Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/51

 11 S. X. JULY 18, 1914.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

45

It is interesting to remark that the "second edition, corrected," varies from the first edition, pp. 59-62, by two lines of type. This variation is caused by the insertion of a foot-note in the second edition on p. 59 : " In justice to the author, it is mentioned that these anecdotes are by another person." It was evidently Holcroft who added in ink in the Museum copy, " And, in justice to myself, they by no means agree with my own private opinion of Lord George Gordon. T. H." . In the same hand there is written on the title-page " The Anecdotes by I. Perry," after the word " Tower," and "Thomas Holcroft" beneath the printed pseudonym " William Vincent " ; and on the last page of the Appendix the catchword " Adver " is crossed out, and there is filled in, still by the same hand, " Finis. The Advertisement follows the Title-Page ' ' which indicates the fact of binding.

I may add that the printing of the correc- tive letter may possibly indicate a second issue of the second edition. If the type could be tampered with to such an extent as to insert (A), (B), (C), &c., as references to notes, between the printing of the first and second editions, why could not the simple change have been made on p. 53 of the word Thursday to Wednesday, as the " Volunteer in the London Military Association of Foot " suggests ? May we assume that the Adver- tisement originally followed the words " total want of education " on this page of the Appendix, as it could easily have done, in the second edition, and further assume that the extra leaf at the end did not appear in the real second edition ? May we assume that this letter from " A Volunteer," &c., was received after some, possibly all, of the " second edition " was printed, and that it was put in where it now stands in the " second edition, corrected," and that the Advertisement was then pushed further on to be added as a separate leaf ? The placing of a single leaf at the beginning and the end would not be a usual proceeding. Each of these single leaves is in the " second edition, corrected," each is printed on one side only ; and an argument that the pub- lisher would not have planned two single leaves attached in this way, and that they were later added as a corrective measure, may be hypothetically answered by saying that this very fact of being printed on one side only is an indication of forethought, and shows that this kind of make-up for the book was premeditated. Or may we assume as I should like to do, but think scarcely warrantable that there were a " first

edition," and a " second edition," and that there was then a " second edition, cor- rected," basing our assumption on the reading "second edition, corrected," and not " second, corrected edition " ?

I cannot explain the reference to a " third edition, London, 1780," in the 1908 edition of the ' New International Encyclopaedia ' (9: 45). To me the statement seems un- founded.

1781. " The Trial of the Hon. George Gordon, Commonly called Lord George Gordon, for High-Treason, at the Bar of the Court of King's Bench, On Monday, the 5th of February, 1781. Before The Right Hon. Earl Mansfield, Chief Justice ; Edward Willes, Esq. Sir William Henry Ashhurst, Knt. and Francis Buller, Esq. Containing, Not only the Evidence on both Sides but an Account of the Manner of conducting the Trial ; the Arguments of Counsel ; the contested Points in Law, &c. Also the speech of the Attorney-General ; Mr. Kenyon, the Solicitor-General, and Mr. Erskine. Taken in short-hand By William Vincent, Esq ; of Gray's-Inn. London : Printed for Fielding and Walker, No. 20, Pater-noster-row. MDCCLXXXI. [Price one shilling and six-pence. 1 [Entered at Stationers-Hall.]" Octavo, 4 + 3- 81 pp.

I have not seen this item previously attributed to Holcroft. At the present time I have not seen a copy in any library collection. The only notice of its publica- tion is a single line in the March, 1781, London Magazine (50: 143). My own copy was secured by mere chance through a perusal of a second-hand bookseller's cata- logue and for the charming price of 3s. The Monthly Review editor, March, 1781 (64: 234), speaks of " several different publi- cations," but has " seen only Mr. Gurney's."

The connexion between this pamphlet and that which immediately precedes it in my Bibliography is perfectly obvious. I have been able to learn of no other person writing under the pseudonym of William Vincent of Gray's Inn. The two pamphlets are issued by the same publishers, have the same pseudonym, and concern the same events. The ' Advertisement ' to this second one contains a reference to, and a recom- mendation of, ' Vincent's Plain and Succinct Narrative of the late Riots.' In the ' Memoirs ' by Hazlitt (pp. 98-9) we find :

" He was employed by them [the booksellers] to write a pamphlet, under the name of Wm.. Vincent, Esq. of Gray's Inn, containing an account of the riots in 1780. For this purpose he had attended the trials at the Old Bailey, where he was the means of saving the life of an innocent man, who was brought there as a prisoner. I have heard Mr. Holcroft mention this circumstance, with tears of pleasure at the recollection."