418
HISTORY OF PRINTING.
1693. Z)»«f, Thomas ORWiN.aprinterof con- siderable note, whose dwelling was in Paternoster- row, over against the chequer. His device, at the beginning of some of his books, of two hands clasping each other, and holding two cornucopias, with a caduces upright between them, and T. O. beneath. About it, by wisdohe, peace ; by PEACE, PLENTY. After his decease, his widow- carried on the business, at the sign of the Bible, in St. Paul's church vard, for a few years.
In 1590, he printed the following work : —
The writing tchoolnuuter, containing three books in one ; the first teaching twift uriting ; the second true uniting ; the third fair writing. Invented by Peter Bales,* I January, 1590 ; and to be sold at the author's house, the upper end of the Old Bayley, where he teacheth tJie said art.
Mrs. Orwin, printed eight works. In 1595, she printed, il short, yet true and faithful narra- tion of the fearful fire, that fell in me town of Woohoume, in the county of Bedford,the 13th of September. Stw. Printed for Thomas Man. Her last work was the Arcadian rhetoricke, by Abra- ham Fraunce, at London. 1597. 8vo.
1593, April 4. The three Samuels of War- boys, are condemned at Huntingdon, by Mr. Justice Fenner, upon this day, for bewitching, with the aid of nine familiars, one of whom was called Pluck, the children of Mr.Throgmorton. They were executed, and their goods escheated to sir Thomas Cromwell, as lord of the manor, an annual lecture was founded upon the subject of Witchcraft, to be preached in the presence of the corporation of Huntingdon every Lady-day,
- Peter Bale* wu one of the euUest wrlttng-BMutert
who had his speclinens ennaved on copper-platee, and one of those occors in Bondins*8 Theairvm Artt Seribendi, He, In 1999, had a great trial of skill with one Daniel Johnson, for a golden pen, of twentj ponnds valne, and won it, ttiOQ^ his antagonist was a younger man by above eighteen yean, and was therefore expected to have the advantage of a greater steadiness of hand. A contempo. lary aamor also says, that he had the arms of calligraphy given him, (which are azure, a pen or,) at a prize, where •olemn trial was made for mastery in this art, among the best penmen In London s which being a trial among more opponents than one, this, wherein the said arms were given to him, shonld seem dllierent taaa that wherein he won the pen flrom Daniel Johnson, before-menttoned. nils was the first contention met with for the golden pen, thoogh other memorable ones have since occurred. In 1997, when he republished his WrlHng Schmlmasler, he was in snch high reputation for it, that no less than eighteen copies of commendatory verses, composed by learned and ingenlons men of that time, were printed before it. He also, by <Aber exercises of his pen, recom- mended himself to many other persons of knowledge and distinction, parUcnlarty by making fair transcripts of the learned and ingenlons compositions of some honourable aathors, which they designed as presentation-bookB to the qaeen, or others thdr friends or patrons, of high dignity ; some of which manoscripts have t>een, for the t>eanty of them as well as for their instructive contents, preserved as cnriosities to these times. " Among the Har- leian manuscripts, now in the British museum, there is a thin vellum book, in small 4to., called ArehMon. At the end of that treatiseJs a neat flourish, done by command of hand, wherein are the letters P. B., which shows, says a note in that book, that this copy was written by the hand of Peter Bales, the then famous writing master of London."
A man presented to queen Klizaheth a bit of paper, of the size of a flnger-naU, containing the ten command- ments, the creed, and the Lord's prayer ; together with her name, and the date of the year. The whole could be read with spectacles, which be had himself made.
by a doctor or bachelor of divinity, of Queen's college, Cambridge.*
Two Examples of God's Judgment upon a wicked swearing woman, and of one StraJighnuat, who gave himself up to the devil. 8vo. 1583.
A Dialogue concerning Witches and Witck- craft ; in which is laid open how craftily the devil deceiveih not only the Witches, but many other, and so leadeth them awry into many great errors; by George Giffard minister of GotTt word, in Maldon. London: printed by Jobn Windet, 1593. Quarto.
1593, April 18. Shakspeare's poem of Fcmtw and Adonu is entered on thebool^of the station- ers' company by Richard Field, an eminent printer, who was a native of Stratford-upon> Avon. This^Mf heir of our poet's imagination, which it seems obtained the palm in the race with Marlow's Hero andLeander, was dedicated in a brief and elegant address to the earl of Southampton.! We find from a manuscript payment of \id. for the Survey of France, and the present poem, that on the 12th of June it was in circulation. " As the soul of Euphorbns," sayth Meres, in 1598, " was thought to live in Pythagoras, so the sweet witty soul of Ovid lives in mellifluous and honey-tongued Shakspeaie ; witness his Venus and Adonis.
The following is a tnuiscript of its title page :
" Venus and Adonis.
Vllia mlretnr Vulgus, mihi flavns Apollo, Focnla Castalia plena mlnistTeat aqua.
London. By Richard Field, and are to be solde at the Signe of the Greyhound, in Paules Church Yard. 1593.* 27 leaves 4to.
Mr. Malone had long been in search of the original copy of this poem, and when he was about to give up all hopes of possessing it, he obtained a copy from a provincial catalogue. But he still did not procure it but after a long and tedious negociation, and a most enormous price.^ In this edition Mr. Malone discovered many curious readings.
- The proem of the act In the ttfa year of Elizabeth,
1 901, against enchimtmenit, &e. is as follows : —
" Where at this present there Is no ordinary ne condign punishment provldeil against the practices of the wicked olTences of conjurations and invocations of evil spirits, and of sorceries, enchantments, charms, and witchcrafts, the which oflbnces, by force of a statute made in the xxiil year of the reign of Uie late king Henry VIII., were made to be felony, and so continued until the said statute was repealed by the act and statute of repeal made In the fliit year of the reign of the late king Edward VI.: sithcns the repeal whereof, many fentastical and devilish persons have devised and practised invocations and coiOurations of evil and wicked spirits, and have used and practised witchcrafts, enchantments, chsrms, and sorceries, to the destruction of the persons and goods of their neighbours, and other subjects of this realm, and for lewd Intent* and purposes, contrary to the laws of Almighty Ood. to the peril of their own souls, and to the great infsmy and disqnietness of this realm."
t HenryWroltesley, earl of Southampton, like his friend Essex, was the steady patron of men of learning and genius, the greatest proof of which was his munificent gift of one tkouMond powndt to Shakspeare, to enable the poet to make a porchase. He was born October «, ISTS, and died at Bergen-op-Zoom, In Holland, Nov, 10, It94.
t There Is a copy In the Malone collection at Oxfbrd, for which that gentleman gave £ii.
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