Of any undue partiality towards the Master of Emanuel College I shall not be suspected, by those persons who know how little his sentiments accord with my own upon some ecclesiastical and many political matters. From rooted principle and antient habit, he is a Tory-I am a. Whig; and we have both of us too much confidence in each other, and too much respect for ourselves, to dissemble what we think upon any grounds, or to any extent: let me, then, do him the justice, which, amidst all our differences in opinion, I am sure that he will ever be ready to do to me. His knowledge is various, extensive, and recondite. With much seeming negligence, and perhaps in later years some real relaxation, he understands more, and remembers more, about common and uncommon subjects of Literature, than many of those who would be thought to read all the day, and meditate half the night. In quickness of apprehension, and acuteness of discrimination, I have not often seen his equal. Through many a convivial hour have I been charmed by his vivacity; and upon his genius I have reflected in many a serious moment with pleasure, with admiration; but not without regret, that he has never concentrated and exerted all the great powers of his mind, in some great Work, upon some great subject. Of his liberality in patronizing learned men, I could point out numerous instances. Without the smallest propensities to avarice, he possesses a large income; and, without the mean submissions of dependance, he is risen to high station. His ambition, if he has any, is without insolence; his munificence is without ostentation; his wit is without acrimony; and his learning without pedantry*." former ages. As he walked the streets of London-careless in his dress-and whether his wig was full-bottomed or narrow. bottomed he would talk and mutter strange speeches to him. self; thinking all the time, I ween, of some curious discovery he had recently made in the aforesaid precious black-letter tomes." Dibdin's Bibliomania, p. 565. * Seward's Biographiana, vol. II. p. 579. Two Two letters of Dr. Johnson to Dr. Farmer are preserved in Boswell's Life; the one, in 1770, requesting (for Mr. Steevens and himself) such information concerning Shakspeare as Dr. Farmer was "more able to give than any other man;" the other, in 1780, soliciting information concerning "Ambrose Philips, Broome, and Gray, who were all of Cambridge; and of whose lives he was to give such accounts as he could gather." In the European Magazine, vol. XXV. 1794, p. 410, is an excellent Letter from Dr. Farmer to Isaac Reed, esq. Jan. 28, 1794, occasioned by a question which Mr. Reed had proposed to him on the subject of Dennis the Critic having been expelled from the University of Cambridge; a fact asserted in the "Biographia Dramatica," but denied by Dr. Kippis in the "Biographia Britannica," under the article Dennis *. Mr. Hawkins, in an advertisement prefixed to his edition of "Ignoramus, 1787," very handsomely observes, that "it would have been an injury to his reputation to conceal that the Editor was indebted to the Rev. Dr. Farmer for the knowledge of many facts which no one but himself could have furnished." His Library, which was particularly rich in scarce Tracts and old English Literature, was sold, under the title of " Bibliotheca Farmeriana; a Catalogue of the curious, valuable, and extensive Library, in Print and Manuscript, of the late Rev. Richard Farmer, D.D. Canon Residentiary of St. Paul's, Master of Emanuel College, and Fellow of the Royal and Antiquary Societies, deceased; comprehending many rare Editions of the Greek and Roman Classicks, * After some pleasant arguments and remarks, Dr. Farmer concludes, "Yet we have not proved that Dennis was expelled from Caius, his original College; but this matter is soon settled; though the tradition more fully expresses the cause of it. On turning to their Gesta Book, under the head "Sir Dennis 'sent away," appears this entry: "March 4, 1680. At a meeting of the master and fellows, sir Dennis mulcted 31. ; his scholarship taken away, and he sent out of College, for assaulting and wounding sir Glenham with a sword." and and of the most eminent Philologers; a fine Collection of English History, Antiquities, and Topography; including all the old Chronicles; the most rare and copious Assemblage of old English Poetry that, perhaps, was ever exhibited at one View *; `together with a great Variety of old Plays, and early printed Books, English and Foreign, in the Black Letter, many of which are extremely scarce," &c. &c. The sale to commence Monday, May 7, 1798, and continue 35 days, by Mr. King, King street, Covent-garden. The Catalogue extends to 379 pages, and the articles of books amount to 8155. The Library is supposed to have cost him less than 500l. It sold for 2210l. independent of his Pictures. Dr. Farmer once proposed himself to have had a Catalogue taken of his Library, to which he intended to have prefixed the following Advertisement: "This Collection of Books is by no means to be considered as an essay towards a perfect Library: the circumstances and the situation of the Collector made such an attempt both unnecessary and impracticable. Here are few publications of great price which were already to be found in the excellent Library of Emanuel College; but, it is believed, that not many private collections contain a greater number of really curious and scarce books; and, perhaps, no one is so rich in the antient philological English literature. R. FARMER." * "The Collection is justly said, to contain the most rare and curious assemblage of Old English Poetry that, perhaps, was ever exhibited at one view; together with a great variety of Old Plays, and early printed works, English and Foreign, in the black letter:-Dr. Farmer's copies were, in general, in sorry condition: the possessor caring little for large margins and splendid bindings. His own name, generally accompanied with a bibliographical remark, and both written in a sprawling cha racter, usually preceded the title-page. The science (dare I venture upon so magnificent a word?) of Bibliography was, even in Farmer's latter time, but jejune, and of limited extent; and this will account for some of the common-place bibliographical memoranda of the owner of these volumes.' Dibdin's Bibliomania, ubi supra. No. XII. GEORGE STEEVENS, ESQ. THIS eminent Scholar and profoundly learned Commentator was the only son of George Stee vens, esq. of Stepney, many years an East-India Captain, and afterwards a Director of the East India Company, who died in 1768. He was born at Stepney, May 10, 1736*, and admitted of King's College, Cambridge, about 1751 or 1752: But he is best known as editor of Shakspeare's Plays, Twenty of which he published 1766, in four volumes, Svo. * “George, son of George Steevens, of Poplar, mariner, and Mary his wife, baptized May 19, 1736, nine days old." The following character of Mr. Steevens appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1800, vol. LXX. p. 178. "If, as Dr. Johnson has observed, the chief glory of every people arises from its authors; from those who have extended the boundaries of learning, and advanced the interests of science; it may be considered as an act of public duty, as well as of private friendship to attend, with the regret of the patriot as well as the sensibility of the friend, the closing scene of those men, whose superior genius has improved, extended, or adorned, the literature of their country. Mr. George Steevens may be said to have possessed a pre-eminent claim to this character; and, though he is known rather as a commentator than as an original writer, yet, when we consider the works which he illustrated, the learning, sagacity, taste, and general knowledge, which he brought to the task, and the success which crowned his labours, it would not only be an act of injustice, but a most glaring proof of obstinacy and ignorance, to refuse him a place among the first literary characters of the age in which we live. The early editors of Shakspeare looked to little more than verbal accuracy; and 'even Warburton consigned the sagacity of his mighty mind to the restoring certain readings, and explaining dubious passages. Johnson, who possessed more of the knowledge necessary to an editor of Shakspeare than those who had preceded him in that character, was found wanting; and his first edition of Shakspeare's Plays, which had been expected with much impatience, brought disappointment along with it. In a subsequent edition, he accepted the assistance of Mr. Steevens; and consented that the name of that gentleman should be in editorial conjunction with his own. Mr. Steevens possessed that knowledge which qualified him in a superior degree for the illustration of our divine Poet, and without which the utmost critical acumen would prove abortive. He had, in short, studied the age of Shaks peare, A year before the appearance of this edition, Dr. Johnson had published an edition, with notes, in peare, and had employed his persevering industry in becoming acquainted with the writings, manners, and laws, of that period, as well as the provincial peculiarities, whether of language or custom, which prevailed in different parts of the kingdom, but more particularly in those where Shakspeare passed the early years of his life. This store of knowledge he was continually increasing by the acquisition of the rare and obsolete publications of a former age, which he spared no expence to obtain; while his critical sagacity and acute observation were employed incessantly in calling forth the hidden meanings of our great dramatic Bard from their covert, and, consequently, enlarging the display of his beauties. This advantage is evident from his last edition of Shakspeare, which contains so large a portion of new, interesting, and accumulated illustration. "It is to his own indefatigable industry, and the exertions of his printer, that we are indebted for the most perfect edition of our immortal Bard that ever came from the English press. In the preparation of it for the printer, he gave an instance of editorial activity and perseverance which is without example. To this work he devoted solely and exclusively of all other attentions a period of 18 months; and, during that time, he left his house every morning at one o'clock with the Hampstead patrole, and, proceeding without any consideration of the weather or the season, called up the compositor and woke all his devils: "Him late from Hampstead journeying to his book Aurora oft for Cephalus mistook ; What time he brush'd the dews with hasty pace, To meet the printer's dev'let face to face." "At the chambers of Mr. Reed, where he was allowed to admit himself, with a sheet of the Shakspeare letter-press ready for correction, and found a room prepared to receive him: there was every book which he might wish to consult; and on Mr. Reed's pillow he could apply, on any doubt or sudden suggestion, to a knowledge of English literature perhaps equal to his own. The nocturnal toil greatly accelerated the printing of the work; as, while the printers slept, the editor was awake: and thus, in less than 20 months, he completed his last splendid edition of Shakspeare, in 15 large Svo volumes; an almost incredible la bour, which proved the astonishing energy and persevering powers of his mind. That he contented himself with being a commentator, arose probably from the habits of his life, and his devotion to the name with which his own will descend to the latest posterity. It is probable that many of his jeux-d'esprit might be collected; but I am not acquainted with any single production of his pen but a poem of a few stanzas in Dodsley's Annual Register, under the title of "The Frantic Lover;" which is superior to any similar production in the English language. Mr. Steevens |