IlS ANECDOTES OF MFL. MILLAR. Jane I, 



bufinefs. An ingenious annotator, in one of your lai*^ 

 numbers, has indeed ftygmatized that fraternity, a^ 

 ignoraPit of the real value of literary perforrnances ; hu^ 

 this ought not, perhaps, to be imputed to theoi as a 

 fault ; it is no part of their buiinefs to afcertain their 

 intrinlic value, by which I mean the power of inform- 

 ing the- undei (landing, direfting the jadgemcnt, or im- 

 proving the heart of the reader. Let the legiflator, the 

 inoralift, the divine, attend to thefe things. The pro- 

 per bufinefs of the bookfeller. Is to make money in his 

 vocation ; all other concerns are, to him, matters of 

 little importance; and the art of hook-making, as fof- 

 tered by thefe Msecenafes, muft, of courfe, confifl in 

 drefiing up high-feafoned diOjes, calculated to provoke 

 the appetite of their cullomers, v^'ithout Troubling their 

 heads about the effects that thele may afterwards have 

 upon their conftitutions. If it brings money into their 

 pockets, that is all their concern. — And do they not, 

 in this refpe£l, aft upon the fame principle with men 

 in almoft every other vocation ? 



As a hint to you, Mr. Editor, in your new-begun 

 bufinefs of book-making, I iliall beg leave to narrate 

 to you the following anecdote, which can be fufficient- 

 ly authenticated, if neceflkry, though I own I do not 

 entertain much hope, that you will profit as much by 

 it, as fome others might do ; for you feem to pofl'efs 

 fuch a fondnefs for fome antiquated notions about 

 utility, inftruftion, improvement, and viitue that 

 makes me fufpeft you are fome how related to a 

 mulifii fraternity, who, I have often found fo wedded 

 to certain unfaflii^nable opinions, as not to be eafily 

 driven out of them. Be that as it may, you fliall have 

 my anecdote, without difguife or exaggeration of any 

 fort. 



Mr. Andrew Millar, that once eminent bookfeller in 

 tlie Strand, when he lirlt began bufinefs, like many 

 others, had but a very fcanty flock, aud he alfo pof- 

 ftifed fome leven of that antiL]iuited notion in bufinefs, 



