9.)

Mr. Rimbault is wrong in giving to Abbot Milling the honour of being the
patron of Caxton, which is due to Abbot Esteney. Mr. C. Knight in his
_Life of Caxton_, which appropriately formed the first work of his
series of _Weekly Volumes_, has the following remarks upon the passage
from Stow, quoted by Mr. Rimbault:

"The careful historians of London here committed one error; John
Islip did not become abbot of Westminster till 1500. John
Esteney was made abbot in 1474, and remained such until his
death in 1498. His predecessor was Thomas Milling. In Dugdale's
_Monasticon_ we find, speaking of Esteney, 'It was in this
abbot's time, and not in that of Milling, or in that of Abbot
Islip, that Caxton exercised the art of printing at
Westminster.'"--p. 140. #/

I have no work at hand to which I can refer for the date of Milling's
death, but if 1492 be correct, perhaps he may have been promoted to a
bishoprick.

With reference to Mr. Rimbault's remark, that Caxton first mentions the
place of his printing in 1477, so that he must have printed some time
without informing us where, I may be allowed to observe that it seems
highly probable he printed, and indeed learned the art, at Cologne. At
the end of the third book of his translation of the _Recuyell of the
Historyes of Troye_, Caxton says:

"Thus end I this book which I have translated after mine author,
as nigh as God hath given me cunning, to whom be given the laud
and praises ... I have practised and learned, at my great charge
and dispense, to ordain this said book in print, after the
manner and form as you may here see."{123}

And on the title-page he informs us:

"Whyche sayd translacion and werke was begonne in Brugis in
1468, and ended in the holy cyte of Colen, 19 Sept. 1471."

This may refer to the translation only; but as Caxton was both
translator and printer, it does not seem unreasonable to regard it as
indicating when his entire labour upon the work was brought to a close.
I might support the view that Caxton printed at Cologne by other
arguments which would make the matter tolerably certain (see _Life of
Caxton_, p. 125., &c.); but as the excellent little work to which I am
indebted for these particulars is so well known, and so easily
accessible, I should not be justified in occupying more of your space,
and I will therefore conclude with noting that the parochial library at
Shipdham,