These are the conditions under which that great literature which is known as Elizabethan literature was created and published. It seems incredible that such literature could have been produced under such conditions. The fact that it was so produced seems to show that the censors made a conscientious attempt to enforce the legislation in such a way as to prevent the actual abuse of the printing press and to protect the government from danger arising from these sources, while leaving pure literature as free as the conditions permitted. Of course, we of to-day regard any system of press censorship as wrong and cannot approve any such legislation. It is worth while, however, to remember that these men made an earnest effort to live up to the moral and political standards of their own time. In the execution of this edict the Stationers’ Company made weekly official visits to every shop. These visitations were intended to ascertain: 1. How many presses each printer possessed. 2. What he printed. 3. How many impressions were taken of each piece of work. 4. How many workmen and apprentices there were in each plant. 5. Whether unauthorized persons were employed or allowed to remain about the plant. The regulations of the edict and also the private regulations of the Company seem to have been enforced at this time with all the thoroughness in the power of the Company. The registers show that its officers frequently seized and destroyed editions of unlicensed books and in other ways enforced the edicts against all persons. Its own members were frequently disciplined. The registers show discipline for printing an unlicensed book, for selling a prayer book of Edward VI in place of one of Elizabeth, for infringing a copyright, for printing indecent or offensive matters, for selling books to other than book-shops, for selling books “disorderly printed,” for keeping open on Sundays and festival days, and for keeping unregistered apprentices. The phrase “disorderly printed” appears to refer to the careless and inaccurate printing of the books rather than to the nature of their contents. The printing standards of the time were not high, but this would appear to indicate a disposition to maintain them, such as they were. The punishment for selling to other than book shops is interesting as showing that at that early period the book trade suffered from one of the things which to-day causes much complaint among booksellers. Sales by department stores, drug stores, and other parties disposed to cut rates are regarded as serious difficulties in the book trade of to-day and it is evident that the same difficulty occurred three hundred and fifty years ago.