388
HISTORY OF PRINTING.
1586. Printing introduced into the city of Lima,* in South America. Isaac Thomas, the historian of American typography, believes the art of printing to have been exercised here so early as the year 1590, probably introduced by the Jesuits, who possessed two establishments in Lima. If, however, the catalogue of the library of M. Langles be correct, a still earlier date may be assigned to the introduction of printing into this place ; since it mentions a Vocabulario en la lengva general del Peru llamada Quichva y en la lenffua espanola : en Ins Reyes, Riekardo. 1686, 8vo. Vater, in his Index lingvarum, cites the same book, so that probably the description is correct.
Antonio, in his Bti/tofAn^a^utxina notices up- wards of thirty works from the Lima presses, the earliest of which is dated 1603. Ribadeneira, in his History of the Jesuit Writers, mentions five or six Lima editions, the earliest of which bears the date of 1606. From 1603 down to 1666, the last year noticed by Antouio, the presses of this city appear to have been almost constantly at work. Some few Lima books are to be found in the Bodleian library. — Cotton.
This year was remarkable for the introduction of tobaccof into England by Master Ralph Lane, the commander of Raleigh's^ Virginian colony; that which sir John Hawkins carried home in 1665, was considered a medicinal drug merely ; and, as Stow observes, all men wondered what it meant.
- The city of Lima was ft>anded by Francis P]zarro» on
the feast of the Epiphany, Jazioary, 1535 ; he also bnilt the commercial town of Truxlllo in the same year. In 1525, Pizarro discovered Peru, where he inhumanly caased the Inca Atalalipa to be burnt alive, in 1533. "With a temper of mind no leas daring; than the constitution of his body was robust, he was foremost in every dan^r, patient under the f^reatest hardships, and unsubdued by any fatigue. Thou;(h so illiterate that he could not even read, he was soon considered as a man formed to command. Every operation committed to his conduct proved success- ful, as by a happy, but rare conjunction, he luiitcd perse- verance with ardoar, and was as cautions in executing, as he was bold in forming his plans. By engaging early in active life, without any rcsotirces but his own talents and industry, and by depending on himself alone in his strug- gles to emerge from obscurity, he acquired such a thorough knowledge of affairs, and of men, that be was fitted to assume a superior part in conducting the former and in governing the latter. He had acquired immense wealth during his voyages with Diexo Almagro ; but a difference arose between the conquerors, and Pizarro was assassi- nated by the fiends of Almagro, on the 26th of June, 1541,
t Tobacco is the dried leaves of the Nicotiana tabacum, a plant indigenous to America, but extensively cultivated in the old world. In 165a an act was passed prohibiting its growth in England, which was confiimed at the resto.. ration in 1660. The duty in 1789 was 1«. 3d. per pound, the annual consumption being about 11,500,000 pounds; in iS06, the duty was 2Jt. 2d.; the consumption about 17,500,000; iniai5 theduty increased to 3». 2d ; and again, in I819, to 4». per pound; in 1825 it was reduced to 3s., the annual consumption being 18,6/0,604 pounds, yielding a revenue of :t3,258,906 0«. 2d. The present amount of doty is, from British possessions in America, 2s. gd., othentise 3».; cigars, 9«.; and snuff, 6*. per pound. In 1836, the quantity of tobacco entered for home consump- tion was 22,116,759 pounds, the duty on which amounted
to d6'3,354,459 Is. 5d.
t To sir Walter Raleigh we have not been indebted solely for the luxury of the tobacco plant ; but for that infinitely useful root, which forms a part of our daily meal, and often the entire meal of the poor man— the potato, which says D'lsracli, deserved to have been called a Bnu'leigh. For an account ofhis death, sec \6\9,post.
In the two Centuries of Epigrams, written by John Heath, Bachelor of Arts, and Fellow of New college, Oxford, and printed at London by John Windet, 1610, is the following epigram,
TOBACCO.
We buy the driest wood that we can finde. And wUiingly would leave the smoke behlnde; But in tobacco a thwart course we take. Buying the hearb onely for the smokes sake.
1.^86. The first Greek publication from the Oxford press appears to have been some Homi- lies of St. Chrysostom.
1586, Oct. 17. This day is memorable for the death of Sir Philip Sidney, who, owing to his singular accomplishments and amiable qualities, was the most admired and popular man of his times ; he was equally celebrated as a poet, a patron of literature, as a soldier, and a gentle- man. He was born at Penshurst, in Kent, Nov. 29, 1554, and at an early age introduced at the court of Elizabeth, who in 1576, appointed him ambassador to the emperor Rodolpnus, and at that court he contracted an intimacy with the famous don John of Austria. On account of his declaring his sentiments too freely against the queen's marriage with the duke of Anjou, in 1580, he retired from court, and in bis retreat wrote his celebrated allegorical prose romance called Arcadia, which though now held as dull and antiquated, was the favourite light reading of the ladies of Elizabeth's court. On Sunday, January 6, 1583, he received the honour of kiiig:hthood,and in 1585 was appointed governor of Flushing, and general of the horse sent to the assistance of the tFnited Provinces. At the early age of thirty-two he received a shot a little above the left knee, at the battle of Zutphen, where he had acted with uncommon bravery. Becoming faint and thirsty from excess of bleeding, he asked for water, which he was about to drink, when observing the eye of a dying soldier fixed on the glass, he resigned it to him, saying, " thy necessity is yet greater than mine." Death seized his hand in the moment of bequeathing to two friends, " each a ring of " His re- mains were interred in St. Paul's cathedral, on the 16th of February following.
Sir Pliilip Sidney was so much attached to his sister, the countess of Pembroke, and so exceed- ingly pleased with her line genius, and excellent improvement of it, that he consecrated his in- genious romance to her under the title of the Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, beginning Dear and most worthy to be dear lady. B!oli«rt Walde- grave printed an edition of this poem at Edin- burgh, iu 1599, in folio. Besides the Arcadia, sir Philip wrote an Apology for Poetry, which was not published till 1595; Sonnets; Ourania; a poem ; and several other pieces.
1587. A woorke concerning the trewnees of the christian religion, by Phelip of Momay, lord of Plessie Marlie. Begun to be translated by sir Philip Sidney, knight, and at his request finished by Arthur Golding. 641 pages 4to. Printed by George Robinson, f^ndoii.
\
VjOOQIC
