34 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 90. 



we are on the decline, it seems, in point of tact 

 and intelligence. 3. The date of his decease, and 

 the place of his burial, should have been stated. 

 The facts are recorded in the accounts of the 

 churchwardens of this very parish, and nowhere 

 elsefi 4. The inscription, as a composition, wants 

 terseness : on this point, I content myself with 

 giving a hint Ujpograpliicully. 



In 1847 a fi-esh attempt was made to revive the 

 memory of Caxton. After due notice, a public 

 meeting was held on the 12th of June to "promote 

 the erection of a monument to commemorate the 

 introduction of printing into England, and in 

 honour of William Caxton, the earliest English 

 printer" — the lord Morpeth in the chair. "The 

 meeting was extremely well attended. The iorm. 

 of monument proposed was, the combination of a 

 fountain by day and a light by night — the poetical 

 conception of the rev. H. H. Milman. Some 

 excellent speeches were made — and I cannot but 

 particularize that of the noble chairman ; con- 

 siderable sums were subscribed — the messieurs 

 Clowes tendering lOOZ. ; a committee, a sub-com- 

 mittee, a treasurer, and a secretary, were appointed.'' 

 — AVith the proceedings of that meeting, as pub- 

 licly reported, my information terminated. 



After a lapse of four years, a meeting of the 

 subscribers to the Caxton Testimonial was adver- 

 tised for the 10th of July, to "consider an offer 

 made by the Coalbrookdale Iron Company to erect 

 an iron statue of Caxton — and, in the event of the 

 proposal being adopted, to determine the best 

 means of carrying the same into effect." I was 

 much astonished at this announcement. A meeting 

 to consider an offer to perpetuate a fiction in 

 connexion with an art which surpasses all other 

 arts in its power of establishing truth ! On re- 

 flection, I became calm ; and felt that Mr. Henry 

 Cole, the honorary secretary, was perfectly right 

 in adopting the customary ])hraseology. The re- 

 sult of this meeting is a desideratum. It seems to 

 have been private ; for an examination of 300 

 columns of The Times, being the history of four 

 days, did not lead to the discovery of one word on 

 the /?•()« statue of Caxton. 



If the statue-mania did not now prevail to an 

 unexampled extent, I should feel much confidence 

 in the sound sense of the subscribers — but I have 

 my misgivings. 



According to my feelings, which I avail myself 

 of this opportunity of recording, we may comme- 

 morate an eminent individual in better ways than 

 by the erection of a statue ; the philanthropist, 

 by an alms-house — the scholar, by scholarships 

 — the naval commander, by a sea-mark — etc. 



• Jolin Ni'jliol':, lUiislralions of the manners and e.v- 

 pences nf ancient times. Ijo.idoii, 1797. 410. p. .'J. 

 ' T/ie Tunes, June II, IS'17. 



Admitting that a statue may sometimes be the 

 most desirable form of monument, the statue of an 

 individual of whose features we are in entire igno- 

 rance is a misnomer. It is scarcely less than an 

 absurdity. 



As I have intimated that there is no authentic 

 portrait of Caxton, I must now justify my con- 

 viction. Ames published a woodcut as a portrait 

 of our venerable Caxton^: Dibdin discovered it to 

 be a "portrait of Burchiello,"^ an eccentric Flo- 

 rentine barber! — le poete le plus bizarre qui ait 

 jamais ccrit ! Horace Walpole published a print 

 said to represent earl Rivers "introducing Caxton 

 to Edward IV." '" It was copied from an illumi- 

 nated MS. in the archiepiscopal library at Lambeth, 

 No. 265. Now, what says Mr. Todd? "That 

 C-axton printed this hook in 1477, is well known. 

 But what has that circumstance to do with the 

 earl jyresenting or attending the presentation of his 

 own mannscript ? The figure here introduced by 

 the earl is evidently, by the tonsure and habit, a 

 priest; which Caxton was not."'' I have heard of 

 no other engraved portraits of Caxton. 



Viewing Ca.xton as a man of considerable lite- 

 rary abilities, and as the first £Jnglish printer, I 

 have now to propose for him a monument which 

 shall do justice to his merits in both capacities — 

 a monument which shall be visible at all times, 

 and in nil places : I propose a collective impres- 

 sion of his original compositions. Such a volume 

 would be the best account of his life and works. 

 It would also exhibit much of the literary history 

 of the times — some sound criticism and notions 

 on editorship — and curious specimens of the style 

 of our forefathers. It would comprise what no 

 wealth could procure — what no single library 

 could produce. It would be, to use the forcible 

 words of messieurs Visconti and Castellan, on a 

 somewhat similar occasion, " un monument plus 

 utile et plus durable que ceux nieme que Ton 

 peut eriger avec le marbre et le bronze."'^ 



Proposed Conditions. 



1. A volume, to be entitled ST^E CaytOlt ^rntorial, 

 shall be printed for subscribers under approved 

 editorship, and shall contain all the original com- 

 positions of William Caxton, as proems, notes, 

 colophons, etc., with specimens of his translations, 

 and fac-simile cuts of his device and types. 



2. In order to expedite the progress of the volume, 

 and to ensure the perfect accuracy of its contents. 



' Ti/poyraphical antiquities. Ijondon, n 49. 4to. p. 54. 



^ T/ie bibtiographical decameron. London, 1817. 8vo. 

 ii. 288. 



'" Catalogue of royal and noble authors. Strawberry- 

 hill, 1 758. 8vo. i. 60. 



" Catulopne of the archiepiscopal manuscripts at 

 Lambeth. London, 1812. Fol. p. .'$7. 



'- Journal des savans. 1818. 4to. p. 389. 



