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It appears from his will, that he was a bookseller, bookbinder, and stationer, all which businesses were carried on in his house; and that he was also a printer, in partnership with John Watts. The elder Jacob probably also carried on all these several occupations. For what purpose then could the elder Tonson wish for any additional wealth? He had no children of his own; and the children of his nephew were all most amply provided for by their father's will. Seventeen days after the death of that nephew (Dec. 2, 1735), old Jacob Tonson made his will; in which he confirmed a settlement that he had made on him (probably at the time of his marriage), and appointed his great-nephew, Jacob Tonson, the eldest son of the former Jacob, his executor and residuary legatee. This must have been an immense accession to what he already had derived from his father; who devised all his estates in Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, and Worcestershire, in what is called strict settlement, to his sons, Jacob, Richard, and Samuel, suceessively; and the whole benefit of his patent between the two elder, whom he also made his residuary legatees.

Jacob Tonson, the third bookseller of the name (who is called by Dr. Johnson "the late amiable Mr. Tonson"), served the office of high sheriff for the county of Surrey in 1750; and in 1759 paid the customary fine for being excused serving the same important office for the city of London and county of Middlesex (his father and great-uncle having both paid the same fine in the year 1734). He carried on his trade, with great liberality, and credit to himself, for above thirty years, in the same shop which had been possessed by his father and great uncle, opposite Catharine-street in the Strand; but, some years before his death, removed to a new house on the other side of the way, near Catharine-street, where he died, without issue, March 31, 1767. And Mr. Steevens afterwards, in a Prefatory Advertisement to the edition of Shakespeare in 1778, honoured his memory with the following characteristic eulogium.

"To those who have advanced the reputation of our Poet, it has been endeavoured, by Dr. Johnson, in the foregoing preface, impartially to allot their dividend of fame; and it is with great regret that we now add to the catalogue, another, the consequence of whose death will perhaps affect, not only the works of Shakespeare, but of many other writers.

Soon after the first appearance of this edition, a disease, rapid in its progress, deprived the world of Mr. Jacob Tonson; a man, whose zeal for the improvement of English literature, and whose liberality to men of learning, gave him a just title to all the honours which men of learning can bestow. To suppose that a person employed in an extensive trade lived in a state of indifference to loss and gain, would be to conceive a character incredible and romantic; but it may be justly said of Mr. Tonson, that he had enlarged his mind beyond solicitude about petry losses, and refined it from the desire of unreasonable profit. He was willing to admit those with whom he contracted, to the just advantage of their own labours; and had never learned to consider the author as an under-agent to the bookseller. The wealth which he inherited or acquired, he enjoyed like a man con scious of the dignity of a profession subservient to learning. His domestic life was elegant, and his charity was liberal, His manners were soft, and his conver sation delicate: nor is, perhaps, any quality in him more to be censured, than that reserve which confined his acquain tance to a small number, and made his example less useful, as it was less extensive. He was the last commercial name of a family which will be long remembered; and, if Horace thought it not im proper to convey the Sosii to posterity; if rhetoric suffered no dishonour from Quintilian's dedication to Trypho; let it not be thought that we disgrace Shakespeare, by appending to his works the name of Tonson."

Though his younger brother, Richard, survived him a few years, he interfered but little with the concerns of the trade. By his father's will, the estate at WaterOakley, in the parish of Bray, near Windsor, was directed to be sold, and the produce to be considered as part of his personal property; but, either by agreement with his family or by purchase, it came into the hands of the second son, Rich ard; who, though a partner with bis elder brother, lived principally at Water-Oakley; where he was so much beloved and respected, that the electors of New Windsor almost compelled him to represent them in parliament; an honour which he enjoyed at the time of his death. In this delightful retreat, where his henevo、 lence and hospitality are still recollected, he built a room, lighted at the top by a dome, and an anti-chamber for the reception of the celebrated Kit-cat por

traits,

traits, which had descended to him on the death of brother Jacob. They were ranged on each side the room, in two rows, and in the following order :-Over the Chimney: the Duke of Newcastle and Henry, Earl of Lincoln, in one picture. In the First Row: 1. Charles Seymour, Duke of Somerset; 2. William Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire; 3. Charles Lenox, Duke of Richmond; 4. Charles Fitzroy, Duke of Grafton; 5. John, Duke of Montagu; 6. C. Sackville, Earl of Dorset ; 7. Richard Lord Lumley; 8. Charles Howard, Earl of Carlisle; 9. Sir Richard Temple; 10. Thomas Hopkins, Esq.-The Door, first row continued: 11. William Walsh, Esq.; 12. Algernoon Capel, Earl of Essex; 13. James Earl of Berkeley; 14. John Vaughan, Earl of Carbery; 15. Charles Lord Cornwallis; 16. Charles Montagu, Earl of Halifax; 17. John Lord Somers; 18. Thomas Earl of Wharton; 19. Chas. Montague, Earl of Manchester; 20. Evelyn Pierpoint, Marquis of Dorchester. Chimney, beginning of the second row; 21. Lionel Cranfield Sackville, Earl of Dorset; 22. Charles Lord Mohun; 23. Robert Walpole, Esq.; 24. Spencer Compton, Esq.; 25. Lieut.-Gen. James Stanhope; 26. Hon. William Pulteney, Esq.; 27. John Dormer, Esq. 28. John Tidcomb, Esq.; 29. Abraham Stan yan, Esq.; 30. John Dryden, Esq.Door, 2d row continued: 31. Sir Godfrey Kneller; 32. Jacob Tonson, senior; 33. Sir John Vanbrugh; 34. William Congreve, Esq.; 35. Joseph Addison, Esq.; 36. Sir Samuel Garth, M. D.; 37. Sir Richard Steele; 38. Arthur Maynwaring, Esq.; 39 George Stepney, Esq.; 40. Francis Lord Godolphin. The two portraits in one picture, over the chimney, make the number 42.-In the little anti-chamber, was a portrait of Lord Chief Justice Raymond.-Mr. Tonson did not long enjoy the improvement he had made in his house, and the orna. ments he had added to it; being unexpectedly cut off, after a few days illness, by an inflammatory complaint in his bowels, to the regret of his friends, and the deep affliction of all his poor neigh bours, the very year that his room was completed. The house was soon after sold; and became the seat of the Duke of Argyle; and is now in the possession of Join Huddleston, Esq. who purchased it of Mr. Barker Church." The portraits became the property of Willian Baker, Esq. late M. P. for Herts; whose father (the late Sir William Baker, many years an alderman of the ward of Bassishaw,

in the city of London,) married the eldest daughter of the second Jacob Tonson. One of the younger daughters died unmarried: and the other, who married Mr. Lampriere, died without issue.

THOMAS HOLLIS.

Thomas Hollis, of Corscombe, in the county of Dorset, esq. was born in London, April 14, 1720. This nomical birthday Mr. Hollis ever afterwards, without regard to the change of style, continued to observe. His great-grandfather, Thomas, of Rotherham in Yorkshire, a whitesmith by trade, and Baptist by persua sion, settled in London during the civil wars, and died there in 1718, aged 84, leaving three sons, Thomas, Nathaniel, and John. Of these the eldest, Thomas, a considerable merchant. is chiefly memorable for his benefactions to New England, particularly to Harvard college in Cambridge (where he founded a professorship, scholarships, &c.) to the amount of near 50001, in which his brothers were joint contributors, without any restriction in regard to religious sects. Thomas, the only son of Nathaniel, died in 1755 (three years before his father), leaving one son, the subject of this note, and of course the heir to his father, and also to his great-uncle Thomas, who died in 1730. His mother was the daughter of Mr. Scott, of Wolverhampton, in whose family Mr. Hollis was nurtured in his infancy. The above account will rectify a mistake which has prevailed, of his being a descendant of Denzil Lord Holles, though his grandfather used to say, they were of one family, which separated in the time of Henry VIII. He was educated at the free-school of Newport in Shropshire, till he was about eight or nine years of age (probably), by a Mr. or a Dr. Lee; and afterwards at St. Alban's, by Mr. Wood. In his 13th or 14th year he was sent to Amsterdam, to learn the Dutch and French languages, writing, accompts, &c.; stayed there about fifteen months, and then returned to London to his father, with whom le continued till his death, in 1735. After this he was some years in the house of his cousin Timothy Hollis, esq. His guardian was Mr. John Hollister, then treasurer of Guy's Hospital; who, to give him a liberal education, suitable to the ample fortune he was to inherit, put him under the tuition of Professor Ward, whose picture, to preserve his memory, Mr. Hollis presented to the British Mu seum; and, in honour of his father and guardian, he cansed to be inscribed 4K 2

round

round a valuable diamond ring, Mnemosynon Patris Tutorisque. From Dr. Je remiah Hunt, Dr. Foster, and other eminent persons, he imbibed that ardent love of liberty, and freedom of sentiment, which strongly marked his character. He professed himself a Dissenter. In 1739-40 he went to chambers in Lincoln's-Inn, being admitted as a law-student; but does not appear to have studied the law as a profession, though he resided there till July 19, 1748, when he set out on his travels for the first time, and passed through Holland, Austrian and French Netherlands, part of France, Switzerland, Savoy, and part of Italy, and returned through Provence, Brittany, &c. to Paris. His fellow traveller was Thomas Brand, esq. of the Hyde, in Essex, his particular friend and future heir. His second tour, which commenced July 16, 1750, was through Holland to Embden, Bremen, Hamburgh, the principal cities on the north and east side of Germany, the rest of Italy, Sicily and Malta, Lorrain, &c. The journals of both his tours are preserved, and would be a va Juable acquisition to the public. On his return home, finding he could not ob tain a seat in parliament in the disinterested manner he wished, without the smallest appearance of bribery, he began his collection of books and medals, "for the purpose of illustrating and upholding liberty, preserving the memory of its champions, to render tyranny and its abettors odious, to extend science and art, to keep alive the honour and estimation of their patrons and protectors, and to make the whole as useful as possible; abhorring all monopoly; and, if such should be the fitness of things, to propagate the same benevolent spirit to posTerity." Among Mr. Hollis's noble benefactions to foreign libraries, none is more remarkable than that of two large collections of valuable books to the pub Jic library of Berne, which were presented anonymously, as hy an Englishman, a lover of liberty, his country, and its excellent constitution, as restored at the happy Revolution." Switzerland, Geneva, Venice, Leyden, Sweden, Russia, &c. shared his favours. His benefactions to Harvard college commenced in 1758, and were continued every succeeding year, to the amount in all of 14001. Dr. Jonathan Mayhew, pastor of the Westchurch in Boston, was his confidential friend and correspondent, and partook largely of his esteem and beneficence. But bis liberality to individuals, as well

66

as to public societies, cannot here be specified. Mr. Hollis purchased at Mr. Charles Stanhope's sale, June 3, 1760, an original of Milton when a boy, painted by Cornelius Jansen. A fire happening at his lodgings in Bedford-street, Jan. 23, 1761, he calmly walked out, taking the picture only in his hand. The fire, however, was happily got under without any loss.

A new edition of Toland's Life of Milton was published under his care and direction, in 1761. He presented, Oct. 29, 1761, an original portrait of Sir Isaac Newton, painted by Zeeman, 1726, to Trinity College, Cambridge. All the Tracts that were pub lished against the Jesuits he collected in 1762, and sent to the public library of Zurich, having been slighted, as he thought, by the Curators of the British Museum. In April, 1763, Mr. Hollis gave the public a new and accurate edition of Algernon Sydney's Discourses out Government, on which the pains and experse he bestowed are almost incredible. His patronising this edition, and other works of the same kind, procured him, and no wonder, the name and reputation of a Republican. "Roma Antica,” by the Abbate Venuti, though a posthumous work, owed its birth to Mr. Hollis. In 1763 his friend Count Algarotti published his "Saggio sopra l'Academia de Francia che è in Roma," with a dedication to Mr. Hollis, to his great surprize, as, when he could, he always declined such compliments. The noble library, philosophical apparatus, &c. of Harvard college, being consumed by fire, Jan. 24, 1764, Mr. Hollis immediately subscribed 2001. towards repairing the loss. In this year Mr. Locke's two Treatises on Government, and in the next his Letters on Toleration, were published separately, under the auspices of Mr. Hollis. In June he presented some Egyptian Antiquities, anonymously to Count Caylus at Paris. Dr. Wallis's Latin Grammar of the English Tongue was' reprinted at Mr. Hollis's desire, to promote the knowledge of our language among foreigners. The elegant preface prefixed was written by Mr. Bowyer, who was ever desirous of forwarding Mr. Hollis's public-spirited intentions A fine collection of books, intended by Mr. Hollis for Harvard college, being burnt, with his bookbinder's house, June 6, he immediately began collecting" a finer parcel." One of his presents this year being consigned to the public library, "if any," at Bermuda; on Dr. Mayhew's replying that he be

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lieved there was none, the Biographers
of Mr. Hollis add," Though Bp. Berke-
ley's project of establishing and endow
ing a college at Bermuda miscarried, yet,
one would think, he did not bring back
the collection of books he intended for
that foundation." He certainly did not,
but it does not appear that he ever was
at Bermuda, or got nearer to it than
Newport in Rhode Island. There he
resided, and there he left his books. A
second magnificent present of books was
sent by our patriot to Berne this year.
His expenses in books, virtù, presents,
charity, &c. amounted in 1764 to about
8001. and were seldom much less. In
this year he sent to Sydney College,
Cambridge, where Cromwell was edu-
cated, an original portrait of him by
Cooper, since etched by P. S. Lambourne
and J. Bretherton.-Dr. Mayhew died of
a nervous fever, July 9, aged 49, "over-
plied," as Mr. Hollis expresses it, in
Miltonic phrase," by public energies."
For a drawing of him, by Cipriani, from
a picture at Boston, Mr. Hollis paid 30
guineas. Dr. Andrew Elliot succeeded
to his correspondence. In 1767 Mr.
Hollis's projected re-publications of An-
drew Marvell's Works, and of Milton's
Prose Works, both proved abortive. For
a frontispiece to the latter, Cipriani had
drawn and etched Milton victorious over
Salmasius. In August 1770, Mr. Hollis
carried into execution a plan, which he
had formed five years before, of retiring
into Dorsetshire; and of his situation
there he gives the following account, from
Corscombe, Sept. 24: "Retreat is now
become more and more acceptable to

me.

Where I shall dwell afterwards precisely, I do not know at present; but as near to this place as may be. It is called Urles, or Urles-farm; and is a most healthy and, I think, beautiful spot; the very earth itself is sweet beyond a nosegay: but the house is bad, and a very old farm-house. I thank God, I am well; but I feel, in several ways, the effects of my late long most rigid plan: I rise from six to seven, and to bed from eleven to twelve; and the whole day, each to the other, passes in such a variety of transactions, some not personal and of scope, that I am often surprised at the recollection of them. That of which I am most chary is my time; and people, knowing the streightness of my apartment, and that I mean well under certain singularities, are cautious enough, in general, not to break in upon and consume it. The idea of singularity, by

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way of shield, I try by all means to hold. out." Early in the afternoon of New Year's-day, 1774, Mr. Hollis was in a field, at some distance from his place, of residence at Corscombe, attended by, only one workman, who was receiving his directions concerning a tree which had been lately felled. On a sudden, he put one of his fingers to his forehead, saying, "Richard, I believe the weather is going to change; I am extremely giddy." These words were scarcely off his lips, when he fell on his left side. The man sprang to his assistance, and, raising him up, adininistered what little. relief he could. He was still sufficiently himself to say, "Lord have mercy upon ine; Lord have mercy upon me; receivemy soul;" which were the last words he was able to pronounce. His lips moved afterwards, but no sound was formed, and he expired presently after. The following quaint character of this extraordinary man appeared in one of the public prints some years before his death, July 5, 1770: "Thomas Hollis is a man possessed of a large fortune; above the half of which he devotes to charities, to the encouragement of genius, and to the support and defence of liberty. His studious hours are devoted to the search of noble authors hidden by the rust of time; and to do their virtues justice, by brightening their actions for the review of the public. Wherever he meets the man of letters, he is sure to assist him; and were I to describe in paint this illustrious citi zen of the world, I would depict him leading by the hands Genius and distressed Virtue to the Temple of Reward." Mr. Hollis, in order to preserve the memory of those heroes and patriots for whom he had a veneration, called many of the farms and fields in his estate at Corscombe by their names; and by these names they are still distinguished. In the middle of one of these fields, not far from his house, he ordered his corpse to be deposited, in a grave ten feet deep, and that the field should be iminediately ploughed over, that no trace of his bu rial-place might remain. In the testamentary disposition of his fortune, he shewed himself as much superior to com mon connexions as he affected to be. through life; for, without the least regard to his natural relations, he bequeathed all his real, and the residue of his personal, estate, to his dear friend and fellow.traveller, Thomas Brand, esq. of The Hyde, in Essex, who took the name and arms of Hollis, and whose

first

first application of his liberality was to solicit a seat in Parliament. To the books which Mr. Hollis published, or procured to be published, before mentioned, may be added the following: "Nedham's Excellence of a Free State;" Neville's Plato Redivivus" (a re-publication of Mr. Spence's edition); "Neville's Parliament of Ladies ;" and " Isie of Pines."

MR. JENNENS, OF GOPSAL.

Charles Jennens, esq. of Gopsal, in Leicestershire; for whom Mr. Bowyer printed afterwards, on the model of his Lear, the Tragedies of "Hamlet," 1772; “Othello" and " Macbeth," 1773. He would have proceeded further, but death prevented him. The Tragedy of "Julius Caesar," which was in his life-time put to the press, was published in 1774. Ile had a very noble library, and a large collection of pictures, both in Great Ormond-street and at Gopsal, described in "London and its Environs," vol. v. p. 76-97; and in the Connoisseur, 8vo.; and his house at Gospal, in Young's Tour.

In his youth he was so remarkable for the number of his servants, the splendour of his equipages, and the profusion of his table, that, from his excess of pomp, he acquired the title of Solyman the Magnificent. He is said to have composed the words for some of Handel's Oratorios, and particularly those for "The Messiah;" an easy task, as it is only a selection from Scripture verses. Not long before his death, be imprudently thrust his head into a nest of hornets, by an edition of Shakespeare, which he began, by publishing "King Lear," in 8vo, The chief error of Mr. Jennens's life consisted in his perpetual association with a set of men every way inferior to himself, By these means he lost all opportunities of improvement, but gained what he preferred to the highest gratifications of wisdom-flattery in excess. He generally took care to patronise such trades men and such artists, as few other persons would employ. Hence his shelves were crowded with the lumber of Russel's needy shop, and his walls discoloured by the refuse of Hayman's miserable pencil. The obstinacy of Mr. Jennens was equal to his vanity. What he had once as serted, though manifestly false, he would always maintain. Being in possession of a portrait by Cornelius Jansen, he advertised it as the head of Shakespeare; and,, though it was found to be dated in 1610, before Jansen was in England, our

critic not only disdained to retract his first position, but wrote letters in the newspapers to compliment himself on the ownership of such an undoubted original of his favourite Bard. So enamoured (as has been before observed) was our Magnifico of pomp, that, if his transit were only from G.eat Ormondstreet, Bloomsbury, where he resided, to Mr. Bowyer's, in Red Lion-passage, Fleet-street, be always travelled with four horses, and sometimes with as many servants behind his carriage. In his progress up the paved court, a footman usu ally preceded him, to kick oyster-shells and other impediments out of his way. He changed his publishers more than once, having persuaded himself that the ill success of his projected edition of our great dramatic poet, was in some mea sure owing to their machinations, in con junction with those of the booksellers. To his first printer, Mr. Richardson, as often as he disappointed him of a proof, he would display all the insolence of con scious wealth; and on his domestics he occasionally poured out a turbulence of rage that was not over-delicate in its choice of expressions. The fate of his critical undertakings may convey a useful lesson to those who commence authors in their dotage. It may likewise teach the 'golden fool' (as Shakespeare calls the man of greater opulence than learning) that, though the praise of a few sy. cophants is an easy purchase, the world at large will never sell its approbation, were there, as Jugurtha said, any mer chant rich enough to buy it. Let us, however, do justice to Mr. Jennens's merits where we are lucky enough to find them. He was profusely liberal to those who, in his opinion, deserved liberality. The indigent nonjuror and nonconformist never solicited relief in vain. At his country seat, as well as at his house in town, he chiefly lived in intimacy with these discontented members of the commonwealth, and to a lower order of the same beings his munificence was in general confined.

This worthy gentleman, let me add, was as benevolent as he was rich. The establishment of his household, both m town and country, were on a scale of hospitable magnificence. Ile was, from education and principle, a nonjuror; and many worthy men of the same turn of mind, were fed and protected by his bounty. His writing the unfortunate Preface to Lear, however, was literally "thrusting himself into a nest of hor

néts."

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