A Newspaper of 1656

A NEWSPAPER OF 165679 He was at first not aware this gift was peculiar to himself, and thought that people had no need to ask him questions, as they might see for themselves. When desirous of seeing anything at a distance he was in the habit of shutting his eyes, and leaning his forehead on his hand, and seldom answered a question before he paused for some time. He was a steady religious boy, and when at any time he had done anything for which he felt reproof he lost his gift for a time", ....... "John Hall asked him what his house was built of. He said he could not tell. It was different from what he was acquainted with. It was rough-cast. Having told some circumstances that incriminated certain men, they lay in wait to kill him, as he went to school, of which having a sense, his life was preserved, and the men were discovered, who confessed their wicked designs." * [It is to be regretted that the author of the preceding paper did not give the subsequent history of Eli Yarnall. So far as the Editor has been able to ascertain, the boy grew up, but in his very early manhood became dissipated, and completely lost his gift. He died young.—Editor.] A NEWSPAPER OF 1656. There lies before the writer, through the kindness of a friend, a small quarto tract, of sixteen pages, 8 by 6 inches in size, "Printed in London by Thomas Newcomb dwelling over against Bainard's Castle in Thames-street." It bears the title, "THE PUBLIC Intelligencer, Communicating the chief Occurrence , AND PROCEEDINGS WITHIN The Dominions of England, Scotland and IRELAND: Together with an Account of Affaires from severall Parts of EUROPE. From Monday ?Copied verbatim from the Mss. Collection of Thomas Richardson of Sunderland, now in the possession of his son, Edward Richardson, of Torquay. This Mss. dated 1827, C. Y. Torquay, Devon, England, ist mo. 23, 1870. 8oBULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL SOCIETY December 15 to Monday December 22, 1656." It is number 62, and is paged continuously, beginning with page "(1063)." There is no mention of price or subscription. It is evidently one of those weekly "letter-sheets" as they were often called, published not only for the information of the Londoners but also of those, who, living in the counties, looked for most of their news either to private hands or to these papers. All the items of news are dated and so it is possible to gain a very fair idea of how long it took news to travel in the middle of the seventeenth century. The first paragraph is headed "From St. Sebastian, Dec. 6"; the next, "From the Polonian Camp 8 Dec." The earliest date is "Constantinople 10 November," and the latest, "Saturday, 20 December. [1656.]" It seems that a somewhat similar paper was published on Thursdays, for one paragraph reads, "To the end that" [certain items of information] may be sufficiently published to the other parts of the Nation where the Thursday-Book useth not to come, you have here reprinted what was before published. . . .on Thursday ." As a very general war was raging on the continent it is natural that military affairs should take an important place in the paper, and there are no less than eighteen separate items concerning the war. There are some scraps of gossip and social news as the following, "His Highness [Oliver Cromwell] conferred the honor of knighthood upon Alderman Robert Titchborn , present Lord Major of the City of London. The like also upon Listebon Long, Esq. Recorder of the City of London." Another reads, "Brussels, Dec. 23, S.N.* ___The Titular King of Great Britain seems still to be preparing to serve the designs of Spain upon England; but were you here in this Country, to see how things go with him at Bruges, you would say there were no great fear of him; his people about him are pitiful poor, and many that were listed are gone away to serve in other places, *"S. N."—That is, Stilo novo, New Style. The Gregorian Calendar adopted at this time by most of the continental countries was not adopted...