Sept. 15. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



197 



LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15. 1855. 



POPE AND HENRY WOODPALL. 



The presumed possible connexion of Pope with 

 "Woodfall, without Temple Bar," induced in- 

 quiries, the result of which I sent some time since 

 to " N. & Q." (Vol. xi., p. 377.) In that com- 

 munication I confined myself to such information 

 as I could collect from his ledger, so singularly 

 and fortunately preserved, even though the print- 

 ing-office of his son, the possessor, was destroyed 

 by fire in 1793. I there found, as anticipated, 

 that Woodfall, who we were told by Nichols 

 commenced business " under the auspices of Mr. 

 Pope," was a good deal employed in printing 

 Pope's works, occasionally in printing for Pope's 

 friends, and in one instance, — and the fact 

 will perhaps receive a word or two of comment 

 and of explanation from future editors, — that he 

 printed directly for Pope himself. One purpose, 

 however, of that inquiry was to ascertain if pos- 

 sible whether Woodfall had anything to do with 

 the secret printing of the first edition of The 

 Dunciad, Curll's edition of Popes Letters, and 

 other the mysterious printing of Pope and his 

 friends. In this the inquiry was without direct 

 result. But the fact of the printing, and of other 

 facts derived from other sources, though wholly 

 insufficient to justify any conclusion, are just 

 worth bearing in remembrance. That no ledger 

 of Woodfall's would contain evidence of all the 

 printing done by him, or by his journeymen, may 

 be inferred from circumstances incidentally men- 

 tioned in the Life of Thomas Gent. About 1723, 

 says Gent — 



" I applied to Mr. Henry Woodfall, who readily ac- 

 cepted me, and I helped to finish the part that he had 

 of a learned dictionary. Whilst with him, I got servants 

 of my own to print, at mj' press, The Bishop of Rochester's 

 Effigy, to which were added some InofTensive verses that 

 pleased all parties, which sold very well. When I finished 

 what Mr. Woodfall had to do, I kept at home a little 

 while, and was sent for again, with whom I continued 

 till the banishment of the aforesaid prelate, and the exe- 

 cution of Counsellor Layer : on whose few dying words 

 I formed observations in nature of a large speech, and 

 had a run of sale for about three days successively, which 

 obliged me to keep in my own apartments, the unruly 

 hawkers being ready to pull my press in pieces for the 

 goods. After the hurry was over, I returned to my 

 master, and, continuing some time, he one morning told 

 me that, the night before, being in the club of master 

 printers of the higher class, he laughed heartily upon my 

 account. ' Pray, why so, sir ! ' said I ; ' how 'came I to 

 be the theme.?' 'Why,' said he, 'has not that fellow, 

 Sam Negus, put you amongst the catalogue of masters, 

 and placed you in Pye Corner? ' ' It's like his blunders,' 

 said I."— P. 140. 



Here is an odd sort of confusion between 

 "master and man" — master and journeyman. 

 No. 307.] 



Here is possibly of secret press — secret printino- 

 — through the agency, though not at the risk, 

 of Woodfall. I do not say it was so, but that 

 the transaction shows how secret printing might 

 have been carried on, confidentially through 

 Woodfall, without the transaction appearinf^ in 

 his ledger, and certainly the first edition of^The 

 Dunciad looks very like journeyman's printino-. 

 It is apparent that Woodfall knew all about hTs 

 journeyman's private establishment ; and Gent 

 elsewhere tells us that Negus put him in the list 

 of master printers which he sent to the Secretary 

 of State to do him mischief. 



"It was 'through such a rascal that I was made a 

 state prisoner.' (P. 142.) ' This very fellow,' says Gent, 

 in another reference to the same transaction, ' composed a 

 list of all the master printers in England (and, through 

 malice, put me in amongst them, at a time when I was 

 not arrived at that careful degree, but actually working as a 

 journeyman with old Mr. Henry Woodfall), exhibiting the 

 titles of " high " and " low," and those of which he was un- 

 certain as to their principles. This he sent to the Secre- 

 tary of State, in hopes to have a power as messenger of 

 the press.' " — P. 76. 



Gent was a sensible, trustworthy person, " ever 

 inclined," as he tells us, "to secrecy and fidelity ;" 

 and he appears to have been employed by other 

 masters in secret printing; — by Mr. Clifton, the 

 " high-flyer," a Catholic and a Jacobite, who was 

 obliged soon after to fly the country ; and on a 

 work for Atterbury about 1720 or 1721. Gent 

 indeed was so well pleased with the " discourse " 

 and "hospitality" at the Deanery, that he appears 

 to have had some touch of sympathy for the bishop 

 and his politics, for just about the time that the 

 bishop was on his trial he published The Bishop 

 of Rochester s Effigy. Gent continued, he tells 

 us, with Woodfall "till the banishment of the 

 aforesaid prelate, and the execution of Counsellor 

 Layer," who was hanged, be it remembered, for 

 treason, — an odd sort of event to note as the end 

 of his journeyman services. The banishment of 

 the bishop and the hanging of Layer quieted the 

 high-flyers for a time, and " Mr. Woodfall was so 

 kind as to recommend " Gent " to the ingenious 

 Mr. Richardson in Salisbury Court." ( P. 143.) 



These, however, are mere speculations, tending 

 only to show that Woodfall, the substantial printer, 

 may have been willing to serve his friends, though 

 it would have been a needless risk to him and to 

 them to have done the work in his own office ; 

 and his ledger, be it remembered, which begins 

 only in 1734, could not throw light on these Gent 

 doings. 



Next week I shall send you a few notes on the 

 ledger of his son, Henry Woodfall, Jun., the 

 father of Henry Sampson Woodfall, the first pub- 

 lisher of Junixiss Letters. P. T. P. 



