Chapter C

_Fabulous Account of the Lion._--Many thanks to J. EASTWOOD (Vol. i., p. 472.) for his pertinent reply to my Query. The anecdote he refers to is mentioned in the _Archæological Journal_, vol. i. 1845, p. 174., in a review of the French work _Vitraux Peints de S. Etienne de Bourges_, &c. No reference is given there; but I should fancy Philippe de Thaun gives the fable.

JARLTZBERG.

_Caxton's Printing-office_ (Vol. ii., p. 122.).--The abbot of Westminster who allowed William Caxton to set up his press in the almonry within the abbey of Westminster, was probably John Esteney, who became abbot in the year 1475, and died in 1498. If the date mentioned by Stow for the introduction of printing into England by Caxton, viz. 1471, could be shown to be that in which he commenced his printing at Westminster, Abbot Milling (who resigned the abbacy for the bishopric of Hereford in 1475) would claim the honour of having been his first patron: but the earliest ascertained date for his printing at Westminster is 1477. In the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for April, 1846, I made this remark:

"There can, we think, be no doubt that the device used by
Caxton, and afterwards by Wynkyn de Worde, (W. 4.7 C.) was
intended for the figures 74, (though Dibdin, p. cxxvii, seems
incredulous in the matter), and that its allusion was to the
year 1474 which may very probably have been that in which his
press was set up in Westminster."

Will the Editor of "NOTES AND QUERIES" now allow me to modify this suggestion? The figures "4" and "7" are interlaced, it is true, but the "4" decidedly precedes the other figure, and is followed by a point (.). I thinly it not improbable that this cypher, therefore, is so far enigmatic, that the figure "4" may stand for _fourteen hundred_ (the century), and that the "7" is intended to read doubled, as _seventy-seven_. In that case, the device, and such historical evidence as we possess, combine in assigning the year 1477 for the time of the erection of Caxton's press at Westminster, in the time of Abbot Esteney. If _The Game and Play of the Chesse_ was printed at Westminster, it would still be 1474. In the paragraph quoted by ARUN (Vol. ii., p. 122.) from Mr. C. Knight's _Life of Caxton_, Stow is surely incorrectly charged with naming Abbot Islip in this matter. Islip's name has been introduced by the error of some subsequent writer; and this is perhaps attributable to the extraordinary inadvertence of Dart, the historian of the abbey, who in his _Lives of the Abbots of Westminster_ has altogether omitted Esteney,--a circumstance which may have misled any one hastily consulting his book.

JOHN GOUGH NICHOLS

* * * * *

MISCELLANEOUS

NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.

_The Fawkes's of York in the Sixteenth Century, including Notices of the Early History of Guye Fawkes, the Gunpowder Plot Conspirator_, is the title of a small volume written, it is understood, by a well-known and accomplished antiquary resident in that city. The author has brought together his facts in an agreeable manner, and deserves the rare credit of being content to produce a work commensurate with the extent and interest of his subject.

We learn from our able and well-informed contemporary, _The Athenæum_ that "one curious fact has already arisen out of the proposal for the restoration of Chaucer's Monument,--which invests with a deeper interest the present undertaking. One of the objections formerly urged against taking steps to restore the perishing memorial of the Father of English Poetry in Poets' Corner was, that it was not really his tomb, but a monument erected to do honour to his memory a century and a half after his death. An examination, however, of the tomb itself by competent authorities has proved this objection to be unfounded:--inasmuch as there can exist no doubt, we hear, from the difference of workmanship, material, &c., that the altar tomb is the original tomb of Geoffrey Chaucer,--and that instead of Nicholas Brigham having erected an entirely new monument, he only added to that which then existed the overhanging canopy, &c. So that the sympathy of Chaucer's admirers is now invited to the restoration of what till now was really not known to exist--_the original tomb_ of the Poet,--as well as to the additions made to it by the affectionate remembrance of Nicholas Brigham."

Messrs. Ward and Co., of Belfast, announce the publication, to subscribers only, of a new work in Chromo-Lithography, containing five elaborately tinted plates printed in gold, silver, and colours, being exact fac-similes of an _Ancient Irish Ecclesiastical Bell_, which is supposed to have belonged to Saint Patrick and the four sides of the jewelled shrine in which it is preserved, accompanied by a historical and descriptive Essay by the Rev. William Reeves, D.D., M.R.I.A. By an Irish inscription on the back of the case or shrine of the bell, which Doctor Reeves has translated, he clearly proves that the case or shrine was made in the end of the eleventh century, and that the bell itself is several hundred years older; and also that it has {143} been in the hands of the Mulhollands since the time the case or shrine was made; that they bore the same name, and are frequently mentioned as custodians of this bell in the "_Annals of the Four Masters_."

We have received the following Catalogues:--William Heath's, 29. Lincoln Inn Fields, Select Catalogue, No. 4., of Second-Hand Books, perfect, and in good condition. Thomas Cole's, 15. Great Turnstile, Catalogue of a Strange Collection from the Library of a Curious Collector. John Petheram's, 94. High Holborn, Catalogue of a Collection of British (engraved) Portraits. Cornish's (Brothers), 37. New Street, Birmingham, List No. IX. for 1850 of English and Foreign Books.

* * * * *

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES

WANTED TO PURCHASE.

(In continuation of Lists in former Nos.)

Odd Volumes.

BLOOMFIELD'S RECENSIO SYNOPTICA, Vols. III. and IX.

Letters, stating particulars and lowest price, _carriage free_, to be sent to Mr. BELL, Publisher of "NOTES AND QUERIES," 186. Fleet Street.

* * * * *

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS

VOLUME THE FIRST OF NOTES AND QUERIES, _with Title-page and very copious Index, is now ready, price 9s. 6d., bound in cloth, and may be had, by order, of all Booksellers and Newsmen._

_Erratum_.--No. 38. p. 113. col. 2. l. 37., for "participle" read "particle."

* * * * *

MR. A.K. JOHNSTON'S NEW GENERAL GAZETTEER.

In One Large Volume 8vo. of 1,440 pages, comprising nearly 50,000 Names of Places, price 36s. cloth; or half-russia, 41s.

A NEW DICTIONARY of GEOGRAPHY, Descriptive, Physical, Statistical, and Historical; forming a complete General Gazetteer of the World. By ALEXANDER KEITH JOHNSTON, F.R.S.E., F.R.G.S., F.G.S., Geographer at Edinburgh in Ordinary to Her Majesty.

"He appears to have executed in a very laudable manner the task which he has undertaken, and to have taken every precaution possible to secure accuracy and precision of statement."--_Times._

London: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, and LONGMANS.

* * * * *

ROCHEFOUCAULD'S MAXIMS, WITH NOTES.

Just published, in fcp. 8vo. price 4s. 6d. cloth,

MORAL REFLECTIONS, SENTENCES, AND MAXIMS of FRANCIS DUC DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD.

Newly translated from the French. With an Introduction and Notes.

London: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, and LONGMANS.

* * * * *

In Post 8vo., price 2s. 6d.

THE FAWKES'S OF YORK IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY; Including Notices of the Early History of GUYE FAWKES, the Gunpowder Plot Conspirator. By ROBERT DAVIES, Esq., F.S.A.

Published by J.B. NICHOLS and J.G. NICHOLS, 25. Parliament-street, Westminster.

* * * * *

PARKER'S EDUCATIONAL CATALOGUE, including the Books produced under the Sanction of the Committee of Council on Education, and the Publications of the Committee of General Literature and Education appointed by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, will be sent free of Postage, on application to the Publisher, 445. West Strand, London.

* * * * *

CAMBRIDGE BOOKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED.