EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
701
1767, Ava. 4. Stbawberkt Hill press estali- lished by Horace Walpole, who in a letter to sir Horace Mann, of this date, says, " In short, I am turned printer, and hare converted a little cottage here into a printing-office. My abbey is a perfect college or academy ; I kept a painter in the house and a printer." The first prodnc- tion of the press was Odoof Gray, with designs from Bentley. The first printer was William Robinson, who did not long remain in the em- ployment. In a letter to the rev. Henry Zonch, dated March, 1759, Walpole says, "At prraent, my press is at a stop ; my printer, who was a foolish Irishman, ana who took himself for a genius, and who grew angry when I thought him extremely the former and not the least of the latter, has left me, I hare not yet fixed upon another." A very singular letter nom thisInA- man to a iriend, descriptive of Stnwberrr hill, and its answer, has been printed in the Letlen to tir Horace Mann, vol. iii. p. 236. Robin- son's successor was Thomas Farmer, whose name appears on the title-page of the Aneedota of Painters, 1762 ; the errors in which edition are attributed to the knavery of his printer, (Robin- son,) who ran away. A printer named Pratt, appears to have succeeded Farmer, about 1763, ana to have remained about two years, as he is said, by a note in Kirkgate's wnting, to have printed the Poenu of uidy Temple, and the Memoirt of lord Herbert Thomas Kirkgate succeeded Pratt, and remained in the employ- ment of Horace Walpole, until the press was abolished. The printing-office, on the death of lord Oxford, was converted by Mrs. Damer into her modelling room. D'lsraeli, in the Calami, tiet of Authors, says Horace Walpole, conscious of possessing the talent of amusement, yet feel- ing his deficient energies, he resolved to provide various substitutes for genius itself, and to acquire reputation, if he could not grasp at celebrity. He raised a printing-press at his gothio castle, by which means be rendered small editions of his works valuable from their rarity, and much talked of because seldom seen. The truth of this appears from the following extract from his unpablished correspondence widi a literary friend. It alludes to his Anecdotes of Painting in England, of which the first edition only conasted of 300 copies. " Of my new 4to. vol. I printed 600 ; but as ther can be had, I believe not a third part is sold. This is a very plain lesson to me, that any editions sell for their curiosity, and not for any merit in them — and so they would if I printed Mother Goose's Tales, and but a few. If I am humbled as an author, I may be vain as a printer."
The productions of this press are numerous and well known, and amongst them are found some valuable and interesting works. A list of them was given in the first edition of the Description of Strawberry Hill, printed there in 1774 ; and a more copious and detailed one in the Bibliomania of Dr. Dibdin. The impression was often large, amounting to 600, and in one instance to 1000 copies.
1767, i>ec. 19. Died, Collet Cibbbk, poet laureat, who had held that office twenty-seven years, and had become the regular butt for the superior as well as the inferior denizens of Par- nassus — ^for Twickenham as well as Grub-streeL Among the innumerable pasquinades which Cibber elicited, one may be given at once brief and pungent: —
In merry old England it once ww a mte, That the Ung had his poet and also his ftwl i Bat now we're ao frugal, I'd have yon to know tt, niat auer can serve Ubtb for fool and for poet.
CoIIot, however, who had at least a sufficient stock 01 good nature and power of enduring sarcasm, sung on amidst the thick-flying hail of wit with which he was assailed, probably con- soling himself with the reflection, that, in the pension and Caaair, he had the better part of the joke to himself. He was die son of Gabriel Cibber, a celebrated sculptor, and born in Lon- don, Nov. 6, 1671. He served in the prince of Orange's army at the Revolution, and after that went on the stage, but never obtained any con- siderable reputation as an actor, on which he became a dramatic writer, to help his finances. His first play was Love's Last Shift, which was performed in 1695, and met with great applause. His best piece is the Careless Husband, per- formed in 1704 ; but the Nonjuror brought aim the most fame and profit. Bernard Lintot gave him jG105 for the copyright, and George I. to whom it was dedicated, rave him £200, with the office of poet laureat. William Whitehead was now invested with the vacant office, a gentleman of good education, and whose poetry, at least, displaved literary correctness and taste, if it rose to no higher qualities.
1757. The American Magazine, by a society of g^tlemen.
Veritatia cnltores, frandis inimid.
Published at Hiiladelphia: it onlyfound a three months' market.
1757. The Sentinel. This was the production of Benjamin Franklin, during his residence in England, as agent for the province of Pennsyl- vania, and of which about thirty numbers were published. It was an this his second visit to Eng- land, not as an unfriended journeyman printer, but as the representative of the first province of America, that Franklin had an opportunity of indulging in the society of those friends, whom his merit had procured him while at a distance. The rerard which they had entertained for him was rather increased by a peisonal acquaintance. The opposition which had been made to his dis- coveries in philosophy gradually ceased, and the rewards of literary merit were abundantly con- ferred upon him. The royal society of London, which had at first refused his performances ad- mission into its transactions, now thought it an honour to rank him among its fellows. Other societies of Europe were equally ambitious of calling him a member. The university of St. Andrew's, in Scotland, conferred upon him the degree of doctor of laws. Its example was soon
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