William Caxton Was B R O N , and Learnt His English in the Weald , It Was a Wild District with a Scanty Population ; Its Inhabitants Had

Home , William Caxton

WILLIAMCA TON X ,

TH E FI R S T E N G L I S H P R I N TE R .

i o 3 ﬁ gmp bg .

H A R L ES KN I G H T C .

I N N E W E D T I O .

L O N D O N

A M WI LLI L W S S N S H A RD WI CK B G C O E O , E O U E,

1 3 ll A Rl NG (m , C oss, s . w . 1 92 P , IOCA DI LLY . w .

N T E O .

’ “ THE re - issue o f Charles Knight s The Old Printe r has b ee n considered appropriate to the celebration o f the Quar centenary o f the Introduction o f Printing into

En lan a g d. The author himself was worthy follower o f f Caxton , and his name marks an era in the spread o literature by means o f the printing press .

No alteration has been made in the text o f the w o rk ;

ri ina l c but since its o g publication considerable advan es , as a Wi ll the re der notice , have been made towards the

’ fulﬁlm ent of the author s aspirations . All p ro ﬁ ts a ri s ing fro m the s a l e o f thi s

vo lum e w i ll b e de vo te d to the C axto n

” Fun d no w b e ing fo rm e d i n co nne cti o n

W ith th e C e l e bra ti o n o f th e Quarce nte nary o f

the I ntro ducti o n o f P ri nting into Engl ahd .

June 1 87 , 7 . C O N T E N T S .

CHAPTER I . P A C 8 — ’ — The Weald o f Kent Caxto n s Schoo l - days French di sused — s a — ri ME lis h— s e o Engli h t ught Ya ati O ng Book b f re — — — —l ' Printingzy b raries n nscrihers n hs fo r the Grea t - — k r h — h n d EEd Beak Trzgde No Boo s fo t e p le C a gw p ro u 1 1

CHAPTER I I.

’ The Merc A rentice e — er s p p f m Q gw me, London City A p p rentices City — V/ Pageants Sp read o f Englis h

P II I CHA TER .

’ A b road Cax n s Ml Lsg i s— es r Caxton to gﬁ p jﬂm J R t ictions o n d e CE m iss io n Merchants arks — — - Begi nm ngs o f Printing Playing Carde Wood engraving

— - — Block b o o k s Movable Types Guttenberg Gutten ’ — berg s Statue Festival at Mentz

P E IV CHA T R . — — The Court o f Burgundy Caxton a Translato r Li terature o f — — Chival ry F eudal Tim es Caxto n at the D ucal Court

m — Did Caxto n pri nt at Bruges Edward the Fugitive The Ne w A rt iii CONTEN T v S .

H P V C A TER . P A GE — — M Who the ﬁ rst E nglish Printer Caxton — W ehm Mn hsh P n Bo o E g ri ted

i ul _ ﬁ o f . the b indi jﬁ c ties . rs L m texs e Boo k Q Anci nt ( n — The Printer a p t; Ch eap ness in

P VI CHA TER . — The Press at Westmins ter Theolo gica l Bm k sz ChmacterJ f ‘ "N J U I ' «4 ’ W s P es —The ro —The Ga o f the e 1 00 r s T y Book me Ch ss . .

P VII CHA TER . — — — Female Manners Lord R1vers Po pular History Popular — _ — — So l ence Popular Fables Popular Translatmns The Can — — — ’ terb ury Tales Statutes Books o f Chival ry Caxton 8 las t D ays

P V CHA TER III . h h — — — T e C apel The Com p a nio ns f Igggg g gi Eggdexg B o ' g o ks — ’ — ’ — m ake Beadegg Caxto n s g m XVynkyn s Dream The ﬁ rs t Pap er- mill

A PPEND IX A .

I NVENTI ON OF PRINTI NG

PP EN D IX A B.

BOOKS PR IN TED BY CA X TON

A PP END I X C .

AU THORITI ES LI ST OF I LLUSTRATI ONS .

P A G E ‘ AND NI A RE O F WI LLIA MCAX TO N Fro nti sp zece .

TRAN SCRIBER A T WORK

K E R LYDGATE P RESEN TIN G A BO O TO TH E AR L OF SALISBU Y .

’ MR TS MR KS E CHAN A BLOCK AND STEN CLL INST RUMENTS KNAVE OF BELLS

KN VE o p M TER 01? 1 4 66 A , AS

’ TH E Wm : MEN S FF R O E ING

ANCIENT P RESS P RINTING O FFICE OF TH E P AST

' ’ ‘ - r ME p FA C I I E o KNI G T I N CA xrON s n TH E G o S M L A H Boo , A

’ THE C uEss

L o m) R m mé RE ENT N T ED W RD V P S I G m s Boon O A I .

‘ ’ ‘ - o n Mm ao a O F FA C SD H LE 011 Musxc m o m TH E E TH E , IMAG

’ W R O LD .

MAR K OF WYNhYN D E WORDE

R MRK Y NK E RD PORT AIT AND A 01? W YN D WO E ' SPECIMEN OF CA X TON S TYPE

xe xm z PORTR IT —G FTTENBUBG T N CH O V A S , FUS , A D S EFFER

W I L L I A MC A X T O N .

I CHAPTER .

’ — - — THE VVEA LD OF KEN T OAKTON S SCHOOL DAYS FR ENCH D I SUSED EN G LI SH TA UG IIT—VARIATION S IN EN GLI S H—BOOKS BEFOR E P RINTING — — — — LIBR ARIES TRA N SCB l BER S BOOKS FO R TH E G REAT BOOK TRADE K — R D D NO BOO S FO R THE PEOPLE C HANG ES P O U CE BY PRINTING .

N ﬁ rs t b k n the oo printed in the English la guage , ‘ the subject of which was the Histories o f ’ Tr l t oy , Wil iam Caxton , the transla or of the

fro m work the French , in his prologue o r o f a l preface , says , by way p o og y for his sim p lenes s and imperfectness in the French and English “ I n I b rn languages , France was never, and was o and

learned mine Eng lish in Kent , in the Weald , where I doubt not is spoken as b road and rude English as in any ” f En land. place o g The Weald of Kent is now a, fertile

r co rn - land - dist ict, rich in and pasture , with farm houses f and villages spread over its sur ace , intersected by g oo d oa a o f i r ds , and railway running through the heart t, 1 2 W LL M C H A R I . I IA CAXTON . [ bringing the scattered inhabitants closer and closer to

each other . But at the period when William Caxton was b r o n , and learnt his English in the Weald , it was a wild district with a scanty population ; its inhabitants had

ff o f little intercourse with the towns , the a airs the busy o n world went without their knowledge and assistance , they were more separated from the great b ody o f their countrymen than a settler in Canada o r Australia is at

the present day . It is easy to understand therefore why they should have spoken a broad and rude English at ’

Ca xto n s H V. the time of boyhood , during the reign of enry

o f o f m and the beginning that Henry VI . Willia Lam u ﬁ ft barde , who wrote a h ndred and y years after this l ’ period , having published his Perambu ation of Kent in

1 5 7 0 as c m m , mentions a o on opinion touching this Weald “ o f Kent , that it was a great while together in manner ls nothing e e but a desert and waste wilderness, not planted with towns o r peopled with men as the outsides o f the

t and ff o f shire were , but s ored stu ed with herds deer and

o f he o n droves hogs only and goes to say that , although the property of the Weald was at the ﬁ rs t belonging to n certai known owners , yet it was not then allotted into ” o f tenancies . The Weald Kent came to be taken , he says , i t even as men were contented to inhabit , and by peace

to o f meal rid it the wood , and to break it up with the ” h plough . In some lonely farm , then . of t is wild district , w e u f o w n ﬁ x are , p on the best o evidence , his words , to

the birth - p laee and the earliest home of the ﬁ rs t English

printer . The father of William Caxton was in all probability f o . A t a proprietor land any rate , he desired to bestow up on his son all the advantages of education which that

. age could furnish The honest printer, many years after

- u - his school days , looks back p on that spring time o f his ’ - 1 3 C S S L D Y S . I . O R AP . ] AKTON CHOO A life with feelings that make us honour the simple worth

‘ ’ f his character . hi s a o In Life of Charles the Gre t ,

e 1 4 85 I em ri s e d print d in , he says , have p [undertaken] and concluded in myself to reduce [translate] thi s said

o ur e book into English , as all along and plainly y may

read , hear, and see, in this book here following . Beseech ing all them that shall ﬁ nd fault in the same to correct i t o f the and amend , and also to pardon me rude and t simple reducing . And though so be here no gay terms , I nor subtle nor new eloquence , yet hope that it shall be I e understood , and to that intent have sp cially reduced it G o d after the simple cunning that hath lent to me , where o f I humbly and with all my heart thank Him , and also ’ ’ am to bounden pray for my father s and mother s souls , to i that in my youth set me school , by wh ch , by the

s uﬁ e rance o f I I God , get my living hope truly . And

I I to that may so do and continue , beseech Him grant me of His grace and so to labour and occupy myself vir" tuo usl I o f l y, that may come out debt and dead y sin , tha s I to l after thi life may come His b iss in heaven . Caxton seems to have had the rare happiness to have had his f father about him to a late period o his life . According to a record in the accounts o f the churchwardens o f the f ’ o St. i n parish church Margaret s , Westminster, which ﬁ rs t parish the printer carried on his business, it appears a i th t one W lliam Caxton , who is conjectured to have been o n 1 8th o f 1 4 80 the father , was buried the May , .

’ o f Ca xto n s Some time before the period boyhood , a great change had taken place in the general system o f

. o f III education in England In the time Edward . , about

the o f i half a century before period wh ch we speak, the

chil dren in the grammar - schools were not taught English

. ﬁ rs t at all It was the policy of the Norman kings , long

continued by their successors , to get rid o f the o ld English 1 A CH A R I . 4 WILLI M CAXTON . [

o r Saxon language altogether ; and to make the people o f familiar with the Norman French , the language the

conquerors . The new statutes of the realm were written

o f in French ; so were the decisions the judges , and the

commentaries on the laws in general . Ralph Higden , in

o f i a sort chronicle which Caxton printed , says , Ch ldren

o f in schools , against the usage and manner all other nations , be compelled for to leave their own language , and for to construe their lessons and . thei r things in French and so they have since Normans came ﬁ rs t into England . Also gentlemen be taught for to speak

French from the time that they rocked in their cradle ,

’ and can speak and play with a child s brooch [s tick u landi shm en or other toy], and p [countrymen] will h liken themselves to gentlemen , and delig t with great f ” o . business for to speak French , to be told John de ’ ‘ ’ Trevi sa , the translator of Higden s Polychronicon , writing some forty years later, This manner was much G used before the reat Plague , and is since some deal

J Co rnew aile m changed ; for Sir ohn , a aster of grammar ,

- co ns truc changed the teaching in grammar schools , and

tion in French and other schoolmasters use the same ,way

1 385 o f now , in the year of our Lord , the ninth year

II . King Richard , and leave all French in schools , and use all construction in English . Wherein they have a dvan

w a z— tage one y that is , that they learn the sooner their in grammar ; and another, disadvantage, for now they F learn no rench , which is hurt for them that shall pass ”

. the sea It was this change of system , operating upon hi s early instruction , which caused Caxton , as a translator , to be so difﬁ dent of his own capacity to render faithfully what was before him out of French into English . Indeed

a to ‘ from his e rliest youth the close of his literary career , t the English language was constantly varying , hrough the 1 5 C I V S I N H . HAP . . ] ARIATION ENGLIS introduction o f new words and phrases and there was a marked di stinction between the courtly dialect and that o f ho w o f the commonalty . We have seen he speaks the broad and rude English of hi s native Weald . But towards

o f i 1 4 90 the close his life , in a book pr nted by him in , he mentions the difﬁ cul ty he had in pleasing some gentle transla men , which late blamed me , saying , that in my

s I tion had over curious terms , which could not be under o o f st od common people , and desired me to use old and I homely terms in my translations . And fain would do o ld satisfy every man ; and so to , took an book and read therein ; and certainly the Engli sh was so rude and i broad that I could not well understand t. And also my Lord Abbot of Westminster did show to me late ce rtain

v o ld o ur e idences written in English , for to reduce it into l in Eng ish now used , and certainly it was written such wise that it was more like to Dutch than English I could

e to not reduc nor bring it be understood . And certainly our language now used v ari eth far from that which was used and spoken when I was bo rn : for we Englishmen be o f n born under the denomination the moon , which is ever

steadfast , but ever wavering , waxing one season , and w ane th and decrea s eth another season ; and that common

o ne va ri e th English that is spoken in shire from another . Insomuch that in my days happened th at certain merchants

were in a ship in Thames , for to have sailed over the sea " fo r i into ealand , and lack of w nd they tarried at Fore W to land , and ent to land for refresh them ; and one of ' She ﬁ elde m them named , a ercer, came into an house and

a e s sked for meat , and especially he asked after gg ; and

t he good wife answered , that she could speak no French ;

fo r and the merchant was angry , he also could S peak no

French , but would have had eggs , and she understood him

r not . And then at last anothe said that he would have A A R I . 1 6 WILLI M CAXTON . [CH

e ren ’ h y , t en the good wife said that she understood him

well . Lo, what should a man in these days now write ,

s e ren t to egg or y cer ainly it is hard please every man , by o f cause of diversity and change language . For in these days every man that is in any reputation in his country will utter his communication and matters in such manners

r and te ms that few men shall understand them . And some honest and good clerks have been with me , and desired m e to write the most curious terms that I could I ﬁ nd. And thus between plain , rude , and curious , stand abashed but in my judgment , the common terms that be daily used be lighter [easier] to be understood than the o ld ” and ancient English . In these days , when the same language wi th very slight variations is spoken from one

o f the difﬁcult end land to the other , it is to imagine a

t o f e s ate things such as Caxton describ s , in which the “ common English which is spoken in o ne shire vari eth ” an from other , and there was a marked distinction between plain term s and curious terms . Easy and rapid communi

ul o f cation , and above all the circ ation books , newspapers , i and other period cal works , all free from provincial expres i sions , have made the over curious terms wh ch could not be understood o f common people more familiar to them than the o ld and homely terms which their forefathers used in their several counties , according to the restricted meanings which they retained in their local use . When the there were no books amongst community in general , o f Of there could be no universality language . this want o f W e d l chi efl books may properly exhibit some etai s , y to ' show o ne of the most remarkable di fi erences which the lapse of four centuries has produced in our country . fi nd it We shall , we think, a more agreeable , as well as

o f more instructive course, to look at the general subject the supply of books in connection with the orders of people 1 7 C P G . H I . BOOK AP . ] S BEFORE RINTIN

to who were use them , rather than presenting a number

o f e n scattered facts , to exhibit the relative pric s and sca ity ﬁ rs t o f books in what are called the mi ddle ages . We will

a s . in t ke the clergy , the scholars of those da The mode 36111011 books were multiplied by transcribers in the mona

s te ri es is clea rly described by Richard de Bury, bishop ’ o f Philo b ib lo n o n o f Durham , in his , a treatise the love i n 1 34 4 neces books , written by him in Latin As it is t m lenti sary for a sta e to provide ilitary arms , and prepare p

w ho ﬁ ht ful stores of provisions for soldiers are about to g , so it is evidently worth the labour of the church militant to fortify itse lf against the attacks of pagans and heretics

with a mul titude o f sound book 8 . But because everything that is serviceable to mortals suffers the waste of mortality o f through lapse time , it is necessary for volumes corroded

by age to be restored by renovated successors , that per e tuit p y, repugnant to the nature of the individual , may be t conceded to the species . Hence it is that Ecclesias es

si ni ﬁ cantl 1 2 e g y says, in the th chapt r, There is no end ’ ' o f s nﬁ er o f making many books . For as the bodies books co ntinual detriment from a combined mixture o f con trari es rem ed o ut in their composition , so a y is found by

the prudence of clerks , by which a holy book paying the o f r m a ed a debt natu e y obtain an her it ry substitute , and a

seed may be raised up like to the most holy deceased , and

30 veri ﬁ e that saying of Ecclesiasticus , chapter , be d, The a father is de d , and as it were not dead , for he hath left l hi ’ be hind him a son ike unto mself. The invention o f

paper, about a century and a half before Richard de Bury t i s o f wro e , and its general employment n tead vellum fo r

e manuscripts in ordinary use , was a great st p towards i a the multipl c tion of bo oks . Transcribers necessa rily became more numerous but for a long period they wholly

to s belonged the mona tic orders , and the books were , 0 I A C H A R . l 8 WILLI M CAXTON . [

f essentially for the use o the clergy . Richard de Bury says , with the most supreme contempt for all others , what “ ever be their rank , Laymen , to whom it matters not whether they look at a book turned wrong side upwards o r spread before them in its natural order are altogether f to unworthy o any communion with books . But even the privileged classes he is not sparing of his reproach as f H e to the misuse o books . reprobates the unwashed hands , the dirty nails , the greasy elbows leaning upon

l o f the vo ume , the munching fruit and cheese over the

o f Open leaves , which were the marks careless and idle rea ders . With a solemn reverence for a book at which w e o f may smile, but with a smile respect , he says , Let there be a mature decorum in opening and closing of volumes , that they may neither be unclasped with

i no r precip tous haste, thrown aside after inspection with ” s out being duly closed . The good bi hop bestowed certain portions of his valuable library upon a company of scholars residing in a Hall at Oxford and one o f his cha pters is entitled A provident arrangement by which ’ o bo ks may be lent to strangers , meaning , by strangers , f students o Oxford not belonging to that Hall . One of “ these arrangements is as follows Five of the scholars dwelling in the aforesaid Hall are to be appointed by the l o f master of the same Ha l , to whom the custody the

Of ﬁ v e books is to be deputed . which , three , and in no o case fewer , shall be competent to lend any bo ks for inspection and use only but fo r copying and transcribing we will not allow any book to pass without the walls o f the house . Therefore , when any scholar, whether secular

ualiﬁ ed fo r or religious , whom we have deemed q the o present favour, shall demand the loan of a bo k , the keepers must careful ly consider whether they have a

so him duplicate of that book ; and if , they may lend it to ,

20 1 A CHA R . WILLI M CAXTON . [

e We have abundant evidence , what ver be the scarcity o f o f books as compared with the growth scholarship , that the ecclesiastics laboured most dil igently to multiply books for their own e stablishments . In every great abbey o there was a room called the Script rium , where boys and novices were co nstantly employed in multiplying the ser

- o f c s vice books the hoir, and the less valuable book for the library whilst the monks themselves laboured in their

a nd a cells upon bibles missals . Equal pains were t ken in providing books for those who received a liberal education

Transcrib e r at Wo rk .

n s A t in collegiate establishments . Warto ays , the

o ne o r foundation of Winchester College , more tran scribers were hired and employe d by the founder to make i books for the library . They transcr bed and took their commons within the college , as appears by computations ” of expenses on their account now remaining . But there are several indications that even ki ngs and nobles had no t f the advantages o scholars by profession ; and , possessing

few t o wn o f books of heir , had sometimes to borrow their ﬁ nd more favoured subjects . We it recorded that the Prior

o f C r V. h ist Church, Canterbury , had lent to King Henry R G 21 I . B K . C AP . ] OO S FOR THE REAT th ' k e w o r s St. of Gregory, and he complains that after the ’ king s death the book had been detained by the Prior o f e Shene . The same king had borrowed from the Lady W st moreland two books that had not been returned , and a peti tion is still extant in which she begs his successors in I o f X . authority to let her have them back again . Lewis France wishing to borrow a book from the Faculty o f

Medicine at Paris , they would not allow the king to have it till he had deposited a quantity of valuable plate in pledge , and given a joint bond with o ne o f his nobles for its due return . The books that were to be found in the palaces o f o f the great , a little while before the invention print

fo r ing, were the most part highly illuminated manu t he scripts , and bound in the most expensive style . In I V ﬁ nd wardrobe accounts of King Edward . we that Piers “ ” Baudu n and o f y is paid for binding , gilding , dressing o f two books , twenty shillings each, and four books ,

e N o w sixte n shillings each . twenty shillings in those x o f days would have bought an c . But the cost this binding and garnishing does not stop here ; for there ' to o f were delivered the binder six yards velvet , six yards

o f l . silk , laces , tassels , copper and gilt c asps, and gilt nails

The price of velvet and silk in those days was enormous . We m ay reasonably conclude that these royal books were as

o much for show as for use . One f the books thus garnished ’ ‘ ’ s H i t ri aux by Edward I V. binder is called Le Bible s o i a (The H storical Bible) , and there are sever l copies of the n same book in manuscript in the British Museum . In o e o f them the following paragraph is written in French This book was taken from the King o f France at the

o f o f battle Poitiers ; and the good Count Salisbury , Munta ue i o Will am g , bought it for a hundred marks , and to gave it his lady Elizabeth , the good Countess . Which book the sa id Countess assigned to her executors W A CH AR I . 22 ILLI M CAXTON . [

a to sel l fo r fo rty li vr es . We le rn from another source u that the great not only proc red books by purchase, but

employed transcribers to make them for their libraries . fi nd m e We , fro the manuscript account of the xpenses of h Sir John Howard , afterwards Duke of Norfolk, t at in 1 4 6 L m no r as the Iji m ner o f 7 Thomas y p , that is , Thom , sum fi ft il i Bury , was paid the of y sh l ngs and twopence W e t for a book hich he had transcribed and ornam n ed , i i L ’ i including the vellum and b nd ng . The imner s b ll is — -u t a nd made p of a number of i ems , for whole vignettes , fl o uri shin half vignettes , and capital letters , and g , and hi plain writing . T s curious account is printed in the ‘ ’ A Paston Letters . letter of Sir John Paston , who is 1 4 74 writing to his mother in , shows how scarce money

was in those days for the purchase of luxuries like boo ks . ’ H e o says , As for the bo ks that were Sir James s (the ’ I I am no t Priest s) , if it like you that may have them , I able to buy them , but somewhat would give, and the I wi l remainder , with a good devout heart , by my troth , l

I f . f pray for hi s soul . any o them are claimed I t ” i . c hereafter , in faith will restore The ustom of

a s o ld borrowing books and not returning them was , we

o f . see , as the days the Red and White Roses John Paston o f left an inventory his books , eleven in number , although some of the eleven contained various little tracts bound i A together . One of the items in th s catalogue is , Book l B o f Troilus , which Wil iam hath had near ten years , ” i n f ld i t W e I . and lent it to Dame g , and there saw

But , even in the days before printing , there was a small

book - trade ; and schemes were devised for making books

f . I i n o f 1 4 o some general use n Paris , the middle the th o century, the b oksellers were commanded to keep books fo r o f U o f hire ; and, in a register the niversity Paris , he villi er o f o C found a list the b oks so circulated , and the 23 C L OOKS P PL . HAP . ] NO B FOR THE EO E

o f . price o f reading each . The hire a Bible was ten sous That the ecclesiastics and lawyers constituted the great to bulk of readers , and that the addition of a book , even e o f w as r e the privat library a student, a rare occu renc , is evident from the absolute necessity for manuscript books I f e — i f being dear . the number of readers had increas d there had been more candidates for the learned professions —i f the nobility had discovered the shame of their — ’ i gnorance i f learning had made its way to the franklin s — hall manuscript books could never have been cheap . But from the hour when a ﬁr s t large expense o f trans i ferr ng the letters , syllables , words , and sentences of a manuscript to movable type was ascertained to be the

o f l to o f means mu tiplying copies the extent any demand ,

then the greater the demand the greater the cheapness . I f the nobles , the higher gentry , and even the lawyers di ff d and ecclesiastics , were in erently provi ed with books , we cannot expect that the yeomen had any books what

ever . The merchants and citizens were probably some

e what bett r provided . The labourers , who were scarcely yet full y es tablished in their freedom from bondage to one

to lord , were probably, as a class , wholly unable use

books at all . Shakspere , in all likelihood , did not much e t f o f exagg ra e the eelings ignorant men , who at the same

time were oppressed men , when he puts these words in the mouth o f Jack Cade when addressing Lord Say Thou ha s t most traitorously corrupted the youth of the

a - : re lm , in erecting a grammar school and whereas , before , o ur forefathers had no other books but the score and the l n ta ly , thou hast caused printi g to be used ; and , contrary to the king, his crown and dignity , thou hast built a

- paper mill . The poet has a little deranged the exact

s usti ﬁ ed i n i order of events , as poet are j do ng , who look no t at history with chronological accuracy , but with a A CH A R I . 24 WILLI M CAXTON . [ broad view of the connection between events and prin i l o f o c p es . The insurrection Cade preceded the intr duction f - t o printing and paper mills in o England . Although during four centuries we have yet to lament that the people h ave not had the full b ene ﬁ t which the art of w m a printing is calculated to besto upon them , we n sure that during its progress the general amelioration o f n society has bee certain , though gradual . There can no longer be any necessary exclusiveness in the possession i of books , and in the advantages wh ch the knowledge of books is calculated to bestow o n all men . The late h Mr . Sout ey, a just and liberal thinker , but , like many others of ardent feelings , sometimes mistaken and oftener

e o ut ff b e misrepresented , has truly point d the di erence tween the state of society when William Caxton was raised up to do his work amongst us and the present ‘ state . The following is an extract from his Colloquies ’ o n the Progress and Prospects o f Society : One of the ﬁ rs t effects o f printing was to make proud men look upon u learning as disgraced , by being thus bro ght within o f n reach the common people . Till that time learni g ,

co nﬁ ned u such as it was , had been to co rts and convents , the low birth of the clergy being overlooked , because they were privileged by their order . But when laymen in humble life were enabled to procure books , the pride u of aristocracy took an abs rd course, insomuch that at o ne time it was deemed derogatory for a nobleman if he o r could read write . Even scholars themselves complained

» due to i t that the reputation of learning , and the respect , and its rewards , were lowered when it was thrown open to all men and it was seriously proposed to prohibit the pri nting o f any book that could be afforded for sale below o f the price three soldi . This base and invidious fee ling was perhaps never so directly avowed in other countries C L G S P D D BY P G 25 HAP . ] CHAN E RO UCE RINTIN .

ﬁ rs t as in Italy, the land where literature was restored ; and yet i n this more liberal island ignorance was for some generations considered to be a mark o f di stinction by

e to which a man of gentle birth chose, not unfr quently, make it apparent that he was no more obliged to live by

o f w the toil his brain than by the s eat of his brow . The same changes in society , which rendered it no longer

thi s o f possible for class men to pass their lives in idleness , I t have completely put an end to this barbarous pride .

n ﬁ n er - is as obsolete as the fashio of long g nails , which in some parts of the East are sti ll the distinctive mark of t those who labour not wi h their hands . All classes are t now brought within the reach of your current li erature , k that literature which , li e a moral atmosphere , is , as it were , the medium of intellectual life , and on the quality o f i which , according as it may be salu"brious or nox ous , the health of the public mind depends . CHAPTER II .

’ — — TH E ms s cs a s APPR ENTICE HI S BOOK- KNOWLEDGE C OMMERCE 11: BOOKS — — — — scnoo rs m LONDON CITY APPR ENTICES CITY PAGEANTS SPREAD — — — o r ENGLI SH LANG UAG E ENGLI S H WRI TERs CH A UCEB GOWER — — LYDGATE THE MI NSTREL S NATIONAL LITER ATU RE .

1 4 83 ‘ The a book which Caxton printed in , ’ call d Catho n Booke y , he says in his prologue “ o r U re preface , nto the noble , ancient, and

no w n ed o f n city, the city London in Engla d , I , William Caxton , citizen and conjury [sworn e o f f llow]Mthe same , and of the fraternity and fellowship o f o w e o f the ercery , right my service and good will

a m and of very duty bounden naturally to assist , aid , I and counsel , as farforth as can to my power, as to my mother of whom I have received my nurture and living and shall pray for the good prosperity and policy o f the

28 A R . WILLI M CAXTON . [CHA II

o r c labour at the plough cart , or other servi e of husbandry ,

o f till at the age twelve years , should continue to abide

and o r at such labour, not to be put to any mystery — handicraft notwithstanding which statutes , says the l a w I V. of Henry , country people whose fathers and mothers have no land or rent are put apprentices to divers W h crafts ithin the cities and boroughs , so t at there is great scarcity o f labourers and other servants o f hus “ h bandry . The law then declares , T at no man nor

m o r b e wo an , of what estate condition they , shall put

so n o r t o f o r b e to their daugh er, whatsoever age he she , serve as apprentice to no craft or other labour within any

o r city or borough in the realm , except he have land rent w to the value of t enty shillings by the year at least, but they shall be put to other labours as their estates doth ’ ” u require , pon pain of one year s imprisonment . This iniquitous law was necessarily as demoralizing and as injurious to the national prosperity as the institution o f dn castes in India . Yet , by a most extraordinary blin ess

o f to cause and consequence , the makers the law provided in the most direct way for its overthrow for the statute

o n to a goes say , that, lthough the husbandry labourer is

a o o f always to be a l b urer , every man or woman , what

t o r he esta e condition they , shall be free to set their son or daughter to take learning at any manner school that ” pleaseth them within the realm . The citizens of London , to o f much their honour, procured a repeal this act in the o f VI eighth Henry . , about the period when Caxton was ap p renticed . The probability is , that he would not have been affected by the exclusive character of this law — for his master w as a rich and distinguished mercer a member o f that association which has always had p re eminence amongst the livery companies of London . The di ni ﬁ ed g g ravity, the prudence , and the prosperity of H - WL DG 29 I . CHAP . LJ IS BOOK KNO E E the citizens o f that day have been well described by Chaucer

“ A Merchant was there with a forked beard ; I n m o e and o n o rse h sat tl y, high h e , i a Fla ndrish e a A nd o n h s head u b ver hat. * H is bo o tes clasped fair and fe ti s ly ; H is e aso ns s a e he u so le m nel r p k f ll y, So unding alway the i ncreas e o f his winning H e wo u d the s ea w e e e fo r an n l r k pt ? y thi g, n M d and ré well B e twixe id leburgh O . ’ W co u d he i n e c an e s shi eldies se ell l x h g I ll , s wo m an we his wi t e se ; " Thi rthy full ll b t e r w s e no Wi a he w as i n de b Th e i t ght th t t, S o s t edfastly did b e his go ve rna nce W hi n nd w his c e i sa ce s a a s a . ith b rg i , ith h v n

When we look at William Caxton as the apprentice to ﬁ rst a London mercer, his position does not at sight appear very favourable to that cultivation o f a literary

and o f taste , that love books , which was originally the u f a o . sol ce, and afterwards the b siness , his life Yet a closer insight into the me rcantile arrangements o f those days will show us that he co uld not have been more favourably placed for attaining some practical acquaint o f n ance with books , in the way his ordi ary occupation . When books W e re so costly and so inacces sible to the

o f great body the people , there was necessarily no special f o . trade bookselling There were indeed stationers , who had books for sale , or more probably executed orders for i o transcrib ng b oks . Their occupation is thus described

‘ Mr l hi s r by . Hal am , in Literatu e of Europe These

n s ta tio narii dealers were denomi ated , perhaps from the o n open stalls at which they carried their business , though

’ ea . G ua ded N tly 1 r . renc c o wns w c w e e m d s a e w a s e d. 1 F h r , hi h r t p ith hi l

m o d. A n a ee m en f n E pl ye H gr t o r bo rro wi g m oney . 30 A CH A R . WILLI M CAXTON . [ II

statio is a general word for a shop , in low Latin . They o f t appear by the old statutes the universi y of Paris , and by those of Bologna , to have sold books upon com mission ; and are sometimes , though not uniformly, dis ti n ui shed lib rarn g from the ; a word which , having co nﬁ ne d originally been to the copyists of books , was afterwards applied to those who traded in them . They

l o f h sold parchment and other materia s writing , whic , w us I ith , though , as far as know, nowhere else, have

o f exer retained the name stationery, and naturally i c s e d the kindred occupations of binding and decorating . ” T-he They probably employed transcribers . mercer in those days was not a dealer in small wares generally, as at an earlier period nor was his trade co nﬁ ned l — to si ken goods such an one as Shakspere describes ,

- Three ile r Master p , the mercer, who had th own a man ” o f - into prison for some four suits peach coloured sa tin . The mercer o f the ﬁ fteenth century w as essentially a

o f d III merchant . The mercers in the time E ward . were

- the great wool dealers of the country . They were the

o ur merchants of the Staple , in the early days of woollen manufacture of a later period were principally o f their their trafﬁ c with other lands , and especially with the Low Countries , they were the agents by which valuable manuscripts found their way into England ; and in this respect they i were someth ng like the great merchant princes of Italy , whose ships not unfrequently contained a cargo of Indian Ba fo rd spices and of Greek manuscripts . John g , who

o f 1 7 1 4 wrote a slight Life Caxton about , which is in

a m nuscript in the British Museum , says , Kings , queens , r and noblemen had their pa ticular merchants , who , when they were ready for their voyage into foreign parts , sent h r t eir se vants to know what they wanted , and among the L D 31 CHAP . II . ] SCHOOLS I N ON ON . rest of thei r choice many times books were demanded and

there to buy them in those parts where they were g o m g .

l us ‘ Caxton te ls in the Book of Good Manners , which he 1 4 87 translated from the French and printed in , that the original Fr ench work was delivered to him by a special

o f . friend , a mercer London , named William Praat This commerce of books could not have been very great but it

far o n e might have been so carried by Rob rt Large , the o o f wealthy master f Caxton , that a lad ability might thus possess opportunities for i mprovement which were

- A t denied to the great body o f his fellow apprenti ces . thi s particular period there appear to have been but few opportuni ties even for the sons o f parents of some sub

r u stance to obtain the diments of knowledge . There is a

petition presented to Parliament in the twenty - ﬁ fth year

o f VI . 1 4 4 6 i t co n Henry , , wh ch exhor s the Commons to

sider the great number of grammar - schools that sometime l were in divers parts of this rea m , besides those that were ” ho w in London , and few there are in these days . The

o f o to petitioners , who are four clergymen the city , g on o f say that London is the common concourse this land ,

o f and that many persons , for lack schoolmasters in their to own country , resort there be informed o f grammar “ and then they proce ed thus : Wherefore it were exp e dient that in London were a sufﬁ ci ent number of schools

the and good informers in grammar ; and not , for singular tw o avail of or three persons , grievously to hurt the mul ti tude n of you g people of all this land . For where there

o f and is great number learners and few teachers , all the

o l o learners be c mpel ed to g to the few teachers , and to th none others , the masters wax rich of money, and e a cunni n as le rners poorer in g , . experience openly sheweth , ” all against virtue and order of weal public . These benevolent clergymen accomplished the object o f their 32 A H A R . WILLI M CAXTON . [C II

o f petition , which was that in each their parishes they “ li h‘ might ordain , create, estab sh , and set a person su i ci ently learned in grammar to hold and exercise a school o f in the same science grammar , and there to te ach to all ” o f that will learn . One the schools thus established ’ exists to this day, in connection with the Mercers Com ’ a p ny, and is commonly known as the Mercers School .

o f o ur We are a little anticipating the period narrative , ’ for this petition belongs to Caxto n s mature life but we mention it as an evidence o f the extreme difﬁ culty which must have existed in those days for the children o f the f middle classes to obtain the rudiments o knowledge . It is evident that Caxton belonged to the more fortunate o f l portion , upon whom the blessings education fel like

i no t prizes in a lottery . The ev l has been wholly cor rected even during four centuries ; but it is devoutly to i to be hoped that the time is not far d stant when , use the words o f the benevolent clergymen who knew the value o f knowledge at that comparatively dark period , there l shall be in every place a schoo , and a competent person ” there to teach to all that will learn . ‘ o f o f Oldys , the writer the Life Caxton in the Bio ’ ra hi a o f g p Britannica , says , speaking Robert Large , the f master o Caxton , The same magistrate held his mayor alty in that whi ch had been the mansion - house o f Robert J ’ o Fitzwalter, anciently called the ews Synag gue , at the ” north corner of the Old Jewry. This Old Jewry appears to have been in earlier times an accustomed place o f resi dence for the mercers ; for there are records still extant of legal proceedings in the time of Henry III . against four mercers of that place , for a violent assault upon two

Lombard merchants , whom they regarded as rivals in trade . In the days o f their retail dealings they occupied a portion o f Cheapside which went by the name of the Mercery . 33 IL Y PP S . C R AP . ] CIT A RENTICE

In the fourteenth century their shops were little be tter

s d o r r than he s , and Cheapside , mo e properly Cheap , was

o f a sort market , where various trades collected round the o ld r w e C oss , hich remained th re till the time of the Long

e e Parliament . When the mercers b came large wholesal in l dealers woo len cloths and silk , the haberdashers took I n up their standing in the same place . the ballad of ’

I . London Lickpenny , written in the time of Henry V , the sce ne in the Cheap is thus described

e n to the ea e an me dra wn Th Ch p I b g , Where much pe o ple I s aw fo r to stand ; One o ffe ed m e e e s and a wn r v lv t, ilk, l , no e he ake m e the hand A th r t th by , ‘ ere is Pa s ea d the ﬁ nes t in the and H ri thr , l . The city apprentice in the days of Caxton was a staid o o f s ber youth , who , although gentle blood (as the regula fo r o f b e tions the admittance freemen required him to ) , a was me nly clothed , and subjected to the performance of even household drudgery . We learn from a tract called

‘ ’ ’ r i n ' 1 628 the City s Advocate , p inted , that the ancient a ﬂ at e h bit of the apprentices was a round cap , hair clos out ll - , narrow fa ing bands , coarse side coats (long coats) , close hose , close stockings , and other such severe apparel .

They walked before their masters and mistresses at night ,

a r o n bearing a l nte n , and wearing a long club their necks . But the mercer's apprentice had some exceptions which set him above his fell ows Anciently it was the general use and custom o f all apprentices in London (mercers only excepted , being commonly merchants and a better rank as

’ it seems) to carry water - tankards to serve their masters hous es w ith water fetched either from the Thames o r the ” W . t all common conduits But , i h his restraints , the city apprentice was ever prone to frolic , and too often to mischief. The apprentices were a formidable body in the D 34 A . CH A R WILLI M CAXTON [ II .

d o f n ays the Tudors , sometimes defying the laws , and raisi g tumults which have more than once ended in the prison a nd n the halter . Chaucer writi g some few years before the ’ o f Ca xto n s s erw ce - s ee i n term , describes the love of sight g which was characteristic o f the London apprentice “ W en ere an r d n s w ere i n e a h th y i i g Ch p, O ut o f the sho p thither w o uld he l eap ; A nd a he had all the s se en till th t ight y , A nd dance d we he wo l d no t co m e a a n ll , u g i .

Cheap was the great highway of processions ; and London o f was the constant theatre triumphs and pageants , by which the wealthy citizens expressed their devotion to

ﬁ fteen h w . t their ruling authorities In the century , hen the very insecurity of the tenure o f the crown demanded o f a more ardent display public Opinion , the London

apprentice had ridings enough to look upon , where the

o f m a niﬁ cence pageantry was a real expression power and g ,

r m and not a tawd y ockery, as that which now disgraces the city o f London once a year . Froissart describes the f n riding o Henry IV . to his coronation . The e try of his i llustrious son into London after the battle of Agincourt

was another of these remarkable ridings . This , which was

’ a o f Caxto n s an occ sion real enthusiasm , took place in 1 4 32 childhood . But in , when he is held to have been an

hi s b o I . apprentice , the y king , Henry V , upon return from o f e being crowned King Franc , entered London with a m ag ni ﬁ cence whi ch chr oniclers and poets have vied in

recording . Robert Fabyan , an alderman of London , who II wrote in the reign of Henry V . , describes this ceremonial with such an admiration o f the pomp as only o ne could be

supposed to feel who was born , as Chaucer says ,

To s d l n he da s itten in a guil hal o t i .

To look forward to such occasions o f pomp was a s a tis fa c

tion to the people, who knew nothing of the real workings

3 A 6 . R WILLI M CAXTON [CHA II .

o f letters missive the king in the common idiom .

o ur Great writers had arisen in native tongue , with whose productions the nobler and wealthier classes a t any rate were familiar . The very greatest of these ,

— o ur the greatest name even now in literature, with o ne — exception , must have furnished employment to hun dreds o f transcribers . The poems of Geoffrey Chaucer

- were familiar to all well educated men , however scanty o f was the supply copies and dear their cost . That Caxton himself was acquainte d in his youth with these great works we cannot have a doubt . When it became his for tuna te o f lot to multiply editions the Canterbury Tales , and to render them accessible to a much larger class of the people than in the days when he himself ﬁr s t knew the

and solace the delight of literature , he applied himself to

the the task with all earnestness of an early love . In his preface to the second edition o f the Canterbury Tales he thus delivers himself, with more than common enthusiasm

Great thanks , laud , and honour ought to be given unto

hi sto ri o ra hs the clerks , poets , and g p that have written many noble books of wisdom of the lives , passions , and

o f o f o f miracles holy saints , histories , noble and famous

o f acts and faits [deeds], and the chronicles sith [since] the beginning o f the creation o f the world unto this present time by which we are daily informed and have know

o f o f ledge many things , whom we should not have known if they had not left to us their monuments written . Amongst to whom , and in especial before all other , we ought give a singular laud unto that noble and great philosopher ff Geo rey Chaucer, the which , for his ornate writing in our o f tongue , may well have the name a laureat poet . For

he l o rna te d before that , by his labour, embel ished , , and

o ur l made fair Eng ish , in this royaume [kingdom] was n u had rude speech and incongrue [inco gr ous] , as yet it R P IL . 37 C A . ] CHAUCER

o ld no t to appeareth by books , which at this day ought have place no r be compared among no r to his beauteous

s ri volume and ornate w tings , of whom he made many o f books and treatises many a noble history, as well in metre as in rhyme and prose and them so craftily made ,

o e hi s that he c mprehend d matters in short , quick , and w i high sentences ; esche ng prolixity, casting away the

f o f s u er ﬂui t i cha f p y, and shew ng the picked grain of sen ”

e e e . t nc , utter d by crafty and sugared eloquence Again , in ’ hi s o f edition Chaucer s Book of Fame he says , Which to work , as me seemeth , is craftily made , and worthy be written and kno w n : fo r he toucheth in it right great w isdom and subtle understandi ng ; and so in all hi s works he excelleth i n mine opinion a ll other w rite rs in our

hi s e English ; for he writeth no void words , but all matt r

o f i n to is full h gh and quick sente ce , to whom ought be n given la d and praising for his noble making and writing .

Fo r o f all him all other have borrowed sith , and taken in ” their well saying and writing . There is another passage in the se cond edition o f the Canterbury Tales which we ’ e Ca xto n s quot here , not for the purpose of showing honour

a s ub s e able ch racter as a printer , for that belongs to a b ut i o ut s o f C quent period , to po nt that manuscript haucer

were in private hands , varying indeed in their text , as books must have varied tha t were produced by different

b o f e transcri ers , but still keeping up the fame the po t, and highly valued by their possessors : Of which book s o o ne to incorrect was brought me six year passed , which

c a I supposed had been very true and corre t , and ccording

the o f to same I did imprint a certain number them , which anon were sold to many and divers ge ntlemen : o f o ne whom gentleman came to me , and said that this book was not according in many places unto the book that '

G eo ﬁ re . y Chaucer had made To whom I answered , that

I had made it according to my copy , and by me was A . 38 WILLI M CAXTON [CH A R II .

nothing added nor diminished . Then he said he knew a

ha d book which his father and much loved , that was very u ﬁ rs t true , and according nto his own book by him made and said more , if I would imprint it again , he would get

i t he me the same book for a copy . How be , wist well

no t i t his father would gladly part from ; to whom I said ,

r in case that he could get me such a book t ue and correct, that I would once endeavour me to imprint it again , for to satisfy the author : whereas before by ignorance I erred in hurting and defaming his book in divers places , in n setting in some things that he ever said nor made , and leaving out many things that he made which are requisite i n b e to be set . And thus we fell at accord ; and full

o f gently got me his father the said book , and delivered ” it to me, by which I have corrected my book . There was another poet of considerable popularity who o f was contemporary with Chaucer . With the works

Gower, Caxton must have been familiar . His principal ’ 1 4 83 poem , Confessio Amautis , was printed by Caxton in , and is said to have been the most extensively circulated of l all the books that came from his press . The poem is fu l of stories that were probably common to all Europe , running o n ﬂ uenc through thousands of lines with wonderful y , “ ” but little force . H e was called the moral Grower by o f Chaucer . The play Pericles , ascribed to Shakspere , is o ne o f w founded upon these stories . Grower himself sho s us what was the general course of reading in those days :

u o ft m e a e so F ll ti it f ll th , Mine ear with a good pittance I s fed o f ead n o f o m ance r i g r , O f I do ne and o f madas y , A , * ' a w o m we ren i n m cas e Th t hil t y , A nd eke o f o e r m an a sco re th y , a lo veden o n r Th t i l g e e I wa s bo re .

Fo nm erl . We e . Lo ed Bo rn. y 1 r I v . W 39 H IL G . O AP . ] O ER

ﬁ e rce The romances of chivalry , the stories of wars and ” h u fait f l loves , were especially the delight of the great

o . a and p werful When the noble was in c mp , he solaced hi s hours of leisure wi th the marvellous histories o f King

Arthur or Launcelot of the Lake ; and when at home , he listened to o r read the same stories in the intervals o f the w n chase o r the feast . Froissart tells in his o simple and graphic manner how he presented a book to King Richard

o f the Second , and how the king delighted in the subject “ the book : Then the king desired to see my book that so s a w I had brought for him ; he it in his chamber, for n I had laid it there ready o his bed . When the king i t him l opened , it pleased well , for it was fair i lumined and written , and covered with crimson velvet , with ten t o f o f but ons silver and gilt , and roses gold in the midst , with two great clasps , gilt , richly wrought . Then the king demanded me whereof it treated , and I showed him

o f how it treated matters love , whereof the king was glad , in i t and looked , and read it in many places , for he could

s speak and read French very well . Froi sart was a Frenchman and wrote in French ; but even Englishmen ’ o f w a wrote in French at that period , and some Go er s e rly poems are in French . According to his own account , the ’ o f A m antis long poem the Confessio , which was written i n English , was executed at the command of the same King Richard

H e a s char e o m e la d h th thi g up n i , A nd had m e do m us ness y b i , That to his high wo rthines s So m e ne w n s o u d o o thi g I h l b k , a he im se m oo Th t h lf it ight l k , ” e the o m o f m wr n Aft r f r y iti g . Chaucer and Gower lived some time before the period ’ s i n o f Ga ton s youth London . But there was a poet very 4 A C R . 0 WILLI M CAXTON . [ HA II

s popular in his day, whom he can carcely have avoided having seen playing a conspicuous part in the high city

d o f festivals . This was John Ly gate , monk Bury , who thus describes him self

am a m o n m o e ss o n I k by y pr f i , O f u ca led Jo n L d a e m nam B ry, l h y g t by y e, A nd we a a o f e ec o n r a h bit p rf ti ,

Altho ugh m y life a gree no t w ith the sam e .

’ Thomas VVarto n has thus exhibited the nature o f his genius : No poet seems to have possessed a greater

H e versatility of talents . moves with equal ease in every m d mode of composition . His hy ns and his balla s have the same deg ree of merit and whether his subject be the

o f o r o f life a hermit a hero , Saint Austin or Guy Earl of

u l s Warwick, ludicro s or egendary, relig iou or romantic , a history or an allegory , he writes with facility . His tran s iti o ns were rapid from works o f the mos t serious and laborious kind to sallies o f levity and pieces o f popular f . o entertainment His muse was universal access , and he

l o f o f was not on y the poet his monastery , but the world in general . If a disguising was intended by the company o f a goldsmiths , a mask before his m jesty at Eltham , a May ' s heri ﬂs d o f game for the and al ermen London , a mumming

before the lord mayor , a procession of pageants from the

a i fo r cre tion for the festival of Corpus Christ , or a carol a ” e coronation , Lydgate was consulted and gave the po try . ’ A ﬁ ne illuminated dr awing in o ne o f Lydg ate s manu scripts , now in the British Museum , represents him pre a senting a book to the Earl o f Salisbury . Such presen ta ti o n may be regarded as the ﬁ rs t publication o f a new

o work . The royal r noble person at whose command it m t u was written bestowed so e rich gif pon the author ,

s he which would be his sole pecuniary recompense , unle s

fo r the received some advantage from the transcribers , I L DG 4 1 R P . I Y C A ] ATE .

i copies wh ch they multiplied . Doubtful as the rewards of authorship may be when the multiplication o f copies by the press enables each reader to contrib ute a small acknow

o f b ene ﬁt ledgment the which he receives , the literary condition must have been far worse when the poet , humbly kneeling before some mighty man , as Lydgate does in the

L d a e rese nti n a b o o k to the Earl l r y g t p g “Sa is b u y .

e o r picture , might have been dismiss d with contumely , hi s pres ent received with a lo w appreciation of the lab our n i t Th . e and the k owledge required to produce fame , o f however , a popular writer reached his ears in a far more direct and ﬂatteri ng manner than belongs to the r o o f o d s litera y h nours m dern ay . The re can be little n 4 2 A Ca m . WILLI MCAXTON . [ doubt that the narrative poems o f Chaucer and Gower and Lydgate were familiar to the people through the

A n o n recitations of the minstrels . agreeable writer the

s Mr Ri e and Progress of English Poetry , . George Ellis , says , Chaucer , in his address to his Troilus and Cressida , ’ us o r tells it was intended to be read elles sung , which f must relate to the chanting recitation o the minstrels, and a considerable part o f o ur old poetry is simply

o f . addressed to an audience , without any mention readers That o ur English mi nstrels at any time united all the o f talents the profession , and were at once poets and reciters and musicians, is extremely doubtful ; but that

’ they excited and directed the - e ﬁ o rts o f their contemporary o f poets to a particular species composition , is as evident as that a body of actors must i nﬂuence the exertions o f

r theatrical w iters . They were, at a time when reading and writing were rare accomplishments , the principal medium o f comm unication between authors and the public ; and their memory in some measure supplied

deﬁ ci enc o f the y manuscripts , and probably preserved m uch o f o ur early literature till the invention of print ” ing . We may thus learn , that , although the number o f those was very few whose minds by reading could be lifted out of the grovelling thoughts and pe tty cares o f

- o f every day life, yet that the compositions learned and accomplished men , who still hold a high rank in our literature, might be familiar to the people through the f agency o a numerous body of singers or reciters . There ha s been a goo d deal of controversy about the exact — deﬁ ni ti o n of the minstrel character whether the min s trels t - were hemselves poets and romance writers , or the depositaries o f the writings of others and o f the tra di ti o nal R literature of past generations . itson , a writer

e s a upon this subj ct, say , that there were individu ls

4 4 A C WILLI M CAXTON . [ HAR II . t hey never grumble ; if you are ignorant , they cannot ” m laugh at you . One of the later minstrels , to who is b ascri ed the preservation , and by some the composition , of the old ballad of Chevy Chase , thus humbles himself in a most unpoetical and undig niﬁ ed manner to those who fed hi m for his services

N o w fo r the go o d cheer that I have had here ve o u e a ha n s wi o w n o f m s an s I gi y h rty t k th b i g y h k , Desiri ng yo u b y petitio n to grant m e such co m m i ss no n — B e cause m y nam e i s S heale tha t bo th fo r m ea t a nd m ea l To o u m a es o r so m e m e fo r m f r y I y r t ti m y co o t . Fo r erce ve ere a t all m es i s o o d c e e I p i h ti g h r , o ale w ne and ee r as i t do no w a ea B th , i , b , th pp r ; e ce e w o u a e e e e a o o d a b e I p r iv . ith t f bl , y k p g t l . can b e co n e n b e o ut o f Len I t t, if it t, A e ce o f e e to a e m un e to as a e pi b f t k , y h g r l k ; o h m n n i s o d f S B t utto a d veal g o o r Ri cha rd heal s . o u o o so ra ve were a er a e Th gh I l k g , I v y kn v w o d n sco rn e t er e en n o r m o rn If I ul thi k , i h v i g , e n in un er o f re s h s a m o n o r co n a B i g h g , f l g r. I can ﬁ nd i n m y heart w ith m y fr ie nds to t ake a part O f s uc as G d se nd and n h o shall : thus I m ak e an e d. N o w a re we o o d m ne o s an o u fo r o co s , f ll , g i h t ; I th k y y ur t, ” n l m e a nd u d nd m no e s o e r m e . U ti a th r ti , th I y hy

- o r - But even such a humiliated ballad maker , ballad singer , Sheale as poor old Richard , was the depositary of treasures

ul ﬁ ctio n of pop ar , many of which have utterly perished , b ut o f which a great portion of those which are still pre

ﬁ ne re d . served are delightful even to the most reader For, corrupted as they are by transmission from mouth to mouth through several centuries , they are full of high and generous sentiments , of deep pathos , of quiet humour they carry us b ack into a state o f society wholly different m o w n and fro our , when knowledge was indeed scanty,

a tfe c riches not very plentiful , but when the feelings and tions were no t so wholly under the direction of worldly 4 5 C L L . R . AP . II ) NATIONA ITERATURE

wisdom , and men were brave and loving , and women

co nﬁ di n o f tender and g , with something more earnestness than belongs to the discreeter arrangements of modern i n n to so cial l fe . The minstrels had i deed somethi g call f Fo r u p the tear o r the smile in every class o auditor .

the earls and barons , the knights and squires , there were

an d romances songs of chivalrous daring, such as moved

o f i the noble heart Sir Ph lip Sidney , even in the days when the mi nstrel was a poor despised wanderer : I s it di s lease th i the Lyric that most p , who, w th his tuned lyre

- and well accorded voice , giveth praise , the reward of virtue , to virtuous acts ? who giveth moral precepts and natural ' problem s ? who sometimes rais eth up his voice to the

o f a height the heavens , in singing the lauds of the immort l

? o w n God Certainly I must confess mine barbarousness , o f I never heard the old song Percy and Douglas , that I

found not my heart moved more than with a trumpet , and no h yet it is sung but by some blind crowder, with roug er ” Fo r o f voice than rude style . those meaner sort there

o f i were the ballads Rob n Hood , of whom the foolish

vulgar make lewd entertainment , and are delighted to hear the jesters and minstrels sing them above all other ” So i o f ballads . wrote a Scottish h storian in the middle

the fourteenth century . We have thus b ri e ﬂy recapitulated the popular modes

‘ o f acquiring something o f a literary taste i n the ea rly

o f W . di fﬁ cult days illiam Caxton Books were rare , and

to be obtained except by the wealthy . The drama did

i . not ex st The preachers , indeed , were not afraid to address an indiscriminate audience with the conviction

that , although the majority were unlettered , they had

a nd ( r vig orous understandings , lid not requi e the great truths of reli gion and o f private and of social duty to be i u n adapted to any ntellect al weakness or i ﬁ rm i ty . The R . 4 6 WILLIAM CAXTON . [CHA II

national poetry , which was heard at the high festivals of the city traders , and even descended to as lowly a pcpu la ri ty as that of the village circle upon the ale - bench under ’ i o f the spread ng elm on a summer s eve, had no essentials

r vulgarity o childishness , such as in later days have been thought necessary for general comprehension . We were

and ~ et ever a thoughtful people , a reasoning people , y a o f A people strong passions and unconquerable energy .

w as popular literature kept alive and preserved , however imperfectly, before the press came to make those who had learnt to read self- dependent in their intellectual g rati ﬁ cations ; and what has come down to us o f the o ld min s trels c y , with all its inaccuracy and oc asional feebleness , us o f ﬁ ve shows that the people England , four or centuries o f ago , had a common fund high thought upon which a great literature might in time be reared . The very existence of a poet like Chaucer is the best proof of the vigour, and to a certain extent of the cultivation , of the national mind , even in an age when books were rarities . CR . . D 4 7 AP III ] CAXTON ABROA .

III CHAPTER .

— ’ — CAX TON ABROAD OAKTON S ME RCANTILE PURSUITS REST RICTIONS ON — ’ — ’ TBA D E O AKTON S COMMISSION ME RCH ANTS MA BKS ﬁ BEG IN NI NGS O F — — — - — P RINTI NG P LAY ING CA RDS WOOD ENG RAVIN G BLOCK BOOKB MOV ’ ABLE TYPES GUTTENBERG GUTTENBER G S STATUE FESTIVAL A T ENT" M .

BERT L A R GE the O , master of Caxton , became o o f 1 4 3 —4 0 H L rd Mayor London in 9 . e died 1 4 4 1 o f in . That he was a man considerable substance appears by the record of his bequests ' “ o f : in Stow s Survey London Robert Large , 1 4 4 0 St mercer, mayor , gave to his parish church of . Olave , ’

St. t in Surrey , two hundred pounds ; to Margare s , in

- ﬁ ve to Lothbury, twenty pounds the poor, twenty pounds

d - o ne to Lon on bridge , hundred marks towards the vault i n tw o g over the watercourse of Walbrook , hundred ’ marks ; to poor maids marriages , one hundred marks to o ne B poor householders , hundred y his last i w ll he bequeathed to his servant , William Caxton , twenty

s mark , a considerable sum in those days . From this u period it wo ld seem that Caxton resided abroad . In the

ﬁ rs t Re cu ell o f H i s to r book he translated , the y the yes o f ’ h to “ Troye , w ich bears u pon the title have been ended

ﬁ nis hed and in the holy city of Cologne , the l g th day o f o f o ne September , the year our Lord thousand , four ” “ hundred , sixty, and eleven , he says , I have continued by the space o f thirty year fo r the most part in the

“ W e e e e e a the o f S o w St. a e i n S urre i s a b li v th t t xt t , Ol v y, “ ” — m s a e fo r S t. a e in Jewr fo r o e r L r i t k Ol v y, R b t a ge w as buried i n

S t. a e in the Je w w e e a a ed s o ne i n the ro n Ol v ry, h r pl t t g u d, i n the so a s e eco rde d his dea o n the 24 th o f l 1 1 uth i l , r th Apri , 4 4 . R . 4 8 WILLIAM CAXTON . [CHA III

"a d countries of Brabant , Flanders , Holland , and eal n .

The Rev . John Lewis , who wrote the Life of Master “ I t William Caxton , about a century ago, says , has been guessed that he w as abroad as a travelling agent o r factor

o f for the Company Mercers , and employed by them in the ” business of merchandise . Oldys adds , but certainly with o ut t any authority, It is agreed on by hose writers who have best acquainted themselves with his story , he was deputed and intrusted by the Mercers’ Company to be

r " o &c . their agent factor in Holland , ealand , Flanders , , d to establish and enlarge their correspon ents, negociate

o ur o f the consumption of own , and importation foreign

n o f ma ufactures , and otherwise promote the advantage ” a the said corporation in their respective merch ndise . d m k This , in eed , was a goodly commission , if we can a e o ut —an m that he ever received such , employ ent which seems to speak of free and liberal intercourse between two h countries , each requiring the commodities of the ot er, and co nducti ng their interchange upon the sound principles o f u enco raging mutual consumption , and thus producing

ro ﬁ t. m a mutual p Doubtless , we y believe , upon a super ’ ﬁ i al o f c view the matter , that the agent of the Mercers Company was conducting his operations with the full

o f the authority the government at home , and with hearty

o f support the rulers of the land in which he so long lived .

o f The real fact is , that for twenty those years in which Caxton describes himself as residing in the countries of " an Brabant , Holland , and ealand , there was absolute prohibition o n both sides o f all commercial intercourse n between E gland and the Duchy of Burgundy , to which those countries were subject ; and for nearly the whole

‘ s uﬂe red period , no English goods were to pass to the continent , except through the town of Calais ; and in ” ” If France , says Caxton , I was never . Caxton had any ’ 4 C . II I AX T CO O 9 RAP ] C ON S MMISSI N .

w as mercantile employment at all from his Company , it , in

all fo r o f ﬁ ndi n n probability , the purpose g chan els in trade that wer e close d up by the blind po licy o f the respective s H e government . could not have conducted any mercantile

s o f operation in tho e countries , except in violation the absurd commercial laws which would no t allow the people to e o wn t o w n s ek their in erest in their way . It is by no

o f means improbable , however, that by the connivance the royal personages who wanted for themselves rich co m m o di ti es which they could only obtain by that exchange

\Villiam which they denied their subjects , Caxton was

in truth an accredited smuggler fo r law- makers who a t

d to o f tempte limit the wants , and the means satisfying o f e to the wants , the people they governed , in deferenc the prejudices of those who thought that trade could only

exist under a system of the most stringent prohibition .

s u While Edward the Fourth , and Charle the Good , D ke o f i Burgundy, were launch ng against each other ordinance and enactment to prevent their subjects becoming e n

e o f chang rs for the better supply their respective wants , some politic understanding be tween these princes led t them eventually to adopt a wiser system . It is pre ty a a t o ne o f e cle r th t William Cax on was the ag nts , and a o ne to principal , in putting an end a policy which the ” o f a m Duke Burgundy s id was ever ore to endure . In 1 4 64 Edward the Fourth issued a co m m i ssi o n to his trusty

- . e l e t l x and w l b loved Richard Whi ehill and Wi liam Ca ton ,

to be his especial ambassadors , procurators , nuncios, and deputies to his most dear cousin the Duke o f Burgun dy for the purpose o f conﬁ rm i ng an existing treaty o f co rn s r fo r m e o r o ne . 1 4 merc , , if nece sa y , aking a new In 6 6 , o 1 4 64 this commission being dated in Oct ber , a treaty

was concluded with the Duke of Burgundy; by which the e e n commerc b tween his dominio s and Eng land , which E 5 0 A C R . WILLI M CAXTON . [ HA III

t e had been interrupted for twenty years , was res or d and a port o f Flanders was subsequently appointed to be a o f port the English staple , as well as Calais . It is pleasant to us to believe that this extension o f a principle which must eventually bind all nations in a common brother ~ hood was e ffected by the good sense of a mercer o f London ; who was afterwards to bestow upon his country the blessings o f an art which has bee n the great instrument o ’ of that c untry s progress in real greatness and prosp erity , and before which all impediments to the continued course

—all s t her o w n of that prosperity prejudices among children , o f or amongst other peoples , that make the great family m mankind aliens and enemies, and keep them fro the enjoyment of the advantages which each might besto w

— to us upon the other will utterly perish . It is pleasant

ﬁ rs t to believe that William Caxton , the English printer , in his day Opened the ports o f one great trading co m he munity to another great trading community . When , ’ m ’ the mercer s apprentice , stamped the erchant s mark ’ l w upon his master s ba es , he kne not , he could not have

o f divined , that by this process stamping , carried forward

the o f by ingenuity many men into a new art, there would arise consequences which would change the face of the

H e he world . could not imagine that , whose education

n and had co sisted in learning to buy wool measure cloth ,

the hi s should , by natural course of commercial life , be thrown into a society w her e a great wonder was to ﬁ ll — the minds of all men with astonishment the multiplica

o f ne w and tion manuscripts by some secret process , as if by magic and which some men , and he probably amongst m the number, ust have regarded with a higher feeling — than wonder , with something like that prophetic view of its consequences which have been describ ed by the novelist , who, perhaps more than any man , has employed

5 2 A C A R . WILLI M CAXTON . [ H III

- l o r cards o n working days . The ear iest cards were

t o f probably pain ed by means a stencil , by which name we call a piece o f pasteboard o r plate of thin metal pierced ﬁ ure with apertures , by which a g is formed upon paper or o ther substance beneath it when ﬂui d colour is smeared

‘ l co n over its surface with a brush . But it has a so been

ectured i o f j , from their be ng in the hands the working s p eople , that their cheapne s must have been produced by

some rude applicati on o f a wood - engraving to form the ﬁ lle d u outline which the stencilling process p with colour . There can be no doubt that cards we re p rinted before the

t nci m ents Block and S e l I nstru .

m i ddle of the ﬁ fteenth century ; for ther e a petition

« a ainters to t a ext nt from the Venetian p heir m gistracy ,

‘ 1 4 4 1 e h the r o f a dated , s tting forth t at art and myste y c rd

m rintin ﬁ ures aking and of p g g , which were practised in c ’l o the a Veni e , had fal en into total decay, thr ugh gre t

q uantity o f for ei gn playi ng - car ds and coloured printe d n u b g res which were rought into the city . The Germans

were the great cavrd- makers «o f this p eri od ; and the name

— ‘ b w h a o s c l y hic w od engraver is till a led in Germany ,

’ Formechneider ﬁ ur e - c e c o , meaning g utt r , oc urs in the t wn b k of 1 4 4 1 oo s Nuremberg as early as . Some of the ea rly c a s e r — rd w re very rude . He e is the Knave o f Bells for CR AY - D 5 3 I II . P CAR . AP . ] L ING S

a s the sp de , diamonds , hearts , and clubs were not then il o f universal symbols . Others called forth the sk l very

h w e r clever artists , suc as he who is kno n as the Mast o f whose knave is a much more human knave than t the traditionary wor hy whom we look upon to this hour .

n fo r Whe Caxton , therefore , was abroad thirty years , he

Kna ve o f Bells . would unquestionably have seen every variety of these o f m painted bits paper ; some rich with cri son and purple, t t o n n of entimes pain ed a golden ground , and calli g forth , k s i ar t o f li e the mis als , the h ghest the limner ; others e e impr ss d with a rude outline , and daubed by the stenciller . o f It appears that the impressions the engraved cards , as

as o f s o f b lo ok- r s well mo t the earlier p int , were taken Cm . I I I . 5 4 WILLIAM CAXTON . (

i v 011 by friction . This is the mode by wh ch , e en at the

da - n t o ff i m present y, wood e gravers ake the specimen press ions o f their works called proofs . The Chinese pro

- m a duce their block books i n a si il r manner, without the aid o f a press . o f n But there was another application e graved blocks , about the same period, which was approaching still nearer o f to the art of printing . The representations saints and

n v Me r 4 K a e, o f as t o f 1 66 .

of scriptural histories , which the limners in the monasteries had for several centuries been painting in their missals and n h bibles , were copied in outline ; and bei g divested of t eir ﬁ ures d brilliant colours and rich gilding, presented g excee i n l o f g y rude in their want proportion , and grotesque in w their constrained and violent attitudes . But they ere nevertheless hi ghly popular ; and as the pictures were a e few ccompani d with a sentences from Scripture , they - C . L K K 5 3 P . OC OO RA III ] B B S . probably supplied the ﬁ rs t inducement to the laity to learn to f o f read, and thus prepared the way for that di fusion knowledge which was to accompany the invention of i n pr nti g from movable types . In the collection of Earl

‘ S v er c uri o us - pencer there is a y print from a wood block ,

i . represent ng St. Christopher carrying the Infant Saviour

1 4 23 no t This print bears the date . It is probably the earliest specimen of the art ; but it is the earliest undoubted document which determines with precision the period when wood - e ngraving was generally applied to objects o f devo t d ion . In a very few years from the ate of this print the — art was carried onward to a more important object, that o f o o producing a b k.

Several of such books are now in existence , and are

- o f i s known as block books . One them commonly called

‘ ’ P au erum o f i n Biblia p , the Bible the Poor . But an eni o us o n o f g writer the progress woodcuttinMg , in the valuable book o n that subject published by r. John s Jack on , has shown very clearly that this was not the original title of the book ; and he adds th at it was rather a book for the use o f preachers than the laity A series o f skeleto n sermons ornamented with woodcuts to warm ’ the preacher s imagination , and stored with texts to assist ” m s o f his emory . This very rare book consi ts forty leaves o f o f small folio, each which contains a cut in wood , with

s extracts from the Scriptures , and other illustrative sen

Of - the tenoes . other block books most remarkable is ‘ ’ M Saluti s o f . called Speculum , the irror Salvation In this performance the explanations of the text are much ’ au r m fuller than in the Biblia P p e u . In addition to these d works , woo en blocks were also used to print small

o f D o na tus es u manuals grammar, called , which were sed f in s chools . We present a facsimile o a woodcut from o ne

- of the early block books . A 1 u 11 . 5 6 WILLI M CAXTON . [c m

’ The Wise Men s fferin . O g

The use of carved blocks for the multiplication o f copies o f playing - cards and devotional pictures gave birth to a ff ff principle which has e ected , and is still e ecting , the most ’ 5 II I . ABLE Y 7 CR . M P AP ] OV T ES .

n important cha ges in the world . These devotional pictures had short legends or texts attached to them and when a text to e l had be print d , it was engraved in a solid piece , as we l

ﬁ rs t as the picture . The pe rson who seized upon the idea that the text or legend might be composed o f separate letters

capable o f re - arrangement after the impressions were taken o ff , so as to be applied , without new cutting, to other texts hi and legends , had secured the principle upon w ch the

printing art was to depend . It was easy to extend the

fe w i s principle from a l ne to a whole page , and from one

to s page to many, so as form a book ; but then were een the great labour and expense of cutting so many separate

m l o r m etaI letters upon s a l pieces of wood , and another step w as required to b e made before the principle was hl thoroug y worked out . This step consisted in the ready mul tiplication o f the separate letters by ca sting metal in

l . s n d s o f mou ds La tly , i stea of u ing the old Chinese mode

to e ress to e ; friction produce impr ssions , a p was be p rfected All these gra dations were undoubtedly the result of long

i o n e and patient exper ments carried by s veral individuals , who each saw the importance of the notion they were to ut labouring work o . It is this circumstance which has given ris e to inte rminable controversies as to the inventors o f n l t f printi g , some c aiming the honour for Cos er o

o f Haarlem , and some for Guttenberg Mentz ; and , as is

a a ll e m an usu l in such disput s , it was represented that the to whom publi c opinion had assigned the credit o f the i n ventio n had stolen it from another, who , as is also us ual s o f in these case , thought it in a dream , or received it by l some other mysterious reve ation . The general consent o f

s s to t e ‘ Europe now as ign the chief honour Gut enb rg . u u o f 1 837 a D ring the s mmer a st tue of John Guttenberg ,

r t o r by Thorwaldsen , was e ec ed at Mentz (Mayence) , and See end App ix A . r 0 8 WILLIAM CA XTON . [CHAR III . o n the 1 4 th o f August and the fo llo w i ng days a festival o f was held there, upon the occasion the inauguration of the ht monument . Abundant evidence has been broug forward o f late years to show that Guttenberg dese rves all the

o f honours having conceived , and in g reat part perfected , an art which has produced the most signal effects upon the A t o f t o f . des inies mankind that festival Mentz , at which

s all o f many hundred persons were as embled , from parts

to do to o f a Europe , honour the inventor printing, no riv l pretensions were put forward although many o f the co m patriots o f Coster o f Haarlem were present . The ﬁ ne statue o f Guttenberg was opened amidst an universal r f h bu st o ent usiasm . Never were the shouts of a vast multitude raised o n a more elevating occasion ; never w ere the triumphs o f intellect celebrated with greater fervour . Pa ssing his life amidst the ceaseless activity that belongs

o f o f to the commerce literature in London , the writer this volu m e felt no common interest in the enthusiasm which the fes tival in honour o f Guttenberg called forth through o ut Germany ; and he determined to attend that celebra

ﬁ ne tion . The statue which was to be opened to public view o n the 1 4 th o f August had been erected by a general subscription , to which all Europe was invited to contribute .

We apprehend that the English , amidst the incessant claims upon their attention for the support o f all sorts o f

o f o r undertakings , whether a national individual cha racter o f s , had known little the purpo e which the good citizens o f Mentz had been advoca ting with unabated zeal for several years and perhaps the object itself was not calculated to call forth any very great liberality o n the part o f those w ho are often directed in their bounties as o w n much by fashion as by their convictions . Thus it

Out o f is that we have monuments number to warriors .

C R . 60 WILLIAM CAXTON . [ HA III opened on Monday the 1 4 th ; but on the Sunday evening the name o f Guttenberg was rife through all the streets . ’ In the morning all Mentz was in motion by six o clock ; the e and at eight a procession was formed to Cath dral , no t o f which , if it was much more imposing than some the o f processions trades in London and other cities , was conducted with a quiet precision which evidenced that‘ the

ﬁ ne people felt they were engaged in a solemn act . The old Cathedral was crowded ; the Bishop o f Mentz per ~ formed high Mass ; the ﬁ rs t Bible printed by Guttenberg

d fi eld reflecti o n - was i"splayed . What a for was here fi rs t Opened The Bible , in connection with the imposing a — page ntries of Roman Catholicism the Bible , in great part a sealed book to the body o f the people ; the service of God in a tongue unknown to the larger number o f wor shi ppers but that fi rst Bible the germ o f millions o f Bibles that ha ve spread the light o f Christianity thr ough o ut all " the habitable globe The Mass ended , the pro s a ces ion again advanced to the djacent square , where the

a s st tue was to be opened . Here was erected a va t amphi

W e s theatre, here , s ated under their re pective banners , were deputations from all the great cities of Europe . Amidst

o f the salvos artillery veil was removed from the statue, n and a hymn was sung by a thousand voices . The came — — — - orations then dinners halls o ratorios boat races processions by torchlight . For three days the population o f Mentz was kept in a state o f hi gh excitement and the o f — echo the excitement went through Germany , and e " " Gutt nberg Guttenberg was toasted in many a bumper of Rhenish wine amidst this cordial and enthus iastic people . i n o f e And , ndeed , even in o e who could not boast b long t ing to the land in which printing was inven ed, the l ff n i universa ity of the mighty e ects of this art, whe r ghtly A T " 6 1 C . S V L M . RA P . III ] FE TI A ENT

l l enthu considered , wou d produce a most a corresponding s i as di fﬁ cul t r m . It is to look upon the g eat changes that ' e ﬁ ecte d have been during the last four centuries , and

us which are still in progress everywhere around , and not connect them wi th printi ng and with its inventor . The

o n castles the Rhine , under whose ruins we travelled back the n from Mentz , perished before powerful combinatio s of o f the n e d the people tow s . The p tty feu al despots fell , i a when the burghers had acqu red we lth and knowledge . But the progress o f despotism upon a larger scale coul d not have been arreste d had the art o f Guttenberg no t been

c o f dis overed . The strongholds military power still

The frown over the same majestic river. Rhine has seen — i ts pretty fortress es crumble into decay Ehrenbreitstein is more strong than ever . But even Ehrenbreitstein Will fall before the power o f mind . The Rhine is crowded i w th steamboats , where the feudal lord once levied tribute upon the frail bark o f the ﬁ sherm a n ; and the approaches to h r G the R ine f om all ermany , and from France and

c s o f s Belgium , have be ome a great serie railroad . Such communi cations will make war a game much more di ﬂi cult to a l i z pl y ; and when mankind are thorough y civ li ed , it

il i . e e w l never be played aga n Se ing, then , what int llect has done and is doing , we may well venerate the memory o f Guttenberg of Mentz . 62 W A . C V ILLI M CAXTON [ HAR I .

CHAPTER IV . — — TH E COUR T OF BURGUNDY CAX TON A TRANSLATOR LITERATUR E OF

— — '‘ — C H IVALRY FEUD AL TIMES OA X I O N A T TH E D UCAL COURT D I D PRI T A T B R E —E W R TH E F ITIVE—TH OA X TON N UG S D A D UG E NEW A RT .

HE o f most dear Duke Burgundy, with whom 1 4 64 Caxton was appointed to negotiate in ,

H e was Philip , surnamed the Good . was a

wise and peaceful prince , and honourably w earned his title . We kno no t whether Caxton w as in immediate attendance upon the co urt of Philip from the commencement o f his mission until the death o f the duke in 1 4 6 7 ; but the evidence is s ub s e quently clear that he was about the court in some o ﬂi ce o f trus t after the succession to the dukedom o f the eldest son

haro l o f o f Philip the Count of C o is . The character this prince was entirely oppos ed to that of hi s father and he

l é r e é o . acquired the name of Charles T m raire , the Rash

ﬁ er i nﬂuence This y prince , whose in that warlike age was o o f f perhaps greater than the benignant p wer his ather, was not likely to have looked very favourably upon an envoy from Edward o f England : for he was allied by ’ blood on his mother s side to the house of Lancaster, and was consequently opposed to the fortunes of the house of o f York . The court of Burgundy was the resort of many

o f a ﬂ ed the adherents that unh ppy house , who had from England after many a vain struggle wi th the triumphant

Edward . These fugitives are described by Comines as

a d young gentlemen whose fathers had been slain in Engl n , ' ' I ‘ ‘ 3 m . 6 C VJ CAXTON A TRANSLATOR . whom the Duke of Burgundy had generously entertained hi f a ” s s c . as relations of the hou e L ncaster Comines adds , Some o f them were reduced to s uch extremity o f want a nd i poverty before the Duke of Burgundy rece ved them ,

' that no common beggar could have been in greater ; I o f u b e co n saw one them , who was D ke of Exeter (but ’ ce ale d u his name) , following the Duke of Burg ndy s train

- a - bare foot and b re legged , begging his bread from door to door : this person was the next of the house of Lancaster ’ had married King Edward s sister : and be ing afterwards known , had a small pension allowed him for his subsist f e . o enc There were also some of the family the Somersets , ” f a o . and several others , all them sl in since , in the wars

the i o f o f e hi s But pol cy Charles Burgundy , aft r accession led o f to the dukedom , him to consider the ties ancient friendship as o f far less importance than the strengthening o f his hand by an alliance with the successful house o f

f Ma o r York . Within a year his succession he married garet , sister of Edward IV . Comines says this marriage was principa lly to strengthen his alliance against the o f c i t king Fran e , otherwise he would never have done , ” to h t for the love he bore the ouse of Lancas er . The es tablishment o f Margaret as Duchess of Burgundy gave o f C a direction to the fortunes William axton , and was in all likelihood the proximate cause that he was o ur ﬁ rs t

English printer . Margaret Plantagenet was married to Charles of Bur 3rd 1 4 68 gundy at the city of Bruges , on the of July, . We have the dis tinct evidence o f Caxton that he w a s res iding at Bruges some months previous to the m arriage that he had little to do and that he employed his leisure

Recu ell o f in literary pursuits . In his y the H is to rye s of “ - Troye it is stated i n the title - pa ge, which said trans la ' ' e u i h B r c tion and work was b g n uges , in the ounty of ‘ R . 64 WILLIA M CAX TON . [CHA IV

r ﬁ rst o f the o f I ncar Flande s, the day March , year the ” nation a thousand, four hundred , sixty and eight . The “ p rologue begins as follows : When I remember that every man is bounden by the comm andment and counsel f dl o the wise man to eschew sloth and i eness , which is o f e mother and nourisher vic s , and ought to put myself I unto virtuous occupation and business , then , having no

o r ll great charge occupation , fo owing the said counsel , took a French bo ok and read therein many strange mar

llo us s r a ve hi tories , wherein I had g e t pleasure and delight ,

fo r o f as well the novelty the same , as for the fair language o f co m en the French , which was in prose so well and p di o usl w r y set and itten , methought I understood the o f v sentence and substance e ery matter . And for so much as this bo ok was new and late made and drawn into

o ur French , and never had seen it in English tongue, I thought in myself it should be a good business to translate

i o ur e nd it nto English , to the that it might be had as o f well in the royaume England as in other lands , and fo r to a s e also p s therewith the time, and thus conclud d in

to e myself b g in this said work , and forthwith took pen dl to as and ink , and began bol y run forth , blind Bayard , ” in this present work .

s o f o f Philip de Comines , peaking the prosperity the ’ the o f o f C people at time the accession harles , says , The subjects o f the house o f Burgundy lived at that time in e great pl nty and prosp erity , grew proud and wallowed n f in riches . The expe ses and habits both o women and men were great and extravagant ; their enterta in ments and banquets more profuse and splendid than i n

a o f any other pl ce that I ever saw . The city Bruges o f s ea was then the great seat thi w lth and luxury . The Flemish nobles lived here in mansions o f striking archi c o f s tecture , some tra es which still remain . The merchant V LI OF CH A RY . 65 O u r . [ J TERATURE IV L

n ﬁ n vied wi th the nobles in tasteful m ag i ce ce . The canals o f Bruges were crowded with boats laden with the richest f treasures o distant lands . It was commerce that made

h o f o f the in abitants Bruges , Ghent , and the other great Flem ish towns so rich and powerful ; and the same co m o f art merce was the encourager , which even at this early period displayed its elf amongst a people naturally disposed fo r its cultivation . Charles the Rash destroyed much of

f r this prosperity by his aptitude o war . But in the onset o f his career he fought with all the pom p and graces o f o ld i the o f the ch valry , and his court was seat such m romantic pageantries that John Paston , an English an w ho t t wen over with Margaret of York , wri es , As for ’ o the duke s c urt , as for lords , ladies , and gentlewomen , ni o f k ghts , esquires , and gentlemen , I heard never none ’ ” i to . w like it save King Arthur s court It was here , th ’ o ut o f doubt , that William Caxton , the yeoman s son the ’ o f Weald of Kent , and afterwards the mercer s apprentice i o f the city of London , acqu red that love for the literature chivalry which he displays o n many occasions in his o ﬁi ce f a o translator and printer . Here he made acquaint nces

to t the - fo r that led him the s udy of romance writers , as o f example of a worthy canon whom he writes , Oft times I have been excited o f the ve nerable man Messire Henry Bo lo m er s fo r to y canon of Lau anne , reduce for his pleasure

’ o r as ro m ance a s some hist ies , well in Latin and in in other r fashion w itten ; that is to say , of the right puissant ,

a virtuous , and noble Charles the Gre t, King of France o f so n o f his and Emperor Rome , the great Pepin , and of ” ri p nces and barons , as Rowland , Oliver, and other . His zeal for this species o f literature left him not in hi s latest years for in his translation o f The Book of the Order o f ’ i r hi m 1 4 84 Ch val y , which was printed by about , he rises into abs olute eloquence in his address at the conclusion o f Pi 66 A X T N C . WILLIAM O O . [ HAR I V

“ : e o f E is the volume Oh , y knights ngland, where the custom and usage of noble chivalry that was used in thos e

e o to days What do y now , but g the baynes [baths] and ? A nd no t l play at dice some, we l advised , use not honest o ll f a o . and g od rule , against order knighthood Leave i f t t i o S . this , leave and read the noble volumes Graal ,

o f Tr s tram e Lancelot , of Galaad , of y , of Perse F rest, of

P erc v al o f G aw a n : e see y , y , and many more there shall y

manhood , courtesy , and gentleness . And look in latter o f days the noble acts sith the Conquest, as in King

Co I . III . Richard days , eur de Lion , Edward , and and his

Kno lles J H aw k w o de noble sons , Sir Robert , Sir ohn , Sir

l i ar a B ue t e . John Chandos , and Sir G M nny ead Froissart ;

n V. and also behold that victorious and noble Ki g Harry ,

s hi s o f and the captain under him , noble brethren the earls

o Salisbury , M ntagu , and many other, whose names shine gloriously by their virtuous noblesse and acts that they

o f a . did in the honour the order of chiv lry Alas , what do e y but sleep and take ease, and are all disordered from

Caxton was dazzled , as many others were , wi th the bravery and the generosity o f the chivalric

H e character . did not see the cruelty and pride , the u oppression and injustice, that l rked beneath the glitter

r ing a mour and the velvet mantle . Yet he was amongst those who ﬁ rs t helped to destroy the gross inequality upon i wh ch chivalry was founded , by raising up the middle

classes to the possession o f knowledge . There were

scenes transacting at Bruges , even at the very hour when Margaret o f York came to give her hand to Charles of

Burgundy, that must have shown him what fearful passions were too often the companions o f the coura ge

o f and graces knighthood . A t the mi dsummer o f 1 4 68 Bruges presented a scene o f m ag niﬁ cence that was probably unequalled in those days

8 ' 6 A . C WILLI M CAXTON [ H AR I V.

’ the b r th r o e was in his path . The wretched man fell o n hi s knees , and , clasping his hands , begged for mercy . o ff in Those uplifted hands were cut an instant , and the sword that had been honourably drawn at Montlhery ' an uno ﬁ endin pierced the brea st of g citizen . Such a ’ murder coul d no t pass unnoticed ; and yet the young ma n s

o friends did not doubt that he would g unpunished , for he ’ had committed the crime in his father s lordship . Such crimes were often committed with impunity by the great and the powerful and even the commonalty were un prepared to expect any heavier punishment than a p e un c i ary recompense to the relations o f the murdered man .

The duke , however , had taken his determination . The Bastard o f Condé was held in arrest at the house o f the f f u w as e gatekeeper o the city o Br ges . Charles solicit d o n every side for pardon , and even the relations of the

a a dece sed , having been moved by suit ble presents , suppli cated his release ; but the duke kept the matter in suspense till Bruges was ﬁ lle d with hi s subjects from every part of o f his dominions , and especially with the most powerful

A t the to to his nobles . instant that he was ready depart m eet the Lady Margaret at the neighbouring port o f

Ecluse , he commanded that the young man should be

to taken the common prison , and the next morning led to o f to execution . Even the magistrate the city whom this command was intrusted thought it impossible that the l e duke shou d execute one so highly conn cted , as if he were ' r a common o ﬁ ende . The execution was delayed several hours by the magistrate in the hope that the duke would r relent ; but no respite came . The youth was car ied to d through the city the place of execution , ami st the

o f w ho e . tears the people , forgot his crime in his b auty

H e b a e t . was ehe ded , and his body divid d into four quar ers The Lord o f Condé and his adherents left the city vowing A P . A 9 C . A T D C L 6 R IV ) CAXTON THE U COURT . y en ean g ce . The nobles assembled felt themselves outraged z by this exercise o f absolute power . Even the citi ens attributed the stern decree o f the duke to his indomitable f pride rather than to his love o justice . Such was the prelude to the bridal festivities o f the court o f Burgundy ; o f which one who wrote an especial description in Latin s un says , The never shone upon a more splendid ceremony i ” s nce the creation of the world . There can be ' no doubt that Caxton was in the di rect o f employ Margaret , Duchess of Burgundy . What he has told us himself of his position in her court is far more i nteresting than all the conjectures which hi s biographers H e have exercised upon the matter . was in an honourable

o e co nﬁ dence l . p sition , he was tr ated with , he was gratefu We have already given an extract from the prologue to

‘ ’ Becu ell ~ H i s to r es his y of the y of Troye , which shows when and under what circumstances he com menced the

translation of that work . Remembering his simpleness and unperfectness in the French and English languages

s (which pa sage we have already noticed) , he continues

When all these things came before me , after that I had

ﬁ ve l made and written or six quires , I fel in despair of

i to th s work , and purposed no more have continued there i n u , and the q ires laid apart ; and in two years after u no w l in to labo red more at this ork , and was fu ly will a i t ll o n t h ve left . Ti a time it fortuned tha the right

high , excellent , and right virtuous princess , my right ”— redoubted lady, my Lady Margaret and then he gives her a host of titles sent for me to speak with her good

grace of divers matters , among the which I let her highness have kno w ledge of the aforesaid beginning of this work ; which anon com m anded me to she w the said ﬁ ve o r six to h m quires her said grace . And when she had seen t e ,

de faute i n i h anon she found [fault] mine English , wh c she 7 0 LL M T em p . I v. WI IA CAX ON . t

e commanded me to amend , and moreover command d me straightly [immediately] to continue and make an end o f c o m the residue then not translated . Whose dreadful

no i is e am mandment I durst in w se d obey , becaus I a o f servant unto her said grace , and receive her yearly fee,

b eneﬁ ts and other many good and great , and also hope many more to receive o f her highnes s ; but forthwith went and laboured in the said translation after my simple

and poor cunning , all so nigh as I can following mine

s e o f author , meekly be e ching the bounteous highness my

o f said lady , that her benevolence list to accept and take k k dl ” in gree [ta e in y] this simple and rude work . The picture which Caxton thus presents to us o f his showing ’ his translation with an author s di ﬁi dence to - the dread

c hi s v ful duchess , her riticism of English , and her ery ﬂ attering command that in spite o f all its faults he should ’ o f i Fro i s s art s make an end his work, is as nteresting as account of his literary recreations with Gaston de Foix The acquaintance o f him and o f me was because I had c brought with me a book , which I made at the ontempla o f Wi ncesl aus o f L u tion Bohemia , Duke of uxembo rg and ’ o f Meli ado r Brabant , which work was called , containing all the songs , ballads , rondeaux , and virelays which the i gentle duke had made in th s time , which , by imagination I had gathered together : which book the Count of Foix was glad to see . And every night after supper I read therein to him ; and while I read there was none durst speak any word, because he would I should be well under ” e stood , wherein he took great solace . In both cas s the men of letters were received o n a free and familiar footing

Q o f in the courtly circles . In the case Caxton this was even more honourable to the Lady Margaret , than the welcome which Gaston de Foix gave to the accomplished J r knight Sir ohn F oissart . Caxton had no knightly Gn u . I I D v. ) D CAXTON PRINT A T BRU G ES ? 7 1

honours to recomm end him he w as a plain merchant but he was unques tionably a man o f modesty and i nte lli gence ; he had travelled much ; he was fami liar with the most popul ar literature of hi s day and he desired to extend the knowledge o f it by translations into his native

di fﬁ cult languag e . It is to say what was his exact

f H e employment in the court o the Lady Margaret . was

so to o o ld o f s to mewhat to partake its light amu ements , ’ s o r to mingle in its gallantrie , even prompt my lady s fool o f i with some word w sdom . We have seen that four months before Margaret o f York came to Bruges he had ” o r no great charge occupation , and he undertook the translation o f a considerable work for to pass therewith ”

. n o f the time It has , however, been maintai ed late

years that Caxto n was at this very time a printer . The s i o ne que t on is a curious , and we may bestow a little

i ts m space upon exa ination . ’ Mr . r o f Hallam , in his Literatu e Europe , noticing the o f n progress printing , says that several books were pri ted 1 4 7 0 1 4 7 1 to in Paris in and , adding, But there seem be unques tionable proofs that a still earlier specimen o f is to s e typ ography due an Engli h print r, the famous to Caxton. His Recueil des Histoires de Troye appears

er ri e have be p nt d during the life of Philip , Duke of Bur 15 1 4 6 7 gundy, and consequently before June , . The ’ o f e i d place publication , c rtam with n the uke s do

c . minions , has not been conje tured It is , therefore, by s everal years the earliest printed book in the French

A c s s language . Latin spee h by Rus ell , amba sador of f d . to s o r 1 4 6 9 E ward IV Charle Bu gundy, in , is the next h w publication o f Caxton . T is was also printed in the Lo ” o n Countries . The authority up n which the lear ed and accomplished histori an o f the Middle Ages relies for this Mr D ib di n hi i s o f . T o ra oal statement that , in his yp g p 2 A C R IV. 7 WI LLI M CAXTON . [ HA

’ ‘ o f Antiquities . The French edition the Recueil des ’ o e . Histoires de Tr ye bea rs no printer s name , dat , or place ul le It purports to have been composed by Rao Fevre ,

to i n a 1 4 64 . chaplain Duke Philip de Bourgoyne , the ye r The evidence that thi s book was printed by Caxton was

Mr . summed up by Bryant , and communicated by him to ’ Mr . ﬁ rs t o f Herbert , the editor Ames s Typographical ’

n . Mr D ib din o A tiquities The Rev . . , the sec nd editor , B ’ says that these memoranda of Mr. ryant s clearly prove f it to have been the production o Caxton . The argument rests upon these points : that the French and Englis h ’ editions of Le Fevr e s work have an exact conformity and likeness throughout , for not only the page itself, but the

o f l ad number ines in a page , the length; bre th , and

o f “ al intervals the lines , are ike in both, and the letters ,

o f . great and small , are the same magnitude It cor ’ too o f C i responds with The Game the hess , pr nted by C ” 1 4 74 . axton in England in These considerations , says “ ” Mr . Bryant , seMttle who the printer was . We venture r i to doubt this . . Bryant has himself shown how th s resemblance might be produced between books printed s d hi m by Caxton , and book suppose to be printed by , without Caxton being the actual printer . Mentz was 1 4 62 taken by the Duke of Saxony in the year , and most o f artiﬁ cers J o hn the employed by Fust , the great inventor , were dispersed abroad . I make no doubt but C f axton , who was at no great distance rom Mentz , took thi s Opportunity o f making himself a master of the b mystery , which he had been at much trou le and expense b to o tain . This I imagine he effected by taking into pay ’ fo r some of Fust s servants , and settling them a time at ColoMgne . Of this number probably were Pinson and W nk n . Rood, echlin , Letton , and y y de Worde With o f the help some of these , he printed the book [which D ID ra m r' A T RU G ES ? 7 3 v. em . 1 1 CAXTON B

Wynkyn de Worde says Caxton printed] Bartholomeus ’ ‘ de Prop . Rerum , and the translation of the Recueil

and probably many other books , which , being either in

o ur French or Latin , were not vendible in country, and Of consequently no copies are extant here . all the books

he printed in England , I do not remember above one in f ” a oreign language . The calamity which drove the

m the printers of Mentz from their ho es , storming of the

city by Adolphus of Nassau , would naturally disperse

l . their types , as wel as break up their workshops The

e u un resemblanc between the doubtf l books , and books t t o o f doub edly prin ed by Caxt n , was the resemblance _ types cast in the same matrices ; the spaces between the

lines , as well as the form and magnitude of the letters , were produced b y the letters being cast in the same e mould . The resemblance would have b en equally pro duce d whether the types were used by one and the same n pri ter, or by two printers . The typographical anti quari ans say that the same types are used in the French ’ and English works o f L e Fevre and in Ca xto n s Game of ’ Mr r Chess ; and . Herbe t adds , that the types are the ' Scho cﬁ e r same as those used by Fust and , the partners of

s ufﬁ ci ent Guttenberg . If the resemblance of types were

n Fnet to determi e the printer of two or more books , then and Scho e ffe r ought to be called the printers o f the French ’ ‘ l Recueil , as we l as of the English translation which

a i Caxton s ys he pr nted at Cologne . There can be little

C t to Co lo ne o 1 doubt that, when ax on went g t be a p inter 1 4 1 s i n 7 , he became posse sed of the types and matrices

L e Fe v xe with which he printed his translation of , and

‘ subsequently brought to England to pri nt hi s Game o f ’ hi m Chess . Another printer might have preceded in

r their possession , and might h ave received them di ect ' h ﬁ r from F as t and S c oe e . When the art ceased to be a 4 7 AM . C WILLI CAXTON [ HAR IV .

ro ﬁ t o r mystery , a p might arise from selling the types U c multiplying the matrices . pon these onsiderations we m to wholly de ur the assertion , resting solely upon this

s dui i n re emblance , that Caxton was a printer g the life o f le Philip Bon . The belief is entirely opposed to his o w n statement , that shortly after the death of this prince e he was complet ly at leisure , and set about a translation to while away his time . To be a printer in those days was a mighty undertaking . We shall subsequently see that he declares that he had practised and learnt the art s at great charge and expense . It is wholly unlikely, al o , s o o f that gossiping a man , who makes a familiar friend

m o f r his readers , telling the almost every ci cumstance that led to the printing of every book , that he in his translation should not have said o ne word o f being the o f printer the work . The other book , the Latin ‘ original e 1 4 6 9 speech by Russ ll , in , which has been called the o f to ab s o second publication Caxton , is attributed him l utely upon no other grounds than the same resemblance o f type . Assuredly we cannot receive the fact of resem blance as conclusive of Caxton being the printer either in H e us this case or in that of the preceding. tells that in 1 4 70 he was a servant receiving yearly fee from the d e Duchess of Burgun y , and completed an ext nsive work at her command , which he simply began to eschew sloth ” “ m o ccu and idleness , and to put hi self unto virtuous ” patiou and business . When he did fairly become a

s ufﬁci entl a o f printer, he left y cle r indications his habitual

r o ﬁ lled hi s indust y . We have no questi n how he up

time when the press at Westminster was at work .

o f 1 4 7 0 It was in the autumn , when Master William Caxton would appear to have been busily labouring in l some silent turret of the pa ace at Bruges , upon his trans

le o f lation of Raoul Fevre , that an event occurred , all

7 6 A . C R I WILLI M CAXTON [ HA V.

the that , in all battles which he had gained , his way was ,

r o n o n when the victo y was his side , to mount horseback,

and cry out to save the common soldiers , and put the w i gentry to the s ord . We mention th s to show that he was no t indisposed to talk of himsel f and hi s doings with m those who he met during his exile . It is more than

probable , then , that he had the same sort of free communi

cation with his countryman Caxton . It was at this period that the progress o f the art o f printing must have been a

t f e subjec o universal int rest . The merchants of Bruges had commercial intercourse with all the countries o f Europe ; and they would naturally bring to the court o f Burgundy some specimens o f that art which was already bMeginning to create a new description of commerce . From entz , Bamberg , Cologne , Strasburg , and Augsburg they

o f the L would bring some atin and German Bibles which , 1 4 6 1 1 4 7 0 m s from to , had issued fro the pre ses of those I cities . The presses of taly , and especially of Rome, of o f Venice , and Milan , had , during the same period , sent

a nd forth books , more particularly classical works , in great

abundance . The art had made such rapid progress in ' ﬁ t f t rs o S . Italy , that in the edition Jerome s Epistles , 1 4 68 o f printed in , the Bishop Aleria thus addresses Pope

II : n Paul . It was reserved for the times of your holi ess for the Christian world to be bles s ed with the immense advantages resulting from the art of printing ; by means h of which , and wit a little money , the poorest person

may collect together a few books . It is a small testimony

the o f of glory your holiness , that the volumes which formerly scarcely an hundred golden crowns would pur

chase may now be procured for twenty and less , and these ” - n r t well written and authe tic ones . It is pretty clea hat he o f Caxton , when began his translation the Histories of ’ i n Troy , had some larger circulation view than could be TH E NEW A RT. 7 IV. 7 01m . ) obta ined by the medium o f transcription : I thought in myself it sh ould be a good business to translate it into our

l to Eng ish , the end that it might be had as well in the ” royaume o f England as in other lands . It is also probable that he w as moving about in sea rch o f the best mode f fo r o printing it he says , at the end of the second book ’ f e fo r o the R cueil , And as much as I suppose the said tw o books be no t had before this time in our English

an e to c l guage , therefore I had the b tter will ac omplish the

co n said work ; which work was begun in Bruges , and

ﬁ ni shed n tinned in Gaunt [Ghent], and in Colog e , in time o f the troublous world and of the great divisions being and reigning as well l n the royaumes o f England and Fra nce as in all other places universally th 1 ough the

i s o f o ur o ne world , that to wit, the year Lord thousand ,

- o ne . four hundred , and seventy But he further says , to l with reference his trans ation of the third book, which “ no w he doubted about doing , because that I have good n leisure , being in Cologne , and have none other thi g to do

at o f o f i this time in eschewing idleness , mother all v ces , I have deliberated in myself o f the contemplation o f my ” b to hand said redou ted lady , take this labour in . I. We

a l se e o r sh l presently when Caxton became, at any rate to o U avowed himself have bec me , a printer . p to this see l o f point we him only as a trans ator , a man leisure , and i ) not o ne learning a new and d ﬂi cult craft . But we see him u moving about from Br ges to Ghent , from Ghent to n W o r s e ciﬁ ed Colog e , ithout any distinct p object . There

i endeavo uri n can be l ttle doubt , we believe , that he was g to s u make him elf acq ainted with the new art, still in great s o f measure a ecret art , the masters which required to be d a approached with co nsi erable c ution . That the presence

f . d o Edward IV in Flanders , uring a period when Caxton had a to his might readily have ccess person , might have 8 A . CH A V 7 WILLI M CAXTON [ R I .

hi m d led to believe that the time would come when , un er the patronage of the restored prince , he might carry the art to London , is not an improbable conjecture . Amongst ’ hi s - i n- the companions of Edward s exile was brother law, the celebrated Lord Rivers . This brave and accomplished young nobleman subsequently translated a b ook called ’ o f The Dictes and Sayings Philosophers , which Caxton

1 4 7 7 . printed at Westminster, in The printer has added t an appendix to this transla ion , from which we collect that the noble author and his literary printer were upon te o f mutual co nﬁ dence and regard A t such time as he had to accomplished this said work , it liked him to send it me in certain quires to o vei s ee And so afterward I ho w a came unto my said lord , and told him I had re d and seen his book , and that he had done a meritorious deed in the labour o f the translation thereof Then my it s aid lord desired me to oversee , and , where as I should n i t w ﬁ d fault , to correct , wherein I ans ered unto his lord ul i ship that I co d not amend t. Notwithstanding ” to i t e he willed me oversee . Earl Rivers , then Lord Scal s, was also at Bruges upon the occasion o f the Lady Mar ’

aret s . g marriage Employed , therefore , by the the Duchess

f I . o Burgundy , the sister of Edward V , and honoured with

co nﬁ dence o f R - i n - m a the Earl ivers , his brother law, we y reasonably believe that the presence of Edward at Bruges in 1 4 7 0- 7 1 might have had some i nﬂuence up on the deter mination o f Caxton to learn and practise the new art of t printing , and o carry it into England , if the troublous times could afford him occasion . We have distinct evi to dence that Edward IV . gave a marked encouragement t d the labours of Caxton as a translator, in a book prin e by ’ him h L J s wit out any date , The ife of a on , written , as were ’ the o f le C Histories Troy , by Raoul Fevre , in which axton a co m s ys in his prologue , For as much as late by the TH E EW A RT. 7 9 Cm . N ] N mandment o f the right high and noble princess my Lady

& c . t o ut Margaret , , I transla ed a book of French in English , ’ ‘ & c named Recueil , Therefore , under the proteo ' s uﬂera nce C tion and ofthe most high , puissant , and hristian i & c. k ng , my most dread natural liege, Lord Edward , , I intend to translate the said book o f the Histories o f J ’ ason . The expression for as much as late by the ” & ‘ c. o f commandment , , brings the date of the Histories ’ J to o f o f ason close that the Histories Troy, and points

' ' o ut the probability that the protection and s uﬁ erance o f Edward was afforded to Caxton when the king was a

' fugitive at the court of Burgundy . In the Issues of the Exchequer there is the following entry of a payment on

1 5 J in 1 9 o f . l the th of une , the th Edward IV To Wil iam s d Caxton , in money paid to his own hand , in ischarge of twenty pounds which the lord the king commanded to b e paid to the same William for certain causes and matters f hi m ” i per ormed by for the said lord the king . Th s is ’ o f eight years after the period Edward s exile , being in ’ But Caxton s 1 4 7 9 . as the productions of press were very

ro li ﬁ c o f p at this time , we may believe that the payment such a large sum for certain causes and matters performed for the king was in some degree connected with his labours —a in the introduction of printing into England , payment no t improbably postponed for obligations incurred , and d promises granted , at an earlier perio . C R V. 80 WILLIAM CAXTON . [ HA

CHAPTER V. — — RAPI D ITY OF P RINTIN G WH O TH E FI RST ENGLISH PRINTER CAX TON — — TH E FIR ST ENGLISH PRINTER FIR ST ENG LISH PRINTED BOOK B IFFI — — CULTI ES O F THE FIRST PR IN TERS ANCIENT BOOKBIND IN G TH E PRINTER — P UBLI SH EBr CO D O E KS A N ITI NS OF CHEAPN SS IN BOO .

’ r the end o f the third book o f Caxto n s trans lation o f the ‘ Recuyell o f the H i s to ryes o f ’ e is Troye , which we have so oft n quoted , the following most curious passage : Thus end I

this book , which I have translated after mine to author, as nigh as God hath given me cunning , whom A nd be given the laud and praises . for as much as in the o f writing the same my pen is worn , mine hand weary and not stedfast , mine eyen dimmed with overmuch look o n no t s o n ing the white paper , and my courage pro e and n ready to labour as it hath been , and that age creepeth o me daily and fe eb leth all the body ; and also because I have promised to divers gentlemen and to my friends to to t i address them as hastily as I might h s said book , h t erefore I have practised and learned , at my great charge and dispense [expense], to ordain this said book in o u print , after the manner and form as y may here see ; and to is not written with pen and ink as other books are , the all e nd that every man may have them at once . For the books o f this story named the R e cuyell o f the H i sto rye s ’ o f e Troye, thus imprinted as y here see , were begun in o ne ﬁ ni she d o ne day, and also in day . Which book I to presented my said redoubted lady as afore is said , and 81 D F . CRA P . VJ R API ITY O PR INTING

she hath well accepted it and largely rew arded me . It

ﬁ rs t i c was customary for the printers, wh ch is not a cording to the belief that they wanted to palm their printed o ff books as manuscripts , to state that they were not

r dalri cus o t . U drawn writ en with a pen and ink Gallus , “ 1 4 7 0 I Udalri cus who printed at Rome about , says , , ”

i . Gallus , w thout pen or pencil have imprinted this book But he fu rther says o f himself at the end o f one o f his b k w t oo s , I printed thus much in a day ; it is not rit en in a year . It has been held that Caxton uses a purely marvellous and hyperbolical mode of expression , when he “ o f e says , All the books this story, thus imprinted as y ” i n o ne ﬁ ni s hed here see , were begun day and in one day . D ib di n Dr . inquires what Caxton meant by saying that the book was b egun and ﬁ ni shed in one day ? Did he wish his countrymen to believe that the translation of ’ Le Fevre s book was absolutely printed in twenty- four ” ? D i b din hours Dr . truly holds the thing to be i m c s o f practicable , be au e the book consisted seven hundred

- and seventy eight folio pages . Such feats have been done with the large capital and division of labour o f modern times but to begin and ﬁ ni s h such a book in o ne day in ﬁ ftee nth u the cent ry was certainly an impossibility . We to i C venture th nk that axton says nothing of the sort . H e puts with great force and justice the chief advantages o f — printing , the rapidity with which many copies coul d

b e . H e produced at once promised , he says , to divers gentlemen and friends to address to them as hastily as he might this book . There were many who wanted the b u . ook The transcribers co ld not supply their wants .

H e c m ould not multiply copies hi self with his pen , for hi s . H e his hand was weary and eyes dim learned, there r fore , to ordain the book in p int, to the end that all his m — friends might have the books at the sa e time , that

G 82 A R V. WILLI M CAXTON . [CHA

every man might have them at once ; and to explain this, n he says , all the books thus imprinted were begun in o e

. cc i es o f u day If he printed a hundred p , each the h ndred

copies was begun at the same time ; a hundred sheets , o f each sheet forming a portion each copy, were printed 03 o ne — in day, and in the same way were they also ﬁ ni shed D i b din i n o ne H e . in day . does not say, as Dr ter rets the b o o k fi p the passage, that was begun and nished — - a ll in one day, one and the same day , but that the

o ne books were begun on day, and all the books were ﬁ ni shed on another day . His expression is not very clear, but his meaning is quite apparent . This was the end that he sought to obtain at great charge and expense this is the end which has been more and more obtained

o f — at every step forward in the art printing, the rapid

all multiplication of copies , so that men may have them at once .

o f The place where Caxton learned the art printing ,

o f ﬁ rs t i t and the persons whom he learned , are not shown in any of his voluminous prologues and prefaces . But an extraordinary statement was published in the

1 6 64 o f o f A tk n s year , by a person the name Richard y , who sought to prove that printing was a royal p rero g a

ﬁ rs t tive, because , as he says , the art was brought into

England at the cost o f the crown . His narrative is held to be altogether a ﬁ cti o n for the document upon which he rests it was never forthcoming, and no person has ever tes tiﬁ ed i t A tk ns to the knowledge of , except Richard y himself, who laboured hard to obtain a patent from the

o f - crown for the sole printing law books , upon the ground which he attempts to take o f the crown having brought

B o urchi er printing into England . Thomas , Archbishop o f I v V. Canterbury, mo ed the then king , Henry , to use

- all possible means for procuring a printing mould , for so

84 A C A R WILLI M CAXTON . [ H V.

Co rsells o r workmen , whose name was Frederick , rather Co rs elli s ; who late one night stole from hi s fellows in

disguise , into a vessel prepared before for that purpose ;

a and so the wind , favouring the design , brought him s fe

o n to London . It was not thought so prudent to set him ’ work at London , but by the archbishop s means , who

had been Vice - chancellor and afterwards Chancellor of U o Co rs elli s the niversity of Ox n , was carried with a

guard to Oxon , which constantly watched to prevent

‘ Co rs ell i s m es ca e till fro any possible p , he had made good hi s m So O pro ise , in teaching how to print . that at xford ﬁ rs t i n printing was set up in England . Th s is certai ly o ne an extraordinary story , and which upon the face of it o f has traces of inconsistency, if not imposture . Richard A tkyns says that a certain worthy person did present me with a copy o f a record and manuscript in Lambeth in House , heretofore his custody , belonging to the See , a nd l not to any particu ar Archbishop of Canterbury .

The substance whereof was this ; though I hope, for

public satisfaction , the record itself in its due time will ” appear . The record itself did never appear , and, though

A tk ns diligently sought for , could never be found . But y further s tated that the same most worthy person who

o f gave him the copy the record , trusted him with a book 4 e A . D . 1 68 print d at Oxon , , which was three years before any o f the recited authors [Stow and others] woul d allow ” t H e it [pri n ing] to be in England . does not mention

the book ; but there is such a book , and it is entitled Ex

I ero ni m i Sim b o lum a d p ositio Sancti in , Papam Lauren i Ex o si t o & c. tiam and at the end, Explicit p , , Impressa x ni MCCCCLX VIII O o e et ﬁ ni ta . , Anno Dom , xvii die Decem ’ A tk ns bris . Anthony Wood repeats the story of y in his ‘ U ’ History of the niversity of Oxford ; and he adds , And thus the mystery o f printing appeared ten years 85 C S H P N . P V. WH RA . ] O THE FIR T ENGLIS RI TER soo ner in the U niversity o f Oxford than at any other place in Europe , Haarlem and Mentz excepted . Not long

St. after there were presses set up in Westminister , Albans , f o . Worcester, and other monasteries note After this manner printing was introduced into England , by the

Bo ur chi e r o f 1 4 64 care of Archbishop , in the year Christ , ” ’ I o f and the third of King Edward V . Wood s version

fo r the story makes it a little, a very little , more credible, it brings it nearer to the tim e when the newly - discovered art o f printing might have attracted some attention in 1 4 64 wi England . But even in there were , th scarcely

o ne more than exception , no printed books known in ﬁ t Europe but the rs productions of the press at Mentz . The story of Caxton going to Haarlem in the time o f 1 4 6 1 Henry the Sixth , that is , in some year previous to ,

o r must altogether be a fabrication , a mistake . The accoun ts that would ascribe the invention o f printing to o f Laurence Coster, Haarlem , set up a legendary story that Jo hn o r J Fust , ohn Guttenberg (not the real Guttenberg ,

t e but an elder bMrother) , s ole the invention from Cost r and 1 4 4 2 carried it to entz in . If Caxton , therefore , went ' to H aa rle m i n Holland , with a companion , in disguise , to learn the art of printing , he must have gone there before 1 4 4 2 for the story holds that Coster was no t only robbed o f hi s c o f se ret , but his types , and gave up p rinting , in to hi s i Bo urchi er n despair more fortunate spo ler . was o t

1 4 5 4 . u Archbishop of Canterbury till We may be s re , to therefore , that , wherever Caxton went learn the art of ri nti n p g at an earlier period than is generally supposed , he no t o to a did g Ha rlem in Holland . Substitute Mentz fo r ' A tk n s s Haarlem , and y story is more consistent . It is by no means improbable that Henry the Sixth and Cardinal

Bo urchi er m a ni ﬁ cent might have seen the g Latin Bible , called the Mazarine Bible , which was printed by Gutten 86 A C R V. WILLI M CAX TON . [ HA

' Scho e ﬁ er s berg , , and Fu t , and is held to have app eared f a 1 4 5 5 . Mr O . about this noble book Hallam says , It is

i r c - very strik ng ci umstance , that the high minded inventors o f thi s great art tried at the very outset so hold a ﬂi g ht b as the printing an entire Bi le, and executed it with

astoni shing success . It was Minerva leaping on earth in di her divine strength and ra ant armour , ready at the ” moment o f her nativity to subdue and destroy her enemies . The king and the archbishop might have desired that England should learn the art o f executing so S plendi d a ﬁ rs t A t n work as the Bible . that period we k ow that e ﬁ t Caxton was r siding abroad , and he was a person to be n selected for such a commission . But ki gs at that day were scarcely better supplied with money than their sub jects

Mr Turno ur and if Henry the Sixth had sent to . Robert or

Mr . William Caxton seven hundred marks at one time and ﬁ ve hundred at another , the gifts must have been registered

with all due formality . We have the Exchequer registers o f Henry the Sixth and his great rival ; and altho ugh we s learn that Edward the Fourth gave Caxton twenty pound , f Mr . Turno ur o neither his name nor that of , nor even the s wi o f archbi hop , is associated th any bounty Henry the c Sixth . We may , therefore , safely onclude , with Dr . all i t Conyers Middleton , with regard to th s s ory , that Mr A tk ns . y , a bold vain man , might be the inventor of i t e i n , having an int rest imposing upon the world , to co nﬁ rm his argument that printing was of the prerogative royal , in opposition to the stationers against whom he

was engaged in expensive lawsuits , in defence of the ’ ki o ng s patents , under which he claimed s me exclusive ” 1 4 68 powers of printing . The date of on the Oxford book i s rea sonably concluded to have been a typographical

error . There are niceties in the printing o f that boo k which di d not belong to the earliest stages o f the art and 87 CR S H P . AP . VJ CAXTON THE FIR T ENGLIS RINTER

the same type and manner o f printing are see n in Oxford

books printed immediately after 1 4 7 8. The probability X was i n therefore is , that an omitted the Roman

numerals . l li a o cr We cou d scarcely avoid detai ng this story, p y i s n i t phal as the whole matter upo the face of , because the claims of Oxford to the honour of the ﬁ rs t printing f ﬁ erce press were once the subject o a controversy . The honest antiquarian Oldys complains most bitterly of A tk ns H o w Richard y , unwarrantably he robbed Master u Caxton of the hono r , wherewith he had long been , by the

ff o f all o f ﬁ rst su rage learned men , undeniably invested , i ntroducing and practising this mos t s ci entiﬁ cal invention ” hi us . among But had t s story been true , Caxton would no t f H e have been robbed o his glory . would still have been

a w o f wh t Leland , writing ithin half a century his death ,

hi m a P ro to t o ra hus - ﬁ rs t calls , Angli e yp g p the printer o f England. For it is not the man who is the accidental o f instrument introducing a great invention , and then ues to h purs it no further, who is ave the fame o f its pro

ul ati n m g o . It is he who by patient and assiduous labour

o f ne w i e o ff acquires the mastery a pr nciple , se s afar the to high objects which it may be applied , carries out its t details with persevering courage , is not de erred by failure sa ti s ﬁ ed s nor with partial succes , works for a great purpose h o f t rough long years anxiety, is careless of honours o r w ﬁ nall re ards , and y does accomplish all and much more a i t th n he prop osed , planting the tree , training , rejoicing in

—he ﬁ rs t its good fruit , it is that is the real introducer and

o f s ci enti ﬁ c practiser a great invention , even though some o ne may have preceded him in some similar attempt —an experiment , but not a perfect work . We may well believe

fo r hi s d that , some ten years of resi ence abroad , the know d w as i d le ge that a new art d scovere , promising such 88 A Ca m v. WILLI M CAXTON . [

mighty results as that of printing , must have excited the f n H e deepest interest in the mind o Caxto . says himself, u c in his contin ation of the Poly hronicon , About this time 1 4 5 5 Munce [ ] the craft o f imprinting was ﬁ rs t found in o g ” A lm a n o f in y e . During his residence at the court Bur

gundy he would see the art multiplying around hi m .

ﬂ u i he 1 4 7 0 Italy, where it most extensively o r s d before , e was too distant for his personal inspection . Bamb rg ,

Augsburg , and Strasburg brought it nearer to him . But 1 4 7 0 Cologne , where Conrad Winters set up a press about , ’ n A l was very ear at hand . few days journey wou d place him within the walls o f the holy city of the Rhine .

ﬁ xed o f Cologne , we have no doubt , the employment the

o f remainder his life ; and made the London mercer , whose name , like the names of many other good and respectable men , would have held no place in the memory of the he world but for the art learnt in his latter years , Cologne rendered the name of Caxton a bright and vene

— a rable name name that even his countrymen , who are accustomed chi e ﬂy to raise columns and statues to the o warlike defenders of their c untry , will one day honour amongst the heroes who have most successfully cultivated o f the arts peace, and by high talent and patient labour have rendered it impossible that mankind should not steadily advance in the acquisition o f knowledge and

o f o f virtue , and in the consequent amelioration the lot i every member of the family of mank nd , at some period ,

r present o remote . o f o f o n o f The provost the city Mentz, the occasion the

o f o f festival Guttenberg , published an address full German enthusiasm , at which we may be apt to smile , but which breathes a spirit of reverence for the higher concerns o f o ur being which we might p ro ﬁ tab ly engraft upon the H e practical good sense o n which we pride ourselves . A 89 C AP . . C R V) HI S R ESID ENCE T OL OG N E .

“ I f ﬁ xi n says , the mortal who invented that method of g the fugitive sounds o f words whi ch we ca ll the alphabet di has operated upon mankind like a vinity, so also has ’ Guttenbe rg s geni us brought to gether the once isolated n — inquirers , teachers , and lear ers all the scattered and divided efforts for extendi ng God ’ s kingdom over the whole — civilized earth as though beneath one temple . Gutten ’ berg s invention , not a lucky accident , but the golden — frui t of a well - considered idea an invention made wi th — a perfect consciousness of its end has above all other

s fo r r cau es , more than fou centuries , urged forward and es tablished the dominion o f science : and what is of the c most importance , has immeasurably advan ed the mental hi e f . formation and ducation o the people T s invention , a ﬁ rs t true intellectual sun , has mounted above the horizon , o f a h o f o f the Europ e n C ristians , and then the people other

- climes and other faiths to an ever enduring morning . It i o f has made the return of barbarism , the isolat on man

o f . kind , the reign darkness , impossible for all future times t o f It has established a public opinion , a cour moral judi cature m to i co mon all civ lized nations , whatever natural

c divisions may separate them , as much as for the provin es o f o ne and the same state . In a word , it has formed fellow labourers at the never - resting loom of Christian u il z t o f E ropean civ i ation in every quar er the world , in almost every island o f the ocean . ll o Fi ed with s me such strong belief, although perhaps

o f m a vague belief, the blessings which printing ight

hi s o w n o i i bestow upon c untry, we may v ew Will am Caxton

i 1 4 70 o f proceed ng , about the end of , to the city Colog ne , res olved to acquire the art o f which he had seen some of

ff o f o r s . the e ect , without stint labour expense That he was an apt and diligent scholar his after works abundantly prove . 9 0 L A . WI LI M CAXTON [CHAR V.

ﬁ rs t i n l The book printed the Eng ish language , the ’ o f o f so Recueil the Histories Troy, which we have often o f noticed, does not bear upon the face it when and where i ri it was pr nted . That it was p nted by Caxton we can

have no doubt , because he says , I have practised and di hi learned, at my great charge and spense, to ordain t s ” H e us - said book in print . tells , too , in the title page ,

tra nsla tion ﬁ ni shed t that the was at Cologne , in Sep ember, 1 4 7 1 . That Caxton printed at Cologne we have tolerably clear evidence . There is a most curious book of Natural

History , originally written in Latin by Bartholomew

G lanvill o f r , a Franciscan friar the fourteenth centu y , s commonly known as Bartholomaeus . A tran lation of this ’ ‘ P ro ri etatib us book , which is called De p Rerum , was W nk n printed in England by y y de Worde , who was an

- o ﬁi ce e assistant to Caxton in his printing at Westminst r, hi m and there succeeded to . In some quaint stanzas which hi occur in t s edition , and which appear to be writte n

o r s either by in the name of the printer, are these line , ﬁ rs t which we copy , in the instance , exactly following the orthography and non - punctuation o f the original

A nd also o f yo ur charyte call to rem emb raunce The so uls o f Wil liam Caxto n ﬁ rs t p ryter o f this bo ke Jn l a ten tongs a t Oel eyn hyself to auaﬁ ce " ener w e di s o s d m an m a ero n o That y ll p y y th l ke.

That we are asked to call to remembrance the so ul of William Caxton is perfectly clear ; but how are we to read the subsequent members o f the sentence ? The most obvious meaning appears to be that William Caxton was ﬁ the rs t printer of this book in the Latin to ngue that b e printed it at Cologne ; and that his object in printing it o r ro ﬁ t was to advance p himself, in addition to his desire

- lo i t that every well disposed man might ok upon . But th s ere is another interpretation of these word , whi ch is

9 2 A A R V. WILLI M CAXTON . [CH

diﬁi lt i L am b i net cu . and a commercial enterpr se , a French

r us Sta m ham bibliographical w iter , tells that Melchior de ,

i - o ﬁi c wishing to establish a pr nting e at Augsburg , engaged o f a skilful workman of the same town , of the name

S auerl o ch. H e employed a whole year in making the hi ffi H fi v s ce . e e necessary preparations for o bought presses , o f the materials o f which he constructed fi v e other presses . H e cast pewter types , and , having spent a large sum ,

ﬂ o ri ns o ﬂi ce seven hundred and two , in establishing his ,

1 4 7 3 H e began working in . died before he had completed o ne o f book heartbroken , probably , at the amount capital he had sunk ; for his unfini shed book was sold o ff at a tri fle h th u is . mere , and o ee broken p This statement , us which rests upon some ancient testimony , shows some thing of the diffi culti es which had to be encountered by e the early print rs . They had to do everything for them f selves ; to construct the materials o their art , types , W hen . V presses , and every other instrument and appliance to b Caxton began print at Cologne , he proba ly had the means of obtainin g a s et of moul ds from some previous

- l printer, what are cal ed strikes from the punches that form the original matrices . The writers upon typ ography seem to assume the necessity of every one of the old printers cutting his punches anew , and shaping his letters according to hi s o w n notions o f proportionate beauty .

ﬁ rs t That the great masters of their art , the inventors , the

A ldus es Ste he ns es hi Italian printers , the , the p , pursued t s to course is perfectly clear . But when printing ceased be 1 4 62 a mystery , about , it is more than probable that those l who tried to set up a press , especial y in Germany , either

o f bought a few types the more established printers , or ob tained a readier means o f casting types than that o f — a difﬁ cult . cutting new punches , and expensive operation Thus we believe the attempts to assign a book without a 93 CH V IFF CU OF R S P S . . D AP . ] I LTIES THE FI T RINTER

’ printer s name to some printer whose types that book ’ Ca xto n s resembles can be little relied upon . types are held to be like the typ e o f this printer and the type of h that ; and it is said t at he copied the types , with the d objection adde that he did not copy the best models . What should have prevented him buying the types from

c ri the ontinent , as every English p nter did until the middl e of the last century ? or at any rate what should have prevented hi m buying copies of the moulds whi ch other printers were using ? The bas - relief upon Thor ’ w alds en s statue of Gutte nberg exhibits the ﬁ rs t printer

diﬁiculti es i n exami ning a matrix . But all the the formation

f hrs t a o the m trix overcome, we may readily see that , at

the u every stage , art of making f sile types would become v easier and simpler, till at length the di ision of labour

- should be perfectly applied to type making , and the mere i cast ng of a letter , as each letter is cast singly , exhibit o ne o f the mo st rapid and beautiful pieces o f handiwork that the arts can show . d l But the type obtaine , Caxton wou d still have much fﬁ c to do be fore his o e was furnished . We have seen how Melchi or of Augsburg se t about getting his presses : H e Schuess eler ﬁ ve hi bought of John presses , which cost m

' s eventy - three Rhenish ﬂ o rin s : he constructe d wi th these ” v materials ﬁ e other smaller presses . To those who know

what a well - adjusted machine the commonest printing i s ﬁ rs t to press now in use is , it not easy at conceive what

ﬁ ve is meant by saying that Melchior bought presses , and ﬁ v e o ut l made other presses of the materia s . The solution is this : in all probability this printer of Augsburg bo ught

ﬁ ve e - w old win presses , and , using the screws , cut them do n and adapted them to the s p ecial purpose for which he

i - designed them . The earliest pr nting press was nothing

- — s e - more than a common screw pre s , such as a che se press , 4 9 A . V WILLI M CAXTON [CH AR .

o r - — fo r u the a napkin press , with a contrivance r nning

o rm o rm f of types under the screw after the f was inked . It is evident that this mode of obtaining an impression

must have been very laborious and very slow . As the screw must have co me down upon the types with a dead — is pull , that , as the table upon which the types were — placed was solid and unyielding , great care must have been required to prevent the pressure being so hard as to f injure the face o the letters . A u Jo do cus Badius A scensi anus famo s printer , , has

exhibited his press in the title - page o f a book pri nted 1 4 9 U o f by him in 8 . p to the middle the last century this rude press was in use in England ; although the press

o f —i n an ingenious Dutch mechanic , Blaew , which the pressure was rapidly communicated from the screw to the o f types , and all the parts the press were yielding so as no t u — to produce a sharp but a cr shing impression , was i t gradually superseding . The early printers manufactured

to o f their own ink , so that Caxton had learn the art ink

. o r making The ink was applied to the types by balls ,

o ne o f s dabbers , such as the men hold who is working the

Badius uni yers all press of . Such dabbers were y used in a o printing forty years g . As the ancient weaver was t to o w n so th e expec ed make his loom , , even this short

o f r w as to since , the division labou so imperfectly applied hi s o w n printing , that the pressman was expected to make

A s . balls . very rude and na ty process this was The

sheepskins , called pelts , were prepared in the printing ' o ﬂi ce w s tuﬂed , where the wool ith which they were was

also carded and these balls , thus manufactured by a man o f ff n whose general work was entirely a di erent ature , ’ required the expenditure o f at least half an hour s la bour hi every day in a very disagreeable Operation , by w ch they

were kept soft. C FF C OF S P S V D U . 9 5 RAP . J I I LTIES THE FIR T RINTER

There were many other little niceties in the home con structi on o f the materials for printing which Caxton would i o f necessar ly have to learn . But in the earlier stages an i in e art requ ring such nice arrangement , both the d part

o f o r - u ments the compositor , setter p of the type, and of the pressman , it is quite clear that many things which ,

Ancient Preaa

o f by the habit four centuries , have become familiar and

—o ﬂi ce b e di tiicult easy in a printing , would exceedingly to

i ﬁ rst be acqu red by the printers . Rapidity in the work

o ut co n w as probably of the question . Accidents must stantly have occurred in wedging up the single letters tightly in pages and sheets ; and when one looks at the 9 6 R V; WILLIAM CAXTON . [CHA

the o ld regularity of inking of these books , and the beautiful accuracy with which the line o n o ne side o f a page falls on the corresponding line on the other side (called by printers register we may be sure that With very imperfect mechanical means an amount of care was taken in working o ff the sheets which would appear ludi e to o f cr us a modern pressman . The higher Operation a

- o fli ce printing , which consists in reading the proofs , must have been in the fi rst instance full of embarrassment and diffi ult d e c y . A scholar was oubtless employed to t st the accuracy o f the proofs ; probably some o ne who had been previously employed to overlook the labours o f the tran f scribers . Fierce must have been the indignation o such

o ne o f a during a course painful experience , when he found one letter presented for another, letters and even

d - syllables and wor s omitted , letters topsy turvy, and even b f actual su stitutions o one word for another . These are almost unavoidable co nsequences o f the mechanical Operar o f ff tion arranging movable types , so entirely di erent f o f from the work o the transcriber . The corrector the press would not understand this ; and his life would not

o f be a pleasant one . Caxton was no doubt the corrector his o w n press ; and well for him it was that he brought d hi to his task the patience, in ustry, and good temper w ch

hi s are manifest in writings . But the ancient printer ha d something more to do before

H e o his manufacture was complete . was a b okbinder as well as a printer . The ancient books , manuscript as well m o f l u as printed , were wonderful speci ens patient abo r . o The board , literally a wo den board , between which the

d o f leaves were fastene , was as thick as the panel a door . o This was covered with leather , sometimes emb ssed with d the most ingenious evices . There were large brass nails , w o n ith ornamented heads , the outside of this cover, with 7 Cm . V P A H 9 . P R ] THE RINTER UBLIS E . m a i ﬁ n ce nt to . g corners the lids In addition , there were h clasp s . The back was rendered solid wit paste and g lue, so as to last for centuries . Erasmus says of such a book, “ ’ e cundae no As for Thomas Aquinas s Secunda S , man can ” d A n carry it about , much less get it into his hea . ancient woodcut shows us the binder hammering at the leaves to

fla t make them , and a lad sewing the leaves in a frame fl in very like that still in us e . Above are the books y g in the air in all their solid glory . B ut di ffi cult u o f t the most labo r the ancient prin er , and that which would necessarily constitute the great dis

e o ne e to . tinction betwe n print r and another, was yet come

H e hi s had to sell books when he had manufactured them , for there was no division o f the labour of publisher and o f s printer in those days . His success would cour e much depend upon the quality o f his books ; upon their adapta tion to the nature of the demand for books ; upon their accuracy ; upon their approach to the beauty o f the o ld u B ut to man scripts . he had to incur the risk common all c d c b e opying processes , whether the thing pro u ed a medal n or a book , of expending a large certain sum before a si gle

e . o f co m copy could be produc d The process printing ,

t as o rdi naril pared with tha of writing, is a cheap process y a — conducted ; but the condition of che pness is this, that a sufﬁ ci ent number o f copies o f any particular book may b e n reckoned upo as saleable , so as to render the proportion o f ﬁr s t the expense upon a single cop y inconsiderable . If i w re re ui red t e . q even at the present time to print a single

o r v o r o o f copy, e en three four c pies only , any literary

the o r a t work , c st of p inting would be gre ter than he cost

o f s ri . is r tran c bing It when hund eds , and especially thou

o f w d the a sands , the same ork are demande , that gre t value of the printing - press in making knowledge chea p is ﬁ particularly shown . It is probable that the rs t printers 11 9 8 A Ca m v. WILLI M CAXTON . [

no t a o ff o r so did t ke more than two three hundred , if o f many; their works and , therefore, the earliest printed

o n o f m books must have been still dear, account the li ited

num b e r ‘o f b their readers . Caxton , as it app ears y a passage o f in one his books , was a cautious printer and required something like an a ss urance that he should sell enough o f a i t any particul r book to repay the cost of producing . In

s ub m s ed s ub his Legend of Saints he says , I have y [ ‘ m i tted s L eg end ] my elf to translate into English the ﬁ of ’ ’ s ‘ ' Saint , called Legenda aurea in Latin and William ,

Ea o f — i rl A rundel , desired me and prom sed to take a — reasonable quantity o f them and sent me a worshipful

l s gent eman , promising that my aid lord should during my f t li e give and grant to me a yearly fee , tha is to note , a ” buck in summer and a doe in winter . Caxton , with his sale of a reasonable quantity, and his summer and winter

venison , was more fortunate than others of his brethren , w ho speculated upon a public demand for books without

t Sw e nhe i m any guaran ee from the great and wealthy , y P a nnartz t and , Germans who settled in Rome, and here

o f printed many beautiful editions the Latin Classics , pre 1 4 7 1 sented a petition to the Pope , in , which contains the following passage : We were the ﬁ rs t o f the Germans o who intr duced this art , with vast labour and cost, into ’ ho li nes s f terri to ri es your , in the time of your predecessor ; and encouraged by o ur example other printers to do the

ru same . If you pe se the catalogue of the works printed

us ho w u by . , you will admire and where we could proc re a s ufﬁ ci ent ua t o r q n ity of paper, even rags , for such a number o f volumes . s o . The total of the e b oks amounts to ’ o us — us a p r digio heap , and intolerable to , your holiness n e t . pri t rs , by reason of hose unsold We are no longer a to - o f fo r ble bear the great exp ense housekeeping , want o f b uyers ; of which there cannot be a more ﬂag rant proof

1 00 A ' V X R . WILLI M CA TON . [CHA I

CHAPTER VI .

— — ' r a n p anes A T w s sm m sr s a r s s o ro e rcu . Bo o xs ona m crs a o r ' — O KTON P s s ss rnm r ao r BOOK—T H E E r TH E a s es A S GAM o c .

HE indications o f the period at which Caxton ﬁ rs t brought the art o f printing into England se o f are not very exact . veral his books , sup

posed to have been amongst the earliest, are

ﬁ rs t without date o r place of impression . The in the title of which a date o r a place is mentioned is The ’ and Sa in es o f Philo s o hres Dictes y g p , translated by the o f Earl Rivers from the French . This bears upon the CR P SS A W S M N S 1 01 I T . AP . V ] THE RE E T I TER

En r nted title p y by me William Caxton , at Westminster, i ” o f ur lxxv . the yere o Lord j Another imprint , h e . thre years later, is more precise It is in the C ronicles ’ o f En lo nd En r nted g , which book the printer says was p y li thab b e o f We s tm ns tre by me , Wil am Caxton , in y y by

th v Ju n hin rn ci o n & c . e t ca a london , , day of y , the yere of ” o f ur 1 4 85 ‘ o lord god lxxx . In A Book of the Noble H ys to ryes o f R yuge Arthur was by me de uyded xxi b o o kes cha tred en r nte d f n s s hed into p y and p y and y y , in ” ha s r o f t b b ey Wes tm e t e . The expression in the Abbey “Westminster ” leaves no doubt that beneath the ‘ actual ro of of some portion o f the abbey Caxton ca rried on his ’ hi s ‘ o f art. Stow , in Survey London , says , In the

Eleemosynary or Almonry at Westminster Abbey, now

corruptly called the Ambry, for that the alms of the abbey e to J b were there distribut d the poor, ohn Islip , A bot of

W e fi rs t - ri ntin estminst r, erected the press of book p g that fi rs t ever was in England , and Caxton was the that prae ” i o f t sed it in the said abbey . The careful historian London here committed o ne error ; John Islip did not 00 Es ten become Abbot of Westminster till 1 5 . John ey 1 4 7 4 was made abbot in , and remained such until his l n death in 1 4 98. His predecessor was Thomas Milling . ’ u dal Mo na i n fin d o f Es te ne D e s s t co I t g we , speaking y, ’ f l o r was in this abbot s time, and not in that o Mi ling, o f o f in that Abbot Islip , that Caxton exercised the art s H e to printing at Westmin ter . is said have erected his

tﬁ i n o ne o f o ce the side chapels of the abbey, supposed by some o f o ur histo rians to have been the Ambry or Elee

m o s na r . d y y Oldys says , Whoever authorize Caxton , it

is certain that he did there , at the entrance of the abbey,

- exercise the art , from whence a printing room is to this w day called a chapel . When e conside r the large extent of building that formed a portion o f the abbey of West 1 02 A R V . WILLI M CAXTON . [CHA I

o f minster, before the house was shorn its splendour by

Henry the Eighth , we may readily believe that Caxton m ight have been accommodated in a less sacred and indeed r less public place than a side chapel o f the present chu ch. There were buildings attached to that church which were removed to make room for the Chape l o f Henry the Seventh . It has been conjectured that the ancient Scriptorium o f the Abbey , the place where books were transcribed , might

to o n have been assigned Caxton , to carry an art which b was fast superseding that of the transcri er . Nor are there w anting other examples o f the encouragement ff u a orded to printing by great religio s societies . As early ’ as 1 4 80 t 1 5 25 books were printed at S . Alban s and in there was a translation o f Boetius printed in the monastery o f of Tavistock , by Dan Thomas Richards , monk the same

s o f mona tery . That the intercourse Caxton with the Abbot o f Westminster was on a familiar foo ting we learn

‘ “ 4 M o f o w n 1 90 : from his statement, in y Lord Abbot Westminster did shew to me late ce rta in evidences to o ur s written in Old English , for reduce it into Engli h ” no w e us d . s e o Setting up his pres in this sacred plac , it is s mewhat ’ rem a xk ab le how few o f Caxto n s boo ks are distinctly o f a ‘ t ﬁ ve b e religious character . N o more than or six can s held strictly to pertain to theological subjects . Bible he could not print , as we shall presently notice . There is no breviary o r book o f prayers found to have

r e issued f om his press . The only book distinctly conn cted ’ r ‘ Fe sti valis s with the Chu ch is Liber , or Direction for l keeping Feasts all the year . It is high y probable that ' d But w hat many of such books have perishe . furnishes a curious example o f the accidents by which the smalles t n things may be preserved , there is now existi g , preserved

See he 11s A t t in p p endix.

1 04 A CH A R V WILLI M CAXTON . [ I. " o ld translations that were before Wi cklifi s days remained u s et lawf l and were in some folk hands had and read , y he thought no printer would lightly be so ho t to put any — Bible in print at his o w n charge and then hang upon a doubtful trial whether t"he fi rs t copy of his translation w Wi kli Fo r as made before c fi s days or since . if it were ” ma d . e since , it must be approved before the printing This was a dilemma that Caxton woul d have been too prudent to encounter . In the books printed by Caxton which treat o f secular o f subjects , there is constant evidence the sincere and

’ unpretending piety Of thi s ski lful and laborious author H e v and artisan . li ed in an age when the ancient power of the church was somewhat waning ; and far - sigh ted observers saw the cloud no bigger than a man ’ s hand o f which indicated the approaching storm . One his

Mr hi m ra . . biog phers , the Rev Lewis , says of that he o f o ne expressed a great sense religion , and wrote like

l the G o d o f who ived in fear of , and was very desirous ” promoting his honour and glory . It was in this spirit that he desired the religious teaching of the people no t n to be formal and pedantic . The preface to The Doctri al ’ o f S a ence o ut o f n p y , which was translated French i to as s a e z English by Caxton , contains a curious p g This that is written i n this little book ought the priests to learn and teach to their parishes : and als o it is neces sary fo r simple priests that understand not the Scriptures : and A nd it is made for simple people and put in English . by cause that for to hear examples stirreth and moveth the people , that ben simple , more to devotion than to that — great authority o f science as it appeareth by the right t reverend father and doctor Bede , priest , which sai h , in th H o o f e ist ries England , that a bishop of Scotland , a u t w s s b le and a great clerk , a sent by the clerks of Scot ’ 1 05 CR VI OF O S P R S S . AP. ] CHARACTER AKTON E land into England for to preach the Word o f God ; but

s n by cause he u ed in his sermo subtle authorities , such u as [for] simple people had , nor took , no savour, he ret rned o f ne ro ﬁ t without doing any great good p , wherefore they

f : hi sent another o less science the w ch was more plain , and used commonly in his sermons examples and parables , by which he p ro ﬁ te d much more unto the erudition o f the ” simple people than did that other . d to b e s im liﬁe d But , in wishing the highest knowle ge p

and made popular, the good old printer had no thought o f to rendering knowledge a light and frivolous thing, be n ta ken up and laid down without earnest ess . In his

a o f e o f co n truly be utiful exposition the us s knowledge , ’ ta i ned to o f in his prologue the Mirror the World , he

a us o f s ys , Let pray the Maker and Creator all creatures ,

l o f God A mighty, that , at the beginning this book , it list o to us him , of his most bounte us grace , depart with of the

same that we may learn and that learned, to retain and t d to a tha retaine , teach th t we may have so perfect o f h science and knowledge God , t at we may get thereby

o ur u to the health of so ls , and be partners of his glory ,

permanent, and without end , in heaven . Amen . i w Gibbon , we th nk , has taken a somewhat severe vie o f the cha racter o f the works which were produced by the father o f English printing It was in the year 1 4 7 4 ﬁ rs t i n e that our press was established Westminst r Abbey ,

o c o f by William Caxt n but in the choi e his authors , that lib eral and industrious artist was reduced to compl y w ith the vicious taste o f his readers ; to gratify the nobles with

r i o f treatises on herald y , hawk ng , and the g ame chess , and to amuse the po pular creduli ty with romances of fabulous ” o f r f knights and legends mo e abulous saints . The his t torian , however, notices wi h approbation the laudable des ire which Caxton expresses to elucidate the history o f 1 06 M . A R V WILLI CAXTON . [CHA I

his country . But his censure o f the general character ’ o f axt n of the works C o s press is somewhat too sweeping . It appears to us that a more just as well as a more libe ral view o f the use and tendency o f these works is that of

Thomas Warton , which we may be excused in quoting B n o f somewhat at length y mea s French translations , o ur countrymen , who understood French much better than k Latin , became acquainted with many useful boo s which u they wo ld not otherw ise have known . With such as

s i s ta nce s di e , a commo ous access to the classics was Op ned , and the knowledge o f ancient literature facilitated and e i n familiaris d England , at a much earlier period than is imagined ; and at a time when little more than the productions o f speculative monks and irrefragable doc '

tors could be obtained o r were studied . When these in authors , therefore , appeared in a language almost as telli i b le o f g as the English , they fell into the hands to so w illiterate and common readers , and contributed the o f to seeds a national erudition , and form a popular taste . o f Even the French versions the religious , philosophical , o f historical , and allegorical compositions those more enlightened Latin writers who ﬂo uri she d in the middle

ages , had their use, till better books came into vogue o pregnant as they were with absurdities , they c mmuni ca ted on instruction various and new subjects , enlarged

ﬁ eld o f o f a the information , and promoted the love re ding , by gratifying that growing lite rary curiosity which now began to want materials for the exercise o f i ts opera .

o ur ﬁ rs t tions . These French versions enabled Caxton , ri to o f p nter, enrich the state letters in this country with H e no di fﬁ cult many valuable publications . found it task ,

’ r f either by himself o the help o his friends , to turn a con s iderab le f number o these pieces into English , which he i to o printed . Ancient learning had as yet n ade little

0 1 8 A a l m V . WILLI M CAXTON . [C I

Much like the foolis h and unsavoury doings o f Orestes ’ uvenal e — Ca xto n s whom J r membereth which Recueil , w ho so hi s list with judgment p eruse , shall rather think doings worthy to be numbered amongst the triﬂing ta les lew deri es o f and barren Robin Hood and Bevis of Hampton , ” u o f than remain as a mon ment so worthy an history .

o r o r We have no sympathy with writers , old m de n , who “ are severe upon triﬂing tales and barren lew deri es the stories and ballads which are the charm o f childhood i s and the solace o f age . It somewhat hard that Caxton shoul d be thus maltreated for having made the English familiar with tha t romance o f the Trojan war with whi ch o r all Europe was enamoured in some language another . The authority which L e Fevre partly followed was the Troy Book o f Guido di Colonna and he is traced to have translated his book from a Norman - French poet o f the time o f Edward the Second ; and the Norman is to be

Phr i us traced to Dares yg and Dictys Cretensis , the sup posed authors o f two ancient works on the History o f

hi a Troy , but which stories are held to have been m nu factured o f u by an Englishman the twelfth cent ry . Guido di Colonna constructed the most captivating of the ro a o f manees of chivalry upon these supposititious t les Troy . ll Hector and Achilles —are surrounded by him with a the attributes o f knight e rrantry and the Grecian manners are Gothicised with all the peculiarities o f the civilization o f the Middle Ages . Lydgate constructed upon this romance his poem o f the Troy Book ; and Chaucer availed

‘ ’ f o f himse lf o it in his poem Troilus and Cres sida . S u o f hakspere, in his wonderful play pon the same part o o f s the Trojan st ry the middle age , has used Chaucer, s Lydgate , and Caxton ; and several passage show that our great dramatic po et was perfectly familiar with the o ur o ld translation of printer , which was so popular that V CH . I G M F C SS 1 09 AP ] THE A E O THE H E . by Shakspere’ s time it had passed through six editions and continued to be read even in the last century . J ’ The Book of the whole Life of ason , printed by Caxton

’ 1 4 7 5 - in , is another of these middle age romances , founded upon the supposititious histories of Dares and Dictys . ’ O f o f i i nted The Game and Play the Chess , Caxton p two editions , which he translated himself from the French .

fi rs t fi ni she d o n o f 1 4 74 The was the last day March , ; and it is supposed to have been the fi rs t book which he printed “ ’ . Ba fo rd Caxto n s fi rs t o in England g says , b ok in the ’ Abbey was The Game of Chess ; a book in those times

i n o f much use with all sorts people, and in all likelihood

ﬁ rs t desired by the abbot, and the rest of his friends and ” e masters . It was a book that Caxton clearly int nded for the diffusion of knowledge amongst all ranks of people ; s i n for in his econd edition he says , not very complimentary phrase, The noble clerks have written and compiled

i o many notable works and h stories , that they might c me to the knowledge and understanding of such as be i n o f inﬁ n te . ig orant , which the number is And he adds , i to w th still plainer speech , that , according Solomon , the ” l is i nﬁ ni H e number of foo s te . says that amongst these nobleclerks there was an excellent doctor o f divinity in o f o f the kingdom France, which hath made a book the

- chess moralised , which at such a time as I was resident in ” Bruges came into my hands . It would seem to be an ingenious device of the reverend

o f o l e writer the book of chess which Caxt n trans at d , to asso ciate with very correct instructions as to the mode of the playing game , such moralisations as would enable him therewith to teach the people to understand wisdom and ” rea dil H virtue . Caxton y adopts the same notion . e dedicates the book to the Duke o f Clarence : Forasmuch as I have understood and known that yo u are inclined 1 1 0 A R V . WILLI M CAXTON . [CHA I

o f o ur unto the commonweal the king , said sovereign lord , his nobles , lords , and common people of his noble realm o f E e s o f ngland , and that y saw gladly the inhabitant the

m ro ﬁ tab le same infor ed in good , virtuous , p , and honest ” m s anner . This book contains authorities , sayings , and

o f stories , applied unto the morality the public weal , as o f o f well the nobles and the common people , after the o f s game and play che s and Caxton trusts that other , o f o r i n what estate degree he or they stand , may see in this little book that they govern themselves as they ought ” to . o f do This book chess contains four treatises . The ﬁ rs t describes the invention o f the game in the time o f a o f Em sm ero dach u o f king Babylon , , a cr el king, the son a a to Nebuch dnezz r , whom a philosopher showed the game for the purpose o f exhi biting the manners and conditi on

“ o f o f o f a king, the nobles , and the common people and o ﬂi ces e their , and how they should be touch d and drawn , ” and how he should amend himself and become virtuous .

o us This is a b ld fable , and takes farther back than Sir

w as t William Jones , who says that chess impor ed from

s n w the we t of India , in the sixth century, and k o n imme m o ri all s a o f Chaturan a o r y in Hindu t n by the name g , the o f t e four members an army, namely , elephan s , hors s , ’ - Caxto n s chariots , and foot soldiers . The second treatise in

e ﬁ rs t o fﬁce o f : m book describ s, , the a king by this na e o f the the principal piece was always known . Secondly , queen ; this name would seem to belong to the ti me o f o r Caxton , for Chaucer and Lydgate call the piece Fers — Feers , a noble, a general , hence Peer . Thirdly, of the A lp hyns : thi s is the sam e as the present b ishop ; the F011 French called this personage the , and Rabelais calls him the Archer. Fourthly , the knight , who was always d d n an . calle by this name, in E glish French chess The

ﬁ fth di niﬁ ed rock , the g piece , is from the Eastern name

1 1 2 W LL M A 1 mm v . I IA C XTON . [0

e - dots, were employ d . All cross hatchings, such as charac te ri ze - en ravi n a a line g g upon metal , were c refully avoided difﬁ cult by the early woodcutters , on account of the y in ‘ ’ . Mr . the process Ottley, in his History of Engraving ,

o f o f says that an engraver on wood , the name Wohl g e m uth (who ﬂ o uri shed at Nuremburg about 1 4 80) di fﬁ cult perceived that, though , this was not impossible ;

’ “ o f ‘ and , in the cuts the Nuremburg Chronicle , a suc

‘ ce ss ful attempt was ﬁ rst m ade to imitate the bo ld hatchings

- t o f of a pen drawing . Albert Durer , an ar ist extra ordinary talent , became the pupil of Wohlgemuth ; and o - n w as to y him , and many others , wood e graving carried a perfection which it subs equently lost till its revival in o ur o wn country . II M CRAP . V ] FEMALE A NNE R S . 1 1 3

Lord Ri vers resen in his b o o k to Edward p t g W .

II CHAPTER V . — — ; r m n ua s rrm s Loan m vaas ro ruu a H I STORY POP ULA B scm xo s — PO PU LAR u nt es ro r o m s TRANSLATIONS T HE cu m s “ — ’ r u in sm rm s o o xs o r I V R —C A X TON S T D Y S s CH AL Y LAS A .

N the library belonging to the Archbishops of

r Canterbu y , at Lambeth , is a beautiful manu o n l F script , vel um , of a rench work, Le s Diets ’ Moraux des Philosophes , which contains the

illumination of which the above is a copy . In w lines ritten under the illumination the book is stated to ” r be t anslated by Antony erle , by which Lord Rivers is mea nt . This book was printed by Caxton in 1 4 7 7 ; and it is held that the man kneeling by the side of the earl in 1 1 4 A . WILLI M CAXTON [CHAR VII .

the illumination is the printer of the book . We have already mentioned the co nﬁ denti al intercourse which e subsist d between Lord Rivers and his printer, with regard to the revision of this work . (See page The passages which we there quote are given in a sort of to appendix, in which Caxton professes have himself translated a chapter upon women , which Lord Rivers did o t ﬁ t n think to meddle with , and which he prints with a ’ r ff real o a ected apprehension . The printer s statement is a e o f ltog ther such a piece sly humour , that we willingly

s i t o ur tran cribe , trusting that readers will see the drollery through the quaintnes s “ I ﬁ nd that my said lord hath left o ut certain and

s divers conclusion touching women . Whereof I marvelled that my s aid lord hath not writ on them , nor what hath

m i . oved h m so to do , nor what cause he had at that time But I suppose that s ome fair lady hath desired him to leave it o ut of his book or else he was amorous o n some

ad noble l y , for whose love he would not set it in his book o r e ff wi t els for the very a ection , love , and good ll hat he hath unto all ladies and gentlewomen , he thought that o f n Socrates spared the sooth , and wrote women more tha , truth ; which I cannot thi nk that so true a man and so i noble a philosopher as Socrates was , should write otherw se o f than truth . For if he had made fault in writing women , he ought not or shoul d no t be believed in hi s other Dictes and Sayi ngs . But I perceive that my said lord knoweth ve rily that such de faults be not had nor found in the wome n born and dwelling in these parts nor regions o f the wo rld . Socrates was a Greek, born in a far country o f from hence , which country is all other conditions than

and t this is , men and women of other nature than hey be o f co n here in this country ; for I wot well, whatsoever d e t e ition women be in Gre ce , h women of this country be

1 1 6 . WILLIAM CAXTON . [0 mm vrr

i l ordain her that wh ch she desireth , or he shal never have ﬁ nd peace with her, for they will so many reasons that o ff f they will not be warned [put ]. The women o lower estate come in for the same censure , the complaint being

ur ur that they f their draperies and f their heels . It appears to have been the practice for ladies to g o very n freely to feasts and assemblies , to joustings and tour a wi w o f ments, thout hat we now call the protection a husband or a male relation . A contemporary writer says they lavished their wealth and corrupted their virtue by l fi 'e e d m s n these o . If we may judge from the warni gs which the Knight of the Tower gives his daughters o f the discipline they would receive at the hands o f their

o f — d husbands for any act disobedience , the iscipline not o f o f no t to only hard words , but harder blows , it is be wondered at that they sought abroad for some relief to

a n the gloom and severity of their home lives . It is ple sa t , amidst these illustrations o f barbarous and p ro ﬂig a te ﬁ nd has manners , to a picture of that real goodness which h f distinguis ed the emale character in all ages , and which , especially in the times o f feudal oppression o f which we

k lo t are spea ing , mitigated the of those who were depen dent upon the benevolence o f the great possessors o f o f property . The good Lady Cecile Balleville is thus “ described by the Knight o f the Tower : Her daily u ordinance was , that she rose early eno gh , and had ever and o friars two r three chaplains , which said matins

h r the . before e within oratory And after, she heard a

lo w . high mass and two , and said her service full devoutly

And after this she went and arrayed herself, and walked

o r n in her garden else about her place, sayi g her other e to a d . devotions n . prayers And as time was she w nt

A nd ’a f er s . t dinner ‘ dinner , if she wist and knew any ick w o r in i ent . to folk women , their ch ldbed , she see and OB A P . . L D R R 1 1 7 VII ] OR IVE S .

e a to t visit d them , and m de be brought to hem her bes t

. she no t o meat And there as might g herself, she had a d i servant proper therefore , which ro e u p on a l ttle horse , a nd and bare with him great plenty of good me t a drink , fo r to r to give the poor and sick folk the e as they were .

she she a n Also was of such custom , that , if knew y poor d gentlewoman that should be we ded , she arrayed her with

l to o f her jewels . A so she went the obsequies poor gentle women , and gave there torches , and such other luminary s as it needed thereto . And after she had heard even ong

to e she went her supp r if she fasted not , and timely she

to to m to her went bed , and made her steward co e to wit a [know] what mea t should be had the next day . She m de a e s gre t abstinenc , and wore the hair upon the Wedne day ” o f the and upon the Friday . This is a true character — e Middle Ages goodness bas d upon sincere piety , but that

m o rti ﬁ ca ti o ns o ur degenerating into penances and , which Reformed faith teaches us to believe are unnecessary for spiritual elevation . ’ axto n s C early friend and patron , Lord Rivers , appears ,

h to as far as we can judge from the books w ich remain , ’ have been the only one of the ﬁ rs t English printer s co n e s w ho t t mporarie rendered him any li erary assistance . ’ — H e r to ~ Ca xto n s s cont ibuted three works pres namely , ’ o f the Dictes and Sayings the Philosophers , The Moral ’ o f h o Proverbs C ristine de Pisa , and the bo k named ‘ ’ Cordial .

‘ ’ The book named Cordial is clearly des crib ed in a I t i . to prologue by Caxton was del vered him , he says , to by Lord Rivers , for be imprinted and so multipli ed to o g abroad among the people , that thereby more surely might be remembered the four last things undoubtedly ”

. a e m coming Caxton , in an el borat com endation o f hi s

r o f pat on , whose former great tribulation and adversity 1 1 8 f WILLIAM CAXTON . [0m m vn

co n i v th the he speaks , says , It seemeth that he ce e well o f mutability and the unstableness this present life , and

o ur that he desireth , with a great zeal and spiritual love ,

ghostly help and perpetual salvation . Lord Rivers had

d ﬂ o w er in eed borne tribulation since the time when , the ’ o f s f d Edward s court, he jou ted with the Bastard o Burgun y Sm i thﬁe ld 1 4 8 6 . r in , in In the following year his fathe . and brother were murdered by a desperate faction a t

N o rtham to n . p When Lord Rivers , conceiving the muta b ili t o f y and unstableness life , wrote the book called ’ Cordial , he was only six and thirty years of age . Three o years after Caxton printed the book , the translat r was

r R himself murdered at Pomf et by the Protector ichard . Shaksp ere did not do injustice to the noble character o f i to th s peer when he makes him exclaim , when he was led the block ,

' Si r c ard Batcliﬂ let m e e ee s Ri h , t ll th thi , To —da s a o u e o d a s ec die y h lt th b h l ubj t , F ru fo r du a nd fo r o a o r . t th, ty, l y lty

R i cha rd I I I . A ct Scene 2. , iii . ,

There is left to us a remarkable fragment which indi cates to us something higher than the ability and literary

attainment of this unfortunate nobleman . It has been R preserved by John ouse , a contemporary historian , who d ’ ff lived in the pleasant solitu e of Guy s Cli , near Warwick, i n 1 4 9 1 H e w e n m and died there . says ( tra slate fro his

Latin) , In the time of his imprisonment at Pomfret he w 1 t i n w m e 0te a bale English , which has been sho n to , — ” m us n & c . having these words Sum what y g , and then

Rouse transcribes the ballad , of which the second stanza

is imperfect , but has been supplied from another ancient ’ copy . Percy, who prints the ballad in his Reliques , d says , If we consi er that it was written during his cruel

“ co nﬁ nem ent e in Pomfret Castle , a short time befor his

1 20 A R VII . WILLI M CAXTON . [CHA

o w n H e to his time . deals prudently with contemporary

events . Caxton followed up these chronicles in the same ’ year with another book, called The Description of Britain ,

o f in which he tells the extent of the island , its marvels and wonders , its highways , rivers , cities , and towns , pro

. H e a vinces , laws , bishoprics , and languages describes lso

o f Scotland and Ireland . Some his marvels and wonders are a little astounding ; but others are as precise in their

description , and as forcible (brevity being an essential

quality) , as we could well desire . Thus of Stonehenge A t Sto nehing e beside Salisbury there be great stones and

o n wondrous huge ; and be reared high , as it were gates set upon other gates nevertheless it is not known cleanly no r ap ercei ved how and wherefore they be so area red and

so wonderfully hanged . From the chronicles o f his o w n country Caxton sought to lead his readers forward to a knowledge o f the history

f H e 1 4 82 P o l chr ni o other countries . published in The y o n d ’ con , co taining the bearings and eeds of many times . h T is book was originally composed by Higden, a Benedic tine monk o f Chester ; and was translated from Latin into

s Trevi s a w ho Engli h by John de , lived in the times of

III I I n - Edward . and Richard . Caxto in his title page W says , Imprinted by illiam Caxton , after having some

what changed the rude and old English , that is to wit certain words which in these days be neither used nor ”

und rs ta nden . e In another place he says , And now at t this ime simply imprinted and set in form by me, William ld ” and o . Caxton , a little embellished from the making Caxton was here doing what every person who desires to

a o f e xtendi n that adv nce the knowledge his time, by g ’ k no w ledg e beyond the narrow circle o f scholars and anti i an uar s . H q , must always do e popularised an old book ; d H e did no t — he ma e it intellig ible . do, as some verbal 1 21 CR VII P P L C C . AP . ] O U AR S IEN E

— o ur pedants amongst us still persist in doing , present old writers , and especially our poets , in all the capricious

H e w as ﬁ rst ness of their original orthography . the great diffus er o f knowledge amongst us ; and surely we think

‘ he H P o l chro ni took a j udicious course . e says of the y ’ co n t t , The book is general , ouching shor ly many notable ”

. enera l matters But , g as the book was , and extensively

di hi s as he desired to circulate it accor ng to limited means , he does not approach his task without a due sense o f the importance o f the knowledge he was seeking to impart . The praise o f history in his proem is truly eloquent History is a perpetual conservatrice of those things that have been before this present time ; and also a quotidian

' t e s o f b e ne ﬁ ts f d wi n s , of mal aits [evil dee s], great acts , and f o . triumphal victories all manner of people And also , if the terrible feigned fables of poets have much stirred and d to o f move men right and conserving justice , how much is to more be supposed that history , assertrice of virtue and o f o ur m to a mother all philosophy , moving anners

i re fo rm e th re o ncile th n v rtue, and c ear hand all those men whi ch through the i nﬁ rm i ty o f our moral nature hath led the most part of their life in otiosity [idleness] , and mis s e nded s p their time , pas ed right soon out of remembrance o f which life and death is equal oblivion . Again , Other monuments distribute d in divers changes endure but for ' a short time o r seas on ; but the virtue of history diﬁ us ed and spread by the universal world hath time , which con s um eth n all other thi gs , as conservatrice and keeper of her ” work . The Image o r Mirror o f the World 1 s one o f the popular s i n t I t book wh ch Caxto transla ed from the French. treats o f o f a vast variety subjects , after the imperfect natural philosophy of those days . We have an account o f the e r r s o f ho w h w s ven libe al a t nature , she worketh ; and o 1 22 R VII A . WILLI M CAXTON [CHA . the hi o earth holdeth m right in the middle f the world .

We have also much geographical information , amongst Mwhich the wonders of Inde occupy a considerable sp ace . eteorology and astronomy take up another large portion . The work concludes with an account o f the celestial paradise . This book seems specially addressed to high and t cour ly readers , for Caxton says , The hearts of nobles , in eschewing o f idlenes s at such time as they have none other

o n virtuous occupations hand , ought to exercise them in reading , studying , and visiting the noble feats and deeds m ro ﬁtab le of the sage and wise men , someti e travelling in p virtues of whom i t happeneth o ft that some be inclined to visit the books treating o f sciences particular ; and

o f o f other to read and visit books speaking of feats arms ,

o r o f r love , other ma vellous histories ; and among all other, ‘ o r this present book, which is called the Image Mirror ’ o f the World , ought to be visited , read , and known , by

trea te th o f o f i cause it the world , and the wonderful div ” “ us en sion thereof. But the translator tells , I have dea vo ured d me therein , at the request and esire, cost and o f i l dispense , the honourable and worsh pfu man , Hugh

Brice , citizen and alderman of London . We may there fore believe that Caxton intended this book for a wider circulation than that o f the nobles whom he addresses ; especially as he says , I have made it so plain that every i t man reasonable may understand , if he advisedly and i i t o ld t t o r . at entively read , hear The good printer rendered the book intelligible to all classes, under the condi tion that all who read it should give their attention . This is o ne of the books into which Caxton ha s introduced w - fi ures oodcuts , giving twenty seven g , without which it b may not lightly [easily] e understood . These twenty fi ure s o f o f seven g are diagrams , explanatory some the sci entifi c principles laid down in this book but there are

1 24 A R . WILLI MCAXTON . [CHA VII

the ﬁ rst a o f a In le f there is a supposed portrait Esop ,

large rough woodcut , exhibiting him as he is described, a with a great head , large visage, long jaws , sh rp eyes , a

curb - short neck, backed , and so forth . There is a con tro versy whether Richard the Third was a deformed man o r not . It is held by many that it was one of the scandals p ut forth under his triumphant successor (which scandal

Shakspere has for ever made current), that Richard was

ea d o f ea re d ssem n na e Ch te f tu by i bli g tur , D f ’ h’ ” e o rm d, unﬁ nis d.

us It strikes that Caxton would scarcely have ventured , in ﬁ rs t f I o f o I I . the year King Richard , to exhibit a print a

- hump backed Esop (for any print was then a rare thing) , if his dread sovereign had been remarkable amongst the f people for a similar de ect . The conclusion of these fables of 0 Es p has a story told by Caxton as from himself, which is

o f a remarkable specimen a plain narrative style , with a good deal o f sly humour No w then I will ﬁ ni sh all these fables with this tale l that fo loweth , which a worshipful priest and a parson told me late : he said that there were dwelling at Oxen

o f —o f o ne ford two priests , both Masters Arts whom that was quick and could put himself forth and that other

was a good simple priest . And so it happened that the master that was pert and quick was anon promoted to a ' b eneﬁ ce o r twain , and after to prebends , and for to be a ’ o f dean a great prince s chapel , supposing and weening

that his fellow , the simple priest, should never be promoted , b u t o r . be always an annual , , at the most , a parish priest So i after a long time that this worshipful man , th s dean ,

ﬁ ve o r o came running into a good parish with seven h rses , o f i like a prelate , and came into the church the said par sh ,

and found there this good simple man , sometime his fellow , VI 1 25 CH . P P L S AP I ] O U AR FA BLE .

r which came and welcomed him lowly . And that othe ’ hi m ‘ e bade G ood morrow, Mast r John , and took him

w . slightly by the hand , and axed him where he d elt . And ’ ’ he the good man said , In this parish . How, said are ? ’ e o r y here a sole priest, a parish priest Nay, sir , said he o f a m no r , for lack a better , though I not able worthy , ’ I e m parson and curate of this parish . And then that

e and a other vail d [lowered] his bonnet, said , Master P rson , I pray you to be not displeased ; I had supposed ye had ’ b ene ﬁ ce d he I ra o u not been . But , master, said , p y y ’ ‘ ’ b ene ﬁc ? what is this e worth to you a year Forsooth ,

o w o t m said the go d simple man , I never for I ake never o r ﬁ ve accompts thereof, how well I have had it four ’ ’ t . n e he r years And k ow y not , said , what it is wo h ’ i t e b e ne ﬁ ce No he should s em a good . , forsooth said , ‘ but I wot well what it shall be worth to me . Why, 9 ’ he he said , what shall it be worth Forsooth , said , ‘ i f I do my true dealing in the cure o f my parishes in

a n do m pre ching and teachi g , and my part belonging to y l A nd cure , I sha l have heaven therefore . if their souls be

o r o f l lost , any them , by my default, I sha l be punished ’ therefore . And hereof I a m sure . And with that word the rich dean w as abashed and thought he should be the

to b ene ﬁ ces t better , and take more heed his cures and han f he had done . This was a goo d answer o a good priest ni h s . ﬁ s and an hone t And herewith I this book, translated

e l . o f and imprint d by me , Wil iam Caxton The moral the

fable is not obsolete .

’ o f Ca xto n s One most splendid books , of which he seems i n ’ to r G . have p ted three editions , was The olden Legend e d i n This is , ind e , an important work , printed double ﬁ v columns , and containing between four and e hundred

i w as pages , which are largely illustrated w th woodcuts . It

no t e t without gr at cau ion , as we have already mentioned A T R . 1 26 WILLI M CAX ON . [CHA VII

(page that Caxton proceeded with this heavy and d expensive un ertaking . Happy would it have been for all printers if puissant and virtuous earls , and others in high places had thought it a duty to encourage knowledge by “ ” taking a reasonable quantity o f a great work ; but h rud happier are we now, w en , such assistance being g g i n l o r o f g y bestowed honestly despised , the makers books can depend upon something more satisfying than the rich ’ man s purse, which was generally associated with the ’ ” proud man s contumely . In the prologue to the Golden Legend Caxton recites several of the works which he had previously translated o ut o f French into English at the request of certain lords , ” ‘ u ladies , and gentlemen . Those recited are the Rec eil

’ ‘ ’ ’ o f ‘ of Troy , the Book the Chess , Jason , the Mirror ’ ’ ’ o f ‘ o f the World , Ovid s Metamorphoses , and Godfrey ’ h Boulogne . It is remarkable t at no printed copy exists ’ o f Ovid s Metamorphoses but in the library of Magdalen ﬁ ve College, Cambridge, there is a manuscript containing M ’ o f books the etamorphoses , which purport to be trans lated by Caxton . It was evidently a part of his plan for o f the encouragement liberal education , to present a portion o f the people with translations o f the classics through the ready means that were open to him o f re - translation from the French . Many translators in later times have availed

o f themselves such aids , without the honesty to indicate

o f the immediate sources their versions . Caxton printed ’ o f o f The Book of Tully Old Age, and Tullius his Book ’ H e to difﬁ cul t o h Friendship . seems have had great y in ' taining a copy o f an o ld tr anslation o f Tullius de Senec ’

. J tute The Book De Amicitia was translated by ohn ,

o f s o f s o f Earl Worce ter, the celebrated adherent the hou e

Y 1 k 0 1 4 7 0. h , who was beheaded in Caxton , we t ink some f re o n what unnecessarily, limits the perusal o the t atise

1 28 A R . WILLI M CAXTON . [CHA VII

’ The book called Catho n (Cato s Morals) was destined by Caxton for a wider circulation : In my judgment it is

to to the best book for be taught young children in schools , and also to people of every age it is full convenient if it be ” n n well understa de . ’ D ib din ‘ Dr . , in his Typographical Antiquities , says to of Caxton , Exclusively of the labours attached the

n new o ur co n worki g of his press as a art , typographer tri ve d , though well stricken in years , to translate not v fewer than ﬁ e thousand closely printed folio pages . As a translator , therefore , he ranks among the most laborious , and , I would hope , not the least successful , of his tribe . The foregoing conclusion is the result of a careful enum e ration of all the books translated as well as printed by him ; which [the translated books], if published in the

- ﬁ ve modern fashion , would extend to nearly twenty octavo ” " o f volumes The exact nature his labours seems , as m ight well be imagined , to have been often determined by very accidental circumstances . One noble lord reques ts

to o ne him produce this book , and worshipful gentleman

to . H e o f hi s urges him translate that says himself Virgil ,

After divers works made , translated , and achieved , having i n I no work hand, , sitting in my study whereas lay many divers pamphlets and books , happened that to my hand l o ut came a little book in French , which ate was translated o f Latin by some noble clerk of France , which book is Ene do s named y , made in Latin by that noble poet and ” great clerk Virgil . Some books , indeed , he would be determined to print by their existing popularity . Such ’ ’ tw o d o f were his e itions Chaucer s Canterbury Tales , which we may be sure, from his sound criticism , he felt the necessity of promulgating to a much wider circle than had been reached by the transcribers . (See page f Caxton was especially the devoted printer o Chaucer . CR VI I L S 1 2 Y . 9 AP . ] THE CANTERBUR TA E

His truly honourable conduct in venturing upon a new ’ o f the ﬁ rs t edition Canterbury Tales , when he found his

fir s t was incorrect, exhibits an example in the printer and the fi rs t publisher whi ch the printers and publishers o f all subsequent times ought to reverence and imitate . The early printers , English and foreign , were indeed a high to and noble race . They did not set themselves up be the pa trons o f letters ; they did not dispense their dole to scholars grudgi ngly and thanklessly ; they worked with them they encoun tered with them the risks o f p ro fi t and o f fame ; they were scholars themselves they felt the deep res ponsibility of their othee ; they carried on the hi ghest o f all commerce in an elevated temper ; they were ' hafi r rs o f not mere hucksters and c e e . It was in no spirit i pr de , it was in the spirit of duty , that Caxton raised a table of verses to Chaucer in Westminster Abbey . In his

o f us to edition Boetius, which he gives understand was

e ff translat d by Master Geo rey Chaucer , he says , And o u o f furthermore I desire and require y , that your charity ye would pray for the soul of the said worshi pful man

ff e ﬁ rs t Geo rey Chauc r, translator of this said book into n English , and embellisher in making the said la guage hi ornate and fair , w ch shall endure perpetually , and there fore he ought eternally to be remembered ; o f whom the body and corps lieth buried in the Abbey of Westminster , to o f beside London , fore the chapel Saint Benet , by whose

t o n o n hi s sepulture is writ en a table , hanging a pillar,

- a co epitaph made by a poet laure te , whereof the p y ”

l . c fol oweth The writer of the Life of Chau er , in the ’ Bi o ra hi a g p Britannica , says , It is very probable he lay beneath a large stone o f g ray marble i n the pavement Mr . where the monument to Dryden now stands , which is ’ i n the St. front of that chapel [ Benet s], upon the erecting ’ o f hi u w ch [Dryden s monument] this stone was taken p , K 1 30 A m VI I . WILLI M CAXTON . [0 m

A t a and sawed in pieces to make good the pavement . le st this seems best to answer the description of the place ”

. i given by Caxton There appears , accord ng to the ’ ancient editors of Chaucer s works , to have been two Latin lines upon his tombstone previous to the epita ph set u p upon a pillar by Caxton . That epitaph was written

ri iu - Su an s . by Stephanus g , poet laureate of Milan The l e monument of Chaucer, which sti l remains in the Abb y , o n u around which the ashes of Spe ser, and Bea mont , and

Drayton , and Jonson , and Cowley , and Dryden have

i n 1 5 5 5 . clustered , was erected by an Oxford student n There might have been worse thi gs preserved , and yet to ’ h Oa xto n s be looked upon , in t at Abbey , than honest old “ epitaph upon him whom he calls the worshipful father and ﬁ rs t founder and embellisher of ornate eloquence in ” our English . As the popularity of Chaucer demanded various i m ’ Oaxto n s pressions of his works from press , so did he print ’ ’ s A m anti s an apparently cheap edition of Gower s Confe sio , ’ o f L d ate s in small type . Two y g works were also printed by him . The more fugitive poetry which issued from his

o f press has probably all perished . In one of the volumes Old Ballads in the British Museum is a fragment of a

o f poem , which nothing further is known , telling the story o f some heroine that li ved a life o f unvaried solitude

“ Fro m her childhoo d I fi nd that she fl ed ‘ o f w o m an and to wo o d she w en Ofii ce , t , ’ A nd m any a w ild h arte s bloo d she s hed sh to em n With arro ws bro ad that e th se t . One of the most important uses of early printing in England is to be found in fragments of the Statutes of the

ﬁ rs t o f III . Realm , made in the parliament Richard , and

ﬁrs t II . in the , second , and third parliaments of Henry V ,

1 32 A . R WILLI M CAXTON [CHA VII .

England that have the use and the exercise o f a knight ?

is and that to wit , that he knoweth his horse , his horse he him that is to say , being ready at a point to have all

thing that belongeth to a knight , an horse that is according

e and brok n after his hand , his armour and harness suit ,

s o et cetera . and forth , I suppose, an a due search should

fo unden : be made , there should be many that lack the o " a o ur m re pity is I would it ple sed sovereig n Lord , that

o r o r a twice thrice a year , at the le st once , he would cry . to jousts of peace, the end that every knight should have

horse and harness , and also the use and craft of a knight ,

l to o ne o ne o r tw o and a so tourney against , against two ;

o r and the best to have a prize , a diamond jewel , such as

should please the prince . This should cause gentlemen to res ort to the ancient c ustoms o f chivalry to great fame and renown : and also to be alway ready to serve their ” o r d prince when he shall call them , have nee . There is always some compensating principle arising in the world

to prevent its too rapid degeneracy ; and thus , although o the tournament has l ng ceased, except as a farce , there is

many a noble who may still say , That he knoweth his

hi s o f horse , and horse him , through the attractions

- Melton Mowbray and Epsom . Hunting and horse racing o ur have done much to keep up pristine civilization . In ’ o f 1 4 89 o The Fait Arms and Chivalry, , Caxt n undertakes H e a higher strain . translates this book , to the end that m o f every gentleman born to arms and all anner men war ,

captains , soldiers , victuallers , and all other , should have knowledge how they ought to behave them in the faits o f

e t war and o f battles . And y , strange to relate, this

r i belligerent book was w itten by a fair lady , Chr stina of ’ ‘ o f i n 14 85 Pisa . The Histories King Arthur, printed ,

lands us at once into all the legendary hero - worship of th e

hi s a Middle Ages . Caxton , in pref ce to this translation by 1 33 CR VII OOKS O F CH A RY . AP . ] B IV L

l us Sir Thomas Mal ory , gives a pretty full account of the

Nine Worthies , the best that ever were and then he goes o n to exp ound his reasons for once doubting whether i o f the Histor es Arthur were anything but fables , and how he was convinced that he was a real man . But surely in these chivalrous books Caxton had an honest purpose . H e s es exhort noble lords and ladies , with all other estat , “ to ﬁ nd read this said book , wherein they shall well many o n joyous and pleasant hist ries , and oble and renowned o f ni t acts huma y , gentleness , and chivalries ; for herein fri endli may be seen noble chivalry , courtesy, humanity,

a ness , h rdiness , love , friendship , cowardice , murder , hate ,

s in D o e the virtue , and . aft r good , and leave the evil , and ” it shall bring yo u to goo d fame and renown . The Life o f Charles the Great succeeded the ‘ Histories o f King ’ fo r l Arthur ; , according to Caxton , Char emagne was the

o f to second the three worthy. It is in the preface this book that Caxto n says that his father and mother in hi s

him to ff o f youth sent school , by which , by the su erance

God , he gets his living . ’ We may conclude this imperfect description o f Caxto n s

o f so labours in the literature romance and chivalry, r o f characte istic the age in which he lived , with the foll owing extract from the History o f King Blanchardi ne ’ e n r and Que n Egla tine his Wife , which he t anslated from o f o f the French , at the command the Duchess Somerset , s mother o f King Henry V II . The pas age shows us that the o ld printers were dealers in foreign books as well as in their o w n productions : Whi ch boo k I had long to fore

s o ld to w o f my said lady , and kne well that the story it was honest and joyful to all virtu ous young noble gentle

m en to t . and women , for read therein , as for their pas ime

o in o o f For under c rrection , my judgment, hist ries noble

feats and valiant acts of arms and war, which have bee n 1 34 A . R WILLI M CAXTON [CHA VII .

o ld achieved in time of many noble princes , lords, and knights , are as well for to see and know their valiantness

o f for to stand in the special grace and love their ladies , and in like wise fo r gentle young ladies and demoiselles fo r to learn to be stedfast and constant in their part to them that they once have promised and agreed to , such as have put their li ves oft in jeopardy for to please them to stand in grace , as it is to occupy the ken and study over

o f much in books contemplation . This is a defence o f novel - reading which we could scarcely have expected at so early a period of our li terature .

1 4 90 all hi In Caxton was approaching , according to s o f biographers , to the great age fourscore . About this period he appears to have consigned some relation to the

r . ﬁ rs t of g ave , perhaps his wife In the year the church ’ ’ f o f W o o S t. ardens acc unts the parish Margaret s , West 1 7 1 4 90 3 1 4 92 minster , from May , , to June , . there is the following entry

ure e Maw Item ; atte b yng of de Caxton for ” i ii ’ i d torches and tapers j j.

n 1 5 1 4 90 ﬁ ni s hed u O the th June , , Caxton translating o t o f French into English The Art and Craft to know well ’ o f o ne to die . The commencement the book is an abrupt

s o o r o When it is , that what man maketh d eth it is to made to come some end , and if the thing be good and well made it mus t needs come to good end ; then by better and greater reason every man ought to intend in such wise to live in this world , in keeping the command s G o d . A d ment of , that he may come to a good end n then o ut u l of this world , f ll of wretchedness and tribu ations , o i he may g to heaven unto God and his sa nts , unto joy perdurable .

1 36 A . WILLI M CAXTON [CHAR VIII .

Mark o k n de r ‘ n f Wy y Wo de .

III CHAPTER V . — — TH E CH AP EH H E CO MP ANIONS INCREASE OF REA D EBS BOOKS MAKE — ’ — ’ — MR EA D EBS OAKTON S TYPES WY NKY N S DREAM TH E FIRST PAPER ILL .

r t was evensong time when , af er a day of listless l ness , the printers in the A monry at West minster prepared to close the doors o f their

workshop . This was a tolerably spacious room , with a carved oaken roof. The setting sun shone brightly into the chamber , and lighted up such furniture as no other room in London could then exhibit . Between the columns which supported the roof stood two presses orm o f ponderous machines . A f types lay unread upon

o ne o f the ta b le of these presses ; the other was empty . There were cases ranged between the opposite columns ; but there was no cop y suspended ready for the compositors

H e a wa s i n ese m ar s associa ed the de i ce o f a to n w l y , th k , t v C x ith his o w n o r n as he w m i n s cceed n to the b s nes s o f ; gl yi g, ell ight, u i g u i his o no ured m a s e r and co n nu n fo r so m an ea s the o o d wo r h t , ti i g y y r g k w c he had e n hi h b gu . C A L 1 37 ris p I H P . C . VII ] THE E to proceed with in the morning . No heap of wet paper

w as ﬂ o o r b a lls piled upon the . The , removed from the

i nk- b lo cks presses , were rotting in a corner . The were

hi ﬁ lm . dusty, and a t n had formed over the oily pigment

H e w ho e i n ﬁll ed had set th se machines motion , and the

whole space with the activity of mind , was dead . His

daily work was ended .

- l Three grave looking men , decently c othed in black, h were girding o n their swords . T eir caps were in their s hand . The door Opened , and the chief of the workmen a i n W nk n c me . It was y y de Worde . With short speech , s i niﬁ cance cha el— but with looks of deep g , he called a p the ’ — printe r s parliament a conclave as solemn and as omni ’ as W nk n potent the Saxons Witenagemot. y y was the

Father of the Chapel .

The four drew their high stools round the i mp o sing - stone — those stools o n which they had sat through many a day to of quiet labour , steadily working the distant end of

o r . U some ponderous folio , without hurry anxiety pon — the stone lay two uncorrecte d folio pages a portion o f the ’ ro o . H e Lives of the Fathers . The p f was not returned that they had followed a few days before to hi s grave in ’ Saint Margaret s Church had lifte d it once back to his — e . failing eyes , and then they clos d in night ” s W nk n r co m Companion , said y y (su ely that word anio ns o f o f o f p tells the antiquity printing, and the old love and fellowship that subsisted amongst its craft) i ” compan ons , the good work will not stop . ” W nk n P ns o n a o n y y , said Richard y , who is to c rry the work ? a m W nk n I ready , answered y y . A faint expression of joy rose to the lips of these honest

men , but it was damped by the remembrance o f him they had lost . 1 38 A I WILLI M CAXTON . [CHAR VI I .

H e nk n W . died , said y y , as he lived The Lives of ’ ’ th ﬁ ni s he d e Holy Fathers is , as far as the translator s labour . There is the rest of the copy . Read the words o f I the last page , which have written Thus endeth the most virtuous history o f the devout — o f and right renowned lives holy fathers , living in desert ,

- r worthy of remembrance to all well disposed pe sons, which hath been translated out of French into English by

l o f m ﬁ ni shed Wil iam Caxton West inster, late dead , and at the last day o f his Th"e tears were in all their eyes and “ God rest his soul was whispered around . “ ” l Ma hlini c a Companion , said Wil iam , is not this a hazardous enterprise ? W nk n I have encouragement , replied y y ; the ’ hi s h S o Lady Margaret, Highness mot er, gives me aid . droop not , fear not . We will carry on the work briskly ’ —So ﬁ ll in o ur good master s house . the l A shout a most mounted to the roof. “ ? Machlinia But why should we fear You , , you ,

L e tto u P ns o n , and you , dear Richard y , if you choose not o ld m to abide with your co panion here , there is work for

all o f t you in these good towns Westmins er, London , and

Y o u to Southwark . have money ; you know where buy

m us t o types . Printing g forward .

u o f P ns o n . Always f ll heart , said y But you forget the statute o f King Richard ; we cannot say God res t ’ fo r o ur o ld his soul , master scarcely ever forgave him Y o u putting Lord Rivers to death . forget the statute .

n i t i t. We ought to k ow , for we printed I can turn to

wo rds w w c s o o c o se s These are the ith hi h thi b k l . “ W d W d s a s et in r n t ynkyn e or e thi h th p i t, ’ — l a I n William Caxto n s ho us e so ﬁ l the c se . ’ a nz t ca la P er ecti o i s 1 4 94 . S t a s o S f n ,

’

1 4 2 A . V WILLI M CAXTON [CHAR III .

lord to take a copy , and that knight to give him some thing in fee and how he bargained for his summer venison and his winter venison , as an encouragement in his ventures ? But he found a larger market than he ever G o e counted upon , and so shall we all . y forth , my brave fellows . Stay not to work for me , if you can work better ” for yourselves . I fear no rivals . ” W nk n P ns o n a Why, y y , interposed y , you t lk as if printing were as necessary as air books as food , or ” ﬁ r o r e . clothing ,

And so they will be some day . What is to stop the

o n e o f want of books Will man have the command books , and another desire them not ? The time may come when every man shall require books .

to Perhaps , said Letton , who had an eye printing the

m a h Statutes , the time y come when every man s all want

o f to read an Act of Parliament , instead the few lawyers ” who buy our Acts now . ” k s o W n n . Hardly , grunted y y Or perchance you think that, when our sovereign liege

and meets his Peers Commons in Parliament , it were well to print a book some month or two after , to tell what the said Parliament said , as well as ordained ” N a k n W n . y, nay, you run me hard , said y y ? And if within a month , why not within a day Why shouldn’ t we print the words as fast as they are spoken ?

ﬁ n e rs o ur We only want fairy g to pick up types , and presses that Doctor Faustus and his devils may some day m - ake , to tell all London to morrow morning what is done this morning in the palace at Westminster . “ ” b e nk n W . Prithee , serious , ejaculated y y Why do you talk such g allym aufry ? I was speaking of possible things ; and I really think the day may come when one person in a thousand may read books and buy books , and ’ 1 4 3 I I S Y P S . VI . O erm . ] AKTON T E

we shall have a trade almost as good as that of armourers ” ﬂe tche rs and . “ " P ns o n 0 The Bible exclaimed y ; that we might ' ’

" f Wi ckliﬁ e s . print the Bible I know o a copy of Bible

a " Th t were indeed a book to print ” W nk n I have no doubt, Richard , replied y y , that the ' happy time may come when a Bib le s hall be chained i n

to . every church , for every Christian man look upon You remember when o ur brother Hunte showed us the chained

books in the Library at Oxford . So a century or two

hence a Bible may b e found in every parish . Twelve thousand parishe s in England ? We should want more paper in that good day , Master Richard . ” Y o u Letto u had better fancy at once , said , that

" the every housekeeper will want a Bible Heaven save ’ i " mark, how some men s imaginat ons run away with them “ ” “ Ma chlini a I cannot see , interposed , how we can venture upon more presses in London . Here are two .

e They have be n worked well , since the day when they ﬁ v f were shipped at Cologne . Here are e good founts o

—Grea t P imer D o ub le type , as much as a thousand weight r ,

P i ca P i ca— a L on P ri m er. , large and a small face , and g

They have well worked ; they are pretty nigh worn out .

What man would risk such an adventure , after our good

o ld ? H e master was a favourite at court and in cloister . H e was well patr onized Who is to patronize us “ ” I o u W n k n The people , tell y , exclaimed y y . The babe in the cradle wants an Absey - book the maid at her ' di s ta ﬂ wants a ballad ; the priest wants his Pie ; the young lover wants a romance o f chivalry to read to his mistress ; the lawyer wants his Statutes ; the scholar wants hi s Virgil and Cice ro . They will all want more the more they are supplied . How many in England have a

? us s book at all , think you Let make book cheaper by 1 4 4 A WILLI M CAXTON . R [CHA VIII .

e “ g 5 s m a s a g 5 s s h . S s “ m m z : u o w a é 3 s g e c m a e o

8 e 8 8 x 0 w 5 a “ s e : a s 3 : a »8

1 4 6 A . CH AR VI WILLI M CAXTON [ II .

l I with ink as quick y as pick up this type . Sheet upon

o f o f m sheet , hundreds sheets , thousands sheets , came fro

— ﬁ o wi n forth the wheels g in unstained , like corn from the

h0 er o ut ﬂo ur . p p , and coming printed, like to the sack w They ﬂe abroad as if carried over the earth by the winds . ’

. artiﬁ cer s Again the scene changed In a cottage, an t cottage , though it had many things in it which belong o ’ I princes palaces , saw a man lay down his basket of tools

f H e i t h o . e and take up one these sheets read ; laughed , he looked angry ; tears rose to his eyes ; and then he read hi m aloud to his wife and children . I asked to show me h o ur t e sheet . It was wet ; it contained as many types as ‘ f ’ 1 4 4 I 8 . Mirror o the World . But it bore the date of

I o f s looked around , and saw shelves book against that — cottage wall large volumes and small volumes ; and a boy opened o ne o f the large volumes and showed me number less block - cuts and the arti ﬁ cer and his wi fe and his children gathered round me , all looking with glee towards o n their books , and the good man pointed to an inscription

- I his book shelves , and read these words ,

B A D UKEDOM MY LI RA RY .

I I woke in haste ; and , whether awake or dreaming know not , my master stood beside me , and smilingly exclaimed , ‘ ’ I u This is my fruit . have enco ragement in this ” dream . W nk n P nso n Friend y y , said y , these are distempered o I o visions . The press may g forward ; think it will g

d I am the n forwar . But of belief that the press will ever work but for the great and the learned , to any purpose o f ro ﬁ t H o w to d p to the printer . can we ever hope sen : o ur o ur wares . abroad ? We . may hawk o ur ballads and merry jests through London but the citizens are too busy - 1 4 7 C I F R PAP R L . R AP . VII ] THE I ST E MI L

to e - to o he d them , and the apprentices and serving men poor to buy them . To the country we cannot send them .

Good lack , imagine the poor pedlar tramping with a pack o f to o r " books Bristol Winchester Before he could reach either city through our wild roads , he would have his t W nk n throat cut or be s arved . Master y y , we shall always l have a narrow market til the king mends his highways , ll ” and that wi never b e . I am W nk n L etto u rather for trying , Master y y , said ,

some good cutting jest against our friends in the Abbey , such as Dan Chaucer expounded touching the friars . That would sell in these precincts . “ ” " nk Hush exclaimed Wy yn : the goo d fathers are o ur friends ; and though some murmur against them , we ” might have worse masters . “ I us l wish they would let print the Bib e though , P nso n ejaculated y . w The time ill come, and that right soon , exclaimed nk n the hopeful Wy y . i t ” So o ne . be , said they and all

o f e But what fair sheet pap r is that in your hand , ” W nk n ? P nso n good y y said y . st Ma er Richard , we are all moving onward . This is

i - Engl sh made paper . Is it not better than the brow n thick paper we have had from over the sea ? How he ’ would have rej"oiced in this accomplishment of Jo hn Tate s l A long ing tria s y , Master Richard , this fair sheet was made in the new mill at Hertford ; and well am I minded to t a I use it in our Bar holom eus , which shall straightly I put in hand , when the Formschneider is ready . have thought anent it ; I have resolved on i t ; and I ha ve i n e dit d some rude verses touching the matter, simple person as I am 1 4 8 A R . WILLI M CAX TON . [CHA VIII

Fo r in this wo rld to recko n every thi ng P eas re to m an e e i s no ne co m a a e l u , th r p r bl A s is to read and understanding I n o o s o f w sdo m — e b en so de ec a e b k i th y l t bl , W c so und to i r e and b en ro ﬁ tab le hi h v tu , p ; A nd all tha t love such virtue b en full gl ad

o o s to enew and ca se em to b e m ade . B k r , u th

A nd also o f your charity ca ll to rem em brance The s o o f W am a o n ﬁ rs t r n e o f s b o o ul illi C xt , p i t r thi k In La n o n e at o o ne im se to ad ce ti t gu C l g , h lf van , That every we ll - dispo s ed man m ay thereo n loo k A nd Jo n a e the o n e o m o e m a he o o h T t y u g r j y t [ y] br k, W c a a e in n and m ade i s a e n hi h h th l t E gl th p p r thi , ” That no w i n o ur Englis h this bo o k is printed in.

k n J W n . Fairly rhymed , y y , said Letton But ohn f Tate the younger is a bold fellow . O a surety England ” - o f w n can never support a paper mill its o . ”

to l . Come , business , said Wi liam of Mechlin

A P P EN D I X B .

Boo xs PRIN TE BY s xr D C o n.

To o ur ﬁ rs t n are s e 64 1 4 71 t 1 4 pri ter as ign d works, from o 91 . s l s o f u s to the Pe c o We ubjoin a i t them, f rni hed nny Cy l paedia by

S e P a L o f the s M . ir H nry Ellis, rincip l ibrarian Briti h useum In this are u e the e c ed o f the ei h list incl d d Fr n h ition Recu l , and t e o f se w are s de e d u Oration Rus ll , hich con i r d oubtf l .

‘ 1 . Le des o s de e o o se r rao ulle Is Recueil Hist ire Troy s, c mp p a e cha ellein de M e ls duc P e de Bo ur o in ne en f ure, p ons igneur hilipp g g ’ fo l l an de grace mil . laris s im i rato ri s Ma tri 2 P o c O i s J s s . ropositi g ohannis Ru ell , decreto rum docto ris ao adtunc A m b assiato ri s Edw a rdi Regi s A ngli c i lustr Princi em Karo lum ducem un et Francie ad l . p Burg die super ’ ri & c 4 to susce tio ne s arte . . p ordini g j, , 3 The Recu ell o f the H isto r es o f o c s d . y y Tr ye, ompo e and drawen o ut o f diverce bockes o f latyn into Frensshe by Raoul le it m s i n e 1 4 64 and we o ut o f Irens she to En lisshe e the y re , dra n in g by William Caxton at the com m aundem ent o f Margarete Duchess

o f u e & c. wh ch translacion and e e w as b e o nne B rgoyn , , y sayd w rk g i n 1 4 8 nd de the o f o 1 S in Brug s i 6 a en d in holy cyte C len 9 ept . f l o .

4 ‘ G P o f the s s t d o ut o f the . The ame and laye Chess , tran la e

e c f n sshid s da o f M e fo l . Fr n h , y y the la t y arch ,

5 . A e o d o f the s fo l. w oo d s . s c n edition ame, ith w cut ) ’

f h f f s n f l . 6 . A Bo ke o t e hoole ly o Ja o o

7 . The D c t e s S a en es o f the Ph lo so hers i tes and no abl wy e y g y p ,

ns . o ut o f Frenshe r A nto ne W deville R u eres tra l by lo d y y Erle y y ,

m t . at Wes tm estre fo l e p , . 1 5 3 B KS P N D BY . AP P . . ] BOO RI TE CAXTON

The M Pno uerb es o f Chris t ne o f fol . 1 4 78. 8. orale y ( l M e o s s m c 9 . The B o e rd a e o r h o k nam d Co y ; emorar N vi i a, w i h ’ treate th o f u e s s e 1 4 78 ﬁ nished 1 4 80 fol . The fo r la t Thing , b gun , , ’

10 Th n f En l nd 1 fol . . e c s o o s . 4 80 Chro i le g , We tm , , ’ 1 1 . D sc o f Brita ne 1 4 80 fol e ri p tion y , , . ’

1 2. The Mi f h r h f the rro ur o t e World o t ym age o same, 1 4 1 fol 8 , . ’ 1 3 H isto f 1 4 81 fo l . r e o Re nart the e . The y y Fox , , ‘ 1 4 . B o f de Senectute w l s de The oke Tullius , ith Tul iu Amicitia, and the D eclam ac o n h to w e n y , which la bouret she wh rei honour ’ sho lde es e 1 4 81 fol r t , , . ‘ 1 5 . God ro o f c o r the s e S and o sts o f ef y Boloyu ; , la t iege C nque ’ Jherusalem fol e t 1 4 81 . , W s m. , , ’ 1 6 . The Po l cro n co n 1 4 82 fol y y , , .

1 7 . The P r m S w e c ylg e age o f the o le ; translated from the Fr n h , 4 e . 1 83 fol W stm , , . 1 8 ‘ h . L e Festivalis o r D e s for e a s s t e ib r , ir ction ke ping Fe t all ’ Y e We 1 4 fol 83 . re, stm., ,

1 9 . S s d fol e e . Quatuor rmone (without at ) ,

20. n ss Am antis i s to s i n En li sshe The Co n Co fe io , that aye g , ’ fess o n o f the Lo n m a d com led J G s u er y er, and p y by ohan ower, q y , s 1 4 . 83 fol We tm , , . ’ 21 . The G de L fol e e s . 1 4 83 . ol n g nde, We tm , , ’ 22 . e d L o o f The e d sm . Anoth r e iti n eg n e, . folio ’ 23. A d ﬁ n W tm t 2o b M 1 4 83 fol . es es re t . thir , at , ay , , ’ 24 . The e a Catho n Ma us s a r the Book c llid (gn ) , tran l ted f om e 1 4 83 fol Fr nch , , . ‘ ’ ’ 25 . P v s in e n o r d in ar u Chato (without pr t r s ame ate, but ’ Oaxton s e o typ ) , f lio. ‘ K ’ 26 . The n ht o f te the yg the Toure, transla d from French ; s fol We tm. . ’ 27 . The Sub t l H is to r es s o f E o s r e y y and Fable s p , t anslat d from the e 1 4 84 f o l . Fr nch , , ’ 28. The o f the Ord o f Ch valr o r Kn hthode s Book re y y, yg , tran ate the e ss fol l d from Fr nch (a igned to . ’ 29 . o r the fo r K 1 4 84 fol The Book ryal ; Book a yng, , . 30 ‘ . A Book o f the no ble H is to ryes o f Kyng e Arthur and o f certen o f his Kn htes w as e in En l sshe yg , which book r duced to g y by ’ s r o m s M o r Kn ht 1 4 85 fol y Th a al y yg , , . 1 5 4 S P D A PR B . BOOK RINTE BY CAXTON . [

31 The L f o f a s the G e K f P . y Ch rle r te yng o raunce and ’ Em er u o 4 fol o r f 1 85 . p Rome, , 32 e ed n o f the s e 1 4 85 fol . Anoth r itio am , , . 33 Th stor e o f the r ht val aunt Kn hte . y y noble yg y and worthy yg ’ P o f t Venne the doul h ns do u hter o f Venno s arys and the fay y , p y g y y , s d the e 1 4 85 fol tran late from Fr nch , , . ’ 34 The Bo o o f G o Maners 1 4 8 fol 6 . k od , , . ’

35 . The D o f Sa ence s te m octrinal p y , tran la d fro the French , 4 fol 1 89 . , ’ 36 . The o o f Fa ttes o f o f Ch valr e transla Bo k y Armes and y y , a t ﬁ Ve etius de Re 1 4 he rst a o f M 89 fol . tion from p rt g ilitari , , ’ 37 . The G t to k e to d e s a Arte and raf e nowe w ll y , tran l ted from th 4 fol e e 1 90 . Fr nch , , ’ Th f En d m V le 38. e Bo o e o s co led r ke y , p y by y gy , translated

m the 1 4 90 fol . fro French , , t r e no d e fol 39 . o f Caun rb u . The Talis y y ( at ) ,

4 0 e d n u d te o r ce fol . . Anoth r e itio (witho t a pla ) , ’

4 1 . c Salvato ris 4 to . Infan ia , 4 2 Bo o f o so c o f P o s s Bo ecius . The ke C n la ion hil ophie, which that

r hi m f s c no d no r ac fol . made fo s co o rte and con ola ion ( ate pl e) , ’ ’ A c c o f uce and L d ate s M o Poe s 4 to . 4 3. olle tion Cha r s y g in r m , ’ ’ 4 4 o f m d G eﬁ cre ce fol . . The Book Fame, a e by y Chau r, ’ 4 5 Tro lus Crese de fol . . y and y , ’

A or fol . 4 6 . B f a ook Tr vellers, ’ f t Ka e o f S fol . 4 7 The L o f S . . y th rin enis, 4 8 S e V s o r the m rro ure o f the b less d . p culum ite Chri ti y y ’ L f o f J s te fo l . y he u Cris , 4 D irecto rium Sacerdo tum : e d m U 9 . siv Or inale secundu sum ’ S s fol m e . . aru , W tm , ’ The s o r o f Sa e e o e John 5 0. Work (Court) pi nc , comp s d by L f l d t o . y ga e, ’ 5 1 A Bo o f di e s G Mate s e . f l . . ke v r hostly r , W stm , o ’ ‘ Ma stre a e t 2 The d 5 . Curial ma e by y Al in Charr tier, transla ed

the e c fol. from Fr n h, 5 f L d Dan John L s 3. L f o o ur a The y dy, ma e by ydgate, monk ’ o f e fol Bury , . ’ 5 4 The L f o f Sa nt Wene fr de d d En lisshe fol . . y y y , re uce into g , ’

5 5 . A L tel Tre ti se int tuled o r na e The Lucidar e 4 to . y , y m d y ,

LD . ct 5 6 . e e e ss dni G ulielmi L ndewodi L R v r ndi imi viri . y ,

A P P EN D I X C .

To avoid encumbering the preceding pages with foo t- notes upon a c assa e the o n s o f the c o o s p rti ular p g s, author subji s a li t prin ipal b k he has e e r d to o r c d e e s e o f which r f r e , onsulte , in this imp rf ct k tch the Life o f the Father o f Englis h Printing

a o r an o ca A co o f the Typogr phical Antiquities, Hist ri l c unt ’ s o f B Origin and Pro gre s Printing i n Grea t Britain and Ireland. y h e and s 4 1 Jo se s e . 3 o . to 785 . p Am William Herb rt v l , The N o w ea ed co es B the same. gr tly enlarg , with pious not . y Fr nall D ib din 4 4 t 1 8 R v . s o . o 1 0. e . Thoma g vols , ’ ’ Bi ra hi i o o a . B e K i s . c g p Britannica y Andr w p p Arti le, Caxt n, 4 l 1 . vo . . 78 in iii , ‘ ’ K w L e o f o . L a o f U e if William Caxt n Treatise, ibr ry s ful no

d e 1 828. le g . ’ A s o n d E a and P ra ca Treati e Woo ngraving, Historic l cti l . With

o o n d Jo hn Jac s . 1 839 . illustrati ns engraved woo , by k on ’ A s P s P Concise Hi tory o f the Origin and rogres o f rinting .

1 770.

‘ ’ h L f B . Introduction to t e iterature o Europe . y Henry Hallam Vl i o . . , 1 836 . ’ il b i l n he Lo f de Ph o b i on e o t o Bo . B , a Tr atise ve oks y Richard

s Jo hn B. i s . 1 832 . Bury . Tran lated by Ingl ’ o o f E P . B o as . 4 s 8vo Hist ry nglish oetry y Th m Warton vol . ,

1 824 .

‘ ’ The e e o f an ss o n is Cant rbury Tal s Chaucer. With E ay h La e Vr i ﬁ t n e s ca io & 0. B s . 5 s nguag and , y Thoma Tyrwhitt vol ,

1 830.

’ S e e s o f the E s P e s to is reﬁxed an p cim n Early ngli h o t , which p P AU H T . 1 C . OR 5 7 A P . ] T I IES

His tori ca l Sketch o f the Rise and Progress o f the Englis h Po etry ’

L 3 . 1 81 1 . B G e . and anguage . y eorg Ellis vols , ‘ ’ o f the L v s i o f G we ce Illustrati ns o i e and Writ ngs o r and Chau r. 1 810 the Re v. J d . d . By Henry . To ’ e o a E e J n Three Early English M trica l R m nces. dit d by oh

s h d S 1 84 2 . Ro b on fo r t e Cam en ociety . ’ e n s P . B Pe 3 R liques o f Ancient E gli h oe try y Thomas rcy .

s 1 94 . . 7 vol , ’ M s d W e c I S B S S . n ins trel y o f the cottish Bor er. y ir alt r ott ’

tro ducto r s o n P u a P e 1 833. y Remark op l r o try . S as M e o r o e o n the P o e P o s cts o f ir Thom or , Coll qui s r gr ss and r pe ’ S c e B e S e 2 1 31 o . s . 8 . o i ty . y Rob rt uth y vol , ‘ ’

e n . Uto pia. Writt n i Latin by Sir Thomas More Translated a A w th v Re T. F. D in so ne o e . ib d . 2 by R l p h Robin n. editi n, by s 18 . 08. vol , ‘ ’ The s t r f L s nd 2 o . B m . o Hi o y ondon y Tho a Maitla vols. f lio,

1 75 6 .

’ N ew o c es o f En e B The Chr ni l gland and Franc . y Robert a a Ed 2 4 1 . S e E . . to 1 81 F by n it d by ir Henry llis vols , . ’ The s o f the el G e L o a e o f Lo Hi tory Tw ve r at ivery C mp ni s ndon. B e e 2 vo 1 834 8 . y William H rb rt. vols . , ‘ ’ S o f the es o f L d e ste B n urvey Citi on on and W stmin r. y Joh

o w . e 1 2 S e S 2 . fol J . . 7 0 t Augm nt d by ohn trype vols , . ’ ’ Si r J Fro is r L sa t s c es . s e o ohn Chroni l Tran lat d by rd Berners . s 4 t 1 2 2 o . o 81 . v l , ’ Me o s o f P e d r d . s e M o U d m ir hilip C mines Tran lat by . ve ale . 2 1 2 ve . 7 3. vo ls . 8

Pa t . Le e . Le e e d the s on tt rs Original tt rs , writt n uring Reigns o f V ’ . w I . and c III . B S J n e A Henry VI , Ed ard , Ri hard y ir oh F nn.

w n A . a s . 2 l . 1 84 0. ne editio , by R m ay vo s , d ’ M s e des D uos e Bo u . P . de B e 1 0 Hi toir rgogne ar arant . vols .

8vo , 1 836 . ‘ ’ Statutes o f the Realm. From original reco rds and authentic ol 81 a sc s . . . 1 6 . m nu ript V ii , ’

Me o f & c. B Jo hn S h. 2 s. 1 74 7 moirs Wool , y mit vol , . ac s o m Iss s o f the E c e e III Extr t fr the ue Roll x h quer, H nry . to ’ e r 1 837 H n y VI . . ’ c o f the A rrivall o f d Ed ted ohn Histori Edwar IV . i by J Bruce

fo r the de S c e 1 838. Cam n o i ty . 1 5 8 S . A p p 0 . AUTHORITIE ( .

’ d o o E B i h l War r be Acc unts o f dward the Fourth . y N c o as

H N co . 1 830 arris i las . ’ Mnas tico n c u B d E o S D d o f Angli an m. y ir William ug ale. ition

1 817 . ’

v Vo l. xv A h K e e . . T e R trospective Re i w , rticle, night ’ ’ his D Tower s Advice to aughters.

LONDO N : P R INTED LL M W D NS T N FO RD STREET BY WI I A CLO B A N SO S ? , A

A N D CH A RI NG C R O SS .