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HISTORY OF PRINTING.
1633, Jan. 17. Ihed, James Ballamttnb, an extensive printer in the city of Edinbur^b, and whose name is so intimately connected with the literary productions of sir Walter Scott. James Ballantyne was born at Kelso, and though not bred to the business of a printer, he opened a printing-oflice in his native town, where, besides editing the Kelso Mail* newspaper, he printed various works, which rendered his name gene- rally known, and paved the way for his estab- lishment soon after in Edinburgh, where he ever after continued. The English press boasts, and very justly, of the names of Bulmer, Bensley, Davison, and M'Creery, for their exertions in correct and beautiful typography ; and, to the Ballantynes, of Edinburgh, will the epithet of fine printers ever be awarded. By the excellent taste of James Ballantyne in the execution of works entrusted to his care, he gained the patro- nage and friendship of numerous men of letters, and the first publishing houses in London and Edinburgh. The works of his friend and partner, sir Walter Scott,t were printed by him, and to his taste the public is indebted for manv emenda- tions in the works of thatillustrions minstrel and novelist, whose own inattention to not unimpor- tant minutiee, rendered such assistance highly necessary. For a number of years Mr. Ballan- tyne conducted the Edinhurgh Weekly Journal, with a degree of good feeling and taste which the public did not fail to appreciate. His theatrical criticisms, in particular, which ap- peared in that newspaper, were long admired as the very best of the day. He married Miss Ho- guth,^ the daughter of a wealthy farmer in Ber- wickshire, by whom he had a large family. His residence was in John-street, Canongate, at no great distance from the printing-office. Shortly before his death Mr. Ballantyne published an afTecting statement, in which he only prayed that he might be restored to that degree of health which would enable him to do some justice to all that he felt and knew regarding the great and good man who had gone before him. But this was denied. They who had been so long united in their lives were not in death long divided.
- After the removal of James Ballantyne to Edinburgh,
the conducUng of the Ktlto Mail devolTed npon Alexander Ballantyne, a younger brother.
t Sir Walter Scott was often much oppressed by the in- twmptlons from idle strangers, which from the first to the last, imposed a heavy tax on his celebrity. Among bis liasty notes to tbe Ballantynes, we select the following : —
"Sept. 3, 1S13.
- My temper is really worn to a halr's-breadth. The
intruder of yesterday hangon me till twelve to day. When I had just taken my pen, he was relieved, like a sentry neav ing guard, by two other lounging visitors; and thdr posts has now been supplied by some people on real business.*,
Again.
" Monday Evening.
" Oh James— oh James--two Irish damea
Oppress me very sore ; 1 groaning send one sheet I've penn'd.
For hang them, there's no more.'*
X George Hogarth, esq. W. S. brother of Mrs. James Ballantyne, is now well known in the literary world ; es- pectally by a HMmy of Uutte, which is highly spoken of.
1833, Mardi 29. Died, 8amusl Drew, M. A. a very distinguished metaphysical writer, and for fourteen years the editor of the Imperial Magazine, published by Mr. Henry Fisher, London. He also superintended all the woiiis issued from theCaxton press; and the proprietors of that establishment bear honourable testimony to his abilities, his industry, and his moral worth. Mr. Drew is a strong instance of the acquire- ment of knowledge under difficulties. He was bom in the year 1765, in the parish of St. Austell, Cornwall, of poor parents, and at the age of ten years was apprenticed to a shoemaker of that town. He afterwards conducted that trade for a man who carried on in one shop the business of a saddler and bookbinder, together with the manufacturing of shoes. In this situ- ation Mr. Drew had an opportunity of indulging a natural desire of knowledge, till he engaged in business for himself. All bis leisure he devoted to metaphysical studies, and was the author of several works on that subject. In 1800 Mr. Drew entered into an engagement with the late Dr. Thomas Coke,* which totally detached him from the pursuits of trade. Hitherto litera- ture had been the employment of his losoie hours. From this time it became his occupation. He died at Helston, Comwall, aged dxty-eighL
1833, May 7. Me. Clements, proprietor of the Morning Chronicle and Observer, London papers, was fined £100 in the court of king's bench, for a libel on the duchess of Richmond, taken from the Court Journal. The defendant had merely copied it, and tendered an apology.
1833, May 14. Died, Thomas CiiasoN Han- SARD, printer, of Patemoster-row, London. He was the eldest son of the late Luke Hansard, esq., printer to the bouse of commons, and having been brought up in the same business, was for many years in partnership with his father. In 1805, he migrated to Peterborough-court, Fleet-street, where he succeeded to the bu^ess of Mr. Rickaby, and on the expiration of his lease, in 1823, he removed his establishment to the more central part of the city, and having purchased a house in Patemoster-row, he fitted it up for business, and named it the Patemoster- roiB Press. Mr. T. C. Hansard was a very ingenious practical printer, and was thoroughly versed in every branch of the art, as erinced by his publication of the Typographia, 1824. Be was at one period one of the common council of the city of London. Mr. Hansard gives the following opinion of the liberty of the press : — " I am conscientiously persuaded that a perfecUy free press is as essential to our existence and wel- fare, as a free and independent state, as the &eedom of the air we breathe is to the life and vigour of the organs of our frame, a right which all good men have ever held sacred, and which has always been esteemed the life-blood of British liberty."
- Thomas Coke, LL. D. a Methodist preacher, who. In
conjunction with Mr. Henry More, published the Life of the m. John Wetley, 8vo. 1793. John Wesley, tbe founder of Methodism, was born June 17>170S,— died Marcfas, I/Vl.
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