The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-03-12
Origin of Newspapers.
An interesting sketch of the Early Days
of the Press.

An interesting Sketch of the Early Days
of the Press.
We are indebted to the Italians for
the idea of newspapers. The title of
their gazettas was perhaps derived from
gdzsera, o magpie or chatterer or more
probably from farthing coin, peculiar
to the city of Venice, called gdzetta,
which was the common price of the
newspapers. Another etymologist is
for deriving it from the Latin gaza,
which would colloquially lengthen into
gdzettd, and signify treasury of news.
The Spanish derive it from th , Latin
gaza, and likewise their gdzetero and
and, what is peculiar to themselves,
gdzetiSta for lover of the gazette.
Newspapers, then, took their birth in
that principal land of modern politi.
clans, Italy, and under the government
of that aristocratical republic, Venice.
The first paper was Venetian one but
it was merely the newspaper of the gov
ernment. Other governments after
wards adopted the Venetian plan of q
newspaper, with the Venetian name.
From a solitary government gazette,
an inundation of newspapers has burst
upon us.
Those who first wrote newspapers
were called by the Italians naendRtt,
because, says Vossius, they intended
commonly by loose papers to spread
about defamatory reflections, and were
therefore prohibited in Italy by Gregory
XIII, by particular bull, under the
name of m,enanteS, from the Latin
n,inantes, threatening. Minage, how.
ever, derives it from the italian nenare,
which signifies to lead at large or spread
afar.
The first newspaper in the British
Museum Is marked No. so, and is in
Roman, not in black letter.
Periodical papers seems first to have
been more generally used by the Eng.
lish, during the civil wars of Cromwell,
to disseminate amongst the people the
sentiments of loyalty or rebellion, &C.
cording as their authors were disposed.
Peter Heglin, in the preface to his
"Cosmography," mentions that " the
affairs of each town of war were better
presented to the reader in the Weekly
Newsbook. Hence we find some pa.
pers entitled "News from Hull,
"Truths from York" Warranted I'll
dings from Ireland" etc. We find
also, "The Scots Dove opposed tt
the Parliament Kite, or The Secre
Owl" Keener animosities produce
keener titles Heraclitus ridens
found an antagonist, Demeritus ri
dens," and the Weekly Dscoverer ;
was shortly met by "The Discovere,
Stript Naked" Mercurius Britanni
Gus" " was grappled by "Mercuriu
Mastix, faithfully lashing all Scouts
Mercuries, Poets, Spies, and others.
Under all these names, papers had ap
peared /; but Mercury was the pre-
vailing title of these News Books, ant
the principles of the writer were gen
orally shown by the additional epithet
We find an alarming number of thes
Mercuries, which, were the story no
too long to tell, might excite som
laughter. They present us with YER
curious picture of those singula
names.
In the reign of Queen Anne ther
was but one daily paper; the other
were weeklies. Some attempted to in
troduce literary subjects, and othe
topics of a more general speculation
Sir Richard Steele formed the plan {
his Father" He designed it to en-
brace the three provinces of morals an
manners, of literature and politics.
The public were to be conducted il
sensibly into so different track froi
+ that to which they had been hithert
: accustomed hence politics were &C
mitted into the paper. But it RENAME
for the chaster genius of Addison t
Danish the painful topics from his ell,
CANT pages. The writer in polite le
$ ters felt himself degraded by sinkin
into the diurnal narrator of polite.
, events which so frequently originate
I rumors and party faction. From tn
time, newspapers and periodical liter'
t ture became distinct works.