THE TIMES NEWSPAPER OF 1798.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 95, 30 September 1863, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE TIMES NEWSPAPER OF 1798.

I /From the May Number of Once a Week.) ['here lies before us one, of the most tntfol pages of that "eventful year, in , shape of the Times newspaper, ot laber 3rd, 1798, reprinted from the e iaal. The Times of that date, corned witk its present .size, was a verile infant—not much bigger, when -ad open, than a lady's aocket-hand-■chief--but within its little face we --clearly itspresentfeatures m embryo. j|he Americans, with that self-con-JUness which is so characterize of are for t*er •« making hisgy" and fidgettiog themselves as to X'they shall look in the pages of some , Le Bancroft. What a contrast to , S dull Englishman of 1798, who lade history," especially in that year, lihout !bemg^fc»lli aware ofvtl* Eyroity of his occupation. Let us turn Hr our^Zwncs, for; sample, and the Ht thing that strikes our attenUon.js || account of Lord Nelson's Victory of - He Nile Our admirals then did their Khting'better than their writing--* feature which some seamen of a later ; Gate seem to have reversed. The total Pnihilation of an enemy is fleet is Hrrated by our hero in fewer words ma. a Yankee commander would detail; Ec robbing of a hen-roost. Of the; Bench fleet of seventeen line-of-battle lUpS only four managed to escape, ff&y struck hard and heavy in those Hays without much boasting. In another Mtt of the paper we have a glimpse of [he rebellion in Ireland, a sighting of lie Plymouth squadron sent under Sir Bortase Warren to intercept the Brest filet which was sailing to reinforce the j pjsh rebels. jltWe see the working of the dogs of jrir in a far more vivid manner in these rontemporary pages than in those of ijfter history, The Auson frigate sails linear the Hoche (French admiral's ifip), that they can see "on board the fjiites of the eyes of the marines," Kth whom she is so crowded as to iuse her "'to sail badly." From reland again we have tidings of Majorjffench's defeat of the rebels, " with reat slaughter," in the neighborhood jfi Killaloe ; and there is a charming nctnie drawn of the -French Comnandant of the town, cooped up with ifs officers in the Bishop's -Palace with Sat 'dignitary, himself armed to the teeth against the very rebels, he had joine'to succour. Then there are the ttm»rapbs of courts-martial, in which t is thought sufficient to say, "some wye been hanged, and various punishments have been inflicted on rthers." Little paragraphs hint at the ipbial condition of the period, and show i&at a robust .habit -the public had of sxpressing their opinions ; everywhere ihvsical force was in the ascendant. :{HA singular example of the license vhich roughs were allowed in those lays, is given in a paragraph which litotes that a mob on the .previous evenntg gathered 'round the entrance of the Admiralty in honor of the great victory md adds : — SThey insisted on every person of genteel ppearaace pulling-off their lists. Six officers . ■using along were ordered' to pay the same fempliment to the nobility, and refusing to lolso, the populace attempted to force their lats off. The officers drew their swords, Ind it is said that some .persons were ■winded. I&This reads like a scene in a pantoiine, or like some of those little Ausian or Prussian affairs we used to ear of in which the supreme contempt fjthe military for civilians and the Til law was so conspicuous. ■; Imagine alf-a-dozen officers of the guard showig; fight with their falchions to roughs .! »w-a-days! Public opinion in those mes of forbidden utterance through ie; press, generally found means to spress itself in these rough and terrible «nes ; and they were blunt of speech so in the most " genteel places." For istance, there appeared to have been pmnusual amount of cat-calling and >Use of the musicians at Drury Lane tat night, because having been wearied ith playing "Rule Britannia," and God save the King," they would not «ten to a boisterous cry on the part of >me individual for "Britoas strike iiine," a demand which was silenced yiSome one signing out in the gallery, damn it, they have, haven't pey?" The recording of such little pwodes as these is strikingly illustralye of the strong stomachs which our jncestors had for forcible language. |he reader cannot read far down a pjamn without coming in contact with iecimens of the violence of that age. fe are told that TJohn Harming, the seaman who killed one : •the press-gang at Newhaven, was dis-►yered-hanging in his cell this morning,— jhint'-that a double death caused by ie, working of the infamous press-gang iw. Thepoorfellowwasfurtherfollowed y the vindictive usages of the law, for [c. are told that he was burted in the rening, in the cross roads near St. aul's, but that the stale commonly Bed on such occasions was dispensed itb. The highwayman and footpad it evident were then in full fashion, for lere are no less than three highway >bberies recorded as having happened i the previous day. Mr. Vernon of i 6 Treasury, and another gentleman avelling in a post-chaise, were stopsdnear Merton, by two footpads, and ere robbed of all their valuables. It »es seem strange, that three men, for ere must have been a postillion, lould have so quietly given in to two seals on foot. Lieutenant Miller, of c Horse Guards, was stopped by two ghwaymen," and Mr. Couvoisier, one her Majesty's messengers, at Maidensad," in the same manner. An affairof honor is. not wanting in is number of the paper to make the anuers of the times perfect, for we le informed that one came off between iiptairi H— and Colonel A——, on icqunt of a supposed injury in lre■nd ;. and there is a forcible abduction

too, of a Miss Mitchell? by a gentleman in the -county of Cork,— rwhich really reads like a case We heard of only a few' years ago. l ( We have a hint, too, of a project on foot which has since been realised,' namely, 1 a tunnel under the Thames ;^ but, in this instance^ Gravesend and Tilbury. There appears to have been just the same style of glorifying the " spirit of progress 1 ' ■ in those days as there is now, for we hear that:— ' Among the wonders of the present day Mrs Siddons's late achievements at Brighton, Bath, and London, , should not be forgotten. She positively performed at eack of these places within the incredibly short space of ninety-six Hours. Four days and nights ! ' Not so bad by Palmer's mail; but how flat and slow seem the wonders of one age to ? Shat which follows. How near the chit-chat of a newspaper brings you to past event3i^-you can't help feeling yourself a contemporary. What life ! and movement ; what petty details, all I -of Which, however, are necessary to fill up the picture of the time, and to clothe the bones which history picks so bare. ! It seems as though we were talking to our grandfather when we read of John ■Kemble as Zanga, in the " Revenge," *• finely marking the subtle and malignant spirit of vengeance " of the Moor; and one almost feels inclined to endorse the extravagant opinion of our grandpapas, with respect to the grandiose actors in the stilted dismal plays of that day. Mrs Powell 'did not disdain the unimportant character of Leonora — a bright face like hers would indeed have lighted up any character. We wish some of the actresses of the present day would emulate her disinterestedness. The two great political figures of the period make their appearance in several parts of the paper. Mr Fox, we are told by the opposition papers, " does not mean to attend his duties in parliament during the ensuing session," whereupon we have the editorial remark — the Times in those days was {no namby-pamby Conservative, bat downright Tory — However greatly the talents of this gentleman may be rated, the want of his counsel has not proved detrimental to the public service. The Foxites, however, understood the sneer, and estimated it at its true value, for on turning to the advertising column we find that " the anninersary of Mr. Fox's first election for Westminster will be held at the Shakespere Tavern. The Honorable C. J. Fox in the chair." Where was the Shakespere Tavern situated? We see that the dinner tickets were only eight shil lings, although dukes and earls were to partake of it, and the time was four o'clock. We have the authority of the editoi*, that, on October 2nd, 1795, Mr. Pitt was not laid up in flannel with the gout, as if had been reported, for — We saw him yesterday in the Park in perfect [sic] good health. Even in the little paragraps, the "we." it will be seen, is retained, giving us a notion that evea such scraps in those days were picked up by the editor himself instead of by penny-a-liners as now. In the gigantic "Thunderer of to-day, with its abstract editor, we lose these little personal touches which bring us face to face with thedemi-god that launched the dreatd bolts in those times. As we write, the paper-boy comes fol* " Jlie Times," from which we have extracted a good pennyworth this morning, and we see him collecting his papers at door after door, all the way up the street. What a comment this upon a little paragraph of the " Times " of 1798, to the effect — The keepers of several reading-rooms in Fleet-street have been fined £5 for lending newspapers c f or hire. What meddlesome stumbling-blocks were placed in those days in the path of the poor politician. Whilst the " Emperor of Germany " was deciding his polities in the face of the French Directory, and the " Grand Signior,"— what old world, titles these ! — was acting with "decision and vigor/ poor old George 111. was at Weymouth, recruiting his shattered brain, and certainly the Court levelled itself to the meanest capacity in its amusements, if we may judge from the programme of the fete at Maiden Castle, near Dorchester, on the anniversary of the birthday of the Duchess of Wurtemberg — ! which runs as follows : To be played for at cricket, a round of beef — each man of the winning set to have a riband. A cheese to be rolled down the hill — prize to whoever stops it. A silver cup to be run for by ponies, the best of three heats. A pound of tobacco to be grinned for. A barrel of beer to be rolled down the hill — a prize to whoever stops it. A Michaelmas goose to be dived for. A good hat to be cudgelled for. Half-a-guinea for the best ass in tbree heats. A handsome hat for the boy most expert in catching a roll dipped in treacle and suspended by a string. A leg of mutton and a gallon of porter to the winner of a race of 100 yards in sacks. A good hat to be wrestled for. Half a guinea to the rider of an ass who wins the best of three heats by coming in last. A pig — prize to whoever catches it by the tail. This was the age of Chloes and Phyllises, of Damons and Corydons, when shepherds piped to their shepherdesses on Dresden china tea-cups, and made love in the tender verses of noble poets. We see what the amusements of the country people were, and how they attracted royalty. If we turn to the advertisements — the glory of the leading journal of the present day— -we see on what slight beginnings its present prosperity was built. The first page, as at present,' and half of the last page, contained then about as. many as would, go. into one full column of the present journal. The nature of the advertisements of the

last century differed but very little from those v of the present day. «' Elegant villas " and desirable mansions were advertised to let in much- the same style as they are to-day. Even the public auction rooms were the same — there was " Garraway's '' in the city and "Christy's" in Pall Mall. Patent, medicines cured all diseases as at present, and Dr James's powder was even then sold' at "Newberry's in St. Paul's Church yard ! " There are some noteworthy things, however, even among the advertisements. For instance, we see that a live male elephant and 1095 elephant's teeth are to be sold at Garvaway's "by the candle." This hints at a custom which dates from the time of Queen Anne, and was conducted this wise : a very small piece of candle was lit, and the biddings proceeded until it went out, ■ I the last bidder before which event took J place, claiming the lot. The intense anxiety existing whilst the flicker of the mould or the dip was at the last gasp, induced much competition among the bidders, but it could hardly have been so satisfactory and decisive a method of sale as the sharp rap of the hammer. There is something very illustrative of the times in the advertisement cf " Miss Rutter's Boarding School," in which much stress is laid upon the instruction given in "useful and ornamental needlework.'* "Wa have seen the results of this careful training in the faded old sampler work framed in our grandmother's houses. But the Miss Rutters' pilpils were indoctrinated into the useful as well as the ornamental, for we find there was a Mr Rutter, who offers the " inestimable advantages to the young ladies" of the indispensable graces of domestic economy, and " a thorough knowledge in writing and arithmetic. " Possibly if the present generation of young ladies were to think a little more of these things, and less of a smattering iv half-a-dozen languages, it would be better, especially for those bachelors who wish to know " How to live on two hundred a-year.'' But the question arises, what has become of all those young misses of Miss Rutter's academy, of Morden Lane, Surrey ? Is there an old lady in a mob cap still living who can converse of the times of her youth ? or are they all gone, " the old familar faces '' whose sayings and doings, goings and comings, are chronicled in this fragile, old, o d paper, which seems to smile upon us with a smile of perpetual youth 1