Lever's grammar school, founded in 1641, had Robert Ainsworth, the Latin lexicographer, and John Lempriere, author of the classical dictionary, among its masters.
It was founded in 1814 by the London publisher, Colburn, and was edited in turn by Campbell, Theodore Hook, Bulwer-Lytton and Ainsworth.
Several of Ainsworth's romances, illustrated by Cruikshank, first saw the light in Bentley.
Among these may be especially mentioned Michael Ainsworth, a native of Wimborne St Giles, the young man who was the recipient of the Letters addressed to a student at the university, and was maintained by Shaftesbury at University College, Oxford.
The Letters to a Young Man at the University (Michael Ainsworth), already mentioned, were first published in 1716.