house in the center: but the town, as if
conscious of his merit, followed his retreat, and surrounded it with
buildings.--Here he continued the business of a japanner for life: his
carriage, each pannel of which was a distinct picture, might be
considered _the pattern-card of his trade_, and was drawn by a beautiful
pair of cream-coloured horses.

His inclination for letters induced him, in 1750, to turn his thoughts
towards the press. He spent many years in the uncertain pursuit; sunk
600_l_. before he could produce one letter to please himself, and some
thousands before the shallow stream of profit began to flow.

His first attempt, in 1756, was a quarto edition of Virgil, price one
guinea, now worth several.--He afterwards printed Paradise Lost, the
Bible, Common Prayer, Roman and English Classics, etc. in various sizes,
with more satisfaction to the literary world than emolument to himself.

In 1765, he applied to his friend, Dr. Franklin, then at Paris, and now
Ambassador from America, to sound the literati, respecting the purchase
of his types; but received for answer, "That the French, reduced by the
war of 1756, were so far from pursuing schemes of taste, that they were
unable to repair their public buildings, but suffered the scaffolding to
rot before them."

In private life he was a humorist; idle in the extreme; but his
invention was of the true Birmingham model, active. He could well
design, but procured others to execute; wherever he found merit he
caressed it: he was remarkably polite to the stranger; fond of show: a
figure rather of the smaller size, and delighted to adorn that figure
with gold lace.--Although constructed with the light timbers of a
frigate, his movement was solemn as a ship of the line.

During the twenty-five years I knew him, though in the decline of life,
he retained the singular traces of a handsome man. If he exhibited a
peevish temper, we may consider good-nature and intense thinking are
not always found together.

Taste accompanied him through the different walks of agriculture,
architecture, and the finer arts. Whatever passed through his fingers,
bore the lively marks of John Baskerville.

His aversion to christianity would not suffer him to lie among
christians; he therefore erected a mausoleum in his own grounds for his
remains, and died without issue, in 1775, at the age of 69.--Many
efforts were used after his death, to dispose of the types; but, to the
lading discre