^n-i S. VI. 149., Nov. 6. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



369 



Now I am not an advocate for a superfluity of 

 notes ; and much less from advocating the practice, 

 far from being uncommon, of modernising the 

 works of our old authors ; but at the same time I 

 cannot see what object Mr. H. has had in view in 

 perpetuating errors in the " stage directions," 

 which might with very little trouble have been 

 remedied, and would have added greatly to the 

 value of the work. As an example of the errors 

 in question I would refer to one play. The Insa- 

 tiate Countesse (vol. iii. p. 105.) At p. 109., "Enter 

 Mizaldus and IVIendosa," should be, re-enter Mi- 

 zaldus and Guido ; and not as the note at p. 332. 

 has it, "Re-enter Rogero and Guido." Same 

 scene — 



" Guido. Mary, Amen ! " &c., 



should be — 



" Mizaldus. Marj', Amen ! " &c. 



And the reply should come from Guido, and not 

 Mizaldus (p. 112.) — 



" Mizaldus. I'le ne'er embrace," &c., 

 should be Rogero. P. 115. — 



" Enter at several doors Count Arscna with Claridiana; 

 Guido with Rngcro," &c., 



should be Mizaldus with Rogero. 4th line from 

 bottom (p. 122), what character is meant for Ter. ? 

 should it not be Ser. ? P. 126., 3rd line from 

 bottom — 



" Tha. Methinkes, Sir," &c. 



Should not this be spoken by Abigail, and not 

 Thais? P. 128. 1.7. frqpi bottom, "Ex. Car. 

 awAMend." The Cardinal having already made his 

 exit, it is evident his name has been substituted in 

 place of one of the other four male characters still 

 on. P. 126. 1. 14., Abigail says her husband pur- 

 poses going to " Mitc-ave ;" and at p. 132. 1.3. 

 irom the bottom, she says he " was to goe to 3fau- 

 rano ;" and again, at p. 133. 1. 12., the same place 

 is spelt Mawrano. This latter instance is, how- 

 ever, no great error ; but it might have been as 

 well to have assimilated the spelling. I might go 

 on with the errata ad irijinitum, for there is hardly 

 a page free from errors of one sort or another ; 

 from all which it is painfully evident that the 

 editorial supervision has not been a very laborious 

 one, and I am of opinion that Mr. H. ought, out 

 of consideration for his literary reputation, to 

 compile and publish a table of errata. I do not 

 ask for suggestions as to the meaning of obscure 

 passages, because I think it better for the reader 

 to take his own explanation of such passages as he 

 may consider is justified by the context. The 

 works in question, so far from affording pleasure 

 in their perusal, are, owing to the interminable 

 confusion, caused by innumerable errors, a down- 

 right annoyance as they at present exist, without 

 a table of errata. It would be much better not 

 to publish, than, in doing so, to perpetuate a i)cr- 

 fect ocean of blunders without even an attempt at 

 correction. W. 15. C. 



THE THREE PATRIARCHS OF NEWSPAPERS. 



" They have newsgatherers and intelligencers, dis- 

 tributed into their several walks, who bring in their 

 respective quotas, and make them acquainted with the 

 discourse of the whole kingdom." — Addisox. 



" Ilment comme un Redacteur" was a common 

 proverbial expression among the pickthanks and 

 newsmongers of Paris, on seeing the daily para- 

 graphs in the Moniteur, from the armies in Italy 

 and Germany, to the French Directory ; and the 

 matutinal Query was, " Avez-vous vu le Bulletin 

 de I'Armee ? " 



Dr. Heylin, author of the learned cosmo- 

 graphical work entitled Microcosmos, became, 

 during the civil war between Charles I. and the 

 parliamentary forces, the first editor of a weekly 

 paper on the side of royalty, published at Oxford 

 under the title of Mercurius Auliats. 



The calling of an editor soon degenerated into 

 a vile prostitution of intellectual powers. Mr. 

 DTsraeli, in his Curiosities of Literature (7th ed. 

 vol. i. p. 289.), says of the falling off of these 

 public intelligencers, that — 



" Devoted to political purposes, they soon became a 

 public nuisance by serving as receptacles of party malice, 

 and echoing to the farthest ends of the kingdom the in- 

 solent voice of all factions." 



Among the notable heroes of this depraved 

 brotherhood, he names Marchmont Needham, the 

 great patriarch of newspaper-writers, Sir John 

 Birkenhead, and Sir Roger L'Estrange. Need- 

 ham wfis educated at Oxford, was one of the 

 junior masters of Merchant Taylors' School, a 

 man of learning, and described by Anthony 

 Wood as " combining some ability with con- 

 siderable humour and convivial qualities." No 

 wonder that the convivial humorist soon became 

 a captain among the gay Cavaliers. After the 

 battle of Naseby he espoused the cause he had 

 reviled before, with all the rancour of his malig- 

 nant pen. He changed his party as often and as 

 readily as the noted Vicar of Bray. He finished 

 his career as M.D. of the College of Physicians, 

 upon whom he emptied the wrath and bile that 

 had formerly overflowed on the rulers of the 

 kingdom. 



'i he next of these newspaper patriarchs is Sir 

 John Birkenhead, who was born at Northwich 

 in Cheshire in 1015, and probably derived his 

 name from, or gave it to, the flourishing com- 

 mercial town of that name on the opposite side 

 of Liverpool, its elder sister, the Tyre and Sidon 

 of western Britain, the worthy descendants of 

 its venerable mother, London, the metropolis of 

 the British Empire, the fourth great monarchy, 

 the centre * of civilisation, the " universi orbis 



* See the hemlspliere projected on the plane of the 

 Iiorizcm of London, liy Win. Hughes, F. G. S., published 

 in tlie engraved frontispiece to Klmcs' Scientific, His- 

 toriad, and Commercial Suivfy of the Port of London, 



