“June 6, 1758.—Present (among others) Dr. (Sir W.) Blackstone. _Order’d_ that this Delegacy will at their next meeting take into consideration Mr. Baskerville’s Proposals for casting a Set of new Greek Types. “July 5, 1758.—_Ordered_ that Dr. Blackstone be empowered to agree with Mr. Baskerville of Birmingham to make a new set of Greek Puncheons, matrices and moulds, in Great Primer, for the Use of the University, and also to cast therein 300 Weight of Types, at the Price of 200 Guineas for the whole. And that he and Mr. Prince (Warehouse-keeper) do give proper Directions for that Purpose. “Jan. 31, 1759.—_Agreed_ that Mr. Musgrave have leave to print his _Euripides_ at the University Press on Mr. Baskerville’s Types as soon as they arrive.[553] “March 11, 1761.—_Ordered_, That a Greek Testament in Quarto and Octavo be printed on Baskerville’s Letter, and three or four Gentlemen of Learning and Accuracy be desired separately to correct the Proofs. “June 23, 1761.—500 copies in Quarto and 2,000 in Octavo ordered to be printed.” In the accounts for 1761 the following entry records the conclusion of the business:― “To Mr. Baskerville for Greek Types . . . . £210 0 0.” Considerable expectation was aroused by this order, which was considered of sufficient importance to deserve mention in the public press, as the following extract from the _St. James’s Chronicle_ of September 5, 1758, testifies:― “The University of Oxford have lately contracted with Mr. Baskerville of Birmingham for a complete Alphabet of Greek Types of the Great Primer size; and it is not doubted but that ingenious artist will excel in that Character, as he has already done in the Roman and Italic, in his elegant edition of _Virgil_, which has gained the applause and admiration of most of the literati of Europe, as well as procured him the esteem and patronage of such of his own countrymen as distinguish themselves by paying a due regard to merit.” The anticipations thus expressed were destined to be disappointed; for {274} Baskerville’s genius appears to have failed him in his efforts to reproduce a foreign character. Even before the appearance of the Oxford _Greek Testament_, which did not occur till 1763, rumours of the failure of this undertaking had begun to circulate. Writing in 1763, respecting a forthcoming _Greek Testament_ of his own, Bowyer says, “Two or three quarto Editions on foot, one at Oxford, far advanced on new types by Baskerville,—by the way, not good ones.”[554]