful 
 novelist though he was, was a very unskilful contro- 
 versialist, and had already, in ' The Critical Review,' 
 which he started in 1756, shown that he could neither 
 write smartly on matters of fact nor substitute fiction 
 for fact in such ways as to save himself from fine or 
 imprisonment for his slanders. He was a hard-working 
 Tory hack, however, and, as he was often reminded by 
 his enemies, even if he did not often remind his em- 
 ployers, a Scotchman with special claims on the Scotch- 
 men now in power. He was also proficient in the 
 vocabulary of vituperation. In his first number, an- 
 nouncing that the purpose of ' The Briton ' was to oppose 
 and expose and depose ' The Monitor,' he described it as 
 ' a paper so devoid of all merit in the execution that the 
 author, conscious of his own unimportance and incapa- 
 city, seems to have had recourse in despair to the only 
 expedient which he thought would give him any chance
 
 1762. SMOLLETT AND 'THE BRITON' 155 
 
 for engaging the public, to insinuation against the 
 throne and abuse of the ministry.' ' He has undertaken 
 the vilest work of the worst incendiary,' Smollett said ; 
 and much else of the same sort followed in the thirty- 
 seven other numbers of ' The Briton ' which were pub- 
 lished. Entinck retaliated with a scornful expression of 
 ' that contempt in which he holds a paper whose exist- 
 ence depends on forced interpretations, ingenious mis- 
 applications, and insidious provocations.' l The public 
 seems to have shared this contempt. We have it on 
 the authority of a contemporary that, of ' The Briton,' 
 ' the number printed was but 250, which was as little 
 as could be printed with respect to the saving of the 
 expense.' - The only importance of ' The Briton ' is in 
 the fact that it brought John Wilkes into the field. 
 
 Wilkes was now in his thirty-fifth year. Being of 
 a well-to-do dissenting family, and his father, we are 
 told, being ' so much attached to Revolution principles 
 that, in order to escape from the possible contagion of a 
 political stain, the son was not allowed to complete his 
 education at either of the English universities,' 3 he had 
 been strictly brought up, and married, when he was 
 twenty- two, to a rich and pious lady ten years his 
 senior, whose mother for some time kept house for the 
 ill-assorted couple. Wilkes, who was noted even as a 
 schoolboy as ' a sprightly and entertaining fellow,' 
 though of ' ugly countenance,' 4 found home life irksome 
 under such conditions, and soon became a conspicuous 
 member of the profligate gang of young Whigs and 
 Tories who ignored politics in their pursuit of pleasure 
 while Pitt and others of their elders were engrossed in 
 
 1 The Monitor, No. 360, June 12, 1762. 
 
 - Almon, Review of Lord Bute's Administration, p. 55. 
 
 3 Stephens, Memoirs of J. Home Tooke, vol. i. p. 89. 
 
 4 Autobiography of the Rev. Dr. Carlyle, p. 168.
 
 156 WILKES AND JUXIUS CH. vi. 
 
 the game of party. Sir Francis Dashwood and Lord 
 Sandwich were rivals for the leadership in this lewd 
 company, and Wilkes hung on to them till he quarrelled 
 with both, and gave mortal offence to Sandwich by a 
 practical joke that had the result, for a time, of con- 
 vincing the blaspheming earl that a baboon which 
 jumped out of a box and leapt on to his shoulders, in. 
 response to his invocation of the devil, was Satan him- 
 self. 1 
 
 Wilkes's private life was at no stage blameless from 
 a modern viewpoint, and when he became a politician 
 he cannot be credited with worthier motives than 
 prompted most of his neighbours. He attached himself 
 to Pitt, who helped him to a seat in the parliament 
 elected in 1757, in consideration of his paying the pre- 
 mier's election expenses at Bath as well as his own at 
 Aylesbury, and he looked for some more substantial 
 reward than the honour of being made high sheriff of 
 Buckinghamshire and colonel of the Bucks regiment 
 of militia. ' My ambition will ever be,' he wrote, ' to 
 have my parliamentary conduct approved by the ablest 
 minister, as well as the first character, of the age. I 
 live in the hope of doing my country some small ser- 
 vices at least, and I am sure the only certain way of 
 doing any is by a steady support of your measures.' 2 
 Wilkes had influence enough to get Dr. Johnson's black 
 servant excused from the sailor- slavery for which he 
 had been pressed this favour being asked in 1759 by 
 Smollett, to whom Johnson had applied, ' though he 
 iind I were never cater-cousins,' and who said in Ids 
 letter, ' You know what matter of animosity the said 
 Johnson has against you, and I dare say you desire no 
 other opportunity of resenting it than that of laying 
 
 1 Charles Johnstone, Chrysal, vol. iii. pp. 231-24'J. 
 ~ Chatham Correspondence, vol. i. p. 239.
 
 1757-1762. WILKES'S PRELIMINARIES 157 
 
 him under an obligation.' l But it was easier to do 
 such small services to his neighbours than to obtain 
 lucrative employment under the crown for himself ; and 
 Wilkes failed when he applied first for the ambassador- 
 ship at Constantinople, and afterwards for the governor- 
 ship of Quebec, which had just been wrested from the 
 French, and where ' his ambition,' he said, was ' to have 
 reconciled the new subjects to the English, and to have 
 shown the French the advantage of the mild rule of 
 laws over that of lawless power and despotism.' 2 Wilkes 
 attributed both failures to the Earl of Bute, now secre- 
 tary of state, and anxious to bestow all offices of trust 
 and profit on Tories and Scotchmen ; and, though 
 Wilkes's patriotism was as honest as that of most men, 
 it cannot be doubted that it owed much to personal 
 pique. Had accident so guided him to either course, 
 he might have continued a mere dissolute man of the 
 world like Sandwich and Dashwood, or he might have 
 developed into a ' constitutional ' politician in Pitt's 
 train. Instead of that he started ' The North Briton,' 
 and became a great demagogue. 
 
 ' Briton,' it should be noted, was the title that at 
 that time the Tories of the Bute school chose to apply 
 to themselves. ' Born and bred in this country, I glory 
 in the name of Briton,' they made George III. say, in 
 opening his first parliament, ' and the peculiar happi- 
 ness of my life will ever consist in promoting the wel- 
 fare of a people whose loyalty and warm affection I 
 consider as the greatest and most permanent security of 
 
 1 Boswell, Life of Johnson, ch. x. Johnson's animosity had been 
 partly caused by Wilkes's joke at his expense, with reference to the state- 
 ment in the Dictionary that ' H seldom, perhaps never, begins any but 
 the first syllable.' 'The author of this observation,' remarked Wilkes, 
 ' must be a man of quick appre-hension, and of a most compre-hensive 
 genius.' 
 
 ~ Rae, WilJces, Sheridan, Fox, p. 17.
 
 158 W1LKES AND JUN1US CH. vi. 
 
 ' my throne : ' and the House of Lords meekly answered, 
 ' We are penetrated with the condescending and endear- 
 ing manner in which your majesty has expressed your 
 satisfaction at having received your birth and education 
 among us. What a lustre does it cast on the name of 
 Briton, when you, sire, are pleased to esteem it among 
 your glories ! ' Wilkes, and many others with him, 
 thought otherwise. 
 
 ' The Briton ' having appeared on May 29, 1762, 
 the same day on which Bute formally assumed the 
 premiership, with Sir Francis Dashwood who, accord- 
 ing to Horace Walpole, ' with the familiarity and phrase 
 of a fishwife, introduced the humours of Wapping 
 behind the veil of the treasury ' l as his chancellor of 
 the exchequer and Sandwich as his first lord of the 
 admiralty, ' The North Briton ' appeared a week later, 
 on June 5. ' The liberty of the press,' wrote Wilkes in 
 his first paragraph, ' is the birthright of a Briton, and 
 is justly esteemed the firmest bulwark of the liberties of 
 this country. It has been the terror of all bad ministers ; 
 for their dark and dangerous designs, or their weakness, 
 inability, and duplicity, have thus been detected, and 
 shown to the public generally in too strong colours for 
 them long to bear up against the odium of mankind.' 
 He went on to acknowledge the good work that had 
 been done by ' The Monitor,' and to declare himself a 
 warrior in the same fight. As those he undertook to 
 do battle with impudently called themselves Britons, 
 being only Scotchmen, he thought it well to retaliate 
 by calling himself a North Briton ; but, ' though I am 
 a North Briton,' he said, ' I will endeavour to write 
 plain English, and to avoid the numerous Scotticisms 
 ' The Briton " abounds with ; and then, as the world is 
 apt to mistake, he may be taken for a Scotsman, and I 
 
 1 Memoirs of the Reign of Georye III., vol. i. p. 171.
 
 1762. ' THE BRITON ' AND ' THE NORTH BRITON ' 159 
 
 shall pass as an Englishman.' Wilkes promised, more- 
 over, to provide something more interesting and in- 
 structive than ; this foolish Briton,' that ' proceeds to 
 produce himself amidst the parade of pompous pro- 
 fessions and vile alliterations.' ' I thank my stars,' he 
 added, ' that I am a North Briton, with this almost 
 singular circumstance belonging to me, that I am 
 unplaced and unpensioned ; but I hope this reproach 
 will soon be wiped away, and that I shall no longer be 
 pointed at by my sneering countrymen.' And in the 
 second number, ' I cannot conceal the joy I feel as a 
 North Briton, and I heartily congratulate my dear 
 countrymen on our having at length accomplished the 
 great, long-sought, and universally national, object of 
 all our wishes, the planting of a Scotsman at the head 
 of the English Treasury.' Bute was here roundly 
 abused by name, and Smollett was more than hinted 
 at. 'The poor "Briton" deserves something I will 
 not name what for sacrificing at the shrine of Bute 
 grammar, conscience, and common sense, for his lord- 
 ship's glorification.' 
 
 There was too much personality, sometimes very 
 coarse, in ' The North Briton ' ; too much abuse of the 
 Scotch and their habits ; but it was pungently written, 
 and it answered its purpose. For the first time in 
 English journalism public men were openly criticised 
 and attacked, even ' The Monitor ' having adopted the 
 old-fashioned pretence of concealment by referring to 
 the Earl of B-te, Mr. F-x, the Min y, and so forth, 
 instead of Bute, Fox, and Ministry. There was no 
 pretence about Wilkes, apart from the transparent sub- 
 terfuge of his calling himself a North Briton, and his 
 assumption of more political virtue than he possessed. 
 In his fifth number, alluding as he often did afterwards, 
 to the current scandal as to the too close intimacy
 
 160 WILKES AND JUNIUS CH. vi. 
 
 between Bute and the king's mother, he compared the 
 former to Roger Mortimer and the latter to Queen 
 Isabella, ' actuated by strong 1 passions, and influenced 
 by an insolent minister.' A fair sample of his humour 
 is in the seventh number, where he wrote, ' Some time 
 since died Mr. John Bull, a very worthy, plain, honest 
 old gentleman, of Saxon descent. He was choked by 
 inadvertently swallowing a thistle, which he had placed 
 by way of ornament on the top of his salad. For many 
 years before he had enjoyed a remarkable good state of 
 health.' 
 
 "Wilkes did not write all ' The Xorth Briton ' him- 
 self. Several of his friends contributed occasional 
 articles for him, and his chief assistant was Charles 
 Churchill, the satirical poet whose misfortune it was to 
 have been planted in life as a clergyman. Churchill 
 found verse- writing easier than prose, and his fierce and 
 pathetic c Prophecy of Famine ' was the poetical render- 
 mo- of an article which he wrote for ' The Xorth Briton ' 
 
 C 1 
 
 but did not like well enough as such to allow it to be 
 printed. 1 One of Horace Walpole's sneering references 
 was to ' Wilkes, as spotless as Sallust, and the flamen 
 Churchill knocking down the foes of Britain with the 
 statues of the gods.' We may guess that it was 
 Churchill who wrote the scathing article on men of his 
 cloth which appeared in the tenth number of ' The 
 North Briton.' ' The ecclesiastics,' it was there said, 
 ' are an artful, subtle, and powerful body in all coun- 
 tries. Their eyes, however dim to other things, are 
 remarkably quick to everything which concerns their 
 own interests. They are generally proud, revengeful, 
 and implacable ; and yet most of them have the art to 
 throw a veil over their evil qualities and establish an 
 interest in the opinions of the people.' 
 
 1 Forster, Historical and Biographical Essays, vol. ii. p. 259.
 
 1762. CHURCHILL AND 'THE NORTH BRITON' 161 
 
 The twelfth number contained some smart criticism 
 of Dr. Johnson, on whom, four weeks before the article 
 was written, Lord Bute had bestowed a pension of 300/. 
 a year. Churchill if it was Churchill who wrote the 
 article, as Johnson supposed when he said, ' I called 
 the fellow a blockhead at first, and I will call him a 
 blockhead still ' x -turned to the Doctor's ' Dictionary ' 
 to see what it said about pensions and pensioners. 
 ' His definition of a pension,' Johnson was cruelly re- 
 minded, 'is "an allowance made to anyone without an 
 equivalent : in England it is generally understood to 
 mean pay given to a state hireling for treason to his 
 country." And under the word " pensioner " we read : 
 " (1) One who is supported by an allowance paid at 
 the will of another : a dependent ; (2) A slave of state 
 hired by a stipend to obey his master." But, with 
 submission to this great prodigy of learning, I should 
 think both definitions very erroneous. Is the said Mr. 
 Johnson "a dependent" ? or is he "a slave of state, 
 hired by a stipend to obey his master " ? There is, 
 according to him, no alternative. Is his pension under- 
 stood to be " pay given to a state hireling for treason to 
 his country " ? ' 
 
 If the number containing this attack on Johnson 
 was written by Churchill, Wilkes had to fight a duel 
 on account of it not with Johnson, but with Lord 
 Talbot, who was celebrated for his niggardliness in dis- 
 pensing the ample funds allowed to him for the public 
 service. ' I must admire many of his lordship's regu- 
 lations, especially those for the royal kitchen,' it was 
 scornfully remarked. ' I approve the discharging of so 
 many turnspits and cooks, who were grown of very 
 little use. I do not, however, quite like the precedent 
 of giving them pensions for doing nothing. It was 
 
 1 Boswell, ch. xiii. 
 VOL. I. M
 
 162 WILKES AND JUNIUS en. vi. 
 
 high time to put an end to that too great indulgence in. 
 eating and drinking which went by the name of old 
 English hospitality, when the House of Commons had 
 granted a poor niggardly civil list of only 800, OOO/. I 
 sincerely venerate his lordship's great abilities, and 
 deeply regret that they were not employed by govern- 
 ment in a way more confidential, more suited to his 
 manly character.' For printing those sneers Wilkes 
 was challenged to meet Lord Talbot at Bagshot for 
 mortal combat on October 8, and the duel came off, but 
 neither party was hurt in the encounter. 
 
 ' The Briton,' not being deemed strong enough, in 
 Smollett's hands, to fight against both ' The Monitor ' 
 and ' The North Briton,' another Tory paper, ' The Au- 
 ditor,' was started on June 10, and edited by Arthur 
 Murphy, who had entered Lord Bute's service since the 
 days when he had attacked the Tories in ' The Test.' 
 But ' The Auditor ' lived only eight months. Its last 
 number was issued on February 8, 1763, ' The North 
 Briton ' having, in anticipation of its demise, produced 
 an epitaph for it ten days before : 
 
 Deep in this bog ' The Auditor ' lies still ; 
 
 His labours finished, and worn out his quill, 
 
 His fires extinguished, and his works unread, 
 
 In peace he sleeps with the forgotten dead. 
 
 With heath and sedge, oh, maj his tomb be dressed, 
 
 And his own turf lie light upon his breast. 
 
 ' The Briton,' surviving its partner by less than a 
 week, died on February 12. ' The North Briton,' on 
 the other hand, gained in popularity, and became bolder 
 in its attacks on Lord Bute's administration every week. 
 Its general attitude was shown by an article on Novem- 
 ber 6, 1762, deprecating the prorogation of parliament 
 before it was informed of the terms en which the Seven 
 Years' \\ r ar was bem' concluded, and condemning the 
 
 o O
 
 1763. ' THE NORTH BRITON ' AND LORD BUTE 163 
 
 government for proposing to take so unpatriotic and 
 unconstitutional a step. ' What ! ' Wilkes exclaimed, 
 ' on the eve of a peace, and of such a peace as must 
 either establish or ruin us for ever (for in our present 
 situation, loaded as we are with an enormous debt, there 
 appears no alternative), shall the great council of the 
 nation be postponed ? True it is that, although they 
 supply the sinews of the war, they have no right to 
 make a peace ; but they have an undoubted right of 
 examining into the peace when made, and, if it shall be 
 found dishonourable and disadvantageous (a circum- 
 stance well deserving serious consideration at this time) , 
 they have an undoubted right of calling the advisers of 
 it to a severe account.' And to emphasise his remarks, 
 Wilkes aptly applied to Lord Bute the words that 
 Shakespeare makes Prince John address to Archbishop 
 Scroop : 
 
 That man that sits within a monarch's heart, 
 And ripens in the sunshine of his favour, 
 Would he abuse the countenance of the king, 
 Alack ! what mischiefs might he set abroach 
 In shadow of such greatness ! J 
 
 Despite the protests of ' The North Briton,' parlia- 
 ment was adjourned ; but it reassembled on November 
 25, in ample time to discuss the conclusion of the Seven 
 Years' War ; and, notwithstanding Pitt's eloquent de- 
 nunciations, the result of royal and courtly pressure 
 upon members was that the ministerial policy was 
 approved by a majority of five to one. ' Xow indeed, 
 my son is king ! ' George III.'s mother exclaimed on 
 hearing of the result : and George II I. 's scheme of ab- 
 solutism was undoubtedly advanced by the undignified 
 peacemaking ; but the nation, especially the citizens of 
 London, did not agree with the House of Commons, 
 
 1 Henry IV. , second part, act iv. scene 2.
 
 WILKES AND JUNIUS CH. vr. 
 
 and Bute's unpopularity so increased that lie was forced 
 to resign the premiership on April 8, 1763. ' The North 
 Briton ' had had no small share in bringing about his 
 downfall, and much exultation on the subject might 
 have been looked for in the Xo. 45 which was due on 
 the very next day, the 9th of the month. 
 
 Xo. 45 was not published till the 23rd, however, 
 and then it dealt with other matters. It was not un- 
 usual in those times for the weekly and other papers to 
 issue occasional supplements or special numbers treating* 
 of questions that had arisen in the interval of the regu- 
 lar issues, or were thought more suitable for separate 
 treatment ; and of this sort was ' A North Briton Ex- 
 traordinary,' of exceptional length, which was printed 
 and ready for publication on April 7. but. for some 
 reason not given, was suppressed. It was an elaborate 
 and outspoken criticism of the policy of the East India 
 Company, under which Clive and his associates had 
 lately begun to acquire a new empire for England, and 
 was probably written or inspired by "VVilkes's friend, 
 "William Beckford. who was now both lord mayor and 
 member of parliament for London, and a great authority 
 on East Indian concerns. Wilkes and his friends appear 
 to have thought it best at the last moment, and in view 
 of the impending political crisis at home, to hold back 
 this journalistic firebrand. At any rate it was not 
 published ; and, more than that, instead of issuing his 
 Xo. 45 on the proper day for it. Wilkes prepared an 
 advertisement, which appeared in the daily papers of 
 April 13, stating that, * in the present unsettled and 
 fluctuating state of the administration, " The Xorth 
 Briton " is reallv fearful of falling into involuntary 
 
 / O / 
 
 errors, and he does not wish to mislead ; all his reason- 
 ings have been built 011 the strong foundation of facts, 
 and he is not yet informed of the whole interior state of
 
 1763. 'THE NORTH BRITON' AND LORD BUTE 165 
 
 government with such minute precision as now to ven- 
 ture the submitting of his crude ideas of the present 
 political crisis to the discerning public.' 
 
 ' The Scottish minister,' Wilkes added, ' has indeed 
 retired. Is his influence at an end ? or does he still 
 govern by the three wretched tools of his power who, 
 to their indelible infamy, have supported the most 
 odious of his measures the late ignominious peace, and 
 the wicked extension of the arbitrary mode of excise ? 
 " The North Briton" has been steady in his opposition 
 to a single insolent, incapable, despotic minister, and is 
 equally ready, in the service of his country, to combat 
 the triple-headed Cerberean administration, if the Scot 
 is to assume that motley form. By him every arrange- 
 ment to this hour has been made. It therefore seems 
 clear to a demonstration that he intends only to retire 
 into that situation which he held before he took the 
 seals I mean the dictating to every part of the king's 
 administration. " The North Briton " desires to be 
 understood as having pledged himself a firm and in- 
 trepid assertor of the rights of his fellow- subjects and of 
 the liberties of Whigs and Englishmen.' 
 
 That announcement was tolerably explicit, and may 
 be accepted as truthful. On first hearing of Lord 
 Bute's resignation of the premiership, Wilkes may have 
 hoped that a real change of ministerial policy would 
 follow, especially as the new premier was George Gren- 
 ville, the younger brother of Earl Temple, who was 
 Wilkes's firm friend of long standing. Pitt, Temple, 
 and others were evidently anxious to believe that Gren- 
 ville was placed at the head of the government in order 
 that a better policy than Bute had followed might be 
 entered upon. 
 
 They were soon undeceived. Parliament was pro- 
 rogued on Tuesday, April 19, and 011 the morning of
 
 166 WILKES AND JUNIUS CH. vi. 
 
 that day Wilkes, calling on Temple, found that Pitt 
 was with him, and that they were discussing the king's 
 speech, about to be read, of which Temple had obtained 
 an early copy from his brother. Wilkes joined in the 
 talk, and all three came to the conclusion that the 
 document was dishonest and mischievous, and be- 
 tokened most alarming intentions on the part of the 
 government. Wilkes went home and expressed his 
 friends' views as well as his own, though without their 
 sanction, in the bold review of the royal message, and 
 of the general situation, which he then wrote, and 
 which was issued on the following Saturday as No. 45 
 of ' The North Briton.' Here are all the more im- 
 portant passages of this memorable article, and rather 
 more than half of the whole, with the original punctua- 
 tion and italics, and the Latin motto, which, according 
 to the custom of those days, served as a text or pre- 
 face : 
 
 Genus ORATIONIS atrox et vehemens, cui opponitur lenitatis et man- 
 suetudhris. CICERO. 
 
 THE King's Speech has always been considered by the legislature, and 
 by the public at large, as the Speech of the Minister. It has regularly, at 
 the beginning of every session of parliament, been referred by both houses 
 to the consideration of a committee, and has been generally canvassed 
 with the utmost freedom, when the minister of the crown has been ob- 
 noxious to the nation. The ministers of this free country, conscious of 
 the undoubted privileges of so spirited a people, and with the terrors of 
 parliament before their eyes, have ever been cautious, no less with regard 
 to the matter, than to the expressions of speeches, which they have advised 
 the sovereign to make from the throne, at the opening of each session. 
 They well knew that an honest house of parliament, true to their trust, 
 could not fail to detect the fallacious arts, or to remonstrate against the 
 daring acts of violence committed by any minister. The Speech at the 
 close of the session has ever been considered as the most secure method of 
 promulgating the favourite court creed among the vulgar ; because the 
 parliament which is the constitutional guardian of the liberties of the 
 people, has in this case no opportunity of remonstrating, or of impeaching 
 any wicked servant of the crown. 
 
 This week has given the public the most abandoned instance of minis- 
 terial effrontery ever attempted to be imposed on mankind. The minister 's
 
 1763. NO. 45 OF 'THE NORTH BRITON' 167 
 
 speech of last Tuesday is not to be paralleled in the annals of this country. 
 I am in doubt whether the imposition is greater on the sovereign or on 
 the nation. Every friend of his country must lament that a prince of so 
 many great and amiable qualities, whom England truly reveres, can be 
 brought to give the sanction of his sacred name to the most odious 
 measures, and to the most unjustifiable public declarations, from a throne 
 ever renowned for truth, honour, and imsullied virtue. I am sure all 
 foreigners, especially the king of Prussia, will hold the minister in con- 
 tempt and abhorrence. He has made our sovereign declare, My expecta- 
 tions have been/idly answered by the liappy effects which the several allies of 
 my crown ham derived from this salutary measure of the definitive Treaty. 
 TJie powers at war ivith my good brother, the king of Prussia, have been in- 
 duced to agree to such terms of accommodation, as that great prince has 
 approved ; and the success which has attended my negotiation, has necessarily 
 and immediately diffusedtheblessings of peace throughout every part of Europe. 
 The infamous fallacy of this whole sentence is apparent to all mankind ; 
 for, it is known that the king of Prussia did not barely approve, but abso- 
 lutely dictated, as conqueror, every article of the terms of peace. No 
 advantage of any kind has accrued to that magnanimous prince from our 
 negotiation, but he was basely deserted by the Scottish prime-minister of 
 England. He was known by every court in Europe to be scarcely on 
 better terms of friendship here than at Vienna ; and he was betrayed by 
 us in the treaty of peace. What a strain of insolence, therefore, is it in a 
 minister to lay claim to what he is conscious all his efforts tended to prevent, 
 and meanly to arrogate to himself a share in the fame and glory of one of 
 the greatest princes the world has ever seen ? . . . 
 
 The Preliminary Articles of Peace were such as have drawn the con- 
 tempt of mankind on our wretched negotiators. All our most valuable 
 conquests were agreed to be restored, and the East India Company would 
 have been infallibly ruined by a single article of this fallacious and bane- 
 ful negotiation. No hireling of the minister has been hardy enough to 
 dispute this ; yet the minister himself has made our sovereign declare, the 
 satisfaction which he felt at the approaching re-establishment of peace upon 
 conditions so honourable to his crown, and so beneficial to his people. As to 
 the entire approbation of parliament, which is so vainly boasted of, the 
 world knows how that was obtained. The large debt on the Civil List, 
 already above half a year in arrear, shows pretty clearly the transactions 
 of the winter. . . . 
 
 The minister cannot forbear, even in the King's Speech, insulting us 
 with a dull repetition of the word ceconomy. I did not expect so soon to 
 have seen that word again, after it had been so lately exploded, and more 
 than once, by a most numerous audience, hissed off the stage of our Eng- 
 lish theatres. It is held in derision by the voice of the people, and every 
 tongue loudly proclaims the universal contempt, in which these empty 
 professions are held by this nation. Let the public be informed of a single 
 instance of ceconomy, except indeed in the household. Is a regiment, 
 which was completed as to its complement of officers on the Tuesday, and
 
 168 W1LKES AND JUKIUS CH. vi. 
 
 broke on the Thursday, a proof of ceconomy ? .... Is it not notorious, 
 that in the reduction of the army, not the least attention has been paid 
 to it ? Many unnecessary expenses have been incurred, only to increase 
 the power of the crown, that is, to create more lucrative jobs for the 
 creatures of the minister. . . . Lord Ligonier is now no longer at the 
 head of the army ; but Lord Bute in effect is : I mean that every prefer- 
 ment given by the crown will be found still to be obtained by his enor- 
 mous influence, and to be bestowed only on the creatures of the Scottish 
 faction. The nation is still in the same deplorable state, while he governs, 
 and can make the tools of his power pursue the same odious measures. 
 Such a retreat, as he intends, can only mean that personal indemnity, 
 which, I hope, guilt will never find from an injured nation. The negotia- 
 tions of the late inglorious peace and the excise, will haunt him wherever 
 he goes, and the terrors of the just resentment which he must be sure to 
 meet from a brave and insulted people, and which must finally crush him, 
 will be for ever before his eyes. 
 
 In vain will such a minister, or the foul dregs of his power, the tools 
 of corruption and despotism, preach up in the speech that spirit of concord, 
 and that obedience to the laws, which is essential to good order. They have 
 sent the spirit of discord through the land, and I will prophecy, that it 
 will never be extinguished, but by the extinction of their power. Is the 
 spirit of concord to go hand in hand with the PEACE and EXCISE, through 
 this nation ? Is it to be expected between an insolent EXCISEMAN, and 
 a peer, gentleman, freeholder, or farmer, whose private houses are now 
 made liable to be entered and searched at pleasure ? Gloucestershire, 
 Herefordshire, and in general all the cyder counties, are not surely the 
 several counties, which are alluded to in the speech. The spirit of concord 
 has not gone forth among them ; but the spirit of liberty has, and a noble 
 opposition has been given to the wicked instruments of oppression. A 
 nation as sensible as the English, will see that a spirit of concord, when 
 they are oppressed, means a tame submission to injury, and that a spirit 
 of liberty ought then to arise, and I am sure ever will, in proportion to the 
 weight of the grievance they feel. Every legal attempt of a contrary ten- 
 dency to the spirit of concord will be deemed a justifiable resistance, war- 
 ranted by the spirit of the English constitution. 
 
 A despotic minister will always endeavour to dazzle his prince with 
 high-flown ideas of the prerogative and honour of the crown, which the 
 minister will make a parade of firmly maintaining. I wish as much as 
 any man in the kingdom to see the honour of the crown maintained in a 
 manner truly becoming Royalty. I lament to see it sunk even to prosti- 
 tution. What a shame was it to see the security of this country in point 
 of military force, complimented away, contrary to the opinion of Royalty 
 itself, and sacrificed to the prejudices and to the ignorance of a set of 
 people, the most unfit, from every consideration, to be consulted on a 
 matter relative to the security of the Imuse of Hanorer ? .... Is it meant 
 to assert the honour of the crown only against the united wishes of a loy.nl 
 and affectionate people, founded in a happy experience of the talents,
 
 1763. NO. 45 OF 'THE NORTH BRITON' 169 
 
 ability, integrity and virtue of those, who have had the glory of redeeming 
 the country from bondage and ruin, in order to support, by every art of 
 corruption and intimidation, a weak, disjointed, incapable set of I 
 will call them anything but ministers by whom the Favourite still medi- 
 tates to rule this kingdom with a rod of iron 1 
 
 The Stuart line has ever been intoxicated with the slavish doctrines of 
 the absolute, independent, unlimited power of the crown. Some of that 
 line were so weakly advised, as to endeavour to reduce them into practice ; 
 but the English nation was too spirited to suffer the least encroachment 
 on the ancient liberties of this kingdom. The king of England is only the 
 first magistrate of this country ; but is invested by law with the whole 
 executive power. He is, however, responsible to his people for the due 
 execution of the royal functions, in the choice of ministers, &c., equally 
 with the meanest of his subjects in his particular duty. The personal 
 character of our present amiable sovereign makes us easy and happy that 
 so great a power is lodged in such hands ; but the favourite has given too 
 just cause for him to escape the general odium. The prerogative of the 
 crown is to exert the constitutional powers entrusted to it in a way, not 
 of blind favour and partiality, but of wisdom and judgment. This is the 
 spirit of our constitution. The people too have their prerogative, and I 
 hope the fine words of DRYDEN will be engraven on our hearts, 
 
 Freedom is the English subject's Prerogative. 
 
 Straightforward and outspoken as were the criti- 
 cisms and complaints thus offered by Wilkes in Xo. 45 
 of the ' North Briton,' he had used language almost as 
 bold before. In the then state of the law and of 
 opinion about royal prerogative, ministerial responsi- 
 bility, and parliamentary privilege, however, there were 
 technical grounds for seeing in his stinging condemna- 
 tion of the ministers as betrayers of the nation, and of 
 the king as their dupe, a punishable offence, and an 
 opportunity of making the writer suffer for his former 
 misdeeds as well as for this new attack upon them. 
 The king and his advisers had some reason to be angry, 
 and might have safely retaliated. As it happened, they 
 recklessly broke the law in their anxiety to wreak ven- 
 geance on a supposed law-breaker. Hence complete 
 victory came to AVilkes in the end ; but it was long 
 delayed and hardly won.
 
 170 WILKES AND JUMUS CH. vi. 
 
 The article having been published on Saturday, April 
 23, the Earl of Halifax, the senior secretary of state, 
 applied on Monday to the law officers of the crown for 
 advice as to the course to be pursued against those who 
 had written, published, and circulated it. On Wednes- 
 day the law officers replied that the article was ' a most 
 infamous and seditious libel, tending to inflame the 
 minds and alienate the affections of the people from his 
 majesty, and to excite them to traitorous insurrections 
 against his government, and therefore punishable as 
 a misdemeanour of the highest nature in due course 
 of law by indictment or information, which latter 
 method of prosecution is the most usual and proper, 
 in obedience to the commands of his majesty, when 
 signified by a secretary of state.' On Tuesday, how- 
 ever, without waiting for that report, Halifax had 
 issued a general warrant ' to search for the authors and 
 printers of a treasonable and seditious paper, entitled 
 " The North Briton," Xo. 45, and them having found 
 to apprehend and seize, together with their papers, 
 and bring them before him to be examined.' On the 
 strength of that, George Kearsley, the publisher, and 
 Balfe. the printer, were at once arrested, and certain 
 documents in the handwritings of Wilkes and Churchill 
 were seized ; but these latter were not interfered with 
 until Saturday the 30th, when Wilkes was taken into 
 custody, and by a characteristic device enabled Churchill 
 to escape. While Wilkes was in altercation with the 
 king's messengers, to whom he pointed out that as a 
 member of parliament he was privileged from arrest, 
 Churchill, who was not identified by the officers, 
 entered the room 'Good-morrow, Mr. Thompson.' 
 said Wilkes, who himself gleefully told the story. 
 ' How does Mrs. Thompson do to-day ? Does she dine 
 in the country ? ' The hint was promptly taken. ' Mr.
 
 1763. THE ARRESTING OF WILKES 171 
 
 Churchill,' according to Wilkes, ' thanked me, said she 
 then waited for him, that he had only come for a 
 moment to ask me how I did, and almost directly took 
 his leave. He went home immediately, secured all his 
 papers, and retired into the country. The messengers 
 could never get intelligence where he was.' Having 
 thus saved his friend, Wilkes allowed the officers to 
 take him from his house in Great George Street, where 
 this scene occurred, to Whitehall. There he was ex- 
 amined by Lord Halifax and by Lord Egremont, the 
 other secretary of state, and after that he was sent 
 to the Tower, his house being presently searched, and 
 all papers likely to incriminate him being unlawfully 
 taken possession of. His friends at once applied for a 
 writ of habeas corpus, but he was in prison for a week 
 before the matter could be brought up in the Court of 
 Common Pleas, where the judge at once ordered his 
 discharge, without prejudice to the action against him, 
 but on the ground that, as a member of parliament, he 
 ought not to have been arrested. 1 
 
 That fortnight's series of blunders and illegalities 
 formed the prelude to a ten years' struggle, of which, 
 when it was really only half over, in 1769, Burke said : 
 ' Thus ended the fifth act of this tragi- comedy ; a 
 tragi-comedy acted by his majesty's servants, at the 
 desire of several persons of quality, for the benefit of 
 Mr. Wilkes, and at the expense of the constitution.' 
 Burke' s last clause was only correct in one sense. The 
 tragi-comedy was expensive enough, in money as well 
 as reputation, to those who produced it, but the con- 
 stitution in the end gained instead of losing by the 
 
 1 A complete Collection of the genuine Papers and Letters in the Case of 
 John Wilkes (Paris, 1767). These incidents and those which followed 
 are set forth in detail in Mr. Rae's Wilkes, Sheridan, Fox, the seventh 
 chapter of May's Constitutional History, and other works.
 
 172 "WILKES AND JUNIUS CH. vr. 
 
 business. The system of general warrants, an illegal 
 survival from Star Chamber days, was finally dis- 
 credited, to the great advantage of all classes of the 
 community, with the exception of arbitrary usurpers 
 of power in defiance of the law ; and many other 
 important benefits ensued. The liberty of the press, 
 especially in the full sense of the term, was far more 
 firmly established than it had ever been before, and 
 newspaper enterprise was largely developed through 
 the advance towards complete independence in news- 
 paper writing which was now effected. The story is 
 full of interest, and of great importance in many ways. 
 Only the chief items in it, however, need be briefly 
 mentioned here. 
 
 Released from the Tower, Wilkes at once, with sub- 
 stantial help from Lord Temple and other friends, 
 instituted proceedings against the government for his 
 unlawful imprisonment and for the fraudulent seizure 
 of his papers. On this suit, after many delays, 5,000^. 
 damages were awarded him, and as Kearsley and Balfe, 
 his publisher and printer, Entinck and others connected 
 with ' The Monitor,' and several more, who, with even 
 less excuse, had been dealt with under Lord Halifax's 
 general warrant of April 26, followed his example, it 
 was admitted by Lord North that the total of the costs 
 and damages which the government had to pay for its 
 lawless folly amounted to 100, OOO/. 
 
 Concurrently with this action for damages, Wilkes 
 carried on his war with the government in other ways ; 
 and his vanity, flattered by his increased popularity 
 among the citizens of London, who had made a hero 
 of him long before, led him, against the advice of Lord 
 Temple and other friends, into rash courses that 
 brought him unnecessary trouble. While awaiting his 
 trial for libel, which was tardily proceeded with in legal
 
 1763. WILKES'S WAR AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT 173 
 
 form after the failure of the attempt to imprison him 
 illegally, and which would probably have been dropped 
 had no fresh provocation been offered, he indiscreetly 
 set up in his own house a printing press from which, 
 as no tradesman would take the risk of working under 
 him, he reissued the back numbers of ' The North 
 Briton,' with notes, and proposed to continue the series, 
 one number of which actually appeared on November 
 12. Yet more indiscreetly, he issued from this private 
 press handbills and other matter for his own and his 
 friends' amusement ; one foolish undertaking, for which 
 he can hardly be excused, being the putting in type of 
 an ' Essay on Woman,' an indecent parody of Pope's 
 ' Essay on Man,' which had been written some years 
 before by Thomas Potter, the coarse-minded and pro- 
 fligate son of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Of this 
 silly and offensive production only thirteen copies were 
 printed, and none were published ; but one was stolen, 
 and, as we shall see, made malicious use of by Wilkes's 
 sometime associate and present enemy, Lord Sandwich, 
 who had succeeded Lord Egremont as secretary of 
 state. 
 
 When parliament met, after a long recess, on No- 
 vember 15, Wilkes was in his place, eager to call atten- 
 tion to the breach of privilege that had been committed 
 by his arrest and imprisonment. He was forestalled 
 by a motion which Lord North was put up by Gren- 
 ville to propose, ' That the paper entitled " The North 
 Briton, No. 45," is a false, scandalous, and seditious 
 libel, containing expressions of the most unexampled 
 insolence and contumely towards his majesty, the 
 grossest aspersions upon both houses of parliament, 
 and the most audacious defiance of the authority of the 
 whole legislature, and most manifestly tending to 
 alienate the affections of the people from his majesty,
 
 174 WILKES AND JUNIUS CH. vi. 
 
 to withdraw them from their obedience to the laws of 
 the realm, and to incite them to traitorous insurrec- 
 tions against his majesty's government.' A hot debate 
 ensued, during which, as Horace Walpole tells us, 
 Mr. Wilkes, with all the impartiality in the world, and 
 with the phlegm of an Areopagite, sat and heard the 
 whole matter discussed, and now and then put in a 
 word, as if the whole affair did not concern him.' 1 The 
 house accepted the motion by a large majority, despite 
 the arguments of Pitt and others ; it also ordered that 
 Xo. 45 should be burned by the common hangman ; 
 and shortly afterwards, stultifying all its previous 
 assertions of exclusive parliamentary control in such 
 matters, and making a valuable concession to the 
 liberty of the press, the object being to open the way 
 for more vengeance than it could itself wreak, it re- 
 solved ' that privilege of parliament does not extend to 
 the case of writing and publishing seditious libels, nor 
 ought to be allowed to obstruct the ordinary course of 
 law in the speedy and effectual prosecution of so 
 heinous and dano-erous an offence.' - The hano-man's 
 
 o o 
 
 task was interfered with by a mob which met him on 
 the appointed day, December 3, outside the Royal Ex- 
 change, tore the copy of No. 45 out of his hands, bore 
 it in triumph to Temple Bar, and there, in lieu of it, 
 threw a jack-boot and a petticoat, as emblems of Lord 
 Bute and the king's mother, into a bonfire. 3 Of the 
 graver resolutions of the House of Commons, one was 
 acted upon by the Court of King's Bench in February 
 1764. The other it enforced itself on January 19, 
 by a vote depriving Wilkes of his seat as member for 
 Aylesbury. 
 
 1 Horace Walpole's Correspondence, vol. iv. p. 131. 
 - Parliamentary History, vol. xv. pp. 13G2-1378 ; Commons' Journals, 
 vol. xxix. p. 089. 
 
 3 Horace Walpole's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 330.
 
 1764. WILKES'S EXPULSION FROM PARLIAMENT 175 
 
 The government had intended that Wilkes' s expul- 
 sion should immediately follow the resolution condemn- 
 in^ him in November. But in the course of the debate 
 
 o 
 
 on that resolution, Samuel Martin, a ministerial under- 
 ling, had used such language about Wilkes that it led 
 to a duel, in which Wilkes was so seriously wounded 
 that his life was for some time in danger. He went to 
 Paris, where his daugher was living, and sent thence a 
 medical certificate to excuse his non-compliance w r ith 
 an order of the house for his attendance. After wait- 
 ing two months for his recovery, however, the house 
 refused to wait longer, and he was expelled in his 
 absence. 
 
 He was also absent, for the same reason, on Feb- 
 ruary 21, when the action against him which had been 
 commenced in the Court of King's Bench came on for 
 hearing. In this action he was charged, not with the 
 original publication of Xo. 45, but with the offence of 
 reprinting it, and also with the printing and publishing 
 of the ' Essay on Woman,' which that notorious profli- 
 gate Lord Sandwich had taken upon himself to read in 
 the House of Peers, 1 and for which he had been con- 
 demned by vote of the house, coupled with a resolution 
 that he should be prosecuted for the ' obscene libel.' 
 Though he was unable to appear and defend himself in 
 court, a form of trial was gone through, he was found 
 guilty, and soon afterwards, on an allegation of contu- 
 macy, he was outlawed. 
 
 There is clear evidence that all these outrages were 
 
 o 
 
 perpetrated at the direct instigation of King George III., 
 
 1 ' The Beggar's Opera being performed at Covent Garden Theatre soon 
 after this event,' says Horace Walpole, ' the whole audience, when Mac- 
 heath says, ' ' That Jemmy Twitcher should peach me, I own surprises me," 
 burst out into an applause of appreciation, and the nickname of Jemmy 
 Twitcher stuck by the earl so as almost to occasion the disuse of his title.' 
 Memoirs, vol. i. p. 314.
 
 176 WILKES AND JUNIUS CH. vi, 
 
 and of Lord Bute and other courtiers whom Wilkes had 
 offended. ' Hath not his spirit dared oppose,' Churchill 
 had mockingly asked on their behalf, 
 
 Our dearest measures I made our name 
 Stand forward on the roll of shame } 
 Hath he not won the vulgar tribes 
 By scorning menaces and bribes 1 
 And proving that his darling cause 
 Is of their liberties and laws 
 To stand the champion ? 1 
 
 ' Wilkes will be demolished whether he comes home 
 or stays abroad,' one of the courtiers, Lord Harrington, 
 had written. 2 Wilkes was not demolished, but he 
 stayed abroad until the time arrived for him to turn 
 the tables on his enemies, and as far as he could to 
 set himself right with the world. 
 
 The contemptible Grenville administration gave 
 place to the Rockingham administration, and that in 
 its turn to the Grafton administration of which Pitt, 
 now Earl of Chatham, was the real head, in so far as 
 the king, whose power was being increased by each of 
 these changes, allowed during the four years of 
 Wilkes's absence. Notwithstanding his outlawry, he 
 returned to London in March 1768, and moved about 
 freely ; but though Lord Chatham was friendly, he 
 could not get the sentences against him reversed. 
 ' The ministers are embarrassed to the last degree how 
 to act with regard to Wilkes,' wrote the Bishop of 
 Carlisle. ' It seems they are afraid to press the king for 
 his pardon, as that is a subject his majesty will not 
 easily hear the least mention of ; and they are appre- 
 
 1 TJie Duellist, written on the occasion of Wilkes's duel with Martin. 
 In another poem, The Conference, Churchill had said, 
 
 What if ten thousand Butes and Hollands bawl ? 
 One Wilkes hath made a large amends for all. 
 
 3 Chatham Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 271.
 
 1768. ' WILKES AND LIBERTY t ' 177 
 
 hensive, if he has it not, that the mob of London will 
 rise in his favour, which God forbid ! ' The mob did 
 not rise, but it favoured his candidature for a seat in 
 the new parliament that was elected in this month. 
 He contested the city of London, but was defeated by a 
 small majority ; and next week he contested the county 
 of Middlesex, when he won by a large majority. Those 
 who had shouted 'Wilkes and No. 45 !' in 1763, now 
 shouted i Wilkes and Liberty ! ' ' It is a barren season/ 
 Horace Walpole wrote, ' for all but cabalists who can 
 compound, divide, multiply No. 45 forty-five thousand 
 different ways. I saw in the papers to-day that some- 
 how or other this famous number and the number of 
 the beast hi the Revelations is the same an observa- 
 tion from which different persons will draw different 
 conclusions.' 2 
 
 Before parliament opened, Wilkes applied to the 
 Court of King's Bench to have his outlawry reversed. 
 This was done in May, after he had been for a short 
 time in custody, from which the mob once rescued him, 
 and during which, he having voluntarily surrendered 
 himself, there was much rioting and collision between 
 the military and the populace ; but on the old charge 
 of publishing No. 45, and ' An Essay on Woman,' he 
 was sentenced to twenty-two months confinement in 
 gaol, and fined 1,000/.. While he was in prison his 
 friend and disciple, William Bingley, resumed ' The 
 North Briton,' of which No. 47 appeared on May 10, 
 and which was continued in a clumsy and rowdy way, 
 with interruptions, for a few years. 3 Bingley, however, 
 had to do much of his editing from the King's Bench 
 
 1 Grenville Papers, vol. iii. p. 241. 
 
 2 Horace Walpole's Correspondence, vol. v. p. 111. 
 
 3 Another North Briton continuation had been attempted in 1764, but 
 this was a plagiarism of the title, and Wilkes had nothing to do with it. 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 178 WILKES AND JUNIUS en. vi. 
 
 prison, to which he was committed in November ; and 
 several other Wilkites, as they came to be called, were 
 imprisoned in these troubled times. 1 
 
 Wilkes himself, in December, while he was in gaol, 
 published in ' The St. James's Chronicle ' a letter of 
 Lord Weymouth's giving orders for the military 
 attack that had been made 011 the mob that sided with 
 him at the time of his committal to prison which, he 
 said, ' shows how long a hellish project can be brooded 
 over by some infernal spirits without one moment's 
 remorse.' For this great piece of journalistic boldness, 
 Wilkes, whose election as member for Middlesex had 
 not before been taken notice of, as he had not been able 
 to come out of a;aol and claim his seat, was brought to 
 
 o O 
 
 the bar of the House of Commons, and, on February 3, 
 1769, a second time expelled, all the more angrily 
 because, when called upon to defend himself, he had 
 exclaimed, ' Whenever a secretary of state shall dare 
 to write so bloody a scroll. I will through life dare to 
 write such prefatory remarks, as well as to make my 
 appeal to the nation on the occasion.' The younger 
 Pitt, Burke, Lord Mayor Beckford, even his old perse- 
 cutor George Grenville, and others argued that the libel 
 on Lord Weymouth, however punishable by a court 
 of law, was not a matter for parliament to deal with ; 
 but the government obtained a majority of 219 against 
 137. 2 
 
 A fresh election to fill up the vacant Middlesex seat 
 was ordered, and on February 16 Wilkes was re-elected 
 without opposition. Xext day the House of Commons 
 declared the election void, and a new writ was issued. 
 
 1 It was to such imprisonments ;is these that Margin referred in the 
 passage from Foote's Bankrupt quoted in the last chapter as ' the very life 
 and soul of our trade.' 
 
 Parliamentary History, vol. xvi. p. 546.
 
 1769-1770. THE WILKITE CONTROVERSY 179 
 
 Wilkes was again returned, to be again expelled in 
 March, and the farce, or, as Burke called it, the tragi- 
 comedy, was once more played through. 
 
 Wilkes, being still a prisoner, now for a short time 
 left his friends to carry on the agitation. In the city 
 of London, of which he had been elected an alderman, 
 subscriptions were raised for him, and meetings, 
 growing stormier and stormier, were held to advocate 
 his claims. Even the House of Peers, on Lord Chat- 
 ham's motion, took his case into consideration. ' With 
 one party,' Chatham said of Wilkes. 'he is a patriot of 
 the first magnitude, with the other the vilest incendiary. 
 For my own part I consider him merely and indifferently 
 as an English subject, possessed of certain rights which 
 the law has given him, and which the laws alone can 
 take from him.' Lord Chancellor Camden declared 
 that ' for some time he had beheld with silent indigna- 
 tion the arbitrary measures the ministry were pursuing,' 
 and that, ' as to the incapacitating vote, he considered 
 it as a direct attack upon the first principles of the 
 constitution.' l The House of Peers rejected Lord Chat- 
 ham's motion, and also one to like effect proposed by 
 Lord Rockingham in February 1770 ; and the House of 
 Commons was as obdurate when appealed to by Sir 
 George Savile, Dowdeswell, and others. 
 
 The London citizens then came yet more to the front. 
 They had petitioned the king in 1769 without receiving 
 an answer. They now petitioned again, and, asserting 
 their right to personal audience with the sovereign, sent 
 Lord Mayor Beckford, the sheriffs, and two hundred 
 aldermen and liverymen, to declare ' that the majority 
 of the House of Commons have deprived your people 
 of their dearest rights they have done a deed more 
 
 1 Parliamentary History, vol. xvi. pp. 653-6G6 ; Gentleman'' s Magazine, 
 January 1770.
 
 180 WILKES AND JUNIUS off. v/. 
 
 ruinous in its consequences than the levying of ship- 
 moiiey by Charles I. or the dispensing power assumed 
 by James II.,' and to request his majesty ' to restore the 
 constitutional government and quiet of his people by 
 dissolving the parliament and removing his evil minis- 
 ters for ever from his councils.' King George answered 
 that such a request was one ' which he could not but 
 consider as disrespectful to himself, injurious to parlia- 
 ment, and irreconcilable to the principles of the consti- 
 tution,' and then, it is reported, ' turned round to his 
 courtiers, and burst out laughing.' 1 That was on March 
 14. On May 23 the lord mayor was sent up with a 
 bolder petition, and, when the king again scoffed at it, 
 replied with the yet bolder words which are inscribed in 
 letters of o;old on the monument that the Grateful citizens 
 
 O O 
 
 erected in honour of him who had spoken them. Beck- 
 ford died a week afterwards, partly in consequence of 
 the excitement thus forced upon him in his old age ; 
 but Wilkes lived to achieve a series of victories, and to 
 obtain as much redress for the wrongs done to him 
 as was possible. 
 
 The term of his imprisonment being completed in 
 April 1770, he was able to take a personal share in the 
 citv's further petitioning of the king. In 1771 he was 
 elected sheriff of London and Middlesex, and in 1774 
 he was made lord mayor, out of his turn, and as a marked 
 protest against the tyranny of court and parliament. 
 In the same year, the House of Commons from which 
 he had been four times expelled having been dissolved, 
 he was once more returned to the new one as member 
 for Middlesex, and his enemies did not venture again to 
 keep him out of his seat. Thereupon he lost no time 
 in calling for a reversal of the policy adopted towards 
 him. In February 1775 he moved that the resolution 
 
 1 Rnckingham Memoirs, vol. xi. p. 174.
 
 1770-1797. THE END OF WILKES 181 
 
 declaring his incapacity should be expunged from the 
 journals of the house, 'as subversive of the rights of 
 the whole body of electors.' This being refused, he 
 repeated his motion in 1776, in 1777, in 1779, in 1781, 
 and finally in 1782, when it was agreed to. He lived 
 on till 1797, but his later history, in some respects 
 discreditable to him, does not here concern us. About 
 one very important service done by him to journalism 
 in 1771, when, in his office of alderman and magistrate, 
 he helped materially to establish the claim of news- 
 papers to report the proceedings of parliament, some- 
 thing will be said hereafter. Save in this respect, his 
 own share in newspaper history had all but ceased with 
 the publication of ' The North Briton ' and the settle- 
 ment of the quarrels growing out of the famous No. 45. 
 
 Before these quarrels were settled a far abler writer 
 than Wilkes had appeared to continue and extend the 
 journalistic work in which accident, rather than his own 
 talents or wisdom, had made him so conspicuous. What 
 sort of a man Junius was no one can tell, for he 
 wrapped himself in a veil of anonymity which has never 
 been removed, and, as he said, ' If I am a vain man, my 
 gratification lies within a narrow circle ; I am the sole 
 depository of my own secret, and it shall perish with 
 me.' l But as a critic and a satirist he was in every 
 way superior to Wilkes. 
 
 If Junius was Sir Philip Francis, he was in his 
 twenty- sixth year when he wrote his first known letter 
 
 1 Letters of Junius ; dedication. About the controversy that has gone on 
 during more than a century as to the identity of Junius it is unnecessary 
 for me to say anything ; and his letters are so well known and so easily 
 accessible that I need do no more than briefly indicate above their place 
 in political journalism, and note in the next chapter their importance as 
 contributions to newspaper progress. Perhaps the opinion now generally 
 held, on the authority of Macaulay and others, that Junius was Sir Philip 
 Francis, is correct.
 
 182 WILKES AND JUNIUS CH. vi. 
 
 to ' The Public Advertiser,' which, as we shall presently 
 see, was the most influential of the daily papers pub- 
 lished at this time, and which was to acquire much 
 fresh influence through his contributions. That letter, 
 dated April 28, 1767, was signed Poplicola, one of the 
 many pseudonyms that this writer adopted others 
 being Aiiti-Sejanus junior, Mnemon, Bifrons, Atticus, 
 Lucius, and Brutus before he decided that he would 
 be known to his contemporaries and posterity as Junius. 
 It was a bitter attack on Lord Chatham, who had lately 
 taken office again as prime minister and with Lord 
 Bute as his ally, or, as Poplicola averred, had brought 
 ' all the artifices, the intrigues, the hypocrisy, and the 
 impudence of his past life ' to a climax, in that, after 
 he had ' spent years in declaiming against the pernicious 
 influence of a favourite,' he had ' taken that favourite 
 to his bosom, and made him the only partner of his 
 power.' l Of Bute he said two months later : ' To 
 create or foment confusion, to sacrifice the honour of a 
 king, or to destroy the happiness of a nation, requires 
 no talent, but a natural itch for doing mischief. We 
 have seen it performed for years successively, with a 
 wantonness of triumph, by a man who had neither 
 abilities nor personal interest, nor even common per- 
 sonal courage. It has been possible for a notorious 
 coward, skulking under a petticoat, to make a great 
 nation the prey of his avarice and ambition. But I 
 trust the time is not very distant when we shall see 
 him dragged forth from his retirement, and forced to 
 answer severely for all the mischiefs he hath brought 
 upon us.' 2 
 
 From these sentences it will be seen that Junius 
 was, from the first, a master of invective. He was not 
 
 1 Miscellaneous Letters of Junius, No. 1. 
 
 2 Ibid., No. 3.
 
 1767-1700. THE LETTERS OF JUNIUS 183 
 
 a consistent critic or a persistent hater. He denounced 
 or tolerated, praised or vilified, if not as the humour 
 took him, at any rate as what we may assume to be 
 personal interests prompted him ; and his use of various 
 pseudonyms enabled him to vary his opinions without 
 openly stultifying himself. Though in most particulars 
 he showed intimate and accurate knowledge of facts, 
 thereby adding greatly to the force of his attacks, 
 moreover, he sometimes wrote ignorantly and on hear- 
 say evidence. In his first reference to Wilkes, for in- 
 stance, in April 1768, he spoke of him as 'a man of 
 most infamous character in private life, indicted for a 
 libel against the king's person, solemnly tried by his 
 peers according to the laws of the land, and found 
 guilty,' who, ' without a single qualification, either 
 moral or political,' had been suffered by indolent and 
 incapable ministers, 'perhaps in consequence of a secret 
 compact with him,' ' to throw the metropolis into a 
 flame, to offer new outrages to his sovereign, and at 
 last to force his way into parliament ' ; l and in March 
 1769 he spoke of him as ' the favourite of his country, 
 whose pardon would have been accepted with gratitude, 
 whose pardon would have healed all our divisions.' ~ 
 
 When Junius wrote as Junius, however, he was 
 generally careful to express views that did not con- 
 tradict one another, whether he was discussing the 
 character and conduct of Wilkes or any other subject. 
 In the letters that, under his favourite designation, 
 he addressed either to ' The Public Advertiser ' or to 
 Wilkes in private, he made no attempt to conceal the 
 personal dislike, and even contempt, with which he 
 regarded the member for Middlesex, while he very 
 clearly laid down sound constitutional maxims ; and 
 
 1 Miscellaneous Letters of Junius, No. 17. 
 
 2 Letters of Junius, No. 8.
 
 184 WILKES AND JUNIUS en. vr. 
 
 his statement of these was made all the more impressive 
 by its superciliousness. Denouncing the Duke of Graf- 
 ton, he said, ' You have degraded the royal dignity into 
 a base, dishonourable competition with Mr. Wilkes ; nor 
 had you abilities to carry even this last contemptible 
 triumph over a private man without the grossest viola- 
 tion of the fundamental laws of the constitution and 
 rights of the people.' * And he addressed the king 
 himself in language yet more emphatic. ' Mr. Wilkes,' 
 he said, ' brought with him into politics the same 
 liberal sentiments by which his private conduct had 
 been directed, and seemed to think that, as there are 
 few excesses in which an English gentleman may not 
 be permitted to indulge, the same latitude was allowed 
 him in the choice of his political principles and in the 
 spirit of maintaining them. In the earnestness of his 
 zeal he suffered some unwarrantable insinuations to 
 escape him. He said more than moderate men would 
 justify, but not enough to entitle him to the honour 
 of your majesty's personal resentment. The rays of 
 royal indignation collected upon him served only to 
 illuminate, and could not consume. Animated by the 
 favour of the people on one side, and heated by perse- 
 cution on the other, his views and sentiments changed 
 with his situation. Hardly serious at first, he is now 
 an enthusiast.' ' Is this,' he asked scornfully, ' a con- 
 tention worthy of a king ? Are you not sensible how 
 much the meanness of the cause gives an air of ridicule 
 to the serious difficulties into which you have been 
 betrayed ? The destruction of one man has been now, 
 for many years, the sole object of your government ; 
 and, if there can be anything still more disgraceful, we 
 have seen, for such an object, the utmost influence of 
 the executive power, and every ministerial artifice, 
 
 1 Letters of Junius, No. 15.
 
 1769. THE LETTERS OF JUNIUS 185 
 
 exerted without success. Nor can you ever succeed 
 unless he should be imprudent enough to forfeit the 
 protection of those laws to which you owe your crown, 
 or unless your ministers should persuade you to make 
 it a question of force alone, and try the whole strength 
 of government in opposition to the people.' l 
 
 Writing with various signatures in ' The Public 
 Advertiser ' through more than five years down to May 
 1772, Junius wrote his best letters, as Junius, between 
 January 21, 1769, and January 21, 1772, and of these 
 there were thirty-eight. The first was penned when 
 the Duke of Grafton, replacing Lord Chatham, and him- 
 self soon to be replaced by Lord North, had for a year 
 been nominal head of the ministry with which, often 
 shifting the pawns and other pieces on his chess-board, 
 George III. kept the political game in his own hands 
 till 1782 or later. Junius was a Whig of Walpole's 
 school at its best, with only such changes in its policy 
 as he deemed prudent or convenient to the partisanship 
 he affected, and with no more sympathy for the demo- 
 crats like Wilkes, whose energies he sought to make use- 
 ful to the state, as he understood it, than for the Tories 
 and the ' king's friends,' on whom he heaped unstinted 
 scorn. In his first letter he reviewed the whole situa- 
 tion. ' Behold,' he said, ' a nation overwhelmed with 
 debt ; her revenues wasted ; her trade declining ; the 
 affections of her colonies alienated ; the duty of the 
 magistrate transferred to the soldiery ; a gallant army, 
 which never fought unwillingly but against their fellow- 
 subjects, mouldering away for want of the direction of 
 a man of common abilities and spirit ; and, in the last 
 instance, the administration of justice become odious 
 and suspected to the whole body of the people. This 
 deplorable scene admits of but one addition that we 
 
 1 Letters of Junius, No. 35.
 
 186 WILKES AND JUNIUS CH. vi, 
 
 are governed by counsels from which a reasonable 
 man can expect no remedy but poison, no relief but 
 death.' l 
 
 Sir William Draper ventured, in ' The Public Adver- 
 tiser ' of January 26, to take up the cudgels for Grafton 
 and his colleagues against ' this Junius, this high-priest of 
 envy, malice, and all uncharitableness,' and Junius made 
 Draper a special object of attack in his next and several 
 subsequent letters, until the poor, baffled knight was 
 forced to seek in America a hiding-place from his assail- 
 ant's blows. In the meanwhile Junius attacked others 
 as well, and with steadily increasing boldness and bitter- 
 ness ; saying much besides what has been quoted in 
 defence, not of Wilkes, but of the principles that were 
 outraged in the treatment to which Wilkes was subjected. 
 Condemning Grafton on public grounds, he held up to 
 ridicule his private character and conduct. ' There is 
 something in both,' he said, ' which distinguishes you 
 not only from all other ministers, but all other men. It 
 is not that you do wrong by design, but that you should 
 never do right by mistake. It is not that your indolence 
 and your activity have been equally misapplied, but that 
 the first uniform principle, or, if I may so call it, the 
 genius of your life, should have carried you through every 
 possible change and contradiction of conduct without the 
 momentary imputation or colour of a virtue, and that 
 the wildest spirit of contradiction should never once 
 have betrayed you into a wise or honourable action.' 
 The Duke of Grafton was Charles II. 's great-grandson, 
 and Junius brought this ugly fact into the controversy. 
 ' The character of the reputed ancestors of some men has 
 made it possible for their descendants to be vicious in 
 the extreme without being degenerate. Those of your 
 grace, for instance, left no distressing examples of virtue, 
 
 1 Letters of Junius, No. 1.
 
 1769-1770. JUNIUS ON THE DUKE OF GBAFTON 187 
 
 even to their legitimate posterity, and you may look 
 back with pleasure to an illustrious pedigree in which 
 heraldry has not left a single good quality upon record 
 to insult or upbraid you. You have better proofs of your 
 descent, my lord, than the register of a marriage, or any 
 troublesome inheritance of reputation. There are some 
 hereditary strokes of character by which a family may be 
 as clearly distinguished as by the blackest features of 
 the human race. Charles I. lived and died a hypocrite. 
 Charles II. was a hypocrite of another sort, and should 
 have died upon the same scaffold. At the distance of a 
 century we see their different characters happily revived 
 and blended in your grace. Sullen and severe without 
 religion, profligate without gaiety, you live like Charles 
 II., without being an amiable companion, and for aught 
 I know may die as his father did, without the reputa- 
 tion of a martyr.' l 
 
 The Duke of Grafton died comfortably forty-two 
 years later, but Junius, along with Lord Chatham and 
 others, worried him out of the premiership in January 
 1770, though he soon returned to take subordinate 
 office, and to be further attacked over and over ao;am 
 
 / o 
 
 by Junius, whose counsel in February he had not cared 
 to follow. ' Retire, my lord,' Junius wrote then, ' and 
 hide your blushes from the world, for with such a load 
 of shame even black may change its colour. A mind 
 such as yours, in the solitary hours of domestic enjoy- 
 ment, may still find topics of consolation. You may 
 find it in the memory of violated friendship, in the 
 afflictions of an accomplished prince whom you have 
 disgraced and deserted, and in the agitations of a great 
 country driven by your counsels to the brink of destruc- 
 tion.' ' Your grace,' he added, ' was the firm minister of 
 yesterday. Lord North is the firm minister of to-day. 
 
 1 Letters of Junius, No. 12.
 
 188 WILKES AND JUNIUS OH. vr. 
 
 To-morrow, perhaps his majesty, in his wisdom, may 
 give us a rival for you both.' l 
 
 The most daring, though not the most violent, of all 
 the letters of Junius was the one he addressed to the 
 king on December 19, 1769, and of which he said a week 
 before, ' I am now meditating a capital and, I hope, a 
 final piece.' 2 
 
 ' It is the misfortune of your life,' this long letter 
 began, ' and originally the cause of every reproach and 
 distress which has attended your government, that you 
 should never have been acquainted with the language 
 of truth until you heard it in the complaints of your 
 people. It is not, however, too late to correct the error 
 of your education.' Junius thereupon proceeded to 
 instruct his majesty on several points, sarcastically pro- 
 posing to ' separate the amiable, good-natured prince 
 from the folly and treachery of his servants, and the pri- 
 vate virtues of the man from the vices of his government.' 
 This was a comprehensive indictment of the policy of past 
 and present ministers whom George III. was blamed 
 for appointing, with particular reference to the Wilkes 
 case ; and plain warning was j oined with plain reproof. 
 ' If the English people should no longer confine their 
 resentment to a submissive representation of their 
 wrongs,' Junius urged, l if, following the glorious ex- 
 ample of their ancestors, they should no longer appeal 
 to the creature of the constitution, but to that high 
 Being who gave them the rights of humanity, whose 
 gifts it were sacrilege to surrender, let me ask you, sir, 
 upon what part of your subjects would you rely for 
 assistance ? The people of Ireland have been uniformly 
 plundered and oppressed. In return they give you 
 every day fresh marks of their resentment. . . . The 
 
 1 Letters of Junius, No. 36. 
 
 ' 2 Private Letters of Junius, No. 15.
 
 1769-1772. JUNIUS ON GEORGE III. 189 
 
 distance of the colonies would make it impossible for 
 them to take an active concern in your affairs, if they 
 were as well affected to your government as they once 
 pretended to be to your person. ... It is not from the 
 alienated affections of Ireland or America that you can 
 reasonably look for assistance ; still less from the people 
 of England, who are actually contending for their rights 
 and, in this great question, are parties against you/ 
 ' The people of England,' he said, in conclusion, ' are 
 loyal to the House of Hanover, not from a vain pre- 
 ference of one family to another, but from a conviction 
 that the establishment of that family was necessary to 
 the support of their civil and religious liberties. This, 
 sir, is a principle of allegiance equally solid and rational, 
 fit for Englishmen to adopt, and well worthy of your 
 majesty's encouragement. We cannot long be deluded 
 by nominal distinctions. The name of Stuart, of it- 
 self, is only contemptible ; armed with the sovereign 
 authority, their principles are formidable. The prince 
 who imitates their conduct should be warned by their 
 example, and, while he plumes himself upon the secu- 
 rity of his title to the crown, should remember that, as 
 it was acquired by one revolution, it may be lost by 
 another.' l 
 
 Junius continued his trenchant letters to ' The Public 
 Advertiser ' for more than two years longer, ending with 
 two indignant articles, which appeared in the same num- 
 ber, on Lord Mansfield, whom he declared to be ' the very 
 worst and most dangerous man in the kingdom ' ; 2 and he 
 wrote on, as Veteran, Anti-Belial, Scotus, Arthur Tell- 
 Truth, and Nemesis, for four months further. But he 
 laid aside his pen in May 1772, and, when asked in the fol- 
 lowing January for fresh contributions, he replied, ' In the 
 
 1 Letters of Junius, No. 35. 
 
 2 Ibid., Nos. 68 and 69.
 
 190 WILKES AND JUNIUS CH. vi. 
 
 present state of things, if J were to write again, I must 
 be as silly as any of the horned cattle that run mad 
 through the city, or any of your wise aldermen. I 
 meant the cause and the public. Both are given up. I 
 feel for the honour of this country when I see there are 
 not two men in it who will unite and stand together 
 upon any one question. But it is all alike vile and 
 contemptible.' l 
 
 Whether Junius was Sir Philip Francis or some 
 one else, it may be assumed that there were other than 
 public reasons for the discontinuance of his news- 
 paper warfare after it had been waged for five years, 
 but while it lasted it raised journalism to a far more 
 important position than it had ever held before, and 
 its influence did not end with its close. Great strides 
 were made between 1755, when 'The Monitor' was 
 started, and 'The North Briton' intervening 1772, 
 when Junius vanished. 
 
 1 Private Letters of Junius, No. C3.
 
 191 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE WOODFALLS AND OTHERS. 
 17601788. 
 
 GEORGE III. bad no liking for newspapers ; but they 
 made great progress during tbe sixty years of bis 
 reign, and partly in consequence of his and his advisers' 
 efforts to restrain them. The fight for liberty, though 
 it was not finished in his day or in the lifetime of either 
 of his sons, was carried on from year to year ; and if 
 no other writer as vigorous as Junius appeared in his 
 generation or in the one that followed it, the same 
 causes that brought Junius into the field led to the 
 continuance and extension of the journalistic work in 
 one line of which he excelled. There was a steady in- 
 crease both of newspaper enterprise and of the power 
 of newspapers in influencing and informing public 
 opinion ; and not a little of the credit is due to the 
 intelligence and zeal of Henry Sampson Woodfall and 
 William Woodfall, two worthy members of a family of 
 printers which was famous all through the eighteenth 
 century. 
 
 Henry Woodfall, the first of this family of whom we 
 have any record, was a printer who in Queen Anne's 
 time, and down to the year 1747 or later, 'carried on 
 a considerable business with reputation' just outside 
 Temple Bar, Pope being one of the many men of 
 letters for whom he worked. He had two sons, Henry
 
 192 THE WOODFALLS AND OTHERS CH. vn, 
 
 and George, who started in trade for themselves during 
 their father's lifetime ; the elder as a printer in Pater- 
 noster Row, the younger as a bookseller at Charing 
 Cross. 1 The second Henry Woodfall, who was master 
 of the Stationers' Company in 1766, and died 'wealthy 
 and respected' in 1769, either obtained through his 
 father or acquired for himself a tenth share of ' The 
 Public Advertiser,' which, as has already been noted, was 
 descended from ' The Daily Post,' started with Defoe's 
 help in 1719, and successively called 'The London 
 Daily Post and General Advertiser '' and ' The General 
 Advertiser' before 1752, when it began to flourish 
 under its more famous name. Though only a partner 
 in the concern, this Henry Woodfall had the manage- 
 ment of the paper till 1758, when he entrusted both the 
 printing and the editing of it to his eldest son, Henry 
 Sampson Woodfall, who was then but nineteen years of 
 age. By the younger Woodfall ' The Public Advertiser ' 
 was skilfully conducted till 1793, when he retired from 
 business. 2 Through more than half of George III.'s 
 reign he was thus one of the most conspicuous men in 
 the newspaper world, but his brother William, six years 
 younger, was in some respects quite as notable a man. 
 William Woodfall had been apprenticed to book- 
 selling under Richard Baldwin, in Paternoster Row, 
 
 o ' 
 
 but, being fond of theatrical society, he had tried 
 his fortunes as an actor for a year or so before 1769, 
 when, at the age of four-and-twenty, and on his father's 
 death, he settled down in the family calling. Besides 
 having some connection with ' The Weekly Packet,' he 
 became printer and editor of a new Whig paper, ' The 
 Morning -Chronicle and London Advertiser,' which was 
 
 1 Nichols, Literary Anecdotes, vol. i. p. 300 ; Notes and Queries, 
 vol. xi. pp. 377, 418 ; vol. xii. pp. 197, 217. 
 
 2 Nichols, vol. i. p. 301.
 
 1760-1788. 'THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER' 193 
 
 then commenced in friendly rivalry to his brother's 
 ' Public Advertiser,' and he managed it successfully 
 during twenty years. 
 
 Of the daily papers published in London when 
 George III. began to reign, the oldest, unless we 
 regard ' The Public Advertiser ' as identical with ' The 
 Daily Post/ were ' The Daily Advertiser/ started in 
 1724, and ' The Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser/ 
 started in 1728 ; but both of these had come to be little 
 more than advertising sheets, containing a few columns 
 of news, but of no political importance. They were far 
 surpassed by ' The Public Advertiser/ which offered, 
 along with a good summary of foreign and domestic 
 intelligence, original articles, and sometimes smart 
 pieces of verse. Its chief attraction to many readers, 
 however, was the ample supply of letters on all sorts of 
 subjects, and from writers of all shades of opinion, which 
 were printed in it. Of these the letters of Junius, 
 whether bearing that famous signature or otherwise 
 designated, were the most important between 1767 and 
 1772, but nearly every day's issue contained at least one 
 that was worth reading. There was hardly a public man 
 who did not use the columns of ' The Public Ad- 
 vertiser ' in order to call attention to some grievance he 
 wanted redressed or to some interest he desired to ad- 
 vance. The most frequent correspondents were Whigs 
 or other opponents of the government ; but minis- 
 terialists, and sometimes even ministers of high rank, 
 wrote to contradict the statements and arguments put 
 forward by their adversaries, and Woodfall prided him- 
 self on the strict impartiality with which he opened his 
 columns to all who gave or sold him matter worth 
 printing and likely to interest or instruct the public. 
 ' Notwithstanding the great and deserved popularity of 
 Junius/ said one who knew this judicious and enter- 
 
 VOL. i. o
 
 194 THE WOODFALLS AND OTHERS CH. vn. 
 
 prising old editor, ' yet as many very able papers on the 
 ministerial side of the question were admitted as on 
 that of the opposition, and without any other preference 
 than priority of receipt, or than the temporary nature 
 of the subject, would demand. With regard to the line 
 of conduct he had adopted respecting his paper in a pecu- 
 niary point of view, it \vas always most scrupulously 
 honourable and correct, and though frequently offered 
 money to suppress certain articles of intelligence not 
 pleasant to the particular individual, yet never could he 
 be prevailed upon to forego what he deemed it his duty 
 to the public for any consideration of such kind, how- 
 ever much to his personal advantage.' l 
 
 Woodfall's publication of letters from amateur 
 journalists and others pleased the readers of ; The 
 Public Advertiser ' as well as the writers, and it was 
 continued in profusion for a long time after the me- 
 morable example set by Junius. It was still the fashion 
 when Crabbe laughed good-humouredly at it in 1785 : 
 
 Now puffs exhausted, advertisements passed, 
 Their correspondents stand exposed at last. 
 These are a numerous tribe, to fame unknown, 
 Who for the public good forego their own ; 
 Who, volunteers in paper war, engage 
 With double portion of their party's rage ; 
 Such are the Bruti, Decii, who appear, 
 Wooing the printer for admission here, 
 Whose generous souls can condescend to pray 
 For leave to throw their precious time away. 
 
 And we can easily understand ho\v, as Crabbe sug- 
 gested, there were more applicants for such permission 
 than could be found room for, even though these un- 
 paid-for contributions lessened the expenses of the paper 
 and provoked the wrath of the professional journalists 
 
 1 Nichols, vol. i. p. 301.
 
 1760-1788. 'THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER' 195 
 
 who suffered in pocket as well as in fame by the 
 rivalry. 
 
 O, cruel Woodfall ! when a patriot draws 
 His grey-goose quill in his dear country's cause, 
 To vex and maul a ministerial race, 
 Can thy stern soul refuse the champion place ? 
 Alas ! thou know'st not with what anxious heart 
 He longs his best-loved labours to impart ; 
 How he has sent them to thy brethren round, 
 And still the same unkind reception found. 
 At length, indignant, will he damn the state, 
 Turn to his trade, and leave us to our fate. 1 
 
 Even Woodfall had need to keep down his expenses 
 and court popularity by printing as many letters of 
 the Junius sort as he could procure. In January 1765, 
 before Junius began to write for it, the average circula- 
 tion of ' The Daily Advertiser ' was less than 2,000, the 
 whole month's sale being only 47,575 copies. In 
 December 1768, while Junius was writing, though not 
 under that title, the circulation was about 3,000, or 
 75,450 in the course of the month. There was no con- 
 siderable change during 1769 till December 19, when 
 the letter to the king appeared, and when, though 1,750 
 additional copies were printed, there was not one to be 
 bought at any price a few hours after the publication. 
 The later Junius letters do not appear to have increased 
 the circulation much further, as in December 1771, 
 when all but the last two had appeared, the total sale 
 was only 83,950, or a daily average of about 3,200. 2 
 
 Some other curious statistics have been preserved, 
 which throw light on the working expenses of ' The 
 Public Advertiser ' at this time. During 1 773, it 
 would seem, the entire cost of collecting and translating 
 foreign news, including the purchase of foreign news- 
 
 1 Crabbe, The Newspaper. 
 
 - The Athenaeum, July 1848 and July 1849 ; Nos. 1,082, 1,083, and 
 1,132.
 
 196 THE WOODFALLS AND OTHEES OH. vn. 
 
 papers, was 114:1. while the charge for 'home news 
 and incidents ' was 282?. 4s. ll^d., besides 12/. for 
 ' Lloyd's Coffee-house for post news/ 3 11. 10s. for 
 ' Mr. Green for post entries,' and 8?. 5,9. for a ' Ports- 
 mouth letter,' as well as 50?. for 'plantation, Irish, 
 Scotch, and country papers/ 261. 8s. $\d for London 
 ' morning and evening papers/ and 15?. 15s. for ' a per- 
 son to go daily to fetch in advertisements, get evening 
 papers, &c.' Other entries are for ' setting up extra 
 advertisements/ 3 \L 10s. ; ' clerk, and to collect debts/ 
 30?. ; and ' bad debts/ 18?. 35. 6d. These modest 
 items in a complete year's working of a daily paper 
 were augmented by a charge of 2101. 19s. 6d. for Drury 
 Lane, Covent Garden, and other playhouse ' advertise- 
 ments/ the theatres at that time being paid for the 
 privilege of printing their playbills in advance, instead 
 of as now paying heavily for the insertion of their 
 announcements. The record evidently does not include 
 the payments made to the editor or to contributors 
 other than the mere compilers of news. Nor are we 
 told what were the proceeds of sales ; but the income 
 from advertisements after payment of the tax then 
 levied averaged 50?. a week, and in 1774 the total 
 profits, after payment of all expenses, were 1,740?. 
 That sum was divided among the several proprietors, 
 among whom John Rivington and James Dodsley, be- 
 sides Henry Sampson Woodfall, each had a tenth share, 
 and Thomas Longman, Thomas Cadell, and William 
 Strahan had a twentieth apiece. 1 
 
 The most important rival of ' The Public Adver- 
 tiser ' at the commencement of George III.'s reign 
 was ' The Public Ledger, a Daily Register of Commerce 
 and Intelligence/ started on January 12, 1760, by New- 
 berry, the bookseller in St. Paul's Churchyard, and 
 
 1 Knight Hunt, Fourth Estate, vol. ii. pp. 191, 192.
 
 17(30. GEORGE IH.'S NEWSPAPERS 197 
 
 edited by Griffith Jones. ' Unwilling to raise expec- 
 tations which we may perhaps find ourselves unable 
 to satisfy,' its projectors announced in their first number, 
 4 we have made no mention of criticism or literature, 
 which yet we do not professedly exclude, nor shall we 
 reject any political essays which are apparently cal- 
 culated for the public good.' Before it came to be a 
 bald record of commercial items, however, ' The Public 
 Ledger ' was conducted with much spirit, and provided 
 attractive reading for Tories and others. Goldsmith 
 wrote for it as a ' Citizen of the World,' and received a 
 guinea apiece for two articles each week. 1 
 
 dewberry's other paper, ' The Universal Chronicle,' 
 now incorporated with ' The Westminster Gazette,' con- 
 tinued, after Johnson had ceased to contribute to it as 
 f the Idler,' to be for some time the favourite Tory 
 weekly ; and as a Saturday miscellany it offered formid- 
 able rivalry to the many others of the same class that 
 were now in the field, most of them with a Whig bias, 
 and including the veteran ' Read's Weekly Journal,' 
 which had existed nearly half a century. Among the 
 numerous tri- weekly papers, ' The St. James's Chro- 
 nicle ' started in 1760 as an independent Whig organ 
 on the same lines as ' The Public Advertiser,' the 
 more democratic ' London Evening Post ' and the Tory 
 ' London Chronicle ' took precedence in their several 
 ways ; others being ' The General Evening Post ' and 
 4 Lloyd's Evening Post.' But the number of miscel- 
 laneous papers, some of them ephemeral and others 
 long-lived, had by this time become so great, that it 
 would be tedious to attempt such a chronicle of their 
 appearances and disappearances as has been offered for 
 the earlier and less crowded stages of newspaper history. 
 Since the commencement of George lll.'s reign every 
 
 1 Forster, Life of Goldsmith.
 
 198 THE WOODFALLS AND OTHERS OH. vn. 
 
 year has had its own parcel of fresh journals started in 
 London and the provincial towns, and only those of 
 most importance need be mentioned. 
 
 One new paper, too interesting to be overlooked, 
 was ' The Middlesex Journal, or Chronicle of Liberty/ 
 of which the first number appeared on April 4, 1769, 
 and which was issued every Tuesday, Thursday, and 
 Saturday, during a few years. It was commenced nine 
 days before the third Middlesex election of that year, 
 when, Wilkes having been twice returned without a 
 contest to represent the county in parliament, and 
 twice deprived of his seat by the vote of the House 
 of Commons, the constituents once again insisted upon 
 returning the man of their choice. ' The Middlesex 
 Journal,' started by Lord Mayor Beckford and the citi- 
 zens and others who supported Wilkes, and at first 
 published by Isaac Fell, was an angry and outspoken 
 opponent of the tyrannical policy adopted by the 
 government. ' Roused by an honest indignation, against 
 those venal abettors of despotism, and animated with 
 the warmest attachment to the genuine cause of liberty, 
 enemies to every species of licentiousness, and at the 
 same time professing the most steady adherence to our 
 sovereign,' it was said in the opening article, ' we under- 
 take to vindicate the cause of depressed liberty by exhi- 
 biting in full view to the people every measure that has 
 already been taken, and every attempt that may farther 
 be made upon that great charter of our laws, that 
 palladium of English liberty, which, purchased by the 
 best blood, has been maintained by the warmest zeal of 
 the wisest and best men this nation has ever produced.' 
 Wilkes 's address to the electors of Middlesex, dated 
 from King's Bench prison on March 23, was printed in 
 this number, and other signed manifestoes by him, 
 along with forcible articles and pungent letters by
 
 1769. 'THE MIDDLESEX JOURNAL' 199 
 
 various writers, appeared in succeeding numbers. Of 
 general news, chiefly taken from the daily papers, about 
 as much was here given as was furnished in the other 
 tri- weekly journals ; but ' Wilkes and liberty ' was its 
 standing theme, enforced with considerable vigour and 
 variety of illustration, according to the varying inci- 
 dents in the prolonged struggle between the Wilkites 
 and George III.'s ministers. ' The Middlesex Journal,' 
 unlike ' The North Briton,' was a regular newspaper 
 instead of being a weekly pamphlet, and if its leading 
 articles lacked the literary skill of Junius's letters, 
 and are to us somewhat tedious reading, they served 
 well enough the purpose for which they were written. 
 There was a 'poet's corner' as well as an abundance of 
 prose argument and denunciation, and the following 
 verses from the first number, suggested by the recent 
 ' ennobling of a baronet,' are a fair sample of the quality 
 of the whole : 
 
 In former times (but heaven be praised 
 
 We've no such doings now !) 
 Some men to peerages were raised, 
 
 The world knew why and how. 
 
 The modern method is to sink 
 
 Contempt in one short word ; 
 For when a name begins to stink 
 
 We call the thing a Lord. 
 
 One of the contributors to ' The Middlesex Journal ' 
 was Thomas Chatterton, whose unhappy career in 
 London illustrates in their saddest phase some of the 
 difficulties of newspaper writers in the London of George 
 III.'s and Johnson's time, though it would be as unfair 
 to regard this poor boy's adventures as an average 
 specimen of j ournalistic experience in those or any other 
 days as it would be to judge him by the ordinary canons 
 of ethics or to hold him responsible for the blunders 
 into which his erratic and precocious genius led him.
 
 200 THE WOODFALLS AND OTHERS CH. vn. 
 
 Chatterton was not yet eighteen when he left Bristol 
 to seek fame and fortune in London, but several of 
 his poems had appeared in ' Felix Farley's Bristol 
 Journal,' and, besides corresponding with Dodsley, 
 the learned bookseller, who was kinder to him than 
 Horace Walpole, he had sent up contributions to ' The 
 Town and Country Magazine ' and to ' The Middlesex 
 Journal.' These latter, violent political letters in imita- 
 tion of Junius's style, which, signed Decimus, had been 
 printed in the numbers for February 24 and March 17, 
 were very remarkable indeed as the productions of a 
 youth of seventeen, but not otherwise of much interest. 
 The success Chatterton had already achieved evidently 
 led him to expect that in the metropolis he would 
 quickly make his way, and during the first month he 
 had ground for hoping. Reaching his kinswoman's 
 house in Shoreditch on April 26, he next day, as he 
 informed his mother, had encouraging interviews with 
 four editors Dodsley, who had charge of ' The Political 
 Register,' and the publishers of ' TheTown and Country 
 Magazine,' of ' The Middlesex Journal,' and of ' The 
 Freeholder's Magazine,' a monthly publication of the 
 same political tone. All promised him work, and he soon 
 obtained promises from seven or eight other editors, in- 
 cluding Bingley, who, as Wilkes's successor, was still 
 carrying on ' The Xorth Briton.' ' Occasional essays for 
 the daily papers,' he wrote in high spirits to his mother 
 on May 6, ' would more than support me. What a 
 glorious prospect ! Mr. Wilkes knew me by my writings 
 since I first corresponded with the booksellers. He 
 affirmed that what Mr. Fell had of mine could not be 
 the writings of a youth.' l Fell appears to have been 
 at this time editing ' The Freeholder's Magazine,' the 
 
 1 Chatterton, Poetical Works (edited by W. Skeat, with memoir by 
 E. Bell), vol. i. pp. Ixxxiv. 338,
 
 1769. CHATTERTON AS A JOURNALIST 201 
 
 editor of ' The Middlesex ' now being either Hamilton 
 or Edmunds ; but all these three were friends and fellow- 
 workers, who exchanged articles with one another at 
 their convenience, as also with the editors of ' The Town 
 and Country ' and ' The Political Register.' 
 
 In ' The Middlesex Journal ' five articles signed 
 Decimus and two signed Probus, all by Chatterton, were 
 printed during May, the longest being one addressed to 
 Lord Mayor Beckford, with reference to the appeals he 
 was at this time making to King George III. on behalf of 
 the citizens of London for the recognition of Wilkes's 
 right to sit in parliament. It was dated May 18 and pub- 
 lished on the 24th. ' You have doubtless heard of the lord 
 mayor's remonstrating and addressingthe king,' Chatter- 
 ton wrote to his sister on the 30th, ' but it will be a piece 
 of news to inform you that I have been with the lord 
 mayor on the occasion. Having addressed an essay to 
 his lordship, it was very well received perhaps better 
 than it deserved and I waited on his lordship to have 
 his approbation and to address a second letter to him 
 on the subject of the remonstrance and its reception. 
 His lordship received me as politely as a citizen could, 
 and warmly invited me to call on him again.' l 
 
 For four of his articles in ' The Middlesex ' Chatterton 
 received in May 2^. half a guinea apiece for three, and 
 eight and sixpence for one ; and he earned by other 
 newspaper work 2/. 15-s. 9t7., including half a guinea for 
 ' The Consuliad,' a poem of two hundred lines, and 
 -another half-guinea for sixteen songs, to be printed in 
 ' The Town and Country Magazine.' 2 Though this was 
 poor pay, even for those days, the young man might 
 have been satisfied with it had he continued to find a 
 market for his writings. But the demand soon fell off, 
 and some of the editors who accepted contributions from, 
 
 1 Chatterton, vol. i. p. 348. - Ibid., vol. i. p. Ixxxviii.
 
 202 THE WOODFALLS AND OTHERS CH. vir. 
 
 him could not or would not pay, even when they used 
 
 them. Chatterton was a hot democrat, anxious to o;o 
 
 o 
 
 further than \Yilkes ; and though his views were popu- 
 lar in London, they were not profitable. ' The devil 
 of the matter is,' he said in the letter just quoted from, 
 'there is no money to be got on this side of the ques- 
 tion. Interest is on the other side. But he is a poor 
 author who cannot write on both sides.' There we see 
 how quickly he learned the lesson which hard experience 
 had taught so many other and older struggiers in the 
 field of journalism. ' Essay writing, ' he said soon after- 
 wards, with the cynicism of a veteran, ' has this ad- 
 vantage, you are sure of constant pay, and when you 
 have once wrote a piece which makes the author in- 
 quired after, you may bring the bookseller to your terms. 
 Essays on the patriotic side fetch no more than what 
 the copy is sold for.' And he added, ' They publish 
 " The Gospel Magazine " here. For a whim I write in 
 it. I believe there are not any in Bristol. They are 
 hardly worth the carriage methodistical and unmean- 
 ing.' l To his grief he speedily found that not even for 
 such hack work as he was prepared to do was there 
 ' constant pay ' or a sufficient market. 
 
 Lord Mayor Beckforcl died suddenly on May 30, 
 only a week after his famous interview with the king, 
 and before Chatterton could publish the ' second letter ' 
 that he had planned and actually sent in to Bingley of 
 ' The North Briton.' On hearing the news, according 
 to the friend with whom he was lodging, Chatterton 
 ' was perfectly frantic and out of his mind, and said he 
 was ruined.' - He recovered heart enough to write an 
 elegy on the patron from whom he had expected much, 
 which was published in a shilling pamphlet, and at least 
 two prose articles on the same subject ; but on the back 
 
 1 Chatterton, vol. i. pp. 349, 350. ~ Ibid,, vol. i. p. Ixxxix.
 
 1769. CHATTERTON AS A JOURNALIST 203 
 
 of the returned ' second letter ' he scribbled, with more 
 petulance than good taste, ' Accepted by Bingley, set 
 for, and driven out of "North Briton," 21 June, 011 
 account of the lord mayor's death. Lost by his death 
 on this essay, ll. 11.9. 6d., and gained in elegies 2/. 2*. ; 
 essays, Si. 3s. = 5/. 5s. Am glad he is dead by 
 3/. 13s. 6d. J 1 But though he made this profit, and 
 having shifted his lodgings, where he had shared with 
 his landlady's nephew a bed of which he made little 
 use, as he sat up writing more than half the night, and 
 having taken a garret in which he could work without 
 interruption made desperate efforts to secure a footing 
 among the London journalists, the task was more than 
 he could achieve. ' The printers of the daily publica- 
 tions,' he informed his sister at the end of June, ' are all 
 frightened out of their patriotism, and will take nothing 
 unless 'tis moderate or ministerial. I have not had five 
 patriotic essays this fortnight ; all must be ministerial 
 or entertaining.' 2 ' Almost all the next " Town and 
 Country Magazine " is mine,' he wrote in cheerful mood 
 on July 20 ; but when the number was published he 
 found that nearly everything he had sent in had been 
 withheld, and so much as was printed does not seem 
 to have been paid for. A memorandum found in his 
 pocket-book after his death showed that ll/. was owing 
 to him for articles accepted by various editors during 
 his less than four months' residence in London. 3 On 
 August 25, a day before the four months were over, his 
 over-taxed brain gave way, and, while yet three months 
 were wanting to bring him to his eighteenth birthday, 
 this most precocious, and in some other respects most 
 remarkable of English journalists, put an end to his life. 
 Chatterton had come to London at an inauspicious 
 
 1 Chattei-ton, vol. i. p. Ixxxix. ~ Ibid., vol. i. p. 356. 
 
 3 Ibid., vol. i. p. xciii.
 
 204 THE WOODFALLS AND OTHERS CH. vir. 
 
 time. The letters of Junius, though the greater skill 
 with which they were written rendered them more 
 offensive and more injurious to the court and the 
 ministry than anything that Wilkes had printed in ' The 
 North Briton,' were so much more cautiously worded 
 that it was by no means easy to find a pretext for 
 punishing those who issued them, especially as the sub- 
 stantial victory won by Wilkes, in spite of his as yet 
 unredressed wrongs, and the great popularity thus 
 acquired by him, rendered further persecutions dan- 
 gerous. The irritation and indignation caused and ex- 
 pressed in aristocratic circles, however, if they did not 
 frighten Junius, alarmed others, and it was only rea- 
 sonable that editors, who may have themselves agreed 
 with Chatterton, should have shrunk from publishing 
 such violent articles as he enjoyed writing. And, soon 
 after his arrival, the democratic editors and publishers 
 were forcibly reminded that the authorities were not pre- 
 pared to submit meekly to all that was said against them. 
 The first to suffer was John Almon, a bookseller in 
 Piccadilly, who published ' The London Museum,' one 
 of the short-lived monthly magazines that were then 
 plentiful. Almon, who also published ' The Political 
 Register,' had already given personal offence to 
 George III. by printing in it a proposal that the king 
 had previously made for increasing the army in Ireland ; 
 and, as a zealous collector of parliamentary news for 
 ' The London Evening Post,' he was obnoxious to many 
 others. He was accordingly singled out for prosecution 
 on the charge of reprinting in ' The London Museum,' 
 as others had done elsewhere, Junius's famous letter to 
 the king. He was tried before Lord Mansfield on 
 June 2, 1770, at the King's Bench, Westminster, found 
 guilty, and fined ten marks, or 61. 13s. 4cd. l 
 
 1 Almon, Biographical, Literary, and Political Anecdotes.
 
 1770. TRIALS FOR LIBELLING THE KING 205 
 
 The trial of Henry Sampson Woodfall, who was 
 deemed more culpable, as the obnoxious letter had ori- 
 ginally appeared in ' The Public Advertiser/ followed 
 on June 13, but it was held at the King's Bench, 
 Guildhall, where the jury was more independent, and it 
 had a different result. Lord Mansfield, who presided here 
 also, in the course of his vindictive summing-up, laid it 
 down as law that, ' as for the intention, the malice, the 
 sedition, or any harder words which might be given in 
 informations for libels, public or private, they were 
 merely formal words, mere words of course, mere in- 
 ferences of law, with which the jury were not to concern 
 themselves ' in plain terms, that they were not to 
 decide whether the king had been libelled or not, but 
 whether or not what the authorities regarded as a libel 
 had been published in ' The Public Advertiser.' l As 
 Junius himself mockingly explained, ' Conscious that 
 the paper in question contained no treasonable or libel- 
 lous matter, and that the severest parts of it, however 
 painful to the king or offensive to his servants, were 
 strictly true, Lord Chief Justice Mansfield would fain 
 have restricted the jury to the finding of special facts, 
 which, as to guilty or not guilty, were merely indif- 
 ferent. This particular motive, combined with the 
 general purpose to contract the power of juries, will 
 account for the charge he delivered. He told the jury, 
 in so many words, that they had nothing to determine, 
 except the fact of printing and publishing, and that, 
 whether the defendant had committed a crime or not 
 was no matter of consideration.' 2 The jury, after more 
 than nine hours' deliberation, took the judge at his 
 word, and returned a verdict of ' guilty of printing and 
 publishing only,' which was in effect an acquittal. 
 
 Next month, on July 10, on another of the trials 
 
 1 State Trials, vol. xx. p. 895. % Letters of Junius, preface.
 
 206 THE WOODFALLS AND OTHERS ca. vir. 
 
 growing out of the Junius letter, when the case of John 
 Miller, the publisher of ' The London Evening Post,' was 
 before the court, the jury more boldly returned a dis- 
 tinct verdict of not guilty. 1 
 
 These verdicts were important triumphs, and secured 
 practical immunity for Woodfall and all, except Almon, 
 who were arraigned for participation in his offence, and 
 they were followed by one of the most scathing of 
 Junius's letters, the one of November 14, 1770. in which 
 he held Lord Mansfield up to public scorn for much 
 besides his effort to override the functions of a jury in 
 trials for libel. ' 2 But Lord Mansfield's rulino- though 
 
 C5" O 
 
 loudly protested against in print and hotly debated in 
 both houses of parliament, Charles James Fox sup- 
 porting it and Edmund Burke eloquently denouncing it, 
 was not reversed in his time, and furnished a pernicious 
 precedent for tyrannising over the press during the next 
 one-and-twenty years. 3 
 
 Meanwhile the press advanced in spite of persecu- 
 tions. The example set by Henry Sampson Woodfall 
 in making ' The Public Advertiser ' an enterprising and 
 trustworthy retailer of general news and repository of 
 instructive letters by able critics of the government, was 
 followed more or less successfully by other editors ; and 
 as efficient service to journalism was rendered in other 
 ways by his younger brother, William, who conducted 
 ' The Morning Chronicle ' for twenty years, from its 
 commencement on June 28, 1769. 4 
 
 1 State Trials, vol. xx. p. 870. 2 Letters of Juuius, No. 41. 
 
 ?l See the next chapter. 
 
 4 Dr. Charles Mackay, in his Through the Long Day (vol. i. p. CO), 
 gives the names of the twenty original proprietors of The Morning 
 Chronicle, appended to 'a deed signed on October 23, 1760' ap- 
 parently a misprint for 1769. Among these proprietors there were, 
 besides William Woodfall, six booksellers John Murray, William Griffin, 
 T. Evans, J. Spilsbury, James Robson, and Peter Elmsley. Other pro- 
 prietors were James Christie, the auctioneer, James Bowles, the stationer, 
 George Kearsley, and William Kenrick, whose name stands first in the list.
 
 1770. WILLIAM WOODFALL'S MEMORY 207 
 
 William Woodfall deserves none the less to be 
 honoured because, in the enthusiastic exercise of his 
 peculiar talent, he cared more for the improvement of 
 the craft to which he devoted himself than for his own 
 pecuniary advantage. ' His memory,' we are told by 
 one of his friends, ' was uncommonly retentive, and, 
 were it not for this quality, he would probably have 
 risen to affluence in a world upon which he entered with 
 a competence, and left in very humble circumstances. 
 Aided and incited, however, by this advantage, he ex- 
 plored a path hitherto unknown, and commenced a 
 career of great but unprofitable labour the fatiguing 
 and difficult task of giving a report of the debates in 
 the two houses of parliament on the night of the pro- 
 ceedings. In this line he attained the highest degree of 
 celebrity, as well for the fidelity of his report as the 
 quality and rapidity of his execution.' Before his time, 
 no editors took the trouble, except on occasions of 
 special importance, to publish on the morning of one 
 day any report, or more than a bare account in a few 
 lines, of the previous day's parliamentary debates, and 
 often such reports as appeared were two or three days 
 in arrear, and only inserted when room was found for 
 them by lack of other matter. Woodfall made it his busi- 
 ness, acting as his own reporter, to give all such intelli- 
 gence not only with unusual promptness, but also with 
 almost unprecedented fulness ; and in doing this he made 
 good use of rare natural gifts. ' Without taking a note 
 to assist his memory,' it is added, ' without the use of 
 an amanuensis to ease his labour, he has been known 
 to write sixteen columns after having sat in a crowded 
 gallery for as many hours, without an interval of rest. 
 He took pride in his exertion, which brought him more 
 praise than profit. It wore down his constitution, which 
 was naturally good, and when other papers, by the
 
 208 THE WOODFALLS AND OTHERS CH. TIT, 
 
 division of labour produced the same length of details 
 with an earlier publication, he yielded the contest.' 1 
 ' His practice in the House of Commons during a debate,' 
 says another contemporary, ' was to close his eyes, and 
 to lean both hands on his stick. He was so well ac- 
 quainted with the tone and manner of the several 
 speakers that he only deviated from his customary 
 position when a new member addressed the house, and, 
 having heard his name, he had no subsequent occasion 
 for further inquiry.' 2 
 
 Permission thus to make himself at home in the 
 gallery of the House of Commons, and to use his 
 wonderful memory for the public instruction, was not 
 obtained by William Woodfall without a hard struggle, 
 in which others took part with him and preceded him. 
 The devices by which Dr. Johnson and his rivals in 
 the compilation of parliamentary debates evaded the 
 rules of both houses in the time of George II. have 
 already been noted. The early parliaments of George 
 III. were more tenacious of their privilege as re- 
 gards the exclusion of strangers than most of their 
 forerunners, and violent measures were sometimes re- 
 sorted to for keeping even peers out of the House of 
 Commons and commoners out of the House of Lords, 
 whenever matters were being discussed about which it 
 was thought desirable that none but actual members 
 should be informed. The meagre accounts of proceed- 
 ings in either house which the weekly and daily news- 
 papers furnished when they began to follow the example 
 of the monthly magazines were generally short and not 
 too accurate records of gossip obtained from members, 
 and even these often brought those who published them 
 into trouble. John Almon, who was the most enter- 
 
 1 Nichols, Literary Anecdotes, vol. i. p. 303. 
 
 2 John Taylor, Records of my Life, vol. ii. p. 245.
 
 1771. PARLIAMENT AND THE REPORTERS 209 
 
 prising precursor of William Woodfall, and whose re- 
 ports appeared in ' The London Evening Post/ was the 
 cause of several prosecutions, directed either against 
 himself or against the printer of the paper. According 
 to Almon, one member of the House of Peers who 
 was particularly zealous in upholding its rights, made 
 it his special business ' to examine the newspapers every 
 day with the ardour that a hawk prowls for prey ; 
 whenever he found any lord's name printed in any 
 paper, he immediately made a motion against the 
 printer for a breach of privilege.' On one occasion three 
 printers were fined 100/. apiece, and another 200/., for 
 an offence of this sort. 1 The House of Commons was 
 less tyrannical or less able to control the journals which 
 persisted in saying something about its proceedings 
 nearly every day, but its members resented the insult- 
 ing terms in which the reports were often given, and 
 more frequently than ever when such scandals as the 
 expulsion of Wilkes were being dealt with. George 
 Onslow, for example, had to complain that he had been 
 spoken of as ' little cocking George/ l the little scoun- 
 drel/ and ' that little paltry, insignificant insect/ and 
 that he and his cousin had been described as * the con- 
 stellations of the two bears, one being called the great 
 and the other the little scoundrel.' 2 
 
 At length on February 8, 1771, this Onslow not 
 only complained but induced the house to summon 
 E. Thompson, the printer of ' The Gazetteer/ and John 
 Wheble, the printer of ' The Middlesex Journal/ to 
 appear before it and answer to the charge of ' misrepre- 
 senting the speeches and reflecting on several members.' 
 The offenders paid no heed to this order, five times 
 
 1 Andrews, British Journalism, vol. i. p. 197. 
 
 8 Cavendish Debates, cited by Sir Erskine May, Constitutional History, 
 chapter vii. 
 
 VOL. 1. P
 
 210 THE WOODFALLS AND OTHERS CH. vn. 
 
 repeated, and when an officer of the house was commis- 
 sioned to take them into custody, he was mockingly 
 refused admission to the rooms they occupied. A royal 
 proclamation was then issued for their apprehension, 
 and a reward of 50/. offered to anyone who gave them 
 up. On March 12, moreover, similar complaints were 
 made in the house against William Woodfall, of ' The 
 Morning Chronicle,' T. Evans, of ' The London Packet,' 
 Henry Baldwin, of ' The St. James's Chronicle,' T. 
 Wright, of ' The Whitehall Evening Post,' John Miller, 
 of ' The London Evening Post,' and J. Bladon, of ' The 
 General Evening Post,' and their arrest, also, was 
 ordered. Woodfall was reported to be already under- 
 going punishment by order of the House of Lords. 
 Baldwin, Bladon, and Wright surrendered, apologised, 
 and were discharged, and Miller, after hiding himself, 
 surrendered and was imprisoned for a short time ; but 
 Evans wrote to the Speaker denying the right of the 
 house to interfere with him, and Miller quietly ignored 
 the order, as Wheble and Thompson had done. 1 Of 
 Evans we lose sight, but a tough battle was fought 
 over the three others. 
 
 It is fair to note that, though George III. signed 
 the proclamation on which this struggle ensued, he did 
 so under protest, and with doubt as to its expediency. 
 ' It is highly necessary,' he wrote to Lord North, ' that 
 this strange and lawless method of publishing debates 
 in the papers should be put a stop to ; but is not the 
 House of Lords, as a court of record, the best court to 
 bring such miscreants before ? as it can fine as well as 
 imprison, and as the lords have broader shoulders to 
 
 1 Journals of the House of Commons, vol. xxxiii. pp. 149, 208, 234, 249- 
 259. Parliamentary sanction of these proceedings was not obtained with- 
 out much of what would now be called obstruction. There were twenty- 
 three divisions, and one sitting lasted till past four in the morning. 
 ' Posterity will bless the pertinaciousness of that day,' said Burke.
 
 1771. REPORTERS AND THEIR CHAMPIONS 211 
 
 support any odium that this salutary measure may 
 occasion in the minds of the vulgar.' l 
 
 The recalcitrant printers were supported by Wilkes 
 and the whole body of London democrats, and on 
 March 14, Wheble, who was still at large, forwarded to 
 the Speaker counsel's opinion as to the illegality of the 
 proclamation against him, and declared that it was his 
 intention ' to yield no obedience but to the laws of 
 the land.' Next day, however, he was apprehended by 
 E. T. Carpenter, a journeyman printer, who was evi- 
 dently in collusion with the champions of liberty, and 
 brought up at the Guildhall, where Wilkes, as alderman 
 of Farringdon Without, was at the moment sitting as 
 magistrate. Wilkes at once discharged Wheble, binding 
 him over to prosecute Carpenter for assault and false 
 imprisonment, and wrote a letter of formal complaint 
 to Lord Halifax, the secretary of state, concerning 
 Wheble' s arrest by a person who was ' neither a con- 
 stable nor a peace officer of the city,' and this not for 
 any legal offence, but under a proclamation which was 
 1 in direct violation of the rights of an Englishman and 
 of the chartered privileges of a citizen of this metro- 
 polis.' 2 
 
 On this same 15th of March, Thompson, who had 
 been arrested by another friendly printer, was taken 
 before Alderman Oliver at the Mansion House, and by 
 him similarly discharged as ' not being accused of having 
 committed any crime.' 3 
 
 On the 16th more exciting business occurred. 
 Wheble and Thompson had been arrested under cover 
 of a royal proclamation. Miller was now taken into 
 custody under a warrant from the Speaker, acted on 
 by Whittam, a House of Commons messenger, who had 
 
 1 Corresponde'nce with Lord North, vol. i. p. 57. 
 Parliamentary History, vol. xvii. p. 95. 3 Ibid. 
 
 p 2
 
 212 THE WOODFALLS AND OTHERS CH. vir. 
 
 forced his way into Miller's shop in order to find him. 
 Miller protested, sent for a constable, and gave his 
 captor into custody on a charge of assault and false 
 imprisonment. Both were then taken to the Mansion 
 House, where Brass Crosby, the lord mayor, was 
 sitting, with Wilkes and Oliver to support him, and 
 these magistrates, dismissing the charge against Miller, 
 committed Whittam for trial at the next quarter sessions, 
 Wilkes again writing to Lord Halifax to condemn the 
 illegal proceedings against the printers. 1 
 
 All this was more than the government and its 
 majority in the House of Commons could meekly submit 
 to. On the 18th the lord mayor and Oliver, who were 
 both members of the house, were ordered to appear 
 on separate days in their places and answer for their 
 conduct, and Wilkes, who had been deprived of his 
 membership, was ordered to appear at the bar. ' I own,' 
 wrote the king, ' I could have wished that Wilkes had 
 not been ordered before the house, for he must be in 
 gaol the next term if not given new life by some 
 punishment inflicted on him, which will bring him new 
 supplies ; and I do not doubt that he will hold such 
 lano;uao;e that will oblige some notice to be taken of 
 
 O a 
 
 him.' 2 Wilkes instead of appearing, wrote to say that, 
 as he had not been addressed as a member of parliament, 
 the summons was informal and he should not obey it. 
 It was twice repeated, but as on the third occasion his 
 attendance was, apparently by design, appointed for a 
 day on which the house was not sitting, the proceedings 
 against him lapsed. 3 In the meanwhile his colleagues 
 had brought matters to a crisis. 
 
 1 Parliamentary History, vol. xvii. p. 98. 
 
 2 Correspondence with Lord North, vol. i. p. 66. Wilkes, it should be 
 noted, was now, as nearly always, heavily in debt, and waiting for more 
 of the public subscriptions 011 which he had learnt to rely. 
 
 3 Parliamentary History, vol. xvii. p. 113.
 
 1771. REPORTERS AND THEIR CHAMPIONS 213 
 
 On March 19 Lord Mayor Crosby, though troubled 
 with a violent attack of gout, drove up to Westminster, 
 attended by an enthusiastic crowd of citizens, who 
 could with difficulty be prevented from following him 
 into the house itself. In his defence he quoted the 
 city charters, and argued that he was bound by his office 
 to protect all citizens from assault by outsiders of what- 
 ever sort, and after some altercation his request for 
 leave to be further heard through counsel, ' so as they 
 do not affect or controvert the privileges of the house,' 
 was acceded to ; and a like permission was afterwards 
 given to Alderman Oliver. Without waiting for the 
 result, however, the house ordered the lord mayor's 
 clerk to produce the city minute book, and compelled 
 him, standing at the table, to erase from it the record of 
 the proceedings against Whittam ; Burke and a great 
 many other members, when their protests were unavail- 
 ing, formally walking out of the house in order to 
 emphasise their resentment of what Lord Chatham de- 
 scribed as ' the act of a mob, not of a parliament.' l 
 
 The next stage in the contest was reached on March 
 25, when Crosby and Oliver, accompanied by a larger 
 and angrier crowd than before, which made so much 
 
 o ' 
 
 noise outside that members could hardly hear one 
 another speak, announced that, after due consideration, 
 they did not intend to employ counsel, but were pre- 
 pared to uphold their action. The house thereupon 
 resolved that its privileges had been grossly violated. 
 Crosby was allowed to go home for that evening, his 
 friends unharnessing the horses and bearing him off in 
 triumph to the Mansion House ; but Oliver, after de- 
 claring that he gloried in what he had done, and that, 
 ' as he expected little from their justice, he defied their 
 
 1 Parliamentary History, vol. xvii. pp. 117-121 ; Walpole, Memoirs, 
 vol. iv. p. 294.
 
 214 THE WOODFALLS AND OTHERS CH. YEU 
 
 power/ was ordered to the Tower, after a fierce debate 
 which continued till half-past three in the morning. At 
 the next meeting of the house the lord mayor again 
 attended, the crowd that came with him blocking up 
 Palace Yard and rendering it very difficult for the minis- 
 terialist members, who were hustled and pelted with 
 stones and mud, to reach the doors, and Lord North, who 
 was inj ured in the fray, having his carriage broken to 
 pieces. When the members had contrived to assemble, it 
 was proposed that in consideration of the lord mayor's 
 health he should be merely placed under the custody of 
 the sergeant- at- arms, but this he refused. ' I ask no 
 favour of this house,' he exclaimed ; ' I crave no mercy 
 from the treasury bench. I am ready to go to my noble 
 friend at the Tower if the house shall order me. My 
 conscience is clear, and tells me that I have kept my 
 oath and done my duty to the city of which I have the 
 honour to be chief magistrate, and to my country. I 
 have no apology to make for having acted uprightly, 
 and I fear not any resentment in consequence of such 
 conduct.' To the Tower accordingly he was sent. 1 
 
 Lord Chatham expressed the view of moderate 
 statesmen in blaming both sides in this struggle. 
 ' Great,' he said, ' is the absurdity of the city in putting 
 the quarrel on the exercise of the most tenable privilege 
 the house is possessed of a right to summon before 
 them printers printing their debates during the session. 
 Incomparable is the wrong-headedness and folly of the 
 court, ignorant how to be twenty-four hours on good 
 ground ; for they have most ingeniously contrived to 
 be guilty of the rankest tyranny in every step taken 
 to assert the right.' 2 Junius, as was to have been ex- 
 
 1 Parliamentary History, vol. xvii. pp. 125, 155-157 ; Letters of Junius, 
 note to No. 44. 
 
 2 Gi-enville Papers, vol. iv. p. 533.
 
 1771. REPORTERS AND THEIR CHAMPIONS 2 15 
 
 pected, sided with the city against the court and its 
 minions in both houses of parliament. ' The triplet 
 union of crown, lords, and commons against England,' 
 he wrote, signing himself ' an Englishman, and enemy 
 to the cabinet therefore,' on March 25, the day before 
 Crosby and Oliver were locked up, ' displays itself with 
 a violence and candour which statesmen in other con- 
 spiracies seldom have adopted. It is no more a question 
 of royal antipathy or feminine unrelenting resentment, 
 it is not a single inconsequent act of arbitrary power, 
 it is not the offensive individual, but the free constitu- 
 tion of this country whose destruction engages the 
 influence of the crown and the authority of parliament. 
 The House of Commons assume a power of imprison- 
 ment during pleasure for actions which the laws have 
 not made criminal. They create a crime as well as a 
 punishment. They call upon the king to support their 
 illegality by a proclamation still more illegal, and the 
 liberty of the press is the object of this criminal alliance. 
 They expunge a recognisance, they stagnate the cause 
 of justice, and thereby assume an absolute power over 
 the law and property of Great Britain. The House of 
 Lords have not been backward in their contribution to 
 the scheme of slavery ; for they have imprisoned and 
 they have fined. The crime, like the punishment, was 
 in their own bosom. They were ex post facto legis- 
 lators. They were parties ; they were judges ; and, in- 
 stead of a court of final judicature, acted as a court of 
 criminal jurisdiction in the first instance. The three 
 estates, instead of being a control upon each other, are 
 let loose upon the constitution. The absolute power of 
 the crown, by the assistance of the handmaid corrup- 
 tion, puts on the disguise of privilege. In the arrange- 
 ment of hostility, the associated senate takes the lead, 
 and illegal proclamation brings up the rear of oppres-
 
 216 THE WOODFALLS AND OTHERS CH. vu. 
 
 sion. The cabal advances upon us as an army once did 
 upon a town it displayed before it a multitude of 
 nuns, and overawed the resistance of the besieged by 
 the venerable appearance. So the cabinet puts forth the 
 countenance of parliament, and marches against the 
 constitution under the shelter of the hallowed frailty.' l 
 
 Hallowed frailty, as embodied in a courtly House 
 of Commons, was not much respected in this instance. 
 Junius wrote other letters in ' The Public Advertiser,' 
 and there was a constant storm of complaint both inside 
 and outside the city, while Lord Mayor Crosby and 
 Alderman Oliver held high festival in the Tower, visited 
 by Wilkes and all the other leading democrats and by 
 Burke and all the other intelligent politicians, until 
 May 8, when, parliament being prorogued and there 
 being no such pretext as even Lord North's govern- 
 ment could find for detaining them any longer, the 
 prisoners were set free. 
 
 Neither that nor any other government dared to 
 renew the war. From this time forth, though the right 
 was not recognised, 110 systematic attempt was made to 
 prevent the publication of parliamentary reports in the 
 newspapers. Wilkes and his friends had won a great 
 victory, and a most important advance had been made 
 towards securing the liberty of the press and extending 
 its usefulness. 
 
 Hindrances were offered from time to time. While 
 the American war was being discussed in 1775 and 
 1776, the galleries were frequently closed in obedience 
 to the request of some member who moved that the 
 standing order excluding strangers be read, to the 
 annoyance of sensible legislators as well as of the public. 
 On one occasion, when the reading of the standing 
 order had been omitted, Charles James Fox, who had 
 
 1 Miscellaneous Letters of Junius, No 92.
 
 1771. THE REPORTERS' VICTORY 217 
 
 supported the ministry in its arbitrary conduct five years 
 before, thought fit to make an ampler speech than he 
 had intended, alleging that, ' as strangers were admitted 
 here for one day, it was necessary for him to repeat 
 what he had often urged,' and in January 1778, when 
 Wilkes's Westminster opponent, Colonel Luttrell, moved 
 the exclusion of strangers on account of what he re- 
 garded as ' newspaper misrepresentation ' of his conduct, 
 Fox frankly declared that ' he was convinced the true 
 and only method of preventing misrepresentation was 
 by throwing open the gallery and making the debates 
 and decisions of the house as public as possible.' l As 
 late as 1803 it was complained that, when Pitt was 
 making a great speech on the French war, ' by a new 
 arrangement of the Speaker's, strangers were excluded 
 till so late an hour that the newspaper printers could 
 not get in, and of course no part of Pitt's speech can 
 be printed.' 2 We are now and then reminded, even at 
 the present day, that reporters are only admitted to the 
 galleries by favour, and for a long while after that 
 favour had come to be regarded as almost a right, they 
 were not allowed to write down in the gallery any- 
 thing they had heard. In 1807, for instance, some 
 commotion was caused by a member of the House of 
 Lords who called attention to the fact that a stranger 
 was taking notes. 3 
 
 William Woodfall's unusual powers of memory were, 
 under these conditions, of immense service to him and 
 the readers he catered for, and his lively reports secured 
 great popularity for ' The Morning Chronicle,' though 
 many others did their utmost to rival him. and borrowed 
 
 1 Parliamentary History, vol. xviii. pp. 221, 540, 963, 1325 ; vol. xix. 
 p. 647. 
 
 2 Malmesbury Correspondence, vol. iv. p. 262. 
 
 3 The Court and Cabinets of George III., vol. iv. p. 150.
 
 218 THE WOODFALLS AND OTHERS CH. vii. 
 
 largely from his reports. He came to be an autocrat 
 in this department of newspaper work, and naturally 
 set a high value on his achievements. His critics 
 laughed at him for expecting that the House of Com- 
 mons should consult his convenience rather than that 
 he should meekly adapt himself to its plans. ' Yes, 
 sir/ he said to a friend who commiserated with him one 
 day on his arduous labours, ' and Charles Fox to have 
 a debate on a Saturday ! What, does he think the 
 reporters are made of iron? ' l 
 
 Though he profited much by the success with which 
 Wilkes and others had fought out the battle with the 
 government which his reporting zeal had done much 
 to bring about, William Woodfall was not a Wilkite, 
 perhaps less of an one than his elder brother. He and 
 his associates on ' The Morning Chronicle ' were fond 
 of sneering at the city democrats. ' Squib upon squib,' 
 we read in the number for May 4, 1772, 'is daily 
 thrown out against that unfortunate man Wilkes, the 
 undoubted consequence of envy from some and malice 
 from others ; but he, notwithstanding, as daily im- 
 proves in his lustre as a diamond would do in the 
 furnace, and while he laughs at the howlings of his 
 enemies, he concludes with this thought, that if flies 
 buzz about one it is foolish to take notice of them, and 
 only deems it necessary to crush them whenever they 
 attempt to sting and, good God, how seldom does that 
 happen ! They bark and rave, but do not bite.' And 
 lest anyone should miss the irony, it was added, after 
 an intervening paragraph, ' Never more let it be 
 believed that he whose private character exhibits one 
 continued scene of fraud and villany can ever make a 
 real honest patriot. The same heart must and will 
 operate in the same man, whether he is in the closet or 
 
 1 John Taylor, Records of my Life, vol. ii. p. 249.
 
 1769-1788. 'THE MORNING CHRONICLE' 219 
 
 in the senate. For such an one to acknowledge his 
 frauds upon individuals, and yet pretend honesty to the 
 multitude, is such a glaring inconsistency that it re- 
 quires the prejudice of the blindest partiality to be for 
 a moment deceived by so flimsy a defence.' 
 
 Short pungent paragraphs like those, though by 
 no means an invention of William Woodfall's, were 
 a speciality of ' The Morning Chronicle ' under his 
 management, and did much to make it attractive. 
 About a dozen or fifteen, filling a column or more, 
 generally appeared every day unless they were displaced 
 by long parliamentary reports or other matter, and 
 were in lieu of elaborate leading articles or such letters 
 as were plentiful in ' The Public Advertiser,' though of 
 these there was a fair sprinkling. Another point on 
 which the younger Woodfall set great store was his 
 dramatic Criticism. Whenever he was not in the gallery 
 or his editor's room, he was in a theatre or one of the 
 coffee-houses frequented by Garrick, Foote, and the 
 other actors of his day. ' He was so passionately fond 
 of theatrical representations,' we are told, 'as never to 
 have missed the first performance of a new piece for 
 at least forty years, and the public had so good an 
 opinion of his taste that his criticisms were decisive of 
 the fall or fortune of the piece and the performer.' l The 
 copious notices of new plays that appeared in ' The 
 Morning Chronicle ' are a neglected mine of wealth for 
 students of theatrical history. Besides these careful and 
 usually intelligent dramatic criticisms, moreover, a great 
 feature of ' The Morning Chronicle ' was its daily column 
 or half-column of ' masquerade intelligence.' With such 
 material, and with miscellaneous news, about seven or 
 eight of the sixteen columns of the paper were generally 
 filled, the rest being occupied with advertisements. 
 
 1 Nichols, Literary Anecdotes, vol. i. p. 304.
 
 220 THE WOODFALLS AND OTHERS CH. vir. 
 
 One of the many anecdotes on record about William 
 Woodfall illustrates Richard Brinsley Sheridan's cha- 
 racter more than his. A scurrilous attack on Sheridan 
 having appeared in ' The Bath Chronicle,' the play- 
 wright and politician asked his friend to reprint it 
 in ' The Morning Chronicle.' Woodfall objected to help 
 in circulating a slander which in its original form had 
 not obtained wide hearing. ' That is the very reason,' 
 replied Sheridan, ' for as I can refute every part of that 
 letter, I wish the attack and the answer spread over 
 the kingdom instead of being confined to a provincial 
 paper.' The article was therefore reprinted, but, it is 
 added, ' Mr. Sheridan, though applied to for the refuta- 
 tion, never wrote a syllable on the subject, and, from 
 mere negligence or contempt, thus disseminated a 
 calumny against himself.' l 
 
 A prominent, and for some time an impudent, rival 
 of ' The Morning Chronicle ' and ' The Public Ad- 
 vertiser ' was ' The Morning Post and Daily Advertiser,' 
 commenced in November 1772, in a form designed to 
 vade the stamp duty, but soon reshaped as a regular 
 newspaper and a shameless organ of the king's party 
 and the ministry now presided over by Lord North. 
 Its editor from 1775 till 1780 was Henry Bate, a young 
 clergyman, who, inheriting a large fortune and assuming 
 his benefactor's name of Dudley in the latter year, was 
 afterwards made a baronet and died in 1824 as Sir 
 Henry Bate Dudley. 2 In the opinion of his friends 
 Bate was ' constituted both in mind and body for the 
 army or navy rather than for the church.' 3 He wrote 
 licentious plays in the intervals of his gallantries and 
 debaucheries and of his somewhat more serious work on 
 
 1 John Taylor, vol. ii. p. 122. 
 
 2 Public Characters of all Nations (1823), vol. i. p. 538. 
 
 3 John Taylor, vol. i. p. 102.
 
 1772-1780. 'THE MORNING POST' 221 
 
 ' The Morning Post.' ' There was a sportive severity 
 in his writings,' we are told, ' which gave a new cha- 
 racter to the public press. It may be said that he was 
 too personal in his strictures in general and in his 
 allusions to many characters of his time, but it may also 
 be said that they were generally characters of either 
 sex who had rendered themselves conspicuous for folly, 
 vice, or some prominent absurdity by which they be- 
 came proper objects for satirical animadversion.' And it 
 is added that ' he saw so much of the vice and vanity 
 of the world as to excite something of misanthropic 
 feeling, which gave vigour, spirit, and severity to his 
 pen.' * He was a scurrilous writer, and under his 
 management ' The Morning Post ' acquired an evil 
 reputation as a retailer of coarse social gossip, besides 
 being an advocate of the debasing policy of the ministry, 
 and this reputation it did what it could to maintain 
 for some time after he left it. Bate was the ' certain 
 clergyman of extraordinary character who, by exerting 
 his talents in writing on temporary topics and display- 
 ing uncommon intrepidity, had raised himself to afflu- 
 ence,' and concerning whom Boswell says he ' maintained 
 that we ought not to be indignant at his success, for 
 merit of every sort was entitled to reward.' ' Sir,' 
 answered Dr. Johnson, ' I will not allow this man to 
 have merit ; no, sir, what he has is rather the contrary. 
 I will, indeed, allow him courage, and on this account 
 we so far give him credit. We have more respect for a 
 man who robs boldly on the highway than for a fellow 
 who jumps out of a ditch and knocks you down behind 
 your back. Courage is a quality so necessary for main- 
 taining virtue that it is always respected, even when it 
 is associated with vice.' 2 
 
 1 John Taylor, vol. i. pp. 102, 104. 
 
 2 Boswell, Life of Johnson, chap. Iv.
 
 222 THE WOODFALLS AND OTHERS CH. vii. 
 
 Bate's vice-tainted courage was put to the test on 
 January 13, 1777, when he was challenged by George 
 Robinson Stoney for publishing some gross libels on 
 Lady Strathmore in ' The Morning Post.' ' Mr. Bate,' 
 it is reported, ' had taken every possible method con- 
 sistent with honour to convince Mr. Stoney that the 
 insertion of the paragraphs was wholly without his 
 knowledge, to which Mr. Stoney gave no credit, and 
 insisted on the satisfaction of a gentleman or the dis- 
 covery of the author. This happened some days before, 
 but meeting, as it were by accident, in the Strand on 
 the day here mentioned, they adjourned to the Adelphi 
 tavern, called for a room, shut the door, and being 
 furnished with pistols, discharged them at each other 
 without effect. They then drew swords, and Mr. 
 Stoney received a wound in the breast and arm, and 
 Mr. Bate one in the thigh. Mr. Bate's sword bent and 
 slanted against the captain's breastbone, which Mr. 
 Bate apprising him of, Captain Stoney called to him to 
 straighten it, and in the interim while the sword was 
 under his foot for that purpose, the door was broken 
 open, or the death of one of the parties would most 
 certainly have been the issue.' l 
 
 In 1780 Bate was prosecuted for libelling the 
 Duke of Richmond by charging him, in ' The Morning 
 Post,' with treasonably communicating with the French, 
 whose invasion of England was then feared, and for 
 this offence he was sentenced to twelve months' im- 
 prisonment. 2 His connection with ' The Morning Post ' 
 was thus severed, but he soon afterwards, as Bate 
 Dudley, started ' The Morning Herald,' the first number 
 
 1 Gentleman's Magazine, February 1777. 'It certainly seems almost 
 incredible to a person living in our time,' said Macaulay in his review of 
 Croker's Boswell, ' that any human being should ever have stooped to 
 fight with a writer in The Morning Post.' 
 
 - Douglas, Reports of Cases in the King's Bencn, p. 376.
 
 1777-1788. EAELY EDITORS OF ' THE MORNING POST ' 223 
 
 of which appeared on November 1 in the same year. 
 This new paper, of which we shall see something here- 
 after, became the organ of the Prince of Wales's party 
 in the opposition it offered to the king and his minis- 
 ters, and as such it had considerable influence. Four 
 years earlier, in November 1776, another daily paper, 
 ' The General Advertiser,' had been commenced by 
 William Cooke, but neither of these two was at this 
 time of much importance. 
 
 After Bate's removal from ' The Morning Post ' it was 
 edited by another and a yet more unworthy clergyman, 
 William Jackson, who under the pseudonym of Curtius 
 had cruelly libelled Foote in ' The Public Ledger,' and who 
 was connected with ' The Whitehall Evening Post ' and 
 other papers. He had charge of ' The Morning Post ' in 
 1784, when, as Scrutineer, he fiercely attacked Fox on 
 the occasion of his election for Westminster, but in such 
 a way as to keep clear of an action for libel. Jackson's 
 style of controversy pleased some readers. ' He was,' 
 according to one of his colleagues, ' a very able writer, 
 and gave such a variety to his political compositions 
 as rendered them very amusing as well as expressive.' 
 He had faults, however, one of which was that ' he 
 generally wrote in a very large hand upon very large 
 sheets of paper, which appeared like maps or atlases 
 spread over the table.' ' The proprietor,' it is added, 
 ' unexpectedly entering the room one evening, suddenly 
 retreated in dismay, and afterwards observed that Mr. 
 Jackson should be dismissed, otherwise he would ruin 
 the property by the vast quantity of paper he used in 
 writing his political articles.' l But the threat was not 
 acted upon, and Jackson was allowed to waste paper 
 during some years upon his scurrilous scribbling. 
 
 After him ' The Morning Post ' was entrusted to a 
 
 1 John Taylor, vol. ii. pp. 269, 323-328.
 
 224 THE WOODFALLS AND OTHERS CH. YII. 
 
 slightly better man, John Taylor, the author of 
 ' Monsieur Tonson,' who had previously been its dramatic 
 critic, and who was avowedly promoted to the editor- 
 ship in order that he might forward the cause of a 
 clique at court in return for a substantial bribe. Dr. 
 Wolcott, best known as Peter Pindar, wrote ' whimsi- 
 cal articles ' under Taylor, who said ' Mr. Merry and I 
 used to scribble verses in conjunction.' ' I have often/ 
 Taylor reported, ' remained at the office till three o'clock 
 in the morning to revise, correct, and guard against the 
 accidental insertion of any improper article, moral or 
 political.' He was not kept up so late, however, by 
 business alone. ' We were pleasantly supplied with 
 punch,' he acknowledged, ' and as far as our limited 
 party admitted, the meeting might be considered as 
 Comus's court.' But this bacchanalian editor only held 
 his post for two years. He was dismissed because the 
 proprietor, as he tells us, ' thought I had not devil 
 enough for the conduct of a public journal.' Of the 
 proprietor who thus judged him, and who was the same 
 who objected to Jackson's extravagant use of paper, but 
 whose name is not recorded, Taylor had no high opinion. 
 One of his malicious stories about him is that he once 
 complained that there were not enough ' antidotes ' in 
 the paper. He meant ' anecdotes,' says Taylor, but ' not 
 understanding the meaning of the word, it is not won- 
 derful he should have forgotten the sound.' l 
 
 In such hands ' The Morning Post ' could hardly be 
 expected to take high rank as a guide of public opinion. 
 ' The Morning Chronicle ' also lost ground for a time, 
 and William Woodfall quarrelled with its proprietors. 
 In 1788 he started a new evening paper, ' The Diary,' 
 intended to give more fully than ever the parliamentary 
 reports and theatrical criticisms in which he prided him- 
 
 1 John Taylor, vol. ii. pp. 265-270.
 
 1788. NEW CONDITIONS OF JOURNALISM 225 
 
 self, but this venture was not successful. ' Unfortunately 
 for himself and his family,' says his friendly biographer, 
 ' he placed all his hopes on the most precarious species 
 of property, and became the proprietor of a newspaper 
 which his talents raised to eminence. But the talents 
 of no individual could secure it a permanent station 
 upon that eminence. The paper fell, and with it fell his 
 hopes.' He died in 1803, and his elder brother, Henry 
 Sampson Woodfall, who had parted with ' The Public 
 Advertiser' in 1793, followed him two years afterwards, 
 in 1805. 1 Other men had long before superseded them 
 as leaders of newspaper enterprise. 
 
 Journalism was making progress in spite of all the 
 efforts of court and parliament to repress it, whether by 
 attacking those who ventured upon bold criticism of the 
 authorities and bold advocacy of popular rights, by con- 
 tinuance of Walpole's policy of bribery, or by heaping 
 fiscal burdens upon it. These fiscal burdens were made 
 very heavy by successive acts of parliament passed in 
 George Ill.'s reign. Both the stamp duty of a halfpenny 
 on every half- sheet sold and the tax of a shilling on 
 every advertisement printed, which had been imposed 
 in 1712, had been doubled in 1757. The stamp duty 
 was raised to three-halfpence in 1776, and to two-pence 
 in 1789. The newspapers, however, were not only en- 
 larged from time to time until they reached the full 
 limit of size allowed under the Stamp Act, but, notwith- 
 standing the higher prices it was necessary to charge 
 for them, there was an almost constant increase in the 
 number of copies distributed. The stamps issued by 
 the treasury in 1753 amounted to 7,411,757, in 1760 
 to 9,464,790, and in 1775, to 12,680,000, showing a 
 growth during two-and-twenty years of the daily 
 average from 23,673 to 41,615. The year's number of 
 
 1 Nichols, Literary Anecdotes, vol. i. pp. 301, 303. 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 226 THE WOODFALLS AND OTHERS CH. vii. 
 
 stamps, however, had only risen to 14,217,371 in 1780, 
 and ten years later, in 1790, doubtless in consequence 
 of the augmented duty, it had fallen to 14,035, 639. 1 
 
 These were small aggregates for all the daily, weekly, 
 and other newspapers circulated in Great Britain, 
 when compared with the figures of the present time, 
 but they were thought large a century ago, and many 
 besides Crabbe were amazed at the variety and profu- 
 sion of the journalistic literature offered to the public. 
 
 For, soon as morning dawns with roseate hue, 
 The ' Herald ' of the morn arises too, 
 ' Post ' after ' Post ' succeeds, and all day long 
 ' Gazettes ' and ' Ledgers ' swarm, a motley throng. 
 When evening comes she comes with all her train 
 Of 'Ledgers,' ' Chronicles,' and 'Posts' again, 
 Like bats appearing, when the sun goes down, 
 From holes obscure and corners of the town. 
 
 Crabbe's account of the varied matter contained in 
 the newspapers of his day, and of the ways, sometimes 
 more clever than honest, in which they met the require- 
 ments of all classes, is amusing. 
 
 Some, champions for the rights that prop the crown ; 
 Some, sturdy patriots, sworn to pull them down ; 
 Some, neutral powers, with secret forces fraught, 
 Wishing for war, but willing to be bought ; 
 While some to every side and party go, 
 Shift every friend, and join with every foe ; 
 Like sturdy rogues in privateers, they strike 
 This side and that the foes of both alike 
 A traitor crew, who thrive in troubled times, 
 Feared for their force, and courted for their crimes. 
 Such are our guides. How many a peaceful head, 
 Born to be still, have they to wrangling led ! 
 How many an honest zealot stolen from trade, 
 And faction's tools of pious pastors made ! 
 
 Crabbe was severe on the papers which fomented 
 
 1 Timperley, Encyclopaedia of Literary and Typographical Anecdotes, 
 p. 806.
 
 1785. CRABBE UPON NEWSPAPERS 227 
 
 party strife, and yet more on those in which anonymous 
 writers sought to degrade and corrupt society. 
 
 Screened by such means, here scandal whets her quill ; 
 Here slander shoots unseen, whene'er she will ; 
 Here fraud and falsehood labour to deceive, 
 And folly aids them both, impatient to believe. 
 
 Yet he was forced to admit that his warnings were in 
 Tain. 
 
 To you all readers turn ; and they can look 
 Pleased on a paper, who abhor a book. 
 Those who ne'er deigned their Bible to peruse, 
 Would think it hard to be denied their news. 
 Sinners and saints, the wisest with the weak, 
 Here mingle tastes and one amusement seek. 
 This, like the public inn, provides a treat 
 Where each promiscuous guest sits down to eat, 
 And such this mental food, as we may call 
 Something to all men, and to some men all. 
 
 The ' motley page ' of the newspaper, according to 
 Crabbe, afforded entertainment ' to either sex and 
 every age,' as soon as, brought into the house c damp 
 from the press,' it had been dried before the fire. 
 
 Then eager every eye surveys the part 
 That brings its favourite subject to the heart : 
 Grave politicians look for facts alone, 
 And gravely add conjectures of their own ; 
 The sprightly nymph, who never broke her rest 
 For tottering crowns or mighty lands oppressed, 
 Finds broils and battles, but neglects them all 
 For songs and suits, a birthday or a ball : 
 The keen warm man o'erlooks each idle tale 
 For ' Moneys Wanted ' and ' Estates on Sale ' ; 
 While some with equal minds to all attend, 
 Pleased with each part, and grieved to find an end. 
 So charm the news. But we, who far from town, 
 Wait till the postman brings the packet down, 
 Once in a week a vacant day behold, 
 And stay for tidings till they're three days old. 
 That day arrives : no welcome post appears, 
 But the dull morn a sullen aspect wears ; 
 
 o 2
 
 228 THE WOODFALLS AND OTHERS CH. vu. 
 
 We meet, but, ah ! without our wonted smile, 
 To talk of headaches and complain of bile : 
 Sullen we ponder o'er a dull repast, 
 Nor feast the body while the mind must fast. 
 A master passion is the love of news : 
 Not music so commands, nor so the muse. 
 Give poets claret, they grow idle soon : 
 Feed the musician, and he's out of tune : 
 But the sick mind, of this disease possessed, 
 Flies from all cure and sickens when at rest. ' 
 
 Crabbe, The Newspaper (1785).
 
 229 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE LIBEL ACT. 
 BEFORE AND AFTER 1792. 
 
 THE passing of the Libel Act in 1792 was a momentous 
 incident in newspaper history. The freedom of the 
 press was not finally secured by it. Its immediate con- 
 sequences, indeed, or rather the consequences of the 
 political turmoil that caused it, were for awhile ap- 
 parently, and with more than appearance to the parties 
 most concerned, in many ways disastrous. But it was 
 a solid basis for the building up of fresh liberties, and 
 all that seemed disastrous at the time helped to promote 
 and expand those liberties, and to prepare the way for 
 new departures. 
 
 Whether or not Lord Mansfield's direction to the 
 juries before whom Henry Sampson Woodfall and others 
 were tried in the summer of 1770 for publishing 
 Junius's letter to King George III. was as unwarrant- 
 able as Junius, and critics more trustworthy and less 
 biassed than Junius, declared it to be, it established a 
 pernicious precedent by which newspapers suffered grie- 
 vously during many years, and which was only upset 
 after a prolonged struggle. That direction, as we have 
 seen, in effect laid it down that it was the function of 
 the crown or the government, not of a jury, to decide 
 whether any published matter complained of was libel- 
 lous, that all a jury had to do was to ascertain whether
 
 230 THE LIBEL ACT CH. vin. 
 
 the person accused of publishing it had really done so. 
 Actions for libel initiated by private persons were only, 
 of course, affected by Lord Mansfield's ruling in so far 
 as they were court favourites whose cases were taken 
 up by the government, and thus in effect made occa- 
 sions for crown prosecutions. But most of the actions 
 for libel brought in George III.'s reign, and for some 
 time afterwards, were either of this latter sort or 
 avowedly crown cases, raised for the punishment of 
 political offenders ; and a most dangerous weapon was 
 placed in the hands of ministers and courtiers. Lord 
 Camden, who was a great lawyer, but in no sense a 
 democrat, saw the danger, and boldly declared in the 
 House of Peers that ' Lord Mansfield's doctrine is not 
 the law of England.' l It passed for law, however, until 
 1792, in spite of repeated protests by many besides Lord 
 Camden. 
 
 There was an important debate on the subject in the 
 House of Commons on December 6, 1770, when Mr, 
 Serjeant Glyn moved for a committee 'to inquire into 
 the administration of criminal justice and the proceed- 
 ings of the judges in Westminster Hall, particularly in 
 cases affecting the liberty of the press and the consti- 
 tutional power and duty of juries.' Charles James Fox, 
 not then a reformer, prevailed upon the house, though 
 only by a majority of six, to approve the course adopted 
 by the government for putting a stop to ' infamous lam- 
 poons and satires,' to pay no heed to the impudent 
 demands of incapable outsiders, and to rest content with 
 the guidance of ' blameless judges,' subject to such con- 
 trol as parliament was fit to exercise over them. ' Let 
 us,' he said, ' act according to the dictates of honour and 
 conscience, and be at peace with our own minds. It is 
 thus that we shall sooner or later regain the confidence 
 
 1 Parliamentary History, vol. xvi. p. 1321.
 
 1770. ME. SERJEANT GLYN'S MOTION 231 
 
 of our constituents if we have lost it, and not by 
 humouring, as foolish nurses humour great lubberly 
 boys, the wayward whims of a misled multitude. The 
 characteristic of this house should be a firm and manly 
 steadiness, an unshaken perseverance in the pursuit of 
 great and noble plans of general utility, and not a waver- 
 ing, inconstant fluctuation of counsels, regulated by the 
 shifting of the popular breeze. If we are not to judge 
 for ourselves, but to be ever at the command of the 
 vulgar, and their capricious shouts and hisses, I cannot 
 see what advantage the nation can reap from a repre- 
 sentative body which they might not have reaped from a 
 tumultuous assembly of themselves, collected at random 
 on Salisbury Plain or Runnymede.' In an eloquent 
 speech Burke vainly protested against such language, 
 and insisted both on the right of the nation to criticise 
 the actions of the House of Commons nominally elected 
 by it, and on the right of juries to settle all questions of 
 fact in libel cases as well as in others which were 
 nominally submitted to them. As for juries, he said, 
 they might err, but so might judges, and the surest way 
 of judges' falling into error was for them to ' pretend to 
 superior sanctity,' and to claim an authority not legally 
 possessed by them. Domineered over by such judges 
 the courts must lose all their value. ' To the people 
 they appear the temples of idols and false oracles, or 
 rather as the dwellings of truth and justice converted 
 into dens of thieves and robbers. For what greater 
 robbers can there be than those who rob men of their 
 laws and liberties ? ' 1 
 
 It was in some respects unfortunate that the ques- 
 tions as to the function of juries in libel cases and the 
 liberty of the press were as much mixed up as they were 
 
 1 William WoodfalFs report of the debate, cited in a note to the 
 preface of Letters of Junius.
 
 232 THE LIBEL ACT CH. vm. 
 
 at this time with the agitation led by Wilkes and his 
 friends. Men like Burke and Junius, disliking Wilkes, 
 had the good sense to distinguish between the agitators 
 and the principles they fought for ; but there were few 
 such, and the majority in parliament as well as all the 
 courtiers were willing enough to stifle liberty, if they 
 could, in their efforts to crush its blustering champions. 
 The fate of Mr. Serjeant Glyn's motion in December 
 1770, therefore, was shared by a similar motion brought 
 forward by Dowdeswell on March 7, 1771. ' Whereas 
 doubts and controversies have arisen at various times 
 concerning the rights of jurors to try the whole matter 
 laid in indictments and informations for seditious and 
 other libels, and whereas trials by juries would be of 
 none or imperfect effect if the jurors were not held to be 
 competent to try the whole matter aforesaid,' Dowdes- 
 well' s bill proposed ' that jurors, duly impanelled and 
 sworn to try the issue between the king and the de- 
 fendant upon any indictment or information for a sedi- 
 tious libel, or a libel under any other denomination or 
 description, shall be held and reputed competent to all 
 intents and purposes, in law and in right, to try every 
 part of the matter laid or charged in such indictment or 
 information, comprehending the criminal intention of 
 the defendant and the civil tendency of the libel charged, 
 as well as the mere fact of the publication thereof, and 
 the application by innuendo of blanks, initial letters, 
 pictures, and other devices ; any opinion, question, am- 
 biguity, or doubt to the contrary notwithstanding.' Sir 
 George Savile seconded this motion, Burke supported 
 it in one of his ablest speeches, and several other 
 members argued in favour of its principle, while not a 
 single minister or ministerialist opposed it in debate. l 
 
 1 Parliamentary History, vol. xvii. p. 43 ; TJie Public Advertiser, 
 March 13, 1771 ; Burke's Works, vol. x. p. 109 (1812 edition).
 
 1771. DOWDESWELL'S LIBEL BILL 233 
 
 It was shelved, however, on a question of adjournment, 
 by a majority of 218 to 72, and parliament was too 
 busy with other subjects to reconsider the matter during 
 twenty years. 
 
 Meanwhile there was a long series of press prosecu- 
 tions by the crown, conducted on the lines laid down by 
 Lord Mansfield, 1 and many came to be of the same 
 opinion as John Almon, a frequent victim of this perse- 
 cution, who said, ' A man had better make his son a 
 tinker than a printer or a bookseller. The laws of tin 
 he can understand, but the law of libel is unwritten, 
 uncertain, and undefinable. It is one thing to-day and 
 another to-morrow. No man can tell what it is. It is 
 .sometimes what the king or queen pleases ; sometimes 
 what the minister pleases ; sometimes what the attorney- 
 general pleases.' 2 
 
 Almon appears to have been the author of an article 
 which appeared in ' The London Evening Post ' for 
 February 2, 1773, in which the notorious Earl of Sand- 
 wich, Wilkes's friend at one time and bitter enemy at 
 another, and now the first lord of the admiralty, was 
 accused of having sold an office of trust in his depart- 
 ment for 2,0001. The accusation was well supported by 
 evidence adduced at the trial, and hardly denied by 
 Sandwich, whose character was so well known that it 
 could not be damaged by any statement made against 
 him. But both Almon and the publisher, John Miller, 
 the same man who had defied the government and 
 parliament in 1771 when assailed for printing Almon's 
 
 1 In the Parliamentary Papers in 1830 (No. COS) is a ' return of all 
 prosecutions during the reigns of George III. and George IV. under the 
 direction of the attorney or the solicitor-general, for libels or other mis- 
 demeanours against members of his majesty's government, or against 
 other persons acting in their official capacity.' 
 
 2 Bentham's description was more concise. ' Anything which any man, 
 at any time, for any reason, chooses to be offended with, is a libel.'
 
 234 THE LIBEL ACT CH. vm. 
 
 reports of debates, were obnoxious to the authorities. 
 Accordingly Miller was brought up for trial in June, 
 and Lord Mansfield, insisting that the attempt to prove 
 the truth of the allegation aggravated its wickedness, 
 induced the compliant jury to give a verdict for 2,000/. 1 
 That was a penalty almost ruinous to the paper, and 
 unparalleled in those days. Sixteen months later, on 
 November 21, 1774, Fox only obtained 1QOL for a libel 
 upon him which had been published by John Williams, 
 who, however, was also imprisoned for a month. On 
 July 3, 1776, moreover, though Lord Bolingbroke 
 claimed 2,000?. on account of disparaging remarks upon 
 him which William Woodfall had published in ' The 
 Morning Chronicle,' only 20/. was awarded him ; and on 
 the 10th of the same month an action brought by Lord 
 Chatham against Henry Sampson Woodfall of ' The 
 Public Advertiser ' was dismissed. 2 The Woodfalls 
 were not in favour with the authorities, but neither 
 were Chatham and Bolingbroke, and consequently we 
 may assume that justice in these cases was allowed to 
 take its course. 
 
 More important than these libel cases, or scores of 
 others that might be mentioned, was one which occurred 
 in 1778, but in which, though it forms part of the 
 history of the struggle for liberty of the press, no news- 
 paper was concerned. For issuing what was considered 
 a seditious pamphlet, the then dean of St. Asaph was 
 condemned under Lord Mansfield's ruling. Erskine, at 
 that time a young man of twenty-eight, and only just 
 called to the bar, made his start in forensic life as counsel 
 for the defence, and, the case going against him, moved 
 for a new trial. This was refused ; but Erskine con- 
 
 1 Almon, Biographical, Literary, and Personal Anecdotes, vol. i. pp. 
 287-321. 
 
 1 Andrews, vol. i. p. 209.
 
 1773-1778. SEVERAL PRESS PROSECUTIONS 235 
 
 trived to get the dean discharged on another issue, 
 and the proceedings afforded him opportunity for a 
 masterly exposition of the fallacy and iniquity of the 
 law of libel as it was then interpreted, which Lord 
 Mansfield sneered at as 'puerile rant and declamation,' 
 but which Fox declared to be ' the finest argument in 
 the English language.' * It converted Fox to opinions 
 he had formerly denounced, and was the commencement, 
 not only of Erskine's splendid career as a lawyer, but 
 also of his persistent advocacy all through that career 
 of freedom, within reasonable limits, in the utterance of 
 opinion. 
 
 An inferior man whom the state of the libel law 
 helped to bring into prominence was John Horne, 
 known after 1782 as Horne Tooke. He had begun in 
 emulation of Junius to write for ' The Public Adver- 
 tiser' in 1769, and had in 1770 been fined 400/. for 
 libelling George Onslow, but had apparently avoided 
 paying the money by, as Junius alleged, selling himself 
 to the ministry. 2 He quarrelled with Wilkes, Junius,. 
 and all the leading men with whom he professed to be 
 associated for the public good, and on his own showing 
 he fairly earned the contempt with which they regarded 
 him. Like many other unworthy agitators, however, 
 he sometimes did useful work. He was a prominent 
 organiser of a Society for the Support of the Bill of 
 Rights, which found funds for carrying on the popular 
 movements in which Wilkes and his friends were en- 
 gaged, and also for the maintenance of its promoters ; 
 and after he had seceded from that organisation he 
 founded a Constitutional Society for forwarding in Eng- 
 land the interests of the disaffected American colonies. 
 Horne throve on libels. At one time, in 1774, his. 
 
 1 May, Constitutional History, chapter ix. 
 
 2 Letters of Junius, No. 52.
 
 236 THE LIBEL ACT CH. viir. 
 
 wealthy friend William Tooke, whose name and fortune 
 he inherited, being anxious to prevent an Enclosure Bill 
 which would interfere with his property, Horne de- 
 liberately wrote for ' The Public Advertiser ' a scurrilous 
 letter attacking Sir Fletcher Norton, the Speaker of the 
 House of Commons. This letter, as he calculated, 
 called attention to the matter in which he was in- 
 terested, and seems to have achieved its object. As 
 Horne had influence with the government, moreover, 
 he and Henry Sampson Woodfall received no heavier 
 punishment than a reprimand for publishing it. Wood- 
 fall at other times, and many others, had to suffer more 
 severely for the busybody's recklessness. In February 
 1777, John Miller and three other printers were fined 
 1001. apiece for publishing the i treasonable ' announce- 
 ments of the Constitutional Society, and Horne was 
 himself in the following July brought before Lord 
 Mansfield and ordered to pay a fine of 200/., and to 
 be imprisoned for twelve months, for sending similar 
 announcements to ' The Morning Chronicle,' ' The 
 Public Advertiser,' and ' The London Packet.' If the 
 fine was paid, it was doubtless by some one else, and, 
 through his friendly relations with the authorities, 
 Home's imprisonment was only nominal. 1 
 
 In many cases, it may be assumed, the vindictive 
 sentences of imprisonment passed upon printers, pub- 
 lishers, and authors, for alleged libels were either not 
 enforced or made light and curtailed by the good nature 
 or the corruptibility of the gaolers. Were it not so, the 
 King's Bench and other prisons would always have been 
 
 1 Andrews, vol. i. pp. 213-218. Horne Tooke, who henceforth had 
 little to do with newspapers, is chiefly memorable on account of his trial 
 for treason in 1794, when Erskine, by one of his most famous speeches, 
 procured his acquittal. Professor Thorold Rogers has written an 
 elaborate apology for him in his Historical Essays, where Wilkes is less 
 kindly dealt with.
 
 1777-1786. SEVERAL PRESS PROSECUTIONS 237 
 
 overcrowded, and the newspaper men hardly ever at 
 their posts. In 1781 a single paragraph or the same 
 paragraph with slight variations, and in one case some- 
 what elaborated which had given offence to the Russian 
 ambassador, brought heavy punishments on seven per- 
 sons. On July 4 the printer of ' The London Courant,' 
 who had first issued the paragraph, was ordered to be 
 kept in prison for a year, after standing for an hour in 
 the pillory outside the Royal Exchange ; the printer of 
 ' The Noon Gazette,' a short-lived paper, in which it 
 had appeared in an aggravated form, was condemned to 
 prison for eighteen months, and fined 200/. ; the pub- 
 lisher of ' The Morning Herald,' which Henry Bate 
 Dudley had started in the previous year, was fined 
 100/. and committed to prison for twelve months ; and 
 Mary Say, the printer of ' The Gazetteer,' was, in con- 
 sideration of her sex, let off with half a year's imprison- 
 ment and a fine of 50/. And on July 5 two printers of 
 ' The Middlesex Journal ' and the printers of ' The St. 
 James's Chronicle ' were, on account of the same 
 paragraph, fined 1001. each, the first two being also 
 imprisoned for a year. 1 
 
 These and all the earlier newspaper prosecutions 
 had been conducted under Lord North's administration, 
 and the policy was not altered till after Lord Mansfield 
 had ceased, in 1788, to be chief justice. It was con- 
 tinued by the younger Pitt, who became premier in 
 1784, after efforts had been successively made by Lord 
 Rockingham, by Lord Shelburne, and by Fox and 
 North to govern the country. In February 1 786 ' The 
 Morning Herald ' and ' The General Advertiser ' ventured 
 to repeat a scandal then current to the effect that Pitt 
 had used his official knowledge to help him in specu- 
 lating on the Stock Exchange to the extent of 10,000/., 
 
 1 Gentleman' 's Magazine, August 1781.
 
 238 THE LIBEL ACT CH. viii. 
 
 and for this he claimed damages from each paper to a 
 like amount. Juries were growing more independent, 
 however, and Erskine was counsel for the defendants ; 
 so, although verdicts were given against them, the 
 fines were limited, in the one case to 250/., and in the 
 other to 150/. 1 In the same year Henry Sampson 
 Woodfall had to pay 100/. for libelling Burke, and 
 another 100/. to Lord Loughborough, the chief justice 
 of the Court of Common Pleas, for ' intending to vilify 
 him by causing him to be suspected of being in bad 
 circumstances, and not able to pay his debts or willing 
 to pay them without an execution.' 2 In 1788 Mary Say, 
 of ' The Gazetteer,' was again prosecuted, this time for 
 certain disparaging remarks about Pitt with reference 
 to the impeachment of Sir Elijah Impey, and in 1790 
 Sampson Perry, editor of a scurrilous paper, ' The 
 Argus,' was fined and imprisoned for accusing Pitt of 
 having, for stock -jobbing purposes, falsified an announce- 
 ment in ' The Gazette ' and kept back important in- 
 telligence respecting the Nootka Sound difficulty. 3 
 
 Libels of that sort, intended to prejudice the prime 
 minister, and at a time when England was deeply in- 
 volved in complications about to result in its stupendous 
 war with France, certainly deserved some punishment 
 that is, if the government of the day was unwise 
 enough to think that it could improve its position by 
 quarrelling with obscure slanderers ; and by this time 
 the way was prepared for a reversal of the tyrannical 
 interference with the rights of juries which Lord Mans- 
 field had insisted upon. Without that arbitrary 
 strengthening of the power of the crown, as later events 
 abundantly demonstrated, the crown had ample means 
 of tyranny, and there was no farther need for Lord 
 
 1 Almon, vol. i. pp. 3GO-36G. ~ Andrews, vol. i. p. 228. 
 
 a Knight Hunt, vol. ii. p. Co.
 
 1786-1790. SEVERAL PEESS PEOSECUTIONS 239 
 
 Mansfield's precedent. A memorable trial which had 
 occurred in 1789 helped materially to bring about the 
 long-deferred reform. 
 
 In this case, as in that of 1779, Erskine was the 
 victor, and the second, like the first, was not a news- 
 paper case, though one directly affecting the interests of 
 newspapers. All through the years during which the 
 impeachment of Warren Hastings was being threatened 
 and carried 011, the daily and weekly papers teemed 
 with articles, letters, and paragraphs on the subject in 
 which strong language was used on both sides ; but 
 little notice was taken of it. 1 A pamphlet written by a 
 clergyman named Logan, and issued by Stockdale, the 
 publisher, in 1789, denouncing the House of Commons 
 as corrupt and unjust, and angrily supporting the cause 
 of the defendant in the trial which had been commenced 
 a year before, was, however, held to be a scandalous 
 and seditious libel. Proceedings were instituted against 
 Stockdale, and the jury was expected, as usual, to do 
 no more than certify the fact of publication, leaving the 
 crown to arrange nearly all the rest. Fortunately Lord 
 Kenyon was now chief justice, and he allowed Erskine, 
 as Stockdale's champion, to insist on his being judged, 
 
 1 In 1788 Markham, a member of the House of Commons, called at- 
 tention to a newspaper paragraph stating ' that the trial of Mr. Hastings 
 was to be put off for another session, unless the House of Lords had 
 spirit enough to put an end to so shameful a business.' ' After some re- 
 marks upon the scandalous licentiousness of the press,' we read in The 
 Annual Register (vol. xxxi. p. 164), ' a motion was made and carried 
 unanimously for prosecuting the printer of the paper. In the course of 
 the conversation that this motion gave rise to, Mr. Burke read from one 
 of the public prints a curious paper, purporting to be a bill of charges 
 made by the editor upon Major Scott for sundry articles inserted in the 
 paper on his account. They chiefly consisted of speeches, letters, para- 
 graphs, composed by him, and amongst the rest was this item, ' "For 
 attacking the veracity of Mr. Burke, 3s. 6d"' Major Scott was the 
 agent whom Warren Hastings unwisely employed to excite and keep up 
 public interest in his case against the charges brought against him.
 
 240 THE LIBEL ACT CH. vnr. 
 
 not by detached extracts from the pamphlet, but by 
 its general tenour. This, Erskine urged, should excuse 
 if it did not justify particular expressions that might 
 be objected to ; and he laid down so clearly and forcibly 
 the duty of allowing full and free discussion of public 
 questions in print as well as by word of mouth, that the 
 jury, accepting his arguments, which Kenyon did not 
 dispute, returned a verdict of not guilty. 1 There was 
 nothing very remarkable about this case except the fact 
 that Erskine won it, and by such forensic tact and 
 eloquence that all reasonable men were convinced of the 
 propriety of effecting a reform which should leave the 
 press less at the mercy of domineering judges and 
 ministerial tools, and less dependent on the chance of 
 juries being exceptionally bold and counsel being 
 exceptionally able. 
 
 On May 20, 1791, Fox, who had just broken from 
 Burke and had personal as well as public reasons for 
 checking, if he could not crush the great power that 
 Pitt had now acquired, proposed in the House of Com- 
 mons a bill that should explain and amend the law of 
 libel. Erskine's demonstration of the evils to be re- 
 medied, he said, was ' so eloquent, so luminous, and 
 so convincing, that it wanted in opposition to it not 
 a man but a giant,' and he preferred manly accep- 
 tance to gigantic defiance of sound constitutional views. 
 Erskine seconded the motion, and stated his views yet 
 once again with overwhelming force, pointing out the 
 absurdity as well as the illegality of the rule then 
 followed, seeing that, ' if upon a motion in arrest of 
 judgment the innocence of the defendant's intention 
 was aimied before the court, the answer would be and 
 
 o 
 
 was given uniformly, that the verdict of guilty had con- 
 cluded the criminality of the intention, though the con- 
 
 1 May, Constitutional History, chap. ix.
 
 1792. THE LIBEL ACT 241 
 
 sideration of that question had been, by the judge's 
 authority, wholly withdrawn from the jury at the trial.' 
 Even the government sanctioned the proposal, Pitt 
 declaring that it would be expedient ' to regulate the 
 practice of the courts in the trial of libels, and render it 
 conformable to the spirit of the constitution.' Fox's 
 bill was introduced and quickly passed through all its 
 stages in the House of Commons. The session was far 
 advanced when it reached the House of Peers, however, 
 and then Lord Thurlow, by getting it postponed for a 
 month, contrived to shelve it for a year. 1 
 
 It was brought forward again on March 20, 1792, 
 quickly and unanimously passed through the House of 
 Commons, and, after much opposition in the House of 
 Peers, Lord Thurlow and five others formally protest- 
 ing against it as a sure prelude to ' the confusion and 
 destruction of the law of England,' this notable and in 
 its way most valuable Libel Act found a place in the 
 statute book before the end of the session. It con- 
 demned by implication all the arbitrary proceedings of 
 successive governments against newspapers in respect 
 of real or pretended libels during the first half of 
 George III.'s long reign, and, while securing for writers 
 and printers, so far as could be, the right of full and 
 honest trial before juries of their peers, it actually 
 strengthened the hands of ministers in their efforts to 
 put down what they regarded as newspaper sedition. 
 Its immediate outcome or sequel, indeed, was a great 
 increase of press prosecutions, though conducted with 
 less contempt of the law, during the second half of 
 the reign. 
 
 Much progress had been made and much fresh tur- 
 moil had arisen since the time of Wilkes's 'No. 45,' and 
 of Junius's letters. King George, having broken loose 
 
 1 Parliamentary History, vol. xxix. pp. 551-602, V2G-742. 
 VOL. I. R
 
 242 THE LIBEL ACT CH. TIII. 
 
 from the guidance of his mischievous mother and of 
 such obnoxious courtiers as Lord Bute, had improved 
 upon their teaching and developed new follies and 
 political vices. He had now troublesome sons of his 
 own to deal with, and a fresh generation of evil coun- 
 sellors had arisen to encourage him in contemptible yet 
 pernicious attacks on the welfare of the people he was 
 set to rule over. The king's party had reshaped itself, 
 and there was a Prince of Wales 's party to add to the 
 complications. The American colonists had asserted 
 and had secured their independence ; our Indian empire 
 had been established by processes needing a special code 
 of ethics to excuse them, and initiating responsibilities 
 of which the burden still weighs upon us ; and the 
 French, casting off their king and the debased feudal 
 institutions of which he was the figure-head, had begun 
 to set Europe in a flame from which more than sparks 
 fell upon England. All these things, and many more, 
 caused no little disturbance in the domestic concerns of 
 the people. William Pitt, the shrewdest though not the 
 wisest statesman of the day, as superior to Fox as he 
 was inferior to Burke, tried first to quell the discontent 
 by scheming for parliamentary reform, then tided over 
 present difficulties by wonderful schemes of financial 
 reform, and had commenced to finish his career by 
 plunging the country into the most iniquitous, the 
 most stupendous, and the most injurious of all the 
 foreign wars it has ever been engaged in. 
 
 Were such things happening in these later times, 
 there would be no limit to the vehemence of newspaper 
 criticism on the proceedings. As it was, there was 
 much of that ; but newspapers, though far more 
 numerous and formidable than they had hitherto been, 
 were as yet only beginning to be powerful, and for the 
 prosecutions directed against them there were larger
 
 1792. OCCASIONS FOR LIBEL 243 
 
 Counterparts in the prosecutions against the public 
 agitators and political associations that then did much 
 of the work that the press has since assumed to itself. 
 In the Wilkite controversy with parliament and the 
 court the newspapers merely took a comparatively 
 trivial part, important though that was in itself ; and 
 the newspapers had next to nothing to do with other 
 contemporary agitations, such as the Spitalfields silk- 
 weavers' riots in 1765. The Bill of Rights Societies, the 
 
 o / 
 
 Constitutional Societies, the Protestant Associations, 
 and so forth, that held their meetings and issued their 
 manifestoes in succeeding years, were reckoned more 
 dangerous and were more severely treated than the 
 newspapers, and such incidents as occurred in the Lord 
 George Gordon riots of 1780 certainly gave cause for 
 alarm. These and kindred movements grew in spite of 
 and in consequence of the attempts made to repress 
 them, and the press profited in the long run by many 
 measures in which, though they were not specially 
 aimed at it. it was involved, and through which it en- 
 
 ' O 
 
 dured many hardships at the time. 
 
 In May 1792, while the Libel Bill was being passed 
 through the House of Lords, the government issued a 
 proclamation against wicked and seditious writings, 
 which provoked the scorn of Fox, Charles Grey who 
 afterwards, as Earl Grey, had the credit of passing the 
 Reform Bill of 1832 and others, but which was en- 
 thusiastically approved by the parliamentary majority. 
 It was partly if not expressly aimed against Thomas 
 Paine and his ' Rights of Man,' and Erskine was not 
 able to save Paine from an adverse verdict when he 
 was brought up for trial under the new Libel Act in 
 the following December. The Revolution Society, the 
 Society for Constitutional Information, the London 
 Corresponding Society, and other organisations, were
 
 244 THE LIBEL ACT CH. virr. 
 
 attacked in turn or together, and in 1793 the govern- 
 ment got, among others, John Frost put in the pillory 
 and imprisoned, and Wmterbotham, Briellat, and Hud- 
 son fined and imprisoned, all for talking sedition ; while 
 in Scotland yet heavier sentences were passed on Muir, 
 Fyshe Palmer, and Skirving. Other and worse cases 
 followed, and the newspapers, though they gave but 
 little support to the extreme views of the republican 
 party that under French influence was growing up, 
 were sufficiently interfered with. Lord Eldon boasted 
 in the House of Peers in 1795, that 'there had been 
 more prosecutions for libel within the last two years 
 than there had been for twenty years before.' These, 
 however, with the exception of a few to be mentioned 
 hereafter, need not be particularised. 
 
 It was with a view of keeping down the press, as 
 well as of increasing the revenue, that Pitt had in 1789 
 raised the newspaper stamp duty to twopence, also 
 augmenting by sixpence the advertisement tax, which 
 now amounted to half-a-crown, and he adopted other 
 restraining measures. ' Whereas an usage prevails 
 amongst the hawkers of newspapers and other persons, 
 instead of selling the newspapers, to let out the same for 
 small sums to be read by different persons, whereby the 
 sale of newspapers is greatly obstructed,' it was enacted 
 that any one so offending should be liable to a penalty 
 of 5/. for each offence. 1 Other laws were passed re- 
 quiring heavy securities from newspaper printers, de- 
 nning the limits of size allowed for each stamp, and 
 so forth ; and in 1797 the stamp duty was raised to 
 threepence, with a discount of sixteen per cent, on 
 sums amounting to 10/. ' for every newspaper not sold 
 at more than sixpence.' that being offered as a reason- 
 
 1 Act 29 George III., c. 50. A stationer in Bond Street was so fined 
 on July 2, 1790. Knight Hunt, vol. i. p. 281.
 
 1789-1804. PITT'S NEWSPAPER POLICY 245 
 
 able compensation to such publishers of newspapers who 
 shall not advance the price of their papers beyond the 
 amount of duty imposed thereon by this Act.' Pub- 
 lishers were also required under a penalty of 201. to 
 print on the newspapers the price charged for them, 
 and not to sell them at any higher price. 1 More im- 
 portant was a law passed in 1798 ' for preventing the 
 mischiefs arising from the printing and publishing 
 newspapers and papers of a like nature by persons not 
 known, and for regulating the printing and publication 
 of such papers in other respects,' which prescribed the 
 registration of the names and abodes of all newspaper 
 proprietors, printers and publishers, with description of 
 their printing-houses and the titles of their journals, 
 and which laid down heavy penalties for some newly 
 made offences among others the sending abroad of 
 newspapers to any country ' not in amity with his 
 majesty,' and the copying from foreign papers of 
 matters tending to excite hatred and contempt of the 
 person of his majesty, and of the constitution and 
 government established in these kingdoms. 2 In 1804, 
 moreover, the newspaper duty was raised to threepence- 
 halfpenny, and the advertisement tax to three shillings 
 and sixpence. 3 
 
 Pitt's tampering with newspapers was not confined 
 to regulating their price and modes of distribution. He 
 knew as well as any before or after him how to influence 
 all editors who could be coaxed or threatened, and, as 
 there was a good deal of independence now in the better 
 .sort of London journalists, he addressed himself all the 
 more zealously to the country people. At the close of 
 the eighteenth century there was no daily paper published 
 in the provinces, and the weekly journals were, as a 
 
 1 Act 37 George III. c. 90. 2 Act 38 George III. c. 78. 
 
 3 Act 44 George III. c. 98.
 
 246 THE LIBEL ACT CH. YIII. 
 
 rule, not ambitions. ' Their comments,' we are told, 
 ' were confined to the events of their own town or dis- 
 trict, so sparingly administered, with such obvious dis- 
 trust of their own abilities and with such cautious 
 timidity, that they were absolutely of no account. The 
 London papers, a pot of paste and a pair of scissors, 
 supplied all the materials for the miscellaneous articles, 
 and the local intelligence was detailed in the most 
 meagre formularies. The provincial journalist of that 
 day was, in fact, not much above a mechanic, a mere 
 printer, and intellect had as little as possible to do with 
 the matter. When Mr. Pitt began to find a constant 
 instrument for the inoculation of his views indispensable 
 to bear along with him the force and currency of popular 
 sentiment, a public officer was instructed to open a com- 
 munication with the proprietors of journals of large 
 circulation, and the result was that to a vast majority of 
 them two or three London papers were sent gratui- 
 tously, certain articles of which Avere marked with red 
 ink, and the return made was the insertion of as many of 
 these as the space of the paper would allow. Thus was the 
 whole country agitated and directed by one mind as it 
 were ; and this fact accounts in no small degree for the 
 origin, propagation, and support of that public opinion, 
 which enabled the minister to pursue his plans with so 
 much certainty of insuring general approbation.' ' The 
 clergy at this time,' it is added, ' were, it would appear, 
 the principal provincial paper agents in this arrange- 
 ment, and exercised so much influence that a few years 
 afterwards some of them made their exertions the ground 
 for a claim on clerical patronage, and in more than one 
 case obtained it from the government.' l 
 
 O 
 
 Pitt's manipulation of the country newspapers, how- 
 ever, was only serviceable for a time. ' The success of 
 
 1 New Monthly Magazine, vol. xlviii. p. 133.
 
 1789-1804. PITT'S NEWSPAPER POLICY 247 
 
 these efforts on the part of the ministers,' according to 
 the same informant, ' roused the opposition into action, 
 and Jacobin or republican papers, as they were then 
 called, were established, and by their original articles 
 materially improved the character of provincial journal- 
 ism/ There was like or yet more marked improvement 
 in metropolitan journalism in the years before and after 
 the close of the eighteenth century, in no small measure 
 due to the zealous action of the government in using all 
 the power that the Libel Act of 1792 afforded it for 
 attacking obnoxious newspapers, and in perverting, as 
 far as it could, all the benefits it was designed to con- 
 fer on the public. 
 
 Erskine was but one and the ablest of the many ad- 
 vocates of free speech and free writing whom these times 
 produced. Another was Sheridan, who was a leading 
 member of the Society of Friends of the People from 
 the time of its starting in 1792. ' Give me but the 
 liberty of the press,' Sheridan said in one of his vigor- 
 ous speeches, delivered in parliament in 1810, 'and I 
 will give the minister a venal House of Peers, I will 
 give him a corrupt and servile House of Commons, I 
 will give him the full swing of the patronage of office, 
 I will give him the whole host of ministerial influence, 
 I will give him all the power that place can confer upon 
 him to purchase submission and overawe resistance, 
 and yet, armed with the liberty of the press, I will go 
 forth to meet him undismayed, I will attack the mighty 
 fabric he has reared with that mightier engine, I will 
 shake down from its height corruption, and lay it be- 
 neath the ruins of the abuses it was meant to shelter.' l 
 
 1 Hansard's Parliamentary Debates (First Series), vol. xv. p. 341.
 
 248 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 IN JAMES PERRY'S TIME. 
 17791811. 
 
 THOUGH there had been newspapers in England for 
 more than a hundred and fifty years before, some of 
 them very ably conducted and having considerable in- 
 fluence, they only began to assume their modern shape 
 near the end of the eighteenth century, the shape being 
 even then and for some time afterwards very different 
 from what it is now. A four-paged sheet, containing 
 less than is at present given in two pages of ' The 
 Times,' was as much as the law allowed to be issued 
 with a single stamp, and as much as the most enter- 
 prising editor could contrive to fill with interesting 
 matter, even though half the space might be taken up 
 with advertisements. Within this narrow compass, 
 however, there was room for a lively competition, and 
 it was vigorously carried on with the help of such 
 writers as Sheridan and Mackintosh, Coleridge and 
 Lamb, Southey and Moore, Campbell the poet and 
 Campbell the lawyer, and under editors and managers 
 as memorable as James Perry, John Walter, and Daniel 
 Stuart. 
 
 James Perry, though not the oldest, was the most 
 important of these three. Pie was born October 30, 
 1756, in Aberdeen, where his father, known as Pirie, 
 was a carpenter and builder. The boy had a good
 
 1756-1777. JAMES PERRY'S START IN LIFE 249 
 
 schooling, and was intended for the law, but he preferred 
 play-acting, and, joining a strolling company of which 
 Thomas Holcroffc was a member, had about a year's ex- 
 perience before he was dismissed on the ground that his 
 Scotch accent rendered it impossible for him to make 
 his way on the stage. That was in 1774, and after 
 vainly seeking employment in Edinburgh he travelled to 
 Manchester, where he was for two years a clerk to a 
 cotton- spinner, and made diligent use of his evenings 
 in reading solid books and practising oratory in a de- 
 bating society. In 1777, when he was barely oiie-and- 
 twenty, he came to London, resolved to improve his 
 position, and he soon found that he had taken a wise 
 step. He had brought a letter of introduction to Richard - 
 .son and Urquhart, the booksellers, who promised to find 
 some work for him, and after two or three unsuccessful 
 visits to their shop, he called one day to find Urquhart 
 reading with much satisfaction ' The General Adver- 
 tiser/ the youngest of the daily papers, which had been 
 started in 1776 under the editorship of William Cooke. 
 ' I have heard of nothing to suit you,' said Urquhart, 
 ' but if you could write such articles as this that I am 
 reading, I could give you work at once.' Young Perry 
 was able to say that the article was his own, being one 
 of several which he had amused himself in writing, and 
 had dropped anonymously into the editor's box, and he 
 produced from his pocket another article which he was 
 about to dispose of in the same way. ' That's the very 
 thing,' said the bookseller ; ' I am one of the principal 
 proprietors of this paper, and we want just such a writer 
 as you. We have a meeting to-night, and I shall pro- 
 pose you.' Next day Perry heard to his great delight 
 that he was to be employed on the staff of ' The General 
 Advertiser' at a salary of a guinea a week, with half- 
 a-guinea a week more for assisting on ' The London
 
 250 TN JAMES PERRY'S TIME CE. rx. 
 
 Evening Post.' ' Such was the incident,' says the 
 chronicler, ' that threw Perry into the profession of a 
 journalist.' l 
 
 i The London Evening Post ' was one of the old- 
 fashioned afternoon papers, appearing on Tuesdays, 
 Thursdays, and Saturdays, which had survived from 
 the time of George II. John Almon, the sturdy 
 Wilkite, had been for a long time connected with it, 
 and he and other writers had often got it into 
 trouble with the Tory government. Its style was now 
 somewhat out of date, however, and neither it nor ' The 
 General Advertiser ' was able to make much way, in 
 spite of the assistance that Perry gave to them for his 
 guiiiea-and-a-half a week. Among the daily papers 
 ' The Public Advertiser,' with its general news and its 
 racy letters of the Junius sort, under Henry Sampson 
 Woodfall, ' The Morning Chronicle,' in which "William 
 "Woodfall continued to distance all rivals by his parlia- 
 mentary reporting and dramatic criticism, and ' The 
 Morning Post,' in which Bate was now supporting the 
 Tories and pouring out his scurrilities, seemed to leave 
 little room for a new competitor, especially as both 
 ' The Public Ledger ' and ' The Gazetteer ' satisfied a 
 good many readers who cared more for advertisements 
 than for news. 
 
 At one time, indeed, Perry very nearly made ' The 
 General Advertiser ' prosperous. During the first six 
 weeks of 1779, while Admirals Keppel and Palliser 
 were being tried by court-martial on account of the 
 quarrel that had arisen between them as a discreditable 
 sequel to their clumsy fighting with the French off 
 Ushant in the previous July, Perry was lodging at 
 
 1 European Magazine, September 1818, p. 188 an article either 
 written or inspired by Perry himself ; also Monthly Magazine, January 
 1822, pp. 566, 567.
 
 1777-1783. HIS EARLY NEWSPAPER WORK 251 
 
 Portsmouth, and sent up each day an eight- column 
 report of the proceedings, and as no other paper thus 
 lavishly provided the public with the news which was 
 intensely interesting to it, the circulation of ' The 
 General Advertiser ' rose to ' several thousands a day.' 
 But this success was only temporary, and though 
 doubtless Perry did ample work for his pay, the pay 
 was hardly enough to make him very zealous. He was 
 as fond of speaking as of writing, and, his Scottish 
 accent having been toned down, had some reputation as 
 an orator. He was a persistent attendant at the West- 
 minster Forum, at the Lyceum, which had been lately 
 ' fitted up for a superior style of oratory, with the view 
 of enabling such young gentlemen as were designed for 
 the senate and the bar to practise public speaking before 
 a genteel auditory,' and at other places of the kind ; 
 and it is recorded that ' afterwards, when Mr. Pitt came 
 to be chancellor of the exchequer'' -that is. in 1782 
 ' having had frequent opportunities of witnessing 
 Perry's talent in public speaking, and particularly in 
 reply, he caused a proposal to be made to him of coming 
 into parliament, which would have probably led on to 
 high fortune.' l 
 
 He was fortunate enough before long as a journalist. 
 In 1782 he projected, and he edited for the first year, 
 ' The European Magazine.' He was also responsible 
 during some years for Debrett's ' Parliamentary De- 
 bates,' and in 1783 he left ' The General Advertiser ' 
 to become editor of ' The Gazetteer,' at a salary of four 
 guineas a week. He took that post ' on the express 
 condition that he was to be left to the free exercise of 
 his political opinions, which were those asserted by 
 Mr. Fox.' " 2 ' The Gazetteer ' had always been Whiggish, 
 
 1 European Magazine, September 1818, p. 189. 
 Ibid., p. 190.
 
 252 IN JAMES PERRY'S TIME CH. ix. 
 
 or almost too revolutionary for the Whigs, but, for a 
 long time before Perry took charge of it, it had not 
 been of much political account. For some time Sir 
 Robert Walpole's chief instrument for influencing or 
 controlling public opinion through the press, it had 
 come to be known as ' the booksellers' paper,' held and 
 worked by the publishing fraternity, pretty much as at 
 a later date ' The Morning Advertiser ' was held and 
 worked by the licensed victuallers. It was a convenient 
 channel for trade advertisements, and furnished a fair 
 amount of general news, but made no pretence of 
 authority in politics. Perry, however, used his position 
 on it to effect an important reform in at least one depart- 
 ment of journalism. Till then, the only newspaper 
 that furnished lengthy parliamentary reports was ' The 
 Morning Chronicle,' in which, ever since 1769, William 
 Woodfall, himself attending the debates and. charging 
 his wonderful memory with what he heard, had given 
 his version of everything important that had taken 
 place, sometimes filling the whole paper with it, to the 
 exclusion even of advertisements. But with all his 
 skill Woodfall could not, when a long and momentous 
 debate had lasted for several hours, get his report, of 
 perhaps ten columns or more, written out and set in 
 type in time for publication in the morning, and occa- 
 sionally it happened that readers anxious to know at 
 breakfast-time what had occurred overnight in the 
 House of Commons had to wait till supper-time for 
 the information. Those who cared for such news put 
 up with the inconvenience so long as it could not be 
 helped, and much preferred this arrangement to the 
 plan followed by the other papers of either giving no 
 more than a bald summary or postponing the report, 
 even in that case meagre, till the following day, and 
 1 The Morning Chronicle ' maintained its popularity and
 
 1783. WILLIAM WOODFALL'S SUCCESSOR 253 
 
 steadily increased it during several years. Perry under- 
 took to break down the monopoly by the bold yet 
 simple expedient of employing a staff of reporters 
 instead of assigning the whole of the labour to one man. 
 This was a harder task than might be supposed, how- 
 ever, for it not only added greatly to the expense of 
 production, but also necessitated much scheming to 
 obtain admission for so many reporters to the parlia- 
 mentary galleries, both houses being still jealous of 
 their privilege of privacy, and offering no such facilities 
 for reporting as now exist. Perry's reform had to be 
 introduced by degrees, and, though ' The Gazetteer ' 
 profited much by the changes he made, it was by no 
 means the most suitable paper for them, and the reform 
 was not perfected till Perry had again shifted his 
 quarters. 
 
 In the meanwhile two other new daily papers were 
 started. The earlier of them, ' The Morning Herald 
 and Daily Advertiser,' does not call for much notice. 
 Commenced on November 1, 1780, by Henry Bate, who 
 had now added Dudley to his name, and in consequence 
 of his secession or expulsion from ' The Morning Post,' 
 the new paper was hardly better, in some respects worse, 
 than the old one. According to the announcement in 
 the first number, it was meant ' to be conducted upon 
 Liberal principles.' ' If " The Morning Herald " does 
 not owe its general complexion to those principles,' 
 wrote Bate Dudley, ' it cannot be entitled to public 
 support. The editor flatters himself it will appear early 
 in the course of his arduous undertaking that he has 
 been attentive to every arrangement whence his readers 
 could derive information or entertainment. His power 
 not being equal to the suppression of obscene trash and 
 low invective, he trusts such articles will never stray 
 from their natural channel to defile a single column of
 
 254 IN JAMES PERRY'S TIME CH. ix. 
 
 " The Morning Herald." To whatever system of politics 
 he may individually be inclined, no prejudices arising 
 from thence shall induce him to sacrifice at any time 
 the sensible and dispassionate correspondence of either 
 party/ Containing a good deal of ' low invective,' if 
 not of 'obscene trash,' 'The Herald' was run 011 
 similar lines to ' The Post,' except that a bitter rivalry 
 was kept up between them, and that while ' The Post ' 
 now became more of a Tory organ than before, ' The 
 Herald' supported the Prince of "Wales's party, with 
 which the aristocratic and place-hunting Whigs were 
 more in sympathy than the Tories. Bate Dudley was 
 just the sort of man to be a personal favourite of the 
 scheming and dissolute prince, and he had a zealous 
 ally in Sheridan, who wrote much for ' The Herald,' 
 and got credit for more than he wrote. Every smart 
 joke or stinging paragraph that Bate Dudley published, 
 though he was himself an adept in concocting such, 
 Avas fathered upon Sheridan, and on that account was 
 credited with all the authority that could attach to any- 
 thing coming from the Carlton House circle. 1 
 
 The other newspaper, especially notable as the fore- 
 runner of ' The Times,' but interesting on its own 
 account, was ' The Daily Universal Register,' the first 
 number of which appeared on January 1, 1785. and 
 which at once attracted o-eneral notice, though in the 
 
 o O 
 
 way of ridicule prompted by jealousy rather than of 
 praise, and though all through its three years' life it 
 was an unprofitable speculation. 
 
 Its proprietor was John Walter, who, born in 1739, 
 had learnt the trade of bookselling and publishing as 
 apprentice to Robert Dodsley, and who carried on a 
 business of the same sort on his own account at Charing 
 
 1 John Bee, Life of Footc.
 
 1739-1785. THE FIRST JOHN WALTER 255 
 
 Cross during forty years. 1 Before those forty years were 
 over, in 1783, or earlier, he began another business in 
 Printing House Square for the development of a new 
 printing process, known as logography, of which he 
 was patentee and ' part contriver,' the chief inventor 
 being Henry Johnson, a compositor employed by him. 2 
 The process consisted in the use of metal castings of 
 complete words instead of separate letters, which its 
 devisers believed would save time and trouble, and 
 insure greater accuracy as well as economy. It did not 
 answer Walter's expectations. He attributed the blame, 
 however, to others and not to himself. ' Embarked in a 
 business, into which I entered as a mere novice, consist- 
 ing of several departments,' he said, ' want of experi- 
 ence laid me open to many and gross impositions, and I 
 have been severely injured by the inattention, neglect, 
 and ignorance of others.' He admitted that numerous 
 errors crept into the sheets issued by him, ' but these 
 errors,' he said, ' were not owing to any defect in the art 
 of printing logographically , but to the readers and editors 
 whose duty it was to correct the proof sheets.' He ac- 
 knowledged, however, that the necessity of crowding 
 his founts with vast numbers of words that were rarely 
 used, and of keeping a sufficient store of those most in 
 demand, was embarrassing, and with much regret he at 
 length modified and ultimately abandoned the scheme. 3 
 But during nearly a year and a half ' The Universal 
 Register,' along with several books and pamphlets, was 
 
 1 Nichols, Literary Anecdotes, vol. vi. p. 443. 
 
 2 An Introduction to Loyograpliy, by Henry Johnson (1783). Walter 
 had also before this time been an enterprising imdev-writer at Lloyd's, 
 and a great speculator in the coal trade. (See TJt e Case of Mr. John 
 Walter, in the British Museum Library, No. 1418, K, 33.) He was also 
 director of the Westminster branch of the Phcenix Fire Office for eighteen 
 years. (Nichols, vol. vi. p. 443.) 
 
 3 Daily Universal Register, August 10, 11, and 12, 178G.
 
 256 IN JAMES PERRY'S TIME CH. ix, 
 
 ' printed logographically,' and the modified form of 
 logography was followed for some time longer. 
 
 The first number of the new paper opened with a 
 statement of plans and objects, which, though more 
 than usually pretentious, gave some interesting infor- 
 mation. ' It is very far from my intention,' wrote 
 Walter in a signed article, ' to detract from the acknow- 
 ledged merit of the daily papers now in existence. It is 
 sufficient that they please the class of readers whose ap- 
 probation their conductors are ambitious to deserve. 
 Nevertheless it is certain some of the best, some of the 
 most respectable, and some of the most useful members 
 of the community have frequently complained (and the 
 causes of their complaints still exist) that by radical 
 defects in the plans of the present established papers 
 they were deprived of many advantages which ought 
 naturally to result from daily publications. Of these 
 some build their fame on the length and accuracy of 
 parliamentary reports, which undoubtedly are given 
 with great ability and with a laudable zeal to please 
 those who can spare time to read ten or twelve columns 
 of debates. Others are principally attentive to the 
 politics of the day, and make it their study to give 
 satisfaction to the numerous class of politicians who, 
 blessed with easy circumstances, have nothing better to 
 do than to amuse themselves with watching the motions 
 of ministers both at home and abroad, and endeavour- 
 ing to find out the secret springs that set in motion the 
 great machine of government in every state and empire 
 in the world. There is one paper which in no degree 
 interferes with the pursuits of its contemporaries ; it 
 looks upon parliamentary debates as sacred mysteries 
 that cannot be submitted to vulgar eyes without pro- 
 fanation. Political investigations it apprehends to be 
 little short of treason, and therefore loyally abstains
 
 1785. 'THE DAILY UNIVERSAL REGISTER' 257 
 
 from them. It deals almost solely in advertisements, 
 and consequently, though a very useful, it is by no 
 means an entertaining paper. Thus it would seem that 
 every newspaper published in London is calculated for 
 a particular set of readers only ; so that, if each set 
 were to change its favourite publication for another, the 
 commutation would produce disgust and dissatisfaction 
 to all. The politician would then find nothing to 
 amuse him but long accounts of petty squabbles about 
 trifles in parliament, or panegyrics on the men and 
 measures that he most disliked, or libels on those whom 
 he most revered. The person to whom parliamentary 
 debates afford unspeakable delight would find himself 
 bored with political speculations about the measures 
 that the different courts in Europe might probably 
 adopt, or disgusted with whole pages of advertisements 
 in which he felt no concern ; whilst the plain shop- 
 keeper who wanted to find a convenient house for his 
 business, and the servant who purchased his paper in 
 hopes of seeing in it an advertisement directing where 
 he might find a place to suit him, would have their 
 labour for their pains in perusing publicatious filled 
 with senatorial debates, or political essays and remarks 
 which would direct them to nothing less than the house 
 or place they wanted. A newspaper, conducted on the 
 true and natural principles of such a publication, ought 
 to be the Register of the Times, and faithful recorder 
 of every species of intelligence. It ought not to be 
 engrossed by any particular object, but, like a well- 
 covered table, it should contain something suited to 
 every palate.' 
 
 Such a perfect paper Walter proposed to supply, 
 selling it for twopence-halfpenny instead of the three- 
 pence charged for most of the other dailies, and pro- 
 mising that it should be published punctually at six 
 
 VOL. i. s
 
 258 IN JAMES PEERY'S TIME CH. ix. 
 
 o'clock every morning, and also that all advertisements 
 sent to him should invariably appear on the day after 
 they had been given in, even if, to find room for them, 
 it was found necessary to issue an extra half- sheet. 
 He intended the new journal, however, to be much 
 more than an advertising medium. His ambition was 
 to make it a complete chronicle of accurate and in- 
 teresting news, and a safe guide of public opinion. 
 ' " The Register," in its politics,' he said, ' will be of no 
 party. Weakened as the country is by a long and 
 expensive war, and rent by intestine divisions, nothing 
 but the union of all parties can save it from destruction. 
 Moderate men, therefore, I trust, will countenance a 
 paper which has for one of its objects to cool the 
 animosities, stifle the resentments, manage the personal 
 honour and reconcile the principals of contending 
 parties, while the favours of those will be courted who 
 support principles by fair argument and think that a 
 good cause may be injured by personalities and low 
 invective. The correspondence of such as descend to 
 illiberal abuse, and attack the man rather than the 
 measure, will always be disregarded. " The Register," 
 instead of dealing in scurrilities and abusing the great 
 men in power or the great men out of power, or instead 
 of deifying the one or the other, will reserve to itself a 
 right of censuring or applauding either as their conduct 
 may occasionally appear proper or improper. Nothing,' 
 it was added, ' shall ever find a place in " The Universal 
 .Register" that can tend to wound the ear of delicacy or 
 corrupt the heart. Vice shall never be suffered therein 
 to wear the garb of virtue. To hold out the former in 
 alluring colours would strike at the very root of 
 morality, and concealing the native deformity of vice 
 might seduce unsuspecting innocence from the paths of 
 virtue.'
 
 1785-1788. COMMENCEMENT OF 'THE TIMES.' 259 
 
 Starting thus ambitiously, and giving ample evidence 
 of zeal and honesty, if with too much arrogance, 
 Walter's paper fared ill under its original title, and, 
 attributing its disasters in part to the title, he at length 
 changed it. ' " The Universal Register," ' he said in his 
 amusingly pompous way, ' has been a name as injurious 
 to the logographic newspaper as Tristram was to Mr. 
 Shandy's son. But old Shandy forgot he might have 
 rectified by confirmation the mistake of the parson at 
 baptism with the touch of a bishop have turned 
 Tristram to Trismegistus. " The Universal Register," 
 from the day of its first appearance to the day of its 
 confirmation, has, like Tristram, suffered from unusual 
 casualties, both laughable and serious, arising from 
 its name, which, on its introduction, was immediately 
 curtailed of its fair proportion by all who called for it, 
 the word " Universal " being universally omitted, and 
 the word " Register " being only retained. " Boy, bring 
 me ' The Register ! ' The waiter answers, " Sir, we 
 have not a library, but you may see it at the Xew 
 Exchange coffee-house." " Then I'll see it there," 
 
 O 
 
 answers the disappointed politician, and he goes to 
 the New Exchange and calls for " The Register," upon 
 which the waiter tells him he cannot have it as he is 
 not a subscriber, and presents him with " The Court 
 and City Register," the old " Annual Register," or the 
 " Xew Annual Register," or, if the coffee-house be within 
 the purlieus of Covent Garden or the hundred of 
 Drury, slips into the politician's hand " Harris's Register 
 for Ladies." For these and other reasons the parents 
 of the " Universal Register " have added to its original 
 name that of " The Times," which, being a monosyllable, 
 bids defiance to corruptors and mutilators of the 
 language.' 
 
 These sentences are from the long announcement
 
 260 IN JAMES PERRY'S TIME CH. rx. 
 
 that appeared in the first number of ' The Times and 
 Daily Universal Register,' on January 1, 1788, and 
 Walter promised, along with much else, that in the re- 
 named paper greater pains than ever should be taken 
 to give prompt and accurate information under separate 
 heads ' the literary, political, commercial, philoso- 
 phical, critical, theatrical, fashionable, humorous, witty, 
 &c., each of which are supplied with a competent share 
 of intellects for the pursuit of their several functions, 
 an endowment which is not in all times to be found 
 even in the heads of the state, the heads of the church, 
 the heads of the law, the heads of the navy, the heads 
 of the army, and, though last not least, the great heads 
 of the universities.' ' The political head of " The Times," 
 it was added, ' like that of Janus, the Roman deity, is 
 double-faced ; with one countenance it will smile con- 
 tinually on the friends of Old England, and with the 
 other will frown incessantly on her enemies.' For the 
 change of title Walter claimed that he had contem- 
 porary warrant. ' The alteration we have made in our 
 head is not without precedents,' he said. ' " The World " 
 has parted with half its caput mortuum, and a moiety of 
 its brains. " The Herald " has cut off half its head, and 
 has lost its original humour. " The Post," it is true, 
 retains its whole head, and its old features, and as to 
 the other public prints they appear as having neither 
 heads nor tails.' 
 
 ' The World ' there scornfully referred to had been 
 started just a year before, and, in no way remarkable, 
 was never very successful during its short lifetime, 
 though in the number that was published on the same 
 day as the first ' Times ' it boasted that in the course of 
 the previous twelve months its circulation had risen 
 from two thousand to between three and four thousand, 
 and, in consequence, bespoke the forbearance of its
 
 1788-1789. 'THE TIMES' AND ITS RIVALS 261 
 
 readers on account of the lateness of publication in- 
 evitable when so large a quantity had to be printed off. 
 Probably if the truth were told, the sale of ' The World ' 
 was at no time above a few hundred a day. A couple 
 of thousand was, in those times, a good paying circula- 
 tion which very few papers achieved. 
 
 * The Times,' in its early years, professed, as it has 
 often done since, to take no party side, but to be an in- 
 dependent and outspoken critic of all parties, while 
 giving a general support to the government of the day, 
 which for a long time, whether Pitt was in office or 
 not, stoutly upheld the Tory principles of w r hich he was 
 the champion, but which differed in some important 
 particulars from the Toryism of the court. The court 
 Toryism was coarsely represented by ' The Morning 
 Post,' and the principal Whig organ was ' The Morning 
 Chronicle.' 
 
 ' The Morning Chronicle,' however, had been losing 
 ground under William Woodfall's now old-fashioned 
 management, and suffered especially from the opposi- 
 tion offered to it by Perry in ' The Gazetteer.' In 
 1789 a notable change was brought about. Woodfall, 
 quarrelling with his co-proprietors, who wanted to 
 compete with Perry by following his tactics, left the 
 paper after twenty years' work on it, and started ' The 
 Diary,' which only had a short and unhappy life ; and 
 * The Chronicle ' was offered for sale. Perry borrowed 
 500^. from Kansome & Co., the bankers, and some more 
 money from Bellamy, the wine merchant in Chandos 
 Street, who was also caterer and doorkeeper to the 
 House of Commons, and entered into partnership with 
 a Charterhouse schoolmaster named Gray, who had just 
 received a legacy of 5 OO/. With that joint capital the 
 two bought ' The Chronicle,' partly at Fox's instigation, 
 the Duke of Norfolk making Perry a present of a house
 
 262 IN JAMES PERRY'S TIME CH. ix. 
 
 in the Strand, which he converted into a new publish- 
 ing office. 1 Thus revived, ' The Chronicle ' soon became 
 the most influential paper of that generation. 
 
 Perry was the first of the great line of modern 
 London editors, among whom Stuart, of ' The Morning 
 Post' soon becoming his rival Black, of ' The Morning- 
 
 / O J o 
 
 Chronicle,' and Barnes and Delaiie, of 'The Times,' were 
 after his day especially famous. He had all the quali- 
 fications for success. ' Perhaps no man connected with 
 the English press,' it was said shortly after his death, 
 ' ever enjoyed a tithe of the personal popularity of Perry. 
 He was in the first place a highly honourable and brave 
 man. Confidence reposed in him was never abused. 
 He was the depositary of many most important secrets 
 of high personages. Generous in the extreme, he was 
 ever ready with his purse and his services. His manner 
 was manly, frank, and cordial ; and he was the best of 
 proprietors. He was hospitable, too ; and it was said 
 that his dinners were positively the best of any at that 
 time in the town. Though not profound, he was quick, 
 versatile, and showy. He wrote like a man of the 
 world, and took plain, common-sense views of the sub- 
 jects on which he treated ; and his style was easy and 
 familiar.' 2 Other contemporary report is to the same 
 effect. ' He was a man of strong natural sense, some 
 cynical knowledge, and quick tact,' said one of his 
 friends ; ' prudent, plausible, and with great heartiness 
 and warmth of feeling. This last quality was perhaps 
 of more use to him than any other in the sphere in 
 which he moved. His cordial voice and sanguine mode 
 of address made friends, whom his sincerity and grati- 
 tude ensured.' The same informant admits that he was 
 
 1 Monthly Magazine, January 1822, p. 567 ; Cyrus Redding, Fifty 
 Years' Recollections, vol. i. p. 95. 
 
 - Quoted by Knight Hunt in The Fourth Estate, vol. ii. p. 100.
 
 1789-1800. 'THE CHRONICLE' UNDER PERRY 263 
 
 ' a little of a coxcomb,' and ' fond of the society of 
 lords/ being ' more vain than proud.' He sometimes 
 affected more scholarship than he possessed. After the 
 death of Porson, who was his brother-in-law, in 1808, 
 Perry, writing about him in ' The Chronicle,' stated that 
 ' epithalamia were thrown into his coffin,' and, on its 
 being pointed out to him that this was not likely to have 
 happened, he inserted as an erratum next day, ' For 
 " epithalamia " read " epicedia." He was blamed for 
 writing too much in his own paper, and for having ' an 
 ambition to have it thought that every good thing in it, 
 unless it came from a lord or an acknowledged wit, was 
 his own ; if he paid for the article itself, he thought 
 that he paid for the credit of it also.' l 
 
 Perry was on good terms with his contributors, 
 however, and made ' The Morning Chronicle ' a more 
 prosperous journal than had ever before been known in 
 England. During the first few years he and his part- 
 ner Gray did most of the original writing, which, apart 
 from letters and other contributions from outsiders, 
 rarely exceeded two or three columns each day, though 
 this was a larger quantity than most of the other papers 
 contained. Gray provided the heavy articles, Perry 
 those of lighter sort ; and after Gray's death, which 
 happened after he had been part proprietor for only a 
 few years, other writers were employed, among them 
 James Mackintosh and Sheridan, and in later times 
 Thomas Campbell and Thomas Moore, who contributed 
 verse, and John Campbell, then a young barrister, who 
 was the theatrical critic. 2 ' The Exile of Erin,' ' Ye 
 Mariners of England,' and several other poems appeared 
 in ' The Chronicle ' during 1800, on Christmas Day in 
 which year Thomas Campbell wrote to his agent in 
 
 1 Edinburgh Review, May 1823, pp. 361, 362. 
 
 - Monthly Magazine, January 1822 : Cyrus Redding, vol. i. p. 95.
 
 264 IN JAMES PERRY'S TIME CH. ix. 
 
 London : ' I have just finished my fourteenth trans- 
 mission to P. I have resolved to send but twenty for a 
 year's allowance. I think you may demand at least 
 forty guineas for them all. The remaining six shall be 
 sent within three weeks. Two guineas apiece is no 
 extraordinary demand ; but leave it to himself. More 
 than twenty pieces in a year would make my name 
 too hackneyed.' l When Campbell settled in London 
 he attempted to write prose as well as verse for ' The 
 Chronicle,' but with less success. ' Experience must 
 have been wanting,' said one of his friends and fellow - 
 contributors. ' A knowledge of the political topics of 
 the time, and the art of rapid composition, these essen- 
 tials in writing for the masses, were not the qualities 
 with which Campbell was endowed. He must have been 
 an utter stranger to the tact which, in the newspaper 
 contests of that time, when politics ran high, must have 
 been more than ever demanded. He had none of that 
 positive acquaintance with men and things connected 
 with political affairs which can be obtained at the seat 
 of government alone. The poet was unsuccessful, though 
 Perry retained him for some time to aid in getting up 
 the poet's corner of the paper.' 2 Perry had another 
 and a more famous contributor. In September 1793, 
 when Coleridge, at the age of nineteen, ran up from 
 Cambridge to London, and was on the point of enlist- 
 ing as a soldier, he made his first appearance as a 
 newspaper writer. ' He sent a poem of a few lines to 
 Perry, soliciting a loan of a guinea for a distressed 
 author,' we are told. ' Perry, who was generous with 
 his money, sent it ; and Coleridge often mentioned this, 
 when " The Morning Chronicle " was alluded to, with ex- 
 pressions of a deep gratitude proportioned to the severe 
 
 1 Beattie, Life and Correspondence of Thomas Campbell, vol. i. p. 329. 
 
 2 Cyrus Redding in New Monthly Magazine, vol. Ixxvii. p. 404.
 
 1789-1800. 'THE CHRONICLE' UNDER PERRY 265 
 
 distress which that small sum at the moment relieved.' l 
 In later years Coleridge wrote some other poems for 
 * The Morning Chronicle/ and his friend Charles Lamb 
 was an occasional writer of prose for it. 2 
 
 Perry owed much to his contributors, but more to 
 his own tact and enterprise. One of his purposes in 
 acquiring ' The Chronicle ' was to bring to as much per- 
 fection as he could the system of parliamentary report- 
 ing on which his heart was set, and for which he had 
 already won much credit. In this he got other help, 
 besides a loan of money, from Bellamy the wine mer- 
 chant. Bellamy being also doorkeeper of the House 
 of Commons, he could let almost anyone he chose pass 
 in and out of the building, and send messages and 
 parcels to and fro with ease. He was thus of immense 
 service to Perry in enabling his reporters to make and 
 despatch their notes of debates without unnecessary 
 trouble or loss of time. 3 And Perry's zeal was shown 
 in another way. Before the war between England and 
 France was begun in 1793, he went to France and 
 stayed there more than a year in order that he might 
 send home early and correct accounts of the progress of 
 the great revolution. 4 He was thus one of the pioneers 
 of the special war correspondence which has been such 
 an important feature of modern journalism. 
 
 Xo stronger proof of the skill with which Perry 
 managed ' The Morning Chronicle ' could, apart from 
 its commercial success, be found than in the fact that 
 at a time when nearly every other newspaper was the 
 frequent object of libel prosecutions by the crown, this 
 outspoken organ of the Whigs in opposition was scarcely 
 
 1 Daniel Stuart in Gentleman's Magazine, August 1838, p. 124. 
 
 2 Essays of Elia, 'Newspapers Thirty Years Ago.' 
 
 3 Monthly Magazine, January 1822, p. 507. 
 
 4 Knight Hunt, vol. ii. p. 104.
 
 266 IN JAMES PERRY'S TIME 
 
 CH. 
 
 interfered with. Thrice only during his long career was 
 Perry brought up for trial. In the first case he was 
 defended by Erskine ; in the second and third he de- 
 fended himself ; and in all these cases verdicts of not 
 guilty were obtained. 1 He was less fortunate in 1798. 
 ' The Morning Chronicle ' of March 19 in that year con- 
 tained a paragraph in which some discerned sympathy 
 with the French, with whom England was then at war. 
 On the 21st the Earl of Minto called attention to it in 
 the House of Peers, and he was followed by Lord 
 Sydney, who spoke of ' The Chronicle ' as ' a scandalous 
 paper, which lie would not admit into his home.' Perry 
 was not without defenders. Lord Derby maintained 
 that he had ' never employed his pen or his paper to 
 undermine the civil or religious establishments of the 
 country,' and that 'The Chronicle' was 'distinguished 
 for its regard to the decencies of private life, and for its 
 disdain of all scandal on individuals, and of those licen- 
 tious personalities by which the peace of families was 
 destroyed ' ; and the Duke of Bedford, the Marquis of 
 Lansdowne, and the Duke of Norfolk spoke to the same 
 effect. Lord Minto's motion that Perry, and with him 
 Lambert, the printer of ' The Chronicle,' should be im- 
 prisoned for three months and fined 50/., was, however, 
 carried by sixty-nine votes to eleven. 2 
 
 John Walter, though he generally supported the 
 government, while Perry opposed it, was much more 
 unfortunate. ' The Times ' was less than two years old, 
 when, in the autumn of 1789, a paragraph censuring 
 the Duke of York appeared in it. For this Walter was 
 prosecuted in December, sentenced to pay a fine of 50/., 
 to stand in the pillory for an hour, to be imprisoned for 
 a year, and after that to give security for his good be- 
 
 1 Knight Hunt, vol. ii. pp. 37, 105. 
 
 2 Parliamentary History, vol. xxxiii.
 
 1789-1791. JOHN WALTER IN PRISON 267 
 
 haviour during seven years. He was excused from the 
 pillory, but while he was in Newgate gaol, and manag- 
 ing ' The Times ' as best he could from there, two other 
 libels appeared, one blaming the Prince of Wales, and 
 again the Duke of York, and the other charging the 
 Duke of Clarence with having absented himself from 
 his ship without leave of the authorities ; and for these 
 fresh offences Walter was in November sentenced to an- 
 other year's imprisonment, and to pay fines amounting 
 to 200/. 1 He had friends at court, however, and, 
 apparently at the intercession of Sir Thomas Erskine, 
 he was released in March 1791, after he had been in 
 confinement for sixteen months. 2 
 
 Walter boldly vied with Perry in newspaper enter- 
 prise, one of his arrangements being to keep a light 
 cutter irmnino- backwards and forwards across the 
 
 o 
 
 1 Knight Hunt, vol. ii. p. 164. 
 
 2 ' Little did I ever expect ever to be an inhabitant of this vile re- 
 ceptacle, or that any political sin could doom me to so severe a sentence,' 
 Walter wrote to James Bland Burges from Newgate in February 1790. ' I 
 am the more astonished when I daily read in the opposition prints the 
 most opprobrious libels and treasonable paragraphs against those who gave 
 birth to my prosecutors, and yet without notice. . . . Newgate was un- 
 doubtedly a receptacle for felons, though it is the fashion of the court, at 
 present, to extend it to misdemeanours, by which means we are subject 
 to more solitary confinement than felons who are guilty of murder and 
 the greatest outcasts of society. Though I am confined in what is called 
 the state side and, by paying for a room, have one to myself, yet the 
 same entrance leads likewise to the felons, and whenever any are brought 
 into the gaol the outward door is shut, and they are fettered in the com- 
 mon passage, so that it discourages my friends from access ; and such is 
 the audacity of some of the turnkeys that they will frequently keep them 
 and those who bring my provisions for an hour at the door, even when 
 they are lolling in their chair in an adjoining room ; and what is still 
 worse, at eight o'clock I am locked up every evening in common with the 
 felons, after which time 110 soul is permitted to have a person with him. 
 .... Were a person ever so ill, they might call their hearts out before 
 any assistance could be procured. Judge then what a man must feel 
 who has till lately enjoyed even the luxuries of liieSBland-Burges 
 Papers, p. 157. In this letter Walter says, ' I was one of the jury who 
 tried Junius's ' letter to the king" twenty years since.'
 
 268 IN JAMES PERRY'S TIME CH. ix. 
 
 Channel during the war with France, in order surrep- 
 titiously to obtain from the local fishermen copies of the 
 French papers, which were contraband in England, and 
 in this way to provide interesting information for his 
 readers. 1 He raised ' The Times ' to the second rank 
 among the journals of the day ; but it was reserved 
 for his son, the second John Walter, who took charge of 
 the paper in 3803, to make it both more influential and 
 more prosperous than ' The Morning Chronicle.' He died 
 on November 16, 1812. ' He was a man,' it was said 
 of him, ' of the strictest honour, both in professional 
 and private life, and his unbounded benevolence was 
 only exceeded by his urbanity and uncommon flow of 
 spirits.' 2 
 
 Perry, who was his junior by seventeen years, lived 
 on till December 6, 1821, continuing the general 
 management of ' The Chronicle' till the last, but some 
 years before this he had left much of the editing to 
 others, his first assistant after Gray's death being 
 Robert Spankie, who was afterwards attorney-general 
 of Bengal, and the next John Black. He interested 
 himself in much besides the newspaper, losing part of 
 his earnings in manufacturing speculations ; but he 
 could afford to do this. ' The Chronicle,' after his death, 
 was sold for 42,0(M. 3 
 
 Ten years younger than Perry, and his survivor by 
 a quarter of a century, though he got out of harness 
 sooner, was the last of the three great editors of the 
 period. Daniel Stuart was another of the Scotchmen 
 who sought and found fortune in London. He claimed 
 some sort of kinship with the royal family whose name 
 he bore, and was proud of the prowess of his ancestors, 
 the Stuarts of Loch Rannoch in Perthshire, in fighting 
 
 1 Cyrus Redding, vol. ii. p. 107. 2 Nichols, vol. vi. p. 443. 
 
 3 Knight Hunt, vol. ii. pp. 104, 112.
 
 1788-1800. DANIEL STUART AND OTHERS 269 
 
 against the houses of Orange and Hanover in 1715 and 
 
 C5 O 
 
 1745. He was himself, however, a loyal subject of 
 King George III., though somewhat wavering between 
 Whig and Tory principles. He was born in Edin- 
 burgh on November 1G, 1766, and in 1778 he was 
 sent to London, where his elder brothers, Charles and 
 Peter, were already learning the printing trade. Charles 
 appears to have left it, while he was still a young man, 
 for verse-writing and play- writing. His poems were in 
 the style of Burns, ' though,' as his brother admitted, 
 ' of much inferior merit,' and several of his short come- 
 dies or farces were produced at the theatres towards 
 the close of the eighteenth century. But Peter set up 
 in business as a general printer, and Daniel, as soon as 
 his schooling was over, became his assistant or partner. 1 
 These two lived together, and with them lived their 
 sister Catherine, who, we are told, was ' less remark- 
 able for her personal attractions than for a rich fund 
 of good sense which, under gentle and unpretending 
 manners, was directed by a strong mind and an affec- 
 tionate heart.' This young lady, whose mind and 
 heart seem to have been very helpful to her brother, as 
 well as to others, happened to be a great friend of a 
 Mrs. Fraser, with whom young James Mackintosh 
 came in 1788 to lodge, while having taken his doctor- 
 ship of medicine in Edinburgh he studied law at Lin- 
 coln's Inn. The young people soon fell in love with one 
 another, and in February 1789, neither being yet four- 
 and-twenty, were secretly married, thereby giving great 
 offence to both their families, though Daniel Stuart, at 
 any rate, was soon, and for long afterwards, on good 
 terms with his amiable sister and his talented brother- 
 in-law. 2 
 
 1 Gentleman' 's Magazine, September 1847, p. 322. 
 
 - R. J. Mackintosh, Life of Sir James Mackintosh, vol. i. p. 50.
 
 270 IN JAMES PERRY'S TIME CH. K . 
 
 The friendship was serviceable to both of the young 
 men, especially as Mackintosh, finding it necessary to 
 earn money for the support of his wife, was a busy 
 journalist for some years. His first employment was 
 011 ' The Oracle,' a daily paper which had just been 
 started by John Bell, in the hope of competing with 
 ' The Times ' and its rivals. Mackintosh was employed 
 to write up the foreign news for ' The Oracle,' and the 
 first arrangement was that his work should be paid for 
 according to the quantity. In one week, however, to 
 Bell's horror, he produced matter enough to be worth 
 ten guineas. ' Xo paper can stand this ! ' exclaimed 
 Bell, and a fresh contract was made, in accordance with 
 which Mackintosh wrote less and received a regular 
 salary. He also, as has been noted, contributed occa- 
 sional articles to ' The Morning Chronicle.' l 
 
 In the meanwhile the Stuart brothers were driftino* 
 
 o 
 
 into newspaper speculation. Though they do not seem to 
 have been otherwise responsible for it at this date, they 
 undertook, in 1788, the printing of ' The Morning Post,' 
 which, having been in very low water for some time, 
 made a fresh start, with new type and promise of other 
 improvements. ' Newspapers,' wrote the editor, who- 
 ever he may have been, in terms more applicable to ' The 
 Post' than to any other journal, 'have long enough 
 estranged themselves in a manner totally from the 
 elegancies of literature, and dealt only in malice, or at 
 least in the prattle of the day. On this head, however, 
 newspapers are not much more to blame than their 
 patrons, the public. But it is a blame out of which ' The 
 Morning Post" is resolved to struggle, and for that end 
 plans are now settling with a number of literary gentle- 
 men, and particularly with one whose name would do 
 our paper the highest honour were we at liberty to an- 
 
 1 Mackintosh, vol. i. pp. 53, 54.
 
 1788-1795. TROUBLES OF 'THE MORNING POST' 271 
 
 nounce it. The period is not far distant when " The 
 Morning Post " will be as necessarily sought after, not 
 only for the purpose of learning the fashionable intelli- 
 gence, and the best authenticated accounts of foreign 
 and domestic occurrences which it now possesses, but 
 that the lovers of literature and taste may thoroughly 
 peruse it, and store it up for future information and 
 many a future reading.' 1 Those were vain yet pro- 
 phetic words. The ' number of literary gentlemen,' and 
 the one particularly honourable among them, were not 
 procured by Tattersall, the proprietor at that time, 
 who knew more about horses and sport than about the 
 * elegancies of literature,' and Dr. Wolcott, as Peter 
 
 o ; 
 
 Pindar, continued to be the chief writer on ' The Post,' 
 which, besides his clever verses, gave much information 
 about affairs of the prize-ring and kindred amusements. 
 At length, in July 1792, Tattersall had to pay 4,0001. 
 damages for an especially gross libel on Lady Elizabeth 
 Lambert, 2 and, though he was not ruined, ' The Post ' 
 suffered considerably. It derived a large revenue from 
 advertisements of carriages and horses, but in 1795 its 
 average daily circulation was only 3 50, and Tattersall was 
 glad to sell it to Daniel Stuart, and some friends from 
 whom Stuart soon afterwards bought their shares, for 
 600/., that price including the house in Catherine Street, 
 Strand, and all the plant, as well as the copyright. 3 
 
 Daniel Stuart had been printing ' The Morning Post ' 
 during seven years before that, his brother Peter having 
 resigned the work to him early in 1788 in order to start 
 the first London evening paper, ' The Star.' Hitherto, 
 throughout more than half a century, there had been 
 several evening papers, issued thrice a week ; but these 
 
 1 Morning Post, January 1, 1788. 
 
 3 Campbell, Lives of the Cfiief Justices, vol. iii. p. 51. 
 
 3 Gentkman's Magadne, July 1838, p. 24.
 
 272 IN JAMES PERRY'S TIME CH. rx. 
 
 had depended for their success more on essays and other 
 miscellaneous matter than on fresh and original news, 
 and Peter Stuart only ventured on his experiment, as 
 Daniel said, ' in consequence of the increased facilities 
 of communication by Palmer's mail-coach plan just 
 started.' l It being now possible for evening newspapers 
 to be delivered on the same day, and more quickly than 
 the post could carry them, Peter Stuart shrewdly set a 
 fashion in which he soon had many imitators ; and 
 'The Star' was carried on with some profit till 1831, 
 when it was swallowed up by ' The Albion.' Its first 
 editor was ' Mr. Macdonald, a Scotch poet, author of 
 " Vimonda," a tragedy, an accomplished literary gentle- 
 man, with a large family, in distressed circumstances.' 
 as we are told by Daniel, who also reports that his 
 brother invited Burns to come up to town and supply 
 ' communications to the paper ' at a salary of a guinea 
 a week, ' quite as large as his excise office emoluments.' 
 ' I forget the particulars,' he adds, ' but I remember my 
 brother showing Burns's letters, and boasting of the 
 correspondence with so great a genius.' 2 
 
 Daniel Stuart was a more skilful newspaper manager 
 than his elder brother, and also a man of more general 
 ability and wider interests. "When in 1792 the Society 
 of Friends of the People was started, in order to carry 
 on an orderly agitation against the tyrannical policy of 
 Pitt and the Tories, with Erskine, Sheridan, Grey, 
 Whitbread, Tierney, Lauderdale, and other influential 
 Whigs among its members, Mackintosh was its honorary 
 secretary, and Daniel Stuart did much of the work for 
 him. 3 This brought the young printer into intimate 
 relations with nearly all the leading members of the 
 opposition, and, adopting their opinions in the mam, he 
 
 1 Gentleman's Magazine, July 1838, p. 24. 2 Ibid. 
 
 3 Ibid., September 1847, p. 323.
 
 1796-1798. 'THE POST' UNDER DANIEL STUART 273 
 
 became, not exactly a Whig, but more liberal and cos- 
 mopolitan than any orthodox Whigs could be. There- 
 fore, in 1795, when Mackintosh's society was dissolved, 
 and when Daniel Stuart became proprietor and editor 
 of ' The Morning Post,' he not only revolutionised the 
 general tone of the paper, but, claiming to be indepen- 
 dent of party, made it an exponent of bolder and more 
 revolutionary views in politics than found utterance in 
 ' The Morning Chronicle ' or any of the other daily 
 papers. His brother-in-law, Mackintosh, became one of 
 his contributors, and among other contributors, before 
 long, were Coleridge, Lamb, Southey, and Wordsworth. 
 During a few years, indeed, ' The Post ' had a staff of 
 writers so brilliant and interesting that their connection 
 with it deserves to be traced with some detail in another 
 chapter. At present it is enough to note the fact that 
 Daniel Stuart's skilful editing made his paper during a 
 few years more successful than any of its rivals. 
 
 The circulation of ' The Morning Post,' which was 
 only 350 when Stuart bought it in 1795, was over 
 2,000 in 1798, being partly raised to that figure by his 
 buying up of two other daily papers, the old ' Gazetteer ' 
 and a short-lived rival, ' The Telegraph,' with a sale of 
 about 700 between them, which he absorbed in ' The 
 Post ' ; and it exceeded 4,500 in 1803, when the highest 
 average of any other paper was only about 3,000.* That 
 total was reached by ' The Morning Chronicle ' alone. 
 '" The Morning Herald" and " The Times," then leading 
 papers,' said Stuart, ' were neglected, and " The Morn- 
 ing Post," by vigilance and activity, rose rapidly. Ad- 
 vertisements flowed in beyond bounds. I encouraged 
 the miscellaneous advertisements in the front page, 
 preferring them to any others, upon the rule that 
 the more numerous the customers the more independent 
 
 1 Gentleman's Magazine, September 1847, p. 323. 
 VOL. I. T
 
 274 IN JAMES PERRY'S TIME CH. ix. 
 
 and permanent the custom. Besides, numerous and 
 various advertisements interest numerous and various 
 readers, looking out for employment, servants, sales, 
 purchases, &c. &c. Advertisements act and react. 
 They attract readers and promote circulation, and cir- 
 culation attracts advertisements.' l 
 
 Four years after he had begun to make ' The Morning 
 Post ' a profitable and powerful newspaper, Daniel Stuart 
 entered on another successful speculation, emulating and 
 improving upon his brother Peter's experience on ' The 
 Star,' as a rival to which ' The Courier,' had lately been 
 issued as an evening paper. ' The Courier,' started by 
 John Parry, had been conducted with some spirit, and 
 had what was for those times a respectable circulation, 
 but Parry seems to have been ruined by a particularly 
 outrageous libel prosecution instituted by the govern- 
 ment in May 1799. In the previous November he had 
 published this paragraph : ' The emperor of Russia is 
 rendering himself obnoxious to his subjects by various 
 acts of tyranny, and ridiculous in the eyes of Europe 
 by his inconsistency. He has now passed an edict pro- 
 hibiting the importation of timber, deal, &c. In conse- 
 quence of this ill-timed law upwards of one hundred 
 sail of vessels are likely to return to this kingdom 
 without freights.' On the ground that this was a gross 
 insult to a friendly power and likely to cause trouble 
 between England and Russia, the attorney -general, 
 afterwards Lord Elclon, persuaded the Court of King's 
 Bench to fine Parry 100/. and to send him to prison 
 for six months, both the printer and publisher being 
 also imprisoned for a month. 2 Parry discreetly sold 
 ' The Courier,' and Daniel Stuart discreetly bought it. 
 Under his direction, though it was involved in at least 
 
 1 Gentleman' 1 s Magazine, July 1838, p. 25. 
 
 '-' LorJ Campbell, Lives of the Chief Justices, vol. iii. p. 50.
 
 1799-1811. 'THE COURIER' AND 'THE POST' 275 
 
 one libel case only a few months after he took charge of 
 it, the circulation steadily advanced from 1,500 in 1796 
 to 7,000 in 1811, and after that to 8,000 or more, the 
 number unparalleled for that time being 10,000 in 
 the memorable fortnight before the battle of Waterloo. 1 
 Before that date, however, Daniel Stuart had 
 practically retired from business. Finding that his 
 health was breaking down under the strain of two daily 
 papers, he sold ' The Morning Post' in 1803 ; and in 
 the management of ' The Courier ' he had a partner, 
 Peter Street, who attended to the printing and publish- 
 ing from the first, and who also undertook the editor- 
 
 D 
 
 ship before 1811. Street was either a Tory or, as his 
 enemies called him, 'an anythingarian,' 2 and in his 
 hands ' The Courier ' was daring many years the chief 
 ministerial organ in the London press, ' The Morning 
 Chronicle ' being its principal opponent. 
 
 Stuart, with some reason, prided himself not only 
 on the very successful way in which his two papers 
 were managed, but also on the influence he was able to 
 exert through them on the politics of the day, and on 
 the independence with which he did this. ' I sup- 
 ported Addington against Bonaparte during the peace 
 of Amiens with all my power,' he said ; ' and in the 
 summer of 1803 Mr. Estcourt came to me with a 
 message of thanks from the prime minister, Mr. 
 Addington, offering me anything I wished. I declined 
 the offer.' 3 A few years afterwards he wrote an article 
 in ' The Courier ' finding fault with the Duke of York, 
 and, as was usual, two or three early copies of the paper 
 were sent off to the government offices. ' About four 
 o'clock,' according to his report. ' up came an alarming 
 
 Gentleman' 's Magazine, May 1838, p. 490. 
 Cyrus Redding, vol. i. p. 94. 
 Gentleman's Magazine, June 1838, p. 578. 
 
 T 2
 
 276 IN JAMES PERRY'S TIME en. ix. 
 
 message from the treasury, that, if that paragraph 
 went forth, the ministry would be ruined. We can- 
 celled 3,500 sheets and expunged it, and I made Street 
 promise to accept of no pecuniary remuneration for so 
 considerable a loss, that it might not be said we had 
 done this to extort money. The paper at that time 
 was supposed to be so much under ministerial direction 
 that certain high personages would not have believed 
 the paragraph was not sent designedly by ministers to 
 the paper for a crooked purpose.' l 
 
 Here is another of Stuart's interesting anecdotes, 
 which throw light on much besides the important posi- 
 tion that newspapers, under such men as Stuart and 
 Perry, were now attaining in the political world. 
 'Early in 1811,' he tells us, 'Coleridge had some 
 private business with me. I called on him at Charles 
 Lamb's chambers in the Temple, and we adjourned to 
 a tavern, where we talked over the news of the day. 
 There was at that time a dispute in parliament about 
 the conditions on which the Prince of Wales should 
 accept the regency, and it had been authoritatively, 
 ostentatiously, gravely boasted that the royal brothers 
 had met, and had all agreed it should be a regency 
 without restrictions. Coleridge pointed out that this 
 was a most unconstitutional interference, that the con- 
 stitution knew nothing of an assembly of princes to 
 overawe the legislature. I wrote an. article to this 
 effect in " The Courier," referred to the Germanic con- 
 stitution, and censured the attempt to establish " a 
 college of princes " in England. The Duke of Sussex 
 took this up in high dudgeon, and made a long, angry 
 speech in the House of Lords on the subject. He 
 thought, evidently, that the article was a ministerial 
 manifesto from the cabinet in Downing Street, without 
 
 1 Gentleman's Magazine, August 1838, p. 127.
 
 1811. ' THE COURIER ' AND THE PRINCE OF WALES 277 
 
 knowing that it was only a tavern concoction, of which 
 ministers knew nothing.' l 
 
 To the spring of 1811 must also be referred yet 
 another of Stuart's amusing reminiscences. ' At this 
 time,' he says, ' a struggle was going on whether the 
 regent should be a Whig or a Tory, and important 
 letters were passing between his royal highness and 
 Mr. Perceval. At midnight George Spurrett, the 
 porter, who slept in '' The Courier " office, was knocked 
 up ; a splendid carriage and splendid liveries at the 
 door ; a portly elegant man, elegantly dressed, wrapped 
 up in a cloak, presented himself and inquired for Mr. 
 Stuart, for, as 1 was abused in the newspapers as the 
 conductor of " The Courier," the merit of which belonged 
 wholly to Mr. Street, I was the person inquired for by 
 strangers. George said Mr. Stuart lived out of town, 
 but Mr. Street, the editor, resided on the Adelphi 
 Terrace. A packet was delivered to George, who was 
 enjoined to give it speedily to Mr. Street, as it was of 
 great importance. This was a copy of the correspon- 
 dence between the Prince of Wales and Mr. Perceval. 
 To be sure of its being genuine Mr. Street went 
 immediately to Mr. Perceval to inquire. On seeing 
 it, Mr. Perceval started back and exclaimed, " This 
 is done to ruin me with the prince! Jf it appears 
 in ' The Courier,' nothing will persuade him I did 
 not publish it as an appeal to the public against 
 him. It must not be published ! " " No ? " said 
 Mr. Street. " It is a very good article for the paper." 
 Mr. Perceval explained and entreated ; Mr. Street 
 still remarking, u It is a very good article for the 
 paper ; and what will partner Stuart say if he hears of 
 my suppressing it ? " " Well." said Mr. Perceval, who 
 held it fast, " some news shall be sent to you as an 
 
 1 Gentleman's Mcu/azine, August 1838, p. 128.
 
 278 IN JAMES PERRY'S TIME CH. ix. 
 
 equivalent." Accordingly, a copy of the official de- 
 spatch of the taking of the island of Bandy, in the East 
 Indies, was sent the same day, and appeared in " The 
 Courier " before it appeared in " The London Gazette." 
 I knew nothing of this till the evening, when I dined 
 with Street at Kilburn, when we had a hearty laugh at 
 these occurrences.' l 
 
 Street was sole editor of ' The Courier ' for about 
 twelve years, and, we are told, ' with Shakespeare and 
 Burke ever ready at his finger-ends for apt quotations, 
 conducted it with great spirit, much in the confidence of 
 the government, and led as sumptuous and gay a life as 
 his partner's was the opposite decorous and economic.' 2 
 He died a poor man not very long after his connection 
 with Stuart had been ended, in 1822, when they had 
 dissolved partnership and sold ' The Courier.' Stuart 
 lived on till August 25, 1846, having spent nearly half 
 of his eighty years in quiet enjoyment of the wealth 
 he had honestly acquired, and of the respect he won 
 from all. He was a man of varied and refined tastes, 
 fortunate in nearly everything he took in hand. Picture- 
 collecting was a great hobby with him, and one of his 
 store was "Wilkie's ' Blind Fiddler.' which the artist had 
 been e'lad to sell him for five guineas in 1806. 3 Though 
 
 o o o 
 
 a shrewd Scotchman, he was not ungenerous. Cole- 
 ridge spoke of him in 1809 as 'a man of the most con- 
 summate knowledge of the world, managed by a 
 thorough, strong and sound judgment, and rendered 
 innocuous by a good heart ' ; and ' a most wise, dis- 
 interested, kind, and constant friend.' 4 ' He ever ap- 
 peared to us one of the finest tempered of editors,' said 
 
 1 Gentleman's Magazine, August 1838, p. 128. 
 
 2 Jerdan, Autobiography, vol. i. p. 92. 
 
 3 Gentleman's Magazine, December 1847, p. 661. 
 
 4 Coleridge, Biographia Literaria, vol. ii. p. 401. (Biographical 
 Supplement.)
 
 1799-1811. RIVALS OF 'THE MORNING CHRONICLE' 271) 
 
 Charles Lamb ; ' Perry, of " The Morning Chronicle," was 
 equally pleasant, with a dash no slight one either of the 
 courtier. Stuart was frank, plain, and English all over.' l 
 
 Both in ' The Morning Post ' and in ' The Courier ' 
 Stuart and his associates had done much to help on 
 journalistic enterprise. More influential, however, be- 
 cause more steady and persistent in their work, were 
 some other newspaper men, and especially the pro- 
 prietors of ' The Morning Chronicle ' and ' The Times ' ; 
 and several of the fresh papers that were started in 
 these years, though only a few of them were success- 
 ful, had important bearings on the general progress. 
 
 About ' The Morning Chronicle ' under Perry's long 
 rule there is little to be added to what has already been 
 said. Loyally if not slavishly supporting Fox, whether 
 he was in or out of office, so long as he lived, and as far 
 as possible maintaining after his death the views held by 
 him, it was all along the accepted organ of the orthodox 
 Whigs, opposing itself with equal zeal to Toryism 
 on the one hand and to the new Radicalism that was 
 springing up and shooting out somewhat unhealthily on 
 the other. During a few years it was outstripped in 
 popularity by ' The Morning Post,' and it had to face the 
 formidable rivalry of ' The Times ' and such rivalry from 
 the other daily papers as, though it may not have been 
 very formidable, was not to be despised. But Perry 
 knew how to put good writing into his paper, and how 
 to make a good show of general news, and to secure 
 nearly as many advertisements as he could make room 
 for. Satisfying his readers, he had himself ample 
 ground for being satisfied with his achievements. 
 
 ' The Times ' had a more eventful history, and though 
 the second John Walter who succeeded his father in 
 1803 had many years of struggling before he could raise 
 
 1 Essays of Mia, ' Newspapers Thirty Years Ago '
 
 280 IN JAMES PERRY'S TIME CH. ix. 
 
 the paper to the pre-eminence it so long enjoyed, his 
 struggles were interesting and serviceable. This second 
 Walter, born in 1784, was not yet nineteen when he be- 
 came, as he said, 'joint proprietor and exclusive manager ' 
 of ' The Times,' and, abandoning some of his father's 
 crotchets, imitated all his father's enthusiasm in the 
 business he took in hand. His policy was to make 
 the paper a good property by methods that were not 
 undignified, without too rigid adherence to the views 
 of either of the political parties then contending for the 
 management of the nation's affairs. ' On his commenc- 
 ing the business,' according to his own account, ' he gave 
 his conscientious and disinterested support to the exist- 
 ing administration, that of Lord Sidmouth. The paper 
 continued that support of the men in power, but with- 
 out suffering them to repay its partiality by contribu- 
 tions calculated to produce any reduction whatsoever in 
 the expense of managing the concern ; because by such 
 admission the editor was conscious he should have 
 sacrificed the right of condemning any act which he 
 might esteem detrimental to the public welfare.' l Lord 
 Sidmouth, better known as Addington, was replaced 
 by Pitt early in 1804, and as, except during the short 
 time of Lord Grenville's administration, between 
 February 1806 and March 1807, the Tories were in 
 office till 1827, albeit with various shades of Toryism, 
 Walter had no great difficulty in giving ' disinterested 
 support to the men in power,' without much straining 
 or variation of the ' independent spirit' for which he 
 took credit. He did, however, show enough indepen- 
 dence to bring on himself and his house more than one 
 piece of persecution. 
 
 His father had been printer to the Customs since 
 1786, and this profitable addition to his business had 
 
 1 Times, February 11, 1810.
 
 1803-1811. THE SECOND JOHN WALTER 281 
 
 coine to be regarded as a permanency when, in 1804, 
 Lord Melville being first lord of the admiralty, ' The 
 Times ' boldly attacked him on account of the mal- 
 practices for which, soon afterwards, he was impeached. 
 ' The editor,' said Walter, ' knew the disposition of the 
 man whose conduct he found himself obliged to con- 
 demn. Yet he never refrained for a moment on that 
 account from speaking of the Catamaran expedition as it 
 merited, or from bestowing on the practices disclosed in 
 " the tenth report " the terms of reprobation with which 
 they were greeted by the general sense of the country. 
 The result was as he apprehended. Without the 
 allegation of a single complaint, his family was deprived 
 of the business, which had so long been discharged by 
 it, of printing for the Customs, a business which was 
 performed by contract, and which he will venture to 
 say, was executed with an economy and a precision that 
 have not since been exceeded. The government adver- 
 tisements were at the same time withdrawn.' l 
 
 More important to the community than the quarrel 
 which ensued between the Walters and the government 
 on that subject was another quarrel in which they were 
 engaged. From the first the conductors of ' The 
 Times ' took great and praiseworthy pains to provide 
 the English public with late and authentic foreign 
 news. With that object, as has been already noted, 
 they employed cutters of their own to obtain from the 
 French coast newspapers containing fuller accounts of 
 the enemy's proceedings than were allowed to appear 
 in English official organs, and they made all the use 
 they could of the regular packet boats. ' The editor's 
 packages from abroad,' however, Walter complained, 
 ' were always stopped by the government at the out- 
 ports, while those for the ministerial journals were 
 
 1 Tunes, February 11, 1810.
 
 282 IN JAMES PERRY'S TIME CH. ix. 
 
 allowed to pass. The foreign captains were always 
 asked by a government officer at Gravesend if they had 
 papers for u The Times." These, when acknowledged, 
 were as regularly stopped. The Gravesend officer, on 
 being spoken to on the subject, replied that he would 
 transmit to the editor his papers with the same punctu- 
 ality as he did those belonging to the publishers of the 
 journals just alluded to, but that he was not allowed.' 
 Walter appealed to the Home Office, but the only reply 
 he could get from the authorities was that ' he might 
 receive his foreign papers as a favour ' if he would 
 promise to the government ' a corresponding favour in 
 the spirit and tone of his publication.' He appealed 
 again and again, but only to be told that, ' provided it 
 could be known what party in politics he meant to 
 support,' his foreign papers should be delivered to him.' l 
 Declining to be thus tied in his politics, he increased his 
 efforts to obtain news from abroad through channels 
 that the government was not able to interfere with, and 
 these efforts became in time so successful that he was 
 often able to forestall the government itself in obtain- 
 ing information from the seat of war. . The news of the 
 capitulation of Flushing in 1809, for instance, was 
 published in ' The Times ' twenty-four hours before any 
 other report was received in London. It was claimed 
 for Walter that his enterprise achieved ' the extinction 
 of what, before his time, had been an invariable practice 
 with the General Post Office, the systematic retardation 
 of foreign intelligence, and the public sale of foreign 
 news for the benefit of the Lombard Street officials.' 2 
 
 ' Times, February 11, 1810. 
 
 - Ibid., July 29, 1847. Jerdan says that as editor of The Sun he 
 sometimes paid from ten to a hundred guineas for a single French news- 
 paper, ' if the date was recent, and it contained any fresh account of 
 Bonaparte's German battles.' (Autobiography, vol. i. p. 166.) We are 
 told by Savage in an Account of the London Daily Newspapers (1811) that
 
 1803-1811. THE ENTERPRISE OF 'THE TIMES' 283 
 
 Walter's anxiety to make ' The Times ' as attractive 
 a paper as it could be was shown in another way. In 
 January 1807, he sent Henry Crabb Robinson, who 
 was then thirty-two, and on the look-out for literary 
 occupation, to Altona, there to act as special correspon- 
 dent while the interest of the Napoleonic war was strong 
 in that neighbourhood. Robinson was not to travel 
 about in search of news or to watch affairs with his own 
 eyes, but to reside in Altona, ' I was to receive from 
 the editor of the " Hamburger Correspondenten," ' he 
 said, ' all the public documents at his disposal, and was 
 to have the benefit also of a mass of information of which 
 the restraints of the German press did not permit him 
 to avail himself.' His letters from Altona appeared in 
 ' The Times ' between March and August 1807, as 
 correspondence from ' the banks of the Elbe,' and on 
 his way home he sent three other letters from Stock- 
 holm and Gothenburg. 1 
 
 During the first half of 1808, being in London, 
 Robinson was made ' a sort of foreign editor ' by 
 Walter. His duties were ' to translate from the foreign 
 papers and write on foreign politics.' ' It was my 
 practice,' he said, ' to go to Printing House Square at 
 five, and to remain there as long as there was anything 
 to be done. It was my office to cut out odd articles 
 and paragraphs from other papers, decide on the admis- 
 sion of correspondence, &c. ; but there was always a 
 higher power behind. While I was in my room, Mr. 
 
 the editors of the daily papers were at that time supplied by ' the foreign 
 department of the Post Office ' with ' the principal contents of the con- 
 tinental newspapers, translated into the English language, for which the 
 proprietors of the papers pay a weekly or annual sum,' the foreign papers 
 themselves not being delivered till next day to those to whom they were 
 addressed. 
 
 1 Diary, Reminiscences and Correspondence of Henry Crabb Robinson, 
 vol. i. p. 122.
 
 284 IN JAMES PERRY'S TIME CH. ix. 
 
 Walter was in his, and there the great leader, the 
 article that was talked about, was written.' 1 The prin- 
 cipal leader writer of The Times,' while Robinson was 
 thus employed, was Peter Eraser, a young clergyman 
 who afterwards became rector of Kegworth, in Leicester- 
 shire. ' He used to sit in Walter's parlour,' we are told, 
 ' and write his articles after dinner.' In Fraser's 
 absence, the work was done by Edward Sterling, a 
 retired captain of militia, who also wrote special articles 
 on military and other questions, signed Vetus, which 
 caused some stir at this time. 2 Walter's general adviser 
 in the editorship seems to have been Combe, the brilliant 
 and eccentric author of ' The Travels of Dr. Syntax in 
 Search of the Picturesque,' who was a prisoner living 
 within the rules of the Kind's Bench, but who was 
 
 O 
 
 often let out on a holiday, which he spent in Printing 
 House Square. 3 
 
 Robinson was again employed as special correspon- 
 dent of ' The Times ' in the autumn of 1808. On this 
 occasion lie was sent to Spain, and his letters written 
 between August 2 and the middle of the following 
 January, were dated from ' the shores of the Bay of 
 Biscay.' On reaching Corunna, he said, ' I put myself 
 in immediate communication with the editor of the 
 miserable little daily newspaper, and from him I obtained 
 the Madrid papers and pamphlets. My business Avas to 
 collect news and forward it by every vessel that left the 
 port, and I spent the time between the reception and 
 transmission of intelligence in translating the public 
 
 1 Diary, Reminiscences and Correspondence of Henry Crabb Robinson, 
 vol. i. p. 138. 
 
 Ibid., vol. i. p. 153. Carlyle, in his Life of John Sterling (p. 35), says 
 that Captain Sterling, the father, began to write for The Times in 1812, 
 and a collection of his letters, signed Vetus, and reprinted in a volume, 
 appeared between March 30 and May 10, in that year. But, according to 
 Robinson, the engagement began three or four years earlier. 
 
 3 Diary of Henry Crabb Robinson, vol. i. pp. 153, 154.
 
 1794. 'THE MORNING ADVERTISER' 285 
 
 documents and in writing comments. I was anxious to 
 conceal the nature of my occupation, but I found it 
 necessary from time to time to take some friends into 
 my confidence.' 1 Soon after his return to England 
 Robinson ceased to write for ',The Times,' but his part- 
 ing with Walter was friendly, and they continued on 
 good terms. 2 
 
 While ' The Times ' and other young papers were 
 making their way, those of an older sort were dropping 
 out. The once famous ' Public Advertiser ' had gradu- 
 ally lost ground during many years before 1792. when 
 Henry Sampson Woodfall sold it, and it disappeared 
 altogether in 1794. Its place was in some sort taken 
 by ' The Morning Advertiser,' the first number of which 
 was published on February 8, 1794, and which, though 
 it did not quite set the fashion, is the most noteworthy 
 example of a class of journalism that was now becoming 
 important. Anxious to have an organ of its own, the 
 society of licensed victuallers started ' The Morning 
 Advertiser,' to a copy of which every subscriber was 
 entitled, and thus a respectable circulation was at once 
 secured, along with a good advertising connection, and 
 a convenient medium was established both for special 
 trade information, and for the presenting of such general 
 news and the advocacy of such political and social 
 opinions as were most approved by the compact and 
 ready-made body of readers. There was not room for 
 much independence or literary culture in this plan, 
 but in the case of ' The Morning Advertiser ' it worked 
 w r ell. Some other trade journals were less successful. 
 
 1 Diary of Henry Crabb Robinson, vol. i. p. 143. 
 
 3 Robinson says (p. 152) : ' He had a kindly feeling towards me, and 
 his conduct had been uniformly friendly and respectful. He had never 
 treated me as one who received his wages, and at his table no one could 
 have guessed our relation to each other.'
 
 286 IN JAMES PERRY'S TIME en. ix. 
 
 ' The Gazetteer,' which had for a long time been ' the 
 booksellers' paper,' having been bought up by Daniel 
 Stuart in 1798 and absorbed in 'The Morning Post,' a 
 successor to it, ' The British Press,' was started in 1803 
 with a great flourish of trumpets, but never managed to 
 be prosperous. ' The Day,' commenced in 1798 and 
 carried on for nearly twenty years in the interests of 
 the auctioneers, had even feebler and less dignified life 
 before it was merged in 'The New Times' in 1817 ; 
 and the old ' Public Ledger,' for a long time the accre- 
 dited organ of the whole mercantile community until 
 ' The Times ' usurped most of its functions, and after- 
 wards specially concerned in shipping affairs, has alone 
 survived to the present day, though the yet older 
 ' Lloyd's List,' commenced in 1726, flourished in its 
 way until 1836, when it was incorporated with ' The 
 Shipping and Mercantile Gazette.' One of the shortest 
 lived of the class journals in George III.'s reign 
 was ' The Aurora,' in which the hotel-keepers hoped to 
 improve on the example of ' The Morning Advertiser.' 
 It was commenced in 1802, under somewhat unfavour- 
 able conditions. ' Our editor,' said William Jerdaii, one 
 of its reporters, ' was originally intended for the kirk, 
 and was a well-informed person ; but to see him at or 
 after midnight, in his official chair a- writing his leader, 
 was a trial for a philosopher. With the slips of paper 
 before him, a pot of porter close at hand, and a pipe 
 of tobacco in his mouth or casually laid down, he 
 proceeded xccunduni artem. The head hung, with the 
 chin on his collar-bone, as in deep thought a whiff 
 another a tug at the beer and a line and a half 
 or two lines committed to the blotted paper ; by this 
 process, repeated with singular regularity, he would 
 contrive, between the hours of twelve and three, to
 
 1798-1803. SOME TRADE AND CLASS JOURNALS 287 
 
 produce as decent a column as the ignorant public 
 required.' l 
 
 There were trade organs among the evening as well 
 as among the morning papers. The booksellers, who 
 in 1803 started ' The British Press ' in opposition to 
 ' The Morning Post,' at the same time, in further 
 rivalry of Daniel Stuart, commenced ' The Globe ' in 
 
 1 Jerdan, Autobiography, vol. i. pp. 83-86. Mark Supple, who died 
 in 1807, was another reporter for The Aurora, but his chief connection 
 had been before this with The Morning Chronicle. His friend Peter 
 Finnerty, a yet more famous reporter, gives this account of him : ' Mark 
 Supple was big-boned and loud-voiced, and had as much wit and fun as 
 an Irish porter could carry. He took his wine freely at Bellamy's (a 
 great place in those days for reporters as well as M.P.'s), and then went 
 up into the gallery and reported like a gentleman and a man of genius. 
 The members hardly knew their own speeches again, but they admired 
 Ms free and bold manner of dressing them up ; none of them ever 
 went to the printing office of The Morning Chronicle, to complain that 
 the tall Irishman had given a lame, sneaking version of their senti- 
 ments. His manner seemed to please, and he presumed upon it. One 
 evening as he sat at his post in the gallery, waiting the issue of things, a 
 dead silence happened to prevail in the house. It was when Mr. Adding- 
 ton was Speaker. The bold leader of " the pressgang " was never much on 
 serious business bent, and at this time he was particularly full of meat and 
 wine. Delighted, therefore, with the pause, but thinking that something 
 might as well be going forward, he called out lustily, " A song from Mr. 
 Speaker." Imagine Addington's long, prim, upright figure, his consterna- 
 tion, and utter want of preparation for, or a clue to repel, such an inter- 
 ruption of the rules and orders of parliament. The house was in a roar. 
 Pitt, it is said, could hardly keep his seat for laughing. When the bustle 
 and confusion were abated, the sergeant-at-arms went into the gallery to 
 take the audacious culprit into custody, and indignantly asked who it was ; 
 but nobody would tell. Mark sat like a tower on the hinclermost bench 
 of the gallery, imperturbable in his own gravity, and safe in the faith of 
 the brotherhood of reporters, who alone were in the secret. At length, 
 as the mace-bearer was making fruitless inquiries and getting impatient, 
 Supple pointed to a fat Quaker who sat in the middle of the crowd, and 
 nodded assent that he was the man. The Quaker was, to his great sur- 
 prise, taken into immediate custody, but after a short altercation and 
 some further explanation, he was released, and the hero of our story put 
 in his place for an hour or two, but let off on an assurance of his contri- 
 tion and of showing less wit and more discretion for the future. ' Knight 
 Hunt, vol. ii. p. 273.
 
 288 IN JAMES PERRY'S TIME CH. n. 
 
 opposition to ' The Courier ' ; and { The Globe ' survived 
 its comrade, being afterwards amalgamated with ' The 
 Traveller,' which was for some years the special spokes- 
 man of the commercial travellers. ' The Traveller,' while 
 it lasted, was much more than a class journal, being like 
 ' The Globe,' and while it was edited by Edward Quirt, 
 as well as in later days, a bold advocate of political 
 reforms. ' If it has not much wit or brilliancy,' said a 
 contemporary critic, ' it is distinguished by sound 
 judgment, careful information, and constitutional prin- 
 ciples.' 1 ' The Star,' which Peter Stuart had established 
 in 1788. was, however, during many years the leading 
 evening paper on the Whig side, Campbell the poet 
 beino- one of its writers after 1804, when he was enerasred 
 
 o o o 
 
 at a salary of four guineas a week, 2 just as ' The Courier,' 
 while Street edited it for Daniel Stuart, was the 
 principal supporter of the government. Among other 
 and as violent Tory evening papers, ' The Sun ' had 
 during many years an evil reputation. It was started 
 iii 1792 by George Rose and others at the instigation of 
 Pitt, especially to advocate their views on home and 
 foreign policy. 3 It was at first conducted with some 
 
 1 Edinburgh Review, May 1823, p. 3G2. 
 
 - Beattie, Life of Tliomas Campbell, vol. ii. p. 20. 
 
 3 ' I have just had a visit from young Walter,' James Bland-Burges, 
 -who was foreign under secretary, wrote on October 15, 1792, to Charles 
 Long, afterwards Lord Farnborough, ' who is furious about the success of 
 character of Tlie Snn, and came to me, as to an impartial person, to complain 
 of the partiality shown by the government, and especially by Mr. Rose, to 
 that paper, which he said was very unjust, considering his long services, 
 and the many advantages which government, and especially Rose, had 
 derived from The Times. He told me it was well known that Rose 
 recommended The Sun, and patronised its publisher ; and he threw out 
 strong hints of Mr. Aust giving early accounts of foreign transactions, 
 which he also stated to be very ill usage. . . . On the whole, he was very 
 sulky and impudent, and said if he found things went on as they are now 
 doing, and if he did not find some support from me, who he knew by 
 experience never interfered in the newspaper business, he certainly should 
 not suffer himself to be ruined by the success The Sun must certainly
 
 1778-1811. CHANGES IN THE PRESS 289 
 
 spirit, carrying on a fierce rivalry with ' The True Sun,' 
 another Tory print. Before long, however, the kindest 
 thing that could be said about it was that ' " The 
 Sun " appears daily, but never shines.' 1 
 
 During the years before the close of the eighteenth 
 century, great changes were made in the weekly press, 
 the main features of which will be noticed hereafter. 
 All the old-fashioned Saturday papers, like ' Read's 
 Weekly Journal ' and ' The London Chronicle,' mis- 
 cellanies of news compiled from the daily journals, with 
 essays in the style of Johnson and Goldsmith, had 
 died out, or were dying, and others of different sorts 
 came to take their places. In 1777 London had only 
 one weekly paper, ' The London Chronicle ' ; in 1813 it 
 had thirty-four, of which sixteen were published on 
 Sundays. In the interval there had been upstarts and 
 newcomers, appearances and disappearances, enough to 
 provoke Crabbe's mockery in 1785 : 
 
 In shoals the hours their constant numbers bring, 
 Like insects waking to the advance of spring, 
 Which take their rise from grubs obscure that lie 
 In shallow pools, or thence ascend the sky ; 
 Such are these base ephemeras, so born 
 To die before the next revolving morn. 
 
 meet with from a priority of intelligence which, he had undoubted infor- 
 mation, came from the treasury and our office. . . . From the whole tenor 
 of his conversation it was evident that he had not the slightest idea of 
 either of us having anything to do with it ; and he was much too angry 
 not to have mentioned such a circumstance if he had suspected it.' (Bland- 
 Burges Papers, p. 226.) ' Young Walter' must have been the founder of 
 The Times. The second John Walter was only eight years old in 1792. 
 Sheridan, in one of his speeches in parliament, referred to The Sun as 
 ' one paper in particular, said to be the property of members of that house, 
 which had for its motto a garbled part of a beautiful sentence, when it 
 might, with much more propriety have assumed the whole : 
 
 Solem quis dicere falsum 
 Audeat ? Hie etiam coscos instare tumultus 
 Seepe monet, fraudemque, et operta tumescere bella.' 
 1 Edinburgh Review, May 1823, p. 368. 
 
 VOL. I. U
 
 290 IN JAMES PERRY'S TIME CH. ix. 
 
 Yet thus they differ : insect tribes are lost 
 
 In the first visit of a winter frost ; 
 
 While these remain, a base but constant breed, 
 
 Whose swarming sons their short-lived sires succeed. 
 
 No changing season makes their number less ; 
 
 Nor Sunday shines a Sabbath on the press. 
 
 Then, lo ! the sainted ' Monitor ' is born, 
 
 Whose pious face some sacred texts adorn. 
 
 As artful sinners cloak the sacred sin, 
 
 To veil with seeming grace the guile within, 
 
 So moral essays in his front appear, 
 
 But all is carnal business in the rear 
 
 The fresh-coined lie, the secret whispered last, 
 
 And all the gleanings of the six days past. 
 
 With these, retired, through half the Sabbath day, 
 
 The London lounger yawns his hours away. 
 
 And perhaps it was only because no Sunday papers 
 could reach his quiet country parish that the kindly 
 parson was able to say with any chance of being listened 
 to 
 
 Not so, my little flock, your preacher fly, 
 Nor waste the time no worldly wealth can buy ; 
 But let the decent maid and sober clown 
 Pray for these idlers of the sinful town. 
 This day, at least, on nobler themes bestow, 
 Nor give to Woodfall or the world below. l 
 
 Neither of the Woodfalls had anything to do with 
 Johnson's Sunday Monitor,' which, to Crabbe's horror, 
 led the way in Sabbath desecration by newspapers in 
 1778. It fairly answered to the poet's description, 
 however, and lived long and creditably after 1792, 
 when ' The Observer,' established by Clement, began 
 to take the lead of the Sunday papers, which, of course, 
 were then sold at the same high price that the stamp 
 duty rendered necessary for all the daily papers. 
 
 The proprietors of the Sunday papers were discreet. 
 In 1799 Lord Belgrave, at the instigation of William 
 Wilberforce, introduced in the House of Peers a bill for 
 
 1 Crabbe, The Newspaper.
 
 1778-1811. THE OLD SUNDAY PAPERS 291 
 
 suppressing them on religious grounds ; but as it was 
 urged that of the four Sunday papers then published 
 three were sturdy supporters of the government, whose 
 secular help condoned all their Sabbath-breaking, the 
 motion was defeated. l As the number increased the 
 government had less reason to be satisfied with the 
 Sunday papers ; but most of them, in so far as they 
 dealt with politics, were for some time ministerial. 
 
 Notable commencements of this time were ' Bell's 
 Weekly Messenger,' started in May 1796, and ' Bell's 
 Weekly Dispatch,' which dates from the autumn of 
 1801. John Bell, their founder, born in 1745, was a 
 prodigy. ' He had no acquirements, perhaps not even 
 grammar,' said Leigh Hunt, ' but his taste in putting 
 forth a publication was new in those times, and may 
 be admired in any.' 2 He issued ' The British Theatre,' 
 and much else, besides starting several newspapers. 
 His ' Messenger ' was, from the first, especially a 
 farmer's paper. His ' Dispatch ' was chiefly a sporting 
 paper, until ' Bell's Life,' established in 1822, super- 
 seded it as a chronicler of pugilism. 
 
 The growth of newspapers was not materially 
 affected by the farther increase of the stamp duty, 
 which, with an allowance of twenty per cent, on large 
 supplies, was raised to threepence-halfpenny in 1804, 
 and to fourpence in 1815, the tax on advertisements 
 being in the latter year advanced to three shillings and 
 sixpence ; but these heavy burdens, necessitating a high 
 charge, and hampering the proprietors in their efforts 
 to give good money's worth to their readers, w r ere an 
 inevitable cause of much complaining. 
 
 1 Parliamentary History, vol. xxxiv. p. 1006 ; Life of Wilberforce, 
 vol. ii. p. 424. 
 
 ~ Leigh Hunt's Autobiography, vol. i. p. 276.
 
 192 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 DANIEL STUART'S WRITERS. 
 17951811. 
 
 THE group of contributors whom Daniel Stuart gathered 
 round him after he had bought ' The Morning Post ' 
 was in many ways noteworthy, and his relations with 
 them help us to know something of the literary side of 
 newspaper enterprise in the years just before and after 
 the commencement of the nineteenth century. 
 
 Stuart himself, as we have seen, was a remarkable 
 man. Taking charge of ' The Post ' when it had a cir- 
 culation of only 350, and when it was despised even by 
 the few readers whom it supplied with more scurrilous 
 and scandalous gossip than was given in any other 
 paper of the day, he made it. while in his hands, a more 
 successful and influential journal than either ' The 
 Morning Chronicle ' was at that time under James Perry 
 or ' The Times ' under the first John Walter ; and when 
 he left it to sink again into the disreputable con- 
 dition from which he had raised it he secured like 
 fortune for another paper. ' The Courier,' which also 
 was only powerful and profitable while he was its pro- 
 prietor. In his old age he prided himself, with reason, 
 on the skill with which, as a shrewd man of business, 
 he had so handled two shattered properties as to make 
 them, not only great political authorities and pioneers
 
 1795-1811. DANIEL STUART'S ACHIEVEMENTS 293 
 
 of a new order of journalism, but also sources of 
 considerable wealth, and lie was then inclined to 
 undervalue the help he had received from those who 
 wrote for him ; but they found him a good paymaster, 
 according to the scale of pay in vogue at that time, 
 and a generous friend. He was also a man of much 
 literary taste and political tact, and, writing well him- 
 self, he gave further evidence of his ability, for which 
 he deserves credit, in taking advantage of so much of 
 the literary skill and political intelligence that were 
 then in the newspaper market. 
 
 He was not yet twenty-nine when, in the autumn of 
 1795, he became proprietor of ' The Morning Post,' and 
 his brother-in-law, James Mackintosh, was only his 
 senior by a year. Mackintosh had just been called to 
 the bar, and rendered already famous by the ' Yindiciae 
 Gallicae,' with which he had rebutted Burke's ' Reflec- 
 tions on the French Revolution ' was too staunch an 
 opponent of Pitt's foreign policy to be in full agreement 
 with the views put forward in ' The Morning Post.' 
 But he and Stuart were fast friends as well as relations, 
 and though his share in the original writing for the 
 paper, being anonymous, cannot now be ascertained, it 
 appears to have been considerable ; and the dignity and 
 vigour of the articles published under the new editor- 
 ship must be attributed in great measure to his influence, 
 even when he was not himself the writer. Much of his 
 spare time, however, had to be given to ' The Oracle,' 
 for which he had ' superintended the foreign news' 
 since 1789 ; and of which his other brother-in-law, 
 Peter Stuart, now had charge. 1 Perhaps Mackintosh 
 was more helpful to ' The Morning Post ' as an adviser 
 of its editor, supplying him with political information 
 and guiding his policy, than as an actual contributor. 
 
 1 Daniel Stuart in Gentleman's Magazine, July 1838, p. 24.
 
 294 DANIEL STUART'S WRITERS CH. x. 
 
 It was to him at any rate that Daniel Stuart owed his 
 introduction to at least one of his principal contributors 
 and through this one to three or four others. 
 
 Mackintosh, a widower since the previous April, 1 
 went down to Bristol at Christmas 1797, on a visit to 
 the Wedgwoods, with whom Coleridge was making a 
 longer stay. The lawyer was much struck by the poet, 
 although, before their residence under the same roof was 
 over, Coleridge quarrelled with Mackintosh, who was a 
 skilful debater, and who seems to have taken an unkind 
 pleasure in bringing out his hazy notions on religion and 
 philosophy and then overwhelming him by his ' sharp 
 cut-and-thrust fencing ' in argument. While they were 
 still friends, however, Mackintosh wrote up to Stuart 
 asking him to put some work in the way of Coleridge. 
 Stuart arranged to do this, and from the commencement 
 of 1798 Coleridge was engaged to write ' pieces of poetry 
 and such trifles ' for ' The Morning Post ' at a salary of 
 a guinea a week, he being expected, it would seem, to 
 supply, on an average, one poem each week for his 
 guinea. 2 The pay was not bad, seeing that most of his 
 contributions were short epigrams and squibs, generally 
 of not more than four or sometimes two lines apiece, s 
 and that of these Coleridge only furnished ten or a dozen 
 
 1 Of his late wife, Stuart's sister, Mackintosh said in a letter to a 
 friend : ' I met a woman who, by the tender management of my weak- 
 nesses, gradually corrected the most pernicious of them. She gently re- 
 claimed me from dissipation. She propped my weak and irresolute 
 nature. She urged my indolence to all the exertions that have been 
 useful or creditable to me, and she was perpetually at hand to admonish 
 my heedlessness and improvidence.' R. J. Mackintosh, Life of Sir James 
 Mackintosh, vol. i. p. 91. 
 
 ~ Gentleman's Magazine, May 1838, p. 485. 
 
 :! Such of them as his daughter could trace, and as were not included 
 by Coleridge himself in his collected poems, are printed in Essays on his 
 oiun Times, which also gives most of the prose contributions to The 
 Morning Post and The Courier. With a very few exceptions, all these 
 were, of course, anonymous.
 
 1798. COLERIDGE'S NEWSPAPER VERSE 295 
 
 in the course of eight months. He started splendidly, 
 however, with his famous ' war eclogue,' 'Fire, Famine, 
 and Slaughter,' which, having been written early in 
 1796, was copied out and first published in ' The 
 Morning Post' of January 8, 1798, and caused some 
 excitement and not a little indignation by its allusion 
 to Pitt ' letters four do form his name ' as the person 
 who had let loose the three malevolent forces on the 
 world ; of whom Slaughter said, for instance : 
 
 He came by stealth, and unlocked my den, 
 And I have drunk the blood since then 
 Of twice three hundred thousand men. 
 
 Another poem, worth its guinea many times over, 
 was ' The Recantation,' written in February 1797, and 
 afterwards styled ' France, an Ode,' which, without the 
 fifth stanza, appeared in ' The Post ' of April 16, 1798, 
 with a preface in which Stuart said : ' The following 
 excellent ode is in unison with the feelings of every 
 friend to liberty and foe to oppression, of all who, ad- 
 miring the French Revolution, detest and deplore the 
 conduct of France towards Switzerland. It is very 
 satisfactory to find so zealous and steady an advocate 
 for freedom as Mr. Coleridge concur with us in con- 
 demning the conduct of France towards the Swiss 
 cantons. The poem itself is written with great energy. 
 The second, third, and fourth stanzas contain some of 
 the most vigorous lines we have ever read.' Those 
 readers of ' The Morning Post ' who did not discover 
 sedition and blasphemy in them shared Stuart's admi- 
 ration of ' The Recantation ' and of ' Fire, Famine, and 
 Slaughter ' ; but Stuart complained that he did not get 
 more poems of the same sort, and that some which he 
 did get were not to his liking. One piece, which he 
 refused to publish, was an ungenerous attack on the 
 man who had befriended Coleridge. * Mackintosh,'
 
 296 DANIEL STUART'S WRITERS CH. x. 
 
 said Stuart, ' had had one of his front teeth broken, and 
 the stump was black. The poem described a hungry pert 
 Scotchman, with little learning but much brass, with a 
 black tooth in front, indicative of the blackness of his 
 heart.' x 
 
 Coleridge was only twenty-five when he began to 
 write for ' The Morning Post ' ; but he had already 
 followed up his first contribution, in 1793, to ' The 
 Morning Chronicle,' by sending other poems to Perry, 
 and had done more important work for ' The Critical 
 Review ' and ' The Monthly Magazine,' besides making, 
 in ' The Watchman,' a luckless experiment at editing 
 and publishing a weekly paper or magazine on his own 
 account ; and he was now glad of all the money he 
 could earn, though not inclined or able to earn it in 
 businesslike ways. During part of 1798, according to 
 Stuart, ' Coleridge attended not at all to his engage- 
 ment with me, but went about the country on other 
 pursuits.' His friend Southey supplied the deficiency, 
 however ; and when Coleridge went to Germany with 
 Wordsworth and Wordsworth's sister, in September, 
 Southey continued to write verse for ' The Morning 
 Post,' drawing the same salary of a guinea a week for 
 his own use.' 2 In the autumn of 1799 Coleridge re- 
 
 o 
 
 turned to England, and soon after that he entered upon 
 a more important engagement with Stuart. 
 
 There has been much controversy about this en- 
 gagement, its nature and duration, and from admirers 
 of Coleridge there has been much condemnation of 
 Stuart for his treatment of the poet ; but the facts, so 
 far as we know them, if fairly looked at, reflect no blame 
 on either party. Coleridge was a profound thinker, a 
 brilliant talker, and an excellent writer of prose as well 
 
 1 Gentleman's Magazine, May, 1838, p. 486. 
 
 2 Ibid. , p. 487.
 
 1798-1799. COLERIDGE AS A JOURNALIST 297 
 
 as of poetry, but he was not suited for a journalist, 
 bound to supply, at fixed times and at regular intervals, 
 so much ' copy ' as was required from him ; and we 
 need not be surprised at his soon breaking down in the 
 uncongenial work that he had undertaken, partly be- 
 cause he wanted to earn money, and partly because, 
 before trial, he thought the work would be agreeable to 
 him. Nor is it strange that Stuart should have been 
 disappointed at the failure of an arrangement from which, 
 when it was begun, he had evidently expected much 
 advantage both to himself and to the friend whom he 
 honestly desired to serve, and did serve very generously 
 so far as he could, and whom it is plain that he all along 
 very highly esteemed for his many excellent qualities, 
 although he soon found, and was repeatedly reminded, 
 that his friend was a difficult man to deal with. 
 
 Immediately after Coleridge's return from Germany, 
 he resumed the writing of occasional poems for ' The 
 Morning Post,' one short poem of his being published 
 on August 29, and his next contribution being the first 
 draft of 'The Devil's Thoughts,' which was afterwards 
 considerably altered. Other verse followed, and in 
 December it was decided that Coleridge, as Stuart said, 
 should ' give up his whole time and services to " The 
 Morning Post," ' and receive in return Stuart's ' largest 
 salary.' What that salary was we are not told, but as 
 Coleridge, who was quite satisfied with it, stated that at 
 that date 350/. a year was all he cared to earn, and as 
 the Wedgwoods then allowed him a pension of 150/. a 
 year which he sent to his wife, we may assume that it 
 was not less than about 41. a week, though partly paid 
 in board and lodging. ' I took a first floor for him,' 
 Stuart tells us, ' in King Street, Covent Garden, at my 
 tailor's, Howell's, whose wife was a cheerful, good 
 housewife, of middle age, who I knew would nurse
 
 DANIEL STUART'S WRITERS CH. x_ 
 
 Coleridge as kindly as if tie were her son ; and he owned 
 he was comfortably taken care of.' 1 
 
 The scheme began well. Coleridge wrote a column 
 of shrewd and trenchant criticism on the new constitu- 
 tion for the French Republic, under Bonaparte as first 
 consul, which had just then been promulgated. This 
 article appeared in ' The Morning Post ' of December 26, 
 and there was another on the 31st. ' I dedicate my 
 nights and days to Stuart,' Coleridge wrote to Words- 
 
 O */ o 
 
 worth at this time.' 2 At least fourteen long articles, 
 and perhaps four or five more, dealing almost exclu- 
 sively with French politics and with England's con- 
 cern therein, were supplied by him in the course of 
 January, and about half as many in February. Thus 
 far. Stuart could not grumble about his bargain, and 
 newspaper readers were astonished and delighted at 
 the forcible and wise writing that was now provided for 
 them. Two articles in particular, one discussing Lord 
 Grenville's reply to Bonaparte's overtures for peace at 
 the end of January, and the other analysing Pitt's cha- 
 racter, which was published on March 19, 1800, became 
 the talk of the town. Of the article on Pitt and ' The 
 Devil's Thoughts,' Stuart said, ' I never knew two 
 
 O ) / 
 
 pieces of writing, so wholly disconnected with daily 
 occurrences, produce so lively a sensation. Several 
 hundred sheets extra were sold by them, and the paper 
 was in demand for days and weeks afterwards.' 3 The 
 article on Pitt, however, was apparently the only one 
 that Coleridge supplied in March, and he wrote but one 
 during the following month. His energy was already 
 nearly exhausted, and even Stuart's unusual efforts to 
 keep him up to the mark were of no avail. 
 
 1 Gentleman's Magazine, May 1838, p. 487- 
 
 ' J Dr. Wordsworth, Life of Wordsv:ortli, vol. i. p. 100. 
 
 :: Gentleman's Magazine, May 1838, p. 488.
 
 1799-1800. COLERIDGE'S LEADER-WEITING 299 
 
 ' My practice,' said Stuart, ' was to call on him in 
 the middle of the day, talk over the news, and project a 
 leading paragraph for the next morning. In conversa- 
 tion he would make a brilliant display. This reminds 
 me of a story he often told with glee. At a dinner- 
 party, Sir Richard Phillips, the bookseller, being pre- 
 sent, Coleridge held forth with his usual splendour, 
 when Sir Richard, who had been listening with delight, 
 came round behind his chair, and, tapping him on the 
 shoulder, said, " I wish I had you in a garret without a 
 coat to your back." In something like this state I had 
 Coleridge ; but, though he would talk over everything 
 so well, I soon found he could not write daily on the 
 occurrences of the day.' Finding that he could not keep 
 his erratic contributor at work by shutting him. up in 
 his King Street lodging, Stuart tried another plan. ' I 
 took him to the gallery of the House of Commons, in 
 hopes he would assist me in parliamentary reporting, 
 and that a near view of men and things would bring 
 up new topics in his mind. But he never could write 
 a thing that was immediately required of him. The 
 thought of compulsion disarmed him.' l 
 
 On one occasion Coleridge did a memorable piece 
 of parliamentary reporting. Pitt was to make an im- 
 portant speech on February 17, asking for a war vote. 
 According to Coleridge, or rather to Gillman writing 
 about it long afterwards, he had to be so many hours 
 in the house waiting for the oration that, after listening to 
 
 o ? ~ 
 
 its florid beginning, and hearing enough of what followed 
 to know that it was ' a repetition of words, and words 
 only,' he fell asleep, and only woke up in time to go 
 back to the office where, a report of some sort being 
 needed, he ' volunteered a speech for Mr. Pitt, and wrote 
 one off-hand which answered the purpose exceed- 
 
 1 Gentleman's Magazine, May 1838, pp. 487, 488.
 
 300 DANIEL STUART'S WRITERS CH. x. 
 
 ingly well.' 1 Stuart averred, however, that he also 
 was in the house at the time, that Coleridge did not go to 
 sleep, and that his report was fairly accurate, except 
 when he purposely altered the phrases, as in making Pitt 
 call Bonaparte ' the child and nursling ' instead of 
 ' the child and champion' of Jacobinism. 2 
 
 Coleridge's ill health, causing nervous depression as 
 well as nervous excitement, each of them as great an 
 obstacle as physical pain to steady newspaper work, 
 explains his inability to meet Stuart's requirements. 
 ' Having arranged with him the matter of a leading 
 paragraph one day,' said Stuart, ' I went about six 
 o'clock for it. I found him stretched on the sofa groan- 
 ing with pain. He had not written a word, nor could 
 he write. The subject was one of a temporary, an 
 important, and a pressing nature. I returned to " The 
 Morning Post " office, wrote it out myself, and then I 
 went to Coleridge, at Howell's, read it over, and begged 
 he would correct it and decorate it a little with some of 
 his light, graceful touches. When I had done reading, 
 he exclaimed, " Me correct that ! It is as well written 
 as I or any other man could write it." And so I was 
 obliged to content myself with my own words.' 3 
 
 Though he had already ascertained that Coleridge 
 M'as not to be relied upon for a regular supply of ' copy ' 
 at regular intervals, Stuart knew the value of such help 
 as Coleridge could render when he chose or was well 
 enough, ' Could Coleridge have been so far a man of 
 business,' he said several years afterwards in a letter 
 to Henry Nelson. Coleridge, ' as to write three or four 
 hours a day, there was nothing I would not have paid 
 for his assistance. I would have taken him into 
 partnership, and I would have enabled him to make a 
 
 1 Gillman, Life of Coleridge. 
 
 ' 2 Gentleman' 's Magazine, May, 1838, p. 488. 3 Ibid., p. 487.
 
 1800-1802. COLERIDGE'S LEADER- WRITING 301 
 
 large fortune. To write the leading paragraphs of a 
 newspaper I would prefer him to Mackintosh, Burke, 
 or any man I ever heard of. His observations not only 
 were confirmed by good sense, but displayed extensive 
 knowledge, deep thought, and well-grounded foresight : 
 they were so brilliantly ornamented, so classically de- 
 lightful. They were the writings of a scholar, a gentle- 
 man, and a statesman, without personal sarcasm or 
 illiberality of any kind.' l 
 
 There can be no doubt that, early in 1800, Stuart did 
 offer Coleridge a permanent and lucrative engagement, 
 though probably Coleridge exaggerated when he told a 
 friend that Stuart had proposed terms to him by which 
 he could ' make almost sure of 2,000^. a year.' What- 
 ever the proposal was, however, it was scouted. ' I told 
 him,' the enthusiastic poet and philosopher wrote, ' that 
 I could not give up the country and the lazy reading of 
 old folios for two thousand times 2,OOOZ. ; in short, that, 
 beyond 350/. a year, I considered money as a real evil.' 2 
 And instead of remaining in London, to be looked after 
 by Stuart and Mrs. Howell, and to go on earning the 
 modest income that he thought would content him, 
 Coleridge, in the summer of 1800, went to live, in a 
 
 O ' J 
 
 sort of partnership with his wife's brother-in-law, Robert 
 Southey, at Greta Hall, near Keswick, whence he sent 
 occasional articles to ' The Morning Post,' but appa- 
 rently not more than about twenty during the next two 
 years. For these and for a few fresh poems he was duly 
 paid by Stuart ; and some of his contributions, at any 
 rate, were extremely helpful to the paper. 
 
 His most important articles during these years were 
 six, published in the autumn of 1802, denouncing 
 
 1 Coleridge, Biographia Literaria, vol. ii. p. 395 (Biographical Supple - 
 ment). 
 
 - Essays on his own Times, vol. i. p. xci. (Introduction).
 
 302 DANIEL STUART'S WRITERS en. x. 
 
 Bonaparte, and so severely criticising the peace of 
 Amiens, as it was called, which had been concluded in 
 the previous April, that Fox, who thought they were 
 written by Mackintosh, referred to them in the House 
 of Commons as a principal cause of the renewal of the 
 war. 1 They certainly gave great offence to the French 
 first consul, and much satisfaction to the Eno-lish war 
 
 ' O 
 
 party ; so that Coleridge, Avho had somewhat changed 
 his political opinions by this time, might now be charged, 
 justly or unjustly, as he had charged Pitt four years 
 before, with having had a hand in unloosing the cruel 
 forces of Fire, Famine, and Slaughter. 
 
 Speaking of his share in promoting the political 
 power and commercial success of ' The Morning Post,' 
 which he somewhat over-estimated, Coleridge said : ' I 
 am persuaded that "The Morning Post" proved a far 
 more useful ally to the government in its most important 
 objects, in consequence of its being considered as mode- 
 rately anti- ministerial, than if it had been the avowed 
 eulogist of Mr. Pitt. The rapid and unusual increase 
 in the sale is a sufficient pledge that genuine impartiality, 
 with a respectable portion of literary talent, will secure 
 the success of a newspaper without the aid of party or 
 ministerial patronage. But by impartiality I mean an 
 honest and enlightened adherence to a code of intelligible 
 principles.' 2 In so far as he had a code of intelligible 
 principles, Coleridge loyally adhered to it, in and out 
 of ' The Morning Post ' ; and of literary talent he had 
 more than a respectable portion, though he used it but 
 fitfully. ' Worlds of fine thinking lie buried in that 
 vast abyss, never to be disentombed,' wrote De Quiiicey 
 concerning the better class of newspapers in his day. 
 ' Like the sea it has swallowed treasures without end, 
 that no diving bell will bring up again ; but nowhere, 
 
 1 BiograpJiia Litcraria, vol. i. p. 222, note. 2 Ibid., p. 220.
 
 1798-1802. OTHER POETS OF 'THE POST' 303 
 
 throughout its shoreless magazines of wealth, does there 
 
 o * ' 
 
 lie such a bed of pearls, confounded with the rubbish 
 and purgamenta of ages, as in the political papers of 
 Coleridge.' 
 
 Writing in all some sixty or seventy articles in ' The 
 Morning Post,' in the course of three years, and chiefly 
 in the early months of 1800 and the autumn of 1802, 
 besides poems and scraps of verse in 1798 and 1799, 
 Coleridge also procured for it contributions from some 
 of his most intimate friends. Southey was his principal 
 assistant and locum tenem in the laureateship of the 
 paper ; but Wordsworth and Charles Lloyd also helped 
 to fill the ' poet's corner,' which generally contained 
 something on three or four days out of the six in every 
 week. As early as February 13, 1798, we find a sonnet 
 by W. W., which was probably Wordsworth's, though 
 it was not included among his reprinted poems ; while on 
 February 24 we have a signed anacreontic by Lloyd, and 
 two days later an ' inscription for a monument at Merida ' 
 by Southey. There were other verse writers on the 
 staff of ' The Morning Post,' however one known by 
 the pseudonym of Tabitha Bramble being the most pro- 
 fuse of all ; and there was a plentiful supply of short 
 skits, like this ' Impromptu on reading a notice to the 
 creditors of Homer, a linendraper, and lately a bank- 
 rupt,' which appeared on April 19. 1798 : 
 
 That Homer should a bankrupt be 
 
 Is not so very Od-d'-ye-see, 
 
 Since (but perhaps I'm wrong instructed) 
 
 Most Ill-he-had his books conducted. 
 
 Those lines may or may not have been written by Lamb, 
 who evidently did a great deal of unsigned work for 
 ' The Post,' though Stuart said : ' As for good Charles 
 Lamb, I never could make anything of his writings. 
 Coleridge often and repeatedly pressed me to settle him
 
 304 DANIEL STUART'S WRITERS CH. x. 
 
 on a salary, and often and repeatedly did I try ; but it 
 would not do. Of politics he knew nothing ; they were 
 out of his line of reading and thought ; and his drollery 
 was vapid when given in short paragraphs fit for a 
 newspaper.' l 
 
 Lamb was a copious contributor of short paragraphs, 
 generally under the head of ' Fashionable Intelligence/ 
 or as pendants to the political and other notes, which, 
 whether vapid or not, helped to amuse the readers of 
 ' The Post ' ; and he gave a better account than Stuart 
 did of his achievements in this way. ' In those days/ 
 he reported, ' every morning paper, as an essential re- 
 tainer to its establishment, kept an author, who was 
 bound to furnish daily a quantum of witty paragraphs. 
 Sixpence a joke and it was thought pretty high too 
 was Dan Stuart's settled remuneration in these cases. 
 The chat of the day, scandal but, above all, dress 
 furnished the material. The length of no paragraph 
 was to exceed seven lines. Shorter they might be, but 
 they must be poignant. A fashion of flesh-, or rather 
 pink-, coloured hose for the ladies, luckily coining up at 
 the juncture when we were on our probation for the 
 place of chief jester to S.'s paper, established our repu- 
 tation in that line. We were pronounced " a capital 
 hand." the conceits which we varied upon red in all 
 its prismatic differences ! from the trite and obvious 
 flower of Cytherea TO the flaming costume of the lady 
 that has her sitting upon " many waters." Then there 
 was the collateral topic of ankles. What an occasion to 
 a truly chaste writer, like ourself, of touching that nice 
 brink, and yet never tumbling over it, of a seemingly 
 ever approximating something "not quite proper"! 
 while, like a skilful posture-master balancing between 
 decorums and their opposites, he keeps the line from. 
 
 1 Gentleman's Magazine, June 1838, p. 577.
 
 1798-1803. LAMB'S 'FASHIONABLE INTELLIGENCE' 305 
 
 which a hair's-breadth deviation is destruction ; hover- 
 ing; in the confines of light and darkness, or where 
 
 O * ' ' 
 
 " both seem either ; " a hazy, uncertain delicacy 
 Autolycus-like in the play, still putting off his expectant 
 auditory with "Whoop, do me no harm, good man ! " 
 But, above all, that conceit arrided us most at the 
 time, and still tickles our midriff to remember, where, 
 allusively to the flight of Astraaa ultima ccelestum terras 
 reliquit we pronounced, in reference to the stockings 
 still, that, " Modesty taking her final leave of mortals, 
 her last blush was visible in her ascent to the heavens 
 by the tract of the glowing instep." This might be 
 called the crowning conceit, and was esteemed tolerable 
 writing in those days. But the fashion of jokes, with 
 all other things, passes away ; as did the transient 
 mode which had so favoured us. The ankles of our 
 fair friends in a few weeks began to resume their white- 
 ness, and left us scarce a leg to stand upon. Other 
 female whims followed, but none methought so pregnant, 
 so invitatory of shrewd conceits and more than single 
 
 meanings.' l 
 
 Poor Lamb, having to leave home at eight o'clock 
 every morning for his day's work at the India House, 
 found it necessary to rise at five or half-past five, in 
 order, he says, to get an hour or an hour and a half 
 before breakfast in which to turn out his half-dozen 
 witty paragraphs at sixpence apiece, so as to earn an 
 extra eighteen shillings a week ' this manufactory of 
 jokes being,' as he said, ' our supplementary livelihood, 
 that supplied us in every want beyond mere bread and 
 cheese.' And the difficulty of getting hold of funny 
 subjects, and of handling them funnily when found, 
 soon became irksome to him, as monotonous and labo- 
 rious as would be the eating of six cross-buns every 
 
 1 Essays of Elia, ' Newspapers Thirty-five Years Ago.' 
 VOL. I. X
 
 306 DANIEL STUART'S WRITP]RS cu. x. 
 
 morning at daybreak for a twelvemonth. ' Half a dozen 
 jests in a day (bating Sundays, too), why it seems 
 nothing ! We make twice the number every day in our 
 lives as a matter of course, and make no Sabbatical 
 exemptions. But then they come into our head. But 
 when the head has to go out to them when the moun- 
 tain must go to Mahomet reader, try it for once, only 
 for one short twelvemonth ! It was not every week 
 that a question of pink stockings came up ; but mostly, 
 instead of it, some rugged, untractable subject ; some 
 topic impossible to be contorted into the risible ; some 
 feature upon which no smile could play ; some flint 
 from which no process of ingenuity could procure a 
 scintillation. There they lay ; there your appointed 
 tale of brickmaking w^as set before you, which you 
 must finish, with or without straw, as it happened. 
 The craving Dragon, the public like him in Bel's 
 temple must be fed ; it expected its daily rations ; and 
 Daniel and ourselves, to do us justice, did the best we 
 could on this side bursting him.' l 
 
 ' Fashionable intelligence.' personal and spicy, had 
 always been a speciality of The Morning Post ' ; and 
 Stuart, changing its politics / did not choose to abandon 
 this means of pleasing his readers ; but the tone of this 
 portion of the paper was greatly improved in his day, 
 while Lamb was helping him with it. They were harm- 
 less, not scurrilous jokes, good-humoured and not- 
 vicious tittle-tattle, that now appeared. Lamb says 
 that he worked on at the ' Morning Post ' office, k with 
 its gilt globe- topped front, facing that emporium of our 
 artists' grand annual exposure.' which was in those 
 days held in Somerset House, Strand, till the paper 
 passed out of Stuart's hands in 1803, when he trans- 
 ferred his services to ' The Albion,' the office of which, 
 
 1 Essays of Elia, 'Newspapers Thirty-five Years Ago.'
 
 1795-1803. THE EDITING OF 'THE MORNING POST' 307 
 
 4 late Rackstrow's Museum/ was in Fleet Street. 
 ' What a transition,' lie exclaims, ' from a handsome 
 apartment, from rosewood desks and silver inkstands, to 
 an office no office, but a den rather, but just redeemed 
 from the occupation of dead monsters, of which it 
 seemed redolent from the centre of loyalty and fashion 
 to a focus of vulgarity and sedition ! ' l 
 
 ' The Morning Post ' became famous in Stuart's 
 hands on account of other matter than such as Lamb 
 supplied to it ; and it had smart political articles, besides 
 those which Coleridge, and perhaps Mackintosh, fur- 
 nished. Though Stuart wrote much himself, he must 
 have had able contributors, whose names have not come 
 down to us, to assist him in discussing the stirring 
 questions of the day among which, if the French war 
 was especially prominent, there were others as momen- 
 tous as the troubles in Ireland that led to the Act of 
 Union in 1800, and much else. In the actual work of 
 the office his principal assistant was George Lane. ' At 
 first,' Stuart said of Lane, ' he was slow and feeble, but 
 his language was always that of a scholar and gentle- 
 man; rather tame, but free from anything low, scur- 
 rilous, or violent. After several years of instruction by 
 me I may say education he had become a valuable 
 parliamentary reporter, a judicious theatrical critic, a 
 ready translator, and the best writer of jeux d esprit I 
 ever had. He had little knowledge of politics, and 
 little turn for political writing ; but he was a valuable 
 assistant. He resided near the office, was ready and 
 willing at all hours to go anywhere and report any- 
 thing, and he could do everything. Sometimes I even 
 entrusted the last duties of the paper, the putting it to 
 press, to him. Of the corn riots in 1800 lie and others 
 gave long accounts in leaded large type, while " The 
 
 1 Essays of Mia, 'Newspapers Thirty -five Years Ago.' 
 
 x 2
 
 308 DANIEL STUAKT'S WEITERS en. x. 
 
 Times " and " Herald " had only a few lines in obscure 
 corners in black. The procession proclaiming peace, 
 the ascent of balloons, a great fire, a boxing match, a 
 law trial in all such occurrences " The Morning; Post " 
 
 O 
 
 outstripped its competitors.' 1 By looking after the 
 interests of the paper in ways of that sort, Lane ren- 
 dered great service to Stuart, and Stuart was not un- 
 grateful. 
 
 We have interesting evidence of Stuart's general 
 mode of dealing with his staff, as well as of his relations- 
 with this assistant-editor, from the assistant- editor him- 
 self. ' During my connection with him/ said Lane, ' he 
 uniformly treated me with exceeding kindness and great 
 liberality, of which the following particulars may convey 
 an idea. He proposed to me to enter into a written 
 engagement with him, which I declined. My refusal 
 appeared to surprise him, and he said if I felt any cause 
 of dissatisfaction in the establishment it should be 
 removed. I answered there was none : I was pleased 
 with everyone in it and everything about it. He then 
 said, if I did not consider my salary sufficient he was 
 ready to increase it ; to which I answered that I was 
 perfectly satisfied, and felt myself amply compensated 
 us I stood, but that I wished to hold myself a free man. 
 This conversation took place at an early period of our 
 connection, and upon that footing I remained until its 
 close, during which interval he added more than once 
 to my income, but not at my instance or request. The 
 advance always came spontaneously and unsolicited. I 
 may add that I never heard any member of the esta- 
 blishment complain of want of liberality on the part 
 of Mr. Stuart. He wished to have his business done 
 diligently, but was uniformly liberal in compensation.' 2 
 
 1 Gentleman's Magazine, July 1838, p. 25. 
 ~ Ibid., September 1838, p. 27G.
 
 1803-1806. FROM ' THE POST ' TO ' THE COURIER ' 309 
 
 This testimony was all the more significant as it was 
 given after Lane had seriously offended Stuart by leaving 
 him, early in 1803, to become editor of the new daily 
 paper, ' The British Press,' which was started in oppo- 
 sition to ' The Morning Post.' Lane only left his old 
 employer, however, because Stuart had arranged to sell 
 ' The Post,' which he did before the end of the year for 
 about 25,000/. forty times the amount he had given 
 for it less than nine years before. After that Stuart 
 devoted all his attention to ' The Courier,' until Peter 
 Street, who was his partner and business manager from 
 the first, undertook the editorship. 
 
 ' The Courier ' aimed all along at being a ministerial 
 organ, and it brought on itself some ridicule by support- 
 ing in turn the Tory government under Addington, 
 Pitt's second administration between 1804 and 1806, 
 the short-lived administration of ' all the talents ' under 
 Lord Grenville, and the Tory revival under the Duke of 
 Portland in 1807, which led to Perceval's premiership 
 in 1809. Coleridge and his friends, however, had also 
 abandoned most of the opinions at which Byron mocked 
 when he said : 
 
 All are not moralists, like Southey, when 
 He prated to the world of ' Pantisocracy ; ' 
 
 Or Wordsworth, unexcised, unhired, who then 
 Seasoned his pedlar poems with democracy ; 
 
 Or Coleridge, long before his nighty pen 
 
 Let to 'The Morning Post' its aristocracy ; l 
 
 and Coleridge, therefore, had no compunctions about 
 offering to write again for his old friend. 
 
 Coleridge had been in Malta and elsewhere being, 
 it was alleged, hunted after and nearly caught by Bona- 
 parte, who had not forgiven him for his articles in ' The 
 Morning Post' before the autumn of 1806, when he 
 
 1 Don Juan, canto iii. stanza 93.
 
 310 DANIEL STUART'S WRITERS en. x, 
 
 found himself in London without a home. He applied 
 to Stuart, ' as his best friend,' and, though Stuart did 
 not see his way to give him employment, he provided 
 him with a lodging, such as it was, on the upper floor 
 of the ' Courier ' printing office, in the Strand, with a 
 Mrs. Bainbridge, who lived on the basement, to wait 
 upon him. ! There,' says De Quincey, 'did I often see the 
 philosopher, with the most lugubrious of faces, invoking 
 with all his might this uncouth name of u Bainbridge," 
 each syllable of which he intoned with long-drawn 
 emphasis, in order to overpower the hostile hubbub 
 coming down from the creaking press and the roar 
 from the Strand, which entered at all the front windows. 
 " Mistress Bainbridge ; I say, Mistress Bainbridge," was 
 the perpetual cry.' If this asylum was not much to be 
 grateful for, Coleridge was glad to accept other help 
 from Stuart loans of money, assistance in printing 
 ' The Friend,' and so forth. In December 1809 and 
 Januarv 1X10 'The Courier' contained eight vigorous 
 
 ./ o c 
 
 letters on Spanish affairs, which Stuart says that Cole- 
 ridge wrote for him ' rather as some return to me for 
 the sums I had expended on his account than on my 
 solicitation.' 1 But this was all the work he did for 
 Stuart between the ages of thirty and thirty-nine a 
 fact worth remembering, in contradiction of a statement 
 afterwards made by misinformed friends of Coleridge, 
 
 j o 
 
 to the effect that he had wasted his ' prime and man- 
 hood ' in making the success of ' The Morning Post ' 
 and ' The Courier.' 
 
 Stuart would have put more work in Coleridge's 
 way, he says, but ' Mr. Street, who was editor and half 
 proprietor of " The Courier," never thought so highly of 
 Coleridge's writings as I did, and whenever I proposed 
 an engagement for Coleridge, Street received my sug- 
 
 O ~ O J ~ 
 
 1 Gentleman's Magazine, May 1838, p. 491.
 
 1809-1811. COLERIDGE'S WORK FOR ' THE COURIER' 311 
 
 gestion coldly.' At length, in April 1811, Stuart 
 received a pitiful letter from the broken-down philo- 
 sopher. ' If only I can procure any regular situation 
 which might employ me and my pen from nine to two, 
 five or even six days in a week,' wrote Coleridge, it 
 would be a regeneration for him. He offered to come 
 from Hammersmith to the ' Courier ' office every day, 
 if Stuart would let him, ' to read over the morning 
 papers, &c., and to point out whatever seemed valuable 
 to Mr. Street, so that I might occasionally write the 
 leading paragraph when he might wish to go into the 
 city, or to the public offices ; and besides this, I could 
 carry on a series of articles, a column and a half or 
 two columns each, independent of small paragraphs, 
 poems, &c., as would till whatever room there was in 
 " The Courier" Avhenever there was room.' 'Give me 
 a month's trial,' he begged. 1 
 
 The month's trial, and more, was given to him; but 
 evidently only at Stuart's instigation, and with but 
 sullen assent from Street. ' An engagement was formed 
 with Coleridge,' Stuart recorded, ' who attended punc- 
 tually and wrote every forenoon during some weeks in 
 the spring, and complained to me repeatedly that his 
 writings were not inserted. I told him to have patience; 
 that at present the paper was so filled with debates and 
 advertisements there was no room ; but that when, parlia- 
 ment rose there would be abundant space to enable him 
 to compensate as well for his present as for his future 
 salary. When parliament rose Coleridge disappeared. I 
 expected this. In short, Coleridge never would write 
 anything that was required of him instantly, as for a 
 daily newspaper. The sense of compulsion disarmed 
 him laid him prostrate.' 2 Those last sentences were 
 ungracious and inaccurate. Coleridge. writ-insT his first 
 
 D ' O 
 
 1 Gentleman's Magazine, June 1838, p. 584. 2 Ibid., p. 580.
 
 312 DANIEL STUART'S WRITERS CH. x. 
 
 article for ' The Courier ' under this engagement on 
 April 19, 1811, wrote thirteen in May, nine in June, 
 eight in July, four in August, and eleven in September, 
 forty-six in the course of five months ;* besides all the 
 rejected articles and all the hack-work. But his posi- 
 tion was very irksome to him. In a letter to Stuart, 
 dated June 4, after he had been six weeks in harness, 
 he besought Stuart, if Street did not want him any 
 longer, to put him ' in the way of some other paper, 
 the principles of which are sufficiently in accordance 
 with my own.' ' For while cabbage- stalks rot in dung- 
 hills,' he added, ' I will never write what, or for what, 
 I do not think right. All that prudence can justify 
 is not to write what at certain times one may yet 
 think.' 2 
 
 These summer months of 1811 were nearly the most 
 melancholy period in the whole of Coleridge's not too 
 happy life. He complained that, in order to reach the 
 Strand from Hammersmith by nine in the morning, he 
 had to catch the coach at twenty minutes past seven, 
 that the coach hire cost him eighteen shillings a week, 
 unless he saved half by walking home in the evening, 
 and that this amount he could ill spare out of his small 
 earnings. He had frequently to forestall his weekly 
 salary by borrowing a few pounds at a time from the 
 door-keeper or cashier of ' The Courier,' and he resented 
 the indignities to which he was exposed, but most of 
 which, it would seem, he brought on himself. Though 
 at starting he declared that he would gladly do any hack 
 work that was required of him, and though we may well 
 believe that he honestly intended to make himself useful 
 
 1 Essays on his own Times, vols. ii. and iii. 
 
 ~ Gentleman's Magazine, June 1838, p. 58G. In July 1811, Henry 
 Crabb Robinson says (Diary, vol. i. p. 177), Coleridge asked him to use 
 influence with Walter to get him employed as leader-writer on The Times, 
 but Walter declined the offer.
 
 1811. COLERIDGE AND PETER STREET 313 
 
 in any way prescribed by his employers, lie was mentally 
 and physically unfit for the task. He could not write 
 in a hurry or to order. What he did write was probably 
 better worth reading than anything that Street could 
 put in its place ; and perhaps had Stuart, who under- 
 stood and respected him, been editor of ' The Courier ' 
 at that tune, it would all have been used with great 
 advantage to the paper. But there was no sympathy 
 between him and Street, who was narrow-minded and 
 crotchety, only a good man of business in so far as he 
 contrived to make ' The Courier ' a good paying pro- 
 perty and a fairly respectable ministerial organ. It was 
 not possible for these two to get on well together, and 
 Coleridge threw up his engagement on ' The Courier ' in 
 September 1811. In the autumn of 1814 he addressed 
 to it six forcible letters, signed with his own name, 
 about English misgovernment in Ireland ; but his 
 memorable experimenting in journalism had practically 
 ended three years before. 1 
 
 Though he quarrelled with Street, Coleridge acquitted 
 Stuart of blame for the hardships he complained of during 
 his employment on ' The Courier.' Stuart afterwards 
 reckoned up that he had paid Coleridge about 700/. for 
 work that cannot have occupied, in fragments spread 
 over twelve years, and chiefly in two periods of three 
 and five months respectively, more than a year of his 
 time in all ; this money being in addition to numerous 
 loans, which were equivalent to gifts, and other services. 
 His friendship to Coleridge lasted through life, and 
 Coleridge wrote to him as late as 1816 : ' You are the 
 only human being of whom I can say, with severe truth, 
 that I never conversed with you for an hour without 
 
 1 About 1814 or later, it is said, Coleridge wrote a series of newspaper 
 articles on the condition of factory children ; but I have been unable to 
 trace them.
 
 DANIEL STUAET'S WRITERS CH. x. 
 
 remarkable instruction ; and with the same simplicity I 
 dare affirm my belief that my greater knowledge of man 
 has been useful to you, though, from the nature of things 
 not so useful as your knowledge of men has been to me.' 1 
 When writing his ' Biographia Literaria,' before that 
 date, however, Coleridge, exaggerating the extent of 
 his work on ' The Morning Post ' and ' The Courier,' as 
 he might easily have done without intentional untruth 
 or inordinate vanity, made some remarks which were 
 unjust to Stuart. Though these were published in 1817, 
 Stuart good-naturedly abstained from expostulating 
 with him, or at any rate from publicly contradict- 
 ing him during his lifetime. But after Coleridge's 
 death, in 183-1, his injudicious biographer, James 
 Gillman, repeated and added to the erroneous state- 
 ments, and this provoked an indignant remonstrance 
 and defence of himself by Stuart in ' The Gentleman's 
 Magazine ' for 1838. Unfortunately, the admirers of 
 Coleridge have chosen to accept his and his friend's 
 blunders without Stuart's corrections. 
 
 Of Colerido-e's friends, who had contributed with him 
 
 o 
 
 to ; The Morning Post,' Wordsworth appears to have 
 been the only one who also contributed to ' The Courier.' 
 In anticipation of its appearance as a separate pamphlet, 
 Wordsworth sent to Stuart's and Street's paper a series 
 of extracts from his eloquent condemnation of the con- 
 vention of Cintra in 1808 : ' but this he did,' said Stuart, 
 ' to assist Coleridge,'- who probably received payment 
 for the articles. Of the other contributors to ' The 
 Courier' in these years and afterwards, we know little, 
 and there is nothing especially worthy of record. Though 
 almost if not quite the most prosperous newspaper 
 then published, ' The Courier ' had less literary value 
 than some of its rivals. 
 
 1 Gentleman's Magazine, June 1838, p. 588. - Ibid., p. 580.
 
 315 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 ANTI-JACOBINS AND REFORMERS. 
 17971815. 
 
 THE disastrous and on every ground deplorable wars- 
 with France in which England was engaged, with one 
 brief intermission, from 1793 till 1815, served no good 
 purpose by teaching the lesson, which so few chose to 
 learn, that all such crusading is mischievous and in- 
 excusable ; and its effects on the political, social, and 
 financial condition of England itself were in no way 
 compensated for by the fact that the lesson was in this 
 respect somewhat better learnt. Journalism gained 
 much, however, and even the hardships endured by 
 many newspaper managers and writers had in the long 
 run very beneficial results. 
 
 Before the French Revolution actually began, the 
 causes that led to it were influencing English opinion ; 
 and, besides the widespread sympathy that thoughtful 
 Englishmen felt for the victims of Bourbon oppression 
 and of the evils incident to the degraded feudalism by 
 which the oppression was rendered possible, Rousseau, 
 Voltaire, and other pioneers of the Revolution had 
 actual followers in our own country as well as in France. 
 Socialism, republicanism, what its opponents called 
 atheism, and other heresies sprang up and though 
 they showed themselves in pamphlets and poems, at 
 meetings of democratic associations, and in the private
 
 316 ANTI-JACOBINS AND KEFORMEBS en. xi. 
 
 talk of men who shrank from saying openly what they 
 thought, before there was much evidence of them in 
 newspapers for the newspapers, being high-priced, 
 still circulated but little among the poor, and were 
 never written specially for them the newspapers were 
 affected. Coleridge and his friends were only to a small 
 extent disciples of Rousseau, and they soon abandoned 
 that ' paiitisocracy ' with which they amused themselves 
 for a time ; but when Coleridge and his friends pro- 
 pounded their mild Radicalism in ' The Morning Post ' 
 and other papers, they were sneered at and denounced 
 as Jacobins, and it was in vain that they repudiated the 
 title. 
 
 What was understood by Jacobinism in his day we 
 may gather from one of Coleridge's admirable articles 
 in ' The Morning Post,' which, entitled ' Once a Jacobin 
 always a Jacobin,' discussed ' this charitable adage at 
 one time fashionable in the ministerial circles.' 
 
 ' The base venal creatures, and the blind and furious 
 bigots, of the late ministry,' he wrote in 1802, ' com- 
 prehended under that word all who. from whatever 
 cause, opposed the late war and the late ministry, and 
 whom they hate for this opposition with such mortal 
 hatred as is usual witli bigots alarmed and detected 
 culprits. " Once a Jacobin always a Jacobin," signifies 
 no more in the minds of these men than. " Such a one is 
 a man whom I shall never cease to hate." "With other 
 men, 'honest and less violent aiiti- Jacobins, the word 
 implies a man whose affections have been warmly and 
 deeply interested in the cause of general freedom, who 
 has hoped all good and honourable things both of and 
 for mankind. In this sense of the word Jacobin, the 
 adage would affirm that no man can ever become 
 altogether an apostate to liberty who has at any time 
 been sincerely and fervently attached to it. His hopes
 
 1802. COLERIDGE ON JACOBINISM 317 
 
 will burn like the Greek fire, hard to be extinguished 
 and easily rekindled. Even when he despairs of the 
 cause, he will yet wish that it had been successful ; and 
 even when private interests have warped his public 
 character, his convictions will remain, and his wishes 
 often rise up in rebellion against his outward actions 
 and public avowals. Thus interpreted, the assertion 
 " Once a Jacobin always a Jacobin " is so favourable a 
 representation of human nature that we are willing 
 too willing, perhaps to admit it even without proof. 
 There is yet a third class of anti- Jacobins, and of this 
 class we profess ourselves to be, who use the word 
 Jacobin as they use the word Whig, and both words 
 only for want of a better, who confess that Jacobin is 
 too often a word of vague abuse, but believe that there 
 are certain definite ideas, hitherto not expressed in any 
 single word, which may be attached to this word, and 
 who in consequence uniformly use the word Jacobin 
 with certain definite ideas attached to it those ideas 
 and no other. 
 
 ' A Jacobin, in our sense of the term, is one who 
 believes, and is disposed to act on the belief, that all or 
 the greater part of the happiness or misery, virtue or 
 vice, of mankind depends on forms of government ; 
 who admits no form of government as either good or 
 rightful whfth does not flow directly and formally from 
 the persons governed ; who considering life, health, 
 moral and intellectual improvement, and liberty both of 
 person and conscience, as blessings which governments 
 are bound as far as possible to increase and secure to 
 every inhabitant, whether he has or has not any fixed 
 property, and moreover as blessings of infinitely greater 
 value to each individual than the preservation of property 
 can be to any individual does consequently and con- 
 sistently hold that every inhabitant who has attained
 
 318 ANTI-JACOBINS AND REFORMERS CH. xi. 
 
 the age of reason has a natural and inalienable right to 
 an equal share in the choice of the governors. In other 
 words, the Jacobins affirm that no legislature can be 
 rightful or good which did not proceed from universal 
 suffrage. In the power and under the control of a 
 legislature so chosen he places all and everything, with 
 the exception of the natural rights of the man and the 
 means appointed for the preservation and exercise of 
 these rights, by a direct vote of the nation itself that 
 is to say, by a constitution. Finally, the Jacobin deems 
 it both justifiable and expedient to effect these requisite 
 changes in faulty governments by absolute revolutions, 
 and considers no violences as properly rebellious or 
 criminal which are the means of giving to a nation the 
 power of declaring and enforcing its sovereign will. In 
 brief, therefore, a Jacobin's creed is this : 
 
 1. A government is the organ by which form and publicity are given 
 to the sovereign will of the people, and by which that will is enforced and 
 exercised. 2. A government is likewise the instrument and means of 
 purifying and regulating the national will by its public discussions, and 
 by direct institutions for the comfort and instruction of the people. 
 3. Every native of a country has an equal right to that quantity of property 
 which is necessary for the sustenance of his life and health. 4. All property 
 beyond this, not being itself a right, can confer no right. Superior wis- 
 dom, with superior virtue, would indeed confer a right of superior power. 
 But who is to decide on the possession ? Not the person himself who 
 makes the claim ; and, if the people, then the right is given and not 
 inherent. Votes, therefore, cannot be weighed in this way, and they 
 must not be weighed in any other way. Nothing, therefore, remains 
 possible but that they must be uumbered. No form of electing represen- 
 tatives is rightful but that of universal suffrage. Every individual has 
 a r if/lit to elect, and a capability of being elected. 5. The legislature 
 has an absolute power over all other property but that of Article 3, unless 
 the people shall have declared otherwise in the constitution. G. All 
 governments not constituted on these principles are unjust governments. 
 7. The people have a right to overturn them in whatever way it is possible ; 
 and any means necessary to this end become ipso facto right means. 8. It 
 is the right and duty of each individual living under that government, 
 as far as in him lies, to impel and enable the people to exercise these 
 rights.
 
 1802. COLERIDGE ON JACOBINISM 319 
 
 ' The man who subscribes to all these articles,' 
 Coleridge pointed out, ' is a complete Jacobin ; to many 
 but not all of them, a semi- Jacobin ; and the man who 
 subscribes to any one article (excepting the second, 
 which the Jacobin professes only in common with every 
 other political sect not directly an advocate of despotism) 
 may fairly be said to have a shade of Jacobinism in his 
 character. If we are not greatly deceived, we could 
 point out more than one or t\vo celebrated anti- Jacobins 
 who are not slightly infected with -some of the worst 
 symptoms of the madness against which they are raving, 
 and one or two acts of parliament which are justifiable 
 only upon Jacobin principles. 
 
 ' These,' Coleridge went on to say, ' are the ideas 
 which we attach to the word Jacobin, and no other 
 single word expresses them. Not republican : Milton 
 was a pure republican, yet his notions of government 
 were highly aristocratic ; Brutus was a republican, but 
 he perished in consequence of having killed the Jacobin 
 Ceesar. Neither does demagogue express that which 
 we have detailed ; nor yet democrat. The former word 
 implies simply a mode of conduct, and has no reference 
 to principles ; and the latter does of necessity convey 
 no more than that a man prefers in any country a form 
 of government without monarchy or aristocracy, which 
 in any country he may do and yet be no Jacobin, and 
 which in some countries he can do without any im- 
 peachment of good sense or hcnesty. Whoever builds 
 a government on personal and natural rights is, so far, 
 a Jacobin. Whoever builds on social rights that is, 
 
 o 
 
 hereditary rank, property, and long prescription is an 
 anti- Jacobin, even though he should nevertheless be a 
 republican, or even a democrat.' l 
 
 It will be seen that in these sentences Coleridge 
 
 1 Coleridge, Essays on his own Times, vol. ii. pp. 542-548.
 
 320 ANTI-JACOBIXS AND REFORMERS CH. xi, 
 
 very justly and pithily summed up, and criticised while 
 he epitomised, the views put forward by Rousseau and 
 other keen-eyed and visionary prophets and pioneers of 
 the great modern revolution, and clumsily, faultily, and 
 in some respects falsely interpreted by the Frenchmen 
 who, in the latter years of the eighteenth century, 
 undertook to turn theory into practice, and, in so 
 doing, committed many blunders and worse than blun- 
 ders. The problems there raised have not yet been 
 solved either by theorists or by practical men ; and we 
 need not wonder that the Tories of George III.'s reio-n 
 
 O o 
 
 were startled and alarmed by the crude presentment of 
 them by men who found it easier in France to overturn 
 the institutions of monarchy and aristocracy than to 
 establish republican institutions in lieu. The Tories 
 are to be blamed, not for beincr frightened, but for 
 
 / O O 
 
 allowing their fright to drive them into courses that 
 greatly aggravated the dangers they dreaded. 
 
 When George III. opened parliament in December 
 1792, he declared that ' the destruction of our happy 
 constitution and the subversion of all order and govern- 
 ment were being compassed by incendiaries and preach- 
 ers of sedition, who were in league with French revolu- 
 
 o 
 
 tionists ' ; and, though Fox boldly described this language 
 as ' an intolerable calumny upon the people of Great 
 Britain,' both houses of parliament endorsed the royal 
 view, and approved a proclamation which had been 
 issued authorising the militia to deal summarily with 
 the promoters of tumult and rebellion, who were said 
 to be plentiful. The foolish action of the government 
 increased, if it did not wholly create, the danger it pre- 
 tended to be in fear of, and the numerous prosecutions 
 that ensued, resulting in long imprisonment in many 
 cases and in hanging in a few, did all that could be 
 done to make small perils great, and to remind many,
 
 1797. 'THE ANTI-JACOBIN' 321 
 
 who would otherwise have submitted meekly to the 
 rulers placed over them, that a change must be brought 
 about. 
 
 That was how matters stood when the quarrel was 
 brought boldly into the field of journalism by the start- 
 ing, on November 20, 1797, of 'The Anti- Jacobin, or 
 Weekly Examiner.' This very clever little paper was 
 projected by George Canning and the energetic group 
 of young politicians and scholars who, as disciples of 
 Pitt, clamoured for more violent measures than Pitt 
 himself proposed. Canning, now seven-and-twenty, 
 had lately been made under secretary for foreign 
 affairs, with Lord Grenville as his chief. With him 
 were associated Hookham Frere, George Ellis, Banks 
 Jenkinson (afterwards Earl of Liverpool), Lord Mor- 
 peth (afterwards Earl of Carlisle), Baron Macdonald, 
 and other talented members of their group ; Pitt him- 
 self giving an occasional article, and William Gifford, 
 who was in his fortieth year, and already famous as 
 the author of ' The Baviad ' and ' The Maeviad,' being- 
 
 o 
 
 appointed editor. 
 
 ' It may be thought a narrow and illiberal distinc- 
 tion,' Canning wrote in the preliminary announcement, 
 full of biting irony, ' but we avow ourselves to be 
 partial to the country in which we live, notwithstanding 
 the daily panegyrics which we read and hear on the 
 superior virtues and endowments of its rival and hostile 
 neighbours. We do not dissemble that we reverence 
 law, we acknowledge usage, we look upon prescription 
 without hatred or horror, and we do not think these or 
 any of them less safe guides for the moral actions of 
 men than that new and liberal system of ethics whose 
 operation is not to bind but to loosen the bands of 
 social order, whose doctrine is formed not on a system 
 of reciprocal duties, but on the supposition of indi- 
 
 VOL. i. Y
 
 322 ANTI- JACOBINS AND REFORMERS CH. xr. 
 
 vidual, independent, and unconnected rights, which 
 teaches that all men are pretty equally honest, but that 
 some have different notions of honesty from others, and 
 that the most received notions are for the greater part 
 the most faulty.' ' Of Jacobinism in all its shapes, and 
 in all its degrees, political and moral, public and pri- 
 vate, whether as it openly threatens the subversion of 
 states or gradually saps the foundations of domestic 
 happiness, we are the avowed, determined, irreconcilable 
 enemies,' Canning further declared ; and accordingly 
 they proposed to give from week to week in ' The Anti- 
 Jacobin ' not only a record of important events and 
 reflections thereon, but also what would be the most 
 important, and perhaps the largest part of the paper 
 ' a contradiction and confutation of the falsehoods and 
 misrepresentations concerning those events, their causes 
 and their consequences, which may be found in the 
 papers devoted to the cause of sedition and irreligion, 
 to the pay or principles of France.' By this means the 
 wickedness of the Jacobin press would be exposed, and 
 its pernicious intentions would be made productive of 
 good ; for ' every week of misrepresentation will be 
 followed by its weekly comment, and, with this correc- 
 tion faithfully administered, the longest course of 
 " Morning Chronicles" or " Morning Posts," of " Stars " 
 or " Couriers/' may become not only innocent but 
 beneficial.' 1 
 
 ' The Anti-Jacobin ' only ran through thirty-four 
 numbers, being dropped, as had from the first been 
 intended, at the close of the parliamentary session, on 
 July 9, 1798 ; 2 but while it lasted it was a powerful 
 
 1 This, it will be remembered, was written before TJie Courier became a 
 supporter of the government, and even before Coleridge had begun to 
 write for The Morning Post. 
 
 2 Mr. Edmonds, in the preface to his edition of Poetry of the Anti- 
 Jacobin, says : ' So alarmed became Mr. Wilberforce and others of the
 
 1797-1798. ' THE ANTI- JACOBIN ' 323 
 
 medium in the hands of its skilful writers for attacking 
 the Whigs as well as the more thoroughgoing sympa- 
 thisers with the French revolutionists. Part of its 
 policy, indeed, was to include in one category all who 
 were not Tories of Pitt's, or rather of Canning's, school, 
 and to make Fox and Erskine, Sheridan and Mackintosh, 
 appear as disloyal and obnoxious as Home Tooke or 
 Paine, John Frost or Tlielwall. GifFord wrote most, if 
 not all, of the comments on statements in the other 
 papers, which were classified, under three heads, as 
 ' lies downright and unblushing falsehoods,' ' misre- 
 presentations,' and ' mistakes ' ; and the various con- 
 tributors supplied longer articles, one or more each 
 week, on the principal questions of the hour. The 
 chief attraction of ' The Anti- Jacobin,' however, was its 
 poetical section, not announced in the prospectus. 
 Canning and Hookham Frere were smart satirists, and 
 the brilliant verses, more witty than generous, which 
 they and their colleagues supplied found plenty of 
 readers, and delighted all who were not stung by them. 
 Canning, helped by Frere, led off in the first 
 number with a parody of one of Southey's poems ; 
 and the second number, still making game of Southey, 
 contained the famous joke in sapphics, ' The Friend of 
 Humanity and the Needy Knife-grinder,' which caused 
 a great sensation at the time of its publication, though 
 its humour now seems somewhat coarse and strained. 
 Less familiar, but perhaps the best poem in the series, 
 and certainly the longest and most carefully prepared, 
 as all the poets on the staff of ' The Anti- Jacobin ' had 
 a hand in writing it, was ' New Morality,' which filled 
 
 more moderate supporters of the ministers at the boldness of the language 
 employed, that Mr. Pitt was induced to interfere, and The Anti-Jacobin 
 ceased to exist.' There is no indication, however, that it was ever meant 
 to be more than an ephemeral publication.
 
 324 ANTI-JACOBINS AND REFORMERS CE. xi. 
 
 more than half of the last number. It was a parting 
 thrust at the whole conglomeration of Radicals and 
 reformers, running through nearly five hundred lines. 
 In it Frere commenced by saying : 
 
 From mental mists to purge a nation's eyes, 
 
 To animate the weak, unite the wise, 
 
 To trace the deep infection that pervades 
 
 The crowded town, and taints the rural shades, 
 
 To mark how wide extends the mighty waste 
 
 O'er the fair realms of science, learning, taste, 
 
 To drive and scatter all the brood of lies, 
 
 And chase the varying falsehood as it flies, 
 
 The long arrears of ridicule to pay, 
 
 To drag reluctant dulness back to day, 
 
 Much yet remains. To you these themes belong, 
 
 Ye favoured sons of virtue and of song ! 
 
 Say, is the field too narrow ? are the times 
 
 Barren of follj T , and devoid of crimes ? 
 
 Canning wrote most of the poem, including these 
 couplets : 
 
 Sweet child of sickly Fancy ! her of yore 
 
 From her loved France Rousseau to exile bore ; 
 
 And, while midst lakes and mountains wild he ran, 
 
 Full of himself, and shunned the haunts of man, 
 
 Taught her o'er each lone vale and Alpine steep 
 
 To lisp the story of his wrongs and weep ; 
 
 Taught her to cherish still, in either eye, 
 
 Of tender tears a plentiful supply, 
 
 And pour them in the brooks that babbled by ; 
 
 Taught by nice scale to mete her feelings strong, 
 
 False by degrees, and exquisitely wrong 
 
 For the crushed beetle first, the widow'd dove, 
 
 And all the warbled sorrows of the grove ; 
 
 Next for poor suffering guilt ; and last of all 
 
 For parents, friends, a king and country's fall. 
 
 Mark her fair votaries, prodigal of grief, 
 
 With cureless pangs, and woes that mock relief, 
 
 Droop in soft sorrow o'er a faded flower, 
 
 O'er a dead jackass pour the pearly shower ; 
 
 But hear unmoved of Loire's ensanguined flood, 
 
 Choked up with slain of Lyons drenched with blood 
 
 Of crimes that blot the age, the world, with shame ; 
 
 Fovd crimes, but sicklied o'er with freedom's name.
 
 1798. 'THE ANTI-JACOBIN' 325 
 
 And, after more of this one-sided truth, 
 
 Such is the liberal justice which presides 
 
 In these our clays, and modern patriots guides 
 
 Justice, whose blood-stained book one sole decree, 
 
 One statute, fills, ' The People shall be Free ! ' 
 
 Free ! By what means ? By folly, madness, guilt, 
 
 By boundless rapine, blood in oceans spilt, 
 
 By confiscation, in whose sweeping toils 
 
 The poor man's pittance with the rich man's spoils, 
 
 Mixed in one common mass, are swept away 
 
 To glut the short-lived tyrant of the day ! 
 
 Canning, Frere, and Ellis combined their skill to pro- 
 duce this verse : 
 
 O nurse of crimes and fashions ! which in vain 
 
 Our colder servile spirits would attain, 
 
 How do we ape thee, France ! but, blundering still, 
 
 Disgrace the pattern by our want of skill. 
 
 How do we ape thee, France ! nor claim alone 
 
 Thy arts, thy tastes, thy morals, for our own, 
 
 But to thy worthies render homage due, 
 
 Their ' hairbreadth 'scapes " with anxious interest view 
 
 Statesmen and heroines whom this age adores, 
 
 Though plainer times would call them rogues and whores. 
 
 The cruellest portion of this cruel poem was that in 
 which reformers and critics of all grades were ima- 
 gined as welcoming the arrival in England, at the 
 head of an army of atheists and supported by an army 
 of soldiers, of Louis Marie de la Kevelliere de Lepeaux, 
 the then famous author of the National Convention's 
 announcement that ' the French nation would give 
 assistance to all oppressed people who wished to 
 recover their liberty.' 
 
 Rejoiced, our clubs shall greet him, and install 
 The holy hunchback in thy dome, St. Paul ! 
 While countless votaries, thronging in his train, 
 Wave their red caps, and hymn this jocund strain: 
 
 ' " Couriers " and " Stars," sedition's evening host, 
 Thou " Morning Chronicle," and "Morning Post,"
 
 326 ANTI- JACOBINS AND REFORMERS OH. xi. 
 
 Whether ye make the Rights of Man your theme, 
 Your country libel, and your God blaspheme, 
 Or dirt on private worth and virtue throw, 
 Still, blasphemous or blackguard, praise Le'peaux ! 
 
 ' And ye five other wandering bards, that move 
 In sweet accord of harmony and love, 
 Coleridge and Southey, Lloyd and Lamb and Co., 
 Tune all your mystic harps to praise Lepeaux ! 
 
 ' Priestley and Wakefield, humble, holy men, 
 Give praises to his name with tongue and pen ! 
 Thehvall, and ye that lecture as ye go, 
 And for your pains get pelted, praise Lepeaux ! 
 
 ' Praise him, each Jacobin, or fool, or knave, 
 
 And your cropped heads in sign of worship wave ! 
 
 All creeping creatures, venomous and low, 
 
 Paine, Williams, Godwin, Holcroft, praise Lepeaux ! ' l 
 
 ' The Anti- Jacobin,' with all its cleverness, and es- 
 pecially by reason of that cleverness, was a mischievous 
 and malicious attempt to misrepresent the views and 
 actions of the opponents of Pitt's government, and all 
 the more objectionable because a member of the govern- 
 ment was its leading spirit. Canning's newspaper war 
 against Whigs and Radicals, however, was legitimate 
 in comparison with the policy pursued by Pitt and his 
 associates in forcible and vindictive use of existing 
 
 1 Though The Anti-Jacobin made its last appearance on July 9, 1798, 
 there was started a few days before a monthly Anti- Jacob in Review and 
 Magazine of the same politics, but much less brilliant, and more ponder- 
 ous. Strange to say, it also was edited by a Gifford, or one who so called 
 himself. John Richard Green was a bold and versatile adventurer, who, 
 having to fly from his creditors in 1782, returned from France in 1788 
 as John Gifford, and was connected with several newspapers, besides 
 editing The Anti-Jacobin Review. Befriended in many ways by Pitt, he 
 wrote a four-volume pamphlet, styled The Life of William Pitt, after his 
 patron's death. James Mill, the friend and associate of Jeremy Bentham, 
 as we shall see in a later chapter, was glad to earn money in his struggling 
 days, by writing non-political articles for The Anti-Jacobin Review. 
 William Gifford, it is hardly necessary to state, after editing Ben Jonson's 
 works, and other useful occupations, became the first editor of The 
 Quarterly Review in 1809.
 
 1798. PITT'S NEWSPAPER ACT 327 
 
 laws, and manufacture of fresh law, in the hope of 
 putting down the sedition that they imagined and in- 
 vented. Every year had its batch of press prosecutions, 
 generally on flimsy charges, and with the undisguised 
 object of punishing obnoxious printers, publishers, and 
 writers, not so much for the particular offences alleged 
 against them as for their boldness in criticising the pro- 
 ceedings of the ministry and its agents. 
 
 It was in order to increase the opportunities for this 
 persecution that Pitt introduced his Newspaper Act in 
 April 1798, which, making some regulations that have 
 since been found harmless if not useful as regards the 
 registration of proprietors, and so forth, did much more 
 than that. It was a bill ' for preventing the mischief 
 arising from newspapers being printed and published 
 by persons unknown, and for regulating them in other 
 respects ' ; and the ' other respects ' were sufficiently 
 various and tyrannical. It imposed heavy penalties on 
 all in whose possession unstamped, including foreign, 
 newspapers were found, or who sent them out of the 
 country, and one of its clauses prescribed that ' every 
 person who during the present war shall send any 
 newspaper into any country not in amity with his 
 majesty shall forfeit 500/.' 1 
 
 The particular excuse for that act was the publica- 
 tion in ' The Courier ' of a paragraph stating that some 
 French prisoners in Liverpool had been crue ly treated 
 by the authorities, and the inability of the government 
 to find out either who was the author of the ' libel ' or 
 who was the responsible proprietor of the paper, so that 
 it was prevented from bringing an action against any- 
 one ; and this although, in the opinion of the ministers, 
 ' The Courier ' was a ' scandalous outrage on law, 
 morality, religion, and justice the echo of France, 
 
 1 37 George III., cap. 78.
 
 328 ANTI-JACOBINS AND REFORMERS CH. xi. 
 
 which propagated with unyielding industry the 
 monstrous misrepresentations of the French directory 
 and their detestable principles.' Sheridan and others 
 denounced the bill. Tierney declared that ' he fore- 
 saw what would be its consequences to the liberty of 
 the press, the clog it would create to talent and litera- 
 ture, the restraint it would be to political freedom.' 
 Lord William Russell condemned it as ' an insidious 
 blow to the liberty of the press.' Sir William Pulteney 
 urged that ' the liberty of the press was of such a 
 sacred nature that we ought to suffer many inconveni- 
 ences rather than check its influence in such a manner 
 as to endanger our liberties, for without the liberty of 
 the press the freedom of this country would be a mere 
 shadow.' Sir Francis Burdett reminded Pitt that his 
 father, the Earl of Chatham, when he was urged to 
 introduce a similar bill in order to protect himself from 
 the calumnies with which he was assailed, had replied 
 that ' the press, like the air, is a chartered libertine ' ; 
 and in his rough style of scorn suggested that the bill 
 was the most effectual means that could be devised by 
 a ' tyrannically disposed prince, 'supported by an un- 
 scrupulous, profligate minister, backed by a notoriously 
 corrupt parliament,' to confirm their ' triple tyranny.' l 
 But the bill was passed, and though it was followed by 
 a long series of press prosecutions, which it rendered 
 possible, it and those prosecutions had important re- 
 sults in educating a Radical party bold enough to 
 brave prosecution till it was strong enough to pre- 
 vent it. 
 
 Notable illustration of the way in which Tory per- 
 secution converted even weak-minded and scarcely 
 honest men into sturdy Radicals is furnished by the 
 career of William Cobbett. Born in 1762, Cobbett 
 
 1 Parliamentary History, vol. xxxiii. pp. 1418-1482.
 
 1800. WILLIAM COBBETT AND ' THE PORCUPINE ' 329 
 
 had had varied experience as a farmer's boy, a lawyer's 
 drudge, and a private soldier, before he went to 
 America, and there, prospering as a bookseller, made 
 himself notorious as the writer of violent Tory pamph- 
 lets, under the pseudonym of Peter Porcupine. His 
 opinions, and the terms in which he uttered them, gave 
 great offence to his neighbours in Philadelphia, and, 
 being convicted of a libel and ordered to pay a fine of 
 5,000 dollars, he avoided payment by running away. 
 He returned to England after eight years' absence, and 
 had then money and influence enough to start a daily 
 paper, ' The Porcupine,' the first number of which 
 appeared on November 2 r i, 1800, which was intended 
 to be as violent, if not as brilliant, a champion of 
 Toryism as ' The Anti- Jacobin ' had been. 
 
 Cobbett claimed that what he had seen and endured 
 in the United States specially qualified him to instruct 
 and warn his countrymen of the dangers they ran from 
 following French guidance, and sanctioning any at- 
 tempts at altering the political and social constitution 
 of England. ' Those who want experience of the con- 
 sequences/ he said in Ae prospectus of ' The Porcupine,' 
 ' may, for aught I know, be excused for conniving at 
 these attempts ; but for me, who have seen acts passed 
 by a republican legislature more fraudulent than for- 
 gery or coining for me, who have seen republican 
 officers of state offering their country for sale for a few 
 thousand dollars for me, who have seen republican 
 judges become felons, and felons become republican 
 judges for me to hold my hands and tamely to listen 
 to the insolent eulogists of republican governments and 
 rulers, would be a shameful abandonment of principle, 
 a dastardly desertion of duty.' ' The intrigues of the 
 French, the servile, the insidious, the insinuating 
 French,' he declared, ; shall be an object of iny constant
 
 330 ANTI-JACOBINS AND REFORMERS CH. XK 
 
 attention. Whether at war or at peace with us, they 
 still dread the power, envy the happiness, and thirst for 
 the ruin of England. Collectively and individually, the 
 whole and every one of them hate us. Had they the 
 means, they would exterminate us to the last man ; 
 they would snatch the crutch from our parents, the 
 cradle from our children, and our happy country itself 
 would they sink beneath those waves on which they 
 now flee from the thunder of our cannon. When we 
 shall sheathe the sword it is for our sovereign to say; 
 but while we retain one drop of true British blood in 
 our veins, we never shall shake hands with this perfi- 
 dious and sanguinary race, much less shall we make a 
 compromise with their monkey-like manners and tiger- 
 like principles.' There was much more loud talk of this 
 sort ; and Cobbett added, ' I feel an irresistible desire to 
 communicate to my countrymen the fruit of my expe- 
 rience, to show them the injurious and degrading conse- 
 quences of discontentment, disloyalty, and innovation, 
 to convince them that they are the freest as well as the 
 happiest of the human race, and above all, to warn them 
 against the arts of those ambitious and perfidious dema- 
 gogues who would willingly reduce them to a level with 
 the cheated slaves in the bearing of whose yoke I have 
 had the mortification to share.' 
 
 ' The Porcupine,' projected in that temper, continued 
 to be a rowdy supporter of the Tory government, and 
 an insolent assailant of all who differed from it, during 
 more than a year. Windham, who lost his secretaryship- 
 at-war by Addington's displacement of Pitt as premier 
 in May 1801, stated in parliament that by one of its 
 articles the writer had merited a statue in gold. But 
 no minister proposed to reward Cobbett for his services 
 with either place or pension, and as ' The Porcupine/ 
 though more forcibly written, was no more useful to the
 
 1800-1802. ' COBBETT'S POLITICAL HEGISTER ' 331 
 
 government or acceptable to the public than ' The True 
 Briton,' which ever since the commencement of 1793 
 had been kept alive by ministerial help in order to do 
 the same work Cobbett found it expedient or necessary 
 in November 1801 to assign his property in ' The Por- 
 cupine ' to the owner of ' The True Briton.' l These 
 two papers were amalgamated on January 1, 1802, and 
 on the 16th of the same month Cobbett started another 
 and a smaller paper, ' The Weekly Political Register,' 
 which, though not at first opposed to the Tories, was 
 much less energetic in its support of them. 
 
 It is only charitable to suppose that Cobbett's con- 
 victions, such as they were, were undergoing a change 
 at this time, but we may reasonably assume that they 
 would have been unchanged had he received from the 
 government the encouragement that he thought he de- 
 served. For not thus encouraging him the government 
 is certainly not to be blamed. It already had far too 
 many disreputable hangers-on in the newspaper world, 
 who only rendered it more obnoxious to sensible people 
 than it might otherwise have been, and there would 
 have been no wisdom in adding to the number. Cobbett 
 was a far abler man, however, than most of those who 
 were preferred to him, and the Addington administra- 
 tion made a serious mistake in converting him into an 
 enemy. His ' Political Register ' soon became a for- 
 midable assailant of the party and policy that its editor 
 had hitherto supported, and the contemptuous indiffe- 
 rence with which, as a friend, he had been treated was 
 promptly followed by persecution that enabled him to 
 
 1 CobMt's WeeUy Political Register, January 1802. In 1790 Lord 
 Kenyon had ruled that the description of The True Briton, given in The 
 Courier, as ' the most vulgar, ignorant, and scurrilous journal ever pub- 
 lished in Great Britain,' was only a fair comment and not punishable as 
 a libel. (Espinasse, Reports of Cases at Nisi Priv.s, vol. i. p. 437.)
 
 332 ANTI-JACOBINS AND EEFOKMEKS 
 
 CH. XI. 
 
 be a far more formidable antagonist than the ^overn- 
 
 o O 
 
 ment was prepared for. 
 
 ' Cobbett's Register,' continued for more than thirty 
 years, though after a time it assumed the form of an 
 annual publication, was from the first more of a political 
 magazine than a newspaper. It undertook to give, and 
 gave very skilfully, a concise record of events, and es- 
 pecially of the proceedings in parliament. But each 
 weekly number contained at least one forcible leading 
 article or long letter, generally bearing Cobbett's signa- 
 ture, in which he handled with his sledge-hammer pen 
 nearly every question of importance as it arose, and 
 constituted himself the censor of every party. Though 
 snubbed by the Tories, he claimed for some years longer 
 to be one of them, and, retaining all his old hatred of 
 the French, his earliest avowed quarrel with the autho- 
 rities resulted not from any inconsistency on his part, 
 but from a ministerial change of front. 
 
 After the peace of Amiens had been trumped up in 
 April 1802, it became the policy of the Addingtoii 
 government to keep on good terms with Bonaparte, but 
 it was not able to restrain the abusive language that it 
 had hitherto encouraged in the press ; and there was 
 much angry correspondence on the subject between the 
 French directory and the Fnglish administration during 
 the ensuing months, rendered all the more embarrassing 
 because at this time there were a good many French 
 republicans in England, who had come over to escape 
 from and to denounce the new tyranny that was being 
 shaped out of the liberating forces they had set in mo- 
 tion, and because many English reformers to whom the 
 confusing term Jacobin had been applied were, for a 
 while and in this respect, in substantial agreement with 
 many of the Tories who loathed them. There were at 
 least two French papers published in London which
 
 1802-1803. COBBETT AND THE JACOBINS 333 
 
 made it their special business to attack the first consul 
 ' L'Ambigu,' edited by Jean Peltier, and ' Le Courrier 
 Franqais de Londres ' ; and about these the French am- 
 bassador made formal complaint in July, including in 
 his charges ' Cobbett and other writers who resemble 
 them.' The British government began by answering the 
 complaints in terms that would have been dignified if 
 they had been consistent. ' His majesty's government 
 neither can nor will, in consequence of any menace from 
 a foreign power,' wrote Lord Hawkesbury in August, 
 ' make any concession which may be in the smallest 
 degree dangerous to the liberty of the press, as secured 
 by the constitution of this country ' ; and he refused to 
 take any action on Bonaparte's behalf against the ob- 
 noxious writers. 1 The government afterwards yielded 
 so far, however, as to prosecute Peltier, who was brought 
 up for trial in February 1803 before Lord Ellenborough, 
 with Spencer Perceval, the attorney-general, as his ac- 
 cuser, and Mackintosh to defend him. Mackintosh's 
 speech, which even Ellenborough declared to be ' elo- 
 quence almost unparalleled,' was a noble argument not 
 only in justification of Peltier, but also for the liberty of 
 the press in general, 2 but it was unsuccessful. Peltier 
 was found guilty, though before the time came for the 
 deferred sentence to be passed, war had been renewed 
 between France and England, and he consequently 
 escaped punishment. It ultimately transpired that he 
 had actually been receiving pay from the English 
 government for writing as he had done ; and his em- 
 ployment was continued till 1815, when, in explanation 
 of the grants made to him and other French journalists 
 in London, Lord Castlereagh averred that ' these grants 
 were made for public and not for private services, and 
 
 1 Parliamentary History, vol. xxxvi. pp. 1267-1295. 
 
 2 It is printed in Mackintosh's Miscellaneous Works.
 
 334 ANTI- JACOBINS AND REFORMERS CH. xi. 
 
 for conveying instruction to the continent when no other 
 mode could be found.' 
 
 Cobbett's connection with Peltier's case, which here 
 chiefly concerns us, was noteworthy as illustrating the 
 difference between such ' libels ' as the government 
 tolerated, or only made a pretence of punishing, and 
 such others as it seriously resented. Though Cobbett 
 was as outspoken as Peltier in his condemnation of 
 Napoleon, he was not prosecuted for it ; but he was 
 attacked for interfering with English officials. In May 
 1804 he was tried for two offences : one of them the 
 insertion in his ' Register ' of two letters by an Irish 
 judge, ridiculing Lord Hardwicke, who was viceroy of 
 Ireland, as ' a very eminent sheep-feeder from Cam- 
 bridgeshire,' with ' a wooden head,' and Lord Chancellor 
 Redesdale as ' a very able and strong-built chancery 
 pleader from Lincoln's Inn ' ; the other using language 
 of his own in disparagement of the solicitor-general's 
 conduct of the proceedings against Robert Emmett for 
 inciting to rebellion. In both cases he was found guilty, 
 and he was fined 500/. 1 
 
 This persecution, however, instead of silencing him, 
 induced him to make his ' Register ' a fearless and vin- 
 dictive opponent of everything in the ministerial policy 
 which his somewhat fickle judgment disapproved. He 
 was never a thoroughgoing and comprehensive re- 
 former. He was always more anxious to appear as a 
 demagogue than as a champion of democracy, and he 
 preferred to associate himself with Sir Francis Pmrdett, 
 4 Orator ' Hunt, and agitators of that stamp, than with 
 the steady and persevering advocates of national pro- 
 gress, who insisted upon principle on the redress of 
 grievances and the systematic rooting out of the evils 
 by which the country was afflicted. But he made 
 
 1 State Trials, vol. xxix. pp. 1, 54, 422.
 
 1802-1809. FROM COBBETT TO THE HUNTS 335 
 
 himself formidable, and ' The Register ' was in his 
 hands a serviceable and powerful agency for the ex- 
 posure of abuses. That he was allowed during so many 
 years to carry on his violent and indiscriminate guerilla 
 warfare against the several ministries that followed the 
 Addinoton government is somewhat surprising ; but 
 retribution fell upon him in 1809, when, for venturing 
 to protest against the flogging of some militiamen under 
 a guard of the German legion, and thus finding fault 
 at once both with the rules of military discipline and 
 with the employment of foreign mercenaries, he was 
 sent to prison for two years and fined 1,000^. ; Hansard, 
 the printer of ' The Register,' and two newsvendors, 
 being also imprisoned for shorter terms. 
 
 In the meanwhile worthier Radicals than Cobbett, 
 and a more important newspaper than ' The Political 
 Register,' were coming to the front. The starting of 
 ' The Examiner ' by John and Leigh Hunt marks an 
 epoch in the history of journalism. 
 
 John Hunt, the second son of a clergyman who got 
 into some trouble because of the liberal opinions in 
 politics and religion which honest thought and intel- 
 ligent experience had forced upon him, was born about 
 1780, and started a printing business in Brydges Street, 
 Strand, while his younger brother, James Henry Leigh 
 Hunt, born in 1784, was writing juvenile poems and 
 smart essays, in imitation of Goldsmith, and was trying 
 to learn law in the office of his eldest brother Stephen. 
 The law learning was abandoned when Leigh obtained 
 a clerkship in the War Office, but the writing of poems 
 and essays was continued and improved upon. Of the 
 poems a small volume was made and published when 
 the author was only seventeen, and some of the essays 
 appeared, before he was twenty, as the lucubrations of 
 ' Mr. Town, junior, Critic and Censor General,' in ' The
 
 336 ANTI-JACOBINS A.ND REFORMERS on. xi. 
 
 Traveller,' the recently established evening paper, of 
 which Edward Quin was editor. I offered them with 
 fear and trembling to Mr. Quin,' said Leigh, 'and was 
 astonished at the gaiety with which he accepted them. 
 What astonished me more was a perquisite of five or 
 six copies of the paper, which I enjoyed every Saturday 
 when my essays appeared, and with which I used to 
 reissue from Bolt Court in a state of transport. Luckily 
 the essays were little read ; they were not at all noticed 
 in public ; and I thus escaped the perils of another 
 premature laudation for my juvenility.' l 
 
 These, however, were only ' a stop-gap,' as he said ; 
 as also were the theatrical criticisms that he wrote for 
 ' The Xews,' a Sunday paper, which was started in 
 April 1805, and of which his brother John was during 
 two years and a half the printer and, apparently, the 
 editor. Young as he was, the new theatrical critic set 
 an example that astonished his rivals and pleased many 
 readers. ' We saw that independence in theatrical 
 criticism would be a great novelty. We announced it, 
 and nobody believed us ; we stuck to it, and the town 
 believed everything we said. To know an actor per- 
 sonally appeared to me a vice not to be thought of, and 
 I would as lief have taken poison as accept a ticket 
 from the theatres.' 2 
 
 ' The Examiner ' was a speedy consequence of the 
 success that attended the first venture of the brothers 
 in newspaper work, and a bold attempt to apply to the 
 discussion of political and social affairs, in which their 
 interest grew with age, the same independence which 
 had appeared in Leigh Hunt's notices of the perfor- 
 mances of Mrs. Siddons, Harriet Mellon, Kemble, 
 Listen, Munden, and other actors and actresses. The 
 
 1 Autobiography of Leigh Hunt (revised edition, with an introduction 
 by his eldest son), p. 124. - Ibid., p. 138.
 
 1808. LEIGH HUNT AND 'THE EXAMINER' 337 
 
 first number appeared on Sunday, January 3, 1808, 
 with John Hunt as printer and manager, and Leigh 
 Hunt, in his twenty-fourth year, as editor, and the two 
 as joint -proprietors. 
 
 ' The main objects of " The Examiner," ' said Leigh 
 Hunt, ' were to assist in producing reform in parlia- 
 ment, liberality of opinion in general" (especially free- 
 dom from superstition), and a fusion of literary taste 
 into all subjects whatsoever. It began with being of 
 no party, but reform soon gave it one. It disclaimed 
 all knowledge of statistics, and the rest of its politics 
 were rather a sentiment and a matter of general train- 
 ing than founded on any particular political reflection. 
 It possessed, however, the benefit of a good deal of 
 reading. It never wanted examples out of history and 
 biography, or a kind of adornment from the spirit of 
 literature ; and it gradually drew to its perusal many 
 intelligent persons of both sexes, who would perhaps 
 never have attended to politics under other circum- 
 stances. In the course of its warfare with the Tories 
 " The Examiner" was charged with Bonapartism, with 
 republicanism, with disaffection to church and state, 
 with conspiracy at the tables of Burdett and Cobbett 
 and Henry Hunt. Now Sir Francis, though he was 
 our hero, we never exchanged a word with ; and Cobbett 
 and Henry Hunt (no relation of ours) we never beheld, 
 never so much as saw their faces. I was never even at 
 a public dinner, nor do I believe my brother was. We 
 had absolutely no views whatsoever but those of a 
 decent competence and of the public good ; and we 
 thought, I dare affirm, a great deal more of the latter 
 than of the former. Our competence we allowed too 
 much to shift for itself. As for myself, what I thought 
 of more than either was the making of verses. I did 
 nothing for the greater part of the week but write 
 
 VOL. i. z
 
 338 ANTI- JACOBINS AND REFORMERS CH. xi. 
 
 verses and read books. I then made a rush at my 
 editorial duties, took a world of superfluous pains in 
 the writing, sat up late at night, and was a very trying 
 person to compositors and newsmen.' 1 
 
 During the first year of his editorship of ' The 
 Examiner ' Leigh Hunt's time was partly filled up by 
 his duties as a clerk in the AVar Office. He resigned 
 this post, however, in December 1808, in order that, not 
 being in the pay of the government, he might have 
 no compunction in attacking it whenever he thought 
 necessary ; 2 and, though he was soon afterwards to be 
 married, he considered that the success of the paper 
 warranted his thus surrendering a certain income. 
 ' The paper gets on gloriously indeed,' he wrote to his 
 sweetheart in November. ' Our regular sale is now 
 2,200, and by Christmas or a few weeks after I have 
 little doubt we shall be 3,000 ; and what is best of all 
 we shall now keep it to ourselves. My brother told 
 me the other day that he had no doubt but we should 
 be getting eight or ten guineas apiece every week in a 
 year's time.' 3 
 
 ' The Examiner ' deserved to succeed, apart from its 
 merits as a fearless advocate of political reform. As a 
 mere literary production it at once took rank above all 
 the other weekly periodicals, and contained such careful 
 and scholarly writing as only appeared occasionally, 
 when men like Coleridge and Mackintosh were the 
 authors, in the best of the daily papers. Leigh Hunt 
 Avas scarcely hypercritical when, in the preface to the 
 first year's volume of his journal, he complained of 
 ' the ignorance and corruption ' of its contemporaries. 
 
 1 Autobiography, p. 172. 
 
 2 It is somewhat curious that, more than sixty years later, another 
 War Office clerk, not then aware that he was following in Leigh Hunt's 
 steps, also resigned his post in order to edit The Examiner. 
 
 '* Correspondence of Lei'jh Hunt, vol. i. p. 40.
 
 1808. 'THE EXAMINER' UNDER THE HUNTS 389 
 
 ' The jarring spirit of past years,' he said, 'seemed to 
 have destroyed every political refinement, both of 
 speaking and writing. Graceful persuasions forsook the 
 senate, wit and argument the press. The newspapers, 
 occupied with momentary rumour and invective, ap- 
 peared to have no leisure for anything becoming ; and, 
 as the sounds of speech are affected by a deranged 
 constitution, the whole public voice grew vulgar as it 
 grew violent. People are now beginning to change 
 their tone in these matters ; but even now, when every 
 other species of literature has gained at least an elegant 
 mediocrity, the progress of periodical style has scarcely 
 reached correctness, and it is remarkable that those 
 papers which are the most politically corrupt are still 
 the most corrupt in everything else. It becomes a 
 public writer, therefore, to show the company his 
 intellect keeps, and to attempt a language worthy of 
 the sentiments he feels and the country for which he 
 writes.' 
 
 This rule was loyally observed in all the original 
 writing for which a liberal share of space was found in 
 1 The Examiner,' and even in its careful digests of the 
 week's news. l Little miscellaneous sketches of character 
 and manners,' as Hunt said, ' were introduced as one 
 small method of habituating readers to general ideas of 
 the age ' ; and, theatrical criticism being a favourite 
 exercise with him, he made it a special feature of ' The 
 Examiner,' this being, he remarked, ' a department 
 which none of the papers seem inclined to dispute with 
 a person fond of the subject, the daily ones for want of 
 independence, and the weekly for want of care.' 1 ' As 
 
 1 ' I remember an instance of John Hunt's high spirit relating to his 
 paper,' says Cyras Redding. 'John Kemble had given The Examiner a 
 free admission for two persons to the boxes. Leigh Hunt was the best 
 dramatic critic of the day. He saw it right to censure Kemble for his 
 performance of some part I forget which and Kemble remarked that, 
 
 z 2
 
 340 ANTI- JACOBINS AND REFORMERS en. xi. 
 
 theatrical criticism,' he added, 'is the liveliest part of a 
 newspaper, I have endeavoured to correct its usual 
 levity by treating it philosophically ; and as political 
 writing is the gravest subject, I have attempted to 
 give it a more general interest by handling it good- 
 humouredly.' 1 
 
 Among the ' little miscellaneous sketches ' that 
 Leigh Hunt published in ' The Examiner ' during its 
 first year were seven essays on Methodism and its 
 extravagances, then making some noise in the world, 
 and these were afterwards reissued in a small volume. 2 
 To politics it paid less attention then than afterwards, 
 and the strengthening of this part of the paper was- 
 due, perhaps, chiefly to the influence of his brother's 
 robuster though less literary mind. ' In politics, from 
 old family associations,' said Leigh, ' I soon got in- 
 terested as a man, though I never could love them as a 
 writer. It was against the grain that I was encouraged 
 to begin them, and against the grain that I ever after- 
 wards sat down to write, except when the subject was 
 of a very general description, and I could introduce 
 philosophy and the belles IcttresJ 3 Before long, how- 
 ever, ' The Examiner ' and its editor were hotly en- 
 gaged in the political struggle then going on, and this 
 notwithstanding the studied moderation, not from 
 cowardice, but from conviction, of the language generally 
 used. The Hunts thought they could do better service 
 to the reforming movement, in which they took the 
 
 after sending such admissions, ho should not have expected to be handled 
 so severely. John Hunt at once enclosed the admissions to which he 
 alluded, and stated that in future the admissions of the theatrical critic 
 should be paid for, and charged to the weekly expenses of the paper, 
 which should be placed on a footing of perfect independence.' Fifty 
 Years' Recollections, vol. i. p. 277. 
 
 1 Examiner, preface to the volume for 1808. 
 
 2 An Attempt to show the Folly and Danger of Methodism, 1809. 
 
 3 Autobiography, p. 155.
 
 1808. 'THE EXAMINER' UNDER THE HUNTS 341 
 
 keenest interest, by dignified remonstrance and argu- 
 ment than by joining in the noisier agitation led by 
 Cobbett, with whom they frequently expostulated, by 
 Burdett, whom, when they found that their early 
 admiration was misplaced, they nicknamed Sir Francis 
 Bourgeois, and by others. They shunned the society of 
 hotheaded agitators and of temporising statesmen alike, 
 just as they avoided personal intercourse w r ith theatrical 
 managers and actors. ' " The Examiner," so to speak, 
 lived quite alone,' said Leigh Hunt. ' It sought 
 nobody, and its principles had already become so well 
 understood that few sought it, and no one succeeded in 
 making its acquaintance.' l This independence saved it 
 from contamination, but not from persecution. A news- 
 paper that could not be bought, and whose managers 
 neither gave nor went to dinner parties, was only the 
 more likely to be hunted down on that account. 
 
 ' The Examiner ' was not ten months old when, on 
 October 23, 1808, there appeared in it an article, eight 
 columns long, on ' Military Depravity,' commenting, 
 not for the first time, on the gross mismanagement of 
 the army under the Duke of York, whom it held 
 personally responsible for scandals that were notorious, 
 though few ventured to utter their complaints in public. 
 1 The time has at length arrived,' it was said in ' The 
 Examiner,' ' when either the vices of one man must be 
 sacrificed to the military honour of the country, or the 
 military honour of the country must be sacrificed to 
 the vices of one man an alternative truly monstrous 
 and deplorable.' That was strong language, and there 
 was more of it. The Hunts were promptly threatened 
 with an action for libel, and the proceedings dawdled on 
 for some time. They were discreetly abandoned, how- 
 ever, without appeal to a jury. 2 
 
 1 Autobiography, p. 200. ~ Ibid., pp. 200, 201.
 
 342 ANTI- JACOBINS AND REFORMERS on. xi. 
 
 The first serious attack on the paper was made a 
 year later. In anticipation of the disruption of the 
 Duke of Portland's administration, consequent on his 
 death, and the rearrangement of its more important 
 members under Perceval's premiership, Leigh Hunt 
 published on October 1, 1809, a smart article entitled 
 ' Change of Ministry.' ' It is generally supposed,' he 
 wrote, ' that the mutilated administration, in spite of 
 its tenacity of life, cannot exist much longer ; and the 
 Foxites of course are beginning to rally round their 
 leaders in order to give it the coup de grace. 1 A more 
 respectable set of men they certainly are, with more 
 general information, more attentive to the encourage- 
 ment of intellect, and altogether a more enlightened 
 policy ; and if his majesty could be persuaded to enter 
 into their conciliatory views with regard to Ireland, a 
 most important and most necessary benefit would be 
 obtained for this country. The subject of Ireland, 
 next to the difficulty of coalition, is no doubt the great 
 trouble in the election of his majesty's servants ; and it 
 is this, most probably, which has given rise to the talk 
 of a regency a measure to which the court would 
 never resort while it felt a possibility of acting upon 
 its old principles. What a crowd of blessings rush 
 upon one's mind that might be bestowed upon the 
 country in the event of such a change ! Of all 
 monarchs, indeed, since the Revolution, the successor 
 of George III. will have the finest opportunity of be- 
 coming nobly popular.' The last two sentences of that 
 mild paragraph were quoted approvingly by Perry in 
 1 The Morning Chronicle ' of October 2. The allusion 
 
 1 It will be remembered that Fox had died in 1806, and that his 
 followers were now scheming more than ever to effect an alliance with 
 the Prince of Wales, shortly to be made prince regent on account of his 
 father's madness.
 
 1809-1810. 'THE EXAMINER' IN TROUBLE 343 
 
 in them to the possibility of a better monarch than 
 George III. succeeding him was declared by Sir Vicary 
 Gibbs, the attorney-general, to be a seditious libel, 
 and proceedings were instituted against Perry and the 
 printer of ' The Morning Chronicle,' as well as against 
 the two Hunts as proprietors of ' The Examiner.' 
 
 The case came on before Lord Ellenborough on 
 February 24, 1810, when Gibbs argued that ' nobody 
 who saw such language held could doubt that it must 
 have a manifest tendency to alienate and destroy the 
 affections of the people towards their sovereign, and 
 to break down that link of love which ought to connect 
 the sovereign and his people in the tenderest ties.' 
 Fortunately for the Hunts, Perry's name was first in 
 the indictment. Perry conducted his own case some- 
 what pompously, but very skilfully, claiming for ' The 
 Chronicle ' that it stood now, as it had stood before, 
 ' in the front of the battle, not only for itself, but for 
 the liberty of the press in England,' and that the sole 
 point at issue was ' whether it should continue to assert 
 the principles upon which the Whigs had ever acted, 
 and by which their only object was to perpetuate to his 
 majesty and his heirs the throne to which they per- 
 suaded the people of England to call his ancestors by 
 securing it upon that basis which forms not only its 
 strength but its lustre.' The jury returned a verdict 
 of not guilty, and the information against the Hunts 
 was withdrawn, thus lessening to them the expense 
 which, however, was heavy of the abortive prosecu- 
 tion. 1 
 
 They were again less unlucky than they might have 
 been, just twelve months later, when they were indicted 
 for reprinting on September 2, 1810, a vigorous article 
 from ' The Stamford News ' against flogging in the 
 
 1 State Trials, vol. xxx.
 
 344 ANTI-JACOBINS AND EEFOEMERS CH. xi. 
 
 army. 1 For a similar offence, Cobbett was now endur- 
 ing two years' imprisonment, but the Hunts had Henry 
 Brougham to defend them, and his forcible presentment 
 of the views of Sir Ralph Abercromby, Sir Robert 
 Wilson, and other great generals as to the folly of 
 corporal punishment, together with the effective con- 
 trast he drew between the dignity and honesty of ' The 
 Examiner,' and the licentiousness of other newspapers 
 which were not interfered with, secured an acquittal. 2 
 Brougham was less successful when, a fortnight later, 
 he went down to Stamford to repeat the same argu- 
 
 1 A few sentences of this article are worth quoting (indeed, the whole 
 would be if space allowed) as an illustration of Radical sentiment, three- 
 quarters of a century ago, on a scandal that has only lately been removed. 
 ' The attorney-general ought not to stroke his chin with such complacency 
 when he refers to the manner in which Bonaparte treats his soldiers. We 
 despise and detest those who would tell us that there is as much liberty 
 
 now en joyed in France as there is left in this country But, although 
 
 we do not envy the general condition of Bonaparte's subjects, we really 
 (and we speak the honest conviction of our hearts) see nothing peculiarly 
 pitiable in the lot of his soldiers, when compared with that of our own. 
 Were we called upon to make our election between the services, the whipcord 
 would at once decide us. No advantage whatever can compensate for, or 
 render tolerable to a mind but one degree removed from brutality, a lia- 
 bility to be lashed like a beast. It is idle to talk about rendering the 
 situation of a British soldier pleasant to himself, or desirable, far less 
 honourable in the estimation of others, while the whip is held over his head 
 and over his head alone ; for in no other country in Europe (with the 
 exception, perhaps, of Russia, which is yet in a state of barbarity) is the 
 military character so degraded.' 
 
 3 Report of the Proceedings against John Hunt and Leigh Hunt (Stam- 
 ford, 1811) ; State Triak, vol. xxxi. pp. 367-414. 'That licentiousness, 
 said Brougham, ' has of late years appeared to despise all the bounds which 
 had once been prescribed to the attacks on private character, insomuch that 
 there is not only no personage so important or exalted, for of that I do not 
 complain, but no person so humble, harmless, or retired, as to escape the 
 defamation which is daily and hourly poured forth by the venal crew to 
 gratify the idle curiosity, or still less excusable malignity, of the public. 
 To mark out for the indulgence of that propensity individuals retiring 
 into the privacy of domestic life, to hunt them down, and drag them 
 forth as a laughing-stock to the vulgar, has become in our days with some 
 men the road even to popularity, and with multitudes the means of earn- 
 ing a base subsistence.'
 
 1809-1811. PROGRESS OF 'THE EXAMINER' 345 
 
 ments on behalf of Drakard, the original printer of the 
 article. 1 
 
 The service that Brougham thus rendered to the 
 Hunts caused them to make in his favour an exception 
 to their rule of not associating with prominent politi- 
 cians ; and they had plenty of other friends, some of 
 whom assisted them in filling ' The Examiner ' with 
 good articles, and also contributed to a stout quarterly 
 magazine, ' The Reflector,' which they commenced in 
 1810, but of which only four numbers appeared. 
 Among their contributors were Charles Lamb, Thomas 
 Barnes, who afterwards became editor of ' The Times ' 
 and was now writing for it, 2 Dyer, and Scholefield all 
 old schoolfellows of Leigh Hunt's at Christ Hospital, 
 to whom before long were added Hazlitt, Shelley, and 
 Keats. 3 
 
 ' The Examiner ' flourished in spite of the persecu- 
 tions to which it was exposed, and partly because of 
 them. Its conductors were able to boast that in each 
 of its first three years it had been attacked by the 
 government without success, and had increased its 
 circulation and influence. ' These circumstances,' they 
 said, ' may not be equally lucrative to the proprietors, 
 but they are equally flattering, and alike encourage 
 them in a line of conduct which enables them to de- 
 serve the one and to disdain the other.' 4 In the fourth 
 year their deserts were as great, but they had less cause 
 for congratulation. 
 
 The Prince of Wales obtained the promotion he had 
 long desired, and was made prince regent, on February 
 
 1 State Trials, vol. xxxi. pp. 495-535. 
 
 2 Leigh. Hunt also occasionally wrote for The Times to assist his friend. 
 Correspondence, vol. i. p. 28. 
 
 3 Autobiography, p. 192 ; Leigh Hunt in Monthly Repository, 1837 ; 
 ' The Examiner ' Twenty Years Ago. 
 
 4 Examiner, ' Postscript ' to vol. iii.
 
 346 ANTI- JACOBINS AND REFORMERS OH. xi. 
 
 3, 1811 ; but as, from the very commencement of his 
 fresh authority, he gave fresh proof of his capacity for 
 abusing it, a year sufficed to deprive him of nearly all 
 the popularity, such as it was, that he had formerly 
 enjoyed. At a banquet given on St. Patrick's Day, 
 1812, which he attended, he was received with jeers 
 and hisses, much to his own annoyance and that of the 
 courtiers and sycophants. ' The Morning Post ' was 
 especially indignant and especially profuse in its condo- 
 lences, and one of its articles tempted Leigh Hunt to 
 make a very contemptuous rejoinder in ' The Examiner ' 
 of March 22. ' What person acquainted with the true 
 state of the case,' he exclaimed, ' would imagine, in 
 making these astounding eulogies, that this " glory of 
 the people " was the subject of millions of shrugs and 
 reproaches ! that this " protector of the arts " had 
 named a wretched foreigner his historical painter, in 
 disparagement or in ignorance of the merits of his own 
 countrymen ! that this " Maecenas of the age " patronised 
 not a deserving writer ! that this " breather of elo- 
 quence " could not say a few decent extempore words 
 if we are to judge, at least, from what he said to his 
 regiment on its embarkation for Portugal! that this 
 " conqueror of hearts " was the disappointer of hopes! 
 that this " exciter of desire " (bravo, messieurs of " The 
 Post"!), this "Adonis in loveliness," was a corpulent 
 man of fifty ; in short, that this delightful, blissful, wise, 
 pleasurable, honourable, virtuous, true, and immortal prince 
 was a violator of his word, a libertine over head and 
 ears in disgrace, a despiser of domestic ties, the com- 
 panion of gamblers and demireps, a man who has just 
 closed half a century without one single claim on the 
 gratitude of his country or the respect of posterity! ' 
 That was certainly strong and plain language to use 
 about one who was, in nearly everything but the title.
 
 1812-1813. THE PRINCE EEGENT F. 'THE EXAMINER' 347 
 
 king of England, and its offensiveness was aggravated 
 by the fact that much to the same effect, but more 
 cautious, had appeared in ' The Examiner ' during the 
 previous twelvemonth. ' I was provoked to write the 
 libel,' said Leigh Hunt, ' by the interest I took in the 
 disappointments of the Irish nation, which had very 
 particular claims on the promises of his royal highness/ 
 and ' I wrote an attack equally grave and vehement, such 
 as everybody said would be prosecuted.' l 
 
 The prosecution began forthwith, but there were 
 various delays, and the trial only came off on De- 
 cember 9, and sentence was not passed by Lord 
 Ellenborough till February 3, 1813. 2 On that day, 
 notwithstanding Brougham's able and eloquent conduct 
 of their defence, John and Leigh Hunt were fined 500/. 
 apiece the costs of the trial amounting to about an- 
 other 1,000^. and were committed to prison for two 
 years : John to Coldbath Fields, and Leigh to Horse- 
 monger Lane, their separation being a malicious aggra- 
 vation of the punishment, as it increased their difficul- 
 ties in bringing out ' The Examiner ' while they were 
 in gaol. They continued to edit and manage the paper 
 very satisfactorily, however, and with no lessening of 
 its bold exposure of abuses and persistent advocacy of 
 reforms. 
 
 All that friends could do was done to lessen the 
 miseries of their captivity, which was in one important 
 respect made easy for them by their full and reasonable 
 assurance of their blamelessness. Even their gaolers 
 befriended them, and stretched the prison rules in order 
 to secure for them some sort of comfort. Leigh Hunt 
 had his family to reside with him, until, for the sake of 
 his children's health, his wife who, he tells us, never 
 
 1 Leigh Hunt, Lord Byron and some of his Contemporaries. 
 
 2 The Prince of Wales v. The Examiner : A Full Eeport, &c. (1813).
 
 348 ANTI-JACOBINS AND REFORMERS CH. XT. 
 
 once reproached him for the public zeal that caused this 
 disturbance of their domestic happiness took them to 
 the seaside. Hardly a day passed without his being 
 cheered by visitors Charles and Mary Lamb, Barnes 
 and other old Bluecoat schoolfellows, Shelley, Hazlitt, 
 Byron, Moore, Cowden Clarke, Horace and James 
 Smith, "Wilkie, Haydon, Brougham, Sir John Swinburne, 
 and a host of others. Jeremy Bentham went at least 
 once to see him, and found him playing at battledore 
 and shuttlecock, ' in which he took part, and, with his 
 usual eye to improvement, suggested an amendment 
 in the construction of shuttlecocks.' When his friends 
 were not with him, and while his wife sewed and his 
 children played beside him, he finished ' The Story 
 of Rimini,' and wrote ' The Descent of Liberty,' and 
 other poems, besides his weekly articles for ' The 
 Examiner.' 
 
 And he occupied himself in other ways. ' I pa- 
 pered the wall with a trellis of roses,' he tells us ; 'I 
 had the ceiling coloured with clouds and sky ; the 
 barred windows were screened with Venetian blinds, 
 and when my bookcases were set up with their busts 
 and flowers, and a pianoforte made its appearance, per- 
 haps there was not a handsomer room on that side the 
 water. I took a pleasure when a stranger knocked at 
 the door, to see him come in and stare about him. 
 Charles Lamb declared there was no other such room 
 except in a fairy tale. But I had another surprise, which 
 was a garden. There was a little yard outside, railed 
 off from another belonging to a neighbouring yard. 
 This yard I shut in with green palings, adorned it with 
 a trellis, bordered it with a thick bed of earth from a 
 nursery, and even contrived to have a grass plot. The 
 earth I filled with flowers and young trees. There was 
 an apple tree, from which we managed to get a pudding
 
 1813-1815. THE HUNTS IN PRISON 349 
 
 the second year. Here I wrote and read in fine weather, 
 sometimes under an awning. In autumn my trellises 
 were hung with scarlet-runners. I used to shut my 
 eyes in my armchair, and affect to think myself hun- 
 dreds of miles off.' l 
 
 About John Hunt, while he was in prison or out of 
 it, we hear less than about his more famous but not 
 worthier brother. To him, quite as much as to Leigh 
 Hunt, were due the credit of ' The Examiner,' and, 
 apart from the actual writing of its articles, its splen- 
 did services to the advancement both of literature and 
 of politics, and to journalism in both those relation- 
 ships. 
 
 ' Philosophical, patient, just, a deep thinker, retiring, 
 unobtrusive, sincere,' said Cyrus Redding, one of the 
 many younger men who gathered round him, 'John 
 Hunt, in my view, stood foremost of any character I 
 have encountered. I used often to visit him, moved by 
 his solid, yet attractive, conversation, his just views of 
 things, stripping them of everything extraneous, and 
 coming at once to the point. He suffered no considera- 
 tion but truth to enter into a discussion, throwing policy 
 to the winds, and, while allowing for collateral circum- 
 stances and their interventions, keeping their argument 
 to its just limit. He was far in advance of his time.' 2 
 ' He was a man of a rare stamp,' we are assured by 
 another and a more discerning friend, Albany Fon- 
 blanque ; ' an honester never breathed. His devotion 
 to truth and justice knew no bounds ; there was no 
 peril, no suffering, he was not ready to encounter for 
 either. With resolution and fortitude not to be sur- 
 passed, he was one of the gentlest and kindest of beings. 
 His own sufferings were the only sufferings to which he 
 
 1 Autobiography, pp. 239-244. 
 
 2 Fifty Years' Recollections, vol. i. p. 275.
 
 350 ANTI-JACOBINS AND REFORMERS CH. xi. 
 
 could be indifferent. His part as a reformer in the 
 worst times was unflinching, and he held his course 
 undauntedly when bold truths were visited with the 
 penalties of the prison, which he knew how to face and 
 how to endure. His way through the world was a 
 rough one, but his constancy was even, and tribulations 
 left him unshaken. He was at arm's length with care 
 throughout the greater part of his life, but never mas- 
 tered by it, for his goodness had a bravery in it which 
 always bore him up. Fortune's buffets, of which he had 
 a full share, left no bruises on him, and extorted no 
 murmur. His faults lay on the side of tenacity and pre- 
 possession ; when he had taken up a cause or a quarrel 
 it was hard to alter his views of the merits by fact or 
 argument ; and he was sometimes misled by his sym- 
 pathy with the weaker to fight the battle not really of 
 the juster, but of the worsted party. Having taken the 
 field when power was carrying every injustice with a 
 high hand, he was apt to believe it afterwards in the 
 wrong whenever called in question. But these errors 
 were few, and might have been fewer still had they been 
 less detrimental to his interest. There never was a 
 question in John Hunt's mind as to the side to be 
 taken in any discussion but the question of justice, 
 which he determined to the best of his judgment, and 
 acted upon the conclusion at all risks. He fought the 
 battle in the front ranks when the battle was the hot- 
 test, but he passed into retirement in the very hour of 
 victory, as if he had done nothing, and deserved nothing 
 of the triumphant cause.' l 
 
 The two brothers left their prisons in February 1815, 
 and continued the good Avork from which while in con- 
 finement they had refused to be debarred ; and John 
 Hunt was again sent to gaol for two years in May 1821. 
 
 1 Examiner, September 1G, 1848.
 
 1815. THE MERITS OF JOHN HUNT 
 
 In the meanwhile, and afterwards, the struggle for 
 reform, in which ' The Examiner ' took the lead among 
 newspapers, went on. But already a mighty change 
 from the state of things prevailing when ' The Anti- 
 Jacobin ' appeared had been brought about.
 
 352 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 DURING THE REGENCY. 
 18111820. 
 
 THE trial of the Hunts in 1812 for libelling the prince 
 regent was only a notable instance of the severity with 
 which the law was used, all through the early years of 
 the nineteenth century, in vain efforts on the part of 
 the rulers of the nation to prevent newspaper criticism 
 of their conduct. The tyrannical policy that Pitt 
 and his subordinates had enforced with new vehe- 
 mence by help of the Libel Act of 1792, the Newspaper 
 Act of 1798, and other measures, was ruthlessly carried 
 on by Perceval, by Lord Liverpool, and by Canning. 
 In the three years from 1808 to 1811, no fewer than 
 forty-two prosecutions for libel were commenced, 
 although only twenty- six of them were brought to 
 trial, and several, like the first two actions against the 
 Hunts, resulted in acquittals. This unparalleled severity 
 was admitted and even boasted of by the government 
 when complaints were made about it by Lord Holland 
 in the House of Peers and by Lord Folkestone in the 
 House of Commons in March 1811, immediately after 
 the regency had been established. ' It appears,' said 
 Lord Folkestone, and his allegation was not denied, 
 ' that the rule which guides these prosecutions is this, 
 that " The Courier" and other papers which support the 
 ministry of the day may say whatever they please with-
 
 1811-1820. INCREASE OF TYRANNY 353 
 
 out fear of prosecution, whereas " The Examiner," 
 " The Independent Whig," " The Statesman," and 
 papers that take the contrary line, are sure to be pro- 
 secuted for any expression that may be offensive to the 
 minister.' 1 
 
 This policy, pursued towards dealers in what were 
 called seditious tracts, and those who took part in what 
 were called seditious meetings, as well as towards news- 
 papers charged with sedition, had the only effect that could 
 reasonably have been anticipated. Instead of checking, 
 it encouraged, defiance of the government and angry 
 resistance to the lawlessness of servile legislators and 
 faithless custodians of law. A few agitators succumbed, 
 as did Cobbett, who, after the suspension of the Habeas 
 Corpus Act in 1817, went to America for a couple of 
 years. ' I do not retire/ he said, ' from a combat with 
 the attorney-general, but from a combat with a dungeon, 
 deprived of pen, ink, and paper. A combat with the 
 attorney- general is quite unequal enough ; that, how- 
 ever, I would have encountered. I know too well what 
 a trial by special jury is ; yet that, or any sort of trial, 
 I would have stayed to face. But against the absolute 
 power of imprisonment, without even a hearing, for 
 time unlimited, in any gaol in the kingdom, without the 
 use of pen, ink, and paper, and without communication 
 with any soul but the keepers against such a power it 
 would have been worse than madness to attempt to 
 strive.' 2 Others, like the Hunts, thought it anything 
 but madness bravely to persevere in the strife ; and 
 some few, like William Hone, won present as well as 
 prospective victories. Although when Hone was 
 charged in 1817 with parodying the church liturgy, 
 Lord Ellenborough declared that, ' under the authority 
 
 1 Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, vol. xix. cols. 140, 568. 
 
 2 Cobbett's Political Register, March 28, 1817. 
 
 VOL. I. A A
 
 354 DURING THE REGENCY CH. xn. 
 
 of the Libel Act, and still more in obedience to Ms 
 conscience and his God, he pronounced this to be a 
 most impious and profane libel,' the jury acquitted him. 1 
 It was an inevitable sequel, long deferred but sure, to 
 such a struggle that reforms were secured so soon as 
 sensible counsels prevailed and as public opinion appre- 
 hended Lord Grey's warning in 1819, before the famous 
 Six Acts were passed, that ' the natural consequence of 
 such a system, when once begun, was that it could not 
 be stopped ; discontents begot the necessity of force ; 
 the employment of force increased discontents ; these 
 would demand the exercise of new powers, till by 
 degrees they would depart from all the principles of 
 the constitution.' 2 
 
 In the meanwhile, though the Radical newspapers 
 were harried, and in some respects weakened for a time, 
 in their acquisition of strength to be rightly used hereafter, 
 journalism gained much from the more discreet enter- 
 prise of those adepts in the craft who, having less to 
 fear from ministerial tyranny, had ample resources and 
 abundant zeal for its advancement. Among the eight 
 daily morning papers published in London in 1811, 
 ' The Times,' though not yet the most profitable, was 
 the most energetic, and it had a worthy rival in ' The 
 Morning Chronicle' as the organ of the Whigs, while 
 ' The Morning Post ' and ' The Morning Herald ' satis- 
 fied Tory readers the one giving special prominence 
 to ministerial politics, and the other to aristocratic 
 gossip ; and of the other four, ' The Public Ledger ' 
 catered for the commercial class, ' The Morning Adver- 
 tiser ' for the licensed victuallers, ' The British Press ' 
 for the booksellers, and ' The Day ' for the auctioneers. 
 There were also eight evening papers ; but ' The Courier' 
 
 1 Hone's Trials. 
 
 - Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, vol. xli. col. 50.
 
 1811. THE PROGRESS OF 'THE TIMES' 355 
 
 alone, now a recognised ministerial organ, only too cle- 
 verly conducted from a business point of view, was of 
 much importance. The others were ' The Statesman/ 
 which was a bolder exponent of Whig opinions than 
 ' The Chronicle' ; ' The Sun,' which was violently Tory ; 
 ' The Pilot/ a short-lived, but while it lasted a vigorous 
 journal, which, started in 1807, made a speciality of East 
 Indian affairs ; ' The Traveller/ which in Edward Quin's 
 hands was much more than the representative of the 
 commercial travellers ; ' The Globe/ which was prac- 
 tically an afternoon edition of ' The British Press ' ; and 
 1 The Star ' and ' The Alfred/ the latter lasting but a 
 few years, and neither of them of any political account. 
 Memorable illustration of the way in which, apart 
 from editorial or literary skill and even tact in collecting 
 advertisements and humouring various sorts of readers, 
 newspaper success can be obtained, was furnished by 
 the mechanical achievements of the second John Walter 
 on ' The Times.' His father's logographic process 
 having been abandoned, he promptly began to seek out 
 some better substitute for the slow and laborious 
 mode of printing then in vogue and, instead of con- 
 cerning himself about the improvement of types, paid 
 special attention to the improvement of printing presses. 
 As far back as 1804 Thomas Martyn, a workman in 
 the ' Times ' office, invented a self-acting press, the 
 plan of which was so promising that Walter provided 
 him with funds for carrying on his experiments. These, 
 however, were costly, and perilous as well, seeing that 
 the other printers threw every conceivable obstacle in 
 the way, destroyed the machinery that was brought into 
 the establishment or there constructed, and threatened 
 the life of their comrade, whom they regarded as a 
 traitor in their midst. Martyn appears to have been 
 either not clever or not persevering enough to perfect 
 
 A A 2
 
 356 DURING THE REGENCY CH. xir. 
 
 his invention, and after some years of experimenting 
 Walter, who was still only a junior partner in the busi- 
 ness during his father's lifetime, abandoned the project. 
 He became his own master in 1812, however, and then 
 promptly opened negotiations with Frederick Koenig, 
 whose steam printing-press, first patented in 1810, had 
 been further developed in 1811 and again in 1813. In 
 1814 Koenig and his friend Bauer were provided with 
 premises adjoining the 'Times' office, and set up their 
 machinery with all possible privacy, though amid so 
 much opposition from the workmen, that at one time 
 they ran away, and were in hiding for three days. At 
 length all difficulties were overcome. ' The night on. 
 which this curious machine was first brought into use 
 in its new abode,' we are told, ' was one of great anxiety 
 and even alarm. The suspicious pressmen had threatened 
 destruction to anyone whose invention, might suspend 
 their employment " destruction to him and his traps." 
 They were directed to wait for expected news from the 
 continent. It was about six o'clock in the morning 
 when Mr. Walter went into the press-room and 
 astonished its occupants by telling them that " The 
 Times " was already printed by steam ; that if they 
 attempted violence there was a force ready to suppress 
 it ; but that if they were peaceable, their wages should 
 be continued to every one of them till similar employ- 
 ment could be procured a promise which was no doubt 
 faithfully performed ; and, having said so, he distributed 
 several copies among them.' l 
 
 ' The Times ' of November 29, 1814, contained this 
 excusably pompous announcement : t Our journal of 
 this day presents to the public the practical result of 
 
 1 Times, July 29, 1847. The story of Koenig's invention, and of 
 Walter's share in it, is' told by Dr. Smiles in his Men of Invention and 
 Industry.
 
 1811-1814. THE FIRST STEAM PRINTING -PRESS 357 
 
 the greatest improvement connected with printing since 
 the discovery of the art itself. The reader of this para- 
 graph now holds in his hand one of the many thousand 
 impressions of " The Times " newspaper which were 
 taken off last night by a mechanical apparatus. A 
 system of machinery, almost organic, has been devised 
 and arranged, which, while it relieves the human frame 
 of its most laborious efforts in printing, far exceeds all 
 human powers in rapidity and despatch. That the 
 magnitude of the invention may be justly appreciated 
 by its effects, we shall inform the public that, after the 
 letters are placed by the compositors and enclosed in 
 what is called the form, little more remains for man to 
 do than to attend upon and watch this unconscious 
 agent in its operations. The machine is then merely 
 supplied with paper. Itself places the form, inks it, 
 adjusts the paper to the form newly inked, stamps the 
 sheet, and gives it forth to the hands of the attendant, 
 at the same time withdrawing the form for a fresh coat 
 of ink, which itself again distributes, to meet the ensu- 
 ing sheet, now advancing for impression ; and the 
 whole of these complicated acts is performed with such a 
 velocity and simultaneousness of movement, that no 
 less than eleven hundred sheets are impressed in one 
 hour.' 
 
 Walter lived to see his Koenig press so improved 
 by degrees, and partly through his own ingenuity, that 
 he was able to print off not merely eleven hundred but 
 nearly eight thousand copies in an hour ; and other 
 wonderful improvements, to be noted hereafter, fol- 
 lowed in due course. The revolution that he effected, 
 however, was immediate. He was able to get through 
 the actual work of printing in less than a third of the 
 time formerly required, and the whole edition of between 
 three and four thousand copies of ' The Times ' then
 
 358 DURING THE REGENCY OH. XTI. 
 
 issued could be produced in about three hours. This 
 enabled him to go to press much later and to publish 
 much earlier than any of his rivals with a paying circu- 
 lation, and, the process securing other economies as 
 well, he at once obtained an immense advantage over 
 all of them who could not afford or were not venture- 
 some enough to follow his example. Before six years 
 were out he had more than doubled the circulation of 
 ' The Times,' and raised it to the pre-eminence among 
 successful newspapers which it enjoyed for half a 
 century. 
 
 While thus employed in increasing the commercial 
 value of his property, he was too busy to do much 
 editing, though for some time he reserved to himself 
 more than a general control over its policy. He was 
 his own editor in the years during which, as we have 
 seen, Peter Fraser was the chief writer of what Henry 
 Crabb Robinson called ' the flash articles which made a 
 noise,' with Edward Sterling for his second ; and after 
 that, when Sterling was promoted to the first rank. It 
 was Sterling who, by his forcible style of writing, only 
 too cautious to the extent of always keeping on the 
 popular side, or rather the side taken by the more com- 
 fortable and prosperous portion of the community, se- 
 cured for ' The Times ' its nickname of ' The Thunderer/ 
 and he doubtless fully earned the salary of 2,000. a 
 year, unexampled for leader- writing in those days, which 
 Walter cheerfully paid him. He had the reputation of 
 being able to write best on the subjects of which he 
 knew least. ' When he was to write,' it was said, ' it 
 was necessary to cram him with the facts and points ; 
 but when he had once got them, he clothed his case so 
 admirably in its garment of words that all the world 
 except those he hit at were charmed.' l 
 
 1 Knight Hunt, vol. ii. p. 176.
 
 1811-1818. 'THE TIMES' AND 'THE NEW TIMES' 359 
 
 The first editor of ' The Times ' under Walter 
 was Dr. afterwards Sir John Stoddart, who had a 
 legal appointment in Malta between 1803 and 1807. 
 He was a friend of Coleridge's, and like him at one 
 time an ardent supporter of the French Revolution ; 
 but before 1810, when his connection with ' The Times ' 
 began, his opinions had changed and, adopting Burke's 
 views, he exaggerated them. Walter made no objec- 
 tion to his violent writing so long as the French war 
 lasted, and matters went smoothly from 1812, when 
 Stoddart's editorship began, till 1815, except that he 
 was fond of supplying more of his own articles than his 
 employer cared for, instead of being content to seek out 
 and revise good work from other contributors. Quar- 
 relling commenced, however, after the battle of Water- 
 loo, and early in 1817 Walter dispensed with his 
 editor's services, tendering him a liberal pension. 1 
 Stoddart declined this, and made an arrangement with 
 the proprietors of ' The Day,' in accordance with which, 
 in February 1817, the title of that paper was altered to 
 ' The Day and New Times,' and as formidable opposi- 
 tion as could be contrived was offered by it to ' The 
 Times.' The title was again altered to ' The New 
 Times ' in January 1818, and much money was spent 
 during more than a dozen years on the venture, but 
 without success. Stoddart was too honest to be a 
 good Tory, and too crotchety to be anything else. He 
 made himself or his paper ridiculous by proposing ' to 
 unite to an unshaken loyalty a pure and an honourable 
 independence,' and professing ' an attachment as true 
 and unconstrained as it was ardent and sincere to our 
 great and glorious constitution.' He wearied his readers 
 by talking of the constitution as ' a thing of permanence, 
 
 1 Sir Richard Phillips, Public Characters (1823), vol. iii. p. 456 ; 
 Biographical Dictionary of Living Authors (1810), p. 334.
 
 360 DUKING THE EEGENCY CH. xn. 
 
 susceptible indeed of continual growth in majesty and 
 vigour, but not a subject of perpetual experiment and 
 change.' He claimed to be a thoroughgoing anti- 
 Jacobin, an anti-Cobbett, and the enemy of everything 
 anti- ministerial ; approving, for instance, of the recent 
 suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act on the ground 
 that ' the constitution among its many incomparable 
 excellences has furnished, not ministers, nor the crown, 
 nor any party in the state, but the state itself through 
 its great organ the legislature, with the means of rescu- 
 ing liberty together with morals .and religion from the 
 fangs of an insidious and sanguinary democracy ' ; l yet 
 he affected an impartiality and a dignity that offended 
 the Tories as much as the Whigs. ' The Xew Times ' 
 therefore courted failure, and all the ponderous writing 
 in it was wasted. 
 
 Stoddart's successor on ' The Times ' was Thomas 
 Barnes, whose connection with the paper had 
 begun in 1807 or earlier, when he was an occasional 
 contributor, his old schoolfellow and lifelong friend 
 Leigh Hunt now and then assisting him. 2 He soon 
 became a parliamentary reporter on the regular staff of 
 ' The Times,' but used his leisure in writing much for 
 other papers, in spite of the obstacles raised by his 
 then somewhat unsteady habits. To ' The Champion,' 
 a weekly paper, he supplied a series of smart literary 
 criticisms, signed Strada, in 1812. ' The series,' says 
 Cyrus Redding, who was at that time editing ' The 
 Champion,' ' embraced most of the eminent bards, 
 living and dead, from Campbell and Rogers, back to 
 Milton, Shakespeare, and Spenser ; but of the novelists 
 the list was scanty, beginning and ending, if I mistake 
 not, with Mrs. Opie and Miss Edgeworth. These papers 
 
 1 New Times, January 1, 1818. 
 
 8 Correspondence of Leigh Hunt, vol. i. p. 28.
 
 1807-1817. BARNES IN HIS EARLY DAYS 361 
 
 displayed great acumen as well as a delicate taste, and, 
 though the writer, entertaining a very decided opinion 
 as to the merits of the different authors, expressed 
 them with a corresponding frankness, his unfavourable 
 verdicts were free from the rude dogmatism and scurri- 
 lity that disgraced his angry ebullitions when he became 
 " the Thunderer." As these papers excited a great 
 deal of attention and were deemed highly advantageous 
 to the paper, it became a matter of importance to secure 
 their regular appearance an object not easily attained 
 with a writer whose habits were rarely temperate and 
 never methodical. After several complaints of his irre- 
 gularity, he himself suggested a scheme by which he 
 might be guaranteed against future disappointment ; 
 and it proved successful. Writing materials were placed 
 upon a table by his bedside, together with some volumes 
 of the author he was to review, for the purposes of 
 quotation, for he was already fully imbued with the 
 characteristics and conversant with the works of all our 
 great writers. At his customary hour he retired to 
 rest, sober or not, as the case might be, leaving orders 
 to be called at four o'clock in the morning, when he 
 arose with a bright, clear, and vigorous intellect, and, 
 immediately applying himself to his task, achieved it 
 with a completeness and rapidity that few could equal, 
 and which none, perhaps, could have surpassed. Be it 
 recorded, to his infinite praise, that in later life he must 
 have totally conquered all the bad habits to which I 
 have alluded.' l Another series of articles, racy sketches 
 of conspicuous members of parliament, was supplied by 
 Barnes in 1815 to ' The Examiner,' to which he was 
 a frequent contributor under Leigh Hunt. His editor- 
 ship of ' The Tunes ' began in 1817, but can be most 
 conveniently dealt with in a later chapter. 
 
 1 New Monthly Magazine.
 
 362 DURING THE REGENCY CH. xn. 
 
 One of Barnes's colleagues, and afterwards his sub- 
 ordinate on the staff of ' The Times,' was John Payne 
 Collier, the great Shakespeare student and antiquary, 
 whose father, John Dyer Collier, had also been a par- 
 liamentary reporter for it from 1806 or 1807. It was 
 he who introduced Henry Crabb Robinson to Walter in 
 1807. Young Collier, who took his father's place about 
 1809, held it for at least ten years, and his reporting 
 got him into a scrape in 1819. On June 14 in that 
 year Canning complained in the House of Commons 
 that in ' The Times ' Joseph Hume had been reported 
 as having made insulting remarks about him, which 
 Hume, when taxed with them, repudiated. Collier, 
 whose name had been given up, was accordingly called 
 before the bar of the house on the loth. He apolo- 
 gised, but was placed-under the custody of the sergeant- 
 at-arms for a night, the house refusing the govern- 
 ment's request that he should be committed to Newgate 
 for an indefinite period. Xext day he was discharged 
 with a reprimand, and on payment of the fees. 1 These 
 fees amounted to between 14/. and 161. ; but Walter, in 
 consideration of the annoyance he had been subjected 
 to, handed him a note for 50^., bidding him keep the 
 balance. 2 On this occasion, Sir James Mackintosh, 
 always loyal to the journalistic craft to which he be- 
 longed, said ' he felt himself bound to express his 
 opinion in favour of the generally improved character 
 of the public press ; for whatever political bias par- 
 ticular newspapers might have and might exercise re- 
 specting the several parties to which they were attached, 
 he never recollected a period in which their columns ex- 
 hibited more general decorum, more general ability, 
 more exemplary abstinence from the attacks upon 
 
 1 Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, vol. xi. cols. 1138-1158, 1103- 
 1177. '"' Henry Cntbb Robinson's Diary, vol. i. p. 330.
 
 1810-1820. PEOGEESS OF ' THE MOENING CHEONICLE ' 363 
 
 private life, and from those disgraceful invasions of 
 the privacy of domestic character which were once so 
 much indulged in.' 
 
 These remarks were not applicable to all the papers, 
 but they were true of ' The Times,' and also of ' The 
 Morning Chronicle.' Under James Perry's manage- 
 ment, ' The Chronicle,' though outstripped by ' The 
 Times,' had now been flourishing for more than a third 
 of a century. When Perry died in 1821 the property 
 which he had bought in 1780 for 1,500/. was sold for 
 42,000/., and his profits during the last year amounted 
 to 12,000?. 
 
 Keeping the general editorship in his own hands 
 till 1817, but leaving much to able assistants, Perry 
 assigned it in that year to Thomas Black, who, born 
 in 1783, had begun his connection with the paper as a 
 reporter in 1810. Black entered on his duties at an 
 unfavourable time. An abler and a more honest man 
 than Barnes, with whom, starting at the same date, he 
 ran a race for eighteen years, he was for some time 
 heavily handicapped by the superior resources of ' The 
 Times,' and also by the growing disfavour with which 
 the governing classes regarded the ' plain Whig prin- 
 ciples ' to which ' The Chronicle ' steadily adhered, and 
 which, denounced as revolutionary by the Tories, were 
 considered hardly better than Toryism by the rising 
 body of Radicals. ' The Chronicle ' was seriously 
 damaged in 1819 by its excessive denunciation of the 
 victims of the Peterloo massacre, and in 1820 by its 
 support of the newly-made king in his persecution of 
 Queen Caroline. 
 
 There was no lack of skilful writing in ' The 
 Chronicle.' Mackintosh, Brougham, and nearly all the 
 leading Whig politicians who could write were occa- 
 sional if not frequent contributors ; David Ricardo
 
 364 DURING THE REGENCY CH. xu. 
 
 and other economists addressed letters to it ; l and be- 
 sides Thomas Campbell, as we have seen, Thomas 
 Moore and many others wrote prose as well as verse for 
 it. Moore's ' Epistle from Tom Cribb ' appeared in 
 September 1815, and a few days afterwards this an- 
 nouncement had to be made : ' We have had so many 
 and such incessant applications for the paper which 
 contains the exquisite jeu d'csprit, that we shall reprint 
 it to-morrow.' 2 
 
 But the most cultured and plentiful contributor to 
 ' The Chronicle ' at this time was William Hazlitt, who 
 had now given up painting as a profession, and dis- 
 covered that the pen was the instrument he was fittest to 
 handle. Writing often for ' The Examiner,' and espe- 
 cially between January 1815 and January 1817, when 
 he and Leigh Hunt produced in it the weekly essays 
 entitled ' The Round Table,' he began to write political 
 articles for ' The Chronicle ' in 1813, and continued 
 them until he found more cong-enial occupation as a 
 theatrical critic and writer on art. The papers after- 
 wards collected in ' A View of the English Stage ' were 
 selections from the admirable articles that he furnished 
 to 'The Chronicle' between 1814 and 1817. 'His 
 dramatic criticisms,' Talfourd aptly said, ' are more 
 pregnant with fine thoughts than any others which 
 ever were written ; yet they are often more successful 
 in making us forget their immediate subjects than in 
 doing them justice. He could not, like Leigh Hunt, 
 who gave theatrical criticism a place in modern litera- 
 ture, apply his powers to a detail of a performance, and 
 
 1 The first of a series of letters, afterwards reprinted as The High 
 Price of Bullion a I'roofof the Depreciation of Bank Notes, by Ricardo, 
 appeared in The Chronicle of September G, 1809. 
 
 Lord Russell, Memoirs, Journal, and Correspondence of Tlwinas 
 Moore, vol. ii. p. 81. Several of Moore's newspaper skits in verse are 
 printed in the collection of his works.
 
 1814-1817. HAZLITT AND ' THE MORNING CHRONICLE ' 365 
 
 make it interesting by the delicacy of his touch, en- 
 crystal the cobweb intricacies of a plot with the spark- 
 ling dew of his own fancy, bid the light plume wave in 
 the fluttering grace of his style, or " catch ere she fell 
 the Cynthia of the minute," and fix the airy charm in 
 lasting words. In criticism thus just and picturesque 
 Hunt has never been approached ; but Hazlitt required 
 a more powerful impulse. He never wrote willingly, 
 except on what was great in itself or, forming a portion 
 of his own past being, was great to aim ; and when both 
 these felicities combined in the subject, he was best of 
 all.' 1 
 
 About the relations between Hazlitt and Perry 
 some amusing information is given by Mary Russell 
 Mitford. ' I was at Tavistock House,' Perry's resi- 
 dence, she wrote in December 1818, referring to the 
 date of Hazlitt' s articles on Kean, ' and very well re- 
 member the doleful visage with which Mr. Perry used 
 to contemplate the long column of criticism, and how 
 he used to execrate " the damned fellow's damned stuff " 
 for filling up so much of the paper in the very height 
 of the advertisement season. I shall never forget his 
 long face. It was the only time of the day that I ever 
 saw it long or sour. He had not the slightest suspicion 
 that he had a man of genius in his pay, not the most 
 remote perception of the merit of the writing, nor the 
 slightest companionship with the author. He hired him 
 as you hire your footman, and turned him off (with as 
 little or less ceremony than you would use in discharg- 
 ing the aforesaid worthy personage) for a very masterly 
 critique on Sir Thomas Lawrence, whom Mr. Perry, as 
 one whom he visited and was being painted by, chose 
 to have praised. Hazlitt' s revenge was exceedingly 
 
 1 Talfourd, Thoughts upon the Intellectual Character of the late William 
 Hazlitt.
 
 366 DURING THE REGENCY CH xir. 
 
 characteristic. Last winter, when his " Characters of 
 Shakespeare" and his lectures had brought him into 
 fashion, Mr. Perry remembered him as an old acquaint- 
 ance, and asked him to dinner, and a large party to 
 meet him, to hear him talk, and to show him off as the 
 lion of the day. The lion came, smiled and bowed, 
 handed Miss Bentley to the dining-room, asked Miss 
 Perry to take wine, said once " Yes " and twice " No," 
 and never uttered another word the whole evening. 
 The most provoking part of this scene was that he was 
 gracious and polite past all expression, a perfect pattern 
 of mute elegance, a silent Lord Chesterfield ; and his 
 unlucky host had the misfortune to be very thoroughly 
 enraged without anything to complain of.' l 
 
 A pleasanter story is told about Perry in the last 
 year of his life. Two of his old contributors, Campbell 
 the poet and Cyrus Redding, started ' The New 
 Monthly Magazine,' in opposition to Sir Richard 
 Phillips's ' Monthly Magazine,' and asked Perry to 
 assist them. ' He flatly refused/ says Redding, ' be- 
 
 1 Life of Mary Russell Mitford, edited by A. G. L'Estrange, vol. i. p. 
 47. It is only fair, however, to quote a kindlier reminiscence as regards 
 Perry, which was dated twenty-live years later. ' Very many years ago,' 
 Miss Mitford wrote in 1853, concerning Thomas Moore (vol. iii. p. 254), 
 ' I used to see him in a house which gathered together all that was best 
 of the great Whig party Mr. Perry's, the editor and proprietor of The 
 Morning Chronicle a man so genial and so accomplished that even when 
 Erskine and Romilly and Tierney and Moore were present, he was the 
 most charming talker at his own table. I saw Mr. Moore many years 
 afterwards,' she added, less kindly, 'at Mr. Walter's of The Times. Such 
 a contrast ! I am speaking of old Mr. Walter, the shyest and awkwardest 
 of men, who could not bear to hear the slightest allusion to the journal 
 from which he derived both his fortune and his fame. The poet had 
 arrived with Mr. Barnes, the editor, and put his host and his introducer 
 into an agony by talking all through dinner as frankly of The Times as he 
 used to do at Mr. Perry's of The Chronicle. It was a most am using scene, 
 and I think when I enlightened him upon the subject he was very glad of 
 the mistake he had made. " They deserve it," said he to me, " for being 
 ashamed of what, rightly conducted, would be an honour." '
 
 1811-1820. SOME OTHER NEWSPAPERS 367 
 
 cause " The New Monthly" was the title of another 
 magazine, named " new " for party purposes. " Attack 
 principles if you will it is all well ; but to take a 
 name with the view of attacking it under such objects 
 it is impossible for me to approve of such an act. 
 There is a ' New Times ' started against ' The Times.' 
 How should I like a ' New Morning Chronicle ' to be 
 brought out against me by an advantage of the law ? " 
 
 Perry had his faults. He was a much better editor, 
 however, more intelligent and more courteous, than more 
 than one of his contemporaries. Alexander Chalmers, 
 who had charge of ' The Morning Herald ' for several 
 years after Bate Dudley's retirement, was an educated 
 man ; but he appears to have thought more of his 
 antiquarian researches than of the newspaper, which 
 certainly was not one that a conscientious editor could 
 mend. Both ' The Morning Herald ' and ' The Morn- 
 ing Post ' were mere panderers to the political folly and 
 the social vice of the Tories during the corrupt years 
 before and after George IV. was king, and with few ex- 
 ceptions the editors and writers employed upon them 
 were hacks in whose excuse much might be said, as 
 they had perhaps no other means of earning a living, if 
 their exploits were worth chronicling at all. Nor do 
 the other daily papers deserve much mention. ' The 
 Courier,' the ministerial evening journal, deteriorating 
 every year, but for a long time maintaining its circula- 
 tion, at length lost ground so completely that, described 
 as ' a paper of shifts and expedients, of bare assertions 
 and thoughtless impudence,' it was said to ' subsist for 
 twenty readers, clergy and gentry, who do not like to 
 be disturbed with a reason for anything.' 2 ' The Sun,' 
 with the same politics, but more disreputable, was its 
 
 1 Cyrus Redding, Fifty Years' Recollections, vol. ii. p. 1G5. 
 
 2 Edinburgh Preview, July 1823, p. 367.
 
 368 DURING THE REGENCY CH. xn. 
 
 chief rival for some time. 1 A much more honest and 
 far more ably conducted paper was ; The Statesman/ 
 projected in 1806 by John Hunt who, however, seems 
 to have had no hand in its management and edited 
 during several years by Daniel Lovell, but much ham- 
 pered by the libel prosecutions that its outspoken criti- 
 cism of the Tories brought upon it. In 1817 it was 
 heavily fined for speaking of ' the prostituted " Courier,'' 
 the venerable apostate of tyranny and oppression, whose 
 full-blown baseness and infamy held him fast to his present 
 connections and prevented him from forming new ones.' 2 
 In this year, 1817, an interesting innovation was 
 made in journalism by the commencement of ' The 
 Literary Gazette,' which was edited during several 
 years by William Jerdan, who had previously been 
 employed on The Sun,' ' The Pilot,' and some other 
 and less respectable papers. This was not the first 
 publication of its class, Dunton and others having 
 anticipated it in rude ways by more than a century, 
 and there was nearly as much literary criticism, and of 
 better quality, in ' The Examiner ' and some of the 
 other papers ; but it was a commendable experiment in 
 what was almost a new line. It undertook to furnish, 
 in weekly numbers of sixteen pages, for a shilling, ' a 
 clear and instructive picture of the moral and literary 
 improvement of the times and a complete and authentic 
 chronological literary record for reference.' Among its 
 contributors were George Crabbe, Barry Cornwall, 
 Mary Russell Mitford, and Dr. Croly. 3 
 
 1 Readers curious about the seamy side of journalism two generations 
 ago, are referred to the autobiographies of William Jerdan and John 
 Taylor, both of whom claimed to be editing The Sun at the same time, 
 and carried on their feud in public. Jerdan was by far the worthier man 
 of the two. '- Andrews, vol. ii. p. 01. 
 
 3 Autobiography of William Jerdan, vol. i. pp. 175, 177, 191, 192, 236. 
 A rival, The Literary Chronicle, appeared in March 1818.
 
 1819. LEIGH HUNT'S 'INDICATOR' 369 
 
 Vastly superior to anything that Jerdan could 
 produce in his weekly paper, in the way of refined 
 criticism and literary guidance, were the contents of 
 ' The Indicator,' which Leigh Hunt started on October 
 13, 1819. It was only continued through sixty-six 
 weeks, and was even less of a newspaper than was 
 ' The Spectator ' of Steele and Addison, on which it 
 was modelled with variations ; but it was in admirable 
 contrast to nearly all the reading provided by the 
 weekly papers in days when ministers and their under- 
 lings did their utmost to lower the character and crush 
 the independence of journalism, and it was full of 
 matter that is of lasting worth. Hunt's ' indicator ' 
 was the cuculus indicator of Linna3us, the African 
 honey-bird which 'indicates to honey-hunters where 
 the nests of wild-bees are to be found,' which ' calls 
 them with a cheerful cry, which they answer, and, 
 on finding itself recognised, flies and hovers over 
 a hollow tree containing the honey.' ] That function 
 Hunt undertook to perform for any readers who cared 
 to follow him, believing with Spenser that ' a dram of 
 sweet is worth a pound of sour.' With genial criti- 
 cism and kindly satire, graceful reminiscences of old 
 episodes of history and far-off fables, instructive com- 
 ments on old writers like Chaucer and Shakespeare, 
 and on new books like Shelley's ' Cenci ' and Keats's 
 ' Lamia,' and amiable gossip on present-day themes, 
 he filled his pages. His own half- sorrowful notes will 
 show us something of their quality. ' Let me console 
 myself a little,' he says, ' by remembering how much 
 Hazlitt and Lamb and others were pleased with " The 
 Indicator." Hazlitt's paper was the one on " Sleep ; " 
 perhaps because there is a picture in it of a sleeping 
 despot, though he repeated, with more enthusiasm than 
 
 1 Iiidicator, October 13, 1819. 
 VOL. I. B B
 
 370 DURING THE REGENCY en. xn. 
 
 he was accustomed to do, the conclusion about the parent 
 and the bride. Lamb preferred the paper on " Coaches 
 and their Horses," that on " Deaths of Little Children," 
 and, I think, the one entitled " Thoughts and Guesses 
 of Human Nature." Shelley took to the story of " The 
 Fair Revenge," and the paper that was most liked 
 by Keats, if I remember, was one on a hot summer's 
 day, entitled " A Now." He was with me while I 
 was writing it, and contributed one or two of the 
 passages.' * Keats made other contributions to ' The 
 Indicator ' ; and so, probably, did other friends of 
 Leigh Hunt's, though their help was chiefly required 
 for ' The Examiner.' 
 
 Hazlitt gave him most help on ' The Examiner/ 
 but the rest assisted, Shelley sending his ' Hymn to 
 Intellectual Beauty,' for instance, in the summer of 
 1816, and also ' The Masque of Anarchy.' 'I did not 
 insert it,' Hunt wrote of this latter, ' because I thought 
 that the public at large had not become sufficiently dis- 
 cerning to do justice to the sincerity and kind-hearted- 
 ness that walked in this flaming robe of verse ' : 
 
 Even Leigh Hunt had to pay some heed to popular 
 prejudices when such a man as Hazlitt with whom 
 Hunt had a passing quarrel on the subject sneered 
 at Shelley as ' a philosophic fanatic ' ; 3 for ' The Ex- 
 aminer ' was now in very low water, the circulation 
 having fallen off, and its proprietors being sorely 
 crippled in funds through the heavy expenses brought 
 upon them by repeated prosecutions. They found it 
 no easy matter to stand out against the public opinion 
 the opinion, that is, of those who could afford to 
 pay the high price the heavy stamp duty rendered it 
 
 1 Autobiography of Leigh Hunt, p. 249. 
 
 2 Dowden, Life of Shelley, vol. ii. p. 280. 
 
 3 W. C. Hazlitt, Memoir of William Hazlitt, vol. i. p. 305.
 
 1816-1820. 'THE EXAMINER' IN DIFFICULTIES 371 
 
 necessary to charge for ' The Examiner ' which was 
 aroused by such trials as those of Richard and Jane 
 Carlile in 1819 and 1820. ' It is our honesty that has 
 injured our paper,' Leigh Hunt wrote to Shelley in 
 July 1821, ' particularly upon the occasion of Carlile's 
 trial and public occurrences of a similar nature. Ours 
 is almost the only journal that is not dotard or hypo- 
 crite on such matters.' l John Hunt was then under- 
 going his second term of two years' imprisonment ; 
 and, as Leigh was constrained to admit, ' politics dif- 
 ferent from ours were triumphing all over Europe.' 2 
 ' The Examiner,' fortunately, was not abandoned. 
 John Hunt managed it from gaol, and Leigh, broken 
 down in health, but encouraged to hope that by joining 
 Shelley, Byron, and other friends in Italy he could best 
 serve the interests he had most at heart, left his nephew, 
 Henry Leigh Hunt, to edit the paper while he went 
 abroad for, as it happened, nearly four years. ' It was 
 agreed by my brother John,' he said, ' that while a 
 struggle was made in England to reanimate " The 
 Examiner," a simultaneous endeavour should be made 
 in Italy to secure new aid to our prospects and new 
 friends to the cause of liberty.' 3 
 
 While English journalism in its best phase was in 
 this gloomy state, the general aspect, as it appeared to 
 foreigners, was tolerably bright. ' These journalists,' 
 wrote one visitor to London in 1820, ' are no famished 
 authors, who pawn their civil honour for a piece of 
 gold. Most of them are possessed of considerable pro- 
 perty, no less than 18,000^. being required to bring a 
 newspaper into circulation ; and their revenues, therefore, 
 often exceed those of a minister of state. The yearly 
 income of the proprietor of " The Morning Herald " 
 
 1 Correspondence of Leigh Hunt, vol. i. p. 164. 
 Autobiography, p. 282. 3 Ibid. 
 
 B B 2
 
 372 DURING THE REGENCY CH. xii. 
 
 exceeds, as I am well assured, the sum of 8,000/., and 
 the clear profits of " The Star," I have been informed 
 by one of its co-owners, amount to about three-fourths 
 of that sum. The property of a paper, however, is 
 sometimes vested in fifty diiferent persons, who have 
 advanced the capital requisite for this undertaking, 
 divide the annual profits among themselves, and from 
 their joint stock deduct a certain stipend to the writer 
 of the paper, who is generally a respectable author. 
 But it may easily be conceived that they proceed with 
 great caution in appointing anyone to this office, and 
 that they keep a strict and jealous eye over all his 
 motions. Such a writer is under the immediate in- 
 spection of the public, of the proprietors, of the opposite 
 party, and of his brother editors, who eagerly detect 
 his failings and are his professional rivals. They live, 
 indeed, in a perpetual warfare with each other : all the 
 artifices usual with authors are devised and put in 
 practice amongst them ; and their mutual jealousies 
 sometimes give birth to scenes of an extraordinary 
 nature.' 1 
 
 The yearly returns of stamps issued by the ex- 
 chequer authorities show that, while the total number 
 of newspapers sold in 1760, when George III. ascended 
 the throne, was only 9,464,790, it had risen to 
 24,424,713 in 1811, when he practically ceased to 
 reign, and to 29,387,843 in 1820, the aggregate cir- 
 culation having more than trebled in sixty years. 
 
 1 C. A. Gottlieb Goede, A Foreigner's Opinion of England (1821).
 
 373 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 AFTER TWO CENTURIES. 
 1820. 
 
 THE year 1820 marks no crisis in newspaper history, 
 the same policy being pursued by George IV. and his 
 ministers during the ten years of his kingship as during 
 the nine years in which he was regent, and the same 
 difficulties, dangers, and degradations having after as 
 well as before it to be met, evaded, or overcome. But 
 this is a convenient halting-place for a brief review of the 
 progress made by journalism throughout the period of 
 nearly two hundred years that had now elapsed since 
 the date that may be assigned for its commencement, 
 and before we look at the events of the two following 
 generations. 
 
 When Nathaniel Butter issued his ' Courant, or 
 Weekly News ' in 1621, he only made what appears to 
 have been the first English attempt to give in serial 
 form and at regular intervals such meagre reports of 
 foreign affairs as had previously been given in occasional 
 pamphlets ; nor was that crude anticipation of a modern 
 newspaper very successful. The eight small pages of 
 ' The Courant ' would fill barely more than eight pages 
 of this volume, and its inadequate summary of news 
 only purported to be ' taken out of the High Dutch.' 
 Such as it was, however, it was, so far as we know, an 
 advance from anything of the sort that preceded it, and
 
 374 AFTER TWO CENTURIES CH. xm. 
 
 it was not much improved upon during the next twenty 
 years. Original newspaper work could not be attempted 
 till after the Star Chamber had been overthrown, and the 
 Long Parliament had recognised, within narrow limits, 
 the right of free speech and free writing. ' Mercurius 
 Aulicus,' in which Birkenhead coarsely supported the 
 cause of Charles I., who now sanctioned the use on his 
 behalf of weapons he had not tolerated while he could 
 dispense with them, and ' Mercurius Britannicus,' in 
 which Nedham was too republican for the Long Parlia- 
 ment, were the pioneers of modern journalism, but such 
 progress as they and others in the Commonwealth time 
 achieved was checked when Stuart misrule was revived. 
 Except in the case of the official organs, ' The London 
 Gazette ' and ' The Intelligencer,' which furnished 
 merely such garbled scraps of news as were thought 
 suitable for public reading, journalism only existed on 
 sufferance, sickly and crippled, after the Restoration, 
 and until the Licensing Act was allowed to lapse in 
 1695. 
 
 Better days began with the Revolution, and all 
 through the eighteenth century newspaper enterprise 
 was developed. Its progress, however, was slow and 
 fitful. The Stamp Act, invented by the Tories as a 
 milder instrument of tyranny than the Licensing Act, 
 was a formidable weapon for coercion and repression in 
 the hands both of Tories and of Whigs, and Walpole, 
 not inventing but amplifying the device, set a fashion 
 of bribery and corruption which was quite as degrading 
 to the press as actual intimidation could be. This 
 more insidious agency of debasement than any laws 
 could create or strengthen was one that no legislation 
 
 o o 
 
 could stamp out, even if the legislators had cared to 
 try the experiment, and the mischief has not yet been 
 quite cured. Another dangerous weapon in the hands
 
 1621-1820. PROGRESS UNDER TYRANNY 375 
 
 of unworthy or not sufficiently wise rulers was their 
 power of distorting the law of libel into a machine for 
 the vindictive persecution of all whom they objected to. 
 The Libel Act of 1792 established the right of juries to 
 decide on the guilt or innocence of culprits brought 
 before them, instead of their being required to accept 
 meekly the ruling of the judges; but the full recognition 
 of that right was only tediously obtained after persistent 
 struggling, and even then, so long as the government 
 of the day thought fit to institute frivolous, biassed, and 
 oppressive prosecutions for libel, it was able, by throw- 
 ing upon them heavy expenses and other obstacles 
 in the pursuit of their calling, to inflict cruel punish- 
 ments on persons whose innocence was ultimately proved. 
 At the stage of our record which we have now reached, 
 and for some time later, the Libel Act was made in- 
 strumental to as much injustice as had prevailed before 
 it was passed. 
 
 The earlier newspapers pretended to give no more 
 than bare epitomes of news, with now and then ampler 
 details of particular events, like a great battle, or a great 
 fire, a specially interesting scandal in courtly circles, or 
 some alleged prodigy, like the birth of a child with 
 four legs or two heads, among the poorer classes ; and 
 these reports, whether brief or copious, were often 
 inaccurate through the perverseness of the reporters or 
 the faultiness of their information. Hardly any news, 
 however, even the baldest, could be repeated without 
 some flavouring from the writer's opinion, and thus 
 gradually and inevitably, as they grew larger and more 
 plentiful, the newspapers became guides of public 
 policy or exponents of popular prejudice, and took sides 
 accordingly. A striking example of this is furnished 
 by the rival newspapers of the Commonwealth period, 
 and at a later date by the contradictory ' Posts ' and
 
 376 AFTER TWO CENTURIES CH. xnr. 
 
 { Postboys ' of Queen Anne's time. Almost from the 
 first, moreover, journalists attempted to he critics as 
 well as newsmongers. Sir Koger L'Estrange issued 
 his ' Observator,' which was a weekly review, not a 
 chronicle, in Charles II. 's reign, and Tutchin followed 
 with another ' Observator,' of the same sort but quite 
 different politics, under William III. Defoe, in his 
 ' Review,' greatly developed this branch of journalism, 
 and some others as well, and he had famous rivals and 
 imitators in Steele and Addison, who, however, as did 
 some of their successors, like Johnson and Goldsmith, 
 generally preferred social and literary questions to 
 politics, and, aifecting to despise newspapers, delivered 
 themselves either in essay sheets like ' The Spectator,' 
 which were not newspapers, or in weekly miscellanies 
 like ' The Universal Chronicle.' It was Defoe again, 
 more than anyone else, who in ' Mist's Journal ' and 
 other papers made it customary to give news and 
 elaborate comments in the same journal, and the plan 
 was hardly improved upon till John and Leigh Hunt 
 started ' The Examiner.' The first newspapers, being 
 published weekly, provided nothing but such news as 
 they could collect, When, early in the eighteenth 
 century, daily newspapers began, they continued to 
 provide little more than news, leaving it for the newer 
 and generally short-lived weekly papers, either to 
 provide essays and critical articles alone, as in the case 
 of ' The Spectator,' ' The Connoisseur,' and some hun- 
 dreds of others, or to enliven their reports of events, 
 obtained at second hand, with a few columns of original 
 writing, as in the case of ' Mist's,' ' Read's,' and other 
 journals. The dailies began to usurp what was then 
 regarded as the function of the weeklies when such 
 letters as Junius's appeared in ' The Public Advertiser,' 
 and before the end of George III.'s reign every paper
 
 1621-1820. EVOLUTION IN NEWSPAPERS 377 
 
 of importance had its leading articles, its theatrical 
 notices, and perhaps even its reviews of books and 
 miscellaneous essays, as well as its reports of domestic 
 and foreign occurrences, of parliamentary debates and 
 public meetings, for all of which much ampler space 
 than formerly was afforded by the enlarged size of the 
 sheets. 
 
 The steady growth of newspapers is shown, not 
 only by their rapidly increasing numbers and frequency 
 of publication, but also by their enlargement in size. 
 Until the time of Queen Anne a small sheet, technically 
 known as a half-sheet, divided into eight quarto pages, 
 usually in double columns, was as much as a week's 
 supply of news could fill even with the help of advertise- 
 ments, and when the first daily paper was started in 
 1702 it was printed only on one side of the folio. These 
 limits were accepted as sufficient by the framers of the 
 Stamp Act in 1712, and, except that on two occasions 
 enlargement of the sheet was allowed ,as a favour to 
 compensate for the raising of the stamp duty, no paper 
 containing more than eight quarto or four folio pages 
 was permitted to be issued with a single stamp. The 
 weekly papers usually preferred the quarto shape, often 
 squeezing three columns into the page. The dailies 
 appeared in folio, giving three, or, before the close of 
 the eighteenth century, four long columns, chiefly of 
 small type, in each page. ' The Times ' of 1820 thus 
 contained about eight times as much matter every day, 
 or forty-eight times in a week, as was contained in 
 * The Weekly News ' of 1621. 
 
 Many things of course conduced to this growth, 
 such as the increased facilities of communication be- 
 tween England and foreign countries and different parts 
 of England itself, and the improved mechanical appli- 
 ances which, benefiting all classes and all movements,
 
 378 AFTER TWO CENTURIES CH. xm. 
 
 had their most notable result thus far on newspaper 
 development in John Walter's adoption of Koenig's 
 steam printing press. But the great stimulus came 
 from the popular demand for information and instruc- 
 tion, and newspapers prospered, in spite of all that 
 ministers and courtiers could do against them, through 
 the energy with which capable and generally honest 
 men set themselves to meet that demand. The battle 
 won by the managers and writers who, in 1771, made 
 good their claim to report the proceedings of parlia- 
 ment was in itself of immense national advantage, and 
 added vastly to the value of newspapers as informers 
 of public opinion ; and the enterprise lately shown by 
 Walter, Perry, and others, in collecting special and 
 independent reports of military events and foreign 
 aifairs in general, was the commencement of a new 
 branch of journalism which was afterwards much ex- 
 tended. Skilful, discerning, and enthusiastic news- 
 paper proprietors and editors had come to understand 
 the great power they wielded or could wield, and for 
 the most part they made right use of their opportunities. 
 For a long while the same persons were generally both 
 proprietors or part proprietors and editors, as is still 
 sometimes the case, and often they did most of the 
 writing themselves ; but at no time, or only in seasons 
 of exceptional misfortune, was the press without 
 valuable assistance from great men who were not 
 journalists by profession, or who only made journalism 
 one of their avocations. Milton's work on Nedham's 
 ' Mercurius Politicus,' two centuries and a third ago, 
 may not have been considerable ; but since Milton's 
 day there has been a constant and brilliant succession 
 of writers and thinkers, eminent in politics and litera- 
 ture, who have been newspaper contributors. The 
 names of Defoe, Swift, Steele, and Addison, Fielding,
 
 1621-1820. EVOLUTION IN JOURNALISM 379 
 
 Smollett, Johnson, and Goldsmith, Bolingbroke and 
 Burke, Churchill and Chatterton, Mackintosh and Can- 
 ning, Coleridge, Lamb, Southey, Hazlitt, Shelley, and 
 Leigh Hunt, are but twenty of those which have been 
 before us in the previous chapters ; and if most of 
 these were men of letters more than politicians, and of 
 divers views in politics, the number of busy politicians 
 who found time to write in newspapers was not small. 
 
 Thus far we have concerned ourselves almost ex- 
 clusively with newspapers published in London, and it 
 would be impossible to trace in detail the history of 
 provincial journalism. Nor is there much need for 
 this as, till recently, the provincial press has been to a 
 large extent a reflex and imitation of the London press. 
 Some notes of its progress, however, may be conveni- 
 ently made here. 1 
 
 Such papers as ' Mercurius Aulicus,' published 
 while Charles I. was in Oxford, or ' Mercurius Hiberni- 
 cus ' issued from Bristol in 1644, and an Edinburgh 
 edition of ' Mercurius Politicus ' printed by Cromwell's 
 order in 1653, cannot properly be called provincial 
 journals, and none such, in fact, could well appear 
 except in Scotland before 1695, when the abolition of 
 the Licensing Act removed the limitation of printing 
 presses to twenty in London besides the two allowed 
 for university printing in Oxford and Cambridge. 
 There were illicit country presses, but none of a sort 
 able to turn out a newspaper. 
 
 Scotland had its own regulations prior to the Act of 
 Union, and a ' Mercurius Caledonius ' was commenced 
 in Edinburgh in 1660 ; but it appears to have lasted 
 
 1 For most of the information given in the following pages I am indebted 
 to Andrews, British Journalism, vol. i. pp. 268-326, and vol. ii. pp. 123- 
 164, and to Mitchell's Newspaper Press Directory ; and in the later para- 
 graphs to Thomas's History of the American Press.
 
 380 AFTER TWO CENTUEIES CH. xnr. 
 
 only a few months, and the first important paper was 
 * The Edinburgh Gazette ' which James Donaldson was 
 licensed to print in 1699. Donaldson's licence assigned 
 to him a monopoly in Edinburgh as regards the pub- 
 lishing of 'an abridgment of foreign news, together 
 with the occurrences at home' ; but in 1705 his some- 
 time partner, James Watson, obtained a licence for 
 ' The Edinburgh Courant ' notwithstanding Donald- 
 son's protestation that ' there is no possibility of two 
 newswriters subsisting by that employment in this 
 place,' and that he had ' some years bygone obtained 
 the sole privilege of publishing the news, which project 
 was looked on as a general benefit, and has been pro- 
 secuted with so much care and diligence that by this 
 means he made a shift to subsist himself and family, 
 and was thereby supported under the great losses he 
 sustained by his early zeal and affection to the govern- 
 ment.' Not only was 'The Edinburgh Courant' 
 allowed to continue, but in 1706 Watson started a third 
 paper, ' The Scots Courant,' which came out thrice a 
 week and was intended for country circulation. It is 
 noteworthy that in February 1710 Daniel Defoe was 
 the licensed printer of * The Edinburgh Courant.' 
 Defoe was at this time in Scotland on a secret mission 
 from the Tory government to smooth over the diffi- 
 culties consequent on the unpopularity in Scotland of 
 the Act of Union, and ' The Courant ' was for a while 
 the ministerial champion in Edinburgh. By this time 
 it had been found possible for a good many more than 
 two newswriters to subsist in the Scottish capital. 
 'The Edinburgh Flying Post' was commenced in 1708, 
 'The Scots Postman' in 1709, and 'The Northern 
 Tatler ' in 1710 ; and ' The Edinburgh Evening Cou- 
 rant ' followed in 1718, and ' The Caledonian Mercury' 
 in 1720. Others were afterwards started, and some of
 
 1660-1820. OLD SCOTCH NEWSPAPERS 381 
 
 these early papers did not live long ; but both ' The 
 Edinburgh Gazette/ as a counterpart to ' The London 
 Gazette,' and ' The Edinburgh Courant ' still exist. 
 ' The Glasgow Courant,' founded in 1715, was less 
 fortunate than ' The Glasgow Journal,' which lasted 
 for a century and a half from 1729, while ' The Glasgow 
 Herald,' started in 1782, is still a flourishing paper. 
 In other parts of Scotland there was not much news- 
 paper enterprise in the eighteenth century. Only three 
 Scotch journals were published in 1745. and the number 
 was but thirteen in 1795. It had risen to thirty-one by 
 1820. 
 
 The earliest English country paper was ' The Lin- 
 coln, Rutland and Stamford Mercury,' started in 1695, 
 as soon as the law allowed. The next to appear was. 
 ' The Norwich Postman,' offered in 1706 for 'a penny, 
 but a halfpenny not refused ' ; and it was followed in 
 1714 by 'The Norwich Courant,' on which Cave, of 
 ' The Gentleman's Magazine,' learnt the trades of print- 
 ing, writing, and editing, in 1720 by ' The Norwich 
 Mercury,' in 1721 by ' The Norwich Gazette,' and in 
 1723 by ' The Norwich Journal.' No other town of 
 such size was so well supplied at this time as Norwich ; 
 but already there were several prosperous country 
 papers, some of which have either kept alive as weeklies 
 to this day or been altered into daily publications. 
 ' Berrow's Worcester Journal ' dates from 1709, 1 and 
 ' The Newcastle Courant ' from 1711. ' The Liverpool 
 Courant' appeared in 1712, in which year an early 
 number announced the arrival of one ship and the 
 departure of one other, and contained two advertise- 
 ments, one of which was from ' a governess or female 
 teacher ' who, besides giving instruction in reading, 
 
 1 It claims to have been started in 1690, but not apparently on good 
 evidence.
 
 382 AFTER TWO CENTURIES CH. xirr. 
 
 * learneth young gentlewomen to mark, work, point, 
 make plain, work, flourishing, embroidery, and dressing 
 of heads after the newest modes and to the best advan- 
 tage.' This paper had short life in the ecclesiastical 
 village by the sea which Liverpool then was, and a 
 fresh start was made in 1756 by ' The Liverpool 
 Advertiser ' on the ground that ' it hath long time 
 been a matter of surprise to many that a place so re- 
 spectable in its inhabitants, so advantageous in its 
 situation, and so important in its commercial concerns, 
 should be without those weekly and public methods of 
 conveying intelligence which are to be found in towns 
 of less considerable note.' Manchester was without a 
 newspaper till 1730 when 'The Manchester Gazette' 
 was started, but ' The Leeds Mercury ' was begun in 
 1718. It is noteworthy that the country towns which 
 showed most newspaper enterprise in the early part of 
 the eighteenth century were those which have long since 
 been surpassed as centres of activity. York had its 
 'Mercury' and Salisbury its 'Postman' in 1715, 
 Exeter its ' Mercury,' its ' Protestant Mercury,' and its 
 ' Postmaster or Royal Mercury' in 1718, Northampton 
 its ' Mercury' in 1720, Chester its ' Courant ' in 1721, 
 and Gloucester its 'Journal' in 1722. It was to the 
 last-named paper that Cave sent his parliamentary re- 
 ports for which he was reprimanded by the House of 
 Commons in 1728. Reading had its 'Mercury' in 
 1723, Chelmsford its 'Chronicle' in 1730, Derby its 
 'Mercury' in 1732, Sherborne its 'Mercury' in 1736, 
 Hereford its 'Times' in 1739, Ipswich its 'Journal' 
 in 1739, all before 1741 when Aris commenced his 
 ' Birmingham Gazette.' Some of these small weekly 
 papers, however, found it difficult to fill their columns. 
 For lack of fresher matter ' The Leicester Journal ' in 
 1752 reprinted by instalments the l>ook of Genesis.
 
 1695-1795. OLD ENGLISH COUNTRY NEWSPAPERS 383 
 
 Country newspapers began to be plentiful towards 
 the end of the eighteenth century. Without reckoning 
 those which had appeared and disappeared in the inter- 
 val, there were fifty in 1782, sixty in 1790, and seventy- 
 two in 1795 ; and while most of them were merely 
 collections of local gossip, eked out with news taken 
 from the London papers, and advertising mediums, some 
 were ably conducted. James Montgomery, once highly 
 esteemed as a poet, became editor and part proprietor of 
 ' The Sheffield Iris ' in 1794, and conducted it for more 
 than thirty years ; and the Baines's made their family 
 and their paper prosperous by their management of ' The 
 Leeds Mercury.' Most of these papers were Tory in 
 politics, under such guidance from the government as 
 has already been described ; but the fate of Drakard, of 
 1 The Stamford News ' which has also been referred to 
 shows that on occasion they could be as outspoken 
 in their Radicalism as their London exemplars. Many, 
 being issued only once a week, and making no attempt 
 at giving much criticism or any early news that was 
 not local, were edited in London by metropolitan jour- 
 nalists with time to spare. ' It was better and more 
 congenial employment,' says Jerdan, ' to edit provincial 
 newspapers in London, which, absurd as it may seem at 
 first sight, is just as effective (with a sub-editor on the 
 spot for the local news &c.) as if the writer resided at the 
 place of publication ; for the political intelligence had to 
 come from town to be handled in the country, and it 
 was quite as easy and expeditious to have the news and 
 the commentaries sent down together. I edited " The 
 Sheffield Mercury " for a number of years, and at other 
 times a Birmingham, a Staffordshire Potteries, and an 
 Irish journal, and others in various parts of the 
 country.' l 
 
 1 Autobiography, vol. i. p. 110.
 
 384 AFTER TWO CENTURIES CH. xnr. 
 
 There were fifty-six Irish newspapers in 1820, and 
 thirty-five in 1795, but only three in 1782. A daily 
 paper, ' Pue's Occurrences,' was started in Dublin in 
 1700, and another, ' Falkener's Journal,' in 1728 ; but 
 though 'The Belfast Newsletter' began in 1737, the 
 first important publication was ' Esdaile's Newsletter/ 
 afterwards called ' Saunders's Newsletter,' dating from 
 1745. It had a formidable rival in 'The Freeman's 
 Journal.' which in 1755 appeared as the organ of the 
 United Irish party, and had Grattan and Flood amongst 
 its contributors, under the editorship of Dr. Lucas. 
 Several papers were started with special objects, to be 
 dropped in a few years, and for a long time no journal- 
 istic champion of the English government dared appear. 
 In 1780 a staff of writers, compositors, and printers, with 
 a press and types, were sent from London to Dublin, there 
 to commence ' The Volunteer Evening Post ' ; and when 
 it started it purported to be in sympathy with the Irish 
 people. Presently, however, its true policy began to 
 show itself, and thereupon the office was attacked by 
 a mob, the editor put to flight, and the publication 
 stopped. Of the thirty-five papers issued in 1795 every 
 one was anti-English, prominent among them being 
 ' The Press,' edited by Arthur Young, with help from 
 Emmett, Addis, and others, in which Tom Moore, when 
 a youth of eighteen, made his first appearance as a 
 writer. 1 Another was ' The Union Star,' from which 
 Pitt's horrified supporters quoted such sentences as 
 this : ' Let the indignation of men be raised against 
 the impious wretch who profanely assumes the title of 
 reigning by the grace of God, and impudently tells the 
 world he can do no wrong ' ; and this, addressed to ' the 
 noble and venerated name of Brutus ' : ' Yes, prince of 
 assassins ! thus we defend assassination, and clear it 
 
 1 Lord Russell, Memoirs tfcc. of Thomas Moore, vol. i. p. 55.
 
 1700-1820. OLD IRISH NEWSPAPERS 385 
 
 from the rubbish of ignorance and falsehoods of despo- 
 tism, which were too often successful in confounding 
 the characters of the man who destroyed a tyrant and 
 him who, to gratify private revenge, or urged by ava- 
 rice, might sell himself to murder an innocent fellow- 
 creature.' l 
 
 The tone of the Irish papers was somewhat altered 
 after the Union, but as much through the lavish bribery 
 resorted to by the government as from any change in 
 the sentiments of the people. In 1811 upwards of 
 12,000/. was spent, ostensibly in payments for the in- 
 sertion of government announcements in loyal papers, 
 besides other subsidies less openly granted and charged 
 for. To one Dublin paper alone in 1819 an average of 
 WL a week was paid in consideration of its reprinting 
 portions of ' The London Gazette.' Irish newspaper 
 editing was as profitable as it was worthless in those 
 days, and the only newspapers in any way representing 
 the feeling of the Irish people were those rich enough to 
 pay their own way and courageous enough to brave the 
 prosecutions that, rarely entered upon before 1800, 
 were now proportionately as numerous in Ireland as in 
 England. 
 
 Scotland fared better during the first two decades of 
 the nineteenth century, the nearest approach to bribery 
 there attempted, with one exception, being the creation 
 of a sinecure for Dugald Stewart in 1806, when he was 
 appointed printer of ' The Edinburgh Gazette,' with a 
 salary of 300/. a year and the profits. This small job, 
 quite excusable under the conditions of the time, was 
 perpetrated by the Whigs during their brief tenure of 
 office. The other case of bribery occurred in 1820, 
 when money was found by the government for starting 
 ' The Beacon,' intended to convert the Scottish Whigs 
 
 1 John Gifford, Life of Pitt, vol. iii. p. 244. 
 VOL. I. C C
 
 386 AFTER TWO CENTURIES CH. xin. 
 
 or Radicals to Toryism, and Sir Walter Scott was con- 
 cerned in the speculation. But it only lasted about 
 eight months, failing, it is said, through its intemperate 
 writers being allowed to publish whatever they chose 
 without editorial control. ' I endeavoured in vain,' 
 wrote John Wilson Croker, ' to impress on them the 
 necessity of having an editor who was really up to the 
 business, and could mix spirit with discretion one of 
 those " gentlemen of the press " who understand the 
 exact length to which they can go in their vocation.' 
 In Edinburgh, where ' The Edinburgh Review ' was 
 commenced, in 1802, there was no dearth of Whig 
 talent to help the northern newspapers, of which the 
 foremost, after 1817, was ' The Scotsman,' started in that 
 year by Charles Maclaren, and edited by him for thirty 
 years, with the exception of two, during which his place 
 was taken by John Ramsay McCulloch. 
 
 The history of the American press during the years 
 before the United States were separated from Great 
 Britain is interesting and instructive. It dates from 
 1704, when 'The Boston Newsletter ' was commenced 
 by John Campbell as a retailer of European and local 
 news, and an advertisement sheet for the benefit of ' all 
 persons who have houses, lands, farms, tenements, ships, 
 goods, wares, merchandise, &c., to be sold or let, or ser- 
 vants run away, or goods stolen or lost.' After two 
 years Campbell had to inform his readers that he was 
 losing money by his speculation ' for the good of the 
 public,' and in 1715 he Announced that 'if he received 
 a suitable encouragement, either under the form of a 
 salary, or by a sumcient number of subscribers who 
 would engage for the entire year, he would give a sheet 
 a week to circulate the news ; but in the absence of one 
 or other of these encouragements, he is reduced to do 
 the best he can.' The best he could do was during
 
 1704-1722. OLD COLONIAL NEWSPAPERS 387 
 
 1719 to issue a whole instead of a half sheet every alter- 
 nate week in the hope of clearing up the arrears of 
 European news, which it was his plan to give in the 
 order of date as far as space permitted, keeping back 
 from week to week so much as there was not room for. 
 'In January last,' he wrote at the end of 1719, 'we 
 were thirteen months behind with the foreign news, and 
 now we are less than five months, so that we have re- 
 trieved about eight months, and anyone that has " The 
 Newsletter" to January next (life permitted) will be 
 accommodated with all the news from Europe needful to 
 be known in these parts.' The Bostonians preferred to 
 have their news somewhat less than thirteen or even five 
 months after date, and in 1719 'The Boston Gazette' 
 was started in rivalry to Campbell's laggard paper. 
 ' The Boston Gazette ' was at first printed by James 
 Franklin, Benjamin Franklin's elder brother, and when 
 the work was taken from him in 1721 he set up a third 
 paper, ' The New England Courant,' Benjamin, who was 
 then fifteen, being one of his apprentices. 
 
 ' The Courant' was a bold journal, containing hu- 
 morous and satirical essays in imitation of Steele and 
 Addison, and in these the domineering puritans were 
 roughly handled, being called in one article ' the club 
 of the devils of hell.' An angry war consequently arose, 
 ' The Gazette ' taking the side of the orthodox, with 
 the venerable Increase Mather at their head, and it ex- 
 tended beyond theological ground, or what other than 
 the puritans, who viewed everything in a theological 
 light, would have thought such. One quarrel, at its 
 height in January 1722, was as to the propriety of in- 
 oculating for small-pox, which ' The Courant ' opposed 
 and the puritans insisted upon. ' For myself, who have 
 seen New England from its commencement,' Mather 
 wrote in ' The Gazette ' concerning an article in ' The
 
 388 AFTER TWO CENTURIES CH. xin. 
 
 Courant,' ' I cannot but be confounded with the de- 
 gradation of this land. I remember the time when 
 the civil government would have taken efficacious 
 measures to suppress such an accursed pamphlet 
 as that. If stern measures are not taken, I have 
 great fear that some terrible judgment will weigh upon 
 the country, which the anger of God will not suffer to 
 be relieved, and for which there will be no cure. I can- 
 not forbear taking pity upon young Franklin. He is 
 young yet, but perhaps he may soon have to appear 
 before the judgment seat of God, and what excuse will 
 he give then for having printed such base and abomin- 
 able things ? And I ought in conscience to invite the 
 
 o O 
 
 subscribers of " The Courant " to reflect upon the con- 
 sequences of being accomplices in the crimes of others, 
 and no longer to support this journal of perdition.' 
 
 James Franklin gave worse offence afterwards, and, 
 after being more than once reprimanded, he was tried 
 and adjudged guilty of blasphemy for having printed an 
 article in which it was said that 'too much religion is 
 worse than none at all,' that ' the world abounds with 
 knaves and villains, but of all knaves the religious 
 knave is the worst, and villanies acted under the cloak 
 of religion the most execrable,' and that ' the whole 
 country suffers for the villainies of such wolves in 
 sheep's clothing, and we are all represented as a pack 
 of knaves and hypocrites for their sakes.' He was for- 
 bidden to continue ' The Courant ' certainly a milder 
 punishment than he would have received from an Eng- 
 lish court ; but his brother Benjamin was now old 
 enough to take his place, and the paper was carried on 
 till 1727, when Benjamin left Boston. James then 
 migrated to another colony, and conducted ' The Rhode 
 Island Gazette' from 1732 until his death in 1735. 
 Several other papers gradually sprang up in Boston,
 
 1719-1750. OLD COLONIAL NEWSPAPERS 389 
 
 and the quarrel with the puritans was maintained, until 
 all parties in the town combined to make it the head- 
 quarters of opposition to English tyranny. Samuel 
 Andrews, whose brother John was the second president 
 of the United States, edited ' The Independent Adver- 
 tiser,' which was a pioneer of revolt in 1748, and, when 
 that was suppressed, a new ' Boston Gazette.' 
 
 In the same year as the original 'Boston Gazette,' 
 1719, Philadelphia had its first paper, ' The American 
 Weekly Miscellany,' which was superseded in 1728 
 by ' The Pennsylvania Gazette,' projected by Benjamin 
 Franklin, but not edited by him till the following year. 
 This paper soon became a valuable property, and, being 
 allowed to be sent post free throughout the colony, an 
 influential organ of the local government. Others fol- 
 lowed in various parts of the neAv country, among them, 
 in 1736, ' The Virginia Gazette,' in defiance of the 
 opinions of its old governor, Sir William Berkeley, 
 who two generations before had exclaimed, ' Thanks be 
 to God, we have here neither free schools nor printing 
 presses, and I hope we may not have any for a hundred 
 years ; for education has sent into the world doubt, 
 heresy, and sectarianism, and. the printing press has 
 propagated, in addition to all these evils, attacks against 
 governments.' 
 
 Berkeley's judgment was as correct in one respect as 
 it was faulty in another. The English adventurers and 
 exiles who colonised America took with them all the ex- 
 perience they and their forefathers had painfully acquired 
 in the mother country, and, quickly rivalling their kins- 
 men at home in newspaper enterprise, soon surpassed 
 them. Of the English- American papers established, or 
 begun and speedily abandoned, during the first half of 
 the eighteenth century, all but a few were, as might 
 be expected, inferior to the humblest of their English
 
 390 AFTER TWO CENTU11IES en. xm. 
 
 contemporaries ; but two or three decades sufficed to 
 give them, or their successors, dignity and authority, and 
 they played a very important part indeed in the war of 
 independence. The fight was bravely carried on, for 
 instance, by skilful writers in the loyal ' Massachusetts 
 Gazette ' and in the republican ' Boston Gazette,' and, 
 if the final and inevitable appeal to arms was hastened 
 on by such encounters with the pen, the right side was 
 only thereby enabled to win its certain victory more 
 promptly and with less bloodshed. 
 
 England was not wise enough, or it was too much 
 hampered by feudal traditions, aristocratic prejudices and 
 oligarchic burdens, to shake off the chains as easily and 
 effectually as its American offshoot ; but long after the 
 United States had taken an independent place among 
 the nations of the world, and could boast with reason of 
 its newspaper progress, as well as of its other successes, 
 English journalists, still struggling desperately for the 
 rights of free speech, were able to look across the Atlantic 
 for encouragement, and even for guidance. 
 
 William Cobbett, who had unique experience as 
 an English journalist in the newly-established United 
 States, vainly propounding to its citizens the virtues of 
 monarchism and the duty of renewing allegiance to 
 the British Crown, soon came back as an avowed 
 enemy of the republican institutions which gave no 
 sanction to his bluster ; but his enmity was speedily 
 abandoned after further acquaintance with the aristo- 
 cratic and oligarchic system he had applauded from a 
 distance, and he developed into a noisy agitator for 
 many of the reforms that worthier men insisted upon 
 less violently. If he brought with him some of the 
 worst habits and methods of the young American jour- 
 nalism, however, he was not 011 that account less im- 
 portant, or less representative of the rowdyism necessarily
 
 1820. LESSONS FKOM AMERICA 391 
 
 incident to such revolutionary work as he favoured and 
 usefully helped on. It was the fault, not of Cobbett 
 and those who sided with him, but of the mischief- 
 makers in office whom they opposed, that the revolution 
 had to be effected with rough as well as with polished 
 weapons, by disorderly and unreasonable as well as by 
 orderly and reasonable reformers. Happily for the 
 political and social progress of England during the past 
 two generations, and for the growth of journalism as 
 an essential part of that progress, they had promoters 
 not only of the coarser, but also of the finer sort. 
 
 THE END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 PRINTED BY 
 
 SrOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE 
 LONDON
 
 lAf.rH, 1887, 
 
 A LIST OF BOOKS 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 CHATTO <. WINDUS, 
 
 214, PICCADILLY, LONDON, W. 
 
 Sold by all Booksellers, or $ent post-free for the published price by the Publishers; 
 
 About. The Fellah : An Egyp- 
 tian Novel. Bj EDMOND ABOUT. 
 Translated by Sir RANDAL ROBERTS. 
 Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2a. . cloth 
 limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Adams (W. Davenport), Works 
 
 by: 
 
 A Dictionary of the Drama. Being 
 a comprehensive Guide to the Plays, 
 Playwrights, Players, and Play, 
 houses of the United Kingdom and 
 America, from the Earliest to the 
 Present Times. Crown 8vo, half- 
 bound, 12s. 6d. [Preparing. 
 
 LatterDay Lyrics. Edited by W. 
 DAVENPORT ADAMS. Post 8vo, cloth 
 limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Quips and Quiddities. Selected by 
 W. DAVENPORT ADAMS. Post 8vo, 
 cloth limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Advertising, A History of, from 
 
 the Earliest Times. Illustrated by 
 Anecdotes, Curious Specimens, and 
 Notices of Successful Advertisers. By 
 HENRY SAMPSON. Crown 8vo, with 
 Coloured Frontispiece and Illustra- 
 tions, cloth gilt, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Agony Column (The) of " The 
 
 Times," from iSoo to 1870. Edited, 
 with an Introduction, by ALICB CLAY. 
 Posl 8vo, cloth limr-, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Aide (Hamilton), WorksHbyl 
 
 Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s each, 
 Carr of Carrlyon. 
 Confidences. 
 
 Alexander (Mrs.), Novels by: 
 Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 Maid, Wife, or Widow? 
 Valerie's Fate. 
 
 Allen (Grant), Works by: 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. each. 
 The Evolutionist at Large- Second 
 
 Edition, revised. 
 Vignettes from Nature. 
 Colin Clout's Calendar. 
 
 Strange Storlea. With Frontispiece 
 
 by GEORGE Du MAURIER. Cr. 8vo, 
 
 cf. ex., 6s. ; post 8vo, illust. bds., 23. 
 Phillstla: A Novel. Crown 8vo, cloth 
 
 extra, 3s. 6d ; post 8vo, illur.t. bds., 2a. 
 Babylon : A Novel. With 12 Illusts. 
 
 by P. MACNAB. Crown rivo, cloth 
 
 extra, 3s. 6d. ; post 8vo, illust. bds., 2a. 
 For Maimle's Sake: A Tale of Love 
 
 and Dynamite. Cr. 8vo, cl. ex., 6a. 
 In all Shades: A NoveL New and 
 
 Cheaper Edition. Crown 3vo, cloth 
 
 extra, 3s. 6d. 
 The Beckoning Hand, &c. With a 
 
 Frontispiece by TOWNLEY GREEN. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Architectural Styles, A Hand- 
 book of. Translated from the German 
 
 Of A. ROSENGARTEN, by W. CoLLETT- 
 
 SANDARS. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with 
 639 Illustrations, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Artemus Ward : 
 
 Artemus Ward's Works: The Works 
 of CHARLES FARRER BROWNE, better 
 known as ARTEMUS WARD. With 
 Portrait and Facsimile. Crown 8vo, 
 cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Artemus Ward's Lecture on the 
 Mormons. With 32 Illustrations. 
 Edited, with Preface, by EDWARD P. 
 HINGSTON. Crown 8vo, 6d. 
 
 The Genial Showman: Life and Ad- 
 ventures of Artemus Ward. By 
 EDWARD P. KINGSTON. With a 
 Frontispiece, Cr.8vo,cl. extra, 2s Gd.
 
 BOOKS PUBLISHED 
 
 Bechstein. As Pretty 
 
 Seven, and other German Stories. 
 Collected by I.UDWIQ BECHSTEIN. 
 With Additional Tales by the Brothers 
 GRIMM, and 100 Illusts. by RICHTER. 
 Small 4to, green and gold, 6s. 6d, 
 gilt edges, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Arnold Bird Life in England. 
 
 By- LESTER ARNOLD. Crown 8vo, cloth 
 extra, 6s. [Preparing. 
 
 Art (The) of Amusing: A Col- 
 lection of Graceful Arts, Games, Tricks, 
 Puzzles, and Charades. By FRANK 
 BELLEW. With 300 Illustrations. Cr. 
 
 _ 8vo cldlh estra. 4s. 6d. 
 
 Ashton (John), Works by: 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. each. 
 
 A History of the Chap Books of the 
 Eighteenth Century. With nearly 
 400 Illustrations, engraved in fac- 
 simile of the originals. 
 
 Social Life In the Reign of Queen 
 Anne. From Original Sources. With 
 nearly ico Illustrations. 
 
 Humour, Wit, and Satire of the 
 Seventeenth Century. With nearly 
 100 Illustrations. 
 
 English Caricature and Satire on 
 Napoleon the First. With 120 Il- 
 lustrations from Originals. Two 
 Vols., demy 8vo, cloth extra, 28s. 
 
 Bacteria. A Synopsis of the 
 
 Bacteria and Yeast Fungi and Allied 
 Species. By W. B. GROVE, B. A. With 
 87 Illusts. Crown 8vo, cl. extra, 3s. 6d. 
 
 Bankers, A Handbook of Lon- 
 don ; together with Lists of Bankers 
 from 1677. By F. G, HILTON PRICE. 
 Crown Svo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Bardsley (Rev. C.W.),Works by : 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. each. 
 
 English Surnames: Their Sources and 
 Significations. Third Ed., revised. 
 
 Curiosities of Puritan Nomencla- 
 ture. 
 
 Bartholomew Fair, Memoirs 
 
 of. By HENRY MORLEY. With 100 
 Illusts. Crown Svo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Beaconsfield, Lord: A Biogra- 
 phy. By T. P. O'CONNOR, M.P. SixtU 
 Edition, with a New Preface. Crown 
 Svo, cloth estra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Beauchamp. Grantley 
 
 Grange: A Novel. By SHELSLEY 
 BEAUCHAMP. Post Svo, illust. bds., 2s. 
 
 Beautiful Pictures by British 
 
 Artists: A Gathering of Favourites 
 from our Picture Galleries. All en- 
 graved en S'eel in the highest style of 
 Art. Edited, with Notices of the 
 Artist*, by SYDNKY ARMYTAGE, M.A. 
 Imperial 410, cloth extra, gilt and gilt 
 edges, Sis. 
 
 as 
 
 Belgravia. One Shilling Monthly. 
 The Number for JANUARY contained 
 the First Chapters of a New Novel by 
 SARAH TYTLER, Author of "Citoyenne 
 Jacqueline," &c. entitled Disappeared, 
 with Illustrations by P. MACNAB ; and 
 Stones by WILKIE COLLINS, Miss 
 BRADDON, Mrs. ALFRED HUNT, the 
 Author of " Phyllis," and other Popu- 
 lar Authors. A New Serial Story by 
 W. CLARK RUSSELL, entitled The 
 Frozen Pirate, will be begun in the 
 JULY Number. 
 
 \* Now ready, the Volume for NOVEM- 
 BER 1886 to FEBRUARY 1887, cloth extra, 
 gilt edges, 7s. 6d.; Cases for binding Vols., 
 2s. each. 
 
 Belgravia Holiday Number, 
 
 1887. Demy Svo, with Illustrations, Is. 
 
 [Preparing. 
 
 BennetT(W.C.,LL.D.),Works'by: 
 
 Post Svo, cloth limp, 2s. each, 
 A Ballad History of England. 
 Songs for Sailors. 
 
 Besant (Walter) and James 
 
 Rice, Novels by. Crown 8vo, cloth 
 
 extra, 3s. 6d. each ; post 8vo, illust. 
 
 boards, 2s. each; cloth limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
 each. 
 
 Ready-Money Mortiboy. 
 With Harp and Crown. 
 This Son of Vulcan. 
 My Little Girl. 
 The Case of Mr. Lucraft. 
 The Golden Butterfly. 
 By Celia's Arbour. 
 The Monks of Thelema. 
 'Twas In Trafalgar's Bay. 
 The Seamy Side. 
 The Ten Years' Tenant. 
 The Chaplain of the Fleet. 
 
 liesant (Walter), Novels by: 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each 
 
 post 8vo, illust. boards, 2s. each ; 
 
 cloth limp, 2s. 6d. each. 
 All Sorts and Conditions of Men: 
 
 An Impossible Story. With Ill-astra- 
 
 tions by FRED. BARNARD. 
 The Captains' Room, &c. With 
 
 Frontispiece by E. J. WHBELBR.
 
 CHATTO & WIND US, PICCADILLY. 
 
 BESANT, WALTER, continued 
 All In a Garden Fair. With 6 Illusts. 
 
 by H. FURNISS. 
 Dorothy Forster. With Frontispiece 
 
 by CHARLES GREEN. 
 Uncle Jack, and other Stories. 
 
 Children of Glbeon : A Novel. New 
 and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo, 
 cloth extra, 3s. 6d. 
 
 The World Went Very Well Then. 
 With Etching of Portrait by JOHN 
 PETTIE, R.A., and Illustrations by 
 A. FORESTIER. Three Vols., cr. 8vo. 
 
 The Art of Fiction. Demy Svo, Is. 
 Library Edition of the Novels of 
 
 Walter Besant & James Rice. 
 
 Messrs. CHATTO & WINDUS have in 
 preparation a choicely-printed Library 
 Edition of the Novels of Messrs. BESANT 
 and RICE. The Volumes (each one con* 
 taimng a Complete Novel) will be printed 
 from a specially-cast fount of type by 
 Messrs. BALLANTYNE & HANSON, of 
 the Ballantyne Press, OH a large crown 
 Kvo page, and will be issued in Six- 
 Shilling Monthly Volumes, handsomely 
 bound in cloth by Messrs. BURN & Co. 
 The First Volume 0/512 pages (now in 
 the press) will be 
 
 Ready-Money Mortlboy, 
 with an Etched Portrait of JAMES RICE, 
 and 'a New Preface by WALTER BESANT, 
 telling the story of his literary partner- 
 ship with JAMES RICE. This Novel will 
 be followed at regular intervals by the 
 ftllowing : 
 
 My Little Girl. 
 
 With Harp and Crown. 
 
 This Son of Vulcan. 
 
 The Golden Butterfly. 
 
 The Monks of Thelema. 
 
 By Celia's Arbour. 
 
 The Chaplain of the Fleet. 
 
 The Seamy Side. &c. &e. 
 
 Beth am -Ed ward s (M.), Novels 
 
 by. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. 
 
 each. ; post 8v, illust. bds., 2s. each. 
 
 _felicla. I Kitty. 
 
 Bewick (Thos.) and his Pupils. 
 
 By AUSTIN DOBSON. With 95 Illustra- 
 tions. Square 8vo, cloth extra, 10s. 6d. 
 
 Birthday Books : 
 
 The Starry Heavens: A Poetical 
 Birthday Book. Square 8vo, hand- 
 somely bound in cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Birthday Flowers: Their Language 
 and Legends. By VV. J. GORDON. 
 Beautifully Illustrated in Colours by 
 VIOLA BOUGHTON. In illuminated 
 cover, crown 410, 6s. 
 
 The Lowell Birthday Book. With 
 llhi&ts. Small Svo, cloth extra, 4s. 6<L 
 
 Blackburn's (Henry) Art Hand- 
 books. Demy 8vp, Illustrated, uni- 
 form in size for binding. 
 
 Academy Notes, separate years, from 
 1875 to 1886, each Is. 
 
 Academy Notes, 1887. With nu- 
 merous Illustrations. Is. [Preparing, 
 
 Academy Notes, 1875-79. Complete 
 in One Vol., with nearly 600 Illusts. in 
 Facsimile. Demy Svo, cloth limp, 63. 
 
 Academy Notes, 1880-84. Complete 
 in One Volume, with about 700 Fac- 
 simile Illustrations. Cloth limp, 63, 
 
 Grosvenor Notes, 1877. 6d. 
 
 Grosvenor Notes, separate years, from 
 1878 to 1886, each Is. 
 
 Grosvenor Notes, 1887. With nu- 
 merous Illusts. Is. [Preparing, 
 
 Grosvenor Notes, 1877-82. With 
 upwards of 300 Illustrations. Demy 
 Svo, cloth limp, 6s. 
 
 Pictures at South Kensington. With 
 70 Illusts. Is. [New Edit. preparing. 
 
 The English Pictures at the National 
 Gallery. 114 Illustrations. Is. 
 
 The Old Masters at the National 
 Gallery. 128 Illustrations. Is. 6d. 
 
 A Complete Illustrated Catalogue 
 to the National Gallery. With 
 Notes by H. BLACKBURN, and 243 
 Illusts. Demy Svo, cloth limp, 33. 
 
 Illustrated Catalogue of the Luxem- 
 bourg Gallery. Containing about 
 250 Reproductions after the Original 
 Drawings of the Artists. Edited by 
 F. G. DUMAS. Demy 8vo, 3s. 6cL 
 
 The Paris Salon, 1887. With about 
 300 Facsimile Sketches. Edit, by F.G. 
 DUMAS. Demy Svo, 3s. [Preparing. 
 
 Blake (William): Etchings from 
 
 his Works. By W. B. SCOTT. With 
 descriptive Text. Folio, half-bound 
 boards, India Proofs, 21s. 
 
 Boccaccio's Decameron ; or, 
 
 Ten Days' Entertainment. Translated 
 into English, with an Introduction by 
 THOMAS WRIGHT, F.S.A. With Portrait 
 and STOTHARD'S beautiful Copper- 
 plates. Cr. Svo, eloth extra, gilt, 7s. 61. 
 
 Bowers'(G-) Hunting Sketches: 
 
 Oblong 4to, half-bound boards, 21s. each, 
 Canters In Crampshire. 
 Leaves from a Hunting Journal. 
 
 Coloured in facsimile of the originals. 
 
 Boyle (Frederick), Works by: 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6(L each; post 
 
 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 Camp Notes: Stones of Sport and 
 Adventure in Asia, Africa, and 
 America. [Trotter. 
 
 Savage Life: Adventures of a Globe- 
 Chronicles of No-Man's Land 
 Post Svo, illust. boards, 2s.
 
 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY 
 
 Brand's Observations on Pop. 
 
 ular Antiquities, chiefly Illustrating 
 the Origin of our Vulgar Customs, 
 Ceremonies, and Supeistitions. With 
 the Additions of Sir HENRY ELLIS. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, with 
 numerous Illustrations, 78. 6cL 
 
 Bret Harte, Works by : 
 
 Bret Harte's Collected Works. Ar- 
 ranged and Revised by the Author. 
 Complete in Five Vols., crown 8vo, 
 cloth extra, 6s. each. 
 Vol. I. COMIVET& POETICAL AND 
 DRAMATIC WORKS. With Steel Por- 
 trait, and Introduction by Author. 
 Vol. II. EARLIER PAPERS LUCK OF 
 ROARING CAMP, and other Sketches 
 BOHEMIAN PAPERS SPANISH 
 AND AMERICAN LEGENDS. 
 Vol. III. TALES CF THE ARGONAUTS 
 
 EASTERN SKETCHES. 
 Vol. IV. GABRIEL CON ROY. 
 Vol. V. STI RIKS CONDENSED 
 NOVELS, KC. 
 
 The Select Works of Bret Harte, in 
 Prose and Poetry. With I :troduc- 
 tory Essay by J. M. BELT RW Portrait 
 of the Author, aud 50 Illustrations. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, la. 6d. 
 
 Bret Harte's Complete Poetical 
 Works. Author's Copyright Edition. 
 Beautifully printed on hand-made 
 paper and bound in buckram. Cr. 
 8vo, 4s. 6d. 
 
 Gabriel Conroy : A Novel. Post 8vo, 
 illustrated boards, Zs. 
 
 An Heiress of Red Dog, and other 
 Stories. Post 8vo, illust boards, 2s. 
 
 The Twins of Table Mountain. Fcap. 
 
 8vo, picture cover, Is. 
 
 Luck of Roaring Camp, and other 
 Sketches. Post 8vo, illust. bds., 2s. 
 
 Jeff Brlggs's Love Story. Fcap. 8vo, 
 picture cover, Is. [2s. 6d. 
 
 Flip. Post 8vo, illust. bds., 2s. ; cl. limp, 
 
 Callfornian Stories (including THE 
 TWINS OF TABLE MOUNTAIN, JEFF 
 BRIGGS'S LOVE STORY, &c.) Post 
 8vo, illustrated boards, 23. 
 
 Maruja: A Novel. Post 8vo, illust. 
 boards, 2s. ; cloth limp, ?s. 6d. 
 
 The Queen of the Pirate Isle. With 
 28 original Drawings by KATE 
 GREENA\VAY : Reproduced in Colours 
 by EDMUND EVANS. Sm. 4to, bds., 5s. 
 
 Brewer (Rev. Dr.), Works by : 
 
 The Reader's Handbookof Allusions, 
 References, Plots, and Stories. 
 
 Fifth Edition, revised throughout, 
 with a New Appendix, containing a 
 COMPLETE ENGLISH BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 Cr. 8vo, 1,400 pp., cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 Authors and their Works, with the 
 Dates : Being the Appendices to 
 "The Reader's Handbook," separ- 
 ately printed. Cr. Svo, cloth ILmp, 2s. 
 
 BREWER (REV. DR.), continued 
 A Dictionary of Mlracjes: Imitative, 
 Realistic, and Dogmatic. Crown Svo, 
 cloth extra, 7s. 6d. ; half-bound, 9a. 
 
 Brewster(SirDavid),Works by: 
 
 More Worlds than One: The Creed 
 of the Philosopher and the Hope cl 
 the Christian. \Vib Plates. Post 
 Svo, cloth extra, 4s. 6d. 
 
 The Martyrs of Science: Lives of 
 GALILEO, TYCHO BRAHK, and KEP- 
 LER. With Portraits. Post Svo, cloth 
 extra, 4s. 6d. 
 
 Letters on Natural Magic. A New 
 Edition, withnumerous Illustrations, 
 and Chapters on the Being and 
 Faculties of Man, and Additional 
 Phenomena of Natural Magic, by 
 J. A. SMITH. Post Svo, cl. ex., 4s. 6d. 
 
 Briggs, Memoir of Gen. John. 
 By Major EVANS BELL. With a Por- 
 trait. Royal Svo, cloth extra, 7a. 6d. 
 
 Brillat-Savarin. Gastronomy 
 as a Fir>e Art. By BRILLAT-SAVARIN. 
 Translated by R. E. ANDERSON, M.A. 
 PostSvo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Buchanan's (Robert) Works : 
 Crown Svo, cloth extra, 6s. each. 
 
 Ballads of Life, Love, and Humour. 
 Frontispiece ty ARTHUR HUGHES. 
 
 Undertones. | London Poems 
 
 The Book of Orm. 
 
 White Rose and Red: A Love Story, 
 
 Idylls and Legends of Inverburn. 
 
 Selected Poems ofRobert Buchanan. 
 With a Frontispiece by T. DALZIF.L. 
 
 The Hebrid Isles: Wanderings in the 
 Land of Lome and the Outer He- 
 brides. With Frontispiece by WIL- 
 LIAM SMALL. 
 
 A Poet's Sketch Book: Selections 
 from the Prose Writings of ROBE K 7 
 BUCHANAN. 
 
 The Earthquake: or, Six Days and 
 a Sabbath. Cr. 3vo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Robert Buchanan'sComplete Poeti- 
 cal Works. With Steel-plate Por- 
 trait. Crown Svo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth extra, 3s. 61. each ; 
 post Svo, illust. boards, 2s. each. 
 
 The Shadow of the Sword. 
 
 A Child of Nature. With a Frontis- 
 piece. 
 
 God and the Man. With Illustrations 
 by FRED. BARNARD. 
 
 The Martyrdom of Madeline. With 
 Frontispiece by A. W. COOPER. 
 
 Love Me for Ever. With a Frontis- 
 piece by P. MACNAB. 
 
 Annan Water. | The New Abeiard. 
 
 Foxglove Manor. 
 
 Matt : A Story of a Caravan. 
 
 The Master of the Mine.
 
 CHATTO * WINDUS, PICCADILLY. 
 
 Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. 
 
 Edited by Rev. T. SCOTT. With 17 
 Steel Plates by STOTHARD engraved 
 by GOODALL, and numerous Woodcuts. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Burnett (Mrs.), Novels by: 
 Surly Tim, and other Stories. Post 
 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Fcap. 8vo, picture cover, Is. each. 
 Kathleen Mavourneen. 
 Lindsay's Luck. 
 Pretty Polly Pemberton. 
 
 Burton (Captain), Works by: 
 
 To the Gold Coast for Gold : A Per- 
 sonal Narrative. By RICHARD F. BUR- 
 TON and VERNEY LOVETT CAMERON. 
 With Maps and Frontispiece. Two 
 Vols., crown 8vo, cloth extra, 21s. 
 
 The Book of the Sword : Being a 
 History of the Sword and its Use_ in 
 all Countries, from the Earliest 
 Times. By RICHARD F. BURTON. 
 With over 400 Illustrations. Square 
 8vo, cloth extra, 32s. 
 
 Burton (Robert): 
 
 The Anatomy of Melancholy. A 
 New Edition, complete, corrected 
 and enriched by Translations of the 
 Classical Extracts. Demy 8vo, cloth 
 extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Melancholy Anatomised: Being an 
 Abridgment, for popular use, of BUR- 
 TON'S ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY. 
 Post 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Byron (Lord) : 
 
 Byron's Chllde Harold. An entirely 
 New Edition of this famous Poem, 
 with over One Hundred new Illusts. 
 by leading Artists. (Uniform with 
 the Illustrated Editions of "The 
 Lady of the Lake " and " Marmion.") 
 Elegantly and appropriately bound, 
 small 4to, 16s. 
 
 Byron's Letters and Journals. With 
 Notices of his Life, By THOMAS 
 MOORE. A Reprint of the Original 
 Edition, newly revised, with Twelve 
 full-page Plates. Crown 8vo, cloth 
 extra, gilt, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Byron's Don Juan. Complete in One 
 Vol., post 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 
 
 Caine (T. Hall), Novels by: 
 
 The Shadow of a Crime. Cr. 8vo, 
 cloth extra, 3s. 61.; post 8vo, illus- 
 trated boards, 2s. 
 
 A Son of Hagar. New and Cheaper 
 Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 
 9s. 6d. 
 
 Cameron (Comdr.), Works by: 
 
 To the Gold Coast for Gold: A 
 Personal Narrative. By RICHARD 
 F. BURTON and VERNEY LOVETT 
 CAMERON. With Frontispiece and 
 Maps. Two Vols., crown 8vo, clotb 
 extra, 21s. 
 
 The Cruise of the "Black Prince" 
 Privateer, Commanded by ROBERT 
 HAWKINS, Master Mariner. By 
 Commander V. LOVETT CAMERON, 
 R.N., C.B., D.C.L. With Frontis- 
 piece and Vignette by P. MACNAB. 
 Crown 8vo, ci. ex., 5s. 
 
 Cameron (Mrs. H. Lovett), 
 
 Novels by: 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each 
 post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 Juliet's Guardian. | Deceivers Ever. 
 
 Carlyle (Thomas) : 
 On the Choice of Books. By THOMAS 
 CARLYLE. With a Life of ths Author 
 by R. H. SHEPHERD. New and Re- 
 vised Edition, post 8vo, cloth extra, 
 Illustrated, Is. 6d. 
 
 The Correspondence of Thomas 
 Carlyleand Ralph Waldo Emerson, 
 1834 to 1872. Edited by CHARLES 
 ELIOT NORTON. With Portraits. Two 
 Vols., crown Svo, cloth extra. 24s. 
 
 Chapman's (George) Works : 
 
 Vol. I. contains the Plays complete, 
 including the doubtful ones. Vol. II., 
 the Poems and Minor Translations, 
 with an Introductory Essay by ALGER- 
 NON CHARLES SWINBURNE. Vol. III., 
 the Translations of the Iliad and Odys- 
 sey. Three Vols., crown Svo, cloth 
 extra, 18s. ; or separately, 6s. each. 
 
 Chatto& Jackson. ATreatise 
 
 on Wood Engraving, Historical and 
 Practical. By WM. ANDREW CHATTO 
 and JOHN JACKSON. With an Addi- 
 tional Chapter by HENRY G. BOHN ; 
 and 450 fine Illustrations. A Reprint 
 of the last Revised Edition. Large 
 4to, half-bound, 28a. 
 
 Chaucer : 
 
 Chaucer for Children : A Golden 
 Key. By Mrs. H R . HAWEIS. With 
 Eight Coloured Pictures and nu- 
 merous Woodcuts by the Author. 
 New Ed., small 410, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Chaucer for Schools. By Mrs. H. R. 
 HAWEIS. Demy Svo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d, 
 
 Chronicle (The) of the Coach : 
 
 Charing Cross to Ilfracombe. By J. D. 
 CHAMPLIN. With 75 Illustrations by 
 EDWARD L. CHICHEST.SR. Square Svo, 
 cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 City (The) of Dream : A Poem. 
 Fcap. Svo, cloth extra, 6s. \JLn tht press.
 
 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY 
 
 Clodd. Myths and Dreams. 
 
 By EDWARD CLODD, F.R.A.S., Author 
 of " The Childhood of Religions," &c. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Cobban. The Cure of Souls: 
 
 A Story. By J. MACLAREN COBBAN. 
 Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 23. 
 
 Coleman. Curly: An Actor's 
 Story. B-y JOHN COLEMAN. Illustrated 
 by J. C. DOLLMAN. Crown 8vo, Is. ; 
 cloth, la. 6d. 
 
 Collins (Wilkie), Novels by: 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, Illustrated, 
 3s.6d. each ; postSvo.illustrated bds., 
 2s. each ; cloth limp, 2s. 6d. each. 
 
 Antonina. Illust. by SirJoHNGiLBERT. 
 
 Basil. Illustrated by Sir JOHN GIL- 
 CERT and J. MAHONEY. 
 
 Hide and Seek. Illustrated by Sir 
 JOHN GILBERT and J. MAHONEY. 
 
 The Dead Secret. Illustrated by Sir 
 JOHN GILBERT. 
 
 Queen of Hearts. Illustrated by Sir 
 JOHN GILBERT. 
 
 My Miscellanies. With a Steel-plate 
 Portrait of WILKIE COLLINS. 
 
 The Woman In White. With Illus- 
 trations by Sir JOHN GILBERT and 
 
 F. A. FRASER. 
 
 The Moonstone. With Illustrations 
 
 by G. Du MAURiERand F. A. FRASER. 
 
 Man and Wife. Illust. by W. SMALL. 
 
 POOP Miss Finch. Illustrated by 
 
 G. Du MAURIER and EDWARD 
 HUGHES. 
 
 Miss or Mrs. ? With Illustrations by 
 
 S. L. FiLDEsand HENRY WOODS. 
 The New Magdalen. Illustrated by 
 
 G.Du MAURIER and C.S.REINHARDT. 
 The Frozen Deep. Illustrated by 
 
 G. Du MAURIER and J. MAHONEY. 
 The Law and the Lady. Illustrated 
 
 by S. L. FILDES and SYDNEY HALL. 
 The Two Destinies. 
 The Haunted Hotel. IHustrated by 
 
 ARTHUR HOPKINS. 
 The Fallen Leaves. 
 Jezebel's Daughter. 
 The Black Robe. 
 Heart and Science: A Story of the 
 
 Present Time. 
 " I Say No." 
 The Evil Genius. 
 
 Little Novels. Three Vols., cr. 8vo. 
 [Shortly. 
 
 Collins (Mortimer), Novels by : 
 
 Crown 8vo cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each ; post 
 
 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s.each. 
 Sweet Anne Page. | Transmigration. 
 From Midnight to JWidnight. 
 
 A Fight with Fortune. Post 8vo, 
 illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Collins (Mortimer & Frances^ 
 
 Novels by: 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each ; post 
 
 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 Blacksmith and Scholar. 
 The Village Comedy. 
 You Play Me False. 
 Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 Sweet and Twenty. | Frances. 
 
 Co I i ins (C. Allston) The Bar 
 
 Sinister: A Story. By C. ALLSTON 
 COLLINS. Post 8vo, illustrated bds.,2s. 
 
 Colman's Humorous Works: 
 
 " Broad Grins, 1 ' " My Nrghtgown and 
 Slippers," and other Humorous Works. 
 Prose and Poetical, of GEORGB COL- 
 MAN. With Life by G. B. BUCKSTONE, 
 and Frontispiece by HOGARTH. Crown 
 8vo cloth extra, gilt, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Convalescent Cookery: A 
 
 Family Handbook. By CATHERINE 
 RYAN. Crown 8vo, Is. ; cloth, ls.6d._ 
 
 Conway (Moncure D,) ( Works 
 
 by: 
 
 Demonology and Devil-Lore. Two 
 
 Vols., royal 8vo, with 65 lllusts. ,28s. 
 
 A Necklace of Stories. Illustrated 
 
 by W. J. HENNESSY. Square 8vo, 
 
 cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Cook (Dutton), Works by: 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. each. 
 Hours with the Players. With a 
 
 Steel Plate Frontispiece. 
 Nights at the Play : A View oi thu 
 
 English Stage. 
 
 Leo: A Novel. Post 8vo, illustrated 
 
 boards, 2s. 
 Paul Foster's Daughter. crown'Svo, 
 
 cloth extra, 3s. 6d. ; post 8vo, Ulus- 
 
 trated boards, Za. 
 
 Copyright. A Handbook of 
 
 English and Foreign Copyright In 
 Literary and Dramatic Works. By 
 
 SIDNEY JERROLD, of the Middle 
 Temple, Esq., Barrister-at-Law. Post 
 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Cornwall. Popular Romances 
 
 of the West of England; or, The 
 Drolls, Traditions, and Superstitions 
 of Old Cornwall. Collected and Edited 
 by ROBERT HUNT, F.R.S. New and 
 Revised Edition, with Additions, and 
 Two Steel-plate Illustrations by 
 GEORGE CRUIKSHANK. Crown 8vo, 
 cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Craddock. The Prophet of 
 
 the Great Smoky Mountains By 
 CHARLES EGBERT CRADDOCK. Post 
 8ro, illust. bds., 2s. ; cloth limp, 2s 6d.
 
 CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY. 
 
 Creasy. Memoirs of Eminent 
 
 Etonians: with Notices of the Early 
 History of Eton College. By Sir 
 EDWARD CREASY, Author of " The 
 Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World." 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, with n 
 Portraits, 7a. 6d. 
 
 Cruikshank (George): 
 
 The Comic Almanack. Complete in 
 Two SERIES : The FIRST from 1835 
 to 1843 ; the SECOND from 1844 to 
 1853. A Gathering of the BEST 
 HUMOUR of THACKERAY, HOOD, MAY- 
 MEW, ALBERT SMITH, A'BECKETT, 
 ROBERT BROUGH, &c. With 2,000 
 Woodcuts and Steel Engravings by 
 CRUIKSHANK, HINE, LANDELLS, &c. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, two very thick 
 volumes, Is. 6d. each. 
 
 The Life of George Cruikshank. By 
 BLANCHARD TERROLD, Author ol 
 "The Life of Napoleon III.," &c. 
 With 84 Illustrations. New and 
 Cheaper Edition, enlarged, with Ad- 
 ditional Plates, and a very carefully 
 compiled Bibliography. Crown 8vo, 
 cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Robinson Crusoe. A beautiful re- 
 production of Major's Edition, with 
 37 Woodcuts and Two Steel Plates 
 by GEORGE CRUIKSHANK, choicely 
 printed. Crown 8vo, cloth extra. 
 78. 6d. 
 
 Oumming(C. F. Gordonj.Works 
 by: 
 
 Demy 8vo, eloth extra, 8s. 6d. each. 
 
 In the Hebrides. With Autotype Fac- 
 simile and numerous full-page Illus- 
 trations. 
 
 In the Himalayas and on the Indian 
 Plains. With numerous Illustra- 
 tions. 
 
 Via Cornwall to E^ypt. With a 
 Photogravure Frontispiece. Demy 
 8vo, cloth extra, 78. 6d. 
 
 Cussans. Handbook of Her- 
 aldry; with Instructions for Tracing 
 Pedigrees and Deciphering Ancient 
 MSS., &c. By JOHN E. CUSSANS. 
 Entirely New and Revised Edition, 
 illustrated with over 400 Woodcuts 
 and Coloured Plates. Crown 8vo, 
 cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Cyples. Hearts of Gold : A 
 
 Novel. By WILLIAM CYPLES. Crown 
 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. ; post 8vo, 
 illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Daniel. Merrie England In 
 
 the Olden Time. By GEORGE DANIEL. 
 With Illustrations by ROBT. CRUIK- 
 SHANK. Crown tvo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. 
 
 Daudet The Evangelist ; or~ 
 Port Salvation. By ALFHOMS 
 DAUDET. Translated by C. HARKT 
 MELTZER. With Portrait of the 
 Author. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 
 3s. 6d. ; post 8vo, Ulust. boards 2s 
 
 Davenant. What shall my 
 
 Son be P Hints for Parents on the 
 Choice of a Profession or Trade for 
 their Sons. By FRANCIS DAVENANT. 
 M.A. Post 8vo, cloth limp, 2s 6d. 
 
 Davies (Dp. N. E.), Works by: 
 
 Crown 8vo, Is. each ; cloth limp, 
 
 Is. 6d. each. 
 
 One Thousand Medical Maxims. 
 Nursery Hints: A Mother's Guide. 
 
 Aids to Long Life. Crown 8vo, 2s. 
 cloth limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Davies' (Sir John) Complete 
 
 Poetical Works, including Psalms I. 
 to L. in Verse, and other hitherto Un- 
 published MSS., for the first time 
 Collected and Edited, with Memorial- 
 Introduction and Notes, by the Rev. 
 A. B. GROSART. D.D. Two Vols. 
 crown 8vo, cloth boards, 12s. 
 
 De Maistre. A Journey Round 
 
 My Room. By XAVIER DE MAISTRE. 
 Translated by HENRY ATTWELL. Post 
 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
 De Mille. A Castle in Spain : 
 
 A Novel. By JAMES DB MILLE. With 
 a Frontispiece. Crown 8vo, cloth 
 extra, 3s. 6d. ; post 8vo, illust. bds., 23. 
 
 Derwent (Leith), Novels by: 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each ; post 
 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s, each. 
 OUP Lady of Tears. 
 Circe's Lovers. 
 
 Dickens (Charles), Novels by : 
 
 Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 Sketches by Boz. I NicholasNickleby. 
 Pickwick Papers. I Oliver Twist. 
 
 The Speeches of Charles Dickens, 
 1841-1870. With a New Bibliography, 
 revised and enlarged. Edited and 
 Prefaced by RICHARD HERNE SHEP- 
 HERD. Crown 8yo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 Also a SMALLER EDITION, in the 
 May/air Library. Post 8vo, clotll 
 limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
 About England with Dickens. By 
 ALFRED RIMMER. With 57 Illustra- 
 tions by C. A. VANDERHOOF, ALFRED 
 RIMMER, and others. So,. Svo, cloth 
 extra, 10s. 6d.
 
 8 
 
 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY 
 
 Dictionaries: 
 
 A Dictionary of Miracles: Imitative, 
 Realistic, am] Dogmatic. By the 
 Rev. E. C. BREWER, LL.D. Crown 
 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d.; hf.-bound, 9s. 
 
 The Reader's Handbook of Allu- 
 sions, References, Plots, and 
 Stories. By the Rev. E. C. BREWER, 
 LL.D. Fifth Edition, revised 
 throughout, with a New Appendix, 
 containing a Complete English Bib- 
 liography. Crown 8vo, 1,400 pages, 
 cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Authors and their Works, with the 
 Dates. Being the Appendices to 
 " The Reader's Handbook," sepa- 
 rately printed. By the Rev. Dr. 
 BREWER. Crown 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 
 
 Familiar Allusions: A Handbook 
 of Miscellaneous Information ; in- 
 cluding the Names of Celebrated 
 Statues, Paintings, Palaces, Country 
 Seats, Ruins, Churches, Ships, 
 Streets, Clubs, Natural Curiosities, 
 and the like. By WM. A: WHEELER 
 and CHARLES G. WHEELER. Demy 
 8vo, cloth extra, la. 6d. 
 
 Short Sayings of Great Men. With 
 Historical and Explanatory Notes. 
 By SAMUEL A. BENT, M.A. Demy 
 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 A Dictionary of the Drama: Being 
 a comprehensive Guide to the Plays, 
 Playwrights, Players, and Playhouses 
 of the United Kingdom and America, 
 from the Earliest to the Present 
 Times. By W. DAVENPORT ADAMS. 
 A thick volume, crown 8vo, half- 
 bound, 12s. 6d. [In preparation. 
 
 The Slang Dictionary: Etymological, 
 Historical, and Anecdotal. Crown 
 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. 6cl. 
 
 Women of the Day: A Biographical 
 Dictionary. By FRANCES HAYS. Cr. 
 8vo, cloth extra, 5s. 
 
 Words, Facts, and Phrases: A Dic- 
 tionary of Curious, Quaint, and Out- 
 of-the-Way Matters. By ELIF.ZER 
 EDWARDS. New and Cheaper Issue. 
 Cr. 8vo, cl. ex., 7s. 6d. ; hf.-bd., 9s. 
 
 Diderot. The Paradox of Act- 
 ing. Translated, with Annotations, 
 from Diderot's " Le Paradoxe sur le 
 Comedien," by WALTER HERRIES 
 POLLOCK. With a Preface by HKNRY 
 IRVING. Cr. 8vo, in parchment, 48. 6d. 
 
 Dobson (W. T.), Works by : 
 
 Post 8vo, cloth limp, 2s 6d. each. 
 
 Literary Frivolities, Fancies, Follies, 
 and Frolics. 
 
 Poetical Ingenuities and Eccentri- 
 cities. 
 
 Doran. Memories of our 
 
 Great Towns; with Anecdotic Glean- 
 ings concerning their Worthies and 
 their Oddities. By Dr. JOHN DORAN, 
 F.S.A. With 38 Illustrations. New 
 and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo, 
 cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Drama, A Dictionary of the. 
 
 Being e comprehensive Gufde to the 
 Plays, Playwrights, Players, and Play- 
 houses of the United Kingdom and 
 America, from the Earliest to the Pre- 
 sent Tunes. By W. DAVENPORT 
 ADAMS. (Uniform with BREWER'S 
 " Reader's Handbook.") Crown 8v^, 
 half-bound, 12s. 6d. [In f>*tparation. 
 
 Dramatists, The Old. Cr. 8vo, 
 
 cl. ex., Vignette Portraits, 6s. per Vol. 
 
 Ben Jonson's Works. With Notes 
 Critical and Explanatory, and a Bio- 
 graphical Memoir by WM. GIFFORD. 
 Edit, by Col. CUNNINGHAM. 3 Vols. 
 
 Chapman's Works. Complete in 
 Three Vols. Vol. I. contains the 
 Plays complete, including doubtful 
 ones; Vol. II., Poems and Minor 
 Translations, with Introdcr.tory Essay 
 by A. C.SWINBURNE; Voi. III. .Trans- 
 lations of the Iliad and Udyssey. 
 
 Marlowe's Works. Including his 
 Translations. Edited, with Notes 
 and Introduction, by Col. CUNNING- 
 HAM. One Vol. 
 
 Massinger's Plays. From the Text of 
 WILLIAM GIFFORD. Edited by Col. 
 CUNNINGHAM. One Vol. 
 
 Dyer. The Folk . Lore of 
 
 Plants. By Rev. T. F. THISELT./N 
 DYER, M.A. Crown 8vo, cloth ext a, 
 7s. 6d. [In preparation. 
 
 Early English Poets. Edited, 
 
 with Introductions and Annotations, 
 
 by Rev. A. B.GROSART, D.D. Crown 
 
 8vo, cloth boards, 6s. per Volume. 
 Fletcher's (Giles, B.DJ Complete 
 
 Poems. One Vol. 
 Davles' (Sir John) Complete 
 
 Poetical Works. Two Vols. 
 Herrick's (Robert) Complete Col 
 
 lected Poems. Three Vols. 
 Sidneys (Sir Philip) Complete 
 
 Poetical Works. Three Vois. 
 
 Herbert (Lord) of Cherbury's Poems. 
 Edited, with Introduction, by J. 
 CHUPTON COLLINS. Crown 8vo, 
 parchment, 8s. 
 
 Edwardes(Mrs A.), Novels by: 
 A Point of Honour. Post 8vo, illus- 
 trated boards, 2s. 
 
 Archie Lovell. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 
 3s. 6d. ; jost Svo, illust. bds., 2s.
 
 CHATTO * WINDUS, PICCADILLY. 
 
 Eggleston. Roxy: A Novel. By 
 EDWARD EGGLESTON. Post 8vo, illust. 
 boards, 2?. 
 
 Emanuel On Diamonds and 
 
 Precious otones : their History, Value, 
 and Properties ; with Simple Tests for 
 ascertaining their Reality. By HARRY 
 EMANUEL, F.R.G.S. With numerous 
 Illustrations, tinted and plain. Crown 
 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, 6s. 
 
 English Merchants: Memoirs 
 in Illustration of the Progress of British 
 Commerce. By H. R. Fox BOURNE. 
 With Illusts. New and Cheaper Edit, 
 revised. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Ewald (Alex. Charles, F.S.A.), 
 Works by: 
 
 The Life and Times of Prince 
 Charles Stuart, Count of Albany, 
 commonly called the Young Pre- 
 tender. From the State Papers and 
 other Sources. New and Cheaper 
 Edition, with a Portrait, crown 8vo, 
 cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Stories from the State Papers. 
 With an Autotype Facsimile. Crown 
 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Studies Re-studied: Historical 
 Sketches from Original Sources. 
 Demy 8vo, cloth extra, 12s. 
 
 Eyes, Our: How to Preserve 
 
 Them from Infancy to Old Age. By 
 JOHN BROWNING, F.R.A.S., &c. Fifth 
 Edition. With 55 Illustrations. Crown 
 8vo, cloth, Is. 
 
 Fairho.'t. Tobacco : Its His- 
 tory aiid Associations ; wi;h an Ac- 
 count of the Plant and \ts Manu- 
 facture, and its Modes of Use in all 
 Ages and Countries. By F. W. FAIR- 
 HOLT, fr.S.A. With upwards of 100 
 Illustrations by the Author. Crown 
 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Familiar Allusions: A Hand- 
 book pt Miscellaneous Information; 
 including the Names of Celebrated 
 Statues, Paintings, Palaces, Country 
 Seats, Ruins, Churches, Ships, Streets, 
 Clubs, Natural Curiosities, and the 
 like. Bv WILLIAM A. WHEELER, 
 Author of " Noted Names of Fiction ; *' 
 and CHARLES G. WHEKLZR. Demy 
 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Farrer (James Anson), Works 
 
 by: 
 Military Manners and Customs. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 War: Three Essays, Reprinted from 
 
 " Military Manners." Crown 8vo, 
 
 IB. ; cloth, Is. 6d. 
 
 Faraday (Michael), Works by: 
 
 Post 8vo, cloth extra, 4a. Gd. each. 
 The Chemical History of a Candle: 
 
 Lectures delivered before a Juvenile 
 
 Audience at the Royal Institution. 
 
 Edited by WILLIAM CROOKES, F.C.S. 
 
 With numerous Illustrations. 
 On the Various Forces of Nature, 
 
 and their Relations to each other: 
 
 Lectures delivered before a Juvenile 
 
 Audience at the Royal Institution. 
 
 Edited by WILLIAM CROOKES, F.C.S. 
 
 With numerous Illustrations. 
 
 Fin-Bee. The Cupboard 
 
 Papers : Observations on the Art ot 
 Living and Dining. By FIN-BEG. Post 
 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Fireworks, The Complete Art 
 
 of Making; or, The Pyrotechnist's 
 Treasury. By THOMAS KENTISH. With 
 267 Illustrations. A New Edition, Re- 
 vised throughout and greatly Enlarged. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 5s. 
 
 Fitzgerald (Percy), Works by : 
 
 The Recreations of a Literary Man; 
 or, Does Writing Pay? With Re- 
 collections of some Literary Men, 
 and a View of a Literary Man's 
 Working Life. Cr.Svo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 The World Behind the Scenes. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 64. 
 
 Little Essays: Passages from the 
 Letters of CHARLES LAMB. Post 
 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Fatal Zero : A Hombui g Diary. Cr. 
 8vo, cloth extra, 33. 6d. 
 
 Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 Bella Donna. I Never Forgotten 
 The Second Mrs. Tlllotson. 
 Polly. 
 
 Seventy-five Brooke Street. 
 The Lady of Brantome. 
 
 Fletcher's (Giles, B.D.) Com- 
 plete Poems : Christ's Victorie in 
 Heaven, Christ's Victorie on Earth, 
 Christ's Triumph over Death, and 
 Minr Poems. With Memorial-Intro- 
 duction and Notes by the Rev. A. B. 
 GROSART, D.D. Cr. 8vo, cloth bds., 6s. 
 
 Fonblanque Filthy Lucre : A 
 
 Novel. By ALBANY DE FONBLANQUE. 
 Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2a. 
 
 Francillon ("R". E.), Novels by: 
 
 Crown 8vp, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each; 
 
 post 8vo, illust. boards, 2s. each. 
 One by One. I A Real Queen. 
 Queen Cophetua. | 
 
 Olympla. Post 8vo, illust boards, 2s. 
 Esther's Glove. Fcap. 8vo, Is.
 
 IO 
 
 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY 
 
 French Literature, History of. ' 
 
 By HENRY VAN LAUN. Complete in 
 3 Vols., demy 8vo, cl. bds., la. 6d. each. 
 
 Frere. Pandurang Hari ; or, 
 
 Memoirs of a Hindoo. With a Preface 
 by Sir H. BARTLE FRERE, G.C.S.I., &c. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. ; post 
 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Friswell. One of Two: A Novel. 
 By HAIN FRISWELL. Post 8vo, illuS' 
 trated boards, 2s. 
 
 Frost (Thomas), Works by : 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each. 
 Circus Life and Circus Celebrities. 
 The Lives of the Conjurers. 
 The Old Showmen and the Old 
 London Fairs. 
 
 Fry's (Herbert) Royal Guide 
 
 to tha London Charities, 1886-7. 
 Showing their Name, Date of Founda- 
 tion, Objects,Incoine,Officials,&c. Pub- 
 lished Annually. Cr. 8vo, cloth, Is. 6<L 
 
 Gardening Books: 
 
 Post 8vo, la. each ; cl. limp, Is. 6d. each. 
 
 A Year's Werk in Garden and Green- 
 house : Practical Advice to Amateur 
 Gardeners as to the Management of 
 the Flower, Fruit, and Frame Garden. 
 By GEORGE GLENNY. 
 
 Our Kitchen Garden: The Plants we 
 Grow, and How we Cook Them. 
 By TOM JERROLD. 
 
 Household Horticulture: A Gossip 
 about Flowers. By TOM and JANE 
 JERROLD. Illustrated. 
 
 The Garden that Paid the Rent. 
 By TOM JERROLD. 
 
 My Garden Wild, and What I Gre* 
 there. ByF.G. HEATH. Crown v';o, 
 cloth extra, 5s. ; gilt edges, 6s. 
 
 Garrett. The Capei Girls: A 
 
 Novel. By EDWARD GARRETT. Cr. 8vo, 
 cl. ex., 3s. Gd. ; post 8vo, illust. bds., 2s. 
 
 Gentleman's Magazine (The) 
 
 for 1887. One Shilling Monthly. In 
 addition to the Articles upon subjects 
 in Literature, Science, and Art, for 
 which this Magazine has so high a 
 reputation, " Science Notes," by W. 
 MATTIEU WILLIAMS, F.R.A.S., and 
 "Table Talk," by SYLVANUS URBAN, 
 appear monthly. 
 ** Now ready, the Volume for JULY to 
 
 DECEMBER, iSS5, clothextra, price 8s. 6d.; 
 
 Cases for binding, 2s. each. 
 
 German Popular Stories. Col- 
 lected by tke Brothers GRIMM, and 
 Translated by EDGAR TAYLOR. Edited, 
 with an Introduction, by JOHN RUSKIN. 
 With 23 Illustrations on Steel by 
 GEORGE CRUIKSHANK. Square 8vo, 
 cloth extra, 6s. 6d. ; gilt edges, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Gibbon (Charles), Novels by : 
 
 Crown 8vp, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 
 Robin Gray. 
 
 For Lack of Gold. 
 
 What will the 
 
 World Say? 
 In Honour Bound. 
 Queen of the 
 
 Meadow. 
 Braes of Yarrow. 
 
 The Flower of the 
 Forest. [lem. 
 A Heart's Prob- 
 TheGoldenShaft. 
 Of High Degree. 
 Fancy Free. 
 Loving a Dream. 
 A Hard Knot. 
 
 Post Svo, illustrated boards, Za. each. 
 For the King. | InPasturesGreen. 
 In Love and War. 
 By Mead and Stream. 
 Heart's Delight. [Preparing. 
 
 Gilbert (William), Novels by : 
 
 Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 Dr. Austin's Guests. 
 The Wizard of the Mountain. 
 James Duke, Costermonger. 
 
 Gilbert (W. S.), Original Plays 
 
 by: In Two Series, each complete in 
 itself, price 2s. 6d. each. 
 
 The FIRST SERIES contains The 
 Wicked World Pygmalion and Ga- 
 latea Charity The Princess The 
 Palace of Truth Trial by Jury. 
 
 The SECOND SERIES contains Bro- 
 ken Hearts Engaged Sweethearts 
 Gretchen Dan'l Druce Tom Cobb 
 H.M.S. Pinafore The Sorcerer The 
 Pirates of Penzance. 
 
 Eight Original Comic Operas. Writ- 
 ten by \V. S. GILBERT. Containing: 
 The Sorcerer H.M.S. "Pinafore" 
 The Pirates of Penzance lolanthe 
 Patience Princess Ida The 
 Mikado Trial by Jury. Demy 8vo, 
 cloth limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Glenny. A Year's Work in 
 
 Garden and Greenhouse: Practical 
 Advice to Amateur Gardeners as to 
 the Management of the Flower, Fruit, 
 and Frame Garden. By GEORGE 
 GLENNY. Post Svo, Is.; cloth, Is. 6d. 
 
 Godwin. Lives of the Necro- 
 mancers. By WILLIAM GODWIN. 
 Post Svo, cloth limp, 2s.
 
 CHATTO & WIND US, PICCADILLY. 
 
 II 
 
 Golden Library, The: 
 
 Square i6mo (Tauchnitz size), cloth 
 limp, 2s. per volume. 
 
 Bayard Taylor's Diversions of the 
 Echo Club. 
 
 Bennett's (Dr. W. C.) Ballad History 
 of England. 
 
 Bennett's (Dr.) Songs for Sailors. 
 
 Byron's Don Juan. 
 
 Godwin's (William) Lives of the 
 Necromancers. 
 
 Holmes's Autocrat of the Break- 
 fast Table. Introduction by SALA. 
 
 Holmes's Prolossor at the Break- 
 fast Table. 
 
 Hood's Whims and Oddities. Com- 
 plete. All the original Illustrations. 
 
 Irving's (Washington) Tales of a 
 Traveller. 
 
 Jesse's (Edward) Scenes and Oc- 
 cupations of a Country Life. 
 
 Lamb's Essays of Ella. Both Series 
 Complete in One Vol. 
 
 Leigh Hunt's Essays: A Tale for a 
 Chimney Corner, and other Pieces. 
 With Portrait, and Introduction by 
 EDMUND OLLIER. 
 
 Mallory's (Sir Thomas) Mort 
 d'Arthur: The Stories of King 
 Arthur and of the Knights of the 
 Round Table. Edited by B. MONT- 
 GOMERIE RANKING. 
 
 Pascal's Provincial Letters. A New 
 Translation, with Historical Intro- 
 duction and Notes.byT.M'CRiE.D.D. 
 
 Pope's Poetical Works. Complete. 
 
 Rochefoucauld's Maxims and Moral 
 Reflections. With Notes, and In- 
 troductory Essay by SAINTE-BEUVE. 
 
 St. Pierre's Paul and Virginia, and 
 The Indian Cottage. Edited, with 
 Life, by the Rev. E. CLARKE. 
 
 Golden Treasury of Thought, 
 
 The : An ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF QUOTA- 
 TIONS from Writers of all Times and 
 Countries. Selected and Edited by 
 THEODORE TAYLOR. Crown 8vo, cloth 
 gilt and gilt edges, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Graham. The Professor's 
 
 Wife : A Story. By LEONARD GRAHAM. 
 Fcap. 8vo, picture cover, Is. 
 
 Greeks and Romans, The Life 
 
 of the, Described from Antique Monu- 
 ments. By ERNST GUHL and W. 
 KONER. Translated from the Third 
 German Edition, and Edited by Dr. 
 F. HUEFFER. 545 Illusts. New and 
 Cheaper Edit., demy 8vo, cl. ex., 7s. 6d. 
 
 Greenaway (Kate) and Bret 
 
 Harta. The Queen of the Pirate 
 Isle. By BRET HARTE. With 25 
 original Drawings by KATE GREEN- 
 AWAY, Reproduced in Colours by E. 
 EVANS. Sin. 410, bds., 6s. 
 
 Greenwood (James),Works by: 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 39. 6d. each. 
 The Wilds of London. 
 Low-Life Deeps: An Account of the 
 Strange Fish to be Found There. 
 
 Dick Temple: A Novel. Post 8vo, 
 illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Guyot. The Earth and Man ; 
 
 or, Physical Geography in its relation 
 to the History of Mankind. By 
 ARNOLD GUYOT. With Additions by 
 Professors AGASSIZ, PIERCE, and GRAY; 
 12 Maps and Engravings on Steel, 
 some Coloured, and copious Index. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, 4s. 6d. 
 
 Habberton Brueton's Bayou. 
 
 By JOHN HABBERTON, Author of 
 " Helen's Babies." Post 8vo, illus- 
 trated boards, 2s. ; cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Hair (The): Its Treatment in 
 Health, Weakness, and Disease. 
 Translated from the German of Dr. J. 
 PINCUS. Crown 8vo, Is.; cloth, Is. 6d. 
 
 Hake (Dr. Thomas Gordon), 
 
 Poems by: 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. each. 
 New Symbols. 
 Legends of the Morrow. 
 The Serpent Play. 
 
 Maiden Ecstasy. Small 4to, cloth 
 extra, 8s. 
 
 Hall. Sketches of Irish Cha- 
 racter. By Mrs. S. C. HALL. With 
 numerous Illustrations on Steel and 
 Wood by MACLISE, GILBERT, HARVEY, 
 and G. CRUIKSHANK. Medium 8ro, 
 cloth extra, gilt, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Halliday. Every-day Papers. 
 
 By ANDREW HALLIDAY. Post 8vo, 
 illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Handwriting, The Philosophy 
 
 of. With over 100 Facsimiles and Ex- 
 planatory Text. By DON FELIX DK 
 SALAMANCA. Pest 8vo, cl. limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Hanky-Panky: A Collection of 
 
 Very EasyTricks.Very Difficult Tricks, 
 White Magic, Sleight of Hand, &c. 
 Edited by W. H. CREMER. With 200 
 Illusts. Crown 8vo, cloth extra,4s. 6d.
 
 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY 
 
 Hardy (Lady Duffus). Paul 
 
 Wynter's Sacrifice: A Story. By 
 Lady DUFFUS HARDY. Post 8vo, illust. 
 boards, Zs. 
 
 Hardy (Thomas). Under the 
 
 Greenwood Tree. By THOMAS HARDY, 
 Author of " Far from the Madding 
 Crowd." With numerous Illustrations. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. ; post 
 8vo, illustrated boards, Za. 
 
 Harwood. The Tenth Earl. 
 
 Ey J. BERWICK HARWOOD. Post 8vo, 
 illustrated boards, Za. 
 
 Haweis (Mrs. H. R.), Works by : 
 
 The Art of Dress. With numerous 
 Illustrations. Small 8vo, illustrated 
 cover, Is. ; cloth limp, la. 6d. 
 
 The Art of Beauty. New and Cheaper 
 Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 
 Coloured Frontispiece and Illusts.fSs. 
 
 The Art of Decoration. Square 8vo, 
 handsomely bound and profusely 
 Illustrated, 10s. 6d. 
 
 Chaucer for Children: A Golden 
 Key. With Eight Coloured Pictures 
 and numerous Woodcuts. New 
 Edition, small 410, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Chaucer for Schools. Demy 8vo, 
 cloth limp, 2s. -6d. 
 
 Haweis (Rev. H. R.). American 
 
 Humorists. Including WASHINGTON 
 IRVING, OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, 
 JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL, ARTEMUS 
 WARD.MARK TWAIN, and BRET HARTE. 
 By the Rev. H. R. HAWEIS, M.A. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Hawthorne (Julian), Novels by. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each ; 
 post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 
 Garth. 
 
 Elllce Quentin. 
 
 Sebastian Strome. 
 Dust. 
 
 Prince SaronPs Wife. 
 
 Fortune's Fool. | Beatrix Randolph. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6dL each. 
 Miss Cadogna. 
 Love or a Name. 
 
 Mrs. Gainsborough's Diamonds. 
 Fcap. 8vo, illustrated cover, Is. 
 
 Hays. Women of the Day: A 
 
 Biographijal Dictionary of Notable 
 Contemporaries. By FRANCES HAYS, 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 5s. 
 
 Heath (F. G.). My Garden 
 
 Wild, and What I Grew There. By 
 FRANCIS GEORGE HEATH, Author of 
 "The Fern World," &c. Crown 8vo, 
 cloth extra, 5s. ; cl. gilt, gilt edges, Sa. 
 
 Helps (Sir Arthur), Wo"ks by : 
 
 Post 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d. each. 
 Animals and their Masters. 
 Social Pressure. 
 
 Ivan de Biron: A Novel. Crown 8vo, 
 cloth extra, 3s. 6d.; post 8vo, illus- 
 trated boards, Za. 
 
 Heptalogia (The); or, The 
 
 Seven against Sense. A Cap with 
 Seven Bells. Cr. 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Herriok's (Robert) Hesperides, 
 
 Nob'a Numbers, and Complete Col- 
 lected Poems. With Men3crial-Intro- 
 duct.-ou and Notes by the Rev. A. B. 
 GROSART, D.D., Steel Po.^rait, Index 
 of First Lines, and Glossarial Index, 
 &c. Three Vols., crown Svo, cloth, 18s. 
 
 Hesse- Wartegg (Chevalier 
 
 Ernst von), Works by : 
 
 Tunis: The Land and the People. 
 Witb 22 Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 
 cloth extra, 3s. 6d. 
 
 The New Southwest: Travelling 
 Sketches from Kansas, New Mexico, 
 Arizona, and Northern Mexico. 
 With 100 fine Illustrations and Three 
 Mapi Demy 8vo, c'oth extra, 
 14s. [/ preparation. 
 
 Herbert. The Poems of Lord 
 
 Herbert of Cherbury. Edited, with 
 Introduction, by J. CHURTON COLLINS. 
 Crown Svo, bound in parchment, 8s. 
 
 Hindley (Charles), Works by : 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each. 
 
 Tavern Anecdotes and Sayings: In- 
 cluding the Origin of bigns, and 
 Reminiscences connected with 
 Taverns, Coffee Houses, Clubs, &c. 
 With Illustrations. 
 
 The L|f? and Adventures of a Cheap 
 Jack. By One of the Fraternity. 
 Edited by CHARLES HIKDLEY. 
 
 Hoey. The Lover's Creed. 
 
 By Mrs;. CASHEL HOEY. With Frontis- 
 piece by P. MACNAB. New c.nd Cheaper 
 Edit. Crown Svo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. ; 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Holmes (O.Wendell), Works by: 
 
 The Autocrat of the Breakfast- 
 Table Illustrated by J. GORDON 
 THOMSON. Post 8yo, noth limp, 
 2s. 6d.- -Another Editior in smaller 
 type, with an Introduction by G. A, 
 SALA. Post Svo, cloth li.-np, 2s. 
 
 The Professor at the Breakfast- 
 Table ; with the Story of Iris. Post 
 8vo, cloth limp, 2s.
 
 CHATTO & W INDUS, PICCADILLY. 
 
 Holmes. The Science of 
 
 Voice Production and Voice Preser- 
 vation : A Popular Manual for the 
 Use of Speakers and Sineets. By 
 GORDON HOLMES, M.D. with Illus- 
 trations. Crown 8vo, Is. ; cloth, Is. 6d. 
 
 Hood (Thomas): 
 
 Hood's Choice Works, in Prose and 
 Verse. Including the Cretin of the 
 COMIC ANNUALS. With Life of the 
 Authoi, Portrait, and aoo Illustra- 
 tion's. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Hood's Whims and Oddities. Com- 
 plete. With ail the original Illus- 
 trations. Post 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 
 
 Hood (Tom), Works by: 
 
 From Nowhere to the North Pole: 
 
 A Noah's Arkaeological Narrative. 
 With 25 Illustrations by W. BRUN- 
 TON and E. C. BARNES. Square 
 crown Svo, cloth extra, gilt edges, 6s. 
 A Golden Heart : A Novel. Post 8vo, 
 illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Hook's (Theodore) Choice Hu- 
 morous Works, including his Ludi- 
 crous Adventures.Bons Mots, Pans and 
 Hoaxes. Wiih a New Life of the 
 Author, Portraiis, Facsimiles, and 
 Illusts. Cr. Svo, cl. extra, gilt, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Hooper. The House of Raby : 
 
 A Novel. By Mrs. GEORGE HOOPER. 
 Post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Hopkins " Twixt Love and 
 
 Duty:" A Novel. By TIGHE HOPKINS. 
 Crown Svo, cloth extra, 6s. ; post Svo, 
 illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 jruitidu 11 uiii a ivjcucuiiuu uy oUM- 
 
 MERS. Tenth Edition, crown 8vo, 
 cloth extra, la. 
 
 Howe!!. Conficts of Capital 
 
 and Labour, Historically aud Eco- 
 nomically consideierl : Being a His- 
 tosy and Review of the Trade Unions 
 of Great Britain. By GEO. HOWELL 
 M.P. Crown Svo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Hunt. Essays by Leigh Hunt. 
 
 A Tale for a Chimney Corner, and 
 other Pieces. With Portrait and In- 
 troduction by EDMUND OLLIER. Post 
 Svo, cloth limp, 2s 
 
 Hunt (Mrs. Alfred), Novels by 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 
 Thornlcroft's Model. 
 
 The Leaden Casket. 
 
 Self-Condemned. 
 
 That other Person. 
 
 Indoor Paupers. By ONE OF 
 
 THEM. Crown Svo, is. ; cloth. Is. 6d. 
 
 Ingelow Fated to be Free : A 
 
 Novel. By JRAN INGELOW. Crown 
 Svo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. ; post Svo, 
 illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Irish Wit and Humour, Songs 
 
 of. Collected and Edited by A. PER- 
 CEVAL GRAVES. Post Svo, cloth limp. 
 2s. 6d. 
 
 Irving Tales of a Traveller. 
 
 By WASHINGTON IRVING. Post Svo, 
 cloth limp, 2s* 
 
 Jay (Harriett), Novels by: 
 
 The Dark Colleen. Post Svo, illus- 
 trated boards, 2s. 
 
 The Queen of Connaught. Crown 
 Svo, cloth extra, 3s. Gti.; post Svo, 
 illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Janvier. Practical Keramics 
 for Students. By CATHERINE A. 
 JANVIER. Crown Svo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Jefferies (Richard), Works by: 
 
 Crown dvo, cloth ejrtra, 6s. each. 
 Nature near London. 
 The Life of the Fields. 
 The Open Air. 
 
 Jennings (H. J.), Works by: 
 
 Curiosities of Criticism. Post Svo, 
 cloth limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Lord Tennyson: A Biographical 
 Sketch. With a Photograph-Por- 
 trait. Crown Svo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Jerrold (Tom), Works by : 
 
 Post Svo, Is each ; cloth, Is. 6d. each. 
 The Garden tnat Paid the Rent. 
 Household Horticulture: A Gossip 
 
 about Flowers. Illustrated. 
 Our Kitchen Garden: The Plants 
 
 we Grow, and How we Cook Them. 
 
 Jesse. Scenes and Occupa- 
 tions of a Country Life. By EDWARD 
 JESSE. Post Svo. cloth limp, 2s.
 
 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY 
 
 Jeux d'Esprit. Collected and 
 Edited by HENRY S. LEIGH. PostSvo, 
 cloth limp, 2g. 6d. 
 
 Jones (Wm., F.S.A.), Works by: 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, Is. 6d. each. 
 
 Finger-Ring Lope: Historical, Le- 
 gendary, and Anecdotal. With over 
 Two Hundred Illustrations. 
 
 Credulities, Past and Present; in- 
 cluding the Sea and Seamen, Miners, 
 Talismans, Word and Letter Divina- 
 tion Exorcising and Blessing of 
 Animals, Birds, Eggs, Luck, &c. 
 With an Etched Frontispiece. 
 
 Crowns and Coronations: A History 
 of Regalia in all Times and Coun- 
 tries. With One Hundred Illus- 
 trations. 
 
 Jonson's (Ben) Works, With 
 
 Notes Critical and Explanatory, and 
 a Biographical Memoir by WILLIAM 
 GIFFORD. Edited by Colonel CUN- 
 NINGHAM. Three Vols., crown 8vo, 
 cloth extra, 183. ; or separately ,6s. each. 
 
 Joseph us,TheCompleteWorks 
 
 of. Translated by WHISTON. Con- 
 taining both " The Antiquities of the 
 Jews " and " The Wars of the Jews." 
 Two Vols., 8vo, with 52 Illustrations 
 and Maps, cloth extra, gilt, 14s. 
 
 Kempt. Pencil and Palette: 
 
 Chapters on Art and Artists. By ROBERT 
 KEMPT. Post 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Kershaw. Colonial Facts and 
 
 Fictions: Humorous Sketches. By 
 MARK KERSHAW. Post 8vo, illustrated 
 boards, 2s. ; cloth, 2s. 60. 
 
 King (R. Ashe), Novels by: 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each ; 
 post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 A Drawn Game. 
 "The Wearing of the Green." 
 
 Kingsley (Henry), Novels by : 
 
 Oakshott Castle. Post 8vo, illus- 
 trated boards, 2s. 
 
 Number Seventeen. Crown 8vo, cloth 
 extra, 3s. 6d. 
 
 Knight. The Patient's Vade 
 
 Mecum: How to get most Benefit 
 from Medical Advice. By WILLIAM 
 KNIGHT, M.R.C.S., and EDWARD 
 KNIGHT, L.R.C.P. Crown 8vo, Is. ; 
 cloth, Is. 6d. 
 
 Lamb (Charles): 
 
 Lamb's Complete Works, in Prose 
 and Verse, reprinted from the Ori- 
 ginal Editions, with many Pieces 
 hitherto unpublished. Edited, with 
 Notes and Introduction, by R. H. 
 SHEPHERD. With Two Portraits and 
 Facsimile of Page of the " Essay on 
 Roast Pig." Crown 8vo, cloth extra. 
 la. Gd. 
 
 The Essays of Ella. Complete Edi- 
 tion. Post 8vo, cloth extra, 2s. 
 
 Poetry for Children, and Prlnca 
 Dorus. By CHARLES LAMB. Care- 
 fully reprinted from unique copies. 
 Small 8vo, cloth extra, 5s. 
 
 Little Essays : Sketches and Charac- 
 ters. By CHARLES LAMB. Selected 
 from his Letters by PERCY FITZ- 
 GERALD. Post 8vo, cloth limp, 
 2s. 6d. 
 
 Lane's Arabian Nights, &c. : 
 
 The Thousand and One Nights: 
 
 commonly called, in England, " THB 
 ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAIN- 
 MENTS." A New Translation from 
 the Arabic, with copious Notes, by 
 EDWARD WILLIAM LANE. Illustrated 
 by many hundred Engravings on 
 Wood, from Original Designs by 
 WM. HARVEY. A New Edition, from 
 a Copy annotated by the Translator; 
 edited by his Nephew, EDWARD 
 STANLEY POOLE. With a Preface by 
 STANLEY LANE- POOLE. Three Vols., 
 demy 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. each, 
 Arabian Society In the Middle Ages: 
 Studies from "The Thousand and 
 One Nights." By EDWARD WILLIAM 
 LANE, Author of "The Modern 
 Egyptians," &c. Edited by STANLEY 
 LANE-POOLE. Cr. 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Lares and Penates ; or, The 
 
 Background of Life. By FLORENCE 
 CADDY. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Larwood (Jacob), Works by; 
 
 The Story of the London Parks. 
 
 With Illustrations. Crown 8ve, cloth 
 extra, 3s. Gd, 
 
 Post 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d. each. 
 Forensic Anecdotes. 
 Theatrical Anecdotes. 
 
 Life in London ; or, The History 
 of Jerry Hawthorn and Corinthian 
 Tom. With the whole of CRUIK- 
 SHANK'S Illustrations, in Colours, after 
 the Originals. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 
 7s. 6d.
 
 CHATTO &- IV INDUS, PICCADILLY. 
 
 Linton (E. Lynn), Works by: 
 Post 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d. each. 
 Witch Stories. 
 
 The True Story of Joshua Davidson. 
 Ourselves: Essays on Women. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each ; post 
 
 8vo, llustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 Patricia Kembail. 
 The Atonement of Leam Dundas. 
 The World Well Lost. 
 Under which Lord ? 
 With a Silken Thread. 
 The Rebel of the Family. 
 " My Love ! " I lone. 
 
 Longfellow: 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. each. 
 
 Longfellow's Complete Prose Works. 
 Including " Outre Mer," " Hyper- 
 ion," " Kayanagh," "The Poets and 
 Poetry of Europe," and " Drift wood. 1 ' 
 With Portrait and Illustrations by 
 VALENTINE BROMLEY. 
 
 Longfellow's Poetical Works. Care- 
 fully Reprinted from the Original 
 Editions. With numerous fine Illus- 
 trations on Steel and Wood. 
 
 Long Life, Aids to: A Medical, 
 Dietetic, and General Guide in 
 Health and Disease. By N. E. 
 DAVIES, L.R.C.P. Crown 8vo, 2s. ; 
 cloth limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Lucy. Gideon Fleyce: A Novel. 
 
 By HENRY W. LUCY. Crown 8vo, 
 cl. ex., 3s. 6d.; post 8vo, illust. bds., 2s. 
 
 Lusiad (The) of Camoens. 
 
 Translated into English Spenserian 
 Verse by ROBERT FFRENCH DUFF. 
 Demy 8vo, with Fourteen full-page 
 Plates, cloth boards, 18s. 
 
 Macalpine. Teresa Itasca, 
 
 and other Stories. By AVERY MAC- 
 ALPINE. Crown Svo, bound in canvas, 
 2s. 6d. 
 
 McCarthy (Justin, M.P.),Works 
 by: 
 
 A History of Our Own Times, from 
 the Accession of Queen Victoria to 
 the General Election of 1880. Four 
 Vols. demy Svo, cloth extra, 12s. 
 each. Also a POPULAR EDITION, in 
 Four Vols. cr. Svo, cl. extra, 6s. each. 
 And a JUBILEE EDITION, with an 
 Appendix of Events to the end of 
 1886, complete in Two Vols., square 
 gvo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. each. 
 
 MCCARTHY (JUSTIN), continued 
 A Short History ot Our Own Times. 
 
 One Vol., crown Svo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 History of the Four Georges. Four 
 
 Vols. demy Svo, cloth extra, 12s. 
 
 each. [Vol. I. now ready, 
 
 Crown 8vo. cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each , 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, 23. each. 
 Dear Lady Disdain, 
 The Waterdale Neighbour*. 
 My Enemy's Daughter. 
 A Fair Saxon. 
 Miss Misanthrope. 
 Donna Quixote. 
 The Comet of a Ssason. 
 Maid of Athens. 
 Camlola : A Girl with a Fortune, 
 
 Llnley Rochford. Post Svo, illustra- 
 ted boards, 2s. 
 
 "The Right Honourable:" A Ro- 
 mance of Society and Politics. By 
 JUSTIN MCCARTHY, M.P., and Mrs. 
 CAMPBELL-PRAED. New and Cheaper 
 Edition, crown Svo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 [Shortly. 
 
 McCarthy (Justin H., MP.) 
 
 Works by: 
 An Outline of the History of Ireland, 
 
 from 'he Earliest Times to the Pre- 
 sent Day. Cr. Svo, Is. ; cloth, Is. 6d. 
 Ireland since the Union: Sketches 
 
 of -.Irish History from 1798 to 1886. 
 
 Crbwn Svo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 The Case for Home Rule. Crowa 
 
 Svo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 England under Gladstone, 1880-85. 
 
 Second Edition, revised. Crowa 
 
 Svo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 Doom ! An Atlantic Episode. Crown 
 
 Svo, Is. ; cloth, Is. 6d. 
 Our Sensation Novel. Edited by 
 
 JUSTIN H. MCCARTHY. Crown Svo, 
 
 Is. ; cloth, Is. 6d. 
 Haflz in London. Choicely printed. 
 
 Small Svo, gold cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 
 Macdonell. Quaker Cousins: 
 
 A Novel. By AGNES MACDONELL. 
 Crown Svo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. ; post 
 Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Macgregor. Pastimes and 
 
 Players. Notes on Popular Games. 
 By ROBERT MACGREGOR. Post Svo, 
 cloth limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Mackay. Interludes and Un- 
 dertones ; or, Music at Twilight. By 
 CHARLES MACKAY, LL.D. Crown Svo, 
 cloth extra, 6s-
 
 BOOKS PUBLISHED 
 
 MacDonald (George, LL.D.), 
 
 Works by : 
 
 Works of Fancy and Imagination. 
 Pocket Edition, Ten Volumes, in 
 handsome cloth case, 21s. Vol. i. 
 WITHIN AND WITHOUT. THE HID- 
 DEN LIFE. Vol. 2. THE DISCIPLE. 
 THE GOSPEL WOMEN. A BOOK OF 
 SONNETS. ORGAN SONGS. Vol. 3. 
 VIOLIN SONGS. SONGS OF THE DAYS 
 AND NIGHTS. A BOOK OF DREAMS. 
 ROADSIDE POEMS. POEMS FOR 
 CHILDREN. Vol. 4. PARABLES. 
 BALLADS. SCOTCH SONGS. Vols. 
 5 and 6. PHANTASTES: A Faerie 
 Romance. Vol. 7. THF. PORTENT. 
 Vol. 8. THE LIGHT PRINCESS. THE 
 GIANT'S HEART. SHADOWS. Vol. 
 9. CROSS PURPOSES. THE GOLDEN 
 KEY. THE CARASOYN. LITTLE 
 DAYLIGHT. Vol. 10. THE CRUEL 
 PAINTER. THE Wow 6' RIVVEN. 
 THE CASTLE. THE BROKEN SWORDS. 
 THE GRAY WOLF. UNCLE CORNE- 
 LIUS. 
 
 The Volumes are also sold separately 
 in G roller-pattern cloth, 2s. 6d. each. 
 
 Maclise Portrait-Gallery (The) 
 
 of Illustrious Literary Characters; 
 
 with Memoirs Biographical, Critical, 
 Bibliographical, and Anecdotal illus- 
 trative of tiia Literature of the former 
 half of the Present Century. By 
 WILLIAM BATES, B.A. With 85 Por- 
 traits printed on an India Tint. Crown 
 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Macquoid (Mrs.), Works by: 
 Square 8vo, cloth extra, 10s. 6d. each. 
 In the Ardennes. With 50 fine Illus- 
 trations by THOMAS R. MACQUOID. 
 Pictures and Legends from Nor- 
 mandy and Brittany. With numer- 
 ous Illustrations by THOMAS R. 
 MACQUOID. 
 
 About Yorkshire. With 67 Illustra- 
 tions by T. R. MACQUOID. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. each. 
 
 Through Normandy. With 90 Illus- 
 trations byT. R. MACQUOID. 
 
 Through Brittany. With numerous 
 Illustrations by T. R. MACQUOID. 
 
 Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 The Evil Eye, and other Stories. 
 Lost Rose. 
 
 Magician's Own Book (The): 
 
 Performances with Cups and Balls, 
 Eggs, Hats, Handkerchiefs, &c. All 
 from actual Experience. Edited by 
 W. H. CREMER. With 200 Illustrations. 
 Crown Svo, cloth extra, 4s. 6d. 
 
 Magic Lantern (The), and its 
 
 Management: including ful} Prac. 
 tical Directions for producing tht 
 Limelight, making Oxygen Gas, and 
 preparing Lantern Slides. By T. C 
 HEPWORTH. With 10 Illustrations 
 Crown 8vo, Is. ; cloth, Is. 6d. 
 
 Magna Charta. An exact Fac, 
 
 simile of the Original in the British 
 Museam, printed on fine plate paper, 
 3 feet by 2 feet, with Arms and Seals 
 emblazoned in Gold and Colours, 6a. 
 
 Mallock (W. H.), Works by: 
 
 The New Republic; or, Culture, Faith 
 and Philosophy in an English Countty 
 House. Post 8ro, cloth limp, 2s. 6d. ; 
 Cheap Edition, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 The New Paul and Virginia; or, Posi- 
 tivism on an Island. Post 8vo, cloth 
 limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Poems. Small 4to, in parchment, 8s. 
 
 Is Life worth Living P Crown 8vo, 
 cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Mallory's (Sir Thomas) Mort 
 
 d'Arthur : The Stories of King Arthur 
 and of the Knights of the Round Table. 
 Edited by B. MONTGOMERIE RANKING. 
 Post tivo, cloth limp, 2s. 
 
 Mark Twain, Works by: 
 
 The Choice Works of Mark Twain. 
 Revised and Corrected throughout by 
 the Author. With Life, Portrait, and 
 numerous Illustrations, Crown 8vo, 
 cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 The Innocents Abroad ; or, The New 
 Pilgrim's Progress : Being some Ac- 
 count of the Steamship " Quaker 
 City's " Pleasure Excursion to 
 Europe and the Holy Land. With 
 234 Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth 
 extra, 7s. 6d. Cheap Edition (under 
 theticle of" MARKTWAIN'S PLEASURE 
 TRIP "),post 8vo, illust. boards, 2s. 
 
 Roughing It, and The Innocents at 
 Home. With 200 Illustrations by 
 F. A. FRASER. Crown 8vo, cloth 
 extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 The Gilded Age. By MARK TWAIN 
 and CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER. 
 WiiL 212 Illustrations by T. COPPIN. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 73. 6d. 
 
 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. 
 With in Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 
 cloth extra, 7s. 6d. Cheap Edition, 
 post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 The Prince and the Pauoer. With 
 nearly 200 Illustrations. Crown Svo, 
 cloth extra, 7s. 6i.
 
 CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY. 
 
 MARK TWAIN'S WORKS, continued 
 
 A Tramp Abroad. With 314 Illustra- 
 tions. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, Is. 64. 
 Cheap Edition, post 8vo,illustrated 
 boards, 2s. 
 
 The Stolen White Elephant, &c. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. ; post 8vo, 
 illustrated boards, 2a. 
 
 Life on the Mississippi. With about 
 300 Original Illustrations. Crown 
 8yo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. Cheap Edi- 
 tion, post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 The Adventures of Huckleberry 
 Finn. With 174 Illustrations by 
 E. W. KEMRLE. Crown 8yo, cloth 
 extra, 7s. 6d. Cheap Edition, post 
 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Marlowe's Works. Including 
 his Translations. Edited, with Notes 
 and Introductions, by Col. CUN- 
 NINGHAM. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Marryat (Florence), Novels by: 
 
 Crown 8vp, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each; 
 post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 Open ! Sesame ! 
 Written In Fire 
 
 Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 A Harvest of Wild Oats. 
 A Little Stepson. 
 Fighting the Mr. 
 
 Massinger's Plays. From the 
 Text of WILLIAM GIFFORD. Edited 
 by Col. CUNNINGHAM. Crown 8vo, 
 cloth extra. 6s. 
 
 Masterman. Half a Dozen 
 
 Daughters: A Novel. By J. MASTER- 
 MAN. Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Matthews. A Secret of the 
 
 Sea, &c. By BRAND^IR MATTHEWS. 
 Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s : cloth, 
 2s. 6d. 
 
 MayfpJr Library, The: 
 
 Post 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d. per Volume, 
 A Journey Round My Room. By 
 
 XAVIER DE MAISTRE. Translated 
 
 by HENRY ATT WELL. 
 Latter Day Lyrics. Edited by W. 
 
 DAVEP ?ORT ADAMS. 
 Quips and Quiddities. Selected by 
 
 W. DAVENPORT ADAMS. 
 The Agony Column of "The Times," 
 
 from 1800 to 1870. Edited, with an 
 
 Introduction, by ALICE CLAY. 
 Melancholy Anatomised: A Popular 
 
 Abridgment of " Burton's Anatomy 
 
 of Melancholy." 
 Gastronomy as a Fine Art By 
 
 BRILLAT-SAVAKJN. 
 
 MAYFAIR LIBRARY, continued 
 
 The Speeches of Charles Dickens. 
 
 Literary Frivolities, Fancies, Follies, 
 and Frolics. By W. T. DOBSON. 
 
 Poetical Ingenuities and Eccentric) 
 ties. Selected and Edited by W. T 
 DOBSON. 
 
 The Cupboard Papers. By FIN-BEC. 
 
 Original Plays by W. S. GILBERT. 
 FIRST SERIES. Containing: The 
 Wicked World Pygmalion and 
 Galatea Charity The Princess 
 The Palace of Truth Trial by Jury. 
 
 Original Plays by W. S. GILBERT. 
 SECOND SERIES. Containing : Broken 
 Hearts Engaged Sweethearts 
 Gretchen Dan'l Druce Tom Cobb 
 H.M.S. Pinafore The Sorcerer 
 The Pirates of Penzance. 
 
 Songs of Irish Wit and Humour. 
 
 Collected and Edited by A. PERCEVAL 
 
 GRAVES. 
 Animals and their Masters. By Sir 
 
 ARTHUR HELPS. 
 
 Social Pressure. By Sir A. HELPS. 
 Curiosities of Criticism. By HENRY 
 
 J. JENNINGS. 
 The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table. 
 
 By OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. Il- 
 lustrated by J. GORDON THOMSON. 
 Pencil and Palette. By ROBERT 
 
 KEMPT. 
 
 Little Essays : Sketches and Charac- 
 ters. By CHAS. LAMB. Selected from 
 
 his Letters by PERCY FITZGERALD. 
 Forensic Anecdotes; or, Humour and 
 
 Curiosities of the Law and Men of 
 
 Law. By JACOB LARWOOD. 
 Theatrical Anecdotes. By JACOB 
 
 LARWOOD. 
 Jeux d'Esprit. Edited by HENRY S 
 
 LEIGH. 
 True History of Joshua Davidson. 
 
 By E. LYNN LINTON. 
 Witch Stories. By E. LYNN LINTON 
 Ourselves: Essays on Women. By 
 
 E. LYNN LINTON. 
 Pastimes and Players. By ROBERT 
 
 MACGREGOR. 
 The New Paul and Virginia. By 
 
 W. H. MALLOCK. 
 
 New Republic. By W. H. MALLOCK. 
 Puck on Pegasus. By H.CHOLMONDA- 
 
 LEY-PENNELL. 
 Pegasus Re-Saddled. By H. CHOL- 
 
 MONDELEY-PENNELL. Illustrated bj 
 
 GEORGE Du MAURIER. 
 Muses of Mayfalr. Edited by H. 
 
 CHOLMONDELEY-PENNELL. 
 Thoreau : His Life and Aims. By 
 
 H. A. PAGE.
 
 i8 
 
 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY 
 
 MAVFAIR LIBRARY, continued. 
 
 Punlana. By ths Hon. HUGH ROWLEY. 
 
 More Punlana. By the Hon. HUGH 
 ROWLEY. 
 
 The Philosophy of Handwriting. By 
 DON FELIX DE SALAMANCA. 
 
 By Stream and Sea. By WILLIAM 
 SENIOR. 
 
 Old Stories Retold. By WALTER 
 THORNBURY. 
 
 Leaves from a Naturalist's Note- 
 Book. By Dr. ANDREW WILSON. 
 
 Mayhew. London Characters 
 
 and the Humorous Side of London 
 Life. By HENRY MAYHEW. With 
 numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 
 cloth extra, 3s. 6d. 
 
 Medicine, Family. One Thou- 
 
 sand Medical Maxims and Surgical 
 Hints, for Infancy, Adult Life, Middle 
 Age, and Old Age. By N. E. DAVIES, 
 L.R.C.P. Lond. Cr.8vo.ls.; cl.,ls.6d. 
 
 Merry Circle (The) : A Book of 
 New Intellectual Games and Amuse- 
 ments. By CLARA BELLEW. With 
 numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 
 cloth extra, 4s. Gd. 
 
 Mexican Mustang (On a), 
 
 through Texas, from the Gulf to the 
 Rio Grande. A New Book of Ameri- 
 can Humour. By ALEX. E. SWEET and 
 J. ARMOY KNOX, Editors of " Texas 
 Siftings." With 265 Illusts. Cr. 8vo, 
 cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Middlemass (Jean), Novels by: 
 
 Post 8vo, illustrated boards. 2s. each. 
 Touch and Go. | Mr. Don I lion. 
 
 Miller. Physiology for the 
 
 Young; or, The House of Life: Hu- 
 man Physiology, with its application 
 to the Preservation of Health. For 
 Classes and Popular Reading. With 
 numerous Illusts. By Mrs. F. FENWICK 
 MILLER. Small 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Milton (J. L.), Works by: 
 
 Sm. 8vo, Is. each ; cloth ex., Is. Gd.each. 
 
 The Hygiene of the Skin. A Concise 
 
 Set of Rules for the Management of 
 
 the Skin; with Directions for Diet, 
 
 Wines, Soaps, Baths, &c. 
 
 The Bath In Diseases of the Skin. 
 
 The Laws of Life, and their Relation 
 
 _ to Diseases of the Skin. 
 
 Molesworth (Mrs.). Hather- 
 
 court Rectory. By Mrs. MOLES- 
 WORTH, Author of "The Cuckoo 
 Clock," &c. Crown Svo, cloth extra. 
 4s. 64. 
 
 Murray (D. Christie), Novels 
 
 by. Crown Svo.cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each ; 
 
 POL; Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 
 A Life's Atonement, 
 
 A Model Father. 
 
 Joseph's Coat. 
 
 Coals of Fire. 
 
 By the Gate of the Sea. 
 
 Val Strange, 
 
 Hearts. 
 
 The Way of the World. 
 
 A Bit of Human Nature. 
 
 First Person Singular. 
 
 Cynic Fortune. 
 
 Old Blazer's Hero. Two Vols., crown 
 Svo, 123. [Shortly, 
 
 North Italian Folk. By Mrs. 
 
 COMYNS CARR. Illustrated by RAN- 
 DOLPH CALDECOTT. Square Svo, c-lotb. 
 extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Nursery Hints: A Mother's 
 Guide in Health and Disease. By N. 
 E. DAVIES, L.R.C.P. Crown Svo, Is.; 
 cloth, Is. Gd. 
 
 O'Connor. Lord Beaconsfield 
 
 A Biography. ByT. P.O'CoNNOR, M.P. 
 Sixth Edition, with a New Preface, 
 bringing the work down to the Death 
 of Lord Beaconsfield. Crown 8vo, 
 cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 O'Hanlon. The Unforeseen: 
 
 A Novel. By ALICE O'HANLON. New 
 and Cheaper Edition. Post Svo, illus- 
 trated boards, 2s. 
 
 Oliphant (Mrs.) Novels by: 
 
 Whlteladies. With Illustrations by 
 ARTHUR HOPKINS and H. WOODS. 
 Crown 8yo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. ; 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth extra, 4s. 6d. each. 
 
 The Primrose Path. 
 
 The Greatest Heiress In England. 
 
 O'Reilly. Phoebe's Fortunes: 
 
 A Novel. With Illustrations by HENRY 
 TUCK. Post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 O'Shaughnessy (Arth.), Works 
 
 by: 
 Songs of a Worker. Fcap. Svo, cloth 
 
 extra, 7s. 6d. 
 Music and Moonlight. Foap. Svo, 
 
 cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 Lays of France. Crown Svo, cloti 
 
 extra, 10s. Gd.
 
 CHATTO < WINDUS, PICCADILLY. 
 
 Ouida, Novels 
 
 cloth extra, 6s. e 
 trated boards, 2s. 
 Held In Bondage. 
 Strathmore. 
 Chandos. 
 Under Two Flags. 
 Cecil Castle- 
 malne's Gage. 
 Idalla. 
 Trlcotrln. 
 Puck. 
 Folle Farlne. 
 TwoLittleWooden 
 Shoes. 
 A Dog of Flanders. 
 Pascarel. 
 
 by. Crown 8vo, 
 
 ich ; post 8vo, illus- 
 each. 
 Signa. 
 In a Winter City. 
 Ariadne 
 Friendship. 
 Moths. 
 Piplstrello. 
 A Village Com- 
 mune. 
 Blmbi. 
 In Maremma 
 Wanda. 
 Frescoes, [ine. 
 Princess Naprax- 
 Othmar. 
 
 Payn (James), Novels by. 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each ; 
 post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 Lost Sir Massingberd. 
 The Best of Husbands. 
 Wai ter's Word. | Halves. 
 What He Cost Her. 
 Less Black than we're Painted, 
 By Proxy. | High Spirit*. 
 Under One Roof. 
 A Confidential Agent. 
 Some Private Views. 
 A Grape from a Thorn. 
 For Cash Only. | From Exile. 
 The Canon's Ward. 
 
 Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 Kit: A Memory. | Carlyon's Year. 
 A Perfect Treasure. 
 Bentinck's Tutor.. Murphy's Master, 
 Fallen Fortunes. 
 A County Family. | At Her Mercy. 
 A Woman's Vengeance. 
 Cecil's Tryst. 
 The ClyfTards of Clyffe. 
 The Family Scapegrace. 
 The Foster Brothers. 
 Found Dead. 
 Gwendoline's Harvest. 
 Humorous Stories. 
 Like Father, Like Son. 
 A Marine Residence. 
 Married Beneath Him. 
 Mirk Abbey. 
 Not Wooed, but Won. 
 Two Hundred Pounds Reward. 
 The Talk of the Town. 
 
 Wisdom, Wit, and Pathos, selected 
 from the Works of OUIDA by F. 
 SYDNEY MORRIS. Sm.cr.8vo,cl.ex.,5s. 
 
 Page (H. A.), Works by : 
 
 Thoreau : His Life and Aims : A Study. 
 With Portrait. Post 8vo.cl.limp, 2s.6d. 
 Lights on the Way : Some Tal'ts with- 
 in a Tale. By the late I. H. ALEX- 
 ANDER, B.A. Edited by H. A. PAGE. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 Animal Anecdotes. Arranged on a 
 New Principle. Cr. 8vo, cl. extra, 5s. 
 
 Parliamentary Elections and 
 
 Electioneering In the Old Days (A 
 History of). Showing the State of 
 Political Parties and Party Warfare at 
 the Hustings and in the House of 
 Commens from the Stuarts to Queen 
 Victoria. Illustrated from the original 
 Political Squibs, Lampoons, Pictorial 
 Satires, and Popular Caricatures of 
 the Time. By JOSEPH GREGO, Author 
 of " Rowlandson and his Works," 
 " The Life of Gillray," &c. Demy 
 8vo, cloth extra, with a Frontispiece 
 coloured by hand, and nearly 100 
 Illustrations, 16s. 
 
 In Peril and Privation: Stories of 
 Marine Adventure Re-told. A Book 
 for Boys. With numerous Illustra- 
 tions. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s. 
 Holiday Tasks : Being Essays written 
 in Vacation Time. Crown 8vo, 
 cloth extra, 6s. 
 Glow-Worm Tales. Three Vols., 
 crown 8vo. 
 
 Pascal's Provincial Letters. A 
 
 New Translation, with Historical In- 
 troduction and Notes, by T. M'CRIE, 
 D.D. Post 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 
 
 Pears. The Present Depres- 
 sion In Trade: Its Causes and Reme- 
 dies. Being the " Pears" Prize Essays 
 (of One Hundred Guineas). By EDWIN 
 GOADBY and WILLIAM WATT. With 
 an Introductory Paper by Prof. LEONB 
 LEVI, F.S.A., F.S.S. Demy 8vo, Is. 
 
 Patient's (The) Vade Mecum: 
 
 How to get most Benefit from Medi- 
 cal Advice. By WILLIAM KNIGHT, 
 M.R.C. S., and EDWARD KNIGHT, 
 L.R.C.P. Crown 8vo, Is.; cloth, Is. 6d. 
 
 Paul Ferroll : 
 
 Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 Paul Ferroll: A Novel. 
 Why Paul Ferroll Killed his Wife. 
 
 Penned (H. Cholmondeley), 
 
 Works by : 
 Post 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d. each. 
 Puck on Pegasus. With Illustrations. 
 Pegasus Re-Saddled. With Ten full- 
 page Illusts. by G. Du MAURIER. 
 The Muses of Mayfalr. Vers do 
 Societe, Selected and Edited by H. 
 C. PENNKLL. 
 
 Paul. Gentle and Simple. By 
 
 MARGARET AGNES PAUL. With a 
 Frontispiece by HELEN PATERSON. 
 Cr. 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. ; post 8vo, 
 illustrated boards, 2s.
 
 20 
 
 BOOKS PUBLISHED B7 
 
 Phelps (E. Stuart), Works by: 
 
 Post 8vo, la. each ; cl. limp, Is. 6d. each. 
 Beyond the Gates. By the Author 
 
 of " The Gates Ajar." 
 An Old Maid's Paradise. 
 Burglars in Paradise. 
 
 Pirkis (Mrs. C. L.), Novels by: 
 
 Trooping with Crows. Fcap. 8vo, 
 
 picture cover, Is. 
 Lady Lovelace. Post 8vo, illustrated 
 
 boards, 2s. [Preparing. 
 
 PlanchS (J. R.), Works by: 
 
 The Pursuivant of Arms ; or, Her- 
 aldry Founded upon Facts. With 
 Coloured Frontispiece and 200 Illus- 
 trations. Cr. 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Songs and Poems, from 1819 to 1879. 
 Edited, with an Introduction, by his 
 Daughter, Mrs. MACKARNESS. Crown 
 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Plutarch's Lives of Illustrious 
 
 Men. Translated from the Greek, 
 with Notes Critical and Historical, and 
 a Life of Plutarch, by JOHN and 
 WILLIAM LANGHORNE. Two Vols., 
 8vo, cloth extra, with Portraits, 108. 6d. 
 
 Poe (Edgar Allan) : 
 
 The Choice Works, in Prose and 
 Poetry, of EDGAR ALLAN POE. With 
 an Introductory Essay by CHARLES 
 BAUDELAIRE, Portrait and Fac- 
 similes. Crown 8vo, cl. extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 The Mystery of Marie Roget. and 
 other Stories. Post 8vo, illust.bds.,23. 
 
 Pope's Poetical Works. Com- 
 
 plete in One Vol. Post 8vo, cl. limp, 2s. 
 
 Praed (Mrs. Campbell-) "The 
 
 Right Honourable:" A Romance of 
 Society and Politics. By Mrs. CAMP- 
 BELL-PRAED and JUSTIN MCCARTHY, 
 M.P. Cr. 8vo, cl. ex., bds. [Shortly. 
 
 Proctor (Richd. A.), Works by ; 
 
 Flowers of the Sky. With 55 Illusts. 
 Small crown 8vo, cloth extra, 4s. 6d. 
 
 Easy Star Lessons. With Star Maps 
 for Every Night in the Year, Draw- 
 ings of the Constellations, &c. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Familiar Science Studies. Crown 
 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Saturn and Its System. New and 
 Revised Edition, with 13 Steel Plates. 
 Demy 8vo, cloth extra, 10s. 6d. 
 
 The Great Pyramid : Observatory, 
 Tomb, and Temple. With Illus- 
 trations. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Mysteries of Time and Space. With 
 Illusts. Cr. Svo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 The Universe of Suns, and other 
 Science Gleanings. With numerous 
 Illusts. Cr. Svo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Wages and Wants of Science 
 Workers. Crown 8vo, Is. 6d. 
 
 Price (E. C.), Novels by: 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each ; 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 Valentina. | The Foreigners. 
 
 Mrs. Lancaster's Rival. 
 
 Gerald. Post 8vo, illust. boards, 2s. 
 
 Rabelais' Works. Faithfully 
 Translated from the French, with 
 variorum Notes, and numerous charac- 
 teristic Illustrations by GUSTAVK 
 DORK. Crown Svo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Rambosson. Popular Astro- 
 
 nomy. By J. RAMBOSSON, Laureate of 
 the Institute of France. Translated by 
 C. B. PITMAN. Crown Svo, cloth gili, 
 numerous Illusts., and a beautifully 
 executed Chart of Spectra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Reade (Charles), Novels by: 
 
 Cr. 8vo, cloth extra, illustrated,3s.6d. 
 each ; post 8vo, illust. bds., 2s. each. 
 
 Peg Wofflngton. Illustrated by S. L. 
 FILDES, A. R.A. 
 
 Christie Johnstone. Illustrated by 
 WILLIAM SMALL. 
 
 It is Never Too Late to Mend. II 
 lustrated by G. J. PINWELL. 
 
 The Course of True Love Never die 
 run Smooth. Illustrated by HELEN 
 PATERSON. 
 
 The Autobiography of a Thief; Jack 
 of all Trades; and James Lambert. 
 Illustrated by MATT STRETCH. 
 
 Love me Little, Love me Long. Il- 
 lustrated by M. ELLEN EDWARDS. 
 
 The Double Marriage. Illust. by Sir 
 JOHN GILBERT, R.A., and C. KEENK. 
 
 The Cloister and the Hearth. Il- 
 lustrated by CHARLES KEENE. 
 
 Hard Cash. Illust. by F. W. LAWSON. 
 
 Griffith Gaunt. Illustrated by S. L. 
 FILDES, A.R.A., and WM. SMALL. 
 
 Foul Play. Illust. by Du MAURIER. 
 
 Put Yourself in His Place. Illus- 
 trated by ROBERT BARNES. 
 
 A Terrible Temptation. Illustrated 
 by EDW. HUGHES and A. W. COOPER. 
 
 The Wandering Heir. Illustrated by 
 H. PATERSON, S. L. FILDES, A.R.A., 
 C. GREEN, and H. WOODS. A.R.A. 
 
 A Simpleton. Illustrated by KATK 
 CRAUFORD. 
 
 A Woman-Hater. Illustrated by 
 
 THOS. COULDERY. 
 
 Slngleheart and Ooubleface: A 
 
 Matter-of-fact Romance. Illustrated 
 
 by P. MACNAB. 
 Good Stories of Men and other 
 
 Animals. Illustrated by E. A. ABBEY, 
 
 PERCY MACQUOID, and JOSEPH NASH. 
 The Jilt, and other Stories. Illustrated 
 
 by JOSEPH NASH. 
 Readlana. With a Steel-plate Portrait 
 
 of CHARLES READE.
 
 CHATTO 4 W1I1DUS, PICCADILLY. 
 
 Reader's Handbook (The) of 
 
 Allusions, References, Plots, and 
 Stories. By the Rev. Dr. BREWER. 
 Fifth Edition, revised throughout, 
 with a. New Appendix, containing a 
 COMPLETE ENGLISH BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 Cr. 8vo, 1,400 pages, cloth extra, 78. 6d. 
 
 Richardson. A Ministry of 
 
 Health, and other Papers. By BEN- 
 JAMIN WARD RICHARDSON, M.D., &c. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Riddell (Mrs. J. H.), Novels by: 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth estra, 3s. 6d. each ; 
 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 Her Mother's Darling 
 The Prince of Wales's Garden Party 
 
 Weird Stories. 
 
 Post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 The Uninhabited House. 
 Fairy Water. 
 The Mystery In Palace Gardens. 
 
 Rimmer (Alfred), Works by : 
 
 Square Svo, cloth gi't, 103. 6d. each. 
 Our Old Country Towns. With over 
 
 50 Illustrations. 
 Rambles Round Eton and Harrow. 
 
 With 50 Illustrations. 
 About England with Dickens. With 
 
 58 Illustrations by ALFRED RIMMER 
 
 andC. A. VANDERHOOF. 
 
 Robinson Crusoe : A beautiful 
 
 reproduction of Major's Edition, with 
 37 Woodcuts and Two Steel Plates by 
 GEORGE CRUIKSHANK, choicely printed. 
 Crown gvo, cloth eztra, 7s 6d. 
 
 Robinson (f. W.), Novels by: 
 Crown Svo, cloth extra, 3s. 64, each ; 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 
 Women are Strange. 
 _ The Hands of Justice. 
 
 Robinson (Phil)' Works "byl 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth extra, 7s 6d. each. 
 
 The Poets' Birds. 
 
 The Poets' Beasts. 
 
 Poets' Natural History. [Preparing. 
 
 Rochefoucauld's Maxims and 
 
 Moral Reflections. With Notes, and 
 an Introductory Essay by SAINTE- 
 BEUVE. Post Svo, cloth limp, 2s. 
 
 RolTof BattTe~Abbey, The ; of, 
 
 A List of the Principal Warriors who 
 came O7er from Normandy with Wil- 
 liam the Conqueror, and Settled in 
 this Country, A.D. 1066-7. With the 
 principal Arms emblazoned in Gold 
 and Colours. Handsomely printed, 6&. 
 
 R owTeyTfion. HugF),~Works by: 
 
 Post Svo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d. each. 
 Punlana: Riddles and Jokes. With 
 
 numerous Illustrations. 
 More Punlana. Profusely Illustrated. 
 
 Runciman (James), Stories by: 
 
 Post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. each 
 
 cloth limp, 2s. 6d. each. 
 Skippers and Shellbacks. 
 Grace Balmaign's Sweetheart. 
 Schools and Scholars. 
 
 Russell (W. Clark), Works by : 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth extra, 6s. each ; post 
 
 Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 Round the Galley-Fire. 
 On the Fo'k'sle Head : A Collection 
 
 of \arns and Sea Descriptions. 
 In the Middle Watch. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth extra, 63. each. 
 A Voyage to the Cape. 
 A Book for the Ha.mmock.[Prcparinz. 
 
 Sala. Gaslight and Daylight. 
 
 By GEORGE AUGUSTUS SALA. Post 
 Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Sanson. Seven Generations 
 
 of Executioners: Memoirs of the 
 Sanson Family (1688 to 1847). Edited 
 soN. Cr.8vo,cl.ex.3s.6d. 
 
 Saunders (John), Novels by: 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each ; 
 post 8vo, illustrated hoards, 2s. each. 
 
 Bound to the Wheel. 
 
 Guy Waterman. 
 
 The Lion in the Path. 
 
 The Two Dreamers. 
 One Against the World. Post Svo, 
 
 illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Saunders (Katharine), Novels 
 
 by. Cr. 8vi, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each ; 
 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 
 Joan Merryweather. 
 
 Margaret and Elizabeth. 
 
 The high Mills. 
 
 Heart Salvage. I Sebastian. 
 
 Gideon's Rook. 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. 
 
 Science Gossip: An Illustrated 
 Medium of Interchange for Students 
 and Lovers of Nature. Edited by J. E. 
 TAYLOR, F.L.S., &c. Devoted to Geo- 
 logy, Betas y, Physiology, Chemistry, 
 Zoology, Microscopy, Telescopy, Phy- 
 siography, &c. Price 4d. Monthly ; or 
 5s. pet year, post free. Vols. I . to 
 XIV. may be had at 7s. 6d. each ; and 
 Vols. XV. to XXII. (1886), at 5s. each. 
 Cases for Binding, Is. 6d. each. 
 
 Scott (Sir Walter), Poems by: 
 
 Marmion. With over top new Illus- 
 trations by leading Artists. Small 
 4to, cloth extra, 16s. 
 
 The Lay of the Last Minstrel. With 
 over 100 new Illustrations by leading 
 Artists. Sm.4to, cl.ex.,168.
 
 22 
 
 "Secret Out" Series, The: 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth extra, profusely Illus- 
 trated, 4s. 6d. each. 
 
 The Secret Out : One Thousand 
 Tricks with Cards, and other Re- 
 creations ; with Entertaining Experi- 
 ments in Drawing-room or " White 
 Magic." By W. H. CREMER. 300 
 Engravings. 
 
 The Art of Amusing: A Collection of 
 Graceful Arts, Games, Tricks.Puzzles, 
 and Charades By FRANK BELLEW. 
 With 300 Illustrations. 
 
 Hanky-Panky: Very Easy Tricks, 
 Very Difficult Tricks, White Magic 
 Sleight of Hand. Edited by W. H. 
 CREMER. With zoo Illustrations. 
 
 The Merry Circle: A Book of New 
 Intellectual Games and Amusements. 
 By CLARA BELLEW. Many Illusts. 
 
 Magician's Own Book: Performances 
 with Cups and Balls, Eggs, Hats, 
 Handkerchiefs, &c. All from actual 
 Experience. Edited by W. H. CRE- 
 MER, 200 Jjlustrations. 
 
 Senior. By Stream and Sea. 
 
 By WILLIAM SENIOR. Post 8vo, cloth 
 limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Seven Sagas (The) of Prehis- 
 
 toric Man. 
 
 Author of 
 
 Svo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 By JAMES H. STODDART, 
 The Village Life." Crown 
 
 Shakespeare : 
 The First Folio Shakespeare. MR. 
 
 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S Comedies, 
 Histories, and Tragedies. Published 
 according to the true Original! Copies. 
 London, Printed by ISAAC IAGGARD 
 and ED. BLOUNT. 1623. A Repro- 
 duction of the extremely rare original, 
 in reduced facsimile, by a photogra- 
 phic process ensuring the strictest 
 accuracy in every detail. Small Svo, 
 half-Roxburghe, Is. 6d. 
 
 TheLansdowne Shakespeare. Beau- 
 tifully printed in red and black, in 
 small but very clear type. With 
 engraved facsimile of DROESHOUT'S 
 Portrait. Post Svo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Shakespeare for Children: Tales 
 from Shakespeare. By CHAR-LES 
 and MARY LAMB. With numerous 
 Illustrations, coloured and plain, by 
 J. MOYR SMITH. Cr. 410, el. gilt, 6s. 
 
 The Handbook of Shakespeare 
 Music. Being an Account of 350 
 Pieces of Music, set to Words taken 
 from the Plays and Poems of Shake- 
 speare, the compositions ranging 
 from the Elizabethan Age to the 
 Present Time. By ALFRED ROFFE. 
 4to, half-Roxburghe, 7s. 
 
 A Study of Shakespeare. By ALGER- 
 NON CHARLES SWINBURNE. Crown 
 Svo, cloth extra, 8s. 
 
 Sheridan: 
 
 Sheridan's Complete Works, r^ith 
 Life and Anecdotes. Including his 
 Dramatic Writings, printed from the 
 Original Editions, his Works in 
 Prose and Poetry, Translations, 
 Speeches, Jokes, Puns, &c. With a 
 Collection of Sheridaniana. Crown 
 Svo, cloth extra, gilt, with 10 full- 
 page Tinted Illustrations, la. 6d. 
 
 Sheridan's Comedies: The Rivals, 
 and The School for Scandal. 
 Edited, with an Introduction and 
 Notes to each Play, and a Bio- 
 graphical Sketch of Sheridan, by 
 BRANDER MATTHEWS. With Decora- 
 tive Vignettes and 10 full-page Illusts. 
 Demy Svo, half-parchment, 12s. 6d._ 
 
 Short Sayings of~Great Men". 
 
 With Historical and Explanatory 
 Notes by SAMUEL A. BENT, M.A. 
 Fifth Edition, Revised and Enlarged. 
 _Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Sidney's (Sir Philip) Complete 
 
 Poetical Works, including all those in 
 " Arcadia." With Portrait, Memorial- 
 Introduction, Notes, &c., by the Rev. 
 A. B. GROSART, D.D. Three Vols., 
 crown Svo, cloth boards, 183. 
 
 Signboards: Their History. 
 With Anecdotes of Famous Taverns 
 and Remarkable Characters. By 
 JACOB LARWOOD and JOHN CAMDEN 
 HOTTEN. Crown Svo, cloth extra, 
 with 100 Illustrations, la. 6d. 
 
 Sims (George R.), Works by 
 
 How the Poor Live. With 60 Illusts. 
 
 by FRED. BARNARD. Large 4to, Is. 
 Rogues and Vagabonds. Post Svo, 
 
 illust. boards, 2s. ; cloth limp, 2s. 6d. 
 The Ring o' Bells. Post Svo, illust. 
 
 bds., 2s. ; cloth, 2s. 6d. 
 Mary Jane's Memoirs. Post 8vo, 
 illust bds, 28. ; cl, 2s. ^.[Preparing. 
 
 Sister ll)ora: A Biography. By 
 
 MARGARET LONSDALE. Popular Edi- 
 tion, Revised, with additional Chap- 
 ter, a New Dedication and Preface, 
 and Four Illustrations. Sq. Svo, pic- 
 ture cover, 4d. ; cloth, 6d. 
 
 Sketchley. A Match in the 
 
 Dark. By ARTHUR SKETCHLEY. Post 
 Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Smith (J. Moyr), Works by : 
 
 The Prince of Argolis: A Story of the 
 Old Greek Fairy Time. Small Svo, 
 cloth extra, with 130 Illusts., 3s. 6d. 
 
 Tales of Old Thule. With numerous 
 Illustrations. Cr. Svo, cloth gilt, 6s. 
 
 The Wooing of the Water Witch: 
 A Northern Oddity. With numerous 
 Illustrations. Small Svo, cl. ex., 6s.
 
 CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY. 
 
 Slang Dictionary, The : Ety- 
 
 mological, Historical, and Anecdotal. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, 6s. 6d. 
 
 Society in London. By A 
 
 FOREIGN RESIDENT. New and Cheaper 
 Edition, Revised, with an Additional 
 Chapter on SOCIETY AMONG THE 
 MIDDLE AND PROFESSIONAL CLASSES. 
 Crown 8vo, Is.; cloth, Is. 6d. 
 
 Spalding. -Elizabethan Demon- 
 clogy : An Essay in Illustration of the 
 Belief in the Existence of Devils, and 
 the Powers possessed by Them. By T. 
 A. SPALDING, LL.B. Cr. Svo, cl.ex., 5s. 
 
 Spanish Legendary Tales. By 
 
 Mrs. S. G. C. MIDDLEMORE, Author of 
 " Round a Posada Fire." Crown 8vo, 
 cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Speight (T. W.), Novels by: 
 
 The Mysteries of Heron Dyke. 
 With a Frontispiece by M. ELLEN 
 EDWARDS. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 
 3s. 6d. ; post 8vo, illustrated bds., 2s. 
 
 A Barren Title. Cr. 8vo, Is. ; cl., ls.6d. 
 
 Wife OP No WifeP Cr. 8vo, picture 
 cover, Is. ; cloth, Is. 6d. 
 
 Spenser for Children. By M. 
 
 H. TOWRV. With Illustrations by 
 WALTER J. MORGAN. Crown 410, with 
 Coloured Illustrations, cloth gilt, 6s. 
 
 Staunton. Laws and Practice 
 
 of Chess ; Together with an Analysis 
 of the Openings, and a Treatise on 
 End Games. Ky HOWARD STAUNTON. 
 Edited by ROBERT B. WORMALD. New 
 Edition, small cr. 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Stedman. The Poets of 
 
 America. With full Notes in Margin, 
 and careful Analytical Index. By 
 EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN, Author 
 of " Victorian Poets." Cr. 8vo.cl.ex., 9s. 
 
 Stevenson (R.Louis), Works by : 
 Travels with a Donkey in the 
 
 Cevennes. Sixth Ed. Frontispiece by 
 
 W. CRANE. Post 8vo, cl. limp, 2s. 6d. 
 An Inland Voyage. With Front, by 
 
 W. CRANE. Post 8vo, cl. lp., 2s. 6d. 
 Familiar Studies of Men and Books. 
 
 Second Edit. Crown 8vo, cl. ex., 6s. 
 New Arabian Nights. Crown Svo, 
 
 cl. extra, 6s. ; post Svo, illust. bds., 2s. 
 The Silverado Squatters. With 
 
 Frontispiece. Cr. Svo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Cheap Edition, post Svo, picture 
 
 cover, Is. ; cloth, Is. 6d. 
 Prince Otto : A Romance. Fourth 
 
 Edition. Crown Svo, cloth extra, 6s. J 
 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 Tho Merry Men, and other Tales and 
 
 Fables. Cr. Svo, cl. ex., 6s. 
 
 Sterndale. The Afghan Knife: 
 
 ANovel. By ROBERT ARMITAGE STERN- 
 DALE. Cr. 8vo. cloth extra, 33. 6d.; post 
 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 St. John. A Levantine Family. 
 
 By BAYLE ST. JOHN. Post Svo, illus- 
 trated boards, 2s. 
 
 Stoddard. Summer Cruising 
 
 In the South Seas. By CHARLES 
 WARREN STODDARD. Illust. by WALLIS 
 MACKAY. Crown Svo, cl. extra, 3s. 6d. 
 
 Stories from Foreign Novel- 
 ists. With Notices of their Lives and 
 Writings. By HELEN and ALICE ZIM- 
 MERN. Frontispiece. Crown Svo, cloth 
 extra, 3s. 6d. ; post Svo, illust. bds., 2s. 
 
 St. Pierre. Paul and Virginia, 
 
 and The Indian Cottage. By BER- 
 NARDIN ST. PIERRE. Edited, with Life, 
 by Rev. E. CLARKE. Post Svo, cl. lp., 2s. 
 
 Strutt's Sports and Pastimes 
 
 of the People of England; including 
 the Rural and Domestic Recreations, 
 May Games, Mummeries, Shows, &c., 
 from the Earliest Period to the Present 
 Time. With 140 Illustrations. Edited 
 byWM.HQNE. Cr. Svo, cl. extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Suburban Homes (The) of 
 
 London : A Residential Guide to 
 Favourite London Localities, their 
 Society, Celebrities, and Associations. 
 With Notes on their Rental, Rates.and 
 House Accommodation. With Map of 
 Suburban London. Cr.8vo,cl.ex.,7s.6d. 
 
 Swift's Choice Works, in Prose 
 
 and Verse. With Memoir, Portrait, 
 and Facsimiles of the Maps in the 
 Original Edition of " Gulliver's 
 Travels." Cr. Svo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Swinburne (Algernon C.), 
 
 Works by: 
 Select Poems by Algernon Charles 
 
 Swinburne. Fcap. Svo, cl. extra, 6s. 
 [Preparing. 
 
 Atalanta In Calydon. Crown Svo, 6s. 
 Chastelard. A Tragedy. Cr. Svo, 7s. 
 Poems and Ballads FIRST SERIES. 
 
 Fcap. Svo, 9s. Cr. Svo, same price. 
 Poems and Ballads. SECOND SERIES. 
 
 Fcap. 8vo, 9s. Cr. Svo, same price. 
 Notes on Poems and Reviews. Svo.ls. 
 Songs before Sunrise. Cr.Svo, 10s.6d. 
 Bothwell: A Tragedy. Cr.8vo,12s.6d. 
 George Chapman : An Essay. Crown 
 
 Svo, 7s. 
 
 Songs of Two Nations. Cr. Svo, 6s. 
 Essays and Studies. Crown Svo, 12s. 
 Erechtheus: A Tragedy. Cr. Svo, 6s. 
 Note of an English Republican on 
 
 the Muscovite Crusade. Svo, Is. 
 Note on Charlotte Bronte.Cr.8vo,6s.
 
 DOOKS PUBLISHED BY 
 
 SWINBURNE'S (A. C.) WORKS, continued 
 A Study of Shakespeare. Cr. Svo, 8s. 
 Songs of the Springtides. Cr.Svo, 6s. 
 Studies In Song. Crown 8vo, 7s. 
 Mary Stuart : A Tragedy. Cr. 8vo, 8s. 
 Tristram of Lyonesse, and other 
 
 Poems. Crown 8vo, 'Js. 
 A Century of Roundels. Small 410' 8s. 
 A Midsummer Holiday, and other 
 
 Poems. Crown 8vo, 7?. 
 Marino Faliero: ATrapody. Cr.8vo,6s. 
 A Study of Victor Hupo. Cr. 8vo, 6s. 
 Miscellanies. Crown Bvo, 12s. 
 
 Symonds. Wine, Women and 
 
 Song: Mediaeval Latin Students' 
 Songs. Now first translated into Eng- 
 i'shVeue, with Essay by J. ADDINGTON 
 . . MONDS. Small 8vo, parchment, 6s. 
 
 Syntax's (Dr.) Thr<-,e Tours : 
 
 In Search of the Picturesque, in Search 
 of Consolation, and in Search of a 
 Wife. With the whole of ROWLAND- 
 SON'S droll page Illustrations in Colours 
 and a Life of the Author by J. C. 
 HOTTEV. Med. 8vo, clotb extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Taine's History of English 
 
 Literature. Translatsd by HENRY 
 VAN L.AUN. Four Vo's., small 8vo, 
 cloth hoards, 30s. POPULAR EDITION, 
 Two Vols., crown 8vo, cloth extra, 15s. 
 
 Taylor's (Bayard) Diversions 
 
 of the Echo Club: Burlesques of 
 Modern Writers. Post Svo, cl. limp, 2s. 
 
 Taylor (Dr. J. E., F.L.S.), Works 
 
 by. Ciown 8vo, cloth ex., 7s. 6d. each. 
 
 The Sagacity and Morality of 
 Plants : A Sketch of the Life and 
 Conduct of the Vegetable Kingdom. 
 Coloured Frontispiece and 100 Illust. 
 
 Our Co'nmon British Fossils, and 
 Where to Find Them: A Handbook 
 for Students. With 531 Illustrations. 
 
 Taylors (Tom) Historical 
 
 Dramas: "Clancarty," "Jeanne 
 Dare,' ' ' ' 'Twixt Axe and Crown/' " The 
 Fool's Revenge," " Arkw-ight's Wife," 
 "Anne Boleyn,' 1 " Plot and Passion.' 1 
 One Vol., cr. 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 '* The Plays may also be had sepa- 
 rately, at Israeli. 
 
 Tennyson (Lord): A Biogra- 
 
 phical Sketch. By H. J. JENNINGS. 
 With a Photograph-Portrait. Crown 
 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Thackerayana: Notes and Anec- 
 dotes. Illustrated by Hundreds of 
 Sketches by WILLIAM MAKEPEACE 
 THACKERAY, depicting Humorous 
 Incidents in his School-life, and 
 Favourite Characters in the books of 
 his every-day reading. With Coloured 
 Frontispiece. Cr. Svo, cl. extra, 73. Qd, 
 
 Thomas (Bertha), Novels by: 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each j 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 
 Cressida. | Proud Malsie. 
 
 The Violin-Player. 
 
 Thomas (M.). A Fight for Life : 
 
 A Novel. By W. MOY THOMAS. Post 
 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Thomson's Seasons and Castle 
 of Indolence. With a Biographical 
 and Critical Introduction by ALLAH 
 CUNNINGHAM, and over 50 fine Illustra- 
 tions on Steel and Wood. Crown 8vo, 
 cloth extra, gilt edges, 7s. 6d, 
 
 Thornbury (Walter), Works by 
 
 Haunted London. Edited by ED- 
 WARD WALFORD, M.A. With Illus- 
 trations by F. W. FAIRHOLT, F.S.A. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 The Life and Correspondence of 
 J. M. W. Turner. Founded upon 
 Letters and Papers furnished by his 
 Friends and fellow Academicians. 
 With numerous Illusts. in Colours, 
 facsimiled from Turner's Original 
 Drawings. Cr. 8vo, cl. extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Old Stories Re-told. Post Svo, cloth 
 limp, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Tales for the Marines. Post Svo, 
 illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Timbs (John), Works by: 
 Crown Svo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. each. 
 The History of Clubs and Club Life 
 In London. With Anecdotes of its 
 Famous Coffee-houses, Hostelries, 
 and Taverns. With many Illusts. 
 English Eccentrics and Eccen- 
 tricities: Stories of Wealth and 
 Fashion, Delusions, Impostures, and 
 Fanatic Missions, Strange Sights 
 and Sporting Scenes, Eccentric 
 Artists, Theatrical Folk, Men of 
 Letters, &c. With nearly 50 Illusts. 
 
 Trollope (Anthony), Novels by: 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3g. 6d. each ; 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 
 The Way We Live Now. 
 
 Kept In the Dark. 
 
 Frau Frohmann. | Marlon Fay. 
 
 Mr. Scarborough's Family. 
 
 The Land-Leaguers. 
 Post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 The Golden Lion of Granpere. 
 John Caldigate. [American Senatop 
 
 Trollope( Frances E.), Novels by 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each j 
 post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 
 Like Ships upon the Sea. 
 
 Mabel's Progress. I Anne^urness. 
 
 Trollope (T. A.). Diamond Cut 
 
 Diamond, and other Stories. By 
 
 T. ADOLPHUS TKOLLOPE. Post Svo, 
 
 illustrated boards, 2s,
 
 CHATTO & W INDUS, PICCADILLY. 
 
 Trowbridge. Farnell'a Folly: 
 
 A Novel. By J. T. TROWBRIDGE. Post 
 8vo, illustrated boards, Za. _ 
 
 Turgenieff. Stories from 
 
 Foreign Novelists. By IVAN TURGE- 
 NIEFF, and others. Cr. 8vo, cloth extra, 
 3s. 6d.; post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. 
 
 Tytler (C. C. Fraser-). Mis- 
 tress Judith: A Novel. By C. C. 
 FRASER-TYTLER. Cr. 8vo, cloth extra, 
 3s. 61. ; post 8vo, illust. boards, 28. 
 
 Tytler (Sarah), Novels by: 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each ; 
 post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 What She Came Through. 
 The Bride's Pass. 
 Saint Mungo's City. 
 Beauty and the Beast. 
 Noblesse Oblige. 
 Lady Bell. _ 
 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each. 
 Cltoyenne Jacqueline. Illustrated 
 
 by A. B. HOUGHTON. 
 The Huguenot Family. With Illusts. 
 Burled Diamonds. 
 
 Disappeared. With Six Illustrations 
 by P. MACNAB. Crown Svo, cloth 
 extra, 6s. _ [Shortly. 
 
 Van Laun. History of French 
 
 Literature. By H. VAN LAUN. Three 
 Vols., demy Svo, cl. bds., la. 6d. each. 
 
 Villari. A Double Bond: A 
 
 Story. By LINDA VILLARI. Fcap. 
 _JBvp, picture cover, la. _ 
 
 The County Families of the United 
 Kingdom. Containing Notices cf 
 the Descent, Birth, Marriage, Educa- 
 tion, &c., of more than 12000, dis- 
 tinguished Heads of Families, their 
 Heirs Apparent or Presumptive, the 
 Offices they hold or have held, thf.ir 
 Town and Country Addresses, Clubs, 
 &c. Twenty-seventh Annual Edi- 
 tion, for 1887, cloth gilt, 60s. 
 
 The Shi4llng Peerage (1887). Con- 
 taining an Alphabetical List of tbe 
 House of Lords, Dates of Creation, 
 Lists of Scotch and Irish Peers, 
 Addresses, &c. 32010, cloth, la. 
 Published annually. 
 
 The Shilling Baronetage (1887). 
 Containing an Alphabetical List of 
 the Baronets of the United Kingdom, 
 short Biographical Notices, Dates 
 of Creation, Addresses, &c. 321110, 
 cloth, Is. 
 
 The Shilling Knightage (1887). Con- 
 taining an Alphabetical List of the 
 Knights of the United Kingdom, 
 short Biographical Notices, Dates of 
 Creation, Addresses, &c. 3amo,cl.,ls. 
 
 WALFORD'S (Eow.) WORKS, continued 
 The Shilling House of Commons 
 (1887). Containing a List of all thp 
 Members of Parliament, their Tov n 
 and Country Addresses, &c. New 
 Edition, embodying the results of 
 the recent General Election. 32000, 
 cloth. Is. Published annually. 
 The Completu Peerage, Baronet- 
 age, Knightage, and House of 
 Commons (1887). In One Volume, 
 royal 32010, cloth extra, gilt edges, 6s. 
 
 Haunted London. By WALTER 
 THOKNBURY. Edited by EDWARD 
 WALFORD, M.A. With Illustrations 
 by F. W. FAIRHOLT, F.S.A. Crown 
 Svo, cloth tfxtra, 7a. 6d. 
 
 Walton and Cotton'sComplete 
 
 Angler ; or, The Contemplative Man's 
 Recreation ; being a Discourse of 
 Rivers, Fishponds, Fish and Fishing, 
 written by IZAAK WALTON; and In- 
 structions how tt Angle for a Trout or 
 Grayling in a clear Stream, by CHARLES 
 COTTON. With Original Memoirs and 
 Notes by Sir HARRIS NICOLAS, and 
 61 Copperplate Illustrations. Large 
 crown Svo, cloth antique. 7s. 6d. 
 
 Walt Whitman, Poems by. 
 
 Selected and edited, with an Intro- 
 duction, by WILLIAM M. ROSSETTI. A 
 New Edition, with a Steel Plate Por- 
 trait. Crown Svo, printed on hand- 
 made paper and bound in buckram, 6s. 
 
 Wanderer's Library, The: 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d. each. 
 
 Wanderings In Patagonia; or, Life 
 among the Ostrich- Hunters. By 
 JULIUS BEERBOHM. Illustrated. 
 
 Camp Notes: Stories of Sport and 
 Adventure ; .n Asia, Africa, and 
 America. By FREDERICK BOYLE. 
 
 Savage Life. By FREDERICK BOYLE. 
 
 Merrie England In the Olden Time. 
 By GEORGE DANIEL. With Illustra- 
 tions by ROBT. CRUIKSHANK. 
 
 Circus Life and Circus Celebrities. 
 By THOMAS FROST. 
 
 The Lives of the Conjurers. By 
 THOMAS FROST. 
 
 The Old Showmen and the Old 
 London Fal-s. By THOMAS FROST. 
 
 Low-Life Deeps. An Account of the 
 Strange Fish to be found there. By 
 JAMES CREEL-WOOD. 
 
 The Wilds of London. By JAMES 
 GREENWOOD. 
 
 Tunis: The Land and the People. 
 By the Chevalier de HESSE-WAR- 
 TEGG. With 22 Illustrations. 
 
 The Life and Adventures of a Cheap 
 Jack. By One of the Fraternity. 
 Edited by CHARLES HINDLEY. 
 
 The World Behind the Scenes. By 
 PERCY FITZGCRALD.
 
 WANDERER'S LIBRARY, THE, continued 
 
 Tavern Anecdotes and Sayings: 
 Including the Origin ffif Signs, and 
 Reminiscences connected with Ta- 
 verns, Coffee Houses, Clubs, &e. 
 By CHARLES HINDLEY. With Illusts. 
 
 The Genial Showman : Life and Ad- 
 ventures of Artemus Ward. By E. P. 
 KINGSTON. With a Frontispiece. 
 
 The Story of the London Parks. 
 By JACOB LARWOOD. With Illusts. 
 
 London Characters. By HENRY MAY- 
 HEW. Illustrated. 
 
 Seven Generations of Executioners: 
 Memoirs of the Sanson Family (1688 
 to 1847). Edited by HENRY SANSON. 
 
 Summer Cruising In the South 
 Seas. By C. WARREN STODDARD. 
 Illustrated by WALLIS MACKAY. 
 
 Warner. A Roundabout Jour- 
 ney. By CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER, 
 Author of " My Summer in a Garden." 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Warrants, Sec. : 
 Warrant to Execute Charles I. An 
 
 exact Facsimile, with the Fifty-nine 
 Signatures, and corresponding Seals. 
 Carefully printed on paper to imitate 
 the Original, 22 in. by 14 in. Price 2s. 
 
 Warrant to Execute Mary Queen of 
 Scots. An exact Facsimile, includ- 
 ing the Signature of Queen Eliza- 
 beth, and a Facsimile of the Great 
 Seal. Beautifully printed on paper 
 to imitate the Original MS. Price 2s. 
 
 Magna Charta. An exact Facsimile 
 ot the Original Document in the 
 British Museum, printed en fine 
 
 Elate paper, nearly 3 feet long by 2 
 ;et wide, with the Arms and Seals 
 emblazoned in Gold and Colours. 5s. 
 The Roll of Battle Abbey; or, A List 
 of the Principal Warriors who came 
 over from Normandy with William 
 the Conqueror, and Settled in this 
 Country, A.D. 1066-7. With the 
 principal Arms emblazoned in Gold 
 and Colours. Price 5s. 
 
 Wayfarer, The : Journal of the 
 
 Society of Cyclists. Published Quar- 
 terly. Price Is. Number I., for OCTO- 
 BER 1886, and Number II., for JAN- 
 UARY 1887, are now ready. 
 
 Weatrir7Tfow to ^o retell the, 
 with the Pocket Spectroscope. By 
 
 F. W. CORY, M.R.C.S. Eng., F.R.Met. 
 Soc., &c. With 10 Illustrations. Crown 
 8vo, Is. ; cloth, Is. 6<L 
 
 Westropp. Handbook of Pot- 
 tery and Porcelain ; or, History of 
 those Arts from the Earliest Period. 
 By HODDER M. WESTROPP. With nu- 
 merous Illustrations, and a List of 
 Marks. Crown 8vo, cloth limp, 4s. 6d. 
 
 Whistler's (Mr.) "Ten o'clock." 
 
 Uniform with his " Whistler v. Ruskin : 
 Art and Art Critics." Cr.iivo.lB. [Shortly. 
 
 Williams (W. Mattieu, F.R.A.S.), 
 
 Works by : 
 Science Notes. See the GENTLEMAN'S 
 
 MAGAZINE. Is. Monthly. 
 Science In Short Chapters. Crown 
 
 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 A Simple Treatise on Heat. Crowa 
 
 8vo, cloth limp, with Illusts., 2s. 6d. 
 The Chemistry of Cookery. Crown 
 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Wilson (Dr. Andrew, F.R.S.E.), 
 
 Works by: 
 
 Chapters on Evolution: A Popular 
 History of the Darwinian and 
 Allied Theories of Development 
 Third Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth 
 extra, with 259 Illustrations, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Leaves from a Naturalist's Note- 
 book. Post 8vo, cloth limp, 2s. 6d 
 
 Leisure-Time Studies, chiefly Bio- 
 logical. Third Edit., with New Pre- 
 face. Cr. 8vo, cl. ex., with Illusts., 6s. 
 
 Studies in Life and Sense. With 
 numerous Illustrations. Crown Svo, 
 cloth extra, 6s. 
 
 Common Accidents, and How to 
 Treat them. By Dr. ANDREW WIL- 
 SON and others. With numerous Il- 
 lustrations. Crown 8vo, Is. ; cloth 
 jimp,_ls. 6d._ 
 
 Winte7nJ~s7)7Stories by : 
 
 Cavalry Life. Post Svo, illust. bds., 2s. 
 Regimental Legends. Crown Svo, 
 
 cloth extra, 3s. 6d. ; post 8vo, illus- 
 
 trated boards, 2s. 
 
 Women of fheT)ay : A Biogra- 
 
 phical Dictionary of Notable Contem- 
 poraries. By FRANCES HAYS. Crown 
 8vo, cloth extra, 5s. 
 
 Wood. SabTna: A Novel] By 
 
 Lady WOOD. Post Svo, illust. bds., 2s. 
 
 Words, Facts, and Phrases": 
 
 A Dictionary of Curious, Quaint, and 
 
 Out-of-the-Way Matters. By ELIEZER 
 
 EDWARDS. New and cheaper issue, 
 
 " cr_. 8yp, cl. ex., 7s. 6d. ; half-bound, 9s. 
 
 Wright (Thomas), Works by: 
 
 Crown Svo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. each. 
 Caricature History of the Georges. 
 (The House of Hanover.) With 400 
 Pictures, Caricatures, Squibs, Broad- 
 sides, Window Pictures, &c. 
 History of Caricature and of the 
 Grotesque in Art, Literature, 
 Sculpture, and Painting. Profusely 
 Illustrated by F.W. FAIRHOLT.F.S.A, 
 
 Yates (Edmund), Novels by: 
 
 Post Svo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 Castaway. | The Forlorn Hope. 
 Land at Last
 
 CHATTO <5* WINDUS, PICCADILLY. 
 
 NEW THREE- VOLUME NOVELS. 
 
 WILKIE COLLINS' S NE W STORIES. 
 
 Uttle Novels. By WILKIE COLLINS, 
 Author of "The Woman in White." 
 Three Vols., crown 8vo. [.Shortly. 
 
 WALTER BESANTS NEW NOVEL. 
 
 The World Went Very Well Then. 
 Three Vbls., crown 8vo. 
 
 CHRISTIE M URRA Y'S NEW NOVE L 
 
 Old Blazer's Hero. By D. CHRIST;* 
 
 MURRAY. Two Vols., crown 8vo, 
 
 12s. [.Shortly. 
 
 JAMES PAYN'S NEW COLLEC' 
 
 TION OF STORIES. 
 G low-Worm Tales. By JAMES PAYW. 
 Three Vols., crown 8vo. 
 
 THE PICCADILLY NOVELS. 
 
 Popular Stories by the Best Authors. LIBRARY EDITIONS, many Illustrated, 
 crown 8ro, cloth extra, 3a. 6d. each. 
 
 BY GRANT ALLEN. 
 Phlllstia. 
 In all Shades. 
 
 BY W. BESANT & JAMES RICE. 
 Ready-Money Mortlboy. 
 My Little Girl. 
 The Case of Mr. Lucraft. 
 This Son of Vulcan. 
 With Harp and Crown 
 The Golden Butterfly. 
 By Cella's Arbour. 
 The Monks of Thelema. 
 Twas In Trafalgar's Bay. 
 The Seamy Side. 
 The Ten Years' Tenant. 
 The Chaplain of the Fleet. 
 
 BY WALTER BESANT. 
 All Sorts and Conditions of Men. 
 The Captains' Room. 
 All In a Garden Fair. 
 Dorothy Forster. 
 Uncle Jack. 
 Children of Glbeon. 
 
 BY ROBERT BUCHANAN. 
 A Child of Nature, 
 God and the Man. 
 The Shadow of the Sword. 
 The Martyrdom of Madeline. 
 Love Me for Ever. 
 Annan Water. I The New Abelard. 
 Matt. I Foxglove Manor. 
 
 The Master of the Mine. 
 
 BY HALL CAINE. 
 The Shadow of a Crime. 
 A Son of Hagar. 
 
 BY MRS. H. LOVETT CAMERON. 
 Deceivers Ever. [ Juliet's Guardian. 
 
 BY MORTIMER COLLINS. 
 Sweet Anne Page. 
 Transmigration. 
 From Midnight to Midnight. 
 MORTIMER & FRANCES COLLINS, 
 Blacksmith and Scholar, 
 The Village Comedy. 
 You Play me False. 
 
 BY WILKIE COLLINS. 
 
 Antonlna. 
 Basil. 
 
 Hide and Seek. 
 The Dead Secret. 
 Queen of Hearts. 
 My Miscellanies. 
 Woman In White. 
 The Moonstone. 
 Man and Wife. 
 Poor Miss Finch. 
 Miss or Mrs. ? 
 
 New Magdalen. 
 The Frozen Deep. 
 The Law and the 
 
 Lady. 
 
 TheTwo Destinies 
 Haunted Hotel. 
 The Fallen Leaves 
 Jezebel'sDaughtc-r 
 The Black Robe. 
 Heart and Science 
 I Say No. 
 
 By DUTTON COOK. 
 Paul Foster's Daughter. 
 
 BY WILLIAM CYPLES. 
 Hearts of Gold. 
 
 BY ALPHONSE DAUDET. 
 The Evangelist; or, Port Salvation. 
 
 BY JAMES DE MILLS. 
 A Castle in Spain. 
 
 BY J. LEITH DERWENT. 
 Our Lady of Tears. 
 Circe's Lovers. 
 
 BY M. BETHAM-EDWARDS. 
 Felicia. 1 Kitty. 
 
 JBF MRS. ANNIE EDWARDES. 
 Archie Love! I. 
 
 By PERCY FITZGERALD. 
 Fatal Zero. 
 
 By R. E. FRANCILLON. 
 Queen Cop hetua. 
 One by One. 
 A Real Queen. 
 
 Prefaced by Sir BARTLE FRERE. 
 Pandurang Harl. 
 
 By EDWARD GARRETT. 
 The Capel Girls.
 
 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY 
 
 PICCADILLY NOVELS, continued 
 BY CHARLES GIBBON. 
 Robin Gray. | For Lack of Gold. 
 What will the World Say? 
 In Honour Bound. 
 Queen of the Meadow. 
 The Flower of the Forest. 
 A Heart's Problem. 
 The Braes of Yarrow. 
 The Golden Shaft, j Of High Dfigree. 
 Fancy Free. | Loving a Dream. 
 
 A Hard Knot. 
 
 BY THOMAS HARDY. 
 Under the Greenwood Tree. 
 
 BY JULIAN HAWTHORNE. 
 Garth. | Ellice Quentln. 
 
 Sebastian Strome. 
 Prince Saroni's Wife. 
 Dust. | Fortune's Fool. 
 
 Beatrix Randolph. 
 Miss Cadogna, 
 Love or a Name. 
 
 BY SIR A. HELPS. 
 Ivan de Biron. 
 
 BY MRS. CASH EL HOEY. 
 The Lover's Creed. 
 
 BY MRS. ALFRED HUNT. 
 Thornlcroft's Model. 
 The Leaden Casket. 
 Self Condemned. 
 That other Person. 
 
 BY JEAN INGELOW. 
 Fated to be Free. 
 
 BY HARRIETT JAY. 
 The Queen of Connaught 
 
 BY R. A SHE KING. 
 A Drawn Game. 
 "The Wearing of the Green." 
 
 BY HENRY KINGS^EY. 
 Number Seventeen. 
 
 BY E. LYNN LINTON. 
 Patricia Kemball. 
 Atonement of Learn Dunda*. 
 The World Well Lost. 
 Under which Lord? 
 With a Silken Thread. 
 The Rebel of the Far-ily 
 " My Love !" I lone. 
 
 BY HENRY W. LUCY. 
 Gideon Fleyce, 
 
 BY JUSTIN MCCARTHY. 
 
 The Waterdale Neighbours. 
 
 My Enemy's Daughter. 
 
 A Fair Saxon. 
 
 Dear Lady Disdain. 
 
 Miss Misanthrope. | Dosna Quixote 
 
 The Comet of a Season. 
 
 Maid of Athens. 
 
 Camiola, 
 
 BY MRS. 
 Quaker Cousi 
 
 PICCADILLY NOVELS, continued 
 
 BY FLORENCE MARRY AT. 
 Open ! Sesame I | Written In Fire, 
 
 BY D. CHRISTIE MURRAY. 
 Life's Atonement. Coals of Fire. 
 
 Val Strange. 
 Hearts. 
 
 Joseph's Coat. 
 
 A Model Father. 
 
 By the Gate of the Sea 
 
 The Way of the World. 
 
 A Bit of Human Nature. 
 
 First Person Singular. 
 
 Cynic Fortune. 
 
 BY MRS. OLIPHANT. 
 Whlteladles. 
 
 BY MARGARET A. PAUL. 
 Gentle and Simple. 
 
 KY JAMES PAYN. 
 
 Lost Sir Masslng- 
 
 berd. 
 
 Best of Husbands 
 Halves. 
 
 Walter's Word. 
 What He Cost Her 
 Less Biack than 
 
 We're Painted. 
 3y Proxy 
 High Spirits, 
 Under One Roof. 
 
 A Confidential 
 
 Agent. 
 From Exile. 
 A Grape from a 
 
 Thorn. 
 
 For Cash Only. 
 Some Private 
 
 Views. 
 The Canon's 
 
 Ward 
 Talk of the Town. 
 
 BY E. C. PRICE. 
 Valentina. | The Foreigners. 
 
 Mrs. Lancaster's Rival. 
 
 BY CHARLES READS. 
 It Is Never Too Late to Mend. 
 Hard Cash. 
 Peg Woffl.igton. 
 Christie Johnstone. 
 Griffith Gaunt. | Foul Play. 
 The Double Marriage. 
 Love Me Little, Love Me Long. 
 The Cloister and the Hearth. 
 The Course of True Love. 
 The Autobiography of a Thief. 
 Put Yourself In His Place. 
 A Terrible Temptation. 
 
 The Wandering Heir. 
 A Woman Hater. 
 
 A Simpleton. 
 Read Ian a. 
 
 Singleheart and Doubleface. 
 The Jilt. 
 
 Good Stories of Men and other 
 Animals. 
 
 BY MRS. J. H. RIDDELL. 
 Her Mother's Darling. 
 Prince of Wales's Garden Party. 
 Weird Stories. 
 
 BY F. W. ROBINSON. 
 Women are Strange. 
 The Hands of Justice. 
 
 BF JOHN SA UNDERS. 
 Bound to the Wheel. 
 Guy Waterman. 
 Two Dreamers. 
 The Lion In the Path.
 
 CHATTO * WINDUS, PICCADILLY. 
 
 PICCADILLY NOVELS, continued 
 
 BY KATHARINE SAUNDERS. 
 Joan Merryweather. 
 Margaret and Elizabeth. 
 Gideon's Rock. I Heart Salvage. 
 The High Mills. | Sebastian. 
 
 BY T. W. SPEIGHT. 
 The Mysteries of Heron Dyke. 
 
 BY R. A. STERN DALE. 
 The Afghan Knife. 
 
 BY BERTHA THOMAS. 
 Proud Malsle. | Cressida, 
 The Violin-Player. 
 
 By ANTHONY TROLLOPS. 
 The Way we Live Now. 
 Frau r rohmann. | Marion Fay. 
 Kept In the Dark. 
 Mr. Scarborough's Family. 
 The Land-Leaguers. 
 
 PICCADILLY NOVELS, continued 
 
 BY FRANCES E. TROLLOPS. 
 Like Ships upon the Sea. 
 Anne Furness. 
 Mabel's Progress. 
 
 BV IVAN TURGENIEFF, &e. 
 Stories from Foreign Novelists. 
 
 B7 SARAH TYTLER. 
 What She Came Through. 
 The Bride's Pass. 
 Saint Mungo's City. 
 Beauty and the Beast. 
 Noblesse Oblige. 
 Cltoyenne Jacqueline. 
 The Huguenot Family. 
 Lady Bell. 
 Buried Diamonds. 
 
 By C. C. FRASER-TYTLER. 
 Mistress Judith. 
 
 By J. S. WINTER. 
 Regimental Legends. 
 
 CHEAP EDITIONS OF POPULAR NOVELS. 
 
 Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. 
 
 By EDMOND ABOUT. 
 The Fellah. 
 
 BY HAMILTON A'lDE. 
 Carr of Carrlyon. | Confidences. 
 
 By MRS. ALEXANDER. 
 Maid', Wife, or Widow ? 
 Valerie's Fate. 
 
 By GRANT ALLEN. 
 Strange Stories. 
 Philistla. 
 Babylon. 
 
 By SHELSLEY BEAUCHAUP. 
 Grantley Grange. 
 
 By W. BESANT & JAMES RICE. 
 Ready Money Mortlboy. 
 With Harp and Crown. 
 This Son of Vulcan. | My Little Girl. 
 The Case of Mr. Lucraft. 
 The Golden Butterfly. 
 By Cella's Arbour. 
 The Monks of Thelema. 
 Twas In Trafalgar's Bay. 
 The Seamy Side. 
 The Ten Years' Tenant. 
 The Chaplain of the Fleet 
 
 By WALTER BESANT. 
 All Sorts and Conditions of Men. 
 The Captains' Room. 
 All In a Garden Fair. 
 Dorothy Forster. 
 Uncle Jack 
 
 By FREDERICK BOYLE. 
 Camp Notes. | Savage Life. 
 Chronicles of No-man's Land. 
 
 By BRET HARTE. 
 An Heiress of Red Dog. 
 The Luck of Roaring Camp. 
 Californlan Stories. 
 Gabriel Conroy. | Flip. 
 Maruja. 
 
 By ROBERT BUCHANAN. 
 The Shadow of j The Martyrdom 
 
 the Sword. 
 A Child of Nature. 
 God and the Man. 
 Love Me for Ever. 
 Foxglove Manor. 
 The Master of the Mine. 
 
 of Madeline. 
 Annan Water. 
 The New Abelard, 
 Matt. 
 
 By MRS. BURNETT. 
 Surly Tim. 
 
 By HALL CAINE. 
 The Shadow of a Crime. 
 By MRS. LOVETT CAMERON 
 Deceivers Ever. | Juliet's Guardian. 
 
 By MACLAREN COBBAN. 
 The Cure of Souls. 
 
 By C. ALLSTON COLLINS. 
 The Bar Sinister. 
 
 By W1LKIE COLLINS. 
 
 Antonlna. 
 
 Basil. 
 
 Hide and Seek. 
 
 The Dead Secret. 
 
 Queen of Hearts. 
 My Miscellanies. 
 Woman In White. 
 The Moonstone.
 
 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY 
 
 CHEAP POPULAR NOVELS, continued 
 WILKIK COLLINS, continued. 
 
 Man and Wife. 
 Poor Miss Finch. 
 Miss or Mrs.? 
 New Magdalen. 
 The Frozen Deep. 
 Law and the Lady. 
 
 Haunted Hotel. 
 The Fallen Leaves. 
 Jezebel'sDaughter 
 The Black Robe. 
 Heart and Science 
 "I Say No." 
 
 i_dW UIIU LfiG ww,w j . ; -wwj 
 
 TheTwo Destinies 1 The Evil Genius. 
 
 BY MORTIMER COLLINS. 
 Sweet Anne Page. From Midnightto 
 Transmigration. Midnight. 
 A Fight with Fortune. 
 
 MORTIMER & FRANCES COLLINS. 
 Sweet and Twenty. 1 Frances. 
 Blacksmith and Scholar. 
 The Village Comedy. 
 You Play me False. 
 
 BY DUTTON COOK. 
 Leo. I Paul Foster's Daughter. 
 
 BY C. EGBERT CRADDOCK. 
 The Prophet of the Great Smoky 
 Mountains. 
 
 BY WILLIAM CYPLES. 
 Hearts of Gold. 
 
 BY ALPHONSE DAUDET. 
 The Evangelist; or, Port Salvation. 
 
 BY JAMES DE MILLS. 
 A Castle in Spain. 
 
 BY J. LEITH DERWENT. 
 Our Lady of Tears. | Circe's Lovers. 
 
 BF CHARLES DICKENS. 
 Sketches by Boz. I Oliver Twist. 
 Pickwick Papers. | Nicholas Nickleby 
 
 BY MRS. ANNIE EDWARDES. 
 A Point of Honour. | Archie Lovell. 
 BY M. BETHAM-EDWARDS. 
 Felicia. I Kitty.. 
 
 BY EDWARD EGGLESTON. 
 Roxy. 
 
 BY PERCY FITZGERALD. 
 Bella Donna. ! Never Forgotten. 
 The Second Mrs. Tlllotso.n. 
 Polly. 
 
 Seventy five Brooke Street. 
 The Lady of Brantome. 
 BY ALBANY DE FONBLANQUE. 
 Filthy Lucre. 
 
 BY R. E. FRANCILLOW. 
 
 Queen Cophetua, 
 A Real Queen. 
 
 Olympia. 
 One by One. 
 Prefaced by Sir II. BARTLE FRERE. 
 Pandurang Hari. 
 
 BY HAIN FRISWELL, 
 One of Two. 
 
 BY EDWARD GARRETT 
 The Capel Girls. 
 
 CHEAP POPULAR NOVELS, continued 
 BY CHARLES GIBBON. 
 
 Robin Gray. 
 For Lack of Gold. 
 What will the 
 
 World Say? 
 In Honour Bound. 
 In Love and War. 
 For the King. 
 In Pastures Green 
 Queen of the Mea- 
 
 The Flower of th 
 
 Forest. 
 
 A Heart's Problem 
 Braes of Yarrow. 
 The Golden Shaft. 
 Of High Degree. 
 Fancy Free. 
 Mead and Stream. 
 Loving a Dream. 
 A Hard Knot. 
 
 dow. 
 
 BY WILLIAM GILBERT. 
 Dr. Austin's Guests. 
 The Wizard of the Mountain. 
 James Duke. 
 
 BY ? A MBS GREENWOOD. 
 Dick Temple. 
 
 By JOHN HABBERTO-N. 
 Brueton's Bayou. 
 
 BY ANDREW HALLWAY. 
 Every-Day Papers. 
 By LADY DUFFUS HARDY. 
 Paul Wynter's Sacrifice. 
 
 By THOMAS HARDY. 
 Under the Greenwood Tree. 
 By J. BERWICK HARWOOD. 
 The Tenth Earl. 
 
 By JULIAN HAWTHORNE. 
 Garth. I Sebastian Strome 
 
 Elllce Quentln. I Dust. 
 Prince Saronl's Wife. 
 Fortune's Fool. | Beatrix Randolph. 
 
 By SIR ARTHUR HELPS. 
 Ivan de Biron. 
 
 BY MRS. CASHEL HOEY. 
 The Lover's Creed. 
 
 By TOM HOOD. 
 A Golden Heart. 
 
 By MRS. GEORGE HOOPER. 
 The House of Raby. 
 
 By TIG HE HOPKINS. 
 'Twixt Love and Duty. 
 
 By MRS. ALFRED HUNT. 
 Thornlcroft's Model. 
 The Leaden Casket. 
 Self-Condemned. 
 
 By JEAN INGELOW. 
 Fated to be Free. 
 
 By HARRIETT JAY. 
 The Dark Colleen. 
 The Queen of Connaught. 
 
 BY MARK KERSHAW. 
 Colonial Facts and Fictions, 
 
 By R. A SHE KING. 
 A Drawn Game. 
 "The Wearing of the Green." 
 By HENRY KINGSLEY. 
 Oakshott Castle. 
 
 By E. LYNN LINTON. 
 Patricia Kemball. 
 The Atonement of Learn Dundaa
 
 Old Newspapers, &c. 
 
 329 WEEKLY WORCESTER JOURNAL (The). 1 
 
 1551. From March g lo March 16, 1738-9 Worcester : Printed 
 Stephen Bryan. Folio, two leaves, 75. 6d. 
 
 330 WHITEHALL EVENING POST (The); or, Londoi. 
 Intelligencer. 7 various numbers for 1748. Folio. 155. 
 
 331 WHITEHALL EVENING POST (The); or, London 
 Intelligencer. 8 numbers for 1756. Sold by C. Corbett. Folio, i6s. 
 
 332 WORLD (The), by Adam Fitz-Adam. [A Weekly Pe- 
 riodical from Jan. 1753 to Dec. 1756. Together with A World Extra- 
 ordinary, by Horace Walpole ; and an Index.] London, printed by 
 R. and J. Dodsley, 1753-6. 210 numbers bound in 2 vols. sm. folio, 
 FIRST ISSUE, half cat), 2 2$. 
 
 Horace Walpole and Lord Chesterfield were among the chief 
 contributors to this periodical. Beside " A World Extraordin- 
 ary," the former contributed Nos. 6, 8, 10, 14, 28, 103, 106, and 
 195. In No. 103 he writes of his adventure with the Highway- 
 man McLean, who nearly shot him through the head. 
 
 333 WORLD (The). 4 numbers for 1788 and 1793. Folio, 
 75. 6d. 
 
 334 YORK JOURNAL (The). 97 numbers, from Dec. 10, 
 1745, to July 25, 1749 (not consecutive). In i vol., folio, half sheepskin, 
 
 3 3* 
 
 In addition to the stirring accounts of the '45 Rebellion, the 
 Battle of Culloden, ande%-ents which followed it, these newspapers 
 contain much local news and information. One number of " The 
 York Conrant," and one of " The Daily Advertiser " are bound up 
 in the volume. 
 
 335 CATALOGUE of a Collection of Early Newspapers and 
 Essayists, formed by J. T. Hope, and presented to the Bodleian 
 Library. [Compiled by J. H. Burn.] Oxford, 1865. 8vo, cloth, 
 6s. 6d. 
 
 336 D[ESCHIENS] (M.J, Collection de Materiaux pour 
 1'Histoire de la Revolution de France, depuis 1787 jusqa'a ce jour. 
 Bibliographic des Journaux. Paris, 1829. Thick 8vo, wrappers, un- 
 cut, 1 6s. 
 
 337 HATIN (Eugene), Bibliographie Historique et Critique 
 de la Presse Pe'riodique Fran9aise ou Catalogue syste'matique et 
 Raisonne" de tous les Ecrits Priodiques de quelque valeur public's ou 
 ayant circuit en France depuis 1'origine du Journal jusqu'a nos jours, 
 avec extraits, etc. Pre'ce'de" d'un Essai Historique et Statistique sur 
 la Naissance et les Progres de la Presse Pe'riodique dans les deux 
 Mondes. Paris. 1866. 8vo, portrait of Theophraste Renaudot, and cuts, 
 half calf, uncut, i8s.
 
 Ellts, 29 New Bond Street, IV. 
 
 , LESTRANGE (Sir Robert). A Sermon prepared to be 
 Preach'd at the Interment of the Renown; d Observator. With 
 some Remarques on his Life, by the Reverend Toryrorydammee- 
 plbtshammee Younkercrape. To which is annexed an Elegy and 
 Epitaph, by ihe Rose-ally-poet, and other Prime Wits of the Age. 
 London. Printed and are to be sold by Langley Cintiss. 1682. Sm. 410, 
 title within a mourning border, some headlines shaved, unbound, 155. 
 
 A witty pamphlet written in Rabelaisian humour upon 
 Lestrange and his paper " The Observator." 
 
 339 LETTER (A) from Mercurius Civicus to Mercurius 
 Rusticus: or, London? Confession but not Repentance. Shewing 
 that the beginning and the obstinate pursuance of this accursed 
 horrid Rebellion is principally to be ascribed to that Rebellious 
 City. Printed, 1643. Sm. 4to, unbound, gs. 
 
 340 MERCURIUS POLITICUS: a Private Conference 
 between Scot and Needham. concerning the present Affairs of the 
 Nation. London, printed in the yejr 1660. Sm. 410, calf, top edges 
 gilt, i 4$. 
 
 A satirical dialogue against Marchmont Needham, the editor 
 of " Mercurius Politicus." 
 
 341 WATTS (Thomas), A letter to Antonio Panizzi, Esq., 
 on the reputed earliest printed Newspaper, " The English Mercuric, 
 1588." Pickering, 1839. 8vo. stu-ed, 41. 6d. 
 
 A very clear account of the discovery of this forgery, which 
 had been accepted as genuine for more than half a century. 
 
 TUB AXCHOB FUEBS, LTD., TIPTttKK, ESSEX.
 
 Old Newspapers, S>c. 29 
 
 212 WOLFE (Charles), Poems: with an Introductory Memoir 
 by C. Litton Falkiner. 1903. 8vo, portrait and facsimile of the MS. of 
 " The Burial of Sir John Moore," cloth, top edges gilt, 35. 6d. 
 
 213 WOT TON (Sir Henry), Reliquiae Wottonianae : or, a 
 collection of Lives, Letters, Poems ; with Characters of sundry 
 Personases : and other Incomparable Pieces of Language and Art. 
 [Edited by Izaak Walton.] London, 1651. Sm. 8vo, FIRST EDITION, 
 with portraits of Wotton, Charles I., Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, and 
 George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, engraved by W. Dolle, good copy, 
 sprinkled calf, by Riviere, 2 2S. 
 
 214 WOTTON. The Characters of Robert Devereux, Earl 
 of Essex ; and George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham : compared and 
 contrasted. Printed at the private Press of Lee Priory, 1814. Breton 
 (Nicolas), A Divine Poem, divided into two parts: The Ravished 
 Soul ; and, The Blessed Weeper. 1601. [Lee Priory, 1814.] 2 pieces 
 in i vol., 8vo, 100 copies printed, russia gilt, gilt edges, \ 45. 
 
 Joseph Haslewood's copv. with his book-plate. 
 
 215 WYKEHAM. Lowth (Dr. Robert), The Life of William 
 of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester. London, 1758. 8vo, FIRST 
 EDITION, engraved frontispiece and vignette of \Vykeham' s tomb, and a fold- 
 ins genealogical table, ordinal calf, 45. 6d. 
 
 216 YORKSHIRE. Hargrove (Eliz.), The History of the 
 Castle, Town, and Forest of Knaresborough, with Harrogate, 
 and its Medicinal Waters. Including an account of the most 
 remarkable places in the neighbourhood. York, printed by W. 
 Blanchard, 1789. Sm. 8vo, map and 7 plates, and cuts, old calf, 55. 
 
 OLD NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICAL 
 PUBLICATIONS.' 
 
 CHIEFLY OF THE XVIlTH AND XVIIlTH CENTURIES. 
 
 The following series of old Newspapers and Periodicals is of 
 more than ordinary interest, as it contains specimens of a 
 large variety of London and Provincial Newspapers from the 
 Civil War Period to the early years of the XlXth Century. 
 One can observe how the Press developed in spite of stamp 
 duties (first instituted- in 1709) and occasional Government 
 prosecutions of editors and publishers. 
 
 217 ATHENIAN MERCURY (The). 3 various numbers 
 for 1691-2. Printed for John Dnnton. Folio. 75. 6J. 
 
 218 BALDWIN'S LONDON WEEKLY JOURNAL, for 
 
 August 3. 1793 Folio, 45. 6d. 
 
 219 BELL'S WEEKLY MESSENGER for the year 1824. 
 
 52 numbers. Folio, i 55. 
 
 The latter part of the volume contains an account of the 
 trial and execution of Fauntleroy, the banker, for forgery.
 
 30 Ellis, 29 New Bond Street. W. 
 
 220 BRITISH APOLLO (The), or, Curious Amusements 
 for the Ingenious. To which are added the most Material Occur- 
 rences Foreign and Doraestick. Per form 'd by a Society of Gentlemen. 
 5 various numbers, from 1708 to 1711. Folio, 123. Od. 
 
 221 BRITISH JOURNAL (The). Nos. 2-135, with the ex- 
 ception of 4 numbers (51. 8 >. g^anJ 135) Sspt. 29. 1722. to April 
 17, 1725. London, Printed by T. Warner. Folio, old calf, 4 45. 
 
 A volume containing a great many interesting articles and 
 news items, especially those relating to Jack Sheppard, Blue- 
 skin and Jonathan Wild. 
 
 222 BRUNSWICK (The), or True Blue: [A Weekly Paper, 
 issued on Sunday], NJS. 1-18. Jan. 28 to May 27, 1821. In i vol., 
 folio, half calf , iSs. 
 
 This periodical was a strong supporter of George IV. and his 
 party. 
 
 223 CENSURA TEMPORUM. The Good or 111 Ten- 
 dencies of Books, Sermons, Pamphlets, etc., impartially consider'd, 
 in a Dialogue between Eubulus and Sophronius. In monthly 
 numbers, with general title pages, 1708-10. London, printed for H. 
 Clements. 3 vols. in 2, sm. 410, old panelled calf, i8s. / 
 
 224 COLUMBIAN CENTINEL. 1 8 various numbers for 
 1806. Boston, Mass : published by Benjamin Russell. Folio, 1 IDS. 
 
 225 COMPLEAT LIBRARY (The): or, News for the In- 
 genious. Containing, several Original Pieces; an Historical Account 
 of the Choicest Books Printed in England, and in the Forreign 
 Journals; ... as also, the State of Learning in the World. 
 To be Published Monthly. By a London Divine, etc. Vols. 1-2. 
 London, printed for John Dunton, 1692-93. 2 vols., sm. 4to, woodcuts on 
 titles, old panelled calf, i los. 
 
 226 CONTINUED JOURNALL (A) of all the Proceedings 
 of the Duke of Buckingham his Grace, in the Isle of Ree, a part of 
 France. In whom are combined Religion, Fortitude, and Clemencie ; 
 being the true characters of a noble Generall. August 17. Published 
 by Authoritie. London, printed for Thomas Walkley, and are to be sold 
 at his shop at the Eagle and Childe in Brituines-Bursse, 1627. Sm. 410, 
 with a leaf of woodcuts at the end, 2 2s. 
 
 227 COUNTRY JOURNAL (The): or, The Craftsman. 
 By Caleb D'Anvers, Esq. of Gray's Inn. 53 numbers (not consecutive) 
 published at various dates between July 27, 1728, and June 23, 1733. 
 Folio, unbound, 2 IDS. 
 
 This newspaper, published on Saturdays, was edited by 
 Nicholas Amherst, for William Pulteney, afterwards Earl of 
 Bath, who, as well as Lord Bolingbroke, largely contributed 
 to it. 
 
 228 COURIER (The) and Evening Gazette, for July 11,1797. 
 Folio, 45. 
 
 229 CRAFTSMAN (The) ; or Say's Weekly Journal. 3 
 various numbers, from 1774 to 1 7$5- London, Printed by C. Say. 
 Folio, each two leaves, 75. 6tt.
 
 Old Newspapers, &>c. 31 
 
 ^30 DAILY ADVERTISER (The). 6 numbers of various 
 dates between November 21, 1741, and May 6, 1742. Folio, each two 
 leaves, 155,. 
 
 231 DAILY COURANT (The) for May 14, 1735. Folio, 
 5- 
 
 232 DAILY GAZETEER(The). 9 various numbers, of the 
 year 1735. Folio, each one leaf, 125. 
 
 233 DAILY POST (The). 56 numbers, of various dates 
 betwe3n Jan. 4. 1724, and Dec. 5, 1728. Folio, 2 2S. 
 
 234 DAWK'S NEWS LETTER. London, June 17, 1699. 
 Folio, I2S. 
 
 This newspaper is printed in a cursive type, in imitation of 
 handwriting, and is without advertisements. 
 
 235 DAY (The), for the year 1815, wanting the number for 
 June 6. London, Printed and Published by A . Mitchell. Folio, 2 i8s. 
 
 A most valuable and interesting record of the Battle of 
 Waterloo and other events of this stirring year. 
 
 236 DIARY (The) ; or, Woodfall's Register. 8 various numbers, 
 for 1792.- Folio, i os. 
 
 237 DUBLIN NEWS-LETTER (The). 1 8 various numbers, 
 issued in the year 1741. Dublin : Printed by and for R. Reilly. Folio, 
 2 IQS. 
 
 238 EDINBURGH ADVERTISER (The) for the years 
 
 1797, 1798, 1799 and 1800. Edinburgh : Printed for James Donaldson. 
 4 vols., folio, a few leaves slightly defective, half calf , 3 155. 
 
 239 EVENING POST (The). No. 2214. From October 3 
 to October 5, 1723. 410, 55. 
 
 A long explanation by William Wood, Patentee for coining 
 Farthings and Half-pence for the Kingdom of Ireland, with re- 
 ference to his project, occupies the 2nd, 3rd, and part of the 4th 
 pages. 
 
 240 GAZETTEER (The) and New Daily Advertiser. 14 
 various numbers for the year 1772. Folio, 155. 
 
 241 GENERAL HISTORY OF EUROPE (The): or, the 
 Historical and Political Monthly Mercuries, containing all the Publick 
 and Private Occurrences, Civil, Ecclesiastical and Military, that are 
 most considerable in every Court : the various Interests of Princes, 
 their several Claims, Disputes and Intrigues, etc. The Present 
 State of Europe : or, the Historical and Political Mercury : giving 
 an Account of all the Pjjblick and Private Occurrences, with 
 Reflections upon every State. To be continued Monthly, from the 
 Original published at the Hague, by the Authority of the States- 
 General. Vols. MX ; XI-XIV ; XV (Nos. 10-12 only! ; XXVIII (Nos. 
 7-12 only) ; XXIX-XXXIV ; XXXV (Nos* 4-12 only) ; XXXVI-XXXX. 
 London, 1690-1728. Together, 298 numbers in 6 voJs. and 46 parts (not 
 uniform), sm. 410, the greater part with edqes uncii t, 3 155.
 
 34 Ellis, 29 New Bond Street, W. 
 
 269 MERCURIUS MUSICUS, for January, March and 
 September, 1702. London, Printed for Henry Play ford. 3 numbers. 
 Folio, 2 i os. 
 
 These numbers contain the following songs and musical set- 
 tings : The Rival : a Song for Two Voices, sett by Mr. John 
 Weldon ; a Song sung by Mr. Bowen at the Consort in York- 
 Buildings, sett to musick by Mr. William Croft ; and a Song 
 sung before the Queen, at Guild Hall, the words and tune by Mr. 
 Berenclow. 
 
 370 MERCURIUS MUSICUS, or, a Monthly Entertain- 
 ment of Musick Made and Contrived for the Harpsicord or Spinnet, 
 Harp and Organ, to Consist of Preludes, Tocatas, Aires, Lessons, 
 and the most Favourite Song Tunes in ye Operas. Publish'd for 
 Septemr. & October. London printed for I. Walsh and Randal, 1708. 
 Folio, music engraved throughout, 3 35. 
 
 Most of the compositions are anonymous, but the names of Mr. 
 Richardson of Winton, and Daniel Purcell, are given as com- 
 posers of two items. 
 
 271 MERCURIUS POLITICUS. Comprising the sum of 
 all Intelligence, with the Affairs and Designs now on foot in the 
 three Nations of England, Ireland, and Scotland. No. 186. 
 Decembter 29 to January 5, 1654. Sm. 4to, IDS. 6d. 
 
 The official declaration proclaiming the Protectorate, and the 
 Oath taken by Cromwell on assuming the office of Lord Pro- 
 tector, occupy the greater part of this news-tract. 
 
 272 MERCURIUS POLITICUS, comprising the sum of 
 of Foreine Intelligence, etc. No. 284. November 15 to November 
 22, 1655. Sm. qto, fine uncut copy, 155. 
 
 This news-tract opens with intelligence from Barbados con- 
 cerning the movement of the English fleet in the West Indies. 
 
 273 MERCURIUS POLITICUS. No. 292. From Jan- 
 uary 10 to January 17, 1655. Sm. 4to, corners of two leaves defective, 
 uncut, 8s. 
 
 Contains an Order prohibiting emigration from Scotland to 
 Ireland, and also a long advertisement of a robbery at the house 
 of "one Humphrey Lowe in the County of Worcester, Esquire," 
 giving details of the theft. 
 
 274 MERCURIUS POLITICUS. No. 301. From March 
 13 to March 20, 1655. Sm. 4to, sewed, uncut, IDS. 
 
 275 MERCURIUS POLITICUS, comprising the sum of 
 Forein Intelligence, etc. No. 560. March 24 to March 31, 1659. Sm. 
 4to, 155. 
 
 Nearly four pages of this news-tract are occupied with the 
 description of the proceedings in the Island of Barbados on 
 receipt of the official news of the death of Oliver Cromwell, and 
 of the appointment of Richard Cromwell as'Lord Protector. 
 
 376 MERCURIUS POLITICUS. No. 561. From Thurs- 
 day, March 31, to Thursday, April 7, 1659. Sm. 410, ics. 
 
 Several interesting advertisements are included in this number, 
 among them one advertising " a Coach and four able Horses, to 
 carry Passengers to Chester in Five days."
 
 Old Newspapers, S'C. 35 
 
 277 MERCURIUS POLITICUS. No. 563. From April 
 14 to April 21, 1659. Sra. 4to, 8s. 
 
 The principal home news in this number deals with the Quakers 
 and their petition to Parliament. 
 
 278 MERCURIUS PRAGMATICUS, communicating In- 
 telligence from all Parts, touching all Affaires. Designes, Humors, 
 and Conditions throughout the Kingdome. From Tuesday, November 
 30, to Tuesday, December 7, 1647. Sm. 410, sewed, 12$. 
 
 The editor of this satirical Royalist periodical was Marchmont 
 Need ham, the famous turncoat journalist, who had previously 
 edited the Parliament newspaper " Mercurius Britannicus." 
 
 279 MERCURIUS REFORMATUS : or, The New Obser- 
 vator. 4 volumes, consisting each of 30 numbers, from May 15, 1689, 
 to October 24, 1691. Vols. 1-3 printed for Dor man Newman, Vol. 4 for 
 Richard Baldwin. Folio, no title to Vol. i, and some leaves shaved, 
 1 us. 6d. 
 
 280 MILLER'S LONDON MERCURY : or, Weekly 
 Register of News. No. XLI. Saturday, December 7, 1771. 
 Folio, 35. 6d. 
 
 281 MODERATE INTELLIGENCER (The), impartially 
 communicating Martiall Affairs to the Kingdom of England. No. 
 179. August 17 to August 24, 1648. Printed for R. Leybournin Monkswel- 
 street. Sm. 410, los. , 
 
 An account is given in this newspaper of the Battle of Preston : 
 the pitiful condition of the besieged in Colchester is also referred 
 to, 
 
 282 MODERATE INTELLIGENCER (The). No. 193. 
 
 From November 23 to November 30, 1648. Sm 4to. 125. 
 
 The principal news in this number is about King Charles and 
 the Commissioners sent to interview him in the Isle of Wight 
 a short time before his fatal trial took place. There is also 
 mi'itary news from Ireland and Yorkshire, and the names of 
 officers appointed at various Yorkshire castles. 
 
 283 MODERATE INTELLIGENCER (The). No. 200. 
 From January n to January 18, 1649. Sm. 4to, shaved, izs. 
 
 There are several references to the trial of King Charles, then 
 in progress, also a paragraph on the situation in Ireland, 
 
 184 MODERATE INTELLIGENCER (The). No. 204. 
 From February 8 to February 15, 1649. Sm. 410, io$. 
 
 An account is given of the reception in Edinburgh of the news 
 of King Charles I.'s condemnation and of the Proclamation of 
 Charles II. in that city. 
 
 285 MODERATE INTELLIGENCER (The). No. 207. 
 
 From March i to March 8, 1649. Sm. 410, ics. 
 
 The trial of the Royalist martyrs, Duke Hamilton, Earl of 
 Holland, Lord Goring, Lord Capel and Sir John Owen, is 
 reported in this newspaper.
 
 36 Ellis, 29 New Bond Street, W. 
 
 286 MODERATE INTELLIGENCER (The). No. 209. 
 
 From March 15 to March 22. 1649. Sm. 4to, ioi. 
 
 Contains an " Act for abolishing the Kingly office." 
 
 287 MODERATE INTELLIGENCER (The). No. 212. 
 
 April 5 to April 12, 1649. Sm. 410, 105. 
 
 Intelligence from Londonderry reports events arising on the 
 receipt of the news of the " sudden death " of Charles I, 
 
 288 MODERATE INTELLIGENCER (The). No* 213. 
 
 From April 12 to April 18. 1649. Sm. 410, los. 
 
 The resolutions of the Commons concerning Ireland, and other 
 Irish news, figure prominently in this number. 
 
 289 MODERATE INTELLIGENCER (The). No. 218. 
 
 From May 17 to May 24, 1649. Sra 4to, loj. 
 
 Refers to the murder of Doctor Dorislaus, the Commonwealth 
 representative at the Hague, to the Expedition into Ireland, to 
 events in Scotland, etc. 
 
 290 MODERATE INTELLIGENCER (The). No. 221. 
 
 June 7 to June 14, 1649. Sm. 410. IDS. 
 
 Events in Ireland are referred to in several pages, it being 
 feared that Lord Ormonde would attack Dublin. 
 
 291 MORNING CHRONICLE (The) and London Adver- 
 tiser. 2 numbers, for July 28, 1774, and June 22, 1780, respectively. 
 
 Printed by W. Wood/all. Folio, each two leaves, 55. 
 
 292 MORNING CHRONICLE (The). 4 various numbers, 
 for 1791 and 1795. Folio, two leaves each, 55. 
 
 293 MORNING HERALD (The) and Daily Advertiser. 
 7 various numbers, from 1782 to 1796. Folio, some damaged, 75. 6d. 
 
 294 NEWS (The). August, 1818, to December, 1819. Folio, 
 half bound, i8s. 
 
 Bound up at the beginning are some numbers of " The British 
 Luminary" and " The London Moderator " for July-Sept., 1818. 
 
 295 OBSERVATOR (The). Printed by Joanna [and Charles] 
 BromCfirom April 13, 1681, to March 9. i6Sf. 3 vols. in 2, folio, with 
 Titles, Index and Prefaces, also a Portrait of Sir Roger Lestrange, by White 
 after Kneller (in duplicate}, contemporary calf , $ 55. 
 
 A complete set of this remarkable periodical conducted by 
 Lestrange. A few leaves are, shaved in headlines. 
 
 296 ORPHAN REVI V'D (The) ; or, Powell's Weekly Journal. 
 No. 4, Oct. 31 to Nov. 7 [1719]. Folio, emblematic woodcut, 55. 
 
 297 OWEN'S WEEKLY CHRONICLE; or, Universal 
 Journal. Nos. 59 to 67. May 12 to July 14, 1759. 9 numbers, 
 folio, 155.
 
 Old Newspapers, &c. 37 
 
 298 PARLIAMENTARY SPY (The). Nos. 1-22. With 
 The Parliamentary Spy Extraordinary. No. 23, November 21. 1769, 
 lo May 25. 1770. 23 numbers. [All published.] The WHISPERER. 
 Nos. 1-45, 47-50, 53-63. With the Whisperer Extraordinary (in- 
 serted between Nos. 4 and 5). February 17, 1770, to April 27. 1771. 
 59 numbers. The MONITOR, or the British Freeholder. Nos. 1-19, 
 75-92. 96 99. 101. August 9, 1755. to June, 25, 1757. 42 numbers 
 The WORLD. Nos. 96 and 98. October 31 and November 14, 1754. 
 The TEST. Nos. 27 and 34. May 14 and July 2, 1757. Together 
 in i vol. Sm. folio, half calf ', 2 55. 
 
 299 PERFECT DIURNALL (A) of the Proceedings in 
 Parliament. No. i. Feb. 21, 1659 (60). Printed by John Redmayne 
 in LovelsCourt in Pater-noster Rowe, London, 1659. Sm. 4to, IDS. 
 
 This newspaper is of great importance, as it records the 
 various resolutions passed in the Commons, at the conclusion 
 of General Monk's march to London, the appointment of the 
 General as Commander-in-Chief , etc. 
 
 300 POST ANGEL (The) : or, Universal Entertainment, for 
 1701. [By John Dunton.] London, Printed : and are to be sold, by A . 
 Baldwin. 2 vols. in i, sm. 410 (wants first title), old calf. i i6s. 
 
 Paragraphs of news were given in each number, but this 
 periodical is chiefly interesting on account of its early advocacy 
 of spiritualism. 
 
 301 POST BOY (The). Nos. 2478 and 2714. April 19, 
 1711, and September 30, 1712, respectively. Folio, 55. 
 
 302 POSTMAN (The). Upwards of 250 numbers (not con- 
 secutive) for the years 1701-03. Folio, 3 35. 
 
 303 PUBLIC ADVERTISER (The). 13 various numbers, 
 between 1763 and 1791. Printed by H. S. Wood/all. Folio, 155. 
 
 304 PUBLIC ADVERTISER (The). 24 various numbers. 
 From April to June 1792. Folio, i is. 
 
 305 PUBLICK INTELLIGENCER (The). No. 69. From 
 
 February 2 to February 9. 1659. Sm. 410, uncut, los. . 
 
 An account of Sundercomb's plot against the life of Oliver 
 Cromwell is given. 
 
 3P6 RAMBLER (The). [By Samuel Johnson.] London, 
 pnntcd for J. Payne and J. Bouquet. 1750-2. 2 vols., folio, FIRST 
 EDITION of the original 208 numbers, with general title-pages dated 1753, and 
 Lists of Contents and Mottoes added, half calf , 3 IQS. 
 
 307 ST. JAMES'S CHRONICLE : or, The British Evening 
 Post. 13 numbers, of various dates between 1712 and 1795. Folio, 
 155. 
 
 308 ST. JAMES'S EVENING POST (The). 46 various 
 
 nnmbers published between 1745 and 1748. Folio. /2 .
 
 36 Ellis, 29 Nsw Bond Street, W. 
 
 286 MODERATE INTELLIGENCER (The). No. 209. 
 
 From March 15 to March 22. 1649. Sm. 4(0, IDS. 
 
 Contains an Act for abolishing the Kingly office." 
 
 287 MODERATE INTELLIGENCER (The). No. 212. 
 
 April 5 to April 12, 1649. Sm. 410, 105. 
 
 Intelligence from Londonderry reports events arising on the 
 receipt of the news of the " sudden death " of Charles I. 
 
 288 MODERATE INTELLIGENCER (The). No 213. 
 From April 12 to April 18, 1649. Sm. 410, xos. 
 
 The resolutions of the Commons concerning Ireland, and other 
 Irish news, figure prominently in this number. 
 
 289 MODERATE INTELLIGENCER (The). No. 218. 
 From May 17 to May 24, 1649. Sm 4to. 10$. 
 
 Refers to the murder of Doctor Dorislans, the Commonwealth 
 representative at the Hague, to the Expedition into Ireland, to 
 events in Scotland, etc. 
 
 290 MODERATE INTELLIGENCER (The). No. 221. 
 June 7 to June 14, 1649. Sm. 4to, IDS. 
 
 Events in Ireland are referred to in several pages, it being 
 feared that Lord Ormonde would attack Dublin. 
 
 291 MORNING CHRONICLE (The) and London Adver- 
 tiser. 2 numbers, for July 28, 1774, and June 22, 1780, respectively. 
 Printed by IV. Wood/all. Folio, each two leaves, 55. 
 
 292 MORNING CHRONICLE (The). 4 various numbers, 
 for 1791 and 1795. Folio, tii'o leaves each, 55. 
 
 293 MORNING HERALD (The) and Daily Advertiser. 
 7 various numbers, from 1782 to 1796. Folio, some damaged, ^s. 6d. 
 
 294 NEWS (The). August, 1818, to December, 1819. Folio, 
 half bound, i8s. 
 
 Bound up at the beginning are some numbers of " The British 
 Luminary " and " The London Moderator " for July-Sept., 1818. 
 
 295 OBSERVATOR (The). Printed by Joanna [and Charles] 
 Bronte, from April 13, 1681, to March 9. i6S. 3 vols. in 2, folio, with 
 Titles, Index and Prefaces, also a Portrait of Sir Roger Lestrange, by White 
 after Kit ell er (in duplicate), contemporary calf , .5 55. 
 
 A complete set of this remarkable periodical conducted by 
 Lestrange. A few leaves are, shaved in headlines. 
 
 296 ORPHAN REVI V'D (The) ; or, Powell's Weekly Journal. 
 
 No. 4, Oct. 31 to Nov. 7 [1719]. Folio, emblematic woodcut, 55. 
 
 297 OWEN'S WEEKLY CHRONICLE; or, Universal 
 Journal. Nos. 59 to 67. May 12 to July 14, 1759. 9 numbers, 
 iolio, 151.
 
 Old Newspapers, >c. 37 
 
 298 PARLIAMENTARY SPY (The). Nos. 1-22. With 
 The Parliamentary Spy Extraordinary. No. 23, November 21. 1769, 
 lo May 25, 1770. 23 numbers. [All published.] The WHISPERER. 
 Nos. 1-45, 47-50, 53-63. With the Whisperer Extraordinary (in- 
 serted between Nos. 4 and 5). February 17, 1770, to April 27. 1771. 
 59 numbers. The MONITOR, or the British Freeholder. Nos. 1-19, 
 75-92. 96 99. 101. August 9, 1755. to June, 25, 1757. 42 numbers 
 The WORLD. Nos. 96 and 98. October 31 and November 14, 1754. 
 The TEST. Nos. 27 and 34. May 14 and July 2, 1757. Together 
 in i vol. Sm. folio, half calf , 2 55. 
 
 299 PERFECT DIURNALL (A) of the Proceedings in 
 Parliament. No. i, Feb. 21, 1659 (60). Printed by John Redniayne 
 in Lovels Court in Pater-noster Rowe, London, 1659. Sm. 410, tos. 
 
 This newspaper is of great importance, as it records the 
 various resolutions passed in the Commons, at the conclusion 
 of General Monk's march to London, the appointment of the 
 General as Commander-in-Chief, etc. 
 
 300 POST ANGEL (The) : or, Universal Entertainment, for 
 1701. [By John Dunton.] London, Printed : and are to be sold by A. 
 Baldwin. 2 vols. in i, sm. 410 (wants first title), old calf. i 16$. 
 
 Paragraphs of news were given in each number, but this 
 periodical is chiefly interesting on account of its early advocacy 
 of spiritualism. 
 
 301 POST BOY (The). Nos. 2478 and 2714. April 19, 
 1711, and September 30, 1712, respectively. Folio, 55. 
 
 302 POSTMAN (The). Upwards of 250 numbers (not con- 
 secutive) for the years 1701-03. Folio, 3 35. 
 
 303 PUBLIC ADVERTISER (The). 13 various numbers, 
 
 between 1763 and 1791. Printed by H. S. Wood/all. Folio, 155. 
 
 304 PUBLIC ADVERTISER (The). 24 various numbers. 
 From April to June 1792. Folio, i is. 
 
 305 PUBLICK INTELLIGENCER (The). No. 69. From 
 February 2 to February 9, 1659. Sm. 410, uncut, ica. 
 
 An account of Sundercomb's plot against the life of Oliver 
 Cromwell is given. 
 
 3P6 RAMBLER (The). [By Samuel Johnson.] London, 
 p'intcd for J. Payne and J. Bouquet. 1750-2. 2 vols.. folio, FIRST 
 EDITION of the original 208 numbers, with general title-pages dated 1753, and 
 Lists of Contents and Mottoes added, half calf, 3 los. 
 
 307 ST. JAMES'S CHRONICLE : or, The British Evening 
 Post. 13 numbers, of various dates between 1712 and 1795. Folio, 
 IS*. 
 
 308 ST. JAMES'S EVENING POST (The). 46 various 
 
 numbers published between 7743 and 1748. Folio, l .
 
 38 Ellis, 29 New Bond Street, W. 
 
 \ 
 
 309 SCOURGE (The) : in Vindication of the Church of 
 England : [A Periodical Publication in 43 numbers.] To which 
 are added, I. The Danger of the Church-Establishment of England, 
 from the Insolence of Protestant Dissenters. II. The Anatomy of the 
 Heretical Synod of Dissenters at Salters-Hall. London 1720. 8vo, 
 frontispiece containing portraits of the 5 Stuart Sovereigns by Vander Gitcht, 
 and plate of the Synod at Sailers-Hall, old calf, i is. 
 
 This periodical, which appeared every Monday, and was 
 characterised by violent abuse of dissenters, broad-churchmen, 
 and papists alike, was by Thomas Lewis. He attacked Hoadly, 
 and a few weeks later denounced the Scottish Presbyterians ; 
 whereupon he was ordered to stand tiial for sedition as a libeller 
 and embroiler of the nation ; but he fled. 
 
 310 SPECTATOR (The). [By Joseph Addison, Sir 
 Richard Steele, &c.] 370 numbers (not consecutive), as originally 
 published, from March 7, 1711, to December i, 1712. London : Printed 
 for Sam. Buckley (and J . Tonson] . In i vol., folio, old calf, 6 6s. 
 
 311 SWEDISH INTELLIGENCER (The). The First 
 Part. Wherein ovt of the trvest and choysest Informations, aie the 
 famous Actions of that warl ke Prince historically led along: from 
 his Majesties first entring into the Empire, vntill his great Victory 
 over the Generall Tilly, at the Batiell of Leipsich. The Second 
 Part. From the Victory of Leipsich, unto the Conquest of Bavaria. 
 The Third Part. From the Ncrimberg Leaguer, unto the day of his 
 death, at the Victory of Lutzen. The Fourth Part. Relating the 
 Chiefesl of those Military Actions of the Swedish Generalls : where- 
 in the King himselle was not personally with the Armie. The Con- 
 tinvation of the German History. The Fifth Part. The History of 
 the present Warres of Germany. A Sixt Part. Briefly brought 
 down from October last past, to our Lady day, 1634. London, printed 
 for Nath : Butter and Nicholas Bourne, 1632. 33, 34. 6 parts. The 
 Swedish Discipline, Religiovs, Civi e, and Military. The First Part, 
 in the Formes of Prayer daily used by those of the Swedish Nation, 
 in the Armie. The Second Part, in the excellent orders observed in the 
 Armie. The Third Part, in the King's Commission for levying 
 of aRegiment, . . . vnto which is added the best manner of building 
 and fortifying of a Towne of Warre. London, 1632. In 2 vols., thick 
 
 .4tO, EQUESTRIAN PORTRAIT OF GuSTAVUS ADOLPHUS BY G. MOUNTIN, 
 
 AND 6 FOLDING PLANS, INCLUDING 2 OF LEIPZIG, contemporary calf (the 
 lower half of the title to Part V. is mutilated), 10 IDS. 
 
 The "Swedish Intelligencer" was issued as a periodical publica- 
 tion, publi.-hed every six months, and the present set conta ns all 
 thenumbers issued up to 1634, with the addition of the companion 
 book "The Swedish Discipline." A Seventh Part of ' The Swedish 
 Intelligencer" was afterwards published in 1635, but it is very 
 . unusual to find a set in its original condition so nearly complete. 
 Each Part contains Prefaces and Index. To the Third Part are 
 prefixed ten Elegies on the death of Gustavus Adolphus, occupy- 
 ing 23 pages. The Fifth Part contains "The order how the 
 King of Sweden's Corps was attended from Wolgast Castle to 
 the Ships, 1633."
 
 Old Newspapers, &>c. 39 
 
 312 STAR (The). 8 numbers, of various dates, from 1793 to 
 1797. Folio, los. 
 
 313 SWAN SKA ARGUS (Then). Nos. 1-52. Stockholm tryckt 
 has Benjamin Gottlieb Schneider, 1732-3. 410, woodcut on title, old calf, 
 i i8s. 
 
 314 TATLER (The). By Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq. [Sir 
 Richard Steele.] Nos. 5-181 (excepting Nos. 8, 62. 101, 128, 131. 
 179, and 180). Sold by John Morphew, 1709-11. 170 ORIGINAL 
 NUMBERS, folio, 3 35. 
 
 Many interesting advertisements are to be found in these 
 original numbers. 
 
 315 TIMES (The). 5 various numbers for 1791. Folio, 
 
 105. 
 
 316 UNIVERSAL SPECTATOR (The) and Weekly 
 Journal. By Henry Stonecastle of Northumberland, Esq. 3 various 
 numbers, for 1730 to 1732. London, Printed by S. Nevill. Folio. 
 75. 6d. 
 
 3:7 VISIONS OF SIR HEISTER RYLEY (The): with 
 
 other Entertainments. Consisting of Two Hundred Discourses and 
 Letters representing, by way of Image and Description, the Characters 
 of Vertue, Beauty, Affectation. Love and Passion ; the Agreeableness 
 of Wit, Truth, and Honour, made conspicuous by Morals. As also 
 Scenes of the Birth of Nature, the sudden Turns of Fortune, the 
 Madness of Domestick Contests, the Humours of the Town, the 
 False Arts of Life, both of Human an-l Irrational Beings, trac'd 
 thro 1 a!l their Intricate Mazes. Nos. 1-80. August 21 to February 
 21, 1710 (n). London : printed for the Author, andsold by Mrs. Sympson 
 at the Ant/lope in King-street, Westminster [and others], 1711. Sm. 
 4to, old calf, 2 155. 
 
 No. 24, Oct. 14, is wanting in this set, otherwise it comprises 
 all that was published of this periodical, which came out on 
 Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and was an imitation of 
 Steele's "Tatler." by Charles Povey. who wrote many curious 
 woi ks and was the originator of some ingenious projects. He 
 floated some insurance schemes, including "The Sun" Fire 
 Office. 
 
 318 WEEKLY COURANT (The), containing a Faithful 
 Account of all Publick Transactions both Foreign and Domestick : 
 together with Remarks on Trade. Vol. V. No. 8. Nottingham, 
 Thursday Sept. 20, 1716. Sm.' 4to, sewed, 8s. 6d. 
 
 Reports a violent storm in London by which bouses were 
 thrown at Stepney, and the tide forced through London Bridge 
 eastward, so that several men went over the Thames on foot to 
 Lambeth and Southw-rk. There is an advertisement of a sale 
 at Nottingham of a large collection of books of the late Rev. 
 Mr. Fisher, of Hicklin, in Nottinghamshire. 
 
 319 WEEKLY COURANT (The). Vol. VII., No. 23. 
 
 Nottingham : Thursday, Jan. 8, 1718. Sm. 4to, sewed, 7$. 6d. 
 
 Contains an account of the death of Charles XII. of Sweden.
 
 40 Ellis, 29 New Bond Street, W. 
 
 320 WEEKLY COURANT (The). Vol VI., No. 28. Not- 
 
 tingham. Thursday, February 6. 1717. Sm. 410. sen-ed, 8s. 6d. 
 
 There is a curious Nottingham advertisement in this number. 
 
 321 WEEKLY DISPATCH (The). 7 various numbers for 
 1824 and 1825. Folio, IDS. 
 
 These numbers contain accounts of the arrest, trial and exe- 
 cution of Faunileroy, and the banking troubles which followed. 
 
 322 WEEKLY JOURNAL (The), or British Gazetteer. 4 
 
 various numbers, from 1718 to 1720. London. Printed and Sold by J . 
 Read. Folio, IDS. 
 
 323 WEEKLY JOURNAL (The), or Saturday's Post : with 
 fresh Advices Foreign and Domestick. No. 79. Saturday, June 14, 
 1718. London, Printed by N . Mist. Folio, 6 pp., 45. 
 
 324 WEEKLY MISCELLANY (The). By Richard Hooker, 
 of the Temple. Esq. No. 278, for April 21, 1738. London: Printed 
 and sold by H. Wood/all, jun. Folio, 35 6d. 
 
 325 WEEKLY PACKET -(The), No. 304, for April 26 to 
 May 3, 1718. London. Printed by H. Meere. 410, 45. 6d. 
 
 326 WEEKLY PACQUET (The), of Advice from Rome: 
 or, The History of Popery. A Deduction of the Usurpations of the 
 Bishops of Rome, and the Errors and Superstitions by them from 
 time to time brought into the Church. Perform'd by a Single Sheet, 
 coming out every Friday, but with a continual Connexion. [By 
 Henry Care.] 1678-83, '89. 6 vols. in 5, sm. 410, old calf , ^3 35. 
 
 " In 1682 a difference had taken place between Care and 
 Langley Curtis, the original publisher, when Care continued 
 the work on his own accou t till he was seized with illness, 
 while- Curtis employed William Salmon to publish a continua- 
 tion of the "Pacquets," from 25 Aug., 1682. till 4 May. 1683. 
 Curtis, probably having the stock-in-trade in his own hands, 
 added the fifth volume, by Salmon, to all the remaining 
 copies, and conspquentlv Care's fifth volume is rarely met 
 with." Diet, of Nat. Biog. The present collection comprises 
 both Care's Vol. 5 (47 numbers) and Salmon's (38 numbers). 
 Of the latter No. 35 is wanting. No bibliographer seems to 
 have noted that an attempt was made to continue the 
 " Pacquet " in 1689 by George Larkin. Three numbers were 
 published as Vol. C (Jan. 5 Feb. 8). These are also included 
 in the present collection. 
 
 327 WEEKLY POLITICAL REVIEW (The). By Mr. Red- 
 head Yorke. Nos. 20 to 56 (wanting No. 33). From April 19 to 
 Dec. 27, 1806. [London] Published by the Author. In i vol., 410, 
 boards, uncut. i6s. 
 
 328 WEEKLY POST (The), truly communicating the Chief 
 Occurrences and Proceedings within the Commonwealth. Concern- 
 ing Lord Fairfax's Letter and Resolution to the Lord Mayor, etc. 
 No. 42. Feb. 14 to Feb. 21, 1660. Sm. 410, 8s. 6d.
 
 University of California 
 ;n - I? REGI NAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 "SKBiasKaSS^" 
 
 jothejibrary from which it was hnrm wa ^