Notes and Queries, Vol. IV, Number 96, August 30, 1851 / A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.

When found, make a note of. —CAPTAIN CUTTLE.
VOL. IV.—No. 96.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 30. 1851.
Price Threepence. Stamped Edition, 4 d.
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The result of the appeals which have recently been made to the sympathies of the present age for the purpose of erecting a Memorial to our first Printer, and of restoring the crumbling tomb of one of our earliest and greatest Poets, has gone near to prove that the admirers of Caxton and Chaucer are disposed to yield to the objects of their hero-worship little more than lip service. In short, the plan for the Caxton Memorial, and that for the restoration of Chaucer's Monument, have well nigh failed.
The projectors of the former had, indeed, in the necessity of settling what the Caxton Memorial should be, to encounter, at the very outset of their undertaking, one difficulty from which the Chaucer Committee was free; and the uncertainty whether it should assume the form of the symbolical lamp and fountain so poetically suggested by the Dean of St. Paul's, or the ideal cast-iron statue of the Coalbrook Dale Company, may have had a sinister effect upon the Subscription List.
Between the suggestive symbol and the fancy portrait there would seem to be little room for hesitation, since the former would merely veil a truth, while the latter would perpetuate a falsehood. But our readers have had before them a third, and, as it seems to us, a far more reasonable proposal, in that made by MR. BOLTON CORNEY for a collective impression of Caxton's original compositions: and we cannot but think that if that gentleman will take the trouble to enter into the necessary details as to the extent of such compositions, and the expense of transcribing and printing them, his scheme may yet be realised, and that too to the satisfaction of all the subscribers to the Caxton Memorial. The following communication indicates the favour with which MR. CORNEY'S proposal will probably be received by the followers of Caxton's art in this country.