C.W. BINGHAM.
Bingham's Melcombe, Blandford.
REPLIES.
LICENSING OF BOOKS.
(Vol. ii., p.359.)
On the 12th November, 5 & 6 Philip and Mary, 1558, a bill "That no man shall print any book or ballad, &c., unless he be authorized thereunto by the king and queen's majesties licence, under the Great Seal of Englande," was read for the first time in the House of Lords, where it was read again a second time on the 14th. On the 16th it was read for the third time, but it did not pass, and probably never reached the Commons; for Queen Mary died on the following day, and thereby the Parliament was dissolved. (Lords' Journal, i. 539, 540.) Queen Elizabeth, however did by her high prerogative what her sister had sought to effect by legislative sanction. In the first year of her reign, 1559, she issued injunctions concerning both the clergy and the laity: the 51st Injunction was in the following terms:—
"Item, because there is great abuse in the printers of books, which for covetousness chiefly regard not what they print, so they may have gain, whereby ariseth the great disorder by publication of unfruitful, vain, and infamous books and papers; the queen's majesty straitly chargeth and commandeth, that no manner of person shall print any manner of book or paper, of what sort, nature, or in what language soever it be, except the same be first licensed by Her Majesty by express words in writing, or by six of her privy council; or be perused and licensed by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Bishop of London, the chancellors of both universities, the bishop being ordinary, and the archdeacon also of the place, where any such shall be printed, or by two of them, whereof the ordinary of the place to be always one. And that the names of such, as shall allow the same, to be added in the end of every such work, for a testimony of the allowance thereof. And because many pamphlets, plays, and ballads be oftentimes printed, wherein regard would be had that nothing therein should be either heretical, seditious, or unseemly for Christian ears; Her Majesty likewise commandeth that no manner of person shall enterprise to print any such, except the same be to him licensed by such Her Majesty's commissioners, or three of them, as be appointed in the city of London to hear and determine divers clauses ecclesiastical, tending to the execution of certain statutes made the last parliament for uniformity of order in religion. And if any shall sell or utter any manner of books or papers, being not licensed as is abovesaid, that the same party shall be punished by order of the said commissioners, as to the quality of the fault shall be thought meet. And touching all other books of matters of religion, or policy, or governance, that have been printed, either on this side the seas, or on the other side, because the diversity of them is great, and that there needeth good consideration to be had of the particularities thereof, Her Majesty referreth the prohibition or permission thereof to the order, which her said commissioners within the city of London shall take and notify. According to the which, Her Majesty straitly chargeth and commandeth all manner her subjects, and especially the wardens and company of stationers, to be obedient.
"Provided that these orders do not extend to any profane authors and works in any language, that have been heretofore commonly received or allowed in any of the universities or schools, but the same may be printed, and used as by good order they were accustomed."—Cardswell's Documentary Annals, i. 229.
This injunction was, I take it, the origin of the licensing of the press of this country. On the 23d June, 28 Eliz. 1586 (not 1585, as in Strype),
Archbishop Whitgift and the Lords of the Privy Council in the Star Chamber made rules and ordinances for redressing abuses in printing. No printing-press was to be allowed elsewhere than in London (except one in each University); and no book was to be printed until first seen and perused by the Archbishop of Canterbury or Bishop of London; with an exception in favour of the queen's printer, and books of the common law, which were to be allowed by the Chief Justices and Chief Baron, or one of them. Extensive and arbitrary powers of search for unlicensed books and presses were also given to the wardens of the Stationers' Company. (Strype's Life of Archbishop Whitgift, 222.; Records, No.XXIV.) On the 1st July, 1637, another decree of a similar character was made by the Court of Star Chamber. (Rushworth's Historical Collections, Part ii. p.450.) The Long Parliament, although it dissolved the Star Chamber, seems to have had no more enlightened views as respects the freedom of the press than Queen Elizabeth or the Archbishops Whitgift and Laud; for on the 14th June, 1643, the two Houses made an ordinance prohibiting the printing of any order or declaration of either House, without order of one or both Houses; or the printing or sale of any book, pamphlet, or paper, unless the same were approved and licensed under the hands of such persons as both or either House should appoint for licensing the same. (Parliamentary History, xii. 298.) The names of the licensers appointed are given in Neal's History of the Puritans (ed. 1837, ii. 205.). It was this ordinance which occasioned the publication, in or about 1644, of Milton's most noble defence of the liberty of the press, entitled Areopagitica; a Speech for the Liberty of unlicensed Printing, To the Parliament of England. After setting out certain Italian imprimaturs, he remarks: