144
HISTORY OF PRINTING.
ofWestminster, late dead ;"and that" he finished it the last day of his life." Oldys is of opinion, that he purposely selected this work for his final literary effort ; because, " from the examples of quiet and solemn retirement therein set forth, it might further serve to wea^i his mind from all worldly attachments, exalt it above the solici- tudes of this life, and inure him to that repose and tranquility with which he seems to nave designed it." For some time previous to his decease he attended the maUng up of the church- wardens' accounts, as one of the principal parish- ioners, and a regular vestryman ; his name being subscribed to several of these: it will appear that he died either in 1491 or 1492; quickly following one of his female relatives to the grave. — Far further information of Caxton, tee 1491.
TO CAXTON. From " LiUgk Lgrlct to Beigh Men."
Hail I mighty Caxtoo t Mend to great uid low
Accept me bamble trtbnte of a man. Who, bnt for thee, bad not yet learned to know
The Riorions objects of life's little span.
Albeit the way to learning's somewhat crude, Choked np by prejudice and sapersUtion )
And ancient custom, like a miBan rude, Steps in, and points hU finger with derlsloo.
" Knowledge is power," — a by-word grown of late.
But not a whit the worse for being so ; Bacon, the world's indebted t* tby pate
More ttian a tithe of this sad world does know.
The Germans boast of Faust, (and well they may) Alttiongh the Devil and be, as sayings go.
Were cater cousins. Mind I only tap That such is said, — / do not think twas so.
Bnt thou ! great printer I never has tby name By ranting priest recetved its defamation :
Thou eam'dst an am, so wear thy " honest ftune j" And whilst / live thonit have my veneration.
Hail I mighty Caxtoo ; (Hend to great and low ;
Accept the humble tribute of a man. Who bnt for thee, had not yet learned to know
The glorious objects of life's little span. J. B. B.
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 dateof which was Oxford, 1468. The probability is, however, that the date of this b<x)k 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 produc- tion issued from the Oxford press till eleven years after 1468, it being highly improbable Uiat a press connected with a university should have continued so long unemployed. But, even granting that the mtte 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 6tem- stance.
Dr. Conyers Middleton,* in his curious dis- sertation concerning the Origin of Printing a England, printed in 4to, in 1735, g^ves the M. lowing statement of Caxton and the Ch^ari booh : —
It was a constant opinion delivered down b; our historians, that the art of printing was intro- duced and first practised in England by William Caxton, a mercer and citizen of LonaoD; vho, by his travels abroad, and a residence of mas; years in Holland, Flanders, and Germany, b the afiairs of trade, had an opportunity of in- forming himself of the whole method and pro- cess of the art ; and by the encouragement of the great, and particularly of the abbot of Westmin- ster, first set up a press in that abbey, and began to print books soon after the year 1471.
This was the tradition of our writen; until a book, which had scarce been observed before die restoration, was then taken notice of by the cuii. ous, with a date of its impression from OxliMid, anno, 1468, and was considered immediately is a clear proof and monument of the exercise of printing in thattmiversity, several yeais.befme Caxton began to practise it.
This book, which is in the public library at Cambridge, is a small volume of forty -one leares in quarto, with this title : Exposieio SanetiJero- nimi in Simbolum Apostolorum ad Papam Ia«- rentiam : and at the end, " Explicit Expoadt, Src. Impresta Oxonie, If finita A*. Dm. M.cccc.LXVin. XVII. die Decemhrit."
The appearance of this book has robbed Cax- ton of a glory which he had long possessed, of being the introducer of printing into this kbig- dom; and Oxford ever since has carried the honour of the first press. The only difficuhjr was, to accounr for the silence of history in an exent so memorable, and the want of any memo- rial in the university itself, concerning the estab- lishment of a new art amongst them, of such nse and benefit to learning. But this likewise has been cleared up by the discovery of a record which had lain obscure and unknown at Lam- beth-house, in the register of the see of Canter-
- Conyers Mlfldleton, a celebrated divine and critic, n>
the son of a clergyman, and born at Rlchmoni], in Yoilc- shire, December 27, 1683. In 171 7 he was created D D- br mandamos, on which occasion lie resisted the daim of Dr. Bentley, regius professor, to exorbitant fees. Tbii occasioned a law-suit, in which Middleton triumphed. In 1724 Dr. Middleton was in Italy, and having a near dug; vation of the ecclesiastical pomp and ceremonies, be wrote his famous letter from Rome, to shew that the reUgtow rites of the Roman church were drawn from the heatheni. In 1731 he was appointed Woodwardian professor, but re- signed that place in 1734. In 1741 appeared his 14' V CicerOf in"a vols. 4to., afterwards reprinted in S Trfs. Sro. This is a very curious and valuable work, and highly ac- cessary towards forming a Just idea of the chaiader sod writings of that great man, as well as exhibittng so exact picture of the Roiman republic in his time. Id 174' I^* Middleton liubUshcd the Bputla 0/ Cicen to Bruliu, ssd those of Brutta to Cicero, in Latin and Bndisb, «itl> s vindicftion of their authenticity. Dr. Middleton died it Cambndge, July 28, 1740; and in 1752 appeared «IIU» works, with the exception of the Life of Cieen, in 4 lou- 4to.— Hansard says that Dr. Middleton appears to bare Iwen the first person who wrote upon Uie Origin of Printing in Bngtantt,
VjOOQ IC
