SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
509
1648, June 26. A perfect Diary of Pauaget of the king't army.
1648, The ParliamenCt Screech-owl ; or. In- telligence from several parts. No. 1 .
1648, July 18. 7%« Moderate: Impartially communicating martial affairs to the Ung^m, No. 1.
1648, Julu28. Mercurius Melancholieiu, No.l
1648, July 31. The Royal Diurnal, No. I.
1648, Auy. 3. Mercurius Anylicus, No. 1.
1648, Auy. 11. Mercurim Aqualicut.
1648, Aug. 17. Hermes Utraticat, No. 1.
1648, Aug. 2i. Mercurim Fidelicus, No. I.
1648, il«^. 28. The Parliament Porter; or, Door-keeper of the House of Commons, No. 1.
1648, Sep. 19. Mercurim Anti-Mercurius.
1648, Sep. 26. The Treaty traverit, No. 1.
1648, Oct 5. Mercurio Volpone : or, the Fox. For the better information of bis majesty's loyal subjects, prying into erery junto ; proclaimmg their designs ; and reforming all Intelligence.
1648, Oct. 17. Mercurim Militarit ; or, the Army's Scout, &c. No. 1.
1648, Nov. 8. True Informer ; or, Monthly Mercury ; being the certain Intelligence of Mercunus MUitaris. To be continued monthly, No. 1.
1648, Nov. 27. Martin Nontente hit Collec- tion; No. 1.
1648, Dec. 6. Paaaget concerning the King, the Army, City, and Kingdom, No. 1.
1648, Dee. 7. Moderate Intelligencer, No. 1.
1648, Ure. 11. j4 Trance; or, news from Hell, brought fresh to town, by Mercurius Acheron- ticus, No. 1.
1648, Dee. 12. Mercurim ImpaHialit, No. I.
1648. Packets nf Letters from Scotland, tfc.
1648. Mercurius Insanus Insanissimus, No 2.
1648. Mercurius Anti-Mereurim.
1648. Mercurim Gallicm, No. 3.*
- Newspapers had been established a vtrj short time
liefore thejr were prostituted to serre a party, and to Im- pose upon the pobUc. The following; anecdote, from the Interesting memoirs of CoL Hutchinson, of Nottingham, written by his wife, will illustrate the subject. When describing the conduct of sir John Gell, of Derbyshire, she says — " This man kept the diamal malters in pension, so that whatever was done in the neighbouring conntles •gainst the enemy, was attributed to him } and thus he hath indirectly purchased himself a name In story, which he never merited ; — one who Icnew tiim well, says he was not valliant, though the men once held him up among a stand of pilies, while they obtained a glorious victory, when the earle of Northampton was slaine ; certainc It Is he was never, by his good will, in a fight, but either by chance or necessity; and that which made his courage the more questioned was, the care be took, and the ex- pense he was at, to ret It weekly mentioned In the dlur- nals, so that when they had nothing else to renoune him for, tbey once put In that the troops of that valiant com- mander, sir John Gell, took a dragoon with a plush doublet. Mr. Untchinaon, on the other side, that did well for Tirtue's sake, and not for the vaine glory of It, never would give aniething to bay the flatteries of those scribblers, and when one of them once, while he was In towne, made mention of something done at Nottingham with lUsehood, and had given Oell the glory of an action In which he was not eonoemed, llr. Hntchinson rebuked him for it ; where- upon the man begged his pardon, and told him he would write as much for him the next weeke ; but Mr. Hntchin- ^im he scorned his mercenary pen, and warned tare to be In any of his concernments, where- Uow was awed, and he had no more abnae of tkind.
1648. Netes from Pembroke and Montgomery ; or, Oxford Manchester'd. Montgomery. 4to. 1648. Mercurim Publicm, No. 1. 1648. Mercurius Domestictu, No. 1. 1648. Mercurius Caledonias. 1648. Mercurius Scoticus. 1648. The Colchester Spie, No. 1.
1648. Mercurim Catholicus, No. 2.
1649, Jan. 30. On this day was beheaded, in the forty-ninth year of his age, and twenty-fourth of his reign, Charles I. king of England, an awful lesson to the possessors of royalty, to watch the growth of public opinion, and to moderate their pretensions in conformity with the reason- able desires of their subjects. The conduct of Charles shews the false policy of attempting to overcome circumstances ; but none of the Stuarts would temporize, and thus ruined themselves. The times of this king are a lesson of instruction to all ages, particularly as to fixing the character of the civil rights and constitutional usages, and the means of preventing the spiritual from elevat- ing itself above the temporal power, the best preventive to which is the aiffusion of knowledge, through a well regulated press. Had Charles lived at a more early period, when the sense of wrong was quickly subdued by the habit of sub- mission, his reign would probably have been marked by fewer violations of the national liber- ties. It was resistance that made him a tyrant. The spirit of the people refused to yield to the encroachments of authority ; and one act of op- pression placed him under the necessity of com- mitting another, till he had revived ana enforced all those odious prerogatives which, though usually claimed, were but sparingly exercised, by his predecessors. The unfortunate end of this monarch filled the kingdom with consternation. The people sought freedom of rights, religious and poUtical ; but they had no wish to shed the blood of their monarch. The pious resignation with which he bore his sufferings had greatiy endeared him to the nation ; and the firmness with which he conducted himself during his trial drew upon him the respect of mankind. His mind was inclined to virtue, but he was better suited to direct a regular established government than to check the pretensions of a popular as- sembly, and it was his misfortune to be brought forward just at the period when the exercise of arbitrary power began to feel restraint from the geniusof liberty: a situation of peculiar difficulty, and which required great political prudence, with no common portion of firmness of character. No wonder then that a king who was wholly de- ficient of the latter quality, should have become the dupe of a small faction of bold and ambitious spirits.
Charles I. was a great virtuoso, and delighted particularly in sculpture and painting. He not only possessed a critical tact, but an extensive knowledge in the fine arts and the relics of an- tiquity ; and what is more remarkable, it was a passion without ostentation or egotism.
Warburton,who had ranged with keen delight through the age of Charles I., the noblest and
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