384 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 107. 



given number according to which a calculutinn is to 

 be made. Vitruvius (Vctrubius) Ilufus in Salinas. 

 Exerc. I. p. 483. 2. The item of an account for which 

 in the class, per <era, as plur. of ccs, came into use. 

 Ruf. Fest. in Bieviar. in. The passage of Lucil. 

 cited by Nonius, 2, 42., a-ra perversa, is prub. also plur. 

 3. The era or epoch from which time is reckoned."] 



Tiidur Aled. — Can any of your Cambrian 

 prrrespondents inform me when Tudur Aled, a 

 Welsh poet, flourished ; and in what collection his 

 works are to be found ? A Student. 



[Tudur Aled, so called on account of his residence 

 on the banks of the Aled, in the county of Denbigh, 

 flourished about the year 1490, and was a friar of 

 the Order of St. Francis. lie wrote a poetical account 

 of the miracles reported to have been performed at 

 St. Winifred's Well, in the town of Holywell, as well 

 as the life of that saint. He was also one of the fol- 

 lowers of Sir Rhys ab ITiomas, of Dinevor in Carmar- 

 thenshire, and wrote several poems in praise of his 

 great achievements. Some of our Cambrian readers 

 can probably state where his pieces are to be found.] 



Tonges of Tonge. — Can any of your Lan- 

 cashire correspondents furnish me with inform- 

 ation respecting the genealogy and finiily history 

 of the Tonges of Tonge, near INIiddleton in that 

 county ? This family appears to have been of 

 some consideration at an early period, and to have 

 become extinct at the commencement of the last 

 century. J. B. (Manchester.) 



[Some notices of this f imlly will be found in Baines's 

 History of Lancaster, vol. iii. p. 86.] 



Robert Hues on the Use of Globes. — Is there 

 any ediiion of this book in English or Latin as 

 early as 1595 ? J. O. M. 



[The Bodleian contains a copy printed in 1594: — 

 " Robertus Hues, Tractatus de globis et eorum usu, 

 accommodatus iis qui Londini editi sunt anno 159.'3, 

 sumptibus Gul. Sandersoni. 8vo. Lond. in a;d. Thonise 

 Dawson, 1594." Also another copy, " Svo. typ. 

 G. Voegelini, s. a."] 



THE CAXTOU MEMORIAL. 



(Vol. iv., p. 283.) 



In forming a literary project, whether extensive 

 or otherwise, it is advisable to keep in view the 

 humble science of arithmetic. Without that pre- 

 caution, it may become a source of vexation b( th 

 toils iirojector and its promoters; and, in some 

 cases, the non-completion of it may be a real injury 

 to literature. 



When I proposed a typographic memorial of 

 William Caxton, in preference to an architectural 

 memorial, and intimated that it might be com- 

 pressed into an octavo volume, and jiroduced at a 

 very moderate price, I flattered myself with having 



made,a more correct estimate than is commonly 

 made by designers and architects — P:ixton,Cubitt, 

 and Fox, always excepted — and I venture to 

 announce, on more mature reflection, the same de- 

 cided opinion. 



With thanks to Mk. Botfield for his enumera- 

 tion of the translated works of Caxton, I must 

 remind him that the proposal was a collection of 

 his original compositions, with specimens of bis 

 translations. To repiint the entire works which 

 proceeded from his press was never my project. 

 I could not have entertained such an idea for one 

 moment ; nor should I think the realisation of it 

 desirable, even if it coidd be cfi'ected by magic. I 

 readily admit, however, that I have a liking for 

 Fayts of arnics and chijuulrije — that Thystoryc of 

 Reynard the foxe is very attractive — and that the 

 Roke for travellers would be a choice mor^eau 

 philnlogique. 



The publications of Caxton are about sixty in 

 number, and I am sure that more than six pages 

 would seldom be required for any one work, and 

 that many articles might be properly treated 

 in less than two pages each. A short memoir of 

 Caxton, a glossary of obsolete words and phrases, 

 an appendix of documents, and an index, are the 

 only additions which I shoidd consider as essential 

 to the completeness of the design. All this might 

 be comprised in an octavo volume of moderate 

 extent. 



The Typographical antiquities of Ames, as aug- 

 mented by Dibdin, being the accredited source of 

 intbrination on Caxton, and having misled some 

 superior writers, I shall presume to deliver my 

 opinion of the first volume of that woik — not 

 having much acrpiaintance with the subsequent 

 volumes. Dibdin had formed, at the very outset, 

 a most injudicious resolution. Caxton was his 

 hero ; and he resolved, as he tells us in his auto- 

 biography, to " devote the tirst volume entirely to 

 the productions of his press." In order to carry 

 out this plan, he was led to introduce much ex- 

 traneous and useless matter. AVe have endless 

 repetitions of wiiat Leicis says, and what Ames 

 says, and what Herbert says, and even what the 

 dreamer Bagford says, instead of such information 

 as should have been derived from an examination 

 of tlie books themselves. Moreover, he is very 

 deficient in the logic of history, in point of method, 

 and in point of accuracy ; and the extracts, being 

 in modern orthography, are to philological students 



UTTERLY WORTHLESS. 



This, and perhaps more than this, I may here- 

 after have occasion to prove; and shoidd it seem 

 to others that I express myself harshly, due con- 

 sideration shall be given to their objections. 



I must now assure jMr. Botfielu that it gives 

 me satisiaction to observe hiiu somewhat disposed 

 to view my project with favour, and that lam not 

 less disposed to make such modifications of the 



