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In the following chapters the attempt has been made to present in a succinct form the chief incidents in the history of British Journalism, from its early days down to the granting of the Royal Charter—a period of more than two centuries-and-a-half—and to give some account of the journalist's vocation, in all its varied phases, in the present day.

The story of the struggle and ultimate triumph of the Press of our land over Government censorship, repressive laws, crushing fiscal imposts, and all the forces of prejudice and ignorance, forms a branch of national history as important, as interesting, and as full of lessons for the present and the future, as any part of the narrative of the struggle for religious and political liberty. In a compendious volume like the present—where the historical retrospect forms only a portion of the scheme of contents—it is possible to present only the outlines of newspaper history, but it is hoped that what has been written may prove a useful introduction to the study of such works as the late Mr James Grant's "The Newspaper Press," and Mr H. R. Fox Bourne's "English Newspapers." The