Court

The London Gazette.

The first number of the biweekly Oxford Gazette, licensed by Lord Arlington and written by Mud diman, was published on Nov. 16, 1665. It was a "paper" of news, of the same size and shape as Muddiman's news-letters. With the publication of the 24th number (Monday, Feb. 5, i666 0.S.) the Oxford Gazette became the London Gazette, which has appeared twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, ever since as the official organ of Government. After the Revolution of 1688 the press censorship was relaxed, being finally abandoned in 1693, and a number of newspapers came into being, including the Universal Intelligence, English Courant, London Courant, London Mer cury, London Intelligence, Orange Gazette, Flying Post, Post Boy, a daily which lasted only four days, and the Lincoln, Rutland, and Stamford Mercury, now the oldest of the provincial papers. In 1699 appeared the Edinburgh Gazette, a biweekly, and in 1702 the Daily Courant, the first English daily, a small sheet printed on one side only, the editor-printer of which confined him self to news and not views.

Defoe and Lloyd.

It is Daniel Defoe who is the first English journalistic writer of national importance. In Feb. 1704 he began his weekly, The Review, which eventually was printed three times a week and was a forerunner of the Tatler (started by Steele in 1709) and the Spectator (started by Steele and Addison in 1711). Defoe's Review came to an end in 1713, and between 1716 and 172o he published a monthly with an old title, Mercurius Politicus. By some authorities Defoe is considered the originator of the serial story.

The Examiner, which was started in 1710 as the chief Tory organ, enjoyed as its most influential contributor Swift, the father of the leading article. Edited by Dr. William King, afterwards principal of St. Mary's hall, Oxford, this political journal had brilliant contributors in Bolingbroke, Prior, Atterbury and Ar buthnot. Swift had control of the journal for 33 numbers between November, 171o, and June, 1711, but on becoming dean of St. Patrick's he gave up regular journalistic work. There followed a number of other political journals, such as the Craftsman, the Whig Examiner, and the Medley.

In 1696 Edward Lloyd—the virtual founder of the famous "Lloyd's" of commerce—started a thrice-a-week paper, Lloyd's News, which had but a brief existence in its first shape, but was the precursor of the Lloyd's List of the present day. No. 76 of the original paper contained a paragraph referring to the House of Lords, for the appearance of which a public apology must, the publisher was told, be made. He preferred to discontinue his pub lication (February 1697). Nearly thirty years afterwards he in

part revived it, under the title of Lloyd's List—published at first weekly, afterwards twice a week (see F. Martin, History of Lloyds, 66-77 and 107-12o). This dates from 1726. It is now a daily.

Stamp Tax of 1712.

The increasing popularity and influence of the newspaper press could not fail to be distasteful to the gov ernment of the day. The paper which seems to contain the first germ of the newspaper tax is still preserved amongst the treasury papers, and probably belongs to the year 1711. "There are pub lished weekly," says the writer, "about 44,000 newspapers, viz., Daily Courant, London Post, English Post, London Gazette, Post man, Postboy, Flying Post, Review and Observator." ("A Proposi tion to Increase the Revenue of the Stamp-Office," Redington, Calendar of Treasury Papers, 1708-1714, p. 235.) The duty eventually imposed (1712) was a halfpenny on papers of half a sheet or less, and a penny on such as ranged from half a sheet to a single sheet (I o Anne, c. xix. § lox).

Swift's doubt expressed in his Journal to Stella (Aug. 7, 1712) as to the ability of the Spectator to hold out against the tax was justified by its discontinuance in Dec. 1712, Steele starting the Guardian in 1713, which only ran for six months. But some of the worst journals that were already in existence kept their ground, and the number of such ere long increased. An enumeration of the London papers of 1714 comprises the Daily Courant, the Exami ner, the British Merchant, the Lover, the Patriot, the Monitor, the Flying Post, the Postboy, Mercator, the Weekly Pacquet and Dun ton's Ghost. Another enumeration in 1733 includes the Daily Courant, the Craftsman, Fog's Journal,. Mist's Journal, the London Journal, the Free Briton, the Grub Street Journal, the Weekly Register, the Universal Spectator, the Auditor, the Weekly Mis cellany, the London Crier, Read's Journal, Oedipus or the Postman Remounted, the St. James's Post, the London Evening Post and the London Daily Post, which afterwards became better known as the Public Advertiser. Part of this increase may fairly be ascribed to political corruption. Later towards the middle of the same century the provisions and the penalties of the Stamp Act were made more stringent. Yet the number of newspapers con tinued to rise. In 1753 the aggregate number of copies of news papers annually sold in England, on an average of three years, amounted to 7,411,757. In 1760 it had risen to 9,464,790, and in 1767 to 11,300,980. In 1776 the number of newspapers published in London alone had increased to fifty-three.