DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.30698#0211
WILLIAM CAXTON.
183
147L]
teschewe ydlenes . that so rudely haue put my penne vnto the histories
afore named . that hit plese them not onely haue regarde vnto my
pour consayte . but also to y* obscure and derke abisme or sualowe
where y haue gadryd them to gyder . by obeyssauce And vnder alle
ryght humble correccions . On the reverse is the title to the First
BooJc, printed in red; which, with the title to the Third Book, also
printed in red, will be found in the accompanying fac-simile.
As I may have led the reader to expect some further extracts from
this curious volume, however abundantly I have before * gleaned from
it, I shall present him with the following: illustrative of that extreme
simplicity and na'ivetd with which our venerable Printer thought it his
duty to make a literal version of his original text. They describe events
of very different complexions. The first relates to tlie Battle of Titan
AND SATURN.
£ [f]Rom as ferre as the Tytanoys sawe the Saturnyens come . they
were right glade and made them self the grettest chiere of the worlde.
And meuyd them silf joieusly ayenst them and with a grete crye, they
had grete sheldes of tree, maces and pollaxes and guysarmes of strange
facions . and they were all on fote . reseruyd Tytan and his sones .
whyche as Kynges had theyr Curres and Chares + in whiche they were
brought and caried not by the force of hors but by the puyssance of
men, they approched so nyghe that they cam to fightyng and began to
werke, than the archers of kynge saturne began to drawe & shote And
maad the tytannoys to arest and stande also longe as their shotte dured
and slowe and hurte many of them whan the shotte fayled . the
tytanuoys X that had grete sorowe for to be so seruid of the saturnyens,
esmeuyd hem self agayn And swore that oon to that other that they
wold be auengid And cam for to fight hand oon hand in whiche they
employed them so aygrely that of the noise and deue that their axes
and guisarmes smote vpon their sheldes hit semed as hit had ben thonder,
At thencounteryng than the batayll was right ffell, Lychaon . Egeon.
Creon . Typhon. and encheladus were in the first front, ther was many
a shelde broken for the weight of the clubbes & polaxes & many heedes
broken/ fol. 29. rev.
The second describes the interview of Jupiter and Danae :
* [t]He mayde danes toke grete playsir wyth all these thinges, whan
* See the Typographical Antiquities, vol. i, p. 24-7; and p. 174,180, ante.
t A little above, Caxton says: ‘ ffor in this tyme the kyngc-s went to bataill in chares.’
t Sic.
VOL. IV.
A A
183
147L]
teschewe ydlenes . that so rudely haue put my penne vnto the histories
afore named . that hit plese them not onely haue regarde vnto my
pour consayte . but also to y* obscure and derke abisme or sualowe
where y haue gadryd them to gyder . by obeyssauce And vnder alle
ryght humble correccions . On the reverse is the title to the First
BooJc, printed in red; which, with the title to the Third Book, also
printed in red, will be found in the accompanying fac-simile.
As I may have led the reader to expect some further extracts from
this curious volume, however abundantly I have before * gleaned from
it, I shall present him with the following: illustrative of that extreme
simplicity and na'ivetd with which our venerable Printer thought it his
duty to make a literal version of his original text. They describe events
of very different complexions. The first relates to tlie Battle of Titan
AND SATURN.
£ [f]Rom as ferre as the Tytanoys sawe the Saturnyens come . they
were right glade and made them self the grettest chiere of the worlde.
And meuyd them silf joieusly ayenst them and with a grete crye, they
had grete sheldes of tree, maces and pollaxes and guysarmes of strange
facions . and they were all on fote . reseruyd Tytan and his sones .
whyche as Kynges had theyr Curres and Chares + in whiche they were
brought and caried not by the force of hors but by the puyssance of
men, they approched so nyghe that they cam to fightyng and began to
werke, than the archers of kynge saturne began to drawe & shote And
maad the tytannoys to arest and stande also longe as their shotte dured
and slowe and hurte many of them whan the shotte fayled . the
tytanuoys X that had grete sorowe for to be so seruid of the saturnyens,
esmeuyd hem self agayn And swore that oon to that other that they
wold be auengid And cam for to fight hand oon hand in whiche they
employed them so aygrely that of the noise and deue that their axes
and guisarmes smote vpon their sheldes hit semed as hit had ben thonder,
At thencounteryng than the batayll was right ffell, Lychaon . Egeon.
Creon . Typhon. and encheladus were in the first front, ther was many
a shelde broken for the weight of the clubbes & polaxes & many heedes
broken/ fol. 29. rev.
The second describes the interview of Jupiter and Danae :
* [t]He mayde danes toke grete playsir wyth all these thinges, whan
* See the Typographical Antiquities, vol. i, p. 24-7; and p. 174,180, ante.
t A little above, Caxton says: ‘ ffor in this tyme the kyngc-s went to bataill in chares.’
t Sic.
VOL. IV.
A A