O MENTZ! proud city, long thy fame enjoy, For with the PRESS thy glory ne’er shall die; Still may thy guardian battlements withstand The ruthless shock of War’s destructive hand, Where GUTENBERG with toil incessant wrought The imitative lines of written thought; And, as his Art a nobler effort made The sweeping lever his commands obeyed:”-- But although, _poetically_, Mr. M‘Creery thus ascribes the invention to the man and place to whom it rightfully belongs, I do not know (not having the original edition to refer to) whether he intended anything more. I suspect not, since otherwise Mr. Hansard would scarcely have failed to have made use of any information in the notes to the poem which tended to throw light on a subject of so much historical importance. Other writers pass the subject by with the remark, that “Of the mechanical construction of these presses there is little or no record.” One of the latest authorities, Mr. Blades, the able palæotypographist, thus dismisses it:--“The method of obtaining an impression by a direct pressure downwards is generally supposed to have been synchronous with the use of moveable types. Mr. Ottley, however, describes several of the earliest wood blocks, which he had no doubt were printed by means of a press. Of one he states ‘I am in possession of a specimen of wood engraving, printed in black oil colour on both sides the paper by a downright pressure, which I consider to have been, without doubt, printed in or before the year 1445.’ There can be no question therefore that the earliest type printers found a press ready to their hands.”[38] But this is a very unconvincing method of reasoning; and a positive conclusion founded upon a mere opinion given in regard to the supposed age of an old engraving--a subject upon which the ablest experts differ--is one which is open to very considerable question. It has already been stated, (pp. 42-43) that before the invention of the press, impressions were usually taken on one side only of the paper or vellum; although the _possibility_ of their being taken on both sides is admitted. Mr. Ottley says “the best proof that the printer knew how to print on both sides of his paper, is that he did so;”[39] and he mentions _two_ instances where, on a single leaf, the text of the _Speculum_ is so printed.[40] The inference which these writers intended should be drawn from the above statements is, that the press used by the printer of the _Speculum_ was essentially the same as that subsequently used by the printers at Mentz.