"To every cristen creature able to re The work concludes with this colophon :- By their most humble subget and 1486 and 1491. This fixes the date of printing positively between It most likely appeared about 1490-1, and was thus one of the latest productions of Caxton's press. In the accounts of St. Margaret's for 1490-2, under Burial Fees for the first year, is this entry : "Item atte Bureyng of Mawde Caxston for torches and tapres iij s ijd " There is nothing to prove whether this were the Printer's wife or not, yet it is a curious coincidence that he, about the same time, left off printing The Fayts of Armes in order to translate and print The Arte and Craft to Knowe well to Dye. That Caxton died soon after is proved by the following entry in the same accounts : "Item atte Bureyng of William Caxton for iiij torches Item for the belle atte same bureyng vj s viij d vj d" and its position points to the end of 1491 as the time of his death. Ames speaks of an old manuscript note he had come across that corroborated this date. That the Printer was hard at work to the very last we learn from his successor, Wynken de Worde's colophon to the Vita Patrum, which he there says "hath be translated oute of Frenche into Englisshe by William Caxton of Westmynstre late deed and fynysshed at the last day of hys lyff." A few words in conclusion on Caxton as a man. Having entered business in early life, he devoted himself to it as an honorable means of earning a living and making his way in the world. The energy, perseverance, and capacity so conspicuous in his later years quickly placed him in an independent position, and in due time led to the highest posts that were open to him. Meanwhile he had profited by his good education, and longed for more intellectual pursuits. He felt that, though buying and selling were not to be despised as a means to an end, there was something worthier of a man to be done in the world. At least three foreign languages-Flemish, French, and Latin-were quite familiar to him. Omnivorous in his reading, he gave the preference to romances and books of chivalry. On the latter subject he was quite an enthusiast. He dedicated The Ordre of Chyualrye to Richard III., and urged that jousts and similar manly competitions should be encouraged, "to thende," as he says in The History of Godfrey of Boloyne, “that every cristen man may be the better encouraged tenterprise warre for the defence of cristendome, and to recover the cyte of Jherusalem." He appealed with impassioned eloquence to the knights themselves : - 66 O ye knyghtes of Englond where is the custome and usage of noble chyvalry that was used in tho dayes? what do ye now but go to the baynes and playe at dyse? And some not wel advysed use not honest and good rule ageyn alle ordre of knyghthode, leue this, leue it, and rede the noble volumes of saant graal, of lancelot, of galaad, of trystram, of perse forest, of percyual, of gawayn, and many mo. Ther shall ye see manhode, curtesye and gentylnesse." this industry was wonderful when he had entered the more congenial path of literature. Although already past middle life when he set up his press at Westminster, in fourteen years he had turned out such a number of works that four centuries afterwards about a hundred of his productions, small and large, still exist. Of these more than twenty were translated by himself, and some, especially Polycronicon, came partly from his own pen. He was anything but a reformer, sighing for the "good old times," and looking doubtfully at England's future, little thinking how he himself was influencing it for good. Not a great genius, he was what a cricketer would call a "good all-round man," and what literary work he attempted was fairly done. As Mr. Blades has happily expressed it, "Many of his readers, indeed, thought him too ornate' and 'over curious' in his diction, and desired him to use more homely terms; but, since others found fault with him for not using polished and courtly phrases, we may fairly presume that he attained the happy medium, ne over rude, ne over curious,' at which he aimed." His judgment and selection of other authors was very good. He recognised in Chaucer a true poet, as distinguished from the mere rhymesters of the age. In the epilogue of The Book of Fame, after commending the book, he writes 6 "And so in alle hys werkys he excellyth in myn oppyny, on alle other wryters in our Englyssh, For he wryteth no voyde wordes, but alle hys mater is ful of hye and quycke sentence, to whom ought to be gyuen laude and presyng for his noble makyng and wrytyng," Estimates of moral character always vary very much, depending as they do, not so much on the actions of an individual, as on the motives attributed to them. Thus Caxton has been accused of using other authors' writings as his own, and of issuing books of an immoral tendency. As to the first charge, he undoubtedly adapted the original prologues and dedications of works he translated, altering the names to suit his own purpose; but there were no recognised rights of authors in his day, and a translator's conscience would no more suffer from appropriation of this kind than would a Yankee publisher's (if he have one) from pirating an English author's works and pocketing all the proceeds. On the other hand, when he found his manuscript of The Book of Fame was imperfect, and he was compelled to insert a couple of lines as a connecting link, he printed his own name against them in the margin that they should not be taken to be Chaucer's. With regard to the other question, he certainly printed more than one book that would hardly be tolerated now, yet in an age when it was customary to be plain-spoken they were regarded very differently. The Knyght of the Toure indicates by its full title the object of the author in writing it. Caxton tells us that he translated and printed it "at the request of a noble lady," with a similarly praiseworthy intent. Another of these works was Caxton's greatest, the one which he nearly gave up in despair, when the Earl of Arundel came to the rescue with an order for copies and a small pension, we mean The Golden Legend. The conclusive answer in this case is that, whatever may be thought of it now, it was then an acknowledged service-book of the Church. It is pleasant to look back on the career of our First Printer, and find that, amid all the political vicissitudes of the times in which he lived, and the many temptations that his high position and intimacy with those in power must have entailed, he remained from first to last, respected by all parties, a strictly honorable man. Notes in General. By TIFKINS THUDD, ESQUIRE. O you know Joneses, the Pawnbroker?" 66 Werry well, then, you've got to go to Joneses the Pawnbroker, and you've got to go by Joneses the Pawnbroker, and when you gets a little way you sees three streets coming to a pint like: you takes the one wot the Blue George publeycouse is in, and you goes on until you comes som'ers near Wall'orth Common, and then-arst agin!” I have heard that certain bold and gallant men have been to the Arctic regions to discover the North-West passage. I have also heard that other intrepid gentlemen have crossed Central Africa, and have discovered wonderful lakes and rivers with utterly unpronounceable names; and I have admired their endurance, wept over their sufferings, and thought what great feats they had achieved-but at that time I had not been sent on a voyage of discovery: I had not been despatched to the regions of WALWORTH! The Arctic regions-pooh! Central Africa-pshaw! Has any one beside myself, Tifkins Thudd, Esq., ever been to Wobley Street, Walworth? If there be any one, and he be alive (and outside Hanwell) to tell his tale-then will he be able to tell a tale, beside which the discovery of lake Tonquinbeno (or any other lake) will indeed be insignificant ! But to my story. I had the impression that to go anywhere in that direction the first step was obviously to go to Camberwell-(I recollected some one sending his aunt to Camberwell) so to Camberwell I went, and then began my troubles. Did anybody know where Wobley Street, |