_DEVELOPMENT OF ADVERTISING._
We have now arrived at a period when the value of advertising was
beginning to make itself felt among even the most conservative, and when
it at last began to dawn upon the minds so unaccustomed to change or
improvement, that a new era in the history of trade was about to
commence, even if it had not commenced already. So the newspapers of the
latter half of the seventeenth century begin to offer fresh inducements
to the reader, no matter whether to the antiquarian or simply curious.
And he must be a flippant reader indeed who is not impressed by these
files of musty and bygone journals, pervaded by the spirit of a former
age, and redolent of the busy doings of men who generations ago were not
only dead but forgotten. Few things could be more suggestive of the
steady progress of Time, and the quite as steady progress of his
congeners, Death and Forgetfulness, than these papers. Novelists and
essayists have described in most eloquent words the feelings which are
aroused by the perusal of suddenly-discovered and long-forgotten
letters; and similar feelings, though of a much more extended
description, are evoked by a glance through any volume of these
moth-eaten journals. A writer of a few years back, speaking of the
advertisements, says, “As we read in the old musty files of newspapers
those _naïve_ announcements, the very hum of bygone generations seems to
rise to the ear. The chapman exhibits his quaint wares, the mountebank
capers again upon his stage, we have the living portrait of the
highwayman flying from justice, we see the old-china auctions thronged
with ladies of quality with their attendant negro-boys, or those by
‘inch of candle-light,’ forming many a Schalken-like picture of light
and shade; or later still we have Hogarthian sketches of the young
bloods who swelled of old along the Pall-Mall. We trace the moving
panorama of men and manners up to our own less demonstrative, but more
earnest times; and all these cabinet pictures are the very
daguerreotypes cast by the age which they exhibit, not done for effect,
but faithful reflections of those insignificant items of life and
things, too small, it would seem, for the generalising eye of the
historian, however necessary to clothe and fill in the dry bones of his
history.” Indeed, turning over these musty volumes of newspapers is for
the imaginative mind a pleasure equal to reading the _Tatler_ or
_Spectator_, or the plays of the period. By their means Cowper’s idea of
seeing life “through the loopholes of retreat” is realised, and
characteristic facts and landmarks of progress in the history of
civilisation are brought under our notice, as the busy life of bygone
generations bursts full upon us. We see the merchant at his door, and
inside the dimly-lit shops observe the fine ladies of the time deep in
the mysteries of brocades and other articles of the feminine toilet,
whose very names are now lost to even the mercers themselves. And not
alone intent on flowered mantuas and paduasoys are they, for we can in
fancy see them, keen ever to a fancied bargain, pricing Chinese teapots
or Japanese cabinets, and again watch them as, with fluttering hearts,
they assist at lotteries for valuables of the quality familiar to
“knockouts” of our own time. We hear the lament of the beau who has lost
his clouded amber-headed cane or his heart at the playhouse, and listen
to the noisy quacks vending their nostrums, each praising his own wares
or depreciating those of his rivals. We see the dishonest serving-man
rush past us on the road carrying the heterogeneous treasures which have
tempted his cupidity. Soon the “Hue and Cry” brings the same
ill-favoured malefactor before us in an improved character as
horse-stealer and highwayman; and ere long we hear of the conclusion of
his short drama at Tyburn. Thus the various advertisements portray, with
more or less vividness, lineaments of the times and the characters of
the people.
That the newspapers were early used for the purpose of giving
contradictions by means of advertisement, or effecting sly puffs, is
shown by the following, which was doubtless intended to call attention
to the work, and which was published in the form of an ordinary
paragraph in the _Modern Intelligence_, April 15-22, 1647:--
There came forth a book this day relating how a divil did appear in
the house or yard of Mr Young, mercer in Lombard St., with a great
many particulars there related; It is desired by the gentleman of that
house, and those of his family, that all that are credulous of those
things (which few wise are), may be assured that its all fabulous, and
that there was never any such thing. It is true there is a dog, and
that dog hath a chain, and the gentleman’s son played upon an
instrument of music for his recreation,--but these are to be seen,
which a spirit sure never was.
There is a logical deduction about the conclusion of this which it is to
be hoped forced itself upon the minds of those who were ready to believe
not only in the existence but in the visibility of spirits; and if the
paragraph was but a lift for the book after all, it surely deserved
success, if only for the quaint way in which it admits to the dog and
the boy and the musical instrument, a combination equal upon an
emergency to the simulation of a very powerful devil. In the very next
edition of the same paper we come upon a paragraph which is even more
direct in its advertising properties, which, in fact, might have been
dictated by editorial “friendship” in these days, instead of in the
first half of the seventeenth century. It runs thus:--
You should have had a notable oration made by the Bishop of Angoulesme
and Grand Almoner to his Majesty of England, at a Convention in Paris
in favour of the Catholicks in England and Ireland, but being
overlarge it will be made public the beginning of next week by itself
it is worth reading especially by those who are for a generall
toleration when they may clearly see it is the broad way to the
destruction of these kingdommes.
[Illustration:
The 23. of May.
VVEEKELY
Nevves from Italy,
GERMANIE, HVNGARIA,
BOHEMIA, the PALATINATE,
France, and the Low Countries.
_Translated out of the Low Dutch Copie._
[Illustration]
LONDON,
Printed by _I. D._ for _Nicholas Bourne_ and _Thomas
Archer_, and are to be sold at their shops at the
_Exchange_, and in _Popes-head Pallace_.
1622.
]
What is considered by many to be the first _bonâ fide_ and open
advertisement ever published appears in a paper entitled _Several
Proceedings in Parliament_, and is found under the date November
28-December 5, 1650. It runs thus:--
BY the late tumult made the 27 of November, whereof you have the
narration before; in the night time in Bexfield, in the county of
Norfolk, about 12 Horses were stolen out of the town, whereof a
bay-bald Gelding with three white feet, on the near buttock marked
with R. F., 9 or 10 years old. A bay-bald Mare with a wall-eye and a
red star in her face, the near hind foot white, 7 years old. A black
brown Mare, trots all, 6 years old. Whomsoever brings certain
intelligence where they are to Mr Badcraft of Bexfield, in Norfolk,
they shall have 20s. for each Horse.
The following number of the same paper, that for December 5-12, 1650,
contains this:--
A bright Mare, 12 hands high, one white foot behind, a white patch
below the saddle, near the side, a black main, a taile cut, a natural
ambler, about 10_li._ price, stolne, Decemb. 3. neare Guilford. John
Rylands, a butcher, tall and ruddy, flaxen haire, about 30 years of
age, is suspected. Mr. Brounloe, a stocking dier, near the Three
Craynes, in Thames’s Streete, will satisfy those who can make
discovery.
In 1655, Lilly the astrologer availed himself of what was then
considered the new plan for ventilating a grievance, and accordingly, in
the _Perfect Diurnal_ of April 9-16, he published the following
full-fledged advertisement, one of the earliest extant:--
_An Advertisement from Mr William Lilly._
WHEREAS there are several flying reports, and many false and
scandalous speeches in the mouth of many people in this City, tending
unto this effect, viz.: That I, William Lilly, should predict or say
there would be a great Fire in or near the Old Exchange, and another
in St John’s Street, and another in the Strand near Temple Bar, and in
several other parts of the City. These are to certifie the whole City
that I protest before Almighty God, that I never wrote any such
thing, I never spoke any such word, or ever thought of any such thing,
or any or all of those particular Places or Streets, or any other
parts. These untruths are forged by ungodly men and women to disturb
the quiet people of this City, to amaze the Nation, and to cast
aspersions and scandals on me: God defend this City and all her
inhabitants, not only from Fire, but from the Plague, Pestilence, or
Famine, or any other accident or mortality that may be prejudicial
unto her greatnesse.
This, if noticed and recollected, must have destroyed, or at least
damaged, Lilly’s fame, when the great fire really did take place; but
then eleven years is a long time, long enough indeed to have included
many and various prophecies. Certainly modern astrologers would have
turned to account the mere fact of having been accused of prophesying
such a fire or any portion of it. In a previous chapter we have given a
specimen of the earliest advertisements with regard to the coaching
arrangements of this time, and now append the following, which would
seem to show, singular as it may appear, that the simpler form, in fact
the first principle, of travelling by means of saddle-horses, was not
arranged until after coaches had been regularly appointed. It appears in
the _Mercurius Politicus_ toward the end of the year 1658:--
_The Postmasters on_ Chester _Road, petitioning, have received Order,
and do accordingly publish the following advertisement:--_
ALL Gentlemen, Merchants, and others, who have occasion to travel
between _London_ and _Westchester_, _Manchester_, and _Warrington_, or
any other town upon that Road, for the accommodation of Trade,
dispatch of Business, and ease of Purse, upon every Monday, Wednesday,
and Friday Morning, betwixt Six and ten of the Clock, at the house of
Mr _Christopher Charteris_, at the sign of the Hart’s-Horn, in
West-Smithfield, and Post-Master there, and at the Post-Master of
_Chester_, at the Post-Master of _Manchester_, and at the Post-master
of _Warrington_, may have a good and able single Horse, or more,
furnished at Threepence the Mile, without the charge of a Guide; and
so likewise at the house of Mr _Thomas Challenor_, Post-Master, at
_Stone_ in Staffordshire, upon every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday’s
Morning, to go for _London_. And so likewise at all the several
Post-Masters upon the Road, who will have all such set days so many
Horses with Furniture in readiness to furnish the Riders without any
stay to carry them to or from any the places aforesaid, in Four days,
as well to _London_ as from thence, and to places nearer in less time,
according as their occasions shall require, they ingaging at the first
Stage where they take Horse, for the safe delivery of the same to the
next immediate Stage, and not to ride that Horse without consent of
the Post-Master by whom he rides, and so from Stage to Stage to the
Journeys end. _All those who intend to ride this way are desired to
give a little notice beforehand, if conveniently they can, to the
several Post-masters where they first take horse, whereby they may be
furnished with so many Horses as the Riders shall require with
expedition._ This undertaking began the 28 of _June_ 1658 at all the
Places abovesaid, and so continues by the several Post-Masters.
It is hard to understand how, even if he received notice beforehand, the
first postmaster was enabled to guarantee the readiness of the remaining
officials, unless indeed messengers were constantly passing backwards
and forwards on each route. The intimation that the threepence per mile
does not include a guide does something to clear up the mystery, and at
the same time gives an idea as to the state of the roads at that time.
One would imagine from the existence of such a being that the track was
across a morass, or by the side of a precipice, and not along a highroad
of “merrie England,” in those good old times for which so many sigh now.
Who, although the necessity for the highway is far less than it was two
hundred years ago, can imagine a guide being required nowadays for no
other purpose than that of preventing the wayfarer from straying off the
beaten track, and losing his horse, and probably himself, in some
gigantic slough or quagmire! It is with difficulty one can now realise
to himself the fact, that as late as the middle of the seventeenth
century, the interior of the country was little better than a
wilderness; but that it was so may be easily gathered by a reference to
Pepys, who, in the diary of his journey to Bristol and back, makes
frequent mention of guides, and finds them far from unnecessary or
inexpensive.
The servants of the olden time do not improve upon acquaintance, as the
following specimen advertisement from the _Mercurius Politicus_ of July
1658 will show:--
IF any one can give notice of one _Edward Perry_, being about the age
of eighteen or nineteen years, of low stature, black hair, full of
pock-holes in his face; he weareth a new gray suit trimmed with green
and other ribbons, a light Cinnamon-colored cloak, and black hat, who
run away lately from his Master; they are desired to bring or send
word to _Tho. Firby_, Stationer, at Gray’s Inne gate, who will
thankfully reward them.
This gay and dashing youth, whose pock-holes were possibly in those days
regarded as but beauty-spots, with the additional recommendation of
showing that their wearer had passed through the then dreaded and
terrible ordeal, was doubtless an idle apprentice travelling in the
direction since made famous by one who served his full indentures. Ugly
as the young gentleman just described may seem to the hypercritical
tastes of the nineteenth century, he, as we will presently show, is a
perfect beauty compared with any individual specimen picked out at
random from the long lists of criminals published in old newspapers.
From these lists some conception may be formed of the ravages of the
small-pox, and its effect upon the appearance of the great bulk of the
population. Every man and woman seems to have been more or less
marked--some slightly, some frightfully pitted or fretted, as the term
then was; yet even now we have every day instances of violent and
ignorant opposition to vaccination, an opposition which is loud-mouthed
and possessed of considerable influence over the lower orders, who are
led to believe that vaccination is the primary cause of all epidemic
disease, including that which it most professes to prevent.
About this time highwaymen, who during the wars were almost unknown,
began to exhibit a strong interest in the portable property of
travellers; and as they took horses whenever they could find them,
notices of lost, stolen, or strayed animals became frequent. It is much
to be feared that the dashing knight of the road, who robbed the rich to
give to the poor, is a complete myth, and that the thieves who infested
the highway were neither brave nor handsome, and not above picking up,
and keeping, the most trifling things that came in their way. The
quality of these riders may be guessed by means of the following, from
the _Mercurius Politicus_ of February 1659, the subject of which,
singularly different from the “prancing prads” of which enthusiasts have
written, seems to have been borrowed by one of them:--
A Small black NAG, some ten or eleven years old, no white at all,
bob-Tailed, wel forehanded, somewhat thin behind, thick Heels, and
goeth crickling and lamish behind at his first going out; the hair is
beat off upon his far Hip as broad as a twelvepence; he hath a black
leather Saddle trimmed with blew, and covered with a black
Calves-skin, its a little torn upon the Pummel; two new Girths of
white and green thread, and black Bridle, the Rein whereof is sowed on
the off side, and a knot to draw it on the near side, Stoln out of a
field at _Chelmsford_, 21 _February_ instant, from Mr _Henry Bullen_.
Whosoever can bring tidings to the said Mr _Bullen_, at _Bromfield_,
or to Mr _Newman_ at the Grocer’s Arms in _Cornhil_, shall have 20s.
for his pains.
It is supposed by some that the great amount of horse-stealing which
prevailed during the Commonwealth, and for the next fifty years, was
caused by an inordinate scarcity of animals consequent upon casualties
in the battle-field. This can hardly be correct, unless, indeed, the
object of the foe was always to kill horses and capture men, a state of
things hardly possible enough for the most determined theorist. One fact
is noticeable, and seems to have been quite in the interest of the
thieves--namely, that when at grass most horses were kept ready saddled.
This practice may have arisen during the Civil Wars from frequent
emergency, a ready-saddled horse being of even greater comparative value
than the traditional bird in the hand; and we all know how hard it is to
depart from custom which has been once established. That the good man
was merciful to his beast in those days hardly appears probable, if we
are to take the small black nag as evidence. His furniture, too, seems
much more adapted for service than show, despite its variety of colours;
and perhaps the animal may have been seized, as was not uncommon, by
some messenger of State making the best of his way from one part of the
kingdom to another. Before the year 1636 there was no such thing as a
postal service for the use of the people. The Court had, it is true, an
establishment for the forwarding of despatches, and in Cromwell’s time
much attention was paid to it; but it was, after all, often in not much
better form than when Bryan Tuke wrote as follows during the sixteenth
century: “The Kinges Grace hath no mor ordinary postes, ne of many days
hathe had, but betweene London and Calais.... For, sir, ye knowe well
that, except the hackney-horses betweene Gravesende and Dovour, there is
no suche usual conveyance in post for men in this realme, as in the
accustomed places of France and other partes; ne men can keepe horses in
redynes withoute som way to bere the charges; but when placardes be sent
for suche cause [to order the immediate forwarding of some State
packet], _the constables many tymes be fayne to take horses out of
ploues and cartes, wherein can be no extreme diligence_.” In Elizabeth’s
reign a horse-post was established on each of the great roads for the
transmission of the letters for the Court; but the Civil Wars
considerably interfered with this, and though in the time of Cromwell
public posts and conveyances were arranged, matters were in a generally
loose state after his death, and during the reign of his sovereign
majesty Charles II. Truly travelling was then a venturesome matter.
In 1659, also, we come upon an advertisement having reference to a work
of the great blind bard John Milton. It appears in the _Mercurius
Politicus_ of September, and is as follows:--
CONSIDERATIONS touching the likeliest means to remove Hirelings out of
the Church; wherein is also discours’d of Tithes, Church Fees, Church
Revenues, and whether any maintenance of Ministers can be settled by
Law. The author, J. M. Sold by _Livewel Chapman_, at the Crown in
Pope’s Head Alley.
Here we are, then, brought as it were face to face with one of the
brightest names in the brightest list of England’s poets. This work is
almost swamped amid a host of quaintly and sometimes fiercely titled
controversial works, with which the press at that time teemed. The poet
seems to have known what was impending, and to have conscientiously put
forth his protest. We can guess what weight it had with the hungering
crowds anxiously awaiting the coming change, and ready to be or do
anything so long as place was provided for them. In something like
contrast with the foregoing is this we now select from a number of the
same paper in December of the same year:--
_George Weale_, a Cornish youth, about 18 or 19 years of age, serving
as an Apprentice at _Kingston_, with one Mr _Weale_, an Apothecary,
and his Uncle, about the time of the rising of the Counties _Kent_ and
_Surrey_, went secretly from his said Uncle, and is conceived to have
engaged in the same, and to be either dead or slain in some of those
fights, having never since been heard of, either by his said Uncle or
any of his Friends. If any person can give notice of the certainty of
the death of the said _George Weale_, let him repair to the said _Mr
Graunt_ his House in Drum-alley in Drury Lane, _London_; he shall have
twenty shillings for his pains.
This speaks volumes for the peculiarities of the times. Nowadays, in the
event of war, anxious relatives are soon put out of their suspense by
means of careful bulletins and regular returns of killed and wounded;
but who can tell the amount of heart-sickness and hope deferred
engendered by the “troubles” of the seventeenth century, or of anxious
thought turned towards corpses mouldering far away, among whom was most
likely George Weale, perhaps the only one of the obscure men slain in
“some of those fights,” whose name has been rescued from oblivion.
In 1660 we find Milton again in the hands of his publisher, just at the
time when the Restoration was considered complete, alone amid the pack
that were ready to fall down before the young King, who was to do so
much to prove the value of monarchy as compared with the Commonwealth.
“The advertisements,” says a writer, referring to this period, “which
appeared during the time that Monk was temporising and sounding his way
to the Restoration, form a capital barometer of the state of feeling
among political men at that critical juncture. We see no more of the old
Fifth-Monarchy spirit abroad. Ministers of the steeple-houses evidently
see the storm coming, and cease their long-winded warnings to a
backsliding generation. Every one is either panting to take advantage of
the first sunshine of royal favour, or to deprecate its wrath, the
coming shadow of which is clearly seen. Meetings are advertised of those
persons who have purchased sequestered estates, in order that they may
address the King to secure them in possession; Parliamentary aldermen
repudiate by the same means charges in the papers that their names are
to be found in the list of those persons who ‘sat upon the tryal of the
late King;’ the works of ‘late’ bishops begin again to air themselves in
the Episcopal wind that is clearly setting in; and ‘The Tears, Sighs,
Complaints, and Prayers of the Church of England’ appear in the
advertising columns, in place of the sonorous titles of sturdy old
Baxter’s works. It is clear there is a great commotion at hand; the
leaves are rustling, and the dust is moving.” In the midst of this,
however, there was one still faithful to the “old cause,” as
Commonwealth matters had got to be called by the Puritans; and on the
8th of March, just when the shadow of the sceptre was once again thrown
upon Great Britain, we find the following in the _Mercurius
Politicus_:--
THE ready and easie way to establish a free Commonwealth, and the
excellence thereof compared with the inconveniences and dangers of
readmitting Kingship in this Nation. The Author, J. M. Wherein, by
reason of the Printer’s haste, the Errata not coming in time, it is
desired that the following faults may be amended. Page 9, line 32, for
_the Areopagus_ read _of Areopagus_. P. 10, l. 3, for _full_ Senate,
_true_ Senate; l. 4, for fits, is the whole Aristocracy; l. 7, for
Provincial States, States of every City. P. 17, l. 29, for _cite_,
_citie_; l. 30, for _left_, _felt_. Sold by _Livewel Chapman_, at the
Crown, in Pope’s-head Alley.
[Illustration:
_Numb. 2._
The Weekly Account:
Containing,
Certain Special and Remarkable Passages
from both Houses of PARLIAMENT; And
Collections of severall Letters from the
Armies.
This _Account_ is Licensed, and Entred into the Register-Book of the
Company of _Stationers_; And Printed by BERNARD ALSOP,
_According to Order of_ PARLIAMENT.
From _Wednesday_ the 6. of Jan. to _Wednesday_ the 13. of January.
1646.
_WEDNESDAY_, January 13.
THe Commissioners appointed by
the Parliament to go to the
North, and receive the Kings
Person, and then conduct him
to Holmsby house, are these
_The Earle of Pembroke._
_The E. of Denbigh._
_The L. Montague._
_Sir Iohn Holland._
_Sir Waker Earl._
_Sir Iohn Cook._
_Sir Iames Harrington._
_Major Gen. Brown._
_Mr. Iohn Crew._
Two Ministers, _viz._ _Mr. Marshal_, and _Mr. Carol_, go with
the Commissioners.
The Commissioners to the Scots Army, are the Earl of Stamford.
B
Mr.
]
Who would think, while reading these calm corrections, that the poet
knew he was in imminent danger, and that in a couple of months he was to
be a proscribed fugitive, hiding in the purlieus of Westminster from
Royalty’s myrmidons? Yet it was so, and the degradation to which
literature may be submitted is proved by the fact that within the same
space of time his works were, in accordance with an order of the House
of Commons, burned by the hangman.
The excessive loyalty exhibited about this time by the lawyers, who were
then, as now, quite able to look after their own interests, shows in
rather a ludicrous light, viewed through the zealous officiousness of Mr
Nicholas Bacon, who must have been the fountspring of the following
effusion, which appears in a June, 1660, number of the _Mercurius
Politicus_:--
WHEREAS one Capt. _Gouge_, a witness examined against the late King’s
Majesty, in those Records stiled himself of the Honorable Society of
_Gray’s_ Inne. These are to give notice that the said _Gouge_, being
long sought for, was providentially discovered in a disguise, seized
in that Society, and now in custody, being apprehended by the help of
some spectators that knew him, viewing of a banner with His Majesties
arms, set up just at the same time of His Majesties landing, on an
high tower in the same Society, by _Nicholas Bacon_, Esq., a member
thereof, as a memorial of so great a deliverance, and testimony of his
constant loyalty to His Majesty, and that the said _Gouge_ upon
examination confessed, That he was never admitted not so much as a
Clerk of that Society.
The King does not seem to have enjoyed his own very long before he was
subjected to loss by the dog-stealers, who, less ready to revere royalty
than the lawyers, led to the publication of the following in the
_Mercurius Publicus_ of June 28, 1660:--
☞ A Smooth Black DOG, less than a Grey-hound, with white under his
breast, belonging to the Kings Majesty, was taken from Whitehall, the
eighteenth day of this instant _June_, or thereabouts. If any one can
give notice to _John Ellis_, one of his Majesties servants, or to his
Majesties Back-Stairs, shall be well rewarded for their labour.
And one who could very probably afford to be despoiled still less--one
of the poor Cavaliers who expected so much from the representative of
Divine right, and who were to be so terribly disappointed--is also
victimised, his whole stock of bag and baggage being annexed by some of
those vagabonds who only see in any public excitement a means to their
own enrichment at the expense of others. Fancy the state of mind of the
elderly gentleman who is so anxious to present himself at Court, while
waiting the return of the articles thus advertised in the _Mercurius
Publicus_ of July 5, 1660:--
A LEATHERN Portmantle lost at Sittingburn or Rochester, when his
Majesty came thither, wherein was a suit of Camolet Holland, with two
little laces in a seam, eight pair of white Gloves, and a pair of Does
leather; about twenty yards of skie-colourd Ribbon twelvepenny broad,
and a whole piece of black Ribbon tenpenny broad, a cloath
lead-coloured cloak, with store of linnen; a pair of shooes, slippers,
a Montero, and other things; all which belong to a gentleman (a near
servant to His Majesty) who hath been too long imprisoned and
sequestered to be now robbed, when all men hope to enjoy their own. If
any can give notice, they may leave word with Mr _Samuel Merne_, His
Majesties Book-binder, at his house in Little Britain, and they shall
be thankfully rewarded.
This _Mercurius Publicus_ from which we have just quoted is said to be
the _Politicus_ we have mentioned in reference to earlier
advertisements, which turned courtier in imitation of the general
example, and changed its name also in emulation of popular practice. All
England seemed then to have gone mad with excessive loyalty, and it is
no wonder that Charles was surprised that he could have been persuaded
to stop away so long. The columns of the _Mercurius Publicus_ were
placed entirely under the direction of the King, and instead of the
slashing articles against malignants, which were wont to appear before
its change of title, it contains, under Restoration dates, virulent
attacks upon the Puritans, and inquiries after his Majesty’s favourite
dogs, which had a curious knack of becoming stolen or lost. In addition
to the canine advertisement already given, we take the following, which
appears during July, and which would seem to have been dictated, if not
actually written, by Charles:--
☞ We must call upon you again for a Black Dog, between a Grey-hound
and a Spaniel, no white about him, onely a streak on his Brest, and
Tayl a little bobbed. It is His Majesties own Dog, and doubtless was
stoln, for the Dog was not born nor bred in _England_, and would never
forsake his Master. Whosoever findes him may acquaint any at Whitehal,
for the Dog was better known at Court than those who stole him. Will
they never leave robbing His Majesty? must he not keep a Dog? This
Dogs place (though better than some imagine) is the only place which
nobody offers to beg.
This is evidently the dog advertised before, and seems to have been an
especial favourite with the merry monarch, who, one might think, would
have had so many dogs that he could not possibly have missed an
individual from their number. Pepys about this time describes the King,
with a train of spaniels and other dogs at his heels, lounging along and
feeding the water-fowl in the Park; and on later occasions he was often
seen talking to his favourite Nell Gwyn as she leaned from her garden
wall in Pall Mall, whilst his four-footed favourites were grouped about.
It was possibly on these occasions that the gentlemen who have such an
extraordinary faculty for “finding” dogs, even unto this day, saw their
opportunities, and marched off with the choicest specimens. Certainly
the dogs were being constantly lost, and just as constantly advertised.
In turn we find him inquiring after “a little brindled grey-hound bitch,
having her two hinder feet white;” for a “white-haired spaniel,
smooth-coated, with large red or yellowish spots;” and for a “black
mastiff dog, with cropped ears and cut tail.” So it would seem that,
fond as his Majesty was of dogs, he was not above their being cropped
and trimmed in the manner which has of late years caused all the forces
of a well-known society to be arrayed against the “fancy” and the
“finders.” And not alone did the King advertise his lost favourites. As
the fashion was set, so it was followed, and the dogmen’s lives must
then have been cast in pleasant places indeed, for Prince Rupert, “my
lord Albemarle,” the Duke of Buckingham, and many other potent
seigniors, are constantly inquiring after strayed or stolen animals. The
change in the general habits of the time is very clearly shown by these
advertisements. The Puritans did not like sporting animals of any kind,
and it has been said that no dog would have followed a Fifth-Monarchy
man. Perhaps this dislike accounts for the total absence of all
advertisements having reference to field-sports, or to animals connected
therewith, until the return of the Court to England. With its return
came in once more an aristocratic amusement which had faded out during
the stern days of the Commonwealth, hawking, and we are reminded of this
by the following advertisement for a lost lanner, which appears in the
_Mercurius Publicus_ of September 6, 1660:--
Richard Finney, Esquire, of Alaxton, in Leicestershire, about a
fortnight since, lost a LANNER from that place; she hath neither Bells
nor Varvels; she is a white Hawk, and her long feathers and sarcels
are both in the blood. If any one can give tidings thereof to Mr
Lambert at the Golden Key in Fleet-street, they shall have forty
shillings for their pains.
If it be true that the _Mercurius_ changed its name from _Politicus_ to
_Publicus_ out of compliment to the new King and his Court, second
thoughts seem to have been taken, and the original name resumed, for
there is a _Mercurius Politicus_ in November 1660, from which is the
following:--
_Gentlemen_, you are desired to take notice, That Mr _Theophilus
Buckworth_ doth at his house on _Mile-end Green_ make and expose to
sale, for the publick good, those so famous _Lozenges_ or
_Pectorals_, approved for the cure of Consumption, Coughs, Catarrhs,
Asthmas, Hoarseness, Strongness of Breath, Colds in general, Diseases
incident to the Lungs, and a sovoraign Antidote against the Plague,
and all other contagious Diseases, and obstructions of the Stomach:
And for more convenience of the people, constantly leaveth them sealed
up with his coat of arms on the papers, with Mr _Rich. Lowndes_ (as
formerly), at the sign of the White Lion, near the little north door
of _Pauls Church_; Mr _Henry Seile_, over against _S. Dunstan’s_
Church in Fleet Street; Mr _William Milward_, at _Westminster_ Hall
Gate; Mr _John Place_, at _Furnivals Inn Gate_ in Holborn; and Mr
_Robert Horn_, at the Turk’s Head near the entrance of the Royal
Exchange, Booksellers, and no others.
This is published to prevent the designs of divers Pretenders, who
counterfeit the said Lozenges, to the disparagement of the said
Gentleman, and great abuse of the people.
It will be seen from this that quack medicines are by no means modern
inventions--in fact, the wonder is, if our ancestors took a tithe of the
articles advertised, that there is any present generation at all; so
numerous and, even according to their own showing, powerful were the
specifics advertised on every possible opportunity and in connection
with every possible disease. As, however, we shall devote special space
to charlatans further on, we will here simply pass to the following,
which promises rather too much for the price. This is also in the
_Mercurius Politicus_, and appears in December 1660:--
MOST Excellent and Approved _Dentifrices_ to scour and cleanse the
Teeth, making them white as Ivory, preserves from the Toothach; so
that, being constantly used, the parties using it are never troubled
with the Toothach; it fastens the Teeth, sweetens the Breath, and
preserves the mouth and gums from Cankers and Imposthumes. Made by
_Robert Turner_, Gentleman; and the right are onely to be had at
_Thomas Rookes_, Stationer, at the Holy Lamb at the East end of St
Pauls Church, near the School, in sealed papers, at 12d. the paper.
_The Reader is desired to beware of counterfeits._
We can now mark the advent of those monstrous flowing wigs which were in
fashion for nearly a century, and may be fairly assumed to have made
their appearance about the date of this advertisement, which was
published in the _Newes_ of February 4, 1663:--
WHEREAS _George Grey_, a Barber and Perrywigge-maker, over against the
_Greyhound Tavern_, in _Black Fryers_, _London_, stands obliged to
serve some particular Persons of eminent Condition and Quality in his
way of Employment: It is therefore Notifyed at his desire, that any
one having long flaxen hayr to sell may repayr to him the said _George
Grey_, and they shall have 10s. the ounce, and for any other long fine
hayr after the Rate of 5s. or 7s. the ounce.
Pepys, in his quaint and humorous manner, describes how Chapman, a
periwig-dresser, cut off his hair to make up one of these immense
coverings for him, much to the trouble of his servants, Jane and Bessy.
He also states that “two perriwiggs, one whereof cost me £3 and the
other 40s.,” have something to do with the depletion of his ready money
on the 30th of October 1663. On November 2nd, he says, “I heard the Duke
[Buckingham] say that he was going to wear a perriwigg; and they say the
King also will. I never till this day observed that the King is mighty
gray.” And then on Lord’s day, November 8th, he says, with infinite
quaintness, “To church, where I found that my coming in a perriwigg did
not prove so strange as I was afraid it would, for I thought that all
the church would presently have cast their eyes all upon me.” Pepys was,
it seems, possessed of that rather unpleasant consciousness which
prompts a man who wears anything new or strange for the first time to
believe that all the world, even that portion of it which has never seen
him before, knows he feels anxious and uncomfortable because he has got
new clothes on. The price, ten shillings the ounce, shows that there
must have been an exceptionally heavy demand for flaxen colour by the
wearers of the new-fashioned wigs. Judging by the advertisements just
quoted, as well as by those which follow, there can be no controverting
the statement that the reign of Charles II. “was characterised by
frivolous amusements and by a love of dress and vicious excitement, in
the midst of which pestilence stalked like a mocking fiend, and the
great conflagration lit up the masquerade with its lurid and angry
glare. Together with the emasculate tone of manners, a disposition to
personal violence stained the latter part of this and the succeeding
reign. The audacious seizure of the crown jewels by Blood; the attack
upon the Duke of Ormond by the same desperado, that nobleman having
actually been dragged from his coach in St James’s Street in the
evening, and carried, bound upon the saddle-bow of Blood’s horse, as far
as Hyde Park Corner, before he could be rescued; the slitting of Sir
John Coventry’s nose in the Haymarket by the King’s guard; and the
murder of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey on Primrose Hill, are familiar
instances of the prevalence of this lawless spirit.” There is still one
other memorable and dastardly assault to note, that on “Glorious John,”
and we shall do so in due course.
The _London Gazette_ now appears upon the scene, and this is noticeable,
because of all the papers started before, or for a very considerable
time after, this is the only one which has still an existence. It has
been stated by some writers to have first appeared at Oxford during the
time the Court took up its abode there, while the Great Plague was
raging, but that this was not so is shown by the following, which is
extracted from the _London Gazette_ of January 22, 1664, nearly twelve
months before the outbreak of the Plague. The fact is that during the
residence of the King and Court at Oxford, the official organ changed
its title, and was called the _Oxford Gazette_, to resume its original
name as soon as it resumed its original publishing office.[26]
A TRUE representation of the Rhonoserous and Elephant, lately brought
from the East Indies to London, drawn after the life, and curiously
engraven in Mezzotinto, printed upon a large sheet of paper. Sold by
PIERCE TEMPEST, at the Eagle and Child in the Strand, over against
Somerset House, Water Gate.
The ignorance of natural history at this time seems to have been
somewhat marvellous, and anything in the way of a collection of
curiosities was sure to attract a credulous multitude, as is shown by
another notice, published in the _News_ of a date close to that of the
foregoing. The articles are rather scanty, to be sure, but probably the
“huge thighbone of a giant,” whatever it was in reality, was in itself
sufficient to attract, to say nothing of the mummy and torpedo.
AT the Mitre, near the west end of St Paul’s, is to be seen a rare
Collection of Curiosityes, much resorted to and admired by persons of
great learning and quality; among which a choyce Egyptian Mummy, with
hieroglyphicks; the Ant-Beare of Brasil; a Remora; a Torpedo; the Huge
Thighbone of a Giant; a Moon Fish; a Tropic Bird, &c.
Evidently something must have been known of mummies, or how could the
exhibitor tell that his was a choice one? Our next item introduces us to
one of those old beliefs which are still to be found in remote parts of
the country. The King, like any mountebank or charlatan, advertises the
time when he will receive, for the purpose of giving the royal touch,
supposed to be sufficient to cure the horrible distemper. Surely he of
all people must have known how futile was the experiment; and it is
passing strange that a people who had tried, condemned, and executed one
king like any common man, should have put faith in such an announcement
as that published in the _Public Intelligencer_ of May 1664, which runs
as follows:--
WHITEHALL, May 14, 1664. His Sacred Majesty, having declared it to be
his Royal will and purpose to continue the healing of his people for
the Evil during the Month of May, and then to give over till
Michaelmas next, I am commanded to give notice thereof, that the
people may not come up to Town in the Interim and lose their labour.
Surely such men as Sedley, Rochester, Buckingham, and even Charles
himself, must have laughed at the infatuation of the multitude; for if
ever there was a king whose touch was less likely than another’s to cure
the evil, that king was, in our humble opinion, “his Sacred Majesty”
Charles II. But then people were prepared to go any lengths to make up
for their shortcomings in the previous reign. There was possibly a
political significance about these manifestations of royal ability and
clemency, and some enthusiasts, who believe devoutly in the triumph of
mind over matter, think there is reason to believe in the efficacy of
the touch in scrofulous affections, and even believe that people did
really recover after undergoing the process. Dr Tyler Smith, who has
written on the subject, boldly states his belief that the emotion felt
by these poor stricken people who came within the influence of the
King’s “Sacred Majesty” acted upon them as a powerful tonic; though, as
the King always bestowed a gold piece upon the patient, we think that if
good was derived, it was derived from the comfort procured by that--for
those who suffered and believed were generally in the lowest and poorest
rank of life--and perhaps travelling and change of air had something to
do with it as well. If the arguments of those who believe in the
emotional effect are to be admitted, it must be allowed by parity of
reasoning that where the touch failed, its failure would be likely to
cause the sufferers to become rabid republicans, the Divine right having
refused to exhibit itself. Maybe these latter symptoms, like the
symptoms of other diseases, did not develop in the individual, but came
out in course of generations, which may perhaps account for the large
amount of democracy which has exhibited itself during the present
century. There is certainly something rather ludicrous in the fact that
the practice of touching for the evil ceased with the death of Anne;
not because the people had become more enlightened, but because the
sovereigns who followed her were supposed to have lost the medicinal
virtue through being kings merely by Act of Parliament, and not by
Divine right.
The reaction which set in from the strait-laced rule of the Puritans at
the time of the Restoration, must have reached its height about 1664, if
we may judge by the advertisements then constantly inserted, which
reflect the love of pleasure and folly exhibited by all classes, as if
they were anxious to make up for previous restrictions. In fact, the
chief inquiries are after lacework, or valuables lost at masquerade or
water party, announcements of lotteries at Whitehall, of jewels and
tapestry, and other things to be sold. The following is a fair specimen
of the advertisements of the time, and appears in the _News_ of August
4, 1664:--
LOST on the 27th July, about Boswell Yard or Drury Lane, a Ladyes
picture set in gold, and three Keys, with divers other little things
in a perfumed pocket. Whosoever shall give notice of or bring the said
picture to Mr Charles Coakine, Goldsmith, near Staples Inne, Holborn,
shall have 4 times the value of the gold for his payns.
There are also about this time all sorts of quack and nostrum
advertisements, an “antimonial cup,” by means of which every kind of
disease was to be cured, being apparently very popular. Sir Kenelm
Digby, a learned knight, who is said to have feasted his wife with
capons fattened upon serpents for the purpose of making her fair,
advertises a book in which is shown a method of curing the severest
wounds by a sympathetic powder. But even the knight’s efforts pall
before the following, which will go far to show the superstitious leaven
which still hung about the populace:--
SMALL BAGGS to hang about Children’s necks, which are excellent both
for the _prevention and cure_ of the _Rickets_, and to ease Children
in breeding of Teeth, are prepared by Mr Edmund Buckworth, and
constantly to be had at Mr Philip Clark’s, Keeper of the Library in
the Fleet, and nowhere else, at 5 shillings a bagge.
We see in the papers of 1665 an increased number of advertisements for
lost and stolen animals, mostly those used in connection with sport; but
this does not go to prove that more dogs, hawks, &c., were missing, so
much as that the advantages of advertising were being discovered
throughout the country; and as London was the only place in which at
that time a newspaper was published, the cry after stray favourites
always came up to town. Strange, indeed, are many of the advertisements
about sports long since passed from amongst us, and the very phrases of
which have died out of the language. It seems hard to imagine that hawks
in all the glory of scarlet hoods were carried upon fair ladies’ wrists,
or poised themselves when uncovered to view their prey, so late as the
time of Charles II., but that it was so, an advertisement already
quoted, as well as the following, shows. It is taken from the
_Intelligencer_ of November 6, 1665:--
LOST on the 30 October, 1665, an intermix’d Barbary Tercel Gentle,
engraven in Varvels, Richard Windwood, of Ditton Park, in the county
of Bucks, Esq. For more particular marks--if the Varvels be taken
off--the 4th feather in one of the wings Imped, and the third pounce
of the right foot broke. If any one inform Sir William Roberts, Knight
and Baronet (near Harrow-on-the-Hill, in the county of Middlesex), or
Mr William Philips, at the King’s Head in Paternoster Row, of the
Hawk, he shall be sufficiently rewarded.
Inquiries for hawks and goshawks are by no means scarce, and so we may
imagine that these implements of hunting were hardly so much to be
depended upon as those from the workshop of art and not of nature, which
are in use in the present day. Indeed, the falcon seemed to care much
less, when once set free, for his keeper, than writers of books are
prone to imagine. The King was apparently no more fortunate than the
rest of those who indulged in falconry, for in a copy of the _London
Gazette_, late in 1667, the following is seen:--
A Sore ger Falcon of His Majesty, lost the 13 of August, who had one
Varvel of his Keeper, Roger Higs, of Westminster, Gent. Whosoever hath
taken her up and give notice Sir Allan Apsley, Master of His Majesties
Hawks at St James’s, shall be rewarded for his paines. Back-Stairs in
Whitehall.
Sir Allan Apsley was the brother-in-law of the celebrated Colonel
Hutchinson, and brother of the devoted wife whose story everybody has
read. The next advertisement we shall select is published in the _London
Gazette_ of May 10, 1666, and has reference to the precautions taken to
prevent the spread of the Plague. Long before this all public notices of
an idle and frivolous nature have ceased, amusements seem to have lost
their charm, and it is evident from a study of the advertisements alone,
that some great disturbing cause is at work among the good citizens. No
longer does the authorised gambling under the roof of Whitehall go on;
no more are books of Anacreontics published; stopped are all the
assignations but a short time back so frequent; and no longer are
inquiries made after lockets and perfumed bags, dropped during amorous
dalliance, or in other pursuit of pleasure. Death, it is evident, is
busy at work. The quacks, and the writers of semi-blasphemous pamphlets,
have it all to themselves, and doubtless batten well in this time of
trouble. The Plague is busy doing its deadly work, and already the city
has been deserted by all who can fly thence, and only those who are
detained by duty, sickness, poverty, or the want of a clean bill of
health, remain. These bills or licences to depart were only granted by
the Lord Mayor, and the greatest influence often failed to obtain them,
as after the Plague once showed strength it was deemed necessary to
prevent by all and every means the spread of the contagion throughout
the country. The advertisement chosen gives a singular instance of the
manner in which those who had neglected to depart early were penned
within the walls:--
_Nicholas Hurst_, an Upholsterer, over against the Rose Tavern, in
Russell-street, Covent-Garden, whose Maid Servant dyed lately of the
Sickness, fled on Monday last out of his house, taking with him
several Goods and Household Stuff, and was afterwards followed by one
Doctor Cary and Richard Bayle with his wife and family, who lodged in
the same house; but Bayle having his usual dwelling-house in
Waybridge, in Surrey. Whereof we are commanded to give this Public
Notice, that diligent search may be made for them, and the houses in
which any of their persons or goods shall be found may be shut up by
the next Justice of the Peace, or other his Majesty’s Officers of
Justice, and notice immediately given to some of his Majesty’s Privy
Councill, or to one of his Majesty’s principal Secretaries of State.
A great demand seems at this time to have been made for an electuary
much advertised as a certain preventive of the Plague, which was to be
drunk at the Green Dragon, Cheapside, at sixpence a pint. This is,
however, only one among hundreds of specifics which continued to be
thrust upon the public in the columns of the papers, until the real
deliverer of the plague-stricken people appeared--a dreadful deliverer,
it is true, but the only one. The Great Fire, which commenced on the 2nd
of September 1666, and destroyed thirteen thousand houses, rendering
myriads of people homeless, penniless, and forlorn, had its good side,
inasmuch as by it the Plague was utterly driven out of its stronghold,
but not until nearly a hundred thousand persons had perished. Imagine
two such calamities coming almost together; but the purgation by fire
was the only one which could fairly be expected to prove effectual, as
it destroyed the loathsome charnel-houses which would long have held the
taint, and removed a great part of the cause which led to the power of
the fell epidemic. We have in the preceding chapter referred to the
paucity of advertisements which appeared in reference to the new
addresses of those who had been burnt out, and a writer a few years back
makes the following remark upon the same subject: “Singularly enough,
but faint traces of this overwhelming calamity, as it was considered at
the time, can be gathered from the current advertisements. Although the
entire population of the city was rendered houseless, and had to encamp
in the surrounding fields, where they extemporised shops and streets,
not one hint of such a circumstance can be found in the public
announcements of the period. No circumstance could afford a greater
proof of the little use made by the trading community of this means of
publicity in the time of Charles II. If a fire only a hundredth part so
destructive were to occur in these days, the columns of the press would
immediately be full of the new addresses of the burnt-out shopkeepers;
and those who were not even damaged by it would take care to ‘improve
the occasion’ to their own advantage. We look in vain through the pages
of the _London Gazette_ of this and the following year for one such
announcement: not even the tavern-keeper tells us the number of his
booth in Goodman’s-fields, although quack medicine flourished away in
its columns as usual.” We have already shown that one advertisement at
least was published in reference to removal caused by the fire, but as
it did not appear till six or seven years afterwards, it is a solitary
exception to the rule, indeed. In 1667, notifications occurred now and
then of some change in the site of a Government office, caused by the
disturbances incident on the fire, or of the intention to rebuild by
contract some public structure. Of these the following, which appears in
the _London Gazette_, is a good specimen:--
ALL Artificers of the several Trades that must be used in Rebuilding
the Royal Exchange may take notice, that the Committee appointed for
management of that Work do sit at the end of the long gallery in
Gresham Colledge every Monday in the forenoon, there and then to treat
with such as are fit to undertake the same.
As nothing occurs in the way of advertisements worthy of remark or
collection for the next few years, we will take this convenient
opportunity of obtaining a brief breathing space.
[26] The _London Gazette_ was first published 22d August 1642. The
first number of the existing “published-by-authority” series was
imprinted first at Oxford, where the Court was stationed for fear of
the Plague, on November 7, 1665, and afterwards at London on February
5, 1666.