Annals of Mr. Bowyer's Press from 1766 to 1777.. Page 1-293 First Publication of his Memoirs, and other Works... 294-304 Rev. Archdeacon John Denne.... History of the STATIONERS' COMPANY A List of their various Benefactors.. LITERARY ANECDOTES OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. IN the beginning of the year 1766, by engaging His in a partnership with the Writer of these Memoirs, 'Mr. BOWYER was again enabled to withdraw, in some degree, from that close application which had begun to be prejudicial to his health. new Associate, whilst an Apprentice, had been intrusted with a considerable share of the management of the Printing-office; and the connexion was such as, I am proud to say, was highly satisfactory to Mr. BOWYER. To his Partner, it was all that a young man could possibly have hoped for; it was an introduction to a number of respectable Friends, whose patronage was equally honourable and advantageous. The good-natured Reader will pardon the vanity of this paragraph; it is meant as a tribute of gratitude to a Benefactor, whose memory the Writer cannot but heartily revere. In the succeeding Annals of Mr. BOWYER's Life, the mode hitherto adopted will be observed. The productions of the press will be considered as his, without encumbering the narrative with the unnecessary distinction of a Partnership. B VOL. III. In In this year Mr. BOWYER wrote an excellent Latin Preface to "Joannis Harduini, Jesuitæ, ad Censuram Scriptorum Veterum Prolegomena. Juxta Autographum; 8vo." In this Preface is a distinct account of the nature of the Work, as well as of the mode in which it was preserved "in naufragio fortunarum suarum, quod tota familia Jesuitica nuper fecit. Hoc verò fragmentum," says Mr. Bowyer, quasi ex undis ereptum, et in manus P. Vaillant Bibliopolæ traditum, noluit ille orbi literario invidere. Paradoxa enim per se cum novitate suâ delectant, tum longè magis Harduini artificio exornata, qui tam bellè novit dare obscuris nitorem, lucidis umbram, fictis probabilitatem, omnibus denique speciem, prout velit, et gratiam. Istud, igitur, quicquid est, fideliter imprimendum curavit : autographumque ipsum in Museo Britannico reponendum, tanquam votivam tabulam, posteritati consecravit. Paucula hæc, quæ raptim prælibavi, erudito colloquio, quo vir reverendus Caesar De Missy me honestavit, accepta debent referri. Si quid imprudenter dictum sit, meæ tribuendum est inscitiæ ; si quid quod non displiceat, ejus laudi; qui mox, ut spero, plura super hâc re publicâ luce dignabitur." Mr. De Missy's remarks on the celebrated Jesuit's extraordinary production accordingly appeared about the same time, under the title of "De Joannis Harduini Jesuitæ Prolegomenis cum Autographo collatis, Epistola, quam ad amicissi "I was glad to see your Preface; it is perhaps all I shall ever read of the book. Swift says, that he never knew but two or three good lyars in his life. You have shewn how evidently the most artful of them are detected, by shifting their sails, and not abiding by their own decisions. Surely your friend the Bookseller, whom you are obliging with a Preface, is, as usual, a little hard upon Authors; and more dictatorial than usual, when he won't let you write, to puff off his work gratis." Mr. Clarke, MS. + Mr. Paul Vaillant; of whom some account will be given in another part of this Work. Of this good and learned man, and truly primitive Chris tian, see hereafter, under the year 1774. mum |