1802.] 
and, I believe, were, for the moft part, 
honeft and well-intentioned perfons. Pro- 
bably many of them would now join in 
the free cenfure of their own indifcretions. 
Certainly the accounts I have recently 
heard of Mr. Thelwall, and the general 
tenor of his conduét, have contributed 
much to remove the prejudices (if they 
were prejudices), which I formerly en- 
tertained againtt him; and it will give 
me real pleafure to be able to correct, in 
a future edition of the work to which he 
refers, any improper harfhnefs ef lan- 
guage, which, from mifinformation or mil- 
reprefentation, I may have been led to 
adopt refpecting Mr. Thelwall, or any 
ether perfon of any party. 
Mr. Thelwall,in his Letter, {peaks appa- 
rently with fome little degree of petulance 
of that great ornament of his country and 
of human nature, the late Duke of Bed- 
ford: but I think the occafion will ab- 
folve me from any violation of propriety 
in mentioning, that the Duke, fpeaking 
to me of Mr. Burke’s abufive attack upon 
himfelf, beftowed no flight commendation 
upon Mr. Thelwall’s Remarks upon that 
publication, as the production of a man 
of fenfe and reflection, whofe charaéter, 
notwithftanding the eccentricities of his 
early life, might ultimately become very 
re{pectable. Thisopinion Mr.Thelwall’s 
fubfequent conduct has certainly contri- 
buted much to confirm. 
One thing only furprizes me a little in 
Mr. Thelwali’s Letter, that, as his cha- 
racter will unqueftionably live in the 
efteem of pofterity, and my writings are 
as infallibly doomed to fpeédy and utter 
oblivion, it fhould bedeemed by him a mat- 
ter of any importance in what light he is 
there reprefented. Iremain your’s, &c. 
London, Ww. BELsHAM,. 
May 4, 1802. 
—__a 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
THANK Scioppius for his hint. Dr. 
Hunter’s Horace I have, and efteem 
it. With his Virgil I am altogether un- 
acquainted. ‘Till I have an opportunity 
of confulting it, I will venture to fup- 
pofe that he has publifhed, 
 Bebrycia veniens, qui fe, Amyci de gente 
erebat, of the family of Amycus, which 
would be eafy and natural. I could fay 
more in behalf of this conjecture, but let 
the learned reader judge between the two. 
Ego rem in medio relinquo. 
Iam, Sir, your’s, &c. 
Higham.hill, Walthamffow, E.CoGan, 
May 3, ¥802. 
Bad choice of Books for Exportation: 
417 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
WAS forcibly ftruck with the obfer- 
l\ vations of your Correfpondent at Spa- 
nifh Town in Jamaica, becaufe the fame 
facts are alfo notorious all over the Eaft In- 
dies ; and, during feveral years refidence at 
Madras, I experienced infurmountable 
dificuliies in my attempts to procure fuch 
new publications and periodical works as 
were worth perufal. 
The market was always abundantly 
fupplied with uninteretting books, in fine 
bindings, while the very fame publica- 
tions were converted in Great Britain to 
the purpofis of the cheefemonger and tal- 
low- chandler. 
On my return to Europe, I learnt the. 
caufe of this apparent folly in the perfons 
who export books to our fettlements 
abroad, and a brief ftatement may anfwer 
the ufeful objects of your Correfpondent, 
and throw fome light on a trade which, as 
connected with the progrefs of knowledge, 
is of fingular importance. ! 
I learnt, that, whenever more copies of 
any work are printed in Great Britain than 
the public are difpofed to purchafe, or 
whenever any dull or worthlefs book falls 
dead from the prefs,the refource of the pub- 
lifher is the foreign market, and the demand 
of thofe who export Books in quantities. 
Tt is conceived, that purchafers of books. 
refiding in diftant fettlements, having only 
‘¢ Hobfon’s choice,” muf neceflarily buy 
whatever is fent them ; confequently, with 
very few exceptions, the books fent abroad 
are bought of the publifhers at low 
prices, and are little better than the 
refule of the bookfellers’ warehoufes. It 
is no wonder then, that what would only 
be wafle-paper at home, fhould be per- 
mitted to be fold abroad at ro, 20, or 30 
per cent. below the full price. 
It is the prefent pra&ice of the Londca 
merchants, whenever they export books, 
to order a certain number of Trunks, ora ° 
certain value of new Publications; and, 
if they have their weight, number, and 
meafure, the quality is not confidered as 
any object: that is to fay, they order 
books to be fhipped exaétly in the fame 
manner as they would order broad-cloth, 
cutlery, or any other fpecies of common 
merchandize, and it is in this abfurd 
practice that the evil complained of origi- 
nates. Merchants fhould confider that. 
books are of an heterogeneous nature, and 
that it would be juft as abfurd to give a 
general order for 20 cates of cloth, cheefe, 
hats, fhoes, muflins, and other articles, to 
be aflorted and packed at the difcretion 
ef 
