Page:A dictionary of printers and printing.djvu/684

 EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

87S

AnntUium Typographonm Tormu Quintut el vltimui; Indicem tn Tottuu quatuor prteeunta compUetms; divided (like the two preceding Tolumes) into two parts. The whole work, therefore, when properly bound, consists either of fire volumes, or of nine; and in nine volumes it was properly described in the catalogue of Dr. Askew, whose elegant copv was sold to Mr. Shaftoefor£lO 68.

1747, Sept. 9. Died, Thomas Ruddiman, Jan. principal manager of the Caledonian Mer- enry, to wluch office he had been appointed when James Grant* rushed into rebellion, in Novem- ber, 1745. During these unsettled limes the Caledonian Mercury\- was regarded with pecu- liar jealousy, and its circulation was much im- peded by the ruling powers in Scotland, even after the terrors of insurrection had ceased. For an unlucky paragraph, which had been copied £roman EngUsh newspaper, in significant italics, was young Ruddiman imprisoned, in December, 1746. The merit and solicitude of his father, obtained his discharge at the end of six weeks imprisonment. But the prisoner had contracted a disease in the tolbooth of Edinburgh, which brought him to his grave at the early age of tiiirty- three years. His father sought consolation from his piety, as he could find no reparation for this wrong which was done by the jealousy, rather than the injustice of power.

It was stated by Mr. Boswell, " that Ruddi- man's son attended the pretender in his marches with his printing-press, and printed his declara- tions; and that, being for this imprisoned, Mr. Ruddiman, by the advice of lord Acbinleck, applied for his discharge to Archibald duke of Ajgyle, by a letter, in which he called the late rebellion, the late inturgency, and by no persua- sion, could he be made to alterit." Let us examine, says Mr. Chalmers, this konat tale a little. The Ruddimans, indeed, may have printed the pre- tender's declarations, while his power was irre- sistible at Edinburgh, while a sergeant and a guard surrounded the printing-bouse. But, nei- ther the persons nor the press, for a moment attended the insurgents, who had no printer with them when they arrived at Olasgow. Thomas Ruddiman, the vounger, was imprisoned, as we hare seen, for adopting, at a subsequent period, a harmless sarcasm from an English newspaper.

From the death of his son, Mr. Ruddiman found it necessary to make a new arrangement of his typographical affairs, though it made little change in his usual habits. His daughter Alison, being her brother's executor and heir, became

Meratrp with Thoniai (ad Walter Rnddlmsn. Walterwu the cuhler, and Grant nndertookto collectthe foreign and domeatic intelligeoce, to attend the press, and pobllsh the p^ier, of which I40O were sold every week. On Nor. i, 174s, James Grant renonnced his part, and sacrificing liis nradence to his zeal. Joined the insiugents, and finally found his safety In France.
 * Jamct Qnnt had u eqaal ihare In the Caiedoman

t It was deemed prudent to publish the Meratrg anony. mously tiam Sept. 13, to Nov. 99, \^^i; yet Roddimandid not obtain impunity from Ills circumspection, and daring the calamltioas summer of I74J, he retired, from the dis- turbed scenes of Edinburgh, to the sequestered quiet of the country.

in this manner proprietor of his share of the printing-house which he had enjoyed since the 13th of Augnist, 1739. But her situation making the business of a printer an unsuitable property, she was thereby induced to convey her interest to her father. On May 16, 1748, Mr. Rnddi- man entered into "a contract of copartnery," with his brother Walter, " to carry on the printing business, and the newspaper, as formerly, share and share alike." Considering that tlus project might be advantageous to their posterity, they now settled the pnnting-house, and the Caledonian Mercury, aa their nearest and lawful heirs respectivelv, in lineal descent.*

1747, Jan. The Univerial Magazine, No. 1, published monthly, according to act of parlia- ment, by John Hinton, at the Kings's Arms, in St. Paul's church yard, London, price sixpence.

At this period, copious, pompous, and florid title-pages, though reprobated by Swift, ridiculed by Arbuthnot, and cautiously launched by every respectable author, had yet, in defiance to com- mon sense, obtained that kind of toleration that we often see given to things of far greater im- portance. And, it appeals, that, a oesire to re- press it, first gare Mr. Griffiths the idea of the Monthly Review; as he says, in his first adrer- tisement, " The abuse of title-pages is obviously come to such a pass, that few readers care to take in a book, any more than a servant without a character." This kind of titulair puffing, which, it is said, used to put Mr. John Barber so much out of temper, that he was ready to turn an author out of his shop if the frontispiece of his manuscript exceeded the bounds of moderation. The following title-page of the Universal Ma- ganne is a perfect advertisement, and afibrds a striking contrast to the brief and undescriptive titles which we so often see in modern works :

The VniBenal Magazine of Ktumtedgt ani Pleaiure; containing.—

News,

Letters,

Debates,

Poetry,

HoMc,

Biography,

History,

Geognyihy,

Voyages,

Crltfdsm,

lYanalatlons,

Fliilosophy,

Mathemaacs,

Husbandry,

Gardening,

Cookery,

Chemisby,

Mechanlcks,

Tnie,

Navlgatian,

Ardiitecture,

and other Arts and Sciences, which may render it Instruc- tive and Bntertaioing to Gentry, Merchants, Farmers, and Tradesmen; to whidfi occasionally will lie added an im. partial account of Books in several Languages, and of the State of Learning in Europe : also c7 the Stage, new Operas, Plays, and Oratoiios.

It ought to be remarked that this magazine was one of the earliest and most permanently successful rivals of the Gentleman^! Magazine, and, after extending to one hundred and twelve volumes, it seems to have been discontinued in 1803. In point of literary rank, — in minute researches, — and local illustrations, it never ap-

able fact: that a printing-house, and Its materials, did not descend to executors, as chattds, but to heirs, as inheri- tances. And, owing to this pMullarity in the laws of Scotland, the heirs of Andrew Anderson continued to be the king's printers tot upwards ofhical annals of Scotland, It is a remark,

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