esteemed for punctuality, intelligence, and accuracy. He finally quitted the printing business in the year 1820, when he had obtained an estimable character in public life, and had amassed a considerable fortune by some successful speculations, which were conducted on such liberal principles as added not more to his wealth than to the esteem in which he was held by all who knew him. Residing, as he had, during almost the whole of his life, in the ward of Farringdon-within, and becoming gradually, by his amiable and generous temper, more intimately known to the inhabitants of the ward, he was, in 1800, elected one of their representatives in the common council, afterwards became one of their deputies, (for this ward has two) and on the death of Thomas Smith, esq. was elected alderman, May 1, 1823. In the election of him for sheriff, in 1825, by the livery at large, the same indications of unanimous esteem were evinced which had attended him on his former elections. On his retirement from the shrievalty he continued to perform the duties of alderman, in conjunction with his brethren, and with an assiduity and energy which more and more endeared him to his constituents. On Nov. 9, 1829, he entered on his mayoralty with the happiest auspices, and, when health permitted, received the visits of his fellow magistrates and fellow citizens with an hospitality which has rarely been equalled, and perhaps never excelled. In the middle of September his health became slowly but seriously affected, and it was supposed that the rapid decline of his health was occasioned by the well known events which took place just before the close of his mayoralty, but this was a mistake. Of these events he knew little, or thought less. On Tuesday, Nov. 9, he was removed in a very feeble state to his house at Hamersmith, where he lingered till Dec. 2, when he quietly departed this life, aged seventyfour years, and his remains were interred in the parish church of Christchurch, Newgate-street, with the honour due to his rank and character. Mr. alderman Crowder's character was one of those which we have often heard recommended as a pattern to young men of business; it may be comprised in two words,industry and integrity. Both distinguished him while in trade, and both he carried with him into public life. To the poor indeed he had in all stations in life been a generous benefactor; and it is stated, upon the best authority, that during his mayoralty he did not expend less than £1000 in charitable purposes. Mrs. Crowder died in Nov. 1823.*

1830. JAMES DONALDSON, printer and proprietor of the Edinburgh Advertiser, left to six trustees the sum of £240,000, for the purpose of endowing an hospital for boys, to be called Donaldson's Hospital."*-Henderson.

1830. The number of newspapers transmitted through the general post-office was 12,962,000. 1830. The Tewkesbury Yearly Register and Magazine, 8vo. edited by Mr. Bennett, bookseller, at Tewkesbury, in Worcestershire, which appears to have been the first yearly magazine ever published.

1830, Aug. The Sunderland Herald, printed at Sunderland, in the county of Durham. 1830. The Independent, (Australia) instituted by Mr. S. Dowsett.

1831, Jan. 1. Died, CHARLES HEATH, printer and bookseller, at Monmouth, aged sixty-nine years. He twice served the office of mayor of that corporation. In 1793, Mr. Heath published a Descriptive Account of Piercefield and Chepstow; in 1814, a History of Monmouth; and in 1806, an Account of Tintern Abbey, and Ragland Castle.

1831, Jan. 31. A meeting was held at the city of London literary and scientific institution, to take measures for the removal of the restrictions of the press. Dr. Birkbeck presided. It was stated, that in America, where there is no tax upon newspapers, 1,456,416 advertisements were inserted in eight newspapers published in New York; whilst in four hundred newspapers, published in England and Ireland, the number within the same period, was only 100,000. In the twelve daily newspapers at New York, there were more advertisements than in all the newspapers of England and Ireland. Joseph Hume, esq. stated that, in Great Britain, in a single year, £1,000,000 was raised by taxes upon the materials of books and publications. The duty on stamps amounted to £666,000; of which was levied £840,000 upon newspapers; £30,000 upon almanacks; £1,000 upon pamphlets; and £153,000 upon advertisements.

prohibit their exportation. Italy and Germany furnish the principal supplies of linen rags, both to Great Britain made upon substances proposed as substitutes for rags in and the United States. Many experiments have been the manufacture of paper. The bark of the willow, the beech, the aspen, the hawthorn, and the lime have been

made into tolerable paper: the tendrils of the vine, and the stalks of the nettle, the mallow, and the thistle, have

been used for a similar purpose; the bind of our own hops, it is affirmed, will produce paper enough for the use of making paper of straw.

England, and several patents have been granted for

* Dr. Dibdin, in his Northern Tour, 2 vols. 8vo. 1838, in a very vague and unsatisfactory manner says, "Donaldson's

hospital, about to be erected in Edinburgh, and £45,000 was to be devoted to the erection, it is stated for the support of this hospital, is supposed to amount to £300,000. The founder was a printer and publisher, where, or rather

* James Peshlier Crowder, esq. died at his house at Stockwell common, two days before his brother.

+ The rags of England do not furnish a fifth part of what we consume in the manufacture of paper. France, Holland, and Belgium prohibit, under severe penalties, the exportation of rags, because they require them for their own long established manufactories. Spain and Portugal also

spot, for the very purpose, we should suppose, to have obtained every particular of the where and the when of this praiseworthy typographer, who left such a vast sum for the education of the poor. We lament, very sincerely, that we cannot ourselves give more information upon the subject, than that James Donaldson, esq. died at Broughton-hall, near Edinburgh, October 19th, 1830, though we have searched every book likely to afford us any account of the life of Mr. Donaldson. Kay, in his Edinburgh Portraits, slightly alludes to him.

1831, Feb. 7. A work was presented to their majesties, (William IV.* and his consort) at Brighton, which may be regarded as a typographical wonder.-The New Testament, printed in gold, on porcelain paper,† and for the first time successfully executed on both sides. Two years had been employed in perfecting the work, the gold in which is valued at five guineas. Only one hundred copies were printed.

1831, Feb. 12. Died, ALEXANDER LAURIE, printer of the Gazette for Scotland.

1831, Feb. 28. Died, THOMAS CROPP, editor and proprietor of the Bolton Chronicle, aged thirty-five years. Mr. Cropp fell a victim to a coach accident in the preceding June.

1831, Feb. 26. Died, JOHN BELL, formerly of the Strand, bookseller. Few men have contributed more, by their industry and good taste, to the improvement of the graphic and typographic arts than Mr. Bell; witness his beautiful editions of the British Poets and Shakspeare. He was one of the original proprietors of the Fashionable World, the Oracle, and the Morning Post, and projector of that well-established Sunday newspaper, Bell's Weekly Messenger. Another of his successful projects was the elegant monthly publication La Belle Assemblée. Mr. Bell, in publishing his British Theatre, first set the fashion, which soon became general, of discarding the long f, about 1795. He died at Fulham, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. He was one of the most marked men of his day; he possessed a masculine understanding, which a long course of observation, and a particular quickness and facility in observing, had very highly cultivated-so as to have given him a judgment as just and exact as his powers of conception were vigorous and acute. He had an instinctive perception of what was beautiful in every possible combination of the arts.

1831, March 15. A meeting of the founders, patrons, and members of a projected association for the encouragement of literature. It was proposed to raise a fund of £10,000, for the purpose of publishing works of merit, where authors and publishers could not agree,-to advance money in some cases to the authors in the progress of their labours, and to allow them a handsome per-centage on the profits.

* William IV. ascended the thrones of Great Britain

and Hanover, on the death of his elder brother George IV.

June 26, 1830, aged sixty-eight years.

Just as the professors of the typographic art were in despair that British skill would ever accomplish the long wished for desideratum as printing in gold or silver, Messrs. De La Rue, Cornish, and Rock, of London, to the astonishment and delight of the literary world, sent forth

their novel preparation of porcelain paper and card, the enamelled surface of which is at once chaste and elegant,

and as reflective and clear as a mirror; its immediate use formed another and very important era in the art of letterpress printing, particularly from wood engravings, borders, &c. The works which have been executed in gold,

silver, and bronze, on porcelain paper and card, leave

nothing more to wish in this beautiful invention.

Francis Ludlow Holt, a barrister, married a niece of

Mr. Bell's, and was for a long time connected with him in the management of the Dispatch, for which he generally wrote the leading articles. He was the author of the

Land we Live in, com. 1804; the Law of Libel, 1815, &c

1831, March 15. Died, THOMAS Payne, of the firm of Payne and Foss, booksellers, in Pall-mall, London. Mr. Payne was the eldest son of Thomas Payne, who died in 1799; was born in London, Oct. 10, 1752, and was educated at M. Metayer's, a classical school of reputation, in Charterhouse-square. His father was anxious that he should be instructed in every branch of education necessary to an intimate acquaintance with the contents and reputation of books in foreign languages. This initiation into the history of books, Mr. Payne augmented even to a high degree of critical knowledge, by frequent tours on the continent, and particularly by an amicable intercourse with the eminent scholars and collectors, whose conversation for many years formed the attraction of his well-frequented premises. Confidence was uniformly placed his judgment and opinion, by the most eminent and curious bibliographers of the day, that per haps it would be difficult to mention a gentleman of his profession, whose loss was more deeply regretted. He inherited the character as well as the name of his excellent father; the epithet of honest, it has been observed, was so entirely hereditary, as to be allowed, not by common, but by universal consent, to descend, without any bar, from father to son; and in addition he had acquired the appellation of the "father of the booksellers." After carrying on business at the Mewsgate, almost from his infancy, Mr. Payne removed, in 1806, to Pallmall, where his learned friends had a place assembling more commodious than any in Lon don. In 1813, he took into partnership Mr. Henry Foss, who had been his apprentice. Mr. Payne died in London, at the advanced age of seventy-nine years, and his remains were interred in the parish church of St. Martin in the Fields.

1831, March 20. The rev. Duncan M'Craig, an ordained minister of the church of Scotland, examined at the police court, Edinburgh, en the charge of purloining a Bible from the shop of a bookseller in that city. The library of the re gentleman being searched, several stolen bocks were found. He heard the charge very com posedly, and begged he might be bailed, in order to give him an opportunity of preparing kis sermon for the ensuing day! He was fully committed for trial, and on June 6, was sentenced to fourteen years' transportation.

1831, March 25. Died, JOHN BARKER, formerly a printer in the Old Bailey, but for many years a respected member of the court of assis tants of the stationers' company. He died at Kentish town, aged eighty-two years.

B.L.C., aged sixty-one years. 1831, April 5. Died, the rev. JOHN WALKER, of the original proprietors of the Oxford Herald, He was one

and for some time the editor.

1831, April 11. Died, ALEXANDER ACKMAN, jun. printer to his majesty, and the hon. house of assembly, in the island of Jamaica, and pr prietor of the Royal Jamaica Gazette. He left whom he succeeded in business, survived him. a widow and eight children; and his father.