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[Feb. i, 
MEMOIRS OF EMINENT PERSONS. 
—sS . 
A FRIBUTE fo the MEMORY of the LATE 
EXCELLENT and CELEBRATED BIBLI- 
OGRAPHER, MR, SAMUEL PATERSON. 
(By Mr. DAMIANT,) 
HIS gentleman was born inLonden,in 
the parith of St.Paul, Covent-garden. 
on the 17th of March, 1728. His father 
was a refpectable tradefman, and, accord- 
ing to unanimous tradition among his 
oldeft friends, was a woollen-draper. He 
received the rudiments of a clafiical edu- 
cation, firft in his paternal houfe, and then 
at. fchool. But it was his misfortune to 
be deprived of his parents when he was 
fcarcely twelve years of age, and-to fall 
under the controul. of a guardian, who 
not only neglected the remaining part of 
the inftruction of his pupil, but having 
rendered himielf obnexious to the law 
in a difgraceful bankruptcy, involved 
youngPa‘erfon in his ruin, and occafioned 
him to Jofe that competent fortune which 
he inherited, and which would have ren- 
dered him independent. ) 
To the miicondué&, however, of this 
guardian we may, in a great meafure, 
afcribe the early difpofition which Mr. 
Paterfon acquired for thofe avocations 
which have entitled him to the notice of 
his contemporaries. In order, perhaps, 
to be at more liberty, and to have no wit- 
nefs of his mifmanagement, the guardian 
-fent him to France, to complete, as he 
faid, his education. While in that coun- 
try, young Paterfon could not fail to 
acquire fome degree of information in 
the French language and literature. On 
his return to England he found himfelf 
poffefied of more knowledge in foreign 
books than any of the young people of his 
age; and as he was intimately convinced 
of the importance of this knowledge, and 
of the neceffity under which he lay of en- 
tering {oon into bufinefs, in order to re- 
pair the loffes occafioned by his guardian, 
he refolved to engage in the commerce of 
foreign books, conceiving that fuch an oc- 
cupation would be, analogous with his 
temper, accompanied with a fair profpect 
ofa fubfequeni fortune, 
Tn faéty being little more than twenty 
years olds he opened a fhop: for that pur- 
pofe imthe Strand. Tie circumftances 
jeemed, indeed, to be highly favourable to 
his undertaking, as this branch of foreign 
¢rade was almoft unknown at that time; 
and it isin the recoileftion ef fome old 
gentlemen now aliye, that the only perfin 
a 
then engaged in it was the celebrated Paul 
Vaillant, better known under the name of 
‘The Foreign Bookfeller, It was a misfor- 
tune that Mr. Paterfon proved unfucceff- 
ful in the fettled trade, through the mif- 
conduct of fome perfons who were charged 
with his commifions, in the feveral parts 
of the continent : and it appears that he 
continued in this line till the year 1753, 
when he publifhed §* A Differtation on the 
Original of the Equeftrian Figure of t'ie 
George and of the Garter, by Dr. Pettin- 
gal.’ Nor muft we omit to mention that 
-at the fame early period in which he en- 
gaged in bufinefs, he had already married 
Mifs Hamilton,a lady of the moft refpeét- 
able connections in North Britain, and 
ftill younger than himfelf, having been re- 
peatedly heard faying that both ages did 
not make thirty-feven or thirty-eight years. 
Having been unfuccefsful in the book- 
felling trade, Mr. Paterfon commenced 
auctioneer, and entered upon Effex-houfe, 
Effex-ftreet,in the Strand. Nothing particu- 
lar is recorded of him while in this ftation, 
except the notice of fome capital collee- 
tions of books, which were told by him 
at different times. This. period of bis 
life is, however, the moft remarkable, as 
it tended to develope compleatly thofe ex- 
traordinary talents in bibliography, which 
foon brought him into the notice of the 
literary world, and raifed him to -that 
eminent character which we propofe to 
delineate in this Memoir. 
The firit fiep that our. bibliographer 
took in his new profeffion-was fignalized 
by an eflential fervice rendered to<he na- 
tional hiftory, and to the republic of let- 
ters. It is a faét univerfally known, and 
lately mentioned by the ingenious Mr. 
Mortimer, iu the European Magazine 
for December 1802, that the valuable 
colleétion of manufcripts belonging to the 
Right Honourable Sir Julius Cefar, Knt. 
Judge of the Admiralty, in the reign of 
Queen Elizabeth; and in the reigns of 
James I. and Charles I. Chancellor and 
Under Treafurer of the Exchequer, had | 
fallen into the hands of fome uninformed 
perfons, and were on the point of bein, 
fold by weight to a cheefemonger, as 
wafte-paper, for the fumi of ten pounds, 
Some of them happened to be fhewn to . 
Mr. Paterfon, who examined them, and 
inftantly.difcovered their value. . He then 
digefted a mafterly catalogue of the whoie 
coliection, [and, diftributing it in feveral 
tS A ee We thoufands. 
