239:(1731–1786), consisting of two volumes printed in 1789, the first an index of the essays, dissertations and historical passages in one alphabet, and the second divided into four parts, devoted to poetry, names of persons, plates, and books noticed. Useful as it is, the index is not perfect. The lists of persons in each volume were unfortunately not furnished with Christian names, and where more than one referee was concerned, no sort of distinction was introduced. This method was continued by Ayscough in his general index, so that in the case of common names, such as Smith or Williams, there are hundreds of such mixed references. In the continuation on the same plan, published in 1821, the evil is worsened by an increase in the materials, so that there are 2,411 entries under Smith without further particulars. It was calculated that referring back would take eighty hours of hard work to distinguish the Smiths alone.
664:
148:, under the principal librarian. This marked a turning-point of him. His value was soon recognised with a small pay increase, and he was able to spend some of his leisure arranging private libraries. These additions to his income and some further assistance from Eamer allowed him to send for his father, whom he kept in comfort until his death in November 1783.
327:. Although non-residence was permitted in view of his official position, he fulfilled his religious duties, making the 17-mile journey each Saturday and returning each Monday. He never passed the workhouse without calling to read prayers or to preach. He took great pains to excel as a preacher. The British Library holds Ayscough's copy of Letsome's
112:, by whom he had a son, Samuel, and a daughter, Anne. He inherited a good business, but instead of devoting his energies to its development, launched into various speculations, including one to extract gold from the dross of coals. Having gradually spent nearly all his money, in about 1762 he took a large farm at
315:
volumes, with two indexes, the first to names of places and some other matters, and the second to names of persons. A table of contents records the number of charters, rolls, and seals at 16,000. Preparation of the catalogue took him from 8 May 1787 to 18 August 1792, with a few additions thereafter.
156:
volumes were
Ayscough's unaided efforts. He states that it was drawn up on 20,000 separate slips of paper. Each manuscript was specially examined. The classification is ample and two indexes, the first of the manuscripts and pages of the catalogue where they are described, and the second of all names
123:
in
Nottingham. The son assisted his father during the successive failures of business, speculations and farming. At last, when complete ruin confronted the family, Samuel hired himself to manage a mill in the neighbourhood and laboured as a miller to keep his father and sister. The new start in life
151:
Ayscough's assiduous catalogue of undescribed manuscripts in the
British Museum began in April 1780 and was published in 1782 by leave of the trustees, but as a private venture by the compiler. The plan of the book was original and its publication reflects credit on the enterprise of Ayscough, who
437:
paid a touching tribute to his benevolence. He was a tall, bulky figure, as shown by his portrait. A friend tells a story of a young lady reproved for her want of attention when being shown the "curiosities" by
Ayscough, "than whom perhaps a kinder hearted, better humoured man never existed," and
421:
Ayscough was termed the "Prince of Index Makers". His indexing life produced him altogether about £1,300, a moderately handsome amount. He did his laborious tasks with skill and diligence. Despite an imperfect education and a youth spent in manual occupations, he gained an extensive knowledge of
177:
After some 15 years of vainly applying for five different vacancies, Ayscough was appointed an assistant librarian at the museum in about 1785. He had long wished to take holy orders, and despite some difficulties whose nature cannot be traced, managed to do so, although the precise date of his
258:. Here the words are arranged alphabetically with the lines in which they occur, then the name of the play, and in five separate columns the act, scene, page, column and line. The last three particulars refer only to the edition of 1790, but the index may be made to serve any other text.
218:. A continuation extending to the 81st volume, issued in 1796, was by the same hand. His publications so far had been of a private nature; his next appearance was in connection with his official position. The catalogue of books in the British Museum, printed in 1787 in two
213:
brought out an index to its first 70 volumes compiled by
Ayscough, the first volume consisting of the articles and other materials classified under subjects with a full index, and the second forming an alphabetical index to passages in the body of the
33:
457:
A Catalogue of the MSS. preserved in the
British Museum hitherto undescribed, consisting of 5,000 volumes, including the collections of Sir Hans Sloane, the Rev. Thomas Birch, and about 500 volumes bequeathed, presented, or purchased at various
412:
His salary had been recently increased, which added to his clerical post placed him in a position of comparative comfort. He spent the modest income on charitable purposes and scarcely left sufficient to meet the claims upon his executors.
303:, which Ayscough sought to publish, if he could find 200 subscribers at a couple of guineas apiece. It was left to R. F. Williams to carry the scheme into effect in 1849, when the documents were printed in four volumes under the title
438:"who, although an old bachelor, was a great admirer of beauty." One duty of assistant librarians was to take round parties of visitors. Ayscough, unlike some fellow officers, seems to take an interest in doing so.
152:
claims that no work of like extent was ever completed in so short a time. He acknowledges help received from previous catalogues and occasionally from frequenters of the reading room, but to all intents the two
103:
George
Ayscough was esteemed in the neighbourhood and connected with some of the most respectable families in the county. His first wife died childless. He then married Edith, daughter of Benjamin Wigley of
168:, a French settler. Ayscough contended that the writer was neither a farmer nor a native of America, and that his sole purpose was to encourage emigration to that country, called by a reviewer in the
281:, of Shoreditch, who bequeathed a sum of money for a sermon on each Whit Tuesday on the "Wonderful Works of God in the Creation". The first such was preached by Ayscough in 1790 before the
132:), heard of his distress and sent for him in about 1770 to come to London, clothed him, and obtained him a situation as an overseer of street paviours (road-surface constructors).
674:
464:
Remarks on the
Letters from an American Farmer; or a detection of the errors of Mr. J. Hector St. John, pointing out the pernicious tendency of those letters to Great Britain
178:
ordination is uncertain. Nichols places it soon after 1785, and a notice of the death of the father supports this view, but he styles himself "clerk" on the title of his
472:, London, 1786; a continuation down to the 81st volume (1784–89) was compiled by Ayscough in 1796, 8vo; and there is a continuation by another hand down to 1816
513:
An Index to the
Remarkable Passages and Words Made Use of by Shakespeare; Calculated to Point out the Different Meanings to Which the Words are Applied
482:
An Index to the remarkable words and passages made use of by
Shakespeare, calculated to point out the different meanings to which the words are applied
716:
331:(1753) marked with the sermons which might be consulted at the British Museum, and with 21 leaves of manuscript additions not noticed by Letsome.
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116:, Leicestershire, where he was still less fortunate, losing not only the remainder of his property, but the fortunes of his two children.
307:. An important work which remains in manuscript is Ayscough's catalogue of the ancient rolls and charters in the British Museum (now the
174:"an insidious and fatal tendency, which this writer, as an Englishman, is highly laudable for endeavouring to detect and counteract."
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meant he was in demand for copying documents and assisting in arranging the records in the Tower. He frequently contributed to the
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448:
227:
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about 1710, and died on 2 March 1719, and the son of George Ayscough, who carried on his father's business for over forty years.
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A General Index to the first fifty-six volumes of the Gentleman's Magazine, from its commencement in 1731 to the end of 1786
316:
It is still in use. Ayscough's last work at the Museum was to arrange the books in classes and catalogue the King's Tracts.
324:
478:, London, 1789, 2 vols.; continued by Nichols to 1818, 2 vols., with an index to the plates (1731–1818), by Ch. St. Barbe
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289:. He completed the series of 15 sermons in 1804. They were to have been printed after his death, but never appeared.
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209:(1758–1780), which came out in 1783, is ascribed to Ayscough, but with insufficient evidence. However, in 1786 the
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182:(1782), while a letter of the father, dated 13 January 1781, styles the son "Rev." He was assigned a curacy at
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144:, and then obtained an engagement at a modest salary as an assistant in the cataloguing department of the
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Although he was somewhat blunt in manner, students found him a ready and accomplished helper. His friend
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had left for press among his papers at the Museum a collection of historical letters from the reigns of
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488:, London, 1827; the last is adapted to the edition of the plays published in 1823 by the booksellers
254:, who paid 200 guineas for the index, which was designed to accompany his two-volume edition of the
452:(1797) and his share in the production of several books, Ayscough published the following works:
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in the chest at his apartments in the Museum on 30 October 1804. He was buried in the cemetery of
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274:(1874). There was still no complete concordance to the entire works in the late 19th century.
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an index to the extracts, criticism, &c.,' London, 1804 (Anon.), continued by Dr Blagdon.
84:(1745–1804) was a librarian and indexer, who was described as the "Prince of Index Makers".
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A General Index to the Monthly Review from its commencement to the end of the 70th volume
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of 1845. All three are devoted to the plays alone and are supplemented by Mrs Furness's
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About a year before his death, Samuel Ayscough was presented to the small vicarage of
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Samuel Ayscough was the grandson of William Ayscough, a stationer and printer of
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All historians of the 18th century make use of Ayscough's share in indexing the
356:(1802), also published by the Record Commission and sometimes ascribed to him.
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Ayscough was chosen to deliver the Fairchild lectures, inaugurated in 1729 by
186:, Nottinghamshire, and afterwards an assistant curacy in the London parish of
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Soon afterwards Ayscough joined the shop of John Rivington, bookseller, of
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Besides the many works already mentioned, Ayscough compiled indexes to
113:
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to Shakespeare. This was a speculation on the part of the publisher,
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667: This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
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mentioned in the two volumes, facilitate reference to the book.
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In 1783, Ayscough issued anonymously a pamphlet in reply to the
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Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century
226:
and S. Harper. On 12 March 1789 he was elected a fellow of the
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proved unsuccessful, but an old friend and schoolfellow,
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A Catalogue of the MSS. preserved in the British Museum
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350:; but he does not seem to have been concerned in the
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in 1805; both were superseded by Mrs Cowden Clarke's
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Samuel Ayscough was born in 1745 and educated at the
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history, antiquities and bibliography. His skill in
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492:A general index to the first 20 volumes of the
484:, London, 1790; reprinted in Dublin 1791, and
687:. Vol. 2. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
222:volumes, was compiled by Ayscough along with
8:
305:The Court and Times of James I and Charles I
498:contains a list of all the books reviewed,
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20:
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7:
486:second edition, revised and enlarged
379:, and according to Nichols, to the
272:Concordance to Shakespeare's Poems
14:
367:, which took him nine months, to
353:Taxatio Ecclesiastica Nicholai IV
96:, where he introduced the art of
717:Employees of the British Library
684:Dictionary of National Biography
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673:Tedder, Henry Richard (1885). "
242:Until Ayscough brought out his
166:J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur
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446:Besides two contributions to
325:John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon
162:Letters of an American Farmer
16:British librarian and indexer
722:18th-century British writers
164:printed the year before by
748:
638:, vol. 74 (1804), p. 1094.
585:, vol. 53 (1783), p. 1036.
246:in 1790 there had been no
597:, vol. 53 (1783), p. 982.
202:, Dr Willis, and others.
30:
334:In 1802 he edited, with
287:St Leonard's, Shoreditch
75:'The Prince of Indexers'
496:, in two parts; part i.
403:St George's, Bloomsbury
311:), forming three large
205:A general index to the
466:, London, 1783 (Anon.)
460:, London, 1782, 2 vols
228:Society of Antiquaries
188:St Giles in the Fields
88:Family and early life
648:Gentleman's Magazine
636:Gentleman's Magazine
595:Gentleman's Magazine
582:Gentleman's Magazine
428:Gentleman's Magazine
329:Preacher's Assistant
236:Gentleman's Magazine
196:Bishop of Chichester
171:Gentleman's Magazine
142:St Paul's Churchyard
130:Lord Mayor of London
121:free grammar school
712:English librarians
407:Foundling Hospital
338:, a volume of the
727:Deaths from edema
624:What is an Index?
613:, vol. 3, p. 571.
397:Ayscough died of
348:Record Commission
285:at the church of
200:Richard Southgate
184:Normanton on Soar
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207:Annual Register
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82:Samuel Ayscough
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25:Samuel Ayscough
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252:John Stockdale
211:Monthly Review
146:British Museum
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435:John Nichols
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424:palaeography
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385:, edited by
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373:William Bray
369:Owen Manning
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361:John Bridges
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340:patent rolls
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293:Thomas Birch
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264:Verbal Index
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194:(afterwards
192:John Buckner
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707:1804 deaths
702:1745 births
657:Attribution
556:Tedder 1885
323:in Kent by
268:Concordance
248:concordance
56:Nationality
696:Categories
567:Ayscough,
519:References
417:Assessment
382:New Review
336:John Caley
126:John Eamer
110:Derbyshire
106:Wirksworth
98:typography
94:Nottingham
64:Occupation
301:Charles I
180:Catalogue
67:Librarian
732:Indexers
507:Writings
500:part ii.
346:for the
681:(ed.).
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342:in the
128:(later
114:Wigston
59:British
677:". In
626:p. 46.
399:dropsy
377:Surrey
321:Cudham
216:Review
154:quarto
136:Career
458:times
442:Works
393:Death
313:folio
244:Index
220:folio
371:and
299:and
51:1804
48:Died
43:1745
40:Born
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