248 Political Journals 



The earliest newspaper printed in Great-Britain 

 was " The English Merairie, by Christopher 

 Barker, her highnesses printer/' in 1588. But 

 public prints of this kind, after the dispersion of 

 the Spanish Armada, seldom appeared. The first 

 regular weekly newspaper published in that coun- 

 try was by Nathaniel Butter, in August, 1622, 

 entitled " The certaine Neives of this present 

 Weeke." Three years afterwards another of a 

 similar kind was established. But, during the 

 civil wars, which took place under the Protec- 

 torate of Cromwell, these channels of public in- 

 telligence became more numerous than ever; and 

 were diligently employed by both parties to* dis- 

 seminate their opinions among the people. About 

 that time appeared the Mercurius Aulicus, the 

 Alercurius Husticus, and the Mercurius Civicus, 

 &c. And, it is said, that " when any title grew 

 popular, it was frequently stolen by some anta- 

 gonist, who, by this stratagem, obtained access to 

 those who would not have received him, had he 

 not worn the appearance of a friend. These 

 papers soon became a public nuisance. Serving 

 as receptacles of party malice, they set the minds' 

 of men more at variance, inflamed their resent- 

 ments into greater fierceness, and gave a keener 

 and more destructive edge to civil discord. But 

 the convulsions of those unhappy days left few 

 either the leisure, the tranquillity, or the inclina- 

 tion to treasure up occasional or curious composi- 

 tions; and so much were they neglected that a 

 complete collection is now no where to be found, 

 and little is known respecting them."' 



nanti; because, says Vossius, they intended commonly by these loose 

 papers to spread about defamatory reflections, and were therefore prohi- 

 bited by Gregory XIII. by a particular bull, under the name of Menan- 

 tis t from the Latin minantes. Curiosities of Liitratur*) vol. i. p. 273. 

 i Johnson's Lift <?/Ab»ison. 



