FEINTING 633 



On a subject in -which he took the utmost interest, and in which it is stated on this 

 occasion he was an important actor, is a strong argument against the authenticity of 

 the story. Indeed, M. Santander (vol. i. p. 328) does not for a moment entertain the 

 pretensions of Corsellis, and agrees with Dr. Conyers Middleton in considering that 

 the date MCCCCLXVIII. ought to have been MCCCCLXXVIII., an X having been bj 

 accident omitted by the compositor : ' Voila ce que Richard Atkyns imagina, et les 

 moyens dont il se servit, en 1664, pour soutenir centre le corps des libraires de 

 Londres, que 1'imprimerie etait un droit de la couronne en Angleterre. Mais le 

 docteur Middleton, dans sa " Dissertation sur 1'Origine de 

 1'Imprimerie en Angleterre," imprimee a Cambridge, en 1668 



1734, in 4, a prove demonstrativement, que 1'impression 

 d'Oxford, de " 1'Expositio S. Jeronimi in Simbolum Apo- 

 stolorum," est de 1'an 1478, le compositeur ayant omis un 

 X dans la date de la souscription (faute typographique 

 dont nous avons plusieurs exemples deans les impressions 

 clu XV" siecle).' Amongst other examples of blunders 

 of this description, the learned Doctor observes : ' But 

 whilst I am now writing, an unexpected instance has 

 fallen into my hands, to the support of my opinion ; an 

 " Inauguration Speech of the Woodwardian Professor, 

 Mr. Mason," just fresh from the press, with its date 

 given ten years earlier than it should have been, by 

 the omission of an X, viz. MDCCXXIV. ; and the very 

 blunder exemplified in the last piece printed at Cam- 

 bridge, which I suppose to have happened in the first 

 from Oxford.' 



Whether, however, Caxton was or not the first English 

 printer, it is quite certain that he was the first who made 

 use of cast metal types, the works of Corsellis having 

 been executed with merely wooden ones. During a long 

 residence abroad he had acquired a practical knowledge of 



the art; and on his return to England in 1471, set up a press i ^5f ^ S^ Si 

 at Westminster Abbey, in an old chapel ' adjoining that ** ^ ^^ ^ 



edifice ; and was for many years engaged in translating and t^ O S^ ^" 

 printing books on a variety of subjects. His first work is g^. ^ ^i$^jS 

 ' Le Recueil des Histoires dp Troyes ' of Eaoul le Fevre, ^rt Jj r x S^* 

 chaplain to the Duchess of Burgundy ; but ' The Dictes *^ 5T <^ yj ^ 

 and Sayinges of the Philosophers' is the earliest book -*~ ^^ %* O g^, 

 known to have issued from his press with the date and f ^ ^\ Q> }- Tyj 

 place of printing ; and we have no proof at all that his <5f% >3r $ O a 

 six earlier works 2 were printed in this country. Indeed, jf^ yi J *^^ l . 

 it is stated in the Life of Caxton, in Ames's ' Typ. ^ o sS, ^ \^ 

 Antiquities,' p. xcv, that the French and English editions ^ f . ?jcg 

 of the ' Histories of Troy' are justly 'admitted to have Mj* ^ ^^ ^~ 



been printed abroad.' T J&. -^^ "^^ ^ 



The types used in Caxton's works, as well as in those "tjt^** ~tC * _v 

 of most of the early printers, were the Gothic or black- t^ ^ ?* ^^ ^.^ 

 letter characters, said to have been invented by Ulphilas, ^ "t^ ^"(('Q ^ 

 first bishop of the Mceso-Goths. A facsimile of Caxton's ^^y> Jj ">j. Tj^ ^ 

 types is here annexed, fig. 1668, showing the formation of +* j^ ^s>JO f^- 

 his letters ; and proving to our mind that, as compared ^"^ . _ ^^ ^? ^*^ 

 with the specimens we have seen of the characters used 

 by the Oxford printer Corsellis, they have an undoubted 

 claim to the greater antiquity. 



Caxton is said to have printed 64 books ; and was 

 followed by his pupils or assistants, Theodore Rood, 

 John Lettou, William Machilinia, and Wynkyn de Worde, 

 all foreigners, and Thomas Hunt, an Englishman. All 

 these pioneers of the art worthily maintained the honour 

 of their master's name ; and Wynkyn de Worde is 

 especially remarkable for his improvements and t}'po- 

 graphical excellence, and as having been the first printer in England who introduced 

 the Roman letter. He printed 410 works. 



1 Fxom which circumstance an assemblage of printers Is to this day called a ' chapel.' 



1 Viz. 1. ' Le Recueil des Histoires de Troyes ; ' 2. ' Propositio clarissitni oratoris Magistri Johannis 



Kusstll,' &c. ; 'A. ' Eecuyell of the Histories of Troye ' ; 4. ' The Game and Playof the Chesse ; ' 



6. The same ; and 6. ' A Boke of the hoole Lyf of Jason.' 



