ey's Intelligencer, or Weekly Advertisements of Horses and
Second-hand Coaches to be Bought or Sold_, in 1683. The first medical
paper, _Observations on the Weekly Bill, from July 27 to August 3, with
Directions how to avoid the Dis eases now prevalent_, came out in 1686;
and the first comic newspaper, _The Merrie Mercury_, in 1700.
Notwithstanding these 'first appearances on any stage,' there never was
a darker or more dismal period in the history of journalism. A great
number of newspapers had sprung up in consequence of the Popish Plot,
and the exclusion of the Duke of York--the respectable admiralty clerk
of Macaulay--from the throne; and with the intention of sweeping these
away, a royal 'proclamation for suppressing the printing and publishing
unlicensed news books and pamphlets of news' was put forth in 1680.
Vigorous action against recalcitrants followed, and with such pliant
tools as those perjured wretches, Scroggs and Jeffreys, for judge and
prosecutor, convictions and the 'extremest punishment of the law' became
a foregone conclusion. Doubtless there were many vile scribblers who
deserved to have the severest penalties inflicted upon them, but no
discrimination was used, and good and bad alike experienced the
vengeance of 'divine right.' The aim of the abandoned monarch and his
advisers was manifestly total extermination, and journalism appeared to
be at its last gasp. But though crushed and mutilated in every limb, and
bleeding at every pore, faint respirations every now and then showed
that the vital spark still lingered. But brighter days were at hand.
That festering mass of mental and bodily corruption which had once worn
a crown, was buried away out of the sight of indignant humanity, and the
vacillating James with feeble steps mounted the tottering throne. The
licensing act had expired in 1679, and had not been again renewed, for
there were no newspapers to license. Upon the alarm of Monmouth's
invasion, James renewed it temporarily for seven years. Journalism
reared its head again, and the court party, instead of persecuting,
found itself compelled to fawn and flatter and sue for its protection
and support. Newspapers, both native and imported from Holland in large
numbers, played an important part in the Revolution, and paved the way
for the downfall of the Stuarts and the advent of William and the
Protestant Succession.

It must not be supposed that the capital had possessed a monopoly of
newspapers