It was not till the year 1585 that the art was actively resumed. In that {140} year the Earl of Leicester presented a press, and the University made a grant of £100. The Star Chamber Decree of the following year formally allowed (with rigid restrictions) the establishment of the new press, and under Joseph Barnes, the first University printer, it rapidly rose to prominence. It appears from the outset to have been well provided with types, many of them of a beautiful cut, particularly those of the Greek character. The _Chrysostomi Homiliæ_, printed by Barnes in 1586, and the _Herodotus_ of 1591, were both noticeable for the excellence of their letter. The former is said to be the first Greek book printed at the University. The reputation of the University for its Greek types was enhanced some years afterwards by the acquisition of the letter in which the magnificent edition of _St. Chrysostom_[233] had been printed at Eton by John Norton in 1610–13, at the charge and under the direction of Sir Henry Savile.[234] This work, one of the most splendid examples of Greek printing in this country, is said to have cost its author £8,000. Respecting the origin of the types, Bagford says, in one of his MSS.: “Sir Henry Savile, meditating an edition of _St. Chrysostom_, prepared a fount of curious Greek letters, which in those days were called the _Silver letter_, not being cast of silver, but for the beauty of the letter so called.” Beloe,[235] on the other hand, considers that the types were procured from abroad. “They certainly resemble,” he says, “those of Stephens, and the other Paris printers, as well as those of the Wechels at Frankfort, at a subsequent period. From the Wechels indeed they are said by some to have been procured, but this fact I have not been able to ascertain. It appears beyond a doubt, from a passage in one of the Epistles of Isaac Casaubon, that they were cast abroad.”[236] The fine execution of this work obtained for Norton the distinction accorded to Robert Estienne of Paris by Francis I, of “Regius in Græcis Typographus.” Scarcely less high an honour had been paid to this printer in 1594, when we are told Paul Estienne (son of Henri Estienne II) visiting England, and appreciating his merit, permitted him to make use of the device of the Estiennes.[237] [Illustration: 28. Greek fount of the Eton _Chrysostom_, 1613.] [Illustration: 29. From the _Catena on Job_. 1637.]