No More Learning

In that age the middle aisle of St. Paul's swarmed with disbanded or broken ancients, lieutenants, &c. , who on the strength of having served a few months in the Low Countries, assumed, like Cavaliero Shift, an acquaintance with all the great officers in the field, and amused the idle citizens with pretended intelligence from the armies. One of these (the Captain of Jonson and Fletcher) seems to have turned his inventive faculties to account, and printed
THE FIRST EDITORS ROOM. 21
his imaginary correspondence, instead of detailing it viva voce. *"
To return again to Ben Jonson's comedy, which we left just as he had introduced us to the office of the Staple. Cymbal the proprietor, and Fitton the reporter enter, introducing Pennyboy : —
Pennyboy. In truth they are dainty rooms ; what place is this?
Cymbal. This is the outer room, where my clerks sit, And keep their sides, the register in the 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 up Under their heads.
Pennyboy. But those two subdivided ?
Into authentical and apocryphal —
Or News of doubtful credit, as barber's News —
Cymbal. I have the News of the sea, sir— Fitton. As Vacation News,
Term News, and Christmas News. Cymbal. And News of the faction.
Fitton. As the Reformed News ; Protestant News ;— Cymbal. And Pontificial News ; of all which several,
*In The Great Assizes —a curious poem, mention is made of a Cap tain Rashingham, a great compiler of News, whose occupation was invaded by a swarm of "paper wasters," &c,
Who weekly uttered such a mass of lies,
Under the specious name of novelties,
that the Captain found his trade over-run, and was obliged to betake himself to "plucking tame pigeons," (tricking) for a livelihood. This was written nearly twenty years after The Staple of News ; bully Rashingham, therefore, may be too late for the Captain of the text ; the quotation, however, will serve to show that men of this de scription were engaged in these pursuits. See also the first scene of
Shirley's Love Tricks. — Notes to B. Jonson, edited by Gifford.
Cymbal. Fitton.
And tailors' News, porters' and watermens' News. Fitton. Where to, lee side the Coranti, and Gazetti —
Cymbal.
22 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
The daybooks, characters, precedents are kept, Together with the names of special friends —
Fitton. Cymbal.
Fitton. Cymbal.
And men of correspondence in the Country — Yes, of all ranks, and all religions —
Factors and agents — Siegers, that lie out
Through all the shires of the Kingdom. Pennyboy. This is fine,
And bears a brave relation !
But enough of The Staple of News, now that we have gleaned from it an idea of the forerunner of the modern Newspaper office. In Collins's Memorials of State we have on record, a News-writer and his patron, the latter being Sir Robert Sydney, the former a Mr Whyte, a postmaster, " a notable busy man, who constantly wrote over to Flushing to his patron. "* When the civil wars were raging, News-agents, and News-letter writers and
* " Sir Robert Sydney, the younger brother, copied after the shining character (of Sir Philip Sydney), and by his virtues and services ob tained the title and honours of Earl of Leicester. As he was curious in laying out for intelligence of the remarkable events of the time, he kept a correspondence with Rowland White the postmaster, 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, being employed by him in commissions to his noble relations the ministers, was entrusted by them with several secret passages for the information of his patron. To give one instance out of many, I shall only add, that in Mr. White's letters are contained several particulars, hitherto passed over in silence by the historians, of the Earl of Essex's favour, troubles, and fall. " —Preface to Collins' Memorials of State.
" This gentleman (Rowland Whyte) was employed by Sir Robert Sydney to solicit his affairs at Court, and to relate to him what passed there, for which he allowed him a salary, and his integrity and indus try fully appears in the course of his letters, some of which are in the first volume, but these that follow discover several particulars in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, unobserved by our historians. " —Collins's Memorials of State, Note Vol. II. p. 4.
CROMWELL AND THE NEWS-BEARER. 23
pamphleteers, were all in full occupation. They were employed by Cromwell and against him, and these written pages were circulated in various secret ways. From hand to hand they were dispatched under the wings of birds, and sewn into the saddle-flaps of unconscious riders. We find on record a notable instance of this last mode of sending information, in the case of Charles the First, who adopted it unsuccess fully, when he tried to send secret news to France of his intentions respecting Cromwell and the puritans. The document in this case was rather a private dispatch than a News-letter, but the story of its discovery is illustrative of the contrivances resorted to at that time for communicating intelligence from one place to another. Guizot has put the incident into graphic shape, and we may quote it from the translation by Mr. Hazlitt, — himself by the way a journalist: —
From day to day the King's intentions became more and
I shall play my game as well as I can," said Charles to Ireton, who pressed him to join them openly ; * and lords Lauderdale and Lanark, still assiduous in their attendance,
promised him the support of a Scottish army if he would accept of their alliance. Already, it was said, the preliminaries of a treaty were agreed upon ; it was even added that in Scotland, where Hamilton's credit prevailed over that of Argyle, troops were marching towards the borders. \ On their side, the Eng lish cavaliers, Capel, Langdale, and Musgrave were secretly getting up an insurrection. "Be assured," the King had said to Capel, "the two nations will soon be at war; the Scotch promise themselves the co-operation of all the presbyterians in England ; let our friends, then, hold themselves ready and in arms ; for otherwise, whichever party is victorious, we shall get
* Hutchinson, 277. t Rushworth, ii. 4, 786—810.
more suspected : "
THE FOURTH ESTATE.
very little by it. *" Meantime, the situation of the army quartered near London became critical ; the city paid no attention to the demands made for money to pay the men, and the officers knew not how to govern troops whom they could not pay. t In all directions the most daring pamphlets were circulated; some setting forth the designs of the soldiers against the King, others the king's negociations with the generals. In vain had Fairfax demanded and obtained, readily enough so far, the establishment of a rigorous censorship ; J in vain had Cromwell himself repre sented to the city the necessities of the army ; in vain had he displayed all the resources of reason and craft, to persuade the fanatics that they must restrain their fanaticism if they thought to be paid by the moderate, the moderate that, to keep the fan atics in check, they must pay them ; || in vain had he succeeded
in getting some of his confidants elected among the new agents of the soldiers. His efforts were without result ; even his very prudence turned against him ; he had kept up a correspondence, had secured, as he imagined, means of action with all parties ; and now everywhere a wild, indomitable excitement threatened to countervail his schemes, to ruin his influence. The end of so much ability, so much exertion, had only been to burden his situation with greater difficulty and danger.
Amid this perplexity, one of the spies he had at Hampton Court, in the very chamber of the king, sent him word that on that day, a letter addressed to the queen would be dispatched from the castle, containing Charles's real designs towards the army and its leaders. The letter, sewn up in a saddle, carried
on his head by a man, not in the secret, would reach, about ten o'clock that night, the Blue Boar in Holborn ; a horse was rea dy waiting there to take the bearer to Dover, whence the packet would sail for France. Cromwell and Ireton at once formed their resolution. Disguised as private soldiers, and followed by a single trooper, they left Windsor to go to the appointed place. On their arrival, they placed their attendant on the watch at
* Clarendon, iii. 106. t Rushworth, ii. 4, 804, &c.
X By an ordinance of September 30, 1647 ; Pari. Hist. iii. 779—781 ;
Rushworth, ii. 4, 799. || Rushworth, ii. 4, 883, 884.
THE NEWS-LETTERS. 25
the door, and entering the tavern, sat down at a table and had some beer. Towards ten, the messenger appeared, the saddle on his head : receiving immediate notice of this, they went out, sword in hand, seized the saddle under the pretext that they had orders to search everything, carried it into the inn, ripped it open, found the letter, carefully closed up the saddle again, and then returned it to the terrified messenger, saying, with an air of good humour, that he was an honest fellow, and might con tinue his journey.
Their informant had not deceived them: Charles, indeed, wrote to the queen that he was courted alike by both factions, that he should join the one whose conditions should be most for his advantage, and that he thought he should rather treat with the Scottish presbyterians than with the army : "For the rest," he added, "I alone understand my position ; be quite easy as to the concessions which I may grant; when the time comes, I shall very well know how to treat these rogues, and instead of a silken garter, I will fit them with a hempen halter. " The two generals looked at each other, and all their suspicions thus confirmed, returned to Windsor, hence forward as free from un certainty respecting their designs upon the king as respecting his towards them. *
It is said the cavaliers when taken prisoners, had been known to eat the News-letters, which must other wise have been discovered by their captors. Some of Prince Eupert's letters, still in existence, were, it is said,
from hand to hand, and were endorsed by each suc cessive reader, who when he had perused the contents
" intercepted,
and bear dark red stains, that show how faithfully they were defended. " Many of them passed
sent them on, in obedience to the " haste, haste, post haste. "t
superscription,
* This occurred in the course of October ; Clarendon, State Papers, ii. Appendix, xxxviii.
t Memoirs of Prince Eupert and the Cavaliers, including their corres-
26 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
Several collections of News-letters have found their way into type, and the British Museum contains a store of the original MS. S. ,* as well as copies of such as have been printed. Sir Walter Scott is said to have
pondences by Eliot Warburton. This writer, when speaking of the ori ginal MS. used in the preparation of his work says " I do not presume to canvass my reader's sympathies for either Puritan or Cavalier, I leave them to plead their own cause in their own letters :— him
I invite
listen to their own long silent voices, speaking once more—eagerly, earnestly —as when armed men with desperate speed bore these, their
blotted, and often blood-stained pages, from leagured city or roving camp —from faltering diplomatist, or resolute warrior, at whose beck men died. Every letter will possess some interest for the thoughtful reader, and shed some light for him on the heart of the bygone times. He will find them still animated by the passions that were then throb bing in every breast. At first the earnest, rather than angry, spirit of our memorable English war is apparent in them; but they gradually become more intense in their expression, as if they were the work of a single man ; the same note of triumph or tone of despair is perceptible in all. Human nature, and the nature of each writer, is transparent in them all: the reader is the confidant of Kings, Princes, States men, Generals, patriots, traitors; he is the confessor of the noblest minds and the most villainous natures, he sees the very conscience of the war. "
* Harleian MS. , 7015, consists of a volume of public papers and letters, containing among others MS. Gazettes in French, dated from the Hague, in the years 1620 —1623, relating to public transactions in all parts of Europe during these times. Some of them are directed to Sir Thomas Pickering, and some are in English ; two are directed to him at Warwick.
Sloane Collection, 3328, has various letters of News— 1685, 1687.
No 3925. , of the additional MS. S. in the collection of the British Museum is a thick folio volume thus described, " copies and translations of letters from various parts of the world, 1690. 1691. 1692. The book belonged to Andrew Ellis Esq. , of the Post Office London, and is supposed to have served for articles in a newspaper. "
Some News-letters still exist says Macaulay in our public libraries, and he speaks also of some in Sir J. Macintosh's collection.
to
PARTIZAN NEWS-LETTERS. 27
been very fond of poring over these memorials of early history, as written by those who mixed in the scenes they describe, and used the materials he found to make more perfect his descriptions of manners, customs, and costume.
The custom of written News was continued long after the press had begun to give intelligence in a printed shape, and with something like punctuality. Men dare in these times write what they hesitated to give in print; and hence the continued influence of the manuscript News-letters.
In the Life of Dr. John North, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, we are told:—
Whilst he was at Jesus College, Coffee was not of such com mon 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 pub lic 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 supplied 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, without doing his suit at the Coffee-house ; which is a vast loss of time.
In Roger North's Life of Lord Keeper Guilford, that writer tells us, it was when
On circuit that, as his Lordship passed along, divers gentle men showed him circular News-letters that came to them ; and he perceived that the scope of these was to misrepresent and misconstrue all the public transactions of state, and might have been properly styled fanatic News-letters, contrived and dis
28 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
patched to divers places to stir up sedition. And upon his Lordship's inquiry, he was told that they came from Mr. Cole man, the Duke of York's secretary. His Lordship on his return made a representation to the king of this News-letter from such a person, and the ill-consequences of it. Whereupon Mr. Cole man was turned out of the Duke's service, but never blamed, for he was afterwards made the Duchess of York's secretary.
North in his Examen, gives us his recollections : —
I may remember somewhat of this Mr. Coleman. He was a Gentleman of a very good Family, that of Brent-Ely in Suffolk. Some years before these Times, he had been employed as a Sec retary to the Duke of York, but upon Information given by the Judges of the Northern Circuit against him, in the year , he was put out of that Post. It seems some Gentlemen of the North showed the Judges their circular News-letters that came weekly amongst them, saying they were wrote by this Mr. Coleman, and they had them constantly. It appeared plainly that the whole intent of them was to promote Faction and Dis content in the Country ; for all the Actions of the Government were traduced to an ill sense, just as the Fanatics, in Coffee houses in and about London used to talk, for creating differen ces between the King and his People; and (saving the word Popery) just as we are served in this History. Which epistolary stuff one would have expected from Colonel Mildmay out of Essex, rather than from the Cabinet of one in the Family and service of the King's own brother. His being (as he was thereupon) turned out, answered the End of that Complaint for the present ; but the Duke would not wholly part with him, for that cause, because it was likely what he wrote was pursuant to the Coun sel of the whole party.
Burnett describes Coleman as a clergyman's son, who had been educated by the Jesuits ; in character bold, and resolved to raise himself; a proficient in several languages ; a writer of many long letters ; and the chief correspondent the party had in England. * He
* History of His Own Times, Vol. I. p. 393.
EXECUTION OF COLEMAN. 29
lived expensively, and spoke like a man who knew he was well supported. He was a confidant of Louis the Fourteenth's, confessor, and his zeal appears to have been excessive for, says Burnett "he went about every where, even to the gaols among the criminals, to make proselytes. "
Coleman met a tragic end. When the infamous Titus Oates brought forward the Popish Plot, Coleman was one of the first victims. The News-writer was charged with high treason, and was placed at the bar of the King's Bench to take his trial. He was denied counsel ; the Chief Justice, Scroggs, found fault with his religion, and abused his mode of defence as he stood at the bar ; Jeffreys was engaged for the prosecution ; Titus Oates was circumstantial in his perjury, and Coleman was condemned to death. Oates in his evi dence spoke of " a Letter of News which was called Mr. Coleman's letter. "
Five days after his trial Coleman was drawn on a hurdle from Newgate to Tyburn, amid the noisy insults of the mob who hooted him as a Papist. The inti mate of the Duke of York, who had urged his master's religious views with all his learning, and assisted his political plans with great industry; whose pen had never tired in the preparation of the News-letters that were to create a public opinion to serve his party, now stood in the shadow of the gallows disgraced and de graded, and in the presence of death : but his cup was not yet full. For his last moment was reserved the the bitterest pang—the consiousness of disappointed hopes, and of his patron's treachery. " He had been made to believe," says the chronicler who reports the
30
THE FOURTH ESTATE.
trial, " that he should have a pardon, which he de pended on with so much assurance, that a little before he was turned off, finding himself deceived, he was heard to say, ' There is no faith in man. ' Then, after some private prayers and ejaculations to himself, the sentence was executed. "*
What a News- writer did in England in 1622 on his own responsibility, was effected ten years afterwards in France under the patronage of Louis the Fourteenth by a medical man Theophrastus Renaudot, who issued the first number of the first French Newspaper, the Gazette de France, in 1632. It is said that other nations had anticipated both England and France in the establish ment of Newspapers, and this point must be discussed when we come to the subject of Journalism abroad ; but here we may state that any country claiming to have preceded us in the production of Newspapers, must show in proof of priority, a publication appear ing at stated intervals and numbered regularly. Unless such proof be given, and unless that definition and test of what a Newspaper is be adopted, we may go back to the Greeks and to the Romans, and to the early Venetians, and finding small sheets of paper de scribing some event, call them Newspapers. Without the definition, we must go floundering about in the mists of an obscure antiquity to decide that which is sufficiently clear and certain, when we understand
* " The Trial of Edward Coleman, gent. , for conspiring the death of the King &e. London printed for R. Pawlet, at the Bible in Chancery Lane, near Fleet Street, 1678. " quoted in Howell's State Trials, Vol. I. p. 7.
NEWS-BOOKS. 31
precisely what it is we seek to know the date of. For want of definition of what a Newspaper is, Mr. Chalmers talks of the Acta Diurna, and the Venetian MS. Gazettes, as though they were the earliestNewspapers; and, following him, the writers in the various Cyclo paedias do the same. Murphy in his edition of Tacitus* seizes a passage, and asserts that the Romans were the inventors of this mode of spreading intelligence, whilst
others have regarded and described various pamphlets as the first Newspapers, because they had the word News as a heading, or were called Mercuries. All these pub lications were the forerunners of Newspapers, and not Newspapers themselves.
When these flying sheets began to obtain purchasers in England the word News seems to have been a popular one for the title page, whether the paper contained a recital of real or of imaginary events. As
early as 1561, the Register of the Stationer's Company has an entry of three Ballads, one of them entitled " Newes out of Kent," which may have told in doggrel rhyme some recent occurrence ; and another " Newes out of Heaven and Hell," in which the author must have relied upon his imagination for his materials. With later dates we find, in the British Museum, a great assortment of News books, of four and eight small pages, with most startling titles. One gives an account
* Speech of Corsutianus Capito against Thracea: —"Diurna populi Romani, per provincias, per exercitus, curatius leguntur ; quam ut non noscatur quid Thracea fecerit," &c.
" The journals of the Roman people were never read by the prov inces, and the armies, with so much avidity as in the present juncture, and the reason is the history of the times is the history of Thracea's conspiracy. "
32 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
of fire from Heaven burning the body of John Hatchell at Christ-Church ; another describes fires, wind, light ning, and apparitions seen abroad and related by a merchant ; a third describes and illustrates a " battle of Starelings fought at the city of Corke, on the 12th and 14th of Oct. last, 1621. " Others of these News- books are described as being translated out of the Dutch version, printed at Nymwegen. *
In the British Museum Catalogue of Newspapers the first date is 1603, and then follow the titles of various pamphlets which ought not to have been in cluded in such a list. There are, for instance, His Majesty's Conference with the Bishops, His Majesty's Speech in the Star Chamber, and Proclamations and Declarations from the same royal source. None of
* We find the word Newes employed to help the sale of pamphlets of travels, sermons, satires, and other such wares. Thus in 1622, we find ' ' Strange Newes out of divers countries never discovered till of late, by a strange Pilgrim in those parts. " A strange, coarse, but effective woodcut decorates the title-page. The size of the pamphlet is a small quarto; the imprint — "London; Printed by W. Sones for George Fayerbeard, and are to be sold at his shop at the Royal Exchange, 1622.
"
Again we have "Lamentable Newes out of Monmouthshire in Wales, contayning the wonderful and fearful accidents of the great overflowing of the waters in the saide Countye, drowning infinite num bers of Cattel of all kinds, as sheep, oxen, kine, and horses, with others ; together with the losse of many men, women, and children, and the subversion of xxvi parishes in January last, 1607. London; Printed for W. W. , and are to be sold in Paul's Church yarde, at the " sign of the Greyhound. " This News-book describes the flood, and then preaches a sermon upon it. It is printed in old English, and is thickly interspersed with pious exhortations and scripture references. It has a woodcut on the title, giving a rough but forcible idea of the calamity. These pamphlets are only named as specimens. There are many others to be seen in the British Museum Library.
THE ENGLISH MERCURIE. 33
these are Newspapers, nor will any one be found of earlier date than the Weekly News, 1622.
We shall see how the example of Butter was fol lowed, years later, by the re appearance of a regular weekly journal ; but, having claimed for his publication
the merit of being the first Newspaper, it is requisite to refer to the very different date heretofore given as that of the commencement of public journalism. Until re cently it was always stated that the first Newspaper ap peared in England in 1558. Thosewho had occasion to describe the origin of such publications all went to one source for their information, and, finding an error there, the mis-statement was repeated again and again with curious pertinacity. The original author of this often- reiterated mistake was Mr. Chalmers, who, having un dertaken to write the Life of Mr. Ruddiman, one of the first proprietors of a Scottish journal, enlarged his work by giving the result of some researches he made into the origin of Newspapers. His investigations seem to have been chiefly carried on at the Library of the British Museum, and finding in that collection a print ed paper entitled The English Mercurie, and dated 1588, he received it without question of its authenti city, and at once declared that England owed "to the sagacity of Elizabeth and the wisdom of Burleigh the invention of Newspapers," and that such prints were first issued when the Armada was threatening our
shores.
It would seem that the delight of Chalmers in es
tablishing, as he thought, the claim of priority in this
invention for England and the Virgin Queen had
blinded him to the imperfection of the evidence on VOL. I. D
34 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
which this claim rested. A calm examination of the paper, of the type, of the corrections of this so-called English Mercurie, must have satisfied the most unwil ling antiquary that what he wished to find a real an tique was nothing but a clumsy and impudent forgery. This counterfeit was however accepted as genuine, and so described in the Life of Ruddiman, from whence the tale was copied by the writers in the various Cyclo
and from them into numerous other books. Amongst those who thus took for granted the truth of the story was Mr. D 'Israeli, who, in the earlier editions of the Curiosities of Literature, tells the false tale of Chalmers and his followers. * This historical error was exposed and corrected by Mr. Watt, an officer of the Museum where this sham " English Mercurie" is pre served. He drew attention to the subject, and those who, at his suggestion, examined for themselves, saw as he did, and at once, that the so-called Elizabethan Newspaper was a cheat. Those who are curious about such literary frauds may test the English Mercurie for themselves, at the Library of the British Museum ; for it is amongst the Sloane MS. S. ,t and forms part of
* In excusing his error D' Israeli says, in his edition dated 1839 :— ' ' I witnessed fifty years ago that laborious researcher (the literary anti quary George Chalmers) busied among the long dusty shelves of our periodical papers which then reposed in the ante-chamber to the former reading-room of the British Museum. To the industry which I had witnessed I confided, and such positive and precise evidence could not fail to be accepted by all. In the British Museum, indeed, George Chal mers found the printed English Mercurie ; but there also, it now appears, he might have seen the original, with all its corrections before it was
sent to the press, written on paper of modern fabric. " t Sloane MS. No. 4106.
paedias,
THE NEWSPAPER FORGERY. 35
the Birch Collection. Mr. Watt's letter, in which
he exposes its falsity, will be found at the end of the
present volume.
Just after Johnson, in his days of poverty, had
obtained employment on the Gentleman's Magazine, as a writer of Parliamentary Debates, there appeared in that publication an article on the Acta Diurna. It stands as a kind of introduction to the volume for 1740,* and the writer, like the translator of Tacitus, would fain make out a case in favour of the assertion, that to Rome may be traced the origin of Newspapers
of a modern journal—records of public cere monies and decrees, of trials, accidents, storms, quar rels, public executions, births and deaths ; but similar extracts might be made from any ancient records of any ancient people whose history remains to us, and the Acta Diurna were rather public recognitions or procla mations of important facts than issues of News. If the Romans had had moveable types and printing presses, they would probably have had Newspapers, but without the means they could scarcely have the end. The events of any age are always interesting to those who live in
and the active Roman people must have been anxious to know how their armies and colonists were progress ing in the distant parts of the world to which they
—though Rome had neither types nor presses !
In the extracts from the Acta Diurna, given in support of this position, we have notices such as enter into the
pages
The small means at their command were made the most of, but those means were the dispatches
* In the appendix to this volume will be found the specimens of the Acta Diurna, collected for the Gentleman's Magazine.
1)
penetrated.
%
it,
3G THE FOURTH ESTATE.
of public officers or private correspondents, and how anxiously these communications were sometimes read we learn by the passage in Tacitus already spoken of. Somewhat similar public notices of public events were written during the period when the Turks were waging war with the Venetians; and it is stated that, in 1563, these descriptions of important occurrences were publicly read in Venice to audiences who each paid a coin called
gazetta for the privilege of listening. Hence the ori gin of the word Gazette as applied to papers contain
ing News. Some volumes of the manuscripts prepared by the governments of the period for these public read ings are preserved in the library at Florence. These also have been pointed to as the first Newspapers, but cannot fairly claim to be such. They were not pub lished for circulation. Like the Acta Diurna they were public documents, more in the nature of proclamations
by authority, than public journals.
In dismissing this chapter on News-letters and
News-writers, and other fore-runners of the modern Newspapers, it may be remarked that the title adopted by the old scribes still lingers amongst us on the head ing of an Irish journal of our time — "Saunders's News letter. "
CHAPTER III.
THE EARLY STRUGGLES OF THE PRESS.
"The Liberty of the Press —it is as the air we breathe, if we have it not, we die. "— Old Political Toast.
The Papal Power and the Press. —Origin of the Censorship. —Wolsey's Declaration. —Effects ofthe Reformation. —KinglyAuthority over the Press. —Increase in the number of Readers. —The Press makes Sup porters for itself. —Its early Champions. —Sir Richard Knightley and the Star Chamber. — Increase of Books. — Shakspeare and Bacon ex tend the scope of Thought among the People. —The Civil Wars break the bonds of the Press. — The Star Chamber Persecutions. — First Newspapers and Journalists.
rPHE Revolution that beheaded Charles the First
laid the foundation of the liberty of the press in
Before the period of the Civil Wars, the printer could only exercise his art under the sanction of the Clergy and of the King. This power over the press had been exercised since the days of Guttenberg, and arose in this manner : The Church of Rome was paramount when printing was invented, and assumed at once the same power of censorship over printed books which it had previously exercised over written ones. Pope Alexander the Sixth (Borgia) placed this authority in a more definite shape in 1 501 ; and, four teen years later, it was formally decreed by the Coun cil of the Lateran, that no publications whatever
J-
England.
38 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
should be issued in any place where the Church of Rome had jurisdiction, unless such printed work had first obtained the written sanction of the bishop, or of the inquisitor of the diocese. The authority thus set up was exercised in all countries where the Pope had influence, and, amongst the rest, it became part of the law in England. * The more far-seeing of the clergy at once understood the importance of controlling the new instrument for the multiplication of printed books. It is stated that Wolsey exclaimed — " We must destroy the press, or the press will destroy us;" and, in
* Here was the origin of the principle of a general censorship of the press, which has been ever since maintained by the Church of Rome in all countries where it had power to enforce it. The bishops were the censors in their respective dioceses ; but on the continent the tribunal of the inquisition, wherever the inquisition was established, were the censors ; they examined the MS. of every work previous to its being printed, and granted or refused an " Imprimatur," or licence, at their pleasure. The inquisition, moreover, sought after all books published beyond its jurisdiction, and, having examined their contents, condemned those which were contrary to the doctrine or discipline of the Church of Home, and of these it formed a list, known by the name of " Index of Forbidden Books," to which it has made copious addi tions from time to time. There are several of these indices, made at
different times, and in different places : the index of the Spanish In quisition was different from that of Rome. Collections of these indices have been made. One of the latest is contained in the " Dictionnaire Critique et Bibliographique des principaux Livres condamnes au Feu, supprimes ou censures," by Peignot, Paris, 1806. In countries where the inquisition was not established, such as France, England, and Ger many, the bishops acted as censors and licensers of books, which they examined, previous to printing, as to all matters concerning religion or morality. The censorship continued for a long time to belong to the ecclesiastical power, and even afterwards, when the civil power in various countries began to appoint royal censors to examine all kinds of works, the episcopal approbation was still required for all books which treated of religion or church discipline. Polit. Diet. , p. 2,571
THE CENSORSHIP IN ENGLAND. 39
saying so, he only repeated the sentiment that had before animated many dignitaries of his Church. But readers were few in those days, and the censorship, thus exercised, remained
comparatively unchallenged in this country till after the Reformation. That
change in the established religion of England, trans ferred to the King and the Bishops the power of cen sorship which had previously been exercised by the Pope and the Bishops. The Crown also had another power, which put an additional fetter on the press. Letters patent had been used as a means of establish ing monopolies of various kinds* in favour of parti cular persons, and thus when the art of printing was introduced, it was exercised under the authority of a licence. This power of licensing subsequently grew into a means of oppression ; and, added to the cleri cal censorship, was sufficient to keep the press strictly under the thumb of those in authority. The number of readers, however, increased, though but slowly; and, as they increased, books became more various and in greater demand. The Reformation gave an important impetus to reading, and as argu ments were brought into full play both for the new and for the old faiths, the people who were called upon by each party for support began to think and to judge for themselves. Henry the Eighth on one side, and the Pope on the other, appealed to the people of England as the audience from whom each sought converts and supporters, and from that time forth the people began to understand the value of the press.
* Collier's Essay on the Law of Patents, and General History of Monopolies, 8vo, London, 1803.
40 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
For much more than a century after their invention,
types may be said to have been almost entirely em
ployed for theological pamphlets and books. Some classic authors, and some volumes on wood-craft, and on chess, and other such topics likely to interest the dominant classes of the time, were completed ; but the staple product of the press was theology. When the growth of opinion and the will of the King brought about the Reformation, the field began to widen. Men were asked to think upon theological points, but, the mental process once begun, the authorities could not stop the thinking at a defined and authorized point, and a thinking and a reading class began to grow up in England. The privileged classes no longer had the complete monopoly of books, and literature began to find an audience beyond the precincts of the Court, and the Baronial Hall, and out of the pale of the Church. It was a part of the mission of the press to create patrons and supporters for itself from the crude mass of unlettered humanity, — to rear the readers
who in their turn might give it employment, and ex tend its power and usefulness. This it was now doing, though slowly ; yet, amongst its converts were many
both energetic, high-souled, and sincere.
In Elizabeth's reign we find men in various walks
of life running great risks, and enduring heavy penal ties for sake of the liberty of the press. The Star Chamber was called into play to stop this popular thirst for freedom of printed thought, and fines and imprisonment, with the pillory, the branding iron, and the hangman's fire in Smithfield, were employed at various times by Star Chamber authority, to torture
THE TRAVELLING PRESS. 41
writers, to terrify readers, and to cast odium upon unlicensed publications.
Attorney General Popham, on the trial of Sir R. Knightley and others before the Star Chamber in 1 588, referred to the fact, that " Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in her great wisdom, had issued proclamations that no pamphlets or treatises should be put in print but such as should be first seen and allowed ; and further, lest that were not sufficient, she ordained that no printing should be used anywhere but in London, Oxford, or Cambridge. Notwithstanding, all this served not," continues this legal authority ; " but they would print
in corners, and spread abroad things unprinted : where fore Her Majesty set forth a proclamation, in anno 25 (of her reign), that all Brownist books, and such other seditious books, should be suppressed and burnt. " Still the obnoxious publications appeared, "and another proclamation was fulminated against the new se ditious and infamous libels spread abroad. " That not sufficing, Sir Richard Knightley was selected for
prosecution, as an example to the country. "The historian of this gentleman's county tells us,* that this Sir Richard Knightley was divers times chosen Member of Parliament for the County of Northampton, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. He was a great favourer of the Puritan party, and was at the expense of printing their libels, as is reported, being influenced by Sharpe and some other leading ministers of his county. These libels were printed by one Walgrave, whohad
* Bridges' History of Northamptonshire, by Jebb, fol. , p. 63 ; State Trials, Vol. 1263 MS. in Caius Coll. , Camb. , Class A, 1090-8, p. 206.
I. , p.
;
42 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
a travelling press for this purpose, which was once brought down to Fawesley, and from thence by several stages removed to Manchester, where both the press and the workmen were seized by the Earl of Derby. For this offence Sir Richard Knightley and his con federates were cited into the Star Chamber, andseverely censured (and heavily fined); but, upon the intercession of Archbishop Whitgift, who they had most insulted, they were set at liberty, and had their fines remitted. But, though thus zealous for the Puritan faction, he joined with Sir Francis Hastings in presenting a petition to the House of Commons for granting toler ation to the Papists. "
This early sufferer for liberty of unlicensed printing did honour to the cause, supported and justified the efforts of the benevolent Archbishop in his behalf, by asking toleration for those whose faith he had stoutly
The record of his trial before the Star Chamber throws some curious light upon those early days of the printing press.
On the 13th of Feb. 1558, were brought to the bar of the Star Chamber, Sir R. Knightley, Mr Hales, Sir — Wickstone,* and his wife. TheAttorney Gene ral urged their offences before the court with all his zeal. " Sir Richard,"said he, " being a great man in his county, a deputy-lieutenant, who had the govern ment thereof, a seditious and lewd rebel came unto him to have place and entertainment with him, and there Sir Richard received him to print: Sir Richard doth confess that Penry told him he would set forth such a like book as he had before him set forth for
* Neale'a History of the Puritans, Vol. 507,
opposed.
I. , p.
SECRET PRINTING. 43
the government of Wales. That book contains sedition and slander most opprobious; and yet Sir Richard was contented such a like book should be printed. But further, Sir Richard sent his man a ring for a token to receive the press into his house, who did so, and there they printed the Epitome, Walgrave himself being the printer. This is a most seditious and libellous pamphlet, fit for a vice in a play, and no other: but then the parson of the parish having found out the printing, told Sir Richard that it was very dangerous; whereupon Sir Richard caused him to take it down ; but neither disliked nor discovered but kept secret, and read the books himself. Again, when was told him his house would be searched for the press, he said he would course them that came to search his house; beside, at his recommendation, Walgrave was commended unto Mr Hales, and there had entertain ment, and there The Supplication to the Parliament' was printed by Walgrave, and published by Newman, Sir Richard's man and another book was there printed likewise. * * And from Mr Hales's house in Coventry these books and this press must be conveyed to Sir — Wickstone's, where Martyn Senior, and Martyn Junior, were both printed. * * And for Sir — Wickstone, albeit he knew the press was in
his house, yet he kept secret, and would never discover but came many times, and did visit there at the
press and his wife, by whose procurement and persua sions with her husband, they were first received into his house, did often relieve them with meat and drink, and gave them money in their purses. This the sum of their offence. "
is
it, ;
' ;
it
it
it,
44 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
The good lady of Sir Richard feeding in secret the persecuted workers at the press would make a subject for a picture or a poem. The bold knights threat to " course them that should come to search his house "— to hunt them with his greyhounds as he would a hare —
itself as a fair reprisal on those who thus pursued from refuge to refuge the printer
and the press.
But the Star Chamber could not reach the minds
of the people ; and whilst Elizabeth and her successors
were using its irresponsible power for the suppression of what were regarded as heretical books, the number of readers was increasing, and the power of the press was growing in the same proportion. Year by year, Protestantism encouraged a greater freedom in the ex pression of opinion, and a deepening feeling manifested itself in the controversial war of one sect with another. Books began also to offer amusement as well as ex citement and instruction to the people; and they, aided by the Grammar Schools of Edward the Sixth, and other similar educational foundations, became, as a class, more generally able to enjoy the luxury of read ing. The popular demand induced a noble supply. The science of Bacon, and the plays of Shakspeare, were amongst the productions of the early press; Raleigh gave his History of the World, Ben Jonson, and Beaumont and Fletcher, and others, helped to en rich dramatic poetry; and, so popular and fashionable did learning and literature become, that King James the First condescended to enlighten the world as to his views upon witchcraft and tobacco. Yet, with all this, no real freedom had been given to the press on the
probably suggested
THE PRESS AND THE CIVIL WAR. 45
most vital subjects. The affairs of the country and the people were unknown to printed discussion; points of faith had been debated, but questions of political condition were forbidden; no one dare canvass them, for the censorship was strictly exercised. Differences however arose as to the licensing of books amongst those who claimed to exercise that privilege. Bishops at times opposed bishops, and archbishops occasion ally ran counter to kings; as we shall presently see in the case of Charles the First and his episcopal bench. Meanwhile the pear was ripening, and, when the Civil Wars beheld King and Parliament contending to the
death for supremacy, the press was called in by both sides. Its aid was invoked by each, and to each it be came a powerful instrument for discussing the vital points in dispute. In this debate amid the clang of arms, with a whole excited nation for audience and ac tors, the trammels of its youth fell from the press. It stood up a great power, unshackled—free ; and though Royalists and Puritans alike, during the strug gle, and afterwards, attempted to re-impose its bonds, the first exercise of its freedom made so real an im
pression upon the mind of England, that no power has since succeeded in reducing it to the bondage from which it was released by the Revolution that destroyed Charles the First.
With this preliminary glance at the early struggles
of the press, let us return to the subject and to the
period of the first Newspaper.
We have stated that the first series of Newspapers,
which were linked together by anything like dates and
40
THE FOURTH ESTATE.
numbers, appeared in London in 1622. The copies of these publications, now in the British Museum Library, formed a part of Dr. Burney's Collection, and are bound in volumes. We have seen also that other
tracts, certainly not entitled to be called Newspapers, are to be found mingled with them, and, amongst these, there is one with the date of 1619. It is in type and appearance very like its successors—the numbers of the Weekly News—and it was published by Newberry, who appears subsequently as one of Butter's colleagues; but it is only a stray tract, and therefore not entitled to the name of Newspaper. It has, however, a feature in common with the Weekly News which may be no ticed. It tells only of foreign events ; and, to judge by the specimens of these early journals which remain to us, their writers dared not notice English News. The Star Chamber was still in the ascendant, and the books of the period had to obtain a licence for their issue. The laws of Henry the Eighth and his suc cessors still had force, yet these sheets of Weekly News have not the stamp which marks other publications of that time. It is probable that their harmlessness was their only safety. The time of great events was approaching, but the changes in the popular feeling did not then find expression in the journals ; and the editors, if editors they may be called, contented them selves with re-telling the News which reached England from other countries. This want of courage to talk about home affairs, what so many people must have been anxious to know, could have gained little respect for the writers ; whilst the character of the foreign advices was such, that other wits besides Ben Jonson
Shirley's sketch. 47
had their fling at the Newsmonger. Shirley, in his Love Tricks, first played in 1624-5, gives an unflatter
ing picture :—
Antonio. Prythee what's the News abroad ? Easparo. News ? Oh, excellent News !
truth is, the News-maker, Master Moneylack, is sick of a con sumption of the wit.
Ant. The News-maker ! Why, is there any News-maker ?
Eas. Oh, sir, how should younger brothers have maintained themselves, that have travelled, and have the names of countries and captains without book as perfect as their prayers ? Aye, and perfecter too, for I think there is more probability of forget ting their prayers, they say them so seldom. I tell you, sir, I have known a gentleman that has spent the best part of a thousand pounds while he was prentice to the trade in Holland, and out of three sheets of paper, which was his whole stock,
(the pen and ink-horn he borrowed,) he set up shop, and spent a hundred pounds a-year. It has been a great profession. Marry, most commonly they are soldiers ; a peace concluded is a great plague upon them, and if the wars hold we shall have store of them.