ABSTRACT
As soon as the Licensing Act lapsed, the London newspaper presses started up again. The emergence of the tri-weekly evening posts ended the dominance of the tri-weekly morning posts. By the 1720s, the Flying-Post was in such a sorry state that its author and proprietor, Stephen Whatley, had to translate the continental papers for other newspapers in order to make a living until he managed to secure a bribe of £50 per year for keeping the Flying-Post loyal to the Ministry. Political commentaries were initially published in dialogue form in periodicals modelled on L'Estrange's Observator, notably John Tutchin's Whig Observator and its Tory opponent, Charles Leslie's Rehearsal. However, in a period of relative calm with Britain no longer at war, and foreign news being costly in translation fees, there was little news to report. They simply increased their prices and bore the red tax stamp, the first in a series of taxes on knowledge.
