FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
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letting, or healing, or ponuing the dictates of thoK very scriptnies.
The scarcity of books, which was a formidable obatraction to the progress of knowledge, was noeased during a period wherein long civil wars iiniit,in a great measure, have destroyed both the patnmage and the leisure that was necessary to the transcription of manuscripts. In almost the whole oi the writers to whom the larger part of tlus century gave birth, a want of taste is emi- oeatly disMmable. They were equally strangers to propriety of sentiment and purity of style ; nor was tneir composition vulgar only, out frequently nngimmmatical. The Latin tongue continued to be the usual vehicle in which the authors of the time conveyed their works to the public. It mig^t, therefore, have been expected that this langoage would have been cultivated at least as much as it had been in some preceding centuries. Bat so lar was this from being the case, that the leanied moi of the early ages mt^ be ranked as pure and classical composers, when compared with the writers of this period. Perhaps an ex- cgition might be made in &vour of Thomas Cbanndler, an ecclesiastic of great preferments, and one or two more, concerning whom Leland and Wood speak in high terms.
If it should be imagined that, while philolo- rical and classical literature were thus neglected, the philosophical sciences will be found to have been in a more prosperous condition, they will be wholly disappointed. These sciences were as little attended to as the other parts of learning. Were we to search into Tanner, Leland, BsJe, Pitts, ud other writers of that kind, we might draw out a list of persons who are said to have been mathe- maticians and philosophers ; but no traces will he met with of uieir having made any discoveries, <a been the authors of any works, which deserve to be recorded.
It was enacted by the statutes of St. Mary's eoUege, Oxford, that " no scholar shall occupy a borft in the library above one hour, or two at not, lest others should be hindered from the use of the same." Several latin books were men to the university of Oxford, on condition uut the students who read them should deposit a cautionary pledge.
The first concordance of the Hebrew bible WIS made by a famous Jewish Rabbi, called by some Rabbi Mordecai Nathan ; he began this work in die year 1438 and finished it this year.
1447. A petition to parliament complaining of die monopoly of education which had been es- taUided m the preceding year, and praying, —
- fat where there is grete nombre of lemers, and
fewe techers, and all the lemeis be compelled to goo to the same fewe techers and to noon other, the maisters waxen riche in money, and the ler- aers ponere in counyng" — that the parsons of AD-hallows, St. Andrew's, in Holbom, St. Peter, in Conihill, and St Mary Colechurch, should also have the same privilege of keeping grammar Khools. To this petition the king (Henr^ VI.) assented, provided it were performed with the advice of theordinaxy, or the archbishop of Can-
terbniy; — who, it appears from the ordinance had been the directors of the former arrange- ments. Thus, says Mr. Fosbroke, commenced grammar schools, properly so called.
1447. A contract in form had passed between a certain individual, and the Procureur de I'Ho- tel Dieu at Paris. The former transferred to the latter for the perpetual use of the Hospital, a manuscript copy oi "Le PeUrinagt de la vie Atimatne," in return for which, out of the spiri- tual treasure conferred by the pope on the said hospital, the donor was to be entitled to " the pardon of his sins," and his wife and children, his father, mother, friends, benefactors, andenie- cially "Nicole Ducar, late surgeon to long Charles," who had bequeathed to him this manuscript, were all to be included ; and parti- cipans et bous pardons, &c.
1448. Waynflete, bishop of Winchester, on the presentation of Merton Priory, in Surr^, instituted a rector to the parish of Sherfield, m Hampshire. The rector, however, previously took an oath before the bishop, that on account of his insufficiency in letters, and default of knowledge in the superintendence of souls, he would learn Latin for the two following years ; and that at the end of the first year he would submit himself to be examined by the bishop, concerning his progress in grammar ; and that, if on a second examination ne should be found deficient, he would resign the benefice. The introduction of men into me sacred office, through the influence of rank, who were destitute of competent abilities, are exemplified by many cu- rious anecdotes. — WarUm.
1450. The first important spedmen of printing was the celebrated bible of 637 leaves, with large cut metal typei, and which was executed between Gutenberg and Faust. It is known by the num- ber of its leaves to distinguish it more accurately from other editions without date ; and was exe- cuted between the years 1460 and 1465. This bible, the first ever printed, is an edition of the Latin Vulgate. It forms two volumes in folio, is printed in the large Gothic or German charac- ter, and is said to be "justly praised for the strength and beauty of the paper the exactness of the register, the lustre of the ink, and the general b«iutyland magnificence of the volumes." It is without date, a circumstance which has oc- casioned considerable dispute, as to its priority to other undated editions, executed about the same time.*
To commence printing an edition of the bible in this early stage of the art, must be acknow- ledged by all as a most astonishing undertaking : if we consider the immense labour of this wo», it is no wonder that it should be seven or eight years in completing. In the early part of una year the partnership was dissolvea ; but in the
- TUi edition it (cnendly known ander the i^qielUtion
of the MoMorine Bibte^ u De Bore flrat discovered a copy of it in the library of Cudina] Mizaiioe, belongiDC to ue College dea qoatre Nations.— No prodnction of the press has BttTBcted more of the attention of Ubliographers than the present ; it has been minntsly described by De Bnre, Masch, Lambinet, Sema Sander, Burnet, and Dtbdin.
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