Page:A dictionary of printers and printing.djvu/370

 SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

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TV eontenti are, 1. TV lei^ of Leeth. 2. A fartwell to the world. 3. A fayntd faneie of a spider and the gowte. 4. A dolefuU diteoune of a lady and a knight. 6. The rode into Scotland, hr sir tVUliain Dntty, knight. 6. Sir Simond BurUit trayedie. 7. A tragicall diteoune of the unhmpie mans life. 8. A discourse of rertue. 9. Churehtfords dream. 10. A tale of a frier and a skttntakers wief. 1 1 . The siege of Edenborough castle. 12. The whole order of the receiving of the qttenes majestie into Bristotae. Printed Inf Thomas Marshe. 4to.

1575. A letter, whearin part of the entertain- ment untoo the queenz maiesty, at Killingworth castle, in Warwieksheer, in this soomerz progress, 1575, iz signified; from afreend, officer, atten- amt in court, unto hizfreend a citizen, and mer- ekant of London. At the end. Par me, K. L., gent, rmerctr, merchant, adventurer, and clerk of the coitneel chamber door, and also keeper of the same. At page 44 he calls himself Lanehatn. His refd name was Robert Laneham, and brother to John Laneham the actor.

The princely entertainment at Kenilworth castle, in Warwickshire, was given by Robert Dadley earl of Leicester, in July, 1675. It continued with unflagging invention, rariety, and spirit, fourteen days. The following intro- dactoTy passage, whicn will convey some notion of the entire pageant, is taken from the high- minded and gal£mt George Gascoigne : " Her majesty passing on to the first gate, there stood on the leads and battlements Uiereof six trum- peters hugely advanced, much exceeding the common stature of men in this age, and who had IQtewise huge and monstrous trumpets counter- feited, wherein they seem'd to sound ; and be- hind them were placed certain trumpeters, who sonnded indeed at her majesty's entry. And by this dumb show it was meant, that in the days and reign of king Arthur men were of that sta- tnie. So that the castle of Kenilworth would seem still to he kept by Arthur's heirs and their servants. And when her majesty entered the gate, there stood Hercules for porter, who seeming to be amazed at such a presence, upon such a sudden, proffered to stay them. But yet at last, being overcome by view of the rare beauty and prinfcelv countenance of her majestv, yielded himself an({ his charge, presenting the keys unto her highness."*

1 675. A map of Bristowe, engraved by George Hoefnagle. A sheet.

1575. Ane Treatise, callit the Court of Venus, devidit inta four Buikcs, newlie compylit by John Rolland, in Dalkeith. Imprinted at Edinburgh be John Ros, at. d. lxxv. Cum Privilegio Regali.

1575. The actis of king James the Sixth, with this motto, ViNCET tandem VERITAS. Imprintit at Edinburgh be Johne Ros, MDLXXV. Cum privilegio regali. Folio.

• The reader scarce need be remlndeil, that Sir Walter Scott taa« revived the priocely pastimes of Kenilwortb, in bis celebrated novel of that name, and caused thousands of persons to visit the still statelf raiai. which was the •eeae of so mnch festivitf in the olden time.

1576. Thomas Bassendyne has the honour of being the printer of ike first edition of the Scrip- tures known to have been printed in Scotland. It comprehended the Old Testament, the Apo- crypha, and the New Testament ; and was printed at Edinburgh, by Thomas Bassendyne, h.d.lxxvi. cum priuilegio, in folio. It is dedicated in the Scottish dialect to king James. The title vage is embellished with the royalarms, and God save the king; notwithstanding the late reproof of the geneml assembly for considering the sovereign as the head of the kirk. It is, perhaps, the first edition of the Geneva version, printed in Britain, though some earlier have been sometimes men- tioned ; and the first bible in Roman letter.

1676. Henry Byiineman printed Hours of Recreation, or After Dinners, By John Sandford, gent. 12mo. The following lines are on the title.

Since we survive in death hy nothing else bat fame, I wkh long life, with praise in death, ma^ raise your name.

1676. John Shepabd printed John Wolton, bishop of Exeter, his armour of proof e ; and concerning the immortality of the und.

1676. Michael Vascosan, a very celebrated Parisian Greek printer. He was a native of Amiens. He received a liberal education, became the son-in-law of Jocodus Badius, and having been appointed a libraire jure of the university of Paris, commenced his typographi- cal career about the year 1532. Froin 1666, to 1576, he was Tyvographus Regius. The Greek impressions of Vascosan were not many, but his Latin ones numerous. Of the beauty of his Latin characters, and the elegance and correct- ness of his impressions, no scholar, says Maittaire, can be ignorant. He specifies, in particular, his numerous and pleasing impressions of the differ- ent works of Cicero, printed as separate tracts in 4to, and generally illustrated with valuable commentaries. His <3reek types, says Mr. Gres- well, were not always of that minute description which Maittaire's account of them might lead us to suppose. He probably had overlooked those fine specimens, Oppianus de Venatione, Grace, 4to. ; and the Rhetorica Aristotelis, Gr. 8vo. both of the 1649. His impression P.Bembi rerum Venetarum historite, Lutet. 1651, 4to, as one of those specimens by which the warmest eulogy is justified : and whilst the beauty of his fine Latin characters can scarce be excelled by modern skill, the paper used by him, and by other eminent printers of this century, will gene- rally be found to exhibit a superiority of texture and quality, which under modern encouragement, the manufacturer would find it too expensive to imitate. The correctness also of Vascosan's press may be exemplified by his impression of Budteus de asse ^ ejtu partibus, fol. in which three errors only have been recorded. In every department, Vascosan is assuredly entitled to a very dis- tinguished place among the improvers of Parisian typography. The device most frequently used by him was a Fountain, delineated with superb and appropriate ornaments, and surrounded by

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