LOGOGRAPHIC PRINTING.
[NASO has, in compliance with our request, furnished us with a facsimile of the heading of his early number of The Times, which is as follows:—"THE (here an engraving of the King's Arms) TIMES, OR DAILY UNIVERSAL REGISTER, PRINTED LOGOGRAPHICALLY, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12. 1788," and informs us that it was printed "By R. Nutkins, at the Logographic Press, Printing-House Square, near Apothecaries' Hall, Blackfriars," and the height to which the Mr. Walter of that day had brought his invention, by the same energy by which his successor has raised THE TIMES to its present position, is shown by the following note from a kind and most able correspondent.]
A much more remarkable specimen of Logographic Printing than the number of the Times newspaper mentioned by NASO, No. 9., p. 136., is an edition of Anderson's History of Commerce, with a continuation, in 4 vols. 4to., printed by that method in 1787-1789, "at the Logographic Press, by J. Walter, Printing-House Square, Blackfriars." The work, which makes in all not much short of 4000 pages, is very well printed in all respects; and the following interesting note on the subject of Logographic Printing is attached to the preface heading the Continuation, or fourth volume.
"Mr. Walter cannot here omit suggesting to the Public a few observations on his improved mode of printing LOGOGRAPHICALLY. In all projects for the general benefit, the individual who conceives that the trade in which he is engaged diminishes in its emoluments from any improvement which another may produce in it, is too much disposed to become its enemy; and, perhaps, the interest of individuals never exerted itself with more inveteracy than has been experienced by Mr. Walter from many concerned in the trade into which he had entered.
"The invention which he brought forward, promised to be of essential service to the public, by expediting the process and lessening the expense of printing. Dr. Franklin sanctioned it with his approbation, and Sir Joseph Banks encouraged him with the most decided and animated opinion of the great advantages which would arise to literature from the LOGOGRAPHIC PRESS. Nevertheless Mr. Walter was left to struggle with the interest of some, and the prejudice of others, and, though he was honoured by the protection of several persons of high rank, it happened in his predicament, as it generally happens in predicaments of a similar nature, that his foes were more active than his friends, and he still continued to struggle with every difficulty that could arise from a very determined opposition to, and the most illiberal misrepresentations of, the LOGOGRAPHIC IMPROVEMENT.
"Mr. Walter has, however, at length triumphed over the falsehood and malignity of his opponents; LOGOGRAPHIC PRINTING, after having produced such a work as this, which he now presents to the public, with many excellent publications that he has already printed, can no longer be considered as an idle speculation: on the contrary, it is proved to be a practical improvement, that promises, under a due encouragement, to produce a great national benefit. To advance it to the perfection of which it is capable, Mr. Walter engages to employ his utmost exertions, and he takes the liberty of expressing his confidence, that he shall not be disappointed in the enjoyment of that public favour which now promises to reward his labours."
C.
Old Brompton, Jan. 3. 1850.
[We may mention another work printed in this manner—an edition of Robinson Crusoe, in 3 vols. 8vo. 1790—"printed at the Logographic Press, and sold by J. Walter, No. 169. Piccadilly, opposite Old Bond Street."]
MEMORIALS OF THE DUKE OF MONMOUTH'S LAST DAYS.[9]
At a recent meeting of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin, Dr. Anster exhibited a manuscript volume of 157 pages, which he declared to be the identical "album filled with songs, recipes, prayers, and charms," found in the Duke of Monmouth's pocket when he was seized. It was purchased at a book-stall in Paris in 1827 by an Irish divinity student, was given by him to a priest in the county of Kerry, and, on the priest's death, became the property of the present possessor. Respecting in its identity and history, from its removal from the rebel duke's pocket down to its production at the Royal Irish Academy, Dr. Anster showed that after Monmouth was beheaded—which he was on Tower Hill, by the too-celebrated John Ketch, on the 15th July, 1685—the articles found on his person were given to the king. At James's deposition, three years afterwards, all his manuscripts, including those that had belonged to Monmouth, were carried into France, where they remained till the Revolution in that country a century afterwards. Dr Anster, in exhibiting the book, showed that the remains of silver clasps had been destroyed, and a part of the leather of the covers at each side torn away, seemingly for the purpose of removing some name on a coat of arms with which it had been once marked; and this he accounted for by the belief that at the period of the French Revolution the persons in whose custody they were, being fearful of the suspicions likely to arise from their possession of books with royal arms on them, tore off the covers, and sent the books to St. Omer's. The after-fate of the larger books was, that they were burned; some small ones, we are distinctly told, were saved from this fate, but seem to have been disregarded, and all trace of them lost. The Abbé Waters—a collateral descendant of Lucy Waters, the Duke of Monmouth's mother—was the person with whom George IV. negotiated for the Stuart papers, and from whom the volumes which have since appeared as Clark's Life of James the Second were obtained; and it is from the Abbé Waters we have the account of the destruction of King James's autograph papers. Dr. Anster showed, written on the inner cover of this volume, the words, "Baron Watiers" or "Watrers."
As to the identity of the book, Dr. Anster quoted several passages from contemporary authors to test their account of the contents of the "album" with those of the book he was describing. In the Harleian Miscellany, vol. vi. p.323., it is stated in Sir John Reresby's memoirs, that "out of his [Monmouth's] pocket were taken books, in his own handwriting, containing charms or spells to open the doors of a prison, to obviate the danger of being wounded in battle, together with songs and prayers." Barillon describes the book in what is nearly a translation of this—"Il y avoit des secrets de magie et d'enchantment, avec des chansons des recettes pour des maladies et des prieres." Again, in a note by Lord Dartmouth to the modern editions of Burnet's Own Times, we have the following statement:—
"My uncle Colonel William Legge, who went in the coach with him [Monmouth] to London as a guard, with orders to stab him if there were any disorders on the road, showed me several charms that were tied about him when he was taken, and his table-book, which was full of astrological figures that nobody could understand; but he told my uncle that they had been given to him some years before in Scotland, and he now found they were but foolish conceits."
The actual contents of the manuscript volume show a great resemblance to these descriptions. The most curious passages which it contains are the duke's memorandums of his journey on two visits to the Prince of Orange, in the year previous to his last rash adventure. His movements up to the 14th of March, 1684-85, are given. The entries do not seem to be of much moment; but they may accidentally confirm or disprove some disputed points of history. There is an entry without a date, describing the stages of a journey in England, commencing with London and Hampstead: it ends with Toddington. This forms a strong link in the chain of identity; for Toddington is a place remarkable in the history of the duke. Near it was the residence of Lady Henrietta Maria Wentworth, baroness (in her own right) of Nettlestead, only daughter and heir of Thomas Lord Wentworth, grandchild and heir of the Earl of Cleveland. Five years before the execution, her mother observed that, despite the duke being a married man, her daughter had, while at court, attracted his admiration, and she hurried her away to Toddington. In 1683, after the failure of the Rye-House Plot, Monmouth was banished from the royal presence, and it was to Toddington he retired. When, on retracting the confession he had made on the occasion, he was banished the kingdom, the companion of his exile was Lady Henrietta Wentworth.
"I dwell on this," said Dr. Anster, "because the accidental mention of Toddington seems to authenticate the book: the name of Lady Henrietta Wentworth does not occur in it, and the persons in whose hands the book has been since it was purchased in Paris do not seem to have noticed the name of Toddington, or to have known that it had any peculiar relation to the duke's history. It occurs twice in the book—once in the itinerary, and again in a trifling and unmetrical song, which is probably the duke's own composition; written probably on the eve of his flight with his romantic but guilty companion to Holland:—
"'With joy we leave thee,
False world, and do forgive
All thy false treachery.
For now we'll happy live.
We'll to our bowers,
And there spend our hours;
Happy there we'll be,
We no strifes can see;
No quarrelling for crowns,
Nor fear the great one's frowns;
Nor slavery of state,
Nor changes in our fate.
From plots this place is free,
There we'll ever be;
We'll sit and bless our stars
That from the noise of wars
Did this glorious place give
(Or did us Toddington give)
That thus we happy live.'"
In Macaulay's history we find that the latest act of the duke on the scaffold, before submitting to the stroke of the executioner, was to call his servant, and put into the man's hand a toothpick-case, the last token of ill-starred love. "Give it," he said, "to that person!" After the description of Monmouth's burial occurs the following affecting passage:—
"Yet a few months and the quiet village of Toddington, in Bedfordshire, witnessed a yet sadder funeral. Near that village stood an ancient and stately hall, the seat of the Wentworths. The transept of the parish church had long been their burial-place. To that burial-place, in the spring which followed the death of Monmouth, was borne the coffin of the young Baroness Wentworth of Nettlestead. Her family reared a sumptuous mausoleum over her remains; but a less costly memorial of her was long contemplated with far deeper interest: her name, carved by the hand of him she loved too well, was, a few years ago, still discernible on a tree in the adjoining park."
In further proof of identity, Dr. Anster pointed out several charms and recipes which the manuscript volume contains. The conjurations are in general for the purpose of learning the results of sickness in any particular case, and of determining whether friends will be in certain circumstances faithful. There are also incantations for the use of several maladies, and one to make gray hair grow black. No "charms against being wounded in battle," such are Sir John Reresby mentions, are to be found in the volume; but there are some prayers against violent death, which have the appearance of having been transcribed from some devotional book. There is evidently a mistake in supposing that this book contains any charm for breaking open prison doors, and it is likely that Sir John Reresby was misled in this way:—There is in p. 7. a charm in French to procure repose of body and mind, and deliverance from pains; and the word for "pains" is written in a contracted form; it might as well stand for prisons; but, examining the context, it is plainly the former word which is meant.
The rest of the entries consist of extracts from old recipe-books, mixed in the oddest way with abridgements of English history, and the most trifling memorandums, chiefly of a private and personal kind. Altogether, this commonplace work is highly indicative of the weakness, vanity, and superstition which stood forward so prominently in the character of the rash but unfortunate Duke of Monmouth.