MR. Faulkner of Dublin having, in the News-Paper which bears his name, of November 3. 1753. published a sort of Defence of his own conduct in the transaction that passed between him and the Editor of the HISTORY of Sir CHARLES GRANDISON; in which he insinuates, that what was done by him and some of his Brethren in trade, in Dublin, was in pursuance of a custom long established among the Dublin Book­sellers: And having also written Letters to several persons of cha­racter in London, endeavouring to justify himself, without having that strict regard to veracity in them, which particularly becomes a man of business; yet intrepidly desiring that these Letters might be shewn to Mr. Richardson: And, lastly, having joined with his Brethren to shut the Dublin Presses against his just complaints of the treatment he has met with from some of them; Mr. Richard­son thinks he shall be excused for taking this opportunity to lay before the Publick an account of the whole transaction; and the rather, as the Invaders of his property have done their utmost to make a NATIONAL CAUSE of the measure they compelled him to take; and as he presumes to think, that the CAUSE OF LITE­RATURE in general is affected by their usage of him.

He will begin with transcribing Mr. Faulkner's Defence of himself.

[Page 5] Genuine History of the Trans­action.

Mr. Faulkner knew, though he does not here say he did, how the three Booksellers came at the Sheets. In his Letter, dated Dublin, Aug. 4. he sent Mr. Ri­chardson the first news of the in­vasion of his property. ‘"I am very sorry," says he, "for the ill-treatment, and the disap­pointment that you and I have met with in the History of Sir Charles Grandison; four sheets of which Work I received by the last Post: But, to my great surprize, I find FOUR other [Page 6]more of the same Work, in Octavo and Duodecimo; which they have shewn me, and left with me to compare."’

He then gives proof of the in­iquity, as it came out on his ex­amination of the sheets.

‘"These circumstances," pro­ceeds he, "will, I hope, convince you of the truth of what I have asserted" [He had be­fore given cautions to Mr. R. against the attempts of his Bre­thren the Dublin Booksellers upon the morality of his men], "and of the villainy and fraud of your Journeymen, who have robbed you, and injured me: For which reasons, it will be troublesome and unnecessary for you to send me any more of this Work, as the persons who have printed the in­closed Titles, with ANOTHER Bookseller, claim the sole property of this Work: And if I can prevail upon them to give me a share, it will be only a fifth part."’ Might not a man, with whom he was in treaty, and who had given him, as will be seen, an undeserved preference, have expected advice and offers of assist­ance from him on this base attempt (the rather, as he seemed very sensible, for his own sake, of the injury done Mr. R.) instead of endeavouring to prevail on such a Confederacy to admit him into a share with them in a Copy so vilely obtained? And this, without consulting Mr. R. or proposing to him to acquit him of his engage­ments to him! At that time, the corruptors of the honesty of Mr. R's servants had made no progress in the Work: And Mr. F. knew, that Mr. R. was in the way of sending him sheets by every Post; and (intending to publish but two Volumes at a time) that Mr. F. would have the sheets early enough to answer the intentions and the engagements of both.

Three of the four persons are named in the Title-pages he in­cluded in his Letter; WILSON, EXSHAW, SAUNDERS: But Mr. Faulkner, for reasons best known to himself, has not, to this hour, named the Fourth; who is believed to be a Bookseller in Dublin, who served his apprenticeship with him.

Mr. Richardson, in his Answer to this Letter, dated Aug. 10. gave Mr. Faulkner great opportunities to recollect himself. After complaining of this cruel treatment, he informs him, ‘'That he had put a stop to the printing of the Work; and that he would appeal to the World upon it.'’ He desires, ‘'that he would not mention the corrections in the sheets he had sent him over, tho' matter of nicety rather than necessity; supposing it possible' [as [Page 7] it has proved] 'that men, who could act as these Confederates had acted, would be capable of advertising the pirated edition as preferable to the genuine.'’ In order to put Mr. Faulkner upon offering him his assistance in such way as he thought best, though forbidden by him to send him any more sheets, he desired to know if he was to conclude that all dealings between them were absolutely at an end. He the rather put this to Mr. Faulkner, as he, before he made his court to the Confederates, had bespoke twenty-five sets in Octavo; of which Mr. R. never after heard one word, though they did not propose to propagate their piracy in that size. No doubt, he thought, that 25 sets in Octavo, sold by him for Mr. R. might be a deduction of as many from the sale of his and his new partners Edition in Duodecimo.—So wholly was he, in an instant, detached from Mr. R. and attached to them, and his and their common interest.

Mr. Faulkner, in his Reply, dated the 14th and 16th of August, acquaints Mr. R. that the three Booksellers had got the First and Se­cond Volumes complete in both Editions; Wilson the Octavo, Exshaw and Saunders the Other; and that each of them had laid himself out to get the Work, as soon as they saw, by the Adver­tisements in the London Papers, that it would be published the following winter. An Advertisement put into those Pa­pers, that the World might not take another Book of a Sir Charles Goodville, in a Series of Letters, for that expected from Mr. R.

Mr. Faulkner declares, in this Letter, that the liberty taken by Wilson of advertising his intended Edition [London: Printed for S. Richardson: Dublin: Reprinted for Peter Wilson, in Dame­street.] to be printed for Mr. Richardson, was a licence never be­fore taken in Dublin, unless the Work were printed for the Author's benefit. He advises Mr. Richardson against sending over any of his Books to Ireland; and to write to the Invaders, the Corrup­tors, to induce them to pay him their shares of the Seventy Gui­neas, stipulated by him to be paid, had he had the whole to him­self; declaring his willingness to pay his quota for the share they would allow him to have. ‘"I am sorry to tell you," proceeds he, in this Letter, "that when these People produced their sheets, and obliged me" [Mean man!] to shew mine, that I was com­pelled to give them up, in order to obtain a share with them."’ His very words!—

This step, besides the advantage they afterwards (on publishing their pirated Edition), took of it, as Mr. R. had foreseen, to recom­mend that Edition, secured Mr. Faulkner of their side. By it he ab­solutely gave up Mr. Richardson; and, no doubt, it spirited them to proceed, as they then had reason to look upon him as their own, and had no diversion to apprehend from him in Mr. R's favour.

‘"Your sending me more sheets," continued he, "will be use­less—I should be sorry your dealings and mine should be at an [Page 8] end; as I have the highest honour and regard for you, for your many virtues and integrity."’

But these were only words. He offered not to Mr. Richard­son any service, any assistance. He knew that he and his Confede­rates should be able to secure in their interest the Dublin Presses. He had discouraged the sending over any of the genuine Edition; and thought it right to conclude with repeating his advice, that Mr. Richardson would meanly court the Corruptors, as he had done; intimating his desire to have a copy of what he thought fit to write to them; lest his new Confederates should not have con­fidence enough in him, to shew him what he supposed Mr. R. would write.

In Mr. Richardson's Answer to this Letter, dated Aug. 24. he tells Mr. Faulkner, ‘'That he never could consent to propose terms to men who had bribed his servants to rob him; and who were in possession of the stolen goods: And cautions him to confider how far his own honour was concerned in the engage­ments he had entered into with them.'’

But let us see what he further says in his printed Defence.

Will Mr. Faulkner say, that it is an established, invariable, con­stant custom among the Booksel­lers of Dublin, to renounce their agreements with men they had contracted with, on their being notoriously robbed, and to join with the Corruptors, to supplicate a share with them in the plunder? How wickedly does he slubber over this part of his conduct, to the justification, as may be said, of that of his new Confederates!—Can such a man as this be too severely (if justly) dealt with?—Surely no!. He cannot expect that we should longer let sleep an affair, that, till now, in tenderness to him, he has never been re­minded of, and must believe had been entirely forgotten. But, first, we will transcribe a paragraph, which will shew the sense he affected to have then of the fraudulent means by which the Cor­ruptors obtained the power they had of injuring Mr. R.

‘"You must have more rogues in your house than one," says he; "as your two Editions have been sent to different people. If I could find out," proceeds he, "any of my Journeymen that would serve me in the same villainous manner, I would immediately dis­charge them in the most infamous manner, and publish their crimes in the most public manner in all the Papers; which, I am told by a very old French Journeyman Printer, is a constant [Page 9] practice in Germany, France, Holland, and Switzerland; and that care is taken to send those advertisements to all the Print­ing-offices in those countries, to prevent Masters from being im­posed on: And I am further told, that Journeymen and Appren­tices will not converse, or suffer these nefarious Villains to be in­terred in the earth; but kick their dead carcases from place to place, as they would dead cats or dogs, rats or mice. Perhaps," adds he, "I have been too warm in my resentment against such bad men: But, as I have been much injured by them, I hope you will excuse any rash words in this Letter, when I do assure you, that I am, for your many virtues, genius, generosity, and abi­lities, your most obedient ^a, &c."’

In this very Letter it was, that Mr. Faulkner declared his in­tentions to endeavour to prevail upon the Corruptors of those nefa­rious villains, as he justly calls them, to allow him a fourth or a fifth share in their snacks. It is Machiavellian policy to love the treason and hate the traitor. The dead carcases of the corrupted Journeymen are to be kicked about the streets, it seems; while the living Corruptors are to be supported, and united with, ac­cording to an established, invariable, and constant custom of the Booksellers of Dublin.—Will Mr. Faulkner assert this?

We now come to the transaction which, we suppose, Mr. Faulk­ner had forgot, having never been reminded of it—The information of which was given to Mr. Richardson, in a Letter written to him from Dublin, dated Nov. 12. 1741. by an English Printer of character and integrity, then there. ‘"I was yesterday," says he, "in company with some Printers that I knew in London: Among other things in conversation, they familiarly commended Mr. Faulkner's great diligence in London; and, after naming several pieces of which he had procured early copies, I understood he had been furnished with the Third and Fourth Volumes of Pamela, sheet by sheet, as far as is done, from your Press; and is printing them off here with all speed—The truth of this in­formation," adds he, "may be depended upon."’

Mr. Faulkner actually printed these Two Volumes for his own entire benefit, the copy so surreptitiously obtained ^b; of [Page 10] which see more p. 22.—But we will further attend to his printed state of the present case.

Mr. Faulkner staid not for this Post, as is evident from the very Letter to Mr. R. in which he gives him the intelligence of the injury done him. He tells Mr. Richardson in it, that he received his first four sheets on the 3d of August. On the 4th, the very next day (such was his haste to join with the Corruptors!), he forbid, as above-mentioned, Mr. Richardson to send him any more sheets; and signified his resolution to endeavour to prevail on the Associates to admit him into their partnership for a fourth or fifth share. But then, indeed, he was so gracious as to intimate, that he would pay Mr. Richardson his proportion of the 70 guineas, according to the share the Pirates would allow him to hold with them; which for a fifth would have been 14 guineas.

As to what he says of there being four or five Volumes printed before Mr. Richardson sent him any sheets, that was not so. Not more than two were completed: Three Volumes more, indeed, were composing by different hands in his house; but they went on at convenience; Mr. Richardson, as Mr. Faulkner knew, on­ly intending to publish two at a time; though the Pirates after­wards obliged him to alter his measures.

[Page 10] In two or three Letters following, says he? How slightly is this mentioned by Mr. Faulkner! He had been parading to Mr. Ri­chardson, from his Letter dated [Page 11] Aug. 4. to the 15th of September; sometimes pretending to detest the part his new partners act­ed; sometimes seeming to have it in view to procure Mr. Ri­chardson redress; at other times to intimidate him into their mea­sures. All which made it neces­sary for Mr. R. either to submit to the injury, or to endeavour to lighten the weight of it, by an­ticipating them.

What he says of the delay in sending the sheets directly from the Press, as he pronounces Mr. Richardson ought to have done, will be further taken notice of in another place. See p. 18.

This offer was not made till in his Letter of Sept. 15. and at the persuasion of two of Mr. R's friends, for the sake of his own character; and then it was thus ungracefully expressed in that Letter— ‘"However, notwith­standing their (his partners) ill-treatment of you, and particu­larly of me [ which he resented by joining with them!] you may draw upon me, at discretion, for any sum you think proper UNDER the sum stipulated between you and me; AS I know you to be a man of probity, honour, and conscience."’

He had told Mr. Richardson in a former Letter, that he knew he would not suffer him to be out of pocket.

He adds, ‘"I blush for my Brethren" [But why so, if they have done nothing but what he could conscientiously have joined them in, according to the established, invariable, constant custom of the Booksellers in Dublin?] "But let them," proceeds he, "answer for it at the great day of account. I know that you have been much, and most injuriously, villainously, and unprecedentedly, treated by your more than hellish, wicked, and CORRUPTED servants."’ By whom corrupted? Let him answer. Might he not as well have named his new partners?

Mr. Faulkner knows, that Mr. Richardson never once hinted holding him to it. The sum sti­pulated for, was to be paid for sending him the sheets before publication; and the contract was virtually at an end, when, after receiving the first parcel, he for­bad Mr. Richardson sending any more to him. Nor could Mr. Faulkner think himself under any, when, in the same Letter in [Page 12] which he gave notice of the invasion, he prohibited sending him any more of the sheets, and declared himself, with as much se­dateness, as if it were a thing of course, determined to attach himself to the Corruptors. His offer afterwards to pay a sum un­der that stipulated for, was, that he and his new partners might go on unmolestedly in reaping the fruits of their baseness: Nor is it improbable, that their refusal to consent to pay their parts, was owing to their view of intimidating Mr. Richardson, by means of their new partner, to give a sanction to it, which Mr. R. had refused to do; in which case, Mr. Faulkner, who has so happy a talent of displaying his merits, would hardly have found himself a sufferer, when he and his confederates had come to divide the spoil.

Strange man! He never hint­ed to Mr. Richardson, that his desire of this would determine him. Indeed, in his Letter of September 15. he says, by way of postscript, ‘"I would be glad to exonerate myself from this set of men; and will do it, if pos­sible, at all events."’ But, for a considerable time after this, he continued their willing partner; and made a merit to his other partners in the piracy of refusing to Mr. Richardson the common civility of his News-paper, to do himself reasonable justice. Well did he know Mr. Richardson's mind as to his adhering to his engagement with his new partners; for thus Mr. Richardson wrote to him in his Letter dated Aug. 24. ‘"You, Sir, will best judge, whether your own honour will not be sullied by a concern with so vile a confederacy. What can a fourth or fifth share in a Work, so treacherously obtained, do for any one? And if they proceed, I shall be obliged to make use of the names of all the Proprietors in the Dublin Edition, that I can come at."’

[Page 12]Mr. Faulkner had in his hands at this time Mr. Richardson's rea­sons for this delay, not at all to his advantage.

It was, then, nothing to Mr. R. whether Mr. Faulkner held or quitted. He set his face, and in­deed his whole strength, against the genuine Edition; though he knew, that if he had given the assistance he ought to have given to one whom he repeatedly al­lowed to be an injured and inno­cent man, it had never been sent over to Ireland.

[Page 13]It is poor to say, ‘"that he knew not in what manner the Work was then carried on, having never seen a single sheet, or even a page, of the Irish Edition;"’ when he had told Mr. Richardson, that it was print­ing page for page with the genuine one; and when he had partners, who wanted not his direction, nor any thing of him, but that he would countenance them, and, by separating himself from the man with whom he had contracted, deprive him of the assistance he could have given him. Mr. Richardson would perhaps think himself very cruel, were he to put the poor man upon the solemn attestation he offers to make. But why, it may be asked, did he divest himself of a share which he had so meanly crept to the Con­federates to obtain, if he and they had agreed to join together, in pursuance of an established, invariable, constant custom among the Book­sellers of Dublin? And another question we put to the Publishers of the Irish Edition, Why, if they have kept within this custom, have they published it without affixing their names to it, or any names, but ascribed to the Booksellers of Dublin, in general, a publication of which they themselves seem to be ashamed?

So much for Mr. Faulkner's defence of his conduct, as printed in the Paper which bears his name.

As it has been said, that the cause of Literature, and of Au­thors in general, is concerned in this transaction, we will further intrude, by way of narrative, on the Reader's patience.

Mr. Richardson, in his Letter of Aug. 24. 1753. in which he declared, that he could not follow Mr. Faulkner's advice, to sue to the Corruptors of his Workmens honesty to obtain a poor consider­ation for the injury done him, and in which he had cautioned him of the dishonour that might accrue to him (Mr. Faulkner) by join­ing with them, thus writes: ‘"I am very earnest, that you will yourself—let these men know my resentments, resolutions, &c. If they have any regard to justice; if they have any compassion for 30 or 40 men of my house, who may be suspected, and to one absolutely discharged; I think I might rather expect satis­faction from them, than they proposals from me.—It is a very great grievance for a man, who uses all his Workmen well, to be obliged to go on furnishing work and money for bosom-traitors; and not to know how to help himself."’ Mr. Faulkner's answer is dated Dublin, Sept. 8. He will thank himself, if the transcribe­ing it here gives him uneasiness.

Mr. Richardson, thus threatned to be attacked in more countries than one, particularly in Scotland, thought it was time to draw up a State of his Case, and to lay it before the Public; absolutely [Page 15] hopeless of any satisfactory result from the meeting of these worthy men, which was to be had seven days after the date of the above alarming Letter ^a.

Mr. Faulkner's next Letter gives the result of the meeting of his Associates and him; as follows:

[Page 16] October 2. 1753. Mr. Faulkner writes to Mr. Richardson, ex­pressing his surprize that he had not an answer to his of the 15th past; wishes in it, that Mr. R. had taken more time to consider his Case before he published it; and blames him for the delay in sending him the sheets, to which he ascribes the cause of all that had happened from the Pirates. He refers himself to a Letter written to Mr. R. in his favour, by a worthy friend of Mr. R. who had been induced to think well of him from his offers of making an affidavit, to prove upon the Confederates their being in possession of the stolen goods, and to remit to Mr. R. the whole sum stipulated for between them at first.

The Gentleman did write a warm Letter in Mr. F's behalf. Mr. Richardson laid before him, in answer, the state of the Case, from the Letters that had passed between Mr. Faulkner and him. The Gentleman then put the sincerity of Mr. F's offered services to the test; and was soon convinced that Mr. R. had nothing to expect from him. Mr. Richardson has not asked the Gentleman's leave to give particulars. Mr. Faulkner, about the same time, appealed to several Gentlemen of character in London, as an innocent man; and even desired them to shew what he had written to them to Mr. Richard­son. These several circumstances engaged the latter to write a long Letter to him, dated the 13th and 15th of October, recapi­tulating the above facts—Whence the following extracts ^a.

Mr. Richardson then quotes to Mr. Faulkner passages from seve­ral Letters that passed between them, to demonstrate, that his charge of delay had no foundation to support it; and then subjoins as follows:

[Page 20] We take leave to observe, that Mr. Faulkner had in his hands the Letter from which the above extracts are made, when he printed, in his own paper, the paragraph which he designed to pass for a justification of himself; the truth of every part of which he offers to attest in the most solemn manner.

But possibly Mr. Faulkner had not received that Letter, when he wrote the following.

After this Letter, could it be credited, had it not been published by himself, that he was the Author of the paragraph of November 3. 1753. before animadverted upon; by which he would make the world believe, that, in joining with the Undertakers of this pi­rated Edition, he and they had done no more than was warranted by the established, invariable, constant customs of the Dublin Book­sellers?

In a Letter written by one of Mr. Richardson's friends, dated Dublin October 27. intimation was given him, that the Associates proposed to surrender up all they had printed, which they gave in as near Two Volumes only, at prime cost, amounting to some­what above 50 pounds. Mr. Richardson wrote back his willing­ness to be the purchaser; but some new chicane seemed to be de­signed by this overture; for, in a fortnight or three weeks after, they were ready to publish Six Volumes.

They accordingly published them; but, as hath been observed, without putting any Booksellers names to the Titles; and tho' the genuine edition was put at the price such books are generally sold for in Ireland, they, as Mr. Faulkner had foretold, undersold the Edition of the lawful Proprietor.

Mr. Richardson will not, were it true, report, that the saving of Two Shillings (in the purchase of Six Volumes, the price of which cannot be found fault with) will be a sufficient reason with the Gentlemen and Ladies of Ireland, to prefer the ‘"pirated Edition, the copy of which, to borrow Mr. Faulkner's words, in his [Page] Letter of Oct. 20. was so basely and fraudulently obtained."’ But he has been heard to take comfort in the following passage transcribed from the Letter of a friend to him: ‘"What I fear, is, that the high merit of the Work will procure the Pirates more customers than I wish. But as it is inimitably well calculated to do good, the injury done you, will certainly afford me one sa­tisfaction, and a great one; that the excellent Performance will be more universally read, for the bustle that hath been made about it. Who knows, dear Sir, but the glorious Sir CHARLES may teach some honesty and dignity of soul, even to him who buys it, as stolen goods, a few shillings lower from the Pirates than he could from you."’

The secreting the name of the Fourth Bookseller has been often mentioned above. Mr. Richardson wrote to one of his friends in Ireland his suspicions as to the person, grounded on facts that had been communicated to him by another friend residing in Dublin. This produced the following passage in the answer of the Gentle­man, dated October 22. 1753.

‘"From what you say of a fourth person, not named either to you, or to your friends here, I guess it was that very person who corrupted your servants, and furnished the three Book­sellers named, with the sheets. These three name themselves in the Title-pages they at first posted up, because, perhaps, no corruption can be proved on them; but conceal the fourth As­sociate, lest he should be prosecuted. If this is the case, and nothing can be more probable (for Wilson hath, by affidavit before the Lord Mayor, purged himself of the corruption, and Exshaw and Saunders declare they can do the same), then Mr. ******** is still more evidently the scandalous Associate of the Corruptors, inasmuch as he conceals the most criminal, and, in some measure, abets the rest."’

Be this as it may, these three men cannot clear themselves of the piracy founded on that corruption, and of the parts they acted, and proposed further to act, in extending the injury to France and Scotland, as charged in Mr. Faulkner's Letters of Sept. 8. and 15. before-cited.

The Pirates have endeavoured to make a National cause of the transaction. But is not the Nationality of these men a cover for the basest Selfishness? Are Messieurs Exshaw, Wilson, Saunders, and the fourth concealed person, and Mr. Faulkner joined with them, the Irish nation?

Mr. Faulkner, in one of his Letters to Mr. Richardson, suspect­ing Mr. Main would be employed by him, though then Mr. R. had not mentioned him, nor even thought of him, stigmatizes him as a Scotish agent. But may we not ask, What are these Book­sellers of Dublin, that they think themselves intitled to prey upon the property of every other man in every nation round them; yet [Page 22] join to hunt down any other subject of the same Prince, if he at­tempt to get bread among, or near, them?

Mr. Richardson has been accused in an Irish public Paper, of having formerly engaged with a Mr. Bacon, of Dublin, in a scheme which, the Author of that Paper says, was likely to be very detrimental to the Printers and Booksellers of Dublin in general.

This was the fact: Mr. Bacon, an ingenious man, now in or­ders, an Irishman, or one who had always had his connexions with that kingdom, and professed a love even to partiality for it, kept a coffeehouse, of note and credit, in Dublin, at which were frequently held auctions for books, and merchandize. He had been concerned with the Press as a Corrector, and proposed to set up a public Paper there, and to take up his freedom of the Com­pany of Stationers in Dublin. He did both. The latter in the month of November 1741. The Paper was called The Gazette. The Advertisements of the Public Offices were printed in it. He set up entirely on the Irish footing, and purposed to employ Irish Printers, to buy his paper of Irish Stationers, and to avail himself, as other Irish Printers and Booksellers made it their endeavour to do, of such copies of books published in London as he could pro­cure early, and fairly, by consent of the Proprietors.—Crime enough in that, perhaps! for Mr. Faulkner, at contracting with Mr. Ri­chardson, was desirous that his Dublin Brethren should not know that he gave any consideration for the liberty of reprinting The History of Sir Charles Grandison. Mr. Bacon was an absolute stran­ger to Mr. Richardson, brought to him by Mr. Thomas Osborne, of Gray's-inn; and Mr. Richardson then knowing not any other Irish Bookseller, or Printer, and being about to publish his Third and Fourth Volumes of Pamela, was induced to enter into agree­ment with him, and to furnish him with the sheets as they came from his Press, in order to his reprinting them in Dublin. The sheets were accordingly sent him over: But Mr. Faulkner, as is before-mentioned, p. 9. having, by his extraordinary diligence, clandestinely got at the sheets as printed at Mr. Richardson's, he (Mr. Bacon) was deprived of the intended benefit; and also fore­stalled in the sale of the genuine Edition; 250 of which were sent him, in resentment of such base treatment.

Tho' Mr. Bacon's prospects were at that time very favourable; and tho' he wanted not any other sort of diligence, but that for which some of his Brethren have made themselves famous; yet Mr. Richardson's concern with him, to Mr. Bacon's great regret, held but one year. And his furnishing Mr. Bacon with the sheets of Pamela, Vol. III. IV. to be reprinted in Ireland; his engagement, some years afterwards, to send over to Mr. Faulkner the sheets of Clarissa, for the same purpose, notwithstanding his treatment of him [Page 23] in Pamela; and those of his Grandison now lately, notwithstanding his treatment of him in Clarissa; evidently demonstrate that he had no intention to interfere with the Booksellers and Printers of Dublin, by sending over his books ready printed, till the atrocious injury he received, and the determined perseverance of the In­jurers, made him think it adviseable to endeavour to anticipate Confederates, who had so vilely, by the corruption of his servants, as hath been often said, obtained the power of hurting him in a property so absolutely his own.

This further may be said, That Mr. R. printed not a number, with a view of sending any over to Ireland: But such a one only as his friends thought rather short of answering the English de­mand; and it has proved, that all he sent over to Dublin would have been sold in England at a better price, as Printing and Paper here are more costly than in Ireland; tho' he had caused them to be sold in Dublin at the Irish price, from the first.

Mr. R. has been put to great expence by these men, and to great trouble in the altercation with them. But he is bringing himself to look upon their unprovoked treatment of him, as a punishment for assuming the pen, at the expence of his health, and to the giv­ing up every rational amusement, when he had a business upon his hands which was enough to employ his whole attention; and which, as his principal care, he never neglected.

It has been more than once said, that this Cause is the Cause of Literature, in general; and it may be added, it is even that of the honest Booksellers and Printers of both Nations: We therefore hope that our prolixity will be forgiven.

We will take upon us to add, that every man in Mr. R's station has not the spirit, the will, the independence, to hang out lights to his Cotemporaries, to enable them to avoid Savages, who hold themselves in readiness to plunder a vessel even before it becomes a wreck.

London, Feb. 1. 1754.