Note 438:4 — Chapter XXXVII
Reading edition
In year 1444, Caxton published the first book ever printed in England. In 1474, the then Bishop of London, in a convocation of his clergy, said: "If we do not destroy this dangerous invention, it will one day destroy us." (See Middleton's Letters from Rome, p. 4.) The reader should compare this with Pope Leo X.'s avowal that, "it is well known how profitable this fable of Christ has been to us;" and Archdeacon Paley's declaration that "he could ill afford to have a conscience."