Lintot's Account-Book

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Title:     Lintot's Account-Book
Author: Isaac Disraeli [More Titles by Disraeli]

An odd sort of a literary curiosity has fallen in my way. It throws some light on the history of the heroes of the Dunciad; but such minutiæ literariæ are only for my bibliographical readers.

It is a book of accounts, which belonged to the renowned BERNARD LINTOT, the bookseller, whose character has been so humorously preserved by Pope, in a dialogue which the poet has given as having passed between them in Windsor Forest. The book is entitled "Copies, when Purchased." The power of genius is exemplified in the ledger of the bookseller as much as in any other book; and while I here discover, that the moneys received even by such men of genius as Gay, Farquhar, Cibber, and Dr. King, amount to small sums, and such authors as Dennis, Theobald, Ozell, and Toland, scarcely amount to anything, that of Pope much exceeds 4000l.

I am not in all cases confident of the nature of these "Copies purchased;" those works which were originally published by Lintot may be considered as purchased at the sums specified: some few might have been subsequent to their first edition. The guinea, at that time, passing for twenty-one shillings and sixpence, has occasioned the fractions.

I transcribe Pope's account. Here it appears that he sold "The Key to the Lock" and "Parnell's Poems." The poem entitled, "To the Author of a Poem called Successio," appears to have been written by Pope, and has escaped the researches of his editors. The smaller poems were contributed to a volume of Poetical Miscellanies, published by Lintot.[1]

     MR. POPE.
                                                 £   s.  d.
19 Feb. 1711-12.
Statius, First Book                         }   16   2   6
Vertumnus and Pomona                        }
21 March, 1711-12.
First Edition Rape                               7   0   0
9 April, 1712.
To a Lady presenting Voiture                }
Upon Silence                                }    3  16   6
To the Author of a Poem called Successio}
23 Feb. 1712-13.
Windsor Forest                                  32   5   0
23 July, 1713.
Ode on St. Cecilia's day                        15   0   0
20th Feb. 1713-14.
Additions to the Rape                           15   0   0
1 Feb. 1714-15.
Temple of Fame                                  32   5   0
30 April, 1715.
Key to the Lock                                 10  15   0
17 July, 1716.
Essay on Criticism[2]                           15   0   0
13 Dec. 1721.
Parnell's Poems                                 15   0   0
23 March, 1713.
Homer, vol. i.                                 215   0   0
650 books on royal paper                       176   0   0
9 Feb. 1715-16.
Homer, vol. ii.                                215   0   0
7 May, 1716.
650 royal paper                                150   0   0
This article is repeated to the sixth volume of
of Homer. To which is to be added another sum
of 840l., paid for an assignment of all
the copies. The whole of this part of the
account amounting to                          3203   4   0
Copy-moneys for the Odyssey, vols. i. ii. iii.,
and 750 of each vol. royal paper, 4to.         615   6   0
Ditto for the vols. iv. v. and 750 do.         425  18  7-1/2
                                           ----------------
                                             £4244   8  7-1/2
                                           ================

     MR. GAY.
                                                £   s.  d.
12 May, 1713.
Wife of Bath                                   25   0   0
11 Nov. 1714.
Letter to a Lady                                5   7   6
14 Feb. 1714.
The What d'ye call it?                         16   2   6
22 Dec. 1715.
Trivia                                         43   0   0
Epistle to the Earl of Burlington              10  15   0
4 May, 1717.
Battle of the Frogs                            16   2   6
8 Jan. 1717.
Three Hours after Marriage                     43   2   6
The Mohocks, a Farce, 2l. 10s.
(Sold the Mohocks to him again.[3])
Revival of the Wife of Bath                    75   0   0
                                             ------------
                                             £234  10   0

     MR. DENNIS.
                                               £   s.  d.
Feb. 24, 1703-4.
Liberty Asserted, one half share[4]            7   3   0
10 Nov. 1708.
Appius and Virginia                           21  10   0
25 April, 1711.
Essay on Public Spirit                         2  12   6
6 Jan. 1711.
Remarks on Pope's Essay                        2  12   6

Dennis must have sold himself to criticism from ill-nature, and not for pay. One is surprised that his two tragedies should have been worth a great deal more than his criticism. Criticism was then worth no more than too frequently it deserves; Dr. Sewel, for his "Observations on the Tragedy of Jane Shore," received only a guinea.

I had suggested a doubt whether Theobald attempted to translate from the original Greek: one would suppose he did by the following entry, which has a line drawn through it, as if the agreement had not been executed. Perhaps Lintot submitted to pay Theobald for not doing the Odyssey when Pope undertook it.

    MR. THEOBALD.
                                            £   s.  d.
23 May, 1713.
Plato's Phædon                              5   7   6
For Æsculus's Trag.                         1   1   6
being part of Ten Guineas.
12 June, 1714.
La Motte's Homer                            3   4   6

April 21, 1714. Articles signed by Mr. Theobald, to translate for B. Lintot the 24 books of Homer's Odyssey into English blank verse. Also the four Tragedies of Sophocles, called Œdipus Tyrannus, Œdipus Coloneus, Trachiniæ, and Philoctetes, into English blank verse, with Explanatory Notes to the twenty-four Books of the Odyssey, and to the four Tragedies. To receive, for translating every 450 Greek verses, with Explanatory Notes thereon, the sum of 2l. 10s.

To translate likewise the Satires and Epistles of Horace into English rhyme. For every 120 Latin lines so translated, the sum of 1l. 1s. 6d.

These Articles to be performed, according to the time specified, under the penalty of fifty pounds, payable by either party's default in performance.

Paid in hand, 2l. 10s.

It appears that Toland never got above 5l., 10l., or 20l., for his publications. See his article in "Calamities of Authors," p. 155. I discovered the humiliating conditions that attended his publications, from an examination of his original papers. All this author seems to have reaped from a life devoted to literary enterprise, and philosophy, and patriotism, appears not to have exceeded 200l.

Here, too, we find that the facetious Dr. King threw away all his sterling wit for five miserable pounds, though "The Art of Cookery," and that of "Love," obtained a more honourable price. But a mere school-book probably inspired our lively genius with more real facetiousness than any of those works which communicate so much to others.

DR. KING.
                                             £   s.  d.
 18 Feb. 1707-8.
Paid for Art of Cookery                     32   5   0
16 Feb. 1708-9.
Paid for the First Part of Transactions      5   0   0
Paid for his Art of Love                    32   5   0
23 June, 1709.
Paid for the Second Part of Transactions[6]  5   0   0
4 March, 1709-10.
Paid for the History of Cajamai              5   0   0
10 Nov. 1710.
Paid for King's Gods                        50   0   0
1 July, 1712.
Useful Miscellany, Part I                    1   1   6
Paid for the Useful Miscellany               3   0   0

Lintot utters a groan over "The Duke of Buckingham's Works" (Sheffield), for "having been jockeyed of them by Alderman Barber and Tonson." Who can ensure literary celebrity? No bookseller would now regret being jockeyed out of his Grace's works!

The history of plays appears here somewhat curious:--tragedies, then the fashionable dramas, obtained a considerable price; for though Dennis's luckier one reached only to 21l., Dr. Young's Busiris acquired 84l. Smith's Phædra and Hippolytus, 50l.; Rowe's Jane Shore, 50l. 15s.; and Jane Gray, 75l. 5s. Cibber's Nonjuror obtained 105l. for the copyright.

Is it not a little mortifying to observe, that among all these customers of genius whose names enrich the ledger of the bookseller, Jacob, that "blunderbuss of law," while his law-books occupy in space as much as Mr. Pope's works, the amount of his account stands next in value, far beyond many a name which has immortalised itself!

 

FOOTNOTES:

[1] "Miscellaneous Poems and Translations, by several Hands," 1712.--The second edition appeared in 1714; and in the title-page are enumerated the poems mentioned in this account, and Pope's name affixed, as if he were the actual editor--an idea which Mr. Nichols thought he affected to discountenance. It is probable that Pope was the editor. We see, by this account, that he was paid for his contributions.

[2] This was a new edition, published conjointly by Lintot and Lewis, the Catholic bookseller and early friend of Pope, of whom, and of the first edition, 1711, I have preserved an anecdote, p. 280.

[3] The late Isaac Reed, in the Biog. Dramatica, was uncertain whether Gay was the author of this unacted drama. It is a satire on the inhuman frolics of the bucks and bloods of those days, who imitated the savageness of the Indians whose name they assumed.[4] Why Gay repurchased "The Mohocks," remains to be discovered. Was it another joint production with Pope?--The literary co-partnership between Pope and Gay has never been opened to the curious. It is probable that Pope was consulted, if not concerned, in writing "The What d'ye call it?" which, Jacob says in his "Poetical Register," "exposes several of our eminent poets." Jacob published while Gay was living, and seems to allude to this literary co-partnership; for, speaking of Gay, he says: "that having an inclination to poetry, by the strength of his own genius, and the conversation of Mr. Pope, he has made some progress in poetical writings."

This tragi-comical farce of "The Mohocks" is satirically dedicated to Dennis, "as a horrid and tremendous piece, formed on the model of his own 'Appius and Virginia.'" This touch seems to come from the finger of Pope. It is a mock-tragedy, for the Mohocks themselves rant in blank verse; a feeble performance, far inferior to its happier predecessor, "The What d'ye call it?"

[4] The brutal amusements of these "Mohocks," and the helpless terror of London, is scarcely credible in modern days. Wild bands of drunken men nightly infested the streets, attacking and ill-using every passer-by. A favourite pastime was to surround their victim with drawn swords, pricking him on every side as he endeavoured to escape. Many persons were maimed and dangerously wounded. Gay, in his Trivia, has noted some of their more innocent practical jokes; and asks--

"Who has not trembled at the Mohock's name?
Was there a watchman took his hourly rounds,
Safe from their blows or new invented wounds?"

Swift, in his notes to Stella, has expressed his dread, while in London, of being maimed, or perhaps killed, by them.--ED.

[5] Bought of Mr. George Strahan, bookseller.

[6] For an account of these humorous pieces, see the following article on "The Royal Society."

[The end]
Isaac Disraeli's essay: Lintot's Account-Book

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