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NOTES AND QUERIES. 19 th s. xn. JULY 11, im

a regular periodical publication, the pamphlet mentioned above would appear to fulfil that condition. Some few sheets with a similar title came out during the earlier part of the same year, but these are classed by most authorities not as newspapers, but as stray news-pamphlets. Nathaniel Butter was pro- bably the first to conceive the idea of a regular weekly issue. By the following ex- tract from his Weekly Newes of 23 August, 1622, it appears that Butter published his first Weekly Newes on 2 August :

"If any gentleman or other accustomed to buy the weekly relations of Newes, be desirous to con- tinue the same, let them know that the writer, or transcriber rather, of this Newes, hath published two former Newes, the one dated the 2nd, and the other the 13th of August, all of which do carry a

like title and have dependence one upon another;

which manner of writing and printing he doth pro- pose to continue weekly by God's assistance, from the best and most certain intelligence : farewell this twenty-third of August 1622."

Is it known where a copy of this first number can be seen ? I have thoroughly searched through the wonderful Burney collection of early papers in the British Museum, but it is not there. Moreover, there is nothing to show that writers upon this subject have ever seen any number before that for 23 August. HENRY ARTHUR.

JAMES HEATH, ENGRAVER, 1757-1834. (9 th S. x. 268.)

MY query as to the parentage of this eminent engraver, which you kindly inserted last October, has resulted in complete proof that, so far from having been (as stated in the ' D.N.B.') "the eldest son of George Heath, a yeoman farmer at Horton, in Staffordshire," he was really a younger son of George Heath, citizen and stationer, of London, and was born almost within the shadow of St. Paul's.

My thanks are due in the first place to Mr. Robert Hovenden, F.S.A., who wrote to tell me that his wife's father, George Heath (1791-1858), was the elder son of the en- graver's brother George. Mr. Hovenden not only gave me all the information in his possession about the family, but also made several searches in City registers. My thanks are also due to Mrs. H. E. Maiden, niece of Sir Leopold Heath, for much help, and for having personally visited Nottingham; as well as to Mr. Charles 11. Rivington, clerk to the Stationers' Company, and Mr. William Lempriere, of Christ's Hospital, who each

supplied valuable evidence in answer to direct inquiry.

The pedigree now stands as follows : The engraver's grandfather was Joseph Heath, a bookseller and publisher in Nottingham, whose shop was in the South Parade. Mr. James Ward, the Nottingham antiquary, has a copy of the catalogue of his lending library, the annual subscription to which was 2s.; and he also has a small print of the shop as it existed in 1749, and several books printed by him, one dated 1744. Joseph Heath seems to have died or retired about 1748-9, and the shop was kept on by a Mr. Dunn, who had been his partner. Neither the marriage of Joseph Heath, nor the baptism of any of his children, is recorded in any of the Notting- ham parish registers. He had issue as follows :

1. George Heath, the engraver's father. As son of Joseph Heath, of Nottingham, bookseller, he was bound apprentice 5 Sep- tember, 1738, to Eleazer Duncombe, of Duck Lane, London, bookbinder, for a premium of 211. He was made a freeman of the Stationers' Company 1 October, 1745, and admitted to the Livery 2 June, 1761. He was in business in Butcher Row, Newgate Street, as a stationer and bookbinder. I have traced nothing of his first wife, unless he is the George Heath who married Abigail Carroll, of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, 28 June, 1746, at St. George's Chapel, Hyde Park Corner. His second wife was named Mary, and after her husband's death, which must have occurred between 1771 and 1774, she was married again to William Hensman, of Butcherhall Lane, by whom she had a daughter, who became Mrs. Teulon.

2. Joseph Heath, of Nottingham. Mr. Ward has a book printed by "Joseph Heath, Junior, Bookseller, Nottingham," but it is not dated. His will is dated 25 February, 1785, with a codicil 6 February, 1787; but the date and place of its proof are not known. He is described as " of the Town of Nottingham, Gent." He leaves various properties in the town to his wife Mary. To his sister, Mrs. Stanley, he leaves his "silver cup marked

j He mentions, in addition to nearer

relatives, his cousins Hannah Wood, of Lenton ; Denis Clipsom, of Market Har- borough, hosier ; Hannah Lewis, wife of Mr. Lewis, of London ; and Mary, wife of Mr. John Littleton, watchmaker, of London. He also mentions, without specifying the relationship, William Clipsom, of Kettering, joiner and cabinet maker : John Clipsom, of Market Harborough, wool-stapler; Joseph