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notes
I am grateful to the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for the Fellowship which enabled me to consult the records in England which are used in this article. T. C. D. E.
Alan Dugald McKillop, Samuel Richardson Printer and Novelist (1936), p. 291. McKillop's evidence is an advertisement in the Weekly Journal, or Saturday's Post for January 11, 1724, and succeeding issues, which speaks of "Samuel Richardson, a Printer, in Salisbury-Court, in Fleet-Street." This advertisement was first noted by Burns Martin, "Richardson's Removal to Salisbury Court," MLN, XLV (1930), 469, but does not, as Martin thought, support the statement of earlier biographers that in 1723 or 1724 Richardson moved from his first house near Fleet Street to his later Salisbury Court house—Blue Ball Court was just off Salisbury Court and Richardson's house on the corner (see below) could well have been described as in Salisbury Court.
This is a Constable's Ledger for 1724-1725 and 1725-1726; Poor Ledger for 1727; and Scavenger's Ledger for 1727. In this article there will be numerous references to manuscripts in the Guildhall Library. For the sake of brevity we have used the abbreviation GH.
Gentleman's Magazine, LXII (September, 1792), 785, and McKillop, Samuel Richardson, p. 285. McKillop had additional evidence: a correspondence between Richardson's daughters Anne and Martha, which he has kindly lent us.
The original of this letter, recently discovered by Professor William Slattery, is in the Algemeen Rijksarchief, The Hague. Professor Slattery, who is now editing Richardson's correspondence with Stinstra, has kindly given us permission to quote from his photostat. A copy of part of the letter is printed by McKillop in The Early Masters of English Fiction (1956), pp. 47-51.
"Bindings" (MS in the Archives of the Stationers' Company), under date: "Samuell Richardson bound to John Wild for seven yeares."
"Court Book G," p. 229, and entry under date in the "Freemen's Book" (MSS in the Archives of the Stationers' Company).
GH MS 3437/1 (Rate Book of Tithes for St. Bride's Parish, 1719-1720). He evidently moved around Lady Day (March 25), 1720, since the page covering the half-year due at Lady Day, 1720, has the notation "Gon to Stock's Market."
McKillop, Samuel Richardson, p. 289n, cites the Weekly Packet, November 28-December 5, 1719, and the Daily Post, March 15, May 5, 1720. See also the Daily Post, March 5, 1720. All of these are advertisements for books, giving Leake's address as Stationers Court.
"Court Book H" (MS in the Archives of the Stationers' Company), pp. 48, 76, and 78, cited by McKillop, Samuel Richardson, pp. 289, 290n; "Bindings," under date, cited by Sale, pp. 14-15, 350-351. Leake's will, recorded in the Peculiar of the Arches (MS in Lambeth Palace Library), is dated August 20, 1696.
The original of Elizabeth Leake's will, proved in the Commissary Court of London, is in GH MS 9172/Box 118.
"St. Bride's Register General, 1653-1736" (GH MS 6540/4) under the date April 4; Registers of St. Vedast, Harleian Soc. Registers, XXX (1903), 270, under the date April 9.
Registers of the Abbey Church of SS. Peter and Paul, Bath, Harleian Soc. Registers, XXVII (1900), 234.
Richardson's marriage license allegation is in the Archives of the Vicar General's Office, Westminster. For his marriage, see Registers and Monumental Inscriptions of Charterhouse Chapel, Harleian Soc. Registers, XVIII (1892), 29.
Samuel Richardson, pp. 289-290. The record of the turn-over of the apprentices is in "Court Book H," p. 121.
McKillop, Samuel Richardson, p. 288, and Sale, p. 205. The only evidence given by Sale (pp. 180-181, 229, 288) that Richardson printed six books in 1719 or 1720 is that some of these books contain Sale's ornaments 46 (the ornament previously used by J. L[eake?]) and 41. Since the Leakes were in business into 1721, there is no reason to think they would have turned over ornament 46 to Richardson in 1719 or 1720. Three books printed in 1719 or 1720 (Sale's numbers 1, 2, and 5) contain both ornament 46 and ornament 41, which seems to indicate that the latter ornament was also acquired from the Leakes. Richardson could, of course, have borrowed ornament 46, but ornament 41 alone is not sufficient evidence to say that Richardson was printing before 1721.
GH MS 78 (Constable's, 1724-1725 and 1725-1726; Poor, 1727; Scavenger's, 1727—these records are mentioned by McKillop, Samuel Richardson, p. 291, and Sale, p. 359). GH MS 3437/2-12 (Tithes, 1722-1735): when inclusive dates are given in this and subsequent notes, they mean that the entry in question appears in all extant rate books, although frequently the record for one quarter and occasionally that for a whole year is missing. GH MS 3430/4 (Poor and Scavenger's, 1728-1729), 5 (Constable's and Scavenger's, 1732-1733), 6 (Constable's, 1733-1734). GH MS 3429/2-8 (Scavenger's 1723-1734). GH MS 3435/R52, 55, 61, 63, 68, 77, 79, 84, 94, 95, 99, 101, 104, 107, 113, 114, 117 (Poor, 1721-1734). GH MS 3435/R78 (Orphans and Trophy Books, 1729). GH MS 3424/13 (Land Tax Ledger, 1724).
GH MS 3437/14-17 (Tithes, 1736-1740). GH MS 3435/unnumbered MS (Poor, 1737) and R 126, 127a, 132, 133, 134, 136, (Poor, 1738-1740).
Page 11. None of Richardson's biographers appear to have been aware of the actual date of Richardson's second marriage. The particulars of the marriage license allegation in the Bishop of London's Registry are given under the date February 2, 1732/3: "Samuel Richardson of the Parish of Saint Bridgett als Brides London Widower 40 years Elizabeth Leake of the Said Parish of St Bridgett Spinster aged 25 years To Marry Saint Bridgett als Brides afsd." The ceremony was performed at St. Clement, Eastcheap, on February 3. See Register of St. Clement, Eastcheap and St. Martin Orgar, Harleian Soc. Registers, LXVII (1937), 109, and the manuscript Register (GH MS 4783).
GH MS 3435/R101, 107, 113, 114, 117 (Poor from that due Michelmas, 1732, to that due Lady Day, 1735); GH MS 3437/11-13 (Tithes, 1733-1735).
GH MS 3437/14-27a (Tithes, 1736-1740, 1743-1747, 1750-Lady Day, 1756); GH MS 3435/R127a, 132-134, 136-137, 144-146, 150-152, 169-172, 178-180, 189-192, 201-203, 212-215, 224-228, 232, 250-252, 261-264, 274-277, 288-291 (Poor, 1738-1755); GH MS 3430/7 (Constable's and Scavenger's, 1740-1741); GH MS 3430/8 (Watch Rate, 1755); GH MS 79 (Tithes, 1748-1749). GH MS 79 is cited by McKillop, Samuel Richardson, p. 291, and Sale, p. 360.
GH MS 3437/27bc, 28abcd, 29abcd (Tithes, 1756-1758); GH MS 3435/R305-308, 319-322 (Poor, 1756-1757). Perhaps only one backhouse was kept this long: the Poor Rates continue to mention backhouses, but from 1752 the Tithes list only one backhouse at £5, and the Watch Rate for 1755 (GH MS 3430/8) lists one backhouse at £5 and the second as "E."
Anna Lætitia Barbauld, ed. The Correspondence of Samuel Richardson (London, 1804), I, clxxxiii. Sale (p. 9) says that Richardson's house was on the western side of the square, citing this statement by "Miss P." as evidence. "Miss P." also states that she "lived nearly opposite" Richardson's house. It seems highly likely, as Sale suggests (p. 359), that she was Richardson's friend Miss Poole. On January 22, 1742, John Poole was married to Mary Dutton (MS Register of St. Margaret's, Westminster), the daughter of Richardson's friend Thomas Dutton, and in that year he took over the house on Dorset Street between Half Paved Court and Blue Ball Court which had previously been listed in Dutton's name or that of his widow, Mary (GH MS 3435/R150: Poor, 1742). Of the children of John and Mary Poole two daughters were alive on May 28, 1771, when he wrote his will (Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Alexander 388, proved October 20, 1775): Elizabeth Poole and Mary, the wife of John Way. Mary was baptized on November 17, 1743, and Elizabeth on October 25, 1749 ("St. Bride's Register of Baptisms: 1736/7-1812" [GH MS 6541/1]. Elizabeth appears to have been too young to have gone to bed by herself, putting out her own candle, in 1753, or to have visited Richardson at North End without her mother (Barbauld, I, clxxxiv-clxxxv); so the "lady" who communicated the letter to Mrs. Barbauld was Mary Poole Way. The member of her family with whom Richardson seems to have been most closely associated was her aunt, Margaret Dutton, who in December, 1756, died in Richardson's house (see Barbauld, II, 102-103; Forster MS (Victoria and Albert Museum), XIV, 2, ff. 2, 72; Richardson to Mrs. Sheridan, December 19, 1756, original owned by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania). Since the Dutton-Poole house was located on Dorset Street between Half Paved Court and Blue Ball Court and was thus just off the southeast corner of the square, Mrs. Way's remark that she "lived nearly opposite" Richardson's house is insufficient evidence for locating it on either the north or the west side of the square.
GH MS 3437/17-21 (Tithes, 1739-1740, 1743-1747, 1750-1752); GH MS 3435/R136-137, 144-146, 150-152, 169-172, 178-180, 189-192, 201-203, 212-215, 224-228 (Poor, 1740-1750); GH MS 3429/9 (Scavenger's, 1740-1741). McKillop says (Samuel Richardson, p. 291) that Richardson rented this second Salisbury Court house by 1748-1749 and Sale states (p. 12) that he rented it "soon" after the first Salisbury Court house. Both seem to have been misled by the wording of the entry in GH MS 79 (Tithes, 1748-1749), which lists under Salisbury Court "Saml Richardson, 2 hos" The "2 hos" are certainly the two backhouses, and this entry is similar to many others in the rate books. The house Richardson later occupied is listed in GH MS 79 as empty.
The Builder, LXXI (July 18, 1896), 48, prints a picture of No. 11 Salisbury Square, described as the house "set back in the north-west corner, which, together with offices and a warehouse adjoining, with an entrance from Fleet-street," Richardson built in 1754. Eighteenth-century maps make it clear that there was a setback on the north side of the corner, towards White Lyon Court, and the picture shows walls jutting forward on each side of No. 11 in a way possible only if its facade ran the length of the setback.
GH MS 3437/22-32c (Tithes, 1752-1761); GH MS 3435/R251-252, 261-264, 274-277, 288-291, 305-308, 319-322, 332-335, 344-347, 354-356, 364-366 (Poor, 1752-1761); GH MS 3430/8 (Watch Rate, 1755), 9 (Watch and Scavenger's, 1755-1756).
The Tithes still list the eight houses in White Lyon Court as vacant in the first quarter of 1756 (GH MS 3437/27a), and under Richardson's name only in the third quarter (GH MS 3437/27b). They are here described as eight houses with a rent of £89, but this seems to have been the rent before Richardson rebuilt them, since under Salisbury Court is listed "50/60 Saml Richardson & Workshops," and in subsequent tithes records the rent is given as £50. The White Lyon Court houses are listed as Richardson's in all records cited in note 30 which are subsequent to the first quarter of 1756.
Richardson to Lady Bradshaigh, October 21, 1755, Forster MS, XI, f. 161. See also Richardson to Lady Bradshaigh, August 13, 1755, Forster MS, XI, f. 151; Richardson to Thomas Edwards, c. August 1, 1755, Forster MS, XII, 1, f. 145; Richardson to Miss Mulso, August 15, 1755, Barbauld, III, 225, 227; Richardson to Johannes Stinstra, November 26, 1755, original in Algemeen Rijksarchief, The Hague.
Richardson to Lady Bradshaigh, December 17, 1755, Forster MS, XI, f. 163; Richardson to Margaret Collier, December 24, 1755, Barbauld, II, 80; Richardson to William Lobb, December 29, 1755, Barbauld, I, 183; Richardson to Samuel Lobb, December 29, 1755, original owned by Mr. Robert Taylor.
Richardson to Eusebius Sylvester, March 16, 1756, Forster MS, XIV, 4, f. 16; Richardson to Miss Mulso, August 15, 1755, Barbauld, III, 226.
Richardson to Lady Bradshaigh, February 9, 1756, Forster MS, XI, f. 167. In his letter of December 17 to Lady Bradshaigh he wrote that his wife wanted to stay at least until the lease on the old house expired nine months later. On April 4, 1756, he wrote her (Forster MS, XI, f. 176) that he saved half a year's rent by letting his old landlord begin repairs before his lease expired.
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