were the stations of Bage, Bowyer, Richardson, Nichols, and a host of others, whose names are recorded in these pages, and whose labours add a lustre over the literature of their country.
The father of Robert Bage was a paper maker at Darley, near Derby, and was remarkable only for having had four wives. Robert was a son of the first, and was born at Darley, Feb. 29, 1728. His mother died soon after his birth; and his father, though he retained his mill, and continued to follow his occupation, removed to Derby,where his son received his education at a common school. His attainments were very remarkable, and such as excited the surprise and admiration of all who knew him. To a knowledge of the Latin language succeeded a knowledge of the art of making paper, which he acquired under the tuition of his father. At the age of twenty-three, Robert Bage married a young woman who possessed beauty, good sense, good temper, and money; the last aided him in the manufacture of paper, which he commenced at Elford, four miles from Tamworth, and conducted to the end of his days. Though no man was more attentive to business, and no one in the country made better paper, or so good of its kind, yet the direction of a manufactory, combined with his present literary attainments, did not satisfy the comprehensive mind of Bage. His manufactory, under his eye, went on with the regularity of a machine, and left him leisure to indulge his desire of knowledge. In the year 1765, Bage entered into partnership with three persons (one of whom was Dr. Darwin[1]) in an extensive manufactory of iron; and at the end of fourteen years, when the partnership was terminated, he found himself a loser, it is believed, of £1500. In 1781 appeared his novel of Mount Henneth, in two vols, which was sold to Lownds for £30. This was succeeded by Barham Downs,two vols. 1784; the Fair Syrian, two vols, about 1787; James Wallace, three vols. 1788; Man as he is, four vols. 1792; Hempsprong; or, Man as he is not, three vols. 1796. These works of Bage are of a high and decided merit. It is scarcely possible to read them without being amused, and to a certain degree instructed, and, what is without a parallel in the annals of literature, that of six different works, comprising a period of fifteen years, the last should be, as it unquestionably is, the best. Several of his novels were translated into German, and published at Frankfort. William Hutton, the celebrated bookseller and author at Birmingham, purchased nearly all the paper which Bage made during forty-five years; and betwixt whom a strong friendship existed to the last. He had quitted Elford, and daring the last eight years of his life resided at Tamworth, where he died, leaving his wife to lament his loss. In his person, Robert Bage was somewhat under the middle size, and rather slender, but well proportioned. His complexion was fair and ruddy; his hair light and curling; his countenance intelligent, mild, and placid. His manners were courteous, and his mind was firm. His integrity, honour, and devotion to truth, were undeviating and incorruptible. His humanity, benevolence, and generosity, were not less conspicuous in private life than they were in the principal character of his works. He supplied persons he never saw with money, because he heard they were in want. He kept his servants and his horses to old age, and both men and quadrupeds were attached to him. He behaved to his sons (he had three) with the unremitting affection of a father; but as they grew up, he treated them as men and equals, and allowed them that independence of mind and conduct which he claimed for himself.
1801. The Porcupine. This was a daily newspaper started by William Cobbett,[2] in London. It contained some articles of extraordinary talent and energy, one especially, which was read from every Pulpit in the kingdom; and for which, Mr. Windham[3] declared in his place in the house of commons, the author deserved a statue of gold. The career of the Porcupine was not of long duration; he then commenced his far-famed Weekly Register, which for upwards of thirty years was the vehicle of his opinions and his feelings. About the time of his commencing the Register, he opened a bookseller's shop in Pall Mall.
1801, April 1. The Orthodox Churchman's Magazine, No. 1.
1801. Monthly Musical Journal, edited by Thomas Busby,[4] Mus. Doc. and LL.D.
1801. Waterford Mirror.
1802, Jan. 9. Charles Hayes, who kept a book-stall in Piccadilly, London, was prosecuted in the court of king's bench, by the society for promoting christian knowledge, for having on his stall a pamphlet called the Man of Fashion. Mr. Alley contended that the witness's merely
- ↑ Erasmus Darwin, eminent as a physician and a poet, was born at Elston, near Newark, Nottinghamshire, and educated at Cambridge, where he took his batchelor's degee in medicine. From Cambridge he removed to Edinburgh, where he took his doctor's degree; after which he practised at Lichfield, with reputation; and in 1757, married Miss Howard, of that city, who died in 1770, leaving three sons. His second wife was the widow of colonel Pole, who brought him a good fortune, on which he removed to Derby in 1781, where he passed the remainder of his life. He died suddenly at Bredsall, April 17, 1802. Dr. Darwin's literary fame rests upon the Botanic Garden, with philosophical notes, in two parts. He was the author of papers in the philosophical transactions and a tract on female education, 4to. He had also a share in the formation of the system of vegetables of Linnaeus, published in the name of the botanical society at Lichfield. See Songs of the Press, pages 66, 67, for some poetry and observations on the praise of printing, by Dr. Darwin. Charles Darwin, his son, born at Lichfield, 1758, who promised fair to become eminent in medicine, died in 1782.
- ↑ The first appearance of William Cobbett, on the political horizon, we have already noticed at page 777 ante, was at Philadelphia, as the author of Peter Porcupine, and a bookseller. From Philadelphia he was driven by the verdict of a jury, for a libel on Dr. Rush, with a verdict of five thousand dollars, Dec. 1799. He settled for a short time at New York, and published the Rushlight, in which he held up to ridicule the judge, the jury, and the press, and others concerned in the late trial; he soon afterwards returned to England.
- ↑ Right Hon. Willam Windham, M.P., died June 4, 1810.
- ↑ Dr. Busby, in conjunction with Dr. Arnold, published in 1786, the Musical Dictionary, 197 numbers; and in 1801, he published a New and complete Musical Dictionary, 8vo. third edition, 1812.
