EIGHTEENTH CENTURY,
70r
1761, July 4. Died, Samobl Richardson, printer in Stuisbniy Square, London, well known
to the literary world as the author of Pamela, Clarit$a Harlmee, Sir Charlet Granditon, and other eminent works, and whose life affords another instance of the difficulties which may be overcome by perseverance and intec^ity. He was born in the year 1689, the son of an inge- nious and very respectable joiner in Derbyshire, but who could only afford to give him a common education of reading and writing in a country school. It was the intention of the elder Mr. Richardson to have brought up his son Samuel to the church ; but the occurrences of some severe pecuniary losses compelled him to relin- quish the design. In despite, however, of his common education, he early exhibited the most decisive marks of genius ; he was of a serious and contemplative disposition, and fond of exer- cising his inventive powers, among his play- mates, in the narration of stories, the incidents of which be threw together with extraordinary &cility. He was, likewise, remarkably partial to letter-writing, and to the company of his female friends, with whom he maintained a con- stant correspondence, and even ventured, though only in his eleventh year, to become their occa- sional monitor and adviser. At the age of six- teen it became necessary that he should fix upon some occupation for his future life ; and, as his father left nim to his free option, he decided for the business of a printer ; prmcipally induced to the choice by the opportunities tnat he imagined t would afford him for reading, to which he was itrongly attached. He was accordingly appren- iced in 1706 to Mr. John Wilde, oi stationers' lall ; but he soon found that the advantages vhich he bad so sanguinely expected were illu- ory ; for he himself says, " I served a diligent even years to a master who grudged every hour
me that tended not to his profit, even of those imes of leisure and diversion, which the refrac- oriness of my fellow-servants obliged him to llow them, and was usually allowed by other lasteis to their apprentices. I stole from the ours of rest and relaxation, my reading times n improvement of my mind ; and being en- aged in a correspondence with a gentleman, reatly my superior in degree, and of ample irtune, which, bad he lived, intendedhigh things IT me ; those were all the opportunities I had
1 my apprenticeship to carry it on ; I took care lat even my candle was of my own purchasing, lat I might not in the most trifling instance, ake my master a sufferer (and who used to call e the pillar of kit haute) and not to disable yself by watching or sitting up, to perform my ity to bim in the daytime." On uie termina- >n of his apprenticeship, which had lasted seven ars, he became a journeyman and corrector of e press ; an ofiice which he filled for nearly c years, and on declining which, he acquired 3 freedom, and entered into business for him- If. His first residence was small, and in an scure court,in Fleet-street,wheTe he filled up his sure hours by compiling indices for the book-
sellers, and writing prefixes, and what he calls htmett dedieatiotu. The industry, punctuality, and integrity of Richardson as a tradesmen, were in due time followed by the usual result, a wide- extending reputation and accumulating wealth. He was the printer, for a short period, of the duke of Wharton's True Briton, the purport of which was to excite an opposition in the city to the measures of government. The politics of this paper, however, were so violent, at the close of the sixth number Mr. Richardson declined any further connexion with it, having narrowly escaped a prosecution ; for, four of the six essays being deemed libels, Mr. Payne, the publisher, was found guilty, while the printer, although intimate with the duke, was passed over, owing to the non-appearance of his name on the title- page. Through the interest of the right hon. Amur Onslow, speaker, he was employed in printing the first edition of the Journal* of the Home of Commoni, of which he completed the first twenty-six volumes in folio, an undertaking for which he at length obtained upwards of £3,000. He also printed from 1736 to 1737 a newspaper called the Daily Journal ; and in 1738 the Daily Gazetteer. He suffered not, however, the pressure of business, though great, and requiring much superintendence, to preclude his mental progress. The literary exertions of Richardson were not altogether confined to novel writing ; besides his three great works, already noticed, he had a regular share in the composi- tion of the Chriitian Magazine, by Dr. James Mauclerc, 1748 ; the Negocialion of tir Thoma$ Boe, in hi» Embaay to the Ottoman Porte from the year 1721 to 1738 inclxuive, folio. He also printed an edition of Stop's Fables, tcith Reflec- lions. A Collection of the Moral Sentence! in Pamela, Clarista, and Cfrandison, was printed in 12mo, 1755. A volume of Familiar Letten, which he had laid by for a season, in order to prosecute his Pamela. A large single sheet on the Dutie* of Wivet and Husbands. Six original Letters tmon Duelling, printed after his decease in the IMerary Repository for 1765. No. 67, vol. ii. of the Ramblers, were written by Richard- son ; in the preamble to which, Johnson styles him " an autbor from whom the age has received greater favours, who has enlarged the knowledge of human nature, and taught the passions to move at the command of virtue." Richardson's reputation is iar firom being confined to his own country. He has been read in many of the languages, and known to most of the nations of Europe; and has been greatly admired, notwith- standing every dissimilitude of manners or even disadvantage of translation. He has been often compared to Rousseau ; and Rousseau was one of his professed admirers. M. Diderot, in his Essay on Dramatic Poetry, page 96, mentions Richardson particularly as a perfect master of that art. Whilst thus advancing in his literary career, Richardson was not inattentive to the im- provement of that fortune, of which industry and integrity had long before laid the foundation. In 1754 he was appointed master of the station-
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