2"«» S. No 108., Jan. 23. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



61 



LONDON, SATURDAY. JANUARY 23. IS5S. 



THE MAWH00D3. 



From Christiana Cooper's will, published some 

 time since in the AMnaeum, I first heard of the 

 relationship of Pope with a family of this name. 

 I now learn from Mr. Hunter that Alice Turner, 

 his aunt, was married to Richard Mawhood of 

 Ardsley in Yorkshire, a gentleman of good estate. 

 This Richard and Alice had, it appears, nine chil- 

 dren, of whom one, Samuel, Mrs. Cooper's execu- 

 tor, was a woollen-draper on Snow Hill. As these 

 nine Mawhoods were amongst the nearest rela- 

 tions of Pope — his first cousins — we are a little 

 interested about them and their position in life. 

 The name is, I think, very uncommon in the south 

 of England; there is not one person of that name 

 in the London Directory for 1677, nor in that for 

 1854. The family appears to have been settled 

 in Yorkshire ; but as, at least, one son turns out 

 to have been a tradesman in London, it may be 

 just worth while to notice any other of the name 

 located in London ; for he may be found hereafter 

 to have been a grandson of Alice, and therefore a 

 second cousin to the Poet. 



It appears then from Nichols (Ajiecd. ii. 147.) that 

 a Collet Mawhood was executor to Fletcher Gyles, 

 an eminent bookseller in Holborn, who died on 

 Nov. 8. 1741. Gyles had been publisher to War- 

 burton, and we have a copy of a letter written by 

 Mawhood to Warburton, wherein he speaks of his 

 " brother Gyles' death," from which we must infer 

 either that Mawhood married a sister of Gyles or 

 Gyles a sister of Mawhood.- So far as I under- 

 stand a subsequent correspondence between War- 

 burton and Bowyer the printer, it would appear 

 that Gyles died rich, but that the business was, for 

 a time, carried on for the benefit of the family. 

 No positive arrangement as to payment or divi- 

 sion of profit had been made between Warburton 

 and Gyles ; and it is pleasant to read on what 

 honourable principles Mawhood proposed to ar- 

 range with Warburton. 



"I cannot pretend to judge of the value of books or 

 copies ; nor have I yet informed myself what profits have 

 arose from yours . . ., but if you will be pleased to favor 

 me with a line to let me know what your expectations 

 are for the impressions of your books that have been 

 already sold, and for the right of copy of those that are 

 now in the press, I have great reason to hope I shall 

 comply with them. I wish this affair had been settled 

 by my brother ; but as it was not I shall endeavour to 

 represent him in every respect, and be an executor, not 

 only of his will, but of his intention as far as I can disco- 

 ver it. Collet Mawhood." 



Pope, though at Bath, heard with extraordinary 

 rapidity of the death of Gyles. Knapton the book- 

 seller, knowing that Gyles had been Warburton's 

 publisher, wrote instantly to Pope to request his 



recommendation as Gyles' successor. Pope com- 

 plied, and the following is extracted from a letter 

 of the 12th, from Bath to Warburton : — 



« I am to recommend to you as an author a bookseller 

 in the room of the honest one you have lost, Mr. G., and 

 I know none who is so worthy, and has so good a title 

 in that character to succeed him as Mr. Knapton." 



It is curious, if Collet Mawhood were, as I think 

 probable, a second cousin of Pope's, that Pope 

 should suggest, almost immediately, to Warburton 

 to be quick in settling accounts with him. That 

 the reader may judge of the force and value of 

 the suggestion, I shall quote the passage : — 



« November 22, 1741. 

 " I think (on all considerations) your best way will be 

 to take London in your way. It will secure you from ac- 

 cidents of weather to travel in the coach, both thither and 

 from thence hither. Jivt in particular I think you should 

 take some care as to Mr. G.'s executors. And I am of 

 opinion no man will be more serviceable in settling any 

 such accounts than Mr. Knapton, who so well knows the 

 trade, and is of so acknowledged a credit in it." 



The reprinting The Divine Legation did not go 

 on so fast as Warburton desired, and in a letter 

 to Bowyer, the printer, of May 8, 1742, he thus 

 wrote : — 



" I am amazed. I have heard nothing from you of 

 late, or of the publication of the new edition of the Di- 

 vine Legation, and am afraid you are or have been ill. 

 Mawhood uses both me and Mr. Gyles's daughters very ill 

 in this neglect. But he has not as yet so much as sent 

 me my account, nor settled the balance in order to pay 

 me what is due to me according to agreement. ... I 

 see, notwithstanding all their pretences, now Mr. Gyles 

 is gone, a strange neglect." 



The dispute about profits was in the end com- 

 promised, and even, as Warburton tells the story, 

 in a way that left the honour of the executor 

 untouched. 



" From Widcombe I returned with Mr. Pope to London, 

 where my unsettled affairs with my Bookseller's executor 

 detained me till almost now. My accounts with Mr. Gyles 

 were altogether unsettled. And as I had made no agree- 

 ment with him, nor assigned any copy, they were alto- 

 gether at my mercy for all the profits farther than the 

 Bookseller^s allowance, as it is called. But with regard to 

 my friendship for the deceased, I asked 'only half the clear 

 profits of the editions sold, and two thirds of a third edi- 

 tion of the first volume of the Dwine Legation, and a 

 second edition of the second volume just going to press 

 when Gyles died ; for I saw no reason my favors should 

 be entailed on a rich family that wanted nothing. This 

 last demand of two-thirds stuck with them ; and after 

 much ill-usage in delaying me from time to time, they 

 pressed I should be contented with half the profits both for 

 the editions sold and unsold, which, against the advice of 

 my friends, I rather chose to comply with than go to law, 

 though it was a clear case, and I had Mr. Murray for my 

 standing counsel without fees. But I have followed the 

 old adage dimidium plus tolo. However I have tied them 

 from printing any more than these editions, and oviiy a 

 moderate number of them, and have got a legal acknow- 

 ledgement of the entire copyright in myself." 



It is curious, and not without interest, to see 

 how Pope was thus, incidentally, mixed up with 



