DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

( a1 ) Bar of the House, One, who refused to appear, was imprisoned; but the magistrates of the City of London, setting the arbitrary proclamation aside, released the printer. The House retaliated by sending the Lord Mayor to take his place in jail ; but the public outcry was so great that the House was obliged to let its decree fall into abeyance and release the Lord Mayor. Henceforth reports of Parliamentary proceedings were allowed to be published. Public opinion was enabled to regulate the responsibilities of members to their constituents, and found expression in the speedy appearance of numerous magazines and news- papers. An anonymous writer who styled himself‘ Junius ’ attacked the Government in letters which, rancorous and unscrupulous as was their tone, gave a new power to literature and the press by the clearness and terseness of their diction, the polish of their style, and the vigour of their invective. Most of the great journals date their birth from that epoch —the Times, Morning Post, Morning Herald, and Morning Chronicle. In 1776 the Stamp Duty on newspapers was raised from one penny to three half- pence. This, however, does not appear to have seriously impeded the progress of the press. In the following year seventeen papers were published in London,