i that since Granton was not only solvent but also very n and had but temporarily left the country the complain should wait and call upon him for payment. At the close a lengthy debate it was decided that the defendants must g security for the amounts, but that "in case at some future said John Granton should deny the debt of the said sums, allege payment, that then, on the other hand, the plaint should be sentenced to render and repay the two sums, ar more." In the summer of 1450 letters of protection 1 were issued a Richard Caxton, among others in the following of Gerva Clyfton, treasurer of Calais, and there is just the possibilit that he was of the same family as William, for this Richar issued from his apprenticeship under a certain John Harrowe whose son was one of Large's apprentices at the same time a William Caxton. Both Harrowe and Large were mercers and apparently there existed a friendship between them, so tha the young Caxtons may have been of the same family. Nothing more is known of Caxton's own activities for three years, but in 1453 there appears an entry in the Books of the Company under the heading "Entre en la lyvere,' where are written the names of Edmond Redeknape, Richaert Burgh and William Caxton, who had evidently journeyed from Bruges together to be admitted to the Livery. The sum paid in each case was 6s. 8d., but the whole entry is erased with a pen and beneath is the memorandum "Qz int. debitores in fine copots," from which have arisen many unnecessary theories. The general trend of them is that Caxton had already become so esteemed by the Company that the fees were remitted him: apart from the unconstitutional element in this idea, it can scarcely apply to the other two, Redknap and Burgh, as well. Ordinance 45 of the Mercers' Company reads : "ALSO that every person being in our Livery, or of "new receiving it, shall have his said livery ready made "and to wear it on the Easter Day next ensuing after "every such Livery appointed and given, if he be in the "Town and in health for to wear it. Also that every "man receiving his livery of or from any of the Wardens, 1 Treaty Roll, 29 Henry VI. m.3. C.W.I. 1270. 16. Bills of Privy Seal, "shall pay therefor unto one then within 14 days of the "said Easter, that is to say given and delivered, on pain "of 6s 8d to be paid over the duty which that every such "person for his said Livery oweth to pay. And that "every person of new received into the Livery, inconti"nently at receiving therof shall pay therefor, and also "40s. which he shall then forthwith pay for his entry "into the said Livery, over 38 4d of old accustomed due "to the Beadle." From which it would appear that Caxton and his friends duly paid their forty shillings for entry, the cost of their liveries, and the three shillings and fourpence "accustomed due to the Beadle," but were entered as not having paid within the stipulated fortnight and therefore liable to the fine of six shillings and eightponce. On the discovery that this was an error the entry would naturally be erased. Caxton remained in England nearly to the end of the year, for when Geoffrey Fielding was elected Mayor (on the day of the Feast of St. Edward, 13th October), 1 he, Burgh, Thomas Bryce, and Wm. Pratt were fined three shillings and fourpence each for not attending his riding to Westminster to be presented and admitted before the Barons of the Exchequer. This ceremony took place on the day after the swearing-in at the Guildhall, that is, on October 29th. It is interesting to find him so early connected with this latter pair, for they remained his friends throughout their lives and took no small interest in his later work as a Printer.2 Moreover a document in the Public Record Office lately discovered by Mr. H. R. Plomer shows that in the month of December he was engaged in making an assignment of all his property, real and personal, in England and beyond the seas, to Robert Cosyn, 4 citizen and mercer of London, and to John Rede of London and their heirs for ever. Mr. Plomer suggests that "the most reasonable explanation of this act on Caxton's part seems to be that there was still trouble with William 1 Kingsford: Prejudice and Promise in the xvth. Century. 2 See Epil. "Mirror of the World"; Prol. "Book of Good Manners." 3 The discoverer's reference is inaccurate and should read-Close Roll 304, mem. 26. Dec. 12, 1453. See Appendix I. • Robert Cousyn was collector of Customs and Subsidies of the Port of London in 1475. E 402. 4, bundle 30. Craes, and the assignment, which was purely formal, wa "It. ontfaen van den Inghelsman ter cause van xij and it was suggested by l'Abbé Carton 1 that, in the light of o knowledge of Caxton as a great reader and lover of books, it quite likely to him that these refer. There is of course n other evidence and the theory must remain thus slenderl based; but we do know that Caxton not only read but als dealt in books on occasion, for in the Prologue to "Blan chardyn" he tells us how he had "longe to fore" sold to Margaret, Duchess of Somerset, Mother of Henry VII, the very copy from which he translated the work to set it up in print. For 1460 there appears among the Stowe MSS.2 the name of William Caston, described as "of Calais," who in company with certain of the authorities of Calais was connected with the assignment and conveyance of the property of one John Botiller. It is not impossible that "William Caxton of Calais" should signify William Caxton, usually described as "of London, mercer," although there is little other reason to connect him with Calais. To one of the two charters (no. 130) the seal of William Caston is appended and (as will be seen from the illustration opposite) the resemblance between it and the printed device subsequently used by Caxton is striking. The seal bears what is known to heraldry as an eagle's head erased," and has the 66 1 Societé d'Emulation de Bruges: Annales 2e Serie. Tome 5. |