Note 220 — Chapter V · THE STATE CONTROL OF ENGLISH LETTER-FOUNDING.

In a rare tract entitled An Exact Narrative of the Tryal and Condemnation of John Twyn, for Printing and Dispersing of a Treasonable Book, etc. (London, 1664, 4to), several curious particulars are given as to the operation and enforcement of this Act as regards printers. But although a bookseller and bookbinder were arraigned at the same time, no reference was made to the founder of the types, who was apparently not held responsible for a share in the offence. In the evidence given by L’Estrange, however, as to Dover, one of the prisoners, we have a curious glimpse of the technical duties devolving on the Surveyor of the Imprimery and Printing Presses under this Act. He states, “I was at his (Dover’s) house to compare a Flower which I found in the Panther (a dangerous Pamphlet), that flower, that is, the very same border, I found in his house, the same mixture of Letter, great and small in the same Case; and I took a Copy off the Press.” The sentence passed upon the unfortunate John Twyn gives a vivid idea of the amenities of a printer at that period: “That you be led back to the place from whence you came, and from thence to be drawn upon an Hurdle to the place of Execution, and there you shall be hanged by the Neck, and being alive shall be cut down, and your privy Members shall be cut off, your Entrails shall be taken out of your body, and you living, the same to be burnt before your eyes: your head to be cut off, your body to be divided into four quarters, and your head and quarters to be disposed of at the pleasure of the King’s Majesty. And the Lord have mercy upon your soul.”