had but a short career, could not pretend. Besides the London Gazette there is but one other newspaper in England which can lay claim to a history going back to the seventeenth century. This is a bi-weekly paper, practically unknown to the general public; and, like its elder contemporary, is destitute of the attractive features of the modern newspaper. It is entitled the Course of the Exchange, was started in 1697, and is still the official organ of the Stock Exchange.[1]
After being enforced for seventeen years, the Licensing Act was allowed to expire in 1679. Six years later, however, when James II. came to the throne, the law was revived, and continued for another ten years, so that it was in force at the time of the Revolution and for some years of the reign of William and Mary. In 1695 the country grew tired of a muzzled Press, and the law was abolished. Some politicians, however, still hankered after the censorship, but Hallam states that "the less courtly Whigs combined with the Tories and Jacobites to defeat " the resuscitation of the censorship. Sir Roger l'Estrange, who for almost a generation had persecuted the English Press by the infliction of brutal punishments, happily long since obsolete, met with poetic justice. He was himself sent to Newgate about this time for giving publicity to treasonable papers, and ended his life ignobly.
- ↑ The Edinburgh Gazette was established 1699-1700. For accurate information on the dates of early newspapers, see the chronological list, annotated, in "May's Press Guide."
