Baskerville’s third specimen sheet, undated, but probably issued in 1762, is an exquisitely printed large folio on highly glazed white paper. It completes the series of Roman and Italic displayed in the former sheet with a Nonpareil, and the whole is surrounded by an elegant light border. It is incomparably the most beautiful type-specimen of its day, although it must be admitted that not a little of its beauty is due to the brilliancy of the ink and the gloss of the paper. Despite the applause bestowed on him, and the acknowledged excellence of his work, Baskerville failed to make his new business a paying one. His letter {278} to Horace Walpole in 1762 best details the history of his struggles and disappointments:― “To the Hon’ble Horace Walpole, Esq., Member of Parliament, in Arlington Street, London, this: EASY HILL, BIRMINGHAM, 2 Nov. 1762. “SIR,—As the Patron and Encourager of Arts, and particularly that of Printing,[563] I have taken the Liberty of sending you a Specimen of Mine, begun ten Years ago at the age of forty-seven, and prosecuted ever since with the utmost Care and Attention, on the strongest Presumption, that if I could fairly excel in this divine Art, it would make my Affairs easy or at least give me Bread. But alas! in both I was mistaken. The Booksellers do not chuse to encourage Me, though I have offered them as low terms as I could possibly live by; nor dare I attempt an Old Copy till a Law Suit relating to that affair is determined. “The University of Cambridge have given me a Grant to print their 8vo and 12mo _Common-Prayer Books_, but under such Shackles as greatly hurt me. I pay them for the former twenty and for the latter twelve pounds ten shillings the thousand; and to the Stationers’ Company thirty-two pound for their permission to print one edition of the _Psalms in Metre_ to the small _Prayer Book_; add to this the great expense of Double and treble carriage, and the inconvenience of a printing house an hundred Miles off. All this Summer I have had nothing to print at Home. My folio _Bible_ is pretty far advanced at Cambridge, which will cost me near £2000 all hired at 5 per cent. If this does not sell, I shall be obliged to sacrifice a small patrimony which brings me in £74 a year to this business of Printing, which I am heartily tired of and repent I ever attempted. It is surely a particular hardship, that I should not get Bread in my own country (and it is too late to go abroad) after having acquired the Reputation of excelling in the most useful Art known to mankind; while everyone who excels as a Player, Fiddler, Dancer, &c., not only lives in Affluence, but has it in their power to save a Fortune.