It was in colophons that editors cast stones at their predecessors, or demanded sympathy for the severity of their own labours, and it is in colophons that we find the expressions of the printer's piety and pride, his complaints of his troubles with his workmen and rivals, his pleas for encouragement, and occasionally, penned by another hand, the record of how he was struck down by death in the midst of his work.
"Fine Books"
Alfred W. Pollard
Both pleas are, however delusive; it is neither good nor possible to suppress chance, and if competition involves some loss, it yields a much more abounding gain.
"Contemporary Socialism"
John Rae
The writer laughs at their "pleas" and "proofs," coming, like Pisan help, when the man is already dead-"not that twenty such vindications would have done any good- "When Somebody's thick head-piece once was bent On seeing Guido's drop into the bag."
"A Handbook to the Works of Browning (6th ed.)"
Mrs. Sutherland Orr