A TRIBUTE to the MEMORY of the LATE EXCELLENT and CELEBRATED BIBLIOGRAPHER, MR. SAMUEL PATERSON. (By MR. DAMIANI.)

HIS gentleman was born in London,in

on the 17th of March, 1728. His father was a refpectable tradesman, and, according to unanimous tradition among his oldest friends, was a woollen-draper. He received the rudiments of a claffical edu. cation, first in his paternal house, and then at fchool. But it was his misfortune to be deprived of his parents when he was fcarcely twelve years of age, and to fall under the controul of a guardian, who not only neglected the remaining part of the inftruction of his pupil, but having rendered himself obnoxious to the law in a difgraceful bankruptcy, involved young Paterfon in his ruin, and occafioned him to lose that competent fortune which he inherited, and which would have rendered him independent.

To the misconduct, however, of this guardian we may, in a great measure, afcribe the early difpofition which Mr. Paterfon acquired for thofe avocations which have entitled him to the notice of his contemporaries. In order, perhaps, to be at more liberty, and to have no wit. nefs of his mifmanagement, the guardian fent him to France, to complete, as he faid, his education. While in that country, young Paterfon could not fail to acquire fome degree of information in the French language and literature. On his return to England he found himself poffeffed of more knowledge in foreign books than any of the young people of his age; and as he was intimately convinced of the importance of this knowledge, and of the necessity under which he lay of entering foon into business, in order to repair the loffes occafioned by his guardian, he refolved to engage in the commerce of foreign books, conceiving that fuch an occupation would be, analogous with his temper, accompanied with a fair profpect of a fubfequent fortune,

In fact, being little more than twenty years old, he opened a fhop for that purpole in the Strand. The circumstances feemed, indeed, to be highly favourable to his undertaking, as this branch of foreign trade was almost unknown at that time; and it is in the recollection of fome old gentlemen now alive, that the only perfon

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with his commiffions, in the feveral parts of the continent and it appears that he continued in this line till the year 1753, when he published "A Differtation on the Original of the Equeftrian Figure of the George and of the Garter, by Dr. Pettingal.' Nor must we omit to mention that at the fame early period in which he en gaged in bufinefs, he had already married Mifs Hamilton,a lady of the most refpectable connections in North Britain, and ftill younger than himself, having been repeatedly heard faying that both ages did not make thirty-feven or thirty-eight years.

Having been unsuccessful in the bookfelling trade, Mr. Paterson commenced auctioneer, and entered upon Effex-house, Effex-street, in the Strand. Nothing particular is recorded of him while in this station, except the notice of fome capital collections of books, which were fold by him at different times. This period of his life is, however, the most remarkable, as it tended to develope compleatly those extraordinary talents in bibliography, which foon brought him into the notice of the literary world, and raised him to that eminent character which we propose to delineate in this Memoir.

The firft ftep that our bibliographer took in his new profeffion was signalized by an effential service rendered to the national hiftory, and to the republic of letters. It is a fact universally known, and lately mentioned by the ingenious Mr. Mortimer, iu the European Magazine for December 1802, that the valuable collection of manufcripts belonging to the Right Honourable Sir Julius Cæfar, Knt. Judge of the Admiralty, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; and in the reigns of James I. and Charles I. Chancellor and Under Treaturer of the Exchequer, had fallen into the hands of fome uninformed perfons, and were on the point of being fold by weight to a cheesemonger, as walte-paper, for the fum of ten pounds. Some of them happened to be fhewn to Mr. Paterfon, who examined them, and inftantly discovered their value. He then digefted a masterly catalogue of the whale collection, and, diftributing it in feveral thousands

thousands of the most fingular and intereft ing heads, caufed them to be fold by auction, which produced three hundred and fiftyfix pounds; and had among the purchafers the late Lord Orford, and other perfons of rank. Thefe occurrences took place in the year 1757:

In order to give a fatisfactory account of Mr. Paterfon's merit as a bibliographer, a fhort digreffion on the progress and flate of the theoretical and practical part of fuch learned avocations, during the two preceding generations, appears neceffary. Our readers may thereby form an opinion of the feveral gradations in which he found, he established, and he left the science of literary history, and the art of bibliography.

The knowledge of bibliography and literary hiftory bears, perhaps, the most recent date, in the annals of the human mind: it is the happy refult of those perfevering inquiries into the intellectual and active powers of man, through which we have been able to refer to their common stock, and to trace back to their root the manifold, diverging, and apparently unconnected branches of the tree of know ledge; and it is alfo the immediate confequence of that overgrowing and amazing fcientific wealth, from which we have endeavoured to take the most valuable materials, and the most conducive method, for our exertions and improvement. It muft, however, be acknowledged that no regular work, nor any detailed precept was ever given, to forward these purfuits, by the eminent metaphyficians of the laft century, notwithstanding the early advice of Sir Francis Bacon; that the bibliographical science, like most others, has an accidental and rather obscure origin; that neither England nor France, nor any other country, justly confidered as the native feat of genius, had iffued a publication of the kind; and that the ultimate fame for the introduction of this new branch of studies must be ascribed to a nation rather noted for want of brilliant talents. In fact, the first man who attempted to give a sketch of univerfal bibliography and literary hiftory was the learned and laborious Chriftopher Auguftus Hermann, Profeffor in the Univerfity of Göttingen, in 1718. He then published his known work-"Confpectus Reipublicæ Literariæ, five Via ad Hiftoriam Literariam," which gradually went through feven editions, the last of which was published in Hanover, in 1763. Numberless other works, analagous to this, were published in the fame interval,

in Germany, which it is unneceffary to mention in this article.

No fooner had this fwarm of laborious eruditi paved the way to the knowledge of authors and books, and opened this new field of fcientific purfaits, than it became an additional acquifition to the philosophy of the age. It was duly experienced that the detailed notice of the gradual fteps of our predeceffors, in the feveral departments of knowledge, was neceffary to carry into execution the already-mentioned precept of Lord Verulam, to teach Iciences hifto. rically; how this preliminary knowledge might enable the inquirers, to afcertain the precife point from which they thould begin their courfe; how an exact partition of labour, and a convenient method of claffification, could affift the powers of judgment and of memory; and how this very method of claffification might be fubfervient to the arrangement of a library, or, in other words, to the regular and local difpofition of objects that are the occafion of our ideas, and give a fuller fcope to our faculties.

No wonder then, that, about the period we allude to, so many detailed, descriptive, and rational, catalogues of books appeared, in the feveral countries of Europe, and that the art and the taste of constructing libraries became more general than in any preceding age; and the only thing which appears to us worthy of remark, and rather unaccountable, is that, even after the progrefs of philofophy on bibliography, the Germans, in this department, have excelled every other people in Europe. It is univertally acknowledged, that the best work of the kind that ever appeared, about that time, was the catalogue of the celebrated library of the Count of Bunau, better known under the name of "Bibliotheca Bunaviant", fo remarkable indeed for number, felection, order, connection, references and univerfal interest.

This was the progrefs and the state of bibliographical knowledge, when Mr. Paterion entered upon the profession of it. His fuperior talents, already affifted by a proportionate practice, foon enabled him to judge of what had hitherto been done in the hiftorical and systematical part of thele purfoits, to imagine what ftill remained to be done in either way, and to adopt the best practical principles for the conduct of his avocations. He regretted that no fyftem of univerfal bibliography and lite rary history had been ever exhibited finc the attempt of professor Hermann, excep perhaps the Sketch late given by Dr.

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need of a proper generalization, to conftitute one of the most important and fertile principles in the fcience of metaphyfics. It is obvious, in fact, that, in the formation of libraries, every man has a peculiar defign and a predominant tatte, and that any book may be confidered as an individual of that clafs, to which the character and the profeffion of the proprietor is apt to afcribe it. We can eafily conceive, and pretty generally fee, that a fet of books may be arranged either in a peculiar or in an univerfal point of view, in a fyftematical or hiftorical method, in a chronological or topographical feries, and in as many other ways as the owner choofes, and as the manyfold character of the books will admit. Our reader will already imagine, that, in confequence of this, Mr. Paterfon was an enemy to thofe fyftems of bibliography, which are now generally practifed on the Continent, and that he fet no importance even on the newly established claffification of the "Univerfal Repertory of Literature," published at Jena; and we hope, indeed, that thofe among the readers themselves, who have happened to lock at the mentioned catalogue, will not only coincide with our bibliographer's opinion, but will perhaps fmile at feeing all the branches of human knowledge confined in fixteen ciaf. fes, and the last of them intitled, "Mifcellaneous Works," the proper meaning of which words has a tendency to destroy the whole claffification!

Mr. Paterion acted confiftently with thefe ideas in all his bibliographical performances; and it is owing to the merit of an appropriate, circumftantial, and judicions claffification, that his catalogues are unrivalled, and fome of them are just ly regarded as models. We refer the readers to the catalogues themselves, and efpecially to the Bibliotheca, Fleetwoodiana, Beauclerkiana, Crottfiana, Pinelliana, published from time to time, as well as to thofe of the Strange, Fagel and Tyffen libraries, which he performed within the last two years of his life; and they will perceive in each of them, an admirable fpirit of order exhibited in different ways, and suggested by thole fuperior abilities which alone can diftover and appre. ciate thefe variable combinations of the feveral circumstances.

A man fo thoroughly convertant in the history of literature could rot fail to perceive, that a vast number of books were held as valuable and scarce in England, which were rather common in other coun

tries. He thought he could do his native country an effential fervice, and pro cure emolument for himself, if he should undertake a journey thro' fome parts of the continent, and fucceed in purchafing fome articles of this defeription. With this view he fet out for the continent, in 1776, and actually bought a capital collection of books, which, on his return to England, he digefted in the catalogue, (the belt, perhaps, of his performances,) that bears the title of "Bibliotheca Univerfalis Selecta." We are concerned, that we have it not in our power to relate here with perfpicuity and precifion, an interesting anecdote, which took place during Mr. Paterfon's ftay on the continent. One of the moft refpectable bookfellers of London had been his fellow-traveller in that journey; and being informed of his defign, and relying on his good fenfe and excellent intention, offered him his friendly affistance. He lent him a thousand pounds, to be employed in an additional purchase of books, in hopes that he might have the money returned to him, when the fpeculation was carried into execution. Mr. Paterson, as ufual, proved unfuccefsful; and the gener ous friend, fympathifing in his misfortunes, has never fince claimed the return of his loan! The writer can fay no more: the gentleman in queftion is one of his most refpectable friends; and he is too much aware of his amiable modefty not to feel that he would take offence if his name fhould happen to be mentioned.

The fame of Mr. Paterfon had come to the ears of a nobleman of high respectability, from his excellent moral character, h's love of learning, and his political and oratorical abilities. This eminent perfon requested the learned bibliographer to arrange his elegant and valuable library, to compile a detailed catalogue of his books and manufcripts, and to accept, for the purpofe, the place of his librarian, with a liberal fly. The of ter was too generous, an the projector of it too refpectable, not to meet with an immediate compliance. Mr. Paterfon accordingly entered into the office of librarian, remuned in it for fome years, and perhaps expected to close his life in the fame station; when, unfortunately, a mifwetanding took place between my Luid sed him, by which he was obliged to withdraw. We have curforily and relunatly noticed this fact; as it is unpleafant to consider that an event of this kind fold ever have taken place between two eminent characters, each of

which was of the greatest importance in its own line.

After reprefenting the fubject of this memoir in the light of an eminent and, perhaps, unrivalled bibliographer, we yet feel a greater fatisfaction in being able to give another part of his character, which, perhaps, denotes more extraordinary merit, and which exhibits an uncommon fpecimen of modesty, if not felf-denial. He was a writer of fome confideration, and from time to time he indulged in feveral publications, to none of which he ever put his name. The first, in order of time, is, to our knowledge, "Another Traveller; or, Curfory Remarks made upon a Journey through Part of the Netherlands, by Coriat, jun. in 1766," 3 vol. 12mo; the fecond is The Joineriana; or, the Book of Scraps," 2 vol. 8vo. 1772, consisting of philosophical and literary aphorifms; the third is "The Templar," a periodical paper, of which only fourteen numbers appear to have been published, and the last of them in December, 1773, intended as an attatk on the newspapers for advertifing ecclefiaftical offices, and places of truft under government; and the laft is "Speculations on Law and Lawyers, 1778," tending to evince the danger and impropriety of perfonal arrefts for debt, previous to any verification. Whether the author was really competent to the last-mentioned task, or whether his ideas on the fubject were worthy of the public attention, we shall not take upon us to decide. We may only fately ftate, that his intentions were excellent, and his performance dif. played the most humane, benevolent and patriotic views.

Mr. Paterson's abilities, as a writer, did not escape the notice of fome of his friends, who could fee them through the veil of modesty. He was therefore earneftly defired by them to write at latt, fome "Memoirs of the Viciffitudes of Literature in England, during the latter half of the Eighteenth Century." Nobody, perhaps, better than he, was qualified for a work of this kind; and in feve

ral converfations, in a party of friends, on the subject, the present writer remembers an expreffion of the ingenious philologer, Mr. Walker-" that he would be guilty of felfishness, if he should leave the world without favouring it with a part of this defideratum." The repeated invita tions of his friends had already prevailed on him to undertake the performance, and he more than once declared that he would attend to it as foon as the Fagellian Catalogue was completed. The writer has reafon to think that some precious hints towards the mentioned work may be found among his papers; and, in any case, he is confident that the venerable old man would have really favoured the public with it, if his life had been extended two or three years longer.

Mr. Paterfon died in his house in Nor ton-freet, Fitzroy-square, on the 29th of October, 1802, in the 77th year of his age; and on the 4th of the subfequent November, he was buried in the parishchurch of his birth, in Covent-garden. He was rather below the middle bize and thin, but well proportioned, of philanthropic looks, fonorous voice, and unassuming and polite mariners. His moral character was eminent,and unexceptionable, in every fente of the word; and, during the late unfortunate events in fome continental countries, he displayed such an attachment to the old eftablished governments, and fuch an abhorrence to thofe pernicious principles which were then prevailing, as to have deferved, even from fome of his friends, the title of a violent Arißocrate. His literary merits, we hope, may be known by this Biographical Sketch: and happy would it be for the writer, if, upon paying this tribute to the memory of a departed friend, he could, in fome measure, refcue his name from that unavoidable oblivion which attends the generality of modeft and unaffuming worthies, and contribute to except him from that vast number of benefactors of fociety whom nes illacrymabiles urgentur no&te, carent quia vate facrɔ. F. DAMIANI.

London, Dec. 15, 1802.

ROBERT WALKER'S (UNION STREET, MARY-LE-BONNE) for DINING-TABLES, on an entirely new CONSTRUCTION.

HE principal object of the patentee, is to make thele tables equally firm

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with those of the old construction, and yet, when not in ufe, to ftand in a timall ipace; and he feems to have accomplified will fland in a space of only eight inches his purpose. A table of five feet fquare in breadth: it is made with a pillar and