Charles Arlington

• formal_name:
• first_date: 1810
• last_date: 1810
• function: Printer
• locales: Norfolk
• precis: Printer in Norfolk in 1810.
• notes: Printer
  Norfolk
  Printer in Norfolk in 1810.
  Charles Arlington is known to have been a part of the Virginia print trade from an account of the meeting of Virginia's first Typographical Association in Norfolk in 1810. That meeting was a dinner celebrating the Fourth of July and he was one of those present who offered a toast at the meal's end. Still, that one report is all that is known of this journeyman.
  The account of this dinner is worth repeating, as it provides a window into both the ethos of the early-Republic print trade, and the state of humor among Norfolk's tradesmen then. It also evinces the comradery within the trade, despite the sharp political divisions between the editor-owners who employed them. Arlington's toast is seen in bold below.
  "The Journeymen Printers of this Borough taking into consideration, that whilst this day is celebrated by all denominations of mechanics in the greater part of the United States; and conceiving that they would display a manifest remissness by being dilatory in paying that respect which their northern brethren have annually ob-served, resolved to associate themselves into a company and dine together. When Daniel Baxter was chosen President, and George Nestor Vice-President. ― The company assembled at an early hour, when the Declaration of Independence being read, and a pertinent discourse addressed to them on the "rise, progress, nature and effects of the art," they sat down to an elegant dinner. After the cloth was removed, the following toasts were drank, interspersed with songs. &c.
  "1. The Day we celebrate,
  ―――――― 'But what is life?
  'Tis not to stalk about, and draw fresh air
  From time to time, or gaze upon the sun;
  'Tis to be free. When liberty is gone,
  Life grows insipid, and has lost its relish.' [Addison's Cato: Act 2, Sc.3]
  "2. Printing. ― 'The art preservative of all arts." Chaos enveloped the horizon, superstition reigned, but this heavenly invention dispelled the gloom and caused reason to triumph.
  "3. The inventor, and first promoters of printing.―Characters designed by Heaven to distribute usefulness to man―their forms are off, may their tokens be remembered to all perpetuity.
  "4. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN―The pride of our profession.
  His heap is off, his balls are dry,
  His case in rack, his form is pie;
  Yet, shall the works he's left behind,
  Impress his worth on ev'ry mind;
  While each his honor'd image wears,
  Grav'd on the badge his bosom bears,
  Shall cry, and press it to his heart,
  Behold the patron of our ART!'
  "5. The United States of America―Solid forms and locked tight―May the risings of demagogues never squabble their union, or burst the harmony which now unites them.
  "6. GEORGE WASHINGTON, and the departed Heroes of America―Their sentiments were correct―their deeds justifiable; my prosperity take their conduct as the lead-ing line of their actions.
  "7. JAMES MADISON, and the Heads of Departments―Their faults are as feint as the point of a diamond―the brush of abuse they pass unregarded―may they never fear the bodkin of minions.
  "8. THOMAS JEFFERSON―His enemies have pelted him―his friends have washed him, and succeeding generations will view him as the brightest Star in our luminary.
  "9. Our Typographical Brethren―May peace and good order set at their boards, and may the precepts of Franklin be deeply impressed on their minds.
  "10. The enemies of America, domestic and foreign ― May they be capp'd in the pelt tub, rubbed over with lye, and receive a complete scraping from every true American.
  "11. The reputation of our brethren―May he that mackles it, be beaten black as a monk; should he continue his aspersions, let him recollect the support of the tympan ―the gallows.
  "12. The Real American Seaman―May the banks of friendship reside in their bosoms ―and may they distribute relief when the token of distress is held out.
  "13. The American Fair―The Flowers and Ornaments of the Human Race―When the great Founder cast them, his best specimen was served out.
  "14. Pie, Hard. Pelts, Broken Ribs, and Cassie Quires, to those who would produce dissention between employers and employed.
  "15. May our actions have good colour; may the impression of integrity guide us; and may the rules of honor support us in every difficulty.
  "16. Politics―They run too high and too low―to preserve an even face decorum should be observed.
  "17. Our Association―Its form is solid―its lines are justified to a hair space; locked in the chase of friendship, what have we to fear from squabbles?
  "18. THOMAS NEWTON―Correctness is his rule; his constituents impelled the justi-fication of all matter at the last election. [Norfolk's congressman, 1801-30]
  "VOLUNTEER TOASTS
  "By GEORGE NESTOR―Clean sheets and dry blankets to our brethren.
  "By STEPHEN P. ROSE―Our navy is of a nonpareil size; but if its services should be wanting, its enemies will be taught that they have a large fount of cannon, which, by well distributed balls, will teach them that no imposition will be permitted.
  "By CHARLES ARLINGTON―Innovating Printers―a second apprenticeship to their wor-ships―may they be confined in their useful labors to a short candle, and empty case, a crooked rule, and an uneven stick―Provided with such apparatus, at the end of their Servitude, the justifying line of a Printer's Devil will accompany their composition.
  "NOTE―The Italicised words are technical terms."
  Normally, the partisan perspective of the attendees can be discerned from the phraseology used. But here, the participants mentioned worked in either the Federalist Norfolk Gazette and Publick Ledger office of John Cowper (110) and William Davis (127), or the Republican Norfolk and Portsmouth Herald office of James O'Connor (317). Daniel Baxter (027) was the foreman at the Herald press, while George Nestor (311) served the same function at the Ledger press; Stephen P. Rose (363) was a journeyman in the Ledger office who removed to Baltimore after that paper closed in 1816. Accordingly, the toasts show mild disagreement over national political issues, while reflecting common local concerns over maritime trade, the city's life blood, in the wake of the Chesapeake-Leopard affair three years before, and the continuing predations against American shipping then in the Atlantic.
  This report on the association dinner appeared only in the Norfolk Herald, which is expected given Baxter's prominence here; he was then the printer of longest standing in town, and would be the oldest journeyman in the state on his death in 1836. Yet of those mentioned, Baxter is the only tradesman whose life can be traced that completely. Nestor and Rose are known mostly from their published death notices. But no further evidence of Arlington's life is known beyond that supplied by this chronicle; he was, quite simply, one of the numerous, anonymous journeymen who populated the printing offices in early Republic America.
  
  
  
  No Personal Data yet discovered.
  
  Sources: Norfolk and Portsmouth Herald (6 July 1810).
  
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This version of the Index of Virginia Printing was a gift from the estate of the site's creator, David Rawson. The content contained herein will not be updated, as it is part of the Library of Virginia's personal papers collection. For more information, please see David Rawson Index of Virginia Printing website. Accession 53067. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.