936
HISTORY OF PRINTING.
1834, Dec. 6. Died, Richard ItfiLLiKEii, bookseller aad publisher, in the city of Dublin, in his fifty-first year. A man more estimable in the relations of private life, or in his intercoui-se with his fellow-citizens — a -man more beloved by those who shared in his friend^ip and acquain- tance, and more sincerdy regretted, never lived.
•' Peace to the memory of a man of worth, A man of letters, and of manners too — Of manners sweet as virtue always wears Wlten gay good nature dresses her in smiles."
1834, Dec.\0. Died, Alexander Chalmers,* F.S.A., an eminent biographer, and for many years connected with the periodical press of London, in the General Advertiser, St. JamesU Chronicle, Morning Chronicle, and as editor of the Morning HerM. He was the youngest son of James Chalmers, the original proprietor of the Aberdeen Jownal^ and born in that city, March 29, 1759 : after receiving a classical and medical education, he left his native place about the year 1717, and, what \i remarkable, never returned to it. He had obtained the situation of surgeon in the West Indies, and had arrived at Portsmouth to join his ship, when he suddenly altered his mind, and proceeded to the metropo- lis. He soon became connected with the periodi- ca press, and was engaged in business with Mr. George Robinson, the celebrated publisher in Patemostcr-iow. The work on which Mr. Chal- mer's fame as an author chiefly rests, is the General Biographical Dictionary, containing an historical and critical account of the most emi- nent men in every nation, particularly the British and the Irish, in 32 vols. 8vo. 1812-17. The total number of articles exceed 9000.
SONNET To Homier Chalmert, on hit Livet of Engli4hPoetM.
Ohalmen, I read thy biographic lore With the fond pleasure of a Mend sincere, Thy Indgment sound and moral worth revere.
And sUll, the more I read, admire the more
llie vast abundance of tliy mental store. Thy comments are sagacious. Just and clear j Candour and truth in every page appear.
And canst thou each poet's due explore.
Combine these proofs of literary pow'r. In which thy talents with such lustre shine,
Then wilt thou nobly charm the stadious boor, Enlarge our knowledge and our taste lefine.
For thou with Johnson's pious zeal canst tower. His pore devotion not surpassing thine.
JOBN Tatlob.
Mr. Chalmers was most indefatigable and laborious in the cause of literature. No man conducted so many works for the booksellers of London ; and his attention to accuracy of colla- tion ; his depth of research as to facts, and his discrimination as to the character of the authors, under his review, cannot be too highly praised. With most of the principal printers and book- sellers he lived on terms of the greatest intimacy for fifty years, and has frequently recorded his esteem for them in the pages of the Gentleman's
- His giandfaOier, the rev. James Chalmers, professor
of divinity in the Marischal coUefge, Aberdeen, died much regretted, Oct. 8, 1744, aged fifty-eight.
T The Aberieen Journal is now carried on by David Chalmers, grandson of its tirst Institutor, James Chalmers,
Magazine. He was in the strictest sense of iJbe word, an honest, honourable man, a warm and affectionate friend, and a delightful companion. In 1783, he married Elizabeth, the widow of Mr. John Gillett, printer ; she died June, 1816. Mr. Chalmers died at London, aged seventy- five years. He left a very valuable library, principally relative to biognif^y and literaij history, which was disposed of by auction.
1834, Feb. 15. The Printing Machine,- « JReviete for the Many, No. 1, with the following notice : — " What the printing press did for the instruction of the masses in the fifteenth century, the printing machine is doing in the nineteen^ Eacn represents an era in the diffusion of knowledge; and each may be taken as a sym- bol of the intellectual character of the age oi its employment. — Penny Magazine." This was a monthly publication issued by the society for the diffusion of tiseful knowledge. Price fouipence.
1834. The following newspapers were pub- lished in Australia : — Uie True taUmist, by Mr. G. Robertson ; Cornwall ChromeU, hs Captain William Lushington Goodwin ; and the Sydmeg Times, by Mr. N. Kentish. The last was soca discontinued.
1835,yait.2. i>tetf. Rev. Robert Hindhabsr, the most distinguished as a minister amongst those who supported the opinions of the hooowr- able Emanuel Swedenborg,* known as the N«w Jerusalem church. He was born Nov. 8, 1769, at Alnwick, in Northumberland. His fatiier was a man of literary attainments, one of the travelling preachers among the methodists, and for several years master of Kingswood school, near Bristol; but not, it is supposed, during the period, or the whole of the period, that his son Robert was there. Robert left Kingswood soon after he had attained the age of fourteen, baring acquired great proficiency in both the Latin and the Greek languages, and in some branches oi science. When he was removed from school, he was placed with a printer in London, which business he afterwards carried on for many years on his own account In the year 1778, when he was about nineteen years uf age, he became con- verted to those opinions which he strenuously advocated during the remainder of his life. Though Mr. Hindmarsli married early, set up in business, and was soon sunounded with the cares of a family, he did not neglect his studies; and as his business demanded most of his time in the day, he often borrowed many hours from the night. In December, 1783, he inserted an advertisement in tlie newspapers, requesting that the readers and admirers of the theological writing of the hon. Emanuel Swedenborg, would meet at the London Coffee-house, Ludgate-hill. Only five individuals assembled ; yet these, it is supposed, were nearly the whole of the persons resident in London, who at that time had any knowledge of, or attachment to those writings.
- The hon. Emanuel Swedenborg was an eminent m^
tbematical and philosophical writer. He was born at Stocliholm, in Sweden, Jan. 3, 1689, and died at Ratalifl^, near London, March 29, I772.
Diaitized bv
