. 
630 
years ago presented to the church of Llan- 
daff, by Gelhi, who gaye for the prirchase of 
jt one of his best horses ; it was deposited in 
the cathedral church of Lichfield about the 
year 1020, which being dedicated to St. Chad, 
the fifth bishop of that see, it hath thence 
been called his book. This MS. was written 
in England about the time of 5t. Cuthbert’s 
pene | in the seventh century ¥ in the mar- 
gin whereof are several annotations in Latin 
and Saxon, and some ip the ancient British 
or Welch, which last, My. Edward Lhuyd 
supposes to be of about nine hundred years 
standing. 
«© The fourteenth plate contains the fifth 
and last specimen which we have given of 
the Roman Saxon writing, and is taken from 
the Fextus Sancti Cuthberti formerly pre- 
served in the cathedral of Lindisfarn or Dur- 
ham, and is now in the Cottonian library 
(Nero D.1V). The time when this most 
noble monument of Anglo-Saxon calligra- 
yhy was written is nearly ascertained by a 
badd note at the end of St. John’s Gospel, 
in the hand-writing of Aldred, who was 
bishop of Durham from the years 946 to 
968, whereby it appears, that the Latin text 
Was written by St. Eadfrith, a monk of Lin- 
disfarn, in the time of St. Cuthbert, who 
died in the year 687; when he, the above- 
mentioned gt. Eadfrith, was elected bishop of 
that see, which he held tiil the time of his 
death, in 721; amd that the curious and 
elaborate ornaments which are in this MS. 
the pictures of the cross, and of the four 
evangelists, and the capital letters, were 
drawn by St. Ethelwald, who was a contsm- 
porary monk with Bishop Kadfrith, and who 
suececded him in the bishoprick of Lin- 
disfarn, wherein he continued till his de- 
cease in 737. Bishop Aldred adds, that 
Bilfrith, a monk of the same chureh, adorn- 
ed the outside of the book, with a silver 
cover gilt, set with precious stones ; and 
that ‘Aldved, a priest, added the interlincary 
Saxon version, with some marginal notes.” 
‘How desirable it would he for the 
society of aytiquaries to employ certain 
persons, at a regular expence; to edit 
annually, some of the unpublished ma- 
nuscripts here described. A fac simile 
of the first page or two might accom- 
pany every book, The manuscripts, 
which deserve a preference of care, are 
not those transcripts of the vulgate, 
which our author “seems to prefer; but 
those which throw light on the historical 
antiquities, or on the original and native 
literature of the country. The pedigree 
of estates, ifnot of families, can often be 
illustrated by means of them: and it ts 
a species of domestic pride, may we call 
it, in contradistinction to family pride, 
dar more consonant with our mercantile 
habits, far more conducive to the value 
- PHILOLOGY AND CRITICISM. 
of our acres, and far more rational in . 
the eye of philosophy, to be desirous of 
dwelling on sports consecrated, by ;the 
germinations of religion or the victories 
of freedom, than to care for genealogies, » 
which, in proportion as they are ‘pure; 
exclude the supposition of that robust 
strength, that unsophisticated health, 
and that enduring vigour, which are 
only the recompense of early privation 
and occasional toil. ~~ Ae | 
The ninth chapter discusses the origin 
and progress of printing : Mr,.Astle’s 
account of this art is very neatly given: 
in the following words. 
« As the invention, or rather the intro-- 
duction of printing into Europe, has been 
attended with the most beneficial advantages 
to mankind, some account of the origin and 
progress of that art may be acceptable. 
‘* Tt has not been pretended that the art 
pf printing books was ever practised ‘by the 
Romans, and yet the names they stamped on 
their carthen vessels were in effect nothing 
else but printing, and the letters on the ma-— 
trices, or stamps used for making these im- 
pressions were necessarily reversed, as print- 
ing types; several of these matrices are ex- 
tant in the British Museum, and in other 
places, which are cut out of, © re cast in 
one solid piece of metal, 
«« Many hundred pieces of the Roman pot- 
tery, impressed with these stamps, have 
been found in the sands near Reeulver in 
Kent, and on the.eastern side of the isle of 
Shepway, where they are frequently dragged 
up by the fishermen. The art of impressing 
Jegends upon coins is nothing more than 
printing on metals. isa ; 
*« It is generally allowed,- that printing. 
from wooden blacks has heen practised in 
China for many ¢enturies. According te. 
the accounts of the Chinese, and of P. Jo- 
yius, Osorius, and seyeral other Europeans, 
printing began there about the year of Christ 
927, in the reign of Ming-Tcoung, the se- 
cond emperor under the dynasty-of Heou-¢ 
Thong: several of these blocks, which are: 
cut upon ebony, or on wood exceedingly 
hard, are now in England. The Historia 
Sincnsis of Abdallah, written in Persic, ia 
1317, speaks of it as an art jn very common 
use. Our countryman, Sir John Chardin, 
im lis Travels, confirins these accounts. 
«* Printing, then, may be considered as» 
an Asiatic, and not a European invention. 
“The first printipg in Europe was’ from 
wooden blocks, whereon a whole page was 
carved exactly im the sae manner as is now. 
practised by the Chinese, who print only on, 
one side of their paper, because it is so ex~ 
ceedingly thin, that it will not bear the im- 
pression of their characters on both sides. 
‘« The early printers in Europe printed only 
on one side of the paper for soyne-time efter 
