Zounds, Sir James, you are a
Parliament
man, why don't you put an end to the practice
Mar.
Mar.
Hunt - Fourth Estate - History of Newspapers and Liberty of Press - v1
have known the day
when there was no difficulty in getting a lodging in Newgate but now, all can say wo 'nt procure me a warrant from Westminster justice.
I
;
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it
a:
:;
it I
a
if
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:
;
!
a
:
is, ?
foote's sketch. 217
Mar. You say right, hard times, master Pepper, for perse cution is the very life and soul of our trade ; but don't despair, who knows how soon matters may mend ? Gentlemen, you
may draw back. Read the next.
Din. Critics—Thomas Comma and Christopher Caustic. Mar. Where are they ?
Din. As you could not find them in constant employment,
they are engaged by the great to do the articles in the Monthly Reviews.
Mar. I thought they were done by Dr. Doubtful, the deist.
Din. Formerly, but now he deals in manuscript sermons, and writes religious essays for one of the Journals.
Mar. Then he will soon sink. I foresaw what would come of his dramming. Go on.
Din. Collectors of paragraphs —Roger Rumour and Phelim O'Flam.
Ru. and O'Flam. Here.
Din. Fibber and Forge 'em, composers and makers of ditto. Fib. and Forge. Here.
Mar. Well, Rumour, what have you brought for the press ? Ru. I have been able to bring you no positives.
Mar. How ! no positives ?
Ru. Not one. I have a probability from the court end of
the town ; and two good supposes out of the city.
Mar. Hand them here— [reads} : " It is probable that, if the King of Prussia should join the Czarina, France will 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 conjunctly 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. Dingey, give him a shilling for this. I hope no other Paper has got it ?
Ru. O, fy, did you ever know me guilty of such a
Mar. True, true ; now let us see your supposes —[reads] :
21S
THE FOURTH ESTATE.
" It is supposed, if Alderman Mango should surrender his gown he will be succeeded by Mr. Deputy Drylips, and if my Lord Mayor should continue ill of the gout, it is supposed the swan-hopping will cease for this season. " That last suppose is fudged in ; why would you cram these upon me for a couple ?
Ru. As distinct as can be.
Mar. Fy, remember our bargain. You agreed to do the Court of Alderman always for sixpence.
Ru. What, if a Common Hall should be called ?
Mar. Oh! then you are to have three-pence a motion, I
I am sure no gentleman can accuse me of
know that very well :
being sneaking. Dingey, give him sixpence for his supposes. Well, Phelim O 'Flam, any deaths in your district ?
O 'Flam. The devil a one. Mar. How! none?
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 Doctor Despatch is gone to Bath, patients linger so long.
Mar. 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 Dy Dropsy, for fear some other collector should catch it.
Mar. A long time, indeed.
O 'Flam. Wasn 't it, considering that she had two consulta
tions besides, devilish tough? Mr. Margin, I shall quit the mortality walk, so provide yourself as soon as you can.
Mar. I hope not.
O'Flam. Why, what will I do? I am sure the deaths
wo 'nt 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.
Enter Sir Thomas Tradewell. -
Sir Tho. Is your name Matthew Margin ? Mar. It is, and what then ?
foote's sketch. 219
Sir Tho. Then, pray, what right had you to kill me in your
last Saturday's Paper ?
Mar. Kill you !
Sir Tho. Ay, Sir, here the article is : surely the law has
some punishment for such insolent rascals as you !
Mar. Punishment! and for what? But, after all what
injury have you sustained ?
Sir Tho. Infinite. All my agents are come post out of the
country, my house is crowded with cousins, to be present at the opening of my will, and there has been (as it is known she has a very good jointure) no less than three proposals of marriage
already made to my relict.
Mar. Let me look at the paragraph, [reads] : " Last night,
after eating a hearty supper, died suddenly, with his mouth full of custard, Sir Thomas Tradewell, knight, an amiable companion, an affectionate relation, and a friend to the poor. " — O'Flam, this is some blunder of yours ; for you see, here the gentleman is, and alive.
O 'Flam. So he says, but the devil a one in this case would I believe but himself; because why, I was told it by Jeremy
his own body chairman, my dear ! and, by the same token I treated him with a pint of porter for the good news. Sir Tho. Vastly obliged to you, Mr. O 'Flam, but I have nothing to do with this wretched fellow ; it is you, Margin,
shall answer for this.
Mar. Why, Sir Thomas, it is impossible but now and then
we must kill a man by mistake. And, in some measure, to make amends, you see what a good character the Paper has given you.
Mar. Ay, sir, I can tell you I have had a crown for putting in many a worse.
O 'Flam. Ay, Sir Thomas, consider of that, only think what a comfort it is to live long enough after you are dead to read such a good account of yourself in the Paper.
OTurlough,
Sir Tho. Character !
Sir Tho. Ha! ha! ha! what a ridiculous rascal! ButI would advise you, gentlemen, not to take such liberties with me
for the future.
[Exit.
2-in THE FOURTH ESTATE.
0 'Flam. Indeed, and we wo 'nt ; and I here give Mr Mar gin my word, that you shan't die again as long as you live, unless, indeed, we get it from under your own hand.
Enter Sir Robert Riscounter and Sir James Biddulph.
Sir Rob. Where is this Margin, this impudent, rascally printer ?
Mar. Hey day ! What's the matter now ?
Sir. J. Curb your choler, Sir Robert.
Sir Rob. A pretty fellow, indeed, that every man's and
woman's reputation must be subject to the power of his poison ous pen. '
Sir J. A little patience, Sir Robert. I will maintain it, the
Sir Rob. A land of liberty this !
tyranny exercised by that fellow and those of his tribe is more despotic and galling than the most absolute monarch's in Asia.
Sir J. Well, but
Sir Rob. Their thrones claim a right only over your persons and property, whilst this mongrel, squatting upon his joint stool, by a single line, proscribes and ruins your reputation at once.
Sir J. Sir Robert, let me crave
-
Sir Rob. And no situation is secure from their insults. I
wonder every man is not afraid to peep into a Paper as it is more than probable he may meet with a paragraph that will make him unhappy for the rest of his life.
Mar. But, gentlemen, what is all this business about ?
Sir Rob. About ? my daughter ?
Zounds, sir, what right had you to ruin
Mar. I
Sir Rob. Sir James Biddulph, you have produce the
!
I know
nothing
of
you,
nor
your
daughter.
Paper.
Sir J. There no occasion for that, the affair so recent
dare say the gentleman will remember the passage this, sir, the banker, the father, with whose daughter you was pleased
to take those insolent freedoms this morning.
Sir Rob. And this, sir, the amiable baronet, from the west
end of the town.
Mar. recollect. Well, gentlemen, you have brought
I
if
is
;
is
it, is
I
foote's sketch. 221
any paragraphs to contradict the report, I am ready to insert them directly.
Sir Rob. And so, you rascal, you want us to furnish fresh food for your Paper.
Mar. I do all I can to keep my scales even ; the charge hangs heavy here ; on the other side you may throw in the defence, then see which will weigh down the other.
Sir Rob. Indeed, Sir James Biddulph, if he does that —
Sir J. That ! Can that paltry expedient atone for his crime ? Will the snow that is sullied recover its lustre ? So tender and delicate, Sir Robert, is the fame of a lady, that, once tainted, it is tarnished for ever.
Sir Rob. True enough.
Mar. I could bear no ill-will to your daughter, as I know nothing about her.
Sir Rob. Indeed, Sir James, I do n't see how he could.
Sir J. Is his being the instrument of another man's malice a sufficient excuse ?
Sir Rob. So far from that enhances the guilt.
Zounds, Sir James, you are a Parliament man, why don't you put an end to the practice
Mar. Ay, let them attack the press,
Sir Rob. Have care of that no, no, that must not be done.
Sir J. No man, Sir Robert, honours that sacred shield of freedom more than myself.
Sir Rob. dare say.
Sir J. But would not have serve to shelter these pests, who point their poisoned arrows against the peace of man kind.
Sir Rob. By no means in the world. Let them be dragged from behind directly.
Mar. Ay, do destroy the watchful dogs that guard and cover your flocks
Sir J. You guard You cover
Mar. Ay, who but us alarm the nation when bad designs are on foot
Sir Rob. In that respect, they are very useful, no doubt.
?
II
?
!
a
it,
it ?
! it
it if
;
222 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
Sir J. Are they, therefore, entitled to give the alarm, when no such design is intended ?
Sir Sob. By no means. A pack of factious, infamous scoundrels !
Mar. It is we that supply the defects of the laws.
Sir J. You !
Mar. By stigmatizing those offenders that they cannot
reach.
Sir Sob. That, indeed, serves to keep the guilty in awe. Sir J. And is a pretence for making the innocent the butts
of their malice.
Sir Sob. True, true ; all is fish that comes to their nets.
Sir J. Besides, their slander is scattered so generally, and
with so little discretion, that the deformity of vice is destroyed. Sir Sob. True.
Sir J. Bad men are made worse by becoming totally callous,
and even the good rendered careless to that source of patriotism, that pride of virtue, the public opinion.
Sir Rob. And they are much in the right on 't.
Mar. What, you are a courtier, I reckon ; no wonder you wish the press was demolished.
Sir J. If ever that happens, to such miscreants as you it will be owing ; nor will it surprise me, if all orders concur, to give up a great public benefit for the sake and security of private honour and peace.
Sir Rob. Nor me neither.
Mar. You would consent, then, to surrender the press. Sir Sob. I would sooner consent to be hanged.
Sir J. And its unbounded licence continue ?
Sir Sob. I would much rather see it on fire.
Mar. With respect to its general use
Sir Sob. Not the smallest doubt can be made.
Sir J. But, Sir Robert, then the abuse
Sir Sob. Is what no mortal can bear.
Mar. But, Sir Robert, you would but just now
Sir Sob. I confess did.
Sir J. Ay, but that was, Sir Robert, because
Sir Sob. For no other reason in life.
it, I
foote's sketch. 223
Mar. My observation you allowed to be Sir Rob. Pointed.
Sir J. And my reply
Sir Rob. Conclusive as could be.
Mar. But then
-
Sir Rob. Sir J. Sir Rob. (yFlam.
To be sure. Because why.
You are quite in the right.
Upon my soul, they have got the old gentleman
into such puzzleation, that I don't believe he knows what he wishes himself. Stand by, and let me clear up this matter a little. Harkee, Mr. Sir Robert, if I understand your meaning at all, it is, that, provided people could be prevented from pub lishing, you are willing that the press should be free.
Sir Rob. That was my meaning, no doubt.
(yFlam.
Sir Rob. (yFlam.
Sir Rob, CfFlam
Upon my conscience, and nothing but reason. There, I believe, we are all of us agreed. How seldom would people differ if once we could get them to be all of a mind ! And now this difference is whole and composed, let me try if I can't make up the other. I understand here, old gentleman, you have had a daughter abused.
Most foully.
And you want to know who was the author ?
That was my sole business here.
Then why could not you say so at first, without
all this bothering and bawling ? Well, Master Margin, come, give the old buck satisfaction.
Mar. It was anonymous.
OFlam. Upon my soul, and I thought so. He had like to
have brought me into three or four scrapes, by fathering his lies upon me.
Sir J. Will you give us leave to look at the hand ?
Mar. Freely, this is the paper.
Sir J. Sir Robert, do you recollect to have seen this writing
'
before ?
Sir Rob. It is James's ;
I know it as well as my own are his D's, his G's, and his T's.
here Sir J. So I guessed. Will you trust the paper with us ?
221 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
Sir Rob. Let him get it again if he can. Sir James I shall
expect you at home.
Mar. I hope no bad use will he made of it.
Sir J. The worst use has already been made of it : but, at
parting, Mr. Margin, let me give you a piece of advice. Take care how you provoke the public patience too far. You have set the laws at defiance, and long reigned uncontrolled, I confess ; but don't wonder if the subjects of your slander forget there are laws in their turn, and, valuing an honest name more than their lives, should expose their lives to revenge it.
[Exit. O 'Flam. Upon my soul, Mr. Margin, very wholesome advice,
and will do you much good if you take it ; but, above all, rid your hands of James Anonymous as soon as you can ; you know it was he who got you that beating. That fellow has brought you into more scrapes than all your authors together.
[Exit,
Enter a Servant.
Ser. Gentlemen, the milk-porridge is ready.
All. Let us start fair, * I beseech you.
[Exeunt.
Dramatic criticism found its way into the News
says his biographer, Jon Bee, " by many templars in my time, as one of the greatest beaux of the year forty, living in handsome chambers, with all the paraphern alia of study around him, but without the gift of application. His greatest delight consisted in making a figure at the coffee-houses, whither resorted the beaux- esprits of the day. At the Grecian (near the Temple), whence Addison had dated many papers of his Spec tator, Foote cut a conspicuous figure in the morning ; and, in the evening, he took his station among the dramatic critics, at the Bedford Coffee-house, in Co-
papers in the days of Foote. "He was remembered,"
vent-garden,
where they discussed the merits of the
* " Let's all start fair. " The custom of hack-writers getting food from their publisher, is also referred to by Fielding.
BURKE.
actors and the pieces, and lauded or condemned, orally, much in the same way as we now do by writing* Indeed, the reports of the earliest fashionable morning
Papers of dramatic affairs were first collected at the Bedford, and other such assemblages. Here he was enabled by his attainments to shine out a splendid meteoric light, in that age when drawling ignorance and sentimental comedy still maintained their ground on the stage against a more natural and dignified
enunciation, and the representation of credible occur- ences. "t
Burke spoke for the liberty of the press. Sheridan says he was also a reporter of debates ; but whether the notices of Parliament in the Annual Register, and the speeches given in his works, were his only perform ances in this way does not clearly appear. Burke, it is probable, contributed to the Paper of his friend Arthur Murphy ; and it is admitted, that to his pen
* " Dramatic criticism then newly came into vogue, and consisted merely of the on dits, collected by some assistant editors, as regarded new pieces only; the actors themselves escaped tolerably well the reprovals of the periodical press for a long series of years. Indeed, before this time, the Newspapers —or rather, one of them only—paid the theatres each two hundred pounds 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. But then the Papers are supposed to pay nearly half as much as they receive to certain reporters of new pieces, first appearances, &c, &c. The present mode of reporting theatricals, as it was termed by Captain Topham, was in full play about the end of the American War; and to Mr. John Bell, the projector of The World and The Morning Post, do we owe the plan of giving a constant succession of strictures on the drama. " —Note by Jon Bee. t Life of Foote, prefixed to edition, London, 1830.
VOL. I. 1"
226 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
The Englishman owed some of the satirical articles which distinguished that Journal. He put on record his opinion, that " Newspapers are a more important instrument than is generally imagined ; they are a part of the reading of all ; they are the whole of the
reading of the far greater number. "
But we must turn again towards the courts of
law to see how they had been interfering with the
In 1764, Mr. Meres, the printer of a popular evening Paper, had been fined £100 by the House of Lords, for mentioning the name of Lord Hereford in his journal—the London Evening Post. Several other printers were afterwards fined, every session for some years, £100 each time they printed the name of a member of the House of Peers. Mr. Almon the bookseller, and friend of Wilkes, was the author of the paragraph that brought the law down upon Meres. Almon was at this time, and continued to be, a very
strong assertor of the public right to know how public affairs were conducted in Parliament, as we shall have occasion to see.
The North Briton Newspaper excitement was fol lowed, a few years afterwards, by the equally intense feeling raised by the Letters of Junius. The first Letter by this writer appeared in the Public Advertiser on the 28th of April, 1767, and was followed by the sixty-nine others so often since reprinted. The last of these Letters appeared on the 2nd of November,
1771*
* The 69th Letter, addressed to Lord Camden, is without a date; and there are other private letters to Woodfall, the printer of the Public Advertiser, the last two of which are dated 10th May, 1772, and 19th January, 1773.
press.
ALMON. 227
Several trials arose out of the publication of these political strictures. In June, 1770, Almon the book
seller, then of Piccadilly, was tried and fined in King's Bench for selling a work called The London Museum, containing a copy of Junius's Letter to the King. Soon afterwards, H. S. Woodfall, printer and editor of the Public Advertiser, was tried for issuing the same letter, and found guilty of printing andpublishing orAy . Woodfall was tried in the city of London, before Lord Mansfield ; and the jury were nine hours con sidering their verdict, which in effect was an acquittal.
Mr. J. Miller, printer, and Mr. Baldwin, a bookseller, were tried on a similar charge, and acquitted. Though the issue of the letter was clearly shown, the jury re garded themselves as judges of the import of the Paper as well as of the intention of those publishing it. On this trial, Lord Mansfield said, " The liberty of the press consists in no more than this, a liberty to print now without license, what formerly could be printed only with one. " The secret of Almon being selected for prosecution before the real publishers of Junius's Letter to the King had been proceeded against, was
that Almon had offended the King by publishing a valuable public document in his Paper, and had refused, when asked, to reveal the name of the official who had furnished him with it. *
When the town was excited by the massacre in St. George's Fields, and by the decision in the House on Wilkes's election for Middlesex, Almon went about and collected from members of Parliament some par ticulars relative to the debates. These, he put into
* Memoirs of John Almon, bookseller.
r2
22S THE FOURTH ESTATE.
shape, and printed regularly three times a-week in the London Evening Post. Meres at this time was dead, and that Paper was printed by John Miller. For two sessions Almon continued his reports with tolerable accuracy and regularity. This success sti mulated a rival Paper, the St. James's Chronicle, to employ a reporter also, and a Mr.
when there was no difficulty in getting a lodging in Newgate but now, all can say wo 'nt procure me a warrant from Westminster justice.
I
;
I
it
a:
:;
it I
a
if
?
:
;
!
a
:
is, ?
foote's sketch. 217
Mar. You say right, hard times, master Pepper, for perse cution is the very life and soul of our trade ; but don't despair, who knows how soon matters may mend ? Gentlemen, you
may draw back. Read the next.
Din. Critics—Thomas Comma and Christopher Caustic. Mar. Where are they ?
Din. As you could not find them in constant employment,
they are engaged by the great to do the articles in the Monthly Reviews.
Mar. I thought they were done by Dr. Doubtful, the deist.
Din. Formerly, but now he deals in manuscript sermons, and writes religious essays for one of the Journals.
Mar. Then he will soon sink. I foresaw what would come of his dramming. Go on.
Din. Collectors of paragraphs —Roger Rumour and Phelim O'Flam.
Ru. and O'Flam. Here.
Din. Fibber and Forge 'em, composers and makers of ditto. Fib. and Forge. Here.
Mar. Well, Rumour, what have you brought for the press ? Ru. I have been able to bring you no positives.
Mar. How ! no positives ?
Ru. Not one. I have a probability from the court end of
the town ; and two good supposes out of the city.
Mar. Hand them here— [reads} : " It is probable that, if the King of Prussia should join the Czarina, France will 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 conjunctly 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. Dingey, give him a shilling for this. I hope no other Paper has got it ?
Ru. O, fy, did you ever know me guilty of such a
Mar. True, true ; now let us see your supposes —[reads] :
21S
THE FOURTH ESTATE.
" It is supposed, if Alderman Mango should surrender his gown he will be succeeded by Mr. Deputy Drylips, and if my Lord Mayor should continue ill of the gout, it is supposed the swan-hopping will cease for this season. " That last suppose is fudged in ; why would you cram these upon me for a couple ?
Ru. As distinct as can be.
Mar. Fy, remember our bargain. You agreed to do the Court of Alderman always for sixpence.
Ru. What, if a Common Hall should be called ?
Mar. Oh! then you are to have three-pence a motion, I
I am sure no gentleman can accuse me of
know that very well :
being sneaking. Dingey, give him sixpence for his supposes. Well, Phelim O 'Flam, any deaths in your district ?
O 'Flam. The devil a one. Mar. How! none?
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 Doctor Despatch is gone to Bath, patients linger so long.
Mar. 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 Dy Dropsy, for fear some other collector should catch it.
Mar. A long time, indeed.
O 'Flam. Wasn 't it, considering that she had two consulta
tions besides, devilish tough? Mr. Margin, I shall quit the mortality walk, so provide yourself as soon as you can.
Mar. I hope not.
O'Flam. Why, what will I do? I am sure the deaths
wo 'nt 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.
Enter Sir Thomas Tradewell. -
Sir Tho. Is your name Matthew Margin ? Mar. It is, and what then ?
foote's sketch. 219
Sir Tho. Then, pray, what right had you to kill me in your
last Saturday's Paper ?
Mar. Kill you !
Sir Tho. Ay, Sir, here the article is : surely the law has
some punishment for such insolent rascals as you !
Mar. Punishment! and for what? But, after all what
injury have you sustained ?
Sir Tho. Infinite. All my agents are come post out of the
country, my house is crowded with cousins, to be present at the opening of my will, and there has been (as it is known she has a very good jointure) no less than three proposals of marriage
already made to my relict.
Mar. Let me look at the paragraph, [reads] : " Last night,
after eating a hearty supper, died suddenly, with his mouth full of custard, Sir Thomas Tradewell, knight, an amiable companion, an affectionate relation, and a friend to the poor. " — O'Flam, this is some blunder of yours ; for you see, here the gentleman is, and alive.
O 'Flam. So he says, but the devil a one in this case would I believe but himself; because why, I was told it by Jeremy
his own body chairman, my dear ! and, by the same token I treated him with a pint of porter for the good news. Sir Tho. Vastly obliged to you, Mr. O 'Flam, but I have nothing to do with this wretched fellow ; it is you, Margin,
shall answer for this.
Mar. Why, Sir Thomas, it is impossible but now and then
we must kill a man by mistake. And, in some measure, to make amends, you see what a good character the Paper has given you.
Mar. Ay, sir, I can tell you I have had a crown for putting in many a worse.
O 'Flam. Ay, Sir Thomas, consider of that, only think what a comfort it is to live long enough after you are dead to read such a good account of yourself in the Paper.
OTurlough,
Sir Tho. Character !
Sir Tho. Ha! ha! ha! what a ridiculous rascal! ButI would advise you, gentlemen, not to take such liberties with me
for the future.
[Exit.
2-in THE FOURTH ESTATE.
0 'Flam. Indeed, and we wo 'nt ; and I here give Mr Mar gin my word, that you shan't die again as long as you live, unless, indeed, we get it from under your own hand.
Enter Sir Robert Riscounter and Sir James Biddulph.
Sir Rob. Where is this Margin, this impudent, rascally printer ?
Mar. Hey day ! What's the matter now ?
Sir. J. Curb your choler, Sir Robert.
Sir Rob. A pretty fellow, indeed, that every man's and
woman's reputation must be subject to the power of his poison ous pen. '
Sir J. A little patience, Sir Robert. I will maintain it, the
Sir Rob. A land of liberty this !
tyranny exercised by that fellow and those of his tribe is more despotic and galling than the most absolute monarch's in Asia.
Sir J. Well, but
Sir Rob. Their thrones claim a right only over your persons and property, whilst this mongrel, squatting upon his joint stool, by a single line, proscribes and ruins your reputation at once.
Sir J. Sir Robert, let me crave
-
Sir Rob. And no situation is secure from their insults. I
wonder every man is not afraid to peep into a Paper as it is more than probable he may meet with a paragraph that will make him unhappy for the rest of his life.
Mar. But, gentlemen, what is all this business about ?
Sir Rob. About ? my daughter ?
Zounds, sir, what right had you to ruin
Mar. I
Sir Rob. Sir James Biddulph, you have produce the
!
I know
nothing
of
you,
nor
your
daughter.
Paper.
Sir J. There no occasion for that, the affair so recent
dare say the gentleman will remember the passage this, sir, the banker, the father, with whose daughter you was pleased
to take those insolent freedoms this morning.
Sir Rob. And this, sir, the amiable baronet, from the west
end of the town.
Mar. recollect. Well, gentlemen, you have brought
I
if
is
;
is
it, is
I
foote's sketch. 221
any paragraphs to contradict the report, I am ready to insert them directly.
Sir Rob. And so, you rascal, you want us to furnish fresh food for your Paper.
Mar. I do all I can to keep my scales even ; the charge hangs heavy here ; on the other side you may throw in the defence, then see which will weigh down the other.
Sir Rob. Indeed, Sir James Biddulph, if he does that —
Sir J. That ! Can that paltry expedient atone for his crime ? Will the snow that is sullied recover its lustre ? So tender and delicate, Sir Robert, is the fame of a lady, that, once tainted, it is tarnished for ever.
Sir Rob. True enough.
Mar. I could bear no ill-will to your daughter, as I know nothing about her.
Sir Rob. Indeed, Sir James, I do n't see how he could.
Sir J. Is his being the instrument of another man's malice a sufficient excuse ?
Sir Rob. So far from that enhances the guilt.
Zounds, Sir James, you are a Parliament man, why don't you put an end to the practice
Mar. Ay, let them attack the press,
Sir Rob. Have care of that no, no, that must not be done.
Sir J. No man, Sir Robert, honours that sacred shield of freedom more than myself.
Sir Rob. dare say.
Sir J. But would not have serve to shelter these pests, who point their poisoned arrows against the peace of man kind.
Sir Rob. By no means in the world. Let them be dragged from behind directly.
Mar. Ay, do destroy the watchful dogs that guard and cover your flocks
Sir J. You guard You cover
Mar. Ay, who but us alarm the nation when bad designs are on foot
Sir Rob. In that respect, they are very useful, no doubt.
?
II
?
!
a
it,
it ?
! it
it if
;
222 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
Sir J. Are they, therefore, entitled to give the alarm, when no such design is intended ?
Sir Sob. By no means. A pack of factious, infamous scoundrels !
Mar. It is we that supply the defects of the laws.
Sir J. You !
Mar. By stigmatizing those offenders that they cannot
reach.
Sir Sob. That, indeed, serves to keep the guilty in awe. Sir J. And is a pretence for making the innocent the butts
of their malice.
Sir Sob. True, true ; all is fish that comes to their nets.
Sir J. Besides, their slander is scattered so generally, and
with so little discretion, that the deformity of vice is destroyed. Sir Sob. True.
Sir J. Bad men are made worse by becoming totally callous,
and even the good rendered careless to that source of patriotism, that pride of virtue, the public opinion.
Sir Rob. And they are much in the right on 't.
Mar. What, you are a courtier, I reckon ; no wonder you wish the press was demolished.
Sir J. If ever that happens, to such miscreants as you it will be owing ; nor will it surprise me, if all orders concur, to give up a great public benefit for the sake and security of private honour and peace.
Sir Rob. Nor me neither.
Mar. You would consent, then, to surrender the press. Sir Sob. I would sooner consent to be hanged.
Sir J. And its unbounded licence continue ?
Sir Sob. I would much rather see it on fire.
Mar. With respect to its general use
Sir Sob. Not the smallest doubt can be made.
Sir J. But, Sir Robert, then the abuse
Sir Sob. Is what no mortal can bear.
Mar. But, Sir Robert, you would but just now
Sir Sob. I confess did.
Sir J. Ay, but that was, Sir Robert, because
Sir Sob. For no other reason in life.
it, I
foote's sketch. 223
Mar. My observation you allowed to be Sir Rob. Pointed.
Sir J. And my reply
Sir Rob. Conclusive as could be.
Mar. But then
-
Sir Rob. Sir J. Sir Rob. (yFlam.
To be sure. Because why.
You are quite in the right.
Upon my soul, they have got the old gentleman
into such puzzleation, that I don't believe he knows what he wishes himself. Stand by, and let me clear up this matter a little. Harkee, Mr. Sir Robert, if I understand your meaning at all, it is, that, provided people could be prevented from pub lishing, you are willing that the press should be free.
Sir Rob. That was my meaning, no doubt.
(yFlam.
Sir Rob. (yFlam.
Sir Rob, CfFlam
Upon my conscience, and nothing but reason. There, I believe, we are all of us agreed. How seldom would people differ if once we could get them to be all of a mind ! And now this difference is whole and composed, let me try if I can't make up the other. I understand here, old gentleman, you have had a daughter abused.
Most foully.
And you want to know who was the author ?
That was my sole business here.
Then why could not you say so at first, without
all this bothering and bawling ? Well, Master Margin, come, give the old buck satisfaction.
Mar. It was anonymous.
OFlam. Upon my soul, and I thought so. He had like to
have brought me into three or four scrapes, by fathering his lies upon me.
Sir J. Will you give us leave to look at the hand ?
Mar. Freely, this is the paper.
Sir J. Sir Robert, do you recollect to have seen this writing
'
before ?
Sir Rob. It is James's ;
I know it as well as my own are his D's, his G's, and his T's.
here Sir J. So I guessed. Will you trust the paper with us ?
221 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
Sir Rob. Let him get it again if he can. Sir James I shall
expect you at home.
Mar. I hope no bad use will he made of it.
Sir J. The worst use has already been made of it : but, at
parting, Mr. Margin, let me give you a piece of advice. Take care how you provoke the public patience too far. You have set the laws at defiance, and long reigned uncontrolled, I confess ; but don't wonder if the subjects of your slander forget there are laws in their turn, and, valuing an honest name more than their lives, should expose their lives to revenge it.
[Exit. O 'Flam. Upon my soul, Mr. Margin, very wholesome advice,
and will do you much good if you take it ; but, above all, rid your hands of James Anonymous as soon as you can ; you know it was he who got you that beating. That fellow has brought you into more scrapes than all your authors together.
[Exit,
Enter a Servant.
Ser. Gentlemen, the milk-porridge is ready.
All. Let us start fair, * I beseech you.
[Exeunt.
Dramatic criticism found its way into the News
says his biographer, Jon Bee, " by many templars in my time, as one of the greatest beaux of the year forty, living in handsome chambers, with all the paraphern alia of study around him, but without the gift of application. His greatest delight consisted in making a figure at the coffee-houses, whither resorted the beaux- esprits of the day. At the Grecian (near the Temple), whence Addison had dated many papers of his Spec tator, Foote cut a conspicuous figure in the morning ; and, in the evening, he took his station among the dramatic critics, at the Bedford Coffee-house, in Co-
papers in the days of Foote. "He was remembered,"
vent-garden,
where they discussed the merits of the
* " Let's all start fair. " The custom of hack-writers getting food from their publisher, is also referred to by Fielding.
BURKE.
actors and the pieces, and lauded or condemned, orally, much in the same way as we now do by writing* Indeed, the reports of the earliest fashionable morning
Papers of dramatic affairs were first collected at the Bedford, and other such assemblages. Here he was enabled by his attainments to shine out a splendid meteoric light, in that age when drawling ignorance and sentimental comedy still maintained their ground on the stage against a more natural and dignified
enunciation, and the representation of credible occur- ences. "t
Burke spoke for the liberty of the press. Sheridan says he was also a reporter of debates ; but whether the notices of Parliament in the Annual Register, and the speeches given in his works, were his only perform ances in this way does not clearly appear. Burke, it is probable, contributed to the Paper of his friend Arthur Murphy ; and it is admitted, that to his pen
* " Dramatic criticism then newly came into vogue, and consisted merely of the on dits, collected by some assistant editors, as regarded new pieces only; the actors themselves escaped tolerably well the reprovals of the periodical press for a long series of years. Indeed, before this time, the Newspapers —or rather, one of them only—paid the theatres each two hundred pounds 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. But then the Papers are supposed to pay nearly half as much as they receive to certain reporters of new pieces, first appearances, &c, &c. The present mode of reporting theatricals, as it was termed by Captain Topham, was in full play about the end of the American War; and to Mr. John Bell, the projector of The World and The Morning Post, do we owe the plan of giving a constant succession of strictures on the drama. " —Note by Jon Bee. t Life of Foote, prefixed to edition, London, 1830.
VOL. I. 1"
226 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
The Englishman owed some of the satirical articles which distinguished that Journal. He put on record his opinion, that " Newspapers are a more important instrument than is generally imagined ; they are a part of the reading of all ; they are the whole of the
reading of the far greater number. "
But we must turn again towards the courts of
law to see how they had been interfering with the
In 1764, Mr. Meres, the printer of a popular evening Paper, had been fined £100 by the House of Lords, for mentioning the name of Lord Hereford in his journal—the London Evening Post. Several other printers were afterwards fined, every session for some years, £100 each time they printed the name of a member of the House of Peers. Mr. Almon the bookseller, and friend of Wilkes, was the author of the paragraph that brought the law down upon Meres. Almon was at this time, and continued to be, a very
strong assertor of the public right to know how public affairs were conducted in Parliament, as we shall have occasion to see.
The North Briton Newspaper excitement was fol lowed, a few years afterwards, by the equally intense feeling raised by the Letters of Junius. The first Letter by this writer appeared in the Public Advertiser on the 28th of April, 1767, and was followed by the sixty-nine others so often since reprinted. The last of these Letters appeared on the 2nd of November,
1771*
* The 69th Letter, addressed to Lord Camden, is without a date; and there are other private letters to Woodfall, the printer of the Public Advertiser, the last two of which are dated 10th May, 1772, and 19th January, 1773.
press.
ALMON. 227
Several trials arose out of the publication of these political strictures. In June, 1770, Almon the book
seller, then of Piccadilly, was tried and fined in King's Bench for selling a work called The London Museum, containing a copy of Junius's Letter to the King. Soon afterwards, H. S. Woodfall, printer and editor of the Public Advertiser, was tried for issuing the same letter, and found guilty of printing andpublishing orAy . Woodfall was tried in the city of London, before Lord Mansfield ; and the jury were nine hours con sidering their verdict, which in effect was an acquittal.
Mr. J. Miller, printer, and Mr. Baldwin, a bookseller, were tried on a similar charge, and acquitted. Though the issue of the letter was clearly shown, the jury re garded themselves as judges of the import of the Paper as well as of the intention of those publishing it. On this trial, Lord Mansfield said, " The liberty of the press consists in no more than this, a liberty to print now without license, what formerly could be printed only with one. " The secret of Almon being selected for prosecution before the real publishers of Junius's Letter to the King had been proceeded against, was
that Almon had offended the King by publishing a valuable public document in his Paper, and had refused, when asked, to reveal the name of the official who had furnished him with it. *
When the town was excited by the massacre in St. George's Fields, and by the decision in the House on Wilkes's election for Middlesex, Almon went about and collected from members of Parliament some par ticulars relative to the debates. These, he put into
* Memoirs of John Almon, bookseller.
r2
22S THE FOURTH ESTATE.
shape, and printed regularly three times a-week in the London Evening Post. Meres at this time was dead, and that Paper was printed by John Miller. For two sessions Almon continued his reports with tolerable accuracy and regularity. This success sti mulated a rival Paper, the St. James's Chronicle, to employ a reporter also, and a Mr.
