like Milton's, to urge the Parliament to leave the press unshackled. The question was well put before the Legislature in this pamphlet, and its author had the satisfaction to find that printing was to remain for a time without any additional trammels. Meantime Newspapers had gone on increasing. From the day of the first appearance of the Public Intelligencer in 1661 till 1688, there had appeared altogether about seventy different Journals. Some of these lived but a few numbers, others were more permanent; whilst one of them, the London Gazette, remains still in existence. Within the four years next after 1688, no less than twenty-six Papers were added to the list. The word Reform now found its way into the heading of a Paper conducted by Dr. J. Wellwood, whose lucubrations graced the Mercurius Reformatus. Other novelties also appeared; and the competition, begotten of increased supply, had the effect of tasking the inventive faculties of projectors. Thus the Flying Post, in 1695, suggests," that if any gentleman has a mind to oblige his country friend or correspondent with this account of public affairs, he can have it for twopence of J. Salisbury, at the Rising Sun in Cornhill, on a sheet of fine paper, half of which being blank, he may thereon write his own affairs, or the material News of the day." Here we see an indication that the News-letter* was not forgotten; and this is still further shown in the case of another Journal published by Ichabod Dawks

*The last two volumes of the Stepney Papers in the British Museum contain-"Letter of News transmitted to Mr. Stepney from the Secretary of State's office by Mr Ellis, by Mr Yard, and Mr Warre," Vol 21; "Papers of News transmitted to Mr. Stepney by Mr Cardonnel, (Secretary to the Duke of Marlborough,) during the campaigns of

in 1696, which was printed in script, and on letterpaper to imitate an ordinary handwriting, a portion being left blank to be filled up by the purchaser before he despatched it by post. The increase of such prints was encouraged by the increased facilities for their circulation. The Post Office, which had been established by Charles the First, was interrupted by the Civil Wars only to be put on a more secure footing when those wars were at an end; and, when William and Mary occupied the throne, the postal service was still further extended, and many of the Journals were published on the days most convenient for despatch through its medium.

Queen Anne ascended the throne on the 8th of March, 1702, and her reign is memorable in the annals of the press. It was marked by a law giving copyright to authors, by the establishment of the first daily Newspaper. by the appearance of great names in the list of writers for the public prints, and by the imposition of a stamp upon Newspapers, and a duty on advertisements.

In May 1702 the Parliament took cognizance of several publications which were alleged to contain libellous and dangerous matter. Amongst other offenders was Dr. Drake, who escaped with a censure; whilst another writer saw his production burnt by the hangman; and a third, the Rev. Dr. Bincke, was reported to the bishop of his diocese as a preacher and

1702-1706, and from Sir Lambert Blackwell, Mr. Chetwynd, and Mr. Broughton, English ministers resident in Italy during the same period." These letters are respectively entitled "Whitehall News, "Edinburgh News," "Camp News," "Italian News." &c.

publisher of scandalous and offensive remarks. All the writings thus denounced had a character regarded then as politically dangerous.

At the opening of the year 1704, the editor of the Paper called the Observator fell under the displeasure of the Parliament, in consequence of some remarks he had made on occasional conformity. A resolution was adopted, "That the Observator, from the 8th to the 11th of December, 1703, contains matters scandalous and malicious, reflecting on the proceedings of the House, tending to the promotion of sedition in the kingdom; and that Tutchin the author, How the printer, and Bragg the publisher of that Paper, should be taken into custody by the Sergeant-at-Arms.” Tutchin set the House at defiance, absconded, "went on in his way of writing," and made some further sharp remarks upon a speech of a member of Parliament, Sir John Packington. Upon this the Commons were again appealed to, and they adopted an address to the Queen, praying that a proclamation be issued for apprehending the contumacious writer, printer, and publisher, and offering a reward to any person who should betray their hiding-place.

The writer who thus braved the wrath of the Legislature had suffered much, and unjustly, at the hands of his political opponents; and, as in the case of Lilburn, a youth of suffering and wrong would seem to have prepared Tutchin for a manhood of determined action against those whom he regarded as his political foes. In the chronicles of that assize in which the path of

*The Western Martyrology, or The Bloody Assizes, quoted in State Trials, Vol. XIV., p. 1195.

THE TRIAL OF TUTCHIN.

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Jeffreys was marked by a string of gibbets, and the victims were counted by hundreds, we find notice of "Mr. John Tutchin, a young gentleman of Hampshire, who, having had the misfortune, with many others of his acquaintance, to be in the interest of the Duke of Monmouth, was taken a prisoner by the county guard." When seized he concealed his real name, and was committed to Dorchester gaol as Thomas Pitts, and there being no evidence against him he was acquitted. Before Tutchin could leave the prison, Jeffreys learned who he really was, and determined to be revenged for the deception that had been practised. He set the gaoler to endeavour to extort a confession from the acquitted prisoner, but in vain; and Tutchin was once again brought into court, when Jeffreys, "not caring to indict him again for rebellion, pretended that the crime of changing his name deserved a severe sentence," and sentenced him to remain in prison for seven years; and further ordered, that once every year he should be whipped through all the market towns of Dorsetshire; that he should pay a fine of 100 marks to the King, and find security for his good behaviour during life.

"It was observable," continues the historian of the trial, "when this sentence was passed upon Tutchin, that the ladies in the court, of whom there were a great many, all burst out a-crying, but Jeffreys turning towards them, said, 'Ladies, if you did but know what a villain this is, as well as I do, you would say this sentence is not half bad enough for him.'"

Upon passing the sentence, the Clerk of the Arraigns stood up and said, " My Lord, there are a great

many market towns in this county; the sentence reaches to a whipping about once a fortnight, and he is a very young man."

"Aye," replied Jeffreys, "he is a young man, but he is an old rogue, and all the interest in England shall not reverse the sentence I have passed upon him."

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"Certainly," says the reporter of this specimen of judicial conduct during the well-named bloody assize, no devil incarnate could rage, no Billingsgate woman could scold worse than this judge did at this young gentleman whilst he was at the bar. He called him a thousand rogues and villains, told him he was a rebel from Adam, that never any of his family had the least loyalty; and, continued he, 'I understand you are a wit and a poet; pray, sir, let you and I cap verses.' Tutchin smiled, and replied, he knew on what ground and when he was over-matched." Lying under the barbarous sentence, his friends advised Tutchin to sue for a pardon, but he refused to do so, and with his own hand drew up a petition to the King, who was then at Winchester. It was duly presented, and the Court and the King, it was said, esteemed it a barbarous sentence, but all the answer that could be got was from Lord Sunderland, that Mr Tutchin must wait with patience. The next paragraphs of the narrative of this interesting case throw a curious light upon the customs and morality of times when this News-writer lived:

Mr. Tutchin hereupon endeavoured to get a pardon from the people who had grants of lives, many of them 500, some 1000, more or less, according as they had interest in the King; but Jeffreys would not so much as hear his name mentioned, and the sentence was ordered to be executed.