EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
6Qr
The title Connoiueur, now generally appropri- ated to a judge of the fine arts, was, by Messrs. Colman and Thornton, employed in the sense of a critic on the manners and minor morals of mankind ; and to this acceptation of the term the motto which they have chosen pointedly alludes, and is still further opened by the subsequent paraphrase as given in their first number.
Nod de rlllia domibosre alienU, Ncc male necne Lepos aaltet : aed quad magis ad dob Pertlnet, et nesdre malam est, agitamus. — Hoa.
Who better knows to btilld, or who to danoe.
Or this from Italy, or that from Franet,
Onr CoNNoisMva will ne'er pretend to scan,
Bot point Uie follies of manlclnd to man ;
Th' iraportant luowledge, of onnelre* explain ;
Which not to luow all knowledge is bat vain.
1754, Feb. 16. Died, Dr. Richard Mead, a physician of great eminence, and a most generous patron of learning and learned men in all sciences and in every country ; by the pecu- liar magnificence of his disposition, making the private gains of his profession answer the end of a princely fortune, and valuing them only as (bcY enabled him to become more extensively useful, and thereby to satisfy that greatness of mind which will transmit his name to posterity with a lustre not inferior to that which attends the most distinguished character of antiquity. His large and spacious house in Great Ormond-street, be- came a repository of all that was curious in nature, or in art; to which his extensive cor- respondence with the learned men in all parts of Europe not a little contributed. No foreigner of any learning, taste, or eveu curiosity, ever came to England without being introduced to Dr. Mead. The clergy, and in general all men of learning, were welcome to his advice ; and hfs doors were open every morning to the indigent, whom be frequently assisted with money ; so that, notwithstanding his great gains, he did not die very rich. During almost half a century he was at the head of his profession ; which brought him in one year upwaitis of £7000, and between ^£6000 and £6000 for several years. He built a gallery for his favourite furniture, his pictures, and his antiquities. His library consisted of 10,000 volumes, and with the prints, drawings, gems, bronzes, busts, and antiquities, produced the following sums at the sale of his effects :
The books sold for ^6518 10 11
Medals 1977 17
Antiques 8S46 19 t
Pictures S4I7 II
Prints. igte u
^IMD} 8 II
The sale began Nov. 18, 1754, and ended Feb. 19, 1755. It is remarkable that many of bis books sold for much more than he gave for them.* His pictures produced about £600 more than they had cost him. Dr. Mead was twice
- The following; letter, written by Boiace Walpole, will
serve to explain why, in some cases, at public sales, a book ^r^ produce a price far beyond its value, without any sufficient reason being apparent at the time.
- I cannot conclude my letter without telling you, what
an escape I had, at the sale of Dr. Mead's library, which
married. By his first lady he had ten children of whom three survived him. By the second lady, he had no issue. Seven days after the wond was deprived of this eminent physician, he was buried in the Temple church, near his bro^ ther Richard, a counsellor at law. To Dr. Mead there is no monument in the Temple ; but an honorary one was placed by his son in Uie north aisle of Westminster abbey. He was born at Stepney, August 11, 1673.
1754, March 2. The Manchester Journal, No. 1, printed by J. Scholfield and M. TumbiUl, at their printing-office, down the Fountain-court, at the backside of the exchange ; and published at their shop in Deanssate, every Saturday mom- ing. No price aflixed. Discontinued in 1756.
1754, March 30. The duke of Dorset, lord lieutenant of Ireland, issued a proclamation offer- ing a reward of £500 for the author, and £200 for the printer, for publishing a libel upon the government.
1754,Sept. The Enlertainer,No. l,by Charle* Mercury, esq. To be continued every Tuesday, price three halfpence ; published by Mr. Mechefl.
1754,Or(.8. Died, Henry Fielding, author of the novels of Tom Jones, Amelia, and Joseph Andrews,v,hose extraordinary powers in fictitious narrative " unveiled to the public a vein of hu- mour and invention, and a facility and truth in the delineation of character, which rivalled the happiest effusions of Cervantes and Addison." He was born at Sharpham park, near Glaston- bury, in Somersetshire, April 22, 1707. After a classical education at Eton college, he was sent to study the civil law at Leyden, but owing to his pecuniary affairs he returned to England, at the end of two years. Being thus unfortunately circumstanced, Henry Fielding aggravated the evils of poverty by a strong propensity to extra- vagance and dissipation. Though under age, he found himself his own master, in London, where the temptations to pleasure were numerous, and the means of gratification easily attained. The brilliancy of his talents soon brought him into request with men of taste and literature ; but it was not to men of taste and literature only that his acquaintance was confined. He united with the voluptuous, as well as with the learned and the witty, and plunged into excesses, the bad effects or which accompanied him the remainder of his life. To supply a fund for his indulgences ; he became at the early age of twenty a writer for the stage -, and altogether produced not less than twenty-six comedies and farces, few of which are
goes extremely dear. In the catalogue I saw IFtutailqr's Finot of Audlff End, which I concluded was a thin dmy fcdlo, worth about flfteen shUllngs. As I thought it might be scarce, it might run to two ortlnce guineas i however, I bid Otaham eertainig buy it for me. He came the next moining in a great fHght— said be did not know, whether he bad done right or very wrong, — that he had gone as far as nine and forty guxnau. I started in such a fright I Another booksellet had, luckily, as unlimited a commission, and bid fifty, when my Graham begged it might be ad- journed, till they could consult their principals. I think I shall never give an unbounded commission again, even tas Vitws tf la Bodkers /—Adieu,
"Yours ever,
" HoaAcs WAirou."
VjOOQ IC
