| PRINCE RUPERT, GENERAL OF THE KING’S HORSE, 1643. |
Soon after the King had unfurled his Standard at Nottingham the battle of Edgehill was fought, and an illustrated tract relates how the inhabitants of Kenton, a village near the battle-field, were disturbed at night by strange noises and the appearance of apparitions after the battle. The name of Prince Rupert begins to appear in the narratives of events, and his portrait frequently occurs in the illustrated sheets of this period. This dashing and impetuous Cavalier, whose rash courage excited the admiration of the Royalists, was regarded by the Roundheads as a cruel and bloodthirsty enemy, and he was often denounced by the Puritan preachers. In 1643 there was a pamphlet published called ‘The Bloody Prince; or, a Declaration of the Most Cruell Practises of Prince Rupert and the rest of the Cavaliers in fighting against God and the true Ministers of his Church.’ Facing the title is a woodcut representing Prince Rupert on his charger, with the towns of Birmingham and Daventry in the background, both of which places were the scenes of conflict during the war, the former having been taken, partially burnt, and a heavy fine inflicted on the inhabitants by Prince Rupert.
The City of London having taken the side of the Parliament, was naturally inclined to honour its chief magistrate when he was found to be an active and energetic promoter of its views. Isaac Pennington was Lord Mayor in 1643, and his portrait was published in a laudatory pamphlet, entitled ‘A True Declaration, and just Commendation of the great and incomparable care of the Right Honourable Isaac Pennington.’ His Lordship is styled the Atlas of the city, bearing the weight and management of all civil affairs on his shoulders, and he is much commended for his great care in superintending the building of the fortifications round London under the direction of the Parliament. ‘And herein,’ says the writer, ‘your honour hath shewed yourselfe an excellent Magistrate complying with the Parliament in all matters that concerne the publicke administration of the Commonweale; so that you have lookt upon the present state of this Citie and Religion with the cleare eye of justice; you have heard of the great pressures which the country hath endured by the cruelty of the Cavaliers; you have to the discouragement of malignants on the shoulders of fortitude, bore and suffered their false aspersions.... Your Honour hath in your present Magistracie walked uprightly, having clean and pure hands; nay, strong hands; for your Honour hath been the chiefest raiser and promoter of the workes and fortifications round about the Citie of London: you saw the times were dangerous, and that the King’s Cavaliers gaped after nothing more than to get London, and make it a prey to the supplying of their necessities.’ I have copied the portrait of the man who was thus distinguished by his fellow-citizens, not merely as an example of illustrated news, but as showing what a Lord Mayor of London looked like in Charles I.’s time.
| ISAAC PENNINGTON, LORD MAYOR OF LONDON, 1643. |
It was in the City of London, and during the second year of the Civil War, that the first illustrated newspaper came into existence. The Weekly News had attempted on only one occasion to illustrate the news of the day, but the Mercurius Civicus frequently gave illustrations, and it is therefore entitled to be ranked as the first illustrated newspaper. It is true that most of the engravings it contains are portraits, and sometimes the same woodcut is used to represent more than one person. Besides portraits of the King and Queen, there are portraits of the chief generals and commanders engaged in the war. There are Prince Rupert, the Lord General, Sir Thomas Fairfax, the Marquis of Huntley, Sir Edward Deering, General Lesley, Lord Inchiquin, Lord Digby, Sir W. Waller, the Earl of Warwick, and others. ‘The Mercurius Civicus, London’s Intelligencer, or Truth impartially related from thence to the whole kingdom, to prevent misinformation, from Thursday July 13 to Thursday July 20, 1643,’ is the full title of No. 8; and it is curious to notice how nearly a portion of the title—London’s Intelligencer—corresponds to the London News. It was a peculiar feature of the early newspapers that they were announced as being published ‘to prevent misinformation,’ or for the ‘correction of false reports’—not so much for the diffusion of truth as for the correction of falsehood.
| CHARLES I. AND HIS QUEEN, FROM ‘MERCURIUS CIVICUS,’ 1643. |
On the front page of Number 8 of the Mercurius Civicus are small portraits of Charles I. and his Queen, engraved on wood. Over the woodcut is a sort of table of contents, thus:—‘The King and Queen conjoyned, the Kentish news related, our Forces are united, A publique Fast appointed.’ On the preceding page is given a facsimile of the cut of the King and Queen.
| WEAPON CALLED A ROUNDHEAD, FROM ‘MERCURIUS CIVICUS,’ 1643. |
Similar portraits occur in other numbers, as well as several ornamental letters; but there is in Number 11 a very interesting illustration of the news of the hour. It is a woodcut of a weapon said to be intended for use against the Roundheads, and the following account is given of it:—‘In the Danish Ship lately taken by the Earle of Warwicke, near Newcastle, were found Armes compleat for 5000 foot and for 500 horse, 500 barrels of Gunpowder, Great store of Match and Lead, beside a thousand of those weapons which the Papists call Round-heads, for that with them they intended to bring the Round-heads into subjection. Many such weapons were long since found in divers Papists’ houses in Lancashire; it is a weapon with an ovall or round top, stuck full of iron spikes. The forme whereof for better satisfaction is here set downe.’ Then follows a representation of the weapon, of which a facsimile is given on the opposite page. The same cut is reprinted in other numbers.
| PORTRAIT OF PRINCE RUPERT, FROM ‘MERCURIUS CIVICUS,’ 1644. |