666
HISTORY OF PRINTING.
to the price — haring, as he stated, only 1446 lines for fifty guineas, when he expected to have had at the rate of ldl8 lines for forty gfuineas ; adding that he had a better hargain with Juve- nal, which is reckoned not so easy to translate as Ovid. The value of Dryden's translations of the classics was so fiiUy impressed upon Tonson's mind, in consequence of the rapid sale of the six volumes of MUcellaniet, among which they had appeared, that he induced the poet to undertake a version of Virgil's Mneids and Georgia. Mr. Malone's industry has ascertained the terms on which this compact was to have been fulfilled. There were two classes of subscribers, the first of whom paid five guineas each, to adorn the work with engravings ; beneath each of which, in due and grateful remembrance, were blazoned the arms of a subscriber. This class amounted to one hundred and one persons. The second sub- scribers were two hundred and fifty in number, at two guineas each. But from these sums was to be deducted the expense of the engravings, though these were only the plates used for Ogil- by's Virgil, a little retouched. Besides the sub- scriptions, Dryden received from Tonson fifty pounds for each book of the Georgia and jEneid, and probably the same for the Pa$torali collec- tively. The price charged by Jacob for the copies delivered to subscribers, appears to have been exorbitant, and reduced the amount of Dryden's profits to about twelve or thirteen hundred pounds, a sum trifling, when compared with the remuneration received by Pope for his version of the Iliad, which was somewhere be- tween five and six thousands pounds. When Dryden's translations had advanced as far as the completion of the seventh ^neid, a little quarrel broke out between him and his publisher ; during which the poet charges Tonson with a view from the very beginning to deprive him of all profit — by the second subscriptions, alluding, of course, to the excessive price required by the bookseller for the volumes from the subscribers. By his success in trade, Tonson had acquired a sufficient sum to purchase an estate at Ledbuiy, in Hert- fordshire, where he died. In 1703, about forty noblemen and gentlemen formed the famous Kit-cat club,* purely from the design of distin- guishing themselves by an active zeal for the Protestant succession in the house of Hanover. Jacob Tonson was their secretary, and by virtue of that office, became possessed of the pictures of all the original members of that club.
Immortal made, aa Kit-cat bf his pies.
Jacob Tonson, however plain in his appear- ance, was certainly a worthy man,f and was not
- They met at a bonae in Shire-Une ; and took their title
from the name of ChriHopher Cat. a pastrf-cook, who ex- celled in malcins mutton-pies, which were retcolarly part of the entertainment. The portraits were painted by sir Qodfrer Kneller, on canvas somewhat largrer than a three quarters, and less than a half, length : a size which has ever since been denominated a Kit-cat (Tom this circum- stance. Sir Oodfrey Kneller died Oct. sfi, ITiS, aged 7S.
t Fbr Dnnton's character of Jacob Tonson, and his dealing with Dryden, see page Mi, antt.
only respected, but lived in familiar
with some of the most considerable peiscMs k his day.*
A splendid volume under the title of The Sk- Cat Cluh, done from the orinnal paintings aS sir Godfrey Kneller, by Mr. Faber, sold by J Tonson in the Strand, and T. Fabex, at'tb Golden Head in Bloomsbnry-sqaare, «as pcb- lished in 1735 ; containing an engraved titk- page and dedication; and forty-three portoia beginning with sir Godfrey Kneller, and endia; with Mr. Tonson's, who is represented in a gomt and cap, holding in his right band a volome let- tered Paradise Lost. Faber besan the plate, which are all dated in 1732 ; aud the voIuhk Ii dedicated to the duke of Somerset, " to whose liberality the collection of prints owed its rar being, in setting the example to the other mea- bers of the Kit-cat club 'of honouring^ Mr. Ton- son with these portraits;" aud who was "evo eminently distinguished by that noble prindpk, for the support of which that association we known to liave been formed, the lore of thai country and its constitutional liberties."
1736, Jidf. The plan of inserting a regiiW series of the Parliamentary Debates in the Gentleman'i Magazine, was first put into piv- tice at this time. From the time of Mr. Cave's first connexion with the newspaper, at Nonrid. while he was an apprentice, he conceived i strong idea of the utility of publishing tke debates, and had an opportunity, whilst engi^ in a situation at the post-office, not only as staud by Dr. Johnson, of supplying his London fneods with provincial papers ; but he also contrived le furnish the country printers with these writta minutes of the proceedings in the two houses of parliament, which, says Mr. Nichols, "witUi my own remembrance, were reg^arly circukletl in the coffee houses, before the <laily papas were tacitly permitted to report the debates." We have already given instances of Mr. Cave's in- fringement of the orders of the house of ooa- mons. The method of proceeding to obtain ik debates, is thus related by sir John Hawkins:
" Taking with him a friend or two, he fomd means to procure for them and himself admis- sion into tite galleir of the house of commons, or to some concealed station in the other hoose; and then they privately took down notes of the several speeches, and the general tendency tai substance of the arguments. Thus fiun^hed. Cave and his associates would adjourn to i neighbouring tavern, and compiu'e and adjna their notes ; by means whereof, and the help of their memories, they became enabled to fix al least the substance of what they had so Utdj heard and remarked. The reducing this aoie
- Both Llntot and Tonson were rivals for pabllahia(>
work of Dr. Young's. The poet answered both lettos tkr same mominfc, bat nnfortimately misdirected then, la these epistles, he complained of the rascally cupidity cf each. In the one intended for Tonson, fae said, that LiaW was a great scoundrel, that printin); with Um was oat of the question ; and writing to Untot, he declared tkat Tonson was an old meal, wHh other epithets eqaaOy opprobrious.
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