SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
353
of jT^n^ on it. From the Jftirrepresented in this d«rice, some have erroneously supposed the work to hare been printad at Berne, which has a iemr in -the city arms. The senate of Franc- fort confened upon Guarin the pririlegesof a citizen of their city, for his present of a copy of the above bible. Nic. Antonio, in his Bibliotheea HtMpatUca, fpves no account of him, but it is probable he had embraced the principles of the reformation, though some expressions in his preface, and the prefixing the rules nf the index, to his version, have appearance of attachment to the church of Rome. The number of copies printed was 2000. The translator of this version was Cassiodoms, a Spaniard, born at Seville. He was engaged ten years in the translation.
1573. Died, Revnold Wolfe, king's printer, whose o6Sce was in St. Paul's church yard, at the sign of the Brazen Serpent, which emblem he used as a device ; and Stow imagined that he built his dwelling " from the ground, out of the old chapel which he purchased of the ling at the dissolution of the monasteries ; on the same gronnd he had also several other tenements, and afterguards purchased several leases of the dean and chapter of Sl Paul's." He followed the typographical occupation for several years with great reputation ; he printed most of archbishop Craniner's pieces, and was so employed by other eminent men ; and Ames states that he was the 6rst person who enjoyed a patent for being printer to the king in liitin, Greek, and Hebrew, by which instrument he was authorized to be his bookseller and stationer, with an annuity of 26*. Sd. ^uring life ; all other booksellers and printers being prohibited from priritingor selling any of his bw>ks. During queen Mary's reign, Ames supposes that Wolfe was employed in pre- paring the materials which compose Holituhed't Chronicles ; but in the first of Elizabeth he be- came master of the stationers' chartered company, and one of the original members. In 1572, he gave to his company, besides the usual silver bowl and spoons, " Uie stacyoncrs armes staudyng in a faire c«)mpartyment."
There were at this period several printers of the name of Wolfe; as George Wolfe of Ba- den, who printed at Paris from 1491, and 1499 ; Nicholas Wolfe at Lvons, in 1498, and 1499 ; Nicholas Wolfe a German, in 1502 ; and Thomas Wolfe at Basil, in 1527. It is probable that Reynold Wolfe was related to one or more of them, and of foreign extraction. It is, however, certain that he was a learned man, a good antiquary, a great promoter of the re- formation, and that he enjoyed the favour of king Henry VIII. Cromwell earl of Essex, archbishop Cranmer, and other eminent charac- ters. John Bagford relates of Wolfe, that he knew Leland the antiquary ;* who, he adds, died
at Wolfe's house in St. Michael's parish. Stow has recorded of Wolfe, that in 1549, he paid for the removal of more than a thousand cart loads of Ijones of the dead from the chamel house of St. Paul's, in Finsbury Fields. He spent five- and-twenty vears in collecting materials for an Universal Cotmogany, which, though left un- arranged at his decease, formed the foundation of HMnshed'i Chronicle*.
- Jolm Leland, the first and last antiqnary royal, in
BDifland, died In 15&8. One of bis cotemponuHes boldly ■ffinnR, that " England never saw, and he believes never YPoald see, a man to him in all tbin^to be comiiared with regard to his skill in the antiquitiea of Britain.'* Upon the irbole, he may not onjostly be styled the father of English aatiiiidtlea.
Reynold Wolfe printed his first work in the year 1542, and sixty-two books bear his imprint. He used two devices, the larger one of which is exhibited in the above wood cut. He seems to have adopted the serpent from some foreign printer, as it was usually introduced in their de- vices. There appears to have been some tangible figure of this device, probably a carved sign, since in the will of his widow, Uie brazen serpent is a part of the goods bequeathed to her son Ro- bert. Wolfe's other device, of which there fere two sizesiconsisted of an elegant cartouche Ger- man shield, on which is represented a fruit tree and two boys ; one of whom is drawing down the fruit with a stick, whilst the other is taking it up off the gpround. A large scroll of two folds passes between the upper branches of the tree, contain- ing tlie word C'hariltu, in small Roman capitals, whence this device is called by Ames and Her- bert, the Tree of Charily.
Joan Wolfe was the widow of the foregoing, to whom in his will he bequeathed "the rfiapel house that I purchased of the king, that Luke Harrison now dwelleth in, and that bouse which Mrs. Cradocke dwelleth in, and all that thereto belongeth, and all my leases and all the rest of my goods, and to mv children according to the custome of London.'^ He also made her his sole executrix. She continued his typographical oc- cupation for a considerable time, using his device of the Brazen Serpent ; and her will is dated on the first of July, 1674. It consists of three leaves and a half, and in it she desires to be buried by the side of her husband in the church of St.Faith, and bequeaths edl her property to her son Robert Wolfe. Three works bear her imprint from 1674 to 1580.
1673. Richard Jugge printed an edition of the Great Bible, in 4to, divided into verses : and in 1676, he printed another edition,4to,with cuts.
1574. William Williamson had a shop at the sign of the Sun, in St. Paul's church yard, where he printed ten works during the years 1571 and 1674.
1574. In this year so great a dearth prevailed in England, that wheat sold for six shillings a bushel.
1574. A manuscript office of the virgin, in the public library at Munich, bears witness to
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