)««
HISTORY OF PRINTING.
He had published several pieces, all in favour of the rights of man. He became a noted character, was marked and shot at ; the lead passed close to his eyebrows, but did not do him the least injury. If by his manly and upright conduct he became the object of dislike to a clique of petty tyrants in his native town, he experienced the satisfaction of enjoying the steady attachment and unremitting attention of a few tried friends, who with him had rejoiced in the triumphs of liberty in whatever land they were achieved. — The purses of W. Roscoe* and Rathbone, were offered to him ; he was invited to take what sum he might want, he refused them both, detennine4 to maintain his independence. About the year 1800, among his poetical productions, was the beautiful poem of Mary le More. In the summer of 1806, hearing of the repeated successes of Mr. Gibson of Manchester, as an oculist, be was in- duced to obtain his opinion, and after enduring five dreadful operations, he was, in the summer of 1807, ushered into that world from which for more than thirty years, he had been excluded. His feelings on this occasion are truly recorded in the linesaddressed to Mr. Gibson on this happy event. During the last years of his life. Rush ton did not write much, but those poems which he did produce, are excellent. The Fire of English Liberty, Jemmy Armstrong, Stanzas addressed to Robert Soathey, are all strongly in favour of those principles which, with fire unabated, he preserved till the last moment of his existence. He was occasionally troubled with the gout — his health visibly declined — but under all afflictions he preserved his usual cheerfulness and gaiety till the last. His works are not numerous, but they are truly valuable for their moral excellence. They first appeared in the periodical jour- nals of the day, and were afterwards collected together, and published under the title of the Neglected Tar and other Poems, London, 1804 ; these, with his Letters to General Washington and Thomas Paine,f are the only productions of his which were given to the public.
hlB touch enables him to recognize it at any period, how- ever distant, and bin memory never fails him in regard to its anangement tn his shop. lils readiness to oblige, his honesty and infonnation on books in general, bas pro- cured him a large custom ; and, nnder such extraordinary natural disadvantages, he has become a Dsefiil, and haply will render himself a wealthy member of the society to which he belongs.
- William Roscoe, from an obscure birth and scanty
education, became by far the most eminent historical writer who appeared in the latter years of the eighteenth century. He was born in Bold-street, Liverpool, in 1752, and was first an attorney, afterwards a banker, and repre- sented his native town lii parliament. His Hittory of the Life of Lorenzo de Mediei appeared in 1769, in a vols. 4to. An eminent critic characterised it as a phenomenon in literature, and said It was 'pleasant to consider a gentle- man, not nnder the auspices of an university, nor beneath the shelter of academic bowers, but In the practice of the law and business of great extent, resident in a remote provincial town, investigating and describing the rise and progress of every polite art in Italy at the revival of learn- ing, with acuteness. depth, and precision } with the spirit of the poet and the depth of the historian.' In 180S, he published the Life and Pontffieate of Leo X. In 4 vols. He died June 30, 1831, aged 80 years.
t Thomas Paine, author of the Rightt of Man, was bom at Thetford, In Norfolk, Jan. 29, 17(7. and died at Baltimore, in North America, June 8, iBOf.
I6I4, Not. 28. On this day appeared the firet newspaper ever printed by steam. The inventor was Frederick Konig,* by birth a Saxon, and bj occupation a printer ; and the artisan by whom it was brought intb action, was Mr. Baur, also a native of Saxony. The first steam-engine print- ing machine brought to maturity in this countiy, waserected for Mr. John Walters, proprietorof the Times newspaper, whose readers of tnis day were informed, that "they then held in their hands one of many thousand impressions of the first news- papers printed by steam." Whether Mr. Konig was indebted to Mr. Nicholson"!- for his elemen- tary principles, or whether almost the same ideas spontaneously occurred to each individual, is a question that cannot at this time be ascertained.
And out of the witchcraft of their skill
A creature be call'd to wait on bis will —
Half iron, half vapour, a dread to liebold —
Which evermore panted, and evermore roU'd,
And utter'd bis words a million fold :
Forth sprang tbey in air, down raining like dew.
And men fed upon tbem and mighty grew.
Mr. Konig, after failing in his application foi encouragement and support at the hands of the most eminent printers tn several of the conti- nental capitals, turned his eyes towards Eng- land. Arriving in London about the year 1804, he submitted bis scheme to several printers of rqiute, who, not being disposed to incur the risl of property which a series of experiments « ere sure to incur, and perhaps placing little confi- dence in a successful issue, received his overtures very coolly; but, on his being introduced to Mr. Bensley, senior, who, being attracted by Konig's
Elans, speedily entered into an arrangement vith im. In a short time afterwards, Mr. Bensley was joined by Mr. George Woodfall, who, how- ever, soon retired, and Mr. R. Taylor. It was at length discovered that the intended im- provement of the common press could not lie brought to bear, unless move radical alterations were invented. Cylindrical printing was now thought of — and after some two or three years of renewed exertion, a small machine was pro- duced. Considerable promise of success attended this production; and after continued experiments
- Mr. Kenlft, In the Times of Dec. 28, published a reiT
Interesting account of the ori^n and progress of his invention. He died January le, 1833, at Oberzell, n««r Warshnrgh, In the prime of life. For fourteen years Messrs. Eonig and Baur had a large establishment at Oberzell, of presses and other machinery.
+ William Nicholson, to whom both the public and the patentees of printing machines seem to be indebted, vss a very ingenious raathematidan and mechanic, died is June, 1815. He had been for some years in great diffiCQl. ties, owing to the failure of many projects, and the mtil- tiplicity of his engagements. While in conHnement (or debt, he sufTered Ihis name to be prefixed to an Encydo- poedia, in six volumes. Upon referring to the patent which Mr. Nicholson took out in 1790, it appears that he completely took the lead upon the subject of printfng by machinery ; and it is probable that had he joined the actual practice of the art of printing by machinery to bb knowledge of the theory, little would have been left for subsequent mechanicians to perform, and still less to be claimed as their original inventions.
The Literary Gazette of October 26, 1822, contains a brief notice of the origin and progress of this invention, and Its first application to the purposes of printing book- work, with an excellent view of the machine.
