window of beautiful painted glass, purchased during the revolutionary troubles in France, from the church of St. Nicholas at Rouen. The subject is the Visitation of the Virgin Mary; the figures are as large as life, admirably drawn and the composition has been always considered as having been designed either by Sebastian del Piombo, or by Michael Angelo. In 1811 his lordship presented to York minster another beautiful window of stained glass, in a pure Gothic style.

The noble earl died at Castle Howard, on the 4th of September, 1825, in the seventy-eighth year of his age; leaving only two noblemen living, the Duke of Gordon and Earl Fitzwilliam, who, with himself, were in possession of their titles and estates in the reign of George the Second.

The "Public Characters," and the "Parliamentary Debates," are the principal sources whence the foregoing Memoir has been derived.

320

No. XII.

ALEXANDER TILLOCH, LL. D.

M. R. I. A., M. R. A. S., MUNICH; M. G. S. M. A. S., S. S. A., EDINBURGH AND PERTH; M.S. E. I. N., OF FRANCE, &c. &c.

THE

HE following memoir is principally extracted from the pages of the Imperial Magazine, with a few interwoven paragraphs from the Philosophical Magazine, and the Literary Chronicle.

Dr. Tilloch was a native of Glasgow, where he was born 28th February 1759. His father, Mr. John Tilloch, filled the office of magistrate for many years. He also followed the trade of a tobacconist, and was highly respected by all ranks of people, both as a merchant, and in his official capacity. Alexander, being designed for business, received in the place of his nativity an education suitable to the station he was intended to fill. We are not aware that he manifested any particular indications of genius at an early age; but his habits were sedate and thoughtful, apparently arising from a conviction that he knew but little, and had much to learn. On leaving school he was taken to his intended occupation; but as his intellectual powers began to expand themselves, his views were directed to objects more elevated than any thing which a tobacco-warehouse could afford, and his mental energies soon arose above the mere manufacturing of an Indian weed.

Ardent in the pursuit of knowledge, and sanguine in his expectations, the occult sciences, in early life, at one time attracted much of his attention; and when animal magnetism was introduced into this country, its novelty and charms were not without their influence on his youthful mind. The magic, however, of this delusive science soon ceased to operate; yet judicial astrology he was never disposed to treat with sover

reign contempt. But it was not long that he wandered in these visionary regions; he soon saw the folly of pursuing phantoms, and, without loss of time, applied his talents to the cultivation of that which promised to be useful to man

kind.

Among the various branches of science and the mechanic arts, those which conduced to the progress of literature chiefly arrested his attention; and though totally uninstructed in the art of printing, he soon conceived that the mode then in constant practice was susceptible of considerable improvement. He accordingly hit upon the expedient, when the page was set up in type, of taking off an impression in some soft substance, in its comparatively fluid state, that would harden when exposed to the action of fire, and thus become a mould to receive the metal when in a state of fusion, and form a plate every way correspondent to the page whence the first impression was obtained. In other words, he laid the foundation of stereotype printing. It may perhaps be said, that this art was practised by Vander Mey and Mullen, at Leyden, about the end of the sixteenth century, and some antiquaries even assert that it was known to the Romans. Without, however, entering into an inquiry which, however interesting, is foreign to our present purpose, we may remark that the art was lost, and that at the death of Vander Mey the art of printing with solid blocks ceased. It is true that about the year 1725, Mr. Ged, a jeweller of Edinburgh, though unacquainted with what Vander Mey had done, devised the plan of printing from plates, and in 1736, with the aid of a son whom he had apprenticed to a printer, published an edition of Sallust, which was printed from metallic plates. Another work, The Life of God in the Soul of Man,' was also printed by the Geds in 1742; but so much was this art undervalued, that these works were the only evidences of the art Ged left; and when, in 1751, his son attempted to prosecute it, he met with so little encouragement that he abandoned his design, and went to Jamaica, where he died. With him the art sunk

a second time into utter oblivion. To Alexander Tilloch the public is indebted for the revival, or rather second discovery of stereotype printing; for, in a brief account which he published in the Philosophical Magazine, (vol. x.) he states, in a manner which must convince the most sceptical, that he made the discovery without knowing any thing whatever of Ged's previous attempts. Like Ged, he was no printer himself, and was led solely by the force of what logicians call the sufficient reason to see that founding whole plates of types was quite as practicable a thing as founding single types. He began his experiments in 1781, and in 1782, having brought his plates to a state of comparative perfection, flattered himself that many advantages would result from his successful efforts.

As he was not bred a printer himself, he had recourse to Mr. Foulis, printer of the University of Glasgow, to whom he applied for types to make an experiment in the new process: the experiment succeeded, and Mr. Foulis, who was a very ingenious man, became so convinced of its practicability and excellence, that he entered into partnership with Dr. Tilloch in order to carry it on. They took out patents in both England and Scotland, and printed several small volumes from stereotype plates, the impressions of which were sold to the booksellers without any intimation of their being printed out of the common way. Circumstances, however, of a private nature, induced them to lay aside the business for a time, and others supervened to prevent their ever resuming it. "At the time of the discovery," says Mr. Tilloch, with a great deal of philosophic candour, "I flattered myself that we were original; and with those sanguine ideas which are natural to a young man, indulged the hopes of reaping some fame at least from the discovery; nay, I was even weak enough to feel vexed when I afterwards found that I had been anticipated by a Mr. Ged of Edinburgh, who had printed books from letterpress plates about fifty years before. The knowledge of this fact lessened the value of the discovery so much in my estimation, that I felt but little anxiety to be known as a second

inventor; and, but for the persevering attempts of others to deprive Ged of the fame his memory so justly merits, and which he dearly earned, I might still have remained silent."

The attempts here alluded to were made by the French, who are never behind-hand in claiming the merit of a new discovery. The art, however, being in its infancy, underwent rapid improvements; so that although Dr. Tilloch's patent remained unimpeached, it never seems to have been to him of any pecuniary benefit. It appears, nevertheless, from some circumstances which transpired at the Society of Arts at the Adelphi, some years afterwards, that Earl Stanhope was indebted to Dr. Tilloch for much of his knowledge in the process of making stereotype plates.

On returning to Glasgow, he entered into the tobacco business, in conjunction with his brother and brother-in-law; but not finding it answer their expectation, it was finally abandoned. He then turned his attention to printing, and, either singly or in partnership, carried on that trade for some time in his native city.

Somewhat prior, however, to this period of his life, Dr. Tilloch married; but the joys of connubial felicity were not long his portion. In the year 1783 his amiable partner was taken from him by death, from which time his days were spent in widowhood. The fruit of this union was one daughter, who is the wife of Mr. Galt, the celebrated author of "The Annals of the Parish," " Sir Andrew Wylie, of that Ilk," "The Provost," "The Spae Wife," "Ringan Gilhaise,” and other popular Scottish novels.

In the year 1787 Dr. Tilloch came to the British metropolis, where he spent the remainder of his life. In 1789, in connection with others, he purchased "The Star," a daily evening paper, of which he immediately became the editor, and continued so until within four years of his death, when bodily infirmities, and various engagements, compelled him to relinquish its management altogether. In this respectable paper his political opinions were mild and temperate, equally