William Parks Public Printer of Maryland and Virginia

extension of the English statutes, was treated in a notable plea by Daniel
Dulany the Elder.¹ Although he was able to keep on good terms with its
representatives, Parks was not subservient to the government of the Pro-
prietary. He considered himself to be the servant of the Lower House of
Assembly in its constitutional struggles, and all that he did was done boldly
and apparently without regard for the Proprietary influence. The author of
the Sotweed Redivivus, published in Annapolis in 1730, commented on the
activity and zeal of the Parks establishment in the lines,

"..... the Press with Schemes does swell,
To make us Thrive at home the better,"

and for once the rough-tongued satirist was guiltless of exaggeration. The
bibliography attached to this narrative, containing, it is believed, by no
means all of the publications issued by Parks during his twelve years of resi-
dence in Maryland, indicates none the less the scope of his service to the
Province. His newspaper, his almanacs, his issues of works of politics, eco-
nomics and religion, of satiric verse and vers de societe bespeak him a man
of public spirit, and a printer in whom literary appreciation was joined to
business enterprise.

The beginnings of the Maryland literary tradition, fostered by the press
of the new printer, rest upon the work of Richard Lewis and Ebenezer Cooke,
two writers whose names are almost unknown in other connections. On
March 18th of the year 1728/29, Governor Benedict Leonard Calvert wrote
in these words to his friend Thomas Hearne, the antiquary, who was some-
what disgruntled, it may be observed incidentally, at having to pay 35. 6d.
postage on the letter and the parcel which accompanied it:

"Wee have had here of late a Printing house set up, which I have encouraged with as
much Countenance from the Government as possible. Wee have printed our Body of Laws,
and I herewith send you one of our first issue of the press, a translation of the Muscipula
by one Lewis, a schoolmaster here who formerly belonged to Eaton, a man realy of Inge-
nuity, and to My Judgment well versed in poetry."²

The work here referred to was a satire on the Welsh people, written in
Latin in the mock-heroic style by Edward Holdsworth. Its translation by
Richard Lewis,³ probably a successor of Michael Piper in King William's

¹ The Right of the Inhabitants of Maryland to the Benefit of the English Laws. Annapolis, 1728. See bibliographi-
cal appendix.

² See appendix for title and description. This reference to it is found in Hearne's Collections, 10:109, from which
it is quoted in the Maryland Historical Magazine, 11: 282.

³ Richard Lewis, who according to Gov. Calvert, was an old Etonian, was in Maryland as early as October
1725. He remained there certainly until October 27, 1732, at which time he wrote a letter to England describing
various natural wonders of Maryland. (See Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 37: 69 and 38: 119).
He was a frequent contributor to the Maryland Gazette, from the columns of which several of his pieces were
reprinted. See Maryland Historical Society Fund Pub. No. 36 and Maryland Historical Magazine, 5:71.

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