ever expected from them; an excellent differtation on general principles of morals and law." I wrote to Dr. Johnson on the 20th of February, complaining of melancholy, and expreffing a strong defire to be with him; informing him that the ten packets came all fafe; that Lord Hailes was much obliged to him, and said he had almoft wholly removed his fcruples against entails. To JAMES BOSWELL, Efq. "DEAR SIR, "I HAVE not had your letter half an hour; as you lay fo much weight upon my notions, I should think it not juft to delay my answer. "I am very forry that your melancholy should return, and should be forry likewife if it could have no relief but from my company. My counfel you may have when you are pleased to require it; but of my company you cannot in the next month have much, for Mr. Thrale will take me to Italy, he fays, on the first of April. "Let me warn you very earnestly against scruples. I am glad that you are reconciled to your fettlement, and think it a great honour to have fhaken Lord Hailes's opinion of entails. Do not, however, hope wholly to reafon away your troubles; do not feed them with attention, and they will die imperceptibly away. Fix your thoughts upon your bufinefs, fill your intervals with company, and funfhine will again break in upon your mind. If you will come to me, you must come very quickly; and even then I know not but we may scour the country together, for I have a mind to fee Oxford VOL. II. X and 1776. Atat. 67. 1776. and Lichfield, before I fet out on this long journey. Atat. 67. To this I can only add, that I am, dear Sir, "March 5, 1776. SAM. JOHNSON." To the fame. "DEAR SIR, "VERY early in April we leave England, and in the beginning of the next week I shall leave London for a fhort time; of this I think it neceffary to inform you, that you may not be disappointed in any of your enterprises. I had not fully refolved to go into the country before this day. "Please to make my compliments to Lord Hailes; and mention very particularly to Mrs. Bofwell my hope that fhe is reconciled to, Sir, "Your faithful servant, "March, 12, 1776. SAM. JOHNSON." Above thirty years ago, the heirs of Lord Chancellor Clarendon prefented the University of Oxford with the continuation of his Hiftory, and fuch other of his Lordship's manufcripts as had not been publifhed, on condition that the profits arifing from their publication fhould be applied to the establishment of a Manège in the University. The gift was accepted in full convocation. A perfon being now recommended to Dr. Johnson, as fit to superintend this propofed riding-fchool, he exerted himfelf with that zeal for which he was remarkable upon every fimilar occafion. But, on enquiry into the matter, he found that the scheme was not likely to be foon carried into execution; the profits arifing 1776. from the Clarendon prefs being, from fome mismanagement, very scanty. This having been explained Etat. 67. to him by a respectable dignitary of the church, who had good means of knowing it, he wrote a letter upon the subject, which at once exhibits his extraordinary precision and acutenefs, and his warm attachment to his ALMA MATER. To the Reverend Dr. WETHERELL, Mafter of Univerfity-College, Oxford. "DEAR SIR, "FEW things are more unpleasant than the tranfaction of bufinefs with men who are above knowing or caring what they have to do; fuch as the trustees for Lord Cornbury's inftitution will, perhaps, appear, when you have read Dr. *******'s letter. "The last part of the Doctor's letter is of great importance. The complaint which he makes I have heard long ago, and did not know but it was redreffed. It is unhappy that a practice fo erroneous has not yet been altered; for altered it must be, or our press will be useless with all its privileges. The bookfellers, who, like all other men, have strong prejudices in their own favour, are enough inclined to think the practice of printing and felling books by any but themselves, an encroachment on the rights of their fraternity; and have need of ftronger inducements to circulate 7 I fuppofe the complaint was, that the truftees of the Oxford prefs did not allow the London bookfellers a fufficient profit upon vending their publications. academical publications than those of one another; for, of that mutual co-operation by which the general trade is carried on, the University can bear no part. Of those whom he neither loves nor fears, and from whom he expects no reciprocation of good offices, why fhould any man promote the interest but for profit? I fuppofe, with all our fcholaftick ignorance of mankind, we are ftill too knowing to expect that the bookfellers will erect themselves into patrons, and buy and fell under the influence of a difinterefted zeal for the promotion of learning. "To the bookfellers, if we look for either honour or profit from our prefs, not only their common profit, but fomething more must be allowed; and if books, printed at Oxford, are expected to be rated at a high price, that price must be levied on the publick, and paid by the ultimate purchaser, not by the intermediate agents. What price fhall be fet upon the book, is, to the book fellers, wholly indifferent, provided that they gain a proportionate profit by negociating the fale. "Why books printed at Oxford should be particularly dear, I am, however, unable to find. We pay no rent; we inherit many of our inftruments and materials; lodging and victuals are cheaper than at London; and, therefore, workmanship ought, at least, not to be dearer. Our expences are naturally less than those of book fellers; and, in most cafes, communities are content with lefs profit than individuals. cr "It is, perhaps, not confidered through how many hands a book often paffes, before it comes into thofe of the reader; or what part of the profit each hand must retain, as a motive for tranfmitting it to the next. "We will call our primary agent in London, Mr. Cadell, who receives our books from us, gives them room in his warehouse, and iffues them on demand; by him they are fold to Mr. Dilly, a wholesale bookseller, who fends them into the country; and the last feller is the country bookfeller. Here are three profits to be paid between the printer and the reader, or in the ftyle of commerce, between the manufacturer and the confumer; and if any of these profits is too penuriously diftributed, the procefs of commerce is interrupted. "We are now come to the practical queftion, what is to be done? You will tell me, with reason, that I have faid nothing, till I declare how much, according to my opinion, of the ultimate price ought to be diftributed through the whole fucceffion of fale. "The deduction, I am afraid, will appear very great but let it be confidered before it is refused. We must allow, for profit, between thirty and thirty-five per cent. between fix and seven fhillings in the pound; that is, for every book which costs the last buyer twenty fhillings, we must charge Mr. Cadell with fomething less than fourteen. We muft fet the copies at fourteen fhillings each, and fuperadd what is called the quarterly book, or for every hundred books fo charged we muft deliver an hundred and four. 1776. rat. 67. |