this ART in his Private Capacity Historians must of necessity take many things upon trust they cannot with their own but with the Eyes of others see what things were done before they themselves were Bernardus non vidit omnia 'T is not then impossible they should mistake I shall now make it appear they have done so from their Own as well as from other Arguments Mr. Stowe his Expressions are very dubious and the matter exprest very Improbable He saith PRINTING was found in Magunce which presupposes it was practised some where else before and lost And further That 't was found in the Reign of Henry the Sixth Anno Dom. 1459. and not brought into England till Eleven years in the succeeding Reign of Edward the Fourth being 12 years after as if it had been lost again If this be true there was as little Rarity as Expedition in obtaining it the age of 12 years time having intervened and so indeed it might be the Act of a Mercer rather than a more eminent Person But when I consider what great advantage the Kingdome in general receives by it I could not but think a Publique Person and a Publique Purse must needs be concerned in so publique a Good The more I Considered of this the more inquisitive I was to find out the truth of it At last a Book came to my hands Printed at Oxon. Anno Dom. 1468. which was three years before any of the recited Authours would allow it to be in England which gave me some reward for my Curiosity and encouragement to proceed further And in prosecution of this Discovery the same most worthy Person who trusted me with the aforesaid Book did also present me with the Copy of a Record and Manuscript in Lambeth-House heretofore in his Custody belonging to the See and not to any particular Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Substance whereof was this though I hope for publique satisfaction the Record it self in its due time will appear Thomas Bourchier Arch-Bishop of Canterbury moved the then King Hen. the 6th to use all possible means for procuring a Printing-Mold for so 't was there called to be brought into this Kingdom the King a good Man and much given to Works of this Nature readily hearkned to the Motion and taking private Advice how to effect His Design concluded it could not be brought about without great Secrecy and a considerable Sum of Money given to such Person or Persons as would draw off some of the Work-men from Harlein in Holland where John Cuthenberg had newly invented it and was himself personally at Work 'T was resolv'd that less then one Thousand Marks would not produce the desir'd Effect Towards which Sum the said Arch-Bishop presented the King with Three Hundred Marks The Money being now prepared the Management of the Design was committed to Mr. Robert TurnoUr who then was of the Roabs to the King and a Person most in Favour with Him of any of his Condition Mr. Turnour took to his Assistance Mr. Caxton a Citizen of good Abilities who Trading much into Holland might be a Creditable Pretence as well for his going as stay in the Low-Countries Mr. Turnour was in Disguise his Beard and Hair shaven quite off but Mr. Caxton appeared known and publique They having received the said Sum of One Thousand Marks went first to Amsterdam then to Leyden not daring to enter Harlein it self for the Town was very jealous having imprisoned and apprehended divers Persons who came from other Parts for the same purpose They staid till they had spent the whole One Thousand Marks in Gifts and Expences So as the King was fain to send Five Hundred Marks more Mr. Turnour having written to the King that he had almost done his Work a Bargain as he said being struck betwixt him and two Hollanders for bringing off one of the Work-men who should sufficiently discover and teach this New Art At last with much ado they got off one of the Under-Workmen whose Name was Frederick Corsells or rather Corsellis who late one Night stole from his Fellows in Disguise into a Vessel prepared before for that purpose and so the Wind favouring the Design brought him safe to London 'T was not thought so prudent to set him on Work at London but by the Arch-Bishops meanes who had been Vice-Chancellor and afterwards Chancellor of the University of Oxon Corsellis was carryed with a Guard to Oxon which Guard constantly watch'd to prevent Corsellis from any possible Escape till he had made good his Promise in teaching how to Print So that at Oxford Printing was first set up in England which was before there was any Printing-Press or Printer in France Spain Italy or Germany except the City of Mentz which claimes Seniority as to Printing even of Harlein it self calling her City Urbem Maguntinam Artis Tipographicae Inventricem primam though 't is known to be otherwise that City gaining that Art by the Brother of one of the Workmen of Harlem who had learnt it at Home of his Brother and after set up for himself at Mentz This Press at Oxon was at least ten years before there was any Printing in Europe except at Harlein and Mentz where also it was but new born This Press at Oxford was afterwards found inconvenient to be the sole Printing-place of England as being too far from London and the Sea Whereupon the King set up a Press at St. Allans and another in the Abby of Westminster where they Printed several Bookes of Divinity and Physick for the King for Reasons best known to himself and Council permitted then no law-Law-Books to be Printed nor did any Printer exercise that ART but onely such as were the Kings sworn Servants the King himself having the Price and Emolument for Printing Books Printing thus brought into England was most Graciously received by the King and most cordially entertained by the Church the Printers having the Honour to be sworn the King's Servants and the Favour to Lodge in the very Bosome of the Church as in Westminster St. Albans Oxon c. By this meanes the ART grew so famous that Anno prim Rich. 3. cap. 9. when an Act of Parliament was made for Restraint of Aliens from using any Handicrafts here except as Servants to Natives a special Provisoe was inserted that Strangers might bring in Printed or Written Books to sell at their pleasure and Exercise the ART of Printing here notwithstanding that Act So that in the space of 40 or 50 years by the especial Industry and Indulgence of Edw. the Fourth Edw. the Fifth Rich. the Third Henry the Seventh and Henry the Eighth the English prov'd so good Proficients in Printing and grew so numerous as to furnish the Kingdome with Books and so Skilfull as to print them as well as any beyond the Seas as appears by the Act of the 25 Hen. 8. cap. 15. which Abrogates the said Provisoc for that Reason And it was further Enacted in the said Statute
PER ME REGES REGNANT IUSTITIA STABILITUR SOLIUM SCRIPTURA ET LEGES SUNT FUNDAMENTA CORONAE CEDANT ARMA TOGAE THE Original and Growth OF PRINTING COLLECTED Out of HISTORY and the Records of this KINGDOME Wherein is also Demonstrated That PRINTING appertaineth to the Prerogative Royal and is a Flower of the Crown of England By RICHARD ATKYNS Esq White-Hall April the 25 th 1664. By Order and Appointment of the Right HONOURABLE Mr. Secretary MORICE Let this be Printed THO RYCHAUT LONDON Printed by JOHN STREATER for the AUTHOR MDCLXIV TO THE KINGS MOST Excellent Maiesty Most Gracious and Dread Soveraign THough I had the Honour to be very well known to His Majesty of ever Blessed Memory Your most Royall Father and to be a Sufferer in the loss of a considerable Estate for His most Just Cause yet I may not be so well known to Your Sacred Person however the same Duty that moved Me to fight for Him remains in Me to write for You not out of any Confidence in my Pen for I am the first shall judge that my Self but out of Conscience and Loyalty to my Soveraign for whose sake I resolve to hazard Censure rather than to be wanting in any Discovery that may tend to Your Majesties Interest and indubitate Right The least loss of Power in a Magistrate is a great Detriment to his Government and an Advantage to his Enemies the least Creep-Window robs the whole House the least Errour in War not to be redeem'd And as that ever Blessed late Martyr said when He gave his Watch of Government to be cleansed by the too-long Parliament the least Pin of it being left out would cause a Discord in the whole Therefore might Solomon well say Where the Word of a King is there is Power The King and Power being Relatives That Printing belongs to Your Majesty in Your publique and private Capacity as Supream Magistrate and as Proprietor I do with all boldness affirm and that it is a considerable Branch of the Regal Power will no Loyal Person deny for it ties and unties the very Hearts of the People as please the Author If the Tongue that is but a little Member can set the Course of Nature on Fire how much more the Quill which is of a flying Nature in it self and so Spiritual that it is in all Places at the same time and so Powerful when it is cunningly handled that it is the Peoples Deity That this Power which is intire and inherent in Your Majesties Person and inseparable from Your Crown should be divided and divolve upon Your Officers though never so great and good may be of dangerous Consequence You are the Head of the Church and Supream of the Law shall the Body govern the Head Men use to trust when they cannot avoid it but that there may be a Derivative and Ministerial Power in them with Appeal to Your Majesty I do with all Humility admit and propose Printing is like a good Dish of Meat which moderately eaten of turns to the Nourishment and health of the Body but immoderately to Surfeits and Sicknesses As the Vso is very necessary the Abuse is very dangerous Cannot this Abuse be remedied any other way then by depriving Your Majesty of Your Antient and Just Power How were the Abuses taken away in Queen Elizabeth King James and the beginning of King Charles his time when few or no Scandals or Libels were stirring Was it not by Fining Imprisoning Seizing the Books and breaking the Presses of the Transgressors by Order of Councel-Board Was it not otherwise when the Jurisdiction of that Court was taken away by Act of Parliament 17 Car. If Princes cannot redress Abuses can less Men redress them I dare positively say the Liberty of the Press was the principal furthering Cause of the Confinement of Your most Royal Fathers Person for after this Act every Male-content vented his Passion in Print Some against his Person some against his Government some against his Religion and some against his Parts the Common People that before this Liberty believed even a Ballad because it was in Print greedily suckt in these Scandals especially being Authorized by a God of their own making the Parliament finding the Faith of the Deceived People to be implicitely in them Printed the Remonstrance the Engagement to live and dye with the Earl of Essex the Covenant c. and so totally possest the Press that the King could not be heard By this means the Common People became not onely Statists but Parties in the Parliaments Cause hearing but one side and then Words begat Blows for though Words of themselves are too weak Instruments to Kill a Man yet they can direct how and when and what Men shall be killed In the Statute of 21 Jac. Printing keeps very able Company as Salt-Peter Gun-Powder Ordnance c. all which are Exempted from being Monopolies Not to be longer tedious I too much fear this late Act for two years compleats all the former Concessions of the late King I know it was done in hast and with a good Intent but by Your Majesties Gracious Leave and Pardon even then very considerable Persons in Your House of Commons were of Opinion they had nothing to do with it the Power of the Press being so wholly in Your Majesty Indeed Necessity that hath no Law was the cause of this Law viz. to hinder the Growth of Scandalous Books and Pamphlets but it hath fallen very short of the End for few or none of many Printed have bin brought in by the Stationers I have now discharged my Duty to Your Majesty and if I find I have so far prevailed upon Your Royall Goodness as to ask unconcern'd Councel what is best to be done I have my End I hope Your Majesty will have the Advantage So prayeth Your Sacred Majesties most Humble Servant and most obedient Subject RICHARD ATKINS TO The Right Honourable THE LORDS AND TO The Honourable THE COMMONS ASSEMBLED IN PARLIAMENT May it please your Honours I Have ever better understood mine own Disabilities then to desire to appear in Print where the Author stands as a Butt to be shot at by the sharp Arrows of every busie Critick and runs a most certain hazard and most uncertain Benefit But having been above twenty three years in Chancery and other Courts of Justice and spent more then One Thousand Pounds in vindicating the Kings Grant of Printing the Common Laws of England and His Lawful Power to grant the same and kept His Title alive even in the worst of Times when 't was reputed unlawful because the Kings I cannot refrain from defending it now the King is or ought to be restored to His Rights again especially since all Persons are invited by Order to speak their Minds freely concerning this Subject So that there is a Necessity upon me to speak now or for ever hereafter to hold my Peace this being probably the last time of Asking 'T is not unknown
to every Member of each House how little Benefit hath accrued to the Kingdom by the late Act of Parliament for two years Entituled An ACT for preventing the frequent Abuses in Printing Seditious Treasonable and Unlicensed Books and Pamphlets c. Which Act determines June next Nor can it be thought but that there is cause enough for another Act to take place when this is expired The Reason why this present Act hath operated so little is most apparent because the Executive Power is plac'd in the Company of Stationers who onely can offend and whose Interest it is to do so They are both Parties and Judges and 't were a high Point of Self-denial for Men to punish themselves But they will wipe their Mouthes with Solomon's Harlot and take it very unkindly if the same or a greater Power be not continued to them in the next Act to be made They will promise as fair as the Long Parliament did to the late King to make Him a Glorious King and perform it as certainly as they did too Jugglers seldome shew the same Trick twice together and the Italian Proverb is If a man deceive me once 't is his fault if twice it is mine own That the Great Councel of this Nation should further trust those that have deceived them already and believe fair Pretences contrary to Reason and Practice would be a sad Fate upon Us all when wofull Experience tells Us That if the King be taken from being Head of the Law there will not want a Law to take off His Head in a short time There were a sort of People in King David's time which imagined Mischief as a Law as in the late King's time that practised Mischief by a Law Which might incline the Parliament to frame a strict Law against this kind of Mischief But I hope the King's Mercy in forgivin such by which He imitates His Maker will find so hearty a Conversion that Ingratitude shall never joyn with Rebellion to provoke a Tyrannical Government over this Kingdom such Men if I may so call them are worse then the Gentiles of whom St. Paul saith That having not the Law and doing by Nature the things contained in the Law are a Law unto themselves which shew the Law written in their Hearts nay worse then Beasts who by Nature observe a Law amongst themselves Shall Sense and Reason alone teach Creatures willingly to confine themselves to certain Rules for the Common Good and shall Professors of Christianity break them Shall the Law of Nature command Men to be free from offending and shall the Law of God be thought to command them to be free to offend Let not our too-near Neighbours the Turks have that Advantage against Us. But whilest I declaim against others for breaking their Bounds I may be thought guilty of committing the same Errour myself I shall therefore most humbly beg your Honours Pardon and rest Your Honours Most Humble and Faithful Servant RICHARD ATKINS THE Originall and Grovvth OF PRINTING REASON is the great Distinction between Man and Beast Gusman calls the Man of most Knowledg A God amongst Men. And Bishop Hall divides the whole Duty of Man into Knowledg and Practice In the Infancy of the World especially before the Sealing of the Scripture-Canon God Revealed himself and his Will frequently either Vocally by himself as to Moses in the Mount or else by divers and sundry other manners As by Dreams Visions Prophecies Extasies Oracles and other Supernatural means Nor will I Blow up the Humours of these Times so high as to Confine these his Miraculous Revelations to Gods People onely though to them most frequently and especially but sometimes also to Hypocrites within the Church as to Saul and others yea and sometimes even to Infidels as to Pharaoh Balaam Nebuchadnezzar Abimelech c. But since the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles commonly called the Scriptures And that the Christian Church by the Preaching of the Gospel is become Oecumenical Dreams and other Supernaturall Revelations as also other things of like nature as Miracles have ceased to be of ordinary and familiar use So as now we ought rather to suspect Delusion in them than â—o expect Direction from them Yet God hath no where abridged or Limited himself from these supernatural wayes of Revealing his Will in case his Written Word should be taken from us or we from it But we of this Latter Age have all these so Lively represented to our View by the benefit of Printing as if we our selves were personally present For Printing is of so Divine a Nature that it makes a Thousand years but as yesterday by Prèsenting to our View things done so long before and so Spirituall withall that it flyes into all parts parts of the World without Weariness Finally 't is so great a Friend to the Schollar that he may make himself Master of any Art or Science that hath been treated of for 2000 years before in lesse than two years time But Virtue it self will not want Opposers and Philosophy is ever odious to ignorant Ears Nay there are a sort of People in the World that account Ignorance the Mother of Devotion and therefore out of Conscience would not have even the Scriptures Printed in the Mother Tongue But I shall not go out of my own Way to bring them unto it further than by defending the Theame I have in hand Concerning the time of bringing this Excellent ART into England and by whose Expence and Procurement it was brought Modern Writers of good Reputation do most erroniously agree together Mr. Stowe in his Survey of London speaking of the 37th year of King Henry the Sixth his Reign which was Anno Dom. 1459. saith That the Noble Science of PRINTING was about this time found in Germany at Magunce by one John Cuthenbergus a Knight And that William Caxton of London Mercer brought it into England about the Year 1471. And first practised the same in the Abby of St. Peter at Westminster With whom Sir Richard Baker in his Chronicle agrees throughout And Mr. Howell in his Historicall Discourse of London and Westminster agrees with both the former in the Time Person and Place in generall but more particularly declares the Place in Westminster to be the Almory there And that Islip Abbot of Westminster set up the first Press of Book Printing that ever was in England These three famous Historians having fill'd the World with the supposed truth of this Assertion Although possibly it might arise through the mistake of the first Writer only whose Memory I perfectly honour makes it the harder Task upon me to undeceive the World again Nor wouldI undertake this Work but under a double notion As I am a Friend to Truth and so it is unfit to suffer one Man to be intituled to the worthy Atchievements of another And as a Friend to my self not to lose one of my best Arguments of Intituling the King to
That if any person bought Forreign Books bound he should pay 6 s. 8 d. per Book And it was further Provided and Enacted That in case the said Printers and Sellers of Books were unreasonable in their prices they should be moderated by the Lord Chancellor Lord Treasurer the two Lord Chief Justices or any two of them who also had power to Fine them 3 s. 4 d. for every Book whose price shall be enhanced Thus was the ART of Printing in its Infancy Nursed up by the Nursing Father of us all and in its riper Age brought up in Monasteries of greatest Accompt and yet were the Instruments thereof restrained from the Evil of enhancing the prices of Books to the Detriment of their Fellow-Subjects by the Authority aforesaid While they had this Check upon them they were not only Servants to the King but Friends to the Kingdom But when they were by Charter Concorporated with Book-Binders Book-Sellers and Founders of Letters 3 and 4 Phil. and Mary and called the Company of Stationers the Body forgot the Head and by degrees breaking the Reines of Government they kickt against the Power that gave them Life And whereas before they Printed nothing but by the Kings especiall Leave and Command they now being free set up for themselves to print what they could get most Money by and taking the Advantage of those Virtiginous Times of the latter end of Henry the 8. Edward the 6. and Queen Mary they fill'd the Kingdom with so many Books and the Brains of the People with so many contrary Opinions that these Paper-pellets became as dangerous as Bullets to verifie that Saying of Tertullian That Lawyers Gowns hurt the Common-wealth as much as Souldiers Helmets Thus was this excellent and desireable ART within less than one hundred years so totally vitiated that whereas they were before the King's Printers and Servants they now grew so poor so numerous and contemptible by being Concorporated that they turn'd this famous ART into a Mechanick Trade for a Livelyhood But here I must break off though abruptly and answer an Objection for methinks I hear the Critick say How can that be a Mechanick Trade now that the Author allowes to be a famous Art heretofore being alwayes one and the same thing The Matter of which before I answer I must crave leave to give you the signification of the Word Mechanick the rather because the several sorts of Trades of which the Company of Stationers are Composed and more particularly the Book-Sellers who say they are of no Manufacture do peremptorily deny themselves to be Mechanicks The Word Mechanicus which signifies a Handicrafts-man doth in the strict Sense comprehend Printers Founders of Letters and Book-Binders And I believe in the large Sense all Trades-men whatsoever But if that be deficient let us go to the Original Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a Cunning Contrivance of the Head as well as Hand and this will certainly take in all Trades for as much as there is Cunning in all Trades But if it should miss any yet it cannot fail of the Company of Stationers because they are denominated a Mystery and there the strict signification of the Word comes in again Now for the matter of the Objection That a Famous ART cannot be a Mechannick Trade I Answer This is so far from being true that there is nothing in Nature but is good or bad according as 't is us'd for the great Creator of all things made nothing to no purpose even Meat and Drink without which we cannot live if abus'd destroyes life Twenty dye of Surfets for one that is starved for want of Meat But to give you an instance ad idem Musick is not onely an Art but one of the Liberall Arts practised by Princes themselves and made instrumentall to the Glory of God yet what Trade is there more despicable in the World both in Name and Nature than a Common Fidler though he may draw as good a sound out of an Instrument and have as much Art in Playing and Composing as any Gentleman yet if he get his Living by it and makes it his Trade he is still but a Fidler and herein I pity him more than any of other Professions because he perverts the Creation and turns Day into Night for most commonly when sober Persons are in Bed he must play to please the humours of the lighter sort And though his Heart be ready to break through Melancholy he must sing a merry Song to delight the Company if commanded or have his Fiddle sing about his Ears Is not this Mechanick think you But to Return where I digrest Printing became now so dangerous to the Common-wealth That there were more Books Burnt in Ten years than could be Printed in Twenty And now it concern'd the Prince altogether as much to Suppress the Abuse as it was before to Obtain the Use of Printing And had there not been a Reserve of Licensing such Books as should be Printed still remaining in the Crown they might have published the wickedness of their own Imaginations with Authority But Queen Elizabeth at her very first Entrance to the Crown finding so great Disorders in Church and State by reason of the abuse in Printing Secures in the first place the Law and the Gospel of both which the Kings and Queens of England have inherent Right as Heads of the Church and Supream of the Law and not onely in their publique but private Capacity as Proprietors the Power and Signiory of this under Favour cannot be severed from the Crown The Kings being the Trustees of the People who have formerly taken an Oath at their Coronation That they shall keep all the Lands Honours and Dignities Rights and Freedoms of the Crown of England in all manner whole without any manner of minishment and the Right of the Crown hurt decay'd or lost to their Power shall call again into the Antient Estate Which Oath the said Queen kept inviolably and liv'd the more quietly for it all the time of her Reign and died in Peace True it is they may and do gratifie their Friends and Servants in giving them the Emoluments and Profits that arise from Printing but the Power they cannot alienate from the Crown without losing the most pretious Stone out of their Diadem To shew you one Example for all the said Queen the first Year of her Reign grants by Patent the Priviledge of sole Printing all Books that touch or concern the Common-Laws of England to Tottel a Servant to her Majesty who kept it intire to his Death After him to one Yestweirt another Servant to Her Majesty After him to Weight and Norton and after them King James grants the same Priviledge to More one of His Majesties Clerks of the Signet which Grant continues to this Day and so for the Bible the Statute-Laws the Book of Common-Prayer Proclamations as much as the Grammer the Primer c. art all