NINETEENTH CENTURY.
865
1814, .^tM. 29. Died, William Nicholson, printer of the Weekly DUpatck, London, aged thirty -seven years. He was a native of Nether- wasdale, in Cumberland.
I8I4, Sept. Daniel Isaac Eaton, a noted booltseller, of High Holbom, and Ave Maria Lane, London, after many vicissitudes died at Deptford. He stood two or three times in the pillory for different offences, and to avoid a hea- vier punishment emigrated to America, from whence he returned, when he fancied that no prosecution was to be dreaded. Falling again into his old practices, he was pilloried opposite Newgate for a blasphemous publication. Du- ring bis confinement his business was carried on by a female, and a scandalous pamphlet, again calling for the notice of the government, he was brought up for judgment, but on delivering up the name oi the author, he was released, and died soon afterwards in poverty and contempt.
1814, Nov. 22. Died, Edward Kusbton, bookseller, of Liverpool, whom M'Creery calls " a true friend to liberty, and an example of in- flexible independence rare to be met with."
And Rnshtoo — tboa— wbose iudepeodeot soul Nor ills of life— nor adverse ftues control ; Tho* solemn darluiess shroud thine orbs of Ug:ht, Strong; are thy beuns of intellecttud light) For like immortal Milton— thine the doom To strike thy harp amid the cheerless gloom.
It is peculiarly pleasing, says James Wilson,* to observe how many individuals in the middle and lower ranks of life, without the advantages of education, have raised themselves to a distin- guished place in society, by the cultivation of their literary talents ; and among the many which are recorded in these pages, was Edward Rushton of Liverpool, who, though he did not attain to the higher departments of literature, was remarkable fur the clearness and perspicuity of his style, and for employing his pen in the cause of humanity and truth. He was born in John-street, Liverpool, Nov. 11, 1766, and his education, which he received at the grammar school, terminated with his ninth year. Before he had entered his eleventh year he was bound apprentice to Watt and Gregson, and became a "sea hoy on the high and giddy mast." He per- formed the various duties of his station with skill and credit ; and before he was sixteen, he received the thanks of the captain and crew of the vessel, for his seaman-like conduct during a storm. Before ho was seventeen, whilst yet in his apprenticeship, he signed articles as second mate of the vessel, in which, a short time before, he entered as cabin-boy ; and so continued until the term of his indentures was expired. At this period, the offer of a superior situation induced nim to proceed to the coast of Africa on a
- Biographg of the Blind i including the Uvea of aU who
hate dUHnguithed theimelvei at poeta, philoeophen, ariitti, 4e. ie. Br James Wilson, who had been blind firom his inAuicy. Birmingham : printed by J. W. Showell, and sold only by the author. 1833. Demy I3mo. The bio- graphical sketch of the writer, preflzed to this Tolome, is a OKMt extraordinary instance of the dUHcultles which the blind can overcome.
slaving voyage. On this fatal voyage, whilst at Dominica,he was attacked by a violent inflam- mation of the eyes which in three weeks left him with the left eye totally destroyed, and the right eye entirely covered by an opacity of the cornea. This misfortune was occasioned by his exertions in assisting his brethren of the sable race, among whom an infectious fever had broken out. In 1776, attended by bis father, he visited London, and among other eminent men con- sulted the celebrated baron WentzeU, oculist to to the king, who declared him incurable. In this hopeless situation, poor Rushton returned to Liverpool, and resided with his father, with whom he continued but a short time, as the violent temper of his stepmother compelled him to leave the house and mantain himself on four shillings a-week. An old aunt found him lodg- ings, and for seven years he existed on this mi- serable, and, considering the circumstances of bis father, this shameful allowance. From this state he was removed to one much more com- fortable. His father placed one of his daughters with Rushton in a tavern, where he lived for about two years, and while in this situation he married. Finding, however, his pecuniary cir- cumstances rather diminishing than increasing, he gave up the business. He now entered into an engagement as editor of a newspaper, called the Herald, which for some time he pursued with pleasure but little profit, until finding it impos- sible to express himself in that independent and liberal manner, which his reason and his con- science dictated, he threw up his situation and had to begin the world once more. With thirty guineas, five children,* and awife to whose exer- tions he was greatly indebted, he commenced the businessofa bookseller,! as no other seemed more agreeable to his taste, his habits, and his pursuits. At this time politics ran very high in Liverpool.
- Edward Rnshtos, esq. the eminent barrister of London,
is one of his sons, and who was at one time connected with the press in the establishing of the present Liverpool Chronicle, in 1876.
t Nathaniel Price, late a bookseller at Norwich, on quitting business in that dty, exported goods to a con- siderable amount firom London to America, and on his voyage thither, lost his sight in consequence of a severe cold. Alter much distress and fatigue, he at length arrived in his native country, after an absence of nearly live years. This remarkable man makes every part of hia dress, from the shoes on his feet to the hat on his head. He has, since the loss of his sight, followed the employment of a bookbinder, and bound several books in the flrst style , and is. indeed, the first instance of a blind man being capable of binding books, that is known of. Aa a proof of his abilities, there is a quarto bible, elegantly bound by him, in the marquis of Blandford's Ubiary, Sion-hill, Oxfordshire. Strange as this may appear to those unacquainted with the extraordinary genius pos- sessed by many of the blind, this account had been credited by many. — Wilson's Biographf of the BHnd.
A bookseller of the name of Winprecbt, of the city of Angsburgh, is one of the greatest curiosities of the place. He bad the misfortune to be born blind ; bat wboee enter- prising spirit had enabled him to struggle snccessfnUy against the melancholy privations be was doomed to sus- tain, and to procure by his industry and intelligence a respectable and comfortable support for a large family dependent upon him. Ills library consists of more than ci;ht thousand volumes, which are frequently sulject to change and renewal, but as soon as be acquires a new stock, the particulars of each book are read to him by his wife, and his disaimination permits him to fix the value ;
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