therto by their Lordships, and Therfore craving to the effect after mentioned as the said petition bears; The Lords of her Majesties Privie Councill, having considered the above petition given in to them by Adam Boig and samen being read in their presence, The saids Lords do heirby allow and grant warrand to the petitioner to sett furth and print ane paper entituled Edinburgh Currant, containing the remarkable forreign newes from their prints and letters, as also the home newes from the ports within this kingdome, when ships comes and goes, and from whence, he alwayes being answerable for the samen, and for the newes therein specified and sett down."*

This paper, which would appear to be the first to give the desiderated information "when ships comes and goes," came out under the management of Watson, on the 14th February, 1705, price three halfpence. Watson seceded from it on the publication of the fifty-fifth number, and whoever may have been his successor got it and poor Adam Boig into sad trouble, as the following mournful confession and submission will testify:

"Proceedings in the Cause Adam Boig and James Donaldson. "To His Grace, Her Majesties High Commissioner and the Right Honourable the Lords of Her Majesties Most Honourable Privy Council, the petition of Adam Boig, Humbly Sheweth, That your Petitioner having obtained your Lordships liberty and permission for Emitting a Newspaper under the title of the Edinburgh Courant, in which I have carryed ever since with great care, diligence, and caution, to the satisfaction, not only of your Lordships, but of the Leidges in general; until by misfortune upon the 22nd and 28th days of June last, your Petitioner being importun'd by Mr. Evander Mc Iver, Tacksman of the Paper Manufac tory, to insert an advertisement given in and subscribed by the said Mr. Mc Iver, herewith produced, your Petitioner did most inadvertently suffer the same to be insert in the Courant, which (to your Petitioner's great grief) has given offence to your Grace and Lordships, whereupon your Grace and Lordships have justly stopped the printing and emitting the said Courant, the continuance of which stop will intirely ruine your Petitioner now, after he hath been at great charges in settling Correspondents at home and abroad;

"May it therefore please your Grace and Lordships to accept of your Petitioner's humble and sincere acknowledgment of his fault, and of your Grace and Lordships' goodness to repone your Petitioner to the Printing and Publishing of the Courant as formerly; and, according to my duty, I shall hereafter be more cautious and circumspect, and am most willing that in all time coming no Inland News nor Advertisements shall be published nor put into the Courant, but at the Sight and Allowance of the Clerks of Council."+

A curious discussion now arose as to whether the previous permission granted to Donaldson to publish news was not intended as the right to a monopoly of publication, as indeed it seems to us to have amounted to. That such an idea could have been entertained appears now astonishing, but it caused poor Donaldson much more astonishment to think it could be otherwise. With something as near to a reproachful tone as he dare assume, he petitions the High Commissioner and Lords of Council to stop the Courant. He urges his loyalty, his poverty, and his harmlessMiscellany of the Maitland Club, vol. ii. p. 241. † Ibid. pp. 248, 249.

ness upon their consideration; he reminds them that, in 1689, he raised a company of horse at his own expense, which not only impoverished him, but caused him to neglect his business, so that he got into debt, "which put your Petitioner to think of all possible means of subsistence," the most likely at last seeming to be the setting up of a newspaper. But just as he fancied he had got the privilege snugly to himself, lo! permission is granted to Adam Boig to do the same thing; and Boig, who appears to have been a more enterprising man, not only gives information when "ships comes and goes," but undersells the Gazette after all. "He gave his paper to the Ballad criers 4s. a quair below the common price, as he did likewise to the postmaster, who used to take a parcel of Gazettes weekly. This obliged your Petitioner to lower the price of his Gazettes likewise. But the said Adam, and those who assisted him, did still so practice the paper cryers as to neglect the selling of the Gazette, to deny that there was any printed when enquired at, and also to extol Mr. Boig and the Courant, as a paper much preferable to the Gazette, both in respect of foreign and domestick News. Tho'," continues the humble petition of James Donaldson, "such little artifices should seem to merit but little regard, yet, by abstracting the Gazette and the other methods aforesaid, the Courant gain'd credit with some, tho' Petiyour tioner cannot understand upon what considerations, for all the foreign News that ever was in the Courant were taken verbatim out of some of the London papers, and for the most part from Dyer's Letter and the London Courant, which are not of the best reputation; so your Petitioner did never omit any domestick News that he judged pertinent, though he neither midled with matters that he had cause to believe would not be acceptable, nor every story and triffling matter he heard; Moreover your Petitioner doth just now suffer for Adam Boig's falt in having the Gazette stop, tho' that disagreeable paragraph was not in, which being in the Courant was displeasing to your Lordships, as well as by his practicing the paper sellers, so that, by their contributions, they neither would sell the Gazettes, nor permit any other whom I employ'd, pretending to be countenanced by the Magistrats," &c. &c.

person

The Lords of the Council, tired of the bother, and determined to act impartially, by an order on the 26th June stopped both papers till such time as they had examined the merits of the case. In the mean while Boig replies to Donaldson's petition, and, with reason on his side, points out to their lordships that it was no fault of his that Donaldson charged more than he for his news. In these days, when newspapers tell up their incomes with five figures in a row, it is amusing to see what importance he attaches to a gain of eight shillings a week: "And I must say that his Profit cannot but be Considerable, when he sells at my Price, for all my News comes by the Common Post, and I pay the Postage; whereas John Bisset his Conjunct gets his News all by the Secretaries Pacquet free of Postage, which is at least Eight Shillings sterling a week free gain to them." Then, ever proud of himself giving the accounts of "when ships comes and goes," he twits Donaldson about the meagreness of his shipping news: "Mr. Donaldson, tho' he had a Yearly Allowance from the Royal Burrows, never touched anything of that nature, nor settled a Correspondent at any Port in the Kingdom, no, not so much as at Leith."

Donaldson puts in a petition in reply, in which he asserts that "there is no possibility of two News Writers subsisting by that employment in this

place;" but as he did not give in his patent with the petition, it could not be entertained, and he had to move the Council again. He adopts the tone of an ill-used man, showing, "that your Petitioner having some Years bygone obtain'd the Sole Privilege of Publishing the News, which Project was look'd on as a general Benefit, and has been Prosecute with so much Care and Diligence that by this means he made a shift to subsist himself and Family, and was thereby supported under the great Losses he sustain'd by his early Zeal and Affection to the Government, as is well known to many of your Lordships.

"Tho' this Project encroach'd on no Man's Province, but was set on foot by your Petitioner for supplying the pinching Necessities he was Reduc'd to, yet this could not skreen him from Envy. Adam Boig, out of a design to wrest this small Benefit to himself, contrived with a Printer, formerly employed by your Petitioner (whom he found it his Interest to disengadge himself of), to undertake a News Print"-and in this strain he proceeds to solicit its suppression. On the 24th of July, the Council granted permission to Donaldson to cite Boig before them to give an account of himself, and on the 28th of August a committee was appointed to consider the matter, and, after examining Boig, they came to a resolution of recommending that Boig should be allowed to proceed with his Courant, on condition of his undertaking to write nothing offensive to the government. The matter seems to have got into the Circumlocution Office, for it was not until the 2nd of October that the Council accorded permission to Boig to resume his publication, getting from him the following remarkable undertaking:

"Oct. 5, 1705. Be it knowen To all men be thir presents, Me, Adam Boig, Author of the Edinburgh Curant, Forasmuch as the Lords of her Majesties Privie Councill be their Act of the date, the second day of October, did take off the Stop formerly made by their Lordships to my printing and publishing the Curant, and allowed me to publish and print the samen as formerly, upon my enacting of myself to the effect efter mentioned; Therefore with ye me to be bound, obleedg'd and enacted Likeas I be the tenor, heir of bind, obleedge and enact myself in the books of her Majesties Privie Councill, That I shall publish n hing in my Curant concerning the Government till first the samen be revised by the Clerks of her Majesties Privie Councill. And I consent to the registration hereof in the books of her Majesties Privie Councill to have the strength of ane decreet, that letters on six dayes, and others, if need be's, may be direct hereon. In form as Effeirs. And to that effect Constitutes my procurators. In witness whereof, written be John Braid, writter in Edinburgh, I have subscrivit thir presents at Edinburgh the fifth of October Im VII and five years, before these witnesses, David Caw, writer in Edinburgh, and the said John Braid.

"ADAM BOIG."*

Such were the conditions imposed upon the early news-writers in Scotland. We shall see how soon the press burst its bonds and declared itself independent.

• Maitland Miscellany, vol. ii. pp. 251-71.

NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

FROM PESTH, BY THE DANUBE AND THE BLACK SEA, TO CONSTANTINOPLE.

UNDETERRED by the threatened mosquitoes, malaria, and other disagreeables set forth in Murray's Handbook, we determined to proceed by the Danube and the Black Sea to Constantinople. The recent events had increased a desire to visit that city, and the present was thought a favourable time before the civilising influence of the French and English had waned, whilst the prestige of British prowess existed, and the services which England had rendered to the Porte were still fresh in the recollection of the Turks. At nine in the morning of the 1st of September, with a cloudless sky, the steamer left her moorings at Pesth, and we were fairly embarked for an uninterrupted journey by river and sea of 1245 miles. A large, well-appointed steam-vessel, devoted entirely to the transfer of passengers, agreeable companions (three of whom were Englishmen, going like ourselves to Constantinople), excellent food, fine weather, and ofttimes magnificent scenery, combined to make up a sum of enjoyment, with little or nothing to mar it. Mosquitoes there might have been, but we saw or felt none. Malaria might have prevailed, but we altogether escaped it. The boats are furnished by the Danube Navigation Company--a private association, with a government concession of a monopoly for fifteen years. They have upwards of three hundred boats, including tugs and others engaged in the carriage of merchandise. It is said their profits are large; if so, they are merited, for their arrangements are remarkably good; the boats are clean, and the crew and officers civil and obliging, very different from the Austrian Lloyd's, which are the very opposite. It must, however, be borne in mind that the latter are sea-going vessels, and carry merchandise as well as passengers, whereas those of the Danube Company carry passengers only, and are confined to that river. Their charge may appear high. From Vienna to Constantinople they frank you for 148 florins (about 127. 8s.), but this voyage occupies six or seven days, and food is included-three meals a day, besides coffee au réveil and after dinner, and all remarkably good. From Galatz, where you change to the Austrian Lloyd's steamers, you pay for your food-about 6s. per day. From the accounts we had heard and read of the indifferent sleeping accommodation on board these boats, we secured a private cabin, at a further cost of 107.; doubtless it was a luxury, but in no way was it necessary, even for ladies. One requisite, however, I must admit was wanting-a stewardess. After leaving Pesth the Danube is not very rapid, nor are its banks picturesque :

* That is, the writer and his wife, unattended by courier or servant. Aug.-VOL. CX. NO. CCCCXL. 2 c

its waters are spread over a vast flat, shoals and islands abound, and on either side, where the water ceases, the eye rests on a vast, interminable plain. The only objects which broke the view were the herds of white oxen, the usual beasts for slow draught, and diminutive horses driven from their pastures to avoid the flies and heat, standing up to their hocks in the water, or couched down upon the banks, ofttimes two or three herds with one solitary attendant. About mid-day we reached the town of Foldvar, on the southern side of the river. This was the first indication of population to any extent; hitherto, but a few straggling villages had been visible. The rapidity of the stream necessitates turning the head of the vessel against it in order to stop with safety, and during the whole length of the Danube this manœuvre is adopted. About two P.M. we stopped at Mohacks, also on the southern side of the river. Here a delay of half an hour was necessary to take in coal. Upon the Upper Danube, that is, between Donnerwurth and Vienna, wood is the fuel used. From Vienna downwards coal is to be obtained. Here it came from Funfkirchen, about fifty miles distant; and, although apparently mere dust, when wetted and mixed with shavings and wood rubbish, it burns well, as breeze does with us. It was brought on board in baskets on poles borne on the shoulders; women shared the toil with the men in bringing it from the depôt to the side of the boat. Two young damsels, straight as a reed, with short kirtles of gaudy colours reaching but little below the knee, with a bare leg that, contrasted with the coal-stained soil, looked milky-white, as agile as ballet-dancers, gracefully and energetically did their part. There seemed a rivalry as to which could most quickly and dexterously deposit their basket. A bright starlit sky, brighter than we are accustomed to see, enabled us to proceed during the night, save for about half an hour. The tortuous course of the river and the numerous shoals, many of which shift from time to time, render the navigation intricate, if not dangerous, in the dark. Now and then a tug would pass us, panting and fuming as it laboured against the stream with five or six heavily-laden barges at its stern filled with pigs in tiers, like a travelling menagerie. Their grunt and squeak assured us of the nature of the living cargo. Suddenly innumerable lights would appear, like meteors, floating on the surface of the water: these were the cornmills moored in the river, with a rude wheel in the centre, which rapidly turns as the stream rushes over it. Having passed the embouchment of the Drave and the town of Peterwardein during the night, at about eight next morning Semlin appeared in sight, and then the walls and fortress of Belgrade. Its crenated walls and towers present an imposing and warlike appearance, indicative of the scenes of storm and bloodshed connected with its history. The Drave and the Theis united here flow into the Danube. Off Belgrade an official came on board and requested our passports, which were not returned to us until we were leaving Orsova, but this was done with civility, almost with courtesy, and such had been the case through Belgium, Prussia, and Austria. And here I would remark that, although far from wishing to defend the passport system, I have never, throughout a wide range of travelling experience, suffered trouble or annoyance. A foreign-office passport, with a precaution to procure the necessary visés, its willing production when asked to show it or deliver it up, and ordinary civility to the officers, will secure respect, if not obsequious courtesy.

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