health, returned to London, exhibited his person before Mr. Farmer, which operated upon him so powerfully, that the whole of his thoughts were engrossed with it; he gradually declined in health, his spirits became depressed, "sharp misery seemed to have worn him to the bone," and, at last, distressed to part with the "darling object of his soul," in a flood of tears he retired to his garret, and in a few hours expired.
1806, Sept. Died, John Bell, bookseller, at Edinburgh, who for the period of half a century, ranked among the first of his profession, and during several years of that period was the father of the trade. He was one of the original promoters of the society of booksellers of Edinburgh and Leith; and the first who filled the situation of praeseo thereof.
1806, Sept. The first Almanack printed at Constantinople, in Turkey.
1806, Nov. — Broad, a printer, stabbed in the arm by two Italians, in Long Acre, London, of which he died. They were tried for the offence, but acquitted.
1806. Hours of Leisure. These essays were published in the European Magazine, and entitled Essays after the manner of Goldsmith. They were reprinted, with numerous additions, under the present title, in this year. Many of these papers were written by Mr. George Brewer, an attorney in London, and abound in the delineation of character and the description of incident, and the general tendency are useful.
1806. The Antijacobin Review, edited by John Gifford, esq. one of the magistrates at the police office. Worship-street, Shoreditch, London. Mr. Gifford was the author of a great number of works. He died at Bromley, March 6, 1818.
1806. The British Indian Monitor, by John Borthwick Gilchrist, LL.D. late of the Bengal medical establishment, and Hindustanee professor in the college of Fort William, and afterwards a banker in Edinburgh. He was the author of a number of works relating to the Indian languages. The Indian Monitor makes two vols. 8vo.
1807, Jan. 6. Died, Christopher Brown, who was well known among the booksellers of London for the last half century, having passed among them almost the whole of a long and active life. He was apprenticed in the house of Mr. Richard Baldwin, in Paternoster-row. He afterwards entered into the service of Mr. Longman, with whom he remained many years, as a faithful and active servant. See page 815, ante. No man ever left behind him a fairer or better earned reputation for scrupulous and inflexible integrity, for active zeal, constancy, and perseverance in discharging the several duties of the situation which had been confided to him.
1807, Jan. Died, Thomas Alexander, school-master, at Tetbury, in Gloucestershire, aged sixty-eight years, during which period he never slept a night from his own house. He bequeathed his property to various charities, among which he ordered a Bible to be given to every couple that might be married in Tetbury church.
1807. A Vindication of the Universities to a copy of every new publication. By Edward Christian, esq., chief justice of the isle of Ely. Cambridge: printed at the university press, By R. Watts. 8vo. pp. 36.
A vindication of a right, which it would be to the credit of the national character speedily to abolish. The tax in support of these institutions should at least be general, and not imposed on a class, whose remuneration for their labour is, for the most part, very precarious. On works of an expensive nature in their production, such as books on natural history, antiquities, &c., and of which the number printed is very limited, the tax is most oppressive.—Martin's Catalogue of private printed books, page 107.
1807, Jan. 19. Died, John Stirling, printer and bookseller, Edinburgh.
1607. A printing-office established at Karass, a Scotch missionary settlement, in a village situated near the confluence of the rivers Cuma and Podcuma, in the Russian province of Caucasus between the Black sea and the Caspian, where in the course of this year five hundred copies of a folio edition of St. Matthew's Gospel were worked off on blue paper: and the entire New Testament in Turkish was printed here, by the Edinburgh missionary society, in 1813.
1807. For printing articles of impeachment, minutes of evidence, and copies of the trial of lord viscount Melville, £2,046 6s. paid out of the public treasury.
1807, Feb. Died, James Simmons, printer and bookseller at Canterbury, whose life is a striking instance of what may be effected by industry and perseverance. "Mankind," observes the writer of an account of the subject of this memoir, "are but too fond of contemplating heroes; and launching their admiration on exploits, which they can never hope either to imitate or excel." Knowledge, estimated with reference to usefulness, is only to be gained, nevertheless, by an attentive investigation of the history of the middle classes of society, whose biography alone abounds with practical instruction. James Simmons, who afterwards sat in parliament for his native place, was born in an obscure part of the city of Canterbury, immediately in the vicinity of its cathedral, about the year 1740. His father was a barber, whose circumstances were confessedly poor, although himself was of honest repute; and his son was educated at the King's School, in Canterbury, an excellent institution, which was founded by Henry VIII. Being sent to London, while a boy, James became an apprentice to Mr. Thomas Greenhill, an eminent stationer, residing nearly opposite the Mansion-house, but whose residence has since been converted into a banking-house; thus, adopting the witticism of this gentleman's biographer, "still keeping up, although not its ancient firm, at least its ancient employment, stationers and bankers being both dealers in paper." Mr. Simmons, at length, entered into business on his own account, when, becoming a liveryman, he was shortly after put in nomination for the office
