Bacon's Laws the Typographical'Monument of Colonial Maryland

publication of the book.¹ All told, one thousand and fifty pounds currency
were subscribed locally.² The one hundred pounds sterling which stood in
Lord Baltimore's name were later withdrawn as a subscription and given
outright to Bacon in appreciation of the compiler's intention to dedicate
the work to his noble patron.³ It was perfectly understood that the single
condition upon which his Lordship insisted in the publication of the book
was the inclusion of the acts which have been mentioned as forming the
ground of the Assembly's refusal to support the work.⁴It was in this fashion
that the last Lord Baltimore and his people in Assembly confronted and
affronted each other throughout their years of association.

THE PLAN OF THE BOOK AND ITS COMPLETION

The compilation of Maryland laws which Bacon had made differed from
any that had been published before his day in the Province, and in many
particulars it formed the most elaborate and laborious piece of editorial
work until that time undertaken in America. Painstaking, scholarly fellow,
he copied his versions of the laws whenever possible from the originals in
the office of the Provincial Secretary, and with the most painful labor he
rescued the titles of many laws not otherwise recorded from the manuscript
House journals and from the acts by which these laws had been repealed
or continued. The industry and accuracy with which he addressed himself
to his task are witnessed by the fact that with possibly one exception there
is reported in his book, either at large or by title, every act passed by the
Maryland Provincial Assembly during the century and a quarter of its ex-
istence. An idea of the magnitude of his task may be obtained from this

¹ "The Conditions on which we all subscribed," wrote Sharpe at a later date, "are that the Subscribers shall
be repaid out of the Money that the Books when printed may be sold for; It was represented to us that the Sum
of about £1000 [Sharpe means currency] would be wanted immediately to pay for Paper, Tipes, Printing &
Binding ... a number of us agreed to advance the Money wanted on the Conditions above mentioned and there-
upon the Paper &c. was as I am told sent for by Mr. Jaques a merchant of this City whom Mr. Bacon impow-
ered to receive the sums subscribed." (Sharpe Correspondence, February 15, 1762). ("Mr. Jaques," here referred
to, was Mr. Lancelot Jacques, merchant of Annapolis, and one of the twenty-one underwriters of the book.)

² Preface, Bacon's Laws of Maryland, at the conclusion of which occurs the following list of those whose con-
tributions made possible the publication of the book: contributor, the Rt. Hon'ble Frederick Ld Baltimore,
£100 Sterling. Subscribers, His Excellency Horatio Sharpe, Esq. Gov. £100 Currency, and the following gentle-
men at £50 currency each: Charles Carroll, Walter Dulany, Charles Carroll, Barrister, Daniel Wolstenholme,
Upton Scott, Lancelot Jacques, Charles Wallace, Thomas Johnson, Samuel Galloway, Benj. Tasker, Sam. Cham-
berlaine, Edward Lloyd, Benedict Calvert, Daniel Dulany, Stephen Bordley, John Ridout, John Brice, George
Steuart and John Ross.

³ Sharpe Correspondence, April 24, 1762, Archives of Maryland, 14:45.

⁴ Sharpe Correspondence, June 10, 1761, Archives of Maryland, 9: 519-520. That his Lordship was well satis-
fied with the publication as eventually issued appears in a letter from Bacon to Walter Dulany, July 30, 1767, in
which the parson tells of the present of a small gold box from Lord Baltimore as a token of his appreciation of
the Laws. He copied with great pride the letter which had accompanied the box. It is likely that this token and
his Lordship's gratuity of £100 were all that Bacon made by his great labor. (Dulany Papers, Box i, No. 8).

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