328 



Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 



[MARCH, 



volumes, 8vo. On the reputation obtained 

 by that work, the proprietors of the Journal 

 Des Debats, requested him to join in the 

 editorship of that paper. He accepted the 

 invitation; and, excepting tor one brief in- 

 terval, ha devoted himself to that laborious 

 duty to the very day of his death. Only one 

 hour before he expired, he traced a few lines 

 for the Journal, but had not strength to 

 finish them. 



M. Malte Brun was acquainted with all 

 the languages of Europe ; he wrote French 

 with the facility of a native ; and he had a 

 thorough understanding of the character of 

 all the European Cabinets. 



In 1 807 appeared his Picture of Ancient 

 and Modern Poland ; and in 1808, he com- 

 menced a periodical work which is still con- 

 tinued, under the title of Annals of Voyages 

 and Travels, and of Geography and History. 

 It is a faithful and learned analysis of all the 

 voyages and travels, and of all the discoveries 

 in modern times. In 1814 and 1815, he pro- 

 duced another periodical, called the Specta- 

 tor, which was completed in three volumes. 

 Of his great work, his Summary of Universal 

 Geography, six volumes have appeared ; and 

 the printing of the seventh and last volume 

 is nearly finished. During the Hundred 

 Days he published his Apology for Louis the 

 Eighteenth ; and in 1825, appeared his Trea- 

 tise on Legitimacy. During the last few 

 months preceding his decease, he was em- 

 ployed in the drawing up of a Dictionary of 

 Univeral Geography, in one volume, which 

 is in part printed. His labours were too 

 great for his strength. His physical energies 

 were rapidly giving way. An interval of re- 

 pose might have restored him ; but he neg- 

 lected the counsels of friendship ; and the 

 moment that was to terminate hi's existence 

 speedily arrived. For three days only he 

 kept his room. He died on the 14th of 

 December; and on the ITth his remains 

 were interred in the Cemetry of the West ; 

 where M. Eyries paid the tribute of his 

 esteem and regret to his colleague, and M. 

 de la Renaudier6 bade a last adieu to the 

 man who had preceded him in his office. In 

 the church, Rue de Billettes, a funeral oration 

 was pronounced by M. Boissand, the Lu- 

 theran minister. M. Malte Brun has left a 

 widow and two sons. 



JOHN NICHOLS, ESQ., F. S. A. 

 John, son of Edward and Anne^Nichols, 

 was born at Islington, on the 2d of February, 

 1744-5. His. original destination was the 

 navy ; but, in consequence of the decease of 

 his maternal uncle, a lieutenant in that ser- 

 vice, in 1751, the views of his family were 

 altered; and, before he was quite thirteen, 

 he was apprenticed to Mr. William Bowyer, 

 the celebrated printer. To that gentleman 

 he proved a most valuable and confidential 

 assistant. He was not only a good classical 

 scholar, but had considerable talent in poetry 

 .and general literature. During his minority, 



he wrote several essays on the manners of the 

 age ; and, from 1701 to 1766, his productions 

 in prose and in verse, made no inconsiderable 

 figure in the Westminster Journal, and other 

 periodicals. His attention to business was 

 rather increased than diminished by his de- 

 votion to literature. On the expiration of his 

 term, Mr. Bowyer, in token of his high satis- 

 faction, returned a moiety of his apprentice 

 fee to his father; and us early as the year 



1766, he took him into partnership. In 



1767, Messrs. Bowyer and Nichols removed 

 their office from Whitefriars to Red Lion- 

 passage, FJeet-street, where it remained 

 until a very few years since. The union 

 existed upon the most cordial terms till the 

 death of Mr. Bowyer, in 1 777. 



In 1763, Mr. Nichols published two poeti- 

 cal pamphlets ; Islington, a Poem, and The 

 Buds of Parnassus ; but his first publication 

 of consequence was a work on the origin of 

 printing, in two essays, in 1774. This ob- 

 tained most respectful notice, in foreign as 

 well as in English literary journals. Lord 

 Marchmont, Drs. Birch, Parsons, Warton, 

 and Farmer, Sir James Burrow, and Sir 

 John Pringle, were now among the friends 

 and patrons of Mr. Nichols, who was re- 

 garded as the probable successor of Mr. 

 Bowyer. Dean Swift was one of his great 

 favourites; and, in 1775, he published a 

 supplemental volume to Dr. Hawkesworth's 

 edition of that writer. He afterwards dis- 

 played his editorial skill in a newly arranged 

 edition of Swift's works, with numerous ad- 

 ditions and biographical notes. This has 

 long been regarded as the standard edition. 

 In this, and his next publication, the original 

 works in prose and verse of William King, 

 L.L.D. with historical notes, in 1776, he was 

 assisted by his friend Isaac Reed, the com- 

 mentator on Shakspeare. In 1778, Mr. 

 Nichols obtained a share in the Gentleman's 

 Magazine, of which he became the editor, 

 and of which we believe, he retained the 

 control until the time of his death. 



In 1779, in conjunction with Dr. Ducarel, 

 and assisted by Richard Gough, Esq. the 

 celebrated antiquary, he published the His- 

 tory of the Royal Abbey of Bee, near 

 Rouen ; and some Account of the Alien Prio- 

 ries, and of such Lands as they are known 

 to have possessed in England and Wales. 

 Mr. Gough had long been an able contributor 

 to the Gentleman's Magazine ; and the inti- 

 macy and friendship which subsisted between 

 him and Mr. Nichols, continued till his death, 

 in 1809. In 1780, Mr. Nichols published 

 his Collection of Royal and Noble Wills a 

 Select Collection of Miscellaneous Poems, 

 with Historical and Biographical Notes, 

 and commenced his Bibliotbeca Topogra- 

 phica Britannica, the completion of which 

 employed ten years. In 1781, he published 

 his Biographical Anecdotes of William Ho- 

 garth, and his Biographical Memoirs of 

 William Jed, Including a Particular Account 

 of his Art of Block Printing. In 1782, first 

 appeared his Anecdotes of Bowyer, and of 



