No. II. JOHN DUNTON. (See vol. IV. p. 88.) This eccentric Bookseller was born May 14, 1659, at Graffham in Huntingdonshire, where his father, John Dunton, fellow of Trinity college, Cambridge, was then rector. His mother, Lydia Dunton, was daughter of Mr. Daniel Carter, of Chesham; and died March 3, 1660. On the loss of his wife, Mr. Dunton went to Ireland, where he continued some years; and the son was placed, at a very early age, at the school of Mr. William Readings, at Dungrove, near Chesham. In 1669 his father returned into England, obtained the rectory of Aston Clinton, where he married a second wife, and removed the son from school to his own immediate tuition, intending him for the Church. The acquirement of Latin he found easy; but the difficulty of Greek overcame all his resolutions. He made some little progress in logic, metaphysics, and morality; but at the age of fourteen was found too volatile for the Church; to the no small mortification of his father, who was himself the third John Dunton, in a lineal descent, that had been a minister. When nearly fifteen, to suit the peculiarity of his genius, he was apprenticed to Mr. Thomas Parkhurst, a respectable bookseller. In 1676 he lost his father; and, when his apprenticeship was nearly expired, made himself conspicuous in the great political dispute between the Tories and the Whigs. He, being a prime mover on the part of the Whig apprentices, and selected for their Treasurer, the Tories, to the number of 5000, presented an address to the King against the petitioning for parliaments. The dissenting senting party made their remonstrances to the former address, in another they presented to Sir Patience Ward, then lord mayor of London, who promised he would acquaint the King with their address; and then bid them return home, and mind the business of their respective masters. By his own statement, his conduct during the seven years was not very regular; and at the expiration of the term 100 apprentices were invited to celebrate the funeral. He now entered on business as a bookseller on his own account; but, to avoid too large a rent, took only half a shop, a warehouse, and a fashionable chamber. "Printing," he says, "was the uppermost in my thoughts; and hackney authors began to ply me with specimens, as earnestly, and with as much passion and concern, as the watermen do passengers with oars and scullers. I had some acquaintance with this generation in my apprenticeship, and had never any warm affection for them; in regard I always thought their great concern lay more in how much a sheet, than in any generous respect they bore to the commonwealth of learning; and indeed the learning itself of these gentlemen lies very often in as little room as their honesty; though they all pretend to have studied you six or seven years in the Bodleian Library, to have turned over the Fathers, and to have read and digested the whole compass both of humane and ecclesiastic history: when, alas! they have never been able to understand a single page of Saint Cyprian, and cannot tell you whether the Fathers lived before or after Christ. And as for their honesty, it is very remarkable, they will either persuade you to go upon another man's copy, to steal his thought, or to abridge his book, which should have got him bread for his life-time. When you have engaged them upon some project or other, they will write you off three or four sheets perhaps, take up three or four pounds upon an urgent occasion, and you shall never hear of them more."The first copy I would venture to print, was writ ten ten by the Reverend Mr. Doolittle, and intituled The Sufferings of Christ.' This book fully answered my end; for, exchanging it through the whole trade, it furnished my shop with all sorts of books saleable at that time; and it also brought me acquainted with those ingenious gentlemen, Mr. Waters, Mr. Shewel, Mr. Clark, Mr. Benson, Mr. Wells, and Mr. Sanders, who were then students under the care of Mr. Doolittle. There was a copy of Greek verses prefixed to this book, which occasioned a poetical duel between the two private Academies of Islington and Stepney; Mr. Wesley, then pupil under Mr. Veale, endeavouring to ridicule the Poem; with whom, and Mr. Kingston, his fellow student, I contracted a very intimate friendship. Mr. Wesley was much celebrated for his vein at poetry; though those that allow of no second rate in that art have endeavoured to lessen his reputation. The second adventure I made in printing, was a copy written by Mr. Jay, rector of Chinner, intituled, Daniel in the Den; or, the Lord President's Imprisonment, and miraculous Deliverance.' It was dedicated to the Lord Shaftsbury, and published upon the occasion of his being acquitted by an ignoramus jury. This piece was well furnished with wit, and, being published at the critical time, sold well. Books have their time of life as well as we; That books no resurrection have, we hope for one. "This extraordinary success in my first attempts, gave me an ungovernable itch to be always intriguing that way. The next thing I printed was a Sermon preached by the Rev. Mr. John Shower, at the funeral of Madam Anne Barnardiston. The growing reputation of the author made the Sermon move very well. There have been three editions of it, two of my own printing, and a third by my worthy worthy friend Mr. John Lawrence. When I was thus fixed in the trade, I resolved to make public a Collection of Funeral Discourses preached by my reverend father, Mr. John Dunton, intituled, 'The House of Weeping.' The success was well enough; but my chief design was to perpetuate my father's name, for whose memory I have always entertained a very great and just veneration." Dunton's reputation grew with his circumstances; and, Aug. 3, 1682, he married Elizabeth, one of the daughters of Dr. Annesly, who at that time was a celebrated preacher among the Dissenters. He now opened a shop at the Black Raven in Princesstreet; where he carried on business very prosperously, till the universal damp upon trade which was occasioned by the defeat of the Duke of Monmouth in the West; when, having 500l. owing him in New England, he determined, after much deliberation, to make a trip thither; and, after a long and tedious voyage of four months, and the loss of a venture of 500l. in another ship, which was castaway, he arrived safe at Boston in March 1685-6; and opened a warehouse for the sale of the books which he had taken thither. Carrying with him powerful recommendations, and his books being of a class adapted to the Puritans, the success was equal to his wishes. His rivals in trade were but few; Mr. Usher, Mr. Philips, Mynheer Brunning, and Duncan Campbell, an industrious Scotchman, being then the only booksellers in Boston; and Mr. Green the principal if not the only printer. He had taken with him a steady apprentice, Samuel Palmer, to whom he entrusted the whole charge of his business; which left him at leisure to make many pleasant excursions into the country. He visited Harvard college particularly, and the town of Salem; where he opened another warehouse for his books. He also visited Wenham, an inland town; where he was most kindly received by Mr. Geery, the then minister of that place; whose character he thus delineates: "It were endless to enter on on a detail of each faculty of learning Mr. Geery is master of, and therefore take his character in shorthand. The Philosopher is acute, ingenious, and subtle; the Divine curious, orthodox, and profound; the Man of a majestic air, without austerity or sourness; his aspect is masterly and great, yet not imperious or haughty. The Christian is devout, without moroseness, or starts of holy frenzy and enthusiasm; the Preacher is primitive, without the accessional colours of whining or cant; and methodical without intricacy or affectation; and, which crowns his character, he is a man of a public spirit, zealous for the conversion of the Indians, and of great hospitality to strangers. He gave us a noble dinner, and entertained us with such pleasant fruits as, I must own, Old England is a stranger to."-In a ramble to Ipswich he had an opportunity of seeing much of the customs of the Indians. In the autumn he returned to London; and, being received by his wife and her father with all the marks of kindness and respect, expected nothing but a golden life of it for the future, though all his satisfactions were soon withered; for, being deeply entangled for a sister-in-law, he was not suffered to step over the threshold in ten months. Wearied with this confinement, he determined to take a trip to Holland, Flanders, Germany, &c.; and stayed four months at Amsterdam; whence he travelled to Cleves, Rhineberg, Dussledorp, Cologne, Mentz, &c.; and, returning through Rotterdam to London, Nov. 15, 1688, found his wife in health, and all her affairs in peace. On the day the Prince of Orange came to London, he again opened shop, at the Black Raven, opposite the Poultry Compter, where he traded ten years, with variety of successes and disappointments. The following books, among many others, may serve to give a taste of what he was engaged in: "Heads of Agreement, assented to by the United Ministers."-" The Morning Exercises, published by the London Ministers.""Malebranche's Search after Truth, which was made English |