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Show r The right to freely express an opinion in print is a new invention in the history of man. In 1632. William Prynn was convicted of seditious libel against the Queen of England for writing and publishing a booklet expressing his opinion against plays, masques, dancings, and all other exercises of the people, as well as against hunting, public festivals, Christmas-keeping, bonfires and maypoles, and dressing up a house with green ivy. For expressing his thoughts openly, Prynn was fined 10,000 pounds and given life imprisonment, in addition to being branded on the forehead, having his nose slit, and his ears cropped off. His book was also ordered to be burned. |