[Footnote 3: S. W. Singer, _Some account of the book printed at Oxford in 1468_. London, 1812. 8vo. p. 44.] [Footnote 4: _Typographical antiquities_, by Joseph Ames, etc. London, 1810. 4to. _Life of Caxton_, p. 75.] [Footnote 5: _Illvstrivm maíoris Britanniae scriptorvm summari[=u] avtore Ioanne Balaeo._ Gippeswici, 1548. 4to. fol. 208.] [Footnote 6: John Nichols, _Illustrations of the manners and expences of ancient times_. London, 1797. 4to. p. 3.] In 1847 a fresh attempt as made to revive the memory of Caxton. After due notice, a public meeting was held on the 12th of June to "promote the erection of a monument to commemorate the introduction of printing into England, and in honour of William Caxton, the earliest English printer"--the lord Morpeth in the chair. The meeting was extremely well attended. The form of monument proposed was, the combination of a fountain by day and a light by night--the poetical conception of the rev. H. H. Milman. Some excellent speeches were made--and I cannot but particularize that of the noble chairman; considerable sums were subscribed--the messieurs Clowes tendering 100_l._; a committee, a sub-committee, a treasurer, and a secretary, were appointed.[7]--With the proceedings of that meeting, as publicly reported, my information terminated. [Footnote 7: _The Times_, June 14, 1847.] After a lapse of four years, a meeting of the subscribers to the _Caxton Testimonial_ was advertised for the 10th of July, to "consider an offer made by the Coalbrookdale Iron Company to erect an _iron statue of Caxton_--and, in the event of the proposal being adopted, to determine the best means of carrying the same into effect." I was much astonished at this announcement. A meeting to consider an offer to perpetuate a fiction in connexion with an art which surpasses all other arts in its power of establishing truth! On reflection, I became calm; and felt that Mr. Henry Cole, the honorary secretary, was perfectly right in adopting the customary phraseology. The result of this meeting is a desideratum. It seems to have been private; for an examination of 300 columns of _The Times_, being, the history of four days, did not lead to the discovery of one word on the _iron statue of Caxton_. If the statue-mania did not now prevail to an unexampled extent, I should feel much confidence in the sound sense of the subscribers--but I have my misgivings. According to _my_ feelings, which I avail myself of this opportunity of recording, we may commemorate an eminent individual in better ways than by the erection of a statue; the philanthropist, by an alms-house--the scholar, by scholarships--the naval commander, by a sea-mark--etc. Admitting that a statue may sometimes be the most desirable form of monument, the _statue_ of an individual of whose features we are in entire ignorance is a misnomer. It is scarcely less than an absurdity.