164
HISTORY OF PRINTING.
It only the Latin title of Fruetut tempomm. How small a portion of this work is owing to this author, has been ob- served bcTore ; but he now usually bears the name of the whole, which begins with the Arst Inhabiting of this island, and ends the last year of Edward IV. 1 483. The opportu- nities he had of being acquainted with the court transac- tions of his own time, would encourage his readers to hope for great matters from him ; but his fancy seems to have led liimintoanniidertaking above his strength."
JOHN BAGFORD. An amtigwtrUt and an eminent collector of eurioaitiee. He
compiled an History a/ Printing, l/c. He died in I716.
" William Caxton took to the art and crafte of printing right well, altho' to his great expense of time and charges of money. Oar Caxton was of ripe wit, and quick of appre- hension in all he undertook j I mean in all the books he then translated into English : as may be seen by the pre- faces he then put forth in print. He was so industrious a man, that the like hath not been seen in this our kingdom, to be the tran^ator and printer of so many iKXjks with his own hands."
DR. CONYERS MIDDLETON.
A celebrated dimne and critic, was born at York in 168S. Author of the Life of Cicero, a Diuertation concerning the Origin of Printing in England, and many other worka. He died in 1 75O .
- Whoever turns over Caxton*s printed works must con-
tract a respect for him, and be convinced that he preserved the same cimrficterthroughllfe, ofan honest, modest man: greatly iudoxMons to do good to Ids country, to the best of liis abilitieB, by spreading among the people such books as he thought useful to religion and good manners, which were chiefly trans l ated from the French."
JOHN LEWIS. Minitter of Margate, in Kent, author of the Life of Caxton,
wUA an aceotmf of the Bite and Progrea of Printing in
England, 1737.
" Mr. Caxton appears to have been a very hnmble, mo- dest, and virtuous man. He often styles himself a rude and simple person, confesses his if^orance, and humbly beseeches the pardon of his readers, and the patience to coixect his works ; and expresses lUmself in other terms so submissive and self-abasing as are very uncommon, and more easily admired than imitated, &c. He was a man of no more learning than, as he ingeniously confessed, he had by his knowledge of the English and French languages, in which he modestly acknowledged, he remembered himself of his rudeness and unperlitness. By the account which he has given of his printed books, it sufBciently appears in how great favour and request he was with the princes and great men of his own time.'*
S. PALMER, (or G. P8ALMANAZAR.) A learned printer, and author of a Hitfory of Printing. He died in 173a. Mr. Palmer <t tuppoted to have been astieted by Peaimanaxar.
" I can't but observe, that the fanlts of his English are owing more to bis long continuance abroad, than to the place of his birth ; which will easily appear from an accu- rate observation of his language, and manner of spelling, which discover a foreigner more than a broad- spoken Kentishman, &c. Besides his accomplishments as a mer- chant, Mr. Caxton acquired a great deal of politeness, partly by his travels for thirty years, and partly by his frequent r^dence at the court of the duchess of Burgun ■ dy, sister to King Ewd. rv. who caressed and patronized Um very much, kc. As he was a person indefatigable and ambitions of aqiplanse, as well as eamestin promoting the glory of his own country, he read incessantly the histories of his own and other nations ; which at proper times he digested into order."
WILLIAM OLDYS.
Norry King at Arme, well versed in English Antiquities, a correct writer, and good historian. born 16S7 , died 1761 .
"And indeed, that a man should, for twenty years to;;e. ther, alter age had crept over, and begun to make im- pressions upon him, when others naturally covet a cessation from labour, especially of the brain ; that he, William Cax- ton, should still, after he had given between fifty and three score testimonies of his indefatigable diligence, in the pahllcations he had made, which are compnted to have amounted to that number ; and now, as he could be littie less than fourscore years of age, that he should be desirous of giving still fresh and farther instances of his zeal to pro- mote or disperse the most virtuous examples and pious Instructions among his countr>-men ; these, as they are no
ordinary proofs of the painfnl services he bestowed iqioa them, BO they have deserved no common acluiowledgC' ments."
JOHN AMES.
Secretary to the Society of Antiquaries. He devoted Maid/ to the study of antiquities, in which he acquired great mi. nence, andpubllshal Typographical Antiquities, being n Historical Account of Printing in England, Uo., 1749^ and other works. He died in 1759.
- ' Mr. Caxton was a citizen and mercer of Londtxi : tt
the death of his master he travelled abroad in the Lew Countries as an agent or merchant, for the space of thirty years ; his good accomplishments, and great knowlcdir in foreign traffic, procured him so much esteem at home, that he wasj(dned in a commission with Richard Wlwte. hill, esq. to conclude a treaty ol trade and commerce be. tween King Edward IV. and the duke of Burgundy, whose son afterwards married the Lady Margaret, King Edward's sister, in 1458 : this lady was our first printer's great Uai and patroness."
ANONYMOUS, 1768.
" William Caxton, who first introduced printing into England, has, no doubt, been instrumental in presctrlnt many things which otherwise would have been lost Bat the misfortune was, that he was but an illiterate mu, sad of small Judgment, by which means he printed nothlngbot mean and frivolous things, as appears from the cat>l<^ses of his imprcKiions, given us by Mr. Lewis and Mr. Aim. Whereas, had he been a scholar, and had made a better choice of the works that were to iiass to his press, Itb probable many excellent performances, now lost, would have been secured to us, especially if he had recourse to some of the more ancient pieces ; but, as it is, Caiton'e works are valuable for littie else than as being eaily per- formances in the art of printing, and as wrought off by him."
THOMAS WARTON. Poet Laureai, and Camden's Professor of Modern Histerf,
at Oxford, author of a History of English Poetry, aid
other eminent works. He died in 1790.
" French versions enabled Caxton, oar first printer, to enrich tiie state of letters in this country with many Till- able pnblicatinns. He found it no diilicult task, eitlierbj hiniself or the help of his friends, to turn a contidenUt number of these pieces into English, which he printed. Ancient learning had as yet made too littie progress among us, to encourage this enterprising and indostrions artist to publish the Roman authors in their original langoace : andhadnotthe French furnished him with these nuteiialt, it is not likely that Virgil, Ovid, Cicero, and many otber good writers, would, by the means of his press, have beta circulated In the English tongoe, so early as the ckite ol the fifteenth century."
DR. KIPPIS. A celebrated English divine and biographical writer, m> bom at Nottingham in 1737. He died in 179S.
" Caxton, by translating, or procuring to be translited, such a number of the books from the French, greatly cot- trilHited to promote the state of liteiatore in England. It was only in this way that he could introduce his country- men to the knowledge of many valuable pnblications, at a time when an acquaintance with the learned languages was confined to a few ecclesiastics. Ancient learning bad as yet made too litUe progress among us, to encoimtt him to publish the Roman authors in the original tongue."
DR. HENRY. Minister of the Church of Scotland, in Edinburgh, and
author of the History of Oreat Britain, in i rail. Us.
Died ttov. 34, 1790.
" All our historians and other writers, who flomisbed in or near those times, and mention the introduction of printing into England, unanimously, and without hesitatico, ascribe that honour to Mr. William Caxton, mercer and citizen of London. This modest, worthy, and industrious man, hath been already noticed as em historian ; he was also the tremslator of many books out of French into Eng- lish ; but he merited most of his country by introdudng the art of printing."
EDWARD GIBBON. The eminent historian of the Decline and Fall of theRomn Empire, a work which wilt probably last as long as the language in which it was written. He died Jan. Id, ITW* " It was in tiie year 1474 that our first press was estab- lished In Westminster Abbey, by William Caxton : but In
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