LICENSING OF BOOKS

On the 12th November, 5 & 6 Philip and Mary, 1558, a bill "That no man shall print any book or ballad, &c., unless he be authorized thereunto by the king and queen's majesties licence, under the Great Seal of Englande," was read for the first time in the House of Lords, where it was read again a second time on the 14th. On the 16th it was read for the third time, but it did not pass, and probably never reached the Commons; for Queen Mary died on the following day, and thereby the Parliament was dissolved. (*Lords' Journal*, i. 539, 540.) Queen Elizabeth, however did by her high prerogative wha…