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    { badness which he occasionally indulg-ed for costly binding's . His pride indeed was gratified by the consciousness of pursuingsuch measures , as were alike agreeable to the opulent collector and the profound scholar . The fortune which Mr . Lunn inherited

    from his Father , was rery inconsiderable . Ou his first settlement in London , a part of the property bequeathed to him ultimately by his Uncle , Mr . R . Labutte , a French Teacher in the University of Cambridge , and amounting nearly to 10 , 000 / 5 came into his possession , and enabled him doubtless for some time to carry on with effect the concerns of the Classical Library . For

    this advantage he was indebted to the kindness of an Aunt , whose confidence in his honesty , and whose solicitude for his wellfare induced her to give up during her life a portion of that money , which by the Will of the Uncle was to descend to Mr . lunn at her decease . Observing the importance of this concession in facilitating

    the success of Mr . Lunn , this excellent woman was afterwards led , from the same motives of kindness , to transfer for his use the remainder before the month of January , 1808 , when she died . In the growing prosperity of Mr . Lunn , in his probity , and his gratitude she received the just reward of her unfeigned aud disinterested friend-« hip .

    The whole of Mr . Lunn ' s property was embarked in his trade , and und ^ r circum - stances more favourable his accumulation must hare been rapid . But lie had to struggle with unusual and most stubborn

    difficulties . Insurances were high . —Goods were often delayed , for which Mr . Lunn had been obliged to pay before they reachtd him . —The course of exchangee ran for many years against England , and the loss , which MTr . Lunn sustained from this cause

    on the amount of the invoices , was sometimes 20 , sometimes 25 , and sometimes even 30 per cent . The sale of books procured under these unavoidable and irremediable disadvantages , in many instances slow and precarious . Mr . Lunn , like every other Bookseller , was doomed to losses

    from the inability of his employers to make their payments . He dealt with men , whose « ankj whose delicacy , aud upon some occasions whose poverty protected them from that importunity , with which the gener-^ J ity of tradesmen enforce thei r claims . * te rarely expected immediate paymenthe never demanded it—he allowed for it a

    reaso nable discount—and in the ' mean time , for the support of his credit both at home ai » d abroad , he was compelled to fulfil his 0 ; v n engagements without deduction and Without delay .

    We have now to record the chief cause ?! " * ose embarrassments , which disturbed I's spirits , and shortened his existence . le return of peace , by opening- a free

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    communication with the continent , was beneiicial to other traders , but most injurious to Mr . Lunn . They accumulated their stock without the numerous impediments , which Mr . Lunn had encountered . They were exempt from many of those

    restrictions upon importation , to which Mr . Lunrt had for many years beea obliged to submit . They were able to buy , and therefore to sell , at a cheap rate those articles , for which Mr . Lunn had previously paid to foreigners a very high price . They purchased after a favourable alteration in the

    course of exchange , and with considerable diminution in charges for insurance . Disappointed in his expectationsalarmed at the prospect of impending losses —perplexed by the application of creditors , whose demands he had frequently satisfied with exemplary punctuality—conscious of having exhausted the whole of his

    property in procuring books , some of which he might be obliged to sell at a less price than that , which he had advanced for them—unaccustomed to propitiate the severe by supplication , to trick the artful by evasion , and to distress the friendly by delay , he was suddenly bereaved of that selfcommand , which , if he could have

    preserved it , would eventually have secured for him unsullied respectability , iindhninished prosperity , and undisturbed tranquillity . But in the poignant anguish of his soul delicacy prevailed over reason , and panic over fortitude . —Every expedient proposed by liis faithful and affectionate advisers was at one moment adopted with

    gratitude , and at the next rejected with phrenzy—every present inconvenience was magnified into an insurmountable obstacle —every possible future mischance was anticipated as an inevitable and ruinous calamity . —To his disordered imagination retreat seemed impracticable — to his unaltered ' and unalterable sense of honour

    resistance appeared unjustifiable . —By his wounded pride submission was deemed alike -ignominious and inefficacious . —He reflected , and was impatient of reflection . —he hoped , and was ashamed of hope— - he approved , and disapproved—he decided , and hesitated—he despaired , and perished !

    Happily for the human race , all the extenuations which accompany such cases , are reserved for the tribunal of that Being , who knoweth of wliat we are made , and remembereth that we are but dust . In

    the mean time many a Christian will b < $ disposed to commiserate the circumstances of Mr . Lunn ' s death , and many a man of letters may find reason to deplore the loss of his well meant , and well directed labou rs .

    Unfortunately Mrs . Lunn and her daughters have not the means of continuing the business , in which Mr . Limn was engaged . Their doom is to lament an affectionate

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    Olitwiry *—Mr * William Henry Zunn < 521

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    ' ^ 3 x

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1815, page 521, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1763/page/57/