406 ORIGIN AND PBOGKESS 



a press at St.Alban's. Specimens of the first types used by Cax- 

 ton, and by printers at the places above mentioned) may be seen 

 in Herbert's History of Printing. 



Caxton lived till the year 1491, when lie was succeeded by 

 Wyikyn de Worde, who had served him for many years, and was 

 connected with him in business at the time of his death. Wynkyn 

 made considerable advances in the Art of Printing, and enriched 

 his Jbundery with a variety of new types ; his letters were what are 

 called the Old English (or Square English), which have been the 

 pattern for his successors for black letter printing. He is said to 

 have first brought into England the use of round Roman letters, 

 though it does not appear that he ever printed in those letters. The 

 first Roman, which I remember to have seen, is a marginal quota, 

 tion in Pica, at the latter end of the second part of a book intituled, 

 " the Extirpation of Ignorancy compyled by Sir Paule Bushe, 

 Preeste, and Bonhome of Edyndon," printed by Pynson without a 

 date ; but in 1518 Pynson printed a book wholly in Roman types, 

 as appears in Ames (p. 120). Pynson's contemporary, William 

 Faques, in 1603 made a fount of English letters, equal, if not ex. 

 ceeding, in beauty, any which our founders at this day produce. 

 The favourite characters of these times were large types, and par- 

 ticularly Great Primer. Although considerable progress was made 

 in the Art of Printing in the fifteenth century, yet the English 

 presses produced no works in the Greek, or in the Oriental Ian- 

 guages till the sixteenth. The first Greek book I knew of, that 

 was printed in England, is the Homilies set forth by Sir John 

 Cheke, and printed at London li\ 1543, by Reg. Wolfe. It is 

 true, that about the year 1523 Sibert of Cambridge printed a few 

 Greek quotations interspersed among his Latin ; but I do not find, 

 that he printed any whole book in the Greek language. 



About the year 156? John Daye, who was patronised by arch. 

 bishop Parker, cut the first Saxon types, which were used in Eng- 

 land. In this year Asserius Mnenevensis was published by the 

 direction of the archbishop in these characters; and in, the same 

 year archbishop vEliric's Paschal Homily; and in 1671 the Saxon 

 gospels. Daye's Saxon types far excel in neatness and beauty 

 any which have been since ( made, not excepting the neat types 

 cast for F. Junius at JJort, which were given by him to the Univer- 

 sity of Oxford. 



Notwithstanding cardinal Wolsey founded a Hebrew lecture at 



