EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
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so far as my life and actions have been any way mixed with them; and I hope these characters of my learned brethren, Stc. will be of good nse, both for caution and pattern; for we may learn by their failings (where we see any,) to fortify ourselves against them, and, by the regularity of their condnct, to form our manners on the same model; so that, if we take it right, the reading of these characters is as good as living over again by proxy, for they furnish us with a set of maxims to steer by at anothers expense.*
Dunton is honoured with an incidental notice in the Duruiad, ii. 144; on which Waiburton remarks, that "he was an auction bookseller, and an abusive scribbler. He wrote Neck or Nothing, a violent satire on some ministers of state, a libel on the duke of Devonshire and the bishop of Peterborough," &c.f He was certainly a most Toluminous writer, as he seems to have had his pen always ready, and never to have been at a loss for a subject to exercise it upon. Though he generally put his name to what he wrote, it would be a difficult task to get together a com- plete collection of his various publications. As containing notices of many persons and things not to be found elsewhere, they certainly have their use; and his accounts are often entertain- ing. This dipper into a thousand books formed ten thousand projects, six hundred of which he appears to have thought he had completely methodized.^ His mind seemed to be like some tables, where the victuals have been ill-sorted, and worse dressed.
1733, March 15. Died, Tbohas Page, an eminent stationei§ on Tower Hill, London.
1733, April 24. Barbier, in the new edition of his Dictiotmaire da Anonymet, gives us an
- Nearly the whole of these characters are inserted in
this work, and, wherever possible, the date of the decease haa been added; a thing which Dunton never mentions.
t Dunton's Whipping-Post; or, a Satire upon every body. To wlilch is added, a Panegyrick on the most deserving Gentlemen and Ladies in the Three Kingdoms, &c. ato. Vol. i. To which is added The Uving Eltgri or, Dunton'a Letter to his few Creditors. With the Cliaracter of a Summer Friend. Also, The Secret BUtorjf q^ the Weeklf Writen, In a distinct challenge to each of them. Printed, and are to he sold by B. Bragg, at the Black Raven in Patemoster-row. i7oil.
t Dunton 's greatest project was Intended for the extir- pating of lewdness from London; a scheme highly credit- able to the schemer, had it been practicable. Armed with a constable's staff, and accompanied by a clerical com- panion, be sallied forth in the evening, and followed the wretched prostitutes home, or to a tavern, where every effort was used to win the erring fair to the paths of virtue; but these, he observes, were "perilous adventures," as the Cyprians exerted every art to lead him astray, in the height of his spiritual exhortations.
\ John Dunton also characterizes the following sta- tioners with whom he had dealings :—
Majob HATi.>r, stationer. He is the master of hlmsdf, ajui subdaea his passions to reason, and by this Inward victory, works his own peace i he is well skilled in military discipline, and born being a captain Is advanced to a miilor; he lies ever close witlUn himself, armed with wise resolution, and will not be discovered but by death or danger. Piety never looks so bright as when it shines iB ated; and M«)or Hatley holds it the noblest revenge tkat he might hurt, and doee not. I dealt with this military stationer for six years, but left him with flying colours to trade with ills honest servant.
Ma. Samdil Hooi, stationer. He 1* a tar llaer man than be knows of, for being one of extraordioary modesty he shews betto to an men than himself, and so much the
interesting account of a work written by the Abbe PhelipaQX, grrand vicar of the celebrated Bossuet, which, together with an edition of the Provineud Lettert of Pateai, and the first volume of Anecdotes on the ttate of the niigion of the Chinese, (all three printed at St Mene- hould, a small town of France,) were seized by the police in the house of the printer, Gabrid Daliege, on this day. The copies were confis- cated and burnt; and the printer and some of his workmen were consigned to the Bastile, and suffered an ignominious punishment.
1733, June 3. William Rayneb sentenced in the court of king's bench to pay a fine of £40, to be imprisoned for two years, and give security for his good behaviour for seven years, for publishing a libel intituled Sobin't Reign; or, Seven't the Main, consisting of several verses, printed under an hieioglvphical picture, prefixed to one of the volumes of the Craftsman.
1733. 7^ Rhode Itland Gazette, pyxUishei at Newport, North America.
1733. The Bee, by Eustace Budgell, which in its structure and contents, resembles more a magazine than the legitimate periodical essay. It continued weekly for about two years, and then, owing to a disagreement with the book- sellers relative to the mode of conductiBg it, the work suddenly dropped.
1734, Jan. 31. Dr. John Stbbnb, bishop of Clogher, in Ireland, gave, upon this day, jGlOOO to the university of Dublin, and jGSOO to the fellows, for the purpose of erecting a printing- office for their use, and furnishing it with types, presses, &c. Dr. Sterne had been dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin, in which he was succeeded by Dr. Jonathan Swift. The printing-office erected in Trinity college, is a singularly beautiful spe- cimen of the true Doric, and forms an appropriate termination to one of the principal walks. Mrs. Graisberry enjoys the office of university printer.
1734, July 10. In the court of common pleas a trial took place between James Jervaise, plain- tiff, and Alexander Blackwell, defendant, for exercising the art and trade of printing, not having served a regular apprenticeship thereto.
better to all men as less to himself. The air of his face is a little melancholy, but being very Just In his dealings, it always shines in his conscience; be walks according to the rules of virtue as the hours pass by the degrees of the sun, and being made of good hnmoor, his life is a per. petoal harmony; but why do I praise particnlar virtnes when be excels in all I or if those good qualities wlilch adorn his soul can admit of degrees, it is because his compassion is transcendent over tiie rest. He Is as kind a creditor as if nature had forgot to give Urn gall. I traded with him for many years, and can say from my own experience, none can be more plrifnl to the distressed or more prone to succour the unfortunate } and then roost where is least means to solicit, least possibility of requital.
Ma. LiTTLiBuav, stationer, in Newgate-street I also traded, by chance, with Mr. littlebary. He is a man of composed and serious countenance, not set nor much alterable with sadness or Joy. His life Is distinct and in method, and his actions, as it were, cast op beforehand. '* Yet he uses this world as not abasing it," and one would think by his forgetting to dun a debtor that he traded for ready money; and the same diaracter flts so nicely to CiaU the stationer, brother to the bookseller of that name, that yoa would not know one from the other save by their difllnent phiz.
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