Sept. 22. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



217 



LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22. 1835. 



fiotti, 



THE Ii£DG£B OF HENRY WOODFALL, JUN., 



1737—1748. 



I come now to the ledger of Henry Woodfall, 

 Jun., the son of " Woodfall without Temple Bar." 

 He started in business as a printer while his father 

 was yet living, and had of course to hunt for it 

 through new channels ; and his ledger shows that 

 he at first did a great deal of what is, I believe, 

 called "job work" — printed lists and broadsides, 

 lists of governors of hospitals and dispensaries, 

 blank forms for applicants, tickets and bills for 

 theatres, and of the performances at Vauxhall. 

 But industry and ability soon won its way, and 

 he became a prosperous and substantial trades- 

 man, a member for many years of the Common 

 Council, and in 1764 Master of the Stationers' 

 Company. 



The first entry in his ledger is dated May 7, 

 1737, and the last Dec. 31, 1748. The earlier 

 entries are, however, irregular, and I find one of 

 March 14, 1737. 



It appears from an agreement in the possession 

 of the present representative of the family, that on 

 March 4, 1736 (1736-7?), Theophilus Gibber sold 

 for 28/. " one-third of a tenth " of the London 

 Daily Post to Henry Woodfall, Jun. The intimate 

 and lifelong connexion of Henry Woodfall, Jun., 

 and his brother William, with the theatres is well 

 known, William, indeed, was for a season or 

 two a provincial actor, married an actress, and 

 was for many years dramatic critic for one or 

 other of the public journals. Whether natural 

 taste led Henry to the theatres and to an ac- 

 quaintance with Cibber, and thus accidentally to 

 the purchase of the " one-third of a tenth," or the 

 accident of the purchase led to the connexion 

 with the theatre, I leave others to decide. It is 

 reasonably certain, I think, that this purchase first 

 tempted him to set up in business on his own 

 account, and thus by the " one-third of a tenth " 

 the Woodfalls became connected with the perio- 

 dical press with which the name is now and for 

 ever associated; for the London Daily Post and 

 General Advertizer, became in March, 1743-4, 

 the General Advertize?; and in Dec. 1752 the far- 

 famed Public Advei-tizer, in which the letters of 

 Junius appeared. (Nichols, i. 302.) 



The ledger of H. Woodfall, Jun., contains very 

 little information of any literary interest. He, 

 unfortunately, made no distinction between " Gen- 

 tleman's Work," and " Work for Booksellers," so 

 that we have no help to guide us to a conclusion 

 as to works printed for the author, and thus inci- 

 dentally to the name of the writer ; and my know- 

 ledge of these illustrious obscures is too limited to 



No. 308.] 



enable me to distinguish between them. Thus 

 there is in the Biog. Dram, an account of a 

 tragedy called Incle and Yarico, published 1742, 

 by the author of The City Farce, whose name is 

 not known. Can you or your readers say whether 

 the person charged in the following account was 

 the author or bookseller ? 



" Mrs. Weddell. 

 1741-2, Jan. Printing 500 Proposals for 

 Yarico and Incle. 

 April. Printing the play Y. & I." 



There are other poems and pamphlets printed for 

 persons about whom I cannot give you inform- 

 ation, thus : 



« Mrs. E. Boyd. 



1743-4, Jan. To printing a poem entitled £ s. d. 

 Altamira's Ghost, 2 sheets 

 of Gr. Prim. fol. No. 500 - 1 1 

 Two reams of paper - - 13 

 (By consent to take 11. lis. 6c?.) " 



The abatement and manner of payment suggests 



author's work : 



£ s. d. 



" Jan. 9, 1743. Received beforehand - - 1 3 

 Received more - - - 7 

 Received more - - - 1 6 



1 II 6" 



The following parties are to me equally unknown : 



« Mr. Whitridge. 



1747, April 27. To printing a second letter to 



the Duke of Newcastle." 



" Mr. Barbutt. 



1748, April 30. An Answer fi-om a Gentleman £ s. d. 



at the Hague. Paper, &c. 4 16" 



Mr. Barbutt, I suppose, was the author, and the 

 speculation a bad one, for payment in part is thus 

 acknowledged : 



£ s. d. 

 " Received in part, a Moidore 17 

 More from the publisher, Mr. 

 Corbett - - - - 1 IJ" 



The following is an early entry : 



" Mr. Howard, Poet. 

 1737-8, Mar. 3. To printing two sheets of a. £ s. d. 

 paraphrase on Milton, a 

 quarto, Gr. Prim, poem, 

 No. 500 - - - - 1 4 

 Mar. 5. Apology, &c. - - - 5 



19 



1738-9, Jan. 13. To printing three half sheets 

 of quarto poem. No. 500, at 

 12s. per sheet - - - 18 

 Title, &c., extra - - - 5 0" 



Another Howard subsequently figures in the 

 ledger (Sept. 25, 1739) as the "Rev. Mr. How- 

 ard," for whom Woodfall printed " 500 receipts 

 for a subscription volume of twelve sermons," and 



