376 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1794. 



trange published the first dail}' news- 

 paper in England. 



From the following passage in 

 Tacitus, it appears that somewhat 

 like newspapers were circulated in 

 the Roman State : Diurna populi 

 Romani per provincias, per exereitus, 

 curatius kguntur: <]uam ut non 7ios- 

 catur, quid Thrasea, fecerit ." 



' In a note of Mr. Murphy's excel- 

 lent translation of Tacitus he la- 

 ments that none of these diurnals, 

 or newspapers, as he calls them, 

 had been presert-ed, as they would 

 cast great light upon the private 

 life and manners of the Romans. 



With the long parliani'^nt origi- 

 nated appeals to the people, by ac- 

 counts of their proceedings. These 

 appeared periodically, from the first 

 of them, called "Diurnal Occurren- 

 ces in Parliament," Nov. 3, 1(341, 

 to the restoration. 



These were somewhat like our 

 magazines, and they were generally 

 called " Mercuries;" as " Mercu- 

 rius Politicus," " Mercurins Rusti- 

 eus; and one of them, in 1644, 

 appears under theoddtitleofilfcrc/t- 

 rius Fumigosus ; or the Smoking 

 Nocturnal. 



The number of these publications 

 appears, from a list in an accurate, 

 new, and valuable, piece of bio- 

 graphy, from 1641 to I66O, to have 

 been 156. 



These publications of psrli^mien- 

 tary proceeding were interdicted af- 

 ter the restoration, as appears from 

 adebate in Grey'sColiection, March 

 24, 168I, in consequence of which, 

 the Votes of the Kousc of Con^raons 

 ■were first printed by authority of 

 parliair.ent. 



From the first ngular pa])rr, the 

 above-mentioned " Public Intelli- 

 gencer," commencing Aug. 31, 

 ItiOl, there were, to 16SS, witli 



the " Gazette," which has contt- 

 nued regularly, as at present, from 

 Nov. 7, 1665, 70 papers, some of 

 a short, and others of a longer dura- 

 tion . 



The first daily paper, after the 

 revolution, was called "The Orange 

 Intelligencer;" and thence to 179^ 

 there were 26 newspapers. 

 " From an advertisement in a week- 

 ly paper, called " The Athenian 

 Gazette," Feb. 8, I6g6, it appears, 

 that the coffee-houses in London 

 had then, exclusive of the Votes of 

 Parliament, nine newspapers every 

 \X'eek : but there s'cems not to have 

 been in 1696 one daily paper. 



In the reign of queen Anne, 

 there were, in 1709, 18 weekly 

 papers published ; of which, how- 

 ever, only one was a daily paper, 

 " The London Courant." 



In thereign of George I. in 1724, 

 there were published three daily, 

 six weekly, and ten evening papers, 

 three limes a week. 



In the late reign there were pub- 

 lished of newspapers in London, 

 and in all England, 



inl753 7,411,75r 



1760 9,464,; 90 

 and in the present 



reign in I790 14,035,630 



1791 14,794,153 



1792 15,005,760 

 In 1792 there were published in 



London 13 daily, 20 evening, and 

 nine weekly papers. In the coun- 

 try 70 ; and in Scotland 14 country 

 papers. 



Though Venice produced the first 

 Gazette in 1536, it was circulatevl 

 in manuscript long after the inven- 

 tion of printinj^, to the close of the 

 loth century, as appears from a 

 collection of these Gazettes in the 

 Magliabechian library at Florence, 



accoidinii 



