he obtained an impression upon paper, but the impression showed the letters in reverse. He continued cutting until he had carved several lines for his own amusement and liked the result so well that he set about to apply it in a practical way. With the help of his brother-in-law, one Thomas Pietrison, he made a thick, adhesive ink which he could use to better advantage, and with it was able to print from his wooden blocks. At the outset he printed on only one side of the paper, and the first book he printed in this way was a Dutch work named, "Spiegal enser Behoudenisse."

The separate leaves of this book were pasted together so that blank sides might not be seen. Coster died in 1439. Among his assistants was a workman named John Geinsfleisch (or Gutenberg, the Elder), who after he had learned the art returned to Mayence, his native city, and imparted the secret to a nephew-an artist of Strassburg, named John Gutenberg. Uncle and nephew spent much money and time in making experiments, in which they were helped by a capitalist named John Fust, who advanced the necessary funds for the carrying on of the work, but who required that all the tools and presses of the new craft should be pledged as security for his loans. After two years of assiduous labor both the types and the machinery necessary to the printing of a large work were made. Then began the printing of the Bible, which was not completed until 1455 or 1456. Gutenberg, while experimenting, found time to print several other works before this, and among them were the "Donatus" (1451), the "Appeal against the Turks" (1454), and the "Letters of Indulgence" (1454-55). To Peter Schoeffer, another of Gutenberg's assistants, is due the invention of cast metal types which made the economical application of printing

possible. These metal types were made after Fust had foreclosed the mortgage that he held against Gutenberg, and thus secured the control of the printing establishment and the services of Schoeffer.

For the reason that printing helped largely to establish the forms our words were to take, the literary language which it produced, since it had attained the almost inflectionless condition of the language of to-day, became known as Modern English. This language is commonly divided into two periods, the Early Modern or Tudor English which extends from Caxton to the close of Shakespeare's literary activity, and the publication of the King James Version of the Bible, or about one hundred and thirty years-1477 to 1611-and Modern English, from 1611 onward.

The influence of books on the language was immeasurable. As they increased in number and spread throughout the land the study of the people became the art of reading. Printing tended to establish the forms of the written word which, while suited to the eye, differed in sound when pronounced to the ear. Confusion of spelling arose when persons living in different parts of the country endeavored to express the sounds familiar to their ears in writing or printing. To this confusion-modified somewhat as time passed by improvements in printing, by added facilities of communication and the resulting increase of contact between the people-we owe the anomalies to be found in our spelling to-day.

Although the inflections had disappeared no system to replace them had been devised, so that a certain looseness in the order of using words prevailed. This was particularly so in the sixteenth century; then the language was the subject of syntactical license which would not be countenanced

to-day. Dr. E. A. Abbott, who in his "Shakespearian Grammar" made a valuable contribution to Tudor English, pointed out that the dropping of the inflections resulted in the use of words in any grammatical relation as long as they conveyed the idea of the speaker. "For then," said he, "clearness was preferred to grammatical correctness and brevity both to correctness and clearness." So the practise of placing words without any regard to syntax, in the order in which they first came to the thought, became common. This produced a forcible, direct, and clear English such as may be found in the writings of Shakespeare and Jonson.

(B) THE EARLY MODERN OR TUDOR PERIOD: THE MYSTERY PLAYS AND THE MORALITIES

The list of writers whose work exercised influence on the language during the Early Modern or Tudor Period is very large, so large that it is impossible to discuss each writer's achievements at length; therefore, brief biographical notices of only a selected few are given in this book.

William Caxton, who introduced printing into England, was born probably about the year 1423. Some writers, as Oldys,66 whom Dr. Collier follows,67 have placed his birth as early as 1412, but as the records of the Worshipful Company of Mercers show that he was apprenticed to one Robert Large in 1438, he would have been twenty-six years old at the time of his apprenticeship, which seems unlikely. For this reason the approximate date 1423, set by his biographer William Blades, which would have made Caxton about fifteen years old when apprenticed, is preferred. He was 66 Biographia Britannica," s.v.

67 "History of English Literature," p. 72.

born in the Weald of Kent, a region which formerly extended from the Strait of Dover (in Kent) to Beachy Head (in Sussex). Exactly where, within the limits of this weald or exposed region, is not known. Caxton's master, Robert Large, was sheriff of London in 1430, and elected Lord Mayor of that city in 1439. This suggests that Caxton's parents must have been people of influence, or he would not have been able to secure apprenticeship to one of such high distinction. Before the expiration of Caxton's apprenticeship Robert Large died, and his executors decided to send Caxton to Bruges to complete it. His parents, whatever their names and condition may have been, gave Caxton some education, for in the prologue to his "Charles the Grete" (1485), he says: "I am bounden to pray for my fader and moder's souls that in my youthe sent me to schoole, by which by the suffraunce of God I gete my living, I hope truly."

While in Europe he was appointed to negotiate the renewal of the then existing treaty in regard to wool with the Duke of Burgundy in 1465. Although he failed in this, he was sent out by the Mercer's Company in 1468. When Edward IV. was driven into exile Caxton succeeded in finding favor and gaining influence at Court. In 1471 he entered the service of the Duchess of Burgundy, and while in her employ heard of the discovery of printing. As to who taught Caxton the art of printing there is some uncertainty. Wynkyn de Worde, who was one of Caxton's assistants, claimed that Ulric Zell, of Cologne, taught him, but an anonymous writer in the "Encyclopedia Britannica' 9968 says "he seems rather to have had Colard Mansion as his teacher." The exact date that Caxton brought his 68 Caxton, William, s.v.

press to England and set it up in Westminster is uncertain, but the date is set between the years 1471 and 1478. Dr. Funk places the date of the printing of "The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye"-the first book printed in England -at about 1475.69 Caxton followed this up with the "Dictes and Sayinges of the Philosophers, emprynted by me William Caxton, at Westmestre, the yere of our Lord m.cccc.l.xxvij." But Caxton had printed English books before this at Bruges, and these were an earlier edition of "The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye," printed in 1471,70 and "The Game and the Play of Chesse, fynysshid the last day of marche the yer of our lord god. a. thousand foure honderd and lxxiiii." These books, says Dr. Thomas MacKellar," were, however, "printed at Bruges." "At Bruges," says the "Dictionary of National Biography," "there lived a skilful caligrapher named Colard Mansion, who set up a press in that city for the first time about 1473. Mr. Blades states that Caxton probably supplied Mansion with money to carry out his enterprise, and placed himself under Mansion's tuition at Bruges. That Caxton and Mansion were acquainted with one another is not disputed. But Caxton's explicit mention of Cologne as the place in which he finished his translation in 1471, and the remark of Caxton's successor, Wynkyn de Worde, that Caxton printed a Latin book, 'Bartholomæus de Proprietatibus Rerum,' at Cologne (W. de Worde, Proheme to his ed. of Bartholomæus, n.d.), powerfully support the conclusion that Caxton was associated with Cologne in his early printing operations. M. J. P. A. Madden suggests that Caxton and Mansion were

69 "Standard Dictionary," s.v. Printing.

70 Collier "at Cologne in 1471."

71 "The American Printer," p. 16.