877 



BOTCE, WILLIAM. 



BOYDELL, JOHN. 



highest commendations from Harwood, Le Long, Ernesti, Michaelis, 

 and other eminent Greek scholars. 



An enlarged and improved edition of the 'Conjectures' was published 

 in 1772. It was translated into German by the Professor of Theology 

 and Oriental Literature at Leipzig, Dr. Schulz. A third edition 

 appeared in 1782, and the fourth and best edition in 1812 in 4to. As 

 it furnishes the greatest evidence of Bowyer's erudition and critical 

 sagacity, we subjoin at length its title : ' Critical Conjectures and 

 Observations on the New Testament, collected from various authors, 

 as well in regard to words as to pointing, with the reasons on which 

 both are founded : by William Bowyer, Bishop Barriugton, Mr. Mark- 

 land, Professor Schulz, Professor Michaelis, Dr. Owen, Dr. Woide, Dr. 

 Gosset, and Mr. Weston." It contains a large and excellent engraving 

 of Bowyer. In 1729 he was appointed by the Speaker of the House 

 of Commons to the lucrative office of printer of the votes. He obtained 

 in 1736 the appointment of printer to the Society of Antiquaries, and 

 printer to the Society for the Encouragement of Learning ; in 1760, 

 printer to the Royal Society ; and in 1767 printer of the Rolls of the 

 House of Lords and the Journals of the House of Commons. In 1737, 

 on the death of his father, he became sole proprietor of the Bowyer 

 press; and in 1767 he moved from Whitefriars, where he had spent 

 sixty-seven years, to more capacious premises in Red Lion Passage, 

 Fleet-street, where he displayed a bust of the Roman orator, with the 

 incription, ' M. T. Cicero, a quo primordia preli,' in allusion to the early 

 impression of the ' Liber de Officiis ' by Fust 'in 1465. He also assumed 

 the professional title of Architectus Verborum (see ' Cic. de Clar. Orat.,' 

 c. 31) ; and continued until he arrived on the verge of eighty to correct 

 all the Greek works which he printed. His long career of incessant 

 application to study and business wa terminated by the publication 

 in 1777 of his edition of Bentley's 'Dissertation on the Epiatle of 

 Phularis.' He had always manifested a great veneration for 'the 

 mighty scholiast,' and augmented his ' Dissertation ' with numerous 

 remarks collected by himself from the works of Markland, Upton, 

 Lowth, Owen, Clarke, Warburton, and Dr. Salter, Master of the Charter- 

 House School, who is responsible for its whimsical system of spelling, 

 as saught, retein, disdein, reproch, &c. In the same year, on the 18th 

 of November, at the age of seventy-eight, Bowyer died, and was 

 interred at Low Leighton in Eases. In his will he left considerable 

 sums to indigent printers. HH epitaph, by the Rev. Edward Clarke, 

 describes him truly as ' Typographorum post Stephanos et Commelinos 

 longe doctissirnus; linguarum Latinse, Grjccas, etHebraicaeperitissimus." 

 There were indeed at this time several celebrated printers, as Basker- 

 ville of Birmingham, Foulis of Glasgow, and Crapelet of Paris ; but 

 Bowyer, as to erudition and critical accuracy, was unrivalled by any of 

 his profession in England or on the continent during more than half 

 a century. Among the numerous individuals of literary eminence witli 

 whom he maintained a learned correspondence or an intimate personal 

 friendship were Archbishop Seeker ; Bishops Lowth, Hurd, Warburton, 

 Pearce, Sherlock, Clayton, Pococke, Atterbury ; Drs. Wotton, Chandler, 

 Whiston, Taylor, Prideaux, Jortin, Conyers Middleton; Pope and 

 Thompson; Garrick, Lord Lyttleton; Dr. Mead, Gough, Chishull, 

 Clarke, Amsworth, De Missy, Marklaml, Maittaire, and Palairet, who 

 in his Latin letters salutes him as ' vir doctissime et carissime.' Bowyer 

 was estimable not only for his learning, but for rigid probity and active 

 unostentatious benevolence. In general moral rectitude and amiable 

 simplicity of manners, few have exceeded ' the last of learned printers.' 

 His bust hi marble, with a portrait of his father, is in Stationers' Hall. 



BOYCE, WILLIAM, Doctor in Music, who as an English composer 

 is entitled to contend with Arne for the honour of ranking next to 

 Purcell, was born in the city of London in 1710. He commenced his 

 musical education as a chorister of St. Paul's, under Charles King, Mus. 

 Bac., and completed it under Dr. Greene, then organist of the cathe- 

 dral. Anxious to become acquainted with the philosophical principles 

 of his art, he attended the learned lectures of Dr. Pepusch, from whom 

 he also acquired a knowledge of the works of the early Flemish and 

 Italian composers. In 1736 he succeeded Weldon as one of the com- 

 posers to the Chapels-Royal, and in performing the duties of the office 

 produced the two Services and many anthems, which reflect so much 

 honour on the English school of church music. Some years after, he 

 get Edward Moore's ' Solomon,' a serenata, to music, in which are the 

 duet ' Together let us range the fields,' the airs ' Softly blow, southern 

 breeze," ' Tell me, gentle shepherd,' and other highly-esteemed compo- 

 sitions. In 1749 he was selected to set an ode for the installation of 

 the Duke of Newcastle, as chancellor of the University of Cambridge, 

 when the degree of Doctor in Music was, unsolicited, conferred 

 on him. 



On the death of Dr. Greene in 1755, Dr. Boyce was appointed to 

 the lucrative office of Master of his Majesty's band of Musicians. In 

 that year he also produced his finest work, the grand anthem, ' Lord, 

 thou hast been our refuge,' which he wrote for the Feast of the Sons 

 of the Clergy ; and at the annual meeting of that corporation in 

 St. Paul's Cathedral, it has ever since been performed. In 1758, on 

 the death of Travers, he became organist to the Chapels-Royal, which 

 office he held in conjunction with that of composer. In 1760 he pub- 

 lished in score, in three large folio volumes, the ' Cathedral Music of 

 the English Masters of the last two hundred years ; ' a splendid and 

 useful work, in which the disinterestedness of the editor is not less 

 remarkable than his deep research and acute discrimination ; for not 



desiring any pecuniary recompense for his labours, he fixed a price 

 on the publication the sale of which was necessarily limited which 

 only indemnified him for the expense he had incurred in preparing and 

 bringing it out. 



Dr. Boyce during many years suffered much from the gout, the 

 attacks of which became more frequent and severe as he advanced in 

 age, and terminated his life in 1779. He was interred in St. Paul's 

 Cathedral, and his funeral was attended by many persons of distinc- 

 tion, together with almost every muaiciau of standing in London. 



The published works of this excellent composer are 'Fifteen 

 Anthems, together with a Te Deum and Jubilate, in score,' &c., 1780; 

 a grand anthem, ' Lord, thou hast been our refuge,' for a full band ; 

 a second, ' Blessed is he that considereth the poor and needy,' for the 

 same, 1802 ; a ' Te Deum, Jubilate, and six Anthems,' printed in 

 Dr. Arnold's 'Collection of Cathedral Music;' the Serenata of 'Solo- 

 mon ; ' the opera of ' The Chaplet ; ' and numerous detached pieces, 

 which appeared in ' Lyra Britanuica,' ' The British Orpheus,' ' The 

 Vocal Musical Mask,' &c. 



BOYDELL, JOHN, was born in 1719, but the place of his birth 

 has been variously stated to be in Staffordshire ; at Stauton iu Shrop- 

 shire ; and in Derbyshire. In his youth he was designed for the pro- 

 fession of his father, that of a laud surveyor, to which for some time 

 he attended; but having, it is said, accidentally seen a volume of views 

 of country seats by Buddeley, his taste was developed, and he resolved 

 to become an engraver. He accordingly proceeded to London, where, 

 though at the age of twenty-one, he bound himself for seven years 

 to Mr. Tomms for the purpose of learning the art. At the expiration 

 of his apprenticeship he published by subscription, in 1746, a volume 

 of his own engravings, consisting of 152 views in England and Wales. 

 They are now interesting chiefly as an indication of the imperfect 

 state of the art in England at that period as compared with the 

 improvement effected afterwards by his own exertions. These humble 

 specimens served however to commence a very long and continuous 

 course of prosperity ; for with the profits of this publication he 

 entered into business for himself as a printseller ; and by the adoption 

 of a very liberal policy in employing and amply remunerating the 

 best artists of the time, he gradually extended his speculations, and 

 acquired a large income, and a great reputation as an enterprising 

 and generous patron of genius. He engaged Woolett to engrave the 

 celebrated pictures of Niobe and Phaeton; paying for the former 

 100 guineas, and for the latter 120 : they were sold by Boydell at 5*. 

 each ; but have since, at auctions, produced 10 and 11 guineas. He 

 contrived in fact to employ almost every aspirant to distinction whose 

 energies wanted encouragement. When Boydell began business there 

 were no very eminent English engravers, and they were generally 

 inferior to those of the continent. Our foreign commerce in this 

 department consisted wholly in importations, and the cabinets of col- 

 lectors were principally furnished by the artists of France. But when, 

 after many years of persevering exertions, Boydell succeeded iu form- 

 ing an English school of engraving, the circumstances were reversed ; 

 for the importation of prints was almost entirely discontinued, and a 

 largo exportation ensued. Holland, Flanders, and Germany were the 

 principal markets in which the engravings of Boydell were iu demand. 

 The complete success of his enterprise in the province of engraving, 

 and his indignation at the opprobrium which foreigners cast upon his 

 countrymen for the deficiency of their taste in other departments of 

 the fine arts, led him to attempt a similar improvement iu the art of 

 painting. For the accomplishment of this design he secured the 

 services of the first artists in the kingdom ; and selected for illustration 

 the works of Shakspere, as supplying the most appropriate subjects 

 for eliciting and displaying the abilities of each individual. West, 

 Opie, Reynolds, Northcote, and others were employed. Spacious 

 premises were purchased in Pall Mall, where was exhibited for 

 several years the famous ' Shakspeare Gallery." The beautiful plates 

 which, under the liberal patronage of Boydell, were engraved from 

 these numerous paintings, form a magnificent volume in royal elephant 

 folio, of which the dimensions are three feet by two; the title, 'A 

 Collection of Prints from Pictures painted for the purpose of Illus- 

 trating the Dramatical Works of Shakspeare, by the Artists of Great 

 Britain,' Boydell, 1803. A superb edition of Shakspere's dramatic 

 works was at the same time undertaken by Boydell, and printed at 

 the press of Bulmer, 1792-1801, in 9 vols. folio. 



In 1804, when he had reached the age of eighty-five, and had, in 

 consequence of the commercial obstacles occasioned by the wars of the 

 French Revolution, become involved iu unavoidable difficulties, he 

 obtained an act of parliament enabling him to dispose of the paintings 

 of his Shakspeare Gallery by a lottery. In the memorial of his situa- 

 tion he states that his enthusiasm for the promotion of the arts 

 induced him to lay nothing by, but to employ continually the whole 

 of his gains in further engagements with unemployed artists ; that the 

 sums he had laid out with his brethren in the advancement of this 

 object amounted to 350,000^., and that he had accumulated a stock of 

 copper-plates which all the printsellers in Europe would together be 

 unable to purchase. He lived only until the last ticket of his lottery 

 was sold. The affair was finally decided subsequent to his death, 

 which occurred on the 12th of December 1804. He had been elected 

 alderman in 1782, sheriff iu 1785, and mayor in 1790. He held also 

 the office of master of the Stationers' Company. As the most generous 



