287 L45

THE FOURTH ESTATE:

CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARDS

A HISTORY OF NEWSPAPERS,

AND OF THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS.

BY F. KNIGHT HUNT.

IN TWO VOLS.

VOL. I.

"What is it that drops the same thought into ten thousand minds at the same moment?
-the Newspaper."
DE TOCQUEVILLE.

"There she is-the great engine-she never sleeps. She has her ambassadors in every
quarter of the world-her couriers upon every road. Her officers march along with armies,
and her envoys walk into statesmen's cabinets. They are ubiquitous. Yonder Journal
has an agent at this minute giving bribes at Madrid; and another inspecting the price of
potatoes at Covent Garden."
PENDENNIS.

LONDON:

DAVID BOGUE, 86, FLEET STREET.

MDCCCL.

Koninklike
Bibliotheck
te's Hage.

LONDON:

HENRY VIZETELLY, PRINTER AND ENGRAVER,

GOUGH SQUARE, FLEET STREET.

PREFACE.

THE following pages are offered only as contributions towards the history of a subject which has been hitherto almost unattempted. The merit they may claim is that of having brought together, in a distinct and tangible form, a number of previously scattered dates and passages illustrative of the History of the Newspaper Press. The writer would fain call to the reader's mind an anecdote familiar to those who have enjoyed the pleasant pages of Charles Lamb. The essayist is speaking of one of his own title-pages, and says, Do not call these my works, but my recreations; my works are in the ledgers of Leadenhall Street. In all humility this deprecatory explanation of Elia may be repeated. The following pages have been completed during disjointed odds and ends of time, before or between, or after, real work ;-in the half