OLD NEWSPAPERS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 123, 20 November 1926, Page 15

OLD NEWSPAPERS

GLIMPSES INTO THE PAST THE SPANISH ARMADA v GREAT PLAGUE AND FIRE OF LONDON. • In museums and such places it is possible to see and read newspapers published between three and four hundred years ago. Facsimiles some "\£ the more interesting of 'these have been printed in the !of the same value as the originals, (past, and although, of course, not [axe of great interest as giving an 'insight into the manners and cus--toms of- the times. In this and a .second article to appear later arc 'reproduced extracts from a collecttion of these reprints which have [recently come into the hands of a ■ resident, and, they ;inako extraordinarily interesting ■ reading with their quaint method of,recording the news of the day. The oldest of these papers is "The English Mercuric. Published by Authoritie. For the Prevention of false Reportes." It is dated July the 23rd, 1588, and its four pages are printed rather in the form of a- letter, each page measuring about 10 by 9 inches. The long "s" and, to our, modern minds, the curious spelling add to the fascination of this early record, which was published at the time when the Spanish Armada, or Armado, as it is called, was actually sailing up the English Channel. "Nothingo is now talked of in these Partcs, but the intended Invasion of England," is the beginning of a message from Ostend. "His Highnesse the Prince of Pamya has compleated his Preparationes, of which the following Accounte may/be depended upon as cxacte and authentique. The Annie designed for the Expedition is selected out of all •the Spanish' Troopes in the Netherlands and consists of thirty thousand Fopte and eighteen" hundred Horse. For the Transportation of these Forces, IVesselii of all Sortes are prepared at Dunkirk, Antwerp, and Nieuport, fitted up with all manner of Conveniences; the flat bottomed Boates for the' Cavalrie have Bridges fixed to them, for the more easie Shipping or Disembarkation of Horse. The Transportes for the Foote containe each two Ovens to bake Bread, in case they should be kepte longer at Sea then they hope to bee." Alas, for the Spanish dreams of the conquest- of-Englandl We all know how the British Navy and storms disposed of the Spanish fleet which was intended to"clear the way for invasion by this "mightie force." The morning after the "Spanish Armado had been describod neare the Lizarde making for the Entrance of the Channel ■with a favourable Gale" wo road that "the greatest Part of her Majestio's Fleet gote out to them." And it was to some effect that "they gote out to them," as every history book records. It is pleasing, however, to be reminded that the enemy's ships were "damnified and disabled." EXECUTION OF GUY FAWKES. The nineteenth number of : "The Weekely Nevves," dated "Munday," Slst January, 1606, is one of the most interesting of these early newspapers. The publication of "The Weekely Newes" marks' the beginning of the English newspaper industry. All four pages of this number are devoted to "A Brief Discourse upon, the Arraignment and Execution of the eighi traytors —Digby, the two Winters, Graunt, Eookewood, Keyes, Bates, and Johnson, alias Guy Fawkes,, four of which were executed in St. Paul's Churchyard, in London, upon Thursday, the 27th last, the other four in the Old Palace Yard, in Westminster, over against the Parliament House, and •with a relation of the other tray tors which were executed at Worcester." No other item of news, and not even an advertisement, appears in this number. "The Gazette, comprising the sum of Foreign Intelligence, with the affairs now on foot in the Three Nations of England, Scotland, and Ireland, for information of the people," is represented by a copy for the first week in September, 1658. More than half of its eight small pages are devoted to the death of Oliver Cromwell. Items of foreign news are brief, as the following example shows:—"From Amsterdam: The Swedish suddain invasion into Denmark brings no other hope to us, but that our trading is stopped: time may alter it." One or two books are advertised as newly published, one having the alluring title of "A Few Sighs From Hell, or the Groans of a Damned £>oule.'' But by far and away the most interesting of all the advertisements is the following:—"That Excellent, and by all Physitians approved, China Drink, called by the Chineans Toha, by other nations Tay, alias Tee, is sold at the Sultaness Head, a cophee house in Sweetings Rents by the Royal Exchange, London." ; THE GREAT PLAGUE. The next date is July the 6th, 1065, the fifty-second number of "The Newes: Published for the Satisfaction and Information of the People. With Privilege." This four-page publication makes gruesome reading, for it is concerned with nothing except the Great Plague. "Orders conceived and published by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the City of London concerning the infection of the Plague" detail the steps to be taken to prevent the spread of infection, and one cannot help being amused by the gentleman who, amidst the awful suffering, saw a chance of doing good business. The only advertisement in the paper is his, and he announces "There is a powder to be. burnt into a Fume ... of bo sovereign effect against the Plague and all Contagious Diseases, that being conveyed to divers houses as were visited as free there has not any person dyed since out of the houses where it hath been used." THE FIRE OP LONDON. Following on the heels of the Plague came the Great Fire of London in 1666. This is described in "The London Gazette" of the week September 3 to 10 of that year. "The London Gazette" made its first appearance in the previous year, "The Oxford Gazette" being its predecessor. Ever eince that date "The London Gazette" has been the official Government organ and still is^ Its publication during the recent general strike at Home was one of the features of that industrial upheaval.

"The ordinary course of this paper," says "The London Gazette" rather quaintly, "having been interrupted by a sad and lamentable accident of Fire lately hapned in the City of London: it hath "been thought fit for satisfying the mind» of so many of. His Majesties good Subjects who must needs be concerned for the Issue of so great flu accident, to give this short, l".;t true Accompt of it. On the so"!;ud instant, at one of the clock \-i the Morning, there hapned to li-oak out, a sad in deplorable Fire in Pudding-lane, neer New Fish-Street, which falling out at that hour of the night, and in a quarter of the Town so close built with •wooden pitched houses spread itself so far before day, and with such distraction to the inhabitants and Neighbours,

that care was not taken for the timely preventing the further diffusion of it, by pulling doune houses, as ought to have been; so that this lamentable Fire in a short time became too big to be mastered by any Engines or working near it. It fell out most unhappily too, That a violent Easterly wind fomented it, and kept it burning all that day and the night following." The fire raged all Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. "On Thursday by the blessing of God it was wholly beat down and extinguished. But so as that Evening it unhappily burst out again a fresh at the Temple, by the falling of some sparks (as is supposed) upon a Pile of Wooden buildings; but His Royal Highness who watched there that whole night in Person, by the great labours and diligence used, and especially by applying Powder to blow up the Houses about it, before day most happily mastered it." SUSPECTS ARRESTED. "Divers Strangers, Dutch and French were, duriug the fire, apprehended, apon suspicion that they contributed mischievously to it, who are all imprisoned . . notwithstanding which suspicion, the manner of the burning all along in a Train, and so blowen forwards in all its way by strong Winds, made us conclude the whole was an effect of an unhappy chance, or sn to speak better, the heavy hand of God upon us for our sins, shewing us the terrour of his Judgement in thus raising the Fire, and immediately after his miraculous and never to be acknowledged Mercy, in putting a stop to it when we were in the last despair, and that all attempts for quenching it however industriously pursued scorned insufficient." "THIS DISMAL FIRE." "A Farthur Account of this Lamentable Fire" published in the same issue is obviously by a different hand—the style is much more realistic. "Fire! Fire! Fire! doth resound in every street, some starting out of their sleep and peeping through tho windows halfdressed. Some in night-dresses rushing wildly about the streets crying piteously and praying to God for assistance, women carrying children in their arms, and. the men looking quite bewildered. Many cripples were also seen nobbling about not knowing which way to go to got free from the flames, which were raging all round them. No man that had tho sence of human miseries could unconcertedly behold the frightful destruction made in one of the noblest Cities in the world." And so on with the account of "this dismal fire which burned up the very bowels of London." "When the wind hushed and the fire burnt gently, then the citizens began to gather a little heart." A tally of buildings destroyed gave 13,200 houses, 93 churches and chapels, the Royal Exchange, the Custom House, Jail at Newgate, three City gates, the Guildhall, and four bridges