Page:Memoirs of a Trait in the Character of George III.djvu/310

NO. 10. pauperis to hold out the sportula (or dole basket) for the reception of all new works, having a few lines of letter-press; and, like the sturdy beggar in Gil Blas, making no distinction between authors and artists, put all parties in bodily peril on non-compliance? That so glaring an impediment to the progress of what are emphatically called the polite arts, should be found in the seats of classic lore, and where (at Cambridge) a statue of Ceres is shown, believed to be the same described by Pausanias, argues less the predominance of a real interest and good taste, than an awkward affectation in these "halls of grey renown."—The literati we have brought forward are probably shy of claiming fellowship with their brethren at Aberdeen, whose degraded spirit, which disposed them to pocket the best price to be got for a gift they could not enjoy—a present never designed for an article of traffic, gave occasion for some remarks from the Bishop of London (in Parliament) on the absurd and unequal pressure of this impost 'Eleven copies,' said his Lordship, 'were to be given, whether a work was worth one guinea or ten; so that a publisher who printed one thousand copies of a work which sold for one guinea, had to pay only eleven guineas out of one thousand; whereas another who might publish only one hundred copies of a work worth ten guineas, had to pay a tax of one hundred and ten guineas, out of the same sum of one thousand.' The distinguished Prelate also stated that he considered the sum (£500) intended to be paid to the College of Aberdeen, to be too great, as he knew that some of the Colleges would accept of £300 for relinquishing the right.