vention of printing, and which issued in the Reformation itself. the first half of the fifteenth century, devoted himself with so much industry We have already named several indi- to this search, or made so good a use viduals who, even in the darkest ages, of them, when discovered, as Poggio. spent much of their time or money, in No difficulty, no want of assistance, no endeavouring to discover and procure expense or labour discouraged him. manuscripts. Long before the fall of His youth was spent in travelling to Constantinople, the love of classical attain what seemed to be the sole obliterature had been gradually reviving;- ject of his life; and when he became that event increased it, by compelling a secretary to the Popes, eight of whom great number of learned Greeks to seek employed him in succession, he used a shelter in Italy. But it could not the influence and opportunities his sibe gratified, till the manuscripts, which tuation gave him, for the promotion of lay buried and neglected, were brought literature and the collecting of manu to light. As the labours of those who scripts at Rome. To these names we may justly be called the restorers of shall add only those of the Medici classical literature, were mainly instru- family; Emanuel Chrysolas, who was mental in producing that state of things, one of the first who introduced a knowwhich turned men's minds towards the ledge of the Greek language and liteinvention of printing, and nourished it rature into Italy; and Theodore Gaza. to maturity, when invented, we shall give a short account of the most celebrated of them, before we proceed to the invention itself. Silvester II., before he became pope, which was in the last year of the tenth century, had been indefatigable in acquiring and communicating learning, and these qualities distinguished him during his whole life. In order to obtain a knowledge of the sciences and manuscripts, he visited Spain, and caused Italy, and the countries beyond the Alps, to be diligently explored. The Crusades interrupted the spread of literature; but in the fourteenth century, Petrarch roused his countrymen from their slumber-inspired a general love of literature-nourished and rewarded it by his own productions; and rescued the classics from the dungeons, where they had been hitherto shut up from the light and instruction of mankind. "He never passed an old convent, without searching its library, or knew of a friend travelling into those quarters, where he supposed books to be concealed, without entreaties to procure for him some classical manuscripts." Had not such a man appeared at this time, it is probable that most of the classical manuscripts would have been totally lost; so that in this case, he might have excited among his countrymen the love of literature, without being able to gratify or nourish it. Boccaccio, who shares with Petrarch the glory of having enriched the Italian language with its most perfect beauties, at the very moment when it may be said to have begun to exist, shares also with him the glory of being a zealous and successful restorer of classical manuscripts and literature. No man, during Europe seemed now ripe for the art of printing, and to require it. Persons of high rank felt a more general and powerful love of literature than they had ever experienced before. The minds of the great mass of the people too were now beginning to work; but materials were wanting on which they might work and by which they might work. At this important crisis, the art of printing was discovered, and an impulse given to knowledge which now no power, no conceivable combination of circumstances can possibly destroy. Playing-cards, which were known and used in Germany at the very beginning of the fourteenth century, were first painted; but towards the end of that century a method of printing them by blocks was discovered. This was the first step towards the art of printing. The manufacturers of playing-cards naturally turned this discovery of printing from blocks to advantage and profit by engraving the images of saints-for which there was a regular and great demandon wood. This may be considered as the second step. Books of Images were of two kinds: those without any text, and those with text; but even in the first words and sentences are interspersed. A wood cut of St. Christopher, the oldest known of the first kind, is now in the collection of Earl Spencer: at the foot of it are three short sentences, engraved and printed together with the figure, with the date 1423. The most celebrated of the books of images without text is the Biblia Pauperum. It consists of forty plates of figures and images, with sentences relating to them, the whole engraven on wood on one side of the paper. It seems to be a kind of catechism of the Bible, and was sold at a low price to young persons and the common people; it has no date. Another work, a system of artificial memory, engraven on wood, in the same manner as the Biblia Pauperum, has the text separate from the figures; fifteen plates of each. The characters are very large, resembling those on ancient monuments. But, of all the ancient books of images," observes Mr. Horne, "which preceded the invention of printing, the Speculum Salutis is confessedly the most perfect both in its design and execution." It is a collection of historical passages from the Scriptures, with a few from profane history. It was very popular, frequently reprinted, and translated into German, Flemish, and other languages. The change and improvement from the manner in which these books of images were executed to moveable wooden characters, seems obvious and not difficult; but there is no evidence that these were ever used, except in the capital letters of some early printed books. It has been, indeed, contended strenuously by several antiquarians, that Lewis Coster, of Haarlem, invented and used them; that he, therefore, was the original inventor of the art of printing, and that Haarlem was the place where the invention was first put into practice. But it is now proved, that this opinion is without foundation; that wooden types were never used; that the claims of Coster of Haarlem cannot stand the test of accurate investigation; and that the art of printing, as at present prac tised, with moveable metal types, was discovered by John Guthenberg, of Mayence, about the year 1438. Three years before this, Guthenberg entered into a partnership with three citizens of Strasburg, binding himself to disclose a secret which would enrich them all. One of the partners dying, and some of the most important implements having been stolen from the workshop, a lawsuit took place. In the course of this lawsuit, five witnesses, among whom was Guthenberg's confidential servant, proved that he (Guthenberg) was the first who practised the art of printing with moveable types. The result was a dissolution of partnership. The whole proceedings on this trial are in existence, and have been published in the original German. After this, Guthenberg returned, poor and disappointed, but not dispirited, to his native city, Mayence. It is doubtful whether he had hitherto really printed any thing. Heinecken, who has investigated this subject with great diligence and labour, is of opinion that he had ruined both himself and his partners, without being able to produce a single clean and legible leaf. However that may be, in 1450, he entered into partnership at Mayence, with John Fust; they seem at first to have gone back to wooden blocks, and then to have tried moveable wooden letters and moveable metal ones, formed with a knife: all without effect. This partnership was also unfortunate; for, in consequence of the great expense incurred by Fust (who supplied the capital), in printing a Latin Bible, he commenced a suit against Guthenberg; the latter was obliged to give up his apparatus to Fust. It is not certain whether, during their partnership, they found out the art of casting characters in metal, which they had previously been obliged to cut with the hand; or whether this great improvement was made by Schoeffer, an ingenious man, who assisted them at this time, and was afterwards taken into partnership by Fust. The general opinion is, that the idea of punches and matrices for casting metal types originated with Schoeffer. He certainly improved this method, by rendering it more certain, easy, and expeditious. Guthenberg, not discouraged by this second misfortune, established a new printing office, until 1465, when he obtained a situation, with a good salary, under the Elector Adolphus. In the mean time, Fust, in conjunction with Schoeffer, continued printing. In August, 1457, they published a beautiful edition of the Psalms; one of the earliest books yet discovered which has the name of the place and printers, with the date annexed. In 1462, the city of Mayence was taken by the Elector Adolphus, when the partners suffered much; and their workmen dispersing themselves, the art of printing was thus spread over Europe. Their masters, however, still carried on the business in Mayence. Fust's name appears to a Treatise of Cicero printed in 1466; all subsequent books have Schoeffer's name alone; he continued to print till his death in 1502, when he was succeeded by his son*. the art in its infancy, we shall subjoin short notices In order to give a clearer idea of the progress of of some of the works executed by Guthenberg and his partners. The two earliest works are supposed to be an alphabet, engraved on a plate for the use of schools, and some doctrinal tracts. Then followed two editions of Donatus on the parts of speech: the Library of Paris; the second with moveable types first from wooden blocks, which are still in the Royal The date and cause of the dispersion of Fust and Schoeffer's workmen, and the consequent spreading of the art of printing over the continent of Europe, have been already stated. The respective periods of its first introduction into the principal continental kingdoms, together with some interesting anecdotes, we shall now mention. The first book printed at Rome was Cicero's Letters to his friend, in 1457. The printers were Conrad Sweynheim, and Arnold Pannartz. They left Germany for Italy in 1465, having served their apprenticeship to Fust and his partner. At first they settled at the monastery of Lubeaco, in the neighbour. hood of Rome, where they printed the works of Lactantius, being encouraged and assisted by the monks, who were Benedictines, and very rich and learned. On their removal to Rome they were equally patronised by John Andreas the Pope's librarian. He not only supplied them with the most valuable manuscripts from the Vatican, but prepared the copy, corrected the proofs, prefixed dedications, prefaces, &c. Notwithstanding on vellum. The celebrated first edition of the Bible from metal types; remarkable for the texture of the paper, excellence of execution, and blackness and lustre of the ink; supposed to have been printed in 1455. The expense of printing it gave rise to the lawsuit between Guthenberg and Fust. Like all other very ancient printed books, it has no title or paging, and many of the initial letters are painted by illumination. In 1456, Guthenberg printed an almanack, the first ever printed, and the very first book with a certain date. In 1457, Fust and Schoef. fer printed their celebrated Psalter. In a colophon, (the sentence frequently added at the conclusion of a work by the early printers,) the invention of the art of printing is announced to the public in boasting, though by no means unreasonable or unwarranted terms. This Psalter is printed on vellum; the psalms in larger letters than the hymns, all uncommonly black. The capital letters are cut in wood; the largest of these, which are black, red, and blue, it is supposed must have passed three times through the press. Not more than six or seven copies are known to be in existence. The first edition of the Latin Bible, with a date, at Mayence, by Fust and Schoeffer, in 1462. Fust sold by himself, or by his agents, copies of this Bible at Paris, as manuscript, and supplied them so regularly and abundantly as to lower the price. From the facility with which he supplied them, and the uniformity of the copies, he was taken up as a necromancer; hence arose the story of the Devil and Dr. Faustus. The books were seized either on this occasion, or aftewards, in virtue of the droit d'aubaine, on the death of his agent, but they were restored by order of Louis XI. In 1465 Fust and Schoeffer públished an edition of Cicero's Offices, "the first tribute of the new art to polite literature." After the death of Fust, about 1466, Schoeffer carried on the printing business alone for thirty-five or thirty-six years, in the course of which period he executed a great many works. By far the most important of these was an edition of Justinian's Institates, the date is not known. In 1484 he printed an Herbal in 4to., with figures of plants; and in 1485, a folio edition of it. In 1490 he printed a third edition of the Mentz Psalter. In the preced. ing editions the full chant was written, in this it is printed. Schoeffer terminated his labours by a fourth edition of the Psalter in 1502. the encouragement they met with, they were obliged to petition the Pope for relief and assistance in 1472, having printed during the seven previous years, twenty-eight different works, some of them very large and expensive, the impressions of which amounted to 12,475 volumes. In this petition, after stating that they were the first who introduced this art into his holiness' territories, and the number of volumes printed by them, they added that their house was full of books in quires, but destitute of the necessaries of life. As they contrived to print for some time afterwards, it is supposed that assistance was granted them. The first book printed at Venice was also Cicero's Epistles; the printer, John de Spira, the date 1469. He and his brother, also a printer, natives of Germany, surpassed all their predecessors in the beauty of their types and the elegance of their impressions; they employed two very learned men as correctors of their press. The Spiras were the first who applied the art on a regular and extensive scale to the publication of the classics. By an order of the senate, 1469, the exclusive privilege of printing the letters of Cicero and Pliny was granted to them for five years, in consequence of the beauty of their impressions. Venice became celebrated for its types, and supplied the printers of Rome with them. One of the best printers of the fifteenth century was settled at Nuremberg, his name was Coburger; he was styled by his contemporaries the prince of booksellers and printers: he employed daily twenty-four presses and one hundred men, besides furnishing work to the printers of Basle, Paris, and Lyons. His books, which relate chiefly to the canon law and theology, are distinguished for the blackness of the ink, and the squareness and fineness of the type, as well as the good quality of the paper, and the excellence of the press-work. The first work from the Paris press is dated 1470; the printers were three Germans from Colmar. On the establishment of their office, the copyists, finding their business much injured, presented a memorial to the parliament; but Lewis XI. interfered in their behalf. Lewis, who, amidst all his faults, was an encourager of literature, is said to have sent Nicolas Jenson, a native of France, to Mayence, to learn the art of printing, in 1470. But, owing to civil dissensions in his kingdom, Jenson settled at Venice, where he printed from 1470 to 1480. He introduced great improvements; planning and reducing to their present proportions the characters called roman, so that his works are justly deemed very highly finished in every respect. The first book printed at Naples, was in 1471. Two years afterwards, printing was introduced into Buda, in Hungary. The first work printed at Basle, in Switzerland, is dated 1474. The same year appeared a book, printed by the monks of a convent in the Rhingau. They were of the Augustine order, and by their rules, they were obliged to copy the works of the Fathers and ecclesiastical writers as part of their regular duty, and likewise as their chief means of subsistence. The discovery of printing having deprived them of these means, they immediately applied themselves to learn and practise that art, and were thus enabled at the same time to support themselves and fulfil the spirit of their rule. The first work printed in Bohemia is dated 1476, but the printer's name is not known. John Snell, a German printer, invited into Sweden by the administrator Stein Sture, printed the first book in that kingdom in 1483. John Mathison, a Swede, who was patronised by the Bishop of Holun in Iceland, introduced the art of printing into that remote and desolate island, in the year 1531. The first book printed in Portugal is dated 1489; it is a commentary on the Pentateuch in Hebrew, and from the printers' names, they appear to have been Jews. In 1493 the art was introduced into Denmark, when a grammatical treatise was published. The first treatise relating to commerce seems to have been published at Provins, in 1496. Three years afterwards the Catholicon was printed in Bretagne, or Breton, French, and Latin. The first work printed in Moravia, is dated 1500 it is a treatise against the Waldenses. In 1560, a Russian merchant, having bought a quantity of types, printing press, &c., introduced the art into Moscow. The mob, however, at the instigation, it is supposed, of the priests, destroyed the office, press, and types. The most early printed books were principally of the folio and quarto size. In 1465 the old Gothic character was changed for a kind of semi-Gothic, in the Lactantius, printed at Lubeaco. The roman type was first used at Rome in 1467, and soon afterwards brought to perfection by Nicolas Jenson. The celebrated printer, Aldus Manutius, introduced towards the end of the fifteenth century, the italic. Aldus was extremely careful in correcting his proofs, so that he never printed more than two sheets a week. He printed a great number of Latin and Italian books in 8vo., which are executed with great elegance and correctness. In the edition of Cicero, printed at Mayence, 1465, a few sentences in Greek types are given. The same year, Sweynheim and Pannartz, having procured a very small quantity of Greek types, began to print the Lactantius, already mentioned; before the work was completed, however, they seem to have procured a further supply, for in the first part of the work a blank is left wherever a long sentence occurs,. whereas, after the middle of the work, all the Greek quotations are printed. The first book, entirely Greek, is supposed to be the Greek grammar of Lascaris, printed at Milan in 1476. Aldus, in addition to his other merits, is justly celebrated for having first produced beautiful and correct editions of Greek works. Printing in Hebrew was first executed by Soncino, in Milan, in 1482. The Pentateuch was printed there this year. The first Polyglott bible, in Hebrew, Arabic, Chaldee, Greek, and Latin, was printed at Genoa in 1516, by Pormo. Aldus seems to have planned, and even to have begun to execute, a Polyglott bible, in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. There is one specimen page, in folio, preserved in the Royal Library at Paris. Till 1476 or 1480, the titles of books were printed on separate leaves. In the infancy of the art, blanks were left for initial letters, which were afterwards filled up by the illuminators; but this trade did not long survive the invention of printing. Divisions into sentences were seldom made; the orthography varied much; punctuation was confined to the colon, period, and an oblique stroke. This is supposed to have arisen from a desire to imitate manuscripts as near as possible. Aldus added the semicolon; notes of interrogation and admiration were not used till long afterwards. The paper was very thick and solid; this, and the frequent use of vellum, were the result of the desire to imitate manuscripts. It is known, besides, that at that period the disproportion between the price of paper and vellum was not nearly so great as at present. Very early printed books are also dis tinguished by their numerous and difficult abbreviations, by the absence of signatures and catch-words, and of the printer's name, place, and date; when inserted, they are at the end of the book. Signatures, however, were used in 1472 and 1474; and catch-words, which appear in manuscripts of the eleventh century, were first used in printing, by Spira, at Venice, about the same time. They are at present little used, either on the continent or in Britain. CHAPTER V. Life of WILLIAM CAXTON. WILLIAM CAXTON was born in the Weald of Kent, as he himself tells us; in what part of it, and in what year, is not known, but it is supposed about the year 1412. Of the rank or employment of his parents we are entirely ignorant. His father came to London, and resided with his son, in Westminster, at the time of his greatest fame, as a printer. There he died at a very advanced age, in 1480. It may be presumed that his parents were in good circumstances from the education they gave him, and the business to which they put him. At this period learning of all kinds was at a much lower ebb in England than in most of the continental states of Europe; in consequence, principally, of the civil wars in which the nation was embroiled, the habits of restlessness thus produced, and the constant pre-occupation of men's time and thoughts in promoting the cause they espoused, and in protecting their lives and property. Under these circumstances the most plain and common education was often neglected. Caxton's parents, however, performed their duty to him: "I am bounden," he says, "to pray for my father and mother's souls, that, in my youth, sent me to school, by which, by the sufferance of God, I get my living, I hope truly." When he was about fifteen or sixteen, he was put apprentice to William Large, a considerable mercer, of the city of London, and afterwards sheriff and mayor. The name, mercer, was given at this time to general merchants, trading in all kinds of goods. After he had served his apprenticeship, Caxton took up his freedom in the Mercers' Company, and became a citizen of London. That he conducted himself, while an apprentice, to the satisfaction of his master, may be presumed from the circumstance, that he was left in his will, in 1441, a legacy of twenty marks, or 131. 68. 8d., a considerable sum in those days, when the usual price of wheat was 5s. 4d. a quarter; malt, 4s. the quarter; and a pair of plough oxen could be purchased for about 17. 38. In what manner he employed himself from the expiration of his apprenticeship, till he went abroad, is not known; but that he did not go abroad till some years afterwards, a comparison of dates will render apparent. He was born about 1412; he could not have been more than sixteen when put apprentice; so that his apprenticeship of seven years must have expired in the year 1435. The opinion, therefore, that he went into the Low Countries on the termination of his apprenticeship is not correct, as he did not leave England till 1442, the year after he received the legacy. In what capacity or for what purpose he left England, we are ignorant ;probably as a merchant, either on his own account, or as agent for some other merchant. He informs us that he continued for the most part in the countries of Brabant, Flanders, Holland, and Zealand,-all at this time belonging to the Duke of Burgundy, one of the most powerful princes in this part of Europe, whose friendship and alliance were anxiously sought for by the kings of France and England. In the year 1464, he was appointed by Edward IV. ambassador, along with Richard Whetenhall, "to continue and confirm a treaty of commerce with Philip, Duke of Burgundy, or, if necessary, to form a new treaty." In the commission, which is given in Rymer's Foedera, they are styled ambassadors and special deputies; and full powers to treat are given to either, or both of them. The Low Countries were at this period the great mart of Europe, in which were to be purchased, at all times, and in great abundance, the produce and manufactures of most parts of the world. Treaties of commerce between England and them were frequently made and broken; and it required not only considerable knowledge in commercial affairs, and in the relative commercial wants and advantages of the two countries, but also a sound judgment, and much circumspection and prudence, to make or renew them. Merchants seem to have been generally employed on these occasions; and we may reasonably conjecture that Caxton's character and experience, |