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 EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

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reached forty numbers, expired Feb. 16, 1714. In the same year it was republished in one vol. under the title of the Lay Monastery, and passed through a second edition in 1727. Sir Richard Blackmore was assisted by Mr. Hughes, who wrote all the Friday papers.

1713, Dec. 14. Died, Thomas Rymer, a celebrated antiquary, and historiographer to king William III. It was in the councils of this king that it was first determined to print authori- tatively the public conventions of Great Britain with other powers. The first volume, commenc- ing with the documents of the year 1201, was published in 1704. This valuable collection of the Foedera,* in twenty volumes, continued from the death of Rymer, by Mr. Sanderson, will be a lasting monument of his industry and abilities. It was abridged by Mr. Rapin, m French, in Le Clerc's BMiothique, and a translation of it by Stephen Whatley, was printed in four volumes 8vo. 1731. It is a lamentable fact that Mr. Rymer was compelled to sell his library to sup- port himself. — ^Peter Le Neve, in a letter to the earl of Oxford, says, "I am desired by Mr. Rymer, historiographer, to lay before your lord- ship the circumstances of his affairs. — He was forced some years back to part with all his choice printed books, to subsist himself; and now, he says, he must be forced, for subsistence, to sell all his manuscript collections tu the best bidder, without your lordship will be pleased to buy them for the queen's library. There are fifty volumes in folio, of public affairs, which he has collected but not printed. The price he asks is jC600." These manuscripts have since been placed in the British museum, and form no inconsiderable addition to that invaluable reposi- tory of legal and antiquarian knowledge. He was bom in the north of England, and educated at the grammar school, at Northallerton, in York- shire, from whence he went to Sidney college, Cambrige. On quitting the university, he be- came a member of Gray's-Inn; and succeeded Mr. Shadwell as historiographer to king William III. He also became an early member of the society of antiquaries.f

In the compilation of the Fadera, Rymer's first warrant was signed " Marie R." (the king being then in Flanders), empowering him to

Bowyer*fl fire, the fifteenth volume of this work was destroyed } and so violent were the fiames, that immense torrents of melted types poured down from the upper rooms in all directions. I have a smaU lump of metal, dog out of the ruins; which, by haTinz been compressed between two solid substances, ezhibitmg on its opposite ■ides an impression of a few lines of tUs volome of Rymer in creux and rtlievo. — See Rawe Jlfore*fl Diuerta- tion on T]fpogrt^Mcttl FoundcrM.
 * Among the many valuable works consumed at Mr.

t The society of antiquaries may be traced to the time of SUzabeth, when archbishops Parker and Whitglft laid the foundation of the study of antiquities in this country. But the times were not suffldently favonrable to keep it alive firom the sixteenth to the beginning of the eighteenth century, when it was revived with the greatest lustre, by many of the greatest names in that walk of literature \ and under royal protection, it has maintained some degree of eminence. The charter of Incorporation of the present society is dated November, I7>l. They hold their anni- versary meeting oo St. George's day.

search the public offices for this ludertaking, is dated Aug. 26, 1693; was renewed by king Wil- liam, April 12, 1694; and again by queen Anne, May 3, 1707, when Mr. Sanderson was joined to him in his undertaking. Rymer wrote Edgar, or the Englith Monarch, an heroic tragedy, 1678; several poems and translations; and A View of the Tragedies of the last Age, which occasioned those admirable remarks preserved in the preface to Mr. Colman's edition of Beau- mont and Fletcher, and since by Dr. Johnson, in his Life of Dryden.

1714, Jan. II. A proclamation was issued ofi'ering a reward of £1000 to any person who should discover the author, and iCdOO for the printer of a pamphlet entitled English advice to the Freeholders of England. Bishop Atterbury was suspected of being the author; though Mr. Hornby, a barrister, was taken into custody.

1714. The earliest known work printed in Nottingham, bears for title Inn-Play, or the Cornish-Hug Wrestler, 4to. By Sir Thomas Parkyns.* Printed by William Ayscough, on the west side of Bridlesmith-gate. Mr. Ays- cough was remarkable, says Deering, in his History of Nottingham, for having first estab- lished the art of printing in that town about the year 1710. Mr. Avscough being unfortunate in business, he retired, about 1716, to Bramcote, where he died, and was buried in St. Peter's church, in Nottingham. In the south aisle, upon a tombstone, is the following inscription :

Here lies the bodies of wnUam Ayscough, printer and bookseller of this town, and Anne his wife. She was the daughter of the Rev. Mr. Young, rector of Catwick, in the county of York. He died March 2, 1719. She died Dec.

lO, 1733.

1714. James Blow first practised the art of printing in Belfast, where he printed the works of sir David Lindsay, a Bible, Prayer Book, Psalms in metre, and twenty or thirty other books.

1714. The Rev. Hilkiah Bedford was tried in the cotut of king's bench, and fined one thousand marks, and to be imprisoned three years, for writing, printing, and publishing the Hereditary Right of the Croum of England asserted, mlio; the real author of which was the Rev. George Harbin, a nonjuring clergyman. Mr. Bedford, though not the author of the book, submitted to be uiought so, from zeal to the cause, and for affection to the real author. Besides the Latin Life of Dr. Barwich, which he afterwards translated into English, Mr. Bedford published a ftanslation of Fontenelle's History of Oracles.

He died at London, Oct. 26, 1724, and was buried in the church-yard of St. Margaret's, Westminster. He was descended from Hilkiah Bedford, of Sibsey, in Lincolnshire, a quaker, who went to London, and settled there as a stationer between the years 1600 and 1626.

hamshire, Feb. D), 1741. He was founder of the present noble house of RanclUTe.
 * Sir Thomas Parkyns, bait, died at Bunny, Notting-

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