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In the second half of the sixteenth century, increasing regulation of the English press served not only censorship purposes, but also facilitated production of materials the government wished to promote. Evidence from bibliographic records, diplomatic correspondence, and biographical accounts is pieced together to suggest the existence of a network of government and church officials, printers, translators, diplomats, and spies who channeled works into England from the Continent and helped see them into print. By this route, English language editions of large numbers of French propaganda works made their way into the hands of English readers. A discussion of recent work in the history of reading, the role of Gabriel Harvey as a facilitator, and the extensive use by Marlowe of French pamphlets in The Massacre at Paris demonstrates how themes from such imported literature might have had a strong influence on the minds of English readers

The precise dating of the death of editor and printer Henry Woodfall II is important with regard to the publishing activities of his son Henry Sampson Woodfall. Evidence establishes his death as March 4, 1769, after a long illness.