lowing remarkable passage of fair Rosamond:* "We rede that in Englonde was a kinge that had a concubyne, whose name was Rose, and for her grete bewte he cleped hyr Roseamunde, that is to say, Rose of the Worlde; for him thought that she passed al women in bewte. It befel that she died, and was buried whyle the kinge was absent, and whanne he came ayen, for grete love that he had to hyr, he would se the bodie in the graue, and whanne the graue was opened there sat an orrible tode upon hyr breste, bytween hyr teetys, and a foule adder bigirt her bodie aboute the midle, and she stank so that the kynge ne non other, might stonde to se the orrible sight. Thanne the kynge dyde shette agen the graue, and dyde wryte these two reersis upon the graue, Hic jacet in tumba Rosa mundi, non Rosa-munda; Here lies not Rose the chaste, but Rose the fair, Her scents no more perfume, but taint the air. 1493. Printing introduced into the following places in the course of this year :Copenhagen, by Gothofridus de Ghemen; his first work was a treatise on Grammar. Alba, no printer's name. Clugny, by Michael Wenssler; he printed the Missale Cluniacense, in folio. This town was then famous for its Benedictine abbey. Dole, no printer's name. Fnburg, by Kilian Piscator. Lanenburg, by John Luce; who printed Thomas a Kempis, De imitatione Christi, &c. 8vo. Nantes, by Stephen Larcher. Valladolid, by John de Francour. Only one book was printed here during this century. A beautiful edition of Isocrates was printed at Milan in folio, by Henry Germon and Sebastian Es Pantremulo. Philip de Lavagnia, Antony Zarot, Christopher Valdarfer, Leonard Pachel, and Ulric Scinzenzeller, were printers at Milan, from 1469 to 1500, and to whom the republic of letters is not a little indebted. 1493. The Chronicle of Nuremberg, illustrated with more than two thousand wood-cuts, reckontag those that are given more than once over, was published and embellished by Michael Wohlgemuth, a celebrated engraver and painter. It professes to furnish figures from the beginning of the world, and contains views of scripture his es, and of cities and scenery, the latter bearscarcely any resemblance to the places menbed. Michael Wohlgemuth was born at Nuremberg in 1435, and died in 1519. He is thought to have invented etching; but the chief hour of Wohlgemuth is that of his having been tator to Albert Durer, the most celebrated artist in the annals of engraving. His mark is M. W. or W. only. It appears to have been the ancient practice of those masters who furnished designs for the Rosamond Clifford, or Fair Rosamond, the favourite stress of Henry II., died August, 1177, and was buried Godstow, a small island formed by the divided streams of the isis, in the parish of Wolvercot, near Oxford. | wood-engravers to work from, carefully to avoid all cross hatchings, which it is probable, were considered as beyond the power of the xylographist to represent. Wohlgemuth perceived that, though difficult, this was not impossible; and in the cuts to the Nuremberg Chronicle, the execution of which, besides furnishing the designs, he doubtless superintended, a successful attempt was first made to imitate the bold hatchings of a pen-drawing, crossing each other, as occasion prompted the designer, in various directions. To him belongs the praise of having been the first who duly appreciated the powers of this art; and it is more than probable that he proved with his own hand, to the subordinate artists employed under him, the practicability of that style of workmanship which he had acquired.-Otley. | 1494. Scala Perfeccionis: Englyshed: the Ladder of Perfection. Impressus anno salutis. m.cccc.lxxxxiiii. Folio. Both Herbert and Dibdin agree that Wynkyn de Worde was the orginal printer of this singular volume. The following poetical colophon at the end notices Caxton : Infynite lade with thankynges many folde I yelde to God me socouryng with his grace This boke to finyshe whiche that ye beholde Scale of Perfeccion calde in every place. Whereof th auctor Walter Hilton was And Wynkyn de Worde this hath sett in print Impressus anno salutis M.CCCC.LXXXXIIII. Walter Hilton, was, according to Herbert, a Carthusian monk of Syon Monastery, although bishop Tanner supposes him to have been of Shene: he flourished between 1390 and 1433, and is thought to have filled the office of canon of Thorgoto. 1494. Printing introduced into the following places in the course of this year : Oppenheim, no printer's name. Several Hebrew works are said to have been printed at Constantinople from 1484 to 1494; but, says Dr. Adam Clarke, they may be considered either apocryphal or forgeries. Marchand mentions a work entitled, Janonis oratio in sanctissimum Matrimonium Maximiliani Regis, et Blanca Maria Regina. Inspruc, 1494, die xvi. Martii, 4to. but the date and place seem rather to refer to the time and place of the marriage of Maximilian with Blanch Mary, daughter of Sforza, duke of Milan, than to the place and time of the impression of the Oration. Amongst many others who practised the art of printing in the city of Augsburg, from its introduction by Gunther Zainer, in 1468, to the end of this century, may be enumerated John Schüssler, 1470; Christman Heyny, 1471; Monastery of S. S. Ulric and Afra, 1474; Anthony Sorg, 1475; John Wienner, 1475; John Keller, 1478; John Baember, 1479; Ambrose Keller, 1479; Herman Kaestlin, 1481; John Froschaver, 1481; Erhard Ratdolf, 1487; John Schensperger, 1493; John Schauer, 1494. 1495. The mercers of London seem to have been great encouragers of literature. Prefixed to Wynkyn de Worde's reprint of Caxton's Poli chronicon, of this date, are the following poe- Praysed be god whyche hath so well enduyd Of Roger Thorney mercer and from thens Lyke has this boke hath shewed to you expresse. 1495. Printing introduced into the following places in the course of this year : Porli, by Jerome Medesanus and P Guarinus. Scandiano, by Peregrinus de Pasqualibus. An error is found in the date of the first work printed here:-M.CCCC.LCXV. for MCccc.xcv. which induced Marchand and some others to suppose the date M.CCCC.LXXV. but as the subscription states scandiani Camillo Boyardo Comite impress est, and Camillus was not count of Scandiano till after the death of his father Matthew Maire Boyardo, author of Orlando Innamorato, 1494, consequently the work in question could not have been printed before 1495, which is unquestionably its true date.-A. Clark. During this and the following century, no town was more famous for its learned printers, or the correctness of its works than Basil, in Switzerland; the principal of whom was Berthold Rodt, who is supposed to have carried on the printing business here from 1460 to 1465, and printed Joannis Calderini repertorium juris, folio. Mich. Wensler, 1476; Bern. Richel, 1475; Frederick Blel, sin. an.; Eberhard Fromolt, 1481; John Amberbach, 1481; John Besickein, 1483-1489 ; Peter Kolligker, 1484; John Meister, 1484; Nicholas Kessler, 1486; James de Pforzen, 1489; Mich. Furter, 1490 ; John Froben, 1491 : John Petri, 1494; John Bergman, 1494, and Wolfgang Lachner, 1495. From the singular circumstance that a very large proportion of the early printers bore the name of JOHN, (which the reader can scarcely fail to notice) the printers of Leipsic, and other towns of Germany, chose the festival of St. John for the celebration of their anniversary. 1496. To Aldus Manutius, a Roman by birth, we are indebted for the invention of the italic letter. In this year he erected a printing-office in Venice, where he introduced the roman types of a neater cut, and gave birth to that beautiful letter which is known to most of the nations in Europe by the name of italic; though the Germans, and their adherents, show themselves as ungenerous in this respect as they did with the roman, by calling it cursiv, in order to stifle the memory of its original descent, and deprive the Romans of the merit due to their ingenuity. In the first instance it was termed venetian, from Manutius being a resident at Venice, where he brought it to perfection; but not long after it was dedicated to the state of Italy, to prevent any dispute that might arise from other nations claiming a priority, as was the case concerning the first inventor of printing. Italic was originally designed to distinguish such parts of a book as might be considered not strictly to belong to the body of the work, as prefaces, introductions, annotations, &c. all which sub-parts of a work were formerly printed in this character; so that at least two-fifths of a fount was comprised of italic letter. Aldus was extravagant in the use of his italic; for he printed whole volumes in it. An edition of the works of Virgil, in octavo, was the first book in this letter. Several eminent printers inserted short quotations in it; but rejected it when they were long, and subtituted double commas (thus ") at the beginning of the line, to distinguish the quoted matter from the body of the work. It is affirmed that Aldus also added the semicolon. As soon as Aldus perfected this fount, he obtained a privilege from three several popes, for the sole use of it during the space of fifteen years; and these pontiffs give him great encomiums on the invention. 1496. In this year Wynkyn de Worde laid the first step to classical typography in England, by printing Ortus Vocabulorum alphabetico, &c. This work was the original foundation of Ainsworth's Latin and English Dictionary. Thus while the learned Italians were printing the best Greek and Latin classics, we were amusing ourselves with childish works, such as Hilton's Scale of Perfection, &c. Foreign na tions led us more than fifty years. 1496. Printing introduced into the following places in the course of this year : Barco, by Gerson fil. Rab. Mosis Mentzlan Granada, by Mainard Ungut, who printed Francisci Ximenii de vita Christiana, folio. Offenburg, no printer's name. Provins, by William Tavernier. Mirandula, no printer's name. Tours, by Matthew Lateron who printed L vie et les miracles de Monseigneur de St. Martis folio. Pampeluna, by Arnold Guillermus de Brocari A Hebrew Grammar is supposed to have bee printed at Ortona de Mare, in Sicily, in th year, but the best bibliographers allow this to apocryphal. 1496. The first work upon Phrenology (whi Gall asserted he had discovered) is of this da printed at Heidelberg, a city of Germany. F the origin of the phrenological system, it proved undeniably, that we are indebted to Irishman of the name of Johannes Scotus E gena, (or John the Irish Scot,) who wrote a wo entitled Margarita Philosophica, or, de divisie naturæ, (the Pearl of Philosophy, or, of the di tion of Nature.) This was the celebrated person who assisted Alfred the great, in the foundation, or re-establishment of Oxford university, and was the first instructor of the English people in the sciences of geometry, astronomy, &c.* In Enfield's History of the Philosophy of the Middle Ages, book 7, speaking of Erigena, he says that he wrote a book on the Nature of Things; which Gale disturbed from its quiet repose, and published under the title of Joanni Sesti Erigna de Divisione Nature Libri quinque, din desiderali. Printed at Oxford 1681; folio. Gale could not have known of the edition of 1496. 66 1497. The following anecdote, shewing the introduction of illiterate men of rank into the church through the influence of those in power, we find in Jortin's Life of Erasmus :—“ At this time he (Erasmus) refused a large pension, and larger promises, from a young illiterate Englishman, who was to be made a bishop, and who wanted to have him for a preceptor. This youth seems to have been James Stanley, son of the earl of Derby, and son-in-law to Margaret, the Eng's mother, and afterwards made bishop of Ely by her interest. However, it appears that the young gentleman, though ignorant, had a desire to learn something, and to qualify himself, in some measure, for the station in which he was to be placed." colours bowing to Christ, as he passed: Jesus appearing to Joseph of Arimathea, after his resurrection, wiping his face from the dew, kissing him, and commanding him to remain in his own house for forty days; and a suppositious narrative of the events attending Christ's descent into hell, by Lentius and Charinus, two saints raised from the dead, at the resurrection of the Saviour. The following extracts from this impudent forgery, will enable the reader to judge of the kind of instruction afforded by these substitutes for the Gospel of Christ. The relation of Christ's descent into hell, is introduced by Joseph of Arimathea, addressing Annas and Caiphas, who were astonished to hear that Jesus was risen from the dead; and that others were risen with him; "We all," says he, "knew the blessed Simeon, the high-priest, who took Jesus, when an infant, into his arms, in the temple. This same Simeon had two sons of his own, and we were all present at their death and funeral. Go, therefore, and see their tombs, for these are open, and they are risen; and behold, they are in the city of Arimathea, spending their time together, in offices of devotion. Some, indeed, have heard the sound of their voices, [in prayer,] but they will not discourse with any one, but they continue as mute dead men. But come, let us go to them, and behave ourselves toward them with all due respect and caution. And if we can bring them to swear, perhaps they will tell us some of the mysteries of their resurrection." Annas, Caiphas, Nicodemus, and Gamaliel, proceed to Arimathea, they find Charinus and Lentius, at their devotions, and adjuring them by the law, to relate what they had seen, they tremble, look up to heaven, make the sign of the cross upon their tongues, and then calling for paper, write the account of what they profess to have seen. "When we were placed with our fathers, in the depth of hell," say they, “in the blackness of darkness, on a sudden there appeared the colour of the sun like gold, and a substantial purple coloured light enlightening (the place.) Presently upon this, Adam, the faWe give the following curious account of the ther of all mankind, with all the patriarchs and Grupel of Nicodemus from Townley's Illustra-prophets, rejoiced and said, 'That light is the Be of Biblical Literature:-The Gospel of author of everlasting light, who hath promised Videmus, or Acts of Pilate, above mentioned, to translate us to everlasting light.' And while work supposed to have been forged, towards we were all rejoicing, our father Simeon came the close of the third century, by Leucius Cha- among us, and congratulating all the company, . It treats chiefly of the Crucifixion and said, Glorify the Lord Jesus Christ Raurrection of our Lord, and of his Descent into "Afterwards there came forth one like a little Hell It contains many trifling, foolish, and erous relations, such as the standards or So far were the clergy, in general, from attempting to circulate the scriptures, or instruct the people in the knowledge of their contents, that except such portions of them as were recited a the offices of the church, there was scarcely a Latin Testament in any cathedral church in England, till the time of the learned John Colet, dean of St. Paul's, in London, though the Latin was the only authorized language for the scriptres and service books. Instead of the Gospel Christ, the spurious Gospel of Nicodemus affixed to a pillar in the nave of the church; ach Erasmus says, he had himself seen with astonishment in the metropolitan church of Canterbury. *This singular book was found in the house of a gentleConnemarra!-In the Dublin Penny Journal, vol. amber 8, is a sketch of the phrenological mapped head, a redaced scale, copied from the original.-Johannes, the boldness of his opinions, incurred the displeasure of e Nicholas I. who wrote to Charles the Bald, in whose at he was residing, either to send him to Rome, or baBhim the university of Paris. Charles, being unwilling Send the pope, advised Johannes to return to his naare country, which he did in the year 864.-In 884 he e to England, and obtained the friendship of Alfred. Es portrait, as well as that of his patron, was formerly and is perhaps still) preserved over the door of the refec tury of Brazennose college, sculptured in stone. hermit, and was asked by every one, 'Who art thou?' To which he replied, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness John the Baptist.' But when the first man our father Adam heard these things, that Jesus was baptized in Jordan, he called out to his son Seth, and said, 'Declare to your sons, the patriarchs and prophets, all those things which thou didst hear from Michael the archangel, when I sent thee to the gates of paradise, to entreat God that he would anoint my head when I was sick.' Then Seth said, 'I Seth, when I was praying to God at the gates of paradise, behold! the angel 6 the other." Charinus and Lenthius immediately change "into exceeding white forms," and are seen no more. Joseph and Nicodemus afterwards relate the account to Pilate, who enters it in the public records, and going to the temple, summons all the rulers, and scribes, and doctors of the law, and says to them, "I have heard that ye have a certain large book in this temple; I desire you, therefore, that it may be brought before me." And when the great book, carried by four ministers, [of the temple,] and adorned with gold and precious stones, is brought; Pilate adjures them to declare whe ther the scriptures testify of Christ. Annas and Caiphas dismiss the rest, and then avow their conviction that “Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and true and Almighty God." "Such is the nature of a work," says Townley, "which was deemed of sufficient merit and importance, to be translated into various languages, to be one of the earliest specimens of typography; and to be placed in the churches for the edification of the people." In the universities and cathedral churches, it was to a late period a general custom for the public lecturers to read upon any book, rather than upon the scriptures. The works of Scotus, Aquinas, and the Sentences of Lombard; the Golden Legend, with miracles and mysteries, were the means the clergy employed in corrupting human reason, and the christian faith. The ignorant and careless clergy imagined that the safest means to retain the populace, was by miracle plays, ridiculous pageants, and profane festivals, such as the Feast of Fools; Feast of the Ass; Feast of the Bull; Feast of the Innocents, &c.* of the Lord, Michael, appeared unto me, saying -I tell thee Seth, do not pray to God in tears, and entreat him for the oil of the tree of mercy, wherewith to anoint thy father Adam, for his head-ache, because thou canst not by any means obtain it, till the last day and times." A dialogue then ensues between Satan, the prince and captain of death, and Beelzebub, the prince of hell, in which they are interrupted by suddenly hearing a voice, as of thunder and the rushing of winds, saying, Lift up your heads, O ye princes; and be ye lift up, O everlasting gates, and the King of glory shall come in.'" This is succeeded by the appearance of the King of glory enlightening the regions of darkness, and throwing the devils into confusion. "Then the King of glory trampling upon death, seized the prince of hell, deprived him of all his power, and took our earthly father Adam with him to his glory." A quarrel takes place between Satan and Beelzebub, in which the prince of hell reproaches the prince of death, with being the occasion of the ruin of his kingdom, by urging the Jews to the crucifixion of Christ. Jesus then places Satan under the power of Beelzebub; and delivers the saints out of hell. On the entrance of the saints into paradise, they meet Enoch and Elias, and after a conversation betwixt the liberated saints and them, the narrative proceeds, "Behold there came another man in a miserable figure, carrying the sign of the cross upon his shoulders. And when all the saints saw him, they said to him, 'Who art thou? For thy countenance is like a thief's; and why dost thou carry a cross upon thy shoulders?' To which he answering, said, 'Ye say right, for I was a thief, who committed all sorts of wickedness upon earth. And the Jews crucitied me with Jesus; and I observed the surprising things which happened in the creation at the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, and I believed him to be the Creator of all things, and the Almighty King, and I prayed to him, saying, 'Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.' He presently regarded my supplication, and said to me, "Verily, I say unto thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise.' And and licentious feasts, under different terms in his Gloss *Du Cange notices several of these grotesque, profam he gave me this sign of the cross, saying, 'Carry-A curious collection has also been made by the Ab this, and go to paradise; and if the angel, who Artigny, in the fourth and seventh volumes of his is the guard of paradise, will not admit thee, Historiques, vol. i. p. 109, has noticed several writers shew him the sign of the cross, and say unto him, Jesus Christ, who is now crucified, hath sent me hither to thee.' When I did this, and told the angel, he presently opened the gates, introduced me, and placed me on the right hand in paradise, saying, 'Stay here a little time, till Adam, the father of all mankind, shall enter in with all his sons, who are the holy and righteous [servants] of Jesus Christ, who is crucified."" The relation concludes with the thanksgivings of the patriarchs; and Charinus and Lenthius, after professing to have revealed all they were permitted, each deliver in a separate account, written on 66 distinct pieces of paper," which, on examination," are found perfectly to agree, the one not containing one letter more or less than 1497. Erasmus was the first person who publicly taught the Greek grammar in the university of Cambridge; though, when he first came into England in this year, he had so incompetent an acquaintance with that language, that our countryman, Linacre, who was just returned from Italy, perfected him in the knowledge of it Cornelius Vitellius, an Italian, was the firs moires d'Histoire, &c. Du Radier, in his Recreati the subject, and preserves one on the hunting of a ma called Adam, from Ash-Wednesday to Holy Thursday, an toting him with a good supper at night, peculiar t town in Saxony.-In Turner's second volume of his H tory of England, p. 367, will be found a copious and a rious note on this subject.-We had in Leicester, in 14 what was called a glutton-mass, during the five days the festival of the Virgin Mary. The people rose early mass, during which they practised eating and drink with the most zealous velocity, and, as in France, c from the corners of the altar the rich puddings pla there. Francis Douce, Esq. supposes that many of scripts, generally, but erroneously, called missals, are grotesque figures in the illuminated religious ma lusive to the ceremonies which arose out of the Re saturnalia,-which resembled, in a great degree, the cesses of a modern carnival, and that the archbishops bishops degraded themselves by joining in these sp with the inferior clergy. An illumination in the Be missal, representing several men feasting in a chu yard, as referring to an ancient festival of the Ro called the feast of the dead. ho taught Greek in the university of Oxford; him the famous Grocyn learned the first elements of it, which he afterwards pereted Italy under Demetrius Chalcondyles, leaned Greek, and Politian, an Italian, proof Greek and Latin at Florence. Dle, in his highly amusing and instrucwk the Curiosities of Literature, gives the 12 anecdote, (amongst many others) of Luara Fallies. About the latter end of the century Antonio Cornezano wrote a and different. Sonnets on one subject," the of his mistress!" to which possibly Shakmay allude, when Jaques describes a lover, Woful ballad Made to his mistress' eyebrow. aferior to this ingenious trifler is Nicholas well known in Italian literature, who red himself in writing two hundred and airie Sonnets, chiefly on the famous This lampooner had the honour of being aged at Rome for his defamatory publications. 1997. The first Grammar printed in England, blished by John Holt, of Magdalen coland usher of Magdalen school, in Oxford. I was entitled Lac Prierorum, and dedicated to , archbishop of Canterbury. 47. Printing introduced into the following aces in the course of this year:— Avon, by Nicholas Lepe. Dominic An 1500. Carmagnole, no printer's name. Tubingen, by John Otmar. Frederic Meynpr. 1499. 14. May 25. In Bacon's History of Henry I is the following curious note:-Item, for a We geven at the paper mylle, 16s. 9d. This Barkable, because it is generally asserted there was no regular paper mill estabin England till 1588, by John Spilman, er to queen Elizabeth, at Dartford in Kent. Bartholomeus de proprietatibus rerum,* d by De Worde, (see p. 152 ante) mention made of a paper mill near Stevenage, county of Hertford, belonging to John the younger. The water mark which he was an eight-pointed star, within a double ter-marks has at various periods been the of detecting frauds, forgeries, and imposiar courts of law and elsewhere-but idence is bad. The following is introduced msical example of such detection: The This work was originally composed by Bartholomuas ve, otherwise quaintly denominated Barthelmew ye, descended of the noble family of the earls of He was a Franciscan friar, and wrote this work the year 1360, and seems to have been the Pliny of His present work, the History of the Properties gt, is a general history of nature, and was first Latin. It became exceedingly popular, and was times printed abroad from 1470 to 1494. It was also ated into the English, French, Dutch, and Spanish ges. Of the Latin work there were many early ans, but Panzer notices none before 1480. The edition yakyn de Worde was printed from a translation by Trevisa. Jehan Corbichon, an Augustine monk, ated it into French, by order of Charles V. monks of a certain monastery at Messina exhibited, with great triumph, a letter written by the Virgin Mary with her own hand. Unluckily for them this was not, as it easily might have been, written on the ancient papyrus, but on paper made of rags. On one occasion, a visitor to whom this was shewn, observed with affected solemnity, that "the letter involved also a miracle, for the paper on which it was written was not in existence till several hundred years after the mother of our Lord had ascended into heaven.”—Beloe. The following lines, on a paper-mill, appeared some years ago, and may not be inappropriately inserted in this place: THE PAPER MILL. FAR from the public road, remote and still, 1498. John Petit, a native of Paris, began to print this year. He was more of a bookseller than a printer, yet kept a greater number of workmen than any of his cotemporaries: he had no less than fifteen presses constantly employed. He printed with the gothic character; but his impressions were so correct and beautiful, that he was sworn printer and bookseller to the university of Paris, and chosen master of the company. The words petit a petit (by little and little) he used in his titles, alluding to his own name. The women of France have distinguished themselves in the art of printing, particularly Charlotte Guillard, the widow of Berthold Rembolt, Uldric Gering's partner, who, for the space of fifty years, kept several presses at work, and printed a great number of large and very correct editions, both in Latin and Greek. Her best impressions were published after she became a widow the second time, namely, the Bible, the Fathers, and the works of St. Gregory, in two volumes, which were so accurate as to contain but three faults. length spread so much abroad, that the learned Charlotte Guillard's fame as a printer at |