186
HISTORY OF PRINTING.
A copy of this work appears to have been rarely seen: the prologue commences thus, " W&en I consider the conditions and manners of the common people, which, without informa- tion and learning, be rude and not mannered, like unto beasts brute; according to an old pro- verb, he that is not mannered is no man," &c.
Caxton informs us, that this work was " com- piled by the venerable frere Jaques le Graunt, in Latin Jacocus Magnus, lycencyat in theology, religious of the order of St. Austin; and, that the book is of auctorite, or as moche as there is nothyng sayde therin, but for the moost part it is alledged by scripture, or ellhi by saveng of holy seyntes, doctours, philosophres, &c.
It appears that the original French work was delivered to Canton " by a special friend of his, a mercer of London, named William Praat." Le Grand, the author, was a native of Thou- louse, and confessor of Charles YII : he is said to have refused the archbishoprick of Bour- deaux. It is comprised in four books.
1487. Printing mtroduced into the following places in the course of this year : —
Besancon, supposed hy John Comtel. The work Liber de Pettilentia, 4to. printed here in this year, has no printer's name.
Gaeta, by A. F. (Andreas Fritag.)
Valeria, by Juan de Roca.
Rouen, by William Talleur.
Ischar, (Ixar,in Arragon,) Eliezer filius Alanta.
Nantz, by Stephen Larcher.
1487. Court of Star Chamber founded. — The authority of this court, which was before founded on common law and ancient practice, was in some cases confirmed by an act of parlia- ment. This court assumed a power over the press, incompatible with the least notion of liberty of the subject, and of printing or publishing any thing which it might construe into a libel; and what did it not do? it often exercised the most inquisitorial jurisdiction over the human mind, which is not yet abolished. Many of its enact- ments will be noticed in the course of this work.
The preamble is remarkable, and shews the state of the nation at this time. " The king, our sovereign lord, remembereth how by our unlawful maintenance, giving of liveries, sig^ns and tokens, retainders by indentures, promises, oaths, writings, and other embraceries of his subjects, untrue demeanings of sheriffs in mak- ing panab, and untrue returns, by taking mo- ney, by juries, Ace. the policy of this nation is most subdued." Lord Bacon extols the utility of this court. It must indeed be confessed, that such state of the country required great discre- tionary power in the sovereign; nor will the same maxims of government suit such a rude people, that may be proper in a more advanced state of society. The establishment of the Star Chamber, or the enlargement of its powers at this time, might have been as wise a.s the abo- lition of it in that of Charles I.
1487. While Henry VII. kept his residence at the castle at Winchester, on occasion of the birth of prince Arthur, he was entertained on a
Sunday, during the time of dinner, with a religi- ous drama, called Christ'i Dacenl into Hell. It was represented by the choir boys of Hyde abbey, and St. Swithin's prionr, two large monasteries at Winchester. And in the same reign, 1489, there were shows and ceremonies, and (religious) plays exhibited in the palace at Westminster. An entertainment of a similar nature was furnished, in 1503, at the marriage of king James of Scot- land, with the princess M.-irgaret of England, daughter of Henry VII. On the first Sunday of the magnificent festival, celebrated with hirh splendour, at Edinburgh, " After dynnar, a Mo- ralite was played by master Inelysbe and hy« companyons, in the presence of the kyng and qwene." So late as the reijoi of Elizabeth, and even so late as that of Charles I. plavs continued to be acted on Sundayt, by the choristers, or singing boys, of St. Paul's cathedral, and of the royal chapel.
At this time the profession of the church was the one which abounded amongst all ranks of people, and one that was very often embraced by persons of the lowest station : for we find by a clause of a statute, that all clerks or students of the university were forbidden to beg, without permission from the vice chancellor. — Keith.
1488. A very great inconvenience of the Go- thic impressions of this period arose from the numerous and continual abbreviations in which a great part of tliem abound. But this disad- vantage is not chargeable exclusively on Gothic, but is sometimes found in early editions of the Roman character. Chevillier particularizes an edition of the Logic of Ockham, printed at Paris in this year, in folio, in a handsome letter; but in which scarce a single word is found un- abbreviated. He adduces for instance, two lines taken at hazai'dfrom folio 121. They are printed in the following manner : — " Sic hie e ftu im qd ad rimplr a e pdueibile a Deo g a e if stir hie a n e g a n e pduei- bile a Deo." At length thus—" Sicut hie est fallacia secundum quid ad simpliciler. A est producible a Deo. Ergo A est. Et similiter hie. A not! est. Ergo A rum est producibile a Deo."
Another difficulty in reading these early works, was the desire of the printers to compress as much as possible within a given compass; they never divided the words at the end of lines, and made use of vowels w ith a mark of abbreviation, as for instance, <2no for domin»; c* for cum; quib' for quibos; argetoq for argentoque : &c. The vowels and consonants u and v, i and j, are confounded together, and used one for the other; the dip- thongs (c and ce were generally supplied by the simple e : c was often used for f, as naeto for Aidon ,- / for ph, as fantasma for phantatma; mihi was sometimes spelled micht; somnmm, sompnum; quotidiana, cotidiana; the orthogra- phy was consequently various, and often arbitraiy .
Works on the civil and canon law, both printed and manuscript, were peculiarly overcharged with abbreviations; and that to such a degree, that a treatise was printed to point out the me- thod of reading such perplexing works, entitled
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