480
NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 S.VIL DEC. 11,1920.
co-operation with his poetical power ; that, turning
to poetry for relief and also as work, hewas, in his
fatigue most often limited to writing what it was
easy to him to write.
From the point of view of literature there is perhaps not much to be regretted ; for, if we have not in him a great poet we have at least a rare one we had nearly called him unique. The beauty of the Asylum poems (mostof those in this book now see the light for the first time) puts him, in our opinion, somewhat higher than he would otherwise stand, and it seems to us that a collected and definitive edition of his work is now called for.
Guide to an Exhibition of Historical Authorities illustrative of British History. Compiled from the Manuscripts of Corpus Christi College, Cam- bridge. By Sir Geoffrey Butler. (Cambridge University Press, Is. net.; THIS pamphlet is one of the best guides of the kind we have recently come across. It is designed for use by a visitor in presence of the exhibits, but the pithy notes will bs useful for general purposes of reference as soon as the owner has taken the easy trouble of making an Index of the twenty-four items discussed. Few things are of more import- ance than a clear notion of what historical evidence is, what its material aspect and ultimate derivation. Such a notion cannot properly be gained either merely by reading about historical MSS. or by inspecting MSS. without attention and guid- ance ; but cultivated people have now-a-days no excuse if they are found wanting here. All they need is available.
The MSS. selected for Exhibition include the Life of St. Guthlac by Felix of Crowland ; the drawings in the Works ot Prudentius ; the earliest MS. of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle ; Grosseteste's Greek Psalter ; Henry of Huntingdon's History and the Itinerarium of Richard Coeur-de-Liori. The latest in date is the MS of the Articles cf Religion drawn up by the London Synod of 1562.
TERCENTENARY HANDLIST OF ENGLISH AND WELSH
NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES AND REVIEWS.
THE columns of 'N. & Q.' have frequently evinced our correspondents' interest; in early journalism. We are therefore glad to draw their attention to this Handlist published for The Times (Hodder & Stoughton, M. Is.) on December 2 last that date being the tercentenary anniversary of the publica- tion of the first English newspaper."
Although his name does not appear on the title- page it is no secret that we owe this work to the labours of Mr. Muddiman, himself a descendant of the Mr. Henry Maddiman who founded The London Gazette, the " oldest existing European paper."
The book is divided into two sections (I. London and Suburban ; II: Provincial), each section being preceded by a pithy Introduction, and provided with its own Index.
The first English newspaper was not printed in England, but in Amsterdam, and Mr. Muddiman quotes at some length the memorandum of a petition still existing among the State papers un-
dated and unsigned, to be attributed, it would seem,
to Thomas Locke urging upon James I. the advis-
ability of setting up "a speedy and ready way
whereby to disperse into the veins of the whole
body of a State such matter as may best temper
"In which point," says the writer further on,
" no country is so heavy as our Britain which I
have heard reproved in Foreign parts for the negli-
gence herein." Twenty -four English corantos
belong to the years 1620 and 1621, eighteen oi'
them printed in Holland, the remainder in London,
but "out of "the Dutch copy. Till 1641 these
corantos, printed presently altogether in London,
continued to supply the English public with foreign
news chiefly news of the progress of the Thirty
Years' War. Then come the Diurnallsjntelliffencers
Mercuries the more important of them familiar to
our readers which take us to the end of the nine-
teenth century. Over these was fought the long
struggle about licensing, and Mr. Muddiman has
added to his Introduction a table of the obsolete
Press laws relating to this period.
He is able to claim something like xhaustiveness for the lists of the- seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, but has not been able to compile com- plete lists for the eighteenth century. One reason for difficulty with the eighteenth century is what he calls " the maleficent results of the Stamp Acts " the particular result deplored being the mutila- tion by collectors of newspapers for the sake of the stamps.
He suggests that readers who know of any eigh- teenth century periodicals not noted in the ' Hand- list ' should contribute particulars of them to ' N. & Q.,' so as to render them available for future research-workers.
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