Page:A history of booksellers, the old and the new.djvu/177

143 CONSTABLE, C A DELL, AND BLACK. 143 family in a style superior to that of a common labourer. At one time, during the progress of the work, he lived at the village of Duddingston, in the house of a washer^ woman, whose tub inverted formed the only desk at his disposal, and one of his children was frequently despatched with a parcel of " copy " upon which their next meal depended. This second edition consisted of 1500 copies, and extended to ten volumes quarto. The third edition, to which Tytler also contributed, was commenced in 1789. Till then it had been considered in the south as " a Scots rival of little repute " (to Chambers's Cyclopcedia), but in this edition, beside the method and comprehensiveness of the plan, it rose greatly above its former level in its practical and speculative departments. It was completed in 1797, in eighteen volumes, to which Professor Robison supplied two supplementary volumes to complete the series he had commenced when the principal work was far ad- vanced. The sale of this edition extended to ten thousand copies, and the proprietors are said to have netted 42,000 of clear profit, besides being paid for their respective work the one as printer, the other as engraver. Much of this, of course, was due to poor Tytler's labours, who was still living in the utmost penury. He was, however, perfectly regardless about poverty, having no desire to conceal it from the world. He would finish his frugal meal of a cold potato before the eyes of a stranger with as much nonchalance as if it had been a sumptuous repast. He had that contentment with poverty which is so apt to make it permanent, and this, in addition to his imprudent and intemperate habits, cut off all chance of a higher social position. As a proof of his extra*