FIFTEENTH CENTURY
139
mentions that his eres are dimmed with over much looking un the white paper; that his courase was uot so prone and ready to labotir as it had been ; and that age was creeping on bim daily, and enfeebling all his body ; — that he had learnt and practise! at great charge and dispense to ordain the said book in print ; and not written with pen and ink, as other books be.
On the back of the title, which is prints io led ink, is the following prologue :*
" Whan I remembre that every man is bounden by the commandment ^ councei/ll of the tcyse man la aehewe sotuAe and ydlenea whyche it moder nd wnaytihar of vycef and ought to put my self mill tertunus occupacion and beiynesse. That I kniinje no yrete charge or occupacion followyng Aemyd coynceyl take a frensshe boke and redde lienin many straunge meniellous historyet where it I had great pleasyr and delyte." ^c.
After informing us that he thought he under- stood ' the sentence and substance of e?ery mat- ter,' he proceeds,
" And aftennarde vhan I remembyred my »elf oj my tymplenes and vnperfightnes that I hid in Intkt languges, that is to wgte in frensshe and in ojtisshefor infrance was I neuer, and was born aid lemed myn englisshe in kente in the weald wlure I double not is spoken as brode and rude a^itshe as is in any place in England and have mtfnaed by the space of jexx. yerefor the most perte in the eontres of Braband. flandres holand ai ttland and thus whan alle thyse thynges cam It fore meaftyr that y had made and wretyn afyve or nx jvayers. yftsUin ditpayr of thus werke and pwjwnrf no more to haue contynuya therein and lietfwiyen leyd a part and in two yere aftyr la- Immd no more in thys werke And was fully in «yK to have lefte hute. tyll on a time it fortuned list Ike ryght hyr/h excellerU and right vertuous frynets my right redoughted lady my lady Mar- Jtrtte by the grace of god suster vnto the kynge of t*glmd and frac», ^c. sente for me to speke wyui If jood grace of diuerce maters among the whych y lete her hyenes haue knowleche of the foresaid lnyyKnyng of this Werke anane conumded me to Aewe the sayd. v. or. «'. quayers to her saifd grace ai whan she had seen hem. anone she fonde de- fnte in mm englisfhe whiche sch eomaded me to •"Jwfc ad more ouer comamded me straytly to con- tffe and make an ende of the resydue than not Imdatfd. whos dredfull camddement y durste in
- > <eyse disobey becase y am a teruat vnto her sayd
J"« end resseiue of her yerlyffee and other riufny yifc and grete benefets, <J-o. Sr<^.
" Thus ende I this book whyche I have translat- " sfter myn auctor as nyghe as god Itath gyuen me '^syng to whom be gyuen the laudeand preysing.
• We concetvc that no better Kpology can be given for piewiting this abstract of the monoment wlilch Caxton. J^nd by Ms Indefati^ble industry, in its original dress,
- ™i the following observation of the learned and most
™™»nti<)uarT, the editor of the Mott \oile Order of
- ^Ovier ;— " It is hoped that those extracts which the
'fMcr will find here made from the writings of Caxton ™ othen, will not be disrelished hecanse they are inserted uL Pfmitivo spellings and obselete terms, which like wmdow nut of medali, are marks both of the aotiqiiitr ■•loniiiieiieas."
And for as moche as in the urrysHng of the same mypenne is uKum, myn hande wery Sr not steadfast myn eyn dimed with overmoclte lokyng on the whit paper, and my corage not so prone and redy to la- boure as hit hath been, and that age crepeth on me dayly atutfeebleth all the bndye, and also be cause I have prmnysid to dyuerce gentilmen and to my frendes to addresse to hem as hastely as I myght this sayd book, Therfor I have practysed ^ lemed at my grete charge and disperKe Io ordeyne this said hqoke in prynte after the manner i- forme as ye may here see, and is not wreton with penne and ynke as other bokes. ben, to thende that every man may haue them attones, ffor all the books of this story, named the Reeule of the historycs of Troyes thus enpryuted as ye here see were begonne in oon day, and also fynyshed in oon day,* whiche booke I piesented to my sayd redoubtid lady as a fore is sayd. And she hath well acceptid htt. and largely rewarded me, wherefore I beseche almyghty god to rewarde her euerlastyng blisse after this
lyfr src.
He then concludes,
" And also as for the propre names, hit is no wonder that they acorde not, ffor some omn neme in thyse dayes haue dyuerce equyuoeacians after the contrees that they dwlle in, but alle acorde in conclusion the generall destruccion of that noble eyle of Troye, And the deth of so many tuMe prynces as kynges dukes erles barons, knyghtes and comyn peple and the ruyne irreperable of that cyte that neuer syn was reedefyed which may be ensam- pie to all men durying the world how dredrfull and leopardous it is to begynne a warre and what hormes. losses, and deth followelh. Terfore tha- postle saith all that is wreton is wreton to our doctrine, whyche doctryne for the cnmyn wele I beseche god may be taken in suche place and tyme as shall be mosle rtedefull in enerecying of peas lotte and and charyte whiche graunte vs he that suffryd for the same to be crucyfied on the rood tree. And saye we alle Amen for chary te."\
1472. Nuremberg received the art of typo- graphy, from Anthony Koburger, a person con- spicuously eminent for his learning, as well as for his elegance and correctness in printing. He was styled the prince of printers. Frederick Pistorius assisted him in correcting the press.
• Upon this expression Herbert makes the following re- mark :— " Thif seems calculated to appear the more mar- velloas to those who did not well understand the method of printing i as If Uio bookes bad all been completed In one day.**
t Mr. Dibdin here asserts this to have been the first book which was printed in the English lanenage—
" This is the first book (Hinted in tho En|;Usb language. Herbert says It was ' not printed in England, yet being printed by Caiton, and being foil of Information, Mr. Ames began with it, and hoped that it would be faroorably re- ceived.* In his additions [p. 17ti5] he properly obser^-ca, that 'it la without initial-capital letters, signatures, catch- words, numerals or figures to the leaves or pages : bat it contains 77H pages, as told over by Mr. Randal Minsholl, library keejier to the late Earl of Oxford, who published, about the year 1740, Propottalt for printinf! by ntbtcriptioHj an account of all the books printed bp William Caxton, who tool the first printer in England.^ *' ^c.
Can we possibly have stronger proof in ffevoor of Cax- ton being our first printer, than the above observation of the lenrned librarian ! Would the Karl of Oxford have countenanced such an assertion, if the city of Oxford had had a prior claim to the merit of tho first English press >
VjOOQ IC
