4th December, 1753.

“To EDWARD ROWE MORES, Esq., at Low Leyton.

“Sir,—I make bold to transmit to Oxford, through your hands, the Saxon punches and matrices, which you were pleased to intimate would not be unacceptable to that learned body. It would be a great satisfaction to me, if I could by this means perpetuate the munificence of the noble donor, to whom I am originally indebted for them, the late Lord Chief Justice Parker, afterwards Earl of Macclesfield, who, among the numerous benefactors which my father met with, after his house was burned in 1712–13, was so good as to procure those types to be cut, to enable him to print Mrs. Elstob’s Saxon Grammar. England had not then the advantage of such an artist in letter cutting as has since arisen,[289] and it is to be lamented, that the execution of these is not equal to the intention of the noble donor, and, I now add, to the place in which they are to be reposited. However, I esteem it a peculiar happiness, that as my father received them from a great patron of learning, his son consigns them to the greatest seminary of it, and that he is, Sir, your most obliged friend, and humble Servant,

“W. BOWYER.”

The adventures of this epistle and the gift which accompanied it, before reaching their destination, are almost romantic. For some reason which does not appear, Rowe Mores, on receipt of the punches and matrices, instead of transmitting them to Oxford, took them to Mr. Caslon’s foundry to be repaired and rendered more fit for use. Mr. Caslon having kept them four or five years without touching them, Mr. Bowyer removed them from his custody, and in 1758 entrusted them to Mr. Cottrell, from whom in the same year he received them again, carefully “fitted up” and ready for use, together with 15 lbs. of letter cast {159} from the matrices. In this condition the whole was again consigned by Mr. Bowyer to Rowe Mores, together with a copy of Miss Elstob’s Grammar, for transmission to Oxford. On hearing, two years later, that his gift had never reached the University, he made inquiries of Mores, from whom he received a reply that “the punches and matrices were very safe at his house,” awaiting an opportunity to be forwarded to their destination. This opportunity does not appear to have occurred for three years longer, when, in October, 1764, the gift was finally deposited at Oxford. Its formal acknowledgment was, however, delayed till August 1778, exactly a quarter of a century after its presentation.[290]

The correspondence touching this transaction, amusing as it is, throws a curious light on Rowe Mores’ character for exactitude, and it is doubtful whether the publication of Mr. Bowyer’s first letter in the Dissertation,[291] together with a few flattering compliments, was an adequate atonement for the injury done to that gentleman by the unwarrantable detention of his gift. Nor does the title under which the gift was permitted to appear in the University specimen, suppressing as it does all mention of the real donor’s name, and giving the entire honour to the dilatory go-between, reflect any credit on the hero of the transaction. The entry appears thus: “Characteres Anglo-Saxonici per eruditam fœminam Eliz. Elstob ad fidem codd. mss. delineati; quorum tam instrumentis cusoriis quam matricibus Univ. donari curavit E. R. M. e Collegio Regin., A.M. 1753.

It does not appear that these types were ever made use of at Oxford. The punches and matrices remain in the University press to this day.[292]

Between the Broadside sheet following the specimen of 1706, and 1768, no specimen of the Oxford foundry occurs. There exists, however, in the works issuing from the Press during that period ample testimony to its activity. The proposal to print Dr. Mawer’s Supplement to Walton’s Polyglot, with its types, is evidence of the continued reputation of its “learned” founts; while such an admirable specimen of typography as Blackstone’s Charter of the Forest, printed in 1759,[293] affords proof that Oxford was not behindhand in that famous {160} revival of printing which received such impetus from the taste and genius of Baskerville.

The Delegates of the Press had, indeed, so high an opinion of the talents of this famous artist, that they employed him in 1758 to cut a fount of Great Primer Greek type for a Greek Testament shortly to be issued.[294] The performance was pronounced unsuccessful, but the Greek types duly appeared, together with numerous other acquisitions, including a Long Primer Syriac purchased from Caslon, in the Specimen of 1768–70.[295]

Of this specimen Rowe Mores (who informs us that it was printed at the request of foreigners) falls foul as inaccurate. “The materials from which this account (i.e., his summary of the contents of the Foundry) is drawn,” he says, “are not so accurate as might have been expected from an Archi-typographus and the Curators of the Sheldonian. In excuse may be alleged that neither the Archi-typographus nor the Curators are Letter-founders; certainly that the matter has not been treated with that precision which in so learned a body should seem to be requisite. For one instance among others, which might be produced, take the Double Pica, Brevier and Nonpareil Hebrew, the only Hebrew types the University then had. They are two-line English, English and Long Primer. And this mistake has run through all the editions of the Oxford specimen, and in the last of 1770, the leanest and the worst of all, appears most glaringly. For this Brevier is placed immediately under Caslon’s Long Primer, a diversity sufficient one would think to show the blunder without the aid of a magnifier. The Nonpareil as it is called is omitted in this last specimen, and so are many other sets of matrices which have been given to the University, touching which enquiry should be made out of respect (at least) to the memory of the donors.”[296] {161}

Another specimen appeared in 1786, in which more of the old founts are discarded in favour of more modern letters, among which are noticeable several Roman founts cast on a large body, to obviate the necessity of “leading”; including an English, cast for Mr. Richardson’s Dictionary. Almost all the “learned” founts presented by Fell and Junius are here shown, as well as a considerable number of borders and ornamental initials.