205

the unsuspecting editor, and, as Mr. Cowan states
in the Herald of November 30, 1802,

in the true spirit of a Jacobin way-lay'd me,
and brought my head to the ground before I
knew the assassin was near me.

The Herald was now a larger paper, with the
principal news columns set in larger type, and many
of the advertisements embellished with vignettes.
On February 19, 1799, Cowan had issued

Proposals for enlarging and extending the
Maryland Herald... the annual price will be
two dollars; one half of which to be paid at
the time of subscribing, and the residue at
the expiration of six months so as to keep
the payments one dollar in advance.²⁸

On June 11 of the same year,

Those gentlemen who have undertaken to pro-
cure subscriptions to the new proposals to
enlarge the Herald, are respectfully solicited
to give them in as they can with convenience
to themselves.²⁹

It was not until November that the paper had ap-
peared in a larger format. In spite of his exertions,
Cowan seemed to be losing subscribers rather than
gaining them, for he states in his last editorial of
November 13, 1804, that

The greater part of those who had been his
patrons, but who now differed from the opin-
ions which he maintained upon political sub-
jects, withdrew their subscriptions from his
paper; and some of them (if they may not be

27 Easton star. June 23, 1874.

28 The Maryland herald. (Easton) May 7, 1799,

29 Ibid. June 11, 1799.