he would be glad to be relieved of his numerous and heavy responsibilities, and to have more time for the literary pursuits which were his favourite recreation. A recent discovery at the Record Office suggests a motive frequently known to prove more powerful than all others. Mr. Gairdner has found there a copy of a legal document, dated 20th May, 1496, addressed

"To tharchedeacon of Westm', that nowe is and for the tyme shalbe,"

setting forth the decision given on

"a certain variaunce depending betwene Gerard Croppe of Westminster, tailleur, of the oone partie, and Elixabeth, the doughter of William Caxton, wif to the said Gerard, of the othre partie."

It decrees a judicial separation, and continues

"And therupon the said Gerard to have of the bequest of William Caxton, the fadre of the said Elizabeth xxti prynted legendes at xiij s iiij d a legend. And the said Gerard to delyver a generall acquitaunce unto thexecutours of William Caxton, her said fadre, for their discharge in that behalf."

Until this manuscript came to light we had no evidence that Caxton was married. From it we gather that he must have terminated his bachelor existence soon after he resigned the office of Governor at Bruges. Is it not, then, more than possible that he was induced to give up his great position and influence by a desire to marry, perhaps one of the ladies in the retinue of the Duchess?

About March, 1471, he received what he calls the "dreadful command" of his patroness to resume his literary work, and on September 19th he completed the translation he had laid aside three years previously, and presented it to the Duchess.

We learn from the epilogue to the printed edition, that the work was a great success. It was in such demand, that his hand grew "wery and not stedfast," with the constant copying, and his eyes " dimed with

overmoch lokyng on the whit paper." This induced him to cast about for some readier means of reproducing the book. Colard Mansion, who was doubtless already well known to him as a skilful scribe and illuminator, had just set up a printing press in Bruges, and Caxton arranged with him, somewhere about 1473, to print his translation. The result was the issue of a book of infinite interest, as the first printed in the English language. Fortunately there are numerous copies extant, though one has been sold for over a thousand pounds. It was followed by The Game and Playe of the Chesse Moralised. Neither bears the date of printing, but guided by the dates of translation we cannot be far wrong in assuming 1474 and 1475-6 as the years of their appearance. Encouraged by the favour with which both were received, he seems then to have obtained a fount of type for his own use, different from that hitherto worked, but similar to another used by Mansion; then to try what he and his type could do, to have printed with Mansion's assistance Les Quatre Derrenieres Choses. About the early part of 1476 he left his adopted home, and returned to England, bringing with him the knowledge and materials for the prosecution of an art destined to work silently, but surely, one of the greatest social revolutions the country has ever passed through.

Why so Bald?

BY JOSEPH MASON.

Not forty, yet so bald! Pray, what's the reason? Excess of brain-work, in and out of season?

The toil and worries of a chequered life?
Surely, for one who looks so well and jolly,
It can't have been some long-repented folly,
Nor yet the scoldings of a shrewish wife.

Well, no: you're right, my head is bare,
But not through want, or woe, or care;
For baby fingers have been there.
With lusty tugs and crowing glee
For twenty years they robbed poor me,
And thinned, too fast, my crop of hair.

First, an indulgent uncle, I,
When tiny folk began to cry,

Gave them a toy, and never failed,
Reckless of pain and starting tears.
And when "Papa," in later years,

My own dear brood, in turn, assailed
At playful morn or wakeful eve,
The havoc you would scarce believe.

Nor was this all. When little feet
O'er all the house made music sweet,

And little hands, on mischief bent,

Naught else just then could find to do, Again the victim! Straight they went

For comb and brush. The long hours through,

To vantage placed behind my chair,

They brushed and parted, curled with care

In mighty papers; then with glee

Cried, "Oh, how nice! See, Ma, dear! See!"

These are the reasons why I'm bald;
And if the past could be recalled,
And youth's ambrosial locks restored,
Think you that I'd resist the horde
Of infant Vandals? Nay! And why?
When they were happy so was I.

The Letter R.

By E. SEYMER THOMPSON, M.A.

HEN next you go to church, notice the pronunciation of the clergyman as he utters the

words, "Victoria our Queen and Governour." "Victoriarour Queen and Governour" is what you will, at least very probably, hear him say. Into the hiatus between "Victoria" and "our" intrudes itself an Rsound, slight, it is true, but quite perceptible to unvitiated ears. It is not necessary, however, that you should go to church on purpose to observe this phenomenon; indeed, it will be allowed by most people that it would be rather a pity that you should. Listen to Susan Jane as she hails from afar her comrade, Sarah Ann; you will find that instead of hearing a simple vocative case, you are enriched with the information contained in the finite sentence, "Sarah ran"-how far or how fast is left to the imagination. Indeed, the fault (allowing that it is a fault) is very wide-spread, and there are many educated persons in whose speech the interloping sound may be detected, who, if taxed with it, would bewray themselves by protesting against "the idear of such a thing."

I purpose to enquire briefly into the causes that have produced this parasitic sound, in the hope that such an enquiry may at any rate serve to awaken our ears to the fact of its existence, and thus save us from unconsciously affording in our own persons an example of this curious philological disease for the edification of others.

The sound R, together with the sound L, with which it has a near affinity, are usually classed as "liquids." The liquids are to be ranked among that large and miscellaneous group of sounds that stands intermediate