ng his purpose to translate from the
(apocryphal) letter of Aristotle to Alexander and "Gyles of Regement of
Prynces," he proceeds:--

"There is a booke, Jacob de Cessoles,
Of the ordre of Prechours, made, a worthy man,

That the Chesse moralisede clepede is,
In whiche I purpose eke to labour ywis
And here and there, as that my litelle witte
Afforthe may, I thynke translate it.

And al be it that in that place square
Of the lystes, I meane the eschekere,
A man may learn to be wise and ware;
I that have avanturede many a yere,
My witte therein is but litelle the nere,
Save that somewhat I know a Kynges draught,
Of other draughts lernede have I naught."--(p. 77.)

"In those days," says Warton, "ecclesiastics and schoolmen presumed to
dictate to kings and to give rules for administering states, drawn from
the narrow circle of speculation, and conceived amid the pedantries of a
cloister. It was probably recommended to Occleve's notice by having been
translated into English by John Trevisa, a celebrated translator about
the year 1390.[21]

Having thus traced the stream back to its fountain, we return to Caxton.
The story of his life has been told by Mr. Blades, and only the most
essential facts of his busy and useful career need be recapitulated
here. He was born in the Weald of Kent, and it has been conjectured that
the manor of Caustons, near Hadlow, was the original home of the family.
He was apprenticed to Alderman Robert Large, a mercer, who was
afterwards Lord Mayor. The entry in the books of the Mercers' Company
leads to the inference that Caxton was born about 1422. Probably on the
death of Large, in 1441, Caxton went abroad, for he tells us that in
1471 he had been resident outside England for thirty years. About 1462
or 1463 he was Governor of the English Nation or Merchant Adventurers at
Bruges. This was a position of great influence, and it is thought to
have enabled the loyal mercer to give good service to Edward IV., who
was an exile in 1470. Caxton's marriage was not much later than 1469,
and it is conjectured that this led him to enter the service of the
Duchess of Burgundy. She had literary tastes, and at her request he
translated the "Recuyell des Histoires de Troyes" of Raoul Le Fevre. It
was the demand for copies of this that exhausted Caxton's calligraphic
patience, and led to his employment of a printer. The incident may have
been casual, but i