GAINE, Hugh, printer, born in Ireland in 1726; died in New York City, 25 April, 1807. He began business as a printer and bookseller in New York City in 1750, and in 1752 established the " Mercury," a weekly publication. Gaine was compositor, pressman, folder, and distributor of his paper, which had a circulation of from three to four hundred copies. He began to edit this journal in the interest of the Whig party, and when the British troops neared New York City, retreated with his press to Newark, New Jersey He soon returned, however, and thereafter devoted his " Mercury " to the interest of the royal cause, choosing for his sign the "Bible and Crown." At the termination of the Revolutionary war Gaine's petition to remain in New York was granted; but he was compelled to relinquish the publication of his sheet, and confine himself to the printing and bookselling business. After a career of forty years he retired with a handsome estate. Although Hugh Gaine and his "Mercury" are frequently alluded to by historians, his career was, of itself, an uneventful one. He led an exemplary life, and was a man of active business habits ; but he seems to have been almost without conscientious convictions.