is the first view which you have given the public of yourself; the only fault I find with it is, that it is not so large as the life; the more we see of it, the better we shall like it." Very few copies were printed; and it is seldom found with the Glossary, having never been published.

On the 20th of December, 1727, he lost an affectionate mother; and received on that occasion the following consolatory letter from the learned Editor of the "Antiquitates Asiaticæ:",

“SIR,

"I would not trouble you with any business of mine yesterday, having too great a fellow-feeling of your case, and knowing how heavily you must then go, as one that mourneth for his mother." It is now your turn, as it once was mine, to experience the divine rhetoric of that expression, in the fewest and lowest words, the fullest and highest that can be made. But withal, Sunt verba et voces quibus hunc lenire dolorem-possis;' I mean that irresistible consolation of St. Paul, 1 Thes. iv. 13, 14.

"I doubt not but this, and many like Christian comforts, occur of themselves to you, with all the advantage of reflec tion. Providence, when I was under the same disconsolate circumstances, the very day after I received the afflicting news, led me to Westminster Abbey, and there first fed, and then alleviated my sorrow by a Greek inscription:

Μνημονεύων τῆς σῆς ἀγαθότης

Αἰάζω σε καλλίτη, καὶ λυπέμαι σφόδρα.
̓Αλλ ̓ ἐκ ὡς ἀγνοῶν, &c.

Τὴν γὰρ ἀνάςασιν νεκρῶν

Πιστεύω βεβαιῶς, καὶ προσδοκῶ.

"The melancholy occasion will, I hope, be so far from hindering, that it will rather incline you to retire hither, and to fly a little from the place, though you cannot fly from the time of mourning. If he could find it convenient, I should be very glad to see your father with you; and, in the mean time, with my hearty prayers for the consolation of both him and you, I remain,

"Your assured friend, and humble servant,

Christmas-day, 1727.

"EDM. CHISHULL.”

* Mr. Bowyer's copy of this curious book, which was rendered still more valuable by his MS. observations, has since his death (agreeably to his directions when living) been presented to Lord Sandys.

Deeply as he was enamoured with Science, he was not insensible to the power of Beauty. Very highly to the satisfaction of his father, he entered into the marriage-state, Oct. 9, 1728, with Anne Prudom, his mother's niece. By that accomplished woman, (whom he unfortunately lost Oct. 17, 1731, at the age of 26) he had two sons; William, who died an infant, and Thomas, who survived him.

On the death of Mrs. Bowyer, he received this very affectionate letter from Mr. Clarke:

"DEAR SIR,

Buxted, Oct. 25, 1731.

"I was very much shocked at your melancholy letter, and am wholly at a loss what to say or think upon so sorrowful an occasion. The repeated afflictions which you have so often had of late in parting with persons very dear to you, seem only to have been preparing the way for this, the greatest you can ever suffer: these are trying circumstances, and there is no way of finding relief, but by seeking it from that hand which sent them. When such instances of submission to the Divine Will are demanded of us, there is no doubt but as extraordinary assistances will be ready for our support.

"But I can say nothing upon this subject that you are a stranger to. I would chuse rather to give your thoughts another turn, and persuade you to try how the solitude of the country suits with them: here you will have fewer objects to keep up the impressions of sorrow, and at this season need not fear any interruptions, that will occasion you the least ceremony. The time of visiting in the country is now over; and Mr. Lloyd, who is now in town, has a man and two horses to come down on Saturday. He is going with his son to Cambridge, and lodges (I think) at the Bull in Bishopsgate. If you have leisure enough to take such a ride, it will be a convenience to him. I cannot possibly stir from home, now Mr. Canon has the care of two churches: but should think that a little change of air, and the company of your more distant friends, cannot be improper upon such an occasion,

Mr. Chishull also again condoled with him, in terms becoming the man of letters, the friend, and the Christian:

"GOOD SIR,

Walthamstowe, Feb. 9, 1731-2.

"FROM the shadow and vale of death, in which I have sat above three months, I come now, though late, yet most sincerely to condole the unspeakable loss that you sustained, when it pleased God to take away from you the delight of your eyes by a stroke. Yet I hope you have not mourned, at least do not still mourn, excessively; but considered, that He who gives us all good things, reserves always his right of resumption; more especially in the case of matrimony, which is never contracted without the express mention of being parted by death. The survivor, therefore, must look upon his term of happiness as expired by God's over-ruling providence, yet not without the continuance of his favour, if we receive the mighty change with submission and contentment.

"It was a moving circumstance in your letter, not read without the tears of all our family, in that she designed us a visit for those which proved her last hours; and it shall ever remain upon us as a debt to her pious memory. You, I hope, will fulfil her kind intention, by seeing us now as soon, and afterwards as often, as you can; which to my children, who all mournfully salute you, as well as to my. self, will be esteemed the greatest favour.

"I am, Sir,

"Your most compassionate friend, and servant,

"EDM. CHISHULL.

"My service waits on your good father, with wishes for his and yours and the little orphan's health, this and many following new years."

In 1729, he ushered into the world a curious treatise, under the title of "A Pattern for young Students in the University, set forth in the Life of Mr. Ambrose Bonwicke, some time Scholar of St. John's college, Cambridge." This little volume was generally supposed to be written by Mr. Bowyer; but was in reality the production of Ambrose Bonwicke the elder, and came into Mr. Bowyer's hands as executor to James. This assertion is confirmed by a letter

under the author's hand*, addressed to his wife, and found unopened at his death; in which he particularly bequeathed two guineas to his son, for the trouble he would have in the task enjoined him.

Mr. Clarke, in a letter dated Aug. 11, 1729, says, "Dr. Hargrave was so pleased with your pamphlet against the Separatists, that he carried it off by force, and I must beg another upon any terms." What this pamphlet was, is not at present recollected.

Through the friendship of the Right Hon. Arthur Onslow, a friendship as honourable to him, as on the part of that eminent Statesman it was sincere, he was appointed printer of the votes of the House of Commons in 1729; an office he held near fifty years under three successive Speakers.

In 1730, a Music-speech by Dr. John Taylor, who was likewise of St. John's, is said, in the title-page, to be "printed by W. Bowyer, junior, a Student of the same College." A particularity which hath not been noticed in any other piece that he printed.

In the year 1731 appeared "The Traditions of the Clergy destructive of Religion: with an Inquiry into the Grounds and Reasons of such Traditions. A Sermon preached at the Visitation held at Wakefield, in Yorkshire, June 25, 1731, by William Bowman, M. A. Vicar of Dewsbury." The publication of this performance gave great disgust to the Clergy; and Mr. Bowman was attacked both ludicrously and gravely on account of it. Among others who took up the pen upon this occasion, we find Mr. Bowyer; who printed a pamphlet called, "The Traditions of the Clergy not destructive of Religion. Being Remarks on Mr. Bowman's Sermon; exposing that Gentleman's Deficiency in Latin and Greek, in Ecclesiastical History and true Reasoning." Mr. Clarke, in a letter dated December, 1731, says, "I believe I never thanked you for the seasonable correction you have given the Vicar of Dewsbury. It is necessary that all such writers should receive some animadversions; though I find the man has more judgment than I at first imagined he could possibly be master of. He could not resist the vanity of being an author; but is wise enough to think that there is no necessity of defending every thing that he may take a fancy to print: it will be impossible to provoke him to an answer." In another letter, dated Oct. 15, 1732, the same gentleman

[* See Vol. III. p. 51. of these Selections. ]

says, "I am not displeased with finding that my brother Bowman is like to have some demands upon you; his answer, which has been long threatened, will, perhaps, like Thuanus, appear at last; and it may possibly give you the same sort of employment*: you may find something to correct in every sheet. I was indeed then a stranger to his person, at first something prejudiced in favour of his discretion; that he was at least wise enough to retire from more danger; and that I might say of him, as Horace does of a nationt not well acquainted with the art of war,

Laxo meditatur arcu
Cedere campis..

But if he has a mind to try his fortune once more in Paul's Church-yard, whatever I may think of his courage, I shall have no great opinion of his conduct. As for you, I am sure it can never be your business to drop a contro versy in which you have nothing to fear. Make the most of him; and, in the style of the Votes, call him to order." This threatened answer, we believe, never appeared; and indeed it is generally supposed, that Mr. Bowman's insignificant work was by no means deserving the notice which was taken of it from so many different quarters. Besides nine or ten pamphlets, the papers of the times abound with strictures on a performance which would of itself have sank in oblivion, as indeed hath already been the fate of the whole controversy.

Mr. Bowyer was an early and an active member of the Society of Antiquaries; to which honour he was admitted in 1737. It appears from the minute-books of that respectable body, that he regularly attended their meetings, and frequently communicated to them matters of utility and curiosity, in the double capacity of a printer and a member of their Society.

Among other communications, was a letter to Mr. Gale, occasioned by an inscription to Vitellius, found at Bath, in August, 1736; the substance of which is printed in his preface to the "Veteres Poeta citati, &c." of Leedes, annexed to "Kuster de Vero Usu Verborum Mediorum, 1753." The whole Dissertation, with some notes on it by the great Antiquary to whom it was addressed, is preserved in Mr.

* It appears that Mr. Buckley employed Mr. Bowyer to correct Thuanus "for bit; to which Mr. Clarke alludes,

↑ The Scythians, 3 Carm. viii. 22.