SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
367
her majesty's rancere meanine towards them, and the whole realm, it is also tnou^ht convenient, and so we require your lordship to call the mastoi, goremoiB, and wardens of the company of the city before you, and, in her highness's naaie, to command them, that, appointing some day as soon as convenient may be, for the assem- blies in their several halls of their companies, they do cause the said proclamation and con- tents of these our letters to be openly read and published, charging all and every person, upon the penalty contained in the said proclamation, to bring unto the said master, governor, and war- dens, all such the said books, printed or written, •8 they or any of them may have. And both now, and from time to time hereafWr, to signify what persons, to their knowledge, have, or may have had any of the said books; which books ye shall charge the said master, governor, and war- deos to Ming unto you, with the names of the parties and manner how they came by them, except in cases where any person shall willingly bring the same themselves to light, to be destroyed according to the contents of the said proclamation. And thereupon shall, with as much speed as you conveniently may, particu- larly certify us thereof, to the intent if any per- too shall be found culpable, we may take such farther order as shall be thought expedient. And so, earnestly charging you tluit hereof there be no default, as you tender her majesty's &Toar, and wUI, upon }ronr peril, answer the contrary, we bid you right heartily farewell. From Gydde-Hall, the 27 of September, 1570.
" Your lordship's very loving firiends,
W. BcROHLEr. W. HONDON. H. SVDNEY.
Fra. Walsinoham."
BaoMLEY, Cane. Rob. IiEVCESTEir. Chris Hatton.
During the reign of Elizabeth, the freedom of the press was rather circumvented, than openly attacked; she dreaded the Roman Catholics, who were at once disputing her right to the throne, and the religion of the state. Foreign publica- tions, or " books from any parts beyond the sea," were therefore prohibited.* Although the press had then no restrictions, an author was always at the mercy of the government. Elizabeth too had a keen scent after what she called treason, which she allowed to take in a large compass.
- Hie consequence of this prohibition was, that omr own
men of learning were at a loss to Icnow what arms the enemie* of England and ot her religion, were fabricating against us. This Icnowledfce was absolutely necessary, as appears by a curious fact in Stripe's Life of Whitgi/t. A licence fbr the importation of foreign books was granted to Ascanlos de Reuialme, an Italian merchant booliseller. with orden to collect abroad this sort of libels; but he was to deposit them wtib the archbishops and the privy council. A few. no doabt. were obtained, says Strype, by the curious Cattkoiic or Protestant. This singular document was
•• Teonen at Lambchlth, the day of Octobre, 1686,
■IMO r^im EHxaittlU, &c. zxriii. Bndtriri, Ascanlos lyecnse to brlnr over popish bookes, granted by arch l)ialiop Whitgift, XIV." The presses employed in printing Catholic works on the continent, were established at Ant- wop, Loovain, Doway, uul Rhelm».
She condemned the author, printer, and pub- lisher of T7te Gaping Gulph, to have their right hands cut off, and hang^ William Carter.* It was sir Francis Bacon, or his father, who once pleasantly turned aside the keen edge of her royal vindictiveness; for when she was enquiring whether an author, whose book she had given him to examine, was not guilty of treason, he replied, " Not of treason, madam; but of robbery, if you please; for he has taken all that is worth noticing from Tacitus and Sallust." It is also related of Elizabeth, that once, when she could not be persuaded that a book, containing trea- sonable matter, was really written by the person whose name it bore, she said, with great indigna- tion, that " she would have him racked, to produce his author." Lord Bacon replied, " Nay, ma- dame, he is a doctor: never rack his person, rack his style; let him have pen, ink, and paper and help of books, and be enjoined to continue his story, and I will undertake, by collating his styles, to judge whether he were the author." With the fear of Elizabeth before his eyes, Raphael Holinshed.f left out several sheets of the second edition of his Chronicle, as contain- ing passages offensive to her government, but they have since been reprinted. When Giles Fletcher,^ after his Russian embassy, congratu- lated himself with having escaped with his head, and on his return wrote a book, entitled, Of the Ruste Commonwealth, which is a very curions description of that country, and of its tyraDnr, Elizabeth forbade the publishing of the work.
It was in this reign, says Mr. D'Israeli, that no book was allowed to be published without the permission of the licentert of the press, who were instructed, for the better protection of literary property, only to give one license for the same book. This does not, however, appear to have had the desired effect, since these persons were easily tampered with by the booksellers of those days, to furnish half a dozen authorities to different persons for the same work.
1579. ZHnf, Luis de Camoens, a distinguished Portuguese poet, whose genius conferred so high a honour, and whose treatment reflects so deep a disgrace on his country. He was born in the
- See an account of him under the year 1SS4.
t Raphael Holinshed was a native of Cheshire. HI* Chnmicla were first published in 1J77, In two vols, folio, and a^ain in 1 5R7, in three volumes. He died In 1 SSI.
If the reader is curious to know the hours of meals In the reign of Elizabeth, he may learn them from Holinshed. " With us the nobility, gentry, and student, do ordinarily go to dinner at eleven before noon, and to supper at live, or between five and six at afternoon. The merchants dine and sup seldom before twelve at noon, and six at night, especially in London. The husbandmen dine also as high as noon as they call it, and sup at seven or eight; but out of term, in our universities, the scholars dine at ten." Prolssart mentioDS waiting on the duke of I *n raster at five o'clock in the afternoon, when he bad supped.
t Giles Fletcher received his education at Eton, and King's college, Cambridge, where he took his degree of L. L. D. His work on the Russian government appeared In isgi, 8vo. and in Hacklnyt's Yoyaga. Amongst the Lansdowne manuscripts, there Is a petition which was presented by the Russian merchants, then In London, with the offensive passages. Giles Fletcher died In IS»I, leaving two sons, Phineas and OUea, who are both known^ in the republic of letters.
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