CAXTON, William (1422-c. 1491), the introducer of printing into England, was born, as he tells us himself, in “Kent in the Weide.” The date of his birth is uncertain; Oldys places it in 1412, while his most recent biographer, Mr Blades, shows that it could not have been much later than 1423. The latter, however, fixes upon 1422-3 as the approximate date; and this appears to be as near correctness as we are likely to attain. 1412 seems too early; for, by the records of the Mercers’ Company we find that in 1438 William Caxton was apprenticed to Robert Large; and it is far more likely that he was apprenticed at sixteen than at twenty-six. Robert Large was a man of great wealth and of high position; in 1430 he was sheriff, and in 1439 he celebrated his election to the office of Lord Mayor with extraordinary splendour; and the fact that Caxton was apprenticed to a merchant of such distinction makes it nearly certain that he belonged to a family of considerable influence. In 1449 his master died; and it became the duty of his executors to place Caxton where he could fulfil the term of his apprenticeship. They sent him to Bruges; at least, we know that he was there soon after. In this town he entered into business on his own account, and prospered so well that before 1450 he was considered substantial security for £110, which would be equivalent to £1000 at the present time; and eight years later he had become governor of the Company of Merchant Adventurers. Caxton appears to have been a man of considerable polish, and to have had a high reputation for sagacity; for in 1465, the treaty with the duke of Burgundy concerning the wool trade being about to expire, he was appointed by the king, along with Sir Richard Whitehill, to negotiate its renewal; and this attempt ...