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HISTORY OF PRINTING.
now remembeted. In 1734 he married a Miss Cradock, of Salisbury, with whom he obtained £1600, and an estate at Slower, in Dorsetshire, of £200 a-year, which, by a profuse exnenditure, in about three years he found himself entirely stripped of his wife's fortune and his own patri- mony. In 1737 he was entered of the Temple ; and his application, whilst a student there, was remarkably intense. After the customary time of probation he was called to the bar. The early taste he had taken of pleasure would sometimes return upon him, apd conspire with his spirits and Tiracity to carry him into the wild enjoy- ments of the town.* Under the pressure of pain and adverse circumstances, Fielaing still found resources in his genius and abilities. His pen never lay idle ; but was always producing, as it were, extempore, a play, a farce, a pamphlet, or a
Eolitical newspaper. It may be observed, to the onour of Fielding, that in the prologue to bis Modern Husband he expresses a sense of the irregularity and indecency of some of his former compositions :
At length, repentlns frolic flights of yoath.
Once more he flics to Nattire and to Tmth ;
In Virtue's just defence aspires to fame.
And courts applause without the applauder's shame.
By the time that Mr. Fielding had attained the age of forty-three, he had been so incessantly pursued by reiterated attacks of the gout, that he was rendered wholly incapable of continuing any longer in the practice of a barrister ; and he, therefore, accepted of an office not a little un- popular, namely, that of an active magistrate in the commission of the peaice for Middlesex, a situation which subjected him to the reproach of crimes of which he was innocent. A complica- tion of disorders produced a dropsy, and he was advised by his physicians to undertake a voyage to Lisbon,in hopes that the mildness and stability of the climate might renovate his powers ; the experiment failed, and he lived but two months after his arrival in Portugal. Though guilty of numerous errors in the early period of his life, for which he afterwards severely atoned, the morals and religious principles of Fielding were never shaken ; for many of his works prove him to have been really a lover of virtue, and a be-
- Some parochial taxes for Fielding's house, in Beau-
fort boiidings being unpaid, and for which demands had been made again and again, Fielding was at length given to understand, by the collector, who had an esteem for him, that no longer procrastination could be admitted. In this dilemma he had recourse to Jacob Tonson, and mortgaging the future sheets of some worlc he had in hand, received the sum he wanted, which might be ten or twelve guineas. When he was near his own house, he met with an old college chum, whom he had not seen for many years. They retired to a neighbouring tavern, and gave free scope to their conviTfality. ki the course of the conversation, Mr. Fielding found that his <Hend bad been unfortunate in life, upon which be immediately gave him the whole of the money be had obtained from Mr. Ton- son. Early in the morning he returned home in the fall enjoyment of his benevolent disposition and conduct, when he was told that the collectoi had called for the taxes twice on the preceding day. His reply was laconic, but memorable : " Friendship has called for the money, and had it ; let the collector call again." A second appli- cation to Jacob Tonaon enabled him to satisfy the pariah demands.
lierei of revealed religion. ** The euHiTated genius of Fielding, says Dr. Knox, " entitles bin to a high rank among the classics. His watk» exhibit a series of pictures drawn with all the descriptive fidelity of a Hogarth. They are highly entertaining, and will always be read with pleasure; but they likewise discloMt scenes, which may corrupt a mind unseasoned by ex- perience." " As a writer," says Dr. Draice, " he is truly original, and in the comic epopda with- out a rival.
1754, Nov. 2. Died, James RoBERTs.a printer of great eminence, aged SH years. He was three times master of the stationers' company, 1729, 1730, 1731, and resided in Warwick-lane. For Dunton's* character of Mr. Roberts, see p. 576.
1 754, iVoti. 1 . TA* Printer's Grammar ; viheram is exhibited, examined, and explained, vAat it requisite for attaining a more perfect knowledge both in the theory and practice of the art ef
- John Danton characterises the following printers :
Mr. Bromk, in Ludgate-street. Bis &tfaer printed for sir Hoger L'Estrange ; and the son has met with a" Snake in the grass" and other copies that have sold as wtS. He is a genteel man in his garb, a prudent man in his actions, and a thriving man m his shop, and had he Ihred in the primitive times, he had been one of the emiDcat booksellers of that age, as he has the honour to be so in this.
Mr. BaADDTLL is a first rate printer, and lias alwaya faeca a very active diligent man, he Is religiously true to his word and faithful to the booksellers that employ him, cf which his making no discovery of two thousand books I once burned in an oven is, to me at least, a very pregnast instance, he was once a good friend to sir Roger LT when matters looked a little dark upon him. But ] Braddyll has met with back enemies, as well as other mca, and upon that score he is very tender of giving woonds to others in the same place where he himself has scdltore^ which is certainly a good improvement of those in practi. ces. I dealt with him for many years, and have not only found him )ust. but as well accomplished for all the parts of his business as any other printer 1 can name.
Mr. AsTwoon, was my near neight>our and intimate friend for many years, he printed tor me near sixty books, and was constantly engaged in the Atheniam jrereicry. If he had any failing it was that of a little paseton, Imt K was over in a word speaking, and to make amends he was almost perfect in charity, friendship, humility. Justice, aad every other virtue; what 1 speak is from the long intimacy I had with him, but 1 need not enlarge, for since the deafll of his son, Mr, John Astwood, he seems no longer to have any commerce with the world, and hath nothing so fiuai- liar as a life that is (by his retreat from Loiulan to a country village) as it were buried in death.
Mr. BacosysLL deserves great respect for his dotifol car- riage to an aged mother, he has the unhappinesa of alittle heat of temper, but was be perfect we uoold soon lose his company; it is but Justice however to UU the book- sellers, that Mr. Brudenell is fkurniahed with a large Mth, is a good printer, and truly honest. 1 take his hroOier Mr. Moses Burdenell, Mr. Clare, and Mr. Cocket, to be tltt best compositors in London.
Mr. EowARD BaxwsTsawasamasterof the company of stationers when I was made a liveryrnan. He has a con- siderable estate, is very humble and his usual apeUatkmis " Brother." He is a man of great piety and moderatiaB. He printed the Practice of Piety, Dactrvu af the Biile, and other usefnl books. See his gift to the stationera' com- pany, 500 ante.
Mr.HapHTiNSTALL, is a modest humble man, and very ingenious in his calling, he makes the best ink for printers of any man in London. There is a peculiar blessing aitteflda him for he does not only thrive in the world but his whole life has been so unblemished that even envy taersdf cannot flz a blot upon him, his religion is that of the church c# England, and he is a devout and constant hearer of Dr. Pead ; but though he is strict to his own principles ; yet towards dissenters he is compassionate and gentle, and humbly proud to be of the same Judgment with his gene- rous sovereign, and therefore acquiesces in, nay. Is ex- tremely satisfied with her majesty's good intentlona and legal kindness towards her dissenting subjects, ami I ta
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