770
HISTORY OF PRINTING.
reign to remit a portion of tlie duty. In a volume of the history of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, published about this period. Gibbon made the remark that " from Augfustus to Louis the muse has been too often veual ; yet I doubt much whether any age or court can pro- duce a similar establishment of a stipendiary poet, who, in every reign and at all events, is Dound to fiimish , twice a-year, a measure of praise and veise, such as may be sung in the chapel, and, I believe, in the presence of the sovereign. I speak the more freely," added the historian, " as the best time for abolishing this ridiculous custom is while the prince is a mau of virtue, and the poet a man of genius." Apparently in con- sequence of these obser\-ations, the Nevi Year't Ode was discontinued in 1790, The non-per- formance of the accustomed folly occasioned much talk, and was adverted to by Peter Pindar ID what he called an Ode on No Ode : —
WlutI not a s|iriff at anniul metre, Neither from liiomu nor from Peter I
Who has shot op the laoreat's ihop? Alu, poor Tom's a-cold, I fear; For uck poor Tom mnst drink nndl beer.
And, lo I of that a scanty drop <
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Lond roar of Helicon the floods, Parnaasas shakes throngh all his woods.
To think Immortal verse shoold thus be slighted. I see, I see the goA of lyrio lire Drop suddenly his Jaw and lyre — I hear, I hear the mnsea scream alMshted. « • • «
Perchance (his powers for Man actions hoarding) George thinks the year boasts nothing worth recording. Yet what of that I Thongfa nought has been effected, Tom might have told us what might be expected > Have said that dvU list shonld sigh no more. And Charlotte give— a sixpence to the poor I
Warton was succeeded (Cowper being alive) by James Henry Pye, who, as the jest-books have it, was much cut vp for his presumption in aspir- ing to such an honour, and of whom the least that can be said is, that he has no place in English literature.
1790, June 22. Died, Charles Rivinoton, printer, who had carried on an extensive busi- ness for thirty-two years, in Steyniug-lane, in a noble bouse, which had formerly been the resi- dence of a lord mayor ; he was also a member of the common council, and had held the office of printer to the city of London, which he re- signed in 1772. His only daughter married the rev. James Stovin, rector of Rossington, in the county of York, October 1«, 1790.
1790, July 2. A stationer near Bond-street, London, was convicted at the public office. Bond-street, in the full penalty of £5, for lending out a newspaper contrary to the statute. He was the first person convicted under the act.
1790, July 6. On the trial of an indictment for a liliel, stated to be false,* scandalous, ■Sec. against the printer of a morning paper at Dub-
- On the trial of John Almon, 1770, the word/a/«e was
left oat} npon which lord Mansfield in summing up the evidence, stated that the word had been left out many
Ciars i^^} and the meaning of leaving this out is, that It totally immalmat In point of proof, true or fatte : 1/ It is true, there is, by the constitution, a legal method of prosecntion, from tike highest to the lowest — every man for his olTtoDces.**
lin, on the prosecntion of the lev. Georsa de i* Pore Beresford ; the jury, being satisfied by the evidence of the prosecutor, that several of the facts stated were true, brought in their verdict, not guilty, after being locked up all night.
1790, July 12. Printing presses licensed.
1790, July 16. Died, Thomas Fletcheb, who bad formerly been an eminent printer and bookseller at Cambridge, and was the second person who was chosen by the companj of sta- tioners to enjoy Mr. Bowyer's annuity to deserv- ing journeymen printers. He died at his lodg- ings, in Shoe-lane, London. It was both singu- lar and unfortunate, that about the time of Mr. Fletcher's illness, his brother (whom he supposed to be living in great affluence in America,) arrived in London in the most indigent circtm- stances, and being disappointed in receiving assistance from the only friend he conl^ ^PP^T to, was necessitated to go into Sl Thomas's ikis- pital, where he died.
1790, July 29. The following singnlar cause for a libel was tried at the assizes at Bury St. Edmunds, in Suffolk, in which Thomas Hamil- ton, of Colchester, proprietor of a stage-ooaefa, travelling between London and Halesworth, was plaintiff, and Mr. John Shave, printer of the Iptwich Journal, defendant. The action was grounded on two counts ; the first, for publtsh- ing an advertisement in the said paper, setting forth, that the plaintiff's goods, coach hones, &c. being seized under a writ of execntion from the dieriff, were to be sold by public auc- tion: and the second count, for publishing another advertisement, signed Thomas Shave (brother to the defendant), who is also proprietor of a coach travdling the same road, wherein (in consequence of the first advertisement) he so- licited the favours of the public toward his coach, " as Mr, Hamilton was under the neces- sity of declining the coach business." — Mr. Adair, counsel for the plaintiff, opened the cose, and endeavoured to prove the false and malignant nature of the advertisements in question ; in sup- port of which the coachman was called, who said that the coach never discontinued its usoal travelling on the road *, another witness proved the purchase of the newspaper at the shop of the defendant; and two gentlemen were also called who intended to have gone to London by the plaintiff's coach, but were restrained from so doing by the appearance of the said adver- tisements. On the part of the defendant, Mr. Partridge stated the perilous situation in which a printer stood, if he was liable to be called to account for advertisements received in the ordi- nary course of business; and entertained no doubt, in the present case, they should be able to prove the supposed libel neither false nor malig- nant; for this purpose, Mr. seijeant Le Blanc called the agent of the under sheriff of the county of Essex, who proved, that he received a writ of execution against Mr. Hamilton's effects, on which he sent a warrant to one of the sheriff's officers at Colchester, to levy the same. One of the auctioneers employed by the said officer, and
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