A History of Advertising From the Earliest Times.

CHAPTER I.. _introductory--Newspapers and Newspaper Advertising._

INTRODUCTORY--NEWSPAPERS AND NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING.

It must be patent to every one who takes the least interest in the subject, that the study of so important a branch of our present system of commerce as advertising, with its rise and growth, cannot fail to be full of interest. Indeed it is highly suggestive of amusement, as a reference to any of our old newspapers, full as they are of quaint announcements, untrammelled by the squeamishness of the present age, will show. Advertising has, of course, within the last fifty years, developed entirely new courses, and has become an institution differing much from the arrangement in which, so far as our references show, it first appeared in this country; its growth has been attended by an almost entire revulsion of mode, and where we now get long or short announcements by the hundred, dictated by a spirit of business, our fathers received statements couched in a style of pure romance, which fully compensated for their comparatively meagre proportions. Of course, even in the present day, and in the most pure-minded papers, ignorance, intolerance, and cupidity exhibit themselves frequently, often to the amusement, but still more often to the annoyance and disgust, of thinkers; but in the good old days, when a spade was a spade, and when people did not seek to gloss over their weaknesses and frivolities, as they do now, by a pretence of virtue and coldness, which, after all, imposes only on the weak and credulous, advertisements gave a real insight into the life of the people; and so, in the hope that our researches will tend to dispel some of the mists which still hang over the sayings and doings of folk who lived up to comparatively modern days, we present this work to the curious reader.

It is generally assumed--though the assumption has no ground for existence beyond that so common amongst us, that nothing exists of which we are ignorant--that advertisements are of comparatively modern origin. This idea has probably been fostered in the public mind by the fact that so little trouble has ever been taken by encyclopædists to discover anything about them; and as time begets difficulties in research, we are almost driven to regard the first advertisement with which we are acquainted as the actual inaugurator of a system which now has hardly any bounds. That this is wrong will be shown most conclusively, and even so far evidence is given by the statement, made by Smith and others, that advertisements were published in Greece and Rome in reference to the gladiatorial exhibitions, so important a feature of the ancient days of those once great countries. That these advertisements took the form of what is now generally known as “billing,” seems most probable, and Rome must have often looked like a modern country town when the advent of a circus or other travelling company is first made known.

The first newspaper supposed to have been published in England appeared in the reign of Queen Elizabeth during the Spanish Armada panic. This journal was called the English Mercurie, and was by authority “imprinted at London by Christopher Barker, Her Highnesses printer, 1583.” This paper was said to be started for the prevention of the fulmination of false reports, but it was more like a succession of extraordinary gazettes, and had by no means the appearance of a regular journal, as we understand the term. It was promoted by Burleigh, and used by him to soothe, inform, or exasperate the people as occasion required. Periodicals and papers really first came into general use during the civil wars in the reign of Charles I., and in the time of the Commonwealth; in fact, each party had its organs, to disseminate sentiments of loyalty, or to foster a spirit of resistance against the inroads of power. The country was accordingly overflowed with tracts of every size and of various denominations, many of them displaying great courage, and being written with uncommon ability. Mercury was the prevailing title, generally qualified with some epithet; and the quaintness peculiar to the age is curiously exemplified in the names of some of the news-books, as they were called: the Dutch Spye, the Scots Dove, the Parliament Kite, the Screech Owle, and the Parliamentary Screech Owle, being instances in point. The list of Mercuries is almost too full for publication. There was Mercurius Acheronticus, which brought tidings weekly from the infernal regions; there was Mercurius Democritus, whose information was supposed to be derived from the moon; and among other Mercuries there was the Mercurius Mastix, whose mission was to criticise all its namesakes. It was not, however, until the reign of Queen Anne that a daily paper existed in London--this was the Daily Courant, which occupied the field alone for a long period, but which ultimately found two rivals in the Daily Post and the Daily Journal, the three being simultaneously published in 1724. This state of things continued with very little change during the reign of George I., but publications of every kind increased abundantly during the reign of his successor. The number of newspapers annually sold in England, according to an average of three years ending with 1753, was 7,411,757; in 1760 it amounted to 9,464,790; in 1767 it rose to 11,300,980; in 1790 it was as high as 14,035,636; and in 1792 it amounted to 15,005,760. All this time advertising was a growing art, and advertisements were beginning to make themselves manifest as the main support and chief source of profit of newspapers, as well as the most natural channel of communication between the buyers and sellers, the needing and supplying members of a vast community.

^Numb. 49^

^Domestick Intelligence,^ Or, News both from CITY and COUNTRY.

^Published to prevent false Reports.^

^Tuesday^, Decemb. 23. 1679.

London Decemb. 22.

LAst Friday being the nineteenth of this Instant December, the Justices of the Peace of Middlesex and Westminster attended His Majesty in Council, to receive Power and Instructions for the removal of all Papists from the Cities of London and Westminster, in pursuance of His Majesties late Proclamation to that Purpose, and being called in, there were Orders given them, to make strict search for all Papists that are His Majesties Subjects, or any other Popish Recusants who have not the Priviledge of continuing here, (in Sommerset House in the Absence of the Queen, as also in His Majesties Palace at St. Jame’s,) and that the said Justices of the Peace, shall seize and Imprison all that be found Transgressors of the Law, and Condemners of His Majesties Authority. His Majesty hath also sent Orders into the Countrey to the several Knights of the Shire, to take an Exact List of the Names of all the Papists of any repute in their Respective Counties, and to return the said List to the Secretary of State, to be communicated to the Council, and that thereupon such Effectual proceedings would be used against them as the utmost Severity and Rigour of the Law will allow, and the said Lists being accordingly returned to the Lords of the Committee appointed to consider of the most Effectual means for putting the Laws in Execution against Papists, and for the suppression of Popery (mentioned in our last) the Lord Chancellor has order to prepare Commissions (in which the said Lists are to be Inserted) which do Impower and require the Justices of Peace of the several Counties in England and Wales, to tender the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy to all Persons mentioned therein, and in case of their Denial to take the same, to proceed against them according to Law, in order to their speedy Conviction; with the said Commissions are also to be sent special Instructions for the better direction of the said Justices therein, and also Letters from the Council Board, to require and Encourage them diligently to Execute the said Commissions, and to send up an Account of their proceedings, as likewise the Names of all other Papists and Suspected Papists as are not in the said Commissions, And that no Papist shall be allowed a License or Dispensation to stay in Town; Further that a List be taken of all House-keepers, and especially such as entertain Lodgers within the Bills of Morality, and of all Midwives, Apothecaries and Physicians that are Papists or suspected to be such, and to return the List to the Council: And that no Papist may Harbour in any of His Majesties Palaces, a Commission is ordered for the Green-cloth to offer the Oaths of Allegiance, Supremacy and the Test to all Papists and Suspected Papists as shall be found in Whitehall, and the Precinct thereof, who upon refusal are to be proceeded against according to Law, And the Messengers and Knight-Marshals men are ordered to seize and bring them before the said Officers, and a Reward of Ten pound is to be paid to those who shall discover any Papist or suspected Papist in any of His Majesties Houses, and the Officer that harbours them shall be turned out of his Place, and Imployment. And the Officers of the Parishes, where Ambassadors and Forreign Ministers reside shall have Lists brought them of their Menial Servants, and if any others shall presume to resort to their Popish Chappels they shall be seized and prosecuted.

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