favours. He was therefore duped, betrayed, plundered, and abused by them, according as it suited their occasional views. At length, ill health obliged him to seek for ease and recovery in retirement, which he flattered himself he should there obtain. With this view he quitted his business, in favour of a very worthy and respectable young man (Mr. Debrett) and went into the country. But he had scarcely settled there when he had the misfortune to lose his wife. He left London in June, 1781, and Mrs. Almon died in August following. This stroke affected him deeply, and he mentions it in more than one of his lyrics. In the mouth of September, 1784, he married the widow of William Parker, printer of the General Advertiser, and returned once more to London, and to business, taking up his residence in Fleet-street. He left ease and affluence, to encounter fatigue and rescue indigence. On this occasion, Mr. Macklin, the comedian, sent him the following letter, in answer to his application for an order, for a friend, to see his Man of the World.
"Dear Sir,—Your tenure in the Man of the World is long and legal, of full twenty years. You were the first man in the land, who encouraged the author in his hopes of success from that production; therefore in justice he sends you his fiat, which on all occasions will be ready for his old friend Almon. I sincerely congratulate you, myself, and the public, upon your return to the world of business. You were made for it. The press wants such spirits. It is the guardian of the times, and should be its monitor. I have not been on the other side of Temple-bar since your resurrection. Laziness, application, real or fancied illness, hindered me from wishing you joy of your new life in person. But my first visit shall be to discharge that duty.—I am, dear Sir, sincerely your friend and humble servant,
"Oct. 28, 1784. Charles Macklin."[1]
"Tavistock-row, Covent-garden."
In his new situation as printer of the General Advertiser, he was again the object of the enmity of the court. He was not long in Fleet-street, before he was chosen into the common council, in which he continued two years. The speculation of the General Advertiser injured his fortune; and he became a prisoner of the king's bench for a libel, and was afterwards an outlaw. Extricated at length from his difficulties, he returned again to England, and settled in Hertfordshire, where he died, leaving his widow in great distress. In 1804, Mr. Almon gave to the world the genuine correspondence of Mr. Wilkes, which was his last literary performance. His. taste for poetry was far from being contemptible, and some of his lyrics are not without merit; many of his pieces appeared in the New Foundling Hospital for Wit, and in the Asylum for Fugitive Pieces.
1805, Dec. 12. The printing office of Mr. Gillett, in Salisbury-court, Fleet-street, London, destroyed by fire. It was in this fire, that the Travels of Anacharsis, noticed at page 811, were consumed, which gave rise to the following trial in the court of common pleas, Guildhall, London, July 3, 1807.
Gillett v. Mawman—Mr. Serjeant Vaughan opened the plantiff's case, the substance of which was shortly this: Mr. Gillett had printed for Mr. Mawman, bookseller, a certain number of copies of a work, entitled, the Travels of Anacharsis. In 1725 Mr. Gillett's premises were destroyed by fire, and amongst other property the above work. At Christmas, Mr. Gillett sent in his general bill as a printer to Mr. Mawman; who set off all the property which belonged to him, and which had been consumed in the fire, which was £568 from the charge which had been made for the printing of the Travels of Anacharsis; and £1,106 10s. for paper belonging to the defendant, which had been given to Mr. Gillett for him to print various other works on for Mr. Mawman, and which also had been consumed.
It was contended, that there was a custom in the trade, as between bookseller and printer, by which the paper of the bookseller, and all other property belonging to him, wasted by the printer was at his own risk; and, therefore, the printer must not only pay for the loss of all the paper be had in hand belonging to the bookseller, but he must also lose the labour of the printing; in a word, that in case of fire, it was the custom of the trade, that the whole loss should be borne by the printer.
For Mr. Gillett, it was contended, that there existed no such custom, and that it was repugnant to common sense to attempt to establish it; Mr. Gillett had his house destroyed by fire, a circumstance which he could not help, consequently he was not responsible for the loss which had been sustained in this case.
Several witnesses said that such a custom did exist, and stated instances of Mr. Rickaby, Mr. H. S. Woodfall, and others, who paid for losses sustained by booksellers.
On the other hand, it appeared from the evidence of several witnesses, that they knew of no such custom as that set up by the booksellers, that the printer was to be at the risk of the loss of paper, &c. belonging to the bookseller in case of fire, when the paper was in the printer's hands.
The chief justice summed up the substantial parts of the evidence, and the jury found a verdict for the plaintiff for the sum of £145. 9s. 10d. being the sum admitted by the defendant to be due to him upon balance of accounts after allowing him his set off. They found no custom in this case.—See Annual Register, vol. 49, p. 455.
1805, Jan. 1. The Mail, No. 1, printed and published every Tuesday, by Joseph Aston, Manchester, price sixpence,
1805, Feb. The Antiquary. These essays were published in the Monthly Magazine.
1805. The Clyde Commercial Advertiser, published at Glasgow.
- ↑ Charles Macklin, or Mac Laughlin, was born at Westmeath, and became an eminent comedian and author of the Man of the World, and Love-a-le-Mode. He died July 11, 1797, and was buried at St. Paul's, Covent garden.
