ABSTRACT
In the Nature of a Newspaper, ‘non datur vacuum’—A Newspaper must be as full as an Egg:—It is not like many other daily Vehicles or Stages, which frequently go off half empty, and sometimes without any Passengers at all, but is obliged to set out at the appointed Time, and must be cram’d full, Outside and Inside, Before and Behind, Top and Bottom; nay, if there is but one empty Place, you are sure to be overset. Since this is the case with those political Vehicles, Newspapers and there exists an absolute Necessity of Plenitude, ’tis no Wonder that the conductors of those Machines are not very scrupulous or nice in the Choice of their Company; but rather than suffer any Vacancy, they imitate the great Man’s Servants in the Parable, who went out to the Streets and Highways, collecting the Old and the Young, the Lame, the Blind, the Good, and the Bad; in short, whomsoever they could get to make up the Number of Guests.
