EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
743
bout the latter part of 1716, and worked with Ir. Wilkins in Little Britain, in companrwith amuel Negus. He then worked for Mr. Watts, a 1718, he again visited Ireland, but soon re- imed to London, and commenced master. In 724, Mr. Gent remored his printing-office from lOndon to York, and married a relation of Mr. i'hite's, with whom he had become acquainted uring his former residence in that city. His isidence was in Petergate, the same that had slonged to Mr. White. The imprint to one of is books states that his printing-office was in offee-yard, " where that useful art, to which le sons of learning are infinitely obliged, is per- irmed after a neat manner." He pursued his isiness with diligence until he had attained the tranced age of eighty-seven years, being at that me the oldest master printer in England, and freeman of the cities of London, York, and 'ublin. He was interred in the church of St. [ichael le Belfiey, in York. Mr. Gent was the ithor of a great number of small tracts in veise id prose, and published a useful compendium, intaining some things not in larger nistories, ititttled. The onttent and modern Hittory of the tnoiu City of York ; and in a particular man- !T of its magnificent cathe<ual, commonly Jled York-minster, &c. &c. 1778, Jtmt 1. Died, Joseph Bentham, an derman of Cambridge, and many years printer the universitT. He was born at Ely, in No- mber, 1708 : his father was a very woithy cler- rman of the diocese of Ely, and descended Dm an ancient family in Yorkshire. Mr. Ben- am was not eager after money in the way of s business, but rather ambitious of printing )rks that would do him credit. He printed 9 brother's valuable Hittory of Ely, at a con- lerable expense to himself. He had a great ite for gardening, and a turn for humour. He ts a very amiable man, and the only one of six others that was not in orders. He married me, sister and heiress of George Reste, esq. e was buried, as was his wife, in Tnunpington urch.
\77S, J\dy26. Z>t«2, Andrew Jackson, book- ler, well kiown as a dealer in old books, and ick letter, for more than forty years, in Clare urt, Drury Lane. Here, luce another Mag- bechi, midst dust and cobwebs, he indulged appetite for reading; legends and romances, tory and poetry, were indiscriminately his ourite pursuits. Unlike a contemporary ither of the trade,* he did not make the iosity of his customers the foundation of a lection for his own use, and refuse to part h an article, where he found an eagerness in a -chaser to obtain it. Where he met with a ity, be would retain the same till he had isfied his own desires in the perusal of it, and n part with it agreeable to his promise, ough placed in an humble rank in life, he
John Kin^, of Moorfldds, whoae cnrloiu Ubnrr, con- inr of ten iM.ytf Mde, wu aold by auction hj Barker
was easy, cheerful, and facetious. If he did not abound, his wants were few, and be secured enough to carry him to his journey's end. He was retainer to the Muses, but rather traversed the plains than ascended any steps up the hill of Parnassus. In 1740 he published the first book of Paradise Lost in rhyme : and ten years after- wards, with somewhat better success. Matri- monial Scenes ; consisting of the Seaman's Tale, the Manciple's Tale, the Character of the Wife at Bath, the Tale of the Wife at Bath, and her Five Husbands ; all modernized from Chaucer; by A. Jackson.
Tlie first refiner of our native lays Cbaonted tliese tale< in Kcond Rldianl'i day* ; Time gradg'd Ilia wit, and on liia language fed ! We TcKue bat the living firom the dead ; And wiiat was iterUng vene bo long ago la lieie new coined to make it cnirent now.
The contents of his catalogues of the yean 1756, 1757, 1759, and one without date, as specified in their titles, were in rhyme. In 1751, in conjunction with Charles Marsh, he repub- lished, as Shakspeare's, a Briefe conceipte touching the Commonweale of this Kealme of England; originally printed in 1581. He quitted his business about a year before his death, having completed his eighty-third year the fourteenth of May preceding.
1778, Aug. 12. Died, Robebt Goadbv, prin- ter and proprietor of the Sherborne Mercury, who earned on a large and extensive business as a bookseller. Few men have been more ge- nerally known in the west of England than Mr. Goadby, and few had more firiends or more ene- mies. To the freedom of his sentiments on reli- gious and political subjects, and to the openness with which he declared them, he was indebted for both. Truth was the object of his researches. Mr. Goadby was also the conductor of several miscellaneous and periodical publications; which being sold extremely cheap, and very widely cir- culated, had a considerable g^ood efiiect, and proved the means of disseminating a great deal of useful knowledge among persons whose opportu- nities of giving information were few and scanty ; and to his praise it should be observed, that be carefully excluded from his publications every thing of an immoral and irreligious tendency. He compiled an Illustration of the Scriptures, three vols, folio ; a work, entitled, the Vniverse Displayed; and he was also the author of the Life of Bamfylde Moore Carew, King of the Beggars. His weekly paper, the Sherborne Mer- cury, was uniformly conducted in a manner friendly to the liberties of Englishmen. In par- ticular, he hod a just Idea of the importance of theliberty of the press : and the celebrated axiom of Mr. Hume, " the liberties of the press and the liberties of the people must stand or fall together," was a favourite one with Mr. Goadbv. To the poor he was a constant and generous friend. His acts of beneficence were very numerous while he lived ; and by his will he left a sum in the stocks, the interest of which was annually distributed among the poor of Sherborne. He left 40s. a-
VjOOQ IC
