32^ 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd S. No 43., Oct. 25. '56. 



shop Englished the first five lines of Virgil's first Eclogue, 

 made a demand of the said five guineas, and advised that 

 E. Curll's next advertisement, for the satisfaction of tlie 



gublicic, might be a certificate under the hand of Mr. 

 mith, by Exeter Change, his master, signifying, that he 

 served him honestly during the whole of the time for which 

 he was bound 'prentice to him ; but he has not, as yet, that 

 I know of, followed my advice." 



If the reader were to see the accumulated me- 

 moranda from which these Notes are compiled, he 

 would, we think, admit that the writer of them had 

 good grounds for believing that he had collected 

 sufficient materials to justify him in committing 

 such Notes to the press ; yet he will certainly 

 feel, as the writer himself does, how fragmentary 

 and unsatisfactory they are, and how difficult it is 

 to weave them into anything like order. 



We have just shown Curll in 1710, publishing 

 and engaged in controversy. Let us before going 

 farther show that we were right in supposing that 

 he commenced his business as a publisher in 1708. 



This evidence is contained in a pamphlet en- 

 titled An Apology for the Wi-itings of Walter 

 3foijle, Esq., in Answer to the Gi'oundless Asper- 

 sions of Mr. Ilearne of Edmund Hall, Oxon, and 

 Dr. Woodward of Gresham College, 8vo., 1727. 

 Curll had just brought out Anthony Hammond's 

 edition of The Whole Works of Walter Moyle, 

 Esq., one vol. 8vo., 1727 ;* and this Apology for 

 Mr. Moyle is a defence of that gentleman from an 

 attack made upon him by Hearne in his Johannes 

 Glastoniensis, 1726. In this pamphlet is a letter 

 from Curll to Hearne, whom he styles " Legen- 

 dary Grubber to both Universities " — and in the 

 course of this letter, speaking of Dodwell, Curll 

 says (p. 17.) : 



" As to Mr. Dodwell, I had above twenty j'ears' inti- 

 mate correspondence with him, and always believed him 

 to be a learned and very pious man. But at the same time 

 all who knew him will allow that Mr. Dryden's character 

 of a certain Peer in Absalom and Achitophel too much 

 resembled Mr. Dodwell ; for he truly was, what the poet 

 asserts : 



• Stiff in opinions, mostly in the wrong : 

 Was every thing by starts, and nothing long.' 



The first book I ever printed was the present of a manu- 

 script he made me, in defence of his now sufficiently 

 exploded doctrine of the Divine Immortalizing Spirit 

 transfused by Baptism." 



And in a foot-note he gives us the following 

 description of the work in question : 



" Ak Explication of a famous Passage in the Dialogue 

 of St. Justin Martyr with Tryphon, concerning the Im- 

 mortalit}' of Human Souls, &c., 8vo., printed in the year 

 1708. Price 2s. Gd." 



This was Curll's first publication. By what 

 books this was succeeded, it is now impossible to 



* In 1726, The Works of Walter Moyle, Esq., 2 vols. 

 8vo., were edited by Thomas Sergeant. The volume 

 published by Curll is by Anthony Hamn^ond, Lowndes 

 was not aware of this fact. 



ascertain with any certainty ; for the records of 

 the Stationers' Company, which have been searched 

 for the purpose, only show the following entries 

 made by him.* 



Sept. 13, 1710. Edmund Curll then entered for his 

 copy, a book entitled, " Some Account of the Family of 

 Sacheverell, from its original to this time." 



Dec. 4, 1710. Edmund Curll then entered for his copj', 

 a book entitled "The White Crow; or an Enquiry into 

 some more new doctrines broached by the Bishop of Salis- 

 bury [Dr. Burnet] in a Pair of Sermons uttered in that 

 Cathedral on the 5"' and 7"' days of November last, 1710 ; 

 and his Lordship's Restauratiou Sermon last 29'^ of May." 



May 19, 1711. Edmund Curll and R. Goslin, then 

 entered for their copy, " A True Account of what past at 

 the Old Bailej', May the 18'h, 1711, relating to the Tryal 

 of Richard Thornhill, Esq., indicted for the Murther of 

 Sir Cholmley Deering, Bart." 



May 29, 1711. Edmund Curll and R. Goslin then 

 entered for their copy, " The Reasons which induced Her 

 Majesty to create the Right Hon. Robert Harley, Esq., a 

 Peer of Great Britain." 



July 14, 1711. Edmund Curll and R. Goslin then 

 entered for their copy, " More Secret Transactions relat- 

 ing to the Case of Mr. William Gregg, by the Author of 

 the Former Part." 



Sept. 17, 1711. Edmund Curll then entered, "Tho 

 Reasons which induced Her Majesty to create the Right 

 Hon. Sir Simon Harcourt, the Lord Raby, Lord Dart- 

 mouth, Lord Ferrars, Lord Orrery, and D. Hamilton, 

 Peers of Great Britain." 



Jan. 26, 1712-13. Edmund Curll then entered, "The 

 Bishop of Salisbury's [Dr. Burnet] new Preface to his 

 Pastoral Care, Considered with respect to the following 

 heads, viz. 1. The Qualifications of the Clergy. 2. The 

 Distinction of High and Low Church. 3. The Present 

 Posture of Affairs." 



Sept. 22, 1720. Edmund Curll then entered, " The 

 Speech made by Eustace Budgell, Esq., at a General 

 Court of the South-Sea Company in Merchant Taylors' 

 Hall, on the 20* of Sept. 1720." 



Nov. 1, 1720. Edmund Curll then entered, "An 

 Epistle to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, occa- 

 sioned by the State of the Nation, presented on his Birth- 

 day. By Mr. Stanhope." 



Aug. 20, 1746. Edmund Curll then entered, " Achates 

 to Varus. An Epistle describing some Wonderful Ap- 

 pearances that ensued from a touch of Ithuriel's Spear, 

 together with a large Preface in the Style and Manner of 

 some distinguished Authors." 



Yet we must not be surprised to find so few 

 books entered by Curll as the publisher, when we 

 see what was the total number of entries in each 

 of the first years of the last century.f They are as 

 follows : 



" 1700 - - - - 9 books entered. 



1701 - - - - 3 „ „ 



1702 - - - - 2 „ „ 



1703 - - - - 4 „ 



1704 - - - - 6 „ 



1705 - - - - 5 „ 



1706 - - - - 2 „ 



1707 - - - - 3 „ 



1708 - - - - 2 „ „ ." 



* The writer cannot allow this reference to the Stationers' 

 Company to pass without making a public acknowledg- 

 ment of the kindness and courtesy shown him by Mr. 

 Joseph Greenhill on the occasion of these researches. 



t The paucity of entries at Stationers' Hall did not 



