FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
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isd this desiie was complied with. The writ- ings of Eni^ches shared the like fate at the council of Chalcedon ; and it would not be dif- ficnlt to collect instances of the same land firom each of the following centuries. — Beckmami.
1479. Printing introduced into the following places in the course of this year : —
Gouge, by Gerard de Leen. Lerida, by Henry Botel. Nimegpien, no printer's name. Pignerul, by Jacob de Rubeis. Poictiers, by J. Bouyer and G. Bouchet. Segorba, printer's name not known. Tnsculano, by Gabriel Petri. Toulouse, by Johannes Teutonicus. WurUburg, by S. Dold, J. Ryser, and J. Bekenhub. Zwoll, by Johannes de Vallehoe.
1480. The second instance of a book printed with permisson from government is commonly supposed to occur in this year ; and Dom. Liron, a BenetUctine monk, is the first person who made that remark. He was the author of a work en- titled Singvlarites Historiquet et Liiiraires ,- in the last part of which, where he speaks of the Hei- ddberg edition of a work named Notce le ipmm, printed in this year, he aa.ja " This is the first publication I found accompanied with solemn ^probation and attestations in its favour." It has four approbations, the first and last of which are worth preserving, as they will serve to show the power of the clergy at this period : —
"I Philip Rota, doctor of laws, though the lout of all, have read over carefully, and dili- gentlv examined, this small work, Notce te ; and as I have not only found it composed devotely and catholically, but abounding also with matter of wonderful utility, I do not nesitate, in testi- mrav of the above, to subscribe my name."
The last of the approbations is as follows :
" I Hapheus Girado, by the divine mercy patriarch of Venice, and primate of Dalmatia, confiding in the fidelity of the above gentlemen, who have examined the above-mentioned book, do testify that it is a devontand orthodox work." Thns, it appears, that this divine censor gave his opinion of books without reading them.
1480. Printing introduced into the following places, in the course of this year: —
Genzano, printer unknown.
Oudenaide, by Arnold Cesaris.
Hasselt, no printer's name.
Hadelberg, first printer unknown. Jacobus Knoblocker, began to print in 1485.
Nonantola, by Geo. and Anselm de Mischinis.
Friuli,by Gerrard de Flandria, most probably the same person who printed at Treviso.
Caen, by J. Duranaus and Egidius Quijoue.
Sl Albans, the schoolmaster.
London, by John Lettou and William Mach- linia.
Quilembourg, printer's name unknown.
1480. John Lettou, a foreigner, commenced the art of printing in the city of London. He is said to have come over to this country on the invitation of WiUiam Caxton. This, however.
is not likely, as his unskilfulness is such that Caxton would scarcely have invited or even encouraged such a bad workman. The types he employed in the only two books he is known to have printed himself, are rude and broken. After he had published them, he was taken into the printing office of William de Machlinia — first, it is supposed as a journeyman, and after- wards as a partner. Machlinia also was a fo- reigner; the only celebrity that can attach to the name of these partners, arises from their having printed the first edition of Littleton's Tcnuret, in a small folio, without date, title, numerals, or catchwords, the type barbarous and broken, and the textcrowded with abbreviations, five copies only are known to be extant. Their printing-office was near All-Hallows church ; their letter, a coarse Gothic one. The partner- ship was of short duration ; for, in 1483, Mach- linia's name alone appears.
Sir Thomas Littieton, author of the English Tenures, was not only an eminent lawyer, but also holds a high place in the annals of literature. The celebrity and usefulness of this work, which was commented upon by Sir Edward Coke, have subsisted to the present day, and no work on the municipal laws is more esteemed by lawyers, for, notwithstanding the prodigious accession of statutes and reports, the large alterations both in the knowledge and practice of the law, and the accumulation of publications, Littleton, with Coke's Commentary, will ever continue to de- mand the attention jind applause of our ablest advocates. Bishop Nicholson, in his Hutorical Library, speaking of Littieton's Tenures remarks, " That his book of Tenures is in every one's hand and head that pretends to the profession or study of the municipal lows of this Idngdom, and ha!s been more frequently printed than any other law book whatever. This distinguished lawyer and scholar died August 23, 1481, and was buried in the cathedral at Worcester.
In the public library at Cambridge, there are two manuscript copies of Littleton's Tenures, one on vellum and the other on paper, with a memorandum annexed to the last, that it was bought in Paul's church yard on the 27th of July, 20th of Edward IV. anno 1481.
As an author, and among men of literature in general, Sir John Fortescue, chief justice of the king's bench,* will probably be regarded as en-
- In the rear u6l, (lat Edw. IV.) the chief Justice of the
king's bench had one hnndied and seventr msiks per •nnam, tti As. Cd, for his winter robes, and u>e same stun for whltsontide robes. In the year 1485, (1st Hen. VII.) the chief Jnstice had the Tearlv fee of one hnodred and forty marlis granted to him for his better support : farther he had ^i da. I lid. and the sixth part of a haUtienny, (sach is (he accuracy of Sir William Dngdale, and the strangeness of the snm) for his winter robes, and £3 <s. Od. for hia robes at wtiitsuntlde. Host of the Jadfes had the honour of knighthood ; some of them were knights ban- nerets ; and some had the order of the Bath. Until the «xst year of the reign of Edward IV. the king^ attorney was the only law offlcer of the crown > when we And Richard Fowler was made solicitor to the king ; and in the nth year of the same king's reign William Hnasee was appointed attorney, general in England, (the itzst mention of that title.) This ofllccr was then appointed for life.
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