Part 97

Every new workman to pay for his entrance half a crown, which is called his _benvenue_, till then he is no member, nor enjoys any benefit of chappel money.

Every journeyman that formerly worked at the chappel, and goes away, and afterwards comes again to work, pays but half a _benvenue_.

If journeymen smout[267] one another, they pay half a _benvenue_.

All journeymen are paid by their master-printer for all church holidays that fall not on a _Sunday_, whether they work or no, what they can earn every working-day, be it 2, 3, or 4_s._

If a journeyman marries, he pays half a crown to the chappel.

When his wife comes to the chappel, she pays 6_d._, and then all the journeymen joyn their 2_d._ a piece to make her drink, and to welcome her.

If a journeyman have a son born, he pays 1_s._, if a daughter 6_d._

If a master-printer have a son born, he pays 2_s._ 6_d._, if a daughter 1_s._ 6_d._

An apprentice, when he is bound, pays half a crown to the chappel, and when he is made free, another half crown: and if he continues to work journeywork in the same house he pays another, and then is a member of the chappel.

* * * * *

Probably there will many a conference be held at imposing-stones upon the present promulgation of these ancient rules and customs; yet, until a general assembly, there will be difficulty in determining how far they are conformed to, or departed from, by different chapels. Synods have been called on less frivolous occasions, and have issued decrees more “frivolous and vexatious,” than the one contemplated.

* * * * *

In a work on the origin and present state of printing, entitled “Typographia, or the Printer’s Instructor, by J. Johnson, Printer, 1824, 2 vols.,” there is a list of “technical terms made use of by the profession,” which Mr. Johnson prefaces by saying, “we have here introduced _the whole_ of the technical terms, that posterity may know the phrases used by the early nursers and improvers of our art.” However, they are not “_the whole_,” nor will it detract from the general merit of Mr. Johnson’s curious and useful work, nor will he conceive offence, if the Editor of the _Every-Day Book_ adds a few from Holme’s “Academy of Armory,” a rare store-house of “Created Beings, with the terms and instruments used in all trades and arts,” and printers are especially distinguished.

_Additions to Mr. Johnson’s List of Printers’ Terms._

_Bad Copy._ Manuscript sent to be printed, badly or imperfectly written.

_Bad Work._ Faults by the compositor or pressman.

_Broken Letter._ The breaking of the orderly succession the letters stood in, either in a line, page, or form; also the mingling of the letters, technically called _pie_.

_Case is Low._ Compositors say this when the boxes, or holes of the case, have few letters in them.

_Case is full._ When no sorts are wanting.

_Case stands still._ When the compositor is not at his case.

_Cassie Paper._ Quires made up of torn, wrinkled, stained, or otherwise faulty sheets.

_Cassie Quires._ The two outside quires of the ream, also called cording quires.

_Charge._ To fill the sheet with large or heavy pages.

_Companions._ The two press-men working at one press: the one first named has his choice to pull or beat; the second takes the refuse office.

_Comes off._ When the letter in the form delivers a good impression, it is said to come off well; if an ill impression, it is said to come off bad.

_Dance._ When the form is locked up, if, upon its rising from the composing-stone, letters do not rise with it, or any drop out, the form is said to dance.

_Distribute._ Is to put the letters into their several places in the case after the form is printed off.

_Devil._ Mr. Johnson merely calls him the errand-boy of a printing-house; but though he has that office, Holme properly says, that he is the boy that takes the sheets from the tympan, as they are printed off. “These boys,” adds Holme, “do in a printing-house commonly black and dawb themselves, whence the workmen do jocosely call them devils, and sometimes spirits, and sometimes flies.”

_Drive out._ “When a compositor sets wide,” says Mr. Johnson. Whereto Holme adds, if letter be cast thick in the shank it is said to drive out, &c.

_Easy Work._ Printed, or fairly written, copy, or full of breaks, or a great letter and small form “pleaseth a compositor,” and is so called by him.

_Empty Press._ A press not in work: most commonly every printing-office has one for a proof-press: viz., to make proofs on.

_Even Page._ The second, fourth, sixth, &c. pages.

_Odd Page._ The first, third, fifth, &c. pages.

_Folio._ Is, in printer’s language, the two pages of a leaf of any size.

_Form rises._ When the form is so well locked up in the chase, that in the raising of it up neither a letter nor a space drops out, it is said that the form rises.

_Froze out._ In winter, when the paper is frozen, and the letter frozen, so as the workmen cannot work, they say they are froze out. [Such accidents never occur in good printing-houses.]

_Going up the form._ A pressman’s phrase when he beats over the first and third rows or columns of the form with his ink-balls.

_Great bodies._ Letter termed “English,” and all above that size: small bodies are long primer, and all smaller letter.

_Great numbers._ Above two thousand printed of one sheet.

_Hard work_, with compositors, is copy badly written and difficult; [such as they too frequently receive from the Editor of the _Every-Day Book_, who alters, and interlines, and never makes a fair copy,] _hard work_, with pressmen, is small letter and a large form.

_Hole._ A place where private printing is used, viz. the printing of unlicensed books, or other men’s copies.

[Observe, that this was in Holme’s time; now, licensing is not insisted on, nor could it be enforced; but the printing “other men’s copies” is no longer confined to a _hole_. Invasion of copyright is perpetrated openly, because legal remedies are circuitous, expensive, and easily evaded. So long as the law remains unaltered, and people will buy stolen property, criminals will rob. The pirate’s “fence” is the public. The receiver is as bad as the thief: if there were no receivers, there would be no thieves. Let the public look to this.]

_Imperfections of books._ Odd sheets over the number of books made perfect. They are also, and more generally at this time, called the _waste_ of the book.

_M thick._ An _m_ quadrat thick.

_N thick._ An _n_ quadrat thick.

_Open matter_, or _open work_. Pages with several breaks, or with white spaces between the paragraphs or sections.

_Over-run._ Is the getting in of words by putting out so much of the forepart of the line into the line above, or so much of the latter part of the line into the line below, as will make room for the word or words to be inserted: also the derangement and re-arrangement of the whole sheet, in order to get in over-matter. [Young and after-thought writers are apt to occasion much over-running, a process distressing to the compositor, and in the end to the author himself, who has to pay for the extra-labour he occasions.]

_Pigeon holes._ Whites between words as large, or greater than between line and line. The term is used to scandalize such composition; it is never suffered to remain in good work.

_Printing-house._ The house wherein printing is carried on; but it is more peculiarly used for the printing implements. Such an one, it is said, hath removed his printing-house; meaning the implements used in his former house.

_Revise._ A proof sheet taken off after the first or second proof has been corrected. The corrector examines the faults, marked in the last proof sheet, fault by fault, and carefully marks omissions on the revise.

_Short page._ Having but little printed in it; [or relatively, when shorter than another page of the work.]

_Stick-full._ The composing-stick filled with so many lines that it can contain no more.

_Token._ An hour’s work for half a press, viz. a single pressman; this consists of five quires. An hour’s work for a whole press is a token of ten quires.

_Turn for it._ Used jocosely in the chapel: when any of the workmen complain of want of money, or any thing else, he shall by another be answered “turn for it,” viz. make shift for it.

[This is derived from the term _turn for a letter_, which is thus:--when a compositor has not letters at hand of the sort he wants while composing, and finds it inconvenient to distribute letter for it, he turns a letter of the same thickness, face downwards, which turned letter he takes out when he can accommodate himself with the right letter, which he places in its stead.]

* * * * *

Thus much has grown out of the notice, that printers formerly papered their windows about “Bartlemy-tide,” and more remains behind. But before farther is stated, if _chapels_, or individuals belonging to them, will have the goodness to communicate any thing to the _Editor of the Every-Day Book_ respecting any old or present laws, or usages, or other matters of interest connected with printing, he will make good use of it. Notices or anecdotes of this kind will be acceptable when authenticated by the name and address of the contributor. If there are any who doubt the importance of printing, they may be reminded that old Holme, a man seldom moved to praise any thing but for its use in heraldry, says, that “it is now disputed whether typography and architecture may not be accounted Liberal Sciences, being so famous Arts!” Seriously, however, communications respecting printing are earnestly desired.

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FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Perennial Sunflower. _Helianthus multiflorus._ Dedicated to _St. Lewis_.

[266] Randle Holme, 1688.

[267] _Smout._ Workmen when they are out of constant work, sometimes accept of a day or two’s work, or a week’s work at another printing house; this by-work they call _smouting_.--Holme.

~August 26.~

_St. Zephyrinus_, Pope, A. D. 219. _St. Genesius_, a Comedian, A. D. 303. _St. Gelasinus_, a Comedian at Heliopolis, A. D. 297. _St. Genesius_, of Arles, about the 4th Cent.

MUSIC.

“_Il cantar, che nel’ animosi sente._”

Nay, tell me not of lordly halls! My minstrels are the trees, The moss and the rock are my tapestried walls, Earth’s sounds my symphonies.

There’s music sweeter to my soul In the weed by the wild wind fanned-- In the heave of the surge, than ever stole From mortal minstrel’s hand.

There’s mighty music in the roar Of the oaks on the mountain’s side, When the whirlwind bursts on their foreheads hoar, And the lightnings flash blue and wide.

There’s mighty music in the swell Of winter’s midnight wave-- When all above is the thunder peal, And all below is the grave.

There’s music in the city’s hum, Heard in the noontide glare, When its thousand mingling voices come On the breast of the sultry air.

There’s music in the mournful swing Of the lonely village bell-- And think of the spirit upon the wing, Releas’d by its solemn knell.

There’s music in the forest-stream, As it plays thro’ the deep ravine, Where never summer’s breath or beam Has pierced its woodland screen.

There’s music in the thundering sweep Of the mountain waterfall, As its torrents struggle, and foam and leap From the brow of its marble wall.

There’s music in the dawning morn, Ere the lark his pinion dries-- ’Tis the rush of the breeze thro’ the dewy corn-- Thro’ the garden’s perfumed dyes.

There’s music on the twilight cloud As the clanging wild swans spring, As homewards the screaming ravens crowd, Like squadrons upon the wing.

There’s music in the depth of night, When the world is still and dim, And the stars flame out in their pomp of light, Like thrones of the cherubim!

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FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Banded Amaryllis. _Amaryllis vittata._ Dedicated to _St. Zephyrinus_.

~August 27.~

_St. Cæsarius_, Abp. of Arles, A. D. 542. _St. Pæmen_, or _Pastor_, Abbot about A. D. 385. _St. Hugh_ of Lincoln, A. D. 1255. _St. Joseph Calasanctius_, A. D. 1648. _St. Malrubius_, about A. D. 1040. _St. Syagrius_, Bp. of Autun, A. D. 600.

_The Glowworm._

Dr. Forster in his “Perennial Calendar” quotes the mention of this and other luminous insects from “a late entomological work,” in the following passage:--“This little planet of the rural scene may be observed in abundance in the month of August, when the earth is almost as thickly spangled with them as the cope of heaven is with stars. It is not only the glowworm that will not bear inspection when its lustre is lost by the light of day; but all those luminous insects that bear the same phosphoric fire about them, such as the lanthorn fly of the West Indies and of China, of which there are several sorts; some of which carry their light in a sort of snout, so that when they are seen in a collection, they are remarkably ugly. There is also an insect of this luminous sort common in Italy, called the lucciola. An intelligent traveller relates, that some Moorish ladies having been made prisoners by the Genoese, lived in a house near Genoa till they could be exchanged, and, on seeing some of the lucciola, or flying glowworms, darting about in the evening in the garden near them, they caused the windows to be shut in a great alarm, from a strange idea which seized them, that these shining flies were the souls of their deceased relations.”

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FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Hedge Hawkweed. _Hieracium umbellatum._ Dedicated to _St. Cæsarius_.

~August 28.~

_St. Augustine_, Bp. and Doctor of the Church, A. D. 430. _St. Hermes_, about A. D. 132. _St. Julian_, Martyr.

_St. Augustine._

His name is in the church of England calendar. He was born at Tagasta, in Numidia, in 354. Lardner awards to him the character of an illustrious man, and says, that “a sublime genius, an uninterrupted and zealous pursuit of truth, an indefatigable application, and invincible patience, a sincere piety, and a subtle and lively wit, conspired to establish his fame upon the most lasting foundation:” yet he adds, that “the accuracy and solidity of his judgment were not proportionable to his eminent talents; and that upon many occasions he was more guided by the violent impulse of a warm imagination than by the cool dictates of reason and prudence.” He pronounced that all infants dying before baptism were deprived of the sight of God; wherein he is followed, says Daille, by Gregorius Arminiensis, a famous theological doctor, who from thence was called _Tormentum Infantium_.

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FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Goldenrod. _Solidago Virgaurea._ Dedicated to _St. Augustine_.

~August 29.~

_The Decollation of St. John Baptist._ _St. Sabina._ _St. Sebbi_, or _Sebba_, King, about A. D. 697. _St. Merri_, in Latin, _Medericus_, Abbot, about A. D. 700.

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FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Yellow Hollyhock. _Althea flava._ Dedicated to _St. Sabina_.

~August 30.~

_St. Rose_ of Lima, Virgin, A. D. 1617. _Sts. Felix_ and _Adauctus_, about A. D. 303. _St. Fiaker_, Anchoret, called by the French, _Fiacre_, and anciently, _Fefre_, about A. D. 670. _St. Pammachius_, A. D. 410. _St. Agilus_, commonly called _St. Aile_, about A. D. 650.

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FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Guernsey Lily. _Amaryllis Sarniensis._ Dedicated to _St. Rose_.

~August 31.~

_St. Raymund Nonnatus_, A. D. 1240. _St. Isabel_, A. D. 1270. _St. Cuthburge_, 8th Cent. _St. Aidan_, or _Ædan_, A. D. 651.

_St. Aidan._

He was born in Ireland, and was bishop of Lindisfarne, which from the number of reputed saints there buried, is called the Holy Island. Bede relates many miracles and prophecies of him. His cart and two oxen laden with wood as he drove them, falling down a high rock into the sea, he only made the sign of the cross as they fell, and received all safe and sound out of the waters, &c.

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FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Autumnal Pheasant’s Eye. _Adonis autumnalis._ Dedicated to _St. Raymund_.

Next him September marched eke on foot; Yet was he heavy laden with the spoyle Of harvest’s riches, which he made his boot, And him enriched with bounty of the soyle; In his one hand, as fit for harvest’s toyle, He held a knife-hook; and in th’ other hand A paire of weights, with which he did assoyle Both more and lesse, where it in doubt did stand, And equal gave to each as justice duly scanned.

This is the ninth month of the year: anciently it was the seventh, as its name imports, which is compounded of _septem_, seven, and _imber_, a shower of rain, from the rainy season usually commencing at this period of the year.

Our Saxon ancestors called this month “_Gerst-monat_, for that barley which that moneth commonly yeelded was antiently called _gerst_, the name of barley being given unto it by reason of the drinke therewith made, called beere, and from _beerlegh_ it come to be _berlegh_, and from _berleg_ to barley. So in like manner _beereheym_, to wit, the overdecking or covering of _beere_, came to be called _berham_, and afterwards _barme_, having since gotten I wot not how many names besids.--This excellent and healthsome liquor, beere, antiently also called _ael_, as of the Danes it yet is (beere and ale being in effect all one,) was first of the Germans invented, and brought in use.”[268]

Mr. Leigh Hunt notices, that Spenser takes advantage of the exuberance of harvest, and the sign of the zodiac, _libra_, in this month, to read another lesson on justice. “This is the month,” Mr. Hunt continues, “of the migration of birds, of the finished harvest, of nut-gathering, of cyder and perry-making, and, towards the conclusion, of the change of colour in trees. The swallows and many other soft-billed birds that feed on insects, disappear for the warmer climates, leaving only a few stragglers behind, probably from weakness or sickness, who hide themselves in caverns and other sheltered places, and occasionally appear upon warm days. The remainder of harvest is got in; and no sooner is this done, than the husbandman ploughs up his land again, and prepares it for the winter grain. The oaks and beeches shed their nuts, which in the forest that still remain, particularly the New Forest in Hampshire, furnish a luxurious repast for the swine, who feast of an evening in as pompous a manner as any alderman, to the sound of the herdsman’s horn. But the acorn must not be undervalued because it is food for swine, nor thought only robustly of, because it furnishes our ships with timber. It is also one of the most beautiful objects of its species, protruding its glossy green nut from its rough and sober-coloured cup, and dropping it in a most elegant manner beside the sunny and jagged leaf. We have seen a few of them, with their stems in water, make a handsome ornament to a mantle-piece, in this season of departing flowers.--The few additional flowers this month are cornflowers, Guernsey-lilies, starwort, and saffron, a species of crocus, which is cultivated in separate grounds. The stamens of this flower are pulled, and dried into flat square cakes for medicinal purposes. It was formerly much esteemed in cookery. The clown in the _Winter’s Tale_, reckoning up what he is to buy for the sheepshearing feast, mentions ‘saffron to colour the warden-pies.’ The fresh trees and shrubs in flower are bramble, chaste-tree, laurustinus, ivy, wild honeysuckle, spirea, and arbutus, or strawberry-tree, a favourite of Virgil, which, like the garden of Alcinous, in Homer, produces flower and fruit at once. Hardy annuals, intended to flower in the spring, should now be sown; annuals of curious sorts, from which seed is to be raised, should be sheltered till ripened; and auriculas in pots, which were shifted last month, moderately watered. The stone-curlew clamours at the beginning of this month, wood-owls hoot, the ring-ouzel reappears, the saffron butterfly is seen, hares congregate; and, at the end of it, the woodlark, thrush, and blackbird, are heard.”

Mr. Hunt further observes that, September, though its mornings and evenings are apt to be chill and foggy, and therefore not wholesome to those who either do not, or cannot, guard against them, is generally a serene and pleasant month, partaking of the warmth of summer and the vigour of autumn. But its noblest feature is a certain festive abundance for the supply of all the creation. There is grain for men, birds, and horses, hay for the cattle, loads of fruit on the trees, and swarms of fish in the ocean. If the soft-billed birds which feed on insects miss their usual supply, they find it in the southern countries, and leave one’s sympathy to be pleased with an idea, that repasts apparently more harmless are alone offered to the creation upon our temperate soil. The feast, as the philosophic poet says on a higher occasion--

The feast is such as earth, the general mother, Pours from her fairest bosom, when she smiles In the embrace of Autumn. To each other As some fond parent fondly reconciles Her warring children, she their wrath beguiles With their own sustenance; they, relenting, weep. Such is this festival, which from their isles, And continents, and winds, and oceans deep, All shapes may throng to share, that fly, or walk, or creep.

_Shelley._

[268] Verstegan.

~September 1.~

_St. Giles_, Abbot, 7th Cent. _Twelve Brothers_, Martyrs, A. D. 258. _St. Lupus_, or _Leu_, Abp. A. D. 623. _St. Firminus II._, Bp. of Amiens, A. D. 347.

_St. Giles._

This saint is in the church of England calendar. He was born at Athens, and came into France in 715, having first disposed of his patrimony to charitable uses. After living two years with Cæsarius, bishop of Arles, he commenced hermit, and so continued till he was made abbot of an abbey at Nismes, which the king built for his sake. He died in 750.[269]

St. Giles is the _patron of beggars_. Going to church in his youth, he gave his coat to a sick beggar who asked alms of him, the mendicant was clothed, and the garment miraculously cured his disorder. He was also the _patron of cripples_. After he had retired to a cave in a solitary desert, the French king was hunting near his thicket, and Giles was wounded by an arrow from a huntsman’s bow while at prayers; whereupon being found unmoved from his position, the king fell at his feet, craved his pardon, and gave orders for the cure of his wound, but this the saint would not permit, because he desired to suffer pain and increase his merits thereby, and so he remained a cripple, and received reverence from the king whom he counselled to build a monastery; and the king did so, and Giles became abbot thereof, “and led the life of an angel incarnate,” and converted the king.[270] It is related of him that he raised the dead son of a prince to life, and made a lame man walk: our church of St. Giles, Cripplegate, is dedicated to him. It is further told, that at Rome he cast two doors of cypress into the Tiber, and recommended them to heavenly guidance, and on his return to France found them at the gates of his monastery, and set them up as the doors of his own church. These are some only of the marvels gravely told of him, “many wytnisse that they herde the company of aungelles berynge the soule of hym into heven.”[271]

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FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Great Sedum. _Sedum Telephium._ Dedicated to _St. Giles_.

[269] Audley’s Companion to the Almanac.

[270] Ribadeneira.

[271] Golden Legend.

~September 2.~