mary instrument to visit upon the shins of the offender the penalty of his trespass. His writing was exceedingly well executed, and bis poetic lucubrations were generally no less admirably pointed--we regret that our recollection supplies us with no more than the following specimen : "Let no rude footsteps on this pavement tread, The very stones themselves cry out in vain!" This hapless votary of the muse has passed away; and though unchronicled in any "Curiosities of Literature," we trust we have said enough to rescue his memory-non omnis moriar!-from utter annihilation. Craving indulgence for the digression into which the recurrence of an early association has beguiled us, we retrace our steps, while we solicit the reader to accompany us adown the stream of time a few centuries back. In the olden time, prior to the era of printing, the MSS. of authors were obliged to be subjected to the ordeal of critical censorship, previous to their being allowed public perusal; their works being required to be read over before the Universities, for three successive days, or by appointed judges; when, if approved, copies were allowed to be executed by the monks, scribes, and illuminators. Even in the classical days of Greece and Rome, we find a trade carried on in books; those works most in demand being multiplied by the scribes and copyists. An exclusive traffic in the MSS. of those days seems to have been carried on along the shores of the Mediterranean, and the Greek colonies of the Euxine. During the middle ages, the booksellers were styled Stationarii at the Universities of Paris and Bologna; they used to sell and loan MSS. This was the commencement of the bookselling business. A species of literary censorship, it appears, was first established at Paris, in 1342, when a license from the ness. University was requisite previously to engaging in such busiThe booksellers were, in fact, regularly matriculated by entry on its roll, and considered as its officers; the prices of all books were also fixed according to the tariff of four sworn booksellers, by the institution; a fine was imposed for selling an imperfect copy of a work, and a catalogue, with the prices annexed, was further required to be always kept in the shops. This censorship was afterwards invested in the person of Berthold, Archbishop of Mentz, in 1486, and again renewed with greater vigor, with respect to books, by the Council of Trent, in 1546, being subsequently enforced by the popes, down to 1563, by whom several Indices Librorum Prohibitorum, were issued. In France the censorship was vested in the Chancellor; in England it was exercised by the well-known StarChamber; and after the abolition of that court, by Parliament itself; it was abolished in England about 1694, although it still continues in force, we believe, in several of the Continental States. The first bookseller, so called, on record was Faustus. He is said to have carried his books for sale to the monasteries in France and elsewhere; and the first bookseller who purchased MSS. for publication, without possessing a press of his own, was John Otto, of Nuremberg (1516). Resuming our notices of eminent bibliopoles, the next name we find in the order of date is that of John Dunton (temp. 1659-1733). Of his literary performances, his Life and Errors is the best known. His critical acumen, or good fortune, were certainly not much at fault; for it is recorded, that of the 600 works which he published, only seven proved unsuc cessful. Chiswell, styled for pre-eminence the metropolitan bookseller of England, and whose shrewdness and wit stood the test so admirably, that he is reported never to have issued a bad book, was also, at about the same period, an author of some consideration. Contemporary with him, we find the name of the learned linguist and bibliopolist Samuel Smith, the appointed bookseller to the Royal Society; and Thomas Guy, the founder of "Guy's Hospital" (whose munificence and philanthropy have immortalized his name, and often invoked the blessing of suffering humanity), was originally, it will be remembered, a bookseller. John Bagford, an industrious antiquarian bookseller, who lived to the early part of the eighteenth century, was the author of the Collectanea, bearing his name, contained in the Harleian MSS. of the British Museum. The Tonsons were a race of booksellers who did honor to their profession for integrity, and by their encouragement of authors. Malone published several letters from Dryden to Tonson, and Tonson to Dryden. Tonson displays the tradesman, acknowledging the receipt of the Translations of Ovid, which he had received for the third Miscellany, with which he was pleased, but not with the price, having only one thousand four hundred and forty-six lines for fifty guineas, when he expected to have had one thousand five hundred and eighteen lines for forty guineas; adding that he had a better bargain with Juvenal, which is reckoned not so easy to translate as Ovid. Most of the other letters relate to the translation of Virgil, and contain repeated acknowledgments of Tonson's kind attentions. "I thank you heartily," he says, “for the sherry; it was the best of the kind I ever drank." The current coin was at that period wretchedly debased. In one letter Dryden says, "I expect forty pounds in good silver, not such as I had formerly. I am not obliged to take gold, neither will I, nor stay for it above four and twenty hours after it is due." In 1698, when Dryden published his Fables, Tonson agreed to give him two hundred and sixty-eight pounds for ten thousand verses; and to complete the full number of lines stipulated, he gave the bookseller the Epistle to his Cousin, and the celebrated Ode. Lintot, Pope's publisher, was also an author; not to speak of Miller, Evans, Griersson, Motte, and Ruddiman, the last-named, a man of profound attainments as a grammarian and critic; or Richardson, the author of "Sir Charles Grandison," and other popular works, which have procured for him the title of the English Rousseau ;-and Alexander Cruden, the renowned compiler of the "Concordance to the Sacred Scriptures," whose stupendous labors turned him mad. A curious anecdote is related of him; one evening having prepared an excellent supper for some friends, whom he had invited to partake of a favorite dish of roast turkey, no sooner had Mr. Cruden arrived and made his appearance in the room, heated with walking, than before the covers could be removed, while his guests were eagerly anticipating their pleasurable repast, up walked the distinguished host, and advancing to the smoking joint in question, sans cérémonie pushed back his wig, and with both hands plunged in the gravy, began to wash his head and face over the bird, to the horror and dismay of the astonished group! John Buckley, who lived to about 1746, was a learned linguist; and Paterson, his contemporary, was also author of many works, as well as a book-auctioneer; he was indeed one of the most prominent bibliopoles of his age. About the same date, we meet with the name of Harris, the author of Lexicon Technicum. Chambers' Cyclopædia, was the basis of Dr. Rees' voluminous work, which extended to forty volumes, quarto. This celebrated work was styled "the pride of booksellers, and the honor of the English nation." Rees is represented as a man equally indefatigable, perspicacious, and observant. He was a Quaker, a member of Gray's Inn, and at his demise, which occurred at Canonbury House, Islington, a relic of the times of Elizabeth, he was interred within the cloisters of Westminster Abbey. Hutton, of Birmingham, who has been not inaptly styled the English Franklin, from the very depths of obscurity and poverty, fought his way single-handed to wealth and literary eminence. His "History of Birmingham" was followed by other productions, including his interesting auto-biography. His literary labors were concluded in 1811, by a "Trip to Coatham," a watering-place in Yorkshire, written in his eightysixth year, in which he thus takes leave of his readers: "As it is perhaps the last time I shall appear before the world as an author, I may be allowed the liberty of exhibiting my performances in that character. I took up my pen, and that with fear and trembling, at the advanced age of fifty-six, a period when most would lay it down. I drove the quill thirty years, during which time I wrote and published fourteen books." We might refer to the names of Rushton, of Liverpool, M'Creery, Debrett, Allan Ramsay, the poet, Hansard, Bulmer, Boydell, Griffiths, Harrison, and many others we stay not to enumerate. Worrall, of Bell Yard, who died 1771, was a well-known author-bookseller, as well as the eccentric Andrew Brice, of Exeter, and Sir James Hodges, who lived at the sign of the Looking-Glass, on London Bridge. The names should not be omitted of Faulkner, Gent, Goadby, and also Smellie, the first edition of whose work on philosophy, yielded him one thousand guineas, and a revenue of fame. Thomas Osborne, of Gray's Inn, was also a very eminent bookseller, although, if we are to decide with Dr. Dibdin, not eminent in philological attainments. Boswell relates an amusing circumstance connected with the professional career of this worthy bibliopole, who, it is said, was inclined to assume an authoritative air in his business intercourse. One day Johnson happening to encounter a similar exhibition of temper, the Doctor became so exasperated, that he actually knocked Osborne down in his shop with a folio, and put his foot upon his neck; and when remonstrated with on such summary proceeding, he coolly replied, "Sir, he was impertinent to me, and I beat him." Paternoster Row, the great literary emporium of the world, |