"I do also ingenuously confess, that, in attempting this History of Printing, I have undertaken a task much too great for my abilities, the extent of which I did not so well perceive at first; but though it is not so perfect a work as I could wish, yet, such as it is, I now submit it to the publick; and hope, when they consider in what obscurity and confusion Printing in its infancy was involved, they will acknowledge that I have at least cleared away the rubbish, and furnished materials towards a more perfect structure." The opinions of others may be seen in the "Nova Acta Eruditorum," for 1754, p. 523, et seq. The work was inscribed to Philip Lord Hardwicke, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. Mr. Ames was then fellow of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies, and secretary to the latter of these learned bodies. He was elected F. S. A. March 3, 1736; and on the resignation of Alexander Gordon, previous to his going to settle in Carolina, 1741, was appointed secretary. In 1754, the Rev. William Norris was associated with him; and on his decease became sole secretary till 1784. The Minutes of the Society in the earlier periods of it were barely outlines of the proceedings of each meeting; for no secretary, before Mr. Norris, had an idea of giving abridgements of papers, however indispensably necessary, before the finances of the Society enabled them to print the memoirs themselves. This office gave Mr. Ames farther opportunities of gratifying his native curiosity by the communications as well as conversation of the Literati; and these opportunities were farther enlarged by his election into the Royal Society, and the particular friendship shewn to him by Sir Hans Sloane, then president, who nominated him one of the trustees in his will. The circumstances of Mr. * A copy of the Minutes of the Society of Antiquaries, from 1717 to 1750, in two volumes folio, was bought by Mr. Walpole, at Mr. Ames's sale, for fifteen guineas. Ames's death are thus related by his friend Sir Peter Thompson, in a short account of him, from whence the principal parts of this life are extracted: "After he had dined heartily with Sir Peter, Oct. 7, 1759, he went to Mr. Romelo's, in Basinghall-street, to see some curiosities, drank some coffee, and stayed there till past seven o'clock, when he and another friend, an ironmonger in St. Clement's-lane, whose name is not mentioned *, departed to their respective homes. As they passed by the Royal Exchange, Mr. Ames was seized with a violent fit of coughing, which brought on a profuse perspiration, and lasted near a quarter of an hour. When he had recovered himself, his friend asked him to come into his house in Clement's-lane, and sup with him. Mr. Ames complied with his invitation, in order to rest himself, and sat himself down on the first thing which presented itself in the shop. His friend desired him to remove into a chair in the counting-house, which he had no sooner done, than he expired without a sigh or groan. He was immediately put into a warm bed, and medical assistance called in; but without effect. He was removed to his own house the next day; and from thence to the church-yard of St. George in the East, Oct. 14, 1759, where he was deposited, at the depth of eight feet, in virgin earth, in a stone coffin, on the lid of which was the following inscription, by his friend and neighbour the Rev. Dr. Richard Flaxman: Antiquariorum Secretarii, qui, Antiquitati * Mr. Ingham Foster, an eminent collector of antiquities. per per annos viginti quinque accuratè edidit. Tussi correptus violentâ subitò sed placidè Nonis Octobris, A. D. 1759; æt. 71." Over the grave was placed a ledger-stone, having on the under side the following inscription, drawn up by another friend, Mr. William Massey: "Hic condite jacent reliquiæ mortales JOSEPHI AMES, Regiæ Societatis Londinensis Sodalis, et Societatis ibidem Antiquariorum Secretarii; qui Antiquitatibus exquirendis studiosissimè deditus indefessó labore, parique diligentiâ, Historiam apud Britannos Typographicam per annos viginti quinque concinnavit, annoque Domini 1749 in vulgum edidit. Modestiâ, Probitate, et Benevolentiâ, per totum vitæ curriculum sese gessit. Tussi tandem violentâ correptus, quâ tamen paulò post sedatâ, subitò sed placidè mortem obiit Nonis Octobribus, A. D. 1759, suæque æt. 71. Αποθάνων έτι λαλείται. Heb. xi. 4." And on the upper side of the ledger-stone this in English: "Here lie interred the mortal remains of Mr. JOSEPH AMES, F. R. S. likewise Fellow and Secretary to the Antiquarian Society of London, author of the History of Printing in Great Britain, who died Oct. 7, 1759, aged 71. He being dead, yet speaketh." The The following paragraph, inserted in the Public Advertiser the Tuesday after his decease, contains his real character: "Last Sunday evening died, after a violent fit of coughing, Mr. Joseph Ames, author of the History of Printing in England, fellow of the Royal Society, and Secretary to the Society of Antiquaries, for which station he was eminently qualified by an inquisitive genius and assiduous application. His judicious taste in manuscripts, medals, and other curiosities, will be submitted to the public decision by the large and valuable collection he has left behind him. His amiable simplicity of manners, exemplary integrity, and benevolence in social life, greatly endeared him to all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance." Mr. Much as we are indebted to the eccentric Mr. Mores for his account of our Founders, we cannot forbear noticing his harsh censure of Mr. Ames as an "arrant blunderer," supposed to have made English of the Wetsteins, and called them the Westons. Mr. Bagford committed a similar error in changing Wenceslaus Hollar into William Hillier. Mores adds more truly, Mr. Ames "was unlearned, yet useful; he collected antiquities, and particularly old title-pages and heads of authors, which he tore out, and maimed the books: for the first of these crimes he made some amends by his Typographical Antiquities; for the second by his Catalogue of English Heads,' taken from the collection of Mr. Nickolls. This performance is not to be despised." Mr. Mores proceeds with a just invective against portrait-fanciers, compared with whom Mr. Ames was but one sinner among many. Mr. Ames's collection of coins, natural curiosities, inscriptions, and antiquities, were sold by Mr. Langford, Feb. 20 and 21, 1760. His library of books and manuscripts and his prints, May 5-12, 1760, by the same auctioneer. Many of the books had notes by him; and among the MSS. besides a number number of valuable historical and oriental transcripts, were; Several Saxon Homilies, &c. by Mr. Elstob and his learned sister, purchased for a very small sum by the late James West, esq. and at his sale by John Maddison, esq. A folio volume, handsomely bound in Turkey, inscribed "John Bull, doctor of musique, organiste and gentleman of her Majesty's most honourable chappell;" the ruled paper of which is marked in every sheet with T. E. the initials of Thomas East, who printed music under the patent granted to Thomas Tallis and William Birde, by Queen Elizabeth, 1575, for 21 years; few however of the tunes have the words put to them, or the name of the composer; and Dr. Bull's name is not there, but only those of other persons, so that it is probable he was only owner of the book *. A transcript of King Alfred's translation of Orosius's "Hormesta Mundi," purchased by Mr. Pegge, and published with a literal English translation by the Hon. Daines Barrington, 1773, 8vo. Mr. Lewis's History and Antiquities of Feversham, with many MS notes by the author. Mr. Lewis's History and Antiquities of the Isle of Thanet, with many MS notes and additions by the author, drawings, plans, &c. it having been Mr. Lewis's own copy, and by him left to Mr. Ames. Both these were bought by James Beauclerk, Lord Bishop of Hereford, came afterwards into the hands of Mr. Gulston, and on the sale of his library became the property of Mr. Gough; as did also Gardiner's Antiquities of Dunwich, with MS notes by Mr. Ames; Coker's Survey of Dorsetshire, with MS additions by Mr. Ames and Mr. Lewis; Martin's Western Islands, 1716, with MS notes by Mr. Toland and Lord Viscount Molesworth; and Dugdale's View of the Troubles of England, with MS notes by the author. * See Ward's Gresham Professors, p. 208. Who lately bequeathed them to the Bodleian Library. Mr. |