Page:A dictionary of printers and printing.djvu/748

 EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

739

i^'icerimus Knox, D.D., first appeared anony- Donsly in this year, in a small volume octavo, .nd, meeting with a favourable reception, were oon republished with the addition of a second olnme, and with the affixture of the author's tame. Few productions have been more popu-

lar, or more deservedly so, than these instructive essays. The subjects on which Dr. Knox has expatiated in these essays, are numerous and well chosen ; and they uniformly possess a direct tendency eidier to improve the bead or amend the heart. The style is elegant and perspicuous,

. zealous promoter of the reformation of manoera j and or m^ good frieod Eliphal, his whole life ia hat a practice / pUlfi or rather a passa^ to a better. We also And a fngnlurity In hi» name; for there are oolj two booksellers if it in the whole world ; namelr. EUpbal Jay, in London, j)d EUphal Dobeon, In Dublin.

Mr. Kbttlsbt, St. Paul's Chnrch-Tard.— His sign la ' The Bishop's Head," and indeed he is pretty wumly isposed that way. He has been an eminent episcopal lookseller these many years. He prints for Dr. Sharp, jchbishop of York, Dr. Scot, and other eminent clergy- oen.

Mr. LiNDSAT. — Many and conspicuous were the prog- lostics of a true piety that shined forth in the early dawn f his life. He understands religion, and loves it — and rhilst he was but an apprentice, was a great example of a onstaot unaOteted devotion. He was born to a good state, and having traded a few years, grew wary of print- Dg, and is gone torn country seat to prepare for heaven.

Mr. John LacaxNci. — An upright, honest bookseller. Ve were neighbours some yean, and partners in printing be late Lord Delamere't Works, Mackenzie's Narrative of he Siege of LoiUUmiart, and Mr. Baaier't Ufe, in folio, le has something in him that will not suffer lum to break is wold, which is altogether as good security and de- endence as his bond. When Farkhnrst dies, be will be lie first Presbyterian bookseller In England. He is so xact in trade as to mark down every book he sells. He t very much conversant in the sacred writings ; and son- Q-law to the late r«v. Mr. Roswel, so deservedly famous )r the defence he made at his trial in Westmloster-ball. pon which occasion the honourable sir Henry Ashurst, art., was his great and good friend.

Mr. .—His person was tall and slender: he had a graceful aspect (neither stern nor effeminate); his eyes were smiling and lively; his complexion was of an honey colour, and he breathed as if he had run a race, the figure and symmetry of his face exactly proportionable. He had a soft voice, and a very obliging tongue. He was of the sect of the Peripatetics, for he walked every week to Hampstead. He was very moderate in his eating, drinking, and sleeping; and was blest with a great memory, which he employed for the good of the publick, for he had the largest collection of stitched books of any man in the world, and could furnish the clergy (at a dead lift) with a printed sermon on any text or occasion. His death was a public loss, and will never be repaired, unless by his ingenious son-in-law, Mr. William Laycock, who, I hear, is making a general collection of stitched books; and, as Mr. Miller's stock was all put into his hands, perhaps he is the fittest man in London to perfect such a useful undertaking.

Mr. is Mr. Norris's bookseller; and so long as he can turn metaphysicks into money, he is like to be continued.

Mr., in Newgate-street.—He will be well used for his ready money, but where he loves is a friend both to soul and body.

Mr. .—He mldwifed several books into the world, aye! and that of his own conceiving, as sure as ever young Perking was his who owned him! He made a shew of a great trade, by continually sending out large parcels. But all I can say of his industry is, he took a great deal of pains to ruin himself. But though Mr. Malthus was very unfortunate, yet 1 hope his widow (our new publisher) will have all the encouragement the trade can give her; for she is not only a bookseller's widow, but a bookseller's daughter, and herself free from all that pride and arrogance that is found in the carriage of some publishers.

Mr. .—He is a bookseller in Cornhill, and should have been placed among his brethren, but being of low stature, I happened to overlook him, but for this mission he shall now have the honour to bring up the rear of the licencers, so that the bookseller I am now to characterize is Hugh Montgomery. He was born a Scotsman, and served his time with Auditor Bell. He neither undertakes nor talks much, but had his master refused the Athenian Oracle, he stood fair for the next offer, and I believe would have had the good luck to have bought it; he bid like a man for the Athenian Spy, and from the little

dealings I have had with him, I find his discourse neither light nor unseasonable, and such as neither calls his virtue nor his Judgment In question. He commends no man to his face, and censures no man behind his back (which is a quality he learned from his master Bell). Reneverspoks scornfnUy of his inferiors, nor vain-glorionsly of himself. He does nothing merely for gain, and thinks not any thing in this life worthy of the loss of the next. While some of his neighbours compass sea and land to get an estate, he thinks contentment the greatest wealth, and covetousneas the greatest poverty ; and if he has not so much as others (though he thrives apace), yet be thinks how many are happy with leas. He never thinks iU of an estate because another's is better, or that he has not enough because another has more ; for he measures his plenty by his condition and rank, and not by another's abundance, and is a little man that (like aged littlebnry, grare Scot, honest Strahan, and witty Chantry,) is always for doing the fail thing. I shaU orily add, he so highly obliged me, by his great fidelity in conceding a secret I committed to him, &at to requite his kindness, 1 have pre- fixed his name to this Idea of a New Life, and have entrusted him with the sale of the whole impiesslon.

Mr. NowxL is a first-rate bookseller In Duck-lane : has a well furnished shop, and knows books extraordinary well, which he will sell off as reasonably as any man. I have always reckoned him among our ingenious book- sellers.

Mr. NxwTON is full of kindness and good nature. He is afihble and courteous in trade, and is none of those men of forty whose religion Is yet to chuse; for his mind (like his looks) is serious and grave ; and his neighbours tell me "his understanding does not improve too fast for his practice, for he is not religious by start and sally, but Is well fixed in the faith andpractice of a chnrch-of-Englanil- man — and has a handsome wife Into the bargain."

Mr. Philips. — He is a grave, modest bachelor, and It Is said is married to a single life, which I wonder at, for, doubtless, nature meant him a conqueror over all hearts when she gave him such sense and such piety. His living so long a bachelor shows his refined nature, and so mu(£ he loves mortlfieation in himself and others. And who- ever considers the many olKrs he had of marriage, will be ready to think be has so much chastity as scarce to sin In deslie.

Mr. Pool, near the Royal Exchange. He is a little fellow, but is a man of great spirit, by which we see a brave soul may be lodged in a small tenement. His rell* gion is all of a piece, he is Just as well as devout; and is so stiff In his way of worship (which is that of the church of England) tliat he wOl scarce consent that the least pin of the episcopal building should be taken out, for fear the whole &bric should be dissolved.

Mr. Paao.— My attempting his character will be to his prejudice, for sir F — would not chuse an ordinary man for his bookseller. For sense, wit, and good humour there are but few can equal, and none that exceed blm : and all these qnaUtiesaie accompanied with great humility. Mr. Pitts.— He was an honest man every inch and

thought fX. him ; and bad his AtUa succeeded, or JH b

been a stranger to him, bad died worth twenty thousand pounds ; and It could not have fell into better hands, for he took as mudi delight In doing of good, as if he had no other errand in the world. He had fathomed the vast body of leamino, and in every several parts of it was master ; nor did his conversation alone relish of his learn- ing and piety ; for, daring the wnfortyMaie part of his Ufe he wrote the Cry of the Oppreaed ; An Jngemoue Die- coune of Fairia ; and almost completed A Catalogue of EngliMh Writere ; after the method df Crow's catalogue. His wit and virtues were writ legibly in his face, and he had a grait deal of sweetness in his natural temper. Mr. Pitts lutd a great honour for Dr. Annesley (though himself a churchman), and told me, that in his greatest distress the doctor had been kind to him, and that he believed there was not a more generous man in the whole world.

Mr. Placi, near Furaival's-tnn. His face is of a claret complexion, but himself is a very sober, pious man. He is very just in his dealings, and has stadied the whole duty of every relation ; so that his example spreads, and recommends the practice of Christianity.

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