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.

I have just read with great pleasure the article on "A Caxton Memorial suggested" in your Number for the 19th of July. I was particularly pleased with the "proposed conditions;" and as an humble follower of the art of which Caxton stands at the head, and as an enthusiastic admirer of that great and talented, and learned printer, I should feel great pleasure in becoming a subscriber, should anything of the kind be undertaken; and have no doubt but that many,—aye, as many as might be required to complete the subscription list, might be found among the printers of this country, who would feel proud to subscribe to such a "Memorial." If anything of the kind should be undertaken, the projectors might depend upon me becoming a subscriber.

HENRY RYLETT, Printer.

Horncastle, Aug. 18. 1851.

The following letter, on the other hand, from a correspondent whose smallest suggestion deserves, as it will be sure to receive, the respectful attention of all who have the pleasure of knowing his high personal character and great acquirements, although pointing at what might be a fitting Memorial of one of the greatest of the Worthies of Westminster, clearly indicates that if MR. CORNEY'S scheme can be carried out it will have the benefit of the writer's encouragement and support:

MR. BOLTON CORNEY'S letter is entitled to much attention. It is satisfactory to learn that the original design has been abandoned. The fountain and the illumination might be a very pretty idea, but it would have sorely puzzled some of our countrymen to connect that memorial in their minds with the name and services of the first English printer.

Might not the funds that were raised be advantageously employed in founding a Caxton scholarship at Westminster School; or in the building or enlarging some school bearing Caxton's name, connected with Westminster? The spiritual wants of that city are great.

If the statue be raised, which should not present a bonâ fide resemblance to our celebrated printer, it would be worse than valueless—something like an imposture and it would have as little connexion with Caxton as the statue in St. Peter's bears to the great Apostle, though called by his name.

MR. CORNEY'S proposal, of giving an impression of Caxton's original compositions, would unquestionably be his most enduring and glorious monument. These reprints would be dear, not only to the bibliographer, but to the philologist and men of letters generally. But the work would be an expensive one, and the editors should be far more liberally recompensed than by merely receiving a limited number of copies. As the subscription would probably be very limited, the work should be undertaken by the nation, and not by individuals; still, the funds already raised, if not otherwise expended for educational purposes, as before suggested, would serve as the foundation for accomplishing MR. CORNEY'S excellent suggestion.

J. H. M.

Our present purpose, however, is to call attention to a hint thrown out not only in the following Note addressed to ourselves (which, be it observed, has been in type for several weeks), but also in the pages of our learned and able contemporary the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE, in an article from which we extract the most important passage, namely, that in the event of the failure of the projected Caxton Memorial, the funds subscribed might with propriety and good effect be applied (the consent of the subscribers being of course first obtained) to an object with which Caxton himself would so surely have sympathised, namely, the restoration of the tomb of Geoffrey Chaucer:

Chaucer and Caxton.—"Not half" of the required 100l. "has yet been subscribed" for the restoration of Chaucer's monument. Chaucer was an especial favourite of Caxton; and as the first English printer seems for awhile destined to remain without "light and fountain," as once upon a time suggested by Dr. Milman, treasurer of the Caxton fund, possibly the subscribers to that fund would not object to the transmission of the sum required by the old monument of the poet, from the no monument of the printer? Will the Dean of St. Paul's ask for suffrages on the matter?

Q.

After alluding to the various proposals for the Caxton Memorial, and the correspondence between MR. BOLTON CORNEY and MR. BERIAH BOTFIELD in "NOTES AND QUERIES," Sylvanus Urban proceeds:

"But the discussion will do good. If neither proposal can be carried out, we shall probably have a better suggestion than either. The money in hand is said to be far short of the sum necessary to erect a statue or to print the works; if so, why not repair Chaucer's tomb with it? Nothing would be more agreeable to Caxton himself. He not only printed Chaucer's works, and re-imprinted them merely to get rid of errors; but, feeling that the great poet 'ought eternally to be remembered' in the place where he lies buried, he hung up an epitaph to his memory over that tomb which is now mouldering to decay.

"The epitaph, touching evidence of Caxton's affection for the poet, has disappeared. In a few years the tomb itself will have submitted to inevitable fate. What better mode of keeping alive the memory of both Chaucer and Caxton, or of doing honour to the pious printer, than by showing that even after the lapse of centuries his wishes for the preservation of Chaucer's memory in that place are not