448
HISTORY OF PRINTING.
and the first good edition of Chaucer was made so chiefly by the labours of our author. Late in life, worn out by study and the cares of poverty, neglected by that proud metropolis of which be had been the historian, his good hu- mour did not desert him; for being afflicted with sharp pains in his aged feet, he,Qbserved that his affliction lay in that part which for- merly he had made so much use of. Many a mile had he wandered — ^many a pound had he yielded for those treasures of antic|uities which had exhausted his fortune, and with which he had formed works of great public utility. It was in his eightieth year that Stowe at length received a public acknowledgment of his ser- vices, which will appear to us of a very extraor- dinary nature. He was so reduced in his cir- cumstances, that he petitioned to James I. for a license to collect alms for himself " as a recom- pense for his labour and travel of forty-five '* years, in setting forth the chronicle of England, and eight years taken up in the survey of the cities of London and Westminster, towards his relief now in his old age; having left his former means of living, and only employed himself for the service and good of his country." Ijetters patent under the great seal were granted. After a penurious commendation of Stowe's labours, he is permitted to "gather the benevolence of well-disposed people within this realm of Eng- land : to ask, gather, and take the alms of ul our loving subjects." These letters patent were to be published by the clergy from their pulpits. They produced so little, that they were renewed for another twelvemonth. One entire parish in the city contributed seven shillings and six- pence! Such, then, was the patronage received by Stowe to be a licensed beggar throughout the kingdom for one twelvemonth. Such was the public remuneration of a man who had been useful to his nation, but not to himself!
1605. Thomas Ram, who had been educated at King's college, Cambridge, and afterwards bishop of Ferns, in Ireland, rebuilt his parson- age house, and over the door placed the follow- ing lines : —
This house Jlam bnilt for bis racceeding brothers, So Sheep bear wool, not for themselves, but othen.
1505. Eastward Hoe. As it was playd in the Black-friers, by the Children of Her Majes- ties Revels. Made by Geo. Chapman, Ben Jonson, Joh. Marston. At London, printed for William Aspley. 1605.
King James was so displeased with this per- formance, on account of some sarcastical re- marks upon the Scotch, that both the writers and printer were nigh being imprisoned.
1605, Nov. 5. The "unnatural conspiracy" oi the Gunpowder Plot was discovered on this day, which was appointed for the meeting of parliament. The Puritans, feeling them.selves heavily aggrieved, accused the king of inclining too much in favor of the Catholics, a charge which he easily got rid by an immediate order for the strict execution of all the penal laws
which had been enacted against the Catholict. The fine of £20 per lunar month had been bt some months suspended; it was now levied for the whole period of the suspension, a cimim- stance which reduced many families to positive beggary. Among the sufferers was Robot Catesby, a descendant of an ancient famQ;^, residing at Ashby St. Leger's, in Northampton- shire, who conceived the diabolical plan of in- volving the king, the lords, and the commons, in one common destruction, by blowing up the parliament-house with gunpowder, at ue open- ing of the session.
After the execution of the conspirators,* muj cruel and oppressive enactments, detailed in Lingard'i Hiitory, vol. ix. Catholic recusants were forbidden to appear at court, or dwell within ten miles of the boundaries of the citr. Every child sent for education beyond the sea, was, from that moment, debarred from taking any benefit by devise, descent, or gift, until be should return and conform to the established church; all such benefits being assigned by law to the Protestants next of kin. Every house- holder, of whatever religion, receiving Catholic visitors, or keeping Catholic servants, was liable to pay for each individual JCIO per lunar month.
1605. Thomas Easte, Est, or Este, if the same person, lived in Aldersgate-street, at the sign of the Black Hoise, as the custom then was; which makes it difficult to assign whether it was the same person or not. He appears to have been employed by Bird and Tallis, to whom queen Elizabeth granted a patent. He, or they, printed music and other books from 1569 to about this period; and changed the name of Este to Snodham. His arms he printed at the end of some of his books, whicn were, on a field sable, a cheveron argent, between three horses' heads erased, and a black horse passant, for the crest, a crescent for difference. The
motto, MIEVLXi TAVLT. MOVRIR. EN. VERTV. QVE. VIVRE. EN. HONCTE.
1606,/un« 17. Thomas Finlavsone, a prtntet of Edinburgh, was empowered by writ of privy seal of ScoUand, td pnnt exclusively, The fiist and second Rudimentii, and Corderius's CoUo- quies. The college of Edinburgh, while it was yet in its infancy, began to print its Theta Philosophic^, in 1596.f Its earliest typogia- pher was Hennr Charteris, the king's printer. He was succeeded by Thomas Finlaysone, who also succeeded Charteris, as royal printer. They were followed by various other printers, who
• On the 30th of Janoary, 1608, sir Ererard Digbj, Ro- bert Winter, John Grant, and Thomas Bates were exe- cuted at the west end of Nt. Paul's church : and the next day, Thomas Winter, Ambrose Rookwood, Robert Keyn, and Guy Pawkcs suffered In Old Palace yard. Some lime after, Henry Garnet, provincial of the Eng-ltsh Jesuits, and two other Jesuits, named Desmond and OldcorB, were alw handed.
t The tirst thesis was in large Svo. These ■cademlcal themes assumed a quarto form in Ifiis. And before the year It4i, their size settled into a large (blio. Tben In s collection of these papers in the college library, which are valuable document* forthc literary annalsof the onlTcnity of Ediobiurgb.
Diaitized by
