4. The charge made against the Editor of the Oxford Edition of Milton
requires proof or explanation.
"Mr. Whittier states in the National Era, that the carefully
prepared Oxford edition of Milton's Works, contains a poem by
Elizabeth Lloyd, of Philadelphia, purporting to have been
written by the poet in his old age and blindness, and which is
so well executed, as to have deceived the English editor of his
works. This poem is now going the rounds of the American press,
as the production of Milton."
5. The appearance of the fifth and sixth volumes of Lord Mahon's History
of England has thus brought forth the indignation of the editor of the
Boston (U. S.) "Transcript."
"They commence at the year 1763, and close with the year 1779,
and comprise, of course, as the principal theme, the American
Revolution--the rise and progress of the War of Independence.
'One point in the American War,' says the Spectator, 'Lord Mahon
brings out quietly and impressively--the personal falsehood of
Franklin, and often the brutality of the Americans at large.'
Here will be a chance for our American reviewers and critics.
'The personal falsehood of Franklin!' It will take the affidavit
of more than one Lord to make that credible."
6. The old American bookseller, whose career was so graphically
described by Dr. Francis at the celebration of the hundred and
forty-sixth anniversary of Franklin's birth-day, by the New York
Typographical Society, was the father of the present Editor of the
Literary World, an American periodical, extremely well conducted, and of
considerable circulation.
"There are many booksellers and publishers," observed Dr.
Francis, "whose character and influence might justly command
detailed account. Spence himself would find among them anecdotes
of consideration in the world of letters, I must, however, write
within circumscribed limits. The first in immediate recollection
is Evert Duyckinck. He was a middle-aged man when I was a boy
occasionally at his store, an ample and old-fashioned edifice,
at the corner of Pearl Street and Old Slip. He was grave in his
demeanor, and somewhat taciturn; of great simplicity in dress,
accommodating and courteous. He must have been rich in literary
occurrences. He for a long while occupied this excellent stand
for business, and was quite extensively engaged as a publisher
and seller. He was a sort of Mr. Newbury, so precious to
juvenile memory in the olden times. He largely dealt with that
order of books, for elementary instruction, which were popular
abroad, just about the close of our revolutionary war and the
adoption of our Constitution, Old Dyche and his pupil Dilworth,
Perry, and Sheridan. As education and literature advanced, he
brought forward, by reprints, Johnson and Chesterfield, and
Vicesimus Knox, and a host of others. His store was the nucleus
of the Connecticut teachers' intellectual products, and Barlow
and Webster, and Morse and Riggs, found him a patron of their
works in poetry and school books. Bunyan, and Young, and Watts,
Doddridge and Baxter, must have been issued by his enterprise in
innumerable thousands throughout the whole thirteen States; and
the old English Primer, now improved into the American Primer,
with its captivating emendations, as
The royal oak, it was the tree
That saved his Royal Majesty;
improved by the more simple diction,
Oak's not as good
As hickory wood;
and the lines,
Whales in the sea
God's voice obey;
now modified, without loss of its poetic fire,
Great deeds were done--
By Washington--
led captivity captive, and were circulated without limits for
the better diffusion of knowledge and patriotism throughout the
land. As our city grew apace, and both instructors and their
functions enlarged, he engaged in the Latin Classics. Having a
little Latin about me, it became my duty to set up at the
printing-office of Lewis Nicols, Duyckinck's reprint, De Bello
Gallico. The edition was edited by a Mr. Rudd. He was the first
editor I ever saw; I looked at him with school-boy admiration
when I took him the proofs. What alterations or improvements he
ever made in the text of Oudendorp, I never ascertained. This,
however, must have been among the beginnings of that American
practice, still so common among us, of deeming it necessary that
the reprints of even the most important works from abroad should
have, for better circulation, some name as editor inserted on
the title-page. Mr. Duyckinck was gifted with great business
talents, and estimated as a man of great punctuality and rigid
integrity in fiscal matters. He was the first who had the entire
Bible, in 12mo. preserved--set up in forms--the better to
supply, at all times, his patrons. This was before stereotype
plates were adopted. He gave to the Harpers the first job of
printing they ever executed--whether 'Tom Thumb' or 'Wesley's
Primitive Physic,' I know not. The acorn has become the pride of
the forest--the Cliff Street Tree, whose roots and branches now
ramify over the land. Duyckinck faithfully carried out the
proverbs of Franklin, and the sayings of Noah Webster's
Prompter. He was by birth and by action a genuine Knickerbocker."