as a merchant, and his long residence in the Netherlands, pointed him out as a fit person for this embassy. Philip, Duke of Burgundy, was the most magnificent prince of his age: his court, one of the most polished; and his fondness for the expiring customs of chivalry, and for literature, equally great and influential. In the prologue to a book of the whole life of Jason, translated under the protection of King Edward, Caxton thus describes the chamber of this prince, in his castle of Hesdein, in Artois. It ought to be premised, that Philip had instituted the order of the Knights of the Golden Fleece. "But, well wote I, that the noble Duke Philip, first founder of this said order, did do maken a chamber in the castle of Hesdein, wherein was craftily and curiously depainted, the conquest of the Golden Fleece, by the said Jason; in which chamber I have been, and seen the said history so depainted; and in remembrance of Medea, and of her cunning and science, he had do make in the said chamber, by subtil engine, that, when he would, it should seem that it lightened, and after, thunder, snow, and rain, and all within the said chamber, as oftimes, and when it should please him, which was all made for his singular pleasure." Edward IV., was at this time negotiating, but was interrupted by the sudden death of Philip: the marriage, however, took place a year afterwards, on the 3d of June, 1468. Caxton was appointed to a situation in the household of the duchess, soon after her arrival in the Netherlands; but in what capacity, or with what salary, is not known. He seems, however, to have been on familiar terms with Margaret, and not to have been much occupied. For he informs us, that in 1469 he began translating the Histories of Troy, of his friend Raoul le Fevre, in Bruges, continued it at Ghent, and finished it at Cologne; he, however, laid the translation aside for some time. "In 1469," he says, "having no great charge or occupation, and wishing to eschew sloth and idleness-which is mother and nourisher of viceshaving good leisure, being at Cologne, I set about finishing the translation. When, however, I remembered my simpleness and imperfections in French and English, I fell in despair of my works, and after I had written 5 or 6 quairs, purposed no more to have continued therein; and the quairs laid apart; and in two years after laboured no more in this work: till in a time it fortuned Lady Margaret sent for me to speak with her good Grace of divers matters, among the which I let her During his residence in the Low Coun- have knowledge of the foresaid begintries he acquired or perfected his know- ning. "The Duchess," he adds, "found ledge of the French language, gained default in myne English, which she some acquaintance with the Flemish or commanded me to amend, and to conDutch (as appears by his translation of tinue and make an end of the residue, Reynard the Fox from the latter); im- which command I durst not disobey." bibed his taste for literature, and passion The Duchess rewarded him liberally for for romance, and made himself master his labour. In his prologue and epilogue of the art of printing, " at great charge to this work, he mentions that his eyes and dispense," as he informs us. His are dimmed with over much looking on passion for romance he most probably the white paper; that his courage was derived from his intimacy with Raoul not so prone and ready to labour as it le Fevre, chaplain to the Duke of Bur- had been; and that age was creeping on gundy, and with Henry Boulonger, him daily, and enfeebling all his body;canon of Lausanne. The former of that he had learnt and practised at great these persons was the author of the charge and dispense to ordain the said Romance of Jason, and of the Recueill book in print; and not written with pen of the Histories of Troy, both of which and ink, as other books be. were afterwards translated and printed by Caxton; and at the instance of the latter he translated, compiled, and printed, The History and Lyf of the most Noble and Christian Prince Charles the Great, Kyng of Vienna and Emperor of Rome.' In June, 1467, Philip Duke of Burgundy died, and was succeeded by his son, Charles. A treaty of marriage between this prince and Margaret, sister to The translation of the Recueill was published at Cologne in 1471; but he ħad printed there, at least, two works before that; the original of the Recueill -a work unknown to German bibliographers- in 1464-7; and the oration of John Russel, on Charles, Duke of Burgundy, being created a knight of the garter in 1469. The existence of this was unknown till the year 1807, when it was discovered at the sale of Mr Brand's books. No other book printed by Caxton at Cologne has been discovered; but that he printed there Bartholomeus de Proprietatibus Rerum, is plain from Wynkyn de Worde. This successor of Caxton printed, in 1494, Trevisa's translation of Bartholomeus; and in his proeme he requests his readers "to remember the soul of William Caxton, first printer of this boke in Latin tongue at Cologne ;" this is the only instance of Caxton's having printed a Latin work, and would seem to imply some knowledge of that language. suc first unfolds and demonstrates a grand It is supposed, that he returned to England about the year 1472, and brought with him the unsold copies of the translation of the Recueill. His first patron was Thomas Milling, Bishop of Hereford, who held the abbotship of St. Peter's, Westminster, in commendam. The common opinion is, that the Caxton took up his residence and esta-Game of Chess' was the first book blished his printing-office, either in the immediate neighbourhood of the abbey, or in one of the chapels attached to it. That Caxton introduced the art of printing into England, and first practised it here, was never doubted till the year 1642: a dispute arose, at this time, between the Company of Stationers and some persons, respecting a patent for printing; the case was formally argued; and in the course of the pleadings, Caxton was proved, incontestably, to have been the first printer in England. Soon after the Restoration, a book was discovered in the public library at Cambridge, the date of which was Oxford, 1468. The probability is, however, that the date of this book is incorrect, and that it should have been 1478, not 1468; this is inferred from its being printed with separate fusile metal types, very neat and beautiful, from the regularity of the page and the appearance of signatures; and, moreover, from the fact, that no other production issued from the Oxford press till eleven years after 1468, it being highly improbable that a press connected with a university should have continued so long unemployed. But, even granting that the date is accurate, and that the book was printed in 1468, six years before the execution of any work by Caxton, the merit of Caxton, and the obligations of this country to him, are. but little lessened by this circumstance.. Frequent and unprofitable disputes have arisen, at different times, and on various occasions, respecting original discoveries and inventions. He, who printed by Caxton at Westminster: Mr. Dibdin, however, thinks it more probable that the Romance of Jason was the earliest specimen of his press in England. These are supposed to have been printed in 1474; this date is, indeed, specified in the 'Game of Chess,' but it is doubtful whether it signifies the year when it was written, or that in which it was printed. This book was dedicated to George Duke of Clarence, the oldest surviving brother of King Edward. Caxton enjoyed the patronage of Henry VII., and his son, Prince Arthur, as well as of Edward and his brother; some of the nobility also encouraged him. Whether their patronage and encouragement displayed themselves in a substantial and profitable manner, we do not learn, but he himself was indefatigable in cultivating this new art. Besides the labour necessarily attached to his press, he translated not fewer than five thousand closely printed folio pages, though well stricken in years. From the colophon of Wynkyn de Worde's edition of the Vitas Patrum, 1495, it appears that this book was translated out of French into English by William Caxton, of Westminster, late dead, and that he finished it "at the last day of his life." The productions of his press amount to sixtyfour. Of the most interesting of these works, either from the anecdotes connected with them, from the insight they give into his life and character, or into the manner of the times, or from the specimens they afford of his talents and information, we shall give a short account, arranging them in chronological order, 'Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers.' This is the first book 1477. printed by Caxton with the year and place specified. It was translated from the French by Antony Woodville, Earl of Rivers. This nobleman had left out some strictures on women, which were in the original French; these Caxton translated and added as an appendix in three additional Leaves; of his reasons for doing so, he gives the following statement. Lord Rivers had desired him to look over the translation, and to correct it. Caxton observed that the Dictes of Socrates on Women were not there, and indulged in many conjectures respecting the reason of their omission. He supposed that some fair lady had used her influence with his lordship, or that he was courting some fair lady at the time, or that he thought Socrates said more than what was true, or that these Dictes were not in his lordship's copy: "or else peradventure that the wind had blown over the leaf at the time of the translation." As, however, his lordship had given him permission to correct the translation, Caxton thought he should not be going beyond due limits if he added these Dictes. But, he tells us, "I did not presume to put and set them in my said lord's book, but in the end apart, in the rehearsal of the works, that Lord Rivers, or any other person, if they be not pleased, may with a pen erase it, or else rend the leaf out of the book, humbly beseeching my said lord to take no displeasure on me so presuming." He then requests the reader to lay the blame on Socrates, not on him. From his insertion of these strictures on women, which are not the most courtly, it has been inferred that he was a womanhater; but that he was not so, appears from some of his prologues, especially from that to the Knight of the Tower. This work he was requested to translate and print by "a noble lady, who had brought forth many noble and fair daughters, which were virtuously nourished and learned." The Moral Proverbs of Christina, of Pisa.' The same year Caxton 1478. began to print a work called Cordyael,' but he did not finish printing it, or at least it was not published till 1480. It does not appear that A manuscript of Lord Rivers's translation of this work, with an illumination representing him introducing Caxton to Edward IV., his queen, and the prince, is preserved in the Archbishop of Canterbury's Library, at Lambeth Palace, any other work came from his press during this interval. These two books were also translations from the French, by Caxton's patron, Lord Rivers. Of the political life of this accomplished and amiable nobleman, who was one of the very few who, in that age, promoted the cause of literature in this country,-this is not the place to speak: his dreadful catastrophe is well known. Rivers, Vaughan, and Gray, Ere this, lie shorter by the head at Pomfret." him and his works." The noble and Caxton gives the following account of virtuous Lord Anthoine, Earl Rivers, Lord Scales and of the Isle of Wight, under governor to my Lord Prince of Wales, notwithstanding the great labour and charge that he hath had in the service of the King and of the said Lord Prince, as well in Wales as in England, which hath be to him no little thought and business both in sprite and body, as the fruit thereof experimentely sheweth; yet, over that, t' enrich his virtuous disposicion, he hath put him in devoyr, at all times, when he might have a leisure, which was but startmele, to translate divers works out of French into English. Among other passed through myn hand, the book of the Wise Sayings or Dictes of Philosophers, and the wise holsom Proverbs of Christine of Pisa, set in metre. Over that, he hath made divers balads agenst the seven dedly synnes. Furthermore, he took upon him the translating of this present work, named Cordyale, trusting that both the reders and the hearers thereof should know themself hereafter the better, and amend their lyving." These ballads are supposed to be lost; but John Rouse, of Warwick, a contemporary historian, has preserved a short poem of the Earl. Rouse seems to have copied it from his handwriting; it was written during his confinement in Pomfret Castle, a short time before his death in 1483; and, as Dr. Percy justly remarks, "gives us a fine picture of the composure and steadiness with which this stout Earl beheld his approaching fate."* his Chronicle, and his Description of In this year (1480) also, Caxton printed Britain which is usually subjoined to it. These were very popular, having been reprinted four times in this century, (twice, however, without the Description;) and seven times in the sixteenth century. It is printed in Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, vol, ii. p. 44; and 'in Ritson's Ancient Songs, p. 87. The Mirror of the World, Reynard the Fox, from the Dutch, Tully 1481. on Old Age, Tully on Friendship, and Godfrey of Boulogne,' appeared this year. The two Treatises of Tully were translated by John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester *. This year Caxton published the Polychronicon, from the English ver1482. sion of John of Trevisa, who translated it from the Latin of Higden. It is a large volume, and seems to have been intended by Caxton as a helpmate to his Chronicle. The printing must have occupied him the whole year, as no other publication came from his press in 1482. Besides printing it, however, he added an eighth book, bringing the history down from 1357 to 1460; “because," he says, "men, whiles in this time ben oblivious and lightly forgotten, many things deygne to be put in memory; and also there cannot be founden in these days but few that wryte in their regysters such things as daily happen and fall." He was also obliged to take the trouble of altering many parts of Trevisa's language; for, though only 124 years had elapsed, many words were quite obsolete and unintelligible. This, Caxton particularly notices in the 'Polychronicon;' and at greater length in the following curious passage in the preface to his Eneid,' a work from his press, that will be afterwards noticed. "After divers works, made, translated, and atchieved, having no work in hand, I, sitting in my study, where as lay many divers pamphlets and books, it • This nobleman possessed great talents, received an excellent education, and devoted his purse and leisure time to the purchase of books, and the promotion and encouragement of literature. Horace Walpole remarks, that whatever disputes there may be about his titles in the state, there is no doubt but he was anciently at the head of literature, and so masterly an orator, that he drew tears from the eyes of Pope Pius II. (the celebrated Eneas Sylvius) when he visited Rome, through a curiosity of seeing the Vatican Library. (On his return to England, he presented books to the Library at Oxford, which had cost him 500 marks, upwards of 3301.-a large sum at this period.) His fondness for literature, and perhaps his political opinions, both being zealous Yorkists, Brought him acquainted with Caxton. When Edward IV. was obliged to abandon his kingdom in order to save his life, in October, 1470, the Earl of Worcester was taken and beheaded on Tower hill, on the 15th of that month. Caxton speaks in warm and affectionate language of him. In his time," he says, "he flowered in vertue and cunning, and to whom he knew none lyke among the Lords of the Temporalty in science and moral vertue." Again: "O, good blessed Lord God! what grete loss was it of that noble, vertuous, and well-disposed lord; and what worship had he at Rome in the presence of our holy fader, the Pope; and so in all other places unto his deth; at which deth, every man that was there might lern to die, and take his deth patientlye." happened that to my hand came a little book, in French, which late was translated out of Latin, by some noble clerk of France, which book is named 'Eneid,' as made in Latin by that noble person and great clerk, Virgil, which book I saw over, and read therein. (He then describes the contents.) In which book I had great pleasure by cause of the fair and honest terms, and words, in French, which I never saw tofore like, ne none so pleasant nor so well ordered: which book as me seemed should be much requisite to noble men to see, as well for the eloquence as histories; and when I had advised me in this said book, I deliberated, and concluded to translate it into English, and forthwith took a pen and ink, and wrote a leaf or twain, which I oversaw again, to correct it; and when I saw the fair and strange terms therein, I doubted that it should not please some gentlemen, which late blamed me, saying, that in my translations, I had over curious terms, which could not be understand of common people; and desired me to use old and homely terms in my translations; and fain would I satisfy every man, and so to do, took an old book, and read therein; and certainly the English was rude and broad, that I could not well understand it; and also, my Lord Abbot of Westminster, did do shew to me late certain evidences, written in old English, for to reduce it into our English, now used; and certainly it was written in such wise, that was more like to Dutch than to English. I could not reduce, nor bring it to be understanden." SO Again: "Certainly the language now used varieth far from that which was used and spoken when I was born; for we, Englishmen, been borne under the dominacion of the moone, which is never stedfaste, but ever wavering." In his time, the inhabitants of one county hardly understood those of another: "The most quantity of the people understand not Latin nor French, in this royaume of England." The intermixture of French words and idioms, of course, was most prevalent in the capital. "That common English, that is spoken in one shyre varyeth from another-in so much that in my dayes happened, that certain merchants were in a ship, in Thamys, for to have sailed over the sea to Zealand; and, for lack of wind, they tarried att Forland, and went to land for to refresh them; and one of them, named Sheffield, a mercer, came into an hous, and axed for mete, and especially he axed after egges; and the good wyfe answerde, that she could speke no Frenche, and the merchant was angry, for he also could speke no Frenche, but would have had egges, and she understood him not. And then at last another sayd, that he would have eyrun. Then the good wyfe sayd, that she understood him well*. Caxton seems to have been a good deal puzzled and perplexed about the language he should use in his translations; for, while some advised him to use old and homely terms: " Some honest and great clerks," he adds, "have been with me, and desired me to write the most curious terms that I could finde-and thus, betwixt plain, rude, and curious, I stand abashed." There can be no doubt, however, that either by following the advice of those honest and great clerks, or from his long residence abroad-in his translations, as Dr. Johnson observes, "the original is so scrupulously followed, that they afford us little knowledge of our own language; though the words are English, the phrase is foreign." Caxton printed more books this year, than in any other. Seven bear 1483. this date. Among them were 'Gawin's Confessio Amantis;' and the Golden Legend. A very full and particular account of the former is given by Mr. Dibdin, in his Typographical Antiquities,' vol. i., p. 177-185. Caxton informs us, that the printing of the Golden Legend' made him "half desperate to have left it, and to have laid it apart;" but he took courage, and went on, when the Earl of Arundel promised to take a number of copies, and to send him " a buck in summer, and a doe in winter." He printed four books, of which two were sop; and the Order of 1484. Chivalry. Mr. Dibdin, who has seen and examined more early editions of Æsop, in different languages, than most people, considers Caxton's edition, on the whole, as the rarest of all tnose in the fifteenth century. His Majesty's copy of it, he adds, is the only perfect one known. In the Order of Chivalry,' which he translated out of French, he gives a curious picture of the manners of his age; and at the same If Caxton is correct in this story, the language of this part of Kent (in the weald of which, where he was born, he acknowledges English is spoken broad and rude) must have borrowed the word for egg from be the Teutonic, and not from the Anglo-Saxon; æg, time laments, in strong and feeling language, the decline of chivalry: "O! ye knights of England, where is the custom and usage of noble chivalry that was used in those days. What do you now, but go to the baynes (baths,) and play at dyse; and some, not well advysed, use not honest and good rule again all order of knighthode. Leve this-leve it! and read the noble volumes of St. Graal, of Lancelot, of Galaad, of Trystram, of Perseforest, of Percival, of Gavaine, and many more. There shall ye see manhode, curtsys, and gentleness. And look in latter days of the noble actes sith the Conquest; as in King Richard dayes, Cuer de Lion; Edward I. and III., and his noble sones; Syr Robert Knowles, &c. Rede Froissart. Also, behold that noble and victorious King Hary the Fifthe. I would demand a question, if I should not displese: How many knyghtes ben ther now in England, that have th' use and th' exercise of a knyghte. That is to wit, that he knoweth his horse, and his horse him. I suppose, an a due serche sholde be made, there sholde be many founden that lacke. The more pyte is. I would it pleased our soverayne lord, that twyse or thryce a year, or as the lest ones, he wold do cry justes of pies, to th' ende, that every knyghte sholde have hors and harneys, and also the use and craft of a knyghte; and also to tornay one against one, or two against two, and the best to have a prys—a diamond or jewels, such as should plese the prynce." Caxton, probably, like most other persons when they become old, regarded the manners of youth as much worse than they were in his early days. We must make allowance for this failing, in reading his Picture of London, and its youthful inhabitants. "I have known it in my young age much more wealthy, prosperous and richer, than it is at this day; and the cause is, that there is almost none that intendeth to the commonweal, but only every man for his singular profit." And, in another place, "I see that the children that ben borne within the said citye encrease and proufitte not like their faders and olders: but for moste parte, after that they ben coming to their perfite years of discretion and ripeness of age, how well that their faders have left to them grete quantity of goods, yet scarcely amonge ten, two thryve. O blessed Lord, when I remember this I am all abashed; I can |