Page:The Annual Register 1758.djvu/492

 478 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1758,


 * and the vveder fayr, thenne for


 * arecreacyon and pafl'yng of time,


 * had delyte and axed to rtde fome

« gentlyman called Lowys de Bre-
 * good hiitorye. A worOiipful

tioned treatife, which when he had
 * taylles,' lent him theabovcmen-


 * hieded and looked upon, as he


 * had tyme and fpace, he gaaf


 * thereto a veray afFedion ; and


 * in fpecial by caufe of the holfom


 * and fwete fanges of the Pay-


 * nem?, which is a glorious fair


 * myrrour to all good Chriilen


 * people to behold and under-

appointed governor to the prince, he undertook this tranflation for the ufe and inflruftion of his royal pupil. The book is fuppof- ed to be the fecond ever printed in England by Caxton ; at leall the firll which he printed at Weil- ininfter, being dated November 18, 1477. A fair manufcript of this tr:inilation, with an illumina- tion reprefenting the earl introduc- ing Caxton to Edward the fourth, his queen and the prince, is pre- ferved in the archbifhop's library at Lambeth.
 * Itonde.' And afterwards being

The molt remarkable circnm- ftance attending this book is the gallantry of the earl, who omitted to tranflate part of it, becaufe It contained farcafms of Socrates a- gainfl: the fair fex : And it is no lefs remarkable that his printer ventured to tranflate the fatire, and added it to his lordfhip's perform- ance ; yet with an apology lor his prefumption.

ir. * The moral proverbs of flation. The authorefs Chriftina was daughter of Thomas of Pifa, otherwife called of Boulogne, whither her father removed ; and
 * Chriftina of Pyfe ;' another tran-

though fhc (liled herfelf a woman Ytalien, yet fhe wrote in French, and flourifhed about the rear 1400. In this tranflation the earl difco- vcred new talents, turning the work into a poem of two hundred and three lines, the greateft part of which he contrived to make conclude with the letter E : an in- ftance at once of his lordfliip's ap- plication, and of the bad tafte of an age, which had witticifms and whims to ftruggle with as well as ignorance. It concludes with two ilanzas of feven lines each, begin- ning thus :


 * The grate vertus of our elders not-

able


 * Ofte to remembre is thing profitable 5


 * An happy hous is, where dweiletli

prudence,


 * For where fad is, rcafon is in prefence,

EXPLICIT.


 * Of thefe fayvinjes Ciiflyne was the

aufturefle, ' Which in makyn had fuch intelli- gence,


 * That therefore flie was mireur and

maiftselTe;


 * Iler werkes teftifie the experience :

' In Freiisdi language was written this fentence ;


 * And thus cnglifhcd doth hit reheife


 * Antoiii Widcvyll iheile Kyvers.

Caxton, ii^fpired by his patron's ' iriufe, concludes the work thus ;


 * Go thou litil quayer and recommaund

me


 * Unto the good grace of my fpecial

Loide ,


 * Thcrle Ryveris, for I have emprinted

the < At his commandement, following evry worde


 * His copye, as his fecretary can re-

corde

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