■ 
 
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 Glass^ 
 Book. 
 
 By bequest of 
 
 Samuel Hay Kauffmann 
 
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 nouciiT u;.all, 
 
 (OKSEuIXTl AND STATIONEa, 
 
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 ■■'■■*,'* 
 
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The Book-Lover's Library. 
 
 Edited by 
 Henry B. Wheatley, F.S.A. 
 
NEWSPAPER REPORTING 
 
 IN OLDEN TIME AND TO-DA Y 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN PENDLETON 
 
 Author of "A History of Derbyshire," etc., etc. 
 
 A. C. ARMSTRONG & SON, 714 BROADWAY 
 1890 
 
" They were passing through the Strand as they talked, and by 
 a newspaper office, which was all lighted up and bright. Reporters 
 were coming out of the place, or rushing up to it in cabs ; there 
 were lamps burning in the editors' rooms, and above, where the 
 compositors were at work, the windows of tlie building were in a 
 blaze of gas. 
 
 " 'Look at that, Pen,' Warrington said. " l There she is — the 
 great engine — she never sleeps. She has her ambassadors in every 
 quarter of the world — lier couriers upon every road. Her officers 
 march along with armies, and her envoys walk into statesmen' s 
 cabinets. They are ubiquitous. Yonder journal has an agent, 
 at this minute, giving bribes at Madrid; and another inspecting 
 the price of potatoes at Covent Garden. Look, here comes the foreign 
 express galloping in. They will be able to give news to Downing 
 Street to-morrow ; funds will rise or fall, fortunes be made or lost; 
 Lord B. will get up, and holding the paper in his hand, and seeing 
 the noble Marquis in his place, will make a great speech ; and— 
 and Mr. Doolan will be called away jrom his supper at the back 
 kitchen ; for he is foreign sub-editor, and sees the mail on the 
 newspaper sheet before he goes to his own.' " — From " The History 
 ■of Pendennis," by William Makepeace TJuxckeray. 
 
 Gift of 
 
 S a m • ■ e 1 H ay iv a uf f ' mann 
 
 26 MAR 1907 
 
 Control 
 
 Number 
 
 tm P 96 031011 
 
3o? 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 |®gSji7^ English Press is, in our 
 I ihLBBI own day, whatever it may 
 have been in the past, of 
 great interest to the English people. 
 It is their chronicler ; its work is 
 to give a reflex of their daily lives 
 — of their enterprise in commerce, 
 of their industry \ of their government, 
 of their struggle for a nobler social 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 condition* of tlieir happiness and 
 misery. The English Press has had 
 far more to do with the true making 
 of this land than the horde of ancestors 
 to whom the credit has been given ; 
 for, notwithstanding its faults \ the Press 
 has done much towards lifting England 
 out of the darkness of prejudice and 
 ignorance. How it did it will some 
 day be written; but this little book 
 makes no pretension even to dip into 
 such a task. It is not a history of 
 journalism. It is not a history of 
 shorthand. It deals simply with tlie 
 Newspaper Reporter and his toil y 
 
Preface. vii 
 
 pointing out how and under what 
 conditions he does his work as the 
 daily historian of the time. Consider- 
 ing the variety of that work> the many 
 pliases of society with which the 
 reporter becomes familiar, and the 
 strange incidents inseparable from his 
 career \ the story of his journalistic life 
 should not be unattractive either to 
 tlie ordinary reader or to the book- 
 lover, especially as it contains many 
 references to the quaint literature of 
 the past, and indicates the change 
 in the mode of recording events 
 since the time when the old-fashioned 
 
viii Preface. 
 
 news-letter became neglected, and 
 its place better filled by that new 
 friend, instructor, and critic — the 
 daily newspaper. 
 
 Manchester, 
 
 March 1890. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Reporting in Olden Time i 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The Reporter in Parliament . . 29 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Incidents and Traditions of "The 
 
 Gallery" . . . . -47 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Reporting To-Day in " The House " . 75 
 
x Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A Gossip about Shorthand . . .119 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The Reporter's Work 143 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Some Experiences* and Adventures of 
 Reporters 161 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Writings on Newspapers and Re- 
 porters 203 
 
 Index 231 
 
I. 
 
 Reporting in Olden Time. 
 
NEWSPAPER REPORTING. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Reporting in Olden Time. 
 
 |tf5jf£5jjjH ERE have been reporters in 
 1&89 nearly all ages of the world, for 
 pmjTjtl its people have always been 
 characterised by insatiable curiosity — by an 
 eagerness for news. The modern reporter 
 — the self-reliant gentleman who dashes 
 along Fleet Street at midnight in a hansom 
 to a big fire, or drives rapidly to St. Pancras 
 or King's Cross to catch the north express 
 on * his way to some disaster in Yorkshire 
 
4 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 — is simply a development of the news- 
 gatherer of centuries ago. The craft is an 
 ancient one ; indeed, it . has been main- 
 tained that there were reporters at the siege 
 of Jericho — facile penmen who described 
 the blowing of the trumpets by the priests, 
 the shouts of the people, the fall of the 
 walls, and the destruction of the city by 
 fire. This contention certainly is credit- 
 able to the reporter's imagination, whatever 
 may be thought of its veracity. But it is 
 more reasonable to assert that there were 
 reporters in Rome during the sway of the 
 Caesars ; that when Venice was in her glory 
 reporters sped along the water-ways in 
 gondolas, or sauntered near St. Mark's, 
 collecting the light and learned gossip of 
 the city ; and that scarcely had printing 
 got a foothold in England than reporters 
 began their tireless search after facts — a 
 search that they are still continuing with 
 marvellous zeal, ingenuity, and ability, in 
 
Reporting in Olden Time. 5 
 
 the face of difficulties that would daunt 
 many men, but only nerve them to further 
 effort. 
 
 In his preface to the Gentleman's Maga 
 zine in 1 740, Dr. Johnson says : " Every- 
 body must allow that our newspapers (and 
 the other collections of intelligence periodi- 
 cally published), by the materials they 
 afford for discourse and speculation, con- 
 tribute very much to the emolument of 
 society ; their cheapness brings them into 
 universal use; their variety adapts them to 
 every one's taste : the scholar instructs him- 
 self with advice from the literary world ; 
 the soldier makes a campaign in safety, 
 and censures the conduct of generals with- 
 out fear of being punished for mutiny ; the 
 politician, inspired by the fumes of the 
 coifee-pot, unravels the knotty intrigues of 
 Ministers ; the industrious merchant ob- 
 serves the course of trade and navigation ; 
 and the honest shopkeeper nods over the 
 
6 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 account of a robbery % and the price of 
 goods till his pipe is out. One may easily 
 imagine that the use and amusement of 
 these diurnal histories render it a custom 
 not likely to be confined to one part of 
 the globe or one period of time. The 
 Relations of China mention a gazette 
 published there by authority, and the 
 Roman historians sometimes quote the 
 Acta Diurna, or Daily Advertiser, of that 
 Empire." 1 
 
 Of bygone reporting in China little is 
 known. Probably the celestial recorders of 
 current events had enough difficulty in 
 deciphering the characters of their mystic 
 longhand without rashly venturing upon a 
 system of phonography; but either a very 
 
 1 The Acta Dt'urna, the daily journals of the time, 
 recorded even the commonest events in the city, 
 were written under the direction of the magistrates, 
 and placed, with other documents of public interest, 
 in the Hall of Liberty. 
 
Reporting in Olden Time. y 
 
 abbreviated system of longhand or a crude 
 style of shorthand was early known in 
 Rome, inasmuch as writers " were em- 
 ployed by Cicero to take down verbatim 
 the speech of Cato in the debate in the 
 Senate on the trial of those who had 
 been concerned in the Catiline conspiracy." 
 And of general reporting — such as para- 
 graphs relating to important events — there 
 are numerous examples in the Acta Diurna. 
 For instance, there are several interesting 
 specimens, translated into our own tongue, 
 and given by Dr. Johnson in the Gentle- 
 man's Magazine^ of the work of the Roman 
 reporter in olden time : — 
 
 A. U. C, i.e. from the Building of 
 Rome, 585. 
 
 5th of the Kalends of April. 
 The Fasces with Aimilius the Consul. 
 The Consul, crowned with laurel, sacrificed 
 
8 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 at the Temple of Apollo. The Senate 
 assembled at the Curia Hostilia about the 
 eighth hour; and a decree passed that the 
 praetors should give sentence according to 
 the edicts which were of perpetual validity. 
 This day M. Scapula was accused of an 
 act of violence before C. Baebius, the 
 praetor; fifteen of the judges were for 
 condemning him, and thirty-three for ad- 
 journing the cause. 
 
 4TH OF THE KAL. OF APRIL. 
 
 The Fasces with Licinius the Consul. 
 
 It thundered, and an oak was struck 
 with lightning on that part of the Mount 
 Palatine called Summa Velia, early in the 
 afternoon. A fray happened in a tavern at 
 the lower end of the Banker's Street, in 
 which the keeper of the Hog-in-Armour 
 Tavern was dangerously wounded. Tertinius, 
 the ^Edile, fined the butchers for selling 
 
Reporting in Olden Time. . 9 
 
 meat which had not been inspected by the 
 overseers of the markets. The fine is to 
 be employed in building a chapel to the 
 Temple of the goddess Tellus. 
 
 Pridie Kal. Aprilis. 
 The Fasces with Licinius. 
 
 The Latin festivals were celebrated, a 
 sacrifice performed on the Alban Mount, 
 and a dole of raw fish distributed to the 
 people. A fire happened on Mount Ccelius ; 
 two trisulas and five houses were consumed 
 to the ground, and four damaged. Demi- 
 phon, the famous pirate, who was taken by 
 Licinius Nerva, a provincial lieutenant, was 
 crucified. The red standard was displayed 
 at the Capitol, and the Consuls obliged the 
 youth who were enlisted for the Mace- 
 donian war to take a new oath in the 
 Campus Martius. 
 
10 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 Kal. April. 
 
 Paulus, the Consul, and Cn. Octavius, 
 the praetor, set out this day for Macedonia, 
 in their habits of war, and vast numbers of 
 people attending them to the gates. The 
 funeral of Marcia was performed with 
 greater pomp of images than attendance of 
 mourners. The Pontifex Sempronius pro- 
 claimed the Megalesian plays in honour of 
 Cybele. 
 
 5th of the Kal. of September. 
 
 M. Tullius Cicero pleaded in defence of 
 Cornelius Sylla, accused by Torquatus of 
 being concerned in Catiline's conspiracy, 
 and gained his cause by a majority of five 
 judges. The Tribunes of the Treasury were 
 against the defendant. One of the praetors 
 advertised by an Edict that he should put 
 off his sittings for five days upon account 
 of his daughter's marriage. C. Caesar 
 
Reporting in Olden Time. 1 1 
 
 set out for his government of the farther 
 Spain — having been long detained by his 
 creditors. A report was brought to Ter- 
 tinius the praetor, whilst he was trying causes 
 at his tribunal, that his son was dead. 
 This was contrived by the friends of Cop- 
 ponius, who was accused of poisoning, that 
 the praetor in his concern might adjourn the 
 court ; but that magistrate having discovered 
 the falsity of the story, returned to his 
 tribunal, and continued in taking informa- 
 tions against the accused. 
 
 This is reporting to the point. It is true, 
 it is terse, it is candid. The representatives 
 of the Acta Diurna understood the art of 
 condensation, and they possessed not only 
 a graceful style, but an independent spirit. 
 In these days the Press has great license, 
 and says many bold things, but few modern 
 editors would pass a sentence like this in the 
 obituary notice of any prominent man : — 
 
12 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 "The funeral of Marcia was performed 
 with greater pomp of images than attend- 
 ance of mourners." 
 
 It certainly reads strangely, and is a 
 curious contrast to the attitude of the 
 British Parliament years later, that Julius 
 Caesar during his consulship ordered the 
 publication of the diurnal acts of the Senate 
 and the people. He does not appear to 
 have either harassed or insulted the re- 
 porters ; nor did any member of the Senate 
 venture to use language such as Sir Thomas 
 Winnington uttered against the reporter 
 Edwin Cave and his associates in the House 
 of Commons, on April 13th, 1738. "You 
 will have," said Sir Thomas, "every word 
 that is spoken here by gentlemen misrepre- 
 sented by fellows who thrust themselves into 
 our gallery ; you will have the speeches of 
 the House every . day printed, even during 
 your session, and we shall be looked upon 
 as the most contemptible assembly on the 
 
Reporting in Olden Time, 1 3 
 
 face of the earth." Nor does Julius Caesar, 
 though he was not exactly a pattern of 
 lovingkindness and tender mercy, appear to 
 have subjected the Press to such indignity 
 as our own Lord Marchmont, on whose 
 motion in the House of Lords, in November 
 1759, the proprietor of the Gazetteer was 
 compelled to apologise on his knees at the 
 bar of the House for reporting that the 
 thanks of Parliament had been given to Sir 
 Edward Hawke for his victory ! 
 
 The Acta Diurna contained many of the 
 features that make our own newspapers 
 attractive. They noticed not merely im- 
 portant but trivial events, such as, "A stage- 
 play was acted, this day being sacred to 
 Cybele." They gave accounts of murders, 
 trials, punishments, elections, marriages, 
 sacrifices, processions, imposing spectacles, 
 the feats of foot-races, the encounters of 
 gladiators, and the gossip of the time; but 
 apparently they had not realised the value 
 
14 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 of two items of modern news that never 
 grow stale — the perennial account of the 
 centenarian who can read without spectacles 
 and retains his faculties to the last, and the 
 thrilling story of the slippery sea-serpent that 
 has successfully defied capture for the past 
 century. , 
 
 The actuarii, the Roman reporters, had 
 comparatively little use for their stenography 
 after Caesar's death. The privilege of pub- 
 lishing the Acta Diurna was withdrawn ; and 
 from this period until the early part of the 
 sixteenth century newspapers, so far as can 
 be ascertained from available records, were 
 practically dead. But in a letter dated 
 Rome, September 15 13, from the Cardinal 
 of York to Henry VIII., about "The Battle 
 of the Spurs," occurs this passage: "After 
 this newes afforesaide was dyvulgate in the 
 citie here;" and Chalmers, the author of 
 The Life of Ruddiman, says there were news- 
 sheets in Augsburg and Vienna in 1524. 
 
Reporting in Olden Time. 1 5 
 
 But he admits that "the first modern sheet 
 of news " appeared in Venice about the year 
 1536, that it was in manuscript, and was 
 read aloud in certain parts of the city — a 
 journal that proved a great attraction, for it 
 was only issued once a month, and narrated, 
 in polished stirring words, how the Vene- 
 tians fared in their war against Turkey. 
 The fee paid for reading this sheet in manu- 
 script was a gazzetta, and the news-sheet 
 gradually got the name of the coin. At 
 least, Blount, in his Glossographia, pub- 
 lished in the seventeenth century, would 
 lead one to this conclusion, giving as the 
 definition of the word gazzetta, " A certain 
 Venetian coin, scarce worth one farthing ; 
 also a bill of news, or short relations of the 
 occurrences of the time, printed most com- 
 monly at Venice, and thence dispersed every 
 month in most parts of Christendom." 
 
 It was not until 16 12 that the gazzettas of 
 the Venetians first appeared as numbered 
 
1 6 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 sheets ; but some years previously the thirst 
 for news — now well-nigh unquenchable in 
 every civilised part of the globe — had spread 
 to England. The rich man retained a news- 
 writer, really " our own reporter " of the time, 
 who sent any interesting intelligence he could 
 obtain in the form of a letter to his patron. 
 But in 1588 the poor as well as the rich 
 thirsted for news. The Spaniards, flushed 
 with conquest and swaggering with success, 
 were crowding on all sail to our shores. 
 Queen Elizabeth had bidden them defiance ; 
 there was anxiety, but not cowardice, in 
 every English home ; the beacon fires 
 glowed brightly on the hill-tops, but there 
 was a fiercer glow of desperate courage in 
 the hearts of our men both at home and 
 on the sea, and every scrap of news about 
 the sailors who had gone out under Drake 
 and Frobisher to check the Armada was dis- 
 cussed in chimney corner by every fireside 
 in the land. It was then that Lord Burleigh 
 
Reporting in Olden Time. if 
 
 adopted the sensible course of spreading 
 information by means of a news-sheet ; and, 
 notwithstanding the forgeries in the British 
 Museum, such a paper was circulated under 
 the title of the English Mercurie. 
 
 • But to Nathaniel Butter belongs the 
 honour of printing the first English news- 
 paper issued regularly and methodically. 
 He was one of the most accomplished 
 news-writers of the seventeeth century — 
 practically the first English journalist, a 
 man of intelligence, foresight, and energy, 
 a man indefatigable in collecting news. 
 Had he lived in the present day, he would 
 probably have been styled "a penny-a- 
 liner," one who sends news to the papers 
 at so much per line, an industrious writer 
 with stylus, and flimsy, and carbon paper, 
 ever on the alert to get facts, to make 
 manifold copies, detailing shipwrecks, tra- 
 gedies, accidents, startling events of all 
 kinds, and to send them broadcast to 
 
1 8 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 every newspaper likely to appreciate his 
 work. But as Nathaniel Butter lived before 
 the age of daily newspapers, the scope for 
 his talents was somewhat limited. Still, 
 he made the most of his opportunities; 
 and, after laboriously writing, say to "my 
 lord" in Cornwall, about some gamesters' 
 brawl, or to "my lady" in Yorkshire, 
 about some love intrigue at Court, he de- 
 termined to print, instead of writing, the 
 news he collected, and the result was the 
 issue in 1622 of the first number of the 
 Weekly Newes. It was a novelty, and it 
 prospered ; the aristocracy still kept to their 
 news-letters, and generally looked down 
 upon the printed sheet ; but the intelli- 
 gence it contained was concise, interesting, 
 and frequently startling. People bought it, 
 though they did not always rely on the 
 truthfulness of its contents ; and the Weekly 
 Newes may be spoken of as the first suc- 
 cessful pioneer of modern journalism. 
 
Reporting in Olden Time. 19 
 
 In this century, when science, giant-like, 
 is striding resistlessly along the most difficult 
 and intricate paths, scarcely a year passes 
 without the adoption of some new device, 
 to which everybody soon gets accustomed. 
 Though superstition was common enough 
 and education only flickered in Nathaniel 
 Butter's day, there was much the same 
 spirit of philosophy existing, the same 
 capacity to adapt oneself to circumstances, 
 and the newspaper, widely accepted, soon 
 thrust itself into a far from insignificant 
 position in English life. True, it was a 
 crude newspaper, conspicuous rather for 
 its imperfections than its excellence; still, 
 it bore out the epigram, written in 1640, in 
 Wit's Recreations : — 
 
 " When news doth come, if any would discuss 
 The letter of the word, resolve it thus : 
 News is conveyed by letter, word, or mouth, 
 And comes to us from north, east, west, or south." 
 
 From all quarters, by flattery, cajolery, or 
 
20 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 payment, Nathaniel Butter secured news 
 for his paper, and much of it was more 
 sensational even than can be found in 
 some modern journals. Here, for instance, 
 are two remarkable paragraphs that appeared 
 in a seventeenth-century newspaper : — 
 
 "A true relation of the strange appear- 
 ance of a man-fish about three miles within 
 the river Thames, having a musket in one 
 hand and a petition in the other, credibly 
 reported by six sailors, who both saw and 
 talked with the monster." 
 
 " A perfect mermaid was, by the last 
 great wind, driven ashore near Greenwich, 
 with her comb in one hand and her 
 looking-glass in the other. She seemed 
 to be - of the countenance of a most fair 
 and beautiful woman, with her arms 
 crossed, weeping out many pearly drops 
 of salt tears; and afterwards she, gently 
 turning herself upon her back again, swam 
 away without being seen any more." 
 
Reporting in Olden Time. 2 1 
 
 These are wonderful stories; yet it must 
 not be imagined that the newspaper was 
 made up entirely of such Baron-Munch- 
 hausenlike writing. Current events were 
 chronicled, and in the main chronicled 
 faithfully ; and perhaps one of the earliest 
 examples of English reporting is to be 
 found in this century — an account of the 
 great London Fire, given in the London 
 Gazette in 1666 : — 
 
 " On the 2nd inst, at one of the clock 
 in the morning, there happened to break 
 out a sad and deplorable fire in Pudding 
 Lane, near New Fish Street, which falling 
 out at that hour of the night, and in a 
 quarter of the town so close built with 
 wooden pitched houses, spread itself so far 
 before day, and with such distraction to 
 the inhabitants and neighbours, that care 
 was not taken for the timely preventing 
 the further effusion of it by pulling down 
 houses as ought to have been; so that 
 
22 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 this lamentable fire in a short time became 
 too big to be mastered by any engines or 
 working near it. It fell out, most un- 
 happily too, that a violent easterly wind 
 fomented it, and kept it burning all that 
 day, and the night following, spreading 
 itself up to Gracechurch Street, and down- 
 wards from Cannon Street to the Water- 
 side, as far as the Three Cranes in the 
 Vintrey. The people, in all parts about 
 it, distracted by the vastness of it, and 
 their particular care to carry away their 
 goods, many attempts were made to pre- 
 vent the spreading of it by pulling down 
 houses, and making great intervals, but all 
 in vain, the fire seizing upon the timber 
 and rubbish, and so continuing itself, even 
 through those spaces, and raging in a 
 bright flame all Monday and Tuesday, not- 
 withstanding his Majesties own and his 
 Royal Highnesses indefatigable and per- 
 sonal pains to apply all possible means to 
 
Reporting in Olden Time, 23 
 
 prevent it, calling upon and helping the 
 people with their Guards ; and a great 
 number of nobility and gentry unweariedly 
 assisting therein, for which they were re- 
 quited with a thousand blessings from the 
 poor distressed people. By the favour of 
 God the wind slackened a little on Tues- 
 day night, and the flames meeting with 
 brick-buildings at the Temple, by little 
 and little it was observed to lose its force 
 on that side, so that on Wednesday morn- 
 ing we began to hope well, and his Royal 
 Highness, never despairing or slackning 
 his personal care, wrought so well that 
 day, assisted in some parts by the Lords 
 of the Council before and behind it, that a 
 stop was put to it at the Temple Church, 
 near Holburn Bridge, Pie-corner, Alders- 
 gate, Cripplegate, near the lower end of 
 Coleman Street, at the end of Basinghall 
 Street, by the Postern, at the upper end of 
 Bishopsgate Street, and Leadenhall Street, 
 
24 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 at the Standard in Cornhill, at the church 
 in Fanchurch Street, near Clothworkers 
 Hall in Mincing Lane, at the middle of 
 Mark Lane, and at the Tower dock." 
 
 Not many years after the Great Fire — in 
 1702 — the first daily newspaper, styled the 
 Daily Courant, started ; and since that time 
 the history of the English newspaper press 
 has been one of enterprise and progress. 
 The daily newspaper, be it the Times, 
 the Standard, the Daily News, the Man- 
 chester Guardian, the Scotsman, the Glas- 
 gow Herald, the Yorkshire Post, or the 
 Leeds Mercury, that appears on the break- 
 fast-table every morning, is a great con- 
 trast to the small and feeble daily journal 
 of nearly two hundred ■ years ago. The 
 Daily Courant, only printed on one side, 
 was no larger than a leaf in a quarto 
 encyclopedia ; it contained only a few insig- 
 nificant news paragraphs, home and foreign, 
 and the frank statement that "the editor 
 
Reporting in Olden Time. 25 
 
 would give no comments of his own, as he 
 assumed that other people had sense enough 
 to make reflections for themselves." What 
 a different paper is the modern daily, with 
 its summary, leading articles, special corre- 
 spondence flashed nightly over the private 
 wire, reports of speeches in and out of 
 Parliament, intelligence as to how feverishly 
 or steadily the pulse of commerce beats, 
 and general news more or less attractive 
 from every corner of the land and every 
 quarter of the globe ! Yet few of its readers 
 think at what wear and tear of brain and 
 hand the news-sheet is produced. They are 
 generally getting their beauty-sleep at mid- 
 night, when the newspaper office is ablaze 
 with light — instinct with vigorous life ; when 
 the editor, with shrewd mind and ready 
 pen, is showing his aptitude at political 
 criticism; when the sub-editors, in touch 
 by telegraph with all the world, have their 
 desks piled high with copy, from which they 
 
26 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 must, with skill and celerity, select the con- 
 tents of the next issue ; when the harassed 
 foreman over the printers — the autocrat of 
 the night — scowls at every additional scrap 
 of copy, swears it cannot be put in type in 
 time to get to press, and shouts to his 
 men, "Push on with correcting, gentlemen," 
 " New York prices," " Section Z Churchill's 
 speech," and similar phrases, until the last 
 line is set up, the type is in the formes, rushed 
 to the foundry to be cast, the plates placed 
 on the machines, the papers printed, and 
 taken at no snail's pace to the stations to 
 catch the newspaper trains. It is sharp 
 work, this daily grasp of the world's news, 
 and is responsible for many bald heads, 
 wrinkled brows, and crow's-feet about the 
 eyes ; but it is work that brings some satis- 
 faction and pride in its accomplishment. 
 
 It is, after all, on the reporter that the 
 success of the newspaper to- a great extent 
 depends. He is the collector of news, for 
 
Reporting in Olden Time. 2J 
 
 the circulation of which the paper really 
 exists. He is indispensable. On his ver- 
 batim report of the Premier's speech the 
 editor bases his leading article. Were it 
 not for the reporter's industry at home and 
 abroad, and the persistent and sometimes 
 whimsically ungrammatical zeal of the 
 country correspondent, the sub-editor's ruth- 
 less occupation would be gone. The re- 
 porter is always busy ; he is tireless. He 
 records the splendour and dazzle of the 
 Queen's drawing-room, and the want and 
 wretchedness of the poor. No festival is 
 complete without him; and he turns up at 
 every calamity. He listens to the debates 
 in the House and opens his note-book at 
 every public meeting. He chronicles the 
 deeds of the hero and the crimes of the 
 miscreant. He tells how the pulse of com- 
 merce beats in every market of the world; 
 science and art are beholden to his pen ; 
 and even religion itself has to thank him 
 
28 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 for some of its spread. He has become a 
 necessity to newspaper production, and no 
 inconsiderable figure in the national life. 
 Therefore it may be interesting to show 
 what his duties are, how he performs them, 
 and with what experience and adventure 
 his career is linked. 
 
II. 
 
 The Reporter in Parliament. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Reporter in Parliament. 
 
 jN Lord Beaconsfield's novel Endy- 
 miori) one of the characters is 
 made to say, " That odious House 
 of Commons is very wearisome," and doubts 
 whether any constitution can bear it very 
 long. But, however wearisome it may be, 
 and whatever its faults, the House of Com- 
 mons is a source of pride to many English- 
 men. Its legislative errors and enervating 
 verbosity are forgotten in the remembrance 
 that the place is hallowed by memories of 
 great statesmen, echoing still, as it were, 
 with the voices of famous orators of the 
 
32 Newspaper Reporting, 
 
 past, and associated with some measures 
 that have not been without benefit to the 
 nation. Even out of its prejudice and oppo- 
 sition good has occasionally come \ and, so 
 far as the Press of this country is concerned, 
 it is more powerful to-day because of the 
 persecution to which the House of Commons 
 subjected the reporter in years gone by. He 
 was held in scorn, looked upon as an eaves- 
 dropper, an interloper, a low fellow ; he took 
 notes in secret, apologised in public, and nar- 
 rowly escaped being flung into the Thames. 
 But still he took notes, and, having once got 
 his foot in the House, he managed to keep 
 it there ; and now the reporter is as much 
 at home in Parliament as the hon. member 
 whose wise or foolish words he so deftly 
 takes down in shorthand. 
 
 But how he had to fight before his mission 
 was even tacitly recognised ! what struggling 
 he went through before he was allowed to 
 take his seat quietly in the reporters' gallery ! 
 
The Reporter in Parliament. 33 
 
 It is claimed by some historians that Sir 
 Symonds d'Ewes, who furnished an account 
 of the' proceedings of the House in Eliza- 
 beth's reign, was really the first parliamentary 
 reporter ; but among pressmen Edward Cave 
 is generally regarded as the father of English 
 reporting. In the beginning of the eight- 
 eenth century intelligence of many kinds 
 was published with the greatest freedom. 
 For instance, in 1731 this marriage notice 
 appeared : " The Rev. Mr. Rogers Staines, 
 of York, twenty-six years of age, to a Lincoln- 
 shire lady upwards of eighty years of age, 
 with whom he is to have ^8,000, and ^300 
 a year, and a coach and four during life only." 
 But with regard to debates in Parliament the 
 people were not taken into confidence in this 
 ingenuous way. The searching light of poli- 
 tical criticism did not mercilessly flash on 
 hon. members as it does now. Their utter- 
 ances in the House were as jealously guarded 
 as if Cerberus, with his many heads and 
 
 3 
 
34 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 serpent's tail, stood savagely growling at the 
 gate ; and in 1729 the legislators, finding that 
 some echo of their speeches had got out 
 among the vulgar throng, passed with much 
 determination a resolution to the effect that 
 it was a violation of the House's privileges 
 to publish reports of its proceedings, and 
 " that in future the offenders be punished 
 with the utmost severity." The threat 
 weighed little with Edward Cave. He had 
 founded the Gentleman's Magazine ; he de- 
 termined to make the reporting of parlia- 
 mentary debates one of its chief features, 
 and in 1736, according to Sir John Hawkins, 
 he did a bold thing. " Taking with him a 
 friend or two, he found means to procure 
 for them and himself admission into the 
 gallery of the House of Commons, or to 
 some concealed station in the other House, 
 and then they privately took down notes of 
 the several speeches, and the general ten- 
 dency and substance of the arguments. Thus 
 
The Reporter in Parliament. 35 
 
 furnished, Cave and his associates would 
 adjourn to a neighbouring tavern, and 
 compare and adjust their notes, by means 
 whereof, and the help of their memories, 
 they became enabled to fix at least the 
 substance of what they had lately heard and 
 remarked. The reducing this crude matter 
 into form was the work of a future day and 
 an abler hand — Guthrie, the historian, whom 
 Cave retained for the purpose." The note- 
 taking was surreptitious ; the transcription in 
 the neighbouring tavern not very dignified ; 
 but this crude attempt at recording the 
 speeches of hon. members was practically 
 the birth of the well-nigh perfect system of 
 parliamentary reporting that may be now 
 seen working any night when the House is 
 sitting. 
 
 For two years Cave's temerity went un- 
 questioned. His reports were talked about 
 in the clubs and the coffee-houses, spoken 
 of with commendation, ridicule, contempt, 
 
36 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 as the case might be. Prominent legislators 
 were astounded at the man's effrontery, then 
 they became indignant, and in 1738, after a 
 very heated debate in the House, another 
 resolution was passed, threatening Cave and 
 his ingenious and audacious penmen with all 
 sorts of penalties if they dared to continue 
 this reprehensible practice. But the threat 
 was of no avail. It simply changed the 
 manner of, but did not suppress, Cave's 
 reporting. Hitherto he had given the first 
 and last letter of a speaker's name, such 
 
 as, " L — d S y, in criticising the foreign 
 
 policy of the Government," or " Mr. G e, 
 
 in explanation of his Irish proposals ; " but 
 now he had recourse to a fictitious name for 
 Parliament, and turned every speaker's name 
 topsy-turvy. This he did so adroitly that it 
 was easy enough to identify any member's 
 utterances. It was in April that the House 
 waxed wroth about reporters and their 
 impertinence in thrusting themselves into 
 
The Reporter in Parliament. 37 
 
 such a select assembly. In June Cave set 
 the House at defiance. He gave more 
 copious reports of the speeches in Parlia- 
 ment, but he published them in his maga- 
 zine as "An Appendix to Captain Lemuel 
 Gulliver's Account of the Famous Empire of 
 Lilliput," under the heading, "Debates in 
 the Senate of Great Lilliput." A duke was 
 a Nardac, a lord styled Hurgo, and an ordi- 
 nary hon. member a Clinab. The disguise 
 was so slight that it did not mystify even the 
 dullest politician; but it saved Cave from 
 fines and penalties, for the House could not 
 proceed against a man for reporting the 
 speeches of statesmen in the imaginary 
 kingdom of Lilliput. 
 
 Guthrie was scarcely equal to this new 
 phase of reporting, and on November 19th, 
 1740, Cave engaged Dr. Johnson to do the 
 work. At that time the Doctor was only 
 thirty years of age, full of energy, with an 
 exhaustless capacity for trenchant writing, 
 
38 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 and he took a real delight in putting elo- 
 quent words into the mouths of statesmen, 
 whether they had uttered them or not. 
 The people, reading Dr. Johnson's reports 
 of Parliament, wondered at the Demosthenic 
 power so suddenly revealed by our legis- 
 lators, characterised as the speeches were 
 by "force of argument and splendour of 
 language." 
 
 For nearly three years Dr. Johnson con- 
 tinued Cave's reporter, and during the whole 
 of this period parliamentary utterances were 
 widely read. Some of the speeches, as re- 
 ported, were marvels of scholarly diction, 
 and, when in print, surprised even the mem- 
 bers themselves. Reporting was the easiest 
 thing in the world to the Doctor. He did 
 not trouble to go to the House. His custom 
 was " to fix upon a speaker's name, then to 
 make an argument for him, and conjure 
 up an answer;" and he did all this so 
 well that Voltaire, on reading the debates, 
 
The Reporter in Parliament. 39 
 
 exclaimed, "The eloquence of Greece and 
 Rome is revived in the British Senate." 
 One of the most notable speeches credited 
 to the elder Pitt was written by Dr. Johnson 
 in a garret in Exeter Street; and, when 
 asked, at a dinner given by Foote, how it 
 was possible for him to write the speech, 
 he retorted, "Sir, I wrote it in Exeter 
 Street. I never was in the gallery of the 
 House of Commons but once in my life. 
 Cave had interest with the doorkeepers ; he 
 and the persons employed under him got 
 admittance, they brought away the subjects 
 of discussion, the names of the speakers, the 
 side they took, and the order in which they 
 rose, together with notes of various arguments 
 adduced in the course of the debate. The 
 whole was afterwards communicated to me, 
 and I composed the speeches in the form 
 they now have in the parliamentary debates." 
 It was a strange expedient, and would not 
 be tolerated now, especially if the modern 
 
40 Newspaper Reporting, 
 
 reporter, presuming he manufactured the 
 speeches, had a jot of the bias of Dr. Johnson, 
 who made no scruple in confessing that he 
 " took care the Whig dogs should never have 
 the best of the argument." 
 
 Cave, in spite of his ingenuity in giving 
 publicity to the proceedings of the House 
 of Commons, soon got into trouble with 
 regard to speeches in the House of Lords, 
 and in 1747, along with Thomas Astley, 
 the printer of the London Magazine^ was 
 ordered into the custody of the Usher of 
 the Black Rod. Both men had printed 
 in their magazines reports of the trial of 
 Lord Lovat, who was charged with high 
 treason in the 1745 rebellion. For this 
 offence — this grave breach of privilege — 
 Cave's apology was abject, though it is 
 probable there was a spice of satire in 
 the manner in which he humbly implored 
 their lordships' pardon. Anyhow, he was 
 set free on paying the fees and solemnly 
 
The Reporter in Parliament, 41 
 
 promising never to commit such an offence 
 again. 
 
 The next few years was an exciting time 
 for the Press. It numbered among its 
 writers Fielding, Smollett, Johnson, John 
 Wilkes, Lord Temple, Charles Churchill, 
 and the mysterious writer of The Letters of 
 Junius. It was a time of very plain speak- 
 ing, of wit, sarcasm, and strong criticism. 
 Wilkes, however, was the scorpion. In his 
 paper the North Briton, his comments on 
 the Bute Administration were so scathing 
 that he overthrew the Ministry; he even 
 went to the extreme of saying that the King, 
 on. the opening of Parliament in 1762, did 
 not speak the truth; he was committed to 
 the Tower, expelled from the House of 
 Commons, of which he had been a mem- 
 ber, and altogether went through a very 
 stormy time, being punished not only by 
 Parliament, but threatened by aggrieved in- 
 dividuals — such, for instance, as Captain 
 
42 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 Forbes, a Scotchman, who, incensed at 
 what Wilkes had written about his country, 
 said to the intrepid journalist, "The first 
 time ever I shall meet you in the streets 
 or elsewhere, I will give you an hundred 
 strokes of a stick, as you deserve to be 
 used no more as a gentleman, but as an 
 eternal rascal and scoundrel." 
 
 Meanwhile the reporters were courage- 
 ously fighting their own battle, giving such 
 reports as they could gather of the proceed- 
 ings in Parliament, enduring the obloquy 
 of hon. members, taking notes of speeches 
 amid considerable difficulty, and daily 
 expecting the chagrin of the House to 
 focus in some arbitrary action against them. 
 At last the sword of Damocles fell. Lord 
 Marchmont took an almost sardonic plea- 
 sure in proceeding against the printer of 
 any paper for breach of privilege. If any 
 nobleman's name was mentioned in the 
 report of a debate, it was in the power of 
 
The Reporter in Parliament. 43 
 
 the Legislature to inflict a fine of ^"ioo ; 
 and his lordship, who abominated news- 
 papers, found intense enjoyment in pressing 
 for these fines, or in having half a dozen 
 newspaper proprietors apologising in a row 
 on their knees at the bar of the House. 
 And the House of Commons, on February 
 5th, 177 1, became so exasperated at the 
 conduct of the reporters " misrepresenting 
 the speeches and reflecting on several of 
 the members of this House," that it nearly 
 forgot its own dignity. Not only were the 
 printers of the leading newspapers called 
 to the bar, reprimanded, and ordered to 
 pay the fees, but an erTort was also made 
 to render liable the " compositors, pressmen, 
 correctors, blackers, and devils." Miller, 
 the printer of the London Evening Post, did 
 not surrender, and was ordered to be taken 
 into custody by the sergeant-at-arms. But, 
 to the anger of the House and the amuse- 
 ment of the people outside, the sergeant- 
 
44 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 at-arms was thwarted. His messenger 
 arrested Miller, but Miller gave the mes- 
 senger into custody for assault. The 
 unfortunate officer — though he was the 
 representative of the House of Commons — 
 was taken before Brass Crosby, the Lord 
 Mayor, and committed for assault ! So the 
 House had the intense mortification of 
 seeing their own servant treated with 
 ignominy, and the printer who had defied 
 them set free ! The Lord Mayor, attending 
 in his place in Parliament, pointed out 
 that, according to the charter granted to 
 the City of London by Edward III. in the 
 first year of his reign, the citizens were 
 exempted from any law process being served 
 upon them except by their own officers ; 
 but the House was determined to have 
 satisfaction for the insult it had received in 
 the City. 
 
 The debate was an angry one, carried 
 on with a mob at the doors of West- 
 
The Reporter in Parliament. 45 
 
 minster; the House was adjourned for two 
 days, when another fierce war of words 
 took place ; then the chief magistrate was 
 committed to the Tower, as well as Alder- 
 man Oliver, who upheld his ruling ; but on 
 the prorogation of Parliament, and when the 
 House had no longer the power to keep them 
 captive, they stepped triumphantly out of the 
 Tower, amid much rejoicing. 
 
 This strange and exciting conflict be- 
 tween Parliament and the City authorities 
 nearly annihilated further opposition to the 
 reporting of debates. The people were 
 thoroughly roused; they claimed as a right 
 that they should know what their repre- 
 sentatives were saying; it was idle for 
 members to fuss and fume and to heap op- 
 probrium on the stenographer. As Andrews 
 says, in his History of British Journalism, 
 "The Press was now, for the first time, 
 the acknowledged representative of the 
 people. There it stood overlooking, perhaps 
 
46 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 sometimes overawing, those who had known 
 and cared nothing for their constituents 
 after they left the hustings; a jealous guar- 
 dian, a watchful sentinel, a sleepless Argus ; 
 behind the Speaker's chair there had sprung 
 up a power greater than the Speaker, for 
 there in the gallery was the eye of Europe ; 
 the House of Commons had been unroofed, 
 and the world was looking in." 
 
III. 
 
 Incidents and Traditions of 
 -The Gallery." 
 
. CHAPTER III 
 
 Incidents and Traditions of "The 
 Gallery." 
 
 KgMjBOUT the time Oliver Goldsmith 
 HgAvj was surprising the readers of the 
 Iffy t i ll Public Ledger with his delightful 
 letters from a " Citizen of the World," William 
 Woodfall, the first editor of the Morning 
 Chronicle^ was astounding everybody by his 
 wonderful memory. It was in 1769 that 
 the Morning Chronicle was issued. Then 
 newspaper enterprise was in its infancy. 
 The great staffs now absolutely necessary 
 on daily papers were undreamt of. 
 "Memory Woodfall," as he was familiarly 
 
 4 
 
50 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 called, on account of his marvellous power 
 of recollection, had neither assistant editors, 
 sub-editors, nor reporters to help him ; he 
 was editor, reporter, and printer of the 
 Morning Chronicle. His editorial duties 
 were not arduous, for until 1781 no leading 
 article whatever appeared in the paper ; but 
 he was a giant, a prince among reporters, 
 possessing not only extraordinary ability, 
 but a wondrous capacity for physical endu- 
 rance, that must be the envy of many a 
 modern reporter. 
 
 It is a popular but absurd notion, that 
 reporting takes something of the character 
 of a perpetual holiday, that there is more 
 amusement than hard labour in it ; whereas 
 of all professions it is perhaps the most 
 exhausting, the profession of all others in 
 which a strong physique and determined 
 will are necessary to success. The equit- 
 able division of labour on the best reporting 
 staffs has been obtained to a nicety; still 
 
Traditions of "The Gallery." 51 
 
 there are occasions when not only the 
 mental qualities of a Metternich,. but the 
 strength of Hercules, are expected in 
 the reporter; and many a night he goes 
 home worn out by anxiety, and almost 
 prostrate with the utter weariness and 
 enfeeblement that comes as nature's pro- 
 test to ceaseless note-taking and prolonged 
 manufacture of copy for the printers. 
 
 But " Memory Woodfall " was called 
 upon by the nature of his duties and 
 his limited staff to do more than many 
 a modern reporter, and he became a 
 notable figure in " the gallery " of the 
 House of Commons, quite as much through 
 his physical endurance and his work- 
 ing tenacity as for his splendid memory. 
 There are now many gifted men in " the 
 gallery" — men with considerable capacity 
 for work, men of great professional skill, 
 and high intellectual attainments ; but 
 the bulk of their work is less than 
 
52 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 Woodfall's, and they do it under plea- 
 santer conditions. Even when Parliament 
 was snarling at the audacity of the 
 Press, Woodfall managed to get into the 
 House. With a sandwich or a hard- 
 boiled egg in his pocket, he would sit 
 out the longest debate, listen attentively to 
 everything that was said, but never take 
 a note; then, when the members, longing 
 for change, went to bed, to ball, or to 
 party, he would go to the office, and, with 
 nearly every word uttered in the debate 
 treasured in his retentive brain, would 
 write entirely from memory fifteen or six- 
 teen speeches. Woodfall's experiences of 
 Parliament certainly resulted in more all- 
 night sittings than those of any member 
 of the House during recent days, or 
 rather nights, of obstruction. 
 
 Not so assiduous, perhaps, as Woodfall, 
 but more ingenious, was William Radcliffe, 
 the novelist's husband. He was an Ox- 
 
Traditions of " The Gallery? 5 3 
 
 ford man, a law student, an attache; but 
 for him reporting had a fascination that 
 he could not overcome. He cared less 
 for diplomatic fame than the incessant 
 whirl and variety of a reporter's life ; 
 true, he became a newspaper proprietor, 
 but he was his own reporter, and pos- 
 sessed such a faculty for mental con- 
 centration, that he could, as it were, 
 divide his mind into two parts, and dic- 
 tate to his compositors from memory, and 
 without notes, two distinct articles at the 
 same time dealing with debates in the 
 House — for instance, "while a sentence 
 in one article was being set up, he had 
 resumed the other, and was dictating it 
 without hesitation or confusion." 
 
 This dual exercise of the mind is com- 
 mon now with many experienced reporters. 
 They are able to write out in longhand 
 what the speaker has said, and at the 
 same time to listen attentively to what 
 
54 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 the speaker is saying ; otherwise they 
 would, in the case of a night meeting, 
 never get their work done in time. They 
 have solved the problem that it is possible 
 to do two things at once, and, as a rule, 
 they do them admirably; but Radcliffe, 
 by his versatile process of dictation in 
 the middle of the eighteenth century, 
 when newspaper training was a very hap- 
 hazard affair, was justly considered a pheno- 
 menal reporter. 
 
 To James Perry is due the credit of 
 revolutionising reporting in the last century. 
 Leigh Hunt describes him as "a lively, 
 good-natured man, with a shrewd expression 
 of countenance, and twinkling eyes, which 
 he not unwillingly turned upon the ladies ; * 
 but, whatever his devotion to the fair sex, 
 he was a talented, industrious journalist. 
 Scarcely any one had a more romantic youth. 
 From his home in Aberdeen he went to 
 college, and was afterwards articled to an 
 
Traditions of " The Gallery!' 5 5 
 
 attorney; but his father got into financial 
 embarrassment, and James Perry had to 
 seek such fortune as he could find. When 
 thrown upon the world, he showed more 
 agility with his legs than activity with his 
 brain. As a strolling player he once ap- 
 peared in the character of " Sempronius," 
 but it was not so much in his power as an 
 actor as in the perfection of his dancing 
 that he was of value to the company — he 
 was chiefly relied upon for a hornpipe 
 between the acts ! His experience of the 
 drama had not much of the glamour of 
 fame about it, and he tried a clerkship in 
 Manchester ; but the endless reckoning-up 
 of figures, the monotony of commercial life, 
 wearied him. He broke away desperately 
 from office routine and went to London, 
 where, after some struggling, he achieved 
 success. Nichols, in his Literary Anecdotes of 
 tlie Eighteenth Century, says : " Mr. Perry's 
 efforts to . obtain a situation were unavailing. 
 
56 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 But while waiting in London for some 
 situation presenting itself, he amused him- 
 self in writing fugitive verses and short 
 essays, which he put into the letter-box of 
 the General Advertiser, as the casual con- 
 tributions of an anonymous correspondent ; 
 and they were of such merit as to pro- 
 cure immediate insertion. It happened 
 that a firm to whom he had a letter of 
 introduction, namely Messrs. Richardson 
 and Urquhart, were part proprietors of the 
 Advertiser, and on these gentlemen Mr. 
 Perry was in the habit of calling daily to 
 inquire if any situation had yet offered for 
 him. On entering their shop one day to 
 make the usual inquiry, Mr. Perry found 
 Urquhart engaged in reading an article in 
 the Advertiser, and evidently with great 
 satisfaction. When he had finished, the 
 former put the now almost hopeless ques- 
 tion whether any situation had yet presented 
 itself, and it was answered in the negative. 
 
Traditions of " The Gallery" 5 7 
 
 " But," added Mr. Urquhart, " if you could 
 write such articles as these," pointing to 
 that he had just been reading, " you would 
 find immediate employment." Mr. Perry 
 glanced at the article, discovered that it 
 was one of his own, and convinced his 
 friend, Mr. Urquhart, "by showing another 
 article in manuscript, which he had intended 
 to put into the box as usual before return- 
 ing home." Perry, after this proof of his 
 literary ability, was placed on the staff of the 
 Advertiser, with the understanding that he 
 should have extra pay for any help he 
 might give to the London Evening Post It 
 was a rare opportunity, and he valued it at 
 its true worth. Not only did he excel in 
 original writing, but he revealed great talent 
 as a reporter — enduring talent; for during 
 the trial of Admiral Keppel and Admiral 
 Palliser, extending over six weeks, " he sent 
 up daily from Portsmouth eight columns of 
 the reports, taken by himself alone, which 
 
58 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 increased the circulation of the paper by 
 several thousands daily." The man was a 
 born journalist; and his talents were so 
 speedily recognised, that he was offered, and 
 accepted, the editorship of the Gazetteer. 
 The salary was only four guineas a week, 
 not a particularly exorbitant sum, when it is 
 remembered that an editor's salary nowadays 
 sometimes goes into four figures ; but it 
 enabled Perry to live comfortably until he 
 made a greater name and a better position 
 on the Press. 
 
 Like all editors worthy the name, he kept 
 his eyes open, and he saw that the crude 
 system of reporting then prevailing was 
 capable of much improvement. "Memory 
 Woodfall " was as indefatigable as ever, 
 laboriously writing out long debates through 
 the night for publication on the following 
 day; but Perry said to himself, "Why 
 should not the reports of these debates 
 be published the next morning ? " And 
 
Traditions of "The Gallery? 59 
 
 he answered the question himself. He 
 organised a corps of reporters for his 
 paper. He got them into the House. 
 They reported hand over hand, as it were 
 — one reporter taking one speech, another 
 reporter taking another, and so on through- 
 out the debate; so that often when the 
 House rose the speeches made there were 
 almost in type in the office of the Gazetteer, 
 and the paper appeared the next morning 
 containing a tolerably full report of the 
 previous night's proceedings in Parliament. 
 " Memory Woodfall," whose report was not 
 finished until hours afterwards, was by no 
 means pleased with this new phase of 
 reporting that entirely forestalled his own 
 labours ; but newspaper readers were de- 
 lighted, there was a daily increasing demand 
 for the Gazetteer, and the new system of 
 reporting, conceived and carried out by 
 Perry, was generally adopted. This system 
 he improved and perfected during his 
 
60 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 connection with the Morning Chronicle, 
 of which he became part purchaser and 
 editor. The story as to where the money 
 came from to purchase the paper is 
 told by Mr. Charles Pebody, in his book 
 English Journalism, and the Men Who 
 Have Made It. " Old Bellamy, the house- 
 keeper of St. Stephen's," he says, " found 
 the money for the purchase of the Morning 
 Chronicle, and it was through his friendship 
 that Perry was able to pass his reporters in 
 and out of the gallery when the reporters 
 of every other paper found the doors closed 
 against them. Bellamy made a fortune by 
 the way in which, when the House con- 
 tinued its sittings after the dinner-hour, he put 
 a chop or a steak on the gridiron for hungry 
 M.P.'s, and served it upon a small table in 
 the corner of the kitchen with a glass of 
 port or sherry from the wood ; and the story 
 runs that Perry and his partner — Mr. Gray 
 — in taking the Morning Chronicle, were 
 
Traditions of " The Gallery': 6 1 
 
 obliged to take with it so much of Bellamy's 
 old port, that from the time of the purchase 
 in 1792 till the date of Perry's death in 
 1 82 1, the anniversary of the purchase never 
 returned without finding enough of the 
 original stock in the cellar to drink to the 
 memory of Bellamy and his advance." 
 
 Whether it was the quality of his port, or 
 his genial disposition, or the liberality of 
 his remuneration, Perry managed to gather 
 round him many distinguished writers — 
 men like Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Porson, 
 Mackintosh, Hazlitt, and John Campbell, 
 who, by-the-bye, though he became Lord 
 High Chancellor, was a curious dramatic 
 critic, one of his notices in the Morning 
 Chronicle beginning, " Last night a play 
 called Romeo and Juliet was performed 
 at Drury Lane. The play is a good one 
 so far as it went, and was performed in a 
 very creditable manner. But it is too long 
 for these days ; and we would recommend 
 
62 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 the author, before he puts it again on the 
 stage, to cut it down " ! 1 This singular 
 ignorance of Shakespeare, however, is per- 
 haps more to be excused than that shown 
 only a few years ago by a dramatic critic in 
 the provinces. He went to see the play of 
 Hamlet, and, writing about it in the news- 
 paper of which he was the representative, 
 apologised for not giving the plot, owing 
 to want of space, and expressed his sur- 
 prise that the piece contained many collo- 
 quialisms with which people were already 
 familiar ! 
 
 Perry undoubtedly owed much of his 
 success to his staff of brilliant writers ; 
 but he was too shrewd a man to neglect 
 the mainstay of the paper, the reporting 
 department, and he had in his service 
 many skilful reporters — "men who wrote 
 shorthand." Of these one of the most 
 
 1 Andrews, History of British Journalism. 
 
Traditions of " The Gallery" 6 3 
 
 famous was John Black, who walked from 
 Edinburgh to London, arrived at Charing 
 Cross with only threepence in his pocket, 
 was such a fierce person that he fought 
 two duels, and was constantly at war with 
 himself in his efforts to overcome "the 
 boorishness of bearing" with which he was 
 cursed; yet he made his name in the 
 reporters' gallery, and finally succeeded Perry 
 as editor of the Morning Chronicle. 
 
 Notwithstanding Mr. Black's exciting 
 career, he was not so Bohemian in his 
 habits as some of the reporters who about 
 this time sought their livelihood in "the 
 gallery." The history of reporting at the 
 close of the eighteenth century is a romance 
 — a story of starvation and revelry, of pathos 
 and recklessness, of despair and constant 
 endeavour. There is no sadder anecdote 
 in the English language than that of the 
 life of Robert Heron. From 1793 to 1799 
 the weaver's son, with his college education, 
 
64 Netvspaper Reporting. 
 
 and his amazing extravagance, was in prison 
 for debt. There he wrote his History of 
 Scotland "for the benefit of his creditors," 
 and then made his way to London, where 
 he was engaged as parliamentary reporter 
 on the Oracle^ and afterwards filled similar 
 positions on the Porcupine and the Morning 
 Post. Often "he had not a shilling in his 
 pocket or a shirt to his back ; " if he got 
 a sovereign by work or from a generous 
 friend, he was restless until he had spent it ; 
 he had good chances, but neglected them 
 all. Appointed editor of the British Press, 
 he held the appointment for a couple of 
 weeks; his editorship of Lloyd's Evening 
 Post lasted only a few months ; his connec- 
 tion with the British Neptune he severed 
 for a whim ; and he came to hopeless grief 
 with Fame, his own paper, strangely named, 
 considering that it was an utter failure, and 
 that its proprietor, according to D'Israeli's 
 Calamities of Authors, dragged out a long 
 
Traditions of " The Gallery!' 6 5 
 
 imprisonment in Newgate, and died a 
 wretched death in the Fever Hospital 
 in Gray's Inn Lane, penniless and for- 
 saken. 
 
 A much more rollicking, and certainly 
 less miserable, member of the Press was 
 Mark Supple. Mr. Andrews, in his British 
 Journalism, describes him as " the big-boned 
 Irish reporter on the staff of Perry of the 
 Morning Chronicle" and gives the following 
 amusing account of one of his freaks : 
 " Supple's fame now rests on the anecdote 
 told of him by Peter Finnerty (a fellow- 
 reporter who survived him only four years) 
 of an after-dinner feat — he had dined at 
 Bellamy's, as was his wont — when, taking ad- 
 vantage of a pause in the debate, he roared 
 out from the gallery for ' a song from 
 Mr. Speaker ! ' The Speaker, the precise 
 Addington, was paralysed; the House was 
 thunderstruck — there was clearly no pre- 
 cedent for such a proceeding as this ; in 
 
 5 
 
66 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 the next minute the comic prevailed over 
 the serious, and the House was in a roar 
 of laughter, led off by Pitt. However, for 
 appearance' sake, the sergeant-at-arms was 
 obliged to seek out the offender, but no one 
 in the gallery would betray Mark Supple, 
 and the official was about retiring at fault, 
 when Supple indicated to him by a meaning 
 nod that a fat Quaker who sat near him 
 was the delinquent. The poor Quaker was 
 taken into custody accordingly; but in the 
 midst of a scene of confusion and excite- 
 ment the real offender was discovered, and, 
 after a few hours' durance, was allowed to 
 go off on making an apology." 
 
 Peter Finnerty, the reporter mentioned 
 in the above anecdote, was as fond of 
 practical jokes as Theodore Hook. He 
 did not, like some reporters, become over- 
 whelmed with the importance and responsi- 
 bility of his calling ; he neither worrited 
 himself haggard, nor fidgeted his hair grey. 
 
• Traditions of "The Gallery \" 67 
 
 Life to him was a comedy, a mirth-provoker, 
 and he cared little whether the laugh was for 
 or against him, so that' the laugh was there. 
 Some of his jokes, however, were beyond 
 a joke ; indeed, were Finnerty alive now, 
 and succeeded in hoodwinking a colleague 
 as he did Morgan O'Sullivan, he would 
 run the risk of a thrashing. Morgan in 
 the gallery one day felt so drowsy during 
 a dull debate that he could scarcely keep 
 his eyes open. Obtaining Finnerty's promise 
 to supply him with any speeches made, 
 Morgan was soon asleep, and awoke in 
 about an hour greatly refreshed and eager 
 for work. But he had to pay dearly for 
 his slumber. Finnerty gravely informed 
 him that during his nap there had been an 
 important speech delivered by Mr. Wilber- 
 force, a member of the House, on the 
 virtues of the Irish potato. Morgan, never 
 pausing to think that the subject had a 
 suggestion of the ludicrous, would not be 
 
68 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 pacified until the speech had been dictated 
 to him by Finnerty. 
 
 The speech, entirely Finnerty's concoction, 
 made Mr. Wilberforce say : " Had it been 
 my lot to be born and reared in Ireland, 
 where my food would have principally con- 
 sisted of the potato — the most nutritious and 
 salubrious root — instead of being the poor 
 infirm, stunted creature you, Sir, and honour- 
 able gentlemen now behold me, I should 
 have been a tall, stout, athletic man, and 
 able to carry an enormous weight. I hold 
 that root to be invaluable ; and the man 
 who first cultivated it in Ireland I regard 
 as a benefactor of the first magnitude to 
 his country." Morgan was so overjoyed at 
 this legislative tribute to the excellence 
 of his national potato, that he willingly 
 dictated the speech to several other re- 
 porters, and every newspaper of note — 
 except the Morning Chronicle, in the office 
 of which Finnerty sat chuckling — had this 
 
Traditions of "The Gallery." 69 
 
 extraordinary report of Mr. Wilberforce's 
 strange speech in the House on the extra- 
 ordinary virtues of the Irish potato. 
 
 The speech was read with amazement. 
 At the clubs and in the City everybody 
 was laughing at Mr. Wilberforce's speech — 
 except Mr. Wilberforce. He thought it 
 rather a cause for rage than merriment, 
 especially as his friends gazed pityingly at 
 him, thinking he had gone demented. 
 But his anger cooled; and when the 
 House met at night he said : " Every 
 honourable member has doubtless read the 
 speech which I am represented as having 
 made on the previous night. [The hon. 
 member read the speech amid roars of 
 laughter.] I can assure hon. members," he 
 continued, "that no one could have read 
 this speech with more surprise than I my- 
 self did this morning when I found the 
 papers on my breakfast-table. For myself, 
 personally, I care but little about it, 
 
JO Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 though, if I were capable of uttering such 
 nonsense as is here put into my mouth, it 
 is high time that, instead of being a mem- 
 ber of this House, I were an inmate of 
 some lunatic asylum. It is for the dignity 
 of this House that I feel concerned; for if 
 hon. members were capable of listening to 
 such nonsense, supposing me capable of 
 giving expression to it, it were much more 
 appropriate to call this a theatre for the 
 performance of farces than a place for the 
 legislative deliberations of the representa- 
 lives of the nation." 
 
 Finnerty, on this occasion, had not to 
 pay any penalty for his- "exquisite gift 
 of humour ; " but later, for a libel on Lord 
 Castlereagh, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, 
 he was imprisoned in Lincoln Gaol for 
 eighteen months. His exasperation at this 
 incarceration knew no bounds. He felt 
 like a strong-winged eagle in a cage, and 
 became so fierce that his friends were 
 
Traditions of " The Gallery" 7 1 
 
 almost afraid to converse with him. Cer- 
 tainly he did not mince words when 
 speaking to Lord Castlereagh. Grant, in his 
 Newspaper Press, says : " Soon after Peter's 
 release from jail he chanced to meet 
 Lord Castlereagh in the streets ; and the 
 latter went up to him, and, in the bluntest 
 manner imaginable, inquired how he was. 
 'Well enough,' was Peter's bluff answer, 
 'to hope to live to see the day when you 
 will cut your throat.' Nearly ten years 
 after this, strange to say, Lord Castle- 
 reagh did cut his throat; and Peter 
 Finnerty lived to see that day." 
 
 The reporters of the nineteenth century 
 are still rather a Bohemian race. The 
 Knights of the Pencil, as. they are 
 sometimes called, are attracted to ^the 
 Press from every class of society, and 
 they include some strange though gifted 
 beings; but it would be difficult to beat, 
 for variety of characteristics, the hetero- 
 
J 2 Newspaper Reporting, 
 
 geneous group of reporters who flourished 
 in the old gallery of the House — men of 
 original ideas, great attainments, convivial 
 dispositions, erratic manners and cus- 
 toms — men like John Payne Collier, the 
 clever expounder of Shakespeare's text; 
 O'Dwyer, the classical scholar, whose 
 sense of the ludicrous so overbalanced his 
 learning, that he reported the speech of 
 Richard Martin, the member for Gal way, 
 in italics ; William Jerdan, who had little 
 consideration for other people's foibles, 
 and described his own editor at work as 
 follows : " Our editor was originally in- 
 tended for the Kirk, and was a well- 
 informed person; but to see him at or 
 after midnight in his official chair a-writing 
 his leader was a trial for a philosopher. 
 With the slips of paper before him, a 
 pot of porter close at hand, and a pipe 
 of tobacco in his mouth or casually laid 
 down, he proceeded secundum artem. The 
 
Traditions of "The Gallery! 1 73 
 
 head hung, with the chin on the collar- 
 bone, as in deep thought — a whiff — 
 another — a tug at the beer— and a line 
 and a half or two lines committed to the 
 blotted paper. By this process, repeated 
 with singular regularity, he would contrive 
 between the hours of twelve and three to 
 produce as decent a column as the igno- 
 rant public required." 
 
 ' One of the most eccentric of this group 
 of reporters was Proby, on the staff of the 
 Morning Chronicle. Like "Memory Wood- 
 fall," he never condescended to note- 
 taking, and reported entirely from memory. 
 It was his boast that he had never been 
 out of London; he wore a bag-wig after 
 they had been discarded by everybody 
 else ; he " was the last man in London to 
 walk with a cane as long as himself;" he 
 was nicknamed "King Poms," because 
 he was always perspiring ; "his appetite 
 for pastry was inordinate, and he once or 
 
74 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 twice ruined himself by it, and had to be 
 bailed out of prison for a pastry-cook's 
 bill;" but with all his vagaries he had a 
 horror of procrastination, and was never 
 a minute late in his place in the gallery. 
 
IV. 
 Reporting To- Day in the House. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 Reporting To-Day in the House. 
 
 JgJHlHE old House of Commons was 
 %W% destroyed by fire in 1834, and 
 ■ f ^™l with the erection of the new 
 House sprang up a new race of reporters. 
 Parliament had not entirely lost its hos- 
 tility to pressmen; there had been several 
 attempts to eject them from the old 
 gallery ; but the voice of the nation was 
 stronger than the voice and prejudice of 
 its representatives, and Lord Macaulay 
 spoke the sentiments of the country when 
 he said : " If the Commons were to suffer 
 
7 8 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 the Lords to amend money-bills, we do 
 not believe that the people would care 
 one straw about the matter. If they were 
 to suffer the Lords even to originate 
 money-bills, we doubt whether such a 
 surrender of their constitutional rights 
 would excite half so much dissatisfaction 
 as the exclusion of strangers from a single 
 important discussion. The gallery in which 
 the reporters sit has become a fourth 
 estate of the realm. The publication of 
 the debates, a practice which seemed to 
 the most liberal statesmen of the old 
 school full of danger to the great safe- 
 guards of public liberty, is now regarded 
 by many persons as a safeguard tanta- 
 mount, and more than tantamount, to all 
 the rest together." 
 
 Conversion came slowly to the House, 
 as it does to most hardened sinners. 
 Perry, the literary Ajax, made it uncom- 
 fortable when he defiantly exclaimed, 
 
Reporting To- Day in the House. 79 
 
 "The Morning Chronicle stands now, as it 
 did in 1793, in the front of the battle, 
 not only for itself, but for the liberty of 
 the Press of England." Sir Joseph Yorke's 
 motion for the expulsion of the reporters, 
 and Windham's attack upon the gentle- 
 men of the Press in the gallery, among 
 whom he said "were to be found men of 
 all descriptions — bankrupts, lottery office 
 keepers, footmen, and decayed tradesmen," 
 aroused indignation outside and encou- 
 raged penitence in the House j and that 
 conversion was almost completed by 
 Sheridan's brilliant championship of the 
 Press and his scornful refutation of Wind- 
 ham's fictions, proving as he did, that, 
 instead of being the offscouring of the 
 City, nearly all the gentlemen — some 
 twenty-four in number — then reporting the 
 parliamentary debates for the newspapers 
 were University men, and that many had 
 gained literary distinction. 
 
80 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 Windham's was the last important out- 
 burst against the admission of reporters to 
 the House, and, though it was practically 
 futile, it nearly wrought them irreparable 
 injury in another quarter — at Lincoln's Inn. 
 The benchers, presumably anxious not to 
 lower the status of the Inn, adopted a reso- 
 lution "that no man who had ever written 
 for a newspaper for hire should be allowed 
 to perform his preparatory exercises, in order 
 to his admission to the Bar." The motion 
 was unjust and ridiculous ; it was petitioned 
 against in the House, and James Stephen, 
 then Member of Parliament and Master in 
 Chancery, remembering that he had been 
 a reporter on the Morning Post, supported 
 Sheridan's defence of the Press in a speech 
 conspicuous for its eloquence — a speech in 
 which he sketched the difficulties and priva- 
 tions that many law students had to en- 
 counter, and in which he discomfited the 
 benchers by showing how often reporting in 
 
Reporting To-Day in the House. 81 
 
 Parliament had been a means to many an 
 impecunious barrister's success. No more 
 was heard of the absurd resolution ; and it 
 certainly seems strange that it should have 
 been proposed at all, for to-day the Bar and 
 the Press have quite a twin relationship. 
 A number of the men in the reporters' gal- 
 lery have "eaten their dinners," as it were, 
 on the threshold of the Bar, and studied the 
 mysteries of law, and the Temple is the 
 home now of many who owe their prosperity 
 as much to their shorthand dexterity, and 
 the experience it gave them, as to the pages 
 of Blackstone and the procedure of courts. 
 
 With the breakdown of Windham's oppo- 
 sition, and the ignominious retreat of the 
 benchers, the position of the reporter in 
 Parliament greatly improved. He had re- 
 pelled a fierce attack. Like a skilful general, 
 he entrenched himself behind the invul- 
 nerable barricade of public opinion, and 
 eventually felt strong enough to make re- 
 
 6 
 
82 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 prisals. This he did with a vengeance in 
 1833. Owing to the difficulty of hearing in 
 the old gallery — where the reporters had to 
 sit on a back seat, and catch the words of 
 the members through a buzz of conversation 
 from strangers sitting on the five or six 
 rows of benches before them — frequent com- 
 plaints were made of the inaccuracy of the 
 reports. The House — or, at least, many 
 members of it — had still a lingering anti- 
 pathy to the Press, and O'Connell, constitut- 
 ing himself the mouthpiece of the reporter- 
 detesters, sought to clear the gallery of 
 the obnoxious gentlemen. On July 25th 
 he expressed his intention of waging war 
 against the journal proprietary of London 
 until he defeated them, and said he should 
 move, day by day, for their appearance at 
 the bar of the House for breach of privilege. 
 Nor did he content himself with merely 
 throwing down the gauntlet, but he endea- 
 voured to stiletto the reporters in the back 
 
Reporting To- Day in the House. 83 
 
 by charging them with suppressing his 
 speeches from malicious motives. Indigna- 
 tion surged through the gallery at this 
 deliberate insult. The reporters signed a 
 round-robin — published in the Times — 
 which made O'Connell's Irish blood dance 
 in his veins. It said : " Without any wish 
 to prejudice the interests of the establish- 
 ments with which many of us have been 
 long connected, and to which all of us 
 are sincerely attached, we have deliberately 
 resolved not to report any speech of Mr. 
 O'Connell until he shall have retracted, as 
 publicly as he made, the calumnious asser- 
 tion that our reports are designedly false." 
 
 The exasperation of O'Connell was un- 
 bounded. He moved that the representa- 
 tives of the two most prominent newspapers 
 should be brought to the bar of the House, 
 because they had not reported one of his 
 speeches fully. The resolution was very 
 properly rejected. He used every oratorical 
 
84 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 art — he passionately declaimed, he spoke 
 plaintively with his musical voice against 
 those naughty reporters — but it was all in 
 vain. They would not — they did not report 
 his speeches. Then he had recourse to 
 the old standing order, and, addressing the 
 Speaker, said, "I think, Sir, I see strangers 
 in the gallery." Strangers, according to the 
 usage of Parliament, had to withdraw, and 
 the reporters went out gladly. For days 
 O'Connell continued this farcical comedy, 
 for days he went unreported ; but at length 
 his heroics died away to pleading, and as 
 " several of the most influential members of 
 the House appealed to them not to carry 
 the matter further," the reporters ultimately 
 resumed their duties as cheerfully as if they 
 had never been ruffled by the O'Connell 
 episode. 
 
 The reporter is often called the servant 
 of the public; and now and then some 
 citizen who has scrambled into brief 
 
Reporting To- Day in the House, 85 
 
 authority thinks he has a sort of pre- 
 scriptive right in him — that he may order 
 him about, tell him, not always in the 
 most courteous language, what to chronicle 
 and what to waive; but it is satisfactory 
 to know that the reporter of to-day has 
 a mind and will of his own, and that, 
 while his devotion to duty is increasing 
 almost to the verge of self-sacrifice, he is 
 quite as fearless as the pressmen who braved 
 O'Connell's wrath. 
 
 Of the men who entered the reporters' 
 gallery of the new House of Commons, 
 the most distinguished was Charles Dickens. 
 The novelty of William WoodfalPs memory 
 feats had worn off. Several of the long- 
 hand reporters who had been familiar figures 
 in the old gallery were dead; and the new 
 set of reporters gradually taking the places 
 vacated by the older hands depended more 
 upon shorthand than memory. In David 
 Copperfield 3 Dickens gives an interesting 
 
86 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 glimpse at his shorthand proficiency. He 
 says : " I have tamed that savage steno- 
 graphic mystery. I make a respectable 
 income by it. I am in high repute for my 
 accomplishment in all pertaining to the art, 
 and am joined with eleven others in re- 
 porting the debates in Parliament for a 
 morning paper. Night after night I record 
 predictions that never come to pass, pro- 
 fessions that are never fulfilled, explanations 
 that are only meant to mystify. I wallow- 
 in words." Dickens, it is evident, thought 
 that Parliament, like Gratiano, spoke " an 
 infinite deal of nothing," and was over- 
 joyed "when he noted down the music 
 of the parliamentary bagpipes for the last 
 time." But he never regretted that he 
 had to wallow in words there, and his ex- 
 perience in the reporters' gallery was of 
 infinite value to him when he entered upon 
 the more ambitious literary path that led 
 him to fame. The author of Pickwick 
 
Reporting To- Day in the House. 87 
 
 won his spurs as a reporter on the Mirror 
 of Parliament ; but it was in 1835 tnat ne 
 went into the reporters' gallery on the staff 
 of the Morning Chronicle, the paper so in- 
 separably linked with his earlier career. 
 At this time the reporters in Parliament 
 had come upon more halcyon days — or 
 rather nights. They had no longer to take 
 a back seat; they were provided in the 
 new House with a gallery for their use 
 exclusively, and did their work under more 
 comfortable conditions. Their position in 
 that House is becoming stronger year by 
 year. The standing order by which Par- 
 liament has power to enforce the with- 
 drawal of strangers is still a standing 
 menace to the reporters, but it is only 
 worthy of mention as a legislative and 
 literary curiosity. In Dod's Parliamentary 
 Companion, it is referred to as follows : — 
 
88 Newspaper Reporting. . 
 
 Newspaper Reporters. 
 
 "It is contrary to the standing orders of 
 both Houses that any stranger should be 
 present, and an individual member can 
 demand that the order be enforced; the 
 publication of debates is held to be theo- 
 retically a breach of privilege; but in 
 modern times, if any member were repeat- 
 edly to insist upon the exclusion of 
 •' strangers/ as all are called who neither 
 are members nor officers of the House, 
 there can be no doubt that this abuse of 
 the privilege would lead to such a modi- 
 fication of the standing order as would 
 deprive individual members of any control 
 over a matter so interesting to the nation, 
 whose representatives and servants they are, 
 from whose pleasure their parliamentary 
 existence and authority are derived, and by 
 whom that authority would doubtless be 
 speedily withdrawn, were any attempt made 
 
Reporting To-Day in tJie House. 89 
 
 to carry on the business of the public 
 without publicity. Secret deliberations have 
 been so long renounced, that the right of 
 the public to be present through their 
 agents, the reporters, is as clearly esta- 
 blished now as if no theoretical privacy 
 had ever existed. Occasions have arisen, 
 however, though at long intervals, when 
 the House has thought proper to exclude 
 the public, as in 1870, when it was ex- 
 cluded during debates not thought desirable 
 to render public. Up to the year 187 1 
 this could be effected by a single mem- 
 ber, but in April of that year a Select 
 Committee came to the decision that 
 strangers should not be excluded except 
 after a vote carried without amendment or 
 debate. In 1875 to tms was added a reso- 
 lution by which the Speaker or Chairman, 
 as the case may be, was empowered to order 
 the withdrawal of strangers from any part 
 of the House. But such an order does not 
 
90 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 oblige ladies to withdraw from their gallery, 
 which is not supposed to be within the 
 House." 
 
 The Speaker, though empowered to order 
 the withdrawal of strangers from the House, 
 is very chary in exercising his preroga- 
 tive. There is, however, in Mr. Lucy's 
 book, A Diary of Two Parliaments, an 
 account of how he took this course on 
 the initiative of Mr. Biggar, on April 27 th, 
 
 1875 :- 
 
 " The afternoon questions over, the 
 Speaker was about to call on the first 
 motion, that of Chaplin, with respect to 
 horses, when Biggar, who had made 
 several attempts to catch the right hon. 
 gentleman's eye, finally succeeded, and 
 created a profound sensation by observ- 
 ing that he 'believed there were strangers 
 in the House.' This action, utterly unpre- 
 saged by notice, and absolutely unexpected, 
 
Reporting To-Day in the House. 91 
 
 was received in dismayed silence. After a 
 few minutes' pause the Speaker rose and 
 said, 'Do I understand that the hon. 
 member for Cavan persists in his inten- 
 tion of noticing strangers ? ' 'If you 
 please, Mr. Speaker,' replied Mr. Biggar; 
 and the House, recovering its voice, broke 
 forth in a loud and prolonged groan, amid 
 which the sound, perhaps unprecedented 
 in the House of Commons, of hissing 
 was heard from some members below the 
 gangway on the Ministerial side. ' In that 
 case,' rejoined the Speaker, ' I have no 
 option but to order that strangers should 
 withdraw.' The galleries over the clock 
 happened to be specially crowded. In 
 the Peers' Gallery were the Prince of 
 Wales, the Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord 
 Lucan, Lord Grey de Wilton, and other 
 peers, attracted by the debate on Chaplin's 
 motion. The German Ambassador oc- 
 cupied a seat over the clock. The 
 
92 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 Prince, the peers, and the ambassador, 
 of course, came under the common term 
 of " strangers," and met the common fate. 
 The only persons other than members 
 allowed to remain in the House were 
 the ladies in the cage over the Press 
 Gallery." 
 
 Disraeli, who was then Premier, in- 
 dignantly condemned Mr. Biggar's caprice, 
 held that the course he had taken was 
 discreditable, and moved the suspension 
 of the order requiring the withdrawal of 
 strangers. The motion was seconded by 
 Lord Harrington, and carried. 
 
 "The Speaker ordered the doors to be 
 thrown open, and the members of the 
 Press and other ' strangers ' returned, 
 among the first to enter being the Prince 
 of Wales, who had surveyed the scene 
 from the doorway under the gallery. . . . 
 Chaplin at once proceeded with his motion. 
 ... At the outset he observed that a 
 
Reporting To- Day in the House. 93 
 
 more uncalled-for, a more unwarranted, 
 a more offensive mode of interrupting 
 business than that from which they had 
 just suffered he did not remember. 'The 
 hon. member for Cavan,' he added, amid 
 cheers, 'appears to forget that he is now 
 admitted to the society of gentlemen ' — 
 a rebuke at which Mr. Biggar audibly 
 chuckled." 
 
 Though it is still possible to exclude 
 reporters from the House, it must be 
 confessed that the standing order has no 
 terrors for "the gallery" men. It is possible 
 that, at some crisis in the nation's history, 
 they might yet be asked to withdraw. But 
 they are no longer bundled out at a mem- 
 ber's whim. The old ignorant opposition 
 to the Press in Parliament is dead. The 
 reporters have no need to get into the 
 House by stealth to take fugitive notes ; 
 they have no need to cloak anybody's 
 speech under the flimsy disguise of ^The 
 
94 Neivspaper Reporting. ' 
 
 Debates in Lilliput." Parliament and 
 people alike recognise the valuable work 
 done in the reporters' gallery — a gallery 
 that has become a necessity to the politi- 
 cal and legislative life of the country. 
 
 The expansion of the parliamentary re- 
 porting has been enormous since Cave 
 first crept into the House. "The gallery" 
 behind the Speaker's chair is now crowded 
 with pressmen whenever there is a debate 
 worth listening to, and the staffs of the 
 newspapers — as given on the opposite page 
 — have seats in it. 
 
 The Time? chief has the place of honour 
 in the centre of the gallery, and the repre- 
 sentatives of other newspapers have seats 
 right and left in the order indicated. 
 There are about two hundred and fifty 
 tickets issued by the sergeant-at-arms to 
 leader writers, correspondents, summary 
 writers, and reporters; and no one is 
 permitted to enter the reporters' gallery 
 
Reporting To- Day in the House. 95 
 
 
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g6 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 without a ticket. With the exception of 
 those issued to leader writers, all the 
 tickets are non-transferable; but they also 
 admit to the gallery of the House of 
 Lords, though from time to time the Gen- 
 tleman Usher of the Black Rod issues 
 special tickets — on the rare nights, for 
 instance, when the House of Peers awakes 
 from its dignified repose, and debates 
 some great question with an eloquence 
 that surprises the lower House and the 
 country. 
 
 Each London morning paper, each news 
 agency, each combination of provincial 
 journals, and Hansard 1 has its own staff 
 
 1 Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, the official 
 record of the proceedings in Parliament, was not 
 originally the work of a special staff of reporters. 
 They took their name from Luke Hansard, who 
 was born in Norwich in 1752, brought up as a 
 printer, went to London with the traditional guinea 
 in his pocket, was employed by Hughes, the printer 
 to the House of Commons, succeeded to the busi- 
 ness, and became widely known for his despatch 
 
Reporting To- Day in the House. 97 
 
 of parliamentary reporters. A "gallery 
 corps" consists of from three to sixteen 
 gentlemen of the Press — all expert short- 
 hand writers, who can not only take 
 notes, but transcribe them. Each London 
 newspaper has also a summary writer, 
 who likewise manages its corps. Mr. 
 Leycester does this duty for the Times; 
 
 and accuracy in printing parliamentary papers and 
 debates. He died in 1828, but the business was 
 continued by his family. The reports of the 
 speeches were taken from the morning papers, 
 altered and amplified very often according to the 
 member's whim, and have grown into a mighty 
 record of forgotten talk, or, as one writer has 
 admirably put it, " an embarrassing monument of 
 the vanity of our senators." Recently this re- 
 porting' work has been undertaken by a company 
 that retains, however, the old name. A London 
 correspondent, commenting on its task, wrote in 
 1889: "This year's Hansard will be considerably 
 bulkier than usual, owing to the greater length at 
 which speeches have been reported. During the 
 session there were 122 sittings, lasting in all for 
 1,043 hours, the longest sitting being that of the 
 27th and 28th of August, when the House met 
 
 7 
 
98 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 Mr. Geddes for the Standard ; Mr. Lucy, 
 the Daily News; Mr. Albery, the Daily 
 Telegraph; Mr. Peacock, the Morning 
 Post; Mr. Fisher, the Daily Chronicle; 
 and Mr. G. M. Bussy, the Hansard 
 Debates. 
 
 The work of reporting is methodical, 
 sometimes monotonous, but it is never 
 unpleasant, seldom slavish. Take an 
 ordinary night in the House, with a staff 
 of six reporters to cope with the speaking. 
 
 at three o'clock and sat for over thirteen hours. 
 Hansard shows that 1,625 speeches were made 
 by members of the Government and 965 by ex- 
 Ministers, that the Speaker spoke 497 times, and 
 Mr. Courtney, in the capacity of Deputy Speaker 
 and Chairman of Committees, 280 times. In addition 
 to these, there were 5,187 speeches by private mem- 
 bers, making a total of 8,545 speeches. Mr. W. H. 
 Smith appeared before the House as a speech- 
 maker 199 times, as against Mr. Gladstone's 42 
 times. Irish matters did their share towards 
 keeping up the figures, for Mr. A. J. Balfour 
 caught the Speaker's eye no times, Mr Sexton 
 145 times, and Mr. Healy 129 times." 
 
Reporting To- Day in the House. 99 
 
 A list is made out at the commencement 
 of the sitting something after this fashion : — 
 
 Gentlemen of the Staff. 
 
 Copy letter. 
 
 Time. 
 
 Section A. Mr. Massey . 
 
 3.0 o'clock. 1 
 
 „ B. Mr. Boyd 
 
 3-30 » 
 
 „ C. Mr. Micklethwaite . 
 
 4.0 „ 
 
 „ D. Mr. Goldston . 
 
 4.30 f, 
 
 „ E. Mr. Maxwell . 
 
 5.0 „ 
 
 „ F. Mr. Grant . 
 
 5.30 „ 
 
 Instructions. 
 
 Gladstone, 1st person, fully. 
 Churchill, 1st person, cut down. 
 Harcourt, 3rd person, good summary. 
 Remainder of debate must be kept to lines. 
 
 Mr. Massey, according to this reporters' 
 time-table, occupies his seat in the gallery 
 half an hour, during which his book may 
 become well filled with shorthand notes, 
 or he may find the speakers say little 
 that needs reporting. Whether he gets 
 
 1 The House now meets at three o'clock. 
 
100 Newspaper Reporting, 
 
 much on his book or not, he has two hours 
 and a half in which to transcribe his notes, 
 to write them out in longhand for the 
 newspaper he represents, inasmuch as Mr. 
 Boyd, Mr. Micklethwaite, Mr. Goldston, 
 Mr. Maxwell, and Mr. Grant each have a 
 turn of half an hour's duration, and it is 
 six o'clock before Mr. Massey is required 
 to re-enter the gallery to take up the next 
 turn. If Mr. Massey's first half-hour's duty 
 has yielded nothing important, and he has 
 only a few lines to write, he may go into 
 the smoke-room, and get a soothing whiff 
 from his well- seasoned pipe ; or into the 
 tea-room, where there is food not only 
 for the body, but the mind — newspapers, 
 magazines, and a library of about three 
 hundred volumes ; or into the dining-room, 
 where it is possible to obtain a good dinner 
 and pleasant chat. 
 
 But if Mr. Gladstone gets up, or Lord 
 Randolph Churchill rises, during Mr. 
 
Reporting To-Day in the House. 101 
 
 Massey's take, his pencil has to speed 
 across his note-book ; page after page of 
 grammalogues and phraseograms are dotted 
 down. There is no opportunity for smoke- 
 room gossip. The reporter must hurry to 
 one or other of the writing-out rooms, work 
 incessantly until he has put Mr. Gladstone's 
 or his lordship's utterances into longhand ; 
 and then it may be time for him to go 
 into the gallery again. 
 
 So the modern system of reporting goes 
 on throughout the night, quietly, efficiently, 
 mingling method with skill and culture, each 
 gentleman of the staff not only transcribing 
 his notes with rapidity and accuracy, and 
 saving many a member's reputation for 
 sanity, but being careful to see that his 
 copy is properly lettered and folioed, that 
 section follows section in alphabetical order, 
 — that, in fact, the speech, though reported 
 perhaps by six men, reads as smoothly as 
 though it had been done by one. 
 
102 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 On a big night in the House, however, 
 such a small staff is inadequate. Take, for 
 instance, the memorable night — April 8th, 
 1886 — when Mr. Gladstone introduced his 
 Home Rule Bill for Ireland. He was on 
 his legs three hours and twenty-five minutes, 
 and his speech made between ten and twelve 
 columns. It was a night filled with portent 
 to the nation. The country thrilled with 
 excitement. The House was crowded. 
 Nearly all that was distinguished in English 
 political and social life was there. It was 
 a busy night in the reporters' gallery. 
 " Our own correspondent " vividly described 
 the scene in many a newspaper — how the 
 floor of the House was crammed with 
 members ; how the peers were packed in 
 their gallery; how the ambassadors, though 
 politeness itself, could not in the crush 
 refrain from treading on the toes of 
 strangers; and what bright eyes shone 
 through the grating of the ladies' gallery ! 
 
Reporting To-Day in the House. 103 
 
 But the special correspondent, who noticed 
 every little point — that Mr. Gladstone was 
 dressed with unusual care, and wore "a 
 faint yellowish pink flower in his button- 
 hole ; " or that Lord Hartington sat with 
 his arms folded, and his tall hat tipped on 
 the end of his nose — had an easy time 
 compared to the reporters. Nearly every 
 daily paper had sent out the instruction, 
 " Gladstone, first person, verbatim." Twelve, 
 sixteen, even twenty reporters formed the 
 corps of some newspapers ; and the half- 
 hour " turns " were suspended for three, 
 five, or ten minute takes, the reporters 
 deftly working hand over hand, section by 
 section; so that when Mr. Gladstone re- 
 sumed his seat at eight o'clock in the 
 evening, having spoken since thirty-five 
 minutes past four o'clock in the after- 
 noon, nearly the whole of -his speech, sent 
 either by telephone or messenger, was in 
 the offices of the London morning papers, 
 
104 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 and also on the wires for the country. It 
 was an anxious time in many a telegraph 
 office and in many a sub-editor's room, but 
 the speech, which contained 24,700 words, 
 was nearly all in type in Manchester, Leeds, 
 and Edinburgh before midnight — before the 
 great statesman who delivered it had emp- 
 tied his pomatum pot of voice restorative 1 
 and gone home to bed. 
 
 Smart though he may have proved him- 
 self elsewhere, a reporter who is just 
 
 1 This pomatum pot has become indispensable 
 to Mr. Gladstone's oratory. It gravely takes its 
 place in the House whenever he is intent upon 
 a great speech, and it played a particularly pro- 
 minent part when he brought forward his five 
 resolutions on the Eastern Question in the early 
 part of the session of 1877. Mr. Lucy, describing 
 the scene, or rather the pot, says : "It was an 
 odd thing to see Gladstone just now taking ad- 
 vantage of the pause occasioned by the ringing 
 cheers his eloquence drew forth to seize a short, 
 thick-set pomatum pot, remove the cork, and 
 proceed to refresh himself. History will scorn to 
 
/ 
 
 Reporting To-Day in the House. 105 
 
 beginning his career on a parliamentary 
 corps cannot fail, writes an accomplished 
 journalist now in the gallery, to be impressed 
 with the difficulties peculiar to the work. 
 If his first " turn " should happen to be at 
 " question time," he must be forgiven indeed 
 for entertaining a feeling almost of despair. 
 There is first and foremost the difficulty 
 of hearing. Sitting aloft, he sees below 
 him a body of four or five hundred 
 gentlemen, any one of whom may suddenly 
 rise and put an unexpected question, and 
 
 mention that modest pomatum pot, oval in shape, 
 four inches in height, and supplied with an ill-fitting 
 cork that baffled the frenzied efforts of the orator 
 to replace it. And yet peradventure, without the 
 assistance of this glass bottle, with its mysterious 
 contents that looked like melted pomatum and 
 might have been egg and sherry, we should never 
 have had this great speech, with its broadly based 
 arguments, its towering eloquence, and its subdued 
 tone of triumph, proclaiming the accustomed scorn 
 which minorities have for the brute force of 
 numbers." 
 
1 06 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 the Minister as often as not gives a reply 
 in a tone which suggests that the answer 
 is intended for that hon. member's private 
 and particular ear. In the set answers to 
 printed questions, again, some Ministers 
 speak in such a perfunctory fashion, that 
 they are audible only in certain parts of 
 the gallery. Then you want to know the 
 names of the questioners or speakers, and 
 must have some acquaintance with the 
 forms of the House. It is necessary, more- 
 over, to keep up with current events, 
 and there are occasions when to know, 
 say, the purport of the last telegram from 
 the Soudan, or to have some knowledge 
 of the most recent " Incident with Portugal," 
 makes all the difference in the world so 
 far as reporting is concerned. By-and-by 
 most of these difficulties disappear, but 
 that of hearing is ever with you. Your 
 ears, with practice, become longer, accous- 
 tically speaking; but in redacting your 
 
Reporting To- Day in the House. 107 
 
 notes of questions and answers at least 
 you are frequently more or less dependent 
 on your comrades. The staffs of the 
 several papers represented in the House 
 vary in number, that of the Times, of 
 course, heading the list; while the pro- 
 vincial papers, some of which do not aim 
 at a report of any considerable length, 
 come last with three or four men each. 
 This, however, does not apply to the 
 Scotsman and Glasgow Herald newspapers, 
 which have corps equal to those of some 
 of the London dailies, and give even ampler 
 reports than most of them. The "turns." 
 vary according to circumstances. In " ques- 
 tion time" they rarely exceed a quarter of 
 an hour or twenty minutes on any staff, 
 and the same holds good while speeches 
 of prime importance are being delivered. It 
 is customary for the reporter who is next 
 in rotation to his colleague in the box to 
 be in waiting a few minutes before the 
 
108 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 appointed time, with a view to gather up 
 the threads of the debate. On leaving the 
 box, the reporter repairs to one of the writing- 
 rooms. Of these there are a suite, well- 
 appointed and comfortable. The "black" 
 room — so called from the colour of the 
 desks — and " No. 18 " — a large committee- 
 room in one of the corridors — are the most 
 frequented; but there are smaller rooms 
 just outside the gallery, and there is another 
 room, with seats for about twenty, where you 
 may smoke while you write. This latter 
 is in addition to the smoke-room proper. 
 It seldom happens that a reporter is unable 
 to finish his redaction by the time he is 
 again due in the gallery, for either he has 
 ample time for the purpose owing to the 
 strength of the staff, or he condenses. It 
 frequently happens, indeed, during a dull 
 debate, or while the House is in committee, 
 that he is able to write out his turn in 
 the box, and he has thus a considerable 
 
Reporting To- Day in the House. 109 
 
 interval which he may devote to himself. 
 At these times — and there is generally 
 a slack period of a couple of hours every 
 night during the most important debates 
 — he is able to dine or to spend a quiet 
 hour in the smoke-room or in the tea- 
 room. The authorities of the House 
 some years ago placed a spacious room at 
 the disposal of the gallery as a dining- 
 room. The smoke-room, though not large, 
 is comfortable ; and here you may read the 
 newspapers or play a game of draughts, or 
 chess. The tea-room, a chamber of about 
 the same size, is furnished with newspapers, 
 magazines, and books. The whole of the 
 arrangements affecting the convenience and 
 comfort of the reporters are under the con- 
 trol of a committee, elected annually from 
 among and by the holders of non-trans- 
 ferable tickets. The transferable tickets, by 
 the way, are used by leader writers and by 
 reporters who are drafted in to give assist- 
 
1 1 o Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 ance on very busy nights. In the House 
 of Lords the boxes are allotted to the 
 London papers- with two or three ex- 
 ceptions ; but such of the provincial papers 
 as desire to have special reports of the 
 proceedings of this chamber find no 
 difficulty in obtaining a seat on the bench 
 behind. The difficulties of hearing in this 
 building are, as is well known, even greater 
 than in the other House, and many 
 amusing stories are told of the blunders 
 which the reporter has fallen into in conse- 
 quence. Immediately adjoining the Lords' 
 gallery there is a spacious writing-room 
 for the use of the reporters ; but no other 
 conveniences are provided, — and, indeed, 
 they are unnecessary, the sittings) as a rule, 
 being brief, and the reporters at once be- 
 taking themselves to the Commons. 
 
 "An interesting part of parliamentary re- 
 porting," writes Mr. William Maxwell in an 
 article on "Parliamentary Reporters," "is 
 
Reporting To-Day in tJie House. 1 1 1 
 
 that known as ' lobbying.' The privilege of 
 entering the lobby is enjoyed by a repre- 
 sentative of each of the London newspapers 
 and by provincial journals that have direct 
 representatives in the gallery. Having 
 carefully studied the morning and evening 
 papers, and jotted down a few items upon 
 which the public may show some curiosity, 
 the lobby-man enters the square chamber 
 at the entrance to the House and mingles 
 w T ith the members. At first he is disposed 
 to welcome the advances of every parlia- 
 mentary representative, but experience 
 teaches him that those who are most 
 anxious to cultivate this source of publicity 
 are not always the men who have the in- 
 formation to give in exchange. He quickly 
 learns who are in the confidence of promi- 
 nent politicians, and who are their acknow- 
 ledged intermediaries. The moment a man 
 is in office he becomes as close as an oyster, 
 and avoids the lobby to communicate his 
 
112 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 information to favoured journals in a more 
 private way. Mr. Gladstone is never seen 
 in the lobby, though his son, Mr. Herbert 
 Gladstone, serves the purpose, and put 
 forward the memorable feeler on Home 
 Rule. Mr. Chamberlain has for his hench- 
 men Mr. Jesse Collings and Mr. Powell 
 Williams, and Lord R. Churchill communi- 
 cates through Mr. Hanbury and Mr. 
 Jennings. Mr. W. H. Smith is never 
 visible in this haunt of gossips, except 
 when he enters the room of the Conservative 
 Whip, who, with the Liberal Whip, is re- 
 garded as the official source of news. The 
 hour of interviewing is immediately after 
 Questions, or after dinner, when some mem- 
 bers are not quite so reticent as they after- 
 wards suppose. An accidental hint may 
 lead to the disclosure of a confidential 
 document, although such disclosures are 
 not always the result of accident so much 
 as of design. Mr. Lucy, who ' lobbies ' for 
 
Reporting To-Day in the House. 113 
 
 a syndicate of six newspapers, and Mr. W. 
 Ernest Pitt, who has charge of the interests 
 of the Press Association, 1 are two of the most 
 prominent lobby-men. Mr. Harry Furniss 
 also ' lobbies ' for Punch. Talking with a 
 journalist, he transfers in a few strokes upon 
 a piece of cardboard in the palm of his 
 hand those striking caricatures that adorn 
 the ' Essence of Parliament. y In this respect 
 he resembles Mr. Leslie Ward, 'Spy,' and 
 differs from the late Mr. Pellegrini, the 
 
 1 The mention of the Press Association, established 
 in 1868 by a syndicate of newspaper proprietors tor 
 the supply of news, reminds one of the best known 
 journalistic figure connected with it — Mr. Walter 
 Hepburn. His skill as a reporter, his wide and 
 varied experience, and his high personal qualities, 
 have won for him the respect and regard of all 
 connected with the profession. Statesmen are proud 
 to acknowledge him. No Gladstone visit is complete 
 without him; indeed, the leader of the Liberal 
 Party, referring not long ago to the work of pressmen 
 in relation to politics, spoke of Mr. Hepburn as " my 
 esteemed friend." 
 
 8 
 
1 1 4 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 'Ape,' of Vanity Fair, who would study a 
 member in the lobby for an hour or two, 
 and then go home to draw those marvellous 
 likenesses." 
 
 The reporters' gallery, which has been 
 the scene of many changes during the 
 present century, is now threatened with 
 a novel invasion. Women have lately, 
 for the good or evil of the country, entered 
 into competition with men. They have 
 become typewriters, workers of the telegraph 
 and the telephone, clerks, printers, com- 
 mercial travellers, doctors, dabblers in educa- 
 tion, literature, and politics. One of their 
 latest fields of enterprise is that of journalism ; 
 and they are quite prepared to describe a 
 fashionable wedding or a Royal visit, to 
 attend an execution or go at a moment's 
 notice to the seat of war, to criticise the 
 Government at home in big type, or to 
 settle the Eastern Question in a column 
 "leader." There is no telling to what 
 
Reporting To-day in the House. 115 
 
 altitude their pertinacity and feminine ambi- 
 tion may lift them. It is possible that before 
 the new century grows old England may 
 have a female Prime Minister, and be de- 
 fended by an Amazonian army. Women 
 already take part in our local government 
 — they may ultimately take part in our 
 Imperial government, and spinster and 
 matron sit at Westminster as the duly 
 elected representatives of important con- 
 stituencies. 
 
 Hitherto fairly content with her reign at 
 home, woman has now determined to assume 
 a more conspicuous position in English life 
 beyond her own fireside. She intends to go 
 her own way, and, adopting Shakespeare's 
 words, says, — 
 
 v . . . Being a woman, I will not be slack 
 To play my part in fortune's pageant ; " 
 
 consequently man must accept the inevit- 
 able, for it is idle to attempt to check the 
 
1 1 6 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 wind, or the incoming tide, or a woman's 
 tongue. The modern woman, whether 
 sweetly persuasive or aggressive, manages 
 somehow to get what she wants ; and as she 
 has decided to enter the reporters' gallery, 
 it is foolish of "my lords and gentlemen" 
 to endeavour to keep her out. Already she 
 has made formal application for admission 
 to it. 
 
 Mr. Bradlaugh, rising in his place in 
 the House of Commons on March 18th, 
 1890, asked whether, if a vacancy occurred 
 in* the reporters' gallery, there was any 
 order of the House which would prevent 
 the entertainment of an application from 
 a lady for a place in that gallery. 
 
 The Speaker replied : " There is no order 
 of the House against a lady being admitted 
 as a reporter to the reporters' gallery. 
 Within the last two or three days an appli- 
 cation has been made to the Sergeant-at- 
 Arms by a lady, stating that she was the 
 
Reporting To-day in tlie House. 117 
 
 representative of a journal which advocated 
 the political and social rights of women. 
 The Sergeant-at-Arms, as I think very 
 properly, replied that he had no authority 
 to depart from the existing practice, nor 
 would it be right for me to intervene in 
 any way, unless I have the direct and 
 express sanction of the House, in a matter 
 possibly leading to consequences which it 
 would be difficult at this moment for the 
 House to foresee." 
 
 To quote the saying of a witty journalist, 
 most people would think "The incident is 
 now closed." But the Speaker, learned in 
 the forms of the House, and possessing an 
 exact estimate of his own authority, can 
 have little knowledge of the female mind if 
 he imagines that this lady will be checked, 
 or put off, by such a reply. The con- 
 sequences — whatever they are — will not 
 appal her. The novelty will wear off. 
 The woman will twist the House and its 
 
1 1 8 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 hon. members round "her little finger," 
 she will make a complete conquest of the 
 Speaker, captivate the Sergeant-at-Arms, and 
 with a smile on her face take her seat among 
 the gentlemen of the Press in " the gallery," 
 and begin a new era of reporting in Parlia- 
 ment. 
 
V, 
 A Gossip about Shorthand. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 A Gossip about Shorthand. 
 
 T is impossible to report verbatim 
 a speech, for instance, like Mr. 
 Gladstone's on the Home Rule 
 question without the help of shorthand ; 
 and in the reporters' gallery every variety 
 of shorthand is written, perhaps, with the 
 exception of the system Xenophon used in 
 taking down the words of Socrates, or that 
 of the Mexican reporters, who, according 
 to Prescott, came down and interviewed 
 Cortes, writing in hieroglyphics all they saw, 
 and returning rapidly with the drawings to 
 the king. 
 
122 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 Shorthand is no new-fangled notion. The 
 scholar, the statesman, and the man of 
 business have for centuries sighed for, and 
 striven to get, a briefer system of writing 
 than longhand. And though the history of 
 shorthand, like the history of the Press, is 
 a history of progress, yet it is singular to 
 find signs in Roman stenography and in 
 Greek shorthand very similar to those that 
 ornament or disfigure the modern reporter's 
 note-book. 
 
 That the Roman notarii attained pro- 
 ficiency in the art of shorthand writing is 
 evident from the translation of Caesar's 
 speech in the Senate on the fate of Catiline, 
 — a speech in the first person, though 
 apparently not verbatim ; a speech interest- 
 ing, as showing the difference in the oratory 
 of that and our own time. Caesar did not 
 crane forward on his seat, fidget about, and 
 try in a white-heat to " catch the Speaker's 
 eye." Nor did he begin his speech with 
 
A Gossip about Shorthand. 123 
 
 the mysterious expression, "Mr. Speaker/'' 
 that falls so glibly from the lips of some 
 of our own members of Parliament. His 
 speech might be studied with advantage 
 by many a politician who bores the House, 
 even while flattering himself that he is an 
 orator. 
 
 " Conscript Fathers," he said, with dignity, 
 " it becomes all men who deliberate on 
 ^doubtful matters to clear their minds of 
 hatred, friendship, wrath, and pity, because 
 there can be no perception of the truth 
 where these obstruct ; nor can any one, I 
 care not who, fulfil at the same time the 
 impulses of inclination and the dictates of 
 duty." There is neither personality nor 
 slang in the speech, which reaches the zenith 
 of its declamation in the phrase "By the 
 immortal gods," and contains the remarkable 
 passage, "So far as the question of the 
 penalty is concerned, indeed we are able to 
 say this, as the matter stands, that in grief 
 
124 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 and care death is a relief from affliction and 
 not a punishment, that it eliminates all the 
 miseries of mortals, and that beyond its 
 bourne there is no place either for sorrow 
 or for joy." 
 
 Roman shorthand, like the Roman Em- 
 pire, declined and fell ; but the desire for 
 swift writing broke out in other lands, and 
 nearly every Continental nation has to-day 
 its particular system of shorthand, the 
 development of, or improvement upon, 
 some cruder style introduced years ago. 
 A story from the Arabic of Abu Mu- 
 hammad Ben Ishah tells how a China- 
 man, " who had acquired the Arabic 
 speech and writing in less than five 
 months, took down from the lips of one 
 of his teachers sixteen books of Galen." 
 This story may be true, though it sounds 
 like an extract from The Arabian Nights' 
 Entertainment ; but it is possible to believe 
 the statement that stenography was known 
 
A Gossip about Shorthand. 125 
 
 in Russia in the latter part of the seven- 
 teenth century, " when a certain Pro- 
 fessor Wolke used to reproduce discourses 
 by means of his own system of shorthand." 
 France has been striving, with more or less 
 zeal, since the reign of Louis XIV., to 
 bring out a perfect system of stenography ; 
 \and in Germany the names Gabelsberger 
 and Stolze are inseparable from similar 
 efforts. 
 
 England, however, has been more pro- 
 lific in the invention and adaptation of 
 shorthand systems. It is a fact, proved 
 by MSS. in the British Museum, that 
 Charles I. wrote shorthand, and that the 
 Marquis of Worcester invented one mode 
 of writing it. Since the publication of 
 Bright's system in 1588, a great number 
 of English shorthand alphabets have been 
 given to the world, the most conspic- 
 uous among them being Bales', in 1597 ; 
 Gurney's, 1753; Byrom's, 1767; Blanchard's, 
 
126 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 3779 ; Taylor's, 1788 ; and Pitman's, 
 1838. 
 
 There is only one original copy of Dr. 
 Bright's book remaining. It is in the 
 Bodleian Library, but there is a reprint 
 of it in the Bailey collection of shorthand 
 works now on the shelves of the Man- 
 chester Reference Library. The title of 
 the book is very quaint, — Characterie : An 
 Arte of Shorte, Swift, and Secret Writing 
 -by Character, invented by Timothe Bright, 
 Doctor of Phisike, — and it bears the date 
 1588, with the caution, " forbidding all 
 other to print the same." The work is 
 dedicated to Queen Elizabeth in the 
 following words: — 
 
 "Cicero did account it worthie his 
 labour, and no less profitable to the 
 Roman common weale (most gracious 
 Sovereign), to invent a speedie kinde of 
 wryting by character, as Plutarch reporteth 
 in the life of Cato, the younger. This in- 
 
A Gossip about Shorthand, 127 
 
 vention was increased afterward by Seneca: 
 that the number of characters grew to 
 7,000. Whether through injurie of time, 
 or that men gave it over for tediousness 
 of learning, nothing remaineth extant of 
 I Cicero's invention at this day. Upon con- 
 sideration of the great use of such a kind 
 of writing, I have invented the like : of few 
 characters, short and easy, every character 
 answering a word: my invention on meere 
 English without precept or imitation of 
 any. The uses are divers : short, that a 
 swift hande may therewith write orations 
 or publike actions of speach, uttered as 
 becometh the gravitie of such actions, ver- 
 batim. Secrete, as no kind of wryting 
 like, and herein (besides other properties) 
 excelling the wryting by letters and alpha- 
 bet, in that, nations of strange language, 
 may hereby communicate their meaning 
 together in wryting, though of sundrie 
 tongues. It is reported of the people of 
 
128 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 China, that they have no other kinde, and 
 so traffike together many provinces of that 
 kingdom, ignorant one of an others speach. 
 Their characters are very long, and hard to 
 make, that a dozen of mine may be made 
 as soon as one of theirs : Besides they 
 wanting an alphabet, fall into an infinite 
 number, which is a thing that greatly 
 chargeth memory and may discourage the 
 learner. This my invention I am em- 
 boldened to dedicate unto your Majesty, 
 in that among other your princelie virtues 
 your Majesty is wont to approve of every 
 good and profitable learning." 
 
 The rest of the dedication flatters the 
 Queen rather at the expense of Cicero ; then 
 follows an instruction to the reader how 
 the art of Bright's shorthand is to be 
 learned. " Thou art first to learn the 
 Characterie words by heart, and therewith 
 the making of the figure to the character, 
 to doo it readily, and clean, then, to be able 
 
A Gossip about Shorthand. 129 
 
 to join every character to the word pro- 
 nounced, without book, or sight of any 
 pattern before thee." It is curious that in 
 his " Characterie Table " some of the signs 
 are exactly like those in Pitman's system — 
 for instance, the form for " anoint " is 
 exactly like the phonographic sign for 
 "account," and the character for the word 
 " praise " like the phonographic sign for 
 " secrets." The system reveals much thought 
 and ingenuity, and in its day must have 
 been considered little short of marvellous ; 
 yet some of the forms are very clumsy and 
 difficult, and the reporter, if he had to 
 depend upon this system to-day to note 
 down verbatim any statesman's speech, 
 would be inclined to break out into swear 
 words if he came across many signs such 
 as that for " liberalise," a whimsical, intricate 
 formation that would check the most reck- 
 less pencil in its wildest flight after the 
 fastest speaker. 
 
 9 
 
130 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 The book-lover would revel in the short- 
 hand library in which Bright's " Characterie " 
 has the most honoured place. The Bailey 
 collection consists of no fewer than seven 
 hundred volumes, and these contain prac- 
 tically all that the English mind has con- 
 ceived in the shape of swift writing. Many 
 of the books are yellow with age, curious in 
 illustration and typography, and all interest- 
 ing as showing the steady growth of shorthand 
 during the past three centuries. 
 
 One of the most interesting is the second 
 edition, published in 1627, of Edmund 
 Willis's book, "An Abbreviation of Writing 
 by Character, wherein is summarily contained 
 a Table which is an Abstract of the whole 
 Art, with Plaine and Easie Rules for the 
 speedy performance thereof without any 
 other Tutor." Some of the signs he gives 
 are a ' strange jumble ; but the book is 
 valuable, not only because of its striving 
 after a better system of writing, but because 
 
A Gossip about Shorthand, 131 
 
 of the good advice it gives to the learner — 
 advice as applicable to him now as at the 
 time this old faded book was new and 
 bright with its red-ink characters sprinkling 
 its pages. " For the more plainnesse in 
 reading this art, you must keep your 
 stops. . . . And for your better perfection 
 in this art, take one observation more from 
 me, which is, That when you are in com- 
 panie, and heare a word spoken, doe but 
 consider in your minde, how you would 
 express the same in writing, and the custome 
 of this will bring you to great readiness ; as 
 I myself by good experience have found." 
 On the last page are these fulsome rhymes : — 
 
 " In Laudem Authoris. 
 
 " That which so many have desired to gaine, 
 By Wit and Labour of the mind and brain, 
 And yet could not, by Reason's carefull eye, 
 Find where the depth of Truth's perfections lye : 
 Thou hast by Art, upon such Judgement grounded, 
 
 - And so exact a method hath propounded 
 
132 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 By Characters, to write with such a speed 
 As may of all be thought a worthy Deed : 
 In which Rare Art, may well be understood, 
 How Willis' Will is to doe all men good." 
 
 "John Willis, B.D.," writes Mr. Axon, 
 jun., who has catalogued and mentally 
 roamed through these books, " was author of 
 the Art of Stenographies the twelfth edition 
 of which in the Bailey collection is almost 
 unique, no copy being known to Dr. Westby- 
 Gibson when he compiled his .exhaustive 
 Bibliography of Shorthand. Thomas Shelton's 
 Tachygraphy, of which Mr. Bailey had the 
 1 64 1 edition, was an important work in 
 its day, and, after the fashion of the 
 time, the author prefixed to this edition 
 commendatory verses — some of them 
 marked by fulsome adulation — from various 
 of his students. What would be thought 
 if a book of the nineteenth century 
 were to be heralded, as Shelton's Tachy- 
 graphy was, in the following lines, signed 
 
A Gossip about Shorthand, 133 
 
 by Nath. Mason, of Gonville and Caius 
 College ?— 
 
 '"To the Author. 
 
 " 'Why should I praise thy Art in writing, when 
 Thy Art and praise surmounts the praise of men ; 
 For if thy way of writing had been showne 
 To ages past, Printing had ne're beene knowne, 
 Nor the invention sought or valued ; when 
 The Presse can scarcely overrunne thy Pen : 
 So that what honour's due unto the Quill, 
 Or glory unto those that have the skill 
 In faire Orth.ograph.ie, their titles stand 
 As pages to attend upon thy hand.' 
 
 Two of Jeremiah Rich's pretty little 
 volumes, measuring only 2 \ by 1 \ inches, are 
 in the collection, as is also the anonymous 
 first edition of the 'Mercury, or the Secret 
 and Swift Messenger ; Shewing, how a man 
 may with Privacy and Speed communicate 
 his Thoughts to a Friend at any distance,' 
 1 64 1. This was written by John Wilkins, 
 Cromwell's brother-in-law, who after the 
 Restoration became Bishop of Chester and 
 
134 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 one of the founders of the Royal Society. 
 The second edition of the Mercury, dated 
 1694, has the author's name. William 
 Mason, a shorthand teacher in London, 
 was author of a system which was much 
 used in the seventeenth and early in the 
 eighteenth centuries. The Bailey collection 
 contains several of his numerous works, 
 including his earliest, A Pen PlucKd from 
 an Eagle's Wing (167 2), and Arts Advance- 
 ment (1682). To the latter is prefixed an 
 engraved portrait of the author, and under- 
 neath appear the following lines, from the 
 pen of * S. W.,' which show the rivalry 
 that existed then, as now, between authors 
 of different systems : — 
 
 '"Let Shelton, Rich, and all the rest go down, 
 Bring here your Golden Pen and Laurel Crown, 
 Great Mason's nimbler Quill out-strips ye Winde, 
 And leaves ye Voyce, almost ye Thoughts behind. 
 In vain may Momus snarl; He soares so high, 
 Praise he commands, and Envy does defie.' 
 
A Gossip about Shorthand. 135 
 
 When we consider that Mason's system 
 was partly hierogtyphic and required an 
 immense amount of memory work to be 
 of any use, this praise certainly seems to 
 border on exaggeration. Peter Annet, a 
 native of Liverpool, is represented by the 
 whole of his shorthand books; and John 
 Byrom, of Manchester, by four copies of 
 his posthumous Universal English Short- 
 hand (1767), and by numerous variations 
 and improvements by Molineux, Gawtress, 
 and others. The whole of the different edi- 
 tions of the Polygraph)/ of Aulay Macaulay, 
 the St. Ann's Square 1 tea-dealer, are in 
 the collection, and the other local systems 
 are here in more or less completeness. 
 Amongst them may be mentioned the 
 Stenography, printed at Poughill in 1806 
 by George Nicholson, previously of Man- 
 chester, and remembered as one of the 
 promoters of cheap and well-got-up books, 
 1 St. Ann's Square, Manchester. 
 
136 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 and also as an uncompromising advocate 
 of a non-flesh diet. In the Rudiments of 
 Shorthand, by Thomas Andrews (1744), we 
 have a book that has hitherto escaped 
 record by bibliographers. Another unre- 
 corded and stillborn but pretentious work 
 is The World 's Jewel ; or, the Oxford Book of 
 Short Hand (1759), by the Rev. Mr. Jonathan 
 Smart, who, unlike his predecessors of the 
 previous century, who were content to have 
 their systems puffed by their friends, pre- 
 ferred to do the puffing himself. On his 
 title-page we find the following verse, 
 presumably his own : — 
 
 "'Go forth, my little Book, and loudly tell, 
 If you've an Equal, none can you excel : 
 Of this, with justice, truly you may boast, 
 All purchase learning, cheaply, at my cost. 
 Here Time's well spent — whoever in it looks, 
 Aloud proclaims — This is the Book of Books ! ' 
 
 Will it be believed that the ' Book of 
 Books' contains only thirty-six duodecimo 
 
A Gossip about SJtorthand. 137 
 
 ,rs° Gurney, Mavor, Pitman, and all 
 the modem attempts find a place in the 
 collection. Useless systems are sandwiched 
 between systems that have done excellent 
 service, even if they are now forgotten by 
 all but those who, like the late collector 
 of this library, find few things so interesting 
 as old books. A portion of Mr. Barik 
 shorthand library consisted of manuscripts 
 written in- shorthand, amongst which may 
 be named a beautiful MS. entided A 
 Choice Selection of Prose and Poetry, and 
 written in shorthand by Peter Robey, at 
 Mr. Birchall's School, Manchester, in 
 18 18; letters from Cambridge, by Richard 
 Clowes, brother of the well-remembered 
 Rector of St John's, Manchester; and 
 several volumes of the works of Dr. Philip 
 Doddridge.'' 
 
 Though Taylor's and Gumey's shorthand 
 are somewhat extensively written in the 
 reporters' gallery, Pitman's is the most 
 
138 Newspaper Reporting, 
 
 popular system, and seems likely to increase 
 rather than decrease in favour there. 1 
 
 Phonography, as its name implies, is 
 a system of writing by sound ; or, in 
 other words, the reporter does not take 
 down the word according to its spelling, 
 but according to its pronunciation. The 
 alphabet consists of thin and thick strokes 
 and curves for consonants, and dots and 
 short strokes for vowels. But the system 
 is very much abbreviated by the use of 
 grammalogues and phraseograms as the 
 learner advances ; so that a student who 
 has thoroughly mastered phonography has 
 no difficulty in following the most rapid 
 speaker. It is a system that has had 
 to endure much obloquy. Hundreds of 
 
 1 Of the 94 pressmen in the gallery, 60 write 
 Pitman's system, 12 Taylor's, 6 Gurney's, 3 Lewis', 
 1 Gurney-Taylor's, I Lowe's, 1 Byrom's, 1 Peachey's, 
 1 Everett's, I Melville-Bell's, I Mavor's, I Graham's, 
 and 1 Jane's. 
 
A Gossip about Shorthand. 139 
 
 youths, fired with ambition to get on 
 the Press, have sought to acquire a 
 knowledge of it. Many have struggled 
 through the alphabet, and perhaps a little 
 further, and then given up the study in 
 despair. But this is not the fault of the 
 system : the fault is with the too easily 
 daunted student. Nevertheless, the system 
 is not perfect ; and one of its most glaring 
 defects is the liability — especially in report- 
 ing a rapidly delivered speech — to misread 
 one word for another, both words having 
 exactly the same outlines, and perhaps not 
 a vowel to give them individuality. This 
 defect has led to many errors and ludicrous 
 mistakes in the reporter's copy; but with 
 practice and care it is a pitfall that may 
 invariably be avoided — nay, is avoided by 
 experienced and thoughtful reporters, who 
 are not only skilful in note-taking, but use 
 their brains, and are wide awake to the 
 context, when transcribing. It is possible 
 
140 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 that some system of note-taking may yet 
 be invented that will put Pitman's entirely 
 in the shade — a system easier to learn, 
 and less difficult both in writing and 
 transcription into longhand ; but phono- 
 graphy, with all its faults, will never be 
 lightly thrown aside, for a system must 
 have some merit in it that enables a re- 
 porter to give accurately verbatim speeches 
 by such statesmen as Mr. Gladstone, Lord 
 Salisbury, Lord Randolph Churchill, Lord 
 Hartington, Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Goschen, 
 Sir William Harcourt, Mr. John Morley, 
 and even Lord Sherbroke. The latter, now 
 enjoying the serenity of the Upper House, 
 was, before his elevation to the peerage, 
 familiarly known among the reporters as 
 " Bobby " Lowe. He is one of the most 
 difficult speakers of this century to report, 
 so peculiar and rapid is his delivery. At 
 Grantham, not many years ago, a reporter 
 having the misfortune to take a check note 
 
A Gossip about SJiorthand. 141 
 
 of his speech with a view to obtain accu- 
 racy, got into a wild state of exasperation 
 at the orator's freaks, and growled, gnawing 
 his moustache fiercely, while his pencil 
 staggered desperately over his note-book, 
 and great drops of perspiration stood on 
 his brow : " I would rather report the 
 d than ' Bobby ' Lowe ! " 
 
VI. 
 
 The Reporter's Work. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 The Reporter's Work. 
 
 KNOWLEDGE of shorthand, 
 and the capacity to write and 
 transcribe it, is not by any means 
 the only acquirement necessary to make 
 a competent reporter; but it is practically 
 the foundation on which the reporter 
 must build his reputation, and the study is 
 advantageous, not merely because of the 
 admirable training shorthand gives to hand 
 and brain, but because it broadens and en- 
 larges the mind, and often instils a desire 
 for wider knowledge and greater culture. 
 There is a saying, " Once a reporter, 
 
 10 
 
146 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 always a reporter;" but the reporters 
 themselves have practically shown the 
 falsity of this adage by relinquishing 
 the note-book and pencil for more am- 
 bitious, though not more honourable, 
 pursuits. Many men have sprung from 
 the reporters' table to eminence — men like 
 Charles Dickens, Shirley Brooks, John 
 Campbell, and Justice Talfourd. Dr. W. 
 Russell, famous as the Times special cor- 
 respondent in the Crimea, was a gallery 
 man. Sir Charles Russell, Sir Edward 
 Clarke, Baron Alderson, . Judge Powell, 
 Mr. Registrar Hazlitt, were parliamentary 
 reporters. Sir James Hannen was also 
 in the gallery, — where, by-the-bye, some 
 judge in embryo is probably now taking 
 notes. 
 
 A writer in the Entertainment Gazette 
 says: "At least, two gallery men of our 
 own day have become members of that 
 Legislature whose proceedings they had so 
 
The Reporters Work. 147 
 
 often reported and commented upon. One 
 was the late Mr. Dunbar; the other is 
 Mr. Justin M'Carthy, whose leaders in the 
 Daily News are models of newspaper 
 article writing. Mr. Frederick Clifford, 
 who was one of the Times 1 parliamentary 
 corps of reporters for several years, and 
 London correspondent of one of the 
 Sheffield papers, left the gallery to act as 
 chief sub-editor of the Times. He gained 
 some celebrity as a law reporter in con- 
 junction with Mr. Pembroke Stephens, 
 Q.C., who was also a Times 1 gallery man 
 for a long period, relinquishing his press 
 work as briefs came in. Mr. Stephens' 
 career is, if what the world would call 
 uneventful, a remarkable one. He made 
 his first essay in parliamentary reporting 
 as a member of the Morning Post corps, 
 and (as others have done before and since) 
 left the Post for the Times. He gained 
 his early laurels in the committee-rooms, 
 
148 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 local influence securing him any number 
 of briefs in Dublin cases brought before 
 Select Committees at Westminster, and he 
 is one of the few men who have become 
 successful both in the realm of journalism 
 and at the bar without making a single 
 enemy. Mr. Richard Kisbey was another 
 Irish barrister-reporter who emigrated from 
 the Post to the Times. If he did little 
 or nothing at the bar, it was because 
 opportunities and briefs never came to him. 
 He was an efficient all-round reporter, and, 
 with Spellin, may be truly said to have 
 died in harness, for in one of his reporting 
 expeditions in 1882, for the Times, he 
 caught cold from exposure to the fearful 
 weather, and was taken from among us in 
 his prime. One of the brightest young 
 men who ever went into the gallery is 
 now part proprietor of the Bristol Daily 
 Times and Mirror. Goodenough Taylor 
 did two men's work every day of his life 
 
The Reporters Work, 149 
 
 for close upon fifteen years, and apparently 
 throve upon it. From ten to four he was 
 at Somerset House in the Legacy-Duty 
 Department, from the office he went straight 
 down to the House, and did his full share 
 of reporting for the Morning Post, and 
 between while he was sending telegrams to 
 his Bristol paper, then under the joint 
 control of Mr. Joseph Leach and Mr. 
 'Tom' Taylor (Goodenough's father). 
 This was not all. Like most gallery men, 
 young Taylor lived at a long distance from 
 the scene of his labours, and would often 
 walk morning and night some six miles. 
 It is very seldom that you find more 
 than one member of a family engaged in 
 reporting. The Bussys furnish a striking 
 exception to the rule. No one who has 
 done gallery work during the last five-and- 
 twenty or thirty years is unacquainted 
 with one or more members of this report- 
 ing family. George, Henry, and Bernard 
 
150 Newspaper Reporting, 
 
 Bussy are all marvellously accurate note- 
 takers, and are known far and wide as 
 among the ablest men that London has 
 ever produced." 
 
 To the list of those who have stepped 
 from the reporters' gallery to the floor of 
 the House must be added the name of 
 Mr. T. P. O'Connor, M.P., a most capable 
 and enterprising journalist, who has in 
 his conduct of the Star developed entirely 
 new features in journalism, opening out 
 many additional paths to the reporter and 
 the literary man, and doing his work day 
 by day with a celerity and dash that has 
 sometimes startled more cautious news- 
 paper men. Of Mr. Justin McCarthy's 
 career some idea may be obtained from 
 a reference the hon. member made to it 
 in a speech he delivered at the Boston 
 Press Club. "I began," he said, "as a 
 reporter. I filled various departments of 
 journalism; indeed, I endeavoured to filL 
 
The Reporters Work. 151 
 
 a great many departments which now, in 
 my mature years, I know were a good 
 deal beyond my strength. In our early 
 years we begin fearlessly, and, whether 
 we know anything about a person or not, 
 with the rare instinct of a journalist, we 
 valiantly rush to the front, and we either 
 do or we do not do our duty. I have 
 acted in almost every department open 
 to a journalist. I have been foreign cor- 
 respondent ; I have been musical critic — 
 I never knew anything about music; I 
 have been art critic; and, on one or two 
 occasions, I reached the triumph of my 
 genius by describing an agricultural show. 
 Once only I essayed the part of foreign 
 correspondent. I did the coronation of 
 a great king, the present Emperor of 
 Germany,* and on that occasion I had the 
 pleasure to be presented to the greatest 
 statesman in Europe, Prince Bismarck. 
 * The late German Emperor. 
 
152 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 I thought on one occasion of being a war 
 correspondent. I had been for some time 
 a reporter in the House of Commons, and 
 then became foreign editor, and then editor- 
 in-chief; and, having climbed to the top 
 of the tree, I then climbed down again." 
 
 Mr. W. H. Mudford, the editor of the 
 Standard, was a reporter. Mr. W. Senior, 
 the angling editor of the Field, and special 
 correspondent of the Daily News, was a 
 reporter. Mr. H. W. Lucy, appointed 
 editor of the latter paper some three years 
 ago, still prefers the gallery, and wrote from 
 the Reform Club on June 6th, 1887 : " From 
 the day I first sat in my editor's chair I 
 have hankered after my box in the House of 
 Commons, and now I am going back to it" 
 Nor do these names exhaust the list of those 
 who by ability and indomitable perseverance 
 have risen to high positions in the various 
 professions after years of reporting toil. 
 
 Some of the men who have made a 
 
The Reporter's Work. 153 
 
 name graduated in the country, which has 
 long been a training-ground for the re- 
 porters' gallery, and has sent to London 
 many talented journalists. 
 
 There is perhaps no life so varied and 
 exciting as that of the reporter on the 
 provincial daily — no life perhaps in which 
 a man can crowd so much experience. 
 For him there is little rest. If he has not 
 to rise at daybreak and journey by train 
 to a meeting in a town, or in some almost 
 inaccessible village, miles away, he may 
 saunter down to the office about eleven 
 o'clock in the forenoon, and that is probably 
 the last opportunity he has for sauntering 
 until he goes home, generally after midnight. 
 His work is unremitting as a statesman's, and 
 frequently more imperative. Here is a record 
 of a day's work, taken haphazard out of a 
 chief reporter's diary — a list of the day's 
 engagements with the initials of the mem- 
 bers of the staff attached : — 
 
154 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 S. Police and Inquests. 
 
 L. Town Council Committees and Local Im- 
 provements. 
 P. Steam Tram Accident at Bradford. 
 H. Diocesan Conference. 
 
 A. Wife Murder. 
 
 F. Railway Extensions in the West Riding. 
 
 M. Colliery Explosion. 
 
 B. Lord Salisbury at Nottingham. 
 J. The Theatres. 
 
 T. Double Execution at Armley. 
 R. Lecture on English Humorists. 
 
 C. Burglary. 
 
 W. Bishop of Ripon on Temperance. 
 
 D. Mill Fire. 
 
 In reporting a big political speech — say 
 Lord Salisbury is speaking at Manchester, 
 Edinburgh, or Leeds — the process is much 
 the same as that adopted in reporting 
 debates in the House, except that the 
 staff consists of what is termed "a ring," 
 is made up of one reporter for each 
 newspaper requiring a verbatim report, and 
 the turns are shorter — two, three, or five 
 minutes. About eight reporters are, as a rule 
 
The Reporters Work. 155 
 
 " in the ring ; " and working in alphabetical 
 order, hand over hand, note-taking for two 
 minutes, and, transcribing on flimsy, they 
 manage to keep written up to the speaker \ 
 and soon after the orator has resumed his 
 seat, amid the loud and continued cheering 
 of his political admirers, the reporter who 
 has had the last turn is writing, not without 
 secret delight, "End of message." 
 
 Every reporter, no doubt, has a vivid 
 recollection of his first admission to "a 
 ring." It is a trying time. If you do not 
 take a good note, and falter in transcription ; 
 if you fail to take up your next turn at the 
 moment the chief, watch in hand, gives 
 you the hint, the note-taking arrangement is 
 thrown out of gear, and all round the ring, 
 there is either muttered thunder or icy 
 reticence. But with skilful reporters — and 
 the men allowed "in the ring " are generally 
 known to be thoroughly up to their work 
 — the task of reporting a great political 
 
156 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 meeting is a comparatively light one. 
 There is an exact subdivision of labour. 
 Turn after turn is completed with regularity; 
 and with a shrewd, imperturbable chief to 
 rigidly allot the time, and a nimble comrade 
 to collect and assort the flimsy, there is 
 scarcely any phase of a reporter's life that 
 is pleasanter than "doing a big meeting." 
 His anxiety and toil come rather in what 
 appears to be less important work. Take 
 one day's engagements in the diary, for 
 instance. Every engagement takes time to 
 fulfil. The information has to be obtained, 
 often not without difficulty and annoyance. 
 Whether referring to some important 
 development of trade, or exploit in ex- 
 ploration, or statesman's policy, or despotic 
 oppression and cruelty abroad, or great 
 disaster in pit at home; whether relating 
 to fiendish tragedy, to work of philan- 
 thropy, to the splendid courage that now 
 and then reveals the true hero in the 
 
The Reporter's Work. 157 
 
 workshop, or the daring and self-sacrifice 
 of our lifeboatmen in the stormiest sea 
 that beats upon the coast; whether touch- 
 ing upon some noted law case, or new 
 scheme of railway enterprise, or modern 
 triumph of engineering skill ; or upon the 
 latest political craze, the newest fad 
 ostensibly for the good of the nation and 
 the welfare of the people, but possibly 
 advanced to gratify the vanity of or to 
 materially benefit the hon. member whose 
 pet cause it is, — every jot and tittle of this 
 news when obtained, and the libel carefully 
 sifted out of it, has to be put in attractive 
 form to interest the newspaper reader. 
 
 The reporter, it will be seen, is some- 
 times a visitor unwelcome ; for the enraged 
 father does not like to be questioned 
 about his daughter's elopement, nor does 
 the manufacturer, tracked by some vague 
 rumour on 'Change, care to disclose to 
 the indefatigable and unabashed pressman 
 
158 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 the coming downfall of his firm. Whether 
 welcome or unwelcome, however, the 
 reporter is always busy, devoting the day, 
 and frequently the best half of the night, 
 to the interests of the paper he represents. 
 Not only must he be a capable short- 
 hand writer, but a vigorous and pic- 
 turesque descriptive writer; and while not 
 forgetting what is due to the dignity of the 
 Press, he must be a man of the world, 
 courteous to high and low. 
 
 Special aptitude, as well as long training, 
 are necessary to produce men of this stamp ; 
 yet they are to be found in nearly every 
 daily newspaper office of any influence in the 
 provinces, — men like Mr. R. W. Spencer, 
 of the Manchester Guardian, now chief 
 of the sub-editorial staff, after a notable 
 career as a reporter; Mr. J. Cash, chief 
 reporter of the same paper ; Mr. W. Lister, 
 of the Manchester Examiner and Times; Mr. 
 H. S. Green, of the Manchester Courier ; 
 
The Reporter's Work. 159 
 
 Mr. W. M. Gilbert, of the Scotsman ; Mr. 
 T. Reid, of the Glasgow Herald ; Mr. S. 
 Parkinson, of the Yorkshire Post; Mr. 
 Carruthers, of the Leeds Mercury; Mr. J. 
 Hadley, of the Birmingham Post; Mr. 
 Francis Neale, of the Birmingham Daily 
 Gazette; Mr. J. Atkins, of the Sheffield 
 Independent ; Mr. S. G. Harrison, of the 
 Sheffield Daily Telegraph; Mr. W. 
 Heenan, of the Newcastle Chronicle ; Mr. 
 W. J. Snowdon, of the Newcastle Daily 
 Journal ; Mr. J. Jenkins, of the Liverpool 
 Daily Post ; Mr. J. B. Mackenzie, of the 
 Liverpool Mercury; Mr. T. J. McWeeney, 
 of the Freeman's Journal ; Mr. G. K. 
 Magee, of the Irish Times ; Mr. H. Bond, 
 of the Dublin Daily Express ; Mr. Taylor, 
 of the York Herald; Mr. Mallett, of the 
 Bradford Observer ; Mr. A. L. Maddock, 
 of the Nottingham Guardian — and the list 
 might be greatly extended, — experienced 
 chiefs, directing large and efficient report- 
 
160 Newspaper Reporting, 
 
 ing corps, from the ranks of which, now 
 and then, men enter the Press Gallery of 
 the House of Commons, Qr join the 
 descriptive staffs of the London morning 
 newspapers, or climb into the editorial 
 chair, or strive, and sometimes successfully, 
 for fame in the wider field of English 
 literature. 
 
VII. 
 
 Some Experiences and Adventures 
 of Reporters. 
 
 ii 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Some Experiences and Adventures of 
 Reporters. 
 
 HE reporter has never found life 
 monotonous. His exciting expe- 
 riences began early. The Emperor 
 Severus cut the finger nerves and sentenced 
 to transportation a stenographer who had 
 the misfortune to misreport a cause in 
 the Imperial Court. Cassien, a shorthand 
 writer at the trial of Metellus, the centu- 
 rion, was treated with even greater cruelty. 
 The accused, having become a Christian, 
 had declined to serve as a soldier, and 
 seems to have aroused the reporter's sym- 
 pathy. " Being exasperated at what he con- 
 
164 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 sidered the unjust decision of the judge," 
 says Anderson, in his History of Shorthand, 
 "the shorthand writer launched at the 
 magistrate's head his tablets. For this all 
 too speedy impulse he was ordered to 
 sympathise more fully with the centurion 
 whose cause he so warmly espoused, and 
 with whom he had to suffer death, the 
 judge, with grim humour, appointing the 
 pupils of the unhappy man to be his 
 executioners, and the instruments of execu- 
 tion their iron styles, with which they 'tore 
 him to pieces,' reciting, as they did so, 
 ' Why do you complain ? 'Twas yourself 
 who gave us the iron and armed our hand ; 
 this is the way we pay you back the 
 thousand notes you taught us, and which, 
 spite of our tears, you made us learn.' " 
 
 Something of the same spirit lingers in 
 our own time, for not long ago the member 
 for an English mining constituency, enraged 
 at the report, or misreport, of his speech on 
 
Experiences and Adventures, 165 
 
 the vexed question of capital and labour, 
 sent this telegram to the editor of a York- 
 shire daily : " Your reporter deserves 
 lynching." 
 
 The special correspondent, a man like 
 Russell or Forbes, is expected to meet with 
 adventure and peril — he is paid to undergo 
 the hazard of war ; but the daily newspaper 
 reporter, though his only glimpse of the 
 battlefield, perhaps, has been the autumn 
 manoeuvre and the sham-fight, is frequently 
 in danger almost as great as Russell's in the 
 Crimea, and that through which Forbes came 
 scathless in the grim engagement at Plevna. 
 In The Life of Charles Dickens, by John 
 Forster, it is shown that the novelist, dur- 
 ing his career as a reporter on the Morning 
 Chronicle, had one or two narrow escapes, at 
 least, of breaking his neck. " I have had," 
 Dickens wrote, " to charge for half a dozen 
 breakdowns in half a dozen times as many 
 miles. I have had to charge for the damage 
 
1 66 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 of a great-coat from the drippings of a blazing 
 wax candle in writing through the smallest 
 hours of the night in a swift-flying carriage 
 and pair. I have had to charge for all 
 sorts of breakages fifty times in a journey 
 without question, such being the ordinary 
 results of the pace which we went at. I 
 have charged for broken hats, broken lug- 
 gage, broken chaises, broken harness — 
 everything but a broken head, which is the 
 only thing they would have grumbled to 
 pay for." 
 
 At the second annual dinner of the 
 Newspaper Press Fund, in 1865, he spoke 
 in a similar strain, saying: "I have often 
 transcribed for the printer, from my short- 
 hand notes, important public speeches in 
 which the strictest accuracy was required, 
 and a mistake in which would have been 
 to a young man severely compromising, 
 writing on the palm of my hand, by the 
 light of a dark lantern, in a post-chaise 
 
Experiences and Adventures. 167 
 
 and four, galloping through a wild country, 
 and through the dead of the night, at the 
 then surprising rate of fifteen miles an 
 hour. The very last time I was at Exeter, 
 I strolled into the castle yard there to 
 identify, for the amusement of a friend, 
 the spot on which I once * took,' as 
 we used to call it, an election speech 
 of Lord John Russell at the Devon con- 
 test, in the midst of a lively fight 
 maintained by all the vagabonds in that 
 division of the county, and under such a 
 pelting rain that I remember two good- 
 natured colleagues who charteed to be at 
 leisure held a pocket-handkerchief over 
 my note-book, after the fashion of a State 
 canopy in an ecclesiastical procession. I 
 have worn my knees by writing on them on 
 the old back row of the old gallery of the 
 old House of Commons ; and I have worn 
 my feet by standing to write in a prepos- 
 terous pen in the old House of Lords, 
 
1 68 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 where we used to be huddled together like 
 so many sheep — kept in waiting, say, until 
 the Woolsack might want re-stuffing. Re- 
 turning home from exciting political meet- 
 ings in the country to the waiting press in 
 London, I do verily believe I have been 
 upset in almost every description of vehicle 
 known in this country. I have been, in 
 my time, belated on miry by-roads, towards 
 the small hours, forty or fifty miles from 
 London, in a wheelless carriage, with ex- 
 hausted horses and drunken postboys, and 
 have got back in time for publication, to 
 be received with never-forgotten compli- 
 ments by the late Mr. Black, coming in 
 the broadest Scotch from the broadest of 
 hearts I ever knew." 
 
 These exploits are worth recording ; but 
 in the reporter of to-day they arouse no 
 surprise, for he has often in the course of 
 his duty to go through more exciting ex- 
 periences than ever fell to the lot of the 
 
Experiences and Adventures. \6g 
 
 author of Pickwick, and never thinks he has 
 performed any feat at all. The reporter of 
 to-day has to be courageous, sharp as a hawk, 
 mentally untiring, physically enduring. He 
 comes* in contact with everybody, from 
 monarchs to beggars, from noblemen to 
 nobodies. He sees the tragedy and comedy 
 of human life, its cynicism and toadyism, its 
 patient, struggling, and feverish ambition, 
 its sham and subterfuge, its lavish wealth 
 and deepest poverty, its joy and sorrow, its 
 good deeds and most hideous crimes. His 
 is a strange career, with its constant pre- 
 dicaments, difficulties, and anxieties ; but it 
 is an attractive, fascinating career to many 
 because of its wondrous variety. 
 
 Thunder threw Caesar into convulsions; 
 but a reporter will cheerfully go up in a 
 balloon to get facts about a thunderstorm. 
 Nothing daunts him. If his chief only " puts 
 him down " in the diary for the most perilous 
 engagement, he will prove as full of — 
 
170 Newspaper Reporting, 
 
 "Adventurous spirit 
 As to o'erwalk a current roaring loud, 
 On the unsteadfast footing of a spear." 
 
 When " on duty " he does not admit 
 the word danger into his vocabulary. He 
 will risk death at a Fenian meeting, go 
 down a pit choked with after-damp, pene- 
 trate into the vilest fever den, take notes in 
 the midst of a riot, disguise himself as a 
 tramp and sleep in a lodging-house — go any- 
 where and report anything at any time 
 of the day or night, armed only with his 
 pencil and note-book, and a splendid self- 
 reliance. 
 
 He rises, as eagerly as a trout to a fly, at 
 a railway accident or a colliery explosion ; 
 but they must be "serious," "alarming," 
 " fearful," " terrible," before " he lays 
 himself out," before he nerves himself to 
 write graphically about these disasters. 
 Nothing upsets him. Had he been in 
 Pompeii when the city was buried by the 
 
Experiences and Adventures. 171 
 
 volcano's outpourings, his only anxiety 
 would have been to get off a good account — 
 about a column — to the newspaper he repre- 
 sented, and also to the journals for which he 
 corresponded on salary or at so much per line. 
 Not long ago a breathless citizen, covered 
 with brickdust, that brought out in pic- 
 turesque boldness the whimsical ridges in 
 his crushed hat — the man had just narrowly 
 escaped death — rushed into the office of a 
 well-known English daily, and said that a 
 fearful boiler explosion had just occurred 
 at some works not far away. " Is it a good 
 thing ? " asked the reporter. " Anybody 
 killed?" Though this gentleman of the 
 Press is one of the most tender-hearted of 
 men, he looks upon disaster and tragedy 
 chiefly through professional spectacles, 
 gauging their importance not so much on. 
 account of the suffering and grief that 
 follow, but according to the sensation they 
 . are likely to create in the newspaper. 
 
172 Newspaper Reporting, 
 
 The reporter's versatility is boundless. 
 No subject is too strange or too abstruse 
 for his pen. He will describe the grim 
 horror of a private execution, the perils of 
 shipwreck, and the marriage festival with 
 equal facility. 
 
 Now and then he makes the most mirth- 
 provoking errors — for instance, when he 
 speaks of "Helen of Troy" as "Ellen of Troy," 
 and reports the Earl of Carnarvon as saying, 
 "In these days clergymen are expected to 
 have the wisdom and learning of a journey- 
 man tailor," instead of "the wisdom and 
 learning of Jeremy Taylor." 
 
 The Dean's face would pucker with fun 
 when, after the debate on vestments in 
 the Chapter House of Wells Cathedral, at 
 which he said, "If some one should feel 
 disposed to make me a present of a 
 cope with decent sleeves I shall have no 
 objection to wear it in the cathedral," he 
 found himself reported in a London daily 
 
Experiences and Adventures. 173 
 
 as ready "to conduct Divine service in a 
 coat with a dozen sleeves." 
 
 The late Bishop Fraser no doubt laughed 
 heartily when he read the report of his speech 
 on waifs and strays — a speech that gave him 
 credit for wondrous solicitude on behalf of 
 the homeless youth of Manchester. " We 
 take these children out of the street," said 
 his lordship, "we clothe them, we tend 
 them, we watch over them." And the 
 reporter of one of the morning papers made 
 the Bishop say of the lucky outcasts, "We 
 take these children out of the street, we 
 clothe them, we tend them — we wash them." 
 What a splendid example of self-sacrifice 
 and "good works" Bishop Fraser must have 
 given when he picked a city Arab out of 
 the throng of the Manchester Piccadilly, took 
 him home, and washed him ! 
 
 But the humour of it is eclipsed by 
 many other slips. " My brethren," remarked 
 an eminent divine in a cathedral in the 
 
174 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 northern province, "all is yellow to the 
 jaundiced eye ; " and the reporter tran- 
 scribed it, " All is hollow to the jaunty 
 style." 
 
 " Great is Diana of the Ephesians ! " once 
 exclaimed Sir William Harcourt, in one 
 of his most emphatic political speeches ; 
 and the reporter improved the quotation 
 in this novel fashion: "Great Diana! 
 What a farce this is ! " — a drastic estimate 
 of the statesman's utterances, only outdone 
 by Mr. Caine's description of him a session 
 or two ago as a " political lurcher." The 
 poetic orator who quoted the lines, — 
 
 "O come, thou goddess fair and free, 
 In heaven yclept Euphrosyne," 
 
 probably muttered to himself when he 
 turned to his own speech in the news- 
 paper with delight, and read the practical 
 reporter's rendering of the quotation : — 
 
 "O come, thou goddess fair and free; 
 In heaven she crept and froze her knee." 
 
Experiences and Adventures. 175 
 
 More excusable, perhaps, was the reporter's 
 error in the transcription of Russell Lowell's 
 speech. Describing the throb and move- 
 ment of life in London, the American 
 author and diplomatist quoted from the 
 Earth Spirit's speech in Faust, and given in 
 Carlyle's Sartor Resartus : — 
 
 " Tis thus at the roaring Loom of Time I ply — 
 Weave for God the Garment thou seest Him by," — 
 
 rendered by the reporter " the roaring loom 
 of the Times? 
 
 The writer of "Walnuts and Wine," in 
 the Yorkshire Weekly Post, gossiping about 
 the mistakes of reporters, says: "A rare 
 good story from the Irish law courts was 
 told recently in the course of the judgment 
 delivered by Chief Baron Palles, on the 
 application for a new trial of the libel action 
 against the Irish Times by Mr. Matthew 
 Harris, M.P., who had been awarded 
 ;£i,ooo damages, the newspaper having 
 
176 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 incorrectly reported, by the omission of the 
 word ' not,' that Delaney had deposed that 
 Mr. Harris was an Invincible. The Chief 
 Baron held that the damages were excessive, 
 and granted a new trial unless the plaintiff 
 agreed to accept ^200, including the ^50 
 paid into Court. Baron Dowse concurred, and 
 said the damages were not only excessive, 
 but preposterous. Mistakes, he said, often 
 occurred in papers, and an instance arose 
 in reference to himself. Addressing a Cork 
 jury, he quoted the well-known line from 
 Tennyson's Locksley Hall: — 
 
 "Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay." 
 
 What was his horror to find himself reported 
 m a local paper as having said, — 
 
 "Better fifty years of Europe thanacircus in Bombay." 
 
 The joke told against the American reporter 
 who transcribed an orator's incorrect quota- 
 tion Amicus Plato, amicus Socrates, sed major 
 
Experiences and Adventures. 177 
 
 Veritas, into *I may cuss Plato, I may cuss 
 Socrates, said Major Veritas,' is hardly a 
 better of its kind than this one of Baron 
 Dowse."* 
 
 Another journalist writes : " A compliment 
 to the late John Bright was turned into an 
 insult : ' I have sat at the feet of the gamecock 
 of Birmingham,' should have read ' Gamaliel.' 
 Viscount Cranbrook should have been asso- 
 ciated with the Low Moor Ironworks, and 
 not the Low Moor Workhouse. ' He fleeced 
 his thousand flocks,' ought to have been ' he 
 leased his thousand lots ; ' and c the blasted 
 Irishmen,' that roused the indignation of a 
 Celtic reporter against an innocent member, 
 
 * Even a more amusing story is told of another 
 reporter's mistranscription of Baron Dowse's words. 
 The judge expressed the opinion that Irish justices 
 of the peace could no more state a case in legal 
 language that they could write a Greek ode ; and 
 the reporter gravely wrote: "Baron Dowse ex- 
 pressed the opinion that Irish justices of the peace 
 could no more state a case in legal language than 
 they could ride a Greek goat." 
 
178 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 was nothing more than 'the Glasgow Irish- 
 men.' These errors are due chiefly to 
 imperfect hearing ; a few also may be attri- 
 buted to bad writing, as : ' Those lovely eyes 
 be damned ; ' and * Behold the martyr with 
 his shirt on fire,' for, ' Behold the martyr in 
 a sheet of fire.' Inability to hear distinctly 
 is the principal difficulty with which reporters 
 have to contend, and has led to some 
 amusing guesses at truth, as when the Prime 
 Minister was reported, with unanimity that 
 betrayed careful comparison, to have declared 
 that our late representative at Washington 
 was in a state of ' suspended animation.' " 
 
 The Archbishop of York, who has an 
 infinite sense of humour, must have chuckled 
 when he read in a newspaper printed in his 
 diocese that he had become a poet. " Those 
 beautiful lines by Bishop Ebor," innocently 
 wrote the reporter, who knew far more about 
 cricket than verse, and had never heard of 
 Bishop Heber. 
 
Experiences aud Adventures. 179 
 
 " Newspaper Reporters and Reporting " 
 is the subject of a lecture given by Mr. 
 James Stewart, and he chats pleasantly and 
 shrewdly about their ways and work. " An- 
 other story," he says, "is that of a reporter 
 who was not familiar with Tennyson's well- 
 known lines : — 
 
 ' Kind hearts are more than coronets, 
 And simple faith than Norman blood.' 
 
 A speaker concluded an eloquent speech 
 by quoting these lines, and he went to sleep 
 that night thinking how well the peroration 
 would look in type the next morning. His 
 feelings may be imagined when he bought 
 a copy of the paper, and found that 
 his peroration was made to run : * The 
 speaker concluded by remarking that in 
 his opinion kind hearts were more than 
 coronets, and that simple faith was superior 
 to Norman blood.' Equally funny are the 
 mistakes sometimes made through haste or 
 carelessness in transcribing the shorthand. 
 
i8o Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 1 Breezy atmosphere,' in a recent speech by 
 Professor Blackie, in which he was dilating 
 on the glories of Edinburgh, became ' greasy 
 atmosphere ; ' ■ attenders at clubs in the 
 West End,' in a memorable speech of 
 Mr. John Bright, was transmogrified into 
 ( vendors of gloves in the West End ; ' 
 1 Died from recent haemorrhage,' the verdict 
 of a coroner's jury on the body of a woman, 
 was changed into ' Died from her recent 
 marriage,' evidently the blunder of some 
 misanthropic bachelor reporter. In this 
 way, as Professor Blackie said in the letter 
 in which he pointed out the above slip in 
 his own speech, the reporters are uncon- 
 sciously the means of enlivening speeches 
 which might otherwise be dull reading. 
 Although public meetings receive a great 
 deal of his attention, the reporter's duties 
 do not by any means end there. He has 
 to be equally ready to describe a prize-fight 
 or a religious service, an agricultural show 
 
Experiences and Adventures. 181 
 
 or a wedding, and, especially in the smaller 
 towns, to write learnedly on musical art, 
 and dramatic matters. His life, although 
 pleasant in many ways, is, speaking gene- 
 rally, exceedingly laborious, and that the pay 
 is not always in proportion may be inferred 
 from a recently published report of a suicide, 
 which concluded with the remark, ' No 
 motive can be assigned for the rash act, as, 
 when the man was picked up, the sum of i\d. 
 was found in one of his pockets.' Stories 
 are told of different kinds of reporters — as, 
 for example, of the flowery reporter who 
 plays such sad havoc with the Queen's 
 English, and who concluded the report of a 
 penny reading with the remark that ' On the 
 whole, the entertainment was the most mirth- 
 provoking and soul-stirring that could be had 
 for the money.' " 
 
 There have been few more ludicrous 
 errors than that of the reporter who 
 commented on the work of the Church 
 
1 82 Newspaper Reporting, 
 
 Mission in a Yorkshire town some years 
 ago, and particularly on the efforts to 
 evangelise the local police. "They marched 
 into the hall," he wrote, "dressed in a 
 uniform of blue and white gloves;" and 
 the whole town smiled and marvelled at 
 the scanty attire of the police. The re- 
 porter, so comical was the mistake, laughed 
 as heartily as anybody, and explained the 
 error in this way. In the hurry of writing 
 he had omitted a comma. The sentence 
 should have read, "They marched into 
 the hall dressed in a uniform of blue, and 
 white gloves." "The printer's error" is 
 made the scapegoat of many a reporter's 
 blunder and many an editorial slip; still, 
 the printer's error sometimes has a little 
 diversion on its own account. For instance, 
 the reporter on a northern daily who wrote 
 that the venerable archdeacon advocated 
 " the breaking of bread in the vestry," was 
 rather staggered to find next day in the 
 
Experiences and Adventures. 183 
 
 newspaper that the venerable archdeacon 
 had " advocated the breaking of heads in 
 the vestry ! " But the flutter in the 
 amiable clergyman's breast would be only a 
 mild one in contrast to the mingled feelings 
 of the brave warrior who at a meeting in 
 honour of his home-coming from one of 
 our campaigns, was spoken of as " this 
 battle-scarred veteran," transcribed by the 
 reporter as "this battle-scared veteran;" 
 and, with a graceful apology for the printer's 
 error, altered the next day to "this bottle- 
 scarred veteran!" 
 
 Sometimes the reporter will report a 
 lecture a week before it is really delivered, 
 or get hold of a last year's concert 
 programme and criticise the singing of 
 vocalists who may not be singing at all 
 now. And the reporter has been known, 
 so erratic is genius, to kill many a man in 
 the newspaper before the man has expired 
 in the flesh. 
 
1 84 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 To his confidence — some people call it 
 assurance — there is no limit ; still, he cannot 
 always avoid awkward positions. Newspaper 
 competition in these days is .very keen, 
 and in some instances there is barely time 
 to procure the news, much less carefully 
 verify it. An evening paper not long 
 since published a paragraph announcing the 
 failure of a firm of sharebrokers. After 
 a few copies had been rattled off the 
 machine a doubt arose as to whether the 
 intelligence was accurate, and a reporter 
 went in a hansom to the house of a member 
 of the firm. The stockbroker, unconscious 
 of the notoriety he was achieving in com- 
 mercial circles, was at dinner. The reporter ' 
 was a very frank reporter. He rang the 
 bell, was ushered into the hall, sent in his 
 card, and obtained an interview. "Pray 
 excuse me for disturbing you at dinner," 
 he said ; " but is it true you've failed ? " 
 It was not true, and that reporter, although 
 
Experiences and Adventures. 185 
 
 a man of considerable sang-froid, regained 
 the hansom speedily. 
 
 It is well known on the Press that if 
 a railway disaster occurs the officials of 
 the company know nothing, or often pre- 
 tend to know nothing, about it. Nearly 
 all are mum! mysterious and mute as the 
 Sphinx. It is difficult to get meat out of 
 a dog's throat; but this is a recreation 
 compared to the task of eliciting informa- 
 tion from railway officials as to accidents 
 on the line. The reporter, nevertheless, 
 is obliged to get the information quickly 
 and accurately. Like Major-General Stanley, 
 in the comic opera, he has to rely a good 
 deal on strategy, and a good deal on down- 
 right native impudence. But whatever he 
 relies on he generally obtains the facts. 
 
 He has been known to ride to the scene 
 of the accident dressed like one of the 
 breakdown gang. He has been seen at 
 night to slide down a cutting-side, at 
 
l86 Newspaper Reporti7ig. 
 
 the imminent risk of breaking his neck, 
 and alight almost on the funnel of the over- 
 turned engine; he has had the audacity to 
 pull the communication cord of the express 
 -at a wayside station, get out of the window 
 on the offside of the slowing train, and, 
 while the engine-driver and guard have 
 wondered what was amiss, started on his 
 -way up " the six-foot " to the wrecked train, 
 with its shattered carriages and maimed 
 passengers, prolific in facts and "exciting 
 incidents." 
 
 An instance of a reporter's temerity and 
 tact was afforded at a tolerably recent 
 railway disaster at Penistone. It was essen- 
 tial that he should get particulars of the 
 accident without delay. But on his way 
 to the scene he found to his disgust that 
 he was in a slow train. The line was 
 blocked with traffic, and the slow train 
 was shunted at one point and at another 
 until the pressman lost all patience, and 
 
Experiences and Adventures. 187 
 
 decided to quit the carriage at any risk. 
 He got on the footboard, leapt upon the 
 line, and began the perilous walk to the 
 place where the accident had occurred. It 
 was a daring bit of pedestrianism, but he 
 did it without mishap, traversing a tunnel, 
 in going through which he was nearly 
 whisked off his feet by a train. Emerging 
 from the tunnel, his progress was barred 
 by a policeman, who told him he had 
 no business on the line. " I'm a reporter, 
 and wish to get to the scene of the acci- 
 dent," replied the newspaper man. " Well, 
 you won't get this way," remarked the 
 officer severely. " But I've walked a long way 
 down the line — I've just come through that 
 tunnel ! " continued the reporter. " What ! 
 come through that tunnel ! God bless my 
 soul ! it's a wonder you weren't cut to pieces ! 
 You can go on," said the amazed officer; 
 and then he muttered, "Them reporters is 
 rum chaps, and no mistake." 
 
1 88 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 One of the most agreeable of reporting 
 experiences is to travel to some country 
 town to an important political meeting, 
 take a turn with other reporters at a big 
 speech, get it on the wire before mid- 
 night, and then have a pleasant smoke 
 and chat in some old-fashioned inn which 
 was perhaps once a coaching-house, and to 
 which weird stories still cling of haunted 
 chambers and ghosts seen years ago by 
 affrighted travellers through the film of 
 whiskey. And one of the most detestable 
 of reporting experiences is to attend a 
 similar political meeting far away, and be 
 obliged to get back the same night. It 
 is head-aching, eye-straining work for the 
 reporter to transcribe his shorthand notes, 
 for instance, in the guard's van of a fish 
 train, jolting over forty miles of railway, 
 especially when he is expected at the office 
 soon after midnight with his copy "written 
 up," ready to hand in to the printers. 
 
Experiences and Adventures. 1 89 
 
 Nor is it pleasant to be "lost in the 
 snow." Such was a chief reporter's ex- 
 perience in Derbyshire several years ago, 
 and he will not soon forget it. After a heavy 
 day's work — which included attending the 
 police-court, reporting a Bible Society meet- 
 ing, taking a note at a pharmaceutical con- 
 ference, and writing a notice about a play 
 at the theatre — he was quitting the office 
 with a colleague. Both were fatigued; 
 both eager for bed. But, like George 
 Augustus Sala's hero in The Key of the 
 Street^ there was no bed for them that 
 night. The chief had just lit his pipe, and 
 was going along the passage that led from 
 the reporters' room to the street, when the 
 messenger — doomed to "walk the night" 
 with news parcels that come by train — came 
 hurrying by. 
 
 "What is it, Jim?" he asked. "Glad 
 it's you, sir. Train off the line ten miles 
 south — twenty killed, they say." The last 
 
1 90 Newspaper Reporting, 
 
 train south had gone ; but in a few minutes 
 the two reporters were in a hansom 
 driving to the scene of the accident, 
 hoping, to get information and be back 
 again at the office in time for the town 
 edition. It was a bitterly cold night. As 
 they drove along the country road snow 
 fell, and soon it drifted so thickly that it 
 was quite impossible to discern the turn- 
 pike boundary. The horse, bony as Don 
 Quixote's, stumbled hopelessly on, so worn 
 out that it could neither toss its head in 
 derision nor give a solitary kick at the 
 driver's inexhaustible flow of curses. The 
 poor nag did its best; but after a wild, 
 desperate movement of the legs, prompting 
 the delusive hope that it was going to trot, 
 the tired steed came to a sudden stop. 
 " Get on — get on ! " urged the reporters, 
 whose teeth were chattering and limbs 
 
 shivering with cold. "It's no use," 
 
 said the exasperated driver; "t' horse is 
 
Experiences and Adventures. 191 
 
 dead beat, an' ar don't know t' road.' r 
 The driver had trusted to their knowledge 
 of the locality ; they had been relying on 
 his frequent journeying along the highway 
 — and were "lost in the snow." They 
 managed to drag the horse and hansom 
 to the four lane-ends close by. One of 
 the reporters mounted the roof of the 
 vehicle, and endeavoured, by a reckless 
 sacrifice of wax matches (a score of which 
 took one look at the wild night and then 
 died in despair), to find the letters on the 
 arms of the weather-beaten guide-post. But 
 it was in vain. The howling wind had 
 blown all the letters off — the worm-eaten 
 woodwork bore not a vestige either of 
 place-name or distance. 
 
 The only thing they were certain about 
 was the time. It was three o'clock in the 
 morning. In another half-hour the formes 
 in the daily newspaper office in the big 
 town yonder would be on the machines, 
 
192 Newspaper Reporting, 
 
 and the papers whirling into the folders, 
 without any account of the " Fearful Railway 
 Accident." The dilemma was annoying. 
 There was nothing for it but to tramp on 
 in the hope of reaching the scene of the 
 accident and getting facts for a special 
 edition. It was a struggle through the 
 snowdrifts piled high in the narrow lane 
 they now traversed, and along which they 
 had been tempted by a locomotive's shriek 
 in the distance. After half-an-hour's pedes- 
 trian struggling, their hearts were gladdened 
 by the outline of the railway track: then 
 they met a muffled-up figure, covered with 
 snow, a burly figure, safety-lamp in his 
 hand, on his way to the pit. 
 
 "Ar reckon there's been summat on V 
 line," he said ; and he told them the station 
 was a little to the right after turning the 
 end of the lane. On they pressed, for- 
 getting in their zeal for work the miserable 
 experiences they had gone through. As 
 
Experiences and Adventures. 193 
 
 they neared the station, they thought, such 
 is the force of reporting habit, of the 
 attractive heading they would give to the 
 account of the disaster : — 
 
 TERRIBLE RAILWAY COLLISION. 
 
 An Express Wrecked. 
 
 Twenty Passengers Killed and 
 Many Injured. 
 
 They listened, expecting to hear the 
 shouts of the breakdown gang; looked for 
 the huge fires that are lighted at night 
 on embankment or in cutting whenever a 
 serious accident occurs, and the work of 
 rescue and clearing the line is not com- 
 pleted." They pictured to themselves the 
 great locomotive lying throbbing, helpless, 
 on its side; the line twisted, and strewn 
 with broken carriages ; the goods train 
 shattered, knocked hither and thither by 
 the tearing might of the express; the anxious, 
 
 J 3 
 
194 Newspaper Reporting, 
 
 tear-stained faces of friends ; the quickly 
 moving groups of officials and ready helpers ; 
 the doctors aiding the injured; and the 
 sad scene in the farmhouse by the line-side 
 where the dead were no doubt lying — father 
 and son, mother and child, sent by the 
 piteous crash into the silent land. 
 
 Eagerly they entered the station. The 
 lights were on " at danger," but the platform 
 was deserted and the shed-like booking office 
 in darkness. The big railway disaster was 
 a myth. The accident was not worth a 
 paragraph. Two trucks had jumped off the 
 line — and the signalman was asleep ! 
 
 One of the most amusing incidents con- 
 nected with modern reporting concerns a 
 prelate who is as robust in form as he is 
 indefatigable in work. He went to open 
 a church in a certain village. A reporter 
 was sent to give an account of the open- 
 ing services ; but the place was somewhat 
 difficult to get at, and he did not reach 
 
Experiences and Adventures. 195 
 
 the edifice until the dignitary had entered 
 the pulpit. The church was crowded. The 
 rustics listened with reverence to the 
 preacher's words. The silence, except for 
 the prelate's utterances, was intense. You 
 could, to use an old saying, have heard a 
 pin drop. The reporter was perplexed. His 
 conscience told him he must not wait on 
 ceremony. He must catch the next train 
 back, or his journey would be useless ; and 
 he could not well go without getting some 
 information about the building. So he 
 stood and pondered. Then he took out 
 his book, wrote a note to the churchwarden 
 sitting in the central aisle near the pulpit, 
 and, beckoning to one of the village boys 
 crowding about the church door, asked him 
 to take the note "to the gentleman with 
 the bald head," pointing to the church- 
 warden. The note was simply a courteously 
 worded missive asking the churchwarden 
 for a few facts about the dimensions of the 
 
196 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 church and its cost — such a note as any 
 reporter would have sent in a similar 
 difficulty. The lad took the note and 
 walked up the central aisle towards the 
 churchwarden. But to his horror — his 
 dismay — the reporter noticed that the boy 
 wore clogs. Clank- — clank — clank went the 
 lad up the aisle, making a fearful noise at 
 every footstep. The congregation was aghast, 
 everybody's eyes were on the confused young- 
 ster tramping so loudly on sacred ground. 
 Suddenly the prelate stopped his discourse. 
 Sternly he looked at the sacrilegious lad 
 — then glanced with scornful pity at v the 
 injudicious reporter, and, in sonorous tones 
 that penetrated to every part of the church, 
 said : " Boy, boy ! go back, go back ! I 
 do not blame you so much as the miserable 
 man that sent you ! " 
 
 The reporter has been in many em- 
 barrassing situations. Only lately at Bow- 
 Street, during a noted police case, the 
 
Experiences and Adventures. 197 
 
 pressure was so great that several members 
 of the Press had to be provided with seats 
 in the dock. Two witnesses, asked to 
 identify the persons concerned in the charge, 
 pointed, without hesitation, to " the blushing 
 reporters." At the Sheriff's Court, at York 
 Castle, some years ago, a reporter was 
 heartily hissed by a group of women. He 
 happened to enter the court with the bar- 
 rister who held the brief for the defendant in 
 a breach of promise of marriage case, and 
 the indignant females thought the guileless 
 reporter was the faithless lover. 
 
 Dr. Wordsworth, the late Bishop of 
 Lincoln, succeeded, perhaps, in placing the 
 reporter in the most embarrassing position 
 of all. A gentleman of the Press went 
 down from a northern daily to the cathe- 
 dral city to report his lordship's charge. 
 It was a long, dreary charge. The re- 
 porter took notes of what he regarded as 
 the most important passages, but even 
 
198 Newspaper Reporting* 
 
 these notes, as the time went by and the 
 charge droned on, assumed . formidable 
 proportions. At last the note-taker gave 
 up in despair, and resolved to rely on the 
 bishop's copy of the charge, if he could 
 only get it. Waiting patiently, he obtained 
 an interview with the bishop. " I will give 
 you a copy of the charge with pleasure," 
 said Dr. Wordsworth, "if you will follow 
 me to the house." Another eager reporter 
 was standing near on the same quest. His 
 lordship's crosier, in the meantime, had 
 been taken in pieces, and deposited in a 
 box somewhat resembling a small coffin. 
 Suddenly the bishop turned to the press- 
 men, and staggered them by the request 
 that they should carry the coffin. They 
 were too well bred to refuse. They each 
 took hold of a handle, got somehow into 
 the cathedral aisle, and walked as sedately 
 as they could at the bishop's heels, though 
 conscious of many a sly, humorous look 
 
Experiences and Adventures. 199 
 
 from straggling clergymen and asthmatic 
 vergers, one of whom made his exit from 
 the fabric wildly, trying to stifle his 
 coughing-laugh with a mouthful of his 
 black gown. 
 
 These stories (and they might easily be 
 outstripped by the experience of nearly 
 every daily newspaper reporter in the 
 country) show that the reporter has many 
 difficulties to encounter, and gets his share 
 of hard work — that though he has many a 
 glimpse of gaiety, he is also inured to toil. 
 
 What will be expected of him in the 
 next decade or two it is impossible to say, 
 so restless is modern newspaper enterprise. 
 It is not improbable that the shorthand 
 writer will become of less value to the 
 daily newspaper. It may be that verbatim 
 reports of the proceedings in our law 
 courts, of the transactions of public bodies, 
 and even of political speeches, will become 
 almost obsolete in the rush of modern 
 
200 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 life — that they will nearly die out because 
 people have neither time nor inclination 
 to read them. The law reporter, shaking 
 off the sleepy quietude of the Chancery 
 Court, may develop a new and startling 
 phase of interviewing. The day may come 
 when the gentlemen in the reporters' 
 gallery of the House of Commons, except 
 in great crises, will give little more than 
 descriptive sketches of debates, and abandon, 
 to a great extent, the present practice of 
 reporting — of giving speech after speech, 
 to the gratification of hon. members, but 
 often to the disgust of the business man 
 and the ordinary reader, and sometimes to 
 the consternation of the political chief him- 
 self. 
 
 The reporter will probably be required 
 to cultivate some special subject, in addi- 
 tion to his wide, varied knowledge — to be- 
 come a literary authority on commerce, or 
 industry, or science, or social reform, or 
 
Experiences and Adventures. 201 
 
 sport, and he may also be expected to 
 develop into an artist-journalist. But what- 
 ever is required of him will not be required 
 in vain. He has, notwithstanding some 
 errors, done his work well in the past; 
 and with his capacity for toil, his undoubted 
 talent, and imperturbable good-humour, he 
 will, no doubt, be always able to hold his 
 own in the battle of life. Indeed, his 
 confidence is not bounded by the limits 
 of this world — he views his prospects in 
 the next with tolerable complacency ; for, 
 not long ago, a pressman, asked solemnly, 
 amid the fervid excitement of a revival 
 gathering, the momentous question, "Are 
 you saved?" replied, in a calm, confident 
 tone, " Oh no ; I'm a reporter ! " 
 
VIII. 
 
 Writings on Newspapers and 
 Reporters. 
 
CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 Writings on Reporters and 
 Newspapers. 
 
 HERE is a mass of literature 
 referring to reporters, to the 
 shorthand systems they use, to 
 newspaper writers, and the various depart- 
 ments of press work. Among these writings 
 may be mentioned: — 
 
 Gentleman's Magazine, vol. for the year 1740. 
 
 V Tke Fourth Estate: — Contributions towards 
 
 a history of newspapers, and the liberty 
 
 of the press, by F. Knight Hunt (2 vols.). 
 
206 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 London : David Bogue, 86, Fleet Street, 
 1850. 
 
 * Andrews' History of British Journalism, 
 from the Foundation of the Newspaper 
 Press in England to the Repeal of the 
 Stamp Act, with Sketches of Press 
 Celebrities: — 2 volumes, published by 
 Richard Bentley, London, in 1859. 
 
 v The Newspaper Press : — Its origin, progress, 
 and present position, by James Grant, 
 author of Random Recollections, The Great 
 Metropolis, and late editor of the Morning 
 Advertiser (2 vols.). London : George 
 Routledge & Sons, 187 1. 
 
 The Metropolitan Weekly and Provincial 
 Press, by the same writer. 
 
 English Journalism, and the Men who have 
 
Reporters and Newspapers. 207' 
 
 Made It, by Charles Pebody. London : 
 Cassell, Petter, Galpin, & Co., 1882. 
 
 Journalistic London: — Being a series of 
 sketches of famous pens and papers of 
 the day, by Joseph Hatton. London : 
 Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & 
 Rivington, Crown Buildings, 188, Fleet 
 Street, 1882. 
 
 Reference is also made to the debates 
 in Parliament in D'Ewes' Journals of 
 Queen Elizabeth; Rushworth's Historical 
 Collections ; The Political State, a pamphlet 
 published monthly in Queen Anne's time ; 
 The Historical Register, issued in the reign 
 of George I. ; May's Constitutional History 
 of England ; Wade's British History ; and 
 Green's Short History of the English People. 
 
 A writer in the Journalist gives a list 
 of references to the same subjects in 
 magazine literature, and these include: — 
 
208 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 All the Year Round: — "My Newspaper,' 
 June 25, 1864, vol. 11, p. 473: — A brief 
 description of a visit to a newspaper 
 office. 
 
 "Press Telegrams," March 1, 1873, 
 vol. 29, p. 365 : — Particulars of the 
 method of transmitting press telegrams. 
 
 Atlantic Monthly : — "Journalism and Jour- 
 nalists," by F. B. Sanborn, July, 1874, 
 vol. 34, p. 55 : — Power of the news- 
 paper, origin of newspapers, modern 
 American journalism, scholarship in 
 modern journalism, women as journalists, 
 rarity of able editors, bribing of journal- 
 ists, literary style in newspapers, slander 
 in newspapers, the aim of journalism. 
 
 Belgravia : — " Writing for Money," by G. H. 
 Guest, June, 1869, vol. 8, p. 573 : — 
 Hard work of writers in periodicals, 
 value of a name in authorship, writing 
 
Reporters and Newspapers, 209 
 
 on distasteful subjects, writing when 
 
 labouring under mental affliction. 
 
 " English Journalism in 1832 and 1874," 
 by T. H. S. Escott, Nov., 1875, 
 vol. 28, p. 39 : — A. Fonblanque, Jour- 
 nalism in the eighteenth century, politi- 
 cal offices for journalists, influence of 
 journalism on the dialect of ordinary 
 life, party journalism, dulness of 
 modern leaders. 
 
 "Does Writing Pay?" probably by P. 
 Fitzgerald, Jan., 1881, vol.43, p. 283 : — 
 Getting subjects for essays, showering- 
 in papers, value of establishment on 
 a journal, turning travels to good 
 profit, novel- writing, value' of having 
 several irons in the fire, fraudulent 
 publishers, verse-making not profitable, 
 cost of printers' corrections. 
 
 Blackwood : — " Journalists and Magazine- 
 Writers," Jan., 1879, v °l* I2 5> P* 6q : — 
 
 14 
 
210 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 Society journalism condemned, city 
 . editors, financial weeklies, starting and 
 
 editing magazines, the quarterly reviews. 
 
 " Magazine- Writers," Feb., 1879, v °l- I2 5> 
 p. 225 : — History of Blackwood' 's Maga- 
 zine, signed articles in newspapers,* 
 reviewing, magazine poetry, starting 
 new magazines, illustrated magazines, 
 religious magazines. 
 
 " Readers," Aug., 1879, v0 ^ I2 6> P- 235 : — 
 Different kinds of readers, account of 
 the publication of a newspaper, morning 
 newspaper trains, railway bookstalls, 
 reviewing, reading in railway carriages, 
 on shipboard, and on holidays. 
 
 "Newspaper Offices," Oct., 1879, v °l- 
 126, p. 472 : — Newspapers as com- 
 mercial enterprises, newspaper offices 
 as they used to be and as they are 
 now, history of the leading London 
 papers, Parisian newspapers, American 
 newspapers, the Kolnische Zeitung. 
 
Reporters and Newspapers. 211 
 
 British Quarterly :—" The Modern News- 
 paper," April, 1872, vol. 55, p. 348:— 
 Account of the growth of newspapers, 
 sale of papers during Franco-German war, 
 Smith's bookstalls, increased dependence 
 on advertisements, Reuter's agency, de- 
 terioration of reporting ability, evening 
 papers virtually extinct, growth of pro- 
 vincial press, the Press Association, 
 special wires, penny-a-lining in London, 
 cockneyism of London papers, comic and 
 illustrated papers, colonial and continental 
 papers. 
 
 Chambers's Journal :—" How we get our 
 Newspaper," Dec. 9, 1865, vol. 42, p> 
 769 : — Description of the Times office, 
 and account of the distribution of papers. 
 "Our Leading Columns," July 20, 1867, 
 vol. 44, p. 449 :— Leaders and leader- 
 writers. 
 "Scissors and Paste," Dec. 14, 1867, 
 
212 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 vol. 44, p. 785 : — Account of sub- 
 editorial work and perplexities. 
 
 "The Special Staff," Jan. n, 1873, vol. 
 50, p. 17 : — The use of the telegraph by 
 special correspondents. 
 
 "Literary Work," June 7, 1879, vol. 56, 
 P- 353 : — Increase of periodicals, course 
 of a successful novel, international 
 copyright. 
 
 "A Newspaper Institute," June 21, 1879, 
 vol. 56, p. 395 : — Account of a news- 
 paper institute at Crewe. 
 
 ' 'Sub-Editing a London Newspaper," 
 Oct. 18, 1879, v °l- 5 6 > P- 663 : — Duties 
 of a sub-editor, police reports, prepara- 
 tion of biographies. 
 
 "Concerning Reporting," Jan. 15, 1881, 
 vol. 58, p. 36 : — Shorthand not enough 
 for reporting, qualifications of a reporter. 
 
 " Literary Beginners," Jan. 29, 1881, vol. 
 58, p. 65 : — Revision of articles, organi- 
 sation of journalism. 
 
Reporters and Newspapers. 213 
 
 " Curiosities of Journalism," Feb. 19, 
 1 88 1, vol. 58, p. 123: — Inconsistency 
 in newspapers, dressing up news, libel 
 actions, smartness in journalistic enter- 
 prise, feats of interviewing, fighting 
 editors. 
 
 "Printers' Blunders," June n, 1 881, vol. 
 58, p. 381 : — Several instances given. 
 
 Contemporary Review: — "The Morality of 
 Literary Art," by H. A. Page, June, 
 1867, vol. 5, p. 161 : — Relations of art 
 and morality, law of truth in art, sympathy 
 in literary art, reserve in literary art. 
 "Anonymous Journalism," by J. B. 
 Kinnear, July, 1867, vol. 5, p. 324 : 
 — Anonymous advice not otherwise 
 valued, lack of responsibility at pre- 
 sent, recklessness encouraged by anony- 
 mous journalism, signed writing would 
 elevate the profession, anonymity in other 
 branches of literature, anonymity in art 
 
214 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 and book criticism, obstacles to a re- 
 form, comparison with the French press. 
 
 "Parliamentary Reporting," June, 1877, 
 vol. 30, p. 165 : — The kind of reporting 
 needed in Parliament, verbatim reports 
 not needed, difficult speakers to report, 
 cooked reports, qualifications of re- 
 porter. 
 
 "The Newest Thing in Journalism," 
 Sept, 1877, vol. 30, p. 678:— News- 
 papers are too much with us, origin 
 of society journalism, society journalism 
 denounced. 
 
 "Government by Journalism," by W. T. 
 Stead, May, 1886, vol. 49, p. 653 : — 
 Comparison of influence of press with 
 that of Parliament and platform, the 
 journalist as a ruler, low ideal of the 
 journalistic profession, advertisements 
 the Achilles' heel, sensational journalism, 
 modifications needed in the law of libel. 
 
 "The Future of Journalism," by W. T. 
 
Reporters and Newspapers, 215 
 
 Stead, Nov., 1886, vol. 50, p. 663 : — 
 Impersonal journalism is effete, editors' 
 ignorance of public opinion, newspaper 
 should be in touch with all grades of 
 society, scheme suggested for increas- 
 ing the information and influence of 
 a newspaper. 
 
 Cornhill: — "Journalism," July, 1862, vol. 6, 
 p. 52 : — Newspapers as commercial un- 
 dertakings, leading articles, anonymous 
 journalism defended, crotchets in jour- 
 nalism, staff of leader-writers, duties of 
 editor and sub-editor, special correspon- 
 dents, London correspondents. 
 "Our Rulers — Public Opinion," March, 
 1870, vol. 2i, p. 288 : — The journalist 
 v. M.P., advantages of anonymous 
 writing, letters to the editor in the 
 dull season, true function of the press 
 with regard to public opinion, gushing 
 newspapers, cynical newspapers. 
 
216 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 " The Casuistry of Journalism," Aug., 
 1873, vol. 28, p. 198 : — Moral canons 
 guiding journalists, comparison of jour- 
 nalists with lawyers, party v. independent 
 newspapers, papers in which conscien- 
 tious journalists should not write. 
 
 "The French Press," Oct., 1873, vol. 28, 
 p. 411 : — The French press under 
 Louis XIV. and XV., French journal- 
 ism has never been disciplined, inac- 
 curacy of the French press, dislike of 
 literary criticism in France, personalities 
 of the French press. 
 
 "Parisian Journalists of To-Day," Dec, 
 1873, vol. 28, p. 715: — Sketches of 
 prominent Parisian journalists, with 
 gossip about their newspapers. 
 
 "Authors for hire," June, 1881, vol. 43, 
 p. 684 : — Grounds on which copyright 
 rests, authorship begins where journal- 
 ism ends, prize essays and poems, 
 writing for money. 
 
Reporters and Newspapers. 217 
 
 Dark Blue: — "Periodical Literature in 
 
 India," by Col. W. F. B. Laurie, 1872, 
 
 vol. 3, pp. 506 and 628. 
 
 "Literary Hacks," by E. A. Bendall, 
 
 July, 1872, vol. 3, p. 607 : — Contempt 
 
 implied in the word "hack," writing 
 
 for money, abilities needed by the 
 
 hack. 
 
 Dublin Review: — "The Religious Press," 
 July, 1 88 1, vol. 6, p. 1 : — Too much 
 newspaper reading, account of organs of 
 various religious bodies, quack advertise- 
 ments in religious papers. 
 
 Dublin University Magazine : — " The British 
 Newspaper : the Penny Theory," March, 
 1863, vol. 61, p. 359 : — Eulogy of the 
 press, the Times of 1798, origin of adver- 
 tising, influence of press in case of Lan- 
 cashire distress, market now glutted with 
 papers, evil effects of stamp duty repeal 
 
218 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 sensational papers, the penny paper will 
 not be permanent, disasters in newspaper 
 publishing, cheap papers impossible in the 
 provinces, function of provincial papers, 
 American journalism. 
 "Literaria," by W. T. Dobson, Aug., 
 1873, vol. 82, p. 153 : — Popular igno- 
 rance of printing processes, authors' 
 corrections, examples of careless style, 
 indecipherable MSS., paper-sparing 
 authors, results of errors in punctuation, 
 printers' blunders, duties of the reader, 
 hurry in production of newspapers, 
 reporting speeches of public men. 
 See also University Magazine, a continua- 
 tion of the Dublin University. 
 
 Fortnightly Review: — "The Morality of 
 the Profession of Letters," by R. L. 
 Stevenson, April, 1881, vol. 35, p. 513 : 
 — Salary not the first question, writing 
 does great harm or good, falsehood in 
 
Reporters and Newspapers, 219 
 
 journalism, writer must be true to the 
 fact and have a good spirit in treatment, 
 sympathy needed by a writer, no writing 
 should be done in a hurry. 
 
 Fraser : — "Editors and Newspaper-Writers 
 of the Last Generation," Feb. and May, 
 1862, vol. 65, pp. 169 and 595 : — Sketches 
 of Franklyn, Finnerty, J. Taylor, D. 
 Stuart, J. Black, Cobbett, T. Barnes, J. 
 Murray, Mackintosh, R. C. Fergusson, 
 Spankie, J. Adolphus, etc., special corre- 
 spondents in 1809 and 1823. 
 "Politics and the Press," July, 1875, 
 vol. 92, p. 41 : — Unique position of 
 the Times, the Times as a theological 
 teacher, Disraeli and the Standard, 
 Gladstone and the Daily Telegraph, 
 independent v. party journalism, 
 sectarianism of the Daily News, power 
 of the press in social questions, French 
 v. English journalism, connection of 
 
220 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 English politicians with journalism, 
 characteristics of the London dailies. 
 
 "Modern Newspaper Enterprise," June, 
 1876, vol. 93, p. 700 : — Past journalism 
 inferior to present, papers in 1864 
 v. 1876, the telegraph in modern 
 journalism, Reuters agency, influence 
 of war of 1870 on journalism, war 
 correspondence, enterprise of modern 
 London and provincial papers, inter- 
 viewing, journalistic rivalry, London 
 correspondence, weather charts, illus- 
 tration of dailies, web printing 
 machines, rapidity of stereotyping. 
 
 "Russel, of the Scotsman," by H. G. 
 Graham, Sept., 1880, vol. 102, p. 301 : 
 — Sketch of Russel, rival editors of 
 country papers, high pressure of modern 
 journalism. 
 
 Gazette de France: — "Le Journalisme en 
 Angleterre," by Victor de Ternant : — A 
 
Reporters and Newspapers. 221 
 
 series of fifty-six articles, from March 7, 
 1885, to July 27, 1886, forming a his- 
 tory of the British and Irish press, from 
 the earliest to the present times. 
 
 Gentleman 's Magazine: — "The £ s. d. of 
 Literature," Nov. and Dec, 1874, vol. 13, 
 new series, pp. 575 and 714: — The popu- 
 lar idea of literature as a profession, ano- 
 nymous journalism denounced, amounts 
 paid for copyright, patronage period of 
 literature, payment for history and fiction, 
 payment for journalism and periodical 
 writing, payment for plays, literary men 
 and the Civil Service. 
 "Table Talk," Jan. and Feb., 1875, 
 vol. 14, new series, pp. 130 and 264 : — 
 Provision made by newspapers for 
 disabled writers, rate of payment in 
 Chambers's Journal. 
 "Transmitting the War News," Feb., 
 1875, v °l- *4> new series, p. 213 :— 
 
222 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 Ashantee war correspondence, news- 
 paper enterprise. 
 
 " The Physiology of Authorship," March, 
 J875, vol. 14, new series, p. 326 : — 
 An account of the methods of com- 
 position adopted by various distin- 
 guished authors. 
 
 "Parliament and the Press," Aug., 1880, 
 p. 242 : — Reporting arrangements in 
 the two Houses, provincial papers and 
 parliamentary reports, estimate of the 
 proportion of reports that is really read. 
 
 Little Folks : — " How a Daily Newspaper 
 is Produced," July, 1882, vol. 16, p. 22 : — 
 A description of the usual routine of 
 work in the production of a daily news- 
 paper, specially written for young people. 
 
 London ■ Quarterly :— " American News- 
 papers," July, 187 1, vol. 36, p. 390 :— 
 Sketch of the growth of American journal- 
 
Reporters and Newspapers. 223 
 
 ism, character of the New York press, 
 personalities of the American press, want 
 of a comic press in America, religious 
 press • in America, Associated Press 
 Agency, influence of the newspaper 
 press. 
 
 "British Journalism," April, 1872, vol. 
 38, p. 37 : — Review of Grant's History 
 of Journalism^ sketches of the growth 
 of the leading London dailies, law 
 of libel, reporting of parliamentary 
 debates, postage of newspapers, steam 
 printing, use of the telegraph, Press 
 Association and Central News, influence 
 of provincial journals, party spirit, 
 excessive space given to sport, diffi- 
 culty of getting advertisements. 
 
 London Society : — " Newspaper Editors and 
 Political Writers," June, 1863, vol. 3, 
 p. 518: — Difficulty of defining a news- 
 paper, origin of newspapers, London 
 
224 Newspaper Reporting, 
 
 correspondence, the stamp-duty, provincial 
 papers in Pitt's time, milder tone of 
 modern newspapers. 
 
 Macmillan: — "Anonymous Journalism," by 
 T. Hughes, Dec, 1861, vol. 5, p. 157 : — 
 An attack on anonymous journalism, 
 with incidental comments on the French 
 press and the Saturday Review. 
 " Genius and Discipline in Literature," 
 by D. Masson, Dec, 1862, vol. 7, 
 p. 83 : — Variety of literary activity, 
 discipline in authorship, petty untruth- 
 fulness in current literature, untruthful 
 criticism, animosities in religious jour- 
 nals, newspaper dogmatism, descriptive 
 literature. 
 " The Byways of Bookmaking," by H. S. 
 Edwards, Sept., 1876, vol. 34, p. 457 : 
 — Literary plagiarism, grotesque mis- 
 takes in translation, curious cataloguing, 
 reporters' and printers' blunders. 
 
Reporters and Newspapers. 225 
 
 "J. T. Delane," Jan., 1880, vol. 41, 
 p. 267. 
 
 " Our London Correspondent," by T. 
 Wemyss Reid, May, 1880, vol. 42, 
 p. 18 : — London correspodents of the 
 past v. present, a defence of society 
 journals, special wires of provincial 
 papers, Delane and the Times, in- 
 genuity of former London correspon- 
 dents, journalists and the lobby of 
 the House of Commons, importance of 
 the modern London correspondent. 
 
 National Review : — " The Conservative Pro- 
 vincial Press," July, 1885, vol. 5, p. 634: — 
 Inferiority of the Conservative provincial 
 press, folly of local magnates in dealing 
 with the press, two great errors in starting 
 a paper, need of adequate machinery, 
 difficulty of making evening papers pay, 
 editor should be allowed independence, 
 interference of shareholders in the man- 
 
 *5 
 
226 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 agement, first object a good supply of 
 
 news, impossibility of making a paper pay 
 
 immediately. 
 
 "The Establishment of Newspapers," 
 Aug., 1885, vol. 5, p. 818:— Sugges- 
 tions as to the building and manage- 
 ment of a newspaper office, the selection 
 of the staff, control of the cash, etc., 
 with information as to the cost of 
 starting and managing a newspaper. 
 
 "The Conservative Provincial Press," 
 by H. B. Reed, Aug., 1885, vol. 5, p. 
 S66 : — The purchase of effete weeklies, 
 Radical tendencies of news agencies, 
 want of good Conservative London 
 Letters. 
 
 Nineteenth Century: — "How a Provincial 
 Paper is Managed," by Arnot Reid, 
 Sept., 1886, vol. 20, p. 391 :— The com- 
 parative influence and cost of a provincial 
 and a London daily, payment for war 
 
Reporters and Newspapers. 227 
 
 correspondence, a statistical abstract of 
 the contents of five leading dailies, how 
 leaders are written and news is obtained, 
 individual responsibility and anonymous 
 journalism. 
 
 " Twenty-four Hours in a Newspaper 
 Office," by Arnot Reid, March, 1887 
 vol. 21, p. 452 : — The organisation 
 of a daily paper, the duties of the 
 members of the staff in relation to 
 each other, journalism and health, the 
 freedom of journalism. 
 
 North American Review : — " A Profane 
 View of the Sanctum," by M. J. Savage, 
 Aug., 1885, vol. 141, p. 137 : — The ideal 
 newspaper, history of the newspaper, the 
 newspaper as a public conscience, editorial 
 infallibility, partnership of news corre- 
 spondents, fondness for peppery gossip, 
 composition of sermons by reporters 
 interviewing, writing against one's beliefs, 
 
228 Newspaper Reporting. 
 
 disgusting details in newspapers, news- 
 papers a cause of pessimism, making 
 money the end of a newspaper. 
 
 This list of the works on journalists and 
 journalism is by no means complete; but 
 it will suffice to indicate how interesting is 
 the topic. 
 
 Book-lovers leaning more to the rise 
 and development of shorthand than to 
 newspaper enterprise will find in the Bailey 
 collection of shorthand books, in the 
 Manchester Reference Library, a wide field 
 of knowledge, in which they can roam 
 unfettered, making delightful acquaintance 
 with much curious literature, and learning 
 something, too, of a remote time when the 
 manners and customs of the people were 
 very different from those of our own day ; 
 yet of a time when the English mind, 
 awaking and throbbing with new possi- 
 bilities, was on the threshold of modern 
 
Reporters and Newspapers. 229 
 
 invention and scientific research, of won- 
 drous industrial activity and trade develop- 
 ment, of wider and truer social reform, 
 and of greater political freedom. 
 
Index. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Acta Diurna, 6, 13, 14. 
 
 ^Emilius the Consul, 7. 
 Ambition, Feminine, 115. 
 "Anybody killed?" 171. 
 Armada, Spanish, 16. 
 Augsburg news-sheets, 14. 
 
 Axon, Mr., jun. : description of Bailey collection in 
 Manchester Reference Library, 132-137. 
 
 Bellamy, the housekeeper of St. Stephen's, 60. 
 
 his old port, 61. 
 
 Biggar, Mr. ; his caprice with regard to strangers, 
 90-92. 
 
 his chuckle, 93. , 
 
 Black, John, and his tem\ >er, 63. 
 Black Rod, Usher of, 40, 96. 
 
234 Index. 
 
 " Boy, boy! go back, go back ! " 196. 
 British Journalism, History of, 45. 
 British Museum, 17. 
 Burleigh, Lord, 16. 
 Bute Administration, 41. 
 Butter, Nathaniel, 17-20. 
 
 Caesar, Julius, 12. 
 Catiline; his conspiracy, 7. 
 
 his fate, 122. 
 
 Cato, 7. 
 
 Cave, Edward, 12, 33-37, 94. 
 
 his ingenuity in reporting, 36. 
 
 his abject apology, 40. 
 
 Chinaman, A clever, 124. 
 
 Churchill, Lord Randolph, 26, IOO. 
 
 Cicero, 7, 10. 
 
 "Compositors, pressmen, correctors, blackers, and 
 
 devils," 43. 
 Contempt of comments, 25. 
 Copponius accused of poisoning, II. 
 Cornwall, "My lord" in, 18. 
 Correcting, Push on with, 26. 
 Cortes, 121. 
 Courant, Daily, 24. 
 Criticism, Amusing examples of dramatic, 61, 
 
 62. 
 Crosby, Brass, and the Sergeant-at-Arms, 44. 
 
Index. 235 
 
 Daily News, 24. 
 
 Damocles, The sword of, 42. 
 
 Death a relief: Ceesar's speech, 123, 124. 
 
 Dedication, A flattering, 126-128. 
 
 Demiphon, The pirate, 9. 
 
 D'Ewes, Symonds, 33. 
 
 Dickens, Charles ; his experience in noting down 
 
 the music of " the parliamentary bagpipes," 86. 
 
 how he won his spurs as a reporter, 87. 
 
 his reporting experiences in the country, 165- 
 
 168. 
 Dictation, Versatile, 54. 
 Disraeli, 92. 
 Drake, 16. 
 
 Editor, Whimsical description of, 72. 
 
 Editors who were reporters, 152. 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, 16. 
 
 Endymion, 31. 
 
 Exercise, mental, Dual, 53. 
 
 Expedient, A strange, 39. 
 
 " Failed, Is it true you've ? " 184. 
 Finnerty, Peter, and his love of frolic, 67. 
 
 in prison, 70. 
 
 his grim prophecy, and its fulfilment, 7] 
 
 Fire on Mount Coelius, 9. 
 
 Forbes, Captain, and his threat, 42. 
 
236 Index. 
 
 Fray at the Hog-in-Armour Tavern, 8. 
 Frobisher, 16. 
 
 Funeral, Frank description of, 12. 
 Furniss. H., 113. 
 
 " Galley, The," Incidents and traditions of, 47-49. 
 
 Gifted men in, 51. 
 
 The old and noted occupants of, 72. 
 
 Fierce attack on pressman in, 79. 
 
 O'Connell's attempt to clear, 82. 
 
 crowded with pressmen, 94. 
 
 Tickets of admission to the, 94. 
 
 Plan of; giving the names of the newspapers 
 
 represented there, 95. 
 
 corps : what it consists of, 96, 97. 
 
 A " turn *' in ; giving the names on a staff, the 
 
 time of each "take," and the instructions as to 
 
 length of speeches, 99. 
 
 Note-taking in : light and heavy, 99, IOO. 
 
 A gallery man's description of, 104-IIO. 
 
 A lady reporter seeks admission to, 116. 
 
 Every variety of shorthand in, 12 1. 
 
 Some noted men, 146-150. 
 
 Men who have become M.P.'s, 150. 
 
 Gazetteer, The, 13. 
 
 Gentleman's Magazine, 5, 34 
 
 Gladstone : if he gets up, 100. 
 
 the scene when he introduced his Home Rule 
 
 Bill, 102. 
 
Index, 237 
 
 Gladstone spoke for three hours and a half, 102. 
 
 " first person verbatim," 103. 
 
 his voice restorative : the pomatum pot, 104, 
 
 105. 
 Glasgow Herald, 24. 
 Goldsmith, Oliver, 49. 
 Guthrie, the historian, 35, 37. 
 
 Hansard's Debates, 96-98. 
 
 Hartington, Lord, 92. 
 
 Hawke, Edward, 13. 
 
 Hepburn, W., 113. 
 
 Heron, Robert : a life desperate and sad, 63-65. 
 
 House of Commons, 12. 
 
 That odious, 31. 
 
 Privately taking notes in, 34. 
 
 Proceedings of, 40. 
 
 A member expelled from the, 41. 
 
 Called to the bar of the, 43. 
 
 Angry debate in : the House and the city, 44. 
 
 The Press looking in, 45. 
 
 the old House destroyed by fire, 77. 
 
 Reporting to-day in the, 77. 
 
 Conversion came slowly to the, 78. 
 
 Strangers in the, 84. 
 
 Standing orders of the, and " newspaper re- 
 porters," 88-90. 
 
 Power to exclude reporters from, 93. 
 
 An ordinary night in the, 98. 
 
238 Index. 
 
 House of Commons : the time it meets, 99. 
 
 A big night in, 102-104. 
 
 Hunt, Leigh, 54. 
 
 Invasion, A novel, 114. 
 
 Johnson, Dr., 5, 41. 
 
 his opinion of newspapers, 5. 
 
 his reports of Parliament, 37-39. 
 
 only once in " The Gallery," 39. 
 
 Journalism, English, 60. 
 Journalist, First English, 17. 
 Journalists, Women, 1 14. 
 Junius, Letters of, 41. 
 
 Latin festivals, 9. 
 Leeds Mercury, 24. 
 Legislators, Prejudice of, 32. 
 Licinius the Consul, 8. 
 Lilliput, Debates in, 37, 94. 
 Lobby-man, The, III, 112. 
 
 Statesmen and the, 1 12. 
 
 London, The great fire in, 21-24. 
 
 a noted charter, 44. 
 
 London Gazette, 21. 
 London Magazine, 40. 
 Lords, House of, 13, 40, 96. 
 
Index. 239 
 
 Lovat, Lord, 40. 
 
 Lucy, H. W., 112, 152. 
 
 "Lynching, Your reporter deserves," 165. 
 
 Macaulay, Lord ; his championship of reporters, 77, 
 
 78. 
 Macedonian war, 9. 
 
 Manchester, Breaking away from a clerkship in, 55. 
 Manchester Guardian, 24, 95, 158. 
 Marchmont, Lord, 13, 42. 
 Marriage, Curious notice of, 33. 
 McCarthy, Justin ; his career as a journalist, 150- 
 
 152. 
 Megalesian plays, 10. 
 Mercurie, English, 17. 
 Metellus, The trial of, 163. 
 
 a shorthand writer's sympathy for him, 164. 
 
 Miller, printer of Lon on Evening Post, taken into 
 
 custody, 43. 
 
 and his counter move, 44. 
 
 Modern daily newspaper, The contents of, 25. 
 Morning Chronicle, 49, 50. 
 
 where the money came from to start it, 60, 61. 
 
 Charles Dickens on its staff, 87. 
 
 Newspaper, First English, 17. 
 
 First daily, 24. 
 
 the reporter its great help. 26, 27. 
 
240 Index. 
 
 Newspapers, Sixteenth-century, 14. 
 News-writer, 16. 
 
 Nichols's Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Cen- 
 tury, 55. 
 North Briton, 41. 
 Note-taking, Surreptitious, 35. 
 
 Obituaries, Premature, 183. 
 
 O'Conuell ; his defiance of reporters, and their 
 
 refusal to report him, 82-85. 
 Orators, Famous, 31. 
 
 Paragraphs, Two remarkable, 20. 
 Parliament, The reporter in, 31. 
 
 Debates in, 33. 
 
 The privileges of, 34. 
 
 Penalties of reporting in, 43. 
 
 losing its hostility to pressmen, 77- 
 
 Better days — or rather nights — for reporters 
 
 in, $7. 
 
 Opposition to the Press dead in, 93. 
 
 Parliamentary Companion, Dod's, 87. 
 
 " Parliamentary reporters," HO, III. 
 
 Parliaments, A Diary of Two, 90. 
 
 Paulus the Consul, 10. 
 
 Pencil, Knights of, 71. 
 
 Penny-a-liner, 17. 
 
 Perry, James, and his revolution of reporting, 54. 
 
 his efforts to obtain employment, and ultimate 
 
 success, 57-59, 78. 
 
Index. 241 
 
 Phonography, 138. 
 
 Efforts to learn, 139. 
 
 not to be lightly thrown aside, 140. 
 
 Pitt, Mr. Ernest, 113. 
 
 Play, A stage-, 13. 
 
 Potato, The Irish : a marvellous speech, 68, 69. 
 
 Press, License of the, IT. 
 
 Exciting time for the, 41. 
 
 The, and the Bar, 80, 81. 
 
 Association, 113. 
 
 Progress of the, 122. 
 
 Pressmen in the provinces ; experienced chiefs, 
 
 158, 159- 
 Prices, New York, 26. 
 Printing in England, 4. 
 Privilege, Breach of, 40. 
 Proby nicknamed " King Porus," 73. 
 Putting off a daughter's marriage, 10. 
 
 Quaker, The, and the "galley man's" joke, 66. 
 
 Radcliffe, another noted parliamentary reporter, 52, 53. 
 Reporter, his duties, 2 
 
 Antipathy to, 32. 
 
 Obloquy of hon. members to, 42. 
 
 Some qualities necessary to, 51. 
 
 and the public, 84, 85. 
 
 his work, 143. 
 
 Shorthand by no means only acquirement for, 
 
 145. 
 
 16 
 
242 Index. 
 
 Reporter on the provincial daily, 153. 
 
 first experience "in the ring," 155. 
 
 anxiety and toil, 156. 
 
 extraordinary variety of his toil, 156, 157. 
 
 sometimes an unwelcome visitor, 157. 
 
 must be robust in body and mind, 158. 
 
 striving for fame, 160. 
 
 what he sees and does, 168-171. 
 
 what he will be required to do in the future; 
 
 the prospect of special work, and the necessity 
 of special knowledge, 199-201. 
 
 Reporter's Diary, The Chief: a peep at a day's 
 engagements, 154. 
 
 Reporter's, Mexican, 121. 
 
 who have risen, 146. 
 
 Some experiences and adventures of, 161. 
 
 versatility, 172. 
 
 Amusing errors of : Jeremy Taylor — A funny 
 
 coat — Bishop Fraser and city Arabs — The jaun- 
 diced eye — Harcourt's farce — A frozen goddess 
 — The roaring loom — The Bombay circus — A 
 Greek goat — That poetic bishop— Norman blood 
 — Scantily attired police — Breaking heads — A 
 remarkable warrior, 172-183. 
 
 and railway accidents — Must get the facts — 
 
 Audacity and disguises — "I've just come through 
 that tunnel," 185-187. 
 
 and night travelling from meetings, 188. 
 
 lost in the snow, 189-194. 
 
 — — and the bishop's crosier, 197-199, 
 
Index. 243 
 
 Reporting in olden time, 3. 
 
 in China, 6. 
 
 in Rome, 7-14. 
 
 Absurd notion about, 50. 
 
 at the close of the eighteenth century, 63. 
 
 Work of, 98. 
 
 Modern system of, 101. 
 
 in short turns a great political speech, 
 
 IS4-I56. 
 Round-robin, A memorable reporters', 83. 
 
 Scapula, M., before the judges, 8. 
 
 Science nowadays, 19. 
 
 Scotsman, The, 24. 
 
 Sea-serpent, The, 14. 
 
 " Sempronius," the strolling player, 55. 
 
 Senate, A famous speech in the, 122. 
 
 Sharp work, 26. 
 
 Sheet of news, First modern, 15. 
 
 Sheridan ; his defence of the parliamentary reporters, 
 
 79- 
 
 " Shorthand, Men who wrote," 62. 
 
 A gossip about, 119. 
 
 Impossible to report Gladstone without, 121. 
 
 no new-fangled notion, 122. 
 
 Roman notarii an , 122. 
 
 a story from the Arabic, 124. 
 
 on the Continent, 125. 
 
 in England : the best-known systems, 125, 
 
 126. 
 
244 Index. 
 
 Shorthand, Bright's book on, 126. 
 
 his advice how to learn, 128. 
 
 Similarity in old and new, 129. 
 
 Pitman's system of, 129, 137-140. 
 
 Bailey collection of books on, 130-137. 
 
 Fulsome rhymes to authors of, 131-134. 
 
 Taylors and Gurney's, 137. 
 
 Possible new system of, 140. 
 
 Taking speeches verbatim in, 140. 
 
 "Bobby" Lowe walking away from, 141. 
 
 admirable training, 145. 
 
 Siege of Jericho, 4. 
 
 Speaker's eye, The, 122. 
 
 Spurs, Battle of, 14. 
 
 Standard, The, 24. 
 
 Standard, The red, 9. 
 
 Sub-editors at work, 25. 
 
 Summary writers and managers of reporting corps, 
 
 97, 98. 
 Supple, Mark: the "big-boned Irish reporter " calls 
 upon the Speaker for a song, 65, 66. 
 
 Tertinius the ^Edile, 8. 
 Thunderstorm on Mount Palatine, 8. 
 Time, A trying, 155. 
 Times, The, 24, 94, 95. 
 Tower, The, 41. 
 
 Venetians and Turkey, 15. 
 
Index. 245 
 
 Venetians, and their gazzettas, 15. 
 
 Venice in her glory, 4. 
 
 War, The hazard of: Russell and Forbes, 165. 
 
 Ward, Leslie, 113. 
 
 Weekly Newes, 18. 
 
 "When news doth come," 19. 
 
 Whig dogs, The, 40. 
 
 Wilkes, 41. 
 
 Winnington, Sir Thomas, 12. 
 
 " Woodfall, Memory : " a prince among reporters, 
 
 49-51- 
 
 his endurance and retentive memory, 52. 
 
 Woman : her new avocations, 1 14-1 18. 
 
 twisting the House " round her little finger," 
 
 117, 118. 
 Writers, Some distinguished, 61. 
 Writings on newspapers and reporters (including 
 
 references in magazine literature), 203-229. 
 
 Yorkshire Post, 24. 
 
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