An institution which has been justly deemed creditable to Wisbeach, is its _Literary Society_, formed in 1781, whose members sometime ago were about thirty, and its collection of books, or library, consisted of upwards of a thousand volumes.—Besides this institution, and some reading societies, or book-clubs, Wisbeach can also boast of a _Philosophical Society_, the President of which is _Mr. Wm. Skrimshire Junr._ a gentleman much and deservedly respected among his fellow-townsmen. He is allowed to be well qualified for the presidentship of such an institution, from his extensive knowledge of those subjects which it is the aim of the Society chiefly to cultivate; and in some branches of natural history he is said to be eminently conversant. He is a native of the town, as well as one of the most ingenious, intelligent, and respectable of its inhabitants. Many remarkable personages may be supposed, one time and another, to have appeared among the natives of Wisbeach; but we shall here mention but two of them, and those of very unequal merit.—One of them was _Dr. Henry Southwell_, late rector of Asterby, and the reputed author of a well known and popular Commentary on the Old and New Testament, commonly called _Dr. Southwell’s Family Bible_; not a page of which, however, was written by him, being absolutely unequal to such an undertaking, and but a few degrees, if any, above an ideot. {106} But he sold his name to some London booksellers for a certain pecuniary consideration, and they employed one _Dr. Saunders_, a noted hackney writer, to do the work. They also produced Letters of approbation and recommendation, addressed to Dr. Southwell, from a great number of pretended eminent clergymen, in different parts of the kingdom. The trick succeeded, and the credulous public went taken in, as usual. It was, certainly, a most shameful business, and must be contemplated by all honest men with abhorrence and indignation: but the work brought no small gain to the publishers, for it had, it seems, a great run; and that, with them, would sufficiently sanctify the imposture. It is to be wished it could be said to be the only instance of the kind that occurs in the transactions of modern booksellers. But this is the age of imposition and humbugging, in which not only booksellers, but even ministers of State have sometimes been too fond of acting their parts.