William Stepney, The Spanish Schoole-master (London, 1591) contains two examples of discussions of news: in the fourth dialogue, ‘to speake at the table, at feastes, and at banquets’, and in the fifth, ‘familiar communications to use in the inne’. The latter assumes that travellers arriving at an inn, after instructing the ostler on the needs of their horses and before asking for their bed to be made up, will talk to other travellers. The assumption is plainly that "no news is good news".