Nov. 23. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



425 



whom, and under what circumstances it was 

 written ? C. H. Cooper. 



Cambridge, November 15. 1850. 



Romagnasis Works. — In a " Life of G. D. Ro- 



magnasi," in vol. xviii. Law Mag., p. 340., after 

 enumerating several of his works, it is added, " All 

 these are comprised in a single volume, Florentine 

 edit, of 1835." I have in vain endeavoured to 

 procure the work, and have recently received an 

 answer from the first book establishment in Flo- 

 rence, to the effect that no such edition ever ap- 

 peared either at Florence or elsewhere. 



This is strange after the explicit statement in 

 the Law ^lag., and I shall be obliged to receive 

 through the medium of your useful pages any in- 

 formation regarding the work in question. 



F. R. H. 



Christopher Barker's Device. — I have often been 

 puzzled to understand the precise meaning of the 

 inscription on Christopher Barker's device. Whe- 

 ther this arises from my own ignorance, or from 

 any essential difficulty in it, I cannot tell ; but I 

 should be glad of an explanation. I copy fi-om a 

 folio edition of the Geneva Bible, "imprinted at 

 London by Christopher Barker, printer to the 

 Queene's Majesty, 1578." 



The device consists of a boar's head rising from 

 a mural crown, with a scroll proceeding from its 

 mouth, and embracing a lamb in the lowest fold. 

 The inscription on this scroll is as follows : — 

 " Tigre . !teo . 



Animale . Del . 



Adam . Veccliio . 



Figliuolo . Merce . 



L'Evangelio . Fatto . 



N'Estat . Agnello." 



I venture my own solution : — " Tlie tiger, the 

 wicked animal, of the old Adam, being made, 

 thanks to the Gospel, a son, is hence become a 

 lamb" 



I presume N'Estat to be an abln-eviation of "ne 

 e stato." Any correction or illusi ration of tliis 

 will oblige. C. W. Bingham. 



Biiijiliara's Melcombe, Blandford. 



aileiili'c^. 



LICENSING OF BOOKS. 



(Vol.ii., p. 359.) 



On the 12th November, 5 & 6 Philip and 

 Mary, 1558, a bill "That no man siiall ])rint any 

 book or balla<l, &c., unless he be autiioi-ized tliere- 

 unto by the king and (picen's mnjesiies licence, 

 under the Great Seal of Enghuide," was read for 

 the first time in the House of l.,ords, where it was 

 read again a second lime on the 14th. On the 

 Kith it was read for the third time, but it did not 



pass, and probably never reached the Commons ; 

 for Queen Mary died on the following day, and 

 thereby the Parliament was dissolved. {Lords 

 Journal, i.539, 540.) Queen Elizabeth, however, 

 did by her higli prerogative what her sister had 

 sought to effect by legislative sanction. In tlie 

 first year of her reign, 1559, she issued injunctions 

 concerning both the clergy and the laity : the 

 51st Injunction was in the following terms : — 



" Item, because there is great abuse in the printtrs 

 of books, which for covetousness chitfly regard not 

 wliat they print, so they may have gain, whereby 

 ariseth the great disorder by publication of unfruitful, 

 vain, and infamous books and papers ; the queen's 

 majesty straitly chargetli and commandeth, that no 

 manner of person sliall print any manner of book or 

 paper, of what sort, nature, or in wliat language soever 

 it be, except the same be first licensed by Her Majesty 

 by express words in writing, or by six of her privy 

 council ; or be perused and licensed by the Archbishops 

 of Canterbury and York, the Bishop of London, the 

 chancellors of both universities, the bishop being ordi- 

 nary, and the archdeacon also of the place, where any 

 such shall be printed, or by two of them, whereof the 

 ordinary of the place to be always one. And that the 

 names of such, as shall allow the same, to be added in 

 the end of every such work, for a testimony of the al- 

 lowance thereof. And because many pamphlets, plays, 

 and ballads be oftentimes printed, wherein regard would 

 be had that nothing therein should be either heretical, 

 seditions, or unseemly for Christian ears ; Her Majesty 

 likewise commandeth that no manner of person sliall 

 enterprise to print any such, except the same be to him 

 licensed bv such Her Majesty's commissioners, or tlirte 

 of them, as be appointed in the city of London to hear 

 and determine divers clauses ecclesiastical, tending to 

 the execution of certain statutes made the last parlia. 

 ment for uniformity of order in religion. And if any 

 shall sell or utter any manner of books or papers, being 

 not licensed as is abovesaid, that tlie same party sliall be 

 punished bv order of the said commissioners, as to the 

 quality of the fault sliall be thought meet. And 

 touching all other books of matters of religion, or 

 policy, or governance, that have been printed, either on 

 this side the seas, or on tlie other side, because the 

 diversity of them is great, and that there ncedeth good 

 consideration to be had of the particularities thereof. Her 

 Majesty referretli the prohibition or permission thereof 

 to the order, which her said commissioners within the 

 city of London shall take and notify. According to 

 the which. Her Majesty straitly chargeth and com- 

 mandeth all manner her subjects, and especially the 

 wardens and company of stationers, to be obedient. 



" Provided <liat tiiise orders do not extend to any 

 profane authors and works in any language, that have 

 lieen heretofore commonly received or allowed in any of 

 the universities or schools, but the same may be printed, 

 and used as by good order they were accustomed." — 

 ("ardwell's Dncumentury Annals, i. 229. 



Tiiis injunction was, I take it, the origin of tlie 

 licensing of the press of this country. On the 

 23d June, 28 Eliz. 1586 (not 1585, as 'in Strype), 



