Page:A dictionary of printers and printing.djvu/728

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EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

719

t^eat Judg* of literature, bad good sense enough to have for his friends very able men to give him their opinion and advice in the purchase of copy- rig'ht, the consequence of which was his acquinng a very large fortune, with great liberality." Dr. Johnson said of him, " I respect Millar, tai; he has raised the price of literature." During the hetter half of this century, Jacob Touson and Andrew Millar were the best patrons of litera- ture; a fact rendered unquestionable, by the valuable works produced under their fostering and genial hands. Mr. Millar took the principtQ charge of conducting the publication of Jonn- son's Dictionary. In 1767 Mr. Millar relin- quished his business to Mr. Cadell, who had been his apprentice, and retired to a villa at Kew Green, where he died, and was buried in the cetnetry at Chelsea. His widow married sir Archibald Grant, bart., of Monymusk, Aberdeen- shire. She died at her house in Pall Mall, Oct.' 25, 1788, and left the whole of her estate, sup- posed to be at least £15,000, to be disposed of at the discretion of her three executors, the Rev. Dr. Trotter, Mr. Grant, and Mr. Cadell. It appears by one of the cases on literary property, that Mr. Millar paid fifty guineas to Dr. Ann- strong* for the copyright of the poem of the Economy of Love.

1768, June 18. In the court of king's bench Mr. Wilkes was sentenced as follows: — That for the publication of the North Britain, No. 46, in volumes (of which 2000 copies had been printed for sale) he should pay a bne of £500, and be imprisoned ten calendar months : and for pub- lishing the Essay on Woman, (of which only twelve copies were printed for the use of so many particular friends,) that he should pay likewise a fine of £500, and be imprisoned twelve calendar months, to be computed from the ex- piration of the term of the former imprisonment : ' to find security for his good behaviour for seven years; himself in £1000, and two sureties in £500.t

1768, Aug. 20. Died, James Abree, printer and proprietor of the Canterbury News Letter, aged sevens-seven years, who was for many years the only printer in that city.

1768. The first Wedtly Magazine in Scot- land, was commenced by Walter Ruddiman, jun. at Edinburgh.

1768, Dec. Died, M. De Coignard, a printer at Paris, worth £ 1 80,000 steriing.

• John Annstzonf wu born at Costleton, Roxborgh- shtre, in ScotUnd, where his father was n^ister. He became an eminent phTsldan in London, and wai the author of several books on medicine. In 1744, he pub- lished theXrt ofPraening healtki one of the best didactic poems In our langoage. Dr. Armstrong was a man matljr beloved br his fHends for the goodness of his heart, u well aa for hla literarjr talents. He died Jane SI, 17711.

t The following printed notice was stack upon the doors (rfthe chnrdiei In the city of London one Sunday mcsninf, viz. : — ** The prayers of the congregation are canestlf desired for the restoration of libeitir, dependlog on the election of Mr. Wilkea." This n* the great con- test which he had for the coanty of Middlesex, against the (oveniment candidate, and thoagb elected by a great ma- JoritT, hi> election wai let aside by the house of conunoBt.

1768. Jan. 1. The Mucellany, No. 1, by Na- thaniel Freebody. [Bishop Home.*]

1768, July. The Oxford Magazine, No. 1. 1768. Morning Chronicle newspaper.

1768, Aug. The Essex Gazette, printed and published by Samuel Hall, in the city of Salem, the capital of Essex county, in the province of Massachusetts, North America. Mr. Hall bad removed from Newport, and had opened his office in the city in the month of April preceding, being the first press erected in the city of Salem, and the third of the province. Salem is. said to have been the spot first fixed upon by the small number of persons who became the founders of the colony of Massachusetts. Its original name was Nehum-kek.

1769, Feb. 22. Died, William Mount, esq. treasurer of St. Thomas's hospital, and eminent for works of charity. He had been master of the stationers' company three years, 1733-35.

1769, Apnl 13. Died, Richard Manbv, a booksellerf of great eminence, of Ludgate-hill. He was fined for the office of sherifi'; and was master of the stationers' company, to whom he gave £100 for the use of the poor. He died at Walthamstow.

1769, May. Died, Edward Sav, many years a respectable printer, and master of the station- ers' company in 1763. His son, Charles Green Say, well known as printer of the Gazetteer, General Evening Post, and other news- papers, died November, 1776.

  • Qeorge Home was bora at Otham, near Maidstone, In

Kent, November 1, 1730. He waa successor to Dr. Stan- hope, In the deanery of Canterbory, and afterwards bishop of Norwich. His lordship nnlted in a remarkable degree, learning, brightness of imagination, sanctity of man- ners, and sweetness of temper. Foot volumes of his In- comparable sermons are published. His Cammenlmrf vm the Pmlpu, In s vob. 4to. " will (aa the writer of his epitaph expresses it) continue to be a companion to the closet, till the devotion of earth shall end in the hallelojaha of heaven." Dr. Home also wrote a celebrated piece of irony, in reply to Adam Smith's sketch of David Home's life. He died at Eltham, January 17, 1793.

t Dunton characterises the fbUowtngbookseUert :—

Benjamin Alsof was a fint-rate bookseller for some years, but sec the rambling fate of some men : for Ben being a wild sort of a spark, he left his shop to get a com- mission in Monmouth's army : and, aa Ben told me in Holland, had the dnke succeeded, he had been made an eail, or a baron at least : i. e. " If the sky had fell he had catched a lark." I succeeded captain Alsop in his shop in the Poultry j and had lived there to this Yory hour, had I found any ideasure in noise and hurry.

B(r. Batirsbt. He printed The I^fanes Laumer, and . Are Clericalie, and has porchased other copies that have sold well. He is scrupnloudy honest : he never abridged another man's copy, or pnrcbasedhls author by out-bidding. And his way of trafllck is all alx>ve-board : for aa soon aa his tcogne is allowed to speak (for there is a small em- bargo upon it) he betrays the faults of what he sells. And should a child be sent to his shop, he would not take a farthing more than the price.

Mr. BaAoo. He was formerly a bookseller, and is now a publisher in Ave-Mary-lane. He has been unhappy, but his soul la too great to be crushed under the weight of adverse storms 1 yet at the same time, Beujamln Bngg la of a soft, easy, allkble temper : and, having learned the art of publishing, and bdngjust in his dealings, is like to have constant employment.

Mr. BiLLiNosuiT, by the Boyal Exchange. He had the character of bdng a very honest, leUgtouB man, and (if I do not mistake; was aconstant hearer of Mr. Watson for many years. But for what reasons I eoold never team, has been disturbed in his mind and very near dlstntctiOD, bat I hear ha is thorouchly recovered, (lid aetiaaextnor-

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