temple; and applying the corruption which was at that time in Jerusalem to the present estate in the church, and declaring what was the duty of those to whom God had given authority and power, he did so incite the auditors, as, the sermon being ended, they went all and made spoil of the churches, rasing the monasteries of the Black and Gray Friars to the ground. [James VI. and a Refractory Preacher.] stition as were erected in churches ought to be pulled down, as being offensive to good and godly people. The sermon ended, and the better sort gone to dinner, a priest, rather to try men's affections than out of any devotion, prepared to say mass, opening a great case, wherein was the history of divers saints exquisitely carved. A young boy that stood by, saying that such boldness was unsufferable, the priest gave him a blow. The boy, in an anger, casting a stone at the priest, happened to break one of the pictures, whereupon stir was presently raised, some of the common sort falling The king perceiving by all these letters that the upon the priest, others running to the altar and breaking the images, so as in a moment all was pulled down death of his mother was determined, called back his in the church that carried any mark of idolatry. The ambassadors, and at home gave order to the ministers people, upon the noise thereof, assembled in great to remember her in their public prayers: which they numbers, and, invading the cloisters, made spoil of all denied to do, though the form prescribed was most they found therein. The Franciscans had store of pro- Christian and lawful; which was, That it might vision, both of victuals and household stuff; amongst please God to illuminate her with the light of his the Dominicans the like wealth was not found, yet so truth, and save her from the apparent danger wherein much there was as might show the profession they she was cast. Upon their denial, charges were dimade of poverty to be feigned and counterfeit. The rected to command all bishops, ministers, and other office-bearers in the church, to make mention of her Carthusians, who passed both these in wealth, were used in like manner; yet was the prior permitted to distress in their public prayers, and commend her to take with him what he might carry of gold and silver God in the form appointed. But of all the number, Mr plate. All the spoil was given to the poor, the rich David Lindsay at Leith, and the king's own ministers, sort forbearing to meddle with any part thereof. But gave obedience. At Edinburgh, where the disobedience that which was most admired was the speed they made was most public, the king, purposing to have their in demolishing these edifices. For the Charterhouse fault amended, did appoint the 3d of February for (a building of exceeding cost and largeness) was not solemn prayers to be made in her behalf, commandonly ruined, but the stones and timber so quickly ing the bishop of St Andrews to prepare himself for taken away, as, in less than two days' space, a vestige that day; which when the ministers understood, they thereof was scarce remaining to be seen. They of stirred up Mr John Cowper, a young man not entered Cupar in Fife, hearing what was done at Perth, went as yet in the function, to take the pulpit before the in like manner to their church, and defaced all the time, and exclude the bishop. The king coming at images, altars, and other instruments of idolatry; the hour appointed, and seeing him in the place, which the curate took so heavily, as the night follow-called to him from his seat, and said, 'Mr John, that ing he put violent hands on himself. * place was destinate for another; yet, since you are The noblemen remained at that time in St Andrews; there, if you will obey the charge that is given, and and because they foresaw this their answer would not remember my mother in your prayers, you shall go be well accepted, and feared some sudden attempt on.' He replying, he would do as the Spirit of God (for the queen with her Frenchmen lay then at Falk- should direct him,' was commanded to leave the land), they sent to the lords of Dun and Pittarrow, place. And making as though he would stay, the and others that favoured religion in the countries of captain of the guard went to pull him out; whereAngus and Mearns, and requested them to meet at upon he burst forth in these speeches, 'This day shall St Andrews the 4th day of June. Meanwhile, they be a witness against the king in the great day of the themselves went to the town of Crail, whither all Lord' and then denouncing a woe to the inhabitants that had warning came, showing great forwardness of Edinburgh, he went down, and the bishop of St and resolutions; and were not a little encouraged by Andrews entering the pulpit, did perform the duty John Knox, who, in a sermon made unto them at the required. The noise was great for a while amongst same time, put them in mind of that he foretold at the people; but after they were quieted, and had Perth, how there was no sincerity in the Queen Re- heard the bishop (as he was a most powerful preacher) gent's dealing, and that conditions would not be kept, out of that text to Timothy, discourse of the duty of as they had found. Therefore did he exhort them not Christians in praying for all men,' they grieved sore to be any longer deluded with fair promises, seeing to see their teachers so far overtaken, and condemned there was no peace to be hoped for at their hands, who their obstinacy in that point. In the afternoon, took no regard of contracts and covenants solemnly Cowper was called before the council, where Mr Walsworn. And because there would be no quietness till ter Balcanquel and Mr William Watson, ministers, one of the parties were masters, and strangers expulsed accompanying him, for some idle speeches that esout of the kingdom, he wished them to prepare them-caped them, were both discharged from preaching in selves either to die as men, or to live victorious. Edinburgh during his majesty's pleasure, and Cowper sent prisoner to Blackness. By this exhortation the hearers were so moved, as they fell immediately to the pulling down of altars and images, and destroyed all the monuments which were abused to idolatry in the town. The like they did the next day in Anstruther, and from thence came directly to St Andrews. The bishop hearing what they had done in the coast-towns, and suspecting they would attempt the same reformation in the city, came to it well accompanied, of purpose to withstand them; but after he had tried the affections of the townsmen, and found them all inclining to the congregation, he went away early the next morning towards Falkland to the queen. That day being Sunday, John Knox preached in the parish church, taking for his theme the history of the Gospel touching our Saviour's purging of the GEORGE BUCHANAN. GEORGE BUCHANAN is more distinguished as a writer of classical Latinity than for his productions in the English tongue. He was born in Dumbartonshire in 1506, studied at Paris and St Andrews, and afterwards acted as tutor to the Earl of Murray. While so employed, he gave offence to the clergy by a satirical poem, and was obliged to take refuge on the continent, from which he did not return to Scotland till 1560. Though he had embraced the Protestant doctrines, his reception at the court of Mary was favourable: he assisted her in her studies, was employed to regulate the uni versities, and became principal of St Leonard's college in the university of St Andrews. He joined, however, the Earl of Murray's party against the queen, and was appointed tutor to James VI., whose pedantry was probably in some degree the result of his instructions, and on whom he is said to have occasionally bestowed a hearty whipping. In 1571 he violently attacked the conduct and character of the queen, in a Latin work entitled Detectio Maria Regina. After the assassination of his patron, Regent Murray, he still continued to enjoy the favour of the dominant party, whose opinion that the people are entitled to judge of and control the conduct of their governors, he maintained with great spirit and ability in a treatise De Jure Regni, published in 1579. Having by this book offended his royal pupil, he spent in retirement the last few years of his life, during which he composed in Latin his well-known History of Scotland,' published in Edinburgh in 1582, under the title of Rerum Scoticarum Historia. He died in the same year, so poor, that his funeral took place at the public expense. Buchanan's reputation as a writer of Latin stands very high; the general excellence of his poetical compositions in this language has been already adverted to. As a historian, his style is held to unite the excellences of Livy and Sallust. Like the former, however, he is sometimes too declamatory, and largely embellishes his narrative with fable. If his accuracy and impartiality,' says Dr Robertson, had been in any degree equal to the elegance of his taste, and to the purity and vigour of his style, his history might be placed on a level with the most admired compositions of the ancients. But, instead of rejecting the improbable tales of chronicle writers, he was at the utmost pains to adorn them; and hath clothed with all the beauties and graces of fiction, those legends which formerly had only its wildness and extravagance.' said Beist, nor na perfyte Portraict of it, wald beleif sick thing not to be trew. I will thairfore set furth schortlie the Descriptioun of sic an Monsture not lang ago engendrit in Scotland in the Cuntre of Lowthiane, not far from Hadingtoun, to that effect that the forme knawin, the moist pestiferus Nature of the said Monsture may be moir easelie evited :2 For this Monsture being under coverture of a Manis Figure, may easeliar endommage 3 and wers be eschapit than gif it wer moir deforme and strange of Face, Behaviour, Schap, and Membris. Praying the Reidar to apardoun the Febilnes of my waike Spreit and Engyne,5 gif it can not expreme perfytelie ane strange Creature, maid by Nature, other willing to schaw hir greit Strenth,6 or be sum accident turuit be Force frome the common Trade and Course. WILLIAM DRUMMOND. WILLIAM DRUMMOND of Hawthornden, who has already been introduced as an eminent Scottish poet, wrote several pieces in prose, the chief of which are, The History of the Five Jameses, and A Cypress Grove, or Philosophical Reflections against the Fear of Death. In the former, which has very little merit as a historical production, he inculcates to the fullest extent the absolute supremacy of kings, and the duty of passive obedience of subjects. The Cypress || Grove' is written in a pleasing and solemn strain, and contains much striking imagery; but the author's reflections are frequently trite, and his positions inconsistent. He thus argues [Against Repining at Death.] If on the great theatre of this earth, amongst the │' numberless number of men, to die were only proper to thee and thine, then, undoubtedly, thou hadst reason to repine at so severe and partial a law: but since it is a necessity, from which never any age by In those who are accustomed to peruse the ele- past hath been exempted, and unto which they which gant Latin compositions of Buchanan, a specimen of be, and so many as are to come, are thralled (no his vernacular prose is calculated to excite great consequent of life being more common and familiar), surprise. One exists in a tract called the Chameleon, why shouldst thou, with unprofitable and noughtwhich he designed as a satire upon the slippery availing stubbornness, oppose so inevitable and nestatesman, Secretary Maitland, of Lethington, whose cessary a condition? This is the high way of mor final desertion to the queen's party he could never tality, and our general home: behold what millions forgive. A glance at this work, or even at the brief have trode it before thee what multitudes shall extract from it here subjoined, will suffice to extin-after thee, with them which at that same instant run! guish all lamentation for the fact of his other writings being in a dead language. Yet this ungainly strain must have been that of the familiar daily speech of this rival of Horace and of Virgil. [The Chamaleon.] In so universal a calamity (if death be one), private Thair is a certane kynd of Beist callit Chameleon, engenderit in sic Countreis as the Sone hes mair Strenth in than in this Yle of Brettane, the quhilk albeit it be small of Corporance, noghttheless it is of ane strange Nature, the quhilk makis it to be na less celebrat and spoken of than sum Beastis of greittar Quantitie. The Proprieties is marvalous, for quat Thing evir it be applicat to, it semis to be of the samyn3 Cullour, and imitatis all Hewis, excepte onelie the Quhyte and Reid; and for this caus anciene Writtaris commonlie comparis it to ane Flatterare, quhilk imitatis all the haill Maneris of quhome he fenzeis him self to be Freind to, except Quhyte, a table-book, and men are the notes; the first are quhilk is taken to be the Symboll and Tokin gevin washen out, that new may be written in. They who commonlie in Devise of Colouris to signifie Sempil-fore-went us did leave a room for us; and should we nes and Loyaltie, and Reid signifying Manliness and grieve to do the same to those who should come after heroyicall Courage. This Applicatioun being so usit, us? Who, being suffered to see the exquisite rarities Zits peradventure mony that hes nowther sene the 1 Such. This earth is as 3 Damage. More easily avoided. of an antiquary's cabinet, is grieved that the curtain be drawn, and to give place to new pilgrims? And when the Lord of this universe hath showed us the amazing wonders of his various frame, should we take it to heart, when he thinketh time, to dislodge? This is his unalterable and inevitable decree: as we had no part of our will in our entrance into this life, we should not presume to any in our leaving it, but soberly learn to will that which he wills, whose very will giveth being to all that it wills; and reverencing the orderer, not repine at the order and laws, which all-where and always are so perfectly established, that who would essay to correct and amend any of them, he should either make them worse, or desire things beyond the level of possibility. REMARKS ON THE STYLE OF THIS PERIOD. During the reigns of Elizabeth, James, and Charles, literary language received large accessions of Greek and Latin, and also of the modern French have given from Overbury and Fuller may serve to illustrate the remarks quoted above. In our opinion, Sir Walter Scott has considerably exaggerated the faults of Lyly's Euphues,' which, however, are certainly of the kind described. Let us take, for example, two passages at random, the first on vigour of mind, and the second on grief for the death of a daughter :[Prerequisites of Mental Vigour.] There are three things which cause perfection in a mannature, reason, use. Reason I call discipline: use, exercise: if any one of these branches want, certainly the tree of virtue must needs wither; for nature without discipline is of small force, and discipline without nature more feeble: if exercise or study be void of any of these, it availeth nothing. For as in tilling of the ground in husbandry there is first chosen a fertile The poetry of Queen Elizabeth's reign, and the soil, then a cunning sower, then good seed, even so must we prose of that of her successor, were much disfigured compare nature to the fat earth, the expert husbandman to through the operation of a strong propensity, on the the schoolmaster, the faculties and sciences to the pure seeds. part of the authors, to false wit; a propensity, as Sir If this order had not been in our predecessors, Pythagoras, Walter Scott explains it, to substitute strange and Socrates, Plato, and whosoever was renowned in Greece for the unexpected connections of sound, or of idea, for real glory of wisdom, they had never been eternised for wise men, humour, and even for the effusions of the stronger neither canonised, as it were, for saints, among those that study passions. It seems likely,' he adds, that this fashion sciences. It is therefore a most evident sign of God's singular favour towards him, that he is endued with all these qualities, arose at court; a sphere in which its denizens never without the which man is most miserable. But if there be any think they move with due lustre, until they have one that thinketh wit not necessary to the obtaining of wisdom, adopted a form of expression, as well as a system after he hath gotten the way to virtue, and industry, and exerof manners, different from that which is proper to cise, he is a heretic, in my opinion, touching the true faith in mankind at large. In Elizabeth's reign, the court learning; for if nature play not her part, in vain is labour; language was for some time formed on the plan of and, as it is said before, if study be not employed, in vain is one Lyly, a pedantic courtier, who wrote a book nature: sloth turneth the edge of wit, study sharpeneth the entitled "Euphues and his England, or the Anatomymind; a thing, be it never so easy, is hard to the idle; a thing, of Wit;" which quality he makes to consist in the be it never so hard, is easy to wit well employed. And most indulgence of every monstrous and overstrained con- plainly we may see in many things the efficacy of industry and ceit that can be engendered by a strong memory and labour. The little drops of rain pierce the hard marble; iron, a heated brain, applied to the absurd purpose of with often handling, is worn to nothing. Besides this, industry hatching unnatural conceits.* It appears that this showeth herself in other things: the fertile soil, if it be never fantastical person had a considerable share in deter-tilled, doth wax barren, and that which is most noble by nature mining the false taste of his age, which soon became is made most vile by negligence. What tree, if it be not topped, beareth any fruit? What vine, if it be not pruned, bringeth so general, that the tares which sprung from it are forth grapes? Is not the strength of the body turned to weakto be found even among the choicest of the wheat. ness with too much delicacy? Were not Milo his arms brawnThese outrages upon language were committed fallen for want of wrestling? Moreover, by labour the fierce without regard to time and place. They were held unicorn is tamed, the wildest falcon is reclaimed, the greatest good arguments at the bar, though Bacon sat on the bulwark is sacked. It was well answered of that man of Theswoolsack; and eloquence irresistible by the most saly, who being demanded who among the Thessalians were hardened sinner, when King or Corbet were in the reputed most vile, Those,' he said, 'that live at quiet and pulpit. Where grave and learned professions set ease, never giving themselves to martial affairs.' But why the example, the poets, it will readily be believed, should one use many words in a thing already proved? It is ran headlong into an error, for which they could plead custom, use, and exercise, that brings a young man to virtue, such respectable example. The affectation of the and virtue to his perfection. word" and "of the letter" (for alliteration was almost as fashionable as punning) seemed in some degree to bring back English composition to the barbarous rules of the ancient Anglo-Saxons, the merit of whose poems consisted, not in the ideas, but in the quaint arrangement of the words, and the regular recurrence of some favourite sound or letter.'‡ * For an account of Lyly as a dramatic poet, see p. 166. + 'Witness a sermon preached at St Mary's before the university of Oxford. It is true the preacher was a layman, and harangued in a gold chain, and girt with a sword, as high sheriff of the county; but his eloquence was highly applauded by the learned body whom he addressed, although it would have startled a modern audience at least as much as the dress of the orator. Arriving," said he, "at the Mount of St Mary's, in the stony stage where I now stand, I have brought you some fine biscuits, baked in the oven of charity, carefully conserved for the chickens of the church, the sparrows of the spirit, and the sweet swallows of salvation." "Which way of preaching," says Anthony Wood, the reporter of the homily, "was then mostly in fashion, and commended by the generality of scholars."'-Athena Oxon. vol. i. p. 183. Scott's Life of Dryden, section i-The extracts which we [A Father's Grief for the Death of his Daughter.] Thou weepest for the death of thy daughter, and I laugh at the folly of the father; for greater vanity is there in the mind But she was amiable-but yet sinful: 'but she was young, of the mourner, than bitterness in the death of the deceased. and might have lived-but she was mortal, and must have died. Ay, but her youth made thee often merry'-Ay, but thine age should once make thee wise. Ay, but her green years were unfit for death'-Ay, but thy hoary hairs should despise life. Knowest thou not, Eubulus, that life is the gift of God, death is the due of nature; as we receive the one as a benefit, so must we abide the other of necessity. Wise men have found that by learning, which old men should know by experience, that in life there is nothing sweet, in death nothing sour. The philosophers accounted it the chiefest felicity never to be born; the second, soon to die. And what hath death in it so hard, that we should take it so heavily? Is it strange to see that cut off which, by nature, is made to be cut off? or that melted which is fit to be melted? or that burnt which is apt to be burnt? or man to pass that is born to perish? But thou grantest that she should have died, and yet art thou sorrowful because she is dead. Is the death the better if it be the longer? No, truly. For as neither he that singeth most, or prayeth longest, or ruleth the stern oftenest, but he that doth it best, and Italian. The prevalence of Greek and Roman learning was the chief cause of the introduction of so many words from those languages. Vain of their new scholarship, the learned writers delighted in parading Greek and Latin words, and even whole sentences; so that some specimens of the composition of that time seem to be a mixture of various tongues. Bacon, Burton, and Browne, were among those who most frequently adopted long passages from Latin authors; and of Ben Jonson it is remarked by Dryden, that he did a little too much to Romanise our tongue, leaving the words which he translated almost as much Latin as he found them.' It would appear that the rage, as it may be called, for originality, which marked this period, was one of the causes of this change in our language. Many think,' says Dr Heylin in 1658, 'that they can never speak elegantly, nor write significantly, except they do it in a language of their own devising; as if they were ashamed of their mother tongue, and thought it not sufficiently curious to express their fancies. By means whereof, more French and Latin words have gained ground upon us since the middle of Queen Elizabeth's reign, than were admitted by our ancestors (whether we look upon them as the British or Saxon race), not only since the Norman, but the Roman conquest.' And Sir Thomas Browne about the same time observes, that if elegancy still proceedeth, and English pens maintain that stream we have of late observed to flow from many, we shall, within few years, be fain to learn Latin to understand English, and a work will prove of equal facility in either.' great an extent was Latin thus naturalised among English authors, that Milton at length, in his prose works, and also partly in his poetry, introduced the idiom or peculiar construction of that language; which, however, was not destined to take a permanent hold of English literature; for we find immediately after, that the writings of Clarendon, Dryden, and Barrow, were not affected by it. To so In looking back upon the style of the writers of whose works we have given an account in the present section, it will be perceived that no standard and regular form of composition had as yet been recognised. Each author, says Dr Drake, 'arrogated to himself the right of innovation, and their respective works may be considered as experiments how far their peculiar and often very adverse styles were calculated to improve their native tongue. That they have completely failed to fix a standard for its structure, cannot be a subject of regret to any man who has impartially weighed the merits and defects of their diction. A want of neatness, precision, and simplicity, is usually observable in their periods, which are either eminently enervated and loose, or deserveth greatest praise: so he, not that hath most years, but many virtues, nor he that hath grayest hairs, but greatest goodness, liveth longest. The chief beauty of life consisteth not in the numbering of many days, but in the using of virtuous doings. Amongst plants, those be best esteemed that in shortest time bring forth much fruit. The following sentence affords a sample of Lyly's most affected manner in the 'Euphues': When parents have more care how to leave their children wealthy than wise, and are more desirous to have them maintain the name than the nature of a gentleman; when they put gold into the hands of youth, where they should put a rod under their girdle; when, instead of awe, they make them past grace, and leave them rich executors of goods, and poor executors of godliness; then it is no marvel that the son, being left rich by his father, will become retchless in his own will. pedantic, implicated, and obscure. Nothing can be more incompact and nerveless than the style of Sidney; nothing more harsh and quaint, from an affectation of foreign and technical terms, than the diction of Browne. If we allow to Hooker and Milton occasional majesty and strength, and sometimes a peculiar felicity of expression, it must yet be admitted, that though using pure English words, the elaboration and inversion of their periods are such as to create, in the mere English reader, no small difficulty in the comprehension of their meaning; a fault, surely, of the most serious nature, and ever productive of aversion and fatigue. To Raleigh, Bacon, and Burton, we are indebted for a style which, though never rivalling the sublime energy and force occasionally discoverable in the prose of Milton, makes a nearer approach to the just idiom of our tongue than any other which their age afforded. It is to the Restoration, however, that we must look for that period when our language, with few exceptions, assumed a facility and clearness, a fluency and grace, hitherto strangers to its structure.' * ORIGIN OF NEWSPAPERS. Before concluding the present section, it may be proper to notice the rise of a very important branch of modern literature. We allude to NEWSPAPERS, which, at least in a printed form, had their origin in England. Among the ancient Romans, reports (called Acta Diurna) of what was done in the senate were frequently published. This practice seems to have existed before the time of Julius Cæsar, who, when consul, gave orders that it should be attended to. The publication was, however, prohibited by AugusActa Diurna,' containing more general intelligence of passing events, appear to have been common both during the republic and under the emperors; of one of these, the following specimen is given by Petronius :— tus. On the 26th of July, 30 boys and 40 girls were born at Trimalchi's estate at Cuma. At the same time a slave was put to death for uttering disrespectful words against his lord. The same day a fire broke out in Pompey's gardens, which began in the night, in the steward's apartment. In modern times, nothing similar appears to have been known before the middle of the sixteenth century. The Venetian government were, in the year 1563, during a war with the Turks, in the habit of communicating to the public, by means of written sheets, the military and commercial information received. These sheets were read in a particular place to those desirous to learn the news, who paid for this privilege a coin called gazetta—a name which, by degrees, was transferred to the newspaper itself in Italy and France, and passed over into England. The Venetian government eventually gave these announcements in a regular manner once amonth; but they were too jealous to allow them to be printed. Only a few copies were transmitted to various places, and read to those who paid to hear. Thirty volumes of these manuscript newspapers exist in the Magliabechian library at Florence. About the same time, offices were established in France, at the suggestion of the father of the cele brated Montaigne, for making the wants of individuals known to each other. The advertisements received at these offices were sometimes pasted on walls in public places, in order to attract more attention, and were thence called affiches. This led in time to a systematic and periodical publication of advertisements in sheets; and these sheets were Essays Illustrative of the Tatler, &c. vol. i. p. 38. termed affiches, in consequence of their contents having been originally fixed up as placards. minated by the different parties into which the state was divided. Nearly a score are said to have been started in 1643, when the war was at its height. Peter Heylin, in the preface to his 'Cosmography,' mentions that the affairs of each town or war were better presented in the weekly newsbooks.' Accordingly, we find some papers entitled News from Hull, Truths from York, Warranted Tidings from Ireland, and Special Passages from other places. As the contest proceeded, the impatience of the public for early intelligence led to the shortening of the intervals of publication, and papers began to be distributed twice or thrice in every week. Among these were The French Intelligencer, The Dutch Spy, The Irish Mercury, The Scots Dove, The Parliament Kite, and The Secret Owl. There were likewise weekly papers of a humorous character, such as Mercurius Acheronticus, or News from Hell; Mercurius Democritus, bringing wonderful news from the world in the moon; The Laughing Mercury, with perfect news from the antipodes; and Mercurius Mastix, faithfully lashing all Scouts, Mercuries, Posts, Spies, and other intelligencers. On one side was The Weekly Discoverer, and on the other The Weekly Discoverer Stripped Naked. So important an auxiliary was the press considered, that each of the rival armies carried a printer along with it. It was during the civil war that newspapers first acquired that political importance which they have 'After inquiring in various countries,' says Mr ever since retained. Whole flights of 'Diurnals' and George Chalmers, for the origin of newspapers, IMercuries,' in small quarto, then began to be dissehad the satisfaction to find what I sought for in England. It may gratify our national pride to be told, that mankind are indebted to the wisdom of Elizabeth, and the prudence of Burleigh, for the first newspaper. The epoch of the Spanish Armada is also the epoch of a genuine newspaper. In the British Museum there are several newspapers, which had been printed while the Spanish fleet was in the English channel, during the year 1588. It was a wise policy to prevent, during the moment of general anxiety, the danger of false reports, by publishing real information. And the earliest newspaper is entitled The English Mercurie, which, by authority, was "imprinted at London, by Christopher Barker, her highness's printer, 1588." Burleigh's newspapers were all Extraordinary Gazettes, which were published from time to time, as that profound statesman wished either to inform or terrify the people. The Mercuries were probably first printed in April 1588, when the Armada approached the shores of England. After the Spanish ships had been dispersed by a wonderful exertion of prudence and spirit, these extraordinary gazettes very seldom appeared. The Mercurie, No. 54, which is dated on Monday, November the 24th, 1588, informed the public that the solemn thanksgiving for the successes which had been obtained against the Spanish Armada was this day strictly observed. This number contains also an article of news from Madrid, which speaks of putting the queen to death, and of the instruments of torture that were on board the Spanish fleet. We may suppose that such paragraphs were designed by the policy of Burleigh, who understood all the artifices of printing, to excite the terrors of the English people, to point their resentment against Spain, and to inflame their love for Elizabeth.' It is almost a pity to mar the effect of this passage by adding, that doubts are entertained of the genuineness of The English Mercurie.' Of the three numbers preserved, two are printed in modern type, and no originals are known; while the third is in manuscript of the eighteenth century, altered and interpolated with changes in old language such as only an author would make.'* The first newspaper ever printed in Scotland was issued under the auspices of a party of Cromwell's troops at Leith, who caused their attendant printer to furnish impressions of a London Diurnal for their information and amusement. It bore the title of Mercurius Politicus, and the first number of the Scotch reprint appeared on the 26th of October, 1653. In November of the following year, the establishment was transferred to Edinburgh, where this reprinting system was continued till the 11th of April, 1660. About nine months afterwards was established the Mercurius Caledonius, of which the ten numbers published contain some curious traits of the extravagant feeling of joy occasioned by the Restoration, along with much that must be set down as only the product of a very poor wit trying to say clever and amusing things. It was succeeded by The Kingdom's Intelligencer, the duration of which is said to have been at least seven years. After this, the Scotch had only reprints of the English newspapers till 1699, when The Edinburgh Gazette was In the reign of James I., packets of news were occasionally published in the shape of small quarto pamphlets. These were entitled Newes from Italy, Hungary, &c., as they happened to refer to the transactions of those respective countries, and gene-established. rally purported to be translations from the Low Dutch. In the year 1622, when the thirty years' war, and the exploits of Gustavus Adolphus, excited curiosity, these occasional pamphlets were converted into a regular weekly publication, entitled The Certain Newes of this Present Week, edited by Nathaniel Butter, and which may be deemed the first journal of the kind in England. Other weekly papers speedily followed; and the avidity with which such publications were sought after by the people, may be inferred from the complaint of Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy,' that if any read now-adays, it is a play-book, or a pamphlet of newes.' Lord Clarendon mentions, in illustration of the disregard of Scottish affairs in England during the early part of Charles I.'s reign, that when the whole nation was solicitous to know what passed weekly in Germany and Poland, and all other parts of Europe, no man ever inquired what was doing in Scotland, nor had that kingdom a place or mention in one page of any gazette.' * Penny Cyclopædia, xvi. 193. *.For example March 1, 1661. A report from London of a new gallows, the supporters to be of stones, and beautified with statues of the three Grand Traitors, Cromwell, Bradshaw, and Ireton. As our old laws are renewed, so likewise are our good honest customs; for nobility in streets are known by [the Commonwealth], a lord was scarcely to be distinguished brave retinues of their relations; when, during the Captivity from a commoner. Nay, the old hospitality returns; for that laudable custom of suppers, which was covenanted out with raisins and roasted cheese, is again in fashion; and where before a peevish nurse would have been seen tripping up stairs and down stairs with a posset for the lord or the lady, you shall now see sturdy jackmen groaning with the weight of surloins of beef, and chargers loaden with wild fowl and capon.' On the day of the king's coronation- But of all our bontadoes and capriccios, that of the immortal Janet Geddes, princess of the Tron adventurers [herb-women], was the most pleasant; for she was not only content to assemble all her creels, baskets, but even her weather chair of state where she used to dispense justice to her lang-kale vassals, [which] were all very orderly creepies, furms, and other ingredients that composed her shop, burnt, she herself countenancing the action with a high-flown spirit and vermilion majesty.' 311 |