Victorious Reign of King Edward the Third

is prefixed,

'I have perused this Book, and conceive it very worthy to be published. Io. Coke, Knight, Principal Secretary of State, Whitehall, 17 of November, 1634.'

But Aleyn's metrical

History of Henry VII.

(1638) is licensed by the Bishop of London's domestic chaplain, who writes:

'Perlegi historicum hoc poema, dignumque judico quod Typis mandetur. Tho. Wykes R. P. Episc. Lond. Chapell. Domest.'

The first newspaper had been

the Weekly Newes

, first published May 23, 1622, at a time when, says