(1757), Sylvanus Morgan (1759), Robert Nelson (1760), James Parsons (1769), James West, P.R.S. (1773), William Fletewode (1774), E. Rowe Mores (1779), Topham Beauclerk (1781), George Costard (1782), Thomas Crofts (1783), Maffeo Pinelli (1789), John Strange (1801), H. Fagel of the Hague (1802).
In 1776 he visited the continent and brought back a large collection of books described in ‘Bibliotheca Universalis Selecta, methodically digested with an index,’ 1786. For some years he was librarian at Bowood to Lord Shelburne, first marquis of Lansdowne. In November 1794 he writes of the ‘extreme agitation’ he had ‘been in for a considerable time in abstracting and indexing my lord's private papers’ (Nichols, Lit. Anecd. viii. 483).
He had an impediment in his speech, but this did not prevent him from delivering a series of lectures on Shakespeare's plays, which were attended by Steevens, Malone, and Barry. He was an honest man and an excellent bibliographer, but constantly failed in business, as he always preferred reading to selling books. ‘Perhaps we never had a bookseller who knew so much of the contents of books generally, and he was particularly well acquainted with our English poets’ (Gent. Mag. 1802, ii. 1075). Johnson wrote of him as ‘a man for whom I have long had a kindness’ (Boswell, Life, ed. Hill, iii. 90), and was godfather to Paterson's son Samuel, whom he befriended on several occasions (ib. iv. 269). His original works were not remarkable.
Paterson died in Norton Street, 29 Nov. 1802, in his seventy-fifth year. He married a Miss Hamilton about 1745; she died on 25 Nov. 1790. His eldest son, Charles, a lieutenant of marines, died at Chatham on 14 Dec. 1779, in his twentieth year. His second son was John, and the third, Samuel Paterson the younger, who was assisted by Johnson, was an artist, and exhibited a portrait at the Royal Academy in 1789 (Graves, Dictionary, 1884, p. 179). One of his daughters, Margaret, married James Pearson [q. v.], the glass-stainer.
Paterson wrote: 1. ‘Another Traveller! or Cursory Remarks and Tritical Observations made upon a Journey through part of the Netherlands in 1766, by Coryat Junior,’ London, 1767–9, 4 parts in 2 vols. sm. 8vo; ‘second edition corrected,’ London, 1769, 12mo (sentimental travels in the manner of Sterne, of very poor quality). 2. ‘Bibliotheca Anglica Curiosa: a Catalogue of several thousand printed Books and Tracts (chiefly English) collected with a view to a History of English Literature,’ London, 1771, 8vo. 3. ‘Joineriana, or the Book of Scraps,’ London, 1772, 2 vols. sm. 8vo (miscellaneous essays, anonymous). 4. ‘The Templar,’ London, 1773 (a periodical of which only fourteen numbers were published, the last in December 1773; designed as a protest against the advertising of ecclesiastical offices and places of trust under government). 5. ‘Speculations on Law and Lawyers, applicable to the Manifest Hardships, Uncertainties, and Abusive Practice of the Common Law,’ London, 1788, 8vo (on the dangers of personal arrest for debt previous to any verification).
[Obituary Notices in Gent. Mag. 1802, pt. ii. 1074, and European Mag. 1802, pt. ii. 427; see also Chalmers's Gen. Biogr. Dict. xxiv. 185–189; Dibdin's Bibliomania, 1842, p. 441; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. vols. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix.; Notes and Queries, 4th ser. i. 23; Timperley's Encylopædia, 1842, p. 812.]
PATERSON, THOMAS (1780–1856), lieutenant-general, was the son of Robert Paterson of Plewlands, Ayrshire, He entered the royal artillery as second lieutenant 1 Dec. 1795. After serving in Canada and the West Indies from 1796 to 1804, and becoming second captain 19 July 1804, he took part in the expedition to Copenhagen under Lord Cathcart in 1807. He was attached to Baird's division, and after the army had landed it fell to him to keep the Danish gunboats in check with his 9-pounders, while batteries were being thrown up for the bombardment. He became captain 1 Feb. 1808, and in the following year he served in the Walcheren expedition. He was given a brevet majority 4 June 1814, and became lieutenant-colonel in the regiment 6 Nov. 1827, and colonel 10 Jan. 1837. In 1836 he was made superintendent of the Royal Military Repository at Woolwich. He was promoted major-general 9 Nov. 1846, and lieutenant-general 30 June 1854, having become a colonel-commandant of the royal artillery 15 Aug. 1850. He died at Woolwich on 13 June 1856.
[Royal Military Calendar; Irving's Book of Scotsmen; Kane's List of Artillery Officers.]
PATERSON, WILLIAM (1658–1719), founder of the Bank of England, son of John Paterson of Skipmyre, in the old parish of Trailflatt now merged in that of Tinwald, Dumfriesshire, by his wife Elizabeth (Bethia), was born there in April 1658. The farmhouse where he was born was pulled down in 1864. The story that ‘he came from Scotland in his younger years, with a pack on his back,’ and ‘having travell'd this country
