Lapse of the Licensing Act.

Following the Glorious Revolution and the subordination of monarchical power to Parliament, the will to renew the Act weakened: it was renewed in 1693 for only two years, and then lapsed in 1695, largely because Parliament was reluctant to reaffirm monopoly which the Stationer's Company was widely seen as abusing for simple commercial ends. Thereafter the Government controlled publication mainly by the law of Seditious Libel, usually invoked by the Treasury Solicitor against any publication thought likely to disturb the political peace. This was invoked, for example, against Daniel Defoe's "Short Way with Dissenters" (1702). But given the freedom to print and sell, and take the political consequences later, newspapers and other publications of all sorts rapidly flourished. Defoe's political pamphlet-poem, The True-Born Englishman, published in 1701, is thought to have gone through nine editions and printed 80,000 copies before 1705. His Robinson Crusoe sold 5,000 copies at 5s each through four editions in its first year (1719). London had several newspapers before 1700 -- the Post-Boy, Post-Man and Flying Post and in April 1702 the first daily paper appeared, the Daily Courant. The Norwich Post was the first provincial paper in 1701, followed immediately by similar publications in Bristol and Exeter. By 1780 there were 50 provincial dailies and 14 in London. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]