tyes and judges. Self-ended, (upon experiment) under the temptation of profit. Offenders as well as the stationers; and, in all abuses of the presse, confederate with them. Beside, they will have the same influence upon searches; and they have probably as little stomack to a regulation, as the other. 'Tis true, the printers interest is not so great as the stationers; for where hee gets (it may be) 20 or 25 in the 100 for printing an unlawful book, the other doubles, nay many times, trebles his mony by selling it yet neverthelesse the printer's benefit lyes at stake too. 2dly. It were a hard matter to pick out twenty master-printers, who are both free of the trade, of ability to menage it, and of integrity to be entrusted with it: most of the honester sort being impove rished by the late times, and the great business of the press being engross'd by Oliver's creatures. But they propose to undertake the work upon condition to be incorporate. That is, to be disengaged from the company of stationers, and to be made a society by themselves. It may be an swered, that it would be with them as 'tis with other incorporate societies: they would be true to the publique, so far as stands with the particular good of the company. But evidently their gain lyes the other way: and for a state to erect a corporation that shall bring so great a danger upon the publique, and not one peny into the treasury, to balJance the hazzard, were a proceeding not ordinary. In But they offer to give security, and to be lyable to fines. Let that be done, whether they be incorporate, or no. case of failer, they'll be content to lose their priviledges. What signifies that, but only a stronger obligation to a closer Confederacy? 'Tis true, the printers in a distinct and regulated society may do some good as to the general business of printing, and within the sphere of that particular profession: but the question is here, how to prevent a publique mischief, not how to promote a private trade. But are not printers the fittest instruments in searches? They are, with out dispute, necessary assistants, either for retriving conceal'd pamphlets, or for examination of work in the mettle, but whether it be either for the honour, or safety, of the publique, to place so great a trust in the hands of persons of that quality, and interest, is submitted to better judgments, To conclude, both printers and sta tioners, under colour of offering a service to the publique, do effectually but design one upon another. The printers would beat down the bookselling trade, by menaging the press as themselves please, and by working upon their own copies. The stationers, on the other side, they would subject the printers to be absolutely their slaves; which they have ef fected in a large measure already, by so encreasing the number, that the one half must either play the knaves, or starve. The expedient for this, must be some way to disengage the printers from that servile and mercenary dependence upou the stationers, unto which they are at present subjected. The true state of the business being as follows: First, The number of master-printers is computed to be about 60, whereas 20 or 24 would dispatch all the honest work of the nation. 2dly. These sixty master-printers have above 100 apprentices; (that is, at least 20 more than they ought to have by the law.) 3dly. There are, beside aliens, and those that are free of other trades, at least 150 journy-men, of which number, at least 30 are superfluous; to which 30 there will be added about 36 more, be side above 50 supernumerary appren tices, upon the reduction of the masterprinters to 24. So that upon the whole reckoning, there will be left a matter of 60 journy-men, and 50 apprentices, to provide for, a part of which charge might very reasonably be laid upon those who bound or took any of the said number, as apprentices, contrary to the limitation set by authority. These supernumerary printers were at first introduced by the book-sellers, as a sure way to bring them both to their prices, and purposes; for the number being greater then could honestly live upon the trade, the printers were en forc'd either to print treason, or sedi tion, if the stationer offered it, or to want lawful work, by which necessity on the one side, and power on the other, the combination became exceeding dan gerous, and so it still continues; but how to dissolve it, whether by barely dis incorporating the company of stationers, and subjecting the printers to rules apart, and by themselves; or by making them two distinct companies, I do not meddle. This only may be offer'd, that in case those privileges and benests should be granted 1 granted, to both stationers, and printers, which they themselves desire in point of trade; yet in regard that several interests are concern'd, that of the kingdom on the one side, and only that of the companies on the other; it is but reason that there should be several super-intending powers, and that the smaller in terest should give place, and be subordinate to the greater: that is, the master and wardens to menage the business of their respective trade, but withall, to be subjected to some superior officer, that should over-look them both on behalf of the publique. As the powers of licensing books, are by the late act vested in several persons, with regard to the several subjects those books treat of; so may there likewise be several agents authoris'd and appointed for the care of the press, touching these several particulars, under the name and title of surveyors of the press; and every distinct surveyor to keep himself strictly within the limits of his own province. As for example: First, The lord chancellour, or lord keeper of the great seal of England for the time being, the lords chief justices, and lord chief baron for the time being, or one or more of them, are specially authoris'd to license, by themselves, or by their substitutes, all books concerning the common laws of this kingdom. Let there be one surveigher of the press constituted peculiarly for that sub. ject. 2dly. All books of divinity, physique, philosophy, or whatsoever other science, or art, are to be licensed by the lord archbishop of Canterbury, and lord bishop of London for the time being, or one of them, or by their, or one of their appointments, or by either one of the chancellours, or vice-chancellours of either of the universities, for the time being. Let three other surveighers of the press be likewise authorized for these particulars. 3dly. All books concerning heraldry, titles of honour, and arms, or concerning the office of earl-marshall, are to be licens'd by the earl-marshall for the time being; or in case there shail not then be an earl-marshall, by the three kings of arms, or any two of them, whereof Garter to be one. This is to be the subject of another Burveigher's care. 4thly. Books of history, politiques, state-alfairs, and all other miscellanies, or treatises, not comprehended under the powers before-mentioned, fall under the jurisdiction of the principal secre taries of state, to be allow'd by themselves, or one of them, or by their, or one of their appointments. The care of the press concerning these. particulars may be another surveigher's business; so that six persons may do the whole work, with good order, and security. Three substitutes for the bishops, and chancellours, and one a-piece for the rest. A word now touching the encouragement of these officers, and then con cerning penalties to be inflicted upon offenders, and rewards to be granted to enformers. The inward motive to all publique and honourable actions, must be taken for granted to be a principle of loyalty, and justice: but the question is here concerning outward encouragements to this particular charge. There must be benefit, and power. Benefit, that a man may live honestly upon the employment; and power, for the credit and execution of the trust. The benefit must arise partly from some certain and standing fee; and in part from accessory and contingent advantages, which will be but few, and small, in proportion to the trouble and charge of the employment: for there must be, first, a constant attendance, and a dayly labour in hunting out, and over-looking books, and presses; and secondly, a continual expense in the enterteynment of instruments for discovery and intelligence, which, being deducted out of the pittances of licenses and forfeitures, will leave the surveigher a very small proportion for his peyns. The next thing is a power to execute; without which, the law is dead, and the officer ridiculous. Now concerning penalties and rewards, 1. The gayn of printing some books is ten times greater, if they scape, then the loss, if they be taken; so that the da mage bearing such a disproportion to the profit, is rather an allurement to offend, then a discouragement. 2. As the punishment is too small for the offender, so is the reward also for the enformer; for reckon the time, trouble, and money, which it shall cost the prosecutour to recover his allotment, he shall sit down at last a loser by the bargain, and more than that, he loses his credit and caployment, over and above, as a betrayer of his fellows; so great is are comprehended forfeitures, confis the power and confidence of the delin- cations, loss of any beneficial office or quent party. employment, incapacity to hold or enjoy any; and finally, all damages ac cruing, and impos'd, as a punishment for some offence.* The way to help this, is to augment both the punishment and the reward, and to provide that the inflicting of the one, and the obteyning of the other, may be both easie and certain; for to impose a penalty, and to leave the way of raysing it so tedious and difficult, as in this case hitherto it is, amounts to no more than this: If the enformer will spend ten pound, 'tis possible he may recover five; and so the prosecutor must impose a greater penalty upon himself, then the law does upon the offender, or else all comes to nothing. An expedient for this inconvenience is highly necessary; and why may not the oath of one credible witness or more, before a master of the chancery, or a justice of the peace, serve for a conviction. Especially the person accused being left at liberty before such oath taken, either to appeal to the privycouncil, or to abide the decision. Now to the several sorts of penalties, and to the application of them. The ordinary penalties I find to be these: Death, mutilation, imprisonment, banishment, corporal peyns, di-grace, pecuniary mulcts; which penalties are to be apply'd with regard to the quality of the offence, and to the condition of the delinquent. The offence is either blasphemy, he resie, schism, treason, sedition, scandal, or contempt of authority. The delinquents are the advisers, authors, compilers, writers, printers, correctors, stitchers, and binders, of unlaw ful books and pamphlets; together with all publishers, dispersers, and concealers of them in general, and all stationers, posts, hackny-coachmen, carryers, boat. men, mariners, hawkers, mercury-women, pedlers, and bailad-singers, so offending, in particular. Penalties of disgrace ordinarily in practice are many, and more may be added. Pillory, stocks, whipping, carting, stig matizing, disablement to bear office or testimony, publique recantation, standing under the gallows with a rope about the neck at a publique execution, disfranchisement (if free-men), cashiering (if Bouldiers), degrading (if persons of condition), wearing some badge of infamy, condemnation to work either in mines, plantations, or houses of correction. Under the head of pecuniary mulcts, Touching the other penalties beforemention'd, it suffices only to have nam'd them, and so to proceed to the application of them, with respect to the crime, and to the offender. The penalty ought to bear proportion to the malice, and influence of the of fence, but with respect to the offender too; for the same punishment (unless it be death itself) is not the same thing to several persons, and it may be proper enough to punish one man in his purse, another in his credit, a third in his body, and all for the same offence. The grand delinquents are, the au thors or compilers (which I reckon as all one), the printers, and stationers. For the authors, nothing can be too severe that stands with humanity and conscience. First, 'tis the way to cut off the fountain of our troubles. 2dly, there are not many of them in an age, and so the less work to do. 4 The printer and stationer come next, who, beside the common penalties of mony, loss of copies, or printing materials, may be subjected to these further punishments. Let them forfeit the best copy they have, at the choice of that surveigher of the press under whose cognisance the offence lyes; the profit whereof the said officer shall see thus distributed, one third to the king, a second to the enfor mer, reserving the remainder to himself. In some cases, they may be condemn'd to wear some visible badge, or marque of ignominy, as a halter instead of a hatband, one stocking blew, and another red; a blew bonnet with a red T or S upon it, to denote the crime to be either treason or sedition: and if at any time, the person so condemned shall be found without the said badge or marque during the time of his obligation to wear it, let him incurre some further penalty, provided only, that if within the said time he shall discover and seize, or cause to be seized, any author, printer, or sta tioner, liable at the time of that discovery and seizure, to be proceeded against for the matter of treasonous or seditious pamphlets, the offender aforeraid shall from the time of that discovery be discharg'd from wearing it any longer. This proposal may seem phantastique at at first sight; but certainly there are It is not needful here to run through sortable to every man's condition, and crime. Concerning rewards, something is said already, and I shall only add for a conclusion, that they are every jot as necessary as punishments, and ought to be various, according to the several needs, tempers, and qualities, of the persons upon whom they are to be conferr'd. Mony is a reward for one, honour for another; and either of these misplac'd, would appear rather a mockery than a benefit. THE END. Extracts from the Portfolio of a Man of Letters. RICHARD KEDERMINSTER. the impious defacing of such memorials as were erected for the dead, and every printed copy was subscribed with her own hand. Those who have committed this offence, are ordered, if they are able to have them repaired ; and if not, they are to be punished by penance, fine, and imprisonment, and the revenues of the churches are to be employed in restoring them as nearly as possible to their origi ALEXANDER DE HAILES. This once celebrated scholar was brought up at Hailes Abbey, in the county of Gloucester, from whence in due time he removed to Oxford, and from thence went to Paris to complete his studies. He wrote "The Summe of Divinitie," at the instance of Pope Innocent the Fourth, to whom he dedicated the work, and for this and other good services to the church of Rome, he received the splendid title of Doctor Irrefragabilis. He died in 1545, and was buried in the Franciscan church at París. HIS amiable and learned man, was and there he was buried in 1581. PROCLAMATION AGAINST DEFACING MONUMENTS. Queen Elizabeth, in the second year of her reign, issued a proclamation against VACCINATION, AND INOCULATION FOR It must excite astonishment that the vaccine inoculation, which has already been attended with so much success, should so long have been known, and partially acted upon, in the provinces, without being adopted in the metropolis. This may perhaps, in some measure, be attributed to the obscu rity of the first practitioners, who not being regularly bred, were of course supposed to be grossly ignorant; and the sapient and solemn society, with the mystical capitals of M.D. backed to the end of each of their names, held the unenlightened and illiterate in so much con tempt tempt, that they would not deign to adopt any practice which had been previously pursued by an uninitiated herd, who were so far from being able to write a prescription in elegant Latin, that they could very rarely write it in plain English. Transferring the small-pox from one subject to another, by the common mode of inoculation, though universally supposed to have been introduced in this nation by Lady Mary Wortley Montague, may, in like manner, be traced back to a much earlier period, and is generally believed to have been long practiced in North Wales, as far back as any tradition reaches. When the late Sir Watkin Williams Wynne, (I mean the grandfather of the present baronet,). was told, at his own table at Wynstyn, of the secret brought from Turkey, by the above mentioned Lady Mary, he declared that when he was a boy, (and, as he was told and believed, for many ages back,) old women, who were distinguished by the name of cunning-women, and travelled the country as gypsies, practised inoculation as well as fortune-telling; they affected to give the small-pox by a charm, but really carried the matter in a quill, and scratched the arm with a pin or needle. The introduction of Lady Mary's Circassian mode of inoculation, transferred it from the cunning women, to the still nore cunning apothecaries, surgeons, &c. &c. &c. A short specimen of A Supplement to Dr. Johnson's Dictionary, comprising words, phrases, &c. which that learned lexicographer thought beneath his notice. By a late celebrated Writer. I shall somewhat enlarge the catalogue of terms that demand explication, which like base metal among legitimate coin, have by long usage, become current in our language, and without which the commerce of the world, or even the traffic of letters can with difficulty be maintained, either with profit or delectation. To explain them may be some glory; it would be more substantial fame to contribute to their extirpation. Wishy-washy; fiddle-faddle; slapdash; hum-drum; harum-scarum; pitpat; rantum-scantum; chit-chat; prittleprattle; hoity-toity; tip-top; hubblebubble; humpty-dumpty; hugger-mugger; hiccius-doccius; hurdy-gurdy. It is easy from this slight specimen to suppose extension and amplification. Printed authorities will be subjoined, as vouchers for the existence of every term and word that shall be cited; and its various significations, where there are more than one, properly explained. He who writes a dictionary of any Alternate preponderation. Mental torpidity. Gigantic intonation." The period between adolescence and puberty. The exertion of an ast, maugre the consent of another Aerial suspension. Inordinate precipitation. Hesitation and irresolution. Extreme tumult and confusion. An inversion of capitals and fundamentals. An ænigmatic exordium. Tintinabulary chimes, used metaphorically to signify dispatch and vehemence. The lowest plebeians. See Base-born, and Scum of the earth. Ninny-hammer-Nincompoop, Asinine wretches. Rigmarole, Ziz zag, Hodge-podge, Pseudo necromancy. An emasculate obsttentaion. Discourse incoherent and rhapsodical. Lines of irregularity and involution. Quasi hilariter et celeriter, signifying motion of equal jocundity and velocity. A culinary mixture of heterogeneous ingredients, applied metaphorically to all discordant combinations. |