The Pictorial Press Part 7

[Ill.u.s.tration: ISAAC PENNINGTON, LORD MAYOR OF LONDON, 1643.]

It was in the City of London, and during the second year of the Civil War, that the first ill.u.s.trated newspaper came into existence. _The Weekly News_ had attempted on only one occasion to ill.u.s.trate the news of the day, but the _Mercurius Civicus_ frequently gave ill.u.s.trations, and it is therefore ent.i.tled to be ranked as the first ill.u.s.trated newspaper. It is true that most of the engravings it contains are portraits, and sometimes the same woodcut is used to represent more than one person. Besides portraits of the King and Queen, there are portraits of the chief generals and commanders engaged in the war. There are Prince Rupert, the Lord General, Sir Thomas Fairfax, the Marquis of Huntley, Sir Edward Deering, General Lesley, Lord Inchiquin, Lord Digby, Sir W. Waller, the Earl of Warwick, and others. '_The Mercurius Civicus, London's Intelligencer, or Truth impartially related from thence to the whole kingdom, to prevent misinformation, from Thursday July 13 to Thursday July 20, 1643_,' is the full t.i.tle of No. 8; and it is curious to notice how nearly a portion of the t.i.tle--_London's Intelligencer_--corresponds to the _London News_. It was a peculiar feature of the early newspapers that they were announced as being published 'to prevent misinformation,' or for the 'correction of false reports'--not so much for the diffusion of truth as for the correction of falsehood.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHARLES I. AND HIS QUEEN, FROM 'MERCURIUS CIVICUS,'

1643.]

On the front page of Number 8 of the _Mercurius Civicus_ are small portraits of Charles I. and his Queen, engraved on wood. Over the woodcut is a sort of table of contents, thus:--'The King and Queen conjoyned, the Kentish news related, our Forces are united, A publique Fast appointed.' On the preceding page is given a facsimile of the cut of the King and Queen.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WEAPON CALLED A ROUNDHEAD, FROM 'MERCURIUS CIVICUS,'

1643.]

Similar portraits occur in other numbers, as well as several ornamental letters; but there is in Number 11 a very interesting ill.u.s.tration of the news of the hour. It is a woodcut of a weapon said to be intended for use against the Roundheads, and the following account is given of it:--'In the Danish s.h.i.+p lately taken by the Earle of Warwicke, near Newcastle, were found Armes compleat for 5000 foot and for 500 horse, 500 barrels of Gunpowder, Great store of Match and Lead, beside a thousand of those weapons which the Papists call Round-heads, for that with them they intended to bring the Round-heads into subjection. Many such weapons were long since found in divers Papists' houses in Lancas.h.i.+re; it is a weapon with an ovall or round top, stuck full of iron spikes. The forme whereof for better satisfaction is here set downe.' Then follows a representation of the weapon, of which a facsimile is given on the opposite page. The same cut is reprinted in other numbers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PORTRAIT OF PRINCE RUPERT, FROM 'MERCURIUS CIVICUS,'

1644.]

In another number it is related that 'the Manchestrians have lately taken from severall Papists in that County many desperate weapons which they call Round-heads.' No. 22 has a portrait of a Cavalier in hat and feather, intended probably for Prince Maurice, as there is in the body of the number an allusion to a report of his death. In No. 42 there is a portrait of Prince Rupert and the following summary on the t.i.tle-page:--'Prince Rupert's forces routed near Stratford-on-Avon.

Generall King's Army dispersed by the Scots. Himselfe wounded and fled to Yorke. Banbury Castle besieged by Colonell Cromwell.' I give a copy of Prince Rupert's portrait, which is made to do duty for the Marquis of Newcastle in another number. This practice of making the same woodcut pa.s.s for the portraits of different individuals savours somewhat of impudence on the part of the editor, and shows a cool reliance on the good nature or the obtuseness of his readers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE OXFORD JUNTA IN COUNCIL, FROM 'MERCURIUS CIVICUS,'

1644.]

In the number of the _Mercurius Civicus_ for April 11, 1644, there is a curious woodcut representing the 'Oxford Junta in Council,' with the following paragraph referring to it:--'The news from his Excellencies generall Roundezvous at Ailsbury on Good-Fryday next, will no doubt cause the Oxonian Papists to whip themselves before the time, and to make the Oxford Junto to recall their late votes.' The lady and gentleman in the balcony were probably intended for the King and Queen.

There is more variety in this number of _Mercurius Civicus_ than in any I have seen. In the war news there is the taking of Waltam House, in Hamps.h.i.+re; the taking of numerous men and horses at Christ-church, in Dorsets.h.i.+re; then comes a paragraph stating that 'On Munday last, April 8, there were ten men and two women executed at Tyburne for the severall offences for which they were condemned the last weeke at the Sessions in the Old Bayley.' Mention is made of a fight between the Scots Army and the Marquis of Newcastle's forces near Hilton; the gathering of the King's forces in the neighbourhood of Marlborough, and an announcement that the Parliament intend to draw all their forces together, and, if possible, by fighting a decisive action 'to put a speedy end to these miserable distractions.' The trial of Archbishop Laud was at this time going on, and reference is made to his appearance before the House of Peers. Two Welshmen were taken into custody for talking in Welsh, while they were crossing the river from Westminster to Southwark, about firing the city in several places, they not knowing that the waterman understood their language. It is stated that a solemn day of thanksgiving had been observed in London for the victory obtained over Sir Ralph Hopton's forces, and an ordinance was read in the churches exhorting the citizens to contribute all their strength to bring the contest to a final issue. There is also some account of recent fires in the city, which are attributed to the treachery of Cavaliers and Malignants. 'But,' says the writer, 'which way soever these sad accidents are brought to pa.s.se, they may afford the whole City this caution: that if the firing of some few houses be so dreadful and fearfull, as I am sure this appeared to those that beheld them, notwithstanding they had all means convenient to quench them, and the mult.i.tude being industrious to set their hands to the worke: O how terrible would it be to see your houses set on fire by the enemy, and the cruell souldiers, instead of bringing buckets of water, should stand with their drawne swords threatening the death of those that should offer to quench the flame? Poore Ireland can give ample testimony of this.' From Yorks.h.i.+re there is news that Fairfax had taken Cawood Castle; from Banbury that the Royalist garrison was withdrawn from that place, and 'that the Carriers of Banbury and Southam were robbed the last weeke neere Tossiter in Northamptons.h.i.+re by divers of the Cavaliers Forces.' In the number for April 25, 1644, there is a figure of the King armed with a sword, and with this inscription:--'Fire and sword again menaced by his Majesty.' During the first years of the Civil War the newspapers contained many portraits of the King, some of which were carefully engraved on copper.

It is noticeable that the _Mercurius Civicus_ and other papers published during the Civil War were in the habit of including on their t.i.tle-pages a summary of the contents of the number. Sometimes it was put in the form of rhyme, as--

'Tewkesbury is taken Yorke walls are well shaken.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: HEADING TO THE 'SCOTTISH DOVE,' 1644.]

The _Scottish Dove_ frequently indulged in these rhyming summaries. On the t.i.tle-page of Number 39 for July 13, 1644, the following lines are printed:--

'Rupert and Newcastle wholly Routed Rupert and Newcastle's jarres undoubted; Newcastle fled to Sea, Rupert to the King, Give G.o.d the Glory heavenly praises sing.

A day of thankes the parliament hath set, Lord Gray with some of Hasting's troops hath met.

From Oswestree Middleton the siege did raise And Barnstaples defence, doth Ess.e.x praise; The Queen Pendennis Castle liketh best.

The King uncertain where to take his rest.'

The _Scottish Dove_ was a small quarto numbered and paged consecutively like the _Mercurius Civicus_. On the front page of every number was printed a woodcut of a dove bearing an olive-branch in its mouth, and at the side of the woodcut was usually printed the rhyming summary. I annex a facsimile of this heading.

Many of the journals of this period showed their hankering after ill.u.s.trations by occasionally indulging in an initial letter, if they could do nothing more. The animosities of party often caused them to forget their original purpose of spreading true intelligence, and they were quite as ready to apply the lash to each other as to chastise public wrongdoers or 'correct false reports.' At this time first appeared the familiar newspaper heading of the man on horseback blowing a horn. It was on the front page of the _Flying Post_, the first number of which was published on May 10, 1644. The full t.i.tle was '_The Flying Post, conveying Weekly Packets to all Forraigne Nations, of the Proceedings of both Houses of Parliament and the Armies in Great Brittain_,' and it was 'published for the cleere satisfaction of all Forraigners and others who desire Certain, and Weekly Information.' The introduction is as follows:--

'Gentlemen,--The too many errours committed of late time, by the irregularitie of the Presse (which since by the wisdome of the Parliament, is in a great measure suppressed), which did run Weekly in severall channels to the greatest part of Europe in great dishonour to our English Nation; Have enforced this my Flying Post never to make stay, till it had intimated the same unto you, and fully vindicated this my Native Kingdome, by publis.h.i.+ng a certain Weekly Intelligence of all Proceedings of our honourable Parliament and unhappy wars of this Kingdome; wherein (though a well wisher to his Excellencie the Earle of Ess.e.x, and the Proceedings of Parliament) I shall write with the greatest indifference, truth, and modestie, as shall satisfie the impartiallest that reades me; attributing to the Enemy no otherwise than Truth will warrant it, be it to their honour or shame according to their demerit. Therefore give me leave to beg your credence beyond Sea and elsewhere, as you find me.'

The _Flying Post_ gives intelligence from York, then besieged by the Scots; from Hull, Newark, and Mansfield; some notes of the proceedings in Parliament, respecting which the journalist says cautiously:--'As for our proceedings in Parliament, I shall be very cautious and tender in divulging them.' It was 'Published according to order,' and printed at London for Bernard Alsop, 1644.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HEADING TO THE 'KINGDOMES WEEKLY POST,' 1644.]

The _Klngdomes Weekly Post_ had the same heading, which is here copied.

In a tract ent.i.tled '_Strange true and lamentable news from Exeter and other parts of the Western Countreys_' there is a woodcut of a woman on her knees praying for mercy. The pamphlet relates the cruelties inflicted by the Cavaliers on the inhabitants of Exeter, Bristol, and other towns. Prince Maurice is charged with breaking the articles of agreement made with the city of Exeter, and both he and Prince Rupert are likened to 'Tigers or Savage Beares.' It is stated that in the city of Exeter 'the rude Souldiers would not forbeare upon the least discontent given to them to draw their Rapiers upon the Citizens, and wound them, but especially when they are in their cups, they swagger, roare, sweare, and domineere, plundering, pillaging, or doing any other kind of wrong; to break shops and houses they count as nothing, taking away Boots, Shoes, Stockings, Hats, or any other commodities they can lay their hands on, and no Justice dares to resist them, and by this means the City is in such a miserable condition that they are even terrified to the death.' At Cirencester, having entered the town by force, they slew all the men who opposed them, took the unresisting inhabitants prisoners, and pillaged the town. At Bristol 'They went into some Cellars, where was plenty of wine and beere, drank what their gormandising guts would hold, and let the rest run about the house, with many other antique tricks that they used, which I cannot omit to speak of; moreover, they breake the Covenant which was made in every respect the very first hour that they entered the city, and fell to plundering, pillaging, robbing, stealing, cutting and slas.h.i.+ng, as if they had never been brought up to any other practice.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: STRANGE NEWS FROM EXETER, 1643.]

In an account of the defence of Plymouth against the Royalists there is a very elaborate map showing the fortifications of the town, 'with the workes and approaches of the enemy at the last siege.' The account of the siege is very long, but the following pa.s.sage may be quoted:--'One remarkable pa.s.sage of G.o.d's providence to us we must with all thankfulnesse remember and acknowledge, that after the Towne had been a long time strictly beseiged and no fresh victuall either flesh or fish could be had, whereby the poore people were grievously punished, there came in an infinite mult.i.tude of Pilchards into the Harbour, within the Barbican, which the people took up with great ease in baskets, which did not only refresh them for the present, but a great deal more were taken, preserved, and salted; whereby the poore got much money; such a pa.s.sage hath not happened before.

'We cannot forget the humanity of the good women of Plymouth, and their courage in bringing out strong waters, and all sorts of provisions in the midst of all our skirmishes for refres.h.i.+ng of our souldiers, though many shot through the cloathes.'

I have already made the remark that the military atrocities of recent times were equalled, if not exceeded, during the Civil War in England and Ireland. In a tract of 1644, containing various items of news, the following woodcut is given as an ill.u.s.tration of recent events. The same woodcut is found in another tract ent.i.tled '_Terrible and b.l.o.o.d.y Newes from the disloyall Army in the North_:'--'The proceedings of the Scots and Irish appears more visible and inhumane than formerly; their actions are tyrannical, their ways most insufferable, and executeth nothing but blood thirstinesse and cruelty tending only to utter ruin and desolation; they have burned down divers stately buildings in these parts, executed some of my Lord Wharton's tenants, and threatens others, which causeth the Country to rise and joyn with Lieu. Gen. Cromwell, insomuch that there will be a sudden engagement.'

The sect called the 'Levellers' is thus alluded to in the same tract:--'Colonel Martin's approach with his Levellers in these parts hath alarmed the Country and put themselves into a posture to receive them, and for preservation of their ancient rights and liberties against their new design of levelling, who by their strange, politick, and subtill delusions have wrought into the hearts of divers people to ingage with them, especially among those who are of a desperate fortune, and mean condition, the basest and vilest of men resorting to them. They rob and plunder exceedingly wheresoever they come, saying they will levell all sorts of people, even from the highest to the lowest, and that he that hath the most shall be equall with him that hath the least.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: CRUELTIES OF THE CAVALIERS, 1644.]

In a pamphlet relating to the events of Charles I.'s reign there are some of the etchings previously noticed, together with nine others ill.u.s.trating the history of the same period. They are:--1. The Court of High Commission and Star Chamber. 2. The Execution on Tower Hill of Sir Alexander Carew, Sir John Hotham, Captain Hotham, and the Archbishop of Canterbury. 3. The King's Escape from Oxford. 4. The Execution of the Duke of Hamilton, Earl of Cambridge, Earl of Holland, and Arthur Lord Capel. 5. The Coronation of Charles II. in Scotland, 1650. 6. A Meeting of Cavaliers. 7. A Seapiece ill.u.s.trating Charles II.'s Escape from England after the Battle of Worcester. 8. Reading the Act of General Pardon and Oblivion, 1651. 9. The House of Commons in Session. The full t.i.tle of the pamphlet is as follows:--'_A Brief Review of the most material Parliamentary Proceedings of this present Parliament, and their Armies, in their civil and Martial Affairs, which Parliament began the third of November, 1640, and the remarkable Transactions are continued untill the Act of Oblivion February 24, 1652. Published as a Breviary, leading all along successively, as they fell out in their several years.

So that if any man will be informed of any remarkable pa.s.sage, he may turne to the year and so see in some measure in what Moneth thereof it was accomplished. And for information of such as are altogether ignorant of the rise and progress of these times, which things are brought to pa.s.s that former ages have not heard of and after ages will admire. A work worthy to be kept in Record, and communicated to Posterity. London: Printed for Tho. Jenner at the South Entrance of the Royal Exchange._'

From the above I have copied the etching of the escape of Charles I.

from Oxford.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ESCAPE OF CHARLES I. FROM OXFORD, 1646.]

It is stated by Hume that when the King escaped from Oxford he was accompanied by two persons only--Dr. Hudson and Mr. Ashburnham--and that he rode before a portmanteau and called himself Ashburnham's servant.

The engraving scarcely corresponds with this account; but the scene represented is evidently outside the city of Oxford, and other persons may then have joined the King's party.

The city of Oxford surrendered to the Parliament on June 24, 1646, the King having signed a warrant for the surrender fourteen days previously.

This event is recorded in a pamphlet ent.i.tled '_Good Newes from Oxford of the Treaty for the Surrender thereof, and how they are packing up to march away on Thursday next, June 18, 1646_.' The 'march away,' however, was not accomplished till the 24th. Amongst those who left the place were Prince Rupert and Prince Maurice, and the King's second son, James, the young Duke of York. The ill.u.s.tration to this pamphlet has no relation to the event, and was used on other occasions.

The funeral of the Earl of Ess.e.x, the Parliamentary General, who died in 1646, was made the occasion of a great display of pomp and ceremonial magnificence, which was duly chronicled and ill.u.s.trated by the journalists of the time. '_The true manner and forme of the proceeding to the Funerall of Devereux, Earl of Ess.e.x_,' contains, besides a copperplate portrait of the Earl, numerous woodcuts of banners, and the funeral canopy. Several ill.u.s.trated broadsides relating to this event were also published. In looking over the old newspapers we are frequently reminded of the truth of the saying that 'history repeats itself.' The Duke of Wellington's funeral in 1852 was a repet.i.tion, on a much more splendid scale, of the funeral of the Earl of Ess.e.x in 1646, with such differences as arose from the taste and circ.u.mstances of the time. Portraits of the Earl of Ess.e.x are of frequent occurrence in the pamphlets of this period.

In the pamphlet containing the escape of the King from Oxford there is an etching of the burning of the Book of Sports on the site of Cheapside Cross, which is thus described:--'10 of May the Booke of Sportes upon the Lords Day was burned by the Hangman in the place where the Crosse stoode and at Exchange.' There is also in the same pamphlet a representation of breaking the Great Seal:--'The Great Seale broken before the Lords and Commons, on Tuesday, the 11 of August, 1646.' Some authorities say the Great Seal was not broken till January, 1649, new style.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE GREAT SEAL BROKEN, 1646.]

Sir Thomas Fairfax succeeded the Earl of Ess.e.x as commander of the Parliamentary army, and had Oliver Cromwell for his Lieutenant-General.

Though a Presbyterian, he suffered himself to become the tool of the Independent party, and followed the councils of Cromwell until the Army had become master both of the Parliament and of the kingdom. All that related to a person of so much importance must have had uncommon interest for the popular mind, and accordingly we find Sir Thomas Fairfax and his military council form the subject of an engraving in a pamphlet of 1647. It is ent.i.tled '_The manner of His Excellency Sir Thomas Fairfax and the officers of his Army sitting in Council_.' In this engraving it will be seen that Fairfax, though farthest removed from the spectator, is made the largest figure in the picture, apparently for the purpose of giving him proper importance. Note also the huge pens, and the mysterious way in which the foreground figures appear to grow _out_ of the benches instead of sitting _on_ them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX AND HIS MILITARY COUNCIL, 1647.]

Though Cromwell was at this time the real director of the army, and ere long became its acknowledged head, I have met with no representation of him in the ill.u.s.trated news of the period. The art of 'interviewing' had not then been developed, and the 'Special Artist' did not exist. The most enterprising correspondent would probably have hesitated to intrude upon that stern and resolute leader of a revolutionary army, if he had no better excuse than to describe how he looked and what he said. Fancy the Special Artist of the _Mercurius Civicus_, for instance, sending in his card to Oliver Cromwell with a polite request that the General would give him five minutes of his valuable time for the purpose of making a sketch for the next number of his journal! And fancy how the uncomely countenance of the _ci-devant_ brewer would redden at the request, and how, probably, the unlucky artist would be consigned to the custody of the sentinel at the door!

There is not much said about naval matters in the newspaper chronicles of the Civil War. The earliest account of a sea-fight that I have met with occurs in a pamphlet published in 1647. It is ill.u.s.trated with a woodcut representing s.h.i.+ps of war in action--which woodcut, by-the-by, afterwards appears in other pamphlets. The narrative is in the form of a letter, dated at sea, off Dover, May 4th, 1647; and, as the pamphlet is dated May 10th, we have another example of the extreme eagerness of the news-writers to supply the public with early intelligence. The combatants were not at war, and the fight appears to have arisen out of a mere question of naval etiquette. The following account is given of the transaction:--

'A full Relation of a late Sea-Fight, betwixt the Parliament s.h.i.+ps and the Queene of Sweathlands, upon the Coast of England, neere Portsmouth, May 1.

'Sir,

'On the 2 of this instant moneth, being the Lords day, our Commander in chiefe of the Sea Forces, received a packet from a small Frigat, that came from the Rear-Admirall who had been in Fight the day before with five of the Queen of Swethlands s.h.i.+ps, which they conveyed, being all laden with salt from Tubey in Portingale.

'The reason of the fight was, the Swedish s.h.i.+ps wore flags, viz., Admirall, Vice-Admirall, and Rear-Admirall, which they refused to take in, or to low their top-sales (although commanded by Cap. Owen, Capt. of the Parliaments Reare-Admiral so to do) whereupon the said Capt. Owen gave them a broadside, insomuch that divers shots past betweene them, and great execution done upon the Switzers, scouring their upper decks with small shot severall times. Captain Owen lost not above 8 men, besides some few wounded, the fight continued sixe hours, til night began to aproach, where the Swedish Fleet tooke their opportunity, and got away. But so soon as Vice-Admirall Batten[1] heard of it, he set saile with the St. Andrew, Garland, Convertine, and Mary-Rose, and stood over for the coast of France in the night; and in the morning about 8 of the clock, being the 3 of May near Bulloign, he came up with the Admiral of the Swedes s.h.i.+p whose names was Martin Tysin, the s.h.i.+p was called the Leopard and had 32 guns; the Vice-Admiral Daniel Johnson, a l.u.s.ty stout s.h.i.+p, called the Angel Raphael, and had 24 guns; the Rear-Admiral the Neptune, Moris Cook Captain, with 18 guns; the other two s.h.i.+ps of 22 guns apiece, one being called the Anne-Free, the other the Neptune.