John, a printer and miscellaneous writer, was born in London probably about the end of the fifteenth century, and educated at Oxford. Returning from the university, he settled in the metropolis and commenced printer, "then esteemed," says Wood, "a profession fit for any scholar or ingenious man." He married the sister of Sir Thomas More, with whom, we are told, he was very intimate, and whose writings he strenuously defended. From the title-page of one of his books, he appears to have lived in Cheapside, at the sign of the Mermaid. He died in the year 1536; and left two sons, William and John; the first of whom became a judge in Queen Mary's reign, and the other a justice of peace. The subject of the present article was a zealous Papist; but Bale says that he changed his religion before his death. He wrote *Natura naturata*, which Pitts calls a copious and ingenious comedy, describing Europe, Asia, and Africa. *The Pastyme of the People; the cronycles of diverse realayes, and most especially of the realm of England, brevily compiled and emprinted in Cheapeygde, at the sign of the Mermaid, next Pollysgate, cum privilegio, folio*. It was reprinted in 1811 in the *Collection of English Chronicles*. *Ecclesia Johannis Rastalli*, 1542, was one of the prohibited books in the reign of Henry VIII. He also wrote *Legum Anglicarum vocabula explicata*, French and Latin, London, 1567, 8vo.