633
HISTORY OF PRINTING.
and on the 7th of July, 1637, he was appointed head master of the free school at Colchester, in Essex. After remaining at Colchester some yean, he received the appointment of head master of the Merchant tailors' school, in the parish of St. Laurence Poultney, London, Mav 10, 1A44. Upon taking possession of his school, he erected a printing press in his house, which seems to hare been the source of all his misfor- tunes. Under his influence and management the school flourished exceedingly, but in 1649, for shewing, as was thought, too great an affec- tion to the royal cause,* and especially for being concerned in printing Salmasitu'i Defence </ Charles I., in defiance of a triumphant faction and victorious army; the council of state irritated thereby, issused an order for his commitment to Newgate ; his wife and six children were turned out of doors, and a printing office, which he valued at one thousand pounds, seized and destroyed. The council of state also wrote to to the merchant tailors' company, desiring that he might be deprived of his office, as a person unfit to " be entrusted with the educacon of soe much youth." At the expiration of one month, he found means, tbiougn the intercession of Milton, who professed a friendship for him, to pacify his enemies and procure his enlargement, and opened a private school for his support. In September, 1650, he was however remstated in his former school, by order of the same council of state that deprived him of it. He again resumed his typographic labours, though on a very different kma of work — the answer to Sal- masius,with the following title: JoarmisMiltoni Angli Defeiuio pro Populo Anglicano amtra Claudii Anonimt (dia$ Salnuuii Defetuionem regiam. Londoni, tjfpu Du Gardienu ; anno domini, 1661. In 1602, his name appears as printer to the Lord Protector. In 1663, he printed an edition of William Hill's Dionysiut, to which he prefixed a copy of Latin verses. The house of commons erdered this book to be publicly burnt, upon which occasion the trustees of Merchant tailors' school, intimated that it would be very acceptable to them, if he would relinquish the printing business, and devote himself entirely to his proper duty. In Decem- ber, 1660, he was again deprived of his school, but so great was his reputation, and the fame of his abilities, that, by the 25th of March follow- ing, he had gathered one hundred and ninety- three scholars. Besides the qualifications of his mind, which caused him to be highly valued by a lar^ circle of friends, his literary attain- ments will cause his name to be remembered by scholars of the present day — Wilson.
• That he was wdj affected to Charles I. and to the loyal Interest, appears from a curious register he kept of his school, which is stUI extant in Sion<»Ucge library, wherein are entered two Greek verses, on the beheading of that monarch, to this effect: "Charles, the best of kings, is fUlen by the hands of cruel and wicked men, a martyr for the laws of God and of his country." There arc also two more Greek verses on the burial of Oliver Cromwell's mother in Westminster abbey, to this effect : " Here lies the mother of a cursed son, who has been the rnin of two kinfs, and of three kingdoms."
1663. Jan. 5. 7%e Kingdom's InttUigencer of the Affairs now in agitation in England, Scot- land, and Ireland. No, 1 .
This paper contains many regular advertise- ments oi^books ; and begins with one that is worth transcribing: "There is stolen abroad a most false and imperfect copy of a poem, called U»- dibras, without name either of printer or book- seller, as fit for so lame and spurious an impres- sion. The true and perfect edition, printed by the author's original, is sold by Richard Marriott, under St. Dunstan's church in Fleet-street ; that other nameless impression is a cheat, and will but abuse the buyer as well as the author, whose poem deserves to have fallen into better hands." A kind of obituary found also a place in this paper ; with some account of the proceedings of parliament, and in the court of claims; a list of the judges' circuits, the sheriffs, the lent preachers, occ. &c. And in No. 8, nodce i* given " that the faculties office for granting licenses (by act of parliament) to eat flesh in any part of England, is still kept up at St. Paul's Chain, near St. Paul's churchyard."*
1663. RooER L'EsTRANGE, csq., (after more than twenty years spent in the royal cause, near six of them in gaols, and almost four under sentence of death in Newgate,) had interest sufficient to obtain an appointment to a new created office, under the title of Surveuor of the Imprimery and Printing Presses. Upon the- appointment he wrote a pamphlet, wtuch is a very great curiosity, and by shewing the senti- ments of his party on this subject, will, even at the present day, excite astonishment for the bold- ness of its sentiments, which could advise such severe restrictions on the liberty of the press, and which has no doubt been uie guide of all future enemies to the great bulwark of the civil and religious freedom of the people.
Considerations and Proposals in order to the Regulation of the Press : together with Diverse Instances of Treasonous and Seditious PampU^, proving the necessity thereof. By Roger L'Es- trange. London, printed by A. C. June 3,
M.DC.LXIII.
To the King's Most Excellent Majesty.
Sir,
It is not without some force upon myself that I have resolved upon this dedication : fur I hare no ambition to appear pragmatical, and to be- come the marque of a peevish faction: but, since my duty will have it thus, I shall accompt
- In the register of St. Alkmond's chardi, at Derby,
is the following entry :— " Whereas Katharine, the wife at Nathaniel Bate, of Little Chester, within the parish of St. Alkmund, Derby, being great with chllde and, (by reasoe of her hefldth) vc^y infirm and weak, and tlitfefore not able to feed upon nsh meat without apparent iqjory (as I am credibly informed) ; I do. therefore, by these presents. permit (so far forth as by the statutes of this kingdom I may,) unto the said Katharine Bate, to provide for hendf, and to feed upon such flesh meats as by the said statate are licensed in this case, during the time of her sickness, and no longer. In witness whereof 1 have hereunto set my hand. H. Coke, minLsterand preacher of tbe word of God, in the parish of St. Alkmand aforesaid."
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