taining possession of such of the national instruments as might be sufficient to solve the point in dispute in the manner the English desired. The common opinion is that he succeeded in his hazardous attempt, and that he really presented the valuable documents in question to his monarch. Ritson, however, boldly declares that "he was a most dexterous forger," and that he "obtained great rewards from Henry the Sixth and Edward the Fourth, for a number of supposititious charters of fealty and homage from the Scottish monarchs to the kings of England, which he pretended to have obtained in Scotland at the hazard of his life." But the milder supposition, and that which best accords with the general accounts of his life and character is, that he was himself de ceived as to the genuineness of the papers he presented; that he obtained them at the risk of his personal safety, as is related, but that they were forgeries palmed upon him by some cunning deceiver. In whatever way Harding became possessed of these documents, they acquired him the constant favour of his king, and led him, in the end, to compose the work for which alone he is named in literary history: The Chronicle of England into the reigne of King Edward the Fourth, in verse.' But this production exhibits none of those graces which Chaucer and his cotemporaries had introduced into the national poetry. The former of these writers died when Harding had just reached manhood; and his works must have been familiar to him when he became an author. Little credit, therefore, can be allowed him for poetic talent; but his chronicle is not without its value, and the antiquary turns to it with pleasure, as a curious, though bold and unadorned narrative of actual events. He died about the year 1461. Lady Juliana Berners. BORN CIRC. A. D. 1388. THE reign of Edward IV. was graced by one female authoress, the Lady Juliana, sister to Richard Lord Berners, and prioress of the nunnery of Sopewell. Mr Ballard supposes that this lady was born at Roding in Essex, about the beginning of the 15th century. If, how ever, the general opinion be correct, that she was the daughter of Sir James Berners of Berners-Roding, her birth must have been earlier by some years than Mr Ballard supposes: for Sir James was beheaded in 1388. From the few biographical notices which we possess of the Lady Juliana, we are led to conclude that she was not less distinguished for beauty and elegance of person, than for mental accomplishments. Holinshed speaks of her as a gentlewoman indued with excellent giftes of body and mind," and informs us that she was very fond of some masculine amusements, especially the sports of the field. Her skill in hunting and hawking was so great, that she composed treatises upon these sports in verse, which were so highly esteemed that they were published while the art of printing was yet in its infancy in England, in the famous Boke of St Alban's;' the first edition of which is supposed to have been printed at the monastery of St Alban's in 1481. An edition of this boke,' published at London in 1595, bears the following title," The gentleman's academie, or the Book of St Al 66 ban's; containing three most exact and excellent books, the first of hawking, the second of all the proper terms of hunting, and the last of armory; all compiled by Juliana Barnes, in the year from the incarnation of Christ, 1486; and now reduced into better method by S. M." It is pretty clear that the editor of this edition ascribes a false date to Lady Juliana's performances. Sir James Berners' daughter, if alive at this period, must have been nearly one hundred years old,— no very likely age certainly to find amusement in discoursing on field sports. The colophon of the St Alban's edition runs thus: “ And here now endeth the boke of chasyng of armys, translatyt and com pylyt togedyr at Saint Albons, the yere from thyncarnacyon of our Lorde Jhesu Crist, MCCCCLXXXVI;" but, it has been justly observed, all that we are entitled to infer from this is, that that part of the work which relates to heraldry was not written by Lady Juliana, although generally ascribed to her. Mr Haslewood, the editor of an excellent fac-simile reprint of the Boke of St Albans, as printed by Wynkyn de Worde, is of opinion that the only portions of the volume which can with certainty be attributed to Lady Juliana, are, 1st, a small portion of the treatise on hawking; 2d, the treatise upon hunting; 3d, a short list of the beasts of chase; and, 4th, another list of beasts and fowls. The following sort of lyrical epilogue to the book of hunting is not entirely devoid of merit: 1 Execrate. "A faithful friend would I fain find, To find him there he might be found; That I will neither ban1 ne curse; My purse it is my privy wife : (This song I dare both sing and say :) It parteth men of muche strife, When every man for himself shall pay. For gold and silver men will me flourish By this matter I dare well say Ever gramercy mine own purse. As I ride with gold so rede, And have to do with landys law, Men for my money will make me speed, More and less to me will draw, Both the better and the worse: By this matter I say in sawe Ever gramercy mine own purse. It fell by me upon a time, As it hath doo by many one mo, a Probably flatter; but the rhyme is indefensible. I said again, when I was wo, Therefore I rede you, sires all, To assay your friends or ye have need : Both the better and the worse. Our Lord, that shope both sun and moon, "From an abbess disposed to turn author," says Warton, "we might more reasonably have expected a manual of meditations for the closet, or select rules for making salves, or distilling strong waters. But the diversions of the field were not thought inconsistent with the character of a religious lady of this eminent rank, who resembled an abbot in respect of exercising manorial jurisdiction, and who hawked and hunted in common with other ladies of distinction." Yet the claims of the fair authoress to original composition are disputed both by Warton and Dalloway, who are of opinion, that notwithstanding Lady Juliana's practical acquaintance with her subject, she contented herself with selecting a French treatise as her favourite pastimes for translation. We are unable to determine the point, which indeed Warton himself does not undertake to demonstrate. William Caxton. BORN CIRC, A. D. 1412.-DIED A. D. 1492. Few names occur in English history more fitted to excite a feeling of gratitude than that of Caxton. Literature, when he appeared in the world, had just broken from its cradle, and required, in proportion to its increasing strength, new and rapid increase of circulation. The multiplication of books by the labour of transcribers was a progress as slow as it was expensive, and could only afford a sufficient supply of copies when the number of readers was extremely small. It is true that as the demand for manuscripts increased, the class of persons engaged for transcribing them would also enlarge itself: but this could not lessen the expense of copying,-each transcriber would have to be maintained by his labour, and every purchaser of a manuscript in the ordinary course of such transactions would, therefore, have to pay a price equivalent to his support, while copying the work in demand. The monks had produced large numbers of manuscripts, and the curious and diligent scholar might avail himself sometimes of the stores thus heaped up; but the labours of the convent were not likely to be employed in aid of any new species of literature,-abbots would not set their fraternity to copy poems or treatises which might contain satires on their habits, or contradictions of their systems, and he, therefore, who would possess himself of a work of this modern character, was obliged to obtain it at considerable expense of money or labour. With 4 Cry, lament. the diffusion of a taste for inquiry, the want of books became more and more severely felt, the restorers of learning strove in vain to satisfy the anxious applications of their followers, and the people at large heard of the worth of literature, and were sufficiently improved to desire an acquaintance with it, but found, at the first step towards acquisition, an almost insuperable barrier to their progress. William Caxton, who contributed so greatly to remove this impediment to the diffusion of knowledge in England, was a native of Kent and was born in the latter part of the reign of Henry the Fourth. His parents were persons in the middle rank of life, but his mother was sufficiently well-informed to be able to instruct him herself in reading and writing, accomplishments in those days not universally possessed by the female part of the population. At the age of fifteen he was bound apprentice to a Mr Robert Large, a respectable mercer of London, and who, in the year 1430, served the office of lord-mayor. Caxton continued with him till his death, which occurred in 1441, and the integrity with which he had fulfilled his duty was proved by the will of his employer, who left him thirty-four marks, and made the most affectionate mention of his virtuous conduct. The respect he had acquired with Mr Large, placed Caxton in an advantageous situation among the merchants of the city, and the year after the death of his master, he went to the continent, and was appointed by them to superintend their affairs as factor in Holland and the Low countries. He remained abroad twenty-three years, and during that time was, it would appear, principally occupied in his business as a merchant. But his biographers have not been able to discover any precise details respecting him from the time of his leaving England till the year 1464, when he was appointed one of the two commissioners to whom the English government entrusted the important office of settling the commercial dispute into which it had entered with the duke of Burgundy. It is evident from this circumstance that he had been steadily advancing in fortune and reputation during his residence on the continent, and there is every reason to believe that he, at the same time, acquired a large stock of learning and general information. The Netherlands were at that period the great nursery of erudition; the profoundest and most active scholars were assembled there, theology and classical literature had poured their richest and most valuable stores into the libraries,—and the churches were filled with the noblest productions of the fine arts. It was impossible that an aspiring and intelligent mind like that of Caxton should remain without profit amid such temptations to learning. But there was another circumstance which could not fail of being viewed by a man of his character with the most intense interest. Printing had been lately invented, and the perseverance and ingenuity with which many of the best scholars in Italy, Germany, and other parts of the continent had furthered the first rude attempts made in the art, were at this period demonstrating in the most striking manner its importance to the interests of literature. It is not known when Caxton commenced his labours as a printer; but soon after his appointment to some official situation in the court of the duchess of Burgundy, the sister of King Edward, he printed his translation of the Recuyell, or a collection of the Histories of Trove, by Raoul le Fevre. Both the translation and the printing of The this work were undertaken at the request of the duchess, but were delayed above ten years by the fears which Caxton entertained of his inability to execute the task. He has himself left on record the time employed in this—for that age-laborious enterprize. "The translation," he says, was begun in Bruges, the first of Marche, in the yere 1468, continued in Gaunt, and finished in Colen, the 19th of September, 1471." But this was the least fatiguing part of the design. version being completed, he then "deliberated in himself," says he, "to take the labour in hand of printing it together with the third book of the destruction of Troye, translated of late by John Lydgate, a monk of Burye, in English ritual." It is not unpleasing to hear him utter his complaints respecting the fatigues he had undergone in writing the translation. "Thus," says he, "end I this book, and for as muche as in wrytynge of the same, my penne is worne, myne hand wery, and myne eyes dimmed with overmuche lokyinge on the whit paper; and that age crepeth on me daily, and feebleth all the body, and also because I have promised to dyverce gentlemen and to my frendes to addresse to them as hastily as I might this said booke; therefore I have practised and learned, at my great charge and dis pense, to ordeyne this said booke in prynte after the manner and forme as ye may here see, and is not writen with penne and ynke as other bookes been, to the end that every man may have them attones for all the bookes of this streye named. The Recuyell of the Historye of Troye, thus imprinted as ye here see, were begonne in one day, and also finished in one day." Before leaving the continent, Caxton had also printed another work of some extent,-Bartholomeus de Proprietatibus Rerum; but the date of his return to England is a subject of dispute; and the only settled point in the chronology of this part of his life, is, that in the year 1471 he was regularly established in Westminster as a printer. The 'Dictes or Sayengis' of the philosophers, appeared from his press at that period, and the fame he had acquired by his art not only introduced him to the principal men of the country, but procured him the privilege of carrying on his business in the almonry of the abbey,—a circumstance which is to this day kept in mind, by the appellation of the chapel, the common name among printers of their work-room. 66 The works which Caxton now produced in quick succession, are too numerous to allow of our giving their titles. For some time he was the only one who practised the art in this country, but a few years after his establishment in Westminster, some person set up the business at Oxford, and such was the increasing demand for books, that in 1483, an act of parliament was passed, entitling any artificer or merchant stranger, of whatever realm or country he was or should be of, to bring into the realme and selle by retaile or otherwise, aine bookes written or printed," there being, it was stated, "but few printers within the realme, which could well exercise and occupie the science and crafte of printing." We should form, however, but a very imperfect idea of Caxton's character, did we view him simply as a printer at this time. While anxiously engaged in overcoming the many difficulties which necessarily attend the exercise of any new art, he was also occupied in producing by his own pen, most of the works on which his press was to be employed. besides several other translations from the French, he produced one of |