Of his Golden Legend Caxton tells us something in his introduction. He derived its substance (he tells us) from three sources—one Latin, one French, and one English. The French was his usual original, and in translating it he (and his assistants) seem to have paid but little attention to the primal Latin. Misprints or mistakes occurring in the French have not been set right by reference to the source, but are rendered into English by wrong and occasionally nonsensical translations. An amusing example is found in the life of S. Genevieve. The Saint, during a famine sought to bring provisions 'à navire' (by ship) to Paris. This was misprinted 'a name' which has no sense; but Caxton's translator renders it at name,' and a later editor improved this into 'at none'! It must be said, however, that such blunders are not frequent, and Caxton might plead more than one excuse for his shortcomings. Of the English precursor whom Caxton drew upon we know nothing: Caxton refers to his text in a rather slighting fashion, noting especially its incompleteness. Mr Ellis, however, thinks we may see traces of it in the vigorous and un-French style of some portions of the Caxton volume.
Of the present selection, a large proportion does not belong to the original Latin of Jacobus, but was gradually added by later hagiographers. The story of Job, like all those taken from the Bible, is Caxton's own.
For centuries before its appearance in English garb the Legenda Aurea had been the most popular of books on the Continent of Europe. No book profited so rapidly by the new invention of printing. Between
