It might be easy, were it necessary, to add to these the suffrages of some of the most eminent writers of the last half-century. As a repository of literary history and of public transactions for a much longer period, it is without a rival, a circumstance at which we cannot be surprised, when we consider that it contains the early, as well as the more mature, lucubrations of many hundred authors in every department of literature. In the history of the Magazine, noticed above, Mr. Nichols has given a list of above five hundred men of note, who had been correspondents in his time, and whom he had survived. Nearly an equal number might be added of those who have died since that list was made out, and of those who are still living, and lamenting the loss of one who afforded many of them the means of being first introduced to public notice.

In order to render the various information contained in this Magazine more easily accessible, Mr. Nichols published in 1786 a complete Index to the first fifty-four volumes, compiled by the Rev. Samuel Ayscough; and in 1819 two more volumes of Indexes were printed. Both Indexes served to increase the demand for complete sets of the Magazine.

Gibbon the historian had such a value for this Miscellany, that he recommended to Mr. Nichols a selection of the most curious and useful articles. Mr. Nichols was too much employed to have leisure for such an undertaking; but it was afterwards accomplished with great judgment, in 4 vols. by the Rev. John Walker, of New College, Oxford.*

In noticing the Gentleman's Magazine while under Mr. Nichols's care, the present writer will not attempt that which Mr. Nichols would have disdained, any comparison between it and its rivals. This indeed becomes the less necessary, as they have all dropped into oblivion with the exception of a few of recent date, in which no rivalship seems intended. It may be added, however, that his plan was calculated for permanence. It depended on none of the frivolous fashions of the age. Its general character was usefulness, combined with rational entertainment. Its supporters were men of learning, who found in its pages an easy mode of communicating their doubts and their inquiries, with a certainty that their doubts would be resolved, and their inquiries answered by men equal to the task. The Miscellany was particularly recommended by the impartiality of the Editor, who admitted controversialists to the most equal welcome, and never interfered but when, out of respect to his numerous readers, it became his duty to check the rudeness of personal reflection. In the course of such controversies he must not be suspected of acceding to every proposition advanced either in warmth or in calmness, and much was no doubt admitted of which he could not approve. But his own principles remained unshaken, principles early adopted, and favourable to piety and political

* [Mr. Walker was one of the proprietors of the Oxford Mercury. He published "Selections from the Bodleian," 3 vols. and other works. He was Vicar of Hornchurch, Essex, where he died April 5, 1831, aged 61.]

happiness; and such he preserved and supported amidst the most alarming storms to which his country had ever been exposed. Whatever anomalies may be occasionally perceived in the effusions of some of his correspondents, if the whole of his administration be examined, it will be found that the main object and tendency of the Magazine was to support our excellent Constitution in Church and State, especially when in some latter years both were in danger from violence without and treachery within.

The sentiments of two very eminent and learned dignitaries of the Church, with the perusal of which we have been favoured since Mr. Nichols's death, may, we hope, without breach of confidence, be added to the above. Mr. Nichols "was an able, and, what is much more, he was a perfectly honest man. We can ill afford to lose him. As an excellent antiquary, as friend to literary men, and as a liberal, but thoroughly attached, son of the Church of England, his memory will long live in the esteem and recollection of his friends."*" It is my firm opinion, that, in the various productions which during so long a period issued from his press, not a line escaped which could be detrimental to the influence of Christianity; but, on the contrary, particularly in the conduct of that leading work, the 'Gentleman's Magazine,' the genuine principles of orthodox religion have been advocated and diffused in this nation by its channel for the longest portion of a century. And, even in the amusing and instructive articles of a literary and antiquarian cast, this leading purpose seems not to have been lost sight of. While he (Mr. Nichols) sojourned with us, he was by the kindness and benevolence of his heart the delight of his friends, and must be considered as an eminent benefactor to his country."†

There was no part of the Magazine on which Mr. Nichols bestowed more attention than on the record of deaths, now known by the name of OBITUARY. In order to render this an article of authority, and often indeed it has been quoted as such, he was indefatigable in his inquiries, anxiously consulted his numerous friends, and had very often the advantage of original documents from the relatives of persons of various classes, whose history might be interesting to the public. In this he not only gratified immediate curiosity, but laid the foundation of those more extended accounts which afterwards appeared in works professedly biographical. The warmth of friendship and the recency of grief might no doubt sometimes give a high colouring to these reports, which became chastened on further reflection and inquiry; but corrections or additions were impartially admitted, and the Editor at least was accessible to every communication which tended to establish the truth.

It may here be noticed that many of the additional articles in the Biographical Dictionary which he edited, in conjunction with Dr. Heathcote, in 1784, came from Mr. Nichols. How ably, and kindly, he assisted in the late edition of that work, completed in 1817, 32 vols. * Bp. Law. See p. xxix.

+ Dean Rennell. See p. xxxi.

8vo. can never be forgotten by its Editor, who hopes hereafter* to acknowledge it more amply than merely by a reference to Mr. Nichols's printed works.

Although Mr. Bowyer's press had not issued many works interesting to English antiquaries, Mr. Nichols appears, before the period to which we are now arrived, to have formed such connections as gradually encouraged what was early in his mind, until his inquiries became fixed on subjects relating to the antiquities of his own country. Among these preceptors we may notice Dr. Samuel Pegge, Dr. Borlase, Samuel Denne, and Dr. Ducarel. With the latter he was long linked in friendship, and, in conjunction with him, published in 1779 the "History of the Royal Abbey of Bec, near Rouen," and "Some Account of the Alien Priories, and of such Lands as they are known to have possessed in England and Wales," 2 vols. But he had another coadjutor in these two works, of incalculable value, the celebrated RICHARD GOUGH, Esq.

This very eminent antiquary, justly entitled the Camden of the Eighteenth Century, was, like Bowyer, an early discerner of Mr. Nichols's worth, and saw in him an able and useful assistant in his multifarious endeavours to illustrate the antiquities of Great Britain. Mr. Gough was his senior by ten years, and a higher proficient in his favourite studies. At what precise time they became acquainted we have not been able to discover, but it seems, with much probability, to have been about the year 1770, when the first volume of the Archæologia was printed by Mr. Nichols, to whom Mr. Bowyer, from declining health, had almost entirely resigned the business of the press. Some years before this Mr. Gough had been a frequent correspondent in the Gentleman's Magazine, a publication constantly read by Mr. Nichols,† when there was little prospect of his becoming its chief support, or of Mr. Gough's taking so active a part in the management of it as to become nearly a co-editor. It is probable that their intimacy was perfected whilst Mr. Gough was superintending his friend Mr. Hutchins's "History of Dorsetshire" through the press. That work was issued in two volumes, fol. 1774.

Their connexion, at whatever time begun, ended in a strict intimacy and cordial friendship, which terminated only in the death of Mr. Gough in 1809. It was a friendship uninterruptedly strengthened by congeniality of pursuits, mutual esteem, and the kindness of domestic intercourse. On their final separation Mr. Nichols says with unfeigned feeling: "The loss of Mr. Gough was the loss of more than a brother; it was losing a part of himself. For a long series of years he had experienced in Mr. Gough the kind, disinterested friend; the prudent,

[* This alludes to the proposed edition of the Biographical Dictionary upon which Mr. Chalmers was engaged.]

† [One of the first communications of Mr. Nichols to the Gentleman's Magazine was in July, 1765, p. 335: "Spring, a Poem," inscribed to Mr. Tooke.]

judicious adviser; the firm, unshaken patron. To him every material event in life was confidentially imparted. In those that were prosperous, no man more heartily rejoiced; in such as were less propitious, no man more sincerely condoled, or more readily endeavoured to alleviate." Mr. Nichols has since lost no opportunity of honouring the memory of his departed friend, both in his "Literary Anecdotes" and in his "Illustrations of Literary History." His last office of duty was to select and transfer to the Bodleian Library, Oxford, the valuable collection of Topography, printed and MS., which Mr. Gough bequeathed to that noble repository.*

In 1780 Mr. Nichols published a very curious "Collection of Royal and Noble Wills," 4to. In this work he acknowledges his obligations to Mr. Gough and to Dr. Ducarel, for obtaining transcripts and elucidating by notes. It was a scheme originally suggested by Dr. Ducarel, probably in consequence of the publication of the Will of Henry VII. by Mr. Astle some years before. To this work, in 1794, Mr. Nichols added the will of Henry VIII. which is now seldom to be found with the preceding, itself a work of great rarity.

Amidst these more serious employments, Mr. Nichols diverted his leisure hours by compiling a work, which seems to have been entirely of his own projection, and the consequence of early predilection. This appeared in 1780, with the title of "A Select Collection of Miscellaneous Poems, with Historical and Biographical Notes," 4 vols. small 8vo. To these were added, in 1782, four other volumes, with a general poetical Index. In this curious work, he has not only revived many pieces of unquestionable merit, which had long been forgotten, but produced some originals from the pens of men of acknowledged genius. In so large a collection are some which might perhaps have been allowed to remain in obscurity without much injury to the public, but even in the production of these he followed the opinion, and had the encouragement, of some of the best critics of the time, Bishops Lowth and Percy, Dr. Warton, Mr. Kynaston, &c. The biographical notes were deemed very interesting, and were happily the occasion of a similar improvement being made to Dodsley's Collection of Poems, in the edition of 1782, if we mistake not, by Isaac Reed. In Mr. Nichols's collection are a few of his juvenile attempts at versification, of which he says, "they will at least serve as a foil to the beauties with which they are surrounded." Mr. Nichols never claimed a high rank among poets, but there is evidently too much disparagement in the above opinion.

In the same year (1780), on the suggestion and with the assistance of Mr. Gough, he began to publish the "Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica," a work intended to collect such articles of British Topography, manuscript or printed, as were in danger of being lost, or were become so scarce as to be out of the reach of most collectors. His

[* See p. 644 of this volume.]

reputation was now so fully established that he had ready assistance from most of the eminent antiquaries of that day; and in 1790 the whole was concluded in fifty-two parts or numbers, making eight large quarto volumes, illustrated by more than three hundred plates, with great exactness and accuracy, both in these and in the letterpress. A continuation was begun some time after, under the title of "Miscellaneous Antiquities," of which six numbers were published.

It is to be feared Mr. Nichols was a considerable loser by this work, not only in the expenses of printing and engraving, but in the purchase of manuscripts and drawings. He could not indeed have been long connected with Mr. Gough without imbibing a portion of his disinterested spirit, and looking for his best reward in the pleasure of the employment, and the consciousness that he was contributing much valuable information for the use of posterity and the honour of his country. Mr. Nichols thought as little of expense as of fatigue, and to the fear of either he seems to have been an entire stranger. His success, however, was not different from that of his brethren, for we know no class of writers worse rewarded than antiquaries.

The publication of the Bibliotheca Topographica took up ten years, and in some hands might have been quite sufficient to employ the whole of those years. But such was the unwearied industry of our author, that within the same period no less than eighteen publications issued from his press, of all which he was either editor or author.

As a complete list of his works is given in the Sixth Volume of the Literary Anecdotes, we shall only notice here those which are more particularly connected with his researches as a Biographer. In 1781 he published in 8vo. "Biographical Anecdotes of William Hogarth." This was republished in 1782, again in 1785, and a fourth and most complete edition in 1810-1817, in 3 vols, 4to. with very elegant reduced plates. Of this work, on its first appearance, the testimony of Lord Orford may be considered as decisive :-" Since the first edition of this work (the Anecdotes of Painting), a much ampler account of Hogarth and his Works has been given by Mr. Nichols ; which is not only more accurate, but much more satisfactory than mine: omitting nothing that a collector would wish to know, either with regard to the history of the painter himself, or to the circumstances, different editions, and variations of his prints. I have completed my list of Hogarth's Works from that source of information."* In 1822 Mr. Nichols superintended a superb edition of Hogarth's works, from the original plates, restored by James Heath, esq., and furnished the Explanations of the subjects of the Plates. Let it not be forgotten that these Explanations were written by Mr. Nichols in his seventyeighth year.

In the same year (1781) he was the author of "Biographical

* Lord Orford's Works, 4to. vol. iii. p. 453.