felt from the sensibility which high intellectual cultivation has conferred upon the sufferer. In the mere pursuit of wealth, too, it may be that the disinterestedness and comparative forgetfulness of self, which an attachment to letters has a tendency to beget in him who is under its influence, shall sometimes leave him a little way behind a more eager competitor, by allowing him to overlook opportunities of which a more unscrupulous man would take advantage, or seducing him to turn aside after speculations promising him more of glory than of profit. This is the most and the worst that can be said as to the natural tendency of learning to bring misfortunes upon the head of its possessor. But it is no great disparagement of mental cultivation, which is prodigal of so many far higher and better rewards, to say, that it has no particular tendency to put money in a man's pocket, or even that it may sometimes chance to impede in a slight degree the mere accumulation of property by the affection which it creates for richer sources of enjoyment. If it should not bring overflowing wealth, which, at best, is but one of the means of happiness, it will bring happiness itself-wealth for the mind, if not for the purse. And as for the other accusation, that the more a man's nature is refined by education and a taste for knowledge, the more sensibly will he feel such calamities as may befall him, it amounts merely to saying, that the more intense the life, the more delicate and shrinking the sensibility—the higher the elevation, the more dangerous the fall. If it be held that our nature approaches nearest to its perfection when it most resembles that of a tortoise or a vegetable, then, indeed, intellectual cultivation may be held to be pernicious and unwise. But it should not be forgotten that even in the world's ordinary pursuits and business, science and literature must give their cultivators, upon the whole, at least as many and as important advantages as they can possibly deprive them of. There is no probability at all in the supposition, that the possession of superior learning has generally had the effect of preventing its owners from succeeding in the world. On the contrary, it has most likely, in ninety-nine instances out of every hundred, materially contributed to their success, and procured for them a degree of advancement to which the generality of their less accomplished associates never ventured even to aspire. We might refer for proof to many of the names we have already had occasion to mention in these pages, as well as to many others we have yet to notice. The misfortunes of a man whose life has been principally devoted to literary pursuits, make a more touching narrative than those of him who has been thrown out in the more vulgar scramble for the good things of this life; and such stories are therefore fondly repeated and remembered. But, although good enough as stories, they are worth little as arguments; seeing that there is not one of them that might not be easily matched by another that would tell, if not as pathetically, yet just as forcibly, on the opposite

side of the question. Upon this view of the matter, however, we have no inclination to dwell; for it is not chiefly on the strength of such considerations that we would recommend the pursuit of knowledge. It is profitable to a far higher end than the mere advancement of its votaries in worldly wealth; although in that, too, it may fairly claim to be regarded as naturally and ordinarily an ally and not an adversary. And as for the great scholar, the calamities of whose latter days we have just recorded, the generally unfortunate destiny of the learned is not the lesson to be drawn from his history. His family had risen by their learning, had through that acquired both wealth and distinction, and owed to nothing else the station they long held at the very head or their profession in Europe and in the world. Even he himself had flourished by the same means, in affluence and in honour, for many years; and if one of his undertakings at last turned out unsuccessful, partly through the unfair conduct of another, and partly, let it be allowed, from the nature of the speculation itself, into which a mere printer, who cared for nothing but his money, would not perhaps have so rashly adventured, it was, after all, but one instance of the evils of learning, among many illustrations of its advantages. Nor should we throw out of view the glory of the otherwise unprofitable enterprise, the feeling of triumph in its achievement, which all it had cost could not take away, and the anticipation of that award of posterity on the finished work, which the knowledge of the ruin it had brought on its illustrious projector would only make more cordial and generous.

To the Manutii and the Stephenses we might add the names of many other learned printers of the first age of the art; for example, that of Simon de Colines (in Latin, COLINEUS), mentioned above, who after having been in partnership with the first Henry Stephens, the grandfather of the author of the Thesaurus, married his widow, and carried on the business, and who was profoundly versed in ancient literature-that of BADIUS (often called Ascentius, from Asche, near Brussels, the place of his nativity), also a Parisian printer, who was the author of several learned works, and whose daughter, Petronilla (or Perrette), the wife of Robert and the mother of the great Henry Stephens, was so erudite a lady that she is said to have taught both her children and her servants Latin, and to have permitted no other language to be spoken in the family-that of FROBEN, who established his press at Basle in Switzerland, and was so highly esteemed by Erasmus for his great learning, that this celebrated person was induced to take up his residence there in order to have his works printed by so able a scholar—and that of OPORINUS, the successor of Froben in the same city, many of the works published by whom, besides being remarkable for their correctness, are illustrated by his own prefaces and notes.

Of names belonging to later times and to our own country, one of the

most distinguished is that of the very learned THOMAS RUDDIMAN, who carried on a considerable business in Edinburgh, during the early part of last century. The editions of the classical authors that issued from his press are in general printed with very great accuracy, and often exhibit new readings and amendments of punctuation, in the highest degree creditable to the ingenuity and erudition of the editor; who besides found leisure for the preparation of several works of his own, among which may be particularly mentioned a Latin Grammar in two volumes, one of the most learned and elaborate performances in the whole range of philology.* Ruddiman held at the same time the office of librarian to the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh (in which he was succeeded by the celebrated David Hume), and was also the publisher of a newspaper, which he had established himself, and which still exists. Among recent English printers the well-known WILLIAM BOWYER long presented a conspicuous example of that accomplished scholarship, united to the most diligent habits of business, which used to be so common in the good old times of the art. Nor ought we to forget his partner and successor, the late Mr. JOHN NICHOLS, whose antiquarian knowledge, and extensive labours in different departments of literature, justly entitle him to a high place among the modern ornaments of his profession.

The father of RICHARDSON, the great novelist, was a joiner; and he himself, after having been taught reading and writing at a country school, was bound apprentice to a London printer, named Wilde, with whom he served for the usual period. Soon after his apprenticeship had expired, he found employment as foreman in a printing-office; and in this situation he remained for five or six years with scarcely a hope of any higher advancement. By the assistance of several friends, however, whom his industry, intelligence, and amiable manners had secured for him, he was at last enabled to enter into business on his own account; when he established himself in Salisbury Court, Fleet Street, and speedily acquired such a position as justified the expectations that had been entertained of him. Meanwhile his literary tastes, and even some indications he had given of his talents as a writer, had become known among his acquaintance, and he was employed on various occasions by the booksellers in the composition of prefaces and dedications for works which they were bringing out. At last they proposed to him the writing of a volume of Familiar Letters; and it was this circumstance, we are told, which suggested the idea of his “Pamela,” the first production by which he obtained any distinction as an author. He was already in

A new edition of this grammar has within the present century been published in Germany under the superintendence of one of the most eminent scholars of that country:

Thoma Ruddimanni Institutiones Grammaticæ Latina; curante Godofredo Stall baum." Lips. 1823. 2 tom. 8vo.

his fifty-second year when he commenced the composition of this work. And yet such was the eagerness with which he applied himself to it, that he finished the two volumes in as many months. It met, as is well known, with the most extraordinary success, having gone through five editions in the course of a year. The author, however, was not left to enjoy his popularity undisturbed; for, not to mention a good deal of severe criticism to which the conduct and moral tendency of the novel were subjected, the manner of the author was attacked with powerful ridicule by the celebrated Fielding in his "Joseph Andrews." The effect of this satire was so keenly felt by Richardson, that he determined to show the world that he could write as well in another style, in proof of which he produced a continuation of the work under the title of "Pamela in High Life," which was far from securing a continuation of its predecessor's popularity. He was not discouraged, however, by this failure, but only instructed by it in the true path in which he was fitted to excel. He returned to his studies, and after some years appeared again as an author by the publication of the first two volumes of his greatest work, his "Clarissa Harlowe." The success of this production was immense. Appearing as it did in parts, it excited the public curiosity in the highest degree. During the progress of its publication, and when it was translated into French, it raised its author in the estimation of continental critics to the first rank among the writers of the age. Richardson was in his sixtieth year when he gave this work to the world; but he had not yet concluded his literary career. Four years afterwards he appeared again before the public with another performance, his "Sir Charles Grandison." This novel (like its immediate predecessor) extends to the unusual length of seven volumes; and it has been asserted that the author's original manuscript, had it not been subsequently curtailed, would have made a book of three times the size. This is hardly, however, to be taken as a proof of the industry of the writer. Prolixity was the besetting fault of Richardson; his works would have cost him more time and labour had he made them shorter. With his fulness of matter, and facility of invention, it was comparatively easy for him to spread his story over any number of pages. What he most wanted was the art of rejection. Richardson is undoubtedly one of the very greatest of our writers in the department to which his works belong; but on the Continent he is very generally considered as standing at the head of his whole class, without a rival. He has some qualities in which he has never been excelled; but his works, in their original language, are too defective to permit us to rate him so high as this. Perhaps some of their faults do not appear so strongly under the disguise of translation; and amongst those most likely to be thus softened, we should especially reckon the general inelegance and extreme slovenliness of the style. This is a fault which the author, in all

probability, could have materially corrected, had he taken the requisite pains.

He published nothing of any importance after his "Sir Charles Grandison;" but it is important to notice, that his literary labours did not interfere with his attention to business, or impede his commercial success. In 1754 he was chosen Master of the Stationers' Company; and some years after he purchased half of the patent of king's printer. He had by this time amassed a respectable fortune, which enabled him to indulge himself with the luxury of a country residence, at Parson's Green, where he spent the latter part of his life in the society of his friends, and the enjoyment of the public admiration which his writings had procured for him. He died in the year 1761, at the age of seventytwo. More than forty years after his death a selection from his Correspondence, with an account of his Life, in six volumes, was published by Mrs. Barbauld.

CHAPTER XI.

BOOKSELLERS AND PRINTERS CONTINUED:-W. HUTTON; R. DODSLEY ; ALMON; CRUDEN; THE PANCKOUCKES; ROTHSCHOLTZ; BAGFORD; AMES ; HERBERT ; PATERSON.-PURSUIT OF LITERATURE IN OTHER TRADES:-WALTON; DEFOE; LILLO.

WILLIAM HUTTON was born in 1723, in the town of Derby, where his father was a working woolcomber, burdened with a large family, for whom his utmost exertions scarcely sufficed to procure subsistence. "My poor mother," says his son in the interesting account he has left us of his life, "more than once, one infant on her knee, and a few more hanging about her, have all fasted a whole day; and when food arrived, she has suffered them with a tear to take her share." Of his mother, Hutton always retained the tenderest recollection. After a long endurance of this struggle, she died when he was only in his tenth year, and he and his brothers and sisters were left to the charge of their father, who, now become almost reckless from continued misfortune, and loosened as it were from his chief stay, soon made matters worse than ever by taking to the alehouse, and often literally leaving his children to the mere mercies of chance. "At one time," says Hutton, "I fasted from breakfast one day till uoon the next, and even then dined upon only flour and water boiled into a hasty-pudding." His father appears to have been a man of a strong understanding, but of violent passions, over which he had little command. Notwithstanding his own dissoluteness, he was a despotic disciplinarian in regard to his children, and