FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
175
Besides seven acknowledged productions uf Machlinia, there are five other books without oame, date, or place of imprint, but which, from a variety of evidence, have been ascribed to him ; of which the following is a list : —
Urn begynneth a litill Boke neceaarye and hehmeful agerut the Pestilence. Quarto. With- out name, date, or place of imprint.
By the intoduction to this book, the reader is informed that Ramicus —
" The bishop of Anisiens in the royalme of Denmark, Doctour of Phisique will write by the moost experte and famous doctours auctorised in Phisike somme thvnges of the inlirmitie of pes- tilence which dayly enfecteth and sone sufiereth us to departe of this lyfe. First I wil write of the tokeoes of this infinnitie, the second the causes whereof yt cometh, the thirde remedies for the same, the fourth comfort for the herte and and the principal membres."
On the recto of the fourth leaf, in the remedie* for ike pettilence, it is thus remarked : —
" Now it is to wete by what remedies a man Bay pserve him self fro pestilence first see the nitiiig of Jeremy the pphete that a man ought to (brake evil thinges and do gode dedes and mekdy to confesse his sinnes for whi it is the Uest remedie in that time of pestilence penance and cofession to be pferred toal other meaicines."
This singular production consists of nine karegjaod was first introduced into the Typo- frtfJtieel Antiq-uitiea, by the Rev. T. F. Dibdin.
Bettdarion of a Monke in the Abbey of £ui4- loK. Quarto.
This most singular volume commences on the recto of the first leaf; and on the reverse, " Here ^tJflu^yth a meruelom reuelacion that wot ichev)- fd of alwojghty god by tent Nycholas to a monke ofEiapkamme yn tite days of kynge Richard the fynt, atd the yere of our lord, mcJxxxxm. — Ca primiun, Iviii chap, in all.
Tlie story which then ensues, states that the iBOBk who was favoured with this vision, was a jDODf man who bad been converted from the world to a religious life, and that soon after his Iwing entered in Evesham monastery he was aiBicted with an illness which lasted fifteen months. After medical skill had been found in nin, and his sickness had increased to a great keigfat, toward the feast of Easter, he somewhat Rcorered, and on the Thursday in Passion- •eel, joined his brethren in the church, where he behaved with peculiar fervour and devotion. His weakness however again increases, and with it his religions zeal, and at length, on Good Friday morning, he is found prostrate before the ahbot s seat in the chapter-house.
"At a man lyfeles," says the story, " without «jr fnoeyon of any membre of his body. — Trewly kis yet ware faUe doun depe into his hede ^ tho Jet tr note of him ware blody or as a maime had <xwr lede Item udth mekyl bloode.
In this state he continues, notwithstanding Ihe endeavours of his brethren to restore him, until the following afternoon, when he slowly tecoreis, and about the time when the resurrec-
tion took place, he leaves his bed and goes to the church. After this he relates to the con- vent, " in the collnke the which ys a place where the may speke to geder," all the wonderful things he had seen and heard. This curious book con- tains 65 leaves, four of which are double, and 30 lines on a fiill page. There are neither title- page, signatures, pages, catchwords, nor colo- phon.
Chronicle of England. Folio.
Of this exceedingly rare volume, Herbert gave only the following very unsatisfactory ac- count : " A Chronicle of England, partly writ- ten, and partly printed, on paper and vellum ; was in the possession of the late John Anstis, Garter. It is a miscellaneous piece, and has printed in it, first. The promise of Matrimonie : second, The Lettre annvelle port : third, The obligation of Nisi : fourth, Tnarticles of the con- vencion bitnvne the Frensshe king and die due of Austrice, late called due of Bourgoigne."
Mr. Dibdin has considerably improved upon the above, and from him we learn, that this book is printed with worn and broken types, and that the printing is executed in a rude unfinished manner. As all the copies he had met with were imperfect, he is able only to state his sup- position, that it originally commenced with the table on sign. a. i., which at present occupies ten leaves. The number of chapters is cc. Ixxiij, and the chroiucle begins with — '• How the lande of Englonde was fyrst named Albion and by what encheson it was so named," which is printed in a stout square German-text type, similar to the titles in Caxton's books, and the earlier ones by Wynkyn de Worde. The text commences ; " In the noble lande of Surre ther was a noble < kyng and myhty a man ofgrete rename : " which comprehend the first two lines. Mr. Dibdin mentions, that the most perfect copy he has seen, terminated on sign ee. iiii.
Herbert also mentions one other work from Machlinia's press, w hich is
A Book of Devotion.
Printed on vellum, in Latin, and with the same type as the Nova Statuta.
Neither Lettou nor Machlinia appear to have used any device, but only to have printed their names in the colophons to their respective works.
1483, April 9. Died King Edward IV. at Wiadsor. He was bocn at Rouen, in France, April 29, 1441. On March 4, 1471, he was proclaimed king of England, and crowned on the 28th of June ; upon which august occasion his brothers George and Richard were created dukes of Clarence and Gloucester. On the 1st of May, 1464, he was privately married to the ladv Eliza- beth Woodville, widow to Sir John drey, at Grafton Regis. Being compelled to fly the kingdom, he fled to Flanders, from whence he returned and landed at Ravenspur, on the 14th of March, 1471 ; in his bonnet he wore an ostrich feather, as prince of Wales; his Fleming followers carried hand-guns which is the earliest account of them in England.
On the 4th of May, 1483, Richard duke of
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