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HISTORY OF PRINTING.
the mo6t humiliating in our own histoiy, and > in that of the world, perpetually instructive, has justly observed the king's passion for the fine arts. It was indeed such, that had the reign of Charles I. proved prosperous, that sovereigpi about 1640 would have anticipated those tastes, and even that enthusiasm, which are still almost foreign to the nation.
The mind of Charles I. was moulded by the Graces. His favourite Buckingham* was proba- bly a greater favourite for those congenial tastes, and the frequent exhibition of those splendid masques and entertainments, which combined all the picture of ballet dances, with the voice of munc ; the charms of the verse of Jonson, the scenic machinery of Inigo Jones, and the variety of &nciful devices of Gerbier, the duke's archi- tect, the bosom friend of Rubens.
For an intimate knowledge of Charles's inter- course with artists, the reader is referred to D'lsiaeli's Commeniariet on the Life and Reign of Charlet I. vol. iii. chap. vii. Lord Orford, in his An£edote$ of Paintmg in England, has also
Siven an interesting anecdote, to show the king's iscemment in the knowledge of painting.f 1649, Feb. A committee of the House of Commons appointed to punish the author, pub- lisher, printer, or preacher, who should publish a pamphlet on the proceedings againtt bringing the king to jiutice; and to restrain the printing or preaching any thing against the House of Commons and the high court of justice.
1649, April 10—17. The Man in the Moone, diieoveringa World of Knavery vnder the Sunne, No. 1. This paper was on the side of the king, and it was most rigorously suppressed by the commonwealth, the soldiers and the city officers having strict orders to seize any person who should be seen with the paper in their possession, or attempting to sell it. Many persons were thrown into prison for vending it ; nevertheless, every week it regularly made its appearance, in defiance of " the powers that were. The fol- lowing curious passage occurs in the one dated July 4, 1649, a few months onlv after Charles's martyrdom : " A hott combat lately happened at the Salutation taveme in Holbume, where some of the commonwealth vermin, called sol-
- George TQUen dake of Backiogham, born Angiut ao,
II93, ususinated by John Felton, at Portamonth, August S3, ItSI. and boiled in Westminster abbey.
t The high opinion wliicb Ctuuies I. entertained of regal digni^, led him to observe a statellness and imperi. oQineas of manner, which was not only unenviable and disgosting, but stionglycliaiacteiiaed a little mind. Carte, in his L^e of Ormond, vol. i. p. SMI, says, that diiferent rooms in the palaces of Charles, were allotted to the differ- ent ranks of the nobility and gentry ; and orders were hung apln every apartment, forbiddiiig all persona l>elow a ccttadn quality to enter. The observance of these ridlcolons oistincllonB waa exacted with anch rigour, that sir Henry Vane, the yonnger, having introduced himself into an apartment allotted to a superior rank, was so sud- denly, whilst in discourse, surprised by the king's appear- ance, that, not having opportunity to retiie uuperceived, he hid himself behind a large carpet, which hong before a sideboard. In this situation he was discovered by the Idng, who, with unmanly insolence, struck liim with his cane. And even in tils days of humiliation, he struck colonel Whaley for the omission of some ceremony, or imaginary disrespect.
diers, had seized an Amazonian virago, named Mrs. Strosse, upon a suspicion of being a loyal- ist, and selling the Man in the Moone ; but die, by applying beaten pepper to their eyes, dis- armed them, and (with tneir own swordes) forced them to aske her forgiveness, and down on thdr mary-bones, and pledge a health to the king, and confusion to their masters, and so honourabTj dismissed them." " Oh !" adds the loyal news- writer, " for twenty thousand such gallant spirits, when you see that one woman can beat two or three." From another number we learn that "An act has been brought in, and read, for the sale of the goods of the late king, queen, and prince ;* New Market Fayre is proclaimed at Wettntintter. Here I, before all the world, forbid any man or woman to buy any part or parcel thereof, upon payne of being guilty of buytng ttolen goods, and as they will dearly answer it when the thieves and murderers shtul be apprehended and brought to the tryal of the laws. The writer then men- tions an act for borrowing £150,000, and says, " Yes, when ye are hang^ ye shtill have it ; toe devil is in your covetousness ; a p — choak ye, for money won't. What is become of those vast sums that you, by robbing and murdering, keep your bloodhounds in good flesh till doomsday in the afternoon." The number concludes with a short hint about " resurrection of royalty."
1649. Nevifrom PoipUi ; or the nev Reform- ation of the army, with a true relation of a colt that woe foaled in the aUhedral church of St. Paul, in London, and how it wot mhliqti^ baptized, and the >uini«, (because a tald colt,) was called Baal- Rex .' This pamphlet record the strange fact, that the taints actually baptized horses in churches at the fonts ; and these ma, who baptized horses and pigs in the name of the Trinity, sang nsalms as they marched. St Paul's cathedral was turned into a market, and the aisles, the communion table, and the altar, served for the foulest purposes. Prostitutimi was professed as a religious act.
1649. The odious office of licenser of the press, seems to have lain dormant a short time under the government of Cromwell, from the scruples of a conscientious licenser, who desired the council of state, for reasons given, to be discharged from that employment. This Mabot, the licenser, was evidently deeply touched by one of the noblest and most eloquent prose compo- sitions in the English language; Milton's Areopagitiea ; a Speech for the Liberty <^ Un- licensed Printing, published in 1644.t It is a work of love and inspiration, breathing the most enlarged spirit of literature ; separating at an awful distance from the multitude, that charac- ter " who was born to study and to love leam-
• In March, 1(I48, the parliament ordered c to be appointed, to inventory the goods and personal es- tate of the late king, queen, and prince, and appnisa tlian for the use of the public. The whole collection of the king's curiosities were sold at above ifM.ooo.— Hit ' Hlstorm of England.
t MUton's Artopagitieit, or a Speech for UnHeemed PrMinf. 1S44. tto. Reprinted , Again in ITTS, 8m., to wlilch are now added i to J.JenUnson, esq., and a preface by the( '"
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