The art of printing in England had never at any time reached such a point of excellence as in Paris under the Estiennes, in Antwerp under Plantin, or in Venice under the Aldi. So great was the competition between the printers, and so heavy the restrictions placed upon them, that profit rather than beauty or workmanship was their first consideration; and when to these drawbacks was added the general disorganisation of trade consequent upon the outbreak of civil war, it is not surprising that English work failed to maintain its already low standard of excellence. Literature, other than that which chronicled the fortunes of the opposing factions, was almost totally neglected. Writers, even had they found printers willing to support them, would have found no readers. On the other hand, such was the feverish anxiety manifested in the struggle, that it was scarcely possible to publish the Diurnals and Mercuries which contained the latest news fast enough, and the press was unequal to the strain, although the number of printers in London during this period was three times larger than that allowed by the decree of 1637. Professor Arber, in his _Transcript_, says that this increase in the number of printers was due to the removal of the gag by the Long Parliament. There is no proof that the Long Parliament ever intended to remove the gag; but having its hands full with other and weightier matters it could find no time to deal with the printers, and doubtless, in the heat of the fight, it was only too thankful to avail itself of the pens of those who replied to the attacks of the Royalist press. The best evidence of this is, that as soon as opportunity offered, and in spite of the warning of the greatest literary man of that day, who was on their own side, the Long Parliament reimposed the gag with as much severity as the hierarchy which it had deposed. For the publication of the news of the day, each party had its own organs. On the side of the Parliament the principal journals were _The Kingdoms Weekly Intelligencer_, printed and published by Nathaniel Butter, and _Mercurius Britannicus_, edited by Marchmont Nedham; while _Mercurius Aulicus_, edited by clever John Birkenhead, represented the Royalists, and was ably seconded by the _Perfect Occurrences_, printed by John Clowes and Robert Ibbitson.