27 
NEWS- 
At Mofcow. 14. The Mofcow Gazette, publifhed by 
the univerfity of Mofcow, in Ruffian. 15. The Statiftical, 
Geographical, and Hiftorical, Journal, has appeared in 
Ruffian, in monthly numbers, upwards of twenty years. 
16. The European Herald (Weltnik Jevvropy,) a journal 
begun by Karamfin in 1802, appears twice a-month, in 
numbers of five fheets each, in the Ruffian language. It 
embraces literature, the arts, hiftory, and politics. From 
1805 to 1813 it was edited, with a Ihort interruption, by 
profeffor Katfchenowfki, who has been compelled, by a 
fevere and protracted illnefs, to refign the management, 
by which the work has fuftained a great lofs. 17. The 
Friend of Youth and of every Age, (Drug junofcheftwa i 
wliakich liet,) has appeared feveral years, in thick monthly 
numbers, in Ruffian. The conductor is the chevalier 
Nevvzorow, collegiate counfellor. iS. The Ruffian He¬ 
rald, (Rulkoi Weltnik,) publiffied in monthly numbers. 
19. The New and Complete Farmer, a wretched compila¬ 
tion, in monthly numbers, commencing with 1814. On 
the invafion of the French, all the news-papers and jour¬ 
nals at Mofcow were iufpended, but they were refumed 
immediately after the deliverance of the city. To the 
honour of their conductors, they fubfequently fupplied 
their readers with all the deficient numbers. 
At Kal'an. 20. Kafan Intelligencer,publifhed inRuffian 
by the univerfity.—At Aftracban. 21. Oriental Intelli¬ 
gencer, publifhed in Ruffian by Weilkopf, a German.—■ 
At Wilna. 22. Lithuanian Courier, (Kurier Litewfki,) in 
Polifh.—At Riga. 23. Riga Gazette. 24. Riga Adver- 
tifer. 25. Riga Town News. 26. Domeftic News. 27. 
Livonian School News, conducted by Albanus, director 
of the lchcol. 28. The Spectator, by Dr. Merkel.—At 
Dorpat. 29. The Dorpat Gazette.—At Mittau. 30. Mit- 
tau Intelligencer. 31. General German Gazette for Ruffia. 
■—At Pernau. 32. Pernau Intelligencer, weekly. The 
laft ten publications are all in German.—At Abo. 33. 
Abo General Gazette, in Swedifh. 
As we are apt to look either with an eye of contempt 
or furprife on the cuftoms of other nations which differ 
from our own, fo we cannot help being pleafed with any 
which bear fome degree of refemblance to thofe of our 
country. The pleafure feems to be ffronger, the further 
we carry our views back into ancient times, and obferve 
this analogy of falhions ; whether the veneration ufually 
paid to antiquity itfelf heightens the fatisfaCfion, or 
whether we regard it as the voice of Nature pronouncing 
fuch acuftom rational and ufeful by the confent of diffant 
ages. To apply this general remark to a particular in- 
ftance ; every body muff allow that our news-papers (and 
the othercolleCtions of intelligence periodically publiffied), 
by the materials they afford for difcourfe and fpeculation, 
contribute very much to the emolument of fociety : their 
cheapnefs brings them into univerfal ule ; their variety 
adapts them to every one’s taffe. The fcholar inftruCls 
himfelf with advice from the literary world-, the Foldier 
makes a campaign in fafety, and cenlures the conduCt of 
generals without fear of being punilhed for mutiny ; the 
politician, infpired by the fumes of the coffee-pot, un¬ 
ravels the knotty intrigues of miniffers ; the induftrious 
merchant obferves the courfe of trade and navigation ; and 
the honeft fliop-keeper nods over the account of a robbery 
and the prices of goods, till his pipe is out. One may 
eafily imagine, that theufeand amufement refulting from 
thefe diurnal hiftories, render it a cuftom not likely to 
be confined to one part of the globe, or one period of time. 
The relations of China mention a Gazette publifhed there 
by authority ; and the Roman hiftorians fometimes quote 
the Ada Diurna, or Daily Advertifers, of that empire; 
and the Ada Senalus, or Parliamentary Journals. 
The Ada Diurna were journals of the common occur¬ 
rences of Rome, as the trials, elections, punifhments, build¬ 
ings, deaths, facrifices, prodigies, &c. compofed under the 
diredfion of the magiftrates, committed to their care, and 
laid up, with the reft of their records, in an edifice called 
the Hall of Liberty. They were, like all public papers, 
PAPE K. 
eafily gained accefs to. The hiftorians appear to have col- 
ledlecl materials from them ; nor is it improbable, that 
copies were frequently taken by particular perfons, and 
dilperfed aboutthe city, orfent to their friends in the pro¬ 
vinces, that no Roman might be ignorant even of the mi¬ 
nuted event which happened in the metropolis of the 
world. We may find fome ground for this fuppofition in 
the correfpondence between Cicero and Coelius, whil'ft the 
former w-as governor of Cilicia : Coelius had promifed to 
fend him the news of Rome; and, in order to difcharge 
his commiflion with exadtnefs, and gratify the curiofity 
of his friend, inclofes in his firft letter a kind of journal of 
the occurrences of the city. Tully, it appears, would 
have made a bad figure in a modern coffee-houfe conver- 
fation , for he rallies Coelius about it very humoroufly in 
his anfwer: “ Do you think,” fays he, “ that I left it in 
charge with you to fend an account of the matches of gla¬ 
diators, the adjournments of the courts, and fuch-like ar ■ 
tides, which, even when I am at Rome, nobody ventures 
to tell me ? From you I exped! a political fketch of the 
commonwealth, and not Chreffus’s news-paper.” Sue¬ 
tonius fays, that Julius Csefar, in his confulfliip, ordered 
the Diurnal Adis of the Senate and of the People to be 
publifhed. Auguftus, indeed, (the fame author obferves,) 
forbade the publication of the former to be continued; 
but there is no reafon to think his prohibition extended 
to the latter. It is certainly fuitable to the genius of an 
abfolute monarchy, that its counfels fhould not be pub¬ 
licly known ; but the amufing and trifling topics for dif¬ 
courfe, which the common events of a great city afford, 
are fo far from being offenfive under fuch a conftitution, 
that they rather ferve to draw off the minds of the people 
from enquiring into affairs of a more important and leered 
nature. Antiquaries pretend to have difcovered fome of 
thefe papers : thofe, which relate to the 585th year of 
Rome, were firft publifhed by Pighius in his Annals. He 
tells us, that they were given him by James Sufius, who 
found them amongft the papers of Ludovicus Vives. He 
does notfeem to doubt in the leaft of their being genuine, 
and even makes ule of them to corredt a paflage in Livy. 
Dodwell inl’erted them in his Camdenian Ledtures, toge¬ 
ther with fome additional ada of the year of Rome 691. 
We have given a few fhort fpecimenss under the article 
Acta, in our firft volume. We fliall not here multiply 
our extradfs, becaufe our own opinion is againft the ge- 
nuinenefs of thefe papers ; but the reader, who willies to 
lee more of them, may confult the Preface to the 10th vol. 
of the Gentleman’s Magazine; 1740. 
In the Zoologic Magazine, vol. iv. we find, under the 
title of Meditations on a Newfpaper, a very amufing ac¬ 
count of the contents and ufes of thefe daily helps to 
converfation. 
“ Every man, when he wakes in the morning, finds that 
the refledfions fuggefted by the preceding day have been, 
if not wholly obliterated,at leaft Iufpended, by fleep; that 
new topics of converfation are wanting, and that furprife 
is on tip-toe for new calls; that he is unwilling to recur 
to the bufinels of the preceding day, becaufe it has been 
exhaufted, or nlhamed to recoiled! it becaufe it has difap- 
pointed him. A family thus met together would drink 
the tea of Lethe, and Cat the toaft of taciturnity, were 
they not happily relieved from torpor of thought and im¬ 
movability of tongue, by the entrance of a news-paper. It 
is poffible, indeed, that the weather might furnifh a brief 
fubjedt of debate; but the wind muff blow a hurricane, 
and the rain defcend in torrents, to be worth more than a 
moment’s converfation. When the news-paper appears, 
however, all Europe is united to refrefh the languid me¬ 
mory, to quicken the dull thought, and give expedition 
to the communicative tongue. 
<! Nothing furely was ever contrived fo fertile in 
fources of refledlion to thofe who choofe to think, or of 
converfation to thofe who prefer the humbler, though 
more noify, bufmefs of talking. Firft, a long lift of ex¬ 
pensive amufemeqts prel'ents itfelf, fraught with every 
tempting 
