11 S. X. OCT. 24, 1914.1
NOTES AND QUERIES.
325
Europe, especially of the late Frederic II. and
an interesting Picture of the State of Politics,
particularly in Prussia, Russia, Germany, and
Holland. In a Series of letters, translated
from the French ; a Posthumous Work. To
which is added, a Memorial, presented to the
present King of Prussia, on the Day of his
Accession to the Throne. By Count Mirabeau.
Dublin : Printed by P. Byrne, No. 108, Grafton-
Street. M.DCC.LXXXix." Octavo, xvi + 1-440
pp.
This book was translated or taken from a French work : " Histoire secrete de la cour de Berlin, ou Corre-
spondance d'un voyageur francais. depuis le
mois de juillet, 1786, jusqu'au 19 Janvier,
1787. 1789."
This book, published at Alencon by Malassis le jenne, was an anonymous work of Honore Gabriel Riquetti, the famous Count Mirabeau (1749-91). Cf. Qudrard, 6: 158 ; ' Biographie Universelle,' 35: 643 ; and Larousse, 11, 1: 312. It is included in the Paris 1835 edition of the ' (Euvres de .Mirabeau ' (8: 199, 561), as well as [in the Barbier edition (2: 831). Basis for attribu- tion to Holcroft as translator is to be found in Watt, ' Bibliotheca Britannica,' vol. i. pt. i. p. 504, in Larousse (9: 335), and in the ' Biographia Dramatica,' vol. i. pt. i. p. 354. Holcroft's familiarity with the work may be assumed from a reference to it as " singular," " instructive and amusing,' 1 in the ' Post- humous Works of Frederick II.' (5: xvi), and from the fact that Baron Trenck did an ' Examen politique et critique de 1'Histoire secrete de la Cour de Berlin ' (Berlin, 1789), in refutation of Mirabeau's assertions con- cerning the princes of the North.
1789. " The Comic Songster, or Laughing Conr
panion The Fourth Edition. London 1
Printed for W. Lane, Leadenhall - Street.
II DCC LXXXIX."
I note in the British Museum (11622. bb. 4. ) the foregoing. This volume contains the following songs by Holcroft :
" Of ups and downs we daily see " (pp. 128-30), under the title of " The Ups and Downs, Sung by Mr. Edwin," who had the part of Pedro, to whom the song is assigned in Act I. of ' The -Choleric Fathers ' (1785).
" Your Mountain, Sack, your Frontinac," &c. (P- 140),
under the title of " The Palaces of Liquor, Sutior by Mr. Edwin," also taken from Act I. of ' The Choleric Fathers ' (1785).
ELBRIDGE COLBY.
Columbia University, New York City.
(To be continued.)
'THE CIRENCESTER FLYIXG-POST.'
LEAVING the city of Bristol out of considera- tion, the first printing-press in Gloucester- shire of which there is reliable evidence was set up in Cirencester. There also were estab- lished some of the earliest booksellers in the county, for though I have recorded (11 S. iii. 348-9) one in Gloucester as early as 1632, Cirencester gives us almost a continuous succession of local booksellers from 1680, whereas similar activity in the- county town did not commence until Robert Raikes established his business iu 1722. My friend MR. H. E. NORRIS and I have collected many data with reference to- the booksellers and printers of Cirencester,. and I hope room in ' N. & Q.' may be found ere long for a chronological list which MR. NORRIS has compiled from his pamphlet on the subject printed in 1912 and addi- tional facts obtained since.
The immediate purport of this note is to record a Cirencester newspaper of which there does not appear to be mention in any work of reference I have been able to see. An earlier, and also, outside Bristol, the first newspaper published in Gloucestershire, was; issued from Cirencester two years before the Gloucester Journal was established, this- being the Cirencester Post ; or, Gloucester- shire Mercury, of which copies for 16 March, 1719, No. 18'; 25 July, 1720, vol. ii. No. 37 (both in British Museum); and 9 Dec., 1723 r vol. vi. No. 5, are known, the numeration showing that the paper was first published on Monday, 17 Nov., 1718. This paper has- been referred to in ' Bibliographica,' ii. 301 ;. by Mr. F. A. Hyett (Trans. Bristol and Glos. Arch. Soc., xx* 48-9); and in the 'Manual of Gloucestershire Literature,' ii. 162, a facsimile of the title of the number for 25 July, 1720, being given in the large- paper copies.
It is not known when the paper ceased r though Thomas Hinton, the proprietor, w As- printing in Cirencester in 1724.
The paper I am about to mention is not described in the ' Manual of Gloucestershire Literature,' nor is its title given in Nichols'* ' Literary Anecdotes ' or in Timperley 's 'Dictionary of Printing.' No copy of the paper appears to be in the British Museum, or Bodleian. This is The Cirencester Flying- Post, and Weekly Miscellany, of which the Bingham Library, Cirencester, possesses a file from No. 42, 5 Oct., 1741, to No. 164 r 6 Feb., 1743/4. Copies of No. 29, 7 July, 1741, when the publishing day was Tuesdaj-,. and No. 35, 17 Aug., 1741, when the paper
