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HISTORY OF PRINTING.
1817. Lithography, the idvenUon of Alois Senefelder, introduced into England by Mr. R. Ackermano, bookseller, of the Strand, London, and M. Willich.
1817. The Round Table; a eollectim of Et- tayt on Literature, Men, and Momurt. These eways were the production of William Hazlitt* and lieigh Hunt, and first appeared in the columns of the Examiner newspaper, and col- lected into two volumes 8to.
1817. The Sheffield Independent, printed and published by Henry Andrew Bacon.f
1817. Zi(enityil({t)«r(M«r,publishedinLondon.
1817. ShadfeU't Weekly Bmiew. This paper was set up expresslv to counteract the inflamma- tory publications of Cobbett, Wooler, Sherwin, Hone, and their coadjnton.
1817. The Indo-Chmete Gleaner, an excellent quarterly publication, well known to orientalists: tnis was planned and conducted by Dr. Milne, in 1817, when the Dutch were owners of Mal- lacca; and it continued until 1822, when Dr. Milne died, and his publication dropped.
1818, Jan. 7. Dud, Peter Oedoe, the respectable and intelligent proprietor and editor of the Bury and Norwich Pott^ which was first published by him on Thursday, July II, 1782; the first number was given gratis, and after- wards sold at threepence. Mr. Gedge died at Bury St. Edmund's, aged fifty-nine years, and was buried in the parish church of St. Mary, with the following epitaph on a marble tablet.
• Near this place are deposited the remains of Peter Oedge, printer, who estebllstaed the first newspaper tba!t ha* ever been pabllshed in this town. Like a worn out type, he is returned to the fonnder, in the hope at being recast In a better and more perfect mould.
1818, Jan. 10. Died, Matthew Brown printer, late of St. John's-square, Clerkenwell]
• William Hazlitt, the well known critical and miscel- laneoos writer, was born In Shropshire, and educated at the Unitarian coDege, at Hackney. He began life as an artist, and thus obfatined a knowlege of art, which qnalliled him for the criticism In which he was afterwards eminent. Be then came to London, and was engaged as parliament- ary reporter for some of the daily papers, partlcalarly, abont 1809 and 1810, fbr the MornAg Chroniele. Tiom this laborioos but nsefbl drudgery, he was promoted to pmreyor of theatrical critiqoes, and other occasional paragraphs. Mr. BazUtt's first acknowledged literary production was An Buaf on the Prtnciplet of JEfMnaa Aetlan, in which much metaphysical acateness seems to hare been disidayed. But the work by which Hazlitt will be rememb^ed, and through which he desired to transmit his name to posterity. Is the lAfe of Napoleon Bonaparte. It was the greatest undertaking in whldi he •rer engaged. It ezhildta his powetftal mind In a position meet laTonrable for its display; and presents an imper- ishable record of the strength and versatility of his genius. For some onaooonntable reason, which Hatlitt could never Ihthom, BidetiMod's Magaxine took an eztraordioairy pleasure in ridiculing him. They went beyond ridicule— they made him appear an that was base In public and private, until at last his fame became a sort of dangeroos notoriety. It was not surprising that a man of Hazlltt's solitary habits shouU llMl and resent this in his brooding moods. He did resent It, and fearftally, and the passion of revenge was instilled into his being, subdued only by the imperious presence of phnoaophy. He died Sept. is, IS30. He was twice married, and left an only son.
t Hiere was a newsnaper published in Sheflleld about 1738, called the Sk^ld Ptiilie AdvertUer, bearing the name of William Ward, as printer.
t The first title was the Barr Poif and Unhertal Ad- riertieer.
He was the son of Robert Brown, many yean a printer in Windmill-court, West Smithfield.— Both the father and son were respectable in thdr profession; and from their presses have issued many good and correct editions of the Greek and Roman classics. Mr. Robert Brown was master of the stationers' company in 1777, and died is the year 1781. Matthew had been a lireryman of the same company more than fifty years; uid was much esteemed by those who intimately knew him. He was modest and unassaming, and occasionally exhibited a vein of pleasantry and wit. His efforts in business were not suc- cessful. Yet his latter days were cheered by the kind regard of some of his oldest friends; and he had the satisfaction of having been selected as a proper person to enjoy an annuity of £30 bequeathed by Mr. William Bowyer, jnn. to be
S'ven to a learned printer, under the sanction of e stationers' company. He died at the age of seventy-two years, leaving five dutiful and &ec- tionate children. He was succeeded by Thomas Fam worth as the annuitant of Mr. Bowyer.*
1818. Ata Spencer, afterwards of the firm of Draper, Underwood, & Co., introduced into Eng- land the art of medallic engraving. It has been ascertained beyond all doubt, that this invention is not of domestic growth in England. It was in the year I8I7 that a die-sinker of the name of Christian Gobrecht, then living at Philaddphia, produced by a machine an engraving, upon coji- per, of the medallic head of the emperor Alex- ander of Russia, several impressions of which were distributed in that city. This machine wis principally designed for ruling straight and waved lines; it was employed in London, and its uses exhibited and explained by Mr. Spen- cer, to several artists.
1818. The art ofprinting introduced into the Society islands at Tahiti or Otaheite, and the first books executed were the Spelling Booi, iSOO copies; a Tahilan Catechim, 2,300 copies; a col- lection of text* or extract* from Scripture; and the GotpelcfSt.Lvk«,vihv!hhe&r{oT imprint, TaUti, printed at the Windward Miaion preu. The press was erected at Afareaitu, under the direc- tion of their king, Pomare, who took an especial interest in the proceedings of the first work, and who requested that he might be sent for when- ever the press should begin to work. A letter hai- ing been sent to inform him, says the missionanr, that we were nearly ready, he hastened to the printing oflice, accompanied by a few favonrite chiefs, and followed by a large concourse of peo- ple. I took the compoong-stick in my hand, and observing Pomare looking with curious delight at the new and shining types, I asked him if he would like to put together the first A. B., or al- phabet. His countenance lighted up as he an- swered in the afiirmative. I then placed the composing-stick in his hand; he took the capital letters, one by one, and made up the alphabet.
- A more detailed account of these charitable donatioM
and benelhctians will be found in a pamphlet of 31 psji«> printed by order of the court, in isig, and given to escli liveryman.
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