266 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 125. 



books, suitable to the proposed number of sub- 

 scribers. 



III. That for the more expeditious carrying on, 

 and effvicting thereof, every subscriber shall pay 

 to the editor two guineas ; viz. one guinea at the 

 tims of subscribing, and the other guinea upon 

 the delivery of a perfect book in sheets. 



N. B. Proposals will be delivered, subscriptions 

 taken, and proper receipts given for the money, 

 by the editor R. MlnshuU, at Mi's. Reffers, in 

 Maddox-street, near St. George's church, Hanover- 

 square. 



Received this day of 174 from 



one guinea, being the first payment 

 [for] The account of the books printed by William 

 Caxtou, according to the above proposals. 



An exact and ample account of all the books 

 printed by William Caxtoa, &c. 



The first work of William Caxton, appears to be 

 (as he calls it) The recuyell of the historyes of 

 Troye, divided into three parts, the whole con- 

 taining 778 pages (as nurabred by my self, they 

 not being figured in the printing) in a short folio, 

 the paper being very thick and strong : there are 

 no initial capital letters in this book, which shews 

 that he had not formed any at that time. In his 

 preface to this book he declares that he was born 

 in the Weeld of Kent, where he first learned the 

 rudiments of the English tongue; a place wherein 

 he doubts not, is spoke as broad and rude En- 

 glish, as in any part of England : that he never 

 was in France, but that he continued the space of 

 thirty years, for the most part, in Brabant, Flan- 

 ders, Holland and Zealand. 



He also says, that this history was first trans- 

 lated into French, from several Latin authors, by 

 n certain worshipful man, named the right vene- 

 rable and worthy Raoul le Feure, priest and chap- 

 lain to Philip duke of Burgundy, in 1464; being 

 the fourth year of the reign of king Edward IV. 

 In which year he was employed by that king in 

 conjunction with Richard Whetchill, esq.; to treat 

 and conclude certain actions of commerce between 

 the said king and Philip duke of Burgundy : their 

 commission, as set forth in Rymer's Fcedera, is as 

 follows ; [See Rymer.] 



It was from the said French translation that 

 Mr. Caxton formed this history, in the prologue of 

 which he stiles himself mercer of the city of 

 London ; and it was by the command of his royal 

 patroness, Margaret, sister to king Edward IV. 

 after her nmrriage with Charles, duke of Bur- 

 gundy, that he undertook it and finlsh'd it. A 

 description of this noble marriage is largely set 

 forth by John Stow and HoUingshead, in their 

 chroaicles ; the latter gives the following character 

 and description of this royal princess, viz. ' She 



was a lady of excellent beauty,' ' 

 shed.] 



&c. [See Holla- 



JOHN TRADESCANT THE YOUNGER, AN ENGLISHMAN. 



Great is the interest attached to the name of 

 Tradescant, and we believe few articles in our 

 journal have been perused with greater satisfaction 

 than those by Mr. Singer and other valued cor- 

 respondents, which appeared in our third volume 

 (pp. 119. 286. 353. 391. 393.), illustrative of their 

 history. In the same volume (p. 469.) a corre- 

 spondent, C. C. R., after quoting the following mu- 

 tilated MS. note, written in pencil in a copy of 

 Di-. Ducarel's Tract on the subject, preserved 

 among the books in the Ashmolean Museum — 



" Consult (with certainty of finding information con- 

 cerning the Tradescants) the Registers of — apham, 

 Kent," — 



suggested that Meopham was the parish referred 

 to, and that search should be made there by some 

 correspondent resident in that neighbourhood. 

 The hint was not, however, taken, and the matter 

 dropped for a time. 



At the close of last year we received a commu- 

 nication from a learned and much valued friend, 

 now, alas! no more*, telling us that Meopham 

 was the place referred to, and suggesting that we 

 should get extracts from the register for the in- 

 formation of our readers. Upon this hint we 

 acted ; but our endeavours, for reasons to which 

 we need not more particularly refer, failed, and it 

 was not until our attention was recalled to the 

 subject by the endeavour that is making, and we 

 trust successfully making, to procure subscriptions 

 for restoring the Tradescant Monument at Lam- 

 beth, that we applied to another friend resident in 

 the neighbourhood of Meopham for his assistance 

 in the business. That assistance was (as it has 

 ever been) rendered most cheerfully and most 

 effectually ; and we are now enabled to lay before 

 our readers and the Committee of the Tradescant 

 Monument Restoration Fund, the following evi- 

 dence that John Tradescant the younger was a 

 Man of Kent. It is extracted from the baptismal 

 register of Meopham. 



" 1608 August the iiij daye John the sonne of John 

 Tradescant was baptized eodem die — " 



Although we are not without hopes of receiving 

 further information from the same source, we 

 could not refrain from bringing this new fact in 

 the history of the Tradescants at once before our 

 readers. 



* Tliat excellent man and ripe scholar, the Rev. 

 Lancelot Sharpe, who was one of the first, on the ap- 

 pearance of" N. & Q.," to convey to us his good opinion 

 of our paper, and to prove it by giving us his commu- 

 nications. . For particulars of his life and literary la- 

 bours, the reader is referred to the Gentleman's Magazine 

 for January, 1852, p. 99. 



