BOWRIXO, SIR JOHN. 



BOWTBB, WILLIAM. 



tm MS* mm a* Hea.ir* ami Word*) worth a* hii junior coevals, uct on 

 jnimgir poets rimog in the room of the departed Coleridge, and 

 Sootheya, and ScotU and Byron*, whoM birth* and death* lay within 

 his own promoted span of Ufa, Bowlat anrriTed to find himself almost 

 fomttssj in the mid** of new peraone and themes and iuterrsta. He 

 had a prrmntiaMnt of thi* as early a* 18S7. when he wrote the** 

 word. " Many yean after my gray head aball hare been laid at rest 

 in Breanhill ohurohyard. or in the cloister* of SaJUl.ury cathedral, the 

 reader of the memorable controversy with Lord Byron, in which I 

 believe all dhwje*onate judges will admit that hi. lonl*hip wa* foiled 

 and the poliahed lance of hi* *opU*tioal rhetoric broken at hi* feet, or 

 perhaps *ome who may hare Men those poem* of which Coleridge 

 poke in the days ot his earliest song *o enthusiastically, may perhaps 

 inqeire' Who waaW.L. Bowles T " The event thus anticipated came 

 to pass on the 7th of April 1850, when Bowlt died at Salisbury at the 

 age at 88, only a few days before the death of Wordsworth. Hi* wife 

 had died in 1844 ; and they left no family. 



In hi* personal habits and manners Bowles wan simple, genial, and 

 kindly. He was also " mmons," it is said, ' for hi* Parson Adams-like 

 forgetfulneaa." A life of him, the joint work of a relative and Mr. 

 Aburie Watts, has been advertised a* forthcoming; meanwhile we hare 

 gathered the above particulars from various notices, and from the 

 autobiographical part* of his own writings. As we said at the outset, 

 he will be remembered with interest on account of some of his poems, 

 particularly his ' Sonnets,' and his ' Missionary' and his ' Village Verse- 

 Rook,' bat with greater interest as a man occupying a position in our 

 literary history entitling him in the opinion of some to be called the 

 Father of modem English Poetry.' If the designation is accepted, it 

 most be allowed that he has had some very rebellious sons. 



BOWRIXO, SIR JOHN, was born Oct. 17, 1792, in the city'of 

 Enter. He brgan at an early age to make known those acquirements 

 in modern languages, especially of the Sclavonic clam, for which he 

 was chiefly distinguished during many years of the earliest part of bin 

 life. He ttudied particularly the lyrical or rather the song poetry of 

 the different Kuropean nations. In 1821-28-he published 'Specimens 

 of the Russian Poets,' 2 Tola. ; in 1824, ' Batnvian Anthology,' and 

 ' Ancient Poetry and Romances of Spain ;' in 1827, ' Specimens of the 

 Polish Poets,' and 'Servian Popular Poetry;' in 1830, 'Poetry of the 

 Magyars;' and in 1832, 'Cheskian Anthology.' Mr. Bowring lived 

 much in habits of intimacy with Jeremy Bentham, whose principles 

 he mostly adopted, and who appointed him one of his executors. 

 In 1*25 he became the editor of the 'Westminster Review,' and 

 wrote many articles for that periodical in support of the principles 

 of radical reform and free trade. In 1828 he travelled in Holland, and 

 lecciTed the diploma of LL.D. from the University of Groningen. In 

 1899 he collected at Copenhagen the materials for a collection of 

 Scandinavian poetry. From the time of his connection with the 

 ' Westminster Review' he had directed much of his attention to sub- 

 jects of political economy, especially with respect to the commercial 

 relation* between Great Britain and the continental governments. In 

 1894-5 he was sent to France as the leading member of a commission 

 for inquiring into the actual state of the commerce between the two 

 countries, and laid a Report before parliament. He also presented a 

 Report on the Commerce, Manufactures, and Trade of Switzerland. 

 He travelled in Italy, and made particular investigations into the 

 commerce and manufactures of Tuscany. He went to Syria for a 

 >imilar purpose, and afterwards visited the different States of the 

 German Customs' Union. The results of his various journeys and 

 inquiries were made known by several communications and reports, 

 which were laid before parliament, and most of which were published 

 by order of the House of Common*. He was a member of parliament 

 from 1885 to 1837, and again from 1841 to 1849. In 1838-39 "The 

 Works of Jeremy Bentham, now first collected under the Superintend- 

 ence of hi* Executor, John Bowring,' were published in 1 1 vols. 8vo 

 at Edinburgh. In 1843 he published a translation of the ' Manuscript 

 of the Queen's Court, a Collection of old Bohemian Lyrics, Epic Songs, 

 with other ancient Bohemian Poems,' 12mo. 



In 1749 Dr. Bowring was appointed British Consul at Hong Kong, 

 and Saperintendent of Trade in China, where he was subsequently a 

 plenipotentiary. He returned in 1853 to London, where, in 1854, he 

 published ' The Decimal System in Numbers, Coins, and Accounts, 

 especially with Reference to the Decimalisation of the Currency and 

 Accountancy of the United Kingdom,' 8ro. In 1854 he received the 

 honour of knighthood, and was appointed governor of Hong Kong, 

 where he now perform* the duties of that important office. Sir John 

 Bowring ha* published *ome original poetry, but it is not of high 

 r 



BOWYER, WILLIAM, the son of a printer of considerable eminence, 

 who published many of the most distinguished theological, antiquarian, 

 and sstiolastio works which appeared during the reigns of William and 

 Mary, Anne, and George L William, the son, was born in Whitefriors, 

 London, December 19, 1099. He was educated at Hcadley In Surrey, 

 in a private academy conducted by a respectable scholar, Ambrose 

 BoBwickc, B.D. of Oxford, a nonjuring Jacobite clergyman, ejected on 

 ceuunt of bis nonconformity from the head-mastership of Merchant 

 Taylors' School Bowyer was entered in June 1716 a siur of St 

 John* College, Cambridge, where he formed an intimate friendship 

 with several eminent individual* whoe* service* at a later period con- 



tributed to his reputation and prosperity, more particularly with 

 Jeremiah Mark land and the learned numiimatu scholar, the It. 

 Clarke : with these two fellow-students a congenial mind and similarity 

 of studies occasioned an intimacy which continued throughout the 

 rest of their lives. When he left college he was employed in hi* 

 father's business. At the close of the year 1721, during which he had 

 been closely employed in the correction of proofs, he became a partner 

 with bis father, who in future superintended the mercantile and 

 mechanical portion of the business, while the literary and critical 

 department was assigned to the son. In his first year of office as 

 corrector of the press he received from Maittaire a most QH-- 

 compliment, contained in the preface to his ' Miscellanea Qnecorum 

 Carolina,' 4to. His predilection for arohecological and philological 

 subject* was evinced in the peculiar attention which he bestowed upon 

 the correction of every work of this kind. Of the costly and classical 

 works which throughout a period of fifty-five years possessed the 

 advantage of bearing the signature ' Ty pis Bowyer,' we can notice only 

 a very few. For a complete chronological list of them, as well as for 

 a great variety of information concerning the authors and the printer, 

 we refer to the well-known voluminous work of his partner and 

 successor, entitled ' Literary Anecdotes of the 18th Century, comprising 

 Memoirs of William Bowyer, Printer, F.S.A., and many of his learned 

 Friends, by John Nichols, F.S.A.," in 9 vols. 8vo, of which the seventh 

 volume forms an elaborate index, and six supplemental volumes 

 complete the work. As the press of Bowyer was corrected by himself 

 with a critical ability possessed by no other printer of his time, it was 

 chiefly preferred for works of learning. But typographical accuracy 

 was far from being the sole object of Bowyer : he exercised a searching 

 criticism upon the subject-matter and language of the most learned 

 works which he printed ; supplied numerous notes, suggested emen- 

 dations, wrote prefaces, made indexes, and in various ways increased 

 their value. As specimens the following will suffice : ' Seldeui Opera 

 Cumin,' collected by Wilkins, 3 vols. fol., 1726; of the learn< 

 sertation ' De Synedriis et Pncfecturis Juridicis Veterum Ebrnoorum,' 

 which occupies all the second volume, a very judicious epitome wa* 

 made by Bowyer while he rapidly examined the last proofs. It exhibit* 

 in 28 pages of English the substance of 1180 folio pages of rugged 

 Latin, profusely garnished with Hebrew, Oreek, and Arabic. In a 

 review of ' Reliquiae Baxteriantp,' a work replete with curious gram- 

 matical erudition, containing ' Glossarium Antiquitatnni Brit, tcmpo- 

 ribua Romanorum,' Bowyer displayed an intimate acquaintance with 

 the subject; the same with the ' Leges Wallicic Ecclesiaj Hywti 

 by Dr. Wotton, 1730 ; and Chishull'a ' Antiqnitates Asiaticrc,"' fol., 1 7 ::-'. 

 On this learned work he made 28 quarto pages of 'additions and 

 corrections.' To the sixth edition of Lyttlrton's ' Latin Dictionary,' 

 1735, he made a large addition of words collected in the course of his 

 reading. The ' Greek Lexicon ' of Schrevelius received the same 

 improvement in passing through his press in 1774. That of Hederic, 

 the Hebrew Lexicon of Buxtorf, the Latin one by Faber, and Bailey's 

 English Dictionary,' he similarly enlarged and corrected. In publishing 

 in 1750 Bloden's English version of ' Caesar's Commentaries, he added 

 numerous learned notes, in which alone consists all the worth of the 

 book. He printed at the same time, on his own account, ' Kiister de 

 vero usu verb, med.,' to which he affixed some critical remarks and a 

 preface in Latin. He supplied also an elaborate preface, with nume- 

 rous notes and corrections, to a translation in 1759 of ' Montesquieu's 

 Grandeur of the Romans.' On the ' Life of Cicero ' by Dr. Midillvtou 

 he wrote a masterly commentary, in which, without any assumption 

 of superior learning, he rectifies many mistakes. As a supplement to 

 the work of his friend, William Clarke, ' The Connexion of Roman, 

 Saxon, and English Coins,' 4 to, he wrote 'Remarks on Greek and 

 Roman Money,' which with ' Notes on Kennett's Roman Antiquities ' 

 and ' Remarks on Roman History,' exhibit for that time on accurate 

 and extensive knowledge of classical archaeology. The whole of these 

 commentaries, with many more, including ' Papers on Stephens'* 

 Thesaurus,' and a learned disquisition on "The Feast of the Saxoa 

 Yule,' are separately printed in a large and now extremely scarce 

 volume in 4to, published in 1785 by Mr. Nichols, eiritlnl Miscella- 

 neous Tracts by the late Win. Bowyer.' There yet remain in manuscript, 

 inserted in margins and interleaved copies of his favourite works, notes 

 in great numbers, especially in Leigh's ' Critica Sacra,' Du Gard's 

 ' Lexicon Gnoci Test.' and many of the Greek and Latin classics. 

 Among the multitude of sumptuous folios and illustrated works which 

 he printed, the following as specimens of typographical beauty may be 

 selected : ' Matthaoi Parker Cant Arch, de Antiq. Brit Eocles.,' foL, 

 1729; Vertofs 'Knights of Malta,' 2 vols. fol., 1728; Maittaire's 

 ' Mormorum Aruud. Inscript.,' fol., 1732; Churchill'* ' Voyages and 

 Travels,' 6 vols. fol., 1732 ; Pococke's ' Description of the Kast,' 3 vols. 

 fol., 1743; the 'Coptic Pentateuch,' by Dr. Wilkius, 1731; ' Lysiw 

 Orationes,' by Dr. Taylor, 2 vols. 4to, 1739. Bowyer published in 1766 

 ' The Origin of Printing, consisting of 1st, Dr. Middleton's Dissertation 

 on its origin in England ; 2ml, Meerman's account of its invention at 

 Haarlem, with numerous notes and corrections,' which is valuable on 

 account of Bowyer's learned illustrations, although the legend about 

 Laurcntius Coster at Haarlem is now discredited. But the reputation 

 of Bowyer bo* been most extended by his ' Critical Conjectures < 

 New Testament,' which in part were published in the second voliimu 

 of his edition of the Greek text. The ' Conjecture* ' have receive< 1 1 1 1 , 



