Who shall pretend to say that there was any harm in all this? But does it not serve to verify the old and homely proverb, “What is bred in the bone is never out of the flesh?” And does it not tend to prove the almost impossibility of blending the love of gain, inherent in a tradesman, with the disregard of it, which is the proud distinction of the gentleman?
As to external manners, the person in question was both courteous and courtier-like. They who were less favourably inclined towards him, complained that his enunciation was affectedly soft, and that he had too much of the air and grimace of a Frenchman; and by the shrug of his shoulders, and his facility in speaking the language, has more than once been mistaken for a native of that country. But his peculiarities were harmless, his knowledge of all the mysteries of his craft, more extensive, perhaps, than that of any of his contemporaries, his merits considerable, and death might easily have spared a less amiable character.
The few remaining scraps on the subject of booksellers may be summarily brought together. There is some account of a Snuffy Bookseller, a man of great singularity of life and manners. He had a university education originally, with a view of taking orders. Why he changed his purpose is unknown. It has been whispered that an eminent female personage, long since deceased, to whom he had been useful in collecting and arranging books of prints and engravings, had promised to procure him preferment. His next occupation was that of an engraver, in which art he became no mean proficient. His final employment was that of a bookseller, in which mystery also he had obtained no inconsiderable degree of knowledge. The last fatal catastrophe of his life was truly lamentable, occasioned in all probability from disappointed hopes, and the horrors of approaching penury.
There was also a bookseller to whom the epithet of B⸺d is attached, but anecdotes of vulgar rudeness, over-reaching cunning, and total disregard of the civilities of life, would only deform these pages.
Some remarks are also to be found on a Cunning Bookseller, who, at a very early period of life, had obtained the most extensive knowledge of his business in all its branches, which he did not fail to turn to good account.
Attention also is invited to a sketch of a Godly Bookseller, a worthy and conscientious man, whose principal dealings were in religious books and tracts, and chief correspondence with individuals of that description.
In conclusion, there are some not unentertaining notices of a Superb Bookseller. This personage seems not altogether to have disdained genius in its humbler garb and more retired walks, yet the whole of his establishment, his mansion, his furniture, his symposia, seemed intended for the noble and the great alone. A great and popular house, he was well aware, would at any time sell a considerable impression of any thing. On such occasions he was splendidly liberal; and as theatrical managers, when they get up a new play, are careless of the expence of decorations, dresses, and scenery, so would our Superb Bookseller give a great and noble author every advantage of the finest wire-wove paper and Bulmer’s typography, He nevertheless had the character of a disposition to drive a hard bargain with such authors as were untitled, unbeneficed, (or if it may be permitted to coin a word) unincomed. He is said to have laboured under the imputation of having sacrificed at the shrine of greater friends, it may not be said on the score of lucre, the claims of an individual, whose worth, talents, and amiable manners, had been long known and acknowledged by continued experience of their value. He was accused of having sanctioned, at least by his connivance, an ex post facto attack, written in all the gall of bitterness, and dictated by personal spleen, rather than by an ingenuous spirit of fair criticism, upon a work of great labour and merit, which has hitherto stood, and will continue to stand, the test of time.
Here our manuscript seems brought to a conclusion, for after a few desultory hints, of which some are perfectly unintelligible to the Editor, the following quotation occurs in a larger hand-writing.
Habeo Neptune gratiam magnam tibi