478 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1758,
- and the vveder fayr, thenne for
- arecreacyon and pafl'yng of time,
- had delyte and axed to rtde fome
- good hiitorye. A worOiipful
« gentlyman called Lowys de Bre-
- taylles,' lent him theabovcmen-
tioned treatife, which when he had
- hieded and looked upon, as he
- had tyme and fpace, he gaaf
- thereto a veray afFedion ; and
- in fpecial by caufe of the holfom
- and fwete fanges of the Pay-
- nem?, which is a glorious fair
- myrrour to all good Chriilen
- people to behold and under-
- Itonde.' And afterwards being
appointed governor to the prince, he undertook this tranflation for the ufe and inflruftion of his royal pupil. The book is fuppof- ed to be the fecond ever printed in England by Caxton ; at leall the firll which he printed at Weil- ininfter, being dated November 18, 1477. A fair manufcript of this tr:inilation, with an illumina- tion reprefenting the earl introduc- ing Caxton to Edward the fourth, his queen and the prince, is pre- ferved in the archbifhop's library at Lambeth.
The molt remarkable circnm- ftance attending this book is the gallantry of the earl, who omitted to tranflate part of it, becaufe It contained farcafms of Socrates a- gainfl: the fair fex : And it is no lefs remarkable that his printer ventured to tranflate the fatire, and added it to his lordfhip's perform- ance ; yet with an apology lor his prefumption.
ir. * The moral proverbs of
- Chriftina of Pyfe ;' another tran-
flation. The authorefs Chriftina was daughter of Thomas of Pifa, otherwife called of Boulogne, whither her father removed ; and
though fhc (liled herfelf a woman Ytalien, yet fhe wrote in French, and flourifhed about the rear 1400. In this tranflation the earl difco- vcred new talents, turning the work into a poem of two hundred and three lines, the greateft part of which he contrived to make conclude with the letter E : an in- ftance at once of his lordfliip's ap- plication, and of the bad tafte of an age, which had witticifms and whims to ftruggle with as well as ignorance. It concludes with two ilanzas of feven lines each, begin- ning thus :
- The grate vertus of our elders not-
able
- Ofte to remembre is thing profitable 5
- An happy hous is, where dweiletli
prudence,
- For where fad is, rcafon is in prefence,
EXPLICIT.
- Of thefe fayvinjes Ciiflyne was the
aufturefle, ' Which in makyn had fuch intelli- gence,
- That therefore flie was mireur and
maiftselTe;
- Iler werkes teftifie the experience :
' In Freiisdi language was written this fentence ;
- And thus cnglifhcd doth hit reheife
- Antoiii Widcvyll iheile Kyvers.
Caxton, ii^fpired by his patron's ' iriufe, concludes the work thus ;
- Go thou litil quayer and recommaund
me
- Unto the good grace of my fpecial
Loide ,
- Thcrle Ryveris, for I have emprinted
the < At his commandement, following evry worde
- His copye, as his fecretary can re-
corde
« At
