NINETEENTH CENTURY.
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esteemed for punctuality, intelligence, and accn- racy. He finally quitted the printing business in the year 1820, when he had obtained an estimable character in public life, and had amassed a considerable fortune by some suc- cessful speculations, which were conducted on such liberal principles as added not more to his wealth than to the esteem in which he was held by all who knew him. Residing, as he had, during almost the whole of his life, in the ward of Farringdon- within, and becoming gradually, by his amiable and generous temper, more iBtimately known to the inhabitantsof the ward, he was, in 1800, elected one of their representa- tives in the common council, afterwards became one of their deputies, (for this ward has two) and on the death of Thomas Smith, esq. was elected alderman, May 1, 1823. In the election of him for sheriff, in 1825, by the livery at large, the same indications of unanimous esteem were evinced which had attended him on his former elections. On his retirement from the shrievalty he continued to perform the duties of alderman, in conjunction with his brethren, and with an assiduity and energy which more and more en- deared him to his constituents. On Nov. 9, 1829, he entered on bis mayoralty with the happiest auspices, and, when health permitted, received the visits of his fellow magistrates and fellow citizens with an hospitality which has rarely been equalled, and perhaps never excelled. In the middle of September his health became slowly but seriously affected, and it was sup- posed that the rapid decline of his health was occiisioned by the well known events which took place just before the close of his mayoralty, but this was a mistake. Of these events he knew litde, or thought less. On Tuesday, Nov. 9, he was removed in a very feeble state to his house at Hamersmith, where he lingered till Dec. 2, when he quieUy departed this life,aged seventy- four years, and his remains were interred in the parish church of Christchurch, Newgate-street, with the honour due to his rank and character.
Mr. aldennan Crowder's character was one of those which we have often heard recommended as a pattern to young men of business ; it may be comprised in two vioTis,induttfy and integrity. Both distinguished him while in trade, and both he carried with him into public life. To the poor indeed he had in all stations in life been a generous benefactor ; and it is stated, upon the best authority, that during his mayoralty he did not expend less than iClOOO in charitable purposes. Mrs. Crowder died in Nov. 182.3.*
1830. At the custom house, London, there was duly levied of £2,200 on rags ;t £) ,'100 on a superior paper necessary to artists ; £1,600 on pnnts and drawings ; £ 1 1 ,000 upon books ; and £701,000 upon paper.
- June* Peshlier Crowder, esq. died at his hoase at
Stockwell common, two days before his brother.
t The raga of England do not furnish a fifth part of what we consume in the mannfactore of paper. France, Holland , and Belgium prohibit, under severe penaltlee, the export- ation of rags, because they require them for their own long established manufactories. Spain and Portui^al also
1830. James Donaldson, printer and pro- prietor of the Edinburgh Advertiser, left to six trustees the sum of £340,000, for the purpose of endowing an hospital for boys, to Do called " Donaldson's Hospital."*— flen<ier»on.
1830. The number of newspapers transmitted through the general post-office was 12,962,000.
1830. The TewkeAwry Yearly Register and Magazine, 8vo. edited by Mr. Bennett, book- seller, at Tewkesbury, in Worcestershire, which appears to have been the first yearly magazine ever published.
1830, Aug. The Sunderland Herald, printed at Sunderland, in the county of Durham.
1830. The Independent, (Australia) instituted by Mr. S. Dowsett.
1831, Jan. I. Died, Charles Heatb, printer and bookseller, at Monmouth, aged sixty-nine years. He twice served the office of mayor of that corporation. In 1793, Mr. Heath pub- lished a Descriptive Account of Piercefield ofui Chepstow ; in 1814, a History of Monmouth; and in 1806, an Account of Ttntem Abbey, and Ragland Castle.
1831, Jan. 31. A meeting was held at the city of London literary and scientific institution, to take measures for tbe removal of the restric- tions of the press. Dr. Birkbeck presided. It was stated, that in America, where there is no tax upon newspapers, 1,456,416 advertisements were inserted in eight newspapers published in New York ; whilst in four hundred newspapers, published in England and Ireland, the number within the same period, was only 100,000. In the twelve daily newspapers at New York, there were more advertisements than in all the news- papers of England and Ireland. Joseph Hume, esq. stated that, in Great Britain, in a single year, £1,000,000 was raised by taxes upon we materials of books and publications. The duty on stamps amounted to £666,000 ; of which was levied £840,000 upon newspapers ; £30,000 upon almanacks ; £1,000 upon pamphlets ; and £153,000 upon advertisements.
prohibit their exportation. Italy and Germany famish the principal snppUes of linen rags, both to Great Britain and the United States. Many experiments have been made upon substances proposed as substitutes for rags in the manufacture of paper. The bark of the willow, the beech, the aspen, the hawthorn, and the lime have been made into tolerable paper ; the tendrils of the vine, and the stalks of the nettle, the mallow, and the thistle, have been used for a similar purpose ; the bindof our own bops, it is affirmed, will produce paper enough fur the use or England , and several pateiits have been granted for making paper of straw.
- Dr.Dibdin, inhlsATorfAn-n Tour, 3 vols. svo. I83S,ina
very vague and unsatisfactory manner says, " Donaldson^s hospital, about to be erected in Edinburgh, and .^£'43,000 was to be devoted to the erection, it is stated for the sup- port of this hospital, is supposed to amount to .^300,000. The founder was B.printer and publisher, where, or rather when," is all that Dr. I)ibdin informs us, though upon the spott for the rery purpose, we should suppose, to have obtained every particular of the where and the when of tills praiseworthy typographer, who left such a vast sum for the education of the poor. We lament, very sincerely, thatwecannot ourselves give more information upon the subject, than that James Donaldson, esq. died at Brough- ton-hidl, near Edinburgh, October 19th, 1830, though we have searched every book likely to afford us any account of the life of Mr. Donaldson. Kay, in his Edinburgk Porlraitu, slightly alludes to him.
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