In the first, or general, prologue, Douglas claims a higher position for Virgil than for his master Chaucer, and attacks Caxton for his inadequate rendering of a French translation of the Aeneid.
Chaucer translated it into English prose before the year 1382; and this translation was published by Caxton at Westminster, 1480.
We hear some ' One may recall, in this connexion, Caxton's very interesting prologue to Malory's Morte d'Arthur and his remarks on the permanent value of the " histories " of this British hero.
Here he filled the post of editor till his death, and had also the supervision of all works issued from the Caxton Press.
His Morte d'Arthur, printed by Caxton in 1485, epitomizes the rich mythology which Geoffrey's work had first called into life, and gave the Arthurian story a lasting place in the English imagination.