126
NOTES AND QUERIES.
[2'J S. N 7., FEB. 16. '56.
which he confessed and so deeply deplored* was,
as he admits to Sampson, " to the deceiving of the
king." The declaration of the martyr before Gar-
diner, and the defalcation of which he is charged,
are perfectly consistent. Now I would submit
that, were the evidence to close here, there is
nothing to justify the passages of which I com-
plain, but direct testimony may be adduced
which throws light on " this obscure matter ; "
and, strange to say, this testimony is contained in
the very passage of Sampson which the biographer
has partially Quoted. The passage in the recent
biographical notice is this :
"This (sermon of Latimer) 'did so strike Bradford to the heart,' on account of a fraud committed by his master, Sir John Harington, which ' was to the deceiving of the king,' and which, it would seem, Bradford had concealed, ' that he could never be quiet till, by the advice of the same Master Latimer, a restitution was made.' "
The words within single inverted commas are taken from a passage in Sampson's Memoir, the other are the words of the biographer. Had the writer, however, omitted his own words and given Sampson's passage entire, though-nt might have destroyed his argument, it would have enabled him to do more justice to Sir John. The passage from Sampson is literally this :
" Which (sermon of Latimer) did so strike Bradford to the heart for one dash with a pen, which he had made ivithnut the knowledge of Ms master (Sir John Harington), as full often I have heard him confess with plenty of tears, being Clerk to the Treasures of the King's Camp beyond the seas, and was to the deceiving of the king, that he could never be quiet till, by the advice of the same Master Latimer, a restitution was made."
Sampson does not draw inferences, or speak of a casual or doubtful remark of Bradford, but tells us plainly that he " had full often heard him con- fess v)ith plenty of tears the dash with his pen which he had made without the knowledge of his master." And who was this Sampson ? Brad- ford's most intimate " friend and fellow-student at the Temple," one who was the instrument, under God, of Bradford's conversion from Popery, and who speaks of his " familiar knowledge " of Bradford's inmost thoughts with reference to the " doctrine of repentance." Sampson was after- wards Dean of Christ Church, Prebendary of St. Paul's, &c. Unless, therefore, the writer of the Biographical Notice of John Bradford is willing to admit that Sampson penned a deliberate falsehood, he will, I think, if not erase, at least modify the offending passages, should another edition be called for. Though a very minor matter, I observed several inaccuracies respecting the Harington family, in the notes which the Exton pedigree, now before me, would enable me to correct, should the editor hereafter desire it. I have spoken of the writer as the biographer, not being certain whether the editor, the Rev. Aubrey Townsend, of Bath, and the writer of
the biographical notice, are one and the same
person. E. C. HARINGTON.
The Close, Exeter.
WHITE PAPER INJURIOUS TO SIGHT.
It has, no doubt, occurred to many of your readers, that the glaring white paper upon which our books are printed in the present day, is any- thing but agreeable to the sight ; and I should say, judging by my own experience, it is often injurious. It is a great relief to me, when I have waded through the pages of a modern octavo, to take up some goodly volume of old, and rest the eyes upon its dun -coloured paper its bold large type, fresh and black, as if just issued from the press its ample margin, with the friendly side- notes to help the reader in his pilgrimage and many other excellences, which are discarded in the present refined age of literature. In the Letters of Eminent Persons, published from the originals in the Bodleian Library and Ashmolean Museum, I find a communication from Dr. Lan- caster (Provost of Queen's College) to Dr. Char- lett, in 1714; in which brown (tinted) paper is recommended as being less prejudicial to the eyes than white :
" Pray, Sir, will you do so much as send to Sir Wilkin- son of Queen's, and let your servant tell him Mr. Basket will send down his paper on Monday for Aristotle's Ethics. Tho' I can tell him that the brownish paper he returns is the better paper to print upon. All my Paris editions are on paper of the same dunny colour, and those editions (for that reason for one) excel all other. I never heard English printing blamed so much for anything as the paper's being too white. But as for Mr. Wilkinson, I suppose he has promised his subscribers very white paper, and they must have it. Master, I have found by experi- ence, that eyes are very good things, and yet 1 will not say that I found it out first ; for they say that old Friar Bacon knew it, and even some antediluvians lived long enough to have discovered it. Now brown paper preserves the eye better than white, and for that reason the wise Chinese write on brown. So the Egyptians. So Aldus and Stevens (Stephens) printed; and on such paper, or velom, are old MSS. written. Savile published his Chry- sostom, with a silver letter on brown paper. And when authors and readers agree to be wise, we shall avoid printing on a glaring white paper."
I am certain that many persons will coincide with the strong opinion expressed on this subject by the worthy Provost of Queen's College, and that "eyes are good things "'which it is well to preserve. W. J.
Kussell Institution.
FALSE AND DANGEROUS PROPOSITIONS.
The decision of the Roman Inquisition against the truth of the motion of the earth, which has justly been reputed one of the most impudent declara-
