Page:Devon and Cornwall Queries Vol 9 1917.djvu/310

244 Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries. and the Early Exeter Newspaper Press " (Trans Devon. Assoc, XX., 163-214), remained unchallenged as an accurate and complete account of the origin of newspapers in Devon- shire. According to this the first paper was The Exeter Mercury: or Weekly Intelligence of Neivs, dated September 24th, 1714, and printed by Philip Bishop at his printing office in St. Peter's Churchyard. The following year appeared a bi-weekly, The Protestant Mercury: or The Exeter Post-Boy with News Foreign and Domestick, the first number of which was probably dated September 27th, 171 5, though Dr. Brush- field, reckoning it as a weekly from No. IV., October 7th, gives the original date as September i6th. This was printed by Jos. Bliss at his new printing-house, near the London Inn, without East-Gate, and, as is evident from a comparison of their title-pages (facsimiles of which are given by Dr. Brushfield), was modelled on the Exeter Mercury, and was started in this form in opposition to it. But it now appears that Bliss had previously started a paper in 1707, for Mr. J. B. WiUiams has unearthed in the British Museum a solitary copy of this paper, the only one of the series known to exist. His discovery was first announced in The Times Printing Number, 191 2, and he has since contributed two notes on the subject to Notes and Queries (12 S., ii., 81, 216). The paper is preserved in the Burney collection, Vol. 153 B, and its title is as follows: — "/o5. Bliss's Exeter Post-Boy, containing an impartial collection of the most material news, both foreign and domestick. Friday, May the 4th, 1711. No. 211." And the imprint at the end is : — " Exon: Printed by Joseph Bliss, at the Exchange Coffee House, in St. Peter's Church-Yard." This paper, therefore, commenced in April, 1707, but Mr. Williams supposes that another printer must have preceded Bliss, for Dr. Tanner, writing to Browne Willis in 1706, says, "I am told they print also a weekly paper at Exeter." At any rate, the only earlier provincial papers known are Burges's Norwich Post, 1701 ; Bonny's Bristol Post-Boy, 1702 ; and Crossgrove's Gazette (Norwich), 1706. The Exeter Post-Boy is a quaint little sheet — two pages only, about foolscap size. At the top corners are two rough woodcuts, as in the later papers, the left-hand one being a