FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
169
cent, ingenious, and costly ornaments bestowed upon these Gotliic productions of the French press, give a characteristic peculiarity to them, perhaps aboTe those of most other countries. The letter indeed chieflv employed in them, though often denraninated by the general term (xothic, is rather a species of semi JGothic; and probably was cast in imitation of the character usually met with in exquisitely finished manu- scripts which were of an age not very remote from the invention of printing; at whicn period, also, it is very probable that the art of illumi- nating, and embellishing with miniatures in gold and colours, was cultivated in its highest luxury. The impresaons of Antoine Yerard, and of several of his cotemporaries, having often been taken off on the finest vellum, for the gra- tification of the rich, and at their liberal ex- pence thus superbly ornamented; exhibit a most agreeable union between the labours of the printer, and of the scribe and illuminator. And since the art of the latter has long been lost through disuse, they are treasured up with the greatest care as monuments of former national magnificence, and the only remains of a species of art which was once so extensively and inge- niously practised.
Antoine Yerard used for his device the arms of Fiance, under which, in a compartment, is a cypher, probably intended to express the whole of his surname. These, with other minor oma- joeats, are included in a parallelogram, round the external margin of which is an inscription in Gothic characters.
1480. A printing-press was established in the Benedictine monastery at St. Albans, of which William Wallingford was at that time jJrior, but who the person was that introduced it, we have not been able to learn. Wynkjm de Worde informs us the printer was " sometime a school- master;" and most probably a monk. He is mentioned as a man of merit, and a friend of Caxton. The types of the book, which is a Treatue on Rhetoric, in Latin, are very rude. He continued his typographic labours from 1480 to I486, and produced several works, from which time there is no account of any press in that place unUl the year 1536.
The Bake of Seyat Alboiu, which is otherwise entitled a Treatite of Hawking, Hunting, Fith- img, a»d^ Cmurl Armour, is attributed to dame Juliana Bemeis, prioress of the nimnery at Sope- well, near St. Albans. Whether this celebrated book, which was first printed in the -year 1486, and of which Wynkyn de Worde appears to have given an impression about the year 1496, in folio, was partially compiled from a French work printed at Charaberry, by Antony Neyret, in 1486, under this title, Zi livre du Roy Modus el de la Royne Racio, tfc. and other French works of a similar description, there are no means of ascertaining.
The Boke of Blasyng of Armys, the last of the treatises contained in the "Boke of Seynt Albons," which by some has been attributed to a different hand, seems to be confessedly a translation or compilation
- — " Here now endyth the
boke of blaysyng of armys translatyt and com- pylyt togedyr at Seynt Albons the yere, &c. m: cccc. lxxxvi.*
In the above work, the following singular passage occurs, concerning the kings of France, and one which may almost be deemed a prophecy, " Tharmes of the Kynge of Fraunce were cer- taynly sent by an angel from heven, that is to saye, thre floures in manere of swerdes in a feld of azure, the whyche certer armes were given to the forsayd Kynge of Fraunce in sygne of ever- lastynge trowble, and that be and his successours alway with batayle and swerdes sholde be pun- ysshyd."
Tne following record, of a curious piece of heraldry is also given in this book :
" Of the offspring of the gentilman Jafeth come Habraham, Moyses, Aron, and the Pro- fettys, and also the Kyn^ of the right lyne of Mary, of whom that Genttlman Jhesus was bom, very God and Man. After his Manhode, Kyng of the land of Jude and Jues. Gentilman by his Moder Maiy, Prynce of Cote Armure," &c. &c. Wretched situation of infellect! Who reads but pities the condition of his forefathers? Warton mentions his having seen a copy of a will be- longing to this period, which begun, "in the name of Almighty God, and Mary liLs Moder."
The book of Hunting is the only one written in rhyme.
Lady Juliana Bemers, on account of her be- ing one of the earliest English poetesses, is en- tiued to honorable notice in this work. She is frequently called Juliana Barnes, but Bemers was her more proper name. She was an Essex lady, and, according to Ballard, was, probably, bom at Roding, in that county, about the be- ginning of the fifteenth century; being the daughter of Sir James Bemeis, of Bemers Roding, and sister of Richard, Ix)rd Bemers. If, however, as is generally agreed, Sir James Bemers was her father, her birth could have been very little after 1388; for, in that year. Sir James Bemers was beheaded, together with other favourites and corrupt ministers of king Richard II.
The education of Juliana seems to have been the very best which that age could afford, and her attainments were such, that she is celebrated by various authors for her uncommon learning and her other accomplishments, which rendered her every Way capable and deserving of the of- fice she afterwards bore; which was that of prioress of Sopewell Nunneiy. This was a cell attached to, and very near St. Albans; and the remains of it are still standing. Here she lived in high esteem, and flourished about the year 1460, or perhaps, somewhat earlier.
She was very beautiful, of great spirit, and
- Pofect copies of this worl( ore Id the possession of
earl Spencer and the eari of Fembralte.— A iwrfect copy is estimated by Dr. Dibdin at .^420, and averybnperfect one at the Roiburghe sale produced ^147,— resold at the sale of the White Knights' library, for ^84. A copy very nearly perfect is in the library of Mr. Phelps, of Lincoln's Inn.— toiMdra,
VjOOQ IC
