employed himself at her request in making translations of romances. The _Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye_, a well-known romance of the period, was translated between the years 1469 and 1471, and presented to the duchess in September of the latter year. In the prologue of the printed edition Caxton explains that after the duchess had received her copy, many other persons desired copies also, but that finding the labour of writing too wearisome for him, and not expeditious enough for his friends, he had “practised and learnt, at his great charge and expense, to ordain the book in print, to the end that every man might have them at once.” Now in 1471, when Caxton finished his translation of the _Recueil_, he was living at Cologne, a city remarkable even at that time for the number of its printers, and the first town that Caxton had visited where the art was practised. He had just finished the tedious copying of a large manuscript, so that the advantages of printing would be manifest to him; and we may be tolerably certain that it was about this time and at this town that he took his first lessons in the art and mastered the mechanical processes. Printing by this time had ceased to be a secret art, nor was there such a demand for books as to make it a very valuable one. The printed books of Germany had at an early date found their way to Bruges, and people’s eyes were accustomed to the sight of the printed page, though the nobles still preferred manuscripts, as being more ornamental and costly. There are copies in the Cambridge University Library and at Lambeth of the _Cicero de officiis_, printed at Mainz by Schoiffer in 1466, which were bought in 1467 at Bruges by John Russell, afterwards Bishop of Lincoln, when abroad on a diplomatic mission; and a speech of his, delivered at Ghent in 1470, on the occasion of the investiture of the Duke of Burgundy with the order of the Garter, was one of Caxton’s earliest printed productions. A very strong piece of evidence to my mind that Caxton learnt at Cologne is to be found in the epilogue to the English translation of the _De proprietatibus rerum_, by Bartholomæus Anglicus, which was printed by W. de Worde, Caxton’s apprentice and successor, in 1496. This epilogue, written by De Worde himself, contains these lines:-- And also of your charyte call to remembraunce, The soule of William Caxton, first prynter of this boke, In Laten tonge at Coleyn, hymself to avaunce, That every well disposyd man, may theron loke. Now this is a perfectly clear statement that Caxton printed a _Bartholomæus_ in Latin at Cologne, and we know an edition of the book manifestly printed at Cologne about the time Caxton was there. The type in which it is printed greatly resembles that of some other Cologne printers, and it seems to be connected with some of Caxton’s Bruges types. At any rate, the story cannot be put aside as without foundation. It is not, of course, suggested that Caxton printed the book by himself or owned the materials, but only that he assisted in its production. He was learning the art of printing in the office where this book was being prepared, and his practical knowledge was acquired by assisting to print it. Returning to Bruges, he set about turning his knowledge to account, and in partnership with a writer of manuscripts, named Colard Mansion, began to make or obtain the necessary materials. Between the years 1471, when Caxton had...