While the initials and dashes in the last quotation form a striking contrast to the out-spoken manner of the press now-a-days, the following jeu d’esprit denotes the unchangeable and everlasting grumble against taxation:
“No more Gambols.
’Twas merry at Christmas, when money was plenty,
And taxes took off not above five in twenty:
But how is it possible mirth should arise?
Now all that can make it is under Excise.
When light is not free in the worst of dull weather;
Wheels pay, if we ride; if we foot it, shoe-leather.”
Such was the “Aberdeen’s Journal” a hundred years ago. Its first number contained 39,560 separate pieces of type; its 5217th No. extends to above 750,000, or in other words 3 of the 48 columns of the present paper contains an entire reprint of the first No.