About the Observator:

In April, 1681, Roger L'Estrange began the publication of The Observator, a single sheet newspaper printed in double columns on both sides. It was written in the form of a dialogue between a Whig and a Tory (later Trimmer and Observator), with logic and reason weighted on the side of the latter. The Observator did not presents the news in the fashion of The London Gazette, but presented a commentary upon the events of the day. This format makes it somewhat more difficult for present-day readers to follow, but at the same time, it is more interesting than the rather staid Gazette.

Through the pages of The Observator, the "oracle of the Tory Party" according to critics of the Court and Church alike. In the six years of the paper's existence, he wrote with a consistent fierceness, meeting his enemies with personal attacks characterized by a sharp wit. One of L'Estrange's main targets was Titus Oates. Oates' allegations regarding the "Popish Plot" were studied in fine detail in The Observator, revealing many inconsistencies in his claims. L'Estrange's efforts against Oates were finally rewarded in 1685, when the imaginative doctor was convicted of perjury.

The Observator had formally entered the struggle against the enemies of the Court at a time when the fortunes of the Tory Party were at low ebb. By 1685, the situation had been reversed, L'Estrange's paper having played a notable role in the demise of the Whigs. It had bested the Whig pamphleteers, had exposed the "Popish Plot" as a sham, and continued to defend the interests of the Court with vigor. L'Estrange's own fortunes rose with the Tory Party. In 1685, he was elected to Parliament and in the same year he was knighted by James II, who was well aware of the services rendered by the writer and publisher of The Observator.

Eventually, however, L'Estrange's support for James was undermined by the issue of religion. A High Church Anglican, L'Estrange disapproved of the Court's increasing favoritism toward Roman Catholics. Finally, over the issue of toleration, The Observator ceased publication in March of 1687.

L'Estrange did continue to act as a licenser, but his name disappears from the Stationer's Register with the coming of the Revolution. Mistrusted for his keen Tory views, he was thrice arrested for alleged plots against the government of William and Mary. L'Estrange lived the remainder of his years in relative obscurity until his death in 1704.