EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
621
1719. Thomas BENNET,an ecceutric charac- ter, and news cryer, in London, is thus noticed by John Dunton, who says, " I might also charac- terise the honest (mercurial) women, Mrs. Bald- win, Mrs. Nutt, Mrs. Curtis, Mrs. Mallet, Mrs. Croome, Mrs. Grover, Mrs. Barnes, Mrs. Win- ter, Mrs. Taylor, and I must not forget old Ben- net, that loud and indefatigable promoter of the Athenian Mercury. The following lines are from a volume of miscellaneous poems, edited by Elijah Fenton, and printed for Bernard Lin- tot, without date; but about this year:
ON THE DEATH OF OLD BKNNET,
THE NEWS CRIIB.
Onb momlQg, when the san was joat gone down,
A> I wu walking through the nolay town,
A audden lilence throngh each street was tpread,
Aa if the soul of London had been fled,
Much I enquired the cause, but conld not bear.
Till Fame, so frightened, that she did not dare
To raise her voice, thus wtiispered in my car ;
Bennet, the prince of hawlcers is no more,
Bennet, my herald on the British shore ;
Bennet, by whom I own myself outdone,
Tho' I tiad a hundred mouths, he had but one,
He, when the listening town he would amuse.
Made echo tremble with his " blaodg news!"
No more shall echo now his voice return.
Echo, for ever must in silence mourn.
Lament, ye heroes, who frequent the wars.
The great proclaimer of your dreadful scars ;
Thus wept the conqueror, who the world o'ercame.
Homer was wanting to enlarge his fame.
Homer the first of hawkers that is known.
Great news from Troy, cried up and down the town.
None like him has then been for ages past.
Till our stentorian Bennet came at last -,
Homer and Bennet were in this agreed.
Homer was blind, and Bennet could not read.
1719. About this year an association of respectable booksellers entered into an especial partnership for the purpose of printing some expensive works, and styled themselves the Printing Conger.* They consisted at first of R. Bonwicke,t J. Walthoe, B. and S. Tooke, R. Wilkin,! and T. Ward ; and in 1736, the firm consisted of Messrs. Bettesworth, Bonwicke, Ware, A. Ward, Osbom, and Wickstead. A second partnership of the same kind, about the same period, formed by Messrs. Bettesworth and Rivington,called themselves the New Conger.
• The term Conger was supposed to have been at first applied to them invidiously, alluding to the Conger Eel, which is said to swallow the smaller fry. Or it may pos- sibly have been taken from Congeriet.—Nicholi.
t Mr. Henry Bonwicke, a relation of Mr. R. Bonwicke, an eminent bookseller in St. Paul's church-yard, who died in 1 706, is thus characterised by Dunton :— " I do not know an honester man In London, or one that is more zealous for the church. He served his time with Mr. Ben- jamin Tooke, and we find all the wit and loyalty of hla ingenious master exemplified In his life and practice." For an account of the family of Bonwicke, see Nichols's IMeraiy Anecdote; vol. i. p. <19. and vol. v. p. 118.
t He is a booksdler of good reputation, and is scrapu- loos in doing the least injustice; neither was he less accomplished In the art of obedience whilst he was an apprentice, than that of government since he has been a master. He is devout of prayers, and reverent and at- tentive in hearing ; and is not only a true son of the chnrch, but also a resolute champion in behalf of the hler»rchy,as well remembering that prophetic apophthegm of James L, " No bishop, no king ! " And, to convince us of the great respect he bears to the pious memory of Charles I. lie has lately published several evidences which have not yet appeared in the controversy concerning Kikin Basilikc, produced in a letter to the Rev. Mr. Wagstaffe.— /Jun/wi.
1719, Jan. The Manchester Weekly Journal ; containing the freshest advices both foreign and domestic, to be continued weekly. Printed and sold by Roger Adams, at the lower end of Smithy-door. Price one penny.* No. 326, dated March 15, 1725, was in the possession of the late Mr. John Yates,t of Bolton ; and in the imprint it states as printed in " Sndhy- door." Mr. Adams carried on this paper some time longer, and then removed to Chester, where he commenced the Cheiter Courant. He was the father of the well known Orian Adams, of whom see an account in the year 1797, pott.
By this paper it appears that the art of typo- graphy had not been piactised in Manchester since the memorable days of Martin Marprelale. (See the year 1688, ante.) From this time, how- ever, the art has been successively carried on.
1719, Feb. 5. Mirror, No. 1.
1719, March 14. London Mercury, No. 1. The author's design, in publishing this paper, is to supply the publick with the best intelligences from France, Spain, and Italy, much sooner than any other newspaper ; and the Dutch news shall also be publisoed with the utmost expe- dition, whenever it contains any thing worth reading. He promises to keep strictly to truth, and avoid partiality and imposition. It is pro- posed to publish this paper occasionally, as the mails arrive.
1719, March 14. Plehian; by a member of the house of commons. No. 1. Thispamph'et was the production of sir Richard Steele, for the purpose of alarming the nation to the dangers which he apprehended would, arise from the earl of Sunderland's memorable act, called the Peer- age Z<i//, by which the number of peers should be fixed, and the king restrained from any new creation of nobility, unless when an old family should be extinct. This paper was also the con- sequence of a vehement controvery between Steele and Addison, and the latter published the Old Whig in answer to Steele, to whom he gave the appellation of " Little Dickey ;" but Steele was respectful to his early friend, though he was now his political adversary. Lord Sunderland's bill was at length rejected.
1719, Mardi 19. Old Whig, No. 1.
1719, March 2\. Patrician, No. 1.
1719, Aug. 6. Thursday's Journal, with a Weekly Letter from Paris, No. 1.
1719, Aug. 28. Jesuite, No. 1.
1719, Oct. 3. Daily Post.
1719. The York Courant, No. 1. There was a newspaper established in this city prior to the Courant, called the York Mercury ; but it seems impossible to state with accuracy when it com- menced, or when it terminated.
• John Dunton mentions a Mr. Ciavtow, a bookseller, of Manchester, and sa}s, "he was an apprentice to Mt. Johnson, of the same town, but his master thinking it necessary to be a knave, and as the consequence of it, to walk ofr, so Mr. Clayton succeeds him, and has stepped into tlic whole business of that place, which is very consi- derable, and if he have but prudence he may thiivc apace."
+ During Mr. Vates's residence at Chesterfield, I often saw this paper, but am sorry to say it Is now destroyed. Bd.
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