292 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 103. 



THE CAXTON COrFER. 



The devices of our early English printers are 

 often void of signilicaney, or else mere quibbles. 

 In that particular, Caxtou set a commendable 

 example. 



His device is "W. 4. 7C." The two figures, 

 liowever, are intei'laced, aud seem to admit of two 

 interpretations. I must cite, on this question, the 

 famous triumvirate — Ames, Herbert, and Dibdin : 



" The following mark [above described] I find put 

 at the end of many of his books, perhaps tor the date 

 ] 474, wlien lie began printing in England, or his 

 sign." — Joseph Ames, 1749. 



" The following mark [above described] I find put 

 at the end of many of his books, ptrliaps for the date 

 1474, when he began printing in England, or his 

 sign." — William Hebbeut, 1785. 



" The figures in the large device [above described] 

 form the reverse impression of 74 ; meaning, as it lias 

 hfen stated, that our printer commenced business in 

 England, in the year 1474 : but not mncli weight can 

 be attached to this remark, as no copy of the C/icss bnuk, 

 printed in 1474, has yet been discovered which presents 

 us with tliis device." — T. F. Dibdin, 1810. 



In lieu of baseless conjectures, I have here to 

 complain of timidity. There is scarcely room for 

 a doubt on the date. As dom de Vaines observes, 

 with regard to dales, "dans le has age on sup- 

 primoit le millieme et les centaines, commen^ant 

 aux dixaines." There can be no objection to the 

 interpretation on that score. The main question 

 therefore is, in what order should we read the 

 interlaced figures ? Now, the position of the 

 point proves that we should read 74 — which is 

 the date of The game and play e of the chesse. The 

 figures indicate 1474 as clearly as the letters 

 AV. C. indicate William Caxton. What is the 

 just inference, must ever remain a matter of 

 ojiinion. • 



In the woodcut of Arsmetrique, published in the 

 Myrrour of the icorlde, a.d. 14S1, I observe the 

 iigures 74 rather conspicuously placed, and per- 

 haps the device was then first adopted. 



EoLTOX CoKXET. 



" They that touch pitch" cS'c. — A few Sundays 

 since the clergyman that I " sit under," quoting in 

 his discourse the words " thev that touch pitch will 

 be defiled," ascribed them to " the wisest of men." 

 A lady of his congregation (who was, I fear, more 

 critical than devout) pounced upon her pastor's 

 mistake, and asked me on the following ilonday if 

 I also had noticed it. I denied that it was one ; 

 but she laughed at my ignorance, produced a 

 Shakspeare, and showed me the words in the 

 mouth of Dogberry (Mitch Ado about Nothing, 

 Act in. Sc. 3.). However, by the help of a 

 " Cruden," I was able to find the same expression, 



not indeed in Solomon, but in the son of Sii'ach 

 (ch. xiii. V. 1.). 



If Shakspeare's appropriation of this passage 

 has not been noticed before, may I request the 

 insertion of this note ? It may possibly prevent 

 other learned divines from falling into the com- 

 mon (?) mistake of thus quoting Dogberry :is 

 " the wisest of men." E. J. G. 



Preston. 



Pasquinade. ■ — • In May last was placed on 

 Pasquin's statue in Rome the following triglot 

 epigram, of which the original Latin was borrowed 

 from " XoTES AND Queries." As it is not pro- 

 bable that the Papal police allowed it to remain 

 long before the eyes of the lieges of his Holiness, 

 allow me to lay up \n your pages this memorial of 

 a visit to Rome during the " Agsrression" summer. 



" Cum Sapiente Pius nostras juravlt in aras, 

 Impius heu Sapiens, desipi.'usque Pius. 



" AVhen a league 'gainst our Faith Pope witli Cardinal 

 tries, 

 Neither Wiseman is Pious, nor Pius is Wise. 



" Quando Papa' o' Cardinale 

 Chiesa' Inglese tratta male, 

 Que Chiamo ijuella gente, 

 Piu ? No-no, ui Sapiente. 



Anglus." 



The Italian version will of course be put down 

 as jB«^''/(.s-A-Italian, and therefore worse than 

 mediocre ; but I wished to perpetuate, along with 

 the sense of the Latin couplet, a little jeu d'e-y^-it 

 which I saw half obliterated on a wall at Rovigo, 

 in the Londiardo- Venetian territory; being a play 

 on the family name and character of Pius IX. : 



" Piu ? — No-no : ma stai Ferette ; " 

 which may be read, 



" Pious ? — Not at all : but still Ferette." 



A. B. R, 



Tivo Attempts to show the Sound of " ough " 

 final. — 



1. 

 Though from rougli cough, or hiccough free. 



That man has pain enough. 

 Whose wound through plough, sunk in a slough 

 Or lough begins to slough. 



2, 



'Tis not an easy task to show 

 How o, u, g, h sound ; since thotigh 

 An Irish lough and English slough, 

 And cough and htccough, all allow, 

 Differ as much as tough and through, 

 There seems no reason why they do. 



W. J. T. 



