878
HISTORY OF PRINTING.
to liquidate the fine,* pocket the excess, and laugh alike at the impotency of the court and the credulity of the public.
1820, June II. Died, Edward Humble, or Oumble, printer and bookseller, at Newcastle- upon-Tyne, and one of the proprietors of the County Durham Advertiser. He was in the sixty-seventh year of his age, and was highly respected by a large circle of acquaintance.
1820, Sept. Di^, Richasd SEDGWiCK.printer and bookseller, at Bradford, in Yorkshire, aged fifty-nine years, a man of the strictest integrity. He was brother to the rev. Mr. Sedgwick, vicar of Hirfield.
1820, Sept. Died, John Wheble, printer and bookseller, of Warwick-square, London, and for sixteen years a much respected representative of the ward of Farringdon within, in the court of common council of the city of London. He was';bom in the year 1746, at Gatcombe, in the Isle of Wight. In the year 1768 he was appren- ticed to his relative, Mr. Wilkie, the well-known bookseller and publisher in St. Paul's church- Tard. Early in life Mr. Wheble commenced Dusiness on his own account, but notwithstanding the steady and industrious exertions of ten or twelve years, his first attempt was not success- ful. During the term of this business, however, he was the publisher of the Middlesex Journal, a paper at that time in considerable repute, and which brought him into a political connexion with the opposition party of those days, and par- ticularly with Wilkes, itome, and others. This connexion with the opposition brought him into trouble, at the same time imparting to him the honour of having his name handed down to posterity, as, so to speak, being accessary, or having a considerable share in conferring a most important and lasting benefit on his country.f About the year 1780, and during the military arrangements in Hyde park, and on Wharley common, Mr. Wheble being out of the book- selling business, held a situation in the commis- sariat In consequence of the return of peace, be quitted the service, and had once more recourse to his original destination as a publisher. A few years after he commenced the CourUy Chronicle, which made so many profitable tours one hundred miles round London. He next, in conjunction with Mr. Harris, the worthy bookseller, in St. Paul's church-yard, and one or two other indi- viduals, projected the Sporting Magazine, which after a while met with very considerable success. A distinguishing feature of this very amusing work, and that which contributed in an essen- tial degree to its success, was a steady adherence to a generous and just system of sporting ethics, marking the due discrimination between sport and cruelty; and advocating on all 'occasions the humane duty of justice and mercy to brute beasts. These, Mr. Wheble's last efforts, were deservedly crowned with success, and placed him towards the decline of his days in a state of
- The line wu not enforced,
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respectable independence. John Wheble iu^ be pronounced to be a man thoroughly indited to ao his duty in that state of life in which it had pleased God to call him. One trait in hischaoc- ter deserves to be particularly noticed. He «u always the encourager of meritorious yoatUgl exertions, and to him several respectable bdi- viduals owe their first introduction to the raid to prosperity. He was fond of society, utd t frank open-heartedness for which he wu dis- tinguished, always tendered him a pleasing coai- panion. His disposition was humane and chn- table. He died at Bromley, in Kent, in Im seventy-fifth year, leaving a widow and s long Ibt of friends to lament his loss.
1820, Oct. 23. — Davidson, aprinterinWea Smithfield, London, was sentenced, in the coait of king's bench, to two years' imprisonmeDt in Oakham jail, and afterwards to find security for his good behaviour, himself in £200, and t«o sureties in £20 each, for publishing No 9, of the Republican, and No. 1, of the Deisms Magatix.
1820, Oct. 31. Died, Willum Rawsox, printer and one of the proprietors of the fiWI, Advertiser, aged sixty-three years. He possessed a kind affectionate disposition, and was ler; much respected in his public and private life.
1820, Dec. 4. Died, Samuel RoussEiC, a learned printer, and nephew to the celebrated Jean Jacques Rousseau. He served his appiti- ticeship in the printing-office of Mr. Jolm Nichols, by whom he was occasionally empbjed in collecting epitaphs, and other remains of antiquity for the Gentleman's Magazine. He was a singular instance of patient perseTeraice in the acquirements of the ancient languages. Whilst working as an apprentice and jonnie;- man, he taught himself Ladn, Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Persian, and Arabic. To these acquire- ments he added a knowledge of the French, ud some of the modern tongues. He was for t short time master of Joy's charity school. Black- friars. A few years after the expiration of kis apprenticeship, he commenced printing on iw own account, in Leather-lane, Holboni, aid afterwards removed to Wood-street, Clerken- well, where he carried on business for some time, but with little advantage to himself and family, having from unforeseen circumstances and losses in trade been obliged to relinquish business. During the time he was a printer, he taught llie Persian language, and compiled and pubUshed several oriental works. After he relinqoisbed the printing business, he edited a variety of worla for the booksellers; but as a creditable support for himself and his family was bis ain), and not literary reputation, most of his woib appeared under a fictitious name. They hare, however, generally proved successful to the pub- lishers, as their objects were useful; and nothing ever appeared in them contrary to good noiah, or the established religion and government. About three years ago, he was seized with > paralytic stroke, which continued to increaK, and joined to a cancerotis affection in the f^> rendered him incapable of holding a pen, "
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