Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/410

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [iis.x. NOV. 21,1914.


York : published by David Longworth. At the Dramatic Repository. Shakespeare Gal- lery. Jan., 1819," 12mo, 4+6-92 pp., in the New York Public Library ; and "*' Modern Standard Drama, edited by Epes Sargeant, No. 49, New York, Baltimore," n.d. Tn a "New York: D. Longworth, 1807," edition of ' The Lady of the Rock,' and in a similar edition of Tobin's ' Honeymoon,' are advertisements of ' The Road to Ruin,' indicating an edition from the Longworth liouse dated earlier than 1819, as above. I have located but four translations :

"*' Giite Rettet. Ein Lustspiel in fiinf Anziigen, nach dem Road to Ruin von Holcroft frei bearbeitet vom Verfasser des Heimlichen Gerichts [i.e. F. Huber], Leipzig, 1793," -which is vol. Ixviii. of " Deutsche Schau- "btihne. Augsburg, 1788-1802," in the Brit- ish Museum (1174 S. aa-aaa) ;

"Leichtsinn und kindliche Liebe oder der Weg zum Verderben. Berlin, 1794," octavo,

which is referred to by J. D. Reuss, ' Register of Living Authors,' Berlin, 1804 (1 : 490) ;

" Dprnton, of de juigdige losheid en uitspoorige kinderliefde. Tooneelspel. in vyf bedryven. Naar het Engelsh van Holcroft," -which is in vol. iv., pp. 1-218, under the lialf -title ' Nieuwe Spectatoriaale Schouw- T)urg,' of the following edition : '" Spectatoriaale Schouwburg, behelzende eene verzameling der beste zedelyke tooneelstukken, byeen gebragt uit alle de verscheiden Taalen van Europa. Vier-en-twintigste deel. Te Am- sterdam. By d'Erven P. Meijer en G. Warnars, 1794,"

in the New York Public Library ; and

"" Det Kongelige Theaters Repertoire Forste deel. Veien til Odeloeggelse. (Dornton) Comedie i fern Acte of Holcroft. Kjobenhavn, 1828. TJdgivet af Ferdinand Prinzlau trukt hos Directeur Jens Hostrup Schulz, Kongelig og Universitets-Bogtrukker." 1-34 pp.

This is the best known of Holcroft's pieces, -and I believe I have not secured as yet all the bibliographical data concerning it. Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.


1792. "Anna St. Ives : a novel. By Thomas

Holcroft. London : Printed for Shepperson

and Reynolds, No. 137, Oxford Street, 1792."

Duodecimo. I., 2 + 1-210; II., 2 + 1-227;

III., 2 + 1-240 ; IV., 2+1-239 ; V., 2 + 1-237 ;

VI., 2 + 1-234; VII., 2 + 1-260.

There seems scarce need for discussion of

this work. Every record which I have found

coincides with the above data. It was

announced in the February, 1792, number of

The Universal Magazine (90: 159), the same

month as part ii. of Paine's ' Rights of Man,'

and criticized in The Monthly Review for

June, 1792 (8; 151).


1793. During this year Holcroft con- tributed ('Memoirs,' p. 163) a review of Godwin's ' Political Justice ' to The Monthly Review ; the instalments of the critique appeared in the March (10: 311), April (10: 435), and June (11: 187) numbers.

We read (' Jeffrey's Literary Criticism,' ed. D. Nichol Smith. London : Henry Frowtle, 1910, p. ix) : " The manuscript notes by Ralph Griffiths, the publisher and editor of The Monthly Review, in his private copy, now in the Bodleian Library, enable us to obtain a complete list of Jeffrey's contribu- tions." With the help of these same manu- script notes, I hope soon to obtain a complete list of Holcroft's contributions. Would that some soul could unearth similarly annotated copies of The Wit's Magazine, The Town and Country Magazine. The British Review, and the other periodicals !


1794. [Preface to some book published by Symonds, written between 1 Oct. and 1 Dec., 1794.]

In Holeroft's diary, under the date of 28 Nov., 1798 (' Memoirs,' pp. 205-6), we find the following :

" Called to settle with S , reminded him

that the preface I wrote, and the proof I read for him, while a prisoner with him in Newgate, had I charged them, if charged at twelve guineas, would not have been more than a third of the value of my time, yet I charged nothing, nor should, unless he contested a fair account. This induced him immediately to allow the balance due on the sale of my books."

That this S stands for H. D. Symonds,

the publisher of No. 20, Paternoster Row, is made evident by an entry in the diary four days earlier (' Memoirs,' p. 204) :

" Walked to S 's, Paternoster Row, for the

account between us, which he sent in the evening, wishing me to ded\ict seventy-six of the Narrative and twelve of the Letter to Windham, which he pretends to have been lost by the binder, and since the last settling, during which period the account shows three sold."

Symonds had been committed to Newgate on the same indictment for treason as Hol- croft (cf. ' Annual Register,' 1794, p. 268), and was mentioned in the ' Narrative of Facts ' (p. 56). He was publisher of the 'Narrative of Facts' (1795) and of the 'Letter to William Windham ' (1795). The preface written and the proof corrected while in Newgate could not have been preface to or proof of either of these books, which deal with events subsequent to their departure from prison. And, then, no author could have demanded twelve guineas for writing the preface and correcting proofs