FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
153
in comparison. His edition of the Polyekronicon (1495) which is hardly less splendid for its typo- graphical execution, and which, according to Herbert, was printed with a newly-cast type, is also carious on the score of engraving."
The following paragraphs are taken from the first note prefixed to we LUe of Caxton, by that learned bibliographer, the Rev. T. F. Dibdin :
" Dr. Middleton's Dissertation concerning the Origmof Printing in England, was first separately pablished in a quarto pamphlet, 1735, and was afterwards incorporated into his works published both in quarto and octavo. It is a spirited per- fonnance ; but it is filled chiefly with a refutation of Atkyns's ridiculous pamphlet on the Original md Grmctk of Printing, 1664, 4to. ; wherein the laurel was intended to have been snatched from Caxton's brow and given to an ideal printer of the name of Corsellis. Middleton's pamphlet was rather popular at the time of its publication, and his attack upon Atkyns was ably seconded bjr a writer of the fictitious name uf Oxonides ; whose remarks, originally published in the Weekly MiueUang, April 26, 1735, (see page 148, ante,) were judiciously inserted, along with the sub- stanceof Dr. Middleton's Dissertation, by Messrs. Bowyer and Nichols, in their Origin of Print- ing."
"I will close this note by remarking, that, althongh Caxton is called by me the first Eng- lith printer, yet I fully beheve in the authen- ticity of the Oxford edition of the Eiepotieio tncti Jeronimi in simbolo apostolorum, Sec, of the date of 1468 — which wa-s printed by a/o- fagaer at Oxford, who was afterwards inter- nmted in the prosecution of his typographical labours. I have seen two copies of this work ; ooe in the Bodleian library ; another in the pablic library at Cambridge. His Majesty has the only remaining copy known to be in exist- oice. In my account of Printing at Oxford, (in a subsequent volume) a particular analysis of the book, and of the controversy relating to it, will be given : meanwhile the reader may see how the arguments of Oxonides have been strengthened by the luminous observations of Mr. Willet in his Memoir on Printing in the Ardueologia."
h not this sentence inconsistent? How can Mr. Dibdin call Caxton the first printer, when he acknowledges a prior book to have been exe- cuted at Oxford ? Wc regret that his account of the Oxford press has not yet made its appear- Mce; whica would have spared us these re- Burks; there being no question that his able pea will satisfy all doubts. In the interim we anticipate his argument, by a supposition, that he means, Caxton was the first Englisliman who Pitted in this country; out, that an xmktuwn foreigner was the first who practised the art at Ozfvrd ! This would be one way of reconciling the above.
We shall now endeavour to explain the mo- tiTes which induced so many of our countrj'men to coincide with Atkyns. Upon the appearance o( bis pamphlet, after a lapse of near two hun-
dred years, (during which time Caxton had been universally considered as the first printer in England,) the literati were struck with amaze- ment, that the substance was said to have been taken from a newly-discovered document then in the Lambeth library. Backed by such an assertion, no one presumed to question it; and our typographer would most probably have been robbea of his justly-earned fame, had it not been for the able pen of Dr. Conyers Middleton, who answered Atkyns in the most satisfactorv manner, and thus changed the minds of several, who before had been decidedly against Caxton.
The learned Meerman, who has followed Junius through all the intricate mazes of hear- say tradition, (in favour of Coster and Haerlem) seized upon Atkyns' pamplet with addity, and endeavoured to account for and explain the nu- merous inconsistencies contained in that ridicu- lous work : this again created a sensation in the minds of many ; because, coming from the pen of a foreigner, it was considered by John Bull (as most foreign productions now are) entitled to more credit than if it had been of English birth. Had one of the workmen been taken from Haer- lem, as Atkvns asserts, would Junius, and all his successors, have omitted to notice that which would have been the strongest argument they could possibly adduce. We luUv trust, that what is here advanced upon this subject will justly consign Atkyns' pamphlet to the shades of ob- livion, although supported by the luminous obser- vations of Meerman, and a portion of the literati of this country. — Johnson, Typographia. v. I.
The following extracts are given with a view of shewing the reader the high authorities in favour of Caxton, in none of which is mentioned a prior press at Oxford : had the circumstance taken place, as stated bv Atkyns, it mu-st have been known to some of these respectable cha- racters: —
THOMAS FULLER.
An kUtorian and dimne, author of the History of the War- thin of England, History of the Holy War, the Holy State, and other works, was born in Northamptonshire in 1608. Died in IKI.
" Bale l>«ginneth very coldly Id his commendation, by whom he is charactered * rir nonomnio stupidus, aut igna- via forpea;' bat we nnderstand the langruage of his Liptote, the rather becaoBe be praiaeth his dili^nce and learning. He had most of his education beyond the seas, liviogthitty years in the court of Margaret Duchess of Burgnndy, sister to King Edward the Koorth, whence I conclude him an Anti Lancasterian in his affection. He continued Potf' ekmnicon (beginning where Trevisa ended) unto the end of King Edward the Fourth, with good Judgment and fide- lity. And yet when he wrlteth that King Richard the Second left in his treasury money and Jewels to the value of seven hundred thousand pounds, I cannot credit him, it is so contrary to the received character of that king's riot- ous prodiKality. Caxton carefully collected and printed all (Hiaucet's works, and on many accounts deeerred well of posterity, when he died in the year 1486."
ARCHBISHOP WILLIAM NICOLSON.
A teamed prelate, was born at Orton, in CttmSerland, about 1655, and died in 1737. He published the English Histo- rical Library, folio, 1740.
"William Caxton was a menial servant, for thirty years together, to Margaret Duchess of Burgondy, sister to oar King: Edward IV. in Flanders. He aftermuds returned into England ; where finding, as he says, an imperfect his- tory (begun by one of the monk* of St. Albans, says John Pits very unadvisedly) he continued it in English, giving
X
VjOOQ IC
