SOC- 



IABLE-TALK AND VARIETIES. 



and it is here, as Mr. Macaulay has 

 observed, that the history of the 

 English nation commences. Hither- 

 to the histoi-y of successive reigns 

 had been a record of wrongs in- 

 flicted and sustained by different 

 tribes. " When John became king," 

 remarks the historian just named, 

 " the distinction between Saxons and 

 .Normans was strongly marked, but 

 before the end of the reign of his 

 grandson it had almost disappeared. 

 In the time of Richard the First, the 

 ordinary imprecation of a Norman 

 gentleman was, ' May I become an 

 Englishman ! ' His. ordinary form 

 of indignant denial was, ' Do you 

 take me for an Englishman ? ' The 

 descendant of such a gentleman, a 

 hundred years later, was proud of 

 the English name." 



In the memorable interview be- 

 tween the King and the barons, 

 the latter appear to have submitted 

 their demands drawn up in the 

 form of preliminary articles of 

 agreement, to which John affixed 

 his seal. The articles were then 

 embodied in the Charter, copies of 

 which were sent, after being signed, 

 to each county or each diocese in 

 England ; but of these only three 

 are now known to exist. One is 

 preserved in the library of the ca- 

 thedral at Salisbury, and two are 

 deposited in the British Museum. 

 One of the latter is said to have 

 been rescued from the scissors of a 

 tailor, who was proceeding to cut the 

 parchment into measures. They 

 bear the marks of fire, having been 

 slightly injured when part of the 

 Cottonian library, before it was 

 deposited in the Museum, was 

 burnt, in 1731. In one copy, the 

 waxen seal Jtffixed by the King has 

 been partially melted ; in the other, 

 At is destroyed. 



Amongst the ancient charters in 

 this part of the collection is the 

 Bull of Pope Leo X., conferring on 

 Henry Ylll.the title of " Defender 

 of the Faith." This document was 



also injured by the fira which 

 partly destroyed the Cottonian 

 collection. A set of the Great 

 Seals of the British sovereigns is 

 preserved here. One of the oldest 

 English charters is the title to 

 Battle Abbey, in Sussex, granted 

 by William the Conqueror. This 

 once famous ecclesiastical founda- 

 tion owed its origin to the battle of 

 Hastings, which decided the Nor- 

 man conquest, in 10C6. The Ab- 

 bey was commenced by the Con- 

 queror the year after. 



The library contains a collection 

 of English newspapers, stretching 

 back to the first periodical publi- 

 cation, which is a pamphlet, dated 

 1588, and called the English Mer- 

 curie. The first newspaper, pro- 

 perly so called, did not appear till 

 many years after. The oldest 

 newspaper we noticed in the collec- 

 tion was dated 1616,. and was oc- 

 cupied with "News out of Holland." 

 Till long after this period occasional 

 pamphlets and tracts served the 

 purpose of the newspaper, which 

 did not assume anything like its 

 present character till after the Re- 

 volution of 1688. Mr. Macaulay 

 describes the earlier efforts at news- 

 paper literature in his History of 

 England. He mentions that in 

 1685 nothing like the London daily 

 paper of our time existed, or could 

 exist, for want of capital, skill, and 

 freedom. The political conflicts 

 which preceded the Eevolution 

 gave rise to a number of publica- 

 tions, which are thus described : 

 "None exceeded in size a single 

 small leaf. The quantity of matter 

 which one of them contained in a year 

 was not more than is often found 

 in two numbers of the Times." 

 Then came the London Gazette. 

 "The contents generally were a 

 royal proclamation, two or three 

 Tory addresses, notices of two or 

 three promotions, an account of a 

 .skirmish between the Imperial 

 troops and the Janissaries on the 



