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THE 
 
 LIBRARY COMPANION. 
 

 
 
 
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2016 
 
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THE 
 
 Xibrarg Companion 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE YOUNG MAN’S GUIDE, 
 
 AND 
 
 THE OLD MAN’S COMFORT, 
 
 IN THE 
 
 CHOICE OF A LIBRARY. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. T. F. DIBDIN, M.A., F.R.S. 
 
 Member of the Academies of Rouen and Utrecht. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 BOOK OPENETH BOOK. 
 
 LONDON : PRINTED FOR 
 
 HARDING, TRIPHOOK, AND LEPARD, FINSBURY-SQUARE ; 
 AND J. MAJOR, FLEET-STREET. 
 
 MDCCCXXV. 
 
 ♦ * 
 
W. NICOL, miNTERj SUCCESSOR TO W. BULMER AND CO. 
 
 Jttjaftsfpcarc 
 
TO 
 
 MR. THOMAS PAYNE, 
 
 BOOKSELLER, 
 
 THIS WORK IS INSCRIBED 
 
 WITH EVERY SENTIMENT 
 OF RESPECT AND ESTEEM, 
 BY HIS FAITHFUL 
 AND HUMBLE SERVANT, 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 

 
 
 
 
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ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 The urgency with which the Second Edition of this Work 
 has been called for, admitted only of those improvements which 
 combine the correction of the principal Errata with the insertion 
 of the Supplemental matter in its proper place. 
 
 The Author has observed various notices of the Library 
 Companion in periodical Journals ; and if he should be ever 
 honoured with a Review of his work, it will give him an oppor- 
 tunity to benefit by such suggestions as may be offered for its 
 improvement in future editions. Meanwhile, it is incumbent on 
 him to remark, in the most recent of these 6 ‘ Notices,”* the 
 very different style adopted from that of its precursors. To 
 oppose vulgarity and vituperation by a public and formal 
 reply, would be a waste of time to both reader and author. 
 The latter only takes leave to observe — in the language of 
 Casaubon, from his first letter to De Thou — “ Itaque 
 eyxahv’bocpevos involvo me in meos libros, et quando publice 
 minus possum, mihi certe quotidie Conor prodesse Epistolar. 
 Viror. Illustr. Sylloges . Edit . llolle. 1707, folio. 
 
 The British Review : No. XL VI. This article is executed with the 
 feelings of a gentleman, and the taste of a scholar. 
 
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THE 
 
 PREFACE* 
 
 It will be obvious, from the slightest glance at the 
 ensuing pages, that it has been the object of their 
 author to present a great quantity of useful informa- 
 tion within a reasonable compass. A work which, 
 like the present, aspires to be a Guide to Youth and a 
 Comfort to Old Age , should be rendered at once com- 
 modious in form and moderate in price ; and consi- 
 dering the extent and variety of the subjects here 
 treated, it is presumed that both these points will be 
 found to have been accomplished in the volume now 
 in the hands of the Public. 
 
 But a consideration of much greater importance 
 has influenced me on the present occasion. From the 
 beginning to the end, I have never lost sight of what 
 I considered to be the most material object to be 
 gained from a publication of this nature ; namely, the 
 imparting of a moral feeling to the gratification of a 
 literary taste. Let us consider the subject dispassion- 
 ately. Great Britain is the most wealthy, and, poli- 
 tically speaking, perhaps the most powerful kingdom 
 
 *This preface is reprinted from the first edition $ with the excep- 
 tion of such corrections and additions as are enclosed within brackets. 
 
 b 
 
a 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 \ 
 
 upon earth. Considered in a domestic point of view, 
 here are thousands of large and affluent families ; and 
 education, both in Public Schools and at our two Uni- 
 versities, necessarily assumes an expensive form. No 
 liberal-minded parent grudges the devotion of a con- 
 siderable portion of his income to the maintenance 
 of his family. But even wealth and personal influence 
 cannot procure immediate admission into our Univer- 
 sities ; where the number of applicants exceeds the 
 means of accommodation at least in a two-fold de- 
 gree. 
 
 It follows therefore, that of the rising generation, a 
 large proportion, inheriting a considerable property, 
 and educated in the most accomplished manner, com- 
 mence their career in life with the means and oppor- 
 tunities of gratifying their tastes and passions in a 
 thousand diverse, and at times contradictory, pursuits. 
 To such, in particular, whether emerging from the 
 cloisters of a college, or from the upper form of a 
 public school, this Library Companion will be found 
 of more consequence than may be at first imagined : 
 for I am greatly deceived if experience does not prove 
 that much more than half of the misery which is 
 abroad hi the world, in the higher classes of society, 
 has arisen from the mischievous application of super- 
 fluous wealth. I address myself therefore immediately, 
 directly, and honestly, to the Young Man, in whose 
 hands such means may be deposited, to devote them 
 to the gratification of a legitimate taste in the culti- 
 vation of Literature ; and as this object cannot be 
 accomplished without the acquisition of a Library, 
 of greater or less extent, I venture to indulge a 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 m 
 
 humble hope that this guide, in the choice of such 
 a Library, may be found, as far as it extends/ useful 
 and accurate. The objects, to be attained in such a 
 
 * A list of the table of Contents, immediately following the pre- 
 face, will shew what is to be found in “ the Library Companion.” 
 If I had taken up other subjects, it is clear that, to be treated in a 
 satisfactory manner, they would have enlarged this work to at least 
 double its size. But it may be here right to remark, that, in Topo- 
 graphy, nothing could be added to the satisfactory and indispensable 
 work of Mr. Upcott upon that subject, published in three well ar- 
 ranged and well printed octavo volumes ; but of which I learn with 
 regret that the impression is limited, and not likely to be renewed. 
 The lover and collector of County Histories, (of which class of 
 readers the number is very considerable) has only to avail himself of 
 this work, and he will find all his wants supplied ... in a bibliogra- 
 phical point of view. 
 
 For Heraldic Reseauches, I was compelled to decline the kind 
 offer of Mr. Richard Thomson (whose pursuits so decidedly qualified 
 him for the task) to furnish me with a dozen or twenty pages upon 
 that subject j since I considered Mr. Moule’s Bibliotheca Heraldica, 
 1822, 8vo. admirably well calculated to satisfy every enquiry. For 
 the Fine Arts, the very curious Catalogue of the Books on Art , and on 
 Antiquity , in the possession of Count Cicognara, (published in the Italian 
 language) 1821, 8vo. 2 vols. might have furnished me with many use- 
 ful hints 5 but the task seemed to grow upon, and to perplex, me as I 
 considered it. Of ail others, it is one of the most difficult departments 
 to execute in a bibliographical manner. In the meanwhile, it is pleas- 
 ing to observe that no stimulants are necessary for the encourage- 
 ment of this department of Taste •, and that publications of every 
 description, in which the art is good, never fail of patronage. I 
 might have descanted copiously and warmly upon the Views of the 
 South-Western Coast of England , executed by Messrs. Cooks and others 
 from the magical pencil of Mr. Turner $ but such an eulogy were 
 useless. The publication cannot keep pace with the eager demands 
 of the Subscribers. The Illustrious Portraits now in a course of 
 publication, by the Publishers of this work, are properly noticed in 
 
iV 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 pursuit, are of a most important and substantial 
 character. Religion, patriotism, public and private 
 happiness, pure and fixed principles of taste, intellec- 
 tual refinement, of the most exalted kind, in its pre- 
 sent and future results, are all involved in a sedulous 
 and straight-forward cultivation of the pursuit in 
 question. I forbear fortifying these remarks by the 
 authorities of ancient and modern writers of acknow* 
 ledged celebrity. From Cicero to Richard of Bury, 
 the stream of such authorities is uniformly bright and 
 
 the department of “ Biography , Memoirs, Anecdotes at page 514, 
 post. Yet, while on this department of art, let a hearty tribute of 
 commendation be bestowed on the miniature engravings, in the line 
 manner, of Mr. Walmsley’s Physiognomical Portraits. They are now 
 completed $ and the works of nearly all the most distinguished Artists 
 of the day will be found to be incorporated in it. 
 
 But that the subject may not be wholly overlooked, let me recom- 
 mend to those, who have the means of gratifying themselves with a 
 copy of it, the Histoire de V Art par les Monumens, fyc. of Agincourt 
 Seroux, 1820 5 in six folio volumes j and containing not fewer than 
 325 plates of every description. A well bound copy of this work is 
 worth 3 61. A noble concomitant to it, is the Storia della Scultura , &c. 
 of Leopold Cicognaka, 1813-1818) in 3 folio volumes, containing 
 181 copper plates. A handsomely bound copy is worth 15/. There 
 were only 20 copies worked off on fine vellum paper, which are very 
 scarce. Italy boasts of few living Cognoscenti of greater eminence 
 than the author of this magnificent work. 
 
 As to Antiquities, the department is so copious that it will be 
 obvious it could not be included, with other subjects, in the compass 
 of an octavo volume. Had I entered upon that department, my at- 
 tention must have been drawn in the first instance to press strongly 
 upon the consideration of both cc the Young” and “ the Old,” the 
 beautiful, and indeed captivating performance, which hasjust appeared 
 under the title of The Monumental Remains of Noble and Eminent Per- 
 sons , comprising The Sepulchral Antiquities of Great Britain ; with histo- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 v 
 
 strong, and callous must be the heart, or obtuse the 
 intellect, of that Young Man, upon whom such autho- 
 rities make no impression. 
 
 The days of Youth, so devoted, lead to the com- 
 forts of Old Age. To the more advanced in life, 
 therefore, an appeal is made with the greater confi- 
 dence ; inasmuch as memory will be refreshed, and 
 experience confirmed, by a reference to the pages of 
 this “ Library Companion.” There are many, doubt- 
 
 rical and biographical Illustrations. The engravings, in the line man- 
 ner, are from the faithful pencil, and in part from the burin, of Mr. 
 Blore j and more brilliant, or rather characteristic performances, 
 have never yet been witnessed. The proof impressions, on India paper, 
 have a fascinating effect ; but the critical antiquary will be equally 
 well pleased with the ordinary copies. This work is also as reason- 
 able in price as it is rich in embellishments $ and the text is exe- 
 cuted with equal neatness and care. 
 
 * The whole of the first book of Morhof s Polyhistor Literarius is 
 more or less occupied with references to such authorities ; which, 
 to repeat at second hand, might subject me to the charge of affecta- 
 tion. But in regard to that division of the work, appropriated to 
 Divinity and Ecclesiastical History, and about the favourable 
 reception of which I am necessarily the most anxious, it may in seve- 
 ral instances be urged that many works of piety and moral worth 
 have been omitted, and that a preference has been given to those 
 writings which are considered to savour more strongly of the ortho- 
 doxy of the British Church. But this is only a confined, and in 
 truth, a partial view of the whole question : for the point at issue is, 
 what is the probable aggregate good of the writings of those Divines, 
 of whom, in the following pages, such honourable mention has been 
 made? The wayward, the prejudiced, and the bigoted, may draw 
 what inferences they please. I contend that, from those writings, 
 (< the learned (in the language of Lactantius*) may be directed to true 
 
 * Divin. Instit.Lib. I. Edit. Du Fresnoy ; 1748, vol> i. p. 3. 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 less, of sucli experienced Readers, whose extensive 
 reading, and whose copious Libraries, will furnish 
 them with the means of supplying many omissions, 
 and of illustrating many remarks : but, in a work of 
 this nat ure, the difficulty has been rather to compress, 
 than to enlarge, the several subjects which presented 
 themselves. To the well read young Man — be he 
 enthusiastic in the cause, or well-versed in the myste- 
 ries, of Bibliomania, or not — and to the Old, of 
 whatever denomination — it may be fairly stated, that 
 the work before them is replete with curious and 
 diversified intelligence ; gleaned with unceasing in- 
 dustry, and embodied with no ordinary care. Indeed, 
 with perfect confidence may it be stated, that no single 
 volume in our language contains such a record of so 
 many rare, precious, and instructive volumes. The 
 fault is my own, if the method of conveying that 
 instruction be not clear and satisfactory. 
 
 There is one point of view in which the advantage 
 
 wisdom, and the unlearned to true religion.” And farther, that from 
 the same writings, the intrepid Christian may speak in the energetic 
 language of the same polished author . . . Da mihi virum, (for the 
 most successful translation would somewhat weaken the passage) 
 qui sit iracundus, maledictus, effraenatus : paucissimis Dei verbis 
 
 tam plcicidunij qudm ovem reddam. 
 
 Da cupidum, avarum, tenacem ,* jam tibi cum liberalem dabo, et pecu- 
 niam suam plenis manibus largientem. Da timidum doloris ac mor- 
 tis, jam cruces, et ignes, et taurum contemnet.” &c. Div. Inst. Lib. III. 
 On this, and on every similar occasion, I exclaim with honest Chil- 
 lingworth — “ it is Truth I plead for 3 which is so strong an argu- 
 ment for itself, that it needs only light to discover it. Whereas it 
 concerns falshood and error to use disguise and shadowings, and all 
 the fetches of art and sophistry.” Works , 3742, Fol. Ded, to Ch. II. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Vll 
 
 of a work of this nature may be noticed, however 
 slightly : especially as, in the present instance, it may 
 be illustrated by an example of no mean authority. 
 From the several departments of a volume of this 
 kind, the reader may select what will be useful for the 
 several objects of his pursuit : what is fitting for his 
 town, and what for his country, residence : what 
 should be the light troops, as it were, to attend him 
 on a journey; and what the heavier or household 
 troops to remain at head quarters. I have alluded to 
 “ an example of no mean authority,” as confirmative 
 of the advantage of such a plan. That example is his 
 late Majesty George III. : who could not only boast 
 of the finest private library (of his own collecting) in 
 Europe, but who was himself no inconsiderable bibli- 
 ographer. In the year 1795, when his Majesty was 
 about to visit Weymouth — and wished to have what 
 he called “ a closet library,” for a watering place — he 
 wrote to his Bookseller for the following works. The 
 list was written by him from memory ; and I will 
 fairly put it to the well read bibliographer and philo- 
 logist, whether it be capable of much improvement r 
 It is as follows — copied from the original document 
 in the Kings own hand writing : 
 
 The Holy Bible; 2 vols. 8vo. Cambridge. 
 
 New Whole Duty of Man, 8vo. 
 
 The Annual Register. 25 vols. 8vo. 
 
 The History of England, by Rapin, 21 vols. 8vo. 1757* 
 
 Elemens de l’Histoire de France, par Millot, 3 vols. 12mo. 1770. 
 
 Si&cle de Louis XIV. par Voltaire, 12mo. 
 
 XV. par Voltaire, 12mo. 
 
 Commentaries on the Laws of England, by William Blackstone, 
 4 vols. 8vo. newest edition. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 viii 
 
 The Justice of Peace, and Parish Officer, by R. Burn, 4 vols. 8vo. 
 An Abridgement of Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary, 2 vols. 8vo. 
 Dictionnaire Francois & Anglois, par M. A. Boyer, 8vo. 
 
 The Works of the English Poets, by Sam Johnson, 68 vols. 12mo. 
 A Collection of Poems, by Dodsley, Pearch and Mendez, 11 vols. 
 12mo. 
 
 A Select Collection of Poems, by J. Nichols, 8 vols. 12mo. 
 Shakespeare’s Plays, by Steevens. 
 
 OEuvres de Destouches, 5 vols 12mo. 
 
 The Works of Sir William Temple, 4 vols. 8vo. 
 
 The Miscellaneous Works of Addison, 4 vols. 8vo. 
 
 The Works of Jonathan Swift, 24 vols. 12mo. 
 
 Thus to revert to the position with which this 
 branch of our enquiries set out the, purchasers of this 
 Work (who may not probably be so well versed in 
 selecting “a closet library” as his late Majesty) may 
 have it in their power to compress or enlarge their 
 libraries, on any scale which may seem most conve- 
 nient and advisable. 
 
 I now come to a more particular account of the na- 
 ture of the work itself. Referring to the note, in a 
 preceding page (iii.) as to the inevitable Omissions , 
 be it permitted me here to say a word as to its abso- 
 lute Contents . There are two collateral branches, 
 inevitably growing out of a work of this nature, which 
 require more skill in the treatment than I am con- 
 scious of having exhibited. These are. Extracts and 
 Anecdotes . A bibliographer should not only know 
 the dates and conditions of books, but he should 
 know some little of their internal character, and of 
 the histories of their authors. In regard to the former, 
 it will be seen that those passages have been ex- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 ix 
 
 tracted which are not only exclusively professional* 
 but which are supposed to be replete with original 
 and interesting matter. The volumes from which 
 they are taken are also of unusual occurrence. But 
 in spite of these claims to approbation, I fear that the 
 Sermons of the Old English Divines may have been a 
 little too freely dealt with : and that even this “ mentis 
 gratissimus error” cannot be received as an apology. 
 
 A more difficult temptation to resist, was that of 
 Anecdote : — the most delightful, and at times the most 
 instructive, department of literary research. But it 
 has been sparingly introduced. Slight sketches are 
 given of a few of the more prominent characters of 
 former and modern times, + in order to enliven the 
 unavoidable dryness of bibliographical detail; and 
 many living Characters are frequently mentioned, to 
 whom in this place, any allusion would be premature 
 if not indecorous. 
 
 * The extracts from the Sermons of Latimer, Fox, Drant, and 
 Edgeworth, extend from page 72 to 89 : but they are replete with 
 both curious and edifying matter. Previous to which the reader may 
 examine a short but noble passage from Barnes, (page 30) and a 
 very singular extract from a work called Grounds and Occasions of the 
 Contempt of the Clergy and Religion enquired into, 1670, 8vo. : p.62-6. 
 For other extracts, the reprint (in three pages only) of that extraor- 
 dinary Dialogue between Bishop Gardiner and Judge Hailes, in the 
 time of Queen Mary, is the longest to be qualified by an apology ; 
 while, on literary and philological subjects, the extract from Hearne 
 and from the Itinerary of Fynes Moryson (J>age 236 and page 445) 
 are alone of a length to need excuse. 
 
 t Of Personal Anecdotes and Criticism, the chief may relate to the 
 articles Mezerai (p. 300) Bayle, (p.495) Amyot (p. 500) Fugger (page 
 505-6) Dr. Johnson (pp. 521, 537-8) Strype (page 527) Robert Burton 
 (page 606) Addison (page 612) Swift, De Foe (page 613-615) — and to 
 the most eminent of living Poets. 
 
X 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 To critics, of every denomination, I am anxious to 
 address myself as not being desirous of shunning 
 merited castigation for frequent and palpable errors. 
 But, on the other hand, if the omission of much that 
 might be deemed essential for introduction, be point- 
 ed out and condemned, it must be remembered that 
 much has been collected and brought together from 
 numerous, and at times discordant, sources ; and that 
 the Library Companion, with its present contents, 
 might have been easily dilated into three respectable 
 volumes. And here, let me be allowed to anticipate 
 an objection which may be made, from the apparent 
 vanity of such frequent references to my own publica- 
 tions. The truth is, in the first place, that an author 
 has a right to make use of his own property as he may 
 think proper : but, in the second place, having devoted 
 so many years to the the study, and published so many 
 works on the subject, of Bibliography, it were barely 
 possible to avoid noticing rare, curious, and valuable 
 books, which had not been described, with more or 
 ess minuteness, in the publications referred to. In no 
 instance however, have I made such reference, where 
 I was conscious of having it in my power to direct the 
 reader to a more copious or accurate detail. This 
 avowal, fairly and honestly made, will, it is hoped, 
 justify, as well as account for, the frequent references 
 to the Bibliomania , Bibliographical Decameron , Typo- 
 graphical Antiquities , and Bibliotheca Spenceriana. 
 The age of “ Commendatory Prefixes” is past. The 
 Muse of a friend is no longer invoked to throw her 
 protecting arms around the labours of an author ; * 
 The fashion of prefixing commendatory verses to publications of 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 xi 
 
 who is now doomed to stand or fall by the intrinsic 
 merit, or the insufficiency, of the performance which 
 he submits to the world at large. 
 
 But in the anticipation of a favourable or unfavour- 
 able issue, from such a formidable tribunal, it is im- 
 possible for that author not to feel something like anxi- 
 ety, in spite even of the approbation which may have 
 attended his previous labours. The growth of know- 
 ledge is daily increasing in rapidity and strength. In 
 this wonderful country, it is barely possible for those, 
 who lead a quiet and uniform life far beyond the 
 
 any note, obtained till as late as the end of the reign of George II.— 
 if not later. During the seventeenth century these verses were in high 
 vogue : but among them, my reading has furnished me with none so 
 truly quaint and original as the following — prefixed to “ Solomonis 
 nAN APET02 : or a Commentarie upon the Book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, 
 and the Song of Songs ! By John Trapp, M. A. Pastor of Weston upon 
 Avon in Glocestershire, 1650, 4to.” [The Author was the Father of the 
 well known Translator of Virgil.] 
 
 On the Books of Solomon opened by Master Trapp. 
 
 I stood in Solomon’s Porch before. 
 
 Unable to unlock the doore. 
 
 And view the glory that within 
 Rather than live I would have seen. 
 
 Now in his Temple walk I can, 
 
 And hear my Maker talk with man, 
 
 And clearly understand his mind ; 
 
 Though mysteries, no mists, I find. 
 
 The Holy of Holies open lies. 
 
 No longer kept from common eyes 
 Each Starre may now an Eagle be. 
 
 And freely up to Phoebus flee. 
 
 If you would know how in I gat, 
 
 I passed through the Beautifull Gate ; 
 
 This Dore of Trapp, or this Trap-dore. 
 
 Trapp, Trapp ! — but God I must adore. 
 
Xll 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 reach of the hum of our great Metropolis, to form a 
 correct notion of the various channels by which know- 
 ledge is so swiftly and so widely diffused ; and it is 
 not the least instructive feature in the History of 
 Books, to be apprised of the expenses incurred, and 
 hazards run, in the establishment of a popular and 
 useful work. The gift of speech and the gift of know- 
 ledge should seem to be almost simultaneous. There 
 are at this moment before me, the Catalogues of 
 School Books circulated by the two greatest Pub- 
 lishers in England. I mean the catalogue of Messrs. 
 Longman , Hurst , Rees , and Co . and that of Messrs. 
 G. and W \ B. Whittaker , The most superficial view 
 of the contents of these Catalogues, shews the extraor- 
 dinary and advantageous variety of instruction which 
 they contain. Science, Arts, Trade, Manners, Customs 
 — something of every thing, and of the very best kind 
 — will be found in each ; and little does the studious, 
 or fanciful, or classical Writer imagine, that, while 
 months and years are consumed in the composition 
 of a W ork, of which the success is doubtful, and the 
 remuneration remote, some of the authors, whose pro- 
 ductions are found in the catalogues just mentioned, 
 bring a never failing golden harvest to their Pro- 
 prietors. The names of Lindley Murray and Pin- 
 nock* may, in this point of view, almost vie with 
 that of the Author of Waverly. 
 
 * First, for the “ Catalogues of School Books’* published by the above- 
 mentioned Booksellers. They are of about the same extent with 
 each other. In that of Messrs. Longman and Co. the following are 
 the names which appear to be of the greatest importance. Adam, 
 Aikin , Barbauld, Bingley, Blair, (Rev. DJ Bonnycastle, Carey, Gregory, 
 Hornsey , Hort , Howard, Hutton, Joyce, Mavor, Molineux, Murray, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 xm 
 
 The diffusion of knowledge for adult readers, has of 
 late years, or rather very recently, been equally rapid 
 
 (Lindley) Pinkerton, Robinson, Shepherd, (with Joyce and Lant) Smith, 
 Taylor, (Mrs.) Trimmer, Valpy, Vyse, Walker, Wanostrocht, and Wat- 
 kins. I mention only those authors of a comparatively modern date ; 
 and omit the countless impressions, in every variety of form and 
 price, of the English Classics, of a longer established reputation. 
 The names of Goldsmith and Watts alone furnish a little library of 
 amusing and instructive information. 
 
 But of authors of modern celebrity in this copious list, none appear 
 to have been so fruitful, and to have produced works of which the 
 sale has been so eminently prosperous, as Mr. Lindley Murray. His 
 English Grammar (including all the publications connected with it) 
 is a work of which it would be better to speak of editions of tens of 
 thousands of copies, than of a few solitary thousands. His Power of 
 Religion on the Mind and his Spelling Book are the next publications of 
 numerical, as well as intrinsic, importance 3 and both abroad and at 
 home the sale is wonderfully extensive and succesful. 
 
 In the Catalogue of Messrs. Whittaker the names of Millar, 
 Pawley, Roberts, Stackhouse, and Wyld, are distinguished as authors of 
 Atlases on different scales 3 and relating to different countries. The 
 sale of these works is perhaps greater than can be readily conceived. 
 But let me go at once to the name of Pinnock. The publications 
 under the title of Pinnock's Catechisms comprise not fewer than 
 Sixty Four in number. They are arranged in alphabetical order ; 
 beginning with Agriculture and ending with Universal History . They 
 comprise a great variety of subjects of literature and science 3 and 
 besides these, there are the County Histories, and the Histories of 
 England, Greece, and other Countries, by the same hand. Of the same 
 Author’s Catechism of the Bible and Gospel Histories, one impression has 
 reached seventy thousand copies ; but the price of the work is 
 necessarily low 3 and I believe I am not exaggerating the fact, when 
 I state that the exclusive copy right of the whole of these Catechisms 
 has not been secured to the Proprietors under the sum of thirty 
 thousand pounds. Let the reflecting reader consider, from the data 
 here laid down, what is the quantity of instruction which is daily in 
 circulation among the infantine world 3 or among those who have 
 
XIV 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 and efficient. The time is in the remembrance of 
 every man of forty-five, when we were well content 
 to wait for monthly contributions, in the shape of 
 Magazines , to our stock of knowledge. That time is 
 gone by, perhaps never to return. There is, at pre- 
 sent, such an hunger and thirst after information, 
 that the reading man looks towards his weekly Jour- 
 nal, or Register, or Chronicle, with the same eager- 
 ness and certainty that he used to anticipate his 
 monthly supplies of mental food. Hence he hails his 
 Literary Gazette , or Literary Chronicle , or Somerset 
 House Gazette ! — to which may be probably added 
 one or two of the many two-penny publications that 
 are also weekly distributed, and of which the aggre- 
 
 scarcely reached their sixth year ? Fifty years ago there was 
 hardly any pabulum of the kind 5 or that pabulum was exclusively 
 distributed, from the repository of our old acquaintance Dan New- 
 bury, in St. Paul’s Church-yard * 
 
 But in this record of the rapid and general diffusion of know- 
 ledge for the appetites of all ages and sexes, le< me not omit to 
 make commendable mention of what I should call the pocket editions 
 of our best writers in poetry and prose, so assiduously, so neatly, and 
 so reasonably, put forth by Messrs Suttaby, Evance, and Fox. No 
 author, contained in the bulkiest dimensions, exceeds the price of 5 s. 
 per volume j and there is none, as far as I can discover from the list 
 of the authors published, which a female need fear of being found 
 upon her toilette or boudoir table. The typographical execution 
 of these small duodecimo volumes is delightful, and the engraved 
 
 * The coincidence is not a little singular, — but the name of Thomas Newbury is 
 attached to one of the rarest little poetical volumes, composed for Children, of 
 which we have any knowledge. It was printed in 1563, 4to. under this title: “ A 
 JBooke in English Metre called Dives Pragmaticus , or the Great Marchantman — very 
 preatie for Children to rede. Lord Spencer is in possession of this unique treasure, 
 which I purchased for his Lordship at the sale of the Roxburghe library for 30/. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 xv 
 
 gate total is scarcely to be credited.* Nor is it the 
 least recommendable quality of such reasonably 
 priced publications, that the matter contained in them 
 is, generally, as correct as their exterior forms are 
 attractive from good paper and printing. In the mean 
 while, it is consoling to think that such numerous 
 and useful works keep down the currency of the 
 wretched blasphemy and absurdity which find refuge 
 only in the premises of Mr. Garble. 
 
 But that literary tastes and longings of every de- 
 scription, may be gratified, there has recently appear- 
 a Review, which is published every two months, un- 
 der the title of the Universal ; 1* while the Westminster 
 
 frontispieces are very respectable. Thousands of copies are circulated 
 abroad ; especially in America. Within these last twenty years, 
 seven hundred thousand volumes of the whole, collectively, have 
 been dispersed at home and abroad, averaging 35,000 copies per 
 annum. Upon such a vast scale does knowledge, of every kind, 
 travel. 
 
 * I had hoped to have been able to give a pretty correct ac- 
 count of these “ twopenny publications,” but have been unexpectedly 
 disappointed. The fact is, however, that upwards of one hundred 
 thousand of them are circulated per week ; among which, the Mecha- 
 nic's Magazine , the Mirror , the Lancet , and the Chemist , take the lead. 
 Of the first of these, alone, I learn that fifteen thousand copies are dis- 
 tributed. To shew the avidity with which knowledge of all kinds, 
 and sometimes of the best kind, is sought after, a friend informs me 
 that Pennant's London is now to be purchased on the same cheap terms. 
 Is it chimerical to suppose that Bacon's Abridgement (of the Law) and 
 Comyns Digest will be forthwith produced in the same manner? 
 
 f The plan of this Review is excellent. It gives, after the sober and 
 sensible plan of the Old and New Memoirs of Literature, published about 
 a century ago, a brief analysis, with a few pertinent remarks, of each 
 article : so as to leave the reader, generally, to draw his own con- 
 clusions from the facts adduced. The second (and last published) 
 
XVI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Review , the Cambridge Quarterly Review, make their 
 appearance once in three months, after the manner of 
 the Edinburgh and Quarterly Revieivs. Mine is not the 
 province to pass critical opinions upon the respective 
 merits of these more recent Magazines and Reviews. It 
 is sufficient for the purposes of this Preface, that such 
 publications are here recorded * But while upon this 
 theme,let me be permitted to make honourable mention 
 for a periodical publication of a peculiar character — 
 
 number is now before me. There are XXVI. articles in it of com- 
 parative elaborate execution, followed by a great number of brief 
 notices of domestic and foreign literature ; which latter are essentially 
 useful : for one of the principal objects, in such periodical publica- 
 tions, is to give the reader intelligence of what is actually going on 
 in the literary world. Among the larger articles, at page 239 of 
 this number, is a review of the Deformed Transformed of Lord Byron. 
 The preliminary remarks are penned with great vigour and unsparing 
 severity against the immoral and unpatriotic cast of the later effu- 
 sions of that noble Lord : — and with justice, f In the department 
 of Poetry, in the ensuing pages, I have freely passed those sentiments 
 upon Lord Byron’s muse which seem to be dictated by the honestest 
 view of the subject. 
 
 * Of the sales of the more recent Magazines and Reviews above 
 mentioned, I am unable to say any thing. They are all starting 
 with the vigour and buoyancy of “ fresh and four-year old” literary 
 Coursers. Of the Edinburgh and Quarterly Reviews, I should appre- 
 hend the minimum to be 9000, and the maximum to be 12,000, copies 
 of each new number. In the history of Literature, the subscription- 
 book of Mr. Murray (for my residence necessarily makes me unac- 
 quainted with that of the publisher of the Edinburgh Review) would 
 cut a splendid figure : and the ease and dexterity with which each 
 
 + I have not long risen from the perusal of another Review of the same poem in 
 the Edinburgh Magazine and Literary Miscellany , for March, 1824 ; of which the in- 
 troductory remarks are equally distinguished for their propriety and ability of execu- 
 tion. In short, to think and to speak otherwise, were a species of stultification. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 xvii 
 
 under the title of the Retrospective Review * — to 
 which, as the ensiling pages demonstrate, my obliga- 
 tions have been frequent and great. Thus the reader 
 may remark, how varied and wonderful is the perio- 
 
 number is divided into allotments, and distributed according to the 
 copies subscribed for (the payment being prompt) by the several 
 great bookselling houses, would astonish a looker on ... At sun-rise, 
 the Quarterly Tree reaches to the sky — 
 
 (Exiit ad coelum ramis felicibus arbor) 
 
 At sun set, it is levelled to the earth . . . 
 
 (Aguo; 7rsVSa»3S rins ccvyg £vfavera.i) 
 
 and every man hugs his log (alias, number) with eager and undimi- 
 nished delight. What a sub-note might be here appended, as to the 
 sensations which certain numbers, of either of these Reviews, are known 
 to have sometimes produced? For periodical reading, these Jour- 
 nals may be considered as the venison and turtle dishes of the literary 
 Epicure.^ I found them as such, at Munich and Vienna, some six 
 years ago. 
 
 * Will the editor of this Review forgive the suggestion, whether 
 the articles be, occasionally, sufficiently retrospective ? and whe- 
 ther they be not occasionally a little too long ? 
 
 X Of Magazines, the Gentleman's, the New Monthly, the London, Ulackivood’s, and 
 the Edinburgh , have the greatest sale. Each of these has its admirers and sworn 
 champions of defence : — and long may this bloodless warfare, or literary excita- 
 bility, last ! I cannot presume to weigh* the respective merits of these Magazines 
 in my own critical scales of justice ; but I may be allowed to notice the matter- 
 of-fact simplicity, antiquarian lore, and topographical embellishments of the first— 
 the polish, delieacy, and occasional felicitous humour, of the second— -the neat- 
 ness, variety, and usefulness of the third— the spirited, cart and tierce, cut and 
 thrust, character of the fourth— (“ Tros Tyriusve . . nullo discrimine agetur,”) 
 and the vigour, sense, and well-digested intelligence, of the fifth. The amount of 
 all this, is, that throughout the Empire of Great Britain, there is weekly and 
 monthly, such a mass of intelligence— in the shape of wit, humour, narrative, and 
 reflection — imparted, that one is equally surprised at the unfailing number of 
 readers as well as of writers. ' A country, in such a state, has reason to be proud 
 of its bibliomaniacal pre-eminence. 
 
 C 
 
xviii 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 dicai diffusion of knowledge, of every description, in 
 this wealthy and energetic country. 
 
 But a review of the causes of the progress of litera- 
 ture in general, does not exclude the notice of the 
 state of Bibliography,* or (if the reader so please to 
 designate it) of the Bibliomania, in particular. With 
 joy and triumph have I witnessed the close of the 
 
 * In publications on Bibliography, there is nothing of very 
 recent occurrence to notice, except it be the two beautifully printed 
 volumes of Mr. Johnson’s Typographic or the Printer's Instructor, 
 with wood-cut portraits of several English Printers. I learn that Mr. 
 Edward Poole is occupied with the Annals of the Elzevir Press, 
 including a great portion of the literary history of that Augustan age 
 of literature in Holland. 
 
 [A very interesting work may be shortly expected from the pen of 
 the Rev. Dr. Bandinell, Principal Librarian of the Bodleian Library : 
 being an account of the Editiones Principes , up to the year 1600,— the 
 books printed in the Fifteenth Century, — and those printed by the 
 Aldine Family — which are to be found in that magnificent collection. 
 This will be a whetting precursor to the Catalogue of the entire 
 Bodleian Library — of which the first sheet is just gone to press. 
 Felix, faustumque sit !] 
 
 But in Bibliography, let me not forget the notice and commenda- 
 tion of that wonderful work of the late Dr. Watt, called Biblio- 
 theca Britannica. It is now complete, in two quarto volumes, each 
 about the size of Ainsworth’s Dictionary, at 7 k 7s. per volume. 
 Such a concentration of labour was hardly ever beheld ; but the au- 
 thors, Father and Son, both fell victims to their zeal. The first 
 volume contains the names of authors, alphabetically arranged ; the 
 second, the several works under their classes, or general names, 
 thus : <f Angling,” ff Bible,” “ Cookery,” &c. To say that such a 
 work, on so stupendous a scale, should be faultless, would be equally 
 rash and ridiculous. On the contrary, it contains numerous errors, 
 and must not be unlimitedly confided in. But its uses and advan- 
 tages are manifest and indispensable. The history of the completion 
 of this great labour is among the most curious on record. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 xix 
 
 Book-campaign of the past season. It has turned out 
 to be what every lover of his country’s literary repu- 
 tation could wish. The gloom which, at the conclu- 
 sion of the last season* darkened the countenances, 
 not only of many worthy members of the JflojEBurjjlje 
 Club, but of a great number of distinguished Collec- 
 tors of libraries, has vanished. The sun shine of good 
 humour, content, bright hopes, and cheering propects, 
 has succeeded. The reader has already anticipated 
 the ground or cause of these remarks. The sale of 
 the library of the late lamented Sir M. M. Sykes, 
 Bart, was conducted, and closed, in a manner the 
 most unexpectedly gratifying. While, at the west 
 end of the town, the Boohs of the same Baronet were 
 dispersed at splendid prices beneath the auspices of 
 Mr. Evans,* towards the east end of the town (in 
 Wellington-street, under the hammer of Mr. Sotheby) 
 his prints , of every description, brought excessive 
 prices : and 300 guineas for an impression from a 
 Niello , and 89/. for a couple of British Portraits, in 
 one plate, f are achievements of unprecedented gal- 
 
 * The manner in which the Catalogue of this splendid library is 
 executed, is extremely creditable to the author of it, and the three 
 great guns of the Collection may be described in the Livy of 1469, 
 the Greek Testament of Erasmus of 1519, (each upon vellum) and the 
 Deed of Divorce between Henry VIII. and Anne of Cleves. The gain 
 upon the two latter articles made up for theloss on the first. The first is 
 now with John Dent, Esq. The second is in the archiepiscopal library 
 at Lambeth, (purchased by his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury) 
 and the third is in the State Paper Office. 
 
 f It was the portraits of James I. and Prince Henry, each on 
 horseback, engraved by Vaughan. The condition was most beautiful. 
 
XX 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 lantry and liberality of feeling. The total or grand 
 amount of the two sales, united, amounted to 36,000/. 
 Who therefore shall say that property is misplaced in 
 collecting together such objects ? If the question 
 arise, what was given for such a property r a prompt 
 and satisfactory answer is at hand : less was given 
 than the produce here recorded. 
 
 [In the midst of our increasing literary prosperity, 
 there is one prominent feature which must come 
 forcibly “ home to the business and bosoms” of all who 
 love London, and who wish “ peace within her walls, 
 and plenteousness within her palaces;” and that is, the 
 formation of a Civic Library in the chambers of her 
 Ancient Guildhall. Several of my readers will, I have 
 no doubt, remember that an Institution of this nature 
 was earnestly recommended in two energetic letters 
 printed in the Gentleman’s Magazine for 1824; but 
 it was for a member of the Corporation, Mr. Richard 
 Lambert Jones of Highbury, to advocate the cause of 
 Bibliography in the City Senate, and establish its 
 permanent foundation in the metropolis. Improve- 
 ment is so far like virtue, that its arrival can never be 
 too late. London, whilst she is the first of mercantile 
 cities, is nevertheless a literary one ; and it rests with 
 the numerous encouragers of literature to render her 
 yet more so. Into her Library let them pour all their 
 treasures concerning her history, her antiquities, her 
 customs, triumphs, pageants, and edifices ; and let the 
 whole Corpus Historicum of London be found where it 
 
 The impression of the Niello had been obtained from W. Y. Ottley, 
 Esq. and is engraved at p. 304 of his History of Engraving. Sir 
 Mark gave only 1 50 1. for it. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 xxi 
 
 ought to be preserved . . . under the vaulted roof of 
 her ever famous ^5uitolf|aIF] 
 
 But this state of bibliographical prosperity is not 
 confined to the Metropolis. I continue to hear and to 
 receive the most flattering accounts from all parts of 
 the country. A re-action is taking place. Circulating 
 libraries are enlarged and multiplied. The surplusage 
 of wealthy in these “ piping times of peace,” finds a 
 vent in the channel of book-purchasing. Noblemen 
 and Gentlemen begin to think (as the old monkish wri- 
 ters thought and have expressed it) that a “ mansion 
 without a library is like a castle without an armoury” 
 — and accordingly, halt where you will, you are sure, 
 on a little gossip with the humblest provincial book- 
 vendor, to glean intelligence of “ some famous library 
 in the neighbourhood” — and if none of these equal 
 that at Eshton Hall , or at Yarmouth they may be 
 
 * These selections are made without a wish to institute invidious 
 comparisons ; but the Catalogue of the library at Eshton Hall , the 
 property of Miss Currer, (see page ISO post) is at this moment 
 before me : as I am favoured with one of the 40 copies only of it 
 which w r ere printed. It is carefully and unostentatiously executed by 
 Mr. Triphook. The collection in all its branches (but especially in 
 British History) does great credit to its amiable and sensible owner. 
 With the library of my friend Dawson Turner, Esq. of Yarmouth I 
 am intimately acquainted. The Fine Arts and Botany are its stronger 
 and more prominent features. The collection is select and costly. Of 
 the Autographic treasures in it, more than a slight notice is taken in a 
 subsequent page. I could easily have added to the number of these 
 rural examples of the Bibliomania ; and my friend Mr. Broadley, (late 
 of Kirk Ella, near Hull) may probably scold me for the omission of 
 his enviable book-treasures : while Mr. Archdeacon Wrangham tells 
 me that he is constantly revelling in the midst of 15,000 tomes (at 
 Hunmanby in Yorkshire) of endless variety and never failing amuse- 
 
XXII 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 yet deserving of examination, and their owner may 
 receive a passing tribute of respect. My gratification 
 is well nigh unbounded to learn that the name of 
 Watt, at Aston House, near Birmingham, is coupled 
 with that of the “goot* olti tau££ and I may yet, live 
 to witness it as great in books as in mechanics. Mean- 
 while I have the additional gratification of learning, 
 that the number of Travellers dispersed all over the 
 country, from the great houses in Paternoster Row, 
 is nearly doubled ; and that three orders are now re- 
 ceived where one formerly was scarcely given. 
 
 ment. Long may he enjoy this revelry. Close to London, again, I 
 could mention friends who spare no cost in securing, nor pains in 
 making acquaintance with, their hook-treasures. The exquisite 
 paintings of Lentulus lose nothing of their lustre or value by the 
 neighbourhood of a library (on the basement floor) of tasteful 
 structure, and replete with volumes in which Piranesi, and Bartoli, 
 and Hollar, and Bartolozzi, and Morghen, display their peculiar and 
 unrivalled powers. Nor are philology and the sciences wanting. 
 
 In the immediate neighbourhood of this Tusculum, is another 
 cabinet, on a smaller scale, and with few er treasures. But here are 
 early and powerful specimens of the pencil of Turner, Wilkie, and 
 Callcott, with no mean sprinkling of large paper tomes of modern 
 authors of established celebrity. These be the boast of Nestoriusj 
 and his quincuxes and espaliers, dipt yew hedges and velvet lawns, 
 afford him recreation and food for thought ... as he meditates on death. 
 
 Somewhat nearer home, is another library, sweetly disposed, and 
 judiciously furnished ; of which its excellent owner thus wrote to 
 me, on breaking up his establishment to come to town for the last 
 winter season : fC We go to town this day se’nnight for the season. I 
 shall leave my library with great regret. Its cheerful character, its 
 soft and quiet scenery from the lawn in front, its comfortable and 
 social aspect, its manageable and not overwhelming size, its compa- 
 nionable and inexhaustible sources of amusement and delight, make 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 xxm 
 
 In again reverting to the work before the reader, 
 I conclude this preface with the exercise of the plea- 
 sing task of acknowledging obligations received. My 
 friend the Rev. Dr. Bliss, of the Bodleian Library, 
 has enabled me to enrich these pages not only by the 
 examination of many treasures in that wonderful 
 repository, but by the loan of the first volume of his 
 work (not yet published) of the Reliquice Hearniance. 
 The pages of his Athence Oxonienses* have been also 
 at times singularly useful. For the unwearied ser- 
 vices of Thomas Amyot, Esq. in enlarging and cor- 
 recting many of these sheets by the aid of his own 
 choice library, and numerous bibliographical memo- 
 randa, I cannot be sufficiently thankful. The library 
 of the Right Honourable Thomas Grenville has been 
 on this, as on every other occasion, thrown open to 
 my researches in the readiest and most liberal man- 
 ner ; and to the treasures contained in it I am chiefly 
 indebted for the account of the rarer volumes to be 
 found under the head of the History of Ireland . The 
 owner of that library will therefore be here pleased to 
 accept my best thanks. My acknowledgments are 
 also due to Frederic Barnard, Esq. for free access to 
 the Royal Library at Buckingham House : the facility 
 and liberality of accommodation, in that magnificent 
 and truly regal collection, can be appreciated only by 
 those who have experienced it. The unrivalled trea- 
 
 me cling to it with the fondness of grateful affection and attachment.” 
 These comforts are to be found at Edmonton. For other libraries of 
 large extent, and remote situation, search well the index of this 
 work. 
 
 * For a character of this work, see p. 519 post. 
 
xxiv 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 sures at Althorp and at Spencer House have been 
 submitted to my free inspection with the usual libe- 
 rality and kindness of their Noble Owner : while the 
 richly furnished libraries of my intimate friends 
 George Hibbert, Esq. Richard Heber, Esq. Francis 
 Freeling, Esq. Francis Douce, Esq. and Robert Lang, 
 Esq. have supplied me with materials of which the 
 value will be evident from a perusal of the ensuing 
 pages. On all sides, and in the most unqualified 
 maimer, the kindest aids were offered me: and if the 
 fruits of such friendly assistance are not seen in the 
 work before the reader, the fault is in him to whom 
 they were tendered. 
 
 In the last place, something like an acknowledg- 
 ment remains due to those respectable Booksellers, 
 by means of whose copious catalogues something like 
 a fixed or rational price has been attached to the 
 numerous works contained in these pages. The pre- 
 sent is peculiarly the age of bibliopolistic adventure 
 and enterprise. There is no nation in Europe which 
 can boast of such an extensive diffusion of knowledge 
 by means of well executed Catalogues : and it is with- 
 out any invidious distinction that I notice those of 
 Messrs. Payne and Foss , Longman and Co. J. and A. 
 Arch , Rivington and Cochran , Ogle , Duncan and Ogle y 
 Triphook, Thorpe , and Bohn. But, with every atten- 
 
 * Since the commencement of this work, Messrs. Payne and Foss 
 have published a catalogue of 10051 articles. I have smiled, in com- 
 mon with many friends, to observe rare and curious volumes selling 
 for large sums at auctions, when sometimes better copies of them may 
 be obtained in that incomparable repository in Pall-Mall at two-thirds 
 of the price. Whoever wants a classical fitting out must betake him* 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XXV 
 
 tion to fix a fair and authorized price upon such works 
 of intrinsic meric of which the marketable value was 
 
 self to this repository. The various catalogues or portions of them, 
 according to the sizes of the volumes, which have issued from the 
 house of Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Co. for the last three 
 years, contain scarcely fewer than 17000 articles 5 while, of modern 
 articles, the same House has, of each, from one to ten thousand copies. 
 This latter necessarily includes the wonderful stock of Elementary 
 works alluded to at p. xii. ante. To the Bibliotheca Anglo- Poetica, 
 or A Descriptive Catalogue of a rare and rich Collection of Early Eng- 
 lish Poetry, published by the same House in 1815, under the care of 
 the late Mr. Griffifhs, the ensuing pages, in the department of “ Eng- 
 lish Poetry,” contain frequent and apposite references. The rarest 
 article in this catalogue (Chester’s Loves Martyr, or Rosalia's Com- 
 plaint, 1601, 4to.) marked at 50 1. and purchased by the late SirM. M. 
 Sykes Bart, was sold at the sale of that Baronet’s library for 64 1. 
 
 The catalogue of Messrs. J. and A. Arch is on a smaller scale j 
 but it exhibits both valuable and rare works, and my references to it 
 have not been unsparing. Indeqd I consider the situation of these 
 respectable booksellers, in the very heart of the metropolis, as most 
 fortunate on many accounts : — for the periodical circulation of their 
 Catalogues may have a salutary effect in counteracting manias of a 
 different description. 1 do not indeed quite despair of seeing groups 
 of philologists and critics collected in the Royal Exchange, beneath 
 the statue of Edward IV, when (Printing and the Bibliomania were 
 first conjointly introduced into this country) and counteracting, by 
 their book-speculations, the direful ravages of the Scrip and Consols 
 manias. The catalogue of Messrs. Rivington and Cochran, which 
 is chiefly theological, contains not fewer than 17,32S articles. The 
 arrangement is good : the works submitted to sale are rich in all 
 classes, especially in theology and Oriental literature, while the 
 printing and paper are alike inviting. There is a sort of episcopalian 
 air about this volume . . . within and without. But here it behoves 
 me to make honourable mention of that curious catalogue (now be- 
 come a rare book) of Theology and Oriental Literature, published by 
 Messrs. Ogle, Duncan and Co., and containing upwards of 12000 
 
XXVI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 ascertainable, I fear that, in some few instances, the 
 collector may be disappointed in his calculations. It 
 
 articles of Divinity. I am not compelled to subscribe to the critical 
 canons occasionally attached to these articles ; but I can never be 
 backward in acknowledging the obligation which the Clerical 
 World is under (from this desirable volume) to its respectable pub- 
 lishers. The catalogues of Mr. Triphook are* many of them, of ab- 
 solute necessity to the Collector ; since the titles and colophons are 
 printed at length with great accuracy ; and I may fairly say, that, in 
 few places of sale have I seen such copies of Old English Philology as 
 in Mr. Triphook’s repository. The collection of Mr. Triphook is 
 now merged in that of his partners, whose names appear in the title 
 page of this work and it may be triumphantly affirmed, that the 
 catalogue of Messrs. Harding, Triphook, and Lepard, takes pre- 
 cedence of all on the score of numbers: for not fewer than twenty - 
 seven thousand and fifty-seven articles form the grand total of works, 
 in the course of sale, at the Temple of the Muses ! Apollo and the 
 Nine were never kept in such a constant state of activity as these 
 spirited Bibliopolists keep them — equally to the surprise and advan- 
 tage of the lettered world. 
 
 Mr. Thorpe is indeed a man of might. His achievements at Book- 
 sales are occasionally described in the ensuing pages. It is his Cata- 
 logues of which I am here to treat. They are of never ceasing produc- 
 tion : thronged with the treasures which he has gallantly borne off, at 
 the point of his lance, in many a hard day’s fight, in the Pall-Mall and 
 Waterloo-Place arenas. But these conquests are no sooner obtained, 
 than the public receives an account of them 5 and during the last 
 year only, his Catalogues, in three parts, now before me, comprise 
 not fewer than seventeen thousand nine hundred and fifty nine 
 articles. What a scale of buying and selling does this fact alone 
 evince ! But in this present year, two Parts have already appeared, 
 containing upwards of 12,000 articles. Nor is this all. On the 24th 
 day of September, in the year of our Lord 1823, there appeared the 
 most marvellous phenomenon ever witnessed in the annals of Biblio- 
 polism. The Times Newspaper had four of the five columns of its last 
 page occupied by an Advertisement of Mr. Thorpe, containing 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 xxvn 
 
 should however be always borne in mind that the 
 condition of a book will materially regulate its 
 price. 
 
 It remains therefore, only to indulge a rational but 
 an ardent hope, that the work now before the reader, 
 and intended as a Guide to the Young and a Comfort 
 to the Old , may be crowned with that success, which 
 has been sought for in a most anxious and unceas- 
 ing examination of materials for the last two years ; 
 and of which nearly as much has been kept back as 
 brought forward. For a toil of this nature, I can 
 most unfeignedly avow that no pecuniary reward is 
 likely to be commensurate. Every thing that a libe- 
 ral spirit could devise, on the part of my Publishers, 
 has been promptly conceded ; but I look for eventual 
 and substantial remuneration only in the generous 
 
 the Hid Part of his Catalogue for that year.f On a moderate compu- 
 tation, this Advertisement comprised eleven hundred and twenty lines. 
 The effect was extraordinary. Many wondered, and some remon- 
 strated : but Mr. Thorpe was Master of his own mint, and he never 
 mentions the circumstance but with perfect confidence, and even 
 gaiety of heart, at its success ! 
 
 If Mr. Bohn be the last, he is not the least, of enterprising and 
 successful Bibliopolists. His Catalogue, in two parts, contains not 
 fewer than 14,614 articles. These articles are chiefly books in 
 foreign languages : and Mr. Bohn’s knowledge of the German lan- 
 guage has enabled him to translate Fuhrmanns work on the Greek 
 and Latin Classics with considerable advantage. But bibliographers 
 and critics have been liberally consulted ; and in the department of 
 Philology and Miscellanies , there are some volumes worth the cunning 
 investigation of lovers of literary rarities. The whole catalogue is a 
 proof of unwearied diligence in description, and commendable taste in 
 collection. 
 
 [t He has just published another Catalogue, containing 16716 articles.] 
 
xxviii 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 sympathies of the “ Young,” and the well-weighed 
 approbation of the “ Old.” 
 
 Wyndliam Place, 
 
 Aug. 2, 1824. 
 
 *** I just learn that the D'rnry of Samuel Pepys (see the Index of 
 this Work) is nearly completed at press. It will contain about ten or 
 a dozen well executed portraits 5 and the work, in two quarto volumes, 
 will be doubtless a popular companion to Evelyn's Memoirs . 
 
SYNOPTICAL TABLE OF SUBJECTS 
 AND AUTHORS. 
 
 Introduction, pages, I, 2. 
 
 Divinity, 3 — 136. 
 
 Bibles, 6 — 41. 
 
 Polyglot , 6 — 10. 
 
 Complutensian, 6. Brian Walton’s, 7- 
 Plantin’s and Hutter’s, 9. 
 
 Reineccius’ and Bagster’s, 10. 
 
 Latin , 11 — 17- 
 
 Editio Princeps, or Mazarine, 1 1 . 
 
 Pfister’s (Bamberg), 13. 
 
 Fust and Schoiffer’s (Mentz), 14, 15. 
 
 Fonti'bus ex Hebraeis, 15. 
 
 Fontibus ex Graecis, 15. 
 
 Pagninus’, Sabatier’s and the Aldine, 16. 
 
 German , 18. 
 
 Mentelin’s and Luther’s, J 8. 
 
 Italian, 19 — 20. • 
 
 Malherbi’s ; Bruccioli’s, and Diodati’s, Mar- 
 tini’s, 21. 
 
 Hebrew, 21 — 25. 
 
 Kimchi’s Psalter, Jarchi’s Pentateuch, 21. 
 
 Soncino Bible, 22, 24. 
 
 Bamberg, Stephen’s, 24. 
 
 Michaelis’, Houbigant’s, Kennicott’s, 25 
 Jahn’s, Leusden’s, Boothroyd’s, 26. 
 
 Greek, 26 — 28. 
 
 Erasmus, Aldine Septuagint, Zannetti’s, Bos, 
 Holmes’s, 27. 
 
 French, 28. 
 
 Lempereur’s, Protestant Version, Thoulouse, 28. 
 English, 29 — 41. 
 
 Tyndall’s, 31. 
 
XXX 
 
 SYNOPTICAL TABLE. 
 
 Divinity. — Bibles. 
 
 Coverdale’s, 32. 
 
 Matthewe’s, Taverner’s, Cranmer’s, the Bishops, 
 Grafton’s, Whitchurch’s, Day’s, Redman’s, the 
 Scotch, 33. Geneva, 34. 
 
 King James’s, 34. 
 
 Basket’s, Field’s, Hayes’s, 35. 
 
 Patrick’s, Lowth’s, Whitby’s, D’Oyly’s and 
 Mant’s, Wilson’s, Boothroyd’s, 38, 39. 
 
 Dr. Henry’s, Dr. Gill’s, 41. 
 
 Scott’s, 42. 
 
 Testaments, 
 
 Greek , 42 — 44. 
 
 Complutensian, Erasmus, Stephen’s, the Elzevirs, 
 Bengel’s, Wetstein’s, Griesbach’s, 42, 43. 
 Prayer-Books, 44 — 49. 
 
 First Impressions, 1549, 46. 
 
 Whitchurch’s, Marbecke’s, Baskerville’s, 46, 47- 
 Jarvis’s, Reeves’s, Oxford and Cambridge, 48. 
 Abridgment, 48. 
 
 Fathers and Commentators, 50 — 53 
 Greek , 51. 
 
 Origen, S. Chrysostom, St. Bazil, Gregory Nazi- 
 anzen, Theophylactus, Cotelerius Coll. 51. 
 
 Latin , 51. 
 
 St. Jerom, Tertullian, Lactantius, Gregory the 
 Great, Austin, 51. 
 
 Old English Divines, 53 — 64. 
 
 Taylor, 53, 58, 60. 
 
 Baxter, 54. 
 
 Barrow, 55, 
 
 Hooker, Lightfoot, Pearson, Usher, 56. 
 Chillingworth, Mede, Tillotson, 57* 
 
 Bishop Hall, 60. 
 
 W. Penn, 61. 
 
 Late English Divines, 60 — 66. 
 
 Leslie, 67 . 
 
 Dr. Clarke, Bishop Bull, 68. 
 
 Bishop Lowth, 68. 
 
 Waterland, 68. 
 
OF SUBJECTS AND AUTHORS. 
 
 xxxi 
 
 Divinity.— Late English Divines, 
 
 Dr. Doddridge, 70. 
 
 Dr. Watts, |Dr. Macknight, 71 . 
 
 Old Sermons, 71 — 89. 
 
 Latimer’s, 72. 
 
 Fox’s, 79 
 Drant’s, 81. 
 
 Edgeworth’s, 87. 
 
 Modern Sermons, 90 — 96. 
 
 Gisborne’s, 91. 
 
 Blair’s, Bamp. Lect. 92. 
 
 Hall’s, Forster’s, Jay’s, 93. 
 
 Summary of Foreign Divines, 96 — 101. 
 
 Erasmus, 96. 
 
 French , 97-101. 
 
 Bossuet, 97. 
 
 Massillon, 98. 
 
 Bourdaloue, 90* 
 
 Saurin, 101. 
 
 Ecclesiastical History, 102 — 127. 
 
 French , 102 — 106. 
 
 Mabillon’s, Ste. Marthe’s, Longueval’s, 103, 104. 
 Le Conte’s, Gesta Dei per Francos, Fleury’s, 105. 
 Tillemont’s, 108. 
 
 Italian , 106 — 110. 
 
 Baronius, 107, 108. 
 
 Bzovius, 109. 
 
 Acta Sanctorum, 109, 110. 
 
 English , 110—127- 
 
 Venerable Bede’s, 111. 
 
 Fox’s, 112. 
 
 Parker’s, 114. 
 
 Dugdale’s 116. 
 
 Fuller’s, Griffith, alias Alford’s, 118. 
 
 Collier’s, 119. 
 
 Bingham’s, Cave’s, H. Wharton’s, 120. 
 
 Burnet’s, 121. 
 
 Dodd’s, 122. 
 
 Jortin's, 123. 
 
 Strype’s, 124. 
 
xxxu 
 
 SYNOPTICAL TABLE. 
 
 Ecclesiastical History. 
 
 Mosheim's, Milner’s, Wordsworth’s, 12G 
 Spelman’s and Wilkins’s, 127. 
 
 Manuals of Devotion, I2S — 136. 
 
 Thomas h Kempis, 129. 
 
 Monument of Matrons, 130. 
 
 Collections of Prayers, 135. 
 
 Bishop Kenn’s Divine Love, 135. 
 
 History, 137- — 375. 
 
 Historical Catalogues, 137— -139. 
 
 Meuselius, Le Long, 137. 
 
 Essays on the Study of History, and Universal His- 
 tories, 138—139. 
 
 Du Fresnoy’s, Du Pin’s, Bolingbroke’s, Boone's, 
 
 138. 
 
 Ancient and Modern Universal History, Calmet’s, 
 
 139. 
 
 Millot’s, Anquetil’s, 140. 
 
 Grecian , 139 — 144. 
 
 Ancient Writers, 139 — 145. 
 
 Herodotus, 140. 
 
 Thucydides, 141. 
 
 Pausanias, Xenophon, 142. 
 
 Diodorus Siculus, 144. 
 
 Modern Writers, 144. 
 
 Barthelemy’s Anacharsis, Mitford, Potter, Grono- 
 vius, 144. 
 
 Roman , 145 — 147. 
 
 Ancient Writers, 145, 146. 
 
 Dion Cassius, Dionysius Halicarnassensis, Livy, 
 Appian, Polybius, Tacitus, Caesar, 145. 
 
 Sallust, Velleius, Paterculus, Haurisius’ Collec- 
 tion, Grsevius, 146. N 
 
 History — Roman. 
 
 Byzantine and Turkish Histories, 146. 
 
 Modem Writers, 147. 
 
 Muratori’s Scriptores, and Italian Collections, 
 147, 148. 
 
 Of Great Britian, 148 — 297. 
 
 Historians contained in the Recueil des Historiens 
 des Gaules, 149. 
 
OF SUBJECTS AND AUTHORS. 
 
 xxxiii 
 
 History. — Of Great Britain. 
 
 Saxon Chronicle, 150. 
 
 Asserius, Walsingham, 151, 
 
 Archbishop Parker, 151. 
 
 Geoffrey of Monmouth, 152. 
 
 Gildas, 153. 
 
 William of Newbury, 154, 
 
 Sir Henry Savile’s Scriptores, 154. 
 
 William of Malmesbury, 155. 
 
 Henry of Huntingdon, 156. 
 
 R. Hoveden, Ingulphus, 157* 
 
 Camden’s Anglica, &c., Duchesne’s Scriptores, 159. 
 Maseres’ Selections from Duchesne, 160. 
 Twysden’s Scriptores, 161. 
 
 Gale’s Scriptores, 162. 
 
 Annals of Waverley, 163. 
 
 Spark e’s Scriptores, 164. 
 
 Bertram’s Scriptores, 165. 
 
 Eadmer, 166. 
 
 Matthew of Westminster, Florence of Worcester, 
 Matthew Paris, 1 67 . 
 
 Froissart’s Chronicles, 169, 175. 
 
 Monstrelet’s ditto, 176. 
 
 Bouchard, Comines, 177- 
 Caxton’s Chronicle, 178. 
 
 Polychronicon, 181. 
 
 Arnold's Chronicle, 183. 
 
 Fabian’s Chronicle, 184. 
 
 Rastell’s Pastime of People, 187 
 Godet’s Chronicle, Hardyng’s Chronicle, 189. 
 Kelton’s Chronicle, Lanquett’s ditto. Chronicle 
 of Kings, 190, 191. 
 
 Carion’s Chronicle, Grafton’s Abridgment, 191. 
 Stowe’s Summarie, Jaggard’s Chronicle, Hall’s 
 Chronicle, 192. 
 
 Grafton’s ditto, Hollinshed’s Chronicle, 194. 
 Stowe’s and Howe’s Chronicles, 195, 197. 
 
 Vicars’s Parliamentary Chronicle, 199. 
 
 Heath’s Chronicle, 201. 
 
 Baker’s Chronicle, 202 . * 
 
 d 
 
XXXIV 
 
 SYNOPTICAL TABLE 
 
 History. — Of Great Britain. 
 
 Strutt’s Chronicle, 204. 
 
 History of England, 204 — 24 6. 
 
 Polydore Vergil’s, 204. 
 
 Speed’s, 205. 
 
 Martyn’s, 207- 
 Slatyer’s, 208. 
 
 Daniel’s, Duchesne’s, Larry’s, 209. 
 
 Milton’s, 210. 
 
 Whitlock’s Memorials, Brady’s, 211. 
 
 Tyrrell’s, 213. 
 
 Bishop Rennet’s, 214. 
 
 (North’s Examen of, 215.) 
 
 Echard’s, 210. 
 
 Sandford’s Genealogical History, 217. 
 
 Lord Clarendon’s, 218. 
 
 Rapin’ s, 221. 
 
 Hearne’s Historical Works, 224, 241. 
 
 Vide General Index. 
 
 Sammes’s Britannia, Lewis’s History, Carte’s ditto, 
 
 242. 
 
 Ralph’s, Hume’s, Brodie’s, 243. 
 
 Smollet’s, Dr. Henry’s, 243. 
 
 J. P. Andrews, Sharon Turner’s, 245. 
 
 Lingard’s, Bertrand de Moleviile’s, 246. 
 
 History of Ireland, 247 — 269. 
 
 Lives of St. Patrick, 247- 
 
 of St. Brandon and St. Rumold, 248. 
 
 Messingham’s Fiorilegium, Colgaris Triadis Thau- 
 maturgse, 249. 
 
 Vallega’s Lives of Saints, Giraldus Cambrensis, 
 Stanihurst’s, 250. 
 
 O’Sullivan’s, Paraineticorum, &c. Analecta Sacra, 
 &c. 251. 
 
 Lombardus’s, Hanmer’s, Campion’s, Spenser’s, 
 Stafford’s Hib. Pacata, 252. 
 
 Carve’s Works, 252. 
 
 Lynch’s Works, 253. 
 
 Caron, Walsh, 255. 
 
OF SUBJECTS AND AUTHORS. 
 
 XXXV 
 
 History. — Of Ireland. 
 
 Sirinius, Belin, 256. 
 
 Camden, Baxter, Lord Castlehaven, Sir John 
 Davis, 257- 
 
 French, Cox, Capell, O Flaherty, 257, 8. 
 
 Keating, Macrnation, Ware, 259. 
 
 Musgrave, De Burgo, O’Halloran, Colonel De 
 Vallancey, 2b0. 
 
 Leland, Flowden, Gordon, Wakefield, Barnabe 
 Riche, 261. 
 
 Ireland’s Jubilee, Teares of Ireland, Massacres in 
 Savoy and Ireland, 264, 5. 
 
 Dr. O’Connor’s Scriptores, 268, 269. 
 
 History of Scotland , 270-282. 
 
 Chronicles of Holy-Rood and Mailros, Barbour’s 
 Bruce, Fordun, 270. 
 
 Andrew of Wyntown, Hector Boece, 272. 
 
 Scotish Black Acts, 273. 
 
 Buchanan, Paten, 274. 
 
 Tracts relating to Queen Mary, 275. 
 
 Lesley, Monipennie, 277. 
 
 Hume, Melvil, Spotiswood, Middleton, Drum- 
 mond, 278. 
 
 Mackenzie’s, Dr. Abercromby, 279* 
 
 Anderson, Lindesay, Maitland’s, Robertson, 
 Guthrie, Dalrymple, 280. 
 
 Pinkerton, Laing, M f Crie, 281. 
 
 Dr. Cook, G. Chalmers, 281, 2. 
 
 Helps to British History, 283 — 297. 
 
 Wales, 283-285. 
 
 Lloyd, Enderbie, Warrington, 283. 
 
 Robert, Dr. Meyrick, Pennant, 284. 
 
 Acts of Parliament , 284 — 286. 
 
 Caxton’s, W. de Worde’s, Pynson’s, 284. 
 
 Rotuli Parliamentorum, Parliamentary Debates 
 and Trials, Taxatio Ecclesiastica, Valor Eccle- 
 siasticus, Rotuli et Acta Parliamentorum Sco* 
 tiae, 285. 
 
 Domesday Book, Statutes at large, 286. 
 
XXXV 1 
 
 SYNOPTICAL TABLE 
 
 Helps to British History. 
 
 Records and State Papers , 286 — 293. 
 
 Prynne’s Collection, 286, 289. 
 
 May’s History of the Long Parliament, 289. 
 Rushworth, 290. 
 
 Rymer’s Foedera, 291. 
 
 Spelman , Digges, D’Ewes, Nalson, Bishop Bur- 
 net, 292. 
 
 Somers’s Tracts, 293. 
 
 Miscellaneous, 294, 297. 
 
 Harleian Miscellany, 294. 
 
 Harrington’s Nugse, Madox, 295. 
 
 Winwood, Forbes, Thurloe’s Papers, Strafforde 
 ditto, Burghley ditto. Clarendon ditto, Sydney 
 ditto, 296. 
 
 Hardwicke ditto, Carlton’s ditto, Macpherson’s 
 ditto. Lodge’s Illustrations, Hallam, 297. 
 History of France, 298—308. 
 
 Bouquet’s Recueil, 298. 
 
 Duchesne’s Scriptores, Collection Universelle des 
 Memoires, De Brequigny, Dupleix, 299. 
 Mezerai, 300. 
 
 Daniel, Lombard, Henault, 302. 
 
 Velly, Villaret, Gamier, David, Montfaucon, 303 . 
 Anquetil, Desodoards, Millot, Collection Univer- 
 selle des Memoires, 304. 
 
 Castlenau, De Thou, 305. 
 
 Le Long, 306. 
 
 Davila, Sismondi, 307- 
 
 Meuselius, Fontete, (Catalogues,) 308. 
 
 History of Spain, 309 — 322. 
 
 Antonio, Casirio, Rodericus Sanctius, 310. 
 
 Belus, Schott, 311. 
 
 Chronicles , 302-315. 
 
 Guzman’s, De Ayala’s, 311. 
 
 Rey Pedro’s, Rey Rodrigo’s, the Cid’s, Juan II. *s, 
 Alonzo and Sancho’s, Alonzo XI. 312. 
 Hernandez de Cordova’s, G. de Mendoza’s, M. 
 Silva, D. de Valera’s, 313. 
 
OF SUBJECTS AND AUTHORS. 
 
 XXX VI L 
 
 History — Of Spain.*— Chronicles. 
 
 Chronica de los Reyes Hernando y Ysabel, Car- 
 bonell’s, Reuters, Marineo, 314. 
 
 Febrer, F. de O Campo’s, M. de Cordova’s, Vas- 
 saeus, Garibay’s, J. de Bleda’s, 315. 
 
 I). H De Mendoza, 316. 
 
 Mariana, 317- 
 
 J. de Ferreras, 3 IS. 
 
 Masdeu, Murphy, 319. 
 
 Bourke, Townsend, 320. 
 
 Southey, Captain Batty, 32 1 . 
 
 E. H. Locker, 322. 
 
 History of Portugal, 323 — 327- 
 
 Southey, Machado, 323. 
 
 Osorio, De Brito, 324. 
 
 A. and F. Brandao, R. de Jesus, 325. 
 
 E dos Santos, De la Clede, A. C. de Souza, 326. 
 
 J. C. de Serra, 327* 
 
 History of Italy, 328 — 337* 
 
 Muratori’s Scriptores, 329. 
 
 Machiavelli, 332. 
 
 Guicciardini, 333. 
 
 Fenton's Translation of ditto. Shepherd’s Poggio, 
 Histories of Florence, Bossi, Denina, 324. 
 
 Sismondi, Ginguene, Desodoards, 335. 
 
 Eustace, Forsyth, Hakewill, Capt. Batty, Houel, 
 Laborde, 336. 
 
 Spon, Wheler, Chandler, 337. 
 
 Choiseul-Goufier, Sonnini, Leake, Dodwell, Hol- 
 land, Gell, Rennell, 338. 
 
 History of Germany, 33 S— 348. 
 
 Dr. Robertson, Views on the Rhine, Schmidt, 340. 
 
 Schardius, Meibomius, Freyherus, Struvius, Pis- 
 torius, Schoettgenius, Menckenius, Reuberus, 
 342. 
 
 Barre, de Laveaux, Schmidt, Haeberlin, Senken- 
 berg, Freron, Pez, Bell, Muller, 343. 
 
 Pray, Calles, Kraft, Archdeacon Coxe, Kolla- 
 rius, 344. 
 
 Gerbert, Bavarian Monuments, Offelius, Raderus, 
 Wagelinus, 346. 
 
XXXVlll 
 
 SYNOPTICAL TABLE 
 
 History. — Of Germany. 
 
 Aldzreiter, Brunner, Serrarius, Leibnitz’ Scrip- 
 tores, 347. 
 
 Gibbon, 348. 
 
 Northern Histories, 349 — 375. 
 
 Iceland , 349 
 
 Mackenzie, 349. 
 
 Greenland, 349. 
 
 Gambold’s Translation of Crantz, 349. 
 
 Arctic Regions, 350, 353. 
 
 Franklin, Parry, 351. 
 
 Lyon, Scoresby, Barrow, Ross, 352. 
 
 General History, 353 — 355. 
 
 Olaus Magnus, Snorro, 353. 
 
 Krantzius, Gaguinus, 354. 
 
 Prsetorius, Bullett, Modern Universal History, 
 Stritterus, Schilter, Messenius, 355. 
 
 Denmark, 356 — 359. 
 
 Saxo Grammaticus, Olaus Wormius, 356. 
 Torfaeus, Bartholin, 357 
 
 Randulffus, Resenius, Mallet, Langebeck, 35S. 
 
 Dr. Thorkelin, 359. 
 
 Norway, 360 — 361. 
 
 Capell Brooke, Von Buch, Snorro Sturleson, 360. 
 C. Calleville, Pontoppidau, 361. 
 
 Sweden, 362 — 368. 
 
 Regnorum Suecise Descript., Suecia Antiqua, 362. 
 Messenius, Locoenius, Elric Olaus, 362, 3. 
 Erlandus, Scheffer, Verelius, Saga, 363, 4. 
 Peringskiold, Lives of Queen Christine, Ditto of 
 Gustavus, Puffendorff, Vertot, Voltaire, Nord- 
 berg, 364, 5. 
 
 Rudbeck, 366. 
 
 Russia, 368—375. 
 
 Baron Herberstein, Muscovitarum Rerum Scrip- 
 tores, 368. 
 
 Lasitzki, Ulfeldius, D’Anville, Castelnau, Kor- 
 bius, 36’p. 
 
OF SUBJECTS AND AUTHORS. 
 
 XXXIX 
 
 Northern Histories. 
 
 Le Clerc, Lord Whitworth, General Manstein, 
 Bell, 370. 
 
 Archdeacon Coxe, Dr. Clarke, Raymond, Vsevo- 
 lojskys, 371. 
 
 Voltaire, Sunannoi, De Halem, 373. 
 
 Masson, Took, Pallas, David, Breton, 374. 
 Hempel, Houbigant, 375. 
 
 Voyage? and Travels, 376 — 189. 
 
 Catalogues, 379, 380. 
 
 Murray, Bekman, 379. 
 
 B. de la Richarderie, 380. 
 
 Collections, 379 — 402. 
 
 Portuguese Voyages, Columbus, Americus Ves- 
 putius, 380. 
 
 Ramusio, 381. 
 
 De Bry’s, 382— 3S7- 
 Hakluyt’s, 38S. 
 
 Coryate, 391. 
 
 Purchas’, 392. 
 
 Drake, 394. 
 
 Linschoten's, Smith’s, 395. 
 
 Thevenot’s, 398. 
 
 Gottfried’s (Adelinus’), 3 99 . 
 
 Churchill's, Harris’s, Harleian, Astley’s, 400. 
 Bibliothhque Port, des Voyages, Pinkerton’s, Sir 
 R. K. Porter’s, Kerr’s, 401. 
 Circumnavigations, 403—412. 
 
 Drake’s, 403. 
 
 Dam pier’s, 404. 
 
 Anson’s, 405. 
 
 Byron’s, Cook’s, 406, 407- 
 Vancouver’s, 408. 
 
 O. de Cevallos’, Pigafetta’s, Carreri’s, 409, 10. 
 Perouse’s, Labillardiere, D’Entrecasteaux, Mar- 
 chand, 410. 
 
 Krusenstern, Burney, 411. 
 
 Asia, 413—448. 
 
 Minor Greek Geographers, 413. 
 
 Tudela, 414. 
 
xl 
 
 SYNOPTICAL TABLE 
 
 Circumnavigations — Asia. 
 
 Marco Polo, 415. 
 
 Sir John Mandeville, 416. 
 
 Mendez Pinto, 417. 
 
 Pyrard, 41 S. 
 
 Barros, 419. 
 
 De Sousa, Castanheda, Guzman, Hawkins, Roe, 
 420. 
 
 Bernier, Tavernier, Thevenot, Chardin, 421. 
 Hindoostan , 422 — 426. 
 
 Raynal, 422. 
 
 Acten der Daenischen Mission, Dapper, R. de 
 Ilooge, Tiefenthaler, 423. 
 
 Valentyn, Asiatic Researches, 424. 
 
 Sir W. Jones, Dr. Buchanan, Malcolm, 425. 
 Thibet, 426—27. 
 
 Turner, Davies, and Saunders, 427- 
 Nepaul, 427 > 428. 
 
 Colonel Kirkpatrick, Hamilton, 427. 
 
 Caubul, 427- 
 
 Elphinstone, 427. 
 
 Persia , 428 — 430. 
 
 Viaggi fatti da Vinetia, Sherley, 428. 
 
 Herbert, Chardin, Jonas Hanway, 429. 
 
 Morier, Malcolm, Ouseley, Porter, 430. 
 D’Anville, Major Rennell, 431. 
 
 Holy Land and Turkey, 431 — 436. 
 
 Breydenbach, N. Huen, 431. 
 
 Chateaubriand, Mariti, Sandys, 432. 
 
 Pococke, Wood, Chandler, Kinneir, Burckhardt, 
 De la Mottraye, 433. 
 
 D’Arevieux, Russell, Volney, Maundrell, 434. 
 Lebrun, Tournefort, 435. 
 
 Busbequius, D’Ohsson, 436. 
 
 Arabia , 436. 
 
 Niebuhr, 436. 
 
 East Indies , China, Japan, 437 — 441. 
 
 Major Symes, 437. 
 
 Barrow, Staunton, Lord Amherst, Captain Hall, 
 Du Halde, 438. 
 
OF SUBJECTS AND AUTHORS. 
 
 xli 
 
 Circumnavigations. — Asia. 
 
 Mailla, De Guignes, Sonnerat, Kcempfer, Charle- 
 voix, NieuhofF, 439. 
 
 Van Braam, Dalrymple, 440. 
 
 Lithgow, L. de Goux, Stokove, 440, 41. 
 
 Dubois, Jesuits Voyages, 442. 
 
 Borneo, New Guinea, New Holland, &C.441. 
 
 Knox, 442. 
 
 Dr. Davy, Capt. Flinders, 443. 
 
 European Route to England, 443 — 448. 
 
 Nicolay, Knolles, 444. 
 
 F. Moryson, Lord Mountjoy, 445, 44? • 
 
 Messrs. Kingsbury’s Oriental Catalogue, 447. 
 
 Africa, 449 — 465. 
 
 Gibbon, Edrisi, Abulfeda, Abdollatiph, Leo Afri- 
 canus, 450. 
 
 Marmol, Cadamosto, 451. 
 
 Gosselin, 452. 
 
 Egypt , 453— -455. 
 
 Pococke, Norden, Savary, 453. 
 
 Denon, 454. 
 
 Description d’Egypte, Sonnini, Hamilton, Legh, 
 Belzoni, 455. 
 
 Ethiopia, (Nubia, Abyssinia ,) 456 — 458. 
 
 Ludolfus, Tellez and Almeida, 456. 
 
 Burckhardt, Father Lobo, Bruce, 457. 
 
 Salt, Waddington and Hanbury, 459. 
 
 Barbary States, 458 — 461 
 
 Torrez, Hoedo, Mendezes, Dr. Shaw, 459. 
 
 De la Chenier, Porret, Jackson, Ali Bey, Capt. 
 Lyon, M. Park, 460. 
 
 Browne, Horneman, J. Riley, Adams, 461. 
 
 The African Association, 462. 
 
 Southern Africa, 461 — 465. 
 
 Odoardo Lopez, Capt. Tuckey, Cavazzi, 462. 
 Labat, Lindsay, Matthews, Winterbottom, Beaver, 
 Meredith, Bowdich, 463. 
 
 Vaillant, Sparrmann, Percival, Lichtenstein, Bar- 
 row, Burchell, 464, 
 
xlii 
 
 SYNOPTICAL TABLE. 
 
 Circumnavigations. 
 
 America, 466 — 489. 
 
 Kennett’s American Library, 466. 
 
 American Atlas, 467. 
 
 Ancient Travellers , &c. 468 — 471. 
 
 Columbus, 468. 
 
 Algerius, G. H. Oviedo, L. de Gomara, Las Casas, 
 469. 
 
 J. G. de Sepulveda, A. de Herrera, 470. 
 
 General Historians , 471 — 475. 
 
 Torquemada, Ogilby, Coreal, 471. 
 
 Lafiteau, Charlevoix, Wilson, Ulloa, 472. 
 Robertson, 473. 
 
 Account of the Amazon River, Nodal, Fernando 
 Cortez, Barcias’s Historiadores, 474. 
 
 Frampton, Tracts on Virginia, 475. 
 
 North America , 475 — 479. 
 
 Kalm, 475. 
 
 Rogers, Wynne, 476. 
 
 Adair, Capt. Carver, G. Chalmers, Rochefoucault- 
 Liancourt, 477. 
 
 Bryan Edwards, Sir Hans Sloane, Long, 478. 
 
 De Solis, 479. 
 
 South America, 479 — 489. 
 
 Voyages and Travels — America. 
 
 Ulloa, Hans Staden, J. de Lery, 480. 
 
 Barlasus, Rocha Pitta, Lindley, 481. 
 
 Southey, 482. 
 
 Mawe, Humboldt, 483-486, 
 
 Peruvian Chronicles, 486, 489. 
 
 F. de Kerez, P. C. de Leon’s, 486. 
 
 Antwerp Historic, Zarate’s, Fernandez’s, 487. 
 
 G. de la Vega’s, Losano, 4S8. 
 
 Tears of the Indians, World in Miniature, 489. 
 Biography, 490 — 568. 
 
 Memoirs and Anecdotes, 490 — 568. 
 
 Biographical Dictionaries , 493-499. 
 
 Hoffman’s, Moreri’s, Dictionnaire de Trevoux, 
 Bayle’s, 494. 
 
 Chaufepie’s, P. Marchand’s, 496. 
 
OF SUBJECTS AND AUTHORS. 
 
 xliii 
 
 Biography, — Memoirs and Anecdotes. 
 
 Brucker’s, Ladvoeat’s, Chaudon’s, and Delandine’s, 
 Biographie Universelle, Jocher’s, 49 7 • 
 Adelung’s, and Rotermund’s General, Historical, 
 and Critical Dictionary, British Biography, 498, 
 Biographia Britannica, Chalmers’s General Bio- 
 graphy, 499. 
 
 Greek and Roman Biographers , 500 — 502. 
 
 Plutarch, 500. 
 
 D. Laertius, 501. 
 
 C. Nepos, Suetonius, 502. 
 
 General Collections of Lives, 503 — 516. 
 
 Theod. Beza, Boissard, Vasari, 503. 
 v Holland, Lugger Family, 505. 
 
 Thevet, 506. 
 
 Bullart, 507. 
 
 Perault, 508. 
 
 Foppens, Dr. Birch, Freher, 509. 
 
 T. Hoffman, 511. 
 
 The Holbein Portraits, 512, 513. 
 
 Lodge’s Illustrious Personages, 514, 516. 
 
 Bodies of National Biography, 516 — 520. 
 
 Leland, Bale, Pits, 516. 
 
 Fuller, Nicholson, 517. 
 
 Dr. Makenzie, Anthony a Wood, 518. 
 
 Tanner, Berkenhout, Granger, 519. 
 
 Separate Memoirs or Classes, 520 — 551. 
 
 Grove’s Wolsey, Johnson’s Poets, Macdiarmid’s 
 Statesmen, 520. 
 
 Roper’s Sir T. More, 524. 
 
 Bacon’s Henry VII., 525. 
 
 Herbert’s Henry VIII., I. Walton’s Lives, 526. 
 Strype’s Lives, 527. 
 
 Knight’s Colet and Erasmus, Jortin’s Erasmus, 
 Lewis’s Lives, 528. 
 
 ' Fiddes’s Cardinal Wolsey, Cibber’s Apology, 530. 
 Middleton’s Cicero, 531. 
 
 North’s Lives, Wren’s Parentalia, 532. 
 
 Collins’s Collection, 532. 
 
xliv 
 
 SYNOPTICAL TABLE 
 
 Biography. 
 
 Harris’s Regal Biographies, Lowth’s Wykeham, 533. 
 
 Lord Herbert of Cherbury’s Autobiography, Auto- 
 biography of Cellini, 535. 
 
 Warton’s Sir T. Pope, Robertson’s Charles V. 
 Mason’s Life of Gray, 53 6. 
 
 Boswell’s Johnson, 537. 
 
 Gilbert Wakefield’s Autobiography, 538. 
 
 Roscoe’s Lives, 539-542. 
 
 Shepherd’s Poggio, Greswell’s Lives, Berington’s 
 Literary History, Gibbon’s Autobiography, 543. 
 
 Archdeacon Coxe’s Lives, 545. 
 
 Hayley’s Cowper, 546. 
 
 Cumberland's Autobiography, Chandler’s Waynflete, 
 548. 
 
 Churton’s Dean Nowell, Do. Founders of Brazen 
 Nose, 549. 
 
 Zouch’s Sir Philip Sydney, Black’s Tasso, Southey’s 
 Nelson, 550. 
 
 Southey’s Wesley, 551. 
 
 Memoirs and Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons , and their 
 Times, 552—568. 
 
 French , 552—562. 
 
 Brantome’s, 552. 
 
 Memoirs and Anecdotes. 
 
 Sully’s, Cardinals Richelieu, Retz, 554. 
 
 Cardinal Mazarine, Mesdames Motteville, Mont- 
 pensier, de Mazarin, de Maintenon, 555, 6. 
 
 Duchesne de Longueville, Mad. de Caylus, Queen 
 Margaret, 556. 
 
 Louis XIII. XIV. XV. Due d’Orleans, Henry IV. 
 Bassompierre, D’Estrades, Conde, Lomenie, Vil- 
 leroy, Berwick, Rochefoucault, 557> 8. 
 
 P6refixe’s Henry IV., Margaret de Valois, 559. 
 
 M6moires Particuliers, Grammont’s, 559. 
 
 Niceron, Memoires Historiques, 561. 
 
 Madame D’Epinay, 562. 
 
 English, 563-568. 
 
 Colonel Hutchinson, Evelyn, 563. 
 
 Ballard’s Memoirs of Learned Ladies, Watson’s Earls 
 
OF SUBJECTS AND AUTHORS. 
 
 xlv 
 
 Memoirs and Anecdotes. 
 
 of Warren and Surrey, Anderson’s House of 
 Yvery, 564. 
 
 Hollis and Disney, Nichols’s Bowyer, 565. 
 
 Spence’s Anecdotes, 562. 
 
 Philology and Belles Lettres, 569-618. 
 
 Grammarians, 569-577. 
 
 English , ibid. 
 
 Stanbridge, I. de Garlandia, Whittinton, 570. 
 
 Lillye, 571. 
 
 Eleven Grammars, Linacre, 572. 
 
 Bishop Tonstall, 573. 
 
 Horman, Palsgrave, 574 . 
 
 Minor Grammatical Works, Ortus Vocabulorum, 
 575. 
 
 Promptorius Puerorum, Book for Travellers, 5 76. 
 Greek Philology, 577-583. 
 
 Plato, 577. 
 
 Aristotle, 579. 
 
 Xenophon, Plutarch, 580. 
 iEsop, 581. 
 
 Athenaeus, 583. 
 
 Lucian, 584. 
 
 Roman Philology, 585-587- 
 Cicero, 585. 
 
 Seneca, Boetius, Apuleius, 587- 
 Aulus Gellius, Pliny, 588. 
 
 Petronius Arbiter, Quintilian, 589. 
 
 English Philology, 588. 
 
 Bartholomaeus, 590. 
 
 Reynard the Fox, Alain Chartier, Cato, 591 
 Sir T. Elyot, 592. 
 
 Roger Ascham, 593. 
 
 Sir A. Fitzherbert, 594. 
 
 Sir T. Wilson, William Thomas, 595. 
 
 Abraham Fraunce, 596. 
 
 Robert Greene, 597. 
 
 Thomas Nash, 599. 
 
 Gabriel Harvey, Thomas Dekker, 600. 
 
 George Whetstone, 601. 
 
 Stubbes, Bacon, 602. 
 
SYNOPTICAL TABLE 
 
 English Philologists. 
 
 Braithwait, Peacham, 604. 
 
 Merriments, j605. 
 
 Markham, Burton, 606. 
 
 Cornwallyes, Howell, 60S. 
 
 Milton, Sir William Temple, 609. 
 
 Boyle and Locke, 610. 
 
 Newton, Dryden, 611. 
 
 Addison, 612. 
 
 Swift, 613. 
 
 Steele, British Essayists, 614. 
 
 De Foe, 615. 
 
 Dr. Johnson, 616. 
 
 Poetry, 619. 
 
 Greek Poets, 620-632. 
 
 Homer, 620-624. 
 
 Hesiod, 624. 
 
 Theocritus, 625. 
 
 Pindar, 627. 
 
 Anacreon, 628. 
 
 Callimachus, 629. 
 
 Apollonius Rhodius, Bion, Moschus, 631. 
 iEschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, 632-640. 
 Latin Poets, 633-649. 
 
 Classification, 633. 
 
 First Class , 633-642. 
 
 Virgil, 633-636. 
 
 Lucretius-Ovid, 636-638. 
 
 Juvenal and Persius, 638. 
 
 Martial, 640. 
 
 Horace, 640-643. 
 
 Second Class , 643 — 649. 
 
 Lucan, 643, 644. 
 
 Statius, 644. 
 
 Silius Italicus, 645. 
 
 Claudian, 646. 
 
 Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius, 647. 
 Tibullus, 648. 
 
 Valerius Flaccus, Manilius, 649. 
 
 Plautus, Terence, 650. 
 
OF SUBJECTS AND AUTHORS- 
 
 xlvii 
 
 English Poets, 652 — 757. 
 
 Ancient , 6 52—735. 
 
 Old English Poetry and prices at Mr. Bindley’s sale, 
 652, 655. At Sir Mark Sykes’s, 707. 
 
 Castell of Labour, Prophecve of Merlin, kynge 
 Apollyon of Thyre, Mirrour of the Churche, Lover 
 and Jaye, 657* 
 
 Spectacle of Louers, Complaynte of a Lover’s Life, 
 Chaunce of the Dolourous Lover Conusaunce 
 d’ Amours, Four Leaves of True love, 65S. 
 
 Hearte througne perced, Ould facioned Love, Too 
 soon Maryed, Too late Maryed, Evyll Maryage, 
 Fyftene Joyes of Maryage, 659. 
 
 Skelton, 660. 
 
 Lydgate, Temple of Bras, Temple of Glass, 661 . 
 
 Castle of Pleasure, 662. 
 
 Treatyse of a Galaunt, W. Walter, 663. 
 
 Robyn Hode, 664. 
 
 Friar and Boye, Cryste Cros me Spede, Life of S. 
 Werburge, 665. 
 
 Cock Lord’s Bote, Syr Degore, Squyre of Low 
 Degre, J. Splynter, Love and Complaints betweene 
 Mars and Venus, 666. 
 
 Christmas Carols, 667-668. 
 
 Toye’s Ballads, 669. 
 
 Governayle of Helthe, 671. 
 
 Poetry printed by W. de Worde, 672. 
 
 Chaucer, 676-684. 
 
 Poetry printed by Caxton, 676. 
 
 Gower, 684, 
 
 Lydgate, 685. 
 
 Skelton, 685-688. 
 
 S. Hawes, 686-689. 
 
 Earl of Surrey and Sir T. Wyatt, 689. 
 
 Mirrour of Magistrates, 692. 
 
 Churchyard, 693. 
 
 Tubervile, Googe, 695. 
 
 Paradise of Dainty Devices, 697. 
 
 Breton, Kendall, Robinson, The Phoenix’ Nest, 698. 
 
xlviii 
 
 SYNOPTICAL TABLE 
 
 English Poets. 
 
 England’s Parnassus, England’s Helicon, Belvedere, 
 699. 
 
 Spenser, 701, 704. 
 
 Shakspeare’s Sonnets, Gascoigne, 704. 
 
 Fulwell, 705. 
 
 Bishop Hall, 706. 
 
 Breton, Dr. Lodge, 70 7- 
 Marlow, Munday, Chester, 708. 
 
 Chute, Herbert, 710. 
 
 Herrick, Rowlands, 711. 
 
 Southwell, 712, 
 
 Du Bartas, 713. 
 
 Milton, 713, 718. 
 
 Davies, 719. 
 
 Wither, Lovelace, 720. 
 
 Crashaw, 721, 
 
 Jordan, Carew, 722. 
 
 Daniel, Drayton, 724. 
 
 Randolph, Cartwright, 726. 
 
 Drummond, Taylor, 727- 
 
 Delia, Dolarney, Chute, Hannay, Davison, Heath, 
 Massacre of Money, Scourge of Venus, Bold, 728. 
 Cowley, 722, 729. 
 
 Denham, 729, 730. 
 
 Donne, Butler, 730, 732. 
 
 Waller, 732, 733. 
 
 Fugitive Poetry, 733,734. 
 
 Dryden, 734. 
 
 Modern Authors , 735 — 743. 
 
 Prior, 735. 
 
 Pope, 73 7, 739. 
 
 Gray, Thomson, 740. 
 
 Collins, 741. 
 
 Churchill, Young, 742. 
 
 Akenside, Beattie, Goldsmith, Cowper, 743. 
 
 Living Authors, 743, — 754. 
 
 Southey, Campbell, 745. 
 
 Wordsworth, Rogers, 746. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott, 74 7. 
 
OF SUBJECTS AND AUTHORS, 
 
 lxix 
 
 English Poets. 
 
 Moore, 749. 
 
 Crabbe, Milman, 750. 
 
 Lord Byron, 751-754. 
 
 Sotheby, Bowles, 754. 
 
 Montgomery, 755. 
 
 Collections of Poets , 755 — 757. 
 
 Dr. Aikin’s, A. Chalmers’s, 755. 
 
 Davenport’s, Cook’s,Beirs,Barbauld’s Novelists, 757. 
 Italian Poets, 758. 
 
 Foscolo’s expected edition of, 758. 
 
 Dante, 759-761. 
 
 Petrarch, 762. 
 
 Ariosto, 764. 
 
 Tasso, 767- 
 
 Translations of ditto, 769, 77 L 
 Metastasio, 770 
 Alfieri, 77 1 . 
 
 French Poets, 772 — 781. 
 
 Analyses and Collections , 772, 773. 
 
 Brunet’s, Goujet’s, La Croix du Maine’s, 772. 
 Raynouard’s, Barbazan’s, D’Aussy’s, De Meun, 
 Marot, Marsh, Malherbe, 773. 
 
 La Fontaine, 774. 
 
 Corneille, Racine, 775. 
 
 Molihre, 775, 776. 
 
 Boileau, 776, 777- 
 Voltaire, 777, 780. 
 
 I. B. Rousseau, 780. 
 
 Gresset, Delille, 781. 
 
 The English Drama, 782—832. 
 
 Mysteries, 782 — 786. 
 
 Mr. Lang’s French Mysteries, 782-784. 
 
 Mr. Markland’s Chester ditto, 785. 
 
 Mr. Sharp’s Coventry ditto, 785, 786. 
 
 Collections, &c. of Old Plays, 787 — 789. 
 
 Hawkins’s, Dodsley’s 787. 
 
 Baldwin’s, 788. 
 
 Roxburgh e Reprints, 788, 789. 
 
 Miller’s Collection, 789. 
 
 e 
 
] 
 
 SYNOPTICAL TABLE. 
 
 The English Drama. 
 
 Baker’s Biographia Dramatica, 789. 
 Ancient Dramatists, 790 — 829. 
 
 Bale, Sackville, Still, 790 — 821. 
 Gascoigne, Peele, 791. 
 
 Old Plays in the Malone library, 791, 798. 
 Lyly, 795. 
 
 Marlow, 796. 
 
 Shakspeare, 798. 
 
 Ben Jonson, 826. 
 
 Beaumont and Fletcher, Ford, 828. 
 Massinger, Shirley, 829, 
 
 Otway, 830. 
 
 Modern Dramatists, 830, 
 
 Sheridan, 830. 
 
 Inchbald's Theatre, 831. 
 
 
INTRODUCTION, 
 
 Jt is upwards of six years, since, on quitting the ancient city 
 of Ratisbon, (in the way to Nuremberg) I paused upon the 
 summit of a high hill, about a short English mile from thence, 
 which commands a beautiful view of the course of the Danube. 
 As the traveller quits this hill, in the same route, he takes a final 
 leave of the same river : but if he have any sensibilities which 
 are likely to be awakened by a view of Nature, in one of her most 
 interesting forms, he will not fail to cast a fond and frequent 
 look upon the view in question : which is at once fertile, varied, 
 and picturesque. 
 
 I spent a short twenty minutes upon the summit of this hill: 
 and requested the postillion to make me acquainted with the 
 names of the different little villages and chateaus with which the 
 banks of the Danube are, in this neighbourhood, so plentifully 
 studded : while, to the right, the massive fragments of antiquity, 
 together with the turrets and towers, of Ratisbon, rose with a 
 grand and contrasting effect. I seemed to rejoice in the prospect 
 before me ; and wished for a farm upon this sweep of meadow, 
 or a villa upon that undulating summit. The grapes were now 
 ripening apace ; and the joys of the coming vintage seemed to 
 give to every object a ruddier hue, and to animate every Rustic 
 with a livelier flow of spirits. I was revelling in the picture of 
 abundance which my fancy readily drew, when the explanation 
 of the postillion, conveyed through the servant who attended 
 me, cast a melancholy tone of colouring over this scene of pros- 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 pective happiness. “ The River, Sir,” (observed the interpreter) 
 “ frequently overflows its banks, and destroys the labours of the 
 “ husbandman ; the houses are sometimes swept away in the 
 “ course of the inundation : the cattle perish : and the vine is 
 u rooted up by the rushing waters. Yonder scene, now so plea- 
 “ sing from the certain prospect of an abundant harvest, is fre- 
 quently visited by desolation and affliction — while the walls and 
 a ramparts of the city protect the inhabitants from the wide 
 cc waste of deluge by which the country is overwhelmed.” 
 
 This brief but impressive dialogue had nearly escaped my 
 recollection . . till, of late, and especially at the present moment, 
 it presented itself to me in a variety of ways. In sitting down to 
 the composition of this Work, in which my principal object is to 
 be of use to my countrymen — if not to the readers of other 
 countries, I could not but reflect how forcibly the picture of 
 nature, as seen at Ratisbon, was emblematical of that of human 
 existence. For, first, we may consider the principles, passions, 
 and prejudices of mankind as represented by the course of the 
 Danube. When kept within bounds, that]’river brings fertility 
 and abundance ; when it overflows its banks, ruin and desolation 
 too frequently ensue. The inference is obvious. Secondly, as 
 the strong walls and ramparts of Ratisbon protect its inhabitants 
 from the ill effects of the flooding of the river, so the sound 
 instruction and good advice, instilled into the minds of young 
 people — and not lost sight of by such as are “ of riper years” — 
 generally protect them from that most dreadful of all human 
 visitations, the inundation of vicious thoughts and immoral 
 habits. As are the walls of Ratisbon against the evil effects of 
 the overflowing Danube, so are good books against the influence 
 of pernicious writings. 
 
[ 3 ] 
 
 THE 
 
 3Mbrarg Companion. 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 The source of all moral excellence must be sought 
 for in the truths and consolations of Religion. 
 Hence I devote the first chapter of this Sifnratp Com- 
 panion to a brief account of such works, as, among 
 others, may be of service to the Young, and of comfort 
 to the Old, in their choice of publications relating 
 to the Inspired Writings. 
 
 A word or two, however, by way of preliminary 
 observation. I must suppose my “ Young Collector” 
 to have received a classical, or competent education ; 
 whether followed up by “ University Instruction,” is 
 a matter upon which I cannot venture to speak deci- 
 dedly — although, questionless, if it be so, the better 
 for himself. Yet it may be observed that several 
 of our famous Collectors have never heard the echo of 
 their footsteps within the cloisters of a college. Pre- 
 ferable to either a classical education, or the instruc- 
 
4 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 tions of a University, is the possession of a sound 
 conscience and right judgment in all things ; and 
 though this latter observation may be considered as 
 begging the question, yet it cannot be denied that we 
 frequently witness their good effects, without stop- 
 ping to enquire how they were attained, and without 
 disbelieving that they may be easy of attainment. It is 
 fitting, however, that I should caution such Collector, 
 in the very outset of his book-career, not to be led 
 away by any of those meteor-like manias which some- 
 times possess very intelligent men, and bring disgrace 
 upon the good old causeof Bibliophilism. Especially 
 let him beware of confining himself exclusively, or 
 imperatively — of sacrificing all his time and attention 
 — his rest, and, as it were, comfort of mind — to one 
 distinguishing, or capricious, branch of collection more 
 than another : because the most prudent of men can 
 scarcely refrain from committing many errors in the 
 indulgence of such a passion. All violent impulses, of 
 whatever kind, are necessarily short-lived. Let both 
 the student and collector regulate his passions as 
 soberly as possible ; but such regulation by no means 
 implies coldness or indifference. Let zeal never 
 slacken — but let judgment always step in to modify 
 it: and when a very choice, or curious, or supposed 
 unique, article presents itself, let the courage only be 
 screwed to its sticking place, so as not to fear even 
 the competitorship of ***** in the acquisition 
 of it! I am the more anxious respecting this branch 
 of the subject, because, as on the one hand I do not 
 like to see a generous young character on a sudden 
 frozen into parsimony, bordering upon avarice ; 
 so, on the other, I am exceedingly desirous that all 
 book-pursuits should have a consistent and satisfac - 
 
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 5 
 
 tory result: that there should be no shifting and 
 changing, and “ bringing to market” those fruits 
 which are only, as it were, of yesterday’s gathering. 
 
 There is nothing that brings down heavier and 
 juster censure upon a Young Collector, than this early 
 and precipitate separation from such companions of 
 his private hours ; who appear to have been invited 
 into his study to-day, for no other purpose than to be 
 turned out of doors to-morrow. Consider well — and 
 weigh the probable advantages and disadvantages of 
 your choice, maturely — before you purchase ; but 
 having purchased, as the result of such conviction, be 
 kind and courteous towards those whom you have 
 thus admitted to be your Cabinet Counsellers; for, 
 (as old Richard de Bury says) they will instruct 
 you without harshness, and correct you without 
 stripes.”* I have known many instances of extreme 
 folly on this score; and have seen shelves covered, this 
 season, with Chronicles, — which, during the next, 
 have been filled by Dekkers, Greenes, and Har- 
 veys ;+ and, still more ruthless act ! have found old 
 
 * Concerning this favourite author, consult the Bibliomania and 
 Bibliographical Decameron. A pleasing and instructive picture of 
 Library Comforts is drawn in Mr. D’ Israeli’s Literary Character, 
 vol. ii. ch. xxi. If I could envy any man, or men, thoir past lives, 
 it were Grolier, Peiresc, and Be Thou. 
 
 f To which add, the works of Tom Nash. These were celebrated 
 writers in the reign of Elizabeth ; and wrote pieces of drollery, satire, 
 and lampoon. Harvey was the bitter opponent of Nash. At the 
 sales of Pearson, Steevens, Reed and Bindley, some of these pieces 
 brought inordinate prices : but at that of the late Mr. Perry, these 
 prices were considerably diminished. Respecting the authors, con- 
 sult Berkenhout’s Biographia Literaria, Beloe's Anecdotes oj Lite - 
 rature , D' Israeli's Calamities of Authors ; and, for the editions of some 
 of their works, the British Bibliographer, and Watt’s Bibliographia 
 
<5 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 Roger Ascham’s prophecy abundantly fulfilled — by 
 the dispersion of Bibles for the admission of Ro- 
 mances.* These are mischievous results, and should 
 be avoided. 
 
 Without further preface, therefore, I proceed to the 
 recommendation of those books in which the Word of 
 God, or the Sacred Text, is contained with every pos- 
 sible advantage bestowed upon it from the piety 
 learning, and research of man. Of course, I speak of 
 Editions of the Bible. And first of 
 
 POLYGLOT BIBLES. 
 
 These have been always considered as the founda- 
 tion stones of a theological collection ; but the ordi- 
 nary Collector will do well to rest satisfied with the 
 possession of two out of the four , of such publications 
 of Holy Writ : namely, with the first Polyglot Bible, 
 
 Britannica. Several very uncommon pieces of Dekker will be found 
 in the <( Catalogue of the singular and curious Library of Sir Robert 
 Gordon , of Gordonstoun ,” sold by auction by Mr. Cochrane in 1816 : 
 see nos. 771-777. Mr. Heber possesses, I believe, the most com- 
 plete collection of the works of this coarse, but clever, writer. 
 
 * Ascham’s words are these : — ct I know when God’s Bible was 
 banished the court, and La M or ted' Arthur e received into the Prince’s 
 chamber.” The worthy Ascham is most vehement against this 
 Romance, which has lately been twice reprinted in a duodecimo 
 form, with cuts. Of this reprint, all the exceptionable passages 
 are omitted in one edition; in the other they are retained: — and, 
 shame to say ! this latter is the more saleable impression. A little 
 before, Ascham says, “ Ten Sermons at Paule's Crosse do not so 
 much good for moving men to true doctrine, as one of those books 
 do harm, with enticing men to ill living.” Schoolmaster ; by Bennett, 
 4 to. p. 253*4. 
 
POLYGLOT BIBLES. 
 
 7 
 
 published at Alcala, in 1514-22; 6 vols. folio; and 
 with the fourth , published at London in 1657, in the 
 same number of volumes, of which the famous Brian 
 Walton was the principal editor.* The Lexicon of 
 
 * Of the Polyglot of Cardinal Ximenes, there are three copies 
 printed upon vellum : one is in the Vatican, and one was formerly in 
 the library of the Capuchins of Montefiascone : the third, formerly 
 belonging to the Cardinal himself, and which was more recently in 
 the collections of Pinelli and Count Macarthv, is now in the library 
 of George Hibbert, Esq. of Portland Place. Mr. Hibbert has dis- 
 possessed it of the comparatively inappropriate binding in which it 
 was clothed by De Rome, when in possession of the Count, and has 
 clad it in a magnificent vestment of dark blue morocco, under the 
 skilful hands of C. Lewis. It is barely possible to view these 
 volumes without feeling a justifiable pride that they are the property 
 of an Englishman. I should apprehend that the finest paper copy in 
 the world, is that in the Royal Library at Paris 5 it had belonged 
 to Heriri II. and Diane de Poictiers : but a copy of remarkable beauty 
 was sold at the sale of Meerman’s books for 65 l. Its ordinary price 
 is 36L 
 
 Of the Polyglot of Walton, the large paper copies are so rare, 
 that I have no recollection of the sale of one within the last twenty 
 or even thirty years. But yet scarcer than these, is the large paper 
 of the Lexicon of Castell. Indeed, at this moment, my recollection 
 furnishes me only with four such copies : one in St. John’s Coll. 
 Library at Cambridge ; a second, in the Library of St. Paul’s Cathe- 
 dral 5 a third, (of extraordinary condition) in the Archiepiscopal Library 
 at Lambeth ; and a fourth, in the British Museum. The history of 
 the rise and progress of this matchless work is ably given by my 
 friend the Rev. Mr. Todd, in his Memoirs of the Life and Writings of 
 the Right Rev. Brian Walton, 1S21. 8 vo. 2 vols. It is scarcely a 
 twelvemonth ago, since I saw, at Mr. Lawford’s, in Squibb’s Passage, 
 a copy of the ordinary paper of Walton’s Polyglot, with two or three 
 extra heads, containing an original, circular Letter, prefixed, exhort- 
 ing the public to an encouragement of the work, (see Todd’s Mem. of 
 Walton, vol. i. p. 49.) and signed by Walton, and othe^ learned men. 
 
 I think five guineas were demanded for this particular, and not incu- 
 rious document ; and thirty guineas for the copy of the work exclu- 
 
s 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 CastelL is an indispensable accompaniment of the 
 latter work. 
 
 And let him, if this cannot be obtained in its original 
 
 sively.f Mr. Payne, in his last catalogue, marks a fine copy at the 
 same price. So does Mr. Bohn. Messrs. Longman and Co. mark a 
 copy at 21 J. : Cat. 1822. no. 5777* Messrs. Rivington and Cochran, 
 at the moment of penning this, justly boast of possessing not fewer 
 than eight copies of this Polyglot of Walton, a thing perhaps unpa- 
 ralleled in the annals of bibliopolism. Mr. Thorpe, in a recent cata- 
 logue, marks a copy, containing both the Prefaces % (the royal and 
 the republican), at 45 1. : “ a remarkably fine copy, very strong, and 
 neatly bound in russia.” But such a copy is not unique. Mr. Hibbert 
 has a similar one, with the Original Dedication , and the rare edition 
 of the (< original Advertisement as copied by Mr. Todd, vol. i. p. 68. 
 The rage for republican copies has a good deal, if not entirely, sub- 
 sided j and I suspect that copies of this description are as common 
 as those called royal copies. Even in the solitude of Worlingham, 
 (the seat of the late Robert Sparrow, Esq. in Suffolk) I discovered a 
 republican copy, bound in blue morocco, and ruled with red lines 
 which had once belonged to “ P. de Cardonnel.’’ The Dedication 
 to King Charles II. is the really rare thing to possess : and yet, what 
 will be the surprise of the reader to learn, that this bibliographical 
 A eimelion, wanting in most of the large paper copies, is to be found in 
 a copy, on small paper, in the library of Bamburgh Castle in Nor- 
 thumberland ?§ I am indebted to my young and ardent book-loving 
 
 f If I mistake not, this copy was purchased by a common journeyman shoe- 
 maker ; who had contrived to snatch intervals, from his arduous and almost inces- 
 sant occupation, to make himself acquainted with the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew 
 languages. 
 
 J A copy, more than perfect, necessarily supposes another copy less than perfect. 
 Nor is it probable that the imperfect copy should be also the property of the Owner 
 of the perfect copy — for who, in the possession of his senses, would inflict such pun- 
 ishment upon so valuable a work as that of the Polyglot of Walton, for the mere 
 capricious purpose of having another copy more than perfect ? Be this as it may, 
 it is certain that, in the library of Salisbury Cathedral, there is a copy of this very 
 Polyglot, with the portrait, frontispiece, preface, and prolegomena, clean cut 
 away. Such a frightful act of book-spoliation is, fortunately, rarely to be wit- 
 nessed. It seems, however, not to have been of recent perpetration. 
 
 § This library, a most curious and valuable one, and of which there is a printed 
 
POLYGLOT BIBLES. 
 
 9 
 
 and entire form, content himself with Michaelis’s 
 improved edition of the Syriac and Hebrew portions 
 of it, put forth in 1788, in 2 folio volumes, which may 
 be procured for somewhere about 21. Yet if, from 
 motives of economy, or a want of opportunity, or of 
 curiosity, neither of the foregoing Polyglot Bibles be 
 attainable,* I esteem Mm neither an incurious nor an 
 
 friend Mr. W. C. Trevelyan (of University College, Oxford) for this, 
 and many other curious pieces of bibliographical intelligence. I dis- 
 covered, abroad, two copies with this original Dedication : one at 
 Stuttgart, and the other in the library of the Arsenal at Paris : and 
 it may be seen in the large paper copies at St. Paul’s, Lambeth, and 
 in the British Museum. It is evidently an after production : printed 
 in a very different type from what is seen in other parts of the volume. 
 Colbert’s copy on large paper, in his Majesty’s library, does not 
 possess it. Nor does the extraordinary similar copy in Earl Spencer’s 
 Library at Althorp. 
 
 * Of course I pass by the Polyglot Bibles of Plantin, Huttee, 
 Le Jay, &c., as these are now considered to be purely secondary, if 
 not almost entirely useless. But it may not be unacceptable to learn, 
 that there did exist, and yet does exist, a copy of Plantin’s exquisitely 
 printed Polyglot, upon vellum, in the library of the King of Sardinia, 
 at Turin. This copy was described by the Marquis Scipio Maffei, in 
 his account of that library, in a letter to Apostolo Zeno. He described 
 it as in eleven volumes, with the 12th and 13th upon paper ; with 
 the following inscription, in letters of gold, upon the cover of the 
 first volume : “ Emanueli Sabaud. Duel. Biblior. exemplar purum xi. 
 tom. in Membr. Philippus II. Hispan. Rex Cognato ac Fratri chariss. 
 sacrum munus. mdlxxiii.” Mem. of Literature, vol. v. p. 393. Ano- 
 ther vellum copy is mentioned in the Bibliog. Decameron , vol. ii. 154; 
 but Mr. V. Praet, in his charming Catalogue of vellum books in the 
 Royal Library at Paris, has mentioned several. The Polyglot of 
 Hutter, published in 1599, in six folio volumes, demands a more par- 
 ticular detail. I have already ( Introd . to the Classics, vol. i. p. 31-3) 
 
 catalogue in 4to. was bequeathed to the Castle by the late Dr. John Sharp, a pre- 
 bendary of Durham, Archdeacon of Northumberland, &c. &c. He died in 1792. 
 He was a magnificent character in every thing he did. But of him, hereafter. 
 
10 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 unhappy Collector who shall have possessed himself 
 of the four-tongued Bible* of Reineccius, published at 
 Leipsic in 1750, in 3 folio volumes. But it is due to 
 the enterprising spirit of Mr. Bagster, the bookseller, 
 as well as to that of his learned coadjutors, to notice 
 
 noticed the contents, and the rarity, of a perfect copy of this singular 
 work j and Mr. Bohn the bookseller, availing himself of the authori- 
 ties I before referred to, naturally and pardonably, exults in the pos- 
 session of an uncommonly beautiful copy, elegantly bound in vellum, 
 complete in every particular” — which, in his last catalogue of 1820, 
 no. 4397* he marks at 35Z. As an apparent justification, Mr. Bohn 
 adds, that “ there does not appear to exist a single complete copy in 
 any of the foreign public libraries 3 and in England, the one now 
 submitted is decidedly unique.” These are rather bold words to 
 make public. No one, nor one score of men, can know what is, 
 or is not, in all the foreign public libraries ; and I make little doubt 
 that Passau, Bamberg, Wurtzburg, and Nuremberg each contains a 
 perfect copy of old Elias Hutter’s many-tongued labours. In one 
 of the places (I think it was at Bamberg or Wurtzburg) I was told, 
 on quitting Nuremberg, that there was a church (of course not ap- 
 plied to purposes of divine worship) wholly filled with books — 
 even to within a few feet of the roof 3 and was not Hutter’s Polyglot 
 in all probability among them ? 
 
 Nor can it with safety be said what is, or is not, in the numerous 
 and richly stored libraries of England. When Hutter put forth his 
 Polygot, it was the dawn of biblical criticism in our country 3 and 
 many would have been eager to possess his work. We had mighty 
 men, in every way, even at that time, engaged in the study and dis- 
 semination of the Sacred Text. The mid-day effulgence of such 
 labours appeared in the Polyglot of Brian Walton. Mr. Bohn 
 marks a copy of the Paris Polyglot of 1649, at 21 1. Let “ the 
 young” and “ the old” beware how they purchase a copy at Paris, 
 either on the Boulevards or Quai des Augustins, for one half of that 
 sum — if it be imported into England. 
 
 * Hebrew, Latin, Greek, and German : the Hebrew has Schmid’s 
 Latin version — the Greek is from Grabe’s edition of the Alexandrine 
 MS. and the German is from the last revision of Luther’s text by 
 Luther himself in 1544-5. 
 
LATIN BIBLES. 
 
 11 
 
 the commodious and highly useful Polyglot Bible, 
 which has been recently published by him — in a vari- 
 ety of forms — in the Hebrew , Hebrew -Samar it an , 
 Greek, Latin Vulgate , Syriac, and English texts.* 
 
 Of Bibles published in a separate language, I shall 
 proceed to give a list, in the order in which they ap- 
 peared in print. 
 
 BIBLES IN THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 
 
 I must begin by advising, upon this and every other 
 department of literature, whether sacred or profane, 
 that the Collector always procure, when practicable, 
 the first edition of every work of importance and 
 popularity. But it will frequently happen that, of 
 some works, even of the highest importance, there will 
 be strong doubts about its first appearance in print ; 
 and when, in the absence of a positive date, we are 
 compelled to judge of its priority from collateral cir- 
 cumstances. Thus, in the very department at present 
 under consideration, we have only collateral, but most 
 indisputable, evidence of the earliest edition of the 
 Sacred Text — not only in the Latin, but in any other, 
 language. That first edition is assuredly the impres- 
 sion printed in a large, square, gothic type, of which 
 
 * A great number of copies of this Bible — printed with stereotype 
 plates, — was destroyed in a fire which consumed the whole of Mr. 
 Bagster’s premises in Paternoster- row in the year 1822. The plates, 
 however, were preserved. A good account of the plan of this Poly- 
 glot may be seen in Mr. Todd’s Biography of Walton, vol. i. 335-9. 
 At the same time was published the Liturgy of the Church of England , 
 in eight languages, to be sold and bound up with this Polyglot : in 
 the same variety of forms. 
 
12 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 I have already published a fac-simile,* and which 
 distinguishes this Bible, vulgarly called the Mazarine 
 Bible, \ on account of a copy of it being found by De 
 Bure in the library of the famous Cardinal Mazarin, 
 better known as the Bibliothkque des Quatre Na- 
 tions, X attached to the Institute of France. The “ col- 
 lateral but indisputable evidence” is this. The edition 
 is destitute of a printed date. Some, in consequence, 
 supposed it to be as old as the year 1440 ; and others, 
 1450. At length two copies were found in the Royal 
 Library of France ; one upon paper, the other upon 
 vellum :§ upon the margin of the paper copy was an 
 inscription in the hand writing of the time, purporting 
 that copy to have been “ illuminated , bound , and per- 
 fected by Henry Cremer , vicar of the Collegiate Church 
 of St, Stephen of Mentz, in the year 1456, on the feast 
 of the Assumption of the glorious Virgin Mary? 
 
 From this evidence, it is clear that the Bible in 
 question was printed in the year 1456 ; and it is pro- 
 bable that it was printed in the preceding year. It is 
 possible even that it may have been printed in 1450. 
 Indeed, from the testimony of Ulric Zel, detailed in 
 the Cologne Chronicle of 1499, || it is most probable 
 that this was the very Bible which they began to print 
 “ in the Jubilee year of 1450.’ > At least, there is no 
 
 * Bibl. Spenceriana, vol. i. p. 3-6. 
 
 f The bibliographical history of this Bible may be said to be well 
 nigh exhausted in a Disquisition published upon it in Mr. Valpy’s 
 Classical Journal , vol. iv. p. 47 1*484. 
 
 X See this identical copy described in the Bibliographical Tour, 
 vol. ii. p. 364-5. 
 
 § Both these copies are noticed in the Tour, vol. ii. p. 253-5. 
 
 || This is a very uncommon book— even in Germany. An account 
 of it, together with a translation of the passage relating to the above 
 Bible, will be found in the Bibl. Spenceriana, vol. iii. p. 281-4. 
 
LATIN BIBLES. 
 
 13 
 
 other ancient Bible which so completely answers to 
 the description therein given, as the present. It fol- 
 lows, therefore, that this is not only the first edition of 
 the Sacred Text , in any language, but that it is the 
 very first book printed with metal types. Those, 
 who have not seen it, can form little notion of the 
 beauty and regularity of the press work, and of the 
 magnificent appearance of the volumes. They exhibit 
 a masterpiece of art, and a miracle in their way; 
 shewing that the infancy and maturity of the art of 
 printing were almost simultaneous. I am both prompt 
 and proud to record, that no country in the world 
 contains more, if so many copies, of it — as our own ; 
 while that, upon vellum, in the possession of Mr. 
 George Nicol, bookseller to his late Majesty, is the 
 admiration and envy of Collectors. * 
 
 In purchasing this impression, the Collector is quite 
 sure to have the Editio Princeps of the Sacred Text 
 in the Latin tongue . The version is the Vulgate, or 
 that of which St. Jerom is allowed to be the author. 
 Of the most ancient, or Italic version, this is not the 
 
 * It may surprise foreigners, and even Mr. Ebert, of Dresden, him- 
 self, that I should call this book by no means of the first degree of 
 rarity. A copy, upon paper, will be found in the Bodleian library : 
 and in the private collections of the King, the Duke of Sussex, the 
 Duke of Devonshire, Earl Spencer, Sir G. Shuckboro’, Sir M. M. 
 Sykes, Mr. G. Hibbert, Mr. J. Fuller, and Mr. John Lloyd : upon 
 vellum, it will be found in the library of the Rt. Hon. T. Grenville 
 (from the Macarthy collection) and in that of Mr. G. Nicol. But 
 none of these copies, to the best of my recollection, contain the two 
 leaves of a table, or rubrics, which are noticed in the Public Library 
 at Munich : see Tour , vol. iii. p. 287. It is rather surprising to find 
 no copy of this important edition in the British Museum. The fac- 
 similes of the type of this Bible, in Masch, scarcely deserve that de- 
 signation. 
 
14 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 place to say any thing. A fine copy of this first im- 
 pression of the Vulgate Text may be worth a hundred 
 and fifty guineas ; but it has been recently pushed to 
 thirty guineas beyond that sum.* A yet rarer Bible 
 than the Mazarineand published indisputably before 
 that with the printed date of 1462 — is the one, execu- 
 ted in a yet larger character than the preceding, which 
 is supposed to have been printed by Pfister at Bam- 
 berg about the year 1460. I have before entered so 
 fully into the bibliographical history of this exceed- 
 ingly rare impression,^* adding a fac-simile of the 
 commencement of the first chapter of Genesis, that 
 nothing farther upon the subject is necessary to be 
 here advanced ; except that we may be quite confident 
 of the date of this Bible being 1461, at latest — from a 
 coeval inscription, in the same numbers, in a copy of 
 it which belonged to Lord Oxford, and which is now 
 in the Royal Library at Paris.;}; 
 
 I now come to the mention of the favourite early 
 impression of the Bible, among collectors, with the 
 first printed date subjoined. I mean, the edition 
 put forth by Fust and Schoiffher at Mentz, in the year 
 1462. This edition exhibits a matchless effort of the 
 art of printing; and is, with one slight exception, the 
 earliest specimen of those printers’ largest secretary 
 gothic type. It is usually found upon vellum ; and I 
 
 * The copy belonging to the late Mr. James Perry was purchased by 
 His R. H. the Duke of Sussex for 16*0 guineas ! that in the library of 
 the late Sir M. M. Sykes, Bart, was purchased by Messrs. Rivington 
 and Cochrane for <§£189. The copies in the possession of Earl Spen- 
 cer and John Fuller, Esq. are the finest which I ever saw. 
 
 f Bibl. Spenceriana, vol.i. p. 7-10. With the exception of a second 
 copy, in the Royal Library, I know of no other copy of this very 
 rare impression in the country. It is worth ,§£200. at the least. 
 
 $ Tour, vol. ii. p. 255. 
 
LATIN BIBLES. 
 
 15 
 
 think I may venture to say that I have seen, abroad 
 and at home, nearer thirty than twenty copies of it. 
 Upon paper, it is of rarer occurrence ; but a fine copy 
 upon vellum is worth at least double one upon paper. 
 The Collector may fearlessly advance a hundred 
 guineas for a fine and perfect membranaceous copy.* 
 From the year 1462 to the end of the Fifteenth Cen- 
 tury, the editions of the Latin Bible may be consi- 
 dered, literally, as innumerable ; and generally speak- 
 ing, only a repetition of the same text. I therefore 
 do not recommend a useless and interminable labour 
 in collecting editions merely because they happen to 
 be printed before the year 1470 or 1480 : but two 
 exceptions may be made in a pursuit of this kind. 
 First, although these earlier editions are entirely 
 divested of critical annotations, and the text of one 
 
 * Among the finest copies of this celebrated Bible upon vellum 
 *— I speak only of such as I have seen — are those in the collections of 
 Cracherode, Earl Spencer, Duke of Cassano (the Spencer duplicate). 
 Sir M. M. Sykes, Messrs. Hibbert, Lloyd, and Watson Taylor. The 
 Cracherode copy is in the British Museum. Lord Spencer’s is very 
 large, but not so white as was the Duke di Cassano’s copy — purchased 
 by his Lordship, and sold at the sale of his duplicates in 1821. Messrs. 
 Payne and Foss were the purchasers of this copy, and I find it marked 
 by them at the reasonable sum of s£l30. in their catalogue of 1822, 
 no. 4/08. Mr. John Lloyd is in possession of Mr. Edwards’s copy. 
 Mr. Watson Taylor’s copy, which had belonged to Gaignat, and 
 afterwards to Count Macarthy, was sold at the sale of his library for 
 ^*215. 5s. All these Biblical Gems are beautifully white; and, 
 as well as the copies in the Marlborough and Pembroke libraries, 
 are upon vellum. The Duke of Devonshire possesses a copy, which 
 had belonged to the late Bishop of Ely, upon paper. A similar copy 
 is in the Bodleian Library, and another at Blickling in Norfolk. His 
 Majesty’s copy is also on paper j with the New Testament only upon 
 vellum : very fine, and prettily illuminated — but one leaf in the 
 Apocalypse is wanting. 
 
16 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 year seems to be only a reimpression of that of the 
 preceding year, yet it may be as well to collect such 
 impressions of the same text as first appeared in the 
 several countries in Europe.* And secondly, it is 
 almost essential to the character of a well-chosen bib- 
 lical collection to have the first Latin version from 
 the Hebrew Text — and a first similar version from 
 the Greek Text ; each in contradistinction to the 
 Latin Vulgate . These impressions are called “ Fon - 
 tibus ex Greeds ” and Fontibus ex Hebrceis The 
 former first appeared in 1479 ; the latter in 1696. 
 
 To give an account of the various critical editions 
 of the Latin Vulgate in the Sixteenth and following 
 centuries, would alone fill a large octavo volume. 
 Passing by the editions of Pagninus and Servetus 
 (the latter under the name of Villanovanus) I shall 
 introduce the biblical Collector at once to those of 
 Vatable , and the Aldine editions of 1590 and 1592 ; 
 in folio — called after the names of Pope Sixtus V. 
 and Clement VIII. — the admirable critical labours 
 of Le Clerc , in the edition of 1735, 7 vols. folio; 
 and the yet more curious and probably more im- 
 portant impression of Sabatier , in 1743, 3 volumes 
 folio.1* In our own country, we have no edition 
 
 * As thus : at Mentz, 1455 ; at Bamberg, 1461 ; at Rome, 1471 ; 
 Venice, 1476 j Naples, 14765 in Bohemia, 1488 5 in Poland, 1563 j 
 in Iceland, 1551 j in Russia, 1581 5 in France, 1475 5 in Holland, 
 1477,* in England, 1535 5 in Spain, 1477. 
 
 + Seethe^Edes Altliorpiance, vol. i. p. 49. Lord Spencer possesses 
 a copy of the first edition of the version of Pagninus (from the Hebrew 
 and Greek original texts) of the date of 1528, 4 to., which had belonged 
 to Melanchthon, and which has a passage, in the fly-leaf, (from Gre- 
 gory Nazianzen) — in the hand writing of that celebrated reformer, 
 thus : “ ITccv to xoilo^ovfAim •napoo Oeoy Eft, dsfroTOit $ Ton xciKov perns 
 
LATIN BIBLES. 
 
 17 
 
 which may vie with the beautiful one printed by 
 Didot in 1785, 2 vols. 4to., and dedicated to the 
 French Church. I have purposely avoided the men- 
 tion of very many curious, beautiful, and much sought- 
 after impressions of the Latin Vulgate, in various 
 forms and various types — which have been put forth 
 by the Stephens , Gryphii , Elzevirs * and other con- 
 
 xa* ot tio nvovcn : seriptu ' manu Philippi.” \ The reader may consult 
 Mr. Townley’s Illustrations of Biblical Literature , vol. ii. p. 215, &c. 
 Of the Bible of Servetus, a fine copy in blue turkey” is marked 
 at <£4. 4s. in Mr. Triphook’s Catalogue of 1817- But see Old Me- 
 moirs of Literature, vol, iv. p. 329. The Aldine editions of 1590 and 
 1592, in folio, are called after the name of Pope Sixtus V. and were 
 supposed to exhibit the standard vulgate Text. They are chiefly 
 estimable on large paper - } in which state they still lift up their 
 heads. At the sale of the library of the Marquis of Lansdown, in 
 1806, a copy of this kind was omitted to be so designated ; and the 
 late Dr. Gosset bought it for his friend (the late) Mr. Taylor, for 
 about 10s. 6d. The Doctor had too keen an eye to let such a trea- 
 sure escape. On the death of Mr. Taylor, in 1821, his books were 
 sold by auction, and this very copy was again described as of the 
 ordinary paper. In consequence, it was purchased for a comparative 
 trifle by Mr. I. Payne, and now adorns the library of Sir M M. 
 Sykes, at a price about sixty times beyond the first purchase. The 
 Duke of Grafton’s copy, of the same kind, properly designated, was 
 sold for 38 1. At Chatsworth, the Bible of 1590 is upon small paper, 
 and rather an indifferent copy : but of that of 1592 there is a fine 
 large paper copy, bound in blue morocco. At Althorp, there is a 
 fine copy of each upon large paper : see JEdes Althorp. vol. i. p. 52 j 
 —and consult p. 55 for an account of Sabatier’s edition, above 
 lauded. Father Bukintop published an explanation of ambiguous 
 expressions and doubtful readings in this Vulgate Bible of 1590, at 
 Cologne, in 1710 , 4to. 
 
 * Most of these will be found noticed in the pages of the work 
 
 * Melanchthon appears to have quoted from memory — as he has omitted the 
 article to before ovru. The passage occurs in the xxxist Oration. Ed. 1609; 
 vol. i. p. 504. 
 
 C 
 
18 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 tinental printers ; nor will I stop to enquire whether, 
 or not, there be a copy of what is called Cardinal 
 Richlieus Bible (of 1656, 8vo.) printed upon vellum 
 — as there would be no limits to the notices, and 
 anecdotes which might be engrafted upon this fruitful 
 branch of our enquiries.* It is sufficient that, in what 
 has been laid down as certain data to act upon, nei- 
 ther the Reader nor the Collector will find his labour, 
 or his money, ill bestowed in forming his judgment 
 accordingly. 
 
 GERMAN BIBLES. 
 
 The earliest printed version of the Scriptures, after 
 that of the Latin, was the German version : of which 
 the two first editions were published without dates. 
 Of these, the impression supposed to be by Mentelin 
 is anterior to the other. They have both been before 
 particularly described by me. On the possession of 
 
 last referred to. It may, however, seem surprising that, in the work 
 recently published upon the Elzevir press ( Essai Bibliugraphique sur 
 les Editions des Elzevirs) at Paris, 1S22, 8vo. no notice should be 
 taken of the magnificent folio impression of the French Bible by 
 Louis and Daniel Elzevir, in 1669, 2 vols. folio. Perhaps the finest 
 copy of this book in the world, is in the Althorp Library. It is on 
 large paper, and had been Lamoignon’s. But it is not very rare 
 upon large paper j and a copy of this kind will be found in the library 
 at Worlinghara, (see p. 8,) very fair, and fine. Abroad, it is rather 
 of common occurrence, in most public libraries. 
 
 * I may here however remark, that the Edinburgh edition of the 
 English Bible of 1811, 12mo., is, when found upon large paper, a 
 much more beautiful book than the above vaunted diamond letter 
 Bible of Richlieu. But those will be fortunate who get this Edin- 
 burgh edition upon large paper, as only twenty-five copies were 
 printed. Earl Spencer’s copy was obtained of Mr. Triphook. 
 
GERMAN BIBLES. 
 
 19 
 
 the one or the other of these impressions, let the Col- 
 lector go immediately to the supposed best edition of 
 Luther's version, in 1541 ; considering the intermediate 
 impression as rather curious than necessary — not but 
 what the possession of the first editions* of such 
 an extraordinary writer as Luther will always com- 
 pensate for the trouble or delay that may attend their 
 acquisition. 
 
 ITALIAN BIBLES. 
 
 After the German versions of the Scriptures, ap- 
 peared those of the Italian, within probably a very 
 few years of each other. I am strenuous and earnest 
 about the recommendation of one or the other of these 
 early versions; not so much on account of their rarity, 
 which is great — especially when in a fine condition — 
 
 * It is somewhat difficult to ascertain with precision the date of 
 the first impression of Luther’s text : but I presume that, whatever 
 be the earliest date of the New Testament, the Old Testament did 
 not appear before 1524: see Bibl. Spenceriana , vol. i. p. 58: and 
 Bibliog. Decameron, \o\ A. p. 164. In the latter authority will be 
 found some particulars about the earlier Bibles, and of that of 1541. 
 Mr. Townley has availed himself of the authorities there referred to, 
 and adds (what is singular enough) from Adler's Biblioth. Bibl. p. 12, 
 that, in a copy of Luther’s Bible of 1545 appear some ms. notes of 
 the same Reformers who had written in the extraordinary copy of 
 the above edition of 1541, which now graces the shelves of Mr. G. 
 Hibbert’s library. Illustrations of Biblical Literature , vol. ii. p. 282. 
 Perhaps there is hardly an impression of Luther’s version, but of 
 which some few copies may not be found printed upon vellum. I 
 observe a copy of the New Testament, printed in this manner at 
 Augsburg, in 1535, Svo. 2 vols., marked at 5 1. in black morocco 
 binding, in Mr. Triphook’s Catalogue of 1815. This was the copy 
 which is now in Lord Spencer’s collection. JEdes Althorp. vol. i. 
 page 117. 
 
20 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 as that they will afford an additional proof (if any 
 were wanting) of the suavity and perfection of the 
 Italian language at the period when these impressions 
 were executed. The translator was Malherbi, 5 * who 
 deserves as well of sacred literature, as Boccaccio 
 does of the belles-lettres. In the sixteenth and seven- 
 teenth centuries, the Collector will rest satisfied with 
 the best editions of the versions and commentaries of 
 Bruccioli, 1546, fol. 3 vols.; and Diodati, 1607, fob; 
 and in the eighteenth century, with that of Martini, 
 1776, in 23 yols. 8vo. 
 
 * This requires qualification, for it is, and is not, true. There 
 were three editions of the Italian version of the Bible put forth in the 
 same year, viz. in 1471- The version published in October, at Rome, 
 is not the same as are those which were published in August and 
 September, at Venice. The text of the two latter was by Nicolo di 
 Malherbi, or Malermi, a Benedictin Monk, and abbot of St. Michael 
 de Lemo. The author of the text of the Roman edition is not, I 
 believe, very accurately known. Consult the Bibl. Spenceriana, vol. 
 i. p. 63-7 J where will also be found a specimen of this Roman text. 
 Of the two Venetian editions, that of August is much the rarer. A 
 copy of it is described in the Mdes Althorpianoe , vol. ii. p. 44 . : but 
 in the collection of Count Melzi, at Milan, there is a magnificent 
 copy upon vellum — which may be ranked among the scarcest and 
 most desirable books in the world. And yet, were the paper copy at 
 Stuttgart perfect, his Majesty of Wirtemberg need not breathe one 
 sigh for the possession even of this membranaceous treasure. The 
 praises of Malherbi, the translator, are thus chanted at the end of the 
 colophon of this August edition, printed by V. de Spira : 
 
 O interprete uiril che per diuino 
 inzegno credo che tu il translatasti 
 non mai diuiso al testual chamino 
 Orinai ciaschun aquestigientil pasti 
 se po inuitar di la sacra scriptura 
 per chui il ben sale et gli uicii son guasti 
 Cosci salendo a la diuina altura. 
 
[ 21 ] 
 
 HEBREW BIBLES. 
 
 Pursuing the chronological order, I must now make 
 mention of a few impressions of the Bible in the 
 Hebrew language, of which the earliest of any por- 
 tion appeared in 1477, in a quarto edition of the 
 Psalter with the commentary of Kimchi.* About five 
 years afterwards, an edition of the Pentateuch , with 
 the commentary of Solomon Jarchi, was put forth at 
 Bologna, in a handsome folio volume and this was 
 
 * This is considered to be the first book printed in the Hebrew 
 language : a specimen of Hebrew characters (evidently cut in wood) 
 may be seen, as published two years before, in the work of Petrus 
 Niger Contra Judceos , printed by Fyner, at Eislingen, on consulting 
 the Bibl. Spencer, vol. iii. p. 432-3. The only copy of this rare Psalter 
 noticed by Brunet, is that in the Crevenna collection — now, I believe, 
 in the Auctarium of the Bodleian library. Earl Spencer has recently 
 become the fortunate owner of a fine and perfect copy. Mr. Horne, 
 in his truly valuable Introduction to the Study of the Holy Scriptures , 
 vol. ii. p. 118, appears to borrow his description of this Psalter from 
 Masch, vol. i. p. 142 ; who, in turn, seems to rely upon De Rossi. 
 This Psalter was reprinted at Naples in 1487., folio. 
 
 f That is, in the year 14S2. Lord Spencer, who has recently 
 enriched his library with many choice specimens of early Hebrew 
 printing, is in possession of a magnificent copy of this edition of the 
 Pentateuch, printed upon vellum, and bound in blue morocco by 
 C. Lewis. It was purchased of Mr. Baynes, bookseller, for IS l. 18 s.; 
 but on its being found to be imperfect, from collation with a perfect 
 copy in the Bodleian library at Oxford, (from the Macarthy collec- 
 tion) the price was diminished $ and the imperfections (2 leaves) 
 were supplied by a fac-simile, by Mr. Harris, executed in a manner 
 so completely satisfactory as almost to deceive the most experienced 
 eye. See the JEdes Althorpianee, vol. ii. p. 316-8 : where a full 
 description of the volume may be found. But a tale of bibliomania- 
 cal melancholy belongs to this sumptuous book. It had been pur- 
 chased abroad by Sir M. M. Sykes, Bart. : and was consigned, with 
 many other precious books, so purchased, to the port of Hull in 
 
22 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 succeeded by separate impressions of remaining por- 
 tions of the Sacred Text in 1486 and 1487 ; till at 
 length the whole Bible appeared in one distinct pub- 
 lication at Soncino in the year 1488.* It is unneces- 
 sary to enumerate the remaining impressions in the 
 fifteenth century ; as Masch and De Rossi have ex- 
 hausted the subject in their several valuable publica- 
 tions ; only it may be permitted me to observe, that 
 
 Yorkshire. The freight was paid. Unluckily, the direction (upon a 
 card) had been rubbed off. The consignee of the case of books being 
 unknown. Government stepped in and claimed the precious cargo 
 for payment of duties. The books were in consequence sold by 
 public auction at the Custom House ; and Mr. Baynes, almost by 
 mere chance, became the purchaser of this and of several other simi- 
 lar treasures, at comparatively moderate prices. It would be dis- 
 tressing to make mention, however slightly, of a few of these (< other 
 treasures:” but when Sir Mark Sykes arrived in London, about a 
 twelvemonth after the sale in question, he learnt and bore the parti- 
 culars of this sad story with the heroism of a true Roxburghe-Club 
 Knight. Note: — I have erroneously said, in the JEd. Althorp . that 
 Mr. Ogle was the purchaser from whom Lord Spencer obtained the 
 copy. It was Mr. Baynes. 
 
 * Masch has exhausted the bibliographical history of this wonder- 
 fully rare book ; of which, I believe, there are only the two copies, 
 (above mentioned,) in England; but neither of them are upon vellum. 
 Tychsenius, in his Tentamen (a sort of critical reply to the ‘ Disser- 
 tatio 9 of Kennicott) accuses this first edition of containing many 
 grievous errors of omission and commission — from which Masch 
 judiciously infers that we must maintain a sort of medium in our 
 judgments upon it : neither to prize it too highly or too low — “ for 
 that, like almost all Greek and Latin books of early printing, it has 
 its advantages and defects.” Bibl. Sacra, Part I. p. 5-7. This 
 edition seems to have been reprinted at Brescia, in 8vo., 1494$ 
 but “ who is the happy man” to be congratulated on the acquisition 
 of this reprint? Masch’ s account of it must put the curious, in early 
 Hebrew lore, into a perfect state of delirium. Well might the late 
 Bishop of Ely often exclaim, “ these early Brescia books are of the 
 extremes! rarity and value !*' 
 
HEBREW BIBLES, 
 
 2 3 
 
 of all the impressions here briefly noticed, that of 
 Soncino is by far the scarcest, and perhaps most valu- 
 able. I believe there are only two copies known to 
 exist in this country ; of which that in the Bodleian 
 library was the Crevenna copy, as described by Brunet. 
 The second is in the library of Exeter college, Oxford.* 
 
 * This copy belonged to a Mr. Sand ford, an amiable, scholar-like, 
 and respectable old gentleman : the friend of Toup, Markland, 
 Cracherode, and of many scholars of that period.f Mr. Sandford 
 always had a notion that he should stumble upon this Bible in Eng- 
 land, and mentioned it to his friends with an air of anticipated tri- 
 umph on its discovery. One day he went into the shop of Mr. Wilson, 
 a bookseller in the Strand, and uncle of Mr. George Nicol, book- 
 seller to his late Majesty. He asked Mr. W. if he had any old 
 Hebrew Bibles in his possession Mr. W. replied, “ he believed 
 he had one , very old one” — and forthwith he shewed it to Mr. Sand- 
 ford. The transport of Mr. S. may be readily conceived, when he 
 found this volume to be the identical editio princeps of the Sacred 
 Text in the Hebrew language. He was silent — except as to asking 
 the price. “ Half-a-Guinea” — was the reply; Down went the 
 money, and up went the book . . . under the arm of Mr. Sandford. 
 Mr. Wilson begged that he might send it home to Mr. Sandford's 
 house : but the wary purchaser would not run the risk of a possibility 
 of its loss on the way, nor could he forego the luxury of being himself 
 the porter of such a burden ! On his death, it became the property 
 
 + The writer of some notes on this work (with the signature of W. H. and living, 
 as I suspect, within the scent of the culinary fragrance of the Alfred club-house) 
 has favoured the public with the following notification of this bibliographical anec- 
 dote “ The writer of these notes was the first person who gave the account of 
 Mr. Sandford’s purchase of the Hebrew Bible, in some anecdotes of Mr. Sandford, 
 printed in the Gentleman’s Magazine for September, 1816, p. 212. Part of these 
 anecdotes have lately found their way into the Oxford Herald, but no notice given 
 from whence they were taken. To that account may be added, that Mr. Fletcher 
 was a partner in the Gazetteer newspaper, with most of the respectable London 
 Booksellers in the old line, and it was at one of their dinners at the Long Room 
 at Hampstead, that Mr. Fletcher presented Mr. Sandford’s additional guinea to 
 Mr. Wilson, who expended it in some additional choice wine for a treat to the 
 company. I heard Mr. Fletcher relate this circumstance to Mr. Sandford, who 
 was much pleased with it.” W. H. 
 
24 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 No copy of it is known in France ; so that I saw and 
 described, with no ordinary sensations of gratifica- 
 tion, the copy which adorns the shelves of the Imperial 
 library at Vienna.* 
 
 The great Star of Hebrew printers in the sixteenth 
 century was Daniel Bomberg , a native of Antwerp, 
 and resident of Venice. His editions of the Bible, 
 with the Targums and Rabbinical Commentaries, are 
 considered to be of great intrinsic value ; especially his 
 third edition of 1547-9, in four folio volumes.'!’ But 
 let the Stephens come in for their due share of praise; 
 and especially the famous R. Stephen, father of the 
 learned Lexicographer, who, in his quarto and duo- 
 
 of Exeter College by bequest. This book is now worth one hun- 
 dred AND FIFTY GUINEAS. 
 
 * See the Tour, vol. iii. p. 486-8. The copy there described “ had 
 had a journey to Paris, and gained a coat of blue morocco by the 
 trip.” It is a clean and beautiful copy, but rather cropt in the 
 binding. But the second edition of the Hebrew Bible, printed be- 
 tween 1488 and 1490, at Naples, is very much scarcer than the first. 
 Of that impression, some particulars will be found in the forthcoming 
 edition of my Introduction to the Classics. 
 
 f Mr. Townley, in his Illustrations of Biblical Literature, vol. ii. 
 p. 46?, has given a short but animated and interesting account of 
 the above early “ Star of Hebrew printers.” Bomberg’s first edi- 
 tion was in 1518 j but afterwards, much improved, in 1525, in four 
 folio volumes. tc A still more ample and complete edition was 
 printed by him in 1547-9, four vols. folio, under the inspection of 
 Cornelius Aldekind, another erudite Jew, with a curious preface by 
 the editor of the edition of 1525 — Jacob Ben Chain — of which a 
 Latin translation is given in Kennicott’s Dissertation, on the state of 
 the printed Hebrew text, 1759, 8vo. pp. 229-244. Dr. Adam Clarke 
 (Gen. Pref. to Comment, p. iv.) characterises this edition of 1547, as 
 the most useful, the most correct, and the most valuable Hebrew 
 Bible ever published.” Townley. It seems to have been overlooked 
 by Brunet. A copy of it is marked in Messrs. Ogle and Duncan’s 
 last catalogue (no. 2189) at 147. 14 s. in russia. 
 
HEBREW BIBLES. 
 
 25 
 
 decirao impressions of the Hebrew Bible, presented the 
 theological world with welcome gifts * 
 
 I pass over those impressions of the Hebrew text 
 which appeared in the several Polyglots of the six- 
 teenth and seventeenth centuries, and conclude this 
 summary list with the recommendation of three in 
 the eighteenth century, which are entitled to distin- 
 guished praise ; that of Michaelis of 1720, in two vols. 
 4to. ; of the learned and excellent Houbigant , of 1753, 
 in four vols. folio ; and of the not less commendable 
 Kennicott, of 1776, in two folio volumes — the latter 
 pronounced to be, by one of the most wary of German 
 critics, “ a first rate, and even unique ornament of a 
 theological collection But yet I will not quarrel 
 with that student or collector, be he young or old, 
 who shall be disposed to add to the foregoing the 
 quarto impression of the recent labours of Jahn.\ 
 
 * The dates and forms of the Stephanine Hebrew Bibles, above 
 alluded to, are these: in 1543, 4to. in two or three volumes — with 
 points : and in the following year in seven or eight volumes, sexto- 
 decimo. Of the former, or quarto impression, I find a “ fine copy, 
 in morocco, gilt leaves, ruled,” marked at 32. 3s. in Mr. Payne’s last 
 catalogue, no. 4S03. Of the latter, a copy in fine condition, bound by 
 Roger Payne, in blue morocco, with gilt leaves,” is marked at 42. 16s. 
 by Mr. Triphook, in his catalogue for 1819, no. 1503. De Bure and 
 Brunet have dwelt with commendable complacency upon the beau- 
 tiful execution of these covetable volumes, in both forms. 
 
 f I will mention the current prices for which these editions may be 
 obtained. Michaelis may be bought for about 1 /. 15s. 5 but, on large 
 paper, in 4to. the catalogues of Mr. Payne and Mr. Ogle concur in 
 affixing double that price. A copy of the latter kind is described in 
 the JEdes Altliorp. vol. i. p. 41. Houbigant' s Hebrew Bible is the 
 dearest of any. It has been known to bring 122. 12s., even at an 
 auction ; which should seem to justify Messrs. Payne and Foss in 
 marking a new and very neat” copy of it at 142. 14 s. 
 
 Of Kennicott' s edition, I believe no copy is known to exist on 
 large paper. It may be obtained in sound condition, and according 
 
[ 26 ] 
 
 GREEK BIBLES. 
 
 Considering the number of Greek works which 
 appeared towards the latter end of the fifteenth, and 
 the very commencement of the sixteenth, century, it 
 may be thought rather a matter of surprise that no 
 Greek version of the Scriptures was published till 
 nearly the lapse of the first twenty years in the latter 
 century. But so it is. If we except the Greek New 
 Testament of Erasmus, and of the Complutensian 
 Polyglot Bible, each in the year 1516,* the Sacred 
 
 to the binding, from 7 1 . 7 s. to 10 Z. 10s. Whoever chooses to seethe 
 merits and demerits (the latter word, however, hardly deserving of a 
 place here) of the labours of Kennicott fairly appreciated, may con- 
 sult Bishop Marsh’s Xlth Lecture 5 but Kennicott’s own Dissertation 
 upon the state of the Hebrew text, with his annual accounts, are a 
 fund of theological learning. To these may be added the pam- 
 phlets of Gifford and King, and the letters of the Abbd de * * * # 
 as well as Kennicott’s remarks on Select Passages, &c., and eight 
 Sermons, 1787, Svo. See Thorpe’s cat. 1822, nos. 13019-13029. 
 Of Jahris edition, in four Svo. volumes, a sewed copy is marked at 
 2/. 12s. 6d. in the catalogue of Messrs. Ogle, Duncan, and Co. 
 Lord Spencer possesses it upon large paper. It was edited and re- 
 published by Frey in 1812, Svo. two vol. But do not let me forget 
 to entice ff the young” Collector to give Leusdens beautiful little 
 edition, in 1701, crown 8vo. a place in his travelling trunk. Nor, 
 aspiring to the more solid and essential purposes of information, 
 should Mr. Boothroyd's cheap and admirable edition of the Hebrew 
 Bible — without points — and accompanied by critical and explanatory 
 notes in the English language —in two 4to. volumes, in 1816 — be 
 omitted to be strongly recommended to the diligent and truth search- 
 ing student. Mr. Horne has dilated somewhat upon the utility of 
 this edition. Introduction , &c. vol. ii. p. 130. 
 
 * It is not often that the New Testament, alone , of Cardinal 
 Ximenes’ Polyglot is found upon sale. I once, however, had a copy 
 of it, with the edges almost uncut : and in Mr. Payne’s last catalogue, 
 (no. 4719) will be found a very fine copy, in blue morocco bind- 
 ing, gilt leaves,” marked at 10/. 10$. Such a sum may be worse 
 
GREEK BIBLES. 
 
 27 
 
 text was unknown as printed in the Greek language 
 till the appearance of the Sepiuagint of Aldus , or 
 rather of Andreas Asulanus, in 1518, folio; a noble 
 effort of the Aldine press, and a great acquisition to 
 the cause of sacred literature. There are copies of this 
 handsome book upon thick paper, but none upon 
 large paper ; and one copy only upon vellum, is 
 recorded by Renouard, which is in the Vatican library. 
 As to critical editions of the Greek Bible, and more 
 especially of the Old Testament, I recommend those 
 of Zanetti, 1586, folio ; Grabe, 1707, folio ; Bos , 1709, 
 4to.; and Holmes , 1797 ; — the latter now in the course 
 of publication.* Of all these, that of the late Dr. 
 
 devoted. To the best of my recollection, there is no copy of the 
 first edition of Erasmus upon vellum : of the second, there are, I 
 think, three copies of such description. One is at Basle, the other is 
 in the library at York Minster, and a third (recently obtained) was 
 the property of the late Sir M. M. Sykes, Bart. This third copy wants 
 the second volume, which has the Latin annotations - } but the Sacred 
 Text is complete. It is in pristine binding and pristine condition : 
 quite beautiful. What is singular, it had lain twenty years upon the 
 shelves ofaLeipsic bookseller, unpurchased — till Sir Mark, in his late 
 tour upon the Continent, secured it for the very moderate sum of 20 1. 
 It was sold at the sale of Sir Mark’s library, last year, for 140Z, 
 
 * The reader may be pleased to consult the lntrod. to the Classics , 
 vol. i. p. 36, for an account of the comparative critical worth of 
 these editions. Beautiful copies of each will be found in the Al- 
 thorp collection $ and especially of that truly splendid impression 
 put forth by Zanetti, under the editorial care of Cardinal Caraffa, in 
 1586. I may here just make brief mention of the fine Latin Bible , 
 printed under the same Cardinal’s auspices, in 1588, as a companion 
 to the preceding — if it be only to notice the beautiful copy of it in 
 the library at Chatsworth, in red morocco, which had belonged to 
 Be Thou. It is not, however, on large paper, nor do I remember 
 any copies that are. The edition of Holmes was omitted to be noticed 
 in the work just referred to. There have been about eighteen parts, 
 at 1 1. Is. each part, already published: forming three volumes in 
 
28 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 Holmes is doubtless the most critical and valuable, as 
 well as the most elaborate. But the want of a pocket 
 Greek Bible, with the text of Bos or of Breitinger,* is 
 yet a desideratum ; unless we except what has re- 
 cently appeared as a portion of Mr. Bagster’s Poly- 
 glot Bible — and a yet more recent impression, execu- 
 ted at Glasgow, “ Typis Academicis a beautiful little 
 church-pew or pocket companion. 
 
 FRENCH BIBLES. 
 
 The Bible did not appear in the French language 
 till the year 1530 rf~ although, about twenty or thirty 
 years before, there might have been portions incorpo- 
 rated into a work called La Bible Historiee. But the 
 first French Protestant Version was not published 
 till 1535, the very year in which appeared our own first 
 version of the Old and New Testaments. I confess 
 that I am anxious that a copy of each of these well- 
 
 folio. See Bishop Marsh’s Xllth. Lecture, for a character of this 
 publication. 
 
 * Of the edition of Breitinger, which is careful and correct, a copy 
 was sold at the sale of the late Dr. Gosset’s library, (A. D. 1813, no. 
 741) with the ms. notes of Caesar de Missy, for 41. 11 s. 
 
 + By Martin Lempereur, in folio. I should rather have said, that 
 the first French edition of the Old Testament appeared in 1523, 
 12mo. and of the New , in 1477, or thereabouts. See the authorities 
 in the JEdes Althorp. vol. i. p. 57- Of the above edition, printed 
 at Antwerp, in folio, I find a (t neat copy” marked at 21. 2 s. in Mr. 
 Triphook’s catalogue of 1808 ; and a copy of an edition in the follow- 
 ing year, printed at Lyons, in folio, marked at the same price. I 
 never saw this latter edition. Martin Lempereur republished his 
 Bible of 1530, in 1538 j and if I were called upon to mention, from 
 memory, the finest copy of this latter Bible ever seen by me, I should 
 say it was in the library at Worlingham, in Suffolk : see p. 8, ante. 
 This copy is in fine original stamped calf binding, clean and sound 
 throughout : and is surely upon large paper, if large paper there be ! 
 
ENGLISH BIBLES. 
 
 29 
 
 printed and by no means high priced, volumes — may 
 adorn the shelves of a well chosen library. As to 
 subsequent impressions in the same tongue, and with 
 the Roman Catholic text, the studious may rest well 
 contented with the excellent edition, in French and 
 Latin, published at Toulouse in 1779, 8vo. in nine- 
 teen vols. ; and of which a beautiful reprint is now in 
 the course of publication.* I consider this latter 
 production as an almost sine qud non in a library 
 more especially theological. 
 
 ENGLISH BIBLES. 
 
 It is with feelings of no ordinary gratification that I 
 now come to the mention of our own printed version 
 of the Sacred Text; and if I am here rather more 
 diffuse than in the enumeration of the foregoing ver- 
 sions, I hope to be readily pardoned. First and fore- 
 most, let “ the Young Man,” — especially if he be 
 destined for holy orders — get possession of every 
 authentic piece from the pens of Tyndal and Cover- 
 dale j-f* whether they exhibit, or not, the previous 
 
 * I sincerely hope that the day is not far distant, when the quarto 
 Bible of Drs. D’Oyly and Mant may be reprinted in six or eight 
 goodly octavo tomes, of respectable execution, to range with the 
 above mentioned edition, or with similar sized impressions of the 
 works of our eminent Divines. What a comfort it was to the pro- 
 fession of the Law, when Bacon and Comyns made their appear- 
 ance in royal octavos ! 
 
 flam not sure whether the names of Frith and Barnes ought 
 not to be added to the above. Indeed the works of Tyndal, Frith* 
 and Barnes, were published together in one folio volume in 1573 : 
 see Typog. Antiquities, vol. iv. p. 430. I possess copious MS. extracts 
 from this precious volume ; and once possessed a fresh and fair copy 
 of it, divided into two parts, and bound in old yellow morocco, 
 which was obtained from Mr. R. Triphook. But from the extracts 
 
so 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 labours of Wicliffe. Champions, as the two former 
 were, of our early church, during the more critical 
 period of her struggles with the see of Rome, they yet 
 stand out . . as “ burning and shining lights” . . whose 
 radiance ought to illuminate our understandings, and 
 
 which remain, I cannot refrain from giving the reader the following 
 specimen of Barnes — from his “ Articles condemned for Heresie.” 
 The concluding sentence is glorious ! 
 
 “ The Bishop of London, that was then called Tunstall, after 
 my departure out of prison, said unto a substantial man, that I was 
 not dead (for I dare say his conscience did not reckon me such an 
 heretic that I would have killed myself, as the voice went ; but yet 
 would he have done it gladly of his charity) but I was (said he) in 
 Amsterdam j where I had never been in my life (as God knoweth, 
 nor yet in the country this x years) — and certain men did there 
 speak with me (said he) — and he fained certain words that they 
 should say to me, and I to them ? and added thereunto, that my 
 Lord Cardinal [Wolsey] would have me again, or it should cost 
 him a great sum of money — how much, I do not clearly remember. 
 I have marvel that my Lord is not ashamed, thus shamefully, and 
 thus lordly to lye, although he might do it by authority. And when 
 my Lord Cardinal and he would spend so much money to have me 
 again, I have great marvel of it. What can they make of me ? I am 
 a simple poor wretch, and worth no man’s money in the world 
 (saving their’s) — not the tenth penny that they will give for me. 
 And to burn me, or to destroy me, cannot so greatly profit them : for 
 when I am dead, the sun and the moon, the stars and the elements, 
 water and fire, yea, and also stones, shall defend this cause against 
 them, rather than the verity should perish !'* p. 215. 
 
 The following is from his “ Priests may lawfully marry Wives — 
 “ Upon a day St. Gregory sent unto his ponds for fish, and in the 
 nets that they fish withall, were brought up above six thousand 
 young children’s heads : the which thing, when St. Gregory saw, 
 struck him sore to the heart — and he was very heavy of that sight 
 — and perceived anon, that his decree that he made for priests 
 chastity, was the occasion of this great murder — in that the priests 
 could not live sole, nor yet they durst not avow their children for 
 fear of the decree. And so for safeguard of their honesty, they fell 
 into a fearful abominable sin to kill their own children.’* p. S28. 
 
ENGLISH BIBLES. 
 
 31 
 
 whose warmth ought to penetrate our hearts. But 
 for them and their labours, the examples of Cran- 
 mer and Latimer had been unproductive of a glori- 
 ous issue. The seed, sown by their editions of the 
 sacred text, was watered with the blood of our first 
 Martyrs : and has hence grown up into a goodly tree, 
 whose boughs have overspread the land, and whose 
 fruit hath nourished the fainting soul. Let such 
 names, among ourselves, be held in the same reve- 
 rence and respect as are those of Luther and Me- 
 lanchthon among our neighbours ! 
 
 To come to particulars. The New Testament was 
 first published, without a date, but about the year 
 1526, in a duodecimo volume. Having before* de- 
 scribed the most perfect, but not, as hitherto sup- 
 posed, the only copy, of this inestimable volume, it 
 remains to add, that, about four years afterwards 
 (1530) appeared the Pentateuch in the same form — 
 reprinted in 1534f as an attempt, or prelude, as it 
 
 * Bibliographical Decameron , vol. i. p. 173-4. Dr. Cotton ha 3 
 found a portion of a second copy of this first edition, in the library 
 of St. Paul’s cathedral, which was lettered Lant’s Testament $” 
 and of which the leaves were misplaced in the binding. This book 
 I have examined j and, as the reader will suppose, with no small 
 satisfaction — as the copy, although imperfect, (beginning with the 
 sign. A v) is fair and sound. But my satisfaction would have been 
 greater, if the monitory MS. note, prefixed by Dr. Cotton, had been 
 attended to. Such a volume should be rebound with every degree 
 of care and beauty. It is at present in a most sorry state : a state, 
 I will be bound to say, unknown to the Dean and Chapter. Not 
 many feet from this precious little volume, there stands a rare im- 
 pression of the New Testament, translated into Dutch, and printed 
 at Antwerp in 1553, 12mo. with neat little wood cuts, and a fine 
 head of our Saviour in the frontispiece. As a specimen of printing, 
 this book is peculiarly beautiful. 
 
 f In the library of St. Paul’s cathedral, there is a beautiful and 
 
32 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 were, to an edition of the entire sacred text, compre- 
 hending both Testaments. The completion of this 
 arduous task was reserved for Miles Cover dale, and 
 the impression appeared in 1535, in a folio volume, 
 printed in double columns, in a foreign secretary- 
 gothic type — as, it is supposed, from the press of a 
 Zurich printer. A perfect copy of this exceedingly 
 rare, and proportionably estimable, volume, is, I think, 
 yet unknown : as all those, of which I have any know- 
 ledge, are deficient in some one respect or other. * 
 
 This holy and most desirable work being accom- 
 plished, it wanted not imitators and abettors. Cover- 
 dale’s book was reprinted, with more or less trifling 
 corrections and additions, in 1537, 1539, 1540; and 
 yet more magnificently in 1568.^ The Bibles, of 
 
 genuine copy of this second edition of Tindal’s version of the Penta- 
 teuch, in original calf binding, with stamped arabesque borders and 
 heads. 
 
 * A particular description of this rare and highly valuable book 
 will be found in the Biblioth. Spencer, vol. i. p. 78, and in Cotton, 
 p. 3-111. See also the JEdes Althorpiance , vol. i. p. 61. Imperfect 
 copies are by no means very uncommon. In that most curious and 
 magnificent old library at Blickling, in Norfolk, the seat of the 
 Noble Family of the Hobarts, there are two copies of this descrip- 
 tion ; of which one begins with fol. iii. of the Old Testament, having 
 the remainder apparently perfect — and with fol. ii. to fol. cij. of the 
 New Test. In the other copy all the introductory pieces are wanting : 
 but the text, from beginning to end, is quite perfect. A very imper- 
 fect copy is in the library of Castle Ashby, in Northamptonshire, the 
 seat of the Marquis of Northampton. Dr. Cotton’s list will supply 
 notices of other copies. 
 
 f Perfect copies of these Bibles, especially of that of Matthewe of 
 1537* are of the extremest rarity. A perfect copy of the latter was 
 purchased at a late sale, at Mr. Sotheby’s for \7l. 17$. by Mr. Trip- 
 hook, and is now the property of Mr. Heber. But at the sale of Sir 
 M. Sykes’s library (1824) a perfect copy of it, which had been Guls- 
 ton’s, was pushed to the extraordinary price of J5l. and was purchased 
 
ENGLISH BIBLES, 
 
 33 
 
 these dates, are called under the names of those of 
 Matthewe, Taverner, Cranmer, and the Bishops ; 
 and are all printed in a handsome folio form, but are 
 
 by Messrs. Rivington and Cochrane, The cause of its rarity,, even 
 in an imperfect state, is obvious enough. Many a copy, which had 
 survived the cupidity of the searchers, during the reign of Mary, 
 was negligently treated by the posterity of their first possessors 
 placed in dark and damp holes and corners — a prey to rats and mice 
 — or to perish from rain and mildew. How many copies, too, of 
 these earlier Protestant Bibles were flung into the fires which con- 
 sumed the Martyrs in Smithfield? Perhaps even Cranmer’ s funeral 
 pile was lighted with the leaves of his own Bible ! There is always a 
 keen and cutting spirit of sarcasm in religious persecution : even on 
 both sides of the question. 
 
 It may be as well to remark, that detailed descriptions of the above 
 rare Bibles of 1537, 1539, 1540, and 1568, appear in the AEdes 
 AUhorpiana and that all the editions by Grafton, Whitchurch 
 and Day — the great typographical triumvirate of the middle of the 
 sixteenth century— are described in vol. iii. p. 434-498, and vol. iv. 
 p. 5 7-65 — of the recent edition of our Typographical Antiquities . 
 Lewis and Dr. Cotton have also given detailed accounts of several : 
 but the work of Lewis stands in direful need of revision and enlarge- 
 ment. Of the Bibles, just mentioned, that of Grafton of 1540, 
 executed under the patronage of Abp. Cranmer, is one upon which 
 the greatest typographical luxury appears to have been bestowed. It 
 should seem that there are two known copies of it upon vellum : 
 one in the British Museum, and the other in St. John’s College libra- 
 ry, Cambridge. In a catalogue of the books of “ WiLjam Stewart, 
 Esq. at Spout wells,” sold at Perth by D. Morison, Jun. Bookseller, 
 in 1817, see no. 664 — there appears to have been a copy of Redman's 
 rare edition in folio, of the same year with Grafton’s, 1540 : there 
 called “ the scarcest of all the old English translations of the Bible:’* 
 but (in the usual strain of lamentation !) the copy unfortunately 
 begins with fol. <2 j but is otherwise perfect and in fine preserva- 
 tion.” Why Mr. M should say, “ the history of it is unknown,” I 
 cannot discover. A particular description of it is given in the 
 Typog. Antiq. vol. iii. 309 j and so far from the copy of it in Ema- 
 nuel College library, being the only one upon paper of which we 
 have an account,” Dr. Cotton notices three others — one in the 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 very difficult to acquire in a clean and perfect state. 
 A careful perusal of them shews how little is to be 
 gained from a recasting of the version. There is a 
 strength, simplicity, and perspicuity, about our old 
 version, which carries a charm and a conviction about 
 it, not to be easily described. But here I must not 
 omit the notice of what is called the Geneva Version 
 of the Bible , printed in a small roman type, and with 
 indifferent workmanship, in 1560, 4to. It is, of its 
 kind, a sort of parent text ; and is now become rare ; 
 but no early English Bible is likely to be found in a 
 more soiled and injured state, and it is seldom per- 
 fect. As Dr. Cotton has justly observed, “ this ver- 
 sion was for many years the most popular one in Eng- 
 land, as its numerous editions testify. The copy at 
 
 British Museum, a second in Herbert’s collection, and a third in the 
 library of St. Paul’s cathedral.* The King, according to Mr. Mori- 
 son, possesses it upon vellum. I doubt if this be the case. 
 
 It would only deceive the reader to lay down any thing in the 
 shape of canons for the prices of these old Bibles. They are seldom 
 or never perfect, and still more seldom in a clean condition. Like 
 diamonds of a different character, their value increases greatly in 
 proportion to size and colour. Let no man buy these ancient trea- 
 sures without ocular demonstration : for here, in particular, is the 
 truth of Addison’s remark abundantly proved. — “ Our sight (says 
 that elegant writer) is the most perfect and most delightful of all 
 our senses.” Spectator , no. 411. Consult also Todd's Vindication of 
 the Translation of the Bible , p. 25, &c. 
 
 * I have cursorily examined the black letter folio editions of the English Bible 
 in this library. They present a sorry appearance, being much after the fashion 
 of a certain regiment, of which the commander “ flatly” refused to march them 
 through Coventry. Doubtless they stand in great need of better clothing.' They 
 are about twenty in number, and the only perfect one is that of Grafton, 1541, 
 but in a loose state. There is an edition by Hyll and Reynolds, in 1549, folio, 
 being a reprint of Matthewes of 1537 which, at first sight, may be mistaken for 
 that rare edition. It is a sound copy, but wants the frontispiece, &c. Of Tindal’s 
 New Testament, in this library, I have said somewhat in a preceding page. 
 
ENGLISH BIBLES. 
 
 35 
 
 Baliol College, Oxford, is an exceedingly fine one, 
 printed on large paper 
 
 The earliest impression in Scotland was in 1576-9, 
 in folio ; but, what may probably surprise the reader, 
 the language is rather English than Scotch. This is a 
 volume of very rare occurrence — in a perfect state-f 
 Early in the seventeenth century appeared what is 
 called our authorized version — under the auspices of 
 James I. : in two stately folio volumes, 1611. A copy 
 of this impression is almost absolutely necessary for 
 every Library which has any claim to be curious or 
 complete : — not however solely for the reason assigned 
 below.J A lover of fine books, and in particular of 
 fine Bibles, will not fail to secure good copies of the 
 impressions by Field , Hayes , Baskett , and Basher - 
 ville ;§ and if he deals in oddities, or capricious dcvi- 
 
 * Dr. Cotton and Dr. Bliss each possess a copy. See Cotton’s 
 Various Editions of the Bible , p. 14. 
 
 f A copy of this very rare book is in the AUhorp Library, as de- 
 scribed in the JEdes Althorp. vol. i. p. 68 — 70. I have seen another 
 copy of it, but in an imperfect state, in the possession of Mr. * * * § * * 
 at Beccles in Suffolk. In Herbert’s interleaved copy of his own 
 work, now in my possession, there is a brief notice of this Scotch 
 Bible, in the hand writing of Gough who had erroneously sup- 
 posed that there was an edition of it in 1576, and another in 1579 : 
 whereas these dates comprehend one and the same impression. 
 The former is attached to the New Testament, and the latter to the 
 Old. 
 
 X There should be an engraved title-page— wanting in the copy 
 at Althorp. See Dr. Cotton’s various editions of the Bible , p. 29. 
 Upon the merits of the version of 1611, read the opinions of sundry 
 learned men quoted in Todd's Mem. of Walton, vol. i. p. 91-2. 
 
 § Fine copies of these Bibles are described in the JEdes Althor - 
 piance , vol. i. p. 76, 80, 81. Of these impressions, that of Baskett, 
 1717, is the most magnificent. There are two copies of it upon 
 vellum. Field’s great Bible of 1660 was an unrivalled specimen of 
 
36 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 ations from the established texts, he will purchase 
 many a curious, antecedent impression. When he 
 
 the press of the times. It also professed to be very carefully and 
 accurately printed, in order to counteract the mischievous effects of 
 many of the errors of preceding editions : and yet it has received a 
 severe censure from Bishop Wetenhal, in his little treatise, entitled 
 t( Scripture authentic and Faith certain ,” 1686, p. 19 — inasmuch as 
 the word Ye was substituted for We. The passage is thus ; from 
 Acts vi. 3. — Look ye out among you seven men of honest report, 
 full of the holy ghost and wisdom, whom We may appoint over this 
 business.” Field, the printer of the Bible in question, had inadver- 
 tently put “Ye may appoint” &c.: upon which the Bishop remarks, 
 that “ it is not improbable it might be done at first with design, and 
 particularly of those who would establish the people’s power, not 
 only in electing, but even in ordaining their own ministers.” “ But 
 I think (says Berriman, very justly) such a heavy charge ought not 
 to be admitted without clear proof : and I confess I know of none. 
 The error might easily happen at the press through negligence : as 
 it is certain many others have done.” I shall have occasion to speak 
 again of Berriman at the end of this note. 
 
 In the old and not incurious library at Worlingham in Suffolk, (see 
 p. 8 ante,) there is a very fine ruled copy, approaching to large 
 paper, of Hayes’s Bible, published at Cambridge in 1674, 2 vols. 
 folio. On the flyleaf of it, is the following memorandum : N.B. 
 This Bible belonged to K. Charles lid. and [was] given by him to 
 Dulce Lauderdale and sold by Auction w 1h y e rest of his Books' ’ In a 
 comparatively modern hand, below, is written in pencil — 
 
 Hark ye, my Friends, that on this Bible look, 
 
 Marvel not at the fairness of the Book ; 
 
 No soil of fingers, nor such ugly things. 
 
 Expect to find. Sirs j for it was y e King's. 
 
 In the same library is also a most beautiful copy, upon large paper 
 (not uncommon) of Buck and Daniel's Bible and Prayer Book , 1638, 
 folio. It is ruled with red lines, with the most elaborate ornament 
 on the sides of the binding : an extraordinary copy. 
 
 Old Tom Fuller, who published his ee Mixt Contemplations on 
 these times," about the same year in which Field’s great Bible ap- 
 
ENGLISH BIBLES. 
 
 S7 
 
 comes down to the present day, he must exercise his 
 choice with great discretion ; and must fortify liim- 
 
 peared, thus notices the errors of many preceding impressions (above 
 aliuded to in the text) under the quaint title of 
 
 “ Fye for shame. 
 
 “ Considering with myself the causes qf the growth and increase 
 of impiety and profaneness in our Land, amongst others this seem- 
 eth to me not the least, viz. the late many false and erroneous impres- 
 sions of the Bible. Now know, what is but carelessness in other 
 books, is impiety in setting forth of the Bible. As Noah in all 
 unclean creatures preserved blit two of a kind, so among some hun- 
 dreds in several editions we will insist onely on two instances. In the 
 Bible printed at London 1653, we read “ 1 Cor. vi. 9- Know ye not 
 that the unrighteous shall inherit the kingdom of God ?” for “ not 
 inherit/’ 
 
 te Now when a reverend Dr. in Divinity did mildly reprove some 
 Libertines for their licentious life, they did produce this text from the 
 authority of this corrupt edition, in justification of their vicious and 
 inordinate conversations. 
 
 te The next instance shall be in the Bible printed at London in 
 quarto, (forbearing the name of the Printer, because not done wil- 
 fully by him) in the singing Psalms, Psal. lxvii. 2. 
 
 " That all the Earth may know 
 , The way to Worldly Wealth," for 
 “ Godly wealth." 
 
 “ It is too probable, that too many have perused and practised this 
 erroneous impression, namely such, who by plundering, oppressing, 
 cosening, force and fraud, have in our age suddenly advanced [to] 
 vast estates.” 
 
 Berriman, (before mentioned) in his “ Critical Dissertation, upon 
 1 Tim. iii. 16, 1741, 8vo. p. 52-3, also notices several glaring and 
 unpardonable blunders in the impressions of the Bible during the 
 xvnth century : of which the chief are these. In a Bible printed in 
 the reign of Charles I. the word not was left out in the vnth com- 
 mandment. Selden in his Table Talk , art. Bible, sect. XI. says, “ a 
 thousand copies” were printed with the omission of the “ not.” And 
 Heylin, in his Life of Laud, Book iii. p. 228, fixes it in the year 
 
38 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 self, as much 1 as possible, against the seductive influ- 
 ence of brilliant types, hot-pressed paper, ample 
 margins, and embellishments (in the character of 
 Engravings) of all forms and descriptions. 
 
 In selecting what I call a good, critical, edition of 
 the English Bible, with explanatory notes, let the 
 united labours of Patrick, Lowth, and Whitby, in 
 seven folio volumes, (1731) suffice; but if destitute 
 of these aids, let the recent labours of Doctors D'Oyly 
 and Mant satisfy abundantly both the anxious and 
 enlightened reader. The notes in this edition, every 
 one of which is taken from the annotations of some 
 Divine of established reputation, contain an admirable 
 
 1632. “ His Majesty (Charles 1.) being made acquainted with it, 
 
 by the Bishop of London, order was given for calling the Printers 
 into the High Commission : where, upon evidence of the fact, the 
 whole impression was called in, and the Printers deeply fined, as 
 they justly merited.” In this same reign, an edition of the Bible was 
 printed in which the text ran (Ps. xiv. 1.) ff The fool hath said in 
 his heart there is a God.” Mr. Nye (in his defence of the canon 
 of the New Testament) tells us that, in consequence, “ the Printers 
 were fined 3000/. and all the copies were suppressed by the King’s 
 order.” If the fact be thus, the punishment seems to have been 
 frightfully disproportionate : for the error might have been com- 
 mitted, through inadvertency, by the most respectable Printers. 
 The wonder is, even in this our day, not that errors very frequently 
 occur (which they do) but that more errors are not discernible — con- 
 sidering the millions of Bibles which perhaps half a dozen years 
 bring forth. It were well, however, if a little more attention were 
 sometimes paid to the texts of our Prayer Books. The most care- 
 ful clergyman may commit more than one error in the course of his 
 perusal of some impressions ; among which it pains a dutiful son of 
 Alma Mater, to declare, that in an Oxford edition of the Liturgy, of 
 1813, 4to. the second line " O Lamb of God that takest away the 
 sins of the world," is printed (at the end) “ the sins of the Lord a 
 very gross, and scarcely venial, fault. 
 
ENGLISH BIBLES. 
 
 39 
 
 body of Christian theology.* He however, who shall 
 want the means, rather than the inclination, to pur- 
 chase Patrick, and his fellow commentators — or the 
 biblical labours of Doctors D’Oyly and Mant — need 
 not hesitate to secure a neatly bound copy of Bishop 
 Wilsons Bible ; which, till lately, was the usual par- 
 lour companion of orthodox families. Whatever that 
 excellent prelate did, he did, literally and truly, “ to 
 the glory of God and if ever an English Bishop may 
 be said to have been primitive, and almost apostoli- 
 cal, it was Wilson : who presided over the See of 
 Sodor and Man. His Bible is now depreciated in 
 pecuniary value, not because its intrinsic worth is not 
 as highly respected as ever, but because the more 
 extended labours of subsequent Commentators have 
 greatly superseded its utility. There was a time, 
 scarcely seven years ago, when Collectors went me- 
 lancholy, or raving mad, if they possessed not the 
 large paper of Bishop Wilsons Bible !f That time is 
 
 * Among the surest tests of the value and importance of this edi- 
 tion, is the anecdote furnished me by a most respectable divine of 
 our church — namely, that in some of the great provincial towns, 
 where there is a most rapid, mustard-and-cress growth of the lowest 
 order of what are called Evangelicals , — the work, under considera- 
 tion, is pronounced to be fit only for a lumber room ? Mr. Hart- 
 well Horne informs me that Bishop Hobart has reprinted the Bible 
 in question with practical observations for family use.” As if there 
 were no practical utility in the observations and notes already sub- 
 joined ! 
 
 I may here make honourable mention of Mr. Boothroyd’s new 
 Family Bible and Improved Version , just finished in 3 quarto volumes. 
 His edition of the Hebrew Bible is noticed at p. 26, ante. Old 
 Stackhouse, the friend of our earlier days, has been put into a more 
 practical and useful form by Bishop Gleig of Stirling. This work, 
 published at M. 14s. 6d. may be had for half that sum. 
 
 •t B should be observed, that to Bishop Wilson’s Bible there is. 
 
40 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 past . . probably never to return. However, there is 
 an edition, called the standard edition, printed at 
 Oxford in 1769, in quarto (of which large paper 
 copies* are of excessive rarity — that part of the 
 impression having been destroyed by fire) which was 
 seen through the press by the late Dr. Blayney. 
 There be those who r est exclusively satisfied with this 
 handsome edition. Let it not, however be said that 
 I wish to exclude, from the cabinets of the curious or 
 pious, those impressions of the Sacred Text which 
 
 prefixed, a list of English Bibles, taken chiefly from the privately 
 printed list of Dr. Ducarel, in 1778, 8vo. ; and which is very credi- 
 tably executed by Mr. Cruttwell of Bath, where the work was pub- 
 lished. There are also various readings from our older Bibles, 
 between the text and notes, throughout. Upon the whole, this pub- 
 lication of the Sacred Text will be yet found to have its useSi 
 
 Among the highest prices given for a morocco-coated copy of this 
 Bible upon large paper, was that of 58 1. 165. — at the sale of the 
 late Colonel Stanley’s books, when it was purchased by Messrs. 
 Arch for Sir M, M. Sykes, Bart. On the appearance of the Oxford 
 Bible (I speak of that of Drs. D’Oyly and Mant) the price, both 
 of large and small paper copies, fell sensibly and rapidly ; and I find 
 that the same booksellers who purchased the Stanley copy, became 
 purchasers also of the large paper copy at the sale of the library of 
 the late Queen Charlotte. This copy was bound in blue morocco, 
 and is introduced in their Catalogue for 1821 (no. 706) at the dimi- 
 nished price of 261. 5s. At the time of penning this note, there is 
 probably the finest known copy of Patrick and Whitby’s, &c. on sale, 
 at Mr. Thorpe’s, in seven volumes bound in russia. It was once the 
 property of Mr. Ormerod,tlie late Vicar of Kensington; who pur- 
 chased it for 12 1. 12s., and who, on several occassions, was wont to 
 expatiate upon its beauty and completeness. 
 
 * Mr. Triphook informs me that very few copies were printed of 
 this impression on large paper in folio ; and that a copy of this 
 sort, in the possession of the publishers of this work, in morocco 
 binding, is valued at Si. 8s. The small paper is also rather an un- 
 common book. 
 
ENGLISH BIBLES. 
 
 4 1 
 
 were put forth in the dissenting school of Divinity. 
 Far indeed be it from me to question the good to be 
 derived from the pious exertions of Henry, Gill, 
 Clarke, Scott, and similar Annotators.* 
 
 And thus much for Bibles in the Latin, German, 
 
 * It may be worth while to state the best editions of the works of 
 these eminent dissenting Divines ; that is to say, the best editions of 
 their labours or annotations upon the Bible. Henby’s Exposition of 
 the Old and New Testaments first appeared, collectively, in 1710, five 
 vols. folio? but the recent edition of 1810, in six vols. 4to., is the 
 best-— as the last volume contains additional matter from the author’s 
 MSS. left at his decease. Henry was a truly pious and excellent 
 man, and his annotations (evincing, however, less learning and acu- 
 men than are to be found in Gill) are still the delight of that parti- 
 cular sect called “Evangelical.” Dr. Gill’s Exposition of the New 
 Testament was published in 1746, &c. three vols. folio : of the Old 
 in 1748, &c. nine vols. folio : but the work, advancing in reputation 
 and price, became rare — so as to induce Mr. Bagster to put forth a 
 new edition of the whole, in ten vols. 4to. I recommend the anno- 
 tations of Gill to every theological collector ; and those who have 
 the quarto edition will probably feel disposed to purchase Gill’s Body 
 of Practical Divinity, containing some account of his Life, Writings, 
 and Character, in two vols. quarto, 1773. These two volumes are 
 worth about VI. 15s. The labours of Dr. Adam Clarke upon the 
 Bible “ with a commentary, and critical notes, designed as a help 
 to the better understanding of the Sacred Writings,” are yet in a 
 course of publication ; but three volumes, in 4to. may be had entire. 
 They appear in numbers or parts, and have met with an extensive 
 and prosperous sale. The learning (especially in the Hebrew and 
 Oriental languages) of the Editor and the respectability of his charac- 
 ter, render his performance an acceptable acquisition to the libraries 
 of Christians of every denomination. 
 
 The late Thomas Scott, Rector of Aston Sandford, published an 
 edition of the Bible, with critical notes and a commentary, of which 
 the best edition is that of 1822, 4to. 6 vols. — and whoever will con- 
 sult Mr. Hartwell Horne’s Introduction, & c. vol. ii. p. 835-7, will be 
 put in possession of the leading ynaterials of this elaborate produc- 
 tion : from which he will form his judgment accordingly. 
 
42 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 Italian, French, and English languages, in the chro- 
 nological order in which they appear to have been 
 published. A word — and but little more than a word 
 — respecting 
 
 GREEK TESTAMENTS. 
 
 The choice of editions of these precious volumes is 
 perplexing, and the number of them almost count- 
 less. Yet I venture upon the recommendation of 
 the following ; from which two or three may be se- 
 lected. I deem the Complutensian impression, and 
 the first two of Erasmus , 1516-1519, indispensable 
 in a professedly biblical collection : as I do the parent 
 texts of Stephen , 1550, folio, and the Elzevir , 1624, 
 12mo. To these let the critical editions of Bengel , 
 1734, 4to. Wetsten , 1751, folio, Griesbach , 1796, 
 8vo.* Matthei , 1782, 8vo. and Alter, 1786, 8vo. be 
 
 * Consult Bishop Marsh's Seventh Lecture, (1810., part 11,) upon 
 the merits of Wetsten and Griesbach : of the former, he says 
 “ he alone contributed more to advance the criticism of the Greek 
 Testament, than all who had gone before him : and this task he per- 
 formed, not only without support, either public or private, but dur- 
 ing a series of severe trials, under which a mind of less energy than 
 Wetsten’s would infallibly have sunk. In short, he gave a new turn 
 to the criticism of the Greek Testament, and laid the foundation on 
 which later editors have built,” p. 23. Yet is Griesbach’s, on very 
 many accounts, the preferable edition : not so much for philological 
 notes, as for the establishment of the text on the purest critical prin- 
 ciples. “ The days are gone’’ when Wetsten’s two closely printed 
 folios are to be obtained (as I once obtained them, about sixteen 
 years ago) for 2 1. 105. half bound, uncut! Wetsten, clad in goodly 
 calf or russia, is worth 5 1. 5 s. even at an auction. The late un- 
 fortunate Mr. Lunn, the bookseller, (one of the best natured, and 
 most kindly disposed creatures in the world) had a passion for pur- 
 chasing all the copies of Wetsten upon which he could lay his hands. 
 
GREEK TESTAMENTS. 
 
 43 
 
 added. Again, if a selection only from the preceding 
 be requisite, I should recommend the editions of Ste- 
 phen, Wetsten , and Griesbach. Happy, and more 
 than thrice happy, is that “ Young Man,” who, “ with 
 means, and appurtenances to boot,” has the taste and 
 zeal to indulge himself in a collection of the Inspired 
 Writings, far beyond the narrowed limits (prescribed 
 from necessity) which the foregoing pages disclose : 
 who, in all the turnings and windings of the Book- 
 mania, casts an anxious eye upon many a stately folio, 
 and many a beautiful duodecimo, of which the merits 
 have not been here sufficiently appreciated, or the 
 beauty sufficiently depicted: — which have escaped 
 the researches of Masch, and eluded the vigilance of 
 Adler. Here, (in the department of the New Tes- 
 tament alone) the ten folios of Erasmus stand in 
 one compact body of russia binding ; there, the ornate 
 Stephanine text — coated in old French morocco, 
 with mellow gilt tooling — from the duodecimo O 
 mirificam to the reprint of the last folio edition — 
 catches and comforts his rejoicing eye ! Yonder, are 
 all the Elzevirs , uncut, in primitive state of vellum 
 binding ; terminated by the diminutive Sedan* and 
 incomparable Bleau! Beneath are the lusty folios of 
 
 in Holland : and told me, that, in consequence, there was scarcely 
 a copy obtainable upon the Continent. He was doubtless smitten 
 with a Wetsten mania. Griesbach is common in 8vo. but the large 
 paper copies in 4to. will sometimes bring 1 9,1. 125. The late Duke 
 of Grafton had these large paper printed at his own expense, but 
 my vision is too obtuse, or my taste too uncultivated to call them 
 handsome. 
 
 * In the fine library at Blickling, (see p. 30,) ante, is an extraor- 
 dinary and perhaps unique copy of this diminutive volume : it is 
 uncut , having every other leaf upon large paper. 
 
44 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 Gregory, Mill, and Kuster — all in good old Oxford 
 bindings, upon large and lovely paper : such as we 
 must almost despair to see revived “in these degene- 
 rate days !” 
 
 LITURGY. 
 
 It may be expected that I should say something 
 about the editions of our Liturgy — as the next volume, 
 in the estimation of the orthodox reader, to that of the 
 Bible. But in truth, there is little, bibliographically 
 speaking, which can be advanced upon the subject. 
 The origin of our Prayers must be sought for in the 
 devotional volumes belonging to ancient Cathedral 
 Services* — and of these, again, in the compositions 
 
 * The ancient Services of Salisbury, York, and Hereford cathe- 
 drals — and especially that of the former — have been chiefly consulted. 
 Upon these, the reader may examine the notes in the Bibliog. Deca - 
 meron , vol. i. p. 9-12 ; and particularly the work of Gough, to which 
 they frequently refer. I am, however, enabled to add a remark or 
 two, which may be worth intruding in this place. The first edition 
 of the York Missal is allowed to be in 1516 ; but the Breviary was 
 printed in 1493, and the Manual in 1509, 4to.by Wynkin de Worde. 
 Of this latter volume, I was wholly ignorant, — (both in the Deca- 
 meron and Typog. Antiq.) till recently furnished, by the kindness of 
 Earl Spencer, with a description of a very fine copy of it, having 
 many rough leaves, in old calf binding, with the Wentworth arms, 
 in the library of Earl Fitz william, at Wentworth House 
 After the date, it has these verses : 
 
 Sane hoc volumen digessit arte magister 
 Wynandus de Worde incola londonii. 
 
 It contains a to m, in eights, and n with six leaves, 
 in the Cathedral library at Salisbury, a beautiful copy of the Salis- 
 bury Missal, of 152 7 > folio, printed by Prevost : to which, from 
 sundry ms. notes prefixed, a great importance seems to be attached; 
 but, in truth, this very edition has passed through my hands (though 
 
 , in Y orkshire. 
 
 They preserve 
 
PRAYER BOOKS 
 
 45 
 
 of the Fathers of the Church. The whole is a 
 goodly tree, springing out of the soil of Scripture, and 
 bearing fruit of various hues and qualities. We pre- 
 sume that, among the varieties of this tree, that which 
 throws its branches round the Church of England — 
 and which has not only yielded shelter from the storm, 
 and shade from the heat, to countless generations, 
 
 not in such really beautiful condition) more than once, and a mode- 
 rate price has been paid for it. The story, belonging to its acqui- 
 sition, at Salisbury, is briefly this. The copy in question was once 
 Bishop Burnet's, whose arms are pasted on the reverse of the first 
 leaf, and who is said to have given 17 1. for it. From the Bishop, it 
 went into the hands of Tom Rawlinson, of celebrated bibliomaniacal 
 memory, whose characteristic C and P ( Collated and Perfect) are on 
 the frontispiece. After him, James West became its owner: and, 
 more recently, it was obtained by the late Mr. Brande. It hence 
 became the property of a Mr. Hurley — whose real name, according 
 to a letter of the present Bishop of Salisbury, inserted, was Wilcocks 
 — and it was placed in its present situation by the said Mr. Hurley. 
 The last ms. note, purporting it to be printed upon vellum,” is in- 
 correct : it has only the burial service, of four leaves, beginning Te 
 igitur clementissime pater ” — so printed : which is generally the case. 
 The value of such a copy may be bl. 5s. 
 
 But it is also in the editions of the Liber Festivalis Directo- 
 rium Sacerdotum, and books of this sort, that the origin of our 
 Prayer Book may be traced. Caxton printed both these books, and 
 W. de Worde and Pynson frequently reprinted them. From the 
 former, of the date of 1483, 1 present the reader with the first printed 
 English version of the Lord’s Prayer. ec Father our that art in 
 heavens, hallowed be thy name : thy kingdom come to us ; thy will be 
 done in earth as is in heaven ; our every days bread give us to day ; and 
 forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us ; 
 and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from all evil sin, amen!' 
 See the Typ. Antiq. vol, i. p. 164. The Lord’s Prayer, Creed, Ave 
 Maria, &c. were sometimes printed separately, in a small 4to. form : 
 and a very rare edition of this kind, printed by W. de Worde, is in 
 the Public library at Cambridge, among Bishop More’s books. 
 
46 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 but has invigorated both young and old with the 
 flavour and nutrition of its fruit — in other words, the 
 Liturgy of the Church of England — is eminently en- 
 titled to distinction and commendation. Stripped of 
 the mummery of idle forms, and communicating di- 
 rectly with the heart, our Rationale of public prayers 
 has been seldom criticised (even by the bitterest of its 
 assailants) without respect, or meditated upon without 
 advantage. 
 
 I can, however, do little more than make brief 
 mention of editions of Prayer Books, beginning with 
 the first impression in 1549, in folio, published in the 
 reign of Edward VI. : but which of these three impres- 
 sions, of the same dominical year, and sometimes 
 month, is to be considered as the 'parent text, I will 
 not pretend to determine. Certain it is, that Mr. 
 Heber, whose marvellous collection is rich almost to 
 overflowing, in every department, is yet undetermined 
 upon the point.* 
 
 * When such a man as Mr. Heber doubts, such a man as he, who 
 records his doubting, must not attempt to ascertain and establish any 
 very decisive particulars upon the subject. However, if any one will 
 take the trouble to wade through the quantity of detail respecting 
 this point, in the Typog. Antiq, vol. iii. p. 463-6 — he may endeavour 
 to come to some conclusion therupon. Oswen, a provincial printer 
 at Worcester, published Grafton’s text the same year, in May, in4to. 
 See Bibliog. Decameron , vol. i. p. vii., note. Lord Spencer not only 
 possesses Oswen’s impression, but three copies of that of Grafton, 
 differing in several particulars from each other. Mr. Heber has, 
 I believe, three times three copies of the latter, but Oswen is yet a 
 stranger to him.f I recommend the acquisition of a copy of Whit - 
 
 + la the old library at Blickling, there is a fair and clean copy of the June im- 
 pression of 1549— in noticing which, I find among my MSS. the following memo*' 
 randum : “ Look at the marriage service, about paying down money.” 
 
PRAYER BOOKS. 
 
 47 
 
 From the time of this edition to that of the more 
 recent publications, the number, character, and form 
 of Prayer Books is without end. At last Baskerville , 
 whose Bible has just been the theme of our admiration, 
 put forth four editions of the Book of Common Prayer, 
 three in octavo, and one in duodecimo : each of which 
 still maintains a certain distinction in price. They are 
 all lovely specimens of press work.* Next to theim- 
 
 churcKs edition of 1552, folio, collated with that of Grafton’s, and his 
 own of 1549 — (for they printed their edition of 1549 separately and 
 conjointly) and also with the Communion, printed by Grafton, and the 
 Form of Consecrating Bishops, of the same date — interleaved : which 
 had belonged to Bentley, and afterwards to Ruding. This copy is 
 marked in Mr. Payne’s last catalogue at 6l. 6s. but is now, I appre- 
 hend, safely lodged in the choice cabinet of some curious Divine. 
 Mr. G. Hibbert has a copy of Marbecke's curious 4to. volume of the 
 Prayer Book, in 1550, with pricked music, of which an account ap- 
 pears in the Typog. Antiq. vol. iii. p. 469. Messrs. Ogle and Co. had 
 a unique collection of the earlier Prayer Books, from 1549 to 1662, 
 in seven folio volumes, “ neatly and uniformly bound.” Without 
 (but not beyond ) price. It may be as well to notice the subsequent 
 revisions of the Prayer Book, after that of 1549 : namely, in the years 
 1552, 1569, 1603, and lastly, 1661 ; which latter is the one now in 
 common use. A curious collector will possess each of these distinct 
 impressions. 
 
 * In the authority, last referred to, p. viii., note, it should have been 
 specified that there hre two octavo editions, one with a border, and the 
 other without : each in long lines. The one in double columns 
 has no border. The duodecimo is in double columns, without 
 a border. There is a fine clean copy (in ordinary calf binding) 
 of the bordered long line copy in the library at Strawberry Hill. 
 Respecting the Prayer Books of Baskerville, the late Mr. Stuart, 
 bookseller at Worcester, (who died a very old man) told me, about 
 ten or twelve years ago, that on the death of that printer he made the 
 best of his way to Birmingham, and purchased of his widow all the 
 copies of the Prayer Books which remained, together with a consi- 
 
43 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 pression of the Prayer Books by this last mentioned 
 printer, the curious covet that of Jarvis , executed in a 
 small but clear and distinct type, in double columns, 
 in 1791, 8vo. And, more recently, Mr. Bulmer has 
 tried the efforts of his matchless press, not only in a 
 portion of the Bible of Mr. John Reeves, but of the 
 Prayer Book also. This latter is printed in the 8vo. 
 and 12m o. forms ; and for the sake of its prolego- 
 mena, or introductory remarks, may well find a place 
 upon the shelf of every pew.* The Prayer Books 
 printed at Oxford and Cambridge, are chiefly of a folio, 
 or quarto, or a large octavo form. They have also a 
 noble and comforting appearance ; and most discon- 
 solate will be that day for the Church of England, 
 which witnesses an Abridgment of the contents of 
 this volume.^ ; 
 
 derable number of the Horace of 1762. He further told me, that he 
 believed he once had the largest collection of them in England ; but 
 that, at the time of mentioning it, not a single copy remained upon 
 his shelves. 
 
 * The date of this work is 1801. Of the Bible, edited by Mr. 
 Reeves, there was one copy only struck off upon vellum. At the 
 present moment, this membranaceous treasure, “ superbly bound in 
 dark blue morocco, with joints, borders of gold,” &c. by C. Lewis, 
 in nine quarto volumes, reposes upon the shelves of Messrs. Payne 
 and Foss 3 but he who shall give fifty-two sovereigns for the same, 
 shall cause it to rouse from its present slumber. Nor let such a price 
 be considered as having any affinity to extravagance. In regard to 
 the general accuracy of the text of the privileged Prayer Books, 
 consult the end of the note at p. 35, ante. 
 
 " f The late Marquis of Bute once shewed me, at Petersham, a 
 privately printed volume, in 1773, 8vo. called An Abridgment of the 
 Book of Common Prayer. This was composed by, and executed at 
 the expense of, the late Lord Le Despencer, at West Wycombe, 
 
PRAYER BOOKS. 
 
 49 
 
 From treasures like these, the enthusiastic Collec- 
 tor and the well informed Student will extract what 
 
 Bucks. In the annexed sub-note* is an extract from the Preface j 
 and here follows a specimen or two of the Abridgement itself. 
 
 ct Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. — 
 Psalm li. 9. Dearly beloved brethren, the Scripture moveth us in 
 sundry places to acknowledge our manifold sins and wickedness: 
 Wherefore I pray and beseech you, to accompany me with a pure 
 heart and humble voice, saying after me,” &c. 
 
 The TeDeum is thus abridged: " We praise thee, O God, we 
 acknowledge Thee to be the Lord. All the earth doth worship thee, 
 the Father everlasting. To thee all Angels cry aloud : the Heavens, 
 and all the Powers therein : We worship thy name : without end : 
 Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin. O Lord, have 
 mercy upon us 5 have mercy upon us. Amen.” 
 
 The Apostles Creed. 
 
 « I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and 
 Earth. And in Jesus Christ, his Son, our Lord. I believe in the 
 Holy Ghost j the forgiveness of sins ; and the life everlasting. 
 Amen.” 
 
 The Litany is reduced to eleven sentences. The Collects are uni- 
 formly omitted, but the Epistles and Gospels retained, with a slight 
 
 * “ The Editor of the following Abridgement of the Liturgy of the Church of 
 England thinks it but decent and respectful to all (more particularly to the reve- 
 rend body of Clergy who adorn the Protestant religion by their good works, preach- 
 ing and example) that he should humbly offer some reasons for such an undertaking. 
 He addresses himself to the serious and discerning. He professes himself to be a 
 Protestant of the Church of England, and holds in the highest veneration the doc- 
 trines of Jesus Christ. He is a sincere lover of social worship, deeply sensible of 
 its usefulness to society ; and he aims at doing some service to religion, by pro- 
 posing such abbreviations and omissions in the forms of our Liturgy, retaining 
 every thing he thinks essential as might, if adopted, procure a more general at- 
 tendance. For, besides the differing sentiments of many pious and well disposed 
 persons in some speculative points, who in general have a good opinion of our 
 church, it has often been observed, and complained of, that the Morning and 
 Evening Services as practised in the Church of England, and elsewhere, are so long, 
 and filled with so many repetitions, that the continued attention suitable to so se- 
 rious a duty becomes impracticable, the mind wanders, and the fervency of devotion 
 is slackened. Also, the propriety of saying the same prayer more than once in the 
 same service, is doubted,” &c. 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 is most curious, and be benefitted by what is most 
 essential to the salvation of his soul. He will dig 
 deep ; and the deeper he digs, the richer he will find 
 the soil. The seasons will roll along, and there shall 
 be the chilling blast and the barren desert without ; 
 but, within, there shall be one perennial verdure and 
 one inexhaustible harvest. 
 
 FATHERS AND COMMENTATORS. 
 
 Nor let human aid be wanting to give effect to 
 Divine Wisdom. Let there be a choice edition or two 
 of the Fathers, and of the more celebrated ancient 
 Commentators ;* and passing cautiously through the 
 
 variation from the present translation. The Commandments are 
 omitted ; and the Sacrament service is reduced to two pages and a 
 half. Matrimeny has only the same number of pages j and the 
 Burial of the Dead is compressed within one page and a half. Surely 
 this is no very encouraging specimen for a second attempt to abridge 
 our Liturgy ! It is not likely to have either admirers or imitators. 
 
 * It is a goodly sign of the times that the Fathers and ancient 
 Commentators are bought and read with some degree of avidity. 
 No reasonable man can doubt the importance of the labours of these 
 elder Christian sages, who has examined, with a critical eye and an 
 unprejudiced spirit, the Reliquiae Sacra , lately put forth by the very 
 learned President of Magdalen College, Oxford, Dr. Routh. These 
 • r sacred relics” — contain fragments of Authors of the Second and 
 
 Third Centuries which were well nigh lost” relating to the earliest 
 transactions and opinions of the church of Christ. Some of these 
 fragments are here given, for the first time, from uncollated MSS. : 
 others from MSS. not sufficiently collated : the whole in a manner 
 to render the work of essential importance in a theological library. 
 It was published at Oxford in 1814-20, in four octavo volumes. The 
 only heresy cleaving to the publication, is, that no large paper copies 
 were struck off for the gratification of the curious. 
 
 The work of Dr. Routh having at once quickened the appetite 
 
ANCIENT COMMENTATORS. 
 
 51 
 
 stormy period of the sixteenth century — when the 
 works of Luther, Melanchthon, Eckius, Calvin, Sta- 
 
 and strengthened the digestive powers of the t( Young” and “ the 
 Old” in the way of reading the ancient Fathers — and Schoenemann, 
 in his Bibliotheca Patrum, 1792, 8vo. supplying him with a list of 
 the early and best editions of the Latin Fathers — it only remains for 
 me to point out a few of these Fathers, whether their writings be in 
 the Greek or Latin language, of which the perusal may be pro- 
 ductive of advantage. I give the best editions, with prices, from 
 catalogues of good authority. Origenis Opera , Gr. and Lat. Paris. 
 1718, folio, four volumes, 81. 8s. Chrysostomi Opera , Gr. and Lat. 
 Paris, 1708, folio, thirteen vols. 261. 5s. : to which add the collection 
 of the Greek Apostolical Fathers by Cotelerius in 1724, folio, two 
 vols. 31. 13 s. 6d. Nor omit the Gr. and Lat. edition of St . Basil , 
 Paris, 1721, folio, 3 vols. worth about 7 1* 17 s.6d. : Gregory Nazianzen 
 must also have some share of attention. ^The edition of 1609, Paris, 
 2 vols. folio, worth 31. 13s. 6d. is the best. Perhaps of equal value 
 to any of the preceding are the works of a later Father, Theophylactus, 
 of which the Venetian edition of 1754, 8vo. four vols. Gr. and Lat. is 
 the best. Brunet says this edition is scarcely worth 4 1. 4s. but 
 Messrs. Rivington and Cochrane have very different, and perhaps 
 better founded, notions of its value — since they mark a copy in calf 
 extra at 12/. 12s. The preceding may suffice to the ordinary col- 
 lector, for Greek Fathers. 
 
 Let him, as Latin Fathers, purchase the works of St. Jerom , Ter - 
 tullian , Lactantius, Gregory the Great , and St. Austin. Of the first, 
 the earliest, and most important publication relates to his Epistles , 
 printed by Sweynheym and Pannartz, at Rome, in 1468 ; 2 vols. folio: 
 of which a unique copy, upon vellum, is in the Imperial Library at 
 Vienna. See Tour, vol. iii. 488. The best edition of his works is that 
 of Vallarsius, (after the Benedictin edition of 1693) in ten folio 
 volumes, of the date of 1734-40. Messrs. Rivington and Cochrane 
 have two desirable copies of this edition, of which the lowest is 
 marked at 21 1. neat in calf. Of Ter tullian, the best edition of his 
 works is that of Paris, 1544, folio : Of Lactantius, that of Rome, 
 1754, 8vo. 14 vols., or Paris, 1748, 4to. 2 vols., by Lenglet du 
 Fresnoy, and worth about 2 1. 125. 6d. Of Gregory the Great, that of 
 Paris, 1705, folio, 4 vols. worth 61. 6s. Of St. Austin, the Paris 
 edition of 1679, eleven vols. folio, worth about 14/. The foregoing. 
 
52 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 pleton, and others, seemed to agitate the religious 
 world to its very centre — advance with a more certain 
 
 for an ordinary theological collection, will be surely considered suffi- 
 cient. Perhaps the Appendix Augustiniana, Antv. 1703, folio, may be 
 a desirable supplement to the works of St. Austin. But as no per- 
 formance of this Father has made half the noise in the world which 
 his “ City of God” has done, possible it is that the admirers of that 
 work might like to possess the first edition of it, (being the second 
 book printed in Italy) executed at the press of the Soubiaco monas- 
 tery in 1467- I doubt whether such another copy of it, as that in 
 Lord Spencer’s collection, be to be found in England. It is amiracle 
 of the art of printing, considering it as the second essay of the 
 printers. In the catalogue of Messrs. Longmau and Co. A.D. 1822, 
 no. 5764, I observe a copy of it, in the <e original binding,’’ marked 
 at the moderate sum of 12/. 
 
 Of Commentators and Critics, in the Latin language, the list 
 is infinite. As a Body of these, procure the well known work 
 entitled Critici Sacri , first published at London in 1660, in nine folio 
 volumes, with a tenth vol. in 1661, of <f Tenas Commentaries upon St. 
 Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews .” This voluminous work was reprinted 
 at Amsterdam in 1698, in nine folio volumes. The latter edition 
 is the favourite ; and of this I remember to have seen, two or three 
 years ago, a magnificent copy, ruled with red lines, in old red 
 morocco binding, upon large paper, in the possession of Mr. R. 
 Triphook, and valued at about twenty guineas. This is not the only 
 copy which I have seen, and described, in the same condition. And 
 I beseech the theological collector not to let a fine copy of good old 
 Matthew Poole’s “ Synopsis Crxticorumfi Lond. 1669, folio, five 
 volumes— especially if it be such a one as Mr. Payne now possesses 
 — Utr. 1684 ed. opt. — slip through his fingers without becoming 
 master of itj for it is obtainable at a reasonable price. I say nothing 
 of its reprints in 1694, Franc, five vols. 4to., and at Amst. in 1712, 
 five vols. folio. It may be worth while to consult Granger (lEtst of 
 Eng. vol. iii. p. 311, edit. 1804) for a brief but good account of the 
 merits of Poole’s Synopsis j and from which, no person, in want of 
 the work, can rise without running to some of our principal book- 
 sellers for a copy. What Granger says, in a note, bears rather hard 
 upon the Commentators in the English language. “ This book 
 [Poole’s Synopsis] is of late much sunk in its pi ice, though intrin- 
 
ANCIENT COMMENTATORS. 
 
 53 
 
 step through the seventeenth — when Grotius abroad, 
 and Taylor , Chillingivorth y Mede , Barrow , Pearson , 
 and Usher at home— to mention no others — gave a 
 softer tone to controversy, and struck out more bril- 
 liant truths (if I may so speak) from the oracles of 
 God. Logic, fancy, eloquence, and persuasion are 
 combined in the greater part of the writings of these 
 incomparable Divines. There was more courtesy 
 in the age ; and in consequence, a more courteous 
 strain is observable even in the vehemence of invec- 
 tive. The Divines of the sixteenth century, with 
 perfect honesty of intention, frequently worked them- 
 selves up into a whirlwind of indignation in — what 
 they conceived to be — the conscientious discharge 
 of their duties. The very leaves of their pamphlets 
 seemed to smell of fire. But the capacious intellect 
 of Grotius, who was at once a lawyer, philosopher, 
 
 sically as good as ever. The truth is, Latin Commentaries on the 
 Scripture are little regarded ; but we have English ones as often as 
 we have new almanacks. I have myself known about twenty pub- 
 lished within the last twenty years.” Those, however, destined to 
 be the ornaments of our church and the champions of our faith, 
 should never lose sight of the Thesaurus Antiquitatum Sacrarum col- 
 lected and published by Blasius Ugolinus, at Venice, in 1744-69, in 
 thirty-four folio volumes — of which the contents are so temptingly 
 set forth by Mr. Harris in his valuable Catalogue of the Library of 
 the Royal Institution, from a copy in the same collection. Another 
 copy is in the British Museum. What Graevius and Gronovius are 
 to Profane, Ugolinus is to Sacred, history. 
 
 Messrs. Ogle, Duncan, and Co. who seem to have a peculiar predi- 
 lection for dissenting divinity, have marshalled out some miscella- 
 neous Commentators of this, their favourite, school, in twenty-two 
 folio volumes, marked at 31Z. 10s . — “ very neat, and uniformly 
 bound.” A set of Commentators in 4to. bring up the rear — in fif- 
 teen vol. — marked at 10Z. 10s. “ neat, in calf gilt,” of the same per- 
 suasion. 
 
54 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 and divine, gave a different character to theological 
 controversy;* and the heavenly-minded ness of Jeremy 
 Taylor threw such a charm over his diction — exhibi- 
 ted such proofs of genius and of piety — that that 
 great man may be considered as the founder of a 
 school, (even of the opposite persuasion, f) in which 
 
 * In the first Law lecture delivered by Sir James Mackintosh at 
 Lincoln’s Inn, several years ago, and since published, a character is 
 drawn of Grotius, which I wish every enlightened Englishman to 
 peruse — more than once. Grotius has been accused of a leaning 
 towards Socinianism 5 but I want a peculiarly-constructed pair of 
 mental spectacles to discover this bias in his annotations upon Holy 
 Writ. 
 
 t Among the chief, if not the very chief, of those writers of “ an 
 opposite persuasion,” was Richard Baxter ; a divine of a most 
 capricious, yet powerful and original mind. What Prynne was in 
 law and history, Baxter was in theology : as the similarity, in point 
 of quaintness, of the titles of their respective works, testifies. To 
 possess all the separate pieces, or tracts of each of these Writers, is 
 I believe, equally hopeless. One or two of the homely titles of Bax- 
 ter, would startle the unsuspecting and serious reader. But these 
 were adopted rather in compliance with the fashion of the times : 
 for Baxter was a man of great gravity of demeanor and great piety 
 of soul. He was acute and learned withal, and an air of originality 
 pervades most of his writings. He was a stubborn champion for 
 non-conformity, although he had the honour (when young) of 
 preaching before Charles II. in the first year of his reign ; and in the 
 year 1689 he published a Tract entitled “ The English Non-con- 
 formity under Charles II. and James II. truly stated.” One of his 
 chief antagonists — and one which proved more than a match for him 
 — was Bishop Stillingfleet. Baxter’s Works, consisting principally 
 of his Discourses, were collected and published in 1707, folio, in 
 four vols. — and I find a copy of them “ new, in calf, gilt,” marked 
 at 1R 11s. in the catalogue of Mr. Laing of Edinburgh, for the 
 year 1822 : but in Mr. Baynes’s Cat. of the same year, no. 52, I per- 
 ceive a very fine copy, in original binding, sides gilt, t very rare/' 
 
 t Thi« is a“ various reading” from Mr. Haynes's preceding catalogue of 1821, 
 
OLD ENGLISH, DIVINES. 
 
 55 
 
 enthusiasm was mistaken for inspiration, and where 
 there was an equal glow of piety, but unsupported 
 by such flights of genius and such demonstrations of 
 learning. The school of Hooker, Ch Illingworth, 
 Mede, and Barrow— is the school of acute perception 
 and close reasoning. 
 
 Yet Barrow was perhaps the most able of the four 
 writers just named ; not only in the systematic divi- 
 sion, and masterly elucidation, of the various subjects 
 of which he treats, but in the copiousness of his ideas 
 and of his language. There is a power and prodiga- 
 lity of expression in many of Barrow’s discourses, as 
 if the writer were conscious of the ineflicacy of his 
 vernacular tongue to convey precisely the views and 
 bearings of his thesis. His sermon on the Atonement 
 is one of the most astonishing instances, which pre- 
 sent themselves to my memory, of an eloquence as 
 powerful and persuasive as the ideas are original and 
 sublime. Of the illustrious Hooker— whose memory 
 is embalmed in the beautiful biography of him by Isaac 
 
 to be marked at 14 1. 145. This is the way to get Old Baxter upon 
 our shelves. He comes “ in no questionable shape” when arrayed 
 in the goodly garb of primitive binding. 
 
 When young, I remember to have read Baxter’s ce Concordant 
 Discord of a broken healed heart , sorrowing , rejoicing , fearing, hoping , 
 dying , living ,” 1681— and his “ Cure of Melancholy and over much 
 sorrow , by faith and physic ,” 1683 — but thought them, as I should 
 probably yet think them, desultory and unargumentative perform- 
 ances. Gleams of piety, and flashes of an ardent spirit, are disco- 
 verable in almost every thing which he wrote j but he wanted that 
 sweetness of temper which is the charm of the practical works of 
 Hammond; and that brilliancy of imagery which stamps the effusions 
 of Jeremy Taylor with the mark of an original, excursive, and 
 powerful mind. 
 
 no. 6332 j there , the copy is described to be “ rolled with a border of gold.” Each 
 description has its peculiar temptation. 
 
56 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 Walton — it is sufficient to say, that his Ecclesiastical 
 Polity* is, of all works of that description, one of 
 the most masterly and convincing. Never was logic 
 more successfully employed to combat error and esta- 
 blish truth ; and the vein of common sense, as well as 
 of spiritual comfort, which pervades the pages of that 
 Work, will render it, to the latest posterity, a popular 
 as well as instructive performance. 
 
 It were of course unpardonable to omit the men- 
 tion of Lightfoot ; who is said by Gibbon “ by con- 
 stant reading of the Rabbies, to have almost become 
 a Rabbin himself.’’-}- No divine, anxious to become 
 versed in a knowledge of Jewish rites and ceremonies, 
 can view his theological library with “ comfort,” with- 
 out a copy of the works of John Lightfoot. The 
 Rev. Mr. Pitman is now occupied in putting forth a 
 commodious and complete edition of these works, 
 in twelve octavo volumes : purchaseable for about 
 6/. 6s. in boards. 
 
 Pearson and Usher were profound Scholars. The 
 “ Exposition of the Creed ” of the former has nothing 
 superior to it in any language. Metaphysics, logic, 
 classical and theological erudition, are all brought to 
 bear upon that momentous subject — in a manner so 
 happy and so natural, that the depth of research and 
 variety of knowledge are most concealed by the feli- 
 citous manner of their adaptation. Well might the 
 great Bentley say of this yet greater man — that his 
 (C very dust was gold.” The Annals of Usher are 
 admirable for sobriety of investigation and profound- 
 ness of learning. His Body of Divinity may be sup- 
 
 * First published in 1593, folio. They have recently (1S20) put 
 forth a handsome reprint of it, with W alton’s biography, at Oxford, 
 in 3 8 vo. volumes. 
 
 + Misc. Works , vol. v. p 226. 
 
OLD ENGLISH DIVINES. 
 
 57 
 
 posed to be tinctured with his peculiar (and some- 
 what Calvinistic) bias, but it is full of profound 
 thought and pious feeling. His Antiquities of the 
 British Church are purely historical ; while his notes 
 upon the Epistles of Ignatius , Barnabas , and Poly- 
 carp (Fathers of the first century) prove the exten- 
 siveness of his reading, and the depth of his theologi- 
 cal knowledge. 
 
 A word, now, as to Editions of the foregoing lumi- 
 naries.* I own, I am for the ancient and genuine 
 
 * The names of these and of other theological Worthies, are 
 thus hooked into hexameters and pentameters, by Master William 
 Nicols, A. M. in his Libri FT. De Literis Inventis, Land. 1711, 8vo. : 
 
 Occubuit Fellus, fato concessit acerbo 
 Laudus, et Hammondum flebilis urna tenet. 
 
 Et Chillingworthus, Babylonis maximus horror. 
 
 BARLoviusque senex, hi potuere mori. 
 
 Non tua tedoctrina, O Sandersone, nec ilia 
 
 Te potuit pietas eripuisse neci. ^ 
 
 Ante diem nobis ereptus et ille Barous, 
 
 Cui grates multas dia Mathesis habet. 
 
 Atque valedixit mundo Pearsonius ingens, 
 
 (Ille animata quidem Bibliotheca fuit :) 
 
 Et Stillingfleetus patrium repetivit Olympum, 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 Beveridge, Dodwell, Tenison, and More, (with respectable men- 
 tion of the library of the latter, now in the Public Library at Cam- 
 bridge) follow in the same strain. 
 
 f The best edition of Grotiuss theological works is that of Amst. 
 1679, four vol. folio, of which a copy, bound in russia, is marked at 
 41. 4s. in Mr. Payne’s last catalogue j and a fine copy, upon large 
 paper, in vellum binding, at 81. 8s. in the same catalogue. The best 
 edition of Chillingw orth's works is that of 1742, folio, worth about 
 1Z. 8s. in good condition 5 of Mede’s that of 1672, folio, worth about 
 the same sum : of Barrow’s, 1741, folio, two vols., running hard upon 
 41. But the young Collector will lose no opportunity of securing 
 the Glasgow edition of Barrow’s work, by Foulis, 175 7, 12mo. six 
 vols. : which forms an admirable companion to Tonson’s edition of 
 Tillotson's works, 1748, twelve vols. 12mo. Or he may rest well con- 
 
58 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 impressions : the good old folios : published, either 
 during the lives, or at no long period after the deaths, 
 of the authors. During the seventeenth century, the 
 Art of Printing was making rapid improvements in 
 our country ; and though inferior, upon the whole, to 
 what it produced during the first half of the eigh- 
 teenth century, it cannot be denied that we some- 
 times meet with sets, or copies of Jeremy Taylor, 
 and his Contemporaries, which delight us by the 
 beauty of their condition within and without. In 
 such a state, their pecuniary value rises in a double 
 ratio ; nor was it without sensations of considerable 
 bibliographical happiness* that on entering the third 
 and principal room of the Royal Library at Paris, I 
 recognised the Ductor Dubitantium or the Polemical 
 
 tented with the Oxford reprint, recently put forth : but with a por- 
 trait prefixed, which is scarcely worthy of being attached to the first 
 edition of Tom Hickathrift. The University owes it to itself not to 
 continue the propagation of such unworthy resemblances of such 
 glorious Originals. They are liberal, but their liberality has not 
 met with a kindred return. Pearson on the Creed is in every form, 
 from folio to duodecimo. The late Dr. C. Burney made an abridge- 
 ment of it in small octavo. Among the folio editions, that of 1715 
 may be as good as any. As there is no uniform edition of Archbi- 
 shop Usher's Works , I give the following list of the principal portions 
 of them : Body of Divinity, 1677 > folio: Chronology , (in Latin) with 
 a Life of the Author, by Smith, Geneva, 1722, folio : Annals, 1678, 
 folio: Sermons, 1677, folio: Letters , 1688, folio: Antiquities of the 
 British Church, (in Latin) 1687, folio. These volumes may be had 
 from twelve shillings to a pound a piece : according to their condi- 
 tion. I am aware that, for old and choice copies, in morocco, or 
 calf bindings, covered with rich gilt tooling, double the foregoing 
 prices, for every work here enumerated, are frequently and cheerfully 
 given. It is on the dispersion of old family libraries that treasures of 
 this kind must be sought for : and, when found, gallantly contended 
 for. Who would not give 14J. 14 s. for the copy of “ Old Baxter,*’ 
 mentioned in the note at page 55 ? 
 
OLD ENGLISH DIVINES. 
 
 59 
 
 Discourses of our Jeremy, clad in the genuine mo- 
 rocco garment of nearly the time of the author. On 
 the other hand, it must be allowed that, however 
 assiduous either the Young or the Old Collector may 
 be, in the pursuit of fine and genuine copies of -this 
 same author, he must not dare to hope for the acqui- 
 sition of such copies as those which grace the shelves 
 of the Cracherode Collection.* Meanwhile, it 
 maybe consolation sufficient to know, that baffled in 
 all his attempts for choice folio copies, the “ Young 
 Man” may possess himself of the octavo reprint, 
 which has the advantage of exhibiting many referen- 
 ces verified, many errors corrected, and several lacunae 
 supplied ; together with a Life of the Author, written 
 with all the glow of poetical feeling, and all the ele- 
 gance of refined scholarship. The uniform appear- 
 ance of this respectably printed, and carefully super- 
 intended edition, of which not fewer than 800 copies 
 were subscribed for, has probably already rendered it 
 a scarce work. As Taylor has been long called “ the 
 Shakspeare of Divines,” this impression will not 
 want buyers of more classes than one.f 
 
 * The copies in question are of the Church of England Defended , 
 1674, folio : Polemical Discourses , 1674, folio j Ductor Dubitantium , 
 1696, folio; Life of Christ , 1703, folio. In this latter work, great 
 stress is laid upon possessing fine impressions of the Plates. In my 
 poor judgment, the best impressions exhibit but very secondary spe- 
 cimens of art. I observe that Mr. Baynes marks “ a fine tall set’' 
 of these four folios, " very neat,” at 81. 8s. ; but not in all proba- 
 bility coated a la Cracherode. Messrs. Ogle, Duncan, and Co. affix 
 121. 12s. to four similar volumes, “ best editions, elegantly bound in 
 russia.” 
 
 * Critically and soberly speaking, it is the only edition worth pos- 
 sessing for the purpose of careful reading or frequent consultation. 
 My neighbour and friend the Rev. Mr. Pitman, who superintended 
 
GO 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 Why have I travelled thus far on the road of Divi- 
 nity without mentioning the Contemplations of Bishop 
 Hall P a prelate and poet of very distinguished at- 
 tainments. A vein of piety, and even of an original 
 cast of observation, runs through the greater part of 
 his performances : and his “ Contemplations,” in par- 
 ticular, breathe the fire of poetry as well as of devo- 
 tion. His works have been long and justly held in 
 very general esteem ; and we are indebted to the 
 Rev. Mr. Pratt for a reprint of them in ten octavo 
 volumes, in 1808,* 
 
 the correction of the press, and detected the errors of the old edi- 
 tions, throughout, informs us, at p. ccclxx. of the first volume, that 
 “ former editions of Taylor swarm with mistakes : the punctuation 
 and state of the text are very defective : verse is printed without any 
 regard to metre, and prose often assumes the appearance of verse.” 
 The Life of Jeremy Taylor prefixed to this modern edition is by the Re- 
 verend Reginald Heber, now Bishop of Calcutta : and has been recently 
 published in a separate form, at a moderate price. This charming 
 and instructive piece of biography will be reprinted, in a good hand- 
 some octavo form, and with a larger and more legible type. In regard 
 to the genuineness of the work called “ A Discourse of Artificial 
 Beauty,” &c. as being a production of Jeremy Taylor — (see pp. lix — 
 and cccxxvii of Mr. Heber’s Life) — having before ( More's Utopia, vol. 
 ii. 152-3) noticed the preface of it as c< in every respect worthy of 
 his high reputation,” may I not ask whether the Preface only be not 
 the composition of Taylor ? Whoever be the author, it appears to 
 have been written as a Supplement to “ The Loathsomnesse of Long 
 Hair, &q. by Thomas Hall , B, D. 1654, 12mo.j see p. 288 of the 
 work last referred to. 
 
 * Joseph Hall was Bishop of Exeter and Norwich, successively 
 and died in 1 656. His Satires were published quite at the end of 
 the xvith century, and reprinted in 1753 : but there has been re- 
 cently a fac-simile reprint (by Constable) of the earlier edition. I 
 recommend “ the Young Man” of taste and talent to read the mas- 
 terly analysis of, and criticism upon, Bishop Hall’s Satires, in the 
 4th volume (alas, only a fragment !) of Warton’s History of English 
 
OLD ENGLISH DIVINES. 
 
 61 
 
 We approach the eighteenth century ; omitting the 
 mention of the thousand strange publications, in the 
 department of divinity, which issued from the fertile 
 and capricious brains of the authors of the preceding 
 century — but which, appearing to be now forgotten 
 by the great bulk of readers, are picked up and pre- 
 served only by the curious and persevering. Prynne 
 alone would afford bibliographical gamboling for half 
 a score of years. Penn however is worthy of a place 
 in every theological collection. # 
 
 Poetry. It is incomparable of its kind. The best edition of Hall’s 
 works, in folio, is in three volumes, without date — at least, so it 
 appears in Baynes’s Cat. of 1821, no. 6426, where a copy is marked 
 at 31. 105. I once possessed a goodly copy of this edition, in old red 
 morocco binding, with a delicate sprinkling of gilt tooling — which 
 I have reason to think is now in the library of Hartlebury Palace in 
 Worcestershire the seat of the Bishops of Worcester j left, with his 
 library as an heir-loom, by the late Bishop, Dr. Hurd. The Con- 
 templations of Hall were separately published, in an abridged and 
 modernised form, by the late Dr. Glasse, in 4 duodecimo vols. in 
 1793. Doddridge has pronounced these Contemplations to be 
 “ incomparably valuable for language, criticism, and devotion.” 
 
 * The name of Penn is known and respected chiefly as that of 
 the founder of the Pensylvanian colony, or author of the Pensylva- 
 nian charter. It has indeed, on this score, lasting claims upon the 
 gratitude of posterity $ but Penn was a pious man, and a lover of 
 theological authorship. He wrote much and variously 5 and always 
 with a benevolent feeling. His works were first collected and pub- 
 lished in 1726, in twd folio volumes. I select, almost at random, 
 from his “ No Cross , No Crown ,” (written in 1668, and lately re- 
 printed in 1806, 8vo.) the following characteristic passages : First — 
 of Christ’s Example of Suffering. And therefore it was that he 
 was pleased to give us, in his own example, a taste of what his dis- 
 ciples must expect to drink deeply of : namely, the cup of self denial, 
 cruel tryals, and most bitter afflictions. He came not to consecrate 
 a way to the eternal rest, through gold and silver, ribbons, laces, 
 points, perfumes, costly cloaths, curious trims, exact dresses, rich 
 jewels, pleasant recreations. — Plays, treats, balls, masques, revels. 
 
62 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 There was great cant about this time, (a cant not 
 peculiar to the period) respecting the luxury and in- 
 dolence of the Clergy. The poorer part of them 
 were treated with contempt: because poverty and 
 worthlessness seemed to be synonymous terms. In 
 1670 appeared an octavo volume, under the title of 
 The Grounds and Occasions of the Contempt of the 
 Clergy and Religion enquired into . “ In a Letter 
 
 romances, love songs, and the like pastimes of the world : No, no 
 Penn's Works , vol. i. p. 360. 
 
 A little before, (p. 355,) Penn is thus speaking of the fashionable 
 habits and amusements of the times — A. D. 1668 — when the work 
 was written: — Their thoughts are otherwise employed: their 
 mornings are too short for them to wash, to smooth, to paint, to 
 patch, to braid, to curl, to gum, to powder, and otherwise to attire 
 and adorn themselves ; whilst their afternoons are as commonly be- 
 spoke for visits and for plays — where their usual entertainment is, 
 some stories fetched from the more approved Romances 5 some 
 strange adventures, some passionate amours, unkind refuses, grand 
 impediments, importunate addresses, miserable disappointments, 
 wonderful surprises, unexpected encounters, castles surprised, impri- 
 soned lovers rescued, and meetings of supposed dead ones : bloody 
 duels, languishing voices echoing from solitary groves,* over heard 
 mournful complaints, deep fetcht sighs sent from wild deserts, 
 intrigues managed with unheard of subtilty : and whilst all things 
 seem at the greatest distance, then are dead people alive, enemies 
 friends, despair turned to enjoyment, and all their impossibilities 
 reconciled,’’ &c. Further on, he talks about their “ giddy fancies’* 
 being “ intoxicated with swelling nothings and airy fictions.’’ 
 
 It should seem from a portion of the first extract, that Penn had 
 had his eye upon the paraphernalia of a toilet as set forth by Anthony 
 
 * This reminds us of the following passage in Thomson’s Autumn : 
 
 “ And voices, through the void deep sounding, seize 
 “ Th’ enthusiastic ear.” 
 
 But it is perhaps still more poetical. The “ deep- fetcht sighs sent from wild de- 
 serts,” is a yet more daring conceit. If Penn would have buckled himself in the 
 strait-laced vestment of metre, he might have been a poet of the second order. 
 
OLD ENGLISH DIVINES. 
 
 63 
 
 written to R. L of which work, Echard is the repu- 
 ted author. It exhibits so fair and honest a view of 
 the principles of a Church Establishment, and such a 
 lively picture of “ the poor country Parson” in those 
 days — (no very unfaithful portrait, by the by, of some 
 few in our days) that I make no apology to the reader 
 for the subjoined extract from it* — long as it may 
 appear. 
 
 Brewer, in his Play called Lingua; 1607 : and reprinted in Dodsley’s 
 collection of Old Hays. 
 
 * “ I come now. Sir, to the second part, that was designed, viz. 
 the poverty of some of the clergy ; by whose mean condition, their 
 sacred profession is much disparaged, and their doctrine undervalued. 
 What large provisions of old, God was pleased to make for the 
 priesthood, and upon what reason, is easily seen to any one that looks 
 but into the Bible. The Levites, it is true, were left out in the divi- 
 sion of the inheritance, not to their loss, but to their great temporal 
 advantage: for whereas, had they been common sharers with the 
 rest, a twelfth part only would have been their just allowance, God 
 was pleased to settle upon them a tenth, and that without any trou- 
 ble or eharge of tillage : which made their portion much more con- 
 siderable than the rest. 
 
 “ And as this provision was very bountiful, so the reasons, no 
 question, were very divine and substantial : which seem chiefly to be 
 these two : 
 
 First, that the priesthood might be altogether at leisure for the 
 service of God, and that they of that holy order might not be dis- 
 tracted with the cares of the world, and interrupted by every neigh- 
 bour’s horse or cow, that breaks their hedges, or shackles their corn : 
 But that living a kind of spiritual life, and being removed a little 
 from all worldly affairs, they might always be fit to receive holy 
 inspirations, and always ready to search out the mind of God, and to 
 advise and direct the people therein. Not, as if this divine exemp- 
 tion of them from the common troubles and cares of this life, was 
 intended as an opportunity of luxury and laziness ; for certainly there 
 is a labour besides digging and there is a true carefulness without 
 following the plough, and looking after their cattle. And such was 
 the employment of those holy men of old ; their care and business 
 
64 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 Oar prospects brighten as we step over the thre- 
 shold of the seventeenth — or rather gain due admission 
 
 was to please God, and to charge themselves with the welfare of all 
 his people : which thing he that does with a good and satisfied con- 
 science, i’ll assure you he has a task upon him much beyond them 
 that have for their care, their hundreds of oxen, and five hundreds of 
 sheep. 
 
 “ Another reason for this large allowance was made to the Priests, 
 was, that they might be enabled to relieve the poor, to entertain 
 strangers, and thereby to encourage people in the ways of godliness 5 
 for they being in a peculiar manner the servants of God, God was 
 pleased to entrust in their hands a portion more than ordinary of the 
 good things of the land, as the safest storehouse and treasury for 
 such as were in need. That in all ages, therefore, there should be a 
 continued tollerable maintenance for the Clergy ; the same reason, as 
 well as many others, make us think to be very necessary. Unless 
 they’ll count money, and victuals to be only types and shadows, and 
 so to cease with the Ceremonial Law. For, where the minister is 
 pinch’d, as to the tollerable conveniences of this life, the chief of his 
 care and time must be spent not in an impertinent enquiry consider- 
 
 instructions most seasonable, and what authors best to be consulted ; 
 but the chief of his thoughts, and his main business must be to study 
 how to live that week : where he shall have bread for his family ? 
 whose sow has lately pigg’d ? Whence will come the next rejoicing 
 goose, or the next cheerful basket of apples ? How far to Lammas, 
 or offerings 1 When shall we have another christening, and cakes, 
 and who is likely to marry or die } These are very seasonable consi- 
 derations, and worthy of a man’s thoughts. For, a family cannot 
 be maintained by texts and contexts : and the child that lies crying 
 in the cradle, will not be satisfied without a little milk, and perhaps 
 sugar, though perhaps there be a small German System * in the 
 house. 
 
 “ But suppose he does get into a little hole over the oven, with a 
 lock to it, called a study, towards the latter end of the week, (for 
 you must know. Sir, there is very few texts of Scripture that can be 
 divided, at soonest, before Friday night j and some there be that 
 
 * Qu. The making of sugar candy ? 
 
OLD ENGLISH DIVINES. 
 
 65 
 
 into the eighteenth century ; for we are then struck 
 with the resplendent names of Boyle, Tillotson, 
 
 will never be divided but upon Sunday morning, and that not very 
 early ; but either a, little before they go, or in the going to church) I 
 say, suppose the gentleman gets thus into his study, one may very 
 near guess' what is his first thought when he comes there, viz. that 
 the last kilderkin of drink is near departed 5 and that he has but one 
 poor single groat in the house, and there is judgment and execution 
 ready to come out against it, for milk, and eggs. Now, Sir, can any 
 man think that one thus racked and tortured, can be seriously intent 
 half an hour to contrive any thing that might be of real advantage 
 to his people ? Besides, perhaps that week he has met with some 
 dismal crosses and most undoing misfortunes. There was a scurvy- 
 conditioned mole, that broke up his pasture, and ploughed up the 
 best part of his glebe : and a little after that, came a couple spightful 
 ill-favoured crows, and trampled down the little remaining grass. 
 Another day, having but four chickens, sweep comes the kite, and 
 carries away the fattest and hopefullest of all the brood. Then, 
 after all this, came the Jack-daws, and starlings, (idle birds that 
 they are!) and they scattered and carried away from his thin 
 thatched house forty or fifty of the best straws : and to make him 
 compleatly unhappy, after all these afflictions, another day, that he 
 had a pair of breeches on, coming over a perverse stile, he suffered 
 very much in carelessly lifting over his leg. 
 
 f ‘ Now what parish can be so inconsiderate and unreasonable, as to 
 look for any thing from one, whose phansie is thus checked, and 
 whose understanding is thus ruffled and disordered ? They may as 
 soon expect comfort and consolation from him that lies racked with 
 the gout and stone, as from a Divine thus broken and shattered in 
 his fortunes. But we’ll grant that he meets not with any of these 
 such frightfuTdisasters, but that he goes into his study with a mind 
 as calm as the evening : for, all that, upon Sunday, we must be con- 
 tent even with what God shall please to send us. For, as for books, 
 he is (for want of money) so moderately furnished, that except it be 
 a small Geneva Bible , so small, as it will not be desired to lie open 
 of itself, together with a certain concordance thereunto belonging ; 
 as also a book for all kind of Latin sentences, called Polyanthe^e , 
 with some exposition upon the Catechism (a portion of which is to be 
 got by heart, and to be put off for his own,) and perhaps Mr. Caryl 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 Stillingfleet, Bull, Waterland, and Clarke ; 
 followed by those of Sherlock, Warburton. Secker, 
 Jortin, and Lowth ;* nor should the name of 
 
 upon Pineda , Mr. Dod upon the Commandments, and Mr . Clark's 
 Lives of Famous Men, both in Church and State : such as Mr. Car- 
 ter of Norwich, that uses to eat such abundance of pudden j besides, 
 I say, these, there is scarce any thing to be found but a boudget of 
 old sticthed Sermons, hung up behind the door, with a few broken 
 girts, two or three yards of whipcord, and perhaps a saw and a ham- 
 mer, to prevent dilapidations. 
 
 " Now, what may not a Divine do, though but of ordinary parts, 
 and unhappy education, with such learned helps and assistances as 
 these ? No vice surely durst stand before him, nor heresie affront 
 him. And furthermore. Sir, it is to be considered, that he that is 
 but thus meanly provided for, it is not his own infelicity that he has 
 neither time, mind, nor books, to improve himself for the inward 
 benefit and satisfaction of his people, but also that he is not capable 
 of doing that outward good amongst the needy, which is a great 
 ornament to that holy profession, and a considerable advantage 
 towards the having his doctrine believed and practiced in a degene- 
 rate world. And that which augments the misery, whether he be 
 able or not, it is expected from him. If there comes a brief to town, 
 for the minister to cast in his mite, will not satisfie, unless he can 
 create sixpence or a shilling to put into the box, for a state to decoy 
 in the best of the parish : nay, he that has but twenty or thirty 
 pounds per annum, if he bids not up as high as the best of the 
 parish in all acts of charity, he is counted carnal, and earthly minded, 
 only because he durst not coin, and cannot work miracles. And let 
 there come never so many beggars, half of these I’ll secure you, 
 shall presently enquire for the minister’s house. For God, say they, 
 certainly dwells there, and has laid up a sufficient relief.” This work 
 was followed by some observations upon the “ Answer to an Enquiry 
 into the Grounds and Occasions of the Contempt of the Clergy , with 
 some Additions In a second Letter, to R. C. 1671, Svo. 
 
 * It were useless to particularise editions of works of authors so 
 well known and so frequently reprinted : but I recommend the ear- 
 lier editions generally, and especially those which were first pub- 
 lished after the deaths of the authors. In Boyle’s works (edit. 1772, 
 4to. vol. i. p. 274) I exhort the pious reader to a perusal of the Trea- 
 
OLD ENGLISH DIVINES. 
 
 67 
 
 Leslie be omitted ; since it is most conspicuous upon 
 the rolls of Christianity. A contemporary of Tillotson, 
 
 tise of “ Seraphic Love,” — as being one of the most eloquent and 
 heavenly minded productions of its author. There is scarcely any 
 thing more poetical in Jeremy Taylor, or more logical in Isaac Bar- 
 row. No one can read it seriously, without rising from the perusal a 
 wiser and a better man. The line between a frantic enthusiast and 
 a cold-blooded sceptic is most happily drawn. Boyle was the 
 founder of a set of Lectures, or Sermons, first published in 1739, 
 folio, in three volumes — comprising the labours of some of our 
 greatest Divines. Bentley, Clarke, Allestree, Woodward, and others : 
 and of which, the late Bishop Watson has observed, that, “ if 
 all other defences of religion were lost, there is solid reasoning 
 enough in these volumes, to remove the scruples of most unbelie- 
 vers.” The work in question has also the merit of being charmingly 
 printed by Knapton, upon excellent paper. A good copy is worth 
 21. 12$. 6d . It is a pleasure to see Dr. Samuel Clarke’s works, alone 
 in four folio volumes, 1738, printed by the same printeT, selling at 
 from four to five guineas. It is not quite twenty years ago, since I 
 remember them drooping beneath the hammer, for somewhere about 
 eighteen to twenty-five shillings. Clarke’s Sermons were separately 
 published in thirteen octavo volumes, and in eleven volumes, small 
 duodecimo, 1749, published by Knapton. I possess a copy of the 
 latter beautiful little edition, “ companion meet” for those of Tillot- 
 son and Barrow of the same size. There be those who talk of, and 
 who recommend, <e post chaise companions” in the form of books . 
 Let these volumes be of the number— for they are both exhilirating 
 and instructive. I would be understood to speak of that sober 
 mirth” which makes us wise without gloom, and cheerful without 
 frivolity. The Sermons of Clarke, Sherlock, and Jortin, contain a 
 rich fund of exposition of Scriptural texts . 
 
 Of the works of Bishop Bull, one of the soundest and shrewdest of 
 our older Divines, it is impossible to speak too highly of his Harmo - 
 nia, Apostolica , Judicium, Ecclesice Catholicce , Vindication of the Church 
 of England, and his works concerning the Trinity The life and 
 labours of this able man were published by the well known Mr. 
 Nelson in the English tongue, — and are found in four octavo vo- 
 lumes, but with some little difficulty. See Mem. of Literature, vol. 
 vi. p. 205, 221, 246. The Life of Bull first appeared, by the same 
 
6S 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 but possessed of greater acumen, and exhibiting a 
 more condensed, and logical style, he was perhaps the 
 
 pious editor, in 1713, 8vo. in one octavo vol. , and it is not very 
 unusual to find copies of it in goodly old blue morocco binding 
 such as comforts the heart of a tasteful Bibliomaniac. Grabe pub- 
 lished Bishep Bull’s Latin works, in 1703, folio, — to which, as well 
 as to portions of his English works, the late Bishop Horsley was 
 more indebted than he was willing to confess. 
 
 The various and learned works of Waterland — learned, but not 
 without some admixture of fancy and enthusiasm, were collected and 
 handsomely published at the University press at Oxford in 1823, in 
 10 volumes — under the editorial care of, and with a life of the author 
 by, Dr. Van-Mildert, the present Dean of St. Paul’s and Bishop of 
 Landaff : — an^editor, capable in all respects, from his deep theological 
 learning, and general knowledge of the contemporaneous learning of 
 the day, to give the work a full measure of solid and substantial justice. 
 
 But there would be no moderate limits to a note which should give 
 even a brief detail of the peculiar excnelleces of all the ensuing 
 Divines particularised in the text. Let me say a word only respect- 
 ing the last ; one of the greatest and one of the wisest of those who 
 ever filled the See of London. His “ Prelections on the Sacred poe- 
 try of the Hebrews,’’ together with his version of Isaiah, and the 
 preliminary Dissertation, are the principal monuments which his 
 pen has raised ; but though few, these monuments are at once solid, 
 beautiful, and perfect. The Church of England, may with just pride, 
 number Lowth among the most profound of her scholars, and the 
 most exemplary of her Bishops. If I were called upon to mention 
 six of the greatest works of our Divines, each contained in one 
 octavo volume, I should unhesitatingly pronounce the following j 
 Butler's Analogy , Douglas's Criterion , Lowth' s Prelections , Watson's 
 Apology for the Bible, Paley's Natural Theology , and Prettyman'i 
 Refutation of Calvinism. I entreat e< the Young Collector,” espe- 
 cially if he be destined for holy orders, to lose no opportunity o 
 making himself thoroughly acquainted with the contents of thes< 
 books. They are as snow-white, speckless, and brilliant diamonds ii 
 the episcopal mitre.* 
 
 * Paley is here (erroneously) classed among Bishops ; 
 
 [“ Why hangs the mitre still o’er Paley's head”] 
 
LATE ENGLISH DIVINES. 
 
 69 
 
 ablest defender of orthodoxy at the close of the seven- 
 teenth century. Ever ardent and active in what he 
 conceived to be the cause of vital religion, his heart 
 and head were constantly excited to the bringing 
 forth of those admirable works which appear to bear 
 the stamp of immortality. No single theological 
 work has perhaps received so much applause as his 
 “ Short and Easy Method with the Deists ” first pub- 
 lished in a small 8vo. volume in 1697, and of which 
 the reprints are innumerable. Leslie’s theological 
 works were collected about a year before his death, 
 and published in 1721, in two folio volumes.* And 
 again, wishing to possess works of equal piety, but 
 of less learning, and with a leaning to the opposite 
 faith of that of the Church of England, we may be 
 well satisfied with the degree of instruction to be de- 
 rived from those volumes to which the names of 
 Owen, Leland, Lardner, Doddridge, and Watts 
 (not to mention others) are attached. Of the three 
 
 * A good copy may be worth 21. 2 s. Mr. Baynes, in his catalogue 
 of 1822, not only holds out to us a copy upon large paper, marked 
 at 41, 4s. : but another, in imperial folio, extra large paper, 
 marked at 61. 6s.“ very neat.” Mr. Baynes adds that “ it is believed 
 that Leslie’s works have converted more individuals to the commu- 
 nion of the church o € England, than the writings of all others on the 
 same subject 5 ” no. 207. Yet Leslie is not free from the alliterative 
 foppery of the age, in some of his titles, as thus : “ Two Sticks 
 made one ; or the Devil upon Dun : a parallel between the Jessuits and 
 Dissenters .” It may be however essential to remark, that of the Rev. 
 Archdeacon Wrangham’s abridgement of Leslie’s “ Short and easy 
 Method #c. not fewer than twelve editions have been printed, 
 with 10,000 copies in each edition ! 
 
 said the author of the Pursuits of Literature] . Let me hope this error is venial. 
 In the group where he is above placed, it were difficult (except by an awkward pe- 
 riphrasis) to make an exception. 
 
70 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 latter, and especially Doddridge, it is impossible to 
 rise from a careful perusal of their labours, without a 
 conviction of being benefited by their research, and 
 comforted by their piety. Lardner’s works contain a 
 mine of theological learning ; in which the Student 
 may toil till he is weary — and from which he cannot 
 fail to bring away much that is curious and edifying. 
 The Family Expositor of Doddridge, should find a 
 place upon the shelf, and upon the table of every 
 mansion where the moral duties of a Christian are 
 enjoined. Doddridge’s heart was made up of all the 
 kindlier affections of our nature; and was wholly 
 devoted to the salvation of men’s souls. Whatever he 
 did, he appears to have done u to the glory of God.” 
 He read, he wrote, he preached — with a zeal, which 
 knew of no abatement, and with an earnestness, which 
 left no doubt of the sincerity of his motives. He was 
 snatched from his flock and the world — both of which 
 had been enlightened, and benefited by his labours — 
 in the prime of his life, and in the full possession of 
 his faculties : but He, who has left such fruits behind 
 him, cannot be said to have immaturely perished.* 
 
 Of Watts, the companion of our younger and later 
 
 * It is well observed by Kippis, in his Biographia Britannica, 
 vol. v. p. 303, that “ of all our author’s writings, the Family Exposi- 
 tor is the most important and valuable.” In the Leeds edition of Dr. 
 Doddridge’s Works, vol. i. p. 90, the testimony of Dr. Francis Hunt, 
 Regius Hebrew Professor at Oxford, is adduced in strong corrobo- 
 ration of the excellence of the author’s “ Rise and Progress of Reli- 
 gion in the Soul," — and my friend Mr. Archdeacon Wrangham’s 
 Thirteen Practical Sermons , founded upon that work, also bear evi- 
 dence of its excellence and worth ; but, having expunged a passage 
 which appeared in the previous edition, and which was thought to 
 speak somewhat irreverently of it, I must be allowed to retain an 
 opinion that it has received more than its due share of reputation. 
 
LATE ENGLISH DIVINES. 
 
 71 
 
 years, it is impossible to speak without reverence and 
 respect. His Hymns are the charm of our early 
 youth ; his Logic , the well-known theme of schoolboy 
 study ; and his Sermons, Essays, and other theological 
 compositions, are a source of never failing gratifica- 
 tion, in the advance, maturity, and decline of life. 
 The man at fourscore may remember, with gratitude, 
 the advantage of having committed the Hymns of this 
 pious man to his infantine memory. What Dr. John- 
 son has said of him* — merits an inscription in letters 
 of gold. 
 
 Nor let the name of Macknight be forgotten. His 
 works are indeed the more exclusive property of the 
 disciplined theological student ; but the genet' al reader 
 will do well to secure his inviting quartos upon the 
 Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament. In 
 these, he will find learning without pedantry, and 
 piety without enthusiasm. In short, no theological 
 collection can be perfect without them. If any man 
 may be said to have exhausted his subject, it is Mac- 
 knight. 
 
 SERMONS. 
 
 Ere I descend to more modern times, it may be 
 
 * “ Happy will be that reader, whose mind is disposed, by his 
 verses or his prose, to imitate him in all but his non-conformity : to 
 copy his benevolence to man, and his reverence to God.” Life of 
 Watts. I do not particularise any editions of the works of the six 
 authors last above mentioned $ inasmuch as every five or six years, 
 new editions, mere reprints, are put forth. I only recommend the 
 plan, noticed at page 58, ante, upon this and every similar occasion 5 
 but it may be as well to say of Macknight, that a complete set of 
 the first 4to. editions of his works, in five vols. may be worth 10 1. 105. 
 in fine condition. The Epistles have been recently printed with the 
 Greek text, in six octavo volumes. 
 
72 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 expected that I should go back a little, and say a 
 word or two about Sermons. Whatever may be my 
 attachment to those of the Old School * from the 
 
 * It was my original intention to have given a list of our principal 
 preachers and Sermon-writers, from the time of Henry VIII. down- 
 wards ; but the execution of such a task, as it ought to be executed, 
 would alone furnish materials for a moderately sized octavo volume. 
 Indeed, the collection of Old Sermons has been long a favourite 
 pursuit with me — desultorily carried on, I admit — and not likely to 
 be brought to any satisfactory conclusion. Were it so, I should be 
 induced to offer the public a small duodecimo volume or two, enti- 
 tled Specimens of the Sermons of our Ancient Divines , which, with 
 brief biographies of the Authors, might be placed upon the same 
 shelf with specimens of our old Poets and Prose Writers. In the 
 mean time, let the reader have some notion of the probable con- 
 tents of such a publication, and of the probability, or improbability 
 of its success, by what he is about to peruse. 
 
 There are three old English Protestant Divines who have long 
 been the favourite inmates of my study : Latimer, Fox, and Drant. 
 The Sermons of Latimer are indeed familiar to most readers. They 
 were frequently reprinted in the sixteenth century 5 and lately (1788 
 I think) an octavo edition of them appeared in a very amputated and 
 imperfect state — liberties being taken, not only with the words, but 
 with the construction of the sentences. There are also omissions 
 without number. I happen to possess, if not the first, undoubtedly 
 very nearly the first, impression of any portion of Latimer’s Sermons, 
 in a small 8vo., or duodecimo volume, of the date of 1548 : and of 
 which Mr. Hibbert possesses probably the finest copy in existence , 
 which came from the library of Mr. Bindley. It contains the famous 
 Sermon of The Plough , “ preached in y e Shrouds at paules churche 
 in London,” — but which was afterwards much enlarged by the 
 author. These are followed by seven Sermons Ci preached before 
 the Kynges Maiestie wythin his gracious palayce at Westmynster, 
 1549.f From some of these latter I select a few specimens — cha- 
 
 t The curious in old English Divinity, and especially in the lucubrations of 
 Latimer, are divided about the existence of an edition of the Sermons of the latter 
 in which there is supposed to be a wood-cut portrait of him, in a pulpit, either 
 shuffling a pack of cards, or shewing the ace of trumps : by way of illustration, in 
 
OLD SERMONS. 
 
 73 
 
 reign of Henry VIII., to that of Queen Elizabeth,— 
 each reign included — I am well aware that, in a work 
 
 racteristic of the blunt, bold, intrepid, and forcible style of the preacher 
 — and, to the uninitiated in Latimer lore, calculated perhaps to startle 
 and provoke a smile. For the better understanding thereof, I have 
 modernised the orthography, preserving most religiously the original 
 words. The words between brackets thus, [ ] are added , for the 
 
 better understanding of the passage : but these occur very rarely. 
 
 “ Thus, God conditioned with the Jews that their King should be 
 such a one as he himself would chuse them. And [this] was not 
 much unlike the bargain that I heard of late should be betwixt two 
 friends for a horse : the owner promised the other should have the 
 horse if he would : the other axed the price : he said xx nobles. The 
 other would give him but iiii pound. The owner said he should not 
 have him then. The other claimed the horse, because he said he 
 should have him if he would. Thus, this bargain became a West- 
 minster matter. The Lawyers got twice the value of the horse, and 
 when all came to all, two fools made an end of the matter. Howbeit 
 the Israelites could not go to law with God, for chusing their king ; 
 for would they, nyl they, their king should be of his chusing, lest 
 they should walk inordinately, in a deceivable way, unto their utter 
 loss and destruction.” B. iiii . 
 
 Edward the Sixth was then upon the throne of England: — and, a 
 little further, Latimer (somewhat strangely, if not ungraciously) 
 adds : “ Well, the King’s grace hath sisters, my Lady Mary, and 
 my Lady Elizabeth, which by succession and course are inheritors to 
 the crown. Who, if they should marry with strangers, what should 
 ensue God knoweth. But God grant they never come unto cours- 
 ing nor succeeding,” &c. What follows, a page or two onwards, is 
 
 his peculiar manner. This is said to have been mentioned by Mr. Hone upon his 
 trial for a parody of a portion of the Liturgy, and the copy was said to be in the 
 library of Red Cross-street, belonging to the body of Dissenters. I have examined 
 that library, and particularly the two editions of Latimer’s Sermons, 1562, 1583, 
 which it contains. These are fine and genuine copies ; and of the former, there 
 are two parts ; but in neither does there appear to be a portrait of LATiMEn. I 
 have a strong suspicion, not only that no such cut exists, but that the portrait of 
 him upon copper, in the reprint of 1635, 4to. may be fictitious. It should be here 
 observed, in reference to Mr. Hibbert’s copy abovementioned, that it contains two 
 additional Sermons of Latimer, of the date of 1550. 
 
7 4 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 of this nature, it will be my duty to notice and recom- 
 mend those discourses which are useful and popular, 
 
 not a little curious and characteristic. c< In a King, God requireth 
 faith, not excess of horses. Horses for a King be good and neces- 
 sary, if they be well used 5 but horses are not to be preferred above 
 poor men. I was once offended with the King’s horses, and there- 
 fore took occasion to speak in the presence of the King’s Majesty, 
 that dead is, when Abbeys stood. Abbeys were ordained for the 
 comfort of the poor. Wherefore, I said, it was not decent that the 
 King’s horses should be kept in them, as many were at that time, 
 the living of poor men thereby minished and taken away. But after- 
 ward, a certain nobleman said to me, “ what hast thou to do with 
 the King’s horses ?” I answered and said <c I speak my conscience 
 as God’s word directeth me.” He said horses be the maintenances 
 and part of a King’s honour, and also of his realm ; wherefore, in 
 speaking against them, ye are against the King’s honour. I an- 
 swered, <c God teacheth what honour is decent for the King, and for 
 all other men, according unto their vocations. God appointeth every 
 king a sufficient living for his state and degree, both by lands and 
 other customs : and it is lawful for every King to enjoy the same 
 goods and possessions. But to extort and take away the right of the 
 poor, is against the honour of the king. And you do move the King 
 to do after that manner, then you speak against the honour of the 
 king : for I full certify you, extortioners, violent oppressors, ingros- 
 sers of tenements and lands, through whose covetousness villages 
 decay and fall down [and] the king’s liege people, for lack of suste- 
 nance, are famished and decayed. They be those which speak 
 against the honour of the King.’ , C . it. Hi. 
 
 In this same sermon, Latimer shews his zeal and anxiety about 
 the Young King’s taking a suitable wife. “ Let us not impute sin 
 unto the Jews because they had many wives : for they had a dispen- 
 sation so to do. Christ limiteth one wife unto us only $ and it is a 
 great thing for a man to rule one wife rightly and ordinately. For 
 a woman is frail and proclive unto all evils : a woman is a very weak 
 vessel, and may soon deceive a man, and bring him unto evil. Many 
 examples we have in Holy Scripture. Adam had but one wife, 
 called Eve 5 and how soon had she brought him to consent unto 
 evil, and to come to destruction. How did wicked Jesabel prevent 
 king Hacab’s heart from God and all godliness, and finally unto de- 
 
OLD SERMONS. 
 
 75 
 
 rather than those which are merely curious and un- 
 common. But let us not be ungrateful to our fore- 
 
 struction ! It is a very hard thing for a man to rule well one woman. 
 Therefore, let our King, what time his Grace shall be so minded to 
 take a wife, to chose him one which is of God, that is, which is of the 
 household of faith." The way in which he introduces the subject, 
 as connected with the King’s shilling, just coined, is ingenious 
 enough. <e We have now (says he) a pretty little shilling : indeed 
 a very pretty one. I have but one, I think, in my purse : and the 
 last day I had put it away, almost for an old groat, and so I trust 
 some will take them.* The fineness of the silver I cannot see : but 
 therein is printed a fine sentence— that is, {i Timor deifons vite vel 
 sapientie." The Fear of the Lord is the fountain of life or wisdom. I 
 woidd God this sentence were always printed in the heart of the King 
 in choosing his wife, and in all his officers/’ .... “ Let the King, 
 
 therefore, choose unto him a godly wife, whereby he shall the better 
 live chaste, and in so living all godliness shall increase and righteous- 
 ness be maintained. I know hereafter some will come and move 
 your Grace towards wantonness and to the inclination of the flesh 
 and vain affections/’ &c. Sign . C. v. 
 
 In another part of the Sermon, the worthy Bishop maintains a very 
 stiff and severe opinion respecting the frequency and lightness of mar- 
 riages in England, as in the following passage : — “ There was never 
 such marrying in England, as is now. I hear tell of stealing of wards 
 to marry their children to. This is a strange kind of stealing, but it 
 is not the wards, it is the lands that they steal. And some there be 
 that knit up marriages together not for any love or godliness in the 
 parties, but to get friendship, and make them strong in the realm, to 
 encrease their possessions and to join land to land. And other there 
 be that inveigle men’s daughters, in the contempt of their fathers. 
 
 * It should seem that Latimer got a little into disgrace by this familiar mention 
 of King Edward’s shilling ; for, in a subsequent sermon, he thus observes upon it : 
 “ Thus they burdened me ever with sedition. So this gentleman cometh up now with 
 sedition. And wot ye what ? I chanced, in my last sermon, to speak a merry 
 word of the new shilling — to refresh my auditory— how I was like to put away 
 my new shilling for an old groat : I was herein noted to speak seditiously. Yet 
 comfort myself in one thing, that I am not alone, and that I have a fellow : for, it 
 is consolatio miserorum. It is the comfort of the wretched to have company.” Sign. 
 F. viij. 
 
76 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 fathers. Let us remember the good old stock upon 
 which many a comparatively modern graft has been 
 
 and go about to marry them without their consent. This marrying 
 is ungodly. And many parents constrain their sons and daughters 
 to marry where they love not, and some are beaten and compulsed. 
 And they that marry thus, marry in a forgetfulness and obliviousnes9 
 of God’s commandments.” Sign. N viij. 
 
 In the foregoing extracts, those specimens have been selected 
 which may be thought to exhibit the peculiarities of Latimer as con- 
 nected rather with temporal subjects, or even personal anecdote. I 
 shall now select a few specimens as exhibiting his opinions rather 
 upon spiritual subjects : but in which all the quaintness and origina- 
 lity of the preacher are not less discernible. First of Prayer. 
 
 " What should it mean that God would have us so diligent and 
 earnest in prayer ? Hath he such pleasure in our works ? Many talk 
 of prayer, and make it a lip labouring. Praying is not babling, nor 
 
 praying is not monkery .” When we pray, we come 
 
 unto him in the confidence of Christ’s merits, and thus offering up 
 our prayers, they shall be heard for Christ’s sake. Yea, Christ will 
 offer them up for us, that offered up once his sacrifice to God, which 
 was acceptable, and he that cometh with any other mean than this, 
 God knoweth him not. This is not the Missal sacrifice , the Popish 
 sacrifice to stand at the altar and offer up Christ again. Out upon it 
 that ever it was used !’’ Sign’. N. iiii. 
 
 Secondly, of the Sacrament 5 or, the fitness of the Poor as well 
 as of the Higher Classes to receive it : 
 
 “ The sign of a thing hath often times the name of a thing that it 
 signifieth. As the Supper of the Lord is the sacrament of another 
 thing, it is a commemoration of his death which suffered once for us, 
 and because it is a sign of Christ’s offering up, therefore he bears the 
 name thereof. And this sacrifice a woman can offer as well as a 
 man. Yea, a poor woman in the belfrey hath as good authority to 
 offer up this sacrifice, as hath the Bishop in his pontificalibus, with 
 his mitre on his head, his rings on his fingers, and sandals on his 
 feet. And whosoever cometh, asking the Father remedy in his neces- 
 sity for Christ’s sake, he offereth up as acceptable a sacrifice as any 
 Bishop can do. And so to make an end.” Sign. N iiii. rev. 
 
 Thirdly, oITaitii : “ This faith, is a great state, a lady, a Duchess, 
 a great woman, and she hath ever a great company and train about 
 
OLD SERMONS. 
 
 77 
 
 made. The days of Paul's Cross, and of stone pulpits, 
 are past, never to be recalled ; but “the divinity which 
 
 her, as a noble estate ought to have. First, she hath a gentleman 
 usher that goeth before her, and where he is not there is not Lady 
 Faith. 
 
 “ This gentleman Usher is called Agnitio Peccatorum : “ know- 
 ledge of sin when we enter into our hearts and acknowledge our 
 faults, and stand not about to defend them. He is none of these 
 winkers, he kicks not when he hears his fault. Now, as the Gen- 
 tleman Usher goeth before her, so she hath a train that cometh 
 behind her, and yet though they come behind, they be all of Faith’s 
 company ; they are all with her ; as Christ, when he counterfeited a 
 state going to Jerusalem, some went before him, and some after : yet 
 all were of his company. So, all these wait upon Faith. She hath 
 a great train after her, besides her Gentleman Usher, her whole 
 household 5 and those be the works of our vocation, when every man 
 considereth what vocation he is in, what calling he is in, and doeth 
 the works of the same : as to be good to his neighbour, to obey 
 God,’’ &c 
 
 “ Lady Faith is never without her Gentleman Usher, nor without 
 her train $ she is no anckres, [anchoress, or anchorite] ; she dwells not 
 alone ; she is never a private woman 5 she is never alone, and yet 
 many there be that boast themselves that they have faith, and that 
 when Christ shall come, they shall do well enough. Nay, nay, 
 these that be faithful shall be so few, that Christ shall scarcely see 
 them. t( Many there be that run,” saith Paul, but there is but one 
 that receiveth the reward ; it shall be with the multitude when he 
 shall come, as it was in the time of Noah, and as it was in the time 
 of Lot/’ N. vj. &c. 
 
 The fourth touches upon the state of Divinity •Studies : and shall 
 here speak for itself : 
 
 “ I told you before of Scala celi , the ladder of heaven : I would 
 you should not forget it. The steps thereof are set forth in the tenth 
 to the Romans. The first is preaching, then hearing, then believing, 
 and last of all salvation. Scala celi is a preaching matter I tell 
 you, and not a massying matter. God’s instrument of salvation is 
 preaching.” 
 
 “ Here I move you my Lords, not to be greedy, and outrageous 
 in enhansing and raising of your rents, to the minishing of the office 
 
78 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 stirred within” themes yet felt, and will long animate 
 the meanest of the true sons of our Church. 
 
 
 of salvation. It would pity a man’s heart to hear that, that I hear, of 
 the state of Cambridge : what it is in Oxford I cannot tell. There 
 be few do study divinity, but so many as of necessity must furnish 
 the Colleges. For their livings be so small, and victuals so dear, 
 that they tarry not there, but go otherwhere to seek livings, and so 
 they go about. Now, there be a few gentlemen and they study a 
 little divinity. Alas ! what is that ? It will come to pass that we 
 shall have nothing but a little English divinity : that will bring the 
 realm into a very barbarousness, and utter decay of learning. It is 
 not that I wis, that will keep out the supremacy of the Bishop of 
 Rome.” Sign. P vj. rev. 
 
 But there must be an end of these extracts, and of such uncon- 
 scionable demands upon the reader’s patience. It is, however, im- 
 possible not to feel, and to acknowledge, in the Sermons of Lati- 
 mer, a familiarity, and yet force of style, upon which Swift, if not 
 Sterne, in after days, but with occasionally greater coarseness of 
 expression, might have formed their own. There is, throughout 
 Latimer, a purity, ease, and perfection of English idiom — to say 
 nothing of the curious personal and historical anecdotes with which 
 they are mixed up, and which render his discourses invaluable to the 
 lexicographer and philologist. At the same time there is, frequently 
 
 n Lo /"i o 1 1 nrl rr r\oot rr in 4" Tv o aovmnnf? 
 
 a good deal of what may be called gossiping — in the sermons of 
 this worthy old Bishop $ for he not only seems to have spoken, more 
 than any other divine with whom I am acquainted, from the impul- 
 ses excited by the evidence of the outward senses, but he also seems 
 to have always spoken the truth, even in its most unpalateable 
 form, — although the Court, with the King at its head, were fre- 
 quently his auditors. Latimer possessed the bold spirit of a martyr 
 with the simplicity of a child. If ever a man mingled among his 
 fellow creatures, with the desire and with a constant effort to do 
 them good — having, at the same time, his best thoughts fixed upon 
 a happy eternity — it was He. His dying words, at the stake, 
 breathed of heavenly inspiration. While they cheered his fellow 
 sufferer, Ridley, they “ lighted up such a flame’' as I trust in God 
 will never be extinguished in this country. One of the finest bursts 
 of modern classical eloquence, in a Latin speech, was in the convo- 
 cation house at Oxford, in reference to the last moments of Latimer 
 
 
OLD SERMONS. 
 
 79 
 
 Of the Sermons which have survived the earlier 
 part of the Reformation, the greater portion are those 
 
 and Ridley — by the present Mr. Archdeacon Churton, author of the 
 Life of Dean Nowell. His appeal to their ashes was an humble but 
 not wholly unhappy imitation of that of Demosthenes to the manes 
 of the heroes of Marathon and Salamis. 
 
 The length of the preceding extracts necessarily contracts the 
 limits to be assigned to the notice of John Fox — who published his 
 Sermon of Christ Crucified , at Paules Crosse, on Good Friday, in 
 1575, in order, amongst other things, to awake the hearts of 
 Christians in these drowsy days of carnal security, to the contem- 
 plation of the glorious kingdom of Christ.” The following is quite 
 in the characteristic style of the Preacher : — 
 
 “ Now, take a man in all his abundance of riches, treasures, and 
 pleasures, flourishing in his most felicity, bravery and prosperity : let 
 him be, if ye will, an other Polycrates of this world — what is he of 
 himself but a carcass, a caitiff, a subject of Satan, a prey to death ! 
 rejoicing and laughing in this world, but yet as one that laugheth 
 in his dream, and waketh in sorrow ! — fraught full of fears and 
 cares of mind, blind in soul, not knowing to day what will happen 
 to-morrow : void of all inward rest, and peace of conscience ; mor- 
 tal, mutable, miserable; wrapped in wretchedness, prone to all 
 wickedness, whose beginning is in travail, his standing uncertain, 
 his end is corruption : briefly as one living in death, and dead, being 
 alive.” B vj. rev. 
 
 I shall next present a more powerful and touching piece of pulpit 
 eloquence to the earnest perusal of the reader. After the description 
 of Christ’s trial, and that of nailing him to the cross, are the follow- 
 ing bold apostrophes of the crucified Redeemer to Satan and Death. 
 The first address is to the Devil : 
 
 “ First, after my birth thou diddest set Herod to persecute me : 
 thou temptedst me in the desert. What means afterward diddest 
 thou seek to trip and snare me : yet my time was not come. At 
 Length when the hour came of darkness, thou diddest take and bind 
 me, and set thy bandogs to bait me, false witnesses to accuse me, 
 unjust judges to condemn me, thy ministers to scourge me, thy sol- 
 diers with this sharp garland to crown me, thy sycophants to scorn 
 me, and after thou laiddest this heavy cross upon my shoulders : yet 
 not content with that, thou hast strained also my poor body upon 
 ‘.he same, and nailed me fast both hand and foot. In these my tor- 
 
80 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 which were preached by the Protestants ; and among 
 these* none (as the subjoined running note may tes- 
 
 ments, and bleeding pains, I was dry, requiring a little drink, and 
 thou gavest me vinegar. All this I take to be thy doing and no 
 man’s else. For this people are but thy instruments, and workmen. 
 Thou art he that settest them on. Thou art the master of these 
 revels, the ringleader of this dance, the captain of this crew. And 
 as thou art the arch enemy to all mankind, so because thou seest me 
 come in similitude of sinful flesh, thou art mine enemy also, and 
 hast wrought me all this villainy, bringing me to this cross, and 
 making me a spectacle here to all the world : and yet not satisfied 
 with all this, after thou hast thus hailed and nailed me to this contu- 
 melious gibbet, now, to make amends in mockery, thou biddest me 
 come down if I can, and save myself. Yes, Satan, I can come down, 
 and will come down, and save myself. For that power have I, both 
 to lay down myself, and to take it again, and therefore, I will save 
 myself, but so as I may also save all mankind with me : and not at 
 thy pleasure I will do it, but in such order as the Scriptures require. 
 For, I come, therefore, to fulfil the Scriptures.” Sign. I. viii. rev . ; K. 
 i. red. 
 
 <( After this effect of speech, when Jesus had spoken to the devil, 
 speaking likewise unto Death, he saith to him : and thou terrible 
 tyranny, thou dreadful death, armed with the justice of God, the 
 mortal enemy to all flesh, whom no man was ever able to resist, 
 and which art so ready here and so saucy, set up by Satan, to seek 
 my life, neither shalt thou escape my hands } for, as thou art the 
 destruction of all other, so will I be thy destruction, thy death. Oh ! 
 Death, thy sting ! Oh Hell j and as I have overthrown the devil thy 
 master, and expulsed him from his kingdom, and spoiled him of all 
 his munitions : so will I also swallow thee up in victory, and throw 
 thee down headlong for ever. And albeit I need not suffer thy 
 force, unless I list, for mine own part, because thou hast no power 
 upon me, and might, therefore, save myself from thy cruel danger 
 if I would — yet, for my love to mankind, because their life shall not 
 perish, whom my death may save, and because I will not save myself 
 without them, but will deliver them out of thy hands — for their sakes, 
 to pay their debt, and that by my cross undeserved, I may cross them 
 out of the book of death, which have deserved death, I am content. 
 Come death, therefore, and do thine office. I willingly here yield my 
 life to thee. And yet neither will I yield it to thy hands, nor give it 
 
OLD SERMONS. 
 
 SI 
 
 tify) were more popular than those of Latimer. Fox 
 had also a high name ; but there was a Catholic, of 
 
 over at thy pleasure. And although thou come here with thine iron 
 coulter, or brazen maul, to break my bones, as thou doest to these 
 here by me, yet will I not suffer thee so to do to me : neither shalt 
 thou break one bone of me. To fulfil the Scripture, I give over my 
 life : yet not at thy will, but at mine own pleasure 3 for be it known 
 to thee, O death, that I have power to lay down my life, and to 
 resume it again at mine own will. And thus Jesus, speaking, 
 Dowed down his head, and gave up his spirit to the hands of his 
 Father, and so departed.” Sign. K. v. rev. 
 
 A word now for Dr. Thomas Drant — better known as the first 
 3nglish metrical translator of Horace, in 1567 : a work of exces- 
 sive rarity, when found in a perfect state. Drant is equally bold and 
 ‘amiliar with Latimer — but more quaint, with greater affectation of 
 earning ; and with less warmth of eloquence than Fox. 
 
 We have, however, a bold and powerful effort of Drant’ s pulpit 
 eloquence in the two Sermons preached by him at St. Mary's Spittle , 
 ipon the text of Cant. c. 6 — Fairest of all women, whither is thy 
 Beloved gone ? whither is he gone aside ? Tell us, and we will seek 
 iim with thee. My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the 
 >eds of his spicery, to be fed in gardens, and gather up Lilies.’’ 
 This Sermon is levelled chiefly against the Roman Catholics,* and 
 
 These sermons were preached in 1569-70 : when the bitterness against the 
 oman Catholic had not, as is pretty evident, diminished one jot. Drant thus 
 pea *s of Sii Thomas More : te Sir Tho. More is always wrangling and jangling, 
 r P* n g, and - arphig, about No and Nay, Yea and Yes ; this word and that word j 
 n Elder and an Eider stielc: and as Rachell mourned for her children, because 
 t em not, so Sir Thomas More might mourn for more divinity, because 
 e a it not. D v. Edit. Day. Some attacks against Bp. Fislier and Eckius 
 How. Again j ie ^ satirizes the several orders of Doctors in the Catholic 
 mversities. Should we not now strike down, and sacrifice a great huge for- 
 
 itted bul to those worthies of learning ? Or, should we not take a shrill trumpet 
 ad blow up from a lofty theatre, “ All hail! learned Doctors, venerable Doc- 
 ms, reverend Doctors, Doctoral Doctors, docterly Doctors, irrefragable Doc- 
 )rs, impregnable Doctors, serapliical Doctors, angelical Doctors, magistral 
 octors, illuminate Doctors, authentical Doctors ! But see the learning of these 
 octors, in the Epistles of Obscure Men, and in a dialogue between Reuchlin and 
 
 smus. E.vij. And yet more pointed and pitiless is the preacher, in what 
 allows The Church of the Beloved is fair, and fairest of all women : Ido- 
 1 rous churches are foul and evil favoured women ; and of all foul and evil 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 the name of Edgeworth, whose Discourses are not 
 only worth possessing, from being very uncommon, but 
 
 treats much of the fruits of an iioly life. “ The good life of a 
 Christian man is spice to God’s mouth, and spice to God’s nose. 
 The odour of a sweet field, which is commended in Genesis — the 
 odour of incense in Numery [Numbers] — the odour of fragrant 
 waters in Job — the odour of that oil that ran down Aaron’s beard — 
 of that oil that Mary shed upon Christ’s head — the odour of spike 
 and vine flowers, commended in the Canticles — the sweet balm in Ec- 
 clesiasticus , and the smell of Libanus that Ose [Hosea] speaketh of — 
 the smell of Noah’s sacrifice — the smell of best burnt sacrifices — is 
 not like the good smell to God’s nose, as the smell of a good life 
 rising from a good belief 5 for that is “ Hostia Deo in odorem sua- 
 vitatis “ a sacrifice to God, unto a sweet savour.” Whole grocers 
 shops of spicery — all the flowers in Priapus garden, all the flowers 
 that Naiads, and Driads, and Satyrs ; that is, all the flowers in hills, 
 and flowers in dales, and flowers in many a green forest, are not so 
 delightful and smelling. The violet hath not the like savour, the rose 
 hath not the like savour, the lily the like smell, the gilliflower the 
 like scent, as good life through good faith yieldeth to God’s 
 nostrils.” Sign. G.iii. 
 
 The following is perfectly original, and has great strength; If 
 the whole world, if the whole realm ask me, what sin ? I tell them 
 that the whole realm and the world trembleth, like the leaf of a tree 
 of wood, at every war, and buzzing of war, as though God’s arm had 
 
 favoured, I think the Church of Rome to be one of the foulest of women. The 
 evil favouredness of Mahomet’s woman, or church, is in this evil favoured Romish 
 woman. That evil favoured Mahomet’s woman, or church, defendeth many 
 wives : this Romish Church defendeth stews and strum-pets, courtisans, concu- 
 bines, and boy-harlots. Mahomet’s woman dreameth heaven to be a place goodly 
 of rivers, pleasant apples, young delicate women, and fair fruit. The Pope’s 
 woman doth say and hold, that St. Dorothy made baskets of apples that came 
 down from heaven.” E ij. This strain continues in an equally coarse and unspa- 
 ring manner ; and a little onward we have the following specimen ; u If we ask 
 her [the Romish Church] of good works, she answereth just like St. Luke’s pha- 
 risee ; then again, she deviseth good works to be thus : — to hire certain men for 
 money, to pray and to mumble up much quantity of Psalms in a covert tongue ; 
 to keep huge troughs of ling and salt-fish many years ; to wax hoarse with much 
 chaunting ; to wax speechless with seldom speaking ; to wax lame with much 
 sitting ; to use many knots in their girdles, and many windows in their shows ; to 
 be buried in monkish weeds and nunnish cowls,” &c. F- viij . 
 
OLD SERMONS. 
 
 83 
 
 from containing much curious and interesting intelli- 
 gence ; delivered, upon the whole, with considerable 
 
 lost the length and strength. That sin ! ? There is much idleness : 
 that sin ! There is a sleepy oblivion of all God’s benefits, and a 
 great Noah’s flood of manifold vanities : that sin, and that sin. 
 There is cut throat usury, fulness of bread, and drunkenness in the 
 day time : that sin, that sin, and that sin. There is flesh lust, eye lust, 
 life pride, and no bowels of pity : that sin, that sin, that sin, and that 
 sin. Ask me not, ask me not. Oh, what Sin ? I lack wit and memory, 
 sides and strength : I die, I faint, I should famish to stand still, and 
 hold out in telling the world their particular sins by that sin, and 
 that sin. Sign. G. vj. 
 
 The reader wilj smile at the following — as it is a confirmation that 
 a the sin of gluttony ,” once imputed to the good City of London as 
 the cause of the dreadful fire in 1666 , was not peculiar to the times 
 of Charles II. — for thus discourseth Drant, in his famous Spittle Ser- 
 mon : Howbeit, I am not ignorant that many a poor minister of 
 
 these times, is like Elizas. He had not pen, nor ink, nor table, nor 
 candlestick, but as his hosts allowed him : and these poor God’s men 
 must be helped by their host or hosts, or one friend or other, with 
 coat and cap, and cup and candle, and study and table, or else they 
 shall be altogether harbourless and helpless. And needs must I further 
 yet say, that in many a poor scholar of the Universities, Christ him- 
 self is full of hunger and necessity. These be the noble sons of the 
 prophets, and most apt of all others to be builders of God’s temple : 
 yet have I seen many a good wit, many a long day kept low and lean, 
 to be made broken with hunger, and abject with poverty. I do not 
 now know the liberality of this City towards both those places } only 
 this I can say, that, less than the tenth part of that, which is nothing 
 but surfeit and sickness to the great excessive eaters of this 
 Town, would cherish and cheer up hungry and thirsty Christ, in 
 those his hunger starved members, right well.” H. i. The good 
 citizens of London are treated with still less curtesy in the following 
 passage : “ Havoc in their own apparel, their wives, children’ s, and 
 servants apparel, outrageous havoc in their diets, yea too much 
 havoc too many ways. Their horses chew and spew upon gold and 
 silver, and their mules go under rich velvet. Dogs are dear unto 
 them, and feed much daintily. Courses and kites cost them many a 
 round pound . . . Specially, good Lord, O good Lord, this London 
 
84 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 caution, but with the decisive tone of Catholic zeal. 
 Edgeworth, who died at the commencement of Eliza- 
 
 People, though it draw near thee with lips, and have a name to live, 
 yet hath it a most flinty and uncircumcised heart, and is indeed a 
 people of no bowels. Lord, here is the rich glutton to be seen, up 
 and down, and round about, the town. Here is scarce any thing in 
 the upper sort, but many a foolish Nabal scraping and scratching, 
 eating and drinking, and suddenly and unworthily dying. The eyes 
 of Judah are said to be red with drinking, but much of this people 
 have their whole faces fire red with continual quaffing and carousing. 
 Sodom and Gomorra were said to be full of bread, but these Lon- 
 doners are more than full — for they are even bursten with banquet- 
 ting, and sore and sick with surfeiting. Lord, thou whistlest to 
 them, and they hear thee not 3 thou sendest thy plague amongst 
 them, and they mind thee not. Lord, we are lean 3 Lord, we are 
 faint 3 Lord, we are miserable ; Lord, we are thy members. Lord, 
 therefore, thou art lean 3 Lord, thou art faint ; Lord, thou art miser- 
 able 3 rise good Lord, arise, and judge thine own cause.” H. ii. iij. 
 
 One more, and the last — from this Sermon : although in the ori- 
 ginal it precede both the foregoing. The preacher is describing the 
 beauty of the church. ** All the beauty of the daughter of Sion is 
 from within her." This is that woman that is clad with the son 
 Christ, and therefore must needs shine, and shew trim. This is she 
 that is married to Christ, in mercies and pities, in faith and justice. 
 Faith purified the heart 3 the mercy of God, working by his blood- 
 shed, scowereth all filth, and reformeth all the deformities by sin in 
 this woman. This woman, therefore, must needs be fair, and fairest 
 of all women. Oh, fairness of man’s face 3 of woman’s face ! Oh, 
 treasure for a time ! Oh, fair, foolish vanity ! A little cold doth pinch 
 thee 3 a little heat doth parch thee : a little sickness doth match 
 thee, and a little of sores doth mar thee ! But the fairness of Christ 
 in this woman, or in his Elect, may be soiled, but it will be washed ; 
 it may be black, but it will keep a good favour 3 may be made red 
 as scarlet, but it will be renewed wool-white, and snow white,” &c. 
 E. ij. 
 
 In a sermon preached before the queen and her court at Windsor, 
 on the 8th of January, 1569, Drant chose the following text: — 
 “ They were both naked, Adam and Eve, and blushed not.” Sin- 
 gular as such a text may now appear, before such an audience, it was 
 
OLD SERMONS. 
 
 85 
 
 beth’s reign, had a delicate and difficult part to act. 
 He had witnessed, with no small pain, the demolition 
 
 in perfect accordance with the bold simplicity of the age 3 and, upon 
 this text, Drant has engrafted some very bosom-searching doctrine, 
 clothed in language at once striking and original. He thus observes 
 in the outset of his discourse, " as Adam and Eve were man and 
 wife together, so shall they be one together for me in this treatise. 
 Or else, if I should talk both of Adam and of Eve, and be but so large 
 as I well mought, it would not be very well 3 for the season is very 
 cold, and I most sickly to speak } and, besides that, our scantling to 
 preach in the court, is a most short scantling.” The frailty and 
 nothingness, as it were, of human nature, are thus powerfully deline- 
 ated. Such base dust, as is driven before the face of the wind, 
 which the ungodly do lick, which the serpent doth eat, even such 
 dust is Adam j such dust is man, such dust are all men : — and 
 hearken to it, all men ! Rich men are rich dust, wise men wisedust 5 
 worshipful men worshipful dust 3 honourable men honourable dust 3 
 majesty’s dust, excellent majesty’s excellent dust. Serah, that had a 
 thousand thousand men, and Xerxes, that made the sea, land — with 
 ships — are both of them dust. Alexander that called himself God’s 
 son, w r as dust 3 Senacherib, that wrote himself the great king, was 
 dust. The bishops of Rome, that write themselves EuA otGerol, sv<re- 
 oltoi, Qso<pi\arciTOi, Qeo<re£es6iTQi ) ixyiOTtxTOi , ocnoTaroi, all these be 
 dust. The Latin doctors, that call themselves authentical doctors, 
 magistrall doctors, seraphical doctors, and irrefragable doctors,* 
 dust. He of Rome, that called himself most holy, most blessed, 
 God’s vicar, Christ’s pewfellow, more than a mere man, and many 
 great names, . . . dust. Man is dust : all men are dust. Sign. i. ij . 
 
 The same train of thinking is visible in the following, which suc- 
 ceeds an elaborate explanation of the word Adam. “ And do not 
 think that, because I say Adam is red earth, and it is said that 
 Adam is ashes, and shall return into ashes, therefore, none but red 
 earth and red men shall die. Of a truth it is so, that Adam (that is 
 red earth) Melancthon (that is, black earth), and Leucthon (that is, 
 white earth) must die too. They must all learn to tread the way of 
 all earths : yea. Madams, think it to be so as I say. Red earth, 
 black earth, and white earth, must go David’s way 3 yea, verily. 
 
 * See page 81, ante. 
 
86 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 of the religious houses in the reign of Henry VIII., 
 and had maintained a prudent silence during that of 
 
 rosiall colours, and crimson cheeks, must go David’s way ; must go 
 the way of all earths. Think upon your death, and upon the next 
 life, for ye must die, ye must die, there is no remedy.” I. v. rev. 
 
 There is something rather poetical in what here ensues. “ Saint 
 Paul saith, God made meats, and God made the belly j and that God 
 will destroy both the meats and the belly. So say I. God made appa- 
 rel*, and God made the back ; and he will destroy both the one and 
 the otherj yea, those heads, that are now to be seen for their tall and 
 bushy plumes, — and that other sex, that have fine fresh golden caules 
 so sheen and glosing — give me but a hundred years, nay, half an hun- 
 dred years, and the earth will cover all these heads before me, and 
 mine own too.” K. viij. A little before, Drant describes what he 
 calls the condition of all preachers that speak the truth.” And 
 generally, in kings houses, of the preachers, this is true which Mar- 
 tial, the poet, said of his friends : My friends, ye will me to speak 
 
 the truth, and embolden me to speak the truth : the truth is this, 
 that you cannot abide to hear the truth.” 
 
 “ In King Herod’s house, my lady Herodiada could command half 
 a realm, for footing and frisking. Amos spake of those in kings 
 houses, in his 6th chapter, when he spake thus : ye that sleep in 
 
 beds of ivory, and play the wantons on your couches : ye that 
 warble to the tune of the viol, and quaff of wine by whole goblets 
 full : ye that supple your joints with the best kind of oil, and have 
 no cark upon the smart of Joseph,” &c. 
 
 Such are the specimens of the pulpit compositions of Drant ; spe- 
 cimens, which may convince us that increase of civilization does not 
 always bring a proportionate increase of sound sense, close reasoning, 
 masculine eloquence, and unaffected piety. Of the man, whose head 
 and heart could urge him to such effusions, it is a pity that all memo- 
 rials have well nigh perished. 
 
 Long, almost beyond precedent, as is this note, it must yet be 
 
 * The preacher is most elaborate respecting apparel, both of men and women. 
 In one place, he describes the latter thus : “ Now, in women’s apparel, there is 
 much vanity. The prophet Isaiah rcckoneth up their bracelets, and their mufflers, 
 and their headbands, their tablets, their bonnets, their ear-rings, their nose-jewels, 
 their veils, their wimples, their crisping pins, their stomachers, their cambrics, 
 their heads, and their lawns.’* K vij. 
 
OLD SERMONS. 
 
 S7 
 
 Edward VI. : but on the accession of Queen Mary, he 
 took courage, triumphantly avowed his ancient prin- 
 
 lengthened. The name of Edgeworth, as that of a Catholic divine , 
 has been mentioned in the text 5 and, pursuing the plan adopted in 
 the immediately preceding pages, it is necessary that such name be 
 illustrated with a few specimens of his sermons. Referring, there- 
 fore, in the first place, to Dr. Bliss’s edition of Wood's Athena Oxon ., 
 vol. i. col. 315, for a brief account of the author, and noticing that 
 Wood was indebted to the choice collection of books in Baliol col- 
 lege library for a peep at the volume containing these sermons, I 
 must observe, in the second place, that I am indebted to the not less 
 ce choice collection” of my neighbour and friend, Mr. Douce, for an 
 inspection of the volume in question : — which is so rare as to have 
 been unknown to Herbert, and is superficially described by Ames. 
 Nor will it diminish the pleasure, in noticing the contents of it, to 
 inform the reader, that Mr. Douce’s copy once belonged to Bishop 
 Burnet : and that it is not only perfect, but in a clean, crackling, and 
 legitimate condition throughout. 
 
 This volume was published in 1557 , 4to., during the reign of Mary. 
 In his preface, Edgeworth (whose Christian name was Roger, and who 
 at the time, was <( canon of the cathedral churches of Salisbury, Wells, 
 and Bristol, residentiary in the cathedral church of Wells, and chan- 
 cellor of the same church,” — according to the title-page,) tells us, 
 that because these sermons were made in English, and touched 
 sometimes among such heresies as had troubled English folk, he 
 thought it best to set them forth in such language as might presently 
 best edify the multitude. Moreover, pleaseth you to be advertised, 
 (continues he,) that when I should preach in any solemn and learned 
 audience, I, even fearing the liability of my remembrance, used to 
 pen my sermons much like as I intended to utter them to the 
 audience : others I scribbled up not so perfectly j yet sufficiently for 
 me to perceive my matter and my process. And of these two sorts 
 I have kept (as grace was) a great multitude, which now helpeth 
 me in this my enterprise of imprinting a book of my said exhortations. 
 Moreover, I have made innumerable exhortations at my cures, and 
 in other places where I have dwelled, and in the countries thereabout, 
 and in my journies, where it hath chanced me to be on Sunday, or 
 other holy days, of which I have no signs remaining in writing, 
 although I think, verily, some of them were as fruitful as others in 
 
88 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 ciples, and obtained rapid and substantial preferment. 
 His sermons are among the very few which I have 
 
 which I took more labours. I pray God they may be written and 
 registered in the book of life everlasting.” Towards the conclusion 
 of the preface, he complains of being “ interrupted many years” 
 while he was preaching at Redcliffe-cross, at Bristol, by the con- 
 federacy of Hugh Latimer, then aspiring to a bishopric, and after, 
 being bishop of Worcester, and ordinary of the greatest part of the 
 said Bristol, and infecting the whole.” 
 
 Beneath “ the contents of this book/’ on the opposite page, the 
 author observes thus : “ I have, beside these many sermons, made to 
 very many solemn audiences, on the dominical epistles and gospels, 
 some in the university of Oxford, some at Paul’s-cross, in London, 
 some in the court afore my most honourable lord and master. King 
 Henry the Eighth, some in the cathedral church of Wells, where hath 
 been, ever sith I knew it, a solemn and a well learned audience : 
 which I purpose (God willing,) to set forth hereafter, as I may have 
 opportunity.” Edgeworth, I believe, never had this opportunity ; 
 for these sermons are all that are known to have been published by 
 him. I now proceed to gratify (as I hope) the reader with a few 
 short specimens from this rare and not incurious volume. 
 
 Upon the translation of the Scriptures into the English language, he 
 thus artfully observes — liking it not in his heart : “ But what sayest 
 thou ? Is not the study of Scripture good ? Is not the knowledge of 
 the Gospels and of the New Testament, godly, good, and profitable, 
 for a Christian man or woman ? I shall tell you what I think in this 
 matter. I have ever been of this mind, that I have thought it no 
 harm, but rather good and profitable, that holy scripture should be 
 had in the mother tongue, and withholden from no man that were 
 apt and meet to take it in hand, specially if we could get it well and 
 truly translated, which will be very hard to be had. But who be 
 meet and able to take it in hand — there is the doubt.” Fol. xxxii. 
 I do not know the date of this (the third) sermon, but conclude that 
 it was preached before the English version of the New Testament 
 (1526), the Pentateuch (1530) of Tindale, and the Bible of Cover- 
 dale in 1535. It is clear that no notice is taken of the comparative 
 excellence of these versions, either in or out of the pulpit — although 
 Edgeworth’s book was published twenty years after the Bihle of 
 Coverdale. 
 
OLD SERMONS. 
 
 89 
 
 seen from a catholic minister, of the sixteenth century, 
 in the English language. 
 
 In the fourth sermon, Edgeworth is wrathful respecting the mal- 
 treatment of images. “ And, because (says he,) I spoke even now of 
 images and idols, I would you should not ignorantly confound and 
 abuse those terms, taking an image for an idol, and an idol for an 
 image,* as I have heard many do in this city, as well of the fathers 
 and mothers (that should be wise), as of their babies and children 
 that have learnt foolishness of their parents. Now, at the dissolution 
 of monasteries and friars’ houses, many images have been carried 
 abroad, and given to children to play withal, and when the children 
 have them in their hands, dancing them after their childish manner, 
 cometh the father, or the mother, and saith, “ What, nasse } what 
 hast thou there ?” the child answereth (as she is taught), “ I have 
 here mine doll. The father laugheth, and maketh a gay game at 
 it. So saith the mother to another, “ Jugge } or Tommy , where hadst 
 thou that pretty idol ?” “ John, our parish clerk, gave it me/’ saith 
 the child. And for that, the clerk must have thanks, and shall lack 
 no good cheer. But, if this folly were only in the insolent youth, 
 and in the fond, unlearned fathers and mothers, it might soon be 
 redressed. But your preachers, that you so obstinately follow, more 
 leaning to the vulgar noise and common error of the people, than to 
 profound learning, they babble in the pulpits that [what] they hear 
 the people rejoice in.” Fol. xl. When this sermon was preached, 
 it is therefore but reasonable to suppose that the doctrine of the Re- 
 formation was pretty boldly inculcated. 
 
 In the 5th Sermon (fol. liiii.) occurs a bold and coarse translation 
 of Matth. c. xxv. v. 33. “ He shall set the shep on his righte hande , 
 
 <md the rancke and stinckinge goates on the lift handed In th 2 homily 
 on the <e Articles of our Christian Faith,” fol. lxxviii, is a very singu- 
 lar exposition of the “Immaculate Conception” founded upon the 
 doctrine of St. Austin. In the eleventh Sermon “ on St. Peter’s 
 First Epistle,” the dress and ornament of the Ladies are (as usual, in 
 these periods — even before Majesty) described and condemned in 
 rather unsparing terms. tC This adulteration, and changing of God’s 
 handy work, by painting woman’s hair to make it seem fair and 
 
 * At folio ccxxxv, the distinction between an idol and an image is fully and ac- 
 curately gone into. 
 
90 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 MODERN SERMONS. 
 
 In coining at once to the notice of Sermons in the 
 eighteenth century, I shall not be accused of an 
 
 yellow, or of their leers of their cheeks to make them look ruddy, 
 or of their forehead, to hide the wrinkles, and to make them look 
 smooth, is of the devil’s invention, and never of God’s teaching,” fol. 
 cc. A little onward he thus notices the luxurious living of the age : 
 “ diversity of exquisite dishes, dashed with spices and delicate wines, 
 and used for kindred and friends, and such as can requite [the] like 
 again. If poor people have any thing, it is those scraps that be next 
 the dog’s meat.” Fol. cciii. 
 
 In the same sermon occurs the following very curious illustration 
 of Conjugal Concord. “ Saint Ambrose, Exameron libro v. cap. 
 vii., reciteth a notable example to move all married folks, as well 
 men as women, to concord and to agree together. The example is 
 of the lamprey and a serpent called Vipera , nequissimum genus bestie, 
 a serpent most mischievous and venemous. If there be any of them 
 with us, it is the adder. The property of this serpent, is this. When 
 he list to gender, specially where he breedeth nigh the sea coast, he 
 cometh to the water side, and there he hisseth after his manner, cal- 
 ling to him his make , the lamprey, with his continual hissing. The 
 lamprey, as soon as she perceiveth him there, draweth to the shore, 
 and shallow water; and when the adder spieth her coming, he 
 vomiteth and breaketh away out of himself all his poison and 
 venom,” &c. & c. “ Here may the Man and the Woman learn to 
 bear and suffer every one the manners of the other. Here may the 
 man learn to order his wife with soberness, and the wife to be gen- 
 tle and obedient. What thing is worse than the venom of a serpent? 
 And yet, the lamprey feareth not that in her make, the adder. She 
 cometh gently at his calling, and lovingly embraceth him. There- 
 fore, good wives, if your husbands be venemous, crabbed, and cum- 
 berous, or (as you call it) shrew-shaken, you must come at his calling: 
 do as he biddeth you : be gentle unto him ; and so, though his ve- 
 nom hurt others, it shall not hurt you/’ Fol. ccv-vi. A modern 
 congregation would be a little surprised at such an exposition of the 
 Apostle’s text of “ obeying husbands !” But the preacher does not 
 
MODERN SERMONS. 
 
 91 
 
 unhappy choice in the recommendation of those of 
 Clarke , Seed, South, Sherlock, Jortin, Porteus , Hors- 
 ley, Paley , and Gisborne. I admit there are some 
 slight shades of difference, both doctrinal and practi- 
 cal, in these excellent performances : but I am sure 
 there is enough “ of Christ,” in all of them, to make 
 us better men, and to bring us nearer to salvation. 
 In this department of Divinity, I am aware that every 
 man will choose according to his particular bias or 
 favourite views of Scriptural doctrine ; and he will 
 find this doctrine more distinctly developed or illus- 
 trated in the Reviews in which such sermons are cri- 
 ticised.* In the Monthly Review, the Dissenter will 
 
 spare the husband in what follows 5 when he tells him t: he must 
 always lay away his poison, so that he use none towards his wife. 
 He must always lay down, as well as his churlish swelling, as all his 
 lordly and proud fashion : let her perceive none such in him : re- 
 member (concludes he) you be not her Lord , ye be but her Husband 
 and her Make." 
 
 But one more extract. The following is an artful, and not un- 
 happy illustration of the supposed paramount purity and influence of 
 the Roman Catholic Church. The preacher has been speaking of 
 the Flood. “ And that the water of the said flood saved none that 
 were out of the ship, signifieth that all Heretics , that be out of the 
 common received faith of the church, although they were in the 
 water, although they be christened, and glorieth to be called chris- 
 ten men, yet by the same water, they shall be drowned into hell, by 
 which the ship, the Catholic Church, was lift and borne up into hea- 
 ven, and saved ; as the material ship of Noah was lift up into she 
 air, above ground, and saved by water.” Fol. ccxxvi. rev. I had 
 purposed to add the account of Dives and Lazarus, at folio ccxliii. 
 but it is a picture too much in the Hemskirk style : too minutely 
 coarse and disgusting. Upon the whole, Edgeworth is less nervous 
 and familiar than Latimer : less eloquent than Fox ; and less learned 
 and logical than Drant. He is, however, a writer of a fine fancy 
 and an easy and flowing diction. 
 
 * The name of Gisborne, the last above mentioned, and the only 
 
92 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 seek for the exposition and recommendation of his 
 own favourite opinions ; in the British Critic , the 
 
 one of those Divines so mentioned who are living, shall not be intro- 
 duced without the commendations of one of the most able and most 
 popular of our critical Journals. “ Of Mr. Gisborne it is impossible 
 to speak without reverence as a man, or withont respect as a writer : 
 a long life and ample fortune devoted to the best interests of man- 
 kind — a series of writings on moral and theological subjects, calm, 
 rational, intelligent and impressive, contribute to place him in the 
 number of the best Christians, if not of the best writers of the age/’ 
 Quarterly Review , No. XLI. p. 41. 
 
 I am aware that in treading upon this kind of ground — the notice 
 of living preachers and publishers of Sermons — there is great ne- 
 cessity to walk with caution and circumspection. Yet, as all the 
 preceding authors, dead and alive, have been exclusively English, 
 I will not close this department of the Library Companion/’ 
 without the distinct and commendatory notice of a few who are 
 Scotch. Let me begin with Blair 5 whose Sermons, about forty 
 years, were the object equally of the perusal and admiration of the 
 public. To doubt the worth of a performance, of which the po- 
 pularity was without precedent, might be at once arrogant and 
 vain 3 nor will I dispute the designation of the author as the Addi- 
 son of Sermon writers. Pie has doubtless given good “ Milk 
 for Children but Men require meat ; and strong men, strong 
 meat. Paley, Gilpin, and Gisborne, have, among other popu- 
 lar divines, occupied much of the space formerly filled by Blair. 
 When I mention the names of Moncrieff, Alison, and Muirhead, 
 I hope to give no offence to any pious reader on either side of the 
 Tweed. The truth is, these authors form a sort of theological tri- 
 umvirate, of which Scotland has just reason to be proud. The 
 strong good sense and unaffected piety of the first, the beautiful and 
 refined fancy and melodious style of the second, with the tenderness, 
 simplicity, and sweetness of the third, render their respective works 
 deserving of a good coat, and a conspicuous place, in every well cho- 
 sen collection. In the preceding edition of this work, I had (a9 
 indeed was the case of Blair) inserted a notice of the Bampton Lec- 
 tures in the Supplement which notice will necessarily have a 
 more natural order here. These Lectures imply a set of Sermons 
 preached in the pulpit of the University Church (St. Mary) by Cler- 
 
MODERN SERMONS. 
 
 93 
 
 Church of England man will find the strong rays of 
 orthodoxy concentrated : in the British Review, will 
 be oft-times found much that is eloquent, and much 
 that is ingenious, in the exposition of saintly doctrines ; 
 in the Eclectic , a frequent flow of fine reasoning and 
 pious persuasion. The principles of the latter are 
 called those of the Evangelical kind : but obtuse must 
 be that man’s vision, and petrified his heart, who shall 
 deny ingenuity, strength, and eloquence to the effu- 
 sions of Hall, Forster, and Jay.* I put the count- 
 less tribe of minor religious Reviews quite out of the 
 
 gymen, selected from various colleges, according to the Will of Mr. 
 Bampton. They commence with the year 1780, and continue to the 
 present year. A complete set, in 46 vols. octavo is valued at 261. 5 s. 
 in handsome condition and binding, by Messrs, Rivington and Coch- 
 rane: who have not fewer than three complete sets; one in an 
 uncut state. The third is sold in detached articles ; and among 
 them. Dr. Tatham's Sermons , 17S9, 8vo. 2 vols. are valued at 1/. 45. 
 They are the scarcest of the whole. For other bodies of hortatory 
 divinity, the ordinary reader will do well to procure the last edition 
 of Dr. Knox’s Family Lectures. 
 
 * I must here be understood to speak of the works of these gen- 
 tlemen which are purely and exclusively confined to the exposition of 
 Holy Writ. When Mr. Robert Hall of Leicester talks about con- 
 trasting the Little Head which the Church of England has invented, 
 with the Great Head of the General Church, meaning Christ — me- 
 thinks he talks as if he would sacrifice alike logic and candour to 
 the clinquant of an antithesis. *See Mr. Norris's Letter to the Earl of 
 Liverpool , 1822, 8vo. p. 91, note, b. Mr. Hall is a powerful and 
 eloquent writer, and his Sermon upon Infidelity has justly won him 
 many admirers — even among the Benchers of our “ Little Church.*' 
 In that most surprising catalogue of Theology, recently put forth by 
 Messrs. Ogle, Duncan, and Co. in an octavo volume of nearly 500 
 pages — but without a date — there is the following note, or criticism, 
 subjoined to a volume of Mr Hall’s “ Sermons on various Occasions ” 
 — te There now exists in this country a man, who, with the lofty 
 tone of Bossuet and the rich fluency of Massillon, unites the graceful- 
 
94 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 question : — as sometimes leading to results, too ludi- 
 crous, or too fatal, to describe ; and as only confirm- 
 ing the admirable sagacity of Hogarth, when he 
 designed his well-known picture of Enthusiasm 
 Displayed. 
 
 The two popular and more portly Reviews — called 
 the Edinburgh and Quarterly — take but incidental 
 notice of Sermons, or of theological publications ; yet 
 when they do take up the consideration of them, they 
 evince frequently all the spirit and eloquence which 
 usually characterise their other productions. The 
 reviews of the Sermons of Horsley and Alison are mas- 
 terly exhibitions of critical talent — in the former. But 
 while, in the latter , the estimation of Paleys talents 
 seems to me to be a little unworthy of that great 
 man’s name,* the review of Warburton's Works 
 
 ness and tenderness of Fenelon, and the brilliance of Poulle.” All 
 this may be very well 5 but one wishes to know who it is that deals 
 out such an oratio parainetica.” The Abb6 Poulle’s Sermons were 
 first printed in 17/8., in two duodecimo volumes : and the style of 
 them justifies the eulogy of Barbier : — “ abondant, £lev6, magni- 
 fique, coulant comme un fleuve majestueux.” . Let Mr. Hall assure 
 himself that I have no disposition to under-rate his intellectual 
 
 powers: but the “ Little Church” has, I think, nearly “ as 
 
 good as he.” He shall himself (if it so please him) fill up this hiatus. 
 Mr. Forster’s Essays are full of ingenuity and original remark. 
 The style of them is at once terse and elegant. Mr. Jay’s Sermons, 
 although a little too warmly coloured, have upon the whole great 
 merit, as honest and impassioned expositions of the several texts 
 which are handled. 
 
 * See No. Ill, in the Review of his posthumous Sermons : but at 
 the commencement of the article whence the notice of Mr. Gisborne 
 is taken (see p. 86). Paley is justly called an “admirable writer” — 
 te wherever he turned his eyes, the prospect was illuminated by bright 
 skies and cloudless sunshine.” Paley’s Hor® Paulin.® is perhaps the 
 most original and ingenious of his productions which may be called 
 
MODERN SERMONS. 
 
 95 
 
 (supposed to have been written by the late Rev. Dr. 
 Whittaker)*— is perhaps one of the most perfect speci- 
 mens of acute analysis, and impassioned eloquence, 
 that the pages of modern criticism record. Nor can I 
 omit to make honourable mention of the admirable 
 notice of Dr. Coplestone’s recent work upon Necessity 
 and Predestination, which adorns the pages of the 
 British Critic . 
 
 These points are touched upon incidentally, with- 
 out partaking of any thing of an invidious spirit, or 
 with a wish to institute uncharitable comparisons. 
 They are noticed merely as they present themselves 
 from memory. In the mean time, let neither the dif- 
 fident, nor the uninstructed, feel anxiety or alarm — 
 in these frequently opposite views, or discrepancies, 
 among those works which explain the Word of God. 
 It is the nature of Man to become frequently agitated 
 with passion and prejudice, in the treatment even of 
 the most sacred cause: but that “ cause” itself re- 
 mains pure and unsullied — having for its object the 
 salvation of immortal souls. If, in some instances, 
 the labours of frail mortals necessarily partake of the 
 fallible source whence they flow, in other instances 
 they seem to be almost purified from earthly gross- 
 ness, and to be incorporated with the imperishable 
 elements which they strive to explain. Hence, those 
 flights of genius, those effusions of piety, that depth of 
 research, and that soundness of doctrine, which dis- 
 tinguish the great Divines of the later centuries — 
 whose names have been but imperfectly registered in 
 the foregoing pages. Hence, that suavity of manner, 
 and heavenly-mindedness of temper, which throw such 
 
 strictly professional 3 but his Moral Philosophy , and Natural Theo- 
 logy, will probably make his name longer known to posterity. 
 
96 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 a charm about the pages of Taylor, Hammond, Tillot- 
 son, Boyle, and Doddridge ; men, who seem to have 
 disentangled themselves from the strait-laced disci- 
 pline of the older schools, and to have had the salva- 
 tion of men’s souls, rather than their own exclusive 
 gratification, steadily in view : who, laying aside 
 the asperity of disputants, and the ferocity of perse- 
 cutors, appear to have sought the “ Praise and 
 Glory of God,” rather than the applause and patro- 
 nage of Man. 
 
 SUMMARY OF FOREIGN DIVINES. 
 
 In foreign schools of Divinity, the same great lights 
 have appeared to check the fury of human rashness, 
 and to “ shew forth” the cause of Christian redemp- 
 tion. Who does not love the amenity of Erasmus, and 
 the philanthropy of Melanchthon ? — each of whom, 
 in turn, seemed to hold the scales of moderation and 
 Christian charity, in order to prevent Luther and 
 Eckius from engaging in more than a “ war of words.”* 
 
 * Most strenuously do I recommend “ the Young Man’s ” inti- 
 mate acquaintance with the writings of Erasmus : full of sweetness 
 of temper, of playfulness of wit, liberality of sentiment, and variety 
 and importance of information — clothed, withal, in a style of pure 
 and fluent latinity such as has never been surpassed by later writers. 
 Among the more popular and instructive of his minor works, are his 
 Querela Pads , Morice Encomium , and Colloquia — the latter to be read 
 again and again. We learn from Jortin's Life of Erasmus , vol. i. 
 p. 274, 8vo. edit. 1808, that one bookseller at Paris, sold above 
 24,000 copies of one impression of the Colloquies. But then he 
 gave it out that the work was prohibited ! To the great joy of the 
 literary world, Le Clerc put forth an edition of the Entire Works of 
 Erasmus , at Leyden, in 1703, folio, in ten vols., sometimes bound 
 as eleven. This edition is executed with particular attention to. 
 
97 
 
 FRENCH DIVINES. 
 
 And thus, in the later schools of French Divinity, we 
 cling to the gentle Fenelon ; and look, rather with 
 admiration than affection, upon his doughty opponent 
 Bossuet.* Massillon stirs up all the gentle cha- 
 
 accuracy and external beauty? and a copy of it should doubtless be 
 found in the library of every man of letters. A good one (but they 
 are all good copies, usually bound in green sprinkled calf, with 
 spotted edges to the leaves) is worth about 1 61. 16s. 0 d. Copies on 
 large paper, in white vellum binding, are by no means rare 5 and 
 should always adorn the shelves of a magnificent collection. They 
 may be worth 21Z. a copy. I have a strong suspicion that there are 
 copies, in sheets, yet in existence at the warehouse of the original 
 publisher — if such building have not perished. f As to the editions 
 of 'portions of the works of Erasmus, they are without number and 
 without end. You may load a vessel of 250 tons burden with them. 
 
 Perhaps, on the whole, no name was ever so popular in the six- 
 teenth century : a theologian, a scholar, a philologist, a wit, a great 
 Epistolographer — (in correspondence with some of the most distin- 
 guished characters in Europe, and in amity with all) his works meet 
 us in every form and in every library, monastic, secular, and the- 
 ological. To have set down to a dinner of herbs” with More, 
 Melanchthon, and Erasmus, were a festival infinitely beyond a banquet 
 of golden cups between Charles V., Henry VIII., and Francis I. I 
 strongly recommend the perusal of the translation of Erasmus’s 
 “ Character of More” (from his letters) which appeared in the 
 Retrospective Review , vol. V. part. II. But there is no end to this 
 theme. 
 
 * Bossuet is considered as the glory of the Church and Episcopacy 
 of France. He was doubtless a very great man : an acute disputant, 
 
 f Such was the rarity, and consequent price, of the anterior edition of Erasmus’s 
 Works, published at Basil in 1540, in 8 vols. folio, that a copy of it was purchased 
 by Francis St. John, about the beginning of the eighteenth century, for 11/. 166'. ; 
 but then it was a non pareil of a copy ! — in stamped calf binding, gilt leaves, and 
 most delicately ruled. On the sides, “ Thoms Wottoni etAmicorum.” This 
 beautiful set of volumes graces the shelves of the old family library at Worlingham, 
 in Suffolk. 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 rities of our nature — which he treats with the skill 
 of a consummate spiritual physician. He makes our 
 
 an accomplished scholar, a deeply read divine, and a powerful and 
 eloquent writer. In declamation of the highest order, and in stirring 
 up the passions (as in his Funeral Orations) he has never perhaps 
 had his equal in any pulpit in Christendom. The Jesuits adored his 
 person while alive, and his memory when he died. They put forth 
 an edition of his works in twenty quarto volumes, in 1743-53 j 
 which Brunet tells us are daily getting scarcer, and of which there 
 are some few copies of the first seventeen volumes upon very large 
 paper j one of them selling at the sale of the Soubise library for 
 300 francs. A new edition of Bossuet was published in 1772-88, in 
 nineteen vols. 4to. but in an incomplete state, as it was to have 
 extended to thirty-six vols. Yet it contains pieces which are not 
 found in the edition of the Jesuits. A new edition of the entire 
 works of Bossuet has just appeared at Versailles, in forty-seven 
 thick 8vo volumes, marked at 2 U. in boards, in the recent catalogue 
 of Bossange and Co. A good edition of the sermons and Funeral 
 Orations appeared in 1772, in nineteen vols. 12mo. It is not with- 
 out justice that Brunet notices the first volume of a selection from 
 Bossuet’s works, printed by Bulmer in 1802, 8vo. as a beautiful 
 book. It was followed by a second volume in 1804 j but the work, 
 which was entitled Le Veritable G6nie du Christianisme ,” &c. was 
 never completed. The most popular work of Bossuet, was his 
 Discours sur VHistoire Universelle,f first published in 1681, 4to. 5 of 
 
 f A very popular work, but more exclusively theological, was Bossuet’s Histoire 
 des Variations des Eglises Protestantes y to be found in the third vol. of the 4to. edi- 
 tion of his works, in 1743, and republished separately in 1791, 12mo. 5 vols.— now 
 become rare. This work was held out by the Catholics, as “ a very crabbed bone 
 for the Calvinists and Protestants to pick.” It was preceded by the Exposition de 
 la Doctrine Catholique , in which the author was said to have converted Turenne 
 to Catholicism. However, there were not wanting Protestants, Calvinistic or 
 otherwise, to pick most completely the catholical “ bone,” thrown out to them 
 by Bossuet: and among these the famous Basnage took a very successful lead. 
 His Histoire de la Religion des Eglises Reformies , &c., republished again and again, 
 first appeared in 1690, 8vo. — and Bossuet answered it 1701. 12mo. But the best 
 edition of Basnage’s work, is that of 1725. 4to. two volumes published after his 
 death. Consult Walchius Bibl- Theology vol. iii. p. 205, 640, 646, — and for a 
 good account of the entire works of Basnage, consult the New Mem . of Liter attire , 
 vol. v. p. 22-32. 
 
FRENCH DIVINES. 
 
 99 
 
 hearts reprove, admonish, and comfort us. This is 
 indeed one of the peculiar charms of his writings : his 
 style being the most eloquent and mellifluous imagi- 
 nable. In his Petit-Car dme, in which he seems to 
 have outdone himself— there is such a tone of ten- 
 derness — united with such sublimity of sentiment, 
 clearness of reasoning, and eloquence of expression — 
 that one hardly knows what to compare with it, ex- 
 actly, in the whole compass of hortatory divinity.* 
 The style and imagery of Bourdaloue seem to rush 
 upon us with the force of a mountain-torrent : he is 
 the Demosthenes of French divines ; but it cannot be 
 denied that his art is too apparent ; and that all the 
 subordinate parts of his composition seem to be pur- 
 posely kept down , in order to sharpen the force of his 
 logic, and to aggravate the terror of his invective. In 
 the higher departments of sermon composition, he is, 
 
 which the reprints, in all forms and languages, are almost innume- 
 rable. I observe, in the catalogue just referred to, a copy of 
 the original edition, in old French red morocco binding, gilt leaves, 
 marked at 1 Z. 16$. The reader will do well to consult the Reflec- 
 tions of Cardinal Maury upon Bossuet, in the Cardinal’s collection of 
 Select Discourses, and to procure Mr. Butler’s pleasing biographical 
 memoir of Bossuet, published in 1812. 8 vo. 
 
 * The editions of Massillon’s sermons, in whole or in part, are 
 almost innumerable. Those who have not got the well printed 
 duodecimo edition of 1745-9, in fifteen volumes, will, of course, not 
 hesitate about the acquisition of M. Renouard’s recent, and beauti- 
 fully printed edition, in thirteen octavo volumes, 1810: of which 
 there were only four copies printed upon large paper. One of these 
 copies is in M. Renouard’s own collection 5 a second is in that of the 
 Royal Library at Paris 3 a third in Lord Spencer’s library at Althorp, 
 beautifully bound in blue morocco : and the fourth is the property 
 of — any one who chooses to purchase it. See Renouard’s catalogue 
 of his own library, under the title of Cal. de la Bibliotheque d'un Ama- 
 teur, vol. i. p. 89. The ordinary copy is worth about 61. 6s . 
 
100 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 doubtless, without a rival; and our Horsley seems to 
 have had much in common with that eminent divine — 
 as, in the deeper scenes of Christ’s sufferings, and in 
 the delineations of the day of judgment — there was 
 much about both these preachers which exhibited 
 all the sublimity of which such subjects are capable. 
 It was for Bourdaloue* to frighten the reprobate, and 
 
 # The best edition of Bourdaloue’s Sermons is that of 1707-34, 
 in l6 vols. 8 vo., published under the care of Father Bretonneau. It 
 was printed by Rigaud, at the royal press. Brunet mentions a mag- 
 nificent copy, upon fine paper, selling at the sale of Le Gendre’s 
 library for 300 francs ; and Renouard notices a similar copy (in his 
 own collection) which the late M. Anison picked out of all the copies 
 which remained at the same press. The binding of M. Renouard’s 
 copy, by the elder Bozerian, is described as at once appropriate and 
 magnificent. It should seem that, in the numerous re- impressions of 
 Bourdaloue, by provincial publishers, those of Lyons, Rouen, Tou- 
 louse, and Amsterdam, were formed upon the Parisian edition of 
 1709, in 18 duodecimo volumes: an edition always deserving of 
 being secured, whenever found in good binding. A copy of the 
 reprint at Versailles, in 1812, 16 vols. 8vo. is marked at 5 1. 5s. in the 
 catalogue of Messrs. Bossange and Co., 1821, no. 94. Mons. Bar. 
 bier, in his Bibl. d’un Homme de Gout , vol. ii. p. 451, notices the 
 testimony of admiration bestowed by Bishop Burnet upon Bourda- 
 loue, when he heard him preach in France :* — “ il fCtt etonn£ de 
 Eloquence de ses sermons, et que ce J6suite r&forma les pr^dicateurs 
 
 t In a diverting and instructive little work — not of common occurrence — 
 called “ Lettres curieuses sur divers sujets.” Paris y 1725. 12mo. 2 vols.; there is 
 an animated and vigorously drawn character of Bourdaloue’s preaching. I know 
 of few things better written, and yet I owe my knowledge of it to the English 
 translation in the New Mem . of 'Literature , vol* ii. p. 417 ; necessarily inferior to 
 the original. In the same French work, notice is taken of Burnet’s testimony to 
 Bourdaloue’s great talents ; adding, that “ Bourdaloue believed that all hones) 
 protestants would be saved. Many other Jesuits are, doubtless, of the sam< 
 opinion, but they dare not own it. A foreign protestant gentleman told me (say 
 the author of these Memoirs,) that a very learned monk laid his hand upon hi 
 shoulder, and said to him — “ Let us give over talking of religion: we shall ali 
 be SAVED.” Ibid. 
 
FRENCH DIVINES. 
 
 101 
 
 for Massillon to comfort the “ desolate and oppressed.” 
 They are both among the most shining luminaries of 
 the French school of divinity. 
 
 But Saurin must not be forgotten. He was a pro- 
 testant preacher ; and is said to have been gifted with 
 one of the finest voices and persons that were ever 
 heard and seen in the pulpit. His prayer before his 
 sermon kept his congregation in breathless admira- 
 tion. It could never be forgotten. Nor was it weak- 
 ened by the discourse which followed ; for there was 
 a solidity, justness, moderation, and earnestness 
 throughout the whole, that equally charmed and con- 
 vinced his auditory.* But it is his noble-minded- 
 ness — his Christian charity — his goodness of heart — 
 his thoroughly social feelings — which form the magic 
 of his life and of his compositions. With a leaning 
 towards Calvinism , he did not go one-half the lengths 
 which the gentle Sectarians, of that persuasion, wished 
 him to go. Preaching in a Catholic country, he did 
 not choose to call the Pope, Antichrist ; or his church 
 the * * * * * of Babylon. His sermons will be always 
 read with pleasure and instruction. + 
 
 d’Angleterre comme ceux de France.” Bourdaloue was called the 
 Corneille of pulpit composition, as Massillon was called the Racine. 
 This only confirms the comparison between these two great men 
 instituted in the text. 
 
 * It is said that, the first time the famous Abbadie heard him, he 
 cried out Is it an angel or a man who speaks ? ” 
 
 f My friend, M. Barbier, gently designates them, “ as not exempt 
 from the venom of heresy, and says that they might have been written 
 with greater purity j” Bibl. d'un Homme de Gout , vol. ii. p. 468. 
 A part of M. Barbier’s brief account of Saurin is taken from the well 
 known Dictionnaire Historique , from which the above account is also 
 taken. The Sermons of Saurin were published complete at Rot- 
 terdam, in 1749 , 8vo. in 1*2 volumes : but there were five volumes 
 
10 2 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 
 
 I now come to touch briefly upon a few of the more 
 celebrated and useful writers in the department of 
 Ecclesiastical History ; choosing to introduce them 
 here , (as rendering the theological department more 
 complete,) rather than to incorporate them in the 
 general department of history. I am, indeed, suffi- 
 ciently aware, that in this department alone, a very 
 copious library may be formed, and that ecclesiastical 
 history may be said, in a great degree, to be civil 
 history also — inasmuch as the church and state are, 
 in all countries, pretty closely and inseparably united ; 
 but, having devoted so large a portion of these pages 
 to practical divinity, it were unfair, and might be 
 judged unsatisfactory, to dismiss that subject, without 
 
 published during his life, from 1708 to 1725. Note: — it was the 
 same Saurin who published the two first volumes, in folio, ot 
 *' Discours historiques, critiques , thtologiques et moraux fyc. sur V An* 
 cien Testament ,” — of which the remaining four folio volumes were 
 continued and completed by Beausobre and Roques, in 1728-39. 
 This costly work is full of fine engravings, and usually finds a place 
 in our more complete libraries. Brunet may be said to riot in his 
 description of this magnificent publication, of which he notices 
 sundry varieties of forms and conditions. The better taste seems to 
 be, the acquisition of the plates, separately published in one large 
 folio volume, which exhibit the earlier and finer impressions of them. 
 These plates were engraved between the years 1705 and 1720, 
 during the life time of Saurin, and are 212 in number. They have 
 sometimes a Dutch title, and are sometimes found in three folio 
 volumes without the text, with short descriptions in the Dutch lan- 
 guage. The rage for illustration is sometimes applied, with 
 tremendous force, to the pages of holy writ : but I will venture to 
 affirm, with no more confidence, I trust, than the event will warrant, 
 that where a tasteful collector shall see one good illustrated Bible , 
 he will witness more than a dozen bad. 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 
 
 103 
 
 something more than an intimation where the histories 
 of those churches, from which so many brilliant and 
 distinguished characters have risen for the benefit of 
 their fellow-creatures, may be found and consulted ; 
 but in which it cannot be dissembled, very much is 
 to be received with caution, from a consideration of 
 particular tenets and prejudices (and what prejudices 
 are stronger than those called religious P) which are 
 inevitably mixed up with the text. Still the saga- 
 cious and the candid reader may exercise his own 
 ingenuity to advantage; and gather, at all events, 
 and in all seasons, a rich harvest of various and useful 
 information. 
 
 It cannot, however, fail to be remarked — and re- 
 marked with more than transient regret — that, at the 
 very outset of our enquiries, the British nation has 
 less to boast of in the department of ecclesiastical 
 history, than its neighbours — and especially the 
 French. Leaving out of the question what the great 
 Mabillon hath done for the Benedictins * let us only 
 consider the Gallia Christiana , in thirteen folio vo- 
 lumes, aud the Histories of the French Church by 
 Longueval and Le Cointe .'f* And to these, we may 
 
 * The Annales Ordinis Sti. Benedicti, which extend only to the 
 middle of the twelfth century, were published in six folio volumes 
 at Paris, between the years 1703 and 1739. The Acts of the Saints 
 of the same order, were published at the same place in 1668, in 
 nine folio volumes; but D’Acher was here a considerable coad- 
 jutor with Mabillon. These Acts were reprinted at Venice in 1733, 
 in nine folio volumes. The French edition, which Brunet values at 
 little more than Si. 3 $., is dearer, because more desirable, than the 
 reprint. The Annals are still much beneath the Acts in price; and 
 both works are briefly noticed and coldly dismissed by Brunet. I 
 learn, however, that a much livelier interest is taken in them, at the 
 present day, on both sides the channel. 
 
 f I will briefly notice these works in the above order. The first 
 
104 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 add the invaluable labours of Fleury and Tillemont, 
 
 is called Sammarthanoruvi fratrum Gallia Christiana, &c., which 
 was published at Paris, in 1715, &c. in thirteen folio volumes, under 
 the care of Scevola and Louis de Sainte Marthe, and other monks of 
 the Benedictine order.f It contains a series or catalogue of all the 
 archbishops, bishops, and abbots of France, and is full of erudition, 
 research, and the most curious details ; but this work is yet incom- 
 plete, three more volumes being necessary to render it perfect. 
 There are copies on large paper : yet both large and small rarely 
 occur for purchase in this country, owing to the heavy duty attend- 
 ing the importation of such bulky volumes. Longueval published 
 his Histoire de I'Eglise Gallicane , in conjunction with De Fontenay, 
 Brumoy, and Berthier (all four being learned Jesuits), in 1730, in 
 18 vols. 4to. : and such was the labour attending the work, that they 
 each, in succession fell victims to it. Longueval lived to see the 
 first 8 volumes complete, and Fontenay the ninth and tenth, with a 
 great part of the eleventh volume. The end of the eleventh, and 
 the whole of the twelfth, were the achievement of Brumoy. The 
 rest are the production of Father Berthier — “ the worthy successor 
 of Longueval, of whom he possessed the spirit, the erudition, and 
 the good taste.” 
 
 “ The style of Berthier is everywhere careful without affectation 
 and elegant without antithesis.” Bibl. d'un Homme de Gout, vol. iii. 
 397-8. After this tempting description, I suspect and hope that 
 
 + The first and principal projector of this new edition of the Gallia Christiana, 
 was Father Denys de Sainte-Marthe, superior-general of the congregation of 
 St. Maur, and editor of the works of Pope Gregory the Great, in 1699, folio. He 
 died in his seventy-fifth year, on Good Friday, in 1725 ; after having witnessed 
 the publication of the first three volumes of the Gallia Christiana, and having 
 secured the aid of several other religious of the same order, towards the publica- 
 tion of the seven following volumes. His death, which took place at the abbey of 
 St. Germain des Prcz, was very generally lamented: and yet this same father 
 published a book in 1688 (on the revocation of the edict of Nantes), “ to justify 
 the persecution of the French protestants ; one of the most horrid persecutions 
 that ever was exercised, a persecution, which has made thousands of people 
 unhappy ; a persecution advised by some clergymen, who, perhaps, were atheists, 
 and carried on by mere political views, without any fear of God, without any 
 respect for the Deity. How could Father Denys de Ste. Marthe justify such a 
 persecution with a good conscience ? Was he a political priest ? ” New Memoirs 
 of Literature, 1725, 8vo- vol. ii. p. 148-9. 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 
 
 105 
 
 upon general ecclesiastical history* — through the 
 pages of which Gibbon so assiduously toiled. While, 
 
 some efforts will be made, both by the young and old collector, to 
 get possession of this work— so creditable to France, and securing 
 such an immortality to its authors. To the best of my recollection, 
 I never met with a copy of it on sale. It was reprinted at Nismes in 
 1782, in 18 vols. 8vo., — but “ commend me” to the goodly and 
 original quarto impression ! The Annales Ecclesiastici Francorum of 
 Charles Le Cointe, published at Paris in 1665, &c., in eight folio 
 volumes, comprehend a period of time from the middle of the third, 
 to that of the ninth century. It is a work rarely seen, and still more 
 rarely consulted : but that is not the fault of the author. 
 
 While upon the subject of French ecclesiastical history, I ought, 
 perhaps, to mention the Gesta Dei per Francos, a large folio 
 volume, published by the Wechels at Hanover, in 1611 3 having a 
 thin second volume (sometimes wanting) bound with the first. 
 Bongars was the editor of this work — aided by Pithoeus and Peta- 
 vius, &c., (i quos nominare sufficit,” — says the former. Jortin has 
 sacrificed his usual good sense and candour, when he says, “ the title 
 of this book would have been better chosen, if it had been “ Gesta 
 Diaboli per Francos .” Remarks on Feel. Hist. vol. i. p. 300. He 
 also says, that Guibertus, or Gilbertus, a French abbot, wrote the 
 account of this holy war but he is mistaken i It is the production 
 of several authors 3 of whom Robert, a monk, is the first — who 
 wrote it in a cell of a monastery of St. Remigius, in the bishopric 
 of Rheims, at the command of Bernard the Abbot.” See the pre- 
 face, Sec. II. Brunet tells us, that copies of this work upon large 
 paper are uncommon. In all forms it is a sorrily executed volume. 
 A copy upon large paper is at Althorp. The small may be worth 
 about £2. 125. 6d 3 but, during the late war, I have known it pushed 
 to £ 4 , 145. 6d. 
 
 * What Buffon was in natural history, and Bossuet in polemics 
 and dogmatical divinity, the Abbe Fleury was in ecclesiastical his- 
 tory. He is the just and enviable boast of the French nation : and 
 it grieves one to think that, on the authority of Brunet, his history 
 (t is less sought after than it used to be.” But, whoever chooses to 
 read Barbier’s animated and excellent account of it, will not hesitate 
 to become a purchaser upon any reasonable terms. Fleury lived to 
 execute only twenty, out of the thirty-six volumes, of which this his- 
 
106 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 casting our eyes upon Italy , (so rich in historical pub- 
 lications of another description) we cannot fail to re- 
 
 tory is composed : the Father Fabre having written the remaining 
 sixteen — and he would have published more, but was forbidden, on 
 account of the inelegance of his style, and the want of judgment in 
 the selection of his materials. The first volume of Fleury’s own 
 labours appeared in 1690, and the last in 1719 — but it is usually 
 dated 1722-1737* It is the Discourses of Fleury which throw such 
 a charm about his work ; and which are prefixed to most of his 
 volumes — especially those which accompany the eighth, thirteenth, 
 sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth vo- 
 lumes. In some of these, are disquisitions upon the fail of litera- 
 ture from the eruption of the Vandals, the establishment of univer- 
 sities, the progress of the crusades, the history of indulgences, and 
 of several religious orders in the fourteenth century, &c.f 
 
 In these discourses, Fleury has united the qualities of an historian 
 and a philosopher, in a style of great neatness and perspicuity, and 
 with a judgment free from all ignoble prejudices. These discourses 
 were collected and published by Boucher d’Argis, in 1763, with 
 several additional ones, and notes, by Fleury ; together with a dis- 
 course of Goujet, upon the re-establishment of ecclesiastical studies ; 
 but it should seem from M. Emery, editor of the Nouveaux Opuscules 
 of Fleury, in five octavo volumes, 1807, that one of Fleury’s dis- 
 courses, upon the Gallican church, has been interpolated in this edi- 
 tion of 1763. M. Emery founds his criticism upon an inspection of 
 the author’s autograph. Jortin has honoured Fleury by constant 
 references to his history, in his own Remarks on Ecclesiastical History 
 and has yet further honoured him by translating his “ Discourse on 
 the Ecclesiastical History from the year 600 to the year 1100 '’ — “ on 
 
 ■j* It should seem from Raw tins on's New Method of Studying History, vol. ii. p. 39, 
 that a part of Fleury’s work was “ translated, and in March 1727, published by the 
 Rev. Mr. Herbert, who, it was to be hoped, would give the world a faithful and 
 honest translation of his author, without castrations of what is heterodox, but 
 rather apply by his notes an antidote to the poison.” I learn from the Rev. Mr. 
 Curteis of Hunton, near Maidstone, that the work was rendered complete as far as 
 the vnth century, in four quarto volumes, 1727-1730, the first two volumes were 
 translated by Herbert, the latter two by G. Adams. There are indexes and vignettes 
 to each volume ; and highly respectable but scanty lists of Subscribers- The chro- 
 nological tables of Tillemont seem not to have been continued beyond the three 
 first centuries. The translation is almost destitute of notes. 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 
 
 107 
 
 cognize, in the Ecclesiastical Annals of Baronius , a 
 work of such stupendous labour, and of such general 
 
 account (says Jortin,) of the ingenious and useful remarks, besides 
 the historical narrations, which it contains. It is drawn up (con- 
 tinues the same authority), for the most part, with a decency and 
 moderation rarely to be found in the ecclesiastical writers of his 
 church, except Du Pin. Fleury, like Du Pin, was a zealous assertor 
 of the temporal rights of kings $ and hath not scrupled to expose the 
 crimes and encroachments of the Popes, for which, doubtless, he 
 was held in execration by the Jesuits and by the See of Rome,’ * 
 Remarks , #c. vol. i. p. 29 6. But Jortin’s brief analysis, and as brief 
 remarks upon this discourse of Fleury, are admirable of their kind, 
 and quite in the terse and pertinent manner of their author. Jortin 
 is generally “ admirable.” He was a ready, off-hand, and dexterous 
 scholar ) yet his style, even in his sermons, wants what the French 
 call “ onction.’’ Once, and rarely more than once, he rose to elo- 
 quence ) and that was in the preface to his Remarks, &c., which the 
 late Dr. Gosset told me he regularly read through, every year, with 
 undiminished delight. In his Life of Erasmus , Jortin shewed him- 
 self to be little more than a translator of Le Clerc. A subject of the 
 greatest, is made by him one of comparatively small, interest. The 
 work is little better than a dry journal of facts, stitched together. 
 Above all things, the purchaser of Fleury will not forget the learned 
 Rondet’s Table Generate et Raisonnte des Matieres, contained in the 
 thirty-six volumes of the history. This table was published in ] 758, 
 in a quarto and duodecimo form— the former in one volume, and the 
 latter in four. This celebrated history has been reprinted at Caen , in 
 twenty-five volumes in quarto : at Paris , in 1724-48,* forty volumes 
 octavo : and at Nismes , in 1778-80, twenty-five volumes, octavo — 
 but beautiful copies, in mellow old calf- gilt binding, of the first 
 Paris edition, must be the object of the ambition of the Young Col- 
 lector. On large paper, it has not been sold for more than one 
 
 * A copy of this edition is marked at 8/, 85. in the catalogue of Messrs. Bossange 
 and Co., 1821, no. 226. But “ thrice and four times happy,” does the Reverend 
 Dr. Burney, of Greenwich, consider himself to be, in the acquisition of a most 
 beautiful copy, coated in mellow-toned olive morocco, which had belonged to the 
 famous Madame de Pompadour, and of which that pious lady might have turned 
 over the first leaf of the first volume, once in her life. This copy was obtained 
 from the richly-stored repository of Messrs. Payne and Foss. 
 
108 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 and lasting utility, as to excite the envy, and almost 
 despair, of other countries. I do not recommend the 
 purchase of all these elaborate and cost ly works, though 
 I would hardly dispense with a copy of Baronius.* I 
 
 hundred and seventy francs abroad — but, here, on small paper, let 
 it not be hoped for under double that sum. 
 
 But if Fleury be entitled to such unqualified praise, Tillemont is 
 deserving of scarcely less commendation. His two great labours are 
 thus called ; <e Mtmoires pour servir d Vhistoire eccUsiastique des six 
 premiers Siecles. Paris , 1693-1712. 16 vols. 4to. : Histoire des 
 Empereurs et des autres Princes qui ont regn£ durant les six premiers 
 Sibcles de Vtglise. Paris , 1700-38., 6 vols. in 4to.” It is melan- 
 choly to read the following pithy notice of them by Brunet : “ These 
 two works, which usually go together, are esteemed by the learned, 
 but they sell at a low price.” And then one hundred and forty francs 
 are stated as the price for which they were bought at the sale of the 
 President de Cotte ! Mr. Payne, in his last catalogue, (no. 2334), 
 marks a neat copy (in calf,) of the latter work, at 2 1. 2s. Both 
 works, and especially the former, are full of prodigious learning j 
 but, after the labour of forty years, Tillemont has given us only the 
 history of the first six centuries of the church. Gibbon’s obligations 
 to him are constantly and gratefully expressed, and Jortin seems to 
 have consulted him yet more than Fleury. 
 
 * c6 Joseph Scaliger, he, who once boasted that there was nothing 
 for him to learn, confesses, that he never read Baronius without 
 gaining some new light.” Rawlinson's New Method of studying 
 History , 1730. 8vo. vol. ii. p. 36. After this, who shall hesitate 
 about the preference above given to Baronius ? This work is a body 
 of ecclesiastical history, comprising also the labours of Raynald, 
 Laderchi, and Pagi, with one volume of Apparatus, 1646, &c. : folio 
 in thirty-one volumes. This is considered to be the best edition j 
 but, according to Brunet, the edition of Lucca , in thirty-eight folio 
 volumes, 1738-57* ought to be preferred ; inasmuch as the annota- 
 tions of Pagi are inserted in their proper'places, with notes of Mansi, 
 and three volumes of an Index j the latter being wanting in the 
 Roman edition of 1646. At the sale of the Soubise library, a copy 
 of the Lucca edition, on large paper, was sold for two hundred and 
 ninety francs. Rawlinson says that the first eight volumes of Ray- 
 naldus’s compilation, epitomised in one folio volume, and published 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 
 
 109 
 
 tremble about the mention of the Acta Sanctorum, 
 lest my readers should imagine that I wish to plunge 
 them in all the mysteries and marvels of monastic 
 and saintly lore. And yet, I will be free to say that 
 that Collector, be he young, or be he old, may thank his 
 happy stars who shall possess the fifty -three folios , of 
 which that still unfinished and gigantic work is com- 
 posed, at the price of so many sovereigns* 
 
 at Rome in 1 6*68, “ is very mean, yet wants it not buyers at a very 
 high rate.” It was cheering to see, at Messrs. Payne and Foss’s, a 
 fine copy of this Lucca edition of Baronius, just bound out of sheets, 
 in white glossy vellum, (and sent from the good old house of Lucht- 
 mans, at Utrecht,) lying upon the floor of their spacious repository — 
 tempting the curious visitor to become a purchaser. Nor was it less 
 cheering to learn, a few days after my first sight of such a treasure, 
 that the Lord Bishop of London had yielded to the temptation, and 
 carried off the prize. It is now placed where it will be in every 
 respect properly appreciated. I predict, with no small degree of 
 confidence, that Fulham will, in the end, more than rival Hartlebunj. 
 
 It may here be also observed, on the authority of Rawlinson, that 
 the Ecclesiastical Annals of Bzovius, published at Colon. Agripp. in 
 1616, in nine folio volumes, as a continuation to those of Baronius, 
 “ are very inaccurate, and rather give a history of the order of St. 
 Dominic , of which the author was a friar, than of the church.” Ne- 
 vertheless, I should desiderate, as a curious ecclesiastical antiquary, 
 those Dominican Annals also : but only <f asa curious ecclesiastical 
 antiquary.” 
 
 * So much has been already said ( Bibliograph . Decameron, vol. i. 
 p. 81-3) respecting the history of this work, and such an excellent 
 specimen of the uses to be derived from it being to be found in Mr. 
 Southey’s famous article on the “ Spanish Inquisition ,” in the twelfth 
 number of the Quarterly Review, that I will here only observe, it 
 may be doubtful whether there be more than four complete copies of 
 it in private collections, and two in public, in England. Of the 
 former. Lord Spencer, Archdeacon Jebb, Mr. Southey, and Mr. 
 Petrie, (Keeper of the Records in the Tower of London, f) are pos- 
 
 t A whimsical anecdote is connected with the importation of one of the above 
 
110 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 In regard to our own country, the earliest histo- 
 rians of any moment are Bede, Fox, Parker, and 
 Godwin ; and latterly, Dugdale, Usher , Wharton , 
 Burnet, and Strype ; although our most popular 
 ecclesiastical history, is the version of the work of a 
 foreigner, of the name of Mosheim . To these names, 
 
 add Fuller, Collier, Bingham, Cave, and Jortin. I 
 will be more particular in the account of the ecclesi- 
 
 sessors — of the latter, the Bodleian Library and the British Museum. 
 I saw Mr. Archdeacon Jebb’s copy lying at Messrs. Rivington and 
 Cochrane’s, booksellers, and a most choice and desirable copy it was 
 — many of the volumes being in original bindings — and all of them 
 in a good harmonising gilt tooled condition. It had been obtained 
 of Messrs. Ogle, Duncan, and Co., at the price of one hundred gui- 
 neas ; and the public will, in due time, become acquainted with its 
 contents j the Archdeacon being a gentleman addicted to most curi- 
 ous and profound enquiries in theological lore — as his Sacred Litera- 
 ture alone attests. Messrs. Ogle and Duncan mark a copy, in fifty- 
 six volumes, at 105Z. The price of these Acts" is daily increasing 
 upon the continent, and the rarity of a complete set is in proportion 
 becoming extreme. Although fifty-jive volumes form, what is called, 
 a complete set — yet fifty- three are not less complete — for the original 
 text ,• and they are usually sold in this latter form. At Munich I 
 found six sets of these Acts, in desirable white vellum coatings : and 
 at Strasbourg, four sets, in good and even handsome calf binding 
 but notwithstanding the Munich copies might have been obtained at 
 121. a set, yet the thought and fears of the expenses of carriage, and 
 especially of duty, deterred me from the purchase of a single copy. 
 In France, however, I learn that complete sets are daily becoming 
 scarcer and of increased price. To the English historical antiquary, 
 some portions of these volumes are invaluable. My friend Mr. 
 Petrie, in his late journey upon the Continent, attempted to discover 
 and secure the remaining portion of the MS. of this work j but he 
 
 mentioned sets of the Acta Sanctorum. They were detained at the custom-house 
 as being papal and superstitious I— under an old statute of James I. A seasona- 
 ble explanation, not unattended with a gentle rebuke, soon released the saints from 
 their bondage. 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 
 
 Ill 
 
 astical works of these authors. And first for Bede ; 
 who, as he died at the beginning of the eighth cen- 
 tury, could have written of the British church only in 
 a dark and stormy period. The first edition of his 
 Church History is so scarce, as at present to have 
 escaped the researches of our most diligent collec- 
 tors ; but the only edition worth possessing, for safe 
 reading or critical consultation, is that of Smith, in a 
 handsome folio volume, published at Cambridge in 
 1722 .* 
 
 could only trace it as having been conveyed, by its last Owner, 
 across the Rhine into Germany — during the more recent agitation of 
 French affairs. 
 
 * First, as to the Editio Princeps : for an account of which I am 
 exclusively indebted to Panzer, vol. i. p. 83, No. 445, On the au- 
 thority of Strauss, Denis, and Laire, Panzer says it is printed without 
 date, at Strasbourg, in a small Gothic letter, (apparently that of 
 Eggesteyn ), and containing forty lines in a full column : having 
 ninety- seven leaves in the whole. Laire had erroneously attributed 
 the type to Fyner. This book is at present a desideratum in, per- 
 haps, every public and private library in England $ a copy is in the 
 Royal Library at Paris. Smith’s edition, above mentioned, is a very 
 handsome folio volume, and not of uncommon occurrence. Nor are 
 the copies on large paper very rare. Messrs. Longman, Hurst, and 
 Co. mark a copy of the small paper, containing some mss. notes of 
 Gale and Gough, at 31. 3s. Mr. Payne affixes an additional guinea 
 to the value of the work, in the same form.f The name of vene- 
 rable Bede is justly dear to the English, even at this period. 
 During the earlier part of the eighth century, it was as justly con- 
 sidered to be attached to the greatest living literary ornament in 
 Europe. Dr. Henry considers Bede as a most wonderful man $ and 
 as exhibiting, in his works, “ all the science with which the world 
 
 + Smith the father died before the work was completed, and it was finished by 
 his son, who, according to the preface, was not more than twenty years of age, at 
 the time. The son says that the father had examined every MS. in England. I 
 believe that my friend Mr. Petrie (Keeper of the Records in the Tower of Lon- 
 don) can “ shew good cause” against that dictum being “ made absolute.” 
 
1 12 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 Fox comes next, but with an interval of eight cen- 
 turies between. His Book of Martyrs — as it is called 
 — was, and yet is, one of the most extraordinary and 
 popular church histories in the world. The private 
 history of this elaborate work might be worth know- 
 ing, but it is hopeless to enquire after it : — who were 
 the authors chief authorities, and what artists he 
 obtained to make the designs and engravings, are, 
 now, I believe, points upon which no correct informa- 
 tion is likely to be obtained. Fox lived to see four 
 editions of his labours, himself dying in 1587. These 
 editions were succeeded by Jive more, of which the 
 latest was published almost within a century after the 
 death of the author. The first edition, in 1563, is of 
 very rare occurrence in a perfect state ; and has also 
 some particulars which are omitted in the subsequent 
 editions.* The last, and perhaps the commonest in 
 
 was then acquainted.” After telling us that it is rather a reproach to 
 us to have published so few of his works, and that the Paris and Basil 
 impressions of them are imperfect, he says, that the only complete 
 edition is that put forth at Cologne , in eight folio volumes, in 1612 j 
 of which there is a copy in the library of the Royal Institution, but 
 none in that of the British Museum. 
 
 * In the fourth volume of the Typographical Antiquities, pp. 82-94, 
 the reader will find a full and particular account of this volume, to- 
 gether with references to other works, wherein further researches 
 may be made relating to it. Consult also Chalmers's General Biogra- 
 phical Dictionary, vol. xiv. p. 34, and Dr. Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical 
 Biography, preface. A perfect copy of this first edition was sold by 
 Mr. Saunders in 1823, for the amazing sum of 5 61. Mr. Douce has 
 a copy approaching so near perfection, as to want only the last leaf. 
 Fox was a sort of Luther in his way. His style is equally bold, 
 and his enmity to the church of Rome equally bitter, with that of the 
 great German reformer. His tc Acts” are, indeed, an invaluable 
 historical repertory : but, in some particulars, he seems to have 
 gathered information too hastily, and to have detailed it too loosely 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 
 
 113 
 
 the black letter, is that of 1641, in three comely folio 
 volumes, of which copies upon large paper are by no 
 means uncommon. The edition of 1684 is in a Roman 
 letter, and some indifferent copper-plates are intro- 
 duced. Perhaps the last edition (as well as the first) 
 in the lifetime of the author, may be worth securing 1 ; 
 but the impression of 1684, brings, I believe, the larg- 
 est price.* 
 
 There is an anecdote recorded by Strype, in his Appendix to the Life 
 of Archbishop Parker, or Cranmer, (upon which, at this moment, I 
 am unable to lay my finger,) strongly confirmative of this remark. 
 The earlier black letter editions of Fox were chained to almost every 
 public desk, in libraries and places of worship, in the kingdom 
 where they were usually suffered to decay by piecemeal, from damp, 
 ill usage, or frequent consultation. To the best of my recollection, 
 one of the completest specimens of a mutilated Fox , is (or was) to be 
 seen in the little parish church near Apethorpe (the seat of the Earl 
 of Westmorland), in Northamptonshire. In some other rural parish 
 churches, I have met with Fox, in an old vestry trunk of some three 
 centuries ago manufacture, almost in a state of pulverisation, from 
 the united attacks of mice and moths. They preserve at Bamburgh 
 Castle, in Northumberland, a sound copy of the edition of 1583 ; but 
 I know of no copy of an edition in the sixteenth century equal to 
 that of 1596, in two volumes, which is in the Duke of Devonshire’s 
 library at Chatsworth, in russia binding. A finer copy can be hardly 
 conceived. 
 
 * A copy of this edition, in fair good binding, was purchased at 
 the sale of the library of my late friend, Mr. Neunburgh, in the pre- 
 sent year (1822)* for 5 1. 55. Mr. Baynes marks it at 61. 6s. on large 
 paper, half-bound, affixing the date of 1686 ; and subjoins a copy, 
 apparently on small paper, with the same date, with upwards of 
 fifty additional portraits, neatly bound in brown calf,” valued at 12/. 
 Messrs. Ogle and Co. value a copy, on small paper, (dated correctly, 
 1684,) at 7 Z. 1 7s, 6d. ; but as it is not upon large paper, I consider 
 such price too high. The edition of 1610 is marked by them at 
 31. 3s. ;f and Messrs. Payne and Foss affix the price of 41. 4s. to that 
 
 t In Mr. Triphook’s catalogue of last year, No- 46, I find a copy of this edition 
 
 I 
 
114 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 While Fox was watching, with a natural and par- 
 donable exultation, the progress of the sales of the first 
 and second editions of his “ Acts,” the famous Arch- 
 bishop Parker — a name, never to be pronounced 
 without emotions of pious respect* — was maturing 
 (with the aid of his learned secretary, Joscelyne), 
 his celebrated History of the Antiquity of the British 
 Church , in the Latin language, and which he first 
 published in the year 157*2, in folio. Valuable as is 
 this work, it is hopeless to expect to purchase it in a 
 perfect state ; and still more forlorn is the hope to 
 become master of it with the original engraving of 
 the Archbishop s portrait.* Such a trouvaille would 
 
 of 1641. The truth is, I believe, that these books are rising yearly 
 in value ; but I own that the edition of 16S4 would be the last I 
 should purchase. An abridgement of Fox’s history appeared in 1589, 
 in the black letter 3 and partial reprints of it, in a greater or lesser 
 form, have continued to the present day. There are no cuts like 
 those of the older editions 3 which “ are preferred by collectors, 
 some of them containing portraits,” says Mr. Chalmers : but it 
 seems to me that the countenances are rather generalised, than indi- 
 cative of individual resemblances. I have possessed the edition of 
 1641, on large paper, uncut : which is not very rare. 
 
 * I may refer with confidence to the full and particular account of 
 his exceedingly rare book in the Tijpog. Antiq., vol. iv. p. 126-130, 
 and may here further observe, that Mr. Bindley’s copy, noticed in 
 that account, was purchased at the sale of his library for 45Z. It is 
 also in my power to subjoin, if it were necessary, the minute descrip- 
 tion of another recently discovered copy, in the library of Mr. Coke, 
 at Holkham, which Lord Spencer was so obliging as to furnish mej 
 and which copy not only contains a fine impression of the original 
 portrait, but appears, in other respects, to be in the most beauti- 
 ful and perfect condition. Lord Spencer’s own singular copy con- 
 tains the portrait ; and so does that of Mr. Grenville. Perhaps no 
 
 of 1610, upon “ large paper , very fine,” in two folio volumes, marked at SI. St., 
 but then it had been a “ presentation copy from King James the First.” 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 
 
 115 
 
 make the “ old ” Collector “ young ” again — in 
 years — but not in experience. However, for the 
 purposes of consultation, the beautiful and accurate 
 
 two copies are found in all respects alike 5 nor does it appear that 
 there are more than four or five copies which possess the portrait. 
 Of these, one is in the library at Althorp. There are, at least, three 
 copies of the book in Bene’t College library, Cambridge 3 two pos- 
 sessing the portrait : one having it coloured , and the other unco- 
 loured. The coloured one was supposed to have been an original 
 painting ; till the experienced eye of Mr. Douce detected the fallacy 
 - — shewing it to be only Hogenberg’s print coloured. 
 
 In the archbishop’s own library, at Lambeth, there is preserved 
 the most precious copy of this book in the world : notwithstanding 
 it wants the title-page, and the account of the halls and colleges is 
 not printed upon vellum — as it is in some copies. The worth of this 
 copy consists in the addition of deeds and instruments, with seals 
 appended — and letters and memoranda (the greater part printed by 
 Strype in his biography of Parker,) of some of the most eminent 
 men of the day. Among these, is a letter from Cecil, and another 
 from Coverdale, (the latter dated March, 1566, and signed, “ quon- 
 dam, Exon.*') for which more than one hungry autographiser of my 
 acquaintance would give a good round sum.” This copy appears 
 to have been made up by Ducarel, who has prefixed an account of 
 the several MS. pieces contained in it. On turning over and peru- 
 sing these pieces, one seems to be living at the period of their com- 
 position. The portrait of Parker, pasted at the end of his Life is a 
 genuine impression of the old plate : but I never look at it without 
 believing that the Original must have possessed a countenance of 
 more intelligence and expression. 
 
 The curious must note well,” that there is a copy of Hogenberg’s 
 print which sometimes passes for the original $ besides Tyson’s imita- 
 tion of it in etching 5 which latter is coarse and common enough. 
 Some inadequate notion may be formed of the original, by the wood- 
 cut fac-simile of it in the Bibliomania , p. 342. The portrait in the 
 Heroologia , in Boissard, by Vanderwerf, and Vertue, are faithless and 
 feeble performances. Let the handsome folio edition of Godwin de 
 Prasulibus Anglice, Cantab. 1743, satisfy the ordinary Collector — for 
 about 1 /. 8s. : although I am always anxious to consult the first 4 to 
 edition, of 1601, in English. 
 
116 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 reprint of it by Dr. Drake, in 1729, folio, and obtain- 
 able for about 1 L 5s., is in every respect, as good a 
 book. 
 
 It is impossible to mention the name of Dugdale 
 without reverence and respect. If that great man 
 had published nothing more than his Monasticon 
 Anglic anum* he would be justly ranked among 
 those higher authors whose productions have been 
 long considered as an honour to our country. In 
 this place, I have nothing to do with him as an Anti- 
 quary, Historian, and Topographer; but it may be 
 fairly stated that, in almost each of these depart- 
 ments, he is considered as the safest model and the 
 surest guide. His great work of the Monasticon is 
 now under reprint ; and no Englishman, who wishes 
 well to national and splendid undertakings, can look 
 upon this reprint — improved in every sense of the 
 
 * In De Bure’s time, Dugdale’s Monasticon Anglicanum was con- 
 sidered to be a work of great rarity and price ; and accordingly he 
 devotes very many pages of his Bibliographic Instructive to a full and 
 particular account of it. In our own time, it has brought great 
 prices j but, for the cause mentioned in the following note, that 
 price is gradually diminishing. The finest small paper copy I ever 
 saw, was that in the Towneley collection. It had belonged to Pope 
 Pius VI. Lord Spenser possesses a copy of the edition of 1655, on 
 large paper, which is of prodigious rarity. See JEdes Altliorp. vol. 
 i. p. 145. f It should be observed, more particularly for the sake of 
 “the Young Collector,’’ that the Monasticon was englished and 
 abridged by Wright jn 1718, folio ; and that Stevens published a 
 Supplement to the Original Work in two folio volumes, 1722-3 : 
 these latter may be obtained for about l L 2l. 12s. ; and Wright’s 
 volume for 51. 5s. Stevens and Wright are found on “ large paper/* 
 
 f The first volume is not very uncommon, on large paper : and there is a most 
 surprising copy of it, of this kind, in the library at Worlingham, in Suffolk. The 
 third volume was never yet, I believe, found upon large paper. In the Althorp 
 copy it is, as usual, inlaid. 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 
 
 117 
 
 word — without a desire and an effort to promote its 
 success. 5 * 
 
 very rare, a fine copy,” — in the last catalogue of Messrs. Payne and 
 Foss, marked at 3 61. 
 
 * The English are sometimes hardly pardonable for their caprices 
 and aberrations from good taste. The day is not very far back, when 
 reprints (with barely fourscore lines of addition or improvement) 
 were purchased with an avidity scarcely conceivable by those who 
 had not witnessed it. When the Proposals for the new Monasticon 
 Anglicanum were thrown out, they met with a warm and general 
 reception. The subscription list was quickly filled ; and those who 
 wanted to become purchasers, were obliged to wait the will or the 
 death of such who had been fortunate enough to precede them. 
 There was sometimes even a struggle or competition to supply the 
 vacuum occasioned by the removal of a Subscriber. The new edition 
 appeared regularly in numbers, upon beautiful paper, with a beauti- 
 ful type — executed by one of the most accurate and learned printers 
 of the age — and with ornaments, or plates, so far eclipsing what 
 had preceded them, that it is marvellous to me how Mons. Brunet 
 could, with these plates before his eyes, have the temerity to call 
 them “inferior to the originals !” The truth is, they are very much 
 superior : first, on the score of accuracy of perspective ; secondly, on 
 that of the selection of new objects as well as the re-execution of the 
 old 5 and, thirdly, as containing more artist-like execution in the seve- 
 ral subjects selected. Hollar, with all his excellences, is far from 
 being an infallible draftsman ; and King is notoriously faithless. On 
 the contrary, we have here, in the burin of Coney, much that reminds 
 us of the force and even the colouring of Piranesi, and much that 
 unites the delicacy of Hollar with the freedom of Mechel. What 
 should follow, therefore, but that on the score of art alone, these 
 new volumes should have a manifest superiority. Then again for 
 Matter. There is a great additional mass introduced, by Messrs- 
 Caley, Ellis, and Bandinel, as well as the accompanying of Dugdale’s 
 text with numerous and pertinent notes j so that, to say nothing of 
 the superior beauty of the paper and type, this new edition is the 
 only one which can be hereafter consulted for information or quoted 
 for authority, on subjects connected with Church History and Eccle- 
 siastical Property. Of the six volumes , in which this truly splendid 
 and incomparable work will be completed, nearly Jive are already in 
 
1 18 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 The present may be the place to notice a work, of 
 no very ordinary occurrence, and at the same time, 
 of very considerable utility; as treating fully of the 
 Church History of this country from the earliest 
 period, to the reign of Henry II. It also treats, but 
 comparatively in a subordinate manner, of the general 
 affairs of the country. The author was Griffiths 
 under the name of Alford ; and the title runs thus, 
 Fides Regia Britannica , slue Annales Ecclesice Bri- 
 tannicce, auctore R. P. Michaeli Alfordo alias Grif- 
 fith , Leodii , 1663,* folio, 4 vols. 
 
 The quaint, and yet clever, Fuller; the grave Col- 
 lier ; the erudite Bingham ; the pains-taking Cave ; 
 and the acute and solid Jortin — may each and all, 
 as connected with ecclesiastical history — find 
 places in an extensive library ; but, with those who 
 wish to compress and consolidate, perhaps Burnet , 
 Strype , Mosheim , Milner , and Wordsworth , may be 
 sufficient. Of these four latter authors, I shall say 
 something in the note below.* I am fully sensible that 
 
 the hands of the Subscribers ; and the regularity in the publication of 
 the several Parts ensures the termination of it at no very distant 
 period. It may be honestly avowed that the annals of the Press, 
 in no country throughout Europe, can boast of a nobler perform- 
 ance j whether on the score of accuracy and fullness of intelligence, 
 or of splendour of paper, type, and graphic embellishments. 
 
 * I am indebted to his Grace the Duke of Newcastle, for the sug- 
 gestion of the above work. 
 
 f Before these three latter writers are noticed, it may be as well 
 briefly to dispatch their predecessors, according to the order in the 
 text. Fuller’s Church History , in 1655, folio, with the University of 
 Cambridge , and Waltham Abbey , may be worth 3/. 3s. in good con- 
 dition. The latter pieces are sometimes wanting. They contain 
 plates by Hollar. Of course old Tom Fuller must be read cum 
 granis salis” in matters of ancient history. He was a loose chroni- 
 cler, but an admirable and honest relater of what passed under his 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 119 
 
 \ 
 
 this notice of authors who have enriched the literature, 
 and promoted the religion, of our country, is abun- 
 
 own eyes. I never saw Fuller's Church History upon large paper. 
 Collier's Ecclesiastical History of England, 1708, folio, two vols., may 
 be now worth 91. 9s. in good condition ■, and Mr. Ogle marks a copy, 
 on large paper , 91. 6s. I have seen many a copy sold for little more 
 than waste paper : but the age of book-vandalism is past. Most 
 strongly and even vehemently do I recommend Binghams Antiquitates 
 Britannice , or Antiquities of the Christian Church , &c. published in two 
 folio volumes, 1 726 : of which a fine copy may be worth at least 
 9,1. 12s. 6d. at a public sale. The account of the progress of this 
 erudite labour, together with the anecdotes relating to its author, 
 in Chalmers's Gen. Biog. History, vol. v. p. 268, makes one’s heart 
 almost bleed : so little does the world know of the pains and penance 
 of the Study ! I was present, about twenty-two years ago, (at a 
 book sale in Worcester) when two sets of these ecclesiastical anti- 
 quities were disposed of to Mr. Broster, — the spirited bookseller and 
 book-auctioneer at Chester — for scarcely more than fifteen shillings. 
 Bingham is now justly ranked among our brightest Church Lumina- 
 ries. He, who was the early patron of Potter, (afterwards Archbi- 
 shop of Canterbury) and whose memory was almost idolized by 
 Lowth, doubtless fared not in his profession as he ought to have 
 fared : but his “ better part” lives after him. Jortin knew the value 
 of his labours, and confessed it. Gibbon has sometimes stolen from 
 them without the integrity of confession. Bingham has been trans- 
 lated and reverenced all over the Continent. The testimony of Wal- 
 chius, ( Bibl . Theol. vol. iii. p. 671,) is enough to stimulate the theo- 
 logical student to leave no bookseller’s shop unvisited till he have 
 secured a copy of this “ opus vere egregium.” I believe that a new 
 edition of his antiquities, in an octavo form, is now in the press : if 
 not published. 
 
 Cave’s “ Historia Litteraria Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum,' > 1740, 
 folio, two vols., best edition — to which “ Casimir Oudin's Commen- 
 tarius de Scriptoribus Antiquis E cclesice," 1722, folio, three vols. has 
 been thought to be a useful, if not necessary. Supplement — should 
 doubtless have a place in the professedly theological library. A good 
 copy of the first work-may be worth 91. 12s. 6d. j and, upon large 
 paper, I find it te new and elegant, in calf,” marked at 51. 5s. in the 
 last catalogue of Messrs. Ogle and Co. The first edition of Cave was 
 
120 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 dantly jejune and incomplete ; and that a very limited 
 knowledge of this portion of Divinity may readily 
 
 in 1686; but this may be considered as entirely superseded by the 
 second ; and yet he, who shall have the first, and not be able to 
 procure the second, will find abundance of valuable information to 
 satisfy his doubts and stimulate him to yet further researches. Ou- 
 din’s work will scarcely exceed 21. 2s . : even though it be in the first 
 binding, with marble edged leaves. But Cave must not be thus 
 briefly dispatched. He was greatly assisted in his labours by the 
 famous Henry Wharton, known chiefly by his Anglia Sacra, 1692, 
 folio, 2 vols. — a work, which, with all its inaccuracies, and in spite 
 of Bishop Burnet’s testy notice of some pages, containing as many 
 errors as lines* — will transmit the author’s name to posterity among 
 the brightest of those of his countrymen. The truth is, Wharton, 
 who died in 1694, at the premature age of thirty-one, was one of the 
 most extraordinary men of the times : and after having read the 
 account of the controversy between Cave and his young coadjutor, in 
 Mr. Chalmers's Biog. Diet. vol. xxxi. p. 343, &c. and in Dr. D'Oyly’s 
 Life of Archbishop Saner oft, f vol. ii. p. 110, 126, &c. I incline to 
 the opinion, that, however petulant and presuming Wharton might 
 have been respecting the full share he had had in e< the History,” 
 Cave treated him not only with ingratitude, but with a palpable want 
 of integrity. 
 
 Mr. Chalmers seems to think, on the authority of Burnet, that 
 Wharton’s youth would imply impetuosity and a want of due pre- 
 paration of materials ; but what can be said against this wonderful 
 young man, who, on the Bishops of London and Rochester objecting 
 to ordain him because he had not completed his twenty-third year, 
 was, at the instigation of the Bishop of Peterborough, not only 
 
 * Burnet was smarting under a powerful, but probably coarsely penned, attack 
 which Wharton had made upon his “ History of the Reformation ,” under the as- 
 sumed name of Anthony Harmer. It was a sort of heavy-dragoon charge which 
 bore down every thing before it. See Chalmers , vol. xxxi. p. 341. 
 
 t From Wharton’s own Diary : written in Latin, and preserved in the archiepis- 
 copal library at Lambeth. This piece of auto-biography, judiciously republished 
 by Dr. D’Oyly, at the end of the Archbishop’s life, is exceedingly interesting — and 
 even amusing It is difficult to conceive how the growling between Cave and 
 Wharton, described at page 126, did not end in a “ battle royal”— -which I appre- 
 hend Wharton would have described in very good latinity. The growling between 
 Hudson and Hearne, in the Bodleian library, could scarcely have come up to it. 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 
 
 121 
 
 supply more ample and more valuable details. But> 
 not only must there be limits, (“ sunt certi denique 
 
 examined, but passed through his examination, “ relating to the 
 ancient Discipline of the church, the old errors, heresies, and writers, 
 and especially concerning the opinions of Origen and Arius, with 
 such success that all the Bishops resolved to give him orders ! Life 
 of Sancroft , vol. ii. p. 116 . There be geniuses, who, if they do not 
 obtain knowledge intuitively, obtain as much in the application of a 
 few days, as others would in that of weeks and Wharton was one of 
 them. He was an ecclesiastical antiquary, both by habit and by in- 
 stinct. He could never keep his fingers from turning over the leaves 
 of old MSS., and from noting down, with his pen, what struck him 
 as novel, or curious, or instructive. Had he lived twenty years 
 longer, England would not have envied France her Father Pape- 
 broch. Wharton died in consequence of attacking these “ old MSS” 
 before the effects of a severe illness had subsided. He thought the 
 body was to keep pace with the mind. He is to be numbered with 
 the most voracious, but most to be lamented, of Helluones Libko- 
 rum. I will just observe that his sensible countenance, or portrait, 
 engraved by White, (I think) is prefixed to his Sermons, in Svo. 
 
 So much has been said of the preceding works that I am com- 
 pelled to be brief upon those which follow them in the text. Bur- 
 net’s History of the Reformation * has been reprinted at Oxford in 
 six handsome octavo volumes. Of a work, so long considered to be 
 a standard book, it were perhaps equally vain to say any thing in dis- 
 paragement or in praise : but I am free to confess, that a new and 
 vigorously written history of The Reformation, is as much wanted, 
 as it would be certain of a success even beyond that of Burnet’s. Con- 
 temporaneous black letter publications, whether in the shape of Ser- 
 mons or controversial Tracts, should be carefully examined 5 and ms. 
 records (of which several, before unknown, have been lately discovered) 
 
 * The original edition of Burnet was published in 1679-1715, three vols, folio. 
 The third volume has plates, but it was reprinted in 1753 without them. Of this 
 edition (which in the ordinary state may be worth 51. 5s.) there were some very 
 few copies struck off upon large paper. A remarkably fine one, of this kind, is 
 in the curious old library at Ham, near Richmond , the seat of Lady Dysart. Earl 
 Spencer also possesses it, but not without having waited several years for it — and 
 having paid 100 guineas for the copy of it which had belonged to the late Duke of 
 Grafton. It had, however, some extra plates, by way of illustration. 
 
122 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 fines") but a recollection that this work is not an 
 exclusive performance — either devoted entirely to 
 
 should be more faithfully looked into and copied than they appear 
 to have been by Burnet — who, with all his talents and integrity, was 
 sometimes rather hasty than wise.* A style of writing should be 
 adopted, at once clear, simple, animated, and natural : and a spirit , 
 or principle, evinced, equally free from the prejudices of party and of 
 sectarianism. But where is the writer thus gifted? And yet a 
 work, upon such a momentous subject, and so executed, would be 
 the glory of our church, and the admiration of posterity, f 
 
 * 1 will give an example. The pages of Hume have taught us to respect 
 the name and memory of Judge Hales, during the reigns of Henry VIII. 
 and Edward VI. When the conspiracy was entered into to raise Lady 
 Jaue Grey to the throne, in preference to Mary, Hales, although a staunch 
 Frotestant, declined entering into it, and refused to sign the patent for the 
 elevation of Lady Jane. On the accession of Mary, and the suppression of 
 the Protestant worship, (and while the Sees were filled by Catholics), Hales, 
 in his judicial capacity, had pronounced judgment, in some matters re- 
 lating to Divine worship, which was construed into a systematic hostility 
 against the Catholics. When he was called upon to take the oaths of 
 allegiance and supremacy, by Bishop Gardiner the Chancellor, he main- 
 tained the consistency of his character by a temperate but resolute 
 refusal to acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope. He was in conse- 
 quence committed to prison ; and, as Hume says, “ was treated with such 
 severity that he fell into frenzy, and killed himself.” Such was the bar- 
 
 -f- The mention of an Ecclesiastical History, under the feigned name of Dodd, in 
 three folio volumes, must not be omitted— although it is a book of rare occur- 
 rence, and interesting chiefly to the curious in biography. It was published as an 
 antidote to Burnet, and is avowedly written as a defence of the Roman Catholics. 
 The author was a caustic and not unqualified writer. His love of ridicule is very 
 apparent ; his reflections upon some of our early Reformers are sometimes both 
 unfounded and severe. I learn from Mr. Charles Butler’s History of the Catholics , 
 that a new edition of this highly priced work is in the press. It will not want 
 purchasers, even among the Protestants. “ Fas est et ab hoste doceri.” Mean- 
 while let the anxious collector peruse what Mr. D’Israeli hath written relating to 
 this work in his Quarrels of Authors , vol. ii. p. 205, note. Is not this the proper 
 place to notice Lingard' s Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxofi Church , 1815, 8vo. The 
 author is a Roman Catholic : and his work, although a heavy and destructive 
 fire was opened upon it in the Quarterly Review , vol. vii. p. 92, is not to be 
 consulted without advantage. It has learning and accuracy. 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 
 
 123 
 
 theology, or to such as have made great progress in 
 their biblical studies and collections. I address my- 
 
 Jortin’s “ Remarks on Ecclesiastical History ” were first published 
 in 1731-4, and reprinted in 1767, in two octavo volumes. They are 
 excellent : pithy, learned, candid, and acute ; presenting us with 
 the marrow of his predecessors. They have been recently repub- 
 lished, in three volumes. 
 
 barity of the Queen’s treatment of the man who had been faithful to 
 her against her Rival. But the secret key to the imprisonment, and 
 subsequent wretched fate, of the Judge, have been made known to us in 
 a very small brochure, of three leaves only, (exclusively of the title) 
 which was published at Roan , at the very time of the transaction taking 
 place: and the whole of which is given below: conceiving it to be 
 not less important than curious, in contrasting the subtilty and baseness 
 of Gardiner’s character, with the simplicity and firmness of that of 
 Judge Hales. 
 
 “ The communication betwene my Lord Chauncelor and iudge Hales, 
 being among other iudges to take his oth in Westminster Hall. Anno. 
 M. D.Liii. vi. of October. 
 
 Chauncelor. Hales. 
 
 “ Master Hales, ye shall understand that like as thequenes highnes hath 
 hertofore receuid good opinion of you, especiallie, for that ye stoode 
 both faitfullie and lawfulli in hir cause of iust succession, refusing to set 
 your hande to the booke amonge others that were against hir grace in that 
 behalfe: so nowe through your owne late desertes, against certain hir 
 hignes dooinges: ye stande not well in hir graces fauour. And therfor, 
 before ye take anie other, it shall be necessarie for you to make your 
 purgation.” 
 
 Hales. 
 
 “ I praie you my Lorde, what is the cause ?” 
 
 Chauncelor. 
 
 “ Informatio is geuen, that ye haue indicted certain pristes in Kent, for 
 saiing of Masse.” 
 
 Hales. 
 
 “ Mi Lorde, it is not so. I indicted none, but indede certain indicta- 
 mentes of like matter were brought before me at the laste assises there 
 holde, and I gaue order therein as the lawe required. For I haue pro- 
 fessed the law, against which, in cases of iustice wil I neur (God willinge), 
 procede, nor in ani wise dissemble ; but with the same shewe forth mi 
 conscience, and if it were to doagaine, I wolde doe no lesse than I did.” 
 
124 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 self in this, as in every ensuing department, to “ the 
 Young” — who cannot presume to be very competent 
 
 Of Strype, it would be impossible to speak too highly. His labours 
 have supplied us with some of the most necessary, as well as instruc- 
 tive portions, of Church History. But I am here to consider chiefly 
 his Memorials and Annals. The former were published in 1721, three 
 
 Chauncelor. 
 
 “ Yea, Master Hales, your cosience is knowne wel inough. I know ye 
 lacke no conscience.” 
 
 Hales. 
 
 “ Mi Lord, ye mai do well to serch your owne conscience, for mine is 
 better knowne to mie selfe then to you; and to be plaine, I did as well 
 use iustice in your saide Masse case,bi mi coscience, as bi the law; wherin 
 I am fulli bent to stand in trial to the uttermost that can be objected. 
 And if 1 have therein done ani iniuri or wrog: let me be iudged by the 
 lawe ; for I will seeke no better defence, considering chiefli that it is mi 
 profession.” 
 
 Chauncelor. 
 
 “ Whi, Master Hales, althoughe ye had the rigour of the law on your 
 side, yet ye might haue hadde regard to the queues highnes preset doinges 
 in that case. And further, although ye seme to he more then precise in 
 the lawe, yet 1 thinke ye wolde be veri loth to yelde to the extremitie 
 of such aduantage as mighte be gathered againste your proceedinges in 
 the lawe, as ye haue some time taken uppon you in place of iustice. And 
 if it were wele tried 1 belieue ye shuld not be wele able to stand honestli 
 therto.” 
 
 Hales. 
 
 “ Mi Lord, i am not so perfect but i mai erre for lacke of knowledge. 
 But both in conscience and such knowledge of the law as God hath geue 
 me, i wil do nothing but i wil maintain and abide in it. And if mi 
 goodes and all that I haue be not able to counterpaise the case, my bodie 
 shall be redie to serue the turne, for thei be all at the quenes highncsse 
 pleasure.” 
 
 Chauncelor. 
 
 “ Ah Sir, ye be veri quicke and stoute in your answers. But as it 
 shoulde seme, that which ye did was more of a wile, fauouring the opi- 
 nion of your Religion against the seruice now used, then for ani occasio 
 or zeale of iustice, seeinge the quenes highnes dooth set it furthe, as yet 
 wishinge all hir faithful subjectesto imbrace it accordingli ; and where ye 
 offer both bodie and goodes in your triall, there is no such matter re- 
 quired at your handcs, and ye shall not haue your own will neither.” 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 
 
 125 
 
 judges ; and to “ the Old”— who have not made 
 Divinity the exclusive object of their research. And 
 
 volumes folio ; the latter in 1709-25, 4 vols., folio. These editions 
 sell at high prices $ and once, upon large paper, the former was con- 
 sidered to be worth about 25 guineas, and the latter about 40 guineas. 
 Mr. Grenville has a fine copy of the latter. The Memorials have 
 been reprinted, as well as Strype’s Lives of Archbishops Cranmer , 
 Whit gift, Grindal , &c. at Oxford ; and we cannot make too low a 
 bow of thanks to that University for the absolute good it hath done 
 by exercising the Clarendon press on such subjects. We are look- 
 ing for the Annals, and the other episcopal biographies, by the same 
 excellent Antiquary, from the same quarter. And yet, let not the 
 possessors of the good old folios of Strype’s Works, throw up their 
 ponderous volumes in despair. 
 
 Hales. 
 
 “ My Lord, I seke not wilful wil, but to shew myself as I am bound in 
 loue to God, and obedience to the quenes maiestie, in whose cause wil- 
 llgly for iustice sake (al other respectes set apart) i did of late (as your 
 Lordship knoeth) aduenture as much as i had. And as for my religion, 
 i trust it to be suche as pleaseth God, wherein i am redy to aduenture 
 as well my life as my substance, if i be called thereunto. And so in lacke 
 of mine owne power and wil, the Lordes will be fulfilled.’* 
 
 Chauncelor. 
 
 “ Seeing ye be at this point, Master Hales, i will presently make an end 
 with you. The quenes highnes shall be enfourmed of your opinion and 
 declaration. And as hir Grace shall therupon determine, ye shall haue 
 knoledge, until whiche tyme ye may depart, as ye came without your oth, 
 for as it appeareth, ye are scarse worthi the place appointed.” 
 
 Hales. 
 
 “ I thancke your Lordship, and as for my vocation being both a bur- 
 then and a charge, more than euer i» desired to take upon me, when so 
 euer it shall please the quenes highnes to ease me therof, i shall moost 
 hurabli with due contentation obei the same.” And so departed from 
 the barre.” 
 
 This curious Tract was pointed out to me by Mr. Evans, among the 
 books of the library of my late friend Mr. Neunburg, at the sale of which 
 it produced the sum of 4 1. 6s . — along with two other, but unimportant 
 tracts. I apprehend it has escaped Burnet and Strype ; and it appears to 
 have been unknown to Herbert; who, vol. iii. p. 1573, mentions only the 
 first treatise (“ de vera obedientia”) w'ith which it is bound. 
 
126 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 yet, I should have a heavy score to clear with my 
 conscience, if I suffered even this “ Guide,’* and 
 
 Mosheim’s Ecclesiastical History was translated by Dr. Maclaine 
 from the Latin original — (of which the first edition appeared in 
 1755 — ) and published in 1782, in six vols. 8vo. and recently, with 
 valuable additions, by Doctors Coote and Gleig, in 1811, in the 
 same number of volumes. This latter is very much the better edition. 
 Of this truly excellent work, the least we can say of it is, that it is 
 every where purchased and every where read : abroad in the Latin $ 
 at home in our own language. It should be in every library which 
 has any pretensions to a choice selection of books : and may be pur- 
 chased in neat binding for about twelve shillings a volume. The 
 author was one of the brightest ornaments of his age and country. 
 He was a Lutheran, and a native of Lubeck. His Latin version of 
 Cudworth's Intellectual System is a master piece of erudition in every 
 respect. Few original Authors have been so fortunate as Cudworth 
 in their translators. If Mosheim’s Ecclesiastical History have been, 
 a little too epigrammatically, styled the History of Sinners, that of 
 the late Dr. Milner, Dean of Carlisle, has been as concisely called 
 the History of Saints. But the latter is a learned and valuable work 
 —dashed though it be with some little spice of Calvinism. The 
 chapter on religious establishments (I think it is under the reign of 
 Theodosius) has been mentioned tome as admirable. And the work 
 has many particulars relating to our reformation, in which Mosheim 
 is almost of necessity deficient. I cannot therefore dispense with the 
 possession of this spiritedly executed performance. The author 
 bequeathed the noble legacy of his library to his own college (Queen’s) 
 at Cambridge, of which he was master. His History of the Church 
 is published in 5 octavo volumes. 
 
 Of Dr. Wordsworth’s Ecclesiastical Biography , it should be ob- 
 served that it is not meant to be an elaborate, original work $ but 
 only to supply a deficiency then, and even now, much felt and com- 
 plained of in ecclesiastical literature.* The lives of Wolsey and 
 More are among the most valuable in this performance ; but what- 
 ever may be my personal respect for the author (and that is not tri- 
 vial) I cannot, in the conscientious discharge of a present duty, dis- 
 
 * “ It was no part of my original plan to go in quest of any thing new, but 
 merely to revive the old says the authorial his Preface ; p. xv. 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 
 
 127 
 
 a Comfort,” in theology, to go into the world without 
 the strongest recommendations of the Concilia Magnoe 
 Britannioe et Hibernice , of which Spelman laid the 
 foundation, and Wilkins completed the superstruc- 
 ture. Tis an excellent and invaluable work but not, 
 it must be confessed, the study of an every-day 
 reader. 
 
 semble the disappointment with which I perused these anxiously 
 expected volumes. The Rector of Lambeth, with an unlimited 
 command over the treasures of the archiepiscopal library, taught me 
 to anticipate much that was new, more that was generally interest- 
 ing, and a good deal that betrayed an intimate acquaintance with the 
 black-letter lore of the period of Henry and Elizabeth, f I maybe 
 singular in the avowal of my disappointment in these particulars j 
 but not in the wish that the learned author would speedily give us a 
 new and a third edition, equally worthy of the subject, and of his 
 own recently exalted situation. The MSS. of Trinity College, Cam- 
 bridge, of which he is the present Master, must surely be rich in 
 ecclesiastical materials. 
 
 * We have here most decidedly an excellent and splendid work, 
 exhibiting singular application in the author, in a diligent and care- 
 ful investigation of the councils of his country. The first two 
 volumes are the work of Spelman, but with many and various faults, 
 corrected, &c. &c.” Walchius : Bibl. Theolog. vol. iii. p. 855. This 
 work was published in 1737, in 4 vols. folio j and a good sound 
 copy is worth 4 1. 14 s. 6d. I am aware that the Collectio Maxima 
 Conciliorum of Labbe, 1672, folio, 15 vols. must find a place only in 
 very extensive collections — and chiefly in public libraries. A copy is 
 in the library of the Royal Institution. 
 
 + Dr. Wordsworth’s obligations to Fox's Acts and Monuments are unreservedly 
 and handsomely expressed : p. xvii-xviii. : and his Defence of that work, against 
 Dr. John Milner’s very sweeping and damnatory opinion, is as spirited as it is just. 
 See page xxi. 
 
128 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 MANUALS OF DEVOTION. 
 
 A word, and scarcely more than a word, about 
 that species of the theological literature which relates 
 to Manuals of Devotion — to those unaffected and 
 comforting effusions, written in all the glow of piety, 
 and with all the warmth of benevolence, which are 
 meant to be the companions of our pillow in illness, 
 and of our more private retreats in health : which 
 teach us the value of occasional abstraction from an 
 ever-agitated world, and which lead us to more fre- 
 quent communion with our hearts, and with him who 
 hath endowed them with motion. 
 
 In the following list, I do not wish to be consi- 
 dered as submitting the works contained in it, to the 
 exclusion of every other. Far from it. It is frequently 
 with books as with individuals : we admit some to an 
 intimacy, not so much for any peculiar display of 
 superior ability, as from a favourite feeling or fond- 
 ness, from causes which it were difficult to explain. 
 As is the fashion of a countenance, or the character 
 of the conversation, or the peculiar principles, of one 
 friend — compared with another — so are the style, the 
 sentiment, the truths, of one religious Manual com- 
 pared with another. There be those who love highly- 
 wrought compositions, consisting of rich and luxuri- 
 ant imagery, expressed in impassioned and even 
 tumultuous language : — there be others, on the con- 
 trary, who love a calm and an even style ; — exhibit- 
 ing ideas gently conceived, as it were, and gently 
 expressed: and betraying all the accuracy of logic 
 with all the emotion of piety. With 
 
 Desires composed, affections ever even. 
 
MANUALS OF DEVOTION. 
 
 129 
 
 the latter content themselVes with those Manuals of 
 devotion, which convince their judgments as scho- 
 lars, and comfort their hearts as Christians : and such 
 latter, in my humble estimation, are the wiser and 
 the happier of the two classes of pious readers. 
 
 But for the list. More than three centuries have 
 elapsed, since the Imitation of Christ by Thomas a 
 Kempis has been considered as the most popular 
 Manual of Devotion. Fontenelle and Leibnitz, in- 
 deed, have extolled it as the most edifying piece of 
 morality since the publication of the Gospels. On 
 the continent, not only has the original Latin text beeu 
 translated into a diversity of tongues, but a sharp 
 controversy has been instituted respecting the true 
 author of the work — whether it were Thomas a Kem- 
 pis or John Gerson* The point is here of no conse- 
 quence ; only let the rare and beautiful Elzevir edi- 
 tion of the work in question find a place in the cabinet 
 of both u the Young” and “ the 01d.”f Among our 
 
 * The more recent, and the better founded opinion seems to be, 
 that Gerson was absolutely the author. The reader may notice the 
 titles of eighteen works relating to this controversy, in the catalogue 
 of Ogle and Co. : and if he possess the Dissertation sur soixanie tra- 
 ductions Francoises , of the work itself, of which M. Barbier is the 
 author, (Paris, 1812, 8vo.) he will have some notion of its popula- 
 rity in France. As far as I have been able to ascertain, the first edi- 
 tion of it, in the original Latin tongue, was printed between the year 
 1472 and 1478, as described in the Bibl. Spenceriana , vol. iii. p. 405. 
 In England we had a printed translation as early as the year 1504, 
 by W. de Worde : see the Typog. Antiquities , vol. ii. p. 112, &c. 
 where some interesting authorities are referred to. I conceive that 
 the edition of 1502 is doubtful ; and do not indeed remember to 
 have seen that of 1504. In our earlier translations, Gerson is called 
 the original author. The present received English translation is that 
 of Dean Stanhope. 
 
 f It is necessary to observe, that the rare and beautiful edition,” 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 own authors, we shall not discover many earlier, or 
 many more ardent, strains of private devotion, than 
 those which are to be found in a collection of prayers, 
 better known by the name of the fC Monument of Ma- 
 trons, containing seven several Lamps of Virginity * 
 
 above mentioned, is without date ; containing two hundred and fifty- 
 seven pages. The two other Elzevir editions, the one of 1658, and 
 the other of 1679, contains, each, two hundred and sixty-one pages. 
 As to the dateless edition, it was probably executed between the year 
 1652 and 1655 : for it was printed by John and Daniel Elzevir — who 
 commenced partnership in 1652, and who dissolved it in 1655. This 
 edition is thought to be among the rarest volumes in the Elzevir 
 set — and is probably the chef-d’oeuvre of the printers. In France, 
 where, at this moment, the Elzevir Mania is running very high, 
 they have pushed the price of this book to an excessive pitch. Mr. 
 Payne marks a fine copy, “ in blue morocco, with joints,’’ (what 
 would “ the young man” desire better?) at 1 1. 5s. Messrs. Ogle and 
 Co., more courageously, put on another five shillings, although 
 their copy, apparently, be not attired in so costly a garb : but, in 
 France, a fine copy, about five inches high, was sold at a public sale 
 for one hundred and fifty francs : — about fourteen years ago ; con- 
 sult the Essai Bibliographique surles Editions des Elzevirs, 1822, 8vo. 
 p. 93-4. 
 
 In one of the obscurest booksellers shops at Caen, I was asked two 
 Napoleons for a very second-rate copy. Mr. Berard, at Paris, who 
 is a Member of the Club of the Bibliophiles, and who justly boasts of 
 his probably unrivalled Collection of Elzevirs , seemed to sigh as he 
 shewed me his Thomas d Kempis , a full eighth of an inch shorter 
 than it ought to be ! And my friend, Mr. John Arthur Lloyd, of our 
 Roxburghe Club, has yet to traverse many a capital in Europe (for dare 
 we hope to meet with such a thing in the three other quarters of the 
 globe?) ere he becomes the fortunate owner of an uncut copy — that 
 object at once of his affection and ambition ! I am not sure whether 
 the Elzevir edition of the French translation of one book only , of the 
 original, in 1653, be not full as rare as the preceding Latin edition. 
 
 * The bibliographical account of this volume has been so fully 
 executed by Herbert {Typ. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 954-6), that I must refer 
 the reader to it, in order that he may satisfy himself about the pos- 
 
MANUALS OF DEVOTION. 
 
 131 
 
 which were published in a thick and handsome quarto 
 volume, in the year 1582, when our Virgin Queen 
 
 session of a perfect copy. Here, I shall bring forward a brief spe- 
 cimen or two of its contents. The first three Lamps contain, more 
 especially, the effusions of our Queens and of other learned ladies of 
 rank and distinction. The fourth Lamp contains the most pure 
 sacrifice of evangelical devotion , or an exercise of holie prayers, &c. : 
 being a collection from approved authors, by Bentley, the editor or 
 compiler. The fifth Lamp relates to f f all degrees of women in their 
 several ages and callings,” &c. : the sixth, of the duties and offices of 
 these women ; and the seventh, te of the acts and histories, lives and 
 deaths, of all manner of women,” &c. In the first Lamp, is the 
 prayer which Judith made secretly, or mentally in her heart, when 
 she struck off the head of the proud Holifernes.’’ 
 
 “ O Lord God of all power, behold at this present, and have 
 respect unto the works of my hands in this hour, for the exaltation of 
 Jerusalem, that thou mayest set up thy city like as thou hast pro- 
 mised. Strengthen me, O Lord God of Israel, and grant that I may 
 perform the thing, which, in hope that it may be done by thee, I 
 have devised. For now is the time to help thine inheritance, and to 
 execute mine enterprises to the destruction of the enemies which are 
 risen against us. Strengthen me therefore this day, O Lord God of 
 Israel, now strengthen me [I say] O Lord God, [even] in this hour." 
 The song of praise and f thanksgiving,’ follows. I select a portion 
 beginning at the seventh verse. “ For the mighty [Holophernes] did 
 not fall, nor was destroyed, by the young men. It was not the sons 
 of Titan that slew him, neither have the great giants invaded him, 
 or set themselves against him : but Judith, the daughter ofMesari, 
 with her fair beauty and comely countenance hath discomfited and 
 brought him to nought. For she put off and laid away the garment 
 of her widowhood and put on the apparel of Gladness, for the exalt- 
 ation and rejoicing of those that were oppressed in Israel. She 
 anointed her face with ointment, and bound up her hair in a coif, and 
 took a new stole or linnen garment to beguile him. Her slippers 
 ravished his eyes, her beauty captivated and took his mind prisoner, 
 with the sword or faulchion smote she off his head. The Persians 
 were astonished at her boldness, and the Medes were troubled with 
 her hardiness.” Page 44-5. 
 
 This is followed by a prayer of Queen Esther, “ to be delivered 
 
132 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 was in the very zenith of her glory. Perhaps no 
 country could boast of a more extraordinary publica- 
 
 out of the bloody hands of Haman.” It is full of the most unfeigned 
 prostration and humility : and perhaps its simplicity is not exceeded 
 
 by any similar effusions “ Thou knowest all things, O Lord j 
 
 thou wottest that I hate the glory and worship of the unrighteous, 
 and that I abhor the bed of the uncircumcised, and of all the heathen. 
 Thou knowest my necessity, and that I hate this token of my pre- 
 eminence, worship, and dignity, which I bear upon mine head, what 
 time as I must shew myself and be seen ; and that I abhor it as an 
 unclean or menstruous cloth, and that I w r ear it not when I am quiet 
 and alone by myself. Thou knowest also, that I, thine handmaid, 
 have not eaten at Hainan’ s table, and that I have had no pleasure nor 
 delight in the king’s feast, nor drunk the wine of the drink offerings.” 
 Page 47. The preceding are from the first Lamp. 
 
 The second Lamp contains, among other things, the “ Godly 
 Meditation of the inward love of the soul towards Christ our Lord 5 
 composed first in French by the virtuous Lady Margaret, Queen of 
 Navarre : aptly, exactly, and fruitfully translated by our most gra- 
 cious Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth , in the tender and maidenly 
 years of her youth and virginity, to the great benefit of God’s church, 
 and comfort of the Godly.” The beginning is rather strong , and a 
 little terrific : but the recollections of the Heptameront might have 
 rendered the author’s secret moments uneasy. “ Where is the Hell, 
 full of travail, pain, mischief, and torment ? Where is the pit of 
 
 t Marguerite, Queen of Navarre, and sister of Francis I., was probably the most 
 winning, brilliant, and celebrated woman of her day. I forgive her relapse into 
 Catholicism , from a consideration of the good she did when a favourer of the Pro- 
 testants : but the commonest impulses of Christian benevolence induce us to doubt 
 whether she could have realty written the obscenities and ribaldry which are to he 
 found in the Heptameron. The authors of the Nouveau Diet. Historique well say 
 of this, and of similar performances, such as the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles and 
 Contes de Bocace, when they observe thus : — “ Des avantures galantes, des seduc- 
 tions de filles encore novices, des stratag^mes plaisans, employes pour tromperles 
 tuteurs et les jaloux : voilk les pivots sur lesquels roulent tous ces contes d’autant 
 plus dangereux pour la jeunesse, que les images obsc^nes y sont cachees sous un 
 air de simplicite et de naivete frequentes.” And because the Heptameron was 
 not sufficiently piquant, one Jean de la Haye, the valet de chambre of Marguerite, 
 followed it up with another highly-seasoned dish, called Les Marguerites de la 
 Marguerite des Princesses ; of which, however, the absurdity prevails over the 
 immorality. 
 
MANUALS OF DEVOTION. 
 
 133 
 
 lion at the time of its appearance. It is not only, in 
 part, a collection of the compositions of several royal, 
 
 cursedness, out of which doth spring all desperation ? Is there any 
 hell so profound, that is sufficient to punish the tenth part of my sins, 
 which in number are so many, that the infinite swarm of them so 
 shadoweth my darkened senses, that I cannot account them, neither 
 yet well see them ?” In this Lamp also appear the devotional effu- 
 sions of Lady Mary Dudley , Lady Frances Abergavenny , and Queen 
 Catherine ; of the latter of which, however, I find an edition printed 
 in the year 1545, by Berthelet and Wayland : Typog. Antiq. vol. iii. 
 p. 329. Among the effusions of Lady Abergavenny, is “ A necessary 
 prayer in metre against vice — beginning thus : 
 
 O Lord my God, make thou my heart repentant for to be. 
 
 The spirit of contrition, do thou ingraffe in me. 
 
 Unto mine eies let there be given abundant teares of weeping, 
 
 And let mine hands be occupied with often almes giving. 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
 At page 207, we observe a specimen of the common conceit of the 
 age : eight short prayers are printed, headed by one of the eight let- 
 ters, in consecutive order, of her ladyship’s name : MARY FANE. 
 It concludes with the following acrostic. 
 
 F From sinfulnesse preserue me Lord, 
 
 R Renew thy spirit in my hart, 
 
 A And let my tonge therewith accord, 
 
 V Vttering all goodnesse for his part. 
 
 N No thought let there arise in me, 
 
 C Contrary to thy statutes ten, 
 
 E Ever let me most mindful be, 
 
 S Still for to praise thy name : Amen. 
 
 A As of my soule, so of my bodie, 
 
 B Be thou my guider, O my God 
 
 V Vnto thee onlie I do crie, 
 
 R Remove from me thy furious rod, 
 
 G Graunt that my head may still devise, 
 
 A All things that pleasing be to thee, 
 
 V Vnto mine eares, and to mine eies, 
 
 E Ever let there a watch set bee, 
 
 N None ill that they may heare and see, 
 
 N No wicked deede let my hands do, 
 
 V Yn the good paths let my feete go. 
 
 This is sufficiently dull and feeble. A little onward, another set 
 
134 
 
 DIVINITY. 
 
 noble, and canonised, authors, but it contains many 
 prosaical and poetical effusions, and forms of prayer, 
 upon the duties and occupations of man, in all situa- 
 tions of life, and at every period of the day : from the 
 moment of his “ beholding himself naked” on quitting 
 his bed, (fol. 370,) to that of his “ hearing the clock 
 strike,” (fol. 365,) after he has got comfortably into 
 bed for the night. Among the royal contributors to 
 this cornucopia of family devotion, are our Queens 
 Catherine, Mary, and Elizabeth ; while, among those 
 of noble designation, we read the names of the Lady 
 Jane Dudley, and Lady Frances Abergavenny. Fo- 
 
 of prayers, fifteen in number, occurs under the initials ELIZABETH 
 REGINA. But at page 307, we have a very bold figure in the as- 
 sumption of an address of the Deity to the same Queen, beginning 
 thus, “ Elizabeth, thou virgin mine, the king’s daughter, and fairest 
 among women : most full of beauty and majesty : attend a little to 
 my heast , and mark what I shall say. Thou art my daughter indeed, 
 this day have I begotten thee, and espoused thee to thy King Christ, 
 my son, crowned thee with my gifts, and appointed thee queen to 
 reign upon my holy Mount Zion.” Among Bentley’s collections, 
 which begin with the fourth Lamp , there is a prayer to Christ cruci- 
 fied, which glows with the occasional warmth of catholic devotion : 
 as thus — Thou, O our Saviour, hast bowed down thy head at thy 
 death, to receive the kisses of thy beloved, and so often do we kiss 
 thee, O Lord, as we be thoroughly touched with the love of thee, 
 who for love to mankind, being God, earnest to man, earnest into 
 man, and becamest man,” &c. But there must be a limit to these 
 extracts ; and, I conclude this account of the Seven Lamps of Vir- 
 ginity, by requesting the curious, in such lore, to let no opportu- 
 nity slip of securing a fine, and above all, a perfect copy of it. This 
 book is sometimes found with only five lamps j but the additional 
 two lamps will bring an additional five guineas to the value of the 
 work. A very fine copy of it, collated and perfect, was sold at the 
 sale of Brand’s library (Part I. no. 1326), for 8 1. 18s. 6d., such copy 
 is now worth double the sum. The paper, printing, and decorative 
 title pages are worthy of the intrinsic curiosity of the volume. 
 
MANUALS OF DEVOTION. 
 
 135 
 
 reign saints and heroines are enlisted into the service: 
 and amongst them we notice Deborah the Prophetess, 
 Dorcas Marten, Eulalia, Ann Askew, Queen Hester, 
 Rosweyd, and Sappho the Poet ! The book is beau- 
 tifully printed : and now scarce. It is yet interesting ; 
 and f was once, doubtless, an indispensable volume in 
 the library of every accomplished gentlewoman. 
 
 Descending to a much later period, and exhibiting 
 specimens of a much better regulated piety, the 
 Young Collector will not scruple to secure the Holy 
 Living and Dying of Jeremy Taylor , Private Thoughts 
 of Bishop Beveridge , Reflections on the Holy Spirit 
 by Allix , Scott's Christian Life , Nelsons Fasts and 
 Festivals , the Whole Duty of Man , the Ladies' CalL 
 ing , and the Companions to the Prayer Book (includ- 
 ing those to the Altar) by Comber , Wheatley , and 
 Sparrow . Nor will the perusal of Bishop Kenn’s 
 Practice of Divine Love be unattended with good 
 fruit. But by modern and living Divines, a copious 
 list of Manuals of Devotion may be mentioned. The 
 names of Jenks , Bean , Cotteril , Blomfield , (the pre- 
 sent Bishop of Chester), Hicks , Donington , Jay , and 
 others, are attached to small, cheap, and excellent 
 publications, which have each their peculiar merits. 
 Of course, I do not consider the whole of this small, 
 but powerful phalanx, necessary for every studious 
 man or diligent Collector ; but some two or three of 
 the treatises, just mentioned, would occupy little 
 space upon the table, and furnish the understanding 
 with much that is valuable and useful.* They would, 
 peradventure, occasionally operate as wholesome 
 
 * Let the diligent, but patient. Collector, endeavour to get pos- 
 session of copies of the oldek Manuals in their original bindings — 
 usually of morocco. I know more than one bibliomaniacal friend 
 
DIVINITY. 
 
 136 
 
 drastics , to keep in compact and efficient order the 
 otherwise loose thoughts and unsettled principles of 
 frail human beings. 
 
 Such is the outline of a Theological Library 
 whicli I have submitted to the well disposed and well- 
 informed student and collector. I am aware that 
 much may be added to, and a little detracted from, 
 the foregoing details : but it will be conceded, I trust, 
 upon the whole, that here is a body of divinity, 
 which may serve to guide “ the Young” into the paths 
 of piety and virtue, and to secure to the Aged, 
 “ peace at the last.” 
 
 who will not admit copies of any other description — even if it be in 
 the very best coating of Charles Lewis. Now this is bordering upon 
 heresy, if it be not heresy itself. While I am upon the topic of old 
 bindings of Manuals of devotion, I cannot forego the pleasure of 
 noticing an extraordinary copy, which Lord Spencer possesses— of a 
 French volume, of Catholic Devotion — evidently, from the style of 
 the prefixed MS. memoranda, the original property of a French 
 Princess. It is cased in fish skin, studded with various-coloured 
 pebbles, and worked all over, within, in very minute, Persian- 
 fashioned, gilt ornaments. But the cabinets of the curious, doubt- 
 less, abound with many similar specimens. 
 
t 137 ] 
 
 HISTORY. 
 
 He may be pronounced to be a bold man who shall 
 venture upon giving a Catalogue of Historical tCorks, 
 fit for every Library, within the limits of a publication 
 like the present — when Struvius, Buder, and Meuse- 
 lius have occupied eleven goodly octavo volumes in a 
 similar composition ;* and when Le Long and Fon- 
 tette have filled five folio volumes with a list of His- 
 tories exclusively belonging to France.^ What there- 
 fore is to be done ? Is the “ Young Man ” to despair 
 of slaking his thirst for historical information, merely 
 because, if he live till the age of Methusalem, he will 
 not have read one half of the works which are enume- 
 rated in the publications of the forementioned Biblio- 
 graphers ? And if the Catalogue be followed up, by 
 works which have been published since the labours of 
 
 * Between the years 1782 and 1785. A copy of this excellent 
 work, which may be said to have well nigh superseded all preceding 
 similar works, may be had for about Si. 13 s. 6d. in boards. A beau- 
 tiful copy of it, bound in white calf, was sold for Si. 105. only — at 
 a public sale at Mr. Evans’s in 1817 — which, having been ob- 
 tained in time of war , had cost the owner 11 1. 11s. in boards. There 
 have been more disheartening depreciations in property, even than 
 this ! 
 
 f This publication appeared in 1719, in one folio volume j but the 
 labours of Fontette, Herissant, Rondet, and others, have augmented 
 it to four additional ones, 1768, folio: so that the first edition is 
 superseded. Brunet well observes that “ this is one of the most es- 
 sential performances in bibliography, and should be found in all large 
 libraries.’’ But I beseech the prudent Collector not to buy it on 
 large paper. Works of this description should never be bought in 
 such a form. A copy on small paper is worth from 41, 14s. 6d. to 
 61. 6s. 
 
1S8 HISTORY, 
 
 Meuselius — how interminable the toil, and how repul- 
 sive the attempt ?! 
 
 Let him not however despair. History, which 
 may be considered as the mother both of fiction and 
 of truth, is mastered with less difficulty than may be 
 at first imagined. Among the most ^delightful of her 
 associates, may be designated Biography , Voyages , 
 and Travels. Of these in their proper order. I shall 
 not lose a minute, or waste a line, in the recommend- 
 ation of various Introductory Treatises “ on the Study 
 and Use of History.” The feeling of the reader must 
 be natural : his appetite strong : his digestion good : 
 and the nourishment cannot fail to be salutary. The 
 reading of “ Introductions” is like the having recourse 
 to stimulants to provoke an appetite — and food, thus 
 procured, is rarely digestive or nutritious. We do not 
 want such works as those of Du Fresnoy, Du Pin, or 
 even Lord Bolingbroke,* to tell us that Herodotus and 
 
 * Du Fresnoy : Methode pour Etudier VHistoire, par Drouet. 
 Paris, 1772, 12mo. 15 vols. See the Bibliomania , p. 70. This is 
 the best edition of Du Fresnoy — which is rather a work of historical 
 bibliography, than an Introduction to the Study of History. It was 
 translated and abridged in a useful manner by Raw! inson, 1738, 8vo. 
 2 vols. Du Pin’s Universal Library of Historians, 1709, 8vo. two 
 vols.: is dull and superficial. Bolingbroke’s Letters on the Study 
 of History , in one Svo. volume, have been frequently reprinted. The 
 work is chiefly remarkable for a certain lofty elegance of style, in 
 which that writer excelled. I have not however seen some letters 
 written upon this work, by Lord Walpole of Wolterton, in which, as 
 I learn, it is treated with some severity. The fact however is, that 
 scarcely any body now a days reads Bolingbroke in any form. To these 
 works may be added those of Mably, Larciier, and Ferrand, to be 
 found in most catalogues of French booksellers. But I am most 
 unwilling to dismiss this branch of our enquiries, without the notice 
 and recommendation of a spirited and luminous Essay on the Study of 
 Modern History, 1821, Svo. by Mr. J. S. Boone, student of Christ 
 
OF GREECE. 
 
 139 
 
 rhucydides are the great luminaries among the Gre- 
 cian — Sallust, Tacitus, and Livy, among the Roman — 
 and Rapin, Hume, Robertson, and Gibbon, among 
 ;he English — historians. We have known this from 
 ;he lips of our parents and instructors ; and therefore 
 t is that we fasten with such avidity upon choice 
 copies of the works of these great writers : that we 
 seek them in chaste morocco or full-gilded calf: in 
 •heir first and unsophisticated bindings — when ink 
 >vas black and paper white.* 
 
 Small therefore is the space here allotted to works 
 jpon the Study and Use of History. Let the“ Young 
 Man” prepare himself with certain Bodies of An- 
 cient and Modern History^ — in the English, French, 
 )i* Latin languages — and go at once to the best edi- 
 ;ions of the choicer writers in each. To begin with the 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 >r with those authors whose works are supposed to 
 ;ake the lead in Grecian History. Where the Bipont 
 
 Church, Oxford : a gentleman,, full of academic honours, and likely 
 o be equally an ornament to his University and the country. I hope 
 le will adhere almost exclusively to; History. 
 
 * when ink was black and paper white ."] — The notes in the Biblio- 
 graphical Decameron , vol. i. p. 5-7 j vol. ii. 338-340, will justify me 
 n this language — however quaint or paradoxical. 
 
 f Universal History Ancient and Modern — with maps and additions 
 1736, folio, twenty-six volumes. This useful work, incorporating a 
 £reat portion of Sacred History, was reprinted in 8vo. in sixty-seven 
 volumes : and again in sixty vols., with omissions and additions. The 
 irst 8vo. edit, is called the begt, but each of them is worth 261. 5 s. 
 3f the folio edition, there is, at this moment, a copy just bound out 
 )f sheets, by C. Lewis, in white calf, with marble edges, and full 
 charged gilt backs — lying at Mr. Triphook’s for the not unconscion- 
 
140 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 Editions can be procured, let them be so. Of Hero- 
 dotus, the Collector may content himself with the 
 edition of Wesseling , Gr. and Lat. 1763, folio, which 
 is worth about £ 7 . 7s. ; or with those of Reitzius and 
 Schweighueuser , in octavo ; the former in two volumes, 
 recently reprinted at Oxford, and worth about £l.lOs.: 
 the latter, at Strasbourg , in 1S16, Greek and Latin, 
 six volumes — valued at about £6. 6s.* and reprinted 
 in the following year by Mr. Priestley, at London, in 
 four volumes, 8vo. at about one half the price, but 
 without the various readings. He who has got this 
 Father of historians, illustrated by the labours of 
 Wesseling aud Schweighaeuser, need not distress him- 
 self about possessing the preceding editions of Gale 
 and Gronovius but I should be wanting in all 
 
 able sum of 52 /. 10s. To this work, add Calmet’s Histoire Univer - 
 selle, Strasb. 1735, 4to. 17 vols. Calmet was a very extraordinary 
 man ; and his labours are equally an honour to the age and to the 
 French nation. His Dictionnaire de la Bible , in four folio volumes, 
 with cuts, of which the edition of 1730 is the best, might have found 
 a place in the previous chapter. Millot’s EUmens d' Histoire g&nt* 
 rale , Ancienne et Moderne , Paris , 1779, 12mo. nine vols. : and An- 
 quetil’s Precis de VHist. Univ. Anc. et Mod. 1807. 12mo. twelve 
 volumes, may be also advantageously consulted. 
 
 * There are copies of this edition upon large paper j of which 
 one, bound in olive-colour morocco, gilt leaves, is marked at 12/. 12s. 
 in Mr. Payne’s Cat. of 1822, no. 3668. This learned and splendid 
 performance reflects infinite credit upon the Editor and Printer. Mr. 
 Schweighaeuser is now busied in the compilation of a Lexicon Hero- 
 doteum. His ardour abates not with his age. He is the classical 
 Swan who sings to the last. 
 
 f A good copy of the folio edition of Gale or Gronovius may be 
 worth about 1/. 10s. Of the Translations of Herodotus, that of 
 Larcher (1802, 9 vols. 8vo. edit. opt. 3/. 13s. 6d. bds) is by much 
 the best. In our own language, Mr. Beloe’s is the most popular : 
 but an improved version is an acknowledged desideratum. We 
 
OF GREECE. 
 
 141 
 
 correct bibliographical feeling, if I omitted strongly 
 to recommend the beautiful and correct edition pub- 
 lished by the Foulises at Glasgow, in 1761, in 9 duo- 
 decimo vols. Gr. and Lat. of which copies, in nearly 
 coeval morocco binding, rejoice the heart of the young 
 and tasteful Collector. 
 
 From Herodotus, let us descend to Thucydides, 
 Pausanias, Xenophon, and Diodorus Siculus. Of 
 Thucydides, the Bipont Eition , 1788, 8vo. six vols. 
 —comprehending the labours of Wasse and Duker, 
 (from the folio of 1731) is assuredly the best; although 
 each edition be pretty much about the same price ; 
 namely 6/. 6s. If this sum be considered too high, 
 let the Young Collector be well content with the 
 labours of Hudson, in his splendid folio volume of 
 1696, Gr. and Lat. which may be obtained at one 
 third of such price. From the increasing scarcity and 
 high price of the Bipont edition, I could wish to see 
 it reprinted at the Clarendon Press ; where it will lose 
 nothing of its elegance or correctness : although the 
 recent edition of Behker * published at the same place, 
 almost renders this wish void. But let me not be for- 
 getful of the edition printed at Glasgow, by Fouiis, in 
 1759, eight vols. 12mo. — “ companion meet” for the 
 Herodotus, just described, and printed at the same 
 place. Yet more estimable for its emendations — and 
 
 lave many admirable living scholars and geographers for such a task. 
 The labours of Major Rennell are alone a tower of strength. His 
 Geography of Herodotus , 1S00, 4 to., evinces the extent of his know- 
 ledge and the soundness of his judgment. 
 
 * Bekker’s edition is in four vols. : 1821, 8vo. The last volume 
 contains the Latin version of Wasse. It is in some few respects an 
 editio princeps. For an account of this edition, and the excessive 
 rarity of copies upon large paper, consult the /Edes Altliorpiance , 
 vol. i. p. 135 . 
 
142 HISTORY, 
 
 not much inferior on the score of typographical beauty 
 — is the Edinburgh Edition of 1803, 12mo. Gr. and 
 Lat. six vols — recently reprinted, 1812 — of which the 
 Rev. P. Elmsley is the reputed Editor.* 
 
 The Gr. and Lat. edition of Pausanias, by Kuhnius , 
 1696, foliof — or the octavo edition, Gr. and Lat. by 
 Facius , 1794, 4 vols., may well satisfy any Collector; 
 although for critical utility, as well as for commo- 
 diousness of form, 1 should recommend the latter. 
 Xenophon comes upon us in so many tempting 
 forms — in such variety of shapes — and fraught with 
 so much wisdom, in every department of which he 
 treats — that I am puzzled in the selection of what 
 may more fully satisfy the anxious or the ambitious 
 Collector. If the entire works only be sought for, I 
 should recommend the edition of Wells or JVeiske : 
 Schneider and Zeunius ; the first in 1703, Gr. and 
 Lat. seven parts, in five vols. Svo.J the second, in the 
 same number and form of volumes, in 1798-1802 > 
 
 * Of the English Translations of Thucydides, those by Hobbes 
 and Smith, frequently reprinted, are the best. They are obtainable 
 at moderate prices. 
 
 t Lord Spencer is supposed to possess the only copy of this edition 
 upon large paper : see the ZEd Althorp. vol. i. p. 133. 
 
 t Perfect copies of this edition, upon large paper, are of the 
 rarest possible occurrence. The possession of the first volume in this 
 condition, is almost the ne plus ultra of bibliographical felicity. A 
 copy of this kind, however, in pristine Oxford red morocco binding, 
 was sold among the books of the late and last Viscount Hampden, 
 for 158 1. 11s. Keen and spirited was the bidding. In short, the 
 first vol. of Wells’s Xenophon on 1. p. (that volume, for which my 
 late lamented friend, Sir M. M. Sykes, Bart, used so ardently to sigh !) 
 produces as strong and general a sensation among resolute Biblio- 
 maniacs, as the throwing of a frog into a pond well stocked with 
 pike. The devoted animal has scarcely made his first strike, ere a hall 
 
OF GREECE. 
 
 14a 
 
 and the third, preferable to either of the two pre- 
 ceding’, in 1812, Gr. and Lat. at Oxford, in six volumes, 
 8vo. # Perhaps, upon the whole, Schneider is the 
 ablest of the editors upon Xenophon. Yet I must not 
 omit informing my reader that a good edition of the 
 entire works of Xenophon, comprehending the labours 
 of Wells and Ernesti , was published in four octavo 
 volumes at Leipsic, in 1801. Either of these latter 
 editions may be had in boards from two to three 
 guineas. Again, I am unwilling to omit a brief 
 notice of the beautiful little edition of Xenophon’s 
 works put forth by the Foulises at Glasgow, in 1762- 
 1767, Gr. and Lat. 12 vols: — “ companion meet” of 
 the Thucydides described in the preceding page. 
 
 As to the works of this instructive writer, separately 
 published, he who shall possess the editions of Hutch- 
 inson,^ or Schneider, or Schaefer, (to say nothing of 
 
 dozen elongated muzzles are protruded to cut him in two, and swal- 
 low him without mercy ! 
 
 Mr. Evans sold this covetable set of books ; but some previous 
 inspector and catalogue-maker had classed it among Welch Books ! 
 I remember a portion of the jirst Aldine Homer being called, in a 
 country bookseller’s catalogue, “ a beautiful copy of the Koraun /” 
 But anecdotes of this kind — thick and bright as stars in the via lactea, 
 on a frosty January night — might be easily threaded together to an 
 unconscionable length. 
 
 * There are copies of this edition, upon large paper — of elegant 
 execution : for about 61. 6s. in boards. This Oxford edition was 
 preceded by a very neat one, containing the emendations of the same 
 editors, at Edinburgh, in 1811, in ten volumes, 12mo. : of which 
 there are also copies upon large paper. 
 
 f The c( Young Man” will necessarily be anxious to possess fine 
 copies of the Cyropcedia and Anabasis of Xenophon, by our Hutch- 
 inson : the former published in 1727, the latter in 1735, 4 to. They 
 are by no means rare : but, upon the largest paper, of a scarcity 
 almost amounting to desperation. The principal translations of 
 Xenophon, in our own language, are by Smith and Spelman. Of 
 
144 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 those by Simpson and Benwell), will do well to rest 
 contented with such specimens of editorial sagacity. 
 Nor let the Lexicon Xenophonteum of Thieme and 
 Sturzius, 1804, 3 vols. 8vo. be wanting to render the 
 Xenophonian department complete. 
 
 Of Diodorus Siculus, I shall unhesitatingly and 
 exclusively recommend the Bipont edition of 1793- 
 1807 — Gr. and Lat. — in eleven 8vo. volumes — con- 
 taining the annotations of Ileyne and others. A good 
 copy of it may be worth 5/. 15s. Gd. 
 
 Of modern publications, relating to the History of 
 Ancient Greece — secure the highly interesting and 
 not less original work entitled Voyage du Jeune 
 Anacharsis en Grece , par I. /. Barthelemy , An VII. 
 (1799) seven vols. 8vo. in eight : with a quarto Atlas: 
 the best edition : but frequently reprinted. Didot 
 published a magnificent 4to. edition of it, in seven 
 volumes in the same year, with an Atlas, in folio. To 
 these add the later editions of Histories of Greece by 
 our Gillies and Mitford. But never let Potters Anti- 
 quities of the same country be wanting in your histo- 
 rical collections of Greece. I believe that none of the 
 later editions of this profound, and yet unpretending 
 work, contain improvements. But I hear the u Young 
 Man” — ambitious of possessing almost every thing 
 which can throw light upon that most interesting of 
 all countries — exclaim, “ am I to be debarred of the 
 Treasure of Grecian Antiquities,” by Gronovius ( \ 
 Are so many dull and dreary nights of winter to pass, 
 or rather creep, away, when the possession of such a 
 
 the latter, indeed. Gibbon bas said that it is “ one of the most accu- 
 rate and elegant prose translations that any language has produced.” 
 Let the reader examine a copious list of English Translations of the 
 Greek and Latin Classics, in the Cat. of Messrs. Arch, 1821 , p. 116 . 
 
OF ROME. 
 
 145 
 
 “ treasure may serve to enliven and improve them ?” 
 Be it so, therefore. Let him get a copy of this most 
 elaborate, learned, and desirable work — printed at 
 Leyden in 1697 — in thirteen folio volumes ; of which 
 the thirteenth furnishes him with an admirably copious 
 Index of the contents of the twelve preceding tomes. 
 He may see the Heads or Titles of the tracts, con- 
 tained in each volume, in Mr. Harris’s judiciously 
 compiled Catalogue of the Royal Institution . 
 
 HISTORY OF ROME. 
 
 I come to Roman History; which may occupy 
 even less space than Grecian ; as in the selection of 
 original texts, less care is necessary. He who has the 
 Dion Cassius of Fahricius and Reimar , 1750, Gr. and 
 Latin, folio — the Dionysius Halicarnassensis of 
 Eleiske, 1784, 8vo. Gr. and Lat. six vols. the Livy of 
 Drakenhorch , 1738, 4to. seven vols.* — the Appian and 
 the Polybius of Schweighceuser 3 1785-1789, Gr. and 
 Lat. the first in three, and the second in nine vols.— 
 the Tacitus of Rrotier , 1771, 4to. four vols. •f' — the 
 CjEsar of Oudendorp , 1737, 4to., or of Oherlin , 1805, 
 
 * If minor editions of Livy be rather sought after, obtain the beau- 
 ifully executed one of the late learned Mr. Homer, 1794, in eight 
 )ctavo volumes 5 or the yet smaller one of Ruddiman, Edinb. 1751, 
 l2mo. four vols. But he who has the Variorum, impression of 1679, 
 Ivo. three vols., need not feel comfortless in the absence of any other 
 idition. 
 
 t Again, as to minor editions — le£ the Rarbou impression of 1776, 
 idited by Lallemand, in seven 12 mo volumes, be your elbow com- 
 )anion j for it hath never yet been eclipsed for beauty and accuracy 
 inited. 
 
 L 
 
146 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 8vo. and the Sallust of Havercamp , 1742, 2 vols.*-~ 
 together with almost any respectable impression of 
 Velleius Paterculus and Florus — he, I say, who 
 shall possess sound and fair copies of these ancient 
 historians, may be said to possess a full and complete 
 Body of Roman History. Or, if he prefer a Collection 
 of the whole, in a sort of Corpus Historicum , let him 
 rest well contented with that published by Haurisius, 
 in 1743, in three folio volumes, containing the Latin 
 authors only. And if to the foregoing, he add the 
 Thesaurus Antiquitatum Romanarum of Graevius (the 
 companion of the collection of Grecian Antiquities 
 by Gronovius) published in 12 folio volumes, in 1694,t 
 the Young Collector’s historical library will be suf- 
 ficiently complete. 
 
 * Among the smaller editions, that of Edinb. 1755, 12mo, has been 
 long and highly prized j but of equal, if not higher, estimation, is 
 that of Homer, 17S9, 8vo. — now become a very scarce book. Among 
 our versions of Sallust, none approach, for quantity and quality of 
 research, that of Dr. H. Steuart, in two 4to. volumes, 1806. It is 
 replete with useful collateral aids. Murphy’s version, both of 
 Tacitus and Sallust, is in more general requisition. 
 
 f But even BOTn treasures — the one by Gronovius, and the other 
 by Graevius — are not perfect without the following supplemental 
 volumes, Novus Thes. Antiq. Romanar. ab A. H. de Sallengre," in 
 three folio volumes, 1716: and “ Utriusque Thesauri Antiq. Roman. 
 Grcecarumque Nov. Supplementa congesta ab I. Poleno. Venet. 1735, 
 folio, five vols. In Tom Osborne’s time, when these substantial 
 tomes, especially upon large paper, brought great prices, a copy 
 of this kind, of Gruevius and Gronovius, was marked in the folio 
 sheet catalogue of 1759, at sixty guineas ; and with the Thes. Antiq. 
 Ital. et Sicil. bound in forty-eight volumes, at 94/. 10s. A copy of 
 the former set, on small paper, and in neat binding, may be obtained 
 for about 42 l. But “ the Young Man ” may travel a lit! 
 
 — if he pleases, and the weight of his purse allow of it. 
 he already anticipates the collection of the Byzantine and 
 Histories in the earlier periods of Christianity — which 
 
 im 
 
 le further 
 Perhaps 
 Turkish 
 furnished 
 
OF ROME. 
 
 147 
 
 Descending to Modern Historians of the Roman 
 Empire, the names of Rollin . Crevier , Hooke, Fergu- 
 son, and Gibbon, will necessarily present themselves 
 — to which, that of Montesquieu— whose sketch of 
 the “ Grandeur et Decadence des Romains 5 ’ has 
 been expanded into such a magnificent picture by 
 Gibbon, may be judiciously added: while, descending 
 to lower periods, connected with Italian Antiquity 
 and History, let every work of the greatest of all 
 modern antiquaries — Muratori — find a place, if pos- 
 sible, in the library of every judicious Collector. It 
 will be here only necessary to notice his truly stupen- 
 dous performance — the “ Scriptores Rerum Italicarum 
 ab ann . D, ad ann . M. D. quorum potissima pars nunc 
 primum in lucem prodit ”■ — 1723-51, in twenty-eight 
 or twenty-nine folio volumes. The life of the longest 
 liver should seem to be inadequate to a performance 
 like this : where materials w r ere collected from MSS. 
 of which the greater part had never been before libe- 
 rated from the huge brass bosses that had helped to 
 hold them together ; but which, — being touched, as it 
 were, with the magical wand of Muratori, poured a 
 flood of light and of information upon periods, hitherto 
 deemed impenetrably dark and wholly uninstructive. 
 One hardly knows sufficiently how to appreciate the 
 talents of this wonderful man.* 
 
 Gibbon with such a supply of curious and important matter. Of 
 the writers of these histories, the Paris edition of 1647 to 1680, folio, 
 will amply satisfy the most inordinate book-appetite. 
 
 * The principal of his other works, of less extent, but of equal 
 utility and importance, are these : Antiquitates Italics Medii /Evi 
 post Decl. Rom. Imp. ad an. 1500, 1738-42 : folio, six vols. This is 
 now become a rare work with us ; it will excite the reader’s surprise 
 when he learns that a copy even of the “ Scriptores ’ has not been on 
 
148 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 
 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 • 
 
 From the departed and splendid eeras of Greece 
 and Rome, we touch upon those of the modern world ; 
 and first, necessarily, of the History of our own 
 Country. Many are the helps, and yet many are the 
 deficiencies, connected with this important branch of 
 our enquiries. The former arise from the excellent 
 materials supplied by a regular succession of Histo- 
 rians beginning with the author of the Saxon Chroni- 
 cle , and ending with that which issued from the press 
 of Cation. I mention this latter as the first book, 
 regularly connected with our history, which was pub- 
 lished since the invention of the Art of Printing. And 
 yet, (as just intimated) at the very outset of our pur- 
 suits, there are deficiencies ; arising chiefly from the 
 want of a Collection like unto the Recueil des Histo - 
 
 sale, by auction, these five years. Of the “ Antiquitates," a reprint 
 appeared at Arezzo, in 1777, in 4to. in seventeen volumes, but of 
 considerably less beauty of execution. To the “ Scriptores,” must 
 be added the “ Accessiones" by Mittarelli, 1771, folio : and, again, 
 two more folio volumes of historians, from the year 1500 to 1600, 
 published at Florence in 1748. We have not yet done with Mura- 
 tori. His ‘'Nor. Thes. Vet. Inscript .” in four folio volumes, was 
 published at Milan, in 1739: and his Annali d' Italia 'dal principio 
 dell era volgarc sino all ’ anno , 1749, appeared in twelve quarto 
 volumes at Milan in 1749. This latter has been twice or thrice 
 reprinted. Hut the keener hunter of Muratori must beat the brakes 
 and bushes of Hninet in pursuit of the choicest game : in other words, 
 of the various editions of this multifarious writer. Had Niceron sur- 
 vived Muratori, we should have seen a capital account of his produc- 
 tions. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 149 
 
 riens des Gaules, Sec. of which the foundation stone 
 was laid by Bouquet.* 
 
 But it must be remembered that we are not with- 
 out many very solid foundation stones of our history 
 which have supported the more elegant superstruc- 
 tures of modern historians. “ The Young Man/’ who 
 
 * Of this magnificent, and truly invaluable work, the first volume 
 appeared in 1738, and the xviiith and last volume (the work being 
 yet imperfect — extending only to the thirteenth century) in 1822. It 
 is in folio ; and appertains almost as much to English, as to French 
 History. It should doubtless be found in every collegiate, and 
 Public Library. The copies upon large paper are by no means 
 uncommon 5 but a finer one than that which adorned the shelves of 
 Sledmere Library will with difficulty be found. The immediately 
 ensuing pages will prove the use which I have made of some of the 
 volumes of this work 3 and for the gratification of the historical 
 antiquary, I subjoin an alphabetical list of some of our earlier his- 
 torians who are mentioned, critically in the pages of the Recueil : 
 
 Vol. 
 
 Pages. 
 
 
 Vol. Pages. 
 
 Abbas Benedict, xiii. 
 
 xvij. 142. 
 
 Girald Barry, 
 
 xiii. xviii. xxii. 
 
 Brompton, . . — 
 
 iii. 
 
 Hemingford, W. de, 
 
 — iii. 
 
 Chronicon Saxon. — 
 
 vij. ix. 47. 
 
 Hoveden, R. de. 
 
 xi. 309. 
 
 Durham, Simeon of, — 
 
 xi- 79. 
 
 Huntingdon, H. de, 
 
 — lviii. 206. 
 
 Eadmer, . . — 
 
 iv. 
 
 Malmesbury, G. de, 
 
 x. xxxvij. 243. 
 
 , xi. 
 
 liij. 
 
 Neubery, or Neubridge, 
 
 , xi. 
 
 lij. 173- 
 
 G. de, . 
 
 xiii. xiii. 92. 
 
 — 1 — , xiii- 
 
 iv. 
 
 Odericus Vitalis, 
 
 xi. lxiij.221. 
 
 Encomium Emmae, xi. 
 
 iv. 5. 
 
 Paris, Matthew, 
 
 xiii. iii. 
 
 Gemeticensis, G. de, — 
 
 xxxix. 
 
 Ralph de Diceto, 
 
 — xviii. 183. 
 
 Gervais of Canterbury, xiii. 
 
 XV. 120. 
 
 
 — xxiij. 217. 
 
 
 Tilbury, xi. 
 
 lxxxj. 317. 
 
 Walsingham, 
 
 — iii. 
 
 Gesta Guil. Ducis, xi. 
 
 xxii. 73. 
 
 Westminster, G. de. 
 
 — iii. 
 
 — — - Stepbani, . xiii. 
 
 iv. 
 
 Worcester, Flor. de, 
 
 — x. 67. 
 
 But the most pleasing part, attending the introduction or notice of 
 this grand French work, is, that we have at length been roused to a 
 glorious spirit of rivalry in undertaking, a similar work devoted to 
 the History of our own Country. This laudable plan was brought 
 into the House of Commons, and carried through without the sem- 
 blance of opposition, at the close of the session of last year. Felix 
 
 FAUSTUMQUE SIT ! 
 
150 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 is emulous of a complete English historical library 
 (and what young Englishman of enlarged views, and 
 enabling purse, is not thus emulous ?) will do well to 
 attend to the following bill of fare— which will supply 
 him, not only with food for to-day (dressed as daintily 
 as intellectual viands need be dressed) but with food 
 for a succession of “ to-morrows — which, the more 
 carefully it be digested, the more strengthening will 
 be the nutrition, and the more fixed and permanent 
 the health of him who is thus nourished. 
 
 Know then, hungry and enterprising student, that 
 I deem it necessary, in the first place, to present thee 
 with a few publications which contain “ Bodies of 
 History f — or Collections of Ancient Historians — all 
 of whom lived and wrote before the invention of print- 
 ing. The earliest portion of British History, of which 
 any MS. exists, is that called by the well known name 
 of the Saxon Chronicle — an undoubtedly coeval 
 fragment of the eleventh century ; of which Bishop 
 Gibson published a useful and valuable edition, to- 
 wards the close of the seventeenth century, but of 
 which, it cannot be dissembled, a new and improved 
 edition, collated with other MSS. is much wanted ; 
 and, as I learn with great satisfaction, is on the eve of 
 publication, from the competent pen of the Rev. Mr. 
 Ingram, late Saxon Professor at Oxford.* 
 
 The first Body of British History which appeared 
 from our press, is contained in a folio volume, com- 
 
 * I cannot omit this opportunity of noticing, with the commend- 
 ation which it merits, the literal English version of the Saxon Chro- 
 nicle by Miss Gurney, sister of the Member for Newtown in the Isle 
 of Wight. Why should such a laudable effort of industry be confined 
 to private circulation only ? But whether privately, or publicly cir- 
 culated. Miss Gurney is sure of being suitably enshrined in a future 
 edition of Ballard’s “Memoirs of learned British Ladies.” 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 151 
 
 prising, 1st, Assers Life of Alfred; 2nd, th eYpodigma 
 Neustriw of TValsingham , a Chronicle ending in the 
 6th year of Henry V. ; and 3dly, the Historia Brevis 
 of the same Author, being a Chronicle of Events from 
 the commencement of the reign of Edward I. to the 
 end of that of Henry V. Of these three works, which 
 are usually found in the same volume, the two former 
 were printed by Hay, and the latter by Binneman, in 
 1574 — under the patronage and even particular super- 
 intendence of the famous Archbishop Parker :* a vo- 
 
 * The above text comprehends three names of some importance 
 in the annals of our country : Asser, Walsingham, and Parker. I 
 shall devote a few lines to each, in reference to the work in question. 
 Of Asser, Bishop of Sherburne, [A. D. 890.] the reader will find a 
 pleasing, and the best, account in Mr. Turner’s Anglo-Saxon History , 
 vol. i. p. 292. 4to. edit. 1807- Tanner adds little to Leland j but 
 Nicolson is worth consulting 5 who repeats Parker’s expressions, 
 that it is printed in the old Saxon character to invite his English 
 readers, and to draw them in unawares to an acquaintance with the 
 handwriting of their ancestors, in hopes to beget in them (by de- 
 grees) a love for the antiquities of their own country.” Eng. Hist. 
 Library, p. 47* edit. 1736. 
 
 Of Thomas Walsingham, we are told that — “ his chief delight 
 was in the collection of English Histories 3 wherein he hath left, to 
 the perpetual registering of his name, divers monuments of reverend 
 antiquity. He lived in 1443.” See Hearne’s Hemmgi Chartularium, 
 vol. ii. p. 646. The author of this remark is said to be John Stow. 
 
 Of Archbishop Parker, even Gibbon, whose affection towards 
 our prelacy was at no time very violent, is compelled to pay this 
 handsome tribute to his literary memory : “ Far different from such 
 reformers was the learned and pious Matthew Parker, the first Pro- 
 testant Archbishop of Canterbury, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 
 His apostolical virtues were not incompatible with the love of learn- 
 ing, and while he exercised the arduous office, not of governing, but 
 of founding the Church of England, he strenuously applied himself 
 to the study of the Saxon tongue, and of English antiquities.” Post- 
 humous Works, vol. iii. p. 566. Strype tells us, in his Life of the 
 Archbishop (pages 471 j 529), that the above work was carefully 
 
152 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 lume, by no means of common occurrence. Having 
 furnished the reader with a particular description of 
 this precious book, in the fourth volume of the recent 
 edition of our Typographical Antiquities, it only re- 
 mains to urge him— if he be earnest in laying a good 
 foundation for an English Historical Library— to 
 let no opportunity escape of becoming master of a 
 sound and perfect copy of it. 
 
 About a dozen years after the publication of the 
 Ypodigma, there appeared a collection of our histo- 
 rians at Heidelberg and Lyons, in the same year, 1587 ; 
 but the latter seems to be only the former book with 
 a fresh title-page. This collection contains Geoffrey 
 of Monmouth, Gildas, Bede, IVilliain of Newbury, 
 or Newbridge, and an abridgment of Froissart* 
 
 printed from the original MS. to a word/’ in Saxon characters, 
 and was somewhat rare in former times : that the Archbishop delayed 
 the publication “ of which there had been great expectation among 
 the learned,’ ’’ owing to his tare in correcting, printing, and getting a 
 few presentation copies to be bound — “ wherein he was very curious.’* 
 From the dedicatory epistle to the reprint of it, in 1603, in Camden’s 
 time, it appears to have been, then, a rare book. A fine and perfect 
 copy of it was sold last year at the sale of Mr. G. Isted’s library, for 
 7 l. 7s. Consult the Typ. Antiq. vol. iv. p. 136. My friend Mr. Amyot 
 possesses Hearne’s copy of it, with a m3, collation or two, in Heame’s 
 hand writing : a perfect, but not a fine copy — and obtained of a book- 
 seller at the comforting price of 91. 5 s. 
 
 * The abridgement of Geoffrey, by Virunnius, accompanies the 
 entire text of that author ,* but Bishop Nicolson mentions a previous 
 edition of this abridgement by Powell, of the date of 1585. London, 
 8vo. 5 he might also have referred to Newbury’s, or Bollifant’s, edi- 
 tion of the same date, in 8vo. See Herbert, vol. ii. p. 912 : 1215, 
 and Bill. Hoblyn. pt. ii. p. 500. Virunnius was an Italian ; upon 
 which the learned Bishop remarks,— -speaking of the original history 
 of Geoffrey, f ’tis of a complexion fitter for the air of Italy than Eng- 
 land.’ Historical Libraries , p. 37. edit. 1736. Geoffrey of Mon- 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 153 
 
 all of whom had been before separately published. 
 This collection is praised by Du Fresnoy, in his 
 Methode pour dtuaier Vhistoire ; but on this point 
 there is better praise (as the subjoined note may tes- 
 tify) to be sought for, than that of the French biblio- 
 grapher : who tells us, however, that u the book was 
 printed in Commelin’s office, from materials in the 
 Heidelberg library, when the latter was in its glory, 
 
 mouth lived in the 12th century, and is supposed to have taken many 
 hints from Nennius, who lived in the ninth century. Consult the 
 spirited observations of Bishop Nicolson upon them j Eng. Hist. Li- 
 brary, p. 36-33., and Hearne’s Robert of Gloucester, vol. i. p. xxiii., 
 note 6. Mr. G. Ellis has made the former interesting, in spite of his 
 incongruities : see his Specimens of Early English Metrical Romances, 
 vol. i. p. 42, 100. The first edition of Geoffrey was printed in the 
 office of Badius Ascensius, at Lyons, in 1508, 4 to : and may l e 
 worth about 1 1. Is. It is said to be “translated into the Latin 
 tongue from the most ancient monuments of the British or Saxon 
 tongue.’’ It was published by the care and expense of L. Cavellat, 
 whose introductory address is most diverting. He says that, “ happen- 
 ing to be rummaging among some old books in a college library at 
 Paris, he stumbled upon a certain work, called “ the History of the 
 British Kings,” — covered with the glorious dirt and mouldering 
 of antiquity.” The sight and the perusal affected him almost to 
 madness j [“ Dii boni ! quanto animi affectu iterum atque iterum 
 legi et perlegi !*’ — are his words] and he began to find that “ what 
 he had hitherto deemed fables, was true history.” The parent text 
 of such a chronicler may be doubtless deserving of investigation : but 
 it would be well if any ce ancient British or Saxon materials” could 
 be discovered in it. Till then, Geoffrey must be considered as the 
 property of Fablers and Romancers. An English translation of the 
 Latin text appeared in 1718, Svo., by Aaron Thompson, who has 
 prefixed “ a large preface concerning the authority of the history.” 
 Thompson's book is worth about 1 1. Is. It is not very rare upon large 
 paper , at 2 1. 12s. 6d. I once possessed it (as well as the original 
 edition of Ascensius,) in this latter form, in coeval blue morocco 
 binding. 
 
 Gildas lived in the sixth, and Bede in the eighth, century : see 
 
154 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 and before its transportation to the Vatican at Rome.’' 
 This is a scarce volume ; and a copy of it may be 
 worth about 41. 4s. 
 
 It was the good fortune, and even glory, of this 
 country, to witness, towards the end of the same cen- 
 tury, the labours of one of the most illustrious of her 
 scholars and antiquaries, in the publications of Sir 
 Henry Savile : “ a man (says Gibbon*) distinguished 
 
 Dr. Henry’s History of Great Britain , vol. iv. p. 5, 25 — where the 
 former is severely censured ; nor does the latter meet with less seve- 
 rity from Mr. Turner, in his Anglo-Saxon History , vol. i. 63. 
 
 William of Newbury, or Newbridge, lived at the close of the 
 twelfth, and at the beginning of the thirteenth, century. His history 
 extends to the year 1197. Bishop Nicolson, Hearne, and Dr. Henry, 
 have said every thing in praise of the style and matter of this writer 3 
 and the Benedictine editors of the celebrated “ Recueil des Historiens 
 des Gaules et de la France,'’ call him “ a judicious writer — more atten- 
 tive to relate the principal events than minute details. His impar- 
 tiality in the matter of Becket and Henry II., when every body took 
 part with the former, and abused the latter, is worthy of notice and 
 commendation 3” vol. xiii. pref. p. xiij. The Rev. Mr. Sharpe 
 (translator of William of Malmesbury, for which see page 156 post) 
 has completed an English version of William of Newbury for the 
 press 3 and I hope there is a sufficient spirit of patronage abroad to 
 induce him to publish it. The best edition of this historian, in the 
 original language, is that by Hearne in 1719, 3 vols. 8vo. — see post. 
 Gibbon, in his Post. Works, vol. iii. p. 565, speaks somewhat too 
 severely of the above Heidelberg publication 3 observing that the col- 
 lection “ is selected with such critical skill, that the romance of Geof- 
 frey of Monmouth, and a Latin abridgment of Eroissard, are placed 
 on the same level of historical evidence.” Consult, too, Rawlinson $ 
 translation of Du Fresnoy , vol. ii. p. 463 3 and the French edition, 
 vol. ii. p. 292. 
 
 Post. Works, vol. iii. p. 566, Svo. edit. But let the young and 
 ardent lover of great names in our biographical history, recreate 
 himself, respecting Sir H. Savile, with the recent edition of Wood's 
 Athen. Oxon , by Bliss, vol. ii. col. 310-317: rather than with the 
 same author’s Hist, and Antiq. of Colleges and Halls, p. 10. Chal- 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 155 
 
 among the scholars of his age, by his profound know- 
 ledge of the Greek language and mathematical scien- 
 ces .. . Some of the most valuable writers of the 
 xnth and xmth centuries were rescued by his hands 
 from dirt, and dust, and rottenness ; and his Collec- 
 tion, under the common title of Scriptores post Bedarn 
 was twice printed: first in London, 1596, and after- 
 wards at Frankfort, 1601.” Such is the title of the 
 work, which I must next recommend to the atten- 
 tion of “ the Young Man,” emulous of providing 
 himself with the earliest printed texts of our most 
 valuable historians. The names of the authors con- 
 tained in this Collection , are as follow : William of 
 Malmesbury , Henry of Huntingdon, Roger de Hove - 
 den , the Chronicle of Ethelwerd , and Ingulph. Of 
 the first of these, — the modest, faithful, and erudite 
 historian of the twelfth century — the present impres- 
 sion of his historical works* was only once reprinted, 
 
 mers’s General Biography may be profitably consulted : and in Ber- 
 kenhout’s Biographia Literaria, p. 435, there is a good compendious 
 account of Savile. Gibbon, in the notice of Sir Henry’s Greek at- 
 tainments, alludes to his edition of St. Chrysostom’s Works, printed 
 at Eton in the year 1612. This edition cost Sir Henry Savile 
 8000Z. 5 of which 2000Z. were devoted to the paper. But he might 
 have made a better choice both of a paper-merchant and printer. 
 The edition has an uncomfortable aspect. Not fewer than two 
 thousand copies were printed. Consult, also. Letters from the Bod- 
 leian Library , with Aubrey's Lives , 1813, Svo. vol. ii. The anecdote 
 about Sir Henry and his wife during the editorship of St. Chrysostom 
 is very amusing j but my “ Young Man” must forage a little for 
 himself. 
 
 * Namely, De Rebus Gestis Regum Anglorum, lib. v, ; Histories 
 novella libri duo 3 De Gestis Pontificum Anglorum, lib. iv. This 
 latter, is said by H. Wharton to be from a very faulty MS. A fifth 
 book concerning the English Bishops was published by Wharton in 
 his Anglia Sacra, vol. ii. ; and also by Gale among his Scriptores , 
 
156 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 namely, in the Frankfort edition of 1601, folio. But 
 of these two editions — one at London in 1596, and the 
 
 vol. iii. p. 337— but see the latter’s " Praefatio ad Lecto#em,” sign. 
 b. 2 $ where a doubt is thrown out respecting Malmesbury’s being 
 the author of this fifth Book ; which is devoted to the life of Saint 
 Aldelm. The remaining work of Malmesbury, concerning the “ An - 
 tiquities of Glastonbury Abbey," was published very incorrectly by 
 Gale, in the third volume of his Scriptores,” from a vellum MS. 
 in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge : but which Hearne 
 republished, with great accuracy, in his Adam de Domerham’s Anti- 
 quities of the same Abbey. See the preface of the latter, p. 15. 
 
 William of Malmesbury has received a brief, but satisfactory 
 eulogy from Dr. Henry— who has translated the emphatic conclusion 
 of his prologue — but who might have added, that the author speaks 
 of contemporaneous events ff as having witnessed them himself, or 
 received the account of them from very creditable witnesses.” Hist. 
 Great Britain, vol. vi. p. 136-8. Berkenhout has given an animated 
 abridgement of his labours j Biog. Literar. p. 1 1 : but, above all, 
 consult Leland’s affecting eulogy: De Scriptorib. Britan, vol. i. 195. 
 The learned Benedictine editors of that stupendous work, before 
 referred to, have given us a droll story from Malmesbury, about 
 Richard II. Duke of Normandy, and the supposed witchcraft of Pope 
 Sylvester the Second, which sufficiently evinces the simplicity of the 
 manners of the age ; but they accuse our historian, after copying Sir 
 Henry Savile’s eulogy of him, [see his dedication to Elizabeth — pre- 
 fixed to the above collection] of ignorance of French affairs : vide 
 tom. x. p. xxxvj. 243. This is repeated in tom. xiii. p. 4 : but both 
 in this latter, and in the fifty-second page of the preface of the ele- 
 venth volume, Malmesbury receives their warmest encomiums, in 
 regard to style, judgment and veracity. This valuable historian has 
 lately, indeed, been made familiar to English readers, by the transla- 
 tion of the Reverend J. Sharpe, 1S15, 4to. This version also con- 
 tains the fruit of collations with various other MSS. 
 
 Although Henry of Huntingdon protests that he writes only of 
 what he saw, or of what he received creditable testimony, yet, up to the 
 year 1127^ his history is scarcely any thing better than an abridge- 
 ment of the famous Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Afterwards, in his 
 eighth book, he is more diffuse, and seems to narrate events which 
 came under his own inspection. His reign of Stephen is, therefore. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 157 
 
 other as just noticed — I strongly recommend the 
 second. The IVechels , it is true, were the printers of 
 it ; and they are noted all over Europe for the wretched 
 
 the most original and valuable part of his composition ; and it has 
 been frequently copied. Recueil des Historians des Gaules, &c. tom. 
 xiii. pref. p. vj : consult also tom. xi. pref. lviii. 
 
 Roger Hoveden held an important diplomatic situation under 
 Henry II. ; and his Annals have been much praised by the foregoing 
 authority, in the eleventh volume of their Recueil, pref. p. lxxx. — but 
 in the preface to the thirteenth volume of the same magnificent 
 work, Hoveden would appear to have been chiefly a copyist of 
 Huntingdon, Simeon, and Benedictus Abbas. “ The first part of his 
 work, which commences where Bede concluded, and extends to the 
 year 1154, is, as far as the year 1122, a transcript of Simeon of Dur- 
 ham ; who, in turn, is the mere echo of Florence of Worcester. From 
 1122 to 1143, he almost literally copies Henry of Huntingdon — 
 from 1148 to 1154, his history is so confused that scarcely any event 
 has a proper date assigned to it. The same censure may be passed 
 upon the second part of his Annals, up to the year 1170; from 
 which time, however, partly by copying and abridging Benedictus 
 Abbas, and adding to this latter authority a few important events, he 
 becomes a valuable and important historian. Hoveden died at the 
 commencement of the thirteenth century.” Idem, p.xxj. 
 
 Ingulph (says the foregoing authority), “ avoit tout vu en bon 
 connoisseur, et ce qu’il rapporte, il l’dcrit en homme lettre, judiceux, 
 et vrai tom.xi. p. xlij. But consult the more animated eulogium 
 upon him atp. 153, note a of the same volume. It is not, however, 
 noticed in either place, that the continuation of his history of Croy- 
 land Abbey is inserted in the first volume of Gale’s Collection ; vide 
 post. Ingulph, who lived in the eleventh century, and was the se- 
 cretary of William the First, published <e an excellent history (says 
 Dr. Henry) of the Abbey of Croyland, from its foundation A. D. 664 
 to A. D. 1091, into which he hath introduced much of the general 
 history of the kingdom, with a variety of curious anecdotes that are 
 no where else to be found j” Hist, of Great Britain, vol. vi. 123. The 
 lovers of the Round Table History should be informed that there are 
 many minute and curious descriptions in Ingulph, which throw con- 
 siderable light upon the history of ancient chivalry. Recueil , &c. tom. 
 xi. pref. p. xlvij. 
 
158 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 tint and quality of their paper. In this instance, 
 however, they have made some atonement for the 
 sorry garb of their volume, by inserting all the 
 “ Emendanda” of the London edition; for which, 
 from the specimens of the errors, subjoined at the 
 end of Malmesbury and Hoveden, there was abundant 
 reason. The Frankfort edition has also the advan- 
 tage of a tolerably copious Index, whereas the London 
 edition is without one. Yet the London edition has 
 advocates, who deem it more accurate than that 
 which succeeded it : but it must be observed, in 
 defence of the Frankfort edition, that the errata, 
 according to Sir Henry Spelman’s Glossary, in voce 
 Frithborga, (as quoted by Nicolson in his English 
 Historical Library, p. 59), are confined chiefly to the 
 misspelling of English words : a venial tripping. Du 
 Fresnoy has echoed the same complaint, on the same 
 subject, against the same edition.* An ordinary copy 
 of the former edition maybe obtained for 1/. 11s. 6 d. 
 and of the latter for 21. 12s. 6 d. Of the Frankfort 
 edition, the only copy on large paper, > which I ever 
 saw, is in the possession of Mr. Amyot. 
 
 * In the Bibl. Mason , pt. iii. no. 509, Nicolson’s attack upon the 
 Frankfort edition, is quoted as an original criticism of the Bishop’s. 
 In the Bibl. Beauclerk. pt. ii. no. 2216, a copy of the London edition 
 was sold for only 35. 6d. It may be here observed, that, besides a 
 general title to the volume, each author has a separate title, within a 
 splendid border of twisted columns, enriched with vine leaves. Mr. 
 Grenville possesses a magnificent copy of it, upon large paper, 
 bound in olive coloured morocco, by Lewis. It is the only copy of 
 the kind which I remember to have seen. In the Harleian library 
 (Bibl. Marl, vol iii. no. 1) there appears to have been a very valua- 
 ble copy of it, enriched with ms. notes : and in the library of thr 
 Royal Institution there is a copy of the Frankfort edition full of ms. 
 notes by Gale. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 ] 59 
 
 The seventeenth century was fertile in the publica- 
 tion of Bodies of English Histories ; and the lead was 
 taken by the celebrated antiquary, Camden, whose 
 Anglica , Normannica , Hibernica , et Cambrica, ap- 
 peared at Frankfort in 1603, fol. The historians in- 
 cluded in this valuable volume, are, Asser Menevensis , 
 (reprinted from Archbishop Parker’s Collection, &c., 
 see p. 151, ante) Fragmentnm Anonymi , de vit. Guil. 
 Conquest ., Thomas Walsingham , Thomas de la Moor , 
 Gulielmus Gemiiicensis ,* and Giraldus Cambrensis . 
 This volume is of rare occurrence, and worth about 
 3/. 13s. 6d. I apprehend there are no copies of it 
 upon large paper. 
 
 The Norman historians received “ a fuller and closer 
 attention by the celebrated Duchesne ; who, in 1619, 
 put forth a magnificent work, in folio, entitled, His- 
 toric? Normannorum Scrip tores Antiqui, 8$c. It was 
 the intention of the editor to have published three 
 volumes of these historians ; but the present was all 
 that appeared. Du Fresnoy is wrong in mixing up 
 this work with Duchesne’s other publications relating 
 to France. The work is rare, and appertains equally 
 to the Histories of France and England.” Such are 
 the remarks of Du Fresnoy and Niceron, which have 
 been partly repeated by Debure, in the Bibliog . In- 
 struct. vol. vi. no. 5141. See also Cat. de la Serna 
 
 * Of William of Jumieges, the present, and the subsequent edi- 
 tion of 1619 (vide post), are the only publications of his text : unless 
 we except a short extract froifi a curious ms. of him, in the twelfth 
 century, which the editors of the Recueil , &c. have published in the 
 eleventh volume of that celebrated work. Of Giraldus Cambrensis , 
 this is the second impression : neither this, however, nor Bollifant’s 
 first edition of him in 1584,, contains the second book, <e De illauda- 
 bilibus Walliae ” 
 
160 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 Santander, vol. iii. no. 4884 * A good copy of this 
 valuable work is worth 4/. 14s. 6 d . ; but copies upon 
 large paper (which appear to have escaped the 
 notice of Mons. Brunet), are exceedingly rare and 
 high priced. Such a copy appears to have been in 
 the Gaignat, Gouttard, and La Valliere collections. 
 
 * Vogt,, in his usual manner, calls it “ Liber rarissimus, et in pau- 
 cissimis bibliothecis obvius.” Catalog. Libror. Rarior. p. 248, edit. 
 1793. But it is not uncommon in this country. Baron Maseres 
 (who published an abridgement of this work in 1807) observes that 
 “ the tracts, of which it is composed, give us the fullest and most 
 authentic accounts of the exploits of the Normans in France, Italy, 
 and England, from the year 838 to the year 1220, that are any where 
 to be found.” At the end of Duchesne’s book (which contains one 
 thousand one hundred and four closely printed pages, besides a pre- 
 face and index), there are genealogical tables entitled “ Familiae 
 Regum, Ducum, Comitum, et Aliorum Nobilium, quae in hoc volu- 
 mine deducuntur.” See the Censura Literaria , vol. i. p. 31, where 
 there is a good account of Duchesne and his labours. But Niceron 
 (MJmoires des Hommes Illustres, vol. vii. p. 323.-336), is, as usual, 
 copious and instructive. Before the publication of his Norman 
 Historians, Duchesne had published his History of England, Scot- 
 land, and Ireland, in 1614, folio, in the French language ; of which 
 the best edition, is the third : published in 1657, 2 vols. folio. But 
 this History is held in little estimation. 
 
 Baron Maseres’ s work contains select passages of ten pieces from 
 the text of Duchesne’s Norman writers, with ample and curious 
 English notes. There were two impressions of the Baron’s book ; 
 the first was printed for private distribution only j the second, in 
 1807, 4to. for public sale. See the Censura Literaria , vol. i. p. 28. 
 Yet I may be allowed to observe, that the cotemporaneous but ano- 
 nymous historian of the ie Gesta Stephani , Anglorum Regis , et Comi - 
 tis Boloniensis , who is said by the editors of the Recueil des Histo- 
 riens des Gaules, (vol. xiii. p. 4.) to be “ diffuse to excess, and 
 wholly devoted to English affairs”— and who is printed by Duchesne, 
 " ex veteri, sed imperfecto et semiexeso Exemplari Episcopi Laudu- 
 nensis,” &c. — is not incorporated in the Baron’s work : which, how- 
 ever, is of considerable use, and moderate price. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 161 
 
 It will also be found in the libraries of our princi- 
 pal Collectors. Messrs. J. and A. Arch, in their 
 recent catalogue, value such a copy, bound in russia, 
 at 12 /. 12s. 
 
 We now approach the yet more distinguished labours 
 of Sir Roger Twysden ; who, in his Historice Angli - 
 cance Scriptores Decern , 1652, folio, gave a specimen 
 of his competency for finishing the fabric of British 
 History, of which Sir Henry Savile had laid so noble a 
 foundation. Unluckily this work was never com- 
 pleted; but, we may judge from what has appeared, 
 how admirable would have been the building if 
 finished by the same hands. The subjoined note may 
 give the reader a notion of the contents and character 
 of the volume.* A good sound copy of it may be worth 
 about 51. 15s. 6d. The copies on large paper are 
 very rare ; but are found in our principal private col- 
 lections. Messrs. Payne and Foss mark a copy of 
 this description at 14/. 14s. 
 
 The last body of authors, connected with British 
 
 * It contains the following historians : — 1. Simeon Monachus Du- 
 nelmensis: 2. Johannes Prior Hagustaldensis : 3. Ricardus Prior Ejusd 
 4. Ailredus Abbas Rievallensis ; 5. Radulphus de Diceto Londoniensis . 
 6. Johannes Brompton Jornallensis : 7* Gem asius Monachus Dorobor- 
 nensis : 8. Thomas Stubbs Dominicanus: 9. Guilielmus Thorn Cantua- 
 riensis : 10. Henricus Knighton Leicestrensis : the greater part of 
 whom are treated with more civility by Dr. Henry than by Bishop 
 Nicolson. There is a preface by Twysden, which is followed by a 
 curious account of “ these historians now first published” by Selden. 
 Hearne tells us that “ even the Puritans themselves, affecting to be 
 Maecenases, with Cromwell at their head, displayed something like 
 a patriotic ardour in purchasing copies of this work as soon as it 
 appeared.” Preface to his Thomas Otterbourne et Johannes Wetham - 
 stede, p. 16 to 24. 
 
 The body of the work concludes at col. 2768 ; after which follow 
 
 M 
 
162 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 History, put forth in the seventeenth century, is the 
 well known collection under the name of Gale ; with 
 the general title of Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores 
 Veteres, 1684-91, in three folio volumes. Of this 
 collection, indispensable to an historical library of any 
 pretension, the first volume was carefully executed 
 by William Fulman, a very skilful and modest editor, 
 who was urged to the undertaking (as a continuation 
 of Sir Roger Twysden’s plan) by Bishop Fell.* The 
 
 various readings, a glossary by Somner, an index rerum, &c., index 
 cognominum, index authorum, &c., and a leaf of errata. All these 
 pieces have not the pages numbered 3 but commence at Sign U 3 , 
 and end on the reverse of the second leaf after Sign Nn 3 . Mr. Ham- 
 per of Birmingham (whose antiquarian attainments, and readiness of 
 communication on all subjects connected with them, need not my 
 humble notice, informs me that some copies of Twysden’s book are 
 said to be printed at Leyden , by the Elzevirs, and others in Little 
 Britain by Flesher, at the expense of Cornelius Bee. lie describes 
 his own copy, by the former, as printed upon finer paper. A list of 
 some of the Mss., which had been transcribed for publication in the 
 intended second volume of this work, will be found in Kennett's 
 Life of Somner , p. 65 , &c. 
 
 * Both Fulman and Fell dying not long after the appearance of 
 the first volume. Dr. Mill urged Thomas Gale, the learned editor of 
 Herodotus, to prosecute the work 3 who put forth the second and 
 third volumes in the years 1687-91, (for it is not worth while to 
 repeat Fresnoy’s account about the priority of the appearance of 
 these latter volumes,) but who gained very little credit by the 
 undertaking, as they were acknowledged to abound with inaccuracies. 
 The ardour of Gale, however, stimulated him to think of a fourth 
 volume of similar matter, in which Hearne thought Otterbourne 
 would have been included 3 but the then unpropitious state of public 
 affairs damped his enthusiasm, and the design was dropped. Hearne’s 
 pref. to Thomas of Otterbourne , &c. Yet, under all circumstances, 
 these volumes are very precious to the historical antiquary, especially 
 the first ; which contains the following authors: 1. Ingulfus: 
 
 2. Tetri Blesensis Continuatio : 3 . Chronica de Mailros : A. Annales 
 Monast. Burton: 5 . Histories Croylandensis Continuatio. Oflngulph’s 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 163 
 
 two latter volumes are the editorial production of 
 Gale. A copy in fair condition, is worth 8/. 8s. Of 
 
 curious history of Croyland Abbey, and of its continuation by Peter 
 de Blois and Edward Abbas, this is the only perfect edition extant : 
 of the remaining historical works, just enumerated, the present are 
 the only editions. The second volume presents us with the follow- 
 ing: 1 , Annales Marganenses : 2. Chronicon Thomce Wikes : 3. An - 
 nales Waverleienses :* 4. Historia Galfridi Vinesalvi: 5. Historia 
 Walteri de Hemingford. Of these historical pieces, Richard the 
 First’s Journey to Jerusalem, and his transactions in the Holy Land, 
 by Geoff. Vinsauffe, (which has received the commendation of Bale, 
 Pitts, and Selden), are the more curious performances. 
 
 Wikes is described by Dr. Henry, as famous for the variety 
 and extent of his erudition $ and the present is the only impression 
 of his chronicle. Of Walter de Hemingford the present is only a 
 portion of his work $ the more valuable part of it was completed by 
 Hearne. The third volume has the following title-page: Historiae 
 Britannic®, Saxonicae, Anglo-Danicae Scriptores XV.,” &c. viz. 
 
 * In the third page of the “ Testimonia” prefixed to this second volume, we are 
 told by Gale, speaking of the Annals of Waverly, that the author seems to have 
 been contemporaneous with the Norman aera, and to have seen William the First, 
 [ipse testatur se vidisse Victorem Normannum et fuisse aliquando in ejus curia, 
 p. 134.] This, however, is exceedingly erroneous. My friend, Mr. Petrie, Keeper 
 of the Records in the Tower of London, (and to whose care the foundation stone 
 is now entrusted to raise the superstructure of a body of our national histo- 
 rians,) informs me, that, up to the year 1120, the Annals of Waverly are, with 
 little exception, a translation of the Saxon Chronicle; and so close, as to supply, 
 in two or three instances, the gaps left by Gibson. There exists no doubt as to 
 the priority of the Saxon Chronicle ; for the MS. (Vesp. A. xvi.) is in the same 
 hand from the year 1000 to 1201. It evidently belonged to Waverly, and is one 
 of those compilations which became so frequent in the thirteenth century. Gale 
 was therefore mistaken in supposing these Annals to be an original document of 
 the eleventh century. Whatever, therefore, in the Cotton MS. referred to by 
 Gale, has any reference to the age of the conquest, must be supposed to be the 
 language of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. And yet Gale ventured to say that the 
 writer of the Cotton MS. “ was nearly as respectable, in point of antiquity, as 
 Ingulph himself,” [“ ipsi Ingulpho de antiquitate vix concessurus videatur”]. 
 This is another proof, if indeed another were wanting, of the many errors, mis- 
 conceptions, and ill-digested accounts, which have already gone abroad, repecting 
 the MSS. of our ancient historians. See also Gibbon’s sensible remarks upon a 
 new edition of our historians, in his Posthumous Works , vol. iii. p. 570. 
 
164 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 the large paper, I have known a very fine copy pro- 
 duce 31/. 10.?. I apprehend such copies to be rarer 
 than those of the preceding works. 
 
 In the eighteenth century, a collection of English 
 Historians, by Sparke, under the title of “ Histories 
 Anglicance Scriptores / arii e Codd MSS. nunc pri - 
 ■mum editi ,” 1723, folio, is the first which was put 
 forth. The contents of this volume are noted below.* 
 
 1. Gildas : 2. Eddius : 3. Nennius: 4. Asserius: f 5. a part of Ran . 
 Higden: 6. Will. Malmesb.: 7. Anonyrnus Malmesb.: S. Anonymus 
 Raines.: 9. Anonymus Elyens. : 10. Thomas Elyens. : 11. Joan. Wal- 
 lingford: 12. Rad de Diceto: 13. Anonymus (De Partitione Pro- 
 vincise) : 14. Joan Fordun ; 15. Alcwinus Flaccus. Of these impress 
 sions, that of Gildas is, I believe, held in the greatest estimation. 
 This third volume was separately published, with a fresh title page, 
 printed entirely with black ink} whereas the present is partly in 
 red. Each volume has an index. Reviews of these three volumes, 
 as they were published, appeared in the following foreign Journals : 
 Acta Eruditorum , An. 1685, p. 143 : et suppl. tom. i. p. 8 : Nouvelle 
 de la Rdp. des Lettres, An. 1688 : Juin. p. 581 : Aodt. p. 813. Bibl. 
 Unwersellej tom. xi. p. 397- My authority for these references 
 is Fabricius’s Bibl. Lat. Med. et Inf. JEtat. vol. i. p. 271 , edit. 
 734, 8 vo. 
 
 * This volume, which is elegantly printed, and not uncommon, 
 contains the following pieces ; published for the first time : 1. Chro. 
 nicon Johannis Abbat. St. Pet. de Burgo : 2. Chronicon Anglicanum 
 per Rob. de Boston : 3. Hist or ice Coenobii Burgensis Scriptores Varii : 
 (Quinque) 4. Vita Scti Thomce Cantuariensis a W. Stephanide. 
 Sparke, who was registrar of Peterborough cathedral, and seems to 
 have had the superintendence of Bishop Kennett’s MSS. (now in 
 the British Museum) intended to have published a second volume 
 “ to contain Whittlesey’s life of Hereward, Abbot of Peterborough, 
 and had actually engraved the arms of the knights, whose fiefs were 
 instituted by Abbot Thorold; but he died in 1740.” Nichols’s 
 Anedotes of Bowyer, p. 521, 524. Of the largest size paper, a copy 
 
 t Mr. Amyot informs me that the work of Asser, here published, is not the life 
 of Alfred, but a book of Annals doubtfully ascribed to him. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 165 
 
 It is obtainable at the very moderate price of about 
 11. 10s.: and as it should appear, from the list of Sub- 
 scribers, that there were three different sizes of paper 
 upon which the work was printed, the curious prefer 
 that of which there were only twenty-jive copies struck 
 off — upon a very large paper, and which may be worth 
 somewhere about 51. 5s. 
 
 It remains to notice the last, and literally the 
 smallest collection of our more ancient historians, 
 which was edited and published by Bertram, at 
 Copenhagen , in 1757, 8vo., and which may be justly 
 considered a rare book. The names of the authors 
 contained in it, are, 1. Ricardus Corinensis ; 2. Gildas 
 Badonicus ; 3. Nennius B anchor ensis.* There is a 
 
 was sold at Dr. Heath’s sale for 4 l. 4s. See a well described copy, 
 of this kind, in the Bibl. Hoblyn. pt. ii. 499. 
 
 * From a MS. remark in a copy of this work in the library of the 
 Society of Antiquaries, it appears that the tract Ricardi Corinensis 
 de Situ Britan, lib. ii. is a most valuable treasure to British anti- 
 quaries. It was republished with a translation, and commentary in 
 1809. The part of Gildas, here reprinted, was taken from a Cam- 
 bridge MS. and differs occasionally though not materially, from the 
 first edition of Polydore Vergil, in 1525, 12mo.f A copy of it will 
 
 f The first edition of Gildas’s history, “ De calamitate, excidio, et conquestu 
 Britanniae,” was published under the editorship of Polydore Vergil, who wrote a 
 short preface. It was printed at the expense of Cuthbert Tonstal, Bishop of 
 London ; to whom P. Vergil dedicates the work. From the preface, the editor 
 does not describe how he came by a copy of the original — but he says, that the 
 bishop found another copy, and employed his friend Ridley, a clergyman (probably 
 the same as was afterwards Bishop of London), to collate the two MSS. with him- 
 self (P. V.). — There is very little interesting matter in Gildas. But if the version 
 of this venerable historian, which was put forth in 1638, London, 12mo. be cor- 
 rect, it should seem that Gildas was not disposed to “ mince the matter ” with 
 the Clergy in those days. His words are as follow : — •“ Britaine hath Priests, but 
 some she hath that are unwise ; very many that Minister, but many of them 
 impudent j Clearkes shee hath, but certaine of them deceitful raveners ; Pastors 
 (as they are called), but rather wolves prepared for the slaughter of soules, (for 
 why, they provide not for the common peoples commodity, but covet rather the 
 
166 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 copy of this book in the British Museum, and another 
 in the library of the Royal Institution. In the latter 
 library, indeed, will be found a choice collection of 
 our ancient historians; many copies being charged 
 with the manuscript notes of Thomas Gale. A fair 
 copy of Bertram may be worth about 1/. Is. 
 
 To the preceding may be added the notice of a few 
 English Historians who lived in the twelfth, thirteenth, 
 and fourteenth centuries, and the editions of whose 
 works preceded those, by Thomas Hearne, of other 
 contemporaneous writers. Afterwards we may com- 
 mence the list of our Historians and Chroniclers in the 
 order in which they were printed. First of Eadmer ; 
 whose account of “ affairs during the reigns of Wil- 
 liam I. and II. and Henry I.” was first edited by 
 Selden, in a thin folio volume, in 1()23 ; which volume 
 is obtainable at the moderate price of about 15s. 
 Eadmer is a trust- worthy historian, and was the inti- 
 mate friend and companion of St. Anselm, Archbishop 
 of Canterbury 3 in the eleventh century.* 
 
 be found in Bibl. Beauclerk, pt. ii. no. 2211 : Bibl. West. no. 3763 : 
 Bibl. Crofts , no. 7269 : and Bibl Tutet, no. 436. When Lord Spencer 
 -visited Copenhagen in the summer of 1822, he made particular 
 enquiries for the MS. from which the first of these histories was 
 taken j but could neither discover nor hear of any traces of its ex- 
 istence. It has been doubted whether all ever had existence. 
 
 * The editors of the Recueil , #c. describe him as so intensely and 
 so constantly occupied with the life of his archiepiscopal master, tha 
 
 gluttony of tlieir owne bellies,) possessing the houses of the Church, but obtaining 
 them for filthy lucres sake; . . . and, being hoarse, after the fashion of Bulls, with 
 the abundance of fatnesse,and miserably prompt to all unlawfull actions ; bearing 
 their countenances arrogantly aloft, and having nevertheless their inward sences, 
 with tormenting and gnawing consciences, depressed downe to the bottome, 
 or rather to bottomless hell: with the gaining of one penny glad, and with 
 the loss of the like sad,’? &c- p. 184-188. The Epistle of Gildas. London, 
 1638, 12mo. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 167 
 
 Matthew of Westminster next demands our 
 attention. The first edition of him was published in 
 a folio volume in 1567, and afterwards in 1570, by 
 Thomas Marsh: a book, by no means destitute of 
 typographical attractions.* It was reprinted at Frank- 
 fort in 1601, with an index; and this latter edition is 
 considered to be preferable ; but I have known as 
 much as 2 l. 2 s. given for the former. To this Frank- 
 fort edition is added a reprint of Florence of Wor- 
 cester, an early and esteemed Chronicler, from whom 
 our later historians have largely borrowed. The firsts 
 and perhaps the most accurate, edition of this desir- 
 able work, is contained in a small quarto volume, 
 dedicated to Lord Burleigh by William Howard, and 
 printed at London, in 1592. This may be worth 
 about 21. 2s. and the reprint 21. 12s. 6d. 
 
 Matthew Paris is the last historian to be noticed in 
 this particular department ; and five folio editions of 
 his Historia Major , with opuscula of other historians/!* 
 
 he ought rather to be numbered with the Hagiographi ; vol. xiii. pref. 
 p. 4 : again; vol. xi. p. liij. Mr. Grenville possesses the only copy 
 of this book upon large paper, which I have ever seen. It had 
 belonged to the family of Be Thou. 
 
 * The reader may consult the minute description of both editions 
 which are given in our Typog. Antiq. vol. iv. p. 507* 512. In a copy 
 of the Frankfort edition, in the Royal Institution, is the following 
 ms. note — by the late Joseph Ritson : The dates are erroneous, 
 
 imaginary, false and forged, for the most part, in both books, 
 throughout/’ In the collection of Mr. Grenville is the only copy of 
 it upon large paper (very fine, in olive- coloured morocco binding) 
 which I ever saw. 
 
 f The title of the edition of 1640 is thus : Matthcei Paris Monachi 
 Albanensis Historia Major : et cum Rogeri Wendoveri 3 Willielmi Ris- 
 hangeri , &c. Historiis Chronicisque MSS. Huic Editioni accesserunt 
 Duorum Offarum Merciorum Regum ; et viginti trium Abbatium S. 
 Albani Vita, &c. The editor was Wats. It contains the preface 
 
168 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 attest the importance of his labours. The first edi- 
 tion appeared in this country in 1571 ; the second at 
 Zurich, in 1606 ; the third at London, in 1640; the 
 fourth in 1644, at Paris ; and the fifth, again at Lon- 
 don, in 1684. Of these, the third is the most usually 
 purchased edition ; and copies upon large paper are 
 of very rare occurrence. If I did not bear in mind 
 Mr. Grenville’s copy of this kind, which had belonged 
 to Jacob Joye, I should say that a similar copy at 
 Althorp was unrivalled. I recommend the edition of 
 1684, although it be not the popular one. 
 
 Reserving the mention of other historians, in the 
 thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, to the editions of 
 them given by Hearne, (under the head of IIearne’s 
 
 of the edition of 1571. I observe a large paper copy of the Parisian 
 edition of 1644, to be marked at 61. 6s. in the last catalogue of 
 Messrs. Arch. Perhaps, a designation of the contents of the latter 
 part of the edition of 1684 may be useful to the Collector. After 
 page 861, are “ various readings” upon the foregoing history j with 
 a preface, which begins at Sign. A, and ends at Sign. K : then follow 
 notes and animadversions upon the same, ending on the reverse of 
 the first leaf after Sign. N. Then an index at Sign. 0 . — Then four 
 indexes, ending on the recto of the first leaf after Sign. Aa. None of 
 these pieces, from p. 861, have the pages numbered. Next comes a 
 fresh title page, dated 1683, of the lives of the two Offae, kings of 
 the Mercians, ending at page 988, but containing a preface, notes, 
 and index, with the pages of these latter three pieces not numbered. 
 Then the lives of the twenty-three abbots of St. Albans, as far as p. 
 990. Then the Additamenta, beginning abruptly at p. 1073, and 
 ending at 1134 : next the Auctariurn Additamentorum, ending at 
 11/5. Then the Glossarium, Sign. *1 to Sign. *7, concluding with 
 a short f Index Rerum, and “ Index Cognominum,” This glossary 
 and index have the pages not numbered. 
 
 The intention of translating this valuable historian, into our own 
 tongue— as a companion to the William of Malmesbury, noticed at 
 p. 154, ante is, I believe, now abandoned. It was entertained by a 
 gentleman in every respect competent to execute such a task. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 169 
 
 Pieces) I proceed at once to the notice of the Chro- 
 nicles of Froissart and Monstrelet , the latter of which 
 brings us into the fifteenth century : — from whence 
 the path; to these our present times, is obvious and 
 straight forward. First, then, of Froissart. In the se- 
 lection of this author, let me press strongly upon “the 
 Young Man’s” attention, the importance, the instruc- 
 tiveness, and the never-failing source of amusement, 
 of his history : which has alike endeared the author 
 to the antiquary, the man of taste, and even to the 
 lover of romantic lore. The pages of Froissart ex- 
 hibit a perfectly natural and pleasing picture. Con- 
 versations, skirmishes, battles — the country, the town 
 — scenes within the tent, the palace, or the church — 
 the quiet of pastoral occupations, or the tumult of a 
 popular assembly — these, and every thing which he 
 touches, are hit off in a manner the most simple and 
 striking imaginable ; and severe indeed must be that 
 taste, and fastidious that feeling, which shall deny to 
 the pages of this historian the merit of great interest, 
 candour, and apparent fidelity. His episodes are 
 occasionally delightful, and it is evident that he was 
 fond of them. He has also a peculiar art in suspend- 
 ing the main narrative, (where the interest is becom- 
 ing more and more intense,) by the relation of a num- 
 ber of little circumstances which only makes us return 
 to it with a keener appetite. 
 
 But it must not be concealed that Froissart is, 
 after all, a little bit of a gossiper : that he relates 
 stories, sometimes frivolous of themselves, and some- 
 times told at second hand ; that he is frequently 
 prolix, when he should be concise ; and concise when 
 he should be copious ; that many parts of his narra- 
 tive might have been spared, and that there are errors 
 
170 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 and omissions which excite the wrath of the critic, 
 and the regret of the antiquary. But this is little 
 better than a statement of the common lot of huma- 
 nity ; and is only equivalent to the declaration that 
 the pages of Froissart are not perfect. 
 
 His facts, or the events described by him, may in 
 general be depended upon. Froissart has been ac- 
 cused of partiality towards the English ; but this 
 accusation must always be estimated according to 
 the quarter whence it comes. It cannot be denied 
 that Froissart has admirably described the campaigns 
 of our Edward upon the Continent, when the British 
 arms were covered with glory ; when a spirit of chi- 
 valry, amounting to the romantic, stirred every breast, 
 and nerved every arm. The splendors of Cressy and 
 Poictiers are but slightly shaded, if at all, by the 
 achievements of Agincourt and Waterloo ; although it 
 cannot be denied that, in its results , the latter victory 
 has scarcely a parallel in the world. The truth is, that 
 France, towards the end of the fourteenth century, 
 had weak Princes, with a crowd of Nobles, who were 
 jealous of each other, and were alike prodigal of their 
 own wealth, and of the blood and lives of their vassals. 
 Yet there were great and towering spirits among the 
 French Noblesse at that period. Gaston de Foix, the 
 personal friend of Froissart and the patron of his his- 
 torical work, leaves all competition at a distance. 
 Compared with him, even Sir John Chandos becomes 
 but an attendant Knight. Indeed it were difficult to 
 mention an historian whose pages are more richly 
 emblazoned with feats of chivalry, than are those of 
 Froissart. He is the most picturesque of all Chron- 
 iclers. 
 
 The popularity of his work, in the XVth century. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 171 
 
 was without bounds. Not a baronial mansion, or an 
 Hotel de Ville, but what could boast of a transcript 
 of Froissart in its library ; and almost every such 
 transcript was adorned by the pencil of the illumi- 
 nator.* It was however natural to suppose that, as 
 soon as the Art of Printing was established in France, 
 the impatience of the French would call for an edition 
 of their favourite historian ; but it seems pretty cer- 
 tain that nearly twenty years were suffered to elapse 
 between the appearance of the Chroniques de St. 
 Denys , and the first impression of Froissart, by Ve- 
 rard and Regnault, in conjunction^ — the latter, quite 
 
 * In the great foreign private Collections, which have been dis- 
 persed by public auction, the libraries of the Duke de La Valliere 
 and the Prince de Soubise contained the finest Mss. of Froissart. 
 The copy, in the latter collection, became, I believe, the property of 
 the late Mr. Johnes — and yet slumbers in the unexplored retirement 
 of Hafod. But the transcribers of these splendid Mss. of Froissart 
 were sometimes “ jolly fellows.” Witness, the subscription to the 
 magnificent copy in the Soubise collection, just mentioned : which 
 was executed very shortly after the death of the Chronicler. 
 
 Raoul Tanguy qui point n’e&t yvre 
 A lantern accomplit ce livre 
 Le Mardi quatrieme jour de Iuillet, 
 
 Puis alla boire chez Tabouret 
 Avec Pylon , et autres Caterveaux 
 Qui aiment Ongnons , Trippes , et Aulx. 
 
 In our own public libraries there are several beautifully illumi- 
 nated Mss. : but none of greater splendour than that in the British 
 Museum, and in the library of the Royal Society — which latter, how- 
 ever, is unfortunately imperfect. 
 
 + The first edition of the Chroniques de France appellees chroniques 
 de S. Denys were published by Pasquier Bonhomme in 1476, folio, 
 3 volumes. See Supplement to the Bibliotheca Spenceriana, 1822, 
 8 vo. p. 111 . Verard reprinted these Chronicles in 1493, and Eustace 
 in 1514 5 of both of which latter impressions, there are copies upon 
 
172 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 at the conclusion of the XVth century. In the six- 
 teenth century, however, ample amends were made 
 for the negligence of the previous century ; and the 
 presses of Le Noir and Eustace put forth magnificent 
 editions of their favourite Chronicler. Speaking so- 
 berly and critically, I must advise “ the Young Man” 
 to rest satisfied with the edition of 1559, superintended 
 and corrected by Denis Sauvage ; but I scarcely 
 know how to refrain from urging him to let no oppor- 
 tunity pass — provided his means allow of it — to secure 
 a good old MS., whether illuminated or not ; and the 
 
 vellum : of exceedingly rare occurrence and high price. See the 
 Macartliy Catalogue , vol. ii. p. 100. The very first edition of Frois- 
 sart, in the French language, is yet perhaps a moot point. Fontette 
 is not only indecisive, but somewhat superficial. Clement, Bibl. 
 Curieuse , vol. viii. p. 473, &c. and Meuselius, Bibliuth. Historica, vol. 
 vii. part ii. p. 91, may be consulted with respect to Verard’s edition. 
 The former is copious and interesting. See also Bibl. Krohn , no. 
 242. At the Valliere sale, the vellum copy of Verard’s edition, which 
 had been Gaignat’s) was sold for 920 livres * Consult also Brunet, 
 vol. ii. p. 57- See also Oldys’s British Librarian , p. 73, and Bibl. 
 West. no. 4096, for Le Noir’s impression of 1503. The edition of 
 Eustace, of 1514, was unknown even to De Bure. The copy of it 
 upon vellum, formerly in the Soubise collection, is now the chief 
 ornament of the Hafod library. It was obtained at the sale of Mr. 
 Paris’s library for 150Z. The varieties and apparent discrepancies 
 in the early editions of Froissart are pointed out by Mr. Greswel in 
 his Annals of Parisian Typography, p. 224-5. At Althorp there are 
 beautiful copies, upon paper, of the Chroniques de St. Denis, and 
 Froissart’s Chronicles, each by Eustace, in 1514, folio 5 and at 
 Spencer House there is a copy of the first edition of St. Denis. The 
 
 * Tliis copy was purchased by Count Macartliy. The first volume was in bad 
 condition. The Count was lucky enough to get possession of another first volume 
 (also upon vellum) which was adorned with a greater number of illuminations : 
 and the copy, with the discarded original first volume, produced the weighty sum 
 of 4250 francs at the sale of the Count’s library. It was purchased for the Royal 
 Library of France. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 173 
 
 black letter impression by Verard or Eustace.* Frois- 
 sart, to a well versed French scholar, is a comfort 
 and delight in any ancient shape ; and whatever be 
 the boast of our ingenious and enlightened neigh- 
 bours, there is no printed edition of this historian, in 
 his vernacular tongue, so entirely correct , as is the 
 English version of him by the late Mr. Johnes. 
 
 This necessarily brings me to the notice of our own 
 Translations of the Chronicler under consideration. 
 And first, of that by Lord Berners. A soldier, a 
 statesman, and a scholar, this nobleman was singu- 
 larly well adapted for the task which he undertook. 
 Indeed, considering the period of its completion, it 
 was a sort of literary miracle. cc In imitating the 
 style of his Original, Lord Berners’s translation be- 
 comes peculiarly valuable to an English reader. His 
 version is faithful, but not servile ; and he imitates the 
 spirit and simplicity of the original, without allowing 
 us to discover, from any deficiency in either of these 
 particulars, that his own work is a translation.’ 1 This 
 
 reader will witness a rich harvest of early vellum copies of the 
 French Chroniclers in the Macarthy Catalogue, vol. ii. p. 100-5. 
 
 * If Verard and Eustace are beyond the search — or the pocket — of 
 the Collector, let him sit quietly and contentedly down with the four 
 folios, in the black letter, printed by Couteau and Regnault , for Jean 
 Petit , in 1530 : especially as, according to De Bure, the impression 
 of 1559 has by no means superseded the use of the previous ones ; 
 for Denis Sauvage is not free from the imputation of frequent inac- 
 curacy. I have in vain searched for a large paper of the edition of 
 1559* and I conclude that it is not in existence : inasmuch as De 
 Thou's copy of it (now in the richly stored library of Mr. G. Hib- 
 bert) is upon small paper. I am aware that, of the subsequent edi- 
 tion of 1574, there are large paper copies — to match with the Mon- 
 strelet, so temptingly described in an ensuing note ; but even of this 
 latter edition. Brunet tells us he has seen only one copy. Can it be 
 so scarce } Messrs. Arch mark such a copy at j£l4. 14s. A new 
 
174 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 is the opinion of one,* who has read every sentence of 
 the work which he criticises. The version of Lord 
 Berners first appeared in two folio volumes, from the 
 press of Pynson, in the years 1523-152 5, and a perfect 
 or genuine copy of this book is of the very rarest 
 occurrence — especially in a fine condition. The lat- 
 ter part of the second volume is frequently “ made 
 up” from the reprint by Middleton , without date.-f- 
 But he who has the reprint of 1812, 4to. two vols. 
 
 edition of the Chronicles of this incomparable historian is now in a 
 course of publication, in fifteen octavo volumes at Paris. It is the 
 result of a more careful comparison of the MSS. previously examined, 
 and of others recently discovered : so as to make it, in all respects, 
 the preferable edition for a library. For the comfort of the less 
 initiated in ancient orthography, the modern mode of spelling is 
 adopted ; but where any word of doubtful construction occurs, that 
 word is also given between brackets. It forms one work in a glori- 
 ous plan, recently projected, of republishing all the old French Chro- 
 nicles — including those of St. Denis, Monstrelet, and the Petites 
 Chroniques : in sixty octavo volumes, in the whole. The price 
 of the new edition of Froissart is 9s. per volume. The publishers 
 are Messrs. Treuttel and Wiirtz. 
 
 * The Editor of the reprint of Pynson’s first edition of 1 523-5 of 
 both of which, see above. 
 
 f A complete bibliographical description of the editions of Lord 
 Berners’s version, by Pynson and Middleton, may be found in the 
 recent edition of our Typographical Antiquities , vol. ii* p. 508-10 j 
 vol. iii. p. 552-3. A good sound copy of this kind is in the library 
 at Blickling, in Norfolk j see p. 30, ante ; but my friend Mr. Hib- 
 bert possesses one of the very soundest and most desirable copies 
 with which I am acquainted. Messrs. Payne and Foss mark a copy 
 “ very neat in russia,” at 21 1. Middleton’s edition is said to be an 
 absolutely lineal reprint of Pynson’s. As to the black letter pirated 
 reprint of Pynson, I own that I have no faith whatever in its exist- 
 ence. In the reign of Henry VIII. there were few or no “ Pirates ” 
 in printing offices. That marauding system was reserved for the 
 present enlightened period. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 175 
 
 may rest perfectly satisfied that he has the text of 
 Lord Berners as correctly given as in the first edition 
 by Pynson, with a great number of proper names, in 
 places and persons, corrected into the bargain. If, 
 however, the “ Young Man” sigh, and sigh deeply, 
 for the oak-bounden impression of Pynson, he must r 
 purchase it — but with caution and previous collation. 
 
 In other respects, the russia-coated binding of the 
 edition of 1812 has many advantages over its sable 
 predecessor. 
 
 The name of Johnes is so coupled with that of 
 Froissart, that I should not stand excused either to 
 myself, or to the public, if I did not introduce it with 
 the honourable notice which it merits. Nearly three 
 centuries had elapsed since the death of the first 
 English translator of Froissart, before any other can- 
 didate, in the same field of literary fame, presented 
 himself as the Editor of the historian in question. 
 Fortunately for the second, and recently deceased, 
 translator, he brought, to the task which he under- 
 took, not only a fair stock of knowledge of the original 
 language in which the work was written, but leisure, 
 opportunity, taste, and a devotional ardour which has 
 never been surpassed. He erected a press, from which 
 press issued Froissart, Monstrelet, De Brocquiere, and 
 Joinville.* The public were equally delighted and 
 
 * The first edition of Mr. Johnes’s Froissart was in the year 1803, 
 in 4 vols. 4to. : containing outlines of illuminations of some of the 
 more precious MSS. consulted. Of this edition, as well as of the 
 subsequent versions by Mr. Johnes, there were about twenty-five 
 copies struck off in a folio form — the press being re-set — with dupli- 
 cate impressions of the plates coloured after the originals. These 
 copies have been sold at very high prices. At this moment there is 
 a most splendid one, in the binding of C. Lewis, at Mr. R. Trip- 
 
176 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 instructed by these productions; and Froissart, the 
 first in order, and the only author just now necessary 
 
 hook's. There have been also two octavo editions, or re-impressions, 
 of Mr. Johnes’s Froissart — each in twelve volumes, with the same 
 plates : and I believe I am speaking correctly, in saying, that neither 
 of these octavo editions are now of common occurrence. Such are 
 the unqualified testimonies in favour of the historian himself, and of 
 Mr. Johnes’s version of his text. For an interesting account of Mr. 
 Johnes’s labours, consult the Edinb. Review , vol. v. p. 347. With 
 Monstrelet, as an historian of English matters, we have less to 
 do j I recommend only the folio edition of Denis Sauvage , 1572, or 
 Mr. Johnes’s version, in 1809, 4to., with very much abler outline 
 illustrations than those in Froissart. But I should be guilty of an 
 almost flagrant act of omission, if I did not inform my “ Young 
 Man ” of the rarity and value of large paper copies of the edition of 
 Denis Sauvage. De Thou’s copy of this kind — belonging to the late 
 Colonel Stanley, was in the collection of Sir M. M. Sykes, Bart, 
 but that intrepid Baronet paid 136Z. for its acquisition. See the 
 Bibl. Decam, vol. ii. p. 478 $ vol. iii. p. 81. It is probable that Mr. 
 Evans’s stimulating note might have been the cause of such a high 
 price given. Mr. Evans has since told me, that having had a strong 
 impression upon his mind that this copy was not only upon large 
 paper, but upon paper of a superior quality, he resolved on visiting 
 Paris, to have this point determined — and found, on examination of 
 the copy in the Royal Library there, that his conjecture was con- 
 firmed. Mr. Hibbert has a very fine large paper copy, in two vo- 
 lumes, bound in red morocco, which had belonged to * * * : and 
 at Blickling, there is a beautiful similar copy, in three volumes, 
 bound in white calf, which had belonged to Maittaire. It is the con - 
 dition of these large paper copies which determines their value : as 
 they are by no means of rare occurrence. I proceed briefly to the 
 mention of the Mdmoires de Joinville (a contemporary of St. Louis, or 
 Louis IX., at the end of the Xlllth century) — also translated by Mr. 
 Johnes ; but of which the best edition, in French, is that by Messrs. 
 Melot, Sallier, and Capperonnier, in 1761, folio $ although Ducange’s 
 edition of 1668 should be consulted for its ingenious notes. The 
 edition of 1 761 is very fine, and copies upon large paper are by no 
 means uncommon. 
 
 Having thus entered upon those portions of older French History, 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 177 
 
 to be noticed, as connected with our history during 
 the period which it embraces is, at this moment, per- 
 haps, as great a favourite as Rapin and Hume. You 
 meet with him in the stately folio, bulky quarto, or 
 portable octavo form, in the libraries of almost every 
 well educated Englishman. 
 
 in which frequent mention is made of our own country, I may be 
 permitted to recommend Les Grandes Chroniques de Bretaigne, com - 
 posees enlangaige francoys j Paris, S. de la Roche, &c. 1514. This 
 is the first edition j of which the second appeared (with the name of 
 the author, Alain Bouchard) in 151 S, folio — each in the Gothic 
 letter. The late Daines Barrington, (in a copy of the first edition, 
 once in my possession) said"' f This Chronicle seems to contain more 
 particulars with regard to what is called the fabulous part of English 
 History, than any other, either English or French, which I have 
 happened to meet with.” This may be true enough ; and, as a proof 
 of it, Du Fresnoy classes the work amongst the Romances of chi- 
 valry. Of course, no English historical collection can be complete 
 without the Memoirs of P* De Comines ; of which I shall not quar- 
 rel with either the ff Young Man,” or “ the Old Man” (should the 
 latter be fortunate enough to have sufficiently good eyes) if either 
 should make much of a beautiful large-margined copy of the Elzevir 
 edition of 1648, 12mo. — whereof I have seen several of considerable 
 price. The printers profess to have examined the following editions : 
 1525, by I. G. no date or place : 1526, at Lyons, by Nourri : 1546, 
 at Paris, by Mesuiere : and 1549, at Paris, by Thibout. At the end 
 of the Eighth Book there is a short explanation of 17 pages of diffi- 
 cult passages which occur relating to the wars of Charles VII. — 
 followed by the Table of principal matters, or chapters, as before. 
 But the best edition is that of 1747, 4to. 4 vols. by Du Fresnoy : 
 and let the curious look well to the portrait of, and Dedication to. 
 Marshal Saxe — both of which were suppressed. Nor will I quarrel 
 with the folio edition of 1 649 $ and still less with some of the earlier 
 editions, in the black letter, from 1523 to 1600. Brunet speaks of a 
 tempting copy, upon vellum, of the edition of 1534, in the Royal 
 Library at Paris. But what vellum copy of a black letter edition of 
 an old historian, or chronicler is not tempting ?” 
 
 N 
 
178 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 The order of these researches has at length brought 
 us to the period of the invention op printing ; and, 
 with it, to that of a series of publications under the 
 denomination of Chronicles, Annals, Memoirs, 
 Memorials, &c. which render the collection of Bri- 
 tish History, (as those publications appeared in the 
 sixteenth and following centuries,) a work of con- 
 siderable labour, but of scarcely less amusement, and 
 of almost endless variety. I will, therefore, com- 
 mence with the Chronicles — a popular branch of col- 
 lecting— and go through the series of them ; or rather 
 notice the most distinguished Chroniclers, from Caxton 
 to Strutt. I am aware that the names of Peter Lang - 
 tojft and Robert of Glocester stand the earliest in the 
 list of our Chroniclers ; but I shall reserve the men- 
 tion of them till I come to the account of the Pieces 
 published by Thomas Hearne, who was their first and 
 only Editor. It is true that, in taking up the series of 
 Annals, Memorials , & c. I shall often have to retread 
 the same path, chronologically speaking ; but this is 
 of subordinate consequence. Any plan is better than 
 no plan : and discussions and disputes about “ sys- 
 tems” are interminable. “To begin” therefore “ at the 
 beginning” — with a Chronicle, which was printed in 
 1480 by the father of the British Press, and hence de- 
 rives its name oICaxton’s Chronicle. To this work 
 is usually subjoined The Description of Britain ; and 
 a fair and perfect copy of these two works is an ac- 
 quisition of very rare occurrence.* This book, was 
 
 * These publications have been so fully described in the first 
 volume of the recent edition of our Typographical Antiquities, p. 85 , 
 that I may here only refer the reader to such description. To obtain 
 a sound and perfect copy of both, or of either, is a circumstance of 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 179 
 
 reprinted four times in the fifteenth century ; namely, 
 in the Abbey of St. Alban’s in 1483 ; by Machlinia, 
 without date, but probably within a year or two of 
 the preceding; by Gerard de Leeu, at Antwerp, in 
 1493 ; and by Wynkyn de Worde in 1497. It should 
 however be noticed, that the reprints in the Abbey of 
 St. Alban’s, by Machlinia, and by Gerard de Leeu, do 
 not contain the Description of Britain.* 
 
 no ordinary occurrence. Hearne expatiates very feelingly upon their 
 rarity and value ; supposing (but a little loosely) that not more than 
 120 copies were printed. They do well (adds he) who buy them 
 at any price ; and none but blockheads would part with even a frag- 
 ment of them — on the ground, forsooth, that the language is a little 
 old-fashioned ?” Consult his Thomce Caii Find. Antiq. Oxon. vol. ii. 
 p. 802 j and Robert of Glocester 3 vol. i. p. lxxxii. At the sale of the 
 Alchorne Library, in 1813, no. 168, a copy of the Chronicle alone, 
 with “ the first leaf of the table and one leaf of the text supplied by 
 manuscript,” was purchased by the Duke of Devonshire for sixty gui- 
 neas. At the sale of the Towneley Library, a copy of The Descrip- 
 tion of Britain, alone, was purchased for the Royal Library at the 
 weighty cost of eighty guineas. Lord Spencer possesses a most desi- 
 rable and perfect copy of each of these books, in the same volume, 
 as they were doubtlessly originally printed. Perhaps the largest 
 and finest copy of each (in the same volume, old binding) is in 
 the archiepiscopal library at Lambeth ; but an ancient ms. memo- 
 randum informs me that the Chronicle is slightly imperfect in the 
 middle. 
 
 It is somewhat surprising that, in the rage for reprinting old 
 English Chronicles, which obtained several years ago, the Publishers 
 should not have commenced with this most ancient, most curious, 
 and least bulky text of our Chroniclers ? 
 
 * The St. Alban’s reprint is called the “ Fructus Temporum,” and 
 contains precisely the same text as Caxton’s, with the addition of 
 slight notices of Popes and Emperors. A perfect copy of this book 
 is of the rarest possible occurrence. Mr. West’s copy, now in the 
 Royal Library, is supposed to be so. Lord Spencer’s copy (formerly 
 in the Alchorne collection) should seem to be deficient only in the 
 table, and in the last leaf, which contains nothing but the barbarous 
 
380 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 In the sixteenth century, not fewer than seven re- 
 prints of it appeared; of which four were by Wyrikyn 
 
 device (in red) of the printer. I refer the reader to the full and par- 
 ticular account of this copy in the Bibl. Spenceriana, vol. iv. p. 369, 
 &c. Miss Currer, a lady who ennobles a large property by a correct 
 and liberal taste in the collection of a fine library, has the singular 
 good fortune to possess a copy of this very rare book (wanting only 
 the last leaf) upon vellum. 'f The copy of this book (whether 
 perfect or not, I cannot pretend to say) in Dr. Hunter’s collection at 
 Glasgow, had belonged to Ratcliffe, and was purchased by the Doctor 
 for 7 1. 7 s. The cuts in this Chronicle are barbarous in the extreme ; 
 but luckily they are few in number. 
 
 Mr. Douce (in his Illustrations of Shakspeare , &c. vol. i. p. 423) 
 supposes that Machlinia's impression of this Chronicle was anterior 
 to that of Caxton ; but I differ decidedly from this inference, and 
 deem it to be only a reprint : barbarously enough executed, and of 
 a degree of rarity, in a perfect state, scarcely conceivable. Lord 
 Spencer’s copy (obtained from Mr. Douce in exchange for some 
 other book-rarities) is, I think, the only known copy in a perfect 
 state. See the Bibl. Spenceriana , vol. iv. p. 393. Mr. Roger Wil- 
 braham possesses an imperfect copy, which was formerly in the 
 Tutet Collection, where (Bibl. Tuiet. no. 485) it was supposed to 
 have been printed by Caxton. The volume is without date, and des- 
 titute of every species of embellishment. Of the reprint by Gerard 
 De Leeu, at Antwerp, in 1493, a particular account (with a fac- 
 simile of the printer’s device) will be found at p. 229-31, in the 
 authority first referred to. As this w'as the last book ever printed by 
 De Leeu, the reader may not object to be made acquainted with the 
 phraseology of the colophon— in which the printer’s decease is men- 
 tioned : — maister Gerrard de leew. a man of grete wysedom in all 
 manner of kunnyng : whych now is come from lyfe onto the deth, which 
 is grete harmefor many a poure man. On whos sowle god almyghty 
 for hys hygh grace haue mercy." Consult Maittaire, vol. i. p. 562 ; 
 Panzer, vol. i. p. 12; and the Diet. Bibliogr. Choisi. part ii. no. 421. 
 Lambinet, in his first edition, was ignorant of the existence of this 
 
 + It is mentioned in the Catalogue of Miss Currer’s library, printed under the 
 care of Mr. R. Triphook, bookseller, 1820, 8vo. Of this catalogue, containing 308 
 pftges, only forty copies were printed— for private distribution. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 181 
 
 de TVorde — briefly alluded to at the conclusion of the 
 last note. Julian Notary printed it in 1504 and 1515 ; 
 and Pynson only once — in 1510. The Chronicle of 
 Caxton should therefore seem to have become unpo- 
 pular a short time after the publication of that of 
 Fabian, of which presently. Meanwhile, I am to 
 notice a ponderous historical volume which appeared 
 as a sort of help-mate to the Chronicle of Caxton : I 
 mean, the Polychronicon, printed also by the Father 
 of the British Press, in 1482, from the English version 
 of John de Trevisa, who translated it from the Latin 
 original of Ranulph Higden.* A perfect copy of 
 
 very curious volume. Lord Spencer’s copy of it was once the pro- 
 perty of Mr. Roger Wilbraham, who kindly consented to part with it 
 in exchange for some other typographical curiosity. 
 
 The reprint by Wynkyn De Wobde, in 1497> contains the De- 
 scription of Britain. See it described in the Typog. Antiq. vol. ii. 
 p. 69-7L and Bibl. Spenceriana , vol. iv. p. 401. It is rarely found 
 in a perfect state. The same printer reprinted it in 1502, 1515, 
 1520, and 1528: perhaps again. ^ See the Bibl- Harleiana, vol. iii. 
 no. 394. Of the reprints by Julian Notary, in 1504 and 1515, I 
 have no certain information to impart beyond what is contained in 
 the Typog. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 579*580. The first of these reprints 
 appears to have been in the Bibl. Harleiana , vol. iii. no. 392 j and 
 the second is found in the Bibl . Brand, part i. no. 2836 ; and parti- 
 cularly described in Bibl. Monro, no. 796. Of Pynson’s edition in 
 1510, Lord Spencer possesses a copy, from the Alchorne Collection. 
 The wood-cut, preceding the Description of England, has been copied 
 in the Typog. Antiq. vol. i. p. ix. There is a little tract, or table, 
 entitled Anglorum Regum brevis Epilogus post conquestum,” after 
 the Description — which Herbert had not found in any other edition 
 of this book.” In an imperfect state, Pynson’s re-impression is 
 by no means uncommon, 
 
 * “ The father of printing (says Gibbon) expresses a laudable 
 desire to elucidate the history of his country j but instead of publish- 
 ing the Latin Chronicle of Ranulphus Higden, he could only venture 
 on the English version, by John de Trevisa \ and his complaint of 
 
182 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 this very rare Caxtonian volume is indeed seldom to 
 be met with ; although I should pronounce imperfect 
 
 the difficulty of finding materials for his own continuation of that 
 work, sufficiently attests that even the writers, which we now possess, 
 of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, had not yet emerged from 
 the darkness of the cloister. His successors, with less skill and 
 ability, were content to tread in his footsteps/' &c. Posthumous Works, 
 vol. ii. p. 710. Gibbon must be understood to speak of the Poly- 
 chronicon. My interleaved copy of Herbert informs me, that, in 
 the account of English History, there is a considerable variation from 
 Caxton’s edition of the Chronicle. Perfect copies of this impression 
 of the Polychronicon are of most extreme rarity. Lord Spencer 
 could not complete his own fine copy, without the acquisition of 
 three imperfect ones. Sir M. M. Sykes possessed a very sound 
 and nearly perfect copy, which he purchased from Messrs. Arch. 
 This copy had long lain (in oblivion) in an old library, in the attic 
 story, belonging to a noble mansion in one of our midland counties. 
 Miss Currer possesses a copy of it, but not quite perfect. The reprint 
 of this edition by W. de Worde, in 1495, presents us with one of 
 the most beautiful folio volumes of that skilful artist. The printer 
 promised to bring the history down to the tenth year of Henry the 
 Seventh : but, as Herbert justly observes, he was not “ so good as 
 his word /’ the present edition being only a reprint of that of his 
 predecessor. It is, however, executed with great typographical 
 beauty, and has an introduction of a few poetical stanzas, (reprinted 
 in the Typog Antiq. vol. ii. p. 50.) in which one f Roger Thornye/ a 
 mercer, is justly lauded for stimulating the printer to undertake so 
 laborious a performance. A “ fine gilt copy” of it was sold at the sale 
 of Mr. Daly’s books, in 1792, for 18 1, 5s. See Bibl. Daly , n° 553. 
 The only perfect copy which I remember to have seen, is that in the 
 collection of J. D. Phelps, Esq. of Lincoln’s Inn. Of the reprint by 
 Treveris, in 1527* the reader will find abundant notice (together 
 with fac-similes of some of its wood-cut embellishments) in the 
 Typog. Antiq. vol. i. pp. xii. xv. : vol. iii. p. 40. It has a magnifi- 
 cent frontispiece or title-page, of St. George killing the Dragon, 
 &c. which is repeated, with some slight variations of ornament, on 
 the last leaf of the book. Most of our principal collections possess 
 it ; and, till within a few years, the price of it, when in fine and 
 perfect condition, has been pushed to 12L 12 s. It may be now had. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 183 
 
 copies to be rather common than otherwise. This 
 sort of historical Olla Podrida has been only twice 
 reprinted; once by Wynkyn de Worde in 1495, and 
 the second time by Peter Treveris in 1527 : each in 
 folio. Of these reprints, the first, in a perfect state 
 (especially with the frontispiece), is a very rare, as well 
 as a very handsomely executed book : the second, 
 even in a perfect state, is by no means of uncommon 
 occurrence. 
 
 At the very commencement of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury, appeared a thin folio volume entitled the Names 
 of the Bailiffs , &c. of the city of London, commonly 
 called Arnold’s Chronicle;* and of which a reprint 
 appeared in 1521, and again at Antwerp, without 
 date : although, in fact, neither of the editions con- 
 
 at a public auction, in a perfect state, for about half that sum. One 
 of the finest copies of it is in the library of the Marquis of Bath, at 
 Longleat. 
 
 * The Names of the Baylifs, Custos, Mayers and Sheriffs, of the cyte 
 oflondo, fyc. commonly called Arnold’s Chronicle, London. 1500, 1521. 
 Folio. Those who are fond of searching deeply into bibliographical 
 lore, may amuse themselves with the various opinions which have 
 been advanced in Oldys’s British Librarian , p. 22; the Harleian 
 Catalogue, vol. iii. n° 423 ; CapeVs Prolusions', sign. C. 6. Herbert’s 
 Typographical Antiquities , p. 1746; Percy’s Old Ballads, vol, ii. 27. 
 edit. 1794; and the Censura Literaria, vol. vi. p. 113, 393, respect- 
 ing the printer, date, and number of editions of this very curious 
 and rare performance. This work, as above intimated, contains the 
 original of Prior’s celebrated Poem of the ‘ Nut Brown Maid,-’ of 
 which specimens may be seen in the authority last quoted. All that 
 seems necessary further to observe is, that Pynson was probably the 
 first printer, and that there are at least three editions of it. The first 
 about the year 1500; the second in 1521. A third edition, and a 
 very curious one, was printed abroad by one Doesbrooke, Dues- 
 browghe, Dusborrowghe, Doesborowe, Doesborow, or Doesbroch, 
 (for he writes his name each way,) at Antwerp, with types similar 
 
184 
 
 history. 
 
 tains a date, t hardly know how to raise this work 
 to the dignity even of a Chronicle ; but it may be 
 considered as rather a precious relic of the ancient 
 customs and manners of the metropolis, and as yet 
 more interesting toThe philological antiquary in con- 
 taining what is supposed to be the original of Prior’s 
 celebrated poem of the “ Nut Brown Maicl.” At 
 length came forth the celebrated Chronicle of Fa- 
 bian, “ Citizen and Alderman of London,” which 
 first appeared in 1516; secondly in 1533 ; thirdly in 
 1542; fourthly in 1559; and, fifthly and lastly, in 
 1810.* Of all these editions, the last is of the 
 
 to those in the Life of Virgilius,t and Stanbridge’s Accidence printed 
 by him. See Herbert, vol. iii. p. 1531. 
 
 Doesborow’s edition ends on the recto of V. v. Mr. R. Wilbra- 
 ham is in possession of a fine copy of it. Copies of the English im- 
 pression are in most of our public libraries. Bishop Percy mentions 
 West’s fine copy, now in the royal library. See also Bibl. Tutet . 
 n° 210, 211. Bibl. Mason, p 4 . iii. n°. 1?8; and Bibl. Brand. p*. i. 
 
 n° 227: which latter copy was purchased by Mr. for 18/. 185. 
 
 Four copies, two perfect and two imperfect, were in the collection 
 of Ratcliffe, nos. 815, 990, 1660, &c. Earl Spencer, Mr. Grenville, 
 and Mr. Heber, each possess it. But “ the Young Man” need not 
 sigh — nor need “ the Old Man” despair — in the non- possession of 
 either of the foregoing editions of this curious and even instructive 
 volume : since a faithful reimpression of it, together with a judicious 
 introduction, was published by Messrs. Longman and Co. in 181 1, 4to. 
 under the editorial care of Mr. Douce. Every liveryman and aider- 
 man must of necessity procure a copy of such a work. 
 
 * Let us take the editions of Fabian in the order above specified j 
 
 f Of this most singular, and not unamusing performance (being the life of a 
 Necromancer of the name of Virgilius, who wrought many marvels “ thorowgh 
 the helpe of the devyls of hell") a reprint appeared in 1812, by my friend Mr. 
 Utterson, for the exclusive gratification of some fifty friends— with one additional 
 copy struck off upon vellum. This reprint was executed by Mr. M‘Creery in 
 a diamond letter, upon soft french paper, of a duodecimo form : and has been 
 long considered a bijou of rarity and value* 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN, 
 
 185 
 
 greatest intrinsic value; it having been collated 
 throughout with the subsequent editions; and the 
 
 and let us say somewhat more than “ a word ” about the first, since 
 it is a volume of exceedingly great rarity. Berkenhout justly ob- 
 serves, upon the authority of Nicolson, that this work f contains 
 several curious particulars of the city of London, not elsewhere to 
 be found/ Biogr. Liter ar. p. 23. This first impression, besides the 
 superior beauty of its typographical execution, and the embellish- 
 ments of cuts (not introduced in the subsequent editions), has a still 
 further recommendation to the notice of the collector and antiquary, 
 from its containing the legitimate text of the chronicler. See Mr. 
 Brand’s remark in the Variorum edition of Shctkspeare, 1803, vol. 
 xviii. p. 85, 6; and Hearne’s Robert of Gloucester , vol. i. p. xxxii. 
 
 It has been a received opinion, from a loose dictum of Bale (Cent. 
 n° lxii.), that Cardinal Wolsey ordered many copies of this first 
 edition to be burnt, owing to the freedom of some observations in it 
 upon the clergy of the day ; and also that it contains some copies of 
 verses, u suppressed in the latter editions.” The latter remark, 
 which was first advanced by Warton, (Hist. Eng. Poet. vol. ii. p. 
 192,) is not quite correct : these verses having been in part omitted, 
 and in part altered, in the editions of Reynes and Kingston - } but 
 inserted entire in Rastell’s. The former remark may, probably, be 
 equally without foundation $ as it is clear that neither Cavendish,* 
 Tynda.1, nor Fox, notice Wolsey’s destruction of the first edition. 
 Nicolson was ignorant of this impression, but Tanner expressly 
 notices it. Whether Leland ever saw a copy of it, may, in some 
 measure, be ascertained, by comparing the extract in his Collec- 
 tanea , (vol. ii. p. 426, edit. 1774,) with the original text. Neither 
 the Harleian nor the West collections contained it. The imperfect 
 copy in the Beauclerk library, (p* ii. n° 2229), was in the collection 
 of the late Mr. Craven Orde, and afterwards in that of the late Mr. 
 Samuel Lysons, at the sale of whose library, in 1821, it was pur- 
 chased by the Earl of Aylesford for 35Z. Mr. Utterson possesses a 
 very considerable portion of a copy ; and Lord Spencer has been the 
 fortunate possessor of two perfect copies. The one now retained by 
 him, is of great beauty and soundness of condition : the other, parted 
 
 * See the Life of Wolsey by Cavendish, in Dr. Wordsworth’s Ecclesiastical 
 Biography , vol. i. p. 323, which is remarkably interesting. 
 
HISTORY, 
 
 186 
 
 second part with a MS. of the Chronicle in the British 
 Museum. The preliminary matter also renders this 
 
 with, was sound and perfect, and was sold for 84,1. at a public 
 auction, in 1815. There is a copy, in thorough pristine condition, 
 in the very curious library of Dysart House at Ham. A perfect copy 
 is said to be in the public library at Cambridge. 
 
 The second edition was printed by William Rastell, in 1533, 
 and is indeed a very pretty typographical production. In the Bibl. 
 Harleiana , vol. iii. no. 402, there is a long note attached to a copy of 
 this edition which may be worth consulting. It seems to have been 
 unknown to Nicolson and Tanner. The third edition was printed 
 by John Reynes in 1542 ; and we are informed by Mr. Henry Ellis, 
 editor of the last edition, (to be presently noticed) that the alterations 
 and omissions in it are more numerous than the generality of readers 
 may probably suspect. The deficiencies of Herbert’s description of 
 this impression may be found supplied in the recent edition of our 
 Typ. Antiq. vol. iii. 268. There was a copy in the Harleian Collec- 
 tion, e with MS. notes •/ and one in theFletewode Collection, f which 
 formerly belonged to Maister Thomas Sakevile, afterwards Lord 
 Buckhurst, and Lord H. Treasurer ; having several marginal refe- 
 rences in the hand-writing of that accomplished genius and states- 
 man.’ Bibl. Fletewode, n° 3339. This very copy recently came under 
 the hammer of Mr. Evans, and was knocked down for ^19. 8s. 6d. 
 See also Bibl. West. n°. 4119 j Bibl. Folkes. no. 893 j Bibl. Tutet. 
 n° 484, fine copy in morocco.” Some copies of this date, with the 
 name of Bonham, as the printer, are only the same book with a fresh 
 title page. 
 
 The fourth and last edition of Fabian’s Chronicle, printed in the 
 black letter, is that by John Kingston, in 1559, folio, 2 vol. in 1. 
 The printer professes to have cleared Fabian’s text from the errors 
 of his predecessors, and especially from those introduced by Reynes — 
 by a careful collation with the original impression. The present is 
 therefore greatly preferable to the two immediately preceding it $ 
 and, when found in a large and clean state, may be called a magni- 
 ficent book. See Bibl. Woodhouse, n° 334. Such copies have sold 
 for <§£15. 155. $ but the recent edition has greatly, and justly, de- 
 teriorated their value. Each impression brings the history down to 
 the period of its publication. Lastly, I have to notice, with the 
 commendation which it unquestionably merits, the recent and most 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 187 
 
 edition of considerable value ; as it contains a life of 
 the Chronicler, with an account of the different his- 
 torians whence he gathered his materials. There is 
 also a copy of his will ; and the volume is closed by a 
 useful index. Yet, on the score of bibliographical 
 curiosity — and as a rarity of no mean value, the 
 thorough-bred Roxburgher will never rest satisfied 
 till he possesses a perfect copy of the first edition — 
 of which I should doubt whether there were six such 
 copies in existence. 
 
 The order of time induces me to notice another 
 publication in the character of a Chronicle, which was 
 published by John Rastell, about the year 1530, under 
 the usually received title of The Pastime of People. 
 This volume was of such excessive rarity, that 
 scarcely a perfect copy of it was known till of a late 
 period. Its chief merit seems to consist in the cuts — 
 or portraits of the Kings — with which it is professed 
 to be adorned. Those, who assign these cuts to the 
 pencil of Holbein , know little of the character of the 
 
 valuable edition of Fabian’s Chronicle published by Messrs. Long- 
 man and Co. in 1811. 4to. from the editorial pen of Mr. H. Ellis, 
 Curator of the MSS. in the British Museum. I have above enu- 
 merated the principal features of superiority in this work } and need 
 here only further remark, that the second part of the Chronicle is 
 collated with a MS. text of it in the British Museum.* 
 
 • I have a perfect recollection at this moment of a letter, written to me by my 
 friend the Editor, on the morning following that, when, beneath a cloudless sky, 
 and fanned by a refreshing breeze, he described himself as seizing his pilgrim’s 
 staff (to wit, a comely black thorn), in order to make a journey to the Commons, 
 to discover the Will of Master Fabian and the joy, on the discovery of it, seems 
 to have been scarcely less than that which seized Belzoni on the first view of his 
 Egyptian tombs and temples, or Mr. Buckland on a similar of view of the ante- 
 diluvian remains of the hyaena. It will always be so with enthusiastic cultivators 
 of every pursuit. Life seems but a dreamless and profitless slumber without some 
 such occasional stimulants. 
 
188 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 Artist whom they thus traduce. This Chronicle was 
 reprinted in 1811 , with fac-similes of all the strange 
 regal portraits^ and a prefatory adveitisement.* 
 
 * First, however, of the old edition, or parent text : of which it 
 may be premised that along and faithful account appears in the re- 
 cent edition of the Typog. Antiq. vol. iii. p. 91, &c._ together with a 
 fac-simile pf the title page. The title is thus. The Pastyme of 
 People , or the Chronycles ofdyuers recilmys and most specyally of the 
 realme of Englond breuely compylyd , and emprynted in chepesyde at 
 the sygne of the mearemayde next to pollys gate." It is justly observed 
 by Herbert, that f this is one of the scarcest histories we have in 
 print.’ Very few copies of it are known to be in existence ; and of 
 these, his Majesty’s (it being Mr. West’s copy, which was given to 
 West in the year 1729, by Lord Oxford,) is perfect. Consult Bibl. 
 Harleian. vol. iii. n° 253, and Bibl. West n° 4094. Mr. Grenville’s 
 copy is also perfect : but Lord Spencer’s (formerly Ratcliffe’s copy) 
 is imperfect. See the Bibl. Ratcliffe , n° 1013. 1392. Bibl. Farmer , 
 n° 6226. Bibl. Mason, pt. iii. n° 341 : and Bibl. Brand. n° 8320. 
 Herbert has been sufficiently elaborate in his account of this extraor- 
 dinary performance ; justly remarking upon the ignorance of former 
 historians of its existence. Hearne never saw but one copy of it, 
 which was lent him by his indefatigable book-collecting friend, John 
 Murray ; and of which a curious notice will be found in the Thomce 
 Caii Vindic. Antiq. Acad . Oxoniens. vol. ii. p. 803-4 j as well as a 
 specimen of the work given in Peter Langtoft's Chronicles , vol. i. p. 
 liv. 19, 84, &c. But the reprint above mentioned (which contains 
 all the decorations of the original — and which decorations were §ut 
 upon blocks of the apple tree f) will give the reader every informa- 
 tion which he may require. The author of this work was the Editor 
 of the reprint in question : and placed the only copy of it in exis- 
 tence, upon thick paper, on the shelves of the Althorp Library. 
 The ordinary copies are obtainable at a very moderate price. 
 
 t “ Experientia docet.” It was with the greatest difficulty that these blocks— 
 from the soft and pliable nature of the wood — could be kept together for the pur- 
 pose of printing. There were fractures in them, like those on a sheet of ice after 
 the breaking up of a frost. I take it the originals were cut on pear or chestnut 
 wood. It is almost certain that the large and ancient block, now in Lord Spencer’s 
 possession, and of which a specimen is given in my Tour y vol. iii. p. 234 - 5 , is of 
 pear-tree wood. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 189 
 
 The notice of this graphically illustrated Chronicle 
 reminds me of another somewhat similar production, 
 but of considerably greater rarity, and of yet greater 
 merit of embellishment. I allude to the mixed prose 
 and poetry-chronicle, printed by Giles Godet, (dwel- 
 ling in Black Friars) about the year 1560, of which 
 an account first appeared before the public in the 
 yFdes Althorpianse :* and of which the private his- 
 tory — as to the particular object in view, the author, 
 and the artists employed — will probably for ever re- 
 main concealed. But I must not omit the mention of 
 a Chronicle, entirely metrical, under the title of Har- 
 dyng’s Chronicle, which was published in a small 
 quarto volume in 1543, and of which the recent re- 
 print in 1812, has rendered the possession of the 
 original edition scarcely an object even with the most 
 fastidious collector. The reader is referred to the 
 accompanying notef as a whetter to further research 
 respecting this singular production. 
 
 # A particular account of this very singular, and almost unique 
 volume, will be found in the ZEdes Altharpiance , vol. i. p. 180-184. 
 The only other known copy (and a very fine one it is) is in the collec- 
 tion of the Rt. Hon. T. Grenville. The reader may probably not be 
 displeased to have a specimen (such as it is) of the poetry in this ex- 
 traordinary performance. The ensuing stanza relates to the murder 
 of the young Princes, by Richard III., in the Tower at London. 
 
 But tlie manner how these princes were dead 
 Some say they were buried quick : and some tell 
 That they were smothered vnder a fether bed. 
 
 Some say they were drowned in a vessell 
 But when they came vnto the tower to dwell 
 They were never after scene with mannes eye 
 Thre moneths this king raigned men know well 
 But God knoweth where his body doth lye. 
 
 t Of the old edition, in black letter, there were at least two im- 
 pressions ; both in the same year. One has the title “ A Chronicle 
 
190 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 About this time appeared a shoal of minor or fugi- 
 tive publications, of the character of which it is diffi- 
 cult to give any precise account ; and of which the 
 account, if given, would very little profit the reader. 
 Suffice it therefore to mention, in very general terms, 
 the abridgements or Summaries of Chronicles under 
 the names of Lanquet, Cooper, and Stow.* Of the 
 
 in Metre the other has the words “ in metre” omitted, and the 
 date in Roman letters — whereas the former has the date in Arabic 
 numerals. It is quite evident, throughout, that the press was reset ; 
 a circumstance, which seems to have escaped Herbert. The reader 
 will find a full account of this rare and interesting book in the Typog. 
 Antiq. vol. iii. p. 447, together with a transcript of ct an original 
 grant of King Henry VI. to Harding, upon vellum” — which be- 
 longed to a copy that had successively enriched the collections of 
 West and Mason, and which is now the property of Mr. George 
 Hibbert. See also Bibl. Pearson, n° 5210; and Bibl. Allen. n° 713. 
 But, on the score of utility, neither “ the young” nor the old” 
 will hesitate one moment about the preference to be given, in all 
 respects, to the reprint above mentioned : of which Mr. H. Ellis is 
 the Editor. 
 
 * This “ shoal of minor publications,” in the character of Chroni- 
 cles, shall be here summarily described. Among the earliest, is that 
 by Arthur Kelton j being f A Chronicle with a Genealogie declaryng 
 that the Britons and Welshman are lineally e dyscended from Brute. 
 Newly and very wittely compyled in meter. London. 154?. 12mo.f 
 This is a very uncommon book. An outline of its contents is given 
 in the Typog. Antiq. vol. iii. p. 455, from a copy in the possession of 
 Herbert j who tells us that the text is compiled in seven-lined stan- 
 zas ; and that it contains forty leaves ; the last leaf being blank. 
 There was a copy of it in the Beauclerk collection, [Bibl. Beauclerk. 
 
 * 1 * Even this little volume was preceded by a tc Short Chronycle wherein ye 
 shall, fynde the names of all the Kings of England, of the Mayors and Sheriffs of the 
 cytye of London, Sfc. printed by Bydell, in 1539, 1542, 12mo. : by Vowell, in 1551, 
 and again without date. This seems to have been a sort of Manual, or Vade Me- 
 cum, published annually for the common people. Herbert has been exclusively 
 indebted to Ames for his account of it. A copy of the second edition appears in 
 the Bthl. West. no. 3764 ; and of the third in Bibl. Harleian. vol. ii. 11720. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 191 
 
 Annals, or larger Chronicle of Stow, I shall speak in 
 chronological order. 
 
 pt. ii. no. 2220] which seemed to require the aid of another black 
 letter book, to produce the sum of 4s. 3d. — for which they were both 
 sold. It would appear from Ritson’s Biographia Poetica i p. 260, 
 that the poetical effusions of Kelton are very rare : they are not no- 
 ticed in the new edition of Philips’s Theatrum Poetarum , nor have any 
 further discoveries of him, or indeed any specimens of this poetical 
 chronicle, found their way into the Censura Literaria by the sedulous 
 author of Additions to Ritson’s work just quoted, and of which, let 
 us hope, a new edition is forthcoming. 
 
 Secondly, of Lanquet’s Chronicle, continued by Cooper: in 
 the years 1549, 1559, 1560, 1565, &c. 4to. These, and more than 
 are here specified, are editions of a Chronicle which does not appear to 
 have been compiled with any extraordinary care or attention, and 
 which, therefore, is but of limited authority. The editions of 1549 
 and 1560 are printed by T. Berthelet ; those of 1559, the one by 
 Marshe and the other for Seres. They are all thick and inelegant 
 small quartos ; but bear some price from the increasing demand for 
 this species of books. A copy of the edition of 1560 was sold for 
 2s. 6d. at Brand’s sale : vide Bibl. Brand , pt. i. n°2323. 
 
 In the third place, let us say a word of ff The Thre Bokes 0/ John 
 Carion’s Chronicle ; printed by Lynn at London, in 1550, 4to. 
 This English version of the Latin text of Carion was never, I believe, 
 reprinted. The preface, on “ the use of reading History,” is by no 
 means a despicable production. An index, with the pages not num- 
 bered, terminates the volume. A clean and perfect copy of this book 
 is not common. Its title is well set forth in the Bibl. Fletewode , 
 n° 2522. At the sale of Ratcliffe’s library, (Bibl. Ratcliffe, n° 1500) 
 Dr. Hunter purchased a copy in morocco for 19s. A fine copy was 
 sold for 1 1. Is. at West’s sale : Bibl . West. n° 3813 j and for 4 1. 10s. 
 at Brand’s sale — n° 2326. In 1562, there appeared an Abridgement 
 of Grafton’s Chronicles, (or rather, as I conceive, of Hall’s, pub- 
 lished by Grafton, in 1548, 1550), in one octavo volume, which will 
 be found described in the Typog. Antiq. vol. iii. p. 433. 
 
 I owe it to the accuracy of research, and kindness of communi- 
 cation of Mr. Grenville, to state that the first edition of this Sum- 
 mary (unknown to all bibliographers) was in 1561 ; of which Mr. 
 G. has a copy, and which will solve the puzzle of Grafton’s notice 
 
192 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 I am now to touch upon a higher class of Chroni- 
 clers, under the names of Hall, Grafton, and ITo- 
 linshed ; and of which the recent and faithfully- 
 executed reprints, put it in the power of the Collector 
 to avail himself of copies at an ordinary cost * No 
 
 of it in his own abridgement of 1562. See the Typog. Antiq. vol. 
 iii. p. 423. 
 
 Fourthly, of Stowe’s Summarie of English Chronicles , 1565. Svo. 
 printed by Marshe. This is the first edition of repute, and which 
 was reprinted for a number of subsequent years. See Bill. West. n° 
 3770 3 from which Herbert appears to have copied his list verbatim. 
 Typog. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 853 : note. Among Bagford’s papers upon 
 printing, in the British Museum, there is the printed title page of an 
 edition of 1570 3 — of the existence of which Herbert doubted. I can- 
 not at this moment, exactly specify upon what basis, or of what 
 materials, Jaggaud’s Briefe Chronicle of the Success of Times from 
 the Creation of the World to this instant 3 (viz. 1611) is composed} 
 but it commences with the creation, and occupies a 4 to. volume of 
 613 pages. Jaggard was the printer} and Anthony Mundy, the 
 Editor, dedicates his work ec to the right Honovrable, Sir Y'Villiam 
 Cravon, Knight, Lord Maior of the Cittie of London 3 Sir Henrie 
 Montagve, Seriant at Law to his Maiestie and Recorder of London : 
 and to all the Knights, Aldermen, and worshipfull Bretheren, the 
 carefull Fathers and Gouernours of this honourable Estate.” This i9 
 followed by an Epistle to the Merchant Tailors, “ being the worthy 
 Society of S. John Baptist” — also by Mundy. The book however is 
 of little worth. 
 
 * The ancient editions shall be described as briefly as is compati- 
 ble with propriety : of late years, the rage for the Originals having 
 much abated. First of Edward Hall 3 whose Chronicle is enti- 
 tled cc the Union of the Two Noble and Illustrious Families of York and 
 Lancaster .” Premising that the edition of 1542 is entirely suppositi- 
 tious, I proceed to the first impression in 1548. 
 
 The conclusion of the address of Grafton, the printer, informs us, 
 that. Hall dying — and (e being in his latter tifte not so painful and 
 studious as he ought to have been,” — he, Grafton, undertook the 
 compilation of the greater part 3 although he published an edition 
 which goes expressly under his own name. Grafton in fact continued 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 193 
 
 thoroughly good historical library can be said to be 
 perfect without these Chronicles ; and, above all, that 
 
 it down to the reign of Henry VIII. from Hall’s MSS. A then. Oxon. 
 vol. i. col. 165. edit. Bliss. This impression of 154S is a scarce as 
 well as a beautifully executed book. The possession of the first 
 three leaves, including a preface and other introductory matter — and 
 the last leaf but one, on the reverse of which is a beautiful wood-cut 
 of Henry the Eighth sitting in full council, — should be well looked 
 after by the purchaser, — for they are often missing : and heavy 
 must be the sum to redeem them.* There is a good note affixed to 
 a copy of this edition in the Harleian Collection (Bibl. Harl. vol. iii. 
 no. 398), which shews the blunders of Bishop Nicolson respecting 
 it : these have been also noticed by Dr. Pegge, who calls our 
 chronicler “ a good writer for his time, and a competent scholar. f” 
 Hearne| has very spiritedly corrected Nicolson ; adding, that both 
 this and the ensuing edition are “ very scarce and of great price.” 
 See Bibl. West , no. 4120 : Bibl. Ratcliffe, no. 1391 : and Bibl. 
 Bryant , no. 707 : which latter copy was sold for 19Z. 195. Fifty 
 years ago, this book might have been obtained for 125. See Bibl. 
 Folkes , no. 888. At present, a fair sound copy may be worth about 
 5 1. 5s. Mr. Heber bought a very fine one at Mr. Knight’s sale, in 
 1821, for 51. 10 5. 
 
 This edition was reprinted in 1550 ; whereunto is added to every 
 Kyng a seuerall table.” Whoever chooses to examine the Typog. 
 Antiq. vol. iii. p. 466-8, will easily satisfy himself that this impres- 
 sion is not , as has been imagined, only the previous one with a fresh- 
 title-page. The leaves of each reign begin with a fresh set of nume- 
 
 * A very successful fac-simile of this embellishment was published in the recent 
 edition of our Typographical Antiquities , vol. iii. p. 462 : along witli a particular 
 account of the book : see too, p. 422. 
 
 t Anonymiana. 1809. 8vo. p. 1. See also some remarks relating to him at page 
 62, 394, in the same publication. 
 
 + Hemingi Chartul. Eccles . Wigorn. vol. ii. 671, &c. To the Harleian extract 
 may be added, that Bishop Nicolson, talking of a flattering dedication to Henry 
 VIII :, Hearne thus remarks upon it : “ All the copies I have yet seen or heard of 
 are dedicated to King Edward VI. and the dedication is far from being flattering 
 The informations too are all along so very good (abating that the chronology is 
 here and there wrong) that they have been, and will always be, highly valued by 
 the most curious men.” 
 
 O 
 
194 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 of Holinshed requires particular notice and commen- 
 dation. Indeed, to the comfort of the poor, but not 
 
 rals : and the present is, on the whole, the preferable edition. A 
 good copy is worth 7 L 7 s. My friend Mr. Douce has a very fine one. 
 The reprint appeared in 1809. 
 
 Secondly, of Richard Grafton’s “ Chronicle at large and meere 
 History of the Affayres of Englande and Kinges of the Same ,” &c. : 
 printed by R. Tottel for R. Toy. 1569. Folio. More sumptuous 
 and elaborate than either of the preceding publications, is the one 
 now under consideration ; and to which it will be necessary to add 
 only the following particulars to Herbert’s minute and satisfactory 
 account. Typog. Antiq. vol. iv. p. 439. The three introductory 
 pieces have the pages unnumbered ; and a f Summarie of the afore- 
 said History’ one page, and a table of seven pages, not numbered, 
 follow the text of the first volume, which contains 192 pages, exclu- 
 sively. The second volume, containing 1369 pages, is succeeded by 
 a table of thirty-one (not numbered) pages of the reigns of the kings 
 of the realm, and an alphabetical table of nine unnumbered pages. 
 Both volumes contain some very spirited wood-cuts. My friend Mr. 
 Heber triumphs in the possession of an extraordinarily fine copy of 
 this Chronicle 5 but, if the teaingout of the title, (which is orna- 
 mented with portraits of kings) by some execrable depredator,* be 
 excepted, I question whether his own copy, magnificent as it is, have 
 an amplitude of margin superior to the one in the library of St. John’s 
 College Oxford. “ A matchless copy” of it was sold at the sale of 
 Mr. Bryant’s books, A. D. 1807, for 19 1. 19s. See too Bibl. Lands - 
 downe , no. 2517, and Bibl. Allen , no. 615. 
 
 Thirdly, of Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotlande and 
 Ireland : — which are by far the most popular and important of 
 our historical records, in print, during the time of Queen Elizabeth j 
 and from which indeed, all modern historians have freely and largely 
 borrowed. The first edition of these Chronicles was printed for John 
 Harrison the Elder, in 1577, in two folio volumes, full of spirited 
 
 The execrable depredator” (not, fortunately, either a Johnian or an Aca- 
 demic) is known-and I need hardly say, shunned and despised. The history of 
 this man’s spoliations, in which even the venerable Bodleian Library was not 
 spared, would startle the sensitive, and even amaze the incredulous, Collector of 
 Anecdotes of this kind. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 195 
 
 the faint-hearted Collector — be it made known 5 that 
 good copies even of the original editions may be had 
 
 wood-cuts,* * * § which were omitted in the subsequent edition of 1586. 
 This work must have been printed with great cost and labour. From 
 Holinshed’s dedicatory Epistle to Lord Burleigh, it should seem that 
 Reginald Wolfe, the celebrated printer (see Typog. Antiq. vol. iv. 
 p. 2) had projected and even executed the greater part of the work, 
 it having ff pleased God to call him to his mercie after xxv years tra- 
 vel spent therein.’* Wolfe, in fact, intended to make these Chroni- 
 cles the substratum of iC An universall Cosmographie of the whole 
 worlde .” The other Assistants and Continuators of Holinshed, were 
 Harrison, Hooker, Stanihurst, Stow, Thyn, and Fleming, &c. There 
 are those who suppose this first edition to contain particulars not 
 found in the subsequent one. Hearne speaks with his usual enthu- 
 siasm of it: Robert of Glocester , vol. i. pref. p. xxxiii. — and Du 
 Fresnoy, catching the current opinion of the day, observes — “ II faut 
 cependant avoir aussi l’edition de 1577*” Methode 3 &c. vol. iv. page 
 295. “ An exceedingly fine copy” of this edition, bound in russia, 
 was sold at the sale of George Steevens’s library in 1S00, for 22 1. 
 and a very fine one, almost uncut, and bound in blue morocco, was 
 recently (December 1822) sold at the sale of Mr. Neunburg’s library 
 for III. 11s. Mr. Heber possesses it in russia (bought of Mr. Stace) 
 uncut. 
 
 Holinshed dying between the years 1578 and 1582,t a new edi- 
 tion of his Chronicles was put forth in 1587, chiefly under the edito- 
 rial care of Boteville,^ Stow, and Abraham Fleming ; the printer 
 was Henry Denham. Consult Herbert , vol. ii. p. 961. The Conti- 
 nuation, from 1576 to 1586, contained several curious particulars, 
 which gave great offence at the time of publication, and were accord- 
 ingly suppressed j “ whereby (says Herbert) the paging, from 1220 
 to 1275, is very irregular.” According to Nicolson, they extend from 
 page 1491 to 1536. § These are called the <( Castrations ” of Holin- 
 
 * Among these cuts, there is one of a Guillotine. 
 
 t His will was proved on April 24, 1582 ; as a transcript of it, in Herbert’s 
 hand writing, in my interleaved copy of his Typographical Antiquities , sufficiently 
 proves. 
 
 X Or Thynne ; an adjnirable antiquary. Consult Bliss’s edition of the Athen. 
 Oxon. vol. i. p. 136. 
 
 § Engl. Histor . Library , fol. ed. p. 71. It appears from a note in the Bibl. /?, 
 
196 
 
 HISTOBY, 
 
 at no very extraordinary price. In this department 
 of book-collecting, it may be safely affirmed that veins 
 are hardly now opened, where, formerly, arteries 
 used to bleed profusely ! 
 
 shed, and were republished by Dr. Drake in 1728, in the black let- 
 ter, in a thin folio volume. The curious, however, necessarily look 
 sharply after the original pages. A copy of this kind was in the 
 Harleian, and another in Dr. Mead’s collection .* Osborne marked 
 an elegant copy, in 3 vols. at 4 1. 4s. in his sheet catalogue of 1759. 
 The Mead copy now adorns the Cracherode Collection, in four vo- 
 lumes. There are copies supposed to be on large paper ; and, although 
 this may be questionable, yet that copy, which more decidedly ap- 
 proached such a form, was the one, in four vols., in Colonel Stan- 
 ley’s Collection, which was purchased by Mr. Heber for 63 1. Very 
 fine copies are also in the Luton and Althorp Collections. See Bibl- 
 
 Smith. (A. D. 1682) p. 276, no. 160, that these suppressed leaves “ were not 
 thought fit, and so not allowed, to be printed in the second impression.” Accord- 
 ing to some Antiquaries, they contained matter relating to Lord Leicester, which 
 gave great offence to the Privy Council : according to Nicolson the suppression 
 was occasioned by Thynne’s “ singular respect to the Lord Cobham, at that time 
 very unseasonable. All that’s left out relates to Royal Grants in favour of that 
 unfortunate Peer and his ancestors.” After so much said about them, the reader 
 may not be displeased with a more distinct notice of them, taken from Dr. Drake’s 
 reprint. “William the Conqueror” A.D. 1066-7, 6 pages: “ The historie of 
 Scotland; p. 421 to 424 : p. 443 to page 450 “ An. Reg. 23, Queene Elizabeth, 
 
 p. 1328, to page 1331 : An. Reg. 27. p. 1419, to 1574 (all inclusively). An. Reg. 
 28.” Also twelve pages of Index, beginning on the recto of sign. z. z . ( taken far 
 leuieng’ to the conclusion ‘ Ypresse besieged.' Peignot has slightly noticed these 
 castrations in his Dictionnaire ties Livres Condamne's, &c. vol. i. 184. 
 
 * Mead’s copy belonged to Thomas Rawlinson, who received 25 for it ; and yet 
 it wanted four pages of the castrations. These were supplied by a transcript from 
 a copy in Bishop More’s library at Cambridge ; which although a perfect, was a 
 very inferior copy. In former times there was an absolute mania about the pos- 
 session of these original castrations. John Bridges, (of whose library see some- 
 what in the Bibliomania, p. 480) , who had a perfect copy of Holinslied, told Hearne 
 that “ he would not part with it for fifty libs.” And Thomas Sclater Bacon, a man 
 of very large fortune, and a fierce bibliomaniac, (who died in 1736) gave twenty 
 guineas to Bateman, the bookseller, for the castrated sheets alone,” Reliquiat Hear - 
 nianesy vol. i. pp. 406-7 : 413-4. In the library of the Royal Institution there is a 
 copy of Holinshed, with an account of the variations in these castrated sheets by 
 the Rev . P. Morant, in MS. So says Mr. Harris, in his excellent catalogue of 
 that library. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 197 
 
 As we come to the conclusion of the sixteenth cen- 
 tury, and commence with the seventeenth, we are 
 immediately struck with the venerable name of Stow, 
 a laborious and honest man ; content to state simple 
 facts, without any enlarged views, and in a style the 
 most unpretending imaginable. But there are those 
 who rank him even above Holinshed and the con- 
 temporaneous Chroniclers. That he was a diligent 
 and careful collector of facts, and far better ac- 
 quainted with ms. authorities (even with some, of 
 which all traces are now lost) than any writer of his 
 day, may be unequivocally allowed. Stow found a 
 continuator in Edmund Howes ;* a man, who seems 
 to be entitled to less respect than his predecessor — 
 notwithstanding he makes pathetic mention, in his 
 preface, of the scoffs and gibes to which he had been 
 subjected for the “ painful travail” of his perform- 
 
 Pearson , no. 5274} Farmer , no. 6216 } Crofts , no. 7276 } Allen , no. 
 766, Steevens , no. 1700, and Reed , no. 2702. 
 
 The reprint in 1807, in six vols. 4to. incorporating the castra- 
 tions, has materially diminished the value of the original impression 
 — and here, as this is the last of the Chronicles in the 16th century, 
 which come under my present review, and which closes the order of 
 the Reprints , (getting scarcer every day) it may be as well to inform 
 “ the Young Man” — anxious for the possession of these useful re- 
 impressions, — that a complete set of them, in fifteen volumes, neatly 
 bound in calf, is marked by Messrs. Payne and Foss at ^40. 
 
 * John Stow the Chronicler, and Edmund Howes, his editor and 
 continuator, shall be as summarily described as is consistent with the 
 importance of their labours. Berkenhout ( Biogr . Liter ar, page 47.) 
 seems to mention the Annals and Chronicles of Stow as separate 
 works, but they are one and the same. Herbert makes brief men- 
 tion of an edition of 1594, printed by Ralph, for his brother James, 
 Newbury j and in the Bibl. Beauclerk, part ii. no. 2239. I find an 
 edition specified of the date of 15£2 } but I apprehend that both these 
 editions are supposititious, and that the first edition of Stow’s 
 
198 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 ance. Fuller, who loved to jeer, and who scattered 
 about his criticisms with very little regard to truth, 
 taunts our continuator in rather bitter terms. 
 
 Chronicle (which is only an enlargement of his "Summary”*) was 
 printed without a date to the title page— which is ornamented— 
 but with the date of November 24, 1600, in the dedicatory address 
 to Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury. In this address. Stow tells 
 his Grace that " twas nigh forty yeeres since he first addressed all 
 his cares and cogitations to the Studie of Histories and search of Anti- 
 quities.” Strype has reprinted this dedication in his Life of Whitgift, 
 p. 543. An address " to the gentle reader” — a table of " Authors 
 out of whom these Annales are collected” — and another table " of 
 the principal matters contained in these Annales,” follow. The text 
 of the history contains 13 16 pages : the last seven pages treating " of 
 the Universities.” I recommend a good, clean, large -margined copy 
 (such as it was once my good fortune to possess !) of this parent text 
 of old Stow, to the tasteful collector (be he "young” or " old”) of 
 his country’s history and antiquities. A copy is marked at 15s. in 
 the late catalogue of Messrs. Payne and Fo9S. 
 
 Edmund Howes twice republished Stow’s text, in folio, with cor- 
 rections and additions: the first time, in 1615, the second, in 1631. 
 To each edition, an ornamented title-page is prefixed, enough to give 
 a fit of the cholic to every lover of good art : so greatly inferior, 
 generally speaking, were the book-ornaments of the seventeenth, to 
 those of the preceding, century ! Both editions are printed in the 
 black letter, but in a style — worthy only of the frontispiece. The 
 first is the better printed book. Three introductory pieces precede 
 the body of the text, which terminates at p. 988 [" of the Univer- 
 sities] 5 and which is succeeded by a page of verses from Drayton’s 
 Poly Olbion— an alphabetical Table, and a curious letter to the Lord 
 Mayor and Aldermen of London, by Howes, dated 1615 j in which 
 
 * See page 192, ante. Stow died in 1605. Mr. Chalmers ( Biog . Dict.xcft. 
 xxviii. p. 445) has well observed upon the indelible disgrace reflected upon the 
 government, the city of London, and the Company of Merchant Tailors, of which 
 Stow was a member) that this honest and indefatigable Chronicler and Historian 
 of the Metropolis should have died in such an abject state of poverty. He is sup- 
 posed to have “ traversed all England on foot to obtain materials for his history.” 
 He cuts a more splendid figure upon his monument, than he did during his life 
 a fate, not peculiar to John Stow ! 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 199 
 
 In the sixteenth century (reserving Speed’s work 
 as the first of our Histories , so called,) I am not 
 aware of any thing particularly deserving of notice, 
 till we reach the age of cant and persecution during 
 the time of the Interregnum — when the Parliamentary 
 Chronicle of Vicars,* published during the years 
 
 Howes tells them how heroically he had surmounted the labours and 
 difficulties of his * Continuation in the course of which “ he had to 
 encounter the scoffs, sarcasms, and discouragement of several friends; 
 one telling him, that he “ thanked God he was not yet made to 
 waste his time, spend two hundred pound a yeere, trouble himself 
 and all his friends, onely to gayn assurance of endlesse reproach, 
 losse of libertie, and bring all his dayes in question,’' Bishop Nicol- 
 son says, <e Howes is very unfortunate, if, after the great pains of 
 thirty years bestowed upon his continuation of this Chronicle, he be 
 justly liable to the sharp sentence that Fuller has passed upon him V* 
 Engl. Hist. Libr., p. 72 5 and Fuller’s Worthies , p. 220-1 in 'London.’ 
 I have heard of, but never seen, copies upon large paper of the 
 second edition of 1631. Mr. Grenville is the fortunate possessor of 
 a copy upon thick paper — the only one I ever saw — which had be- 
 longed to Dr. Mead. It was probably the one which had been sold 
 at the sale of Barrett’s library, in 1818, for s£6. 2 s. 6d. r Messrs. 
 Arch mark an ordinary, sound copy, in calf binding, at 3s. 
 
 * John Vicars is one of the triumvirate thus noticed in the im- 
 mortal poem of Hudibras. 
 
 Thou that with ale, or viler liquors, 
 
 Dids’t inspire Withers , Pryn , and Vicars. 
 
 Canto 1. v. 645. 
 
 The strange titles of the Parliamentary Chronicle of Vicars are 
 set forth at length in the Cens Literaria , vol. i. p. 329, and Watt's 
 Biogr. Britan. — to the former of which I refer the reader for extracts 
 from the work.f The first published portion of this Chronicle is 
 called Jehovah Jireth , God in the Mount , &c. containing Parts I. II. 
 Part III. is called, " God’s Arke overtopping the World's Waves 
 and the IVth part, ff the Burning Bush not consumed &c. Dr. 
 
 f And for a perfect specimen of Vicars’s choicect slang, I recommend the reader 
 to Chalmers's Biogr. Diet . vol- xxx- p. 332-3. 
 
200 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 1643-6, in four parts, in 4to. arrests our immediate 
 attention. It has of late become very rare, in a per- 
 fect state ; and as it is never likely to be reprinted, it 
 will not want severity of competition among purcha- 
 sers. There is doubtless much curious, and much 
 distorted information, in this chronological, “ medley 
 of facts, and of party fury” — as the recent Editor of 
 the Athence Ooconienses properly designates it. The 
 
 Bliss ( Athen . Oxon, vol. iii. col. 309, note 3) tells us that, in the 
 year 1803, he saw a perfect copy sell at an auction for 12J.” A 
 copy of it, ( in blue morocco, border of gold, gilt leaves,’ was pur- 
 chased at the sale of Mr. Heathcote’s books in 1808, (n° 834), by 
 Sir Mark Masterman Sykes, for Al. 14s. 6d. j which copy was pur- 
 chased at Mr. Woodhouse’s sale, ( Bibl . Woodh. no. 806.), for the sum 
 mentioned by Dr. Bliss, in Bibl. Allen, no. 1504. Dr. Lort’s copy — 
 in which the Doctor had written * such a copy as this, compleat, is 
 seldom to be met with’ — was sold for 2 1. 2s. Another work of Vicars, 
 called ‘ Transactions of these latter yeares, emblemised. (being the 
 preceding article), was sold for 3/. This latter work has plates. It 
 would be difficult now to appreciate, with accuracy, the pecuniary 
 worth of Vicars’s Chronicles 5 but I should say that a good and per- 
 fect copy might be worth 61. 6s. As to the poetical pieces of Vicars, 
 their rarity must have arisen from their destruction on account of 
 their worthlessness. Dr. Grey, in his note upon the verses of Hudi- 
 bras (just quoted) is, I submit, much in error in calling Vicars “ as 
 able a poet as Withers.” The truth is, he had neither the genius nor 
 the (comparatively) felicitous versification of the latter. Let me 
 select a specimen — from a specimen — in Dr. Bliss’s Athen. Oxon . — 
 from the Chronicler’s <e Prospective Glasse to looke into heaven .” l6l8. 
 sign. D. 6. 
 
 The gates of which most holy habitation. 
 
 Are pearles of peerlesse price and valuation. 
 
 Whose wall is all of precious stones most pure. 
 
 Incomparably rich, and strong t’endure : 
 
 There is that glorious paradise celestiall. 
 
 Surpassing Adam’s paradise terrestriall. 
 
 Wherein are fluent oily riuers, currents, 
 
 Faire brooks of butter, and sweet honny torrents. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 201 
 
 republican annals were doomed to meet with another 
 Recorder, or Chronicler, of the name of James 
 Heath ;# whose wretchedly printed but by no means 
 wholly useless, performance, seems to have been put 
 forth rather as a vehicle for cuts of the sorriest pos- 
 sible description. It first appeared in four parts, 
 forming two small octavo volumes, in 1661 : and 
 afterwards in 1663. Copies, containing all the por- 
 traits, are yet caressed by enthusiastic collectors. 
 
 Among the last of our Chroniclers, was Sir Richard 
 
 But this is taking “ the young man” prematurely, and by stealth, as 
 it were, into the department — or region — of Poetry. I must not 
 be guilty of any further such indiscretion. 
 
 * The title of Heath’s work is this : €e A brief e Chronicle of the 
 late intestine War in the three Kingdoms of England , Scotland , and 
 Ireland , &c. Four parts, in 2 vol. 8vo. 1661, 1663. The same , 
 continued to 1675 $ London , 1676, Folio. I shall speak chiefly of 
 the octavo edition ; which, “ on account of the pictures (says An- 
 thony a Wood) of the most eminent soldiers in the said war, makes 
 the book valued the more by some Novices.” A frontispiece, and 
 thirty-seven Portraits, render a copy complete. As to the text, the 
 said Anthony designates it as “ being mostly compiled from lying 
 pamphlets, and all sorts of news-books, having innumerable errors 
 therein, especially as to name and time, things chiefly required in 
 history.” Athen. Oxon. vol. iii. col. 664. Edit. Bliss. I take the 
 edition of 1663 to be only that of 1661, with a fresh title-page. 
 Since the publication of Granger, this book — on account of cutting 
 out the portraits, for an illustrated copy of his work — has greatly 
 risen in price, if am, the portraits are found in a genuine state. Tom 
 Osborne marked it at a price, which would have pleased old An- 
 thony 5 namely, at 3s. 6d . “ with cuts $** in his catalogue of 1766, 
 no. 12045. Of late years it has brought a large sum. At West’s 
 sale, Bibl. West. no. 4037, it was sold for 2,1. 2s. : at Woodhouse’s, 
 (Bibl. Wood. no. 350), for 51. 5s ., “ elegant, in morocco binding.” 
 See too Bibl. Allen, no. 518, and Scott's Catalogue (1804), no. 990. 
 A fine and perfect copy may probably be worth 71. 7s. 
 
 The folio edition has no ornament but a frontispiece of Charles II > 
 surrounded by his loyal Generab. Wood says that this continuation. 
 
202 HISTORY, 
 
 Baker :* a man of versatile, but, as I take it, of 
 shallow parts ; and yet, such was the popularity of 
 
 « mostly made up from gazetts,” was by John Phillips, « nephew by 
 the mother to Joh. Milton.” There is another folio edition, of the 
 date of 1691. But neither the one nor the other is scarce or dear. 
 
 * Dr. Bliss, in his recent and truly valuable edition of Wood’s 
 Athen Oxon.'v ol. iii. col. 1 46-8, has given us a list of the various edi- 
 tions of this once popular Chronicle, which I believe few lovers of 
 history now venture to peruse, and still fewer to quote. It is entitled 
 a “ Chronicle of the Kings of England , &c. with a Catalogue of the 
 Nobility and Baronets ; and was first published in 1641, folio, about 
 three years before the death of the author.f Not fewer than nine 
 editions in the same century, succeeded it : and before the second 
 edition in 1653, I find an edition of it published in the Dutch lan- 
 guage, at Amsterdam, in 1649, “ embellished with neat historical 
 plates and portraits.” See the Bibl. Fagell. n° 7734. The two 
 latter editions — of the dates of 1730, and 1733 — bringing the 
 chronicle down to the death of George I. are considered the prefer- 
 able ones. Anthony a Wood calls the author a " noted writer,” and 
 strives hard to inspire us with a reverence for his character: but 
 Bishop Nicolson says, that his Chronicle is fit only “ to please the 
 rabble.” Historical Library , p. 73. And what are we to say to an 
 author, whose vanity was so excessive as to instigate him to tell the 
 world that “ if all other Chronicles were lost, posterity would be 
 
 i* “ This first edition is a rare book. Besides the engraved frontispiece by 
 Marshall, containing portraits of Charles /. and Sir Richard Baker , it should pos- 
 sess a plate, by Cor. V. Dalen, of Charles II. when a boy, to whom the original 
 work was dedicated. The first continuation, extending to the year 1658, was by 
 Edward Phillips, the nephew of Milton, who printed it in 1660, and probably 
 superintended many of the subsequent impressions. Certainly the ninth, in 1696, 
 has his name to the introduction. When Langhorn’s continuation commenced 
 (if he did continue the work at all) seems uncertain ; Langhorn died in 1681. 
 The editions of 1730 and 1733 seem to be one and the same — excepting a fresh 
 title to the latter. It is called the best edition ; but the earlier copies (particu- 
 laily that of 1641), contain many very curious documents, and several interesting 
 particulars omitted by Phillips and his followers. Bliss’s Reliquix Hearniance , 
 vol. i. p. 241. Langhorn published a chronicle, in Latin, entitled Chronicum 
 Regum Anglorurtiy fyc. Lond. typis E. F. 8vo. without date : but perhaps about 1670. 
 See this, and three other works, relating to our history and antiquities, noticed 
 in the same “ Relics.” 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 2 03 
 
 his flimsey performance, that not fewer than eight 
 editions of it went through the press after his death — 
 in 1644 ; he himself living to see only the first edition 
 in 1641. I believe no man was found imprudent 
 enough to republish it after the year 1733 ; the date 
 
 sufficiently informed of every thing memorable in past times, by 
 reading his own.” Yet, as Mr. Chalmers ( Biogr . Diet. vol. iii. p. 
 343), has observed, the late worthy and learned Daines Barrington 
 gives the most favourable opinion of this Chronicle. “ Baker, (says 
 the latter authority,) is by no means so contemptible a writer as he 
 is generally supposed to be : it is believed that the ridicule on this 
 Chronicle arises from its being part of the furniture of Sir Roger de 
 Coverley’s Hall, in one of the Spectators.” Sir Richard (in spite of 
 all his pious effusions) * appears to have been a gay and an imprudent 
 man, as he died in the Fleet Prison : A. D. 1644. 
 
 Bishop Nicolson has well called upon the impartial reader to look 
 into Thomas Blount’s Animadversions on this Chronicle , published at 
 Oxford, in 1672, 8vo. — in which the public had “ such a specimen 
 of its many and gross errors, as ought to have shaken its credit.” 
 And yet (in the Bishop’s time) “ it sold as well as ever.” Blount 
 himself is supposed to have spent several years in writing a Chronicle 
 of English Affairs ; but neither Wood, nor Nicolson, nor Hearne, 
 had ever met with it. See the latter’s Peter Langtofft’s Chronicle, 
 vol. i. p. xxviii. He was the author of the well known Glossographia 
 Nova, &c. Wood is fertile in the notice of his labours. Note of 
 Sir Richard’s Chronicle : the later editions have engraved title-pages, 
 and a copy is worth about 1/. 10s. 
 
 * Several “ Meditations and Disquisitions on the Psalms of David,” are notified 
 by Wood : and one upon the Lord’s Prayer , 1633, &c. 4to. Of this latter, we 
 have a singular testimony from Sir Henry Wotton, the author’s “ quondam 
 chamber fellow,” to whom Baker sent it before it went to press. “ I much 
 admire (says Sir Henry) the very character of your style, which seemeth unto me 
 to have not a little of the African idea of St. Austin’s age, full of sweet raptures, 
 and of researching conceits : nothing borrowed, nothing vulgar, and yet all flow- 
 ing from you, (I know not how) with a certain equal facility.” Atlien Oxon. vol. 
 iii. col. 147. Sir Henry must have been in more than a usual complimentary 
 mood. The sight of the author's ms. before it went to press must have quite over- 
 set him. I find, in that singularly rich library of R. Smith, 1682, p. 216, n° 36, a 
 work by Sir Richard called “ Motives for Prayer upon the Seven Days in the Week 
 with cuts, 1642, 18mo. 
 
204 HISTORY, 
 
 of the last, and what is considered to be the best, 
 edition. 
 
 The word “ History ” should seem to have so com- 
 pletely superseded that of “ Chronicle,” that I am not 
 sure whether any Chronicler is to be found till the 
 year 1777 — when a work, under the title of “ The 
 Chronicle of England , from the landing of Julius 
 Ccesar in Britain to the Norman Conquest appeared 
 from the laborious pen of Joseph Strutt : among the 
 earliest of his performances. It is a mere collection 
 of facts; exhibiting, however, the result of much 
 curious research^ which has considerably enlarged 
 our stock of information respecting our Anglo-Saxon 
 Ancestors. The plates, forty-two in number,* are 
 merely intended for illustrations. With Strutt died 
 our Chroniclers, professedly so called. 
 
 I now take up the History of England, properly 
 so designated, from the time of Polydore Vergil to 
 the more recent publications of the present period, 
 not without the accompanying and appropriate aid of 
 Memorials , Journals , and Memoirs. The Chronicles 
 will be found to supply the vacuum between the mid- 
 dle of the sixteenth century and the commencement of 
 the seventeenth century. The Historia Anglica of 
 Polydore Vergil, first published at Basil, in 1534,+ 
 
 * These plates are little better than magazine productions: un- 
 worthy of the name and reputation of the author. At the end of the 
 second volume, p. 277 , there is an “ Appendix,” which extends to 
 page 291, inclusively. The catalogue of Messrs. Payne and Foss is 
 enriched with several copies of this not undesirable work. The 
 small paper being marked at 41 . 4s. $ and the large, “ very neat, in 
 russia,” at 12/. 12s. 
 
 4 This is the first edition of the work, which was afterwards re- 
 printed at the same place in 1555, 1556, 1557, and again in 1570, 
 folio. The octavo edition of 1651 is considered the best. An inter- 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 205 
 
 is now rarely consulted ; its chief merit consisting in 
 the purity of its style. The author has been accused 
 of having destroyed those ms. authorities which he 
 consulted. The Collectanea of Leland* have been 
 the well-springs of a great portion of information 
 found in the pages of Polydore Vergil’s successors. 
 
 From Vergil I proceed to John Speed ; whose His - 
 torie of Great Britaine was first published in 161 1 ^ 
 
 mediate edition was published at Ghent in 1556, Svo. 2 vol. The 
 edition of 1534 will necessarily be considered as the Editio Princeps ; 
 and perhaps, of all copies of it, now in existence, that of the Rt. 
 Hon. T. Grenville is the finest.:}: It seems to be also on large 
 
 paper. The binding is in the original, beautiful condition $ and 
 will be found described in the Bibliogr. Decameron , vol. ii. p. 469. 
 All the books, with this peculiar binding, appear to have belonged 
 to a collector, resident at Basle. At least I have seen none but 
 Basle books in such a binding. But the typographical execution, and 
 graphic embellishments, of this first edition of Polydore Vergil’s 
 History of England, are most inviting. Consult the Typog. Antiq. 
 vol. i. p. xliv, xlv. In regard to the character of the historian, the 
 reader may see some powerful hostile criticisms, from powerful 
 names, in the Bibliomania ; p. 323. There are some who think that 
 Polydore, in the purity of his style, redeems the frequent infidelity of 
 his narrative. Had he given us a “ History of his own Times ” 
 (and those times were most interesting, and he an acute observer) 
 as Burnet has done, we might have cheerfully parted with every line 
 of his “ Historia Anglica.” 
 
 * Leland’s valuable Collections were first published by Hearne, in 
 1715, 6 vol. 8vo. Of these, hereafter. 
 
 + The dates of the subsequent editions are 1614, 1623, 1627> 
 1632, and 1650 : each in folio — and all substantial volumes : but the 
 first of 1611 seems to be the favourite. Large paper copies of this 
 first edition are by no means uncommon. Mr. Triphook has at this 
 moment a very fine one, marked at 5 1. 5s. Messrs. Arch mark a copy 
 of it, together with the Theatre , Sfc. (of which presently) at 9^. 9s. 
 
 X It has however the date of 1533. 
 
206 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 in a splendid folio volume, and of which five editions 
 appeared before the expiration of the half of the same 
 century. Whoever was the projector of the mode of 
 publication, is not known : if it were Speed himself, 
 he deserves the warm thanks of posterity — for it is, of 
 all others, one of the most tasteful and useful plans 
 ever carried into effect. And Granger has told us, 
 that Speed’s work “ is, in its kind, incomparably more 
 complete than all the histories of his predecessors put 
 
 It is in most of our celebrated public and private collections : * but 
 one of the most gorgeous copies with which I am acquainted, is that 
 in the archiepiscopal library at Lambeth — in 2 vol., bound in red 
 morocco, with the plates coloured. The brass and gold coins, &c. have 
 a good effect ; but the rest of the ornaments are tawdrily executed. 
 In former times, this copy appears to have been much used. The 
 cuts in Speed’s history are in wood, and consist of coins, seals, arms, 
 and different insignia of the several reigns. The first three editions 
 have engraved title-pages ; the two latter have letter-press' title- 
 pages, with an excellent portrait of Speed, engraved by Savery, pre- 
 fixed. This is the only portrait of Speed (according to Granger) 
 extant. Nicolson’s English Hist. Library , p. 73, edit, folio, 1736, 
 may be worth consulting, respecting the particular merits of Speed’s 
 history. Fuller has sneered at it — in his usually characteristic man- 
 ner : but it is only a sneer, f 
 
 I have said that the first edition of 1611, is <e the favourite;” but 
 as Speed died in 1629, I know not why the subsequent editions, up 
 to his death, are to be hastily discarded. Accordingly I find a copy 
 of the fourth edition, in 1627, upon large paper, in the Bibl. 
 R. Smith , p. 2SO, n° 364 ; and a similar one in West’s collection, 
 Bibl. West. n° 4125) splendidly illustrated, which latter was sold for 
 
 * It was also in the Library of Major Pearson, n° 5484. A similar large paper 
 copy is in the library of Trinity College, Dublin— from the fagel Collection, n° 
 7732. 
 
 f What Sir Henry Spelman said to Sir Wm. Dugdale, about Speed, was a harm- 
 less joke rather than a sneer. “ We are beholden to Mr. Speed and Stowe for 
 stitching, up for us our English history.” Both Stowe and Speed were Tailors. 
 Aubrey’s Lives of Eminent Men ; vol. ii. p. 541 . 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 207 
 
 together.”* The History and Lives of XX Ringes of 
 England, isc. by William Martyn, Esq/'' is now, I 
 
 61. 105 . Messrs. Payne and Foss mark a large paper copy of this 
 edition, together with the Theatre, in russia binding, gilt leaves, at 
 81. 8s. 2 vol4 The Theatre of Great Britain has been published 
 perhaps more frequently than the history — as early as 1 11, and as 
 late as 1743: see Gough's British Topography, vol. i. p. 91 : where 
 the work is called “ a noble apparatus” to the history. It consists 
 of maps of several counties and principal borough towns of G. B. and 
 has small engravings of palaces and great mansions, in the corners — 
 which the hungry illustrator seizes upon and cuts up without re- 
 morse. A good copy of this Theatre (in which the maps and arms 
 are frequently coloured), may be worth 2/. 2s. Du Fresnoy (in 
 Rawlinson’s Catalogue) calls the Theatre “ a diligent and exact 
 work, and of equal use. for the history, as the topography of 
 England,’’ vol. ii. p. 460. A remarkably fine large paper copy of the 
 first edition, 1611, was sold at Woodhouse’s sale for 117. 1 1$. 
 
 * Biographical History of England, vol. ii. p. 320, edit. 1804. 
 
 f Martyn’s history comprises a period from the reign of William I. 
 to that of Henry VIII., with the succession of the Dukes, Earls, &c. 
 of this kingdom to the Xllth of James I. London 1615, 1638, folio. 
 The engraved portraits, above noticed, are within very small circles, 
 suspended, medallion- wise, to the shafts of two columns. The 
 curious necessarily covet brilliant impressions of these graphic gems. 
 See Bibl. Hohlyn, pt. ii. p. 509. Nicolson notices the second edition 
 as enlarged with the lives of the three succeeding Monarchs : but 
 without the frontispiece. My memory may misgive me, but I seem to 
 possess not a very indistinct recollection of a fine large paper pre- 
 sentation copy of the first edition, with such impressions of the regal 
 portraits as made the beholder almost start back with delightful 
 astonishment ! Martyn was recorder of Exeter 3 and his history was 
 ushered into the world, after his decease, by his sons 3 who were 
 very anxious that the public should acknowledge the same degree of 
 merit in it which they themselves fancied they discovered. But the 
 event proved sadly otherwise. 
 
 Jin this same catalogue (1822, n°5531), I find a copy of Speed’s Catalogue 
 of Religious Houses in Great Britain, interleaved, with portrait of Speed in- 
 serted,” very neat, 15 y. 
 
HISTORY, 
 
 20 & 
 
 believe, a volume, coveted chiefly for the brilliant 
 frontispiece of small portraits of the Monarchs whose 
 deeds are recorded in the text. Wm. Marshall was 
 the engraver of these brilliant little heads. The la- 
 bours of Martyn were never intruded upon the public 
 beyond a second edition, which appeared in 1638. 
 The first was published in 1615. A book of greater 
 intrinsic worth, and of much rarer occurrence, next 
 arrests our attention. I speak of the “ Palce-Albion 
 or The History of Great Britaine , 8$c. by William 
 Slatyer ; which appeared without date, but I believe 
 in the year 1621.* Old Anthony a Wood says that 
 the author was “ in good esteem for his knowledge in 
 
 * In the recent edition of the Athence Oxonienses, vol. iii. col. 227* 
 there is some account of Slatyer, together with a specimen of the 
 English verses from his history $ for which Dr. Bliss, the editor, re- 
 fers to the Censura Literaria, vol. ix. p. 31-3G — and where indeed 
 several specimens will be found both of the Latin and English poetry. 
 Dr. Bliss, with good reason, thinks the former superior to the latter. 
 I know not for what reason, but this has always been a rare book in 
 a perfect state. Nicolson gives a very brief notice of it j and it is 
 only to the Bibl. Beauclerk , part ii. n° 2244, (which copy with 
 another book, was sold for a shilling only), that I am able, just now, 
 to refer for the existence of a copy in a printed catalogue of a private 
 library. A copy is in the British Museum, but not in the Royal or 
 London Institution libraries. An inspection of a sound and neat 
 co py> in the choice collection of Mr. Roger Wilbraham, enables me 
 to point out to the purchaser the necessity of examining whether the 
 copy he have in view, contain sign. D d. 3 — on the reverse of whicn 
 the work ends. From signature C c 2, the leaves are not numbered. 
 The <e marginal notes ” are duly mentioned by Wood. As a speci- 
 men of one or two of them, let the reader consult p. 113, where the 
 heraldic authorities of John Harding, John Hanvill, and N. Upton 
 are cited, in order to prove what arms " Brute bare!” The cut 
 
 of Hengist at the commencement of Ode VII. is borrowed from 
 Speed. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 209 
 
 English History, and his excellent vein in Latin and 
 English poetry” — of both of which, indeed, he has ex- 
 hibited copious specimens, in the Latin and English 
 verses throughout the Ten Books of which his history 
 is composed. 
 
 It is now time to notice “ The Collection of the 
 History of England by Samuel Daniel not pro- 
 bably in the precise chronological order in which it 
 was published, but from the “ last corrected copy” of 
 the author appearing in 1634 ; after which it was 
 continued, chiefly by John Trussel, to the year 1685. 
 Daniel stands exceedingly high in the estimation of 
 competent judges, as the preceding note will abun- 
 dantly testify. About this time came forth the history 
 of Great Britain by Duchesne ; and towards the end 
 of the same century, appeared the labours of another 
 French historian, of the name of Larry, connected 
 with our history. I place them thus together,* almost 
 
 * It is perhaps difficult to know precisely when the first edition of 
 Samuel Daniel’s truly desirable volume appeared. Bishop Nicol- 
 son hastily (I think) places it in 1602. Mr. Burnet ( Specimens of 
 English Prose Writers , vol. ii. p. 368) in 1613. It seems that two 
 editions preceded that of 1634 j namely, one in 1618, and another 
 in 1621. The dates of Trussel’s (very unworthy) continuation are 
 1636, 1650, 1685 : — incorporating Daniel’s text: and from the Bibl. 
 Hoblyn. pt. ii. p. 509, these latter should seem to be the preferable 
 editions. The style of Daniel has been generally and warmly com- 
 mended. Headley calls the author “ the Atticus of his day:” An - 
 dent English Poetry , vol. i. xlii. edit. 1787 : See also Ellis’s Early 
 
 English Poets , vol. ii. p. 316. Echard also praises him in the pre- 
 face of his own History of England , coupling him with Milton. It 
 must be noted, here, that Daniel was a poet as well as an historian. 
 
 f I will, as briefly as possible, dismiss the notice of these two 
 French writers of our history. Duchesne’s history appeared at 
 Paris in 1634-41 > and again in 1666, in two folio volumes. Al- 
 though the author be called in the first volume of the Recueil des 
 
 V 
 
210 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 parenthetically, and proceed to Milton, Whitelock, 
 and Brady. First of Milton ; whose history, however, 
 is very short; it having been first published in 1671, 
 4 to., and afterwards in 1695, 8vo. It has been incor- 
 porated in the octavo, and both the folio, editions of 
 his works ; the latter, of 1738, the better edition. The 
 history extends only to William the Conqueror* 
 
 Historiens des Gaules, Sic. “The Father of French Historians,” 
 he is, in reference to English history, among the least of its chil- 
 dren. Du Fresnoy dispatches the work with the laconic, but em- 
 phatic, epithet of ff Mediocre.” Larry, who was a protestant, 
 published the second volume of his history, first, in 1697 : the third 
 in 169S : the first in 1707, and the fourth in 1713. It was much 
 applauded abroad on its first appearance, as the completest history 
 in the French language : and the portraits, with which it is plenti- 
 fully furnished, helped to increase its popularity. But scarcely a 
 score of years elapsed, ere the work was found to be jejune and un- 
 satisfactory ; and in spite of the style and narrative, which Niceron 
 designates as if coulante” and “ interessante,” the work rapidly 
 sunk in estimation : and is now seized upon by Collectors chiefly for 
 the sake of the portraits — which, if blackness or strong shadow, 
 alone, possess merit, are most meritorious.f Copies on large paper 
 are by no means rare. Mdmoires des Homines Illustres; vol. i. p. 10. 
 
 * Mr. D’Israeli, the modern " Indagator invictissimus” of every 
 thing that is curious and interesting, and precious, relating to our 
 history and literature, has furnished us with the following piece of 
 information respecting Milton’s History of England. “ Milton, in 
 composing his History of England, introduced, in the third Book, a 
 very remarkable digression on the characters of the Long Parlia- 
 ment : a most animated description of a class of political adventu- 
 rers, with whom modern history has presented many parallels. From 
 tenderness to a party then imagined to be subdued, it was struck 
 out, by command, nor do I find it restituted in Rennet’s Collection 
 of English Histories.’’ It was, however, “ preserved by a pamphlet 
 
 t “ The portraits, in number LXVII, are after Vanderwerjf , by Van Gunst , and 
 others ; See Bibl. Fagel, no. 7737. The Originals of these engraved portraits 
 were, I suspect, very frequently, ideal. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 211 
 
 The Memorials of English Affairs (from the be- 
 ginning of the reign of Charles I. to the Restoration) 
 by Bulstrode Whitelock, and which first appeared 
 in 1682*, is an admirable work; but both “the 
 Young” and “the Old” Collector will do well to 
 admit only the last edition of 1732 into his library. 
 More ample, and doubtless more valuable, than either 
 of its precursors, is A Complete History of England 9 
 Sc c. by Robert Brady, published at London in 1685- 
 
 in 1681, which has fortunately exhibited one of the warmest pic- 
 tures in design and colouring by a master’s hand.” New Series of 
 Curiosities of Literature : vol. i. p. 144. But this tract is reprinted 
 in Milton’s Prose Works, vol. ii. p. 39, Edit. 1738 — where its omis- 
 sion, in all the previous editions of Milton’s history, is mentioned. 
 My friend Mr. Amyot seems to suspect that Milton was not the 
 author of it : and I own that I incline to his opinion. 
 
 * I must commence this note with confessing my obligations to 
 the authority with which the last terminated. Whitelock’s Memo - 
 rials were first published (as above) by Arthur, Earl of Anglesea, 
 who took considerable liberties with the manuscript.” The ff liber- 
 ties” usually consisted of a characteristic stroke, or a short critical 
 opinion, which did not harmonise with the private feelings of the 
 Earl.” The passages struck out were restored (says Mr. D’Israeli) 
 in the edition of 1732 ; which have scarcely increased the magnitude 
 of the volume, and “ the booksellers imagine that there can be no 
 material difference between the two editions, and wonder at the bib- 
 liographical mystery that they can afford to sell the edition of 1682 
 at 105., and have 5 1. 5s. for the edition of 1732.” New Series, &c. 
 vol. i. p. 144. The edition of 1732 is doubtless the safest to pur- 
 chase ; but the recent catalogues of Messrs. Payne and Foss, and 
 Longman and Co. lead us to indulge the hope that a copy of it may 
 be obtained for one-fifth less than the “ round sum” mentioned by 
 my very “ curious” friend Mr. D’lsraeli. Granger says (from 
 Echard) that these memorials would have been much more valu- 
 able, if his wife had not burnt many of his papers.” Biogr. Hist, of 
 England, vol. iv. p. 65. “ There is an anonymous pamphlet (says 
 
 Granger) well worth the reader’s attention, entitled “ Clarendon and 
 Whitelock further compared." It was written by Mr. John Davys, of 
 
212 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 1700,* in 2 folio volumes ; to which is usually added 
 a third volume, being the author s “ Introduction to 
 the Old English History ,” with a Glossary, &c. 1684, 
 and a fourth, being an “ Historical Treatise of Cities 
 and Boroughs." Brady’s performance, which has 
 received the warm commendations of Lord Keeper 
 Guilford, and Hume, as its title imports, may be con- 
 
 Hertford College, Oxford.” There is another work by Whitelocke, 
 now little read, containing Memorials of the English Affairs from 
 the time of Brute to the end of the reign of James I.” This was pub- 
 lished by W. Penn and Hr. Welwood in 1709, and may usually be 
 purchased for a few shillings. 
 
 * More cannot be said in recommendation of Brady’s history than 
 is said above : and the well-disposed towards an acquisition of good 
 old English History will do well to secure a copy of it at the very 
 reasonable price of 9,1. 9s., in three vols., as marked in the recent 
 catalogue of Messrs. Payne and Foss. Mr. Laing marks a copy “ in 
 four vol. not quite uniform” at 91. 12 s. 6d. The work extends only 
 to the reign of Richard II. : but, says the Lord Keeper Guilford “ it 
 is compiled so religiously upon the very text, letters, and syllable of 
 the authorities, especially those upon record, that the work may 
 justly pass for an antiquarian law book. Each volume of the history 
 contains a frontispiece, and a copious Appendix separately nnmbered. 
 The portrait of James I. is in the first volume of which the “ Ge- 
 neral Preface’’ is full of Anglo-Saxon historical erudition. His Intro- 
 duction to Old English History is et comprehended in three several 
 tracts,” &c. together with a Glossary.f This forms a third volume. 
 The account of cities and boroughs, a fourth. A complete copy is in 
 the Library of the Royal Institution. Brady has been long consi- 
 dered as the champion of Toryism, at the period when he wrote. I 
 seek in vain among catalogues — for copies of his estimable labours 
 
 upon LARGE PAPER. 
 
 t The Tracts are these : 1 .“An Answer to Mr. Petyt's Rights of ye Commons 
 asserted and to a book intituled “ Jani Anglorum facies Nova.” 2. An Answer 
 to a book intituled “ Argumentum Antinormanicum .** 3. “ The exact history of 
 the succession of the Crown of England ” second edit, very much enlarged. The 
 Glossary expounds** many words used frequently in our ancient Records, Laws, 
 and Historians.” 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 213 
 
 sidered rather the ground work of a general history 
 of England — it being “ all delivered in plain matter 
 of fact, without any reflections or remarques.” It is 
 a work, which will every year necessarily become 
 rarer and rarer. The last historian in the seventeenth 
 century whom I shall notice — and who, especially 
 with the admirers of the Whig principles of our con- 
 stitution, is deservedly held in considerable respect, 
 is James Tyrrell,* whose General History of Eng - 
 land, See. was published in 1696-1704. It is in three 
 
 * Perfect sets of Tyrrell are becoming rarer and rarer every day. 
 The author was professedly a Whig ; and Tom Hearne, who made 
 whiggism and republicanism synonymous, observes, in a letter to 
 Anstis, of the date of July 11, 1714, “ The last time I saw Mr. 
 Tyrrell, he told me he was going to London to print another part of 
 his General History of England. I hope he will retract his errors; 
 but this I cannot well expect, considering his age and his zeal for 
 republican principles.” Letters of Eminent Persons, &c. vol. i. page 
 289. I do not know what “ other part” of his English History 
 Hearne can allude to, as Tyrrell died in 1718, having just brought 
 out an enlarged edition of his “ Bibliotheca Politico, or an Enquiry 
 into the ancient constitution of the English Government,” in folio — 
 of which I observe a copy on large paper, marked at 10s. 6d. in 
 Mr. Payne’s catalogue. Of the “ History,’’f I know of no copy 
 upon large paper ; nor of any, in any form, which has a date later 
 than 1704. The volumes in fact are nominally three, but volumes 
 II. and III., being each of them about double the bulk of volume I. 
 are more commonly bound in parts ; thus making the entire work 
 consist of five volumes. The purchaser should see that he is sup- 
 plied with volume III., Part II., printed in 1704, and completing the 
 history to the end of Richard II. In the Bibl. West. no. 4133, there 
 was a copy with a great number of ms. notes in the margin, and 
 insertions of curious ms. papers in a fair hand ; ” which Paterson, who 
 drew up the catalogue, supposed to be <c the work of some very able 
 
 * Like Brady’s, it extends only to the time of Richard II. ; but it has many 
 curious documents, illustrative even of the history of our language ; to which I 
 think cither Warton, Ritson, or Burnett has referred. 
 
214 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 or four folio volumes, according to the fancy of the 
 purchaser. Tyrrell is the very opposite of Brady ; 
 and his work abounds with equally curious and im- 
 portant matter. He married the grand-daughter of 
 Usher ; and Hearne admits (but with apparent re- 
 luctance) that he “ is a learned man, although he runs 
 counter now and then to usually received opinions." 
 See the preface to Benedict . Abbas , p. xi. In his 
 Thomas de Elmham , page xvi, he seems to squeeze 
 out a compliment to him in a circuitous and heart- 
 less manner. The truth is, that Tyrrell’s history, 
 together with that of Brady, is indispensable to an 
 historical collection of any extent: but one regrets 
 that the volumes are usually found in such varying 
 sizes. 
 
 The opening of the eighteenth century was parti- 
 cularly distinguished by a series, and almost throng of 
 Histories of England, general or partial, so as to make 
 it somewhat difficult to select them with judgment, 
 and describe them with accuracy. But the names of 
 Kennet and Echard — connected with the former — 
 and that of the illustrious Clarendon, illustrative of 
 the latter, species of history — demand our immediate 
 attention. First, then, of the “ Complete History of 
 England ’ usually attributed to Bishop Kennet, but 
 which was published anonymously — first in 1709, and 
 secondly in 1719,* each edition being in three volumes. 
 
 historian., if not of the author himself.’’ In the collection of Daly’s 
 books, which were sold in Dublin in 1 792, there was a similar copy, 
 in five vols. : thus described. “ To this copy Mr. Tyrrel has made 
 considerable additions in ms. written in a fair hand, which must be 
 worthy of the attention of the learned.’’ It was purchased for 10Z. 
 4s. 6d. I observe an ordinary copy of this work marked at 3/. in Mr. 
 Laing’s catalogue of 1822 : no. 7479. 
 
 * First, as to the author. What could be the motive of Bishop 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 2l5 
 
 I have little hesitation in affirming, that, considering 
 the authentic and interesting materials of which this 
 
 Rennet* to deny it, is not, at this period, very manifest. That he 
 took an ample share in it, is evident from Hearne’s affirmation ; who 
 says (Oct. 8, 1708) that “ Mr. Took told Sir Philip Syndem, that 
 he paid Dr. Rennet 200 libs for his share in the three vols. of English 
 historians, besides about 100 libs that it cost him in treats.’’ Reli- 
 quice Hearnianat ; vol. i. p. 141. Mr. Nichols, in that most interest- 
 ing 4to. volume called Anecdotes of Literature , 17&0 (subsequently 
 and miraculously expanded into fourteen substantial octavos) tells us, 
 at p. 54, that the compilation of the first two volumes of Rennet’s 
 history was by a Mr. Hughes 5 who is supposed to have written <e the 
 general preface without any participation of Dr. Rennet.” (For 
 some interesting particulars respecting Rennet, consult p. 532 of the 
 same volume.) This history, as the title imports, is “ illustrated' 
 with large and useful notes, taken from diverse MSS. and other good 
 authors and at the conclusion of the preface to the third volume, 
 we are informed that the author’s intention was “ to hold an even 
 balance, and to let nothing turn it but truth and justice.” The 
 reader has only to glance on the subjoined notef to be convinced of 
 the importance of the materials of which these volumes are composed. 
 They are not destitute of embellishments, such as they are 3 the 
 heads being engraved by Vanderbanck. The list of subscribers is 
 large and respectable. Each volume has a copious index. The 
 third volume of Rennet gave rise to the following publication : 
 “ Examen : or an Enquiry into ihe Credit and Veracity of a Pretended 
 
 * He was not made a Bishop till 1718 t when he had the See of Peterborough. 
 
 + Vol. I r contains : 1. Milton’s History of England, up to the Conquest : 2. 
 Daniell’s ditto : 3. Ditto, Life of William the First : 4. The same of William 
 lit. down to Henry F/.— that of Richard II. being “ new writ 5. Habing- 
 ton’s Life of Edward IV: 6. Sir Thomas More’s Life of Edward V. y and of 
 Richard ///. — continued by Hall and Hollinshed : 7 • Buck’s Life of Richard 
 III. : 8. Lord Bacon’s Life of Henry yll. 
 
 Vol. II. contains : 1. Lord Herbert’s Life of Henry V ///.* 2. Hayward’s IAfe 
 of Edward yl. : 3. Hughes’s Life of Queen Mary , translated from the Latin 
 of Francis, Bishop of Hereford : 4. Camden’s Life of Elizabeth , translated 
 by Davis : 5. Appendix to the same: 6. Camden’s Annals of James I . never 
 before in English. 7- Arthur Wilson’s Life of James I. 
 
 Vol. III. From Charles I. to William III. inclusive — “ all new writ by a learned 
 and impartial hand j” which “ hand” is supposed to be Rennet's. 
 
HISTORY, 
 
 216 
 
 work is composed, (and of which the subjoined note 
 affords a testimony) it must be entitled to a more 
 conspicuous place in the Library of the careful collec- 
 tor than either of its predecessors : and if the mate- 
 rials are sound, it is but of second importance by whom 
 they were collected ; although, in my own estimation, 
 the hand of Rennet was chiefly instrumental in their 
 selection. The history of Laurence Echard,* of 
 
 Complete History ; shewing the perverse and wicked Design of it, and 
 the many Falsities and Abuses of Truth contained in it." &c. By the 
 Hon. Roger North, Esq. London, 1740, 4to. This, till its recent 
 reprint, was a scarce and coveted book. It contains many curious 
 particulars 5 although Kennet is hardly treated with even the common 
 civility of a gentleman. 
 
 The edition of 1719, commonly called “ the best,” contains “ notes, 
 said to be inserted by Mr. Strype : and several alterations and addi- 
 tions.” Nichols, ibid. Dr. Rawlinson,f however, seems to doubt 
 the authenticity of these notes as being penned by Strype. See a 
 particularly described copy in Bibl. Hoblyn. part. ii. p. 508. The 
 large paper copies are by no means rare. Messrs. Payne and Foss 
 mark a neat copy of the second and best edition at 31. 3s. 
 
 * “ Collectio minime contemnenda” — says Fabricius, as he com- 
 mences his analysis of the contents of each volume of the first edi- 
 tion. Bibl. Lat. Med. et Inf. HZtat. vol. i. p. 274, edit. 1734. In 
 his preface, however, Echard treats the monkish writers of the mid- 
 dle ages, and even Holinshed and Speed, very uncourteously : as 
 highly disagreeable to the taste and genius of this refined age $” and 
 as “ now much neglected and almost laid aside” — observations, 
 which equally prove the author’s want of judgment and of taste, if 
 not of knowledge. Bishop Nicolson, oddly observes, that “ this 
 history was chiefly intended for the useful diversion of the nobility 
 and gentry.” Engl. Hist. Libr. p. 74 : and Rawlinson allows that it 
 was “ much esteemed by the author’s countrymen.” Trans, of Du 
 Fresnoy, vol. ii. p. 466. The author of the “ Church History of the 
 Catholicks ” has however accused Echard of (t venturing into the 
 world, without the ceremony of quotations.” Jacob Tonson, the 
 
 t Translation of Da Fresnoy ; vol. ii. 464, note *• 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 217 
 
 which both editions were published just one year after 
 those of Kennet, seems to have less claim upon the 
 attention of posterity ; although (as the subjoined 
 note may testify) there have not been wanting weighty 
 authorities to recommend it to the notice of the au- 
 thor’s contemporaries. But, on the whole, Echard is 
 admitted with reluctance, though sometimes from 
 necessity, into “ the Young Man’s ” historical collec- 
 tion. 
 
 Perhaps, pursuing exact chronological order, I 
 ought here to notice the Genealogical History of the 
 Kings and Queens of Englandby Francis Sandford, 
 of which the best edition appeared about this time ; 
 namely, in 1707 ;* and of which copies on large paper 
 
 bookseller, had a royal privilege for the exclusive sale of the first 
 edition, for fourteen years. Of the second, which does not seem to 
 hold out any advantages over the first, there are magnificent copies 
 on large paper — printed in the fine style of the first half of the 
 eighteenth century. 
 
 * Although this edition, with additions and improvements by 
 Stebbing, be doubtless the best, yet I recommend the very nice 
 and curious Collector to avail himself also of the previous edition of 
 1677 j because the chief attractions of this work consist in the Em - 
 bellishments — which are engravings of tombs, 3eals, devices, arms, 
 quarterings, crests and supporters, &c. of the several monarchs, &c. 
 The earlier edition will necessarily have the choicer impressions of 
 the plates $ and if these be taken out and inlaid, as duplicates, in the 
 later edition,f I hardly know of a more splendid and magnificent 
 volume — especially if it be on large paper : which indeed is of ex- 
 treme rarity. Mr. Grenville possesses one of the finest copies of this 
 second edition, on large paper, with which I am acquainted. It had 
 once (I believe) graced the shelves of the Lee Priory Library. A 
 
 f Messrs. Payne and Foss present us with a similar copy in their recent cata- 
 logue— but it seems to be beyond all price ! At least, none is affixed. It is on 
 small paper. Watt will supply the other magnificent work of Sandford. The 
 History of such costly publications, at such a period, must be curious. 
 
218 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 are considered as among the great guns even of mag- 
 nificent collections. But the lustre of all partial and 
 even general Histories of England, was eclipsed, at 
 the opening of the eighteenth century, by the History 
 of the Rebellion and Civil Wars — from the powerful 
 pen of Lord Clarendon:* a work, of which the 
 
 similar copy, at Althorp, bound in russia, was furnished by Messrs. 
 Arch at the cost of 36/. 15s. In Osborne’s time (1759) it might 
 have been purchased for 21. 1 2s. 6d. in this state. The catalogue of 
 Messrs. Payne and Foss marks a copy of the small paper, in russia, 
 at 10/. 10$. : and a ff tall copy, in russia” is marked at 9/. 9$. in the 
 catalogue of Messrs. Longman and Co. Messrs. Arch gallantly lift 
 up the price to 1 21. 12$. Sandford may therefore be said to be 
 “ looking up” in the market. With this (< Genealogical History” 
 is usually united, in a large library, “ the History of the Coronation 
 of James II.” 16S7, with numerous plates. A fine copy may be 
 worth 51. 5s. 
 
 * A pleasing little bibliographical memoir might be composed 
 respecting the progress and success of this immortal work : which 
 has placed the author among the acutest observers, profoundest think- 
 ers, and most impartial historians, of any age or nation.'}' But my 
 
 t It were idle to quote authorities. Sir Walter Scott, in his edition of Dryden’s 
 IVorlts, vol. ix. p. 63, quotes Hume only : but Walpole, Granger, Lodge, and Chal- 
 mers, may be also consulted with advantage. Dryden addressed some verses to 
 Lord Clarendou on the new year’s day of 1662, when the Chancellor enjoyed the 
 full confidence of the Monarch and the nation : hut the poet’s Muse was not in her 
 best trim on the occasion, and the profligate Charles more than divides the eulogies 
 of the upright Chancellor. How ought Dryden to have addressed that great 
 man in his banishment ? and how magnificent are the lines of Pope to Harley, 
 Earl of Oxford, on a similar occasion ? To revert to the history : — it is the matter , 
 which chiefly fixes the attention, and confirms the judgment : for the perusal of 
 Clarendon is, after all, any thing but a recreation. His style is cumbrous. His 
 periods are long and frequently involved. The very opening of the work, although 
 indicative of a lofty and generous turn of mind, is somewhat obscure and 
 oppressive. We rise from Clarendon, as we sometimes do from Milton — often 
 charmed and astonished — but a little wearied, and well pleased to rise. It is the 
 magnanimous impartiality of the Chancellor, as well as his inflexible adherence to 
 truth, which constitutes the chief excellence of his History. Many writers, I think, 
 have described characters as vividly and as copiously ; but it is the honesty of Lord 
 Clarendon’s descriptions which makes his figures “ stand out of the canvas” and 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 £19 
 
 impressions and profits have increased in an equal 
 ratio — and of which the popularity is built upon an 
 
 business is with a few simple facts . . and to be of service to the 
 reader chiefly in the selection of the more preferable editions of 
 Lord Clarendon’s history. The work first appeared in three folio 
 volumes, in the years 1702, 1703, and 1704. The Proclamation of 
 Queen Anne, for fourteen years exclusive sale, is dated “ at Hamp- 
 ton Court, the 24 tli day of June, 1703.” The preface was written by 
 Dr. Alrich, Dean of Christ Church, one of the brightest ornaments 
 of the University of Oxford. Reliquice Hearniance, vol. i.p. 55. Some 
 of the titles of this first edition (Dr. Bliss tells us) are uniformly 
 dated 1704. This was the favourite edition, especially on large 
 paper, which served for the Grangerites to illustrate. I observe 
 such a copy of it, together with a similar one of the State Papers, 
 (first published in 1767) in seven vols., marked at 21 1. in the recent 
 catalogue of Messrs. Payne and Foss. A second folio edition of the 
 History appeared in 1707, of which there are two copies, on large 
 paper, at moderate prices, in the recent catalogue of Messrs. Long- 
 man and Co. ; and a pirated edition of this impression came out at 
 Dublin in 1719. The best octavo edition before the reprints is that 
 of 1732. The octavo editions are almost innumerable ; beginning 
 with the year 1705, and ending with 1819. The exclusive printing 
 vests in the University. A Supplement to Lord Clarendon’s history, 
 containing tracts, speeches, letters, &c. : “ with the heads [portraits] 
 of the great men on both sides, eighty-five in number,’’ was first 
 published at London, in 1717 } again in 1724, Svo. These heads 
 had better been elsewhere. The History of the Rebellion and Civil 
 Wars in Ireland ,” first appeared in 1720, 8vo. A Collection of Tracts 
 (obtained from Lord Clarendon’s youngest daughter, the Lady Fran- 
 ces Knighteley) was also first published at London, in 1727, folio. 
 The preceding, with the Chancellor’s Autobiography , first published 
 at Oxford, in 1759 in folio and octavo — again in 1761, Svo. — and 
 again at the same place, in 1817, 4to. to harmonise with the 4to. 
 edition of the Rebellion in England and Ireland, in 1816, 6 vols. 
 —form the principal works that have raised Lord Clarendon to 
 
 claim our irresistible attention. Truth has mixed up his colours — and time will 
 render them only more mellow and attractive. Of all the characters given by 
 writers of Clarendon, that by Granger is one of the most pithy and exact. 
 
220 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 imperishable basis. A statesman, a lawyer, and a phi- 
 losopher in its most practical, and perhaps rational, 
 sense, there is hardly any name which has reached us, 
 encircled by purer rays of renown, than that of Hyde, 
 
 that rank which he will probably ever maintain in the annals of his- 
 torical fame. His Religion and Policy, which was first published at 
 Oxford, in 1811, 8vo. 2 vols., is not likely to meet with the success 
 of the noble author’s previous labours. But the public is about to 
 receive the most valuable, and the most thoroughly original, edi- 
 tion of the History of the Rebellion in England and Ireland, from the 
 forthcoming impression of this work, under the editorial care of the 
 Rev. Dr. Bandinel, principal Librarian of the Bodleian library from 
 the autograph of the Noblb Author — of which only 26 pages 
 appear to be missing. The public may not be aware that in the pre- 
 vious editions. Lord Clarendon’s text had been softened and a little 
 modified in some of the expressions (by Abp. Sancroft and his lord- 
 ship’s sons) although no historical fact had been suppressed or per- 
 verted. Still it was not the genuine picture of that great author’s 
 mind — and that picture we shall shortly have the pleasure of con- 
 templating. 
 
 Need I remind the reader of that most exquisite and matchless 
 illustrated large paper copy of the edition of 1807, which has 
 been so imperfectly described in the JEdes Althorpiance ? And when 
 I mention this, I am not unmindful of that still more marvellously 
 illustrated copy, of the folio edition, which belonged to the late Mr. 
 Sutherland, and which is briefly mentioned at page 668 of the Bib- 
 liomania. The first copy is “ matchless’’ as an octavo, containing 
 prints and uncoloured drawings only. The latter admits drawings 
 also* 
 
 * And here, a word or two about the portrait of the illustrious author himself. 
 It is certain that, if the engraved head of him by Fittler, in the recent edition of 
 1816, be a resemblance to the Original, those portraits, by preceding engravers, 
 from the pencils of Lely and Zoust, are not so ; and Granger (vol. iii. p. 360) tells 
 us that “ the best picture, and the truest likeness of him, is that which was painted 
 by Sir Peter Lely.’ The portrait to the quarto Oxford edition, represents the 
 Chancellor when he was a young man— but he has here, a hooked or roman nose ; 
 whereas, in the other portraits, the nose is rather flat. Once t( a roman nose,' 
 always a roman nose. See Mr. Harding’s Illustrious Portraits ; which gives us 
 the head by Lely, admirably engraved by Cooper. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 221 
 
 Earl of Clarendon ; or any which is likely to go down 
 to posterity in a more unsullied state of purity. When 
 one considers the times in which this celebrated Lord 
 Chancellor lived* the station which he filled, the cha- 
 racters with whom he came in competition — as able 
 as they were intrepid, daring, and corrupt) his family 
 connections, his career of glory ; brightest in its wane 
 — and, above all, the legacy, which, in his History , 
 he has bequeathed to posterity, ... I hardly know 
 how to call upon both “ the Young and the Old,” 
 lover of good books, sufficiently to reverence those 
 invaluable volumes known by the title of the “ His - 
 tory of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England , 
 begun in the year 1641,” by the great author in 
 question. 
 
 I am now approaching the period when “ General 
 Histories ” of England were written in a more metho- 
 dical order — when the stream of events flowed on 
 uninterruptedly; and when the reader might com- 
 mence with the invasion of Julius Caesar, and con- 
 clude with the elevation of the House of Hanover. 
 The previous .histories contained detached Memoirs, 
 or Lives, or Annals. They supplied the materials for 
 the picture, rather than exhibited the picture itself. 
 Or, they were as the groups, or main features of the 
 composition ; wanting that keeping and expression 
 which arise entirely from the magic of colour. At 
 length appeared an History of England, from the pen 
 of a foreigner, which, till the publication of Hume’s 
 celebrated history, was attended by an unprecedented 
 popularity in its sale. I am of course alluding to the 
 work of Rapin ;* first published in the French lan- 
 
 * The name of Rapin-Thoyras will continue to be as familiar to 
 
222 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 guage at Amsterdam, in 1724, in ten quarto vo- 
 lumes ; and reprinted the following year at Trevoux , 
 
 the English as to foreigners ; and a great deal of amusing biblio- 
 graphical discussion belongs to the account of the editions of his his- 
 tory. The two French quarto editions above mentioned, each of which 
 contains a brilliant head of Rapin, may be had at very slender prices 
 indeed. The work was translated, and improved by “ Notes ecclesi- 
 astical and civil,’' by Tindall, and published in 1728, 8vo. in 15 vo- 
 lumes. A continuation by Tindall, appeared in 1732 : the whole in 
 3 vols. folio. This folio was again published in 1743, with the 
 Monuments, Houbraken’s Heads, Maps, Plans, Summary and Me- 
 dallic History/ in 5 folio volumes ; and the octavo, in 1757* in 21 
 volumes : so that both these latter editions, of their respective sizes, 
 must be considered the preferable ones. They are dear, in fine con- 
 dition. A copy of the former,! is worth 31/. 10s.— and even of the 
 previous folio of 1732, with the Summary and Medallic History, 
 a copy, in 5 volumes, is marked at 12/. 12s. in Payne’s Catalo- 
 gue $ whereas, with the portraits of Houbraken inserted, it is valued 
 at 31/. 10s. “ in russia, with gilt leaves,” by Messrs. Arch. A 
 copy of the best octavo, neatly bound, is worth about 10/. 10s. 
 The recent labours of Mr. Archdeacon Coxe have taught us the 
 value of Tindall’s J Continuation. No historical library can be per- 
 fect without it. 
 
 * The 5th volume, containing the maps, monuments, plans of battles, &c. was 
 published by itself : but these are usually incorporated in the body of the work, 
 in their proper places. 
 
 •}* Birch's Lives of Illustrious Persons. The portraits to this work, engraved 
 chiefly by Houbraken in Holland, were originally published by themselves in num- 
 bers, each containing four heads, at 5s. per number for the large paper, and 3s- 
 per number for the small ; but on account of the great expense of importing the 
 plates, the price was raised to 65 . for the large and 4$. for the small numbers ; 
 there were not any copies of proof impressions, but what were procured from the 
 engravers or the printers out of the usual course of sale ; and should a complete set 
 of these ever offer, it would be worth near upon a hundred guineas. The lives writ- 
 ten by Dr. Birch, were delivered to those subscribers to the portraits who chose to 
 take them, separately ; the first volume contains 80 portraits, and the second 28, 
 with separate titles, &c. The whole was reprinted in 1756, in 1 volume, and the 
 lives paged from 1 to 108, without separation. These 108 portraits, are some- 
 times added to those which belong to Rapin and Tindall, viz. 42 by Vertue, and 
 12 by Houbraken, and unitedly form a very fine book, 
 t Tindall was assisted by the learned Morant ; who, in fact, abridged his his- 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 223 
 
 in the same number of quarto volumes. It was 
 shortly afterwards translated into our own language, 
 and published without a continuation by Tindall, in 
 two octavo, and three folio, impressions. Such a 
 successful sale was without a parallel : while the skill 
 of the Engraver was latterly called in aid to embel- 
 lish the text of the Historian. Whatever may be the 
 superiority of the labours of Hume, Henry, and later 
 historians, let me assure the well educated and taste- 
 
 But a word only for the very curious— Young and Old Collector. 
 It is well known that there are copies of the best folio Rapin upon 
 fine writing paper ; and such copies, if they possess fine proofs of the 
 heads engraved by Houbraken and Birch, are . . . not now to be 
 purchased — unless on the death of a very eminent collector. Our 
 old Collectors* usually enriched their libraries with such copies ; but 
 I know of none which exceeds that at Althorp, bound in S volumes 
 (including the Summary of the Maps and Plans) which had belonged 
 to George Steevens, and which was not obtained under the sum of 
 sixty guineas. It is bound in calf, with a broad border of gold on 
 the sides, having the edges of the leaves marbled, and gilt. I am 
 told that a fine, similar, copy adorns the library at Woburn Abbey. 
 The late Sir M. M. Sykes justly boasted of a similar treasure— bound 
 in red morocco, and obtained of Mr. Evans ; but the first two volumes 
 only were upon writing paper. This copy was sold at the sale of his 
 library in 1824 for 671. : and the purchaser was Mr. Thorpe. Miss 
 Currer (whom I had inaccurately made the purchaser of it) may 
 boast of a perfect copy of this kind. Mr. Dent is also in posses- 
 sion of a similar copy. It is now a work of the rarest possible 
 occurrence. 
 
 tory, and published it in 1747, 8vo. 3 vols. Mr. Archdeacon Coxe says, (Pref. to 
 Memoirs of Lord Oxford) that the Continuation was written by Dr. Birch. The 
 notes to the former part are excellent, and constitute the principal reason for pre- 
 ferring the translation to Rapin’s original edition. 
 
 * West’s extraordinary copy was not , however, upon fine writing paper. In 
 the Bibl. West. n°. 4136, it is called a matchless set — “ embellished with several 
 hundred extra portraits, plans, maps, views, public buildings, medals — many of 
 which are exceedingly scarce, with MS. illustrations of the prints.” This copy 
 was sold for 54/. 12 s. I would fain know in whose possession it now is ? 
 
224 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 ful collector of books, that he can have no brighter, 
 or more desirable ornament, in the histoiical depart* 
 ment of his library, than the second folio edition of 
 Rapin and Tindall, adorned by the heads of Vertue 
 and Houbraken. He must shun the last folio, by 
 Harrison, as he would a plague-stricken Turk. 
 
 The present is probably the fittest place to notice 
 the publications of Hearne, to which some allusion 
 has been made in a preceding page.* As Hearne 
 died between the publication of Rapin’s history and 
 that of Carte, (presently to be noticed) we may as well 
 therefore occupy a few pages with the register of his 
 historical works, f in the chronological order in which 
 
 * See page 178, ante. 
 
 f “ The last who has dug deep into the mine [of English His* 
 tory] was Thomas Hearne, a clerk of Oxford, poor in fortune, and 
 indeed poor in understanding. His minute and obscure diligence, 
 his voracious and undistinguishing appetite, and the coarse vulgarity 
 of his taste and style, have exposed him to the ridicule of idle wits. 
 Yet it cannot be denied that Thomas Hearne has gathered many 
 gleanings of the harvest j but if his own prefaces are filled with 
 crude and extraneous matter, his editions will be always recom- 
 mended by their accuracy and use.” Gibbon, Misc. Works , vol. iii. 
 p. 566—7. 
 
 Let me premise, that a complete list of all Hearne’s works may 
 be found at the end’of the Biographies of Leland, Wood, and Hearne, 
 published at Oxford, in 1772, Svo. 2 vols.J My business here is only 
 with the historical works, including however the lives of Great Men. 
 I begin with one of the greatest. I. Spelman's Life of Alfred, from 
 the original MS. with considerable additions, 1709, 8vo. The large 
 paper is scarce $ but the small is common and cheap. Hearne got 
 
 X In the British Bibliog rapher, vol. i. p. 241, &c. 385, &c. there appears a very 
 full account (furnished by myself) of the contents of some of Hearne’s scarcer 
 works — and although there are abundant materials for the completion of this ac- 
 count, the probability is that no encouraging opportunity will present itself. But 
 the reader may see a collection of critical opinions, pronounced upon Hearne s 
 labours, in the Bibliomania, p. 441, &c. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 225 
 
 they appeared. The ridicule and satire which once 
 pursued the person and the publications of the author, 
 
 into a scrape about the prefix of Alfred’s portrait, and especially 
 about the long and dignified beard which is flowing down that mo- 
 narch’s breast. He thought it worth while to defend this beard, 
 pretty stiffly, in his Jolian. Glastoniens. Chron. vol. ii. p. 648. I had 
 supposed that there were no copies of the Alfred on large paper, but 
 I find the fact established by a letter from Hearne to Cherry, soon 
 after the publication of the work: Letters of Eminent Persons ; vol. i. 
 p. 191. Indeed, Mr. Grenville possesses it. II. The Itinerary of John 
 Leland the Antiquary $ Oxon. 1710-12, 8vo. 9 [vols : 1745} 8vo. 
 Second Edition : 1770, 8vo. Third Edition. Of the first and original 
 edition, only 108 copies were printed on small paper j and, as it should 
 seem from the list of Hearne’s works, at the end of the 9th volume, 
 published in 1712, only 12 copies on fine paper. It is difficult to 
 say where these 12 copies are now to be found.” The Bishop of Ely 
 (More), Wriothesley, Duke of Bedford, Dr. Frewin, Mr. Francis 
 Cherry, Dean Aldrich, Charles, Earl of Sunderland, John Bridges,* 
 Lord Somers, Rev. Mr. Hinton, Thomas Rawlinson, Sir T. Sebright, 
 and Dr. Stratford, Canon of Christ Church, had each a copy. Of 
 these I can only refer with certainty to the libraries of the Universities 
 of Oxford and Cambridge, and those of Woburn, and Blenheim, as 
 still possessing a copy on fine paper. The reader will be pleased to 
 notice, that the words e< fine paper” are inserted for those of “ i \rge 
 paper,” which appeared in the previous edition of this work : ns I am 
 now abundantly satisfied, that no copy of this work is to be found on 
 large paper. It is on fine paper only that the 12 copies, just men- 
 tioned, were printed. With a view to satisfy myself completely on 
 this point, I examined two subscription copies, one, of Dean Aldrich’s 
 in the library of Christ Church, Oxford : the other, of the Duke of 
 Bedford, in the old library at Woburn Abbey. They are each on 
 small, but a finer, paper. 
 
 But the small paper of this first edition is of rare occurrence,f and 
 
 * Bridges’s copy, at the sale of his library in 1725, was purchased by Fletcher 
 Gyles, the bookseller, for 10/. 12s. Gyles lived in Holborn, and was succeeded 
 by Lockyer Davies. He purchased lustily at Bridges’s sale. 
 
 f It was rare even at the time of publication. Thus, Gale writes to Hearne in 
 Sep. 1712, <e A friend of mine, the Dean of Rippon, is much concerned, that he 
 
 Q 
 
226 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 are now forgotten ; and Hearne stands upon a pe- 
 destal which may be said to have truth and honour 
 
 yet its value is very differently estimated. Mr. Thorpe, in his recent 
 catalogue, marks it at 51. 5s. ; and Mr. Bohn at one half of that sum. 
 However, in point of intrinsic worth, it is rather inferior to the suc- 
 ceeding editions ; of which the third, of 1770, (as its prefix or 
 advertisement notices) is doubtless the best. Of the second edition 
 of 1745, there were 350 copies on small, and 50 on large paper. A 
 copy of the large was sold for 20 l. 9s. 6d. at a late sale of Mr. 
 Evans’s. Of the third, to the best of my observation, no number of 
 either is specified in the preface or prefix : but the original price 
 was 21. 2s. the small, and 3l, 3s. the large paper. 1 have purchased 
 a large paper of the third, in russia binding, for 5 1. 5s. 
 
 III. I. Lelandi Antiquarii de Rebus Britannicis Collectanea. Oxon. 
 1715, Svo. 6 vols. First edition 5 reprinted in 1745 and 1774. Of 
 the first edition, only 150 copies were printed on small paper, and 
 a very few (the number not specified) on large. It was of great 
 rarity during the Editor’s life-time \ and it should seem that large 
 paper copies of this first edition, and of the Itinerary of 1710, were 
 considered as the true Keimelia of a thorough-bred Collector s 
 library* A cut copy of the large paper of the Collectanea was sold 
 
 cannot procure your Itinerary for money.” For an account of its rarity and cost, 
 on fine paper, see that of the Colltctanea , its companion, post. The Itinerary , 
 however, (if it be the edition of 1710) seems to have sunk prodigiously in price in 
 Osborne’s sheet catalogue of 1759 ; for it is there marked at 21. 5 5 . In the Reli- 
 quiae Hearniance, vol. i. p. 366, mention is made of “ some Grub-street people 
 reprinting this edition of the Itinerary.” Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester, told 
 Hearne so ; but added, “ it would only make his still the more valuable.” I be- 
 lieve no such reprint ever appeared. 
 
 * In the Reliquia Hearniance , vol.i. p. 304, is the following memorandum, dated 
 April 30, 1714, from Hearne’s diary. “ Whereas my edition of Leland’s Itinerary 
 in 9 vols. was sold to subscribers for 37 shillings the small paper, and 45 shillings 
 the large paper ; they now go at a prodigious price, viz. at 10 or 12 guineas. Mr. 
 Clements, bookseller in Oxford, bought Mr. Hinton, of Corpus’s copy, (he being a 
 subscriber for large paper) for 5 guineas, and immediately sold it to another book- 
 seller at London for 8 guineas, who gave him maiiy thanks for his bargain, it 
 being said that he was to have 12 guineas for another of them.” At a subsequent 
 period, Hearne makes the following memoranda: “ Sep. 24, 1724, I paid Mr. 
 Samuel Wilinot, of Oxford, bookseller, 20 guineas for a complete set of my edition 
 of Leland s Itinerary in 9 vols. and his Collectanea in 6 vols. The set belonged 
 to Dr. Charlett. He would not abate a penny. I bought these books for Mr. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 22 7 
 
 for its basis. His works, which present us with por- 
 tions of History, chiefly local, are now coveted by the 
 
 for \4l. at a late sale at Mr. Evans’s. Messrs. Longman and Co. 
 mark a small paper copy of this first edition of the Collectanea 
 at 4 l. 4s. Mr. Thorp marks the same, 9 vols. in 5, calf gilt, at 
 31. 13s. 6d. 
 
 IV. /. Rossi Antiquar. Warwicensis Hist. Reg. Anglice. Oxon. 1716* 
 8vo. Original Edition : only sixty copies printed, of which twelve 
 were on large paper. It was reprinted in 1745 j of which reprint a 
 copy on large paper was sold for 1 1. 11s. 6d. at a late sale at Mr. 
 Evans’s. A small paper is marked at 14s. by Messrs. Arch. The 
 preface to this work is exceedingly interesting, in developing the 
 
 Vansittart, of Sliottesbrooke, in Berks. A Mr. Edward Prideaux Gwyn thought 
 that they were cheap ; being now w'ortli much more.” This transaction is dis- 
 closed by Hearne, in a gossiping letter to the late Rev. L.Torkington, who had 
 given him the commission : see Letters of Eminent Persons , (from MSS. in the 
 Bodleian Library) vol. ii. p. 69. In this reference, Hearne tells his correspondent 
 that <e the price is not dear, considering the great scarceness of the books, and 
 the goodness of the set.” Qu. Where is this set now ? Does it grace the shelves of 
 the library of Lord Bexley ?— who, I know, hath a keen appetite for large paper 
 copies of elegant works. 
 
 On consulting the Letters of Eminent Persons , vol. i. p. 279, 1 find Hearne thus 
 complaining of the expenses of printing these Collectanea of Leland. “ I am now, 
 (he says, in a letter to Mr. Allen) as you know, printing Leland’s Collectanea 
 about our British Antiquities, and the work hath been so chargeable, thaf had it 
 not been for the encouragement of several noble and generous persons, I could 
 not have pretended to have set about it with any prospect of success : though I am 
 very sorry to say, that I have not met with the least encouragement in this place. 
 [Oxford.] . . . Such expensive undertakings are enough to lessen the fortune of 
 any one, though of a considerable estate ; but then the burden is so much the 
 heavier upon me, as I have only a salary of ten pounds per ann. ( without any other 
 place) and am so far from enjoying any estate, that my near relations were never 
 able to contribute any thing to the education I have had, or to share in any of 
 those expenses I have been put to during my residence here. On consulting the 
 Reliquiae Hearniance , vol. i. p. 136, there appears the following memorandum, in 
 Hearne’s Diary, relating to the expenses of printing books at Oxford, about 
 the year 1708. “ The printers say they had 18$. a sheet for composing Lord 
 Clarendon’s history. They had 15$. a sheet for composing Pliny’s Epistles : 
 16$. for Livy, [his own edition] per sheet. Dr. Mill paid 10$. per sheet for com- 
 posing the text and notes at bottom of his New Testament. Bennett paid 12$. 
 per sheet for composing Thucydides. For Mr. Bugg’s book, called Goliah , he 
 paid but 13$. composing, and all other things belonging to the press, and for paper 
 7s. per ream. 
 
228 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 antiquary, and respected by the scholar. The “ old” 
 and the “ young,” professedly attached to book- 
 collecting, can never be thoroughly happy, if their 
 
 real and wretched situation of Hearne, at the time of editing it. 
 “ And now. Sir, (says Wagstaffe to Hearne, in a letter to him, of 
 the date of May 30, 1716) you must give me leave to mention the 
 great pleasure with which I read your preface to Rowse. It discovers 
 a wonderful constancy and resolution in adhering to a well settled 
 principle, and is so pathetical a relation of your sufferings, as not 
 only raises our pity, but makes them our own : in a word, ’tis full 
 of such sentiments as are unknown to the degeneracy of the present 
 age, and are the peculiar affections of a soul prepared to suffer for 
 conscience-sake.” Letters of Eminent Persons ; vol. ii. p. 25. The 
 passage referred to by Wagstaffe, is subjoined in a note — in the same 
 authority. 
 
 V. Titi Liv'd Foro-Juliensis Vita Henrici. V. Reg. Angl. Oxon. 
 1716, Svo. To this work there were 100 subscribers} of whom 46 
 had copies on large paper. The most amusing part of it, is the 
 collection of letters (exxii. in number) from p. 99 to 216 — the bio- 
 graphy of Henry comprising only 95 pages. These letters were 
 taken from the collection of Dr. Smith. A copy of this book, on 
 large paper, was sold for 7 1. at a late sale at Mr. Evans’s. 
 
 VI. Aluredi Beverlacensis Annates , sive liistoria de gestis Regum 
 Britannia , &c. Oxon. 1716, Svo. Of the 148 copies printed, there 
 were 33 copies on large paper. The small was published at 8s. and 
 the large at 12s. A copy of the small paper is marked at 31. 13s. 6d. 
 in the catalogue of Messrs. Longman for 1822 ; and a copy of the 
 large paper was sold for HI. 17s. 6d. at a recent sale at Mr. Evans’s. 
 But it usually bears a higher price. It is very rare. 
 
 VII. G. Roperi Vita D. Thomce Mori , &c. Oxon. 1716, 8vo. 
 One hundred and forty-eight copies printed ; of which forty-two were 
 on large paper. It is therefore erroneous to suppose the large 
 paper of this work to be the rarest, or any thing like the rarest, of 
 the large paper Hearnes. Yet copies in this condition bring great 
 prices. That, at the sale of Mr. Watson Taylor’s library, most splen- 
 didly bound by C. Lewis, in Venetian morocco, in the Grolicr style, 
 was purchased by the Hon. Mr. Finch for 35 1. 3s. 6d. A similar 
 copy, at a subsequent sale at Mr. Evans’s, reached a yet higher 
 sum 5 namely, 37 h 16s. Messrs. Longman mark a small paper at 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 229 
 
 Hearnean Series be not complete. Neither class 
 of Collectors mast expect the earlier and choicer edi- 
 tions of all the works of this indefatigable author; but 
 it may be no unreasonable wish to desire to possess 
 
 31. 3s. The portrait of More, prefixed to this book, is a very sorry 
 performance, 
 
 VIII. G. Camdeni Annales Rer. Anglicar. fyc. regn. Elizabetha. 
 Oxon. 171 7, 8vo. 3 vols. There were 50 copies on large paper. Mr. 
 Thorpe marks a fine copy of the small paper, in extra russia binding, 
 at 2 Z. 12s. 6d. A copy, on large paper, was sold for 7 Z. 7s. at a late 
 sale at Mr. Evans’s. 
 
 IX. G . Neubrigiensis Historia, fyc. Oxen. 1719. 8vo. 3 vols. 
 From the list of subscribers, vol. i. p. cxxiii. there appear to have 
 been not fewer than 90 copies on large paper. This work, both on 
 large and small paper, is among the most ordinary and low priced 
 of those of Hearne ; but it is, at the same time, one of the most in- 
 trinsically valuable, and singularly illustrative of the gossiping turn 
 of mind of the Editor. A fine small paper copy is marked at 
 2Z. 12s. 6d. in Mr. Thorpe’s last catalogue; and a fine large paper 
 copy, in russia, bears the elevated price of 10Z. 10s. in Messrs. Arch’s 
 catalogue of 1822 — the sum which it brought at the sale of Mr. 
 Watson Taylor’s library. 
 
 X. Sprotti Chronica. Oxon. 1719, 8vo. Originally published at 
 12s. the large, and 8s. the small paper. Messrs. Arch mark an uncut 
 copy, with russia back, at 14s. and a fine copy of the large paper 
 was sold for 5 Z. 5s. at the sale of Mr. Watson Taylor’s library. 
 
 XI. Textus Roffensis. Oxon . 1720, 8vo. A copy on large paper 
 was recently sold for 3Z. 3s. — though a very fine one of this descrip- 
 tion brought 7 Z. 7s. at the sale of Mr. W. Taylor’s library. There 
 were 72 copies subscribed for. A very neat copy of the small paper, 
 with gilt leaves, is marked at 15s. in Mr. Thorpe’s last catalogue. 
 
 XII. Roberti de Avesbury Historia de Mir ab. gestis Edward. III. 
 Oxon. 1720, 8vo. This is one of the most curious and amusing of 
 Hearne’s pieces; but, like many of them, the most so, when relating 
 to extraneous matter. The letters between Henry VIII. and Anne 
 Boleyn (of which a specimen appears in the Bibliomania, p. 285-7) 
 are among the most interesting of the Appendix. It should seem 
 that there were 17b Subscribers, but no large paper are specified ; 
 yet Osborne, in hisX!atalogue of 1759, marks such a copy at 15s. : 
 
230 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 those which are really and bona fide necessary in the 
 department more exclusively historical. Hence, en- 
 
 and a similar copy was sold, at the sale of Mr. W. Taylor’s library, 
 for 7 l. 105. Messrs. Arch mark a similar copy, bound in russia, by 
 Lewis, at 7 1. 7 s. A fine copy of the small paper, in russia binding, 
 is marked at 2 1. 2 s. in Mr. Thorpe’s last catalogue. In the Brit. 
 Bibliographer , vol. ii. p. 73-85, appear copious extracts from this 
 singular volume. 
 
 XIII. loannis de Fordun Scotichronicon Genuinum. Oxon. 1722, 
 Svo. 5 vols. One hundred and fifty-one subscribers ; but, as far as I 
 can discover, the number of large paper copies is not specified. The 
 original price was 1/. Is. the large 5 and 10s. 6d. the small j per 
 volume. It is among the commonest of Hearne’s pieces ; and was 
 reprinted, with additions and improvements, at Edinburgh, in 1759, 
 in two volumes folio. Of Hearne’s edition, a neat copy on small 
 paper, with marbled leaves, is marked at 2/. 5s. in Mr. Thorpe’s 
 last catalogue and an uncut copy, in Venetian morocco, half bind- 
 ing, at Si. 13 s. 6d. by Mr. Bohn. A copy on large paper was sold 
 at a recent sale at Mr. Evans’s for 7 1- '■ but a very fine one of a 
 similar description, was bought by Mr. Clarke, at the sale of Mr. W. 
 Taylor’s library, for 15 1. 
 
 XIV. Hemingi Chartularium Ecclesice Wigorniensis , Oxon. 1723, 
 Svo. 2 vols. There were 160 subscribers 5 but, as far as I can dis- 
 cover, the number of large paper copies is not specified. The ori- 
 ginal price was 2 1. 2s. the large, and ll. Is. the small. The MS * 
 from which this work was printed, was supplied, or rather given to 
 
 * This publication of Hearne is full of all manner of desultory, and yet neither 
 unamusing nor uninstructive, memoranda, or supplemental pieces. In con- 
 formity with the plan above stated — of publishing a raisonn^ catalogue or ana- 
 lysis of Hearne’s pieces — I had transcribed very many passages from the present. 
 From these, I subjoin the following curious, and generally unknown, piece of old 
 English poetry. “ Some verses on King Henry VI. and his bad Counsellors, as he 
 was sitting in Parliament in the 28th year of his reign, which I shall here publish, 
 as I transcribedf them, some years agoe, from a MS. paper in a box in the Ash- 
 molean Museum : 
 
 For fere or favour or eny false man, 
 
 Lese not the love of al a roialte 
 Be ware, y say, for by saynt Julyan. 
 
 Duke, Juge, Baron, Archyebyschop at : : he be, 
 t Coll, nostr. MSS. vol. LIX- p. 10. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 231 
 
 joying this class complete^ Nennius looks with com- 
 placency upon his octavo shelves ; and Polydore 
 
 the Editor, by a Mr. Richard Graves of Mickleton, in Glocestershire, 
 one of Hearne’s warmest friends and earliest patrons ; and it lately 
 fell to the lot of Mr. Evans to sell the identical large paper presen- 
 tation copy to the Donor of the MS. — beautifully bound in red mo- 
 rocco — for 19/. 19^. Lord Aylesford was the fortunate purchaser of 
 this unique treasure, in its way. The small paper may be worth 
 2/. 12$. 6tZ. 
 
 XV. Robert of Glocester s Chronicle (in verse; transcribed and now 
 first published from a MS. in the Harleyan Library, Oxon. 1724, 8vo. 
 2 vols. Printed in the black letter : and among the most valuable 
 and important of Hearne’s publications. The very first line of the 
 text of this Chronicle (of the XHIth century) should be the motto 
 of every true-born Englishman : 
 
 Engelond ys a wel god lond , ich wene of eche lond best. 
 
 It was originally published at 1/. Is. the small, and 2/. 2 s. the large 
 paper ; but, along with its successor and companion, Peter Lang- 
 toft’s Chronicle, it having been reprinted with great care (but with- 
 out any additions) it has now fallen somewhat in price. Messrs. 
 Payne and Foss mark a new and very neat small paper copy at 41. 4s. 
 and Mr. Thorpe has a fine copy, morocco, gilt leaves, silk insides,’’ 
 at the reduced price of 2/. 15$. : but this latter has, in all probability, 
 long taken its departure. Mr. Evans recently sold a large paper 
 copy for 7 /. 17$. 6d. ; yet Mr. Watson Taylor’s fine copy, purchased 
 by Mr. Cuthell, reached the price of 16/. 16$. The reprint, in 1810, 
 was published in an octavo, a royal octavo, and a quarto form. The 
 
 He wyll repente withynne ys monthes three. 
 
 Let folke accuse, excuse tlieym as they can, 
 
 Receyde no goode, let all such brybery be, 
 
 Supporte they not, that thys wo be gan, 
 
 But lete them were such clothes as they span, 
 
 And flein fro yow there wages, and see. 
 
 For y ensure yow by God, and by say net Anne, 
 
 Some most goo hens, ther may no beter be, 
 
 And ells ys lost all thys lond and w r e. 
 
 Hange uppe suche false men to awr Soverayne Lord, 
 
 That ever conseylyd hym with fals men to be acordyd. 
 
 Vol. ii. p. 663. 
 
232 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 rests contented with the more pigmy squadrons of his 
 fine historical army. But to neither of these Viri 
 
 two first are to be had at very reasonable prices : the latter ranges 
 with the quarto re -impressions of the later Chroniclers. 
 
 XVI. Veter Langtoft's Chronicle ( as illustrated and improved hy 
 Robert of Brunne) from the death of Cadwaladon to the end of King 
 Edward the First's reign. Oxon. 1725, Svo. 2 vols. The companion 
 to the preceding ; and of about equal rarity and intrinsic worth. I 
 remember to have once seen Mr. Manson, the late bookseller, gal- 
 lantly push a large paper copy of this first edition to the sum of 
 33 1. 12s. — at which price he bought it for the late Mr. Towneley. 
 At a recent sale at Mr. Evans’s it produced only 5 1. 7s. 6d. Yet 
 Mr. Watson Taylor’s copy produced 1 41. 14s. Messrs. Longman 
 and Co. mark a small paper copy at 5 1. 15s. 6d. This Chronicle 
 has been reprinted like its precursor 5 and the reprint may be obtained 
 at equally reasonable prices. 
 
 XVII. XVIII. XIX. The Glastonbury Antiquities. Although 
 it should seem that the publications of Hearne, relating to these 
 Antiquities, were rather topographical than historical, yet as, with 
 the usual peculiarities of the author, they exhibit a Miscellany in 
 which there are several things appertaining to the earlier periods of 
 our History , I have resolved upon classing them in the present order, 
 and embodying them as the reader here observes : premising, that 
 scarcely fewer than twenty well filled octavo pages have been de- 
 voted to an account of these three works, relating to the Antiquities 
 of Glastonbury, in the British Bibliographer, vol. i. p. 241. The His- 
 tory and Antiquities of Glastonbury : by an Anonymous Author .* Ox- 
 ford, 1722, 8vo. This is one of the handsomest of Hearne’s publi- 
 
 * The MS. of this anonymous author appears to have been “ finisht April 28, 
 1716 : see the pref. p. lxxxviii. . and Gough’s British Topography ; vol. ii. p. 215. 
 The author, like R. Stephen (in planning his division of the New Testament into 
 verses) and Erasmus (in meditating on his Moriae Encomium) seems to have been 
 indebted to a journey upon horseback for the discovery of the composition. He hap- 
 pens to alight at an inn ; where, putting up his horse, he walks into the bar 
 or common room, for refreshment; and entering into chit-chat with the landlord, 
 hears a long gossiping story about the Abbey of Glastonbury— in the neighbour- 
 hood of which the public house chances to be. This excites in him a wish to 
 become better acquainted with the history of so extraordinary a place ; and, going 
 home, he rummages the works of the “ best antiquities,” from which he tells us, 
 that his own composition is “ gathered.” 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 233 
 
 versatissirni in British historical lore, is granted that, 
 probably, richest of all bibliographical or biblioma- 
 
 cations $ and one of the few which contains an English preface 5 but 
 it must be confessed, that the critical reader could well dispense with 
 a great deal of extraneous matter. It was published at 10s. 6d. the 
 small paper, and 11. Is. the large. Messrs. Payne and Foss mark a 
 large paper copy, in blue morocco, at 81. 8s. There were only 151 
 subscribers to both large and small ; and considering that it is a 
 topographical work, one is surprised at its frequent occurrence. Sir 
 R. C. Hoare, as might be expected, possesses a fine copy of it — in 
 his fine set of large paper Hearnes. lohannis Confratris et Monachi 
 Glastoniensis Chronica : sive Historia de Rebus Glastoniensibus : 
 Oxon. 1726, 8vo. 2 vols. About 140 subscribers : published at 2 1. 2 s. 
 the large, and 1 Z. Is. the small paper. I refer the reader to a critical 
 analysis of these volumes in the British Bibliographer , vol. i. page 
 250 ) and in the mean time, to the New Memoirs of Literature , vol. iv. 
 p. 200-207 — “in which the account of the relics, said to belong to 
 the abbey, is more minutely and sarcastically criticised than by Mr. 
 Gough, in his British Topography ; vol. ii. p. 215," &c. The tenth 
 article, p. 423, gives a list of the old books in the library of the 
 monastery — at a sight of which, te Leland drew back with mixed 
 astonishment and veneration.” De Scriptoribus Britannicis , vol. i. 
 p. 41. A copy of this work, on large ^aper, was sold for 10Z. 10s. 
 at a recent sale at Mr. Evans’s. Adami de Domerham Historia de 
 Rebus Gestis Glastoniensibus. Oxon . 1727* 8vo. 2 vols. This is the 
 most intrinsically valuable work relating to the antiquities of Glas- 
 tonbury. The text is ancient, and taken from an unique ms. : see 
 pref. x : but in Hearne’s Hemingi Chart. Eccles. Wigorn. vol. ii. p. 
 602 5 and Walter Hemingf or d, vol. ii. p. 631, there will be found 
 further particulars relating to this abbey. To Adam de Domerham, 
 there appear to have been 128 subscribers only j of whom nine sub- 
 scribed for more than one large paper copy : in the whole, forty-eight 
 copies in this condition. A large paper copy was sold for the mode- 
 rate sum of 5 Z. 10s. at a recent sale at Mr. Evans’s : but the fine copy 
 of Mr. Watson Taylor’s, produced the sum of 9Z. 9s. It was pur- 
 chased by Mr. Cuthell. 
 
 XX. Thomce de Elmham Vita et Gesta Henrici Quinti Anglor. Re- 
 gis. e Codd. mss. vet. Oxon. 1727, Svo. About forty-five copies on 
 large paper, at 1Z. Is. — in gratiam scilicet virorum in libris nitidis 
 
234 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 niacal gratifications — the possession of a set, or of the 
 greater part of a set, of Hearne’s works upon large 
 
 colligendis admodum curiosorum” as Hearne not inaptly expresses 
 it. There is a plentiful abuse of Tyrrell and Burnet (as was to be 
 expected) at pp. xvi. and xviii. of the preface. This is by no means 
 among the commonest of Hearne’s publications ; though I find that 
 a large paper copy of it was purchased for 4 l. 16s. by his R. H. the 
 Duke of Sussex, at a recent sale at Mr. Evans's. Messrs. Long- 
 man and Co. mark a similar copy at 61. 6s. 
 
 XXI. Liber Niger Scaccarii, &c. Oxon. 1723, 8vo. 2 vols. With 
 some inedited Annals of William of Worcester subjoined. Perhaps 
 the commonest, but not the most useless, of Hearne’s publications. 
 It may be worth 18s. in small, and 2 l. 12s. 6d. on large paper. 
 
 XXII. Historia Vitce et Regni Richardi II. a Monacho quodam de 
 Evesham , &c. Oxon. 1729, 8vo. Among the more curious and rare 
 performances of Hearne. The life of the King occupies 216 pages. 
 In the 220 subsequent pages of miscellaneous matter, are some 
 amusing particulars, furnished by Sir Richard Wynn, of the Journey 
 of Prince Charles’s Servants into Spain, in 1623. See the British 
 Bibliographer , yol. i. p. 391 : but in respect to the Regal biography, 
 the Hearnean student should also consult Walter Hemingford , p. 
 453-477* There were only 130 subscribers to this work ; and, as 
 it should seem, forty-five of these possessed the large paper. It is 
 now scarce and high priced in either form. The Hon. Mr. Finch 
 could not obtain a large paper copy, at a recent sale at Mr. Evans’s, 
 under, 51. 12 s. 6d. 
 
 XXIII. Iohannis de Trokelowe Annales Edv. II. Reg. Angl. Oxon. 
 1729, 8vo. There are no subscribers* names prefixed or subjoined : 
 the large paper was published at ll. Is. and the small at 105 . 6d. In 
 the collection of large paper Hearnes, recently sold at Mr. Evans’s, 
 and so frequently referred to, I find no copy of this book. In the 
 
 A yet more curious and instructive memoir, relating to tlie unfortunate 
 Richard II. was published (with illuminations) in the xxth vol. of the Archce- 
 ologia , 1823 : from a French Metrical History, written by a Contemporary. The 
 Society of Antiquaries has taken loftier ground by the publication of such a tract 
 — translated and edited by the Rev. Mr. Webb. It is succeeded by a very sensible 
 and satisfactory “ Enquiry concerning the death of Richard the Second, by T. 
 Amyot, Esq. now Treasurer to the Society. 
 
235 
 
 OF GREAT BRITAIN, 
 
 paper. Whether they disdain, or whether they des- 
 pair of possessing, such a treasure, it is not my 
 
 catalogue of Messrs. Longman and Co., of 1822, a small paper copy 
 is marked at 1 l. 11s. 6d. 
 
 XXIV. Thomce Caii ( Collegii Universitatis regn. Eliz. MagistriJ 
 Vindiciat, Antiquitatis Academic Oxoniensis, &c. Oxon. 1730., 8vo. 
 2 vols. I possess copious manuscript extracts from the multifarious 
 and gossiping contents of these volumes : which are full of biogra- 
 phical, topographical, and bibliographical anecdotes. It appears 
 that there were 129 subscribers $ and forty- three copies on large 
 paper. Several Subscribers took several small paper copies. 
 
 XXV. Walteri Hemingford, &c. Historia de rebus gest. Edv. I. IT. 
 et III. E. Codd. MSS. nunc primum publicata. Oxon. 1731, 8vo. 
 2 vols. This is without doubt one of the most curious and scarce 
 publications of Hearne ; as an examination of the contents of it, in 
 the British Bibliographer , vol. ii. p. 72, will sufficiently prove. There 
 were only 1 20 subscribers to the work : of whom forty subscribed 
 for large paper, at 2 L 2 s. the copy. Such a copy was purchased by 
 the Hon. Mr. Finch, at a late sale at Mr. Evans’s, for 10L At this 
 moment, I find no traces of a small paper in the catalogues of some 
 of our principal booksellers. 
 
 XXVI. Otterbourne et IVethamstede Rer. Anglicar. Script. Vet. 
 Oxon. 1732, Svo. 2 vols. One hundred and sixteen subscribers 
 only : of whom nine subscribed for several small paper copies.* 
 There appear to have been forty-four copies on large paper — of 
 which a very fine one was purchased at the sale of Mr. Watson 
 Taylor’s library, by the Hon. Mr. Finch, for 17Z. As usual with the 
 publications of Hearne, these volumes contain a variety of miscel- 
 laneous matter, exclusively of the text of the historians in question. 
 
 * Among the subscribers for several copies was Lionel Walden, Esq . — “ juvenis 
 virtute pariter atque integritate spectabilis, qui ex siimma sua in nos studiaq ; 
 nostra literaria benevolentia, ultimo suo testamento pecunias perquam generose 
 mihi legavit. Is autem magno cum nostro dolore foeda barbarie ac crudelitate in- 
 teremptus est A. D. M. DCC. XIX. id quod jam nuper etiam in Adamo de Domer- 
 bam innuimus. Satis vero opportune solutae sunt pecuniae illae, ut ita fieret non 
 parum laborante Lionelli, quem diximus, sorore, conjuge lectissima Humphredi 
 Ormii, Armigeri. Sat dictum sapienti. Beneficiorum immemores esse pudet, 
 Idcirco nemo aegre feret, nosmet [ex adulatione minime aucupantes bonam gra- 
 tiam] haec de Waldeno, juvene plane egregio, prodidisse.” p. ci. 
 
236 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 business to record : only I will be free to observe, that 
 it is in the possession of such a treasure, that Honorio 
 
 XXVII. Chronicon sive Annales Prior atus de Dunstaple. Oxon. 
 1 733 , Svo. 2 vols. Only 112 subscribers; but some for several 
 copies. Of the large paper, only thirty-nine copies are indicated 
 as such. At a recent sale in Pall-Mall, a copy, on large paper, was 
 obtained for 14 1. : and at that of Mr. Watson Taylor’s library, a 
 similar copy was purchased by the Hon. Mr. Finch for 131. 2s. 6d. 
 This work is perhaps rather topographical than historical ; but it has 
 many curious details,* and is considered to be among the more 
 
 * In conformity with tlic design mentioned at page 224, ante, I had prepared 
 a considerable quantity of materials for the illustration of the Annals of Dunstaple 
 Priory. It is just possible that the reader may not object to be made acquainted 
 with a portion of these Illustrations ; especially as they embrace some curious old 
 English poetry. 
 
 Antiquity of this Chronicle. 
 
 Page xxvii.— Lord Coke quotes it in expounding the Statute de Judaismo : (in 
 2 Inst.) Stow, Holinshed, and other Chroniclers make mention of, or use, 
 it. Nicolson did not know the author of it : and the mss. which he consulted or 
 referred to, were discordant among themselves. Wanley had written his senti- 
 ments, knowing the authenticity of this Chronicle, that it should be made public. 
 Hearne put short explanatory notes (very properly) which were not in the original. 
 He avows his usual practice of copying mss. so rigidly, as to retain, purposely, 
 the very errors after the manner of Graevius in his Greek Inscriptions. 
 
 Although many have praised this Chronicle in print, no one had accurately 
 described it; or seemed to know any thing of its age and authenticity. Both 
 Stowe and Joceline and Tyrrell and White Kennett have acted thus. Richard de 
 Morins was its author— at least of the first part— and he died in 1242. He thinks 
 Lelandf would have seen and noticed this ms. when he visited the public libraries, 
 if some private hand had not carried it away— through envy, or spite.” P. xxxi. 
 Wanley was clearly of this opinion that Morins was the author — especially 
 from comparing it with a ms. of the Chartulary of the same Priory — which was 
 deposited in the Harleian Collection — formerly one John Ward’s — and purchased 
 by Wanley p. xxxiv. xxxv. Hearne then is clearly of opinion that Richard de 
 Morins + was an Englishman,! the author of both Chronicle and Chartulary, and, as 
 such, that he ranks among the writers of British history, page xxxvi. 
 
 t A slight notice of Dunstaple occurs in the Collectanea, vol. iii. xii. and 
 Itinerary. 
 
 : Wanley describes him as “seeming to be a man of a griping and exacting 
 temper, which often brought him into troublesome suits of law with the townsmen, 
 and others his tenants and neighbours. He was prior thirty-nine years.” H. Wau- 
 len Notitia Chartularii de Dunstaple, p. xciii § i ix 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN, 
 
 237 
 
 feels comfort, and Lentulus supreme felicity. In- 
 deed, apostrophising and mystifying apart, I know of 
 
 coveted productions of Hearne; especially on large paper. The 
 account of the mustering of the University of Oxford in 1642, is not 
 the least curious and interesting ; but the subjoined specimens are 
 quite sufficient to excite the antiquary’s curiosity. 
 
 Customs of Dunstaple Priory . ( From the Chartulary .) 
 
 Hearne says that some of these are worth noticing— for instance : 
 
 “ Item dicunt, ubi vidua dimittit francum bancum. (5) 
 
 (5.) jFree 38enc|>, oto’0 <&8tate. Tis observed that in the Manors of 
 East and West Euborne and Chadel worth, in Berks, and in the Manors of Tor, 
 and some other places in the West, there is this odd custom, that if a copy-hold, 
 or customary tenant dye, the widow shall have her Free-bench in all his copyhold 
 lands, dum sola et casta fuerit ; but if she commit incontinency, she forfeits her 
 widow’s estate: yet after this, if she come into the next court, held for the 
 Manour, riding backwards on a black ram, with his tail in her hand, and say the 
 words following, the Steward is bound by the custom to readmit her to her Free - 
 bench . 
 
 Here I am. 
 
 Riding upon a black Ram, 
 
 &c. &c. &c 
 
 [The remainder need not be repeated.] 
 
 “ 1 take notice,” (continues Hearne) “ of these things, upon account of the 
 mention of Free-bench in this Chartulary of Dunstaple, where however I do not 
 think, that the custom of recovery of a widow’s estate, by riding upon a black 
 ram, prevail’d, as it may be some will imagine it did. Had it so prevailed, 'tis 
 very probable it would have been mentioned in the Chartulary in this very passage 
 I now publish.” Page xxxix-xl. (Blackstone, vol. ii. p. 132, edit. 1772, does not 
 notice this.) 
 
 Dewes ’ Description of Charles the First's Queen , Henrietta. 
 
 u On thursday the 30 and last day of this instant Iune (1625) I went to White- 
 hall, purposelie to see the Queene, which I did fullie all the time shee sate at din- 
 ner, and perceived her to be a most absolute delicate ladie, after I had exactlie 
 surveied all the features of her face j much enlivened by her radient and spark- 
 ling blacke eye. Besides, her deportment amongst her women was so sweete and 
 humble, and her speech and lookes to her other servants soe milde and gracious, 
 as I could not abstaine from divers deepe fetched sighs, to consider, that shee 
 wanted the knowledge of the true religion.” Life of Simon D’Ewes, written by 
 himself, in the Harleian Library, f. 79, b. p. lxiv. D’Ewes was a Puritan. 
 
238 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 no collection of works which is more thoroughly invi- 
 ting to perusal, than that of Hearne on large paper, 
 in primitive calf or morocco binding. 
 
 XXVIII. The last, and perhaps (intrinsically considered) the most 
 valuable of all Hearne’s publications, is the following : Benedictus 
 Abbas Petroburgensis de vita et gestis Henrici II. et Ricardi &c .Oxon. 
 
 1735. 2 vols. Of the large paper copies, there were thirty-seven 
 
 Verses concerninge the Name and Armes of Dunstaple . 
 
 By Houghton Regis there, where Watling Street 
 Is cross’d by Icknel way, once grew a woode 
 With hushes thicke orespred, a coverte meete 
 To harbour such as lay in waite for blood 
 There lurkte of ruffians bold an hideous route 
 Whose captain was one Dunne of courage stoute. 
 
 No travailer almost could pass that way, 
 
 But either he was wounded, rohbd or kill’d, 
 
 By that lewd crew, which there in secret lay. 
 
 With murders, thefts and rapes their hands were fild. 
 
 What booties ere they took, ech had his share : 
 
 Thus yeere by yeere they liv’d without all care. 
 
 At last Kinge Henrie, first kinge of that name, 
 
 Towards the Northerne parts in progresse rode : 
 
 And hearing of those great abuses came 
 Unto the thicket where the theeves abode: 
 
 Who on the cumminge of the kinge did flee, 
 
 Bach to his house or to his friend did hie. 
 
 Wherefore the Kinge, such mischiefs to prevente, 
 
 The wood cut downe, the way all open layd. 
 
 That all trew men, which that way rode or wente. 
 
 Of sodaine sallyes might be lesse afrayde. 
 
 And might descrie their daunger ere it came, 
 
 And so by wise foresighte escape the same, 
 
 This done, he reard a poull both houge and longc 
 In that road high way, where so manie passe, 
 
 And in the poull let drive a staple stronge 
 Whereto the Kinge’s owne ring appendante was. 
 
 And caused it to be publisht, that this thinge 
 Was done to see, what thiefe durst steal the ringe. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 239 
 
 But I am rambling somewhat. Reverting to Hearne, 
 and to the critical value of his historical labours, it 
 may be safely affirmed, that, for fidelity, and fre- 
 
 copies subscribed for; and their rarity may be presumed, when 
 the Hon. Mr. Finch was compelled to give 19 1. 10s. for a similar 
 copy at a recent sale at Mr. Evans’s. I suspect the small paper 
 to be also scarce; and that Messrs. Longman and Co. have not 
 greatly overcharged it by the price of 4 1. 45 : the sum at which 
 Gough’s copy was, if I remember rightly, sold. Mr. Thorpe has 
 
 Yet for all that, the ringe was stole away. 
 
 Which when it came to learned Beauclark’s eare. 
 By skylfull arte to finde he did assay. 
 
 Who was the thiefe,and first, within what Shyre 
 His dwellinge was, which this bold act had done, 
 And found it to be Bedfordshire anon. 
 
 Next in what Hundred of that Shyre might dwell 
 This ventrous wighte, Kinge Henry caste to finde, 
 And upon Mansfield Hundred straight it fell. 
 
 Which being founde, he after bent his minde, 
 
 To learne the parish, and by like skyll tride, 
 
 That he in Houghton Regis did abide. 
 
 Lastlie, the parishe knowne, he furthur soughte, 
 
 To find the verie house, where he remayned. 
 
 And by the preceptes of his arte was toughte 
 That by one widow Dim he was retayned 
 The widowes house was searcht (so wild the Kinge) 
 And with her sonne was founde staple and ringe. 
 
 Thus Beauclerke by his arte founde out the thiefe 
 A lusty, tall young man, of courage good ; 
 
 Which of the other ruffians was the chiefe. 
 
 That closelie lurked in that waylesse wood. 
 
 Then Dunne this captain thiefe the widow’s sonne 
 Was hanged for the facts which he had done. 
 
 And where the thicket stoode the kinge did builde 
 A market towne, for saulfetie of all those, 
 
 Which travailed that way that it might them yielde 
 A sure refuge from all thievish foes. 
 
 And there Kinge Henrie of his greate bountie 
 Founded a church, a schole, and priorie. 
 
240 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 quently for intrinsic worth, they are in all respects 
 admirable. Hearne’s judgment in selection may be 
 
 however valued it at 31. 3s. Whoever has leisure, may examine a 
 few of the odd things' (such as Tales of the Mad Men of Gotham , 
 Scoggan’s Jests, Robert Burton, Tom Thumb, and the Mylner of 
 Abingdon ") which Hearne has contrived to incorporate in these 
 volumes, in the extracts given in the British Bibliographer, vol. ii. p. 
 65-70. — As to the text of the Historian, which is carried down to 
 the year 1178, it is not only highly praised by Tyrrell, but according 
 to the higher authority of the authors of the Recueil des Historiens 
 des Gaules, it seems of almost inestimable value. Let no Collector 
 of our early history, in whose library Benedictus Abbas is not to be 
 found, suffer a copy to escape him which can be obtained at any rea- 
 sonable price. Perhaps, to the preceding, as strictly connected with 
 the department of History, I ought to add the Ductor Historicus of 
 Hearne, printed in 1704, 2 vols. Svo. and several times reprinted $ a 
 work which Gibbon did not disdain to read, in forming his mind for 
 his great historical labours. Misc. Works , vol. i. p. 41 . 
 
 Such are the publications of Hearne, more especially connected 
 with British History. The candid critic, and the intelligent 
 reader, will throw out of the scale all considerations of the particular 
 bias, or even the palpable credulity, which distinguish the Editor of 
 these publications, from a consideration of the absolute value of 
 the ancient texts which he has collected, and most faithfully 
 printed. They will separate the ore from the dross in which it is 
 embedded. Meanwhile kt the curious consult Fabricii Bibl. Med . et 
 Inf. JEtat. vol. i. p. 276, edit. 1734, about a reprint of the more va- 
 
 And for that Dunne before the wood was downe 
 Had there his haunte, and there did steal away 
 The staple and the ringe, thereof the towne 
 Is called Dunstable until this day 
 Also in Armes that Corporation 
 
 The Staple and the Ringe give thereupon. By me John Willis. 
 
 These verses were sent to Hearne in Oct. 1733, by the Rev. Mr. John Jones, 
 Curate of Abbot’s Ripton, in Huntingdonshire — to whom they were sent, and 
 transcribed from an old Register of Dunstaple church, by a friend — who assured 
 Mr. Jones that the author of these verses was “ sometime curate of that place,’* 
 —►and that the hand writing bore a resemblance “ to that which begins the Register 
 in the year 1558.” Vol. ii. p, 727-729, Was Mr. Jones quizzing Hearne ? 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 241 
 
 sometimes very justly questioned ; and his frivolous 
 digressions, and half crazy conclusions, must inevit- 
 ably provoke the laughter, if not the wrath, of the 
 critic. Yet our obligations to him are great. He has 
 rescued much from oblivion, if not from perdition ; 
 and forgetting all the peculiarities and even weak- 
 nesses of the man , we must unite in bestowing our 
 heartiest commendations on the Editor. More than 
 the lapse of a century (that test of reputation) has 
 confirmed the fame of Thomas Hearne. 
 
 Reverting to the regular order of published histo- 
 ries, I must make but slight mention of the anti- 
 
 luable of Hearne’s works. I do not despair of seeing, at least, the 
 bust of Hearne in one of the public repositories at Oxford. That 
 University yet owes something to one of the most dutiful of her 
 children : — who may be said to have died in the act of paying her 
 homage, by the publication last described} and which he survived 
 but a few weeks. In the same year appeared the Ectypa Faria , or 
 a collection of all his plates from his different publications, in one 
 folio volume, Mr. Triphook has, at this moment, a very fine copy 
 of this work. And now a word as to the fortunate Owners of a 
 complete large paper set of Hearne’s publications. But, in truth, I 
 know of no such “ fortunate owner.’’ Earl Spencer, Mr. Grenville, 
 and Mr. Hibbert, possess such a series complete, with the exception 
 of the first edition of the Itinerary. Mr. Dent has many large paper 
 copies, and Sir R. C. Hoare yet more. At Oxford, they have a fine 
 sprinkling of them at Christ Church ; and nearly all of them are at 
 Blickling in Norfolk. Sir John Sebright has his ancestors (Sir 
 Thomas Sebright's) original subscription copies, in the same form, 
 chiefly in the old Oxford bindings. At Althorp, they are separated,* 
 according to their respective classes. 
 
 * I remember, some seven or eight years ago,“ a good saying ” about the sepa- 
 ration of these Hearnes. On hunting down some bibliographical question, con- 
 nected with this series, a distinguished Collector discovered their separation. 
 “ What, (said he, with becoming emphasis) the Hearne’s separated ! I could not 
 survive such a separation an hour.” Note. May I be forgiven a bad pun ? Lord 
 Spencer is doubly blest in Hearnes : for he has a Hernery in his park ! 
 
 R 
 
242 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 quarian-historical labours of Sammes and Lewis,* in 
 order to do more ample justice to the General History 
 of Carte, who put forth more ponderous folio tomes 
 in 1747, and who, in his title page, probably with as 
 much affectation as simplicity, styled himself u an 
 Englishman.” Never was an history more anxiously 
 expected, and more zealously supported. The City 
 of London and the University of Oxford seemed to 
 vie with each other in their acts of generosity. Al- 
 though the author died before the publication of the 
 last volume in 1755— intending to bring his work 
 down to the Restoration — yet he lived long enough to 
 witness its success,^ and the victory which he had ob- 
 tained over its numerous opponents, and the shame 
 
 * I hardly know why Sammes’s Britannia Antiqua Illustrata, or 
 the Antiquities of Ancient Britain, as derived from the Phoenicians, 
 l6f6, folio, is here introduced — unless it be to exhort the curious 
 collector to secure, without delay, the extraordinarily fine copy of 
 this not uninstructive volume, on large paper, bound in red morocco, 
 by C. Lewis, which is now in the possession of Mr. R. Triphook, 
 bookseller. In the same bookseller’s collection is a similar choice 
 copy of J . Lewis’s “ Ancient History of Great Britain, with the Bre- 
 viary of Bretayne , by H. Lhuyd. Lond. 1729, folio — a book, (and 
 especially such a copy of it !) of which the possession shall not cause 
 the purchaser to repent his bargain. 
 
 t Mr. Chalmers, in his edition of the General Biographical History , 
 vol. viii. p. 292 — 299, has given us a very intersting article upon 
 Carte : and his history is there said to be t( written with eminent 
 exactness and diligence, and with a perfect knowledge of original 
 authors 5 and has of late years risen considerably in reputation, as 
 well as in price, especially since it was discovered how much Hume 
 was indebted to it.’ Yet I have heard competent judges speak 
 of the infidelity of some of Carte’s quotations. A neat copy may 
 be obtained for about 71 . 17 s. 6d. The large paper copies are of 
 late becoming somewhat common ; and are cumbrous in the ex- 
 treme. The small paper is excellently well printed. Messrs. Arch 
 and Messrs. Longman and Co. mark a copy of Carte's Life of the 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 24S 
 
 attached to those who had withdrawn their original 
 patronage. This work will live long, and always be 
 consulted. Hume has been more indebted to it than 
 he was disposed to acknowledge. Carte is also the 
 author of the well known “ History of the Life of 
 James , Duke of Ormonde ,” in 3 folio volumes, 1735-6. 
 
 But Carte had been preceded by the partial history 
 of Ralph ; who had confined his labours to the reign 
 of William III., with an introductory review of the 
 reigns of Charles II. and James II. This work ap- 
 peared in 1744-6, in two folio volumes ;* and since the 
 publication of Mr. Fox’s incomplete history of the 
 reign of James II., it has been very much sought after. 
 
 The progress of these researches has at length 
 brought me to the labours of Hume, Smollett, and 
 Henry. * Upon such works it were idle to bestow 
 
 Duke of Ormond, (the companion to the History) in calf, at 71. 7$, 
 This work is also to be had on large paper. 
 
 * It was Mr. Fox’s character of Ralph which, in a great degree, 
 contributed to the recent inquiries made after his history. A copy 
 of it is obtainable for about 4 l. 14s. 6d. 
 
 f Every literary man knows that Hume wrote his history, as it 
 were backwards : beginning with the reigns of the Stuarts. The 
 first volume (says Mr. Harvey |) was printed at Edinburgh , by 
 
 Hamilton, Balfour, and Neil, in 1754 : the second at London , for 
 Millar, in 1757* These are the two last volumes of the present edi- 
 tions. The two intermediate vols. are London, 1759^ and the two 
 last vols. printed by him, London, 1762. These, though last printed, 
 are the commencement of his history. The first vol. fell almost 
 dead from the press, and the rest of the work might not have 
 been published, had it not been for the fostering hand of A. Millar.” 
 These are the original impressions of Hume’s celebrated History of 
 England j and as the work is certainly a Classic, in its way, and as 
 portions of text of the first editions differ from those of the subse- 
 
 + A gentleman at Edinburgh, and one of the Writers of the Signet* from whose 
 letter of the 21st of August, 1824, the above intelligence is given, with due 
 acknowledgments far the same. 
 
244 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 many words. They are comparatively the text-books 
 of our history. They are in every collection ; but no 
 one, unluckily, has yet had the courage or good sense 
 to complete the plan of Dr. Henry. The continua- 
 
 quent ones, I recommend a copy of this Edit. Prin. to be in the 
 library of every curious Collector. The best octavo editions — 
 or rather those which received the last corrections of the author, 
 with a short account of his life, written by himself — are of the dates 
 of 1778 and 1786, in 8 volumes. To describe subsequent editions, 
 which of late are become almost innumerable,* were a waste of words 
 and of paper. And equally so would be any elaborate appreciation 
 of the style of the work — the careless inimitable beauties’" of 
 which, have elicited the warm commendation of Gibbon. But, up 
 to the commencement of the Tudor Annals , or the reign of Henry 
 VII. the text of Hume has been pronounced to be ingenious but 
 superficial.” The author indeed wanted that resolute spirit of in- 
 dustry and research, which alone can lead an historian to become 
 thoroughly acquainted with the valuable writers of the middle ages. 
 It is, I submit, in the reign of Elizabeth, that the true genius of 
 Hume may be said to shine forth. Here we have pathos, and 
 argument,! vigorous delineation of character, and statesman-like 
 views of policy : but the reign of Elizabeth was worthy of the ex- 
 
 * Among the most celebrated for ornament, was that published in 19 vols. (con- 
 taining the continuation by Smollett) in the year 1803, in 8vo. It exhibits a series 
 of most spirited engravings on wood ; and is now become rare. The printer was 
 Bensley. My friend, Mons. Delanfon, an active member of the Society of Biblio- 
 philes, at Paris, was too happy to secure a copy of it on large paper, from the 
 catalogue of Messrs. Arch, for 23/. 10s. The royal folio edition, published by 
 Bowyer, and embellished with elaborate engravings by our principal artists, has 
 of late (I know not wherefore) “ hung down its head” in the market. The most 
 coveted 8vo. edition, for the sake of the copper plates, is that of 1789. The por- 
 traits are here first impressions. 
 
 + Read the account of the execution of Mary — beginning with her leaving her 
 private apartment for the block. Read also the summary of the arguments, pro 
 and con, respecting her execution. Hume has shewn himself a perfect master of 
 analysis, in compressing these arguments. Never was a point more delicately 
 poised in the discussion. 
 
 Since the first edition of this work there has appeared a History of the British 
 Empire from the accession of Charles I. to the Restoration, 1824. 8vo. 4 vols. by 
 Mr. Brodie, which has thrown a deep shade of doubt over the veracity of those 
 materials of Hume, which relate to the histories of Charles I. and the Common- 
 wealth. 
 
OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 245 
 
 tion of it by James Petit Andrews, extends only to 
 the period of Henry VIII. Of all plans, that of Henry, 
 is surely the best — especially for the Students of our 
 History. The names of Mr. Sharon Turner* and 
 
 ercise of such talents. Hume was a Tory ; he was also a Scotchman : 
 — this renders the almost uniform absence of Scotticisms, from his 
 style, a subject of surprise — if not of astonishment. 
 
 The first edition of Smollett’s History of England was printed 
 in 1757 in 4 quarto volumes : reprinted in 1758, in 1 1 octavo vo- 
 lumes. Of the Continuation of his History, from 1748 to the end of 
 1765, the first impression appeared in 1763-5, in 5 octavo volumes. 
 But it is of Henry’s history that I would speak in the warmest lan- 
 guage of approbation. The plan need not be here mentioned. Its im- 
 perfect state, and the want of a copious and accurate Index to the 12 
 octavo volumesf already published, are truly lamentable. But ere he 
 come to the perusal of these valuable volumes themselves, I earnestly 
 recommend the gallant-spirited and warm-hearted “ young man,” to 
 read with attention (as he can scarcely fail to do) the secret history 
 of this publication, as developed in the instructive pages of Mr. 
 Disraeli’s Calamities of Authors, vol. ii. p. 64, &c. He will there see 
 how malicious, and yet how impotent, were the efforts of one Gilbert 
 Stuart — by pen, and byword of mouth — to blast the reputation, and 
 with it the peace of mind, of the author of this history of England. 
 He need not be told that Stuart is forgotten— and that Henry will 
 live for ever. Such instances of fiend-like persecution are not pecu- 
 liar to the age of Gilbert Stuart. How incomparably more judicious, 
 as well as candid and happy, is the criticism upon Henry’s history, 
 in the Monthly Revieiv , by the philosophical Hume. — As this history, 
 with its continuation by Andrews, is to be obtained at all prices, 
 varying according to the quarto or octavo size, it is not necessary to 
 particularise further. 
 
 * The foundation of Mr. Sharon Turner’s History of England 
 was laid in that of the Anglo-Saxons , published at various times, 
 from the year 1799 downwards. It has appeared in 2 quarto, and 
 4 octavo, volumes ; and being, a standard book, editions of it are in 
 a regular state of succession. The last of 1820, in three 8vo. vols. is 
 
 f The last octavo edition, or the last but one, has an Index ; but not a very 
 good one, as I learn. 
 
246 
 
 HISTORY, 
 
 Mr. Lingard,* are among the most eminent of those 
 of our living historians. 
 
 certainly the best. The matter is highly curious and instructive j 
 andy compared with it, one may fairly state, that all previous ac- 
 counts of the same period were not only superficial, but erroneous* 
 In 1814 Mr. Turner gave us his first volume of an History of England ; 
 in the year 1815 the second volume appeared : and very recently 
 (1823) the third volume made its appearance. Each volume is in 
 quarto. A great portion of this work is devoted to the history of 
 Religion ai^ Literature jf and in that which relates to civil history, 
 I know of no portion, in any writer, in which the character of Tho- 
 mas a Becket is more vividly and powerfully delineated. 
 
 * Mr. Lingard’s labours have been so far crowned with success, 
 that an octavo impression of his history has already appeared. There 
 will be few, who, on account of the religious creed "(of the church of 
 Rome) of the author, alone will deny this history, a place on their 
 shelves. The style is clear, vigorous, and unaffected 5 the facts are, 
 upon the yvhole, fairly developed, and the authorities faithfully con- 
 sulted. Nor is Mr. Lingard, like David Hume, afraid of encounter- 
 ing the tough and prolix Latin authors of the middle ages. His 
 notes bear evidence of his research : and although his colouring of 
 some characters will necessarily be seen with different eyes by Papist 
 and Protestant, yet it must be fairly acknowledged, that the cause 
 of historical truth (if truth there be in history ?) is in all respects 
 promoted by the cautious investigations, and dispassionate remarks, 
 which characterise by far the greater portion of his work. Mr. Lin- 
 gard has caused the historical critic to examine anew, the data, from 
 which his inferences have been drawn respecting the reigns of Henry 
 VIII. and Queens Mary and Elizabeth. 
 
 The labours of Bertrand de Moleville ( A Chronological Abridge - 
 ment of the History of England , 1811, 4 vols. 8 vo.) ought not to be 
 forgotten. The author’s plan is ingenious, and his work is at once 
 luminous and compressed. I am not Sure whether young people can 
 commence their acquaintance with our history, by the aid of a better 
 guide. 
 
 In the second volume, among the specimens of Gower’s poetry, p. 491, it had 
 escaped the learned author, that precisely similar specimens had appeared in vol. i- 
 p. 181-4, of the recent edition of our Typographical Antiquities. The horrible story 
 of Canacc is indeed thrillingly described by the muse of Gower. 
 
[ 247 ] 
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Haying dispatched those histories* which, with that 
 of England* comprehend some accounts* more or less* 
 of the transactions of Ireland and Scotland* I now 
 come naturally as it were* to the mention of a few 
 historical works* exclusively devoted to the two latter 
 countries. And first* in its proper order* of Ireland. 
 But the reader is previously warned* not to expect 
 anything like methodical details of all the works 
 connected with this subject ; and in the second place* 
 he is equally cautioned not to anticipate a descriptive 
 catalogue of the Lives of the Irish Saints * whose 
 
 * I willingly consign the pages of the Acta Sanctorum (that inex- 
 haustible repertory of legendary lore and saintly romance !) to the 
 investigation of the curious, for the fullest biographies of St. Patrick , 
 St. Brandon, St. Rumold, St. Columba, and other similar worthies. 
 The first, the tutelary Saint of Ireland, has been the object of the 
 most unbounded veneration, and the theme of the most unlimited 
 praise. No romance, in wildness or variety, exceeds the narrative of 
 the fabled deeds of St. Patrick. I am ignorant of the first separate 
 edition of his life 5 but presume that re-impressions of it are innu- 
 merable. Of these, I will mention the only four which I have seen : 
 <f De Vita S. Patricii Hibernia Apostoli. Libr. II. Auctore Richardo 
 Stanihursto Dubliniensi. Ant. ex Off.C. Plantiniana, 1587, 12mo. The 
 second is called ec The Life of the Glorious Bishop St Patricke, Apos- 
 tle and Primate of Ireland,” &c. At St. Omers, 1625, 4to. This bio- 
 graphy is followed by the lives of St. Bridget and St. Columba , Pa- 
 trons of Ireland. The third, <c The Delightful History of the Life 
 and Death of St. Patricke.” Lond . 1685, J2mo. It is a chap book, 
 printed in rather a neat black letter, and embellished with several 
 spirited and not ill-drawn wood cuts. The only copy which I have 
 seen, is that in the library of the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville : a 
 library, to which, as the reader will presently observe, I am under so 
 many obligations for my account of the rarer books relating to Irish 
 
248 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. [Ireland. 
 
 supposed miracles seem to have involved the earlier 
 periods of Irish history in darkness almost impe- 
 
 history. The fourth life is a similar chap book, published in French 
 at Rouen, in 1685 5 but in a much less desirable state: being 
 wretchedly printed, with a rude whole length portrait of the Saint, 
 as a frontispiece. It may be. as well to notice, that, in Carve' s Lyra 
 Hibernica , (presently to be described) there is a small copper plate 
 representing the Island of Purgatory, in which St. Patrick tarried, 
 and where he saw such wonderful sights. It is, I think, the second 
 plate. 
 
 St. Brandon’s biography first appeared in the English language, 
 in a very scarce little quarto volume, printed by W. de Worde, with- 
 out date, but early, and described in the Typog. Antiq. vol. ii. p.345. 
 It contains 10 leaves, having 33 lines in a full page. A copy is in 
 the library of Mr. Grenville, who observes that he knows of no 
 other copy.” This copy, therefore — neatly inlaid, and bound by 
 Charles Lewis, is in Venetian morocco — was in all probability Thane’s, 
 as described in the Typog. Antiq. St. Rumold is connected with one 
 of the scarcest pieces of Irish biography : but we may first notice 
 the Vita, Passio , et Miracula S. Ilumoldi. Arch. Dull. J. V . W. 
 
 Decano Capituli Metrop. Mechlin, Autore." Mechlinice, 1634, 4to. 
 A scarce book : by Hugh Ward, Dean of Dublin, who was an as- 
 sistant to Colgan. Consult Ware's Irish Writers ; vol. ii. p. 114. Mr. 
 Grenville’s beautiful copy is bound in blue morocco. But the scar- 
 cest of the biographies of St. Rumold, is that entitled “ Sancti Ru • 
 moldi Martyris Inclyti , #c. Opus Posthumum. Disserlatio Histo - 
 rica." Lovan. 1662, 4to. A prefix, in the pencil mark of Mr. 
 Triphook, calls it, “ an uncommonly rare work on Irish history.** 
 The price is a demonstration of the truth of the remark. At page 
 366, there is a duplicate, folio, folded leaf, containing the names of 
 ancient Irish kings, in Irish characters. At the end, are three short 
 Indexes; 1. Of Authors consulted : 2. Of Irish Saints : 3. Of things 
 mentioned. 
 
 Those, however, who may give up the pursuit of such rare se- 
 parate pieces of Irish biography in despair, will do well to solace 
 themselves with the “ Florilegium Sanctorum, &c. seu Vita et Acta 
 Sanctorum Hibernice ; 1624, folio : ofwhich “ Thomas Messingham, 
 an Irish priest, and Moderator of the Irish Seminary at Paris,” was 
 the author. In the title page, there is a neat copper cut of the whole 
 
Ireland.] HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 249 
 
 netrable, and with doubts scarcely less unsolvable. 
 Beginning, therefore, cautiously, with our old friends, 
 
 figures of Saints Columba, Patrick, and Bridget. In the whole, 441 
 pages. Mr. Grenville’s fine copy of this most indifferently printed 
 book, is bound in red morocco, by Lewis. In Mr. Thorpe's recent 
 catalogue, I observe the copy which had ‘ f belonged to Geo. II. with 
 Ware’s Autograph/’ marked at 3/. 35. This book, by no means of 
 extreme rarity, has escaped Brunet as have indeed almost all the 
 rarer volumes connected with Irish history. Even the works of Lynch 
 and Carve are not to be found in the Manuel du Libraire. And yet, 
 what work advances nearer to perfection than that of Brunet ? 
 
 But the most copious and valuable work relating to the biography 
 of the Irish Saints, is by John Colgan, an Irish Friar Mendicant, 
 Jesuit, and Divinity Lecturer in the University of Louvain — under 
 the title of Triadis Thaumaturge e, sive Divorum Patricii , Columbce et 
 Brigidce, &c. Acta. Lovan. 1647, vol. ii. folio: his first volume, 
 (printed in 1645) is called “Acta Sanctorum Vet. et Major Scotioe 
 seu Hibernice Sanctorum Insulae , &c. The third volume, properly so 
 considered, never appeared. This first is executed upon the plan of 
 the Bollandists j and contains the Lives of the Irish Saints for the 
 months of January, February, and March. “ In this last book (says 
 Bishop Nicolson) Colgan has hooked inmost of the old holy men and 
 women in England and Scotland : so that even Dempster himselff 
 (in his Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Scotorum Librisx ix. Paris, 1624, 
 folio) could not be more intent on multiplying the Scotch army of 
 Saints and Martyrs, than Colgan of raising recruits for that of his 
 own native country.” Irish Hist. Library , p. 40. A perfect copy of 
 Colgan’s work is so rare, that Mr. Thorpe marks such a one at 20 1. 
 Mr. Grenville’s is in the finest possible condition. 
 
 * In the first edition of the Irish Common Prayer , 1608, folio, edited by Daniel, 
 Archbishop of Tuam, it is said, in the dedication to Sir Arthur Chichester, knight. 
 Lord Deputy of Ireland, “ Though this kingdom were sometimes called Scotia , 
 that is, in Greek darkness— and now may justly recover the ancient title of Scotia 
 Major , (being in greater darkness) &c.” 
 f As connected with the Dempsterian Controversy, there are few pieces, I 
 apprehend, rarer than that entitled “ Hibernice Sive Antiquioris Scotice V indicia; 
 adversus Immodestum Parecbasim Thomas Dempsteri , Sfc. Antv. Apud Herman Cop- 
 man , 1621, 8vo. Strangely enough, Mr. Heber, who has an almost innate abhor- 
 rence of widely extended margins, possesses this very rare book on large paper. 
 
250 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. [Ireland. 
 
 Girald Barry , and Ware , and Stanihurst* as the 
 more ancient and regular historians of Ireland, we 
 have few similar works to notice, (if we except the 
 
 The reader will remember that some curious similar biography 
 may be seen in Pinkerton’s Vitce Antiques, Sanctorum. Lond. 1789, 
 8 vo. : only 100 copies printed. See the Life of St. Columba. But 
 in the incorporated biographies of Saints, let me not omit the men- 
 tion of the “ Lives of Saints , written in Spanishe , by the Rev. J. 
 Alfonso vallegas , Dominican , faithfully translated into English , fyc. 
 mith the Lives of St. Patrick , St. Brigid , and St. Columba - } Patrons 
 of Ireland . All newly corrected , and adorned with many brazen pic- 
 tures in this last edition. Printed by John Cousturier, 1636, 4to. pp. 
 945 : then a leaf of approbation,” and 179 leaves of Appendix. 
 My friend Mr. Heber possesses a beautiful copy of this uncommon 
 book, in his extraordinary collection of works appertaining to Irish 
 history. St. Bridget has, perhaps, few works connected with her 
 biography more choice and rare, than that entitled Brigida Thau - 
 maturga , sive Dissertatio Encomiastica in laudem ipsius Sanctce : par- 
 tim archaica ex sacra et antiqua historia Ecclesiastica : partim etiam 
 parencetica ad alumnos Collegiorum. Paris , 1620, 8vo. In Mr. Heber’s 
 collection. 
 
 * Girald Barry, ( Giraldus Cambrensis) Topographia Hibernics, 
 and Historia Vaticinalis de Expugnatione Hibernics , &c. The latter was 
 published in the Anglica, &c. of Camden, at Franckfort, 1603, folio : 
 see p. 159, ante. G. Barry’s work, which gives an account of Ire- 
 land in the 12th century, was answered by Lynch, under the title of 
 Cambrensis Eversus , &c. for which, see post. ' But Barry’s topogra- 
 phical labours appear to the best advantage in Holinshed’s Chro- 
 nicles, translated and improved, with occasional notes, by John 
 Hooker, alias Vowel : vol. 2, edit. 1586. 
 
 Richardi Stanihursti De Rebus in Hibernia gestis Libri IV. 
 Antv. apud C. Plantinum, 1584, 4to. Concerning this work, consult 
 Harris s JVare t vol. iii. p. 38 : Nicolsons Irish Hist. Library , part iii. 
 p. 21, edit. 1736 ; Keating's Pref. to his Hist, of Ireland, 1723, folio. 
 Messrs. Arch mark a copy at 1Z. Is, It is rarely found in good con- 
 dition, although I was fortunate enough to pick up a fine and perfect 
 copy at Nancy, bound in red morocco, for five francs. The reader 
 may not object to know that Stanihurst was the uncle of Archbishop 
 Usher. 
 
Ireland.] HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 251 
 
 brief account of Spenser the poet) till we reach the 
 middle of the following century ; when the labours of 
 Messingham , Colgan, Lombardus, Hanmer, Campion , 
 Stafford , Carve , Lynch, Morison , Caron, Sirinus, and 
 others* mentioned below*^ furnish us with curious 
 
 * Before I dispatch the above list of old Irish historians or an- 
 nalists, let me make brief mention of a few rare historical pieces, not 
 incorporated in the text. 1. Historic Catholics Ibernix Compendium 
 a D. Fhilippo Ossullevano Bearro Iberno , Ulyssippone excusum a Petro 
 Crasbeeckio Reg. Typog. 1621, 4to. The arms of Austria in the title- 
 page. Mr. Grenville and Mr. Heber each possess a copy of this 
 rare book. The paper and type are rather indifferent. 2. Paraine- 
 ticorum Veterum Scriptures VIII. Insulae ad lacum Acronium Per - 
 missu Superiorum, 1604, 4to. This is a very curious volume, and 
 Mr. Bohn has availed himself of Mr. Clarke’s reference to this very 
 copy, as one of the bijoux of the library of Mr. Grenville, which has 
 encouraged him to affix the price of 1 1. 16s. to a good copy of the 
 work. The second part is full of curious old Irish poetry 5 and we 
 observe a copper cut of “ Kvning Tyro Von Schotten” with some 
 poetry by that monarch. The pages run consecutively to p. 490. 
 Then Omissa” and “ Index,” separately. 3. Analecta Sacra Nova 
 et Mira , De Rebus Catholicorum in Hibernia. (Colon. 1617 , Svo.) to 
 which, add De processu Martyriali Quorundam Fidei pugilum in Hi- 
 bernia pro complemento Sacrorum Analectorum. A long preface, on 
 sign. a. e. i. unpaged : then a new title, as it were 5 Catalogus Sa- 
 cratorum Antistitum, &c. on sign, o and u : next, De Richardi 
 Creaghi, Arch. Armac. Prim. Reg. Heb. vita et morte Notationes Mne - 
 monicae , pp. 385. ,e The three parts (as here — observes Mr. Gren- 
 ville) are of the greatest rarity* The author was David Rooth, 
 Bishop of Ossory, highly praised by Usher, to whom he supplied 
 some documents for the Primordia.” Rivius published an answer 
 to this book, so scarce that I have seen no copy except my own. 
 This answer was published at London, in 1624, 4to. (and dedicated 
 to Charles Prince of Wales) under the title of Regiminis Anglicani 
 in Hibernia Defensio adversus Analecten. Autore Tho. Ryvio. J. C. 
 Regis Advocato. Libri Tres .” Each book has separate paginal nume- 
 
 * It is clear that Bishop Nicolson was ignorant of the publication of this latter 
 tract. He speaks of it as if in MS. 
 
252 
 
 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. [Ireland. 
 
 and copious details respecting the proceedings— 
 mostly of a melancholy description— which took place 
 
 rals. Mr. Grenville’s copy is clean and most beautiful. Consult 
 Nicolsoris Irish Historical Library , 173 6, folio, p. 5. 
 
 I now come to the notice of the authors above particularly men- 
 tioned j in the chronological order in which their works appeared. 
 Lombard us, de Regno Hibernia , Lovan . 1632, 4to. One of the 
 rarest of the Irish histories. This book was ordered to be suppressed 
 and prosecuted by Lord Deputy Strafford, at the direction of the King 
 in 1633 ; but the author was already dead. See Harris’s Ware , vol. 
 iii. p. 103. Mr. Grenville’s copy of this indifferently printed book is 
 fine and spotless ; in Venetian morocco, by C. Lewis. A short ac- 
 count of the life and writings of Dr. Peter Lombard, Roman Catho- 
 lic Primate of Armagh, was published in the Anthologia Hibernica, 
 vol. i. p. 33. Hanmer, Campion,* and Spenser, &c. — Histories of 
 Ireland , Dublin, 1633, folio. There are three separate titles and 
 paginations. Hanmer and Marleburrough occupy 223 pages ; Cam- 
 pion, 138 ; with one of faultes escaped j” and Spenser, 119 ; with 
 15 pages of annotations and poetical addenda. Thomas Stafford 
 was author of Pacata Hibernia ; Ireland Appeased and Reduced ,” 
 1633, folio. This volume contains a fine portrait of the Earl of Tot- 
 ness, by Voerst, and another of Queen Elizabeth, with some verses 
 printed beneath. These precede the title. The dedication to the King 
 is signed by Thomas Stafford. The Maps are the chief treasures of 
 this volume : of which there should be 18 to be complete. Some of 
 these maps, in giving bird’s-eye views of battles, sieges, camps, and 
 of castles and fortified towns — many of the originals no longer exist- 
 ing — are very curious. Messrs. Arch value a perfect copy, in russia 
 binding, at 7 1. 7s. Note : The five last mentioned works, with a 
 Life of St. Patrick , were handsomely reprinted, under the title of 
 Ancient Irish Histories , at Dublin, in 1809, in five quarto volumes. 
 The Pacata ” was separately published in 1820, 8vo. 2 vols. 
 
 We are now to mention a few of the principal labours of Carve, a 
 native of Tipperary. His Itinerarium, or rather the first part of it, 
 was published at Mentz, in 1639 ; the second part in 1641 ; the third 
 at Spires, in 1646. The first was reprinted in 1640 ?f but the first 
 
 * Campion was the famous Jesuit, executed in the reign of Elizabeth. 
 
 + Mr. Grenville remarks that the reprint is the same as the first edition of 1 639; 
 page for page, and word for word ; excepting that it has an additional dedication, 
 
Ireland ] HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 253 
 
 during the same century, in the sister kingdom. But 
 while it ought to be duly noticed, that the greater 
 
 edition of the first part, and the possession of the second and third 
 parts — the whole forming 3 small duodecimo volumes, — is a circum- 
 stance of very rare occurrence, even with the most indefatigable and 
 fortunate book -collector. Even the second part has made a copy 
 mount to the price of 7 Z. 17$- fid. The three parts have produced, I 
 think, 21 1. Mr. Grenville possesses two copies : one, in 3 vol. in red 
 morocco, including the original edition of the first part : the other, 
 3 vols. in 1, in Venetian morocco. Mr. George Hibbert also pos- 
 sesses the three parts complete : from the Macarthy Library. Of 
 scarcely less rarity is the “ Lyra , sive Anaceplialceosis Hibernica ,' ’ &c. 
 of the same Author : printed at Sulzbach in 1666, 4to.* This indif- 
 ferently printed book contains 5 plates : 3 topographical : the 4th, 
 a portrait of Charles I. (apparently copied from that in Heath’s 
 Chronicle) and the 5th, a portrait of Carve himself with a long 
 bushy beard — and altogether of a “ wild” aspect. t Of this portrait 
 there is a poor and faithless copy, which Mr. Grenville has inserted 
 into his own book— besides having the genuine impression. Mr. 
 Hibbert also possesses this scarce piece of Carve 5 and Mr. 
 Heber possesses it uncut . O rare ! A remarkably clean and sound 
 copy of it is at Althorp. 
 
 We are now to treat of Lynch, one of the most celebrated of the 
 Irish Roman Catholic writers and controversialists. His latinised 
 name is usually Lucius ; and his principal work is a sort of indirect 
 attack against Girald Barry’s, under the title of <e Cambrensis Ever - 
 sus ; seu potius Historica Fides, in rebus Hibernicis , Giraldo Cam - 
 
 and at pp. 113-114, two additional epitaphs to Wallenstein , and an additional 35th 
 chapter .at the end of the first part. I may add, that the mistake of Tripperarien- 
 sis, in the first edition, is corrected to that of Tipperariensis in the reprint. 
 
 * It was first published in 1660, in the 70th year of the author’s age, when he 
 lived at Vienna, and where he died a Vicar-Choral of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, in 
 1664. Carve was a priest and apostolic notary. Nicolson : Irish Hist. Libr. p. 12. 
 
 f But in regard to portraits, whether true or false in resemblance, I know of 
 none (unless those in a scarce little volume entitled Certamen Triplex , 1645, be 
 excepted) like that which adorns almost the first leaf of a very scarce tract enti- 
 tled “ R. P. Peiri Writi Sacerdotis Angli E Societ. Jesu. Mors quam ob fidem passus 
 est Londini, xxix. Maii, M.DC.LI.” It is a portrait of the author, by Galle. It is 
 brilliant even to dazzling. Why will not many of our able artists do the like ? 
 Mr. Heber ’s copy of this interesting book is “ de toute beaut£!” 
 
254 
 
 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. [Ireland. 
 
 number of the books, from the authors just mentioned, 
 are of an extreme degree of rarity— and therefore 
 
 brensi abrogata, &c. In quo , be. plerosque ncevos inesse ostendit Gra- 
 tianus Lucius Hibermcus, &c. an. 1662, folio. A long dedicatory 
 epistle to Charles II., and an Index of chapters (one leaf) precede 
 the text. The text occupies 356 pages. Addenda 2 leaves. Index 
 Rerum, 7 leaves. It appears from Croft’s catalogue, p. 371, n°. 
 7397, (as inserted by Mr. Grenville in his copy) that the greater 
 number of copies of this work seems to have perished by the fire of 
 London. The book was, doubtless, published abroad. Mr. Gren- 
 ville’s copy is a fine one, in Venetian morocco binding. Lynch (ac- 
 cording to Bishop Nicolson) accuses Girald Barry of maliciously 
 destroying a great many of the old Irish Annals, whereof he had the 
 perusal j and it is thence justly observed by Bishop Stillingfleet, 
 
 ( Orig . Brit. p. 268,) that, if so, he had better advantages, and more 
 authorities than Keating.” Irish Hist. Libr. page 2. Lynch’s book 
 may be worth from 15/. to 20/. according to condition. 
 
 Of infinitely greater rarity than the preceding, is the work of 
 Lynch entitled “ Alithinologia, sive Veredica Re^ponsio ad Invecti - 
 vam Mendacijs falacijs, be. feet am in plurimos Antistites , &c. Hibernos . 
 Eudoxio Alithinologo Authore. Impress. 1664, 4to. “ One of the 
 dearest and most rare of all the Irish tracts,"' — says Mr. Grenville. I 
 find no mention of it in Nicolson or Watt. A supplemental volume 
 was printed in 1667> containing a title, 13 prefatory leaves, 228 
 pages of text, and 9 leaves of index and errata. This first part con- 
 tains 144 leaves, and 7 leaves of index, &c. Mr. Grenville’s copy is 
 most perfect — and brilliantly bound, by C. Lewis, in red morocco, 
 with vellum insides. But perhaps the very rarest of all Lynch’s 
 pieces, is that entitled “ Pii Antistitis Icon , siue De Vita et Morte 
 Rmi . J). Francisci Kirovani Alladentis Episcopi : Autore Joanne 
 Lynchceo Archidiacono Tuamensi. Maclovii , 1669," 12mo. Mr. Heber’s 
 unique copy of this slender duodecimo volume, (which is replete with 
 interesting details,) has a portrait of Kirwan, (wholly unknown to 
 all the Collectors) executed by C. Hilaer, in the line manner, very 
 rude, out of drawing, and yet strongly indicative of a resemblance. 
 It represents the original in his 72d year 3 adding, that he died in 
 1661. An original letter of Dr. O’Conor, of Stowe, accompanies 
 this copy — written to the owner of it, in confirmation of its won- 
 derful rarity. The place where this book was printed (St. Malo) 
 
255 
 
 Ireland.] HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 coveted with avidity by the historical antiquary, and 
 keen collector of scarce and curious volumes — it must 
 
 was the rendezvous of the expatriated Irish in their way to France 
 and the Netherlands — according to the author of the letter. Who 
 shall have the courage to set a price on such a piece of biography ? 
 
 Of almost equal rarity with the latter of Lynch’s performances, is 
 the Remonstrantia Hibernicorum contra Lovanienses Ultramontanas- 
 que Censurasy ’ fyc. of which R. P. F. R. Caron, ec Theologus Emeri- 
 tus,” was the author ; and which was published “ Cum. Lie. et Priv. 
 Superiorum. A. D. 1665, in folio. This work was, doubtless, printed 
 abroad. Carron and Walsh* were two of the Catholic clergy, who 
 in opposition to the fierce writings of Nicholas French, (and espe- 
 cially to his Bleeding Iphigenia,\ published in 1674, 8vo.) qualified 
 their submission to the Pope, by their abhorrence of the principles 
 of the Irish Rebels, and disclaiming the Pope’s supremacy, in tempo- 
 rals. Caron’s book is of decided rarity. Mr. Grenville supposses 
 the entire impression of it to have been nearly destroyed in the fire of 
 London ; and knows of no copy of the book besides his own, except 
 that at Stowe. His own copy was presented to him by Thomas 
 Cholmondeley, Esq. of Vale Royal. The work is dedicated to Charles 
 II. : and the first four parts run through 266 pages, consecutively 
 numbered. The first XI. chapters of the 5th part occupy 94 pages: 
 
 * History of the Irish Remonstrances : Lond. 1674, folio. 
 
 t Who, I desire to know, is the happy, the enviable possessor of this “ bleed- 
 ing” treasure ? — a treasure — for which my Lord Arundel, the Right Hon. Thomas 
 Grenville, and Richard Heber,Esq. would cross the roughest ocean, even agitated 
 by equinoctial gales ! ’Tis, as I conceive, the rarest of Irish pieces ; and I learn 
 from Mr. I. Roche, whose library is rich in Irish history, that a copy of it was 
 sold at Dublin in 1823. Was it from the collection of the late Dr. Troy ? “ This 
 honest Father Walsh (as Bishop Nicolson remarks) is that same modern histo- 
 rian upon whom Mr. O’Flaherty has let fly a whole chapter of remarks — in his 
 Ogygia, pt. iii. c. 27.” However, among the rarer of his pieces is the following, of 
 which a copy will be found in the libraries of Mr. Grenville and Mr. Heber. 
 “ Causa yalesiana Epistolis T ernis Prcelibata , Sfc. Authore F. Retro Valesio , 8fc. 
 Lond. 1684, 8vo. A perfect copy of a very scarce work, by Peter Walsh, which 
 is much oftener looked for than found (says Mr. Grenville). The whole appendix 
 being unpaged, must be carefully examined. This is quite compleat. The pagina- 
 tion extends to p. 350. Then the “ Appendix Instrumentorumf beginning on Z. 
 and extending to P, each letter in eights : a blank leaf forming the last of P. The 
 “ Instruments” are numerous— with several titles- A beautiful copy is at Althorp. 
 
256 
 
 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. [Ireland. 
 
 also be as duly noticed, that the majority, if not 
 almost the entire number, of these writers, were of 
 the Roman Catholic faith ; and therefore their nar- 
 ratives, or their conclusions, must be received with a 
 mixture of more than “ one grain of salt.” Most of 
 the foregoing authors had their works printed abroad, 
 as if by stealth, and in a very sorry garb ; but their 
 rarity and intrinsic worth render them acceptable 
 under any aspect, provided they be perfect. 
 
 Meanwhile, requesting the inquisitive reader to 
 avail himself of the labours of Camden and Baxter — 
 as not wholly irrelevant to the present subject — I re- 
 commend him to the sober and intrinsically valuable 
 publications of Lord Castlehaven , Davis , Cox , Capell , 
 
 from the Xllth to the XVIlIth chapters inclusively, there are 102 
 pages : the paginary numerals recommencing at ch. XII. An index 
 of 4 leaves concludes the work. 
 
 The work of Sirinus* ought probably to have been noticed under 
 the account of Irish Saints. It is so rare, as to have escaped Nicol- 
 son. The title is thus : “ Patricii Flemingi Hiberni, be. Collectanea 
 Sacra seu S. Coliniibani Hiberni Abbatis, be. Necnon Aliorum Antiquo- 
 rum Sanctorum Acta et Opuscula , nusquam antehac edita , &c. Per . 
 Tliomam Sirinum." Lovanii, 1667, folio. A dedicatory epistle to 
 Cardinal Dubois, 2 leaves : privilege of publication, 1 : contents, 1 : 
 followed by a Brevis Notitia de Collectore, and other pieces, 3 leaves: 
 ad Lectorem, 2: Elogia de S. Columbano, 4: Hymni, 1: all un- 
 numbered. Then 454 pages consecutively, to the end of the work : 
 including the index. The paper and print, as usual, are indifferent. 
 Mr. Grenville observes, that et this is one of the rarest and most 
 valuable books of old Irish history • he knows of no other copy, 
 except that at Stowe. ’ Respecting, the author, see W are's Writers, 
 vol. ii. 
 
 * It may be as well to notice here a work of R. Belin, entitled “ Vindiciarum 
 Catliolicorum in Hibernia, Rerum in Hibernia Gestarum ab anno 1641, ad annum 
 1649. Faris, 1650, 12mo. A rare book; unknown to Nicolson, and the gene- 
 rality of Bibliographers. I find a copy of it marked at 21. 12s. Gd. in Mr. Rodd’s 
 
 Catalogue of 1823. 
 
Ireland.] HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 25? 
 
 and O' Flaherty ;* and, in the ensuing, and last cen- 
 tury, to those of Keating , Ware, Warner , Mus grave, 
 
 * Camden and Baxter may be only incidentally mentioned, as it 
 were. The labours of the former are topographical, and will be 
 best understood in the editions of the Britannia , by Gibson or Gough. 
 Those of the latter are paleological, or glossarial — under the 
 well-known title of “ Glossarium Antiquitatum Britannicarum, sive 
 Syllabus Etymologicus Antiquitatum Veteris Britannia atque Iber- 
 nije temporibus Romanorum. Lond. 1719. 8vo. With an excellent 
 head of Baxter, by Vertue, in the frontispiece. A most beautiful 
 copy of this book on large paper, in old red morocco binding, is 
 marked by Messrs. Payne and Foss at 31. 3s. It was the presenta- 
 tion copy to Dr. Meade, and has an additional ms. dedication by 
 Baxter. The Memoirs of James Lord Audley, Earl of Castlehaven, 
 his Engagement and Carriage in the Wars of Ireland: from the year 
 1642, to the year 1651. Written by himself. Lond. 1680, 12mo. 
 pp. 136. The Earl of Castlehaven’s Review : or his Memoirs, &c. : 
 enlarged and corrected, with an Appendix and Postscript. Lond. 
 1684. pp. 177, (not 161.) — with an Appendix of seventy-three pages. 
 Reprinted in 1815. Dublin, Svo. : of which there were thirty copies 
 on large paper. Mr. Grenville has one of these — the gift of Sir W. 
 W. Wynne, Bart. : gorgeously bound in green morocco, by George 
 Mullen of Dublin. 
 
 Historical Relations : or, a Discovery of the true Causes why Ireland 
 was never entirely subdued nor brought under obedience of the Crown of 
 England until the beginning of the reign of King James of happy 
 Memory. London , 1612, 4to. First edition. Dublin , 1664, 12mo, 
 Second edition. tc The author of the work was Sir John Davis, a 
 learned man, and an excellent orator, who, for his great abilities, 
 was by King James the First made his Solicitor, and afterwards his 
 Attorney General in this kingdom of Ireland.” Preface. Lord 
 Chatham, in his Letters to his Nephew, p. 81, calls this, “ a great 
 performance, a masterly work, containing much depth of knowledge 
 of state matters, and settling of countries, in a very short compass.” 
 It is a small duodecimo of 255 pages. The first edition is of great 
 rarity. 
 
 But of all the smaller and more important pieces of this period, 
 there is not one which can come within many degrees of rarity of 
 that entitled “ Unkind Deserter of Loyal Men," Anno 1676, l2mo. 
 
 S 
 
258 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. [Ireland. 
 
 Leland, Thomas de Burgo, O' Halloran, and V allancey. 
 The present century has been enriched by the produc- 
 
 This “ Unkind Deserter” was the Duke of Ormond. The author was 
 Nicholas French, catholic Bishop of Ferns, an unprincipled poli- 
 tician, who repeatedly changed sides. He went to Brussels, and 
 offered the crown of Ireland to the Duke of Lorrain : afterwards he 
 proceeded to Paris, and requested an interview with Charles II. who 
 refused to see him. This he attributed to the Duke of Ormond; 
 became his inveterate enemy, and concentrated in this volume every 
 circumstance, which he could collect injurious to Ormond’s reputa- 
 tion.” Bibl. Towneleiana, No. 697* Mr. Evans’s note. The copy 
 thus described was purchased by the Earl of Leitrim for 31 1. 10s. 
 Another copy was in the Lansdowne Collection, no. 6003. What 
 though Mr. Heber’s copy be bound in its pristine garb, of sheep 
 skin, where shall we find a morocco volume, of the same dimensions, 
 to come up to it in price? Note: the interior of this same copy is 
 white throughout, and the condition even crackling. 
 
 The work of Richard Cox, Esq. is entitled Hibernia Anglicana. 
 or the History of Ireland, #c. to the present time. London , 1689, 
 Folio. This book, to be perfect, contains two parts : the first part, 
 having a Map, comprehends 456 pages, besides an Index : the 
 second, 206 pages ; then the reign of Charles II., with a separate 
 pagination, of 211 pages, besides four pages of a table. Mr. Gren- 
 ville possesses this work on large paper, which is of very rare 
 occurrence. Capell’s Letters , written by A. C. the Earl of Essex 
 when Lord Lieutenant of Ireland , in the year 1675, were published 
 at London in 1770, 4to. More curious, and certainly much more 
 uncommon, than either of the preceding works, is that published by 
 Roderick O’Flaherty, Esq. called “ Ogygia , seu Rerum Hiber- 
 nicarum Chronologia. London , 1685, 4to. The whole of the text, 
 700 pages; with forty-four pages of preliminary matter. In praise 
 of this work, consult Harris's Ware , vol. iii. 271- But Bp. Nicolson 
 disports in a very facetious vein concerning it.* 
 
 * The work is partly topographical and partly historical : for the former, see 
 the Irish Hist. Library , p. 9 : for the latter, consult p. 23. “ The author's 
 
 patron, the then Duke of York, afterwards king James II., is encouraged to ex- 
 pect a complete chain of his Royal Ancestors, in a right line, of an hundred and 
 twenty-four generations, from Adam ; whereof, eleven were before the flood ; 
 
Ireland.] HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 259 
 
 lions of Plow den, Gordon , and Wakefield . This is a 
 
 sort of precis of the chief historians,of Ireland ;* but to 
 
 * Keating’s General History of Ireland, by Dermod O'Connor, 
 Dublin, 1723, should be In every library 5 but it is by no means a 
 common book. Mr. Grenville possesses it on large paper. War- 
 ner’s History of Ireland, including the History of the Rebellion, 
 London, 1763-7, 4to. 2 vols. may be obtained for about two or three 
 guineas, according to the condition. But, in chronological order, 
 I ought to have mentioned rather an uncommon book called Jus 
 Primatiale Armacanum in Omnes Archiep . Epis.," &c. assertum per 
 H. A. M. T. H. P. Anno Dom. 1728, 4to, From a curious and 
 valuable letter by the present Dr. O’Conor, to Mr. Grenville — 
 inserted in Mr. G.’s copy of this book — it should seem that these 
 initials indicated “ Hugo Ardmachanus Macmahon Totius Hiber- 
 niae Primas.” The first piece includes 222 pages, besides an Index ; 
 the second, Prosecutio ejusdem Argumenti, 125 pages: then eleven 
 pages, with a prefix “ In nomine Domini,” and three leaves of 
 Memoranda et Corrigenda. 
 
 No library, especially as relating to Irish literature or history, 
 can be considered as complete without the labours of Sir James 
 Ware : who is justly styled by Nicolson “ the Camden of Histo- 
 rians, or Annalists.” His earlier works are entitled “ Rerum Hiberni - 
 carum Annales, regnantibus Hen. VII. Hen. VIII. Eduardo VI. et 
 Maria." Dublin, 1664, folio : Antiquitates Hibernicce, &c. Londini, 
 1658, 8vo. Edit, secuncl. et. auct. But it is more in the character 
 of old Anthony h-Wood, that Ware will go down to posterity — 
 especially in the publication under the title of “ The whole Works 
 of Sir James Ware, concerning Ireland. Revised and Improved 
 and published in three volumes, or parts, (usually bound in two) 
 at Dublin, in 1739-1745, under the editorial care of Walter Harris. 
 The first volume is devoted to Ecclesiastical History, and contains 
 660 pages, besides an Index and seventeen plates. The first part of 
 the second volume, containing 286 pages, relates to the Antiquities 
 of Ireland : the second part of the same volume has twenty-one 
 plates, and 362 pages. Mr. Grenville possesses this desirable work 
 
 twenty-six between that epoch and their settlement here ; fifty-one in Ireland ; 
 and thirty-six in Scotland. But afterwards, he seems not to be sure of making 
 out the regal stem, without interruption, for above 2700 years.” Ibid. 
 
260 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. [Ireland. 
 
 such publications, I ain compelled, bibliographically 
 speaking, to add the mention of a number of minor 
 
 on large PAPER, of which there may probably not be a dozen copies. 
 It is splendidly bound in red morocco by C. Lewis. I remember to 
 have seen another large paper copy in the library at Hafod. The 
 large paper contains Parry's dedication in Latin, and also Harris’s 
 dedication to the Archbishop of Armagh, which Mr. Grenville has 
 not discovered in the small paper copies inspected by him. A good 
 copy of the small paper is worth 10 1. 10 s. Musgrave’s History of 
 the Irish Rehellion, 1798, 4to. 3 was reprinted in 1809, 2 vols. 8vo. 
 In the year 17£2 appeared a work of Thomas De Burgo, Thomas 
 Burke, (titular Bishop of Ossory) entitled “ Hibernia Dominicana ; 
 sive Historia Provincice Hihernice Ordinis Pr indicator um. Colon. 
 Agrip." 1762, 4to. There are xvi. pages, of introductory matter. 
 Then, 79 7 pages of text. A “ Supplement,” of the same date and 
 place, carrying on the pagination to 950 pages, concludes. This 
 “ Supplement” is of extreme rarity. The most important information 
 however, respecting Dr. Burke’s curious and desirable book is, that 
 the work is almost always in a castrated state, wanting one chapter 
 on the State of the Catholics in Ireland under William III. which was 
 most carefully suppressed. 
 
 In the year 1778 appeared a General History of Ireland, by Mr. 
 O’Halloran ; in 2 4to. volumes : preceded by an Introduction in 
 1772, 4to. : three volumes in the whole. These were reprinted at 
 Dublin in 1803, 8vo. in three volumes. But perhaps, of all the 
 writers upon Irish affairs, philologically or historically considered, 
 few have written so much, or conjectured so hazardously, as the 
 late General Vallancey 3 a writer, nevertheless, of considerable 
 acumen, and originality of thinking. His Collectanea de Rebus Hi- 
 bernicis, in several parts, are to be had in six volumes 3 of which the 
 two latter are very rare 5 and I find a copy of the fourteen parts in 
 four volumes, dated 1786, marked at 61. in the catalogue of Messrs. 
 Payne and Foss.* Yet the account of the publications relating to 
 
 Vallancey published his Vindication of the Ancient Kingdom of Ireland, in 
 1786, 8vo. : which has a Map at the beginning, and ten plates at the end. His 
 Grammar of the Irish language is very rare. He was above forty (says my valu- 
 able Correspondent Mr. Roche) when he began to learn the Irish language, but he 
 could never speak it. 
 
Ireland.] HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 261 
 
 very curious and interesting tracts ; of which the cele- 
 brated Barnabe Rich* was the first and principal 
 
 Ireland, in the xviiith century, cannot be said to be complete without 
 the notice of a few more works — or, indeed of many — which do not 
 come within the scope of this publication to record : as <e Hibernica , 
 or, some antient pieces relating to Ireland, &c. Dublin, 1 747, folio. 
 These pieces are eleven in number, to render the first part of the 
 volume complete — comprising 150 pages. The second part, with 
 131 pages, is sometimes wanting. Both parts were reprinted in 
 1770, 8vo. 2 vols. but with no additions. See the contents enume- 
 rated in Mr. Harris’s Catalogue of the Library of the Royal Institution , 
 p. 394. Leland’s History of Ireland, 1773, 4to. in 3 volumes, is 
 the one most usually read. Plowden’s, in the same number of 
 volumes, appeared in 1804, 4to. Mr. Gordon wrote both a history 
 of the Irish Rebellion in 1798, published in 1801, 8vo., and a gene- 
 ral history of Ireland till the Union of 1801. Lond. 1806, 8vo. 2 
 vols. The labours of Mr. Wakefield, which are rather statistical, 
 and extremely valuable, were published in 1812, 4to. 2 vols. I affix 
 no prices to these books, as they are obtainable in almost every book- 
 seller’s catalogue. 
 
 * The earliest, and in all respects the most curious, of the pieces 
 of Barnabe Riche, relating to Ireland, is that of the date of 1578, 
 called Allarme to England, for eshewing what perilles are procured 
 where the people live without regarde of Martial lawe," &c. in a small 
 4to. volume, printed by Henrie Middleton, for C. B. (perhaps Chris- 
 topher Barker.) As there is a particular account of this volume in the 
 British Bibliographer , vol. i. p. 508, &c. given by Mr. Haslewood, I 
 shall here only content myself with the following interesting extracts, 
 and somewhat sensible remarks therefrom. f It should seem that the 
 
 + In his dedication to Sir Christopher Hatton, Knight, captain of her Majesty’s 
 train bands, Barnabe Riche observes, “ I have here rashly and aduenterously taken 
 upon me to become a writer, wherein a great number (Iknowe) will likewise con- 
 demne me, and the rather considering my simplicitie and trayning vp, which hath 
 not bene so much with my penne, but more with my pyke, nor in the scholes 
 amongst learned clarkes, but rather in the fields amongst unlettered companions, 
 or, as some will terme them, amongst a company of rustike souldiers.” In his 
 address “ to the gentle reader” he says — “ Such is the delicacie of our readers, at 
 this time, that there are none maybe allowed of to write, but such as haue been 
 trained at schoole with Pallas, &c.— and for my parte (without vaunt be it spoken) 
 
262 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. [Ireland. 
 
 author. Towards the middle of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, when Ireland exhibited a picture of the most 
 
 government of Ireland, and the System of the Poor Laws, were for 
 ever to be the Cruces to baffle the wisdom, as well as to exercise the 
 ingenuity, of British legislators. 
 
 On the reverse of Diij. there is this sensible remark about the 
 ruling of Ireland. “ In like manner it hath been often seene, that 
 when a rascall (a rebell I would tearme him) hath done many spoyles, 
 and committed many outrages, yet in the end hath been receiued 
 vpon composition, and many times haue their pardons begged, by 
 some that be about the Lorde Deputie : and many times they haue 
 frends in England to purchase them pardons, and to send them ouer : 
 and this is the uery cause that giueth them boldnesse to doe yll, so 
 that there is no assured trust to be founde in the greatest number of 
 them : but when they may see time and occasion to doe a shrewd 
 turne, then they get them a cbpenie of breechless beggers, (folowers 
 they cal them) when they haue plaid their parts to the uttermost, 
 they assure themselves that a hundred of stolen cowes will buy a par- 
 done : where, otherwise, if all hope were cut from them, and that no 
 pardons might be granted vnto them, might without fauoure feele 
 the force of the lawe, without any exceptions from the best to the 
 worst, and that every one, like dutiful subjects should put to their 
 helping hande, to the suppressing of them, there is no question but 
 Irelande would soon waxe ciuil, and the countrie would quickly 
 growe to be quiet/’ Sign. Diij. rev. 
 
 On Diij, 
 
 “ How lamentable is the case of those that be honest, and suche as 
 would gladly indeuour them selves to liue orderly, whiche can not so 
 much as enioy a poore llocke bed to lie upon, but must content them- 
 selues with homelier beds than a bundle of sweete strawe : and, in- 
 stead of other cates, do only liue by gross herbs and roots : — and 
 then to see what labour, what toil, and what pain they endure, but 
 to get some small portion of money, wherewith to buy a loaf of 
 
 I have been a trauayler ; I have sayled in Grauesende barge as farre as Billingsgate , 
 I haue trauelled from Bucklers bery to Basingstocke , I haue gone from S* Pan- 
 keridge church to Kentish towne by lande, where I was combered with many hedges, 
 ditches, and other slippery bankes, but yet I could neuer come to those learned 
 bankes of Helicon , neither was I euer able to scale Parnassus hyl, although I have 
 trauailed over Gaddes hyl in Kente, and that sundrie tymes and often.” 
 
Ireland.] HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 263 
 
 frightful desolation — especially between the years 
 1640 and 1650 — a swarm of fugitive publications 
 
 bread, of the which, neither he, his wfife, nor his children, shall 
 neuer eat so much as one crum, but must serve to content those idle 
 rogues — -where the poor man himself, if he be able to keep a cow 
 for his better relief, letteth her blood in a vein in her neck, the which 
 blood, being boiled in a clod, serveth his turn instead of the finest 
 manchet.” Sign. Diiij. A little before. Riche observes — tf Whoso- 
 ever will think to prevail in Ireland, it must be by using justice with 
 extremity, and not with lenity.” Our friend Barnabe perhaps always 
 rode with “ a tight curb.” 
 
 Riche’s other pieces (though these are by no means the whole) re- 
 lating to Ireland, must be summarily despatched : ee A short Survey 
 of Ireland.*' London , 1069 for 1609, 4to. pp. 56. A Catholicke Con- 
 ference betweene Syr Taddy Mac Mareall a Popish priest of Water - 
 forde, and Patricke Plaine, a young Student in Trinity Colledge by 
 Dublin in Irelandef &c. London , 1612, 4to. The subjoined extract 
 may be worth perusal :* it must be confessed that Sir Taddy and 
 young Patrick speak plainly with each other. This tract was not 
 known to Mr. Haslewood when he made his list of Riche's pieces in 
 the preface to the Paradise of Dainty Devises. The Irish Hubbub , or 
 the English Hue and Crie. London, 1619, 4to. pp. 56 : followed by 
 one leaf of u Aphorismes, with other witty sentences,” the 24th of 
 June, 1618 : but I confess that these sentences do not strike me as 
 either witty or wise. Mr. Grenville’s copy, which concludes with the 
 
 * Sir Taddy introduces the prayer for salvation of souls, thro’ the intermediation 
 of St. Thomas a Becket, the Martyr: — adding “ for here we make intercession 
 unto Christ that by the bloud which Thomas shed, we may come where Thomas is. 
 To which Patrick the Student replies, “ And that is to the infernal pit of hell : O 
 doctrine of diveles, that doth teach the silly people to fly from the bloud of Christ, 
 to seek their salvation in the bloude of a Traytor ! — a seditious wretch, that was 
 only canonyzed by the Pope for his trayterous demeanure and disobedience to his 
 lawfull prynce” A little further, after mentioning the mediation of the Virgin, 
 the Student replies: “ I doe not so much wonder at that, Sir Tady, when now, in the 
 hottest sunne shine of the Gospell, wee see almost every day whole Lordships to be 
 sould, and but to uphold Ladyships fol. 20-21. The conference has this angry 
 termination. Patr. Syr Tady, when I meane to turne traytor to the King, I will 
 follow your counsayle— I will turne Papist.” Tad. “ And until thou dost show thy 
 selfe to be a professed Papist indeede, thou shalt find little friendshippe in Ireland. 
 And so farewell.” 
 
264 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. [Ireland. 
 
 made their appearance ; which were only calculated 
 to put the peaceful in a state of excitation, and to 
 enflame the restless and turbulent with desires of yet 
 greater spoliation. These ephemeral productions were 
 usually accompanied — I hardly know how to say 
 decorated — with coarse copper cuts*— descriptive of 
 
 comparison of “ a wanton wench” to a trout, strikes me as being 
 imperfect. A new Irish Prognostication or Popish Callender. Wherein 
 is described the disposition of the Irish, with the manner of their beha~ 
 viour , &c. (A very full and curious title) London, 1624, pp. 116 : 
 
 q U . by Rich ? A True and a kinde excuse written in defence of that 
 
 Booke, intituled a new Description of Irelande. By Barnaby Rych, 
 Gent. Servant to the Kinge's most excellent Maiestie. Lond. 1612, 
 4to. : twenty-five numbered leaves. 
 
 * As to the Pamphlets, Fugitive Pieces, &c. relating to what was 
 called the Irish Massacre — and alluded to in the text — the task 
 were equally wearisome and fruitless to enter upon any thing like an 
 enumeration or list of them. I will mention only three with which 
 the richly furnished shelves of Mr. Grenville’s library supply me : 
 Ireland's Ivbilee , or Ioyes Io Pcean ; for Prince Charles his welcome 
 home , fyc. By Stephen lerome , Domesticke Chappleine to the Right Ho- 
 nourable Earle of Corke. Dublin , 1624, 4to. Sect. IV. Part I.; Sect. 
 IV. Part II. There are few pious readers, and hearty wishers to their 
 country’s welfare, who would not unite their prayers to the following : 
 “ Oh, that as we professe, confesse one God, the father of all, one 
 Christ the Redeemer of all, one spirit, the Sanctifier of all the Elect : 
 yea, one faith, onebaptisme, one hope, one life, one way to this life, 
 as one Sunne, but one soule in man, one Phoenix in the world, &c. 
 so that wee would as one, in one minde, by one rule, worship this 
 God in spirit, in truth, in unitie, in uniformitie of judgement and 
 affections &c. !” p. 81. There are many wild and involved, as well 
 as bold and striking, passages : as thus, at p. Ill : Oh doe I 
 
 beleeve mine eyes and eares, that lions, eagles, panthers, yea dra- 
 gons, elephantes, aspes, dogges, wolves, apes, have been thankfull 
 to their Eupaters and Benefactors, and shall man, their pettie sove- 
 raigne, be claudicant and heteroclite ?” The instances of supposed 
 fidelity in brutes, which follow, are curious and comical enough. 
 But, the second of the above alluded to works, is of such price, that 
 
Ireland.] HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 26 5 
 
 the cruelties which were said to have been commit- 
 ted by the Catholics on the Protestants. Some of 
 
 I will not venture upon naming one third of the sum for which it 
 must be obtained. The title is thus : The Teares of Ireland : where- 
 in is lively presented, as in a map, a list of the unheard of cruelties and 
 perfidious Treacheries of bloud- thirsty Iesuits and the Popish Faction. 
 London , printed by A. N.for lohn Rothwell, 164*2. 12mo. The au- 
 thor appears to be John Crauford. Three introductory pieces, 
 without numbers to title pages, precede the text, which has eighty 
 numbered pages. Thomas Partington’s letter, sworn to be true, 
 before a Committee of the House of Commons, is the last of these 
 introductory pieces ; and a perusal of it is enough to make the blood 
 curdle. The prints, the great attraction of the volume, illustrate 
 most of the cruelties described in the text. These prints are twelve 
 in number j having letter press at their backs. They are rather 
 etchings than finished plates, and one plate contains two subjects : 
 such subjects, as one desires never again to see as the representation 
 of facts ! They have, in themselves, very trifling merit on the 
 score of art. They are executed in a freer and looser manner than if 
 they were done by Hollar : and with infinitely less ability. Mr. 
 Grenville properly suspects their being the production of Hollar ; 
 but as “ resembling rather those engraved in the small historical 
 tracts by Jenner.” Mr. G. observes, very justly, that “ the Tears of 
 Ireland, by Crauford is, perhaps, the rarest of all the historical tracts 
 of this time.” This was Mr. Bindley 's copy. The Duke of Devon- 
 shire possesses a copy (bound in blue morocco) at Chats worth. A 
 copy was in Brand’s collection. Mr. Thorpe possesses a copy of it, 
 wanting the last leaf. It is a wretchedly printed performance. 
 
 A third similar tract, but of infinitely less rarity and price, is thus 
 entitled — “ The Barbarous and Inhumane Proceedings against the 
 Professors of the Reformed Religion within the dominion of Savoy, 
 April 7, 1655 also, “ A true Relation of the Bloody Massacres , 
 Tortures, Cruelties, &c. committed upon the Protestants in Ireland, &c. 
 Oct. 23, 1641.” Lond. 1655, 4to. A most miserable performance, 
 in all respects. The copper cuts are worked on the pages of text j 
 some half dozen like those in the Tears of Ireland. The others are 
 quite barbarous : but the large whole length of the Vienna Lady, 
 tc who from eleven till twelve at night yelled out woe unto you, woe 
 unto you, often repeating those words, and nothing else’’ — while 
 
2 66 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. [Ireland. 
 
 these “ cuts” are literally too dreadful to look upon, 
 except that the extreme coarseness of their execution 
 renders them little attractive in the estimation of the 
 curious in graphic lore. Women and children, butch- 
 ered or burnt, and sometimes both ; parents viewing 
 the deliberate murder of their offspring by fire and 
 sword, or themselves rendered a similar spectacle to 
 their children : villages and towns on fire ; the rivers 
 choaked with drowned carcases — the cross, the gib- 
 bet, and the rack— in short, every species of refine- 
 ment on cruelty seems, if such representations can be 
 trusted, to have been practised in these recriminating 
 and rebellious times. But a love of truth compels me 
 to declare, that these facts are handed down to us by 
 ex parte evidence. The Protestants are the sufferers, 
 and the Protestants are the authors of these publi- 
 cations. It is possible that the Catholics might have 
 
 the bells, without help of man, rung suddenly, to the great af- 
 frightment of the people” — at p. 49 — is something of an exception 
 to the general barbarity of the art. In the whole, fifty-four pages, 
 with eight further pages of Names of Members returned to the Par- 
 liament of 1656. 
 
 The last which I shall notice, is the following : “ An Accompt of 
 the Bloody Massacre in Ireland , &;c. executed by the Irish Papists upon 
 the English Protestants in the year 1642. London, licensed 23d De- 
 cember, 1 6 78, and printed for R. G. 167S,” 4 to. Only eight pages.* 
 
 * Take a specimen of the Monstrosities detailed in these, and similar, publica- 
 tions. “ Some English men’s heads they cut off, and carried them to Kilkenny, 
 and on the market day set them on the cross, where many, especially the women, 
 stabb’d cut, and slash’d them. A poor Protestant woman, with her two children, 
 going to Kilkenny, these bloody miscreants baited them with dogs, stabbed them 
 with skeins, and pulled out the guts of one of the children, whereby they died : and 
 not far off they took divers men, women, and children, and hanged them up ; 
 one of the women being great with child, they ripped up her belly as she hanged, 
 so that the child fell out in the cawl alive. Some, after they were hanged, they 
 drew up and down till their bowels were torn out.” Page 7. But enough of such 
 atrocities — yea, more than enough ! 
 
Ireland.] HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 267 
 
 had to complain of occasionally similar atrocities in- 
 flicted on themselves ; and yet the voice of history 
 seems to be silent thereupon — and the philosophical 
 Hume, relying mainly on the unimpeached authority 
 of Sir John Temple,* indulges in a strain of impas- 
 sioned eloquence on this occasion, which appears to 
 have been dictated by the mixed feelings of sympathy 
 and horror. There are few portions of his History^ 
 in which the language of pathos and commiseration 
 is more powerfully displayed. 
 
 But great and execrable as might have been the 
 spirit of persecution among the Irish Catholics, it 
 must not be forgotten that something like a similar 
 spirit manifested itself among those of a very opposite 
 religious persuasion ; so that it should seem as if, at 
 that hapless period, men had transformed themselves 
 into blood-hounds of prey. The Presbyterian sol- 
 diery of Cromwell, about eight years after what is 
 called the Irish massacre, slaughtered, without hesi- 
 tation and without remorse, the Protestant garrisons 
 of Tredah and Wexford ; leaving only one man alive, 
 of the former town, “ to be a messenger of this uni- 
 versal havoc and destruction.”^: A truce, however, to 
 these heart-aching reminiscences. 
 
 I must not close this account of publications relat- 
 ing to the History of Ireland, without the mention 
 of a living author who has long and justly borne the 
 character of an upright and intelligent writer. I al- 
 lude (as the reader will immediately suppose) to the 
 
 * His account of the Irish Rebellion is one of the most exact and 
 authentic extant. It was republished, in an improved state, by- 
 Baron Maseres, in a thin quarto volume, in 1812. 
 
 f Vol. vi. p. 436*. Edit. 1812. 
 
 % Hume: vol. vii, p. 170. Edit. 1812. 
 
268 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. [Ireland. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Charles O’Conor, librarian to the late Mar- 
 quis, and to the present Duke of Buckingham, at 
 Stowe. This gentleman, a Roman Catholic priest — 
 exclusively of various publications of a temporary 
 nature,* written with a view to soften the asperities, 
 and reconcile the differences, existing, at one period, 
 pretty strongly between the Protestant and Roman 
 Catholic parties — has more recently put forth the first 
 volume of a work, which is intended to accomplish for 
 Ireland, what Bouquet has done for France. The 
 first volume of his “ Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores 
 Veteres ” appeared, with copious prolegomena and 
 indexes, in the year 1814. It is accompanied by 
 plates of fac-similes— chiefly of early Irish MSS. — and 
 is, on the whole, a very creditable production for a 
 provincial press.* Though deeply sunk into the vale 
 of years, and afflicted with frequent and severe infir- 
 mities, the ardour of this venerable critic and anti- 
 quary is as keen as ever : and we may yet hope for a 
 second volume of similar matter, as ponderous and as 
 valuable in all respects. 
 
 It will not be presumptuous to say, that, after all, 
 a full and complete History of Ireland, is “ a con- 
 summation devoutly to be wished but he who shall 
 embark in this laudable undertaking, must give very 
 
 * Among these, are his tracts, or octavo volumes, entitled “ Co - 
 lumbanus ad Hibernos ; and an instructive volume, entitled “ Narra- 
 tive of the most interesting Events in modern Irish History ; from ori- 
 ginal MSS. and some Tracts. Lond. 1812, 8vo. 
 
 t At Buckingham , in the immediate vicinity of Stowe, and pub- 
 lished by Messrs. Payne and Foss. Of a volume so intrinsically 
 valuable, and of such limited notoriety and circulation, it is fitting 
 that a brief outline should be here submitted to the public. After a 
 short address to the Reader, and a dedication to the present Duke of 
 Buckingham, (then Marquis) there is an “ Epistola Nuncupatoria de 
 
Ireland.} HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 269 
 
 many of his days and nights to the volumes of an 
 
 O’Conor. 
 
 Fontibus Histories Genuine? Hibernorum, Eorumque Chronologia, deque 
 Antiquissimis Codicibus Literis Hibernicis ante seeeulum X. exaratis 
 This epistle contains cclvi. pages, followed by an index which con- 
 cludes at p. cclxxvi. 5 and is replete with much curious, recondite, 
 and interesting lore. It contains five plates of fac-similes of Irish 
 MSS. beginning with one of the Vllth century. The “ Epilogue’* 
 to the Epistle devoted to an account of the latter moments and dying 
 injunctions of the author’s late noble patron, does equal honour to the 
 head and heart of the author himself. We have, next, the first part 
 of the prolegomena, occupying clxxxiv. pages ; replete with a variety 
 of historical and philological intelligence. The second part of the 
 Prolegomena ensues : “ in qua Domesticorum Annalium Chronolo- 
 gies Rationes , Codices , Carmina, et Scriptorum Tempora ad Trutinam 
 revocantur." This extends to clxxxvi. pages : an index terminating 
 at p. ccvii. concluding the volume. These portions, separately, 
 make the volume extend to about 650 pages. From which the rea- 
 der perceives that the text of the Ancient Historians is yet to 
 commence. 
 
270 
 
 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 The account of the more ancient and popular his- 
 tories of Scotland is attended with fewer difficulties 
 than that relating to the Sister Kingdom ; while, in 
 the investigation of this subject, we become acquainted 
 with more interesting and romantic details. Scotland 
 has found nearly as many old chroniclers in verse as 
 in prose-, and her Border History* is one which 
 equally interests the reader on either side of the 
 Tweed. Her mountains, her crags, her castles, and her 
 fortresses, have been all immortalised in poetry — 
 while the hardy achievements of their possessors have 
 alike formed subjects for the drama and Romance. 
 
 Yet, in the number of her more ancient historians, 
 Scotland is neither fertile nor particularly distin- 
 guished. Making only brief mention of the Chronicles 
 of Holyrood and Mailros, we may consider John 
 Barbour, (who flourished in 1380,) as the father of 
 regular Scotch history : although that history be known 
 to the world as a metrical composition, under the name 
 
 * Read Mr. Ridpath's Border History , 1776> 4to. 1/. 11s. 6d. as a 
 good introduction to this subject j and, above all, let “ the Young 
 Man’’ feel his imagination warmed, as well as his curiosity excited, 
 by the perusal of the interesting notes of Sir Walter Scott, in the 
 Minstrelsy of the Scotish Border , published in three octavo volumes — 
 and frequently reprinted. I consider these notes as a most admirable 
 and hitherto unrivalled, style of Historical Illustration : and we 
 occasionally discover in them, more than faint gleams of that infor- 
 mation and “ incidental story,” which burn so brightly, and warm 
 us so thoroughly, in the Scotch historical novels.. .now pretty gene- 
 rally supposed to be by the hand of the same writer. 
 
Scotland.] HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 27 1 
 
 of The Bruce* John Fordun is the next chronicler, 
 and the first legitimate historian of Scotland, in prose. 
 His Scotichronicon (for the publication of which Bi- 
 shop Nicolson was exceedingly anxious) has been 
 twice edited/ The Chronicle of Wyntown, in Scot- 
 tish verse, may be the next history deserving notice. 
 
 * First, of the chronicles of Holy Rood and Mailros. Wharton 
 published the former in the first volume of his Anglia Sacra , under 
 the title of Chronicon S. Crucis Edinburgensis ; and Fulman the latter, 
 in the first volume of what is called Gales Scriptores , &c. : but I re- 
 commend the reading Collector to throw an eye of curiosity over 
 what Nicolson has written in his Scottish Historical Library, p. 28 : 
 edit. 1736. Secondly, of Barbour. Until the labours of Pinkerton, 
 we had scarcely any thing which gave us the accurate text of this 
 Poet. His edition appeared under the title of “ The Bruce ; or, the 
 History of Robert I. King of Scotland,” Written in Scotish verse, by 
 John Barbour. London, 1790, Svo. 3 vols. : “ the first genuine edi- 
 tion, published from a MS. dated 1489, with notes and a glossary 
 Mr. Pinkerton’s preface tells us that twenty editions had been pub- 
 lished since the first impression of it, in 1616, at Edinburgh : but all, 
 more or less, inaccurately. Mr. Ellis, in his Specimens , &c. has done 
 this work greater justice]; than either Warton or Henry ; while the 
 researches of Lord Hailes impress us with a very favourable notion 
 of the veracity of the text. But it is to Professor Jamieson that we 
 are indebted for the very best edition of this work. He published it 
 in 1820, 4to. 2 vols. from two ancient MSS. preserved in the Library 
 of the Faculty of Advocates — accompanied by biographical sketches 
 and a glossary. This valuable work is now obtainable at about 
 31. 13s. 6d. 
 
 f When Bishop Nicolson wrote his account of the existing MSS. 
 of Fordun — earnestly wishing for a printed publication of the Chro- 
 nicle — only a small portion of it had appeared in the third volume of 
 Gale and Fulman. His account is, in other respects, sufficiently in- 
 
 X The opening of it is very fine and animating : 
 
 Ah, Freedom is a noble thing ! 
 
 Freedom makes man to have liking. 
 
 Freedom all solace" to man gives. 
 
 He lives at ease that freely lives ! 
 
1272 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. [Scotland. 
 
 Mair or Major follows ; and Hector Boece, very 
 much his superior, is the next in succession. Below,* 
 I have given a brief account of the publications of 
 
 teresting. On consulting the note at p. 220, the reader will observe 
 that the best edition of Fordun is that edited by Goodall, at Edin- 
 burgh, in 1759, folio, 2 vols. ) of which a good copy may be obtain- 
 ed for about 1 1. 105 . but Mr. Rodd marks it, in his catalogue of 
 1823, at 185. half-bound, uncut. 
 
 * First, of Wyntown. The only edition worth possessing — and 
 that, as remarkable for the beauty of the printing as for the accuracy 
 of the text— bears the following title DE Orygynale Cronykil of 
 Scotland , be Androw of Wyntown, Priowr of Sand Serfs ynche in Loch 
 Levyn. Now first published with notes, a glossary , 8fC. By David Mac - 
 pherson.\ London, 1795, royal 8vo. 2 vols. This edition contains 
 an elaborate glossary, learned notes, and an index. The printer was 
 Bensley. It is by no means rare. Messrs. Payne and Foss mark a 
 copy of it, in russia, at 31. 105. There were some few impressions 
 struck off on large paper, of a quarto size) — similar to those of the 
 reprint of the Complaynt of Scotland, by the late John Leyden. Se- 
 condly, of Major. His “ Historic Majoris Britannice, tarn Anglia 
 quam Scotice was first printed by Badius Ascensius, at Paris, in 
 1521. The best edition is that published by Freebairn, at Edinburgh, 
 in 1740, 4 to. Prefixed to this edition, and probably to that at Paris 
 also, are some monkish Latin rhymes, by William Baston, an Eng- 
 lish Carmelite monk, upon the battle of Bannockbourn.J Major’s 
 book is of ordinary occurrence, and worth about 105. 6d, 
 
 Thirdly, and somewhat more copiously of Hector Boece, or 
 Boethius. “ Scotorum Histories Libr. xix. Hector e Boethio Auctore." 
 Paris, Jacob Du Puy, 1575, folio : but first published at the same 
 place in 1526, by Badius Ascensius, having only xvii. books. The 
 
 *f* From a MS. in the British museum. “ I wish it were in my power (observes 
 the Editor) to give any thing which might deserve to be called the Life of Wyn- 
 town : but , from want of materials, I can do little more than draw into one point 
 of view, what may be gathered from his own work.” Prtf. ix. 
 
 X The metrical colophon of the poet is thus : 
 
 Sum Carmelita, Baston cognomine dictus. 
 
 Qui doleo vita, in tali strage relictus. 
 
 Si quid deliqui, si quae recitanda reliqui 
 Haec addant hi qui non sunt sermonis iniqui. 
 
Scotland.] HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 273 
 
 the works of these writers. George Buchanan is 
 justly considered one of the brightest ornaments of 
 
 second impression, contains the continuation of John Ferrers, a 
 Piedmontese. This work was translated into the Scottish language 
 by John Bellenden, between the years 1530 and 1533, and printed 
 by Davidson, royal printer to James V.* somewhere about the year 
 1538-40, under the title of the History and Chroniklis of Scotland ; 
 for which the reader may consult Herbert’s Typog. Antiq. vol. iiii. p. 
 1474. This work, or translation, is printed at Edinburgh j in a 
 coarse gothic type, having the arms of Scotland rudely cut as a fron- 
 tispiece, and a composition of a religious descriptionf at the end. 
 Few copies are exactly alike, even in the phraseology. They are of 
 excessive rarity $ and Lord Spencer could not obtain his copy, from 
 the Roxburghe Collection (Bibl. Roxburgh . n°. 8687*) under the sum 
 of 651. That in the library of Mr. Towneley was purchased by Mr. 
 Laing, of Edinburgh, for 8 51. Mr. Heber and Mr. G. Chalmers, 
 each possess a copy. It was in the Harleian Collection, but does not 
 appear to be in the British Museum. Scotland boasts, and with equal 
 propriety and justice) of possessing two copies ox vellum — which are 
 thus described in the advertisement to the beautiful reprint of this 
 work, published at Edinburgh in 1823. — Of Bellenden’s Boece, 
 there are two copies in Scotland, printed upon vellum : one is pre- 
 served in the library of the Duke of Hamilton, “ and a more splen- 
 did specimen of early typography, and of antique binding, cannot 
 
 * Of the Jirst set of Statutes, or Black Acts, as they are called— -(and I en- 
 treat the reader’s attention to Bishop Nicolson’s account of them, p. 100.) printed 
 by Davidson, for King James, only one copy is known ; and that copy is upon 
 vellum : — preserved in the Advocate’s Society, at Edinburgh. My friend, Mr. G. 
 Chalmers, possesses (with the exception of this first set) a comely collection of 
 these black acts — down to the date of 1593, by Waldegrave : viz. from 1566-7 : 
 1576-81 : They are thin small folios — and were once inspected by that gallant 
 Bibliopolist Mr. Constable, of Edinburgh, with a hundred guinea cheque ready to 
 lay down, by way of exchange but “ Procul o procul ’.’’—exclaimed their 
 veteran possessor. 
 
 I cannot unite in the very warm praise bestowed upon this cut by the editor 
 of the Edinburgh reprint of the book. Many past and present “ Xylographers ” 
 (or wood-cutters) could do infinitely better ; although I admit that Mr. Lizars 
 has made an admirable copy of it, on a reduced scale. There is great spirit in the 
 general design of the original ; but greater delicacy and truth are frequently dis- 
 played by the wood-cutters of Basle and Lyons, about the same period. 
 
 T 
 
274 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. [Scotland. 
 
 his country, both as a poet and an historian ; but a 
 good deal before the appearance of his history,* there 
 were published two or three historical pieces of a con- 
 temporaneous character, which are now sought after 
 with uncommon avidity. The antiquarian reader will 
 probably anticipate the Expeditions into Scotland , by 
 the Earl of Hertford, afterwards Duke of Somerset, 
 published in 1544-48: of which Patten was the 
 
 well be imagined. The vellum upon which it is printed, is stainless, 
 and the breadth of the margin would satisfy the most fastidious and 
 princely Collector. The boards bear the following inscription : Ja- 
 cobus Quintus Rex Scotorum, and on the title-page, the initials 
 I. R. appear in MS. They are, in all probability, in the hand- writing 
 of that monarch, to whom the volume appears to have belonged.’’ — 
 Advertisement , p. vii. The other copy, miserably “ cobbled” in the 
 binding, is in the library of the University of Edinburgh ; and is, in 
 all respects, of an inferior description. But the vicinity of our own 
 metropolis boasts of another membraneous copy. At Ham-House, 
 near Richmond, (the residence of the Countess of Dysart) there is a 
 third, and a not inglorious copy, of Bellenden’sBoece, upon vellum ! 
 And in what Book- Company does this gem disport itself? ! ! ! 
 
 The reprint of this scarce volume, (comprehending Bellenden’s 
 translation of Titus Livius) is one of the most beautiful productions 
 of the Ballantyne Press. It forms three quarto volumes, of the 
 size of the Palace of Pleasure , and Mirror for Magistrates. Let me 
 trust that there is at least one copy of it upon vellum. 
 
 * The first edition of George Buchanan’s history was printed by 
 Arbuthnot at Edinburgh, in 1582, folio; and, again, fuller and more 
 correctly, at Geneva, in the following year : but the best edition is, 
 doubtless, that published at Leyden, in 1725, 4to. 2 vols. under the 
 editorial care of Ruddiman and Gronovius, on the basis of the pre- 
 vious folio edition of 1715, exclusively edited by Ruddiman. These 
 two latter editions of Buchanan, of which copies on large paper are 
 not very common, contain all his works. Let Nicolson, however, 
 p. 40, by no means be overlooked ; as he balances the praises and 
 censures of critics, respecting Buchanan, with an even and pains- 
 taking hand. A copy of the folio edition may be worth 1 1. Is. 
 
Scotland.] HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 275 
 
 author.* How shall I venture upon an outline, 
 even, of the numerous, or rather innumerable pam- 
 phlets, tomes, and broadsides, relating to the fate of 
 the unfortunate Queen Mary ?f The invincible 
 
 * Mr. Beloe, Anecdotes of Literature , & c. vol. ii. p. 345, notices 
 only, the edition of the date of 1544 ; but there was a second edition 
 in 1548 — both impressions being in the Roxburghe Library: the 
 former selling for 30 guineas, and the latter for 21 1. IVJr. G. .Chal- 
 mers possesses a copy of the latter. Mr. Beloe tells us that, at the 
 sale of West’s library, the first tract was bought for 18s. 6d. : and 
 at that of a portion of Mr. Wodhull’s books, in 1803, for 16/. 16s. — 
 the identical copy purchased by the Duke of Roxburghe. Mr. Isaac 
 Reed had a copy, obtained, as Mr. Beloe imagines, for the very dimi- 
 nished sum of 2s. 6d. Copies of both editions are in the library of 
 Mr. Heber. See Typog. Antiq. vol. iii. p. 458. iv. p. 8. These rare 
 books were unknown to Nicolson, The work was reprinted in 1798, 
 4to. among the “Fragments of Scotish History .” But note farther; 
 in 1547 there was published an Exhortation to the Scottes , preparatory 
 to the Duke’s expedition ; and in 1548 was published an Epistle from 
 the Lord Protector to the Scots . These two latter tracts were sold 
 together for 17/. at the sale of the Duke of Roxburghe’s library. 
 
 f Of the well known black letter tract of Buchanan's Detectioun of 
 the Duinges of Marie Quene of Scottis, there were at least two edi- 
 tions : one printed in 1572, the other without date. The Roxburghe 
 copy of the former was sold for 2/. 12s. 6d., the latter for 2/. 10s. 
 In Mr. Rodd’s last catalogue, I find several of these pieces thus des- 
 cribed — ff 1404, Mary Queen of Scots. Ane Detectioun of the 
 Duings of Marie Quene of Scottes, touchand the Murder of hir Hus- 
 band, by G. Buchanan, black letter , no date — The Copie of a Letter 
 written by one in London to his Friend’ concernying the credit of the 
 late published Detection of the Doynges of the Ladie Marie of Scot- 
 land, no date — The effect of the declaration made in the Guildhall, by 
 M. Recorder of London, concerning the late attempts of the Quenes 
 Majesties evill, seditious, and disobedient Subjectes, 1571- — A Letter 
 concerning the marriage of the D. of Norfolk to Quene Mary, by R. 
 G. 1571. — A Discourse touching the pretended Match betwene the 
 Duke of Norfolk® and the Queene of Scottes, 1571 ; ( these two last 
 want the titles ) a rare and curious collection in blue morocco , 61. 6s. 
 X2mo. Yet must the reader not fail to bear in mind “ The Scottish 
 
276 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. [Scotland. 
 
 perseverance and gallant spirit of such men as Mr. 
 George Chalmers and Mr. Richard Ileber, have not 
 yet, I suspect, enabled those gentlemen to admit that 
 their Scottish Collection, in this department, is com- 
 plete ! Lesley, as much the friend, as Buchanan was 
 the. enemy, of Queen Mary, put forth his work a few 
 
 Queen's Buriall ,” 1587j Lond. 12mo. no date: (91. 9s. at the Rox- 
 burghe sale) and the very rare Latin piece relating to Mary, of which 
 Obertus Barnestaple was the author, and which was published at 
 Cologne in 1627> 8vo. Mr. Thorpe bravely marks a copy of it, 
 bound in morocco, at 4 l. 4s. 
 
 I have above mentioned the publication of printed broadsides, 
 &c. It is here in my power to make mention of a volume — beyond all 
 praise and beyond all price — containing official instruments, in the 
 black letter, relating to almost all public topics in the reign of Queen 
 Elizabeth. This volume is in the Bodleian library, and has been of 
 comparatively recent discovery. My friend Dr. Bliss, one of the 
 librarians, in displaying its charms, expatiated upon it with the 
 correct taste and natural enthusiasm of a well-versed English Bibli- 
 ographer ; and the public will shortly be benefited by some curious 
 excerpts from it, in his Reliquice Hearniante. Tom Hearne himself 
 would have gone half crazed at the very sight of it — and especially 
 at the extraordinary portraits* which it contains. But my more 
 immediate business is with Queen Mary. Among these broadsides, 
 i9 a Proclamation against her, and the house of Guise, for supporting 
 her claim to the crown of England. And consyderyng the sayde 
 house of Guise, for theyr owne priuate aduancement, hauynge no 
 other meane to practyse the same, but by exaltyng of theyr nece the 
 Quene of Scottes, in whose respect they intermeddle with the gouer- 
 
 * These portraits are, Elizabeth , by Delaram ; Lord Darnley and M. Queen of 
 Scots, by Elstrack : Mary , an oval, in a large broadside, on the top and bottom of 
 which are printed epigrams, “ In effigiem Maria, &c. Londini, typis I- Norton. 
 The Earle of Nottingham, 1588, very large broadside ; no name, but “ To be 
 soulde at ye horse shew in pater noster row:” Robert, Earl of Essex ; on horse 
 back, and very large and fine ; Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, between the 
 pillars, a print of extraordinary rarity. I will not pretend to fix a price for such 
 graphic gems. Mr. Woodburn, as he once gazed upon them with a throbbing 
 heart and a well replenished purse, “sighed and looked, sighed and looked, and 
 sighed ... in vain !” 
 
Scotland.] HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 277 
 
 years before the appearance of the History of Bucha- 
 nan ; namely, in 1575, and 1578, at Rome ; and, in 
 fact, he should have here taken precedence. Bishop 
 Nicolson gives us encouragement to peruse Lesley 
 with more than ordinary interest.* On entering the 
 seventeenth century, we must begin with the notice of 
 Melvil, followed by that of Spotiswood ; although 
 proper attention should be paid to the careful re- 
 searches of Johnston, and to the humbler chronicle 
 of Monipennie.+ 
 
 naunce of Fraunce at this present, haue thus iniuriously and inso- 
 lently set forth, and in tyme of peace continued in publyke places the 
 armes and clayme of these kyngdomes of Englande and Irlande, in 
 the name of their nece the Quene,” — &c. &c. Now, prefixed to this 
 Proclamation, in the Bodleian volume, is a drawing of the arms of 
 Mary, quartered with those of England and France, which purports 
 to be one of the copies “sent out of ffraunce in July 1559.” In a 
 metrical inscription at the bottom, Mary is called 
 
 “ Off Scotland queene, and of Ingland also. 
 
 Off Ireland als’ God haith providit so.” 
 
 If my memory do not deceive me, I have somewhere (either in the 
 Bibliomania or Decameron) noticed this very book 5 as being in the 
 possession of some one to whom Lord Oxford offered ICO guineas 
 for it — but ineffectually. 
 
 * A good copy of Lesley, “ de moribus, &c. Scotorum ,” 1578, 4to. 
 is marked at 1 1. 7s. in the recent catalogue of Messrs. Lackington 
 and Co. If however the reader happen to get possession of the same 
 author’s work on the Right and Title of Mary Queen of Scots , 1584, 
 8vo. let him know that Mr. Laing not only calls it “ very rare,” 
 but affixes to it the price of 5 1. 15s. 6d. 
 
 f In order of time we should notice Monipennie : the more so, 
 as he seems to have escaped Watt. I find his Chronicle and Descrip- 
 tion of Scotland. Lond. 1612, 4to. 5 Short Description of the Isles of 
 Scotland , (“ very rare” and a MS. Chronicle of him, selling at the 
 Roxburghe sale (n°. S697) for 3 1. 6s. A copy of the first work, 
 (called “ scarce”) is marked at 1Z. Is. in Mr. Rodd’s last catalogue 5 
 
278 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. [Scotland 
 
 It was not, however, till the eighteenth century, that 
 the History of Scotland received its due and full share 
 of investigation. The names of Mackenzie , IVodrow , 
 Anderson , Lindesay , Maitland , Robertson , Guthrie y 
 Dalrymple , and Pinkerton , are familiar to the collec- 
 tors of Scottish history ; and have been more or less 
 perused by the assiduous student in the same depart- 
 ment. I have endeavoured, below,* to give the best 
 
 and a copy of ct Certaine Matters concerning the realme of Scotland , 
 composed together as they were, A. D. 1597* Lond. 1603, with a 
 morocco back, is valued at 2 1. 2s. in the last catalogue of Messrs. 
 Arch. It is the first edition of the work. Let David Hume's 
 tf General History, continuing to the Death of James VI. Lond. 
 1657, folio, (first published at Edinb. in 1617) have also a place in 
 a library tolerably complete with Scotch history. Bishop Nicolson 
 calls it the best in this class" — but falling far short of the spirit 
 of that author’s other works. The Memoirs of Sir James Melvil, 
 of Hall Hill, Lond. 1683, is important in very many respects to 
 possess. Burnet calls the author a generous and virtuous man. 
 A good copy may be had for 12$. Spotiswood' s Church History, 
 Lond. 1655 j again 1677 — must, on no account, be omitted in the 
 historical department of Scotland 3 and let Middleton’s appendix 
 to it, incorporated in the latter edition, always be found in your 
 copy of the work. Messrs. Payne and Foss mark a copy of it, bound 
 with Burnet's Memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton, f 1677* folio, in one 
 volume, at 2 L 5s. 
 
 Let me here briefly mention Drummond's (of Hawthornden) His - 
 tory of Scotland, Lond. 1655, with plates of James I., II., Ill, IV., 
 V., by Gaywood. A good copy may be worth 1 1. 5s. It is re- 
 printed in the collection of Drummond’s Works, published in 1711* 
 folio. * 
 
 * I will first dispatch, and as courteously as possible, the two 
 
 t By Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury : having a portrait of James Duke of 
 Hamilton as a frontispiece ; and another of Charles I., by Faithorne, opposite 
 p. 153 : one of the commonest, but nevertheless one of the most spirited, of that 
 engraver s productions. This book contains Letters, Instructions, and other papers 
 written by the unfortunate royal author. Copies on large paper usually pre- 
 sent us with fine impressions of these portraits. 
 
Scotland.] HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 273 
 
 editions of the labours of these respective writers ; 
 adding here* that there are several minor authors, 
 
 Mackenzies $ each christened George. The first, who published the 
 Lives and Characters of the most eminent Writers of the Scots Nation. 
 170S-22, three vols. folio, was a Physician. His work, found com- 
 plete, is not of very ordinary occurrence : the third volume being 
 usually missing. Messrs. Arch mark a perfect copy in three vols., 
 at 41. 4s. ; and Mr. Laing marks a similar one “ new bound in 
 russia, extra” at 7 1. 7 s. After all, they are unseemly tomes ; and the 
 third is compelled to walk on stilts to keep pace with its compa- 
 nions. The other Mackenzie (Sir George) was an eminent lawyer, 
 and historian. He is called, in the title-page of his works, “ emi- 
 nent and learned,” and his works were published in two folio vo- 
 lumes, in 1716.f There has been recently put forth, from the MS. 
 of this author, his “ Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland from the Res- 
 toration of King Charles Ilf &c. Edinb. 4to. j edited with great 
 care, and printed with considerable elegance. The MS. was brought 
 to the shop of a grocer in Edinburgh, and purchased by him for the 
 humblest purposes of his trade 5 but owing to many entire leaves 
 having been cut out, there is a lamentable hiatus in the history, from 
 the year 1663 to 1669. See Pref. Edinb. Monthly Mag. N°. III., 
 June 1817; and Edinb. Mag . April, 1820. A masterly and highly 
 interesting criticism on this valuable work appeared in the Edinb . 
 Review , N°. LXXI. 
 
 Briefly noticing “ the Martial Achievements of the Scots Nation ,” 
 by Patrick Abercromby, M. I). Edinb . 1711* folio, 2 vols. (now 
 an uncommon work) I proceed, not only to the notice, but to the 
 strong recommendation, of Wodrow’s History of the Sufferings of the 
 Church of Scotland. Edinb. 1721, folio, 2 Vols. Considering that, 
 even without the warm eulogy pronounced on this work, by Mr. Fox, 
 in his historical labours, these volumes have long richly deserved 
 republication, one is surprised that so valuable a work, in so repul- 
 
 t In this edition of Mackenzie’s works, are omitted his earliest publication 
 entitled “ Aretina , or the Serious Romance 1661, 12mo. and a political tract “ on 
 the discovery of the Fanatick Plot ,” 1684, folio. Among the miscellaneous con- 
 tents of these volumes, it will be difficult to find any number of original articles at 
 all approaching to that of the manuscripts stated to have been in the possession of 
 the publisher. Preface , (p. iv.) to Sir G. Mackenzie's Memoirs of the Affairs of 
 Scotland , 1821, 4to. 
 
280 
 
 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. [Scotland. 
 
 which, from their omission, must not be supposed as 
 excluded from the legitimate list of Scottish historians. 
 Descending to our own times, we are at once in- 
 
 sive a garb (for it is most wretchedly printed) has been suffered to 
 remain without improvement. A new edition of Wodrow (now 
 becoming excessively rare) may be no unprofitable, as well as a 
 highly creditable, speculation to a Scotch bookseller : the more so, 
 as Wodrow (according to Dr. Watt) “ left numerous mss. behind 
 him, which are preserved in some of the public libraries of Scotland, 
 and testify his pre-eminence and research.” He was Minister of the 
 Gospel at Eastwood. Anderson’s Collections relating to the History 
 of Mary Queen of Scotland , were published in four quarto volumes, 
 in 1727 : with an explanatory index of obsolete words. A friend of 
 mine once bought a copy out of sheets and bound the work i( in 
 black morocco, with blood coloured insides.” Such was his order 
 to the binder ; and poor George Faulkener was that binder. Mr. 
 Laing marks a copy, in calf gilt binding, at 1/. 14s. Lindesay’s 
 (of Pitscottie) History of Scotland , Edinb. 1728, folio, may be worth 
 1/. Is. in good condition. Maitland’s History and Antiquities of 
 Scotland , 1757* folio, are worth 21. 2s. in a sound condition but 
 the same author’s History of Edinburgh , with map ami plates, 1753, 
 folio, is worth full as much money : owing to its comparative 
 scarcity. 
 
 The name of Robertson as an historian, whether of Scotland, 
 America , or Charles V ., need only be mentioned to insure it due at- 
 tention and respect.] His History of Scotland is doubtless, by far, the 
 most popular history extant 5 and first appeared in 4to. in 1759, in 
 2 vols. The reimpressions have been, I had almost said, innumer- 
 able 5 but it may be as well to notice and recommend the seventeenth 
 edition, with corrections and additions, and to which is prefixed an 
 account of the life and writings of the author by Dugald Stewart \ in 
 1806, 8vo. 3 vols. Guthrie’s General History of Scotland came 
 out in numbers, and appeared complete in 1767, ten volumes. 8vo. 
 It was reprinted in 1771 5 but is now rarely consulted. Dalrym- 
 ple s Annals of Scotland , from the accession of Malcolm III. to that 
 of the House of Stewart, was published in 1776, in two quarto 
 volumes ; again, in the same foip, in 1779 ; and latterly in 1797, 
 Svo. three vols. The historical, philological, and antiquarian la- 
 bours of Sir David Balrymple, Bart, afterwards Lord Hailes, are 
 
Scotland,] HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 281 
 
 structed and gratified by the successful labours of 
 Laing , M ( Crie, and Cook ; and descending yet more 
 closely upon recent publications, we cannot fail to 
 offer the meed of praise to the truly gigantic labours 
 of Mr. George Chalmers ; who, in his Caledonia , 
 (now pursuing its steady course through the press) 
 seems disposed to leave no department untouched, 
 and no event, historical, as well as local, unrelated 
 or unnoticed. This gentleman is the Atlas of Scotch 
 antiquaries and historians ; bearing on his own 
 shoulders whatever seems to have been collected, 
 and with pain separately endured, by his predeces- 
 sors ;* whom, neither difficulties tire nor dangers 
 
 such as entitle their author to the foremost rank among his highly 
 distinguished contemporaries. Pinkerton’s Enquiry into the History 
 of Scotland , Lond. 1789, 8vo. 2 vols: was reprinted at Edinburgh, 
 with improvements, in 1814 : but it is an inferior work to his His- 
 tory of Scotland, from the accession of the Stuarts to Mary , 1797, 4to. 
 2 vols. His Iconographia Scotica , 179 7, Svo. and Scottish Gallery of 
 Portraits , 1799, 4to. must of course, in chronological order, be 
 added to the preceding. I have not affixed prices to these works, 
 because they are generally of ordinary occurrence in the shops of our 
 principal booksellers. 
 
 * To begin with Mr. Laing. The best edition of his History of 
 Scotland is that of 1819, Svo, four vols. with a preliminary Disserta- 
 tion respecting Mary’s participation in the murder of Darnley. It 
 is a work particularly rich in illustrative notes. The Rev. Mr. 
 M'Crie’s Life of John Knox , Edinb. 1813, Svo. 2 vols ; and his Life 
 of Andrew Melville.,* with ecclesiastical and literary illustrations re- 
 lating to Scotland, 1819, 8vo. 2 vols. must undoubtedly find places 
 in every well chosen collection of Scottish literature. 
 
 Dr. Cook’s History of the Reformation in Scotland, published at 
 
 * “ Dr. M‘Crie, the well-known author of the Lives of Knox and of Melville, 
 whose curiosity in whatever concerns the history of this country is for ever active 
 and indefatigable, and whose distinguished intelligence and sagacity are united to 
 the most liberal and communicative spirit.” Pref. p. vi. to the newly printed 
 “ Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland by Sir G. Mackenzie, Knight.” 
 
282 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. [Scotland. 
 
 daunt: and who, in a green and vigorous old age, is 
 yet laying the foundation of works for the enlarge- 
 ment of a legitimate fame, and the edification of a 
 grateful posterity. His Mary Queen of Scots is the 
 last and a very recent production of his pen, con- 
 nected with the history of his country. 
 
 Edinburgh in 1811, 8 vo. in three vols. is a work which cannot fail to 
 be gratifying to all lovers of that branch of historical enquiry 5 espe- 
 cially as it is allowed to be executed with equal talent and imparti- 
 ality. In the last place, I have to notice the Caledonia of Mr. George 
 Chalmers, of which three stupendous quarto volumes have already 
 appeared 5 and of which a fifth will complete this gigantic under- 
 taking. The late Dr. Whittaker, himself an accomplished antiquary, 
 reviewed it in the ivth volume, (p. 342,) of the Quarterly Review. The 
 “ viridis Senectus” of the Author leads us to hope that he will give 
 us yet some further f f by play," in addition to his Life of Queen Mary 
 ~ a work, upon which Mrs. Benger has drawn more largely than its 
 learned author was disposed to expect, or is prepared to approve. 
 
HELPS TO BRITISH HISTORY. 
 
 Having, in the more immediately preceding pages* 
 furnished both “ the Young’’ and “ the Old” with 
 tolerably full particulars respecting the various Col- 
 lections of History , and Histories themselves , con- 
 nected with Great Britain, Ireland, and Scotland — it 
 remains, as a sort of necessary supplemental matter* 
 to furnish the studious, in this department of book- 
 collecting, with a few Helps to British History, by 
 means of Acts of Parliament , Records , and State 
 Papers , &c. Of Wales, no particular mention need 
 be necessary ; except to observe that the histories of 
 that country by Lloyd and Enderbie are the almost 
 only exclusive works connected with it. It must 
 however be conceded, that much of historical infor- 
 mation is conveyed in the pages of Pennant and Dr. 
 Meyrick.* 
 
 * Lloyd’s Historic of Cambria was published in the black letter, 
 in a 4to. volume, 1584, with wood-cuts, spiritedly designed: and I 
 find, what is called a large paper copy of it, marked at 5 1. 5 s. in 
 Mr. Thorpe’s catalogue, no. 12294. The best edition is that of 1774, 
 8vo. worth about 145. Enderbie’s Cambria Triumphans ; being 
 the ancient and modern British History, 1661, folio, was, in former 
 times, of exceedingly high price but Mr. Baxter’s beautiful re- 
 print of it in 1810, folio — of which there are copies on large 
 paper, — (of truly gigantic dimensions) has materially contributed to 
 lower the price. Messrs. Payne and Foss mark a copy (“ very neat”) 
 of the first edition at 51. 5s. : and of the reprint on large paper, in 
 boards, at 4 1. 145. 6d. Messrs. Arch diminish the price of the latter 
 to 4 1. 45. : and mark an “ Index to complete the former edition,” at 
 l£. 15. To these, add Warrington’s “ History of Wales," 1786, 4to. 
 
284 
 
 HELPS TO BRITISH HISTORY. [Acts, &c. 
 
 Reverting therefore to these general historical 
 Helps, let us begin with Acts of Parliament and Year 
 Boohs , publications of these appearing in the infancy 
 of the Art of Printing. But I will not insist upon the 
 securing of specimens of this kind from the presses of 
 Caxton , Machlinia , Wynhyn de TVorde, and Pynson :* 
 
 and Mr. Robert’s “ Chronicle of the Kings of Britain, 1810, 4to. about 
 11. 15s. each. Dr. Merrick’s History and Antiquities of Cardigan- 
 shire, published in 1810, 4 to. is replete with much interesting intelli- 
 gence. Of Pennant’s Tour in Wales, 1778, 4to. two vols. it were 
 idle to speak in commendation. 
 
 * Brief and imperfect notices of the Statutes printed by Caxton 
 appear in the recent edition of the Typographical Antiquities, vol. i. 
 p. 354 5 but, since the publication of that work, a perfect set of the 
 Statutes, passed in the reign of Henry VII., up to the death of Cax- 
 ton (1490-1) was obtained by Lord Spencer, and will be found par- 
 ticularly described in the Bibl. Spenceriana, vol. iv. p. 344, &c. 
 Machlinia printed the Statutes in the first year of Richard III., of 
 which a copy is in the library of the Inner Temple. I know of no 
 other. What are called the Nova Statuta, printed by the same 
 printer, in one thick folio volume, has been described in the Typog. 
 Antiq. vol. ii. p. 11, with a fac-simile of one page of the types. The 
 fine copy of it, described in the Bibl. Spencer, vol. iv. p. 384, was 
 purchased by me, of Mr. Clarke the law bookseller, some ten or twelve 
 years ago, for7Z. 7 s. His Grace the Duke of Devonshire purchased 
 his Lordship’s duplicate, in 1814, for 27L 6s. Messrs. Payne and 
 Foss mark a copy at 13Z. 13s. 
 
 Wynkyn de Worde published a small folio volume, of twenty- 
 seven Acts passed in the eleventh year of Henry VII., of which a 
 description appears in the Bibl. Spencer, vol. iv. p. 415 : but he also 
 published other Acts — as late as the nineteenth year of Henry’s 
 reign : for an account of which, consult the Tijpog. Antiq. vol. ii. 
 p. 391-2. Pynson was a more voluminous printer of these early 
 Statutes, as his situation of " King’s Printer” would lead us to ex- 
 pect j and in his time began the publication of Year Books — or 
 Reports of law proceedings in the several terms throughout the year. 
 Consult the Typog . Antiq. vol. ii. p. 570-4. Lord Spencer possesses 
 some specimens of his Statutes and Year Books (see Bibl. Spencer. 
 
Acts, &c ] HELPS TO BRITISH HISTORY. 
 
 2S5 
 
 it being sufficient to avail ourselves, in order to main- 
 tain the characters of antiquaries, with the Collection 
 
 vol. iv. p. 431-2) which I should not pronounce to be of excessive 
 rarity. My friend Mr. Douce possesses a noble copy of the former : 
 but I strongly recommend an inspection of the list of Statutes, of 
 this period, to be found in the Biblioth. Harleiana, vol.ii. p. 648, and 
 in the law catalogues of Messrs. Worrall, Clarke, and Butterworth. 
 Messrs. Payne and Foss mark Rastell’s Collection of Statutes, a fine 
 copy, at 1Z. 11s. 6d. Printed for the Societie of Stationers, 1615, 
 folio. * 
 
 But, to the professed Collector of Statutable lore, it will of 
 course be material to enrich his library with the publications recently 
 put forth, under the authority of Parliament, beginning with the year 
 1810 j and of which nine volumes have already appeared. These 
 are cumbrous tomes for a limited collection j and will be exceedingly 
 costly into the bargain, if they are accompanied by the Rotuli ,* and 
 Placita, and Calendaria , contemporaneously published by the same 
 authority. The “ Rotuli Parliamentorum' > being the Rolls of Parlia- 
 ment from Edward I. to Henry VII., in six folio volumes, are doubt- 
 less very important " Helps ” to the history of our country. See 
 Clarke’s Cat. p. 158. The Parliamentary Debates and State Trials 
 will necessarily be found in every senatorial library. The Taxatio 
 Ecclesiastica , 1802, folio, and the Valor Ecclesiasticus , 1810-17* 3 
 vols., folio, may also be thought necessary to a well furnished histo- 
 rical library j and although these be dear volumes, separately to 
 purchase, yet they often come in at the fag end” of a sale by auc- 
 tion, so as to be procured in boards at a very moderate sum. But 
 then, the binding — this is indeed fC the rub !” 
 
 But whether the whole, f or any of these ponderous folios find 
 admittance into the libraries of (t the Young” or the Old,” let me 
 entreat all denominations of sensible Collectors to purchase the most 
 
 * Of exceedingly great intrinsic worth are the Rotuli Scotice, published under 
 the care ofThomas Thomson, Esq. at Edinburgh, in two folio volumes, 1814-1819 : 
 and the Acts of Parliament of Scotland, edited by the same gentleman, in seven 
 folio volumes — wanting the first. May this great undertaking soon reach its com- 
 pletion. Scotland may be justly proud of the Editor, under whose eye it moves 
 leisurely, hut cautiously and correctly along. See p. 264, as to the Black Acts. 
 
 7 A full and particular account of all these Parliamentary Publications will be 
 found in Mr. Harris’s excellent Catalogue of ihe Royal Institution , p. 401-3. 
 
286 
 
 HELPS TO BRITISH HISTORY. [Acts, &c. 
 
 of the Statutes published by IViUiayn Rastell , towards 
 the middle of the reign of Queen Elizabeth ; a collec- 
 tion, which well read judges of this lore have pro- 
 nounced to be essentially necessary to the library of 
 an Antiquary as well as Lawyer. I will descend at 
 once to comparatively modern times ; and recommend 
 the edition of the Statutes by Ruff head, continued by 
 j Runnington.* 
 
 I now come to Records : and where is the experi- 
 enced bibliographer who, standing at my elbow, would 
 not immediately exclaim — u begin with Prynne 
 
 important work which has yet been published, with reference to Bri- 
 tish history, antiquities, laws, and customs. I mean the recent edi- 
 tion of Domesday Book, 1783 — 1816, in 4 folio volumes, with 
 indexes, and a general introduction, by Henry Ellis, Esq. keeper of 
 the MSS. in the British Museum. The praises bestowed upon the 
 value of the precious original MS., from Spelman down to Black- 
 stone, are sufficient to make every enlightened Collector anxious to 
 possess it. I find a copy of it, in 3 vols. with russia backs, marked at 
 91. 9s. in the last catalogue of Messrs. Arch, no. 248, where a toler- 
 ably copious list of parliamentary publications, with their prices, will 
 be found : but Messrs. Payne and Foss, as the regular publishers, 
 necessarily possess a more extensive collection. A good and full list 
 of them also appears in the catalogue of the Royal Institution. The 
 history of these public records is given in the first and third volumes 
 of Savage's Librarian. The good taste of Miss Currer has led 
 her to enrich her fine library with most of these Helps to British 
 History. 
 
 * RufFhead’s edition was published in 1763, in nine volumes $ to 
 which Mr. Serjeant Runnington added a sequence of volumes, in 
 1800, forming eighteen vols. 4to. in the whole. This original edi- 
 tion, brought down to the present times, with the continuations of 
 Messrs. Tomlins and Raithby, forming twenty-six vols. in the whole, 
 is now worth 60l. An entire edition was published by Mr. Running- 
 ton 1786, &c. in fourteen volumes, down to the Union : valued at 
 2D. by the booksellers. 
 
 f Prynne shall have his due 5 as far as relates to his Records. 
 
Acts, &c.] HELPS TO BRITISH HISTORY. 
 
 287 
 
 His monitory voice shall be obeyed : but is he aware 
 of the niceties, and difficulties, and even contradic- 
 
 Let the reader first consult Oldys* s British Librarian , p. 11-21 : for 
 an account of the plates, abridgements of prefaces, and summaries 
 of chapters. Both Oldys and Mr. Harris ( Catalogue of Royal Insti- 
 tution Library , p. 390.) quote the quaint language of Bishop Nicol- 
 son’s English Historical Library , p 4 165, respecting the third volume 
 of Prynne : not necessary to be here repeated. The first volume of 
 Prynne was printed in 1666, the last in 1670. The greater part of 
 the first volume perished in the fire of London $ as an advertisement 
 to the reader, added to those copies which escaped, testifies. This 
 advertisement, as below,* is copied from Oldys. It has been sup- 
 posed that not more than twenty perfect copies of this work are known 
 to exist. Such was Tom Rawlinson’s observation to West: but, 
 like many similar remarks, appertaining to bibliography, it requires 
 something of more substantial proof to confirm it.f Almost all 
 our great private collections contain this work. Perhaps the most 
 perfect and desirable copy in existence, is that in the library at Wor- 
 lingham, in Suffolk, now the residence of Lord Gosford, which 
 library (mentioned more than once in these pages — see p. 28) was 
 
 * “ At the end of this volume is an advertisement to the reader, intimating, that 
 the late fire (of London) having in three days space, turned 88 parishes and their 
 churches, with the cathedral church of this glorious city, to ashes ; and among 
 other losses and mischiefs to the several Companies of the city, most of all endam- 
 aged the Company of Printers and Stationers, most of whose habitations, store- 
 houses, shops, stocks, and books were not only consumed, hut their ashes and 
 scorched leaves conveyed aloft and dispersed by the wind, to places above 16 
 miles distant, to the admiration of beholders ; and that among millions of other 
 books, thus suddenly destroyed, while our author was busy in securing the public 
 records of the kingdom, his printer’s house, with most of the printed copies of this 
 tome, when finished at the press (all except the tables to it), as likewise the se- 
 cond tome, formerly published, and of the first book, and third tome, (wherein 
 he had made some progress) were there burnt together with it ; not above 70 of 
 them being rescued from the fire, to the author’s damage near 2000/. : wherefore 
 he did not print his intended tables for so few copies of this tome, till God should 
 enable him to reprint it, especially since the pages of the reprinted volume, (by 
 reason of some additions) will vary from these already printed, so make the tables 
 unsuitable thereto.” 
 
 f By the way, if 70 copies of the first volume (by much the scarcest of the 
 three) were preserved, there is surely every reason to conclude that there are at 
 least 50 perfect copies of Prynne’s Records yet in existence ? 
 
288 HELPS TO BRITISH HISTORY. [State Pap. 
 
 tions, which attend the enquiry into a legitimate copy of 
 Prynne’s Records ? Is he aware that there are, even yet, 
 
 first collected by Sir Francis Bernard, during the time of Cromwell. 
 The copy in question was given to the Earl of Anglesey, according 
 to the following autograph of the Donee. — “Anglesey, Aug . 1 , 1665. 
 Given me by my worthy friend the author .” This first volume is bound 
 in blue morocco, with gilt leaves, having the royal arms on the out- 
 side of the cover. 
 
 The second volume has the Earl’s inscription, as to its being given 
 to him by the author in November, 1666. It is bound in calf, with 
 the leaves speckled, and has the royal arms on the outside. The third 
 volume bears this inscription, in the Earl’s hand-writing: “ Angle- 
 sey, July 2S, 16‘70. 18. Mr. Prynne's owne corrected booke .” The 
 
 corrections appear to be few and unimportant ; according to the 
 three places, or passages, to which I have referred by the insertion of 
 slips of paper. At pages 773, 775 the original or uncut margins 
 are preserved $ from which the full width appears to be ten inches, 
 and (as at p. 775) the full length about fourteen five-eighths j but the 
 second volume measures only fourteen one-eighth, by nine one- 
 eighth. This third volume, which is dedicated to the Earl of Angle- 
 sey, Sir Harbottle Grimston, &c. is in calf binding, without the royal 
 arms. Tom Osborne marked a copy, (which he chose to call large 
 paper) in his sheet catalogue of 1759, at 21 1. : and the second and 
 third volumes, alone, at 61. 6s, A more recent catalogue (that of Mr. 
 Triphook, of 1822) marks the second and third volumes at 12k 12s. 
 with an offer of 20k for the procuring of the first. Thus the collec- 
 tor will immediately perceive that the first volume of Prynne's 
 Records is the great rarity to possess. At public auctions, the prices 
 for perfect copies have a good deal varied : that of the late Right 
 Hon. Denis Daly, in 1792, having “ the frontispiece complete, gilt, 
 broad border of gold,” was sold for 80k 15s. See the Bibliomania, p. 
 554. It is now in the library of the King’s Inns, Dublin. At the sale 
 of the Merly Library, in 1813, it reached its highest, and a most ex- 
 travagant price : namely, 152 k The copy was handsomely bound in 
 russia, and I purchased it for the late Sir M. M. Sykes, Bart, who 
 was so anxious to possess it, that he authorised me to go as far as 
 200 guineas, but that copy, at the sale of Sir Mark’s own library, pro- 
 duced but 45k There is a noble copy of it at Althorp, in the Bod- 
 leian Library, in the library of Lincoln’s Inn, and in that of the 
 
State Pap.] HELPS TO BRITISH HISTORY. 289 
 
 many who are sharpening their swords of controversy, 
 and contending for certain and certain desiderata, to 
 identify, what they are pleased to call, a complete copy 
 of these very desirable, but most exceedingly scarce, 
 volumes ? No matter : let it be roundly asserted, 
 and as roundly received, that there exists but one 
 paper of Prynne, and that the scarcity of the copies is 
 not so tremendously great as overheated Prynnites 
 have imagined. I have said every thing in the pre- 
 ceding note to stimulate the curious to the search, 
 and to comfort those in the possession, of this extraor- 
 dinary production. 
 
 Of the works which, about the period of the Civil 
 Wars, detail important events, it is right to mention 
 that by Thomas May ; whose History of the Long 
 Parliament , 1647, folio, is pronounced, by Lord 
 Chatham “ to be a much honester and more instruc- 
 tive book of the same period of history, than Lord 
 
 Royal Institution. The Duke of Devonshire possesses a fine copy of 
 these Records, magnificently bound by C. Lewis, in blue morocco. 
 Mr. Grenville’s beautiful copy (recently bound in red morocco, by 
 the same skilful artist) came from the Duke of Grafton’s library, 
 where it was purchased for 7 61. 135. Mr. Dent is also the fortunate 
 possessor of a copy j and another is in the Arehiepiscopal Library at 
 Lambeth. At a recent sale of Sir Eardley Wilmot’s books, at Mr. 
 Evans’s, a copy attained the sum of 100 guineas. The reader may 
 consult the Bibliogr. Decameron , vol. iii. p. 400, and Mr. Clarke’s 
 Repertorium Bibliogr aphicum , p. 254, respecting the only copy that 
 is known to exist (at Stowe) of a portion of the ivth volume of these 
 Records. I imagine that many of the great private libraries — espe- 
 cially old family ones — contain a perfect set : and yet,, that of 
 Blickling, in Norfolk, (so rich in Prynniana) has only the two latter 
 volumes* More surprising still, the British Museum has it only in 
 this imperfect state : see the Catalogue of that library, vol. v. sign, 
 3 E. 
 
 u 
 
290 
 
 HELPS TO BRITISH HISTORY. [Records. 
 
 Clarendon’s.* This work was reprinted in 4to. a 
 few years since, by the late Baron Maseres. 
 
 Contemporaneously with Prynne and May, toiled 
 several very wonderful antiquaries and collectors in 
 the cause of British History. The names of Rush- 
 worth , Rymer, Spelman , Digges , D' Ewes , and Nalson , 
 adorned the latter half of the seventeenth century : 
 and their publications, as briefly stated below, # evince 
 the extent of their diligence, and the value of their 
 collections. 
 
 * Letters to his nephew ; p. 59. 1809. But this opinion is much 
 qualified, if not a good deal neutralized, by the criticism of the noble 
 editor (Lord Grenville) of this instructive little volume. That au- 
 thority remarks, that May’s book “ cannot by any means be consi- 
 dered as an impartial work. It is, however, well worthy of being 
 attentively read ; and the contemptuous character given of it by Lord 
 Clarendon, ( Life , vol. i. p. 35) is as much below its real merit, as 
 Clarendon’s own history is superior to it.” When the observations 
 at p. 218, were written, respecting the great work of Clarendon, the 
 masterly estimate of that author’s character, by the noble 'editor (see 
 p. xix. &c.) of these Letters , had escaped my recollection. A good 
 copy of May’s book is worth about 1 1. 6s. 
 
 * ^Rushworth and Rymeb, to whose collections our history 
 stands so deeply indebted, must have strongly felt this literary ardour, 
 for they passed their lives in forming them ; till Rymer, in the utmost 
 distress, was obliged to sell his books and his 50 volumes of MSS. 
 which he could not get printed ; and Rushworth died in the King’s 
 Bench, of a broken heart 5 many of his papers remain unpublished. 
 His ruling passion was amassing state papers, and he voluntarily 
 neglected great opportunities of acquiring a large fortune, to this en- 
 tire devotion of his life. IX Israeli s Calamities of Authors • vol. i. 
 p. 262. First, of Rushworth. The earliest editions of his Historical 
 Collections , from 1618 to 1648, including Lord Strafford’s trial, ap- 
 peared in 1659-S2 : in 8 folio volumes. They were re-printed in 1692, 
 1/01 : and again, for the third and last time, in 1721, in the same 
 number of volumes. This last is considered to be the best edition 5 
 and a good copy of it may be worth Si. Ss. At Althorp, and in many 
 
State Pap.] HELPS TO BRITISH HISTORY. 
 
 291 
 
 At the opening of the eighteenth century, we are * 
 struck with those labours — deviating from their re- 
 
 other private collections, it is on large paper. Messrs. Lacking- 
 ton and Co. mark a copy of this kind at 3] l. 10s. I know not, 
 wherefore — but so it was — that when at College, I used to devote 
 many a day, and frequently the greater part of a night, to the read- 
 ing of Rusiiworth. The account of the travels of Prince Charles 
 and the Duke of Buckingham in Spain, and of the intrigues of 
 Gondomar, in promoting and thwarting, by turns, the intended 
 match of the former with the Infanta— is not a little amusing : while 
 the speeches of King James, to his parliament, paint the speaker to 
 the very life. One day or other the pages of Rushworth may be 
 made instrumental to the semi-fictions of the author of Waverley j as 
 they are, so constantly and so abundantly, to the facts of Hume. 
 
 Of Rymer, who was a sort of philologist* as well as antiquary, 
 it will be only necessary to observe, that the first edition of his 
 Foedera was published at London, in 1704-35, in 20 folio volumes : 
 a second and a much better, edition appeared in 1727- in the same 
 number of volumes : a third, and by much the best, as having a 
 complete and useful index to the work was published at the Hague, 
 in a smaller type, in 1745, in 10 folio volumes ; and I observe a 
 <e neat” copy of it marked at 12 1. 12s. in the last catalogue of 
 Mr. Thorpe. A fourth, and doubtless the best edition (with addi- 
 tions and corrections) is now in progress, under the editorial care of 
 
 * Among the miscellaneous pursuits of Rymer, dramatic criticism seems to have 
 had peculiar charms for him. He wrote upon the Tragedies of the last Age , 1678, 
 1692, 8vo. and a Short View of Tragedy , 1693, 8vo. In the latter performance, 
 he ventured to t( deal damnation” upon Shakspeare — and, in particular, criticised 
 his Othello. The judicious editor of the Retrospective Review , 1820, 8vo. com- 
 mences his work with a lively notice of these performances of Rymer. The very 
 first extract will afford a most amusing specimen of what may be found in this re- 
 view. <e The chief weight of Rymer’s critical vengeance (says the editor) is wreaked 
 on Othello. After a slight sketch of the plot, he proceeds at once to speak of the 
 moral , which he seems to regard as of the first importance in tragedy. Rymer’s 
 words are these : “ Whatever rubs or difficulties may stick on the hark, the moral 
 use of this fable is instructive. First, this may he a caution to all maidens of qua- 
 lity, how, without their parents’ consent, they run away with blackamoors. Se- 
 condly, this may be a warning to all good-natured wives, that they look well to 
 their linen. Thirdly, this may be a lesson to husbands that before their jealousy 
 be tragical, the proofs may be mathematical ! !” 
 
292 
 
 HELPS TO BRITISH HISTORY. [Records. 
 
 spective professional pursuits — which have, in some 
 sort, consecrated the names of Burnet and Somers ; 
 the former, Bishop of Salisbury; the latter, Lord 
 High Chancellor of England. It would be foreign to 
 mv purpose to enumerate even a fifth part of the mul- 
 tifarious labours of Burnet ; but his History of his own 
 Times* must, next to that of the Reformation , (al- 
 
 Dr. Adam Clarke and Mr. Holbrooke ; of which four parts are 
 already published. The printing of this costly and elaborate work is 
 greatly to tlir credit of the press of Messrs. Strahanand Spottiswood, 
 the now reigning royal printers. With Rymer, is usually procured 
 the “ Acta Regia being Rapin’ s extracts from that work, for the 
 
 History of England — in one folio volume, 1/32, edited by Stephen 
 Whatley. A good copy may be worth 2 1. 2 s. There is also an edi- 
 tion of it in 4 vols. 8vo. 
 
 The best edition of Spelman’s Concilia , &c, is that by Wilkins , in 
 1737, in four vol. folio, and worth about 4 1. 4s. The work itself is 
 beyond all praise. Sir Dudley Digges’s Compleat Ambassador , 1655, 
 folio, may be obtained for about IS s. ; and with this work, the “ Ca- 
 bala sive Scrinia Sacra," being letters of illustrious Persons, &c. from 
 the reign of Henry VIII., to Charles, 1663, folio — may be procured at 
 about 12s. Sir Simonds D’Ewes’ Journal of all the Parliaments during 
 the reign of Queen Elizabeth, &c. 1708, folio — best edition, with 
 frontispiece — is worth about 1/. 8s. It is a truly excellent performance. 
 A report was not long ago current, that some original MS. matter 
 had been discovered, as likely to form a valuable acquisition to it. 
 Nalson’s Impartial Collection of the Great Affairs of State, from 
 1639, to the death of Charles I. was published in 2 folio volumes, in 
 1682 ; of which a good copy is worth about a guinea and a half. 
 
 Burnet’s History of his own Times was first published in 1724- 
 32, in 2 folio volumes, after the death of the author. Of this edition 
 there are copies on large paper, somewhat common, and sufficiently 
 cheap. To enumerate the succeeding editions, till the recent one 
 edited by the Rev. Dr. Routh, and published at Oxford, in 6 volumes, 
 8vo. were a fruitless and indeed unnecessary task ; since this last 
 edition is so improved, in additions and corrections, by the notes of 
 Lord Dartmouth, Lord Hardwicke, Speaker Onslow,* &c. (to say 
 
 * R is true, there are notes by Dean Swift : but in general, they are so trashy 
 
State Pap.] HELPS TO BRITISH HISTORV. 
 
 293 
 
 ready noticed) be considered as his most important 
 legacy to posterity: and whatever be its defects, it 
 cannot fail to be always esteemed as a popular and 
 instructive performance. The Collectio7i of Tracts , 
 relating to the Constitution of this country of which 
 Lord Somers was the avowed Editor or Collector.* 
 
 nothing of those of the learned Editor) that it must necessarily super- 
 sede every preceding impression. I must however inform the 
 curious that, of Mr. Evans’s reprint of the original text, in 1809, 
 there were fifty copies struck off on large paper, of an imperial 
 octavo size ; which are now become so scarce, that I know not w hen 
 a copy of this kind has occurred for purchase at a public sale. It is 
 found splendidly bound in russia, in the Althorp library, and ano- 
 ther similar copy graces the shelves of that of the Right Hon. T. 
 Grenville. But the large paper of the Oxford edition of 1823 will, 
 in a few years, be as scarce : since, of the fifty copies printed, one 
 half of that number were disposed of as presents : and, at this 
 moment, the very few purchasable copies in town cannot be pro- 
 cured under 12 1. 12^. The book, is in all respects, most creditably 
 and even handsomely published. 
 
 * I refer the diligent reader to Mr. Chalmers’s account of this Col- 
 lection, in his Biographical Dictionary , vol. xxviii. p. 214 : from W'hich 
 it appears that the Pamphlets, reprinted in this Collection, were 
 selected by Lord Somers, and published by Cogan in 1748, in 
 sixteen 4to. volumes : about thirty-two years after the death of his 
 Lordship. They used to be the “ great guns’’ of all the old exten- 
 sive private libraries ; and I have seen them in every possible form 
 or character of binding. Till the reprint, in 1809-16, in 13 4to. 
 volumes, under the editorship of Sir Walter Scott, they have been 
 known to bring upwards of sixty guineas. Now, they have sunk 
 
 and abusive, that I do fondly hope they will never be reprinted. They betray 
 the splenetic effusions of a thoroughly prejudiced, and in part, depraved mind. 
 Luckily, they are very short. Those of Lord Dartmouth are, occasionally, suffi- 
 ciently caustic ; but they are curious and instructive while the observations of 
 Lord Hardwicke and Speaker Onslow evince the temper of a gentleman, and . . . 
 almost the feelings of a friend. Why do we not oftener see the capital initial R., 
 at the feet of the notes ? Dr. Routh is not less “ VERSATissnvius”in the history 
 of Burnet’s times, than in that of the Apostolical Fathers. 
 
294 HELPS TO BRITISH HISTORY. [Miscellan. 
 
 is, in truth, a splendid and lasting monument of the 
 judgment and patriotism of that great man. Volu- 
 minous as is this Collection, it was, till its recent re- 
 publication, among the scarcest and highest priced 
 works of a well chosen library. 
 
 Not altogether foreign from the immediate object 
 of our pursuit, nor wholly dissimilar to the important 
 work just mentioned, is a publication, long and well 
 known under the title of the Harleian Miscel- 
 lany,* in eight quarto volumes. This work too, like 
 its predecessor, was, till the reprint of it, of excessive 
 rarity and price ; and as a considerable portion of it 
 may be deemed Literary , I hardly know any one col- 
 lection, or set of volumes, likely to be productive of 
 more varied entertainment — especially if the reader 
 have a philological turn. From my own experience, 
 I can assert that the pleasing and instructive variety 
 contained in it, has cheered the languor of sickness, 
 and enlivened the gloom of solitude. But let there 
 not be a moment’s hesitation in securing the enlarged 
 reprint, under the editorial care of Mr. Park.* The 
 
 comparatively very low in price : and the reprint has, on this score, 
 much the advantage in having the pieces arranged chronologically 
 and according to their subject matter. The additional pieces are de- 
 noted by an asterisk. In no Collection, of the least historical pre- 
 tence, let these Tracts of Lord Somers be found wanting. A neatly 
 bound copy is worth 211. There were six copies only printed on 
 
 THICK PAPER. 
 
 * An historical account of this Miscellany will be found in the re- 
 print presently to be mentioned. But it should be remembered; that 
 a collection of these Harleian pamphlets and tracts, relating to Bri- 
 tish History , was published in one vol. 4to. 1792; and is worth about 
 11 . 10 ^. 
 
 + Of this re-publication, in ten handsome quarto vols. (and now 
 sinking gradually into a state of exhaustion,) 500 copies were struck 
 
State Pap.] HELPS TO BRITISH HISTORY. 295 
 
 eighteenth century was scarcely less fertile than its 
 predecessor, in the class of historical pioneers. Then 
 appeared the labours of Madox , Winwood , Forbes f 
 Thnrloe , and the editors of the well known Strafford , 
 Burghley, Sydney , and Clarendon Papers ; while 
 the name of Hardwicke dignified the latter part 
 of the same century : and yet, nearer its close, the 
 taste and judgment of Mr. Lodge have shewn us, 
 how, in his “ Illustrations of British History ,”-f* dur- 
 ing the sixteenth century, the Letters and Papers of 
 
 off y containing two volumes of additional matter, with a general 
 index to the whole. The reprint of the old tracts has also the advan- 
 tage of exhibiting these tracts in the chronological order in which they 
 were composed. A well bound copy in calf is worth about two 
 guineas per volume. There is one copy, and one copy only, on 
 large paper, of a folio form 5 which is in the possession of Mr. 
 Joseph Harding, the projector of the reprint. This quarto reprint 
 was succeeded by another in Svo. in 12 vols. : but without the addi- 
 tional matter. There are large paper copies of the Svo. impression 
 of Mr. Ion. With this work should also be found the Nugce Anti- 
 quce, ora Collection of Historical Papers of Harrington, in 1804, 
 Svo. 2 vols. edited by the same gentleman. 
 
 f Let us begin with Madox’s Formulare Anglicanum , ora Collec- 
 tion of Ancient Charters and Instruments from the Norman Conquest 
 to the end of the reign of Henry VIII. published in 1702, folio: a 
 work of long established reputation, and worth about 2 1. 2s., in fine 
 condition. To this may be added, by the same author, the Firma 
 Burgi ; an Historical Essay concerning the Cities, Towns, and Bo- 
 roughs of England, 1726, folio, of which I observe a fine copy, on 
 large paper, in russia, marked at 61. 6s. in the last catalogue of 
 Messrs. Payne and Foss : on small paper, Mr. Laing values it at 
 1 1. 10s. Madox wrote a History of the Exchequer ; of which the 
 best edition is that of 1769, 4to. 2 vols : but a new edition of this 
 work, or rather, an entirely new work on the same subject, is a 
 great desideratum with historical antiquaries. Next for Sir Ralph 
 Win wood’s Memorials of State Affairs in the reigns of Elizabeth and 
 James, 1725, folio, three vols. : an exceedingly common book ; and 
 
296 
 
 HELPS TO BRITISH HISTORY. [State Pap. 
 
 State may be made instrumental at once to amuse- 
 ment and instruction. 
 
 so moderate in price, on large paper, that Messrs. Payne and Foss 
 value a copy of this description at 3 1. 3s. There is one of the best 
 portraits (of Winwood) prefixed to the work, which Vertue ever 
 engraved : a little hard and metallic, but clear, bright, and appa- 
 rently faithful — exhibiting a countenance replete with shrewdness 
 and intelligence. Forbes’s Letters and State Papers of Queen Eliza- 
 beth and her Ministers , 1740, folio, 2 vols. may be worth 1/. 11s. 6d. 
 in good condition j and I find a large paper copy of it marked at 
 double this sum only in Mr. Laing’s catalogue of 1822. Thurloe’s 
 Collection of State Papers from 1638 to 1660, with his Life by Dr. 
 Birch, 1742, in seven vols. folio, is perhaps among the commonest, 
 but most valuable of publications of this description. A good copy 
 is worth 4 1. 145. 6d . — especially if it be in the fine, old calf, broad 
 border of gold, binding, with marbled leaves, as we sometimes find 
 them when obtained from old family libraries. At Althorp it is (as is 
 almost every thing else) on large paper. 
 
 The Earl op Strafforde’s State Papers and Dispatches , were 
 collected and published by Knowler in 1739, folio, 2 vols. Those of 
 Lord Burghley, from the reign of Henry VIII. to the year 1596, 
 were also published in 2 volumes ; one in 1740, by Haynes, and 
 the other in 1749, by Murdin. A good copy of either is worth about 
 1 1. 165. Lord Clarendon’s State Papers , 1767* folio, 3 vols. 
 (see p. 219, ante) are worth about a guinea per volume : and very 
 little more on large paper. f The Sydney Family Collection of 
 
 t I remember being mightily cheered, one morning, by the sight of a most 
 beautiful set of Thurloe , Burghley , Forbes , Clarendon , &c. bound out of sheets, in 
 white calf, by Charles Lewis, and standing on the shelves of Mr. Triphook. Ere 
 the shades of the evening of that same day had prevailed, these inviting tomes had 
 taken their departure . . . for the well garnished library of* * *. There now 
 stantl — ready to march off, at the beck of the first gallant purchaser — in the same 
 sparkling attire, from their primitive condition ... the General Dictionary , includ- 
 ing Bayle, the Biographia Britannica, by Kippis and by Birch , with Welford’s 
 Memorials ; the latter lots forming twenty-three folio volumes, the former fifteen. 
 Now, let the reader unite these thirty-eight tomes, in imagination, with the twenty 
 six folio volumes of the Universal Ancient and Modern History, described to be in 
 the same condition, at the same bookseller’s, at page 139, ante, and can he conceive 
 a more comforting set of historical works, whether to gladden the eye, or to 
 instruct the understanding ? 
 
State Pap.] HELPS TO BRITISH HISTORY. 297 
 
 Of recent date* we have had an able and interesting 
 performance, connected in a good measure, with our 
 earlier history, of which the omission in the preceding 
 edition of this work was the more extraordinary as 
 that performance has been so entirely and satisfac- 
 torily perused by me: I mean, the View of the State 
 of Europe during the Middle Ages , by Mr. Henry 
 Hallam, 1822, 8vo. 3 vols. third edition. This work 
 is also a sort of introduction to the earlier histories of 
 the ensuing countries ; and should be read with 
 promptitude and diligence by every one interested in 
 such studies. The notes are full of erudition. 
 
 Letters and Memorials of State, in the reign of Mary, Elizabeth , James } 
 and the two Charles’s were collected and published by the well known 
 Arthur Collins in 1748, folio, 2 vols. : and are worth about 2Z. 12s. 6d. 
 The Editor (says Mr. D’lsraeli) passed his life in rescuing these 
 wrecks of antiquity ; in giving authenticity to our history, or contri- 
 buting fresh materials to it — but his midnight vigils were cheered by 
 no patronage, nor his labours valued, but when the eye that pored 
 on the mutilated MS. was for ever closed.” Calamities of Authors, 
 vol. i. p. 262. The Earl of Hardwicke’s Miscellaneous State 
 Papers, from 1501 to 1726, were published by a descendant in 
 1778, 4to. 2 vols. : of which a well bound copy is worth about 
 11. 16s. The Earl had himself printed, (not published) Sir Dudley 
 Carlton’s State Papers, in one 4to. volume, 1757 ; which is worth 
 about 11. Is. Nor letMACPHERSON’s State Papers , 1776, 4to. 2 vols. 
 be omitted for they contain matter of historical importance. A 
 good copy may be worth 1Z. 18s. The Illustrations of British History, 
 by Mr. Lodge, are now worth a guinea per volume, in fair calf bind- 
 ing. I remember them, twenty years ago, selling for one-third of 
 that sum : — the set complete. A more worthy feeling and a purer 
 patriotic taste now prevail, respecting these laudable efforts of patient 
 diligence and judicious selection. Such works are as the pillars 
 which serve at once to strengthen and adorn the edifices of History : 
 and few countries can boast of such aids and embellishments as our 
 
 own. 
 
[ 298 ] 
 
 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 
 
 As, on stepping across the Channel, we necessarily 
 land on the opposite coast of France, so, after enume- 
 rating the chief historians, and Historical Helps of 
 our own country, I proceed to the enumeration of 
 those of our immediate Neighbours. It cannot how- 
 ever be denied, that, inimitable as those neighbours 
 are in their Memoirs , they are, comparatively with 
 ourselves, deficient in the solid materials of History. 
 Nor is it agreed among themselves who is their best 
 historian. Mezerai and Daniel take the lead ; and 
 Velly and Anquetil are the chief recent historians ; 
 but who will presume to compare the text of the two 
 latter with the polished pages of Hume, or the instruc- 
 tive researches of Henry ? 
 
 In Collections or Bodies of History, the French are 
 rich and strong ; and very much our superiors. Du- 
 chesne was the Twysden, or rather Gale, of France ; 
 but when Bouquet laid the foundation-stone, and 
 saw the rising walls, of his Recueil des Historiens des 
 Gaules , he planned a work, which places him, if we 
 except Muratori, quite at the head of all antiquarian 
 historians ; and it is gratifying (and to myself, in par- 
 ticular, most delightful) to add, that his labours are 
 continued with equal spirit and success, by the pre- 
 sent venerable and truly learned Dom Brial :* a 
 name, which ought to be dear, as it is highly honour- 
 
 * I look back upon the few hours, cut out of a busy sojourning in 
 Paris, devoted to this amiable man, as among the most pleasing of 
 those consumed in France. — See Tour, vol. ii. p. 423. 
 
HISTORY OF FRANCE. 
 
 299 
 
 able to France. I entreat both “ the Young and the 
 Old/’ never to allow themselves to be satisfied until 
 they have the Historice Francorum Scripiores coetanei 
 (1636; folio, 5 volumes) of Duchesne; or rather — 
 provided it make not too desperate an inroad on the 
 purse — to possess themselves of the work of Bouquet, 
 now increased to 18 folio volumes — 1738-1822.* I will 
 not insist upon both ; because I know that Bouquet 
 must be an imported work, and because huge folio 
 volumes are not imported without a weighty expense. 
 Bouquet is however common at Paris, and generally 
 bound in handsome mottled calf, with gilt on the 
 leaves ; and purchasable for about 21/. 
 
 If, however, neither the one nor the other suit the 
 taste or the purse of the Collector, let there be an 
 effort made to catch hold of the Collection Universelle 
 de Memoires relatifs a Vhistoire , 1785, 8vo.72 volumes. 
 With these desultory volumes, the lover of ancient 
 history may lounge as he list : may take up one, and 
 gently or roughly lay down the other, without doing 
 injury to the tomes, or breaking materially the thread 
 of his narrative, —unless he take a stride from Charle- 
 magne to St. Louis at one effort. And most parti- 
 cularly would I recommend the Tables chronologiques 
 de Diplomes , Chartres , Sfc. concernant Vhistoire de 
 France by De Brequigny , 1769, 3 vols. folio. But 
 the recommendation of this latter supposes the Col- 
 lector to be something of a determined historical anti- 
 quary. 
 
 I come to particular histories of France. Passing 
 over the six folio volumes of Dapleix , Hist. Generate 
 de France , 1646-63, in 6 folio volumes — which is now 
 
 * Consult p. 149, ante. 
 
300 
 
 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 
 
 only read by the curious, and by those who love the 
 occasional satirical glances of the author, especially in 
 the history of Henry IV.— let me advise 6<r the Young 
 Man/’ — but at any rate “ the Old Man” — to procure 
 the best edition of Mezerai, in 2 folio volumes, 1643,* 
 which contains many curious particulars ; but of 
 
 * Of Mezerai, a few particulars may not be uninteresting to the 
 reader. He was bred to arms 5 but an insatiable love of study con- 
 verted his sword and carbine into printed books and manuscripts. 
 Absorbed in this pursuit, he meditated hi? History of France, but an 
 excess of application produced a dangerous disorder. Cardinal Riche- 
 lieu, who, midst all his intrigues and tergiversations, had the merit 
 of projecting or patronizing some of the most splendid publications 
 in France, patronized Mezerai. A donation of 500 crowns by him to 
 the historian, stimulated Mezerai to redoubled exertions in the com- 
 pletion of his history. He had, moreover, through the interests of 
 the Cardinal, a pension of 4000 livres, from the court 5 and, on the 
 death of Conrart, was appointed permanent Secretary to the French 
 Academy. He completed his history, which he began in his thirty- 
 second year, and afterwards worked at the Dictionary of the Academy. 
 He died in 1683, in his 73d year. 
 
 Never was a man more singular, or fuller of bizarrerie, than Me- 
 zerai. His countenance, figure, and dress, were almost equally re- 
 pulsive. He was once stopped as a vagabond, by the overseers of 
 the parish, and commanded to follow them. So far from being dis- 
 pleased at this adventure, it aroused him, and he entered into the 
 joke exceedingly. “ Gentlemen, (said he) I cannot well accompany 
 you on foot, but, as soon as they have put a wheel to my carriage. 
 I’ll accompany you wherever you please.” One of his oddities was 
 to work by candle-light, even in the middle of the day, and in the 
 midst of the summer $ and he always attended his visitors to the 
 street-door, on parting — holding the lighted candle in his hand. 
 Strolling through the small village of Chapelle, in the way to St. 
 Denis, along with some of his friends, they all stopped at a public- 
 house, of which the master’s name was Le Faucheur. Mezerai saw 
 in this man what none of his friends could perceive, and took a vio- 
 lent fancy to him. He used to go and spend whole days with him : 
 and, in his future habits of study, it was observable that a well 
 
HISTORY OF FRANCE. 
 
 301 
 
 which the abridgment has nearly superseded the ori- 
 ginal impression. Mezerai loved truth, but would 
 not take much pains to discover it ; depending rather 
 upon the texts of his predecessors. Yet he had cou- 
 rage and integrity ; and gains in energy what he loses 
 in accuracy. There is, however, a coarse thread 
 which runs through all his narrative ; and those who 
 call him the Tacitus of France, seem to mistake 
 vulgarity for strength. His work may be thought, in 
 
 replenished bottle, as well as a lighted candle, was by the side of him. 
 He concluded his intimacy with his bacchanalian friend, by making 
 him his residuary legatee : to the great mortification of his relations. 
 
 Mezerai was extremely susceptible of cold. His friend Patru met 
 him one morning, when it was freezing very hard, and asked hiin, 
 
 how he found himself?” “ I must run away from you, immedi- 
 ately, (replied the historian) for I am at L.” This enigmatical reply 
 was explained to Patru. Mezerai kept behind his arm chair, imme- 
 diately on the setting in of winter, a dozen pair of stockings tic- 
 keted from A to M. On getting out of bed he always consulted his 
 thermometer — and according to the greater or less degree of cold, he 
 put on so many more, or fewer, pair of stockings. Thus, he had on 
 eleven pair when he met his friend Patru. 
 
 Of his History, it should seem that the second edition, in 1683, 
 is more ample and correct 5 but the text does not display so many 
 bold and hardy sentiments. The collector will necessarily consult 
 Brunet for the particulars of a perfect copy of the first edition, of 
 1643. The curious in fine books bite greedily at large paper copies 
 of this first edition, especially when in a splendid state. The ne plus 
 ultra copy of this kind is supposed to be that in the collection of Mr. 
 Beckford — obtained at the sale of the Duke of Grafton’s library, for 
 105Z. See Clarke s Repertorium Bibliographicum, p. 223. Earl 
 Spencer and Mr. Grenville possess, each a fine similar copy. The 
 small paper may be worth from about 61. 1 6s. 6d. to 10 Z. 10 s. accord- 
 ing to its condition and binding. Messrs. Bosange and Co. mark a 
 fine copy, in French calf binding, quite complete, at 12 1. The 
 second edition, although, strictly speaking, in an historical point of 
 view perhaps more valuable, scarcely brings 3 1. 13s. 6d. 
 
302 
 
 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 
 
 some measure, a reflex of the motley features of his 
 life. 
 
 After Mezerai, comes Father Daniel ; whose his- 
 tory of France, in 17 quarto volumes, 1755, does not 
 seem, in the estimation of French critics, to entitle 
 its author to a very great share of praise. Daniel is 
 considered to be a common-place historian, suffi- 
 ciently sensible, but sufficiently plodding ; and better 
 versed in military than in civil affairs. His style is 
 without animation, and his sentiments are without 
 force. His mistakes in the names of small towns and 
 villages, and in the minor operations of armies, are 
 perhaps venial ; but the false colours in which he 
 paints battles of great importance, admit of no apo- 
 logy. Like his predecessor, his abridgment is more 
 admired than his unabbreviated text. This abridg- 
 ment appeared in 14 volumes, in 12mo. Daniel 
 Lombard published a quarto volume in 1723, con- 
 taining a comparison between these two historians. 
 
 Before I touch upon the performance of Velly, it 
 may be as well briefly to notice, but with the warm 
 commendation which it merits, the Nouvel abrege 
 Chronologique de Vhistoire de France , by the Presi- 
 dent Henault, which first appeared about 1748,* 
 4to. but of which the best edition is that of 1768, 4to. 
 2 vols. and of which there have been repeated re- 
 impressions. <f There is no class (says M. Barbier) 
 to whom this work may not be useful ; the military, 
 
 * Mr. Roche informs me, that he has a copy of the fourth edition, 
 dated 1752, 4to., and referring to a previous one of 1749, 8vo. but 
 the first impression was a quarto, probably of the preceding year. 
 It was suppressed in consequence of some passages being too free for 
 the shackled press of France. Mr. Roche has transcribed these pas- 
 sages in his copy of 1752. 
 
HISTORY OF FRANCE. 
 
 303 
 
 the civil, the political, the magisterial, and the eccle- 
 siastical,” &c. But that, which constitutes the chief 
 charm of these pages, is, the delineations of character, 
 the reflections, and those notices — scattered with so 
 much art — which give a soul as it were, to a body, in 
 other respects dry and repulsive.* The joint pro- 
 ductions of Velly, Villaret, and Garnier, must 
 now be noticed. Velly died on the completion of the 
 8th volume and Villaret (whose love of reflexions 
 would have made his work almost interminable,) 
 followed his fate on the completion of the reign of 
 Louis XI. Garnier put the finishing stroke to it 
 in 1786 , on carrying the work down to the reign of 
 Charles IX. The history was published in 16 volumes 
 in quarto, and 33 in duodecimo. In 1804, some 
 Tables were published in one volume 4to. and three 
 volumes in duodecimo. No library indeed, which 
 aspires to the character of being properly furnished 
 with French history, can be complete without the 
 
 * Bibl. d'un Homme de Gout, vol. iii. p. 376. 
 
 f It must be remembered that the name of Velly appears to a 
 (t Collection of Portraits of Illustrious Men, relating to the History of 
 France in 4fco. 8 volumes. And, while I am on the subject of 
 graphical illustration of French history, let the curious remember 
 David's work, in 5 quarto volumes, 1787* and Le Bas’ figures, with 
 explanations by Garnier, 1785, in large 4to. Montfaucon' s Monar- 
 chic Francoise cannot fail to be in every well-stocked library j but, if 
 ever such a work be republished in France, the engravings will, 
 doubtless, be executed with more attention to accuracy of detail. 
 Montfaucon’s work, in 5 volumes folio, is usually found with the 
 Antiquites Expliques, in 11 vols. by the same author. A good copy, 
 on small paper, with the Supplement, 5' vols. in the whole 20 vols. 
 may be worth 402. One of the finest copies in England, on large 
 paper, is in the library of Mr. Dent ; but Mr. Hayley’s similar copy 
 bought by the Earl of Sefton for 1022. 18s. was of a very extraordi- 
 nary description. 
 
304 
 
 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 
 
 labours of Velly; who, forsaking the beaten path of 
 detailing the mere personal histories of kings, struck 
 out into a new road (in which he was probably fol- 
 lowed by our Henry) wherein the origin of parlia- 
 ments, of laws, customs, manners, arts, and sciences, 
 was explored. Gamier is thought to be less brilliant, 
 although he is less verbose than Villaret.* They were, 
 on the whole, a most respectable historical triumvi- 
 rate. 
 
 To the foregoing I shall add the respectable name 
 of Anquetil ; who, at the command of Bonaparte, 
 and at the age of eighty., sat down to the com- 
 position of a History of France, which should treat 
 more particularly of national events, with an almost 
 entire exclusion of such as were connected with other 
 countries. The work appeared in 1805, in fifteen 
 duodecimo volumes ; and if the style of it be not the 
 most elegant, it is the most complete in itself, and the 
 most commodious to consult. 
 
 Of Memoirs, or partial Histories of France, the list 
 is endless. Nor can it be denied that many of these 
 Memoirs form by far the most interesting and in- 
 
 * Fantin Desodoards continued the history of Velly and Villa- 
 ret, &c. to the death of Louis XVI. in eighteen handsome 8vo. 
 volumes, 1819 — worth about 7l- 7 s. These had previously appeared 
 in a duodecimo form, in twenty-six volumes, 180S 3 and sell for 
 about 4 1 . 14s. 6d. in boards. But Millot’s elementary historical 
 works, relating to France , England , Germany and the Troubadours , 
 &c. are worth possessing in part, or in whole 3 and a complete collec- 
 tion of these works, handsomely printed by Didot, was published in 
 1820, 8vo. in twelve vols, 61 
 
 It is necessary to make mention of a Collection Universelle de 
 Mtmoires particuliers relatifs a VHist. de France — of which 100 vo- 
 lumes are already published. They will be brought down to the 
 period of the French revolution. 
 
HISTORY OF FRANCE. 
 
 305 
 
 structive portions of French History. The names of 
 Joinville, Gail lard, Castlenau * Goulart , and Davila , 
 (to mention no more) excite attention and respect 
 towards every work to which they are attached ; and, 
 if we come to Histories of particular periods, that of 
 De Thou in th History of His Own Times ” \ s 
 alone entitled to enthusiastic admiration. It is a 
 work which can perish only with the tongue in which 
 it is written, and with the nation, a portion of whose 
 history it developes. 
 
 And thus much for the leading* publications con- 
 
 * Castlenau’s work was published at Brussels, 1731, in three folio 
 volumes, and is now quite common among us. It is full of many 
 curious particulars. 
 
 f “ Historiarum sui Temporis Lib . cxxxviii. ab anno 1543-1607. 
 The best, and only estimable edition, is that of Buckley, in 1733, 
 folio. This text was translated into French by I. B. Le Mascrier, &c. 
 in 1734, in sixteen 4to. volumes. The edition of Buckley merits a 
 little more notice. There is at Althorp a most magnificent copy of 
 it, in red morocco French binding, with gilt on the leaves, upon the 
 largest paper } from an inspection of which I gather the following 
 particulars. Among the contributors to the vignettes, or head and 
 tail-pieces, was Alexander Pope, the fruits of whose bounty appear 
 at the end of the first, third, fourth, and fifth volumes. At the end 
 of Buckley’s Epistolary address to Dr. Mead, to whom the work is 
 dedicated with great propriety, the bard of Twickenham is designated 
 as Alexander Pope armiger, Anglicorum poetarum hujus temporis 
 facile princeps.” It appears further that Henry Woodfall printed 
 the first volume : Samuel Richardson the second j James Bettenham 
 the third j James Roberts the fourth j and Thomas Wood the fifth. 
 I do not discover the name of any printer to the sixth and seventh 
 volumes. Prefixed to Thomas Carte’s letter to Dr. Mead, there is a 
 vignette of the interior of alibrary. Does it represent that of Dr. 
 Mead ? At the end of the seventh volume, there is a good deal of 
 pleasing, miscellaneous matter, relating to De Thou, and to the lite- 
 rature of the age: such as Letters, Memorials, Memoirs, and Justi- 
 ficatory pieces. From this portion of the work, I availed myself also 
 
 X 
 
HISTORY OF FRANCE. 
 
 306 
 
 nected with the History of France, I say the leading 
 —or such as are more popular, and better known — 
 because it would be impracticable to embody, in the 
 pages of a work like the present, a twentieth part 
 even of essential works, connected with French his- 
 tory, as an antiquary would consider them ; and be- 
 cause a glance at Fontette’s edition of Le Long’s Z)/c- 
 tionnaire Historique de la France , in five folio volumes, 
 1768, wholly devoted to a Catalogue of works ap- 
 pertaining to the History of France — under every 
 possible form and modification — will alone be suffi- 
 cient to justify the omission of a more particular 
 account of such works in the present publication. It 
 
 of some curious particulars relating to De Thou’s library, which are 
 mentioned in the Bibliographical Decameron , vol. ii. p. 476-480. For 
 a further notice of the “ History,’’ consult the Bibliomania , p. 486. 
 It may be worth stating, that this edition is printed upon paper of 
 those sizes — of which the largest is very rare. 
 
 Dr. Mead’s own copy of the edition of Buckley, which had been 
 illustrated with prints collected by Gulstone, and was afterwards 
 bound in green morocco by the latter, was sold at the sale of Mr. 
 Towneley’s library, in 1814, (see no. 856 of the catalogue of that li- 
 rary) for 53/. 11s. Mr. Payne has, at this moment. Count Hoym’s 
 beautiful copy, (on the second paper, which had been Mr. Watson 
 Taylor’s) marked at 31/. 10s. Another thing may be worth briefly 
 noticing. I learn, from the communication of a most intelligent 
 correspondent, that there is only a very partial English translation of 
 De Thou’s invaluable work. In the years 1729-1730, one Ber- 
 nard Wilson, Vicar of Newark and Prebendary of Lincoln, published 
 his version of only tw'enty-six books of De Thou’s text, and is sup- 
 posed to have desisted from the remainder for want of sufficient en- 
 couragement. It may be as well to notice the best edition of the 
 Sioria delle Guerre civili di Francia of Davila ; namely that of 
 1/33, fol. 2 vols. worth 2/. 12s, 6d. Of course, the works of Frois- 
 sart, Monstrelet, and Joinville, &c. (all particularly noticed at 
 page 160-5, ante) must not fail to be especially procured and con- 
 sulted. 
 
HISTORY OF FRANCE. 
 
 307 
 
 may however be essential to mention, that six octavo 
 volumes of a History of France are already published, 
 from the popular pen of Sismondi. 
 
 Of course, it is not my immediate province to touch 
 upon French topographical works. These, how- 
 ever, form an essential feature of history, as much 
 with foreigners as with ourselves ; and the French 
 may be said to be rich in such a department. Among 
 these, I recommend to the attention of the curious 
 reader such as respect the triumphal entries — or what 
 we call royal progresses — of the French monarchs 
 into the several cities ; and especially those of Nor- 
 mandy. One of the most pleasing, and at the same 
 time most splendid works, would be that which 
 should be connected with the triumphant entries of 
 Francis /., and the second, third, and fourth Hen- 
 ries; and I do, in particular conjure my very excel- 
 lent, and at the same time, learned and competent 
 friends, Messrs. Le Prevost, De Langon, Lair, Riaux, 
 and others — to set about such a work with all ima- 
 ginable alacrity. Nor let them doubt of its success. 
 In such a performance, there will be a general rivalry 
 for its support ; and our Norman neighbours will not 
 be angry with us, if in this respect we give them more 
 substantial encouragement than fair words. 
 
 Brief as maybe the preceding Summary of the best 
 historical works relating to France, there are never- 
 theless few libraries which contain them all . And yet, 
 whoever casts even a cursory glance upon the pages 
 of Struvius, Buder, and Meusel,* will be surprised to 
 
 * Bibliotheca Historica, 1783-1802, 8vo. eleven vols. The second 
 
308 
 
 HISTORY OF FRANCE. 
 
 find how exceedingly superficial such a summary is, 
 and what infinite efforts are requisite for a solid and 
 complete body of Scriptores de Rebus Francogallicis. 
 It may be doubted whether the Royal Library at 
 Paris contain one-third of the absolutely requisite 
 number. 
 
 of the sixth, and the whole of the seventh, eighth, ninth, with the 
 latter part of the tenth volume — each volume averaging 700 pages — 
 are filled with an account of authors, and list of books, which relate 
 more or less to the History of France ; necessarily including 
 public and private biographies, antiquities, &c. And then, when the 
 reader thinks of Fontette' s Bibliotheque Historique de la France, ex- 
 panded into five folio volumes (1768-7S) upon the basis of one folio 
 volume by Le Long in 1719 — one is easily convinced of the difficul- 
 ties even of collecting the knowledge which is abroad in the world. 
 Let it also be remembered that more than forty years have already 
 elapsed since the labours of Fontette, and about twenty since those 
 of Meuselius. What have not recent events called forth ? The 
 pamphlets relating to the French Revolution alone, would fill the 
 largest Diligence, in and out, which travels between Paris and Italy. 
 The late Marquis of Lansdowne possessed an almost incalculable 
 number of them. Mr. Perry was also rich in the same lore, as his 
 collection of them brought the sum of 64/. Is. at the late sale of his 
 library. 
 
 The reign of Bonaparte produced marvellously splendid publica- 
 tions connected with the Empire over which he ruled. The medallic 
 history of his reign was published by Mr. Millingen in 1819. 4to. To 
 the Works enumerated in the ten preceding pages— devoted to the 
 History of France — I have to add the notice of a new and interesting 
 one, entitled Memoirs of Jeanne D' Arc, surnamed La Pucelle D' Or- 
 leans : with the History of her Times. There are copies of this Work 
 beautifully printed on large paper. 
 
[ 309 ] 
 
 HISTORY OF SPAIN. 
 
 In order to give even a tolerably complete outline 
 of the leading works connected with the History of 
 this interesting country, it would be requisite to seat 
 oneself in the library of Lord Holland, or of the Poet 
 Laureat, or of Mr. Heber, or of that of our Ambassa- 
 dor at Paris;* so richly furnished are these respec- 
 tive Collections in Spanish and Portuguese lore. There 
 is so much of a love of ancient Romance and Chivalry 
 mixed up with a study of this subject — the real or 
 ideal heroes of that country have so long engaged our 
 attention and perhaps won our hearts —add to which 
 the local character of either country, with its castles, 
 mountains, deep and lonely valleys, rushing torrents, 
 
 * By a fatality which I know not how to account for, but of which 
 the result chagrined me a good deal at the time of the publication, I 
 omitted to give an account of a few of the rarer books in the library 
 of Sir Charles Stuart, the British Amdassador, in my notice of pri- 
 vate libraries at Paris, in the Bibliographical Tour. Sir Charles gave 
 me free admission to his collection ; and my ms. notices are rather 
 full than scanty. But such an account would be now rendered super- 
 ficial and unnecessary 5 as I learn that his Excellency has printed a 
 Catalogue of his Library for private distribution only. His Spanish 
 and Portuguese books are at once numerous and choice. And here 
 I may be allowed to make something of an amende honorable, by the 
 notice of a very beautiful, curious, and interesting quarto volume, 
 printed by Sir Charles, at his own expense, from the MSS. of Zeo- 
 nardus Chiensis , and Godefridus Langus , being an account of the 
 Capture of Constantinople by Mahomet II. The only copies of this 
 work which I have seen in England, are those in the libraries of 
 the Duke of Bedford, Earl Spencer, and the Reverend Stephen 
 Weston. 
 
310 
 
 HISTORY OF SPAIN. 
 
 and rapid rivers— that we take up its civil and mili- 
 tary annals, under the persuasion, or delusion, (if you 
 will) of finding 1 them tinged with something of the 
 romantic cast of character of its ancient heroes, and 
 of the adventures in which they were engaged. 
 
 But this work is chiefly bibliographical : a truce, 
 therefore, to such a strain. Let us begin with the 
 mention of a publication, which will be found as a 
 sort of master key to unlock the treasures of many of 
 which it makes honourable mention. I mean the 
 Bibliotheca Hispana foetus et Nova of Antonio,* in 
 four handsomely printed folio volumes ; and then 
 lay the foundation of the historical pile, by the first 
 printed labours of old Rodericus SANCTius.f Be it 
 however premised, that the immediately ensuing list 
 relates to works which exclusively belong to Spain. 
 And first, of Chronicles ; whether of the country at 
 
 * Morhoff considers the labours of Antonio as models of compo- 
 sition in their way. Polyhist. Literar. vol. i. p. 203-4 : edit. 1747- 
 Mem. de VInst. vol. i. 651. The first edition of the work above men- 
 tioned was in 1672 and 1696 ; the latter and best edition, in 1783-8, 
 folio, 4vols. But this work of Antonio, if it be valuable, is unluckily 
 rare and dear. A neat copy of it is marked at 12 1. 12 s. in the recent 
 catalogues of Messrs. Payne and Foss, and Messrs. Arch. I never 
 saw but one copy of it upon large paper ; and that one is magni- 
 ficently bound in red morocco, in the library of Francis Freeling, 
 Esq. To the foregoing, let there be added the Bibliotheca Ara- 
 bico-Hispana Escurialensis Michaelis Casiri, Matrit. 1760, 2 vols. : 
 a work of equal interest and merit in its way ; and of which I 
 observe a very neat copy, with marble leaves, marked at 4 1. 14s. 6d. 
 in the catalogue of Mr. Thorpe. 
 
 t Rodericus Sanctius. His Historia Hispanica was first pub- 
 lished by Ulric Han, at Rome, in 4to. probably not long after the 
 death of the author, in 1470. A particular account of this edition 
 (which Meuseliqs says, must be ranked among very rare books,”) 
 will be found in the 5th or Supplemental volume of the Bibl. Spen - 
 
HISTORY OF SPAIN. 
 
 311 
 
 large, or of a few of the more famous kings by whom 
 it was governed.* There is a very charm in that 
 
 ceriana, p. 254, The history has been considered rather a work of 
 piety, than of elegance of composition,” by Marian : and will be 
 found reprinted in the collections of Bel and Schot.f Meuselius. 
 Bibl. Historica, vol. vi. part i. p. 115, is sufficiently copious about 
 the author. 
 
 * “ Notwithstanding the fortunate circumstances which combined 
 to revive the taste for historical composition in Spain, the noble 
 authors of the Spanish Chronicles in very few instances rose above 
 the vulgar chronicle style. They faithfully adhered to the language 
 of the historical books of the bible. In nothing is their poetic talent 
 disclosed, except in a better choice of expression than is to be found 
 in the common chronicles, which were in general written by monks. 
 Spirited and adequate historical description was totally unknown to 
 them. They all wrote in nearly the same manner. Facts were 
 heaped on facts, in long monotonous sentences, which uniform- 
 ly commenced with the conjunction, and. Occasionally, indeed, the 
 writers of these chronicles seem to have made attempts to imitate the 
 ancient historians 5 for at every favourable opportunity little speeches 
 are put into the mouths of the characters they record ; but these 
 speeches are given either in the language of Scripture or the law. 
 Thus wrote the illustrious Perez de Guzman, who was celebrated 
 among the poets of his age 5 and thus wrote the grand Chancellor 
 of Castille, Pedro Lopez de Ayala, who is better known than the 
 former as an historian, in consequence of having compiled from ancient 
 chronicles a connected history of the kings of Castile of the four- 
 teenth cenlury.j— Bouterweck’ s History of Spanish and Portuguese 
 Literature, vol. i. p. 138, edit. 1823. 
 
 I do not pretend to enumerate one-tenth part of these older, 
 
 4 A copy of the “ Rerum Hispanicarum Scriptores Aliquot , of Belus, 3 vols. in 
 1, Francof. 1579, folio, is in the library of the Royal Institution. Mr. Harris's 
 Cat. p. 300, where the writers are specified. Schott’s Hispania Illustrata , was 
 published at Francfort in 1603, in 4 folio volumes, and a copy may be worth 2/. 
 12.9. Gd. 
 
 X “ One may become acquainted with these old Spanish chronicles with more 
 facility than formerly ; for during the last thirty years the greater part of them 
 have been re-printed. A folio edition of the copious chronicle of Peres de Guz- 
 man was printed at Valencia, in the year 1779, with an elegance which proves the 
 
312 
 
 HISTORY OF SPAIN. 
 
 word to the ear of a book-collector ; who, if he be of 
 the thorough bred English breeds neither eats, drinks, 
 
 rarer, and costlier Chronicles 5 but as the curious “ en font grand 
 cas,” I must expatiate some little thereupon. One of the earliest is 
 that of “ del Rey D. Pedro," by Lopez de Layala at Seville , in 
 1493, folio ; exceedingly rare. Stepping over the threshold of the 
 XVth century, we notice the very rare Chronicle of the King Don 
 Rodrigo, published at Seville , in 1511, folio 5 again at Valladolid in 
 1527, folio : concerning which I am at a loss to give one word of 
 advice as to price, or intrinsic worth, or curiosity ) only that a copy 
 of the second edition (but not of the first) was in the Harleian 
 Collection. Of the Chronicle of the Cid, (so admirably made fami- 
 liar to English readers by the translation of Mr. Southey, 1808, 4to. 
 and so ably criticised in the first number of the Quarterly Review) the 
 following edition is specified in the catalogue of the library of Don 
 J. Antonio Conde — which was sold in 1824. Historia del valeroso 
 y bien afortunado cavallero Cid Ruy diaz de Bivar, Burgos , Junta , 
 1568. This, bound up with Historia de la Poncella de Francia y de 
 sus grandes hechos : sacados de la Chronica Real por un Cavallero 
 discreto embiado por embaxador de Castilla h Francia por los Reyes 
 Fernando y Isabel aquien la presente se dirige, black letter , Extremely 
 rare, Burgos , Junta , 1562, 4to. was sold for 5 1. 7s. 6d. An edition of 
 the Cid printed at Burgos, in 1593, 4to. was sold for 13 1. 5s. at the 
 White Knights sale : but Mr. Thorpe has more than once recently 
 marked it at 4 1. 145. 6d. Of King Pedro, &c. and Don Juan I. 
 abovementioned, the Pamplona edition of 1591, folio, is marked at 
 41. 4s. by Mr. Thorpe, and at 2 1. 2 s. by Mr. Bohn : an edition of 
 1590, of Juan el Segundo, (appearing not in that of 1591) is 
 valued at 31. 3s. by the former bookseller: but see part iii. of his 
 catalogue, nos. 1763-6. Then comes the Chronicle ce del Rey Don 
 Alonzo el Sabio y Sancho el Bravo.” printed at Valladolid, 1554, 
 folio ) with bold and spirited wood- cuts, of which I observe a fine 
 morocco copy, in Lewisian binding, marked at 71. 17$. 6d. in part i. 
 no. 6096., of the same bookseller’s catalogue. But we must not 
 forget a somewhat rarer volume in the chronicled feats of Alonzo el 
 
 patriotic zeal of the editors: the chronicle of Ayala was printed at Madrid in the 
 same year. Literature is indebted for this revival of the fathers of Spanish His- 
 tory, to the efforts of the Historical Academy of Madrid.” — Ibid . 
 
HISTORY OF SPAIN. 
 
 313 
 
 nor sleeps, unless he have his “ dear Chronicles” com- 
 plete. The date of the oldest printed Chronicle of 
 Spain, is that of 1482, and the author was Diego de 
 
 Onzeno, of which the Valladolid impression of 1551, folio, was sold 
 for 20 1. at the sale of the White Knight’s Library. A later edition, 
 printed at Toledo in 1595, folio, is marked at 2/. 2 s. in Mr. Thorpe’s 
 catalogue, part i. n°. 149. This Chronicle, as well as most of the 
 earlier ones, is reprinted in the Madrid reimpression, published by 
 Sancha, 1787, 6 vols. 4to. And then, what must be said of, or given 
 for, the Chronicle of the Great Captain Gonzalo Hernandez de 
 Cordova, printed in 1584, folio, at Alcala ? — and of the not less 
 ferocious brandisher of the truncheon, ycleped Don Pedro Gonza- 
 lez de Mendoza, published by the very erudite Doctor Pedro de 
 Salazar , at Toledo , in 1625, folio, and in his 79th year 
 
 When spectacle on nose was seen. 
 
 And velvet cap of emerald green 
 Enclosed a scull as white as snow. 
 
 And silver beard did stream below, 
 
 As forked as Jove’s bolt . . . 
 
 (Excerptiana.) 
 
 Mr. Thorpe fearlessly marks a fine copy of this picturesque-looking 
 old gentleman’s labours at SI. 3s, It was in morocco binding in the 
 Harleian Library. 
 
 On retrospection, I am well nigh ashamed of this scanty list of 
 doughty Spanish Champions: well knowing what my friends Atti- 
 cus, Honorio, andPALMERiN possess, relating to the same heroes,- 
 and how the modern Parunzetto is builing a castle of granite, en- 
 closing a chamber of porphry, scagliolo, and black marble, commixed, 
 in which to suspend the portraitures of these champions, drawn from 
 the life ; and to deposit choicest copies, upon vellum, of the earliest 
 publications which record their mighty achievements. But, my pre- 
 sent work is any thing but a “ Bibliographical Romance.” Even 
 five weeks ago only, the same resistless Collector acquired a most ex- 
 ceedingly gorgeous and Grolierised copy, upon vellum, of that chival- 
 rous tome which displays the coat-armoury of Spanish Knights, and 
 was put forth by Mendez Silva , under the title of “ Poblacion General 
 deEspana , sus Trofeos , Blasones , y Conquistas Heroycas." Madrid , 
 1645, folio — of which I notice a good copy, valued at the unappalling 
 sum of 31. 3s., in a certain catalogue recently put forth in Pall Mall, 
 
314 
 
 HISTORY OF SPAIN. 
 
 Valera.* This work was reprinted several times, in 
 the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Then followed 
 the labours of Carbone ll, Beuter, de Ocampo, Va- 
 stus, and Garibay, &c. with divers others, f enriching 
 
 * The first edition of Don Diego de Valera’s ff Cronica de 
 E§pana, abridged by the command of Isabella Queen of Castillef was 
 published by Alonzo del Puerto , in the black letter, in 1482, folio: a 
 book of excessive scarcity. The second edition came out at Burgos , 
 in 1487, folio ; the third at Toulouse , in 1489 — of all which editions 
 Meuselius was ignorant. The fourth appeared at Saragossa, in 1493, 
 the earliest noticed by Meuselius : — the fifth was published at Sala- 
 manca, in 1495 j the sixth at Seville, in 1527 — both unknown to 
 Mepselius. It was republished at Seville in 1534, folio, of which 
 second edition Mr. Thorpe marks a copy at 4 1. 4s. : a third impres- 
 sion came forth at the same place, in 1567} and precisely, in the 
 same year, at Saragossa, was published, what looks very much like 
 a similar work, under the title of “ Chronica de Los Reyes Catholicos 
 Don Hernando y Donna Ysabel : a good copy of which very rare 
 book is marked at 9 1. Os. in the catalogue of Messrs. Payne and Foss. 
 Concerning Diego de Valera, X Meuselius seems to regret that An- 
 tonio (Bibl. Vet. tom. ii. p. 206) has dwelt rather upon the life, than 
 the labours, of this ancient chronicler. 
 
 * P. M. Carbonell : “ Chroniques de Espanya , que tracta dels 
 nobles e envictissms Reyes de Gots y gestes de acquells y dels Contes de 
 Barcelona e Reyes de Arago. Barcelona , 1536, 1547 $ each edition 
 in folio, and each (especially the first) very rare. Consult Antonio’s 
 Bibl. Nova vol. ii. p. 175. Beuter first came out with his “ Hirst 
 Part of the History of Valencia, treating of the Antiquities of Spain, &c.” 
 at Valencia, 1538, folio. The author intended to add two other parts, 
 but he changed his mind, and remodelled the whole, much for the 
 better, in the Castilian language : calling it “ Primera Parte de la 
 Cronica General de toda Espaha : y especialmente del Reyno de Va“ 
 lencia,” &c. En Valencia, 1551 : the second partin 1563, folio. A 
 copy of this work, with part of the 14th leaf wanting, was sold at 
 the sale of the library of Don J. Antonio Conde (1824) for 17 s. only. 
 No copy of the labours of Carbonell and Beuter appears in the Plar- 
 
 + He put the finishing stroke to his Chronicle in the year 1481, in the porch of 
 St. Mary, (at Cadiz) when lie had completed his 79th year. 
 
HISTORY OF SPAIN. 
 
 315 
 
 the sixteenth century with a great number of chrono- 
 logical productions, which are now of the greatest 
 difficulty to find in an entire and sound state. 
 
 leian catalogue : but I find there, (vol. ii. n°. 8481) “ the twenty- 
 two books of the Memorable Affairs of Spain, by Lucio Marineo 
 published at Alcala de Henares, in 1593, folio : Meuselius mentions 
 an earlier edition, at the same place, Compluti, in 1533. See his 
 Bibl. Historica, vol. vi. part i. p. 118*120. Add to Beuter’s, or 
 Beuther’s, work — concerning the kingdom of Valencia — that of M. 
 J. Febrer — que tracta des Llinatges de la Conquista de la Ciutat de 
 Valencia e son Regne. Valen. 1796, 4to. of which a copy was sold 
 at the above mentioned sale, for 1 1. 1 6s. 
 
 The name of Florian de Ocampo is justly entitled to eminence. 
 This able and honest historian first edited the Chronicle of Spain , 
 compiled by Martini de Cordova, which was published at Zamora 
 in 1541, folio, (a very rare book — a copy in the Harl. Libr.) and 
 published his own “Five First Books of the General Chronicle of 
 Spain /’ at the same place, in 1544 ; and at Medina del Campo , in 
 1553 5 and again at Alcala , in 1578, each edition (I believe) being 
 in 4 thin folio volumes. A copy of the last edition only was in the 
 Harleian Library. They are all scarce books, and written in the Spa- 
 nish language. Vastus wrote, in Latin, (“ stilo haud ingrato’’) his 
 Chronicle of the Spanish Affairs , published at Cologne in 1567* 8 vo. 
 enlarged in 1577* 8 vo. — to be found in Bel’s Collection. Garibay 
 published (in the Spanish language), “ A Compendium , or Abridge- 
 ment of the Chronicles and General History of the Kings of Spain f* 
 at Antwerp, 1571* in four folio volumes ; a work of great instrinsic 
 worth, and rare occurrence in a perfect condition. It was republished* 
 in 4 folio volumes, at Barcelona, in 1628 $ and (says Meuselius; 
 whatever Antonio and Lenglet du Fresnoy may say to the contrary, 
 there never was a third edition of it. Meuselius’ account (borrowed 
 from Antonio) of the plan, energies, judgment, and talents of Gari- 
 bay, will make the “ young man” sigh, and the old man” weep, 
 if he do not speedily become master of one or the other of the edi- 
 tions here specified ; and yet I look in vain for a copy of Garibay in 
 many of our richest bibliopolistic catalogues. 
 
 But ere we turn our backs on Chronicles, let us bestow one 
 minute’s attention on that of the Coronicade los Moros de Espaha 
 published at Valencia , in 1618, folio, of which JaymeBleda was the 
 
316 
 
 HISTORY OF SPAIN. 
 
 Towards the middle of the sixteenth century, ap- 
 peared a few of the multifarious productions of the 
 most accomplished, most courageous, but most tyran- 
 nical nobleman of the age. It is ofJOiEGo Hurtado 
 de Mendoza, author of the famous Life of Lazarillo 
 de Tormes ,* that I would thus be understood to speak. 
 He was no professed chronicler or historian ; but his 
 account of the IVar of Grenada ,+ of which he was 
 almost an eyewitness, is considered, with great justice, 
 to be among the most valuable productions of that 
 
 author. The subject is full of frightful interest, and the author is 
 called by Meuselius “ the torch and trumpet/’ by which the expul- 
 sion of the Moors was effected. Bleda was one of their most inve- 
 terate enemies. His book, nevertheless, contains some very curious 
 particulars ; which, (I suppose) together with its rarity, caused Col. 
 Stanley’s copy of it — “ remarkably fine, splendidly bound in russia, 
 by R. Payne,” to produce the sum of 71. 10s. Messrs. Payne and Foss 
 mark a fine copy of it in russia, with joints, at 41. 4s. A copy, in 
 ordinary vellum binding, was sold at Don Antonio Conde’s sale for 
 2 l. 3 s. Was not this book translated into English by Taubman, in 
 1687, 8vo. ? And let us not forget, that a 4to. volume, descriptive 
 of the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, was published at Pampe- 
 luna , in 1613, by Marco de Guadalajara : See Bibl. Harl. vol. ii, n°. 
 8511. 
 
 * Routerwek ( History of Spanish and Portuguese Literature, vol. i. 
 p. 205, edit. 1823) tells us, that the only editions of the Vida de 
 Lazarillo de Tormes ,” now in circulation, are printed after that pub- 
 lished at Saragossa , in the year 1652, with De Luna’s corrections 
 and continuations. De Luna added a second part to the story ; for 
 Mendoza, in his maturer years, never felt inclined to finish the comic 
 work which he had commenced in his youth. Was Bouterwek aware 
 that the first edition of this brilliant little performance, by Men- 
 doza, was published at Burgos, in 1554, 12mo. : — and that a certain 
 Noble Duke, at the sale of the library of a certain gallant Colonel, 
 gave thirty guineas for a copy of this little black letter bijou ? 
 
 f Guerra de Grenada, fyc. Escriviola D. Diego Hurtado de Men- 
 doza, Valencia, 177 6, 4to. Best edition; containing the best life of 
 
HISTORY OF SPAIN. 317 
 
 period — whether for purity of style, or importance of 
 matter. 
 
 But towards the end of the same century, appeared 
 the solidly valuable volume of Mariana ; a name, 
 which reflects lustre on Spanish history. The labours 
 of Mariana have been the foundation of those of many 
 subsequent publications — abridged or amplified, more 
 or less— under the name of the same historian ; and at 
 this day, I believe, those who possess what is called 
 the last and best edition of Mariana, possess a work 
 which is daily rising in estimation, price, and rarity.* 
 
 its extraordinary, but bloody-minded author. Gesner, in his Pan- 
 dects, (if my memory do not deceive me) has a dedication to him ; 
 and so has the younger Aldus, in one of his portions of the Philoso- 
 phical Works of Cicero. The preceding work obtained for the 
 author the name of the Spanish Sallust. 
 
 * Mariana is the Father of Spanish History — properly so called. 
 His work first appeared in the Latin language at Toledo, in 1592, 
 folio. According to the Harleian Catalogue, vol. ii. n°. 8489, this 
 edition contained only twenty books, and the remaining ten books 
 were published at Franckfort in 1606. Yet Brunet says, some copies 
 have the date of 1592, with five of these additional books 5 and other 
 copies a fresh title page, dated 1595, with the same five additional 
 books. And let the careful collector beware, that this edit. prin. 
 of Mariana (1592) is not only the rarest, but the most correct and 
 valuable, of all the impressions of the author, especially in the Latin 
 tongue. It was translated by the author himself, with additions 
 and corrections, into the Spanish language, and published at Toledo, 
 in 2 folio volumes, in 1601.f Of this edition, a copy, in red morocco, 
 was sold for 4Z. 10s. at the sale of the White Knights Library. Be- 
 fore the year 1700, there were at least six reimpressions of this Spa- 
 nish version 5 of which the third reimpression, at Madrid, in 1623, 
 folio, 2 vols. was the last published during the life of the author. 
 
 t See an excellent account of the merits of Mariana’s History in Bouterwek's 
 History of Spanish and Portuguese Literature , vol. i. p. 455, &c. 1823, 8vo. 2 vols. 
 Mariana, after the example of Cardinal Bembo, in his History of Venice, wrote 
 his history first in Latin, and afterwards translated it into Spanish. Of the Latin 
 
31B 
 
 HISTORY OF SPAIN. 
 
 The very opening of the eighteenth century wit- 
 nessed the labours of I. de Ferreras. His history 
 occupies sixteen quarto volumes ; but where one will 
 read this historian, one hundred will consult Mariana . 
 A yet more elaborate production appeared in the His - 
 toria de Esparia of Masdeu, in 1783, in 20 vol. 4to. : 
 and this, I believe, is the last historical work* which 
 
 In the year 1699, Captain John Stevens translated this version into 
 our language, in folio, and a copy of it may be seen in the library of 
 the Royal Institution. Messrs. Payne and Foss mark a copy of this 
 translation, on large paper, at 21. 12s. 6d. 
 
 I pass by all reimpressions of the Spanish text, till I come to that 
 of 1780, published by Ibarra, at Madrid, in two folio volumes, with 
 the tables of Summaris. A more beautiful book has rarely issued 
 from the Spanish press : and it is worthy, in all respects, of the re- 
 putation of Ibarra. There is a delicious copy of it at Althorp, upon 
 fine or large paper, bound in French red morocco. But by far the 
 best and most important edition of Mariana, is that with the “ Cri- 
 tical Notes , and Chronological Tables ” of Noguera y Ramon, pub- 
 lished by patriotic subscription at Valencia, in 1783—1796, in 9 
 thin folio volumes. Complete sets of this edition are difficult to find. 
 The magnificent set of Colonel Stanley, <c bound in seven volumes ; 
 in black morocco, [wherefore black ?~\ by Walther,” was purchased 
 by Mr. Drummond, for 22 1. A perfect set is at Althorp. An edition, 
 most ably continued by I. M, Miniana , was published at Madrid in 
 1794, in 10 vols. 8vo. and may be had for a reasonable sum, accord- 
 ing to the binding. See Meusel. Bibl. Hist. vol. vi. p. 137* 
 
 * I will briefly dispatch the above authors. The work of Ferreras 
 was published under the title of “ Synopsis Historica Chronologica de 
 Espana , at Madrid, in 1700 — 1732, in 16 quarto volumes : again in 
 1775-91, in 17 quarto volumes 5 of which latter edition a copy was 
 sold at the sale of Don Antonio Conde’s library, for 5 1. 2 s. 6d. This 
 
 edition, a very elegant folio was published in 1738. The Spanish names of per- 
 sons and places are, however, latinized in a manner so artificial, as to render them 
 no less unintelligible than the names in Cardinal Bembo’s history ... The dic- 
 tion of Mariana is perfectly faultless, his descriptions picturesque, without poetic 
 ornament : and his narrative style, may, on the whole, be accounted a model.” 
 p. 457. 
 
HISTORY OF SPAIN. 
 
 319 
 
 has been published on the Continent, exclusively re- 
 lating to Spanish history. In our own country, in ' 
 the present century, we boast of the most splendid 
 work, of any period, connected with that interesting 
 kingdom ; I mean, Mr. Murphy’s magnificent folio 
 volume, published in 1816 , and devoted to iheAntiqui- 
 ties of the Arabs in Spain ; a work, beyond all price, if 
 the brilliancy and beauty of the plates be considered.* 
 
 is a work of more labour than intrinsic worth. In the same Space 
 the author might have written a complete history of the Spanish 
 nation. De Ferreras was sorely beset by antagonists of various de- 
 scriptions, during its progress 5 but he defended himself with one of 
 Homer’s sevenfold shields, and bade them defiance 5 scribbling on, 
 doggedly and undauntedly, to the very last. His toil was his hap- 
 piness. The five latter volumes contain some valuable matter, from 
 an anonymous but erudite author. 
 
 Of Masdeu’s Historia critica de Espana 3 y de la cultura espa- 
 nola ,” published at Madrid, in 1783 — 1797* in 20 vols. 4to. I am 
 not able to pronounce one syllable in commendation. On the con- 
 trary, Meuselius dismisses it — from what he had seen of it — in no 
 very courteous manner : Bill. Hist. vol. vi. part i. p. 162 : and Bru- 
 net merely gives the title. 
 
 * Too much can hardly be said in commendation of this extraor- 
 dinary and most exquisite work ; which contains 100 engravings 
 (chiefly by Fittler and Landseer) illustrative of the most remarkable 
 remains of architecture, sculpture, painting, mosaics, & c. of the 
 Arabians in the Peninsula. The author devoted the best part of an 
 active life to researches in Spain and Portugal, connected with the 
 antiquities of either country ; but he did not live to witness the pub- 
 lication of this his most magnificent labour. At the present mo- 
 ment, I hardly know any thing of the kind to compare with it. The 
 interiors, described both by the pencil and pen, have the effect of 
 enchantment. A delicacy, brilliancy, singularity, and even daz- 
 zling richness, are the characteristics of most of them. What has 
 been before said ( Bibliogr . Decameron , vol. ii. p. 391,) may be re- 
 peated, in regard to this wonderful volume. The most melancholy 
 part of the history attached to it, is, the prodigious diminution of the 
 original price. It was published at 40 guineas. It may now be pro- 
 
320 
 
 HISTORY OF SPAIN. 
 
 The History of the Moors in Spain , by William 
 Bourke, in 1811, 4to. may not be considered an in- 
 appropriate, or unprofitable work : while the once 
 highly praised, and yet not forgotten, Travels of Wil- 
 liam Townsend in Spain , should always be considered 
 as of sterling and unchangeable value. 
 
 The name of Spain has been indeed of late years 
 familiarised to Englishmen, in a manner not to be 
 easily eradicated from the annals of either country ; 
 while that of the illustrious chieftain, by whose unpa- 
 ralleled military talents the country in question has 
 
 cured for less than one-half of that sum : but its merits continue to 
 be of the same high cast of character. How much one of these inte- 
 riors eclipses, the mongrel intermixture of gothic and semi-gothic 
 of all ages, which we have been lately accustomed to behold in a 
 certain edifice — built on the plan of an abbey, but, in fact, intended 
 for the exclusive domestic residence of a Gentleman and his Dwarf ? 
 
 To return to the interior, or textual, worth of the volume. Mur- 
 phy left no materials behind for the text. The chapter of the ancient 
 History of the Arabs was written by Dr. Gillies. The History of 
 the Moors was translated from Arabic MSS. by Mr. Shakspeare, the 
 Hindostanee professor of Hertford college — and the remainder of the 
 volume, on the Arts, Sciences, &c. of the Moors, by the Rev. H. 
 Horne — who drew up the letter press for the illustration of the plates : 
 two performances, which the author of them describes to me as being 
 among the most laborious of his literary calling. 
 
 And here, ere we take leave of James Cavanah Murphy, (a name, 
 united with all tender and all honourable reminiscences ?) let me 
 notice his “ Plans , Elevations, Sections , and Views of the Church of 
 Batalha , in the province of Estramadura , in Portugal /’ with the his- 
 tory and description of the building, by F. L. de Souza : to which is 
 prefixed an Introductory Discourse upon the principles of Gothic ar- 
 chitecture. There are twenty-seven plates. Add to this, the same 
 author’s “ Travels in Portugal, in the years 1789 — 1790. ’ Lond . 
 1795, 4to., with twenty-four plates. These latter publications are 
 obtained at very reasonable prices, and should be in the libraries of 
 all men of cultivated taste, with well garnished purses. 
 
HISTORY OF SPAIN. 
 
 32 1 
 
 been made the scene of so many splendid victories 
 over the first Marshals of the age .... will necessa- 
 rily furnish hints, and lead to the collection of mate- 
 rials from which the more recent history of Spain 
 cannot fail to be rendered of the greatest possible in- 
 terest to posterity. Mr. Southey’s History of the 
 Peninsular PPar has gallantly led the way to the com- 
 pletion of a series of works,* which may prove nearly 
 as interesting to other countries as to our own. 
 
 * A Series of Works., illustrated with engravings, (somewhat 
 after the plan of the Campaigns of Marlboro’ and Eugene,) devoted 
 to the Peninsular War, would indeed, if properly conducted and 
 executed, be productive of equally delightful and beneficial results. 
 But the expense must ever (l fear) deter from the undertaking; 
 unless our government (as France did, in the time of Napoleon) in 
 part patronise it. I have seen sketches, and finished drawings, by a 
 Young Officer — himself a participator in every scene delineated — 
 which would form admirable illustrations of Mr. Southey’s pages : 
 if indeed they could be brought within the compass of a quarto vo- 
 lume. The only work of any importance (which I have seen) con- 
 nected with this subject, and illustrated by plates, or rather etchings, 
 is that of Captain Battv, under the title of “ Campaign of the Left 
 Wing of the Allied Army , in the Western Pyrenees , and South of 
 France , in the years 1810 — 14.” Lond. 1823, 4to. I am, of course, 
 incompetent to pronounce judgment on the intrinsic value of a work 
 of this kind ; although it had such charms for me, that I borrowed 
 “ an hour or twain” of the night, to add to the day — in order to 
 read it through at one sitting: and I fancied that the Duke of 
 Wellington planned and conducted his marches, sieges, and battles, 
 with the same facility and success as Phillidor played his most bril- 
 liant games of chess. And through what a romantic country — was 
 this magnificent campaign conducted, and brought to a brilliant 
 close ! ? 
 
 The views of Captain Batty are well chosen: and although the ne- 
 cessary effect of etchings (as in many of the best prints of Rem- 
 brandt) gives us too dense a shadow in some places, and too flicker- 
 ing a light in others, yet on the whole, these plates are extremely 
 gratifying, and in some instances master-like. But in the account of 
 
 Y 
 
322 
 
 HISTORY OF SPAIN. 
 
 Picturesque Publications relating to Spain, let me not omit to 
 mention — with the warmth of commendation which they merit — the 
 Views in Spain , drawn upon stone, by Messrs. Westall, Harding, and 
 Hullmandel, from Sketches made on the spot by Edward Hawke 
 Locker, Esq. in the autumn of 1813 — now in the course of publica- 
 tion, at 16s. a number. Lovelier specimens of the lithographic art 
 (against which, by the by, few entertain stronger objections than 
 myself) or more romantic scenery, connected with great military 
 events, have been rarely submitted to the approving voice of the pub- 
 lic. I strongly recommend these elegant numbers to all — interested 
 in the recent history of Spain. 
 
[ 323 ] 
 
 HISTORY OF PORTUGAL. 
 
 Brief as maybe the preceding account respecting* 
 the best Histories of Spain, I fear both the youthful 
 and elderly Collector will be disposed to censure the 
 more palpable brevity of that respecting Portugal. 
 My object, in both instances, must be, exclusively, 
 utility ; and although a fuller detail might be yet more 
 useful- — it would be incompatible with the object of 
 this work to admit it. In regard to Portugal, there- 
 fore, after requesting my “ young ” reader to whet 
 his appetite for the keener relish of the belles-lettres 
 luxuries of both Spain and Portugal, by the perusal of 
 Mr. Southeys Travels* in these countries, I must exhort 
 him to procure with all imaginable earnestness, anxi- 
 ety, and delight — and with a fearless disregard of its 
 expense — the Bibliotheca Lusitana Historica , Critica , 
 e Chronologica of Barbosa Machado :+ a work, 
 
 * tc Letters written during a short residence in Spain and Portugal , 
 with some account of Spanish and Portuguese Poetry 1797, Svo. A 
 fair copy may be worth 105. 6d. Who does not wish such a work to 
 be enlarged, by a revisitation of the same countries, by the same 
 traveller ? 
 
 f The very mention of this invaluable work throws one of my 
 most intimate bibliographical friends, and knight-companions of the 
 Roxburghe Round Table, into inconceivable ecstasies : the more so, 
 peradventure, because his copy of it (containing the fourth volume) 
 is one of the very few complete copies of it in England. Lord Spencer 
 gave 12Z. 125. for the copy in the collection of Don J. Antonio Conde. 
 The work in question, for which Mr. Bohn rummaged Bavaria, and 
 Mr. John Payne, Italy, to no purpose, has the general title of “ Bib- 
 liotheca Lusitana Historica , Critica, e Chronologica. Ne qual se 
 comprehende a Noticia dos Author es Portuguezes , e das Obras, que 
 
324 
 
 HISTORY OF PORTUGAL. 
 
 beyond all competition and beyond all praise ; but 
 till of late years — and even perhaps at this present 
 moment — of the most extreme difficulty of acquisi- 
 tion. This is the great Oracle for him to consult ; 
 especially if he be deeply versed in the Portuguese 
 language. 
 
 Secondly, as to Histories, I shall mention only 
 three : but the first of these, (of which the foundation 
 was laid by Osorio, and De Brito) complete in all 
 its parts, and in good preservation, will make the 
 reader thoroughly versed in the history of Portugal, 
 down to the year 1423. From that period, the labours 
 of La Clede and of Antonio Caietano de Sousa will 
 carry his acquaintance with it down to the middle of 
 the eighteenth century. Hence, to the present times, 
 the helps are neither few nor uncommon. To begin 
 with Osorio, his works were published complete in 
 the Latin tongue (and elegant is the Latinity of this 
 author : perhaps equal to that of Buchanan or Mari- 
 ana) at Rome , in 1592, in four small folio volumes. 
 His History of Don Sebastian is a capital perform- 
 ance. That of Emanuel King of Portugal was first 
 published in 1571 in folio ; and his History of Portu- 
 gal was translated into French and published in 1581, 
 and 1587 : as well as in 1581, folio.* Bernardo 
 
 compuserdo desde o tempo da promulgagdo da Ley da Grago atd o tempo 
 prezente, fyc. por Deogo Barbosa Machado. Lisboa ; 1741-1759, 
 folio. The seven indexes in the fourth volume are a model of dili- 
 gence, exactness, and general utility. Meuselius, Bibl. Hist. vol. v. 
 part. i. p. 104, is at once copious and encomiastic respecting this 
 work. Brunet calls it “ rare in France.’’ Rare indeed it is — not in 
 France only, but in England, in Germany, and Portugal itself. 
 
 * These pieces are all rare, but to be obtained at slender prices. 
 I am given to understand that Messrs. Heber and Southey possess 
 them all. 
 
HISTORY OF PORTUGAL. 
 
 S 25 
 
 de Brito’s portion of the work about to be described, 
 comprehends only two parts, or volumes ; of which 
 the first bears the title of “ Monarchia Lusitana com - 
 posta por Frey Bernardo de Brito , &c. , the first part 
 appeared in 1597, the second in 1609. The second 
 and third parts were compiled and published by An- 
 tonio Brand ao, in 1632 : the fifth and sixth parts by 
 Francisco Brandao, in 1550-1672: the seventh by 
 Raphael de Iesus, in 1683 : the eighth part ap- 
 peared in 1729, with many improvements and cor- 
 rections of the seventh part, by Emanuel dos Santos 
 —the most learned and competent of all the succes- 
 sors of Bernardo de Brito.* Emanuel also composed 
 
 * I will here briefly give an account of this valuable performance. 
 Bernardo de Brito was a Cistercian monk. The first part of his 
 work (above entitled) was printed in 1597^ in the Monastery of Al - 
 cobaga, a town in the province of Estramadura, and famous for the 
 sepulture of the ancient Kings of Portugal, f Some copies of this 
 first volume have^the title of Geografia Antigua da Lusitania, with a 
 different pagination, and the same date, with the word Alcobaga, only. 
 The second part or volume was published at Lisbon, in 1609 ; and 
 both parts were reprinted there in 1690, folio. The third and fourth 
 volumes were compiled by Antonio Brandao, also a Cistercian 
 monk ; and were printed at Lisbon in 1632, folio, 2 vols. This 
 brings the history down to the year 1279, only. Francisco Brandao 
 contributed the fifth and sixth parts or volumes, published at Lisbon 
 in 1672. This brings the history down to 1325. The seventh part 
 was composed by Raphael de Iesus, a Benedictine monk, at Lis- 
 bon, 1683. The same writer (who died in 1693) also compiled the 
 eighth and ninth parts, but they were deemed unworthy of publi- 
 cation 5 and indeed the seventh part, published by him, is the 
 weakest portion of the whole performance. Superior to all his pre- 
 decessors, with the exception of Bernardo de Brito, was the conti- 
 
 t The history of this celebrated monastery was published at Coimbra, 1710, 
 folio, part i. the second part at the same place in 1724. The first, under the 
 title of Alcobaqa Illustrada : the second, of Alcobafa Vindicada, 
 
326 
 
 HISTORY OF PORTUGAL. 
 
 a ninth and tenth part : neither of which, it should 
 seem, has been committed to the press. At least, 
 Meuselius, in his Supplement (vol. xi. p. 78) adds 
 nothing to his previous intelligence on this subject. 
 The same Meuselius has marshalled the authorities of 
 Antonio, Schmauss, Barbosa Machado, Freytag, and 
 Clement — to say nothing of that of Gerhard Ernesti de 
 Franckenau — in the warmest commendation of this 
 elaborate performance. 
 
 De La Clede’s Histoire Generate de Portugal was 
 published in two volumes quarto, and in eight vo- 
 lumes 8vo. 1735. As this work appears to have met 
 with considerable approbation in the Nova Acta Era - 
 dit. An. 1744 (from which Meuselius borrows his cri- 
 ticism) and as the price of it is sufficiently reasonable, 
 I recommend its purchase to all classes and all ages 
 of readers. 5 * The work of Antonio Caietano de 
 Sousa is of a more important cast ; comprehending a 
 greater quantity of matter, displaying a greater range 
 of research, and evincing a more intimate acquaintance 
 with the laws, customs, antiquities, and earlier records 
 of the country. It appeared in twelve large quarto 
 volumes, at Lisbon , 1735-47, under the title of “ His - 
 toria Genealogica da Casa Real Portugueza desde a 
 
 nuator Emanuel dos Santos, who compiled the eighth, ninth, and 
 tenth parts, which bring the history down to the year 1423, but of 
 which, it should seem, only the eighth part was published, under the 
 title of Monarchia Lusitana, Parte VIII. Lisboa , 1729, folio. Thus 
 the ninth and tenth parts are yet desiderated in print. The work is 
 pronounced by G. Ernesti de Franckenau to be “ monumentum 
 aere perennius.” A complete copy of it, as far as it goes, may be 
 worth 12 1. 12s. 
 
 * This useful work was translated into the Portuguese language, 
 and published, with notes, at Lisbon, in 1797, in sixteen octavo 
 volumes. 
 
HISTORY OF PORTUGAL. 
 
 327 
 
 sua origem ate o prezente com as Familias illustres ,” 
 &c. : to which work was added a very extraordinary 
 supplement, by the same author — called u Provas 
 da Historia genealogica da Casa Real Portugueza , 
 tiradas dos Instrumentos dos Archivos do Torre do 
 Tombo ,” &c.” ; published at Lisbon, in 1739, in six 
 quarto volumes. Barbosa Machado (vol. i. p. 228 ; 
 vol. iv. p. 28) is full of commendation upon this very 
 admirable genealogical and diplomatic performance. 
 
 Lastly, he who wants to dig deeper into Portuguese 
 History, by exploring inedited or unpublished mate- 
 rials, will do well to possess the Collecao de livros 
 ineditos de historia Portugueza , publicados por Iose 
 Correa de Serra, at Lisbon, in 1790, in four folio 
 volumes. And thus much for the histories of Por- 
 tugal. 
 
[ 328 ] 
 
 HISTORY OF ITALY. 
 
 ' Mr. D’lsraeli, in bis New Series of Curiosities of 
 Literature* has devoted a short but animated chapter 
 to the Italian Historians. It is clear that Machi- 
 avel is a mighty favourite with him : and his attach- 
 ment to that historian seems, in some measure, to 
 increase, in proportion to the feeling of his having 
 been unjustly “ calumniated — cc the great, (says he) 
 may we add, the calumniated, Machiavel Be it so. 
 My present purpose is merely to give almost the 
 briefest possible list of general Histories of Italy ; 
 leaving the chronicles of its numerous provinces, 
 cities, towns, villages, and parishes, to be sought after 
 by the diligent Collector more exclusively attached to 
 such a pursuit. In our own country, the example of 
 Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Bart, has taught us what 
 may be done by individual energy and perseverance.^ 
 
 # Vol. ii. p. 237* “ It is remarkable (says the above authority) 
 that the country, which has long lost its political independence, may- 
 be considered as the true parent of modern history. The greater 
 part of their historians have abstained from the applause of their con- 
 temporaries, while they have not the less elaborately composed their 
 posthumous folios, consecrated solely to truth and posterity/’ 
 
 + The catalogue of his own collection of Italian Historians and 
 Topographers was privately printed in 1812 $ and afforded an extra- 
 ordinary proof of the diligence and taste of the Collector 5 especially 
 when we consider that the researches of that same Collector have 
 been almost exclusively confined to British Antiquities — so as 
 to make him a very bibliographical Druid. Sir Richard’s larger 
 library, confined almost wholly to British Topography and History, 
 (and of which twenty- five copies only of a privately printed cata- 
 
HISTORY OF ITALY. 
 
 329 
 
 As heretofore, I shall begin with Collections ; and, 
 at the head of all, and of every thing of a similar de- 
 scription, stand the Scriptores Rerum Italicarum, col- 
 lected by the immortal Muratori :* a name, which 
 
 logue were struck off) is just the perfect specimen of what an English 
 country gentleman, devoted to such pursuits, should strive with all 
 his might and main to possess. I have passed more than one pleas- 
 ing and profitable hour in the splendid room which contains the 
 library in question. 
 
 * If ever the taste and perseverance of modern times should give 
 us, in one compressed and full-sized octavo volume, a good literary 
 life of Muratori, f it could not fail to be generally instructive. At 
 once the friend as well as the protege qf Charles Borromeo — and 
 equally the friend and correspondent of Magliabecchi, Mabillon, 
 Papebroch, Maffei, and Quirini — what would not a life of nearly 
 fourscore, (as was Muratori’s) devoted to such society, in the inter- 
 vals of stupendous labour, put us in the possession of — if its details 
 were faithfully and judiciously developed ? ! But my object must be 
 strictly bibliographical. Although Muratori lived to publish forty- 
 six folio volumes, thirty-four quartos , and thirteen octavos, I have 
 here only to notice those which are connected with his History and 
 Antiquities of Italy. The Rerum Italicarum Scriptores were pub- 
 lished in 1723-1751 in twenty-five folio volumes, usually bound in 
 
 + “ The name of Muratori will be for ever connected with the literature of 
 his country. Above sixty years of his peaceable life were consumed in the exer- 
 cises of study and devotion; his numerous writings on the subjects of history, anti- 
 quities, religion, morals, and criticism, are impressed with sense and knowledge, 
 with moderation and candour. He moved in the narrow circle of an Italian priest ; 
 but a desire of freedom, a ray of philosophic light sometimes breaks through his 
 
 own prejudices and those of his readers The more strenuous labours of his 
 
 life were devoted to the general and particular history of Italy. His Antiquities, 
 both in the vulgar and the Latin tongue, exhibit a curious pictrare of the laws and 
 manners of the middle age ; and a correct text is justified by a copious Appendix 
 of authentic documents. His Annals are a faithful abstract of the twenty-eight 
 folio volumes of original historians ; and whatsoever faults may be noticed in this 
 great collection, our censure is disarmed by the remark, that it was undertaken 
 and finished by a single man. Muratori will not aspire to the fame of historical 
 genius : his modesty may be content with the solid, though humble praise, of an 
 impartial critic and indefatigable compiler.” Gibbon ; Miscellaneous Worhs, vol. 
 iii. p. 365-7. Edit. 1814. 
 
330 
 
 HISTORY OF ITALY. 
 
 might have been introduced with the happiest pos- 
 sible effect in the recent publication just alluded to. 
 
 twenty-eight or twenty-nine : the three first volumes are frequently 
 bound in two parts, each •, the twenty-fourth volume has an Appen- 
 dix : the twenty-fifth volume does not always accompany the set. 
 Let this be well attended to. But with Muratori must be procured 
 what is called the supplement or continuation of Tart ini, Florent. 
 1748-70: two vols. folio : and the Accessions of Mittarelli pub- 
 lished in 1771, in one folio volume, at Venice,- and then ^ to 
 rest . . in peace !” 
 
 A word or two, now, about the pecuniary value of these wonderful 
 tomes.* Until the peace of 1814-15, there was no procuring them, 
 scarcely even for “ money” — for “ love,” in such cases, is entirely 
 out of the question. Yet I believe it was in the time of war, when 
 my friend Mr. Heber achieved, of all fortunate achievements the 
 most fortunate, that of purchasing a set of Muratori (alone) for — 
 guess, gentle reader? — no, thou canst not guess — for, three pounds 
 eighteen shillings and sixpence! ! ! I might ask, who was in the 
 room besides Mr. Heber (Mr. Leigh was in the chair ) when the 
 hammer fell upon this lot ? Of course. Nobody. There seems to 
 be no copy of Muratori in the Roxburghe or White Knights Collec- 
 tion j but that of Mr. Willet (the Merly Library) a copy in twenty- 
 seven volumes, in vellum binding, was sold for 39/. 185. ; and, as far 
 back as the Pinelli sale, a copy on large paper was sold for 36/. 
 Recently, the Scriptores of Muratori have appeared in the catalogues 
 of our booksellers. Mr. Bohn marks a copy in twenty-nine volumes, 
 in vellum binding, at 35/. : and Mr. Thorpe, with the addition of 
 Tartini , in thirty-one volumes, “ uniform and complete,” at the same 
 sum. My friend Mr. Petrie imported his copy, in similar attire, for 
 pretty nearly the same sum. I have just before said, that a studious 
 Collector in the possession of the Scriptores of Muratori, with the 
 supplemental volumes of Tartini and Mittarelli, might — ■“ to rest 
 ... in peace but I do not think his slumbers would be quite so 
 
 * To tlieir immortal honour, several noblemen generously contributed towards 
 the expenses of this work. Not fewer than sixteen of them gave 4000 crowns 
 a-piece. Nouv.Dict. Hist. vol. viii. p. 512. What “ mighty acts” might not simi- 
 lar bounty, in thid country — the wealthiest in the w’orld — produce, if directed 
 into similar channels ! 
 
HISTORY OF ITALY. 
 
 331 
 
 But Muratori was himself an Annalist ; and his united 
 labours place him in the highest class of Italian His- 
 torians. The names of MACHiAVELand Guicciardini 
 are, it is true, the most popular of those of the same 
 class of writers ; but the former has confined his his- 
 torical researches (strictly so considered) to the City 
 
 sweet, unless the Antiquitates Iicilicce Medii JEvi of the firstf — pub- 
 lished in 1738-1742, in six folio volumes — also accompanied the 
 Scriptores : and of this, I perceive a very neat copy marked at 7 1. 
 17«. 6d. in the catalogue of Mr. Bohn. At the sale of the Merly 
 library, a similar copy was sold for 81. IS s. 6d. 
 
 Yet the night’s <e rest” would be still more perfect, if the Novus 
 Thesaurus Veterum Inscriptionum, in pracipuis earundem Collectionibus 
 hactenus prcetermissarum , Milan, 1739, folio, 4 vols. were united to 
 the preceding — especially as these portly tomes may be obtained for 
 about 5 1. 5s. Various were the critiques upon this work, to which 
 the cautious Muratori wisely vouchsafed not a reply. The Annali 
 d' Italia, by the same great man, was published in twelve quarto vo- 
 lumes, at Milan, 1744-49 : and are, by no means, scarce or dear. 
 The work was published at Lucca in 1762-70, in fourteen large 
 quarto tomes 3 of which the thirteenth contains a supplement from 
 1750 to 1762. The fourteenth is occupied by tables : again, another 
 edition appeared at Munich, in 1761, 4to. twelve vols. : with some 
 critical prolegomena of Catalani 3 and a fourth reimpression came 
 out at Naples in 1773* 4to. 14 vols. None of these works exceed 
 7 s . a volume. A Continuation of these Annals was published by 
 Oggeri Vincenti , at Rome, in 5 vols. 8vo. 1790. Brunet (to whom I 
 am indebted for this latter information) says, that an edition of Mu- 
 ratori’s works was printed at Arezzo , in 1767-80, in thirty-six 4to. 
 volumes 3 and another re-impression of his works appeared at Venice, 
 in 1790-1810, in forty-eight octavo volumes : of which the Annals 
 of Italy occupy thirty-three volumes, including the six volumes which 
 bring the work down to 1805. And thus much for Muratori. 
 
 t “ Les Savans ont trouv6 beaucoup de fautes et de m£priscs dans ce recueil : 
 on en a relev6 plusicurs dans les Journaux.” Nouv. Diet. Hist, c, dit. 1804, vol. 
 viii. p. 512. The work was reprinted at Arezzo, but in a much less beautiful man- 
 ner, in seventeen vols. 1777, 4to. 
 
332 
 
 HISTORY OF ITALY. 
 
 of Florence ;* his Prince , and Reflections on the First 
 Ten Boohs of Livy , being the works in which the 
 acuteness of his apprehension and the depth of his 
 judgment are more particularly developed. 
 
 As an historian, in the usual acceptation of that word, 
 
 * “ The great Nicolo Machiavelli, whose name is in no danger 
 of being buried in oblivion. This celebrity is his due, as a man of 
 profound thought, and as the most eloquent historian, and most 
 skilful politician that Italy has produced.” Sismondi ; Translated 
 by T. Roscoe , Esq. 1823, vol. ii. p. 224. “In his History of Flo- 
 rence, dedicated to Pope Clement VII., he instructed the Italians in 
 the art of uniting the eloquence of history with depth of reflection. 
 He has attached himself, much less than his predecessors in the same 
 line, to the narration of military events ; but his work, as a history of 
 popular passions and tumults, is a masterpiece j and Machiavelli has 
 completed, by this noble example of his theories, his analysis of the 
 human heart.” Ibid. The account of his Principe , in these pages, 
 is very interesting. Of the History of Florence, the first edition 
 seems to be either that of Rome, in 1531-2, quarto, by Blado— or 
 that by the Juntae in 1532, 4to, : which latter contains the Florentine 
 History alone. I take this to be a rare and precious little book •, as 
 well as the Principe of the same date— and yet, probably rarer than 
 either, is the Discorsi sopra la prima Deca di Tito Livio — printed the 
 year preceding. The edition of Venice of 1540, published by the 
 Aldine Family, four parts in two small octavo volumes, (each described 
 by Renouard) containing all his works, is very scarce to procure com- 
 plete : and yet scarcer (according to Brunet) is the reprint of this 
 edition, of 1546, containing the same parts. But it should seem that 
 the genuine edition of 1550, 4to. (Rome) 2 vols. is yet preferable. 
 A fine copy of it, in red morocco, was sold for 5 1. 105. at the sale of 
 Colonel Stanley’s library : but the grand edition of the whole of 
 Machiavel’s works, is that published at Milan, by the enterprising 
 and high-spirited Luigi Mussi, with additions, in eleven large quarto 
 volumes, 1810, &c. of which there are only 200 copies on fine vellum 
 paper, eight on blue paper (horrible heresy !) and twelve on common 
 paper. Can Mr. DTsraeli “ rest in peace” without one of the 200 
 copies of this edition of his beloved Machiavelli, bound in blue mo- 
 rocco ? — orthodoxy itself ! 
 
HISTORY OF ITALY. 
 
 333 
 
 Guicciardini may be considered the first of those of 
 Italy : but such was the jealousy or the fear of the 
 higher classes of his conn try men, that the text of his his- 
 tory continued in a very mutilated, and palpably corrupt 
 state, till upwards of two centuries after his death.* 
 
 * Niceron, who has unluckily (and I may say, perhaps, unac- 
 countably) passed over the names of Machiavelli and Muratori — in 
 his incomparable “ Mdmoires pour servir & VHistoire des Homines II- 
 lustres,"-~ has given us, as usual, a satisfactory account of the publi- 
 cations of the works of Guicciardini — <f the lieutenant-general of 
 the papal army, who had been so close and so indignant an observer 
 of the Roman cabinet,’’ — says Mr. D’Israeli. The first edition of 
 the “ Istoria d' Italia di Fr. Guicciardini,'' was published in a hand- 
 some folio volume, by Torrentino, at Florence, in 1561. It was 
 published after the death of the author, by his nephew, Agnolo 
 Guiccardini, and dedicated to Cosmo de’ Medici, Grand Duke of 
 Florence. This edition is neither complete nor correct 5 but the 
 curious are anxious to possess it, because (says Niceron, vol. xvii. 
 p. 106) there are passages in it which have been omitted in other 
 subsequent editions. Formerly it was rare and high priced. Indeed, 
 now, it is of uncommon occurrence. It contains only sixteen books 
 of the history ; and was reprinted the same year, at the same place, 
 in two 8 vo. volumes. The history, in fact, extends only from the 
 year 1490, to 1526 5 but as Guicciardini had written four more books, 
 bringing it down to 1532, the nephew promised to publish them : 
 and although an edition appeared at Venice, in 1563, 4to. it was 
 still but an imperfect work. In 1564, the four latter books first 
 appeared, at Venice, by G. de Ferrari, in 4to. followed by summary 
 notices, and numerous annotations by Papirio Picedi, at Parma, the 
 same year, in 4to. Then appeared the Venetian edition, by Giolito, 
 1567, 4to. incorporating the whole. Further than this it is not neces- 
 sary to push the bibliographical history of Guicciardini’s famous work 
 — as the whole was considered to be in a most corrupt and obscure 
 state, till, from the editorial care of the Canon PioBonsi, and from an 
 uncastrated MS. preserved in the Magliabecchi library, anew and per- 
 fect edition appeared at Florence, in 1775., 4to. 4 vols: and un- 
 less both “ young” and old” possess this edition, they have not 
 the legitimate text of Guicciardini.” The late Colonel Stanley, who 
 dearly loved to have the best works of the best writers in the best 
 
334 
 
 HISTORY OF ITALY. 
 
 The Revolutions of Italy, by Denina, will be found 
 useful in a library of any pretension to this class of 
 collecting ; as well as the History of Western Italy , 
 by the same writer, which was published in 1809, in 
 six octavo volumes.* Nor let Bossi’s Ancient and 
 Modern Italy , now in a course of publication, {Milan, 
 
 possible condition, had this Florence edition of Guicciardini upon 
 large paper, bound in blue morocco , (out of sheetsj by Walther 
 and it was purchased by Mr. Protheroe of Bristol, for 991. Is . at 
 the sale of the Colonel’s library, in 1813. An ordinary copy, well 
 bound, is worth 4/. 14s. 6d. This edition was reprinted at Milan, in 
 1803, in 10 octavo volumes : a copy of which may be had, in boards, 
 at about 9,1. 10s. Our Fenton’s English version of Guicciardini , pub- 
 lished at London 1618, folio, did not escape Niceron. I find a copy 
 of Fenton’s translation selling at the sale of the Roxburghe library, 
 (n°. 8204) for 5s. 6d., and I once let slip a golden opportunity of 
 securing Master Fenton’s e( Historie of Guicciardin ,” bound in deli- 
 cious old blue morocco, with gilt on the leaves, for 3s. 6d .* 
 
 * Denina’s Rivoluzioni d' Italia was published at Torino in 1769, 
 4to. 3 vols. j and may be worth 1 1. 10s. in neat binding. A copy of 
 it, on vellum, divided into five volumes, was sold at the Valliere 
 sale for 300 francs ; and again (the same copy) at the Macarthy, for 
 320 francs. This work, which is in good repute, has been reprinted 
 
 * In regard to the works of Aretin, Blondus, Poggio, and Bembo, connected 
 with the more ancient and partial histories of Italy, I do not conceive it necessary 
 here to enter upon them. The Bill. Spenceriana, vol. iv. p. 441, iii. p. 190-1, 
 vii. p. 22, will supply a tolerably copious account of the earlier editions of the two 
 former, and Mr. Shepherd’s Life of Poggio will afford abundant details respecting 
 the latter. With regard to further particulars, as to the History of Florence, 
 let the names of Adriani , Nardi , Nerli , Segni , Benedetto Varchi , and above all 
 Giannone — as their labours appear narrated in the instructive pages of Mr. Dis- 
 raeli — be held in grateful remembrance by the student of Italian literature in par- 
 ticular. The fourth volume of Brunet, p. 368-376, (to say nothing of Sir. R. C. 
 Hoare’s Catalogue) will give the reader some notion of the almost infinite number 
 and variety of Literary and Topographical Histories of the various Provinces 
 and Cities in Italy : a field of collecting, rich, perhaps beyond comparison, for the 
 “ Young” and wealthy Bibliomaniac to indulge in! The history of the Church 
 Estates alone, of Italy, would form a library of no very diminutive dimensions. 
 And above all, those Picturesque Voyages ! — but search the catalogues of 
 Messrs. Treutteland Wurtz, and Bosange and Co. 
 
HISTORY OF ITALY. 
 
 33 5 
 
 1819, 8vo. 12 vols.) be dismissed from a library, 
 where previous and more elaborate performances have 
 not a place. But probably, after all — and especially 
 among young and timid Collectors — the possession of 
 Sismondi’s History of the Italian Republics , published 
 at Paris, in sixteen octavo volumes, will be sufficient 
 to satisfy the ordinary passion for the knowledge of 
 Italian History ; especially when the highly popular 
 work by the same author, and by Ginguene, relating 
 the History of Italian Literature , have a contiguous 
 place on the same shelf. I affix no prices to these 
 latter works, because they are of common occurrence, 
 and in a constant state of succession, and may be had 
 in all forms and varieties of binding, at the principal 
 French booksellers in London. 
 
 I am abundantly sensible that, on a subject of such 
 variety, and even intensity of interest, as Italy, the 
 preceding remarks afford but feeble helps towards an 
 exact knowledge of the best historians of that country; 
 a country, to a contemplation of the future glories of 
 which, the Sibyllean prophetess roused the curiosity, 
 and excited the noblest feelings, of the founder of the 
 Roman empire . . . 
 
 Nunc age, Dardaniam prolem quae deinde sequatur 
 
 Gloria, qui maneant Itala de gente nepotes 
 
 Illustres animas ..... &c. 
 
 We have of late, indeed, witnessed two publications, 
 
 with a continuation, at Venice, in 1800, in 5 octavo volumes. The 
 Abb6 Jardin, translated it into French in 1771 — 5, in 8 duodecimo 
 volumes. The History of Western Italy was also published at the 
 same place, (Torino) and may be worth lZ. 11s. 6d. in boards. Bru- 
 net says that, Fantin Desodoards; (by whom a History of France 
 appeared in 1808, seep. 304, ante) published a History of Italy, in 
 1803, 8 vo. 9 vols. which is indicated by him for want of a better.” 
 
336 
 
 HISTORY OF ITALY. 
 
 which have rendered the shores of Italy extremely 
 attractive to an English traveller: I mean, the 
 publication of Mr. Eustace and of Mr. Forsyth.* 
 They are both too well known, and too generally 
 
 * One of the most beautiful, and really instructive, works of its 
 kind, in this country, is that of “ A Picturesque Tour of Italy,” from 
 the Drawings of James Hakewell, Architect, and J. M. W. Turner, 
 R. A. of a quarto form — comprising sixty-three engravings. Those 
 who possess proof impressions (on India paper) of this fascinating 
 work, will have reason to congratulate themselves every time they 
 open the volume to their admiring friends. The English scarcely visit 
 any place but they adorn it. Captain Batty’s work, of a similar 
 character, is extremely elegant and pleasing ; less costly, and less 
 partaking of the higher beauties of art : but sufficiently stimulant to 
 send at least three score of English virtuosi every year scampering 
 across the Alps ! 
 
 But shall we ever publish any thing fully equal to the <f Voyage 
 Pittoresque des lies de Sidle, de Malte, et de Lipari ,' J of Houel ? in 
 four grand folio volumes, with 280 engravings, 1782-7 : and of which 
 a very fine copy, with prime impressions of the plates, may be 
 worth hard upon 35 guineas !f Or, again, what is to be said of the 
 yet more wonderful works of Laborde — in the picturesque style ; 
 As thus : Tableaux de la Suisse , ou Voyage pittoresque fait dans les 
 treize cantons du corps Helvdtique .” Paris, 1780 — 6, in four superb 
 folio, often expanded into five — when the four hundred und thirty 
 plates, with which they are embellished, are bound up with the text. 
 I observe, in the catalogue of Messrs. Treuttel and Wiirtz, a unique 
 copy of this work, <f with the cuts coloured,” valued at 160L— but 
 an ordinary copy, at 40 1. And then, for the same traveller’s 
 “ Voyage pittoresque et kistorique de VEspagne, in the same number 
 of volumes — published in 48 livraisons, of which 46 are already ex- 
 tant — at 1 1. 5 s. the livraison: but upon vellum paper, with impres- 
 sions before the letter, at 5 1. 16s. each. Laborde’s Monumens de 
 la France ,” is a work worthy of its precursors. It will be complete 
 in 36 livraisons, or 3 folio volumes : at 2 Z. 5s. the livraison. But, 
 am I not wandering (though not very widely) from Italy ? 
 
 + The plates however, which are in bistre, are sufficiently wretched 
 
HISTORY OF ITALY. 
 
 337 
 
 admired, to render any eulogium of them here 
 necessary; but I cannot help remarking, that the 
 attic brevity of the latter may be of greater ser- 
 vice to the majority of readers, than the sentimental 
 expansion of the former. Italy is worth a hundred 
 visitations, on a hundred different accounts : and the 
 treasures of her Public Libraries, in particular, 
 which are almost wholly unknown to the Scholar and 
 Bibliographer, would afford materials wherewith to 
 enrich many a comely volume, and to gratify many an 
 enthusiastic reader. 
 
 And here, perhaps, ere we travel in a more northern 
 direction, it may be as well to notice a few Travels 
 into Greece, of which the greater number have been 
 of comparatively recent accomplishment. Spon and 
 Wheeler may be the first to be noticed. An 
 abridged account of their travels in Italy , Dalmatia , 
 and Greece , appeared first in the French language, 
 at Lyons , in 1678, in 3 duodecimo volumes; and 
 afterwards at Amsterdam , in 1679, 2 vols. 12mo. 
 This was the work of Spon. Wheeler then published 
 his own journey into Greece, in 1682, folio ; of which 
 a good copy is worth 1/. Is. ; and of which copies on 
 large paper are yet held in estimation. The name of 
 Chandler is justly respected, in this department of 
 Travels. Those into Asia Minor , appeared in 1775, 
 4to. and into Greece , in 1776, 4to. 2 volumes, which 
 are not unfrequently bound together. They have 
 been recently (1806) translated into the French lan- 
 guage, in 3 vols. 8vo. The Ionian Antiquities , by the 
 same classical traveller, appeared in 1769, folio: to 
 which a second volume was added in 1800: while 
 his Inscript . Antiq. in Asia Minor i^et Graecia , 1774, 
 folio, renders the series of Travels complete. 
 
 z 
 
 * 
 
338 HISTORY OF ITALY. 
 
 For a work of equal splendour and interest, secure 
 the Voyage Pittoresque de la Grece, par M. de 
 Choiseul-Gouffier, Paris, 1/82, 1800, folio. A 
 line copy of it is worth 18/. 18 s. Sonnini’s Voyage 
 en Gr&ce et en Turquie , published in 1801, 8vo. 
 2 vols. with an atlas 4to. volume. Sir William 
 Gell has been an ardent and indefatigable tra- 
 veller in this land of interest and renown. His 
 Itinerary of Greece , appeared in 1810, 4to. his To- 
 pography of Troy , in 1814, 4to. and his Geography 
 and Antiquities of Ithaca , in 1807, 4to. But with 
 the name of Troy, let Major Renn ell’s erudite per- 
 formance ( Observations on its Plain , and the sur- 
 rounding Objects , 1814, 4to.) be always close at hand 
 to consult. Of a yet more recent date, and excellent 
 in their kind, are Mr. Hobhouse’s Travels through 
 Albania * &c. 1813, 4to. Captain Leake’s Re- 
 searches in Greece. 1814. 4to. Mr, Dodwell’s 
 Classical and Topographical Tour through Greece , 
 1819, 4to. 2 vols. with a folio of plates ; and Mr. 
 Hughes’s Travels in Greece , 2 vols.4to. worth about 
 51. 5s. 6d. 
 
 * Dr. Holland published a quarto volume of Travels in the 
 Ionian Isles , Albania, Thessaly , and Macedonia, &c. in 1815, 4to. 
 All these publications will be found more or less elaborately reviewed 
 in the Edinburgh and Quarterly Reviews. I shall speak of Stuart’s 
 Antiquities of Grecian Architecture, &c. in the second volume of this 
 work, whenever published. 
 
[ S39 ] 
 
 HISTORY OF GERMANY. 
 
 The reader will at one glance observe, that this ac- 
 count of the Historians of Germany is not only very 
 little proportioned to the magnitude and population 
 of that country, but that it is, on a comparison with 
 the accounts of preceding countries, brief, if not super- 
 ficial. Two obvious reasons have led to the adoption 
 of this plan : the one, that, in the estimation of the 
 English, the regions of Bavaria, Austria, Hungary and 
 Bohemia, are, comparatively with those of France, 
 Spain, Portugal, and Italy, but sparingly visited 
 and therefore, a detailed account of their best histo- 
 rians would be less likely to be perused : the other 
 reason is, that the “ number, weight, and measure,” 
 of these historians themselves, utterly defy enumera- 
 tion. But, on the other hand, it ought to be readily 
 conceded, that there is no country in the world which 
 is divided into more important departments, enriched 
 
 * As a proof of this, I will mention that, in the lists of publica- 
 tions of Voyages , Travels , and Histories , furnished me by two of the 
 greatest publishers in Europe — Messrs. Longman and Co. and Mr. 
 John Murray — scarcely one in thirty (on a comparative estimate) re- 
 lates to Germany. Indeed, with the exceptions of the Travels in 
 Hungary , by Dr. Clarke and Dr. Bright, Mr. Jacob's View of Agri - 
 culture, Statistics, 8$c. and Society of Germany, (all admirable works) 
 and an Autumn near the Rhine, or Sketches of Courts, Society, and 
 Scenery, in Germany (of less magnitude, but very amusing) I am at 
 present unacquainted with any which relate to the country in ques- 
 tion : nor, strictly speaking, do the works of Mr. Jacob and the au- 
 thor of the Autumn, &c. appertain to Germany, in the view in which 
 that country is considered in the above text. 
 
340 
 
 HISTORY OF GERMANY. 
 
 by more interesting cities, towns, monasteries, and 
 castles, and blessed with a more fertile soil, than that 
 which is washed by the waters of the Danube.* Add 
 to which, the remembrance of its language, its anti- 
 quities, its former renown, from the time of Caesar to 
 that of Charles V.+ — its alliances with the ancient 
 
 * The Danube, the noblest^river in Europe, visits, in its course, 
 1500 miles of the united territories of Bavaria, Austria, and Hungary. 
 The Rhine, more talked of here, because more contiguous, and more 
 frequently visited, can boast of only one-third of such an extent of 
 course. But its picturesque beautiesf are said to atone for its com- 
 paratively limited boundaries. They may do so ; yet a friend will 
 quickly shew (I trust) that the Danube is not wholly divested of such 
 attractive charms ; for its banks are often studded with castles, mo- 
 nasteries, and princely mansions ; and with undulating and wood- 
 skirted hills. Let me here be understood, that I purposely make no 
 mention of the Upper Divisions of Germany. I leave the Maine , 
 the Weser,t\ie Elbe , and the Oder , to roll their sinuous courses through 
 Prussia and Saxony, and to bring the wealth, with which the thou- 
 sand vessels that flit along those rivers are charged, to the respective 
 ports of Frankfort, Hamburgh, and Bremen : thence to glitter in the 
 palaces of Berlin and Dresden. It is not essential to this work to 
 carry my researches to the further banks of the Rhine. 
 
 f Every reader of taste will immediately think of Dr. Robert- 
 son’s famous biography of this Emperor ; of which all praise is idle, 
 and all censure vain. It is doubtless a master- piece of research, of 
 reflection, and of composition ; but the fruits of subsequent critics 
 and authors, in pretty nearly the same departments have, I humbly 
 submit, taught us that the value of the first volume of this celebrated 
 work (so constantly selected for commendation) is not quite of that 
 
 t* Among the works which give us a lively, and as I learn, a just notion of the 
 Beauties of the Rhine, is that published by Mr. Ackerman, called “ The 
 Rhine; an Historical and Characteristic Tour of, from Mentz to Coblentz , embel- 
 lished with twenty-four highly coloured engravings,” 4tO. 4/. 4s. boards. The 
 plates are aqua tint, coloured after nature, and most deliciously inviting to a resi- 
 dence or ramble among such combined beauties of art and nature. I have heard 
 great things of Mr. Turner’s drawings of this lovely scenery ! 
 
HISTORY OF GERMANY. 
 
 341 
 
 Republics of Italy — its genial atmosphere and unob- 
 scured skies : all these considerations render the soil 
 of Germany fertile of reflection and amusement to the 
 observing traveller. 
 
 But my present duty is confined within narrow 
 limits : and I hasten only to submit to “ the Young,” 
 rather than “ the Old,” collector— inasmuch as the 
 opportunities of examination of references are seized 
 upon and pursued with greater zeal and activity from 
 twenty-five to sixty, than from sixty downwards — I 
 hasten only to submit a comparatively brief list of 
 Collections of German Historians —- premising that the 
 united labours of Struvius, Buder, and Meuselius (in 
 the Bibliotheca Historical 1783, 8vo.) do not include 
 an account of histories or travels relating to the Ger- 
 man territories.* In regard to Germany in general, 
 
 high and commanding character which, from the force and even 
 prejudices of education, we have been in the habit of consider- 
 ing it. The truth is, that Robertson was one of the very first Eng- 
 lish historical archaeologists, if I may so speak, who had access to 
 the inedited treasures of a few of the libraries in Italy and the pub- 
 lic were both surprised and delighted at the complexion of such 
 generally unknown treasures. I could mention living authors, with- 
 out any wish, or even thought of drawing comparisons — who have, 
 since the time of Robertson, made us acquainted with yet happier 
 illustrations of ancient history. It is the plan and style of Robert- 
 son's Charles V. by which we are chiefly instructed and charmed. 
 Gibbon has, with his usual felicity, criticised the latter j but an ela- 
 borate and powerfully drawn comparison between Robertson and his 
 predecessors and contemporaries, executed by no mean hand, will be 
 found in the Monthly Review , vol. 20, 1796. 
 
 * The work, when complete, according to Brunet’s supposition, 
 will occupy 30 volumes j but, as twenty years have elapsed since the 
 last volume, it will, in all probability, continue in its present state. 
 As far as it goes, it is beyond every degree of comparison superior to 
 Du Fresnoy s Methode pour 6tudier VHistoire , 1772, 12mo. 15 vol. 
 
342 
 
 HISTORY OF GERMANY. 
 
 secure the following authors : Schardius, De Rebus 
 Germanicis, Basil, 1574, folio, 3 vols. : recently be- 
 come a rare book. Meibomius, Rerum Germanica- 
 rum Libri Tres . Helmest. 1688, folio, 3 vols. Fre- 
 heri Rerum Germanicarum Scriptores, Argent . 1717, 
 folio, three vols. B. G, Struvii Corpus Histor . Germ . 
 Ience , 1730, folio, two vols. : prefixed, is a Bibliotheca 
 Scriptorum Rerum Germanicarum , which renders 
 these volumes the more acceptable. Pistorii Rer . Ger- 
 man. Script . aliquot insignes , Ratisb . 1726-31, folio, 3 
 vols. an admirable work ; and, in the estimation of 
 the learned and tasteful antiquary, more admirable 
 yet is Schoettgenius’s Diplomataria et Scriptores 
 Hist . Germ. Medii 2Evi. Altenb. 1753, folio, three 
 volumes.* Nor, on any account, must the Scriptores 
 
 * I do not affix a price to every work above specified ; but I ap- 
 prehend that I am tolerably correct in valuing them at about 15s. 
 per volume. In some instances, according to condition, they will 
 bring greater prices : thus, in his very copious and instructive cata- 
 logue of 1823, Mr. Bohn marks fC a fine copy in vellum” of Pisto- 
 rius at 31. 13s. 6d. : and a half bound uncut copy of Menckenius 
 at 2/. 9s. but neat in vellum at 31. 3s. Of Struvius’s Corp. Hist. 
 there are two copies in Mr. Bohn’s Cat. of 1823, p. 546, marked at 
 2 1. 2s. each. I possess the best edition of it in 1753, in two vols. 4to. 
 and am prompt to number it among the most useful and satisfactory 
 works of literary bibliography. After a copious and useful index, at 
 the end of the second volume, there is a Notitia Suevice Antiques of 
 which my copy ends, imperfectly, at page 120. But let me not omit 
 the mention of the Vet. Script. Rer. Germanicar. of Reuberus, pub- 
 lished in one folio vol. at Hanover , in 1619 j and of which a copy was 
 sold for 2 1. 12s. 6d. at the Roxburghe sale. It contains the lives of 
 Charlemagne and Orlando, by the Pseudo-Turpin, with various 
 metrical Chronicles. An enlarged edition of this work was published 
 in 1726, folio ; of which, according to the New Mem. of Literature , 
 vol. iv. p. 151, all the copies, except those which were sold at the 
 Frankfort Fair of the same year, were consumed by a fire, which 
 lately broke out in the city of Frankfort.” 
 
HISTORY OF GERMANY. 
 
 MS 
 
 Rerum Germanic arum of Menckenius, Lips. 1728, 
 folio, 3 vols. be forgotten. 
 
 The preceding are the sturdier and larger works 
 appertaining to Germany. They are as the oaken 
 forest, in which the Student may saunter and disport 
 himself as it pleaseth him. If he like to come forth 
 into open lawns, or sunny parterres, he may recline 
 upon the eleven quarto volumes of Barre’s Histoire 
 Generate d’Allemagne, Paris , 1748 : or De La- 
 veaux’s translation of the unfinished history of 
 Schmidt in the German language : or, if he be master 
 of that same language, he may recreate himself with 
 Haeberlin’s Modern History of Germany , published 
 at Halle , in 1774-91, octavo, in twenty-one vols. and 
 continued to the year 1804, in seven additional vo- 
 lumes by the Baron de Senkenberg : while the un- 
 ostentatious French work of Freron ( Histoire de 
 V Empire di Allemagne depuis Charlemagne jus qu a nos 
 jours) in eight duodecimo volumes, 1771, &c. shall 
 not be found an unwelcome fire-side companion. 
 The more recent productions of Muller and Schmidt 
 should find a place in these pages. The former pub- 
 lished in 1808, in 3 octavo volumes, may be worth a 
 half guinea per volume. The latter, which brings the 
 history down to 1808, in 17 octavo volumes, is consi- 
 dered to be the preferable of all modern productions. 
 It has been extended (but not by Schmidt), to six ad- 
 ditional volumes ; and a copy of the twenty-three 
 volumes may be obtained for 6/. 
 
 I am now to speak of the Government, rather than 
 of the particular country so designated, of Austria ; 
 and in this I include the kingdoms of Bavaria, Hun- 
 gary, and Bohemia. I will begin with the collections 
 of Fez and Bell; men of indefatigable research and 
 unwearied patience. Fez published his Scriptores 
 
344 
 
 HISTORY OF GERMANY. 
 
 Rerum Austriacarum , at Leipsic, in 1721, folio, three 
 vols. : an excellent work, of which every historical 
 student will have need. The same author published 
 a Thesaurus Anecdotorum Novissimus , seu V eterum 
 Monumentorum ex Germanicis Bibliothecis Collectio ; 
 Aug. Find. 1721. folio. 6 vols.* Bell is the author 
 of the following : Prodromus Antiquce et Novce Hun - 
 gar ice, 1723, folio : Notitia Hungarian Novce , Vienn. 
 1735, folio, 4 vols.: Scriptores Rerum Hungarica- 
 rum, Vindob. 1746, folio, 3 vols., all admirable works; 
 but, with the exception of the second, better calcula- 
 ted for a public than a private library.f The same 
 may be said of the Annales Austrice V eteris et Novce 
 of Calles, published in four thin folios at Vienna, in 
 1750 — but the House of Austria has in particular 
 received due homage and respect from the labours of 
 I. L. Kraft and Mr. Archdeacon Coxe .* 
 
 The capital of Austria possessed a distinguished 
 antiquary in Kollarius, whose Analecta Monumen- 
 torum Omnis JRvi Vindobonensis , Vindob. 1760, folio, 
 2 vols.,§ I do especially recommend to the attention 
 
 * Mr. Laing of Edinburgh, marks a neat copy of this valuable work 
 at 41. 4s. A fine copy of it is at Althorp, and in his Majesty’s library. 
 
 f Yet more indefatigable than Bell, was Pray. His Annals rela- 
 ting to the History and Antiquities of Hungary occupy seven folio 
 volumes : of which the five volumes of Dissertations on the ancient 
 Annals of Hungary, published at Vienna in 1764-1770, and the His- 
 t°ry of (he Kings of Hungary, Buda, 1801, 8vo. in three vols. are the 
 principal. Pray’s works are by no means of common occurrence, 
 either here or upon the continent. 
 
 + This intelligent and industrious Historian published his House of 
 Austria in 1807, 4to. 3 vols. ; to which may be added the Kings of 
 Spain of the House of Bourbon, 1813, 4to. 3 vols. His other Works 
 do not come within this particular department j but they are nume- 
 rous and instructive. The author is now “ in the sere and yellow 
 leaf ” of years, but not of intellect. 
 
 § Kollarius was the Editor of Lambecius’s Commentaries concern- 
 
HISTORY OF GERMANY. 
 
 545 
 
 of the archaeologist. It may be possessed, peradven- 
 ture, for a couple of sovereigns. But Vienna has 
 recently lost the man/ who, under imperial patron- 
 age, and with an highly cultivated taste for, and 
 knowledge in, the fine arts — added to a very sober 
 judgment and active zeal in matters of antiquarian 
 research — might have done wonders for the establish- 
 ing the MSS. in the Imperial Library at Vienna ; but has added lit- 
 tle to the labours of his predecessors. This latter work appeared in 
 1766 — in eight folio volumes. The Analecta is doubtless a prefer- 
 able performance. But what might not Vienna accomplish, in the 
 way of historical illustration, if some of its wealthier nobility, 
 with the Emperor at their head, would come forward with a proper 
 patriotic impulse on the occasion ? 
 
 * That man was Bartsch. From the number of pages, together 
 with a portrait, devoted to the notice of Bartsch in the third vo- 
 lume of my Tour , the reader will naturally sympathise with me in 
 the intelligence that, before the publication in question reached 
 Vienna, the amiable object of my little Memoir was no more. He 
 died suddenly, of an apoplectic fit. He was, in fact, a short, thick- 
 set man, and liable to such a calamitous visitation. I owe him, or 
 rather his memory, much more than I have hitherto expressed. He 
 was a constant, kind, and active correspondent : and assigned no 
 limits to his wishes and actions to befriend you. I have yet a consi- 
 derable number of his letters, written in the neatest manner, and with 
 an accuracy and attention to business that could not be exceeded. I 
 will not dissemble that one of the greatest pleasures I had antici- 
 pated in the publication of the Tour, was, his perusal, and as'T trus- 
 ted, approbation, of the manner in which his merits and kindnesses 
 were recorded. But <f Diis aliter visum est. . . . !” 
 
 Nor was the death of Mr. Bartsch the only loss of that kind which 
 I was doomed to experience. Poor Mr. Bernhard, one of the intelli- 
 gent public librarians at Munich, was also taken hence ere the work 
 in question reached him. But the death of Bartsch was more than a 
 private calamity. His country, in his death, has lost a most diligent, 
 correct, and praise-worthy archaeologist, with a taste and knowledge 
 of art, such as almost, to render rivalry hopeless. Yet the gentle, 
 the kind-hearted, the thoroughly bibliographical Bernhard ! 
 
HISTORY OF GERMANY. 
 
 346 
 
 ment of her fame, as the repository of some of the 
 most interesting specimens of antiquity. 
 
 As to Bavaria, (to which, for the sake of the 25Iacfe 
 I will attach Suabia in the subjoined note*) 
 what shall we say — when we find a row of twenty-two 
 goodly quarto volumes, entitled Bavarian Monu- 
 ments, put forth at Munich between the years 1763 
 and 1813? Now, whether to possess these, is one 
 thing: but that a sight of them should beget an ap- 
 petite to possess something relating to that highly- 
 interesting country, is another, and a most undeniable 
 thing ; and therefore let the historical student avail 
 himself of the judicious notices in Offelius” Rerum 
 Roicarum Scriptores , Aug. Vind. 1763. folio, 2 vols*: 
 and if he be seriously and piously inclined, above all 
 things let him secure a fine tali copy, with brilliant 
 impressions of the plates, of the Bavaria Sancta , of 
 Raderus* published at Munich in 1616, in 3 thin 
 folio volumes ; to which he may add the Bavaria Pia , 
 
 * It is the work of Gerbert, under the title of Historia Nigra 
 Sylvcc , (Typis BlascensisJ, 1783-8, in 3 quarto volumes, to which I 
 allude— and which, much rather than Mariana’s History of Spain, 
 (see p. 318, should be always bound in black morocco. What deeds 
 of mystery and of amazement — what objects of terror, of grandeur, 
 or of preternatural character — what enchanted palaces and what 
 haunted castles — what animals, bipedical as well as quadrupedical — 
 
 (Sub pedibus mugire solum, et juga . . moveri 
 Silvarum, visae canes ululare per umbras.) 
 characterise and haunt “this boundless contiguity of shade.”! ! ! 
 But Mr. Washington Irving, (if report speak true) will shortly give 
 us more than a “ sketchy’* account of these things. 
 
 In the mean time, the Thesaurus Rerum Suevicarum of Wage- 
 linus, Lidaug. 1756, 4 vols folio, will supply the antiquary with 
 much to set his heart at rest respecting Suabian Antiquities. 
 
 * Of this beautiful and interesting work, a particular account, to- 
 
HISTORY OF GERMANY. 
 
 847 
 
 published at the same place in 1628, folio, in one 
 volume. I consider the Annales Boicce Gentis of 
 Aldzreitter and Brunner. Franco f. 1710, folio, as a 
 little too remote and old fashioned in their specula- 
 tions to be of any positive use to the reader. 
 
 Thus have I travelled bibliographieally, through 
 these three great countries — to which I must be 
 allowed to add the notice of a few works not strictly 
 within their limits ; for who, that has sailed or saun- 
 tered along the castled crags of the Rhine, and rested 
 himself in the picturesque old city of Mentz , would 
 not be anxious to turn over the gossiping leaves of 
 Serrarius’s Res Moguntince , Libri V. published at 
 Franckfort in 1722, in 3 folio volumes ? Then again, 
 the Scriptores Rerum Brunswicensium , of which the 
 famous Leibnitz was the editor, published by him at 
 Hanover , in 1707, folio, 3 vols. # — and which should 
 seem to have stimulated Gibbon to his well known 
 
 gether with two fac-similes of some of its embellishments, is given 
 in vol. iii. p. 221-3, of the Bibliographical Tour. Such a copy of it 
 as that at Althorp, bound in blue morocco by Lewis, will rarely be 
 seen. The first two volumes of it, in very fine condition, were sold 
 at a late sale in Pall Mall, for 2/. 125, 6d. The cuts are by Ralph 
 Sadeler. 
 
 * This is becoming a rare book ; and may be worth 31. 135. 6d. 
 “ The genius and studies of Leibnitz (says Gibbon) have ranked 
 his name with the first philosophic names of his age and country j 
 but his reputation, perhaps, would be more pure and permanent, if 
 he had not ambitiously grasped the whole circle of human science.” 
 ... “ The Annals of Brunswick , of the empire, of the ancient and 
 modern world, were present to the mind of the historian ; and he 
 could turn from the solution of a problem, to the dusty parchments 
 and barbarous style of the records of the middle age.” (Antiq. of the 
 House of Brunswick :) Post. Works , vol. iii. p. 361 : but see par- 
 ticularly p. 568, of the same volume. 
 
348 
 
 HISTORY OF GERMANY. 
 
 essay on the Antiquities of the House of Brunswick — 
 who, I say, that has received a highly polished 
 education, would not strive to discipline himself in 
 such tastes and studies as would cause his name to 
 be ranked with some of the great Archaeologists and 
 Historians named in the more immediately preceed- 
 ing pages of this work r Who, above all, that is 
 blessed with large patrimonial possessions — of the 
 deeds of whose ancestors the page of history is often 
 full and instructive— who, of this gallant class of 
 readers and collectors, would not prefer the devotion 
 of wealth to the collection of materials for local and 
 personal history, to the hazard, turmoil, expense, 
 waste, and thanklessness, of gaining half the elec- 
 tions in the kingdom ! — 
 
 One self-approving hour whole years outweighs, 
 
 Of rabble-greetings, and of loud huzzas ! 
 
 Sed quo — tendis ? The ground trembles beneath my 
 feet .... and I recede. 
 
[ 349 1 
 
 NORTHERN HISTORIES.* 
 
 It may be doubted whether, at any one period of 
 public curiosity, a greater intensity of interest has 
 been manifested, than at the present moment, to be^ 
 come acquainted with the physical and moral proper- 
 ties of the Northern World: with its vegetable, 
 its animal, and mineral productions. An English- 
 man may, I think, dwell with more than common 
 complacency on the events which have recently taken 
 place in these regions of the globe. He may indulge 
 a well founded triumph on the success of the efforts 
 of his countryman ; a success, not commensurate, it 
 is true, with the sanguine and too extravagant expec- 
 
 * Under this title are comprised brief accounts of Denmark, Nor- 
 way, Sweden, and Russia. It is as impossible for the bibliographer, 
 as for the naval adventurer, to circumnavigate the globe, in the fullest 
 acceptation of that term. The above countries are incorporated in 
 these pages, to the exclusion of the more southern : — first, because 
 they are of a more peculiar cast of character, and more intimately 
 connected with the history and antiquities of our own country j and 
 secondly, because, of recent years, voyages of discovery to the North- 
 ern Sea have become objects of national patronage. In regard to 
 Iceland, I trust that I am equally satisfying my own conscience, and 
 the good taste of the public, if I give an unqualified recommendation 
 of the recent works upon this country, by Sir George Mackenzie, 
 Bart. 1810, 4to.) and Dr. Hooker, (1813, 8vo.) : gentlemen, com- 
 petent, in every respect, to the successful execution of the tasks which 
 they undertook. These works are obtainable for about 91. 12s. 6d.$ 
 and I presume them to be on the shelves of all Collectors of Voy- 
 ages. As to Greenland, (making mention of Torfseus hereafter) 
 may I not rest satisfied with the exclusive recommendation of the 
 translation (by the pious and learned Gambold ) from the high Dutch 
 of old Crantz, in 1 76*7, 2 vols. 8vo. with cuts — worth about 18s. ? 
 
350 
 
 NORTHERN HISTORIES. 
 
 tations of some— but fully equal to the sober and well 
 founded wishes of the greater part. Nature has, and 
 perhaps ever will have— as long as the world shall last 
 
 her impassable and insurmountable barriers : and if, 
 
 in any one portion of the globe more than another, 
 it is in 
 
 .... stemming towards the pole, 
 
 that the navigator has to contend with those impedi- 
 ments, which at once appall his fancy and impede his 
 progress. He may double again and again the stormy 
 Cape ; but the prow of his vessel is broken into splin- 
 ters before the “ thick ribbed ’’ iceberg. On this , more 
 than on any other subject, or point of navigation, we 
 are forbidden to yield to the enthusiasm of the Roman 
 poet : — “ Possunt quia posse videntur.” 
 
 England, therefore, ranks among her heroes “ of 
 bold daring, and high emprise,” the names of Parry 
 and Franklin men, who have, perhaps, equalled 
 
 * Those who have been in [the habit of reading Mr. Campbell’s 
 very beautiful poem of “ The Pleasures of Hope,” must, in the course 
 of their perusal of the voyages of the above celebrated travellers, 
 have been equally struck with the truth of the imagery, and of the 
 feelings, of the poet. Take the following lines — and apply them to 
 Captain Parry — as you suppose him to be ploughing the northern 
 ocean : 
 
 Cold on his midnight watch the breezes blow 
 From wastes that slumber in eternal snow. 
 
 And again 
 
 And waft, across the wave’s tumultuous roar. 
 
 The wolfs long howl from Oonolaska’s shore .+ 
 
 But whatever might have been the hardships of both travellers (and 
 
 + It so happens that these lines are as melodious in structure as they are exqui- 
 site in imagery. The first couplet cannot be exceeded : no not in the Eloisa of 
 Fope. In the last verse of the second couplet, you really hear the howling of the 
 wolf — and rush below to your cabin fire-side. 
 
NORTHERN HISTORIES. 
 
 351 
 
 in their line of research, what their fellow-travellers 
 Park and Burckhardt — in widely different directions 
 
 those of Captain Franklin were "assuredly the more severe) their 
 fondest hopes and wishes, respecting the mode of the reception of 
 their labours at home, were realised to the fullest extent. The me- 
 tropolis of England was scarcely less agitated on the news of the 
 victories of the Nile and Salamanca, (putting those of Trafalgar and 
 Waterloo out of the pale of all comparison) than it was on the eve of 
 the publications of the travellers in question. The house of Mr. 
 Murray, the publisher, was in a state of siege. A constant ingress 
 and egress of bibliopolistic Mercurii below — and of gentlemen, 
 learned in philosophy, the fine arts, and circumnavigation, above — 
 marked the anxiety which prevailed, and insured the prosperous 
 sale which was to follow. The day of sale came : but that day (as is 
 usual on like occasions) was preceded by a dinner — the grand pana- 
 caea for all sorrows, and the provoker of all gallantry of spirit, in 
 England. 
 
 Postquam prima quies epulis . . . 
 
 the sale began. Now the work of Captain Parry was a three guinea 
 and a half 4to. volume ; and ere the clock had struck seven, 1500 
 copies were disposed of ! Again 5 that of Captain Franklin was a 
 four guinea book 5 yet not fewer than 900 copies were bona fide pur- 
 chased ere the company broke up 5 and within a little month” of 
 that festive evening, 600 more copies were sold. It is now almost 
 a rare book. What triple honour was here displayed ! — the authors, 
 the publisher, and the public, coming in for a large share of credit, 
 profit, and instruction, on the occasion. 
 
 Such things occur in no other country in the world 3 f and they 
 are as much tests — yea, in all respects, tests of a higher and more 
 commanding cast of character — of national wealth and prosperity, as 
 
 + I beseech Mr. D’lsraeli to chronicle this, and similar things, in a future edi- 
 tion of his Curiosities of Literature. They will become exceedingly interesting to 
 ^posterity. Time mellows these anecdotes as it does a raw picture. They may ap- 
 pear glaring at first — but . . . how eagerly we read the account of the sale of Pope’s 
 translation of the Iliad, and (to mention no other instance) of Gibbon’s own account 
 of the number of copies struck off, or subscribed for, of his Decline and Fall? In 
 regard to the first edition of Paradise Lost , it is well known that three different 
 title pages were obliged to be struck off, in order to make it go down with the 
 public ! It has indeed “ gone down” in the most triumphant manner. 
 
^52 
 
 NORTHERN HISTORIES. 
 
 —have accomplished in theirs ; thus bringing the floes 
 and icebergs of the Polar sea, as vividly before the 
 reader’s imagination, as were, heretofore, the sand 
 and deserts of Africa. But, interesting as may be 
 this subject, to a large portion of very curious readers, 
 
 are the nine hundred and ninety- nine vessels, constantly displaying 
 their streamers on the bosom of the Thames, and as constantly and 
 deeply laden with “ the wealth of either Ind.” But, to return to the 
 works of Captains Parry and Franklin. There are octavo editions of 
 both, each in 2 vols. — either published, or in the course of publica- 
 tion. In the year 1824, Mr. Murray published Captain Parry’s 
 Second Voyage to the Polar Sea. It is a large quarto volume, price 
 4l. 14s. 6d. accompanied by numerous engravings in the line manner, 
 after the drawings of Captain Lyon : drawings, which reflect great 
 credit upon the tasteful and accurate pencil of the delineator. So 
 little had the public curiosity abated, and although it was known 
 that Captain Parry had not accomplished the grand object of his un- 
 dertaking in discovering a north-western passage so as to enable him 
 to return by Asia and Africa, yet the announce of his second work 
 was received with acclamation : and all those demonstrations of a 
 liberal spirit of competition, provoked by the certainty of an extensive 
 and rapid sale — and which have been just described — again marked 
 the subscription, in the trade j and not fewer than 1200 copies put 
 on wings and flew away. An elaborate and masterly analysis of this 
 second volume of Captain Parry’s Voyage, appeared in the LIXth 
 Number of the Quarterly Review. But this is not all. The same 
 enterprising publisher is about to put forth an abridged, commodious, 
 and cheap edition of Captain Parry’s Voyages in an octodecimo 
 form, which cannot fail to meet with a general and prosperous re- 
 ception. Mr. Murray wields a mighty sceptre, and can accomplish 
 mighty things. But I must not conclude this half festive and half 
 literary note, without the strong recommendation of Captain Lyon’s 
 Private Journal of the same Voyage 5 written in the most simple, 
 perspicuous, and unaffected manner, and replete with interesting 
 matter. It is published by Mr. Murray, in 8vo. price 165. Add to 
 these, Mr. Scoresby’s Account of the Arctic Regions — 1819, 8vo. 2 
 vols.- — the fruit of seventeen voyages to the Polar Seas — (nil morta- 
 libus arduum!) and especially Mr. Barrow’s Chronological History 
 
NORTHERN HISTORIES. 
 
 353 
 
 I am forbidden, from the nature of my work, to do 
 any thing more than present them with an outline 
 of those historians, from whom the general and parti- 
 cular histories of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and 
 Russia, may be obtained ; and in the pages of whose 
 works there will be doubtless found a due mixture of 
 fable and of truth. 
 
 Among the writers of General History, Ola us Mag<* 
 nus stands at the head. He succeeded his brother 
 John as Archbishop of Upsal, and is supposed to have 
 acted an important part in the Council of Trent ; be- 
 ing a hearty hater of the Protestants. Of his life, and 
 indeed of his labours, little is known. His work De 
 Gentibus Septentrionalibus * first published at Rome 
 
 of Voyages into the Polar Regions, in 8vo. price 12s. : a work perfect 
 of its kind.f 
 
 * A copy of this work, as was to be expected, appears in the Bibl. 
 Harl. vol. i. no. 7160 — but it does not appear (as was not to be ex- 
 pected) in the rich sprinkling of Northern literature and history to be 
 found in the collection of the late Dr. Heath. Niceron has certainly 
 paid the author off in few but pretty sharp words : namely, that <c he 
 crammed into his book all the marvellous things he could hear, or 
 see, without caring one jot about their truth.” Mtmoires, &c. vol. 
 xxxv. p. 321. Yet Messrs. Rivington and Cochrane, in their recent 
 very copious and excellent catalogue, fear not to mark a copy of 
 this work at3Z. 3s. : see no. 15177. The italic adjuncts to the copy 
 
 f To the above list— (how impossible is it to avoid mixing up Voyages and Tra- 
 vels with History ?) must be added the previous Voyage of Discovery for the pur- 
 pose of exploring Baffin's Bay , &c. by Captain Ross, in quarto price 31. 13s. 6d. 
 with thirty-two coloured plates. This publication gave rise to a controversy which, 
 I believe, has been long and wisely forgotten : but either party will feel more or 
 less strengthened in his positions, on the result of Captain Parry’s first voyage. Mr. 
 Murray is also the publisher of Captain Ross’s book. Can it be therefore a matter 
 of surprise, that the publisher's villa, at Wimbledon, is strewed with sealskins, and 
 lined with skulls and horns of the elk and rein-deer — together with the canoes , 
 spears, and darts of the Esquimaux ? Most assuredly Mr. Murray has richly 
 earned these trophies. 
 
 a a 
 
.354 
 
 NORTHERN HISTORIES. 
 
 in 1556, folio, yet finds purchasers at a good price, 
 especially if it be in fine condition. Requesting the 
 
 do indeed tell us that it is in old wooden binding .” Mr. Bohn mea- 
 sures his way with extreme caution, and even philosophy — in his 
 estimation of the price of this book. Although his italics denote the 
 copy to contain a profusion of wood cuts, 1 ' yet he qualifies his pane- 
 gyric by the price of 1/. Is. He has another copy, “ slightly stained 
 with a mended title” for 18s.: and the Basil edition of 15 67, with 
 
 edges a little worn, stamped binding” (such are the niceties of 
 bibliopegistic distinctions) at 1/. 5s. To another copy of the Basil 
 edition, he adds the Muscovy of Possevinus, 1587, folio : 2 vol. in 
 1, “ fine copies, in white monastic binding, stamped on the sides” — 
 for 2 1. 12 s. 6d . : observing that “ copies are usually marked at from 
 4 1» 4s. to 61. 5s.” This is but candid on the part of Mr. Bohn. 
 
 I must be brief with the remaining general historians of the North. 
 Snorro is a great name, in spite of Ritson’s sneer.f His “ History 
 of the Northern Kings" was given to the w r orld by Peringskiold, at 
 Stockholm, in 1697, in two folio volumes ; and this is now become 
 a rare work. A copy of it was purchased by Mr. Priestley at the 
 sale of Dr. Heath’s library for 7 1- Messrs. Rivington and Cochrane 
 tempt us with a fine copy, in calf extra, marbled leaves,” for 
 61. 6s. : but Messrs. I. and A. Arch hold out the more irresistible 
 temptation of a good copy, in calf binding, at the mitigated price of 
 51. 5s. See the recent catalogues of these respective (and highly re- 
 spectable) booksellers. Of the Norwegian Dynasty of Kings, by the 
 same author, a word or two in a subsequent page. On the richly 
 furnished shelves of Messrs. Payne and Foss, you look and sigh in 
 vain . . . for a Snorro ! 
 
 Of other general works, procure the Wandalia of Krantzius, 
 Francof. 1580: the Sarmatice European Descriptio of Gaguinus, 
 Spira, 1581 : (written in a sweet, pure style of latinity, according 
 
 f Ritson said “ ’twas a good name'for a snorer or dreamer ;** I suspect he never 
 looked into the author. Read Mallet’s eulogy on this “ Snorer,” as judiciously 
 extracted by Mr. Bohn, in his catalogue — no. 8209 — where one volume only of 
 the work in question is marked at 1/. 1 lj. (jd. And here, let me ask why that very 
 able and accurate bibliographer. Brunet Fils, describes this work but as in one 
 volume, and attaches the diminutive price of 15fr. to it ? He ought to accompany 
 the next polar expedition, to atone for such a broken of an error. See his incom- 
 parable Manuel , vol. iii. p. 351. 
 
NORTHERN HISTORIES. 
 
 355 
 
 ordinary reader to rest satisfied with the account of 
 these Northern histories which appears in the 11th, 
 12th, and 13th volumes of the Modern Universal 
 History , in folio. — I must exhort the curious and cri- 
 tical reader to leave “no stone unturned” in his 
 endeavours to possess a copy of the copious, impartial, 
 and learned labours of Stritterus, as specified in the 
 subjoined note.* 
 
 to Starowolscius)f the Chronica Slavorum of Steinheim, Franco/, ad 
 Moen. 1581 5 the Orbis Gothicus of Pr^storius, published at Olive 
 Kloster , 1688 — all in folio — with some minor works, each and 
 all to be had at comparatively moderate prices : but these works 
 afford food rather for the Antiquary and Critic, than for the common 
 reader. 
 
 Yet I am almost peremptory in the injunction that both “ the 
 Old” and the Young’’ reader, place upon their shelves the Memoir es 
 sur la Langue Celtique of Bullet, in 3 folio volumes, 1754, and 
 worth about 61. 1 6s. 6d. — as a masterpiece of philological erudition, 
 and as the basis of very much that is valuable and entertaining in 
 Northern Literature. To these, they may add a not less instructive 
 work of its kind : the Thesaurus Antiquitatum Teutonicarum Ecclesi - 
 asticarum , et Litter ariarum, of Schilter, folio, 1728, three volumes : 
 and worth hard upon 5 1. 5 s . : while, to the full as instructive as either, 
 is the Chronologia de rebus Sueciae, Daniae, Norvegiae of Messenius, 
 with the notes of Peringskiold in 2 folio vols. 1700 — of which a copy 
 was purchased by Mr. Priestley at Dr. Heath’s sale for 3 1. 3s. Messrs. 
 Rivington and Cochrane mark it at 10s. 6d. less. 
 
 * “ Memoriae Populorum, olim ad Danubium , Pontum Euxinum, 
 Paludem Maeotidem , Caucasum , &c. et inde magis ad Septemtriones 
 incolentium, e Scriptoribus Hist. Byz. erutae et digested, 1771-9, 4to. 
 four volumes. A masterly analysis of this work will be found in 
 Meusel’s Bibl. Hist. vol. v. p. 111-122 : and Mr. Evans (who first 
 directed my attention to it) had a copy of it, in his catalogue of 
 
 t I gain all this intelligence from the Bibl. Harleiana , vol. i. p. 392. The work 
 of Gaguin has a number of curious plates j a copy of it was sold at Dr. Heath’s sale 
 for 10s. only. 
 
 + “ Typis Monasterii Olivensis a copy was sold at Dr. Heath’s sale for 21. 3s. 
 
356 
 
 NORTHERN HISTORIES. 
 
 DENMARK. 
 
 Begin with old Saxo Grammaticus. Get a fine 
 copy of his first edition of the History of Denmark, 
 printed in the Latin tongue, in 1514, folio;* but at 
 any rate you must not think of paying your respects 
 at the court of Copenhagen, unless you can assure the 
 Danish monarch that you possess a sound and perfect 
 copy of the best edition of this work, with the notes of 
 Stephens , put forth in 1644, folio. It will make but 
 a slender inroad on your purse.t Next, look out 
 sharply for the Danish Annals and Danish Monu - 
 ments published by Olaus Wormius, in 1643J ; and 
 
 1S02, new and very neat’" marked at 51. 15 s. 6d. It has become 
 rare in this country. 
 
 * This volume has escaped Brunet. It is a beautiful book, and an 
 old acquaintance of mine, as a fac-simile of one of its capital initials 
 in the Typog. Antiq. vol. i. p. xxxvii. will readily prove. In fine 
 condition, it may be worth 1Z. Is. Messrs. Longman and Co. value 
 it at 10s. 6d. only : Cat. 1822, n°. 231. 
 
 f A good copy is worth about 1 1. 11 s. 6d. At the sale of Dr. 
 Heath’s library, it was bought for the London Institution for 1 1. 6s. 
 Mr. Bohn marks it at 1 1. 10s. in vellum — with an extract from Du 
 Fresnoy as a whetter for a purchaser. Messrs. Rivington and Coch- 
 rane mark it “ neat ’ at 1 1. 16s. Those who will read an account of 
 Saxo Grammaticus in Mr. Chalmers’s Biographical Dictionary, may 
 easily satisfy themselves of the value of this historian. Why has 
 Niceron neglected him ? And why has the Biographical Dictionary 
 of Caen given so bald an account of him ? The writers of the latter 
 work (edit. 1804) are surprised that Saxo should have written such 
 good Latin in the xnth century ! They were well read critics, doubt- 
 less. But respecting Torfjeus, they are outrageously super- 
 ficial. 
 
 + A good copy of either, (being folio volumes) is worth M. Is. 
 The Danica Literatura Antiquissima , Slc. with cuts, published in 
 
Denmakk.] NORTHERN HISTORIES. s of 
 
 covet, more vehemently than either, the truly valu- 
 able productions of Torf^eus. You have a familiar 
 ' introduction to them in the subjoined note.* The 
 name of Bartholin is deservedly celebrated in the 
 annals of Danish Literature, Medicine, and Jurispru- 
 dence. My business is only with Thomas (the son of 
 the famous physician^) who followed the latter pur- 
 
 1636, at Amst. 4to. is worth nearly double the money. It contains a 
 Dissertation on the ancient Danish Poetry. Messrs. Payne and Foss 
 have, at this moment, an excellent copy of it at the well-judged price 
 of 1Z. 1 6s. 
 
 * When Monsieur Brunet Fils favours us with a fourth edition of 
 his Manuel, he will doubtless remodel his article of Torf.eus — in- 
 asmuch as all the prices there attached to the works of this renowned 
 antiquary and historian, are rated by him greatly below the mark. 
 For the sake of juxta-position I will mention them as they respect 
 both Norway and Denmark. In 1702, 4to. appeared his Series 
 Dynastiarum et Regum Danice : worth about 10s. 6d. } but selling at 
 Dr. Heath’s sale, in extra binding by Walther, for 1/. 3s. In 1707 
 appeared the Trifolium Historicum , seu Dissertatio Historica de tribus 
 Danice. Regibus Gormo Grandcevo, &c. 4to. an uncommon book $ but 
 not so rare as the Historia Vinlandice Antiques, 1705, 12mo. o/ which 
 a copy at Caillard s sale (says Brunet) was sold for thirty-six francs. 
 The grand work of Torfseus is his Historia Rerum Norvegicarum, 
 published in 171 E in 4 folio volumes, and usually bound in two. A 
 copy of this scarce work was sold for 8/. at Dr. Heath’s sale, and is 
 marked at 71 . 175- 6d. in the catalogue of Messrs. Rivington and 
 Cochrane. With this work should be possessed the Orcades , 1715, 
 folio, of the same writer j and worth about 1Z. 5 s. In 1777, 4to. 
 appeared the Notae Posteriores of Torfaeus on his Series Regum 
 Danicce ; worth about 9s. 6d. All these publications came forth at 
 Copenhagen; But I had well nigh forgotten his Veteris Groenlandice , 
 Descriptio , published with cuts in 1706, small octavo, of which I 
 once possessed a large and lovely copy, bound in green morocco (as 
 was most fitting) with gilt on the leaves . . . Fuimus !” 
 
 f The works of this Physician are elaborately detailed by Watt 
 in his Bibliotheca Britannica ; and are, with one exception, almost 
 exclusively professional : shewing the extraordinary activity as well 
 
35S 
 
 NORTHERN HISTORIES. [Denmark. 
 
 suit ; and who, in his curious work u De Causis con - 
 temptce a Danis adhuc Gentilibus Mortis : Hafnice , 
 1689, 4to. hath most pleasingly and learnedly treated 
 of that curious subject. Again, if Heraldry be among 
 the favourite pursuits of the historical reader, let him 
 look closely into the Breviarium Equestre of Birche- 
 rodius, who expatiates with rapture on the origin, 
 progress, and splendour of the Order of the Elephant. 
 His work was published, with plates, at Copenhagen, 
 in 1704, folio, and an uncommon book it is. Bartho- 
 lin is picked up for a few shillings. Denmark, on the 
 whole, is rich in historical lore. Whatever was the 
 scantiness, or were the defects, of preceding periods, 
 the eighteenth century witnessed some publications 
 which would have done credit to the most civilised 
 and powerful nations on the globe. It is true that 
 Torfseus led the way ; but the three quarto volumes 
 of the Gesta et V estigia Danorum extra Daniam , put 
 forth at Leipsic in 1540, roused Mallet to the exe- 
 cution of the history of his country, and of the 
 Northern Antiquities ; while these were exceeded 
 equally in splendour, utility, and extent, by the meri- 
 torious labours of Langebeck ;* whose “ Collection 
 
 as knowledge of their author. That <e one exception” is the only 
 thing expatiated upon by Brunet. Thomas Bartholin, who may be 
 considered as the John Hunter of the North, died in 1680. Con- 
 sult Chalmers; as the Diet. Biographique of Caen is lamentably 
 jejune. A well written and impartial life of Bartholin would, even 
 now, be an acceptable gift both to the public and to the profession 
 in particular. 
 
 * The above, in due order : but a word or two of previous publi- 
 cations. Who has not heard the sound of the “ Tuba Danica of 
 Randulffusf 1644, folio ? — nor read the Leges Antiques Aulicce Nor- 
 vegorum fy Danorum of Resenius, 1673, 4to. an admirable w r ork — in 
 the Danish and Latin languages ? with the Historia Compendiosa of 
 
Denmark.] NORTHERN HISTORIES. 
 
 359 
 
 of Writers of Danish Affairs in the Middle Ages ' ’ ap- 
 peared in seven folio volumes at Copenhagen in 1772- 
 1792. It is said that the present venerable and learned 
 Dr. Thorkelin, principal librarian of the Royal Li- 
 brary at Copenhagen, seldom pronounces the name of 
 Langebeck, without passing his hand across his eyes, 
 or placing it on his heart. This is as it should be. 
 
 the Kings of Denmark, to the time of Christian IV., published in the 
 Latin language, at Leyden in 1695, 4to. As to the above — the 
 Gesta et Vestigia Danorum extra Daniam , may be worth about 
 2Z. 12s. 6d. It is now of rare occurrence. Mallet is the great 
 modern historian of Denmark. His Introduction to the History of 
 that country was published in the French language at Copenhagen 
 in 1755, 4to. His History, in the same language, was published 
 three years afterwards in three quarto volumes : a rare work, with 
 the third volume — and worth 3 1. 13s. 6d. His Northern Antiquities ,* 
 a most curious work, was translated into English and published in 
 1770, in 2 octavo volumes, under the editorial care of Bishop Percy 5 
 and has been more than once reprinted. Langebeck’s Scriptores 
 Rerum Danicarum Medii AEvi, published at Copenhagen in 177^-92, 
 is now become a work of uncommon occurrence. The copy of it, in 
 Dr. Heath’s library, was sold for 61. 8s. 6d. The editor was doubt- 
 less the Bouquet of Denmark. Dr. Thorkelin has published a 
 Danish and Anglo-Saxon poem by Beowulf, with (Latin verses and 
 indexes) of the feats of the Kings of Denmark in the third and 
 fourth centuries, from a MS. in the Cotton Library. It was pub- 
 lished in 1815, 4to. and is marked in boards by Mr. Bohn at 11. 5s. 
 My friend Mr. Douce is yet the correspondent of this amiable and 
 learned Septuagenarian : between whom and Earl Spencer many 
 book presents and bibliographical civilities have passed. From the 
 destruction of his library, in the bombardment of Copenhagen during 
 the siege. Dr. Thorkelin has but too just grounds of remembrance 
 of that tremendous occurrence. 
 
 * This work is pronounced by Ritson (I quote from memory) to be stuffed 
 with lies from one end to the other.” There are, assuredly, fictions enough in it, 
 as there are in Homer : but cannot the truth be severed from the falsehood ? And 
 do not even these falsehoods, in some degree, illustrate the truth ? The ground of 
 Ritson’s abuse was, simply, because Bishop Percy took a part in the publication. 
 
360 
 
 NORTHERN HISTORIES. 
 
 NORWAY. 
 
 Norway will scarcely detain us two minutes. Of 
 late years* the shores of this country have been rarely 
 visited ; and that stupendous chain of eternally snow- 
 capt mountains* which separates it from Sweden* and 
 of which the lower parts are alternately darkened by 
 forests of fir* and relieved by gladsome pastures — 
 this marvellous portion of the globe seems (as if 
 fashion should rule the waves as well as the land) to 
 have no attractive charms for the enterprising tra- 
 vellers of the south. On throwing an eye over the 
 extraordinary list of Voyages and Travels put forth by 
 the two most celebrated booksellers in Europe* I find 
 no notice of Norway. Very recently, indeed, a work 
 has appeared under the following title : Travels through 
 Sweden * Norway , and Finmark , to the North Cage , in 
 the Summer of 1820. By A. de Capell Brooke, 
 M. M. 1823. This is a handsomely printed, and an 
 instructive volume ; but perhaps of equal interest* as 
 well as of more scientific attainment, is the perform- 
 ance of Baron Von Bcjch, a Prussian — whose Travels 
 in Norway and Lapland appeared in a 4to. volume, 
 with Notes, Illustrations, and Maps, by Mr. Jameson, 
 in 1813 ; and may be worth 2 1. 2 s. in comely binding. 
 
 Of the ancient historians of Norway, we must be 
 contented chiefly with Torf^eus and Snorro. The 
 celebrated work of the former has been already no- 
 ticed and of the latter — (the son of the Author 
 upon the Northern Kings) it will be only essen- 
 tial to say, that* in the possession of his Historia Re- 
 
 * See page 354. 
 
Noeway.] 
 
 NORTHERN HISTORIES. 
 
 361 
 
 gum Norvegice ; Hafnice , 1777, folio, 5 vols., you 
 have in all respects the most valuable work extant in 
 regard to Norway.* The history of its revolutions, 
 up to its union with Sweden in 1814, has been satis- 
 factorily accomplished by Catteau Calleville, at Paris, 
 in 1818, 2 octavo volumes. But defective as may be 
 the link of Norwegian Historians, the country under 
 discussion boasts, in the work of Pontoppidan, of one 
 of the noblest volumes extant connected with Natural 
 History. This magnificent book was published at 
 London in 1755, folio/h 
 
 * “ Snorroi, Stur Ice- Fil'd, Historia Regum Norvegicorum, Islandick , 
 Danice, et Latine, d Schoning. Haunice , 1778, 1813, &c. Folio. Messrs. 
 Arch mark a copy, “four vols. in three,” calf, at “il. 17$. 6d. : but 
 Messrs. Rivington and Cochrane, adding another volume of the date 
 of 1818, mark a copy, sewed, at 121. 12$. ; “ and very neat in calf,” 
 at 15 1. 15s. Here is a tremendous difference of valuation, indeed ! 
 The fifth volume, it is true, contains the history of old Haco j but 
 are the memoirs of that ancient gentleman worth such an additional 
 sum ? I predict however that, before the year of our Lord 1 830, not 
 a Snorro will be found in the archives of our booksellers. 
 
 f Mr. Bohn marks this book at 2 1. 2$. : Messrs. Rivington and 
 Cochrane at 3 1. 3s., and Messrs. Payne and Foss, “2 vols. in 1, neat,” 
 at 4 1. 4s. : adding another copy, on fine paper, with the margin of the 
 second vol. “ slightly wormed” at 5 l. 5s. I own I should be for this 
 latter, in spite of the insinuating worm, against all the field ! Dr. 
 Heath’s copy produced 4/. 19s. Brunet does not notice a large 
 paper copy : but such a one (and I believe it is unique) exists in the 
 magnificent library at Althorp. It is bound in two volumes, in calf 
 binding. The Glossarium Norvagicum, Germ, et Lat. 1749, 12mo. 
 was by a different author, of the same name. 
 
362 
 
 NORTHERN HISTORIES. 
 
 SWEDEN. 
 
 This country is sufficiently fruitful in literary lore. 
 If it have not, in the developement of its history, all 
 those hardy and original traits which characterise the 
 Danish annals, it contains, nevertheless, a body of in- 
 struction and amusement, of which those who have 
 not read Puffendorf, Vertot, and Voltaire, can have no 
 adequate conception. Of late years, indeed, the his- 
 tory of this country has become more particularly 
 interesting ; it will be the wisdom of its present 
 feigning Monarch to consolidate and perpetuate, as 
 far as human means may, the strength of the Empire 
 by the encouragement given to patriotic learning. 
 As an earnest of future glory, I hail the appearance of 
 the first volume of the National Writers of Sweden , 
 by Fant, published under the auspices of the King.* 
 Among the earlier writers on Swedish History, we 
 may notice the performances of Messenius, Locce- 
 nius, Elric Olaus, Erlandus, Scheffer, and Vere- 
 lius ;+ writers, whose works rather belong to the 
 
 * Scriptores Rerum Sueciarum Medii /Evi, edidit E. M. Fant, 
 Holmics et Upsalice , 1818, folio, vol. i. Of this volume, I never saw 
 a copy : nor is it at present to be found on the shelves of the Althorp 
 Library. Among the earlier collections of Swedish writers was that 
 of Goldastus, published in 1 7%7> folio : of which a copy reached 
 only the moderate sum of 9 s. at the sale of Dr. Heath's library. 
 
 f Let us consider these old fashioned gentlemen in the order in 
 which their publications appeared : but first, suppose “ the Young 
 Man” exercise his ingenuity, and gratify his love of novelty, by turn- 
 ing over the c< Regnorum Suecice , Gothics, Magnique Dueatus Fin- 
 landia, Sfc. Descriptio Nova, 1656, adorned with cuts 5 and then exa- 
 mine the more stately and satisfactory work entitled Suecia Antiqua 
 
Sweden.] NORTHERN HISTORIES. 363 
 
 cabinets of the curio us, than to the libraries of gene- 
 ral Collectors. The note just referred to, will accord- 
 ingly be read only by such a class of Virtuosi or 
 Antiquaries. I hasten, therefore, to the Biographies 
 of Christina, Gustavus Vasa, and Charles XII ; 
 because, in the first place, these biographies contain 
 
 et Hodierna, published at Stockholm, in three folio volumes. He 
 may afterwards purchase, or not, the works of the above authors as 
 follow. Scandia Illustrata, Messenii 5 with notes, by Peringskiold. 
 Holmiae, 1700, folio : Chronicon Episcoporum , Ejusdem $ 1611, 8vo. 
 Loccenii Hist. Rerum Sueciar. et Aniiquit. Sueo-Goth. Holm. 
 1654, 8vo. A copy is in the library of the London Institution. 
 Suecice Regni Leges Provinciates , &c. Ejusd. Holm. 1672, folio : a 
 curious and uncommon book : see Bibl. Harleian. vol. i. n°. 720 7. 
 Histories Suecance , &c. usq. ad Car. II. Libr. IX. & c. Franco f. et Lips. 
 1676, folio. By the same Author, and equally rare and valuable. 
 Elrici Olai Historia Suecorum Gothorumque. Holm. 1654, 12mo. 
 This book was edited by Loccenius. A copy of it was purchased by 
 Mr. Heber at the sale of Dr. Heath’s library for 6s. 6d. Israel Er- 
 landi Vita S. Erici Sueciee Regis , 1675, Svo. A copy is in the pos- 
 session of the same gentleman, from the same library. 
 
 The name of Scheffer stands deservedly high among the writers 
 of Northern History ; and there are several, I believe, of the same 
 name. The History of Lapland is probably more generally known ; 
 but the Harleian Catalogue furnishes me with the following of John 
 Scheffer, relating to Sweden. De Antiquis Verisque Regni Sueciae 
 Insignibus. Lib. sing. Holm. 1678, folio : Upsalia cujus Occasione 
 plurima in Religione 3 Sacris, Festis 3 illustrantur. Upsal. Jfi66, Svo. 
 De Situ # Vocabulo Upsalicc , &c. Holmiae, 1678, 8vo. Neither of 
 this writer, nor of the following yet more curious one, do I find any 
 works in the well-stocked library of the late Dr. Heath. It is of 
 Verelius of whom I am about to speak 5 and whose Manuductio 
 Compendiosa ad Runographiam Scandicam Antiquam recte intelligent 
 dam , Upsal , 1675, small folio, is considered by my friend Mr. Douce 
 as exhibiting the performance of the “ Coryphaeus of Northern lore 
 indeed, as he pronounced these words, he thrice flourished his Runic 
 staff, or wand round his head ! And yet — that same deeply versed 
 antiquary could not put into my hands (as he did the “ Manuductio ”) 
 
364 
 
 NORTHERN HISTORIES. 
 
 [Sweden. 
 
 some of the most curious particulars of Swedish his- 
 tory ; and because, in the second place, we have 
 hardly any regular history, of that country till we 
 catch hold of the little elegantly printed (Elzevirean) 
 production of the Life of Christina , published in 
 1667, 12mo.* An Englishman, however, may solace 
 himself with the sensibly written History of Sweden 
 
 the “ Index Lingua: Scytho-Scandicx, sive Gothica , ex vet. mon. collect. 
 1691, folio — which Rudbeck republished in his Atlantica nor was I 
 furnished, by him, with the same author’s ft Hervarar Saga, seu Mu - 
 liens bellicosa, Hervara dicta , Historia , Ling. Suec. cum Interp. Lat. 
 et Notis ; Upsal. 1672, folio. But these “ Saga*” plunge the 
 bibliographer into an unfathomable and interminable ocean of re- 
 search, If, however, the heart of the enterprising “ Young Man” 
 fail him, in these confined and curious researches, I beg and entreat 
 that when a good copy of the Monumenta Sueo-Gothica (with no 
 stinted sprinkling of curious cuts) of Peringskiold, Stock. 1710, 
 folio, turns up— he will give as much as Mr. Priestley did, at Dr. 
 Heath’s sale, to become its purchaser — namely, 2 L 10s. 
 
 * Before the appearance of the rare little Elzevir volume above 
 noticed, there was published an Italian History of Christina, at 
 Modena, in 1656, 4to. : now become a rare book 5 see Bibl. Heath , no. 
 2510. Four years afterwards appeared an English work under the 
 following title, The History of Christina Queen of Swedeland,with 
 the Reason for her Abdication and Motives of her Conversion to the 
 Church of Rome,” 1660, 8vo. Bibl. Harl. vol. i. n°. 7220. But 
 the most splendid and perfect work, relating to this celebrated Queen, 
 was published in the French language, “ Memoir es de Christine , 
 Reine de Suede, ( recueillis par Archenholz) Amst. 1751, 4to. 4 vols. 
 with cuts, including portraits and of which a copy was bought by 
 Earl Gower at Dr. Heath’s sale for 2 1. 12 s. Christina has recently 
 had more honours paid to her memory. Lacombe published a short 
 history of her in 1762, 12mo. ; and Cateau Calleville in 1S15, Svo. 
 2 vols. 
 
 "t* Messrs. I. and A. Arch once had a snug corner of their valuable stock of 
 books devoted to these “ Saga” - - but the Northern Mania put them quickly to 
 flight : to the equal joy of their past and present possessors- 
 
Sweden.] NORTHERN HISTORIES. 
 
 365 
 
 which appears in the twelfth volume of the Modern 
 Universal History , in folio, and in the twenty-ninth 
 and thirtieth volumes in octavo. 
 
 Next comes Puffendorf, a host in himself; his 
 u Swedish Affairs ,” and Transactions of Gustavus 
 Adolphus,"* being works (especially the latter) with- 
 out which no historical collection can be considered 
 as complete. We approach Vertot ; whose Histoire 
 des Revolutions de Suede was first publishsd in 1734, 
 4to. Its reimpressions are very numerous. About the 
 same period came out Voltaire’s popular Histoire de 
 Charles XII. ; of which the editions are almost innu- 
 merable ; and which indeed may be considered one 
 of the most instructive and admirably written works 
 of modern times/i 1 
 
 * First, of his Cornmentariorum de Rebus Suecicis Libr. xxiv. ab 
 expedit. Gustavi Adolphi Reg. in Germaniam ad Abdicationem Chris - 
 tincc, first published at Utrecht, in 1686, folio : and aFterwards at 
 Franekfort on the Main, 1705, folio. A work of great and justly 
 founded reputation. No historian or commentator on Swedish affairs 
 excels Puffendorf. A good copy of the latter edition may be worth 
 11. 10s. The Res gestce Caroli Gustavi Sueciae Regis/' was printed 
 at Nuremberg, in 1696, folio, two vols. and again at the same 
 place in 1729 j of which latter, a copy produced 31. 105. at the sale 
 of Dr. Heath’s library. It has many plates. A French version ap- 
 peared at Nuremberg in two vols. the year after the first Latin ver- 
 sion : Bibl. Hart. vol. i. n°. 7211. 
 
 But the Great Gustavus has more recent historians. Harte pub- 
 lished his history in 1759, 4to. which has been reprinted in 8vo. — a 
 work strongly recommended by Lord Chesterfield on the score of 
 matter. The style is literally execrable ; J and Mauvillon published 
 his history from the MSS. of Archenholz, at Amst. 1764, 12mo. 
 4 vols. or 4to. 1 vol. 
 
 f The most copious, and intrinsically valuable, history of Charles 
 XII. is that by Nordberg, published in the French language at the 
 
 X See Lord Chesterfield’s Letters, Agril 16, 1759 : Dec. 6, 1761, and Nov. 27, 
 
366 
 
 NORTHERN HISTORIES. [Sweden. 
 
 Of recent execution, we have indeed nothing abso- 
 lutely full and instructive relating to Sweden: at 
 least, I am unacquainted with any such production. 
 But I cannot close these observations, however im- 
 perfect, without making some mention, and enforcing 
 the recommendation, of the celebrated work called 
 Olai Rudbeckii Atlantica, published in four folio 
 volumes, at Upsal, in 1675-1698, # and of which per- 
 
 Hague, in 1748, 4to. 4 vols. : and worth about 1 1. 18s. or 2Z. 2s. To 
 this, and to similar works, let me add Mdmoires pour servir a la 
 connoissance des affaires de la Suede (par CanzlerJ in 177 6,” Dresd. 
 two parts, in quarto. 
 
 * The “Atlantica, sive Manheim vera Japheti posteriorum sedes ac 
 patria ” of Rudbeck is doubtless among the greatest guns of a 
 well chosen collection. Brunet, by the assistance of an amusing and 
 instructive work called “ Voyage de deux Frangals au Nord de 
 V Europe 1790, (of which the author was Fortia de Piles) has given 
 a very particular and faithful account of this extraordinary produc- 
 tion. The main features of a perfect and desirable copy are these. 
 There are three different titles to the first volume : one has the date 
 of 1675 ; another, that of 1679, purporting to be a second edition — 
 but in fact precisely like the volume with a previous date, having 
 only seven additional leaves at the end. There is a third title page 
 without any date — and all these title-pages were found in the Val- 
 liere copy, which produced 1351 francs — a sum exceeding that of 
 any other copy sold in France. This copy had other peculiarities, 
 presently to be noticed, and chiefly the index to the third volume, 
 for which the keen Collector must be on the constant look out. 
 Debure never saw any copy with this Index, but that of Gaignat. 
 It will be found, I believe, in the copies of his Majesty, Earl Spencer, 
 Mr. Grenville, and Mr. G. Hibbert, and I suspect that a similar copy 
 graces the Chatsworth Library. The Atlas, which was first pub- 
 lished, should contain forty three plates ; or rather forty-one leaves, 
 including two Chronological tables, which follow the forty-third 
 plate. The fifth plate is never found; but there is a duplicate of the 
 
 1762. Harte’sbook did not sell at all. The author meditated a new edition; 
 upon which Lord C. told him that “he should first translate it into English.” 
 
Sweden.] 
 
 NORTHERN HISTORIES. 
 
 367 
 
 feet copies are cherished with a sort of enthusiastic 
 fondness, only exceeded by the possession of a perfect 
 
 twenty-fifth. A copy, with the Index, was sold at the sale of Meer- 
 man’s library, for 2 61. 5s. : but if that copy was resold in this 
 country, I beg, with due deference, to become acquainted with the 
 price for which it was parted with. 
 
 And now, a word about the fourth volume. It is in fact almost 
 unfind able ; as only three or four copies are supposed to have sur- 
 vived the fire which consumed, not only the author’s MS. (with the 
 foregoing exception) but the whole of the impression after the third 
 sheet of the second alphabet had been struck off. These perished 
 with a great number of copies of the third volume 5 so that the first 
 two volumes of Rudbeck are often found (as in the Harleian Collec- 
 tion) without the third. My printer furnishes me with the following 
 notice from his interleaved De Bure : 
 
 te De Bure is certainly mistaken in asserting that there are no 
 printed copies of the 4th vol. of Rudbeck’s Atlantica. Mr. Dryan- 
 der has often seen the copy which is in the University Library a 
 Upsala, containing, as far as Mr. Dryander can remember, about 130 
 pages. In the library of the Academy of Sciences at Stockholm is 
 another copy, as may be seen from Rounadler’s Catalogue (of his 
 library given to the Academy) page 4, no. 48-52, where are the 
 1, 2, 3, volumes, and of the 4th, as much as has been printed — to- 
 gether with the plates in a fifth vol. Mr. Dryander has also been told 
 that one copy is in the possession of Professor Aurivilliers at Upsala, 
 and that one was in the library of the late Dr. Hawswolff, rector of 
 St. Clara in Stockholm, which was bought at the sale of his books, 
 either for some public library or some private person in Germany. 
 This accounts for four copies, which Mr. Dryander has been told to 
 be the only existing, and also that they do not all contain the same 
 number of sheets. In Upsala it is believed that the copy in the 
 public library there is the completestj but as Mr. Dryander has not 
 seen any of the others, he has no proof of it.” 
 
 Mr. Towneley’s fine c<*py, bound in five volumes,* in red morocco, 
 produced eighty guineas - } and I cannot suppose such a copy to be now 
 fallen in price. Mr. Grenville’s copy was obtained for a considerably 
 less sum, from the sale of Prince Palm’s library, at Ratisbon, in 1819. 
 
 There was a duplicate of the first volume, having no date- 
 
368 
 
 NORTHERN HISTORIES. 
 
 [Russia. 
 
 set of the peregrinations of De Bry. Happy is that 
 man, but happier yet that well-versed Bibliomaniac, 
 who, on pointing to his perfect Rudbeck, says, that 
 “his blood and treasure have not flowed in vain in 
 the acquisition of such an object.” Great conquests 
 can only be obtained by great expenditures. And so 
 he hastens to open his black-letter tomes, of which, in 
 all probability, he is unable to read one word of the 
 original text, however he may grapple with the Latin 
 version. I cannot in my heart help avowing that, the 
 printing and embellisments of this work are most pro- 
 vokingly repulsive. Yet I must not be supposed, to 
 raise the feeblest sound against its intrinsic worth. 
 
 RUSSIA. 
 
 The last and not the least of the Empires of the 
 North, whose history may be worth the sedulous at- 
 tention of the Student, is Russia : an Hercules in its 
 infancy. Of its strength and power in maturity, no 
 political foresight can venture to form any satisfactory 
 prediction. As an empire, influencing the destinies 
 of the other parts of Europe, its history scarcely ex- 
 tends beyond the last century ; although of the 
 Affairs of Muscovy we have a work of nearly three 
 hundred years standing. I allude to that of Sigis- 
 mund Baron of Herberstein ; which was succeeded, 
 in about half a century, by a Body of the Historians 
 of the same country.* 
 
 * Take the following account of these works. “ Sigismundi Liberi 
 Baronis in Herberstein rerum Muscoviticarum Commentarii Basil. 
 1656, folio. I find, however, a copy of this work of the date of 
 1551, in the catalogue of Dr. Heath’s library, no. 2537i where it is 
 said to contain <( cuts and a curious portrait of the first Russian King 
 
Russia.] 
 
 NORTHERN HISTORIES. 
 
 369 
 
 I am anxious, in this bibliographical sketch of 
 works bearing on Russia, that “ the Young Man 
 should, in the first place, provide himself with the 
 Atlas Russicus , published by the Imperial Academy 
 at Petersburg in 1743, which he may obtain for about 
 2 L 2s. ; and that he should afterwards study well the 
 works of D’Anville and the Marquis Gabriel de 
 Castelnau,* upon the ancient and modern histories 
 of this vast Empire. Let him then throw more than 
 
 who was converted to Christianity.” The copy was in antique bind- 
 ing, and was purchased by Mr. Evans for 21. 17 s. The Muscoviti- 
 carum Rerum Scriptores unum in corpus congesti, &c. curis Marnii & 
 Aubriiy" was published at Franckfort, in 1600, folio ; and Isaac Vos- 
 aius’s copy of this work was bought by the London Institution at Dr. 
 Heath’s sale for 195. 6d. To these let me here add a couple of lines 
 by noticing the work of Lasitzki de Russorum Muscovitarum Tar- 
 tar orum Religione et Ritibus , Spirae, 1582, 4to. : a rare book, and if 
 in sound condition, well worth a golden guinea.f 
 
 # Whatever D’Anville wrote, is worth purchasing and worth 
 reading. His work in question is styled : •• L' Empire de Russie , son 
 origine et ses accroissemens .” Paris, 1772, 12mo. The modern work 
 by the Marquis, bears this title : “ Essai sur Vhistoire ancienne et 
 moderne de la nouvelle Russie : Statistique des provinces qui la compo- 
 sent : Odessa , #c. Voyage en Crimfe. Paris, 1820, 8vo. 3 vols. — with 
 plates, II. Is. in boards. 
 
 i* In a sub-note, I may be allowed to whisper in the ear of the very curious Col- 
 lector, that one or two scarce books belong to the class of those which treat of the 
 Affairs of Muscovy. As this: “ Ulfeldii Legatio Moscoviticaf 4 to. Franc. 1608. 
 There is a striking similarity between the account given by this Author of the Tar- 
 tars and that drawn by Pallas in our own days ; which proves that the manners of 
 the Tartars had undergone very little variation in more than a century. Diarium 
 Itineris Moscovice magnif. Dom. Ignac. Christ, de Guarient, Sfc., anno 1678, descrip - 
 turn aJ • G. Korbio, a small thin folio. Vienna, 1700. This very rare book was 
 suppressed at the instigation of Peter the First, on account of the Anecdotes it con- 
 tains of the Russian Court. In his History of the Rebellion of the Strelitzes, the 
 Author informs us that the Czar beheaded eleven of the rebels in ten days with his 
 own hand! A copy of this work was sold at the sale of the Meerman library. A 
 copy is in his Majesty's collection, and in the libraries of Messrs. Heber, Hibbert, 
 and Beckford. 
 
 b b 
 
370 
 
 NORTHERN HISTORIES. 
 
 [Russia. 
 
 a cursory glance over the Description de toutes les 
 nations de V Empire de Russie, published in 1776, in 
 three quarto volumes ; and especially let him lose no 
 opportunity of securing a good and moderately priced 
 copy of a work — which perhaps may supersede all 
 previous similar works — entitled Histoire de la Russie 
 Ancienne et Moderne, par N. Gabr. Le Clerc, pub- 
 lished at Paris in 1783, in 6 vols. 4to., with an Atlas, 
 in folio.* He may then set to work in chronological 
 order ; and putting the pretty little Strawberry Hill 
 edition of Lord Whitworth’s Account of Russia , 
 in 1710, (printed in 1758, 12mo.) into his pocket, or 
 post chaise, as an out-of-door companion, he will sit 
 solidly and steadily down to General Manstein’s 
 Memoirs of Russia from 1727 to 1744 with Maps and 
 Plans, published in 1773,' f 4to. which will be found to 
 contain a great deal of valuable and correct infor- 
 mation. 
 
 We now reach the order of time in which the best 
 edition of Bell’s Travels from Pet ersburgh to diuerse 
 Parts of Asia , appeared ; namely, in 1763, 2 vols. 4to. 
 printed by the respectable family of the Foulises,J; and 
 about twenty years afterwards came out the Travels of 
 
 * The volumes above specified may be worth about 12s. each : but 
 I suspect a well bound copy of the latter work is not to be obtained 
 under 4 1. 14s. 6d. To such works add the following : Tableau his- 
 torique gtographique, militaire et naval , de la Russie, par D. de Ray- 
 mond, Paris , 1812, 8vo. 2 vols. Dictionnaire Geographique et His - 
 torique de V Empire des Russies, par Vsevolojskys, Moscou, 1813, 
 8vo. 2 vols. 
 
 t A copy of this work, bound in russia, was brought by Mr. 
 Payne at the sale of Dr. Heath’s library for ll. 11s. 6d. It is a long 
 time since I have met with a good copy of it. 
 
 I Dr. Heath’s copy of this work was bought by Sir Richard Bo- 
 rough for 2i. 12s. 6d. It is the best edition. 
 
371 
 
 Russia.] NORTHERN HISTORIES. 
 
 Mr. Archdeacon Coxe, in Poland and Russia, in 3 
 vols. 4to. 1784> with maps and cuts. But the splen- 
 dour and celebrity of all travels in Russia, performed 
 by Englishmen, has been exceeded by that of the late 
 and deeply lamented Dr. Edward Clarke — through 
 Russia , Tartary, and Turhey ; first published in 1810- 
 12, in four quarto volumes; and succeeded, till 
 within a short time of the author s death, by publica- 
 tions of other Travels in the Holy Land, Hungary, 
 and Bohemia* It is surely not too much to aver, 
 
 * Of works of such recent and general notoriety, it were perhaps 
 unnecessary to enter into any very elaborate detail : yet it is not less 
 honourable to the British public, than to the author’s memory, that, 
 within the comparatively short period of fourteen years, so many edi- 
 tions, in a quarto and octavo form, should have appeared of these 
 truly interesting travels. This fact is alone a test of their value. 
 The reader may be gratified with the following analysis : 
 
 VOLUME I. Russia, Tartary, Turkey. First Edition : 1810, 
 4to. Second Edition, 1811, 4to. Third Edition, 1813, 4to. Fourth 
 Edition, 1816, 8vo. 
 
 VOLUME II. Greece, Egypt, and the Holy Land. Section the 
 First. First Edition, 1812, 4to. Second Edition, 1813, 4to. Third 
 Edition, 1817., 8vo. 
 
 VOLUME III. The same Countries. Section the Second. First 
 Edition, 1813, 4to. Second Edition, 1817., 8vo. 
 
 VOLUME IV. The same Countries. Section the Third : to 
 which is added a Supplement, respecting the Author’s Journey from 
 Constantinople to Vienna, containing his Account of the Gold Mines 
 of Transylvania, in Hungary. First Edition, 1816, 4to. Second 
 Edition, 1818, 8vo. 
 
 VOLUME V. Denmark, Sweden, Lapland, Finland, Norway, 
 and Russia. Section the First. First Edition, 1819, 4to. 
 
 VOLUME VI. The same Countries. Section the Second. First 
 Edition, 1823, 4to. A review of this Second Section appeared in the 
 October Number, 1823, of the Edinburgh Review. All the preceding 
 volumes have been, I believe, elaborately and ably reviewed in both 
 the Edinburgh and Quarterly critical Journals. 
 
 Such are the works of the late lamented Dr. Edward Clarke. 
 
372 
 
 NORTHERN HISTORIES. 
 
 [Russia. 
 
 that few Travellers have obtained so large and so 
 general a reputation as Dr. Clarke. His style is easy 
 and perspicuous. His facts are striking, interesting, 
 and instructive : and if the matter contained in such 
 a formidable series of quartos might have received a 
 salutary compression, we must not lament that too 
 much, rather than too little, has been said upon sub- 
 jects, which had something more than the mere charm 
 of novelty to ensure them a popular reception. Scep- 
 ticism was up in arms about the contents of the first 
 
 Another volume, too closely connected with the preceding, is about 
 to be added : I mean, that of his Life, with posthumous disquisi- 
 tions, for which a large and liberal subscription has already been set 
 on foot. The Travels of Dr. Carke are published in a very unosten- 
 tatious manner, in respect to . paper, printing, and embellishments. 
 Each of these, considering the prices of the volumes, might have 
 been on an improved scale : nor am I quite satisfied with the large 
 paper, inasmuch as it should have presented us with a more decided 
 difference from the small. In the catalogue of Messrs. Harding, 
 Mavor, and Lepard, I observe a copy of the quarto impressions 
 (1810-15) on small paper, bound in crimson morocco, extra’’ (it 
 should have been dark green or dark blue morocco) marked at 
 twenty-five guineas. The octavo volumes are published at about 
 15s. each ; and eight volumes, in this form, including Russia, Tar- 
 tary, Greece, Egypt/and the Holy Land, are marked, in calf binding, 
 at 81. 8s. in the last catalogue of Messrs. I. and A. Arch. 
 
 But the name of Clarke will be for ever connected with ancient 
 classical Literature. His labours upon the tomb of Alexander, 
 and on the fragment of a colossal statue of Ceres (the latter pre- 
 sented by him to his own University, Cambridge) are learned and 
 ingenious $ yet, even higher honour is due to their author, by his 
 having procured a very important MS. of the Greek Rhetoricians, 
 now in the British Museum ; and the most precious MS. extant of 
 Plato : — a MS. over which Porson hung with rapture, and Mr. 
 Gaisford yet, indulges in visions of classical inspiration ! It is pre- 
 served in the Bodleian Library. Upon the whole, if Humbolt be the 
 first, Clarke is the second Traveller of his age. 
 
Russia*] 
 
 NORTHERN HISTORIES. 
 
 373 
 
 volume, which represented the Russ to be almost a 
 compound of fraud and filth ; and had the author 
 ventured to Petersburgh, while his text was fresh in 
 the memories of its inhabitants, he might have been re- 
 warded by a ducking in the waters of the Neva . Yet 
 when temporary prejudices, and temporary views and 
 interests shall have subsided, the name of Clarke will 
 be held in more than ordinary estimation by a grate- 
 ful posterity. If some facts and statements, in those 
 meritorious volumes to which his imperishable name 
 is affixed, appear to be distorted, or given upon loose 
 testimony — and doubtless much, in the earlier vo- 
 lumes, requires great qualification and correction — 
 there is on, the other hand, an abundance of matter, 
 which while it has been highly conducive to the best 
 interests of science, has displayed the keen and pene- 
 trating observation, the hardy enterprise, and the in- 
 vincible perseverance of the Author. That Dr. Clarke 
 will live, in the purest sense of the word, cannot be 
 doubted for an instant. 
 
 But among the works which treat of the History of 
 Russia, we must not omit those that relate to the 
 Lives or Memoirs of Peter the Great and Catharine 
 II . ; characters, equally extraordinary of their kind, 
 and under whose sceptres the Russian Empire may be 
 said to have attained a more formidable ascendancy 
 throughout Europe.*' Both French and English Me- 
 
 * Besides the celebrated work of Voltaire, upon the former — 
 which has been published in all forms and sizes, and of which the 
 popularity need not here be dwelt upon — the French have published 
 various works. Journal de Pierre le Grand , &c. Lond. 1773, Svo. 
 2 vols. Memoires , &c. by Sunannoi, Amst. 1740, 12mo. 5 vols. 
 Anecdotes Originates , Strasb. 1787., 8vo. But the most esteemed 
 work, (which is in German) is that of Re Halem, published at Mun- 
 
574 
 
 NORTHERN HISTORIES. 
 
 [Russia. 
 
 morialists have entered upon this fertile field; and 
 among ourselves, few, I believe, have been rewarded 
 by the reputation which has followed the labours of 
 the late Reverend Mr. William Tooke. Yet the 
 modern traveller, who, of all others, seems to have 
 exhausted the natural and civil history of Russia, is 
 Pallas ; a German, and worthy in all respects to be 
 classed among the most accurate describers of this 
 country. The French have been most active in ver- 
 sions of his text, and the pages of Brunet* supply a 
 rich harvest of the labours of that traveller’s pen. 
 
 It is yet possible that “ the Old man,” whose eyes 
 might be speedily wearied by looking into the greater 
 part of the preceding works, would be desirous of 
 turning over, in the calm leisure of country retirement, 
 a few of the more splendid and striking publications, 
 which display the manners, customs, and dress, of the 
 Russians. If this be the case, let him hasten to secure 
 the Histoire de Russie en figures , Paris , 1799, 4to. 3 
 vols. of which the celebrated David is the author; 
 and if the small and similar work of Breton, in eight 
 
 ster in 1803-5, 8vo. 3 vols. Of Catharine,, the Histoire , &c. by Cas- 
 tera, in 1800, 3 vols. : and the Memoir es secrets of Masson, Paris, 
 1800-3, 8 vo. 4 vols. are among the principal : while a French ver- 
 sion of Mr. Tooke’ sw ell known history of the srame extraordinary cha- 
 ter appeared at Paris in 1804, 8vo. in six vols. Mr. Tooke’s history 
 of Russia to the Succession of Catherine II., was published in two 
 octavo volumes. His reign of Catherine, in three octavo volumes. 
 These are in a constant state of republication — and are deserving of 
 all the reputation which they have acquired. The author was a long 
 resident, and a close observer of what he saw, at Petersburgh. 
 
 * Vql. iii. p. 6. I doubt whether a 10/. note would not put the 
 collector in possession of the principal works of Pallas. His tra- 
 vels into the Southern part of the Russian Empire were translated 
 into our tongue ; Loud. 1802-12: 2 vols, 4to. 
 
Russia.] 
 
 NORTHERN HISTORIES. 
 
 375 
 
 octodecimo volumes, published in 1813, be deemed 
 insufficient, there can be no doubt of the satisfaction 
 to be derived from the larger volumes of Hempel and 
 Houbigant* Of other similar works, now in progress, 
 the enumeration would unnecessarily occupy too large 
 a portion of these pages. 
 
 * The work of the former author came out in a grand quarto vo- 
 lume, in 1805, at Leipsic j and is called Tableaux Pittoresques des 
 Mceurs, des Usages , &c. des Russes. But Hempel published another 
 work, called Description de tous les Peuples qui sont sous la domina- 
 tion d' Alexandre I. Paris , 4 to. But a yet more splendid work, of a 
 description similar to the first, was published in London in three folio 
 volumes and at Paris, (“ Les Peuples de la Russie ,”) 1812, in two 
 folio volumes. Houbigant's work came out in 1817* folio, under the 
 title of <c Mceurs et Costumes des Russes Yet this list comprises 
 scarcely a third part of such publications : but enough, and perhaps 
 more than enough, has been said for the accommodation of the gene- 
 rality of purses ! 
 
[ 376 ] 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 It is reported of an Indian, while incautiously 
 gliding in his canoe, towards the rapids which are 
 within a short distance of the falls of Niagara, that 
 finding himself within the irresistible vortex of those 
 falls, he ceased making any efforts of resistance: 
 but, placing his paddle by the side of him, within 
 his little bark, and lying on his back, he quietly 
 awaited the fate which it was impossible to escape : — 
 and was precipitated into eternity . . . down the cen- 
 tral horse-shoe fall.* The author of this work is not 
 
 * The “ horse- shoe fall ” is the greater of the two falls of the river 
 Niagara, and is on the British or Canadian side of it. It is advan- 
 tageously seen from two points of view : the one, from Goat Island, 
 a small piece of cultivated land, which separates the two falls — and 
 the other, from the Table Rock, projecting about fifty feet on the 
 Canadian shore— and immediately commanding a view of both falls, 
 and of the Rapids ; but more particularly of the great horse-shoe, or 
 semicircular fall — which is about 600 yards across, and about one 
 hundred and fifty feet deep. The arch, made by the latter fall, is 
 about fifty feet from the perpendicular base j and under this arch, the 
 hardy traveller frequently ventures — stunned, as if all the guns, fired 
 at the battle of Trafalgar, were discharged at the same moment. The 
 fall, on the American side, to the left of Goat island, is comparatively 
 perpendicular, gaining somewhat in height what it loses in width : 
 being only 300 yards across, but one hundred and sixty-four feet 
 high. Here is therefore a body of water — in short, a huge river — 
 of half a mile in width, precipitating itself into a channel, or stream, 
 which is discharged in the Lake Ontario. But the greater, or horse- 
 shoe fall, is the more tremendous object ; in the description of which 
 travellers seem to exhaust all their powers of comparison and ex- 
 pression. 
 
VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 37 ? 
 
 very unlike the Indian in question . . in regard to being 
 propelled by an irresistible bibliographical impulse. 
 History^ Voyages, and Travels, are so closely con- 
 nected, that it is impossible to avoid the two latter in 
 the enumeration of the chief treasures of the former . . 
 and accordingly I find myself inevitably, but safely and 
 pleasantly, I trust, borne down those rapids that pre- 
 cipitate themselves into the mighty ocean which en- 
 
 I know of no one description, however, which exceeds, for liveli- 
 ness, spirit, and propriety of colouring , that which was furnished me 
 by a female friend, last summer, immediately after visiting the spot. 
 I should previously observe, that the Rapids, in their obviously de- 
 scending, and more tremendous, force (and into which the poor 
 Indian’s canoe, above-mentioned, was precipitated) are about fifty 
 feet above the edge of the falls ; so that, the whole body of descend- 
 ing water may be said to be about 210 feet high. Its immense width 
 takes away even from this height. But, for the description just 
 alluded to : “I wish I could convey to you, (says my friend) a slight 
 idea of this magnificent scene : which no description that I have 
 read, nor view that I have seen, comes up to — even slightly. Never 
 can I forget the deep, solemn, tide of the fall, clear as chrystal, and 
 green as the chrysolite — broken with white feathery foam, sweep- 
 ing through its channel of rocks, with a sullen dignity of sound and 
 motion far beyond any thing I could ever have conceived. A sight of 
 the Rapids themselves was worth all the fatigues of our journey. 
 They come dashing along from above, in frightful confusion, to the 
 brink of the precipice — where they are absorbed in a deep, slow, 
 solemn tide (just mentioned) which disguises its rapidity by the dig- 
 nity of its sound and motion. Then again, this most wonderful fall 
 of transparent water is feathered with broken foam, which flies off, 
 like jets of snow-white water, discharged from the conch of a Triton 
 — sparkling in the sun, with a brilliance beyond description — and 
 magically harmonising with the prismatic colours from the rising 
 spray below. Here I saw, what I had never seen before, and could 
 never have dreamt to see : the rainbow above, reflected in the water 
 below, and united in a perfect circle. We stood entranced !’’ And 
 so I think will the reader sit entranced — in realising such a scene in 
 his imagination. 
 
VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 3?S 
 
 circles the globe, and which sustained the vessels of 
 Columbus, Vasco de Gama, Cook and Perouse. 
 
 And here, ere I am launched into such an intermin- 
 able ocean, let me say a word or two of comfort and 
 encouragement to both “ young” and “ old.” The 
 theme to be touched is full of interest. The books 
 which relate to Voyages and Travels are among the 
 most precious and instructive in our Libraries. I 
 speak, of course, of well authenticated Travels ; and 
 not of such stuff as the fictions of Psalmanazar, and 
 the fabrications of Damberger. Within the precincts 
 of his library, the Collector of Voyages and Travels 
 makes himself acquainted with all countries, climates, 
 and characters. The sea always carries him to his 
 destined port in safety ; and the land is always secure 
 from banditti. He sits “in his easy chair, 5 ’ and asso- 
 ciates with warriors, legislators, philosophers, or sa- 
 vages ; he now scales the perilous height, and now 
 traverses the parched plain with equal impunity. To 
 him, the wild beast of the forest, and the reptile of 
 the desert, is equally innocuous. Nor do physical 
 causes present either harm or impediment. The 
 snows of the Alps and the Andes, and the fires of 
 Vesuvius and /Etna, neither freeze his blood nor 
 scorch his skin. He knows not hunger or thirst : 
 although hundreds of his fellow-creatures are perish- 
 ing from both causes. If it be the season of winter, 
 he draws close his crimson curtain, stirs his wood- 
 coal fire, trims his lamp, sinks upon his couch — and 
 throws himself into sunny regions, where the lime, 
 and tamarind, and pomegranate, yield their refresh- 
 ing juices. Or, should summer dart its heat upon his 
 head, he seeks the northern arbour of his garden ; and 
 cool, beneath the mixed foliage of the holly, and ivy, 
 
VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 379 
 
 and clematis —over the whole of which the woodbine 
 throws its sweet-scented tendrils — he spreads his 
 folio or his quarto upon the rustic table ; now gazes 
 upon the highly wrought plates, and now buckles 
 himself to the uninterrupted perusal of the instructive 
 text. Jn such a recess, he is cooled by the fancied 
 breezes of Kamtschatka or Spitsbergen ; and thus, 
 turning over the pages of Cook or Parry, the hours 
 steal away, and the sun is sinking low in the horizon. 
 But, whether winter or summer, the volumes of Hak- 
 luyt and of Purchas will never fail to afford an inex- 
 haustible fund of amusement. 
 
 I am, however, running a little riot, (“ I own the 
 glorious subject fires my breast !”) and am anticipating 
 names which should come in the chronological order 
 of detail. But, let the observation be strictly attended 
 to, that my object is far indeed from giving any thing 
 like a complete or analysed Catalogue of Books of 
 Travels. On the contrary, I shall only speak of Col- 
 lections of Voyages, and of the principal Voyages 
 and Travels which relate to the three great quarters 
 of the globe, Asia, Africa, and America. In the two 
 former, the recent labours of Mr. Murray* have ren^ 
 dered me an incalculable service. 
 
 * Historical Account of Discoveries and Travels in Africa, from 
 the earliest ages to the present time. By Hugh Murray, F. R. S. E. 
 ISIS, 8vo. 2 vols. Second edition. Historical Account of Discoveries 
 and Travels in Asia, from the earliest ages to the present time. By the 
 Same, 1820, 8vo. 3 vols. I strongly recommend these five octavo 
 volumes to a place in every library, professedly devoted to Voyages 
 and Travels, or not. They are reasonable in price, accompanied by 
 useful maps, and the text is a fund of amusement and instruction. 
 No gentleman should have his few score volumes in the country, 
 without such delightful companions. Bekman put forth a pretty and 
 instructive work, on a similar plan, in the German language, in one 
 
380 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 Let me, therefore, begin with the notice of the 
 shorter Voyages of the Portuguese,* the Fathers of 
 Adventure and Discovery. The Italians quickly imi- 
 tated their examples, and almost rivalled their glory. 
 The names of Columbus and Vesputius^ are among 
 
 octavo volume, 1806; and the Bibliotheque Universelle des Voyages, 
 of Boucher de la Richarderie, in six octavo volumes, Paris, 1808, 
 cannot fail to be consulted, both as an amusing and instructive work. 
 Peignot, in his Rep. Bibliog. Universel, 1812, 8vo. p. 478, has given a 
 concise and correct analysis of the contents of these volumes. 
 
 * Among these shorter voyages, there is an early publication, en- 
 titled, “ Gesta pr oxime per Portugalenses in India, &c.” Roma, 1506, 
 4to. printed by Besicken. It has only six leaves. A copy of it is in 
 the very curious library of Mr. Grenville, and its possessor knows of 
 no other copy, except that in the library of the Royal Society. The 
 facts which it relates, took place only a few months before the publi- 
 cation of the volume. Mr. Grenville’s copy, brilliantly bound, by 
 Charles Lewis, in red morocco, is as fresh and fair as the earliest 
 blown summer rose. Another work, relating to the same Portu- 
 guese travellers, was published at Milan, in the Italian language, in 
 1507, 4to. under the title of “ Paesi novamente ritrovati which 
 again was translated by Madrignanus, under the title of Itinerarium 
 Portugallensium in Indiam et inde in Occidentem .” (Milan) 1508, 4to. 
 Both editions are in Mr. Grenville’s library. 
 
 + The earliest performance connected with the travels of Albe- 
 ricus or Americus Vesputius, appeared in a small 4to. volume, 
 published in the Latin language, without date, (but somewhere 
 about 1501), in a series of letters to Lorenzo de’ Medici, the son of 
 Pietro Francisco, u Quae editio (says Meuselius, with a note of admi- 
 ration) perrara,” Bibl. Hist. vol. iii. p. 265. It is so indeed— and was 
 speedily translated and published in the Italian language. This first 
 Latin edition contains six leaves only, on signature a; having the 
 device of Iehan Lambert (the word Felix’’ between two monkies) 
 in the frontispiece or title-page. In the first page of the text, we 
 find that ff the voyage was prosperously commenced, on the 14th of 
 May, 1501, along the Fortunate Islands, now called the Canaries; 
 then they coasted along the African and ^Ethiopian shores as far as 
 the promontory of Ptolemy, now called Cape Vcrd,” &c. There was 
 
VOYAGES AND TRAVELS, 
 
 381 
 
 the most splendid of those of modern renown. Voy- 
 ages continued to be made, and publications of them 
 to appear, till Ramusio, about the middle of the six- 
 teenth century, put forth his memorable Navigation i 
 et Viaggi , in tre volume divise ; a work, of which the 
 best edition, in 1563, &c.* will be found to be among 
 
 an early French version, of the date of 1516, 4to. called “ Le Nou- 
 veau Monde d’Americ de Vqppuce of which Mathurin du Redouet 
 was the translator, and for a copy of which I find my friend Mr. 
 Heber giving the unaccountable sum of 10 Z. at the sale of the Merly 
 Library. Both editions are in Mr. Grenville’s library ; but the first 
 Latin is so rare, that it may be doubted whether a second copy be in 
 England. There is one in the Royal Library in France. 
 
 * In the instructive pages of Niceron ( Memoir es pour servir a VHi$~ 
 tone des Hommes IllustresJ vol. xxxv. p. 97—139, will be found a 
 good account of the contents of the Collection of Voyages put forth 
 by the celebrated John Baptist Ramusio : a man, who, to the dex- 
 terity of a diplomatist, added the hardihood of an adventurer, and 
 the taste of a scholar : and was especially skilled in the French and 
 Spanish languages. He served the Republic of Venice forty-three 
 years 3 and retired to Padua, in the privacy of old age, to profit him- 
 self of his past experience, and to collect his notices of past travels. 
 His collection, enough (as Niceron says, very properly) to immorta- 
 lise his name, formed the amusement of his old age. He died in 
 1557* in his 72 d year. The first volume of his Collections appeared 
 in 1553, the last in 1588. According to Brunet, we should purchase 
 the first volume of the edition of 1563 or 1588 : the second volume 
 of that of 1583 $ and the third of that of 1565. To this third vo- 
 lume, should be added a portion of the edition of 1606— p. 386 — 
 430, containing the Viaggio de M. Cesare de Fredeiici nelV India- 
 orientale : Fine and perfect copies of Ramusio are of rare occurrence. 
 The work is handsomely printed in the Giunti Office j and a fine 
 copy of it, at the sale of Colonel Stanley’s library, was purchased by 
 Lord Morpeth for 24 1. An inferior copy, at the Merly sale, was ob- 
 tained for Si. It is not usually found in the catalogues of our book- 
 sellers j and I search in vain those so frequently mentioned in the 
 course of these pages. Mr. Bohn has a copy of the first volume of 
 the edition of 1563, and of the third of that of 1606, (but not 
 
382 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [Collections. 
 
 the most valuable acquisitions to a library of any 
 pretension to a Collection of Voyages and Travels. 
 But the celebrity of all previous, if not of all succeed- 
 ing similar collections, was eclipsed by that of Theo- 
 dore de Bry, and his Sons* — well known under the 
 title of the Greater and Lesser Voyages : and of which 
 the first volume appeared at Franckfort on the Main, 
 in 1590, and the last in 1634. 
 
 But what a bibliographical chord am I striking, in 
 the mention of the Travels of De Bry ! What a 
 “ Peregrination ’ does the possession of a copy of his 
 labours imply ! What toil, difficulty, perplexity, anx- 
 iety, and vexation, attend the collector — be he “young” 
 or “ old” — who sets his heart upon a perfect De 
 Bry I'f How many have started forward on this pur- 
 
 containing the voyage of Caesar Frederick) marked at the reasonable 
 sum of 1/. 5s. 
 
 * It is a pity that more is not known of Theodore de Bry, and 
 his Sons. They appear to have been men of considerable, if not of 
 first rate, talents ; while their diligence, enterprise, and love of art, 
 entitle them to the gratitude of posterity. Theodore, a native of 
 Franckfort on the Main, was born in 1528, and died in 1598. The 
 excellence of his burin lay chiefly in his smaller figures 5 although 
 the frontispiece to the Grands Voyages, which represents them com- 
 paratively large, (but not of the largest size) is an admirable perform- 
 ance of its kind. I suspect Theodore de Bry to have usually im- 
 proved his subjects, as his figures are tall and graceful, and executed 
 with remarkable facility, if not force. His Adam and Eve, in the 
 Voyage to Virginia, is however full of contortion and conceit. A 
 book of travels, of the same extent, executed now , in the style of 
 De Bry’s smaller figures, would, indeed, be a delicious performance : 
 but aquatint and lithography have extended their baneful influence 
 over almost every similar production. 
 
 t Such “ a perfect copy'’ — and indeed more than a perfect one— 
 was, for two successive days, ee sub oculis manibusque,” in the fine 
 library of the Right Honourable Thomas Grenville — above alluded 
 
Collections.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 383 
 
 suit, with gay spirits and well replenished purses, but 
 have turned from it in despair, and abandoned it 
 
 to. How is the reader to be made acquainted with this copy ! I can 
 only impart to him its leading features, which renders a consulta- 
 tion of De Bure, Brunet and Camus, almost unnecessary. But a word 
 or two by way of introductory remark. The Collection of De Bry 
 consists of Travels in the East and West Indies, put forth in twenty- 
 five folio parts, between the year 1590 and 1634, inclusively. This 
 Collection is divided into the Great and Small Voyages ; and each 
 of these Voyages has appeared in two editions, in the Latin and 
 German languages. The first voyage to Virginia , has been published 
 in the English language; and a perfect copy of this English Version 
 is, as the reader will presently find, the very rarest of all the parts; 
 and it is extraordinary that Brunet does not notice this part, however 
 briefly — although he says that he has seen the first part of a French 
 edition , which was probably never continued. The Great Voyages 
 (or those parts which were published in a larger folio size) relate to 
 the West Indies : the Small Voyages (put forth in a smaller form) to 
 the East. And now, for <e a true and particular” account of the un- 
 rivalled copy of Mr. Grenville. First, by way of precis or sum- 
 mary — almost in the words of its deserving possessor : 
 
 This copy of De Bry was originally formed by Debure, at Paris, 
 in eight volumes, which that bibliographer considered a perfect 
 copyf Since Mr. Grenville purchased it, he has spared no expense 
 in procuring, from a variety of other copies, whatever the M6moire 
 of Camus , or his own observation, could supply, to render it more 
 perfect; insomuch that the XX. volumes, of which it is now com- 
 posed, have cost several hundred pounds. It has the first part to Vir- 
 
 t It was, in fact, the copy which had belonged to Mr. Willett, and which Messrs. 
 J. and A. Arch purchased at the sale of the Merly Library, in 1813, for 126/. It 
 contained ten leaves of Elenchus, supposed to have been a fac-simile of those pub- 
 lished by Merian y in 1634 — but which turned out to be the original ; and the pur- 
 chasers being fortunate enough to obtain many other pieces, wanting in this copy, 
 sold it, in such improved state, to Mr. Grenville, for 240/. This copy, therefore, 
 so improved, formed only the basis of Mr. Grenville’s. 
 
 Let me here note, of Merian’s reprint of the first nine parts of the Latin edition 
 of the Grands Voyages, that the most beautiful copy, perhaps, ever brought into 
 the market, was that lately procured by Mr. Triphook, in original boards of wood, 
 with stamped leather. I know not who is its present fortunate owner. 
 
384 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [Collections. 
 
 in utter hopelessness of achievement ! Nor can this 
 prize* like that of beauty, he held out as a reward for 
 
 ginia, in English, the only perfect copy that Mr. Grenville has ever 
 seen, and which is so rare, that it is not among the many volumes 
 of De Bry in the Royal Library at Paris, nor was it known to De 
 Bure, to Camus, or to any of the French bibliographers. This copy 
 of Debry has the first and the second edition, with all the varieties, 
 quoted by De Bure or Camus, of the Grands et Petits Voyages in 
 Latin : both editions of the Elenchus : the rare frontispiece of part 
 VI. of Gr. Voy. : the two small maps, never seen by Camus, in 
 Part VIII. Gr. Voy.: the Appendix to Congo : the Arctic map, in 
 Part III. Pet. Voy, : an additional map of Egypt and Africa, in Part 
 IV. Pet. Voy.: the three Variations of Dedications, in Part VII. 
 Pet. Voy.: the two different Frontispieces of Part IX. Pet. Voy.: 
 together with the plates of St. Helena and Mozambique , noticed by 
 Camus, but unknown to De Bure, and the very rare true plate 7, of 
 Part. II. Pet. Voy. 
 
 It has the German edition of the Gr. et Pet. Voy. the copy of 
 which had belonged to Prince Palm, and was purchased at a 
 sale at Ratisbon in 1819, and is now of extreme rarity, even in 
 Germany. No other copy of it is known in France, but that in the 
 Royal Library at Paris 3 nor is there a second copy in England, that 
 Mr. Grenville has ever heard of. This copy has four books of the 
 Gr. Voy . of the first German edition, while the Paris library has 
 them only of the second or third edition. On the other hand, the 
 Paris library has the German Appendix to Congo , and the Abridge- 
 ment of the Gr. Voy. 3 not in Mr. Grenville’s copy 5 who has added 
 to his 20 volumes, De Bry’s Casas , which should, as Camus remarks, 
 have entered into his Collection. 
 
 Secondly, for the contents, or dates of the respective parts : 
 
 vol. Grands Voyages. Lat. Edit. Prima. 
 
 I. Briefe and true Report of Virginia. Discovered by Sir Richard 
 Greneuile, Knightj in the yeare 1585, &c. &c. made in 
 English by Thomas Harlot , seruant to Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 Francof. ad Moen. Typ. S. Wechel , Sumt. T. De Bry , 1590, 
 folio. This copy was procured from Franckfort by Lord 
 Oxford, about the year 1740, at the expense of 100Z. 3 and 
 was probably in the set of De Bry in the Harl. Cat . vol. iii. 
 
Collections.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 385 
 
 “ the brave.” Good fortune, good luck, accident — 
 call it what you will— are the concomitants of such 
 
 n°. 2694. It is the only perfect copy Mr. Grenville ever heard 
 of. He had before possessed two imperfect fragments of it. 
 A third perfect copy of this very rare book was sold at the sale 
 of Mr. Nassau’s library, in 1823, for precisely the same sum 
 (100 l.) which was given by Lord Oxford for his copy. The 
 engravings are sharp and brilliant. The prints (xxiii) are 
 numbered : but there is one of Adam and Eve (followed by 
 an address to the gentle reader*) not numbered, which pre- 
 cedes the others. It may be as well to state, that there are 
 also five plates of Piets incorporated with the text. At the end 
 is the imprint, thus — At Franckfort, Imprinted by John 
 Wechel , at Theodore de Bry , owne coast and chardges,” 
 
 II. Parsi. 1590: ii. 1591: iii. 1593, with Elenchus, 1634. Ed. 
 
 Prin. Lat. 
 
 III. Duplicate of pt. ii. 1591. 
 
 IV. Parsiv. 1594 : v. 1595: vi. 1596. 
 
 V. Pars vii. 1599 : viii. 1599 : ix. 1602. 
 
 VI. Parsx. 1609: xi. 1619: xii. 1624. 
 
 VII. Pars xiii. 1634. 
 
 Grands Voyages. Lat. Edit . Sec. 
 
 VIII. Pars i. Elenchus reprint, 1634 : ii. 1591: iii. 1592: iv. 
 1594: v, 1595. 
 
 * De Bry thus notices his helps, in this Address : — By the helpe of Maister 
 Richard Hakluyt, of Oxford, Minister of God’s Word, who first encouraged me 
 to publish the work, I creauedout of the verye original of Maister Ihon White, 
 an Englisch paynter, who was sent into the countrye by the queene’s Maiestye, 
 onlye to draw the description of the place, lyuelye to describe the shapes of the 
 inhabitants, their apparell, manners of liuinge, and fashions, att the speciall charges 
 of the worthy knyglite. Sir Walter Ralegh, who bestowed noe small sume of 
 monnye in the serche and discouery of that countrye, from the yeers 1584, to the 
 
 end of the years 1588 - 
 
 I craeued both of them in London, and brought them hither to Franckfurt, wher I 
 and my sonnes hauen taken ernest paynes in grauinge the pictures therof on Cop- 
 per seeing yt is of noe small importance.” After talking of the “ contrefaict” of 
 “ this his book,” he warns the reader to give no credit to it— adding, “For 
 dyuers secret marks lye hiddin in my pictures, which will breede confusion unless 
 they bee well observed. 
 
 C C 
 
386 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [Collections* 
 
 an acquisition. And what will the sceptical reader 
 say, when I inform him, that neither the pages of De 
 
 VOL. 
 
 IX. Pars vi. 1596 : vii. 1599 : viii. 1599 : ix. 1602. 
 
 X. Nar ratio per Episcopum Casaum, Franco/. 159S. 
 
 Petites Voyages. Lat. Edit. prin. 
 
 XI. Pars i. 15^8 (Congo) : ii. 1599 : iii. 1601. 
 
 XII. Pars iv. 1601 : v. 1601 : vi. 1604 : vii. 1606. 
 
 XIII. Pars viii. 1607 : ix. 1612 : x. 1613 : xi. 1619 : xii. 1628. 
 
 Petits Voy. Edit. Sec. Lat. 
 
 XIV. Pars i. 1598: ii. 1599 : iii. 1601 : iv. 1601 : v. 1601. 
 
 XV. Pars vi. 1604 : vii. 1606 : viii. 1607 : ix. 1612. x. 1613. 
 
 Grands Voyages. Germanic'S. 
 
 XVI. Virginia. Duplicate, 1590. 
 
 Same frontispiece as the English. It is so rare, that Camus, p. 17, 
 says he never saw it : neither is it in the De Bry in the Royal Li- 
 brary at Paris. Although Mr. Grenville has another copy quite 
 perfect, he preserves this, which is imperfect, wanting several of the 
 plates. 
 
 XVII. Part i. 1590: ii. 1591: iii. 1593: iv. 1594:* v. 1595: 
 vi. 1619: vii. 1617: viii. 1624. 
 
 XVIII. Part ix. 1600: x. 1618: xi. 1619: xii. 1623: xiii. 1627: 
 xiv. 1630. 
 
 Petits Voyages. Germ. 
 
 XIX. Part i. Congo. 1597: ii. 1598: iii. 1599: iv. 1600: 
 v. 1601 : vi. 1603. 
 
 XX. Part vii. 1605 : viii. 1606 : ix. 1612 : x. 1613 : xi. 1618: 
 xii. 1628 : xiii. 1628. 
 
 Abridgement of Petits Voy. Germ. 
 
 XXI. Orientalische Indien. Fitzer, Frankfurt, 1628. 
 
 Camus’s Memoire upon De Bry and Thevenot, is bound to form a 
 twenty-first volume. 
 
 Such is the account of a copy, which has no compeer, and which 
 is hardly ever likely to find one. In each of the volumes of this 
 
 * Nothing more rare than the first edition of these four parts. 
 
Collections.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 387 
 
 Bure nor Camus initiate him into all the mysteries of 
 a perfect copy of De Bry ? No ; it is only in the book- 
 
 copy, bound uniformly in blue morocco, by C. Lewis, there is a no- 
 tice, by Mr. Grenville, of the prominent features of its rarity. What 
 then shall be the value assigned to it, I will not pretend to divine. 
 But if the reader will take the trouble to consult Brunet, vol. i. p. 
 291, he will find notices of the value of some of the copies sold 
 abroad •, and if he will take the further trouble to consult the Biblio~ 
 graphical Decameron , vol. iii. p. 81, he will find mention made of the 
 sale of Colonel Stanley’s copy, purchased by the Duke of Devonshire 
 for 546J. That copy, brilliant and extraordinary as it was, was chiefly 
 remarkable for “ the profusion of duplicate plates and parts,” and 
 for the general splendour of the impressions : but it had, and has, 
 no pretensions to be placed alongside of Mr. Grenville’s copy. Ah, 
 it makes one’s heart rejoice to think of the “ good old times,’* the 
 golden days of the Bibliomania — when Colonel Stanley’s copy was 
 sold ! — days, I fear, which are gone never to return. Ramusio, De 
 Bry, Hakluyt, and Purchas — Caxton, De Worde, Pynson, and Wil- 
 liam Faques — were then contemplated and caressed, as their beau- 
 ties and merits entitled them to be ! 
 
 Yet, soberly and dispassionately speaking, I do not look upon the 
 volumes of De Bry, from beginning to end, as a work of either per- 
 fect beauty or interest. The paper is indifferent ; the printing is in- 
 different 5 and the inequality of the art is obvious : and when, as in 
 the case of the five prints of the Piets, subjoined to the Virginia, we 
 are told that De Bry engraved them from some “ cuts out of an old 
 Chronicle,” sent to him by John White, the English painter, a very 
 reasonable scepticism may be exercised in regard to the fidelity of 
 that , and of other portions of the graphic embellishments. But, under 
 all circumstances, the “ Peregrinations” put forth by De Bry, form 
 a wonderful and a highly covetable performance. I could have no- 
 ticed several other copies, more or less perfect : as the fine one (in- 
 complete) in the library at Blickling, in Norfolk, from the Bibl. 
 Ouilleniana ; and that, supposed to be perfect, which was recently 
 sold at Fonthill Abbey for 200 guineas — bound in blue morocco. 
 This was, I believe, the copy of Mons. Paris de Meyzieux, and was 
 sold in this country to Mr. Beckford, in 1790, for the same sum. The 
 reader may consult the Bibliomania , p. 547. At Althorp there is a 
 
388 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [Collections. 
 
 fairyland of Cleveland Square that such a treasure can 
 be found. 
 
 All hail to thee, Richard Hakluyt ! for thou wert 
 a genius of no ordinary complexion. What, though the 
 warmth of a prebendal stall in the Abbey of West- 
 minster might have comforted thy limbs, and thy 
 clerical duties in the rural shades of Wetheringset 
 have occupied much of thy time, yet, behold this meri- 
 torious Divine stealing, “ many a time and oft,” to 
 the then picturesque vicinity of Wap-ping : — holding 
 discourse with sea-faring men ; listening, with willing 
 and greedy ears, to tales of adventure and high ex- 
 ploit ; feeling the passion for visiting distant parts 
 increasing daily within him ; and, influenced by the 
 secret advice and urgent entreaty of that wise Minis- 
 ter Walsingham,* gratifying this passion, in the col- 
 
 beautiful copy, in 13 vols. in blue morocco binding, with the true 
 Elenchus, and the Appendix to the Voyage to Congo. 
 
 * “ But that which is chiefly to be noticed in him [Hakluyt] is 
 this, that his geny urging him to the study of history, especially to 
 the marine part thereof (which was encouraged and furthered by Sir 
 Francis Walsingham) made him keep constant intelligence with the 
 most noted seamen at Wapping, near London. From whom, and 
 many small pamphlets and letters, that were published and went 
 from hand to hand in his time, concerning the voyages and travels of 
 several persons, he compiled his Navigations , ftc.’’ Hakluyt had 
 the fourth stall in the church of Westminster, in the place of one 
 Dr. Richard Webster : and with this he held Wetheringsett cum 
 Blockford, in the diocese of Norwich.’’ Wood : Athen. Oxon. vol. ii. 
 col. 186, Edit. Bliss. I refer to this work for a few scarce pieces of 
 Hakluyt, mentioned by Dr. Bliss, which were unknown to Wood. 
 Among these, is the rare little quarto tract of Dwers Voyages 
 touching the Discoveries of America , &c. printed in 1582 : of which I 
 know of no other copy than that in the collection of my neighbour, 
 Henry Jadis, Esq. who would brave all intervening perils between 
 Indus and the Pole” to possess himself of any rarity connected with 
 
Collections.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 389 
 
 lection of scarce and curious tracts, and in obtaining 
 accurate notices relating to the growth and produce 
 “ of either Ind.” The reader will already (in this very 
 strange and perhaps raphsodical apostrophe) antici- 
 pate a strong allusion to, and recommendation of, the 
 famous “ Navigations , Voyages, Tr a ffiques, and Disco- 
 veries of the English Nation,” put forth by the said 
 antiquarian divine, in the years 1598 and 1600, in 
 three folio volumes ; “ a work which, as Oldys* pro- 
 
 Hakluyt. This precious little tome, which ought to possess two 
 mappes,” has not the name of Hakluyt in the title-page, but the 
 initials R. H. appear on the recto of g 4, at the end of a dedicatory 
 epistle to the (< right worshipfull and most vertuous Gentleman 
 master Phillip Sydney, Esquire.” The signatures run A to R in 
 fours. In the title page the name of Woodcocke appears as the printer 
 —but on the reverse of R 4, it is said to be imprinted by Dawson . f 
 * See his British Librarian : p 137 — 158: where fifty pages are 
 devoted to a minute and admirable analysis of the above volumes of 
 Hakluyt. They were preceded, however, by an impression of the 
 first volume only of the second edition, put forth in 1589, folio: 
 which has the advantage of an Index, but differs materially from the 
 second and best ; and is neither rare nor high priced. It is how- 
 ever, if my memory be not treacherous, a handsomely printed book. 
 The three folios display one of the fullest pages ever seen in the 
 black letter : and copies are usually cropt. I never saw it uncut. 
 Care should be taken that the map (usually missing) be found in the 
 first volume, as in Mr. Jadis’s copy and that the ^ Voyage to Cadiz 
 
 f The latter part of this curious volume contains instructions of what should be 
 carried abroad ; and after those for the body, come those for the mind : and espe- 
 cially certain Books. Among those, he recommends Ortelius's maps — and two 
 maps, one of England, the other of London : in the latter, he advises the river to 
 be represented as if it were thronged with ships , u to make the more shew of your 
 greate trade and trafficke,” &c. Hakluyt also recommends a book of the Attire of 
 all Nations , as a present : — also the new Herb all, and such bookes as make shew 
 of Herbes, Plantes, Trees, Fishes, Foules, and Beastes of all Regions.” — Again— 
 u to astonish the natives” — “ Copper spurres and haukes bells.” 
 
 X In the previous edition, I had erroneously assigned the map to Mr. Grenville’s 
 copy- whereas it is the lucky adjunct of Mr. Jadis’s copy in both editions : and 
 
S90 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [Collections. 
 
 perly remarks, redounds as much to the glory of the 
 English nation, as any book that ever was published 
 in it.” But great and generally uniform as may be 
 my respect and veneration for all original editions — 
 like this, in the black letter— I cannot, conscientiously, 
 recommend the edition just mentioned, in preference 
 to that put forth some dozen years ago, by Mr. Evans,* 
 
 De there also. I find a copy of this best black letter edition, “ with 
 the addition of the smaller voyages, 4 vols. bound in 3, bound in 
 calf,’’ marked at 10/. 10s. in the last catalogue of Messrs. I. and A. 
 Arch. 
 
 f The complaint, urged by Oldys, respecting the lack of spirit in 
 not republishing Hakluyt “ in a fair impression, with proper illustra- 
 tions, and especially an Index” — can no longer be brought forward. 
 Mr. Evans has republished it, in five comely quarto volumes, and 
 his reimpression has the following advantages. It comprises an ac- 
 curate reprint of the best folio edition, with the addition of those 
 voyages which were published in the first edition, and omitted in the 
 second. Mr. Evans (who is generally understood to have been the 
 editor) has added a Supplement, which forms the latter half of the 
 fourth and the whole of the fifth volume. All the voyages and 1 tra- 
 vels printed by Hakluyt, or at his suggestion, subsequent to the pub- 
 lication of his Collection, are here included, and a curious Tract ,from 
 a manuscript in the Marquis of Stafford’s possession, entitled “ The 
 Omission of Cales Voyage, stated and discussed by the Earl of 
 Essex.’’ 
 
 Of this reimpression there were only 250 copies printed on small 
 paper, and 75 on large. I believe that both forms are now become 
 scarce, especially the large : although I observe a copy of the latter 
 marked at 12/. 12 s. } in boards, in a recent catalogue of Messrs I. and 
 
 perhaps no such copies, even in other respects, are to be found. In the first edition 
 of 1589, the impression of this map is bright, strong, and distinct: preceding the. 
 first page of the text. In the second edition, and inserted in the same place, it is 
 faded and worn : and just below the northern point, there is an inscription, relating 
 to Drake’s Voyage of 1577, which is not in the previous impression. In other res- 
 pects, the scroll or inscription below the Cape of Good Hope,and in the right hand 
 corner at top, are the same in both impressions. The Voyage to Cadiz in Mr. 
 Jadis s copy of the first edition, is inserted between pages 644 and 655. 
 
Collections.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 391 
 
 containing, not only the Reprint of these black letter 
 pages, but some Additions of a decisive and important 
 character. 
 
 Although my old friend, the Odcombian, Tom 
 Cory ate, was not a Collector of Travels, but a gay 
 and gallant traveller himself, yet I cannot step across 
 the threshold of the sixteenth, and enter upon the 
 seventeenth century, without a brief but pointed re- 
 commendation of his “ Crudities , hastily gobbled up”* 
 
 A. Arch. This should be seized upon by those who have keen appe- 
 tites for books at once rare and intrinsically valuable. 
 
 We cannot conclude this account of Hakluyt’s Collection more 
 agreeably, or more advantageously to the reader, than by inserting 
 the spirited character drawn of Hakluyt by Zouch, in his life of Sir 
 Philip Sidney.— ff Every reader conversant in the annals of our naval 
 transactions, will cheerfully aaknowledge the merit of Richard Hak- 
 luyt, who devoted his studies to the investigation of those periods of 
 English history, which regard the improvement of navigation and 
 commerce. He had the advantages of an academical education. He 
 was elected student of Christ Church in Oxford, in 1570, and was 
 therefore contemporary with Sidney at the University. To him we 
 are principally indebted for a clear and comprehensive description of 
 those noble discoveries of the English nation made by sea or over- 
 land to the most distant quarter of the earth. His incomparable 
 industry was remunerated with every possible encouragement by Sir 
 Francis Walsingham and Sir Philip Sidney. To the latter, as to a 
 most generous promoter of all ingenious and useful knowledge, he 
 inscribed his first collection of voyages and discoveries, printed in 
 1 589. Thus animated and encouraged, he was enabled to leave to 
 posterity the fruits of his unwearied labours — an invaluable treasure 
 of nautical information preserved in volumes, which even at this day, 
 affix to his name a brilliancy of reputation, which a series of ages can 
 never efface or obscure.” 
 
 * The entire title is “ Crudities hastily gobbled up, in Jive months 
 Travels in France, Savoy, Italy, Rhetia, some parts of High Germany, 
 and the Netherlands. Lond. 1611, 4to. It was published with seve- 
 ral very curious cuts, and the author’s portrait in the frontispiece : 
 the whole reprinted in 1776, 8vo. 3 vols.— with all the engravings, 
 
392 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [Collections. 
 
 as no unsavory sandwich for the more substantial 
 attack upon the Pilgrimes and Pilgrimage of Pur- 
 chas, published in five folio volumes, 1625-6 ; and 
 which exhibit a monument of care, diligence, and re- 
 search, that, of its kind, can hardly be surpassed.* 
 
 but some necessarily in a folded state. The reprint is neither rare 
 nor dear: worth perhaps 1 1. 105. The first edition, when in fine 
 condition, (especially if it be like that of the copy of my friend, Mr. 
 Cruden, of Gravesend) has been known to sell for ten or twelve gui- 
 neas. Colonel Stanley’s copy, which is described as being extra- 
 ordinarily fine, in russia, binding,” was sold for 10 1. 105. Mr. 
 Bindley’ s copy produced the same sum j but, of late years, it is 
 much lowered in price j and Mr. Thorpe marks a ” fine copy, with 
 the plates, very neat,” at 4 1. 4s. The most extraordinary and most 
 precious copy perhaps, in all respects existing, is that in the library 
 of Mr. Grenville. It is a presentation copy, with an original letter 
 by the author, to Prince Henry, in whose family he was domestica- 
 ted. It may be safely said that this book exists not on large paper. 
 Coryate was a native of Odcombe, in Somersetshire, and was, in- 
 deed, (according to Wood) born at the parsonage house there. Hence 
 he is called the Odcombian. Browne Willis told Cole (the greatest 
 collector of gossip and scandal of his day) that Coryate’ s shoes 
 were hanging up in the church at Odcombe till the year 1702. See 
 Dr. Bliss’s ; Athen. Oxon. vol, ii. col. 208-214. A just estimate of 
 the merits of Coryate will be found in the Quarterly Review, vol. ii. 
 p. 92. 
 
 * Purchas, “ who (says Wood) is by some styled our English- 
 Ptolemy,” yet maintains his reputation and his price in the market. 
 The highest price perhaps ever given for a copy, was that (50 1. 85.) 
 which was given for Colonel Stanley’s : but then it had the rare 
 frontispiece, and five portraits of the persons to whom each volume 
 is dedicated, inserted jf” and was, in other respects, “ an extraordi- 
 nary fine copy.” Yet a finer is to be found (without the extra em- 
 bellishments) in the library of Mr. Grenville j for he has it uncut ; 
 having upwards of twelve years ago purchased the four volumes, in 
 this state, of Mr. Miller the late bookseller and given forty gui- 
 neas for them. The fifth volume (the commonest) was afterwards 
 
 t A similar copy is at Althorp, in russia binding. 
 
Collections.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 393 
 
 Above all things* let the lover of graphic virtu, and 
 the desperate hunter after 'perfect copies, look sharply 
 after the possession of a clean, bright, and brilliant 
 copy of the engraved frontispiece ; at the bottom of 
 which appears the frill-guarded neck and shoulders of 
 
 luckily found in a similar condition. It is now in blue morocco 
 binding. I have seen several other beautiful copies — of a book, 
 however, not remarkable for its typographical elegance. The Royal 
 Library boasts of Colbert’s copy ; and in the Pepysian library, at 
 Cambridge, there is a very fine, large, and clean copy, in old calf 
 binding, with a brilliant impression of the much-coveted frontispiece : 
 which (more fortunate than the head of Fuller, in his Worthies) has 
 luckily escaped the scissars of Master Samuel Pepys, the celebrated 
 , collector.* Mr. Jadis has a very fine and large copy, quite com- 
 plete. In the trade, the price of Purchas varies considerably. 
 Messrs. Arch mark a copy in calf at 211 . : a price, which, if the 
 frontispiece be fair and sound, must be considered exceedingly mo- 
 derate. The richly filled pages of the catalogue of Messrs. Payne 
 and Foss exhibit two copies: one, very neatly bound in russia,” 
 for 35 1. : another, “ very fine copy, with the frontispiece,” for 40£. 
 There is a title-page, as well as a frontispiece. 
 
 Granger has a brief but pleasing memento of Purchas. He says 
 that f< his work is not only valuable for the various instruction and 
 amusement contained in it, but is also very estimable on a national, 
 and he may add, a religious account.” Biogr. Hist, of England , vol. 
 i. p. 365, edit. 1804. He alludes to Harman's Illustrations of the 
 Scriptures from works of a similar description. 
 
 Mr. Chalmers (Biogr. Diet. vol. xxv. p. 384) has refuted the notion 
 of Granger, that Purchas died in prison, from distressed circumstan- 
 ces, on account of the publication of his Pilgrims.” The former 
 is untrue, as he died in his own house in 1628, in his fifty-first year. 
 
 It is not improbable (says Mr. Chalmers) that he might be a suf- 
 ferer by the expense of printing his books, but his debts are to be re- 
 ferred to a more honourable cause, the kindness of his disposition.” 
 See the note, ibid : and Cens. Lit. vol. iv. 5 and Wood’s Fasti Oxon. 
 vol. i. col. 363. Edit. Bliss. 
 
 * Pepys was a Collector of portraits, which he had the hapless knack of almost 
 crucifying in his method of trimming and sticking them on. I have seen one of 
 his folio volumes of Collections of Portraits vox faucibus haesit !” 
 
394 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [Collections. 
 
 Purchas himself; representing him in his forty-eighth 
 year. If this frontispiece be wanting, ten guineas 
 will hardly supply its place with a beautiful impression 
 of it. 
 
 This was an age full of glory and gallant adventure 
 for Old England ; and the names of Drake and 
 Raleigh alone, to say nothing of that of Smith/ (one 
 
 * Before I touch upon Capt. John Smith’s travelling achieve- 
 ments, let me ask the ingenious and intrepid Defender of King 
 James I. (my approved good friend Mr. D’Israeli) how the Scoto- 
 English Monarch could find it in his heart, or in his head, to order 
 the execution of such a man as Raleigh? And further, how either 
 his head or his heart could excuse him for not ordering the execu- 
 tion of two such unprincipled, wicked, and guilty creatures, as the 
 Earl and Countess of Somerset?— as much the instigators, and 
 accessories before the fact, of the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury.f 
 
 as but there is no need of any comparison. Lord Clarendon 
 
 has somewhere well observed, that King James could never resist 
 the influence “of fine clothes and a handsome person and Carre, 
 Earl of Somerset, happened to be that handsome person. I revert 
 to Drake: — amongst the very rarest pieces relating to whose 
 travels, are I. Expeditio fyc. in Indias Occidentals , #c. M.D.LXXXV. 
 Leydte, Apud Fr. Raphel. M.D.LXXXVIII. 4to. with four maps. 
 2. Brevis et Fida Narratio et Continuatio Rerum Omnium Drako 
 et Norreysio [post felicem ex Occidentalibus insulis , rediturn ) in sua 
 expeditione Portugallensis singulis diebus gestarum Franco f. 1590, 
 4to. These singularly rare books adorn the choice collection of 
 Mr. Jadis. But let not Sir Anthony Sherf.ley Knt. be for- 
 gotten $ since in the same collection, is his “ New and large discourse 
 by sea , and over land , to the Persian Empire , &c.,” written by 
 William Parry, Gentleman, who accompanied Sir Anthony in his 
 Trauells.” It is a very spare, and not less rare, quarto volume, printed 
 in 1601 by Valentine Summers, for Felix Norton, — and containing 
 
 t Mr. D’Israeli, who is learned in biographical history, must have read 
 Truth brought to Light by Time , 1615, 4to. with a print of poor Sir Thomas Over- 
 bury : among the rarest of British portraits. If not, he must have read the reprint 
 of the tract in 1651, 4to. without the print : but with additional matter. 
 
395 
 
 Collections.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 of the hardiest and bravest adventurers that ever 
 faced physical or civil obstacles) will be long dear to 
 every British heart. It was in their school, that 
 Anson, Cook, Perouse, and Vancouver, studied ; men, 
 who with greater or lesser degrees of success, cir- 
 cumnavigated the globe. But this is anticipation. 
 Let me revert to Collections of Voyages and Travels ; 
 
 A. to F. in fours. On F. 3, recto, is a set of verses by J. D. (John 
 Davies) of Hereford, in commendation of Parry. 
 
 What an age was that of the opening of the seventeenth century !* 
 I can conceive Drake, Raleigh, Smith, Hakluyt, Coryate, and 
 Purchas, belonging to a sort of Traveller's Club (at present so fashion- 
 able with many who have only felt the saline particles of the British 
 Channel) and laying their heads and charts together respecting the 
 several countries visited, or about to be visited. Indeed, Smith was 
 the very Dragon of his breed : tc nil actum credens si quid superesset 
 agendum/’ His Travels and Adventures in Europe , Asia , Africa , and 
 
 • It was the spirit of such an age which induced a truly respectable printer, of 
 the name of John Wolf, to publish an English version of a very curious and in- 
 structive volume of a Dutch Traveller of the name of Huighen Van Linschoten, 
 who entitled it a “ Discourse of Voyages into the East and West Indies.'* Wolf 
 printed it in a close and handsome black letter type, in double columns, in 1598, 
 folio, and dedicated it to Julius Csesar, Doctor of Laws. It contains A to Q q. in 
 sixes: Qq with seven. Wolf thus observes in the dedication : “ about a twelve- 
 month agoe, a learned Gentleman brought unto mee the uoyages and navigation of 
 Iohn Huyghen Van Linschoten into the Indies, written in the Dutch tongue, which 
 he wished might be translated into our language, because he thought it would be 
 not only delightful, but also very commodious for our English nation.” The name 
 of the translator is not mentioned. There is a copper-plate frontispiece, engraved 
 by “ William Rogers, a citizen of London and twelve copper-plate Maps : of 
 which Herbert’s copy wanted two, and Bindley’s four. Mr. Grenville’s copy is 
 quite complete, in green morocco binding by C. Lewis. Colonel Stanley’s copy had 
 “ the addition of the plates belonging to the original Dutch edition,” and was pur- 
 chased by Lord Ossulston for 221. Herbert’s copy, made complete, is at Althorp. 
 But the most genuine and desirable copy of Linschoten with which I am ac- 
 quainted, is that in the library of Mr. Jadis. 
 
 A Latin edition, translated by Linschoten himself, was published at the Hague 
 in 1599, folio : with similar maps to those of the English edition, but larger and 
 coarser. It has, however, a number of additional plates, equally coarse, of the 
 costumes of men and women of the different countries visited. The coast of 
 Guinea has a separate title-page of the same date. There is also an Index, or 
 
396 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [Collections. 
 
 and here, in chronological order, I necessarily point 
 to Thevenot’s Relations de divers / jyages curieux 
 
 America .” between the years 1593 and 1629, appeared at various 
 times, in small quartos, and are most difficult of acquisition. Thus, 
 in 1608, came forth A True Relation of such Occurrences and Acci- 
 dents of Note as hath happened in Virginia since the first planting of 
 that Colony. Written by T/ws. Watson , Gent, There is a map 
 before sign A. 3. In 1612 appeared his Map of Virginia with a de- 
 scription of the Country , at Oxford. Also with a map ; having a 
 portrait of the author. In 1616, with a map, was published his 
 j Description of New England. His Sea Grammar , with the plaine 
 Exposition of his Accidence for Young Seamen enlarged. Written by 
 him, some time Governour of Virginia and Admiral of New England , 
 was published at London by John Haviland. All these quarto 
 volumes, of great rarity, in a clean and complete state, are in the 
 library of Mr. Jadis. Next came forth The True Travels , Adven- 
 turesy and Observations of Captain John Smith , in a small folio 
 volume of sixty pages in 1630, containing some pretty plates, repre- 
 senting some of Smith’s adventures. He vanquishes several great 
 champions at tournaments ; and being detained prisoner by the 
 Bashaw of Nalbrits longer than he wished, and having been scolded 
 and ill treated by him, he contrives to find an opportunity o. 
 beating out his brains (represented by a plate) with a “ threshing 
 bat, for they had no flails’’ * He then hid his body under the straw. 
 
 Direction to the bookbinder, at the end. To Mr. Grenville’s copy of this Latin 
 edition is affixed— of the date of 1677 — a Nuptial Dithirambic in the native tongue 
 of the country, with a Latin version : the latter beginning thus : 
 
 Euge ! Brema, Nuptiales 
 Ede laeta voce plausus, 
 
 Nuptias Koperianas 
 Gratulando dum salutes 
 Barbitoque versibusque ; 
 
 Plaude, Brema tota, plaude ! plaude tantis Nuptiis. 
 
 Only one word more. According to Meuselius {Bill. Hist, vol, ii. p. 342) the 
 Earliest Dutch edition of Linschoten was at Amsterdam in 1596 : reprinted at 
 Franckfortin 1601— and corrected at Amst. in 1614 : 1623 : 1634, and 1664 : all 
 with plates. A French version first appeared at Amst. in 1610, 1619, and 1638, 
 each with cuts. 
 
 * This “ threshing bat” looks very like the club of Hercules, and therefore was 
 well calculated to “ settle the matter” with the Bashaw. 
 
Collections.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 397 
 
 put forth in 1663-96, in 2 folio volumes :* a work, 
 
 dressed himself in the Bashaw’s clothes, (a ticklish experiment !) and 
 scampered across the desert “at all adventure.” Mr. Grenville’s 
 copy of this slender little folio (bound in green morocco, by Charles 
 Lewis) was not acquired under the sum of 5 1. 5 s. In 1631, folio, came 
 forth his Advertisements for the unexperienced Planters of New Eng- 
 land, &c., with a map, having a portrait of the author, different from 
 that in the 4to. of 1612 — ut supra. 
 
 I now come to the more famous work of Smith, being, his Gene- 
 ral History of Virginia — that country having been visited by him 
 between the years 1584-1623, and the work published in a folio vo- 
 lume in 1624. Mr. Grenville’s copy of this book will throw a collec- 
 tor of Travels into a succession of ecstasies ! It is on large paper ; 
 and a similar copy is in the fine collection of Mr. G. Hibbert. It 
 has both the portraits, genuine and counterfeit ; the one, of Frances 
 Duchess of Richmond , by Will. Pass : the other, of an exceedingly ill- 
 looking Prince called Matoaka, by Holland. There is also a third, 
 and a brilliant little portrait, by Simon Pass, of the Author , “ Cap- 
 tayne Iohn Smith.” This is at top, at the left-hand corner of the 
 last map. But a fine impression of the Frontispiece is worth more 
 than a moment’s gaze. Above, are portraits of Elizabeth, James, 
 and Charles when Prince of Wales. The engraver was John Barra. 
 Note ; it is remarked by Mr. Grenville, that the sheet O is suppressed 
 — and that the defective paging, from page 96 to 105, not supplied 
 — in all the copies of this book. A shoal of complimentary verses 
 (the fashion of the age) is prefixed. Among them, is a set from our 
 old friend Samuel Purchas, who occupied so much of our attention in 
 the preceding note. The reader will thank me for furnishing him 
 with one stanza only, and will probably agree with the author him- 
 self, that he had a “ rustic out-worne Muse.” Such crabbed lines 
 are too tooth-breaking for utterance : 
 
 Loe here Smith’s forge, where Forgery’s roague-branded. 
 
 True Pegasus is shood, fetters are forged 
 
 For Silke-sotts, milk-sops, base sloth, farre hence landed, 
 
 (Soile changed soule-soild still) England’s dregs, discharged, 
 
 To plant (supplant!) Virginia, home-disgorged : 
 
 Where Vertues praise frames good men Stories armour 
 Gainst Time, Achilles like, with best Arts charged ; 
 
 Pallas, all-arm’d, all learn’d, can teach Sword -Grammer, 
 
 Can Pens of Pikes ; Armes t’ Arts ; to Scholar, Souldier ; hammer. 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
398 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [Collections. 
 
 somewhat motley in its contents^ but curious and in- 
 structive withal ; and, I will be free to add, of ex- 
 
 Mr. Grenville’s copy is bound in a style worthy of its beauty by C. 
 Lewis, in olive-colour morocco. Messrs. Payne and Foss mark the 
 usual copy, with the genuine prints of the Duchess of Richmond and 
 Captain Smith, at 61. 6s. 
 
 I have a strong doubt whether a perfect copy of the Voyages col- 
 lected by Melchisedec Tiievenot, with all its parts and varieties, 
 be not of as rare occurrence as a perfect copy of De Bry : doubtless, 
 however, it is of infinitely less value and importance. Yet Colonel 
 Stanley’s copy, although not on large paper, and apparently far less 
 perfect than the one I am about to describe, was not purchased 
 under the sum of 14Z. 145. Brunet is delightfully communicative, 
 apparently from the copious materials of Camus : yet that active bib- 
 liographer appears never to have seen a copy on large paper. Such 
 a copy adorns the library of Mr. Grenville : and that copy is a 
 Museum Duplicate. Prefixed to it, is the following memorandum 
 by its very intelligent and accurate possessor. “ This is a large paper 
 copy of the edition of 1663, 1664, 1666, and 1672 : with additions 
 from that of 1696. It contains all that is described by Camus, ex- 
 cept a 17th page of the Spanish fragment j six leaves of Appendix to 
 the Hist, of Mogul ; and ten leaves, from page 48 of Asganii Sas- 
 sonii j which three articles were equally wanting in Huet’s copy, though 
 they are found at the end of that of the Corps Legislatif, at Paris. 
 This copy however has, in tom. i. p. 50, of the Voyage de Bouteko 
 a Map, with variations, not noticed by Camus. Connected with the 
 Voyage a Pekin, part iii. are a few duplicate plates, to shew the supe- 
 riority of the originals to the counterfeits or re-engravings. At the 
 end of this third part, is “ Explication de la Carte de Telmer ,” never 
 seen by Camus but once, and not in any other copy of Thevenot.” 
 Camus, p. 283. 
 
 Brunet notices the usual termination of the “ Asganii Sassonii” with 
 page 48 ; and, indeed, observes upon the usual absence of the three 
 latter treatises contained in Mr. Grenville’s copy. As to the embel- 
 lishments of Thevenot, the chief merit of them consists in the 
 Maps, which are numerous and curious. The figures are generally 
 coarse and ill executed j but a decided exception must be made in 
 favour of a very pretty small plate, vignette-wise, which occurs in 
 vol. i. p. 17, of the Voyage de Terri : representing the Grand Mogul, 
 
Collections.) VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 399 
 
 tremely great difficulty of acquisition — with all its 
 parts in an unmutilated state. 
 
 The beginning of the eighteenth century witnessed 
 a most valuable performance in the “ Account of the 
 Voyages made hy the Portuguese and Spaniards” &c. 
 published by I. L. Gottfried, in the Dutch tongue, at 
 Leyden, in 1707, in eight folio volumes :* and within 
 half a century from this period, the English had again 
 to boast of some valuable Collections of Voyages, to 
 which the names of Churchill and Harris are pre- 
 fixed as Editors. The former published his six hand- 
 some folio volumes in 1732 ; the latter, in two similar 
 volumes, in 1744. In the year ensuing, appeared a 
 Collection of Voyages and Travels compiled from the 
 library of the Earl of Oxford : a library, which, as it 
 united MSS. with printed books, may be said to rival, 
 if not eclipse, that of the great Colbert in France. 
 
 Selim Sha (with a hawk on his fist) the Sultan Coroome, and a 
 female Slave his wife. They are each in profile, and very like, in 
 figure, dress, and form, what we see in the usual highly decorated 
 MSS. of Persia and Hindoostan. The counterfeits, or reprints, in- 
 troduced in Mr. Grenville’s copy, are doubtless very much inferior 
 to the originals ; some few of which (as the veiled lady on horse- 
 back, led by a slave) have sufficient spirit and effect. This copy is 
 bound in red morocco by C. Lewis, in the most appropriate style. 
 It has the four parts in two volumes. I might have noticed that 
 Thevenot’s Collection consists of different curious Voyages which 
 have not been published, or which have been translated (in the French 
 tongue) from Hakluyt, Purchas, and other English, Dutch, Portu- 
 guese, German, and Spanish travellers. f 
 
 * Brunet (vol. ii. p. 110) makes the date 1727 as well as 1707. 
 
 + Mr. Payne tells me that he has a strong recollection of a fine, large paper, 
 perfect copy, bound in old morocco, possessed by his father ; but knows not its 
 present “ locus in quo.” I heartily wish Mr. Payne would leave us, as a legacy, all 
 his Book Reminiscences — the Bibliomaniac would rejoice to possess them. There 
 arc Reminiscences extant which might be thought less deserving of record. 
 
400 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [Collections. 
 
 The note below* will make the reader acquainted with 
 the pecuniary value of all these Works. 
 
 There were yet minor publications, of a similar cha- 
 racter ; such as the Collections of Astley, 1745, 4to. 
 four volumes ; and Dampier 1729, in four octavo vo- 
 lumes.^ The labours of our immediate neighbours, 
 
 He adds, that the author’s real name was John Philip Adelinus j 
 and that the work was reprinted in the same (Dutch) language in 
 thirty octavo volumes. Of the price of either edition, I can say 
 nothing. The celebrated bookseller Vander Aa, of Leyden, was the 
 publisher of the folio impression. 
 
 * First of Churchill. Messrs. Payne and Foss, mark a neat copy 
 on large paper, at the moderate sum of 81. 8s. ■, but then it is the 
 first edition of 1732. I observe that a large paper copy of the best 
 edition of 1744, with the Harleian Collection of Voyages of 1745 
 — in all, eight volumes — f ‘ very fine copies, uniformly bound out of 
 sheets, in russia, by Walther,” was sold for the ponderous sum of 
 36 1. at the sale of Colonel Stanley s library. My friend Mr. G. Hib- 
 bert may boast of a fine similar copy, in white calf, with rich gilt 
 tooling on the back. It should be remembered that either edition of 
 Churchill contains several pieces from original MSS. and others then 
 first published in the English language. Watt, in his Bibl. Brit, 
 mentions an edition as early as 1704, and as late as 1752. As to 
 Harris’s Collection, let anyone inspect the curious contents only of 
 the first volume, as exhibited by Mr. Harris in his valuable Catalogue 
 of the Library of the Royal Institution, p. 260, and he will not hesi- 
 tate a moment respecting the importance of this work. I find a neat 
 copy of the best edition of it, 1744-48, with maps and plates marked 
 at 5 1. 5s. in the recent catalogue of Messrs. I. and A. Arch. The 
 Collection from the Harleian Library may be worth half the sum. 
 
 f Astley’s Collections appear to have attracted little notice. They 
 are a piracy of Campbell's edition of Harris's Collection , and yet I 
 observe that a copy of them, bound in russia, was sold for 81. 8s. at 
 the sale of the Merly Library in 1813. Whoever chooses to con- 
 sult the pages of Mr. Chalmers’s Biographical Dictionary, or the Re- 
 trospective Review, vol. viii. p.73, will readily see what an interesting 
 voyage round the world was made by Captain William Dampier. 
 This Collection contains many of his achievements', with those of 
 
Collections.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 401 
 
 French, must not be forgotten. Their “ Lettres Edi- 
 Jiantes et Curieuses , ecrites des Missions etranghres .” 
 Paris , 1780, 12rno. 26 volumes, should find a place in 
 the gilded upper shelves of a well-furnished library of 
 any description. I knew an “old” friend who solaced 
 himself, during eight and tw r enty long wintery nights, 
 by the perusal of these “ edifying and curious Epis- 
 tles.” If any keen book Angler chooses to bait his 
 hook with a five pound note of the Bank of England, 
 he may, at a public auction, catch the whole of this 
 savoury fry of sparkling little fish. The gilt tooling 
 of Padaloup or De Rome may represent their scales, 
 like those of the carp, “ bedropped with gold.” Very 
 recently there has appeared a French work of more 
 intrinsic value; namely, the “ Bibliot he que Portative 
 des Voyages,*' Paris , 1810, in 41 octodecimo volumes, 
 with an Atlas, in 8vo. This collection contains the 
 travels of Norden , Cook , Macartney , Barrow , and Ta- 
 vernier . 
 
 Reverting to our own country, it remains only to 
 notice the Collections of Voyages and Travels by Mr. 
 Pinkerton and Mr. Robert Kerr. Of the former, 
 commenced in 1808 and concluded in 1814, in seven- 
 teen quarto volumes, with maps, &c. a well bound 
 copy may be obtained for 26/. 5s . It must not be 
 denied that it is the most valuable Collection of Voy- 
 ages extant.* Mr. Kerrs Collection, published in 
 1811-17, comprises eighteen octavo volumes. 
 
 Wafer, Funnel, Cowley, Sharp, Wood, and Roberts. A copy of it 
 was purchased by Lord Essex, at the sale of Dr. Heath’s library, for 
 Si. 17 s. At the sale of the Merly Library, it produced little more 
 than half this sum. 
 
 * The xviith volume contains a copious Catalogue of Books on 
 Voyages and Travels, and an excellent Index. With these Voyages, 
 I d d 
 
402 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [Collections. 
 
 And thus* in the preceding- twenty -five pages* will 
 the reader find a Collection of Voyages* &c. which* 
 while they exhibit an imperishable monument of the 
 talents and enterprise of human beings, in every civi- 
 lised quarter of the globe, will furnish him with a key 
 to the knowledge of almost every country however 
 remote* or any productions* however rare and extra- 
 ordinary. Happy the man — be he “ Young” or 
 “ Old” — who possesses these treasures ; but happier 
 far shall he be* who applies them to right uses and 
 purposes ; and who* looking 
 
 “ — through Nature* up to Nature’s God,” 
 learns to cherish the gentler emotions of charity and 
 benevolence towards “ all sorts and conditions of 
 men,” and to be grateful for the comparative bles- 
 sings* which, under a civilised state* it is his happiness 
 to enjoy. 
 
 should be uniformly bound the Geography of Mr. Pinkerton with 
 fifty-two maps* published in 1817* 4to. in twovols. I find this latter 
 work marked in boards* at 5 1. 5s. in the catalogues of Messrs. Payne 
 and Foss and Messrs. Lackington, Harding, and Co. The Collection 
 of Mr. Kerr may be obtained for about 7s. 6d. a volume, in boards: 
 see the last mentioned Catalogue, no. 3758. 
 
VOYAGES AND TRAVELS, 
 
 403 
 
 CIRCUMNAVIGATIONS. 
 
 It should seem that the next natural step, in this 
 department of bibliography, was, to present the reader 
 with a few of the more popular works which describe 
 the Circumnavigations of the Globe ; that is to say, 
 with the discoveries of those Navigators who have 
 visited, the different quarters of the world. And here, 
 the reader’s recollection will almost immediately fur- 
 nish him with the illustrious names of Drake, Dam- 
 pier, Anson, Cook, and Vancouver — among his own 
 countrymen : Carreri among the Italians ; and Pe- 
 rouse, D’Entrecasteaux, and Marchand among the 
 French. A sum, hardly exceeding fifty sovereigns, 
 will place good copies of ail these circumnavigations 
 on the shelf of the unfastidious Collector. 
 
 The earliest book relating to the exploits of Sir 
 Francis Drake, appeared in 1587 ; and the latest, in 
 1653.* The text of these impressions will be found 
 reprinted in the Collections of Voyages by Osburn and 
 Callander. Honest Will Dampier is entitled to 
 every praise: if not for the extent and importance, at 
 
 * The first book, was that which described his Services performed 
 against Cales ; 1587* 4to. : the second, “ a summary and true Dis- 
 course of his West India Voyage 1589, 4to. Latin editions had 
 appeared the preceding year. His ff life and death," was published 
 at Oxford in 1596, 8vo. A work called “ Sir Francis Drake revived,'* 
 appeared in 1626, 4to. : and again, in 1653, 4to. or “ A true rela- 
 tion of his four e voyages to the West Indies'* I find a fine copy of 
 this latter work, with a portrait of Drake, selling for 4 1. 4s. at the 
 sale of the Stanley Library. The earlier pieces are not rare ; and 
 may be worth about ll. Is. each. 
 
404 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 ClRCUM- 
 
 least for the accuracy and interest, of his discoveries ; 
 and it is gratifying to have to record that a more 
 spirited and impartial estimate of the value of his 
 travels is no where to be found, than in the recent 
 edition of the Biographie Universelle Ancienne et Mo - 
 derne* The fruits of his navigations lie within a 
 narrow and reasonable compass, and some four or five 
 octavo volumes furnish us with all that has survived 
 of his labours. Had his auto-biography been extant, 
 I can conceive nothing more original and amusing 
 than it would have been. His integrity, hardihood, 
 and simplicity were equally conspicuous throughout 
 all his transactions. 
 
 The name of Anson is entitled to more general re- 
 spect. This enterprising Navigator, who afterwards 
 
 * “ However this may be, all his defects ought to be overlooked 
 by posterity from the fruits to be gathered by the perusal of his first 
 voyages. They contain descriptions, made by a man, gifted with 
 the most accurate coup-d’oeil, the most delicate tact, and with an 
 exquisite judgment. An air of truth, a precision, and yet rapidity of 
 style, which charms the reader, reign throughout the whole of these 
 descriptions . . . His treatise upon winds, tides, and currents, is 
 among the best works of the kind : facts only are stated, but they are 
 arranged and methodised with surprising ability.” Edit. 1813, vol. 
 x. p. 479. His “ Account of a New Voyage round the World ” was 
 published in 1697, 8vo. 3 vols. with maps and cuts: again in 1699, 
 and 1703, 8vo. 3 vols. His “ Voyage to New Holland ” appeared in 
 1781, &c. the whole being not only reprinted in separate forms, but 
 reprinted collectively, in Callander’s Voyages. The embellishments 
 in Dampier’s Voyages must not be criticised : the text redeems a 
 multitude of graphic sins. At the sale of the Merly Library, a copy 
 of Dampier’s Voyages 17*29, 8vo. 4 vols. was sold for 9,1. Is. I sus- 
 pect that the earlier editions of Dampier are getting scarce j as I find 
 no copies of them in the catalogues of our principal booksellers. 
 Pinkerton ( Collection , vol. xi.) hafc reprinted his New Holland and 
 account of the Philippine Islands. 
 
navigations.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 405 
 
 rose to the highest honours of his profession, made a 
 sort of fighting and capturing voyage round the world. 
 He was the veriest bull-dog of all circumnavigators : 
 loving nothing better than tough contests by sea and 
 by land. A Spanish galleon or an hostile town was 
 equally an object of attack ; and he returned from his 
 three years and nine months absence from his native 
 country, laden with more spoils and wealth than it 
 had fallen to the lot of any individual to bring home. 
 Considering what he saw and what he accomplished, 
 it is to be regretted that we are not in possession of a 
 more perfect record of his achievements. It is also to 
 be regretted that Dr. Johnson has not written a Life 
 of Anson as a companion to that of Drake, (which is 
 among his minor and more simply written pieces of 
 biography) and which should be read by every man 
 curious in the annals of marine adventure. Let me 
 inform both the young and the old, that very little 
 more than a sovereign will place Anson’s quarto vo- 
 lume upon their shelves. It was first published in 
 1748 ; and considering the noble navigator to have 
 been “ alive and hearty” at the period of its publica- 
 tion — himself not dying till 1762 — it is surprising how 
 he could have permitted so unworthy a production to 
 have seen the light.* 
 
 * “ Unworthy” in every respect is the volume which records the 
 achievements of the intrepid Anson.f It was published in 4to. in 
 1748, "but there are titles with the date of 1749. The French 
 Biographical Dictionary (vol. ii. p. 24o) assigns incorrectly the date 
 
 t Lord Anson was one of the plainest and bluntest of mankind. He had studied 
 little, and cared less for, the rules of polished society : and though he was First 
 Lord of the Admiralty, and Admiral in Chief of the Fleet, it was said of him— that 
 “ he had been round the world but never in it.” The French have properly re- 
 corded this anecdote — ) “ il avait fait le tour du monde, et il n’y 4tait jamais 
 
40(> 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [Circum* 
 
 Byron followed Anson. Indeed he was a companion 
 (though a young one) of his voyage : and although 
 the public scarcely recollect any thing of his adven- 
 tures/ it should be remembered that he was the man 
 who more particularly stimulated Cook to his unri 
 vailed discoveries. At the name of this latter, great 
 circumnavigator, there is not a British heart but what 
 
 of 1746. The author of the text was either a Mr. Robins or a Mr. 
 Walter ; let Mr. Chalmers’s untwisting of this knot satisfy the curious. 
 Biogr. Diet. vol. ii. p. 22S. -The plates are in truth barbarously 
 bad. Look (inter alias) at the view of the er Straight Le Maire>" &c. 
 p. 74 : the ships look like black spiders. But more appallingly ter- 
 rific is the burning of the town of Payta, on the coast of Santa Fee : 
 p. 201, — “ a whole town on fire at once, especially a place that burnt 
 with such facility and violence, being a very singular spectacle. Mr. 
 Brett [Lord Anson’s second Lieutenan, and to whom he confided the 
 attack on the town] had the curiosity to delineate its appearance, 
 together with that of the ships in the harbour, which may be seen in 
 the annexed plate.” It may indeed : but if the reader were not thus in- 
 structed by the text, he might misconceive the burning of this town 
 for — any thing but what it was really intended to be. It is the consum- 
 mation of barbarous art : the work of a seven months apprentice. All 
 the copies of this book, which I have seen, look like large paper: but 
 I believe there is only one size. Upon the whole, I cannot conscienti- 
 ously advise the giving of more than a sovereign for Anson’s circum- 
 navigatory labours ; and note — they are reprinted in the Collections of 
 Callander and others. To read the text without the plates must be 
 a comfort. An excellent account of the Voyages of Anson and 
 Byron appeared in the xxth number of the Retrospective Review. 
 
 * They form the first part of the Collection of Voyages by Dr. 
 Hawkesworth, 1773, 4to. 3 vols. : and will richly reward a sedulous 
 perusal. 
 
 entr4”) A curious anecdote, not altogether unbibliographical, belongs to Anson’s 
 Voyage round the World. Mordaunt Cracherode, the father of the Rev. C. M. 
 Cracherode, of celebrated book-fame, went out to make his fortune, as a Com- 
 mander of the Marines, in Anson’s ship. He returned, in consequence of his 
 share of prize money, a wealthy man. Hence the property of his son — and hence 
 the Bibliotheca Cracherodianii, in the British Museum. 
 
navigations] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 407 
 
 alternately glows with transport and melts with pity. 
 The spirit^ disinterestedness, penetration, physical and 
 intellectual energies, of Captain James Cook, fitted 
 him in an especial manner for the various and extra- 
 ordinary discoveries which he so successfully accom- 
 plished ; and to which, alas! he fell a victim and a 
 sacrifice. Never were such labours closed by such a 
 tragical catastrophe : and if the eulogies of the good 
 and wise, of all countries, be grateful to departed spi- 
 rits, surely there is no spirit which can be soothed with 
 purer attestations of worth, and higher acknowledg- 
 ments of excellence, than that of this unparalleled 
 and most unfortunate commander. The publications 
 (in the order in which they appeared) that record his 
 discoveries, are stated in the subjoined note.* To the 
 
 * Let me be allowed, in the first place, to make mention of the 
 eulogies bestowed on Cook by the wise and the good.” Biographies 
 are easily referred to : but the testimonies of competent judges may 
 not be so much within the immediate consultation of the reader. 
 The judgment of Perouse is referred to by the editors of his Voyage 
 autour du Monde. “ Equitable et modeste autant qu’€clair£, on 
 verra avec quel respect il parlait de l’immortel Cook.” And Mar- 
 chand, in a similar voyage printed in 1798, (of which by and by) calls 
 our maritime hero “ Navigateur le plus experiment^, le plus infati- 
 gable, qu’ayent. vu les deux Oceans.” Vol. i. p. lxxiij. And now for 
 the publications of the discoveries of this great circumnavigator. 
 
 It is usual to begin with his first voyage , as published by Dr. 
 Hawkesworth, in conjunction with the voyages of Byron, Wallis, 
 and Carteret: in 1773, 4to. 3 vols. Captain Cook himself, pub- 
 lished his Second Voyage towards the South Pole and round the 
 World, in 177 7> 4 to. 2 vols, and in 1785, (after his death) appeared 
 his third voyage — to the Pacific Ocean , comprehending its conclusion 
 by Captain King. The assassination of Captain Cook took place in 
 the Sandwich Islands in February 1779. The literary part, or the 
 arrangement and composition of the text, was the performance of 
 Dr. Douglas, the late celebrated Bishop of Salisbury $ and the plates 
 were under the especial management of the late Sir Joseph Banks. 
 
408 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [Circum- 
 
 voluines of Cook, add those of Captain George Van- 
 couver ; containing a Voyage of Discovery to the 
 
 Prefixed to the third voyage, of which the text is remarkable for its 
 plain and perspicuous style, the Bishop has given an introduction 
 containing the substance of the two preceding voyages. The plates 
 are necessarily a very material object to be attended to in the pur- 
 chase of a good copy of these three voyages. On looking through 
 them, one discovers the names of engravers justly eminent in their 
 day ; such as Pouncey, Lerpiniere, Hall, Caldwall, Sherwin, Byrne, 
 Woollet, Basire and Bartolozzi. The drawings of the first voyages 
 were by William Hodges j an artist of acknowledged eminence in his 
 department, and those of the third were from the accurate pencil of 
 Webber, on the spot, and under the eye of the great Circumnavi- 
 gator. To say that these plates are always, and in every respect, 
 worthy of the reputation of the engravers, would be to advance a 
 very inaccurate position. Both in the first and second voyages, 
 there are great and palpable inequalities. A few copies of the 
 second voyage have proof impressions of the plates struck off on 
 a farge folio or atlas size, which are now become very rare. The 
 plates of the third voyage, executed under the superintendance of 
 Sir Joseph Banks, have much greater pretensions to general com- 
 mendation 3 but many specimens of birds and fruits, in the second 
 voyage, can hardly be excelled j and the burin of Record, in imple- 
 ments of husbandry, &c. and weapons of attack and defence, leaves 
 nothing to be desired. 
 
 But it is after the graphic embellishments of the third voyage, that 
 the purchaser must more particularly look. This publication was 
 conducted by Messrs. G. Nicol and Cadell ; and such was the care 
 and attention paid to the delivery of copies, in the exact order in 
 which they were subscribed for, that the hundredth or the first thou- 
 sandth subscriber .had precisely his hundredth or first thousandth 
 copy. The sale of the work was equal to the celebrity of the 
 Circumnavigator ) whose horrible death had excited an intense and 
 general interest. Not fewer than 4000 copies of these three 4to. 
 volumes, with a magnificent Atlas folio of plates, were sold during 
 the first year of the publication. A few of the first impressions of 
 the plates are yet to be found among the stores of Mr. Nicol. The 
 work was twice or thrice reprinted j but a book-connoisseur of 
 correct tact must seek for the first impressions of the plates of the 
 
navigations.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 409 
 
 North Pacific Ocean and round the World per- 
 formed between the years 1790 and 1795, and pub- 
 lished in 1798, 4to. 3 vols. with a folio volume or 
 charts and maps. A good copy of these four volumes 
 may be worth 5/. 15s. 
 
 I pass slightly over the circumnavigations of Or- 
 dones de Cevallos, and Gemelli Catrreri,* to make 
 
 edition of 1785, with the second or third edition of the letter press; 
 inasmuch as these latter editions were better printed. It may be 
 now, therefore, high time to talk about the prices of these several 
 works. I find a copy of the third Voyage, with the Atlas plates 
 from the first edition, and the usually added plate of Cook’s death, 
 engraved by Bartolozzi,” marked at 10Z. 105. in the catalogue of 
 Messrs. Payne and Foss : and of the second Voyage of 1777, there is 
 a neat copy, with good impressions of the plates, marked at hi. 15$. 6d. 
 another copy of the second voyage, in boards, is marked at 61. 6$. 
 Messrs. I. and A. Arch mark the complete set in eight volumes, 
 including Dr. Hawkesworth’s Collection, at 24Z. : another copy, 
 half bound, at 17Z. 17«* and the first edition of the South Pole voyage, 
 in boards, “ with the plates printed upon folio paper, before the 
 numbers were inserted” at 12 1. 12$. Messrs. Longman and Co. 
 have most judiciously reprinted the whole of Cook’s Voyages, with 
 plates, in 7 volumes 8vo. at the reasonable price of 31. 13$. 6d. 
 
 With the Voyages of Cook, is usually collected that of George 
 Forster round the World, in Cook’s ship, which relates to physical 
 and ethical observations. Geography, and Natural History 3 Lond. 
 1777 , 4to. 2 vols. Consult the Bibl. Heath , n°. 2814, and n°. 2815 
 for a picked copy of Cook’s third voyage. To to these, add Kippis’s 
 Life and Death of Captain Cook , 1788. 4to. Brunet, (vol. i. page 
 455) will supply a few other particulars, with French versions of 
 Hawkesworth and Cook. Upon the whole, choice copies of all 
 these quarto tomes are proud features in the library of any Collector. 
 
 * The voyage of Pedro Ordones de Cevallos was published at Ma- 
 drid in 1614, 4to. : but the circumnavigatflry voyage of Antonio Piga- 
 fetta, published in Milan nearly a century before (namely, in 1517* 
 4to.) should not be omitted. Mr. Pinkerton, in his list of voyages 
 and travels, vol. xvii. p. 252, makes this first edition of Pigafetta, 
 erroneously, of the date of 1556. At the sale of Colonel Stanley’s 
 
410 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [Circum- 
 
 room for the mention of the more important maritime 
 discoveries of the French School ; and therein more 
 especially of the lamented Perouse, and the laudable 
 but unsuccessful labours, in pursuit of him, by Labil- 
 lardiere and D'Entrecasteaux. The work of Perouse, 
 with a portrait of that intrepid commander prefixed, 
 appeared at Paris in 1797, in four quarto volumes.* 
 
 library, an edition of 1536, 4 to. purporting to be the first, was pur- 
 chased by Mr. Heber for I7Z. 17s. It was reprinted by Amoretti at 
 Milan, in 1800, 4to. and again in 1805 : and in the French language 
 in 1811, Svo. It should be remembered that this voyage is also the 
 celebrated voyage of Ferdinando Magellan, from whom the streights, 
 so called, derive their name : and it should be also remembered that 
 Antonio Pigafetta must be distinguished from his descendant Filippo, 
 whose “ Relatione del reame di Congo e delle circonvicine conlrade ,” 
 was published at Rome in 1591, 4to. and translated into the Latin 
 language as a portion of the Petits Voyages of De Bry. It was also 
 translated into English and published by John Wolfe in 1597* 4to., 
 with the plates copied from De Bry’s : and I find Mr. Heber giving 
 Si. 4s. for a copy of this latter work at the sale of Mr. Towneley’s 
 library. A copy at the sale of the White Knights library brought 
 about half the sum. 
 
 Carreri’s circumnavigation was published at Naples, in 1699, in 
 7 vols. Svo. with cuts : and translated into French by Le Noble, and 
 published in 1719, in 6 vols. 12mo. But consult the excellent ac- 
 count of Gemelli Carrerito be found in the Biographie Universelle, &c. 
 vol. xvii. p. 49. 
 
 * I will be brief in the notice of the works of the above Naviga- 
 tors, because they are well known, and are of every day’s purchase. 
 Voyage de la Perouse autour du Monde , Paris, 1797. 4to. 4 vols. 
 The miniature prefixed is from a painting of Tardieu, and looks like a 
 strong resemblance. Relation du Voyage d la Recherche de la Pd- 
 rouse } 1791-2: Par le C €n . Labillardiere. Paris, An. VIII. (1800) 
 4to. 2 vols. V oyage de D'Entrecasteaux, envoyd d la recherche de la 
 Pdrouse. A Paris , 1808, 4to. 2 vols. No mention of Labillardiere 
 is made in the preface 5 but on the death of D’Entrecasteaux (p. xi.) 
 Auribeau was appointed to succeed him. A year or two before, 
 however, appeared <( Voyage autour du Monde pendant les anndes," 
 
411 
 
 navigations.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 That of the Citizen Labillardiere, in 2 quarto volumes, 
 1800 ; and the more important one of D’Entrecas- 
 teaux in 1808, 4to. 2 vols.* These volumes are all 
 handsomely printed, and the last work is enriched 
 with many plates of coasts, headlands, and soundings, 
 &c. They are alike destitute of picturesque embellish- 
 ments. I might perhaps have made mention of the 
 circumnavigator} 7 labours of Krusenstern, printed in 
 the German language, in 1810, in 3 quarto volumes, 
 with an Atlas folio ; but as I have omitted the names 
 of Turnbull, Dixon, and Portlock, (minor circumnavi- 
 gators) of my own country, there is the less necessity 
 to expatiate on the discoveries of other foreigners. It 
 may, be as well to state, that an English V ersion of 
 Krusenstern, by Richard Belgrave Hopner, Esq. was 
 published in 1813, in 2 volumes, quarto. The Collec- 
 tion of Voyages in the South Sea, from its first dis- 
 covery by Europeans, until the commencement of the 
 Reign of George the Third, by the late Admiral 
 Burney, should, however, be added to this list. 
 Every thing and every body, connected with the 
 illustrious Cook, merits something like a distinct 
 notice ; and therefore I am unwilling that the recent 
 performance of Admiral Burney, who was Captain 
 Cook’s First Lieutenant , should be dismissed without 
 a specification of the leading features of his work. 
 
 1790-1-2, par Etienne Marchand. Par C. P. Claret Fleurieu. 
 Paris, An. vi. The introduction is exceedingly interesting 5 and in 
 the summary of Circumnavigators, honourable mention is made (as 
 noticed in a preceding note) of the labours of Cook. Let me only 
 further observe, that beautiful copies of all these French publications, 
 bound in russia, are found at Althorp. 
 
 * I refer the render to Pinkerton’s list for the present omissions, 
 which are few indeed in number 3 and defective in no respect in the 
 importance of the books omitted. 
 
412 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 The general title is thus: A Chronological History of 
 the Discoveries in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean , 
 from the Earliest Discovery of that Sea by Europe- 
 ans ; comprehending all the Voyages in the South 
 Sea, to the commencement of the reign of his late 
 Majesty, and previous to the Voyages in Hawkes- 
 worth’s Collection, which follows without any chasm, 
 as an immediate sequel ; including also a History of 
 the Buccaneers of America, with 39 maps, charts, &c. 
 in 5 vols. 4t.o. price 4/. 4s. in boards. A very few 
 copies are printed on fine paper. This work, says the 
 Quarterly Review,* u displays a rare union of nautical 
 and literary research, and the liberal spirit which it 
 breathes, is honourable to the Authors profession 
 and his country.” 
 
 * Quarterly Review , vol. xvii. p. 1 . 
 
[ 413 ] 
 
 ASIA. 
 
 Having given a pretty full account of Collections 
 of Voyages, and of Circumnavigations of the Globe, 
 I proceed to lay before my readers, both “ young” and 
 “ old,” a sketch of a few of the more important voya- 
 ges and travels which relate to the most ancient, and, 
 with the exception of America, the largest quarter of 
 the World : to those regions, once the scene of an 
 earthly paradise, 
 
 “ where God or angel guest, 
 
 With Man, as with his friend familiar, used 
 To sit indulgent, and with him partake 
 Rural repast.’’ 
 
 Of course I allude to Asia. Dismissing, in the brief- 
 est possible manner, what hath been written upon 
 this country by Herodotus, Arrian, Ptolemy, and 
 others of the ancient school, including the Minor 
 Greek Geographers * I commence with the notices 
 
 *■ The notices of Asia by Herodotus, and more especially the me- 
 morable voyage of Nearchus, (rendered familiar to British readers by 
 the version and edition of Arrian by the late Dr. Vincent, and by the 
 Doctor’s own account of the voyage and Periplus of the Erythraean 
 Sea) need scarcely be dwelt upon. Ptolemy’s map of Asia is repub- 
 lished by Mr. Murray (vol. i. page 448) in his Historical Account of 
 Discoveries and Travels in Asia, 18*20, octavo, three vols. — a work, 
 before (page 379) especially commended, and to which, as will be 
 obvious, I shall have such frequent occasion to refer. In regard to 
 the information incidental to India, to be found in the ancient minor 
 Greek Geographers, edited in 4 vols. Svo. by Hudson, in 1698, 1 
 cannot venture upon recommending the reader — unless his purse be 
 well garnished with pistoles — to purchase these rare and high-priced 
 tomes. He will be pleased to read what is said of them in my 
 
414 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 [Asia, 
 
 of Tudela, Marco Polo, and Mandeville. Benjamin, 
 the son of Jonas of Tudela, a Spanish Jew, was among 
 the earliest of Asiatic Travellers in the middle ages. 
 His work, which is rather curious than valuable, has 
 been translated into the English, French, and other 
 languages.* Marco Polo, although greatly surpassed 
 by subsequent travellers in the extent, variety, and 
 importance of the information imparted, is neverthe- 
 
 Introd. to the Classics, vol. ii. p. 439, and to unite in the wish of Toup, 
 that the University of Oxford (now so laudably smitten with a pas- 
 sion for reprinting) would republish, with such additions and correc- 
 tions as recent researches have brought to light, these intrinsically 
 valuable volumes. Upon large paper — but why am I about to run 
 riot ? Only this much be conceded to me : to mention a remarka- 
 bly fine copy of the first two volumes, in original calf binding, in the 
 Pepysian library at Cambridge. I have seen fine and perfect copies 
 on large paper in the Luton and Althorp Collections ; among the 
 “ lock up ” rarities in Christ Church Library, Oxford $ in Cleveland 
 Square ; in Portland Place j but is not all this running exceed- 
 ingly riot } It is : it is : and I desist. Let me however earnestly 
 entreat and exhort Messrs. Elmsley and Gaisford to take heed to the 
 republication of the Minor Greek Geographers, first edited by 
 Joseph Hudson. 
 
 * The first edition of Tudela’s text was by Montanus, who 
 translated it from the original Hebrew, and published in the office of 
 Plantin, 1575, 8vo : but a better version appeared by Constantine 
 Lempereur ab Oppyck, a professor of theology at Leyden ; who 
 brought it out in an elegant form at the Elzevir press, in 1633, 
 12mo. : a copy of which was sold for 7s. 6d. at the sale of Dr. 
 Heath’s library, and for 1 1. 13s. in black morocco, at that of Colonel 
 Stanley’s library. Both editions contain the original Hebrew. An 
 English version appeared in 1 7 83, 8vo. : and a better French one 
 was published by Barathier at Amst. in 1784, 2 vols. 12mo. But it 
 is in a yet better form among the French versions of old travels, in 
 the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, published by Pierre Berge- 
 ron in 1735, 4to. 2 vols. Consult Pinkerton, vol. xvii. p. 126 5 who 
 is here comparatively communicative. 
 
Asia.] 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 415 
 
 less one of the most authentic and valuable of the 
 middle age writers of travels ; and, luckily for Eng- 
 lishmen, this country can boast of the most correct, 
 full, and satisfactory version and edition of his labours 
 extant. I allude to the masterly publication, in a 
 quarto form, which has been recently put forth by 
 Mr. Marsden and my obligations to which have 
 been already declared in a public maimer. The ar- 
 dent and the curious Bibliomaniac will doubtless 
 revel in the possession (should he be ever able to pos- 
 sess it) of the first printed text of Polo’s travels in the 
 German language^ — but the sober-minded and dispas- 
 
 * “ Mr. Marsden, in his recent very learned edition (ISIS, 4 to.) of 
 these travels, has collected and placed in the clearest light all the 
 evidences of their authenticity, drawn both from ancient and modern 
 sources. His labours have smoothed the task, which would other- 
 wise have been difficult, of analyzing the description given by Marco 
 of the eastern world.” Murray; vol. i. p. 161. The reader should 
 know that Marco Polo was a Venetian — son of Maffeo, and nephew 
 of Nicolo, Polo — both of whom undertook the first voyage to the 
 countries in question, and both of whom were eclipsed by the enter- 
 prise and energies of Marco. Mr. Marsden's book (27 12s. 6d.) 
 should be in every professed collection of Voyages and Travels. 
 
 f The curious reader may see a full and particular account of this 
 first German impression in the ASdes Altliorpiance , vol. ii. p. 176-9, 
 together with a fac-simile of the portrait capriciously introduced as 
 that of Marco Polo himself. Mr. Murray has inaccurately dated this 
 edition 1471. It is so rare, that only one other copy of it is known ; 
 which is in the Imperial Library at Vienna-— and Mr. Marsden had 
 gone a considerable way through his labours, before he was put in 
 possession of a transcript of the Vienna copy. Lord Spencer’s copy, 
 in every respect sound and desirable, was obtained at Munich, by 
 Mr. John Payne — when he sprung a mine, at that place, of several 
 very mysterious and precious tomes. Polo’s travels have been trans- 
 lated into Italian, (1497) French, (1566) and Spanish, 1720. An 
 early English version appeared in 1579: again in Purchas ; and 
 latterly in Pinkerton. Messrs. Arch had the courage to give 3 l. 1 3s. 6d» 
 
416 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 [Asia. 
 
 sionate Collector will embrace, with a better regulated 
 fondness, the intelligible and uncorrupted version of 
 Marsden. The name of Marsden must not however 
 be dismissed, without the mention and strong recom- 
 mendation of his History of the Island of Sumatra y in 
 one quarto volume, of which the third and latest edi- 
 tion is, I believe, that of 1810. This may be pro- 
 nounced to be one of those works, as nearly approach- 
 ing perfection as such a subject is capable. 
 
 Sir John Mandeville is our next most ancient 
 and popular Eastern traveller.* Whatever may be 
 the estimation in which his Work is held abroad, 
 there are certainly good proofs of its having been long 
 favourably received at home. Leaving the cabinets 
 of the curious in quiet possession of the French and 
 Italian impressions in the fifteenth and sixteen centu- 
 ries, the unambitious Collector may rest well satisfied 
 with the handsomely printed edition, in a large oc- 
 tavo form, of the date of 1725 : which yet however 
 maintains a stiff price. It is a mistake to suppose 
 
 for the Latin version, printed in 1671, 4to. at the sale of Colonel 
 Stanley’s library ; and 10/. 10s. were given for an early edition, sine 
 ulla notd, in the same language, at the sale of the White Knights 
 library. 
 
 * The versions of Mandeville, even in ms., must have been nu- 
 merous, and widely scattered abroad. A French and an Italian edi- 
 tion appeared in 1480, nineteen years before the appearance of the 
 legitimate text of the author, in the English language. Brunet cor- 
 rectly notices these early impressions, of which I have seen a copy of 
 the Italian, in the libraries of Mr. Grenville and Mr. Wilbraham — so 
 rich in publications of this character. There are numerous reim- 
 pressions of each in the xvth century. Lord Spencer has the Bo- 
 logna edition of 1492, 4 to. The Duke of Marlborough’s copy of 
 the Bologna edition of 1 497 was sold for Si. : and a fine copy of an 
 old Latin edition, sine ulld notd , was sold, at the sale of his library in 
 
Asia.] 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 417 
 
 that there are copies on large paper. I have never 
 seen the volume but of one size. Shall I provoke the 
 smile, or the frown of the reader by the mention of 
 the name of Mendez Pinto ? pronounced, in a well 
 known comedy, to be at least a “ liar of the second 
 magnitude !” Yet time has caused the truth to be 
 filtered through the supposed falsehood of this text ; 
 and, bating some exceptions, (rather in the shape of 
 exaggeration than studied fiction) Pinto may be ac- 
 knowledged among the most valuable as well as early 
 of the Explorers of the Southern Coasts of Asia. The 
 precis of his exploits, by Mr. Murray,* is really a piece 
 of witchery to peruse. 
 
 1819, for 9l. 95. Several other copies were in the same collection. 
 But very much rarer than either of these — and so rare, as to baffle 
 all present enquiries to identify a copy — is the first, hitherto known, 
 English Version, put forth by Wynkyn de Worde in 1499, 4to. : 
 of which a particular description is given, together with some ac- 
 count of Mandeville, in the Typog. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 84, &c. Where 
 the copy, there noticed, now reposes, is beyond the ken of the au- 
 thor of this work. The English reprints, in the sixteenth century, 
 are said by Watt and Murray to be of the dates of 1 503 and 1 568 : 
 in the seventeenth, 1684 : and in the eighteenth, I know of none but 
 those of 1722, 1725, and 1727* Of the first of these, which has 
 wretched wood-cuts, a copy was sold for 11. 9s. at the Towneley 
 sale: of the second, f a copy brought 31. 7 s. at the Stanley sale, and 
 3l. 155. at Bindley’s ; and of the third, Mr. Payne marks a copy, 
 " very neat,” at 21. 25. I do not know the secret history of the edi- 
 tion of 1725 selling so high. 
 
 * Historical Account, &c. vol. i. p. 234-261. The earliest edition 
 of the Peregrinacam of Mendez Pinto, in the original Portuguese lan- 
 guage, is that of 1614, Madrid, folio : and if a very fine copy of the 
 Valencia reprint in 1645, folio, produced the sum of 31. 135. at the 
 
 + It is not a little curious that of this very date, a work should appear by an au- 
 thor of the same name, called “ a modest defence of Public Stews” — which I have 
 heard more than once, resolutely contended for as the work of our worthy knight 
 the Traveller ! ! ! See other Mandevilles in Thorpe’s Catalogue, p. ii. no. 9146. 
 
 e e 
 
418 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 [Asia. 
 
 I know not, however, if this sketch of the earlier 
 travellers into Asia be complete, without some men- 
 tion, however incidental, of the voyage of F. Pvrard, 
 who is classed by Pinkerton (not [always the soundest 
 judge to appeal to) among “ the most accurate and 
 intelligent’* of travellers. Pursuing the order of Mr. 
 Murray, in his three delightful volumes, I proceed at 
 
 sale of the Stanley library, we may suppose the parent text to be 
 worth 5l. 5s. There was a Madrid reprint of 1627. The Dutch 
 version appeared in 1653: the French, in 1605 5 the German, in 
 1671 5 and the English, in 1663 — rather a rare book — and again in 
 1692, folio : worth about 12 s. 6d. 
 
 * “ — navigation aux Indes Orientates , aux Maldives , Molucques , au 
 Bresil, &c. Paris, 1615 or 1619, 8 vo. First edition, according to 
 Brunet ; but Pinkerton makes it 1613. Neither seems to speak .from 
 authority j though both unite in considering the edition of 1679, 
 4to. as the best. Huet thought that Bergeron was the author of the 
 text, from the oral instructions of Pyrard : consult Brunet, vol. iii. p. 
 174. Be this as it may, whoever reads the notice of this work by 
 Pinkerton, f (Coll, of Voyages , vol. xvii. p. 163) will run with all his 
 might and main to secure the first copy of it that turns up. And yet, 
 whoever reads the very interesting account of the author, in the Bio - 
 graphie Universelle, 1823, vol. xxxvi. p. 348-50, will observe that 
 Duval, who was the editor of the edition of 1679, and who boasts of 
 having done, and who has certainly done, much towards the elucida- 
 tion of the text, has unluckily omitted the Vocabulary of the Maldi- 
 vian language , to be found in the preceding impressions 5 so that the 
 purchaser will be a little embarrassed in his choice. A sort of Sylla- 
 bus of the work, under the title of" Discours du Voyage &c. ap- 
 peared in 1611 5 but which should seem to be hardly worth walking 
 after. 
 
 t* “ Of the ancient travellers in India, Pyrard, who set out in 1600, and re- 
 turned in 1611, is one of the most accurate and intelligent. His descriptions are 
 concise and neat, and his accuracy has not been impeached. The account he gives 
 of the Maldives continues the best we have, and that of Bengal, Cochin, Travan- 
 core and Kalicut, are of great value. His remarks on Ceylon, the isles of Sunda 
 and the Moluccas, are more rapid, but those on the Brazils, though short, are full 
 of curious matter.” But consult the new Biographie Universelle /Incienne et Mo- 
 dernej as above referred to. 
 
Asia.] 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 419 
 
 once to the notice of the labours of the Portuguese — 
 the Discoverers of India : as I shall have occasion to 
 mention, in another and more compressed form, the 
 travellers who are introduced by him towards the end 
 of his first volume. 
 
 At the very sound of Portuguese enterprise, the 
 name of Vasco de Gama rushes upon our ear with a 
 fond and enthusiastic sensation : and leaving the 
 lovers of poetry to read the achievements of that great 
 and dauntless navigator in the mellifluent numbers of 
 Camoens,* I shall gently lead them to the more sober 
 details of his exploits, to be found in the Decads of 
 Barros, and in the Asia Portuguesa of Faria de 
 Sousa, and other similar bodies of travels !+ Mean- 
 
 * Will “ the young” or “ the old” Collector aspire to the rarest 
 and most splendid edition of this poet which has ever appeared, and 
 which is described in tempting detail in the JEdes Althorpiance, vol. i. 
 p. 143*5 } At this moment, I know not whether any copy of it has 
 been sold by auction. When it does, will thirty-six guineas enable 
 Gotscaleus to become its purchaser ? 
 
 f First of Barros. As Decadas III de Asia dos feitos que os Portu • 
 geses fezerdo, fyc. de Joam de Barros , printed at Lisbon, in 1552-63, 
 3 vols. folio : and reprintedin 1628f and again with those of Couto, 
 or the 4th Decad, in 1736, 3 vols. ; and again from 1778 to 1788 in 
 24 duodecimo volumes. The IVth Decad was printed in 1602 : the 
 Vth in 1612 5 the Vlth and Vllth in 1614-16 : the Vlllth, IXth, 
 and Xth in 1673 : all in folio. The Xlth Decad is in MS. and so is 
 the XHIth : and of the Xllth, only the first five books are printed. 
 So astonishingly scarce are copies of this work, that Mr. Murray 
 doubts if the Vlllth, IXth, Xth, and Xlth Decads have been printed j 
 but there is a printed copy of the Vlllth. and a complete set of 
 the whole, in the library of His Majesty. A set is not only pro- 
 nounced to be ff presque introuvable” in France, by Brunet — but he 
 knows of no catalogue which contains a copy of the IXth and Xth. 
 
 f A copy of this reprint was sold at the sale of the library of Don I. Antonio 
 Conde for 12/. 
 
420 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 [Asia. 
 
 while, the analysis of Mr. Murray, (vol. iii. p. 43-56) 
 cannot fail to be a provoker of the appetite for a more 
 abundant intellectual meal. Among the labours of 
 the Portuguese Missionaries, those of Guzman are 
 the more important ; and if the result of English 
 Embassies, having for their object many things in 
 common with those of the Portuguese, be at all a 
 topic which weighs with the Collector of Travels, let 
 him form an acquaintance with the texts of Hawkins 
 and Roe.* 
 
 We have now reached the period, when it behoves 
 us to render justice to the spirit of discovery and of 
 
 Decads. The likeliest quarters to meet with another such a copy, 
 are the libraries of Lord Holland, and Messrs. Heber, Frere, and 
 Southey — and where they are sure to be turned to good account. It 
 may be remarked, that it is a work of extreme difficulty to specify 
 accurately. 
 
 The Asia Portuguessa of Manuel Faria de Sousa, published in 
 3 folio volumes at Lisbon in 1 666, with many curious cuts, is also 
 exceedingly rare. A copy of it was sold at the sale of Dr. Heath’s 
 library for 91. An English translation appeared in 1695, 8vo. 3 vols. 
 see Bibl. Heath , no. 2563 ; and Bibl. Harl. vol.ii. nos. 11494, 11524. 
 With this work, should be united the Europa Portuguessa of Emanuel 
 Faria de Sousa, published in 167b folio, 2 vols. of which an extra 
 bound copy, by Walther, was sold for 71 . at the same sale. Yet per- 
 haps, of more importance than either, is the account of the Conquests 
 of the Portuguese in India, which occupies the eight folio tomes of 
 Fernan Lopez de Castanheda, and which was printed at Coimbra 
 in 1552-4. Where shall we expect to find a copy of this curious 
 work, if not in one of the foregoing libraries ? 
 
 * The work of Luiz Guzman is that of a Portuguese Missionary, 
 and it incorporates an account of China and of Japan as well as of 
 the East Indies. It was published at Alcala in 1601, in two folio 
 volumes, and has become rare and high priced. The travels of Haw- 
 kins and Roe are found in the first volumes of the Collections of 
 Purchas and Churchill. Roe, more fully in the latter : and again, 
 separately, in 1740. 
 
Asia.] 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 421 
 
 enterprise which actuated the French School ; and 
 wherein the names of Bernier, Tavernier, Thevenot, 
 and Chardin, are eminently conspicuous. The nature 
 of this work forbidding an exemplified notice of these 
 labours in the text , the reader is referred to the sub- 
 joined note for the best editions* of the publications 
 which record them. Following the order of Mr. Mur- 
 
 * First of Bernier ; whose work, in two duodecimo volumes, 
 1679, with cuts — again in 1725, 12mo. 2 vols. — contains one of the 
 best accounts of Hindoostan that has ever appeared ; including the 
 first good account of Cashmeer and of several other countries. So 
 says Pinkerton : but consult Murray, vol. ii. p. 183, &c. Taver- 
 nier’s is a better known, and more common work. It was published 
 in the French language at Paris in 1679, 1692, and at Utrecht 1712, 
 12mo. 3 vols. with cuts. A copy of the latter edition was sold for 
 2 1. 3s. at the sale of Dr. Heath’s library. The first may be the more 
 valuable, on account of the sharpness of the cuts ; but Brunet for- 
 bids the purchase of any edition subsequent to the date of 1712. An 
 English version of Tavernier appeared in 1678, folio, with plates ; of 
 which a very neat copy is marked at 21. 2 s. in the catalogue of Messrs. 
 Payne and Foss. John Thevenot, the traveller, must be distin- 
 guished from Melchisedec Thevenot, the Collector of Travels, (con- 
 cerning whose work see p. 396, ante). The fullest edition of I. 
 Thevenot’s labours appeared in 1689, in 5 small octavo volumes, 
 with cuts, which may be purchased for about a guinea. A high cha- 
 racter is given of the writer in the Bibl. Harleiana, vol. ii. p. 696. 
 Chardin is incomparably preferable to either of his precursors, but 
 he is rather a Persian than a more Eastern traveller. His Voyage en 
 Perse et autres lieux de V Orient appears with every possible advantage 
 in 4 quarto volumes published at Amsterdam in 1735 ; and a fine 
 copy of this precious work yet rears its head in the market. Dr. 
 Heath’s copy was sold for 152. 15s.; but Colonel Stanley’s, in blue 
 morocco binding, brought nearly double that sum — namely, 28Z. 
 This is thought to be the best edition : but M. Langles, an able edi- 
 tor, has recently (1811) put forth a new and handsome edition in ten 
 octavo volumes — with an Atlas folio of eighty-one plates. For 
 purity of text, this latter is probably the preferable impression ; yet 
 
422 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 [Asia, 
 
 ray, we enter upon the immense territory of Hindoo- 
 stan ; the chief seat of the British Empire in the East. 
 
 the thorough-bred bibliomaniac clings to his quarto with pertina- 
 cious fondness. 
 
 The name of Raynal (the Abbe) is doubtless connected with those 
 writers, of the French School, who have treated of the affairs of 
 India ; but the Abbe’s work relating to India is purely philosophical 
 and political ; the author never having visited that country. His 
 “ Histoire philosophique et politique des dtablissemens et du commerce 
 des Europdens dans les deux Indes ,” was first published, according to 
 Barbier, in 1770, in six octavo volumes : it was afterwards published 
 at Geneva, in five volumes in quarto, and ten in octavo, in 1780 : 
 the last volume of the quarto having maps : and a quarto Atlas ac- 
 companying the octavo impression. Brunet says the octavo is the 
 preferable edition : but I find a copy of the quarto impression pur- 
 chased by Lord Essex for 31. 13s. 6d. at the sale of Dr. Heath’s 
 library. Brunet gives a curious anecdote enough about the publica- 
 tion of this work. He says “ that the Abb£ Raynal, before he printed 
 and published it at Geneva, and by Pellet, first printed three copies 
 only at Stoupe’s, at Paris $ of these, one was left with Stoupe ; the 
 second was preserved by the Abb6 ; and the third was left with 
 Pellet, as for the impression copy.” By these means, he introduced 
 his own corrections, and those of his friends, upon the margins of a 
 printed copy, for the more immediate facility of publication. 
 
 Grimm says, that Diderot wrote one third part of it, which is not 
 the least distinguished for the boldness of its sentiments : Mem. part 
 iii. vol. iv. p. 85. But la Harpe says, that Diderot wrote the half of 
 it ; and that though Raynal was really a better man than Diderot, 
 yet that he, Diderot, Rousseau, Voltaire, and Helvetius, were among 
 the most powerful prime movers of the French revolution : Cours de 
 Litterature , vol. xv. p. 113; xvi. part i. p. 173-4. “ J ai lu” (says 
 Barbier) “ cette histoire politique, qu’on attribue avec raison h divers 
 auteurs. Ces Messieurs declament plus qu’ils ne racontent $ et ce 
 livre est moins une histoire, qu’une compilation hardie et irreligieuse 
 de tout ce qu’ont dit les voyageurs.”* Bibl. d'un Homme de Gout , 
 vol. iv. p. 182. 
 
 Dr. Johnson flew out into a great passion, and perhaps with reason, when any 
 one talked of the Abb4 Raynal’s history. Gibbon has drawn no very enviable 
 
Asia.] 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 423 
 
 Yet before the notice of those writers who have more 
 particularly written upon that country, be entered 
 upon, it may be worth while to observe, not only that 
 several of the authors before described make more or 
 less mention of it — but that several, not at all pre- 
 viously noticed, are copious in their accounts ; such as 
 many whose works appear in the Danish Asiatic 
 Transactions ; while the labours of Dapper, Tiefen- 
 thaler, and Valentyn* present the most copious 
 
 * First of the transactions of Danish Travellers and Missionaries, 
 under the title of Aden der Danischen Mission en Ost-Indien." 
 They were published at Halle in 1718, in 13 vols. 4to„ and have 
 been continued to the year 1S05, (if not later) comprising sixty-one 
 volumes. These Acts) says Pinkerton) are cited as authority by 
 Anquetil-du-Perron. They have been abridged in the Latin and 
 German languages. But, in the German language, let Dapper’s 
 “ Asia, or a Description of the Empire of the Great Mogul, and of a 
 large part of India,” published at Amsterdam in 1672, in 2 folio 
 volumes, receive a quiet place at the bottom row of folios in the 
 library of the Linguist : and if the graphic Connoisseur have a small 
 void for the oblong folio of Romain de Hooge, which represents — 
 every thing — connected with the East and West Indies, let this 
 brilliant tome be found in his cabinet. Tiefenthaler is a “ clarum 
 nomen” in the list of oriental travellers 5 but the safest and plea- 
 santest advice respecting his work, will be to recommend “ the young 
 Man” to procure the French version of it, with the researches of 
 Anquetil du Perron, and the map of Rennell, in 1785, 4to. 3 vols. 
 A copy of this valuable performance may be obtained for 3/. 13s. 6d. 
 “ The account of the Seikhs by TiefFenthaler is the most interesting 
 we possess,” says Pinkerton. 
 
 picture of the Abb4 himself. In a letter dated Lausanne, Sept. 30, 1783, he thus 
 writes to Lord Sheffield ; “Yesterday afternoon I lay, or at least sat, in state to 
 receive visits, and at the same moment my room was filled with four different na- 
 tions. The loudest of these nations was the single voice of the Abbe Raynal, who 
 like your friend, has chosen this place for the asylum of freedom and history. 
 His conversation, which might be very agreeable, is intolerably loud, peremptory 
 and insolent : and you would imagine that he alone were the Monarch and legis- 
 lator of the world.” Post. Works , vol. v. p. 330. 
 
424 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 [Asia. 
 
 and curious details. But coming more collectively 
 to the notice of Hindoostan, and carrying with us, 
 as a safe guide in all our journeyings, the incompar- 
 able Map of Major Rennell, first published (with 
 an octavo volume of explanation, containing an ac- 
 count of the Ganges and Burrampooter rivers) in 1788, 
 
 I am anxious to recommend the Asiatic Researches , to- 
 gether with the works of Sir William Jones,* to 
 those who are more solicitous of minute and curious 
 
 I cannot dissemble my fondness for Franc Valentyn, although 
 I am unable to read a single sentence in his work : — published in the 
 Dutch language, in 1726, folio, in 8 volumes : but the plates are so 
 curious and apparently faithful, as well as numerous — and the work 
 being considered scarce and little known,” as well as “ the best 
 hitherto published, relative to India,” I may venture to stimulate the 
 curious to secure, as soon as possible, the fine old vellum-bound copy 
 of it, which lies at Messrs. Payne and Foss, at the price of 71. 7s. I 
 remember, after the capture of Java, by the gallant Colonel Gillespie, 
 looking over many plates in this work, which represent the streets of 
 the capital through which the gallant English army marched in their 
 road to victory. My friend, Mr. Brunet, rightly calls these volumes 
 u a very curious collection; but being written in a language of limited 
 circulation, their contents cannot be generally appreciated.” With 
 the work of Valentyn, I am desirous of recommending two ancient 
 volumes in the French language, which describe the adventures and 
 discoveries of the Dutch in the East Indies, of that period — “ avec 
 le vrai portrait au vif des habitans — le tout par plusieurs figures' 
 illustre ; par G. W. A. W. W.” Amst. 1538, folio. A second volume 
 descriptive of Dutch enterprise, under Admirals J. Cornelius Nec, 
 and Wilbrant de Warwic, appeared in 1609, folio. Just now, the 
 present abode of a copy of either of these works escapes me. 
 
 * The Asiatic Researches , which owe their origin to the patronage 
 of the celebrated Sir William Jones, and which were first published 
 at Calcutta, have been reprinted in London in 14 quarto volumes: 
 1799 — 1821. The publication price is 25 s. per volume. They are 
 full of the most curious and valuable intelligence in every possible 
 form, and on every possible subject. Need I dwell a moment on the 
 
Asia.] 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 425 
 
 details connected with our East India territories — 
 while, in lieu of these elaborate performances^ the pub- 
 lications of Buchanan, Malcolm, Hamilton, and 
 Mill, can scarcely fail to gratify a very large class of 
 readers.* 
 
 recommendation of the works of Sir William Jones, in 8 quarto 
 volumes, 1799 — 1801 — reprinted in 12 octavo volumes? A scholar, 
 a critic, philosopher, lawyer, and poet — where shall we find, in the 
 works of the same man, greater demonstrations of pure and correct 
 feeling, and cultivated and classical taste, than in the volumes here 
 noticed and recommended ? ! The piety of Sir William Jones was not 
 inferior to his learning. A thoroughly good, and great-minded man, 
 — his eaution, humility, and diffidence were equal to his learning 
 and multifarious attainments ; and there is a vigour and raciness in 
 his translations of Persian Poetry, which give them the enchanting 
 air of original productions. This great man may be said to have 
 fallen a victim to the climate where he spent the latter portion of his 
 life. He was prematurely cut off in his high career : but his grate- 
 ful country numbers him among the most illustrious of her Wor- 
 thies. 
 
 * Dr. Francis Buchanan’s works, connected with India, do in- 
 finite credit to his memory. His Journey through the Countries of 
 Mysore , Canara , and Malabar , Lond. 1807> 4to. 3 vols. is a most cu- 
 rious and instructive work. Those researches, of an ecclesiastical 
 character, which distinguish the works of the Rev. Claudius Bu- 
 chanan, are too well known and appreciated to need being chronicled 
 in this place. See the 1st. 2nd. and 16th volumes of the Quarterly 
 Review. The works of Sir John Malcolm place him among the 
 principal of statistical writers upon the East. His History of Persia, 
 belongs to a subsequent place ; but his papers in the Asiatic Re- 
 searches, his Sketch of the Sikhs, and, above all, his Memoir of 
 Central India , (1823, 8vo. 2 vols.) are productions of decided and 
 general utility. The latter received an elaborate investigation in the 
 Quarterly Review of January, 1824. But of the most obvious utility 
 and merit, are the labours of Mr. Hamilton. Who, that has relatives 
 in India, (“Alas, I feel I am no actor here!”) can rest satisfied 
 without the possession, not only of his Gazetteer , but of his Geogra- 
 phical Description of Hindoostan , in two quarto volumes, published 
 
426 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 [Asia. 
 
 Yet 'portions of this great territory have stimulated 
 the curiosity, and called forth the spirit of enterprise, 
 of some of the most ardent and scientific of travellers 
 — and those of our own country. The Himmaleh or 
 Himmalaya mountains — that vast and magnificent 
 chain, which forms the northern boundary of Hin- 
 doostan, and is the immediate barrier between the 
 kingdoms of Nepaul and Thibet — which, rising with 
 its eternal snows, looks down even upon the proudest 
 summits of the Andes — those stupendous heights have 
 received the most delightful and satisfactory illustra- 
 tions by Messrs. Hardwicke , Webb , Raper , Cole- 
 brooke , Moor croft , and Fraser .* Thibet should seem 
 
 at London, in 1820 ? Mr. James Mill, without having visited India, 
 is nevertheless the author of a most spirited and popular History of 
 British India, in three quarto — reprinted in 6 octavo volumes : ob- 
 tainable in either shape, and at a moderate price. 
 
 * Consult the Asiatic Researches, vol. x. xi. and xii. and above all 
 the very interesting Reviews of Works connected with these mag- 
 nificent regions, in the xivth and xviith volumes of the Quarterly 
 Review. Or, if these should not be at hand, let the work of Mr. 
 Murray s Asia, be consulted ; especially the whole of the first chapter 
 of the 3d book in volume ii. The perusal is almost transporting. 
 Does it from hence follow, that the perpetual height of snow, in the 
 Himmalaya range, is 17,000 feet — and that the Mont Blanc of this 
 range is 27,000 feet in altitude ? Colonel Kirkpatrick, in his Nepaul, 
 seems to have first imparted to the public a notion of the marvellous 
 height of these mountains ; although Turner, in his Thibet, had 
 more than a casual glimpse of them. The Colonel’s extatic feelings 
 are thus described — the summit of Chandragiri which commanded 
 a sublime amphitheatre, successively exhibiting to the delighted view 
 the cities and numberless temples of the valley below : the stupen- 
 dous mountain of Sheoopoori the still super-towering Jibjibia, 
 clothed to its snow-capped peak with pendulous forests; and, 
 finally, the gigantic Himmaleh, forming the majestic back-ground 
 of this wonderful and sublime picture.” Murray, vol. ii. p. 429. Mr. 
 Murray himself is even hurried along by the force of such impas- 
 
Asia.] 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 427 
 
 hardly to stand in need of another historian, after the 
 very admirable work of the late Mr. Samuel Turner , 
 whose “ Account of an Embassy to the Court of Te- 
 shoo Lamaf in that country, together with the Views 
 of Lieutenant Davis, and the Mineralogical and Bo- 
 tanical Observations of Mr. Saunders — all put forth 
 in one splendid quarto volume, in 1800 — cannot fail 
 of meeting the approbation of every qualified judge. 
 This performance is among the most perfect of those 
 which relate to the northern parts of India. 
 
 Nepaul has been brought before our eyes, as it 
 were, by the labours of Colonel Kirkpatrick and Dr. 
 Hamilton ; and the Hon. M. Elphinstone’s Caubul 
 is a work which places its author in the first rank of 
 historians and travellers in the East. Luckily, the 
 labours of these gentlemen are neither costly nor 
 rare:* and most earnestly do I recommend them, 
 
 sioned feelings. He mentions the snowy pinnacles of the mighty 
 Himmaleh : the almost unfathomable depth of the valley beneath, 
 contrasted with the stupendous height of the mountains above, and 
 the grandeur of their awful and cloud-capt boundary, producing an 
 impression of sublimity amounting to terror.” In Captain Hard- 
 wicke’s tour, the two loftiest peaks in view, were those of Gangoutri , 
 supposed to be the source of the Ganges, and Jamautii , that of the 
 Jumna/ p. 295. 
 
 Such are the regions in which the two mightiest rivers in Asia are 
 supposed to have their sources j regions, still to be accurately and 
 fully explored—- notwithstanding the unparalleled efforts of Mr. 
 Moorcroft, who has penetrated farther into the mountainous world 
 of India, than any other European traveller. An outline of his truly 
 instructive and interesting narrative may be found in the first num- 
 ber of the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal. But everv author, 
 above mentioned, deserves equal praise 5 and, if achievements, 
 such as they performed, were always the result of territorial con- 
 quest, who might not envy the conquered the felicity of their lot > 
 
 * Col. Kirkpatrick’s Nepaul , an elegant 4to. volume, published 
 in 1811, with a map and other engravings, was elaborately, and on 
 
42 S 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 [Asia. 
 
 especially the book of Mr. Elphinstone, to every library 
 of any pretension to a Collection of Voyages and 
 Travels. 
 
 Persia, according to Mr. Murray’s arrangement, 
 next claims the attention of the bibliographer. Leav- 
 ing the discoveries of earlier travellers to be found 
 in the collection of Aldus, put forth in 1543-5, under 
 the title Viaggi fatti da Vinegia* I pass quickly 
 
 the whole dispassionately, reviewed in the vth volume of the Quar- 
 terly Review , p. 305 — 332. The account of the Kingdom of Caubul 
 of the Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone, was published in 1815, in 
 a handsome quarto volume — and republished in two octavo volumes. 
 Elaborate and exceedingly interesting reviews of it appeared in the 
 Edinburgh and Quarterly Reviews of the same year. A work of such 
 excellence stands in need of no commendation here. 
 
 *• The narratives of Zeno, Barbaro, and Contarini were first pub- 
 lished in the Viaggi fatti da Vinetia , alia Tana , in Persia , in India , 
 &c. collected by Antonio Manutius, and published by Paul Manutius 
 in the Aldine Office, in 1543, and again in 1545, in one 8vo. volume 
 of 180 leaves. The second edition, which has only 163 leaves, is the 
 better printed book, according to Renouard; vol. i. p. 225, 234. 
 A copy of the first edition was sold for 1 1. Is. at the sale of Mr. 
 Bindley’ s Library, and for 31. 7 s. at that of Colonel Stanley’s. An- 
 tony Shereley’s Travels were first published in 1613, 4to.f and they 
 are reprinted in Purchas, and Mr. Murray has given a very interesting 
 extract (vol. iii. p. 23,) from the original. Yet, nothing short of a 
 clean-margined copy of the original impression, must satisfy the 
 curious. It is obtainable for a sovereign. Shereley was the pro- 
 tege of the Earl of Essex : “ whom he had made the pattern of his 
 civil life and at whose advice he travelled into Persia. But con- 
 sult the work last referred to (vol. iii. p. 29-52,) for the treasures 
 which are yet in MS. relating to Persia, of which Don Garcia de 
 Sylva is the author 5 who lived in the reign of Philip III. The Tra- 
 vels of Sir Thomas Herbert were first published, in folio, in 1634, 
 and afterwards in 1635, 1665, and 1667. They relate to Africa and 
 Great Asia, as well as Persia. A copy of the first edition was sold 
 for If. 10s. at Dr. Heath’s sale. But all these are eclipsed by the 
 
 * See p.394. 
 
Asia.] 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 429 
 
 by the performances of Sherley and Herbert, to make 
 especial and honourable mention of that of Chardin ; 
 and recommending my readers not to let the amusing 
 work of Jonas Hanway* escape them, especially if 
 obtainable at a moderate sum, I may venture to con- 
 clude the list of publications, relating to this most 
 interesting country, with the strong recommendation 
 of the more recent, and more intrinsically valuable, 
 works of Morier, Malcolm, Ouseley, and Sir Robert 
 Kerr Porter. The subjoined note affords a brief out- 
 line of the editions of the labours of these distin- 
 guished travellers 
 
 labours of Chardin, “ who devoted his life, as it were, to the know- 
 ledge of Persia,” — says Mr. Murray. I will be free to add, that for 
 intrinsic merit and fidelity of narrative, Chardin has been exceeded 
 by no subsequent traveller. His travels first appeared in a folio 
 volume of 1686 ; containing only his journey from Paris to Ispahan : 
 then came out his account of Persia, in 3 quarto, or ten duodecimo 
 volumes, at Amsterdam, in 1711 : but, as before observed, (seep. 
 420) the Amsterdam edition of 1735, is the most popular one. 
 
 * Perhaps this is not the most proper place for the mention of 
 Hanway’s Travels j but as there is very much in them relating to 
 Persia, the reader may as well know that the work appeared in 1 753, 
 in four quarto volumes, and that in Mr. Murray’s Collection (vol. i. 
 p. 355) some amusing particulars from them are extracted. At 
 Balfrush, finding his beard grown to a most inconvenient length, 
 Hanway with great difficulty, procured a barber 5 but that operator 
 learning, in the midst of the process, that he was a Christian, uttered 
 a cry of horror and ran away • and Hanway was obliged to push 
 on with his half-shaven beard !” He was, at the time, very critically 
 situated. The work of Hanway contains a great number of maps, 
 and some very pretty vignettes and plates, of which several were 
 designed by Wale 5 a name dear to the lovers of fine art, from his 
 happy performances in Sir John Hawkins’s edition of Walton’s 
 Angler. A copy of this work was sold for 2 1. 1 9s. at the sale of Dr. 
 Heath’s library. It may, however, be obtained at a less price. 
 
 f I have only to subjoin the titles and dates of the works of the 
 
430 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 [Asia. 
 
 Where next shall we turn our eyes, and direct our 
 steps, in this ancient, and, as it were, consecrated 
 quarter of the globe ; And how comes it to pass, that 
 I have allowed my “ young’* reader thus far to travel, 
 without putting into his hands those safe, and almost 
 
 above four eminent travellers : Morier, James, Journey through 
 Persia , Armenia, and Asia Minor , to Constantinople, in the year 
 1808-9. Lond. 1812. 4to. Second Journey j 1810-16. Lond, 1818, 
 4to. For reviews of these works, consult the volumes of the Edin- 
 burgh and Quarterly Review. Malcolm, Sir John : History of Persia, 
 from the earliest ages to the present times. Lond. 1816, 4to. 2 vols. 
 See an excellent criticism on this valuable work in the xvth. vol. of 
 the Quarterly Review. The copies on large paper were published at 
 121. 12s. Ouseley, Sir William : Travels in various Countries of 
 the East, particularly Persia, Lond. 1819, 4to. I understand that 
 the two latter travellers possess fine collections of Persian and San- 
 scrit MSS. The supplemental pages of the Bibliographical Deca- 
 meron, vol. iii. will prove that some of Sir John Malcolm’s treasures, 
 of this description, are of no ordinary beauty j but whether Sir Wil- 
 liam Ouseley’s treasures may, or may not, compete with those of 
 Sir Gore Ouseley, as detailed in the 4th volume of the late'Mr. Beloe’s 
 Anecdotes of Literature and Scarce Books, I cannot take upon me to 
 pronounce. What can there be more beautiful, in all respects, than 
 a highly embellished Persian MS. ? ! I have seen and examined 
 many, of full three centuries growth, which had the effect of magic 
 while turning over the silken and diverse tinted leaves, powdered 
 with golden stars, and irradiated with colours of pink, and blue, and 
 green, as vivid and unsullied as if, at that moment, they had left the 
 pencil of the illuminator ! 
 
 The travels of Sir Robert Kerr Porter were published in two 
 quarto volumes, in 1822 ; embellished with a number of very spirited 
 and singular plates — and containing some interesting particulars 
 relating to Ancient Babylon. These travels include accounts also of 
 Georgia, Armenia , &c. ; and were performed during the years, 1817* 
 18, 19, 20. The plates relate to portraits, costume, and antiquities, 
 and are not fewer than seventy-five in number. The narrative is 
 executed in a pleasing and lively style } and these volumes form, on 
 the whole, a valuable addition to our stock of knowledge of the 
 countries described. 
 
Asia.] 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 431 
 
 indispensable guides ; afforded by the Charts of D’An- 
 ville and Rennell : names, that do not less honour 
 to the important study of geography, than to the 
 countries to which they belong. We will now linger 
 a little in the western parts of Asia, and notice the 
 principal works relating to the Holy Land, and to 
 Turkey — the latter, as well in Europe as in Asia. Let 
 Breydenbach lead the way;1* and the hundred little 
 
 * The geographical labours of the illustrious D’Anville are mi- 
 nutely and temptingly detailed by Brunet, vol. i. p. 76. His Eclair - 
 cissemens Gdographiques sur la carte de VInde , 1753, 4to. and Anti - 
 quitds Geographiques de VInde , et plusieurs autres contries de la 
 haute Asie , 1775, 4to. are among his chief works connected with the 
 present department of our researches. J If the labours of Major Ren- 
 nell are less general than those of D’Anville, they are, nevertheless, 
 highly meritorious on the score of scrupulous accuracy. Here I have 
 only to mention his Bengal Atlas , 1781, folio : Memoir of a Map of 
 Hindoostan , with an Introduction , Lond, 1783 j 1788: reprinted 
 again and again — but to the later editions there is a Supplementary 
 Map, containing the new geography of the Peninsula of India, with 
 an explanatory memoir. The Geographical System of Herodotus ex- 
 amined and explained, with eleven maps, 1808, 4to. now very scarce — 
 and, equal to either, his masterly elucidations of The Retreat of the 
 Ten Thousand ; and his Topography of the Troad : works, that, in 
 their way, have never been surpassed. 
 
 f Breydenbach may, if he pleases, lead the way f’ and luckily 
 this way is rendered very easy and practicable to myself, by the ample 
 notices of the earlier editions of his work in the Bibl. Spencer, vol. iii. 
 p. 21 6 : iv. 459 5 vi. 87 : Bibliographical Tour, vol. iii. p. 526. To 
 Breydenbach, add the Peregrination de Nicolas Huen : Bibl. Spencer, 
 vol. vi. 214. Pinkerton is twice erroneous in his earlier editions of 
 Breydenbach, vol. xvii. p. 134 ; but is, in other respects, copious and 
 instructive about the early voyages to the Holy Land. Let the 
 curious, from this catalogue, get possession of the works of Doubdan , 
 1661, 4to. and Eugene Roger , 1664, 4to. — both, with very pretty 
 plates. 
 
 X Brunet tells us that Mons. Demanne, the heir of D’Anville, is printing, at 
 the royal press, a complete edition of the works of this celebrated writer, which 
 
432 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 [Asia. 
 
 curious and fugitive works, as mere guides or manuals, 
 which were put into the hands of pilgrims, chiefly 
 from Venice, who were filled with a holy ardour to 
 visit the shrine of the Messiah.* I know more than 
 one friend who covets these precious morsels of black- 
 letter rarity, with an ardour and insatiableness that 
 promise never to be satisfied. Happy state of excita- 
 tion! Next to Breydenbaeh, we may consider our 
 Sandy S'}" as one of the principal travellers into these 
 
 * As to ff the hundred little curious and fugitive works,” con- 
 nected with a Voyage to Jerusalem, many will be found in our own 
 tongue, printed even by W. de Worde andPynson. Consult the Ty- 
 pog. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 325 : Retrospective Review , vol. ii, part ii. p. 324. 
 But a singular gem of this kind, printed by W. De Worde, probably 
 in the XVth century, is about to be presented to the Roxburghe Club 
 by my friend Mr. Henry Freeling, being a transcript from a unique 
 copy, in a mo9t beautiful state of preservation, in the Advocate’s 
 Library at Edinburgh. I am half tempted to extract a very droll 
 passage — but it must not be. Of modern times, read the Itinfraire 
 de Paris a Jerusalem, Paris, 1812, 8vo. 2 vols. of the Marquis de 
 Chateaubriand, in which the measurement of the Temple of Jerusa- 
 lem, by D’Anville, (1747, 8vo.) is incorporated. Nor should the 
 work of the Abbate Mariti (translated into English in 1791, 8vo. 3 
 vol.) containing accounts of Cyprus, Syria , and Palestine, published 
 at Turin, 1769, 5 vols. be overlooked. 
 
 t Sandys is still a favourite, and with justice. 1 cannot pretend 
 to enumerate all the reimpressions of his folio volume, but I have 
 seen copies of the first and second on large paper. In any shape, 
 copies are reasonable. The plates, taken for the greater part, (says 
 Mr. Chalmers, in his Biogr. Diet. vol. xxvii. p. 140) from the voyage 
 of Zuillardo, Rome, 1587, 4to. are pleasing enough. Mr. Triphook 
 once shewed me a lovely copy of the second edition of Sandys (in 
 which the plates first, I believe, appeared) bound in Venetian morocco 
 by C. Lewis, marked at SI. 13s. 6d. Sandys was also a poet, and 
 
 will comprehend six volumes in 4to. with an Atlas folio. When finished, it is 
 certain that the publications in a separate form, will lose their value.” Manuel 
 du Libraire , vol. i. p. 77- 
 
Asia.] 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 433 
 
 sacred quarters. His folio* first put forth in 1615* is 
 yet a crack-article” with the knowing ; especially if 
 it be upon large paper* and the impressions are brilli- 
 ant and unsoiled. 
 
 In approaching Turkey in Asia * I have only to 
 recommend — to the rich — the three noble volumes 
 of Pococke** the embellished tomes of Wood* as 
 well as the classical production of Chandler; the 
 incidental notices of Clarke* Kinneir* and Burck- 
 hardt, with the partial works of Motraye, Russell, 
 Volney, and Chateaubriand.i* The comparatively 
 
 deserves a special commendation for his translation of the Psalms. 
 Dryden calls him ingenious and learned, and the best versifier of the 
 former age. Scott's Dryden ; vol. xi. p. 206. Consult Dr. Bliss’s 
 edition of the Athen. Oxon. vol. iii. col. 97 • for a rich repast of 
 bibliographical intelligence hereupon. Mr. Chalmers, with justice, 
 refers to the Censura Litteraria, vol. vi. p. 132. 
 
 * ce A Description of the East , and of some other countries." Lond. 
 1743, folio. 3 vols : reprinted in Pinkerton’s collection. But who 
 would not prefer the primitive and embellished folio 1 These are 
 noble tomes ; and the author rises in estimation more and more every 
 day. He is facilb princeps — in his department. Antiquities and 
 Science are the leading features of his work. Although Dr. Heath’s 
 copy of this work produced the sum of 161. 10$. I can ensure the 
 Collector a “ very neat” copy at three-fourths of that price. 
 
 f Wood’s Ruins of Palmyra, 1753, folio, with fifty-seven plates, 
 and of Baalbeck , anciently called Heliopolis, 1757# folio, with forty- 
 six plates, are works of pure art; and impart now an additional 
 interest from the curiosity lately excited towards the architecture of 
 the ancient world. Each volume is obtainable for about 4 1. 4$. 
 Chandler’s Travels in Greece and in Asia Minor, were printed in two 
 handsome quarto volumes at Oxford in 1774-6 ; of which only 250 
 copies were struck off. They have been recently reprinted in the same 
 form. Besides Mr. Kinneir’s Journey through Asia Minor, &c. 1818, 
 8vo. there is a valuable work (reviewed in the Quarterly, vol. ix. 
 p. 57,) called his Geographical Memoir of the Persian Empire, Lond. 
 1813, 4to., which should have found a place at p. 429, ante. The 
 illustrious name of Bitrckuardt will occupy us more particularly 
 
 V f 
 
434 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 [Asia 
 
 poor Student and Collector will satisfy himself with 
 
 under Africa 5 but let his admirable Travels in Syria and Mount 
 Sinai grace the shelf of every professed Collection of Voyages and 
 Travels. A copy in fair calf binding is worth 2/. 10s. De la Mo- 
 traye’s Voyage en Europe , Asie, et Afrique , &c. k la Haye, 1727, 
 folio, 3 vols. may be worth hard upon 31. 3s. : if the binding be ele- 
 gant, and the impressions of the plates good. Some of these plates 
 are by the burin of Hogarth , which is never failed to be mentioned : 
 Motraye was engaged twenty six years on these travels and his 
 account of the interior of a Great Man’s harem (vol. i. p. 337) is 
 singular enough. I mention this, because the plate, by Hogarth, is 
 one of the prettiest and most prepossessing : and there is a very 
 pleasing one, by the same hand, of a dance of Turkish women at 
 p. 176, of the same volume. The author disclaims elegance, but 
 confidently relies on his sincerity and impartiality. The third volume, 
 dedicated to the famous Lord Chesterfield, is in French and English 5 
 and there are no picturesque plates in it — it being filled with maps. 
 Mr. Payne marks a neat copy at 2 1. 2s. 
 
 And here, might I not introduce a notice of the Voyages d Constan- 
 tinople, d VAsie, Palestine, 8<c. of the Chevalier d’Arevieux, Paris, 
 1735, 12mo. 6 vols., of which Pinkerton’s account, vol. xvii. page 
 129, is so warmly encomiastic ? This little tempting book of travels 
 is so rare as to have escaped Brunet. Russell’s Natural History of 
 Aleppo ; 1756, 4to. 5 republished in 1794, 4to. by his brother. Dr. 
 Patrick Russell. “ This is not only the best description of Aleppo, 
 but one of the most complete pictures of Eastern manners extant” — 
 says Pinkerton. A good copy of the second and best edition, bound, 
 is worth 31. 3s. The latter author’s account of the plague at Aleppo, 
 was published in 4to., 1791 : and may be worth 1 l. Is. These works 
 have been honoured by several versions. Volney's Voyage en Syrie, et 
 en Egypt, 1783, 8vo. 2 vols. of which the best edition (according to 
 Barbier, vol. iv. p. 389) is that of 1799 (l’an VII.) augmented and 
 enriched in several respects. I recommend the reader to peruse Bar- 
 bier’s account (Bibl. d’un Homme de Gout, ibid.) of the respective 
 merits of Volney, Maillet, and Savary. Chateaubriand’s work has 
 been before mentioned : see page 432 . 
 
 For an account of Dr. Clarke’s Travels in Syria and Asia, see 
 p. 371, ante. Maundrell’s Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem at 
 Easter, first printed in 16*97, 8vo. has been not only several times 
 reprinted — and very recently — in octavo, but will be found in the 
 
435 
 
 Asia.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 Sandys, Clarke and Volney. For Turkey generally, 
 
 1 
 
 Xth volume, p. 305, of Pinkerton’s Collection of Voyages. The 
 crack edition of the octavo, is that of 1721 , “ companion meet,” for 
 the Mandeville of 1725. A fine copy of it may be worth 1 1. 5s. : 
 although that in the Stanley collection produced 3/. 10s. It is doubt- 
 less a most curious and interesting book. 
 
 Yet — must no mention be made of Voyages up the Levant, inclu- 
 ding Constantinople, Syria, Phoenicia, and such like interesting 
 spots ? Yes : some little I shall dilate, rather than digress, there- 
 upon. If it be only for the sake of the work of Lebrun, something 
 should be said on this subject 5 and yet, although in the richly stored 
 library of my friend the Rev. Henry Drury, at Harrow, I have turned 
 over the leaves of one of the finest copies in the world— in French 
 red morocco binding, with the royal arms stamped <e all propper” — 
 and although the copy possessed by his uncle, the Rev. Dr. Benja- 
 min Heath, is described to be the “ finest copy possible, in white 
 calf, gilt leaves” — both upon large paper — yet, be it quietly known, 
 that I cannot find it in my heart to panegyrise this work, on the score 
 of art — which is its usual attraction. The plates are generally 
 black, coarse, ill designed, worse executed, and some of them of the 
 most frighfully sprawling dimensions. The work is in three or four 
 folio volumes — and was published at Paris in 1714, &c. Of more 
 modest, and more satisfactory pretensions, is the Voyage au Levant 
 par Tournefort, Paris, 1717^ 4to. three vols. : reprinted often, and 
 translated into our own tongue. Tournefort can never be out of date. 
 But how came even a fine morocco copy of him to sell for the 
 astounding price of 61. 6s. at the sale of Colonel Stanley’s library ? I 
 speak of the Paris edition of 1717. An ordinary copy is not worth 
 more than 1 /. 10 s. The gigantic undertaking, by Messrs. Treuttel 
 and Wiirtz, relating to Constantinople, is at length completed. 
 This work consists of two folio volumes, of the largest dimensions, 
 containing fifty-two line engravings, from the drawings of M. Moi- 
 ling, draftsman and architect to the Sultan Hadidg 6 , sister of the 
 Sultan Selim III. The price of the ordinary copies is 84Z. : of copies, 
 with proof impressions, 1 261. Thus, this work is sure to find its way 
 among imperial Collectors ! I saw the drawings from which the 
 plates are taken, when I was at Paris in 1819. They are minute and 
 elaborate 5 and give (as I learn) a very faithful idea of the clearness 
 of that enchanting atmosphere, and of the characters of the build- 
 ings and the people. 
 
436 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [Asia. 
 
 the excellent work of Mouradja d’Ohsson must not 
 be omitted.* 
 
 I push on towards Arabia : and here the work of 
 Niebuhr may suffice — a work undoubtedly of the 
 highest authority of its kind/f* Darting across burning 
 
 * Tableau Gtntralede V Empire Othoman, par Mouradja d’Ohsson, 
 3 vols. folio. The plates are beautifully executed in the line manner, 
 and the testimony of Burckhardt to the valuable and interesting in- 
 formation this work contains, should alone secure it a place in every 
 well chosen library. A fine copy of it is worth 33 1. It is a noble 
 work in all respects, and I give it an earnest and hearty recommend- 
 ation to every Collector of spirit and taste. But I would be under- 
 stood as not overlooking the labours of previous travellers j and if 
 older ones have any claim to notice, especially Busbequius’s ; whose 
 works appear in a pretty little duodecimo volume, put forth from the 
 Elzevir Office in 1633. It may be had for a few shillings. “Bus- 
 bequius (says Gibbon) is my old and familiar acquaintance $ a fre- 
 quent companion in my post-chaise. His latinity is eloquent, his 
 manner is lively, his remarks are judicious.’’ Misc. Works , vol. v. 
 p. 580. Busbequius was a bibliographical Traveller, for we owe to 
 him the discovery of the famous MS. of Dioscorides, (now at Vienna) 
 described in my Decameron, vol. i. p. xlv. and Tour , vol. iii. p. 471. 
 once purchased the edition of 1633, uncut , for 6d. on a book-stall, 
 at a country fair. The Elzevir reprint of 1664, is not so much sought 
 after. 
 
 f The work of Niebuhr has been long and justly considered as 
 perfectly classical of its kind. We know more of Arabia in the 
 pages of this performance (of which the style is not less pure than 
 the intelligence is correct) than perhaps in those of any other indi- 
 vidual performance. Niebuhr was deputed on his mission by the 
 Danish Government, in 1762. Mr. Murray’s Analysis of it> (vol. iii. 
 p. 187) will be read with no inconsiderable interest. His work was 
 first published in the Danish language at Copenhagen in 1772, 
 4to. : in the following year, in French, at the same place ) but the 
 best edition is that, in French, which was published at Amsterdam in 
 1776-80, 4to. 3 vols . , including the questions of Michaelis, pub- 
 lished in 1774. A good copy is worth 4 1. 14s. 6d. : although that in 
 Dr. Heath’s library was sold for 61. 6s. Brunet says that there are 
 copies on large paper, which are not finer than the ordinary size : but 
 
Asia.] 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 437 
 
 sands and waterless deserts, I proceed to the notice 
 of Eastern India , China , and Japan : territories of 
 enormous extent, of marvellous varieties of character 
 and climate, and rendered comparatively familiar to 
 him, who has never crossed the Equator, by the admi- 
 rable publications of Symes, Barrow, Staunton, and 
 various French anonymous publications, together 
 with those of Duhalde, Grosier, De Guignes, Son- 
 nerat, Kaempfer, and Charlevoix.* But not a little 
 
 of such copies, struck off on fine Dutch paper, the same conclusion 
 cannot be drawn. These latter are also very rare. I find none in the 
 catalogues of our richer libraries. 
 
 * Major Symes’ Account of his Embassy to Ava in 1795, appeared 
 in 1S00, 4to.— (reprinted in 3 volumes 8vo.^ and is a work of such 
 established reputation, that those who are desirous of obtaining a 
 copy of it, in goodly calf binding, will not scruple to gi ve2Z. 12s. 6d. 
 for the same ; and if they aspire to a large paper of that, and of Mr. 
 Turner’s Tibet } they may have both volumes, in extra binding, for 
 7 1. 7s. in the richly furnished repository of Messrs. Payne and Foss. 
 Mr. Murray has, as usual, given us some very palatable marrow , in 
 his extract from Symes’s Ava. I come now, in chronological order, 
 to notice the personal, as well as the written, labours of Mr. Bar- 
 row. Such labours are too well known, and too highly and gene- 
 rally appreciated, to stand in need of my humble commendation. 
 The name of this gentleman will always secure, to the work to 
 which it is affixed, an immediate and extensive sale : but if report, or 
 rather common fame, speak true, there are labours, from the same 
 pen, to which the name of its director is not affixed, that can scarcely 
 be too much extolled and too widely disseminated. The reader, of 
 course, anticipates the mention of the notices of various travels, by 
 Mr. Barrow, in the Quarterly Review: notices, which, whenever 
 reperused, cannot fail to bring increased pleasure and instruction. 
 They are the productions of an experienced, head.f The Reviewer is 
 
 f Among the reviews of Voyages and Travels, of which Mr. Barrow is the 
 reputed author, read that of the account of Pitcairn's Island , incorporated in the 
 notice of Captain Porter’s Cruize in the Pacific Ocean. It concludes thus j “ We 
 have only to add, that Pitcairn’s Island seems to be so fortified by nature, as to 
 
438 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 [Asia. 
 
 imperfect would be our stock of Voyages and Travels 
 relating to China, if the valuable works of Nieuhoff 
 
 at once a traveller and a critic. Si sic omnia ! But to the present 
 point. Mr. Barrow’s works, in respect to China, comprise one 
 volume of Travels , & c. 1804, 4to. $ and a Voyage to Cochin China , 
 1807, 4to. each volume being about <21. 12s. 6d. ; and each, I believe, 
 reprinted in octavo. More elaborate titles are not necessary, as the 
 works are in the recollection of most readers. 
 
 Sir George Staunton’s account of the Embassy of the Earl of 
 Macartney to the Emperor of China was published, with every advan- 
 tage of press work and embellishment, (the plates being executed 
 from the drawings of the late able William Alexander) in 179 7, 4to. 
 2 vols. : with a folio volume of engravings. Few works were more 
 anxiously expected by the public \ and few, I willJbe free to maintain, 
 ever yet gave greater satisfaction to readers. It is reprinted in 
 octavo. The more recent works connected with Lord Amherst's 
 Embassy to the same quarter, and the delightful book of Capt. Hall 
 relating to Loo Choo (for which see the Quarterly Review , vol. xviii. 
 p. 308,) need only be mentioned to secure general respect. At the 
 head of the French School of Travellers into, and writers upon, 
 China, let the Description gfographique, historique, chronologique , &c. 
 of Du Halde be unhesitatingly placed. In regard to the geography 
 of China, it is the best work extant. It was published at Paris in 
 1735, in 4 volumes, folio ; and republished at the Hague in 1736, 
 4to. : but the Dutch edition does not contain the plates j and you 
 must add to it D’Anville’s new Atlas of China, 1737* folio, with forty- 
 two maps — or, better still, the fourteen plates and fifty maps sepa- 
 rately published from the Paris edition. A good copy of this Hague 
 impression, with such an adjunct, may be worth 5 L 5s. : but of the 
 French, 7 1- 7s. 
 
 Whoever wishes to peruse a little bibliographical gossip about the 
 
 oppose an invincible barrier to an invading enemy ; there is no spot apparently 
 where a boat can land with safety, and, perhaps not more than one where it can 
 land at all : an everlasting swell of the ocean rolls in on every side, and breaks into 
 foam against its rocky andiron-bound shores. O happy people ! happy in your 
 sequestered state ! and doubly happy to have escaped a-visit from Captain Porter 
 of the IJnited States frigate, Essex. May no civilised barbarian lay waste your 
 peaceful abodes ; no hoary proficient in sensuality rob you of that innocence and 
 simplicity which it is peculiarly your present lot to enjoy.” Vol. xiii. page 383. 
 
Asia.] 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 439 
 
 and Van Braam, (Dutchmen, possessing all the fear- 
 less intrepidity of character of their countrymen) as 
 they appear in certain French versions,* were not to 
 have a conspicuous place therein. 
 
 Abbe Grosier, and his new edition of the Jesuit Father Mailla’s 
 Histoire Generate de la Chine (traduite du Tong-Kien-Kangmor) may 
 consult the Bibliogr. Antiq. and Picturesq. Tour, vol. ii. p. 320-321. 
 This extraordinary performance consists of not fewer than thirteen 
 quarto volumes, put forth between the years 1777-85, of which the 
 last volume is by the Abbe himself, and which was published in 
 English in 1787, in two octavo volumes. A new edition of the whole, 
 much augmented, was published in ISIS, in 7 octavo volumes. De 
 Guignes’s Voyage d Pekin, Manille, et L’Isle de France, was printed 
 at Paris, in three octavo volumes, with an Atlas folio of six maps 
 and fifty-nine plates, in 1809. “ This account is curious ;* and fre- 
 
 quently in opposition to that of Lord Macartney’s,” says Brunet. 
 With the travels of De Guignes, is associated the Dictionnair e-Fran - 
 gois-Latinet Chinois, published in a magnificent folio volume at Paris 
 in 1813 ,• and composed from a Chinese Latin Dictionary of Basil de 
 Glemona, of which the MS. is in the Royal Library at Paris. This 
 Dictionary is worth about 51. 5s. Sonnerat’s Voyages aux Indes 
 Orientales et d la Chine , 1774-81, was published in 1782, 4to. two 
 vols. : for a good copy of which I find Messrs. Arch giving 61. at the 
 sale of Dr. Heath’s library. The work contains (according to Pin- 
 kerton) 140 plates, and two maps. For the beauty of the plates, 
 this edition is necessarily preferable to that of 1806. Copies of the 
 first edition on large paper (and Dutch paper, into the bargain) are 
 rare and precious. One of this sort was purchased by the late Mr. 
 North, at the sale of Colonel Stanley’s library, for 21Z. 
 
 A word only about Japana He who possesses Scheuchzer’s trans- 
 lation, from the high Dutch, of the famous book of Kaempfer, pub- 
 lished in two folio volumes, 1728, (the best edition, containing a 
 second Appendix) has a work “ which (according to Pinkerton) con- 
 tinues to the present day the best account of Japan.” A copy of it is 
 worth 4 1. 4s. Consult Brunet for the French version of 1729. Char- 
 levoix’s Histoire du Japon was published in 1736, 4to. 3 vols. and in 
 6 vols. 12mo. but the more methodised edition seems to be that of 
 1754, 12mo. in the same number of volumes. 
 
 * Nieuhoff’s work appeared in Dutch and in French the same 
 
440 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 [Asia. 
 
 Such are the principal writers of the countries here 
 alluded to ; and yet, on a retrospect of the few last 
 pages, I cannot but be sensible both of omissions and 
 of imperfect details. Considering the immense king- 
 doms which Asia contains, and its long and intimate 
 connection with Europe, through Persia, by land, and 
 by water across the Indian Ocean, — I am free to con- 
 fess, that these pages might have been filled with a 
 greater variety of information : but the nature of this 
 work necessarily forbade such an extended account. 
 The lover, however, of Rarities , in this department of 
 bibliography, shall not be driven to despair by the 
 entire omission of all notices of curious and uncom- 
 mon voyages ; and possessing himself of Dalrymple’s 
 Collection of those in the South Seas, let him disport 
 himself with Lithgow, Laboulaye de Goux, Sto- 
 kove, Monconys, Navaretti, and sundry Voyages 
 of the Jesuits * And, if the enterprising traveller 
 
 year, 1665, folio. But the addition of some pretty vignettes, and 
 other cuts, to say nothing of the facility of the language, give the 
 French version a decided superiority. The narrative, or text, is at 
 once faithful, perspicuous, and interesting. The Dutch Embassy to 
 China, of which Van Braarn Houckgeest is the author of the details, 
 and of which the first volume, in 4to. (reprinted in two volumes 8vo. 
 was published by Moreau de Saint-Mery, at Philadelphia, in 1797> 
 is a work, as far as it goes, replete with the most minute and ac- 
 curate intelligence. The translation, executed under the eye of 
 Houckgeest himself, is all that it can be wished to be, and M. de 
 St. Mery’s notes are at once apposite and intelligent. Boucher de la 
 Richarderie, in his Bill. des Voyages, tom. v. p. 2853, has given a 
 very sensible and inviting precis of this precious work. But why is it 
 not continued and concluded? 
 
 * Dalrymple is a great name, in many respects j and the Historical 
 Collection of Voyages and Discoveries in the Southern Pacific Ocean ; 
 1770, 4to. 2 vols. (worth at any rate a sovereign a volume) may be 
 considered among the very best works to which that name is attached. 
 
441 
 
 Asia.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 have it in contemplation to return to his native coun- 
 try, from the farthest eastern isles of Borneo , New 
 Guinea , and New Holland, he will find in the sub- 
 joined note, a few books which will help to delight 
 
 Alexander Dalrymple was eminently distinguished as an hydrogra- 
 pher ; and obtained the honourable post of hydrographer to the 
 Admiralty and to the East-India Company. Look at Watt’s Bibl . 
 Britannica , col. 281, for an almost countless list of his publications. 
 His library (sold in 1S09, by King andLochee), was powerfully rich 
 in Voyages and Travels. I remember him at the sale of Isaac 
 Reed’s library, in 1807- His yellow antiquarian chariot seemed to 
 be immoveably fixed in the street, just opposite the entrance door of 
 the long passage leading to the sale room of Messrs. King and Lo- 
 chee, in King street. Covent Garden ; and towards the bottom of the 
 table, in the sale room, Mr. Dalrymple used to sit : — a cane in his 
 hand, his hat always upon his head, a thin, slightly twisted queue, 
 and silver hairs that hardly shaded his temples . . . His biddings were 
 usually silent — accompanied by the elevation and fall of his cane, or 
 
 by an abrupt nod of the head But this is Biography and not 
 
 Bibliography. 
 
 I spring, therefore, upon “ the Rare Adventures and painful Pere> - 
 grinations of Lithgow — from Scotland , to the most famous kingdoms in 
 Europe , Asia, and Africa published in 1611, 4to. and republished in 
 1770, 8vo. There is also a 4to. reprint of 1645. I was going to 
 say that Lithgow’s book was as common as a penny- roll j and so it 
 maybe ; but a copy of the first edition uncut , and upon large paper 
 (O che boccone !) such as Mr. Evans sold at the sale of Mr. Watson 
 Taylor’s library for between 30 and 40 guineas, is rarer than an un- 
 spotted turquois of an inch in circumference. Les Voyages et Ob- 
 servations du Sieur Laboulaye de Gou k, gentilhomme Angevin , Paris, 
 1657* 4 to, are acknowledged to be singularly exact and faithful 5 es- 
 pecially in the religions of India and Persia. A similar character 
 (according to Pinkerton) attaches to the “ Voyage d'ltalie et du 
 Levant , of Messrs. Fermanel Baudouin , de Launay , et Stokovef &c. 
 1665, 4to. Eight hundred pages of Observations, “ disfigured by 
 much injudicious erudition,” (says Pinkerton) were published upon 
 this voyage at Rouen, 1668, 4to. The Sieur Poullet’s “ Nouvelles 
 Relations du Levant ,” &c. Paris, 1668, 12mo. 2 vols. is a scarce work 
 and contains an excellent account, for the time it was published, of 
 
442 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 [Asia. 
 
 him in his passage homewards. The name of Flin- 
 ders is as inseparably, as it is gloriously, connected 
 with that of Australasia, or New Holland ;* while the 
 History of Java (although necessarily less important 
 from its diminution of territory) has found, in the per- 
 formance of Sir Stamford Raffles, an historian 
 worthy of the task he has undertaken. This work 
 was published in 1817, in 2 quarto volumes, and is 
 worth about 6/. 6s. 
 
 the Turkish Empire in Asia, as well as of Georgia and Persia. The 
 accuracy of Poullet was established by the confirmation of Chardin. 
 
 The Voyages of the Jesuits are innumerable. Of all religious 
 zealots, they were at once the most accomplished and indefatigable, 
 and I think it must be granted, (putting the desperately foolish main 
 object of their religion out of the question) that the fruits of their 
 discoveries have been highly amusing and instructive. Setting apart 
 the “ Lettres Edijiantes et Curieuses ,” let us only pause, and ponder 
 on the fact — that, they have given two quarto tomes to the world, 
 of their Voyage de Siam , alone — (1668, 4to. 2 vols.) and that not 
 less than three pounds were paid for these Jesuitical volumes, at the 
 sale of Dr. Heath’s library. And whoever chances to alight upon 
 Father Ricci, Chinese Narratives, 1617, 4to. republished under the 
 title of Voyage des PP. Jesuites en Chine,” 1617* 8vo. will see 
 how dexterously and efficiently the several objects of the traveller’s 
 undertaking were accomplished. Mr. Pinkerton strikes a high note 
 in praise thereof : vol. xvii. p. 149 : and I request the curious to 
 peruse the half dozen pages of an account of similar voyages which 
 follow in Pinkerton. Further, I entreat Mr. DTsraeli, who is just 
 now so wrapt up in the perusal of a description of the East, by a 
 living Jesuit, of the name of the Abbe Dubois,* (a description, 
 which he considers as most curious and instructive) to give us, in 
 some future edition of his “ Curiosities, ’’ old or new — a com- 
 pressed account — a distillation or extraction — of the pith, juice, mar- 
 row, and muscles, of these said Jesuitical voyages. 
 
 * Stopping one moment to recommend the curious, and still inte- 
 resting account of Ceylon, in the pages of old Robert Knox, Lond. 
 
 About four or five years ago, the Abb£ Dubois published a quarto volume rc- 
 
VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 443 
 
 Asia.] 
 
 Or, should the same traveller wish to return home- 
 wards by land, through Turkey, Italy, and Germany, 
 he will find a host of mute, but not of ineloquent com- 
 panions, pointed out for his choice, in the bibliographi- 
 
 1681, folio, with cuts, ( 1 Z. 10 s.) and the latest accounts extant of the 
 same Country, published in 1807 , in 2 vols. 4to. by the Rev. J. Cor - 
 diner , (for a critique on which, or rather for an excellent account of 
 the leading features connected with Ceylon, consult the Quarterly 
 Review , vol. xiv. p. 2 — 38,) and not to forget Dr. Davy’s valuable 
 account of the same country, in 1822, 4to. 31. 13s. 6d. I come, at 
 once, to the important publication, relating to New Holland , by Cap- 
 tain Matthew Flinders, under the title of * e A Voyage to Terra 
 Australis , undertaken for the purpose of completing the Discovery of 
 that vast Country , and prosecuted in the Years 1801, 2, and 3, in his 
 Majesty's ship the Investigator ; — and subsequently in the armed vessel 
 Porpoise, and Cumberland Schooner, &c. Lond. 1814, 4to. two vols. 
 with an Atlas of plates. The text, in two large quarto volumes, is 
 enriched with several sea views 5 and the Atlas volume contains 
 twenty very large charts and head lands, most accurately laid down 
 by Captain Flinders, with references to the descriptions and tables of 
 longitude in the books. This Atlas volume also contains ten large 
 plates, representing the forms of rare and non-descript plants, found 
 by Mr. Brown, formerly librarian to Sir Joseph Banks and now Se- 
 cretary to the Linncean Society . X The intrinsic worth of these 
 
 lative to the present state, manners, and religion of the Hindoos. It has been 
 recently followed, by an octavo volume upon the Establishment of Christianity in 
 India — or, rather, upon the utter hopelessness of its successful establishment. 
 Both books are very curious. Messrs. Longman and Co. are the publishers. 
 
 J The voyage of Captain Flinders was attended by singular circumstances. The 
 Investigator , from the Commander’s perpetual perseverance in his dangerous pur- 
 suits, for such a length of time, became unfit for further service : but rather than 
 leave his survey unfinished. Captain Flinders put himself on board a small vessel 
 at Port Jackson, called the Porpoise, attended by the Cumberland sloop, to pursue 
 his Discoveries ; but the Porpoise was unfortunately soon after cast away on a 
 coral rief. He then betook himself to the Cumberland sloop, where, after sur- 
 veying Torres’ Straits, he sailed for the Mauritius, not then knowing that France 
 was at war with England. There, to the disgrace of the then French Government, 
 he was kept a prisoner for six years and a half: though all other nations, whether 
 in war or peace, constantly favour navigators, engaged in Geographical Discove- 
 ries. 
 
 It is indeed true, that France, at that time, was governed by Buonaparte, who 
 
444 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 \ 
 
 [Asia. 
 
 cal lists of Pinkerton and Brunet.* The contents of a 
 few of these are briefly detailed by Boucher de la Ri- 
 charderie. I cannot help however, here, particularising 
 Fynes Moryson : a gossiping, but veracious and in- 
 structive old gentleman in his way/f' And yet how in- 
 
 truly scientific volumes must not be measured by their pecuniary 
 value j for I have known a well bound copy, in calf, sell for only 
 51 1 5s. 6d. 
 
 * Among the more curious works upon Turkey, “ Les Naviga- 
 tions, Peregrinations, et Voyages de Nicolas Nicolay," must not be 
 forgotten. It was first published at Antwerp, in 1576, 4to. and I 
 find Mr. Roger Wilbraham (particularly distinguished for his tact in 
 books of this class, as well indeed as in almost every other) giving 
 4 1. 16‘s. for a copy, bound in russia, at the sale of the Stanley library. 
 Another copy of the work printed in the following year, was pur- 
 chased by Mr. Triphook, for 41. 5s. It was translated into the Ita- 
 lian language, and published at Venice, in 15SO, folio; of which a 
 fine copy, in blue morocco binding, is in the Althorp library. The 
 figures, with which this volume is plentifully enriched, are engraved on 
 wood, and considered to be from the designs of Titian : but I should 
 rather say, from those of one of his pupils. The group, however, at 
 page 154, is not unworthy the hand of the master. The four figures 
 of different Religious orders are very curious, and in part horrifying. 
 And here, ere I quit Turkey, let me strongly recommend Rycaut's 
 improved edition of Knolles's History of the Turks, Lond. 1687 j folio, 
 3 vols. : of which a copy was sold at Dr. Heath’s sale for 61. 10s. 
 Mr. Murray of Albemarle-street revels in the possession of the La- 
 moignon copy, in blue morocco. What fierce looking fellows do 
 the portraits make the originals to have been !f 
 
 f “ Gossiping” as he is, there are other qualities which endear 
 
 would attend to no application from our Government. He did, however, attend to 
 an application of that patron of all science, Sir Joseph Banks, and replied, “ he 
 could refuse him nothing,” — but he did not keep his word. It would have been a 
 happy instance of rare retribution, if Captain Flinders had lived, to have seen this 
 little savage himself a prisoner in one of our Islands. His orphan family have had 
 that pleasure, some small satisfaction for the losses they have sustained by their 
 father’s long imprisonment, and the consequent injury his circumstances sustained, 
 b When speaking of the Portraits of the Ottoman Emperors, I must not omit 
 
Asia.] 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 445 
 
 terminable is human knowledge* even confined to one 
 remote portion of the globe! . . . The preceding 
 
 Fynes Moryson to the dispassionate and moral reader. His deli- 
 cacy and purity are equal to his love of truth j and if subjects, or ob- 
 jects, are sometimes painted 6c to the life,” it is rather from a desire 
 to hold up vice to horror, than to enflame the passions by aggrava- 
 ting minuteness of colouring. But Moryson shall here speak a little 
 for himself. His work was first written in the Latin, and then 
 translated by him into English. It contains te Ten years travell 
 through the Twelue Dominions of Germany , Bohmerland , Switzerland , 
 Netherlands Denmarke , Poland , Italy , Turky, France , England , Scot - 
 lands and Ireland ,” and was published, in rather an unseemly folio 
 volume, in 1617 ’ in which volume, the account of Ireland alone, up 
 to the year 1613, contains not fewer than 300 pages. 
 
 In this account, I consider the description of the character and 
 person of Lord Mountjoy, (part ii. p. 45-8) Lord Lieutenant of 
 Ireland, as among the most minutely curious and highly interesting 
 specimens of its kind extant. It is a piece of Gerard Dow finishing, 
 in its way : by which I wish it to be inferred, that its brilliancy is 
 equal to its elaboration. “ The Opinions and Proverbal Speeches of 
 Nations,'' in chap. 3. Book I. Part iii. is a very curious chapter. 
 Premising, that I am indebted for my knowledge of this work to a 
 hint thrown out by my friend Mr. Francis Palgrave, to register it 
 among the more valuable books of travels — and to the opportunity 
 afforded by a copy of it at Althorp, belonging to the late Daines 
 Barrington, and tolerably well scored and marked by the pen of that 
 able antiquary — I send the reader to the subjoined notej for a more 
 
 the notice of the very superb work, published a few years since, by Mr. John 
 Young, entitled : “ A Series of Portraits of the Emperors of Turkey, from the foun- 
 dation of the Monarchy to the year 1815, engraved from Pictures painted at Constan- 
 tinople, commenced under the auspices of Selim III., and completed by command of 
 Sultan Mahmoud II. ; with a biographical account of each of the Emperors 
 
 J I will first give a notion of Moryson’s sketches of foreign parts. When at 
 Dresden, he thus narrates : “ The horses are all of foreign countries, for there is 
 another stable for Dutch horses, and among these chief horses, one named Michael 
 Schatz (that is, Michael the Treasure ) was said to be of wonderful swiftness. Before 
 each horse’s nose was a glasse window, with a curtain of green cloth to be drawn 
 at pleasure. Each horse was covered with a red mantle. The rack was of iron : 
 the manger of copper : at the buttock of each horse was a pillar of wood, which 
 had a brazen shield, where, by the turning of a pipe, he was watered : and in this 
 
446 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS, 
 
 [Asia. 
 
 pages had been hardly completed for press, when acci- 
 dent placed in my hands the “ Catalogue of Boohs in 
 
 intimate acquaintance with its contents, and, as I trust, for a justifi- 
 cation of my own partiality towards it. Yet, a word about its price. 
 
 pillar was a cupboard to lay up the horse’s combe and like necessaries, and above 
 the back of each horse hung his bridle and saddle, so as the horses might as it were 
 in a moment be furnished.” Germany, part i. p. 10. 
 
 At Friburg, he says, “ The Citizens live of these Mines, and grow rich thereby, 
 whereof the Elector hath his proper part, and useth to buy the parts of the Citizens. 
 The workmen use burning lamps under the earth both day or night, and use to 
 work as well by night as by day : and they report, that coming near the purest 
 veins of silver, they are often troubled with evil spirits.” Part i. p. 11. 
 
 And when at Prague, he gives the following facetious anecdote : — “ I did here 
 eat English oysters pickled, and a young Bohemian coming in by chance, and tast- 
 ing them, but not knowing the price, desired the Merchant to give him a dish at 
 bis charge, which contained some twenty oysters — and finding them very savoury, 
 be called for five dishes, one after another, for which the Merchant demanded and 
 had of \\\m five dollars; the dearness no less displeasing his mind than the meat had 
 pleased his palate.” Part i. p. 15. 
 
 But the most interesting to an Englishman, is what he observes respecting the 
 character of our countrymen towards the close of the reign of Elizabeth : — “ And 
 give me leave to hold this paradox, or opinion, against that of the common sort ; 
 that the English were never more idle, never more ignorant in manuall arts, never 
 more factious in following the parties of Princes or their Landlords, never more 
 base (as I may say) trencher slaves, than in that age wherein great men kept open 
 houses for all commers and goers. And that in our age, wherein we have better 
 learned each man to liue of his own, and great men keep not such troopes of idle 
 servants, not only the English are become very industrious, and skilfull in manuall 
 Arts, but also the tyranny of Lords and Gentlemen is abated, whereby they nou- 
 rished private dissensions and civill warres, with the destruction of the common 
 people- Neither am I moued with the vulgar opinion , preferring old times to ours , 
 because it is apparent that the cloysters of Monks (who spoiled all, that they might 
 be beneficiall to few) and Gentlemen’s houses (who nourished a rabble of servants 
 in idleness, and in robbing by the high waies) lying open to all idle people for 
 meate and drinke, were cause of greater ill than good to the Commonwealth. Yet 
 I would not be so vnderstood, as if I would have the poore shut out of dores, for I 
 rather desire that greater works of charitee should be exercised towards them ; to 
 which we should be more enabled by honest frugalitie, then by foolish prodigalities. 
 I call it foolish, and think the vulgar sort of prodigals worthy of all ignominy, who, 
 with huge expences, keepe many kennels of dogs, and casts of hawkes, and entertain 
 great numbers of strangers, sometimes not known by name, often scoffing at the en- 
 tertainer, always ingratefull,” &c. Part iii. p. 113. 
 
 Again : “ The English are so naturally inclined to pleasure, as there is no Coun- 
 trie wherein the Gentlemen and Lords have so many and large parks onely re- 
 
Asia.] 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 447 
 
 Oriental Literature, and of Miscellaneous IVorks 
 connected with India,” — containing thirty-eight 
 small pages of closely printed matter — which has been 
 recently put forth by Messrs. Kingsbury, Parbury, and 
 Allen. To the truly enthusiastic after Oriental Re- 
 searches, this Catalogue will be useful, inasmuch as 
 
 Mr. Thorpe {Cat. 1823, parti. n°. 353,) marks a f 'very fine large 
 copy” at 41. 4s. : and the octavo reprint, 1735, in two vols. (but can 
 it contain all ?) may be worth 1 Z. Is. 
 
 served for tlie pleasure of hunting, or where all sorts of men allot so much ground 
 about their houses for pleasure of Orchards and Gardens. The very grapes, espe- 
 cially towards the South and West, are of a pleasant taste, and I have said that in 
 some counties, as in Gloucestershire, they made wine of old, which no doubt many 
 parts would yield at this day, but that the inhabitants forbear to plant vines, as well 
 because they are served plentifully, and at a good rate, with French vines, as for 
 that the hills, most fit to bare grapes, yeeld more commoditie by feeding of sheepe 
 and cattell.” Part iii. p. 147. 
 
 Once more only— where Moryson speaks of the Apparel of the English : 
 “ Gentlewomen virgins weare gownes close to the body, and aprons of fine linnen, 
 and goe bareheaded, with their haire curiously knotted, and raised at the fore- 
 head, but many, against the cold, (as they say) weare caps of haire that is not their 
 own, decking their heads with buttons of gold, pearls, and flowers of silk, or knots 
 of ribben. They weare fine linen, and commonly falling bands, and often ruffs, 
 both starched, and chains of pearl about the neck, with their breasts naked. The 
 graver sort of married women used to cover their heads with a French-hood of 
 velvet, set with a border of gold buttons and pearls : but this fashion is now left, 
 and they most commonly wear a coyffe of linen, and a little hat of beaver or felt, 
 with their hair somewhat raised at the forehead. Young married gentlewomen 
 sometimes go bare headed, as virgins, decking their hair with jewels and silk rib- 
 bens, but more commonly they use the foresaid linnen coyffe and hats. All in 
 general weare gowns hanging loose at the backe, with a kirtle and close upper 
 body of silke or light stuffe, but have lately left the French sleeves borne out with 
 hoopes of whalebone, and the young married gentlewomen, no less than the virgins, 
 shew their breasts naked.” 
 
 A curious anecdote is related of the great ages of several old men and women 
 who joined in a morris dance to please King James : — “ The men of Hertfordshire 
 can witness that such examples [longevity] are not rare in England ; when, ih the 
 reign of King James, they made a morris dance of fifteen persons, all born in the 
 same country, or within the compass of twenty-four miles, who made 1500 years 
 between them, some being little less than 100 years old, and some far passing that 
 age.” Part iii. p. 43. “ Sed olie, jam satis.” 
 
448 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [Asia. 
 
 the list of books is very copious, and it will furnish 
 them with a knowledge of the prices of the several 
 articles or publications introduced ; . . . . 
 
 But the shores of Africa are in sight . . . The gale 
 is propitious : and there is excellent anchorage for the 
 vessel, Let us land, and have a bibliographical 
 ramble thereupon. 
 
[ 449 ] 
 
 * 
 
 AFRICA. 
 
 cc A ramble/* indeed ! Here is a country, of which 
 its extreme length (from north to south) equals that of 
 Asia — and its extreme breadth is three-fourths of that 
 of the same country — of which, also, one-third of its 
 interior, from the “ Country of the Booshooanas ” to 
 the “ Mountains of the Moonf is almost utterly un- 
 known — filled too, with burning sands, and occupied 
 by an endless and undescribed variety of animals, 
 including the most terrific of all animals, in his savage 
 state, man — here, I say, is a country, upon which 
 I invite the susceptible reader to ramble ! Yet he may 
 do so, fearlessly; for, in a ramble of the nature to 
 which I allude, he may move, almost at a stride, from 
 Grand Cairo to the Cape ; and may pass over wither- 
 ing deserts, and along caverns, recesses, and morasses, 
 where the serpent and the tiger lurk, without even 
 the apprehension of molestation. Such are the charms 
 of Bibliography ! 
 
 Varied and vast, and in great part unexplored, as 
 is the wonderful continent, or rather peninsula, of 
 Africa, it is not a little surprising and consoling that 
 those, to whom we are indebted for the most copious 
 and correct accounts of it, are either Englishmen by 
 birth, or were prompted to their exertions by British 
 remuneration . Almost all that the Ancients knew of 
 this extensive country, was confined to the Northern 
 and Western coasts. Egypt, Tripoli, Algiers, and 
 Morocco, were the principal places that came 
 within the knowledge, or were subject to the policy, 
 of the Grecian and Roman Empires : and if we take 
 
 g g 
 
450 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS 
 
 [Africa. 
 
 into account the descriptions of the ancient Arabian 
 Geographers, including the labours of Edrisi , Abul - 
 feda , and Abdollatiph * we yet scarcely do more than 
 penetrate the cuticle, or the surface of the interior of 
 the southern portion of Africa, below the equator. As 
 we descend towards our own times, even the labours 
 of Leo Africanus, Marmol , and Cadamosto ^ do not 
 
 * Before I come to touch upon the labours of the above travellers, 
 let me recommend to the curious reader’s particular attention the 
 posthumous work of Gibbon, with the brief but instructive notes of 
 the late Dr. Vincent, being an “ Inquiry into the circumnavigation of 
 Africa:" it will be found at the end of the fifth volume of Mr. Mur- 
 ray’s valuable octavo edition of Gibbon's Posthumous Works. Edrisi 
 flourished towards the middle of the sixth century, and was born at 
 the end of the fifth. His Africa can only be read and consulted in 
 the edition of Hartman, published at Gottingen in 1796, 8vo : the 
 notes being very valuable, and including copious extracts from other 
 Arabian geographers. Consult the Biogr. Universelle , &c. vol. xii. 
 page 539 for other works of Edrisi, in the course of publication. 
 His Geographia Nubiensis was published at Paris in 1619, 4 to. in the 
 Arabic and Latin languages : but the title, according to Hartman, 
 is entirely gratuitous, and adopted without any foundation. The 
 edition is also very inaccurate : the blame of which the Editor throws 
 upon the original text, and in which he seems borne out by the evi- 
 dence of Orientalists who have consulted the MS. Edrisi’s first 
 work, under the title of “ Recreation of Curious Wits," was pub- 
 lished at Rome in 1592, and is exceedingly rare. See the Biogr . 
 Universelle. Eickhorn is the ablest editor of Abulfeda, whose 
 Africa, in the Arabic and Latin languages, was published at Got- 
 tingen in 1791, Svo. His account of Egypt, in the same languages, 
 was edited by Michaelis at Gottingen in 1776, Svo. The late Pro- 
 fessor White, of Oxford, is the best editor of Abdollatiph’s Com- 
 pendium Rerum Memorab. /Egypt, which appeared latterly in 1800, 
 at that University, in a handsome quarto volume. 
 
 t Let Leo Africanus excite our attention and admiration : as 
 from Mr. Murray’s pleasing sketch of his labours, ( Travels in Africa , 
 vol. i. p. 42.) he is, in every respect, entitled to do. His patron was 
 Leo. X. : and his Africa Descriptio JX. Libris absoluta /’ seems to 
 
Africa.] 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 451 
 
 give us all that information* which* from the more 
 enlightened state of the world* we had reason to ex- 
 pect. 
 
 Pursuing in a great measure, the plan of Mr. 
 Murray, I shall first notice the aid to be derived from 
 
 have first appeared in a separate form, at Antwerp, in 1556, 1558 j 
 and afterwards from the beautiful press of the Elzevirs, in 1632, 
 12mo. (What would Mr. Lloyd [Soc. Roxb. Soc.] give for an uncut 
 copy of the work ?) It is to be found also in the collection of Ra- 
 musio, and in an English form, by Pory, in the Collection of Purchas. 
 Hartman (probably the ablest editor of these oriental authors) calls 
 Africanus’s book — “ a golden book j which, had he wanted, he 
 should as frequently have wanted light.”* Marmol’s Descrip- 
 tion General de Africa , was published at Grenada, in 1573-99, folio ; 
 3 vols. j a book of rarity and of price : but Marmol “ did not visit 
 any part of Afiica, except Morocco, and the borders of the Desert.” 
 His work was translated into French by D’Ablancourt, at Paris, 
 1669, 4to. 3 vols. Dapper and Ogilby (the latter being little more 
 than a version of the Dutch of the former) are now getting fast out 
 of fashion. Not so is Cadamosto, a much more ancient traveller. 
 He was indeed " the first traveller who published a regular narrative, 
 and (says Mr. Murray) it contains many curious particulars.” But 
 who shall solace himself with the hope even — much more the pos- 
 session — of the first edition of the Libro de la Prima Navigazione of 
 Cadamosto ? Mr. Murray perhaps warranted by Meuselius, (Bibl. 
 Hist. vol. ii. part. ii. p. 318: see also vol. iii. part i. p. 159,) con- 
 siders this edition to be of the date of 1507* published at Vicenza, in 
 a quarto form : which Brunet thinks is erroneously substituted for 
 the Mondo Novo of Vespucius, of that date 5 and accordingly he 
 makes the first edition of Cadamosto to be published at Milan, in 
 1519. 4to. But is not this volume almost unfindable ? A good 
 article on Cadamosto appears in the Biog . Univer. vol. vi. p. 451 : 
 but the author sticks up” for the edition of 1507. 
 
 * Mr. Murray has been led into a mistake by that plausible, but not wholly ac- 
 curate bibliographer, Du Fresnoy, in supposing that the French version of Leo, 
 in 1556, fol. 2 vols. is the exclusive version of Leo. Brunet tells us, that these 
 volumes contain accounts of Africa, Asia, and America, from Ramusio . Consult 
 also Meuselii Bibl. Hist- vol. it. part ii. p. 318. 
 
452 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [Africa. 
 
 the publications of D’Anville, Rennell, and Gos- 
 selin ;* and then travel downwards from the Medi- 
 terranean coast to the Cape of Good Hope ; but not 
 without paying* especial attention to the western coast, 
 and to the immense territory comprised under what is 
 called the kingdom of Ethiopia. The land of Egypt is 
 impressed upon our memories by a thousand recol- 
 lections. It is familar to us in early youth, from the 
 language of holy writ ; and perhaps no two characters 
 ever took such entire possession of the young and sus- 
 ceptible heart, as those of Moses and Pharoah. Nor 
 are the physical wonders of the country less striking. 
 The rise and fall of the waters of the Nile has been a 
 theme (also interwoven in sacred text) which has long, 
 not only excited our curiosity, but, perhaps, baffled our 
 reasoning. And, again, how is the mind raised, by a 
 contemplation — whether in reality or description, of 
 those stupendous edifices, under the appellation of the 
 Pyramids ! ?* While, journeying yet more south- 
 
 * The labours of D’Anville and Rennell have been so fre- 
 quently noticed and commended, that I have here only and equally 
 to recommend those of Gosselin, under the title of Recherches sur le 
 Gfographie sysUmatique et positive des Anciens, pour servir de base d 
 Vhistoire de la gtograpliie ancienne, Paris , an. VI. (1797) 1813, 4to. 
 four vols. The two latter volumes sell separately, for those who are 
 in need of being ff comforted’’ by them. A good copy of the entire 
 work, well bound, is worth 61. 6s. 
 
 + “ The enormous size of these ancient monuments, and the soli- 
 dity of their structure, promise an eternal duration ; an existence 
 coeval with the everlasting mountains. They are visible at a great 
 distance, and, as the traveller advances, seem to retire into the re- 
 cesses of the desert. Their stupendous height, prodigious surface, 
 and enormous solidity, strike the spectator with reverence and awe, 
 as they recall the memory of distant ages.” — Leyden ; in Murray's 
 Discoveries and Travels in Africa , vol, ii. p. 179. 
 
Africa.] 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 453 
 
 erly, “ we are lost and confounded in the immen- 
 sity” of those ruins, which tell us — where Thebes 
 once stood ! 
 
 First, then, of Egypt. The works of Pococke, 
 Norden, Savary, Denon, Sonnini, White, Hamilton, 
 Legh, and Belzoni,* are sufficient to ensure every 
 
 * Of the above, in the order in which they stand : and first of 
 Pococke ; but he has been already dispatched : see p. 433. Let no 
 pains be spared to secure a good copy of him. The first volume, 
 relating to Egypt, was reprinted (says Mr. Murray) in 1748, 4to . ; 
 but the same authority is wrong in describing Pococke’s original 
 work to be of the same dimensions. I observe a good copy of this 
 work selling for 161. 10s. at the sale of Dr. Heath’s library. Norden 
 is indeed the prince of picturesque travellers, of the older school, as 
 connected with the ruins of Egypt. He was a Dane, and his work 
 first appeared at Copenhagen in 1755, in two folio vols. in the French 
 language. These were translated by Templeman into English, ac- 
 companied by notes, and published in 1757* in the same number of 
 volumes, with the same number of plates. Barbier allows that this 
 edition is even finer than its precursor. Messrs. Payne and Foss 
 notice an edition of 1805, which they mark at 5 1. 15s. 6d. “ two 
 vols. in one, neat, in russia.” It is, however, the edition of 1757, 
 that the curious bite at,” — especially if it be in fine condition, and 
 possess 164 plates, f besides the original head and tail pieces. But 
 subsequent researches, accompanied by more curious illustrations, 
 have diminished the pecuniary weight of Norden ; and for 7^. 17$. 6d. 
 a well bound copy may be obtained. Miss Currer possesses a copy 
 of it on the largest paper.” M. Langles published his own French 
 translation, with notes, in 1795, 4to. three vols. Sa vary’s Lettres 
 sur VEgypte , 1785, 8vo 3 vols. are, it must be admitted, sufficiently 
 lively. They were, at first, attended with considerable success, but 
 I am not sure, whether, from the testimonies of French biographers 
 and critics themselves, Savary ought to receive a great share of cre- 
 dit. The reputation of his work was cut to pieces by Michaelis, in 
 a review in a foreign journal of oriental literature : which Mons. 
 Silvestre de Sacy made intelligible and acceptable to the French public 
 
 f Pinkerton counts 200 plates. 
 
454 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 [Africa. 
 
 requisite information relating to this most extraor- 
 dinary country. Of course* after the reader shall 
 
 in the Journal des Savans, 178 7, reprinted in the Esprit des Jour - 
 naux, and in the Tablettes d’un Curieux. See Barbier, vol. iv. p. 
 388. Yet, as Savary’s work afforded me, when a very young man 
 at College, considerable gratification, I am unwilling to shew un- 
 grateful symptoms in return ; and will never refuse three-fourths of 
 a sovereign for his three volumes, when coated in the comely attire 
 of white calf, with marble leaves. 
 
 The work of Denon is fairly entitled to a particular and highly 
 commendatory notice. I perfectly remember at Mr. Dulau’s when 
 the first copies of it were imported, in 1S02, in two large folio vo- 
 lumes, " the learned wondered at the work, and the vulgar were 
 enamoured of” its execution. Such was its popularity here, that, 
 an English translation of it (by Mr. Aikin) was published in two 
 quarto volumes within nine months of the appearance of the original 
 work. This English version exhibits a better order in the text, and 
 has some valuable additional notices ; but the inferiority of the press- 
 work, and both the inferiority and diminution (from 141 to 60) of 
 the plates, render it now scarcely an object of attraction. Many of 
 the plates, in the original French folio, are by the burin of Denon 
 himself j and exhibit much of the force and freedom, as well as of 
 the style, of Rembrandt. A copy of these noble volumes is marked 
 at 20 1. in blue morocco, by Messrs. Payne and Foss : and at 16/. 16s. 
 in boards. The French text, in three duodecimo volumes, (it was 
 also published in one quarto volume) and the plates in folio, is 
 marked at 61. 6s. by Messrs. Arch. Upon the whole, Denon’s book — 
 in which there are too many fanciful, if not fantastical groupes— 
 (especially in the march and encounter of armies) can never be 
 wholly superseded. This brings me, therefore, to the mention of 
 another French work, of repulsively colossal dimensions, rela- 
 ting to Egypt — of which, according to Brunet, nine folio volumes 
 and an Atlas have already appeared at Paris, in 1809, &c. It was 
 undertaken and conducted by a commission issued under Bonaparte, 
 and carried on by the present French monarch. I saw, at the private 
 library of the King, at Paris, Bonaparte’s own copy, bound in red 
 morocco 5 but, bound in any style, works of such a form are so 
 incommodious and unwieldy, that they even forbid investigation, 
 and, in consequence, suppress applause. To have a thoroughly 
 
Africa.] 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 455 
 
 have examined the note last referred to, he will be 
 better able to judge of applying his means to the 
 
 satisfactory appergu of the tout ensemble, the looker on should be 
 nine feet high. 
 
 The Voyage dans la Haute et Basse Egypt, of Sonnini, Paris, 
 1799, Svo. is an excellent work ; and so is the Egyptiaca of Profes- 
 sor White, in 1801, 4to. But infinitely preferable to either, is the 
 Egyptiaca of Mr. Hamilton, in 1809, 4to. : a solid, instructive, and 
 most accurate performance. Mr. Legh’s Travels above the Cata - 
 racts of the Nile, Lond. 1816, 4to. display the enterprise of a vera- 
 cious traveller, and a perspicuous and modest writer. I trust, and 
 indeed believe, that this slender quarto has also appeared in octavo : 
 for it should be read by every one, in whose breast the mention of the 
 river Nile produces something approaching to a convulsive throb ! 
 Welcome, renowned and immortal Belzoni ! — for such are the epi- 
 thets which necessarily belong to thy name. A little memoir should 
 accompany the notice of thy herculean labours : but, here, that must 
 not be. Indeed, it is the less necessary, as in the notices of his works 
 in the 18th and 19th volumes of the Quarterly Review , there is so 
 much interest and minuteness of detail, and the relative labours and 
 merits of other travellers are concentrated with so much judgment, 
 that I need give little more than the titles of his works. Fortunate, 
 doubtless, it was, for this enterprizing traveller, that he found in his 
 publisher, Mr. Murray, such a patron and friend. Besides his per- 
 formances as an author, Mr. Belzoni exhibited a complete model of 
 the ancient tomb of Psammuthis in Thebes, as well as of the inte- 
 riors of two chambers in the same tomb, at Mr. Bullock’s Museum 
 in Piccadilly ; and having covered the expenses inevitably attendant 
 on such a bold, but, as it proved, highly popular measure, he was 
 enabled to replenish his purse, and thereby to set out, with renewed 
 alacrity, on other similar enterprises : and he is now, peradventure, 
 busied in the discovery of yet more extraordinary remains. His work, 
 “ Narrative of the Operations and Recent Discoveries within the Pyra- 
 mids, Temples , Tombs , and Excavations in Egypt and Nubia,” fyc. has 
 been recently published in an octavo form : but his forty -four large 
 plates to illustrate his Operations, Atlas folio, 61. 6s. .* and six addi- 
 tional plates coloured, illustrative of his Travels, &c. folio, 1 1. 5 s. 
 must all be procured by the thoroughly diligent, enthusiastic, and 
 — wealthy Collector. A contemplation of these marvellous relics 
 
456 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 [Africa. 
 
 accomplishment of a particular end; but if I were to 
 ; prescribe for a plethoric purse, I should say — “ buy 
 all that is mentioned below, and then superadd the 
 gigantic work at present in a course of completion, 
 put forth under the auspices of Bonaparte, and con- 
 ducted with undiminished vigour under the royal 
 government of Louis XVIII. This also is noticed 
 beneath. 
 
 From Egypt, descending southerly, we get into the 
 kingdom of ^Ethiopia, and particularly into the terri- 
 tories of Nubia and Abyssinia. First, let the lover 
 of African antiquities secure the stately folio of Lu - 
 dolphus ,* with those of Tellez and Almeida , and then 
 choose, among the following distinguished Moderns, 
 which may more completely suit his purse as well as 
 
 of the olden times of Egypt and Thebes, puts the mind in a state of 
 very singular, but not unpleasing, excitation 3 so wholly different 
 are they from the antiquities of the more polished countries of 
 Greece and Rome. But when will the yet more surprising (as I 
 learn) collection of drawings of Mr. Banks, jun. upon the same sub- 
 jects as those of Belzoni, make their appearance? Expectation 
 stretches its neck, as w r ell as stands on tip-toe, for a public and un- 
 wearied view of them. 
 
 * The Historia Ethiopica of Ludolfus, consisting of four parts 
 (all described in the catalogue of Messrs. Arch, 1823, no. 494) was 
 published at Vienna in 1695-6, folio : and the copy here referred to 
 is marked at 4 1. 4s. “ bound in vellum.” The work is not less rare 
 in fine condition, than it is intrinsically valuable in any condition. 
 Brunet has omitted to notice a copy on large paper 3 such a copy, 
 bound in russia, (with the Appendix, 1694, on small paper, it never 
 being on large) is in the beautiful library of the Rt. Hon. T. Gren- 
 ville. Consult Murray, vol. ii. p. 542:3. Tellez, et Almeida JBTw- 
 toria General ^Ethiopia , 1650, folio: again, at Coimbra, 1660. 
 
 This work of Tellez was composed from the Memoirs of several 
 Missionaries, transmitted to Portugal by Almeida, and is remarkably 
 rare.” Murray. 
 
Africa ] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 457 
 
 taste. “ Hallowed be the turf” which pillows the 
 head of Burckhardt ! — for, of recent African travel- 
 ers, he, surely, was almost the foremost in the first 
 rank. His works are noticed below.* And what a 
 brilliant cluster of names succeed ! For Abyssinia , 
 more especially, you must secure the works of Bruce 
 and Salt.+ Who has not heard of Bruce— the ro- 
 
 * Of his “ Travels in Syria and Mount Sinai,** including his <e Jour- 
 ney from Aleppo to Damascus — in the District of Mount Libanus and 
 Antilihanus — a second Tour in the Hauran—from Damascus to Cairo, 
 and in the Peninsula of Mount Sinai.'* Lond. 1822, 21. 3s. : see 
 p. 433, ante. His first volume of Travels was in Nubia and in the 
 Interior of North Eastern Africa, 21. 8s. His third, just about to see 
 the day, is In the Hedjaz, 4to. with plates. An affecting and inte- 
 resting account of this indefatigable and luckless traveller, will be 
 found in the xvith and xviith volumes of the Quarterly Review. Let 
 Burckhardt, especially when he salutes us in an octavo form, have a 
 central place upon the most conspicuous upper shelf in the Collector’s 
 library. He is among the Viri Centenarii of all ages and nations! 
 
 f Before the reader suffers himself to be enchained by the seduc- 
 tive narrative of Bruce, let him procure, for a few shillings. Dr. 
 Johnson’s translation of Father Lobo’s account of Abyssinia j but of 
 which the best version is that of Legrand, with additions, and an ex- 
 cellent map by D’Anville, Paris, 1728, 4to. An analysis is in Mur- 
 ray. And now for James Bruce of Kinnaird. A more enterprising, 
 light, but lion-hearted traveller, never left his native hills for the ac- 
 complishment of such purposes as those which Bruce accomplished. 
 His professed object was, to discover the source of the Nile j and 
 whatever doubts and difficulties Larcher, in his version of Hero- 
 dotus, may oppose to the truth or reality of this source, I still think 
 that the balance is in a vibratory state : and the weight of Bruce 
 seems to be as decisive as that of the French Critic. Barbier has 
 spoken out like a man, and like a gentleman, about the merits of 
 Bruce : Bibl. d'un Homme de Gout, vol. iv. p. 384. Never did a work 
 make greater noise at the period of its publication, than did the 
 travels of this Scotch Worthy. The Monthly Review took it up im- 
 mediately, and in a very animated and interesting manner. Mean- 
 while, scepticism and doubt began to sit upon the brows of the grave 
 
458 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [Africa. 
 
 mantic, the intrepid, the indefatigable Bruce? His 
 “ tale ’ was once suspected ; but suspicion has sunk 
 into acquiescence of its truth. A more recent work, 
 connected with Ethiopia, has been published by 
 Messrs. Waddington and Hanbury. 
 
 We must now, still confining ourselves to the north 
 of Africa, strike off to the left, and travel towards the 
 states of Barbary, including Fezzan, Morocco, Algiers, 
 and Tripoli, &c. : when the more ancient names of 
 Torrez, Hoedo, Menezes, and the later ones of 
 
 and to discompose the meditations of the thoughtful. Was it a ro- 
 mance ? a fiction ? or was it half truth and half exaggeration ) 
 Bruce, on discovering what he really conceived to be the source of 
 that magical river, the Nile, plunged an earthen vessel into the 
 gushing and translucent stream . . . and drank to the health of the 
 then reigning monarch, King George the Third !” . . . But this is 
 any thing but bibliography. His travels occupied him six years — 
 from 1768 to 1773 inclusively : and appeared at Edinburgh in 1790, 
 in five goodly quarto volumes, with plates. The Author died in 
 1794. 
 
 The late Mr. Ottridge, of the Strand, a most worthy and facetious 
 old gentleman, and a highly respectable bookseller, had a prodigious 
 fancy for this quarto edition of Bruce. About fifteen years ago, when 
 he had the exclusive employment of Kalthoeber the bookbinder — who 
 in fact, lived in his house — he used to engage him upon repeated sets 
 of this work. “ There they are (he would observe to me, pointing 
 to the shelf on which they stood) — there they are, those delightful 
 Bruces ! ! The time will come, when he, who has such a copy as 
 any of those you now behold, will possess a treasure indeed.' * The 
 prediction was not wholly divested of truth. A quarto Bruce, well 
 bound, may be yet worth 71 7 s. : but how comes it to pass that Mr. 
 Ottridge (6 /%) never shewed me one of the ttoeltoe copies only , 
 
 printed upon large paper, of this first edition, which I observe in 
 the catalogue of Messrs. Payne and Foss, marked at 24 1. * e uniform 
 in blue morocco/’ including a sixth volume by Murray, W'hich con- 
 tains a life of the Author ? A French translation of Bruce appeared 
 in six quarto, and a German one in five octavo volumes the follow- 
 
459 
 
 Africa.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 Shaw, Chenier, Jackson, Ali Bey, and Lyon,* 
 strike us with particular attention, and claim a greater 
 
 ing year. The best English octavo edition, is that in eight vols. 
 1804, with a life of the author. This also has been reprinted in 
 1813. And do these reimpressions , indicate the original text to be a 
 work of fiction ? I beseech the reader to run a cursory glance over 
 the analysis of Bruce in Mr. Murray’s Africa , vol. ii. p. 74, &c. Of 
 recent authors, few stand more deservedly high than Mr. Salt. The 
 share his researches bear in the Travels of Lord Valentia and Mr, 
 Belzoni — and particularly his own volume, exclusively confined to 
 Abyssinia, Lond. 1814, 4to. rank him high in the class of Abyssinian 
 travellers. If I am asked, by the economical Collector, to give up 
 Bruce, or Mr. Salt ? I shall unhesitatingly say — forego the former, 
 and secure the latter. 
 
 * The latest work which treats of Ethiopia, is that by Messrs. 
 Waddington and Hanbury j being a “ Journal of a Visit to some 
 Parts of Ethiopia : with Maps , #e. and Drawings of the Pyramids ,” 
 8fc. 1822, 4to. 21. This work was reviewed in the Quarterly, vol. 
 xxvii, p. 215. In pursuing the route marked out in the above text, 
 I must necessarily compress 'much bibliographical intelligence in a 
 small space. The work of Torrez was first published at Seville, in 
 the Spanish language, in 1586, 4to. : and is rare in this form. It was 
 translated into French under the title of “ Relation des Voyages de 
 Fez et de Maroc , traduite du Castilian de Diego Torrez , par Charles 
 Due d* Angouldme. Paris, 1636, 4to. Hoedo’s Topografia y Historia 
 general de Argel (General Topography and History of Algiers) Val- 
 ladolid, 1612, folio, is a more piquant volume for the keen appetite 
 of a Collector, inasmuch as Pinkerton tells us that it furnishes a 
 curious portion of the life of Cervantes. This rare book has escaped 
 Brunet j and is not observed upon by Boucher de la Richarderie. 
 And yet, probably, much rarer is the Historia de Tanger, que com - 
 prehende as noticias desde a sua primeira conquesta ate a sua ruina ” of 
 Don Fernando de Menezes, published in 1732, folio : which has 
 escaped de Richarderie, and upon which Brunet observes nothing. 
 A copy is in Mr. Rennie’s library. 
 
 Of all books of travels connected with Barbary and the Levant, 
 that of Dr. Shaw’s — printed at Oxford in 1738, folio, 2 vols., with 
 the Supplement in 1746 — both reprinted and much improved in 
 1757* London, folio, 2 vols. and translated into the French, and pub- 
 
460 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [Africa. 
 
 or less share of our homage and respect. Indeed 
 there is scarcely one among the later of these works, 
 but what is replete with useful intelligence. As we 
 continue towards the Western Coasts of Africa, de- 
 scending somewhat to the South, we enter upon 
 countries which have been perhaps yet more vividly 
 impressed upon the minds of modern readers, by 
 the exertions of the intrepid and lamented Park ;# 
 
 lished at the Hague in 1743, 4to. 2 vols — is assuredly the most ad- 
 mirable as well as the most popular. The extensive information and. 
 scrupulous fidelity of these volumes, render them safe inmates of a 
 well chosen collection. Messrs. Arch mark a copy at the reason- 
 able price of 2Z. 5s. (t Fly, Fleance, fly” to secure it. De La 
 
 Richarderie has given a capital account of it : vol. iv. p. 18, &c. Let 
 Chenier’s “ Recherches Ilistoriques sur les Maures, et Iiistoire de 
 VEmpire de Maroc .” Paris, 178 7, 8vo. 3 vols. ensure a warm recep- 
 tion. It is at once moderate in price, and faithful in narrative. An 
 English translation of it appeared in 2 vols. octavo. Nor should 
 Porret’s “ Voyage en Barbarie," Paris, 1789, 8vo. 2 vols. — be long 
 wanting in a professed collection of books of this description. Mr. 
 Jackson’s Account of the Empire of Morocco , 1809, 4to. (so pithily 
 and pertinently reviewed in the Quarterly, vol. ii. p. 445) cannot fail 
 to be placed alongside the very best works which treat of that extra- 
 ordinary kingdom. It has been (I believe) more than once reprinted 
 in 8vo. Yet let me adopt a still more decisive strain in commenda- 
 tion of the Travels in Morocco, Tripoli, &c. of Ali Bey j put forth 
 in two goodly quarto tomes in 1816: an excellent, amusing, and in- 
 structive work. And last, though not the least in this list of com- 
 mendable tomes, be the Narrative of Travels in Northern Africa 
 from Tripoli to Mourzouk, the capital of Fezzan, with a chart and co- 
 loured plates, put forth by Captain Lyon, companion to the late 
 Mr. Ritchie. This truly valuable and scientific work is “ accompa- 
 nied by Geographical Notices of Soudan, and of the course of the 
 Niger.” It is published at 31. 3s. in boards. 
 
 * Of the works of an author, so well, and, alas ! so lamentably 
 known, it were idle to say one word in commendation. The Travels 
 of Mungo Park, in the Interior Districts of Africa, in the years 1795- 
 6-7, and during a subsequent Mission in 1805, were published, as a 
 
Africa.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 461 
 
 the second British victim to the vengeance of the 
 natives ! : — the persevering efforts of Browne, Horne- 
 man, Riley, and Adams.* 
 
 new edition, in 1823, in two volumes, quarto ; price 31. 13 s. 6d. 
 This edition contains Major Rennell’s valuable Memoir on the Geo- 
 graphy of Africa, a portrait of the author, and maps and plates. 
 But the labours of Park are now to be had in all forms, and at all 
 prices, though, doubtless, the latter are the best editions.f I re- 
 member the great interest excited by the publication of the first 
 journey, and the sympathy generally felt at his untimely fate when 
 his posthumous labours appeared. . . . Peace to the ashes of this mo- 
 dest, heroic, and hapless traveller ! His memory is embalmed in the 
 same mental cenotaph with that of Cook and of Burckhardt. 
 
 * “ Another, and another, still succeeds !” — and all, with one ex- 
 ception, of British growth. Thrice welcome, ye brave and unre- 
 mitting explorers of crumbling ruins, burning sands, and almost in- 
 terminable deserts ! I give you, here, a hearty welcome ! — and chro- 
 nicle your labours with a ready hand and grateful heart. Browne's 
 Travels in Egypt and Syria , and to Darfur , were published in 1799, 
 4to. and were well translated into French, with notes, and enriched 
 with maps, &c. by Costera, at Paris, 1800, 8vo. 2 vols. De la Ri- 
 charderie (Bibl. des Voy. vol. i. p. 255) has given an excellent ana- 
 lysis of Browne, and tells us that “ what is truly worthy of observa- 
 tion, in the narrative of Browne, is his Voyage to Darfur , a country 
 wholly unknown till its description by this author.” But the French 
 critic betrays a little soreness in Browne’s strictures upon Savary and 
 Volney. The first publication of Horneman’s Journal of Travels to 
 Fezzan , from the German, appeared in English in 1802, 4to. but this 
 is very inferior to the French edition, in 1803, in two octavo volumes, 
 with a dissertation on the Oases. This work contains a lively narra- 
 tive of many singular and interesting adventures. But what are 
 these, compared with the Narrative of James Riley — “ contain- 
 ing an account of the loss of his vessel on the western coast of Africa, 
 and the sufferings of her surviving officers and crew, who were en- 
 slaved by the w andering Arabs on the Great African Coast ! } This 
 book was first published at New York, in 1816, 4to. : and the fol- 
 lowing year in England, in the same form. The sufferings of Adams, 
 
 f The first quarto, also possessing Major Rennell’s Memoir, is a scarce volume. 
 
462 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [Africa. 
 
 As we prepare our Collection for Travels more im- 
 mediately southward, let us make room on our shelves 
 for the valuable and curious labours of Lopez and 
 Tuckey — who wrote, at more than an interval of two 
 centuries apart, respecting the rise and course of the 
 great river Zaire, usually called the Congo,* Secure 
 these precious tomes, if you can ; but as Lopez, from 
 his great scarcity, is necessarily (in bibliographical 
 metaphor) “ a slippery gentleman,” console yourself, 
 for his absence, as occasion and opportunity may 
 offer, with the performance of Cavazzi , or Labat . f 
 Captain Tuckey’s book is yearly issuing, in reprints, 
 from its head-quarters in Albemarle street. 
 
 in his “ Narrative of a wreck in the year 1810, on the Western Coast 
 of Africa," &c. published in 1816, afford an equally intense interest in 
 perusal. Let the sympathising reader consult the Quarterly Review , 
 vols. xiv. p. 453, xvi. p. 287- — and from thence learn to be thankful 
 for a happy home in a civilised country. I may here take occasion 
 to recommend the earnest perusal of the two octavo volumes of the 
 “ Proceedings of the African Association containing the journals 
 
 of their different Emissaries. 
 
 * I will begin with Odoardo Lopez, whose Relazione de ’ Reame 
 di Congo e delle vicine contrade, fyc. 5 first published at Rome, in 1591, 
 4to. is a volume of rare occurrence, and worth, when complete with 
 the maps, from 4 to 5 l. There is a Latin translation, published at 
 Franckfort in 1598, folio, which forms the first part of the voyages 
 of De Bry. But of greatly superior value, on the score of intrinsic 
 merit, is Captain Tuckey’s Narrative of an Expedition to explore 
 
 the river Zaire , usually called the Congo, in South Africa, published by 
 permission of the Lords of the Admiralty, in 1818, 4to. 2 1. 2 s. contain- 
 ing fourteen engravings. Mr. Murray, in his work so frequently 
 mentioned with commendations, has published a small chart of this 
 river from Captain Tuckey’s narrative. 
 
 f Cavazzi ; Descrizione dei tre Reame doe Congo, Matouba, e 
 Angola, was published at Bologna in 1687, folio : a very rare book. 
 It was republished at Milan in 1690, 4 to. and at the sale of Dr. 
 Heath’s library, I find Mr. Heber giving the very smart sum of 2 1. 6s. 
 
463 
 
 Africa.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 And now a word — and that a little word” — for 
 Southern Africa . Yet the Western Coast, including 
 the vast region of Guinea, has not been bereft of 
 writers. Below, I subjoin a list of a few of the prin- 
 cipal ;* and exhort the reader, whether young or old, 
 to possess himself of the very curious, novel, and 
 most entertaining work of Mr. Bowdich ; being an 
 account of a Mission from Cape Coast Castle to the 
 Kingdom of Ashantee.^ In regard to Southern Africa 
 — if its interior have yet escaped the researches of the 
 most hardy and adventurous travellers, there are yet 
 some excellent works which describe those portions 
 which are nearer the Cape, and which come in more 
 immediate contact with European curiosity or com- 
 merce. The names of Vaillant, Sparman, Lichten- 
 
 for a copy of this republication. Labat’s Relation Historique de 
 VEthiopie Occidentale, Paris, 1732, 12mo. 5 vols. contains a transla- 
 tion of Cavazzi, with an abstract of the Memoirs of a number of 
 Romish Missionaries. 
 
 * The reader must, however, first search the pages of Hakluyt > 
 Purchas, and Churchill, for many curious and interesting voyages to 
 Guinea, and other parts of the western coast of Africa. Lindsay’s 
 voyage, in 1758, containing the capture of Goree, by Keppel, Lond. 
 1759, 4to. with cuts, is worth a ten minutes inspection before the 
 dinner is announced, or after the tea and coffee are taken up into the 
 drawing room : while the tomes of Matthews , (1788, 4to.) Winter - 
 bottom , (Lond. 8vo.) and Beaver , (African Memoranda, 1805, 4to.) 
 are deserving of a more leisurely examination. Latterly, Meredith's 
 description of the Gold Coast of Africa, 1812. 8vo. has produced a 
 more general and more satisfactory impression. 
 
 f Singularly “ curious, novel, and interesting,” indeed is the work 
 here mentioned. It contains an account of a Mission from Cape 
 Coast Castle to the Kingdom of Ashantee, in Africa , &c. with plates, 
 sufficient, many of them, to set the reader’s heart in a flutter at the 
 monstrosities exhibited. This really extraordinary work was written 
 by Mr. Bowdich, Conductor and Chief of the Embassy : and pub- 
 lished by Mr. John Murray, at Si. 3s. 
 
464 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [Africa. 
 
 stein, Percival, Barrow* are prominent in the listof 
 those travellers who have contributed to the enlarge- 
 ment of our knowledge of this most interesting portion 
 of the globe, — while the yet more enterprising and suc- 
 cessful exertions of BurchellI* have taught us that 
 
 * Vaillant : Voyage dans VInt&ieur de V Afrique, 1796, 8vo. two 
 vols. first edition of the first voyage: the second was printed in 
 1795, in two vols. 4to, and three 8vo. They have both been fre- 
 quently reprinted. A copy of the first and second voyages, 1795, in 
 3 vols. 8vo. on large paper, “ best edition, very rare, plates co- 
 loured, bound in red morocco,” was sold for the very stiff price of 
 371. 1 6s. at the sale of Colonel Stanley’s library. Sparman’s Voy- 
 age to the Cape of Good Hope , was translated from the Swedish into 
 English in 1785, 4to. two vols. An excellent work. Percival’ s 
 Account of the Cape of Good Hope , was published in 1804, 4to. 
 Lichtenstein appeared in English, from the German, in 1812, 4to. 
 Both are valuable publications. A very ancient namesake, if not an- 
 cestor, of Lichtenstein, published an account of Constantinople, in the 
 German language, in 1584, folio : a work of rare occurrence. But, 
 doubtless of much superior value, in extent, in variety, importance, 
 and accuracy of detail, is Mr. Barrow’s Account of Travels in the 
 Interior of Southern Africa , Lond, 1801, 4to. to which was added a 
 second volume in 1803, 4to. Boucher de la Richarderie has done 
 ample justice to our couutryman, by his analysis, in vol. iv. p. 245, 
 &c. And if, in conclusion, the young man” or “the old man,” 
 ask me to place a few only of the best works relating to the Southern 
 parts of Africa, in his library, I shall immediately answer him — con- 
 sider Mr. Barrow as an indispensable gentleman.” 
 
 f Of entirely recent date, and containing a more extensive and 
 important account of the Interior of South Africa , are the costly 
 and comprehensive volumes of William J. Burchell, Esq. which 
 are embellished by not fewer than 116 coloured and uncoloured 
 engravings. 
 
 These travels were undertaken with the intention of exploring the 
 unknown countries lying between the Cape of Good Hope and the 
 Portuguese Settlements on the Western Coast, by a circuitous track 
 through the Interior Regions. The author, after penetrating into the 
 heart of the Continent, to the depth of nearly eleven hundred miles, 
 to a country never before described, met with obstacles which it was 
 
Africa.] 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 465 
 
 there are scarcely any assignable limits to human 
 courage and enthusiasm. And thus much for Africa. 
 
 found impossible to surmount, and which compelled him to alter the 
 original plan of his route. This alteration gave him an opportunity 
 of acquiring the most complete information respecting the inhabitants 
 of this most distant region, the nature and productions of the country, 
 and many interesting particulars of the nations beyond. In the geo- 
 graphy of the extra-tropical part of Southern Africa, a map, founded 
 on numerous astronomical observations, and of an entirely new con- 
 struction, will be found to present considerable improvements, and to 
 rectify many inaccuracies. Its size is 33 inches by 28. 
 
 In the first volume , besides the travels among the tribes living 
 beyond the boundary of the English settlement, there is a large por- 
 tion of information respecting the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, 
 and an account of several excursions which intervened between the 
 author’s first landing and the commencement of his principal journey 
 into the interior. 
 
 In the second volume will be found an interesting account of the 
 native tribes 3 with whom the author lived on terms which gave him 
 very favourable opportunities for discovering their true character. 
 As his views in travelling were not confined to any particular class 
 of observations, but were extended to whatever appeared likely to 
 produce useful knowledge, his researches have embraced that variety 
 of subjects which a journey, over ground never before trodden by 
 European foot, and through the strange and unknown regions of 
 Africa, might be expected to afford. 
 
 To each volume are added an Itinerary and Register of the Wea- 
 ther: and to render the whole more available for reference, and to 
 collect under their proper heads, the various remarks which, by being 
 noticed in the regular order of a Diary, are necessarily scattered in 
 different places, a General Index , together with a Zoological and 
 Botanical Index , are given to complete the work. The whole of the 
 engravings which accompany it, have been faithfully copied from 
 finished drawings made by the author. This work is published by 
 Messrs. Longman and Co. at 4 1, 14s. 6d. per volume. 
 
[ 466 ] 
 
 AMERICA. 
 
 At length we reach the largest, and latest disco- 
 vered quarter of the globe : and, in proportion to the 
 magnitude of this quarter, seems to be the number of 
 publications relating thereto. When the reader is 
 informed that, upwards of a century ago, Bishop 
 Kennett put forth a quarto volume of 273 pages, ex- 
 clusively of 200 pages of Index, called The Ameri- 
 can Library,* containing the titles of the then known 
 
 * This quarto volume was published in 1713, at the Black Swan, 
 in Pater Noster Row ; (why are such goodly signs now swept away r) 
 as e< An Attempt towards laying the foundation of an American Library 
 in several books, papers, and writings ; humbly given to the Society for 
 the propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." The name of White 
 Kennett appears at the end of the dedication : a dedication worth, 
 on many accounts, an attentive perusal. All the publications (of 
 which a great number of the earlier ones are to be found in the col- 
 lections of Hakluyt and Purchasf) are chronologically arranged* 
 
 t At p. xii. of the Dedication, the Bishop speaks thus nobly of these two great 
 Collectors of Travels : “ It was a glory done to this nation by Mr. Hakluyt and 
 Mr. Purchas, (both clergymen of the Church of England) that they spared no 
 pains or cost to hunt after, and gather up, a great variety and plenty of such Jour- 
 nals and Maritime Papers, which had otherwise, long be/ore this time, been wreckt 
 and lost for ever." A little farther, he adds — “ there be now living many indus- 
 trious collectors of Voyages and Travels, Navigations, Commerce, &c. who pro- 
 bably, after their decease, would not trust them to the custody of a careless heir, 
 or mercenary administrator j but will be glad to hear of such a public place as 
 this, wherein they may be safely disposed, and preserved with the memory of their 
 donour. If such a curious and judicious collector as Mr. Pepys had known of 
 any such design, it is very probable that he would have given all his laborious 
 efforts that way, and they would, in such manner, have made a national trea- 
 sure to posterity." What will my friend, Mr. Lodge, of Magdalen College, say 
 to this ? But the Pepysian Collection, as it is now regulated, is itself again : 
 and the spectre of its donor ceases to haunt the banks of Cam. Reverting to Bi- 
 shop Kennett’s Dedication, let me say one further “ little word — The con- 
 clusion of it must delight every intelligent mind and every virtuous heart. 
 
America.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 467 
 
 productions which more or less regarded America — 
 and when he considers how the spirit of discovery, 
 and the love of travelling, together with the publica- 
 tions which record them, have increased since that 
 period— how, in the name of courtesy, kindness, and 
 even common sense, I ask, can that same reader ex- 
 pect to be fully satisfied with a list of the chief works 
 now extant, connected with North and South 
 America? 
 
 Away, ye rigorous and exacting critics ! — hence, 
 ye harsh and unrelenting judges ! — for I must be even 
 more brief than heretofore. A world of various, and 
 of enticing matter, is before me: and I can there- 
 fore touch but hastily on the more ancient historians 
 and travellers, who have pushed their researches into 
 this quarter of the globe. But ere this sober strain 
 be touched, I exhort and intreat my “ Young Man,” 
 in particular, to secure, with all possible dispatch, the 
 American Atlas, or Guide to the History of Noi'th 
 and South America , and the IVest Indies , which has 
 been lately put forth at Philadelphia, by Messrs. 
 Carey and Lea — the Longman, Hurst, and Co. of the 
 New World. This admirable publication* will give 
 
 down to the period of the publication of the volume. An excellent 
 Index of matters, persons, and places, is added. This truly useful 
 volume was reprinted in 1791, 4to. (which latter only is mentioned 
 by Meuselius) : and both original and reprint are at this moment 
 sticking on stalls at some two shillings each. The book is invalu- 
 able to a Collector 5 and the spirit that is now abroad, in America, 
 should lead some Bostonian, or New Yorkite, or Philadelphian, to 
 bring the catalogue of publications down to the present times. 
 
 * This publication is a small Atlas folio, consisting of fifty-three 
 charts j the fifty-third containing “ a Map of the principal Rivers in 
 the World.” In this map, the curious reader will see how the Mis- 
 sissippi, and the Missouri, and the Amazon rivers, exceed every other 
 
468 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [America. 
 
 him a complete notion of the extent, variety, and cha- 
 racteristic features of the stupendous country to 
 which he is here about to receive a bibliographical 
 introduction. I will begin with the ever-honoured 
 name of the Discoverer of the country in question. 
 The Epistle of Columbus u de Insulis Indie supra 
 Gangem nuper invent is" was printed in a small quarto 
 tract, of four leaves, in the character of Planck , in 
 1493 ; and again (or before) in the same year, by Eu - 
 charius Silber or Argenteus : both of them* of such 
 excessive rarity as to have been unknown to Robert- 
 son and to have escaped Brunet.l’ Let me continue 
 with five of the more ancient worthies of American 
 travellers and historians: namely, Algerius, De 
 
 Oviedo, Lopez de Gemara, Las Casas, Herrera — 
 who are here introduced, only to be summarily dis- 
 missed;^ not however without a caution to the 
 
 in the world. Each chart is accompanied by a marginal text, con- 
 taining a summary and sensible account of the situation, extent, soil, 
 climate, mountains, rivers, chief towns, commerce, education, and 
 government, together with an historical sketch, of every portion of 
 North and South America, there delineated. This work is hand- 
 somely printed, and the copy before me is coloured. It was pur- 
 chased of the publishers for 5 1. With this Atlas, the reader may 
 consult that portion of North America which is excellently described 
 in Mellislis Geographical Description of the United States ; published 
 at Philadelphia, in 1 822, Svo. 
 
 * Both of these tracts were sold by Mr. Evans, at the sale of the 
 library of Don Antonio I. Conde, in 1824. The former, printed 
 by Planck, produced the sum of 20 1 . : the latter, by Silber, 341 135 . 
 And yet the former, from the reasons adduced by Mr. Evans, ap- 
 peared to be the editio princeps of the work. Panzer had no know- 
 ledge, however, of the impression by Silber. Every word of this 
 epistle, which should be incorporated in all future histories of Ame- 
 rica, is a word of gold : in more senses than one. 
 
 t Ihese five ancient gentlemen shall not, however, be dismissed 
 
America.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 469 
 
 curious — and especially to the more wealthy Collec- 
 tor — to take heed to a few of the “ helps” ten- 
 
 so “ summarily/’ in the notes. The two first and fourth were un- 
 known to Kennettj and the first, apparently, to Meuselius. Alge- 
 rius’s first work, “ De Orbe Novo , Decades III** was published at 
 Madrid in 1516, in folio : and is necessarily a rare book. “ La Histo- 
 ria general y natural de las Indias, islas y terra firma del mar ocean ,” of 
 Gonzalo Hernandez de Oviedo, was published at Seville in 1535, folio, 
 with cuts : again, in 1547, folio, with the true relation of the con- 
 quest of Peru, by Perez 3 again, in 1557* in Valladolid 3 and in 1556, 
 folio 5 and lastly, at Madrid, in 1730, in folio. A new and more 
 perfect edition is expected (says Meuselius) from the Marquis Tru- 
 xillo. In his Suppl. and Add. (vol. x. p. 326) this first edition is 
 more fully described. An Italian version of it appears in Ramusio, 
 and a portion of it is anglicised in the third volume of Purchases PiL 
 grims. Bourcher de la Ricliarderie gives us no intelligence of the 
 relative rarity and value of these editions. Bibl. des Voyages, vol. v. 
 p. 481. Lopez de Gomara : Primera, seconda, y terza parte de la 
 historia general de las Indias , con la conquista del Mexico y la nueva 
 Espaha. Medina, 1553, folio. First edition : with the pure text of 
 the author — which fell under the censure of the Spanish government 
 in America. A pretty little edition of it appeared at Antwerp in 
 1554, 12mo. for which Meuselius (Suppl. &c. vol. x. pt. ii. p. 327, ) 
 refers us to Goetzius in Denkwurdigk. der Dresd. Bibl. vol. iii. p. 444. 
 Consult the third volume (p. 227) of Meuselius for early Italian 
 and French versions, in 8vo. The work is epitomised in Purchas. 
 
 Bartholom^eus Las Casas : although his history treat chiefly of 
 ecclesiastical matters, it is a prodigiously great gun in the biblio- 
 graphical battery of Collectors 3 especially if the original Spanish 
 work, in seven parts, 1552, 4to. be complete, and in all respects un- 
 counterfeited. The counterfeit is printed in roman letters : the ge- 
 nuine in gothic. De Bure is copious and instructive on this head : 
 B. I. Hist. Part II. p. 266-7. Meuselius is unusually full 3 calling 
 the author “ immortalis Americanorum patronus.’’ Bibl. Hist. vol. 
 iii. part. ii. p. 79. He makes out six parts 3 so does Brunet, but 
 mentions seven 5 Boucher de la Richarderie, on the authority of De 
 Bure, calls them, five parts : so does Pinkerton 3 but Mr. Beloe, 
 ( Anec . &c. vol. i. p. 10.) says that the Cracherode copy has eight 
 parts: and he mentions the three which are not noticed by De Bure, 
 
470 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [America. 
 
 dered in the preceding note. He will not find them 
 ignes fatui in the path in which he may be pleased 
 to walk. 
 
 I doubt whether the eighth (in Latin) belong to the edition. A 
 copy of this edition, (without the specification of the number of 
 parts) was purchased by Mr. Singer, at the sale of the Stanley library, 
 for 8 1. 10s. A copy, containing three parts only, produced 7 l. at the 
 sale of the White Knights library. I saw a fine and perfect copy 
 in the very curious library of Sir Charles Stewart, our ambassador at 
 Paris. It is also in the library of Mr. Rennie, as well as a copy of 
 the second French edition. It was frequently reprinted in French — 
 1579 3 1582, &c. But the tasteful must look sharply out for good 
 impressions of the plates (by De Bry) of the Latin edition of 1598, 
 4to. The publishers, Theodore and Israel De Bry, make much 
 boasting about these plates — for want of which, they contend, (in 
 the preface) that all former editions may be considered as compara- 
 tively incomplete. The text seems to be carefully executed from the 
 MS. copy of the author and translator. Who was he ? A copy of 
 this edition was sold for 2 1. at the sale of Dr. Heath’s library 5 and 
 for 31. 5 s. at that of Colonel Stanley’s. Do copies of the figures, 
 without the text at the back, exist ? I will not recommend the re- 
 print of 1614, and much less that of 1664. 
 
 The cruelties, practised by the Spaniards towards the natives, of 
 which the noble spirit of Las Casas led him to complain, were justi- 
 fied by the slavish spirit of one of the most learned Spaniards of his 
 day — John Genes de Sepulveda — whose subserviency to Philip II. 
 threw a shade upon his otherwise enviable attainments : as a list of 
 his works, marshalled (as usual) in due order, by Niceron, may in- 
 duce us to believe : M6m. des Horn. Illust. vol. xxiii. p. 346. I must 
 here, however, caution the reader not to confound this Sepulveda 
 with his old friend Lorenzo, of that name : whose Romances nueva- 
 mente sacados de historias antiguas de la Cronica de Espana } dnv. 
 15SO, 12mo. produced the decisive sum of 12£. 185. at the sale of the 
 White Knights library. 
 
 Antonio de Herrara is well designated by Bishop Kennett, as 
 “ the Chief Chronicler of the Indies and Castille.” His VIII. Decads 
 of General History ( Decados , o Historia General de los Hechos de los 
 Castellanos , 8<c.J were published at Madrid in 1601-15 3 in eight thin, 
 or four good sized folio volumes— with copper plates. The history 
 
America.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 471 
 
 I can dwell but briefly on the class of General His- 
 torians 3 up to the present times : and if I mention 
 the names of Torquemada, Ogilby, Coreal, Lafiteau, 
 Charlevoix, Wilson, Ulloa, and Robertson,* I hope I 
 
 is carried on from the year 1492 to 1551. This was, for a long time, 
 a rare, and highly coveted work : but the enlarged, truly accurate, 
 and splendid impression, put forth by Gonsalez de Bavaria, at Ma- 
 drid, in 1729-30, with cuts, in four folio volumes, has rendered it 
 little sought and little coveted; although a copy of it brought 
 61. 6s. at the sale of the White Knights library. The Antwerp folio 
 edition of 1728 is mentioned — only to be shunned. A good copy of 
 the Madrid edition of 1729 is worth 10Z. 10s. It had appeared in an 
 English version by Capt. Stevens, in six octavo volumes, with cuts 
 and maps, in 1725. The Historia General del Mondo, by the same 
 celebrated author, was published in 1606-12, in three folio volumes : 
 containing, in fact, an elaborate history of Spain, during the reign of 
 Philip II. Mr. Bohn marks a copy of this desirable work at 2 1. 2 s. 
 Herrara is in the foremost rank of early American historians. 
 
 * F. J. de Torquemada : his work was first published at Seville, 
 in 1615, in three folio volumes : afterwards in a much improved 
 form, at Madrid, in 1730, in the same number of volumes. A good 
 copy is worth 5 1. 5s. The original edition had become scarce, and 
 we owe this valuable reprint to Gonsalves de Barcia. Meuselius 
 says the author had resided a long time in New Spain, for the sake of 
 promoting the Christian Religion : he introduces many foc^ish and 
 futile things, but many also that are far from being despicable.” Bou- 
 cher de la Richarderie seems to transfer this critique to the editor. 
 Ogilby : History of America , being the latest and most accurate de- 
 scription of the New World, and adorned with maps and other orna- 
 mentals , as ground plots , prospects of cities, and historical sculps , to the 
 number of 122, was put forth in 167L in a ponderous folio tome; 
 and now sleeps soundly, in spite of the sculps,” on the bottom 
 row of booksellers’ repositories. Yet it is praised by the Dutch tra- 
 veller Dapper, in his rival folio of 1673. Will this draw it from its 
 lurking place for 1Z. Is.? Coreal’s Voyages en les Indes Occident ales, 
 &c. is a translation of the Flemish Journal of Captain Abel Jansen 
 Tassman, with cuts: Amst. 1722, 12mo. 3 vols. The earlier por- 
 tion of this work, where the author describes the manners of the 
 
472 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [America. 
 
 shall not be accused of exhibiting a barren list of fun- 
 damental Writers towards making further acquisitions 
 
 different citizens, and especially the Buccaneers, is the more valua- 
 ble. Upon the whole, in spite of Marchand’s (Diet. vol. ii. p. 179.) 
 damnatory sentence, I conclude, from the Acta Erudit. Suppl. vol. 
 viii. p. 265, (as referred to by Meuselius) that this is a work worth 
 sticking the spurs into the side of a good bibliographical courser to 
 possess. 
 
 Lafiteau is a more consequential name. His Mceurs des Saif 
 vages Americains , Paris , 1723, 4to. two vols. well sprinkled with 
 shewy and spirited cuts, could not be obtained by Lord Holland, at 
 the sale of Dr. Heath’s library, under the sum of 3 1. It is a very 
 curious work, relating chiefly to Canadian manners and customs j 
 the author lived five years in Canada. It is now rare. Consult 
 Meuselius vol. iii. part. i. p. 242. The same ingenious author pub- 
 lished his Decouvertes el Conqudtes des Portugais dans le nouveau 
 Monde , at Paris , in 1733, 4to. two vols. also with cuts : of which a 
 good copy cannot be worth less than the last mentioned sum. 
 Charlevoix was a writer of equal ability and distinction : his “ Nou- 
 velle France , avec un Voyage dans VAmerique Septentrionale," ap- 
 peared at Paris, in 1744, 4to. 3 vols. ; Lord Holland gave 4l. 4s. 
 for a copy of it at Dr. Heath’s sale. It was republished in 6 duode- 
 cimo volumes, and translated into English in 1769. His Histoire du 
 Paraguay, Paris, 1756, 4to. 3 vols. produced 2 1. 14s. at the sale just 
 noticed ; and I find Mr. Heber giving 1 1. lis. for his Histoire de 
 Visle Espagnole , ou de St. Domingue , Paris , 1730, 4to. 2 vols. I am 
 not sure, whether, from the Biograph. Univ. vol. viii. p. 229, this 
 latter be not the preferable work of Charlevoix : — reprinted at Amst. 
 1733, in four duodecimo volumes. Wilson’s Description of Ante - 
 rica , containing conjectures of its peopling , &c. Lond. 1739, folio, with 
 maps, &c. is hardly worth mentioning j but there are tastes for all 
 sorts of books : and so let Wilson be picked up for 7 s. 6d. 
 
 Ant. de Ulloa’s work upon East and South America , relates 
 chiefly to the natural history of those countries, and was published in 
 a small 4to. volume, at Madrid, in 1772. It is a very valuable 
 book, as far as it goes ; the author having resided a considerable 
 period in America. It was translated into French, and published at 
 Paris in 17S7, 8vo. 2 vols. The great work of Jorge Juan Ulloa, on 
 South America, will be noticed in its proper place. With delight I 
 
America.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS* 473 
 
 in the same department of collecting. I am well 
 aware of a thousand incidental subjects, connected 
 with the mighty empire of which I am now treating, 
 and on which books of the most curious and covetable 
 nature have been published — but I can do little more 
 than allude to them* — and come at once to the lead- 
 ing publications relating to 
 
 NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 In the histories of this portion of America, it 
 will be difficult to exclude those which incorporate 
 
 reach the labours of Robertson j and, with almost greater delight, 
 read the applause bestowed upon them in the imperishable book of 
 Meuselius. “ Liber, (says that bibliographer — speaking of his His- 
 tory of America ) omnium praestantissimus, . . . auctor, divino prorsus 
 ingenio praeditus,” &c. And this is true enough. If, continues he, 
 facts only be consulted, there is little of novelty.’* — [how could there 
 be ?] but the leading features of the work, and the opinions given 
 upon known facts, carry with them an air of novelty.” But further 
 praise which might indeed be brought forward from every foreign, 
 as well as domestic journal — is totally unnecessary: and whatever 
 may be said of Robertson’s Biography of Charles V . (concerning 
 which, read some few lines at page 340, ante, I cannot but consider 
 the History of America as the magnum opus of its author. Meuse- 
 lius wishes that the list of works, relating to America, prefixed by 
 Robertson, had been critically arranged 5 rather than consisting, as 
 it does, of the titles of books. This masterly performance was pub- 
 lished in 1777, 4to. in two volumes : but an additional volume was 
 afterwards published, and the three volumes were sold for <21. at Dr. 
 Heath’s sale. They have been republished, again and again, in an oc- 
 tavo form, at reasonable prices — and translated into every language 
 of civilised Europe. €( Give me, therefore, Robertson” — methinks I 
 hear the tf Young Man"— -say — « and let all preceding historians shift 
 for themselves.” There is truth, but not « the whole truth,” in this 
 avowal. 
 
 * Among the curious” and " covetable” little tomes, take, for 
 
474 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [N. America. 
 
 the United States or Colonies ; and, in such point 
 of view, if I omit the separate histories belonging to 
 
 example, the quarto volume printed at Madrid in 1641, relating to the 
 “ Great River of the Amazons — and after reading Mr. Evans’s note in 
 the Bibl. Stanleiana , no. 1113, upon the causes of its “ unusual 
 rarity, ” be sure to lock it up in your cabinet as worth at least thirty 
 half sovereigns. Again : respecting the Magellan Streights — peruse 
 what those two gallant Captains Bartolomeo Garcia de Nodal and 
 Gonzalo de Nodal accomplished — as written in a quarto volume, pub- 
 lished at Madrid in 1621, with a wood engraving of a chart (so often 
 missing — and about which De Bure, vol. i. p. 215-6, so solemnly 
 cautions the Collector) and with all its parts — that is to say, ninety- 
 two leaves, comprising the twelve preliminary, and fifteen concluding 
 leaves. Mr. Evans’s pithy and pertinent note to the Stanley copy 
 of this very rare book, no. Ill 7> was the means of causing it to be 
 transported to his Majesty’s library — at the large sum of 31Z. 105. 
 Above all things, let the Bibliomaniac in Spanish lore consider 
 more than once or twice ere he indulges in the niceties and difficul- 
 ties of procuring the first editions of the Epistles of the famous Fer- 
 dinando Cortez in the Spanish language. These Epistles are four 
 in number ; but of the first, whether in Spanish or the Latin version, 
 no traces remain : not a copy is preserved : and it is supposed to be 
 either lost, or locked up in the Archivo Real of Simancas. Robertson, 
 with all his zeal and weight of recommendation, could never learn 
 any traces of it. The second and third Epistles, in the Spanish lan- 
 guage, were published at Seville by Cromberger, a German, in 1522- 
 3, fol. : and copies of these very rare volumes were recently sold for 
 2 61. 10 s. Consult Meuselius, Bibl. Hist. vol. iii. part i. p.267, who 
 is delightfully instructive : but why is Brunet so unusually barren ? 
 
 Again : Meuselius says that copies of the fourth Epistle, in the 
 Spanish language, have escaped his researches : but the whole three 
 Epistles are published entire in the first volume of the Historiadores 
 Primitivos de las Indias Occidentales of Barcia , Madr. 1745, folio, 
 3 vols. : and they were subsequently printed in a separate folio form, 
 with the notes and additions of Lorenzano, accompanied by cuts, in 
 Mexico , 1770, folio— a rare and highly prized tome. Are these cuts 
 taken from the Latin version of the third Epistle, printed at Norim- 
 berg in 1524 ? I learn, however, that a copy of the first edition of 
 the fourth Epistle, in a separate form, was in the possession of Mr. 
 
N. America.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 475 
 
 Louisiana, Florida, Carolina, Canada, &c. it seems 
 to be only necessary to make mention of the works 
 of Kahn, Rogers , Wynn , Adair , Carver , Chalmers , 
 and the Marquis de la Rocliefoucault Liancourt — 
 and if the reader take the pains to consult the sub- 
 joined note,* he will find brief mention of the titles 
 
 Thorpe (the Tom Osborne of the present day) from a collection of 
 valuable Spanish books, purchased by him of an Italian gentleman : 
 and this very precious tome — together with the two previous original 
 Spanish Epistles — in all probability now enrich the cabinet of my 
 friend Mr. Heber — the Thomas Rawlinson, Esq. of the present day. 
 Long may they greet his own eyes and those of his friends. Along 
 with Cortes, are frequently united the Epistles of Peter Martyr Angle- 
 rius , 1519-1532, &c. : republished in the eight Decads of his History 
 in 1555, folio — of which a copy is in the library of Mr. Rennie. 
 Consult, here, the American Library , 1713, 4to. p. 8. Then again for 
 Frampton’s Joyful Newes out of the New Found World, 1596, 4to. 
 and the Discovery of Guiana , by Raleigh, published in the same year 
 and form — books, not very scarce, although in the sable garb of the 
 black letter. Here is no opportunity for amplification. But re- 
 lating to Virginia alone, read the titles of a cluster of tracts from 
 the Bindley library — to say nothing of what appears in the preceding 
 pages (372-3-385) relating to that once constantly talked of country. 
 
 Tracts relating to Virginia : “ Encouragement to Colonies, by Sir 
 W. Alexander,’’ map, 1625. " True Relation of what happened in 
 
 Virginia since the first planting of that Colony,” map of Virginia, 
 1608. " Relation of Lord De la Warre, Capt. Generali of Virginia,” 
 
 1611. " Plaine Description of the Barmudas,” 1618. "Smith’s 
 
 Description of New England” 1606. "State of the Colony and 
 Affairs in Virginia,” 1616. " New England’s Plantation,” by Hig- 
 
 geson, with map, containing the portrait of Capt. Smith, 1630. 
 " Guinea’s Plantation,” by the Earl of Barkshire, 1632. "Virginia 
 valued,” by E. W. 1650. Virginia’s Discovery of Silke Wormes,” 
 1650. A collection of Ten very curious Tracts, in one volume. 
 
 These tracts produced the ponderous sum of 10Z. But there 
 would be no end to this bibliographical skirmishing. See as a guide, 
 Pinkerton’s list, vol. xvii. p. 200. 
 
 * Kalm was a Swede. He published his work at Stockholm in 
 
476 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [N. America. 
 
 and characters of the work, of each author. I am 
 not sure, whether, upon a dispassionate consideration, 
 
 1753, &c. 8vo. 3 vols. with wood cuts. It was published in the Ger- 
 man language at Gottingen in 1754, &c. in three large octavo vo- 
 lumes, with copper plates ; and Forster translated it into English, 
 and published it at London in 1771 , Svo. 3 vols. with a map and some 
 additional cuts. A copy is worth 1 1. Is. It was hence translated 
 into the Dutch, and published in two quarto volumes at Utrecht in 
 1772. The work is chiefly valuable on the score of natural history ; 
 but I cannot correctly affirm whether the account of the Esquimaux , 
 whom the author came in contact with in his journey from Pen- 
 sylvania to Canada, be not among the earliest extant in print. 
 Rogers’s Concise Account of North America , 1765, 8vo. is a book 
 well worth a 7s. 6d. purchase. The author lived many years among 
 the most barbarous of the natives, and his narrative is at once per- 
 spicuous and unaffected, and his statements unimpeached. Meuse- 
 lius (vol. iii. part i. 304-5) is warmly encomiastic upon this octavo 
 volume. Rogers was chiefly conversant with the British Colonies. 
 But why, in the above text, is the once famous, and always interest- 
 ing, quarto volume, entitled the American Traveller, 1769, omitted ? 
 The author concealed his name : — it was Alexander Cluni. He made 
 his journies in the years 1744-5 on foot, reaching as high as the sixty- 
 eighth degree of north latitude, as far as Cape Chudleis ; and towards 
 the western departments of North America is supposed to have seen 
 men and things” such as no European ever before beheld. In 
 1746 he reached Greenland, in the eighty-third and a half degree of 
 north latitude, and there he saw neither land nor ice . — (“ maria un- 
 dique et undique coelum”) This is a curious volume,* and should be 
 snapped up, in these north-mania times , with all imaginable celerity. 
 Wynn’s History of the British Dominions in North America, 1763- 
 
 * The author was the first to give accurate intelligince of Hudson’s Bay, and to 
 institute an enquiry about a more successful commerce with the Americans. The 
 book was said to have been published under the auspices, and at the command, of 
 Lord Chatham : and both the English and Americans, at that crisis, were so eager 
 to possess it, that it was bought and read by one party with the same avidity that it 
 was bought and destroyed by the other. It now rests in peace : an example (if 
 ten thousand others were wanting) of the short-lived popularity of “things 
 mundane.” 
 
N. America ] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 477 
 
 the last named work be not all that is absolutely 
 necessary to procure. And now, after this gallant 
 little bibliographical bark shall quit its moorings in 
 the Northern, to seek the Southern, division of the 
 New World, it will be necessary to dash through the 
 breakers that surround those Islands — the source of 
 so much wealth to Great Britain — with which the 
 Caribbean Sea is so thickly studded, and which are 
 designated by the well known name of the West 
 
 1773, 4to. seems to be only a compilation from Oldmixon and 
 Douglas ; authors, not worth enlisting into the service of a Collector. 
 Different, in all respects, is the Trader with the Indians , and History 
 of the American Indians , by J. Adair, Esq. Lend. 177-% 4to. : one 
 of the best and most instructive books of the kind — if we except a 
 little somnolency in discussions upon the Aborigines of America 3 a 
 fault, or disease, not peculiar to the times of James Adair, Esq. The 
 author was a five year’s resident in the countries which he describes. 
 The best edition of Captain Carver’s Travels through the Interior 
 parts of North America , in the years 17 66 , 7> 8, is that of 1779, 8vo. 
 with a map and cuts, and having some account of the author by the 
 late Dr. Lettsom, “ Omnia utilia eeque ac jucunda, magnam partem 
 nova”— says the applauding and particularising Meuselius. But the 
 commendations bestowed by him on the Political Annals of the 
 United Colonies , &c. of which Mr. George Chalmers is the author, 
 1780, 4to. are much more warm and pointed: accompanied by the 
 expression of regret at the discontinuation of the work. The author, 
 now midway between Septuagenarianism and Octogenarianism, need 
 desire nothing more paranetical than the criticism of Meuselius (vol.iii. 
 part. i.p. 315) upon his labours. Doubtless, however, of all the tra- 
 vels in North America, up to the period of their publication, those of 
 M. de la Rochefoucault-Liancourt, published at Paris in 1799, 
 in eight octavo volumes, and translated into English and published 
 the same year in 2 quarto volumes, are considered to be the fullest 
 and most satisfactory. Pinkerton calls it “ a work of very consider- 
 able merit. Why does Boucher de la Richarderie (vol. vi. p. 10) 
 omit to notice it ? Nor does it appear to be in Meuselius. 
 
478 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [N. America. 
 
 Indies. The anchor is therefore weighed ; the sails 
 swell before the breeze — 
 
 ufi<p) xvj 
 
 ^TsipYj nopQvpsov y,syu\* VY\bg lout 7vjg. 
 
 {Iliad, lib. i.). 
 
 and the gulph of Florida is cleared. . . 
 
 As a work of the most general and satisfactory 
 information, obtain, by all means, the History of 
 these Islands (including that of St. Domingo) by the 
 late Mr. Bryan Edwards — published and frequently 
 republished, in three quarto, and five octavo volumes. 
 A good copy of the former is worth about 51. 5s. : of 
 the latter, 1/. 16s. The author is the “ facile prin- 
 ceps” of writers in his department. But as Jamaica 
 is the “ facile princeps” of these British islands, so, I 
 lyeen, a perfectly beautiful, unsullied, tall, broad, 
 richly bound copy (peradventure by Roger Payne) 
 with the cuts coloured, of Sir Hans Sloane’s History 
 of that Island,* (1707-1725) will be found in the 
 
 * Whether my excellent and tasteful friend Honorio really do, or 
 do not, possess such a copy, I cannot now trust to my memory to 
 aver : but, if he do not , he should. — “ ille si quis alius/’ Mean- 
 while it is consoling to reflect, that a copy, not far short of that so 
 rapturously described in the text, and bound by Roger Payne in green 
 morocco, adorns the shelves of the Althorp library. Dr. Heath’s fine 
 copy was purchased by Lord Essex for 19 1 . 19s. The plates are 
 described as being 430 in number 4 Nota bene : the work of Sir 
 
 + The delay of eighteen years, which occurred between the publication of the 
 first and second volumes of this work, arose from the author being almost entirely 
 occupied with the arrangement of his far-famed Museum. It is in the introduc- 
 tion to the second volume (1725) that Sir Hans gives a general inventory of his 
 library and museum, as it then stood ; by which it appears that the subjects of 
 natural history alone, exclusively of 200 volumes of preserved plants, amounted 
 to more than 26,000 articles . . This second volume completed the vegetable 
 part and the animal kingdom, and the plates are continued to the number of 
 274.” Chalmers's Biogr. Dictionary ,vol. xxviii. p. 66. How does this number of 
 the plates tally with that above mentioned ? 
 
S. America.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 479 
 
 sumptuous cabinet of Honorio. And what if a copy of 
 Master Long’s History, of the same island, published 
 about fifty years afterwards, in three quarto volumes, 
 and “ bound by old Fraser,”* be found lying by the 
 side of its precursor. To conclude the present division 
 of the work, and as the connecting link between North 
 and South America, let me make mention of the va- 
 luable work of De Solis, whose Conquista de Mexico 
 was printed at Madrid in two folio volumes, in 1748 : 
 and again in a style of brilliancy which may compete 
 with the Don Quixote of Ibarra, in two quarto vo- 
 lumes, in 1783. The plates to this latter edition are 
 very beautiful.* 
 
 SOUTH AMERICA. 
 
 In the bibliographical dissection of the Southern 
 Half of the New World, I give the reader due notice 
 that his attention will be briefly, if not exclusively, 
 directed to the kingdoms of Brazil, Peru, Para- 
 guay, and Chili ; premising that the celebrated work 
 
 Hans Sloane comprehends the history of the other West India islands 
 also. Messrs. Payne and Foss mark a very good copy in russia” at 
 121. 1 <2s. 
 
 t Such are the words of Mr. Jefferey, in his description of the 
 copy of this valuable work — confined to Jamaica alone — which was 
 sold for 14 1. 14s. at the sale of the last mentioned library : but is now 
 scarcely worth two-thirds of the sum. It has a map and cuts ; and 
 was published in 1774. Meuselius is strongly encomiastic. Bibl. 
 Hist. vol. iii. part ii. page 64. Old Fraser was a respectable book- 
 binder and good workman, living in St. Martin’s Lane. He is suc- 
 ceeded by his sons. 
 
 *The folio edition may be worth 1Z. 11s. 6d. The quarto is 
 worth about 4Z. 4s. but on large paper (it being very scarce in 
 this form) it doubles this sum. 
 
480 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [S. America. 
 
 of Ulloa* may afford a good general notion of the 
 whole of Southern America. In other respects, and 
 as connected more or less with the divisions before 
 specified, the performances of Fernandez, Garci- 
 lasso de la Vega, Southey, and Humboldt, — are 
 amply sufficient for the most accurate and valuable 
 information. 
 
 Among the earliest writers of the local and political 
 history of Brazil, Hans Staden and Jean de Lery 
 take the lead.* The work of Guerreiro may be placed, 
 
 * The titles of the works of Ulloa, as connected with North 
 South, and East America, are found copiously detailed in the pages 
 of Boucher de la Richarderie, vol. v. p. 511 : vi. p. 330. These works 
 have been translated from the Spanish into the French and German 
 languages. The Belacion Historica del Viage, &c. was published at 
 Madrid : 5 vols. in 2, or 3, 4to. : W’ith cuts : of which a large paper 
 copy in small folio, was sold for 15Z. 15s. at the sale of Colonel 
 Stanley’s library. The same copy was recently sold for 61. 16s. 6d. 
 The Noticias Americanas (a highly distinguished work) was published 
 in 1772, 4to. ; and was translated into German in 17S1, 8vo. with 
 most valuable notes — and was again improved in a French edition 
 in 1787 j 8vo. 2 vols. by Le Fevre de Villebrune. 
 
 * The first edition of Hans Staden is in the Dutch language, 
 1556, 4to. It was translated into Latin, under the title of Navigatio 
 in Brasilinm , 1592, folio. Jean de Lery appears to be a much more 
 amusing traveller : his work is fully described in the Bibl. des Voy- 
 ages, vol. vi. p. 270 : and care must be taken to purchase either the 
 first (1578) or the second impression, 1580, each in octavo. They 
 have curious cuts 5 but the second is professed to be "enlarged both 
 in the text and the embellishments.” Pinkerton, who calls the work 
 amusing and ingenious, says that the author being a Huguenot, the 
 work was printed in France without his name. The figures are by 
 Antoine Chapin. A Latin version appeared in 1594. 4to. : and if 
 the sedulous Bibliomaniac will be at the pains to read the authority 
 first quoted, (p. 271) he shall find his toils well rewarded if he obtain 
 a clean and sound copy of De Lery. But read well Meuselius, BibL 
 Hist, vol, iii. part ii. p. 50-2. The book was prohibited in the Index 
 
S. Amekica.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 481 
 
 in intrinsic worth as well as chronological order, after 
 those of the Dutchman and Frenchman just men- 
 tioned; although I admit that it is now rather sought 
 after as an object of curiosity than of utility. The 
 same may be said of the suppressed work of Portu- 
 guese America by Rocha Pitta* It is therefore to 
 Mr. Southey’s elaborate history, in three capacious 
 tomes, that the “ Young” must look for a “ Guide,” 
 — and the “ Old” must look for “ Consolation — if 
 consolation can be derived from the perusal of pages, 
 in which, frequently, from the necessity of the case, 
 
 Purgatorius of the Roman Pontiff. Again, I repeat, read the “ hun- 
 dred notable things, ’’ and perhaps “ hundred mery Tales,” of which 
 De Lery’s authenticated volume is composed. 
 
 * But of equal, if not superior value, to Guerreiro, is the work of 
 Bar us — put forth under the auspices of the mighty Bleau , with 
 maps and elegant cuts, at Amst. in 1647* folio: accounted a rare 
 book by Clement — because the greater part of the impression w as 
 burnt. Meuselius is copious and instructive. But perhaps the De- 
 scriptio totius Brasilia , Cleves , 1698, folio, which is little better than 
 a new impression of Barlaeus, is the best work extant upon the 
 ancient state of Brazil. It has copper cuts. Consult Boucher, vol. 
 vi. p. 27 6-7. The editor, or author of the volume, was I. di S. 
 Teresa. Bibl. Hist. vol. iii. part ii. p. 58. Rocha Pitta’s Historia 
 da America Portuguesa , Lisbon, 1730, folio, must be bought, when- 
 ever found in comely condition, at any price not exceeding 21. 2s. 
 and yet this will hardly fetch it, as Pinkerton calls it “very scarce.” 
 It is a volume fraught with useful intelligence. The author was a 
 sound-headed and honest Brasilian j but the truths which he de- 
 veloped were so unpalateable to the Portuguese government, that the 
 sale of his book was prohibited in consequence. Boucher de la 
 Richarderie is pleasantly communicative. If the most diligent re- 
 searches cannot put my “Young Man” in possession of Rocha Pitta, 
 he may procure, for a very trifle, the interesting Narrative of a Voy- 
 age to Brasil , by Thomas Lindley, 1814, 8vo. : a book replete with 
 interesting matter, narrated in a style of winning^ simplicity. The 
 Trench bibliographer has done ample justice to it. 
 
482 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 [S. America. 
 
 the most brutal atrocities are related, and the most 
 perfidious schemes unfolded. Mr. Southey is doubt- 
 less the “ facile princeps” of the Historians of the 
 Brazils ; but this title is hardly commensurate with 
 the bearing and extent of his work, as it comprises the 
 rise and progress of all the European colonies, from 
 the Andes to the Atlantic, and from the Plata to the 
 river of the Amazons. His performance, of which the 
 first volume is, a little unaccountably, overlooked by 
 Pinkerton, will doubtless command the attention and 
 applause of posterity; and numerous will be the oc- 
 tavo impressions which the next half century will 
 cause to be circulated of so ample and instructive a 
 work.* 
 
 * The propriety of the above encomium can hardly be doubted, 
 but at any rate not combated, by the most fastidious and hostile of 
 Mr. Southey’s critics. The Quarterly Review, vol. iv. p. 454, &c. in the 
 notice of the first volume of the History of Brazil, 1810, 4to. has 
 warmly and vigorously entered into the general literary merits of its 
 author, as a poet and an historian. It has dealt out an ample meed 
 of praise, and with justice : but another merit, as connected with this 
 extraordinary performance, belongs to Mr. Southey : that of enthu- 
 siasm and perseverance — which he seemed to share alone, and in 
 despite of the cool and slow reception of his labours with the public. 
 The first volume (if report speaks true) did not net the author above 
 ten pounds — about the amount of what Milton received for his Para- 
 dise Lost. The coincidence is singular. The second volume was 
 published in 1817 : and the third in 1823. The work is now com- 
 plete 5 but I must be allowed to question, if not to condemn, the stern 
 and angry air of defiance, together with the excessive strain of self- 
 congratulation, with which the work concludes. That Mr. Southey 
 should feel vexed and indignant at the tardy success of such a publi- 
 cation, is perhaps both natural and pardonable : and that the trium- 
 phant exultation of Ovid, with the frigid indifference” of Johnson, 
 should be blended, on one and the same occasion, might also be ex- 
 pected and forgiven. But the author had little, personally, to com- 
 plain of the public ; or to submit, in the way of appeal, to the bar of 
 
S. America.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 483 
 
 The name of Southey is worthy of its juxtaposition 
 with that of Humboldt — the most illustrious traveller 
 of his day. Nothing seems too vast, too varied, too 
 wonderful, or too minute, for the keen eye, penetrat- 
 ing intellect, and unwearied exertions, of this extraor- 
 dinary man. From the snow that caps the summit, 
 to the lichen which creeps at the base, of the loftiest 
 mountain, Humboldt is equally inquisitive, curious, 
 diligent, and happy. A botanist, zoologist, statist, 
 philosopher, half poet, and general enthusiast, the 
 genius of this traveller seems to have been peculiarly 
 calculated for surveying the varieties and immensity 
 of the New World. Accordingly, his travels and re- 
 posterity. He was, and is, in the enjoyment of an exceedingly great, 
 and justly earned reputation. A work, like his History of Brazil, 
 would not, in the nature of things, be caught up and devoured with 
 the avidity of his matchless Biographical Manual of Lord Nelson. 
 Hume, Henry, and even Gibbon, struggled hard, and despaired 
 somewhat, of final success of their labours : labours, necessarily 
 of a more popular cast than an exclusive history of a distant country, 
 about which curiosity had not been so general with us as with 
 foreigners, and which had been rendered more or less familiar by 
 preceding historians and travellers. But if the popularity of this 
 great, and perhaps <( maximum opus,” of its author, be slow, it will 
 be sure. Every succeeding year will demonstrate more decidedly 
 the importance of its contents : and when the powers of Portugal and 
 Spain, in the New World, shall be, as they are now threatening to 
 be, no more, then will the text of Mr. Southey’s History of Brazil 
 be considered as a beacon and a guide to the antiquarian, historian, 
 and philologist. The great grandson of its author will caress the 
 editio princeps as a book to be numbered among the rarest and most 
 prizable volumes. 
 
 I cannot close the account of Brazil without a strong recommend- 
 ation of the Travels in the interior of that country, with a particular 
 account of the Gold and Diamond Districts , by Mr. John Mawe, 
 Mineralogist : illustrated with coloured plates : Svo. price 18s. This 
 volume also includes a Voyage to the Rio de la Plata. 
 
484 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [S. America. 
 
 searches in America* place him as the first in the 
 foremost rank, perhaps, of all travellers dead and liv- 
 ing. The range of his researches, and the space which 
 
 * Here follows a list of the wonderful productions of this wonder- 
 ful traveller and pf his companion, Mons. Bonpland. All the remain- 
 ing copies of the work are now in the hands of Messrs. Longman and 
 Co. 5 and the prices affixed are those of the original Paris publishers : 
 
 1. Relation Historique de leur Voyage aux Regions Equinoxiales du 
 Nouveau Continent pendant les anndes 1799- 1S04. Vol. I. Partie i. 
 avec 1’ Atlas des Cartes G£ographiques et Physiques, 4 to. pap. fin. 3/.: 
 pap. velin. Si. 12s. This is now in a course of publication. It will 
 be complete in four volumes. 2. Atlas Pittoresque des Vues des Cor - 
 dilleres et Monumens des Peuples Indigenes de VAmdrique : contenant 
 60. Pl.laplupart colorides, sur colomb. velin. Folio, pap. : fin. 25/. 
 4s. pap. : velin, figures avant la lettre, 37/. 16s. Recueil d' Observa- 
 tions de Zoologie et d'Anatomie compare, faites dans I'Octan Atlan - 
 tique, dans tlnttrieur du nouveau Continent , et dans la mer du Sud: 
 avec Planches imprim^es en couleur, 4to. liv. i. h 8, pap. . fin, 7/. 17$. 
 pap: velin, 10/. 2s. This work is complete. 4. Essai Politique sur 
 le Royaume de la nouvelle Espagne ; 2 vol. 4to. Avec un Atlas Phy- 
 sique et Geographique, pap: fin. 15/. pap: velin, 19/. Complete. 
 5. Recueil d' Observations Astronomiques, d.' Operations Trigonomt- 
 triques, et de Mesures Barometriques , faites pendant le cours d y un 
 Voyage aux Regions Equinoxiales du Nouveau Continent , depuis 1799, 
 jusqu’en 1803. Ouvrage auquel on a joint des recherches Histo- 
 riques sur la position de plusieurs points importans. 2 vols. 4to. pap ; 
 fin. 91. 12s. pap. velin, 17/. 12s. Complete. 6. Plantes Equinoxiales, 
 recueillies au Mexique, dans l' lie de Cuba, dans les Provinces de Caracas 
 de Cumana et de Barcelone, aux Andes de la Nouvelle Grenade, de 
 Quito et de Perou , et sur les bords du Rio-Negro, de VOrtnoque et de la 
 riviere des Amazones ; Ornes de Planches. Folio liv. i. k 15. 24/. 
 Sur Colomb. Velin, 40/. 10s. Complete in two vols. Monographic 
 des Melastomes et des Rhexia, et des autres genres du mdme ordre — 
 enrichies d’environ 2000 plantes nouvelles : orn6s de Planches, en 
 couleur, folio, liv. i. h 15. 27 Z. Sur Colomb. Velin. 45/. Complete 
 in two vols. 
 
 It is necessary to observe that each of these is a separate and dis- 
 tinct work in itself, and may be bought separately : but, for the accom- 
 modation of those persons who wish to possess the whole, general 
 
S. America.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 485 
 
 his publications have entitled him to occupy in the 
 contemplation of discerning judges, justify the pro- 
 priety of this eulogium. 
 
 Titles, &c. have been prepared for forming the whole Collection into an 
 entire and complete Work in the following order , laid down hy the Au- 
 thor : — 1. “ Historical Narrative,” with the Picturesque and Geogra- 
 phical Atlas. 2 “ Zoology and comparative Anatomy .” 3.“ Political 
 Essay on New Spain.” 4. “Astronomy'' 5. “ Physics and Geology .” 
 5. “ Botany, comprehending Equinoxial Plants and Monography, of 
 the Melastomas." 
 
 The Sum total of these stupendous labours is as follows : eleven 
 volumes in quarto, containing the text : four volumes in large folio 
 containing the Botanical part : — four volumes, in colombier folio, 
 containing the Atlasses : four hundred engravings , of which the 
 greater part are coloured : 70 geographical, physical, and geological 
 maps. Of the two first of these works, the following have been 
 published in our own language, from the pen of Mrs.*Helen Maria 
 Williams. “ The Personal Narrative of M. De Humboldt's Travels 
 to the Equinoxial Regions of the New Continent." In five vols. 
 8vo. price 41. Is. boards. Four more volumes, in a course of pub- 
 lication, complete this work. “ Researches on the Institutions 
 and Monuments of the Ancient Inhabitants of America." A new edi- 
 tion in two vols. 8vo. with plates, 1 1. 11s. 6d. boards. “ Political 
 Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain," with maps, &c. the third edi- 
 tion, in 4 vols. 8vo. 31. 13s. 6d. boards. “ A Geognostical Essay on 
 the Super -position of Rocks in both Hemispheres By M. De Hum- 
 boldt : and translated into English under his. immediate inspection ; 
 price 14s. 8vo. boards. 
 
 To contemplate these productions as the work of one Man, and of 
 his Coadjutor, might, in after ages, stagger belief : if the fact were 
 not established beyond dispute or doubt. And yet Mons. Humboldt 
 is in the vigour of life — meditating, it is said, a hop, skip, and a 
 jump, over the rival mountains, of the Himmalaya range, in the 
 Eastern world. Let him however think more than twice upon an 
 undertaking, which may shorten a career honourably destined to 
 enjoy the fruits of a painfully earned and widely extended reputation. 
 With him, “ School, is over’’ — and he may gambol lustily for the 
 remainder of his days. 
 
 These works, or at least the greater part of them, have been criti- 
 
4S6 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [S. America. 
 
 I come, in the last place, to notice the earlier Chro- 
 nicles and labours of Cie^a de Leon, Zarate, Fer- 
 nandez, Garcilasso de la Vega, — as connected 
 with the other great portions of South America : 
 namely, Peru, Chili, Paraguay, &c. &c. ; and doubt- 
 ing the room to be quite sufficient for them in the 
 text, I have consigned the bibliographical precis of 
 of their labours to the subjoined note.* And so, 
 
 cisedin our two most popular journals — the Edinburgh and Quarterly 
 Reviews : see vol. xvi. and xix. of the former, and vols, xv. and xviii. 
 of the latter. Ample and able, doubtless, are these criticisms. My 
 memory charges me more particularly with those in the former 
 Review 5 which I have reason to believe were by the experienced 
 pen of the late Mr. Playfair. There is hardly any thing more intel- 
 lectually delightful than such performances : where party feeling, 
 prejudices, and personal antipathy, have no share : where bile, ill- 
 will, spleen, grudgings, and heart burnings, are all squeezed out. 
 To devote a calm summer’s evening to such “ readings’ — in rural 
 seclusion, or upon the beach of the ever-agitated main, (why not say 
 at once, 7 r aga 7 ro\v<p\d\o'£oio da\a<r(n]$ ?) after a morning’s devo- 
 
 tion to Barrow, or Boyle, or Newton, or Leibnitz, or Locke — what is 
 it, but to ... . the Reader shall draw his own conclusion. Hum- 
 boldt has found English Critics worthy of the materials which his 
 indefatigable zeal and multifarious knowledge have placed before 
 them. 
 
 * Peru is rich in her earlier Chronicles. I cannot, however, 
 conceive that any published history of that country appears’so early 
 as 1480 : the year in which Pinkerton assigns a French work, printed 
 at Paris, and reprinted in 1545, in octavo. Meuselius takes no 
 notice whatever of it. In fact, the date must be an anachronism j 
 since the country in question was not then known to Europeans. The 
 first work mentioned by Meuselius, relating to Peruvian authors, is 
 that of the Conquista del Peru, of Francis de Kerez, translated into 
 the Italian, and published in 1534, 4 to. It is incorporated into 
 Ramusio. Of the Spanish author, nothing seems to be known with 
 accuracy. Bibl. Hist. vol. iii. part ii. p. 19. P. Cie^a de Leon is 
 perhaps the earliest Chronicler. His Primer a Parte de la Chronica de 
 Peru, was published at Seville, in 1553, folio 5 and again, at Ant- 
 
America..] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 487 
 
 looking with surprise, not unmingled with apprehen- 
 sion, at the vast portion of the world chronicled in 
 these few last pages — and knowing and bewailing the 
 imperfect outlines, or faint execution, of those coun- 
 tries more particularly chronicled — I implore forgive- 
 ness of both “ young” and “ old” — well persuaded, 
 nevertheless, that he shall be a fortunate Collector of 
 Books who possesses a third part only of the “Ameri- 
 
 werp, in 1554, 8vo. At Rome, in the Italian language, in 1555; 
 and at Venice, in 1557* 8vo. In English, among Captain Stevens’s 
 New Collection of Voyages. Cie 5 a’s work contains only the first 
 part of his Chronicle : there are three other parts, which Antonio 
 tells us have been long looked for by learned men. The intrinsic 
 merits of this work are very great. The author had been domiciled 
 among the Peruvians from his thirteenth to his thirtieth year. The 
 first impression of Ciepa is of excessive rarity. A Dutch Chronicle 
 of Peru ( Historie van Coninkryk van Peru) was published at Ant- 
 werp, 1573, 4to. 
 
 Among the earliest and rarest works, relating to Peru, is the fol- 
 lowing : printed in the black letter ; and of which a most beautiful 
 copy” was sold at the sale of Don Antonio Conde’s library (in 1824) 
 for 10Z. 15s. Cieza de Leon (Pedro de) Parte primera de la Chro- 
 nica del Peru , que tracta la demarcacion de sus provincias ; la descrip- 
 tion dellas : Las fundaciones de las nuevas ciudades , fyc. Seville , 1553, 
 folio. Next appeared, Zarate’s Historia del Descubrimiento y Con - 
 quista del Peru en el aho 1555, which was published at Antwerp, in 
 1555; and at Seville, in 1557* folio; and republished in Barcias’s 
 Hist . Prim. vol. iii. It was translated into Italian by Alphonso Ulloa, 
 and published at Venice in 1563, 4to. It is a work of real impor- 
 tance; but rather topographical than historical. Fernandez pub- 
 lished his first and second parts of the History of Peru, in the Spanish 
 language, at Seville, in 1571* folio. It is a work, according to 
 Antonio, of considerable interest. The author was one of the fol- 
 lowers of the accomplished, bloody-minded, and (I grieve to add) 
 bibliomaniacal, Hurtado de Mendoza ;f and was constantly, I fear. 
 
 f See Boutervvek’s character of this nobleman. Spanish and Portuguese Lite- 
 rature; vol. i. p. 186. 
 
488 
 
 VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. [S. America. 
 
 can Library” here described. Let the pages of Ken- 
 nett, Meuselius, and Boucher de la Richarderie sa- 
 tisfy a more craving appetite, and lead to the exhaus- 
 tion of the most heavily furnished purse. And thus 
 I bid adieu to land and sea. After such a circumna- 
 vigation, the vessel stands in need of repair and re- 
 fitting ; the keel being clogged with every submarine 
 production, mineral, vegetable, and animal . . . 
 
 Post varios casus, et tot discriraina rerum, 
 
 Tendimus in Latium 
 
 sheathing his sword in human flesh. His book was prohibited to be 
 read in America, among the Americans : such was the terror of a re- 
 action from the perusal of the pages of this faithful vicegerent of the 
 Spanish government ! Has it been ever translated ? Garcilasso de 
 la Vega is a more important writer than either of his predecessors. 
 His Commentaries Reales que tratan del Origen de los Yncas, was 
 published at Lisbon in 1 609, folio : with a continuation, or second 
 part, called Historia general del Peru , &c. published at Cordova in 
 1619, folio : two small volumes. A new edition of both works was 
 published at Madrid in 1723, folio, two vols. under the care of Bar- 
 cia j of which a copy was sold for 2Z. 8s. at the sale of Dr. Heath’s 
 library. I find the same price attached to this impression, in 4 vols. 
 in Mr. Bohn’s last catalogue, no. 11964. The first editions are of 
 excessive rarity and high price, even in Spain. A third edition, in 
 thirteen octodecimo volumes, was published at Madrid in 1800. 
 Baudoin translated the Incas into French in 1633, 4to. of which a 
 new edition was put forth at Amsterdam in 1737, 4to. two vols. with 
 the cuts by Picart. Of these handsome tomes, there are only fifty 
 copies printed on large paper : books to be snapped at by the gra- 
 phic bibliomaniac. Rycault translated the work into English, ‘ c with 
 sculptures,” in 1688, folio. Consult Meuselius and Boucher de la 
 Richarderie. <c The author (says Pinkerton) as a descendant of the 
 Princes of Peru, has been peculiarly minute relative to the religion, 
 government, laws, customs, and manners of the ancient inhabitants 
 of Peru, as well as the productions of that country.*' 
 
 To the above, let ine add the very rare book of Pedro Losano, 
 being a Chorographic description of the country , rivers , trees , and 
 
489 
 
 S. America.] VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
 
 %* I should, however, be doing violence to my 
 own feelings, if, at the close of this circumnavigation 
 of the globe, I suffered these pages to see the light 
 without a strong recommendation of “ The World 
 in Miniature,’'* now publishing for the sake of very 
 young Readers, and calculated, on every account, 
 to render them familiar with the productions, charac- 
 ters, and costumes of the leading nations described. 
 I know nothing more pleasing in its contents, more 
 appropriate in its embellishments, and more reason- 
 able in its price. From a sight of such things, in 
 early youth, the next generation may even surpass 
 the present, in their love of travel and research. 
 
 < animals of the provinces of Gran Chaco , Galambar, &c. (in the Vice 
 Royalty of La Plata,) published at Cordova, in the Spanish lan- 
 guage, in 1723, 4to. : the work being scarce and in much request. 
 It has, apparently, escaped Meuselius. And here let me ask, what 
 is the nature of the work called Tears of the Indians , published in 
 1656, 8vo. ? These “ tearful” titles were common about this pe- 
 riod; as an examination of pages 264-5, ante, may prove. In (he 
 library of the late Mr. Rennie a copy of these Indian Tears may be 
 found : and in that of the Duke of Devonshire, at Chatsworth, a 
 copy of the Tears of Ireland , 1642, 12mo. (the work just referred to) 
 will be found. My memoranda of the Chatsworth book-gems had 
 escaped me when I was busied with this latter work in the fore- 
 going pages. 
 
 * It is published by Mr. Ackermann, in pocket volumes, at about 
 7 s. per vol. and will be complete in fifty volumes : thirty are already 
 published. To these will be added accounts of the South Sea and 
 Asiatic Islands, in 4 vols. of the same size and price. A similar work 
 with cuts, in yet smaller volumes, was published by the Elzevirs, in 
 1663, &c. under the title of Respublica Faria, in 47 vols. 
 
[ 490 ] 
 
 BIOGRAPHY- 
 
 Whatever the reader may think to the contrary, we 
 are yet within the province of History. Biography 
 is one of its most instructive and amusing branches ; 
 for what are the Lives of public men, but the History 
 of the times in which they flourished ? Putting the 
 works of Plutarch, Suetonius, and Nepos out of the 
 question — what are the biographies of Ximenes, Sully 
 Washington, and Pitt, but, as above intimated, the 
 histories of the respective national transactions in 
 which they figured ? It is delightful to peruse the 
 enthusiasm of Morhof (that sound and steady master 
 in the old school of Bibliography) upon the subject of 
 Biographical Memoirs; and how he huffs Philibert 
 de la Mare* for his sneer against this study, and his 
 preference of History so called. 
 
 * “ Non placet sententia Maresii, qui lib. ii. Epist. 5 in Historicis 
 minimorum recensionem indulged in Vitarum scriptione illam dam- 
 nat : qu& in re totus ab illo dissentio,” &c. Poly hist. vol. i. p. 215, 
 1714. T quote from an edition of this truly valuable work (so often 
 and often lauded in my humble labours!) which is not considered to 
 be quite the best ; but my copy of it happens to have been handled 
 by Albrecht and by Wyttenbach — as the respective autographs of 
 these great scholars prove : and who, having such a copy, could 
 think of turning over the leaves of any other ? Am I wrong in con- 
 sidering the “ Maresius” of Morhof to be Philibert de la Mare ? 
 — of whom there is a brief but excellent account in the Biogr. 
 Univ. vol. xxvii. p. i. Which of my friends possesses his Melanges 
 de litter ature et d'histoire (de 1670 h 1687) two folio volumes, con- 
 taining, according to Papillon, an abundance of literary anecdotes 
 and curious facts ? 
 
 t" Sea Bibliomania, p. 61. In the course of this work there are not fewer than 
 twenty-one references to, or quotations from, Morhof. 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 491 
 
 Yet there are snares in this delightful branch of 
 reading against which I must guard “the young 
 man” in particular. Like an epitaph, biography is 
 frequently nothing but praise. From beginning to 
 end, the deceased is all perfection ; or, if there be 
 errors and improprieties of conduct, those imperfec- 
 tions are so delicately pointed out, or so ingeniously 
 qualified, that it requires a sound judgment to sepa- 
 rate the one from the other. Whoever read an epi- 
 taph which abused the deceased ? Or, if they have 
 read such an epitaph, for one vituperative composi- 
 tion who has not perused ten thousand laudatory P 
 It is so with books which are devoted to the Lives 
 and Memoirs of eminent private or public characters. 
 I am not sure, even from the ultimately prevailing 
 influence of benevolence among mankind — or from its 
 being politic to address the better feelings of our 
 nature — whether a damnatory piece of Biography 
 would be endured for a season ? Recent experience 
 teaches us that a great difference is observable between 
 flying paragraphs of slander, and systematic, con- 
 
 Mr. D’Israeli, in his miscellaneous and amusing article of Senti- 
 mental Biography ( Second Series of Curiosities of Literature) thus 
 observes : “ A periodical Critic, probably one of the Juniors, has 
 thrown out a startling observation. There is,” says this literary 
 Senator, “ something melancholy in the study of biography, because 
 it is — a history of the dead.” A truism and a felicity mixed up to- 
 gether, is the temptation with some modern critics, to commit that 
 darling sin of theirs— novelty and originality. But we cannot con- 
 dole with the reader of Plutarch for their deep melancholy : we who 
 feel our spirits refreshed amidst the mediocrity of society, when we 
 are called back to the men and the women who were ! illustrious in 
 every glory ! Biography with us is a reunion with human existence 
 in its most excellent state $ and we find nothing dead in the past, 
 while we retain the sympathies which only require to be awakened.” 
 Vol.iii'.p. 284. 
 
492 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 solidated, abuse. Concerning the dead, we should 
 say only “ what is good ” — according to the ancient 
 adage ; but according to the new reading of a great 
 moral philologist, “ nothing but what is true” Be 
 this as it may, Biography is, of all branches of his- 
 tory, or belles-lettres, (the reader shall class it just as 
 he pleases) one of the most winning and instructive. 
 The avidity and delight with which we peruse the 
 pages of certain well known works, of this character, 
 is hardly to be described : and if we add the yet more 
 attractive form of genuine auto-biography, our de- 
 light is much more complete, inasmuch as our convic- 
 tion of the authenticity of what we are reading, adds a 
 keener relish to the perusal.* 
 
 But a less sensitive frame may be excited to the 
 goodly purposes of Biography. I have heard of 
 wonders effected by coming even within the precincts 
 of a well furnished library of this description. If this 
 be so, the reader is informed of such a library. In the 
 heart of the Metropolis, there dwells a very Magician 
 in biographical lore. I will say nothing of what he 
 has put forth , because it has long been the common 
 property, and theme of approbation, of the public ; 
 but I will here take leave to say, that, seated in his 
 semi-circular black-morocco bottomed chair (the true 
 
 * Experience, in every case, however feeble and unimportant, is 
 better than theory j and in the trifling anecdote about to be related — 
 not wholly unconnected with auto-biography— the reader will be at 
 least convinced of the sincerity of my own sentiments. If I were 
 asked which was the happiest period of my youthful days, I should 
 unhesitatingly answer — when I used to sit among the branches of 
 a large mulberry tree, plucking the berry in its ripest state, and 
 devouring at the same time the pages of Plutarch.” . . This is the 
 truth ; but it is not “ the whole truth” — for Gil Blas was feasted 
 upon as an alternate intellectual banquet. 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 493 
 
 seat of a Magician !) the character in question is in 
 constant conversation with the departed dead : their 
 voices reach his ear, and their language touches his 
 heart. With the same facility and familiarity, he 
 shakes hands with Alfred and Anne, Latimer and 
 Lowth. He is neither corrupted by the fallacies of 
 Bolingbroke, nor the sneers of Gibbon : and if a whole 
 host of free thinkers, with D’Alembert and Voltaire at 
 their head, rise up to daunt him by threatened ven- 
 geance, oblivion, or contempt, in an instant he is 
 clothed in the panoply afforded by the armour of 
 Boyle, Newton, or Locke. A body guard of two 
 thousand two hundred choice troops is not so much 
 in his pay, as at his devoted service. When the Life 
 of this Magician is written — to add to the stock of 
 biography already published by him — (for die, doubt- 
 less, he must !) this mystery will be unravelled, and 
 the riddle solved. Meanwhile, let his sexagenarianism 
 go on quietly towards nonagenarianism. 
 
 Wishing it to be understood that, in Biography, I 
 shall also include Memoirs, I proceed to the execution 
 of both these “ companionable” departments of a well 
 garnished library. And first, for the foundation stones 
 of our building : or, rather, for those materials which 
 are at once both foundation and superstructure: I 
 speak of Collections and Bodies of Biography: in 
 other words, of Biographical Dictionaries. And 
 truly, if the labours of Hoffmann, Moreri, Bayle, 
 Chaufe pie, (with their necessary adjuncts # )BRucKER, 
 
 * I pass by the writers previous to J. J. Hoffman j because their 
 works were of comparatively limited extent, and of comparatively 
 inferior execution. But Hoffman may be considered the father of 
 modern Biographical and Miscellaneous Dictionaries. f The best 
 
 t The whole of the above was written, before I found the following passage in 
 
494 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 Ladvocat, Chaudon, Jocher, and the Biographie, 
 
 edition of his Lexicon Universale , historico-geographico-chronologico • 
 poetico-philologicum (here are compound epithets !) is that of Leyden 
 1698, folio $ worth 51. 155. 6d. if in sound condition, and comely 
 binding. This substantial work usually makes its appearance in its 
 pristine Dutch surcoat of white vellum. (Let the lettering be on 
 blue or green morocco, for red morocco is a most grievous heresy !) 
 The best edition of Moreri’s Dictionnaire Historique , &c. is that of 
 1759, 10 vols folio — edited by Drouet, and enriched by the supple- 
 mental notices of the Abb6 Goujet. But this work, like the water 
 of the fountain-head lost in the expanse of the river, retains scarcely 
 any thing but the name of its original planner. The materials have 
 been so corrected and enlarged that, according to Voltaire, (as ob- 
 served by BarbierJ) it is like a new town built on the ancient plan. 
 A good copy of Moreri may be worth 14 1. 14s. : but the immense 
 increase of similar works, subsequently published, is likely to deterio- 
 rate much its pecuniary value. With this work, let the Dictionnaire 
 de Trevoux , 177L folio, 8 vols. (bestedition) be joined. Iknownot, 
 even, if it be not more indispensable than Moreri.* Mr. DTsraeli 
 [Second Series , &c. vol. ii. p. 346) has an instructive article upon it : 
 but let no man talk of any Dictionary upon large paper. Happy 
 was Mons. Lautour du Chatel to have escaped such a copy of an 
 impression of this work, of the date of 1721: see p. 351, of Mr. 
 Disraeli. 
 
 I must begin this sentence, as I concluded the preceding, by a re- 
 ference to Mr. Disraeli’s Second Series of Literature : of which the 
 first volume opens with two curious and interesting articles upon 
 Bayle’s Critical Dictionary, and “ Characteristics of Bayle.”t Gib- 
 
 Mr. D’Israeli’s work above referred to : “ I heard a man of great learning declare, 
 that whenever he could not recollect his knowledge, he opened Hoffman's Lexicon 
 Universale Hist, where he was sure to find what he had lost.” 
 
 X Examen Critique et Complement des Dictionnaires Historiques , &c. Paris, 1820, 
 8vo. — tome i. p. i. 
 
 * “ It is precious as a vast collection of ancient and modern learning, particu- 
 larly in that sort of knowledge which we usually term antiquarian and philological. 
 It is not merely a grammatical, scientific, and technical dictionary, but it is re- 
 plete with divinity, law, moral philosophy, critical and historical learning, and 
 abounds with innumerable miscellaneous curiosities.” D’Israeli. A good copy 
 of it, which should be in all libraries of 10.000 volumes, is worth 51. 5s. 
 
 t “ Le c41£bre Bayle n’avait d’autre vue, dans Porigine, que de corrigcr les nom- 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 495 
 
 Universe lie, &c. now in a course of publication, be 
 
 bon’s eulogy of him is at once concise and just : and no one read him, 
 or loved him more, than the eulogist himself. Bayle was a man of 
 immense, but desultory reading j of a subtle understanding, invin- 
 cible patience, and not less indomitable industry. His Dictionary is 
 as a Cornucopia of flowers— bright, blooming, and captivating ; but 
 the roses have more than an ordinary share of keen and penetrating 
 thorns^ Take them up hastily, and your fingers will bleed for the 
 avidity of your grasp. The notes are the grand field in which Bayle 
 delighted to pour forth his multifarious knowledge : and I have 
 reason to believe that his Life of Octavio , (note D. p. 21 16, edit. 1720) 
 furnished a celebrated Greek quotation at a late ever- memorable 
 state trial. But a further word respecting this extraordinary man. 
 If he was sceptical, he was peaceably disposed in private life 5 al- 
 though constantly assailed by the bitterest enemies. Even his 
 “ magnum opus,” the Dictionary, was criticised before it appeared : 
 a practice, not confined to foreign countries. Jurieu, Saurin, and Le 
 Clerc, were unable, collectively, to ruffle the calmness of his temper, 
 or embitter the sweetness of his retirement. Bayle was, in the re- 
 public of literature, what Lord North was in the House of Commons : 
 calm and composed in the midst of tempest and whirlwind. His 
 application will be scarcely credited. He told Des Maizeaux, in one 
 of his letters, that, from twenty to forty, he worked fourteen hours 
 a day — and in fact, he never knew what leisure was. Read Niceron’s 
 most satisfactory article in his Memoir es pour servir a Vhisloire des 
 Hommes Illustres ; vol. vi. p. 251-300: and his emendations, vol x. 
 p. 200, supplied from Des Maizeaux s life of Bayle, which first ap- 
 peared at the head of the Dictionary published in 1730. 
 
 But my province is Bibliography. Niceron gives us the date of 
 theirs* impression of Bayle for that of the second, namely, in 1697, 
 fol. 4 vol. in 2. It was preceded by a sort of prospectus, or speci- 
 men, in 1694 — I think : but the second edition of the Dictionary of 
 1702, is to be valued, as having received the author’s own revision 
 
 breuses m^prises qui avaient 6chapp£ a Mor^ri. Mais cette critique est bientdt 
 devenue, sous la plume de ce grand ^crivain, un ouvrage du premier rang dans ce 
 genre, quoiqu’il ait donn6 lieu, soixante ans apres sa publication, aux remarques 
 g£n£ralement justes de l’abb£ Joly, chanoine de Dijon, qui ornent, pour ainsi 
 dire, le cinqui&me volume de cette production. Barbier. Examen Critique , &c. 
 page ii. 
 
496 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 admitted, we may well rest satisfied— even with this 
 
 and corrections : to this, add the Supplement of 1715 to make it 
 complete. The intermediate editions, till that of 1 720, (edited by 
 P. Marchand) are not necessary to be noticed : but this latter is con- 
 sidered both beautiful and correct. In purchasing it, be careful to 
 observe whether the first volume have the dedicatory epistle to the 
 Duke of Orleans,* which occupies pages 963, 4, 5 : and the two 
 articles in the second volume, in three sheets (numbered 963-968) 
 upon the Life of David : if the latter are wanting, the copy loses 
 something of its value. But perhaps the edition of 1740, 
 containing the life of Bayle by Des Maizeaux, may be the most 
 useful to recommend. Messrs. Payne and Foss mark a copy of the 
 first at 5/. 155. 6d. : and a copy of the English edition of 1734, 
 5 vols. containing the same biography, at 5 1. 5 s. in indifferent bind- 
 ing. To Bayle’s Dictionary are usually added his Works , published 
 in 1727* 4 vols. folio: and I have seen more than one copy, of 
 both Dictionary and Works, bound in red morocco, and printed upon 
 large paper : but “ procul, o procul ! ” should be the address to it, 
 by every considerate young man. The late Sir M. M. Sykes, Bart, 
 purchased a copy of this kind of Messrs. Payne and Foss — but 
 Sledmere had “ ample room and verge enough ” for the reception of 
 such herculean tomes. Abroad, the Bayle on large paper holds up its 
 head much higher than at home. Brief be the notice of Chaufepie’s 
 Nouveau Dictionnaire Historique, &c. published at the Hague in 
 1750, folio, 4 vols. It is always considered the Companion of Bayle; 
 and, as such, let a guinea per volume be cheerfully given for its 
 acquisition. It is common: even in an uncut state. The paper and 
 printing are every thing we could wish such a work to be. As 
 another Companion, get, if you have an undevoted double sovereign 
 piece, the Diet. Hist. &c. of Prosper Marchand, Haye, 1758, folio. 
 
 * I leave the curious and the diligent to consult Brunet, vol. i. p. 165, respecting 
 copies of this dedication, accompanied by a portrait of the Duke, with nineteen 
 verses ofM. Limiers engraved below • These verses were suppressed before the 
 publication of the portrait, and when a few proofs only had been taken of it. 
 Shall I congratulate the Bibliomaniac who has both portrait and verses ? What, 
 good Mr. D Israeli, is the secret of their suppression ? Were they laudatory and 
 was the Duke found out to be rogue? Brunet refers us to his Catalogue of the 
 
 books of M. D’O 1811, Svo. p. 253 : a catalogue, worth consulting on more 
 
 accounts than one. 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 497 
 
 latter alone — respecting Foreign Biography.* We 
 are, at home , not without good and substantial helps. 
 
 9, vol. is 1. I have often consulted this work with decided advan- 
 tage. 
 
 * First of Brucker. I speak of his “ Pinacothecaf Scriptorum 
 Nostra Etate Literis Illustrium. Aug. Vindel. Apud Haidium, 1741, 
 folio, 2 vol. This work is so scarce, as not only not to be in the Bri- 
 tish Museum, but to have escaped Brunet. It contains the Lives 
 and Eulogies of living Characters, with their portraits, in mezzotint, 
 by Haidius : sharp, intellectual, severely accoutred, old fashioned 
 looking gentlemen. The biography is by the pen of the author of 
 the famous Philosophies Historia Critica — -known all over Europe. I 
 never saw but one copy of this hugely covetable performance, and 
 that was in the library of my friend Mr. A. Chalmers — obtained from 
 a sale in Holland — but, as I have reason to think, not under the sura 
 of 101. 10s. It is in russia binding. Ladvocat’s Dictionnaire His - 
 torique , &c. 1777* 8vo. 4 vols. is a sensible and judicious perform- 
 ance. It will not lead astray : but is now superseded by the Dic- 
 tionnaire Historique, &c. 1804 of the Abb6 Chaudon and M. Delan- 
 dine : a new edition, in fact, of the Diet. Hist, published at Caen, 
 in 8 vols. about thirty years before. This improved edition is in 13 
 octavo volumes. I possess it, and have consulted it with advantage; 
 but that , in turn, is now superseded by the Biographie Universelle , 
 &c. of which 36 volumes, including the letters f ‘ R A K, ” have al- 
 ready appeared. M. Barbier has given a pleasing notice of Chau- 
 don’s labours in the Examen Critique , p. iii. Although Iocher’s 
 Allgemeins gelehrten Lexicon , or Dictionary of learned men , was pub- 
 lished in 1750, in 4 vols. 4to., it is indebted for the reputation 
 which it has acquired to the admirable supplemental labours of Ade- 
 
 f Let me separate, as will be obvious enough, the above Pinacotheca Virorura 
 lllustr. from that published by I. Vincentius de Rubris , under the name of lames 
 Necius Erythroeus — in 1643-1645. “ There is an exquisite brilliancy in the 
 
 Latin composition of this work,” say Morhof : “ many memorable things are in- 
 troduced about the extraordinary habits of living and studying among learned 
 men : many, concerning the controversies, disputes, arts, particularities, and 
 books of the same learned body, which may be read with equal utility and delight 
 As the author was a man at once learned and discreet, he observes many things in 
 the lives of the learned, which have escaped the notice of other authors.” Poly hist* 
 Lit. vol. i. page 227. 
 
BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 4<JS 
 
 The General Biographical , Historical , and Critical 
 Dictionary, published in 1734-41, in 10 folio volumes, 
 afforded ample materials for the labours of Kippis, 
 and latterly, of Aikin and Chalmers. Minor publi- 
 cations including some account of the four preceding, 
 will be found in the subjoined note.* 
 
 ( 
 
 lung : whose two volumes, 1784-7, 4to. go as far as the letter I, in- 
 clusively. No previous Biographer (says Barbier) had ever exhibited 
 such minute and exact attention. A third supplemental volume, in- 
 cluding the letter L, was published at Delmenhorst by Rotermund. 
 It is hoped that this laborious bibliographer will complete the con- 
 tinuation. Of the Biographie Universelle Ancienne # Moderne , 1811, 
 23, Svo. of which thirty-six vols. are already published, and which 
 are so frequently referred to in this work, I will let no well educated 
 “ Young Man” rest in peace till he secure a copy; which, lettered 
 on morocco, to save the expense of binding, I recommend to be pro- 
 cured in extra French boarding. 
 
 * The General Historical, and Critical Dictionary , edited by 
 Bernard, Birch, Lockman, and Sale, Lond. 1734-41, folio, ten 
 volumes, may yet, if in fine condition, be worth about 1/. Is. per 
 volume. I learn from 'the inexhaustible biographical stores of Mr. 
 A. Chalmers, that, from the Prospectus of this work, published in 
 the Gentleman's Magazine , Jan. 1733, twenty sheets (or eighty pages) 
 were to be published for 3s. 6d. This Dictionary incorporates, if I 
 am not mistaken, the whole, or very nearly the whole, of Bayle. 
 During the late war, seventy-four gun ships were cut down to sixty 
 gun ships : in the hope of catching, and scotching. Commodore 
 Rogers, the American commander. This system of cutting down has 
 been long known in the republic of literature : for, in regard to the 
 very work under consideration, these ten folios where cut down to 10 
 octavos in the year 1773, under the title of British Biography, or an 
 accurate and impartial account of the Lives and Writings of Eminent 
 Persons in Great Britain and Ireland. Of this work, the late Dr. Towers 
 was the reputed author. It is closely printed, in double columns — 
 accompanied, rather than adorned, with engraved portraits. 
 
 In the year 1747 appeared the Biograpiiia Britannica, of which 
 Birch, Lloyd, and others had the chief superintendance. It is com- 
 plete in 7 folio volumes. In the library of theRoval Institution there 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 499 
 
 The next immediate branch of enquiry, or discus- 
 sion, in this department of biography, is, the Col- 
 lections of Lives by the ancient writers of Greece and 
 Rome : and as my object is rather compression than 
 
 is a copy with ms. notes by Morant. But in the year 1778 appeared 
 a new edition of this work, under the editorship of Dr. Kippis, who 
 received however the assistance of several able coadjutors. There 
 are some capitally executed articles ; but truth compels me to avow, 
 that very many of these articles are seasoned with the spice of the 
 Editor’s religious principles, with which , far be it from me here to 
 wage war — although it may be as well to observe, that Dr. Kippis was 
 a Dissenter. This work, to the regret of the learned, was continued 
 only to the letter F : — in 5 vols. : but Mr. A. Chalmers has shewn me 
 a portion of the sixth volume, continuing that letter — beginning with 
 ^Featley” and ending with Foster (Sir Michael.) Of this 
 precious portion there are but two known copies in existence. Mr. 
 Chalmers has one, and Mr. John Nichols has the other. Better 
 placed, neither of them can be. The late Dr. Aikin and others pro- 
 jected, and carried on, with infinite labour, and with many delays 
 from the tardiness of its sale) a work, called General Biography ; or 
 Lives Critical and Historical of the most eminent Persons , of all Ages 
 and Countries : 1799-1815, 4to. 10 vols. Dr. Aikin was also a dis- 
 senter ; so that the same “ seasoning” may be supposed to prevail in 
 certain articles. This work is low in price. Messrs. Arch mark it 
 at 7^- 17 s.6d. in boards; and III. 11s. in russia. The General Bio- 
 graphical Dictionary of Mr. A. Chalmers, is in fact a new edition of 
 the work so called, of which the best impression was that of 1798, in 
 15 vols. octavo. The labours of Mr. Chalmers have increased it 
 to more than double that number of volumes ; and not fewer than 
 thirty two octavo tomes form, now, our most popular biographical 
 Dictionary. The sale has been great and prosperous : and they talk, 
 in the Row , of the stock in sheets “ getting low. ” If this be the case, 
 the Editor will be thinking of buckling on his armour for another 
 biographical campaign. Nor let him despair of getting through that 
 campaign in the same creditable manner as heretofore. His “ leaf” 
 is far from being “ sered ” all over. The edges only are tawny and 
 autumnal. When this work is republished, I recommend its being 
 printed in double columns, and with better ink, upon better paper. 
 Such a host of publishers can command any thing. 
 
500 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 dilation, I shall content myself with the mention only 
 of Plutarch, Diogenes Laertius, Cornelius Nepos, and 
 Suetonius. With the Parallel Lives of Plutarch,* 
 
 * Of this immortal monument of biography I shall be excused for 
 recommending the Greek and Latin edition of Bryant, published at 
 London in 1729, in 5 handsome quarto volumes, in a large and legible 
 type j of which a good copy is worth 51. 15 s. 6d. Those who wish to 
 go into critical questions, or examine learned dissertations, connected 
 with this or other portions of the text of Plutarch, will do well to 
 consult the full and erudite editions of Reiske and Wyttenbach. 
 Those, whose less auspicious stars do not enable them to read the 
 original text, may probably betake themselves to the naivete of the 
 French version of good old Amyot ;f or to our own translations 
 by North , Dry den, and Langhorne ; of which, the latter (corrected 
 by Mr. Archdeacon Wrangham) is the popular publication. But 
 ** Master North,” when in comely condition, may find admittance 
 into the choicest library. 
 
 f good old Amyot] There are few or none, among the very interesting French 
 authors of the xvith century, of whom so pleasing a Biography — and especially an 
 auto-biography — might have been composed, as of Jaques Amyot. The obscurity 
 of his birth, his rising talents, his gradual promotion, his varied and important 
 occupations, and, above all, his love of veracity and his almost unrivalled style of 
 writing, would have afforded materials which could not have failed to delight and 
 instruct the latest generation. Amyot was intimate with Francis I. and his sister 
 Marguerite de Valois. He was also a great Diplomatist, and well acquainted with 
 the leading men of the Italian states, whither he was often sent in an ambassadorial 
 capacity. He must have had a fund of personal anecdote, which, when imparted 
 in the simple graces of his style, would have charmed all readers. He was tutor 
 to Henry III., and had withal a great share of drollery. His replies and bon mots 
 are yet, many of them, preserved in the pages of French biography. He did for the 
 ■prose of his country, what Malherbe did for its poetry. Amyot and Malherbe were 
 contemporaries : and the former has received from Racine, the same complimen- 
 tary critcism which the latter has received from Boileau. Amyot’s translation of 
 the Works of Plutarch (which first appeared in 1567, in 15 vols. 8vo.) are yet 
 received as a standard translation ; and although this translation abounds with 
 faults, it is, on account of the seductive simplicity and beauty of its style, consi- 
 dered as the most popular extant. 
 
 Renouard tells us that a clean, large, and fine copy, throughout, of this first edi- 
 tion— “ ce livre, tant lu, tant use” — is almost to be despaired of. He speaks of 
 possessing several of the volumes in such a desirable state ; and hopes (but what 
 are the hopes of man ?) they will one day find suitable companions. Cat . d’un 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 501 
 
 where is the reader, from sixteen to sixty, who is un- 
 acquainted? I consider his biography of the Illus- 
 trious men of Greece and Rome , to be not only a 
 never failing source of amusement, and instruction, 
 but as containing those germs, or elements, which, 
 deeply received, in after ages, into the bosoms of the 
 susceptible and ambitious, may have been the cause 
 of producing philosophers, legislators, and warriors 
 of scarcely less celebrity. The loss of Plutarch’s bio- 
 graphical works had been perhaps the greatest loss, 
 amongst those of ancient classical lore, which we 
 could have experienced — had they perished during the 
 barbarity of the middle ages. Of the Lives of Philo- 
 sophers, written in Greek, by Diogenes Laertius, 
 (who flourished about the year of Christ, 120) I must 
 almost exclusively recommend the edition of Meiho- 
 mius, published at Amst. in 1692, Gr. & Lat. 2 vols. 
 4to. Yet the less pretending labours of Longolius, 
 put forth in 1739, 8vo. 2 vols. will, in the absence of 
 Meibomius, be far from affording a superficial know- 
 ledge of the sense of the original.^ In regard to 
 
 * The reader may for an instant consult the Introd. to the Classics , 
 vol. i. p. 312-13, for some account of these editions. The time, when 
 the large paper Meibomius was to be had for a sum not under thirty 
 
 Amateur, vol. iv. p. 278. But let the critical, as well as the curious collector, 
 avail himself of Clavier's enlarged and corrected edition, in 1801-6, 25 volumes in 
 8vo. : less beautiful than that of 1783, but more intrinsically valuable. A previous 
 and very superb edition had appeared in 1784-1805, in 25 volumes in quarto ; of 
 which M. Renouard possesses one of the twelve copies only printed upon fine vel- 
 lum paper. Of these twelve, five copies of the fifth were stolen out of the book- 
 seller’s warehouse, and reprinted ; but in a very inferior manner. M. Renouard’s 
 copy is genuine throughout. — Ibid . Of the Lives of Plutarch, the first edition of 
 Amyot was in 1559, in 2 vols. folio — of which a lovely copy upon vellum was sold 
 at the Valliere sale for 900 francs. This copy was purchased by Count Macarthy, 
 and at the sale of the Count’s library, by the king of France for 1000 francs. M. Van 
 
502 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 Cornelius Nepos and Suetonius, let the best Vario- 
 rum of 1675 — or rather, perhaps, the second edition of 
 Van Staveren , 1773, 8vo. — suffice for the former : and 
 I fear I cannot conscientiously dismiss the latter, 
 without requesting the learned to revel in the elabo- 
 rate annotations of Burman , 1736, 4to. 2 vols. or the 
 less laborious to solace themselves with the elegant 
 editions of Ernesti and Wolf, f 
 
 In bringing the chain of Biography down to the 
 present times, I purpose adopting the following plan. 
 First, to mention a few of the more popular and costly 
 works, containing brief Lives and Eulogies of illus- 
 trious Characters, in all classes, and of all countries, 
 which are accompanied by Engravings : secondly, to 
 speak of the more popular collections of Biographies 
 confined to certain Countries , or to learned Bodies 
 within those countries : thirdly, to make brief and ho- 
 nourable mention of the most celebrated detached ' 
 pieces of biography, or Single Lives : and, fourthly, 
 
 guineas, is past : never, even if a war break out, to return. It may 
 be now worth one half of that sum. A small paper copy, “ very 
 neat in blue morocco,” is marked at the comforting price of 5 1, 15s. 6d. 
 in the catalogue of Messrs. Payne and Foss : and, in vellum binding, 
 at the still more comforting price of 2 1. 2 s. The edition of Longo- 
 lius, in very attractive calf garb, may be had for 1/. Is. 
 
 t The Variorum Nepos of 1675 is worth 105. 6d. and the second 
 of Pan Staveren , 185. : each in goodly attire. The Burman Sueto- 
 nius may be worth 2 1. 2 s. : the editions of Ernesti , about 105. 6d. : 
 and that of Wolf 12. 115. 6d. I ought to observe that the goodly 
 quarto impression of Pitiscus, Leovard, 1714, 4to. 2 vols. is not alto- 
 gether superseded by that of Burman. 
 
 Praet describes it as “ d’une beaut£ admirable, superbe exemplaire.” Lat. 
 ties Liv. Impr. sur vtlin tie In Bibl. du Roi , vol. v. p. 49-50. Those who cannot 
 thoroughly decypher the old style of Amyot, may see a modernised edition of his 
 Lives in 1803, 12mo 13 volumes. 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 503 
 
 to adopt the same plan in regard to that fascinating 
 branch of biography called Memoirs and Anecdotes. 
 There is, therefore, abundance of game, of all sorts 
 and of all flavours, before us — and, while I endeavour 
 to infuse enthusiasm into the “ old,” I must be al- 
 lowed to repress the imprudent forwardness of “ the 
 young,” bibliographical sportsman. 
 
 The first of these four divisions is doubtless, and 
 yet continues to be, the most pleasing ; especially 
 where the biographical accounts are accompanied by 
 faithful portraits. Theodore Beza may be consi- 
 dered the author of this species of biography. His 
 leones , id est V erce Imagines Virorum Doctrina simul 
 et Piet ate Illustrium was first published at Geneva, in 
 1580. Beza was followed by Boissard ; whose leones 
 Virorum Illustrium appeared in 1597, 4to. in five parts. 
 The portraits in this work were repeated in the Biblio- 
 theca Chalcographia Must. Viror . 1650, 4to. two vols. 
 Of all these works, especially the first, there is a mi- 
 nute account in the Bibliographical Decameron .* A 
 subsequent examination of Morhof, ( Polyhist . Lit. 
 Lib. i. Cap . xix. Sect. 49.) has confirmed me in the 
 opinion of the portraits executed by Theodore De 
 Bry, in Boissard’s work : — “ they are obviously (says 
 Morhof) not drawn or executed from the life.” And 
 here in chronological order, I may as well notice the 
 edition of the Lives of the Painters , by Vasari, 
 which contains the portraits, cut in wood ; and which 
 appeared at Florence in 1568, 4 to. 3 vols. ’Tis a gem 
 
 * See vol. i. p. 279-280. The account of Beza’ s book is accompa- 
 nied by a fac-simile of the portrait of James I. when a lad : but a 
 profusion of fac-similes of interesting portraits is given, from a work 
 of a similar description, which preceded that of Beza’e : namely, the 
 Promptuarium Icon. Insig. &e, Lugd. 1.553, 4 to. 
 
504 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 in its way ; especially if the margin be broad, and the 
 impressions of a uniform mellow tone.* Here also* 
 although somewhat out of chronological order, but 
 analogous in subject, let me make mention of Junius 
 de Pictura Veterum , comprehending the Lives of the 
 Ancient and Modern Painters ; published after the 
 death of the worthy old gentleman, the author, at 
 Amsterdam, in 1694, folio.+ 
 
 * Certain curious folks prefer this impression to that of 1759 at 
 Rome ; but they are wrong in so doing,” says Brunet. In other 
 words, this preference is given on account of the cuts. Intrinsically 
 considered, the Milan edition of 1807, in sixteen vols. 8vo. is the 
 best.f So says that competent judge, my very good friend, Mr. 
 Ottley. But the same authority assures me it is necessary to have 
 the earliest text of Vasari, as the author frequently varied his opi- 
 nions, and suppressed what he had before written. Under this im- 
 pression, I recommend the curious, by all means, to acquire the 
 Frima Edizione, published at Florence , in 1550, 4to. two vols. : and 
 if ever they happen to alight upon such a copy of this impression, as 
 I once saw at Messrs. Payne and Foss — in a Grolier sort of binding, 
 with the leaves as fair, thick, and crackling, as if Vasari had at that 
 moment received the copy from his book-binder — they will not be- 
 grudge giving 5 1. 5s. for the same : the sum which those booksellers 
 received for it. The Florence edition of 1568, abovementioned, and 
 printed in the Giunta Office, is marked by them (“ a fine copy, old 
 red morocco,) at 4 1. 14s* 6d. This book has the margins usually 
 shorn. 
 
 f A copy of this book, with the fine portrait of the author, is 
 marked by Mr. Thorpe, at the reasonable sum of 10s. 6d. The work 
 is, perhaps, held too cheap. Morhof saw it, in Holland, before it 
 was published. He calls it “ satis copiosb et vastum $*' and doubts 
 whether it would ever be published : adding, that, “ the old gentle- 
 man, Junius, then in his 80th year, was unable to get any printer 
 who would take the expenses upon himself, and run the risk of the 
 publication.” But the gallant spirit of Grsevius, the celebrated 
 
 t An edition in eleven vols. was published at Siena, in 1792, which Messrs. 
 Rivington and Cochrane mark at 51. 5s. in boards. 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 >0 5 
 
 The seventeenth century opens brilliantly with 
 these ornamented pieces of Biography by Holland : 
 whose Basiloologia and Heroologia, are works of 
 great beauty and attraction ; and the former of most 
 excessive rarity and price. The first was published 
 in 1618, and the second in 1620. They have been 
 both particularly noticed in the work cited below.* 
 In the same year in which the first of these works ap- 
 peared, there was published at Augsbourg, in folio, the 
 “ Fuggerorum et Fug ger arum, Sfc. Imagines ” of the 
 once mighty Fugger Family and about the middle 
 
 Antiquary, was instrumental to its appearance j and to him we are 
 indebted for the Life of Junius, prefixed. The volume is divested 
 of embellishment. Messrs. Payne and Foss mark it at 1 1. Is. 
 
 * I must again refer to the Bibliographical Decameron , vol. i. p. 
 281-4, for the most copious account, with which I am acquainted, 
 of these rare and high-priced works. Mr. Thorpe values a sump- 
 tuous copy of the Heroologia, tickled up with all the enticing tooling 
 of Charles Lewis, at the price of 12 1. 12s. If the impressions be 
 good, this is not an extravagant price ; but consult the preceding 
 authority for an account of Mariette’s copy. Of the Basiloologia , 
 Brunet mentions a copy in the Royal Library at Paris, which, as it 
 contains more than one hundred portraits, he supposes would excite 
 tremendous competition in this country, were it to come to the ham- 
 mer : but that diligent bibliographer appears to have overlooked my 
 description of a copy (Ibid.) which contained not fewer than 152 
 portraits. He says, the Parisian copy contains twenty-four portraits, 
 up to that of James I. : if so, it is imperfect : for the Delabere 
 copy, described in the Decameron, contained twenty-nine, inclusively 
 of the frontispiece. And here, I fervently entreat both the young 
 and the old collector never to suppose the acquisition of this (unjind- 
 able) volume absolutely necessary to make them die “ easy in their 
 beds,” — as the phrase runs. Granger breathed his last, unconscious 
 even of its existence! ! Doubtless there are books, which, like 
 planets, have not yet become visible to mortals — I should rather say, 
 to the present race of men ; and with a sight of which, indeed, their 
 ancestors were rarely illumined 
 
 t “ Once mighty” — indeed, was this family ; and their might 
 
506 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 of the same century came forth the Portraits and 
 Lives of the Illustrious Men of France, by Thevet, in 
 1648, folio, in the French language. This book of 
 Thevet is a splendid folio, with large margins, and 
 the cuts, on copper, have a handsome aspect ; but its 
 splendour is diminished by the frequency of its ap- 
 
 arose as much from their wealth as their prowess in arms. They 
 were ennobled by Maximilian, to whom they had rendered the most 
 essential services. For a century (from 1500 to 1600) there was 
 nothing in Italy — at Venice, at Florence, at Milan, or at Rome — 
 like the wealth of the Fuggers, at Augsbourg. f Without sending 
 my readers to Venice or Dresden, to turn over a MS. in the German 
 language) of which the leaves are embellished with not fewer than 
 30,000 coats of armour, seals, and portraits — executed in 1555, in 
 two enormous folio volumes — they may learn, what relates to the 
 illustrious house of Fugger, in the printed volumes of Lambecius 
 and Kollarius. In short, this family was not less distinguished for 
 literature than for the fine arts. The library of Huldrich Fugger is 
 now embalmed in the public library at Heidelberg, but his brother, 
 John James, with the famous Jerom Wolfius, for his librarian, almost 
 eclipsed the celebrity of his predecessor. To the city of Augsbourg, 
 the whole family were the most generous and most beloved of bene- 
 factors. The volume above-mentioned ( Fuggerorum et Fuggerarum , 
 &c. Imagines ) was published by Dominic Custos, a skilful artist at 
 Antwerp, towards the end of the sixteenth century, (1593, qu ?) 
 containing 127 portraits, engraved on copper. The edition of 1618 
 
 t The cause of their wealth arose from the possession of the quicksilver mines 
 of Almaden, in Spain, the produce of which was necessary in order to work the 
 mines of Potosi. They became so rich, in consequence, that it was thought they 
 possessed the philosopher’s stone. Rabelais says, that, after the Fuggers, at 
 Augsbourg, Philip Strozzi was the richest merchant in Christendom. An anecdote 
 is recorded of their wealth, that, on Charles the Fifth’s passing through Augs- 
 bourg, on his expedition against Tunis, he found a faggot of cinnamon placed (by 
 their order) in his chimney, which was lighted by the promissory note of Charles, 
 to repay them a large sum of money which he had borrowed of them. There was 
 a neatness, a delicacy, a magnificence, in this mode of proceeding, which could 
 net be surpassed. Some blundering bibliographers (says the Biog. Univ. vol. xvi. 
 p. 154) have classed the Fuggerarum Imagines among botanical works — under the 
 “ Resemblance of Ferns.” 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 507 
 
 pearance.* Alas, for the caprice of the Biblioma- 
 nia ! 
 
 The next work of this description, in the order of 
 our enquiries, is Bullart’s Academie des Sciences et 
 des Arts , contenant les Vies et les Eloges Historiques 
 des Hommes Illustres. Amst. 1682, folio. The em- 
 bellishments, on the whole, are second rate : but bold 
 and striking. The text (into which it is clear that 
 Morhof never looked) is said to contain “some curi- 
 ous anecdotes.”^ I now reach the charming perform- 
 
 is the second, with the plates somewhat worn : the same may be said 
 of the third in 1620 (see Bibl. Cicognara, no. 2033) ; that of Ulm, 
 1750, in folio, under the title of Pinacotheca, &. c. has the plates 
 retouched. A copy of the second and third editions may be each 
 worth 2 1. 2 s. Mr. Douce has a copy of the first, with the date of 
 1593 in the corner of the first plate. He also possesses a copy of the 
 second. Many of these plates (of which the effect is a little injured 
 by the elaborate borders,) are engraved by the Kilians , and have a 
 truly Titianic air ! When at Augsbourg, I do not remember to have 
 seen many surviving traces of the liberality of this once far-famed 
 family ; and especially of Antony and Raymund, who were singu- 
 larly munificent to the churches and hospitals of that yet beautiful 
 city. 
 
 * Thevet’s Frais Pour traits et Vies des Hommes Illustres , is 
 omitted by Brunet : Messrs. Payne and Foss mark a copy of an edi- 
 tion of the date of 1584, at 31. 3s. This book has generally a large 
 paper appearance. Mr. Stace once shewed me a fine copy of this kind, 
 bound by C. Lewis in blue morocco, destined for the library of the 
 late Marquis of Bute at Luton. I have possessed it in an almost 
 equally splendid condition. It is not in the Cicognara collection. 
 Morhof seems to speak in praise of the fullness of the text ofThevet^ 
 Polyhist. Lit. vol. i. p. 226 ; edit. 1714. 
 
 f Biogr. Univ. vol. vi. p. 252. My friend Mr. A. Chalmers pos- 
 sesses the most beautiful copy of Bullart with which I am ac- 
 quainted. It is bound in old French red morocco, and has the rea- 
 sonable mark of 31. 3s. in the corner of the first fly leaf, inserted by 
 the well known pencil of Mr. Payne. An ordinary copy may be ob- 
 tained for two- thirds of this sum. From the authority here referred 
 
508 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 ance of Perrault ; “ Les Hommes Illustres qui ont 
 paru en France pendant ce siecle ” Paris , 1696-1700, 
 folio, 2 vols. in 1. There is no previous work to be 
 put in competition with it ; and the engravers are 
 worthy of the illustrious characters whose physio- 
 gnomies will go down to posterity from the magic of 
 their burin.* I do earnestly recommend the tasteful 
 collector to spare no cost in procuring a copy of this 
 work, (whether on large or small paper,) which con- 
 tains beautiful impressions of the plates. 
 
 to, it should seem that this work contains 249 portraits engraved by 
 Larmessin and Boulonnois, who were afterwards pensioned by the 
 author. Those copies, which have the date of 1682, as printed at 
 Brussels, or Amsterdam — or that of 1 695, as printed at Brussels — 
 are, in fact, only the Paris edition with a fresh title-page. 
 
 * The principal engravers are Edelinck and Nanteuil : and those 
 who wish to possess right copies, must see that the heads of Arnauld 
 and Pascal be there 5 as, on their appearance, the bile of the Jesuits 
 was moved to such a pitch, that they caused their suppression in 
 many of the copies of this first edition. But they were triumphantly 
 restored ; and the celebrity of Port-Royal (where the characters of 
 these two effective members were so much reverenced) was exalted 
 by an adaptation of the following passage, from Tacitus, to the sup- 
 pression of their portraits ; “ Praefulgebant Cassius atque Brutus, eo 
 ipso quod effigies eorum non videhantur .” In the second impression, 
 the heads of Thomasin and Ducange, substituted for those of Ar- 
 nauld and Pascal, were withdrawn. The new edition of 1805 is not 
 worth seeking after. A fine copy of Perrault may be worth 5 l. 5s. : 
 and on large paper, 7 1. 7s. Messrs. Arch mark a copy at 3 1. 3s. 
 Each life occupies a sheet, or two pages, only.f I have seen several 
 beautiful copies on large paper. 
 
 t Let me here briefly make mention of the Theatrum Virorum ei'uditione Claro- 
 rum of Freher, published in two folio volumes, at Nuremberg, [1688 : and con- 
 taining not fewer than 1310 portraits — placed in rows, as you see oranges in a 
 fruitsiiop — on a little, mean, unsatisfactory scale. Yet Freher is worth an occa- 
 sional consultation ; and a good copy of him may be valued at 3/. 3s. The secret, or 
 private, history of such a work, must be curious. What was given per plate to tin' 
 engravers ? 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES, 509 
 
 In the year 1739 were published* at Amsterdam* 
 two quarto volumes* full of copper plates* of the illus- 
 trious men of Holland and Flanders* under the title 
 of Bibliotheca Belgica ; of which Foppens was the 
 author. This work is not without its use* and I have 
 consulted it with advantage.* The art is not first- 
 rate ; but there are portraits of some distinguished 
 men of whom no others are to be found. Nor is the 
 text divested of interest. At length I have to record 
 the introduction of ornamented biography* in our own 
 country* on a scale of splendour which has hardly 
 been exceeded by any other. In the year 1743 came 
 forth* in one magnificent folio volume* Dr. Birch’s 
 Heads of the most Illustrious Persons in Great Bri- 
 tain : of which the lives are written in a neat and 
 unaffected manner. The appearance of this book 
 produced an electrical effect upon the public. It was 
 the first great work of art which accompanied a po- 
 pular text ; and Hourraken, whose magical burin 
 was chiefly instrumental to its popularity* was at once 
 lifted to the very pinnacle of fame.+ He has doubt- 
 
 # The head of Plantin, the famous printer, given in the Bibliogr. 
 Decameron, vol. ii. p. 156, was copied from that in Foppens : which 
 again, was borrowed from that in Bullart. A good copy of the Bi- 
 bliotheca Belgica is worth 21. 2s. 
 
 f A secret has been imparted to me about the probable actual share 
 of Houbraken, in this immortal book. He worked upon the etch- 
 ings of Gravelot and all the ornamental parts, round and below, 
 the portraits, are from the latter, untouched by the former. It is 
 wonderful to see the magical effect of Houbraken s burin upon that of 
 Gravelot. Mr. T. Wilson (a gentlemen, whose collection of fine 
 prints is almost unrivalled) has a complete illustration of it. He pos- 
 sesses the portrait of Ann Boleyn, by both artists : one and the same, 
 as to lineaments and dimensions. Houbraken began by clearing away, 
 or scraping out, the shadows ; softening, what he allowed to remain. 
 
510 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 less achieved much, and overshadowed the merits of 
 his fellow labourer — the honest, the steady, the dili- 
 gent, and faithful Vertue. A fine copy of this book 
 (that is to say, a copy with fine impressions of the 
 plates) is yet worth a round dozen of sovereigns — 
 even on small paper : which in fact is hardly more 
 common than the large.* 
 
 by a most beautiful, undulating effect $ and marking the prominent 
 parts of the features, by bold and yet harmonious indentations. Life 
 and soul seem to take possession of his heads. f The eye, globular, 
 pellucid, and sparkling, moves in its socket. The lips breathe, and 
 the nostrils distend. Gravelot placed before his master a dry, inani- 
 mate, and repulsive subject — which that master endued with every 
 thing to render it beautiful and attractive. In the mechanical ma- 
 nagement of a countenance, Houbraken has never been exceeded : 
 no, not by Morghen or Longhi. I have mentioned this curiosity in 
 the possession of Mr. Wilson : but that gentleman has graphic trea- 
 sures of infinitely greater importance j and it is here only necessary 
 to observe, that he possesses proofs, “ before the letter,” of every 
 portrait in this volume : such proofs, as I have never before seen, and 
 which I could have never reasonably hoped to see. 
 
 * I should apprehend this to be not far from the fact : at least to my 
 experience Houbraken is as common on large as on small paper. I 
 have seen glorious copies of the large : in old calf binding,' with broad 
 border ofgold on the sides : marble-gilt leaves : and, doubtless, worth 
 hard upon thirty guineas. There would be no end to references to 
 sale-catalogues. I observe however two copies on large paper, of 
 the edition of 1756, with old impressions of the plates, in the cata- 
 logue of Messrs. Arch : one, in russia binding, marked at 24 l. : and 
 
 t It should appear, from Nichols's Literary Anecdotes , vol. viii. p. 578, that Horace 
 Walpole had a design of continuing this Collection of Illustrious Heads, “ not 
 merely in chronological order from the last of the others, but to fill up gaps among 
 them. An original portrait of Edward IV. is just come to light — I forget where : 
 and innumerable others have been attended to in private galleries since Houbra- 
 ken’s time. They are to be engraved by the best artists, at one guinea for four in 
 a number, with letter press. Some doubt whether they are not rated too high ; but 
 our present engravers do not work so cheap as Houbraken,” Gough to Tyson : 
 Jan. 30. 1772. An ample and excellent account of Birch’s book will be found in 
 Savage's Librarian , vol, iii. p. 49. 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 511 
 
 The passion for this species of ornamented biogra- 
 phy seemed now to be pretty general throughout Eu- 
 rope ; and at Copenhagen, in 1746, there appeared a 
 quarto volume, of which Tycho -Hoffmann was the 
 author called Portraits des Homme s Illustres de Dan - 
 nemark. I cannot conceal my unqualified admira- 
 tion of this brilliant, and now scarce, volume ; and 
 have spent many an half hour in reading its texts, 
 and gazing upon its graphic gems, in the magnificent 
 (and as far as I know, unique ) copy at Althorp, upon 
 large paper.* Possible it is that several beautiful 
 
 the other, in morocco, at 29 1. 8s. It has risen greatly since Osborne’s 
 time : for I find a “ royal paper” copy of it marked at 61. 6s. only, in 
 his sheet catalogue of 1759. A reasonable doubt may be entertained 
 as to there being three sorts of paper : small, royal, and imperial as 
 noticed by Brunet. Mark well that the supplemental plates 81 and 
 108 are found in the copy which you purchase. The text of this 
 work has been reprinted, with some few additions ; and a copy of it, 
 with most brilliant impressions from the first edition, is in the library 
 at Althorp. 
 
 * Brunet mentions no such copy ; nor do the authors of the Biogr. 
 Universelle , vol. xx. p. 452 : although they state that the six parts, of 
 which it is composed, are not always found upon paper of exactly 
 the same size, which leads to a supposition that they were printed at 
 different places. But the Althorp copy is a palpable and glorious 
 large paper one : bound in red morocco — and containing, as all per- 
 fect copies ought to contain, the seventh part, entitled “Mtmoires du 
 ci-devant grand chancelier de Danemark &c. The plates, including 
 many beautiful little vignettes, as well as striking portraits, are by 
 different hands, and are almost all of them bright and bewitching : 
 though perhaps a little too metallic and severe. That of Hoffmann, 
 in the frontispiece, is by the unrivalled Will : whose “ Lady in the 
 Satin Gown” (I allude to a well known, separately published, printf) 
 will hand his name down to the latest posterity. A perfect copy of 
 
 f Mr. John Nichols has a fine copy of this fascinating furniture-ornament, hang- 
 ing up in his Tusculum near Higligate : but Mr. Wilson has, as it seemeth to my 
 fond fancy, the nonpareil of all impressions ! He has also an early proof of Dan 
 Tycho himself. 
 
512 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 biographical works may have been published between 
 this last and the Portraits of the Illustrious Persons 
 of the Court of Henry VIII. designed by Holbein 
 and engraved by Bartolozzi ; of which the biographical 
 notices are from the pen of Mr. Edmund Lodge, then 
 Lancaster Herald. The work was published by the 
 late Mr. John Chamberlaine, in a folio volume, or four- 
 teen parts, in 1792. Let me unhesitatingly introduce 
 this very charming, costly, and captivating perform- 
 ance, to the attention of every tasteful Collector, be 
 he “ young ” or be he “ old. ” The subjoined note will 
 furnish some details about the worth and value of the 
 volume.* It maybe as well to observe, that a repub- 
 
 Hoffmann’s book is rare; and worth, I should imagine, 5 1. 5 s. To 
 the large paper, I will not affix any price. The reprint of Hoffmann, 
 in 1773, 4to. three vols. though it has additions, is in the Danish lan- 
 guage, with worn impressions of the plates, and therefore scarcely 
 worth purchasing. 
 
 * First, let it be observed that all the engravings are taken from 
 original Drawings in the possession of his late and present Majesty. 
 These engravings are eighty-two in number.f They are executed 
 in the stippling manner, with great freedom of outline, and delicacy 
 of execution. But there is some reason to believe that a few of them 
 are faithless performances ; and I will tell the reader why. Bar- 
 tolozzi had a notion that he could improve every thing which he 
 touched; and he also knew the force of his own powers, and the 
 popularity of his own name with the public. He was fond, too, of 
 italianising his faces ; and you generally see something like the same 
 face, in all his graphic productions. This however may be mere 
 surmise or declamation. • Now for u proof positive.” Do any of my 
 readers remember theirs* anonymous female portrait which has been 
 thought to be Margaret Roper, Sir T. More’s eldest daughter ? That 
 portrait, as engraved by Bartolozzi, is not the portrait as drawn by 
 
 t Of these eighty-two plates, two are of Holbein and his Wife : sixty-eight are 
 of persons whose names are known, and twelve of anonymous personages. There 
 are about seven or eight only not engraved by Bartolozzi. 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 513 
 
 lication of it, in a smaller folio form , appeared in 1812. 
 Both editions were published by Mr. George Nicol, 
 bookseller to his late Majesty. 
 
 Hans Holbein. Most of the ornaments are added : and the features 
 are wholly different. I have examined the fac-simile of the ori- 
 ginal drawing, executed by Mr. Frederick Lewis, the engraver — in a 
 manner so minute, and so faithful to the original, (allowed by those 
 who have seen both) as to leave it beyond dispute that the produc- 
 tion of Bartolozzi is, comparatively, faithless. Those who have seen 
 Mr. Lewis’s fac-similes of the drawings of Sir Thomas Lawrence, 
 will be readily disposed to admit the extraordinary truth and delicacy 
 of that artist’s burin. Even to an experienced eye, these drawings 
 may now and then be mistaken for originals. They are singularly 
 sweet and masterly. 
 
 What should follow r First, in every degree of probability, a few 
 other of these portraits by Bartolozzi are faithless ; and, if faithless 
 to the extent which appears in this of Margaret Roper, then we have 
 many of Bartolozzi’s conceits, and not Holbein’s truths, in the vo- 
 lume under consideration. Secondly, might not his present Majesty, 
 who loves and understands art, and whose collection of Drawings 
 alone is almost beyond all price, be prevailed upon to allow these 
 Holbeinian treasures to be again submitted to the eye of a copyist, 
 and that copyist an Englishman . It is Holbein as he is, that we 
 want ; it is his drawings as they are , that we desiderate 5 and all 
 prettiness and conceits, in the way of additions or corrections, are 
 violations of truth and taste. I predict — and with the confidence 
 of certainty — that were such a work to be announced, under the 
 title of Hans Holbein restored .... its success would be equal to 
 the expectations of the most ardent of that great man’s admirers. 
 
 But of this splendid performance, as it is, copies are now becom- 
 ing rare, and sell at an advanced price. These copies usually pre- 
 sent the plates struck off on a pink paper, in imitation of the origi- 
 nals : but there are some few and scarce copies which shew them 
 in brown colour, upon white paper. The late Mr. Venn, of Ken- 
 sington, Inspector of the Board of Works, used to lay great stress 
 on the one of his two copies which had the plates in this latter con- 
 dition. A good copy, in the usual style, and bound in morocco 
 (its ordinary coat) is worth five and twenty guineas. A perfect copy 
 of the republication, in small folio, is worth 12/. 12 s. 
 
 L 1 
 
514 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 It was after twenty years of established celebrity of 
 the portraits of Holbein, that another similar work, of 
 greater extent, and executed by the same literary 
 pen, appeared before the public in a succession of 
 numbers, under the following title: “Portraits of 
 Illustrious Personages of Great Britain , with biogra- 
 phical and historical Memoirs of their Lives and 
 Actions ,” which was completed in two royal folio 
 volumes, in 1821. These volumes contain not fewer 
 than “ 120 portraits by the most celebrated artists, 
 from original paintings in the possession of the No- 
 bility and Gentry of this country.”* The plan was 
 
 * The publishers of this truly splendid and national performance 
 were Messrs. Lackington, Harding, and Co. The executive depart- 
 ment fell to the lot of the partner here last named ; with whom, in 
 fact, the plan of the work originated. In the execution of that plan, 
 it became requisite to explore the Picture Galleries of the ancient 
 nobility, from the remotest points of Cornwall, throughout England, 
 and Scotland, to the most northern parts of the Highlands j and the 
 fruits of the research has been the formation of the most extraordi- 
 nary assemblage of portraits of persons who have ennobled their 
 descendants and distinguished themselves in the history of the 
 country, that has ever been formed in this, or in any other 
 nation. Not a character of real eminence from the first dawn of 
 accredited portrait painting under Holbein, in the tyrannical period 
 of the VUIth Harry, through the energetic and prosperous reign of 
 Elizabeth and the turbulent era of Charles and the Rebellion, to the 
 reign of Queen Anne, has been omitted. The plan was warmly 
 patronized by the noble persons descended from the heroes and states- 
 men whose portraits and history formed the materials of the work 5 
 and the most splendid specimens of portraits, richly habited in the 
 costumes of their respective periods, have been executed with close 
 precision, from the finest originals of Holbein, Jansen, Zucchero, 
 Rubens, Vandyke, Lely, and Kneller, which have been preserved 
 for a succession of ages, in the Galleries of the nobility and gentry. 
 The illustrious houses of Howard, Russell, Percy, Spencer, 
 Sackville, Egrebiont, Cecil, and Clarendon, in England — and 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 515 
 
 admirable; and the execution of it, throughout, is 
 entitled to equal praise. Such a union of various 
 talents — such a Gallery of Illustrious Dead — was 
 scarcely ever before presented to the eyes of the 
 public, in colours, almost as vivid and sparkling as if 
 the Originals occupied the canvas whence their 
 copies were taken. This work is, in truth, an honour 
 to our country, and cannot fail (especially now that 
 the plates are destroyed) to maintain a high and legi- 
 
 those of Douglas, Hamilton, Argyll, Scott of Buccleuch, and 
 Graham, in the north — rank foremost as contributors of pictures ; 
 while the National Collections of the British Museum, the Palace 
 of Holyrood House, the Archikpiscopal Palace of Lambeth, 
 and the Bodleian Gallery at Oxford, are the most prominent 
 among those of a public character : these have been thrown 
 open by their trustees and conservators in furtherance of the great 
 national object of perpetuating a Gallery of Illustrious British 
 Portraits. The result of this widely extended patronage, has 
 been the execution of a set of drawings, nearly two hundred in 
 number, of the most rigid accuracy, and of the highest order of 
 art, from the pencils of Mr. Hilton, R. A., of Mr. Jackson, R. A. 
 of Mr. Derby, of the late Mr. Satchwell, and of Mr. Uwins. From 
 the drawings of these highly celebrated artists, the series of 
 Engraved Portraits, now before the public, has been executed with 
 a fidelity of character, and excellence of execution, which lift them 
 at once into the highest class of merit. 
 
 Meanwhile, the pen of the Lancaster Herald, Mr. Lodge, was 
 roused from a state of inactivity, in which, well nigh to the shame 
 of the age, it had been suffered to remain ; and that pen has, in the 
 Memoirs attached to these Engravings, performed its task in a 
 manner worthy of the former reputation of the author. These short 
 pieces of biography are indeed admirable ; very models of taste, and 
 as characteristic as the portraits themselves. As might be expected, 
 this work has made its appearance in all the varieties of temptation : 
 with proofs $ on large paper, and the plates on India paper. A 
 copy of the ordinary size, with good impressions of the plates, is 
 worth from forty-five to fifty guineas : of the large paper, with 
 proofs on India paper, a copy will sell for 100Z. in handsome 
 morocco binding. 
 
BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 51 G 
 
 timate price. Like the portraits of Holbein, this 
 work has been also republished on a smaller scale, at a 
 reduced price, but in a style of equal graphic beauty.* 
 Yet such has been its attractions, that three numbers 
 of a third volume, in the original folio size, have 
 made their appearance — equally to the surprise and 
 gratification of the public. The portraits, in this Con- 
 tinuation, are even of superior beauty to those which 
 preceded them ;t and if the publishers continue thus 
 to gather strength as their work goes on, there is no 
 saying to what extent, or of what a character, their 
 future labours may be. Why should they fear or pause ? 
 In the overwhelming masses of trash, which are 
 weekly, if not daily, pouring in upon the republic of 
 literature, it is pleasing to alight upon such produc- 
 tions as these : which cheer and guide us, like friendly 
 watch-fires, across a country of darkness and peril. 
 
 I come now, as the second division of this present 
 enquiry, to speak of Bodies of National Biography , 
 whether confined to the whole, or to a part of our 
 country : and craving pardon for a blunder, in having 
 incorporated the Biographia Britannica in the past 
 ages, I proceed, in a trice, to dispatch this de- 
 partment of Biography. First, take up Leland, de 
 Scriptoribus Britannicis ; then solace yourself with 
 Bale’s Scriptores Illustres Majoris Britannice; and, 
 if you please, with Pits’s Relationes Historical de j Re- 
 
 * The size of this reprint, which is of a large octavo and quarto 
 form, possessing five exquisite portraits in each number, is delight- 
 fully commodious. 
 
 f Of the portaits, already published, of this Continuation, those 
 of King Henry VIII. Sir T. More, the Duchess of Richmond, Sir 
 Christopher Hatton, and Lord Goring, are singularly beautiful and 
 attractive. 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 517 
 
 bus Angiitis , which carry you pretty nearly through 
 one century.* Anon, take up Tom Fuller’s His- 
 tory of the Worthies of England , which brings you 
 down to the year 1662 ; and be sure that the head of 
 “ honest Tom,” by Loggan, prefixed to the title, be not 
 missing. The opening of the seventeenth century 
 presents us with the historico-biographical labours of 
 Bishop Nicolson ; and a good copy of the folio edi- 
 tion (of 1736) of his English , Scotch , and Irish His- 
 torical Libraries , (first published in piece-meal about 
 the years 1690-5) is a very comfort to a lover of his 
 country’s literary renown. About this period— that is, 
 
 * Leland, Bale, and Pits, shall occupy the present note : premis- 
 ing that all these works have been more or less noticed in the 
 “Cabinet” of the Bibliomania, p. 41, &c. The Commentarii de 
 Scriptoribus Britannicis of Leland were published from the originals 
 in the Bodleian Library, by Anthony Hall, Fellow of Queen’s Col- 
 lege, in two octavo volumes, at Oxford, in 1709 ; and may be had 
 for about 10s. “ Hearne’s copy of this work is nowin the Bodleian 
 
 Library (8vo. Rawl. 57*) and that diligent antiquary has collated it 
 with Leland’s MS. as far as page 135. He complains of Flail’s, as 
 “ a very faulty edition,” and with great justice, for it abounds in 
 mistakes and omissions, many of great import to the sense of the 
 work.” Letters by Eminent Persons , &c. Oxford, 1813, 8vo. vol. i. 
 p. 198. Of Bale's work, the edition of 1559, in folio, is alone to be 
 purchased ; and such a copy of it as that now at A1 thorp, is perhaps 
 hardly elsewhere to be found. It was purchased at the sale of an 
 extensive bibliographical collection, in 1817> (designated as large 
 paper) for 41. 5 s. A fair, good copy may be worth 3 1. 35. I never 
 heard of its existence uncut. A good copy of Pitseus, is worth 
 1 1, 1 1$. 6d. ’Tis a sorrily printed book. The work is by a Roman 
 Catholic, and incomplete. Does the remaining portion of the MS. 
 exist ? What say Messrs. Butler and Lingard ? I forgot to add, 
 that a fac-simile of the supposed portrait of Bale, presenting his 
 work to Edward VI. — from the frontispiece to the Ipswich edition, 
 of 1548, 4to. may be found in the Bibliogr. Decameron , vol. ii. p. 
 309 : see also vol. iii. 242. 
 
5 IS BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 between the years 1708-22 — appeared Dr. Macken- 
 zie’s Lives of the Scotish Writers , in three folio vo- 
 lumes ; a work of very considerable utility, and now 
 becoming scarce, and in great want of republication, 
 with additions and corrections.* 
 
 Thrice welcome be the Athence Oxonienses of old 
 Anthony a Wood ! of which work, till the recent very 
 valuable edition of it by Dr. Philip Bliss, the impres- 
 sion of 1721, in two folio volumes, was considered to 
 be the best.^ And if this work be “ thrice welcome,” 
 
 * Puller, Nicolson, and Mackenzie, shall occupy this following 
 note. Puller must be always read with a certain degree of caution ; 
 for he was fond of a joke, and often picked up intelligence in a slo- 
 venly manner. There was a time when a fine copy of the folio 
 “ Worthies,” with a rich, warm impression of the portrait, was worth 
 121. 125. :§ that time will never again return, because the new quarto 
 edition of the same work, in two volumes, is in reality the better 
 edition, having corrections and a few additions — and being obtain- 
 able for one third of the money.— But the portrait — ay, there is the 
 rub ! ’Tis a fine specimen of Loggan’s bold burin. If my memory 
 be not treacherous, Mr. Wilson has an isolated proof of it. Why 
 was it unknown to Granger ? The quarto edition of Nicolson, of 
 1776; is considered to be the best : but I see no advantage which it 
 possesses over the folio of 1736 ; and the previous pages of this 
 work will shew the importance of the historico-biographical labours 
 of this able Prelate. Either edition is worth 2 1. 2s. Mackenzie is 
 more frequently found in two, than in three volumes ; and the third 
 volume is often stilted , in order to make it dress with its companions. 
 These three volumes are worth 4 1. 4s. 
 
 f Again I refer the bibliomaniacal reader to a certain Bibliographi- 
 cal Romance , p. 412 — 416, for a particular, and I trust not uninte- 
 
 § Id a Specimen Bibliotheca; Britannicce (of which I printed and circulated 
 among my friends only 50 copies) this work r of Tom Fuller is particularly de- 
 scribed, and many errors of pagination, catch- words, &c. pointed out : see p. 41 , 
 &c. : Mr. Nichols’s reprint renders further notice of “ corrigenda” unnecessary. 
 Only I may here remark, that, of the folio Fuller there are two title pages, each of 
 the date of 1662 : the one is printed by J. G. W. L. and W. G. for Thomas Wil- 
 liams, &c. ; the other, “ London, printed by J. G. W. L. and W . G. !” 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 519 
 
 in any shape, it is nine times welcome in the recent 
 impression just alluded to ! — for more care, attention, 
 accuracy, and valuable enlargement, from an inex- 
 haustible stock of materials (some of them contem- 
 poraneous) has rarely been witnessed, than in the 
 editorial labours of Dr. Bliss upon the text of his 
 beloved Anthony a Wood.* If to this work, the 
 “ Young Man” add Tanner’s Bibliotheca Britan . 
 Hibernica ; Berkenhout’s Biographia Literaria, and 
 Granger’s Biographical History of England, he 
 may thank his stars for a delightful stock of informa- 
 tion, which shall throw him back into past ages, 
 when he may fancy himself conversing with those, of 
 whose monuments even all traces have perished from 
 the devastations of accident andtime.f 
 
 resting, account of Wood's Athence Oxonienses : a work, which every 
 young man, who prefers intellectual reputation to fleeting and frivo- 
 lous pursuits (not worth the mention 1) should be enjoined to pur- 
 chase, and to read, on quitting the University of Oxford. What 
 nobler impulses can be imparted to a young head, and susceptible 
 heart, than those which may stir within him a desire of being ranked 
 hereafter among the Worthies of his own Alma Mater ? ! I must 
 not here forget to observe, that of this work there were twenty-five 
 copies printed upon large paper ; one of which was recently sold 
 at the sale of Mr. Nassau’s library, for 4 21. Note further : there is 
 a copy of the Athen. Oxon. edition of 1721, with ms. notes' by G. 
 Wanley and Morant, in the library of the Royal Institution. 
 
 * I shall only repeat — speaking of this valuable work — what I 
 uhfeignedly observed eleven years ago. “ The recent edition of 
 Wood’s Atkence Oxonienses has furnished me with too many valuable 
 notices not to merit my best acknowledgments ; and not to justify 
 me in predicting, for the Editor of it, that station in the temple of 
 future Oxford Worthies, to which his labours so fairly entitle 
 him.” Typog. Antiq. vol. iii. Pref. 
 
 f Another trio to figure in this present note. Bishop Tanner’s 
 work, above specified, is with all its imperfections, a highly valuable 
 
520 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 As the third division of Biography, I am to notice 
 separate lives ; or the lives of characters of the same 
 class (such as Grove’s History of the Times , and Life 
 of fVolsey , Johnson’s Lives of the Poets , and Mac* 
 diarmid’s of British Statesmen)* published in one or 
 
 performance ; but let us hope that report speaks true in an- 
 nouncing a new edition of this work by Mr. Henry Ellis, of the 
 British Museum. My friend, Mr. Amyot, points out to me, that, 
 according to an advertisement at the end of vol. i. of Jortin’s Life of 
 Erasmus, there were only 250 copies printed of Tanner’s book. 
 This work is becoming rare and high priced : and I apprehend 
 
 a fine copy of it cannot be procured under Si. 3 s. The notes to 
 Berkenhout’s Biographia Literaria, 1777, 4to. are said to have 
 been chiefly supplied by George Steevens ; but they are of no par- 
 ticularly high calibre : and methinks that Berkenhout’s book, after 
 all, is little better than “ skimmed milk.” A copy may be worth 
 14s. Not so is the popular work of the Rev. James Granger : of 
 which editions have multiplied and will continue to multiply. Re- 
 calling all the jocose carbine-shots fired against it in the Biblio- 
 mania , page 670, &c.. I have no hesitation in designating it as a 
 delightful and instructive book : but whoever republishes it, should 
 add the portraits of the different characters which were unknown to 
 the author. Considering that Granger may be said to have first 
 walked the field alone, it is surprising what he has done. His 
 catalogue of engraved heads is immense. His style is always clear, 
 pointed, and lively : and if he talked and preached, as he wrote in his 
 biographical history, it would have been difficult to have withdrawn 
 attention from so intelligent a quarter. Consult Nichols's Literary 
 Anecdotes , vol. ix. p. 112, where the amiable character of this cler- 
 gyman is embalmed in the verses of one William Thomson. 
 
 * These three works, above parenthetically disposed of, may claim 
 a larger share of attention in a note. Grove’s book is scarce, and 
 may be worth 2/. 2 s. It was printed in 1742-4, in four octavo vo- 
 lumes, and the fourth vol. has Grove’s name subjoined to a dedica- 
 tion to the Earl of Harrington. The recherchd morceau of biography 
 in these volumes, is, ct Cavendish' s Life of PVolsey," which is reprinted 
 in Dr. Wordsworth’s Ecclesiastical Biography. But the completest 
 and most correct copy of this valuable text is that just published 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 521 
 
 more sets of volumes : while, in approaching* recent and 
 present times, I cannot but feel conscious of some- 
 
 under the editorial care of Mr. Singer, with beautiful portraits of 
 Wolsey, Cromwell, Henry VIII. and Anne Roleyn. Dr. Johnson’s 
 Lives of the Poets are necessarily a prominent ornament of every 
 library; as they have been the common theme of admiration of all 
 countries. The style and the reflections are the chief charm of this 
 popular work. Many of the facts must be cautiously admitted. Not 
 that Johnson designedly falsified ; but he always wanted time, dili- 
 gence, and patience, in the collection of his materials ; and, he re- 
 joiced to find the fact as he wished to find it : without sufficiently 
 weighing it in the balance of impartiality. He hugged every thing 
 which he thought might throw a shade on a republican, a whig, or a 
 dissenter ; and spared no pains in executing such a picture in his 
 most powerful and overwhelming colours. But toryism and ortho- 
 doxy neither require nor recommend such intemperate conduct. 
 Even the very loose reports which had reached him of Dryden’s 
 funeral, were inserted without a suspicion of their veracity : and it 
 remained for Mr. Malone (in his admirable edition of Dryden’s prose 
 works, to which a biography of the poet is prefixed) to dispel and 
 dissipate this idle story as a barefaced fiction. But Johnson, had he 
 been living, would not have surrendered it without a growl. 
 
 Much that he has inserted in the life of Pope, and more in that of 
 Milton, has been, and will continue to be, corrected and disproved : 
 but who that reads Johnson’s criticisms on certain portions of the 
 Paradise Lost , is not convinced that he is reading one of the most 
 masterly performances of the human intellect ? exhibiting an extent 
 and power of conception — a vigour and felicity of diction — such as one 
 knows not where to find equalled in any modern production. His 
 life of Savage, the first in the order of execution, is considered to be 
 the chef-d’oeuvre 5 but this may be because it was the first and be- 
 cause we have long known that Sir Joshua Reynolds read it with such 
 intense interest, as to be unconscious that he was nearly dislocating 
 his arm against a chimney piece, all the time ! In consequence, he 
 sought Johnson’s acquaintance, and respected and loved the great 
 
 * I once marked all the passages of censure, and all of praise, of Savage’s con- 
 duct, in this piece of biography ; and, to the best of my recollection the praise pre- 
 dominated. The whole is a fine effort of cultivated taste and honourable feeling. 
 
522 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 thing like alarm, at the magnitude, delicacy, and diffi- 
 culty, of the undertaking : and shall shroud myself 
 “ in the vast wood ” in which Morhof supposes this 
 subject to be involved. “ So great, (says that able 
 man) is the number of writers of Lives, that they 
 might fill an entire library. Labbe and Teissier have 
 given copious lists of them, and a similar notice will 
 be found in the catalogue of De Thou’s library.” * 
 The same authority then goes on to mention several 
 separate pieces of biography, which he thinks have 
 more decided merit — but of which, how few are now 
 ever remembered by name to the general reader 
 
 philologist to his dying day. Still, the lives of Dryden and Pope 
 abound with some of the happiest specimens of Johnson’s powers of 
 narrative and criticism. The whole set of Lives is indeed charming : 
 fraught with wisdom and excellent taste. They are usually found in 
 four volumes, separately : or incorporated with the texts of the Poets 
 and Johnson's other works. I will not let my “ Young Man” take 
 any rest, unless he promises me to read these lives through, once 
 every three years at the least. 
 
 Able, but hapless Macdiarmid ! — cut off from us in the very 
 bloom of, existence. His Lives of British Statesmen ( Sir Thomas 
 More, Lord Burleigh, Lord Strafford, and Lord Clarendon ,) was a 
 work full of great promise. The author survived it but a short 
 period. It is beautifully printed in quarto, with portraits of these 
 four statesmen as beautifully engraved in stippling by Freeman. 
 This book (from which more than one extract will be found in the 
 edition of Sir T. More's Utopia, 1808, 12mo. 2 vols.) is now, I un- 
 derstand, scarce, and of rather high price. Shall I say 2 1. 2 s. ? 
 It has been luckily, and wisely, reprinted in two handsome octavo 
 volumes by the publishers Messrs. Longman and Co. at 1?. Is. in 
 boards. 
 
 * Poly hist. Lit. lib, i. Cap. XIX. Sect. 16. A more complete list 
 will be found in the catalogue of the library of Count Bunau 3 But the 
 4th volume of Brunet renders even this unnecessary to be consulted. 
 
 t The Single Lives noticed by Morhof, are these : Gassendus’s 
 Life of Peiresc ; Gualdus's of V encentius Pinelli ,* Fulgentius, of Paul 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 523 
 
 During the sixteenth century we have few detached 
 specimens of Biography. The Life of Sir T. More was 
 among the most fertile of subjects, and of that various 
 have been, and will continue to be, the memoirs and 
 details.* It is a pity that the great writers of the time 
 
 Sarpi: Rigaltius, of Puteanus ;f Thomas , of the Duke of Valentinovs, 
 1655, 4to. ; Lord Bacon, of Henry VII.; Camerarius, of Melanch- 
 thon ; Life of Reuchlin ; Hagius, of Peter Lotichius, jun. ; Boeder, of 
 Forstner ; Gualdus, of Wallenstein. Now, with one exception (that 
 of Lord Bacon’s Henry VII.) which, and how many, of my readers, 
 young or old, have turned over the leaves of these tomes ? And yet, 
 I will venture to affirm, that the greater part richly merit an atten- 
 tive perusal. To myself, the biographies of Gualdus and Lotichius 
 are chiefly familiar ; but, I believe, through the reprint of them in 
 that too much despised, or peradventure forgotten, homely volume, 
 entitled Vitae Selectorum aliquot Virorum qui doctrind, dignitate, 
 aut pietate clarudre ,” 1681, 4to. of which one Dr. Bates, a once 
 celebrated non-conformist divine, was the editor. Mr. Chalmers 
 observes that f f Bates’s name is not in the title-page, but at the end 
 of the dedication to the celebrated Lord Russell, and the work is 
 generally quoted by the title of et Batesii Vitae Selectee .” He also 
 further, and properly, observes, “ it is now, although scarce, much 
 less valued than such a collection deserves.” Biograph. Diet. vol. iv. 
 p. 137. What shall we say, after these testimonies ? Must this 
 book continue to lie on its back, on a stall, ticketed on white paper, 
 as “ very curious, 3s. 6d* ? — the price at which it became my pro- 
 perty ! Forbid it, even genius of Thomas Hearne ! 
 
 * Having several years ago ( Utopia , vol. i, p. xxxix-liii.) given a 
 list of the various biographies of Sir Thomas More, I may here only 
 add, that an elegantly executed reprint of Roper’s celebrated life has 
 been recently published by Mr. Triphook, to which the received por- 
 trait of More is prefixed. The earliest piece of biography appeared in 
 Latin, in 1550, 4to. : of which I never saw a copy. It is noticed by 
 
 t What a Bibliomaniac, what a book glutton, was this famous Puteanus ! His 
 taste ran in the line of collecting public acts—(“ — trahit sua quemque voluptas”) 
 and he appears to have done as much for France , in this department, as Conringius 
 did for Germany. Morhof exults over his “ fifty huge folio volumes ” filled with 
 these acts, and of which his biographer gives the titles. 
 
524 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 of Elizabeth did not favour us with some accounts of 
 their immediate predecessors; for, after all, (notwith- 
 
 Lewis : but the fountain head of all modern performances, is the 
 anonymous 4to. volume, supposed to have been printed abroad, by 
 More’s great grandson, T. More, who died in 1625. Such was its 
 rarity in Anthony a Wood’s time, “twas scarce to be had.” All the 
 book world knows Hearne's Roper’s biography of More, published 
 in 171 6, 8vo. and considered to be the first text of his son-in-law 
 Roper’s biography.f Why this book should sell so high, is a little 
 unaccountable. Even as late as Mr. Nassau’s sale, February, 1S24, 
 a copy on large paper brought the astounding sum of 3ll. 10s. 
 There were forty- two printed on large, and 106 on small paper ; of 
 which latter, I remember seeing the late Mr. S. Lysons go as high 
 as 9 l. 9s. for a copy, at a sale in Mr. Sotheby’s rooms ; though a good 
 copy may now be procured for 31. 3s. Had More left us his auto- 
 biography, even in Latin, what charms would it have had for pos- 
 terity ! His supposed Life of Richard III. (in which appears one of 
 the most striking descriptions of Jane Shore, then alive J) is now 
 
 f See page 228, ante. 
 
 I I cannot resist the following delineation of her person and character : “ Pro- 
 per she was and fair : nothing in her body that you would have changed, but if you 
 would have wished her somewhat higher. Thus say they that knew her in her 
 youth. Albeit some that now see her (for yet she liveth ) deem her never to have 
 been well visaged. Whose judgment seemeth to me, somewhat like as though men 
 should guess the beauty of one long before departed, by her scalp taken out of the 
 charnel-house : for now she is old, lean, withered, and dried up, nothing left but 
 [shjrivild skin and hard bone. And yet, being even such, whoso will advise her 
 visage, might guess and devise which parts, how filled, would make it a fair face. 
 Yet delighted not men so much in her beauty as in her pleasant behaviour. For 
 proper wit had she, and could both read well and write : merry in company, ready 
 and quick of answer, neither mute nor full of babble, sometimes taunting without 
 displeasure and not without disport. The King would say that he had three concu- 
 bines which in three divers properties diversely excelled. One the merriest, ano- 
 ther the wiliest, the third the holiest harlot in his realm, as one who no man could 
 get out of the church lightly to any place, but it were to his bed. The other two 
 were somewhat greater personages, and, nathless, of their humility content to be 
 nameless ; and to forbear the praise of those properties. But the merriest was this. 
 Shore’s wife,\n whom the King therefore took special pleasure. For many he had, 
 but her he loved ; whose favour, to say the truth, (for sin it were to bely the devil) 
 she never abused to any man’s hurt, but to many a man’s comfort and relief. 
 Where the King took displeasure, she would mitigate and appease his mind : where 
 men where out of favour, she would bring them in his grace. For many that had 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 525 
 
 standing the commendable assiduity of Dr. Nott) 
 what particulars, worthy of the subject, have we of 
 Surrey and Wyatt? — -and indeed the same may be 
 said of the whole court of Henry VIII., with the ex- 
 ception of the invaluable piece of biography of Wolsey 
 by his faithful secretary Cavendish. 
 
 The seventeenth century made some amends. Lord 
 Bacon’s Life of Henry VII. and Lord Herbert’s Life 
 of Henry VIII. are too well known to require parti- 
 cular specification.* Then followed Isaac Walton’s 
 delightful biographies of Donne , Wotton , &c. : gems, 
 which, “ within small compass, and in purest gold,” 
 
 in fact admitted to have been by his patron. Archbishop Morton, first 
 written in Latin. Utopia , vol. i. p. lxxxii-vii. 
 
 * I subjoin with pleasure Morhofs eulogy of the biography of 
 Henry VII. by Lord Bacon— first published, in a thin folio volume, 
 in 1622, with a portrait of the Monarch ; having, beneath, the very 
 quaint inscription of “ Cor regis inscrutabile.” tc Plenum hoc (says 
 the Dutch critic) omnis civilis et architectonic® artis opus ; quointe- 
 riora turn regni ipsius Angliae, turn omnis in universum prudentiae 
 
 highly offended, she obtained pardon. Of great forfeitures she gat men remission. 
 And, finally, in many weighty suits, she stood many men in great stead, either for 
 none, or very small, rewards, and those rather gay than rich. Either for that she 
 was content with the deed itself well done, or, for that she delighted to be sued 
 unto, and to shew what she was able to do with the King ; or, for that wanton 
 women and wealthy be not always covetous. I doubt not some shall think the 
 woman too slight a thing to be written of, and set among the remembrances of 
 great matters : which they shall specially think, that happily shall esteem her only 
 by that they now see of her. But me seemeth the chance so much the more wor- 
 thy to be remembered, in how much she is now in the more beggarly condition ; 
 nnfriended, and worn out of acquaintance, after good substance $ after as great 
 favour with the Prince, after as great suit and seeking to with all those that in 
 those days had business to speed : as many other men were in their times, which 
 be now famous only by the infamy of their ill deeds. Her doings were not much 
 less ; albeit they be much less remembered because they were not so evil. For men 
 use , if they have an evil turn , to write it in marble : and whoso doth us a good turn , 
 we write it in dws?— which is not worse proved by her ; for, at this day, she beg- 
 geth of many at this day living, who, at this day, had begged if she had not 
 Jbeen !” p. 56. 
 
526 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 will preserve their lustre for ages.* The opening of 
 the eighteenth century witnessed the very considerable 
 
 continentur. Invenies hie pacis et belli artes, in praxin ipsam deduc- 
 tas : nam e typo illo negifCiKmi plus intelligitur, quhm ex infinitis 
 praeceptis. Maximi facit hunc librum passim in scriptis suis Boclerus, 
 omnibusque commendat, ut sane commendari hi libri omnibus de- 
 bent in quibus quisque describitur, qualis in imperio fuerit, et qualis 
 interior ac familiarior vita. Nam to ^Sixov et to 7ro\tlncbv hie utrum- 
 que spectandum est.’’ Poly hist. Lit . vol. i. page 223, edit. 1714. 
 This folio volume was reprinted in 1676, with the reigns of Henry 
 VIII. Edward VI., and Mary. A few shillings only will secure 
 either edition. The same may be said of Lord Herbert's Henry VIII. 
 Lond. 1649, folio : both of them having been reprinted in Kennett’s 
 Hist, of England ; see p. 215, ante. Lord Spencer lately purchased 
 of Mr. Triphook a copy of the first folio of Lord Herbert’s book, on 
 large paper j the only copy of the kind which I remember to have 
 heard of. 
 
 * To swell thelist of eulogists of these delightful pieces of bio- 
 graphy — comprising the lives of Dr. Donne , Sir H. Wotton , Mr. R. 
 Hooker , Mr. G. Herbert , and Bishop Sanderson — were an idle and 
 perhaps unprofitable task. The original editions, with neat little 
 portraits by Lombart, are yet very desirable ; but the best is consi- 
 dered to be by Dr. Zouch, 1796, 4to. Dr. Zouch (as his life of Sir 
 Philip Sidney, 1808, in 4to. too palpably testifies) was not a fit 
 editor of Walton, A scholar, <c a ripe and a good one,” Dr. Zouch 
 undoubtedly was j but the heart must go in unison with the head — 
 impassioned feeling must now and then impart life and soul to scho- 
 lastic lore— in order to give such works as these a general currency 
 and a popular reception. A very neat edition, printed by Mr. Col- 
 lingwood at Oxford, in two duodecimo volumes, was published a 
 short time since, and has met with a considerable sale. 
 
 While this pen is engaged in the composition of these periods, 
 intelligence reaches me that a new edition of Walton's Lives is 
 about to be launched, by the tasteful and successful publisher of the 
 late unrivalled edition of honest Isaac’s “ Complete Angler It will 
 be comprised in one volume of the same form, with numerous wood 
 cut and copperplate embellishments, executed from original portraits 
 and designs. Considering therefore the popularity of the text, I 
 anticipate with perfect confidence the successful circulation of a work. 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 527 
 
 biographical labours of Stkype ; a writer, who, all 
 fidelity, and honest and honourable in the letter and 
 spirit of every thing which he wrote, seems, neverthe- 
 less, too frequently to have been under the influence 
 of a somnolency which it was impossible to shake off.* 
 Strype is a fine. Solid, instructive fellow, for a large 
 arm chair, in a gothic study, before a winter’s fire ; 
 but you must not deposit him on the shelves of your 
 Tusculum — to be carried to rustic seats in arbours 
 and bowers ; by the side of gurgling streams or rush- 
 ing cascades. There is neither fancy, nor brilliancy, 
 nor buoyancy, about him ; he is a sage to consult, 
 rather than a companion to enliven.^ Of the same 
 
 so calculated, in all respects, to promote the best interests of virtue 
 and morality. 
 
 * I am not sure whether this criticism be not a little too severe. 
 At least, there are some passages in his “ Life of Cranmer ,” (perhaps 
 the best of his performances) which entitle Strype to more laudatory 
 notice. When I read that fine passage, relating to Cranmer, which 
 is extracted in the Bibliomania , p. 328-9, to a distinguished scholar 
 and philologist, he would scarcely credit it as the production of its 
 author. “ I did not think (said he) that old Strype could strike 
 such a note as this !’’ 
 
 f Yet Strype must be consulted 3 but the possession of all his 
 pieces, including the Annals and Memorials, in their original folio 
 and octavo forms, will cost the enterprising Young Man somewhat 
 hard upon fifty guineas — if he set his heart on having them in russia 
 binding, as they glitter on the shelves of Messrs. Rivington and 
 Cochran. The dates and forms of these biographies are as follow : 
 Cranmer, 1694, folio : Sir Thomas Smith, 1698, octavo : Bishop 
 Aylmer, 1 701, octavo : Sir John Cheke, 1705, octavo : Bishop Grindal, 
 1710 , folio : Archbishop Parker , 1711, folio : Bishop Whitgift , 1718 . 
 folio. These biographies may be worth 10 1. 10 s. ; but they have 
 reprinted them very handsomely at Oxford, in uniform octavo vo- 
 lumes, for about half the sum 5 and my friend, Mr. Ponton, (Soc. 
 Roxb.) views with enviable complacency his lovely copies of these 
 reprints, on large PAPER~now very scarce— clad in the dark blue 
 
528 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 school or class is Dr. Knight ; whose Lives of Colet 
 and Erasmus are in every well appointed library, and 
 bring considerable prices ; merely because they con- 
 tain some interesting plates — executed by the respect- 
 able burin of Vertue.* Deprive these two octavo 
 volumes of their embellishments, and such is the 
 lethargy, or plodding humility, of their style— (al- 
 though the subject might have elicited energy from a 
 moderately instructed Tyro !) you can hardly buckle 
 yourself to the perusal of half a dozen pages. And 
 here, for the sake of juxta-position, I will briefly notice 
 Jortin’s Life of Erasmus , in two ponderous quartos, 
 of which mention has been before made in this work. 
 These volumes, which are little more than an incorpo- 
 ration of the materials of Le Clerc, are doubtless un- 
 worthy of their author.i* Why is an excellent Life of 
 Erasmus yet a desideratum ? 
 
 , and truly appropriate morocco binding of that “ cunning” artist 
 Charles Lewis. 
 
 * The date of Colet' s Life is 1724; of Erasmus's , 1726 : each in 
 a handsome octavo volume ; and worth 21. 2s., or 21. 125. 6d. apiece, 
 according to the condition. Sometimes the Colet has brought 31. 35. 
 and the Erasmus, 4 1. 4s. : but then they were primitives ! — in other 
 words, in primitive morocco bindings, with margins of tolerable 
 amplitude. I never saw them, either on small or large paper, in an 
 uncut state. Of the large paper, which I suspect to be commoner 
 than is generally supposed, copies bring as much as 7l> 7s. The 
 plates, by Vertue, are excellent of their kind ; leaving the similar 
 ones of Vandergucht) with which Tom Hearne used to stuff many of 
 his tomes) at an immeasurable distance. I know not how it is, but 
 every tasteful collector likes to have (( a good Knight The ex- 
 tracts, from these two Lives, in the work referred to in a previous 
 note, prove that I do not speak of them in an unauthorised manner. 
 
 f Mention has been made of this work at page 96, ante. It is 
 useful, and carefully compiled ; but wholly unanimated by a stroke 
 of genius. The life of one of the greatest wits of his age has pro- 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 529 
 
 Ungrateful should I be to omit the mention of the 
 biographical labours of the Rev. John Lewis ; whose 
 Lives of Wicliffe , Caxton , and Bishop Pecock 9 * are 
 much cherished in the libraries of the curious. They 
 are compositions of great care, apparent fidelity, and 
 some utility ; but, during their perusal, one is con- 
 scious of a feeling, somewhat similar to that from a 
 view of a dull, dead, level country, where the soil and 
 
 duced only sombre biographies. I once urged Mr. Roscoe to the 
 undertaking ; but he replied, and replied properly, that it required 
 a knowledge of the German language, which he wanted. Jortin’s 
 book, in two quarto volumes,- 175 8 — 60, may be worth 21. 12 s. 6d. 
 It has been reprinted for about 1 l. 45. After all, one gains the best 
 notion of Erasmus from a perusal of his Letters. 
 
 f The Life of Wicliffe , was published in a small octavo volume, in 
 1720 ; and was scarce, till its recent beautiful reprint at the Claren- 
 don press, | to be obtained for some nine shillings. There are copies 
 of this reprint on large paper. With the Life of Caxton , 1737, 8vo. 
 I am necessarily well acquainted, since the first and second volumes 
 of the Typographical Antiquities of Great Britain contain every thing 
 to be found in it — but its errors. See also vol. i. p. lx. Ixxiv. Why 
 does the infatuation of giving thirty shillings and upwards for this 
 superficial book (superficial, in the present advanced state of biblio- 
 graphy) continue ? The Life of Reynold Pecock, Bishop of St. Asaph 
 and Chichester , 1744, 8vo. was the last, and is the best, of Lewis’s 
 biographical labours. It has been, to the joy of all ecclesiastical 
 philologists, reprinted at the Clarendon press. § 
 
 t If ever Wicliffe’s Life be published in an enlarged form, it would be very de- 
 sirable to give notices (when obtainable) of copies of his supposed ms. version of 
 the Bible. Such copies abound in this country. Perhaps the finest of them is in 
 the library of the Royal Society, although my friend and neighbour, Mr. Douce, 
 justly exults over the splendour of his own copy. I think I have seen a dozen 
 copies, including portions of the version. 
 
 § I must not dismiss the commendable labours of Lewis, without mentioning his 
 Life of Fishery Bishop of Rochester, which is now being printed, at the Shakspeare 
 Press, under the eye of the Rev. Theodore Williams, Vicar of Hendon, to whom 
 the MS. belongs. I learn that the work is intended only for presents 
 
 M III 
 
530 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 produce are equally good, but where there is no va- 
 riety, and where wearisomeness as naturally follows. 
 
 Let me not omit the mention of that respectably 
 executed performance, put forth in a stately and even 
 splendid folio volume, entitled the Life of Cardinal 
 Wolsey , of which Dr. Richard Fiddes was the au- 
 thor,* in 1724, folio: and again in 1726, in the same 
 form. Another elaborate life of the same extraor- 
 dinary character has been recently put forth by Mr. 
 Galt, in 1812, 4to. : the reputed, and justly celebrated, 
 author of what are called the “ Minor Scotch Novels.” 
 
 And may not, by way of by play, a notice of the 
 Apology of the Life of Colley Cibber , written by that 
 dramatist himself, occupy a few moments of our at- 
 tention ? It is perfectly a performance sui generis : 
 full of humour, candour, pleasant prattle, and odd 
 incidents and conceits. Mr. Chalmers, in his Bio- 
 
 * Great expectations were formed of this piece of biography from 
 the “ Body of Practical Divinity published about four years before, 
 by the same author, in two folio volumes : and accordingly the " Life 
 of Wolsey” was graced by a list of subscribers, amounting to little 
 short of eight hundred ’.—including the names of almost every indi- 
 vidual and Body corporate of respect and distinction. These were 
 indeed the good old times” of subscription, and which enabled 
 Fiddes and Pope to “ put money in their purses” to some purpose. A 
 portrait of the author, full of intellectual vigour of expression, in 
 Vertue’s best manner, faces the title page ; another portrait of Wolsey 
 precedes the text. The third, and best, is that of Bishop Fox. Fiddes’s 
 book is so handsome in the small paper, that I will not recommend 
 the large, which is common enough. The former may be worth 11. Is. 
 the latter, double. Fiddes was attacked in the London Journal , and 
 he replied to it in three letters, 1725. His work, after all, is a mine 
 of useful intelligence, where one may digti 11 one is tired. Mr. 
 Galt’s biography of the Cardinal was reviewed in the Quarterly Re- 
 view, vol. viii. p. 163 ; and an admirable review of his Novels, above 
 mentioned, appeared in the Edinburgh, n°. lxxvii. 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 531 
 
 graphical Dictionary, vol. ix. 346-9, has done substan- 
 tial justice to the character of the author. This very 
 popular volume first appeared in 1740, 4to. and 
 has been frequently reprinted ; but I recommend 
 the recent elegant octavo reimpression of it, in 1823, 
 published at 1 6s. There are monotonous moments 
 in life, when the flagging spirits may be recreated 
 and strengthened by the perusal of Colley Cibber’s 
 Apology for the Life of an Actor.* 
 
 But adhering to chronological order, the reader 
 must be reminded that, in tracing the progress of bio- 
 graphy in this country, he is scarcely yet in the middle 
 of the eighteenth century : — about which time appeared 
 Dr. Middleton’s Life of Cicero, 1741, 4to. two vols. 
 an elaborate, learned, and admirably written perform- 
 ance.f The style of Middleton is considered to be as 
 pure English as can be read ; and whether Hume did, 
 or did not, form his own style upon that of this author, 
 it is certain that the late Mr. Fox (no mean arbiter in 
 literary taste) always spoke warmly of the biography 
 of Cicero, by Middleton ; for its style as well as its 
 
 * My friend, Mr. Joseph Haslewood, usually reads it in the March 
 and November Months ,• and it will be the amusement of his old age 
 (he says) to distend it into three bulky tomes by the illustration of 
 appropriate prints. 
 
 f Copies of this work are common, even on large paper. It is 
 printed in the handsome style of the period, and most inviting to the 
 perusal. There was scarcely a family of distinction, at the time, but 
 what possessed a copy of Middletons Cicero ; and when old libraries 
 now come to the hammer, you are pretty sure to find this work, in 
 mottled calf binding, with a broad border of gold on the sides, and 
 red or green sprinkled edges to the leaves. In this state it may be 
 worth 21. 2s. j and on large paper, another guinea to boot. It was 
 commodiously reprinted in 3 octavo volumes, now worth 1Z. 11$. 6d. 
 in neat calf binding. 
 
532 
 
 biography. 
 
 matter. Hard upon the publication of this work, 
 appeared the Lives of the Lord Keeper Guildford , Sir 
 Dudley North , and Dr. John North , by Roger North, 
 1742, 4to.* a substantial and commendable volume, 
 on many accounts; and of which I rejoice at the 
 reprint of the Life of the Lord Keeper, alone, in two 
 octavo tomes. 
 
 The Parentalia, or Memoirs of the Family of the 
 Wrens, were published in a handsome folio volume,, 
 in 1750; of which a copious account appears in 
 Savage’s British Librarian , vol. ii. p. 241-277. This 
 is a noble, gentlemanly looking book, and full of va- 
 luable materials. The mezzotint portraits of Bishop 
 Wren , Dean Wren , Sir Christopher Wren , and 
 Christopher Wren , (the son of Sir Christopher, and 
 author of the work,) command our attention, and 
 delight our hearts. A good copy of this desirable 
 book is worth 10/. 10 a\ A new edition of it, with 
 additions, and plates — together with a fresh portrait 
 of Sir Christopher — without any other portrait — has 
 been recently published in a large 4to. volume, by 
 Mr. Elmes, architect, at the price of SI. 3s. in bds. 
 
 In the year 1752 there came forth a handsome folia 
 volume, of which Arthur Collins was the author — 
 entitled Historical Collection of the Noble Families 
 of Chvendish , Holies , Vere, Harley , and Ogle ; with 
 portraits of these distinguished personages by Ver- 
 tue. This work should have been, perhaps, noticed 
 in the previous division of biography, but, wherever 
 
 * Copious extracts from this gossiping, and not unamusing, vo- 
 lume, appear in the Bibliomania , p. 407-9. A good calf-bound copy 
 of the first impression, is yet worth 2 1. 2 s. Works, like these, are 
 the most durable, as well as creditable, monuments which a family 
 can possess. May they increase and multiply in our land ! 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 533 
 
 noticed, it cannot be mentioned without great com- 
 mendation. The researches are elaborate; and the 
 facts are faithfully drawn out, and the conclusions 
 correct. Its graphic embellishment is its least praise.* 
 The name of Harris, as a writer of Regal Biographies , 
 is too popular to justify omission. His works are these, 
 the Life and Writings of James I. 1753, 8vo. ; Life 
 and Writings of Charles I. 1758, 8vo. ; Life of Oliver 
 Cromwell , 1762, 8vo. ; Life of Charles II. 1766, 8vo. 
 2 vols.f All these were reprinted, with the addition 
 of the Life of the Author , and of his Life of Hugh 
 Peters , in 1814, 8vo. five vols. : and crabbed as may 
 be the composition, and combatable the opinions, of 
 the author, yet these volumes must have a place in a 
 well stored library. Harris is perhaps, with two ex- 
 ceptions, the most wo^e-able writer in the English lan- 
 guage. All his works are professed to be taken “ from 
 Original Writings and State Papers.” 
 
 The reputation of Dr. Lowth, Bishop of London, 
 was assuredly not promoted by his Life of the great 
 William of Wykeham , published in a creditable octavo 
 form, in 1757.J The facts (collected from a period, 
 
 * The heads are, in fact, very inferior specimens even of the art of 
 the engraver, Vertue : but the book is scarce, and generally sells at 
 a high price : about 5 l. 5s. On large paper, it is necessarily much 
 scarcer. Messrs. Arch have a remarkably fine copy of the latter kind, 
 bound out of sheets, by Lewis, in red morocco, which they mark at 
 1 21. In this form the book has a most inviting aspect. Note : Collins, 
 the author, was the same man who wrote the Peerage of England. 
 
 f There are, I believe, copies of all these original editions on 
 large paper. They are unostentatiously printed ; and the small 
 paper sell for about 10s. 6d. a-piece. 
 
 t A good copy of Dr. Lowth's Life of Wykeham, in calf binding, 
 may be had for 10s. 6d. ; and a very good account of the earlier bio- 
 graphies of Wykeham will be found in Savage's Librarian. Why will 
 
534 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 abounding in facts of the most splendid description, 
 and relating to a man of the most splendid and muni- 
 ficent character) are thinly scattered, and of uninter- 
 esting description ; while the reflections are sparing, 
 and the style is languid. Even in antiquarian lore, 
 there is a dearth of intelligence : but the subject was 
 not suited to the taste, habits, and learning, of Lowth. 
 That eminent prelate flew at nobler game ; and his 
 success has been such as to rank him among the most 
 distinguished theologians of his country. The Life 
 of Wykeham was the mere fulfilment of a debt of 
 gratitude. 
 
 The Strawberry Hill Press , which, upon the whole, 
 
 not some zealous and well-read Wickamite give us an orthodox quarto 
 volume of the Life of perhaps the greatest Prelate of his age, as well 
 as country ? How it would have cheered the latter days of this muni- 
 ficent and enlightened man, could he have had, not only a distinctly 
 prophetic view of the establishment of the Art of Printing, but of 
 a complete vellum copy (the only one known) of Aristotle's Works, 
 printed by the elder Aldus, 1495, &c. in six folio volumes, deposited 
 in the library of his own college at Oxford — and a copy, too, the 
 property of a scarcely much less distinguished character — Thomas 
 Linacre ! ! There they lie, those beauteous and covetable tomes 
 — on the shelves of New College Library, in their (second) rough- 
 calf coated binding, ( f r ’t would a saint provoke!’’) shorn some- 
 what in the margins, especially the first — with the autograph of 
 dear old Linacre in the title page. Why, Why, good Mister Warden, 
 will you not call a caput, to divest such treasures of their worthless 
 outsides, and to clothe and protect them in the rough-grained mag- 
 nificent morocco of Charles Lewis, the 6 7 raw Bibliopegist ? The 
 bibliographical world is under infinite obligations to the Rev. Mr. 
 Gaisford, the Greek Professor at Oxford, for his discovery of this 
 first tome upon vellum — pronounced over and over again, by Mr. Van 
 Praet, to be a mere phantom, a non-entity, a bubble, a shadow, and 
 I know not what. But there it is ! — in the library of New College $ 
 and I have seen, handled, and half adored it. I should therefore 
 call this book the Linacre Planet in the bibliographical hemisphere. 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 535 
 
 sent forth more trivial than solid works to the public* 
 conferred nevertheless a considerable obligation upon 
 it by printing the auto-biography of Edward Lord 
 Herbert of Cherbury* in a neat quarto volume* in 
 1 764 : with a portrait of the author lying under a tree* 
 engraved by Walker from an original of A. Oliver.* 
 This work was reprinted by Dodsley, for sale* in 
 1770, 4to. : and a second reimpression appeared in 
 1792. Old William Cole* the great Chronicler of 
 scandal in the times in which he wrote* designates this 
 work* not inaptly* as being “ most romantic*” and the 
 author of it as “the vainest of all mortals* as also the 
 most of a Quixot* a character one would not expect 
 in the author of “ De Veritate”\ 
 
 We have recently had a new edition* under the 
 care of Thomas Roscoe* Esq. of the Life of that most 
 capricious man and wonderful artist* Benvenuto 
 Cellini ; of which I understand the original Italian 
 textj to be a singularly naif and amusing volume. 
 
 * The reader, if he feel so disposed, may consult the Bibliomania, 
 p. 718, for particulars about the Strawberry Hill edition : from which 
 it seems uncertain whether 100 or 200 copies were struck off. It is 
 now worth about 31. 3s. : with the " Genealogical Table of the Her- 
 bert Family” annexed ; and which Walpole strove anxiously to sup- 
 press on account of its inaccuracies. The Dodsley reprint may be 
 worth 7s. 6d. 
 
 f Consult Bliss’s edition of Wood's Athen. Oxon. vol. iii. col. 242. 
 And for a specimen of the rhodomontade stuff of the noble biogra- 
 pher, read the extract in col. 239, note 4. The work, De Veritate , 
 &c. alluded to by Cole, was that in which Lord Herbert openly pro- 
 fessed Deism, and which was first published at Paris in 1624, 4to. 
 The motives which induced the author to write this work, are stated 
 at p. 171 of his Life; and in Granger's Biographical Hist, of England, 
 vol. ii. p. 319 — as noticed by the diligent and exact Editor of Wood. 
 
 X The auto -biography of Cellini was published by Martello, with- 
 out date (but 1730) in 4to. : a volume, which must find a place in 
 
5SG 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 Dr. Nugent was the first translator of it (“ from the 
 original Tuscan”) in 1771, 8vo. 2 vols. ; a book, by 
 the by, of no ordinary occurrence. The portrait, 
 prefixed to Mr. Roscoe’s edition, is unworthy, in all 
 respects, of the character of the work. 
 
 We are fast hastening towards our own times. In 
 1772, octavo, appeared the Life of Sir Thomas Pope, 
 Founder of Trinity College , Oxford, written by the 
 celebrated Thomas Warton.* This, like the piece of 
 biography previously mentioned, is unworthy of the 
 great reputation of its author. The famous Life of 
 Charles V. by Robertson, is matter of history, and 
 as such has been before treated. f 
 
 Reluctant indeed should I be to dismiss these pages 
 to the world, without, not only the mention, but the 
 strong recommendation, of Mason's Life of Gray , 
 1775, 4to. : with a portrait of that eminent poet pre- 
 fixed. I should rather perhaps call this book, Gray s 
 Memoirs of Himself as the biography is composed 
 
 all curiously furnished cabinets. It is raref Avoid the counter- 
 feit of it published at Florence, which has the “ table of Persons” 
 with the pages numbered. A new edition of it -appeared at Milan , in 
 two quarto volumes, 1810, of which the first few leaves only are 
 enriched with various readings : but a good edition of the Works of 
 Cellini appeared in 1806, 8vo. 2 vols. forming part of the Italian 
 Classics. Cellini’s name in bronze and silver relievos, is as fre- 
 quently profaned as that of Rafaelle in china vases and salvers. 
 
 * A few shillings will secure this purely antiquarian tome $ which 
 may be numbered among the dry diets” of Dr. Buttes's Dry Din- 
 ner, consisting of eight seuerall Courses .* 1599, 12mo. A volume, by 
 the by, of most excessive rarity, and with the money to purchase 
 which, you may command a haunch of venison, and every moist 
 herb which Dr. Kitchener’s culinary oracle unfolds. 
 
 t See page 329, &c. ante. 
 
 t The original MS. written at the dictation of Cellini, is still at Florence. 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 537 
 
 chiefly of the poet’s own letters. Delightful indeed 
 are these “ Letters evincing the taste of a virtuoso, 
 the attainments of a scholar, and the gaiety of a clas- 
 sical wit. The neatest and best edition of Mason is 
 that printed in 1778, at York, in 4 vol. crown 8vo. 
 worth about 24 s. ; but, of alt the portraits of Gray, I 
 consider that prefixed to the quarto, as decidedly the 
 best. I now approach, with a keen recollection of the 
 pleasure, which, in common with every tolerably well- 
 educated Englishman, I have felt, and shall continue 
 to my latest hour to feel, in the perusal of it — the 
 Biography of Dr. Samuel Johnson, by James Bos- 
 well * his companion, his chronicler, and his friend. 
 This fascinating, and I may add truly original, com- 
 position, is a work for all times. In reading it, we 
 
 * The Life of Johnson, by Boswell, was first published in two 
 quarto volumes, in 1790, “ and was received by the world with ex- 
 traordinary avidity. It is a faithful history of Johnson’s life j and 
 exhibits a most interesting picture of the character of that illustrious 
 moralist, delineated with a masterly hand.” So says — and says very 
 justly — Mr. A. Chalmers, in his Biographical Dictionary , vol. vi. 
 p. 174. To the best of my memory, an excellent and interesting 
 review of this masterly performance appeared in the Monthly Review. 
 The second edition formed the occupation of the latter part of Mr. 
 Boswell’s life, and is, of course, the best : but, since the death of 
 the biographer, his own life has been added to that of his master 5 
 and Johnson and Boswell are now, in all shapes, and at all prices, 
 the property of the public. I still adhere to the reasonableness and 
 feasibility of an illustrated Johnson’s life, taking the last quarto 
 as a substratum, for the better reception of the prints 3 and as the 
 portraits of the illustrious men, whose company and conversation are 
 recorded in the text, are turned over, or gazed upon, let us ask our- 
 selves who, of the originals, now survive } Earl Spencer, Lord 
 Stowell, Mr. Grenville, and that venerable bibliopole, Mr. G. Nicol, 
 are the only ones with which my recollection serves me. “ Eheu 
 fugaces labuntur anni” ? — and life itself is a magic lantern, where 
 figures and events flit across with the celerity of conjuration ! 
 
538 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 see the man — •“ Vir ipse . 9 '. . . 
 
 “ Sic oculos, sic ille manus, sic ora ferebat.’ , 
 
 We even hear his voice, and observe his gesticula- 
 tions. The growl of discontent and the shout of tri- 
 umph equally pervades our ears. Walking, sitting, 
 reading, writing, talking, all is Johnsonian. Such 
 another piece of domestic painting, in black and 
 white, is perhaps, no where to be seen. We place 
 Boswell's Johnson in our libraries, as an Enthusiast 
 hangs up his Gerard Dow in his cabinet — to be gazed 
 at again and again ; to feed upon, and to devour.* 
 
 The auto-biography of Gilbert Wakefield should 
 not be forgotten. These memoirs were written and 
 published by himself in 1792, 8vo. and a new and en- 
 larged edition of them appeared in 1804, in two 
 similar volumes. The work is almost purely scho- 
 lastic ; that is, it developes little more than the habits, 
 feelings, and pursuits of a secluded student, enamoured 
 of his books. A scholar, and an ardent and multi- 
 farious one, Gilbert Wakefield undoubtedly was ; but, 
 with his talents and attainments, we regret that a 
 more elegant and interesting air is not given to the 
 
 * “ In good sooth” there is no fitter word for the degree of gra- 
 tification derived from the perusal of Johnson’s Life by Boswell. 
 But the charm is almost exclusively national ; inasmuch as the 
 power and felicity of Johnson’s intellect greatly consisted in colloquial 
 eloquence : and that eloquence must be necessarily less felt or un- 
 derstood by foreigners. Thus, when abroad, I was frequently asked, 
 <c Why are you all so fond of Dr. Johnson ? His Rambler is, with 
 us, his principal performance : and his Life, by Boswell, is less read.” 
 But, suppose the French had such a Life of their Racine , or Montes- 
 quieu, or Voltaire , would they not “devour' the pages of such a 
 piece of biography ? Vicomte Chateaubriand, who loves and un- 
 derstands English thoroughly, shall answer this question. 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 539 
 
 pages of his biography : and while the sincerity of his 
 religious principles, and the integrity of his private 
 life, cannot fail to be readily admitted, it must be 
 regretted that these excellent qualities did not pro- 
 duce a more placable temper in argument, and a more 
 peaceful tone in literary and political controversies. 
 Why should human beings, gifted as was Gilbert 
 Wakefield, dip their pens in gall , when there is abun- 
 dance of milk within their reach ? And why do 
 eminently intellectual characters seem to strive their 
 utmost to make us disgusted with the pursuits and 
 consolations of Literature ? Nevertheless, let Gilbert 
 Wakefield’s biography find a place upon the shelves 
 of the curious — for a sum somewhat less than a sove- 
 reign. 
 
 We now approach the delightful biographical la- 
 bours of Mr. Roscoe ; which, at the period of their 
 publication, and to the latest period, procured, and 
 will continue to procure, for their author, a deservedly 
 high reputation. The Life of Lorenzo de Medici , 
 first published at Liverpool, in 1795, 4to. two vols. 
 quickly attracted the attention, and excited the ap- 
 plause, of a discerning public.* The style is pure 
 and elegant ; the facts are interesting and instructive ; 
 and the moral or application is (if I may so speak) of 
 
 * This work was well criticised in the Monthly Review and Bri- 
 tish Critic 5 but it was to a strong commendation of it in the popular 
 notes of the Pursuits of Literature, that the author was indebted for 
 its rapid and increased popularity. It has now gone through several 
 editions, chiefly in octavo, 3 vols. : but an elegantly bound copy of 
 the original quarto is yet worth 31. 135. 6d. The work possesses 
 many charms of appropriate embellishment, in vignettes, from me- 
 dals and coins, &c. : and the fine portrait of Lorenzo at the begin- 
 ning, can hardly be viewed with indifference. The printing is deli- 
 cious. 
 
540 
 
 BIOGRAPHY* 
 
 an incomparable tendency. These facts were new to 
 the greater part of English readers ; fresh fountain 
 heads of pleasing intelligence were explored; and a 
 stream of knowledge flowed forth, at once bright, pure, 
 and nourishing. I hardly know a work, of its kind, 
 which evinces throughout a more delicate taste, exer- 
 cised upon a more felicitous subject. Roscoe is almost 
 the regenerator, among Englishmen, of a love of Ita- 
 lian literature. In 1805 appeared his more elaborate 
 performance of the Life and Pontificate of Leo , in 
 four quarto volumes ; printed at Liverpool in all the 
 luxury of paper and press work by Mr. M‘Creery, and 
 of which a certain number of copies were struck off 
 on large paper. It cannot be denied that great ex- 
 pectations were formed of this work ; and it must be 
 as fairly conceded that those expectations were, in a 
 great measure, not realised. But it may be ques- 
 tioned whether the love and support of a very singular 
 hypothesis, did not injure the popularity which the 
 recollection of the merits of Lorenzo’s life had justly 
 prepared the public to anticipate ? — and if Mr. Roscoe 
 had not been the apologist of Lucretia Borgia , the 
 history of Leo had been thought worthy of the bio- 
 graphy of his grandfather.* Upon the whole, these 
 
 * An elaborate and somewhat fierce notice of this work appeared 
 in the Edinburgh Review , vol. vii. page 336 ; chiefly, as it should 
 eem, in consequence of Mr. Roscoe* s becoming the champion for 
 the purity of a woman’s character, which appeared to be infamous 
 beyond redemption, from the prevailing evidence of contempora- 
 neous history. But, surely this was a mootable point ; and no living 
 reputation could be tarnished by the discussion. If the Father and 
 the Brother of Lucretia were really monsters of the age, were the 
 daughter and the sister necessarily alike criminal ? And would the 
 virtuous and accomplished Bembo have been the eulogist of a wo- 
 man, had her character been deserving of the deep shade of infamy 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 541 
 
 works are a proud monument of the taste and research 
 of their author ; and, after all, it may be doubted 
 whether Ginguene and Sismondi have not lighted 
 
 with which other testimonies had darkened it ? Yet, it cannot be 
 dissembled that there exists a volume in the Latin language, of the 
 date of 1697^ 4to. written by a John Burchard,* Master of the Ce- 
 remonies of the Chapel of Pope Alexander VI. the father of Lucretia, 
 which very extraordinary volume charges her with such practices, as 
 if true, are overwhelming demonstrations of depravity and guilt. 
 Perhaps the more vulnerable part of Mr. Roscoe’s great work of the 
 Pontificate of Leo X. is the very unamiable character of Luther 
 which he has drawn. But surely the coarseness, and even virulence 
 of Luther, was the foible and fault of the day. I possess, and have 
 read much of, Seckendorff’s Commentarius Historicus et Apologeticus 
 de Lutheranismo , Lips. 1694, folio, (a book, which I strongly recom- 
 mend to the ecclesiastical antiquaryf) and am abundantly n .iced 
 that, if ever a man was raised by Providence for the work which 
 he had to accomplish, and which he did accomplish, it was Martin 
 Luther. I could select passages from the writings of his opponents, 
 (not excepting even the classical More and courtly Stapleton) and 
 especially from those of Eckius, which evince equal coarseness of 
 feeling and expression. These are different “ Tu quoques ” from 
 those of Robert Green ! And yet, having, when at Landshut, 
 handled Eckius’s copy of the Complutensian Polyglot, once belong- 
 ing to Demetrius Chalcondylas, and sat in his chair, and placed his 
 doctor’s cap upon my head — I cannot find it in my heart to turn to 
 his Ars enquirendi et damnandi Hcereticos , or to his De Primatu Petri , 
 ctdversus Lutherum , or to his Enchiridion Locorum Communium , ad- 
 versus Luther anas — for specimens of Billingsgate latinity. And so, 
 we will pronounce them both to be alike innocent or guilty. 
 
 * It is called, Historia Arcana, sive de Vita Alex andri VJ. Papce sen Excerpta ex 
 Diario J. Burchardi , Sfc. The famous Leibnitz was the editor. A copy of this 
 singularly rare and curious volume is in the library of Mr. R. Wilbraham, and 
 another is in that of Mr. Douce. I have seen both copies, and examined much of 
 the volume. Gordon incorporated a part of it in his Biography of Alexander Vi . 
 &c. Lond. 1729, folio. I am not sure whether a copy of Burchard’s book would 
 not fetch seven guineas. Did either of the copies just mentioned feteh so many 
 shillings ? I trow not. 
 
 + A good copy of Seckendorff should be snapped up, when obtainable, at 1/. 10*- 
 
5 42 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 their torches at the flame kindled by Roscoe.* For 
 the sake of the subject , let me here annex the Life of 
 Poggio Bracciolini 3 by the Rev. Mr. Shepherd, in 
 
 * It is in his later work “ On the History of the Italian Republics 
 of the Middle Ages," 8vo. sixteen vols. that Mr. Sismondi has taken, 
 I think, unwarrantable liberties with, or drawn, unfounded con- 
 clusions from, the text of Mr. Roscoe’s works. The veteran English 
 author however was not slow to reply. He furnished his quiver with 
 a goodly store of arrows, and plied them with activity and success : 
 
 Aeivy) 5s xXotfyv) ysvsT upyugsoio (3 <o7o. 
 
 In other words, in 1 822, Mr. Roscoe put forth an elegantly printed, 
 and as elegantly written, work, entitled <f Illustrations Historical and 
 Critical of the Life of Lorenzo de Medici," &c. This volume is full 
 of interest $ and it is delightful to see with what courtesy and urba- 
 nity the author notices the labours of Fabroni and Pozzetti connected 
 with his own biography of Leo) and with what temper, spirit, and 
 success, he answers the animadversions of the able, but too sensitive 
 and precipitate, Sismondi. Mr. Roscoe may be fearless about the 
 result. This is probably the last time that his name will adorn these 
 pages : and, in taking leave of it, how can I better express my feel- 
 ings than in the beautiful language of the author of the Sketch Book ? 
 
 Mr. Roscoe is independent of the world around him. He lives with 
 antiquity and with posterity : with antiquity, in the sweet commu- 
 nion of studious retirement \ and with posterit} r , in the generous 
 aspiring after future renown. The solitude of such a mind is its state 
 of highest enjoyment. It is then visited by those elevated medita- 
 tions which are the proper aliment of noble souls, and are like 
 manna, sent from heaven, in the wilderness of this world.’ ’ What a 
 flow of sentiment and of style is evinced in this highly polished, 
 and heart- touching period ! It looks like amber, poured out from 
 the charmed phial of a necromancer — bright, warm, and transparent ! 
 No wonder that a very old, black-letter, Roxburghe-club, friend, on 
 visiting me almost every alternate Saturday evening, exclaims, among 
 his first observations <c hand me the Sketch Book, and I’ll read to you 
 what Washington Irving says of William Roscoe.” But though 
 I grant my friend all that he requires, yet I stick out for a few, per- 
 haps superior, passages in Bracebridge Hall, Of both these works — 
 “ anon, anon,” good Master Bernardo. 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 543 
 
 1802, 4to. ; another important acquisition to the 
 knowledge of Italian literature in the middle ages.* 
 We are now “ in the thick and bustle 5 ’ of living 
 biographers ; but let a tribute of literary respect be 
 paid to the recent dead. The auto-biography of 
 Gibbon, attached to his Posthumous Works, edited by 
 Lord Sheffield, has been perhaps the most popular 
 production, of its kind, of modern times, •f- It is win- 
 
 * A copy of Mr. Shepherd’s Poggio Bracciolini in 4to. is, I learn, 
 obtainable for 1 l. Is. With this work, should be united the Rev. Mr. 
 Greswell’s Memoirs of Politian, Pico de Mirandula , &c. with other 
 biographies of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, 1801, Svo. price 
 7 s. 6d. : and the Rev. Mr. Berington’s Literary History of the 
 Middle Ages , 1814, 4to. : fora criticism on which, consult the Edinb. 
 Review, vol. xxiii. p. 229. I must ingenuously affirm, that the dis- 
 appointment felt in the perusal of this latter work was not exclusively 
 confined to Protestants. 
 
 f It was, first published in 1796, prefixed to the Letters and Mis- 
 cellaneous Works of Gibbon, in 2 vols. 4to. An excellent account of 
 it appeared in the Monthly Review, vol. xx, p. 78, N. S. This polished 
 little auto-biographical gem was read in all circles, and admired by 
 critics of every description. Nor were the Letters, and especially 
 the Journal of Gibbon’s Studies, considered to be less commendable. 
 The latter is indeed a valuable legacy bequeathed to posterity. Bating 
 the well known prejudices of the author, which are here compara- 
 tively softened and subdued, I know of nothing more inviting to 
 perusal — more seductive to all the honourable objects of intellectual 
 cultvation and gratification — than this <f Journal.” It makes us in 
 love with our study and our books : and situated as was Gibbon’s 
 library, overlooking a portion of the lake of Geneva, one can hardly 
 conceive any earthly luxury, to an enlarged mind like his, to 
 have been more complete. Indeed, Gibbon occasionally describes 
 himself as marching into his Library, of a bright, beauteous morn- 
 ing, to handle his Byzantine historians, with all the zest and activity 
 of an horticulturist into his hot house — to cut his black Antigua pine, 
 or gather his favourite nectarine, yet impearled with the early dews 
 of a hot-house ! The author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman 
 Empire seems to revel in the intellectual banquet placed before 
 
544 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 rung in an unusual degree. The periods flow with a 
 sort of liquid cadence. The facts are beautifully 
 brought together, and ingeniously argued upon ; and 
 the life of a studious Recluse has something about it 
 of the air of a romantic Adventurer. This is attri- 
 butable to the charm — the polish — the harmony, of 
 the style. But the auto-biography of Gibbon is, in 
 fact, the consummation of art : and never were pages 
 more determinedly and more elaborately written for 
 the admiration of posterity. How different is the auto- 
 biography of Hume ! But both these great writers 
 were the same — in their own memoirs and their his- 
 tories : the former, like Johnson’s description of Gray, 
 had generally “ a kind of strutting dignity, and was 
 tall by walking on tip-toe : ” the latter, all simplicity 
 and perspicuity, would rather be courted by, than 
 court, the Graces : and his style was grace itself. 
 
 The biographical labours of Mr. Archdeacon 
 
 him j* and, indeed Nature, which, from bodily infirmities, denied 
 Gibbon the luxuries of out door exercise, seems to have abundantly 
 compensated this defect, by enduing him with a hale, active, and 
 comprehensive mind, which was scarcely sensible of fatigue. I 
 hardly know a greater favour conferred on the republic of literature 
 by Mr. Murray, than the reprint of these instructive volumes in the 
 commodious form, and at the reasonable price, of an octavo, in five 
 vols. A useful Index is added. The work is published at 32. 13s. 6d. 
 in boards. 
 
 * I know of few passages — indeed, I know of none — which so completely, and so 
 deliciously (if I may so speak) describes the comforts of a well-stored library, as 
 the following, from the Author of the Sketch Book. “ When all that is worldly 
 turns to dross around us, these only retain their steady value. When friends grow 
 cold, and the converse of intimates languishes into vapid civility and common 
 place, these only continue the unaltered countenance of happier days, and cheer 
 us with that true friendship which never deceived hope, nor deserted sorrow." 
 Vol. i. p. 31. Edit. 1820. Can sentiment (I ask) be purer, or language more 
 harmonious, than this ? 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 £15 
 
 €oxe here present themselves for immediate and dis- 
 tinct notice. They are considerable in extent, and 
 meritorious in quality: and, as they appear to my 
 judgment, are likely to be yet more appreciated by 
 posterity than in the present times. His Memoirs of 
 the two Walpoles * possess sterling and unquestionable 
 merit: and his recent Memoirs of the Duke of Marl- 
 borough^ afford abundant evidence that the powers of 
 
 • The Memoirs of Horatio Lord Walpole , appeared in 1 802, 4to. ; 
 and those of the Life and Administration of Sir Robert Walpole , Earl 
 of Orford, in 1798, 4to. three vols. They have been reprinted, in oc- 
 tavo, with the omission of the curious documents, and private corres- 
 pondence, which form the third volume $ and the second octavo 
 edition, in 4 vols. has only a portion of it. No well appointed library 
 can be considered as complete without this work. It sells for 2 1. 2 s. 
 
 f This work, comprising f f the original Correspondence ” of the great 
 general whose deeds it celebrates, was published in ISIS, 4to. 3 vols.; 
 and has been also reprinted in octavo, with the plans of the battles in 
 a thin quarto. Never were past battles better described as well as 
 fought. The author, as his preface informs us, has judiciously availed 
 himself of the professional talents of Major Hamilton Smith — so well 
 known and highly estimated by military judges. The great battles of 
 Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Blenheim, are here fought over again with 
 a precision and effect which we seek in vain in the somnolent 
 pages of Lediard and I do hope that every well educated, and well 
 connected “ Young Man,” whose eyes may chance to glance over 
 this work, will forthwith betake himself to the perusal of these in- 
 structive and patriotic volumes. It has been said (and I believe on 
 good authority) that the present great Captain of the Age declared, 
 from the account of the Battle of Ramillies, as here described, that he 
 considered that victory to be one of the greatest on record. The 
 
 X The Life of John Duke of Marlborough, with cuts , 1736, 8vo. 3 vols- In the 
 same year was published a pompous folio, called The Military History of Print* 
 Eugene and John Duke of Marlborough, with portraits and plans of battles. A copy 
 may even now be worth 1/. 1 1$. 6d. Previously to the appearance of Mr. Coxe’s 
 biography of Marlborough, there appeared, and it is said at the command of Bona- 
 parte, a military life of him, in three octavo volumes : written with great care and 
 considerable impartiality. The indirect view of Bonaparte was, to exalt his own 
 victories upon the defeats of the Generals of Louis XIV. 
 
 n n 
 
546 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 his pen do not decay with the course of his years : for 
 Mr. Coxe is now in the plenitude of septuagenarianism . 
 But should not these works have been chronicled in 
 the following department of biography — as they 
 are entitled Memoirs P No matter : let them here 
 pass. The opening of the nineteenth century was 
 marked by a publication, of the biographical species, 
 of which the reputation, in its way, is perhaps as 
 likely to be as permanent as that of Boswell’s Life of 
 Johnson. The reader will, I dare say, immediately 
 anticipate the Life and Posthumous Writings of Wil- 
 liam Cowper the Poet , in two quarto volumes, 1802, 
 by the late poet William Hayley.* The sensation 
 produced by this publication was as delightful as it 
 was general. Such a series of Letters (from Cowper) 
 •had been hardly ever before perused ; and the mode of 
 illustrating his Lz/e, by the insertion of his letters, was 
 eminently judicious and happy. The public caught 
 with avidity at such charming productions — such 
 unequivocal proofs of an enlightened mind and a be- 
 nevolent heart — and Cowper’s seemed to be the ex- 
 ample of every thing of which he proved the beauty in 
 theory. But the philanthropist mourned over those 
 dark shadows which occasionally hung over a mind, 
 
 manoeuvres that led to it were, at the time, equally new and deci- 
 sive. A delightful review of this work appeared in the Quarterly , 
 vol. xxiii. p. 1-73. I should not close this note without adding, that 
 there are copies on large paper, of all the quarto productions of 
 Mr. Archdeacon Coxe. 
 
 * One of the best efforts of critical taste in the Edinburgh Review, 
 will be found in the strictures on this publication, vol. ii. p. 64. See 
 also vol. iv. p. 273, &c. an equally interesting specimen of criticism 
 on a third quarto volume of Cowper' s Letters, published by the same 
 editor. But I am also in duty bound to notice a brief and able review 
 of the Poems of Cowper, in the Quarterly, vol. xvi. p. 116. 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 547 
 
 naturally bright* cheerful; and serene. If; in any soul; 
 religion seemed likely to impart her consolations; it 
 was in Cowper’ s; but an early and unsettled state 
 of mind; arising from physical aberrations which no 
 earthly physician could rectify, afflicted and over- 
 whelmed the sensitive and yielding frame of this ex- 
 cellent man.* Yet he seemed to be always smiling, 
 even in sorrow : and, extraordinary to relate, in the 
 moments of his deepest depression, there was often a 
 gay and elastic play of heart — for, it was in one of 
 these moments, that he penned his Johnny Gilpin! 
 Such is the “fearful and wonderful” mechanism of 
 man. Flow opposite, in all respects, are Boswell's 
 Johnson and Hay ley s Cowper! — and yet, as before 
 intimated, the works and memories of both will live 
 to the latest posterity. We are now fully within the 
 limits of the present century, when there appeared an 
 animated and interesting piece of auto-hiography by 
 
 * I could have wished a stronger tone of severity to have been ex- 
 pressed, in the authority last referred to ( Q . R. vol. xvi. p. 123) a- 
 gainstthe publication of those Memoirs of Cowper, 1816, 8vo. which 
 were written by himself, and which betrayed his morbid and unhappy 
 state of feelings in an attempt to commit suicide. There is perhaps 
 no species of mental depravation, connected with a lust of lucre, 
 more deserving of reproof and castigation, than that which led to the 
 publication of these Memoirs. First, this composition could never 
 have been intended for the public eye j and was therefore on every 
 account sacred. Secondly, it could only lead to the debasement of 
 that amiable creature, whom it was the bounden duty of the publisher 
 to have kept as free from all imputation as the pages of Hayley 
 had justly represented him. Thirdly, if the feeling which led to this 
 publication were a religious one, I must say that it is one of the most 
 perverted and mischievous views of religion with which I am acquaint- 
 ed. Cant, or lucre, in its genuine form, was, I fear, the source or the 
 motive of this highly injudicious publication. We love and respect 
 Cowper too sincerely, to ie drag his frailties from their drear abode.’ ' 
 
5 48 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 the late Richard Cumberland, in one quarto volume,* 
 which has been reprinted in octavo, and of which I 
 warrant the perusal to be a source of entertainment to 
 the reader. Cumberland was a brilliant scholar, dra- 
 matist, and prose writer ; almost the last of the John- 
 sonian school. 
 
 Great was the satisfaction felt, about this time, by 
 the appearance of two pieces of ecclesiastical biogra- 
 phy, from the pens of two eminent Oxford scholars. 
 First, The Life of the Chancellor Waynflete, Bishop of 
 Winchester , and Founder of Magdalen College , by Dr. 
 Richard Chandler — written about the year 1790, 
 but not published till the death of its author, in 1811 :* 
 
 * This auto-biography was elaborately criticised in the Edinb. Re- 
 view, vol. viii, p. 107, &c., where, it seems to me, substantial justice 
 was not rendered it. It begins by calling the work a “ sort of gos- 
 siping one” — and concludes by pronouncing it to be “the produc- 
 tion of no ordinary man.” Much, perhaps, may be said, to correct, 
 and reconcile, these apparently contradictory extremes : but the per- 
 formance of Cumberland is, in truth, in many and most parts, tho- 
 roughly racy and entertaining. His whole portrait of Bub Dodding- 
 ton is executed perfectly (i con amore.” It has all the freshness 
 of Rubens with the force of Velasquez. His successful defence of 
 the imputed domestic moroseness of Bentley, has endeared Cumber- 
 land to the Cantabs ; and we shall see what good use has been made 
 of his materials, in the forthcoming biography of that great Critic by 
 Dr. Monk, Dean of Peterborough. The late Mr. Lackington, the 
 publisher, gave the author 500Z. for this volume. 
 
 f This piece of biography, however carefully composed, and how- 
 ever true to chronological authorities, is in truth, but a heavy book. 
 The notes do not betray curious research, and the absence of inter- 
 esting facts is not compensated by vigour or fluency of style. And 
 yet, Waynflete was a sort of a second William of Wykeham ! His 
 portrait looks commandingly in the frontispiece, and the volume is 
 handsomely printed at the Bensley press j but, to my poor fancy, 
 the whole length, sitting figure, of this excellent Prelate, attired in 
 his robes — which crowns the entrance-porch of Magdalen College— 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 549 
 
 secondly, The Life of Alexander Nowell , Dean of St. 
 Paul's, by the Rev. Ralph Churton, in 1809, 8vo.— 
 a volume* which has enjoyed a greater share of popu- 
 larity than the one previously mentioned. Of its 
 author, I have before had occasion to speak with the 
 commendation to which his talents and character so 
 justly entitle him.^ And here, let me make brief but 
 honourable mention of Mr. Churton’s Lives of the 
 Founders of Brazen Nose College published in 1800, 
 8vo. and now difficult to procure, especially in a large 
 paper form.J 
 
 The Life and Writings of Sir Philip Sidney ap- 
 peared in a slim quarto volume, in 1808, from the pen 
 
 should, on no account, have been omitted to be transferred to copper. 
 1 never pass under this porch, for the Bibliomaniacal Revels in the 
 library of the present excellent and erudite President of the College, 
 Dr. Routh — without stopping “ a brief instant’ * to contemplate and 
 commend this solid piece of not incurious sculpture. There were 
 Giants in those days $*' and Wykeham and Waynflete were of the 
 number. Note : the large paper of Chandler’s book, when attired 
 in purple morocco, has a most episcopalian air: and it is worthy of a 
 place even on the shelves of an archiepiscopalian library. 
 
 * The biography of Dean Nowell by Mr. Churton is, without an 
 unmeaning compliment, among the happiest specimens of its kind 
 which the present century has seen. The very portrait of the good 
 old Dean, placing his hand upon his fishing rod, makes a Walto- 
 nian dance a capriola. The large paper, worth about 21. 12s. 6d. } is 
 getting fast out of the market j and the small, (worth 1Z. Is.) begins 
 now to be scarce. My friend Mr. Haslewood has a gaily adorned, 
 illustrated copy of it : classing it among his books of sports. But 
 Paley and Parsons, also “ true Sons of the Angle,” might be ranged 
 in a similar class. Yet this must not be. 
 
 f Seepage 78, ante. 
 
 X A perfect copy of the book should have a supplement, printed in 
 1803, 8vo. containing a plate of Bishop Croxton’s monument. Messrs. 
 Payne and Foss affix no price to such a perfect copy of this work. 
 Mr. Haslewood has it — choked with illustrations. 
 
550 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 of the late Dr. Zouch, prebendary of Durham. This 
 
 wor k which intended to embalm the memory of the 
 
 most illustrious man of his age, and of which the au- 
 thor had established high claims to reputation— if it 
 did not fall still-born from the press, at least disap- 
 pointed the well founded expectations of the curious 
 and learned. The very portrait prefixed, so different 
 from the received one at Penshurst, (and which shines 
 with so much splendour in Mr. Harding’s Illustrious 
 Portraits) threw a chill upon the volume. It was 
 almost a scarecrow to frighten away purchasers. In 
 1810, appeared the Life of Torquato Tasso , by the 
 Rev. John Black, in two quarto volumes ; a work 
 deserving, on many accounts, a place in a well-chosen 
 library.* Those who love the memory of Tasso, and 
 the literature of his times, will do well to make 
 themselves masters of the text and notes of these in- 
 structive volumes. 
 
 The last, but not the least, in this bright squadron 
 of biographical champions, is Mr. Robert Southey, 
 our present poet laureat. The excellence of his Life 
 of Nelson has been before noticed,^* To that work has 
 
 * A copy of it is worth 91. 12s. 6d. in good calf binding. 
 
 t See page 485, ante. The substance of this charming little piece 
 of biography was given in the review of an elaborate Life of Nelson, 
 by the Reverend James Stanier Clarke, and Mr. M'Arthuk, pub- 
 lished in 1809, in two quarto volumes.]: This review appeared 
 
 + This work naturally excited great expectations. The death and victory of 
 Nelson were unprecedentedly glorious and triumphant : and gentlemen flocked, 
 almost in crowds, to Messrs. Cadell and Davis, the publishers, to set their names 
 down as subscribers. Not fewer, I believe, than 1200 copies of an eight-guinea 
 book were secured before the day of publication : including those on large paper. 
 Two copies were even printed on vellum: but the result proved a little unfortu- 
 nate. Not but what the contents of the work were composed of authentic docu- 
 ments, and included much really valuable matter : but the text, sufficiently adorned 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 551 
 
 succeeded his Life of John Wesley, and the Rise and 
 Progress of Methodism, 1820, in two large octavo vo- 
 lumes. The pith of this animated production appeared 
 in a Quarterly Journal, called The Correspondent :* 
 Its sale has been great, as might have been expected ; 
 and it is hoped that a pen, which can execute such 
 pieces in so masterly a manner, will not be unem- 
 ployed on other similar subjects : when the great 
 work, (the History of the Peninsular War) which now 
 
 in the Quarterly, vol. iii. page 218, &c. and it was one of those 
 reviews which undoubtedly and justly, contributed to establish the 
 reputation of that Journal upon its present solid basis. Numerous 
 were the conjectures about its author. The remarkably splendid 
 peroration had induced a belief that the pen of Mr. Canning might 
 have been exercised on it. That peroration is incorporated in the 
 published life of Nelson by Mr. Southey ; and although, as probably 
 beyond the comprehension of an ordinarily educated seafaring man, 
 it may be thought less applicable to the biography than to the 
 review, yet there is no right-minded scholar who would wish it away. 
 It is like a splendid last act of an interesting play, which brings 
 down thunders of applause from an enthusiastically approving 
 audience. But the whole review, as well as the Life, rivets you to 
 your seat ; and peradventure, the embryo seeds of future valour 
 may be traced to this production. I hope and trust that Mr. Murray, 
 the publisher, will put forth ten thousand copies of his next edition, 
 in one pocket volume, at 5s. the copy : and let us have Lord Nelson 
 in the frontispiece — cut on the steel plate of that truly marvellous 
 mechanic, hight Richard Perkins. 
 
 * Of which Journal, three numbers only appeared. But the same 
 spirit with which Mr. Southey has executed all his articles in the 
 Quarterly Review , connected with Methodism, most strikingly ap- 
 pears in his reputed review of the works of Huntingdon, the Coal- 
 heaver : see vol. xxiv, p. 462. 
 
 by plates, wanted a sort of continuous stream of interesting narrative ; and the 
 work could only be leisurely consulted as “ matter of record.” It is, however, by 
 no means a common book; and may be worth 41. 4$. A copy, on vellum, was 
 sold at the sale of Mr. Hodgson’s library, Feb. 1824, for 31/. 10 j. 
 
552 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 occupies his attention, shall have been completed. 
 The author is yet in the vigour of mind and body : 
 possessing the “ mens sana in corpore sano.” 
 
 As the fourth and last division of this biogra- 
 phical department,* I come to notice the Memoirs 
 and Anecdotes of distinguished people, or of the times 
 in which eminent characters lived : and, as far as I 
 am able to anticipate, there will be little, consistently 
 with my plan, and considering what has been pre- 
 viously accomplished, to execute. I commence im- 
 mediately with the Hommes et Dames Illustres of 
 Brantome ; of which the best edition, incorporating 
 all the works of the author, is that published at the 
 Hague in 1740, 12mo. fifteen vols.^j. Brantome is 
 
 # Perhaps I ought to have referred the reader, in regard to the 
 lives of foreigners, to the pages of Brunet, vol. iv. p. 456, for an ac- 
 count of publications exclusively confined to local biography. Not 
 a city in Italy, nor perhaps in France, but what has had its quarto or 
 folio printed record of the eminent men whom it has brought forth. 
 Something, and much similar, may be said of our county Histories. 
 They frequently contain Memoirs and Memorials of eminent men, 
 no where else to be found — and among lining writers of topography, 
 I know of few who shew so commendable a partiality to this depart- 
 ment of research, as the Rev. Mr. Surtees, author of the magnifi- 
 cent history of Durham, in three folio volumes. 
 
 t This edition, which contains historical annotations, in neat calf 
 binding, may be worth 5 1. 5s. The principal portion of Brantome’ s 
 works consists of his Mtmoires des Grands Capitaines Frangais j and 
 I should think that his pages might be foraged with success by the 
 great Scotch novellist. We heartily thank the Sieur de Brantome for 
 what he has handed down to us relating to our favourite Mary.J 
 Many of his female characters are hit off in a manner to justify the 
 observations of Barbier. 
 
 X We owe to Brantome, I believe, the preservation of the affecting song which 
 Mary sung, in the vessel, while quitting the shores of France to return to her king- 
 dom. Yet there may be reasonable doubts of its authenticity. Was the sensitive 
 mind of a woman, in her situation, in a state to warble ditties ? 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 553 
 
 frequently a most amusing and instructive writer; 
 but his naivete often borders upon what must be 
 considered not a little licentious. He has preserved 
 many important facts, as well as entertaining anec- 
 dotes, which must have otherwise perished. It is 
 pleasant to find the unaccountable omission of his 
 name by Laharpe, supplied by a short, but smart 
 notice of him, by Barbier.* 
 
 As I have begun with French Memoirs, or works 
 written in the French language, I will continue and 
 conclude with them : observing, by the way, that, of 
 all species of writing, it is one in which the French 
 excel the most ; even in their own literary republic : 
 — and it is quite clear, that we have few productions, 
 of a similar character, which can pretend to vie with 
 them, and none that can eclipse them. La Harpe 
 has given a good notion of the quality and effect of 
 meinoir-writing.-f* Three of the greatest statesmen of 
 
 * Barbier’s observations are these : — Cet auteur, qui avoit la 
 g&nie de la cour, s’est plu h peindre les hommes avec ces traits qui 
 attachent l’esprit et remuent le coeur. II assaissonne les faits les 
 plus curieux du sel de son style, qui n’6toit fait que pour lui seul. 
 Comme il avoit participd aux desordres qui regnoient alors parmi 
 les courtisans, il faut £tre en garde contre certaines licences, aux- 
 quelles son imagination se livre trop ais^ment/’ Bibl. d'un Homme 
 de Gout, vol, iv. p. 17 . Renouard, not very vaguely, surmises, that 
 it may be probable, in the present rage for reprints, that some one 
 may republish the works of Brantome : the Paris edition of 1787> in 
 eight vols. 8vo. being in little request. Cat. de la Bibl. d'un Amateur , 
 vol. iii. p. 294. Suppose the French were modernised, and pretty 
 portraits added from legitimate originals ? 
 
 + “ Les nombreux m^moires qui nous restent du dernier sibcle 
 offrent un plus grand fonds d’instruction, et surtout plus d’agrement 
 que les historiens. Ils reprdsentent plus en detail et plus na'ivement 
 les faits et les personnages; ils fouillent plus avant dans le secret des 
 causes et des ressorts, et c’est avec leur secours que nous avons eu. 
 
554 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 France have had their names and transactions incor- 
 porated in a series of Memoirs, which cannot fail to 
 be familiar to the well-educated “ Young Man. 5 ’ I 
 mean Sully, Richelieu, and Retz* La Harpe 
 
 dans le sibcle present, de meilleurs morceaux d’histoire. II est peu 
 de lectures plus agreables, si l’on ne veut qu’etre amuse ; mais gene- 
 ralement il en est peu dont il faille se defier d’avantage, si l’on ne 
 veut pas 6tre tromp£/’ Cours de Literature, vol. ii. p. 172. 
 
 f Brunet is gloriously communicative about various editions of 
 the Due de Sully : but, fortified by him and Renouard, I cannot, in 
 conscience, allow either my young or old Collector to dispense with 
 an edition of the original work in folio as a curiosity only. Sully is 
 represented as sitting attentive to his own applause, in a chair of state, 
 while his Secretaries address him thus : — “ Upon which. Sir, you 
 thought proper to act thus, or to do this, &c.” The most curious 
 and genuine edition of this work is that which is printed in the castle 
 of Sully, by a printer of Angen, under the designation of Amsterdam, 
 chez AUthinosgraphe, #c. in 1638, in two folio volumes. . . .Renouard 
 boasts of a copy of it on large paper, 2 vols. in 1, in ancient 
 binding. Cat. de la Bibl. d'un Amateur, vol. iv. p. 136. The Amst. 
 edition of the modern Mdm. de Sully, 1723, in 12 small duodecimos, 
 is worth a couple of guineas, if it be only for the sake of the side 
 pocket in your travelling carriage. The quarto London (Paris) 
 edition of 1745-7, in three vols. on large paper, with the portraits 
 of Odieuvre inserted, is scarce; and worth some 7 1- 7 s. The editions 
 of the English translation need not be enumerated ; but that pub- 
 lished by Miller, in four octavo volumes, 1810, with good heads by 
 Scriven, is among the best. So popular is Sully with us, that an 
 abridgement of it, in two octodecimo volumes, is just announced by 
 Messrs. Whitaker. The memoirs or history of Cardinal Richelieu 
 were published in two pretty duodecimo volumes, in 1650 — with a 
 continuation in five vols. in 1667 — both by the Elzevirs. These five 
 latter volumes are rather miscellaneous memoirs, letters, and instruc- 
 tions. The seven volumes, in such condition as Mons. Renouard 
 appears to possess them, must not be precipitately hoped for. The 
 Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz (during the reign of Louis XIV.) 
 were put forth in four crown octavo volumes, at Amst. in 1731 : to 
 which you must join the Mdmoires de Guy Joly , Amst. 1738, 12mo. 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 555 
 
 speaks in a species of extasy of the cleverness dis- 
 played in the memoirs of the latter ; but an English- 
 man has almost a national feeling for those of Sully ; 
 and where Retz is read once, in this country, Sully 
 may be read twenty, or even forty times. Henry IV. 
 and his prime minister remind us occasionally of our 
 Elizabeth and her Cecil, so that the partiality is easily 
 accounted for. 
 
 But strong and commendable as our neighbours 
 undoubtedly are, for their 'political and literary Me- 
 moirs, they are culpable in the extreme for the publi- 
 cation of a tissue of works, under this title, which 
 develope the sickly sentiments and disgusting intrigues 
 of courtiers of every description. A French Duchess 
 of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, seems to 
 have always had a secretary at her elbow, even at her 
 toilette, to register the flippancy of her conversation, 
 as well as the indelicacy of her conduct. I may men- 
 tion the names of Motteville, Montpensier, Maza- 
 rin, and Maintenon* alone : nor must the more anti- 
 
 2 vols. : and those of Madame la Duchesse de Nemours , Amst. 1738, 
 l2mo. 1 vol. — and then you have a concatenation of court and do- 
 mestic intrigues, sharp and witty sayings, and most marvellous 
 occurrences, which will cause more than ordinary surprise. Consult 
 Barbier , vol. iv. p. 22. Fine, clean copies, of these seven volumes, 
 are of rare occurrence $ and must be paid for : perhaps to the tune of 
 3 1. 33s. 6d. They were all reprinted at Paris, in 1817* in six octavo 
 volumes — worth 1 Z. 11s. 6d. in bds. As to Cardinal Mazarin, 
 the books relating to him appear to be almost numberless. Renouard 
 has seventy-one porte feuilles, in 4to., called Recueil de Mazarinades. 
 It was the Duke de la Valliere’s copy, but is much increased by him. 
 See Cat. de la Bibl. d'un Amateur , vol. iv. p. 146, for other Maza- 
 riniana. 
 
 * These Dames, and a few others, shall be marshalled and dis- 
 patched in the following order. 1 . Madame de Motteville : Md- 
 moires pour servir d Vhistoire de Louis XIII., &c, Amst. 1723, 12mo. 
 
556 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 quated Memoirs of Queen Margaret, Sister of 
 Francis L be exempted from something of a similar 
 censure ;* while the Amours of their Kings , and of 
 
 5 vols. : Mademoiselle de Montpensier, Les Mtmoires de, : Amst, 
 1735, 12mo. S vols. reprinted in 1776. Hear what La Harpe says 
 about these two publications. <e These Memoirs, although written with 
 extreme negligence, are nevertheless sufficiently communicative of 
 many particulars and anecdotes which are not wholly indifferent. 
 Those of Madame de Motteville are better deserving of perusal, 
 bating her extreme attachment to Anne of Austria : an attachment, 
 sufficiently praise-worthy in friendship, but a little suspicious in his- 
 tory.” Cours de Litterature, vol. vii. p. 176. Barbier designates 
 the Montpensier Memoirs as “ written with an elegant simplicity, 
 but too crowded with minutiae and trifles.” Bibl. &c. vol. iv. p. 23. 
 He says those of Madame de Motteville “ contain many little facts 
 stated with great simplicity, and written with a sufficiently noble 
 spirit.” The “ Young Man” must not give more than 3s. 6d. per 
 volume for each set. The Memoirs of the Duchesse de Mazarin 
 were published in a small volume under the title of Mtmoires de 
 M. L. D. D. M. at Cologne, in 1675, l2mo. They are scarcely 
 worth purchasing. Not so those of Madame de Maintenon ; of 
 which, the author is De la Beaumelle, and of which the edition of 
 1757, 12mo. fifteen vols. must be sought after — and may be worth 
 perhaps 21. 2s.X Barbier’s brief but brilliant criticism upon it (vol. 
 iv. p. 45) will whet the appetite of the curious in this lore : “ but in 
 order to know the true character (continues Barbier) of this woman, 
 you must procure the edition of her life and letters published by 
 Auger at Paris in 1806, 12mo. 6 vols.”— and obtainable, I may add, 
 for a louis d’or — in the Metropolis of France. Of a few other 
 Ladies evincing the same character and talent, purchase, if you will, 
 the Memoires de la Duchesse de Longueville, 1738, 12mo. two 
 vols.; de Madame de Caylus, 1804, 12mo. : best edition. Each 
 may be worth 5 s. a copy. 
 
 t Her Memoirs were first published in 1628, 8vo. and M. Renouard 
 is the enviable possessor of a copy of this book, once belonging to the 
 
 t The critical remarks by M. Le V. are by Voltaire. La Beaumelle had ex- 
 cited the indignation of Voltaire by the following passage : II y a eu de plus grands 
 poetes que V. II n’y en a pas eu de mieux pag^s. 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 557 
 
 their Princes of the Blood Royal* are chronicled in 
 little wretched duodecimos, rendered yet more con- 
 temptible by the absence alike of wit and useful intel- 
 ligence. Still there are many useful and interesting 
 memoirs of Generals, Statesmen,* and Philosophers, 
 
 family of De Thou, on large paper. They were twice republished, 
 more correctly, by the Elzevirs , in 1658, 12mo. and for the fourth 
 time, by Godefroy, at Liege in 1713, 8vo. A few shillings will secure 
 a copy of either impression. 
 
 * I will here chronicle a few of these regal Memoirs, without pre- 
 suming or pretending to recommend one edition, or one work, in 
 preference to another. Louis XIII. and Louis XIV. Histoires des 
 Regnes de.% Amst. 1720, 12mo. forming the seventh and eighth vo- 
 lumes of the duodecimo edition of Mezeray’s history ; by P. H. de 
 Limiers. Due d’Orleans : Memoir es de — depuisl'an 1608,-1636. 
 Amst. 1685, 12mo. To this is sometimes added, M^moires d’un 
 Favory de son Altesse Roy ale, Mr. Le Due d' Orleans. Leyde , 1668, 
 12mo. f * This little volume (says Renouard, who seems to hug his 
 copy of it — in yellow morocco) is rare and always sharply looked 
 after/’ The thorough bred bibliomaniac scorns the tender of the 
 copies of the reimpressions of 1669, 1670, and 1702. Henri IV 
 and Louis XIII. : L' Intrigue du Cabinet sous — par Anquetil: Didot. 
 1818, 8vo. 2 vols. As to the pitiable tomes, under the titles of Vie 
 privee, Amours, or Secrets of these Monarchs, and especially of Louis 
 XV., let them be destroyed — as lighters of fires or pipes. 
 
 f Such, for instance, as Bassompiere, D’Estrades, Conde, Lo- 
 menie, Villeroy, and Rochefoucault. Of the first, get the edition 
 of Cologne, by Pierre de Marteau, Elz. 1665*8, 12mo. 2 vols. A pretty 
 and rare book : worth 10s. 6d. Pierre de Marteau is a “ nom de 
 guerre.” Consult Essai sur les Elzevirs, pp. 10S-1 10 : 116. These 
 Memoirs were recently translated (with additions) into our own lan- 
 guage, and published by Mr. Murray of Albemarle Street, in one vo- 
 lume octavo. Secondly, the Due D’Estrades : from 1637 to 1677 
 Londres (in fact, at the Hague ) 1743, 12mo. 9 vols. Amusing 
 books : and worth 1/. 4s. Of Conde, see that you have the reeent 
 Paris edition of 1820, 8vo. 2 vols. : containing forty fac-similes of 
 
 X Look well after Les Codicilles de Louis XIII., 1643. 24mo. : a very rare little 
 book, and usually found in a cruelly shorn state. 
 
558 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 of the eighteenth century, which may be safely and 
 advantageously placed upon the shelves of our libra- 
 ries ; and he, who, giving up the gratification of 
 choosing pic-nic copies — clad in morocco, or satin- 
 wood coloured calf, of sundry curious and droll edi- 
 tions— shall be satisfied with the Collection de Me- 
 moires particuliers, in sixty-seven octavo volumes,* 
 may obtain, at one purchace, every thing which may 
 be reasonably desired ; although I should here pro- 
 
 the writings of several illustrious men (including the great Cond6) 
 of that renowned family. Fourthly, of Lomenie, Comte de Brienne, 
 Amst. 1719, 12mo. three vols. : 12s. 6d. Of Villeroy, Secretary to 
 Charles IX., Henry III., and Louis XIII., purchase, for one guinea, 
 the Amst. edition in seven duodecimo volumes. If any unexplored 
 MSS. exist at Paris, connected with this work, a new edition should 
 forthwith appear. But let the Memoirs of Marshal Berwick, of 
 which the true edition is that of 1778, in two vols. 12mo. on no ac- 
 count he omitted. It is a curious and instructive work : the notes, 
 by Mons. Hook, are valuable. The Memoirs of James II. “ written 
 with his own hand ” are frequently cited in these notes. This work 
 may be worth 7s. 6d. Lastly, who has not heard of, if not read, 
 Rochefoucault } The edition of 1754, 12mo. 2 vols. is the first. 
 The style exhibits all the strength of Tacitus, says Barbier : but the 
 same sound critic and bibliographer recommends, exclusively, the 
 improved and enlarged edition of Renouard, in 1804 — with additions 
 taken from the autograph of the illustrious author.” This is as it 
 should be, a cheap book. 
 
 * A universal collection of particular Memoirs relating to the His- 
 tory of France appeared in 1785, and the following year, in sixty- 
 seven octavo volumes : comprising two volumes of tables “ C'est 
 dans les M^moires (says Barbier) qu’il faut chercher ces details in- 
 teressans, qui plaisent, davantage a 1’imagination, en depouillant la 
 veiite de ce qu’elle a quelquefois de trop imposant dans les grandes 
 histoires 3 c’est lh surtout qu’on peut voir petits interns opdrer les 
 grandes revolutions.” Bibl. d'un Homme de Gout , vol. iv. p. 58. 
 But read the entire article in Barbier : little more than two pages. 
 A copy of this work in good French binding may be worth 2 11. 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 559 
 
 bably notice La Vie cC Henri Quatre, by Hardouin 
 de Perefixe,^ and the Memoires de Margaret de 
 Valois, the first Queen of that monarch.^ 
 
 The beginning of the eighteenth century witnessed 
 the publication of perhaps the most popular volume of 
 memoirs ever put forth in France — under the title of 
 Memoires de Grammont, of which Anthony Hamil- 
 ton was the author . % All the better French critics 
 unite in extolling the style, wit, and sentimentality, 
 
 * The beautiful edition of this interesting piece of biography by 
 the Elzevirs is, when in fine condition and bound in morocco, worth 
 about 1 1. Is. 
 
 f The English translation of these Memoirs, by Codrington, is now 
 a scarce book, though it may be obtained for a few shillings. They 
 are well deserving of perusal. 
 
 t First of all, the Grammont enthusiast (for, in spite of every 
 thing said above, two out of three of my readers will, I fear, prove 
 to be such) must turn over the leaves of the pretty quarto edition, 
 printed in 1772, 4to. at Strawberry -Hill : of which somewhat of a 
 tempting description appears in the Bibliomania, at p. 720 : and of 
 which only one hundred copies were printed — and of these, thirty 
 were sent as presents to Paris. The first, unornamented edition ap- 
 peared in 1743 j afterwards, with the works of the author, Anthony 
 Hamilton, in 1749, six volumes, 12mo. Is Horace Walpole’s the 
 first ornamented edition ? A copy of it may be worth 2Z. 2s. As to 
 the quarto edition of 1792— copiously and kindly as Brunet has treat- 
 ed it — 'it is a second rate production on the score of art. The octavo 
 editions, published by Mr. Miller in 1809-12, are preferable, although 
 less ostentatious and imposing. The engravings are stippled by 
 Scriven. It is a very cheap book. After all, Grammont’s portraits, 
 with some trifling exceptions, admit of a happier effort of art. Good 
 copies, from undoubted originals, executed in the style of the “ Por- 
 traits of Illustrious Personages” (see p. 514, ante) and accompanied 
 by handsome paper and printing — to which add a few pithy, perti- 
 nent, and palatable, notes — could not fail to form a publication most 
 agreeable to the taste of the public on the score of Art. The beau- 
 tiful gallery at Althorp (from which I w r ill fearlessly say that three 
 of the most exquisite Grammont prints have been recently publish- 
 
560 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 of this hook up to the skies. I may be singular in my 
 feelings, and perhaps severe in my opinion ; but, if 
 you deprive this work of the exquisite ease and polish 
 of its style , it seems to me to contain but little wit 
 and less wisdom. In short, one hardly knows where- 
 fore, but the leaves of this book are turned over by 
 hands, and perused by eyes, which are forbidden to be 
 exercised on other books of comparatively less mis- 
 
 ed)* afford rich materials towards such a work : and the portrait, 
 there, of the Countess of Grammont in particular, by Lely, is among 
 the sweetest known representations of that interesting, and barbarous- 
 ly treated, original. The best edition of Hamilton’s Works (of course 
 including these " Memoirs”) is by Renouard, in 1812, 4 vols. 8vo. : 
 with twelve engravings from the designs of Moreau and St. Aubin. 
 Of this edition, four copies only were printed on large paper, and 
 one upon vellum. The vellum copy (with the original drawings) is 
 with Renouard, in seven small quarto tomes. He has also one of the 
 large paper ; and ihe Duke of Devonshire, Earl Spencer, and Mr. 
 Grenville possess the remaining three. A petty stereotype impres- 
 sion of the same works, by the same publisher, appeared in 1812-16, 
 in five octodecimo volumes. 
 
 The reader may, if he pleases, peruse the animated eulogies upon 
 these Memoirs by La Harpe Cours de Litte'rature, vol. vii. p. 318, 
 and Barbier : Bibl. d'un Homme de Gout , vol. iv. p. 30. I accord 
 fully in every thing which relates to style and pleasantry : ready and 
 lively repartee : but I must be permitted to doubt the force of the wit 
 and the propriety of the moral. In other words, are intrigue and 
 criminality to be tolerated and applauded, because the gentlemen, 
 guilty of it, go to court, and wear flowing perukes, and white fea- 
 thers in their hats ? — and the ladies, equally guilty, appear in bro- 
 cades of silk or satin, topped with stomachers of pearls and point 
 lace ? There is, to my old-fashioned feelings, a thorough heartless- 
 ness pervading the whole book : the sketches are also, at times, very 
 flimsy, and the wit is usually pointless. But enough. 
 
 * JEdes Althorpiante. I allude particularly to the portraits of Nell G wyn, the 
 Duchess of Portsmouth, and Mrs Middleton. 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES, 
 
 561 
 
 chief. It may indeed be called, in too many instances, 
 a privileged volume of systematic profligacy. 
 
 This seems to be the proper place to make mention, 
 and most honourable mention, of a work, under the 
 title of Memoir es, which is rather, perhaps, in the na- 
 ture of a biographical Dictionary — but which, for in- 
 trinsic merit, and general utility, is greatly superior to 
 most publications of its kind. It is the Memoir es 
 'pour servir a VHistoire des Hommes Illustres ; of 
 which Niceron is the well known author. Having 
 before* strongly pointed out the merits of this per- 
 formance (of which indeed some few of the previous 
 pages of this work bear evidence) it remains only to 
 entreat the ardent Young Collector to consider these 
 Memoirs as among the absolutely necessary founda- 
 tion stones of a well chosen library. 
 
 Perhaps nothing should now detain me from no- 
 ticing the most interesting collection of Literary Me- 
 moirs, of which, not only France, but any other coun- 
 try, can boast. The reader will doubtless anticipate 
 the work entitled Memoires Hisioriques Litteraires, 
 et Anecdotiques , &c., in which Baron de Grimm and 
 Diderot^ cut the most conspicuous figures ; and 
 
 * Let me stand excused for again referring to the Bibliomania , 
 p. 71, for a high eulogy of this work. It consists of 40 duodecimo 
 volumes— with a Supplement usually bound in four additional vo- 
 lumes — from the year 1729 to 1740: and a good copy of it will 
 produce 6/. 16s. 6d. The biographies are brief ; but the catalogue 
 of the works of each illustrious man introduced, is usually full, me- 
 thodical, and most accurate. You cannot fail to consult Niceron but 
 with advantage. 
 
 f This work consists of seventeen goodly octavo tomes, of which 
 the first of the three parts, into which it is divided, was published in 
 1812. The ensuing two parts were published in the ensuing year. 
 Elaborate and lively reviews of it appeared in the Quarterly (volume 
 OO 
 
562 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 which forms “ a piquant picture of good society at 
 Paris, during the reigns of Louis XV. aud Louis XVL ,, 
 Such is the announce in the title-page. With this 
 may be united, the Mdmoires et Correspondance de 
 Madame d’Epinay.* Similar works and publications, 
 under the form of Letters, will be found in the next 
 branch or division of this work, entitled (e Belles Let - 
 tres 
 
 There is no occasion to be diffuse on the Memoirs 
 of the literary, scientific, political, or philosophical, 
 characters of our own country. Many of these have 
 been incorporated in the previous pages under the 
 
 ix. x. xi.) and Edinburgh Critical Journals. Of its fame, Renouard 
 not inaptly observes, that “ this voluminous collection has received a 
 certain fashionable support, and the perusal of it may be considered 
 truly amusing — but only for those who have leisure. ’Tis an excel- 
 lent work for the country.” He speaks of the great rarity of copies 
 on vellum paper ; and especially of the xviith supplemental volume, 
 published by Barbier — which is almost unfindable in this state. Cat. 
 d’un Amateur , vol. iii. p. 342. Whatever may be the degree of a- 
 musement found from the perusal of these gossiping volumes, I will 
 put it to the sound and impartial heads of our neighbours to say, 
 whether they do not betray a state of society, in the upper classes, 
 ripe for all the ruinous consequences of the revolution which followed? 
 Grapes are not gathered from thorns, nor figs from thistles. I will 
 just add, that a copy of Grimm, in the ordinary state, well bound, 
 may be obtained for SI. Ss. 
 
 * The Memoirs and Correspondence of Madame d’Epinay, 
 which contain a good number of letters of Grimm, Diderot, and 
 Rousseau, were published at Paris in 1818, 8vo. in three vols. There 
 are copies, on fine vellum paper, worth perhaps 1 1. 165 . “ Si l’on 
 
 avoit voulu oter (says Renouard) de ce livre toutes les choses incon- 
 venantes, il auroit fallu en retrancher beaucoup ; mais le mieux eut 
 6t6 d'abord de ne pas les publier” Cat. de la Bibl. d'un Amateur $ 
 vol. iii. p. 342. These volumes may be considered rather in the light 
 of a Supplement to the preceding work — and to the shelves of a ru- 
 ral residence let them be forthwith transported. 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 563 
 
 departments of “ History ’ and <c Biography But a 
 few, and those popular, works shall bring up the rear 
 of this division of u The Library Companion.” To 
 speak with reference to chronology , the memoirs of 
 Colonel Hutchinson and John Evelyn,* though 
 wholly dissimilar in their contents, are alike admirable 
 
 * To commence with Hutchinson and Evelyn — although it were 
 hardly possible to mention two works more dissimilar in themselves: 
 the former developing the active spirit of a brave and generous sol- 
 dier, the latter the tranquil and instructive course of life of a gentle- 
 man and a scholar. There can be no question however about the 
 quantity of interest imparted by these very opposite and valuable 
 publications. The former is read, admired, and probably in part for- 
 gotten : the latter is made up of materials, which are the property of 
 all times, and the theme of admiration of all ages. Yet great is the 
 praise due to the fluent and naive style of the author of the Memoirs 
 of Colonel Hutchinson. That author was the wife and widow of the 
 Colonel : a woman of equal spirit, talent, and virtue. The Memoirs 
 are those of a brave, intrepid soldier — one of Cromwell’s Generals — 
 and Member for the County of Nottingham in the Long Parliament : 
 also Member for the Town of Nottingham in the first Parliament of 
 Charles II. These Memoirs were published for the first time, from 
 original documents, in a handsome quarto volume, in 1806 , under the 
 editorial care of the Rev. Julius Hutchinson, a descendant : but they 
 are not confined to the personal transactions of the Ancestor — for 
 within the same pages are introduced many amusing anecdotes of 
 several of the most distinguished characters of the times. A Life of 
 the authoress is also prefixed. This charming piece of biography 
 has been most judiciously republished in an octavo form, equally to 
 the comfort and economical convenience of all readers and lovers of 
 the tempestuous and hardy period to which they relate. An excel- 
 lent review of the work appeared in the xiiith. volume of the Edin- 
 burgh Review. 
 
 And now, for the gentle Evelyn. There can scarcely be a 
 reader in England, Scotland, or Ireland, but what, through the Me- 
 dium of Reviews and Magazines, has had some acquaintance with 
 the Memoirs of this amiable and accomplished man : apparently, 
 the ornament of every circle, and the object of general applause, 
 during the latter part of the seventeenth century. Evelyn vva» at 
 
564 
 
 BIOGRAPHY", 
 
 in their intrinsic merits, and should be among the 
 foremost of my Young Man’s acquisitions in the 
 English department of Memoirs. I will only briefly 
 mention Ballard’s Memoirs of Learned Ladies of 
 Great Britain ; the Memoirs of the Earls of Warren 
 and Surrey , by Watson ; the Genealogical History of 
 the House ofYvery , by Anderson, and the Memoirs of 
 
 least the Sir Joseph Banks of his times. I have before* had occa- 
 sion to notice his intimacy with the leading families of rank, which 
 appears little, if at all, to have spoilt his natural frankness of 
 manner, and sincerity of character. It is gratifying to know, that 
 a third volume, containing the small, detached, works of Evelyn 
 (including his Sculptura , but excluding the Syfoaf) is about to be 
 published in a cpiarto form, as <f companion meet” for its pre- 
 cursors, the Memoirs. A good copy of Evelyn, even in white calf 
 binding, with full charged gilt tooling, may be had for 5 1. 15s. 6d. 
 These tomes are delightful Library Companions” for the coun- 
 try — on retreating, for the autumnal season, from the “ fumum, 
 et opes, strepitumque” of our noisy and murky metropolis. And 
 happy the country gentleman who forms his taste, and regulates 
 his conduct, by the example of John Evelyn ! But there would be 
 no end to the indulgence of a subject of this kind : and therefore, in 
 conclusion, I earnestly recommend a perusal of a notice of these Me- 
 moirs in the Quarterly Review , vol. xix. p. 1-54, of which Mr. Southey 
 is the reputed author : and which is executed perfectly con amore,” 
 and in the Reviewer’s very best manner. 
 
 Watson’s History of the Ancient Earls of Warren and Surrey , 
 1782, 4to. 2 vols. may be, and doubtless is, a valuable book to the 
 antiquary ; but it has little general interest. Yet it holds up its head 
 in the market, to the tune of 41. 4s. in an uncut state : see Payne's 
 
 * AZdes Althorpiance , vol. i. p. xlvi, &c. 
 
 t “ Or a Discourse of Forest Trees f &c • The first edition was in 1664, in a slim 
 folio form : and I once handled at Mr. Triphook’s, a copy of “ this first edition,” 
 in such delicious blue morocco attire, sprinkled with stars, and intersected with 
 harmonious lines, that I know not if I would have exchanged it even for a morocco 
 copy of what is considered to be the best edition — that by Dr. Hunter, in 1776, 
 4to. 2 vols. now worth about 21. 12a-. 6d. This again is said to be improved in a 
 subsequent edition of 1812, 4to- 2 vols. : containing the Editor’s “ last correc- 
 tions j” and worth 4/. 14*. 6tf. in substantial calf binding. 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 565 
 
 the Hollises , by Messrs. Hollis and Disney,* in order 
 to make way for a work of, which the success can 
 scarcely be doubted, from its extensive sale, under a 
 new title, and expanded into fourteen not very port- 
 able octavo volumes. The reader immediately anti- 
 cipates the Biographical and Literary Anecdotes of 
 William Bow ye r, (Printer) and of many of his 
 
 Cat. 1822, no. 5811. Clothed in russia binding, you have it, in the 
 same catalogue, for 5 1. 5s. Of the House of Yvery, by Anderson, 
 published in two capacious octavo tomes, 1742, dear and covetable 
 is the possession of a perfect copy. It has long been accounted a 
 crack article in the most finished collection. Mr. Dent points with 
 little short of ecstacy to his fine copy of it : but the copy of copies 
 (as I learn) is that in the possession of Mr. Baker, of St. Paul’s Church 
 yard — belonging to his late brother: a gentleman, most curious in 
 treasures of this description. A perfect copy of this very odd, but not 
 very diverting, work runs hard upon twenty guineas. To be perfect, 
 it should contain four additional portraits of the Rawclon Family, by 
 Faber j which are scarce.* 
 
 * Thomas Hollis has been considered as the “ ultimus Romano- 
 rum,” in his way. He was, in other words, a dear Liberty Boy 5” and 
 patronised the works chiefly of Harington , Toland , and Sydney — of 
 each of whom he edited some opuscula, but particularly the “ Dis- 
 courses on Government ” of the latter — in one handsome quarto volume 
 in 1763 — now worth L 2l. 2s. His own Memoirs were published in 
 1780, 4to. by Thomas Hollis, who afterwards took the name of 
 Thomas Brand HoLLisf, and to whom Mr. Hollis left his fortune. 
 
 * The Rev. Mr. Homfray, of Yarmouth, informs me that he once possessed a 
 large paper copy (quaere tamen ?) of this work, and that it was sold with his 
 library by Richardson, corner of' Villiers Street, Strand, in Nov. 1803 : and pur- 
 chased by Sir Francis Goold, Bart, for sixteen guineas. The Globe Newspaper 
 made frequent mention of this book-sale. 
 
 + There is no one error, big or little, in the previous edition of this work, which 
 has been so frequently pointed out by friends and foes, as that connected with the 
 designation of the above work. I have nothing to do with the descent of the 
 Hollis property — but warn posterity against confounding the books of Mr. Thomas 
 Hollis, with those of Mr. Brand Hollis. The latter gentleman had nothing to do 
 with the books or their bindings. Gent. Mag. vol. xvii. p. 397. N. S. 
 
566 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 learned Friends ; first published in a quarto volume, 
 1782 : by his partner and successor the present octo- 
 genarian Mr. John Nichols.* 
 
 There is hardly an instance on record of such an 
 expansion of an original biographical work : and the 
 extended flat surfaces of Mr. Perkins’s steam-dis- 
 charged bullets, must not be mentioned in the same 
 breath as proof of a greater miracle.^ The Anec- 
 dotes of Wm. Bowyer are now called Nichols s Anec- 
 dotes of the Eighteenth Century . To the first nine 
 
 Archdeacon Blackburne wrote the Memoirs. This handsome volume 
 contains engravings of the heads of Ludlow, Newton, Hutcheson, 
 Milton, and Sydney, in two quarto volumes ; of which I find a copy, 
 with “ fine impressions of the plates, new and very neat,” marked at 
 5 1. 5s. — and another, 2 vols. in 1, at 31. 135. 6d. — in the catalogue of 
 Messrs. Payne and Toss. The books of Mr. Thomas Hollis were 
 usually bound in red calf, lettered perpendicularly, with the cap of 
 liberty on the back : and they are now dispersed all over the country. 
 His books and coins, &c. were sold in 1817 : and among the latter, 
 a very small gold piece of Edward III. produced the gigantic sum 
 of 967. 
 
 # I say “ octogenarian,” because it is probable that Mr. Nichols 
 touohes his eightieth, closer than his seventieth, year ; inasmuch 
 as his physiognomy appears in the pages of a certain Decameron, 
 (vol.ii. p. 403) as a Septuagenarian, six years ago. In regard to the 
 original quarto volume, called Anecdotes of Bowyer , it cannot be 
 denied that it is one of the pleasantest and most instructive books of 
 Literary Anecdotes in the world. It is now hardly vendible, from the 
 increased matter of the new edition. 
 
 + That this passage may not appear mysterious and inexplicable to 
 posterity, be it known that Mr. Perkins, (see p. 551, ante) celebrated 
 for his extraordinary and successful experiments in steam, has in- 
 vented a process, by the same means, of discharging two hundred 
 bullets in one minute , from a double barrelled gun — against a point- 
 blank iron target, at about thirty-six feet distant — and, with such 
 force, as to cause the bullet to be flattened to the width of a- sixth 
 part of an inch, and to an inch and a quarter’s diameter of a circle. 
 
MEMOIRS AND ANECDOTES. 
 
 567 
 
 volumes, an excellent Index has been added ; and 
 running one’s eye down the names of persons, in the 
 alphabetical order in which they occur, we find such 
 a Body of Personal Anecdote as almost irresistibly 
 compels us to buy the work — costly as it has now be- 
 come,* and to make it a sort of “ travelling,” as well 
 as a “ Library” Companion. The hand that has di- 
 rected the spade, in the digging of such materials, now 
 rests from its labours — but not in the cold regions of 
 the tomb : for it is yet raised in begging a blessing 
 upon those, who, I am persuaded, will inherit the 
 virtues, as well as the name of the venerable Suppliant. 
 
 It is not long ago, since there appeared one of the 
 most entertaining volumes of Literary Anecdotes ima- 
 ginable ; the materials of which furnished Johnson 
 with much of his biography of Pope and his contem- 
 poraries. I allude to that of which Joseph Spence, 
 the friend of Pope, was the author ; and of which the 
 enlarged edition, under the editorial care of Mr. 
 Singer, is by all means to be procured. The ample 
 and able notice of this volume, 1820, 8vo. (purchas- 
 able for some 1 5s.) in the Quarterly (vol. xxiii, p. 400) 
 will shew the necessity of its being admitted into such 
 company as will be found in an elegantly furnished 
 library. It is, in all respects, a charming book : and 
 the well known title is Spences Anecdotes of Boohs 
 and Men . 
 
 * The first ten volumes, including the Index, is worth 10Z. 105. in 
 good calf binding. The remaining sell for about 1Z. 7 s. in bds. I 
 believe every copy has left the warehouse of Mr. Bowyer Nichols, 
 the publisher, and son of the above lauded octogenarian. The suc- 
 cess of such an extensive and costly work shews the fondness of the 
 English for Literary Anecdotes. 
 
36 3 
 
 BIOGRAPHY, fee. 
 
 If during the perusal of the last fourscore pages of 
 this work* the refined reader shall conceive that I have 
 not extracted the proper “ pith and marrow” for that 
 department of a library which is connected with “ Bio- 
 graphy, Memoirs, and Anecdotes,” let him, by way 
 of a supplemental rider, turn his eyes towards “ The 
 Sources of Secret History ,” as developed in Mr. D’ls- 
 raeli’s Second Series of Curiosities of Literature , vol. 
 iii. p. 210 : and, from the whole, draw those inferences 
 which are fairly deducible from a union of the two 
 works. Contemporaneous Biography (when built 
 upon truth,) is as a fresh, speaking picture, from the 
 hand of a powerful master. History is something 
 like the same picture, rendered faded by time, or 
 copied by the hand of an inferior artist. 
 
[ 569 ] 
 
 PHILOLOGY AND BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 Bibliographers usually commence this instructive 
 department of a Library with an account of the prin- 
 cipal works upon Grammar and Lexicography; as 
 well as with a copious list of Grammars and Diction- 
 aries themselves. The propriety of such a commence- 
 ment may be questionable ; because “ Philology" 
 seems to imply a competent knowledge of languages, 
 and the power both of selecting what is good and 
 rejecting what is bad. It is as a field, varied with 
 innumerable flowers and weeds; some nutritious, 
 others poisonous ; but the Collector is supposed to 
 have a previous knowledge of the respective proper- 
 ties of the plants which he sees before him. Grammar 
 and Lexicography may therefore more properly be 
 classed in a distinct department. 
 
 Here, however, they can be only slightly noticed as 
 the incipient branch of our enquiries : and, once for 
 all, as Bibliographers have so determined it, it may 
 be rather folly than wisdom to disturb the established 
 order. It so happens, however, that the greatest 
 Philologists of this country, (for there is little or no 
 space for the notice of those of our continental neigh- 
 bours) at the revival of Literature, were the greatest 
 Grammarians ; and, here, the names of Stanbridge, 
 John de Garlandia, Whittinton, Holt, Lilye, 
 and other similar authors, crowd upon our recollec- 
 tion. To enumerate the various editions of their 
 grammatical works, would be to count the pebbles on 
 the western beach of Brighton. Yet, a total silence 
 
570 
 
 PHILOLOGY 
 
 respecting these productions might be thought too 
 tantalising for endurance ; and therefore, in com- 
 passion to those readers who desiderate , rather than 
 to those who possess, the interminable slim quartos, 
 put forth by the forementioned pedagogical Worthies, 
 I string a few of the rarer and more precious editions 
 together, in the subjoined note.* 
 
 * First of John Stanbridge j concerning whom Wood ( Athen . 
 Oxon. Edit. Bliss, vol. i. col. 39) is copious in commendation, although 
 he seems to have been little acquainted with his works. The reader 
 may also consult the note in the Typ. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 95. I take 
 Stanbridge’s first grammatical treatise to have been his Accedence ; 
 of which Wynkyn de Worde printed the Edit. Prin. in i( Caxton’s 
 House at Westminster Mr. Douce has a copy of this very rare vo- 
 lume ; which is complete in thirteen leaves. Typ. Antiq . vol. ii. page 
 172-324. But a cloud of mystery and doubt hangs over the earlier 
 impressions of this work. Id. p. 95. The Vocabulary of Stanbridge 
 was first printed in 1500, 4to. A specimen of it is given at p. 92 of 
 the work last referred to. The editions are innumerable. De Worde 
 continued to republish it till as late as 1532. The Parvulorum In- 
 stitutio, by the same author, is a collection from his other treatises $ 
 and I know of no edition earlier than 1520. See p. 93 of the Typ. 
 Antiq. For other pieces by Stanbridge, consult Wood ut supra. 
 
 Of John de Garlandia, the Synonymes are probably the first 
 grammatical production. If not printed in 1496, by Pynson, they 
 were doubtless printed in 1500 by both Pynson and De Worde, till as 
 late as 1510, and probably later. The reader is referred to the par- 
 ticular account of some of these impressions in the Typ . Antiq. vol. 
 ii. p. 97, 406, &c. The Multorum Vocabulorum Equivocorum Inter- 
 pretatio was probably the most popular work of I. de Garlandia. It 
 was printed as early as 1500, and as late as 1517* (if not later) by 
 Wynkyn de Worde. Concerning the editions of this work, as well as 
 of some account of the author, consult the Typ. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 96, 
 &c. Oh, rare Robert Whittinton ! how shall I attempt to de- 
 scribe the innumerable impressions of thy almost innumerable gram- 
 matical works ? ! Betake thee, gentle reader, to the Typ. Antiq. vol. 
 ii- p. 172, &c. where not fewer than thirty pages are devoted to them, 
 as productions from the press of Wynkn de Worde alone, beginning 
 
AND BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 571 
 
 To these cc Worthies/’ must be added two others, of 
 no very dissimilar character, but perhaps of greater 
 
 as early as 1513. Again from page 449, there are five pages con- 
 taining an account of such as were printed by Pynson, beginning with 
 the date of 1515 Happy however shall he be, who, among the Opus- 
 cula of Whittinton, gets possession of such a copy of the ff Epigramma- 
 ta, cum Quibusdam Panegyricis ,” #c. 1519, 4to. as is described fop. cit. 
 page 111) to belong to Mr. Heber : and see Bliss’s note upon the origi- 
 nal ms. presentation copy (to Cardinal Wolsey) upon vellum, in the 
 Bodleian Library — as well as a compressed list of Whittin ton’s works. 
 Athen . Oxon. vol. i. col. 56. Messrs Payne and Poss mark a copy of 
 the Grammatices Prima Pars , 1527, scarce,” at 11. Is. Of John 
 Holt— -who carried on the art of pedagogy so zealous, that, by his 
 admirable way of teaching the faculty of grammar, many from his 
 school were transplanted to the several colleges and halls,” &c. — 
 we have, unluckily, little or no biographical materials : and the only 
 work which we can fasten upon, with certainty, as the production of 
 his pen, is the Cc Lac Puerorum , or Milke for Children which 
 Wood gratuitously imagined to have been first printed in 1497- Athen. 
 Oxon. vol. i. col. 15. Mr. Heber possesses the only known copy of 
 this work, printed by Wynkyn de Worde, without date, in 4to. : which 
 seems to have been unseen by Tanner, Pits, and Bale, although, as he 
 observes, it is noticed by each, In the Typ. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 380, I 
 have given an account of this rare book, with a fac-simile copper- 
 plate of the mode of instruction. This volume was obtained, if I 
 remember rightly, along with several others of the same covetable 
 character, in fine condition , from Mr. Stace the bookseller. Such a 
 book as that just described, is “ meat for men” as well as “ milk for 
 children.” 
 
 Of William Lilye, the venerable father of Propria quce Mari - 
 bus" and “ As in prcesenti" I cannot discover any impression of his 
 famous work upon the Eight Parts of Speech , or his Short Institution, 
 or method of knowing Grammar, &c. (in which the first named por- 
 tions of Grammar occur) during his life time, and he died in 1522. 
 Doubtless there must have been several impressions, and Wood 
 notices some as early as 1513 : but, as Dr. Bliss has observed, “ the 
 real share each person had in Lilye’s celebrated grammar will be 
 found in the preface to Ward’s edition of it, which was copied into 
 the Biographia Britannica.” The earliest edition of the “ De Octo 
 
572 
 
 PHILOLOGY 
 
 pretensions to the applause of posterity: the more 
 so as one of them published the first arithmetical 
 treatise in this country. I mean Tonstall, Bishop of 
 London. The second was a yet more illustrious name 
 in the annals of philology: Thomas Linacre* — at 
 
 Partibus ” — is that by Berthelet, in 1540 ; but a glorious copy of Li- 
 lye’s Grammar of 1542 (also by Berthelet) printed upon vellum, is 
 in the Cracherode Collection in the British Museum. See Bibliogr. 
 Decameron, vol. ii. p. 370. W. Lilye was the first head master (ap- 
 pointed by Dean Colet the founder) of St. Paul’s School. But these 
 Grammarians or Pedagogues, were starch and testy fellows, and 
 sometimes loved to have a scratch at each other. It may be doubted 
 whether, from the account of Wood (Athen. Oxon. vol. i. col. 34.) 
 Whittinton and Lilye had not a “ battle royal” together in the church- 
 yard of “ Powles”? — to the great delight of the boys and by- 
 standers. Did they fight with fists, or with whips — such as they 
 laid upon the backs of their scholars ? See the wood-cuts, passim. 
 
 And here, a word only about the eleven Grammars — supposed 
 by Palmer to have been printed by Caxton j of which copies are in 
 Lord Pembroke’s library at Wilton. From the notice in the Typ . 
 Antiq. vol. ii. p. 369, the reader will immediately see that I consider 
 them non-entities, as the productions of Caxton. Recently, my friend 
 Mr. Heber has seen these Grammars, and they turn out to be, as con- 
 jectured, the works of Whittinton printed by W. de Worde. 
 
 * I learn from the judicious notes of the Editor of Anthony a Wood, 
 that the best Life of the celebrated Thomas Linacre is given in 
 Dr. Aikin’s Medical Biography , 1780, 8vo. Linacre was equally 
 famous for his grammatical and physical publications. He was a 
 physician by profession j but both Wood and Aikin (according to 
 Bliss) appear to have been ignorant of his inordinate powers of di- 
 gestion for pluralities. I have only to do with him as a Grammarian ; 
 except that it may be worth while stating, that his edition of Galen, 
 De Temperamentis et de incequali temperie , printed by Siberch at 
 Cambridge in 1521, is supposed by Warton and Bliss to be the first 
 book printed in England in which the Greek type was introduced : 
 but the fact is not so, unless it be meant to apply to Greek metal 
 types : since Greek letters, by means of wood, will be found in the 
 De Concinnitate Grammatices , &c. of Whittinton, printed by Wyn- 
 kyn de Worde in 1519 : see a fac-simile of these letters in the Typog . 
 
AND BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 573 
 
 once a grammarian, a physician, and the most accom- 
 plished scholar of his day. Their more particular 
 works are briefly noticed below.* But in this phalanx 
 
 Antiq. vol. ii. p. 180. A copy of Linacre’s work, just mentioned, and 
 printed upon vellum, (being the presentation copy to Henry VIII.) 
 will be found in the Bodleian Library — given to the University by 
 Dr. Clayton, regius professor of physic in 1634.” See Athen. Oxon. 
 vol. i. col. 44, note 8. This however is not the edition printed by 
 Siberch. To return'to Linacre’s grammatical productions. What 
 Wood calls his Rudiments of Grammar ” — and which book, con- 
 tinues he, hath ever since been the cynosura for many of our best 
 grammarians,” has, in fact, no existence under such title. Dr. Bliss 
 assigns to it the date of 1524, which I take to be that exclusively 
 applicable to the De Emendata Structura Latini Sermonis 3 described 
 in the Typog. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 511 : and to this work, in all proba- 
 bility, Wood’s compliment is to be transferred. A copy of this work 
 of Linacre should be in all judiciously formed libraries j but I cannot 
 encourage a hope of it, even from Mr. Thorpe’s Catalogue, under the 
 sum of 2 1. 2 s. : especially if it be in fair and sound condition. A 
 sound copy, from Mr. Johnes’s collection, is in the library of Earl 
 Spencer. 
 
 * Cuthbert Tonstall, successively Bishop of London and Dur- 
 ham, and beyond all question one of the brightest scholars and most 
 amiable men of his time, (dying at a very advanced age in 1559) 
 was the first man who published a treatise on arithmetic ; and who- 
 ever chooses to be at the pains of reading his motives for this publica- 
 tion (detailed in the Typ. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 478) will be convinced 
 how well founded and just they were. Tonstall was in some mea- 
 sure a philologist as well as a theologian, and although a Roman Ca- 
 tholic Bishop, delivered an oration in praise of Matrimony .’’ His 
 work, with which I have here more particularly to do, is the “ Libri 
 IV. De Arte Supputandif printed by Pynson in 1522, 4 to. when the 
 author was Bishop of London. It is obtainable for about 1Z. Is. in 
 good condition. But the Bishop’s own (and as I suspect unique ) 
 copy of it, upon vellum, is in the public library at Cambridge ; 
 where, below the frontispiece, in the author’s own (sprawling) hand 
 writing, we read as follows : “ Cuthbertus Londiesis eps studiosis dono 
 dedit." ’Tis an exquisite copy; sound and perfect ; but, as I suspect, 
 on comparing it with Lord Spencer’s marvellous vellum copy of 
 
574 
 
 PHILOLOGY 
 
 of bright names, I should deem myself unworthy of 
 the humblest place in the rank of a literary chroni- 
 cler, if I omitted to notice the very uncommon, but 
 truly valuable, lucubrations of Horman and Pals- 
 grave ; names, which confer celebrity on the period 
 wherein they flourished. The Vulgaria* of the former, 
 and Les Eclair cissemens de la Langue Francoise of 
 the latter, remind the curious of two of the most pre- 
 
 “ Henry VIII. de septem Sacramentis ,” (also printed by Pynson) a 
 little cropt. It measures ten inches and five-eights, by seven six- 
 eights. Such a book deserves such Millerian attention. 
 
 * The reader, I rejoice to say, will find a full and particular ac- 
 count of the Vulgaria of William Horman, printed in a small folio 
 volume, in 1519, in the recent edition of our Typographical Anti- 
 quities , vol. ii. p. 479-82, supplied by a fine copy of the book in the 
 possession of Mr. Heber. I have also availed myself of some of these 
 curious particulars in the Bibliomania , p. 690. Lord Spencer pos- 
 sesses a copy of the reprint, by W. de Worde, 1530, 4to. from the 
 Hafod library, but much cropt. Such a volume cannot be procured 
 under hi. 5s. Of John Palsgrave, where is the philological Antiquary 
 whose heart does not beat with a fuller pulsation at the name ? His 
 Eclair cissemens de la Langue Frangoyse , (a French and English Dic- 
 tionary, and the only authenticated book from the press of its printer, 
 John Hawkins) was published in a handsome folio volume in 1530} 
 and is now so scarce and dear (indeed it was always a very scarce 
 book) as to be worth 2 \l. at the least. A very long account of it, 
 together with the notice of five copies, will be seen in the Typ. Antiq. 
 vol. ii. p. 364-9 : but of all the copies there noticed, I should pro- 
 nounce that of Mr. Douce to be the finest — in primitive wooden bind- 
 ing, covered with dark stamped calf. I possess copious ms. extracts 
 from this truly valuable philological volume. Another equally rare 
 volume, but of a different description — also from the pen of Pals- 
 grave, and called the Comedy e of Acolastus , — 1540, 4 to. being a 
 translation from the Latin original of Fullonius) is described at page 
 308 of the work last referred to. The copy of this book in the Bri- 
 tish Museum, and that in the Bodleian library ('A then. Oxon. vol. i. 
 col. 122) were the only ones known 3 till that at the sale of Hayley’s 
 library, which brought 22*. Is. 
 
AND BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 575 
 
 cious volumes of early English philology. And here, 
 what shall we say of the minor tribe of grammatical, 
 lexicographical, and philological works? Of Acci- 
 deuces , Parvulas , Lucidaries , Orchards of Words , 
 Promptuaries for little Children , and Vocabularies 
 tyc. for Travellers There is no end of them ; and 
 
 * Upon what an agitated sea of doubt, difficulty, and trouble, am I 
 embarking, in giving a sketch only of a few of the rarer pieces in 
 this department of early English philology ? ! My slender skiff must 
 keep close into the shore ; for I will neither hazard it nor its pilot by 
 rashly venturing into <f the deep expanse.” Shall Caxton lead the 
 way? I wish he might, with safety 5 but what is to be observed of his 
 supposed edition of the Accedence ? Look at page 355 of the first 
 volume of the Typ. Antiq. and admit, however reluctantly, that the 
 probability is against the existence of such a work from his press. 
 The same inference, I fear, must be drawn about the Long Accy - 
 dence , supposedf to have been printed byW.de Worde in 1513; 
 although it is certain thatDe Worde did print an Accidence in Cax- 
 ton’s house ; see page 570, ante : and Herbert (note p. 295, Op. Eod.J 
 expressly acknowledges the possession of a copy of some edition of an 
 Accidence ; but the Introd. Ling. Lat. 1499, folio, decidedly print- 
 ed by W. de Worde, and once in Herbert's possession, seems to be 
 the rarissima avis of early grammatical treatises; and here, methinks, 
 I see my friend Mr. Heber extending on high, with triumphant arms, 
 his precious little thin tome (“ presque unique,” according to the re- 
 cent phraseology of a fashionable catalogue-maker of prints) called 
 Longe Parvula , 1509, 4to. alike unknown to Ames and Herbert. It 
 hath eight leaves, only ; worth peradventure 13s. a leaf. See the 
 Typ. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 150. 
 
 Again, for the Ortus Vocabulorum, Lat. : and first printed by 
 W. de Worde in 1500, 4to. : but, as I apprehend, having little or no- 
 thing in common with the Gemma Vocabulorum printed at Deventer, 
 
 f The Bibliomaniac must, on no account, confound this “ Long Accidence” 
 with the Long Grammar published at Tavistock— for whieh Master John Bagford 
 “ would have stuck at no price.” Who possesses a copy of this Long Grammar, 
 locked up, I dare think, in little space? There is a bliss in the very indulgence even 
 of jomebibliomaniacal doubts and uncertainties abaut its existence. 
 
5J6 
 
 PHILOLOGY 
 
 yet, he who, like Atticus, shall hope to obtain first 
 editions of such as are mentioned in the last note, may 
 
 in the same year. Mr. R. Wilbraham possesses a copy of this very 
 rare book by Wynkvn de Worde, which seems to have escaped 
 Ames and Herbert. I doubt the reprint in 1508 by de Worde j but 
 there can be no doubt of the reprint by Pynson, in 1509, from an in- 
 spection of the Typ. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 439. A good copy of either 
 edition may be worth Si. 3s. Of infinitely greater importance than 
 the preceding work, is the first edition of the Promptorius Puero- 
 bum, printed in a handsome folio volume, in his neat secretary gothic 
 type, by Pynson, in 1499. Lord Spencer’s perfect copy of this 
 exceedingly rare book (obtained from the purchase of two imperfect 
 copies) has been described in vol. ii. p, <241 of the AEdes Althorpiance j 
 but the most copious account of it will be found in the Typog. Antiq . 
 vol. ii. p. 416. It is singular that there should be no known copy of a 
 reprint of so valuable a book by Pynson ; although a reprint was put 
 forth by Wynkyn de Worde in 1510, 4to.: see specimens of the work, 
 from this reprint, at page 155 of the volume last referred to. But 
 this reprint, it should seem, is only an abridgment of the original 
 work. A beautiful copy of De Worde’ s reimpression is in the library 
 of Mr. R. Wilbraham. Mr. Douce possesses a copy of the third re- 
 print by Worde (that of 1512 being supposed to be the second) of 
 1528. This is the first English and Latin — as the Ortus Vocabulo- 
 rum is the first Latin and English — Dictionary in our language. I 
 cannot value the Edit. Prin. by Pynson under 2 lZ. 
 
 And here — “ last but not least” in the catalogue of early phi- 
 lological rarities — must be registered the Book for Travellers— 
 in French and English 5 of which, not only the first, but the only edi- 
 tion,* was put forth by Caxton, in a thin folio volume, without date. 
 
 * It was published just about the time when the fashion of speaking French in 
 the English Court was much abated : and when the usage of the English language 
 was proportionally being established. It became therefore the more necessary just 
 to know the relative meaning of each language as long as both were used. Take a 
 brief specimen : 
 
 Pendoars de Soye , 
 Lachets la7inieres 
 Soye vermelle , 
 Verde gaune, • 
 
 Noire Soye , 
 Faitton bordurei, 
 
 Pendants of silke. 
 Laces poyntes. 
 
 Reed silke. 
 
 Grene yellowe 
 Black silke. 
 
 Make me broythurea. 
 
AND BELLES LETTRES. 577 
 
 pass the longest life without realizing even two-thirds 
 of his expectations. 
 
 And here, bidding adieu to that portion of philology 
 connected with grammar — which I choose to confine 
 to the early annals of English literature — I feel dis- 
 posed (ere I touch upon general philology) to notice a 
 few of the greater philologists of Greece and Rome. 
 For the former, I shall content myself with Plato, 
 Aristotle, Athenaeus, Xenophon, Plutarch, and^sop : 
 for the latter, with Cicero, Seneca, Boetius, Aulus 
 Gellius, Apuleius, the Younger Pliny, Petronius Arbi- 
 ter, and Quintilian. More might be added ; but I am 
 only anxious to secure the approbation of the learned 
 to these few — constituting, nevertheless, a bright pha- 
 lanx of some of the most powerful prose writers of 
 either country. 
 
 First then, of Plato ; the mighty master of his 
 mightier pupil, Aristotle. The first edition of his works 
 was put forth by Aldus , in two folio volumes in 1513, 
 in the Greek language. It is a most beautiful, though 
 by no means rare, production.* The more critical 
 editions are those by Serranus and Bekker. Below, the 
 
 This marvellously precious book hath been so copiously described in 
 the Bibl. Spencer, vol. iv. p. 319 that I will here say no more of it, 
 except that Lord Spencer’s copy is the only perfect one known. The 
 Duke of Devonshire possesses it with a few leaves supplied by ms. I 
 question if twice the price given by his Lordship for this intrinsically 
 valuable work, would now secure a copy for the ardent and heavy 
 pursed Collector. Is he prepared with a cheque for 200 sovereigns? 
 
 # Much bibliographical discussion relating to this production, will 
 be found in the Introd. to the Classics , vol. ii. pag. 132 : where three 
 copies, upon vellum, are noticed. Of the paper copies, I should 
 say, dispassionately, that Lord Spencer’s is by far the most beautiful 
 which I have seen. It was obtained of Mr. Payne. See Bibl. 
 Spencer, vol. ii. p. 209. A fair good copy may be worth 5 1. 5s. 
 
 pp 
 
578 
 
 PHILOLOGY 
 
 reader will find a few helps to the acquisition of these 
 editions.* Aldus had also the honour of putting forth 
 the first edition of the works of Aristotle, in six 
 magnificent folio volumes, during the years 1495-8. 
 Copies of these volumes, in a more or less perfect con- 
 dition, are yet commoner than of the first edition of 
 the works of Plato : but an entirely fine and sound 
 copy, throughout, of the six volumes, must not be too 
 
 * First of Serranus, in 3 folio volumes, 1578, &c. The price of it 
 varies according to condition; but I should say that 61. 6s. was a 
 sum to entitle any sober-minded Collector to a fair copy of it. On 
 large paper, it holds up its head magnificently. Mr. Thorpe 
 marks it, in this state, at 31 1. JO s. I have seen the fine copies at 
 Althorp and Chatsworth (the latter belonging to the late Bishop of 
 Ely) in a similar condition. For particulars, as to a perfect copy of 
 this edition, consult the work first referred to in the preceding note. 
 Meanwhile, read the subjoined note, t The Bipont Plato, 1781, Svo. 
 12 vols. contains the Greek text of Serranus and the Latin version of 
 Ficinus, which latter is better than that of Serranus. It has also a 
 Varietas Lectionum by Tiedeman. Whoever chooses to consult Mr. 
 Bohn’s catalogue, 1820, part i. page 108, may gratify his taste with 
 a copy in any variety of binding; from its uncut state at 61. 6s. to its 
 “ fair calf, extra, marbled edge” state at 8 1. 8 s. This is doubtless 
 the most popular edition of Plato, and is now scarce. Bekher’s edi- 
 tion, published in 1816, in eight vols. Svo. Gr. & Lat. may be had 
 on fine paper for 51. in bds. Consult the Museum Criticum , p. 275. 
 
 t In the address to Elizabeth, dated Lausanne 1577, Kal. Octob. Serranus thus 
 
 observes : — “ hoc de te vere praedicari potest, te & summo Regum rege 
 
 banc sortem esse consequutum, vt non modb maiorum tuorum Anglise regum, scd 
 felicissunorum quorumque principum, quos vlla vnquam vidit aetas, foelicicatem 
 regnum tuum superare videatur: & quemadmodum Solomonis vel Augusti felix 
 imperiu, notabile fuit ud designandam ciuilem felicitatem : ita & tuum, Regina, eo 
 nomine posteritate illustre sit futurum ; tuaque insula non amplius Albion , sed 
 0\§ict & ver& fortunata sit porro nuncupanda. Quid enim ? in regno tuo vera 
 ilia regnat philosophia, cuius vix ac ne vix quide vmbram vidit Plato &c. 
 
 Sign* iii. recto. 
 
 Such flattery was not thrown away upon Elizabeth. 
 
AND BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 579 
 
 hastily hoped for. When founds such a copy may be 
 worth 2 61 . 5s. Of copies upon vellum, disport your- 
 self, gentle reader, in the subjoined note.* 
 
 For the best editions of Aristotle, procure the drab 
 coloured one of Sylburgius , published at Frankfort in 
 1584, in ten stunted quarto tomes. This excellent 
 edition used to sell high ; but since the peace it has 
 drooped its head somewhat in the money market:^ 
 The majestic folios of Casaubon , and especially of 
 Du Val , yet bring a considerable price; but who 
 does not bemoan the incomplete state in which the 
 Bipont edition, edited by Buhle, yet continues In 
 
 * It has been my good fortune to see not fewer than five copies 
 of this membranaceous treasure. Two, most beautiful ones, in the 
 Public library at Paris: vide Tour , vol. ii. p. 291. A third, in the 
 library of Corpus Christi College, at Oxford. * Each of these copies 
 has the fir it of the six volumes upon paper. But see an account of 
 all the six volumes upon vellum, at page 534, ante. Lord Spencer 
 possesses a most beautiful copy of the four last volumes upon 
 vellum, obtained of Messrs. Debure at Paris. The Bodleian Library 
 possesses the second volume only upon vellum. Of copies upon 
 paper, I consider those in the libraries of Earl Spencer and Mr. 
 Heber to be among the very finest. I once possessed an imperfect 
 paper copy, from Mr. Renouard, iu an uncut state ; but unluckily 
 it was disfigured by writing. Mr. Hayes the bookseller, I believe, 
 now possesses it : but I fear it will be a sticker. 
 
 f Yet Messrs. Payne and Foss gallantly lift it up to 71. 7$. in 
 te neat” condition. I remember having the offer of a copy, in ori- 
 ginal vellum binding, as spotless as it left the tools of the binder, for 
 about fifty shillings, in the library of the Capuchin Monastery, in the 
 Kossau, near Vienna, but a consideration of the expenses of the rou - 
 lage deterred me from the acquisition. The reader, if he pleases, 
 may glance at the pages of the Introd. to the Classics , vol. i. p. 190. 
 
 X Whatever Casaubon did, is worthy of a careful perusal j yet I 
 cannot conscientiously recommend the young or old Collector to give 
 more than a sovereign for his edition of Aristotle, published at Lyons 
 1590, Gr. & Lat. two vols. in folio. Buhle discharges a heavy and 
 
PHILOLOGY 
 
 <580 
 
 regard to Xenophon, rest satisfied with the edition of 
 his works by Thiemim, IVeiske , or Schneider: to which 
 add the Lexicon Xenophonteum of Sturzius, in four 
 octavo volumes.* Plutarch here shall only detain 
 us as to his Morals ; having, under the head of Bio- 
 graphy, &c. (page 500) recommended the most useful 
 edition of his Lives. Wyttenbach is the great editor of 
 Plutarch’s works: and securing the Oxford edition 
 
 destructive fire of grape-shot, from his critical battery, against the 
 ** Various Readings” of this edition. Du Val's edition, published at 
 Paris in 1619, 2 vols. folio, may be worth 4 1. 145. 6d., “ very neat 
 in vellum,” as Mr. Bohn states a copy, at this price, to be. The 
 copies of this edition, upon large paper, which in former times 
 used to unloose the purse-strings of the collector to the tune of twelve 
 or fifteen guineas, are now with difficulty vendible — even when in 
 the morocco surtout of Padaloup or De Rome. Buhle's incomplete 
 edition in five octavo volumes is worth about 21. 12s. 6d. in good 
 calf binding. As to Portions , of the works of Aristotle, separately 
 published, the list w'ould be endless ; I shall therefore only here men- 
 tion the rarest of all these separately published pieces, when found in 
 a particular condition. It is the Commentary of Eustratius de Mo- 
 ribus, &c. 1536, folio, published by Paul Manutius, upon large 
 paper. Renouard knew only of one copy $ which is in the Royal Li- 
 brary at Paris, and is described in the Bibliogr. Tour , vol. ii. p. 314. 
 But another similar copy, of paramount magnificence, and once 
 belonging to Francis I. graces the shelves of the library of Worling- 
 ham in Suffolk. Further particulars of this marvellous tome, on thick, 
 white paper, may hereafter appear. It is at present wanting in the 
 glorious suite of large paper folio Aid uses belonging to Lord Spencer. 
 
 * JV eiske's edition of Xenophon’s works, in six octavo volumes, 
 1804, &c. may be worth 105. 6d. per volume, in neat bindings That 
 of Thiemeaud Ernesti, lSOi-4, in 4 octavo volumes, about the same 
 sum. Schneiders edition, in 6 vols. Svo. Lips. 1815, in the same 
 ratio : but get the large paper of it, published at Oxford, for about 
 61. 6s. The volumes have been separately published at 95 . per vol. 
 The Anabasis and Institutio of Cyrus, the most popular works of 
 the author — may as well be procured from this impression. This is 
 not the place to disport about Hutchinson's editions of them. 
 
AND BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 581 
 
 of that great Critic’s labours, published in 1795, &c. 
 in quarto, or in octavo, you possess the most ample 
 and valuable impression of the entire works of Plu- 
 tarch.* But do not let me forget that the Editio 
 Princeps of the Morals of Plutarch was put forth in 
 two elegantly printed folio volumes by the elder 
 Aldus in 1509 : and of these — do pray, gentle reader, 
 notice the tempting account of a delicious copy upon 
 vellum in the pages of a certain Bibliographical 
 Tour: t* 
 
 The very mention of iEsop+ darts a species of elec- 
 tricity through the limbs of an ardent Collector. He 
 
 * What Sch weigh aeuser has proved himself to be for Athenceus, 
 Epictetus, and Polybius, the late Daniel Wyttenbach was for Plutarch. 
 Get the Oxford edition of the Morals, in 13 vol. 8vo. which will be 
 completed in 14 vol., at a moderate price : and of the complete 
 works of Plutarch, procure Huttens edition (if you aspire not to 
 Wyttenbach’s) in 14 octavo volumes, 1S04, at 4Z. 145. 6d. in good 
 binding. See Bohn’s Cat. no. 1847- 
 
 f Vol.ii. p. 292. I am not sure whether another similar copy be 
 not in the library of the late Grand Duke of Tuscany ; who was 
 one of the most distinguished Collectors of fine books in Italy. When 
 Mr. Artaria mentioned his recent death to me, he sighed from his 
 inmost soul — pectore ab imo.” His Highness was a stout purchaser 
 at the sale of the Macarthy Library : and was among the great 
 Maecenases of Italy. 
 
 X Let me hope that it will be conceded to me, without the impu- 
 tation of presumption, that it has happened to few Bibliographers to 
 have so much to do with the earlier editions of iEsop, in most lan- 
 guages, as myself: witness the Introd. to the Classics, vol. i. p. 134 : 
 Typog. Antiq. of Gr. Britain, vol.i. page 208-19 ; Bibl. Spenceriana, 
 vol. i. p. 221-246; vol. iv. p. 436 ; vol. vi. p. iv. ; vol. vii. page 3-5 ; 
 Bibliographical Decameron, vol. i. page 190, 194 ; and Bibliographical 
 Tour, vol. ii. p. 296-8 ; iii. page 142, 228, 304, 493. Here are chro- 
 nicles of editions of jEsop (many of them containing fac-similes of 
 cuts) with a vengeance ! Upon the whole, I should say that Cax- 
 ton’s edition (Typog. Antiq. vol.i. p. 208) is the rarest of all those 
 
582 
 
 PHILOLOGY 
 
 thinks how he dearly loved in his boyish days to read 
 the supposed adventures, the wily tricks, and the arch 
 sayings, of all the Animals introduced into this in- 
 structive volume: and as his knowledge expands, 
 and his taste becomes matured, he spares no trouble, 
 nor sticks at any cost, to become the possessor of 
 most of those impressions which are distinguished for 
 rarity, or price, or curious and costly embellishments. 
 From the bizarre wooden cuts of Caxton, or the more 
 correct and spirited ones of John Zeinet* — running 
 through the almost countless impressions from the 
 Italian presses, down to the latest productions of Be- 
 wick and Whittingham — he toils, from morning till 
 
 in the xvth century. His Majesty’s copy of it is the only perfect one 
 known. That copy is large, fine, and perfect ; and was given to 
 the late King by a Mr. Hewett of Ipswich. Next to his impression, a 
 perfect and fine copy of that printed at Ulm, by John Zainer, (as in- 
 timated in the text) in the Latin and German languages, is perhaps 
 the rarest. See Bibl. Spencer, vol. i. page 239. Messrs. Payne and 
 Foss mark a copy of it, wanting six leaves, at 101. 10s. I apprehend 
 however that it may be disputed whether the Spanish edition printed 
 at Tholosa , 1488, 4to. and not mentioned by any Bibliographer, be 
 not much the rarer ? Lord Spencer possesses this covetable volume, 
 •which was obtained by Mr. J. Payne at Venice. A perfect and fine 
 copy of the Editio Princeps, in Greek and Latin, without date, 
 4to. may be worth twelve guineas. But the best Greek and Latin 
 edition is that of De Furia , Lips. 1810, Svo. worth about 15 s. in neat 
 binding. The pretty little edition recently printed by Mr. Whitting- 
 ham, (the Elzevir of modern times,) merits a morocco coating •, 
 if the impressions of the wood-cuts be clear and distinct throughout. 
 It would be a species of scandalum magnatum to depreciate any pro- 
 duction connected with the name of Bewick j but I will fearlessly 
 and honestly avow, that his JEsop disappointed me ; the more so* 
 as his Birds and Beasts are volumes, perfectly classical of their kind. 
 1 appeal to my tasteful friend Palmerin, if this canon be not ortho- 
 dox ? Or, why coats he the Birds and Beasts in damson-coloured 
 morocco, and leaves the /Esop in a calf-skin covering ? 
 
AND BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 583 
 
 night, and from year to year, in the pleasurable and 
 interminable pursuit of an /Esopian Collection ! 
 
 But of all the philologists of ancient Greece, Athe- 
 ne us is probably the most amusing and instructive ; 
 and there is hardly any work, of which the incomplete 
 state in which it is left, is more to be regretted, than 
 the Deipnosophistce (“ The Banquet of Wise Men ’) of 
 this curious philologist. It may be only essential to 
 remark, that the first edition of Athenseus was put 
 forth by Aldus in 1514, Gr. folio; and that the best 
 editions are those by Casaubon and Schweighceuser .* 
 
 No collection of Greek Philology can be considered 
 as complete, without the possession of the works of 
 
 * Of the particulars relating to a perfect copy of the Editio Prin- 
 ceps , consult the Bibl. Spencer, vol. i. page 265. A good copy of it 
 rarely turns up for sale : but I never heard of it either on vellum, or 
 on thick paper ; although a thoroughly clean and crackling copy, h 
 la Grolier, might produce the sum of 1 61. 16.?. Of Casaubon' s edi- 
 tion, of which the best is that of Lyons, 1657* folio, 2 vols. in one, I 
 find a “ fine copy, in old gilt morocco,” marked at 41. 14 s. 6d. in the 
 catalogue of Messrs. Payne and Foss : but it is the edition of Schweig- 
 h&user , Argent. 1801, &c. 8vo. 9 vols. that the classical Young 
 Man” must make a point of possessing ; and if he run riot in his 
 affections for fine or large paper copies of it, he may e’en purchase one, 
 uncut, and half bound in russia, for 81. 18s. 6d. in 14 vols.: — from 
 the catalogue of Mr. Bohn, no 309. 
 
 In the conversation which I had with the venerable and learned 
 Editor, at Strasbourg, and which is in part related in the Biblio- 
 graphical, Antiquarian, and Picturesque Tour, vol. iii. p. 110, &c., I 
 took occasion to observe upon the popularity of his edition of Athe- 
 naeus, and hew ably and highly it had been noticed in the Edinb. 
 Review, vol. iii. page 181. The learned Editor assured me that he 
 was not only sensible of the good opinion of the English — who were 
 perhaps, on the whole, the best living Greek scholars in Europe— 
 but of the judgment pronounced on his labours by the critical Jour- 
 nal in question. He then assured me that the execution of this 
 editorial task was the most difficult which he had ever accomplished. 
 
5S4 
 
 PHILOLOGY 
 
 Lucian : the lively, the witty, and the instructive. 
 Although I should not designate the Edit. Prin. of 
 this author (published in 1496) to be a volume of 
 very considerable rarity, yet a very fine copy of it is 
 doubtless, of most uncommon occurrence. That in 
 the library of the Rt. Hon. T. Grenville is the finest* 
 which, to my remembrance, I have seen.* For good 
 critical editions, none come up to that of Hemster- 
 husius and Reitzius , 1743, 4to. Gr. Lat. 4 vols ; and 
 worth about 5/. 15s. 6d. in neat binding. This was 
 reprinted at Deux Ponts , in 1789-91. 8vo. in 10 vols. ; 
 but without the Index Lucianeum, which is found in 
 the 4th vol. of the quarto precursor : but it is worth 
 about the same sum.f I understand that a supple- 
 mental (4to) volume of Notes is just published at 
 Leyden. 
 
 * A very fine one is in the library (if I remember rightly) of 
 Mons. Renouard at Paris. Timid and unexperienced Collectors 
 startle, if they find no title page to this grand book. But let them 
 be comforted when they learn there never was one published with 
 the book itself ; and that what usually appears, is as usually accom- 
 panied with some Opusculaof Philostratus, printed by Junta in 1517« 
 But even then the title is not by the same hand j and I believe it is 
 to Mr. Gaisford, that the bibliographical world is indebted for the 
 discovery that the types of this pseudo-title are, in fact, those 
 of the Scholia in the margins of the text of the first edition of Apol- 
 lonius Rhodius, printed the same year at the same place. Mons. 
 Brunet says that there is a copy of this first edition upon vellum, 
 with illuminations, in the Riccardi Library at Florence. A copy 
 upon vellum is also in the Library at Blenheim, Precious treasure ! 
 Messrs. Payne and Foss mark a morocco-coated copy (of course 
 upon paper) at 1 61. 165. 
 
 t There are copies of the Hemsterhusius in 4to. upon large 
 paper, worth about 10Z. 10s. : and of the Bipont reprint, on thick or 
 writing paper, worth about the same sum : well bound. It may 
 not be generally known, that the late Rev. W. Tooke, the Russian 
 traveller, translated Lucian. — His translation was printed in two 
 
AND BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 5'85 
 
 I now come to the more ancient and popular philo- 
 logical writers of the Roman Period ; beseeching the 
 forgiveness of the reader for the omission of such of 
 the Grecian as happen to be his particular favourites. 
 And first, of the greatest of all the great men about to 
 be enumerated : Marcus Tullius Cicero :* at once 
 
 quarto volumes. By the favour of his son, William Tooke, Esq. 
 I possess a copy of this translation. 
 
 * As to the entire works of Cicero, I am well aware how equally 
 injudicious and fruitless it would be to recommend any edition in pre- 
 ference to that of Olivet, published at Paris, in 1740, 4to. in 9 vols. 
 But what does my ardent “ Young Man” think of a copy of this 
 edition, upon large paper, in an uncut stater Such a treasure 
 adorns the shelves of the unrivalled library at Blickling.J The bind- 
 ing is plain and simple to a degree : between a sort of red basil back, 
 with blue paper sides . . . and. .yet I would almost interdict the use 
 of Charles Lewis’s tools upon such a unique subject, in every respect. 
 The legitimate size of this uncut treasure will, I fear, render the 
 bound copies, by Padaloup and De Rome, much shorter than they 
 ought to have been ; and if made public, will only render the ma- 
 jority of possessors of copies “wretched for life.” Yet must 
 
 f “ Unrivalled” as to internal characteristic architecture, which is of the ge- 
 nuine period of the erection of the House, in 1619. This library (I speak of the 
 room) measures 120 feet in length, with a lofty cieling divided into countless com- 
 partments, containing drolleries and oddities, in low relief, covered with ruthless 
 white wash. The books were procured chiefly by Maittaire, for Sir Richard 
 Ellys, Bart, to whom he dedicated his Anacreon of 1725. At the mention of this 
 interesting room — which is under the care of the Rev. Mr. Churchill, librarian, 
 and chaplain to the Dowager Lady Suffield, a descendant of the Hobart family — 
 I cannot refrain from indulging in one minute’s delightful recollection of the 
 morning, passed within its precincts, when, in company with Atticus, and Marcus, 
 and Petronius, we revelled and rioted midst strange Greek MSS. and quaint 
 printed tomes : a morning, followed up by a hospitable carousal at the Tusculum 
 of Mr. Churchill — succeeded by a night, when we slept within the sound of the 
 roaring surges at Cromer. Here we were joined by Prospero — but all this is 
 matter of foreign import. Only it is pleasant to let such sunny spots, in the 
 landscape of life, find a brief chronicle in an unassuming sub-note. There are 
 those who might consolidate the events, which took place on that memorable day, 
 into a sort of Novella: of which thirty-one copies (the Roxburghe Club number) 
 might be struck off! 
 
586 
 
 PHILOLOGY 
 
 an orator, a philosopher, and epistolographer — and, 
 with such properties combined^ classed with perfect 
 propriety in the present department of a library. The 
 preceding note relates chiefly to the more popular 
 
 the important intelligence be disclosed. This uncut large paper copy 
 of Olivet’s Cicero measures 14 inches ~ in height, by 10 inches and 
 a half in breadth ! ! ! The edition of Olivet was reprinted at Geneva 
 in 1758,, in nine quarto volumes, of which a fine good copy may be 
 worth 61. 16s. 6d. It was again reprinted, at Oxford, in 1783, in ten 
 quarto volumes } and the story attached to this reprint is whimsical 
 enough. Though each volume contained “ Various Readings” from 
 twenty-nine MSS. collated by Hearn e, from several libraries in the 
 University of Oxford, and from two MSS. in the library of York 
 Cathedral recently collated — and though the tenth volume contained 
 the useful Clavis Ernestiana,” and the whole had been long pro- 
 nounced to be a handsome and useful edition — yet, strange to tell, 
 no body bought the book ! Hundreds of copies covered, and nearly 
 weighed down the shelves of the warehouse of the Clarendon Press j 
 when, at length, the signal was given that these books might be pur- 
 chased at thirty shillings a copy ; confining the purchase, as much as 
 possible, to Members of the University of Oxford. Within a little 
 month,” every copy put on wings and flew away. And now. .it is 
 doubtful whether 51. 5s. can procure one. But Mr. Parker, the lead- 
 ing Bibliopole of Oxford, is as merciful as he is liberal. 
 
 In regard to other critical editions of the entire works of Cicero, 
 get, if you can, such a copy of the Elzevir edition of 1642, 12mo.[ten 
 vols. as Messrs. Payne and Foss at this moment possess. It was 
 Colbert’s, is bound in red morocco, and marked at 7 1. 7s. I have 
 however seen a whiter copy, and of ampler marginal latitude. Five 
 guineas can procure an excellent copy of this edition, unless it happen 
 to be in an uncut state — and that I believe is unprocurable, if not a 
 non-entity. Does the cabinet at Hendon possess it ? But I know not 
 whether the Glasgow edition, by Foulis, in 1749, 12mo. 20 vols. be 
 not a yet more recommendable impression ? A good copy of it is 
 worth 51. 5s. Ernesti’s edition of 1774 has been well reprinted at 
 Oxford in 1810, in eight vols. 8vo. This is perhaps the best of all the 
 critical editions of Cicero , and yet who can refuse Si. 13s. 6d. for a 
 well bound copy of the accurately printed edition of Lallemand at 
 Paris, 1768, in 12 duodecimo tomes? 
 
AND BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 587 
 
 editions of the collected works of this great man ; since 
 any thing like a detail of them, in their separately pub- 
 lished forms, would scarcely have any reasonable 
 limits. Next to Cicero, I venture upon Seneca, and 
 dismiss the best editions of his works in the subjoined 
 note.* Of Boetius, Apuleius, Aulus Gellius, the 
 Younger Pliny, Petronius Arbiter, and Quin- 
 tilian the account must be necessarily brief ; and, as 
 such, I trust that the materials of the accompanying 
 note will be found sufficiently satisfactory.^ 
 
 * They may indeed be briefly dismissed. A good copy of the Va- 
 riorum edition of 1672, 8vo. 3 vols. — printed by the Elzevirs, and by 
 far the best of the octavo impressions — is worth 31. 13s 6d. : but if 
 you want to be deeply versed in the supposed Tragedies of this same 
 writer, carry home, beneath your arm, the ample quarto of Schroeder, 
 published at Delft, in 172S ; which you may get in the best condi- 
 tion for 11Z. Is. 6d. 
 
 f I am not sure that it will be found sufficiently satisfactory j but 1 
 will “ do my best endeavour.” Of Boetius, it seems now deter- 
 mined that the Edit. Prin. is that printed by Hans Glim , without 
 date, and of which I know of no other copy but the one described in 
 the AEdes Althorp. vol. ii. p. 73. The Koburger of 1473, once so rare, 
 may be now obtained for some 10Z. For the best edition, procure 
 the Variorum of 167L 8vo. for about 15s. : nor is the philosophy of 
 Boetius so exquisite, that you need distract yourself about the choice 
 of copies of this edition displayed in the copiously stored catalogue 
 of Mr. Bohn, no. 377* The first edition of Apuleius was printed in 
 1469 ; and a fine copy of it (very rare to possess) may be yet worth 
 31Z. 10s. I have seen several copies, but none which comes within 
 many degrees of that in the public library of Cambridge — which my 
 ms. memorandum, <Q made on the spot,” describes as being large, 
 white, crackling, and scarcely cut.” It is in truth a noble, and per- 
 haps matchless, volume, But I have seen it, at Vienna, upon vel- 
 lum, unique ! Tour , vol. iii. p. 493. For the best critical edition 
 of the Metamorphoses , procure that of Pricseus, Goudce , 1650, 8vo. 
 worth 1Z. Is. .* and of the entire works, that of Oudendorp and Rhun v 
 ken, Leidce, 1736, and now completed in 3 vols. 4to. by the addition 
 of two volumes which were published at the end of last year. Price 
 
58S 
 
 PHILOLOGY 
 
 I retrace my steps in the pursuit of English Phi- 
 lology ; having dispatched the earlier and more im- 
 
 about 4 1. 14s. 6d. A yet more popular philologist than Apuleius, is 
 Aulus Gellius } the first edition of whose works was also published 
 in 1469. Of this I have also seen a copy upon vellum — of a size 
 and condition, such as to repay a passage across the Alps, in mid- 
 winter, to inspect it. These two vellum treasures were once the pro- 
 perty of the famous Cardinal Bessarion, one of the patrons of the 
 printers ; and appear to have been but recently in the imperial Col- 
 lection at Vienna. Ibid. In regard to critical editions, purchase the 
 Variorum of 1666, worth somewhere about 16s., or the bulkier lucu- 
 brations of Gronovius, 1706, 4to. worth 1 1. 10s. : but if you are fas- 
 tidious in bindings , as well as condition, content yourself with the 
 impression of ConraduSj in two octavo volumes, Lips. 1762, of which 
 you may procure a copy in prize vellum " for 1 1. 6s. from the cata- 
 logue of Mr. Bohn, no. 338, parti. But the Delphin quarto, 1681, 
 seems to be the most expensive of all these critical editions. Messrs. 
 Payne and Foss elevate it to the price of 2 1. 12 s. 6d. 1 know it to be 
 
 a rare book. 
 
 Of the Younger Pliny, 1 will speak only of his Epistles for 
 who can trust to the sincerity of his Panegyric of Trajan P Respect- 
 ing the Editio Princeps of the Epistles, of which Vindelin de Spira 
 was in all probability the printer, consult the Bibl. Spenceriana, vol. 
 ii.p. 264-5. A fine copy of this book is of uncommon occurrence: 
 but of yet more uncommon occurrence is the dateless impression sup- 
 posed to be printed by Schurener de Bopardia : see Cat. of the Cas- 
 sano Library , p. 92 : being a Supplement to the Bibl. Spencer. Of 
 critical editions, treasure highly the much lauded Variorum of 1669, 
 Lug. Bat. 8vo. I once saw it in an uncut state $ and I think this very 
 copy afterwards travelled as far as the vicarage of Hendon, where it is 
 now cased in the rich, rough-grained, morocco of C. Lewis. But the 
 labours of Longolius , Amst. 1734, 4to. are the mine in which the critical 
 student must dig, respecting the Epistles of the Younger Pliny : and 
 with this well filled quarto volume, get another similar one of the 
 Panegyric by Schwaz, published at Nuremberg in 1746, 4to. Both 
 together may be worth Si. 3 s. But for the summer alcove, let the 
 late Mr. Homer’s edition of the Epistles, 1790, 8vo. (so elegantly 
 and so correctly put forth) find a ready admittance ! and if bound in 
 green morocco, so much the better. As the first edition of Petro- 
 
AND BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 589 
 
 portant grammarians. The greater number of my 
 readers will be probably surprised at the introduction 
 
 nius Arbiter is found at the end of that of the Panegyric of Trajan, 
 I must counsel my young man” (but not unless his purse be well 
 garnished) to make an effort to secure a good copy of that scarce 
 book — put forth in 147b* — and fully described in the Bibl. Spencer. 
 vol. ii. p. 267. For critical editions, content yourself with the Vari- 
 orum of 1669, 8vo. worth 1/. Is. in beautiful condition j with the ela- 
 borate quarto of Burman , 1743, Amst. worth about 1 1. 10s. ; and per- 
 haps, as good as either, with the Leipsic edition of 1781, 8vo. by 
 Antonins ; of which a fair, good copy may be obtained for 10s. 6d. 
 
 The Oratorical Institutes of Quintilian deserve every attention 
 from every class of students. They are a branch of philology of the 
 purest and most instructive description ; and therefore I am dis- 
 posed to “ whet the blunted purpose’’ of the most timid and hesita- 
 ting, to “ stick (like John Bagford — see p. 575 note, ante) at no price” 
 for such a copy of the first edition of this work — printed by I. P. de 
 Lignamine , Romce , in via prope sanctum Marcum , 1470, folio — as is 
 described in the Bibl. Spencer, vol. ii. p. 305, and which I should pro- 
 nounce to be worth thirty guineas at the least. Note : another edition 
 of the same date was printed by Sweynheym and Pannartz ; of which 
 a fine copy may be worth two thirds of the preceding sum. Consult 
 the shoal of authorities referred to in the Introd. to the Classics , vol. 
 ii. p. 184. And now for critical editions. Mr. Bohn pushes forward a 
 grenadier copy of the Variorum of 1665, 8vo, fC new, in vellum,” to 
 the tune of 2 1. 10s. What would the sum have been, had the coat- 
 ing been “ prize vellum” ! ! I should say that a good copy might 
 be worth 1 1. 11s. 6d . But is it so scarce ? Messrs. Payne and Foss 
 mark it, <f very neat,” in 2 vols. at 2 1. 2s. It is said that old Peter 
 Burman has plunged the critical spade deepest into the treasures 
 of this author. His edition appeared in 1720, at Leyden, in 2 vols. 
 4to. and may be worth 3l. 13s. 6d. in good condition. I find a large 
 paper copy of it, in French calf, marked at 7 1> 7s. in the catalogue 
 of Messrs. Payne and Foss. Yet is Gesner's edition of 1738 a very 
 admirable and useful one : worth about 11. 10s. But Spalding's recent 
 edition (comprehending, like all the critical editions here noticed, the 
 entire works of Quintilian) published in 1796-1816, in 4 octavo vo- 
 lumes, at about 2 1. 2s. in bds. may satisfy every reasonable object in 
 the acquisition of the leading impressions of Quintilian. And thus 
 
590 
 
 PHILOLOGY 
 
 of some miscellaneous works, in the more ancient 
 department of our philology, for which I find no place 
 elsewhere, but which may be rather introduced awk- 
 wardly, than wholly omitted. I allude to that mar- 
 vellous compound of weakness and wisdom, of gossip- 
 ing and instruction, called Bartholomews, De Pro - 
 prietatibus Rerum ; put forth at the close of the 
 fifteenth century in one of the most splendid typogra- 
 phical productions of the early British press.* And 
 
 much (or probably, as the severe reader may think, thus little) for 
 Roman Philology. 
 
 * Consult the Typ. Antiq. vol. ii. 310-321 for the most copious 
 account extant of this extraordinary volume, executed in the printing 
 office of Wynkyn de Worde, without date. Of its intrinsic value, 
 Mr. Douce, in his Illustrations of Shakespeare , has given us several 
 very curious demonstrations. ’Tis a volume to be placed among the 
 lounging tomes of an Antiquary : to be conned in dull moments of 
 ennui of winters evenings. Of all the copies of Wynkyn de Worde’s 
 very fine and rare impression, that of the Right Hon. T. Grenville 
 (obtained from the sale of Mr. Watson Taylors library for thirty-five 
 guineas) is by much the most genuine, perfect, and superb. It is 
 pow cased in the appropriate red morocco of Charles Lewis. Next 
 to this copy, are those of Earl Spencer and Mr. Heber. It must be 
 a rarissima avis — a very gem — in an uncut state ! It was reprinted 
 by Bertheletin 1535, folio, which is comparatively a common book,f 
 and not worth more than SI. 135 6d. With Bartholomaeus, you 
 must have his Commentator, Stephen Batman ; whose folio volume 
 of dull annotations came forth in 1582. It is however by no means 
 a common book in fine condition. Consult the British Bibliographer , 
 vol. iv. p. 107 , for some account of a beautiful MS. of Bartholo- 
 mseus, and respecting its version by John de Trevisa. 
 
 "I Mr. Haslewood, in despair of ever caressing the first English edition (by de 
 Worde) of Bartholomaeus, contents himself with Berthelet's reprint, in his ex- 
 tracts in the Censura Liter aria , vol. x. p. 154-248. The first extract, relating to 
 fishes, might have warmed the heart, or fired the fancy, of honest Isaac Walton. 
 We are there told that “ Some sea fish ben good ; for those that ben subtle be best, 
 and ben nourished in the deep see and no where else . . &c. . . ” and so sea fish is 
 better than river fish.” The maxim, however,— -and a staunch orthodox on* 
 
AND BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 591 
 
 here, however disjointedly put together, let liberty be 
 granted me to notice, with becoming respect, those 
 singularly curious prose works called Reynard the 
 Fox, Alain Char tier, and the Greater and Lesser 
 Cato ;* the two latter, sufficiently dry and uninviting 
 of perusal ; but strictly and doggedly philological. 
 
 No English literary antiquary can have read much 
 of the earlier half of the sixteenth century, without 
 
 * I suspect Caxton’s edition of Reynard the Fox to be among 1 
 the most intrinsically curious, as well as rarest, of the English im- 
 pressions of this extraordinary work. At present, I know of no copies 
 of it but those in the libraries of His Majesty and Earl Spencer. They 
 have both, a little beyond the middle of the book, a half leaf, printed 
 only on one side. Pynson reprinted it in folio, and Mr. Douce pos- 
 sesses the only copy of it (unluckily imperfect) which is known. See 
 Typ. Antiq. vol. i. p. 364 ; ii. 525. I might fearlessly value Caxton’s 
 edition, in a perfect state, at 200 guineas. Alain Chartier is among 
 the very few philologists printed by Caxton. Lord Spencer’s copy 
 (Bibl. Spencer, vol. iv. page 331) wants the first of the six leaves, of 
 which a perfect copy consists. His Majesty’s copy is perfect. As for 
 the Book called Cathon, dullness can hardly be heavier than are 
 the pages of its text — among the commonest of Caxton’s pieces. 
 The authorities referred to in the Bibl. Spencer , vol. iv. p. 263, will 
 satisfy the curious about all particulars connected with this volume. 
 The Little Cato is, in truth, a poetical (or rather a rhythmical) pro- 
 duction ; yet, for the sake of juxta-position, it may be mentioned in 
 this place. Its rarity is excessive j and I question if, in the present 
 raging times for old English poetry, a copy of it could be procured 
 under the sum of 150 guineas. It consists of only 26 leaves. See 
 the Bibl. Spencer, vol. iv. p. 264. I know of no other copy of it but 
 that in the library of St. John’s Coliege, Oxford. 
 
 it is — is taken from good old Avicenna. It will doubtless be opposed by those 
 who swear by Walton, and especially by the late exquisite edition of him by Mr. 
 Major ; yet who, in his senses, would surrender the Dutch turbot, or Dungeness 
 sole, for the Dove Dale grayling or Winchester trout ? But here Mr. Major whis- 
 pers in my ear — *• you forget my salmon /” I do-<-and yield, vanquished ; vicisti, 
 tua est.” . . . 
 
59 2 
 
 PHILOLOGY 
 
 being struck with the names of Sir Thomas More, 
 Sir Thomas Elyot, Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, Sir 
 Thomas Wilson, Roger Ascham, and William 
 Thomas ;* and if the voluminous matter, which em- 
 
 * In the frightful quantity of trash which disfigures the literary, or 
 rather the pseudo-literary, history of the first half of the sixteenth 
 century, it is truly refreshing and grateful to alight upon the lucu- 
 brations of such men as are above mentioned. And first, of Sir 
 Thomas Elyot ; “ who was ever (as he himself observes, in one of 
 his justificatory pieces to Sir T. Cromwell) desirous to read many 
 books, especially concerning humanity and moral philosophy .” He is 
 known’ to posterity chiefly by the following works : although it is 
 infinitely to be regretted that, of his correspondence with his friend 
 Sir Thomas More, not one single letter, to the best of my knowledge, 
 is preserved. 1. The Boke named the Governor, first printed in 1531, 
 8vo. See the authorities in favour of this work as quoted by Mr. 
 Chalmers, in his Biographical Dictionary , vol. xiii. p. 17 7, &c. ; and 
 see the reasons for its publication, as noticed by the author himself, 
 in the British Bibliographer , vol. ii. p. 225. It is perhaps the most 
 popular of all the works of Sir Thomas. Mr. Heber possesses a 
 copy of this first edition, so frequently reprinted : see the Typ. Antiq . 
 vol. iii. p. 277. I should unhesitatingly pronounce a good copy of 
 it to be worth fifteen or twenty shillings. 2. The Dictionary ; Lat. 
 Sf Engl. 1538, folio. First edition : it has an interesting dedication 
 to Henry VIII. : Typ. Antiq. vol. iii. p.300. Mr. Heber possesses a 
 copy of it ; which, in fine condition, is always a treasure of its kind, 
 and worth, as I conjecture, a couple of sovereigns. It was reprinted 
 in 1545, 1552, and 1559; each in folio. 3. The Castle of Health , 
 [1537] 8vo. Sir Thomas was involved in quarrels, if not difficulties, 
 by this publication ; as entering on a province for which he was sup- 
 posed not to have the proper qualification. Mr. Chalmers has given 
 the pith of this affair. I have read this work, and it is rather of a 
 curious and popular cast of character. 4. The Image of Governance , 
 1540, 4to. : a wise, solid, and instructive performance. In the pre- 
 face, Sir Thomas gives a list of his previous publications : see' Typ. 
 Antiq. vol. iii p. 313. Mr. Heber possesses a copy of this first edi- 
 tion. 5. The Doctrinal of Princes , 8vo. without date. Mr. Heber 
 possesses a beautiful copy of this first edition. 6. Education of Chil- 
 dren , 1536, 4to. Typ. Antiq. vol. iii. p. 349. Besides these,, are his 
 
AND BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 593 
 
 braces the history of our Typography during the first 
 half of the sixteenth century, be carefully looked into. 
 
 Banquet of Sapience , Knowledge which maketh a wise man , Defence of 
 Good Women, The little Pasquil, (unknown), &c. Cens. Lit. vol. viii. 
 p. 251 j Brit. Bibliogr. vol. ii. pp. 225, 229, 230, 231, : vol. iv. p. 149. 
 Retrosp. Review , vol. iv. p. 381. Typ. Antiq. vol. iii. p. 330. Elyote 
 is quoted by the antiquary, the lawyer, and the philologist. His 
 printer was Berthelet : but did he ever persuade “ master William 
 Tildisley, keeper of his Grace’s [Henry VIII’s] library,” to print a 
 catalogue of his royal Master’s books in the office of the same printer ? 
 Would that he had ! 
 
 Having, in the edition of the Utopia, published by me in 1808, 
 vol. i. p. xxxix, given a complete list of the pieces which constitute 
 a perfect copy of Sir Thomas More's works, published in 1557, 
 folio, I refer the reader to that catalogue, as well as to a curious 
 extract from the volume itself, at p. 524, ante. I may here only fur- 
 ther observe, that a good copy of this very rare volume, perfect in all 
 respects, is worth 5 1. 5s. It is in the libraries of most of our collec- 
 tors of note. Roger Ascham will be chiefly, and most honourably, 
 known to the latest posterity, by his Toxophilus and Schoolmaster ; 
 the former was printed in 1544 — and is very rare ; — (see an excellent 
 review of it in the Retrospective , vol. i. p. 76 :) the latter in 1570 ; 
 and is very common : the Affairs of Germany were also printed in 
 1570; and all these works, together with some Letters to Queen Eliza- 
 beth and others,* first published from original MSS. were put forth by 
 James Bennet, in a handsome 4to. volume, without date : but some- 
 where about fifty years ago. The preface is the performance of Dr. 
 Johnson. I have read this quarto volume through, and some por- 
 
 * Of these letters, those of Ascham to his fellow Collegian, Edward Raven, of St. 
 John’s,Cambridge, are among the most interesting. The conclusion of the first letter 
 has perfectly an apostolical air of simplicity, earnestness, and kind-heartedness. 
 This letter was written at Augsbourg, during the visit there of Charles V. : “ the 
 Emperor (says Ascham) drank the best that ever I saw, he had his head in the glass 
 five times as long as any of us, and never drank less than a good quart at once of 
 Rhenish wine. His chapel sung wonderful cunningly all the dinner while.” But 
 Ascham himself was rather fond of this species of potation. “ This Rhenish 
 wine (says he, in the beginning of the following letter) is so gentle a drink, I 
 cannot tell how to do when I come home” — “ without it” — I suppose may be fairly 
 added. N. B. In the first letter, the word Tuccur is blunderingly put for Fug- 
 gers ; see page 505*6, ante. But this is corrected in the reprint of 1815. 
 
 Q q 
 
PHILOLOGY 
 
 594 
 
 it will be found that there is very little, with the ex- 
 ception of the works of which these distinguished men 
 
 tions of it several times over, with unfeigned pleasure. It is from 
 the Schoolmaster of Ascham, that we are put in possession of one 
 of the most interesting anecdotes in the world relating to Lady 
 Jane Grey : so often and often repeated, that it w r ere tiresome to re- 
 late it anew. Ascham is a thorough bred philologist, and of the 
 purest water. I should add, that Bennet’s collection of his works 
 was neatly and carefully reprinted in a small octavo volume in 18 15 : 
 with a close attention to modern orthography, whereby its reading 
 is greatly facilitated. In this edition, there are some additional let- 
 ters of Ascham, from the originals in the British Museum. As only 
 950 copies were printed, I conjure the young philological Enthusi- 
 ast to leave neither shop nor stall unvisited till he procures it — per- 
 haps for 1 1. Is. in goodly binding. Upton published his Schoolmaster 
 alone, with notes, in 1711, 8vo. : which are embodied in Bennet’s 
 work. I have unhesitatingly ranked Ascham among my more illus- 
 trious Bibliomaniacs : see Bibliomania , page 334. 
 
 I take Sir Anthony Fitzherbf.rt to have been among the most 
 accomplished characters of the age in w r hich he lived. A deep and 
 enlightened lawyer, there is scarcely a professional student but what 
 will readily admit (see Bridgman’s Legal Bibliography ) his obliga- 
 tions to, as well as his acquaintance with, his Grand Abridgment 
 (1514, folio) Office of Justices of Peace , (1538) Office of Sheriffs, See. 
 1538, Diversity of Courts (1599) and New Natura Brevium. How- 
 ever, it is on account of his Boohs of Husbandry and Surveying — each 
 in 4to. — and published in 1593 — that Fitzherbert ranks here among 
 the philologists of the day. A particular account of these first, and 
 exceedingly rare editions, will be found in the Typ. Antiq. vol. ii. 
 p. 305-6: and British Bibliographer, vol. i. p. 18-22 : both of which 
 accounts are taken from the same copies — namely, those which are 
 in the collection of Mr. Heber. It is delightful to contemplate such 
 a man as Fitzherbert, retiring, in seasons of rurality, from the bustle 
 and oppression of law business, to his “ Sabine farm” — with all the 
 relis of Virgil's sentimental husbandman. 
 
 Spelunc®, vivique lacns, &c. 
 
 Mugitusque bourn, mollesque sub arbore somni. 
 
 to compose the above mentioned agricultural treatises. Our author 
 
AND BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 595 
 
 were the authors, which merits to be placed in the 
 department of which we are treating. 
 
 After Ascham and Wilson, we look in vain, during 
 the middle of the sixteenth century, for any names 
 equally illustrious in the annals of English Philology ; 
 and, towards the close of the same century, we find 
 the republic of literature agitated by the desperate 
 conflicts of those intellectual gladiators, who mistook 
 
 “ appears (says Mr. Chalmers) to have been the first Englishman 
 who studied the nature of soils, and the la^s of vegetation, with phi- 
 losophical attention,” Biogr. Diet. vol. xiv. p. 336. 
 
 Sir Thomas Wilson is worthy of the phalanx of Knights in 
 which he is here embodied ; and will be long remembered as a phi- 
 lologist, rather than as a statesman or divine. His slender little vo- 
 lume, entitled Epistola de vitd et obitu duorum fratrum Suffolcien- 
 sium , Henrici et Caroli Brandon , 1552, 4 to. is a volume to rack the 
 most desperate with torture, as to the hopelessness of its acquisition. 
 The Bodleian Library possesses it $ so does the British Museum ; and 
 so does Earl Spencer. Another copy is not known to me. Wilson's 
 Art of Logic , 1551, 8vo. and of Rhetoric, 1553, 4to. are among his 
 best performances— and highly commended by Tom Wartom Con- 
 sult Chalmers’s interesting article. Biographical Diet, and Typ. Antiq. 
 vol. iii. page 474 ; vol. xxxii. page 173. Wilson was also among our 
 earliest English translators from the Greek : having translated Three 
 Orations of Demosthenes , &c. 1570, 4to. In fact, as an assistant of 
 Sir Thomas Walsingham, one would be glad to know a great deal 
 more of the life of this eminent man ? and especially to get at the 
 contents of some of his correspondence.f To these names, let me 
 quietly add another — that of William Thomas, author of the Italian 
 Grammar and Dictionary , 1550, 4to. and a History of Italy , 1556, 
 4to. : works, both of them, which well merit to be cased in a russia 
 coating, if in good condition. 
 
 + I take this to be the Wilson thus noticed by Roger Ascham, in his third letter 
 to Edward Raven. “ I trust Will. Taylor, John Bres, and Thomas Wilson, will not 
 be behind. I pray God I may find these good fellows at Cambridge; for there is 
 the life that no man knows, but he that hath sometimes lacked it ; and especially 
 if one be able to live plentifully there.” 
 
596 
 
 PHILOLOGY 
 
 equivoque, abuse, and impudence, for wit, repartee, 
 and a liberal spirit of controversy. A passing tribute 
 of respect is, however, doubtless due to Abraham 
 Fraunce, who, besides being the author of several 
 very rare and not incurious pieces of poetry,* put 
 forth one of the most elegant and instructive volumes 
 of philology with which I am acquainted : namely, 
 the Lawyer s Logike, printed in 1588, 4to.* 
 
 * Among the rarest and most curious of these poetical pieces — and 
 to be mentioned only by way of by- play, — is Fraunce’s Countesse of 
 ** Pembroke's Yuychurche , conteining the affectionate life and unfortu - 
 nate death of Phillis and Amyntas," &c. inEnglish hexameters, 1591. 
 4to. The first and second parts were printed for William Ponsonby : 
 the third for Thomas Woodcock, by Thomas Orwin. See Herbert , 
 vol. ii. p. 1111, 1247. Herbert appears to have had a copy of each. 
 A copy was sold at the sale of Mr. Bindley’s books for 25 1. 45. which 
 was purchased by Mr. Perry ; at the sale of whose library Sir M. M. 
 Sykes obtained it for 2 \l. 10s. A copy of it is also in the library of 
 Earl Spencer. 
 
 f In the British Bibliographer , vol. ii. p. 277-283, there is an ac- 
 count of this rare book, together with a notice of a MS. of The Shep- 
 herd's Logic , &c. The printed volume, to be complete, should con- 
 tain 161 leaves. It must not be supposed that this work is confined 
 to legal knowledge, or logic ; for it abounds with extracts from 
 ancient and modern poetry : among these, is a verse for verse” 
 English hexametrical translation of the Ilnd Eclogue of Virgil : — 
 thus : 
 
 Formosum pastor Corydon ardebat Alexin, 
 
 Delicias domini : nec quid speraret habebat. 
 
 Seelly shepheard Corydon lou'd heartily faire lad Alexis , 
 
 His maisters dear ling, but saw no matter of hoping . 
 
 1 have known copies of Fraunce's Logic bring seven and eight 
 guineas, and upwards ; but, among those which I have seen, not 
 one equals the beauty of that, discovered by me, some five years ago, 
 in an auncient cupboard, in the yet more auncient mansion of Hard- 
 tvicke — in Derbyshire : the oldest seat belonging to his Grace the 
 Duke of Devonshire.]: 
 
 Z It was in mid winter when the visit to this old mansion took place— as a sort 
 
AND BELLES LETTliES. 
 
 597 
 
 The tribe of “intellectual gladiators/’ just alluded 
 to, are Robert Green, Thomas Nash, Gabriel 
 Harvey, and Thomas Dekker.* These men had all 
 
 * A pretty little instructive bibliographical volume might be put 
 forth, respecting the works — with choice morsels of quotations there- 
 from — of the above not very harmonious quartetto. Let Robert 
 Greene play the first fiddle : but those, who wish to become 
 acquainted with the almost endless varieties of his Concertos, should 
 examine the list of his works by Mr. Haslewood in the Cens. Literaria, 
 vol. viii. page 380-391 : and if you want a specimen from his Never 
 too late, or Farewell to Folly, or Pair of Turtle Doves , or Planetoma- 
 chia, examine pp. 7“ lb : 133-140 of the same volume $ or the British 
 Bibliographer, vol. iv. p. 159: 210 : 338. From this list, it appears 
 that there are not fewer than forty-five, prosaical or metrical, which 
 
 of episodical variety from the festivities of Chatsworth, where I was spending a 
 few days with His Grace. Hardwicke lies about fourteen miles beyond, towards 
 Chesterfield. What a contrast it was, to all I had left behind me ? Silence, gothic 
 gloom, uninhabited chambers, corridores, and galleries ! The vast bay and auriol 
 windows of the larger apartments, without a curtain drawn across them since the 
 days of the famous Countess of Shrewsbury, (1598) the founder of the mansion. 
 The moon appeared at her full ; and her light, more than the wax flambeau I held 
 in my hand, helped to serve me in my peregrinations (towards midnight) across 
 those spacious and singularly characteristic chambers. Here King William III. 
 held a court, out of compliment to the first Duke of Devonshire, the handsomest 
 man of his time, and who had been the most active of William’s partisans in pla- 
 cing him upon his throne. A magnificent portrait of the Duke, on horseback, as 
 large as life, is seen above the mantle piece of one of these apartments ; and in 
 this court-room stand the very chairs whereon the courtiers and attendants on 
 King William sat. A piece of tapestry covers the door way which connects the 
 room with the great gallery— 160 feet in length. You draw this tapestry aside, 
 and stand amazed . . as you look to the right- -down this very gallery, of which the 
 sides are covered with most ancient and curious portraits. And give me leave to 
 add, that, at such a season, in such a place, and at such an hour, it requires some- 
 thing almost beyond mortal courage to proceed— especially if the moon chance 
 to “ stoop her head” ’neath a succession of black o’erspreading clouds. Mrs. 
 Ratcliffe and Sir Walter Scott might, in such a situation— but is not this Roman- 
 cing ? True nevertheless it is, that, within an hour of such nocturnal perambulation, 
 a clean and uncropt copy of the Lawyer's Logic by Abraham Fraunce, together 
 with sundry slim and tiny volumes of old poetry, each and all clad in ancient 
 vellum binding, was found in the aforesaid cupboard, within the aforesaid mansion : 
 and each and all of which are now coated in the choicest morocco covering* of 
 Charles Lewis, the renowned Bibliopegist. 
 
598 
 
 PHILOLOGY 
 
 lively parts ; and sometimes attained to elegance, and 
 even expression and pathos, in composition ; but their 
 liveliness was too frequently obscured by dull con- 
 ceits, coarse imagery, and vituperative declamation. 
 They seem to have been for ever at “ your punto, 
 your re verso, your stoccato” — with each other ; giving 
 us the notion of dog and cat, or bull and bear, or 
 monkey and tiger. Such writers as these, who feel no 
 restraint, and acknowledge no obligation, are the pest 
 
 are acknowledged to be the legitimate works of Greene : five more 
 are added, as of doubtful authority. But among the legitimate ones, 
 the first edition of the Carde of Fancie has escaped the researches 
 of the diligent Chronicler. Mr. Freelingf possesses a most extra- 
 ordinary copy of it, printed in 1584 ; in which the title runs, Gwy - 
 donivs. The Carde of Fancief The dedications to Edward de Vere, 
 Earl of Oxenford,” and to the Gentlemen Readers,’’ occupy, with the 
 title, three leaves. The text, seventy-eight numbered leaves. The 
 reprint in 1593 , in which the word “ Gwydonivs” is omitted, is the 
 usually received first edition. And while upon the “ Card of Fancy,’* 
 suppose I throw out “ a card,” connected with this author, which shall 
 at least delight the heart of all thorough-bred Greenites. It is this. 
 In a lordly mansion, not far from Warwick, once distinguished by the 
 residence of the noble family of the Conways, repose sundry precious 
 MSS. formerly partly examined by the late Horace Walpole $ but 
 recently more carefully examined ; and of the recent examination of 
 which, the fruits are about to be given to the world in a most accept- 
 able form. Well — among these said MSS. is a folio sheet of paper, 
 on which certain Memoranda are inscribed — and of which the entries 
 about Greene's pieces are enough to make the heart leap from the 
 pericardium. What master “ Henry Seile” hath charged, to the 
 tune of ten shillings, would now be at least worth 2000 shillings : 
 
 t The same gentleman— now my neighbour, and always my excellent and 
 tried, good friend— possesses also the following pieces of Greene, in most comely 
 condition and attire. Euphues, his Censure to Philautus, 1634, 4to. Ciceronis Amor. 
 Tullies Loue, 1592, 4to. Philomela , the Lady Fitzwater’s Nightingale , 1615, 4to. 
 Aicida, Greene’s Metamorphoses , 1617, 4to. Orpharion , 1599, 4to, Manilla, the 
 Second Part of the Triumph of Pallas , 1593, 4to. Pandosto the Triumph of Time , 
 1619, 4to. The Spanish Masquer ado, 1589: fine genuine copy, in green morocco. 
 
AND BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 599 
 
 of the literary world ; but, in their day, they were 
 i( pretty fellows !” They revelled in midnight 
 
 To the Right Honourable the Lord Conway. 
 1 Nash's Ha' wee you to Saffron Walden 
 
 May 21, 1638. 
 
 00 02 06 
 
 1 Greene's Arcadia. 
 
 1 Farewell to Folly . 
 
 1 Tullie's-Love. 
 
 1 Lady Fitzwalefs Nightingale. 
 
 1 Mamilia. )- 
 
 1 Never too Late. 
 
 1 Groatesworth of Wit. 
 
 1 Mourning Garment. 
 
 1 Peers pennylesse supplicatio. ^ 
 
 These nine 
 Bookes were 
 delivered to 
 your Lordship 
 at xs. 
 
 r 
 
 » 
 
 00 10 0 
 
 Those who wish to see, and to take warning by, the last end of such, 
 who, like Greene, have perverted the talents which it has pleased 
 heaven to grant them, may consult Mr. Disraeli’s Calamities of 
 Authors , vol. ii. p. 17, note 5 p. 235-6, note. Hogarth never depicted 
 a more appalling subject upon canvas, than Gabriel Harvey, and even 
 Greene himself, have done with their pens :f consult the Retrospective 
 Review , vol. ii. p. 85, for a sympathising notice of poor Greene: see 
 also vol. iii. p. 110-114. 
 
 As to Tom Nash, the crony of Greene, look even at what Dr. 
 Watt hath written of the list of his pieces, in the Bibl. Britan, col. 
 695 : and yet he hath omitted to make mention of his Terrors of the 
 Night — that exquisitely rare piece — printed in 1594, 4 to, ; of which 
 the only known copy is in the library of the Marquis of Stafford : see 
 Todd's Spencer , vol. i. lxxiv.J Dr. Wright, whose books were sold in 
 1787, had 3 quarto volumes containing twenty-one pieces of Nash, 
 which were sold for only 1 9,1. 15s. Several of these pieces have been 
 
 t In an account of the “ Alcida , or Greenes Metamorphoses (Brit. Bibliog. 
 vol. iv. p. 397) Mr. Haslewood takes occasion to become the apologist of Greene ; 
 praising his heart at the expense of his head. But this is sorry logic, if not danger- 
 ous ethics. The truth is, Greene was a sort of literary Alsatian. If the bulk of 
 mankind, gifted as he was, chose to waste their time and talents as he did, sad in- 
 deed were the lot of humanity ! Sir E. Brydges, in his reprint of Greene's Groat's 
 worth of wit , purchased at a Million of Repentance (what a speaking title !) has 
 also become the apologist of the author as well as the Chronicler of his Pieces. 
 This may be very well — in its way. 
 
 X I possess curious extracts from this piece — which had well nigh found admis- 
 sion here. 
 
600 
 
 PHILOLOGY" 
 
 orgies — for aught I know “ at the boar’s head in East- 
 Cheap”— and snatched the intervals, between their 
 
 reprinted . The next to the preceding, in rarity and price, is his 
 Tragedie of Dido, 1594, written conjointly with Kit Marlowe, of 
 which Steevens’s copy was sold for 17/. His Pierce Penilesse, Lenten 
 Stuffe, Have with you to Saffron Walden, and Pappe with a Hatchett, 
 (here are titles for you, gentle reader ! ) are the most popular and 
 generally known productions of Nash’s pen. “Nash (says Mr. 
 DTsraeli) was a great favourite with the wits of his day. One calls 
 him “ our true English Aretine j” another, if sweet satyric Nash 5” a 
 third describes his muse as “ armed with a gag tooth, and his pen 
 possessed of Hercules’ furies.” He is well characterised in the “Re- 
 turn from Parnassus;” 
 
 His style was witty, tho* he had some gall ; 
 
 Something he might have mended, so may all ! 
 
 Yet this I say, that for a mother’s wit, 
 
 Few men have ever seen the like of it. 
 
 Nash abounds with " mother wit but he was also educated at the 
 University, with every advantage of classical studies.” Calamities of 
 Authors, vol. ii. p. 20. Yet his life was a life of misery. Anthony h 
 Wood calls him, in his usual style, a “ noted and restless buffoon.” 
 Gabriel Harvey, the infuriate and unrelenting opponent of Nash, 
 was the beloved friend of Spenser ; a well-read, able, and distin- 
 guished writer in his day. His fC Four Letters and certain Sonnets, 
 especially touching Robert Greene, &c. 1592, 4to. is one of his most 
 curious and diverting productions : while his “ Three proper and 
 wittie diverting Letters, lately passed between two Universitie men," 
 1580, 4to. may be considered the rarest. But Mr. D’Israeli, in the 
 forecited work, has given us the pith and marrow of almost every 
 thing relating to Harvey ; and Mr. Todd, in his Spenser , has allotted 
 to him a tolerably ample portion of his pages. Consult also "Watt’s 
 Bibl. Brit. Yet more versatile, whimsical, and even prolific than 
 either of the foregoing writers (perhaps not excepting Greene) was 
 Thomas Dekker ; who was firing off his noisy squibs for upwards of 
 thirty years — from the year 1600, when appeared his first piece, the 
 Comedie of Old Fortunatus. See Baker’s Biographia Dramatica , edit. 
 Jones ; vol. j. page 179, and Watt's Bibl. Brit. col. 298, m. The 
 greater part of Dekker’s miscellaneous pieces (for I hope to be spared 
 the reading of his dramatic ones) are equally curious and instructive 
 
AND BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 601 
 
 bed and board, in giving shape and substance to alt 
 the impetuous impulses of a bewildered imagination. 
 
 to the philologist. Among them, the richly furnished library of 
 Mr. Freeling supplies me with one called “A Knight's coniuring 
 done in earnest : Discovered in Jest:" 1607., 4 to. In the 9th Chap- 
 ter, on the reverse of the last leaf but one, some of the contempora- 
 neous poets are noticed, and Spencer is particularly lauded. Other® 
 are thus designated : the “ learned Watson, industrious Kyd , ingeni- 
 ous Atchlow , (who was he?) and, (and tho’ hee had been a player, 
 molded out of their pennes) yet because he had been their lover, and 
 a register to the Muses, inimitable Bentley ; these (continues Dekker) 
 were likewise carousing to one another at the holy well,” &c. Was 
 this Bentley the editor of the et Lamps of Virginity " noticed at p. 130, 
 ante? Some of my readers may scold me, from such a specimen, 
 for not giving more from these writers : but a recollection of what 
 was said at p. 5 ante, compels me to desist. And if the thoroughly 
 greedy and ravenous, after Dekkers and Greenes, wish to gratify 
 themselves to satiety, let them plunge, chin deep, into the Malone 
 Collection at Oxford. 
 
 Yet a word for master George Whetstone, chiefly because he 
 was a contemporary, and because a few of his pieces are of excessive 
 rarity. His Rocke of Regard; divided into foure parts , 1576, 4to. is 
 minutely analysed by Mr. Parke in the Cens. Literaria. vol. v. page i. : 
 see also an analysis, by the same gentleman, of his English Myrrour, 
 1586, 4to. at page 351-5 of the same volume. His Promos and 
 Cassandra , 1578, 4to. appears in vo!. iv. p. 269 j and at p. 27L his 
 Mirour for Magistrates of Cyties, 1584, 4to., as well as his Enemie to 
 Unthryftiness , 1586, 4to. This latter is a curious tract, and contains 
 a list of Whetstone’s pieces previously published. Of these, five 
 relate to “ lives and deaths” of eminent men, — and are of such pro- 
 digious rarity, that the Life and death of Mr. G. Gascoyne — which had 
 been obscurely mentioned by Tanner, but of which all traces were 
 lost, and which had therefore been supposed to have perished — this 
 trifling tract, dated 1577, 4to. and consisting of a very few leaves, 
 happened to turn up at the sale of a library of an obscure individual 
 (Mr. Voight, of the Excise) in 1807, and was purchased by the late 
 Mr. Malone for 40/. It is now among the treasures of the Malone 
 Collection in the Bodleian Library. Another similar piece— the lyfa 
 
602 
 
 PHILOLOGY 
 
 The Bibliomaniac may revel in the enviable posses- 
 sion of a complete and unrivalled suite of the pieces 
 of which the forenamed Geniuses were the authors ; 
 and the antiquary may rejoice that he possesses such 
 a fund of rich illustration (adding Stubbes’s Anatomy 
 of Abuses* to the number) of the manners and customs 
 of past times ; but the young and tasteful Student in 
 the school of English Literature, must shun, as he 
 would reptiles of the most venemous species, the imi- 
 tation of such a baneful class of writers ; nor will I 
 allow my “ Young Man,” and much less my “ elderly 
 Gentleman,” to walk in a similar path. Each of them 
 may, when a fitting opportunity presents itself, in- 
 dulge in a copy or two of a few of the rarer pieces — 
 but “ principiis obsta,” must be the motto ; and I 
 
 and death and Vertues of Frauncis , Earle of Bedforde — belonging to 
 the late Mr. Bindley, was sold at the sale of that gentleman’s library 
 for 40/. Where lurk (as the remaining pieces of Whetstonian bio- 
 graphy) the lyfe and death, &c. of Sir Nicholas Bacon, late Lord 
 Keeper — of the good L. Dyer — and the noble Earle of Sussexe ? 
 In palaces, in castles, in mansions, or in cottages ? Peradventure, in 
 public libraries — bound up with other slim quarto tracts, of which the 
 sixteenth century teemed with an inconceivable fecundity. My friend 
 Mr. Haslewood still thinks he shall one day “ pounce” upon the 
 Panoplie of Devices, supposed to have been published by the same 
 writer. Thus, Whetstone’s tracts have their obvious and solid uses. 
 
 * There is an excellent account of this “ most amusing and diver- 
 sified of the many splenetic works which have been levelled, by the 
 sour spirit of puritanism, against the gaieties and the elegancies, as 
 well as the vices and follies of life”— in the Retrospective Review , 
 vol. iii. p. 126-141. Mr. Douce is constantly availing himself of it 
 in his Illustrations of Shakspeare ; and no man, at all anxious about 
 the manners and customs of the sixteenth century, can really feel 
 comfortable without a perfect copy of the first and second parts of 
 Philip Stubbes’s book, published in a sort of crown octavo in 1583. 
 A good copy is worth 10/. 10s. Stubbes was the Prynne of his day. 
 
AND BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 603 
 
 dread the result, when once the threshold is passed 
 “Revocare gradum ’ — ! 
 
 The opening of the seventeenth century saw more 
 pleasing and profitable fruits in the career of English 
 Philology. First and foremost, like the towering 
 dome of St. Peter in the comparatively flat Campa- 
 gnia di Roma, stands the illustrious Bacon : equally a 
 philologist and philosopher:* as it were difficult to 
 say whether his “ Essays' * and Advancement of Learn- 
 ing be not of equal celebrity with his Novum Organum 
 Scientiarum. But my present object is with the 
 editions of his Entire IVorks. Secure therefore the 
 folio of 1753, 3 vols. and worth about 51. 15s. 6d. : of 
 which there are copies (uncommon) on large paper. 
 Or either of the quartos of 1765, or 1778, each in 5 
 vols. the latter worth 71. 17s. 6d.— and the preferable 
 edition.'f* A copy of this latter edition, “ bound by 
 Johnson, ” is marked at 12/. 12s. in the recent cata- 
 logue of Messrs. Payne and Foss. But for the com- 
 fort of such who love octavos — and may even have a 
 horror of quartos — it should be known there are two 
 octavo editions, one of 1803, the other of 1819—each 
 in 10 volumes, and worth about 61. 6s. in good binding. 
 See however the conclusion of the last note. The 
 
 * A masterly estimate of his character, in these capacities, ap- 
 peared in the Edinb. Review : and for an account of the Novum 
 Organum, consult the Retrospective Review. Bacon’s Essays were 
 first published in a duodecimo form, in 1598; by no means an 
 ordinary book— and worth perhaps a couple of guineas in a clean 
 and perfect state. 
 
 + A new edition of Bacon’s Entire Works is already projected by 
 Basil Montagu, Esq. under the patronage of his Majesty ; and the 
 Latin portions are to be translated by the Rev. Messrs. Wrangham, 
 and Irving, and Mr, Coleridge. 
 
604 
 
 PHILOLOGY 
 
 names of Braithwait aud Peacham-J- are deartotha 
 “ Young” and “ Old Collector” of instructive and 
 
 * Braithwait and Peacham may indeed be considered as a “ par 
 nobile fratrum.” The former has been recently rendered more 
 familiar and popular to us, by the new edition of Drunken Burnaby ; 
 (of which the Editor, Mr. Joseph Haslewood, has clearly proved 
 Braithwait to be the author) put forth in a manner the most tempting 
 and commodious imaginable, and in which appears a list or rather 
 catalogue raisonnd of Braith wait’s works. They amount to not 
 fewer than XLV. in number ; most of them, I admit, irretrievably 
 condemned to the Capulet vault of oblivion ; but several yet capable 
 of affording instruction and delight. See the Bibliomania , p. 177, 
 3 76, 394. What I have here to do with Braithwait, is, to recom- 
 mend his English Gentleman , published in 1630, 4to. with an en- 
 graved frontispiece by Vaughan, and a folding broadside by way of 
 explanation : see Drunken Barnaby , vol. i. p. 255. It was reprinted 
 in 1633. With this work should be united the English Gentle - 
 woman, 1631, 4to. with an engraved frontispiece, by Marshall. But 
 both these works were united in a handsome folio volume, with a 
 brilliant frontispiece, by Marshall, in 1641 : and I should prefer this 
 edition. The copy of it which I once saw at Mr. Triphook’s, on 
 what might be considered as large paper — bound in the red morocco 
 of Charles Lewis — was worth 5 1. 5s. The Nursery for Gentry , 1651, 
 4to. contains the author’s portrait, by Marshall, re-engraved for Mr. 
 Haslewood’s edition of Drunken Barnaby. See too the Bibliomania, 
 p. 394. Whatever may be Braithwait’ s merits, and they were 
 doubtless very considerable, he deserves the severest castigation for 
 the disgusting indelicacies betrayed in his Strappado for the Devil, 
 and Art asleep Husband P a bolster lecture : books, luckily, rare to 
 find in any state. 
 
 Henry Peacham, as far as I am acquainted with his works, is a 
 writer of unimpeached reputation. A spirit of purity, gentleness, 
 and plain good sense, pervades all his productions. I will here speak 
 only of his Compleat Gentleman, first published in 1622, 4to. and 
 frequently reprinted : nor shall I hesitate about referring the reader 
 to some specimens of this work given in the Bibliomania, p. 372-4. 
 “ This work was, (says Mr. Chalmers) in high esimation with the 
 gentry of the age in which it was published. Sir Charles Sedley, 
 who had been guilty of an offence against good manners, and was 
 
AND BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 605 
 
 / 
 
 sound books ; and although, about the same period, 
 the literary world received occasional shocks , from the 
 rapid increase of cheap pamphlets (under the title of 
 Merriments*) to pervert and sometimes poison the 
 main spring of public taste — especially among the 
 
 indicted for it, was asked on his trial by the Chief Justice, Sir Robert 
 Hyde, whether he had ever read the Complete Gentleman 
 Biogr. Dictionary , vol. xxiv. p. 217- Peacham’s Worth of a Penny , 
 or a Caution to keep Money , 1642, 4to. frequently republished, has 
 been recently reprinted. 
 
 * These Merriments” form indeed a sufficiently bizarre and 
 perplexing class in the department of old English philology and 
 belles lettres. And yet, they are hardly entitled to a niche in such a 
 department. Nevertheless, something must be said about them. 
 Had Samuel Pepys been alive, he would have led me, slily and in- 
 sensibly, to his most extraordinary collection of this kind — entitled 
 Penny Merriments — as may be now seen in the Pepysian Library at 
 Magdalen College, Cambridge. Between twenty and thirty chubby 
 quarto volumes, each containing hard upon 1000 pages, lie at the 
 left, on entrance of the forementioned library. These volumes are 
 chuck full of droll little pieces of every description, supplied, for the 
 greater part (if my memory be not treacherous) by the renowned 
 Nathaniel Butter, a great vendor in his day, {temp. Jac. I. et Car. I.) 
 of this species of lore. I tried to catalogue one of these volumes $ 
 but my strength or my patience failed me : “ hills peep’d o’er hills, 
 and alps o’er alps arose.” However, let the curious reader peruse 
 the Facetice Bibliographies,” or an Account of the fC Old English 
 Jesters ,” monthly communicated to the London Magazine , by a very 
 competent handf — furnished from sources equally rich and inexhaus- 
 tible. The earliest Jest book there noticed, is “ Jests to make you 
 merie : with the conjuring up of Cock Watt (the walking spirit of New - 
 gate ) to tell, &c. 1607, 4to. of which our ancient friend Thomas 
 Dekker was the supposed author. 
 
 t “ Strange as it may appear, these facetice are entitled to a much more general 
 attention ; for their contents are always curious, and information, on many minute 
 points of literary history and the manners of the times, may frequently be gleaned 
 from these fugitive collections, which would be sought for in vain in works of a 
 jbjjfbfir character." Lond. Magazine , May, 1823, p. 515. 
 
606 
 
 PHILOLOGY, 
 
 lower classes of the people — yet did Braithwait and 
 Peacham — to whom may be added Gervase Mark- 
 ham, and Robert Burton, and Sir William Corn- 
 wallyes* — do much to keep down all indications of a 
 
 * Gervase Markham was a very extraordinary genius : a poet, a 
 political writer, a statist, and a dramatist. He is chiefly known by 
 his works on husbandry and rural sports — and especially by those on 
 angling, hawking, and hunting. The earliest known piece from his 
 pen is of the date of 1596; a poem entitled The Poem of Poems , or 
 Sion's Muse. The whole art of Angling : 1656, quarto, is perhaps his 
 latest piece — if he really be (as Granger supposes) the author of it. 
 From Bakers Biog. Dram. vol. i. page 490, repeated in Chalmers’s 
 Biograpli. Dictionary , (vol. xxi. 316) I gather a most extraordinary 
 piece of information ; namely, that Markham, in the year 1617, 
 made an agreement with some booksellers, “ never hereafter to write 
 any more book or books to be printed of the diseases or cures of any 
 cattle, as horse, oxe, cowe, sheepe, swine, and goates.” This is 
 extracted from the books of the Stationers’ Company. For Mark- 
 ham’s dramatic pieces, consult the Biographia Dramatica , ibid. On 
 many accounts does Markham seem entitled to more notice and com- 
 mendation. 
 
 The name of Robert Burton, and the title of The Anatomy of 
 Melancholy , seem to run naturally and smoothly together. Of this 
 work, I have before ( More's Utopia, 1S08, vol. i. lxxii. : ii. pp. 970, 
 140-1,) given a brief bibliographical outline. It was first published 
 in a small thick quarto, in 1621 , with Burton’s name at the end : that 
 of “ Democritus Junior" being in the title page. The first folio edi- 
 tion was of the date of 1624 ; and the first, with the well known 
 plate or frontispiece, having Burton’s portrait at the bottom, was of 
 1628 : so that Collectors must look well to have fine proofs of this 
 first ornamented edition. The finest copy of it- which I ever saw, is 
 at Althorp. Such was the celebrity of the work, that it was reprinted 
 in 1632, 1638, 1652, 1660, and 1676 — all in folio. I once possessed 
 a good copy of every one of these editions. In 1800 it was reprinted 
 in two octavo volumes ; and since, it has been twice reprinted (I be- 
 lieve) in the same form. After all, we know little or nothing of 
 the extraordinary author of this extraordinary production — which, it 
 has been said, was the only work that could force Dr. Johnson from 
 his bed two hours earlier than he wished to rise. This might heave 
 
AND BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 607 
 
 coarse, vulgar, and mischievous spirit. I love, honour, 
 and respect, the memories of these excellent men. I 
 
 happened once — in his life : for Burton’s book is, in a great measure, 
 a task to peruse. You can scarcely travel through thirty pages, 
 without taking at least a good long breathing pause. The multipli- 
 city, the redundancy, the faint forced analogy of the quotations— 
 the utter absurdity of the physical illustrations — and the limited 
 knowledge of pathology, are heavy clogs to a free and unrestrained 
 perusal. On the other hand, the quaintness, point, and simplicity of 
 its style ; the whimsicality of the anecdotes and illustrations - } its 
 recondite lore, and extraordinary manner of treating the subject 
 itself — render it, as Anthony h Wood well observes, “a book so full 
 of variety of reading*, that gentlemen, who have lost their time, and 
 are put to a push for invention, may furnish themselves with matter 
 for common or scholastical discourse and writing. Several authors 
 (continues our friend Anthony) have unmercifully stolen matter from 
 the said book without any acknowledgment.” Athen. Oxon. vol. ii. p. 
 653. Edit. Bliss. 
 
 Now, Burton was a great Collector of certain “penny merriments ,” 
 mentioned in a preceding note.* The bequest of his Library to the 
 Bodleian, “ is (says the living editor of the Athen. Oxon ) without 
 exception, one of the most curious, and, according to the taste of the 
 present day, valuable additions which that Repository contains. 
 Burton’s books consist of all the historical, political, and poetical 
 tracts of his own time, with a large collection of miscellaneous ac- 
 counts of murders, monsters, and accidents. In short, he seems to 
 have purchased indiscriminately every thing that was published, 
 which accounts for the uncommon treasures of Paul's Church-yard , 
 which are now to be found only in the Oxford Vatican.” In short, 
 this observation furnishes us with the key to the history of Burton’s 
 work. From a mind, crammed with such lore, what could be expected 
 but the odd, strange, miscellaneous gallimaufry of which the Ana- 
 
 * By the by, I find, in the solid and really instructive pages of the British Bibli- 
 ographer, vol. i. p. 41, an account of a very comical and diverting book of the 
 mirth-provoking class. It is called “ Pasquils Jests , mixed with Mother Bunches 
 Merriments : whereunto is added a Baker’s Dozen of Guiles. Very prettie and plea- 
 
 sant to drive away the tediousness of a Winter’s Evening 8fc. 1609, 4to. 26 leaves, 
 There is an earlier edition of 1 604, which was sold at the sale of Sir M. M. Sykes’s 
 library for 4/. 19$. 
 
60S 
 
 PHILOLOGY 1 
 
 forgive all their aberrations from a pure classical 
 taste — common to the age ; separate their excellences 
 from their defects ; and place their works, coated in 
 gray calf, or pale russia, upon the most conspicuous 
 shelf of my inner library. 
 
 James Howell, the well-known author of Familiar 
 Letters * (first published in 1645, 8vo.) merits, on very 
 
 tomy of Melancholy is composed ?! Yet, buy it — you must — suscep- 
 tible “ Young Man:” and look previously, for one moment, into the 
 Bibliomania, p. 37 6 j and more fully into Nichols's Leicestershire. 
 
 The Essayes of Sir William Cornwallyes the younger, Knight, 
 were first published 1601, octavo, without any engraved title page. 
 In 1632 they first appeared with an engraved title page, repre- 
 senting two figures sitting opposite each other at a table, one writ- 
 ing, the other reading — fit postures for both young and old, within 
 the precincts of a library. Granger supposes these figures to repre- 
 sent the Essayist and his father. It may be so : but whoever shall 
 be fortunate enough to possess such a copy of this impression, or 
 rather such an impression of this frontispiece, as I once saw — at a 
 country bookseller’s at Worcester — (unfortunately, just parted with !) 
 will probably look with indifference upon every other copy which he 
 may chance to alight upon. At least, seventeen long years have not 
 effaced the impression made by a sight of that copy. It was bright, 
 clear, genuine, with a large margin — but (horribile dictu !) had been 
 pounced upon, for the sake of dismemberment, by a keen and rapa- 
 cious Grangerite ! I recommend the curious to read a brief but 
 amusing account of this work in the Censura Litteraria, vol. vi. page 
 168. A fair copy of it, with a good impression of the frontispiece, is 
 worth 11. Is. 
 
 * The Familiar Letters of Howell will probably outlive all his 
 other publications — somewhere about forty in number. See Chal- 
 mers’s Biograph. Diet. vol. xviii. p. 267- These letters were written 
 in England, but are not the coinage of British soil. They are amus- 
 ing and instructive, and have deservedly gone through half a score of 
 editions. The account in them of the assassination of Henry IV. of 
 France, is minutely curious. A couple of mornings easy application 
 will enable any one to peruse this little volume of letters. Howell’s 
 Dodona's Grove, 1640, 4to. one of his earliest performances, is 
 noticed in the Cens. Lit. vol. iv. 213 : and his England's Teares, &c. 
 
AND BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 609 
 
 many accounts, a distinct and commendatory notice. 
 His style is easy, and even playful ; but not free from 
 the vicious fashion of the age, punning. The present 
 may be a proper place to notice the prose works of 
 Milton, which appear to the best advantage in the 
 edition of them by Dr. Birch and Bishop Newton, in 
 1749-54, 4to. 5 vols. These are now become scarce 
 and dear; and I find “ a richly bound set, in old red 
 morocco, gilt leaves,” marked at 16/. 16s. in the se- 
 cond part of the catalogue of Messrs. Rivington and 
 Cochrane, No. 13342, where there is a delicious array 
 of the Miltonic treasures.* No subsequent edition of 
 Milton’s prose works appeared till the recent one of 
 Dr. Symmons in 1806, in 7 8vo. volumes, with a life 
 of the author. These volumes, with Mr. Todd’s ex- 
 in vol. iii. p. 65. “ It cannot be denied (says Mr. Chalmers) that 
 
 Howell has given way frequently to low witticisms ; the most unpar- 
 donable instance of which is, his remark upon Charles the First’s 
 death, where he says , — (S I will attend with patience how England 
 will thrive, now that she is let blood in the Basilical vein, and cured, 
 as they say, of the King’s evil.” Upon the whole, this was the age for 
 hot hair-brained, half witty, and half learned writers: and James 
 Howell is not free from the general infection. But his works merit 
 more than a slight attention ; and I learn with pleasure that Mr. 
 D’Israeli, among the most prominent of modern philologists, intends 
 taking “ Jemmy in hand,” in some future lucubration, connected 
 with the Curiosities of Literature. There is an excellent account 
 of Howell’s Letters in the Retrospective Review , vol. iv. page 183. 
 What will not the Spirit of Illustration accomplish ? The late 
 Mr. Fauntleroy possessed a copy of Howell's Letters, illustrated in 
 three imperial folios, bound in russia. 
 
 * The prose works of Milton were first published by Dr. Birch in 
 1738, folio, 2 vols. ; of which a very neat copy is marked at 31. 3s. in 
 the catalogue of Messrs. Payne and Foss : Some account of Milton’s 
 History of England , and Areopagitica appears in the Retrospective 
 Review, vol. ix. page 1-19. 
 
610 
 
 PHILOLOGY 
 
 cellent edition of the poetry of Milton, in the same 
 number and form of volumes ; are perfectly classical 
 performances of their kind ; and ought to quit the 
 shelves of booksellers much more frequently than they 
 do. 
 
 The day light of pure taste rose, when Sir William 
 Temple put his pen to paper, and committed his 
 lucubrations to the press. On every account I re- 
 commend his Works* to a conspicuous place in the 
 library of every youthful and aged person, who has the 
 literary renown of his country at heart. Temple was 
 among the earliest of the polishers of our prose : and 
 bringing to his works liberal principles, a cultivated 
 taste, and a kind heart, it is not to be wondered at 
 that his popularity has been so great, as it is generally 
 allowed to be. To the illustrious writers just men- 
 tioned, let me add the names of two authors, of equal, 
 if not superior celebrity, as philologists : I mean, 
 Boyle and Locke. For Boyle’s Works, I reconv- 
 
 * These “ Works” were first collected in a folio form, in 2 vols. 
 in 1720 : with a portrait of the author, by Vertue, and an account of 
 his life and Writings by Dr. J. Swift. The latest folio impression 
 bears the date of 1740. But these were elegantly reprinted in 1776, 
 in 4 octavo volumes : and a fine, large copy of these truly classical 
 tomes, in this latter form— especially if it be in the nice old Cam- 
 bridge or Montagu binding . . (none but the happily initiated know 
 the precise force of these technical terms!) causeth the heart to 
 rejoice lustily. I think I once saw this edition on large paper, but 
 speak hesitatingly. It has been beautifully reprinted (1814) in an 
 octavo form. Of the character of the Author, all panegyric were 
 now useless. The ablest and the wisest have equally pronounced 
 eulogies upon his talents as a statesman and writer, and upon his 
 virtues as a man and a member of society. That will be a dark and 
 doubtful moment, in the sera of national taste, when the volumes of 
 Sir W. Temple shall be neglected or depreciated. His style is legiti- 
 mate English ; and he is among the sweetest of our Epistolographers. 
 
AND BELLES LETTRES. fill 
 
 mend the folio of 1774, in 5 volumes ; or the quarto 
 of 1772 in 6 vols. : and I should say that 51. 5s. would 
 secure a neatly bound copy of either impression. 
 Locke’s Works were published by Des Maizeaux in 
 1759, in folio, in 3 vols. ; again in 1777, in 4to. 4 
 vo ls. — an improved edition; now becoming scarce, 
 and worth 61. 16s. 6d. A royal octavo edition was 
 put forth in 1801, in 10 volumes ; and again in 1812, 
 in the same number of volumes — each worth about 
 51. 15s. 6d. in fair, neat binding; and should be inse- 
 parable companions of the works of Bacon and Mil- 
 ton, published in the same form. 
 
 And here, although Newton be more strictly class- 
 ed among philosophers, I cannot, in consideration of 
 what he wrote upon Chronology, forego the temptation 
 of grouping him with the great men, his contempo- 
 raries, whose works have been just mentioned. The 
 best editor of the entire works of this incomparable 
 philosopher is Bishop Horsley ; whose edition, in 5 
 large quarto tomes, 1779, 1785, now brings nearly 
 double that number of sovereigns.* It is a monu- 
 ment of imperishable fame. 
 
 With the materials furnished chiefly by Sir William 
 Temple , Dryden — or rather perhaps Addison and 
 Swift-}-— went gaily and successfully to work. Poets 
 
 * The Philosophic e naturalis principia matliematica , alone, were 
 published at Geneva, by the Jesuits Le Sueur and Jacquier, in 1739-42, 
 4to. 3 vols. : and may be worth about 31. 3s. They were reprint- 
 ed in 1760. A later edition by Tessaneck, in 1781, now scarce, con- 
 tains select notes from Le Sueur. The same work was first publish- 
 ed in London, by Dr. Pemberton } in 1726, 4to. — Mr. Payne shewed 
 me the only copy of it which he remembers to have seen on large and 
 thick paper — worth about Si. Ss. 
 
 f Dryden’s prose works (for I have here nothing to do with his 
 poetry) were first collected and published, in a critical manner, by 
 
PHILOLOGY 
 
 612 
 
 (especially the first) as well as philologists, these great 
 men may be said to have brought our language 
 
 the late Mr. Malone, in 1800, octavo, 4 vols. j a publication which 
 is now become somewhat scarce. The prose works are of course in- 
 corporated in the complete works of Dryden, by Sir W. Scott, 1808, 
 octavo, 18 vols. Again, in 1821, in the same number of volumes. 
 The prose of Dryden is like his poetry ; full, unaffected, copious, 
 and energetic. He is a first rate philologist as well as poet j and I 
 cannot let the enterprising young man off, without a promise from 
 him to “put by” SI. 13s. Gd. for Mr. Malone’s edition, just men- 
 tioned. Consult the Retrospective Review , vol. iv. p. 55, for a review 
 of Dry den’s prose works, on the basis of Malone’s edition. Of Sir 
 W. Scott’s edition two copies only were printed upon thick paper. 
 
 The very name of Addison inspires delight. That charming 
 writer was not only, in himself, one of the most perfect of prose au- 
 thors, but, in the Spectator , (of which he might be called at once 
 the patron and promoter) he set an example of instructing the intel- 
 lectual public, at certain short periods, with essays, tales, allegories, 
 and criticisms, such as had never before met their eyes. He not only 
 brought a good philological taste into fashion, and placed Milton 
 upon a pedestal from which lie can never be pulled down, but gave 
 a pleasing and popular turn to religious studies and duties. In this 
 latter department there is, occasionally, a sort of easy and natural 
 sublimity about Addison, which belongs peculiarly to himself. Con- 
 fidence, hope, comfort, love, gratitude, and adoration, are what he 
 infuses into a Christian spirit ; and his two celebrated pieces of poetry 
 or short hymns,* illustrative of what he has inculcated in prose, are 
 perfect master-pieces of their kind. But the reader, I apprehend, 
 is beginning to be fearful lest I should omit the mention of that pecu- 
 liar feature in the compositions of Addison, which stamps him as an 
 undoubted original. It is his Humour, then, wherein he is unrivalled. 
 
 * They are well known under the following verses the first of each hymn : 
 When all thy mercies, O my God, 
 
 &c. &c. 8f c. 
 
 The spacious firmament on high. 
 
 &c &c. &c. 
 
 effusions, with more of the soul of true poetry about them than in the whole of 
 his other metrical compositions. 
 
AND BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 613 
 
 almost to the highest attainable pitch of perfection. 
 It was about the first half of the eighteenth century 
 
 But this is a theme, almost inexhaustible in itself, and familiar to us 
 from boyhood ; and so I draw back from expatiating. 
 
 The works of Addison have been, as they deserve to be, con- 
 stantly reprinted. They were first collected and published in 1721, 
 in four quarto volumes $ and I find a copy of this kind, amongst 
 several, of various editions of the Author, marked at 3 1. 3s. <e neat in 
 calf,” in the very copious and creditable catalogue of Messrs. Riving - 
 ton and Cochrane. The reprint of 1730, in the same form, need not 
 be particularly mentioned j but he, who hath the Baskerville edition, 
 1760, 4to. 4 vols., hath a good and even a glorious performance. It 
 is pleasant (and of course profitable) to turn over the pages of these 
 lovely tomes, at one’s Tusculum, on a day of oppression from heat, 
 or of confinement from rain — and if the copy be in goodly calf, full 
 charged, gilt binding— with marble edges to the leaves — such as 
 Posthumous discards, but which Atticus dearly doats on. — why, so 
 much the better : so therefore hasten, gallant young Bibliomaniac, 
 with six sovereigns and six shillings to boot, to make yourself master 
 of such a copy, in the possession of Messrs. Rivington and Cochrane 
 aforesaid. A critical edition (at least, professed so to be) appeared 
 from the pen of the late Bishop Hurd (a writer, in many respects, of 
 a similar turn to Addison — elegant, chaste, and tasteful) but never 
 were my humble expectations more miserably disappointed ! It 
 seemed to me, as a sad “ potatoe- roasting” performance from such a 
 quarter. This was published in 1811, Svo. six vols. : and I doubt 
 whether even the gaily bound, large paper , copy of it — coming from 
 the work-shop of that bibliopegistical Coryphaeus, C. Lewis — will 
 secure a purchaser at the subdued price of 7 1. 17$. 6d. ? But nume- 
 rous and delightful are many of the octavo and duodecimo editions 
 of the works of Addison : yet Messrs. Rivington and Cochrane are 
 bold men to affix the price of 2 1. 2s. to a copy of the edition of 1766, 
 four vols. — although that edition be a beautiful one, and the copy be 
 “ very fine, neat in calf.” Addison should now and then be in our 
 post chaises, and travelling portmanteaus. .. but I am becoming 
 exuberant. 
 
 Swift is a glorious fellow, as a legitimate English philologist. 
 His style is all nerve, and perspicuity itself. In letter-writing, he 
 was surely the foremost of the well known triumvirate, Pope, Arbuth- 
 
614 
 
 PHILOLOGY. 
 
 when the works of Daniel de Foe began to make 
 their way with the public, and especially with those 
 
 not,* and himself. His Gulliver and Tale of a Tub prove with what 
 facility, and complete success, he could mould his periods to answer 
 all the purposes of delicate irony, cutting sarcasm, and overwhelming * 
 vituperation. I will say no more about a man, who is allowed 
 (hollow and heartless as he was !) to have been greatly instrumental 
 in the establishment of a pure style and taste amongst us. Nothing 
 is left for <c the Young Man,” but to put six additional sovereigns to 
 those just mentioned, and betake himself to the publisher of Swift’s 
 Works, edited by Sir Walter Scott , in 19 octavo vols., 1814 . .as he 
 may secure them in boards for that sum — argent comptant !” These 
 works were first edited by Hawkesworth in 1765, in 27 duodecimo : 
 volumes \ and a pretty edition it is — and obtainable for about 5 1. 5 s. 
 in fair neat binding. Mr. John Nichols published an edition in 1808, 
 in 19 8vo. volumes j and I have reason to remember it, from stumb- 
 ling upon the subjoined anecdote — which only proves that human 
 nature is ever the same \ and that what has been said of Wellington 
 was also said of Marlborough 4 
 
 This seems to be the proper place to mention the name of Sir 
 Richard Steele, a coadjutor of Addison in the Spectator, and the 
 principal editor of the Guardian and Tatler. Yet I question if his 
 works, detached from those of his illustrious coadjutor, would find 
 many purchasers. His “ Christian Hero ” is more talked of than read. 
 His Epistolary Correspondence , 1809, octavo, two vols. may find a 
 place on our shelves. And here I take leave to recommend the 
 collection of British Essayists, including all our most popular 
 
 * An excellent account of the Life and Writings of Dr. Arbutlinot will be found 
 in the Retrospective Review , vol. iii. p. 285 . 
 
 f The anecdote, or rather passage, is this and it is Swift who so writes : “ I 
 confess my belief that he (Marlborough) has not one good quality in the world, 
 besides that of a General, and even that I have heard denied by several great sol- 
 diers.” Volume xiv. In the first place, Marlborough was a Whig , and therefore, 
 in the estimation of Swift, had no redeeming quality but that of te generalship." 
 In the second place, one would like to know the names of those “ great soldiers," 
 or military critics, who had the egregious folly or insolence to “ doubt” the pro- 
 fessional talents of Marlborough ? ! Such drivelling criticism was once directed 
 against the present Great Captain of the age— but the overwhelming acclama- 
 tions of Europe have for ever set it at rest 
 
AND BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 615 
 
 classes of readers in a middling situation of life. But 
 they were calculated for almost every class. The 
 subjects were, many of them, not less singular in their 
 selection, than captivating in their manner of execu- 
 tion. De Foe threw himself into past ages with all 
 the zeal of an antiquary, and described past events 
 with all the apparent fidelity of an eye-witness. His 
 Journal of the Plague of 1665, (1722, 8vo.) deceived 
 the learned Dr. Mead ; and his Memoirs of a Cavalier 
 found a believer in the famous Lord Chatham. But 
 his History of the Union between England and Scot - 
 land , first published in 1709, and more recently, with 
 valuable additions, by Mr. George Chalmers, 1787, 
 4to. is really a performance to place the author among 
 the soundest historians of his day. 
 
 The works of De Foe seemed alternately to delight 
 and disgust. His Robinson Crusoe* is the most en- 
 
 periodical papers, (such as the Spectator , Tatter , Guardian &c.) 
 published in forty-five duodecimo volumes, under the editorial care 
 of Mr. Alexander Chalmers 5 and recently republished, with the addi- 
 tion of the Looker On, in 3 vols. I do indeed strongly recommend a 
 copy of either edition (procurable in neat calf gilt binding for 12Z. 
 12s.) to find its way into the study of all young and well disposed 
 readers. Such Library Companions are the very joy of our hearts. 
 Those who wish to examine the subject of literary Journals, or of 
 periodical belles-lettres, more closely and critically, will necessarily 
 consult Dr. Drake’s very tasteful volumes, illustrative of the Spec- 
 tator, &c. published in 1805, 12mo. 3 vols. : and 1809, 8vo. 2 vols. 
 
 * It is generally supposed that the first edition of this popular 
 work appeared in 1719, 8vo. 2 vols. : which certainly is its first 
 
 t I am well aware of that felicitous palpitation of heart, in a thorough- bred and 
 enthusiastic collector, when he happens to stumble upon a copy of the above men- 
 tioned publications, from the press of Tonson , (and especially the Toiler , of 1744) 
 on large paper, in warm, mottled calf, or richly ornamented morocco, bind” 
 ing. Mr. Payne will hardly vouchsafe a glance, with or without spectacles, upon 
 any edition later than 1793 — and this has only faded impressions from the worn 
 plates, by Vertue, from the pencil of Hayman. 
 
616 
 
 PHILOLOGY 
 
 chanting domestic Romance in the world : but his 
 Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders , and his 
 Life of Col. Jaque, (1721, 8vo.) are such low-bred 
 productions, as to induce us to put an instantaneous 
 negative on their admission into our Cabinets. A few 
 of the more important of De Foe’s works are noticed 
 below.* At length rose the Colossus of English Phi- 
 lology, Samuel Johnson ; having secretly and unre- 
 mittingly formed his style upon the basis of that of Sir 
 Thomas Browne ; a name, in every respect to be held 
 in grateful remembrance/}’ But Johnson, as a philo- 
 
 appearance in the form of a book : but it is nevertheless true, that 
 Robinson Crusoe first greeted the public eye in the sorrily-printed 
 pages of The Original London Post or Heathcote’s Intelligence, from 
 no. 125, to no. 289 inclusively : the latter, dated 7 October, 1719- 
 Of this extraordinary periodical production, the only copy with which 
 I am acquainted is in the library of the Right Hon. Thomas Gren- 
 ville. — The edition of 1719 is obtainable for 1 1. 11s. 6d. ; but Mr. 
 Grenville has not fewer than three editions of that year, with an 
 abridgement in 12mo. of the same date. 
 
 * Such as his History of Duncan Campbell , 1720, 8vo. The Life 
 and Piracies of Captain Singleton, 1720, 8vo .Religious Courtship , 
 1722, 8vo. Use and Abuse of the Marriage Bed, 1727 > 8vo. (scarce.) 
 Memoirs of a Cavalier during the Civil Wars in England, &c. But see 
 De Foes Life, published by Mr. G. Chalmers in 1790, 8vo. : and the 
 Biographical Dictionary of Mr. A. Chalmers, vol. xi. page 391, &c. 
 and, to the full as instructive as either authority, the Retrospective Re- 
 view, vol. iii. p. 354. The same periodical work, vol. vi. page 1-20, 
 has given us a most particular analysis of De Foe’s History of the 
 Great Plague. Complete sets of De Foe’s pieces are now, neces- 
 sarily, difficult to procure. The last collection of this sort (wanting 
 only one of the commonest of them) was sold for 35/. 14s. at the sale 
 of Mr. Perry’s library. 
 
 t Dr. Johnson is in fact the ablest biographer of Browne j and 
 Mr. A. Chalmers, in his Biogr. Diet, has judiciously availed himself 
 of the Doctor’s criticisms. Perhaps Johnson praises the talents of 
 Browne too highly ; especially when he says that “ there was no 
 
AND BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 617 
 
 logist, is almost an original ; and doubtless among the 
 very foremost in the ranks of the literature of his 
 country.* And yet, I know not how it is, but, as 
 years creep on, we do not read his pages with that 
 devoted enthusiasm which we did in our college days : 
 for where is the man, who, having turned his thirtieth 
 
 science in which he did not discover some skill.” Browne was in all 
 respects an abler man, and a profounder thinker, (comparatively 
 freed from the thraldom of alchemy and astrology) than his contem- 
 porary Sir Kenelm Digby. His works were collected and published 
 by Dr. Tenison, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1686, folio 
 — to which the portrait of the author is prefixed. The most popular 
 work of Browne was his Enquiries into Vulgar and Common Errors ; of 
 which the first edition appeared in 1646, and the sixth (in the life 
 time of the author, and with improvements) in 1673. The most 
 curious and learned of his performances was his Hydriotaphia, or Urn 
 Burial ; of which see an excellent account in the Retrospective Review, 
 vol. i. p. 83. Murphy was among the first of the critics who noticed 
 the similarity of Johnson’s style to that of Sir T. Browne 5 and Mr. 
 Southey, in several of his critical labours in the Quarterly Review, 
 shews how fondly and familiarly he has made an acquaintance with 
 the prototype of Johnson. A good copy of Browne’s works is worth 
 1 /. ls.f 
 
 * It were surely idle to say another word about the acknowledged 
 and transcendent talents of this Great Writer. The editions of 
 his Works are almost innumerable 5 and, without them, no (< Young 
 Man” or “ Old Man” can sleep comfortably in the neighbourhood 
 of his library. Get Murphy’s edition, in 12 vols. 8vo. for 4l. 14 s. 6d. 
 bound. But it is as a Biographer, that Johnson’s name will live as 
 long as literature shall last. And fortunately for posterity, Johnson’s 
 own life has been rendered the most amusing piece of biography ex- 
 tant. Consult p. 537* ante. 
 
 + I am well pleased to announce a forth coming edition of SirT. Browne’s 
 works, in 4 Svo. volumes, including some pieces that have not yet been published. 
 This acceptable performance is about to appear under the able and spirited super- 
 intendance of Mr. Wilkin, of Norwich — a young man sensibly alive to the glory 
 of his native city. 
 
618 
 
 PHILOLOGY, &c. 
 
 year, peruses Rasselas or the Rambler P It is as a Col - 
 loquialist and Biographer that Johnson has scarcely 
 a rival — especially when prejudices did not spread a 
 film over those intellectual orbs, which were con- 
 structed to gaze uninjured upon the sun ! 
 
 With the mention of Johnson, I hope to be per- 
 mitted to draw the curtain over the department of 
 English Philology and Belles Lettres. It is equally 
 impolitic and unsafe to touch upon modern times and 
 living Writers : or I could adduce names, which were 
 an honour to any age or country. As to foreign — or 
 French and Italian belles lettres — the field is equally 
 varied and interminable : and rather than traverse it 
 in a slovenly and unsatisfactory manner, it were 
 better not to enter upon it at all. 
 
[ 619 ] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 At length we reach “ Divine Poesy — but little 
 more can be done than to afford a glimpse, scarcely 
 amounting to a Diorama View,* of the principal 
 rivers, streams, and streamlets, that rush or roll along 
 the banks of the famous Parnassian Mountain . There 
 are Parnassuses for all countries ; and who, learned in 
 our own lore, has not heard of, and longed for, a 
 choice and delectable copy of England's Parnassus ?f 
 Doubtless, I shall treat more copiously of the indige- 
 nous Bards of this country, than of any others. But, 
 first and foremost, we turn the eye, and almost bend 
 the knee, to the venerable and immortal Homer 
 
 Father of verse ! in holy fillets drest. 
 
 His silver beard waves gently o’er his breast. 
 
 Popes Temple of Fame. 
 
 Father of beauty, of instruction, and of every heroic 
 
 * Every body will immediately call to mind a certain spectacle, 
 under this name, situated on the northern side of the Metropolis, 
 which has charmed all eyes and won all hearts. Even an antiquary 
 need scarcely go to Canterbury, to inspect the Trinity Chapel of the 
 Cathedral, when he sees it so wonderfully brought before him within 
 400 yards of Portland Place. 
 
 + Published in 1600. 8vo. for NL. CB. and TH.; and once of very 
 considerable price. It has dropt from 20 to 2 1 . : owing to its repub- 
 lication, with notes. &c. It is a very inferior collection of our early 
 poetry to England's Helicon , published the same year, in the same un- 
 assuming form. This latter has been also reprinted, with great care 
 and attention, and with a biographical and critical introduction, in 
 the British Bibliographer , vol. iii. and iv. 
 
620 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [Greek. 
 
 and tender sentiment, too ! : for, where is there an 
 amiable and honourable feeling, which may not be 
 found delineated in the Iliad and Odyssey ? ! But to 
 business. There once lived a man — yet is this busi- 
 ness? There once (I say) lived a medical gentleman, 
 of the name of Douglas, who made a point of collect- 
 ing every known edition of Horace. To perfect this 
 collection, he toiled as assiduously as in visiting pa- 
 tients: and yet he wanted many a precious impres- 
 sion.* If Dr. Douglas have been long pardoned for 
 this classical mania, what may not any man be for 
 that of collecting an Homeric Library? I own, it 
 were among the most rational of all book-manias — 
 with the exception of that mentioned in a note, in a 
 certain bibliographical production . . . not necessary to 
 be here particularly specified. 
 
 Yet, of the early editions of Homer, I will only no- 
 tice the first of 1488,^ printed at Florence in 2 folio 
 
 * A catalogue of the editions of Horace, collected by Dr. Douglas, 
 is prefixed to Watson's Latin and English edition of the poet in 1747* 
 8vo. 2 vols.2 edit. 3: Although the Doctor had ten impressions in the 
 xvth. century, there was not one of the highest degree of rarity. In 
 the whole he possessed about 450 editions of Horace; down to the 
 year 1738. This collection, or very nearly the whole of it, was 
 brought to the public hammer, under Mr. Christie, a few years ago, 
 and disposed of, en masse, for fourscore pounds. 
 
 f I may quietly begin this inspiring note, by referring the curious 
 to a particular account of this grand work to be found in the Bibl. 
 Spenceriana , vol ii. p. 55-62 , together with a fac-simile of the type. 
 I am unable to add any thing to the full account there given of the 
 bibliographical history of this first edition of the entire Greek text of 
 Homer. As to copies of it, one hardly knows which to mention 
 
 + In the title-page, below Watson’s name, it runs thus : u Revised by a Gentle - 
 man well skilled in this sort of literature , at London This sounds oddly enough, 
 now a days. My copy of Watson's Horace was Garrick’s. 
 
Greek.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 021 
 
 vols. and still worth some sixty guineas; if in a perfect 
 and sound condition. I shall bestride the sixteenth 
 and seventeenth centuries without the mention of a 
 single edition : and come at once to those of Clarke , 
 Ernest i, and Heyne — particularly specified in the sub- 
 joined note.* And yet shall the rarest and most 
 
 first. Lord Spencer’s is, after all, the finest which I have ever seen 
 upon paper ; if that, in an uncut state, in the Royal Library at Paris, 
 be excepted. Mr. Payne tells me that Earl Mansfield possesses a re- 
 markably fine large copy of it. The copies which I have seen in the 
 collections of Messrs. Grenville, Hibbert, and Drury, are rather exult- 
 ing ones 5 but, if the ravages of a wicked worm could be overlooked, 
 I should say that the copy in the library of the late John Mordaunt 
 Johnson, Esq. sold by auction by Mr. Evans, in 1817, was among the 
 very finest in the world. It was in the original binding, and had the 
 first two leaves of the Odyssey printed upon vellum. But the 
 great vellum copy, of the entire w'ork, which was once at Paris, now 
 slumbers on the shelves of St. Marc, at Venice. It is thoroughly 
 beautiful, as those tell me who have been comforted with a sight of 
 it. Mr. Dent possesses the second volume upon vellum — which 
 he obtained in the fortunate purchase of the beautiful library belong- 
 ing to the late Robert Heathcote, Esq. But the very sight of this 
 lovely volume, torn from its long separated and inconsolable partner, 
 produces a momentary heart-ach. Will a re -union take place ? Or 
 is this severed associate lost beyond the possibility of restoration ? 
 Who shall deny that a perfect and white copy of this first Homer, 
 upon vellum, is richly worth 500 guineas } But I would not give 
 more than a fifth part of this sum for the membranaceous copy pub- 
 lished by Bodoni in 1808, in two thunderingly large folios : see Tour, 
 vol. ii. p. 283. 
 
 And shall I say nothing of Aldine vellum Homers ? ! Not a 
 word : although I could write even a “ right merie” chapter thereon. 
 “ Sunt certi denique fines’’ — and oaken fences must neither be pulled 
 down, grubbed up, nor jumped over. 
 
 * First of Dr. Clarke’s edition in 1729-1740, Gr. et Lat. 4to. 
 4 volumes. A fine copy is worth 5 1. 15 s. 6d. The reprints have 
 been innumerable. I have seen a great many copies on large paper ; 
 but they now droop their heads somewhat in the money market. A 
 
62 2 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [Greek. 
 
 splendid of all editions be passed over in a sort of 
 unseemly silence? Is the ardent “ Young Man” to be 
 
 morocco coated copy, and they are usually found in this condition, 
 may however be worth 251. The Merlv copy produced 22 1. 1 2s. 6d. 
 Does it exist, uncut , on large paper?* Ernesti’s edition is with 
 me a great favourite. It was printed at Leipsic in 1759, in 5 vols. 
 8vo. Gr. and Lat. : and from the authorities adduced in the Introd. 
 to the Classics , vol. i. p. 386, it ought to be a general favourite. A 
 good copy, in neat calf binding, is worth 31. 135. 6d. I paid ano- 
 ther guinea to boot, for my own copy, but it is bound in russia, 
 and had belonged to the late Lord Glenbervie : affording the fol- 
 lowing testimony of the application of its possessor : “ Begun a 
 third perusal 28 July , 1786. Begun a fourth perusal with Eustathius, 
 at Bushy, 1 Ith. Aug. 1792.” The choice library of my friend Mr. H. 
 Drury furnishes another instance of Homeric application. In the 
 copy of Barnes’s Homer, possessed by his grandfather, the late Dr. 
 Benjamin Heath, is the following memorandum — in the hand-writing 
 of the Doctor: “ Tertio perlectum hunc librum absolvi. Octob. 14, 1744, 
 Intra diem, 29 Julij 1744, et 5 Febij. sequentes Quindecies Iliadaper- 
 legi .” There are copies of Ernesti’s edit, on thick writing paper, some- 
 times called large paper t which are probably worth a dozen sovereigns 
 in good binding. The edition was beautifully and correctly reprinted 
 at Glasgow in 1814, 8vo. 5 vols. and I find the catalogue of Messrs. 
 Payne and Eoss thickly and richly studded with copies of this reprint, 
 in all forms and at all prices. 
 
 * While on the large paper Homeric theme, let me correct something like a 
 rash assertion, uttered by me, in the JEdes Althorp. vol. i. p. 130, about the Leyden 
 edition of 1656, 4to. edited by Schrevelius and printed by Hackius ; I have there 
 said that the copy of this book, possessed by the Rev. H. Drury, is the only one, on 
 large paper, which I havedieard of : that at Althorp approaching it very sensibly. 
 But my good friend Mr. Payne has seen several. “And how many, I pray?” 
 “ Three or four, at least.” That may be ; yet Mr. Drury’s copy continues to be a 
 most covetable gem. Among the rarest of large papers, of the immortal Ma;onian 
 Bard, is the pretty and correct Oxford edition of 1714, octavo, gr. 2 vols. : and a 
 double felicity connected with this book, happened to me on one and the same 
 day. In Pall-Mall I saw the sweetest copy of it imaginable, on small paper, ruled 
 with red lines, and bound in original red morocco. In Bedford-street, Covent- 
 Garden, I saw the same edition, on large paper, bound in pale russia — each copy 
 to be sold. Will Menalcas hesitate a moment in turning his horses’ heads to one 
 dep6t or the other. He will not : he cannot. 
 
Greek.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 623 
 
 kept in Vandal darkness respecting the existence of 
 an impression which goes by the name of the Gren- 
 ville Homer , published in four small quartos, in 1800? 
 And, much more, if he wishes to purchase a large 
 paper copy, may he not sit down and make a calcu- 
 lation of its probable cost ?* Of Translations , I must 
 be wholly silent ; for there is no end of them : but let 
 it be permitted me just to say, that the most curious 
 and rare is that published in modern Greek, about 
 two centuries ago.^ 
 
 For an account of Heyne’s edition. Lips. 1S02, 8vo. Gr. et Lat. 
 8 vols. consult the Introd. to the Classics , vol. i. p. 389. A copy in 
 good binding is worth hi. It appears to be on fine, and on fc finest 
 paper for the former, Mr. Bohn asks 'll. for a sewed copy : for the 
 latter, Messrs. Payne and Foss value a copy, in sumptuous morocco 
 binding, at IS/. IS s. The vignettes in Heyne’s edition give it quite 
 a classical air : but, if you wish to be sober as well as sure in your 
 Homeric purchase, content yourself with the edition of Oxford, 1811, 
 Gr. 5 vols. with the Scholia of Didymus and the index of Seber. It 
 is worth 2/. 6s. in neat binding 
 
 * At the mention of the large paper Grenville Homer, where is 
 the classical Bibliomaniac who does not sigh at his inability, or want 
 of opportunity, to possess it ? — and, in proportion, rejoice extrava- 
 gantly on its possession ? A good copy of the small paper, bound in 
 neat calf binding, is worth about 1/. 155. The large paper was 
 printed only for presents. The last copy of this kind, which was sold 
 at the sale of the late Bishop of London’s library, produced the sum 
 of 80/.; and whoever will consult the JEdes Althorp. vol. i. page 130 
 will find some peculiarities even in these large paper copies. It 
 seems that every possessor of them cannot be equally blest. 
 
 f A word or two, before this rare edition is chronicled in these 
 pages. As to foreign translations of Homer, of a comparatively 
 recent period, consult Barbier’s Bibl. d'un Homme de Gout , vol. i. p. 
 12. As to our own, I should unhesitatingly say, read Pope ; but 
 have Cowper at hand for occasional consultation. It may be said of 
 these two distinguished translations, that the learned talk of Cowper, 
 but read Pope : which may be illustrated by a celebrated Law Lord’s 
 
624 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [Greek. 
 
 Of course, next to Homer, Hesiod claims immediate 
 notice; although these two venerable poetic Seers 
 may dispute with each other for chronological prece- 
 
 i 
 
 nice distinction between sparkling and still champagne. “ Sir, 
 people praise the still, but drink the lively .” As to Pope's perform- 
 ance, it is almost beyond all conception as well as of praise : and 
 even what Dryden has executed of the first book (see this subject 
 elegantly discussed in a publication, highly popular in its day, called 
 Fitzosbornes Letters , of which Melmoth was the author) there can 
 be little doubt but that, had that version been completed , it would 
 have been immeasurably behind Pope’s in poetical spirit and har- 
 mony. 
 
 The modern Greek version (of the Iliad only) alluded to in the 
 text, is as follows : premising, that this account of it is taken from 
 the volume itself (of excessive rarity) in the library at Chatsworth. 
 It had belonged to the late Bishop of Ely ; and as the late Mr. Beloe 
 had access to the Bishop’s library, I thought it likely it might appear 
 in the pages of the Anecdotes of Literature, but on tracing all the re- 
 ferences to Homer (in the index) to their sources, I do not observe it. 
 Yet it may have possibly escaped me. Take it therefore, gentle 
 reader, as you find it here : 
 
 OMHPOY IMiC, METABAHGEk A nXAAI ElC KOINHN y\uaactv, vv* 
 xa i SiontQtTo-a. avvr opus, xed xara' xa$w? »j rS 
 
 o/x^ov £ /3ao$, NjxoAaou re a ovxcUvov, & c. &c. This title is in red. 
 At the end, on the recto of the last leaf, in black letter : Stampata in 
 Venetia per Maestro Stefano da Sabio : il quale habita a Santa Maria 
 formosa: ad instantia di miser Damian di santa Maria da Spici. M. D. 
 xxvi. nel mese di magio. It is printed in double columns : beginning 
 thus, on the reverse of signature a viij. 
 
 TH> ogyyv a,h x.cii 
 r£i vrjhetXov ay(iKKiuq t 
 xai woAAas - hvvrscq evroiat 
 Kcti voices ecffyetets, 
 
 &C. &C. 
 
 Ihe giving of the girdle to Juno, by Venus, is curiously enough re- 
 presented (/x. vj. recto.) 
 
Greek.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 625 
 
 deuce. I shall refer the reader to the subjoined note* 
 for an account of the earlier editions of this poet, and 
 say no more here about subsequent impressions, than 
 that, those, to which the names of Grcevius , Robinson , 
 and Loesner are attached, as Editors have the 
 greater claims to be admitted among his “ Library 
 Companions.” As the dramatic writers of Greece are 
 introduced under the ensuing department, I shall here 
 only add, to the foregoing poets, the names of Theo- 
 critus, Pindar, Anacreon, and Callimachus. 
 
 Theocritus claims an early, and should receive a 
 lasting attention ; and a great deal of bibliographical 
 mystery is involved in ascertaining the “ right points” 
 
 AOC [3c TCCVT^V TV)V 
 
 oXoc, jw.s Totvrviv, 
 
 on txs Tvo SsAeis- vroioei, 
 outws v y.V7rpi<; 
 
 xou yeXua-x ela re> 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
 There are bold and spirited wood-cuts throughout. The Duke’s copy 
 is in sound and desirable condition. 
 
 * The first printed text of Hesiod is found in the Milan Theocritus 
 of 1493, and the Aldine of 1495 : (See Bibl. Spencer . vol. ii. p. 43.) 
 the former containing the Opera fy Dies , the latter the Theogonia. 
 The first edition of the complete works of Hesiod, is that of Trinca- 
 vellus, printed at Venice in 1537* 4to. Gr. and containing the Scho- 
 lia. A copy of this truly valuable, as well as rare, edition is marked 
 by Messrs. Payne and Foss at the reasonable sum of 21 . 2 s . 
 
 f Of Graevius, including the labours of Le Clerc, the best edition 
 is considered to be that of Amst. 1701, Svo. worth about 14s. j but I 
 should prefer the Elzevir edition of 1667, Svo. worth about the same 
 sum. Robinson’s edition of 1737* 4to. Gr. & Lat. may be obtained 
 for 1 Z. 1 Is. 6d. and Messrs. Payne and Foss mark a “ second 
 paper” copy of it, scarce, and neat at 31 . 3s. But the great gun — 
 not only of this, but of every other ancient classic — is the large paper 
 «f Robinson, of a small folio form , of which ten copies onl are said 
 
 S S 
 
POETHY. 
 
 [GltEEK. 
 
 026 
 
 of sundry editions of his works. The text of this in- 
 teresting, and thoroughly characteristic writer* was 
 first printed at Milan, in 1493, and twice in 1495. by 
 Aldus:* but the Scholia did not appear till about 
 twenty years afterwards, at Rome, under the care of 
 Calliergus ; and I must request my “ Young Man,” 
 in particular, to snap up a fine copy of this intrinsi- 
 cally valuable book, in ail respects, whenever such a 
 treasure present itself in any particularly tempting 
 condition.* Does it exist in a Grolier surtout ? As to 
 critical editions, of a later date, rest contented with 
 that by IVarton, or Valchnaer, or Kiessling.% 
 
 to have been struck off, and for which the Duke of Grafton’s copy, 
 the last sold, produced the sum of 100/. Loesner’s edition of 1778, 
 8vo. Gr. & Lat. with the Scholia, is worth 1/. Is. : and an excellent 
 edition it is. See the authorities in the Introd. to the Classics , vol. i. 
 page 368. 
 
 * A fine and perfect copy of this very rare Editio Princeps of The- 
 ocritus, in 1493, is surely worth 42/. ? Lord Spencer's is a most 
 desirable copy. At Paris, in the Royal Library, they preserve an ex- 
 traordinary curiosity — a unique copy of this book, on large paper, 
 with a title and imprint of the date of 1524. See Tour, vol. ii. page 
 315. The Aldine editions of 1495, which once lifted up their heads 
 so high, on account of their rarity, have dropt dreadfully in price. 
 Mr. Payne has a very large copy” of the first, marked at 3 L 3s. 
 only j and of the second, at 1/. Is. tf two leaves wanting.” See Bib l . 
 Spencer . vol. ii. p. 438-443. 
 
 t This desirable volume was published at Rome, in 1516: Gr. in 
 small 4to. and is of very uncommon occurrence. A fine copy of it 
 may be worth 3/. 13s. 6d. 
 
 X Warton’s sumptuous edition of Theocritus, printed at the Ox- 
 ford press in 1770, Gr. & Lat. 4to. 2 vols. is copiously described in 
 the Introd. to the Classics , vol. ii. p. 278 : and yet some peculiarities, 
 about cancelled leaves, which I will not even here attempt to spe- 
 cify, are omitted. Are these included under the term Curas Poste - 
 riores,” introduced in the description of the copy in the catalogue of 
 Messrs. Payne and Foss, marked at 5/. 15s. 6d . very neat ?” A fine 
 
G&eek.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 62 7 
 
 Let Pindar here come in for especial notice and 
 commendation ; and if he be difficult to master, let 
 us solace ourselves that he will be found sublime when 
 mastered. Grasp with avidity a fine ample-margined 
 copy of the Edit. Prin, 1513, executed in the Aldine 
 office ;* and, making a proud display of a tall and 
 Oxford bound copy of the edition of West and Wet- 
 sted of 1697, betake yourself to the copious and critical 
 pages of Heyne , for the most thorough and satisfactory 
 understanding of the original text of the poet/f* 
 
 copy, in russia binding, is marked at 7 1* 7 s. Valcknaeb’s edition 
 of 1779, 8vo. may be considered the best of that critic’s editions : 
 that of 1781 being only a reprint of it. It is worth 1*2 or 155. in neat 
 binding — and I recommend it <e totis viribus.” But Kiessling’s 
 edition of 1819, Gr. & Lat. with Scholia , &c. is undoubtedly the most 
 erudite and elaborate of all the octavo impressions of Theocritus : 
 and Mr. Bohn will supply you with copies in every state and at 
 almost every price — from humble boards to imperial morocco. 
 
 * I can never think of this first edition ( without the Scholia) but 
 my imagination riots (and loves to riot) in the contemplation, as it 
 were, of the unique copy of it, on vellum, in the matchless membra- 
 naceous Alduses of Spencer House ! And well do I call to mind the 
 vehement rapture with which my especial good friend, the Rev. H. 
 Drury, read — and seemed to feel ft the inspiring god ” — (“ Deus, ecce 
 Deus”) as he read — a few of the verses from one of the Olympic 
 Odes — alternately rejoicing in the splendour of Pindaric imagery and 
 the lustre of Aldine vellum ! to be sure, such a volume is deserving 
 of every species of classical and bibliomaniacal enthusiasm. It was 
 the property of the late Count Revickzy : but see Bibliogr. Decameron , 
 vol. ii. p. 349. A fine copy on paper is of rare occurrence. Let me 
 just add that the Scholia of Pindar were first printed at Rome in 
 1515, 4to. and that it is the first Greek book published in that city. 
 For a critical account of it, consult Heyne’s preface 5 Edit. Secund. 
 p. 107. Mr. Bohn marks a fine copy of it at 1 1. 8s. 
 
 t In most of our old libraries, stand tall, and comely copies of 
 the Oxford Pindar of 1697* Messrs. Payne and Foss value a if fine 
 copy, russia, gilt leaves,’’ at 31. 13 s. 6d . ; and support that “ fine 
 copy" by a much finer one, in good sooth — it being on '* largb 
 
628 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [Greek. 
 
 Anacreon will be bought, by the fond enthusiast 
 of that fascinating author, in almost every form and 
 condition: from the editio princeps, by Harry Stephen 
 in 1554 , to the last of the critical editions of Fischer.t 
 
 paper/’ with the addition of “extremely rare”.. but with no 
 price subjoined. Will posterity ever be made acquainted with the 
 sum for which that copy has been, or is to be, disposed of? In 
 Cleveland-square, at Althorp, at Chatsworth, and of course at Buck- 
 ingham House, a similar gigantic copy may be seen. Respecting 
 Heyne’s edition, you may have copies at all prices. It is worth 
 91. 2s. in plain calf,- and about 5 1. 15s. 6d, on large paper, in neat 
 binding. For the critical merits of this edition, consult the Introd. 
 to the Classics , vol. ii. p. 129-131. 
 
 t The first edition of Anacreon J was published by Henry Stephen 
 in 1554, in a 4to. form ; and is by no means a volume of particular 
 scarcity. Yet a fine copy may be worth 21. 12 s. 6d. Maittaire g ave 
 the world a most respectable, as well as critical edition, in that of 
 1725, 4to. ; of which only 100 copies were printed, and which was 
 dedicated to his particular friend Sir Richard Eliys, Bart, with whom 
 he loved to disport in bibliographical pleasantries, § and for whom, 
 chiefly, that magnificent library was collected which adorns the 
 oftmentioneJ mansion of Blickling: see p. 585, ante. Maittaire’s 
 edition was reprinted in 1740: but that of 1725 is the game at which 
 
 7 See a long and learned disquisition on the lyrical metres of Anacreon (which 
 once engaged the attention of Dr. Burney and the present Bishop of Hereford) in 
 the Classical Journal , vol. ii. p. 31, vol. iv. pp. 196-280. 
 
 § Of these “ pleasantries,” take, gentle reader, a specimen singularly characte- 
 ristic of the Writer, and delightfully illustrative of the “ pleasant” terms on which 
 that writer and his Correspondent lived with each other. It relates to the pur- 
 chase of a copy of the Aldine Greek Psalter , by Maittaire, from a bookseller, who, 
 it must be admitted, fought a tolerably good fight, considering the insinuating 
 attack of the purchaser. This letter has been obligingly copied for me by the Rev. 
 Mr. Churchill, from the original — in the library at Blickling : 
 
 Viro dignissimo, antiquis moribus, proba indole, Literis ornatissimo, Richardo 
 Ellys, Bart 0 . 
 
 S. P. D. 
 
 Mich. Maittaire. 
 
 En tibi, Vir Amicissime, Psalterium, quantivis pretii ; auro contra non carum. 
 Veruntamen, priusquam pecuniam solverem, multis strenu& egi cum bibliopole 
 fi Ileus, inquam, sperasne hury: librum fore vendibilem ? Tota erras via. Isto cha- 
 
Greek.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 629 
 
 The tribe of little minnow pocket editions is almost 
 like unto that of the fish here brought into the adjec- 
 tive form. For Callimachus, despair equally of 
 getting possession of the edit. prin. executed in capital 
 letters, and of that edited by Robortellus , in 1555, 
 12mo. :* and, shunning the large paper of Grceviuss 
 
 a thorough bred bibliomaniacal sportsman must fly. It is worth 
 2 1. 2 s. in fine condition. But, after all, Fischer s edition of 1/93, 
 must be the critical Anacreontic tome for ordinary purposes of con- 
 sultation. A good vellum-bound copy of it is worth 125. 6d. 
 
 * A succinct and correct account of the editions of Callimachus 
 appeared in the second volume of the Museum Criticum, p. 146, &c. 
 from which it should seem that the scarcest, and one of the most in- 
 trinsically valuable, is that of Robortellus , printed at Venice in 1555, 
 12 mo. Of this edition, in particular, an account is given in vol. i. 
 page 227 of the same work ; and for the helps which it afforded Dr. 
 Blomfield, in his edition of 1815, see the pages first referred to. The 
 only known copy of it, in this country, is in the library of his Grace 
 the Duke of Devonshire. As to the Editio Princeps, in capital letters, 
 I apprehend it to be among the very scarcest — if not the scarcest — 
 of all the famous Greek capital letter productions 5 and the copy of 
 it, which was sold at the sale of the Roxburghe Library, produced 
 
 ractere peregrino, ignoto ; et si quis Graecum fuisse conjiciat, minime intellecto ; 
 et si quis paulum intelligat, minime utili ; nunc praesertim temporis, quo libri ad 
 illam materiam neglectam, imb in ridiculo liabitam, spectantes, sint merae nugae. 
 Si igitur me audis, pretium, quod postules, divide : alia lege me non habebis emp- 
 torem. Serb poenitebit, cum liber abjectus in Officina putrescet.” Bibliopola, qui 
 libri dignitatem non ignorabat, bis verbis primum haud permotus, subrisit ; meque 
 non serio loqui suspicatus est. Instabam utcunque, et consilio, dixi, meo utere; 
 “ buic auro, quod postulas, quantum detrahes ? age, et fac videam, quantum 
 sapias.” Homo, vix tandem victus, pro nummo semi-aureo, vendidit semi-argen- 
 teum j quern tibi remitto. Nescio an risumlioc joculari inter me et bibliopolam 
 dialogo tibi moverim. Iocis missis ad seria transeo . . . 
 
 Maittaire goes on to prove, veiy justly, that the book was printed by Aldus 
 about the year 1495-6. The postscript is as follows : 
 
 Vale. Ex Museolo CID.I3 CCXXXVI. Prid. Cal. Mai. Vides, Vir humanissime, 
 quam familiariter tecum agam : nec sane, nisi scirem nihil humani a te alienum 
 esse, ausim epistolam lituris quam literis pleniorem tuis oculis exposuisse. Facile 
 mehaberes excusatum, si intueri posses, quali erga te sim animo ; quos affectus in 
 meo pectore excitet tua in me benevolentia- 
 
POETRY. 
 
 [Greek. 
 
 630 
 
 impression of 1697, (which once made the eye of the 
 classical bibliomaniac sparkle with ecstacy ;) seek for 
 the edition of Ernesti or of Blomfield ; both to be had 
 at “ comfortable” prices — and both capable of making 
 you learned in the lore of a poet, whose merits ought 
 to render him more familiar to the bulk of classical 
 readers.* 
 
 the sum of 60/. It exists, as I learn, in some library at Florence, or 
 at Rome, along with the Musceus, Anthology , Apollonius Rhodius , 
 and Euripides , in one volume, upon vellum ! Immeasurably precious 
 treasure : — a very Valdarfer Boccaccio in price ! Will it ever insinuate 
 itself into this country } More improbable things have happened. 
 
 f Alas, for the fate of large paper copies — in general ! although 
 doubtless with many splendid exceptions. There was a time, when 
 the buoyant spirits of Bridges, Mead, Foulkes, and Askew, knew of 
 no greater felicity than that of the possession of the Grcevius Calli- 
 machus on large paper; — and 10, 12, 14, 16, and even 18 guineas 
 have been given for such a copy. Now , it reposes, untouched and 
 unnoticed, on the shelves of booksellers, for some five or six guineas. 
 Do I hear the classical moralist exclaim, in the language of Persius, 
 “ O curas hominum ! O quantum est in rebus inane!” And yet, 
 read the commendations on this edition in the Museum Criticum , vol. 
 ii. p. 149 ; from which you will be induced to give a.t least a dozen 
 or sixteen shillings for a good copy on small paper. Had Ernesti’s 
 edition, in 1761, 8vo. two vol. contained the emendations and notes 
 of Valcknaer, it would have had better pretensions to the applause 
 of the learned, and would have received the undivided patronage of 
 the classical world. It is yet however worth 1/. Is. in good condition. 
 In the year 1815 appeared the critical and accurate edition of Dr. 
 Blomfield , obtainable at an easy price, and in all respects desirable 
 from the purity of the text, the accession of various readings from 
 the Edit. Prin. and from that of Robortellus ; the notes of Bentley, 
 Rhunkenius, and Ernesti ; and from those (the greater number) of 
 the learned Editor himself. The collection of Fragments, quoted 
 from various writers, occupying, with the comments upon them, one 
 hundred and seventy pages, has now been enlarged to the number of 
 five hundred and eleven.” Mus. Crit . ibid. After such an account, 
 what remains, but to give a prompt order for this edition of Calli- 
 
Greek.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 GS1 
 
 Before I come to speak of that portion of Greek 
 Poetry, which includes the Dramatists , it may be as 
 well to give a few words to Apollonius Rhodius and 
 Bion and Moschus ; authors, of comparatively little 
 popularity — unless indeed the lover of pastoral poetry 
 choose, as he well may, to contend for some of the 
 sweeter effusions of the two latter Bards.* 
 
 I shall conclude the department of Greek Poetry 
 with a brief notice of the three great Dramatists of 
 Greece, not only so well known in this country, but 
 so w r ell and incomparably illustrated by English 
 Critics. Of course, I refer to ^Eschylus, Sophocles, 
 
 machus ? which, had it been accompanied by a parallel Latin text, 
 (“pace dixerim”) would, I am persuaded, have been the inmate of 
 the library of every “ Young Man’’ of any pretension to classical 
 reputation. It exists on large paper: and why should it not ? I 
 had almost forgotten to add, that the Scholia, being considered as 
 spurious, are rejected 5 and that Ernesti’s useful Index, corrected and 
 materially enlarged, is added to the edition. 
 
 * These three poets may however receive a slight bibliographical 
 notice in the present place. The Edit. prin. of Apolloxius Rhodius 
 was published in 1496, 4to. Gr. in capital letters. Lord Spencer 
 possesses the beautiful copy of it upon vellum, (from the sale of 
 the Macarthv library) which had formerly belonged to Girardot de 
 Prefond. A similar copy is in the royal Collection, and another in that 
 at Blenheim. A sound and well bound copy, on paper, may be ob- 
 tained for 61. 6s. For critical editions, get that of Schaefer of 1810, 
 Lips. Gr. & Lat. two vols. worth about 1 Z. 11 s. 6d. Collectors make 
 boast of a beautiful copy of the Elzevir edition of 1641, Svo. Gr. & 
 Lat. edited by Hoelzlinus ; but many make boast of wdiat they never 
 look into. Bion and Moschus have been most accurately as well as 
 beautifully published in the Poetce Minores Graci, of which the Rev. 
 Mr. Gaisford, Regius Professor of the Greek language at Oxford, is 
 the Editor. This desirable w r ork is now complete, in 4 octavo vo- 
 lumes, 181 5-1S20; the two latter volumeshaving the Scholia on 
 Hesiod and Theocritus : but copies of it on large paper, must be 
 hoped for, rather than sought after— as where shall they be found ? 
 
632 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [Latins 
 
 and Euripides ; with which the names of Stanley, 
 Butler, Blomfield, Elmsiey, and Porson will be con- 
 nected. The subjoined note* may guide the reader 
 in a choice of a few of the preferable editions. 
 
 A copy on small paper is worth about 2l. 2s. in bds. May I be per- 
 mitted, in illustration of the remark in the text, to call upon the 
 Greek student to furnish me with an hexameter more thoroughly 
 descriptive of the feeling of woe, or even agony of mind, than the 
 following from the death of Adonis by Bion, and which has tolled in 
 
 my years from boyhood 
 
 AT, at rav Ki iQepsiav ! ’AnuXs to xuXbg *A Sajvtf. 
 
 * Premising that of Stanley's ^Eschylus (1664, Gr. and Lat. folio) 
 there is no copy on large paper, and that a very fine one may be 
 worth 5 1. 5 s. I will here only recommend Dr. Butler's edition of the 
 Works of JEschylus, Gr. et Lat. in four quarto or eight octavo vo- 
 lumes : Cantab. 1809, &c. The 4to. at Si. Ss. and the Svo. at 41. 4s. 
 The separate plays published by Dr. Blomfield , now Bishop of 
 Chester, are these : Prometheus , Persce , Septem contra Thebas, Aga- 
 memnon, et Choephori. They are published at the University Press, 
 at Cambridge, in a manner at once neat in appearance, accurate in 
 text, and moderate in price. These plays exhibit the purest state of 
 the text of Aeschylus extant, with short notes, explanatory of the 
 alterations, &c. We learn from the Museum Criticum, p. 112, that 
 Dr. Blomfield’s edition of iEschylus will, when complete, te form 
 three octavo volumes of about 400 pages each.” Mr. Burges pub- 
 lished the Supplices, in 1821, Svo. Upon this play consult the 
 Classical Journal , vol. i. p. 472, SOI : ii. 183, 414 : iv. 154. 
 
 Of Sophocles, procure Brunck’s edition of the entire works , 
 Argent. 1786, 4to. two vols. 71. 7s.; or, if this purchase be too ex- 
 pensive, procure the reprint of Musgrave’s text, with the Scholia of 
 Brunck, published at Oxford, 1809, Svo. three vols. at about 21. in 
 calf gilt. The learned Dr. Elmsiey has just published — as the pre- 
 cursor to his edition of the entire works of Sophocles — the CEdipus 
 Coloneus of this celebrated Dramatist, 1823, 8vo. price 105 . 6d. : 
 replete with curious and erudite annotations : which will make the 
 classical world unusually anxious to witness the completion of a task 
 thus brilliantly begun. The same consummate Scholar has also in 
 the press a new edition of the Roman Scholia (as they are called) on 
 
Latin.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 633 
 
 From the poets of Greece, the step is at once natu- 
 ral and easy to those of Rome. And here, at very 
 starting, we are distracted in the choice : with “ the 
 embarrassment of wealth” — not only on account of 
 the comparative facility with which these Roman 
 poets may be mastered, but on account of their abso- 
 lute beauty, variety, and interest. These poets may 
 perhaps be safely divided into two classes. In the 
 first, appear Virgil, Lucretius, Ovid, Juvenal, Persius, 
 Martial, and Horace: in the second, Lucan, Statius, 
 Silius Italicus, Claudian, Catullus, Tibullus, Proper- 
 tius, and Valerius Flaccus. 
 
 First, then, of the divine Virgil ; the very Rafaelle 
 of poets of all countries — for so I venture upon pre- 
 fixing that epithet, which is usually attached to the 
 great painter whose name is here coupled with the 
 Mantuan bard. Of the earlier editions*f of Virgil, the 
 
 Sophocles, from a MS. in the Laurentian library at Florence : to be 
 published in an octavo form. 
 
 Of all the Dramatists of Greece, Euripides, from the variety of 
 publications relating to him in this country, seems to be the general 
 favourite. Procure Beck's edition of the entire works, published at 
 Leipsic in 1778, 4to. 3 vols. Gr. et Lat. worth about 61. 1 6s. 6d. or, 
 in the absence of Beck, be satisfied with Priestley's edition, in 10 
 vols. 8vo. containing all the notes and Scholia upon the author. For 
 separate plays, those published by Person and Dr. Elmsley will 
 necessarily have the strongest claims on the attention and funds of 
 the Collector. The plays edited by the former are the Hecuba , Ores- 
 tes , Phcenissce , and Medea : the latter has published the Heraclidce , 
 Bacchce , and Medea , which display a rich harvest of classical illus- 
 tration. The Medea of Dr. Elmsley, notwithstanding the acute and 
 felicitous emendations of Porson, is yet a performance which merits 
 the close attention and warm approbation of both critic and student. 
 The Heraclidce of Dr. Elmsley has been noticed in the Mus. Crit. vol. i. 
 p. 134. Dr. Monk, the present Dean of Peterborough, published the 
 Alcestis and Hippolytus in a very beautiful and accurate manner. 
 
 t If the bibliographical critic and antiquary be anxious to embark 
 
634 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [Latin. 
 
 difficulty will be considerable to procure fine copies of 
 
 on a sort of Bay of Biscay voyage, respecting the earlier, rarer, and 
 more precious editions of Virgil, he may consult not fewer than 
 fifty-three pages, relating to that subject, in the second and sixth 
 volumes of the Bibl. Spenceriana * And, again, if he prefer consult- 
 ing some score pages respecting the same, let him turn to the xlvth. 
 page of the Index of the Tour — where shall be seen, marshalled in due 
 array, a varied and tempting list of these desirable objects of research. 
 Here, I shall only place the larger end of the telescope to the eye of 
 my young man, so as to reduce these objects within a narrow com- 
 pass. And first, as to the Editio Princeps, supposed to have been 
 printed in 1469 by Sweynheym and Pannartz. The most beautiful 
 copies of this book which I ever saw, are those in the libraries of Earl 
 Spencer and Ste. Genevieve at Paris : but this latter, although 
 larger than his Lordship’s, is defective, inasmuch as it wants the 
 Priapeia.f Count Melzi’s copy, now in this country, and the pro- 
 perty of Mr. Standish, has also the same deficiency. The copy in the 
 Bodleian library, wanting four leaves, and otherwise in a very peril- 
 ous condition, had belonged to the Duke di Cassano, and was sold 
 among Lord Spencer’s duplicates for 63/. But, rarer than this first 
 edition from the press of Sweynheym and Pannartz, is the second , 
 from the same printing office, of the date of 1471 '• of which only 
 two copies are known to exist in this country. One, perfect and 
 sound, in Lord Spencer’s library, and formerly in the Royal Library 
 at Stuttgart ; the other in the Hunterian Collection at Glasgow, but, 
 according to a note made by me several years ago, not quite per- 
 fect at the end. At Paris, they preserve Politian’s copy of this 
 second Roman edition, uncut. I consider a fine and perfect copy 
 of either of these editions worth two hundred guineas, at the least. 
 
 What shall be said of the beauteous tome — the first edition of 
 Virgil with a date — put forth by Vindelin de Spira, in 1470 ? On 
 paper or on vellum, it is of prodigious rarity. The Royal Library 
 at Paris possesses it on vellum — lovely, almost beyond all loveli- 
 ness ! Mr. Grenville has a similar copy; larger, but not quite in 
 the same inviting condition throughout. This copy, purchased of 
 
 * That is, JEdes Althorp. vol. ii. for the rith. of the Bibl. Spencer. 
 
 + It is however a moot point whether the Priapeia really belong to the first edi- 
 tion of Virgil. It is no moot point that they are not the production of that author. 
 
Latin.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 635 
 
 any before the year 1476, or 1480 ; and as to the impres- 
 sions by Sweynheym and Pannartz, or by Menielin , 
 or by Vindelin de Spira, the cc Young Man” must not 
 set his heart too devotedly upon either ; for, long will 
 be the period, and incessant will be the difficulties and 
 obstacles, in the accomplishment of such an object. 
 The Brescia edition of 1473, in the collection of Earl 
 Spencer, is considered as unique. 
 
 But I will break away from the entanglements in- 
 volved in a discussion of these ancient impressions of 
 the Bard of Mantua, and, scarcely vouchsafing to no- 
 tice any of the earlier and more brilliant gems exe- 
 cuted in the office of Aldus * betake myself only to 
 the recommendation of those thoroughly useful and 
 
 Messrs. Payne and Foss in an objectionable state, was placed in the 
 hands of Mr. C. Lewis, and left those same hands in a form and con- 
 dition as if it had undergone some revivifying and enlarging process. 
 The beauty could scarcely have known itself again : Miraturque 
 
 novas frondes et non sua poma.” On paper, such a volume, in per- 
 fect condition, is worth 100 Z. I had well nigh said 120 guineas. 
 And now, as to Menteliris edition, without date, but supposed to be 
 really the second of the Poet. It is a volume of excessive rarity, 
 though doubtless of less rarity than the preceding. The finest copy 
 of it with which I am acquainted (and I have seen six) is that in the 
 splendid library of Mr. George Hibbert; well worth the sum ( 100 Z.) 
 at which it was acquired. These four editions of Virgil, with the 
 exception of that of Zarotus of 1472, of one of a similar date in the 
 types of the Ausonius of 1472, and of the Brescia of 1473, are un- 
 questionably the rarest of all those of the Divine Virgil.” 
 
 * First, in 1501, secondly, in 1505, and thirdly, in 1514 : all of 
 extreme rarity and price. Of the first, I have seen three copies upon 
 vellum : the most beautiful, in the library at Spencer House. The 
 second edition on vellum is of tremendous rarity. It is in the Melzi 
 collection, now belonging to Mr. Standish j but is wanting in Earl 
 Spencer' s 5 where, however, is a most exquisite copy on paper. The 
 large paper of 1514 (in the cabinet just mentioned) is much sought 
 after j and may be worth 15Z. 155. in fine condition. 
 
656 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [Latin. 
 
 substantial editions of the poet, of which Burman and 
 Heyne were the editors : recommending, in the mean 
 time, an occasionally serviceable impression with the 
 notes of various commentators, or what are called the 
 Variorum impressions.* 
 
 Of Lucretius, you can only hope for the first edi- 
 tion, printed at Brescia , by Ferandus The Aldine 
 quarto of 1500 is probably the next in rarity; and for 
 critical editions, obtain possession of that by Haver - 
 camp , or Wakefield , or Eichstadt.% Ovid defies pos- 
 
 * Burman’ s Virgil, 1746, 4to. 4 vols. is worth about 3 l. in good 
 calf binding; and that of Heyne, Lips. 1800. 6 vols. beautifully and 
 splendidly got up, about 7l. 7s. in the same condition. But there are 
 copies on fine vellum paper, which bring a few additional guineas, 
 especially when clothed in morocco attire. As to the Variorum edi- 
 tion, that of Leyden, 1608, 8vo. 3 vols. is (whether justly, may be 
 questioned) the usual favourite : and 1 find a copy, in old morocco 
 binding, marked at the reasonable sum of Si. 3 s. in the catalogue of 
 Messrs. Arch. For a pocket edition, get the true Elzevir of 1636 — 
 or, why not the little elfin 32mo. of Mr. Pickering ? But a thousand 
 pigmy rivals here start up--and threaten to pin me down as Gulliver 
 was pinned down — and so I precipitate my retreat. 
 
 t There are only two copies of this editio princeps, by Ferandus, in 
 England : one, in the library at Spencer House ; the other in that of 
 Mr. Standish, late the property of Count Melzi : and I believe I am 
 speaking within compass when I affirm its pecuniary value to be at 
 least 300 guineas. In the Bibl. Spenceriana,\ ol. ii. page 149-153, a 
 full account of it will be found. The discovery of this edition has 
 pulled down the worth of the Verona edit, of 1486 prodigiously. 
 
 + The Aldine Lucretius of 1500 is in truth a very scarce book; 
 rarely found in fine and perfect condition ; and, when so found, worth 
 hard upon 12Z. 12s. The Lucretius of Havereamp, published at 
 Leyden in 1725, 4to. 2 vols. still maintains a very stiff price in the 
 market ; but I had conceived Mr. Bohn to have put an unbendingly 
 stiff one upon it, at 61. 6s . — although it was in morocco, fine, and 
 bound by Staggemier — until I found Messrs. Arch giving8/. 10s. for 
 the same work at the sale of Dr. Heath’s library. It must be remem- 
 bered however that the latter was a war price. The disappointment 
 
Latin.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 637 
 
 session^ on his first appearance, in a perfect form. I 
 repeat it — a perfect copy of the Edit. Prin. of Ovid, 
 by Azzoguidi, 1471, folio, no where exists : in other 
 words, its existence is unknown.* I will allow both 
 the youthful and the elderly reader to become master 
 of the first Aldine of 1502 ; but in no wise to deceive 
 himself with the glittering and seductive hope of 
 obtaining it upon vellum.^ Let him however make 
 
 felt at Wakefield’s edition 1796, 4to. 3 vols. was in part the cause of 
 the high price of Havercamp’s j but the reimpression of Wakefield, 
 by Mr. Duncan of Glasgow, in 4 beautiful octavo volumes, 1813, is 
 in fact the edition which 1 would recommend to the generality of 
 readers — as containing the collation of the Brescia parent text, from 
 Lord Spencer’s copy. It may be had in all bindings, and on both large 
 and small paper. Messrs. Arch mark a copy of the large, “ calf, 
 elegant, marble leaves’’ at Jl. 7 s. The small is worth about 1 1. 18s. 
 in bds. Still I must recommend my young man to give the best 
 part of a sovereign for a well bound copy of Eichstadt's edition, Lips. 
 3 801, Svo. 
 
 * In this country, there are copies very nearly approaching perfec- 
 tion, in the libraries of the King, Earl Spencer, and the Right Hon. 
 T. Grenville. The Royal Library at Paris has it also in an imperfect 
 state. The only chance of perfecting either copy is, by purchasing 
 portions of such as may be found vendible — but where ; However 
 the rival edition, of the same date, (1471) by Sweynheym and Pan - 
 nartzj is of very great rarity j and Mr. Grenville could not obtain 
 possession of his copy of it (from the sale of the Cassano library, as 
 one of Lord Spencer’s duplicates) under the sum of 73 1. 105. Both 
 these bibliographical gems of classical literature are minutely de- 
 scribed in the Bibl. Spenceriana , vol. ii. p. 191-200. 
 
 f 1 apprehend that a perfect copy of the three volumes of the first 
 Aldine impression of 1502, 12mo. upon vellum, to be of excessively 
 rare occurrence j and indeed know of no other copy than that in the 
 library of Earl Spencer, which is extremely beautiful, and was ob- 
 tained from the Paris Collection : see no, 210 of the catalogue. The 
 second Aldine impression of 1515, 3 vols. 12mo. is perhaps of supe- 
 rior critical importance and of this , also, Renouard says there are 
 copies upon vellum. I never saw one. 
 
638 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [Latin, 
 
 sure of one of the Variorums ; and if he be particu- 
 larly attached to the pages of this truly beautiful and 
 original author, and be desirous of becoming master 
 of all the mythological learning which his pages in- 
 volve, I entreat him to lose no time in devoting his 
 days and his nights to the critical lucubrations con- 
 tained in the edition of Peter Burman , published in 
 1727, 4to. 4 vols.* 
 
 There is no author, with the exception of Terence, 
 of whom the history of the earlier editions involves so 
 many difficulties and apparent contradictions, as Ju- 
 venal ; and, with him, let me couple his inseparable 
 companion, Persius. The earliest printed text of the 
 former has been but recently introduced into this coun- 
 try — in the cabinet of Earl Spencer. It is that exe- 
 cuted in the smallest roman type of Ulric Han , and 
 questionless, although it be without date, before the 
 year 1470.^ The earliest Juvenal with a date, is that 
 
 * Of the Variorum impressions, perhaps there is not much choice 
 between that superintended by Cnippingius at Leyden, 16/0, 8vo. 
 3 vols., and that by Schrevelius at Amsterdam in 1683, 8vo. 3 vols 
 A good copy of either impression will cost the purchaser somewhere 
 about 31. 3s. Burman s Ovid was published at Amsterdam in 1727 > 
 4to. 4 vols. and a sound copy of it, in ordinary binding, may be worth 
 about 61. 16s. 6d. On large paper, it yet maintains something like 
 the sovereign pre-eminence among Dutch quarto Classics j and a 
 fine copy of it, in red morocco, is marked at 2 61. 5s. in the catalogue 
 of Messrs. Payne and Foss. 
 
 f This edition is fully described in the Catalogue of the Cassano 
 Library, p. 63, which forms the 7th. vol. to the Bibl. Spencer. : and 
 at this moment I recal with pleasure the gratification I experienced on 
 the first sight of this edition at Paris, in the year 1820, when in his 
 Lordship s possession — on his return from the purchase of the Duke 
 di Cassano’s library at Naples. Only two other copies of it are 
 known : one of these is in the Magliabecchi library, and the other in 
 that of Count D’Elci at Florence. But it must be remembered that 
 
POETRY. 
 
 63y 
 
 Latin.] 
 
 of 1470. Perhaps the parent text of Juvenal and 
 Persius, together, is that which issued from the 
 Sorbonne press in the large irregular roman type of 
 Gering , Crantz, and Friburger. Leaving the bibli- 
 ographical antiquary to disport in the pages of the 
 subjoined work,* I proceed at once to the recommen- 
 dation of the best critical edition — that of Ruperti — 
 published at Leipsic in 1801, in 2 vols. 8vo. premising, 
 that the best Aldine impression is of the date of 1501 — 
 and the best Variorum , that of Amst. 1684, 8vo.^ 
 
 Ulric Han printed an edition of Juvenal and Persius, (the preceding 
 being only Juvenal apart) in his larger roman type, in a 4to. form, 
 which is of excessive rarity, J and will be found described in the Bibl. 
 Spencer, vol. ii. p. 117-219. Whether originally these editions were 
 published at the same time, I will not take upon me to determine. 
 
 * Bibl. Spencer . vol. ii. page 115-127 : 219-225. A fac-simile of 
 Gering’ s type is given at p. 221 : and I should imagine that the edi- 
 tion from which it was taken could not have issued later than the 
 year 1470. All the Classics, published in the first Gering letter, are 
 of great rarity 3 and extremely difficult to procure in sound condition. 
 But, as above observed, the early impressions of Juvenal and Persius 
 involve cruces of discussion, which torture the patience of the most 
 diligent, and daunt the courage of the most intrepid. 
 
 f By all means catch firm hold of BupertVs edition, 1801, 8 vo. 
 2 vols. — especially as it is obtainable at the small cost of a couple of 
 sovereigns, even in comely attire. The fine or thick paper will cause 
 the purse to bleed more copiously — but it is joyous to see it, along 
 with the Horace by Mitscherlich, and the Propertius by Kinceul, 
 in the same condition, lining the visto-cabinet of Menalcas — from 
 whence, at a distance of some twenty-three miles, are seen the un- 
 dulating hills in the neighbourhood of Hurley Bottom, melting into 
 the horizon. Of the first Aldine edition of 1501, Lord Spencer pos- 
 sesses a beautiful copy upon vellum 3 and he recently had the op- 
 tion of a copy of it upon paper, uncut ! That paper copy, bound by 
 
 7 A copy of it was sold for 24/. 13s. 6d. at the sale of Lord Spencer’s duplicates, 
 from the Cassano Library. 
 
€540 
 
 1'OETRY. 
 
 [Latin. 
 
 Of Martial, the bibliographical account must be 
 very brief. The earlier impressions are all exceed- 
 ingly rare ; and whether any of the dateless ones were 
 published before the year 1471 — when appeared that 
 at Ferrara — must be left to future decision.* Aldus 
 opens the sixteenth century with his pretty duodecimo 
 tome of 1501 : and Scriverius the seventeenth, with 
 his desiderated volume of 1619 ; and as to future im- 
 pressions, do almost as you will ; but the Variorum 
 edition of 1670, and that of Smids of 1701, each in 
 8vo. will not be easily obtained, in fine condition, un- 
 der the sum of a sovereign.^ 
 
 Delightful Horace ! — how shall I describe thy 
 varied beauties, thy universal popularity, and yet, of 
 
 C. Lewis, yet still unshorn, now reposes in a cabinet within five miles 
 easy walk of that of Menalcas. Why will not Mr. Bohn, in the 
 possession of so many copies of the best Variorum of 1684, let us 
 have one of these copies below the sum of 18s. ) — Anti see, what a 
 thing it is to be “tallV * — as thus : “ very fine and tall copy in 
 
 vellum, ONE POUND FIVE SHILLINGS ! !” 
 
 * The contest for chronological priority between the earlier edi- 
 tions of Martial, lies between the quarto Ferrara of 1471 * the date- 
 less Vindelin de Spira , and the dateless edition of which Laver is 
 probably the printer. See these arduous points attempted in the Bibl. 
 Spencer, vol. ii. p. 169, &c. and vol. iv. p. 529. 
 
 f Again, be it permitted me to chronicle another beautiful vellum 
 Aldus of Lord Spencer, in the Martial of 1501 : and before I make 
 mention of the popular Scriverius of 1619, let me notice the very 
 beautiful copy of Raderus's edition, Mentz ; 1607> 4to. (reprinted in 
 1627 at the same place) which was superintended by Laurent Ra- 
 mirez de Prado, and of which the sweetly coated copy in the Talley- 
 rand collection, now graces the shelves of the splendid library of Mr. 
 Labouchere, near Chelmsford. That same gentleman hath also a 
 large paper Olivet's Cicero , in red morocco — but . . . not uncut; see 
 p. 585, ante. A fine copy of the little, thick, and inelegantly printed 
 edition, of which Scriverius was the editor, may run hard upon 11. 1 6s. 
 The thick paper copies of this edition are very rare. 
 
Latin.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 641 
 
 far more difficult execution, the countless editions of 
 thy Poems ! I will not hesitate an instant in urging 
 even the “ oldest” of my readers, if he feel any glow 
 of bibliomaniacal enthusiam lingering in the usually 
 torpid current of his veins, to let slip no opportunity 
 of enriching his cabinet with a choice copy of the 
 parent text of this Prince of lyrical Roman poets. ’Tis 
 of small dimensions, and will slide easily into an inner 
 coat pocket of six inches aperture.* And yet, there 
 is an edition of the bard, although published full four 
 years later, which is of infinitely greater rarity : yea, 
 perfectly unfindable — except .... in that choicest 
 of all classical cabinets, which will not require a very 
 shrewd guess to discover. This is of the date of 
 
 * It is singular enough, not only that all the books of the same 
 printer by whom the first Horace was executed, should be exceed- 
 ingly rare, and that the name of the printer has never been correctly 
 ascertained (unless it be Clement the BenedictinJ but that, of theeditio 
 princeps of Horace, there should, at this moment, be scarcely fewer 
 than six copies in our own country ! — while the Royal Library of 
 Paris has long been destitute of that most essential acquisition. Let 
 Mr. Van Praet only send over a commission worthy of “royalty,” 
 and he cannot fail to become the purchaser (jor his royal master) of 
 the copy speedily to be sold in the library of the late Sir M. M. Sykes, 
 Bart. That copy was once the property of Earl Spencer, and ceded 
 in exchange. The Duke di Cassano’s copy produced the sum of 
 49l. 7 s. : but I should say that a copy of first-rate condition was 
 worth sixty guineas. Nota bene : the idea of the pocket of “ six 
 inches aperture,” (above mentioned) was taken from a pocket of the 
 same dimensions, which usually belonged to the coats of the late 
 lamented Mr. James Boswell. That worthy Roxburgher, and Shaks- 
 peare enthusiast, used to boast of the Brobdignagian dimensions of his 
 inner coat pockets — and I have seen him slide quartos, of a tolerably 
 ample breadth, into them, with a facility, as if the book had been 
 printed for the pocket ! Would that the Owner of both pocket and 
 book were “ amongst us again” ? ! . . . “ Multis ille bonis'’ » . . but 
 peace to his Spirit ! 
 
£42 POETRY. [Latin. 
 
 1474, and was printed by Arnoldus de Bruxella at 
 Naples.* 
 
 I go at once to critical editions ; not without tanta- 
 lising the book-enthusiast with the hope of getting a 
 first Aldus upon vellum. Rest satisfied, in regard 
 to subsequent editions, with a good copy of the la- 
 bours of Bentley, Gesner , or Mitscherlich ; although 
 I am aware that many desperate efforts will be made 
 for an Elzevir or Variorum, including the labours of 
 Bond. But methinks I hear the devoted collector of 
 Horace say, “ may I not feast upon Fine P !* 
 
 * A true and particular account of this unique treasure will be 
 found at page 55 of the Catalogue of the Cassano Library. I will 
 here only add, that, singularly enough. Lord Spencer possesses a 
 unique impression of both Virgil and Horace : namely, the Brescia of 
 1473 (see Bill. Spencer, vol. ii. p. 472) of the former, and this 
 Naples impression of 1474 of the latter. 
 
 f It is high time to bring to a more intelligible level all the names, 
 and perhaps mysterious allusions, above introduced. First, for Aldine 
 impressions. They are of various dates ; but those of 1501 and 
 1509 should be held in chief estimation. Lord Spencer possesses a 
 lovely copy of the first upon vellum. The King and the Royal 
 Library at Munich have it also in the like condition. Enviable feli- 
 city ! The Elzevir of 1629 — divided iuto three parts, each with a 
 title, and two titles being at the beginning — has been long a great 
 favourite, although the edition of 1676 has more critical merit. I 
 remember being asked 21. 2s. for a dirty copy of this first Elzevir, at 
 Caen, in the shop of a Bouquiniste. The typographical arrangement 
 of it is unpleasant to many eyes. See Essai Bibliograph. sur les 
 Elzevirs, 1822, Svo. p. 61. Of the Variorums, that containing the 
 Scholia of Bond in 1670, Svo. is the preferable. Mr. Bohn marks the 
 Lamoignon copy of it, in red morocco, at 11. 14s. A neat, ordinary 
 copy, is worth about 18s. Of Bentley s editions, secure that printed 
 at Amsterdam in 1728, 4to. : worth about 21. 2s. : and yet Mr. Bohn 
 marks the previous Amst. edit, of 1713 at the same price. I see 
 however that it is a “ fine copy’' and new” — and moreover, “in 
 
 Hutch prize calf/' There is no resisting these “ prize’' bindings ! 
 
Lath*.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 645 
 
 I have now dispatched the first class of the Roman 
 Poets; and yet, in commencing the second class, I 
 know not whether my conscience ought not to re- 
 proach me for opening it with Lucan, who may be 
 thought worthy of a more exalted collocation. As to 
 the editions of his works, I am bound to mention the 
 princeps of 1469 ; not however so rare as the date- 
 less folio, printed in the character of the first Horace.* 
 If you have Oudendorp's , or Burmans edition, each 
 
 The best edition of Gesners Horace, is that printed at Glasgow, 1794, 
 Bvo. — again and again committed to press. Of all the editors of 
 Horace, few were more judicious and happy than Gesner ; but the 
 help of Zeunius in the Leipsic edition of 1788 — incorporated in that 
 of Glasgow — proved indeed a most admirable as well as acceptable 
 acquisition to the readers of this exquisite poet. Pine must be dis- 
 patched before Mitscherlich. How many lovely copies of this lovely 
 book — (Lond. 1733, 8vo. 2 vols.) studded with brilliant vignettes, 
 or engravings from the antique — and of which both text and orna- 
 ment are executed upon copper — have I handled ! . . and, generally, 
 in old morocco bindings, with the edges of the leaves as resplen- 
 deritly gilded as the rising sun ? I forbear to enumerate them — but 
 I have seen a very towering copy of this description sell for 61. 6s. 
 And why not ? Last, and infinitely greatest, in the modern corps of 
 Horatian critics, is Mitscherlich.* Buy his edition, published at 
 Leipsic in 1800, 8vo. 2 vols., and worth about a sovereign a volume 
 in liandsome binding. ’Twill furnish you with delectable annotation. 
 There are copies (common enough) on stout vellum paper : worth 
 SI. 3s. in russia. 
 
 * The last of the works printed by the immortal fraternity of 
 Sweynheym and Pannartz, in the year 1469, was the Lucan above 
 mentioned. A fine and large copy of it will be always worth 3W. 10s. 
 Why this book should have been sold for 25J., and the dateless folio, 
 in the types of the Horace, for 2 1. 2s. (bad as might have been the 
 copy !) is beyond all my powers of divination. Doubtless that folio, 
 fully described in the Bibl. Spencer, vol. ii. p. 139, is much the 
 scarcer book. 
 
 * His edition contains the Odes only. 
 
644 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [Latin. 
 
 in quarto— the former of the date of 1728, and the 
 latter of 1740— it may suffice for a knowledge of the 
 critical labours bestowed on the poet. There are 
 those however, who make something of a “pet” of 
 the Strawberry Hill quarto of 1760 ; and so let it pass 
 in the muster-roll of the editions of Lucan.* 
 
 Statius is a more varied, but not perhaps a more 
 popular author. I will have nothing to do with the 
 earlier editions of his works, in detached parts, f but 
 
 * I take the editions by Oudendorp and Burman to be worth 
 pretty much the same : from ll. 16s. to 91. 10s. each, according to 
 condition and binding. We have again the “ prize vellum” of Mr. 
 Bohn attached to a copy of Burman’s edition, marked at 91. And 
 here let me notice the best Variorum of 1658, 8vo. of which ele- 
 gantly printed book a fine copy may be worth 15s. : but there are 
 those, who raise, upon the shoulders of it, the reprint of 1689 — and 
 mark it at a more advanced price. Why (may I ask) has the French 
 Elzevirian Bibliographer omitted both editions ? The Strawberry 
 Hill edition of 1760, 4to. is, in truth, an elegantly printed, and in 
 many respects, a desirable volume — exceedingly alluring to perusal, 
 and, coated in morocco, a fit inmate of a classical drawing room — 
 such as Marcellus loves to “get up.” In this condition it may 
 be worth 91. 12s. 6d. 
 
 t Not fewer than twelve pages are devoted to the earlier editions 
 of Statius, in the Bibl. Spenceriana , vol. ii. p. 366, &c. I will not 
 attempt a camera lucida view of the knotty points involved in that 
 discussion : but, among the very earliest, with a date, is the Achilleis 
 of 1472, without indication of place, but in all probability at Venice 
 — and another edition of the same date, printed at Ferrara — both in 
 4to. The Silva were also printed in the same year, probably by 
 Vindelin de Spira, in folio — united with an edition of Catullus, Tibul- 
 lus, and Propertius, of that date, and of most especial rarity. The 
 Thebais and Achille'is were both printed together, without date, before 
 this year : nor was it till the year 1483 that the united works of 
 Statius first appeared, by Octavianus Scotus at Venice. I cannot put 
 my young man upon a “ quick scent” after these earlier and rarer 
 pieces of the detached works of the poet ; tho’ I may promise him 
 
Latin.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 645 
 
 recommend the wonderfully stuffed quarto volumes 
 which contain the critical labours of Barthius upon 
 this author, and which were published in 1664. 4to. ; 
 and, as I know the Variorum of 1671 to be a great 
 favourite, let it e’en have a place upon the shelf of the 
 young Man — but at a price, not exceeding 18s. “of 
 good and lawful money of Great Britain.” Before I 
 come to speak of Silius Italicus, or Claudian, I am most 
 anxious that the same “ Young Man” should peruse, 
 as I am sure he will do with pleasure and profit, the 
 pages of Dr. Coplestone’s Prcelectiones Academical, 
 1813, 8vo., in which many of the beauties of these 
 poets are brought forward with the most felicitous 
 effect ; and now and then (by such means) we alight 
 upon imagery, and upon diction, which equally charm 
 by its splendour and its harmony. 
 
 Of Silius Italicus, I am rather anxious that the 
 first edition— whether by Sweynheym and Pannartz, 
 or by Laver — each in 1471 — should be sedulously 
 
 “ to kill,” in a short time, if he be anxious to secure the respectable 
 folio of Octavianus Scotus — probably for 5 1. 5s. : but, in that case, I 
 must bargain for a morocco coating to it. 
 
 Of critical editions, that by Barthius is eminently, and in all 
 respects, the best : and, what is most consoling, it may be obtained 
 in three or four volumes, 4to. for about three guineas. It is a mine 
 of inexhaustible erudition. But for separate portions of Statius, 
 nothing can be better edited than the Silvce, by Markland, in 1728, 
 4to. A good copy of this volume may be obtained for 1 1. Is. As to 
 the Variorum of 1671, such are the mad feelings afloat about it, that, 
 in spite of being “ wormed in the margin” Messrs. Payne and Foss 
 mark a copy at 1 1. 11s. 6d . : and “ fine, in vellum,” at 1/. 16s. I 
 have a distinct remembrance of this “ fine, vellum” Statius, lying 
 upon its fore edge — back uppermost — in the splendid and well nigh 
 interminable row of “ Vellum Variorums' * which hath recently dove- 
 tailed the floor of the ff magasin” of Messrs. Payne and Foss. 
 
646 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [Latih. 
 
 sought after and resolutely contended for — especially 
 the latter ; if it be (which is of most uncommon occur- 
 rence) in sound and spacious condition.* In regard 
 to critical editions, seize upon that of Drakenborch , 
 1717, 4to. or Ruperti , 1795, 8vo. 2 vols. ; and if you 
 desiderate smaller tomes, look sharply out for the 
 duodecimo of 1792, 2 vols. published by the late Mr. 
 Faulder of Bond-street.f 
 
 The editio princeps of the Works of Claudian 
 appeared in 1482, at Vicenza, from the press of Jaco- 
 bus Dusensis — a scarce printer. A fine copy of this 
 rare and estimable volume may be worth from 12 to 
 20/. according to condition. The Rape of Proserpine 
 was published probably eight or ten years earlier, 
 from the press of Ketelaer and De Leempt.% For 
 
 * It is certainly somewhat deserving of remark, that, among all the 
 books of ancient Classics printed by Sweynheim and Pannartz, upon 
 vellum, none have been yet found of the Poets of Rome. We have 
 Aulus Gellius, Apuleius, Julius Caesar, Livy, and eke the venerable 
 Jerom, in a membranaceous attire; but a single Roman poet, in that 
 form, has never yet turned up. Would it were the Silius Italicus, by 
 Sweynheym and Pannartz, of 1471 ! — since it is a noble and a rare 
 volume — of which the Duke de la Valliere’s own copy was sold for 
 31 1. 105. as a duplicate of Earl Spencer, at the sale of the Cassano 
 Library. I learn that Mr. Inglis has one of the finest copies in the 
 world of this very estimable volume — but that, in the Spencer Li- 
 brary, will not be easily overcome for size and condition. The 
 Laver impression, without date, is of infinitely greater difficulty to 
 procure in a fine condition — and the Duke di Cassano’s copy of it, 
 retained by Earl Spencer, happened luckily to be one of the most 
 desirable books in his Grace’s collection. His Lordship’s previous 
 copy was in very indifferent condition. 
 
 t The edition of Silius Italicus, by Drakenborch, 171 7> 4to. must 
 doubtless be procured. On large paper it is rare, and worth 4 1. 4$. 
 on small paper, somewhere about half that sum. The edition of 
 1792 may be had in good condition for about 8 or 9 shillings, 
 
 t Why do I add a note here ? Only to remark that, all the clas- 
 
Latin.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 647 
 
 critical impressions, possess that by Gesner, (1759, 
 8vo. 2 vols.) or by Burman , 1760, 4 to. And yet, if a 
 small edition be sought after, procure the Elzevir of 
 16i>0, 12mo ; and especially the fine and larger-sized 
 copies. With this, may be joined the best Variorum 
 of 1665, 8 vo. containing the enlarged notes of Hein - 
 sius ; and of which a fine copy will with difficulty be 
 procured under the sum of 1/. 11s. 6c?.* 
 
 Proceed we to the notice of a more popular volume 
 than either of the preceding — namely, that which 
 contains the united labours of Catullus, Tibullus 
 and Propertius ; sweet and fascinating poets — but 
 not to be indiscriminately perused or recommended : 
 their tenderness frequently melting into warmth, and 
 their warmth as frequently bordering upon volup- 
 tuousness. The earlier and more precious editions 
 
 sical books, by Ketelaer and De Leempt, are of great rarity : but I 
 suspect them to be generally reprints of Roman or Venetian editions. 
 I could have said much, while upon the editions of Ovid, of an im- 
 pression of the De Arte Amatoria , printed by these gothic-lettered 
 artists — and preserved in the Public Library at Cambridge ; but that 
 must be reserved for the forthcoming edition of the “ Introduction 
 to the Classics.” 
 
 * First of Gesner' s edition. It is reasonable enough - } and may be 
 obtained in good condition for 14 or 16s. Messrs. Payne and Foss 
 mark it in russia at 1 1. 7 s. Secondly, for Burman s; — and here 
 comes Mr. Bohn, with his tempting “ prize vellum,” to coax us into 
 the purchase of a copy in this condition for 9,1. 9s. Be it so. But 
 this admirable edition is to be had on large paper, for about double 
 the sum — in a morocco coating. For the Elzevir of 1650, consult 
 the Essai , #c. sur les Editions des Elzevirs, p. 88. Mr. Bohn is again 
 tempting in his display of Elzevir Claudians. He has a fine vellum 
 copy of it at 16s. : a ci maroon-coloured morocco” copy (what is 
 maroon-coloured ?) at the same price: and a fine tall copy in olive- 
 coloured morocco (which every body understands) at 1 1. Is. Messrs. 
 Payne and Foss display two choice copies of the Variorum of 1665 : 
 of which the finest, in morocco, gilt leaves, is marked at 91. 5s. 
 
643 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [Latin. 
 
 are noticed below.* The best critical ones are those 
 published by the Volpi at Padua in 1737-57, 4to. in 
 4 vols. : books, as attractive from exterior splendour, 
 as they are admirable from interior worth. For sepa- 
 rate editions of Tibullus, that of Heyne , 1777 > 8vo. 
 reprinted in 1798, is infinitely the best.^ 
 
 * The editio princeps of the united works of Catullus, Tibullus 
 and Propertius , including the Silvce of Statius, was published in 
 1472, in a small folio, of which Vindelin de Spira was undoubtedly 
 the printer. It is a volume, as before observed “ of most excessive 
 rarity” — especially in large and fine condition throughout. Earl 
 Spencer was glad to purchase an excellent copy of it, at the sale of 
 the duplicates of the Duke of Devonshire’s library, for 40 1 . : his own 
 copy of it, from the Reviczky collection, being in a comparatively 
 inferior condition. Mr. Grenville possesses the finest copy which I 
 ever saw of the Catullus and Tibullus, alone — from the duplicates of 
 the Public Library at Strasbourg. In the Cracherode Collection 
 there is a copy of it (and I believe the only one known) upon vel- 
 lum ; but it is far indeed from being a very covetable volume. A 
 full and particular account of this beautiful and rare book will be 
 found in the Bibl. Spencer, vol. i. p. 294-7. The second edition of 
 the works of these Authors, united, is that of John de Colonia, 1475 j 
 also of rare occurrence, and probably worth 10 or 12 sovereigns. 
 Of the Catullus alone, a very rare edition was published by Corallus 
 at Parma, in 1473, folio j and of the same date, and by the same 
 printer, appeared the Silva of Statius. Fine copies of these precious 
 books are in the Public Library at Cambridge. 
 
 * For critical editions, doubtless those by the Volpi, are, gene- 
 rally speaking, the best j and whoever reads the preface to the Ca- 
 tullus, in the edition above specified, will see how ardently, from 
 early youth, the elder of the Volpi applied himself to the study of 
 these his beloved authors. It is not long since I saw, lying upon 
 the counter of Messrs. Payne and Foss, a glorious set of these four 
 quarto tomes, on large paper, marked at the respectable price of 
 12Z. 12s. But, for hard fagging at these authors, do not forget the 
 sound and sensible stuff to be found in the Paris folio of 1604, with 
 commentaries and notes out of number. There are splendid copies 
 of this book on large paper ; and there is one of this sort at Althorp 
 
Latin.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 649 
 
 And here with a brief notice of Valerius Flaccus/* 
 I bid adieu to Latin poetry : hard-hearted or capri- 
 cious as it may seem, to pass over the names of Manx - 
 lius and others. But these pages are becoming 
 
 delicately ruled with red lines, in red morocco binding. Ernesti 
 ( Fabric . Bibl. Lat. vol. i. page 93) is minute in the mention of the 
 Commentators whose labours are to be found here. In ordinary con- 
 dition, this volume is worth 1 1. Is. Before I speak of Heyne’s 
 edition of Tibullus , let me notice a very rare and early impression of 
 that poet, separately published, in a 4to. form, having twenty-seven 
 or twenty-eight lines in the fuller pages — without numerals, signa- 
 tures, or catchwords, and containing thirty-six leaves in the whole. 
 The & is frequently put at the end of a verse, as tenfy, hab&. The 
 capitals are thin and tall. A copy of this rare, and probably unde- 
 scribed edition, is in the collection of Mr. Standish — formerly belong- 
 ing to Count Melzi. As to critical editions, hug with unceasing 
 fondness that of Heyne — above mentioned — and obtainable for some 
 dozen shillings. But if you sigh for a recherche set of these popular 
 writers, strive to possess a thick paper copy of them, uniting the edi- 
 torial labours of Doering , Heyne , and Kuinoel , (the latter, for Pro- 
 pertius) published in 1798-1805, 8vo. 4 vols. : — in ordinary condi- 
 tion for 31. 135. 6d. — in the condition before mentioned, for — perhaps 
 12 or 14 sovereigns ! 
 
 * The Editio Princeps of this Author was put forth by Rugerius 
 and Bertochus in 1474, folio j and in fine condition is a rare book. 
 A copy of this kind, from the Cassano Collection, produced the sum 
 of 25 1. 105. The best critical editions are those by Burman and 
 Harles j the former, in 1724, 4to. is worth 2 1 . — if it be in Mr. Bohn’s 
 “ prize vellum:” the latter, in 1781, 8vo. is worth 16 or 185. in 
 ordinary binding. Of Manilius, I would however willingly say a 
 little word. It so happens that the same printers, who first pub- 
 lished the preceding authors, were also the publishers of Manilius, 
 and in the same year. See the Bibl. Spencer, vol. ii. p. 162-6 : but, 
 from a recent consideration of the subject, I incline to the belief that 
 the Nuremberg dateless edition in 4to. is the Edit. Prin. of this 
 author. Either impression, in fine condition, is worth 18Z. I85. For 
 a critical edition of Manilius, you cannot be satisfied with any thing 
 short of that of Bentley, 1739, quarto, worth about 1/. 15. in good 
 condition and binding. 
 
650 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [Latin. 
 
 crowded and extended to excess — and what is to 
 become of our beloved English Poetry ? Yet a 
 little patience— for as yEschylus, Sophocles, and Euri- 
 pides have brought up the rear of Greek Poetry, why 
 should not the dramatists Plautus and Terence 
 bring up that of the Roman poetry? The editio pin- 
 ceps of Plautus is that of 1472, printed by Vindelin de 
 Spira ; the best editions, are those of the Dauphin , 
 Gronovius , and Ernesti. See the subjoined note.* 
 Of Terence the parent text is that of Mentelin , with- 
 out date. The best editions, are those of Westerho - 
 vius , Bentley and Zeunius : while the V i riorum of 
 1686, and a fine copy of Sandbys classically embel- 
 lished edition may with equal propriety find its way 
 into the cabinet of the tasteful. The subjoined note 
 affords some idea of the prices of these respective edi- 
 tions.'f- 
 
 * Perhaps the most beautiful known copies of the first edition of 
 Plautus are those belonging to the Rt. Hon. T. Grenville and Mr. A. 
 A. Renouard. But, bright and beautiful as is the latter copy, and 
 although, as its possessor justly remarks, “ one would think it had 
 been kept in a box, ever since it left the printer’s office,” (Bibl. d'un 
 Amateur , vol. ii. page 308) yet I am not sure whether Mr. Grenville’s 
 copy be not superior in size. It is at any rate bound (in Venetian 
 morocco by C. Lewis) in much better taste. Why should not there 
 be one copy of this book (as of the Catullus, Tibullus, and Proper- 
 tius of 1472) upon vellum ? A good copy of the Delphin Plautus, 
 1679, 4to. is worth 3 1. 3s. of the Variorum , including the notes of 
 Gronovius , 1684, 8vo. 2 vols. IZ. 5s. : of Ernesti, with the notes of 
 Gronovius, 1760, 8vo. 2 vols. 1Z. 4s. : but a struggle should be made 
 to secure the copy of Barbou's beautiful impression, 1759, 12mo. 
 3 vols., coated in red morocco, which glitters in the catalogue of 
 Messrs. Payne and Eoss, and is marked by them 2Z. 2s. 
 
 t A sound and desirable copy of the Mentelin impression of Te- 
 rence was sold at the sale of Sir Mark Sykes’s library for the mode- 
 rate sum of 47 Z. 5s. Rare as is this book, and absolutely essential as 
 
Latin.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 651 
 
 it is to render the set of early Terences complete, it is not so rare as 
 the second impression by Gering j of which the only known copy in 
 this country is in the library of Earl Spencer. They have it not at 
 Paris. I may add that, with the exception of the early editions of 
 Terence in the library of Count D’Elci at Florence, the collection of 
 them by Lord Spencer is unrivalled. Perhaps not one of the ancient 
 Classics involve so many Cruces of bibliographical discussion. For 
 the best critical editions, a fine copy of Westerhovius's, 17 26, 4to. 
 two vols. is worth 31. 35.: of Bentley's , 1727 j 4to. 1/. 105. ; of Zew- 
 nius, 1774, 8vo. 2 vols. 1/. 5 5.5 of the Variorum of 1686, 12. Is.: 
 gnd of Sandby , 1751, Svo. in fine condition, 12. Is. 
 
[ 652 ] 
 
 ENGLISH POETRY. 
 
 “ Beloved” indeed is the Poetry of our own 
 Country, to thorough-bred and thoroughly patriotic 
 Bibliomaniacs : — and, at no period, perhaps, has a 
 more enthusiastic attachment been shewn towards it 
 than at present. I will not presume indeed to say, 
 that such prices have been recently given, as were 
 given twelve years ago for the poetical rarities from 
 the JtiBrarp ;* and, what is bolder to ad- 
 
 * This may be true enough r but it is scarcely four years since the 
 library of James Bindley, Esq. — the Leontes of the Bibliographical 
 Decameron — was disposed of; and, as a whetter of the appetite, or, 
 at any rate, as a piquante bonne bouche. I subjoin a few poetical 
 rarities and whimsicalities, to prove that the spirit is at least far 
 from being extinct : 
 
 Nos. PARTI. £. s. d. 
 
 98 S. Austin’s Naps upon Parnassus, Poems, very scarce , 
 
 1 658, 8vo. . • . .350 
 
 743 Nicolas Breton’s Floorish upon Fancie, and Pleasant 
 
 Toyes of an Idle Head, in Verse, extremely 
 
 rare. Imprinted by Johnes, 1577* 4to. . 42 0 O 
 
 744 Bancroft’s Two Bookes of Epigrammes and Epitaphs, 
 
 very scarce , 1639, . . . 4 17 O 
 
 745 Bankes Bay Horse in a Trance, a discourse set downe 
 
 in a merry dialogue, between Bankes and his beast : 
 anatomizing some abuses and bad trickes of this age, 
 with the wood cut , extremely rare, 1595, 4to. 13 15 O 
 752 Baldwin’s Funeralles of King Edward the Sixt, a 
 Poem, very rare, with head of Edward VI. Im- 
 printed by Marshe, 1560, 4to. . 18 18 0 
 
 1192 Crompton’s Poems, with four ounces of oyl of Epi- 
 grams, 1657* 8 vo. . . 11 li 
 
 0 
 
POETRY. 
 
 65 3 
 
 English.] 
 
 vance, such prices ought not to be given — for merely 
 rare, out of the way, and uninteresting productions. 
 
 1193 Crompton’s Pierides or the Muses Mount, portrait, £. s. d. 
 
 1658, 8vo. . . . . . 12 15 0 
 
 1 767 Davison’s Poetical Rapsodie, third edition, very 
 
 rare, 1611, 8vo. . . . 6 16 6 
 
 1776 John Davis and C. Marlow’s Epigrams and Elegies, 
 
 very scarce , printed at Middleborugh , 8vo. . 8 18 6 
 
 1838 Copley’s Fig for Fortune, a Poem, very rare, 
 
 1596, 4to. . . . . 7 17 6 
 
 2198 Roger Cotton’s Armor of Proofe, brought from the 
 
 Tower of David to fight against the Spannyardes, 
 a poem, rare, 1596, 4to. . . . . 10 10 0 
 
 2199 Spirituall Song, or Historicall Dis- 
 
 course from the commencement of the world until 
 this time, a very scarce poem, 1596, 4to. . .850 
 
 2203 Chute’s Beawtie Dishonoured, written under the 
 
 title of Shore’s Wife, a poem, 1593, 4to. . . 34 13 0 
 
 Part II. 
 
 450 J. Heath’s Two Centuries of Epigrammes, rare, 
 
 1610, 8vo. . . . .990 
 
 478 Herbert’s Dick and Robin, with Songs, 1641, and 
 
 other old tracts, 8vo. . . . . 10 5 0 
 
 485 Harmony of the Muses, a collection of Poems, very 
 
 scarce, 1654, 8vo. . . . .10 0 0 
 
 535 Patrick Hannay’s Nightingale, Sheretine’s Happy 
 Husband, and other Poems, frontispiece, including 
 the rare portrait of the Author, and a portrait of 
 Anne of Denmark, by Crispin de Pass, inserted, 
 extremely rare, 1622, 8vo.* . . 35 14 0 
 
 561 Dolarny’s Primerose, or the Passionate Hermit, 
 wherein is expressed the lively Passions of Zeal 
 and Love, a Poem, extremely rare, 1606, 4to. 26 10 0 
 969 Jordan’s Jewels of Ingenuity set in a Coronet of 
 
 Poetry, 8vo .10150 
 
 * This identical copy was purchased by Sir M. M. Sykes, and was sold at tlie 
 sale of Sir Mark’s library in 1824, for 42/. The Rev. Mr. Rice was, I believe, the 
 purchaser. 
 
654 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English* 
 
 And here— before I come to the bibliographical notice 
 of our legitimate standard poets — from Chaucer to 
 
 970 Jordan’s Claraphil and Clarinda in a Forest of Fan- s. d. 
 
 cies, Poems, 8vo. . . .470 
 
 971 Joseph’s Royal Arbor of Loyal Poesie, 3 leaves 
 
 Manuscript , 8vo. . . . .21/0 
 
 1088 Johnsoni Schediasmata Poetica, scarce. This volume 
 contains Epigrams on. Gamaliel Ratsey* (men- 
 tioned by Ben Jonson,) on Jane Shore, &c. Land, 
 
 1615, 8vo. . . . . 10 0 0 
 
 1 105 Kendall’s Flowers of Epigrammes, one leaf in the 
 
 Middle MS. very scarce, 1577* 8V0. . . * 16 0 O 
 
 1175 Pleasaunt Historic of Lazarillo de Tormes, rare. 
 
 Steevens’s copy, who has written in it that he never 
 saw another, 1586, 8vo. . . 14 0 0 
 
 1191 The True effigies of our most illustrious Soveraigne 
 King Charles, Queene Mary, and the rest of the 
 Royall Progenie, with their genealogies expressed 
 in prose and Terse. Portraits by Hollar , Vaughan, 
 
 8fC. A volume of extraordinary rarity, 1641, 4to. 30 9 0 
 
 1297 Lovelace’s Lucasta, with the scarce portrait of the 
 
 author and the plate, 1660, 8vo. . . 11 11 O 
 
 1305 Lewicke’s most wonderful and pleasaunt History of 
 Titus and Gisippus, a poem, extremely rare. 
 
 Imprinted by Racket , 1562, 8vo. . . 24 13 6 
 
 1648 Robert Greene’s Menareon, Camillas alarum to 
 
 slumbering Euphues, 1589, 4to. . . 18 18 O 
 
 1798 Jervis Markham’s most honourable Tragedie of Sir 
 
 Richard Grinvile, 1595, 8vo. . . . 40 19 O 
 
 1800 T. M. Micro-cynicon, Sixe Snarling Satyres, a poem, 
 
 very rare. The Author is unknown, 1599, 8 vo. 24 O O 
 1863 Heywood’s True Discourse of the two Infamous Up- 
 start Prophets, Richard Farnham and John Bull, 
 frontispiece , 1636. New Year’s Gift for the Welsh 
 Itinerants, or hue and cry after Powell, 1654. 
 
 Work for none but angells and men, rare, with 
 
 very curious plates, 1650, 4to. . . 6 12 6 
 
 Lord Spencer possesses the only known copy of the achievements of Gamaliel 
 Ratsey ; printed in 1607, 4to. Mr. Haslewood has supplied his budget of rarities 
 with many extracts from it. 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 655 
 
 Cowper — be it permitted me say, that, however 
 some of my best friends, (including several of the 
 
 1869 Hunnis’s Hyve Full of Hunnye, contayning the First £. s. d. 
 Booke of Moses called Genesis turned into English 
 Meetre. Excessively, rare, imprinted by Marsh, 
 
 1578, 4 to. . . . . 18 18 0 
 
 1875 Hie Mulier, a Medicine to cure the Masculine Femi- 
 nines, frontispiece. — Muld Sacke or Apology of 
 Hie Mulier, frontispiece , 1620. Haec Vir, or the 
 Womanish Man , frontispiece, 4to. . .2100 
 
 2018 Newman’s Pleasures Vision with Deserts Complaint, 
 with a dialogue of a Woman’s Properties. These 
 poems are extremely rare, 1619, 8vo. . . 21 10 6 
 
 2073 Stephen Hawes Historic of Graunde Amoure and la 
 
 belle Pucelle called the Pastime of Pleasure, a 
 poem, the first five leaves supplied by Manuscript, 
 excessively rare, imprinted by Waylande, 1554. 40 19 0 
 
 2074 Boke called the Temple of Glasse, a 
 
 poem, extremely rare, imprinted by Berthelet, 4to. 46 4 0 
 
 2294 Jo. Jonson’s Academy of Love, frontispiece, by 
 
 Hollar , 1641, 4to. . , . 15 0 0 
 
 2337 Knave of Clubs, a poem by Rowland, 1611. More 
 Knaves yet, the Knaves or Spades and Diamonds, 
 a poem by Rowlands. Knave of Hearts, 1612, 4to. 
 
 Each of these tracts is very scarce, and they 
 are very rarely indeed found together . . 35 3 6 
 
 25 1 5 Lawrence’s Arnalte and Lucenda, or the Melancholy 
 
 Knight, a poem, very scarce, 1639, 4to. 16 16 O 
 
 Since the death of Mr. Bindley, the most distinguished library dis- 
 posed of by public auction — (with the exception of that of Mr. Perry) 
 was that of the late George Nassau, Esq. ; the produce amounting, 
 in the whole, to the sum of 8500 l. English History, Topography, 
 and Poetry, were the more conspicuous features of this Collection ; 
 and it was marvellous to behold, how, during its dispersion, Mr. 
 Thorpe, the renowned book-purchasing bibliopolist, “ flamed in the 
 van, or hung upon the rear — ”how he alarmed the timid, goaded on 
 the resolute, trampled to dust the feeble, and scattered far and wide 
 the desultory and doubtful. Scarcely a rare or choice volume, but 
 what was transfixed with, his spear. The young looked on with amaze- 
 
656 POETRY. [English. 
 
 blackest lettered Members of the JSotf&Utgfje €tu6) 
 may rise up in array against me — 
 
 . . . . . and, fierce with grasped arms. 
 
 Clash on their sounding shields the din of war, 
 
 at the temerity of the assertion — yet I will be bold to 
 affirm, that there is a class of old English Poetry 
 entirely worthless in itself and its results. 
 
 As thus : — who shall defend the Castell of Labour ? 
 the Prophecy of Merlin P Apollyn of Tyre P Myrrour 
 of the Church P Lover and a Jay P Spectacle of a 
 Lover P Complaint of a Lover s Life P The Dolorous 
 Lover P Conaissance d' Amour P — yea, even the Four 
 Leaves of Trewe Love ?— with their precious concomi- 
 tants, Too soon Married P Too late Married P and 
 
 ment, and the old contemplated with dread. And see the fruits, the 
 spoil, arising from all this havoc and discomfiture ! In the Second 
 part of his Catalogue, 1824, at pp. 71, 72, 132, we have elaborate 
 articles, from this very Collection, entitled “ Curious and Scarce 
 Poems,” — being 42 quarto tracts, “ all fine copies , very neatly inlaid , 
 uniform in size , forming a most desirable volume , very neatly bound , 
 16/. 16s. : with the addition, that several of the tracts would be cheap 
 at 1 1. Is. each. Again, Curious and Scarce Poetry — 22 tracts 
 of a similar size, <( forming a most interesting and curious volume of 
 scarce poetical tracts , neatly inlaid , #c. russia extra , 25/. Once more: 
 t( Songs, Garlands, Stories, &c. 5/. 15 s. 6d. “ All these tracts 
 
 came from the curious collection of the late Hon. G. Nassau.” But 
 these are only as drops in the ocean. And what follows ? Mr. Thorpe 
 himself imbibes the very tone or spirit of bibliomaniacal inspiration : 
 for in his description of some copper-plate portraits of King Charles 
 and Queen Mary, “ with the rest of the royal progeny”— engraved by 
 Hollar and others— and expressed in prose and verse,” see p. 654 
 
 he declares it to be “ one of the most bewitching volumes he ever 
 beheld.” Ha, Mr. Thorpe ! I suspect you to be deeply read in Reginald 
 Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft 1584 ! ? for what are your words 
 in cataloguing this book (No. 8957 ?) You call it “ the most curious 
 book on the subject”— and mark it at 2/. 2s. accordingly. 
 
English] POETRY. 657 
 
 Evil Married PH* What is there of tender sentiment, 
 
 * A little patience, and we will encounter and master the above 
 formidable cohort of black-letter troops. Informing the reader that 
 I gather my weapons from the armoury afforded in the second volume 
 of the recent edition of our Typographical Antiquities , I proceed to the 
 attack of the Castell of Labour , printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 
 1506, 4to. and of which only one copy (I believe) is known ; and that 
 is in the public library at Cambridge. The beginning is appallingly 
 dull : 
 
 Ye mortall People that desyre to obtayne 
 Eternall blysse by your Labour dylygent 
 With mortall Ryches subdue you to payne 
 To rede this Treatise to the ryght Entent. 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 And yet, were another copy to turn up, I know that Clearchus 
 would give a commission of 35 guineas to possess it, ee Man never 
 is, but always to be blest.” The Prophecy e of Merlin , printed by 
 the same printer in 1510, 4to. is of a more redeeming cast of cha- 
 racter j and I cheerfully refer my “ young man” to the pages of the 
 Censura Litteraria , (vol. v. p. 248) for an interesting account of it 
 by Mr. Parke. For Kynge Apollyn of Thy re , 1510, 4to. I must con- 
 tent myself with a reference to Warton, vol. ii. p. 31. If any man 
 could extract light from darkness (“ ex fumo dare lucem”) it was 
 Warton. The copy of it in the Roxburghe Collection was sold for 
 105k For the Myrrour of the Churche , 1521, 4to. fain would I 
 speak something in commendation ! but peruse what is said hereon, 
 in vol. ii. p. 248, of the work above referred to, and declare if it be 
 possible to say any thing in commendation. It is doubtless, however, 
 a most rare volume : so much so, that at this moment I am not able 
 to mention the possessor of a copy. 
 
 A word now for the amatory morceaux above specified. The 
 Contraverse betwene a Lover and a Jaye, is, like all the other amatory 
 effusions about to be mentioned, (unless otherwise expressed) without 
 date ; and I ought to be the last to disparage it, since it was reprinted 
 by me for the Roxburghe Club. The opening of it is pretty. 
 
 In an arbere Syngynge in fere 
 
 Late as I were With notes clere 
 
 The foules to here They made good chere 
 
 Was myn entente On bowes bente. 
 
 The copy of it in the Roxburghe library, now in that of the Duke 
 
 u u 
 
POETRY. 
 
 65S 
 
 [English. 
 
 delicate passion, honorable principle, bold adventure, 
 and heroic achievement, in either, or the whole of 
 
 of Devonshire, produced the sum of 39/. Mr. Heber has another 
 copv. The Spectacle of Loren , 4to. (like all the preceding, printed 
 bv Wvnkvn de Worde) produced 43/. at the same sale. The extracts 
 from it, at vol. ii. p. S3 7, from the authority before quoted, were 
 taken from another copy, in the possession of Mr. Heber. The flame 
 of Loue, if estimated by the increase of price, seemed to burn with a 
 brighter lustre among the competitors for these amatory bijoux: 
 since the Conplaynte of a Lovers Lyfe (also reprinted by me for the 
 Roxburghe Club) produced the astounding sum of 5S/. at the Rox- 
 burghe sale, and his Grace the Duke of Devonshire was the pur- 
 chaser. 
 
 The Chauce of the Dolorous Lover, by Master Crystofer Goodicyn, 
 1550, 4to. was unknown, like most of the foregoing pieces, to Ritson ; 
 who contents himself with a reference to Warton, and who, in turn, 
 pronounces it to be “ a lamentable story without pathos.” Mr. 
 Heher's richly furnished library may boast of a copy of it. A brief 
 specimen or two will be found in the fo rementioned authority. The 
 following impassioned, or high-flown, description of the object of the 
 Lover's attachment, will produce a smile. 
 
 O mbycunde ruby and perle most arrent, 
 
 O eyloffer gentyll and svete flcnrre dehrce 
 O daynt« dyamounde and moos: resplendent 
 O doulcet blossome of a full grete pryce- 
 
 From Wvnkvn de Worde let us go one moment to Pynson ; whose 
 Conusaunct (T Amours, 4to. without date, produced the stiff sum of 
 54/. at the sale of the Roxburghe Library. It was purchased by 
 Sir M. M. Sykes, but at the sale of his library it produced only half 
 that sum. I have before said ( T ypog. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 566) that ft I 
 have read a great part of this poem with pleasure.’’ Why then is it 
 here capriciously chronicled among the duller effusions of our early 
 Muse r It was from the Roxburghe copy (and I know of no other) 
 that my acquaintance with this poem was derived, upwards of twelve 
 years ago. 
 
 The Four leaves of the True Love was printed by W. de Worde 
 without date } and, till very lately, Mr. Heber s copy was the only 
 one known. Some pleasaunt allusions are made to this copy in the 
 BiiAiog. Decameron , voL ii. p. 439. About two years ago, another 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 6*59 
 
 these performances, collectively? Will Mr. Joseph 
 Haslewood, backed by his ten regiments of heavy 
 
 copy of this very rare book turned up, and the Rev. Mr. Rice, whose 
 heroic achievements in the Bibliomania are recorded in the work just 
 referred to, (vol. iii. pp. 56, 59) became its purchaser. There are 
 yet other performances of a similar complexion — of which the Heart 
 throughe perced with lokying of the eye , 4to. no date, may be con- 
 sidered as one of the rarest. A copy of it was sold at the Roxburghe 
 Sale for 3 7k 16s. To chase this amatory theme all through the six- 
 teenth century, would be alike unprofitable and impracticable , but, 
 towards the conclusion of it, appeared a work under the com- 
 forting title of Ould facioned Loue, or Loue of the ould facion : by 
 T. G. Gent. London, 1599, 8 vo/’ a copy of which is in the Capel 
 Closet in the library of Trinity College Cambridge. In the follow- 
 ing year, (of which a copy is in the same cabinet) appeared The 
 Remedie of Loue, 1600. Who was that gentleman T. G.? Ritson 
 knew him not. Marriage follows Love j and hereafter follows, 
 A complaynt of them that be too soone maryed, by W. de. Worde, 4to. 
 no date. In Mr. Heber’s very wonderful collection. To balance 
 this matrimonial complaint, is another <f Of them that ben too late 
 marryed , 4to. printed by the same, and in the same marvellous col- 
 lection. Old Herbert scarcely knew one single metrical tract here 
 mentioned : of such extraordinary rarity may they be considered. 
 But this is not all the misery of wedlock recorded in our early poeti- 
 cal strains. Listen to “ The Payne and Sorowe of Evill Maryage ,” 
 4to. printed by the same, without date. I have before said that I 
 endeavoured, but without success, to be amused or gratified by this 
 poem 5 “ the shortness of which is not compensated by its sweet- 
 ness.” Typ. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 3S7- From whose copy was that notice 
 taken ? But, let us remember, to balance all these matrimonial 
 miseries, there are The Fyftene Joyes of Maryage printed by the 
 same popular typographical artist in 1509, 4to. of which, again, Mr. 
 Heber is the enviable possessor of a copy — and from which the pleas- 
 ing extract (especially the first stanza) was given in the Typog. Antiq. 
 vol. ii. p. 151. I know of no other copy, and Herbert was altoge- 
 ther ignorant of it. May its enviable possessor not only long retain 
 this poetical treasure, but quickly experience the “ fifteen joys” re- 
 corded in it ! And thus much for Love and Matrimony $ although 
 I could say somewhat of an inestimable volume of black letter 
 
6‘60 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 dragoons, or by bis four regiments of light cavalry, 
 pretend to tell me, or the public, that he ever caught 
 one inspiring glow, or emotion, from the perusal of 
 half a dozen lines (I had well nigh said half a dozen 
 pages) of these exquisitely rare volumes of sooty com- 
 plexion. 
 
 On the other hand, far be it from me to raise a 
 rebellious voice against other volumes, of similar 
 rarity and complexion, of which the titles of a few only 
 need be mentioned : — As thus — The Nigromansir 
 hy Skelton , Parliament of Divels , Temple of Glass , 
 Castle of Pleasure, Treatise of a Gallant , Titus and 
 Gesyppus .* Against these, neither my voice nor hands 
 
 poetry, printed by obr early typographical wights, (the Coplands in 
 the number) “ for and against” the fair sex, in the collection of the 
 same distinguished Collector. And what “ a bold stroke” was a- 
 chieved in the acquisition of it ! Inconceivable are the comforts and 
 conveniences of packet boats and mail coaches. 
 
 * I now come to the specification of the per contra creditor , in 
 the notice of the volumes whose titles are above mentioned ; and yet, 
 I am not sure whether a few of the following may not be considered 
 as sombre and as dull as several which have preceded them. The 
 <c pictures” may be more like to each other than those shewn by 
 Hamlet to his mother. As to Skelton's Nigromansir, 1504, 4to. — 
 its existence (of this date) may be reasonable doubted; and yet Tom 
 Warton says that Collins the poet shewed him this piece at Chi- 
 cester, not many months before his death : pointing it out as a very 
 rare and valuable curiosity.” Hist, of Engl. Poetry ; vol. iii. p. 185. 
 Edit. 1824, 8vo. Not so the very rare and early edition of his Re- 
 plication agaynst certayne yong Scoters, printed by Pynson, without 
 date, 4to. which I take to be of nearly as early a date. Mr. Heber 
 possesses the only copy of this latter which I ever saw — see the 
 Typog. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 119; p. 539, &c. Skelton’s works, in the 
 sixteenth century, have been always considered as scarce and dear. 
 Sir M. Sykes bled profusely in his purchases of this kind at the sale 
 of the Roxburghe library ; but I know of few more genuine and 
 desirable copies of some of Skelton’s pieces, than those tiny duode- 
 
ENGLISH.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 661 
 
 shall ever be raised : and much less against A Mery 
 Gest of Robin Hood, Hycke Scorner, Cross me Spede , 
 
 cimos in the extraordinary library of Ham House, on the banks of 
 the Thames ; of which, more anon. And yet, where is the happiest 
 of mortals, who possesses Skelton’s Garland or Chapelet of Laurel , 
 printed by R. Fakes in 1523, 4to. now in the Royal Library?* The 
 opening of the Parliament of Deuylles, printed by Wynkyn de Worde 
 in 1509, 4to. is shuddering : 
 
 As Mary was grette with Gabryell 
 
 And had conceyued and borne a Chylde 
 
 All the Deuylles of the Erthe, of the Ayre and of Hell 
 
 Helde theyr Parlyament of that Mayde mylde. 
 
 See the Typog. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 143 ; which account is taken from 
 the only known copy of the work in the public library at Cambridge. 
 A copy of this work, without date, and printed by Richard Fakes, 
 (wholly undescribed) is in the extraordinary library at Ham House. 
 It is in 4to., printed on eight leaves, on signatures A. B. C. There is 
 a tremendous group of devils, behind a portcullis, or some iron bars 
 above the commencement of the first page of the text : and this 
 marvellous treasure is bound up with a book of scarcely less rarity 
 and price, entitled The boke of Hawkynge, Huntynge, and Fysshynge, 
 printed without date by W. de Worde. What will Mr. Haslewood say 
 to all this ? Do I hear him giving orders to “ saddle white Surrey 
 for the road to-morrow ? ! 
 
 The Temple of Glass was first printed by Caxton in 4 to. containing 
 33 leaves. It is among Bishop More’s books in the public library at 
 Cambridge. It was reprinted by Wynkyn de Worde , and afterwards 
 by Thomas Berthelet. A copy of the original was never, to my 
 knowledge, submitted for sale : and no other copy than that just 
 mentioned is known.t Wynkyn de Worde’s reprint was sold for 
 
 * See the Typog. Antiq. vol. iii. p. 357, and the British Bibliographer , vol. iv. 
 p. 389. I believe no other copy is known; and yet I heard it once asserted that 
 it existed upon vellum in Tom Martin’s (of Palgrave) Library. If so, it never 
 came to the hammer. 
 
 t This poem must not be confounded with another (supposed) poem called the 
 Templeof Bras : which, in fact has no existence under such title. On the 17th. 
 leaf of Caxton’s impression of the Parliament of Birds , we read thus : 
 
 Explicit the temple of bras 
 
662 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 Life of St. Werberg , Cock Lords Bote , Syr Degore, 
 or John Splinters Testament ! ! ! And, as for auncient 
 
 28 1. 7 s. at the sale of the Roxburghe Library. Of Berthelet’s the 
 only copy I know is that in the Bodleian Library. Lydgate was 
 the author of this piece of poetry. Does that say much for its live- 
 liness?* See Warton, vol. ii. p. 211. The Castle of Pleasure is 
 among the tip-top rarities of Wynkyn de Worde’s press. The account 
 of it in the Typog. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 37L was taken from the copy in 
 the Roxburghe collection, which copy was purchased by Sir Mark 
 M. Sykes for 651. but produced only half that sum 4 t the Sale of Sir 
 Mark’s library. The title of this rare piece of poetry exhibits a wood 
 cut of a man, a woman, and a castle : — with a label on which we 
 read Desire, Beaute, Pleasure. The argument is this. “ The 
 conveyance of a Dream, how desire went to the Castle of Pleasure, 
 wherein was the garden of Affection, inhabited by Beauty, to whom 
 he amorously expressed his love ; upon the which supplication rose 
 great strife, disputation, and argument between Pity and Disdain.” 
 The specimen selected, in the work just referred to, is doubtless 
 “ very pleasing.” The two last verses of the first Eclogue of Virgil 
 are thus prettily converted into our mother tongue. 
 
 Seynge the shadows fall from the hilles in the west 
 Eclie byrdd vnder houghe drew£ nye to theyr nest 
 The chymneys from ferre began to smoke. 
 
 But the sequel may as well be introduced 5 for the images are at 
 once natural and happy. 
 
 Eche liousholder went about to lodge his gest 
 
 The storke ferynge stormes toke the chymney for a cloke 
 
 Eche chambre and chyst were soon put vnder locke 
 
 Curfew was ronge lyghtes were set vp in haste 
 
 They that were without for lodgynge soone dyd knocke. 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 Stanza v. 
 
 but, on the reverse of the first leaf of the same poem, it runs as follows ; 
 
 This Boke the whiche I make of mencion 
 Entitled was right thus as I shal telle 
 Tullius of the dreme of Scipyon 
 Chapitres seuen it had of heuen and lielle. 
 
 From Bp. More’s copy in the Public Library of the University of Cambridge. 
 
 * Mr. Campbell in the preface to his Specimens of our Poetry, vol. 1. p. 95, con- 
 siders Hawes to be the author ; but see the note in the Typog, Antiq. vol. i. p. 
 308. — whence it seems decidedly to be Lydgate’s. 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 663 
 
 Xmas Carols — from the earliest productions of the 
 press of Wynkyn de Worde, down to the latest of 
 
 Such a performance is worthy of the critical investigation of the 
 poetical antiquary. 
 
 As for the Treatise made of a Galaunt, Mr. Haslewood (with his 
 usual gallantry of research) was the fortunate finder of this amatory 
 morceau. It is printed by Wynkyn de Worde ; and was found 
 pasted within the fly leaf, on the oak board binding, of an imperfect 
 volume of Pynson’s Statutes, and purchased from the Nash-Court 
 Collection.’* Another proof this — if another were wanting — of the 
 importance of looking narrowly into the fly leaves, and old paper 
 wadding, of ancient books in board bindings. A pretty copious ex* 
 tract from this unique poetical treasure is given in the Censura 
 Literaria , vol. v. p. 37-41 ; from which I select two stanzas, descrip- 
 tive of the dresses of the English, upwards of three centuries ago — 
 which are sufficient to bear out Master Andrew Borde’s account of 
 the variableness of our fashions about that period.* 
 
 Beholde the rolled hodes stuffed with flockes, 
 
 The newe broched doublettes open at the brestes. 
 
 Stuffed with pectoll of their loves smockes, 
 
 Theyr gownes and theyr cotes shredde all in lystes. 
 
 So many capes as now be, and so few good prestes. 
 
 I can not reken halfe the route of theyr marde gere ? 
 
 Englond may wayle that euer it came here. 
 
 These galauntes use also full abliomynable, 
 
 Theyr typpettes be wrythen lyke to a chayne. 
 
 And they go haltred in them as hors in the stable : 
 
 It is a peryllous pronostycacyon certayne ; 
 
 For synfull soules shall be bounde in payne. 
 
 Hande and fote in perpetuall fyre : 
 
 They shall curse the tyme that euer it came here. 
 
 But one more rarity to be incorporated into this note — already dis- 
 tended to a most unwieldy size— and that is. The History of Tytus 
 and Gesyppus , translated out of latyn into englyshe , by Willyam 
 Walter, &c. : printed by Wynkyn de Worde, without date, 4to. 
 See some curious extracts, from the Roxburghe copy of it, in the 
 Typ. Antiq. vol. ii, p. 338. This copy was purchased by the Duke of 
 
 * The often quoted stanza from Borde will be found in the Typ . Antiq . vol iii. 
 page 159. 
 
664 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 those of Richard Kele — may they be for ever embalmed 
 in ebony or beef-wood cabinets. May they ever afford 
 innocent recreation to the young, and substantial 
 solace to the old. I war not with such delectable 
 bizarrerie from our earlier presses.* 
 
 Devonshire, at the sale of the Roxburghe Library, for 3 61. And so 
 little has the lapse of time deteriorated its pecuniary value, that the 
 reprint of it, by Hcieket, in 1560, 8vo. produced the sum of 24/. 
 13s. 6d. at the sale of Mr. Bindley’s library. Thus have I travelled 
 through a varied tract of country of the early British Muse : 
 with briars, thistles, and dock weed, on the one side of me — and 
 hawthorn bushes, the dog-rose, and wild convolvulus, on the other. 
 Statelier trees, more fragrant blossoms, and fruit of luscious flavour., 
 are to be met with as we pursue a different route. 
 
 * What a black-letter muster-roll have I again to encounter ! 
 And, first of all, in regard to that idol of our boyish days — that cham- 
 pion of the forest — that Hero of quarter staff, long bow, and cloth- 
 yard arrow — Robin Hood ! . . the very notice of the Mery Geste, as 
 the first in the list of pieces above named, recals to my memory the 
 delectable day which I spent in the public library of the University 
 of Cambridge, in company with Mr. Lodge, of whose kindness and 
 ability I have before had occasion to make honourable mention. 
 Doubly “ delectable” was that day — (towards the end of the month 
 of October) not so much for having well nigh settled a most impor- 
 tant point about the number of books in that same public library,* as 
 from a sight, and temporary possession, of two tomes of black letter 
 poetry, one printed by Caxton, (and seen by me fifteen years ago) the 
 
 * There is no one point upon which greater mistakes are made, or more absurd, 
 random, conclusions drawn, than that connected with the number of volumes in any 
 large library, public or private. The only thing like it, are the mistakes drawn 
 about the amount of church preferment and legacies. With these I have here 
 nothing to do ; but with the number of volumes in the public library at Cambridge 
 I have thus much to do — that I am armed with documents, carefully and liberally 
 put together, which prove that the library in question does not contain 65,000 vo- 
 lumes : and yet, I thought I should have received one of the folios of Mentelin’s 
 Speculum Historiale (printed in 1473) discharged at my head ( not by the above 
 mentioned able and amiable friend) when I doubted the number of books being 
 90,000 ! — as they were declared to be 20 years ago ! ! ! On facts like these, there 
 should be something like mathematical proof — and that proof I possess. 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 665 
 
 It will be obvious to the reader, that I have thus 
 concentrated a few of the non-descripts of the earlier 
 
 other chiefly by Wynkyn de Word. In this latter volume is the 
 Mery Geste of Robyn Hode, bright, fresh and unsullied. See 
 what is said about it in the Typ. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 360 5 and doubt not, 
 gentle reader, one moment, but that it is the first printed book con- 
 nected with the exploits of that sylvan hero. Whatever Farmer or 
 Ritson might have said, (see ibid.) I will fearlessly place it foremost 
 in the front row of Robin Hood publications. Rastell’s supposed 
 impression must not be named in the same breath. If such a book 
 be in being, I should put it twenty years later. 
 
 And while we are upon the subject of Merry Jests, let me say a 
 merry word in behalf of that of the Friar and the Boy (Frere and the 
 Boye) which is, also with the preceding, unique, executed by the 
 same printer, and in the same public collection. It contains only 
 seven leaves — worth . . . how many guineas per leaf? Ritson re- 
 printed it in his pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry , 1791, 8vo. For 
 Hycke Scorner , printed by the same, without date, (reprinted by 
 Hawkins, and analysed by Percy) we are indebted to Mr. Beloe for a 
 particular account 5 Anec. of Lit. vol. i. p. 387-394. This account is 
 taken from the only known copy of it, in the Garrick Collection in 
 the British Museum. Of Cryste crosse me Spede, A. B. C. — the work 
 of the same printer, without date — I know not of the present existence 
 of the copy (and the only one, as I conceive) described in the 
 Typog. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 367- It is a singularly curious morceau of 
 old poetry 5 beginning thus : 
 
 Here begynneth a lytell propre jeste 
 Called cryste crosse vie spede , a. b. c. 
 
 How y e gosyps made a royal feest 
 
 In the goodlyest manner w l . game and glee 
 
 To the ale they went wt. hey troly loly. 
 
 Will no e< indagator invictissimus” of auncient poetical lore tell us 
 where the copy, here described, now reposes ? 
 
 Of the Life of St. Werburge, printed by Pynson in 1521, 4to. a 
 very copious account appears in the Typ. Antiq. vol. ii. page 491- 
 499 : from a perfect copy of it in the possession of Mr. Heber. A 
 copy of this book was sold at the sale of Mr. Woodhouse’s library, in 
 1803, for 31 1. 10s. At the sale of Major Pearson’s library, in 1788, 
 it produced but 1/. 10s. : and at that of Isaac Reed, in 1807, it pro- 
 
666 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 Muses of this country, from a supposition that there 
 will be no place exactly fitted for them in the metho- 
 dical arrangement of those Bards, whose claims to 
 
 duced 18Z. 185 . : but at a more recent sale at Mr. Saunders’s, it was 
 purchased by Mr. Hibbert for 42 1. Cock Lord's Bote was reprinted 
 by the Rev. H. Drury for the Roxburghe Club. The original, among 
 Garrick’s books in the British Museum, was supposed to be unique } 
 but another copy has recently turned up in the Bodleian library. 
 See the Typ. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 352. : and Beloe's Anecd. vol. i. p. 393. 
 It is one of the most amusing, as well as rarest, of the earlier pieces 
 of our poetry. Syr Degore is indeed a rare and “ precious old gen- 
 tleman.” All that we know of Wynkyn de Worde’s curious edition 
 of it, (containing eighteen leaves, of a small 4to. size) appears in the 
 Censura Literaria, vol. v. p. 255. But of probably equal scarcity with 
 the preceding, is a fragment of an impression, apparently by W. de 
 Worde, of the Squyre of Lowe Degre , in the possession of Mr. J. A. 
 Repton, the reputed author of that small and curious little black 
 letter romance entitled Prince Rhadapanthus. These leaves were 
 shewn me by Mr. Churchill in the often lauded library of Blickling 
 in Norfolk. Mr. Repton considers it to be unique, and a very dif- 
 ferent edition from that printed by Copland. It has two wood-cuts, 
 whereas that in the British Museum has but one : nor is the cut, 
 common to both, from the same block. Will this “ fragment” ever 
 be perfected } But what is life without Hope ? 
 
 More “ Merry Jests ! Here is “ a merry gest and a true Howe 
 Iohn Splynter made his Testament .” Julian Notary is the printer of 
 this inestimably precious volume and Mr. Heber is the “ thrice 
 blessed” owner of the copy described in the Typ. Antiq. vol. ii. page 
 5S6, pronounced by him to be unique. The book is full of drollery. 
 The Loue and Complayntes betwene Mars and Venus , without date, 
 4to. is another precious gem by the same typographical artist. The 
 copy of it, from the Roxburghe Collection, described in the Typ. 
 Antiq. vol. ii. p. 585, produced the gigantic sum of 60Z. It was 
 purchased by Sir M. M. Sykes. Bart, but produced only 42 1. 10$. 6d . 
 at the sale of his library in 1824. Jack Splinter is at least ds high- 
 prized as this. They are both “ pretty creatures” — worthy of com- 
 peting with any tract, however highly prized as well as priced , in 
 that most extraordinary volume of early black-letter poetry, chiefly 
 by Wynkyn de Worde, in the public library at Cambridge, of which 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 667 
 
 popularity, during the sixteenth century, are of a more 
 decided and lasting character. And yet — even in 
 
 the transmission to my head quarters, in London, was so inflexibly 
 (and perhaps, on the whole, very wisely) denied. 
 
 As to our early Christmas Carols, if the theme be joyous, the 
 enquiries relating to it are not exempted from some little difficulties : 
 but I will here only attend to ff joy,” and not to discrepancies of opi- 
 nion. The reader will therefore receive en gr4 the first Carol on 
 ; printed Record — about 300 years old : as it is sung in the hall of 
 Queen’s College Oxford, at Christmas : premising that, in the lan- 
 guage of old Anthony a Wood,* “ when the first course is served up 
 in the refectory on Christmas day, in the said College, the Manciple 
 brings a Boar’s Head from the kitchen, up to the high table, accom- 
 panied with one of Taberders, who lays his hand on the charger. 
 The Taberder sings the following song, and when they come to the 
 chorus, all the Members that are in the refectory join together and 
 sing it 
 
 The Boare’s head in hand bear I, 
 
 Bedeck’d with bays and rose-mary. 
 
 And I pray you, masters, be merry 
 Quotquot estis in convivio ; 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Caput Apri defero 
 Reddens laades Domino. 
 
 * I am indebted for the above information to my friend Ur. Bliss of St. John’s 
 College, Oxford : but the reader is referred to a full and particular account of the 
 old,ballad, as printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1521, in the Typ. Antiq. vol. ii. page 
 250 : together with various authorities bearing on the subject. It is there printed 
 in the fclaeh letter. Receive it here in the white letter— -and note, with scholastic 
 minuteness, the various readings: 
 
 A Caroll bringing in the bores head. 
 
 Caput apri differo a 
 Reddens laudens b domino. 
 
 The bores head in hande bring I 
 With garlans gay and rosemary 
 I pray you all synge merely 
 Qui estis in conuiuio. 
 
 a So in the original for defero . 
 b So for laudes. 
 
66 g POETRY. [English. 
 
 such a poetical farrago — I have absolutely forgotten to 
 
 The Boares head as I vnderstand 
 Is the brauest dish in all the land, 
 
 Being thus bedeck’d with a gay garland ; 
 
 Let vs servire cantico ; 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Caput Apri defero, 8fc. 
 
 Our Steward hath provided this 
 In honour of the King of Bliss, 
 
 Which on this day to be served is 
 In Reginensi atrio ; 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Caput Apri defero , Sfc. 
 
 Most vehemently do I desiderate the knowledge of the locus in quo 
 of this inestimably precious relic — once fondled by Hearne, and half 
 devoured by Warton. 
 
 Nearly approaching the preceding in rarity, and of considerably 
 greater interest from its contents, both in quantity and character, is 
 the unique copy of Christmas Carols, possessed by Francis Freeling, 
 Esq. from the press of that “ cunning” typographical wight, Richard 
 Kele. The title and colophon run thus : Christmas Carolles ; newely 
 Imprynted at London in the Powltry by Rychard Kele, dwellyng at the 
 longe shop vnder saynt Myldredes church. It is a very small duo- 
 decimo volume, containing, in the whole, twenty-four leaves 5 and 
 has been pretty fully described in the Typ. Antiq. vol. iv. page 304 : 
 that description being taken from the identical copy here noticed. 
 See also the Bibliographical Miscellanies , Oxon. 1813, 4to. page 48> 
 
 The bores heed I vnderstande 
 Is the thefe c seruyce in this lande 
 Loke where euer it be fande 
 Semite cum cantico. 
 
 Be gladde lordes both more and lasse 
 For this hath ordeyned our stewarde 
 To cheere you all this Christmasse 
 The bores heed with mustarde. 
 
 JFtnw* 
 
 c So for ckefe. 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 669 
 
 notice two poetical tracts, printed by Caxton, of 
 which one is a mere fragment, and the other an entire 
 
 where copious extracts from it appear. Ah, that “ longe shop' 1 of 
 Master Richard Kele ! — there be many of my acquaintance who 
 would make “short work ” with its contents, could they now be col- 
 lected into one tangible form ! Think, amongst other things, of 
 those pretty little Skeltonic “ bits” printed in three parts (mentioned 
 as in the library at Ham House, p. 661, ante) which produced, at 
 the sale of Mr. Bindley’ s library, the sum of 3ll. 105. 
 
 But what are all the united Carols, or Ballad publications, of our 
 old friends Wynkyn and Kele, compared with those issued from the 
 fertile press of the Widow To ye — the wife of Robert Toye the 
 printer, who appears to have died about the year 1555 ? Well might 
 my predecessor Herbert call her “ a courteous dame.” She contri- 
 buted, in fact, to the collections of the Company of Stationers, and 
 especially towards the fund for their “public dinners , — against which, 
 I suspect, a few of the barbed arrows of Master Brant's Sermons, (see 
 p. 83, ante) were slily shot. But Mrs. Toye shewed her “ curtesy” 
 by a more substantial mark of her good disposition towards the said 
 company ; for she not only presented them with a new table cloth, 
 and a dozen of napkins, but paid for one of the windows in the 
 hall.” Can we be therefore surprised if one of the ballads, pub- 
 lished by her, have such a title as the following : 
 
 I will haue a Widow yf euer I marye ? 
 
 But why should I hold back that list of Ballad Poetry, put forth 
 by the widow Toye, to obtain the originals of which, even Sir Walter 
 Scott would wade, “ booted to the groin,” (as Robert Burton ex- 
 presses it) through the snows upon Ben Lomond’s height — or stand, 
 tip toe on one leg, upon the sharpest pinnacle of Melrose Abbey ! ! 
 Yet . . . yet . . . methinks I have a sort of faint remembrance of one 
 or two of the entire ballads, of which the titles are as follow, being in 
 those five mysterious tomes of old vernacular poetry in the Pepysian 
 Collection.* But for the titles of the widow Toye’s Ballads. As 
 before given, {Typ. Antiq, vol. iii. p. 577) they are as follow : 
 
 Women beste whan they be at reste. 
 
 I will haue a Widow yf euer I marye. 
 
 * It was approaching winter, late in the autumnal months, when the evenings 
 are chill and dark, that, under the vigilant eye of Mr. Lodge, I sat me down, by the 
 
POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 670 
 
 work — but of small extent, and of a dull and dreary 
 
 The Day of the lorde ys at hande. 
 
 A ballet of thomalyn. 
 
 Betwene a Ryche farmer and his daughter 
 Of the talke betwene ij maydes. 
 
 The murnynge of Edwarde Duke of Buckynghara. 
 
 A mayde that wolde mary with a serving man. 
 
 Who lyue so mery and make such sporte, 
 as they that be of the poorer sorte. 
 
 An Epytaph upon the deathc of Kynge Edward ye sixte. 
 
 To morow slial be my father’s wake. 
 
 The Rose is from my garden gone. 
 
 The a. b. c. of a preste called heugh stourmy. 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 ( {< Cum multis aliis, quae nunc perscribere longum est”) And shall 
 the widow Toye absorb all notice of the curious and rare ballads 
 sometimes put forth by Master Richard Lant — a contemporary of 
 the said Dame Toye } Forbid it, poetical Antiquary — and shew me, 
 either in the printed pages of the Censura Literaria and British Bib- 
 liographer, or in the wedge-like phalanxes of black letter poetry be- 
 longing to Richard Heber, Esq. M. P. any thing more curious than 
 the “ Steuen Steple to Mast Camel ” of Richard Lant ? — a small 
 doggerel (says Herbert) of twenty-four lines, in a rude country sort 
 of English — of which (continues he) these are the four last.” 
 
 Now yeh ha myn arnde a do And be good maister Churchard to, 
 
 Chud ha ye yor head to heede a And zo God be yor sprede a. 
 
 But see the Typ. Antiq. vol. iii. p. 583. Such are these Ballad 
 Hints or Sketches . . but the Theme is interminable. Let Mr. 
 Haslewood exhaust it ... if he can. 
 
 side of a blazing fire, and enfiladed by fragrant cups of Souchong tea, (in the 
 Fepysian Department) to an examination of these mysterious tomes. The ballads 
 are chiefly of the time of the two Charleses, and none (as I thought) so old as the 
 reign of Edward VI. They are arranged according to the subject, thus : Heroic , 
 Romantic , Hunting , Love, &c. I observed, in the subdivision of the latter, 
 
 Love 'pleasant 
 Love unfortunate . 
 
 The Collection is entitled, in the stiff hand of Pepys, “ My Collection of old 
 Ballads.” 
 
POETRY. 
 
 English.] 
 
 <371 
 
 complexion. They are chronicled in the subjoined 
 note.* 
 
 * The first of these Caxtonian treasures is a mere fragment, chro- 
 nicled in the Typ. Antiquities , vol. i. p. 360, so as to make one wish the 
 author were known. The second unique Caxtonian gem, undescribed 
 and, till hitherto, unknown, is in the library at Ham House, by the 
 banks of the Thames : and, on more accounts than one , I have reason 
 to remember the discovery of this typographical treasure. It was 
 late in the month of November, when, in company with my excellent 
 friend the Rev. Mr. D. Lewis, we crossed the ferry from the Twick- 
 enham side of the water. The wind was in the east — blowing up all 
 the fog and filthy haze of the Metropolis : and, although mid-day, 
 the opposite banks of the river could with difficulty be discerned. 
 The very Genius of malignity and mischief seemed to brood on the 
 face of the water: but our ferryman was no “brownie,’’ and we 
 reached the opposite shore in safety. In five minutes, we were 
 within the library — and what a library to enter ! But this is not 
 the place to tell the whole of this bibliographical tale : only be it 
 known that here are not fewer than eleven Caxtons, and the Life 
 of St. Wenefrid in the number. The non- descript in question may be 
 called the Governayle of Helthe /* (“ In this tretyse that is cleped 
 
 Gouernayle of helthe, &c.) It is chiefly in prose, containing A and 
 B. in eights ,• having however two leaves of poetry , beginning thus : 
 
 For helth of body, couere for colde thy hede 
 ete no rawe meate, take good hede hereto 
 Drynke holsom wyne, fede the on lyght brede 
 \ Wyth an appetyte, ryse from thy mete also 
 Wyth wymmen flesshely haue not adoo 
 Vpon thy slepe drynke not of the cuppe 
 Gladde towarde bed at morowe bothe two 
 And vse neuer late for to suppere 
 And yf so be that leches don the fayle 
 Then take goode hede to vse thynges thre 
 Temporat dyete, temporat trauayle. 
 
 Not malyncolyouse for none aduersite. 
 
 All this is, it must be owned, dismally dull and repulsive — but the 
 author was Lydgate, and the printer was Caxton. On the reverse 
 of the second leaf of this poetry, we read at bottom : 
 
 Explicit mcdicina Stomaehi. 
 
 This unique treasure had belonged to a Collector, whose initials. 
 
672 
 
 POETRY, 
 
 [English, 
 
 But if there were leisure and space for the expan- 
 sion of the therne of unchronicled relics of old 
 English Poetry, I could greatly enlarge the notes of 
 this Work, by the introduction of certain pieces, and 
 especially a few from the press of Cax^on’s pupil, or 
 apprentice, Wynkyn de Worde, which would convince 
 the bibliographical Antiquary how much is yet to be 
 done in the department of our earlier Poetry ; and 
 how imperatively a new and greatly enlarged edition 
 of Ritson’s truly valuable Bibliographic/ Foetica is 
 wanted.^ 
 
 monogramised, appear to have been J. M. C., and are in the centre of 
 piles of books. I have seen and possessed several tomes which once 
 claimed the same owner : and a curious “ Owner” he was. This 
 copy, like several in the Dysart Collection, has the pencil price 
 ( 7 s. 6d.) of Tom Osborne the bookseller, in the fly-leaf 5 and is bound 
 in dark calf, with Dutch marble paper lining within. It is, in all 
 respects an unrecorded Caxton. My friend Mr. H. Ellis, of the 
 British Museum, disputes with me the palm of the discovery. Do I 
 hear the saucy Critic exclaim, 
 
 Et vitula tu dignus, et hie ? 
 
 * First, for certain unchronicled relics of our early poetry from 
 the press of Wynkyn de Worde. And here, the enthusiasm and 
 energy of my young friend Mr. Charles Hartshorne, of St. John’s 
 College, Cambridge, have supplied me with a few most curious par- 
 ticulars, from that (apparently) inexhaustible mine in the Pepysian 
 Library, (see p. 669) of Magdalen College, Cambridge. The fact 
 is — and why should it be concealed from the public ? — that this 
 young thorough-bred biblicmaniacal Racer (who, I predict, will win 
 all the cups and sweepstakes that he starts for) is just now occupied 
 in the weaving of a “ Golden Garland of early English Poetry com- 
 posed of pieces little known, or, for the greater part wholly unknown. 
 Take a specimen — muse-wooing Reader. The Justs of the Months 
 of May, (I modernise the orthography ,J furnished and done by Charles 
 Brandon , Thomas Knyvet, Giles Capell and William Hussey, the xxii 
 year of the reign of Henry VII. printed by Wynkyn de Worde, in 4to. 
 contains 46 chapters. Again : The Justs and Tour nay of the Month 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY, 
 
 673 
 
 And now — without any further preliminary remark 
 - — I enter “ in medias res.” Let me begin with 
 
 of June, parfurnished and done by Richard Graye, Earl of Kent, by 
 Charles Brandon with their two Aids against all comers. The xxii year 
 of the reign of Hen. VII." Printed by the same, and containing 62 
 stanzas. The few short specimens supplied by Mr. H. are delicious 
 earnests of what are to follow. . . but, as in duty bound, I refrain 
 from inserting them. Once more. “ The Epitaph of the most noble 
 and valiant Jasper, late Duke of Bedford : Printed by the same, 4to. 
 Eight pages. All three previously unknown. How beat the pulses 
 of my friends Messrs. Heber, Freeling, and Rice ? And how feels the 
 heart of Mr. Jolly ? And where rests the pen of Mr. Haslewood? — 
 in his bronze, punchinello-inkstand, or between his thumb and two 
 forefingers, ready to record these facts in the annals of the olden 
 poetry ? 
 
 For the last time, as to Wynkyn de Worde : — and I skip at once 
 from the banks of the Cam to those of the Thames. Of course, the 
 reader is with me, in a trice, within the precincts of Ham House 
 Library. What says he to a work by Stephen Hawes, (wholly 
 unknown — and which might perhaps have been more appropriately 
 recorded among the early Amatory Poems at page 659, ante) entitled 
 the Comfort of Lovers } printed by this same typographical wight, 
 and ending on the reverse of C vj, in sixes. The colophon is thus 
 picturesquely disposed. 
 
 Emprynted 
 by me Wynkyn de 
 Worde. 
 
 having the large common tripartite device on the back. Ha ! there 
 be gems, in this very wonderful book-paradise worth the setting ! 
 What if I prove, not only that this poem was a production subsequent 
 to the Passtime of Pleasure, by the same poet, but that, being so, it 
 might have been printed even in the year 1510 ? Read the sub-note ; 
 and consider if there be any thing new, but in books, beneath the 
 sun* 
 
 As to the Bibliographia Poetica of Ritson, I can only say that if 
 
 * The first question will be, how could this work have been printed in 1510, 
 when the parent text of the Pastime, &c. was put forth by the same printer in 
 1517? Answer: for u the parent text,” read “the supposed parent text”— for, 
 within this very same library, and bound in the same binding which contains the 
 
 X X 
 
 / 
 
674 
 
 POETRY, 
 
 [English. 
 
 Chaucer or Gower. I take the first — usually consi- 
 dered as the Father of English Poetry. With Chau- 
 cer, as with all our legitimate and usually read Clas- 
 sical Poets, I shall content myself with the mention 
 of a few only of the rarer earlier impressions, and with 
 the generally received best editions, and then leave 
 both reader and collector to cater for themselves. 
 
 The first English printer has the honour of being 
 also the first publisher of the text, but not of the entire 
 works of Chaucer. Caxton twice printed the Can - 
 
 the great and judicious preparations which Mr. Haslewood has made, 
 towards a new edition of that work, find not patronage among the 
 booksellers, the age of archaeological literature is gone ! There is, 
 however, some consolation in the reflection that Warton's Hist, of 
 English Poetry has been republished in a manner to gratify all lovers 
 of that unrivalled performance. 
 
 preceding tract, there happens to be the Real parent text of Hawes’s Pastime , Sfc. 
 printed by DeWorde,of thedate of 1509 ! ! ! Inestimable and unanticipated trea- 
 sure ! O, that it had been known to my late excellent, and amiable friend, Sir M. 
 Sykes ! He would not, in consequence, have given fourscore pounds for the 
 second impression of 1517. And who shall say, in consequence, what is oris not 
 “ the parent text ?” See post, for a few particulars about this unique volume of 
 1509. 
 
 The proof of “ The Comfort of Lovers” being published after the “ Pastime of 
 Pleasure,” is decisive. Thus on the reverse of C iii, we read as follows : 
 
 PUCELL. 
 
 Of late I saw a boke of your makynge 
 
 Called the Pastyme of Pleasure, whiche is woder. 
 
 For I thynge and you had been in louinge 
 Ye coude neuerhaue made it so sentencyous 
 I redde there all your passage daungerous 
 Wherefore I wene for the fayre ladyes sake 
 That ye dyd loue, ye dyde that boke so make. 
 
 Amour. 
 
 Forsothe Madame, I dyde compyle that boke 
 
 As the holygoost I call vnto wytnes 
 
 But ygnorauntly, whoso lyst to loke 
 
 Many meruelous thynges in it, I do expresse 
 
 My lyue and loue, to enserche well doublessc 
 
 Many a one doth wryte, I knowe not what in dede 
 
 Yet the effecte dooth folowe, the trouthe for to speke. 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY, 
 
 675 
 
 terbury Tales , and once the Book of Fame , Troilus 
 and Cressida, and some doubtful minor pieces— all 
 mentioned in the subjoined note.* Pynson published 
 
 * Before I come to the notice of these editions, I must be permitted 
 to borrow a few lines from the unknown poem described in the last 
 note — commendatory of the above venerable poetic Wights. They 
 are thoroughly bibliomaniacal. 
 
 Two thynges me comforte, euer in pryncypall 
 The first be Bokes, made in antyoute 
 By Gower and Chaucer poetes rethorycall 
 And Lydegate eke, by good auctoryte. 
 
 Hawes’s Comfort of Lovers; 
 
 Sign. A. vj. rev. 
 
 Premising that I will have nothing to do with Lydgate, except 
 the referring of the reader to Ritson’s interminable list of his pieces,f 
 
 Let me only subjoin a specimen of the (t comforting” love strains to be found in 
 the body of the work. 
 
 O loue most dere, o loue nere to my harte, 
 
 O gentyll flowe, I wolde you knew my wo 
 How that your beaute,perst me with the darte 
 With your vertue, and your mekenes also 
 Sythens ye so dyde, it is ryght longe ago 
 My herte doth se you, it is for you be bledde 
 Myne eyen with teares, ben often made full redde. 
 
 What would Ritson, or his biographer and intoxicated admirer Mr. Haslewood, 
 have given to have discovered this unknown poem of Stephen Hawes ? But surely 
 it was more natural that the Wynkyn tribe of little fish should come to my own 
 net ! 
 
 f This list comprises the brief titles of 251 pieces : and the author is dismissed 
 with being called “ a voluminous, prosaick and drivelling monk.” -His pieces are 
 designated as “ not worth collecting, unless it be as typographical curiosities, or 
 on account of the beautiful illuminations in some of his [MS.] presentation copies” 
 — nor even worthy of preservation : “ being only suitably adapted ad ficum et pipe- 
 rem , and other more base and servile uses.” Bibl. Poet. p. 87-8, &c. There is 
 much truth, but also a little falsehood or heresy, in this account. Here however, 
 I will only say, that Lydgate’s Siege and Destruction of Troye, seems to have been 
 the most popular of his pieces ; and that, of the first edition of it, by W. de Worde 
 in 1503, folio, there is a copy upon vellum in the magnificent library of Stowe. 
 Of the second edition by Pynson in 1513, folio, there is a copy upon vellum in 
 the Pepysian library, and another similar copy in the library of Bamborough 
 Castle in Northumberland. These membranaceous pieces were all unknown to 
 Herbert, and have indeed but recently come to my own knowledge. What enter- 
 prising Roxburgher will undertake and publish a “ Bibliographical , Antiquarian 
 and Picturesque Tour ” in his own Country ? 
 
POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 676 
 
 one edition of the Canterbury Tales, alone ; probably 
 soon after the death of Caxton ; in a handsome folio 
 
 I proceed to the notice of Caxton’s first edition of the Canterbury 
 Tales. The only perfect copy, throughout, is that in his Majesty's 
 Library, which had been Mr. West’s. It is also in most sound and 
 desirable condition. The copy in Merton College Library, at Oxford, 
 wants three leaves. Earl Spencer’s as (notified in the Bibl. Spence - 
 7 iana, vol. iv. p. 288) wants five leaves j which are however admi- 
 rably supplied by the fac-simile skill of Mr. Whittaker. An imperfect 
 copy is at Wentworth House, in Yorkshire. In the Dysart or 
 Ham House Library, there is a portion (and a very fine one, as far 
 as it goes) of a copy, defective at the beginning, and ending about 
 the middle of the “Shipman’s tale.” This book is murderously half- 
 bound in calf, with marble-paper sides. It had belonged to one 
 Joseph Brereton of Queen’s College, Cambridge, and has the date in 
 ink of 1739. f There is no saying what a perfect copy of this £st 
 
 t This Mr. Brereton, — Clergyman or not, I cannot tell— was the Proprietor of 
 many of the more curious black-letter books in the library at Ham House. I find 
 the date of 1744, in one of them, attached to his name as then “ Bachelor of Laws.” 
 He was probably chaplain in the Dysart Family ; and seems to have bought 
 lustily out of Osborne’s Catalogues. Among other books, from these never-to- 
 be again parallelled Catalogues, are the following with the subjoined prices in 
 pencil — and purchased, as there is every reason to think, by Mr. Brereton. 
 
 Divers Fruitful and Ghostly Matters : Pr. by Caxton , 4to. 10s. 6d. On sign. A. i 
 in a neat hand-writing, on the bottom margin, is the following memoran- 
 dum. “ This Book belongs to the Etiglish Benedictin Nuns of our Blessed 
 Lady of Good Hope at Paris.” At the end “ Approved’ —but the subscrip- 
 tion of the names of the “ Approvers,” are to me unintelligible. Note 
 well. For an inferior copy of this work I gave 194/. 5s. (for Lord Spencer) 
 at the sale of the Merly Library in 1813. 
 
 Life of St. Wenefrul , Pr. by Caxton. Fine, perfect copy. 1/. Is. ! ! ! Wanting 
 in the Spencer Collection. 
 
 Virgil's JEneid, Pr. by Caxton : bound in red morocco, with a copy of Pynson’s 
 edition of the Jurgur thine War ; both copies perfect, and in the cleanest 
 possible coudition--but cruelly cut to a quarto form. Price 31. 3s. ! ! ! 
 
 Virgil s JEneid. By Caxton. Alone ; and the finest copy I ever saw of this 
 usually handsome book. I suspect it to have been Lord Oxford’s. The price 
 is cut out. Did it equal the preceding price ? I should say <( no” — and yet 
 I have known 100 guineas given for this book. 
 
 But I am “ travelling out of the Record.” 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 677 
 
 volume ; and of almost equal difficulty to obtain, in a 
 fine and perfect state, as either of the editions by 
 Caxton. In 1526, Pynson reprinted these Canter- 
 bury Tales , along with the Troilus and Creseida , the 
 
 edition — intrinsically inferior, in all respects, to the second edition — 
 would bring ; but it is scarcely twelve months ago when such a 
 treasure would have produced 500 guineas. 
 
 Rare as may be the first edition of the Canterbury Tales by Caxton, 
 the second is to the full as rare. Indeed it is a little singular, that, 
 of both the editions, only one perfect copy of each is known. That 
 of the second is in the library of my beloved College St. John’s, at 
 Oxford. If I remember rightly, this inestimable treasure is bound 
 along with two or three other Caxtonic pieces (and which, for ob- 
 vious reasons, ought to be separated — each having a distinct coat 
 in Charles Lewis’s blue, green, or venetian-colour, morocco) and is, 
 in all respects, most sweet and comforting to behold, handle, and 
 peruse. My friend Dr. Bliss, of the same college, and one of the 
 Librarians of Bodley, pays it a regular quarterly visit — his enthu- 
 siasm increasing at every repeated act of adoration ! In the Pepysian 
 Library, there is a copy perfect — with the exception of the prosaic, 
 introductory part j which I allow to be a most important and fatal 
 exception, since it is in itself exceedingly curious. The text of the 
 poet is entire, beginning on sign, a iii. Mr. Heber has a copy, 
 wanting this introduction, and about two leaves of the text. Earl 
 Spencer’s copy is greatly defective. But I will not pursue this chase 
 after imperfections. And yet — let me say another word ... as to the 
 supposed price of a perfect copy . . . were it now to be submitted to 
 sale. It would at least be equal to the price just attached to a per- 
 fect copy of the previous edition. 
 
 Of the Book of Fame , the next in the order of the text, see the 
 accounts of copies noticed in the Typog. Antiq. vol. i. p. 313. Since 
 writing that account, fifteen years ago — (“ fugaceslabuntur anni!”) 
 I have taken a second peep at the copy in the public library at Cam- 
 bridge : and find this beautiful and perfect book bound up with four 
 more pieces from Caxton’s Press : — and further (but is not this 
 rather matter for a ff Bibliographical Tour ?”) that all these fine 
 Caxtonic pieces belonged to one “ R. Johnson,” who has inscribed the 
 
678 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 Book of Fame, and the Assembly of Fowls, 8fc* Wyn- 
 kyn de Worde appears to have only printed the 
 
 prices which he gave for each book,f and who, from the character 
 of the scription, appears to have possessed them towards the end of 
 the reign of Henry VII. For the ** Book of Fame” he gave four 
 pence ! The Troilus and Cressida is a more popular performance, 
 and copies of it will be found in several distinguished private and 
 public libraries. The last copy sold, belonging to Mr. Watson Tay- 
 lor, was purchased by Mr. Grenville for 63 guineas. This identical 
 copy (wanting one leaf in signature p,) was purchased by the late 
 Mr. Manson, bookseller, for the late Mr. Towneley, for 10k 10s. : and 
 was sold at the sale of Mr. Towneley’s library for 25 2k Such are 
 the mutations in all mundane things ! 
 
 The ff doubtful minor pieces,” printed by Caxton, are rather 
 attributable to Lydgate , Scoggan and Hawes. They are mentioned, 
 and in part described, in the Typog, Jntiq. vol. i. p.306 . . 311 : but 
 I own, since a recent revision of that incalculably precious volume 
 which contains them — in the public library at Cambridge — that these 
 pieces (alluded to at page 66 5, ante) require a more distinct and 
 satisfactory specification. I will here only further remark, that, from 
 recent results which need not be specified, I am most sensibly alive 
 to the “ Complaint of Chaucer unto his empty Purse ” — which follows 
 the fC Complaynt of Anelida.” The complaint runs thus. 
 
 To you my purs, and to none other wight 
 Complayne I, for ye be my Lady dere ; 
 
 I am sory now that ye be light 
 
 For certes ye now make me heuy chere ; 
 
 Me were as lief be leyd vpon a bere : 
 
 For whiche, vnto your mercy thus I crye. 
 
 Be heuy agayn, or ellis mote J dye. 
 
 * I believe I may say with perfect truth and propriety, that the 
 finest known copy of the first edition of the Canterbury Tales by 
 Pynson (probably executed not later than 1493) is in the possession 
 of Earl Spencer. It was purchased for the moderate sum of 20k at 
 
 f The names and prices of the other books are as follow : 
 Godfray of Boulogne (imperfect) ii s . 
 
 Virgil's JEneid, (perfect) . .rij d 
 
 Fait of Arms and Chivalry , (perfect) if. viip. 
 Chastising of God's Children . vif. 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 679 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, (in 1517, 4to.) a book of exceed- 
 ingly rare occurrence ; but I cannot help indulging, 
 no very romantic supposition — I should hope — that 
 there will one day “ turn up” a copy of the Canter- 
 bury Tales 3 if not with other pieces of Chaucer in 
 conjunction, from the press of this very diligent, very 
 skilful, and poetry-loving printer.* The spirit of 
 
 the sale of the library of Dr. Chauncey in 1790 : — just as the present 
 noble possessor was beginning to form a Collection of books. What 
 a foundation stone did such a volume supply ! Fragments of 
 this edition are not uncommon. The second edition of 1526, by 
 Pynson, contains, besides the works above specified. La belle dame 
 sauns Mercy : of the whole of which pieces a particular account ap- 
 pears in the Typog. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 515-520. This latter piece, and 
 the Assembly of Fowls, f are here printed for the first time. A 
 copy of this edition (very difficult to find in a perfect and beautiful 
 state) was sold for 30 1. 9s. at the sale of the Roxburghe Library. It 
 seems clear that Tyrwhitt never saw it, and that West’s copy con- 
 cluded with the {< Book of Fame.” As to the editions of 1520 and 
 1522, by Pynson, they are purely ideal j and Ames has only propa- 
 gated error by noticing them after Bagford. 
 
 * The sober critic will, I apprehend, conclude, that the notion of 
 an early-printed edition of the Canterbury Tales, by Wynkyn de 
 Worde, is purely romantic. Certain it is, that the supposed edition 
 of 1495 has no foundation in truth ; and probable it is, that the early 
 impression of the Canterbury Tales by Pynson, deterred Wynkyn de 
 Worde from the attempt of republication : although he was the 
 earliest, after Caxton, with the Troilus and Cressida — which appeared 
 by him in 1517? 4 to. and which is a volume of exceedingly great 
 rarity. My friend Mr. Roger Wilbraham possesses a copy — (from 
 which the account in the Typ. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 212 was taken) — and 
 a copy was sold at the Roxburghe sale for the tremendous sum of 
 43 1. Herbert had never seen it. 
 
 t The Assembly of Fowls was reprinted by Wynkyn de Worde, in 1530, 4to. of 
 which rare book a full description appears in the Typog. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 278. The 
 copy, there described, came into the possession of Messrs. Longman and Co. who, 
 in their Bibl. Angl. Poet, p.39-40, have valued it at 501. A vigorous valuation for 
 a reprint. 
 
POETRY. 
 
 [English, 
 
 1580 
 
 research, now abroad, will cause the bibliographical 
 enthusiast to penetrate the recesses of the lonely 
 mansion, the moat-girt castle, the gothic-pinnacled 
 cathedral, and perad venture the parochial libraries 
 contained in the vestry rooms of certain large churches 
 attached to certain large parishes throughout the 
 kingdom. At length came out the first edition of the 
 entire Works of Chaucer, from the press of Thomas 
 Godfray , in 1532, folio : under the patronage, as it is 
 supposed, of Mr. William Thynne : and “ the great 
 number (says Tyrwhitt) of Chaucers works never 
 before published, which appear in it, fully entitles it 
 to the commendations which have been always given 
 to Mr. Thynne’s edition, on that account.”* It was 
 
 * A word, in limine, about a supposed edition by Bertkelet. .men- 
 tioned by Leland. On the authorities of Tyrwhitt and Mr. Douce, 
 there is good reason to think that no such edition ever had existence 
 — and that the above, by Godfray , must be considered as the supposed 
 impression by Berthelet. This edition, of 1532, was several times 
 reprinted, as has been noticed in the text ; but if we are to judge of 
 its intrinsic worth, from the most essential portion of its contents — 
 the Canterbury Tales — I should pronounce it to be of comparatively 
 little value : for Tyrwhitt observes, that these, upon the whole, “ have 
 received no advantage” from the edition under discussion. “ The 
 material variations from Caxton’s second edition are all for the worse.” 
 Vol. i. p. xxi. Pickering’s edition. In the ixth volume of the Re- 
 trospective Review, p. 172 , &c. there is an ample and instructive 
 article relating to the “ Works of Chaucer $” of which the editions 
 of 1532, 1542, 1598, f and Tyrwhitt’s edit, of 1798, form the chief 
 
 From the observations in a note at p. 1 98 of the Retrospective Review , I take the 
 editions of 1597 and 1598 to be one and the same : and indeed, as Herbert has ob- 
 served, Typ. Antiq . vol. iii. p. 64) if there be any edition of 1532, with the name 
 of berthelet, it must be considered as one and the same with that of Godfray — 
 those printers having embarked in the same concern, and affixed their names, mu* 
 tatis mutandis, to the respective copies of their works which were apportioned to 
 them. Consult also Todd’s Lives and Writings of Gower and Chaucer , 1810, p. ii. 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 681 
 
 reprinted by Bonham in 1542, with the addition of 
 “ the Plowman’s Tale”— which appeared for the first 
 time. Then followed the reimpressions of 1561, 1597, 
 and 1602 ; under the editorial care of Howe and 
 Speght. And, last of all, came forth the edition of 
 Urry, in 1721, folio.* 
 
 From the date of the latter publication to the pre- 
 sent time, no edition of the entire works of Chaucer 
 
 argument ; and at page 176 there is an extract from the first and third, 
 placed besides each other, to shew the occasional discrepancies of the 
 text. Seer also p. 200, note. A copy of Godfray’s edition, in a fine 
 state, is of rare occurrence. My friends Messrs. Douce, Heber, and 
 Utterson possess it. I purchased a copy at the sale of the Towneley 
 library (imperfect in the first leaf) for 51. 5s. : but I find it not in 
 the collections of Reed, Steevens, Bindley, Nassau, and the Duke of 
 Roxburghe. 
 
 * The edition of Bonham, of 1542, was reprinted by Kele, Toy^ 
 and Petit. “ All these editions (says Herbert) I have compared, 
 and find them to be the very same edition, only the name of each 
 proprietor severally changed in the colophon.” Ibid. The edition of 
 1542 is distinguishable for having, for the first time, the Plowman's 
 Tale , inserted after the Person’s Tale ; but Tyrwhitt has no scruple 
 in declaring his own opinion, that it has not the least resemblance to 
 Chaucer’s manner, either of writing or thinking, in his other works.” 
 Cant. Tales , vol. i. p. 158: edit. Pickering. A copy of Bonham’s edi- 
 tion may be worth 3 1. 3s. Of the edition of 1561, a copy was sold 
 at the sale of Mr. Nassau’s library (1824) for 21. 2s. : and of that of 
 1602, for 165. In old libraries, copies of the editions of 1568 and 
 1598, are found, too frequently mildewed; and I once met with a 
 noble one of that of 1561, in stamped gilt calf, (having the arms of 
 Queen Elizabeth) in a granary in Worcestershire. But the rats had 
 played sadder havoc than the worms. It was a magnificent Book- 
 Ruin ! Urry’s edition of 1721, even on large paper, is not uncommon. 
 The preface of Thomas (the Editor being dead) strove to disarm the 
 anticipated severity of the public against the obvious impurity of the 
 
 note.* and more especially the very interesting account of the Thynnes, and of 
 their labours upon these poets— passim. 
 
682 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 has appeared; but the Canterbury Tales (and who 
 reads any other portion of the poet ?) have come forth, 
 from the masterly hand of the late Mr. Tyrwhitt, 
 in a manner so complete, correct, and satisfactory, 
 that it were difficult perhaps to mention any other 
 Classic, ancient or modern, which has received 
 more copious and curious illustration. It is a model 
 of editorship;* and may fully rank on a par 
 
 text 5 and that preface is truly, as Mr. Tyrwhitt designates it, modest 
 and sensible.” It may be also deserving of incorporation in a future 
 edition of the poet’s entire works : but the labours of Urry have been 
 blasted for ever even by the mitigated indignation of Tyrwhitt— 
 who calls the edition “ by far the worst that was ever published.’* 
 Shall I fix a price to it, therefore ? I lack the heart so to do. 
 
 * What exquisite learning and taste (to say nothing of manners 
 and principles) had the Editor of this incomparable work ! — and it 
 redounds to his eternal honour, that neither spoilt by an ample 
 patrimony, nor corrupted by the intercourse of the gay, the great, 
 and the flattering, he maintained throughout life, and even in death, 
 (if I may so speak) “the even tenor of his way !” After mastering 
 one of the most difficult, but elegant and instructive pieces of the 
 first philosophers of Greece,f he turned his mind to the antiquity of 
 his vernacular tongue ; and in selecting the ancient text of one of 
 our first great and popular poets, he chose a subject on which aU 
 the patience of his research, the acuteness of his discernment, and 
 the purity of his taste, could be equally exercised. These are indeed 
 abundantly evinced in the work under consideration. Yet it has 
 been objected, and objected with considerable pretension at least, 
 
 I °f course allude to his edition of the Poetics of Aristotle, published at Ox- 
 ford in the Gr. & Lat. languages, in 1794, 4to. and 8vo. The Bibliomaniac will 
 necessarily rave on the possession of a large paper copy of this work ; destined 
 originally for the libraries of Emperors, Kings, Princes, and Noblemen. More 
 than one copy has been sold in this country : the last, belonging to the late Bishop 
 of London, is now in the library at Chatsworth . . but was not deposited there 
 under the sum of 60/. I believe they are all (at least those I have seen) bound in 
 blue morocco, with the arms of the University of Oxford stamped on the exterior. 
 
 is book is a sort of Garter-Star in the collections of the curious. When will it 
 gutter in the oblong cabinet of Menalcas ? 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 6*83 
 
 with the Lucian of Hemsterhusius, the Athenseus of 
 Sch weigh seuser^ and the Virgil and Homer and Pindar 
 of Heyne. The authors here compared together are, 
 I admit, dissimilar in themselves; but I would be 
 understood to speak only of the manner in which these 
 
 that the text of the Canterbury Tales, published by Tyrwhitt, is not 
 the text of any one MS.,* or edition, but the result of a collation 
 of texts ; and that, in keeping back what has been rejected , the 
 reader is not put into possession of the means of judging fairly of 
 what has been adopted. There is hardly fairness in this objection ; 
 but a prompt answer is at hand. First, it supposes the Critic to have 
 a nicer tact than the Editor criticised — and who shall say that he 
 could judge better than Tyrwhitt ? Secondly, the collation, here 
 made, has been evidently the result of great care and consideration : 
 and thirdly, the text, here submitted, is beyond all compare purer 
 than any preceding text. Far be it from me to presume even to sup- 
 pose, that such a man as Tyrwhitt, or such a performance as this, 
 stands in need of any thing like a defence or apology. Tyrwhitt’s 
 fame will gather strength as it descends to posterity : 
 
 tc As streams roll down, enlarging as they flow.” 
 
 Here, therefore, I will only further remark, that his edition of the 
 Canterbury Tales appeared in 1775-8, in five crown 8vo. volumes; 
 and was reprinted by his executors at Oxford, in two quarto volumes 
 in 1798, from Tyrwhitt’s own corrected copy. The first edition, in a 
 morocco coat — such as my tasteful friend Mr. James Heywood Mark- 
 land loves to view it in — used to sell for 11. Is. per volume : because 
 it was the edition superintended by the editor himself. The quarto, 
 which is the best edition, and a handsome book, is worth about 31. 3 s. 
 in goodly binding : but there hath recently appeared a sweet reim- 
 pression of the crown Svo. in the same number of volumes, under the 
 
 * Mr. Todd, in the work cited at page 680, has given us some tempting descrip- 
 tions of the MSS. of Chaucer; and especially of that longe pwlcherrimum of 
 these MSS. in the library of the Marquis of Stafford. The next in beauty and 
 worth, is doubtless that in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire — obtained 
 from the Roxburghe library for 357/. Seek far and near, gentle reader, for MSS. 
 of this venerable Bard. Even fragments may be inestimable : or why does Ber- 
 nardo leap with ecstacy at the exhibition of his very small portion . . of a compa- 
 ratively modern date ! ! 
 
POETRY. 
 
 684 
 
 [English. 
 
 illustrious Classics have been brought before the criti- 
 cal public. 
 
 From Chaucer, we naturally go to Gower ; of whose 
 complete works no edition is extant; but of whose 
 Confessio Amantis , the edition by Caxton , and by Ber- 
 thelet , are the only ones extant. They are noticed 
 below. * 
 
 Lydgate is rather food for the Antiquary than the 
 general reader ; and without wishing him a place on 
 Xhe principal shelf of the “ Old Mans” library, I must 
 rather insist upon his introduction into some obscurer 
 corner of his Collection. The subjoined note will 
 
 care of Mr. Pickering — the great champion and patron of Lilliputian 
 tomes, in all languages — and I do confidently recommend this accu- 
 rate, as well as beautiful publication, to the cabinets of all such a3 
 are not provided with either of the previous impressions. It sells for 
 21. 12s. 6d. small — and 5/. 5s. large paper : and in calf, or morocco 
 binding, the aspect at once solaces and cheers. 
 
 * A very full and particular account of the Caxtonian edition of the 
 Confessio Amantis of Gower, 1483. folio, will be found in the Typ. 
 Antiq. vol. i. p. 177-185. The Roxburghe copy of this book produced 
 the enormous sum of 33 61 . — purchased by the Duke of Devonshire. 
 The Merly copy was purchased for 31 5/. by the Duke of Marlborough; 
 and at the sale of the Duke’s books, brought the sum of 205/. 16s. 
 The purchaser was Mr. George Watson Taylor: at the sale of 
 whose library, again, in 1823, it was found to be imperfect, and sold 
 for 57/. 15s. The edition of 1532 is the scarcer and handsomer one 
 of those of Berthelet ; and I know not what infatuation possessed me 
 to give 8/. 18s. 6d. for the second of 1554, at the sale of the Rox- 
 burghe library. The beautiful copy of the edition of 1532, in red 
 morocco binding, which once tempted the classical purchaser upon 
 the shelves of Mr. Triphook (recorded in the Typ. Antiq. vol. iii. 
 page 278) has long since put on wings and flown away. Such book- 
 gems are the very Birds of Paradise of their species. Catch them, 
 enthusiastic and liberally minded “ Young Man!” — catch them, 
 whenever they come across your path. “ Gather the rose-buds 
 while ye may !” 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 685 
 
 shew what are the chief objects of the antiquary’s 
 research.* Coarse and capricious as is Skelton, 
 there is yet an abundance of genuine English humour 
 in his metrical (rather than poetical) effusions. He is 
 the “ dear darling” of the thorough-bred black letter 
 Collector ; who never rests satisfied withour the ear- 
 lier impressions of his versification by Pynson, Faques, 
 or Kele : but the sober reader and general collector 
 will have reason to be contented with the correct and 
 elegant impression of his works put forth (by an un- 
 known editor) in 1736, Svo.'f* 
 
 * Of Lydgate’s rarer pieces, the following (from the press of 
 Caxtori) may be briefly stated. The Work of Sapience; without 
 date, folio. See Typog. Antiq. vol. i. p. 325, 330. Lyf of our Lady , 
 ditto, folio. Id. page 336. Pilgrimage of the Sovole , 1483, folio. Id. 
 p. 152. Chorle and the Byrde : The hors the shepe } and the ghoos ; 
 the Temple of Glas ; Parvus Catho : see id. p. 307, &c. The 
 Siege and Destruction of Troy was printed by Pynson in 1513, folio, 
 (see p. 67 5, ante) and afterwards by Marshe in 1555, folio. The 
 Boke of John Bochas } by Pynson in 1494, folio, is very scarce, in a 
 complete state : it was reprinted by Tottel , in 1554, folio, with the 
 Daunce of Machaubree added. This book is usually found in a large 
 and fine condition $ when it may be valued at 61. 6s. But where 
 exists an ancient edition of Lydgate’s London Lickpenny, pronounced 
 by Mr. Campbell to be “ curious, for the minute picture of the me- 
 tropolis which it exhibits, in the fifteenth century. A specimen (con- 
 tinues Mr. C.) of Lydgate’s humour may be seen in his tale of 
 t( The Prioress and her Three Lovers which Mr. Jamieson has given 
 in his “ Collection of Ballads.” Specimens of the British Poets , vol. i. 
 p. 90, note. But consult Ritson, as alluded to at p. 67 5, ante. 
 
 f How shall I describe the multifarious and strange-conceited” 
 Works of Skelton'!— -a satirist, a lampooner, and a writer in almost 
 every species of verse. Warton, in his Spencer, calls him “ little 
 better qualified for picturesque than satyrical poetry. In the one 
 (continues he) he wants invention : in the other, wit and good 
 manners.” Vol. ii. p. 107. “ There is certainly (says Mr. Camp- 
 
 bell) a vehemence and vivacity in Skelton, which was worthy of 
 
686 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 Stephen Hawes must be noticed were it only for 
 the sake of making my peace with a few of the Bre- 
 thren of the JSotfmrgflC <£iub. He is chiefly known 
 
 being guided by a better taste 5 and the objects of his satire bespeak 
 some degree of public spirit. But his eccentricity in attempts at 
 humour is at once vulgar and flippant, and his style is almost 
 a texture of slang phrases, patched with shreds of French and 
 Latin/' &c. — Specimens , &c. vol. i. page 101-3. Perhaps both 
 Warton and Mr. Campbell are a little too severe. Had Skelton 
 written nothing more than his famous attack upon Cardinal Wol- 
 sey, (of whose downfall he seems to have had something like a 
 poetical foresight) he would have stood high as a bold and intrepid 
 opponent of ambition and hypocrisy, in its most elevated course. 
 The lines, here alluded to, are in the mouth, or at the fingers’ ends, of 
 every poetical antiquary. I refer to page 660 for a brief notice of 
 the scarcer pieces of Skelton : being persuaded that many a fugitive 
 piece is yet to be discovered — from the very nature of the composi- 
 tion and form of publication. See also Ritson’s Bibliographia Poe - 
 iica , p. 102. Mr. Haslewood’s interleaved copy of this latter work 
 furnishes me with a notice of an impression of the far-famed Tun- 
 ning of Elynoure Rummyng, printed by Kytson, but imperfect at 
 the end. I find it superficially noticed in the Typog. Antiq. vol. iv. 
 p. 541. But had it any portrait of Eleanor ? I am necessarily 
 pretty well versed in the history of the reprint of this tract in 1624, 
 containing the well-known portrait of this noted Ale-wife from 
 the account given of it in the Bibliomania , p. 585. Since that account 
 was written, I have paid my respects to the Lady herself, in the 
 library mentioned in the Bibliog. Decam. vol. iii. p. 264 ; and hence 
 sprung up one of the flowers for the Lincolne Nosegay. But the copy 
 of “ the Tunning ,” there described, is not only not unique, but is 
 imperfect : for, once on a day it chanced that, sauntering in that 
 most delicious and bibliomania-inspiring book-visto, ycleped the 
 Bodleian Library — in company with my excellent friend Dr. Bliss — 
 he, the said Doctor, drew me gently apart towards one of the lock- 
 up recesses, and taking down a punchy quarto, of a somewhat 
 dingy aspect, from among the Selden Books — here,” quoth he, 
 here is a perfect Eleanour ; the Lady at Lincoln wants at least a 
 pair of arms,” I was astounded : (e Obstupui, steteruntque com®, 
 et vox faucibus h®sit/’ But it was even so. The truth is, that, in 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 687 
 
 by a poem called the Pastime of Pleasure , of which 
 the first edition appeared in 1509. Good fortune hath 
 
 the reprint of 1624, the portrait of Eleanour is repeated, at the end 
 of the tract — and accompanied by the following verses : — wanting in 
 the copy first mentioned. 
 
 Skelton's Ghost to the Reader. 
 
 Thus Countrymen kinde 
 I pray let me finde 
 For this merry glee. 
 
 No hard censure to he. 
 King Henry the Eight 
 Had a good conceit 
 Of my merry vaine. 
 Though duncicall plaine : 
 It now nothing fits 
 The Times nimble wits ; 
 
 My Laurell and I, 
 
 Are both wither’d dry, 
 
 And you flourish greene. 
 
 In your workes daily seene, 
 That come from the Presse, 
 Well writ I confesse. 
 
 But time will deuouer 
 Your Poets as our. 
 
 And make them as dull 
 As my empty scull. 
 
 A sequel is attached to the foregoing story. It happened that, 
 walking near a grove of poplars, within a bow- shot of Westminster 
 Abbey, 
 
 I shop me in the shrouds as I a Shepherd were ; 
 and after reposing within this genial verdure, I approached and 
 entered a sort of book-cave, where, “ mirabile dictu !,” I saw the 
 identical Eleanour, with her bearded nose and chin, and extended ale- 
 pot, staring me in the face, in like manner in which she gazed upon 
 me at Lincoln ! Our meeting, I need scarcely add, was cordial and 
 enthusiastic. 
 
 But . . . open what book-cabinet you will, distinguished for any 
 thing like taritte£, and there Skelton, in some gear or 
 
 other, will greet you with his quaint rhymes. Justly proud therefore, 
 unquestionably, may be my friend Mr. Francis Freeling, of his Toby 
 Cooke's impression of the “ Salutation," of our poet-laureat Skelton. 
 His copy of it beginneth thus : 
 
 A Skeltonicall Salutation, 
 
 Or condyne gratulation 
 And just vexation 
 Of the Spanish Nation 
 That in a bravado, 
 
 Spent many a Crusado 
 In setting forth an Armado, 
 
 England to invado. 
 
POETRY. 
 
 [English* 
 
 &S8 
 
 recently enabled me to discover another (and pre- 
 viously unknown) production of the same author, 
 called the Comfort of Lovers ; of which some account 
 will be found, perhaps a little out of order, in the pre- 
 ceding pages.* But the popularity of Hawes, what- 
 
 But this could not be the production of Skelton, who died in 1529. 
 I do not dispute the ancient possession of the copy by Toby Philpot . 
 Several of the pieces of Skelton were collected and reprinted by 
 Marshe in 1568, 8vo. under the title of Pithy , Pleasant , and Profitable 
 Workes of Maister Skelton. See Typ. Antiq. vol. iv. page 508.f Sir 
 M. M. 8ykes possessed this edition of Marshe, which was sold at the 
 sale of his library for 19/. 85 . 6d. he had also the Speak Parrot , &c. 
 by Day, which was sold for 51. 12$. 6d. and Why come ye not to Court 
 and Philip Sparrow , by Veale : sold for 9/. Mr. Heber possesses 
 copies of all these rare and estimable books, in which Eleanor Rum- 
 ming is, I presume, to be found in all imaginable purity. The Rev. 
 Mr. Rice could not possess the Roxburghe copy of Marshe’s edition 
 of 1568, under the sum of 32/. 11$. But he neither frets nor fumes 
 thereat. He possesses his Eleanor j and in the language of George 
 Steevens, “ sighs no more.” The reprint of Marshe’s text in 1736, 
 8vo. is becoming rare : and is worth 2/. 2$. in good condition and 
 coating. 
 
 * Page 673-4, ante. Of the first edition of the Pastime of Pleasure , 
 in 1509, 4to. — found in the library there noticed— the text begins 
 thus : after the destruction of the title, and of the greater part of 
 eight leaves, which have been dreadfully devoured or mutilated by 
 (apparently) some hungry quadrupedical animal. 
 
 The lady Gramar in all humble wyse 
 Dyde me receuye in to her goodly scoole. 
 
 On the reverse of sign. T. iiii, in fours, is the following colophon : 
 Enprynted at London in Fletestrete , at the sygne of the Sonne, by 
 
 t Consult also the Censura Literaria, vol. ii.p. 190 , which makes us half crazy 
 for the Balletys and Dyties salacyous advised by Master Skelton, Laureat : printed 
 by Pynson, in the black letter, in eight pages only. It begins in this soothing, 
 husli-a-by, manner ; 
 
 Lullay, lullay, lyke a chylde. 
 
 With what a via lactea of black-letter stars is this gem incorporated ! Who among 
 the Sons of Liverpool Book -Rights (for the communication comes from that 
 quarter) possesses the treasures therein described ? 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY, 
 
 689 
 
 ever it might have been daring his own time, must now 
 depend on a perusal of the analysis of his Pastime 
 of Pleasure by Warton. The whole of this piece of 
 criticism is the masterly effort of an ingenious and 
 eloquent advocate. The sentence of Mr. Campbell, 
 less favourable to the reputation of the poet, appears 
 to be more consistent with the canons of just cri- 
 ticism. 
 
 At length we reach the illustrious names of Surrey 
 and Wyatt ; whose productions, during a period 
 devoted to dull allegory, duller romance, and the 
 dullest of all possible didactic and moral poetry, strike 
 us as a green and refreshing oasis in a dreary desert. 
 At the mention of their names — the heart of Horten- 
 sius feels an increased glow of inspiration : and the 
 last and most learned Editor of their works finds 
 himself naturally, as it were, discoursing with many 
 of the most illustrious characters of the reign of Henry 
 VIII. But the bibliomaniac secretly rejoices in the 
 possession of the earlier, rarer, and more precious edi- 
 tions of the Songes and Sonnettes , as among the kei- 
 melia of his Collection.* 
 
 The name of Lord Sackville is consecrated in a 
 great measure by the publication of that copious col- 
 
 Wynkyn de W orde, the yere of oure lorde M. v C. & ix ended xi daye of 
 January. A copy of the second edition of 1517, 4to. was sold for 
 84/. at the sale of the Roxburghe library ; and of the third, by Way - 
 lande , in 1554, 4to. for 40Z. 19s. at the sale of Bindley’ s library : see 
 p. 647, ante. Respecting Hawes, consult Campbell’s Specimens , &c. 
 vol. i. p. 94. 
 
 * The Songs and Sonnettes ” of the Earl of Surrey were first pub- 
 lished by Tottelj in a very small 4to. volume, in 1557, in the black 
 letter. This edition is almost unfindable. A perfect copy of it 
 would be worth fifty guineas at the least. It does not appear in 
 the collections of Pearson, Farmer, Steevens, and Reed. Nor do I 
 
 Y Y 
 
690 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English 
 
 lection of poetry called The Mirrour for' Magistrates , 
 of which the earliest edition appeared in 1559, 4to. ; 
 but a minute account of all the earlier impressions ap- 
 pears in the last and best edition of that work, put 
 forth by Mr. Joseph Plaslewood, in 1815, 3 vols. 4to. 
 a performance, as perfect in its kind as the archaeolo- 
 gical annals of the nineteenth century have witnessed. 
 
 indeed, at this moment, call to mind, any existing copy.* But surely 
 Mr. Heber must have it? And what is that edition by Tottel, in 
 12mo. in the Capel Closet, in the library of Trinity College Cam- 
 bridge — of which another copy is in the University library — noticed 
 to me in a long letter, by my ardent young bibliomaniacal friend Mr. 
 Hartshorne?+ Singularly enough, Surrey’s translation of Certain 
 bokes of Virgiles AEnceis was published the same year, in 4to. : which 
 is so scarce, that no other copy of it is known but that in the library 
 of Dulwich College j from which Mr. Bolland reprinted it for the 
 Roxburghe Club. The Songs and Sonnets were reprinted in 1565, 
 15 67) 1569, 1574, 1585, 1587, l^mo. and perhaps again in the six- 
 teenth century. These editions are all very rare, and indeed require 
 something like a bibliographical review. Lord Spencer possesses the 
 third of 1567, considered the most correct of the earlier ones, and 
 which was made subservient to Dr. Nott’s researches. Sir M. M. 
 Sykes has the edition of 1585 ; and an imperfect copy of that of 
 1587 was sold for 81. 10.s. at the sale of Horne Tooke’s library. Con- 
 sult the Cens . Lit . vol. i. p. 244 : Warton's Engl. Poet . vol. iii. p. 11, 
 12, 60, 69. Curll published the Poems of Surrey and Wyatt in 
 1717, 8vo. which is usually sold for 1 1. Is. : and I find a copy of it, 
 ©n large paper, collated with the first edition of 1557,” marked 
 at SL 3s. in the Bibl. Angl. Poet. p. 329. Dr. Nott’s edition is, for 
 
 * On further investigation, I find that a copy of it, with four leaves reprinted , 
 was sold at the sale of Bindley’s library for 17/* No early edition of the works 
 of the most accomplished English nobleman of his day, appears to be in the Bri- 
 tish Museum. See Cat. vol. iii. sign. 3 L. Nor was any similar copy in Lord Ox- 
 ford’s library. 
 
 f Thus far the first edition of this work. I am now enabled to add, from ocular 
 demonstration, that the very copy of it above alluded to, is the first edition, and 
 in the most original and entire state of preservation. I should say, it was worth 
 more than the price just mentioned. The cunning reader must fill up this 
 
 hiatus. 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 691 
 
 There are those who may accuse me of false praise in 
 this declaration, and observe that truth has been some- 
 
 plan, copiousness, and erudition, like a Dutch quarto Variorum of an 
 ancient Classic. Those who love much digging for healthful exercise, 
 wall be delighted with such toil as these handsome 4to. volumes hold 
 out. But I should submit how far the texts of the several poets, ac- 
 companied by the notes alone, might not be received as a most accept- 
 able republication? The Lives of Surrey and Wyatt should on no 
 account be omitted : for they are equally interesting from matter and 
 manner. Dr. Nott’s reflections on the death of Lord Surrey, are those 
 of a Christian Philosopher, who leads us to consider such shuddering 
 events in the precise light in which they ought to be considered. I 
 subjoin them* with heart-felt gratification. This splendid work was 
 published in 1815, in 2 vols. 4to. and may be had in handsome calf 
 binding for about 41. 14s. 6d. There are copies on large paper. 
 Great however as may be my reverence for the general splendour of 
 Lord Surrey’s character, and for his intellectual attainments in parti- 
 cular, I cannot withhold my assent to the animated, and, as it seems 
 to me, just criticism of Mr. Campbell on this subject. “1 am not 
 indeed (says Mr. C.) disposed to consider the influence of Lord Sur- 
 rey’s works upon our language in the very extensive and important 
 light in which it is viewed by Dr. Nott. I am doubtful if that learned 
 Editor has converted many readers to his opinion, that Lord Surrey 
 was the first who gave us metrical instead of rhythmical versification. 
 . . . Surrey was not the inventor of our metrical versification $ nor 
 had his genius the potent voice and the magic spell which rouse all the 
 dormant energies of a language. In certain walks of composition, 
 
 * “ Such was the Earl of Surrey. Perhaps an unavailing speculation may 
 mingle with our regrets, and tempt us to ask why so much excellence was suffered 
 to perish so untimely. The question is a vain one. It is not applicable to Surrey’s 
 fate alone. It may be asked by every parent who has lost a child of virtuous pro- 
 mise. The answer, as far as we are concerned, is an easy one. We know not now 
 the scope of God’s providence. That knowledge is reserved for a better and a more 
 perfect state ; when all that at present perplexes human reason being explained, it 
 will be found that the general interests of virtue have been promoted by the suffer- 
 ings, no less than by the exaltation, of the innocent When the good and the 
 
 great are taken early hence, we may conclude them to have attained early to that 
 perfection which was required of them : and console ourselves with believing, that, 
 had they been continued longer here, they might have lost somewhat of their excel- 
 lence.” Vol. i. p. cvii. 
 
POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 692 
 
 what sacrificed to friendship ; but I respect my friend 
 and the public too much to be guilty of such an act 
 of indiscretion.* 
 
 Fain would I avoid scrambling through the briars 
 and thorns of English Poetry — in which even few dog- 
 roses blossom — till we reach the period of Spenser ; 
 
 though not in the highest, viz. in the ode, elegy, and epitaph, he set 
 a chaste and delicate example ; but he was cut off too early in life, 
 and cultivated poetry too slightly, to carry the pure stream of his 
 style into the broad and bold channels of inventive fiction,’' &c. 
 There is no room for more. See his Specimens of the British Poets , 
 vol. i. p. 113. 
 
 * For the editions of the Mirrour for Magistrates, the curious will 
 necessarily consult Mr. Haslewood’s ample and beautiful edition of 
 the work, above lauded. The original first appeared in 1559. 4to. 
 ni nety- two leaves : then, in 1563, 4to. 178 leaves (vires acquirit 
 eundo”) next, in 157L 174 leaves : again, in 1574, first and second 
 parts, 240 leaves. But let us go at once to what Mr. Haslewood 
 calls the Standard Edition . . of 1587, 4to. 283 leaves; edited by 
 Newton, Higgins, and Baldwin : again enlarged in 1610, 4to. 1619 : 
 448 leaves. Last, and far from being least, the edition of 1815, in 
 three 4to. volumes, by Mr. Haslewood, of which only 150 copies were 
 printed. The pages of the Bibl. Angl. Poet. (pp. 201-9) are rich in 
 early editions of this work ; from the first of 1559, valued at 25Z. to 
 that of 1610, (“ a most beautiful copy in three vols.) at 15Z. See 
 also Mr. Thorpe's Catalogue , no. 8686, 8720. As to the “ primary” 
 share, which Sackville, the first Lord Buckhurst and Earl of Dorset 
 had in this work, consult thelndroduction of Mr. H. But Mr. Camp- 
 bell’s sentiments are worth transcribing. . . “ Lord Sackville wit- 
 
 nessed the horrors of Queen Mary’s reign, and I conceive that it is 
 not fanciful to trace in his poetry the tone of an unhappy age. His 
 plan for the Mirror for Magistrates is a mass of darkness and des- 
 pondency. He proposed to make the figure of Sorrow introduce us 
 in Hell to every unfortunate great character of English history. The 
 poet, like Dante, takes us to the gates of Hell ; but he does not, like 
 the Italian poet, bring us back again . . . Dismal as his allegories 
 may be, his genius certainly displays in them considerable power.” 
 Specimens , &c. vol. i. p. 119 . 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 693 
 
 when a more magnificent cast of character marked 
 both the diction and the imagery of our Bards. But 
 it must not be. A host of Roxburghers will transfix 
 me with their “ long-shadow-casting” spears. If I omit 
 the names of Churchyard, Turberville, Barnabe 
 Googe, arid Tottel. And yet, previously to the 
 mention of these half idolised names, it is fitting that 
 I do not pass over in silence that of the author of one 
 of the most extraordinary satires of this or any other 
 age. I mean, Roy ; and his Satire against Cardinal 
 Wolsey .* 
 
 What is to be said of the strange and oft-times in- 
 comprehensible fecundity o 1 the first of these pet 
 Churchyard ?+ The very titles of his works, (all of 
 which I will not venture to enumerate) are perfect 
 
 * There were two editions of the work, which were printed ano- 
 nymously, in very small duodecimo, in the black letter. The second 
 was printed at Wesel in 1546 : but the reprint of this extraordinary 
 poetical tract, in the ixth. vol. of the Uarleian Miscellany, will satisfy 
 every reasonable reader and enquirer. A copy of the original edi- 
 tions, of which Mr. Hibbert possesses that of 1546, has been sold for 
 as high a sum as 16 or 20 guineas. 
 
 f Notwithstanding the kindly-furnished aid of Mr. Haslewood’s 
 interleaved copy of Ritson’s Bibliographia Poetica — plentifully 
 sprinkled with ms. notes, — in which Thomas Churchyard is not 
 forgotten : — notwithstanding also the notices in the Censura Lite - 
 raria, vol. ii. p. 97 } 305-9 ; vol. iii. page 337* 343 ; vol. iv. page 45, 
 157» 265, 365} and in the British Bibliographer, vol. iv. 345 — I feel 
 neither disposed nor justified in making a formal display of the 
 xvii. pieces in print of Churchyard’s Muse. The earliest production 
 of his pen (for the Mirrour for a Man , &c. is unknown) was the 
 Sparke of Friendship , &c. in 1558. At the sale of the Roxburghe 
 Library, two small 4to. volumes — containing the Challenge, 1593 ; 
 Chippes, 1578; (3d edition) $ Worthiness of Wales, 1587 ; d Light 
 Bondell of lively Discourses called Churchyard's Charge, 15S0j Con- 
 tention betwixte Churchy arde and Camell, 1560 } the Queen Majesties 
 Entertainment in Suffolk and Norfolk, no date ; the Wofull Warres in 
 
694 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 reflexes of the motley imagery of his mind. We have 
 his Chips, his Choice, his Charge, Chance, Charity, 
 Challenge, and I know not what ! An historian, a con- 
 troversialist, a translator, and an original poet — we 
 are alternately bewildered by the variety of his per- 
 formances, and astounded at the enormous prices 
 which the greater part of them produce. It is in vain 
 you depreciate, ridicule, and run down, the black letter 
 
 Flaunders, do. — these volumes produced the sum of 96Z.f The 
 rarest of all Churchyard’s pieces is the three first Bookes of Ovid de 
 Tristibus, 1578 : of which only one copy (in the collection of Earl 
 Spencer, and reprinted by his Lordship for the Roxburghe Club) is 
 known. It came from the library of Dr. Farmer. The Bibliotheca 
 Anglo-Poetica, published by Messrs. Longman and Co. in 1815, and 
 full of rarities of almost every description, is rich in early Church- 
 yards. The second edition of the Chippes of 1575, (the first, of 
 1565, is only found in Mr. Heber’s Collection) is valued there at 12 1. 
 At the sale of Dr. Wright’s library in 1787, it brought 31. 13s. 6d. : 
 and the Choice , 1579, 4 to. 2 1. 14s. The “ Charge ’’ of Churchyard, 
 or his Light Bundle of Lively Discourses,” was sold for 11Z. 5s. at 
 Reed’s sale. Of his Choice , 1579, 4to. my friend Mr. Freeling pos- 
 sesses a clean and most beautiful copy. It is among the rarest pieces 
 of the author. The Charities is a synonyme with the “ Musical Con- 
 sort of Heavenlie Harmony,” mentioned in the sub-note. Of 
 the “ Chance ” containing fancies , verses , epitaphs , &c. 1580, 4to. 
 I know nothing : and of the Contention betwixt Churchyard and 
 Camell , upon David Dycers Dreame , 1560-4 — I was going to say, I 
 desire to know nothing : but Ritson’s note, at p. 160, is somewhat in- 
 viting to a knowledge of it. Of the Worthiness of Wales , 1587, 4to. 
 
 t They were purchased by the Duke of Marlborough, and at the sale of his li- 
 brary in 1819, produced the sum of 85/. The Challenge alone, in the Bibl. Angl. 
 Poetica, is marked at 45/. : even with “ a manuscript title.” See an account of 
 the contents of this very rare book, in the Cens. Lit. vol. ii. p. 307. Mr. Clarke, in 
 his Report. Bibliog. has noticed an edition of 1580, on the authority of Reed's Cat. 
 no. 6717 : but no such edition exists. Reed’s copy was sold for 17/. 10$. : a great 
 price, at that period. The Musical Consort of Heavenly Harmonie f 1595, 4to. 
 which produced 8/. 15$. at Reed’s sale, is marked at 40/. in the Bibl, Angl. Poet. 
 p. 43. See the Cens. Lit. vol. iii. p. 337 : but two small poems in the ** Consort” 
 are omitted to be noticed. What a note ( M Bank,” or otherwise) is 40/. 
 
English.] 
 
 rOETRY. 
 
 695 
 
 slim quartos — in which the poetry of Churchyard is 
 usually cased — to collectors of the olden school of 
 poetry. Speak till you are hoarse, and declaim till 
 language fails you — with Licius — he will be only 
 “ subridens” all the time ; and, pointing to his yew- 
 ornamented Churchyards, will exclaim, “ I am eclipsed 
 only by Atticus.” Let us therefore leave Atticus 
 and Licius at rest ; smiling, in their slumbers, at all 
 the Chips by which they are surrounded. 
 
 There are names, about this period, (and distin- 
 guished, before the splendid genius of Spenser eclipsed 
 their reputation,) which merit a slender record in these 
 pages. There is Turberville and Googe ;* and 
 
 I once possessed a copy, in the purest state, and uncut : obtained of 
 
 my worthy and most curious peripatetic acquaintance, Mr. K * 
 
 for the sum of 10s. 6d. It has since shifted hands j for the late Mr. 
 Sancho, the black bookseller, raved so exceedingly about it, for his 
 principal customer the late Right Hon. W. Elliot, that I was forced 
 to forego its possession. But enough of Churchyard . . and yet I 
 question if any one possesses a perfect set of his works — and, if so, 
 whether they would not produce 200 sovereigns — supposing them 
 (as all libraries are so destined) to come to the hammer ? 
 
 * Turberville and Goooe find no place in the elegant pages of 
 Mr. Campbell : but they are tolerable lads of metal in their way : and 
 Mr. Kaslewood means to christen his tenth child Barnabe” out of 
 compliment to the latter — who bore that same Christian name. Tur- 
 berville’s Epitaphs , Epigrams , Songs and Sonnetts, were published in 
 1567* and again in 1575, small 8vo. A copy of an edition of the date 
 
 * An amiable, sensible, and obliging old gentleman — regularly seen, every fine 
 day, (health permitting) between Hammersmith and London. Kis costume be- 
 cometh a Collector of black-letter Churchyards. It consists of a brown suit of 
 clothes, surmounted by a brown, unpowdered, and highly polished, curled wig : 
 topped by a shovel hat. A hooked crab-stick, of stately dimensions, is usually 
 brandished in his right hand. Mr* K * * loves his apricots and peaches next to his 
 books ; and of these latter, he descants largely and loudly upon Camden, Sydney, 
 Locke, and Milton. He has turned his septuagenarian corner ; and is one of the 
 happiest and most communicative old gentlemen between Kensington and Kew 
 Bridge. 
 
696 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 there are sundry others* embalmed in certain miscel- 
 laneous Collections of Poetry, which are well known 
 
 of 1570 is in the Capeh Closet in the library of Trinity College, Cam- 
 bridge 5 and another similar one is marked at 21 1. in the Bibl. Angl. 
 Poet. p. 358. His Heroicall Epistles of Ovid , 1567, 1569, 1600, &c. 
 are well spoken of by-Warton, Hist. Engl. Poetry, vol. iii. p. 420. A 
 eopy of the first edition is in the Capel library just mentioned. A 
 copy of one, without date, is marked in the Bibl. Angl. Poet., page 
 359 at 12Z. : and of that of 1600, at 81. 8s. Warton was ignorant of 
 an edition of the Eglogs of the Poet B. Mantuan. Carmelitan. by 
 Turberville, of the same date of 1567 5 supposing that of 1594 to be 
 the first. Again I may notice Turberville’s Tragical Tales, (a transla- 
 tion) 1576-1587, 12mo. : to the latter of which editions his Epitaphs 
 and Sonnets are attached. See the Cens. Liter aria, vol. iii. p. 71-5. 
 
 Whatever may be Mr. Haslewood’s attachment to Barnabe 
 Googe — and I can well conceive his attachment to the Christian 
 name * — I am not in the least surprised at the omission of this poet by 
 Mr. Campbell. Warton has vouchsafed to bestow a little attention 
 upon his translation of the Zodiac of Palingenius, first printed in 
 1561, 12mo. and a volume of sufficient rarity, since Messrs. Long- 
 man and Co. mark a copy of it at 51. 5s. in the Bibl. Angl. Poet, page 
 129. See also Hist. Engl. Poet. vol. iii. p. 449 : and Cens. Lit. vol. 
 ii. p. 206. f A copy of the second edition in 1565, which has some 
 additions, is marked in the same richly furnished catalogue of old 
 poetry at 91. 9s. Googe’s “ Eglogs, Epytaphes, and Sonnettes ,” pub- 
 lished by Colwell, without date, (but, as it should seem from Warton, 
 vol. iii. p. 450, in 1563) is among the very scarcest books in the lan- 
 guage. Steevens knew of no scarcer book. It was sold at his sale 
 
 * From his publication of drunken Barnabe’s Journal, 1820, very small 4to. 
 two vois. ; a publication, which is as beautiful and winning in appearance, as it is 
 curious and convincing in reality. Mr. H. has beyond all doubt satisfactorily prov- 
 ed that Braithwait was the author of this most singular and humourous perform- 
 ance. The edition is in part a fac- simile of the first edition; a book, scarcely 
 larger than a professed snuff- taker’s snuff box, but of such rarity, in a perfect state 
 —with the frontispiece, by Marshall— as to have been sold for 16/. 1“ have 
 started ” two copies of this first edition, within the sound of the chimes of All 
 Saints church at Northampton. 
 
 t Copious extracts from this wretchedly dull work are given in vol. ix. p. 133- 
 279. But why were they given ? 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 697 
 
 to the curious under the fascinating titles of “ The 
 Paradise of Dainty Devices , 1576, quarto; Breton's 
 Small Handful of Fragrant Flowers , 1575, 12mo : 
 KendaVs Flowers of Epigrams, 1577, 12mo. ; Robin- 
 sons Handful of Pleasant Delights , 1584, 12mo. and 
 the Phoenix Nest , 1593, 4to. Of all these poetic trea- 
 sures, some brief account is given below. When in 
 line condition, they are greedily caught at by the 
 curious Bibliomaniac ; who hastens to protect them 
 by choice morocco coatings. I have heard it affirmed 
 that these rarities exist, in an almost untouched state, 
 with lapping-over-velium bindings ; but I lack faith 
 to credit the report.* 
 
 for 10 l. 15s.., and is now the property of Mr. Heber. A third produp- 
 tion of Googe is his translation of Naogeorgus Popish Kingdom , or 
 the reign of Antichrist, written in Latin verse > 1570, 4to. See War- 
 ton, vol. iii. page 322, note m : but particularly the Cens. Lit . vol. v. 
 p. 37 6, 381. In the Bibl. Angl. Poet. p. 131, a copy of it is marked 
 at 4 1. 4s. In the British Bibliographer , volume ii. page 618, there is 
 a long account of another (supposed) work of this poet, called The 
 Ship of Safegarde, 1569, 12mo. : from the only known copy of the 
 work in the library of Earl Spencer at Althorp : but why the author 
 of that elaborate article (Mr. Haslewood) should conceive the initials 
 G. B. inserted in the title page to be placed erroneously for B.G.* — 
 and hence assign the book to Barnabe Googe— is beyond my powers, 
 or habits of reasoning, to account : — <( et adhuc sub judice lis est.” 
 
 * I hardly know any bliss more thoroughly satisfactory and com- 
 plete, than would be the possession of copies of these works in the 
 manner here alluded to. But “ the young” Bibliomaniac’s sensibi- 
 lity must be neither tortured nor trifled with. The supposed fact 
 must not take possession of his imagination or judgment an instant. 
 To begin with the Paradise of Dainty Devices , which contained poe- 
 tical specimens of some of the most illustrious Noblemen and Gen- 
 
 * The reader should be informed that the initials B. G. are sometimes printed 
 as those of Bernard Garter. See Wartoris Hist. Engl. Poetry , vol. iv. p. 249* 
 edit. 1824, 8vo. 
 
698 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 It is with the notice of most of the preceding wri- 
 ters — to which the name of Bishop Hall must be 
 added — that the immortal History of English Poetry , 
 
 tlemen of the day. It was first printed in 1576: again, in 1577, 
 1578, 1580, 1585, 1596, and 1600. A perfect copy of the first edi- 
 tion is of extreme rarity j but those of 1 580 (of which a copy was 
 sold for 53 l. at the sale of the Roxburghe Library) and 1600, have 
 the more copious contents : and from these. Sir Egerton Brydges 
 published his edition, in 1810, Svo. ; which, for intrinsic value, is 
 doubtless the most desirable. It appeared in the third volume of the 
 British Bibliographer. (< Breton's Small Handful of Fragrant Flowers ” 
 are only (it should seem) “for Women to smell to." Ritson gives us 
 the full title j* and a copy of it was sold at Mr. Bindley’s sale, part 
 iii. no. 1135, for 14Z. Kendall's Flowres of Epigrammes out of sundry 
 the most singular authors (from which, by the by. Martial furnishes 
 the greater number — see Warton, vol. iii. p. 432) is an exceedingly 
 rare book, and was published in 1577, 12mo. A particular account 
 of it appeared in the British Bibliographer , vol. iv. p. 150-7 j from 
 which it seems that only two copies were known to the contributor 
 of the article. I will not pretend to affix the pecuniary value 5 but if 
 ever I am at the left elbow of Mr. Evans, when such an article should 
 be put up by him, I would say, “ Let us begin gently, Mr. Evans, with 
 ten guineas.” Do I hear Mr.'Thorpe reply — “ And three ?" “ Fif- 
 teen for me" — responds Mr. Jolly. But what is all this ? It has 
 been sold by Mr. Evans, at Bindley’s sale, for 16Z. though one leaf in 
 the middle was ms. Robinson's Handefull of pleasant Delites , 1584, 
 12mo. is a unique. A Mr. Byng purchased it at a book-stall for 
 threepence: and at the sale of his library this hand-full” was 
 disposed of for a pocket full” of 25 guineas. It was purchased 
 by the Duke of Marlborough, and was sold at the sale of his library, 
 in 1819, for 26/. 15s.: see no. 3533. It wants one leaf. Consult 
 the Cens. Lit. vol. vi. p. 258 5 vii. p. 329. The Phoenix Nest — “ built 
 up with the most rare and refined works of Noblemen, worthy Knights 
 gallant Gentlemen, Masters of Arts, and brave Schollers,” &c. 1593, 
 4to. is almost of equal rarity $ and is described by Mr. Park in the 
 Cens. Lit. vol. iii. p. 35. Who is now in possession of the copy here 
 
 Tims : A small handfull of fragrant flowers, gathered out of the lovely garden of 
 sacred scripture, fit for any worshipfull gentlewoman to smell unto. 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 699 
 
 by Thomas Warton, concludes ; and notwithstand- 
 ing the general diffusion of talent, of almost every 
 description, at the present day, that work still conti- 
 nues immaturely concluded. Doubtless it would be 
 difficult to obtain such a rare union of intellect as is 
 there displayed. The poet, the critic, the antiquary, 
 the man of taste, as well as of genius, are concentrated 
 in those matchless pages ; but although there is no 
 necessity to consider its completion a hopeless task, 
 we may be allowed to hail the able and successful 
 manner in which Warton’s text has been reprinted* 
 The additional notes, are, for the greater part, both 
 curious and learned ; especially in matters connected 
 with northern and Celtic literature — to which our own 
 language and early literature bear considerable affi- 
 nity. A work, so long wished for, and so ably exe- 
 
 described - and how shall I record the “ biddings’' for this truly 
 bright and beautiful object ? To these Nosegays of auncient flowers 
 — ever fair and ever young” — add the Collections known by the 
 titles of England's Parnassus, England's Helicon , and the Garden of the 
 Muses ; each printed in a small octavo in 1600 : but of which the last 
 is by very much the . . . rarest volume. It is called <c Belvedere, or 
 the Garden of the Muses." See Cens. Lit. vol. iii. p. 29. The first 
 two have been reprinted j and the Helicon is a truly elegant and 
 interesting production. A more choice critical selection of the poetry 
 of the period could hardly have been made. In the mad times of the 
 Roxburghe sale, a copy of the Parnassus brought 21/. ; and of the 
 Helicon, 24 1. 13 s. 6d. But the reprints have pulled down these 
 prices more than one peg. 
 
 * In four octavo volumes, 1824 $ without name of editor : which, 
 considering the able manner in which he has accomplished his object, 
 is to be regretted. It is also to be regretted that the type, both of 
 the text and notes, is so small. Neatly and accurately the work is 
 doubtless printed : but Warton is always deserving of a quarto form. 
 We became first acquainted with him in that garb $ and early asso- 
 ciations in these matters are both delightful and venial. 
 
700 POETRY. [English. 
 
 cuted, may challenge the congratulations of all taste- 
 ful English philologists. 
 
 We are now to enter, as it were, “ in medias res — ” 
 when the poet and the dramatist appeared in their 
 full vigour; when the genius of Spenser and of 
 Shakspeare threw a lusti'e upon the reign of Eliza- 
 beth, scarcely eclipsed by the success of her arms by 
 land and by sea. The very heroes of her reign were 
 embued with the soul of poetry ; for where shall we 
 find “ high thoughts seated in a heart of courtesy,” if 
 they be not found in the thoughts and actions of Syd- 
 ney and Raleigh ?* With Shakspeare and his dra- 
 matic successors, I have here nothing to do; as they 
 are reserved for the ensuing and last department of 
 this work. 
 
 * I find that I am, unintentionally, borrowing the ideas, if not the 
 language, of Mr. Campbell. “ In the reign of Elizabeth (says this 
 elegant and nervous critic) the English mind put forth its energies in 
 every direction, exalted by a purer religion, and enlarged by new 
 views of truth. This was an age of loyalty, adventure, and generous 
 emulation. The chivalrous character was softened by intellectual 
 pursuits, while the genius of chivalry itself still lingered, as if unwil- 
 ling to depart, and paid his last homage to a warlike and female 
 reign ! A degree of romantic fancy remained in the manners and 
 superstitions of the people ; and allegory might be said to parade the 
 streets in their public pageants and festivities. Quaint and pedantic 
 as those allegorical exhibitions might often be, they were neverthe- 
 less more expressive of erudition, ingenuity, and moral meaning, than 
 they had been in former times. The philosophy of the highest minds 
 still partook of a visionary character. A poetical spirit infused itself 
 into the practical heroism of the age : and some of the Worthies of 
 that period seem less like ordinary men, than like beings called forth 
 out of fiction, and arrayed in the brightness of her dreams. They 
 had ff high thoughts seated in a heart of courtesy.” J The Life of 
 Sir Philip Sydney was poetry put into action.’’ Specimens , &c. vol. L. 
 p. 120. 
 
 An expression used by Sir P. Sidney, 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 701 
 
 The order in which the poems of Spenser appeared, 
 is as follows. The Shephearde's Calender , 1579, 4to. 
 reprinted in 1581, 1586, 1591, 1597 ; translated into 
 Latin, and published in 1653, 1732.* The Faerie 
 Queen, First Part, 1590, 4to. : Second Part, 1596, 4to. 
 two vols. : 1609, folio; 1758, 4to. 3 vols. : 1758, by- 
 Church, 8vo. 4 vols. : 1758, by Upton, 4to. 2 vols. 
 1758, 8vo. 2 vols. : anonymous editor.'}- A miscella- 
 neous volume, Complaints , Ruines of Time , &c. was 
 published in 1590-1 : which was followed up by some 
 pastoral pieces, beginning 1 with Colin Clouts come 
 home again , in 1595, 4 to. These, and other similar 
 minor performances, are specified in the subjoined 
 note.J 
 
 And who, may I take the liberty to ask — who was 
 
 * Copies of the first edition of the Shepherds’ Calender, of 
 1579, are rare. I find it not in the libraries of Steevens, Reed, 
 Bindley, and Perry, A copy of the third edition of 1586 was pur- 
 chased by me for Sir M. M. Sykes, at the sale of the Roxburghe li- 
 brary for 21/. .• a sum infinitely beyond its marketable value. 
 
 f In the very surprising catalogue of Mr. Thorpe, 1824, part ii. 
 no. 9018-2024, I find, amidst several early and scarce pieces of 
 Spenser, two perfect copies of bath parts of the first edition of the 
 Fairy Queen ; one marked at 3/. 13s. 6d. and the other at 41. 14s. 6d. 
 The latter, in russia binding. 
 
 X At the sale of the Roxburghe library, I purchased for the late 
 Sir M. M. Sykes, all the small pieces of Spenser, 1591, 5, 6, in two 
 4to. volumes for 30/. 9s . ; but at the sale of that Baronet’s library, 
 they produced but 19/. 5s. The Colin Clout's come again , 1595, is 
 marked at 41. 14s. 6d. by Mr. Thorpe : and has been sold for as high 
 as 10/. See the Bibl. Angl. Poet. p. 452. The Teares of the Muses, 
 Virgil's Gnat, Prosopopoia, or Mother Hubbard's Tale , Ruines of 
 Rome , Muiopotmos, or the Fate of the Butterflies, Visions of the World's 
 Vanitie, and Petrarch, 1590-1, all first editions, are marked, in 
 russia, at 3/. 3s. by Mr. Thorpe : who also marks a separate copy of 
 the Muiopotmos for 1 8s. This piece of intelligence will, I dare ven- 
 ture a trifle, lead more than two competitors to post away to secure 
 
702 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 that William Percy, (a supposed brother of Henry, 
 the ninth Earl of Northumberland) whose Sonnets to 
 the fairest Ccelia , published in 1594, 4to. produced 
 the stupendous sum of 301. at the sale of the library 
 of Sir M. M. Sykes ? While, at the same sale, Master 
 Smith’s Chloris , or the Complaint of the Passionate 
 Despised Shepheard, (in sonnets) 1596. 4 to. produced 
 within a pound of the same sum.* 
 
 It were idle to enter into a minute catalogue of the 
 various editions of the Collected Works of Spenser, 
 after the bibliographical and critical labours of the last 
 Editor of the poet ; whose “ Variorum” edition of him, 
 (if it may be permitted me to use that term) is, in all 
 respects, so superior to every preceding edition, that I 
 will not allow my “ Young Man” — and much less my 
 “ elderly Gentleman,” — to take any rest, till a well- 
 coated copy of Todd’s Spenser glitter upon his 
 shelves.-^ 
 
 it. Fly, fleance fly — and already, in imagination, I see it in the 
 cherry-wood fineered book case of Malvolio. 
 
 * The first of the above rare pieces wanted only one copy of being 
 unique. It was purchased by Mr. Thorpe. The other copy was first 
 brought to notice in the Censura Literaria. 
 
 t It may be yet worth while to take some transient notice of an 
 edition or two of the collected Works of Spenser before that of Mr. 
 Todd. In 1611, appeared the second folio of the Faery Queen, and 
 the first of the Minor Poems — their author being called <c England's 
 Arch Poet." The very same edition, having also a fresh title-page, 
 appeared in 1617 *• with the dates of 1612-13 to the latter part of the 
 volume. Beautiful copies of this neatly printed folio are frequently 
 found. The reign of James I. was the period of beautiful binding; 
 and in the libraries of old family mansions you see copies of this 
 favourite edition, of the then favourite poet, in dark or grey calf, 
 richly studded and stamped with glittering gold. I may mention 
 the first portable, or Elzevir like edition, in that of Mr. Hughes : 
 published by Tonson in 1715, 8vo. 6 vols. : but its intrinsic merit 
 elicits no praise. There be those who make much of it, when bound 
 
English.] POETRY. 703 
 
 Referring* the works of Shakspeare and Ben Jonson 
 to the ensuing* department, I proceed at once to . . . 
 the notice of Milton. But no : — it must not be . . . 
 Hundreds of black-letter sharp-shooters spring up 
 from their ambuscades, and level their deeply-loaded 
 carbines at me, threatening destruction if X allow such 
 names as Gascoigne , Hall , Breton , Lodge , Marlow, 
 Munday , Chester , Herbert , Herrick , Sandy s, Rowland, 
 and Southwell to pass unrecorded ! ! As I am a great 
 enemy to premature dissolution, of every description, 
 I am most anxious to escape this meditated slaughter ; 
 and shall incorporate a few of the more popular pieces 
 of these poets in the subjoined note.* 
 
 in the red morocco of the period : but copies in this state are of 
 exceedingly great rarity. I shall only farther notice the exquisitely 
 printed edition, superintended by Dr. Aikin , in 1806, 8vo. 6 vols. : of 
 which copies in any state, but especially on large paper, have a 
 most inviting aspect. I now come to the above justly-lauded edition 
 of the Rev. Henry John Todd, 1805, 8vo. 7 vols. The prolegomena 
 are replete with interest and information. The notes, at the foot of 
 the text, are apposite and erudite ; and the Glossary, at the close of 
 the work, is at once full and complete. There are copies of this 
 Editio Optima on large paper, f which usually adorn our more 
 splendid private libraries. 
 
 * Shakspeare is however entitled to a distinct notice as a publisher 
 of poems. His Rape of Lucrece first appeared in 1594J and again in 
 1598, each in4to. A copy may be worth 21 1. The reprint of 1624 
 was sold for 9 1. 9s, At Bindley’s sale. His Venus and Adonis first 
 appeared in 1593, of which the only known copy is in the collection 
 of Mr. Malone at Oxford, and for which Mr. M. gave 25 1. A copy 
 of the second edition of 1596 is also in the same wonderful collection. 
 A copy of the third of 1602, which had been Steeven’s, was sold for 
 
 t Why do Messrs. Rivington (the publishers of the Spencer of Mr. Todd) put 
 forth so many sound English Classics in so sorry a typographical— or rather 
 chartaceous — a garb ? for the sake of both poet and editor, the small paper of the 
 Spenser should have had a more inviting appearance. 
 
 X A copy of this first edition is in the library of Lincoln Cathedral ; see Bibliog. 
 Decam. vol. iii. p. 264. 
 
704 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 Let us now free ourselves from the thraldom of con- 
 ceits and “ strange m usings,” to be found in the greater 
 
 42 1. at the sale of Bindley’s library. What then would the first 
 edition now sell for ? The Sonnets of our Bard were first published 
 in 1609. A copy is valued at 30/. in the Bibl. Angl. Poet. A beau- 
 tiful copy of it is noticed in the fEdes Althorp. vol. i. page 194. I 
 learn that Mr. Jolly, who combats as lustily as any heavy- metalled 
 Roxburgher for rare early English poetry, stumbled, in one 
 of his Lancashire rambles, upon an unostentatious little volume, 
 containing. . . . what ? think’st thou, gentle and curious reader ? . . 
 containing . . . the Venus and Adonis of 1593 and the Sonnets of 
 1609 . . both first Editions — in one and the same volume. Did he 
 give 3s. 6d. for the same ? He was not asked so much. Would they 
 bring fourscore guineas ? They would bring more. Hie for Lanca- 
 shire ! — and will not my friend the Rev. Mr. Rice be of the party ? 
 Assuredly he will. For such an “ ultimate result,’* even my friend 
 Bernardo would throw himself across the horse’s back as postilion ! 
 All these were republished in a collection of his poems in 1640, 
 12mo., having a head of our immortal Bard, by Marshall ; and of 
 which a fine copy may be worth 71. 1 7s. 6d. A little breathing may 
 be required before such a formidable host of the remaining poetic 
 wights, above enumerated, are encountered . . but . . to the onset. 
 Gascoigne is the first object of my attack. In the Cens. Liter, vol. i. 
 p. 109-118, there appears a tolerably full account of the author, 
 attached to the best edition of his collected (or the Pleasauntest) 
 works, in 1587, 4to.f That account was supplied by the late Mr. 
 
 + Granger has well observed that Gascoigne put forth his pieces under “ fantas- 
 tic titles.” Thus, in 1572 (as supposed) appeared his Hundreth sundrie flowers 
 bounde up in one small poesie , gathered partely {by translation) in the fyne outlandish 
 gar dins of Euripides , Ouid, Petrarke , Ariosto , and others and partly by invention 
 out of our own fruitefull orchardes in Englande , 8fc. 8fc. pleasaunt and profitable to 
 the well smelling noses of learned readers’ ’ 4to. See Herbert, p. 990. If I remem- 
 ber rightly, Oldys, in his Life of Raleigh, notices this rare little volume, which 
 brought but 1/. 19s. at the sale of Steevens’s library. Next appeared Gascoigne’s 
 Poesies , &c. in 1575, 4to. But all his pieces, including his plays of Supposes and 
 Jocasta ) (first printed in 1.565-75) Delicate Diet for Daintie mouthde Drunkards, 
 (first printed in 1576) Princely Pleasures of Kenilworth Castle , (first printed the 
 same year) &c. are incorporated in the edition of 1587. The Bibl. Angl. Poet. 
 p. 116-119 is rich in early pieces of Gascoigne. The “ Sundrie flower's” are 
 marked at 25/. the Poesies , 1575, at 20/.: the Kenilworth Castle, 1575, at 251.: 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 705 
 
 number of the poets just enumerated : and let us fly 
 with equal rapidity and rapture to the Great Bard — 
 
 Octavius Gilchrist, from a copy which was given to Tom Warton 
 by Warburton $ and which copy, at the sale of Mr. Gilchrist’s library 
 in 1823, produced the sum of 4 Z. At the sale of Reed’s library in 
 1807, a fine copy in russia was purchased by Mr. Hill for 15 Z. 15s. 
 It is erroneously dated 1567- The various copies of various pieces 
 of Gascoigne, including the edition of 1587* scarcely produced 12?. 
 at the sale of Steevens’s library $ at that time they were stated to be 
 “ the completest collection of Gascoigne’s works extant.” How was 
 this ? The Roxburghe copy of the edition of 1575, to which the 
 
 Steel Glass ” and the Complaint of Philomene were added, was sold 
 for 10Z. 10s. : and the edition of 1587* for 21Z. Look sharply after 
 the portrait of Gascoigne, prefixed to his e( Steele Glass," 1576, 
 4to. with commendatory verses by Raleigh and others. Mr. Stace 
 published an admirable fac-simile of it. The original is described 
 by Granger, vol. iv. page 262, who says Gascoigne “ was esteemed 
 the best love poet of his age.” See page 595, for the rare piece of 
 biography of Gascoigne by George Whetstone. Mr. Haslewood's 
 interleaved copy of Ritson’s Bibliog. Poet, is abundantly supplied 
 with ms. addenda relating to this gallant soldier and poet. 
 
 Just about this time, appeared the Flower of Fame,' by Ulpian 
 Fulwell, 1575, 4to. It is fully described in the Cens. Literaria, 
 vol. v. p. 164, by the late Mr. Gilchrist, perhaps from the identical 
 copy which I have often inspected, at Stamford, in the library of my 
 late lamented friend G. V. Neunburgh, Esq. Lamented and beloved 
 was that friend. His respect for the name of Cecil (to whom the 
 volume is dedicated by Master Edmunde Harman,”) induced him 
 to become the purchaser of it; and it was always deposited in one of 
 the small, lock-up drawers, in which his choicest black letter volumes 
 were lodged. I often attempted to peruse it, but in vain. It was 
 deadly dull. Yet this copy was sold at the sale of my friend’s library 
 in 1823, for 30Z. 9s. ; while, at Reed’s sale, it produced only 15s. in 
 conjunction with “ black-letter” treasures of a similar complexion. 
 
 and the Whole Works, 1587, 4to. at 35 1. I cannot help thinking that a new 
 edition of Gascoigne, with a biographical and critical introduction, in three 
 octavo volumes, would do very well. Look to it, Messrs. Park, Haslewood, 
 and 
 
 Z Z 
 
706 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 who has so nobly and so successfully vindicated “ the 
 ways of God to Man.” Much as Antiquaries may love 
 
 At Farmer’s sale it was sold for ll. 11s. 6d. It is half poetry and 
 half prose : but a portion of the historical part, relating to the His- 
 tory of the Winning of Hadington in Scotland, in the second year of 
 Edward VI., is really valuable. 
 
 Of the Satires of Bishop Hall, published under the title of Virgin 
 \ demiarum :* 1599, 12mo.: both parts — there is a masterly analysis in 
 the fourth volume of Warton s Hist, of Engl. Poetry , occupying the 
 first fifty pages of the volume. Warton observes that “ these satires 
 are marked with a classical precision, to which English poetry had not 
 yet attained. They are replete with animation of style and senti- 
 ment.” The whole analysis and criticism is perhaps the chef d’oeuvre 
 of Tom Warton. Nor is Mr. Campbell deficient in a just and vigour- 
 ously executed estimation of the talents of this eminent Divine and 
 Satirist. These satires were written at the early age of twenty-three : 
 “ In many instances (says Mr. C.) Hall redeems the antiquity of his 
 allusions, by their ingenious adaptation to modern manners 5 and 
 this is but a small part of his praise : for in the point, and volubility, 
 and vigour of Hall’s numbers we might frequently imagine ourselves 
 perusing Dryden.’’ Specimens, &c. vol. ii. 256-261. Of Nicholas 
 Breton, the list of his works, by Ritson, in his Bibl. Poet. — fur- 
 nished by Steevens — is at once copious and appalling to the desperate 
 collector: for vain must be the hope to collect them all. See also the 
 Cens, Lit. vol. ix. page 159-165 : Campbell, vol. ii. page 321-4. His 
 
 * “ By Virgidemia, an uncouth and uncommon word, we are to understand a 
 Gathering or Harvest of Rods, in reference to the nature of the subject.” Warton. 
 The same authority justly designates the title as “ incomprehensive and inaccu- 
 rate.” It involves three books of Toothless, and three of Biting Satyres : to which 
 are added, “ Certain worthy ms. poems, Sfc. reserved in the study of a Norfolk Gentle- 
 man.'* The stately tragedy of Guistard and Sismond. The Northern Mother's Bles- 
 sing, and the Way to Thrifte. The whole forms a very small volume, and may be 
 worth 15/. in fine and large condition. A copy is marked at 25 /. in the Bibl. Angl- 
 Poet. It is usually a dirty and cropt volume. But the Oxford reprint of 1753, in 
 a neat duodecimo volume, and obtainable for 10s. 6d., should be sedulously sought 
 after and secured. It was edited by a Mr Thompson, Fellow of Queen’s College. 
 Just as Hall’s Satires appeared, there came out a work, entitled ‘ T. M. Micro - 
 Cynicon, sixe Snarling Satyres, 1599, 8vo.” A copy of it was sold for 24/. at the 
 sale of Bindley’s library. I learn with pleasure that a new edition of Hall is about 
 to appear under the care of Mr. Singer. 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 707 
 
 to mark out the tracks of Milton in Sylvester’s trans- 
 lation of Du Bartas, and palpable and unquestionable 
 
 poems have a melancholy, tender, and religious air, which made 
 them popular in their day : but his Muse was sometimes curvetting 
 and wanton — and woe betide the young bibliomaniac who sets his 
 heart upon Breton’s Flourish upon Fancie, and Pleasant Toyes of an 
 idle Headf 1577* 4 to. : — or, his <e Workes of a young Wyt 3 trust up 
 with a Fardell of prettie Fancies ,” 4to. ! ! Threescore guineas shall 
 hardly fetch these black-letter rarities from the pigeon holes of Mr. 
 Thorpe. See Bibl. Steevens 3 no. 997; Bindley , no. 743. I lack courage 
 to add the prices for which these copies sold. Breton’s ff Ravish' t 
 Soule , and the Blessed Weeper, 1601, 4to. may be had for 151. (to- 
 gether with sundry other minor rarities, of the poet) in the Bibl. Angl. 
 Poet. p. 17. See the British Bibliographer , vol. iv. p. 35 6. The late 
 Sir Mark Sykes often used to express to me his extreme partiality for 
 this singular poet : and the sub-note in the Bibliog. Decam. vol. iii. 
 p. 405, will shew that he possessed a few of his choicer works.f 
 Of Thomas Lodge, procure, you can, his Fig for Momus, con- 
 taining pleasant Varietie , included in satyres , eclogues , and epistles , &c. 
 1595, 4to. obtainablejfor 5 1. 155. 6d. His Rosalynde, Euphuess Golden 
 Legacie, 1590, 4to. is marked at 20 1. in the B. A. P. and his Alarum 
 against Usurers , and delectable history of Forbonius and Prisceria, 
 1 584, 4to. produced the tremendous sum of 27 1. at the sale of Bind- 
 ley’s library. This work has escaped Ritson 5 although the Life and 
 Death of William Longbeard the most famous and witty English Traitor 
 fyc. with many other most pleasant and prettie histories , 1593, 4to. is 
 
 f The following is a list of the Pieces of Breton, with the prices for which they 
 were sold, at the Sale of the library of Sir Mark. 
 
 Part 1. 
 
 547 Nicholas Breton's Ravisht Soule, and Blessed Weeper, a Diuine 
 
 Poeme, divided into two Partes, very rare, 1601, - - 4 6 0 
 
 548 *— — Excellent Poeme upon the Longing of a Blessed 
 
 Heart, with an addition upon the Definition of Loue, rare, 
 
 1601. - - - - 5 0 0 
 
 549 — Soules immortal Crowne, consisting of seaven 
 
 glorious Graces, Vertue, Love, Constancie, &c. poems, very 
 
 scarce , 1605, - - - - - 300 
 
 550 — Sir Philip Sydney’s Ourania, that is Endimion’s 
 
 Song and Tragedie, 1606, - - - - 2 2 0 
 
 Mother’s Blessing, a poem, very scares , 1621, 4 4 0 
 
 551 
 
708 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 as may be some of the imitations of the “ Divine 
 Weeks” in the “ Paradise Lost,” yet whatever the 
 
 duly chronicled by him. A copy of it was sold at the sale of Stee- 
 vens’s library for 4k 7s. : which copy had cost its owner one shil- 
 ling and nine pence! The odd pence are diverting: but three 
 penny biddings were then in vogue. Christopher Marlow, whose 
 name will live as long as tender sentiment, clothed in language the 
 most felicitous, shall be understood and felt,* is known rather as 
 a dramatist than a professed poet. His play of Dido , Queen of 
 Carthage, 1594, 4to. is perhaps the rarest of all dramatical or poeti- 
 cal pieces. Malone's copy of it (now at Oxford) and purchased from 
 George Steevens’s collection, for 17k has been long considered unique . 
 As a poet, Marlow is chiefly known by his imperfect piece of Hero 
 and Leander^ first printed in 1598 — and continued by Chapman w ith 
 unequal talent, and first published in 1600 — of which a copy is in the 
 Malone Collection. A copy of the reprint of 1606, 4to. is marked at 
 15Z. in the BibL Angl. Poet. : and of that of 1637, at 4 1. 4s. but the 
 first repriqt (1606) produced only 9k 95. at the sale of Sir M. M. 
 Sykes’s library. Marlowe was also a translator “of all Ovid's Elegies 
 printed without date,, at Middleburgh, in 15mo. of which a copy is 
 valued at 7 k 7$. in the authority last quoted. Mr. Campbell observes, 
 that “ the Bishops ordered these translations to be burnt in public 
 for their licentiousness.! If (continues he) all the licentious poems 
 of that period had been included in the martyrdom, Shakspeare’s Fe- 
 nus and Adonis would have hardly escaped the flames.” Specimens , 
 &c. vol. ii. page 160. A good account of this rare book (probably 
 published in 1598, and containing forty-eight leaves) together with 
 specimens of the text, is given in the Cens. Lit. vol. viii. 119-157. 
 
 Alas, for Anthony Munday ! Little is known of this once fa- 
 
 * I allude chiefly to his exquisite little ballad of The Passionate Shepherd to his 
 Love; beginning with “ Come live with me, and be my Love”--a gem , which Isaac 
 Walton has contrived to set so beautifully in the pearly pages of his “ Complete 
 Angler.” 
 
 t Were these translations sent to Middleburgh on account of the qualms or the 
 fears of our own printers to publish them ? Religious tracts were frequently sent 
 thither, or to ** Marlborow in the land of Hesse,” from such motives alone. But 
 that Marlowe's Epigrams and Elegies , with those of John Davis, were also publish- 
 ed at Middleburgh, in 8vo. without date . . . does that argue pro , or con, their mo- 
 ral tendency ? A copy of them was sold at Bindley's sale for 8/. 1 8s. 6d. 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 709 
 
 Author of the latter touched, it seemed to turn to gold. 
 I am strenuous in the recommendations of the first 
 
 mous poet-laureat of the City of London : whose Banquet of Daintie 
 Conceits,* (an excellent title for a city poet-laureat) published in 
 1588, 4to. provokes the appetite, and gratifies the palate, of the most 
 thorough-bred bibliomaniacal Epicure. An excellent account of 
 this very rare book appears in the British Bibliographer , vol. ii. page 
 337 : and a copy of it, together with a minute description of its con- 
 tents, is marked in the Bibl. Angl. Poet, page 212, at fifty Pounds. 
 But for a City Banquet— and especially such an one as is furnished at 
 the Albion, in Aldersgate-street, — this is a moderate charge. Speak, 
 ye Roxburghers, when your Vice-president and Secretary was tra- 
 velling in foreign parts ! Ye know this ... to your consolation, shall 
 I add } But why droops Mr. Hartshorne, because he cannot discover 
 “ The Fountayne of Fame erected in an Orcharde of amorous Adventures 
 published by the same prolific poet, in 1580, 4to. ? ! Mr. Hasle- 
 wood, I learn, is gathering a bushel of golden apples from this poeti- 
 cal Hesperides, — and in the meantime is preserving, in a sandal- 
 wood box, scented by the richest perfumes of the East, those excerpts 
 from Munday’s Pain of Pleasure , 1 586, 4to. of which no eye hath 
 yet glanced upon a copy, save that in the Pepysian library at Cam- 
 bridge. The name of Chester appears only to one work 5 but that 
 work, if ever it come into the possession of the curious collector — 
 especially in a vellum-lapping-over covering — is most precious in- 
 deed. It is called Loves Martyr , or Bosalins Complaint , allegorically 
 shadowing the truth of Love , in the constant fate of the phoenix and 
 turtle , &c. &c. 1601, 4to. From the Bibl. Angl. Poet. p. 47, this 
 appears to be another Fifty Pounder ! The copy was purchased by 
 the late Sir M. M. Sykes, Bart. : and is briefly mentioned in a sub- 
 note in the Bibliog. Decam. vol. iii. page 405 with sundry other 
 similar and curious poetical rarities. Several of the great poets of 
 the day contributed to the Love’s Martyr of Chester— such as Shak- 
 speare, Marston, Jonson, and Chapman : and observe how anxiously 
 the book is recorded in Malone’s Suppl. to Shakspeare, vol. i. p. 732— 
 and a sight of it yet more anxiously solicited by Sir Egerton Brydges 
 
 * The remainder of the title is thus : Furnished with verie delicate and choyce in- 
 ventions , to delight their mindes , who take pleasure in Musique, and therewithal to 
 sing sweet Ditties, either to the Lute , Bandora , Virginalles , or anie other instrument . 
 
710 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 editions of Lycidas , Comus, and Paradise Lost and 
 Regained ; and strange as it may appear, these first 
 
 in the Cens. Lit. vol.iv. p. 128 ! At the sale of Sir Mi M. Sykes’s library, 
 this piece of Chester produced the extraordinary sum of 61Z. 19. 
 
 Briefly noticing master Anthony Chester’s only poetical work 
 extant* — viz. “ Beawtie Dishonoured , written under the title of 
 Shore's Wife , 1593, 4to., of which Mr. Bindley’s copy produced the 
 enormous sum of 34/. 13s. — I proceed to Herbert and Herrick : men, 
 of comparatively slender fame, but whose works merit a transient 
 record. The muse of George Herbert was grave, pensive, and 
 religious. His little volume of poems is known under the title of 
 the Temple: Sacred Poems , and Private Ejaculations ; of which the 
 second and best edition appeared in 1 633, in a slender duodecimo vo- 
 lume. I have seen more than one beautiful copy of this pious volume 
 —which has brought as much as 41. 4s. in a delicately ruled, and 
 thickly-gilt ornamented condition : and in some such condition there 
 is good reason to believe that King Charles I. possessed it. Indeed 
 his own copy of it, in blue morocco, with rich gold tooling, was 
 once, I learn, in the library of Tom Martin of Palgrave. My friend 
 the Rev. Mr. Rennell, Vicar of Kensington, possesses a very covetable 
 copy of it, in contemporaneous binding, and we both agree that the to 
 kuXov of Herbert’s poetry, is that soothing and solemn ode, begin- 
 ning thus — 
 
 Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright ! * 
 which honest Isaac Walton, with his usual good taste, has incorpo- 
 rated into his “ Complete Angler” . . . And here I call to mind, 
 rather with an aching heart, the repetition of these lines, by a dear 
 deceased friend, as we glided in our skiff beneath the willows which 
 scantly flank the margins of the river Isis . . between Iffley and Ox- 
 ford . . . We had been jocund with our sports of the quoit and pitching 
 bar. A bright summer’s sun had just set : and an evening, such as 
 Collins has described with the most exquisite delicacy, was coming 
 on. It has been with my friend, as it was with the day . . , 
 
 Sweet dews shall weep thy fall to night. 
 
 For thou must die ! ! ! 
 
 Who possesses his Procris and Cephalus , 1593, 4to. ? Is it ideal ? Or is it in 
 the collection of Richard Heber, Esqr. 
 
 •f Consult the Retrospective Review , vol. iii. p. 215, &c. 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 711 
 
 editions are procurable for about one-fourth part of 
 the sum of any one of the rarer early plays of Shak- 
 
 But I tear myself from these thrilling reminiscences j* and plunge 
 amain into the Garden of Golden Fruit, or the Hesperides of Robert 
 Herrick, 1648, 8vo. a little out of chronological order, I admit . . 
 but a desirable tome on many accounts : especially if it have a bright 
 impression of the portrait of Herrick, by Marshall : and in such 
 state it may be worth some five or six sovereigns. Mr. Campbell 
 has judiciously referred his reader to the copious account of Herrick 
 furnished by Mr. Nichols in his History of Leicestershire, where many 
 of his poems are reprinted. Herrick will be as celebrated for his 
 beautiful ballad of “ Gather the rose-buds while ye may''-— as Marlow 
 is for that which has been noticed at page 708, ante. Mr. William 
 Combes of Henley, a gentleman who collects with considerable taste, 
 and who loves what he collects with no inconsiderable ardour, is the 
 fortunate owner of Joseph Warton’s own copy of Herrick’s Hesperides 
 — and he carries this book in his right hand coat pocket, and the 
 first edition of Walton’s Complete Angler in his left, when, with 
 tapering rod and trembling float, he enjoys his favourite diversion of 
 angling on the banks of the Thames. A halt — on a hay-cock, or by 
 the side of a cluster of wild sweet-briars — with such volumes to re- 
 create the flagging spirits, or to compensate for luckless sport ! — but I 
 am ruralising. The merits of Sandys as a Poet have been briefly no- 
 ticed at page 432. Here, it may be as well to say that his Job, in 
 point of versification, is considered to be equal to that of Waller. 
 Pope thought highly of it. Warton’s note in Pope’s works, vi. 217 ; 
 and in his Essay on Pope, Warton calls him “ a melodious versifier” ; 
 vol. ii. p. 40. 
 
 What an oddity, and non-descript compound, was that Samuel 
 Rowlands ! — and why do I notice him here ? Simply, because I 
 firmly believe that a complete collection of his pieces, low, queer, 
 comical, and contradictory, as they may be, could not be procured 
 under the sum of 300 sovereigns. Judge for yourself, candid 
 
 * What is not a little remarkable — ere the publication of the first edition of 
 this work, Mr. Rennell himself paid the debt of nature : at the age of 37, full 
 of rationally founded hopes and even gilded prospects of honourable promotion in 
 his profession. There were few “ brighter” days than his : and few, on which 
 the night that succeeded it, the “ dew” of sorrow “ fell” more heavily ! 
 
712 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 speare. As to critical and useful editions of our Bard, 
 what has been said of Mr. Todd's Spenser , may be 
 said of his Milton : published twice in 8vo. in seven 
 volumes — with an incomparable index of words — 
 applicable to any edition.* I consider a large 
 
 reader. New and clean Packs of Cards are usually procurable for 
 4s. 6d. : but if you only want the Knave of Clubs — together with the 
 Knave of Spades and Diamonds and Knave of Hearts, of Master 
 Rowlands! — (poems, published by him in 161 1-1612, 4to.) you must 
 pay 35Z. 3s. 6d. — according to the text of the priced catalogue of 
 Bindley’s library! ! And again ? for his Betrayal of Christ, 1598, 
 4to. 2ll. : opposed to his Doctor Merrie-Man, 1609, 4to. 15 1. These 
 two prices are taken from the Bibl. Angl. Poet, where, to the Night 
 Raven , 1634, 4to. the ominous sum of 30 1. is attached, the pages of 
 this work are rich in Row land i ana 5 and Mr. Thorpe’s well-furnished 
 catalogue, p. 127, presents us with three other pieces of the poet, for 
 14J. 14s. collectively. There is a fashion in all things. Robert 
 Southwell is an author of a more commanding cast of genius : and 
 whoever reads the excellent account of his works in the Retrospective 
 Review, vol. iv. p. 267-280 will be convinced that his time will not 
 be misspent in procuring a few of his more popular pieces — published 
 at the end of the sixteenth, and the beginning of the seventeenth, 
 century. The Bibliotheca Anglo-Poetica, p. 320-3, is rich in the 
 earlier and rarer pieces of Southwell ; of which the St. Peter s Com- 
 plaint (1596) and the Mcenonice , 1595, &c. 4to. appear in one vo- 
 lume for 15 1. 15 s. These pieces and the Triumphs over Death, 
 1595, were sold for 15 1. at the sale of the late Mr. Nassau's library. 
 An ample list of his works appears in the 67th vol. of the Gent. Mag. 
 His Mary Magdalene' s Teares, and the Triumph over Death, are said 
 by Mr. Campbell to contain “ some eloquent sentences.” Specimens, 
 &c. vol. ii. page 162. And see Athen. Oxon. vol. ii. col. 261, note. 
 
 * As to the question of “how much,’' or “how little,’’ Milton 
 
 f See the Brit. Bibliographer , vol. ii. p. 103-5 ; and p. 550. Mr. Campbell takes 
 occasion to question the propriety of the conclusion, in the Censura Literaria , of 
 Rowlands’s having “ frequented the haunts of dissipation,” from his Muse being 
 “ generally found in low company.” The conclusion (says Mr. C.) is unjust. Field- 
 ing was not a blackguard, though he wrote the adventures of Jonathan Wild. 
 Specimens, Sfc. vol. iii. p. 68. Consult also the Bibl. Harleiana, vol. iii. p. 355. But 
 the date of 1512, here given, is palpably erroneous. 
 
English.] POETRY. 713 
 
 paper copy of this performance as an indispensable 
 
 owed to the version of the “Divine Weeks” of Du Bartas,* by 
 Sylvester, I will here have nothing to do with it. Mr. Dunster and 
 Mr. Todd — and especially the latter — have sifted the grain of the 
 subject as finely as it can be sifted ; and Mr. Campbell has judiciously 
 observed upon the quantum of obligation attached to Milton. “ If 
 (says he) Sylvester ever stood high in Milton’s favour, it must have 
 been when he was very young. The beauties which occur, so strangely 
 intermixed with bathos and flatness, in Sylvester’s poem, might have 
 caught the youthful discernment, and long dwelt in the memory, of 
 the great poet. But he must have perused it with disgust at Sylves- 
 ter’s general manner. Many of his epithets and happy phrases were 
 really worthy of Milton ; but by far the greater proportion of his 
 thoughts and expressions have a quaintness and flatness more worthy 
 of Quarles and of Withers. f” Vol. i. page 186. I now come to the 
 first editions of Milton’s more popular pieces. The Mask of 
 
 * “Du Bartas, liis Workes, by Sylvester, also Sylvester’s Poems. An extra- 
 ordinary fine copy , gilt leaves , 1633. 
 
 This appears to have been the copy of Henrietta Maria, Queen of 
 Charles I. as there are “ H. M. R,” on the sides, with a crown above, and 
 the sides are ornamented with the Fleur de Lis. 
 
 This copy was sold by Mr. Evans, from the collection of Lord Denbigh. 
 
 f Mr. Todd, in his Account of the Life and Writings of Milton, (Works, vol. i. 
 p. 91,) has given a specimen of Sylvester’s version of Du Bartas — from which he 
 infers “ a remarkable familiarity” (in Milton) with the Work ; It relates to 
 “ Lavinia walking in a frosty Morning.” Well might Mr. Todd put the follow- 
 ing lines in italics ! 
 
 Every hoary-headed twigge 
 Dropped his snowy perriwigge. 
 
 And each bough his icy beard. 
 
 I happen to possess the collected works of Joshua Sylvester, published in 1633, 
 folio ; and from hence shall intrude one short minute on the reader’s patience, by 
 a quotation from “ the first day of the first Week” — from which that same reader 
 willjudge how far a poet like Milton, could be indebted to a poet like Du Bartas 
 or Sylvester. The marginal note says : 
 
 A lively description of the end of the world. 
 
 One day, the rocks from top to toe shall quiver, 
 
 The mountains melt and all in sunder shiver. 
 
 The heav’ns shall rent for fear ; the lowly fields, 
 
 Puft up, shall swell to huge and mighty hills. 
 
 Rivers shall dry : or, if in any flood 
 Rest any liquor, it shall all be blood. 
 
714 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 ornament to a noble library. Very recently there has 
 appeared an edition of the poems of Milton, by the 
 
 Comus led the way, in 1634, 4to. : — a very thin volume, and rare. It 
 has been my happiness to see the Original Ms. in the library of Tri- 
 nity College, Cambridge : written in a delicate hand, and bound in a 
 small folio, in red morocco. No man, alive to poetical feeling, 
 could see it with indifference. I embraced it with ardour. 
 
 Oscula nec desunt qui tibi jure ferant. 
 
 Propertius here comes happily to my remembrance : nor is it the first 
 time that oscular benediction has been bestowed upon a book. Lyci - 
 das followed, in 163S, 4to. : very rare. I have a recollection of see- 
 ing it sold beneath the hammer of Mr. Evans for about 41. 14s. 6d. 
 Next, Poems bothe English and Latin , composed at several times, 1645, 
 12mo. with the first portrait of the author, by Marshall. A copy of 
 this book (I presume with a fine impression of the portrait), is 
 marked at hi. in the Bibl. Angl. Poet, page 211. This portrait how- 
 ever is very faithless, and was abused by Milton himself. 
 
 To pass over minor bibliographical matters, I come at once to the 
 
 The sea shall all be fire, and on the shore 
 The thirsty Whales with horrid noise shall roar : 
 
 The sun shall cease the black coach of the Moon, 
 
 And make it midnight when it should be noon : 
 
 With rusty Mask the Heavens shall hide their face, 
 
 The stars shall fall, and all away shall pass : 
 
 Disorder, dread, horror, and death shall come, 
 
 Noise, storms, and darkness shall usurp the room. 
 
 And then the Chief -Chief -Justice' venging wrath, 
 
 (Which here already often threatened hath) 
 
 Shall make a bon-fire of this mighty Ball, 
 
 As once he made it a vast Ocean all. Page 4. 
 
 “ Sylvester (says Mr. Campbell— who accounts, I think, very naturally for the 
 origin of Milton’s acquaintance with his poem) was a puritan, and so was the pub- 
 lisher of his work, Humphrey Lownes, who lived in the same street with Milton’s 
 father; and, from the congeniality of their opinions, it is not improbable that they 
 might have been acquainted. It is easily to be conceived that Milton often repaired 
 to the shop of Lownes, and there first met with the pious didactic poem.” Among 
 Sylvester’s epithets, Mr. Campbell meets with the “opal-coloured morn,” which 
 he considers as a beautiful expression, and as not used by any other poet. But 
 what is this to the “ rosy-fingered” morn of Homer ? and what an hexametrical 
 conclusion is the Greek expression— “ po$oSoixTV\o$ H cv$.” Milton makes the 
 morn with “ rosy steps” sowing “ the earth with orient pearl.” It is a beautifully 
 lengthened image. 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 715 
 
 Rev. E. Hawkins, of which the object is to exhibit a 
 selection of the best Variorum notes on the basis of 
 the edition of Bishop Newton — including many valu- 
 able notes of Thomas Warton from his edition of the 
 
 Paradise Lost, which was first published, in ten hooks, in 1667, 4to. : 
 the poem immediately following the title-page, without argument, 
 or list of errata. According to the minute and accurate account of 
 Mr. Todd, not fewer than five title-pages (including the first) were 
 requisite to make the work <f go down (as the phrase now is) with 
 the public.” Two different title-pages appeared with the date of 
 1668 ; and two more with that of 1669 : Mr. Todd thinks that, of 
 this edition, with the dates of 1668-9, some errata were corrected by 
 cancels while the work was going through the press. A copy, with 
 the first date of 1667^ is marked at 5 1. 5s. in the Bibl. Angl. Poet. : with 
 the second date of 1668, at 31. 3s. ; and with the third date of 1669 at 
 2 1. 6s . — in the same Catalogue. Messrs. Payne and Foss have a 
 copy of the edit, of 1668, with three portraits of Milton, at 31. 3s. 
 Mr. Thorpe marks a copy of the third date, including the Paradise 
 Regained and Samson Agonistes of 1671, — first edition of each — 
 in one volume — at 1 1. 11s. 6d. A fine copy of the date of 1669 was 
 sold at Reed’s sale for 1/. 6s. Mr. Payne marks a copy at 18s. A 
 fine copy of the edition of 1674, Svo. when the Paradise Lost first 
 appeared in twelve books — was sold for 1 1. at the sale of Bindley’s 
 library. Consult page 57 of Bindley’s catalogue. The first edition 
 of the Paradise Regained , 1671 (just mentioned) may be had for a 
 few shillings. At least, I have possessed it for two. I go at once to 
 the pretty little edition of the entire works of our poet, published by 
 Tonson in 1711 and 1713, 12mo. Its chief praise is accuracy, with 
 a sufficient degree of Elzevirian neatness : and I make no doubt that 
 Addison, Pope, Swift, and Arbuthnot, always travelled with a copy of 
 it. I have seen more than one Roger Payne bound copy; but what 
 would Charles Lewis make of it, “ out of sheets Y f The Vicar of 
 Hendon would, I venture to guess, best answer this question. How- 
 ever, I find that at Reed’s sale a copy of these two volumes brought 
 15s. : at Bindley’s, 11. 11s. 6d. : and at the Duke of Marlborough's, 
 31. : — Addison's own copv ! It had been Colonel Stanley’s. Messrs. 
 Arch mark the Paradise Lost (1711) at 12s. : and the Paradise Re- 
 gained, and other poems, (1713) at 9s. The edition of 1713 did not 
 
716 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 Minor Poems of Milton. The life of our poet is, very 
 judiciously, that of Bishop Newton. Another com- 
 
 however “go off” so briskly 3 for it required a new title-page of 
 1791 to make it more palateable with the public. See Todd, vol. i. 
 p. 192. 
 
 In 1720 appeared Tickell's handsome edition, in two quarto vo- 
 lumes, incorporating Addison’s criticism on the Paradise Lost, from 
 the Spectator. A list of 300 Subscribers is prefixed. Milton was 
 now therefore becoming fashionable. I pass by the subsequent edi- 
 tions of 1746-7 by Tonson , which says Mr. Todd are printed with 
 great correctness,” to notice with becoming commendation the hand- 
 some edition of Hawkey, 1747* large octavo — now somewhat un- 
 common : but since the times of splendid printing, the volumes of 
 Hawkey lose much of their magnificence. Let them however receive 
 a quiet russia binding. The Glasgow press has distinguished itself in 
 the editions of 1750, 4to. and 1770, folio. But of aU the editors of 
 Milton, with the exception of Warton and Todd, none have ren- 
 dered our immortal Bard greater justice than the celebrated Bishop 
 Newton 3 a scholar and a Divine. I speak of the best edition, which 
 I believe appeared in 1753, 8vo. 4 vols. and 1754, 4to. 3 vols. The 
 pencil of Hayman, (the Stothard of his day) was called in for the 
 embellishment of these volumes ; and worse things have appeared 
 from that quarter. The engravings are ordinary enough 3 but Van - 
 der Gucht was no conjuror. Bishop Newton’s edition of Milton is the 
 best edited English Classic up to the period of its publication. 
 Hard upon this, appeared the lovely impressions of Baskerville : 
 twice in octavo, 1758 and 1760 — and once in 4to. 1759. But the 
 octavos have a quarto aspect. My friend Palmerin revels in his 
 delicious copy of 1760, bound in the morocco of the day 3 and I find 
 that a similar copy is marked at 31. 10s. in the catalogue of Messrs. 
 Payne and Foss : while a copy of the first edition of 1758 is to be 
 found in the catalogue of Messrs. Arch for 3/. 13s. 6d. I know of no 
 parlour-reading like that of Milton in one of the editions of Basker- 
 ville. 
 
 The reprints of Bishop Newton’s edition are scarcely to be num- 
 bered. At length appeared the first critical edition of the minor 
 poems from the classical and elegant pen of Tom Warton, in 1785, 
 8vo. — a performance, nearly as perfect of its kind as it could well 
 be. It was reprinted in 1791 with many alterations and additions : 
 
English.] POETRY. 717 
 
 mendable object is, the circulation of a good edition 
 
 and I will allow my “ Young Man” no quarter unless he procure a 
 copy. In 1795 appeared the labours of the third critical editor of 
 Milton. I mean, the late Mr. Dunster — in a quarto volume, con- 
 taining the Paradise Regained. In 1797* this was followed by the 
 Minor Poems. Meanwhile, the press of Bensley had produced the 
 most beautiful impression of our Bard then seen — and since, of its 
 kind, never eclipsed. I speak of that of 1796, 8vo. 2 vols.* Messrs. 
 Arch mark a copy of these lovely volumes at 21. 8s. in morocco 
 binding. In 1794-7 appeared the ne plus ultra of magnificent 
 printing and embellishment. I speak of the edition from the press 
 of Bulmer, or as it is called, the Shakspeare Press , in three folio 
 volumes, the text of which owes its correctness to the revision of 
 Mr. George Nicol. The reader may see what is said of this matchless 
 work in the Bibliogr. Decam. vol. ii. 385. The engravings, in stip- 
 pling, by various artists, are from the designs of Westall : and I 
 well remember the impression made upon the public by the exhibi- 
 tion of these highly wrought drawings. The 4to. edition of 1799, 
 beautifully printed by Bensley, with plates by Richter , can never 
 lack a purchaser. Dr. Aikin published three elegant editions, with 
 a critical essay: Lond. 1801, 12mo. 4 vols. : 1805, 3 vols. : and 
 1808, 8vo. 4 vols. At last came forward the very best edition of 
 the poet by the Rev. Mr. Todd 5 first in 1S00, 8vo. 6 vols. : and, 
 secondly, in 1809, 8vo. seven volumes. The Life of the Author, and 
 an incomparable Verbal Index, applicable to any edition, form the 
 seventh volume : which cannot fail to be in a constant state of re- 
 quisition. This volume is obtainable for 9 or 10s. Mr. Todd has 
 secured for himself a rich harvest of renown in his editions of 
 Spenser and Milton, to say nothing of his great and successful 
 labours on the Dictionary of Dr. Johnson : — of which a second edi- 
 tion is absolutely in contemplation. I wish he would give us the 
 entire works of Chaucer — and then, he may “ depart in peace.” 
 But a peaceful departure, with him, need not depend upon the com- 
 pletion of such an undertaking. He will long live in the hearts of 
 those who appreciate his talents and know his worth. 
 
 Sis licet felix ubicumque mavis, 
 
 Et memor nostri .... vivas ! 
 
 I hasten to the conclusion of this piece of Miltonic bibliography. 
 
 A copy on large paper was sold for 61. 12-s. 6d. at the Stanley sale. 
 
718 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English, 
 
 at a reasonable price : both of which objects are here 
 successfully accomplished. I scarcely know a more 
 useful and judicious impression of the poetry of Milton ; 
 and I give it (from the experience of a careful perusal) 
 a warm and a general recommendation.* 
 
 There be yet authors— overlooked in the preceding 
 list of minor poets — upon whose works, unknown to 
 posterity, Milton might have silently fed, and nou- 
 rished and inflamed his darling passion for the Muses, 
 The quaint Davies, the fertile Wither, the tender 
 Lovelace, the gentle Crashaw, the classical Cart- 
 wright, the refined and impassioned Carew . . . with 
 herds of Jordans, Daniels, Draytons, Randolphs, 
 and one knows not whom . . . these, as they were cer- 
 tainly more or less perused by Pope, so is there no 
 very great improbability in the supposition, that they 
 might have occasionally found their way into the 
 pockets or to the shelves of John Milton. That the 
 “Old Man” may not be disappointed in meeting 
 
 In 1802 appeared Duroveray' s beautiful edition of the Paradise Lost, 
 printed by Bensley, and embellished with engravings. This is a 
 “ companion meet” for the Virgil of 1800, published by Didot. In 
 1808 came forth the Latin and Italian Poems of Milton, &c. with a 
 fragment of a Commentary on Paradise Lost, by the late William 
 Cowper, 1808, 4to. Every thing with the name of Cowper is ne- 
 cessarily deserving of notice, if not of praise ; but this publication did 
 not add much to the reputation of that sweet poet. Who would be 
 interested in the English version of the Latin and Italian poetry of 
 an Englishman } To this edition however, there are plates from the 
 designs of Flaxman, in the usual style of classical purity of that great 
 sculptor. Indeed, I hardly know of any monument to the memory 
 of the pious and illustrious dead, more intensely touching, as well as 
 more obviously appropriate, than that of Flaxman to the memory of 
 Cowper. But this is wandering. 
 
 * This edition appeared 1S24, 8vo. 4 vols. The publishers are 
 Mr. Parker of Oxford, and Mr. Whittaker of London. 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 719 
 
 again with the companions of his youth, and that the 
 “ Young Man” may be stimulated towards the acqui- 
 sition of “ rich and rare” pieces of these comparatively 
 neglected Bards, for the solace of his latter years, I 
 concentrate, below, a few bibliographical notices rela- 
 ting to them.* 
 
 # What a task have I again undertaken ? Almost as intricate and 
 wearisome as any in the preceding pages of English Poetry. First, 
 for the “quaint Davies.” Wood has given a tolerably copious list 
 of his pieces — intermixed, however, with errata which have been 
 properly corrected by his editor, the Rev. Mr. (now Dr.) Bliss. A then. 
 Oxon . vol. ii. col. 260-4. His earliest piece appears to have been 
 Mirum in Modum. A Glimpse of God's Glory and the Souls Shape , 
 1602, 4 to. A copy was sold for 4 1. at the sales of the libraries of 
 Mr. Nassau and Sir M. M. Sykes. In 1603 appeared his Microcosmus, 
 The Discovery of the Little World, &c. 4to. : for which consult the 
 Gens. Lit. vol. ii. p. 108. A copy was sold for 5 1. 7s. 6d. at the sale 
 of Sir M. M. Sykes’s library. Among his rarest pieces, is his Holy 
 Rood or Christs Crosse , &c. 1609, 4to. A copy was sold for 3/. at 
 Mr. Nassau’s sale. But his Summa Totalis, or all in all, and the 
 same for ever, preceded it two years 5 namely, in 1607. It is a rare, 
 and I make no doubt a dull, piece. His Muse's Sacrifice, 1612, 
 brought 20 1. at the sale of Bindley’s Library. The Scourge for 
 Paper Persecutors, 1625, 4to. (second edition) is pronounced by Mr. 
 Park to be “ a lively pasquinade on the literature of the times”— 
 It was first printed in the Scourge of Folly, 1611, which was a col- 
 lection of Epigrams, by John Davis. See the Cens. Lit. vol. vi. p. 
 275, which gives a few <<r good points” from this Scourge for Paper 
 Persecutors. The Select Husbande for Sir Thomas Overburie's Wife, 
 now amatchlesse Widow, 1616. 4to. I11 noticing this work Mr. Park 
 calls Davis a <c verbose rhymer and writing master.’" Cens. Lit. vol. 
 v. 367, And yet Davies (not Sir John Davies — to whom Mr. Camp- 
 bell confines himself, vol. ii. p. 377) is, somehow or other, the 
 present fashion among some Collectors : and Mr. Freeling gives him 
 a conspicuous place on his shelves of poetical rarities. Those who 
 have set their hearts on a few of the rarer effusions of his Muse, will 
 find them at costly prices in the Bibl. Angl. Poet. : not more than 
 eight articles averaging 14/. an article. Among these. Humours 
 
720 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 The road is now clear, open, and obvious. Having 
 led the tractable reader through the brambles and 
 
 Heoun on Earth, 1603, 4to. and Wittes Pilgrimage, being marked 
 at 25L each. A copy of the latter, with the title ms. was sold for 
 4l. ed. at the sale of Sir M. M. Sykes’s library. As to the cr fertile 
 Wither,” I will positively have nothing more to do with him than 
 to refer the absolute and determined Collector of his pieces, such as 
 is my worthy friend Mr. Haslewood, to the fecund notice of his per- 
 formances given by Mr. Park in the first, second, fifth and sixth 
 volumes of the Censura Literaria ; and in the first, second, and third 
 volumes of the British Bibliographer. In the Bibl. Angl. Poetica, 
 not fewer than twenty-seven pages are occupied by a list of upwards 
 of forty of his pieces, elaborately set out $ see p. 371, &c. 
 
 Of the tender Lovelace;” we have his Lucasta, &c. 1649, 12mo. 
 and Posthume Poems , 1659, 12mo. with Elegies sacred to his Memory, 
 1660, 12mo. : all of them somewhat uncommon books — and well 
 described in the Cens. Literaria, vol. ix. p. 337> &c. vol. x. page 290. 
 But the “ great catch ” is, to have the portrait of Lovelace, by Hollar 
 — among the graphic rarities of the day. My friend Mr. Utterson, 
 who enhances his love of art by a very considerable practical profi- 
 ciency therein, and whose collection of English poetry of the seven- 
 teenth century entitles him to a conspicuous entry in the muster- 
 roll of modern Collectors, has adorned his copy of the Lucasta, by a 
 coloured drawing after the original painting of Lovelace in Dulwich 
 College, which discovers much more of “ the most amiable and 
 beautiful person that eye ever beheld” — as Wood describes Love- 
 lace.* There is no person, of whose history so little seems to be 
 known with accuracy, and of which so much might probably be 
 known with advantage. Mr. Campbell, after the example of Mr. 
 
 * “ In Dulwich College also is a portrait of Althea, but without any clue to 
 lead to the discovery of the lady who has been so fortunately immortalised. Mr. 
 Lysons, in his Environs of London, speaks of her as the same with Lucasta.” 
 Cens. Lit. vol. x. p. 293. The “ Althea” here noticed, is thus introduced in a Song 
 — addressed to her, by Lovelace, when he was in prison : 
 
 When Love, with unconfined wings, 
 
 Hovers within my gates ; 
 
 And my divine Althea brings 
 To whisper at the grates ; 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY, 
 
 721 
 
 briars which beset the earlier paths or haunts of the 
 more ancient British Muse, and having placed him in 
 
 Ellis, has given some pretty specimens of his poetry j arid an account 
 of the gallant, accomplished, and unfortunate author may be seen in 
 the Gent. Mag. vol. lxi. and lxii. 
 
 Richard Crashaw has received an admirable bibliographico-cri- 
 tical memorial in the Retrospective Review , vol. i. p. 225-250. His 
 Steps to the Temple were first published in 1646: afterwards in 1670: 
 his Carmen Deo Nostro and Sacred Poems , &c. in 1652. A copy of 
 this latter work, which has some curious embellishments, is marked 
 at 61. 6s. in the Bill. Angl. Poet. It is no wonder that Pope, in his 
 Eloisa, borrowed the well-known verse of 
 
 Obedient slumbers that can wake and weep 
 from Crashaw; who appears to have been a man of a warm and 
 enthusiastic temperament, which he carried into every thing, and 
 most especially into his religion.” Retrospective Review , vol. i. page 
 227. The specimens here selected are very curious of their kind. 
 The “ Steps to the Temple” are obtainable for a few shillings, in 
 ordinary binding. * 
 
 When I lie tangled in her hair, 
 
 And fettered to her eye— 
 
 The birds, that wanton in the air. 
 
 Know no such liberty. Campbell, vol. iii. p. 400. 
 
 * “ The title of this work (says Mr. Campbell, vol. iii. p. 358) was in allusion to 
 the church at Cambridge, near his residence, where he almost constantly spent his 
 time. When the Covenant, in 1644, was offered to the Universities, he preferred 
 ejection and poverty to subscribing it. Already he had been distinguished as a 
 popular and powerful preacher. He soon after embraced the Catholic religion 
 and repaired to France. In austerity of devotion he had no great transition to 
 make to Catholicism ; and his abhorrence at the religious innovations he had wit- 
 nessed, together with his admiration of the works of the canonised St. Theresa of 
 Spain, slill more easily account for his conversion.” Specimens , vol. ii. p. 358. Mr. 
 Campbell thinks that “ there is some similarity between the speech of Satan in the 
 Sospetto di Herode of Marino (which Craslkw has translated) and Satan’s address 
 to the Sun of Milton.” There can be no doubt, not only of this, but of very con- 
 siderable obligation, on the part of Milton, to the Adamo of Marino, published at 
 Milan in 1609, 4to. and to other “ Adams” so copiously noticed by Mr. Todd, in 
 his Milton, vol. ii. p. 249-255. Mr. Wilbraham possesses a copy of Marino’s work, 
 which is well worth five or six guineas. The plates are pretty and pleasing. See 
 also the Retrospective Review, vol. i. p. 241. 
 
 3 A 
 
722 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English* 
 
 full front of the divine Milton, there remains little 
 more than to notice the subsequent poets in the chro- 
 nological order in which they flourished . . and with 
 which the department of English Poetry may be ap- 
 propriately concluded. Yet I check myself. Cowley 
 
 As to the “ herds of Jordans” what is to be done with these wild 
 and hard-catching animals ? Not fewer than seven of them are at 
 this moment before me — from the fertile meadows of my neighbour 
 and friend, Francis Freeling, Esq. Their titles are as follow r A Nur- 
 sery of Novelties : Characters: Claraphil and Clarinda: Divinity and 
 Morality : The Muse's Melody : Piety and Poesy : Wit in a Wilder- 
 ness : all tiny, thin, dingy-looking, and scurvily printed duodecimos 
 — but sound, and “ fit for market.” From the Cens. Liter, vol. i. 
 page 37, I find that Tom Jordan was a player in the company of the 
 Red Bull : and, after the Restoration, City Poet, and describer of 
 Lord Mayors Shows. O rare Tom Jordan ! Mr. Bindley had several 
 of his pieces : the Jewels of Ingenuity set in a coronet of Poetry , 
 which produced 10Z. 155. Claraphil and Clarinda , 41. 7s. ; and Royal 
 Arbor of Loyal Poesie , 21. 17 s. See again, part ii. p. S5 of his Cata- 
 logue. We want to know more about the author. 
 
 “ De gustibus non est disputandum.” On ne peut pas disputer 
 pour les gouts.” There’s no accounting for tastes.” What are 
 these stale (but not “flat”) aphorisms a prelude to? Simply this; 
 that, in the whole circle of poets of the earlier part of the seventeenth 
 century, my attachment is not more warmly fastened upon anv, than 
 it is upon Thomas Carew. The very soul of refined and exquisite 
 passion breathes through some of the happier efforts of his Muse. 
 Conceits he had — for conceits were the then fashion of the age, as 
 inflation and obscurity are now — but these conceits were more than 
 counterbalanced by innumerable beauties, which command our 
 closest attention, and extort our warmest applause. I am not sure 
 whether, after ail, his ballad of 
 
 Ask me no more where Jove bestows. 
 
 When June is past, the fading rose 
 &c. &c. &c.* 
 
 • I cannot resist the whole of the first, third, and fifth and last stanza : the 
 second and fourth being spoilt by what may be considered as conceits. 
 
POETRY. 
 
 English.] 
 
 723 
 
 is a name that merits distinct notice, and decided 
 
 be not to the full as beautiful and perfect as the Come live with 
 me and be my Love” of Marlow — and its answer by Raleigh — or the 
 et Drink to me only with thine eyes” of Jonson. Carew has been 
 fortunate in his biographers and critics. The powerful pen of Lord 
 Clarendon has rendered him ample justice — in his own life, volume i. 
 page 36. “ He was a person (says his Lordship) of a pleasant and 
 
 facetious wit, and made many poems (especially in the amourous way) 
 which, for the sharpness of the fancy, and the elegancy of the lan- 
 guage, in which that language is spiced, were at least equal if not 
 superior to any of that time.” Anthony Wood says he was “ famed 
 for the charming sweetness of his lyric odes and amorous sonnets.” 
 After the admission of occasional indelicacy, and frequent affectation, 
 Mr. Campbell remarks, that, ft among the poets who have walked 
 in the same limited path, Carew is pre-eminently beautiful, and de- 
 servedly ranks among the earliest of those who gave a cultivated 
 grace to our lyrical poetry. His slowness in composition was evi- 
 dently that sort of care in the poet, which saves trouble to his 
 reader .... and he unites the point and polish of later times, with 
 many of the genial and warm tints of the elder muse.” Specimens, 
 vol. iii. p. 187- The fourteen following pages are devoted to speci- 
 mens of his composition. But Mr. Ellis has done him ample jus- 
 tice : vol. iii. p. 168. Headley, a very surprising young man, and 
 competent in all respects to appreciate the talents of Carew, has also 
 rendered him justice — et Many of his productions,” says he, “ have a 
 certain happy finish, and betray a dexterity, both of thought and ex- 
 pression, much superior to any thing of his contemporaries, and, on 
 similar subjects, rarely surpassed by his successors.” Select Beau- 
 
 Ask me no more where Jove bestows. 
 When June is past, the fading rose ; 
 For in your beauties orient deep 
 These flowers as in their causes sleep. 
 
 For in your sweet dividing throat 
 She winters, and keeps warm her note. 
 
 Ask me no more if east or west 
 The phoenix builds her spicy nest ; 
 For unto you at last she flies, 
 
 And in your fragrant bosom dies. 
 
 Ask me no more whither doth haste 
 The nightingale, when May is past ; 
 
 But is not the beautiful ballad, beginning 
 
 “ He that loves a rosy cheek.” 
 
 preferable even to the preceding ? My friend Mr. Douce, says it is : and Mr. 
 Douce is not only an “ honourable,” but a most competent judge, in these matters. 
 
724 POETRY. [English. 
 
 commendation, in the text of this work. While a lad 
 
 ties of Ancient English Poetry : p. xxxiv. Kett's Edition. The works 
 of Carew lie within a small compass. They were published the year 
 after his death, in 1640, in a small 8 vo. volume: again in 1642: 
 and a third time revised and enlarged in 1651. Old Anthony a Wood 
 tells us that the songs in the said poems were set to music, or, if 
 you please, were wedded to the charming notes of Henry Lawes, at 
 that time the prince of musical composers, &c.” Athen. Oxon. Edit. 
 Bliss, vol. ii. p. 658. These editions are at a low price ; but I marvel 
 not that my friend Soranzo should have given 1/. Is. for his choicely 
 bound copy of the third of 1651 , or that he should read choice extracts 
 therefrom every alternate Wednesday evening. The last and best 
 editor of Wood tells us to shun the incorrect reprint by Tom Davies, 
 the bookseller, in 177*2* 8vo. The expert reader will not of course 
 confound Richard, with Thomas Carew— the translator of Tasso’s 
 Jerusalem, printed in 4to. (about 1592) and again in 1594 : — a 
 scarce book, and pushed to the price of 1 2£. 12s. in the Bibl. Angl . 
 Poet. p. 63. But concerning this work, see an excellent article in 
 the Retrospective Review , vol. iii. p. 32. 
 
 In regard to Daniel and Drayton, I must commence this para- 
 graph with a reference to the same authority respecting the first of 
 these poets, as I concluded the last j namely, to the Relrosp. Review , 
 vol. viii. p. 227-246, where copious extracts from Daniel will be 
 found. The Cens. Lit. vol. x. p. 26, which strings Daniel and Dray- 
 ton together on the same pearl-roll, is minute and particular respect- 
 ing the list of the works of these poets : and not less minute and 
 particular is the last editor of Wood’s Athen. Oxon. vol. ii. col. 268- 
 274. In regard to Daniel, the last edition of his collected works was 
 in 1718, 12mo. 2 vol. obtainable for some 8 or 10 shillings: but 
 both authors are incorporated in Anderson’s and Chalmers’s Body of 
 our English Poets. If I mistake not, the earliest printed text of 
 Daniel is his Complaint of Rosamond , in 1592, 4to. but a copy of his 
 Certaine Small Woorkes , or Poems, 1611,* 12mo. brought the sum of 
 
 * 1 find a copy of Certaine small Poems , fyc. 1603, 8vo. marked at 4/. 4s. in the 
 first part of the Catalogue of 1 822, of Messrs. Longman and Co. — inasmuch as the 
 Defence of Rhyme , is here the first edition — no date — which had escaped Wood 
 and other biographers, who had supposed it to have first appeared in 1611. Mr. 
 Thorpe, in his recent catalogue, No. 8257, marks a copy of Daniel’s Whole Workes 
 in Poetries; 1623, 4to. very neat, at 21. 2s. 
 
[English] POETRY. 7 25 
 
 at Westminster, he had the courage to become an 
 
 2 1. Is. at the sale of Bindley’ s Library. Wood calls Daniel the most 
 “ noted poet and historian of his time.” For his History of England, 
 consult p. 199, ante. A word now for my very old favourite Michael 
 Drayton. “ Drayton and Daniel, (says Mr. Campbell) though the 
 most opposite in the cast of their genius, are pre-eminent in the 
 second poetical class of their age, for their common merit of clear 
 and harmonious diction. Drayton is prone to Ovidian conceits, but 
 he plays with them so gaily, that they almost seem to become him 
 as if natural. His feeling is neither deep, nor is the happiness of his 
 fancy of long continuance, but its short April gleams are very beau- 
 tiful. His legend of the Duke of Buckingham opens with a fine 
 description. Unfortunately, his descriptions in long poems are, like 
 many fine mornings, succeeded by a cloudy day/’ Specimens , vol. i. 
 p. 166.* But Drayton exhibits an ampler field for the Bibliomaniac 
 to exercise his taste, and devote his wealth, than does Daniel ; and 
 the pages of the Bibl. Angl. Poet. (p. 68*73) will supply the best 
 recipe for the cure of plethora in the latter case. The earliest pub- 
 lished piece of Drayton seems to have been the Owle , 1604, 4to. 
 (reprinted in the appendix to the edition of 1748, folio), of which 
 a copy is marked at 5 1. 5s. in the work just referred to. The Muses 
 Elizium , which brought only 8s. 6d. at Reed’s Sale, produced 5/. at 
 that of Bindley, The Polijolbion , enriched with notes by Selden, 
 is the great work of Drayton and the best edition of it, containing 
 both parts, is that of 1622, folio : of which a remarkably fine copy, 
 with the frontispiece, and portrait of Prince Henry by Hole, and all 
 the other plates, produced the amazing sum of 9/. 19s. 6d. at the 
 sale of Colonel Stanley’s library. I remember seeing a very fine copy 
 of this estimable volume, in the original binding, at Mr. Triphook’s, 
 some half dozen years ago, which was marked at 7 J. 17$* 6d. The 
 first (but necessarily imperfect) collection of Drayton’s Poems was 
 
 * In the third volume of his Specimens, which contains not fewer than 53 pages 
 of extracts from Drayton, we meet with this farther vigorous delineadon of the 
 poet’s merits. “ The language of Drayton is free and perspicuous. With less 
 depth of feeling than that which occasionally bursts from Cowley, he is a less ex- 
 cruciating hunter of conceits, and in harmony of expression is quite a contrast to 
 Donne. A tinge of grace and romance pervades much of his poetry : and even 
 his pastorals which exhibit the most fantastic views of nature, sparkle with elegaut 
 imagery. The Nymphidia is in his happiest characteristic manner of airy and 
 sportive pageantry.” p. 2. 
 
726 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 author; and published his Poetical Blossoms in 1633* 
 4to. a book, of great price to the keen-scented Col- 
 in 1619, folio ; of which a copy in morocco binding is marked at 
 51. 5s. in the Bibl. Angl. Poet. A later and more complete edition 
 was given in 1748, folio, worth about 1 1. 1 Is. 6d. A third, and 
 now scarce impression, is that»of 1753, 8vo. 4 vols. worth probably 
 2Z. 125 . 6d. These editions contain the notes upon the Polyolbion : 
 notes, full of curious and erudite matter relating to the history and 
 topography of our own country. 
 
 Of the brilliant Randolph, ’’ see what is said in the Relrosp. 
 Review , vol. vi. p. 61-87. “A band, which, with Ben Jonson at 
 their head, was never more brilliant, active, joyous, and important, 
 than when our young poet sparkled away his nights with them “ in 
 those lyric feasts” at the Sun, the Dog, the Triple Tun, 
 
 Where they such clusters had 
 As made them nobly wild not mad. 
 
 He was soon joined with Cartwright,* as the adopted son in the 
 
 * During the Noctes Attic m which I spent at Altliorp in the autumn of 1819,. 
 —while preparing materials for the jEdes Althorpianae — I chanced to alight upoa 
 the “ Comedies, Tragi- Comedies, with other Poems , &c.” by Cartwright, 1651* 
 8vo. with an engraved portrait of the author, by Lombard, greatly inferior to the 
 well-known portrait, in a similar attitude, of Sir H. Wotton. This volume is. 
 absolutely crammed with commendatory verses ; and Bishop Fell (then a layman, 
 but A. M.) and Izaac Walton are in the number of encomiasts. Fell writes thus : 
 But I forbear this theme, denied to men 
 Of common souls, of lay and secular pen. 
 
 A little before, he prettily says — 
 
 When that his voice did charm th ’attentive throng, 
 
 And every ear was linked unto his tongue 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 Jasper Mayne thus out-herods Herod : 
 
 For thou to Nature hadst joined Art and Skill, 
 
 In thee Ben Jonson still held Shakspeare’s quill : 
 
 Master Mayne is however almost out-heroded in turn by James Howel, the 
 celebrated author of Londinopolis , 1657, folio. I quote from his verses addressed 
 to his dear Mother the University of Oxford upon Mr. Cartwright's Poems'* 
 
 Many do suck thy Breasts, but now in som 
 Thy milk turns into froth and spungy scum; 
 
 In others it converts to rheum and fleam 
 Or some poor whey ish stuff instead of cream. 
 
 But, enough. There are however some really well executed lines by u Jo. 
 l^eigh , Esq.” in which the author takes a view of the poets previous to Cartwright, 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 m 
 
 lector, if it have the 'portrait of the author; but other- 
 wise of comparatively little value. His poetry was 
 
 Muses of Jonson himself ; a distinction which all who know the 
 character of that great writer, will allow to be no ordinary proof of 
 the qualifications of Randolph. In such company, and with such 
 pursuits as his “ Poems, with the Muses Looking Glasse ,” &c. 1640, 
 8vo. : disclose, he blazed out his life,* and died at Blatherwyke, in 
 Northamptonshire, in the year 1635, and the 30th of his age. Owen 
 Feltham, the author of the Resolves, wrote these lines upon his 
 memory. 
 
 Such was his genius like the quick eyes’ wink. 
 
 He could write sooner than another think. 
 
 His play was fancy’s flame, a lyghtning wit. 
 
 So shot, that it could sooner pierce than hit. 
 
 Sir Christopher, afterwards Lord Hatton, erected a monument to 
 his memory: but I think Mr. Campbell makes him a little too much 
 of a toper with Ben Jonson, and draws too dark a conclusion about 
 the poverty and wretchedness of his circumstances and death. Ran- 
 dolph’s poems, reprinted in 1664, and 1668, are cheap and acces- 
 sible, and should be read : his wit and humour are very conspi- 
 
 cuous in the puritan characters, whom he supposes the spectators of 
 his scenes in the Muses Looking-Glass.” — Specimens, vol. iii. p. 101- 
 112 . 
 
 And shall this cluster of English Poets, the very stars and constel- 
 lations of the middle of the seventeenth century, be dispatched 
 without the notice of two Wights, of almost equal distinction — al- 
 though with very different degrees of celebrity ! ! Come forward my 
 Drummond of Hawthornden, and eke my poet of the Thames, John 
 Taylor! Of Drummond, those who will consult the Retrosp. Re- 
 view, vol. ix. p. 351, and Mr. Campbell’s Specimens, vol. iii. p. 341, 
 &e. will be satisfied of his just claims to a lastingcelebrity : and those 
 who happen to have the edition of his works of 1659, 8vo. with his 
 portrait by Gaywood, will not be displeased to learn that such a book, 
 in sound condition, was sold for 7 1. 17s. 6<2. at the sale of Mr. 
 
 and which might be worthy of transcription. Dr Bliss has enriched Lord Spen- 
 cer’s copy by transcripts from a copy of these poems, which appears to contain a 
 few more stanzas than the present. Mr. Grenville’s copy is the only one, of which 
 I am aware, that contains the verses on the Queen’s return from the Low Countries, 
 and on the death of Sir Bevil Grenvill. A nice and neat copy, portrait included, 
 may be worth 1/. 5s. 
 
728 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 first collected in 1668, but the more recent editions 
 of 1707, 1721, and 1772, 8vo. (the latter edited 
 
 Bindley’S Library. The folio edition of 17 1 1, with a fine mezzotint 
 of the poet by Faber, is worth about 1Z. 11s. 6d. A most interesting 
 account of the meeting of Drummond and Ben Jonson is given by 
 Mr. Gifford in his new edition of Ben Jonson' s Works , vol. i. p. cxxxiv.* 
 But of all the oddities of his day — and of all the men from whom an 
 account of himself, and of his contemporaries, would have been among 
 the most gratifying bequests to posterity, “ John Taylor the 
 Water-Poet,” was the man ! He was a slang fellow, and a sort 
 of Skelton in his way. Elis pieces, which are well nigh innumera- 
 ble, were collected and published in 1630, in a folio volume, replete 
 with bizarre and barbarous wood-cuts. Nevertheless, a copy of this 
 volume, perfect in all respects, was pushed to the enormous sum of 
 15Z. 15s. at the sale of Col. Stanley’s Library in 1814. The finest 
 copy, in point of genuineness of condition, which I ever saw, is that 
 in the library of the late Mr. Sparrow of Worlingham in Suffolk. 
 
 And here, as the closer to this list of Oddities and Rarities — or 
 as an illustration of the “ one knows not whom” of the text — let me 
 make only brief mention of Dolarney's Primrose , 1606, 4to. Chutes 
 Beautie dishonored , or Shore's Wife , 1593, 4to. Delia , conteyning 
 certain Sonnets , &c. 1592, 4to. Patrick Hannays Nightingale , &c. 
 (see p. 645, ante.) 1622, 8vo. Davison's Poetical Rhapsodies , 1608, 
 Svo. Heath's Clarastella , 1650, &c. and here .... the Curtain 
 falls, f 
 
 * From Drummond’s Own Works, 1711, folio, page 224. 
 
 + Through a sly aperture, however, the reader may take a peep at the Harleian 
 Catalogue , vol. iii. p. 355, which will supply him with the second and third piece, 
 together with that very rare article, beginning, “ A Feast full of sad cheeref 1592. 
 4to. Mr. Heber bought “ Delia,” some ten or twelve years ago, at a very great 
 price : that Lady bestowing even her smiles on costly terms. Dolarney’s Prim- 
 rose, (which produced 26/. 10.?. at Bindley’s Sale) was reprinted by Mr. F. Freeling 
 for the Roxburghe Club. Davison’s Poetical Rhapsodies, worth eight or ten 
 guineas in fine condition, was reprinted by Sir Egerton Brydges. The edition of 
 1611, produced 7/. 1 7s. 6d. at Bindley’s Sale. Mr. N. H. Nicolay, a maternal 
 descendant of the great Toup, is meditating a new edition of it. For Heath's 
 Clarastella , consult the Retrosp. Review , vol. ii. p. 227. A fine copy may be worth 
 2/. 2s. To these, what a host of similar Oddities and Rarities might be added ! 
 The neighbouring collection of my friend Mr. Freeling supplies me with the fol- 
 lowing merely accidental — prizes, drawn out of the richest Lottery wheel of 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 729 
 
 by the celebrated Hurd, Bishop of Worcester) are 
 those which a judicious Collector will desire to pos- 
 sess.* Denham must be noticed, if it be only to 
 
 * The library of my neighbour, just mentioned, furnishes me with 
 a copy of the Blossoms 3 of 1633, 4to. as above noticed. The gem of 
 this book is the portrait of Cowley, in his 13th year, engraved by 
 Robert Vaughan. Beneath the portrait, are these verses, by B. 
 Masters. 
 
 Reader, when first thou slialt behold this boyes 
 Picture, perhaps thoult thinke his writings, toyes. 
 
 Wrong not our Cowley so : will nothing passe 
 But gravity with thee ? Apollo was 
 Beardless himselfe, and for aught I can see 
 Cowley may yongest sonne of Phoebus bee. 
 
 Mr. Freeling’s copy is bound in blue morocco. In the Bibl. Angl. 
 Poet, a copy with the portrait is marked at 1 61. and without the por- 
 trait at 4 l. The Mistresse, or Severall copies of Love Verses , were 
 
 Old English Poetry in the parish of Marylebone. The Massacre of Money , 1602, 
 4to. The following is an almost hap-hazard extract : 
 
 Goe bid the Clarke ring day-bell earlier. 
 
 Bid the Church Warden mind the broken grave, 
 
 Then goe consult with Parish Minister, 
 
 And see the poore mans box his due to have. 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 This is marked as a “ rarissimus” article. The Scourge of Venus , 1613, 18mo. 
 Mr. Freeling knows of no other copy. It is a translation of Ovid’s horrible, but 
 -highly wrought, story of Myrrha and Cinyras. On the completion of the guilt of 
 the father and daughter, it runs thus : 
 
 Their bed doth shake and quaver as they lie, 
 
 As if it groan’d to beare the weight of sinne. 
 
 The fatall night-crowes at their windowes flie, 
 
 And cry out at the shame they do live in : 
 
 And that they may perceiue the heauens frown. 
 
 The Poukes and Goblins pul the couerings downe. 
 
 Again : Wit a sporting in a pleasant Grove of New Fajicies, by H. B. with a por- 
 trait prefixed. “ ^Et. 32.” very rare : especially with the portrait. These, out of 
 333 slim-waisted quartos and octavos. Think, however, of Malone’s most mar- 
 vellous collection at Oxford l— which contains five goodly quartos of Greene* s 
 pieces alone : four, of Lodge's : Nash in two ; and Spenser in four ; and many of 
 these volumes enclosing ten or more pieces of the greatest rarity in each. But 
 Atticus hears this unappalled. “ He is yet a” Collector. 
 
730 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 mention that his Cooper's Hill (and who reads even 
 this ?) first appeared in 1642, 4to. The neatest edi- 
 tion of his works, with which I am acquainted, is that 
 of Tonson, of 1719 ; and there be those who love to 
 possess the edition of Donne’s poems, of the same 
 date, and by the same printer. But are these authors 
 ever read, even in fine copies of the best editions of 
 them ?* 
 
 Butler’s Hudibras “cuts up famously” for a 
 Collector of old poetry. There are the first editions 
 in 1662-74, which are extremely difficult to procure : 
 then follow the statelier impressions of Grey and 
 Nash ; and recently the very splendid and matchless 
 one published by Messrs. Baldwin , of Newgate-street. 
 But the French, and a most marvellous, version of 
 
 first printed in 1647, 8vo. — a neat copy may be worth 1 1. Is. The 
 edition of 1707., 2 vols. Svo. contains 20 portraits, and other miscel- 
 laneous prints : and may be worth 1Z. Is. in goodly binding j but to 
 possess it on large paper, with the third or Supplementary volume 
 inlaid, by way of uniformity, you must betake yourself to Mr. Thorpe, 
 and pay down cheerfully 4 Z. 14s. 6d. Mr. Nassau’s copy stands so 
 priced in his Cat. no. 9590, just published. The editions of 1721, 
 and 1772, are each obtainable for a few shillings. Mr. Campbell 
 says of Cowley, that he wrote verses while yet a child 5 and amidst 
 his best poetry as well as his worst, in his touching and tender, as 
 well as extravagant passages, there is always something which re- 
 minds us of childhood in Cowley.” Specimens , &c. vol. iii. p. 74. 
 This I think is most true : yet, cries my poetry-loving friend, my 
 (( Blossoms ” shall never be blighted or blasted ! 
 
 * There is beginning to be a rage about early Tonsons. The 
 Denham of 1709 brought the stiff sum of 11. Is. at the sale of Colonel 
 Stanley’s Library j but the Donne , a remarkably fine copy, beauti- 
 fully bound in green morocco, by R. Payne, produced, at the same 
 sale, the far stiffer price of 4 1. 4s. The impression of the plate or 
 portrait of Donne, in this edition, is sometimes found of a dazzling 
 brightness ; and is indeed always a rich-looking portrait. 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 731 
 
 Towneley, in 1757, in 3 vols. 12mo. was of a rare and 
 costly description ; till its recent reprint, at Paris. 
 Below let my “ Young Man” puzzle and distract him- 
 telf “ how to choose a Hudibras.”* 
 
 * It is now several years ago, since I met with a gentleman of the 
 profession of the law, but of whose name all recollection is vanished, 
 who conversed long, learnedly, and agreeably, about the bibliogra- 
 phical history of Hudibras. He told me, however, I think, that the 
 second edition was rarer than the first, I do not speak with confi- 
 dence of the dates of the early editions ; but a full and instructive 
 article upon Hudibras and Imitations of him, appears in the Retros- 
 pective Review , vol. iii. p. 317. The second part was first printed in 
 1663. The best critical edition, not only of this author, but doubt- 
 less of every other of the period, was by Dr Zachary Grey , 1744, 
 8vo. 2 vols. a performance, of which the notes (that moved the bile 
 of Warburtonf ) are replete with curious, interesting, and accurate, 
 historical and bibliographical intelligence. I rarely open this book 
 without rising gratified by its perusal. In ordinary condition it is 
 worth about 2Z. 2s. — but this includes marble leaves and “ nice old 
 gilt tooling." On large paper, it is said only 12 copies were struck 
 off $ but I have my doubts on this head, as it is not an uncommon 
 book, and 100 copies were subscribed for. Do I deceive myself in 
 the supposition that I have seen more than a dozen of copies ? Be 
 this as it may, I find such a copy, bound by Roger Payne in red mo- 
 rocco, selling for 14Z. 14s. at the sale of Colonel Stanley’s library t 
 and a similar one — “very fine copy, old red morocco, borders of 
 gold,” (inviting description !) marked at 12 1. 12s. in the catalogue of 
 Messrs. Payne and Foss. It may be necessary to state, that the plates 
 in this edition are from the very humourous pencil of Hogarth - } and 
 some Original Paintings of the same subject grace the breakfast 
 parlour of Henry Sawbridge, Esq. of E. Haddon, in Northampton- 
 shire. With this edition, the Remains of Butler , edited by Thyer, in 
 1759, 8vo. two vols. are usually united j and a copy of these four 
 volumes (of course on small paper) is marked at 31. 13s. 6d. in the 
 last mentioned catalogue. Let me only add, that this edition has 
 been, of all those of Hudibras, the most frequently, and the most 
 
 t Sec D’Israeli’s, Quarrels of Authors , vol, i. p. 79. 
 
752 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 I am not sure whether any critical edition of Wal- 
 ler appeared before that of Fenton , in 1729, 4to. : 
 but I am quite certain, that of all the works of a po- 
 pular poet, none appear adorned with greater brilli- 
 ance, and propriety of decoration, than do the poems 
 of Waller, in the octavo edition of 1711, from the 
 warehouse of Tonson. This book is ornamented with 
 some sweet portraits, and is moreover very reasonable. 
 
 justly reprinted, with the omission of the copper plates, and the sub- 
 stitution of those of wood. Bensley reprinted it handsomely in 1799 : 
 of which Messrs. Payne and Foss again possess a copy, on large paper 
 in red morocco binding, marked at 3 l. 3s. : but it may be had, on 
 small paper, in subsequent impressions, from ISs. to 1 2. 105. 
 
 The French version of Towneley , the most surprising, and perhaps 
 the happiest effort of its kind known, has been known to sell as high 
 as 71. 17 s. 6d. in red morocco binding. Such was the price of the 
 beautiful copy (lauded in the Bibliog. Decameron , vol. iii. p. 94,) pur- 
 chased by Mr. Triphook at the sale of Mr. Dutens’s library. I find 
 however, a copy of it, in the catalogue of Mr. Cuthell, marked at 
 41. 4s. They have reprinted it recently at Paris. In 1793 came 
 forth the pompous edition (as Tom Osborne would have called it) of 
 Dr. Nash , the topographer of Worcestershire; in three quarto volumes. 
 The plates are almost below criticism : but, as poor Manson the 
 bookseller used to observe, “ always get them struck off in black, 
 and not in red," — as they usually are. A copy of this kind, with the 
 addition of Hogarth’s plates inserted, is marked at 122. 125. in the 
 catalogue of Messrs. Arch. A similar copy was sold for 142. 145. at 
 the sale of Colonel Stanley’s library. The edition put forth by Mr. 
 Baldwin of Newgate St., in 1809, 8vo. and above justly eulogised, is 
 in truth a, most singularly splendid and successful performance. The 
 notes are those of Dr. Grey : the cuts are in wood, by different artists, 
 from the designs of Thurston : and I consider the frontispiece as 
 among the miracles of modern art. Of this brilliant, and indeed cap- 
 tivating work, there were 25 copies only struck off in an imperial 
 quarto form, with proofs of the cuts on India paper : and a copy of 
 it, in 6 parts, is marked at 92. 95. in the last mentioned catalogue. 
 Butler’s Remains, by Thyer, are published in the same form, as an 
 appropriate companion. 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 733 
 
 The large paper copy of it, in the Stanley Collection, 
 brought the stiff price of 41. 8s * 
 
 Let us go at once to the illustrious Dryden. Let 
 us break free from the fetters (and by which we should 
 be inevitably fast bound) which hang about ail those 
 enquiries respecting the exact state of Fugitive and 
 Miscellaneous Poetry, that preceded and accom- 
 panied the productions of Dryden, as they successively 
 appeared. It is well for posterity— -and it has been 
 well for recent editors — that such pieces were col- 
 lected by the industry of Narcissus Luttrell\ — a 
 
 * The first genuine edition of the Poems of Waller appeared in 
 1645, 8 vo. and a clean and well-sized copy of the book is not com- 
 mon. I should value it at about 1 1. Is. in suitable binding. The edition 
 of 1711) above justly praised, contains two portraits of the Poet : one 
 of him in his 23d, and the other in his 76th year : also portraits of 
 Lord Falkland, the Countess of Carlisle and Sunderland, (from 
 Lombard’s large prints) Ben Jonson, Fletcher, Lady Morton, and 
 the Earl of Sandwich — by V ertue and Vander Gucht. A copy of this 
 attractive book, on large paper, (of which I never saw a second) 
 with fine impressions of the plates, and bound in red morocco, was 
 sold for 47. 8s. at the sale of Colonel Stanley’s library. In ordinary 
 condition it is worth 12s. Tonson published a very pretty little 
 edition, with a portrait of the author, “ iEtat. 76,” in the following 
 year: obtainable for a few shillings ; and I observe a fine copy of 
 the splendid edition of Fenton , 1729, 4to. marked at 2 1. 2s. in the 
 Bib. Angl. Poet. p. 411. This book has Vertue’s best portrait of 
 Waller j together with other appropriate decorations. The subse- 
 quent editions need not be enumerated ; except it be that of Percival 
 Stockdale of 1772, 8vo. worth about half a sovereign. 
 
 f The name of this Book Hero has received due notice and com- 
 mendation in the Bibliomania , p. 426-8 : and the obligations of the 
 last editor of Dryden, to Messrs Bindley . and Heber, for lending him 
 the treasures which they had collected from the dispersion of the Lut- 
 trell Collection — (chiefly by the sale of Wynne’s library in 17 86, 
 —noticed in the foregoing work) are distinctly made known. In 
 the year 1820, when the fourth and last part of Mr. Bindley’s library 
 
734 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 name, at the mention of which Atticus starts, and Sir 
 Tristrem makes a low obeisance. As to Dryden, he 
 has received only three critical editors ; Joseph War- 
 ton , Malone , and Sir Walter Scott. As the labours of 
 Malone have been confined only to his prose, and as 
 those of Warton (connected with his poetry) disap- 
 pointed all reasonable expectations, there remains but 
 one — and luckily a most delightful alternative, which 
 is, to purchase either of the two editions, in eighteen 
 goodly octavo volumes, of which Sir Walter Scott is 
 the editor— and then you may brandish your mother 
 of pearl paper-cutter, and open the instructive pages 
 
 was sold, those tracts, pamphlets, single sheets, and collections, once 
 belonging to Narcissus Luttrell, which their late venerable owner 
 possessed, were catalogued in the subjoined manner, and sold at the 
 prices attachedf — under the triumphant hammer of Mr. Evans. I 
 will only further remark that, for w ant of space, I have omitted the 
 specification (to be found in the catalogue) of the several portraits 
 and curious cuts by which this wonderful Collection was enriched. It 
 will be seen that the four articles, or eight folio volumes, brought the 
 prodigious sum of Seven Hundred and Eighty one Pounds ! Mr. 
 Heber was the purchaser of the fourth article. 
 
 f 1125 A Singularly Curious, Interesting, and Matchless Collection 
 of Poetical Ballads, Satires, Squibs, Elegies, and Historical and Humourous 
 Poems, upon the most remarkable National Occurrences and Events in high and 
 low life, between the yeares 1640 and 1 670, printed upon single broad sheets, col- 
 lected with indefatigable industry, by Narcissus Luttrell, who has marked the 
 price of each sheet, ...... 192/. 
 
 1126 A Similar Collection of Poetical Sheets, collected by Narcissus 
 Luttrell, and representing the principal National and Domestic Occurrences be- 
 tween 1670 and 1680, &c. .... 183/. 15*. 
 
 1127. A Similar Collection of Poetical Sheets, collected by Narcissus 
 Luttrell, and representing the principal National and Domestic Occurrences be- 
 tween 1675 and 1681, in 5 vol. .... 74/. 6*. 
 
 1128 A Curious and very extensive Collection of Single Sheets of 
 Poetry and Poetical Tracts, published between 1678 and 1688, collected by 
 Narcissus Luttrell, who has marked the original prices, and filled up, in manuscript , 
 the names of the persons alluded to in the poems , 5 vols. . . 231/. 
 
English.] POETRY. 735 
 
 of Dryden, to your heart’s content ! My more taste- 
 ful friends bind these tomes in green morocco ; but 
 I do not insist upon this colour.* 
 
 A word for Prior. On the tables of old halls, or on 
 the lowest shelves of old libraries, you generally see 
 the stately folio edition of 1718, of this poet’s works ; 
 with a portrait of the author in his velvet studying 
 cap (as you now-a-days see Cowper) prefixed : exe- 
 cuted, I believe, by Vertue : and of this towering tome 
 there are even copies on large paper ! — now, not 
 worth the expense of porterage. However, there is 
 one, and one only critical or complete edition of his 
 works, worth possessing ; and that is of the date of 
 1779, 8vo. in two vols.~j~ With the exception of his 
 
 * The reader will be first pleased to consult page 611-12 ante, res- 
 pecting the prose works of Dryden, edited by Malone. The poetry of 
 Dryden, edited by the late Joseph Warton, or rather the posthumous 
 labours of that editor, first published by his nephew, Mr. John War- 
 ton, appeared in four octavo volumes, in 1S11 ; and I find a copy of 
 the labours of both Malone and Warton, in eight volumes, marked at 
 61. 6s. in calf binding, by Messrs. Arch. As to the two editions of 
 Dryden, by Sir Walter Scott , as no notice is taken by the editor of 
 any superiority in the last of 1821, it matters not, I presume, which 
 is chosen. The first glitters on large pa per, (and in green morocco, 
 if I mistake not) on the interminable shelves of Book Wonders, at 
 Althorp. The small paper is sold at about 71- 1 7s. 6d. in ordinary 
 calf-binding. 
 
 f Whether, like the first folios of Shakspeare (so picturesquely 
 described by George Steevens) copies of the folio Prior of 1718 are 
 found w T ith flakes of pie -crust between the leaves, J I cannot take upon 
 me to pronounce ; although Hans Carvel , Paulo Purganti, and above 
 all the Ladle , were somewhat likely to afford ff fun and fancy” to the 
 usual tenants of a hall. It will be here only necessary to observe, 
 that the edition of 1779> Svo. two vols. contains the works of Prior 
 te now first collected, with explanatory notes, and memoirs of the 
 
 X Consult Reed's Shakspeare , vol.ii. page 147. Edit. 1813. 
 
736 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 Edwin and Emma , founded on the old ballad of the 
 « Nut Brown Maid of which it were difficult to say, 
 whether the original or the copy be the more remark- 
 able for its insipidity,* Prior seems to be well nigh 
 forgotten ; but he was a scholar, and a man of taste, 
 and an influential personage in his day. 
 
 At length we reach Pope ; whose fame was begin- 
 ning to be firmly established as Prior quitted the 
 stage. I will say nothing of the numerous editions of 
 his shorter performances, and especially of the Essay 
 on Criticism and the Dunciad . Like those of his great 
 predecessor, Dryden, they first usually appeared in a 
 folio of few pages.f The history of the publication of 
 
 author.” A well bound copy of this edition may be worth 1J. 8s. 
 In the Bibl. Ang. Poet, page 276, a copy occurs in morocco, with 
 some tempting ornaments, for 4 1. 4s. 
 
 * “ The greatest (says Dr. Johnson) of all Prior’s amorous Essays 
 is his Henry and Emma : a dull and tedious dialogue, which excites 
 neither esteem for the man, nor tenderness for the woman.” A par- 
 ticular account, or rather an entire transcription, of the Original 
 Ballad, nowupwards of 300 years old, appears in the Censura Lite - 
 raria , vol. vi. p. 113, &c. — copied from Arnold's Chronicle , pub- 
 lished at the commencement of the sixteenth century. I subjoin the 
 first stanza, which is really not divested of merit. 
 
 Be it right or wrong these men among on women do complaine 
 Affermyng this, how that it is a labour spent in vaine 
 To love them wele, for never a dele they love a man agayne ; 
 
 For let a man do what he can ther favour to attayne, 
 
 Yet yf a new to them pursue, ther furst lover than 
 
 Laboureth for nought, and from ther thought he is a banished man. 
 
 + The Lives of Pope, by Dr. Johnson and Mr. Chalmers, founded 
 upon that of Ruffhead, together with Spence’s Anecdotes, will easily 
 furnish the dates of these respective editions. I once possessed them 
 all, including the first impression of Dryden’s Alexander’s Feast, for 
 \l. 6s. Mr. Heber, I believe, possesses the first editions of all the 
 works of both Dryden and Pope. N Some of the first Dunciad, having* 
 an ass laden with books as a frontispiece, are curious enough. 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 737 
 
 his Trandation of Homer is curious in a bibliographi- 
 cal point of view. That work was splendid beyond 
 precedent ; but the patronage bestowed upon it was 
 not less so. Pope loved art, although he knew little 
 critically about it, and therefore did not starve the 
 concern — and even now, in this refined and volup- 
 tuous age of typography, I cannot resist the recom- 
 mendation of a fine copy of the Subscription Homer — 
 the splendid ornament, in former times, of our most 
 distinguished libraries, and an inmate, at all times, 
 which we need not be ashamed to introduce to our 
 best friends * 
 
 The works of Pope are chiefly known by the edi- 
 tions of them which have appeared from Warburton , 
 Warton , and Bowles . A new edition is now in the 
 
 * The first edition of the translation of the Iliad of Homer by 
 Pope, appeared in 1715*20, in six quarto volumes. It was reprinted 
 in 1717-3S, in six folio volumes. The Odyssey appeared in 1725, in 
 the same number of volumes. Lintot was the bookseller and pub- 
 lisher. “ Pope’s” contract with Lintot was, that he should receive 
 200/. for each volume of the Iliad, besides all the copies for his sub- 
 scribers, and for presents. The subscribers were 575, and many 
 subscribed for more than one copy 3 so that he must have received 
 upwards of 60COZ. He was at first apprehensive that the contract 
 might ruin Lintot, and endeavoured to dissuade him from thinking 
 any more of it. The event, however, proved quite the reverse. The 
 success of the work was so unparallelled, as at once to enrich the 
 bookseller, and to prove a productive estate to his family.” Singers 
 Edition of Spence's Anecdotes ; p. 295, note. That there exist copies 
 of the first folio, on large paper, I very much doubt. To enume- 
 rate subsequent editions of Pope's Homer, would be fruitless. They 
 are innumerable, adorned and unadorned : but the most beautiful 
 one, to my recollection, is that of Bensley, in octavo, published by 
 Duroveray. The best edition of this translation is that by the late 
 Gilbert Wakefield , 1806, 8 vo. nine vols. of which a well bound copy, 
 in calf-binding, is worth about 5 1. 5s. 
 
 3 B 
 
73& 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 press, and in a very forward state, under the care of 
 Mr. Roscoe ; and I make no doubt that the public 
 will hail it with that “ acclaim,” which, from the re- 
 putation of the editor, may be reasonably expected. 
 I have below given, I trust, every requisite information 
 respecting the choice of editions.* But who can be 
 
 * But who, on second thoughts, can give “ every requisite infor- 
 mation” on such a subject ? — and especially to the enthusiastic Popite 
 — of which denomination the class is by no means limited ? The first 
 critical edition of Pope’s works, after the death of the author, was from 
 the powerful pen of Warburton, and it appeared in 1751, in 9 octavo 
 volumes. It has cuts from the designs of Blakie , Wale,-\ and Hayman ; 
 but there is not one cut, throughout the volume, which is entitled to 
 particular commendation. They are all full of affectation or obscure 
 allegory : yet such was the run of this long-expected, and highly 
 elaborated edition, that reprints, with a repetition of the cuts, in all 
 forms, and with varying degrees of merit, successively appeared for a 
 series of years. There are those who yet love and highly value the 
 first Warburton’s Pope , bound in calf, with a broad border of gold on 
 the sides, and marble edges to the leaves. My friend Mr. Utterson 
 has Colonel Stanley’s fine copy of the second edition, of 1757* bound 
 in russia. An edition of it appeared at Edinburgh in 1764, in six 
 volumes, of which there are copies on fine paper. Gilbert Wake- 
 field published in 1794 one volume of notes, chiefly on the minor 
 poems, as a specimen of an entire edition : and it is to be regretted 
 that he felt himself deterred from its completion by the promised edi- 
 tion of Joseph Warton ; since, as far as it goes, Wakefield’s volume 
 is one of the most satisfactory performances of its kind. The edition 
 of Joseph Warton% appeared in 1797, 8vo. in nine vols. The expec- 
 
 t By what act of inspiration did Wale conceive and execute those beautiful de- 
 signs, which appeared in the first edition of Sir John Hawkins’s Complete Angler 
 of Walton, 1760, 8vo. ? Nothing can he more appropriate and spirited than these : 
 and no re-execution of them more brilliant than thdse which have recently appear- 
 ed in Mr. Major’s edition of that enchanting performance. 
 
 + The very ingenious performance of Warton, called “ Ah Essay on the Writ- 
 ings and Genius of Pope” first appeared in 1762, 8vo. two vols. This work had 
 great influence on the mind of Dr. Johnson. Its object appeared to be, to depre- 
 ciate the poet in the estimation of posterity : and yet this depreciation was so quali- 
 fied, guarded, and frittered down, as if the author had been either afraid or 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 739 
 
 “ at fault” with any edition, where the text is pure, and 
 the annotations are brief and apposite ? There is 
 only one feeling, while discoursing of this incompar- 
 able poet, which I trust it may be permitted me to 
 avow ; that is, that, in the present age of prying re- 
 search into the documents left of the illustrious dead, 
 no officious zeal, misguided vanity, or base love of 
 lucre, will lead to the publicity of every thing yet exist- 
 ing, unrecorded, of the muse of Pope : a name, which 
 should be ever connected with all our better feelings 
 of admiration and gratitude.* 
 
 Gray, Thomson, Collins, Churchill, Young, 
 Akenside, Goldsmith, Warton, Beattie, and Cow- 
 per, are names equally as familiar, if not as illustrious, 
 
 tations of the learned world were, it must be admitted, generally 
 disappointed. Yet Warton’s edition was becoming scarcer every day, 
 as there must be a Pope “ in the market when, in 1806*, appeared 
 the edition of the Rev. W- R. Bowles. Still, that of Warton by no 
 means kicked the beam, and the labours of Mr. Bowles by no means 
 lacked patronage. I must, however, be free to confess, that Pope, 
 up to this period, has not been satisfactorily edited. What Mr. Ros- 
 coe’s edition may contain, can be matter of speculation only. My 
 hopes are ardent, and my conclusions strong. That there is ample 
 room for the circulation of many copies of a well-edited Pope, can be 
 no matter of speculation, but is one of certainty. A good copy of 
 Pope, by Warton or by Bowles, is worth 51. 5s. with the tenth volume 
 —which is suitable to either edition. 
 
 * This is not the language of vague declamation. In both the 
 editions of Pope, just noticed, there are things which, considering 
 the respectable characters of their editors, ought not to have been 
 introduced : and I have seen original matter in MS. which I trust 
 will never be seen in print. 
 
 ashamed to avow his professed object. The essay is, doubtless, in its way, a 
 master piece of curious and elegant erudition. It should accompany, if not be 
 incorporated into, every edition of Pope ; and was scarce, till its reprint some dozen 
 years ago. It is attainable for the same number of shillings. 
 
740 
 
 POETRY, 
 
 [English. 
 
 as those of Milton, Dryden, and Pope. They bring ns to 
 the very verge of living writers : to an sera of poetry, 
 scarcely less inferior to that of the last century. And 
 while, in the subjoined note,* “ the Young Man” and 
 
 * It may be considered almost folly, but at any rate unproductive 
 of much use, to dwell upon the editions of the above authors. Of late 
 years, one impression takes very little precedency of another, on the 
 score of merit : but concerning Gray’s poems, I must be allowed to 
 recommend the correct and commodious edition of Mr. Mitford, 
 first in 1816, 4to. and afterwards in two elegantly printed octavo vo- 
 lumes. From the “ Advertisement ,” p. 40, the reader is thus informed 
 of the chief causes which render this edition so desirable to a genuine 
 lover of Gray s high intellectual character : the great importance 
 however which the editor attaches to this volume is, that it enables 
 the public for the first time to read the genuine and uncorrupted cor- 
 respondence of Gray, exactly in his own language, and printed from 
 his own manuscripts. The more recent edition of the works of 
 Gray, by Mr. Mathias, in two widely-spread quartos, (concerning 
 which read the Quarterly Review, vol. xi. p. 304.) sunk with the 
 weight of lead upon the market. Huge as is the ordinary size of 
 these tomes — and little calculated as were the works of Gray for 
 such a ponderous superstructure--there are yet large paper copies ! ! 
 at a price, which at first appalled the timid, and startled the rich. 
 The prices; however, both of the small and large paper, are materially 
 abated . . and I prophecy . . But “ hence,” M am y.uytuv ! — ” methinks I 
 hear one of the Syndics of the Cambridge University press exclaim. 
 Yet, note well : An edition of the Pursuits of Literature was struck 
 off, on paper of the same size, in both forms; as if Thomas James 
 Mathias had been the principal author of this latter work ! What will 
 be the verdict of posterity r 
 
 Of Thomson, I much regret that a sort of Variorum edition has 
 not been published in spite of the elegant, ample, and correct one of 
 Patrick Murdoch , in 1762, 4to.2 vols. — worth about2Z. 12s. 6d. — and 
 5/. 5s. on large paper. I once collected several of the earlier im- 
 pressions (about which, by the by, the reader may consult the Cens. 
 Lit. vol. ii. pp. 65, 91, 243, 349) with a view of satisfying myself 
 about the best readings, but have long since abandoned the pursuit. I 
 learn that Mr. Mitlord, the editor of Gray, has some thought of 
 maturing a similar plan, and of giving the fruits of it to the public. 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 741 
 
 “ the Old Man” search sedulously respecting the pre- 
 ferable editions of the ten Poets just recorded, I cannot 
 
 May this intelligence turn out to be correct. Numerous are the 
 beautiful editions of this beautiful poet ; who has been chiefly in- 
 debted to Theocritus, Virgil, and Milton, for the picturesque and phi- 
 losophical parts of his poetry. There is one edition in particular, 
 from the press of Bensley, in large octavo, with prints from the 
 designs of Hamilton, which is exquisitely perfect in all respects : 
 and which should be taken to the “ cool grot or mossy cell” . . . 
 
 Where the dun umbrage o’er the falling stream 
 
 Romantic hangs ! 
 
 in order to be perused with entire satisfaction. There have been 
 those, with whom, in former times, this delightful task was wont to 
 be shared who are now ... far removed from all earthly solicitudes 
 and enjoyments : who had hearts, tender as “ Damon” and generous 
 as “ Palemon.” It is in truth consoling, in moments of anguish and 
 melancholy, to think of such past enjoyments, though they be never 
 to return : and the reminiscences of them, participated by me nearly 
 twenty-five years ago, in the park of Osterley and the meadows of 
 Twickenham, renew, as it were, the youthful impulses of former 
 days j and give a romantic tone of colouring to the pictures conjured 
 up by the imagination. These are among the most perfect, but in 
 the end painful, luxuries of intellect. To return to Thomson. The 
 pencil of Hamilton was most successfully exercised in the sumptuous 
 edition put forth by Bowyer, from the press of Bensley, in 1?97 j folio. 
 This book, on its appearance, was rapturously received j and no price 
 was refused to be given ; but even at Colonel Stanley’s sale, and in 
 spite of every collateral advantage of binding in blue morocco, by 
 ‘Walth er, with proof impressions of the plates, it produced but 81. 8s. 
 The Musidora was the most perfect figure ever executed by the 
 artist : and is one of the most delicate and beautiful of embellish- 
 ments. 
 
 Of Collins, consult some account of his Odes and Eclogues of 
 the dates of 1746 and 1757> as they appear in the Cens. Liter, vol. i. 
 p. 353 ; vi. p. 389. I am not acquainted with any particularly cri- 
 tical or splendid edition. If Collins live by the reputation of one, 
 more than of another, performance, it strikes me that his Ode to 
 Evening will be that on which the voice of posterity will be more 
 uniform in praise. It is a pearl of the most perfect tint and shape. 
 
742 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 allow this department to close, without dwelling, with 
 more than ordinary feelings of satisfaction, upon the 
 
 Churchill first appeared in a collected and pompous form in the 
 quarto of 1763. The best edition of his works is that of 1804, 8vo. 
 2 vols. It has explanatory notes, and an account of his life : but the 
 works of Churchill, being chiefly personal and local, will gradually 
 cease to be enquired after, or perused with avidity. We now reach 
 Young : an original and a great poet, after his fashion — and a 
 fashion not likely to wear away among Englishmen : for, after all, 
 his Night Thoughts are a sublime production. Wherefore is it, that I 
 love to read that portion of the poem, published in a folio form, with 
 bizarre but original and impressive ornaments by Blake ? At times, 
 the pencil of the artist* attains the sublimity of the poet : and it is 
 amidst the wild uproar of the wintry elements — when piping winds 
 are howling for entrance round every corner of the turretted chamber, 
 and the drifted snow works its way into the window casement, how- 
 ever closely fastened — it is in moments like these that I love to 
 open that portion of the text of Young which has been embellished 
 by the pencil of Blake. My friends will laugh . . peradventure deride 
 . . but let us all be endured in these venial moments of hallucination. 
 The soul of poetry itself (we are told) is fiction : and I would feign 
 happiness at such moments. The poetical works of Young were first 
 collected in 1741, 8vo. 2 vols. They have been since frequently 
 reprinted : and a very good edition appeared in 1777 > 12mo. with an 
 
 * A magnificent portrait of Mr. Blake, admirably painted by Phillips, and as 
 admirably engraved by Schiavonetti, is prefixed to the edition of Blair's Grave. 
 My friend Mr. D’Israeli possesses the largest collection of any individual of the 
 very extraordinary drawings of Mr. Blake ; and he loves his classical friends to 
 disport with them, beneath the lighted Argand lamp of his drawing room, while 
 soft music is heard, upon the several corridores and recesses of his enchanted stair- 
 case. Meanwhile the visitor turns over the contents of the Blakean portefeuille. 
 Angels, Devils, Giants, Dwarfs, Saints, Sinners, Senators, and Chimney Sweeps, 
 cut equally conspicuous figures : and the Concettos at times border upon the bur- 
 lesque, or the pathetic, or the mysterious. Inconceivably blest is the artist, in his 
 visions of intellectual bliss. A sort of golden halo envelopes every object im- 
 pressed upon the retina of his imagination ; and (as I learn) he is at times shak- 
 ing hands with Homer, or playing the pastoral pipe with Virgil. Meanwhile, 
 shadowy beings of an unearthly form hang over his couch, and disclose to him 
 scenes . . . such as no other Mortal hath yet conceived ! Mr. Blake is himself no 
 ordinary poet. 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 743 
 
 living authors here alluded to : — without pointing out 
 the energy and variety of Southey, the pathos and ele- 
 
 index and glossary. The Satires of Young deserve to be more gene- 
 rally read 5 and admiration will be nearly as general as the perusal. 
 Dr. Johnson has given Young his full mead of praise, on all the sub- 
 jects of his poetry. 
 
 Of Akenside (the most perfect builder of our blank verse) I know 
 of no edition entitled to particular commendation. Why are his 
 Pleasures of the Imagination so little perused ? There are a hundred 
 (I had well nigh said a thousand) electrical passages in this charming 
 poem. The best edition of Tom WARTon’s Poems, is that of 1802, 
 8vo. 2. vols. by Dr. Mant — now Bishop of Killaloe. It is obtainable 
 at a moderate price. There are copies on large paper. “ Lives 
 there the man,” who has a heart to feel, and an understanding to 
 appreciate, who does not even hug the Minstrel , of Beattie ? ! Most 
 sweet and soothing and instructive is that thoroughly picturesque and 
 sentimental poem, throughout : while the stanza exhibits one of the 
 happiest of modern attempts at that of the Spencerian structure. Of 
 Goldsmith, all praise were idle, and censure vain. For simplicity, 
 sweetness, and tenderness, he has yet no rival : and he is always 
 perspicuous and correct. 
 
 Of Cowper, how shall I express myself in adequate terms of admi- 
 ration ! 1 The purity of his principles, the tenderness of his heart, his 
 unaffected and zealous piety, his warmth of devotion, (however 
 tinctured at times with gloom and despondency) the delicacy and 
 playfulness of his wit, and the singular felicity of his diction, all con- 
 spire by turns 
 
 To win the wisest, warm the coldest heart. 
 
 Cowper is the poet of a well-educated and well-principled English- 
 man. “ Home, sweet home” is the scene — limited as it may be 
 imagined — in which he contrives to concentrate a thousand beauties, 
 which others have scattered far and wide upon objects of less inte- 
 rest and attraction. His pictures are, if I may so speak, conceived 
 with all the tenderness of Raffaelle, and executed with all the finish 
 and sharpness of Teniers. No man, in such few words, tells his tale, 
 or describes his scene, so forcibly and so justly. His views of Nature 
 are less grand and less generalized than those of Thomson : and here, 
 to carry on the previous mode of comparison, I should say that Thom- 
 son was the Gaspar Poussin, and Cowper the Hobbima of rural 
 
744 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 vation of Campbell, the tenderness of Wordsworth, 
 
 the delicacy of Rogers, the vigour and picturesque 
 
 * 
 
 poetry. But a truce to all this. A thousand young readers can reason 
 nearly in the like manner 3 and will turn round and tell me that this 
 is as tedious “ as a tale thrice told.” Be it however remembered, 
 that the popularity of Cowper gains strength as it gains age : and, 
 after all, he is the poet of our study, our cabinet, and our alcove. 
 
 Some twelve years ago, there appeared a periodical work under the 
 title (I believe) of the Poetical Register' ; and in it there was an ar- 
 ticle, said to have been written by the late Mr. Octavius Gilchrist, res- 
 pecting the comparative merits of Thomson and Cowper. It struck 
 me as a performance of considerable ability. Since then, the merits 
 of Cowper have been frequently and ably described. I have before 
 (p. 54G, &c.) made honourable mention of a delightful article or two 
 upon Cowper in the Edinburgh Review — and there has very recently 
 appeared (in the 59th number) an excellent article upon the same 
 subject in the Quarterly Review . But I am unwilling to overlook the 
 notices of Cowper from the pens of Messrs. Campbell and Hazlit. They 
 are both admirable of their kind; and to that of Mr. Campbell* I 
 
 * In tlie viith. volume of his Specimens of the British Poets , p. 337-396. This is 
 the last time on which I may have occasion to refer to this work. My obligations to 
 it, as the preceding pages attest, have been great; and I consider the Essay, which 
 occupies the first volume, as among the happiest specimens of didactic criticism. 
 It is a sketch only, but the sketch of an experienced master. It has been said that 
 “ none but a poet should criticise a poet.” Here is at least proof that a poet can 
 criticise with discernment, taste, and vigour. The flings at the close of it, against 
 us poor“ Bibliographers,” might have been spared ; for had it not been for the 
 black-letter enthusiasm of old Price, of the Bodleian Library, we had never seen 
 Tom Warton’s magnificent History of our Poctiy. “ Old Price” used to tell me, 
 that he groped about in all directions for Wynhyns and Pynsons — and threw them 
 in the way of Warton — who, at starting, was utterly ignorant of the nature of the 
 country before him. Mr. Campbell has, I believe, received abundant aid from 
 treasures of a similar description --without which his criticisms would have been 
 scanty and shallow. Of this beautiful Essay, three copies only were printed on 
 paper of an imperial octavo size. One copy is in the possession of the publisher, 
 Mr. Murray ; another in that of Mr. Freeling : and the third in that of Mr. Hatfield, 
 near Manchester. But the short biographies and criticisms, prefixed to each of 
 the Specimens in the six subsequent volumes, have much interest and cleverness. 
 The difficulty of compression , in many cases, is at times greater than can be well 
 conceived. The account of Cowper, in particular, exhibits a more amplified spe- 
 cimen of biography and criticism. It is true that Mr. George Ellis, after Warton, 
 
English,] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 ?45 
 
 powers of Scott, the warmth and brilliancy of Moore, 
 the nervous brevity and point of Crabbe, the sweet- 
 ness and purity of Milman, and the strength and 
 sublimity of Byron.* In a future cf Corpus Poetarum 
 
 am indebted for more than one perusal, which has placed the cha- 
 racter and merits of the poet most vividly and powerfully before me. 
 
 A word now for editions. But no : the Task is endless and pro- 
 fitless. Obtain any one 5 inasmuch as they are obtainable at all prices 
 and in all forms — and let engravings from the pencils of Stothard 
 and Westall be seen in those of a choicer and costlier description. 
 Illustrations of Cowper, by means of copper plates of the principal 
 scenes described by him, have been favourably received by the 
 public. But no instrument has executed such pictures like the pen 
 of the Poet himself. 
 
 * The poetry of Mr. Southey occupies not fewer than 14 volumes 
 in crown octavo j and it embraces subjects of almost every descrip- 
 tion. Thalaha has long been, and will long continue to be, very 
 generally known and admired. It was abundantly popular at the 
 period of its publication. The Curse of Kehuma is perhaps the 
 greatest, effort of the author’s genius ; but his Roderick , or the Last 
 of the Goths , is that which seems to have received his most careful 
 elaboration and finishing. It is a grand poem ; and will, I predict, 
 with confidence, be the great favourite with posterity. Madoc, 
 though full of wild imagery, and with verse of occasionally uncouth 
 structure, is not destitute of some of the most brilliant touches of the 
 poet. I am not sure if Mr. Campbell's Pleasures of Hope be not the 
 most poetical production of the age. From the moment of its appear- 
 ance to the present moment, the reading of it has always filled me with 
 equal admiration of its plan, its melody, and powers of execution. 
 It is full of genius and of noble conceptions — expressed in numbers 
 at once polished and perfect. From the nature of the subject and of 
 the stanza, his Gertrude of Wyoming could not be received with the 
 same general acclamation : but it teems with passages which evince 
 
 
 led the way : but be is generally concise in the extreme, on comparison. The speci- 
 mens of our earlier Poets, by Ellis (in three vols.) and Campbell, and of our later 
 ones by Mr. Southey , (three vols. Svo.) should be “ the Young Man’s” constant 
 Library Companions. They will awaken a keen zeal, and tend to the cultivation 
 of a pure taste, in those Writers, whose names can only perish with our language. 
 
746 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 Anglicanorum these successful Bards will be regis- 
 tered with all due pomp and ceremony. . sufficient to 
 
 all the powers of the poet, and are worthy of the highest reputation 
 of its author. In brief compositions, such as the Ode or Ballad — 
 there is nothing, in the whole compass of our language, which has 
 eclipsed Mr. Campbell’s Hohenlinden, Lochiel, and Mariners of Eng- 
 land. These brief productions are among the happiest efforts of the 
 British Muse. 
 
 The fame of Mr. Wordsworth was first established by his Lyrical 
 Ballads, 1798, 1802, 12mo. 2 vols. : with additions and improve- 
 ments in 1815, 8vo. two vols. The most important work was his 
 larger poem of The Excursion , 1820, 4to. The third, the White Doe 
 of Rylstone, &c. 1819, 4to. These, with Peter Bell , the Waggoner, 
 &c. appear in the collected works of Mr. Wordsworth, published in 
 1820, 12mo. 4 vols. The Muse of this poet is of a singular cast and 
 temperament. Objects the most simple, and themes the most fami- 
 liar, are treated by her in a style peculiarly her own ? but if these 
 objects and these themes have been such, as, with a great number of 
 readers, to excite surprise and provoke ridicule, this must have arisen 
 rather in compliance with the tone of what is called fashionable criti- 
 cism, than from an impartial perusal of the poems themselves. The 
 purest moral strain, and the loftiest feelings of humanity, pervade 
 the productions of Mr. Wordsworth : and these, at times, are united 
 with so much sweetness of diction, and with such just and powerful 
 views of religion, that that bosom must be taxed with insensibility 
 which is impervious to their impression. The name of Mr. Rogers 
 will naturally awaken the recollection of the delight experienced 
 from the perusal of his Pleasures of Memory : thus making this very 
 reminiscence illustrative of the propriety of the title of the poem. 
 That poem, conceived with so much delicacy and truth, and executed 
 with so much care and polish, will maintain the reputation which it 
 has acquired. It has gone through countless editions,* and equally 
 charms the young on the coming, and the aged on the parting, year. 
 
 * It was first published in 1792, 4 to. and was preceded by an Ode to Superstition , 
 in 1786, 4to. Of the editions of the Pleasures of Memory, I prefer that, published 
 in a crown 8vo. some twenty years ago, with beautiful engravings by Heath and 
 others, from the pencil of Stothard. Nor was the pencil unworthy of the burin. A 
 sweeter embellished book, altogether, cannot be seen ; and if ever a morocco coated 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 747 
 
 convince the latest posterity that the British Muse 
 neither slumbers nor sleeps ; that the age of improved 
 
 Tis a sort of staple commodity in the market of booksellers. Of the 
 remaining works of Mr. Rogers, his Epistle to a Friend (from Italy) 
 is perhaps the preferable one. The last poem is entitled Human Life . 
 Lord Spencer possesses a copy of it, with a drawing of the author’s 
 portrait, copied from that of Sir Thomas Lawrence. 
 
 The name of Sir Walter Scott calls forth a thousand sensations 
 of admiration and delight : and happy the man, who, in the full 
 vigour of life, and plenitude of reputation, can call such sensations 
 forth ! the broad and high way” to fame, which he has hewn out 
 for himself, is strewn with no thorns, and surrounded by no unseemly 
 sights, to wound the feet, or injure the eyes, of such who choose 
 to walk in it. No Upas tree sheds its poison here. Criticism has 
 wearied herself to exhaustion, in the exercise of her powers upon 
 his multifarious productions. The founder of an original School of 
 Novelists, and by much and far the greatest among all those who 
 have even happily imitated him* — the Editor of Somers's Tracts , of 
 Sir R . Sadlers State Papers , of the works of Swift and Dryden\ 
 
 copy turns up, with brilliant impressions of the plates, I charge my “Young Man” 
 to draw his sword, and fight gallantly for its possession. It is true that, of late, the 
 pencil of the same artist has been employed on another edition - and not only his 
 pencil but his burin . I allude to the recent impression, with wood-cut head and 
 tail pieces by Mr. Stothard. These are doubtless creditable efforts of art — but are 
 not the heads of the several figures almost uniformly too large ? At any rate the 
 paper and printing should have been worthier of the art. At the close of this sub- 
 note, let me be allowed to remark, that no name is dearer to an Englishman, in 
 the annals of British Art, than that of Stothard. I say nothing of the “ incom- 
 parable felicity of temper,” and of the unsullied purity of conduct, of the Man. 
 My business here is with his pencil: and let me advise the tasteful in these mat * 
 ters to secure all those editions of our Poets, Novelists, and Dramatists, in which 
 appear beautiful engravings (in the good old times, when the names of engravers 
 implied that the works before us were the works of their hands ) from the designs 
 of this gentleman, who, without flattery, is a very domestic Raifaelle in his way. 
 A friend of mine possesses scarcely fewer than a thousand specimens of this kind. 
 
 * The Novels, of which Sir Walter Scott is the reputed author, extend to 33 
 crown octavo volumes : and these, exclusively of the two last. — St. Ronan's Welly 
 and Red Gauntlet. There is another edition, in demy octavo, which is also very 
 beautifully printed. 
 
 f Of this edition, noticed at page 735 ante, the IXth and Xth volumes, con- 
 taining annotations of a biographical character, are singularly instructive and 
 
POETRY. 
 
 [English.' 
 
 748 
 
 knowledge, of almost every description, is as favour- 
 able to the flights of fancy as to the deductions of 
 
 but all this is extraneous. Sir Walter is now before us as a Poet. 
 The first printed production of his muse, was, I believe, the ballad of 
 Glenfinlas j which appeared in that very extraordinary but highly 
 poetical miscellany, (of which the late G. M. Lewis,* was the Editor 
 and partly author) called Tales of Wonder. Johnson says that Comus 
 was the dawn of Paradise Lost. Do I trace, in this ballad, much 
 of the wild imagery and glowing diction which mark so emphatically 
 the Lay of the Last Minstrel ? That “ Lav” it was my good fortune 
 to see, and to hear read, in MS. two years before its appearance in 
 print. It is the most perfect and highly elaborated of all the authors 
 pieces. The introductions are things apart— of themselves — and, 
 as bibliographers say, unique. In other words, they are exquisite. 
 Marmion is, of all the Author’s pieces, the most poetical — strictly so 
 considered, throughout. It is full of pictures. Sunny lakes, snow r - 
 capt hills, moated castles, fields of battle, dungeon -scenes, halls, 
 banquetting rooms, and caverns,— alternately filled with appropriate 
 occupants — and these occupants or characters, such as Rosa, or 
 Reubens, cr even Titian, might not have disdained to embody in their 
 unrivalled colours. 
 
 But the most popular of all his pieces was the Lady of the Lake-, 
 and perhaps justly so. The images are more pleasing and more 
 familiar. The characters are less romantic. r l he plot is simple and 
 perspicuous. The conclusion is brilliant and happy. All the travel- 
 ling world, the summer ensuing the publication of the poem, set off 
 in carriages and four to visit Loch Katrine . . . which was here so 
 exquisitely delineated . . . and which impresse d itself upon our imagi- 
 nations, like a picture composed with all the grandeur, and exe- 
 cuted with all the glittering splendour of Both. “ Off’’ went the 
 travellers, expecting, at every beat of bush and brake, to see a lady 
 
 entertaining. But of all successful pieces of editorship, on a smaller scale, that of 
 Sir Walter’s Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 8vo. 3 vols. is to my feelings the 
 most so. 
 
 * Himself a poet of no mean calibre. The ballads and little pieces, scattered 
 throughout his novel of the Monk, were, in their day, the most popular things 
 known. They were chanted in the street, and in the Drawing Room ; while the 
 subject of the most terrific, (“ Alonzo and Imogene”) and many episodes in the 
 novel, were represented on the Stage. 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 749 
 
 truth ; and that poetry, literature, and science, now 
 seem to walk hand in hand with each other, on terms 
 of the most familiar footing. 
 
 dart across the lake in her skiff of slender frame . . . But here, let me 
 speak as I ought to speak, of the paintings of Mr. Cook, for the 
 illustration of tills exquisite poem. Greater praise need not be bestowed 
 than to say they are worthy of the subject : and those who possess 
 copies of the poem, with beautiful impressions of the plates from 
 these paintings, possess what they should not hastily part with. 
 There is no space to criticise Rokeby, the Lord of the Isles , the Vision 
 of Don Roderic , the Bridal of Triermain , and other minor poetical 
 productions. But, may I gently ask, whether the harp, which has 
 sent forth such sounds, is “ hung up on the trees” (by the waters of 
 the Tweed) never to be taken down and restrung ? Or, are other 
 pursuits, of a supposed more kindred character, to keep the <f masters 
 hand” occupied in them for life? Is his “ sweetly smiling and 
 sweetly speaking Lalage” discarded for ever? 
 
 The Odes, Epistles, Translations, and Ballads, of Mr. Moore, are 
 beyond all doubt of a first rate cast of character. The ease and feli- 
 city of the verse, exercised on palpably congenial subjects, have 
 scarcely any thing to eclipse them in the tender pages of Tibullus or 
 Catullus. These subjects are usually bacchanalian and amatory, but 
 more frequently the latter. They are at times too impassioned and 
 highly wrought : but an author at tw r enty is not as an author at forty: 
 and although the “ albescens senectus” of Horace has not yet begun 
 to whiten the hairs of Mr. Moore, yet he has shewn, in the poetry 
 selected for the Irish Melodies , and more so in his celebrated Lalla 
 Rookh, how beautifully the feelings of a delicate passion can be 
 conveyed in language of the most brilliant and powerful description. 
 I might refer to half a score of able reviews of this Poet’s work, and 
 especially to that of Lalla Rookh in the Edinburgh of ISIS , but 
 there is no need of it. The Paradise and Peri,” (in this last men- 
 tioned poem) is, for subject, sentiment, and melody of versification, 
 of a most delightful description. There is a sort of full flowing tide 
 of spirits, and a classical gaiety of heart, about all the lighter pro- 
 ductions of Mr. Moore s Muse ; and there is hardly any one species 
 of our verse but what he has successfully cultivated. But his muse, 
 even in these shorter productions, is capable of uncoiling and rousing 
 herself, as it were, for attacks of tremendous severity. I speak of 
 
750 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 Yet, “ a parting word.” Here is my “ Young Man” 
 about to embark for foreign climes— about to under- 
 
 one production, attributed to his pen, which, as I saw it in a morning 
 paper, and in common with a thousand other readers, fully justifies 
 this remark. 
 
 How shall I describe the poetry of Mr. Crabbe ? — original, terse, 
 vigorous, and popular. He is the Hogarth of modern bards: or 
 rather, I should say, if he display Hogarth’s power of conception , his 
 pictures are finished with the point and brilliancy of Teniers. Every 
 body reads, because every body understands his poems: but the 
 subjects are too frequently painful, by being too true to nature. Still 
 life, and active life, in nature, are palpably different objects to exe- 
 cute. You cannot copy too closely the mountains, lakes, trees, mea- 
 dows, glens, and waterfalls, of one of her grandest pieces of scenery. 
 Hence Claude Lorraine, Gaspar Poussin, and Salvator Rosa, became 
 what they were : but if crowded allies of squalid wretchedness be 
 entered, and the tattered garment, drunken riot, and desperate gam- 
 bling, of its occupants described, you become a Hemskirk and 
 Brauwer in poetry. I do not say that Mr. Crabbe always describes 
 such scenes, or the first comparison above instituted would be incor- 
 rect. On the contrary, we have now and then, and even frequently , 
 bright and beautiful bits of composition — on which the eye loves to 
 rest, and the mind to meditate : while, in the tale of Sir Eustace Grey 
 there are reaches of thought, and touches of execution, which go 
 thrillingly to the heart. Mr. Crabbe, like indeed every living poet 
 just mentioned, is a legitimate English Classic .. . and I must have 
 the recent edition of his Works, in three or five octavo, or eight duo- 
 decimo, volumes, on the shelves of both the “ Young” and the 
 « Old.” 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Milman has with great judgment, selected that walk 
 in poetry which reflects credit and honour upon his profession. His 
 muse has been nine years only before us ; but, during that period, 
 her step has been progressive, and her achievements have been 
 crowned with applause. She made her debut in Fazio , a tragedy 5 a 
 composition full of brilliancy and force — although not calculated for 
 the stage. In Samor , Lord of the Bright City , there was, perhaps, 
 less energy, but a more equal and stately flow of verse and of ima- 
 gery. Parts of this poem are prodigally rich and effective. Next 
 came The Fall of Jerusalem ; which quickly caught the public atten- 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 751 
 
 take a long sea voyage — and to dwell under a torrid, 
 or a frigid zone. His passage is taken : and the 
 
 tion, and was crowned with the most general applause. The sub- 
 ject had strong hold upon our sympathies. Interwoven with Sacred 
 Writ, and predicted in the most minute and touching language by 
 the Saviour of the World, where is the Christian who is callous to the 
 mention of it ? Mr. Milnian has treated it with complete success. 
 Belshazzar , if it be less popular, is to the full as poetical. The open- 
 ing is, to my mind, sublime. Indeed, what subject could possibly 
 excite stronger emotions in the soul of a poet, and in one versed in 
 scriptural lore, than that of the Downfall of Babylon. P* As a whole, 
 I consider this to be a masterly and successful performance. But the 
 Bible is full of subjects appropriate to the exercise of the Muse’s 
 lyre — and can that of Mr. Milman continue long silent ? How 
 comes it to pass that, in the text, I have omitted the name of the 
 hapless, but incomparable Burns ? — the great Master of lyrical 
 composition, in its purest and most intelligible sense. His ballads, 
 on the simplest, sweetest, and most powerful subjects, are beyond, 
 all competition ; and the strains of love, friendship, and patriotism, 
 by turn take possession of the heart. No Library can, in any sense, 
 be said to be complete without Dr. Currie's edition of his works, in 
 four vols.8vo. : obtainable for about 1Z. 18s. There is another edition 
 with the Reliques, in 5 vols. 
 
 And now, in the last place, for the “ strength and sublimity of 
 Byron/’ The ink, which was shed in the composition of these few 
 last sentences, is scarcely dry, when intelligence has reached us of 
 the death of this nobleman — cut off in his 37th year. “ He should 
 have died hereafter.’’ On his own account, and on that of the 
 public, such an event had been desirable. His memory would have 
 been embalmed in fonder regrets, and posterity might have seen how 
 the efforts of a later muse had atoned for the indiscretions of earlier 
 days. But he has expired in foreign parts, self-expatriated, and 
 without any such redeeming effort of his pen. The history of Lord 
 
 * As painting and poetry are Sister Arts, one naturally calls to mind Mr. 
 Martyn’s wonderful picture of the feast of Belshazzar. It set all criticism at de- 
 fiance ... by overwhelming it with its extraordinary combination of grouping and 
 colouring. Some time after, the same artist represented the assault of the city by 
 the army of Cyrus ; in which the hanging gardens, and fountains, and terraces of 
 Babylon, were surprisingly conceived and executed. 
 
752 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 “ Good Intent ” must leave Gravesend by the end of 
 the week. He has no time to search the catalogues 
 of booksellers, or to attend the book-sales of Messrs. 
 Sotheby, Evans, Stewart, and Saunders : — while his 
 
 Byron’s poetry is not a little curious and interesting; and even Ids 
 best friends must allow that no Muse ever took such pains to tarnish 
 and blast the laurels which had so thickly encircled her brow. Lord 
 Byron was the assassin of his own fatne, and seemed to glory in the 
 deliberate act of assassination. After having delighted and asto- 
 nished the world by the variety, beauty, strength, and sublimity of 
 his productions— after having broke in upon us by his Child Harold , 
 with a lustre and power, such as, since the days of Milton and Drvden, 
 we had not witnessed . • . while the brilliancy of his Giaour , the ten- 
 derness of his Bride of Abydos , the pathos and finish of his Corsair , 
 the genius of Manfred , and the strength of Lara , alternately rivetted 
 our attentions and wonourhearls . . . after having accomplished these 
 splendid and enviable efforts — and with a facility (witness, the gaiety 
 of his Beppol) which left all competition far behind— the Author, 
 in the Full Bloom .and pride of his reputation, chose, in an evil hour, 
 and most unwittingly even for the maintenance of his fame, to exer- 
 cise his talents upon a subject — which, in our boyish days, was known 
 only as the vehicle of dramatic horror and wonder. Those who had 
 seen the late John Palmer play Don Juan , .and march after his stately 
 fashion, across the stage, in a shower of fire . . . haunted by black 
 demons with blazing torches — little thought that, on such a subject, 
 the genius of Lord Byron would have issued periodical cantos, replete, 
 it is true, with passages of extraordinary splendour and power, but 
 debased with a far greater proportion of what was vulgar, common 
 place, and indecent. Latterly, indeed, these cantos became intole- 
 rably dull, and found few readers. It is impossible to contemplate 
 such a mixed and melancholy picture of the human intellect, without 
 calling to mind the powerful language of Young — in his Complaint . 
 
 When I behold a genius bright and base y 
 Of tow' ring talents and terrestrial aims ; 
 
 Methinks I sec, as thrown from her high sphere. 
 
 The glorious fragments of a soul immortal, 
 
 With rubbish mix’d, and glittering in the dust. 
 
 In a less elevated, but equallyjust point of view, are the sentiments 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 753 
 
 heart beats, and his imagination fires, with the hope of 
 possessing good texts of all the poets just enumerated, 
 
 of Dr. Nott, the last editor of the Poems of Lord Surrey and Sir 
 Thomas Wyatt ; which I subjoin below.* Of the talents of the au- 
 thor who has drawn forth these remarks, there can be but one opi- 
 nion. They were of the very highest order of a poet. The fastidi- 
 ousness of criticism may object to the frequent repetition of the same 
 misanthropic sentiments, and the frequent introduction of the same 
 gloomy unsocial personages, but this is only to admit that all great 
 geniuses, whether poets or painters, are necessarily mannerists — and 
 Lord Byron is now the Michel Angelo Caravaggio, and now the 
 Spagnoletto, of modern Bards. The spleen and sophistry that 
 marked the notes of the earlier Cantos of Child Harold, broke out 
 with uncontrolled bitterness in the text of the Third Canto of the 
 same poem ; where the Hero of Waterloo! is not mentioned by 
 name. Admiration of the conquerors, in that mighty battle, seems 
 to have been absolutely exchanged for a whining sympathy for the 
 
 * “ He, who placed in an exalted rank, stoops to palliate vice, in his writings, 
 and is base enough to give, by the seductive charms of poetry , a fatal currency to 
 immoral sentiments, and irreligious opinions, must not expect, like Surrey, to 
 be hailed with the applause of after ages. He, when the short triumph of a delu- 
 sive popularity is closed, shall he deservedly condemned in the just judgments of 
 mankind, as one who has been guilty of a double breach of duty : as one who has 
 wilfully degraded himself as a rational being, and has abused the confidence, at 
 the same time that he disappointed the hopes, of society.” Vol. i. p. cxxxv. 
 
 f Very different from the capricious conduct of this Bard, was that of many of 
 the most respectable and active Members of Opposition in the House of Commons. 
 [ remember being in the House, on the second reading of the grant of 200,000/. to 
 the Duke of Wellington, for his incomparable military talents and individual bra- 
 very, on the tremendous day of Waterloo-— when Mr. Whitbread got up, and gave 
 a loose to those feelings which did him infinite honour. He declared, that in all 
 the pages of antiquity, he knew nothing like the heroic conduct and self-devotion 
 of the Commander in Chief — throwing himself into his, squares, and resolving to 
 perish or to conquer with his men. There was but one voice, one heart, one soul, 
 throughout the debate. And so, in the Champion, a Sunday Newspaper, edited I 
 believe by the late unfortunate Mr. Scott. In the leading paragraph of his paper, 
 (and Scott was a Whig) he described, and expatiated upon, this victory, in a style, 
 which, as a writer and an Englishman, redounded to his lasting praise. It was re- 
 served for the muse of Byron to breathe poison upon that altar, which others had 
 encircled with the garlands of victory. But these garlands have not lost one par- 
 ticle of their freshness, nor one tint of tlicir colour ! 
 
 3 c 
 
754 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 and of others, of whom there was no room for the 
 notice. These are to cheer him on his passage, and 
 
 vanquished and Ney, who was a bluff, brave soldier, an indifferent 
 General, and a flagrant traitor, is honoured with a parainetical Ode! 
 By what infatuated and inverted order of reasoning (it may be asked) 
 is that — the love of our country — to be praised, as applicable to 
 the Greeks and Romans of old, which, with Englishmen, is to be 
 despised and set at nought ? ! One has scarcely patience to give such 
 a subject a thought : but vanity, an insane, devouring vanity, was 
 the fundamental, stirring principle of the poet’s conduct. Of other 
 aberrations of the same perverted mind, it is not my province to 
 speak : but the darker the veil that is drawn over them, the wiser 
 and more humane will be the plan pursued. 
 
 I return to Bibliography. Ail the poems of Lord Byron before 
 enumerated, with his Prisoner of Chilton, Parisina, &c. have been 
 variously and beautifully published by Mr. Murray, the proprietor 
 of these works. Among these publications, an edition in five crown 
 octavo volumes is accompanied by delightful illustrations, from the 
 pencils of Westall and Stothard. Indeed, of all modern and embel- 
 lished works of a similar description, there is none to my knowledge 
 which surpasses it. The engraving in the Corsair, by W. Finden, 
 and that in the Bryde of Abydos, by C. Heath, seem to contend with 
 each other for the mastery. I have seen several beautiful sets of this 
 edition, of which the plates w ere worked off on India paper, spark- 
 ling in the white calf, or curiously chosen morocco, and glittering 
 gilt tooling, of Charles Lewis. And well do they deserve such an 
 attire. 
 
 If the names of Sotheby and Lisle Bowles have been omitted 
 in the above text-roll of living authors, it has not been from any want 
 of respect for their character, or from want of due admiration of their 
 talents : but the former is known chiefly as the translator — and the 
 happiest translator we possess— of the Georgies of Virgil and the 
 Oberon of Wieland : charming productions 3 breathing almost all 
 the beauty and raciness of original compositions. Mr. Bowles has 
 secured a lasting reputation as a writer of Sonnets ; and of these 
 Sonnets, few are more soothing, or sink deeper into the heart of a 
 son of Alma Mater, than that upon a distant view of Oxford. I 
 
English.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 755 
 
 to delight and instruct him when domiciled in Lap- 
 land, in Demerara, or Delhi. What shall he do ? The 
 answer is obvious ; the line of duty is plain and 
 practicable. Fortifying himself with the single vo- 
 lume of Dr. Aikin’s Select Works of the British Poets , 
 he must lay in a stock “ of Chalmers's Edition of their 
 Entire Works f beginning with Chaucer and ending 
 with Cowper.* Or, if he prefer smaller volumes, em- 
 bellished with cuts, let him entrench himself behind 
 
 would say a word for Montgomery : a name, dear to the Muse of the 
 present day. But . . . read what has been said of his sweet poetry in 
 the 6 th vol. of the Quarterly Review, p. 405. The reputed author 
 of that review is Mr. Southey 5 and the specimens selected prove the 
 justness of the encomiums bestowed. Delicacy, tenderness, and a 
 sacred feeling of the highest order, mark the effusions of Montgo- 
 mery’s highly cultivated muse. 
 
 * Before I speak of the Magnum Opus of Mr. A. Chalmers, I will 
 say a word about Dr. Aikin’s performance. It is a handsome octavo 
 volume, professing to be a work “ entirely new, comprising within a 
 single volume, a chronological series of our classical poets, from Ben 
 Jonson to Beattie, without mutilation or abridgement. The contents 
 are so comprehensive that few poems, it is believed, are omitted, ex- 
 cept such as are of a secondary merit, or unsuited to the perusal of 
 youth.” I give it an unqualified recommendation to the youth of 
 both sexes. 
 
 The work of Mr. Chalmers is comprised in 21 royal octavo volumes, 
 commencing with Chaucer and concluding with Cowper : and contain- 
 ing the labours of one hundred and twenty-seven English Poets, 
 besides the translations which follow .* — Pope’s Homer’s Iliad and 
 Odyssey, Dryden’s Virgil, Dryden’s Juvenal, Pitt’s Virgil’s iEneid 
 and Vida, Francis’s Horace, Rowe’s Lucan, Grainger’s Tibullus, 
 Fawkes’s Theocritus, Anacreon, &c. Garth’s Ovid, Lewis’s Statius, 
 Cooke’s Hesiod, Hoole’s Ariosto and Tasso, and Mickle’s Lusiad. 
 These translations occupy the last three volumes of the collection. 
 The eighteen preceding volumes contain the following poets, chrono- 
 logically arranged, with their Lives by Dr. Johnson, with additional 
 notes 3 and with New Lives by Mr. Chalmers. 
 
75 6 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [English. 
 
 the 100 tomes recently published of what is called 
 Dr. Johnsons Edition of the Poets ; of which bow- 
 
 Addison, 
 
 Cunningham, 
 
 Hughes, 
 
 Sheffield, 
 
 Akenside, 
 
 Daniel, 
 
 dago, 
 
 Shenstone, 
 
 Armstrong, 
 
 Davenant, 
 
 Jenyns, 
 
 Sherburne, 
 
 Beattie, 
 
 Davies, 
 
 Johnson, 
 
 Skelton, 
 
 Beaumont, F. 
 
 Denham, 
 
 Jones, 
 
 Smart, 
 
 Sir T 
 
 Dodsley, 
 
 Donne, 
 
 Jonson, 
 
 Smith, 
 
 Blacklock, 
 
 King, 
 
 Somerville, 
 
 Blackmore, 
 
 Dorset, 
 
 Langhorne, 
 
 Spenser, 
 
 Blair, 
 
 Drayton, 
 
 Lansdowne, 
 
 Sprat, 
 
 Boyse, 
 
 Drummond, 
 
 Lloyd, 
 
 Stepney, 
 
 Brome, 
 
 Dryden, 
 
 Logan, 
 
 Stirling, 
 
 Brooke, 
 
 Duke, 
 
 Lovibond, 
 
 Suckling, 
 
 Broome, 
 
 Dyer, 
 
 Lyttelton, 
 
 Surrey, 
 
 Browne, 
 
 Falconer, 
 
 Mallett, 
 
 Swift, 
 
 Butler, 
 
 Fawkes, 
 
 Mason, 
 
 Thomson, J. 
 
 Byrom, 
 
 Fenton, 
 
 Mickle, 
 
 ,W. 
 
 Cambridge, 
 
 Fletcher, G. 
 
 Milton, 
 
 Tickell, 
 
 Carew, 
 
 ,P- 
 
 Moore, 
 
 Turberville, 
 
 Cartwright, 
 
 Garth, 
 
 Otway, 
 
 Waller, 
 
 Cawthorne, 
 
 Gascoigne, 
 
 Parnell, 
 
 Walsh, 
 
 Chatterton, 
 
 Gay, 
 
 Phillips, A. 
 
 Warner, 
 
 Chaucer, 
 
 Glover, 
 
 T 
 
 Warton, J. 
 
 , 
 
 Churchill, 
 
 Goldsmith, 
 
 Pitt, 
 
 
 , i . 
 
 Collins, 
 
 Gower, 
 
 Pomfret, 
 
 Watts, 
 
 Congreve, 
 
 Grainger, 
 
 Pope, 
 
 West, 
 
 Cooper, 
 
 Gray, 
 
 Prior, 
 
 Whitehead, P. 
 
 Corbett, 
 
 Green, 
 
 Rochester, 
 
 , W. 
 
 Cotton, 
 
 Habington, 
 
 Roscommon, 
 
 Wilkie, 
 
 Cotton, Dr. 
 
 Halifax, 
 
 Rowe, 
 
 Wyat, 
 
 Cowley, 
 
 Hall, 
 
 Savage, 
 
 Yalden, 
 
 Cowper, 
 
 Hammond, 
 
 Scott, 
 
 Young. 
 
 Crashaw, 
 
 Harte, 
 
 Shakespeare, 
 
 
 Such are the contents of this invaluable Collection of legitimate 
 English poetry. The Editor confesses, in a frank and manly man- 
 ner, (p. viii.) the obligations he has lain under to Collectors of our 
 old English poetry j and particularly to the treasures imparted by 
 the library then in the possession of Thomas Hill, Esq. His rarest 
 volumes (he says) were lent to him with a ready confidence and 
 kindness that demanded his sincerest thanks. He also enlists the 
 names of Messrs. Heber, Park, and Sir Egerton Brydges, among his 
 benefactors, in a similar manner. A copy of this work, handsomely 
 
POETRY. 
 
 English.] 
 
 757 
 
 ever there are impressions in almost all forms and 
 varieties.* 
 
 bound in calf, may be had for twenty-five guineas : about the sum 
 that was given for a dingy and imperfect copy of a small volume, 
 called Robinson s Handful of Pleasant Delights, 1584, 12mo. ! Con- 
 sult page 698 ante. Whereas here, there is a stomach-full— not for 
 a day, or a year ,* — but for a succession of years — and at the same 
 price. Surge, age, erne. ! 
 
 * Among the more recent ones, that printed so ff daintily’ ‘ by Mr. 
 Whittingham, at the Chiswick press, is exceedingly beautiful : but 
 my reader may be in possession of one of the minnow tribes of edi- 
 tions, published twenty or thirty years ago, with Bell’s plates, or 
 those by Cook, in Paternoster Row — in which the young pencil of 
 Kirkman was so beautifully exercised. It is said that Mr. Cook 
 made his fortune by the impression ,- and built a sort of baronial 
 mansion in Epping Forest, whence he overlooked the surrounding 
 country. But I believe that a set of the Novelists, published by 
 the same bookseller, must be added to the causes of the erection of 
 this baronial mansion. By the by, what a truly beautifdl and invit- 
 ing set of the best Modern Novelists has been recently published in 
 50 volumes, small 8vo. ! Away with them, on ship-board— along 
 with the Poets, and the set of Essayists noticed at p. 614, ante. 
 Away ! — 
 
 te lenis crepitans vocat Auster in altum.” 
 
[ 758 ] 
 
 ITALIAN POETRY. 
 
 Delightful as is this province of the Belles Lettres 
 —and fashionable as is now become the study of Ita- 
 lian Poetry in this country — the reader will perceive, 
 when he looks at what has gone before, and what is 
 yet to follow, that my account must be necessari- 
 ly brief, jejune, and unsatisfactory. With Quadrio, 
 Haym; and Ginguene at their elbows, why will not 
 some well read Italian bibliographer give us a portable 
 volume to instruct us in the choice of the rarest and 
 best editions of the great Italian Writers r The book- 
 treasures and the knowledge of Sempronius* are 
 great . . . and there are hands enough for such a work. 
 Will Mr. Singer give the subject a second thought ? 
 Meanwhile, what might not the reading and the criti- 
 cal tact of Mr. Foscolo^ supply ? 
 
 I begin with Dante ; but first entreat the reader to 
 peruse with attention a masterly review of the talents 
 and character of this great Father' of Italian poetry 
 
 * This I apprehend must be the same gentleman who is introduced 
 in the ninth day of the Bibliographical Decameron , vol. iii. p. 38. 
 
 t ^ r - Foscolo is about to publish the texts of Dante, Petrarch, 
 Ariosto, and Tasso, with the Orlando Inamorato of Boiardo, re- 
 formed by Berni, in twenty crown octavo volumes : beautifully 
 printed, and vendible at 12s. the small paper, and 18s. the large. To 
 these, it is proposed to add the most elegantly published edition of 
 the Decameron of Boccaccio (by the same Editor) in three vols. of a 
 similar size, adorned by plates from the designs of Mr. Stothard. 
 Notices of the best MSS. and best editions of each author will be 
 incorporated. Here is therefore a cheering prospect for the young 
 and ardent student in Italian Literature. The publisher and pro- 
 prietor of this work is Mr. Pickering, of Chancery Lane. 
 
Italian.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 759 
 
 which appeared in the 60th number of the Edinburgh 
 Review, published in 1818. The reputed author is the 
 gentleman whose name is last mentioned. And again, 
 to follow up this course of reading, let him peruse with 
 the closest attention the reviews upon Petrarch and 
 Tasso (by the same hand) which appeared in the 
 xxist and xxivth volumes of the Quarterly Review . 
 It is difficult to pronounce to which the palm is to be 
 tendered. Such articles, full of intelligence, and en- 
 tirely exempt from personal vituperation, are the very 
 joy of one’s heart to peruse. 
 
 But where are the editions of Dante ? Those only 
 which I deem it necessary to point out to the particu- 
 lar attention of the reader, are as follow. Of the 
 earlier and more precious editions, obtain the three of 
 the date of 1472, mentioned below ;* but, rarer than 
 either, is that of Tuppo — still a desideratum in the 
 wonderful list of early Dantes in the Spencer Li- 
 brary. It seems to have escaped Brunet ; and the 
 only copy of it which I ever saw is in the Royal Library 
 at Stuttgart. Of course, the very curious in graphic 
 
 * Of the first three editions, that of Jhi is by much the rarest : 
 but Mr. Salvi informs me that Lord Spencer’s copy, so minutely 
 described in the Bibl. Spencer, vol. iv. p. 103, wants an introductory 
 epistle, of two leaves, by the printer, Frederic of Verona. I will not 
 fix the price of such a book under the sum of thirty guineas. The 
 Foligno impression is called the first edition of Dante j and a fac- 
 simile of the type may be seen in the authority last referred to. A 
 good sound copy of it (which is by no means common) is worth 
 twenty guineas. The second edition printed at Mantua may be worth 
 about 12 1. 12s. 
 
 f This edition is described in the Tour , vol. iii. page 143-4. It is 
 tremendously scarce j and I know of no copy of it in England. Let 
 me just remark, that the Naples edition of 147 7 j in all probability 
 printed by Moravus, is also of extreme rarity j nor was it till Lord 
 
POETRY. 
 
 [Italian? 
 
 760 
 
 lore will beat every bush, and scale every acclivity, to 
 obtain as perfect a copy as may be of the famous 
 commerftary of Landino, with the plates of Baldini 
 after the designs of Boticelli. Tis of the date of 1481, 
 and is altogether a grand volume.* 
 
 Get the first Aldine edition of 1502 — upon vellum, 
 if you can: the two rare Venetian editions of 1512, 
 and 1586 : the splendid impression superintended by 
 Zapata de Cisneros , in 1757, &c. 4 to. five vols. ; and 
 perhaps passing over the rival editions of Bodoni and 
 Mas si, content yourself with the useful one under the 
 editorial care, and with a commentary, of Balthasar 
 
 Spencer had purchased the Cassano Collection (Bill. Spencer, vol. 
 vii. page 44) that a copy of it found its way into the library at St. 
 James’s Place. 
 
 * Let all copies of this celebrated volume bow their heads before 
 that in the Public Library at Munich, that in the Imperial Library 
 at Vienna, X and that at Spencer House ! — for each of these pos- 
 sesses twenty copper plates ! ! May I say, that the bibliographi- 
 cal history of this book is well nigh exhausted in the Bibl. Spencer. 
 vol. iv. p. 108-115 ? — where also appear fac-similes and sundry 
 anecdotes. And pray, gentle reader, consult Mr. Ottley’s History of 
 Engraving , vol. i. page 415-425 for the best description extant of the 
 plates — together with an admirable fac-simile of that prefixed to the 
 Xllth Canto. As to the price of this book, that depends entirely on 
 the number of the Engravings found in the copy. Lord Spencer’s 
 duplicate, which contained xix. plates, was sold for 52Z. 10s. The 
 purchaser was George Hibbert, Esq. This book is usually found 
 with cuts to the first two Cantos ; and in this state I apprehend that 
 I have seen upwards of twenty copies. Mr. Payne marks one, in 
 such condition, at 2Z. 2s. As this is a volume upon which Collectors 
 of Prints fasten their fangs, the ‘ f Young Man” must expect to find 
 it frequently in a very dismantled condition. It is usually a book of 
 magnificent amplitude of margin j and it exists in the Magliabechi 
 Library upon vellum. 
 
 + See Tour, vol. iii. page 291, 518. 
 
Italian.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 761 
 
 Lombardi — first published in 1791, and afterwards in 
 1815. 4to. 3 vols.* But, at this moment, editions are 
 being* printed in Italy — and that at Florence, in four 
 folio volumes, is to be adorned with one hundred and 
 twenty plates. All this is truly delightful. When na- 
 
 * First for Aldus. His Majesty, Earl Spencer, and Mr. Grenville 
 possess the first edition of 1502, upon vellum. Such a volume, if 
 in fine condition, is worth seventy-five sovereigns. Messrs. Payne 
 and Foss mark a very large copy, slightly stained,” upon paper, at 
 1 1. 11 5. 6d. The Venetian edition of 1512, 4to. by Scagnino da 
 Trim , is worth three or four guineas if in fine condition. It has cuts 
 of no despicable description. That of 1586, 4to. by Giolitoda Trino, 
 presents itself to us in a tempting form in the recent catalogue of 
 Messrs Payne and Foss 5 namely, on f f large paper, scarce edition, 
 very fine copy, red morocco, gilt leaves 0 — and all for 4 1. 4 s . ! The 
 sumptuous edition of 1 7 57> in five quarto volumes, is indeed thought 
 by some to be the best of the entire works of Dante. Brunet, vol. i. 
 page 496, is minute and instructive. But there are copies on large 
 paper of a folio size — with the plates struck off in different coloured 
 inks — and some, in cameo gris.” These are considered among the 
 
 great guns of a collection of Italian poetry — and they make a toler- 
 ably loud report at book-sales. A copy of this kind was purchased 
 by Messrs. I. and A. Arch for 37 1- 16s. at the sale of Col. Stanley’s 
 library : but I remember the late Mr. Mackinlay once asking an acci- 
 dental customer not less than 60l. for a similar copy, bound in vellum . 
 The gentleman flew out of the shop as if bitten by a centipede. Mr. 
 Payne marks the ordinary copy in 4to. “ very neat in russia,” at 71- 
 7 s. This copy cannot be long without a purchaser. 
 
 At Althorp are found, in russia bindings, all the splendid Dantes 
 by Bodoni and Mussi. They stand among the grenadier file of Italian 
 poetry. Raphael Morghen’s portrait accompanies that of Mussi, 
 1809, folio, 3 vols. — and what a portrait it is ! But in the early edi- 
 tions of the xvth century, you often get splendid miniature illumin- 
 ations of the head of the Poet ; and a fine one of this kind is in Lord 
 Spencer’s copy of the Mantua edition of 1472. The edition of 1815, 
 4to. 3 vols. is worth about 2/. 125. 6d. But if the Young Man” 
 stumble upon that of 1818, 8vo. 3 vols. of which Biagioli is the Edi- 
 tor, let him distinguish between the admiration of the Editor and the 
 intelligence of the Commentator. 
 
762 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [Italian. 
 
 tions continue to make these demonstrations of attach- 
 ment and respect, to the great authors of their country, 
 the period of barbarism is at a remote distance. 
 
 Petrarch will occupy our attention for a very short 
 time. Get possession of Antonio MarsancTs famous 
 edition of this poet, published at Padua, in 1819, 4to. 
 two vols. ; and you not only possess the best text, 
 and the most sensible annotations, but a complete 
 Biblioteca Petrarchesca — or an account of all the edi- 
 tions and literary history of the* Poet.* But my 
 “Young Man” — he, peradventure, who like Petrarch, 
 may love to write sonnets to his Mistress’ “ eyebrow’’ 
 by the side of haunted stream in lonely dell — ought 
 to know something about these editions in these pages. 
 Petrarch first appeared from the press of Jenson in 
 
 1470. In the library of St. Marc there was a copy of it 
 upon vellum: but, of all the collections of editions 
 of the Poet, none for rarity and choice come up to 
 that at Spencer Blouse. The Laver impression of 
 
 1471, and that of Achates at Basil, 1474, are much 
 the scarcest of the Fif teeners. \ Aldus printed Petrarch 
 
 * The Abbate Marsand published his valuable edition of Petrarch 
 on fine vellum paper at the price of 61. 6s. in boards : but there are 
 twelve copies on fine paper, with proof impressions of the portraits 
 of Petrarch and Laura, engraved by Raphael Morghen. That of 
 Laura is of excessive delicacy and beauty : that of Petrarch, is very 
 strange and uncommon — approaching, what may be called, the 
 quizzical.” Of course, every Italian scholar, having “ means and 
 appurtenances to boot” rejoices to place these truly classical volumes 
 in a coating of morocco upon his shelf. 
 
 t Earl Spencer, Mr. Grenville, Mr. Heber, and Mr. Hibbert, are 
 strenuous contenders for fine copies of early Petrarchs, and especially 
 for those of 1470 and 1473, by Jenson. The latter gentleman has 
 the second upon vellum : an uncommon volume. But neither of 
 the three must hope for the Zarotus, of 1473, or for that of Arnoldus 
 
Italian.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 768 
 
 four or five times — in 1501, 1514, 1521, 1533, and 
 1546. Many are the curious and covetable impres- 
 sions of the poet during the sixteenth century ; but if 
 you have that of 1756, 4to. 2 vols. or that of Becca- 
 delli , 1799, 8vo. 2 vols. or that of Zotti , 1811, 12mo. 
 3 vols. — provided you have not Marsand’s — you have 
 good reason to be satisfied with the possession of a 
 correct and critical edition.^ 
 
 de Bruxella, 1477 — and least of all must they set their hearts upon 
 those of Laver and Acfiates, above mentioned. Brunet and Marsand 
 had not seen a copy of the latter ; each referring exclusively to the 
 JBibl. Spencer, vol. iv. p. 139, for the first particular description of it. 
 And yet I had the good fortune to rummage out another copy of 
 this exceedingly rare edition, of 1474, in the library of Gottwie 
 monastery, near Vienna. See the Tour , vol. iii. p. 429 : I cannot 
 pretend to affix prices to the early editions of Petrarch ; but the 
 Jenson of 1470 may be worth 25 /.$ that of Laver, of 1471, 50 /. ; 
 and those of Zarotus and Achates , 45/. each. The Padua of 1472, 
 if fine and perfect, must not steal from beneath Mr. Evans’s hammer 
 under thirty guineas. 
 
 •f An English bibliographer may run distracted, in this country, 
 in hunting out, and caressing, Aldine Petrarchs upon vellum ! Here 
 is his Majesty, in the first place, with the editions of 1501, 1514, 
 and 1533, in that state: Earl Spencer follows, with those of 1501 
 and 1533 ; the Duke of Devonshire riots (as he well may) in his 
 lovely copy of the second of 1514 (from the Paris Collection) — so 
 particularly described in the Bibliog. Decam. vol. ii. 365, (see also 
 pp. 347, 369, 371) and that in the Cracherode of 1501 — the 
 grandest copy of the whole. Sir M. M. Sykes had that of 1501 
 imperfect. But enough. Brunet will supply further particulars. 
 Many, indeed, are the curious and rare editions of the sixteenth 
 century. A most superb copy of that of Rovillio, 1574, 18mo. richly 
 ornamented in old red morocco binding, with the two suppressed 
 leaves, which are frequently wanting, was sold for 10/. 10s. at the 
 sale of Col. Stanley’ s library. The previous editions of Rovillio are 
 1550-1. Mr. Heber possesses the Giunta of 1515, in an imperfect 
 state, upon vellum. The edition of 1756, 4to. 2 vols. by Castel- 
 vetro is worth about 1/. Is. per volume, in good binding. It was sold 
 
764 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [Italian, 
 
 Ariosto is the third in this small, but splendid 
 group, of Italian poets : and perhaps equal to either 
 in genius, and superior from the originality and 
 powerful interest of his work. Ginguene, who has 
 devoted one third of the 4th volume of his Histoire 
 Literaire d'ltalie to an account and analysis of the 
 Orlando Furioso — and who has exhausted the subject 
 of criticism upon it— calls the author the idol of the 
 Italian nation : and when. Mr. Foscolo favours us with 
 his philological remaks upon him, we shall in all 
 probability, have abundant reason to admit the pro- 
 priety of this designation. But my business is with 
 the Editions of his Works. The Catalogues of the 
 Libraries of our principal Collectors, and those of 
 our principal Booksellers, teem with numerous edi- 
 tions of this fascinating Poet — which prove what a 
 favourite he is with the English. 
 
 Of the first edition of 1516,* I know but of three 
 copies : that in the library of Earl Spencer, the second 
 in the Royal Library at Paris, and the third in the 
 
 on large paper, for 11/. at Col. Stanley’s sale ; but Mr. Payne marks 
 it in that condition for 4 1. 4s. fine copy in russia. Beccadelli is worth 
 1Z. Is. and Zotti about the same sum. 
 
 * The reader may not object to run his eye over the eight pages 
 in the ZEdes Althorpianae, vol. i. p. 156, &c. which are devoted to an 
 account of the editions of Ariosto, in the sixteenth century, to be 
 found in the library at Althorp. Subsequent considerations have 
 confirmed me in the opinion, that no edition of 1515 exists. Qua- 
 drio, vol. iv. p. 556, speaks hesitatingly and doubtfully of such an 
 edition, by Mazocco, “ coll’ assistenza dell’Autore.” Orlandini in his 
 folio edition of 1730, commences, it is true, his copious list of the 
 impressions of the Poet, with that of 1515, as if it were printed by 
 Lewis Mazzoco : but it is a mere conjectural statement. The point 
 has been pretty fully mooted in the Bibliogr. Decameron, vol. i. 
 p. 285-6. 
 
Italian.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 765 
 
 Royal Library at Dresden. Some few editions of 
 most uncommon rarity, (specified below*) precede 
 
 * Among these rarer editions, those of 1521, 1527, and 1528, 
 each in quarto, may be considered as taking a decided lead $ and 
 those who will consult Mr. Evans’s copious and satisfactory note, 
 attached to the copy of this last edition, which was in the collection 
 of Colonel Stanley, may satisfy themselves of the importance of its 
 acquisition. The Duke of Devonshire became its purchaser — but not 
 below the sum of Sixty Guineas ! The chief merit of this impression 
 consists in its being the only one, after the first, which faithfully re- 
 presents its text. But neither of these editions contains the entire 
 text of the poet. The complete 4 6 Cantos (the preceding impressions 
 having only 40) appeared in the very rare Ferrara edition of 1532, 
 4to. which must, in all respects, be considered as the true parent 
 text of the Orlando Furioso. Apostolo Zeno places it above every 
 one for accuracy; and such is its rarity, that I know of only three 
 copies of it in this kingdom : that in the library of His Majesty, 
 Earl Spencer, and Mr. George Hibbert. The latter copy is indeed 
 “ de toute beaute.” Brunet notices a copy upon vellum in the 
 public library at Vicenza * Mr. Grenville possesses what may be 
 considered as a unique impression ; that of Milan, 1539, 4to. printed 
 by Scinzenzeler. It is not noticed by any Bibliographer. What is 
 singular, although 46 cantos had been printed seven years before, 
 the edition of 1539 is only a reprint of that of 1521, which contains 
 but 40. It is of excessive rarity, it must be admitted. Of the Giolito 
 editions, I am not sure whether that of 1542, 4to. be not the first. 
 A copy of it upon vellum is in his Majesty’s library. The preferable 
 edition seems to be that of 1551, 8vo. with pretty cuts. A beautiful 
 copy of it was purchased by Mr. Vezey Fitzgerald at the sale of 
 Col. Stanley’s library, for 7 1» 
 
 The catalogue of Messrs. Payne and Foss contains scarcely fewer 
 than thirty articles or copies of editions of the Orlando Furioso. For 
 the libraries of private collectors, those of Earl Spencer, Mr. Gren- 
 
 * Whether this copy was, or was not, the identical one offered for sale to a 
 distinguished Collector in this country, I cannot take upon me to affirm. Most 
 certain it is, that 100 guineas were offered for it : but on the intelligence of Lord 
 Spencer’s intended visit to Italy, the very noise of his Lordship’s chariot wheels 
 should seem to have raised its price — which, then , was pushed up to Three Hun- 
 dred Guineas ! The volume remains where it was. 
 
766 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [Italian. 
 
 the famous one with the cuts of Porro, in 1584, 4to. : 
 after which we may satisfy ourselves with the splendid 
 impression of Zatta, in 1772 — or the more exquisite 
 one of Baskerville, of 1773, with the cuts of Barto- 
 lozzi— * or, with fewer pistoles in our book-bag, we 
 
 ville, Mr. R. Wilbraham, Mr. Heber, and Mr. G. Hibbert, are pro- 
 bably the most richly furnished with the same articles. Mr. Hibbert 
 has an extraordinary copy of the Aldus of 1545, 4to. 
 
 * Concerning the edition of 1584, 4to. with the cuts of Porro , con- 
 sult the AEdes Altliorp , vol. i. p. 163. Messrs. Payne and Foss mark 
 a “ fine copy, red morocco, gilt leaves, complete with the plate to 
 the 34th Canto," at 9 L 9s. A similar copy produced 1 61. 16s. at the 
 sale of Colonel Stanley’s library. The pompous edition of Zatta, of 
 1772, in eight folio volumes, was, I believe, printed expressly for the 
 famous Earl Bute 5 in whose library at Luton, some fifteen years ago, 
 I saw a copy of it upon vellum. The graphic embellishments of 
 this useless edition are justly pronounced to be '** trhs m&liocres'* by 
 Brunet. I never see, or even think of, the lovely edition of Basker- 
 ville , of 1773, 8vo. 4 vols., without the most unmixed satisfaction. 
 Paper, printing, drawing, plates — all delight the eye, and gratify the 
 heart, of the thorough-bred bibliomaniacal Virtuoso. This edition 
 has hardly its equal, and certainly notits superior — in any publication 
 with which I am acquainted* Look well to the proofs of the plates, 
 which Brunet tells us are sometimes more brilliant in the first two 
 volumes of the octavo, than in those of the quarto, or large paper 
 form. But for a drawing-room table, or satinwood book-case, aspire 
 to the quarto : for a companion in green fields, or along quiet lanes, 
 select the octavo. Colonel Stanley’s copy of the quarto impression, 
 bound in green morocco, was sold for 9,11. : and this same copy now 
 stands upright, on the shelves of Messrs. Payne and Foss, for 16/. 16s. 
 It had crept through one or two channels before it took up its 
 station there. The same booksellers mark a very fine morocco copy 
 of the octavo, at the tempting price of 61 . 6 s. : and I anticipate a rare 
 scramble for it ! Mr. Renouard seems to possess a most extraordi- 
 nary copy of the quarto, with a cluster of extra embellishments, 
 see his. Cat de la Bill, d'un Amateur , vol. iii. p. 91. My friend Mr. 
 Utterson justly rejoices in a copy of nearly equal beauty, obtained 
 from the same distinguished bookseller. 
 
Italian.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 767 
 
 may rest well contented with the accurate edition of 
 Molini, in 1788; or if spectacles must bestride the 
 nose of my “ older” reader, with the Milan impression 
 of 1818, in which the text assumes a form, as splendid 
 as it is correct. But what says the same spectacled 
 reader to the sumptuous Pisa folio of 1809, with gra- 
 phic embellishments from Raphael Morghen ?* 
 
 Of Torquato Tasso the first edition of the Jeru- 
 salem Delivered , of 1580, seems to be excessively 
 scarce, but the poem is incomplete in this form ; so 
 that the edition of Ferrara of 1581 must be considered 
 as the legitimate first text of this delightful author. 
 The edition of 1590, 4to. with the plates of Agostino 
 Caracci and Castelli , is, as the phrase runs, a “ crack 
 article,” when found in a pure and large state.'f* I do 
 
 * The edition of Molini, in five duodecimo volumes, is very con- 
 rect and well printed. There were either forty-eight or forty- nine 
 copies struck off on large paper, in quarto, which are only coveted 
 when they are found with the drawings of Cochin, in which state 
 Mr. Renouard has a copy of singular choice and beauty. The small 
 paper, observes Mr. R. is an indifferent book enough ; but the large 
 is a very elegant production. In the Macarthy Collection there was 
 a unique copy upon vellum ; which was bought in for 2100 francs. 
 The text of either, in its small or large state, is remarkable for its 
 accuracy. The small paper may be had for a guinea. The edition 
 of 1818, 4to. is perhaps a yet more accurate performance, and is 
 printed after the text of 1532, under the editorial care of Morali. 
 Brunet says there are 50 copies struck off upon vellum paper. Messrs. 
 Payne and Foss notice the work as in a folio form, and mark a new 
 and very neat copy of it at Si. 3 s. Of the Pisa edition, with the 
 portrait of Ariosto engraved by Morghen, there are some few copies 
 on vellum paper 5 a still fewer number on blue paper, and a single 
 copy upon vellum. At Althorp, there is a copy of the vellum paper, 
 bound in russia, in that noble suite of folio Italian Classics which 
 sparkles on the lowest shelves of what is called the Poet’s Library. 
 
 f I know not wherefore, but so it undoubtedly is, that the ear- 
 
768 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [Italian, 
 
 not know that the “ Young Man” must be permitted 
 to purchase any edition between the last and that of 
 1745, published in a splendid folio by Albrizzi at 
 Venice. Next ensue two tempting Paris editions, 
 one of 1771, and the other of 1784: each sufficient to 
 satisfy an ordinary Collector of the more beautiful 
 impressions of the poet. Let Bodoni have his share of 
 praise in the very sumptuous editions published by 
 him in quarto and folios form, in 1794. These and 
 the preceding impressions are noticed below.* 
 
 liest editions of Tasso are not only very rare, but very cheap. The 
 first complete and correct edition of the Jesusalem Delivered was in 
 1581, 4to. at Ferrara , of which a copy was sold for six francs only 
 at the sale of the Floncel Library. In 1580, there appeared only 
 16 cantos, without the name of the author, and in that same year 
 appeared two editions at Venice 3 one at Casalmaggiore, and a fourth 
 at Parma , — all surreptitious. Of the Ferrara edition, of 1581, there 
 are impressions with the dates of June and July. The latter is the 
 preferable book. A very correct edition under the care of Osanna , 
 appeared at Mantua , in 1584,+ 4to. 5 and of the edition of 1590, 
 published at Genoa, by Bar toll, a copy was sold for 5 1. 17 s. 6d. at 
 the sale of Mr. Roscoe’s library, in 1816. A copy of it, in which, 
 in addition to the usual embellishments, was inserted a set of plates 
 from a scarce German translation in 1626, was purchased by Mr. 
 Heber, at the sale of Colonel Stanley’s Library, for 10Z. 10s. 
 
 * Perhaps a few others may be also noticed. A tempting red 
 morocco copy of the Elzevir of 1652, in two octodecimos, was sold 
 for L 2l. at Col. Stanley’s sale. The French annalist of the Elzevir 
 family, (1822, p. 232) call sit a pretty little edition, not much known.” 
 Mr. Renouard seems to rejoice in his uncut copy of the Elzevir of 
 1678, 32mo. 2 vols. The Aminta , of 1656, 18mo. is however a 
 more beautiful and a rarer volume. In spite of the comparatively 
 
 + Serassi, in his Life of Torquato Tasso, considers this edition as the most per- 
 fect : and the writer of a Memorial upon Tasso, subjoined to Pellegrini's Latin 
 Oration on his death — reprinted by Sir Egerton Brydgcs for the Roxburglie 
 Club— -observes, that “ he has sought in vain for this volume in the great public 
 libraries of Italy.” 
 
Italian.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 7«9 
 
 Generally read and understood as is the Original 
 of Tasso, there are Translations of it (putting that 
 of Hoole out of the question) which are perused 
 
 low state of estimation in which Tonson’s edition of the Jerusalem 
 Delivered., of 1724, 4to. 2 vols. is held by knowing bibliographers, 
 Messrs. Payne and Foss, mark a very neat copy of it at 2 1. 2 s. and in 
 russia, at 31. 3s. The plates by Vander Gucht are copies of those of 
 Castelli’s edition of 1590 : they are scratchy, black, and fluttering 
 in effect. Albrizzis edition is yet a prize volume to possess. Brunet 
 says, it has lost much of its pecuniary value unless it be on Dutch 
 paper , and in a superbly bound condition, such as was the copy 
 belonging to Madame de Pompadour, and Messrs. Delaleu and De 
 Meyzieu. However this may be, I observe a very fine copy, in 
 red morocco, borders of gold, gilt leaves” marked at 4 1. 4s. in 
 the catalogue of Messrs. Payne and Foss. As to the tempting Paris 
 editions, you may have a beautifully bound copy, in morocco, of 
 that of 177E 4to. in 2 vols. with the plates of Gravelot, for 3/. 
 13s. 6d. but of the largest paper, of which only 25 copies were 
 printed, with sparkling proofs of the vignettes and of Gravelot’s, you 
 must not hope for a first rate copy under eight or nine guineas. Of 
 the second, and more splendid edition of 1784, from the press of 
 Diclot , I must refer the curious to the enthusiastic testimonies of 
 French bibliographers. Only 200 copies were printed : and the 
 edition was exhausted on the moment of its appearance. The plates, 
 41 in number, are from the designs of Cochin. A new edition, 
 printed with the same luxury, by the same printer, with the same 
 plates, quickly followed. Colonel Stanley’s copy of the first impres- 
 sion, splendidly bound in morocco, and illustrated with 1 14 original 
 drawings by Novelli, produced 3 61. 15s. It is thought to be the 
 most lovely text of the author ever published. Bodoni published a 
 quarto and two folio impressions in 1794. They are each splendid, 
 but the text in the folios is disproportionably large: one having but 
 two, the other but three stanzas, in a page. Renouard possesses 
 them all three ; and has also 82 original drawings of Cochin, of 
 which only 41 have been engraved. It is not worth while to enter 
 into the minutiae of Bodoni’s impression j of which 130 copies of 
 the three stanza edition, and 90 of the two stanza, were printed. 
 But all this is a waste of paper and printing. Such books will cause 
 their owners to groan at heart, if ever they come to the hammer 
 
 3 D 
 
770 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [Italian. 
 
 with pleasure and avidity. Fairfax is an old and a 
 great favourite; and has been recently introduced 
 to us, in a form the most irresistibly fascinating.* 
 The Rev. Mr. J. H. Hunt has been eminently happy 
 in the execution of a similar task, and a careful 
 perusal of his labours fully justifies the eulogy pro- 
 nounced upon them in the Quarterly Review of July, 
 1821. A new translation, in the stanza of Spencer, 
 has been achieved by Mr. WifFen, of the Society of 
 Friends ; of which some brief account is given below/F 
 
 Of the elegant Metastasio, who is rather to be 
 classed with dramatic, than with what is usually 
 called poetical, writers ; (and who perhaps ought to 
 have graced the pages of the previous edition of this 
 work) I must give the exclusive preference to the 
 Paris edition of 1780-2, in 12 octavo volumes, with 
 plates, to which should be added, the Opere Posthume 
 published at Vienna in 1795, in three 8vo. volumes. 
 These 15 volumes may be worth 8/. 8s. in neat calf 
 bindings. Some copies, but they are by no means 
 uncommon, were struck off in a quarto form ; and 
 may be had in morocco for 17/. 17s. 
 
 In 1S07, appeared two more pompous editions, one in quarto, the 
 other in folio, of each of which there is one copy (only) upon 
 vellum. 
 
 * I allude to that exquisite publication, put forth in an octavo 
 form, in 1807 : under the care of Mr. Singer, and printed by Mr. 
 Rensley. The type was most beautiful, and the wood cuts by 
 Thomson, struck off on India paper, are perfect master-pieces of art. 
 Of its kind, I hardly know such a work. There were 50 copies 
 struck off on large paper. 
 
 f This translation is dedicated to Georgiana Duchess of Bedford, 
 in six elegant stanzas, of which the first two appear to me exceed- 
 ingly sweet and apposite. I make no apology for their insertion j 
 leaving the reader to guess, how, supposing fidelity of version, the 
 
Italian.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 771 
 
 Of the fierce and fiery Alfieri (to the introduction 
 of whose works in this place the same objection may 
 be made as to those of Metastasio) see that your copy 
 of his Dramas, published at Paris by Didot in 1788, 
 in six 8vo. volumes, be complete. The cancels were 
 so frequent, that it is by no means easy to verify this 
 desirable object. In a complete state, a copy is worth 
 5Z. 15s. 6d. The auto-biography of the author displays 
 all the peculiarities of his disposition. Alfieri affected 
 to hate those who were above, and those who were be- 
 low him. This was the madness of a morbid vanity. 
 Although he hated the French, his autobiography is 
 written in the style of the confessions of Rousseau. 
 
 pen which could delineate such feelings, is likely, or not, to render 
 justice to Tasso. 
 
 Years have flown o’er since first my soul aspired 
 In song the sacred Missal to repeat. 
 
 Which sainted Tasso writ with pen inspired 
 Told is my rosary, and the task complete ? 
 
 And now, 'twixt hope and fear, with toil untired, 
 
 I cast th’ ambrosial relic at thy feet ; 
 
 Not without faith that, in thy goodness, thou 
 Wilt deign one smile to my accomplished vow. 
 
 Not in dim dungeons to the. clank of chains, 
 
 Like sad Torquato’s, have the hours been spent, 
 
 Given to the song, but in bright halls where reigns 
 Uncumbered Freedom— with a mind unbent 
 By walks in woods, green-dells, and pastoral plains, 
 
 To sounds, far off, of village merriment ; 
 
 Albeit, perchance, some springs whence Tasso drew 
 His sweetest tones have touched my spirit too. 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 The work is beautifully printed in two volumes, from the accurate 
 press of Mr. Moyes. The w r ood cuts are fully equal to those in the 
 reprint of Fairfax just lauded. 
 
 Of Dante, I had forgotten to notice the best of all our transla- 
 tions — that by the Rev. Mr. Carey : and of Ariosto’s Orlando Fu- 
 rioso, that by William Stewart Rose, Esq. now in the progress of 
 publication. See Quarterly Review, 1824, No. LIX. 
 
t 772 ] 
 
 FRENCH POETRY. 
 
 Whoever consults Brunet’s admirable analysis of 
 the different ages of French Poetry,* supplied chiefly 
 by the works of Goujet and La Croix du Maine, will 
 see how little is absolutely necessary to possess, from 
 the effusions of Jean de Meun, (the Lydgate of his 
 day) to the L Homme des Champs of Delille. But 
 the French are fortunate in their foundation-stones (if 
 I may so speak) of the study of their native poetry. 
 The collections of Le Grand cCAussy , the Comte de 
 Tressan , Barbazan and Raynouard , are admirable of 
 their kind : as well for truth of criticism, as for beauty 
 and accuracy of publication. The volumes mentioned 
 in the subjoined note, are splendid ornaments of the 
 
 * In the fourth volume of his invaluable Manuel du Libraire, p. 
 221-232. It is divided into four ages : 1st. from the 12th century 
 to the time of Villon : 2, from Villon to Marol : 3. from Marot to 
 Malherbe: 4. from Malherbe to modern times. This analysis, in- 
 cluding “ Collections and Extracts,” contains five hundred and 
 sixty nine articles of poetry, perhaps not half of what a complete 
 French poetical library should consist of. Of the works of Goujet 
 and La Croix du Maine , so indispensable in the formation of a library 
 of early French poetry, consult the Bibliomania , pp. 42 and 72. The 
 absence of an Index to Goujet’s valuable eighteen octavo volumes is 
 much to be regretted. Even my friend Mr. Douce, whose head is so 
 plentifully furnished with the lore of this subject, cries “ pish” I more 
 than once — when he has recourse to the pages of Goujet. I am 
 lucky enough in the possession of a copy, in a mellow-tone yellow 
 morocco binding, for which I joyfully paid Messrs. Payne and Foss 
 61 . 6s. 
 
 ' r 
 
French. 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 773 
 
 noblest collection.* Marot is probably entitled to a 
 passing notice, as one likes to trace the sources of 
 excellence to their legitimate fountain head. Mal- 
 herbe is indispensible, and he luckily occupies little 
 space.^ We will then go at once to La Fontaine : 
 the witty, the felicitous, the inimitable Fontaine. The 
 well-versed Bibliomaniac knows the thousand little 
 
 * Raynouard’s work is entitled Choix des Poesies originates des 
 Troubadours j 1807, 8vo. 3 vol. Barbazan’s <e Fabliaux et Contes des 
 Poetes Frangais, des 12, 13, 14, et 15 siecles , Paris, 1808, 8vo. 4 
 vols. Le Grand D’Aussy, Fabliaux et Contes des 12 et 13 siecles, 
 1779, 8vo. 4 vols. : to which, add a recent publication, entitled Lais, 
 fables et autres productions de Marie de France, (by Raynouard, I be- 
 lieve,) 1820, 8vo. 2 vols. The Roman de la Rose, (the joint produc- 
 tion of Lorris and De Meun) has been recently published with 
 great typographical attractions under the care of M. Meon; 1814, 
 8vo. 4 vols. The notes are worthy of its extrinsic splendour, and it 
 is the best edition extant.* To these beautiful publications, add 
 Roquefort, Glossaire de la Langue Romane, 1808, &c. 8vo. 3 vols. 
 My friend Mr. Utterson looks with unceasing delight on his fine set 
 of all these beauteous and instructive tomes. 
 
 f The first edition of Marot was in 1532, 12mo. The pretty 
 edition of the Hague 1700, 12mo. 2 vols. is only desirable when in 
 large and clean condition. It is sought after, and may be had for 
 about 15s. The best edition is, that of 1731, 4to. 4 vols. and 6 vols. 
 12mo. Malherbe is only to be sought for in the impression of 1775 
 8vo. which is worth about 10s. 6d. Yet there be those that bite 
 freely at the impressions of Barbou, in 1764 and 1776. 
 
 * Alas, for the reputation of this once popular work ! — if the sentiments of Ger- 
 sotf are to be unqualifiedly adopted. Hear what that staid and severe Divine says, 
 as quoted in the Histriomastix of Prynne. “ Gerson, sometimes chancellor of 
 Paris, speaking of a certaine booke made by Joannes Meldinensis, the title whereof 
 is the Romant of the Rose, writeth of that booke two things. First, he saith, if 
 I had the Romant of the Rose, and that there were but one of them to bee had, 
 and might have for it five hundred arownes, I would rather burne it than sell it. 
 Againe, saith he, if I did not understande that Joannes Meldinensis did not repent 
 with true sorrow of minde, for the making and setting forth of this booke, I would 
 pray no more for him, then 1 would for Judas Iscariot, of whose damnation I am 
 
774 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [French. 
 
 niceties connected with certain editions of his Tales : 
 and the most fastidious cannot deny the merit of 
 splendour to the folio impression of his Fables * 
 
 \ 
 
 * For the entire works of La Fontaine, secure the Paris edition 
 of 1814, 8 vo. 6 vols. so beautifully and accurately printed by Cra- 
 pelet, with engravings after the drawings of Moreau. M. Renouard 
 tells us that this is the first perfect edition of all the works of La 
 Fontaine, and that large paper copies are already rare. He possesses 
 a very choice one of this description : and one of the three only upon 
 yellow paper ! Outrageously barbarous taste ! Of the Contes , &c. 
 &c. the experienced collector knows how to appreciate all the pecu- 
 liarities of a perfect copy of the edition of 1762, 8vo. 2 vols. printed 
 by Barbou, and enriched with exquisite engravings from the designs 
 of Eichen, Cochin, &c. I refer the bibliographer to the minute and 
 valuable account of them in Mr. Renouard’s Cat. de la Bibl. d'un 
 Amateur, vol. iii. p. 23. The plates, after these, in the edition of 
 1818, 8vo. 6 vols. are absolutely below criticism. Picked copies of 
 the edition of 1762 have brought great prices j and Mr. Payne marks 
 an extraordinary fine one, in morocco, at 7 Z. 7 s. The edition of 1685 
 Amst. 12mo. with plates by Romain de Hooghe, is not to be dis- 
 carded. These plates are bold, picturesque, and effective — although 
 they be “ fctrangement bizarres,” and not “ le beau de l’&cole hollan- 
 doise,” — as Renouard infers. A choice copy of this genuine edi- 
 tion in green morocco binding, brought 5 1. 15s. 6d. at the sale of 
 Col. Stanley’s library. 
 
 The Fables of Fontaine, in the edition of 1755, 1759, folio, 4 vols. 
 are as attractive a book in this form, as are the Tales in the edition 
 of 1762. The work, as Brunet properly remarks, is among the 
 commonest of books : The Stanley copy, in the fourth and largest 
 size paper, produced the sum of 41 1. Messrs. Payne and Foss 
 mark a “ very fine copy, red morocco, gilt leaves, ruled, bound by 
 Padaloup,” at 22 guineas. For subsequent editions, and especially 
 those of 1789, 8vo. 2 vols. and 1811, 12mo. 4 vols. consult the 
 fruitful notices of Renouard in his work last referred to. 
 
 most certaine. And they also which, reading this Booke, doe apply it unto wicked 
 and wanton manners, are the Authors of his great paine and punishment.” page 
 922. The worthy Gerson need not have felt so acutely. The antidote to all mis- 
 chief, from the perusal of this Romance, is its insurmountable dullness. 
 
French.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 775 
 
 Premising* that I shall include the Drama in my 
 brief account of French poetry, I go at once to Cor- 
 neille. Without recommending the stately edition 
 of him in ten quarto volumes, from the press of the 
 elder Didot ,* I am strong in advising the ample and 
 correct one, published by Renouard , in 12 octavo 
 volumes, with plates after the designs of Moreau.'f* 
 Racine, in his quarto garb, from the Didot press, 
 under the patronage of the Dauphin, stands nobly by 
 the side of his great poetical ancestor Corneille — put 
 forth from the same quarter : but he assumes a yet 
 more majestic aspect in the three sumptuous folios 
 from the same press, published in 1801, and enriched 
 with engravings from the designs of Gerard, Girodet, 
 and others. The best critical edition is that of 1807, 
 in seven octavo volumes, with the commentary of La 
 Harpe4 Moliere follows Racine as naturally as 
 
 * This edition was published in 1796, and only 250 copies were 
 struck off. It forms one of the works in the splendid suite of French 
 Classics published by Didot l’Ain6 : but its sale in this country is 
 heavy and uncertain. 
 
 f Although the testimony of an editor and publisher, in praise of 
 his own performance, will be received with sundry grains of cau- 
 tion, yet Renouard’ s words (Cat. &c. vol. iii. p. 62) are borne out as 
 well by those of Brunet as by the fact— that this is the very best 
 edition of Corneille in all respects. Messrs. Payne and Foss, how- 
 ever, “ make a fight,” for their fine copy of what they conceive to be 
 the best edition— namely, that of 1764, in 12 octavo volumes. Yet 
 Brunet thrusts his “ polish lance” through the very ribs of this edi- 
 tion. 
 
 + Brunet considers the Racine of 1801, as the chef d’ oeuvre of all 
 modern typography. Two hundred and fifty copies were printed, at 
 the subscription price of 1200 francs. One copy only, upon vellum, 
 has found its way into the cabinet of Mr. George Hibbert. The man 
 who, like La Harpe, in his Cours de Literature , (see vols. i. iv. v., 
 &c.) could write so admirably upon Racine, might with confidence 
 
776 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [French. 
 
 Ben Jonson does Shakspeare. I will not recommend 
 any editions but those of 1773, and 1819 — each in an 
 octavo form. Notwithstanding the beauty, accuracy, 
 and popularity of the latter, the edition of 1773, in six 
 volumes, yet maintains a stiff price, especially when 
 the plates, which are of no great merit, happen to be 
 in fine condition.* 
 
 But where are Boileau and Voltaire ? Of the 
 former, the editions are almost without number ; but 
 I will mention none before those of 1747, 1772, and 
 above all, in 1809. These are in an octavo or duode- 
 cimo form. But if folios only be sought after, then 
 aspire to the impression of Bodoni , or to that of Didot: 
 the first in 1814, and the second in 1819, — each in 
 two volumes. Very recently (1821) there hath ap- 
 
 become the editor of his works 5 and although this edition (the best, 
 in regard to the commentary) be printed on indifferent paper, yet 
 should it be possessed : especially when the heavy-pursed biblio- 
 maniac can meet with one of the 25 copies only which were struck 
 off ora vellum paper, with the 13 plates by Simonet from the designs 
 of Moreau le Jeune, separately published by Renouard. These plates 
 are among the most beautiful of the modern school of engraving. 
 Still the edition of 1768, Svo. 7 vols. with the commentary of Bois - 
 jermain and the plates of Gravelot , retains its value : being worth 
 four or five guineas in good binding. 
 
 * A good copy of the edition of 1773 is worth hard upon 5 1. 5s. 
 The plates of this edition, when the impressions are good, are spirited 
 and pleasing enough : but they were shamefully inserted, in a worn 
 and wretched state, in the editions of 1788, 1804, and 1808, 8vo. in 
 the same number of volumes. The edition of 1819 is in nine 8vo. 
 volumes, with the plates after Horace Vernet. It is superior in all 
 respects to its precursor : but, even to this impression, splendid and 
 covetable as it is. Brunet recommends the addition of the 31 plates, 
 published by Renouard, after the designs of the Younger Moreau. A 
 copy of this edition on lakge paper, with proofs before the letter, is 
 worth 10 1. or 12 guineas in boards. 
 
French.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 777 
 
 peared one of the most beautiful editions imaginable, 
 in an octavo form, with the commentary of M. Amar : 
 an enchanting performance in all respects.* 
 
 If the editions of Boileau be nearly innumerable, 
 what must be those of Voltaire — in a collected or 
 detached form ? The idol of the French nation — and 
 scarcely less cherished for his dramatic, historical, 
 and philological, than for his poetical talents —the 
 presses of the Metropolis of that country are for ever 
 
 * Be satisfied with the edition of 1747 in five octavo volumes, 
 which is yet considered the best, in spite of Brunet’s elaborate ar- 
 ticle, from which a contrary conclusion may be drawn. It is worth 
 2 1. 12s. 6d. in good binding — and if found on Dutch Paper, and 
 especially on thick paper , ’twill make merry the heart of a tasteful 
 Biblomaniac — although procured at more than double the preceding 
 price. After all, I am doubtful about the earnest recommendation of 
 the edition of 1772, 5 vols. 8vo. though the plates be from the designs 
 of Picart. Brunet is full of particular information relating to it. 
 The edition of 1809 is in 3 volumes Svo. and when accompanied by 
 the seven plates after the designs of Moreau, published by Renouard, 
 is both the completest and most acceptable of all the editions before 
 published of Boileau Despreaux. I cannot however, while on the 
 subject of octavo impressions, give it the preference to that of 1821, 
 Svo. 4 vols.— which, as a specimen of printing and paper, has scarce- 
 ly any rival, even in this country j while the plates of the Lutrin are 
 rich in comic humour and expression : they are among the best efforts 
 of the French School, and come the nearest to those of our Smirke. 
 The designer is Desenne. The engravings, by various hands, are a 
 little too coarse, but have great effect. That, prefixed to the 2d. Canto, 
 if a little more light were introduced, would be charming. The 
 Editor is Amar : and copies upon large paper make the imagination 
 run riot. The sumptuous edition of 1814, in two huge folio volumes, 
 which was published under the auspices of Murat when he was King 
 of Naples, is rare even in France. But Didot's magnificent edition 
 of 1819, in two rare folios, is probably yet superior. Only 125 co- 
 pies were printed with the vignettes. A subscription copy is valued 
 at 400 francs. 
 
778 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [French. 
 
 teeming with editions of his works, in part or in whole. 
 The famous edition of Beaumarchais eclipsed every 
 thing of its kind, on a similar scale of magnitude : but, 
 for intrinsic worth, if not for extrinsic splendour, it 
 has been surpassed by the recent impression of Re - 
 nouard. Intermediate editions, of less cost and less 
 critical elaboration, will satisfy the ordinary purposes 
 of reading. Of these, and of some other peculiarities, 
 the subjoined note will afford a tolerably correct 
 account* 
 
 * To attempt to bibliographise the article Voltaire, as it should 
 be, in one note, would belittle short of madness. Even Brunet shrinks 
 from the magnitude of such an attempt. I will be therefore perspi- 
 cuous, if not brief. The famous edition of his Works Complete is that 
 of Beaumarchais , published in 1785, & c. at Kehl, with the types of 
 Baskerville,f in seventy handsome octavo volumes : with beautiful 
 plates. A duodecimo edition, in ninety-two volumes, was published 
 at the same time j but this latter (according to Renouard) though a 
 beautiful edition, is not free from typographical errors. Of each edi- 
 
 •f* In Peignot’s Dictionnaire de Bibliologie, there is, to the best of my recollec- 
 tion, an interesting article on the subject of Beaumarchais’ edition of Voltaire : 
 but La Harpe ( Court de Literature , vol. xi. p. 609) has given an animated sketch 
 of it, and the Biogr. Universel, &c. (vol. iii. p. 635-8)has availed itself of the ma- 
 terials of La Harpe. Never was a work undertaken with greater expectations of 
 success, or expenditure of capital. Beaumarchais began with buying the whole of 
 Baskerville’s types, punches and matrices. He re-established ruined paper mills 
 in the Vosges , about 15 miles from Kehl : was nice to excess in the paper to be 
 manufactured, and employed the most knowing workmen engaged in the manu- 
 facture of Dutch paper. His printing office and establishment at Kehl were im- 
 mense. Many millions of livres were expended, and the ultimate loss of a mil- 
 lion was the result of his vast projects and incessant activity and solicitude. But 
 the proof sheets (especially of the duodecimo edition) were carelessly revised ; and 
 Beaumarchais, in an evil hour, exalted Voltaire at the expense of Racine. In 
 short, the impression betrayed the absence of a correct editorial tact : and La 
 Harpe tells us that those of Didot are very mnch superior in accuracy and utility. 
 The Life of Beaumarchais (a very curious and chequered one) was published in 
 1802, 12mo. : and his works in seven octavo volumes (for he was a dramatist and 
 a poet) in 1809. Beaumarchais put the finishing stroke to his speculating mania 
 by importing sixty thousand stand of arms iji the Revolution of 1792 : and he died 
 in 1799, just on the verge of his 70th year. 
 
POETRY. 
 
 F BENCH.] 
 
 779 
 
 And now . . . leaving the lyrical poetry of I. B. 
 Rousseau to the admiration of those who have a taste 
 
 tion there were printed not fewer than five different papers. A copy 
 of the largest octavo paper , neat in russia, is marked at 52/. 10$. in 
 the catalogue of Messrs. Payne and Foss : who also mark a neat copy 
 of the Basle edition of 1784, in seventy- three octavo volumes, at 21/. 
 At Paris, an edition was published by Didot , in 1802, in fifty-five 
 volumes j and another in 1817.» in forty-two octavo vols. superior to 
 the preceding. I now come to the last and best edition of the Entire 
 Works of Voltaire by Renouard, just completed in sixty octavo vo- 
 lumes, with one hundred and thirteen vignettes, and forty-seven por- 
 traits. The designs of Moreau le Jeune embellish this splendid and 
 estimable production : but of designs and graphic embellishments to 
 Voltaire, there is no end. Consult Renouard, Cat. de la Bibl . d'un 
 Amateur , vol. iii. p. 301 5 and Messrs. Payne and Foss present us with 
 a tempting article in their last catalogue (no. 1248) containing fine 
 impressions of two hundred and seventy-five prints, large paper, at 
 14/. 14$. Certainly, the plates by Simonet, in Renouard’ s edition, 
 are bright, spirited, and very taking and universal and brilliant 
 as was the genius of Voltaire, it must be admitted that France, in the 
 publications of his works, has done justice to his talents. I entreat 
 the sedulous reader to consult Brunet. 
 
 But evident as is this position, or unquestionable as may be this 
 conclusion, there are some drawbacks to be mentioned : at least, on 
 one score, there is a very tremendous counterbalance to be stated : 
 and on this, the high tone of feeling and the masterly style of criti- 
 cism, of LaHarpe comes most opportunely to my aid. That such a 
 man as Voltaire, without feeling and without principles — in the 
 conscious and undisputed possession of the most brilliant talents — 
 should have written any thing which interest or lucre suggested, was 
 natural, and to be expected ; but that a respectable government, or 
 that a polished state of society, as was France during the middle of 
 the xviiith century, should have tolerated th q publication of whatever 
 such an unprincipled writer chose to produce, is a matter beyond all 
 conception, and scarcely to be stigmatised with sufficient severity. 
 The reader has already anticipated the mention of the Pucelle of 
 Voltaire. Hear the energetic language of La Harpe upon this com- 
 position. Jamais l impudence du vice et du blaspheme n’avaitetd 
 portee h ce point ! et quoique le vice y ffit souvent de la plus degofi- 
 
780 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 [French. 
 
 for such performances — and classing Gresset and 
 Deulle among the most popular and pleasing of the 
 recent poets of France — (not failing to recommend the 
 two latter strongly to a place in every well chosen 
 library)* I take leave of the department of poetry, 
 
 tante crapule, et la blaspheme inepte ou grossier, tel etait dejh l’at- 
 trait de l’impiet^ hardie et de la d^bauche effront^e que ce m£me 
 ecrivain, pourqui l’on s’ etait montr^e si sevbre jusques dans ses chefs- 
 d’ceuvres, paint ne trouver presque plus que des approbateurs, et 
 avoir fait de ses lecteurs autant de complices. II n’y a point de livre 
 qui ait it6 plus r£pandu, plus g£n6ralement lu, plus souvent cit£. 
 Toute la jeunesse le sut par coeur, et en fit sa philosophic ; les vers de 
 la Pucelle devinrent le cat^chisme de cet &ge qui prend si volontiers 
 pour loi 1’ absence de tout frein : et si l’on reftechit k tout le mal qu’ a 
 fait et dft faire ce poeme, on avouera qu’un gouvernement tombe 
 dans la plus Strange inconsequence, lorsqu’il interdit la vente des 
 poisons, et qu’il autorise ou tolere le d6bit de pareils livres.” Cours de 
 Literature , vol. viii. p. 213-14. 
 
 And yet, whether in large paper copies of the edition of the 
 Pucelle in 1789, 8vo. two vols. — or in one volume 4to., of the same 
 date — or in the more sumptuous edit, of 1797, 4to. published by Didot 
 — or in minor, and exquisitely printed, editions of the same work — 
 there is hardly a Frenchman of education, or as it is called of good 
 breeding, but what lavishes his napoleons on the decorations of 
 the Pucelle. Plates from the designs of Moreau — others, from the 
 most licentious originals — are thrust into this book $ — and copies of 
 it glittering on the shelves of Bibliophiles, make us surprised at the 
 indifference or temerity of their Owners. But this imprudence does 
 not belong to France. Brunet taxes us, and perhaps with justice, of 
 being also instrumental to the execution of plates of similar inde- 
 cency. Proh pudor ! 
 
 * Jean Baptiste Rous^au is a lyrical poet, with whom (from the 
 information which I gathered when in France) I suspect the French 
 themselves to be but little conversant. Indeed he may not be worthy 
 of a very intimate acquaintance. A very pretty edition of him in five 
 duodecimo volumes, appeared in 1797 : perhaps worth 1Z. 5s, : but 
 Crapelet has lately put forth the most correct and valuable, as well 
 as the most beautifully printed, edition, in 1820, Svo, 5 vols. The 
 
French.] 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 781 
 
 usually so considered. At any rate, that department, 
 as far as it relates to the British Muse , will be closed 
 —together with the Library Companion itself-in the 
 ensuing pages, to be devoted to the British Drama. 
 
 copies on large paper — of which, one, of singular splendour, 
 bound in white calf by C. Lewis, glitters on the book shelves of the 
 visto-eabinet of Menalcas— present a most resplendent appearance, 
 M. Brunet says <f the free epigrams are printed apart” . . to be read 
 apart, I ask ? They should not have been printed at all. Of Gresset, 
 I will recommend only Renouard’s edition, in 1811, 8vo. 3 vols. : 
 worth about 1Z. 10s. On large paper, there were only two copies 
 printed. One is in the library of Earl Spencer, the other in that of 
 the publisher. The plates are very clever — from the pencil of Moreau. 
 Delille is the glory of the modern school of French poetry : and I 
 love his Jardins, and L' Homme des champs , ou les Georgiques Fran- 
 coises, so much, that I will spur on both “ the young” and “ the old 
 man” to get the most beautiful copy of each work, printed by Didot, 
 in 8vo. — which they can procure : and if on large paper* and bound 
 in green morocco, so much the better. They are sweet poems : full of 
 pleasing imagery and virtuous sentiment. 
 
[ 782 ] 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 The first thing that may strike the learned in 
 dramatic lore, will be the paucity of the pages here 
 devoted to that subject. But my path is necessarily 
 short and contracted. I must have nothing to do 
 with Mysteries and Moralities ; whether in a foreign 
 or in our own tongue If indeed I were disposed to un- 
 draw the curtain which conceals the strange and “ mys- 
 terious” productions, founded on the dramatic art, 
 which enrich the early annals of French Literature, I 
 should only have to sit myself down in the beautiful 
 Library of my friend and brother-Roxburgher, Robert 
 Lang, Esq. of Portland-place,* and within ninety-six 
 
 # Some account, however, of the treasures of this extraordinary 
 collection (of which more than a slight hint is given in the Bibliogr. 
 Decameron , vol. iii. p. 35, &c.) may be expected in a volume of such 
 portly dimensions as the present. But, ere I speak of the French 
 Mysteries in the collection of Mr. Lang, let me briefly notice his 
 Romances and Poetry in the same language. They are not only 
 choice and numerous, but, the generality of them, in a condition the 
 most surprisingly clean and beautiful. I have handled and perused 
 many a thin tome of black-letter poetry, of which the aspect was per- 
 fectly marvellous — sufficient to stagger the uninitiated, and to over- 
 whelm the experienced with unmixed transport. I am doubtful 
 whether a single Bibliophile, at Paris, possesses such an extraordinary 
 cabinet of poetry in his native tongue. The Owner of them, who 
 reads the bizarre-looking pages of these books with the same facility 
 that my friend Mr. Bolland doesMachlinia’s edition of Littleton’s Te- 
 nures, is just now occupied in a raisonnt catalogue of his treasures : 
 and let me hope that such a catalogue will be seen in print — at least 
 by the Roxburgers. 
 
 And now for the Mysteries. One of the most extraordinary, 
 half-laughable, and half- tragical, is that of St. Christophe. It is a 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 783 
 
 hours of such a sitting, I should enrich my memoran- 
 dum book with such entries (of which indeed the ac- 
 
 folio volume, of the date of 1530, having a wood-cut of the Saint for 
 a frontispiece : — * with the following title ; “Sensuyt la vie de sainct 
 Christofie elegamment coposee en rime fran$oise et par personages 
 par maistre Cheualet iadis souuerai maistre en telle compositure nou- 
 uellement imprimee.” The work is printed in a large, round, unusual, 
 and unfinished roman letter, in double columns. The first part ends 
 on sign. N ii., thus : 
 
 Quant penthecostes furent de iuing neuf 
 M. JD. uingt et sept fmt faict neuf 
 
 Ce present liure et en ce lieu et terre * 
 
 De Gr enable fust ioue son mystere 
 Duquel finist la premiere iournee 
 Nouuellement audict leu imprimee. 
 
 The second set of signatures ends on Z Z iiii. rev. Then A A A, to 
 C C C, inclusively, in fours : as indeed run all the signatures, each leaf 
 numerically marked. On the reverse of C C C iii, the colophon is 
 thus : 
 
 Icy finiste le mystere du glorieux sainct chri- 
 stojle compose par personages et imprime 
 a Grenoble le uingthuit de ianuier lan co 
 ptat a la natiuite de nostre seigneur mil ciq 
 cens trente au despens de maistre Anemond 
 amalberti citoyen de grenoble . 
 
 Then a leaf, with the same cut of St. Christopher, on the reverse, as 
 at the commencement. There are verses below. This copy, ob- 
 tained from Chardin’s collection, is bound in blue morocco. See the 
 Bibl. du Theatre Francois, 1768, vol. i. page 93-6. Of course such a 
 volume (believed to be the only one in this country) is beyond all 
 price. 
 
 Mr. Lang possesses another copy, in MS. (which however is not 
 exactly the same work) executed in a small gothic type, on vellum : 
 upon the whole, very cleverly. This also was Chardin’s book, who 
 had a rage for transcripts : half of his collection affording, more or 
 less, specimens of successful calligraphy.f It was transcribed from 
 
 * In Mr. Lang’s copy, the frontispiece and the three first leaves of text are MS. 
 of a neat execution. 
 
 + Fora particular, and I trust not unamusing account, of Mr. Chardin, the last 
 of the old school of French Booksellers, the reader may consult a certain Tour, 
 vol. ii . p. 400-3 : where a portrait of this old Bibliopolist— executed “ ad vivum— ■' 
 
784 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 companying note bears powerful testimony) as might 
 astonish even the Society of the Bibliophiles, at Paris ! 
 
 an edition printed by the widow of Iehan Trepperel for Iehannot, 
 bookseller, in 4to. without date. We learn from the title, that not 
 fewer than thirty-three personages are engaged in this mysterious 
 Drama: of whom the son of God is one. Another most rare and 
 singular Mystery, in this collection, is called €f homme pecheur 5 ” 
 which, from the title, we learn was “ played by sundry personages 
 in the town of Tours/' Mr. Lang’s copy is printed by Verard, in 
 double columns, without date. A fine copy, in old blue morocco 
 binding. Again : L'homme iuste & Vhomme mondain Nouuellement 
 compose et imprime a Paris , 1508, 4to. Also printed by Verard. A 
 fine, large, crackling copy : but with signatures i. in. and iiii. in ms. 
 — admirably done. Chardin’s copy. Once more : Le Misfire de la 
 Passion, &c. which we learn, from the title, was “ triumphantly 
 played at Angiers, and latterly at Paris.” It is a quarto volume, 
 printed at Paris, by Iehannot and Trepperel’s widow, in the black 
 letter, in double columns : and may be at least 300 years old. A fine 
 copy. 
 
 Mystery the fifth. Le loyeulx Misfire des Trois Rois : a Dixsept 
 Personnages Compost par Iehan Dabondance Bazochien. Et Notaire 
 Royal de la Ville du Pont Saint Esprit. A ms. copy, in an octavo 
 form, of the only original MS.--which is almost undecipherable. In 
 the whole, fifty-two pages : perhaps executed seventy or eighty years 
 ago. See Bibl. du Tlitatre , vol. i. page 118. For the sixth and last 
 time: Le Tres excellet et sainct mystere du viel testament, par per- 
 sonages, &c. Lan mil cinq cens quarante et deux. Folio, 324 leaves 
 — with the Mysteries of Octavian and the Sybils — having wood- 
 cuts of the latter. To these volumes (“ rari nantes in gurgite vasto”) 
 might be added a list of a few Dramas, sacred and otherwise, in 
 the same Collection : but I forbear.* Let the preceding satisfy all 
 ordinary curiosity. 
 
 and the “ Vir Illustrissimus ipse”— may be seen. If poor Mr. Chardin be not now 
 no more, his intellectual faculties have, I understand, entirely forsaken him. His 
 books were disposed of last year. 
 
 * And yet, not wholly so : for how can I forget the Actes des Apotres 8f Apoca- 
 lypse, printed in 1501, folio ? and, still less — La Vtgeance et destruction de Hier- 
 usalem par personages , 1539, 4to. On the two last pages and half are the “ Dra- 
 matis Personae,” amounting to only 178 in number ! From a ms. note, referring 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 785 
 
 The question is yet perhaps to be gone into— namely, 
 how those persons and things, held the most sacred 
 from infancy, and connected with our best hopes in 
 this world, and our happiness in the world to come, 
 should be made the instruments of the most puerile 
 conceits, the most vulgar and revolting language, and 
 the most ridiculous or brutal actions? Both in the 
 French and English languages, there are sufficient 
 testimonies of the truth of this remark. 
 
 In regard to the mysteries in our own language, I 
 must exhort the curious to dive into the lore of those 
 known by the name of the Chester and Coventry 
 Mysteries: especially if, after the lucubrations of 
 Warton, Dodsley, Malone, and Hawkins, they are 
 fortunate enough to be favoured with the perusal of 
 what has been written by Mr. Markland and Mr. 
 Sharp :* gentlemen who have proved themselves com- 
 
 * The first of the above named gentlemen has wrought for himself 
 a much more imperishable “garland" than ever old Skelton (see 
 pp. 661, 685, ante) had the impudence or ingenuity to twine round 
 his temples, in that recherche Roxburghe Volume , called Chester 
 Mysteries 5 and presented by its Editor to the Roxburghe Club, in 
 1818. The Mysteries are. The Deluge , and The Slaughter of the 
 
 to the Metz Chronicle, it appears that this Drama, or Mystery, was acted in 1437 ; 
 and that four days were consumed in the performance of it. It farther appears, 
 that the Cur6 of St. Victoire, who had acted the part of the Almighty in the Mis- 
 tere de la Passion (above noticed) acted the part of Titus in this Drama. Mr. 
 Lang has another edition of it, without date, printed by I. Iehannot for Trepperel’s 
 widow ; which has two wood-cuts at the beginning, such as would charm the heart 
 of my romance and mystery-loving friend Mr. Douce. On the reverse of the title- 
 page, are two minstrels playing, at the entrance of a castle ; one with a guitar, 
 and the other with a clarionet ; while a page is attending with a duplicate of each 
 instrument. Some guards are looking out at their approach. A similar wood-cut 
 is at the end of the table ; except that the page has his hat off in his left hand, with 
 a sword in his right. This edition, besides the epilogue of two pages, contains 
 ccxii leaves. 
 
 A few more a Last words.” In the same collection there is an ancient MS. of 
 
 3 E 
 
786 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 petent in all respects, for the interesting and arduous 
 tasks which they have undertaken. 
 
 Innocents : from a MS. of the XHIth century, “ the most ancient, as 
 well as the most complete collection of the kind now in existence.”* 
 An Introductory Essay of xvi pages,f preceded by an engraved fron- 
 tispiece, and three title pages, or prefixes, render the text, printed for 
 the first time, perfectly invaluable to a thorough-bred Antiquary. 
 *Tis like a well-proportioned marble porch, of the Doric Order, to a 
 building of perfect symmetry. This book is, throughout, a model in 
 every respect. The paper, printing, ornaments, and intrinsic matter 
 render it the most sparkling of the Roxburghe-Club Book Gems. 
 It has sold for as high as 29,1. and as low as 1 21. With difficulty I 
 refrain from an extract : but it must not be. 
 
 For the latter gentleman — above-named — I gather, from the pre- 
 face of an ancient Pageant called Judicium , (or, “ The Day of Judg- 
 ment,”) in the possession of Peregrine Towneley, Esq. and printed 
 by him for the first time, for the Roxburghe Club — that “ a large 
 portion of the Coventry Mysteries has already been printed y and 
 it may be gratifying to the lovers of the ancient Drama to be inform- 
 ed, that the whole of them, with every necessary elucidation, will, 
 and it is to be hoped, at no distant time, be made public by the dili- 
 gence and liberality of a Gentleman at Coventry , who is every way 
 qualified for the execution of this difficult and laborious task/* That 
 gentleman, it is no secret, is Mr. Sharp of Coventry ! who, on more 
 accounts than one, has been frequently lauded in the humble pages 
 of the author of this work. The f( Dramatis Personae*' of this 
 
 La Destruction de Troye le Grand: perhaps of the xivth century : beginning thus : 
 
 En passant par vne lande 
 Plaine de Roses et de fleurs. 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 There are two leaves of vellum, with six or seven of paper, usually throughout. It 
 is written in a close but broad-faced gothic letter. At the end, we read the name 
 of the Transcriber thus pleasantly introduced : 
 
 Nomen scriptoris Johannes plenus amoris. 
 
 This MS. concludes with seven leaves of a “ Chanson sur le mort de Hector.” 
 But I must really tear myself, tmd perhaps the reader too, from a farther registry 
 of such DRAMATIC BlJOUX! 
 
 * The MSS. actually printed from, were dated 1600, 1604, and 1607. 
 t Reprinted in vol. iii. of Malone’s Shakspeare, by Boswell, 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA, 
 
 787 
 
 Then again for Collections of Old Plays, I must 
 entreat the “Young Man” to furnish himself with 
 those published by Hawkins and Dodsley •* or per- 
 
 ancient Pageant of “ the Day of Judgment, f ” are only xiii, begin- 
 ning with Jesus Christ ,” who has five good Angels attending him : 
 the first and second Demon , Tutivillus : with four attendant evil 
 Spirits. An argument, prefixed, gives us in few words the scope of 
 the play. A glossary concludes it. The introduction and glossary 
 are by the hand of Francis Douce, Esq. If the reader wishes for 
 more horrible things, from Old Mysteries and Dramas, he may pe- 
 ruse what is written in the Bibliogr, Decameron , vol. ii. p. 217, &c. 
 and Tour, vol. ii. p. 302-10. The work referred to in the latter 
 authority — -the Blasphemateurs du Nom de Dieu — has been reprinted 
 
 by the Society of Bibliophiles at Paris ; but where is my copy of it 
 
 as an honorary member ? Speak Messrs. Chateaugiron and Durand 
 
 De Lancon ! 
 
 * 
 
 * The contents of the Collections of Hawkins, (1773, 8vo. three 
 
 vols.) and Dodsley’ s, 1780, 8vo. twelve vols. best edition by Reed 
 
 are set forth in Mr. Harris’s very judicious catalogue of the library of 
 the Royal Institution, p. 243. A copy of the first work may be had 
 
 t Is it mere fancy, that I suppose Skelton to have borrowed somewhat of the 
 structure of his verse from a perusal of a transcript of this piece ?— as thus ; 
 
 Here is a bag full of lokys : of pride and of lust 
 Of wraggers and of wrears, : a Jiag full of brefes 
 Of carpars and cryars : of mychers and thefes 
 Of lurdans and lyars : that no man lefys 
 Of flytars of flyars ; and renderars of reffys 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 so joly. 
 
 Ilka las in a lande : like a lady nereliande 
 So freshe and so plesande : makys men to foly 
 If she be-never so fowll a dowde : with hir kelle3 and hir pynnes 
 The shrew liirself can slirowde : both hir chekys and her chynnes 
 She can make it full prowde : with japes and with gynnes 
 Hir hede as hy as a clowde : but no shame of hir synnes. 
 
 Page v. — ix. 
 
 Mr. Douce thinks the original MS. is older than either the Chester or Coventry 
 Manuscripts. I subjoin an explanation of some of the above words : Wraggers and 
 Wrears, Wranglers and Noisy Fellows; Mychers , Pilferers; Lurdans, Block- 
 heads ; Flytars , Scolds ; Rendrears of reffys, Thief-takers, 
 
78 s 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 haps it may answer his object still better, to secure, 
 as they come out, the Numbers of the Old English 
 Drama, published by Mr. Baldwyn, apparently under 
 the care of a most competent Editor.* As the remain- 
 ing preliminary piece of instruction, I cannot resist 
 the opportunity of strongly recommending a Series of 
 
 for 1Z. Is. : of the second for 4 l. 14s. 6d. But if a copy of the second 
 work, on large paper, be aspired unto, desperate must be the 
 struggle, and ponderous must be the price paid, for its attainment. 
 Only six copies were so printed; and one of these was sold for 14/. 
 14s. at the sale of Mr. Woodhouse’s library in 1803. 
 
 * Two numbers only of this work have been published, by Mr. 
 Baldwyn , of Newgate street. The first contains The Second Maiden's 
 Tragedy , first printed from the original MS. of the date of 1611, 
 from the Lansdowne Collection : the second, A Pleasant Conceited 
 Comedy , wherein is showed how a Man may chuse a Good Wife from a 
 Bad. Will not my Young Man” feel some curiosity about such a 
 Drama ? These numbers are elegantly printed in a small type, on 
 good paper, at 2s. 6d. the number. When this work is complete, it 
 will be found to be the most copious and valuable of all the “ Selec- 
 tions of Plays from the Old English Dramatists” extant : that of 
 Dodsley (even by Reed) t€ from the small number of Plays it contains, 
 in comparison with the immense quantity of materials to be found in 
 the different libraries in the kingdom, being a very inadequate repre- 
 sentation of the earliest and best age of our dramatic literature.” — 
 Prospectus. I learn with pleasure that a transcript of Marlow’s Dido, 
 Queen of Carthage , (see p. 708 ante) is in hand for one of the ensuing 
 numbers of this work. There are copies upon large paper, beauti- 
 fully printed, and arranging handsomely with the large paper Dodsley, 
 and the large paper of the reprint, (1786, 8vo. 4 vols.) of the twenty 
 Old Plays of Shakspeare, published in 4to. during the Poet’s life time. 
 
 While on the subject of Reprints of Old Plays, or publications 
 of them for the first time from MSS. the reader should be informed 
 that Mr. Haslewood printed for the Roxburghe Club two Interludes 
 called Jack Juggler and Thersytes : the one from the press of W. 
 Copland, and the other from that of Tysdale. The originals were 
 uniques : and formed a part of a most extraordinary Collection of 
 Old Plays, discovered in 1810. That collection is^now? dispersed ; 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 789 
 
 Essays on the Early English Drama , to be found in 
 the Retrospective Review* They are copious and in- 
 structive: and bring the history and “ reasoning of the 
 thing,” accurately and vividly before our observation. 
 To these, add the last and best edition of Baker’s 
 Biographia Dramatical or a Companion to the Play 
 
 and Mr. Haslewood, in his short Introductionf tells us wherefore. 
 Mr. John Arthur Lloyd, another member of the same unique Club, 
 has favoured his associates with the printing of two plays called The 
 Cuck Queanes, and The Faery Pastorall, or the Forest of Elues — from 
 a most extraordinary ms. volume in the possession of Mr. Haslewood. 
 The author of these plays, as well as of the whole contents of the 
 ms. volume, was William Percy, the third son of Henry, the eighth 
 Earl of Northumberland. Such another Olla Podrida of dramatic 
 composition, was surely never conceived or executed. But every 
 Roxburgher revels in his copy ! — and long may he revel. I ought 
 however to notice the Collection of Ancient English Dramas, pub- 
 lished by Miller, in three handsome royal octavo volumes : worth 
 about 1/. 11s. 6d . 
 
 * In the second and several following numbers of that well-con- 
 ducted periodical work. 
 
 + Edited by Mr. Stephen Jones, 1812, 8vo. 3 vols. : — the first in 
 two parts: a work, which, whatever be its deficiencies (and these have 
 been pointed out by no unsparing hand in an early number of a 
 certain popular Review) is doubtless the best edition, of what has 
 always been considered the best production on the subject, extant. 
 It may be obtained for 1Z. 10s. ; and till a more perfect edition of it 
 appears, must be considered a stock- book in a dramatic library. 
 When will Mr. Haslewood favour the world with a compression of 
 his very copious stores, entitled Notitia Dramatica ? There is not 
 a play, a player, or a play-house, but of which that Gentleman has 
 the most precise intelligence. Some outlines of this dramatic his- 
 tory have appeared in the Gentleman’s Magazine. 
 
 + This Introduction consists of two pages only, printed on India paper, on the 
 rectos of two leaves, for the sake of the exquisite little wood- cuts with which it 
 begins and ends. But let us hope it will be very long ere its worthy author hob 
 and nob with such a “ boon companion,” as appears in the tail-piece — for then 
 there will be an end of all things. 
 
790 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 House — and both the Young and the Old Man has 
 wherewithal to recreate and instruct himself in this 
 department for the remainder of his days. 
 
 But my “ Young Man” is becoming impatient for 
 an account of those Dramatists, worth noticing, who 
 preceded Shakspeare ; in order that he may revel un- 
 controuled in the bibliographical luxuries attending 
 a description of the rarer, more curious, costly, and 
 best editions of that Immortal Dramatist. A little 
 patience, and he shall be gratified. An illustrious 
 group passes across the stage in the mind’s eye, as pre- 
 cursors of our great Bard. And let us applaud them 
 as they pass. Bale, Heywood, Lord Sackvjlle, 
 Gascoigne (already noticed as a poet) Peele and 
 Marlowe. In the subjoined note* will be found an 
 
 * Bale’s Pieces are very rare and highly prized — especially when 
 found in a fine and perfect state. A copy of the second edition of 
 his Tragedie or Enterlude, manyfesting the Chefe Promises of God unto 
 Man, printed by Charlewoode in 1577> was sold for 121. 15s. at the 
 sale of Steevens’s library. The first was printed in 1538. But 
 quaere ? My interleaved copy of Herbert, p. 1094, notices the ori- 
 ginal edition as of 1548. Bale’s Comedy or Enterlude of Johan Bap - 
 tyste preachyng in the Wildernesses is reprinted in the Harleian Mis- 
 cellany, vol. i. p. 37- I know not who possesses the original edition. 
 His Resurrection of Lazarus, Temptation, Passion and Sepulture of 
 our Lord, are three yet rarer performances. The first editions are 
 supposed to have been printed abroad. See Malone’s note, in Bos- 
 well’s edition of his Shakspeare, vol. iii. p. 31. The first edition of 
 Lord Sackville’s Gorboduc is without date, but supposed to be in 
 1562. His Ferrex and Porrex, also without date, in 1571. With these 
 earlier pieces should be united Still’s Gammer Gurtons Needle, sup- 
 posed to have been printed in 1566.f These three pieces (says Mr. 
 Campbell) were the earliest though faint draughts of our regular 
 tragedy and comedy : but see Malone's Shakspeare, Boswell's edit. 
 
 t A copy of this rare volume, of the date of 1575, was sold at Bindley’s sale for 
 19/. 5 a. 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 7*i 
 
 account of a few earlier and rarer pieces of these 
 Writers ; premising, that they are all reprinted in the 
 
 vol. iii. p. 38. Gascoigne’s “ Supposes,” translated from Ariosto, is 
 our earliest prose comedy. Its dialogue is easy and spirited. Speci- 
 mens, &c. vol. i. p. 140. Mr. Campbell gives a glowing account 
 (supported, it must be confessed, by a most beautiful quotation) of 
 Peele’s David and Bethsabe. I have no space for the Critic’s eulogy 
 or the Poet’s beauties : nor do I know who possesses a copy of the 
 first impression of this dramatic treasure — but if the lucky hunter 
 after theatrical rarities happen to stumble upon Peele’s Old Wives 
 Tale , a pleasant conceited Comedie, played by the Queen's Majesties' 
 Players , 1 595, 4to. it may rejoice his heart to learn that only two 
 copies of it were known to the late George Steevens ; his own, and 
 that in the King’s library. His own was sold for 12Z. It would now 
 bring three times the sum. As to Marlowe . . . 
 
 But what am I about r What limits are to be assigned to these en- 
 quiries ? The matter is instantly and easily solved : and read atten- 
 tively, enthusiastic young man, the mode of its solution. Naturally 
 conceiving what must be the dramatic treasures in the Malone Col- 
 lection at Oxford, some two months ago I w T rote to an old and 
 excellent friend, admirably qualified to answer every question con- 
 nected with the subject, to favour me with some account of these 
 same dramatic treasures. In the course of due time, his answer 
 came, after the following manner : from which it will be seen that 
 many a gem, not even alluded to in the above text, will be found to 
 sparkle on the shelves of ts Old Bodley,” 
 
 Oxford , April %], 1824. 
 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 You tell me I shall be doing you some service if I send you a short 
 account of Mr. Malone’s dramatic collections, now in the Bodleian 
 Library ; and, as you confine me to the titles of some few of those 
 pieces which I consider the most rare and curious, I can have no 
 excuse for not complying with your request. I should however have 
 obeyed you, with equal alacrity and pleasure, had you even drawn 
 more largely on my time and transcription. 
 
 The foundation of Mr. Malone’s Dramatic Library was one hundred 
 and nineteen volumes of old Plays, printed in quarto, (containing, on 
 an average, eight plays in each volume) given to him by George 
 
792 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 Collections of Hawkins and Dodsley, so frequently 
 before mentioned. But “ illustrious” as this group 
 may be, the characters of which it is composed are 
 
 Steevens, Esq. I believe in 1778. To these Mr. Malone added forty- 
 eight volumes in quarto, twelve in duodecimo and octavo, besides an 
 almost perfect collection of the single plays of all the early dramatic 
 writers. You desire me to give you a few titles of the rarest — and I 
 do so as they occur, without arrangement or classification, premising 
 only that I shall give you nothing subsequent to the year 1600. 
 
 1. The Tragedie of Tancred and Gismund , compiled by the Gentle- 
 men of the Inner Temple, and by them presented before her Maiestie j 
 newly reuiued and polished, according to the decorum of these daies. 
 By R. W. London , 1592, 4to. See Cens. Liter, vol. viii. p. 350. 
 
 2. The Tragedie of Solimon and Perseda, wherein is laide open 
 Loue’s Constancie, Fortune’s Inconstancie, and Death’s Triumphs. 
 At London, 1599, 4to. (Entered on the Stationer’s Books, 1592.) 
 
 3. The Blinde Begger of Alexandria. By George Chapman. Imp. 
 at London , 1598, 4to. 
 
 4. The Battell of Alcazar, fought in Barberie, betweene Sebastian 
 King of Portugall and Abdelmelec King of Marocco, with the death 
 of Captaine Stukeley. At Lond. 1594, 4to. 
 
 5. A Moral and Pitiful Comedie intituled All for Money ; plainly 
 representing the manners of men and fashion of the world nowe 
 adayes, compiled by Thomas Lupton. At Lond . 1578, 4to. 
 
 6. The Tragedie of Gorboduc, (1562) 4to. 
 
 7. Pompey the Great his fair e Corneliaes Tragedie : Effected by 
 her Father and Husbandes downe-cast, death, and fortune. Written 
 in French, by that excellent Poet, Ro : Gamier, and translated into 
 English by Thomas Kid, at Lond. 1595, 4to. 
 
 8. Cornelia. At Lond. 1594, 4to. (The same play, first edition,) 
 
 9. The Pleasant History of the two angry women of Abington, with 
 the humourous mirth of Dick Coomes and Nicholas Prouerbes, two 
 seruing men, as it was lately playde, &c. By Henry Porter, Gent. 
 At Lond. 1599, 4to. 
 
 10. The Cobler's Prophesie. Written by Robert Wilson, Gent. 
 At Lond. 1594, 4to. 
 
 11. The Love of King David and fair Bethsabe, with the Tragedie 
 of Absalon. As it hath ben diuers times plaied on the stage, written 
 by George Peele, Lond. 1599, 4to. 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 793 
 
 forgotten . . . save in the library of the studious in dra- 
 matic lore. Bright, beautiful, and original as are many 
 
 12. A new Enterlude no lesse wittie then pleasant, enti tuled New 
 Custome, deuised of late, and for diuerse causes nowe set forthe, 
 neuer before this tyme imprinted, 1573. Imp. at Lond , by William 
 How for Abraham Veale , 4to. 
 
 13. An excellent new Commedie intituled The Conflict of Con- 
 science. At Lond. 15S1, 4to. 
 
 14. The Historie of Orlando Furioso , (by Robert Green) one of the 
 twelve Peeres of France. As it was play’d before the Queenes 
 Maiestie. At Lond. 1599, 4to. Second Edition. The first was in 
 1594. 
 
 15. A certayne Tragedie wrytten fyrst in Italian, by F. N. B. enti- 
 tled, Freewyl, and translated into Englishe by Henry Cheeke, black 
 letter, no date, 4to. See British Bibliographer , vol. i. p. 6 . 
 
 16. Antonins, or the Tragedy of Marc Anthony. By the Right 
 Hon. Mary Countess of Pembroke, 1595, 4to. 
 
 17- The Lamentable and true Tragedie of M. Arden, of Faversham 
 in Kent. Imp . at London, 1592, 4to. 
 
 18. The Raigne of King Edward the third: as it hath bin sundrie 
 times plaied about the Citie of London, Lond. 1596, 4to. Another 
 Copy and Edition, Imp. at London, 1599, 4to. 
 
 19. Campaspe, played before the Queenes Maiestie on twelfe Day 
 at night by her Maiesties Children, and the Children of Paules. Imp. 
 at London, 1591, 4to. Third Edition. 
 
 20. Mother Bombie, as it was sundrie times plaied by the Children 
 of Powles, Lond. 159S, 4to. Third Edition. 
 
 21. A Warning for Faire Women, containing the most tragical! and 
 lamentable murther of Master George Sanders of London, Marchant 
 nigh Shooters Hill, Lond. 1 599, 4to. 
 
 22. A pleasant conceyted Comedie of George a Greene , the Pinner of 
 Wakefield. As it was sundry times acted by the seruants of the Right 
 Honourable the Earle of Sussex. Imp. at London, 1599, 4to. 
 
 23. A Pleasant Comedie called Summers last Will and Testament, 
 written by Thomas Nash, Imp. at Lond. 1600, 4to. 
 
 24. The famous Chronicle of King Edward the First, sirnamed Ed- 
 ward Longshankes, Lond. 1593, 4to. 
 
 25. The Lamentable Tragedie of Locrine, the eldest some of King 
 Brutus, Lond. 1595, 4to. 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 7 l M 
 
 of the passages in their works, the majority of readers 
 will never, I fear, become acquainted with them ; or, 
 knowing them, will be slow to commend. Our dra- 
 matic taste is debasing apace. Bustle, parade .... 
 
 26. A ryght pithy , pleasaunt and merie Comedie , Intytuled Gammer 
 Gurton's Nedle. Imprynted at London in Fleete Street heneth the Con - 
 duit at the signe of St. John Evangelist , by Thomas Colwell, black 
 letter, 4to. 
 
 27. A lamentable Tragedie, mixed full of plesant mirth, containing 
 the life of Cambises King of Persia, no date, 4to. 
 
 28. The First part of the Tragicall raigne of Selimus, Lond. 1594. 
 
 29. A right excellent and famous Comoedy called the three Ladies of 
 London. At Lond. 1584, 4to. 
 
 30. A new and pleasaunt enterlude intituled the Marriage of Witte 
 and Science. Imp. at Lond. 1570, 4to. 
 
 3 1 . Thenterlude of Youth, 
 
 Jesu that his armes dyd sprede 
 And on a tree was done to dead. 
 
 Imp. at Lond. by John Waley, (1557) 4to. 
 
 32 An Enterlude intituled Like wil to like quod the Deuel to the 
 Colier, being godly and ful of plesant mirth. Imp. at Lond. 1568, 4to. 
 
 33. A most pleasant and merie new Comedie intituled a Knacke to 
 knowe a Knaue. Newlie set foorth, as it hath sundrie tymes bene 
 played by Ed. Allen and his Companie. With Kemps applauded 
 Merrimentes of the men of Goteham, in receiuing the King into 
 Goteham. Imp. at London, 1594, 4to. 
 
 34. The Raigne of King Edward the Third. As it hath bene sun- 
 dry times played about the Citie of London. Imp. at Lond. 1599, 
 4to. 
 
 35. The Pedler's Prophecie, Lond. 1595, 4to. 
 
 36. The famous Victories of Henry the Fifth : containing the ho- 
 nourable Battell of Agin-Court. As it was plaide by the Queenes 
 Maiesties Players. Lond. 1598, 4to. 
 
 37. A new Comodye in englysh in maner of an enterlude ryght 
 elygant and full of craft of rethoryk, wherein is shewd and dyscrybyd 
 as well the bewte and good propertes of women, as theyr vycys and 
 euyll cddicids, with a morall coclusion and exhortacyon to vertew. 
 Jokes Uastell me imprimi fecit, small folio. 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 795 
 
 “ Brum, gun, trumpet, blunderbuss, and thunder,” 
 have of late become the paramount objects of attrac- 
 
 I have taken these titles at random from the various volumes of 
 old plays, bound as they are, without arrangement $ and they will 
 enable you to form some little idea of the value of the entire collec- 
 tion. Independently of this mass of miscellaneous plays, Mr. Malone 
 has been at the trouble and expense of procuring all or almost all the 
 works of the dramatic writers (afterwards collected and published in 
 a distinct form) in single pieces as they originally appeared. Thus 
 we have 
 
 Shakspeare's Plays, 7 vol. 4 to. Decker, 1 vol. Massinger, 2 vol. 
 Ford, 1 vol. Lord Ster line, 1 vol. Geo. Chapman, 2 vol. Beaumont 
 and Fletcher, 3 vol. Middleton, 3 vol. Heywood, 3 vol. J. Lily, 
 1 vol. Marston, 1 vol. Shirley, 4 vol. Dancer, 1 vol. Wycherley, 
 1 vol, to say nothing of Rowe, Southerne, Congreve, Lee, Farquhar, 
 and innumerable others. Of two of these volumes you shall have 
 the contents, and I promise you somewhat of a dramatic treat in 
 reading only the titles of these rarest among the rare. 
 
 Lily’s Plays in one volume quarto. 
 
 “ This (says Mr. Malone) is one of the most curious and expen- 
 sive volumes in my library. The plays were purchased for the most 
 parts at very dear rates : and are not now to be had at any price. For 
 Midas alone I think I pay’d seven guineas and a half. The Songs 
 which were not inserted in the original copies, are here introduced 
 from Blount’s republication.” — 
 
 1. Campaspe. Played beefore the Queenes Maiestie on new yeares 
 day at night, by her Maiesties Childre, and the Children of Paules. 
 Imprinted at London, for Thomas Cadman, 1584. 
 
 2. Midas. Plaied before the Qveenes Maiestie vpon tvvelfe Day at 
 night, By the Children of Paules. London, printed by Thomas Scar- 
 let for J. B. and are to be sold in Paules Churchyard at the signe of 
 the Bible, 1592. 
 
 3. Mother Bombie. As it was sundrie times plaied by the Children 
 of Powles. London, Imprinted by Thomas Scarlet for Cuthbert 
 Burby, 1594. 
 
 4. The Woman in the Moone. As it was presented before her 
 Highnesse. By John Lyllie, Maister of Artes. Imprinted at London 
 for William Jones, and are to be sold at the signe of the Gun, neere 
 Holburne Conduit, 1597. 
 
79G 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 tion ; and if Garrick were to reappear, it might be 
 questioned whether he would be tolerated more than 
 twice in the week, 
 
 5. Sapho and Pkad. Played beefore the Queenes Maiestie on 
 Shroue tewsday, by her Maiesties Children, and the Boyes of Paules. 
 Imprinted at London by Thomas Orwin, for William Broom, 1591. 
 Second Edition. 
 
 6. The Maydes Metamorphoses. As it hath bene sundrie times acted 
 by the Children of Powles. London, printed by Thomas Creede, for 
 Richard Oliue, dwelling in Long Lane, 1600. Second Edition. 
 
 7. Love's Metamorphoses. A wittie and courtly Pastorall, written 
 by Mr. John Lyllie. First played by the Children of Paules, and now 
 by the Children of the Chappell. London, Printed for William 
 Wood, dwelling at the west end of Paules, at the signe of Time, 
 1601. Only edition. 
 
 “ The above are seven of the original quartos. To which Mr. Ma- 
 lone has added, by inlaying, Gallatliea and Endimion from Blount’s 
 republication, 8vo. Lond. 1632. The first edition of the former, is 
 1592, 4to. : of the latter, 1591, 4to. 
 
 The other volume shall be that containing Christopher Marlowe's 
 Works, of which Mr. Malone records that the original purchase of 
 the tracts, together with the expence of the inlaying and the binding 
 in red morocco, cost him — what ! think you ? — five guineas ! ! ! 
 You shall judge whether he had not a dear bargain for he only got 
 for his money the following. 
 
 1. Tamberlaine the Great , who from the state of a Shepheard in 
 Scythia, by his rare and wonderfull Conquests, became a most puis- 
 sant and mighty Monarque, Lond. 1605. (I should perhaps tell you 
 that Mr. Malone had afterwards the good fortune to recover the first 
 edition of this extremely rare play, printed by Rich. Jhones in 8vo. 
 Lond. 1590. It is in one of the volumes of his octavo plays, bound 
 up with three of Dodsley’s reprints ! 
 
 2. The famous Tragedy of the Rich Jew of Malta. As it was played 
 before the King and Qveene in his Majesties Theatre at White-Hall, 
 by her Majesties Servants at the Cock-Pit. Written by Christopher 
 Mario. Lond. 1633. 
 
 3. The Tragedie of Dido , Queen of Carthage. Played by the Chil- 
 dren of her Maiesties Chappell. Written by Christopher Marlowe 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 797 
 
 With the name of Garrick, that of Shakspeare is 
 irresistibly associated. And with how many charms 
 ’ is it encircled ! While the mere auditor hears his 
 incomparable diction on the stage, or the mere student 
 is fastened to his invective, or pathos, or eloquence, in 
 his closet — the Bibliomaniac — “ young,” or “ old,” 
 and equally a hearer and reader of his works-fires at 
 the mention of his name ; thinks with rapture of his 
 
 and Thomas Nash, Gent. At London , Printed by the Widdowe Orwin , 
 1594. 
 
 “ This Tragedy of Dido was not in Mr. Malone’s original calcula- 
 tion 5 he purchased and inserted it in the volume afterwards. There 
 were, and I believe are, only two copies of it known, both which came 
 into Mr. Malone’s hands : one at Dr. Wright’s sale for sixteen gui- 
 neas, the other at Mr. Steevens’s sale for seventeen pounds.’’ 
 
 4. The troublesome Raigne of King Edward , the second King of 
 England: Imp. at Lond. 1598. 
 
 5. The Massacre at Paris : with the Death of the Duke of Guise . 
 At London , Printed by E. A. no date, but about 1600, 8vo. inlaid. 
 
 6 . The Tragicall Historic of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus. 
 With new Additions, written by Chr. Mar. At Lond. 1631. 
 
 7. Lust's Dominion ; or the lascivious Queen. A Tragedie. Written 
 by Christopher Marlowe, Gent. Lond. 1657* 8vo. inlaid. 
 
 8. Hero and Leander : Begunne by Christopher Marloe. Lond. 
 1600. 
 
 9. Lucans first Booke , translated line for line , by Chr. Marlow. 
 At Lond. 1600, (supposed by Mr. Malone to be unique.) 
 
 10. All Ovid's Elegies, 3 Bookes. By C. M. Epigrams by I. D. 
 At Middleburgh, 8vo. inlaid. (See p. 708, ante.) 
 
 “You desired me to confine myself to the titles of a few of the 
 scarce pieces in Malone’s dramatic collection, and I have obeyed your 
 directions. I hope however, that brief as my list is, it will leave no 
 unfavourable impression as to the worth and rarity of Mr. Malone’s 
 old Plays. Had you said any thing about his old Poetry , I should 
 indeed have been at a loss where to select or where to terminate ; 
 and instead of this letter , you must have received a volume. It may 
 however be some consolation to you to hear, that a very full and de- 
 scriptive Catalogue is in preparation, which will also, as is probable. 
 
798 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 early quartos, and unsoiled folios,* in which the 
 
 contain all Mr. Malone’s manuscript remarks on the poetical merit 
 and bibliographical peculiarities of the several volumes. You may 
 give something like a guess at the general state and condition of the 
 whole, when I mention that the old Harleian Collection, Major Pear- 
 son’s, Dr. Wright’s, and Dr. Farmer’s, as well as Mr. Steevens’s, Mr. 
 Allen’s, Mr. Reed’s, and Mr. Brand’s libraries, were the mines that 
 supplied this almost invaluable treasure of old English Littera- 
 ture. 
 
 Your’s, my Dear Sir, 
 
 very sincerely, 
 
 * * •* * * 
 
 But whoever will be at the pains of examining the list of book- 
 sales in the Bibliomania , from page 426 to page 617* will see out of 
 how many Gardens of tempting fruit Mr. Malone has picked his 
 golden apples : and in particular, let the reader cast his eye upon a 
 few articles, selected from the library of Dr. Wright, to be seen at 
 p. 534 of the same work. Of Mr. Kemble’s dramatic library, said 
 to be the richest in the kingdom, I am unable to speak 5 never having 
 seen it but superficially, on the floor of Messrs. Payne and Foss, in 
 its way to Chatsworth — it having been purchased entire by his Grace 
 the Duke of Devonshire, with the exception of the first folio Shak- 
 speare of 1623, &c. and the Play Bills from the time of Garrick 
 downwards, inclusively. May it not be reasonably asked, how such 
 a dismemberment happened ? — for surely these things were in the 
 purest sense, dramatical.* 
 
 • Of early quartos we shall presently speak, and eke of folios f but 
 in regard to the first folio edition of 1 623, it may not be irrelative 
 or unamusing to illustrate the advantages of an (< unsoiled” copy, 
 by the following anecdote from Steevens, in his Variorum edition of 
 1793, repeated in the two subsequent and enlarged editions by Reed, 
 and in Malone’s edition, by Boswell, vol. ii. p. 658. The usually 
 soiled condition of this precious folio has been alluded to, at p. 735, 
 ante. The following is Steevens’s account of it. cf Of all volumes, 
 those of popular entertainment are soonest injured. It would be dif- 
 ficult to name four folios that are oftener found in dirty and muti- 
 lated condition, than this first assemblage of Shakspeare’s plays. God's 
 
 * Since the first edition of this work, I learn that the Duke of Devonshire pur- 
 chased only the “ Single Plays”— having declined the play bills. 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 799 
 
 Dramas of that Great Bard individually* or collective- 
 ly* first appeared and which moved so vehemently the 
 
 Revenge against Murder , The Gentleman's Recreation , and Johnson's 
 Lives of the Highwaymen . Though Shakspeare was not, like Fox the 
 Martyrologist, deposited in churches, to be thumbed by the congre- 
 gation, he generally took post on our hall tables : and that a multi- 
 tude of his pages have “ their effect of gravy” may be imputed to the 
 various eatables set out every morning on the same boards. 
 
 f * It should seem that most of his readers were so chary of their time, 
 that (like Pistol, who gnaws his leek and swears all the while) they 
 fed and studied at the same instant. I have repeatedly met with thin 
 fakes of pie-crust between the leaves of our author. These unctuous 
 fragments, remaining long in close confinement, communicated their 
 grease to several pages deep on each side of them. It is easy enough 
 to conceive how such accidents might happen 5 how aunt Bridget’s 
 mastication might be disordered at the sudden entry of the ghost into 
 the Queen’s closet, and how the half chewed morsel dropped out of 
 the gaping Squire’s mouth, when the visionary Banquo seated him- 
 self in the chair of Macbeth. Still, it is no small eulogium on Shak- 
 speare, that his claims were more forcible than those of hunger. 
 Most of the first folios now extant are known to have belonged to 
 ancient families resident in the country. Since our breakfasts have 
 become less gross, our favourite authors have escaped with fewer 
 injuries ; not that (as a very nice friend of mine observes) those who 
 read with a coffee-cup in their hands, are to be numbered among the 
 contributors to bibliothecal purity. I claim the merit of being the 
 first commentator on Shakspeare who strove, with becoming serious- 
 ness, to account for the frequent stains that disgrace the earliest folio 
 edition of his Plays, which is now become the most expensive single 
 book in our language 5 for what other English volume without plates, 
 and printed since the year 1600, is known to have sold, more than 
 once, for 35^. 14s. 
 
 To the latter part of these observations, Mr. Boswell has added 
 the following remarks : “ It has become still more expensive. Ipse 
 miserrmus gave a much larger sum at Mr. Kemble’s sale ;* but I 
 could not bring myself to a cold calculation of the value of a copy 
 which was at once a memorial of Shakspeare and of Kemble.’’ Yet 
 
 * The original price of the first folio Shakspeare was . . . one pound . Steevens. 
 
800 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 bile of Prynne ; while he hardly vouchsafes to dwell a 
 moment on purest copies of the editions of Rowe, Pope, 
 Theobald, Hanmer , Capell, Johnson, Steevens , Malone, 
 and Reed.* 
 
 another word about early quartos and folios of Shakspeare. It is 
 said, above, that these “ moved the bile” of Prynne. That they did 
 so, is unquestionable : for hear what he says of them, in the preface 
 “ to the Christian Reader” of his Histriomastix, published in 1633, 
 4to. — the year ensuing the second folio of Shakspeare. Some Play- 
 Books, since I first undertook this subject, are grown from quarto into 
 folio $ which yet bear so good a price and sale, that I cannot but with 
 grief relate it, they are now new printed in far better paper than 
 most octavo or quarto Bibles, which hardly find such vent as they.” 
 This is accompanied by the two following marginal annotations, a- 
 mong others. “ Shackspeer’s Plaies are printed on the best 
 crowne paper, far better than most Bibles' “ Above 40,000 Play- 
 bookes have been printed and vented within these two yeares.” If 
 the fact be as Prynne states it, how fruitless the attempt to bibliogra- 
 phise thoroughly the department of the Drama ! 
 
 * The four latter editions will be more particularly noticed in a 
 future page. Of the three first, it may be remarked that Rowe’s 
 edition was printed in 1709, in seven octavo volumes, and is the first 
 edition of Shakspeare with plates.* I find a copy of it on large pa- 
 per selling for \l. 2s. (full as much as it was worth) at the sale of 
 Isaac Reed’s library in 1807. It was reprinted in 1714, in nine duo- 
 decimo volumes, and then expired without a struggle. Pope’s first 
 edition appeared in 1725, in six quarto volumes, at 61. 6s. the copy, 
 subscription-price ; but in 1767> it sunk, among the booksellers, to 
 16s. a copy. Seven hundred and fifty copies were printed. It was 
 reprinted in 1728 in 10 duodecimo volumes ; and republished by the 
 aid of Warburton in 1747 , f in eight 8vo. volumes. Perhaps, of 
 
 * Some of the Prints are sufficiently characteristic : that to Hamlet is the clo- 
 set scene with the Queen, who is dressed like Queen Anne , and it appears that the 
 portraits of the two kings were not miniatures, as at present exhibited, but 
 half-lengths hung upon the back scene. Gent. Mag. vol. xvii. p. 397. N. S. 
 
 t See what a name will produce ! In the recent catalogue of Mr. Thorpe (1824, 
 partii. no. 11871) there occurs the seventh volume only of this edition by Warbur- 
 ton. It had belonged to Garrick, whose wife thus wrote in it : “ This book went 
 with us to Althorp in December the 30 th, 1778 ; my husband never traveled with- 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 801 
 
 Let us adopt a more sober, and perhaps satisfactory, 
 strain : but, at starting, may we not reasonably ask 
 
 all the Commentators upon Shakspeare, Warburton (in the language 
 of Mr. Douce) “ was surely the worst.” Theobald’s edition first 
 appeared in 1733, in seven octavo volumes. My friend and neigh- 
 bour Mr. Wilson, in his marvellously illustrated folio Shakspeare (to 
 be noticed in due order) preserves a set of the plates of Rowe’s edi- 
 tion, — which are doubtless effective , in a certain degree : — and my 
 friend Mr. Douce loves to contemplate them as memorials of a cos- 
 tume . . never I trust to be again revived ! Of the quantity of intrin- 
 sic merit of Theobald’s edition, (of which not fewer than 12,860 vo- 
 lumes have been printed) I will not pretend to be the judge, but it 
 ought to be considerable : since, of all the editors of Shakespeare, 
 down to the nineteenth century, Theobald had the largest remune- 
 ration for his labours : namely, not less than 652Z. 10s. — while Pope, 
 who made this Editor the hero of the first edition of his Dunciad, 
 received but 21 7^. Warburton received 5601. 
 
 Sir Thomas Hanmer’s edition in quarto was the first which 
 appeared in any splendid typographical form. It was published at 
 Oxford in 1744, in 6 volumes ? and republished there, in the same 
 number of volumes, in 1771. The first edition was a popular book, 
 and was proudly displayed in morocco binding in the libraries of the 
 great and fashionable. The plates were engraved from the designs 
 of Hayman and Gravelot. Sir Henry Bunbury, a descendant of 
 the Editor, possesses a copy of the first quarto, bound in crimson 
 velvet, with the original designs of these artists. Those of Hay- 
 man are in india ink : of Gravelot, in a bright bistre. Hayman’s 
 drawings though without any effect from breadth of light and shade 
 and strength of physiognomical expression, are yet very neatly and 
 carefully made out j Gravelot’s have more flutter of light, and are less 
 solidly executed. The engravings, by Vander Gucht , are utterly un- 
 worthy of the original drawings. In the year 1747 when Warbur- 
 ton’s edition was selling off at 185. a copy, (the original price having 
 
 out some work of Shakspeare.” It is marked by Mr. Thorpe at 1/. 5s. : but is not 
 the Vendor a little ungallant in copying Mrs. Garrick’s bad spelling ?---as thus — 
 <e wlient.” He should have remembered that Mrs. Garrick was a foreigner. 
 
 * In a recent catalogue of Messrs. Longman and Co. I find an edition of 1748, 
 in nine small duodecimo volumes, called “ uncommon, and very accurate” mark- 
 ed at U. ID. 6tf. Whose edition is it ? 
 
 3 F 
 
802 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 what course is to be pursued ? Shall we have an In- 
 troduction to the Reading of Shakspeare?— for his 
 
 been 2/. Ss.) Hanmer’s edition, which was published at 3 /. 3 s. rose to 
 91. 9s. j and continued at that price till its reprint in 1771. But both 
 original and reprint have now . . . sunk nearly to nothing. Steevens’s 
 copy of the reprint produced 7 /. 7 s. bound in hog’s skin : but who, 
 in these days, would give half the price? Mr. Thorpe, however, 
 marks the first quarto at Si. 135. 6c/. I learn from indisputable au- 
 thority, that a quarto Shakspeare can now never succeed — and yet, 
 if Mr. Wilkie should ever introduce an old lady or gentleman, in one 
 of his charming interiors, reading Shakspeare, it will be from Sir 
 Thomas Hanmer’s edition. What is there so unsaleable in a quarto 
 Shakspeare r 
 
 Capell, who had 300/. for his critical, or rather editorial labours, 
 came forth in 1768, with his ten sprucely printed crown octavo vo- 
 lumes.* An elegant copy of it, in marble leaves, brought the formi- 
 dable sum of 5/. 7s. 6d. at Reed’s sale. I suppose there were but few 
 copies printed $ as the intrinsic value of the work is entitled to little 
 commendation. Capell’s Shaksperiana,f or the Catalogue of his Col- 
 lection relating to Shakspeare, was printed in one volume in 1779 : 
 and I find a copy of it et uncut, very rare,” marked at 1/. 11s. 6d. in 
 Mr. Thorpe’s last catalogue. It usually sells for 1/. Is. I learn that 
 the late Mr. George Baker, of unique memory, had a copy of Capell’s 
 Shakspeare stitched up in sheets , and even uncut, for the completing 
 
 * In what is called the Capell Closet, at Trinity College, Cambridge, there is 
 (as I understand) the original MS. of these ten volumes, bound in the smartest 
 possible manner, in red morocco, in the same number of quarto volumes. Such a 
 MS. for the press I never witnessed, nor could have conceived, nor will probably 
 be ever executed again. But this Shakspeare Collection was made in the green 
 days of the Bibliomania. Those of Steevens, Malone, and Kemble, display the 
 splendour of summer and the richness of autumn — as applicable to the same 
 object. 
 
 t Of these Shakspeariana, who shall undertake to describe the nature, or define 
 the limits ? Even the heart of old Isaac Reed warmed with this passion ; witness, 
 the article no. 8536, so called, in the Catalogue of his books ; which article con- 
 tained a set of nine octavo volumes, ** a most desirable acquisition to any gentleman 
 wishing to compleathis Collection.” It was sold for 23/. But carry this Shakspeare 
 mania a little farther. Place your Shakspeare library, of some 500 volumes, in a 
 room decorated with statues, busts, portraits, and pictures relating to “Shaks- 
 peare and his Times !” Represent , by means of the chisel, pencil, and burin, what 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 803 
 
 very portrait has recently furnished food for an en- 
 tertaining volume.* Or, shall we plunge at once into 
 
 his happiness 5 the owner strenuously forbidding all paper-cutters, 
 whether of mother of pearl, ivory, silver, or steel, from entering the 
 premises. Oh, the infinite variety of character enveloped in a Bib- 
 liomaniac ! 
 
 * I allude to the elegant and amusing octavo volume just published 
 by Mr. Boaden ; being An Enquiry into the Authenticity of the vari- 
 ous Pictures and Prints of Shakspeare — with five engraved portraits 
 of the great Dramatist. A lively notice of this work appeared in the 
 Universal Review , no. ii. p. 234. It is a glorious volume for Illus- 
 trators ; being printed in a quarto, as well as octavo form. In the 
 first and foremost rank of Introductory Works to the Reading of 
 Shakspeare” is that of Mr. Douce ; called Illustrations of Shaks- 
 peare and of Ancient Manners : 1807, 8vo. 2 vols. : with numerous 
 and appropriate wood and copper cuts. I look upon this work as a 
 sort of Hortus Shaksperianus , from which fruit of every hue and fla- 
 vour may be safely pluckt and eaten. The research and learning 
 bestowed upon it are immense. I once attempted, during the Horce 
 Subseciva of a watering place, to make a catalogue of the authors 
 consulted in it : but my courage or patience failed. My own copy, 
 smartly bound antique-wise, by poor George Faulkener, was pre- 
 sented to a young and intelligent Frenchman — who was perfectly 
 “ Shakspeare-mad” — and who devoured its pages with the voracity 
 of an Alderman over a Jamaica turtle ! These delightful volumes sell 
 for about 2 1. 2 s. in goodly binding. Another, and a justly popular 
 introductory work, is the Characters of Shakspeare' s Plays , by Mr. 
 Hazlitt , 1817, 8vo. : a volume, written with taste, ability, and 
 
 Dr. Drake and others have written of ! . . And why should not the wing of some 
 lordly mansion in the country be thus appropriated ? Why should not a few of the 
 streams of superfluous wealth flow in such a Briton-like channel ? Does Mani- 
 lius take the hint, and fire at the thought ! Let me at any rate bargain for a room 
 of (at least) twenty-five feet in length, by eighteen in width . . from which I must 
 catch a peep, through the plate glass bay-window extremity, of something like 
 the scenery of the “ Forest of Ardennes ” — the fore- ground representing the 
 
 obliquo laborans 
 
 Lympha fugax trepidare rivo 
 
 of Horace : or the “ slowly winding of the stealing wave” of Collins. But this is 
 unpardonably excursive. 
 
804 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 the miscellaneous and well nigh interminable notes of 
 his later Commentators ? Yes. I readily anticipate all 
 the revelry of those, who wish to be learned in the con- 
 temporaneous history of the Drama— -who, charmed 
 with the learning of Farmer , the research of Malone , 
 the accuracy of Chalmers , and the sagacity of Steevens , 
 will be content with nothing short of the 21 octavo 
 volumes of the works of our Bard, recently edited by 
 Reed and Malone. Of more modern, and almost weekly 
 issuing editions, in all forms and characters, the list is 
 Endless.* 
 
 power ; but with peculiarities now and then betraying themselves, 
 which border on affectation. To this add Richardson's Essays on the 
 Characters of Shakspeare ,• a work of considerate elegance of style, 
 and replete with judicious remarks. A more copious and instructive 
 work is from the pen of Dr. Drake ; entitled Shakspeare and his 
 Times, 1817, 4to. 2 vols. : worth about 4 1. 4s. in calf binding. But 
 the prolegomena, contained in the editions of Steevens and Malone, 
 may be considered the best introductions to the reading of our 
 immortal Bard.f 
 
 * “ Endless” indeed would be such a list : but having, in the last 
 note but one, concluded with the edition of Capell, I continue the 
 catalogue of Editors with those of Johnson, Steevens, Ma- 
 lone, and Reed. Up to the time of Dr. Johnson, there can hardly 
 be said to have been a satisfactory edition of Shakspeare. By tc satis- 
 factory,” I mean one which should combine antiquarian research 
 with critical acumen. Nor indeed was Johnson calculated for the 
 former. He wanted both patience and taste ; and fortunately, in 
 
 + And here, let me put in a word for Mr. “ Jackson’s Shakspeare' s Genius Jus- 
 tified published in 1819, 8vo. Mr. Jackson was a printer; and he saw, pro- 
 fessionally, that many of the errors of the text of Shakspeare arose from the igno- 
 rance of the printers of the first quarto and folio editions. Steevens himself 
 admitted that many of the errors were attributable to the like cause. Mr. Jack- 
 son’s book had not the success which it merited. If many of the emendations were 
 fanciful and wild, several were ingenious and just. It was at first received with a 
 jealous eye, by those who ought to have been ashamed of such jealousy — and much 
 more to have allowed it to mingle the bitterness of gall in their criticisms. I re- 
 commend it to an impartial perusal. 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 805 
 
 But there are those who take up Shakspeare in a 
 different point of view ; or rather, who sensibly alive 
 
 Steevens he found a union of both, combined with an acuteness and 
 wide range of black-letter reading which was not eclipsed even by 
 that of Dr. Farmer himself. Johnson delighted in characters in 
 portrait painting : and with his pen he was as unrivalled as his friend 
 Sir Joshua Reynolds was with his pencil. Full of the general im- 
 portance of the task, rather than stimulated by any pecuniary com- 
 pensation, (which amounted to about 480 1. according to Malone) he 
 sat down to the composition of his Preface : a work, upon which he 
 always, and justly, prided himself. It is doubtless a great and mas- 
 terly performance, evincing a mind of large general powers 5 and is 
 executed throughout with uncommon dignity and effect. There are 
 those who elevate it to the skies 5 but there is also a considerable num- 
 ber of well read Shaksperians who are far from bowing with unquali- 
 fied submission to the critical canons which it contains. That it is to 
 be ranked with the preface of Calvin to his Institutes, of De Thou 
 to his History , or of Casaubon to his Polybius ,* may be reasonably 
 doubted, without any disparagement of its general excellence. John- 
 son’s critical summary of the preponderating merits and demerits of 
 each play, should be always a concomitant of every edition of Shak- 
 speare. 
 
 The first edition of Johnson, alone, appeared in 1765, in eight 
 octavo volumes 5 and the first, with Johnson and Steevens together, 
 in 1773, in ten octavo volumes. This latter has yet its price 5 and 
 may be worth 31. 13$. 6d. The second edition of the united labours 
 of these editors appeared in 1778 ; of which Messrs. Payne and 
 Foss mark a neat copy at 5 1. 5 s. A copy of it, with Malone’s Sup- 
 plement, in two octavo volumes, was sold for 4/. 1$. in boards, at 
 Reed’s sale. The third edition came forth in 1785, revised and aug- 
 mented by Mr. Reed, the editor of Dodsley’s collection of old plays, 
 and is worth about 5 1. 5s. The fourth, last, and best edition, is that 
 of 1793, generally called Steevens’s edition — in fifteen octavo 
 
 * Warton, in his edition of Pope, 1797, 8vo. vol. i. p. 1, note, says that the 
 above three Prefaces are “ perhaps the finest ever written” He has borrowed 
 this idea, without acknowledging it, from Bayle's Diet. Art. Calvin , note F. and at 
 Pelisson, ad calcem. I owe this detection, or discovery, to Mr. James Roche, 
 late resident at Cork. 
 
806 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 to ail the charms and beauties of his diction, consider 
 him as the mightiest of intellectual Painters ; 
 
 volumes. The text was corrected by Steevens himself, and every 
 care and attention was paid to render it the most accurate and desi- 
 rable of all the editions of the Bard. The result has realised the 
 wishes of its editor. It is of all previous, and, as some may think, 
 of all subsequent editions, of Shakspeare, the most accurate and 
 desirable. Steevens’ s own copy, small paper, was sold for 6/. 1 6s. 
 6d. : but such a copy is now worth, on an average, double the sum. 
 The large paper is the great gun to fire off ... . before a visitor who 
 comes to be astounded with your library. Only twenty-five copies 
 were printed and Reed’s copy of it, in boards, was sold for 
 29/. Sir Mark Sykes’s copy produced 39/. 12s. The most wonder- 
 ful copy of it in the world is that in the library of Earl Spencer, 
 at St. James’s Place, so frequently noticed by me.* It has illus- 
 trations, in the way of small prints, to the value of 1000/. — and is 
 bound in 18 volumes, in blue morocco, uncut. This edition conti- 
 nued to be the substratum of those of Reed, in 1803, and 1813, 
 each in 21 octavo volumes: which certainly must be considered as 
 the Editio Optima of Shakspeare. Messrs. Payne and Foss mark 
 a copy of the second edition of 1813, on large paper, in calf extra 
 binding, at 267. 5 s. These editions have many additions from Stee- 
 vens’s own MSS. particularly in the play of Macbeth. Two editions 
 in duodecimo and crown octavo, in 10 vols. were printed in 1803, 
 with Glossarial Notes, which notes are original, and not taken from 
 any other edition. Mr. Harding Senior, the Bookseller, will testify 
 to their usefulness. 
 
 The first edition of Mr. Malone’s labours on Shakspeare, ap- 
 peared in 1790, in ten small octavo volumes. There were copies on 
 large, or rather fine paper, (for the adjusting of this point is ridicu- 
 lously minute) which used to sell for nearly a guinea per volume. 
 The matter in the two Supplemental Volumes published by Malone 
 in 1780, 8vo. (worth about 2/. 2 s.) is not incorporated in this edition 
 
 * Turn, gentle reader, to p. 571 of the Bibliomania, (if in possession of that 
 strange performance) and notice what is there said, both of this copy, and of the 
 subsequent edition of 1803. His Lordship possessed it as a bequest from the 
 Editor; who had himself expended nearly 500/. upon it. Buts ee JEd. Althotp» 
 vol. i. 206. 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 807 
 
 as one, who has peopled the air above, “and the 
 earth beneath” with beings peculiarly adapted to 
 
 of 1790. But this edition is entirely eclipsed by the recent one in 
 1821, 8 vo. twenty-one volumes, of which the late Mr. James Boswell 
 was the editor, and for which he received IOOOZ. The twenty-first 
 volume of this edition is occupied by the Poems of Shakspeare 5 and 
 whatever may be the disappointments expressed by some,* there can 
 be little doubt that this handsome and copious impression will work 
 its way gallantly through the market, and in due time disappear. It 
 cannot be otherwise. When “ the ingenuity of Farmer,” -and the 
 accuracy of Chalmers” are above mentioned, allusion is made to the 
 celebrated essay, by the former, on te the Learning of Shakspeare , — 
 which, as a matter of course, finds its way into every respectable 
 edition of the Bard. It was the first thing, or one one of the first 
 things, which excited a rage for black-letter hunting among Chro- 
 nicles and Histories 3 and Steevens’s notes gave that rage a collateral 
 direction among early Poetry and Dramas. <s The hunt was up.” 
 The sound of the bugle, now blown by Farmer, and now by Stee- 
 vens, made the “ welkin ring ; and up started, on all sides, with the 
 celerity of the followers of Roderic Dhu, (so magically described in 
 the Lady of the Lake) hosts of desperate adventurers under the ban- 
 ners of their repective readers. Sed quo” — Enough. The name 
 of Mr. George Chalmers is introduced in the above text, as deci- 
 dedly connected with Shakspeare, from his memorable Apology for 
 the Believers in Ireland's Forgery ,” — published as an answer to Ma- 
 lone’s well known attack on the Believers, in 1796, 8vo. This was 
 succeeded, on the part of Mr. Chalmers, by a Supplemental Apology — 
 a volume of the same thickness — in 1799, 8vo. in which, amongst 
 
 * It was reported that the late Mr. Octavius Gilchrist had been long engaged in 
 whetting a large critical knife, in order to cut deeply into the abdominal regions 
 of this edition ; hut death took away the editor, to the surprise and sorrow of his 
 friends, (of whom few could boast of a larger circle) and the Intended Review 
 dropt, unfinished, from the hand of the critical anatomist. Some little time after, 
 the Reviewer himself paid the debt of nature— equally to the surprise and sorrow 
 of his friends. When one thinks of all this “ hacking and hewing,” as old An- 
 thony- a-Wood somewhere expresses it) on subjects so little calculated to make 
 either party happy, one cannot but subscribe readily to the justness of Burke’s 
 sentiment, so magnificently expressed: •“ what shadows we are, and what 
 
 SHADOWS WE PURSUE 1” 
 
SOS 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 their respective elements and avocations ; and yet, of 
 a character such as was never before so vividly and 
 justly impressed upon the mind of the spectator or 
 student. The reader will instantly perceive the allu- 
 sion to those editions of our Bard which are deco- 
 rated with plates, of a greater or less degree of splen- 
 dour, from the pencils of our Artists : and if that 
 reader be a general Collector, or a professed Shaks- 
 pearian, he will think with delight upon his choice 
 copies of the editions of Bell and Boydell :* — to say 
 nothing of sundry intervening or subsequent editions, 
 more or less embellished by the burin, and of which 
 
 other things, is an attempt to ascertain the order of Shakspeare’s 
 plays. It cannot be denied that, in both these volumes, there is a 
 great mass of curious and useful intelligence, relating to Shakspeare : 
 and “ have them you must.” 
 
 I have above slightly alluded to the “ countless editions” of Shak- 
 speare, large and small. Among the latter, and as the smallest 
 edition extant, in one volume, let me notice that of Mr. Whittingham, 
 printed in 1823, crown 8vo. on paper of peculiar delicacy. I consi- 
 der it, for the convenience of immediate reference, very useful ; and 
 for those, whose eyes are eagle-like, it is a delightful portable com- 
 panion. The printing is admirably skilful and perfect. But Mr. 
 Whittingham has published one or more editions, in a larger type, 
 with wood-cuts, and in a very elegant manner. Yet, a still smaller 
 edition than the first — in regard to the size of the page, but not of 
 the type — is that of Mr. Pickering ; — a very ‘ ‘ dapper elve” in form 
 and appearance. It is published in numbers, with a play in each : 
 prefixed to which is a small copper cut of the principal subject or 
 character .... When complete, it will form about 6 vols. It is a very 
 Sedan book — like the Latin Classics, from the same quarter, so gene- 
 rally patronised. 
 
 * For Bell’s edition much cannot be said in commendation. It was 
 first published in 1773, again in 1780, and the third time in 1788; 
 each in 20 small crown octavo volumes : having a copper plate 
 prefixed to each play —being a portrait of the actor or actress in the 
 principal character of the piece. Large paper copies of the earlier 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 809 
 
 there are various and obvious degrees of merit. Far 
 be it from me to depreciate any one of these gratify- 
 ing performances, at the expense of another ; but I 
 may be allowed to say that, among them, few have 
 greater claims to just admiration than that which at 
 present employs the pencil of Mr. Smirke.* 
 
 . But I will tantalise the thorough-bred Biblioma- 
 niac no longer : and he shall know, in as few words 
 as possible, what are the first, rarest, and most costly, 
 impressions of the text of our immortal Dramatist. 
 From the first impression of the first published play, 
 
 editions, with proof impressions of the plates, superbly bound, &c. 
 have brought a guinea per volume $ but the present age is better ac- 
 quainted with good art than to countenance such a price. Mr. 
 Steevens’s copy brought 17 l> 17$. Messrs. Longman and Co. mark 
 a fine copy of the small paper, of the edition of 1773, (a subscri- 
 ber’s copy) at 61. 6s. In regard to the splendid edition of Boydell, 
 begun in 1791, and perfected in 1802, see a full and particular ac- 
 count in the Bibliographical Decameron , vol. ii. p. 383. It was exe- 
 cuted to accompany plates, engraved from the celebrated paintings 
 called The Shakspeare Gallery,- and of all the illustrated 
 copies of it in existence, there is none, I would venture to affirm, 
 which approaches that of my friend Mr. Wilson, bound in twenty folio 
 volumes, in blue morocco, by Charles Lewis. It is in degree, like 
 that of Lord Spencer, of the octavo edition of 1793. Whether be- 
 neath the warm lustre of the argand lamp, or by the side of the 
 stained glass window, (in both of which lights I have “ hung over it 
 entranced,”) this magnificent set of books be opened, the gratifica- 
 tion is equally complete. 
 
 * I have seen the drawings, or rather the paintings of Mr. Smirke, 
 in a bistre colour, for an edition now in progress, which has not more 
 than three figures in a composition. These paintings are thoroughly 
 beautiful , and there can be but one prophecy or prediction about 
 the result of such an impression of the Bard. Only four numbers, 
 with six plates in each, are published 3 at 145. the number. Pour 
 additional numbers are just ready. There are copies on large paper 
 with proof impressions of the plates, on India paper. 
 
810 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 in 1597, to the last, in 1622— each in quarto — the 
 list of the dramas mentioned in the subjoined note* 
 
 * Without preface, or introduction, I entreat the Young Man’s” 
 earnest attention to the following catalogue of the editions above 
 alluded to. If, during the course of an ordinary earthly pilgrimage 
 (“ three-score years and ten,”) he become possessed of one third of 
 the treasures here recorded — let him “ bless his stars,” and enjoy 
 the honeysuckle bower of old age as sweetly and serenely as any De- 
 vonshire Gentleman-farmer enjoys it. 
 
 First Editions of the Quartos, 
 
 In the order in which those plays were published. 
 
 I. King Richard II. Valentine Sommers , for Andrew Wise , 1597, of 
 
 most excessive rarity. In no collection, of which I am aware : 
 not even in that of Mr. Heber. 
 
 • By the same Printer , 1598. In the Steevens 
 
 and Malone Collections. A copy was sold at the sale of the 
 White Knights Library for 10Z. 
 
 , Printed by W. W. 1608. In the Steevens and 
 
 Malone Collections. Sold at the sale of the former for 10Z. See 
 Malone’s Shakspeare, by Boswell, vol. ii. p. 647. 
 
 II. King Richard III. 1597. Printed by Saris , for Wise. In the 
 
 Malone Collection and in that of Mr. Heber. Not in Steevens’s. 
 
 , 1600. Called the Second Edition in Malone’s 
 
 list : but qu. ? A copy is in Mr. Heber’s library.* 
 
 t The foundation of this Play was the following : — of which the copy here des- 
 cribed, by Mr. Evans, was sold by him for 96/. 65 . 
 
 “The True Tragedie of Richard the Third • wherein is shown the death of 
 Edward the Fourth, with the smothering of the two young princes in the tower : 
 with a lamentable ende of Shore’s wife, &c. and, lastly, the conjunction and joyn- 
 ing of the two noble houses Lancaster and Yorke, As it was played by the Queenes 
 Maiesties players. A most beautiful and perfect copy, printed by Thomas Creede, 
 &c. &c. 1594. 
 
 “ This is the only perfect copy which is known of this Play, and is an invaluable 
 treasure to the lovers of Shakspeare, as it unquestionably exhibits the prima sta- 
 mina of one of the most celebrated of our Immortal Bard’s dramatic compositions. 
 It was never seen by Theobald, Hanmer, Johnson, Steevens, Farmer, Reed, or 
 Malone. The indefatigable industry of Steevens, indeed, traced its former exis- 
 tence by the entry of it on the books of the Stationer’s company, dated June 19, 
 1594. “ The true origin of Shakspeare’s Richard III. (says Malone) was, doubt- 
 less, that piece which was entered in the stationers' register, by Thomas Creede, 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 811 
 
 may probably be found sufficiently interesting, if not 
 entirely satisfactory. 
 
 III. Romeo and Juliet, Printed by Danter, 1597. In the Malone* 
 and Kemble Collections ; and so rare, that Kemble gave Mr* 
 Stace, the bookseller, 30 1. for a copy of it. Not in Steevens or 
 Reed : but Mr. Heber has a copy, which, like the greater num- 
 ber of his first quarto Shakspeares, is large, fair, and sound. 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, Printed by Creede, 1599. Second Edition. 
 In the Malone Collection. An inlaid copy brought 61. at the 
 sale of Steevens’s Library : which seems to be the same as was 
 sold at the sale of the White Knights Library for 101. 105. 
 
 IV. Love’s Labour Lost, Printed by W. TV. for Cutberd Burby , 
 1598. In the Malone Collection ; and in that of Mr. Heber. 
 A copy of it was sold for40Z. at the sale of Mr. Bindley’s library. 
 
 V. Henry IV. Part I. Printed by P. S. for Andrew Wise , 1 598. Not 
 
 in the Malone or Steevens Collections ; but in Capell’s List. Mr. 
 Heber justly boasts of his fair copy of this very scarce play. 
 
 , Printed by S. S.for Andrew Wise , 1599. In the 
 
 Malone Collection. A copy of it was sold for Si. 105. at the 
 
 June 19, 1594, which, I suspect, was then printed, and may perhaps be hereafter 
 discovered.” 
 
 * In this same Collection is that marvellously scarce piece (“ being almost as 
 rare as a Manuscript,” says Steevens) printed by Richard Tottill, 1562, 8vo. 
 called “ The Tragieall History of Romeus and Juliet ,*’ for which Mr. Malone gave 
 20/. Steevens, to the joy of all Dramatic Antiquarians, reprinted this tract at the 
 end of Shakspeare’s play, so called— and I have read as much of it as I could, 
 — after being possessed of the magic of Shakspeare’s text. Let the reader, how- 
 ever, judge for himself — from no unfavourable specimen, by the by. It is a part 
 of Juliet’s answer to the entreaties of her mother to marry Paris. 
 
 Doo what you list; but yet of this assure you still 
 If you do as you say you will, I yelde not there rntill. 
 
 For had I chose of twayne, farre rather would I choose 
 
 My part of all your goodes, and eke my breathe and lyfe, to lose, 
 
 Then graunt that he possesse of me the smallest part ! 
 
 First, weary of my painefull life, my cares shall kill my hart : 
 
 Els will I perce my brest with sharpe and bloody knife ; 
 
 And you, my mother, shall become the murdresse of my life. 
 
 In geeuing me to him, who I ne can, ne may, 
 
 Ne ought, to love : wherfore, on knees, deere mother, I you pray. 
 
 To let me liue henceforth .... 
 
 Reed's Shaksp. vol. xx, p. 316. 
 
812 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 While the young Collector’s eye runs with ecstasy 
 along the titles of the several plays — while it finds no 
 
 sale of Steevens’s Library, and for 18/. 7 s. 6d. at that of the 
 White Knights Library. It is in Mr. Heber’s library. 
 
 VI. Henky IV. Part II. Printed by V. S.for Andrew Wise and Wil- 
 liam Apsley, 1 600. Both Steevens and Malone appear to have 
 had two copies of this edition. Mr. Boswell has the following 
 note upon Mr. Malone’s copies. In Mr. Malone’s Collection 
 there were two copies of this edition. In one of them Mr. M. 
 has the following note In this copy, signature E has only the 
 ordinary quantity of leaves, namely four. The publisher, find- 
 ing he had omitted somewhat, (the whole of the first scene of 
 the third act, says Mr. Boswell,) cancelled the two latter leaves 
 (E 3 and E 4) reprinted them in a different manner, and added a 
 fifth leaf, in order to get in the omitted lines. This is the only 
 difference between the two copies.” Malone's Shakspeare, vol. 
 ii. p. 650. edit. Boswell. A copy of one of these first editions 
 brought only 31. 13s. 6d. at the sale of Steevens’s library. A 
 copy of it is in his Majesty’s library j and Mr. Heber possesses 
 it in an ample and genuine state. We may express our sur- 
 prise at not seeing it in the collection of Mr. Bindley. 
 
 VII. Henry V. Printed by Thomas Creede , for Thomas Millington 
 and John Busby, 1600. In the Royal and Malone Collections. 
 An inlaid copy of this exceedingly rare book was bought by Mr. 
 Kemble at the sale of Steevens’s library for 27 1. 6s. The second 
 edition is in 1602, and the third in 1608. A copy of the third 
 was sold for 5 Z. 7s. 6d. at the sale of Bindley’s library. 
 
 VIII. Merchant of Venice. Printed by J. R. for Thomas Heyes , 
 1600. In the collections of Steevens, Malone, Mr. Heber, and 
 his Majesty. A copy of it was so, Id at the sale of Bindley’s 
 library for 22Z. Is. Another edition of the same date, printed 
 by J. Roberts alone — and having W. Shakspeare , instead of Wil- 
 liam Shakspeare , in the title, was sold for 2 Z. 2s. at Steevens’s 
 sale. 
 
 IX. Midsummer-Night’s Dream. Imprinted for Thomas Fisher, 
 1600. In the Malone and Steevens Collections. Steevens’s 
 copy brought 25Z. 10s. although part of one leaf was wanting. 
 Mr. Bindley’s copy, apparently perfect, brought 22 Z. 10s. There 
 is another, but the second edition, of the same date, printed 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 813 
 
 Comedy of Errors there— no Two Gentlemen of Verona, 
 nor King John , nor All's IV dl that ends well, nor As you 
 
 by James Roberts,— probably not worth a third part of the 
 sum. 
 
 X. Much ado about Nothing. Printed by V. J. for Andrew Wise, 
 
 and William Aspley , ] 600. In the Malone Collection, and in 
 that of Mr. Heber. Steevens’s copy sold for 25/; 10s. but that 
 of Mr. Bindley brought only 17/. 17s. Note: I find that Stee- 
 vens’s copy is said to have been printed by Valentine Sommer : 
 but Mr. Boswell describes it as by “ V. J/' 
 
 XI. Merry Wives of Windsor. Printed by T. C. for Arthur 
 Johnson , 1602. In the Malone Collection, and in that of Mr. 
 Heber. Steevens’s copy was sold for 28/. 5 but Bindley’s for 
 only 18/. The second edition appeared in 1619. 
 
 XII. Hamlet. Printed for N. L. and John Trundell, 1603, 4to. If 
 
 the publication of the “ Library Companion ” had only led to 
 the discovery of this one (and previously wholly unknown) 
 impression of Hamlet, it had not been published in vain. The 
 unique copy of this edition, late in the possession of Sir Henry 
 Bunbury, Bart, had belonged to his maternal ancestor. Sir Tho- 
 mas Hanmer, Bart, whose edition of the works of Shakspeare 
 is noticed at page SOI ante. It was found in a closely cut quarto 
 volume, containing several other first editions of our Bard : and 
 was disposed of to Messrs. Payne and Foss, for a sum, to be 
 allowed partly in books. T he volume, with its entire con- 
 
 tents, was sold by these booksellers to his Grace the Duke of 
 Devonshire — at a price, which left the previous purchasers 
 in possession of considerably less profit than has been generally 
 supposed. During their possession of this very extraordinary 
 volume, Messrs. Payne and Foss published a most faithful, 
 literal reprint of this first, and singularly varying, text of 
 Hamlet. Of this reimpression, 500 copies were sold imme- 
 diately 5 and the daily and monthly Journals and Magazines con- 
 tained notices, more or less, of this extraordinary tract. The 
 volume is now placed in the very library for which it should 
 seem to have been discovered 5 and Sir Henry, its late possessor, 
 views, in the room of it, a long and comforting row of Chro- 
 nicles, Annals, Acts, and Records, which at once enlarge and 
 nearly complete his collection of British History. 
 
814 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 like it, nor King Henry VIII, nor Measure for Mea- 
 sure, nor The Winter's Tale, nor Cymbeline, nor Mac- 
 
 Hamlet, the Second edition of, printed by J. R. for N. Landure , 
 1604 j and so scarce is even this impression, that there was no 
 copy of it in the Malone Collection, according to Mr. Boswell : 
 nor, as far as I can observe, was it in the collections of Steevens 
 and Bindley. Mr. Heber still sighs for its possession. Its rarity 
 may be therefore easily imagined. M*ay I ask, if the Curators 
 of the Bodleian Library (in which venerable and magnificent 
 collection of books the Malone Treasures repose — but not 
 slumber) will let slip any opportunity of securing it ? They will 
 not. They cannot. The third edition was published in 1605 : 
 also very rare : but of which a copy is in the Capell Closet, in 
 Trinity Library, Cambridge. The third, no date, for Smethwicke, 
 of which a copy brought 4/. 4s. at the sale of Bindley’s Library. 
 
 XIII. King Lear. Printed by Nathaniel Butter, and are to be sold 
 at his shop in Paul's Church Yard, at the Signe of the Rede Bull, 
 neere St. Austin s Gate, 1608. I am particular in this colophon $ 
 because there is another edition, with the same title and date, 
 which is said to be printed for Nathaniel Butter ,” — without 
 adjunct of the place of sale : and farther, the first and true 
 edition begins on signature B, but the second on signature A.* 
 A copy of the first is in the Malone and Royal Collections. 
 Steevens’s copy brought 28 1. It is among the rarest of the 
 early Shakspeare Quartos 5 and my friends Mr. Freeling and 
 Mr. Heber point with singular complacency to the possession of 
 such a dramatic gem among their poetical bijoux. 
 
 XIV. Taming of the Shrew. Printed by V. S. (Qu. Valentine 
 Sommer}) 1607. I gather this title from Steevens’s Catalogue’: 
 the edition being omitted in Malone’s list by Boswell. The play 
 is said to have been <f acted by the Earle of Pembroke’s Ser- 
 vants,” and it is called (very properly “ a pleasant conceited 
 Historie," The copy in Steevens’s Library was sold for 20Z. 
 
 * Mr. Boswell says that, in the first edition, the Poet’s name is spelt Shakspeare 
 without the middle e : the only instance in which he had met with it so spelt, vol. ii. 
 p. 652, which page must be consulted for some other peculiarities, respecting a 
 third edition, beginning on signature B. but having no specification of the place of 
 sale. Mr. Dent possesses a copy with its due portion of Butter. 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 815 
 
 beth , nor Julius Ccesar 3 nor Antony and Cleopatra, 
 nor Timon of Athens, nor Coriolanus , nor the Tern - 
 
 Mr. Heber absolutely revels in the possession of a copy. It does 
 not seem to be in the Malone Collection. Judge therefore of its 
 rarity ! But the play is in fact not Shakspeare’s. 
 
 XV. Troilus and Cressida. Imprinted by G. Eld for R. Banian, 
 and H. Walley, 1609. In the Malone and Steevens Collections. 
 Steevens’s copy produced 5 1. 105. and is said to have been 
 printed by G. Aide f — a mistake/! suppose. There is another 
 edition with the same title and date — but with the word “ Fa- 
 mous/’ (before “ Historie of Troylus and Cresseid,”) omitted 3 
 and with the addition of its being acted by the King’s Majesty's 
 Servants at the Globe.” Mr. Heber possesses a fine copy of the 
 first edition. 
 
 XVI. Othello. Printed by N. O. for Thomas Walkeley, 1622. The 
 last, but not the least — either for intrinsic excellence or biblio- 
 graphical curiosity — is this first edition of the text of Othello : 
 a book of most extraordinary rarity: which, <e with MS. notes 
 and various readings by Mr. Steevens, f c brought 2 9l. 8s. at the 
 sale of the library of the latter. Rare as it is, it is in the Malone 
 Collection, and also in that of Mr. Heber. A third copy of it was 
 sold at Bindley’s sale for 5 61. 14 s. the highest price yet given 
 for any Shaksperian quarto ! But a fourth copy, at the sale of 
 Mr. Gilchrist’s library, dropt to the price of 19Z. 10 s. The truth 
 is, that its rarity has been prematurely extolled: while this 
 sentence escapes me, my neighbour Mr. Jadis has two copies of 
 it j but neither of them quite perfect. That in the Capell Closet, 
 at Cambridge, is of the most magnificent dimensions which I ever 
 saw : but it is only thus ample for the first half of it. I cannot 
 however refrain from indulging an idea, that, as this play was 
 written in 1611, some impression will yet turn up of an earlier 
 date than that of 1662 : since, with the projected edition of all 
 the works of Shakspeare, which appeared in the following year, 
 (1623) it seems a little odd that Othello, like the Tempest, 
 Twelfth Night, The Winter’s Tale, and several others, (which 
 are noticed in the above text) was not postponed to appear, also 
 for the first time, in the folio of 1623. It is true that many of 
 Shakspeare’s plays were written long before that of Othello ; 
 and have never, as far as we know, appeared in print before the 
 
81G 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 pest, nor Twelfth Night ,— and while among the 
 treasures recorded, it finds no possessor of King 
 Richard II. 1597, of Hamlet, 1604, and but two of the 
 first part of Henry IF. 1598 — he is alternately dis- 
 
 impression of 1623 ; but the inference from their early non-ap- 
 pearance in print is not analogous. In truth, there be some 
 sanguine book-knights, that encircle the Roxburghe Round 
 Table, who reckon upon possessing early quartos of half of 
 those plays of Shakspeare, which are supposed to have been first 
 published in the folio of 1623. May such daily and nocturnal 
 dreams of consummate felicity be verified ! More chimerical 
 hopes have probably been indulged. 
 
 Here ends the list of all the known first editions of the legi- 
 timate plays of Shakspeare, published in a quarto form — before the 
 first folio of 1623, which comprehended the entire works of the 
 Bard. I will have nothing to do with Titus Andronicus , Pericles , 
 and the second and third Parts of Henry VI. — any farther than to say 
 that the first edition of Titus was in 1600 : and the second in 1611 : 
 of Pericles in 1609 5 of Henry VI. Parts II. and III. in 1594, 15^5, 
 and 1600. Mr. Chalmers has the edition of 1595, the Illd of Henry 
 VI., which he purchased at Dr. Pegge’s sale, for 51. 15 s. 6d. See 
 Boswell’s note : vol. ii. p. 655. I may farther add, that copies of all 
 these first editions of the spurious, or rather altered. Plays of Shaks- 
 peare, are in the wonderful Collection of Mr. Malone, at Oxford :* 
 and I have also good reason to believe that fine copies of them will 
 be found in that of Mr. Heber. 
 
 * “ Wonderful,” indeed is this Collection. I shall have to notice it, slightly 
 again : but here, I may be well permitted to transcribe the note of Mr. Malone 
 himself, prefixed to the seven volumes , which contain the treasures just cata- 
 logued. “ This collection of Shakspeare’s Plays and Poems (which, with several 
 pieces on which he constructed dramas bound up among my Shakspeariana 
 [in twelve thick volumes !] forms perhaps the most complete assemblage of the 
 early editions of his Productions that has ever been made. It wants only the 
 King Richard II. y 1597, King Henry IV. Tart I. 1598, and Hamlet, of 1604.” 
 The owner then goes on to compare it with the Collections of Pope, Capell, Gar- 
 rick, Steevens, Kemble, and Mr. Jenning (of Gopsal), to all of which it appears 
 greatly superior. After this note was written, Mr. Malone obtained the Venus and 
 Adonis of 1593 — (see page 703 ante.) and the Romeus and Juliet , of 1562, by 
 Tottil: see page 811. 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 317 
 
 tracted by presumption and despair. If the latter 
 feeling prevail, and he give up the quarto chase, he 
 must apply all his energies, and struggle might and 
 main in the folio chase**— for a large, clean, and ge- 
 nuine copy of the Princeps— ay, and the Prince too!— 
 of these folio impressions. Of course, I allude to that 
 of which Shakspeare’s dramatic Associates, Heminge 
 and Condell, were the Editors. The edition of 1623 
 is the Parent text of Shakspeare in a folio form : and 
 contains the first impressions of those Plays men- 
 tioned in the immediately preceding text. The sub- 
 joined note* will give a “ full, true, and particular 
 account” of this precious ornament of any library. 
 
 While therefore the attention of the more curious 
 and desperate, in these matters, is riveted to this 
 elongated note — while the ruler of Mincio is in a con- 
 
 * Of all the Notes, in this noteable volume, the' present is one 
 which will probably afford the most general interest and amusement : 
 at least, to such who take delight in the bibliographical history of the 
 Works of Shakspeare. I am about to make mention of thirty 
 copies (described in a manner more or less circumstantial) of the 
 first folio of 1623 : but for this description I am chiefly indebted to 
 my friend Mr. Amyot, who hath a marvellous love of the Shak- 
 speare Hunt, and who himself enjoys the supreme felicity of posses- 
 sing two copies of this recherche folio : — but, then again, this felicity 
 is dashed with the infelicity of having neither of them perfect ! It 
 is a bold, and perhaps a fearful thing, to class the copies of the 
 several Owners according to their supposed merits : but I will 
 venture upon the following arrangement . . with those copies which 
 I have seen. 
 
 Class the First. The copies in the Cracherode and Capel 
 Collections , and those in the Collections of the Right Hon. T. Gren- 
 ville , and Daniel Moore , Esq. These have size, condition, and the 
 genuine properties of a true copy. They are full thirteen inches in 
 height, eight and a half in width, have the true portrait and title- 
 page, with the genuine verses in the centre of the leaf facing the title 
 
 3 G 
 
818 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 slant state of requisition, in consequence of the memo- 
 randa taken from the intelligence there imparted — 
 
 page.* They have no spurious leaves foisted in from other editions — 
 and are cc sound to the back bone in other words, to the end of the 
 volume. Of these four copies, that in the Cracherode Collection is 
 the most objectionable, as the commendatory verses of Ben Jonson, 
 facing the title-page, are, although genuine, inlaid. See the niceties 
 and difficulties of this subject ! The copy in the Capel Closet, in the 
 library of Trinity College, Cambridge, is 13 inches and an eighth in 
 height — has every requisite feature for perfection, except that a few 
 of the latter leaves have received the nibblings of a worm in the 
 fore-edges. Mr. Moore has had his large, sound, and genuine copy 
 these thirty years, and is supremely happy in its possession. It is a 
 fire to warm him, without the aid of Newcastle coals. Mr. Gren- 
 ville's copy, beautifully bound in red morocco by Charles Lewis, is 
 most surprisingly sound and clean : but it was not obtained (at a 
 sale at Mr. Saunders’s in 1818) under the sum of 12 IZ. 16s.: the 
 highest price ever given, or likely to be given for the volume. f It 
 
 * These genuine verses are printed in the following manner, in the fi rst edition. 
 
 To the Reader. 
 
 This Figure, that thou here seest put, 
 
 It was for gentle Shakespeare cut ; 
 
 Wherein the Grauer had a strife 
 with Nature, to out-doo the life: 
 
 O, could he but haue drawne his wit 
 As well in brasse, as he hath hit 
 His face: the Print would then surpasse 
 All that was euer writ in brasse. 
 
 But, since he cannot, Reader, looke 
 Not on his Picture, but his booke. 
 
 B. I. 
 
 In the second edition, the lines, where the words in italic occur, are printed thus : 
 Wherein the Graver had a strife 
 O could he but have drawne his wit 
 As well in Brasse, as he hath hit 
 His Face ; the Print would then surpasse 
 All that was ever writ in Brasse . 
 
 The preceding and subsequent verses are the same in both editions. 
 
 t In regard to high or low prices, it may be remembered (see p. 799, ante) 
 that, in the opinion of Steevens, this first folio was originally sold for 1/. : and even 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 819 
 
 and while seven-eighths of ray readers despair of ever 
 obtaining a genuine copy of such a beloved volume — 
 
 was then in old ragged binding— apparently original. These three 
 copies, on the whole, are entitled to be registered in the first Class. 
 
 Class the Second. The copies in the collections of the Duke of 
 Devonshire, Earl Spencer, George Hibbert, Esq. John Dent, Esq. 
 John Lichfield, Esq. the late John Kemble’s and the Malone Col- 
 lection at Oxford. The Duke of Devonshire' s copy is thirteen inches 
 and one-eighth in height, and eight and an eighth of an inch in 
 width. The portrait and verses are inlaid. It was the Duke of Rox- 
 burghe’s copy, and' was purchased for 100 /. Lord Spencer s copy had 
 every leaf Selected by the experienced hands of the late George Stee- 
 vens. The verses opposite are genuine, but inlaid, and there are many 
 tender leaves throughout. There are also, in the centre of some of the 
 pages, a few greasy-looking spots, which might have originally receiv- 
 ed the u flakes of pie-crust” in the servants’ hall--as notified by Stee- 
 vens : see p. 799, ante. But it is a beautiful and desirable copy 3 and the 
 
 then it was a partnership concern — “ no single publisher at that time being willing 
 to risk his money on a complete collection of our author’s Plays.” Mr. Garrick 
 however gave but 1/. 16s. for his copy, to the father of the present Mr. Payne. This 
 copy was said to have been stolen from Garrick’s collection, and never went with 
 his books to the British Museum. But it was nevertheless sold with Garrick’s 
 library in 1823, for 34/. 2s. 6d . ; not a fine or a perfect copy. Mr. Jolley was the 
 purchaser. Had the report of the theft been true, it would only have been an act 
 of retributive justice ; for Garrick used to stuff the pockets of his carriage with 
 many a rare dramatic article, stolen from the Dulwich library, of which Master 
 Alleyn, (Shakspeare’s friend, and a great patron of the Drama) was the Owner. 
 Can it be believed that such a man had not the first folio of the great Bard’s works? 
 No such copy has ever been found there. Mr. Cracherode’s copy has the mark 
 of 8/. 18s, 6d. Dr. Wright’s copy, in 1787, bound “in russia with gilt leaves,” 
 brought 10/. The price kept gradually mounting when, in 1790, the late Duke of 
 Roxburghe gave the then-considered-to-be astounding sum of 35/. 14$. for a copy. 
 The manner in which that copy was acquired is told in the Bibiomania , p. 70 1 : and 
 this very copy was afterwards sold at the sale of the Duke’s library in 1812for 100/. 
 
 Meanwhile, the copy of Steevens, purchased at his sale by the late Dr. Burney, 
 in 1800, and now in the British Museum, produced 22/. although the title was MS. 
 and the verses were taken from the second edition. Reed’s copy, in 1807 , “ bound 
 in three vol. elegant in russia, and beautifully inlaid by the late Mr. Henderson, 
 with additional portraits,” was sold for 38/. To conclude Kemble’s copy, describ- 
 ed above, was purchased in 1822 by the late Mr. James Boswell for 112/. 7s. A 
 copy, of which the first 3 leaves were in a very objectionable state, was sold never- 
 theless at Mr. Evans’s in January last, (1825) for 89/. 
 
S20 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 let me lead every reader, desperate or indifferent in 
 these matters, to the brief description of the remain- 
 
 chef d’oeuvre of the binding of Walthers. See the JEdes Althorpiana , 
 vol. i. page 194. Mr. Hilbert's copy is pronounced by Mr. Amyot to 
 be the best that he has seen', after those described in the First Class j 
 where perhaps it deserves a place. It is shortish, but clean and ge- 
 nuine throughout, with the original verses. The end is very good. 
 (“ Finis coronat opus.”) It is bound in russia, had belonged to the 
 well known Mr. Jennings, of Dog designation, and was purchased of 
 Mr. Payne for 70 guineas. Mr. Dent's is a large, fine copy, with 
 some rough leaves. The title is pasted down. Mr. Lichfield’s copy 
 is perfect and genuine, in old calf binding. 
 
 The copy belonging to the late Mr. Kemble , and purchased by the 
 late Mr. Boswell for 1 12/. 7s, was a complete copy 5 but it was 
 washed, white and clean, and inlaid — in consequence of the edges 
 having been cut very close. The inlaying was on large paper, with 
 blank leaves at the beginning and end : and the book, after having 
 been sumptuously bound in morocco by Mackinlay, and enclosed in a 
 case of calf leather, cost its late Owner, exclusively of its first price, 
 threescore guineas. As a specimen of genuine and tasteful restitu- 
 tion, it was a failure. No first Shakspeare ever could have appeared 
 of such a form : but see the gallant sentiments of its last possessor 
 (p. 799) respecting the acquisition of it. The reader is now about 
 to be staggered. Here comes a copy of the first Shakspeare, thirteen 
 inches and a half high, embodied only in the Second Class : and 
 wherefore ? Because it is far from being of a genuine size throughout. 
 Several leaves are inlaid : and the title-page, is a reprint. Beware 
 of these reprinted title-pages, which are in two copies in four. But 
 the impression of the portrait is a good one : and, says my excellent 
 and experienced Correspondent, (to whom I am indebted for an 
 account of the treasures in the Malone Collection, detailed between 
 pages 792 and 797) “ by way of making up for deficiencies, Mr. 
 Malone has inserted an original warrant, signed by Lord Pembroke, 
 authorising “ Maister Alleyn, maister of his Majesty’s Bear Gar- 
 den, to procure Dogs for his Majesty’s service,” — such dogs being 
 mightily in request. 
 
 Class the Third. The copy in the British Museum belonging to 
 the late Dr. Burney j that in the Dissenter’s library, in Red Cross- 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 821 
 
 ing folio editions. There is, secondly, that of 1632 ; 
 which was once thought to be more intrinsically valu- 
 able than its precursor : but Steevens, who, I believe, 
 
 street; in the London Institution ; and in the library of Edward Ver- 
 non Utterson, Esq. ; the latter, having the verses opposite the title 
 inlaid, is yet a very desirable one — and sumptuous^ bound by Her- 
 ring in blue morocco. The copy which had belonged to Steevens, 
 and was purchased at the sale of his library by Dr. Burney, wants 
 the title and portrait : the latter being supplied by a fac-simile 
 drawing by Steevens The verses are from the second edition. Many 
 of the leaves have stains and ink marks. It has a ms. note by Steevens, 
 which informs us that the copy was given to him by Jacob Tonson 
 in 1765, and that it had passed through the hands of Theobald and 
 Dr. Johnson, the latter not having improved its condition/’ Let 
 me add another copy — quod manibus propriis tractavi. It is that of 
 Roger Wilbraham, Esq. : which is, in fact, deserving of the Second 
 Class. The title is a reprint, and the commendatory verses are want- 
 ing : but it is otherwise sound and genuine to the end. In blue 
 morocco binding. The copy belonging to the late Mr. Nassau, (pur- 
 chased by Mr. Thorpe for 49 1. 7 s-) was a perfect, though not a fine 
 copy. Mr. Jolley’s copy, late Garrick’s, has been mentioned in a 
 preceding note (p. 819.) 
 
 To these may be added copies in the possession of the late Mr. 
 Knight, Mr. Perry, and Colonel Stanley. The copy of Mr. Knight, of 
 Portland-Place, is now in the possession of Mr. Murray of Albemarle- 
 street. It is admirably bound in russia, by Roger Payne. This title 
 is a reprint; two leaves of the Prolegomena, with two in Cymbeline, 
 are inserted from the second edition ; and the last leaf is supplied 
 from the reprint of 1808. With all these drawbacks, this volume is 
 richly worth the sum given for it by its present Owner — namely, 
 29 1. 185. 6d. Mr. Murray, if report speak accurately, was the com- 
 petitor of Mr. Boswell for Kemble’s copy, just described. Mr. 
 Perry’s copy, purchased by Mr. Matthews at the sale of his library 
 for 28Z. 105 . had the reprint title and portrait : no verses opposite : 
 and was otherwise a soiled and in part perforated copy. Colonel 
 Stanley’s copy was superior to either of the preceding. It wanted 
 the original verses and title-page, but was a very fair one, and beau- 
 tifully bound in russia by Roger Payne. It w'as bought by Mr 
 North at the sale of the Colonel s library for 3 7^ 165., and was sol 
 
822 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 was the first to propagate this notion, had the good 
 sense to recant ; and Malone would teach us to sup- 
 
 at the sale of Mr. North’s library for 39/. 18s. : being purchased by 
 Mr. Jervis. 
 
 Other copies belong to this Class. Mr. Amyot has two : and is 
 therefore doubly ^blest. The first is Dr. Farmer’s copy, and is 
 valued by the present owner accordingly. The title is a reprint ; 
 but the portrait is original. The verses opposite the title are re- 
 printed. The second copy of Mr. Amyot is not so good as the pre- 
 ceding. The title is a reprint; the portrait, original. There are 
 no commendatory verses. Some leaves are in a bad state, and the 
 whole play of Cymbeline is inserted from the second edition. But a 
 very remarkable variation is found in Hamlet , p. 278, and two other 
 leaves. Consult Boswell's edit, of Malone' s ShaJcspeare , vol. xxi.p. 449. 
 I have already recorded one copy (in the preceding Class) as having 
 been in the possession of Messrs. Arch, booksellers, and I have here to 
 record two more. One, not large, with no verses opposite, and 
 bound in morocco, has the unique distinction of having the date of 
 1622 in the title-page — which is genuine. Another copy, bound in 
 blue morocco, twelve inches and three-eights in height, with the 
 original title, and with the opposite verses from the second edition, 
 is marked at forty-five guineas in their recent catalogue : and this 
 article is preceded by the four first folios (one of those just described 
 forming that of 1623) “ complete, and uniformly bound in russia, 
 gilt leaves,” which have been recently sold for 84/. What a tri- 
 umphantly trading articlejs a first folio Shakspeare ! 
 
 I have, in the last place, to notice the copy at Buckingham House, 
 those in the collections of Mr. Heber and Mr. George Nicol, and a 
 few others which now cannot be traced or appropriated. The King’s 
 copy, though clean, scarcely exceeds twelve inches in height ; has a 
 reprint title ; no verses are opposite, but the portrait is original. It is 
 in morocco binding. Mr. Heber’s copy ought to be an indifferent one 
 since he gave only 10/. 105. for it at a sale at Sotheby’s. It is short ; 
 the title is a reprint from the second edition, and some leaves are 
 stained, and others mutilated. In old calf binding. Mr. Nicol’s copy 
 is rather short ; the title is a reprint ; but the portrait is original. The 
 verses opposite are in the hand writing of Porson. Some leaves are 
 mended and completed at the edges by MS. This copy was made up 
 by Mr. Henderson for the late Duke of Roxburghc, who gave it to 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 823 
 
 pose, that this edition is, in fact, as erroneous as it 
 was thought to be accurate. Of all copies of it, that 
 in his Majesty’s collection may be considered as the 
 
 Mr. Nicol when the latter had purchased for him the copy described in 
 the Second Class. Messrs. Longman and Co. had a copy of a mid- 
 dling height, but not a good title j although the opposite verses were 
 genuine. A remarkable variation in this copy occurred in the Othello. 
 See Boswell's Shaksp. vol. xxi, page 450. Mr. Triphook had also a 
 copy, wanting title and three first leaves of the Prolegomena. He 
 asked, and obtained, ten guineas for it. 
 
 Besides the foregoing, there are copies in the possession of the fol- 
 lowing Noblemen and Gentlemen. The Marquis of Stafford, the 
 Marquis of Bath, Lord Milton, Right Hon. C. W. Wynn., J. Broad- 
 head, Esq. Arthur Atherley, Esq. late M. P. ; the late Robert Blake, 
 Esq. M. P. and John Field, Esq., and J. B. Rhodes. Esq. But, accord- 
 ing to M. Payne’s testimony, the most beautiful and perfeet copy 
 is that in the collection of Sir R. Newdigate. Will it ever be dis- 
 played beneath the mellow skylight in Pall Mall ? A copy is also 
 in the library of Canterbury Cathedral, and in that of Eton College ; 
 the latter being Anthony Storer’s But, strange to say, there was 
 no copy in the libraries of Lord Oxford, Dr. Mead, West, Askew, 
 Hoblyn, Crofts, Beauclerk, Heath, Willett, and Bindley. Nor 
 (equally strange) does there appear to be a copy in the library at 
 Blickling, or Ham, or in the Pepysian library at Magdalen College. 
 I have just observed, that a first folio Shakspeare is a triumphant- 
 ly-trading” article in the book-market ; and that Messrs. Arch ap- 
 pear to have had three copies (of various degrees of perfection) of 
 that one volume — together with two of each succeeding volume : and 
 that the first set was sold for 84 1. Mr. Thorpe, as was to be expect- 
 ed, presents a bold front on this occasion. In his recently published 
 catalogue (1624, Pt. ii. no. 7851) there stand the first four folios, 
 described in capital letters throughout. For the first folio, 651. is 
 marked : for the second, 10Z. 10s. : for the third, 25 1. and for the 
 fourth, 61. 6s. : if taken together, they are to be sold for 100Z. Mr. 
 Pickering, of Chancery-lane, has another similar set, in 4 vols. which 
 he values at 95 1. The copy of the first edition is both tall and wide ; 
 being thirteen inches in height, by eight and a half in width. The 
 title-page is genuine, but inlaid : the opposite verses are genuine. 
 
824 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 most desirable .* It is usually a well printed book, 
 
 and much handsomer, in every respect, than that of 
 1623. The third of 1664 is, next to the first, the 
 scarcest; and there are those (including the late 
 George Steevens) who deem it of yet greater scarcity, 
 although of no literary value. The fire of London is 
 supposed to have been the cause of its rarity. The 
 fourth folio, of 1685, has little to recommend it, either 
 on the score of rarity or intrinsic worth. 'f- 
 
 The latter end is a little tender. Upon the whole, a sound and clean 
 copy, in handsome russia binding. 
 
 * I have seen this desirable volume.;}: It belonged to Charles I. : 
 and has his initials and motto “ Dim Spiro Spero.” It was purchased 
 at Steevens’s sale for 18 1. 18s. — the largest sum ever given, or likely 
 to be given, for the book : but Steevens was wrong in saying that 
 Charles “ presented this copy to Sir Thomas Herbert, the Master of 
 the Revels.” The late King had corrected this : adding, that it was 
 given to Sir T. Herbert, “ Groom of the Chambers” In fact ; the 
 very Herbert who published those interesting Memoirs of the last 
 two Years of the Reign of Charles I. : reprinted in a very elegant 
 manner, and published by Messrs. Nicol, in 1813, then booksellers 
 to his Majesty. Messrs. Arch mark a copy of this second edition of 
 Shakspeare at 5 1. 5s. and Messrs. Payne and Foss mark a “ fine copy 
 of it in the original binding, with the portrait,” at 81. 8s. 
 
 f It will be seen, at the end of the last note but one, that Mr. 
 Thorpe marks a copy of the third edition at L 25 1. ; and we learn from 
 his catalogue that he has “ refused ten pounds for the title of 1663 
 
 + I shall never, says a recent writer in the Gent. Mag. (vol. xvii. p. 397. N.) S. let 
 an opportunity pass of exposing Dr. Farmer’s false quotation from Milton ; for he 
 seems to have been the original broacher of the scandal, and has been followed 
 by the whole tribe of Commentators. In a note at the end of Twelfth Night, he 
 says, “ It is lamentable to see how far party and prejudice, will carry the wisest 
 men, even against their own practice and opinions. Milton, in his Eikonoclastes , 
 censures King Charles for reading “ one whom (says he) we well know was the 
 closest companion of his solitudes, William Shakspeare Now, whoever will take 
 the trouble of turning to the Eikonoclastes , section I. will find that there is not one 
 word of censure in it, but, from the context, rather commendation. So much for 
 w party and prejudice.” 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 825 
 
 And now, methinks, it is high time to bid adieu to 
 Shakspeare. Beloved, idolised, and immortalised as 
 he will be — the object of our enthusiastic attachment 
 in youth, and of unabated respect in age — it was surely 
 venial to have been thus far minute and communica- 
 tive respecting the primary editions of those works, 
 which are destined to be the delight of the latest 
 periods. Shakspeare, as Mr. Campbell has well ob- 
 served, “ is the poet of the world ; and “ the stream 
 of time (as Johnson has nobly remarked) which is 
 continually washing the dissoluble fabrics of other 
 poets, passes without injury by the adamant of Shak- 
 speare.” But, in this genial glow of admiration for 
 the works of this wonderful man, let it not be forgot- 
 ten that these works are not to be promiscuously and 
 unguardedly read ; nor can I close this subject with- 
 out recommending the qualified publications which 
 have appeared under the names of Griffiths , Bowdler, 
 and Pitman .* 
 
 — which contains the portrait. There are, in fact, two title-pages 
 to this edition : one of 1663, which has the portrait ; and another of 
 1664 without it. This edition has also some pretension to the impor- 
 tance of a parent text. It has the seven additional reputed, or I 
 should say, spurious plays of Shakspeare. Both titles must be found 
 to render the possessor thoroughly happy. In his Majesty’s library 
 there is a copy of this third edition, with an amazing amplitude of 
 margin. My friend Mr. Utterson possesses the late John Kemble’s 
 copy of this third edition. The fourth edition of 1685 may be worth 
 about from 3/. 135. 6d. to 5 1. 5 s. according to condition. 
 
 * Mrs. Griffiths published an octavo volume, some forty or fifty 
 years ago, called The Morality of Shakspeare. The object of this 
 publication was, to exhibit a great number of those passages from 
 the plays of Shakspeare in which the moral and social virtues were 
 described in the peculiarly forcible language of their great author. 
 But this undertaking, although not without its use, had little success. 
 Few admired, and none imitated it. Mr. Bowdler’s Family Shaks - 
 
826 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 The next great dramatic wight is Ben Jonson ; 
 a man of astonishingly strong and acute natural 
 powers, modified and chastened by learning, far above 
 all his contemporaries and compeers. There is no 
 need to say even half a dozen words about the history 
 of the early and separate publications of his plays and 
 masques , since these involve few bibliographical nice- 
 ties — few cruces , on which the Bibliomaniac loves his 
 ingenuity to be stretched and tortured — and since 
 they are all fully discussed and settled in the very best , 
 and only desirable, edition of the author’s works ex- 
 tant: — of course, that of Mr. Gifford is necessarily 
 alluded to.* To read Ben Jonson in any other edition, 
 
 peare , in ten small duodecimo volumes, in which all gross and offen- 
 sive words only are expunged, is, of all the Shakspeares, for a 
 family circle, the most to be commended 3 and it has, I make no 
 doubt, a great and a prosperous sale. The Rev. Mr. Pitman has lately 
 published a Family Shakspeare, on the same plan, in one large 
 octavo volume 3 but with greater dismemberments of the original. 
 This useful book is appropriately dedicated to the greatest Repre- 
 sentative which ever lived of the female characters of the original — 
 Mrs. Siddons : the dedication is at once short, neat, and forcible.f 
 
 * Published in 1816, 8 vo. in nine vols. 41. 14s. 6d. There are copies 
 on large paper. The critical tact evinced in Mr. Gifford’s edition 
 of Massinger's plays, 1805-8, prepared the world for the gratifica- 
 
 f There never will be an end of Shakspeari an a— or publications relating to our 
 great Dramatist. The above sentence was scarcely written, when mine eyes came 
 across a biography of the Bard, written by Augustine Skottowe, Esq* and 
 printed in two handsome octavo volumes, price 1/. Is. Of its intrinsic excellence 
 I know nothing, but have heard considerable things. And here again is a work 
 in ProspectUy to be announced by me — under the title of “ Vindicatio Shakspe- 
 ariana 5 or Supplementary Remarks on the Editions of Shakspeare by Reed and 
 others : with Occasional Illustrations of some obscure and disputed passages. By 
 John Sherwen, M.D.” The remarks are carefully and beautifully written on 
 the alternate pages of two moderate sized quarto volumes : and although their 
 author be a Septuagenarian, they betray all the vivaciousness of youth. Dr. 
 Sherwen has an idea (long and carefully entertained by him) that Shakspeare is 
 to be greatly illustrated by a knowledge of the northern dialects of this country. 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 S 27 
 
 is to stand upon your head to look at a prospect : so 
 inverted and confused is the larger portion of the ob- 
 jects before you. Whatley's once-lauded impression 
 is thought of no more.* 
 
 tion to be derived from the present performance : which, for acute- 
 ness, judgment, and full and satisfactory intelligence, on all the 
 material points involved in a consideration of the more obscure or 
 important passages of the text, is eminently happy and successful. 
 The supposed enmity of Jonson to Shakspeare is triumphantly refuted 
 by the editor himself : and needed not the postliminary proofs’’ of 
 Mr. Gilchrist — which come so peltingly thick upon the reader, as 
 hardly to allow him time to look about and draw breath ! Never was 
 a roiNT (a sort of cardinal one, in reference to posterity, and in the. 
 estimation of the literary character) more solidly and satisfactorily 
 settled, and put at rest ; beyond the possibility (and hope, as I should 
 conceive,) of future reasonable doubt. The notes on this thoroughly 
 well-executed performance, neither disappoint from their paucity, 
 nor overwhelm by the length of extraneous and merely curious 
 matter. They go directly to the point at issue ; and you see, in a 
 moment, that the editor is complete master of the sense of his author. 
 None but a classical commentator could be a successful editor of 
 honest Ben : for Jonson’s mind was thoroughly imbued with the 
 learning of a scholar. It breaks out and overflows on the commonest 
 occasions, and in the most familiar passages. Let the tasteful English 
 student read the notes on the Volpone, Alchemist , and Silent Woman — 
 and he will not only admit the truth of the preceding remarks, but 
 express, with their author, a regret that the pen, from which they 
 proceeded, is not exercised upon the only superior of Ben Jonson ! 
 
 * A short, and a sweet word, for Mr. Campbell’s brief delineation 
 of the merits of Ben Jonson. That delineation has always struck 
 me as forcible and happy ; and referring my Young Man,” in par- 
 ticular, to this account, ( Specimens , &c. vol. i. p. 160,) and insisting 
 on his securing Mr. Gifford’s edition of the Dramatist, I hope, pro- 
 digal as may have been my bibliographical notice of Shakspeare, that 
 Ben Jonson has met with his deserts in these pages. But what has 
 become of Whatley's edition r— once, the high hope and constant en- 
 deavour of the Bibliomaniac to possess. And how comes it to pass 
 that Messrs. Payne and Foss have the hardihood to mark this worth- 
 less performance (1756, 8vo. seven vols.) at 5 1. 5 s. ? Twill sleep 
 
828 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 I proceed, necessarily, at a “ swing trot,” with the 
 remainder of the dramatic corps. For Beaumont 
 and Fletcher, procure the edition of Mr. Weber , 
 1812, 8vo. fourteen vols. This edition might have 
 been better ; but in this life we must swallow much 
 of bitter with a little that is sweet. The same editor 
 published Ford’s Dramatic Woi'hs, in 1811, 8vo. two 
 vols. which drew forth a sharp but able article in the 
 Quarterly Review of November 181 1.* For Massin- 
 
 soundly on their shelves, at such — or at any price. In former days, 
 when, with hesitating step, and faultering voice, I ventured among 
 the knowing in the book-market, I lifted up my eyes with astonish- 
 ment, to see twenty guineas given for a large paper Whalley . . . 
 That day is past . . . never to return. 
 
 * Previously to the edition of Beaumont and Fletcher by Mr. 
 Weber, the elder Colman published one in 1778* in ten octavo vo- 
 lumes j now worth about 31. 13s. 6d. There was yet a previous 
 edition, published by Tonson, in 1750, in the same number of vo- 
 lumes ; and of which a good copy is worth nearly the same sum. 
 Had Mr. Weber’s edition satisfied the expectations of the curious, 
 neither of the preceding would have been worth half the money. 
 But it is, nevertheless, the best edition of Beaumont and Fletcher; 
 and the young Man must not scruple to go as far as 5 1. 5 s. for a 
 well bound copy of it, at a public sale. Note : of all rare and pre- 
 cious pieces of dramatic lore, of this period, not one will bring such 
 a price as the “Love lies a Bleeding ” of Beaumont and Fletcher, of 
 the date of 1620, 4to. with the frontispiece. Mr. Reed’s copy of 
 this keimelion brought 24 1. Ehu, et Euge ! ' 
 
 The works of Ford, as above observed, were published by the 
 last editor of the preceding dramatists in 1811 ; and in the 6th 
 volume of the Quarterly Review , (p. 460-487) there appeared an 
 elaborate and lively notice of the edition ;f and it must be owned 
 
 1* The authors of particular Reviews, like the author of the Letters of Junius, 
 will never perhaps be correctly ascertained. But as Hercules was known “ from 
 his foot,” even so I imagine a certain passage, in the Review above referred to, to 
 be as palpably the performance of the Editor of that Review, as Master Hercules 
 might have been discovered from his muscular and brawny foot. It is worth 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 829 
 
 ger, rest satisfied, to your heart’s content, with Mr. 
 Gifford's second edition, 1808, 8vo. four vols. Heyne 
 never edited an ancient classic with more acumen 
 and correct critical feeling than Mr. Gifford has edited 
 Massinger. Report speaks loudly of the same gentle- 
 man’s forthcoming edition of Shirley’s dramatic 
 ivorks ; so long wanted, and so anxiously looked for. 
 Indeed, there is a whisper abroad, that the first volume 
 of Ford’s plays, from the same hand, is nearly ready 
 for publication. Let us hope that report for once 
 “ speaks true.”* 
 
 that the “ causes shewn” for passing a severe "judgment” on it, 
 were numerous and palpable. Mr. Weber is no more, but it is only 
 the honest exercise of the duty of an author of a work like the pre- 
 sent, to make known that Ford is deserving of a better editorial 
 fate. 
 
 * In the strong hope and wish that Shirley will come forth from 
 the hands of Mr. Gifford, in the same bright and perfect state that 
 Massinger has, I will borrow the language of Dr. Johnson, — which 
 he has applied to Sir Thomas Hanmer — as applicable, in a much 
 more forcible manner, to the Editor of Jonson, Massinger, and 
 Shirley. It is this. “ He has, what is the first requisite to emenda- 
 tory criticism, that intuition, by which the poet’s intention is imme- 
 diately discovered, and that dexterity of intellect which despatches its 
 
 extracting : since it is one of the happiest “ hits off” with which I am acquainted, of 
 the character of the late George Steevens, as an Editor of Shakspeare. “ Steevens 
 (says the writer) is a dangerous guide for such as do not look well about them. 
 His errors are specious, for he was a man of ingenuity : but he was often wantonly 
 mischievous, and delighted to stumble for the mere gratification of dragging un- 
 suspecting innocents into the mire with him. He was, in short, the very Puck 
 of Commentators.” vol. vi. p. 478. See also p. 805 ante. One of the “ pieces of 
 fun” of Steevens was, to make use of the name of Amner (that of a respectable 
 dissenting Clergyman) as the author or communicator of certain notes in his Va- 
 riorum edition of 1793, which contained expositions of original passages, not re- 
 markable for their delicacy or propriety. Amner remonstrated, as was natural 
 enough. Steevens laughed . . for he knew he was safe from a duel. Thus the 
 matter ended, as far as a personal interview was concerned : but Steevens conti- 
 nued to write away. He richly deserved three strokes of Caliban’s club. 
 
830 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 Otway has been recently and respectably edited in 
 two octavo volumes ; and as he is a legitimate Eng- 
 lish classic, and as his V mice Preserved is yet among* 
 the most justly applauded of our dramatic perfor- 
 mances, I should be censurable if I did not allow him 
 a foremost place in the foremost rank of the Dramatic 
 Worthies of his Country.* For Southerne, Rowe, 
 Wycherley, and Vanburgh — the reader may pick and 
 choose as he list : and for the writers of the Modern 
 Stage, from the unrivalled Sheridan to the last of 
 living Debutants ; there are editions in all forms and 
 of all varieties of degrees of merit.f 
 
 work by the easiest means.” I must not forget that Massinger, like 
 Ben Jonson, is upon large paper ; and of these, as well of the large 
 paper of Steevens’s Shakspeare, I saw, a few months ago, a most 
 beautiful set — in white calf binding, wdth richly sprinkled gilt tool- 
 ing, and marbled edges to the leaves — (orthodox garniture !) at 
 Charles Lewis’s. It is in this condition that the tasteful and heavy- 
 metalled young Collector must aspire to keep up his intimacy with 
 the legitimate English Classics of the sock and buskin. Nor let 
 Baskerville s unrivalled impression of Congreve’s works, in 176 1, 
 8vo. 3 vols. be wanting in such a series. For typographical beauty, 
 and clad in a similar vestment, by Montague, or Johnson, it is 
 
 velut inter ignes 
 
 Luna minores. 
 
 * The edition alluded to is in 2 vols. 8vo. 1812: worth about 
 1Z. Is. in good binding. It has notes, and a life of the poet. 
 
 f The dramatic works of Sheridan are just published by Mr. 
 Murray in three octavo volumes. The editor is Mr. Thomas Moore. 
 Of course, it is useless to refer to any other edition. It will be ac- 
 companied by a life of the author. But of the modern stage, down 
 to the writings of Messrs. Morton and Reynolds, get possession of a 
 choice copy — considered with reference to the plates — of Bell’s edi- 
 tion, in 25 duodecimo volumes. The portraits of the actors, in the 
 principal parts of the respective dramas, are admirably executed : and 
 
THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 831 
 
 Let soft music be heard, while the curtain gently 
 falls at the close of the several Acts, or divisions, of 
 this Library Companion ; — not precisely of a dra- 
 matic cast of character, it must be confessed ; but of 
 a nature to bring before the reader many of the illus- 
 trious dead, in those departments of Literature, in 
 which, while living, they enacted their Parts , with so 
 much credit and success. To the Young ... I make 
 an appeal with that confidence, which the conscious- 
 ness of having done all in my power for their amuse- 
 ment and instruction, must impart. They will find, 
 in the preceding pages, a Guide to enable them to 
 walk with comparative ease and pleasantness in those 
 paths, which presented no trifling or discouraging 
 obstacles to the pioneering exertions of the author. 
 Meanwhile, a liberal spirit and an enlightened under- 
 standing will stimulate them to the collection of those 
 works — Cf The Medicine of the Soul”— of which 
 the reward of a conscientious perusal is not confined 
 to this state of existence. 
 
 To the Old . . my address must be necessarily of a 
 different nature. I must bow with deference and re- 
 spect for many apparently abrupt and familiar pas- 
 sages ; in which the experience of a counsellor may 
 
 large paper copies, in morocco binding, make the eyes sparkle, and 
 the heart dance, of a dramatic virtuoso. Such a copy may be worth 
 a sovereign a volume. But the present times are not destitute of such 
 a theatrical companion. Mrs. Inchbald’s Theatre, in 25 duode- 
 cimo volumes, is the most correct and the most respectable work of 
 this kind extant. Each play has a plate $ but of inferior execution to 
 those of Bell. Whether the play of Catiline , also the property of the 
 publishers, (Messrs. Hurst and Robinson,) and perhaps the most ably 
 written of modern dramatic performances — will be incorporated in 
 this popular set of modem plays, it is not in my power to inform the 
 reader. 
 
832 
 
 THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 
 
 seem to have been exchanged for the enthusiasm of a 
 Bibliomaniac. But from beginning to end I have not 
 been unmindful of the professed view, or title, of this 
 work. Unless I have greatly deceived myself, it will 
 afford Comfort to those, who, at the close of a long 
 and actively spent life, will find a communion with 
 their books one of the safest and surest methods of 
 holding a communion with their God. The library of 
 a good man is one of his most constant, cheerful, and 
 instructive Companions ; and as it has delighted him 
 in Youth, so will it solace him in Old Age. 
 
INDEX, 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abbadie, Jacques, his praise of Saurin, 101. 
 
 Abdollatiph, — Compendium Rerum Memorabilium Egypti, 450. 
 Abercromby, Patrick, M. D.— Martial Achievements of the Scots Nation . 
 1711-15, 279. 
 
 Abergavenny, Lady Frances, verses by, in the Monument of Matrons, 133. 
 Abulfeda, or Abul-pheda, Ishmael, — Africa , — Descriptio Egypti , Arabice 
 et Latine, 450. 
 
 Abyssinia, books relating to. Vide Synoptical Table. 
 
 Achates, Leonard, his impression of Dante , 1474, and price of ditto, 762-3. 
 Ackermann, Mr. — his publication of Views on the Rhine , 340. Of the 
 W ’arid- in Miniature , 489. 
 
 Adair, James, History of the American Indians, 1776, 477* 
 
 Adams, Robert, Narrative of a Wreck on the Western Coast of Africa, 
 1816, 461. 
 
 Addison, Joseph, eulogy on, 612. Editions of his Works ; First, 1721, 613. 
 1730, ibid. Baskerville’s, 1760, ibid. Bishop Hurd’s, 1811, ibid. 
 1766, ibid. 
 
 Adelinus, Johann Philip, Vide Gottfried. 
 
 Adelkind, Cornelius, his Hebrew Bible , 1547-49, 24. 
 
 Adelung, Johann Christopher, his improved edition of Jockeys Lexicon , 
 1784-87, 497. 
 
 Adler, James George Christian, his remark concerning Luther’s Bible, 18. 
 Advocates, Library of the Society of, Edinburgh, copy there of Davidson’s 
 Black Acts on vellum, 273. Of a Voyage to Jerusalem, printed by 
 Wynkyn de Worde, 432. 
 
 Aeschylus, various editions of, 632. 
 
 ASsopus, editions of, 
 
 Caxton’s 581. Zainer’s, 582. Spanish, ibid. Editio Princeps, ibid. 
 De Furia’s, ibid. Whittingham’s, ibid. Bewick’s ibid. 
 
 Africa, extent and character of, 449. Books on, vide Synoptical Table. 
 African Association, Proceedings of the , 462. 
 
 Africanus, John Leo, Africa: Descriptio ix. libris absoluta, 450. 
 
 Agincourt, Seroux, his Work on the Fine Arts commended, Pref. iv. 
 Aikin, Mr. Arthur, his English Translation of Denon’s Travels in Egypt , 
 1802, 454. 
 
 Aikin, John. M. D., — General Biograpky, 1799-1815, 499. His Life of 
 Thomas Linacre, '572. His edition of Spenser’s Poetical Works, 1806, 
 703. Ditto of Milton's ditto, 717- Ditto, of the Select Works of the 
 British Poets , 765. 
 
 Akenside, Mark, M. D. Pleasures of the Imagination, 743. 
 
 Alcazar, The Battle of Alcazar fought in Barbarie , 1594, 792. 
 
 Alfieri, his Dramas and Autobiography, 77 L 
 
 Alford, alias Griffith, R. P. Michael is, Tides Regia Britannica, &e. 1663, 
 118. 
 
6 36 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS, 
 
 Algerius, — De Orbe Novo, 1516, 469. 
 
 Almeida, Manoel, Historia General de Ethiopia Alta , 456. 
 
 Alonzo the Wise, and XI. Kings of Spain, Chronicles of, 312. 
 
 Althorp, Vide Spencer. 
 
 Alured of Beverley, Hearne’s edition of his Annales, 1716, 228. 
 
 Amar, M. his edition of Boileau, 1821, 777. 
 
 Amyot, Thos. Esq. Treasurer to the Society of Antiquaries, — obligations 
 to him confessed, Pref. xxiii. His copies of Asser’s Life of Alfred by 
 Archbishop Parker, 152. Of Savile’s Scriptores post Bedam, 158. 
 His notice of Bishop Asser’s Annals, 164. His remark concerning 
 Wilton, 211. Ditto on Whitelock’s Memorials, ibid. His Enquiry 
 concerning the Death of Richard II., 234. His observation relating 
 to Tanner’s Bibliotheca, 520. His information relative to thirty co- 
 pies of the first folio Shakspeare, 817, 820. His copies of the first 
 folio Shakspeare, 822. 
 
 — Jacques, Abbot of Bellozane, his French Translations of Plutarch , 
 
 500, 501. 
 
 Anacreon, editions of : 
 
 Editio Princeps, Maittaire’s, 628. Fischer’s, 629. 
 
 Anderson, James, Collections relating to the History of Mary , Queen of 
 Scotland, 1/27, 280. 
 
 — Dr. John, Genealogical Memoirs of the House of Yvery, 1742, 
 
 565. 
 
 Andrews, Mr. James Petit, his Continuation of Henry's History of Great 
 Britain, 1796, 245. 
 
 Anquetil, Louis Pierre, — Prdcis de I'Histoire Universellc, 1807, 140. His- 
 toire de France , 1805, 304. L' Intrigue du Cabinet sous Henri IF. et 
 sous Louis XIII. 1818, 557 • 
 
 — Duperron, Abraham Hyacinth, Legislation Orientale, 1778. Re - 
 
 cherches Historiques et G&ographiques sur VInde, 1786, 423. 
 
 Anson, George, Lord, his character, 405. Voyage round the World, 1748, 
 406. 
 
 Ahthologia Hibernica, reference to the, 252. 
 
 Antonio Nicolo, Bibliotheca Hispana , Fetus et Nova, 1783-88, 310. Illus- 
 trative references to, 314, 487. 
 
 Apollonius Rhodius, editions of. 
 
 Edit. Prin. Schaefer's, Elzevir’s, 631. 
 
 Apollyn of Thy re , King , 1510, 657. 
 
 Apostles, Les Actes des Apotres, et V Apocalypse, 1501, 784. 
 
 Appianus, Schweighaeuser’s edition of, 145. 
 
 Apuleius, editions of. Editio Princeps, 584. Pricaeus, ibid. Oudendorp 
 and Rhunkenius, ibid. 
 
 Arbuthnot, Alexander, his edition of Buchanan's History, 1582, 2/4. 
 
 Arch, Messrs. John and Arthur, their catalogues commended, with the 
 supposed beneficial effect resulting from the circulation of them ; 
 Pref. xxv. Copies of works in their possession, 40, 144, 161, 168, 
 
 173, 199, 205, 218, 222, 227, 229, 230, 242, 250, 252, 278, 279, 283, 
 
 286, 310, 354, 361, 390, 391, 393, 400, 409, 415, 454, 456, 460, 499, 
 
 508, 510, 533, 636, 637, 715, 716, 717, 732, 735, 761, 822, 823, 824. 
 
 Arclienolz, Johann, Memoires de Christine Reine de Suede, 1751, 364. 
 Arden. — The Lamentable and True Tragedie of M. Arden, of Faversham 
 m in Kent, 1592, 793. 
 
 Ariosto, Ludovico, editions of, 
 
 Editio princeps, 764, 5. Editions of, 1521, 1527, 1528, 765. Scin- 
 zenzeler, ibid. Giolito’s, ibid. Porro’s, Zatta’s, Baskerville’s, 766. 
 Molini’s, 759. Morali’s Pisan, 760. YV. S. Rose’s English Transla- 
 tion of, 771. 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 S 37 
 
 Aristotle, editions of, 
 
 A* d v e ,’. E «n° P »v C , e ? S ’o1 78 ’ S y lbur g' ms ’. 479, Casaubon’s, ibid. 
 Uu y a l s, 580. Buhle s Bipont, ibid. Commentary by Eustratius, 
 de Moribus, 1536, ibid. Tvrwhitt’s edition of his Poetics , 1794 682 
 Arnold, Richard, his Chronicle , 183. Verses from, 73 7. 
 
 Articles Condemned for Heresy , extract from, 30. 
 
 Arthur , la Morte d\ new editions of, 6. 
 
 Ascham, Roger, his Censures of Romances, 6. Toxophilus, 1544, 593. 
 Schoolmaster , 1570, ibid. Affairs of Germany , 1570, ibid. ’ Letters 
 to Queen Elizabeth , and entire Works by Bennett, ibid. 
 
 Asiatic Researches , 1799—1821, 424. Reference to, 426. 
 
 Asserius, Bishop of Sherborne, his Life of King Alfred, 151. Annals as- 
 cribed to, 164. 
 
 Astley, Thomas, his Collection of Voyages and Travels , 1745, 400. 
 Asulanus, Andreas, his Greek Septuagint , 1518, 27. 
 
 Atherley, Arthur, Esq. late M. P., his copy of the first folio Shakspeare, 
 823. 
 
 Athenaeus, editions of, 
 
 Aldine, Editio princeps, 583. Casaubon’s, ibid. Schweighseuser’s, 
 ibid. 
 
 Avesbury, Robert of, Hearne’s edition of his Historia Edvardi III., 1720, 
 229. 
 
 Augustine, St. D. Aurelius, Paris Edition of his Works , 1679, 51. Ap - 
 pendix Augustiniana, 1703, 52. Civitate Dei, 1467, ibid. 
 
 Austin, S. Naps on Parnassus, 1658. Sale and price of, 652. 
 Aulus-Gellius, editions of, 
 
 Editio Princeps, 588. Variorum, Gronovius’s, Conradus, Delphini, 
 ibid. 
 
 Azzoguidi, Balthasar, his Editio Princeps of Ovid, 1471, 637, 
 
 Bacon, Sir Francis, Lord Verulam, History of the Life and Reign of Henry 
 VI L, 1622, 525. Dates of the editions of his Works , 603. 
 
 Bagster, Mr. Notice of his Polyglot Bible,. 1821, 10, 28. His edition of 
 Dr. Gill’s Exposition, fyc. 1810-12, 41. 
 
 Baker, David Erskine, References to his Biographia Dramatica, 600, 606, 
 789. 
 
 Baker, Mr. George, his copy of Capell’s Shakspeare, in sheets, 802. 
 
 , Sir Richard, his Chronicle of the Kings of England, 1641, 202. Un- 
 fortunate death of, 203. Religious Works by, ibid. 
 
 — — — , Mr. Richard, his Copy of Anderson’s House of Yvery, 564, 
 
 Baldwin, Messrs, their edition of Hudibras, 1819, 730, 732. Of Butler’s 
 Remains, 732. Of the Old English Drama , 1824, 788. Marlow’s 
 Dido, preparing for ditto, ibid. 
 
 — -, William, sale and price of his Funeralles of King Edward the Sixt 
 
 1560, 652. 
 
 Bale, John, his Remark on Fabian’s Chronicle, 185. Scriptores Illustres 
 Majoris Britannice , 516. A Tragedy or Enterlude manyfesting the 
 chefe Promises of God unto Man, 1577, 790. Johan Baptyste preachy ng 
 in the Wyldernesse , ibid. Resurrection of Lazarus, ibid. Temptation , 
 Passion, and Sepulture of our Lord, ibid. 
 
 Ballard, George, his Memoirs of Learned Ladies of Great Britain , 564. 
 
 Bamburgh Castle, Library at. Copies there of Walton’s Polyglot, 8. Of 
 Fox’s Book of Martyrs, 113. Of Lydgate’s Siege of Troy, on vellum 
 675. 
 
 Bampton Lectures, 92. 
 
 Bancroft, Thomas, Sale and price of his Two Bookes of Epigrammes, 1639, 
 652. 
 
S38 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS, 
 
 Bandinel, Rev. Dr. Notice of his forthcoming edition of Lord Clarendon’* 
 History of the Rebellion , 220. 
 
 Bankers Bay Horse in a Trance , 1595, Sale and price of, 652. 
 
 Barbary States, vide Synoptical Table. 
 
 Barbauld, Mrs. Anna Letitia, her edition of the British Novelists , 1810, 
 757. 
 
 Barbazan, Etienne. Fabliaux et Contes des Poetcs Francois des XL X 77. 
 XIII. XIF. et XV. Siicles , 1808, 77 3. 
 
 Barbier, Antoine Alexandre, his praise of Poulle’s Sermons, 94. Illustra- 
 tive References to his Bibliothkque d'un Homme de Gout, concerning 
 Bourdaloue, 100. On Saurin’s Sermons, 101. On Berthier, 104. On 
 Henault, .302. Censure of Ravnal’s Histoire, 422. Account of Vol- 
 nev’s Voyage, &c. 434. Of Norden’s ditto, 453. Of Bruce’s ditto, 
 457- On French Memoirs, 553, 555, 556, 558, 560. On Foreign 
 Translations of Homer, 623. Reference to his Dissertation sur soixante 
 Traductions Francoises, 129. Various biographical References to his 
 Examen Critique et Complement des Dictionnaires His tori ques, fyc., 
 1820, 494, 495,498. 
 
 Barbou Edition of Tacitus , 1776, 145. Of Malherbe , 77 3. Of La Fontaine , 
 1762, 774. 
 
 Barbour, John, Bruce , or the History of Robert /. King of Scotland , 270, 
 271. 
 
 Barcias, Andreas, Gonzalez, Historiadores Primitivos de las Indias Occiden- 
 tales, 487. 
 
 Barlseus, Gaspard, Historia Rerum in Brasilia et alibi nuper gestarum, 1647, 
 481. 
 
 Barnard, Frederic, Liberal use of his Majesty’s Library, granted by him, 
 Pref. xxiii. 
 
 Barnes, Robert, — Articles condemned for Heresy , extract from 30. Ditto 
 from his Priests may lawfully marry , ibid. 
 
 Baronius, Caesar, excellence, &c. of his Ecclesiastical Annals , 108. 
 
 Barr£, Joseph, his Histoire Gdndrale d'Allemagne, 1748, 343. 
 
 Barrett, T. sale and price of his copy of Howe's Chronicle , 199. 
 
 Barros, Juan de. Bibliographical Description of his Decades de Asia , 
 419. 
 
 Barrow, Mr. John, his Chronological History of Voyages into the Polar 
 Regions, 1818, 352. His Reviews of Travels in the Quarterly, 437- 
 His works on China, 43S. Extract from his account of Pitcairn’s 
 Island, ibid. His Account of Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa ,. 
 1801-3,464. 
 
 Barrow, Rev. Dr. Isaac, character of his Writings, 53, 55. Works of, 
 1741, 1757, 57. 
 
 Bartas, Guillaume Salluste, Sieur Du, imitated by Milton, 70 7, 7 12. 
 
 Barth 61emy, Abbd John James, — Voyage du Jeune Anacharsis en Grice , 
 1799, 144. 
 
 Barthius, Caspar, his edition of Statius, 1664, 645. 
 
 Bartholin, Thomas his work De causis contemptoca Danis adhuc gentilibus 
 mortis , 1689, 358. 
 
 Bartholomseus, vide Glanvill. 
 
 Bartoli, — his edition of Tasso, 1590, 768. 
 
 Bartolozzi, Francesco, his copies after Holbein, 512. 
 
 Bartsch, — his character and death, 345. 
 
 Baskerville, John, his impression of the English Bible , 35. Of the Common 
 Prayer, 47- Variations of Ditto, ibid. His stock sold, ibid. His im- 
 pression of Addison, 613. Of Milton's Poetical Works , 716. Of 
 Ariosto, 1773, 766. 
 
 Baskett, John, his edition of the English Bible , 1717> 35. 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 839 
 
 Hasnage, James de Franquener, reference to his Histoire des Eglises Re- 
 formkes , 1690, 98. 
 
 Bassomfpierre, Francois de, Mdmoires contenant V histoire de sa vie . 1666 
 55 7. 
 
 Baston, William, colophon of his Poem on the Battle of Bannockburn, 272. 
 Bates, Rev. Dr. William,— Vita Selectee , 1681, 623. 
 
 Bath, the Marquess of, his copy of the first folio Shakspeare, 823. 
 
 ' Batman, Stephen, his English Translation of and Commentary on Bartho- 
 lomceus , 1582, 590. 
 
 Batty, Captain Robert, his Campaign of the Left Wing of the Allied Army 
 in the Pyrenees, 1823, 321. His Views in Italy, 336. 
 
 Bavaria, Gonqalez de, his edition of Herrera" s Decades , 1729-30,471. 
 Bavarian Monuments , 346. 
 
 Baudoin Fermanel, his Voyage en Italie et du Levant , 1665, 441. His 
 French Translation of Vega’ s Commentaries on the Incas, 1633, 488. 
 Bayle, Pierre, excellence of liis Dictionnaire Historique et Critique , 495. 
 Character of, ibid. 
 
 Baxter, Rev. Richard, his character and writings : English Non-conformity , 
 1689, 54. Concordant discord of a broken healed heart , 1681, 55. 
 Cure of Melancholy , 1683, ibid. Works, 1707, 55. 
 
 • William, Glossarium Antiquitatum Britannicarum , 1719, 257. 
 
 Bazochien, Jean Dabondance, Le ioyeulx Mistere de Trois Rois, 784. 
 Beaumarchais, Pierre Augustine Caron de, his edition of Voltaire, 1784, 
 
 778. Typographical Speculation of, ibid. His Life , 1802, ibid. 
 Beattie, Dr. James, character of his Minstrel, 743. 
 
 Beaumont, Francis, and John Fletcher, Weber’s edition of their Works, 
 1812, 828. Colman’s ditto, 1778, ibid. Tonson’s ditto, 1750, ibid. 
 Their Love lies a Bleeding, 1620, rarity and sale of, ibid. 
 
 Beausobre, Charles Louis, his Continuation of Saurin’s Discourses, 1728-39, 
 
 102 . 
 
 Beaver, Captain Philip, African Memoranda, 1805, 463. 
 
 Beccadelli, Ludovico, his edition of Petrarch, 1799, 763, Price of ditto, 
 764. 
 
 Beckford, William, Esq. his late copy of Mezerai’s History of France, large 
 paper, 301. Of De Bry’s Voyages, 387- Of Guarient’s Diarium 
 Itineris Muscovise, 369. 
 
 Bede, Venerable, Ecclesiastical History, 111, 154. His time of flourishing, 
 111. Editions of his Works, 112. 
 
 Bedford, Duke of, his copies of Rapin’s History of England, 224. Of 
 Leland’s Itinerary, by Hearne, fine paper, 225. Of Sir Charles 
 Stuart’s privately-printed Accoimt of the capture of Constantinople, 
 309. 
 
 Bekker, William Gott, his edition of Thucydides, 1821, 141. Of Plato, 
 1816, 578. 
 
 Belin, Richard, Vindiciarum Catliolicorum , in Hibernia , &c. 1649, 256. 
 Bell, John, Travels from Petersburg h to diverse parts of Asia, 1763, 370. 
 Bell, John, his edition of the British Poets, 757. 
 
 • - his impressions of Shakspeare, 808. 
 
 his British Theatre, 830. 
 
 Mathias, his works on the History of Germany, 344. 
 
 Bellenden, John, his Scottish Translation of Boece’s Scotorum Historia, 27 3. 
 Modern edition of ditto, 273, 274. 
 
 Beloe, Rev. William, reference to his Anecdotes of Literature, 5, 2 75, 430, 
 469, 624, 665, 666, His Translation of Herodotus, 1791, 140. 
 
 Belus, Robert, Rerum Hispanicarum Scriptores Aliquot, 1579, Spanish His- 
 tories in, 31 1, 315. 
 
 Belzoni, Giovanni, Narrative of the Operations and Recent Discoveries, 
 
640 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS. 
 
 within the Pyramids , Temples, Tombs , and Excavations in Egypt and 
 Nubia , 1820, 455. 
 
 Benedictus, Abbas Petroburgensis, Hearne’s edition of his Vita et Gestis 
 Henrici II. et Ricardi /., 1735, 228. 
 
 Bengel, John Albert, his Greek New Testaments , 1734, 42. 
 
 Bene’t College, Cambridge, Library of. Copies there of Archbishop Par- 
 ker’s Antiquitates Britannicae Ecclesiae, 115. 
 
 Bonnet, James, his edition of Ascham’s Works , 593. 
 
 Bensley, Thomas, his impressions of Milton's Poetical Works , 1 796, 1 799, 
 717- Of Butler's Remains , 1799, 732. Of Popd's Works , 737. Of 
 Thomson's Seasons , 1797, 741. 
 
 Bentley, Dr. his edition of Horace, 1728, 642. Of Manilius , 1739, 649. 
 
 Berard, M. his fine Collection of Elzevirs, 130. 
 
 Berington, Rev. Joseph, Literary History of the Middle Ages , 1814, 543. 
 
 Berkenhout, Dr. John, references to his Biographia Literaria , 1777, 5, 
 155, 166, 185, 197, notice of, 520. 
 
 Bernard, John Peter, one of the editors of the General Dictionary, 1734-41, 
 498. 
 
 Berners, Sir John Bourchier, Lord, his Translation of Froissart, 1523-25, 
 173. 
 
 Bernhard, M. Public Librarian at Munich, his character and death, 345. 
 
 Bernier, Francis, his Account of Hindostan and Cashmeer, 421. 
 
 Berriman, William, his vindication of Field, 36. Notices of misprints in 
 the English Bible, 37- 
 
 Berthelet, Thomas, his impression of the Temple of Glass, 661. Supposed 
 edition of Chaucer's Works, 680. His impressions of Gower , 684. 
 
 Berthier, Pkre Guillaume Francois, praise of his Continuation of the His - 
 toirede I'Eglise Gallicane, 104. 
 
 Bertochus, Vide Rugerius. 
 
 Bertram, Charles, — Britannicarum Gentium Histories Antiques Scrip tores 
 tres, 1757, 165. 
 
 Berwick, Jacques de Fitzjames, Marshal Dukedc, Memoirs of, 1778, 558. 
 
 Beuter, Antonio, his first part of the History of Valencia, 1538, 314. His 
 Spanish Translation of ditto, ibid. 
 
 Bewick, Thomas, his edition of The Fables ofASsop, 1818, 582. 
 
 Bey, Ali, Travels in Morocco, Tripoli, 8fc. 1816, 460. 
 
 Beza, Theodore, Verce Imagines Virorum Doctrina shnul et Pietate Illus - 
 trium, 1580, 503. 
 
 Biagioli, — his edition of Dante, 1818, 754. 
 
 Bibles, Vide Synoptical Table. 
 
 Bibliophiles, Society of at Paris, their reprint of Les Blasphcmateurs du 
 Nom de Dieu, 780. 
 
 Bibliotheque du Thdatre Francois, 1768, references to, on the subject of 
 Mysteries, 775, 777. 
 
 Bibliotheque Portative des Voyages, 1810, 401. 
 
 Bingham, Rev. Joseph, Antiquities of the Christian Church, 1726, 119. 
 
 Bindley, Mr. James, Sale and prices of his copies of Coryate’s Crudities, 
 392. Of Mandeville’s Travels, 417. Of the Aldine Collection of 
 Travels, 428. Sale of his old Poetry, 652. 
 
 Biographia Britannica, reference to, 70 
 
 Biographie Universelle, various references to the, 404, 410, 418, 450, 454, 
 472, 498,506, 507- Notice of the publication of, 498, 778. 
 
 Biography, character of, and eulogy on, 490, 491. 
 
 Bion, Professor Gaisford’s edition of, 631. 
 
 Birch, Dr. Thomas, Portraits of Illustrious Persons, 1743, 222, 509. His 
 edition of Thurloc's State Papers, 1742, 296. One of the editors of 
 
PERSONS AND THINGS. 
 
 841 
 
 the General Dictionary, 1734-41, 498. His edition of Milton's Works, 
 1749-54, 609, ' 
 
 Bircherodus, Jano, his Breviarium Equestre, 1704, 358. 
 
 Black Acts or Statutes of Scotland, 273. 
 
 Black, Rev. John, Life of Torquato Tasso, 1810, 550. 
 
 Blackburne, Archdeacon, his Memoirs of Thomas Hollis, 565. 
 
 Blair, Rev. Dr. Robert, character of his Sermons, 92. 
 
 Blake, Robert, Esq. his late copy of the first folio Shakspeare, 823. 
 
 — Mr. W. his designs to Young’s Night Thoughts, 742. Mr. DTs- 
 
 raeli’s Collection of his Drawings, ibid. 
 
 Blasphemateurs du Nom de Dieu , 78 7- 
 
 Blayney, Dr. editor of the standard edition of Bp. Wilson’s Bible, 40. 
 
 Bleda, Jayme, his Chronica de los Moros de Espana, 1618, 315. 
 
 Blickling, Library at, copies there of Coverdule’s Bible, 32. Of the Sedan 
 New Testament, 43. Of Oswen's Prayer Book, 46, Of Lord Berners' s 
 Froissart , 174. Of Hearne’s Works, on large paper, 241. Of Prynne's 
 Records, imperfect, 289. Of De Bry's Voyages, 387. Notices of the 
 house and library, 585, 628. 
 
 Bliss, Rev. Dr. Philip, obligations to him, Pref. xxiii. Various references 
 to his edition of Wood’s Athence Oxonienses , 1813, 87, 154, 193, 195, 
 199, 200, 201, 202, 204, 208, 388, 392, 393, 433, 570, 571, 572, 573, 
 574, 607, 712, 719, 724. Eulogium on ditto, 519. Various references 
 to his Reliquiae Hearniance, 202, 219, 226, 227. His account of the 
 Boar’s Head Carol, 667. 
 
 , his copy of the Geneva Bible, 35. 
 
 Blomfield, Rev. Dr. Charles James, Bishop of Chester, his edition of Cal- 
 limachus, 1815, 630. Ditto of several Plays of JEschylus, 632. 
 
 Blore, Mr. his work of “ Monumental Remains” commended, Pref. v. 
 
 Boaden, Mr. James, An Enquiry into the Authenticity of the various Por- 
 traits of Shakspeare, 1824, 803. 
 
 Boar's Head Carol, ceremony of singing, and copy of, 667. 
 
 Bodleian Library, Oxford, vide Burton, Malone. Copies there of the Maza- 
 rine Bible, 13. Of Fust and Schoiffer’s ditto, 15. Of Kimchi’s Psal- 
 ter, 21. Of the Soncino Hebrew Bible, 23. Of the Acta Sanctorum, 
 110. Of a collection of public papers printed in the reign of Eliza- 
 beth, 276. Of Prynne’s Records, 288. Of a Manuscript of Plato, 
 372. Of Leland’s Commentarii de Scriptoribus Britannicis, 517- Of 
 Whittington’s Epigrammata, on vellum, 471. Of Linacre De Concin- 
 nitate Grammaticis, 573. Of Palsgrave’s Comedye of Acolastus, 
 574. Of the Aldine Aristotle on vellum, 579. Of Wilson’s Epistola, 
 595. Malone’s Collection of Facetiae there, 601. Burton’s Library 
 there, 607- Copy there of the edit, princ. of Virgil, 634. Of Berthe- 
 let’s edition of the Temple of Glass, 662. Of the Tunnyng of Elea- 
 noure Rummyng, 686. 
 
 Bodoni, Jean Baptiste, his edition of Homer on vellum, 1808, 621. Of 
 Dante, 1796, 761. Of Tasso, 1794, 768, 769. Of Boileau , 1814, 776. 
 
 Boece, Hector, Scotorum Historia , 272. 
 
 Boetius, editions of. 
 
 Editio princeps ; Koburger, 1473 ; Variorum, 1671, 587. 
 
 Bohn, Mr. his extensive and valuable catalogues, Pref. xxvii. References 
 to his catalogue, 7, 9, 10, 226, 230, 251, 312, 330, 331, 342, 354, 356, 
 359, 361, 381, 47L 488, 578, 580, 581, 583, 587, 588, 589, 623, 627, 
 636, 640, 642, 644, 647. 
 
 Boileau, Despr£aux, Nicole, editions of his Works , 1747, 1772, 1809, 776. 
 Didot’s, 777. Bodoni’s, ibid. Amar’s, ibid. Murat’s, ibid. 
 
 Boisjermain, Mons. his edition and Commentary on Racine, 1768, 776. 
 
 Boissard, Jean Jacques, his Biographical Works, 503. 
 
 Bold, Henry, Wit a Sporting in a pleasant Grove of New Francies, 729. 
 
 3 I 
 
842 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS. 
 
 Bolingbroke, Henry St. John, Viscount, Letters on the Study of History , 
 138. 
 
 Bolland, Mr. William, his reprint of Lord Surrey’s translation of Virgil, 
 690. 
 
 Bomberg, Daniel, Hebrew Bibles printed by, 1547-49, 24. 
 
 Bond, John, his Scholia to the Variorum Horace , 1670, 642. 
 
 Bongars, James, his edition of the Gesta Dei per Francos , 1611, 105. 
 
 Booksellers, number and importance of their Catalogues, Pref. xxiv. 
 
 Boone, Mr. J. S. Essay on the Study of Modern History , 1821, 138. 
 
 Boothroyd, B. his Hebrew Bible , 1816, 26. His New Family Bible, and 
 Improved Version, 39. 
 
 Bos, Lambert, his edition of the Greek Bible, 1709, 27. 
 
 Bossange and Co., Messrs, their copies of certain works, 98, 100, 107, 301. 
 
 Bossi, M. his Ancient and Modern Italy, 1819, 334. 
 
 Bossuet, James B6iigne, Bishop of Meaux, his character, and editions, &c. 
 of his works, 97* 
 
 Boswell, James, praise of his Life of Dr, Johnson, 53 7. 
 
 Jun. references to his edition of Malone's Shakspeare, 
 
 1821, 790, 798, 810, 812, 813, 814, 822, 823. Buys the Kemble copy 
 of the first Shakspeare folio, 799, 819. Sum paid him for the editing 
 of Malone’s Shakspeare, 807. 
 
 Bouchard, Alain, Les Grandes Chroniques de Bretaigne, 177* 
 
 Bourdaloue, Louis, character and editions of his writings, Brettonneau’s, 
 99, 100. Parisian, 100. 
 
 Bouquet, Dom Marten, commences the Recueil des Historicns des Gaules, 
 1738-1822, 149, 298, 299. 
 
 Bourke, William, History of the Moors in Spain, 1811, 320. 
 
 Bouterwek, Frederick, his remarks on the Spanish Chronicles, 311. On the 
 editions of Lazarillo de Tormes, 316. On Mariana’s Spanish His- 
 tory, 317. On Hurtado de Mendoza, 487. 
 
 Bowditeh, Mr. T. Edward, his Account of a Mission from Cape Coast Castle 
 to the Kingdom of Ashanteein Africa, 1819, 463. 
 
 Bowdler, Mr. The Family Shakspeare, 825. 
 
 Bowles, Rev. William Lisle, his edition of Pope's Works , 1806, 739. His 
 Sonnets, 764. 
 
 Bowyer, William, Biographical and Literary Anecdotes of, 1782, 566. His 
 edition of Thomson’s Seasons, 1 797, 741. 
 
 Boydell, — his splendid impression of Shakspeare, 1791-1801, 809. Mag- 
 nificent series of paintings to, ibid. 
 
 Boyle, Hon. Robert, excellence of his Treatise on Seraphic Love, 66. Lec- 
 tures of eminent Divines founded by, 67. Editions of his Works, 
 1744, 1772, 611. 
 
 Brady, Dr. Robert, his Complete History of England, 1685-1700, 212. 
 
 Braithwait, Richard, his English Gentleman, 1630, 605. Notices of his 
 other works, ibid. The Author of Drunken Barnabe’s Journal, 696. 
 
 Brandao, Antonio and Francisco, their Continuations of Brito's Monarchia 
 Lusitana, 1632-72, 325. 
 
 Brandon, St. Life and Acts of, 248. 
 
 Brantome, Pierre De Bourdeille, Seigneur de, Hommes et Dames Illustres, 
 1740, 552. 
 
 Breitinger, John Jacob, his edition of the Greek Bible, 1730-32, 28. 
 
 Brequigny, Frederic Louis George Oudarde de, his Tables Chronologiques 
 de Diplomes, Chartres, fyc. concernant l' Histoire de France, 1769, 299. 
 
 Brereton, Mr. Joseph, Books in his collection of old English Poetry, &c. 
 
 676 . 
 
 Brescia, rarity of volumes printed at, 22. Edition of Virgil, 635. 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 843 
 
 Breton, M. Russie ; ou Mosurs, Usages, et Costumes des Habitans de toutes 
 les provinces de cet Empire , 1813, 374. 
 
 Breton, Nicholas, sale and price of his Floorish upon Fancie , 1577, 65 2, 
 707. A small Handful l of Fragrant Flowers, 1575, 698. Worhes of 
 a | Young Wyt , 707. Ravisht Soule, 1601, ibid. Prices of various 
 pieces by at the sale of Sir M. Sykes’s Library, ibid. 
 
 Brettoneau, Francis, his edition of Bourdaloue’s Sermons 1707-34, 100. 
 
 Brewer, Anthony, his Lingua imitated -by W. Penn, 62. 
 
 Breydenbach, Bernardus, his Peregrinatio Hierosolymitana, 431. 
 
 Brial, Dom Michel Jean Joseph, his Continuation of the Recueil des His - 
 toriens de la France, 298. 
 
 Bridges, John, his copies of Holinshed’s Chronicles, 196. OfLeland’s 
 Itinerary by Hearne, large paper, 225. 
 
 Brigida Thaumaturga, 1620, 250. 
 
 British Bibliographer various references to the, 5, 224, 230, 232, 233, 234 
 235, 240, 261, 590, 592, 593, 594, 596, 597, 599, 607, 619, 661, 694, 
 697, 698, 707, 709, 712, 720 , 793. 
 
 British Critic, Religious Principles of the, 93. Its Review of Dr. Cople- 
 stone, on Predestination, 95. Of Roscoe’s Life of Lorenzo de Medicis, 
 539. 
 
 Brito, Bernardo de, his Monarchia Lusitana , 1597- -1689, 325. Account 
 of him, ibid. 
 
 Broadhead, Mr. J. his copy of the first folio Shakspeare, 823. 
 
 Broadley, Mr. John, his fine Library at Kirk Ella, Preface xxii. 
 
 Brodie, Mr. his History of the British Empire, 244. 
 
 Brooke, A. de Capell, Travels through Sweden, Norway, and Finmark, 
 1823, 360. 
 
 Brotier, Gabriel, edition of Tacitus, 1771 , 145. 
 
 Browne, Sir Thomas, His Character and Works, 616. His Hydrotaphia, 617- 
 
 , W. G. his Travels in Egypt and Syria, 1799, 461. 
 
 Bruccioli, Anthony, his Italian Bible and Commentary, 1546, 20. 
 
 Bruce, James, Travels to discover the Source of the Nile , 1790,457- Trans- 
 lations of ditto, 458. 
 
 Brucker, John James, Pinacotheca, 1741, 497- 
 
 Brumoy, Pierre, a compiler of the Histoirede VEglise Gallicane, 1730, 104. 
 
 Bruns, Cornelius le. Voyage au Levant, 1700, 435. 
 
 Brunner, Andreas, his Annales Boicorum, 1710, 347. 
 
 Brunet, James Charles, various References to his Manuel du Libraire, 24, 
 25, 51, 98, 100, 102, 103, 105, 108, 117, 137, 172, 173, 177,317,331, 
 332, 334, 335, 341, 354, 358, 366, 383, 38 7, 398, 399, 409, 416, 420, 
 421, 422, 424, 431, 437, 439, 451, 469, 496, 505, 552, 761, 769, 77 2, 
 
 774,775, 776, 777- 
 
 Bruxella, Arnold de, his impression of Horace, 1474, 642. Ditto, of Pe- 
 
 trarch, 14 77, 763. 
 
 Bry, Theodore and Sons, their Greater and Lesser Voyages, 1590, 1637, 
 382. Description of a Splendid Copy of, 383. Notices of other copies 
 of, 387. Their Advertisement concerning their Prints, 384. Piga- 
 fetta’s Account of Congo, translated for,. 4 10. Their Plates to Las 
 Casas’ Brevissima Relation de la Destruycion de las Indias, 470. 
 
 Bryant, Jacob, his edition of Plutarch, 1729, 500. 
 
 Bryant, Mr. William, sale and price of his copy of Hall’s Chronicle, 193, 
 Of Grafton’s ditto, 194. 
 
 Brydges, Sir Samuel Egerton, vide Censura Literaria, his Apology for 
 Greene, 599. His edition of the Paradise of Dainty Devices, 1810, 
 698. Of Davidson’s Poetical Rhapsodies , 728. His Roxburghe Re- 
 print of Pellegrini’s Latin Oration for Tasso, 768. 
 
 Buch, Baron Leopold Von, his Travels in Norway and Lapland, 1813, 360. 
 
 Buchanan, Dr. Francis, Journey through the Countries of Mysore , 1807, 425 
 
844 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS. 
 
 Buchanan, George, Rerum Scoticarum Historia, 274. His Detection of the 
 Doings of Mary Queen of Scotts, 275. 
 
 Buckingham House, vide King’s Library. 
 
 Buckingham, Marquess of, his. unique copy of the Fourth Volume of 
 Prynne’s Records, 289. His copy of Lydgate’s Siege of Troy, on 
 vellum, 675. 
 
 Buckley, Samuel, his edition of De Thou’s History of his Own Time , 1733, 
 305. 
 
 Buder, Christian Gottlieb, vide Meuselius. 
 
 Buhle, John Thomas, edition of the Bipontine Aristotle, 5 79. 
 
 Bukintop, Father Henri de, his Explanation of Passages in the Aldine 
 Bible, 1710, 17. 
 
 Bull, Dr. George, Bishop of St. David’s, excellence of his Writings, 67. 
 
 Bullart, Isaac, Academic des Sciences, 1682, 507. 
 
 Bullet, Jean Baptiste, Memoir es sur la Langue Celtique , 1754, 355. 
 
 Bulmer, William, Prints Reeves’s Bible and Common Prayer, 48. A Selec- 
 tion from Bossuet’s Works, 98. An edition of Milton’s Poetical Works, 
 1794-97, 717. 
 
 Bunbury, Sir H. Bart, notice of an edition of Hamlet , found in his libra- 
 ry, 813. 
 
 Burchard, John, Historia Arcana, 1697, 541. 
 
 Burchell, William James, his Travels in the Interior of South Africa, 1822- 
 24, 464. 
 
 Burckhardt, John Lewis, Travels in Syria and Mount Sinai , 433. His other 
 Work, 457. 
 
 Bure, William Francis de. Mazarine Bible discovered by, 11. His praise 
 of Stephen’s Hebrew Bible, 25. Account of Dugdale’s Monasticon, 
 116. References to his Bibliographie Instructive , 159, 173, 469, 472. 
 His notice of Rudbeck’s Atlantica, 367- 
 
 Burgess, Mr. George, his edition of the Supplices of AZschylus , 632. 
 
 Burgo, Thomas de, Hibernia Dominicana sive Historia Provincice Hiberniae , 
 1762, 260. 
 
 Burghley, William Cecil, Lord, Lord Treasurer, Collection of his State 
 Papers, 296. 
 
 Burnet, Dr. Gilbert, Bishop of Salisbury, his praise of Bourdaloue, 100. 
 His censure of Henry YVharton, 120. Editions of his History of the 
 Reformation , 121. His Memoirs of the Dukes of Hamilton, 16 77, 278. 
 His History of his Own Times, 1724-32, 292. 
 
 Burnett, Mr. George, Reference to his Specimens of English Prose Writers , 
 1807, 209. 
 
 Burney, the Rev. Dr. Charles, his copy of Fleury’s Ecclesiastical History, 
 107- Of the first folio Sliakspeare, 820, 
 
 Burney, Admiral James, his Collection of Voyages in the South Sea , 1813-16, 
 410. 
 
 Burns, Robert, Dr. Currie’s edition of his Works and Reliques, 743. 
 
 Burton, Robert, his Anatomy of Melancholy , 1621, 599. His Library t 
 Oxford, 607. 
 
 Busbequius, Gislenius, his Epistola, Sec. 1663, 436. 
 
 Butler, Rev. Dr. of Shrewsbury, his edition of^Eschylus, 632. 
 
 Mr. Charles, Reference to his History of the Catholics , 122. His 
 
 Life and Writings of I. B. Bossuet, 1812, 99. 
 
 — Samuel, Hudibras, editions of. 
 
 Dr. Grey’s, 731. Towneley’s French Translation, 732. Dr. Nash’s 
 edition, ibid. Baldwin’s, ibid. Remains, by Thyer, ibid. 
 
 Byron, Lord, Reflections on his Genius and Death, 751, 752. Character 
 ristic list of his Poems, 7 52- 
 
 Hon. John, his Voyage round the World, 406. 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 845 
 
 Byzantine Historians, best edition of the, 146. 
 
 Bzovius, Abraham, Ecclesiastical Annals, 1616, 109. 
 
 Cabala , sice Scrinia Sacra , 1663, 292. 
 
 Cadamcsto, Luigi, Prbna Navigazioneper VOceano a le Terre de Negri del - 
 la Bassa Etiopia , 451. 
 
 Caesar, C. Julius, Oudendorp’s edition of his Commentaries , 1737. Ober- 
 lin’s ditto, 1805, 145. 
 
 Caius, Thomas, Hearne’s edition of his Vindicice Antiquitatis Academice 
 Oxoniensis , 1730,235. 
 
 Cayley, Mr. John, his edition of Dugdale’s Monasticon, 117. 
 
 Callander, John, Voyages printed in his Collection , 1766-68, 394, 403,404, 
 406. 
 
 Calleville, Catteau, History of the Revolutions of Norway , 1818, 361. His 
 Memoirs of Christine Queen of Sweden, 1815, 364. 
 
 Calles , — Annales Austrice Veter es et Novee , 1750, 344. 
 
 Calliergus, Zacharias, his edition of Theocritus , 1516, 626. 
 
 Callimachus, editions of : 
 
 Robortellus’ Editio Princeps, Grsevius’, 629. Ernesti’s, Blomfield’s, 
 630. 
 
 Calmet, Augustine, his Histoire Universelle , 1735. Dictionnaire de la Bible . 
 1730, 140. 
 
 Cambridge, Public Library at, volume of Prayers in, printed by W. de Worde, 
 45. Dr. Henry More’s Library there, 57- Copy there of Bishop 
 Tonstall’s book De Arte Supputandi, on vellum, 57 3. Of Apuleius, 
 first edition, 587. Of the Corallus Catullus and Statius, 648. Of 
 Wynkyn de Worde ’s Castell of Labour, 657. Of Caxton’s Temple of 
 Glass, 661. Of his Parliament of Birds, ibid. Number of books 
 contained in, 664. Volumes there of Old Poetry by Caxton, and W. 
 de Worde, 666. Of Chaucer’s Book of Fame by Caxton, 677- Of 
 other pieces by the same printer, 678. 
 
 Camden, William, Clarenceux King of Arms, Anglic a, Normannica , Hiber- 
 nica , et Cambrica, 1603, 159. Hearne’s edition of his Annales , 1717, 
 229. His Works concerning Ireland, 257- 
 
 Campbell, Mr. Thomas, reference to his Pleasures of Hope , 350, 73 7. 
 Various illustrative quotations from, and references to, his Specimens 
 of the British Poets , 1819, 662, 685,689,691, 692, 700, 706, 708, 711, 
 712, 713, 719, 720, 721, 723, 725, 727, 744, 791, 827. His Essay on 
 English Poetry , prefixed to the above work, 744. Large paper copies 
 of ditto, ibid. His Gertrude of Wyoming and Ballads , 745. 
 
 Campion, Edmund, his Chronicle of Ireland , 1633, 252. 
 
 Camus, Francis Denis, particulars from, relating to De Bry’s Voyages, 
 384, 386 Ditto, to Thevenot’s ditto, 398. 
 
 Canterbury Cathedral, Library of, copy there, of the first folio Shakspeare, 
 823. 
 
 Canzler, his Mdmoires pour servir a la connaissance des affaires de la Suede , 
 ) 776, 366. 
 
 Capell Closet, vide Trinity College. 
 
 Capell Edward, reference to his Prolusions , 1760. His edition of Shak- 
 speare, 1768, and sum paid him, 802. Shakspeariana, 1779, ibid. 
 
 Capell, Arthur, Earl of Essex, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, his Letter, 
 1770,258. 
 
 Caraffa, Cardinal Antonio, editor of Zanetti’s Greek Bible, 27. Of a Latin 
 ditto, ibid. 
 
 Carbonell, P. M., his Chroniques de Espanya, 314. 
 
 Carey, Rev. Henry Francis, his English Translation of Dante, 1813, 771. 
 
 Carey and Lea, Messrs, their American Atlas , 467- 
 
 Carew, Richard, his Translation of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered, 724. 
 
846 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS 
 
 > i 
 
 Carew, Thomas, Poetical Character of, 722. Song by, 722. Editions of 
 his Works, 724. 
 
 Carion, John, his Three Bokes of Chronicles , 1550, 191. 
 
 Carlton, Sir Dudley, his Collection of State Papers , 1757, 297. 
 
 Caron, R. P. F. R., Lynch’s edition of his Remonstrantia Hibernicorum.&cc. 
 1665, 255, 
 
 Carreri, J. F. Gemelli, Circumnavigator y Voyage , 1699, 409. 
 
 Carte, Thomas, his General History of England , 1747-55, 242. His Life 
 of James, Duke of Ormond , 1735-36, 243. 
 
 Cartwright, William, Comedies, Tragi- Com edies, and Poems , 1651, 726. 
 Commendatory Verses, prefixed to, ibid. 
 
 Carve, Thomas, his Works on Ireland, 252. 
 
 Carver, Captain Jonathan, Travels through the Interior parts of North 
 America , 1779, 477- 
 
 Casas, Bartholomaeus las, Brevissimp Relation de la Destruycion de las In- 
 dies, 1552, 469. 
 
 Casaubon, Dr. Isaac, his edition of Aristotle , 1590, 57 9. Of Atheneeus , 
 1657, 583. 
 
 Casirio, Michael, his Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana Escurialensis, 1760,310. 
 
 Castanheda, Fernan Lopez de, his Conquests of the Portuguese in India, 
 1522,-24, 420. 
 
 Castell, Dr. Edmund, his Lexicon to Walton's Polyglot , 1669, 7- 
 
 Castell of Labour, 1506, commencement of, 657- 
 
 Castell of Pleasure, by Wynkyn de Worde, verses from, 662. Sold at the 
 Sale of Sir M. Sykes’s Library, ibid. 
 
 Castelnau, Marquis Michel Gabriel de, his Essai sur I'Histoire Ancienne et 
 moderne de la nouvelle Russie, 1820, 369- 
 
 Castelvetro, Ludovico, his edition of Petrarch, 1756, 763. 
 
 Castera, J. his History of Catharine II. Empress of Russia, 1800, 374. 
 
 Castlehaven, James Lord Audley, Earl of, his Memoirs, <§rc. in the Wars of 
 Ireland, various editions of, 257- 
 
 Catullus, editions of. 
 
 Editio Princeps, Coralline, Volpine, Parisian, 648. 
 
 Cavazzi, Giovanni, Antonio du Monteeucolo, Descrizione dei tre Reame, 
 ciob Congo, Matouba e Angola, 462. 
 
 Cave, Dr. William, Canon of Windsor , — Historia Litteraria Scriptorum 
 Ecclesiasticorum, 1740, 119. His disputes with Henry Wharton, 120. 
 
 Caxton, William, his Chronicle, 1480, 178. Various reprints and editions 
 of, 179-180. His edition of the Polychronicon, 1482, 181. His edi- 
 tion of the Statutes, 1490-91, 284. Grammatical Works, printed by, 
 572, 575. His edition of AEsop, 581. His edition of Reynard the Fox, 
 591. Of the Temple of Glass, 661. Books of at Ham House, 671. 
 His impressions of the Canterbury Tales , 676, 677- Old and recent 
 prices given for his Fruitful and Ghostly Matters, 676. His Life of 
 St. Wenefrid, ibid. Of his Virgil's Eneid, ibid. 678. His Impres- 
 sion of Chaucer's Booh of Fame, 677- Ancient prices given for ditto, 
 and for his Godfrey of Boulogne, Faits of Arms, and Chastising of God's 
 Children, 678. His impression of Chaucer's Troilus and Cressida, 
 ibid. Of Chaucer's Minor Poems , ibid. Of Gower's Confessio Amantis, 
 1483, 684. Of various Poems by Lydgate, 685. 
 
 Caylus, Madame de. Memoir es of, 1805, 556. 
 
 Cellini, Benvenuto, editions of his Memoirs , 535. 
 
 Censura Literaria, various illustrative references to the, 160, 183, 19.9, 
 
 208, 393, 433, 590, 593, 597, 601, 608, 657, 663, 666, 688, 690, 694, 
 
 69 6, 698, 699, 704, 705, 706, 708, 710, 719, 720, 722, 724, 736, 740, 
 
 741, 792. 
 
 Cevallos, Pedro Ordonez de, his Voyage round the World, 1614, 410. 
 
 Chalmers, Mr. Alexander, references to his General Biographical Dictio- 
 nary, 112, 113, 119, 120, 155, 198, 199, 203, 242, 293, 356, 358, 393, 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 647 
 
 400, 406, 433, 523, 530, 537, 592, 595, 604, 606, 608, 609, 616. His 
 copy of Brucker’s Pinacotheca, 497. His Account of the publication 
 of the General Historical Dictionary, 498. His fragment of the Sixth 
 Volume of the Biographia Britannica, 499. His work above quoted, 
 ibid. His copy of Bullart’s Academe des Sciences, 50 7. His edition 
 of the British Essayists , 615. Of the British Poets, 755. List of Au- 
 thors and Translations in, 755, 6. Assistance received for the Work 
 756. * 
 
 1 Mr. George, his Copies of Bellenden’s Chroniklis of Scotland, 
 
 273. Of Davidson’s Black Acts, ibid. Of Patten’s Expedicion of the 
 Duke of Somerset, 275. His literary Character, 281. His Caledonia 
 and Life of Mary Queen of Scots, 281, 282. His Political Annals of 
 the United Colonies , 1780, 477. His edition of Defoe’ s History of the 
 Union, 1787, 615. Life of Defoe, 1790, 616. Apology for the Be- 
 lievers in Ireland's Forgery , and Supplement to ditto, 807. His copy 
 of Shakspeare's Henry VI. Part III. 1595, 816. 
 
 Chamberlayne, Mr. John, his Portraits of the Illustrious Persons of the 
 Court of Henry VIII. 1792, 512. 
 
 Champion , The , praise of Lord Wellington in, 753. 
 
 Chandler, Dr. Richard, his Travels in Greece and Asia Minor, 1774-76, 
 337, 433. Ionian Antiquities, 33 7. Inscript. Antiq. ibid. Life of 
 William of Waynflete, 1811, 548. 
 
 Chapman, George, his Continuation of Marlow's Hero and Leander, 1600, 
 708. The Blinde Begger of Alexandria, 1598, 792. 
 
 Chardin, Sir John, Voyage en Perse, 1735, 409. Excellence, and other edi- 
 tions of ditto, 429. 
 
 Chardin, M. his copies of French Mysteries, 783. vide Long. 
 
 Charles I. &c. True Effigies of, 1641, Sale and price of, 654. 
 
 Charlevoix, Peter Francis Xavier de, Histoire du Japon, 1736, 439. His 
 Nouvelle France, 1744, &c. 472. 
 
 Chartier, Alain, the Bookec allyd Cathon , & c. 1483, 591. 
 
 Chateaubriand, Marquis de, Itineraire de Paris a Jerusalem, 1812, 432. 
 
 Chatsworth, 597, vide Devonshire. 
 
 Chaucer, Geoffrey, Editions of his Works. 
 
 Caxton’s, 676. Pynson’s 677, 679. Wynkyn de Worde’s, 679. God- 
 fray’s, 680. Bonham’s, 681. Howe’s and Speght’s, ibid. Urry’s, 
 ibid. Tyrwhitt’s, 682. Pickering’s, 684. Manuscripts of, 683. His 
 Complaint unto his empty Purse, copy of, 678. 
 
 Cliaudon, Abbe Louis Mayeul, his Nouveau Dictionnaire Historique , 1804, 
 497- 
 
 Chaufepi6, Nouveau Dictionnaire Historique et Critique, 1750, 496. 
 
 Cheeke, Henry, A certayne Tragedie wrytten fyrst in Italian, by F. N. B. 
 entituled Freewyl , 793. 
 
 Chenier, M. his Recherches Historiques sur les Maures , 1787, 460. 
 
 Chester, Robert, Love's Martyr, 1601, 709. Sale and price of in Sir M. 
 Sykes’s library, ibid. Pref. xxv. 
 
 Chillingworth, Rev, William, .Quotation from, Pref. vi. Character of his 
 writings, 53. Best edition and price of his Works, 57. 
 
 Choiseul-Gouffier, Voyage Pittoresque de la Grece, 338. 
 
 Christ-Church College,Oxford, Library of, large paper Hearnes there, 225, 
 241. Copy there of Hudson’s Minor Greek Geographers, 414. 
 
 Christina, Queen of Sweden, various editions of her Memoirs, 364. 
 
 Christmas Carols, account of, 667. 
 
 Christopher, St. Le Mystere du glorieux Sainct Christofle, 1530, 783. 
 
 Chronicle of the Cid Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar, the Campeador, Mr. Southey’s 
 Translation of, 1808, 312. 
 
 Chroniques de St. Denys, early editions of, 171. 
 
848 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS 
 
 Chrysostom, St. John, best edition and price of his works, 1708, 51. 
 
 Church, Ralph, his edition of Spenser’s Faerie Queen , 1758, 701. 
 
 Churchill, Awnsham and John, their Collection of Voyages and Travels, 
 1732, 399. Prices of ditto, 400. 
 
 Rev. Charles, his Poetical Works, 742. 
 
 Churchyard, Thomas, Notices and sale of his works, 693-695. 
 
 Churton, Rev. Ralph, his Life of Dr. Alexander Nowell, 1809, 549. His 
 Lives of the Founders of Brazen-nose College , 1800, ibid. 
 
 Chute, Anthony, Sale and price of his Beawtie Dishonoured, 1 593, 653, 
 710. Procris and Cephalus, 1593, 710. 
 
 Cibber, Colley, his Apology for his Life , 530. 
 
 Cicero, editions of his works. 
 
 Olivers, 585. Elzevirs, Foulis’s, Ernesti’s, Lallemand’s, 586. 
 
 Cicognara, Leopold, his Works on Sculpture commended, Pref. iv. Biblio- 
 theca, reference to the, 507. 
 
 Cirencester, Richard of, his Itinerary , 165. 
 
 Cisneros, Cristofero Zapata de, his edition of Dante, 1757, 760. 
 
 Clarendon, Edward Hyde, Earl of. History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars , 
 1702-3-4, 219. Numerous editions of ditto, 220. Notice of his Por- 
 trait, ibid. His censure of May’s History of the Long Parliament, 
 290. Collection of his State Papers, 296. His character of Carew, 
 723. 
 
 Clarendon Press, Oxford, reprints of Strype’s Lives produced there, 125. 
 527, 529. 
 
 Clarke, Dr. Adam, his praise of Bomberg’s Hebrew Bible, 24. His Com- 
 mentary on the Scriptures , 41, 42. His edition of Rymer’s Fccdera, 
 1816,291-2. 
 
 Dr. Edward Daniel, his Travels, 37 1 • Analysis and excellence of 
 
 ditto, 372. Notice of his other works, ibid. 
 
 . Rev. James Stanier, Life of Lord Aelson, 1809, 550. 
 
 Dr. Samuel, editions of the works of, 67. His edition of Homer, 
 
 1729-40, 621. 
 
 Mr. his price for Machlinia’s Nova Statuta, 284. Helps to English 
 
 History in his Law Catalogue, 285. 
 
 Mr. William, his notice of a fourth volume of Prynne’s Records, 
 
 289. Of Mr. Beckford’s copy of Mezerai’s History, 301. Reference 
 to his Repertorium Bibliographicum, 694. 
 
 Classical Journal , Account of the Mazarine Bible in the, 11. Dissertation 
 in, on the lyrical metre of Anacreon, 628. 
 
 Claudianus, editions of. 
 
 Editio princeps, 646. Gesner’s, Burman’s, Elzevir’s, Variorum, 647- 
 
 Clede, M. de la, Histoire Gdndrale de Portugal, 1735, 326. 
 
 Clement, David, reference to his Bibliothbque Curieuse historique et cri- 
 tique, 1753, 172. 
 
 Clerc, John le, his Latin Bible and Commentary, 1735, 16. His edition of 
 Erasmus’s Works, 1703, 96. 
 
 Clerc, N. Gabriel le, his Histoire de la Russie Ancienne et Moderne, 1783, 
 370. 
 
 Clergy, Tract on contempt of the, 62,3. Answer to ditto, 66. Ancient pro- 
 vision for the, 63. Difficulties of the indigent, 64, 65, 66. 
 
 Cluni, Alexander, his American Traveller, 1769, 476. 
 
 Cock Lorell’s Bote , 666. 
 
 Cointe, Charles le, his Annales Ecclesiastici Francorum , 1665, 105. 
 
 Coke, Thomas William, Esq. M. P. his copy of Archbishop Parker’s Anti- 
 quitates Britannicae Ecclesiae, 114. 
 
 Colgan, John, his works on the Irish Saints, 249. 
 
 Collection Universelle des Mbmoires relatifs a l’ Histoire, 1785, 299, 304. 
 
 Collier, Rev. Jeremy, his Ecclesiastical History of England, 1708, 119. 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 849 
 
 Collins, Arthur, his edition of the Sydney Papers , 1748, 297. His Histo- 
 rical Collections , 1752,532. 
 
 ■ William, editions of his Odes and Eclogues, 741. Excellence of 
 his Ode to Evening , ibid. 
 
 Colman, George, Sen. his edition of Beaumont and Fletcher's Works . 
 1778, 828. 
 
 Cologne Chronicle , 1499, reference to the, 12. 
 
 Colonia, John de, his edition of Catullus, 1475, 648. 
 
 Columbus, Christopher, his Epistle , 1493, printed by Planck, sale and 
 price of Sir M. Sykes’s copy, 468. Ditto, printed by Silber, copy of 
 in Don Antonio Conde’s Library, 468. 
 
 Combes, Mr. William, his copy of Herrick’s Hesperides, 711. 
 
 Comines, Philip de, editions of his Memoires, 177 . 
 
 Complaynt of the Herte thorughe perced with the lokynge of the Eye , 659. 
 
 Complaynte of a Louer's Lyfe , 658. 
 
 Conde, Louis de Bourbon, Prince de, Memoires de , 1820, 557. 
 
 Conde, Don Antonio, Sale and prices of his copies of Historia del Cid, 
 312. Of Beuter’s Cronica, 314. Of Febrer’s Llinatges, 315. Of 
 Bleda’s Cronica de los Moros, 316. Of Ferrera’s Synopsis Historica, 
 318. Of Barbosa Machado’s Bibliotheca Lusitana, &c. 323. Of the 
 reprint of Barros’ Decadas, 419. Of Columbus’s Epistle De Insulis 
 Indie , 468. Of Cieca de Leon’s Chronica de Peru, 488. 
 
 Conscience, an excellent New Commedie entituled the Conflict of Conscience , 
 1581, 793. 
 
 Conusaunee d' Amours, Sale and price of, in Sir M. Sykes’s Library, 658. 
 
 Cook, C-. his editions of Select British Poets, and Novelists, 75/. 
 
 Capt. James, eulogies on, 407- Bibliographical Account of his 
 
 Voyages, 407, 8. Reprint of ditto, 409. 
 
 Cooper, Robert, his Continuation of Lanquett's Epitome of Chronicles, 191. 
 
 Coote, Dr. Charles, his new edition of, Maclaine's Translation of Mosheim’s 
 Ecclesiastical History , 1811, 126. 
 
 Copies tone. Dr. Edward, his Work on Predestination, 95. His Prcelec- 
 tiones Academical, 1803, 645. 
 
 Cordiner, Rev. James, Description of Ceylon, 1807, 443. 
 
 Gordova, Martini de, liis Chronicle of Spain, 315. 
 
 Coreal, Francois, Voyages en les Indes Occidentales, 1722, 471. 
 
 Corneille, editions of his Works, Didot’s, Renouard’s, 775. 
 
 Cornwallyes, Sir William, his Essay es, 1632, 608. 775. 
 
 Corpus Christi College, Oxford, Library of, copy there of the Aldine Aris- 
 totle on vellum, 579. 
 
 Cortez, Ferdinando, various editions of his Epistles, 474. 
 
 Coryate, Thomas, editions and prices of his Crudities, 161 1, 391. 
 
 Cotelerius, John Baptist, Collection of the Greek Apostolic k Fathers, 1/24, 
 51. 
 
 Cotton, Dr. Henry, various References to his List of the Editions of the 
 English Bible , &c. 31, 32, 33, 34, 35. His copy of the Geneva 
 Bible, 35. 
 
 — — , Roger, sale and price of his Armour of Proof e, 1596, 653. Ditto 
 of his Spirituall Song , 1596, ibid. 
 
 Corerdale, Dr. Miles, Bishop of Exeter, excellence of his Works, 29. His 
 English Bible, editions of, 32. 
 
 Cowley, Abraham, Poetical Blossoms, 1633, 726, 729. The Mistresse, 1647, 
 ibid. 
 
 Cowper, William, Memoirs of, 546, 547, His edition of the Latin and Ita- 
 lian Poems of Milton , 1808, 718. His Poetical Character, 743. 
 
 Cox, Richard, Hibernia Anglicana, 1689, 258. 
 
850 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS, 
 
 Coxe, Rev. William, Archdeacon of Wilts, his Remarks on Tindall's Con- 
 tinuation of Rapin, 223. His Histories of the House of Austria, and 
 King's of Spain of the House of Bourbon , 344. His Travels in Poland 
 and Russia , 1784, 371. His biographical works, 545. 
 
 Crabbe, Rev. George, character of his Poetry, 750. 
 
 Craclierode, Rev. Clayton Mordaunt, his veilum copy of Fust and Sclioif- 
 fer's Bible, 14. Collection of Jeremy Taylor’s Works, 59. His Copy 
 of Holinshed’s Chronicles, 196. His vellum copy of Lilye’s Grammar, 
 572. Of the Edit. Prin. of Catullus, on vellum, 64S. Of the Aldine 
 Petrarch, 763. Of the first folio Shakspeare, 1809, 81 7- Price marked 
 in ditto, 819. — 
 
 Crantz, vide Gering. 
 
 Crapelet, M., his Impression of Fontaine's Works, 1814, 774. Of J. B. 
 Rousseau's ditto, 1820, 780. 
 
 Crashaw, Richard, Steps to the Temple , 1646, 721. Carmen Deo Nostro , 
 1652, ibid. 
 
 Crauford, John, his Teares of Ireland, 1642, 265. Mr. Grenville's Re- 
 marks on ditto, ibid. Duke of Devonshire’s copy of, ibid. 
 
 Critici Sacri, 1660, 52. 
 
 Croix du Maine, Francois Grusdela , Bibliothbquc Franqaise , 1 772-73, 772. 
 
 Crompton, Hugh, sale and price of his Poems, 1657, 652. Ditto of his 
 Pierides, 1658, 653. 
 
 Cruden, Mr. R. his copy of Coryate’s Crudities, 392. 
 
 Cryste Crosse me spede, verses from, 665. 
 
 Cud worth, Dr. Ralph, his Intellectual System excellently translated by 
 Moslieim, 126. 
 
 Cumberland, Richard, his Memoirs , 548. 
 
 Currer, Miss, her fine library, Pref. xxi, Her copy of the Fructus 
 Temporum, on vellum, 180. Private Catalogue of her Library, ibid. 
 Her copy of the Polychronicon, 182. Historical Apparatus to her 
 Library, 286. Her copy of Norden’s Voyage d’Egypte, large paper, 
 453. 
 
 Custome, A new Enterlude, entituled New Custome, 1573, 793. 
 
 Custos, Dominic, his Fuggerorum et Fuggerarum Imagines, 506. * 
 
 Cuthell, Mr. his sale copy and price of Towneley’s Translation of Hudibras, 
 732. 
 
 D’Ablancourt, Perrot, his French Translation of MarmnVs Description de 
 Africa , 1669, 451. 
 
 Dalrymple, Alexander, his Historical Collection of Voyages and Discoveries 
 in the Southern Pacific Ocean , 1770, 440. Particulars concerning him, 
 441. 
 
 ■ ■■ ■ Sir David, Lord Hailes, his Annals of Scotland, 280. 
 
 Dampier, Captain W’illiam, Collection of Voyages, 1729, 8vo. 400, 404. 
 His character from the Biographie Unive’rselle, 404. 
 
 Daniel, Father Gabriel, Histoire de France, 1755, 302. 
 
 — - Samuel, Collection of the History of England, 209. Worhs of, 1718. 
 724. Complaint of Rosamond, 1592, ibid. Certain small JVoorkes, 1611 
 ibid. 
 
 Dante, editions of his Divina Commedia , J£si, Foligno, Mantuan, Tuppo, 
 Naples, 759. With Landino’s Commentary, 760. Aldine, Venetian, 
 Zapata de Cisneros, Lombardi’s, Bodoni’s and Mussi's, 761. English 
 Translation of, by the Rev. F. H. Carey, 771. 
 
 D’Anville, Jean Baptiste Bourignon, his U Empire de Russie, 1772, 370. 
 His Geographical Works, 431. His new Allas of China, 1737, 438. 
 
 Dapper, Olfert, Asia, or a Description of the Empire of the Great Mogul , 
 1672, 423, 451. His praise of Ogilby’s America, 471. 
 
 D’Arc, Jeanne, New History of, 1824, 308. 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 851 
 
 D’Arevieux, Chevalier, his Voyages h Constantinople , &c. 1735, 434. 
 
 David, Citizen Francois Anne, his Histoire de France , 1787-96, 303. His 
 Histoire de Russie represents par figures , 1799, 374. 
 
 Davies, John, of Hereford, Works of, 7 19, Epigrams printed with Mar- 
 low’s Ovid, 797- Prices of his pieces at the Sale of Sir M. Sykes’s 
 Library, 720. 
 
 Davila, Enrico Katerina, his Storia delle Guerre Civile di Franck , 1733, 
 307. 
 
 Davis, Sir John, Historical relations concerning Ireland, 1644, 257. Sale 
 and price of his Epigrams , 653. 
 
 Davison, Francis, Sale and price of his Poetical Rapsodie , 1611, 653, 728. 
 
 Davys, John, his Tract concerning Whitelock and Clarendon, 211. 
 
 Day, John, his English Bible , 1568, 33. 
 
 Defoe, Daniel, character and names of his Works, 615, 616. First edition 
 of Robinson Crusoe, ibid. 
 
 Dekker, Thomas, character of his works, 600. Collection of them by 
 Mr. Heber, 6. His Test to make you merrie , 1607, 605. 
 
 Delabere copy of Holland’s Basiloologia, 505. 
 
 Delanqon, Mons. his copy of Hume’s History of England, large paper, 
 244. 
 
 Delandine, Antoine Francois, his Nouveau Dictionnaire Historique , 1804, 
 497. 
 
 D’Elci, Count, his copy of Ulric Han’s Juvenal, 638. 
 
 Delia , conteyning certain Sonnets, 1592, 728. 
 
 Delille, M., his Poetical Works, 781. 
 
 Dempster, Thomas, references to his Works on the Antiquity of Scotland, 
 249. 
 
 Denham, Sir John, Cooper's Hill , 1642, 721. Poems, 1719, 730. 
 
 Denina, Carlo, his Revoluzioni d’ Italia, 1769, 334. 
 
 Denmark , Compendious History of the Kings of , 1695, .359. 
 
 Denon, Vivant, his V oyage dans la Basse et la Haute Egypte, i 802, 454. 
 
 Dent, Mr. John, his copy of Tindall’s edition of Rapin’s History, 224. 
 Large paper Hearne’s in his Library, 241. His copy of Prynne’s 
 Records, 289. Of Montfaucon’s Antiquity Expliqu&s, large paper, 
 303. Of Anderson’s House of Yvery, 565. Of the editio princeps of 
 Homer’s Odyssey on vellum, 621. Of the first folio Shakspeare, 820. 
 
 D’Entrecasteaux, Vice-Admiral Bruny, his V oyage in Search of Perouse’, 
 1808,411. 
 
 Description of Britain, 178. 
 
 Desodoard’s, Fantin de, his Continuation of Velley's, Villaret's , and Gamier' s 
 History of France, 1819, 304. His History of Italy, 1803, 335. 
 
 D’Espinay, Madame, her Memoir es et Correspondance, 1818, 562. 
 
 D’Estrades, Godfrey, Due, The Secrets, Letters , and Negotiations of the 
 Marechal Duke d’Estrades, 1743, 55 7. 
 
 Devonshire, Duke of, his copies of the Mazarine Bible, 13. Of Fust and 
 Schoiffer’s do. 15. Of the Aldine do., 16. Of De Thou’s CarafFa 
 Latin Bible, 27. Of Fox’s Book of Martyrs, 113. Of Caxton’s Chro- 
 nicle, 178. Of Caxton’s Nova Statuta, 284. Of Prynne’s Records, 
 289. Of De Bry’s Voyages, 386. Of the Tears of Ireland, 488. Of 
 The Book for Travellers, 577- Of Serranus’s edition of Plato, 578. 
 Of Fraunce’s Lawyer’s Logike, 596, 7* Of the modern Greek Homer, 
 624. Of the editio princeps of Callimachus, 629. Sale of his dupli- 
 cate of Catullus, &c. editio princeps, 648. Of Wynkyn de Worde’s 
 Lover and Jay, 657, 8. Of his Coinplaynteof a Louer’s Lyfe, 658. Of 
 his Titus and Gesyppus, 663. Of Tyrwhitt’s Aristotle’s Poetics, large 
 paper, 682. Of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, in Manuscript, 683. Of 
 Gower’s Confessio Amantis by Caxton, 684. Of the Aldine Petrarch, . 
 
852 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS, 
 
 763. Of the Ferrara Ariosto, 765. Buys the Dramatic Library of 
 J. P. Kemble, 791. A volume of Shakspeare’s Quarto Plays, 6 13. 
 His copy of the first folio Shakspeare, 819. 
 
 D’Ewes, Sir Simon, his description of Queen Henrietta Maria, 23 17. His 
 Journal of all the Parliaments during the reign of Elizabeth, 1708, 292. 
 
 Dictionnaire Bibliographique Choisi , reference to, 180. 
 
 Dictionnaire Nouveau Historique, its censure of French Novels and Tales, 
 132. 
 
 Dictionnaire de Trevoux , 1771 > 494. 
 
 Didot, Firmin, notice of his Latin Bible , 1785, 16. His edition of Tasso , 
 1784, 769. Of Corneille , 1796, 775. Of Racine , ibid. Of Voltaire , 
 77 8, 780. OiDelille , 781. 
 
 Digges, Sir Dudley, his Compleat Ambassador, 1655, 292. 
 
 Diodati, John, his Italian Bible and Annotations , 1607, 20. 
 
 Diodorus Siculus, Bipont edition of, 1793-1807, 144. 
 
 Diogenes Laertius, editions of his Lives of the Philosophers, — Meibomius’, 
 Longolius’, 501, 2. 
 
 Dion Cassius, Fabricius’ and Reimar’s edition of, 1750, 145. 
 
 Dionysius Halicarnassensis, Reiske’s edition of, 1784, 145. 
 
 Discourse of Artificial Beauty , supposed by Bishop Taylor, notice of, 60. 
 
 D’Israeli, Mr. J. references to his Literary character and Calamities of 
 Authors, 5, 245, 297,599,600. To his Quarrels, of do. 124, 731. 
 Particulars from, concerning Milton’s History of England, 210. Ditto 
 relating to Whitelock’s Memorials, 211. His Memoirs of Italian 
 Historians, 328, 334. His remark on Guicciardini, 333. Observation 
 concerning the study of Biography, 491. His praise of Hoffman and 
 the Dictionnaire de Trevoux, 494. His Article on Bayle and his 
 Dictionary, 494. Ditto on the Sources of Secret History, 568. His 
 collection of Blake’s Drawings, 742. 
 
 Dodd, Charles, his Church History of England regarding the Roman 
 Catholics, 1737-42, 122, reference to, 216. 
 
 Doddridge, Dr. Philip, his praise of Bishop Hall’s Contemplations, 61. 
 Character, and Family Expositor of, 70. His Rise and Progress of Re* 
 ligion, &c. ibid. 
 
 Dodsley, Robert, his Collection of Old Plays , 1780, 780. Reference to 
 ditto, 63, 
 
 Dodwell, Mr. His Classical Tour through Greece, 338. 
 
 Doesborow, John, his edition of Arnold* s Chronicle , 183. 
 
 D’Ohsson, Mouradja, his Tableau Gdnerale de V Empire Othoman, 436. 
 
 Dolarney, — Sale and price of his Primerose, 1606, 653, reprint of, 728. 
 
 Domesday Booh, modern edition of the, 1783-1816, 286. 
 
 Donne, Dr. John, Dean of St. Paul’s, Poems, 1719, 730. 
 
 Doubdan, J. Le Voyage de la Terre Sainte, 1661. 431. 
 
 Douce, Mr. Francis, his copy of Edgeworth’s Sermons, 87. Of Fox’s Book 
 of Martyrs, 112. Detects the supposed Painting of Archbishop 
 ' Parker, 115. References to his Illustrations of Shakspeare , 1807, 180, 
 590. Excellence of ditto, 803. His edition of Arnold’s Chronicle , 
 1811, 184. His copies of Hall’s Chronicle, 194. Of Pynson’s Statutes, 
 285. Of the Fuggerorum et Fuggerarum Imagines, 507- Of Wick- 
 liffe’s Translation of the Scriptures, 529. Of Burchard’s Historia 
 Arcana, 541. Of Stanbridge’s Accedence, 570. Of Palsgrave’s Ec- 
 claircissemens, 574. Of the Promptorius Puerorum, 576. Caxton’s 
 Reynard the Fox, 591. Of Godfrey’s edit, of the Canterbury Tales, 
 681, His introduction and glossary to Judicium, an ancient Pageant, 
 
 Douglas, Dr. James, his collection of Horace, 620. 
 
 Dover’s V oyages, touching the Discoveries of America, &c. 1582, 388. 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 853 
 
 D’Oyley, Dr. George, his English Bible , 29, 38, 39, 40. References to 
 his Life of Archbishop Saner oft, 120. 
 
 Drake, Sir Francis, works relating to his services, 394, 403. 
 
 * _. Nathtin, his Essays, Biographical, Critical , and Historical , illus- 
 
 t , r o l ve X lhe s Pe°tator, &c. 1805, 615. Shakspeare and his Times, 
 
 lol/, oU4. 9 
 
 — Dr. Samuel, his edition 
 niece Ecclesice, 1729, 116. 
 hed, 1728, 195. 
 
 of Archbishop Parker's Antiquitates Britan* 
 His edition of the Castrations in Hollins- 
 
 Drant, Dr. Thomas, Extracts from his Sermons, 81, 86. 
 
 Drayton, Michael, character of, 725. The Owle , 1604, ibid. The Muse's 
 Ely zium, ibid. Polyolbion , 1622, ibid. 
 
 Dresden, particulars concerning the horses there by Fynes Moryson, 445. 
 ~ Royal library of, copy there of Mazoeco’s edition of Ariosto, 765. 
 Drouet, M. his edition of Moreri's Grand Dictionnaire Historique , 1759 
 494. , 2 * 
 
 Drummond, Mr. his copy of Mariana's Spanish History, 318. 
 
 — > William, of Hawthornden, his History of Scotland, 1655, 278, 
 
 His Poetical Works , 727- 
 
 Drury, Rev. Henry, his copy of Lebrun’s Voyage au Levant, on large paper, 
 435. Of the editio princeps of Homer, 621. Of Barnes’s Homer, 
 622. Of Schrevelius, do. large paper, ibid. His recitation of Pindar! 
 627. His reprint of Cock Loreli’s Bote, 666. 
 
 Dryander, Jonas, his account of tlie fourth volume of Rudbeck’s Atlantica 
 
 Dryden, John, editions of his works, Malone’s, 612, 735. Warton’s, 735. 
 Sir W. Scott’s, ibid. 
 
 Dubois, Abb4, J. A. his works on India, 442. 
 
 Ducarel, Dr. Andrew Coltee, his List of English Editions of the Bible, 1778, 
 40. His account of Archbishop Parker’s work, de Antiquitate Britan- 
 nicae Ecclesiae, in the Lambeth Library, 115. 
 
 Duchesne, Andrew, Histories Normannorum Script ores Antiqui, 1619, 159, 
 Price of do. 160. Histoire Gendrale d'Angleterre, d'Ecosse, et d'lr- 
 lande , 1614, 160, 209. His Histories Francorum Scriptores coetanei , 
 1636, 299, 
 
 Dugdale, Sir William, Garter King of Arms, various editions oi\d\s Monas- 
 ticon Anglicanum, 116. Modern do., 117, 118. 
 
 Dulwich College, Library of, copy there of the Earl of Surrey’s translation 
 of Virgil’s iEneis, 690. Portrait there of Lovelace’s Althea, 720. 
 
 Duncan, Mr. his edition of Wakefield's Lucretius, 1813, 637. 
 
 Dunstaple, priory of, Hearne’s edition of the Annales of, 1733, 236. Ac- 
 count of, and various extracts from do., 237- Verses on the Name 
 and arms of Dunstaple, 238. 
 
 Dunster, Mr. Charles, his edition of Milton's Paradise Re gained, ho,. 1795, 
 
 717. 
 
 Dupleix, Scipio, his Histoire Gdnerale de France, 1646-63, 299. 
 
 Dysart, Countess of, her large paper copy of Burnet’s History of the Re- 
 formation, 121. Copy of Fabian’s Chronicle, 186. Of Bellenden’s 
 Boece, on vellum, 274. Her collection of Skeltons, 661. Her copy 
 of the Parliament of Deuylles, ibid. Of De Worde’s Boke of Hunting, 
 &c. ibid. Her collection of Caxtons, 671. Her copy of Hawes’s 
 Comfort of Lovers, 673. Of his Pastime of Pleasure, ibid. Of the 
 Canterbury Tales, edit. prin. 676. 
 
 Eadmer ; — Historia Novarum , sive sui Sceculi, 166. 
 
 Eclectic Review, religious principles of the, 93. 
 
 Echard, Rev. Lawrence, extract from his supposed tract on the Contempt of 
 the Clergy, 1670, 63. Answer to do., 1671, 66. His praise of Samuel 
 Daniel, 209. His History of England, 1710, 216. 
 
854 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS ; 
 
 Edgeworth, Rev. Roger, Canon of Salisbury, account of his Sermons , 1557 
 87- Extracts from do., 88. 
 
 Edmonton, character of a library in the vicinity of, Pref. xxiii. 
 
 Edinburgh English Bible, 1811, notice of, 17- 
 
 Edinburgh Critical Journal, review in of the M6noires Historiques, Litt6- 
 raires, et Anecdotiques, 562. 
 
 . Monthly Magazine, particulars in the, concerning, Mackenzie’s 
 
 Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, 279. 
 
 Philosophical Journal , review in of Moorcroft’s Travels, 427- 
 
 Review, Sermons of Horsley and Alison analysed in, 94. Criti- 
 cisms in of Col. Jolines’ Translation of Froissart, 176. Of Mackenzie’s 
 Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, 279. Of Dr. Clarke’s Travels in 
 Denmark, &c. 371. Of Elphinston’s Kingdom of Caubul, 428. Of 
 MorieFs Journey through Persia, 430. Of Humboldt’s Travels, 485. 
 Of Galt’s Novels, 530. Of Roscoe’s Life of Leo X., 539. Of Be- 
 rington’s Literary History of the Middle Ages, 543. Of Hayley’s 
 Life and Writings of Cowper, 546. Of the Life of Richard Cumber- 
 land, 548. Of Schweighaeuser’s edition of Athenaeus, 583. Of Bacon’s 
 character as a philosopher, 603. Of Moore’s Lalla Rookh, 749. Of 
 the character and Genius of Dante, 759. 
 
 University Librarv, copies there ofBellenden’s Boece, on vellum 
 
 274. 
 
 Edrisi, his Geographical Works, 450. 
 
 Edwards, Bryan, his History and Survey of the French Colony of St. Do- 
 mingo. History Civil and Ecclesiastical of the British Colonies in the 
 West Indies, 478. 
 
 Egypt, Description de VEgypte, 1809, 454. 
 
 Eichstadt, Henreich, Carl Abraham, D., his edition of Lucretius , 1801, 
 637. 
 
 Eiekhorn, John Godfrey, his edition of Abulfeda’s Africa , 1791, 450. 
 
 Ellis, Mr. George, reference to his Specimens of Early English Metrical 
 Romances, and Poets, 153, 209, 271, 723. Excellence, of do., 744. 
 
 , Mr. Henry, his edition of Dugdale’s Monasticon, 1 17- His remarks 
 
 on the various editions of Fabian’s Chronicle, 186. His edition of do. 
 1811, 187- His edition of Hardyng’s Chronicle , 1812, 190. His In- 
 troduction to Domesday Book, 1816, 286. 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen of England, translates the Queen of Navarre’s Meditation 
 on inward love of Christ, 132. Verses by in the Monument of Matrons, 
 134. Address to her by Serranus, 578. 
 
 Elmes, Mr. James, liis edition of Wren’s Parentalia, 1823, 532. 
 
 Elmliam, Thomas de, Hearne’s edition of his Vita 8f Gesta Henrici V. 
 1727, 233. 
 
 Elmsley, Rev. Dr. Peter, his edition of Thucydides, 1812, 142. Of the 
 (Edipus Colonceus of Sophocles, 632. Of several Plays of Euripides , 
 633. 
 
 Elphinston, Hon. Mountstuart, his Account of the Kingdom of Caubul ,. 
 1S15, 428- 
 
 Ely, Dr. Thomas Dampier, Bishop of, his copy of the Modern Greek 
 Homer, 624. 
 
 Elyot, Sir Thomas, his Works, 592. 
 
 Elys, Sir Richard, letter to from Maittaire, 628. 
 
 Emery, Jacques Andr4, remarks on Fleury’s Discourses, 106. 
 
 Enderbie, Percy, his Cambria Triumphans , 283. 
 
 England’s Helicon, 1600, 613, 699. 
 
 England’s Parnassus 1600, 613, 699. 
 
 English, remarks on the Manners and Dress of the, by Fines Moryson, 446, 
 447. 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 655 
 
 Enterludes, An enterlude entituled Like wil to like quod the Devil to the 
 Collier , 1568, 794. 
 
 Epistle from the Lord Protector to the Scotts, 1548, 275. 
 
 Erasmus Desiderius, his Greek Testament, 1516-19, 26, 42. Various notices 
 of his works, 96, 97- 
 
 Erland, Israel, his Vita S. Erici Suecice Regis , 1675, 363. 
 
 Ernesti, Johan Augustus, his edition of Xenophon , 143. Of Suetonius , 
 502. Of Cicero, 586. Of Homer, 1759, 622. Of Callimachus, 1751, 
 630. His account of the Parisian Catullus, 649. 
 
 Eshton Hall, seat of Miss Currer, Pref. xxi. 
 
 Essai Bibliographique sur les Editions des Elzevirs, 1822. Reference to, 
 130, 642, 647, 768. 
 
 Essex, Lord, his copies of Capt. Dampier’s Voyages, 401. OfRaynal’s 
 History of European commerce with the Indies, 422. Of Sir Hans 
 Sloane’s Voyage to Jamaica, 478. 
 
 Esther, Prayer of, from the Monument of Matrons, 132. 
 
 Eton College, Library of, copy there of the first folio Shakspeare, 823. 
 
 Evans, Mr. his sale of Sir M. Sykes’s Library, Pref. xix. Of Meuselius* 
 Bibliotheca Historica Selecta, 137. Of Well’s Xenophon, 143. Of 
 a collection of Hearne’s publications, 227-239. Of Lithgow’s Travels, 
 441. Of Mr. Johnson’s Homer, 621. His edition of Burnet’s History 
 of his own Times , 1809, 293. Of Hakluyt’s Voyages , 390. His sale 
 copy of Stritter’s Memorise Populorum, 355. His note on the editions 
 of Ariosto, 765- His account of The True Tragedie of Richard III. 
 810. His sale of a copy of the first folio Shakspeare, 819. 
 
 Evelyn, John, Memoirs of his Life and Writings, 1818, 563. Editions of 
 his Sylva, 564, 5. Expected edition of his minor works, 564. 
 
 Evesham, Monk of, Hearne’s edition of his Historia Vitce et Regni Ri- 
 chardi II. 1729, 234. 
 
 Euripides, various editions of, 633. 
 
 Eustace, Rev. John Chetwode, his Classical Tour through Italy, 1813, 
 336. 
 
 Exeter College, Oxford, Library of, copy there of the Soncino Hebrew 
 Bible, 23. 
 
 Exhortation to the Scottes, 1574, 275. 
 
 Expedition into Scotland, by Lord Hertford, &c. 1544, 1548, 274, 5. 
 
 Fabian, Robert, editions of his Chronicle , 184, 187. 
 
 Fabr£, Pere John Claudius, his Continuation of Fleury’s Ecclesiastical His- 
 tory, 106. 
 
 Fabricius, John Albert, his edition of Dion Cassius, 1750, 145. References 
 to his Bibliotheca Latina, 164, 216, 240, 649. 
 
 Facius, John Frederick, his edition of Pausanias, 1794, 142. 
 
 Fagell, Greffier, various references to the Bibliotheca Fagelliana, 1802, 202, 
 206, 210. ^ f . 
 
 Fairfax, reprint of his English Translation of Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered, 
 1807, 770. 
 
 Fakes, Richard, his impression of the Parliament of Deuylles, 661. 
 
 Farmer, Rev. Dr. Richard, sale and price of his copy of the Flower of 
 Fame, 706. His Essav on the Learning of Shakspeare, 807. His 
 copy of the first folio Shakspeare, 822. Notice of a false quotation 
 of Milton by him, 824. Minor references to his Sale Catalogue, 
 1798, 188, 197. 
 
 Fauntleroy, Mr. his illustrated copy of Howell’s Letters, 609. 
 
 Feast full of sad C hear e, 1592, 728. 
 
 Febrer, J. his Llinatges dela Conquista de Valencia, ,1/96, ol5. # - 
 
 Fell, Dr. John, Bishop of Oxford, his verses in praise of Cartwright, 72b- 
 
 Feltham Owen, his verses to the memory of Randolph, 72 7- 
 
85(5 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS; 
 
 Fenton, Elijah, his edition of Waller's Poems, 1729, 732. 
 
 «— Geoffrey, his Translation of Guicciardini's Istoria d' Italia, 1618, 
 
 334. 
 
 Fernandez, Diego, his Historia del Peru, 1571, 487- 
 
 Ferrara editions of Ariosto, 765. Ditto of Tasso, 767, 8. 
 
 Ferrari, G. de, his edition of Guicciardini' s Istoria d' Italia, 1564, 333. 
 
 Ferreras, Don Juan de. his Synopsis Historica , Chronologica de Espana , 
 1700, 23, 1775-91, 318. 
 
 Ferrers, John, his Continuation of Boece's Scotorum Historia, 1575, 273. 
 
 Fiddes, Dr. Richard, his Life of Cardinal Wolsey, 539. 
 
 Field, John, Esq. his copy of the first folio Shakspeare, 823. 
 
 Richard, his edition of the English Bible, 1660, 35. 
 
 Finch, Hon. Mr. his copy of Hearne’s edition of Roper’s Life of More, 
 228. Of his History of Richard II. by the Monk of Evesham, 234. 
 Of his Walter of Hemingford, Otterburne and Wethamstede, 235. 
 Of his Dunstaple Chronicle, 236. Of the Abbot of Peterborough’s 
 Life of Henry II. 239. 
 
 Fitzherbert, Sir Anthony, his Works, 594. 
 
 Fitzwilliam, Earl, his copy of Wynkyn de Worde’s York Manual, 44. 
 
 Fleury, Abl>6 Claude de, excellence of his Ecclesiastical History, 1690 — 
 1719, 105. 
 
 Flinders, Capt. Matthew, his Voyage to Terra Australis, 1814, 442,3. Hi3 
 enterprises and confinement, 443. 
 
 Foligno, Vide Numeister. 
 
 Fontaine, Jean de la, editions of his Works, Paris, 1814, 774. Barbou, 
 ibid. 1789, 1811, ibid. Fables, 1755—59, ibid. Tales, 1/62, ibid. _ 
 
 Fontette, Charles Marie F£vret, his improvement of Le Long’s Biblio- 
 thfeque Historique, 137, 306, 308. 
 
 Foppens, Joseph-Francis, Bibliotheca Belgica, 1739, 509. 
 
 Forbes, Dr. Patrick, Letters and State Papers of Queen Elizabeth and her 
 Ministers, 1740, 296. 
 
 Ford, John, Weber’s edition of his Dramatic Works, 1811, S28, 829. 
 
 Fordun, John de, Hearne’s edition of his Scotichronicon , 1722, 230. Good- 
 all’s ditto. 1/59, 272. 
 
 Forster, George, his Voyage with Capt . Cooke , 1 777, 409. 
 
 ■■ Rev. John, Essays oi, 94. 
 
 Forsyth, Joseph, Remarks on Antiquities, Arts, and Letters , during an Ex- 
 cursion in Italy, 1813, 336. 
 
 Foscolo, Mr. his intended editions of Italian Poets, 758. His reviews of 
 the characters and genius of Dante, Petrarch, and Tasso, 759. His 
 expected commentary on Petrarch, 764. 
 
 Four Leaves of the True Love, 658. 
 
 Fox, Hon. Charles James, his notice of Ralph’s History of England, 243. 
 his praise of Middleton’s Life of Cicero, 531. 
 
 John, Prebendary of Salisbury, extracts from his Sermon of Christ 
 
 crucified, 1575, 79. Editions of his Book of Martyrs , 1 12, preserved 
 in Churches, &c. 1 13. 
 
 Fragments of Scotish History, 1798, 275. 
 
 Frampton. John, his Joy full Newes out of the New-found World, 1596, 
 475. 
 
 Franckenau, G. Ernesti, his praise of Brito’s Monarchia Lusitana, 326. 
 
 Franklin, Capt. John, his Narrative of a Journey to the Polar seas, 1823. 
 350, 352, account of the Trade Sale of his Voyage, 351. 
 
 Fraunce, Abraham, his Countess of Pembroke? s Iuy Churche , 1591, 596. 
 His Lawyer's Logike, 1588, ibid. 
 
 Freher, Heinreich, Marquard, his Rerum Germanicarum Scriptures, 1717, 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 857 
 
 Freher Paul, his Theatrum Virorum eruditione Clarorum , 1688, 508. 
 
 Freeling, Francis, Esq. his copy of Antonio’s Bibliotheca Hispana, large 
 paper, 310.^ .His collection of Greene’s Works, 598. His copy of 
 Piker’s Knight’s Coniuring, 601. Of Kele’s Christmas Carolls, 
 668. Of Cooke’s edition of the Skeltonian Salutation, 687. Of 
 Churchyard’s Choice, 693. Of Jordan’s separate Poems, 722. His 
 reprint of Dolarney’s Primerose, 728. His copy of the Massacre of 
 Money, the Scourge of Venus, and Bold’s Wit Sporting in a grove of 
 Pleasant Fancies, 729. Of Cowley’s Poetical Blossoms, ibid. Of 
 Campbell’s Essay on English Poetry, large paper, 744. Of the 
 first quarto of Shakspeare’s King Lear, 814. 
 
 “ Mr. George Henry, his expected present to the Roxburghe Club, 
 432. 
 
 French, Nicholas, his Unkind Deserter of Loyal Men , 1676, 257, 258- 
 
 Freron , — Histoire de /’ Empire d’ Allemagne, 1771, 34?* 
 
 Fresnoy, Nicholas Languet di \,—Methode pour etudier VHistoire , 1772, 
 138. His character of Bouchard’s Chroniquesde Bretaigne, 177. His 
 edition of Philip de Comines , 1747, ibid. Various illustrative refe- 
 rences to, 195, 207, 210. 
 
 Frey, Jos. Sam. Christian Fred, his edition of John's Hebrew Bible . 1812, 
 
 . 26. 
 
 Friar and the Boy , 665. 
 
 Friburger, vide Gering. 
 
 Frith, John, notice of his Works, 29. 
 
 Froissart, Sir John, character of his Chronicles , 169. Illuminated copies 
 of ditto, 171. Early printed editions of ditto, 172, 173. Colonel 
 Johnes’s edition of, 175. Expected new edition of, 174. 
 
 Fructus Temporum , 1483, account of the, 179. 
 
 Fugger, Notices of the Family of, 505, 6. 
 
 Fuller, Dr. Thomas, Prebendary of Sarum, his notices of misprints in the 
 Bible, 37. His Church History of Britain , 1655, 118. His censure 
 of Edmund Howes, 19S. History of the JForthies of England , 517. 
 518. 
 
 Mr. His copy of the Mazarine Bible, 13. 
 
 Fulman, William, his commencement of the llerum Anglicarum Scriptures 
 Veteres, 162. His edition of the Chronicle of Mailros, 271. 
 
 Fulvvell Ulpian, the Flower of Fame , 1575, 705. 
 
 Gaguinus, Alexander, Sarmatice Europece Descriptio, 1581, 354. 
 
 Gaisford, Rev. Thomas, Regius Professor of Greek at Oxford, his edition 
 of the Poetese Minor es Grceci , 1815-20, 631. 
 
 Gale, Dr. Thomas, his edition of Herodotus , 1679, 140. Historic Britan- 
 nicce, &c. 1687-91, 155, 156. Rerum Anglicarum Scriptures Veteres , 
 1684-91, 162. His account of the Annals of Waverley, 163. Notice 
 by, of the rarity of Hearne’s Leland’s Itinerary, 225. Chronicle of 
 Mailros printed in his Scriptores, 271. 
 
 Galt, Mr. John, his Life of Cardinal IVolsey, 1812, 530. 
 
 Gama, Vasco de. His adventures printed in the Decades of Barros, 419. 
 
 Gambold, Rev. John, his Translation of D. Crantz’s History of Greenland , 
 1767, 349. 
 
 Garden of the Muses , 1600, 699. 
 
 Gardiner, Stephen, Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor, his treat- 
 ment of Sir James Hale, 123, 
 
 Garibay, Estevan, Compendio Historial de las Chronicas y Universel Histo- 
 ria de todos los Reynos d’Espagna, 315. 
 
 Garlandia, John de, his Grammatical Works, 570. 
 
 Garnier, John James, Conclusion of Velh/sand Villaret's History of France, 
 1786, 303. 
 
 3 L 
 
858 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS, 
 
 Gamier, Robert Kid’s English Translation of his Pompey the Great, 792. 
 
 Garrick, David, his collection of Poetry in the British Museum, copy there 
 of Cryste Crosse me spede, 665. Of Cock Lorell’s Bote, 666. His 
 copy of the first folio Shakspeare, 819. Sale and price of ditto, ibid. 
 
 Mrs. her inscription in a volume of Warburton’s Shakspeare, 800. 
 
 Gascoigne, George, Notice and Works of, 704, 705, 791. 
 
 Gell, Sir William, his Itinerary of Greece, Topography of Troy , and Geo- 
 graphy and Antiquities of Ithaca , 338. 
 
 Gendre, M. Le, Sale of his copy of Brettonneau’s edition of Bourdaloue, 
 100. 
 
 Geneva version of the Bible, 1560, 34. 
 
 Genevieve, Ste. Library of at Paris, copy there of the edit. prin. of Virgil, 
 634. 
 
 Gentleman's Magazine , references to, 219, 721, 800, 824. 
 
 Geoffrey ap Arthur of Monmouth, Historiae Regum Britanniae , 153. 
 
 George III. Ilis late Majesty — his memoranda for a country Library, 
 Pref. vii. 
 
 Gerbert, Martin, his Historia Nigrae Sylvae, 1 783-88, 346. 
 
 Gerson, John, supposed Author of the Imitation of Christ , 129. His cen- 
 sure of La Roman de la Rose, 773. 
 
 Gesner, Johan Matt, his edition of Quintilianus , 1738, 589. Ditto of Ho- 
 race, 636. Of Claudian , 1 759, 643. 
 
 Gesta et Vestigia Danorum extra Daniam , 1540, 358. 
 
 Gesta proxime per Portugalenses in India , 1506, 380. 
 
 Gesta Stephani Anglorum Regis , 1 60. 
 
 Gibbon, Edward, his praise of Spelman’s Translation of Xenophon, 144. 
 Ditto of Archbishop Parker, 151. Censure of the Chronicles printed 
 at Heidelberg, 154. Praise of Sir Henry Savile, 155. Various illus- 
 trative references to, 163. His Remarks on the early English Chro- 
 nicles, 181, 2. His character of Hearne, 224. His use of Hearne’s 
 Ductor Historicus, 240. His praise of Muratori, 329. Ditto of Leib- 
 nitz’s Annals of Brunswick, 347- His account of the Abb6 Raynal, 
 423. His Enquiry into the Circumnavigation of Africa, 450. His 
 Autobiography , Miscellaneous Works and Letters , 1796, 543. 
 
 Gifford, Mr. William, his edition of Ben Jonson's Works , 1816, 728, 826. 
 Of Massinger , 1805-8, 826, 829. His expected edition of Shirley’s 
 Dramatic Works, 829. 
 
 Gilchrist, Mr. Octavius, his account of Gascoigne’s Works, 705. Sale of his 
 copy of ditto, ibid. His account of Ful well’s Flower of Fame, ibid. 
 His comparison of Thomson and Cowper, 744. His intended Review 
 of Mr, Boswell’s edition of Shakspeare, 807. Sale and price of his 
 copy of Shakspeare’s Othello, first quarto, 815. 
 
 Gildas, his time of flourishing, 153. Notice of his works, 165. 
 
 Gill, Dr. John, Exposition of the Old and New Testament , 1746-48, 1810- 
 12, 41. Body of Practical Divinity , 1773, ibid. 
 
 Gillies, Dr. John, History of Ancient Greece , 1786, 144. Ancient History 
 of the Arabs , 320. 
 
 Ginguen4, P. L., his Histoire Lift dr air e d’ltalie, 1812, 335. His praise of 
 Ariosto , 764. 
 
 Giraldus Cambrensis de Barri, Sylvester, Historical Works of, 159. His 
 works on Ireland, 250. Answer to ditto, by Lynch, 253. 
 
 Gisborne, Rev. Thomas, excellence of hrs character and works, 92. 
 
 Glanvill, Bartholomieus de, his work De Proprietatibus Rerum , 590. 
 
 Glasgow editions of Milton’s works, 716. 
 
 Glastonbury , Abbey of, Hearne’s History and Antiquities of ’ 232. 
 
 Glenbervie, Lord, his late copy of Ernesti’s Homer, 622. 
 
 Gloucester, Robert of, Hearue’s edition of his Chronicle , 1724, 231. 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 859 
 
 Godet, Giles, notices of his Chronicle , 189. 
 
 Godfray, Thomas, his edition of Chaucer’s ichole works, 1532, 680. 
 
 Godwin, Dr. Francis, Bishop of Hereford, De Praesulibus Angliae, 1743, 
 
 Goldastus, Melchior Haiminfeld, his Suevicarum Rerum Scriptores veter es, 
 1 727, 362. 
 
 Goldsmith, Dr. Oliver, character of, 743. 
 
 Gomara, Lopez de, Historia General de las Indies , con la Conquista del 
 Mexico y de la Naeva Espana, 1553, 469. 
 
 Goodall, Walter, his edition of For dun’s Scotichronicon , 1759, 272. 
 
 Goodwyn, Christopher, Chaunce of the Dolourous Louer, 1520, 658. 
 
 Googe, Barnabe, Zodiac of Paling enius, 1561, 696. Eglogs Epytaphes 
 and Sonettes, ibid. Naogeorgus’ Popish Kingdom, 1570, 697. 
 
 Goold, Sir Francis, a large paper copy of Anderson’s House of Yvery, pur- 
 chased by, 565. 
 
 Gordon, Rev. James, his Histories of the Irish Rebellion , and of Ireland, 
 1801, 1806,261. 
 
 Sir Robert, reference to his Library Catalogue, 6. 
 
 Gosford, the Earl of, his copy of Prynne’s Records, 287- 
 
 Gosselin, Paschal Francois Joseph, Re'cherches sur la Gdographie systdrna- 
 tique et positive des Anciens , 1797, 452. 
 
 Gottfried, Jo. Lud. his Account of the Voyages made by the Portuguese 
 and Spaniards , 1707, 399. 
 
 Gottwic Monastery, Library of, copy there of the Achates Petrarch, 763. 
 
 Gough, Richard, his notice of editions of the Scotch Bible, 34. Reference 
 to his British Topography on Ancient Missals, 44. Praise of Speed’s 
 Theatre, 207. His Remarks on Hearne’s Glastonbury Antiquities, 
 233. 
 
 Goujet, Claude Pierre, incomplete state of his Bibliotheque Frangoise, 772. 
 and price of ditto, ibid. His Supplements to Moreri’s Grand Diction - - 
 naire Historique , 1739, 494. 
 
 Goux, le Sieur Franqois de Laboulaye de, Voyages et Observations, 1659, 
 
 441. 
 
 Gower, John, Caxton’s and Berthelet’s editions of his Confessio Amantis, 
 684. . . 
 
 Grabe, John Ernest, his edition of the Greek Bible, 1707,2 7- Latin ditto , 
 of Bishop Bull’s Works, 1703, 68. 
 
 Graevius, John George, Thesaurus Antiquitatum Romanorum, 1694, 146. 
 Ancient price of, ibid. His edition of Hesiod, 625. Ditto of Calli- 
 machus, 1697, 629. 
 
 Grande D’Aussy, Jean Baptiste Le, Fabliaux et Contes des XII. et XIII. 
 Steeles, 17 79, 773. XT . 
 
 Granger, Rev. James, his censure of English Commentaries, 52. Notice 
 of Speed’s Portrait, 206. Praise of Speed’s History, ibid. Remarks 
 on Whitelock’s Memorials, 211. Ditto on Lord Clarendon’s Portrait, 
 220. His character of Samuel Purchas, 393. His Biographical His- 
 tory of England, 520. Reference to ditto, 535. Remarks on Gas- 
 
 Gr avelo t^H enry , Improvement of his plates by Houbraken, 509. Notices 
 of his original designs for SirT. Hanmer’s edition of Shakspeare, 801. 
 
 Gray, Thomas, Memoirs of 1775, 536. Milford’s and Mathias’s editions 
 
 of his Works, 740. „ . , _ nn 
 
 Green, Robert, The Historie of Orlando Funoso, 1 599 , 196. 
 
 Greene, Robert, his Works, 597-8. Sale and price of his Menareon, 1589, 
 654. 
 
 Gregory, St. Legend concerning, 30. > ,- AO ■., 
 
 Gregory Nazianzen, best edition, and price of his woiks, I buy, = 
 
860 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS. 
 
 Gregory the Great, best edition and price of his works, 51. 
 
 Grenville, Right Hon. Thomas, liberal and kind use of his Library, Pref. 
 xxiii! His copies of the Mazarine Bible, 13. Of Strype’s Annals on 
 lar *e paper, 125. Of Savile’s Scriptores post Bed am, 158. Of Ead- 
 mer’s Historia, large paper, 167. Of Matthew of Westminster, ditto, 
 ibid. Of Matthew of Paris, ditto, 168. Of Arnold’s Chronicle, 184. 
 Of Godet’s Chronicle, 189. His notice of Grafton’s Chronicle, 191. 
 Of Stow’s ditto, 199. Of Polydore Vergil’s History, 205. Of Sand- 
 ford’s History of England, 217. Of Spclman’s Life of Alfred, large 
 paper, 225. OfHearne’s Works on large paper, 241. Of the Life 
 of St. Patrick, 247- Of the Lives of SS. Brandon and Rumold, 248. 
 Of the Florilegium Sanctorum, 249. Of Colgan’s Triadis Thauma- 
 turgae, ibid. Of Osullevanus’s Historian Iberiae Compendium, 251. 
 Of Riveras Regiminis, &c. 252. Of Lombardus de Regno Hiberniae, 
 ibid. Of Carve’s Itinerarium, ibid. His Remarks on ditto, ibid. His 
 copies of Carve’s Lyra, 253. Of Lynch’s Cambrensis Eversus, 254. 
 Of Lynch’s Alithinologia, ibid. Of Walsh’s Causa Valesiana, Epistolis 
 Ternis Praelibata, 255. Of Caron’s Remonstrantia Hibernicorum, 
 ibid. His Remarks on Sirinus, Patrieii Fleming*! Collectanea Sacra, 
 256. Of the Earl of Castlehaven’s Memoirs, 257. Of Cox’s History 
 of Ireland, large paper, 258. Of Keating’s General History of Ire- 
 land, large paper, 259. Of the Jus Primitiale Armacanum in Oinnes 
 Arcliiep. Epis. 259. Of Harris’s edition of Ware’s Works on Ire- 
 land, large paper, 259. Of Riche’s Irish Hubbub, 263. Of Pam- 
 phlets on the Irish Massacre, 264. Of Prynne’s Records, 289. Of 
 the large paper of Burnet’s History of his Own Times, Evans’s edi- 
 tion, 293. Of Mezerai’s History of France, large paper, 301. Of 
 Rudbeck’s Atlantica, 366, 367. Of the Gesta proximo per Portuga- 
 lenses in India, 380. Of the Paesi novamente ritrovati, ibid. Of 
 Vesputius’s Travels, Latin and French editions, 381. Description of 
 his tine copy of De Bry’s Voyages, 383. His copies of Hakluyt’s do. 
 389. Of Corvate’s Crudities, 392. Of Purchas’s Pilgrims, 392. Of 
 Linschoten’s Voyages, 395. Of Captain Smith’s Travels, 397. Of 
 the History of Virginia, by Ditto, 397- Of Thevenot’s Voyages cu- 
 rieux, 398. Of Hudson’s Minor Greek Geographers, 414. Of Man- 
 deville’s Travels, 4 16. Of Ludolf’s Historia Ethiopica, large paper, 
 456. Of Bartholomaeus De Proprietatibus Rerum, 590. Of the Early 
 Editions of Robinson Crusoe, 616. Of the Editio Princeps of Homer, 
 621. Of Vindeline de Spira’s Virgil, on vellum, 634. Of the Edit. 
 Prin. of Ovid, 637. Of the Svveynheim and Pannartz ditto, ibid. Of 
 Catullus, &c. Edit. Prin. 648. Of the first edition of Plautus, 650. 
 Of Troilus and Cressida, printed by Caxton, 678. Of Cartwright’s 
 Poems, 727- Of the Aldine Dante, on vellum, 761. Of Jenson’s 
 Petrarch, 762. Of the Ferrara and Milan Ariosto, 765. Of the first 
 folio of Shakspeare, 817, 818. 
 
 Grenville, William Wyndham, Earl, Chancellorof the University of Oxford, 
 his Remarks on May’s History of the Long Parliament, 290. 
 
 Gresset, J. B. Louis, Renouard’s edition of his Works, 1811, 781. 
 
 Greswell, Mr., his account of the editions of Froissart, 172. 
 
 Greswell, Rev. William Parr, his Memoirs of Angelus Politianus , Pico MU 
 randula, fyc. 1801, 543. 
 
 Grey, Dr. Zachary, his edition of Hudibras, 1744, 731. 
 
 Griesbach, Dr. John Jacob, his Greek New Testament , 1796, 42. Prices 
 of ditto, ibid, 43. 
 
 Griffiths, Mr. W. The Morality of Shakspeare , 825. See also Alford. 
 Gronovius, James, his edition of Herodotus , 1715, 140. His Thesaurus 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 861 
 
 Antiquiiatum Grcecarum , 1697, 144, 146. Ancient price of, 146. His 
 edition of Buchanan’s History, 274. Of Aulus Gellius, 1706, 583 
 
 Grosier, Abb 6, liis edition of Mailla's Histoire Generate de la Chine 1777- 
 85, 439. 
 
 Grotius, Hugo, Character of liis Writings, 54. Best editions of his Theo- 
 logical Works, 57. 
 
 Grove, Joseph, liis History of the Times and Life of Cardinal Wolseu 
 1742-44, 520. J * 
 
 Guadalajara, F. Marco de, his Memorable Expulsion y justissimo Destierro 
 delos Moriscos, de Espagna , 1613, 316. 
 
 Guicciardini, Francesco, his Istoria d' Italia, various editions of, 333. 
 
 , Agnolo, his edition and Additions to the Istoria d' Italia, 333. 
 
 Guignes, Joseph de, Voyage a Pekin, Manilla, et l' Isle de France, 1809, 
 439. Dictionnaire Chinois, Frangais et Latin, 1813, ibid. 
 
 Gurney, Miss Anna, her Translation of the Saxon Chronicle, 1819, 150. 
 
 G. T. Ould facioned Loue, 1599, 659. 
 
 Guthrie, William, his General History of Scotland \ 280. 
 
 Guzman, Luis , — Historia de las Missiones de la India Oriental, 1601, 420. 
 
 Haeberlin, Francisco Dominico, his Modern History of Germany, 1774-91, 
 
 Hafod, vide Johnes. 
 
 Hakewill, James, his Picturesque Tour of Italy, 336. 
 
 Hakluyt, Rev. Richard, his passion for collecting Voyages, 383. His Navi- 
 gations of the English Nation, 1598 — 1600, and new edition of ditto 
 389-90. His Character by Zoucli, 391. 
 
 Halde, John Baptiste, his Description Ge'ographique, Historique, Chronolo - 
 gique de la Chine, 1735, 438. 
 
 Halem, De, his German History of Peter the Great, 1803-5, 373. 
 
 Hales, Sir James, curious Pamphlets concerning his Imprisonment, 122. 
 Hall, Captain Basil, Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast 
 of Corea and the Great Loo-Choo Island, 1818, 438. 
 
 — - — , Edward, his Union of York and Lancaster, 1548, 192. Other editions 
 of, 193. 
 
 , Dr. Joseph, Bishop of Norwich, his Virgidemiarum Satires , 60, 706. 
 
 His Contemplations, by Dr. Glasse, 1793, 61. 
 
 ■ ■, Rev. Robert, Observations on his Writings, 93. 
 
 ■ -, Rev. Thomas, reference to his Loathsomnesse of Long Hair , 1654, 60. 
 
 Hallam, Mr. Henry, his View of the State of Europe during the Middle 
 
 Ages , 297- 
 
 Ham-House, vide Dysart. 
 
 Hamilton, Duke of, his copy of Bellenden’s Boece, on vellum, 273. 
 
 . , Count Anthony, Memoires de Comte Grammont, 559. 
 
 , Dr. Francis, his Account of the Kingdom of Nepaul, 1819, 427. 
 
 . , Mr. Walter, his works on East India, 425. 
 
 — , William, his Designs for Bowyer’s Thomson’s Seasons, 741 
 
 , Mr. William, his Remarks on several parts of Turkey, JEgyptiaca , 
 
 1809, 455. 
 
 Hamper, Mr. William, his Notices of the editions of Twisden’s Decern 
 Scriptores, 162. 
 
 Hanbury, Rev. Barnard, his Journal of a Visit to some parts of Ethiopia , 
 1822, 459. 
 
 Hanmer, Dr. Meredith, his History of Ireland, 252. 
 
 , Sir Thomas, his Oxford editions of Shakspeare, 801. 
 
 Hannay, Patrick, sale and price of his Nightingale , 1622, 653, 728. 
 
 Han way, Jonas, his Travels in Asia, 1753-54, 429. 
 
 Harding, Mr. Joseph, his large paper copy of the Harleian Miscellany, 295, 
 His exertions for the Portraits of Illustrious Personages, 514. 
 
862 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS 
 
 Harding, Mavor, andLepard, Messrs., their copy of Clarke’s Travels, 3/2. 
 
 Harding, Triphook, and Lepard, late Messrs. Lackington, Allen, and 
 Harding, extraordinary extent of tbeir Catalogues, Pref. xxvi. 
 
 Hardwicke, vide Devonshire, Nocturnal Discovery of Old Poetry at, 59 7. 
 
 , the Earl of, his Collection of Miscellaneous State Papers , 1 778, 
 
 297. 
 
 — Captain, his Travels in the Mountains of India, 426, 427. 
 
 Hardyng, John, editions of his Chronicle , 189, 190. 
 
 Harleian Miscellany , 294. Abridgment of, ibid. Large Paper of, 295. 
 Bale’s John Baptist, printed in, 790. 
 
 Harles, , his edition of Valerius Flaccus, 1781, 649. 
 
 Harmony of the Muses , 1654, sale and price of, 653. 
 
 Harpe, John Francis de la, particulars from, concerning Diderot, 422, 
 References to his Cours de Litthrature, 553, 556, 560. Concerning 
 Racine, 768. His edition of Racine , 1807, 776. His Account of 
 Beaumarchais’ Voltaire, 778. Ilis Remarks on Voltaire, 77 9, 780. 
 
 Harrington, Sir John, his Nugce Antiques, 295. 
 
 Harris, Dr. John, his Collection of Voyages and Travels , 1744, 399, 400. 
 Prices of ditto, ibid 
 
 , Walter, various references to his edition of Sir James Ware's 
 
 works on Ireland, 1739-45, 250, 252, 258. Particulars of ditto, 259. 
 
 , Dr. William, his Regal Biographies, 533. 
 
 — — , Mr. William, references to his Catalogue of the Royal Institution, 53, 
 145, 196, 261, 287, 311,787. 
 
 Harte, Walter, his Life of Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, 1759,365. 
 
 Hartman, J. M. his edition of Edrisi’s Africa , 1796, 450. His praise of 
 Leo Africanus, 451. 
 
 Hartlebury Palace, Worcester, Episcopal Library of, 61. 
 
 Hartshorne, Mr. Charles, his expected publication of Old English Poetry. 
 672. His notice of two copies of Tottel’s edition of Surrey’s Poems, 
 690. Plis enthusiasm in the cause of the Bibliomania, 672, 673. 
 
 Harvey, Gabriel, his works, 5, 600. 
 
 Haslewood, Mr. Joseph, his account of Barnabe Riche’s Alarm to England, 
 261. His account of R. Greene’s Works, 597- His discovery of the 
 Author of Drunken Barnaby, 604, 696. His Discovery of the Treatise 
 of a Galaunt, 663. His expected new edition of Ritson’sBibliographia 
 Poetica, 674. Various references to his interleaved copy of ditto, 
 686, 693. His edition of the Mirrour for Magistrates, 1815, 690, 692. 
 His Roxburghc edition of Jack Juggler and Thersytes, 788. His Ma- 
 nuscript volume of Plays, by William Percy, 789. His knowledge of 
 Dramatic History, ibid. 
 
 Hatfield, Mr. his copy of Campbell’s Essay on English Poetry, large paper, 
 744. 
 
 Haurisius, B. C. Histories Romance Scriptores Latini , Veteres, 1743, 146. 
 
 Hawes, Stephen, Groom of the Chamber to Henry VII. Sale and price of 
 his Histone of Graunde Amoure, 1554, 655. Ditto of his Temple of 
 Glassc, ibid. His Comfort of Lovers, 6J3. Colophon and supposed 
 date of ditto, 674. Verses from 4i tt( V 675. Original edition of his 
 Passtime of Pleasure, 1509, and verses from ditto, 674. Account of 
 ditto, 688. 
 
 Hawkesworth, Dr. John, his Collection of Byron's Voyages, 1773, 406. 
 
 , his edition of Swift's Works, 1765, 614. 
 
 Hawkey, John, his edition of Milton's Poetical Works , 1747, 716. 
 
 Hawkins, Sir, John, his Voyages to the Indies, where printed, 420. 
 
 Thomas, his Origin of the English Drama, Collection of Old 
 
 Plays, 1773, 78 7. 
 
 — Rev. E. his edition of Milton's Poems , 1824, 715, 718. 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 863 
 
 Hayes, J. his Cambridge English Bible , 1674, 35. 
 
 Hayiey, the late William, Sale of his copy of Montfaucon’s Antiquitds Ex- 
 pliques, 303. Of Palsgrave’s Comedy of Acolastus, 574. 
 
 546 — "> llis We and Writings of William Cowper, 1802, 
 
 Hayman, Francis, notice of his Original Designs for Sir T. Hanmer’s 
 Shakspeare, 801. 
 
 Haynejs Dr ’ ^ amue ^’ ^* 1S ec ^ ori Lord Burghley's State Papers, 1740, 
 
 Hazlitt, William, Characters of Shakspeare* s Plays , 1817, 803. 
 
 Headley, Mr. Henry, his praise of Samuel Daniel, 209. Of Carew, 723. 
 
 Health , the Governayle of, verses from, 671. 
 
 Hearne, Thomas, reference to his Hemingi Chartularium, 151, 193, 230. 
 Ditto to his Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester, 153, 195, 231.’ His 
 praise ofW'illiam of Newbury, 154. 
 
 * > his edition of William of Malmesbury's Antiquities of 
 
 Glastonbury , 1727, 156. Various illustrative references to his works. 
 161, 162, 179, 185, 188, 196, 203, 213, 215, 233, 234,235, 236, 237. 
 Descriptive list, &c. of his Historical Works, 224. His notices of their 
 increasing value and rarity, 226. His edition of Roper’s Life of Sir T. 
 More, 228, 524. Difficulties in publishing, 227, 228. Origin of his 
 Antiquities of Glastonbury, 232. His character of Lionel Walden, 235. 
 His Ductor Historicus, 1704, 240. His Ectypa varia, 241. First edi- 
 tion of Leland’s Itinerary by, no large paper of, 225, 
 
 Heath, Dr. Benjamin. Sale of his copy of Sir Hans Sloane’s Voyage to 
 Jamaica, 478. Of Long’s History of Jamaica, 479. Of Vega’s Com- 
 mentaries concerning the Peruvian Incas, 488. His copy of Barnes’s 
 Homer, 622. Of Havercamp’s Lucretius, 636. 
 
 Heath, James, his Chronicle of the late intestine wars in England , &c. 1661- 
 63-75, 201. 
 
 , John, sale and price of his Two Centuries of Epigrammes, 1610, 
 
 653. 
 
 Robert, Clarastella, 1650, 729. 
 
 Heber, Richard, Esq. M. P. his collection of Dekker’s works, 6. Copies 
 of Arnold’s Chronicle, 184. Of Grafton’s do., 193, 194. Of Holins- 
 hed’s do., 195, 196. Of Dempster’s Hibernise sive Antiquioris Scotiae 
 Vindiciae, large paper, 249. Of Vallega’s Lives of Saints, and Bri- 
 gida Thaumaturga, &c. 250. Of Ossulevanus Historiae Catholicae 
 lberniae Compendium, 251. Of Writ’s Mors quam ob fidem passus 
 est Londini, 253. Of Carve’s Lyra, 253. Of Lynch’s Life of Kirwan, 
 254. Of Walsh’s Causa Valesiana Epistolis Ternis Praelibata, 255. 
 Of the Unkind Deserter of Loyal Men, 258. Of Bellenden’s Chroni- 
 klis of Scotland, 273. Of Patten’s Expedicion of the Earl of Hert- 
 ford, 275. Of Muratori’s Seriptores, 330. Of Olaus’s Historia Sue- 
 corum Gothorumque, 363. Of Erland’s Vita S. Erici, ibid. Of Gua- 
 rient’s Diarium Itineris Muscovies, &c. 369. Of Le Nouveau Monde 
 d’Aineric de Vespuce, 381. Of Pigafetta’s Voyage, 410. Of his 
 account of Congo, ibid. Of Cavazzi’s Descrizione di Congo, &c. 462. 
 Of Charlevoix Histoire de l’lsle Espagnole, 472. Of Cortez’ Epistles, 
 474. Of Whittinton’s Epigrammata, 571- Of Holt’s Lac Puerorum, 
 ibid. Of Horman’s Vulgaria, 574. Of Longe Parvula, 575. Of the 
 Aldine Aristotle, 579. Of Bartholomaeus De Proprietatibus Rerum, 
 590. Of Sir T. Elyot’s Governor, 592. Of his Image of Governance, 
 ibid. Of Fitzherbert’s Works, 594. Of Wynkyn de Worde’s Lover 
 and Jay, 658. Ditto of his Spectacle of Lovers, ibid. Of his Chaunce 
 of the Dolourous Loner, ibid. Of Pynson’s Four Leaves of True 
 Love, ibid. Of De Worde’s Complaynt of them that be too soone 
 
864 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS, 
 
 maryed, 659. Of liis Fyftene Joys of Mary age, ibid. Of Skelton’s 
 Replication, 660. Of the Life of St. We’rburghe, 665. Of John 
 Splynter, 666. Of the 2d edit, of the Canterbury Tales, 677. Of 
 Godfray’s edit, of ditto, 681. Of Skelton’s works, 688. Of Church- 
 yard’s Cliippes, 693. Of Googe’s Eglogs, &c. 69 7. Of Delia, 728. 
 Of Poetical sheets collected by N. Luttrell, 734. Of Pope’s and Drv- 
 den’s Works, first editions, 730. Of Jenson’s Petrarch, 762. Of the 
 Giuntado., 763. Of Bartoli’s Tasso, 768. Of the third edition of 
 Shakspeare’s Richard II., 810. Of the first and second do. of Richard 
 
 III. , ibid. Of the first do. of Romeo and Juliet, 811. Of the first do 
 of Love’s Labour Lost, ibid. Of the first and second ditto, of Henry 
 
 IV. part i., ibid. 812. Of the first of Henry IV. part ii. 812. Of the 
 first (juarto of the Merchant of Venice, ibid. Ditto of Much ado 
 about Nothing, 813. Ditto, of the Merry Wives of Windsor, ibid. 
 Ditto of King Lear, 814. Ditto of Taming of the Shrew, 8 15. Ditto 
 of Troilus and Cressida, ibid. Ditto of Othello, ibid. Of the first 
 folio Shakspeare, 822. 
 
 — Rev. Reginald, Bishop of Calcutta, his Life of Jeremy Taylor , 60. 
 
 Separate publication of, 1824, ibid. 
 
 Hebrew Bibles, vide Synoptical Table. Curious sale of the first, 23. 
 Hemingford, Walter of, Ilearne’s edition of his Historia de Rebus gestis, 
 Edvardi /. //. ///., 1731, 235. 
 
 Hemmingus, Hearne’s edition of his C/iartularium Ecclesioe JVigornicnsis , 
 1723, 230. 
 
 Hempel, — his illustrated works on Russia, 3/5. 
 
 Henault, Charles John Francis, President of the Court of Inquests at Paris, 
 his Nouvel a hr eg e' Chronologique de VHistoire de France , 1768, 302. 
 Hendon, vide Williams. 
 
 Henry V, King of England, The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth , 
 1598, 794. 
 
 Henrv, Rev. Matthew, his Exposition of the Old and New Testaments , 1710 
 and 1810, 41. 
 
 • Dr. Robert, his praise of Venerable Bede, 111. Various references 
 
 to his History of Great Britain , 1771 — 93, 154, 156, 157, 163. 
 Excellence of, 245. 
 
 Herberstein, Sigismund, Baron of, his Rerum Muscovitarum Commentarii, 
 1556, 368. 
 
 Herbert’s Dick and Robin, &c. 1641, sale and price of, 653. 
 
 Herbert, Edward Lord Herbert, of Cherbury, his Life of Henry VIII. 
 1649, 525, 526. His Memoirs, 1764, 535. 
 
 , George, The Temple, Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations , 
 
 1683, 702. 
 
 ■ , Sir Thomas, his Travels into Asia, 428. His Memoirs of the last 
 
 two years of the reign of Charles /., 824. 
 
 , William, vide Typographical Antiquities. His copy* of Redman’s 
 
 Bible, 34. Reference to his Typographical Antiquities, ibid. 152, 181, 
 182, 183, 184, 188, 195, 197, 273, 596, 704, 790. 
 
 , Rev. . . . his Translation of Fleury-s Ecclesiastical History , 1727, 
 
 106. 
 
 Herissant, Louis Antoine Prosper, his improvement of Le Long’s Biblio- 
 theque Historique, 137- 
 
 Hernando , Don , King of Spain, Chronicle of 314. 
 
 Hernandez de Cordova , Captain Gonzalo , Chronicle of 1584,313. 
 Herodotus, editions of. 
 
 Wesseling’s, Reitzius’, Schweighseuser’s, Gale’s, Gronovius’, 140. 
 Foulis, 141. Larcher’s and Beloe’s Translations, 139. 
 
 Herrera, Antonio de, his Works of Spanish America, 170, 17L 
 Herrick, Robert, Hesperides , 1648, 711. 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 S65 
 
 Hesiod, editions of. 
 
 Editio princeps, Grsevius, Robinson’s, Loesner’s, 625. 
 
 Heylin, Dr. Peter, extract from his Life of Archbishop Laud , 38. 
 
 Heywood, Thomas, sale and price of his True Discourse of Two Upstart 
 Prophets , 1650, 654. 
 
 Hibbert, Mr. George, his copies of theComplutensian Polyglot, on vellum, 
 7- Of Walton’s do., 8. Of the Mazarine Bible, 13. Of Fust’s and 
 Schoiffer’s do. On vellum, 14. Of Luther’s do., 18. Of Marbecke’s 
 Prayer Book, 47. Of Latimer’s Sermons, 73. Of Froissart’s Chro- 
 nicles, 173. Of Lord Berner’s Translation of do., 174. Of Sauvage’s 
 Monstrelet, on large paper, 176. Of Hardyng’s Chronicle, 190. Of 
 Hearne’s works, on large paper, 241. Of Carve’s Itinerary, 253. Of 
 his Lyra, ibid. Of Rudbeck’s Atlantica, 366. Of Guarient’s Dia- 
 rium Itineris Muscoviae, &c. 369. Of Smith’s History of Virginia, 
 397. Of Churchill’s Collection of Voyages, 400. Of the editio 
 princeps of Homer, 621. Of the life of St. Werburge, 666. Of the 
 Florence Dante, 760. Of Jenson’s Petrarch, on vellum, 762. Of the 
 Ferrara Ariosto of 1532, 765. Of the Aldine Ariosto, 766. Of La 
 Harpe’s Racine, on vellum, 775. Of the first folio Sliakspeare, 820. 
 
 Hibernica, or some ancient pieces relating to Ireland , 1747, 261. 
 
 Hie Mulier , Apology to ditto. Hie Fir , Sale and price of, 655. 
 
 Higden, Ranulph, his Polychronicon, 181. 
 
 Hindoostan, Aden der Dcenische Mission en Oost-Indien, 1718,423. 
 
 Hoare, Sir Richard Colt, his collection of large paper Hearnes, 233, 241. 
 Of Italian Historians, Topographers, &c. 328. 
 
 Hobart, Bishop, his reprint, with notes, of D’Oyly and Mant’s Bible, 39. 
 
 Hobbes, Thomas, his Translation of Thucydides, \A2. 
 
 Hobhouse, J. C. Esq. His Travels through Albania, 338. 
 
 Hoedo,— his Topografia y Historia general de Argel, 1612, 459. 
 
 Hoffmann, John Jacob, his Lexicon Universale, 1698, 494. 
 
 Tycho, his Portraits des Hommes Illustres de Danemark , 1746, 
 
 511. 
 
 Hogenberg, Remigius, his Portrait of Archbishop Parker, 115. 
 
 Holbrooke, Mr. a co-editor of the new edition of Rymer's Fcedera , 1816, 
 292. . . 
 
 Holland Lord, his copies of Lafiteau’s Mosul's des Sauvages Americams, 
 472. Of Charlevoix’ Nouvelle France, 472. 
 
 Holland, H. his Basiloologia and Heroologia, 505. 
 
 Holland, Dr. his Travels in the Ionian Isles , &c. 338. 
 
 Hollar, Wenceslaus, his plates in Dugdale’s Monasticon, 1 17- 
 
 Holinshed, Raphael, his Chronicles, . 194. Continuation of ditto, ibid. Gi- 
 raldus Cambrensis’ Topographical Works in, 250. 
 
 Hollis, Thomas, his edition of Sydney's Discourses on Government , 1763, 
 
 565. 
 
 Thomas Brand, Memoirs of Thomas Hollis, published by, 1 /SO, 565 
 
 Holmes, Dr. Robert, his edition of the Greeh Bible , 17 97, 28. 
 
 Holt, John, Lac Puerorum, 571. 
 
 Holy-Rood, Chronicle of, 271. _ , . r cnA c 
 
 Homer, ancient and modern editions of, 620. Translations of, 624. Spe- 
 cimens from the modern Greek version of, ibid. 
 
 Homfray, Mr. his large paper copy of Hollis's Memoirs, 565. 
 
 Hood, Robin , Wynkyn de Worde’s Mery Geste of, 665. 
 
 Hooge, Romainde, character of his work, Les Indes Orientates, 423. rtia 
 plates to Fontaine, 766. # 
 
 Hooker, Dr. Richard, Ecclesiastical Polity, 1599, 1820, 56. 
 
 Hooker, Dr. William Jackson, his Journal of a Tour in Iceland, in the 
 summer c/T809, 1813, 349. 
 
 3 M 
 
866 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS, 
 
 Hopner, Richard Belgrave, his Translation of Krusenstern’ s Voyages, 1813, 
 411. 
 
 Horman, William, V 'Jgaria, 574. 
 
 Horne, Rev. Thomas Hartwell, references to his Introduction to the Scrip- 
 tures, 21, 26. One of the editors of Murphy’s Antiquities of the 
 Arabs in Spain, 320. 
 
 Horneman, Frederick, his Journal of Travels from Cairo to Mourzouk, 461. 
 
 Horsley, Dr. Samuel, Bishop of Rochester, his obligations to Bishop Bull’s 
 Works, 68. His edition of Sir I. Newton’s Works , 1779*85, 611. 
 
 Horatius Quintus Flaccus, editions of. 
 
 Editio princeps, 641. Of A. de Bruxella, Aldus, Elzevir, Variorum, 
 Bentley’s, 642. Gesner’s, Pine’s, Mitscherlicli’s, 643. 
 
 Houbigant, Charles Francis, his Biblia Hebraica , 1733, 25. 
 
 Houbigant, — his Mazurs et Costumes des Russes, 1817, 3 75. 
 
 Houbraken, Jacob, his improvement of Gravelot’s engravings, 509. 
 
 Houckgeest, Van Braam, his Account of the Dutch Embassy to China, 
 1797, 440. 
 
 Hoveden, Roger de, his Annales, 157. 
 
 Houel, Jean, his Voyage Pittoresque de Vile de Sidle , &c. 1782-87, 336. 
 
 Howe, ... his editions of Chaucer, 681. 
 
 Howell, James, Familiar Letters, 1645, 608. Other works of and cha- 
 racter, of his writings, 609. His verses in praise of Cartwright, 726. 
 Howes, Edmund, his editions of Stoic’s Annals, 198, 199. 
 
 Hudson, Dr. John Joseph, his edition of Thucydides , 1696, 14l. His 
 edition of the Minor Greek Geographers, 1698, 413. 
 
 Huen, Nicolas le, his Peregrinations de Jherusalem , 1488, 431. 
 
 Hughes, Mr. his Travels in Greece, 338. 
 
 Humboldt, Frederick Baron von, Eulogium on, 483. Descriptive list and 
 prices of his works, 484, 485. Translations and Reviews of ditto, ibid. 
 486. 
 
 Hume, David, his General History of England, continuing to the Death of 
 James VI. 269. 
 
 ■ his History of England, 1754-61, 278. Various editions of, 
 
 244. His critique upon Henry’s History of Great Britain, 245. His 
 remarks on the Irish Massacre, 267. 
 
 Hunnis, William, Sale and price of his Hyve full of Hunnye , 1578, 655. 
 
 Hunt, Rev. J. H. his English Translation of Tasso, 770* 
 
 Hunter, Dr. Alexander, his edition of Evelyn’s Sylva , 1 776, 565. 
 
 Huntingdon, Henry of, his General History of England, 156. 
 
 Hurd, Dr. Richard, Bishop of Worcester, Library founded by him, 61. 
 
 His edition of Addison’s Works, 1811, 613. 
 
 Hutchinson, Lucy, Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson , 1806, 563. 
 
 Hutchinson, Thomas, his editions of Xenophon’s Cyropedia and Anabasis , 
 1727-35, 143. 
 
 Hutten, J. G. liis edition of Plutarchus, 1804, 581. 
 
 Hutter, Elias, account of his Polyglot Bible, 1599, 9. 
 
 Hycke Scorner, 665. 
 
 Jackson, Mr. James Grey, his Account of the Empire of Morocco, 1809, 
 460. 
 
 Zachariah, Shakspeare’s Genius Justified, 1818, 804. 
 
 Jadis, Henry, Esq. Notices of editions of early Voyages and Travels in his 
 library, 388-9, 394, 396. His copies of the first edition of Othello, 815. 
 
 Jaggard, John, his Brief e Chronicle of the Successe of Times, 1611, 192. 
 
 Jahn, John, his Hebrew Bible, 1806, 25. Prices of ditto, 26. 
 
 Jamieson, Professor, his edition of Barbour’s Bruce, 271. 
 
 Jarchi, Solomon Ben Isaac, his edition of the Hebrew Pentateuch, 1482, 
 21. Remainder of the Bible, 1486-87, 22. 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 8 (>r 
 
 Jardin, Abbd, Ms French Translation of Denim’s Revoluzioni d' Italia* 
 1771-5, 335. 
 
 Jay, Rev. William, character of his Sermons, 93, 94. 
 
 Ibarra, his edition of Mariana’s Spanish History, 1780, 318. 
 
 R-ev. John, Archdeacon of Emly, his copy of the Acta Sanctorum, 
 
 Jerome, St. editions, and price of his works, 51. 
 
 Jerome, Rev. Stephen, extracts from his Ireland’s Jubilee, 1624, 264. 
 
 Jerusalem, La Vengeance et Destruction de Hierusalem , 1539, 784. 
 
 Jesuits, remarks on their Voyages and Discoveries, 442. 
 
 Jesus, Raphael de, his Continuation of Brito’s Monarchia Lusitana, 1683.*— 
 1729, 325. 
 
 Illustrious Portraits, work so called, commended, Pref. iii. 
 
 Inchbald, Mrs. her edition of the British Theatre, 821. 
 
 Iuglis, Mr. his copy of Sweynheim and Pannartz’s Silius Italicus, 646. 
 
 Ingram, Rev. J. his Translation of the Saxon Chronicle, 1823, 150. 
 
 Ingulphus, Abbot of Croyland, Historia Anglorum, 157. History of Crop- 
 land, 163. 
 
 Joecher, C. G. his Allgemeines gelelirten Lexicon, 1750, 497. 
 
 Johnes, Colonel Thomas, his late MS. of Sir John Froissart’s Chronicles, 
 171. Copy of the Chroniques de St. Denys, 172. His Translation 
 of Froissart, 175. Account of his publishing other French Chronicles, 
 176. His Translation of the Memoirs of Joinville, ibid. 
 
 Johnson, Mr. John Mordaunt, Sale of his editio princeps of Homer, 621. 
 
 Johnson’s Typographia, or the Printer’s Instructor, Pref. xviii. 
 
 R. his collection of Caxtons, 677* 
 
 — — Dr. Samuel, his praise of Dr. Watts, 71* His Translation of 
 Lobo’s V oyage to Abyssinia, 457. Remarks on his Lives of the Poets, 
 521. His praise of Sir Thomas Browne, 616. His Works, 617- His 
 remark on Prior’s Poems, 736. His character as an editor of Shak- 
 speare, 804. Price for his edition of ditto, 805. Character of ditto, 
 ibid. Publication of ditto, 1765, ibid. In connection with Steevens, 
 1773, ibid. 
 
 Johnsoni Schediasmata Poetica, 1615. Sale and price of, 654. 
 
 Joinville, John, Sieurde, Translation of his Memoir es, 176. 
 
 Jolly, Mr. his copies of the first editions of Shakspeare’s Sonnets, and 
 Venus and Adonis, 704. Of the first folio Shakspeare, 819. 
 
 Jones, Sir William, his character and Works, 425. 
 
 Jonson, Ben, Variations in his verses on Shakspeare, 818. Gifford’s edi- 
 tion of his Works, 1816, 826,7. Whalley’s ditto, 1756,827. 
 
 Jonson, Jo. Sale and price of his Academy of Love, 1641, 655. 
 
 Jordan, Thomas, sale and price of his Jewels of ingenuity, 653, 722. Ditto 
 of his Claraphil and Clarinda, ibid. 722. Names of other works, by, 
 722 . 
 
 Jortin, Dr. John, references to his Life of Erasmus, 96, 528. His censure 
 of the Gesta Dei per Francos, 105. Remarks on his Style, &c. 107 - 
 His Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, 1 767, 123. 
 
 Joseph, — Sale and price of Royal Arbor of Loyal t Poesie, 654. 
 
 Ireland, Riche’s description of the miseries of, 262. Titles of pamphlets 
 relating to the Massacres in, 264-266. 
 
 Irving, Washington, his eulogy on Roscoe, 542. On a Library, 544. 
 
 Juan I. and II. Kings of Spain, Chronicles of, 312. 
 
 Judicium, a Pageant, 786. Characters and verses from, 787 - 
 
 Jumieges, William of, De Ducibus Normannis , editions of, 159. 
 
 Junius, Francis, his work De Pictura Veterum, 1694,504.. 
 
 Juvenalis, Decius Junius, Ulric Han’s editions of 638, 639. Vide Persius. 
 
 Kaempfer, Engebert, his History of Japan, 439. 
 
863 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS; 
 
 Kalm, Peter, his Resa til Nona America , 1753, 475. 
 
 Keating 1 , Geoffrey, References to his History of Ireland , 1723, 250. Edi- 
 tion of, by Dermod O’Connor, 1723, 259. 
 
 Kele, Richard, his impression of Christmas Carols, 669. 
 
 Kelton, Arthur, Notice of his Chronicle , 1547, 190. 
 
 Kemble, the late John Philip, sale of his Dramatic Library, 798. His 
 copies of the first edition of Shakspeare’s Romeo and Juliet, 811. 
 Ditto, of his Henry V. 812. Of the first folio Shakspeare, 820. 
 
 Kemp, Applauded Merriments of the Men of Gotehame, 1594, 794. 
 
 Kempis, Thomas &, his Imitation of Christy 129. Controversy concerning 
 the author of ditto, ibid. Editions and translations of, 130. 
 
 Kendall, Timothy, Sale and price of his Flowers of Epigrammes, 1577, 654. 
 Farther notice of, 698. 
 
 Kenn, Dr. Thomas, Bishop of Bath and Wells, his Progress of Divine 
 Love , recommended, 135. 
 
 Kennett, Dr. White, Bishop of Peterborough, reference to his Life of 
 Somner, 1693, 162. His Complete History of England , 215. Mate- 
 rials of ditto, ibid. His Attempt towards laying the foundation of an 
 American Library , 1713, 466. 
 
 Kennicott, Dr. Benjamin, his State of the printed Hebrew Text , referred 
 to, 24. Praise of his Hebrew Bible , 1776, 25. Prices of ditto, 26. 
 
 Kerez, Francis de, his Conquista del Peru y 1534, 486. 
 
 Kerr, Mr. Robert, his Collection of Voyages and Travels, 1811-17,401. 
 Price of, 402. 
 
 Ketelaer, and De Lempt, their edition of Claudian , 646. Rarity of their 
 books, ibid. 
 
 Kid, Thomas, Pompeq the Great , his faire Cornelia's Tragedie , 1595, 
 translated from Gamier, 792. First edition of ditto, called Cornelia , 
 1594, ibid. 
 
 Kiessling, — His edition of Theocritus , 1819, 627- 
 
 Kimchi, Rabbi David, his edition of the Hebrew Psalter, 1477, 21. 
 
 King’s Library, his late Majesty’s, copies thereof the Mazarine Bible, 13. 
 Of Pfister’s do. ibid. Of Redman’s ditto on vellum, 34. Of the 
 Fructus Temporum, 179. Of Arnold’s Chronicle, 184. Of Rastell’s 
 ditto, 188. Of Pez’s Thesaurus Anecdotorum Novissimus, 344. Of 
 Rudbeck’s Atlantica, 366. Of Purclias’ Pilgrims, 393. Of Barms* 
 Voyages, 419. Of Caxton’s ASsop, 582. Of Caxton’s Reynard the 
 Fox, 591. Of Chartier’s Cathon, ibid. Of the Oxford Pindar, large 
 paper, 628. Of Apollonius Rhodius edit. prin. on vellum, 631. Of 
 the edit. prin. of Ovid, 637. Of the Aldine Horace on vellum, 642. 
 Of Skelton’s Chaplet of Laurel, 661. Of the Canterbury Tales, editio 
 princeps, 676. Of the Aldine Dante, on vellum, 761. Of the Aldine 
 Petrarch, 763. Of the Ferrara Ariosto, of 1532, 765. Of the Giolito 
 Ariosto, on vellum, 765. Of the first quarto of Shakspeare’s Henry 
 IV. part ii., 812. Ditto of Henry V. ibid. Ditto, of the Merchant of 
 Venice, ibid. Ditto, of King Lear, 814. Of the first folio Shaks- 
 peare, 822. Of the second ditto, 824. 
 
 King’s Inns Library, Dublin, copy there of Prynne's Records , 288. 
 
 Kingsbury, Parbury, and Allen, Messrs, their Catalogue of JVorks in 
 Oriental Literature , 447. 
 
 Kinneir, Mr. John Macdonald, his Journey through Asia Minor , 1818, 433. 
 His Geographical Memoir of the Persian Empire , 1813, ibid. 
 
 Kippis, Dr. Andrew, his Life of Captain Cook , 1788, 409. His edition of 
 the Biographia Britannica, 499. 
 
 Kirkpatrick, Colonel William, his Account of the Kingdom' 1 of Nepaul , 1811, 
 426, 427. , 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 869 
 
 Kirwan, Francis, Bishop of rarity of his Life by Lynch, 1669, 
 
 254. 
 
 Knave, A most 'pleasant and merrie new Comedie intituled a Knacke to know 
 a Knave , 1594, 794. 
 
 Knight, Dr. Samuel, Prebendary of Ely, his Lives of Dean Colet and Eras- 
 mus, 528. 
 
 — - Mr. His copy of the first folio Shakspeare, 821. 
 
 Knolles. Richard, his History of the Turks , 444. 
 
 Knowler, Dr. William, his edition of Lord Strafford’s State Papers and 
 Dispatches, 1739, 296. 
 
 Knox, Robert, his Historical Relation of the Island of Ceylon, 1681, 442. 
 Knox, Dr. Family Lectures , 93. 
 
 Kollarius, Adamus Franciscus, his Analecta Monumentorum Omnis JEvi 
 Vindoboniensia, 1760, 344. 
 
 Korbio, J. G. His Diarium Itineris Muscovice magnif. Dom. J. C. da Gua- 
 rient, 1700, 369. 
 
 Kraft, Jean Laurent, — Histoire Gentrale de la Maison d’Autriche, 1744. 
 344. 
 
 Krantzius, Albert, his Vandalia sive Historia Vandalorum , 1580,354. 
 Krohn, Berthold Nicholas, reference to his Sale Catalogue, 1796, 172. 
 Krusenstern, Capt. A. J. Von, his Circumnavigatory Voyage, 1810, 411. 
 
 English Translation of ditto, ibid. 
 
 Kuhnius, Joachim, his edition of Pausanias, 1696, 142. 
 
 Labat, John Baptist, his Relation Historique de VEthiopie Occidentals , 
 1732, 463. . 
 
 Labbe, Philip, his Collectio Maxima Conciliorum, 1672, 127. 
 
 La Bible Historiee, 28. 
 
 Labillardifcre, Jacobus Julianus, his Voyage in search of Perouse, 1800, 
 410, 411. 
 
 Laborde, John Benjamin, his Tableaux de la Suisse, 1780-86, 336. His 
 V tyage Pittoresque de VEspagne, and Monumens de la France, ibid. 
 Labouchere, Mr. his copy of Raderus’ Martial, 640. Of Olivet’s Cicero, 
 large paper, ibid. 
 
 * Lackington and Co. Messrs, (vide Messrs. Harding, Mavor and Co.) their 
 sale copies of Rushworth’s Historical Collections, large paper, 291 . 
 Of Pinkerton’s Geography, and Kerr’s Collection of Voyages, 402. 
 Their Portraits of Illustrious Personnages of Great Britain, 514. 
 Lacombe, James, his Memoirs of Christine Queen of Sweden, 1762, 364. 
 Lactantius, Lucius Cselius Firmianus, quotation from his Divin. Instit. 
 Pref. vi. 
 
 Best edition and price of his works, 51. 
 
 Ladvocat, J. B. his Dictionnaire Historique, 1 777, 497. 
 
 Lafiteau, Joseph Francis, Moeurs des Sauvages Americains, 1723, 472. 
 Laing, Mr. Malcolm, his History of Scotland, 1819, 281. 
 
 , Mr. his sale copy of Pez’s Thesaurus Anecdotorum Novissimus, 1721, 
 
 344. 
 
 Lambeth Archiepiscopal Library of, copies there of Archbishop Parker’s 
 Antiquitates Britannicae Ecclesiae, 115. Of Speed’s History, 205. 
 Of Prynne’s Records, 289. 
 
 Landino, Cristofero, his Commentary on Dante’s Commedia, 1481, 760. 
 Lang, Mr. Robert, his collection of French Mysteries, Moralities, Ro- 
 mances, and Poetry, 782. His copies of St. Christopher, a Mystery, 
 783. Of L’Homme Pecheur, ditto, 783. Of l’Homme juste et 
 l’Homme mondain, ibid. Mystbre de la Passion, ibid. Of Le joyeulx. 
 Mistkre de trois Rois, ibid. Of Le Mystbre du vieil Testament, ibid. 
 Mysteries of Octavian and the Sybils, ibid. Of Les Actes des Apotres 
 et l’Apocalypse, ibid. Of La vengeance et destruction de Hierusalem, 
 
870 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS, 
 
 78 3. Of La destruction de Troy le Grand, 786. Of Une chanson sur 
 la mort de Hector, ibid. 
 
 Langebeck, M. James, his Scriptores Rerum Danicarum Medii JEvi, 1772, 
 ^92, 359. 
 
 Langhorn, Daniel, his Chronicon Regum Anglorum, 202. 
 
 Langl&s, Louis, his new edition of Chardin’s Travels , 1811,421. His 
 French Translation of Nor den’s Voyage d’ Egypt e, 1797, 453. 
 
 Langtoft, Peter, Hearne’s edition of his Chronicle, 1725, 232. 
 
 Lanquett, Thomas, his Epitome of Chronicles , 190. 
 
 Lant, Richard, his impression of Steuen Steple to Mast. Cornell, 670. 
 
 Larcher, Pierre Henri, his French Translation of Herodotus , 1786, 140. 
 His doubts on Bruce’s Discoveries, 457. 
 
 Larry, Isaac de, Histoire d’ Angeleterre, &c. 1697-1713, 210. 
 
 Lasitzki, John, his work De Russorum Muscovitarum , et Tartarorum Reli - 
 gione, et Ritibus , 1582, 369, 
 
 Latimer, Hugh, Bishop of Worcester, Sermons of, 72. Extracts from that 
 called the Plough, &c. 73, 78. Remarks on his Portrait, ibid. 
 Eulogy on, 78. Censure of by Edgeworth, 88, 
 
 Lawrence, — Sale and price of his Arnalte and Lucenda, 1639, 655. 
 
 Layala, Pedro Lopez de, his Cronicadel Rey Don Pedro, 1493, 312. 
 
 Leake, Capt. his Researches in Greece , 338. 
 
 Le Despencer, Lord, his Abridgment of the Book of Common Prayer , 48. 
 
 Lediard, John, his Life of the Duke of Marlborough, 1736, 545. 
 
 Legh, Mr. Thomas, his Narrative of a Journey in Egypt and the Country 
 above the Cataracts of the Nile, 1816, 455. 
 
 Leibnitz, Godfrey William de, his praise of the Imitation of Christ, 129. 
 His Scriptores Rerum Brunswicensium , 170 7, 347- 
 
 Leland, John, De Scriptoribus Britannicis Collectanea, Hearne’s edition of 
 ditto, 1715, 226. References to, 156, 185, 205, 516,517- Hearne’s 
 edition of his Itinerary, 1710-12, 225. 
 
 Dr. Thomas, his History of Ireland, 1773, 261. 
 
 L’Empereur, Martin, his French Bible, 1530, 28. 
 
 Leon, Pedro Cieqa de, his Chronica de Peru, 486, 487- 
 
 Lentulus, character of his Library, Pref. xxii. 
 
 Lery, Jean de, his Historia Navigations in Brasiliam , 1578, 480. 
 
 Lesley, John, Bishop of Ross, his work De Origine, Moribus et Rebus , 
 Gestis Scotorum , 1578, 2 77* 
 
 Leslie, Rev. Charles, liis character, 67. His Short and easy Method with 
 the Deists , 1697, 69. Prices of his collected Works, 1721, 69. 
 
 Letters from the Bodleian Library, 1813, references to, 155, 225, 227, 
 517. 
 
 Lettres curicuses sur divers sujets , 1725, character of Bourdaloue’s preach- 
 ing in, 100. 
 
 Lettres ddifiantes c* curieuses icrites des Missions e'trangbes , 1 780, 401. 
 
 Lewieke, Edward, Sale and price of his Titus and Gesippus, 1652, 654. 
 
 Lewis, Frederick, his fac-similes of Sir T. Lawrence’s Drawings, 513. 
 
 — ■ Rev. John, his History of the Translations of the Old and New Tes- 
 
 taments, 33. His Biographical Works, 529. 
 
 John, his Ancient History of Great Britain, 1729, 242. 
 
 Matthew, Gregory, Esq. M. P. Talcs of Wonder, 748. The Monk , 
 
 ibid. 
 
 Leyden, Dr. John, his eulogy on the Pyramids of Egypt, 452. 
 
 If Homme juste et V Homme Mondain , 1508, 783. 
 
 L’ Homme Pecheur, a French Mystery, 783. 
 
 Liancourt, the Duke de la Rochefoucault, his Travels through the United 
 States of America, 1799, 477. 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 871 
 
 Liber Festivals, partly the original of the English Prayer Book, 45 An. 
 
 eient copy of the Lord’s Prayer from the, ibid. . • An 
 
 Liber Niger Scaccarii,p&\t\on of it by Hearne, 1728, 234. 
 
 Lichfield, Mr. John, his Copy of the first folio Shakspeare, 820. 
 Lichtenstein, Dr. Henry, his Travels in South Africa 1812 464 
 Lightfoot Rev. Dr. John Extensive Hebrew and Biblical learning of, 56 
 Mr. Pitman’s expected edition of his Works, ibid. ' 
 
 Lillye, William, his Latin Grammar , 571. 
 
 Linacre, Dr. Thomas, his edition of Galen De Temper amentis, 572. His 
 Grammatical Works, 573. 
 
 LincolnCathedral, Library of, copy there of Shakspeare’s Rape of Lucrece, 
 
 /Uo. 
 
 Lindesay, Robert, his Chronological History of Scotland, 1728 280 
 Lindley Murray, Mr. immense circulation of his various works connected 
 with the English Grammar, Pref. xiii. 
 
 Lindley, Thomas, his Narrative of a Voyage to Brazil, 1814, 481. 
 
 Lindsay, Rey. John, his Voyage to Africa in 1758, containing an account of 
 the expedition to and taking of the Island of Goree, by the Hon Au? 
 Keppel, 1759,463. 
 
 Lingard, Rev. John, character of his History of the Anglo-Saxon Church , 
 1815. Of his History of England, 246. 
 
 Linschoten, John Huighen Van, his Discourse of Voyages to the Indies 
 
 Lintot, Bernard, his contract with Pope for his translation of Homer, 737. 
 Lithgow, William, his Rare Adventures and Painful Peregrinations , 441. 
 Livius, Titus Foro Juliensis, Hearne’s edition of his Vita Henrici V., 1716 
 228. 
 
 Livius Titus, best edition of, 145. 
 
 Lloyd, — his Historie of Cambria, 1584, 283. 
 
 Lloyd, Mr. John Arthur, his copies of the Mazarine Bible, 13. Of Fust’s 
 and SchoifFer’s ditto, upon vellum, 14. His Roxburghe impression of 
 the Cuck Queanes and the Faerie Pastorale, 789. 
 
 Lobo, Father Jerome, his Voyage to Abyssinia, 457. 
 
 Loccenius, John, his works concerning Sweden, 363. 
 
 Locke, John, editions of his works, 611. 
 
 Locker, Edward Hawke, Esq. his Views in Spain , 1824, 322. 
 
 Lodge, Edmund, Esq. Norroy King of Arms, his Illustrations of British His- 
 tory, 1791, 29/. His Biographical Tracts to the Holbein Portraits, 
 512. His Illustrious Personages of Great Britain, 515. 
 
 Lodge, Dr. Thomas, his Fig for Momus, 1595, 707- Rosalynde Euphuef 
 Golden Legacy , 1590, ibid. Alarm against Usurers, 1584, ibid. Life 
 and Death of William Longbeard, 1593, ibid. 
 
 Lombard, Dr. Peter, his work De Regno Hibernice, 1632, 252. 
 
 Lomenie, Henry Louis de, Comte de Brienne, Memoirs of, 1719, 558. 
 
 London, gluttony of, condemned by Dr. Drant, 83. A right excellent and 
 famous Comedy called The Three Ladies of London, 1584, 794. 
 
 — , Dr. William Howley, Bishop of, his copy of Baronius’ Ecclesias- 
 tical Annals, 109. 
 
 Long, Edward, his History of Jamaica, 1 774, 479. 
 
 — , James le, his Bibliotheque Historique de la France, 1719, 137- 
 
 Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Co. : their great stock of Elementary Works, 
 Pref xiii. Their numerous and richly furnished Catalogues, p. xxv. 
 
 — — — their sale copies of different works ; 52, 
 
 111, 184, 187, 218, 219, 228, 232, 234, 235, 239, 242, 356, 409, 46&, 
 522. Various references to their Bibliotheca Anglo-Poetica, 1815, 
 679, 690, 692, 693, 694, 696, 697, 701, 704, 706, 707, 708, 709, 712, 
 7H, 715, 720, 724, 725, 726, 729, 733, 736. 
 
872 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS, 
 
 Longueval, James, — Histoirede VEglise Gallicane, 1730, 104. 
 
 Longueville, Anne Genevieve de Bourbon, Duchesse de, her Mimoire ?, 
 1738, 556. 
 
 Lopez, Odoardo, his Relatione de* Reame di Congo e delle vicine contrade , 
 1591, 462. 
 
 Losano, Pedro, his Chorographic Description of Gran Chaco , Galambar, &c. 
 1723, 488. 
 
 Lone and Complayntes betwene Mars and V ems, 666. 
 
 Lovelace, Richard, sale and price of his Lucasta, 1660, 646; 1649, 720. 
 Posthume Poems , 1659, ibid. Elegies addressed to his memory , 1660, 
 ibid. His verses to Althea, ibid. 
 
 Lover and Jay , Controversy between, 1510, 657- Opening of, ibid. 
 
 Louis XIII. XIV., Kings of France, Memoirs of, 557. 
 
 Lowth, Dr. William, Bishop of London, his Commentary on the Bible, 1731. 
 38. Excellence of his Writings, 68. His Life of William of Wykeham, 
 1757, 533. 
 
 Lucanus, M. Annaeus, editions of. 
 
 Editio princeps, Burman’s, Oudendorp’s, Variorum, Strawberry Hill, 
 
 644. 
 
 Lucian, editions of, 584. 
 
 Lucius, Gratianus, vide Lynch. 
 
 Lucretius Carus, T. editions of. 
 
 Aldine, Havercamp’s, 636. V T akefield’s, Duncan’s, Eichstadt’s, 637. 
 Ludolfus, Job, His Historia JEthiopica, 1695-96, 456. 
 
 Lunn, Mr. his passion for collecting Wetsten’s Testaments, 42. 
 
 Lupton, Thomas, A Morall and Pitifull Comedie entitled all for Money , 
 1578, 792. 
 
 Luther, Martin, his German Bible , 1541-45, 18. 
 
 Luton, vide Bute. 
 
 Luttrell, Narcissus, his collection of fugitive Old English Poetry, 734. 
 Lydgate, John, verses from his Castle of Pleasure, 662. Character of his 
 Works, 675. Pieces of printed by Caxton, 685, by Pynson, Marshe, 
 and Tottel, ibid. 
 
 Lyllie, John, Campaspe, 1581, 786, 1584, 795. Midas, 1592, ibid. Mother 
 Bombie , 1594, ibid, 1598, 786. Woman in the Moone , 1597, ibid. 
 Sappho and Phao , 1591, 796. Maydes Metamorphoses, 1600, ibid. 
 Love* s Metamorphoses, 1601, ibid. Gallathca and Endymion , ibid. 
 Lynch, John, Archdeacon of Tuam, his Cambrensis Eversus, 1622, 253. 
 His other works on Ireland, ibid. 
 
 Lyon, Capt. George Francis, his Narrative of Travels in Northern Africa , 
 1821, 460. Private Journal of his Voyage to the Polar Sea , 1824, 
 352. 
 
 Mabillon, John, his Annales Sancti Ordinis Benedicti, 103. 
 
 Macarthur, Dr. John, his Life of Lord Nelson, 1809, 550. 
 
 Me. Crie, Rev. Dr. Thomas, his Life of John Knox, 1813, 281. Ditto of 
 Andrew Melville, 1819, ibid. 
 
 Macdiarmid, John, his Lives of British Statesmen, 520, 522. 
 
 Machado, Deogo Barbosa, his Bibliotheca Lusitana Historica , &c. 1741-59, 
 323. 
 
 Machiavelli, Nicolo, his literary character and works, 332. 
 
 Mackenzie, Sir George Stewart, his Travels in Iceland during the Summer 
 of 1810, 1811, 349. 
 
 , Sir George, his works on Scotland, 279. 
 
 , Dr. George, his Lives and Characters of the most eminent Wri- 
 ters of the Scottish Nation , 1708-22, 279, 518. 
 
 Mackintosh, Sir James, his character of Hugo Grotius, 54. 
 
 Macknight, Dr. James, character and price of his works, 71. 
 
PERSONS, AND THINSG. 
 
 873 
 
 Maclaine, Dr, Archibald, his Translation of Mosheim's Ecclesiastical His- 
 tory, 1782, 126. 
 
 Macmation, Hugh, Archbishop of Armagh, his Jus Primatiale Armacanum 
 in Archiepiscopiis, &c. 1728, 259. 
 
 Macpherson, David, his edition of Wyntown's Chronicle , 1795, 272. 
 
 -, James, his Collection of State Papers , 1776, 297. 
 
 Madox, Thomas, his Formulare Anglicanum , &c. 295. 
 
 Magazines, variety and character of, Pref. xviii. 
 
 Mailla, Joseph Anne Marie Moyriac de, his Histoire Gdndrale de la Chine 
 1777-85, 439. 
 
 Mailros , Abbey of. Chronicle of, 271. 
 
 Maintenon, Franqoise Daubign6 de, her Memoirs and Letters , 1757, 556. 
 
 Major, Mr. John, his editions of Walton’s works, 526. 
 
 —J ohn, his Histories Major is Britannia turn Anglia quam Scotia , 
 
 Maitland, William, his works on the History and Antiquities of Scotland. 
 280. 
 
 Maittaire, Michael de, reference to his Annales Typographici, 1719-41, 180. 
 Collected for the Blickling Library, 585. His edition of Anacreon , 
 1725, 628. His letter to Sir Richard Eilys, 628, 9. 
 
 Maizeaux, Peter Des, his edition of Locke’s Works, 1759, 611. 
 
 Maloolm, Sir John, his works on India, 413. His History of Persia, 1816, 
 430. 
 
 Malherbe, Francois de, Ses Poesies, 1776, 77 3. Barb ou, editions of, ibid. 
 
 Malherbi, Nicole di, his Italian Bible , 1471, 20. 
 
 Mallet, Paul Henry, his praise of Snorro Sturleson, 354. His works on 
 the History of Denmark, 358, 9. 
 
 Malmesbury, William, of his works, 156. 
 
 Malone, Edmund, his Library at Oxford, 601. His edition of Dryden’s 
 Works, 1800, 612. His copies of Shakspeare’ s Venus and Adonis, 703. 
 Of Marlow’s Queen of Carthage, 708. Of his and Chapman’s Hero 
 and Leander, ibid. His collection of Old English Poetry at Oxford, 
 729. Account of, and Names of Plays, from his Dramatic Library 
 at Oxford, 792-797- His collection of Old English Poetry, 797* His 
 edition of Shakspeare, 1790, 806. Supplemental volumes to ditto, 
 1780, ibid. Boswell’s edition of his Shakspeare, 1821, 807. His 
 copy of the first folio Shakspeare, 820. 
 
 Mandeville, Sir John, his Travels in the East , 1725, 416. 
 
 Manilius, Caius, editio princeps, Bentley’s, 649. 
 
 Mansfield, Earl, his copy of the editio princeps of Homer, 621. 
 
 Manstein, General Christopher Hertmann de, his Memoirs of Russia, 1773, 
 370. 
 
 Mant, Dr. Richard, Bishop of Killaloe, his English Bible, 29, 39, 40. 
 His edition of Warton’s Poems, 1802, 743. 
 
 Mantua, vide Georgius. 
 
 Manutius, Paulus, his collection of Viaggi fatti da V metia, alia I ana, in 
 Persia, in India, &c. 1543-45, 428. His edition of Eustratius ’ Com- 
 mentary on Aristotle de Moribus, 1636, 580. 
 
 Marbecke, John, his edition of the Prayer Book, with music , 1550, 47. 
 
 Marchand, Prosper, his censure of Coreal, 472. His edition of Bayle’s 
 Dictionary, 1720, 496. His Dictionnaire Historique ou Mbmoires Cri- 
 tiques et Litter air es, 1758, ibid. 
 
 Marchand, Stephen, his praise of Capt. Cook, 407- His Voyage autour du 
 Monde, 1798-1800,411. 
 
 Margaret, Queen of Navarre, Memoirs of, 556. 
 
 Margaret of Valois, Queen of Navarre, Memoirs of, 559. 
 
 Mariana, Juan, his Histories de Rebus Hispamee, 317- 
 
 3 N 
 
INDEX OF BOOKS 
 
 874 
 
 Marineo, Lucio, hh Memorable Affairs of Spain, 1593, 315. 
 
 Marino, Giovanni Battista, his poems imitated by Milton, 721. 
 
 Mariti, Abbate Edmund, Translation of his Travels through Cyprus, Syria , 
 and Palestine, 1791, 432. 
 
 Markham, Gervase, his works, 606. Sale and price of his Tragedy of Sir 
 Richard Grenvile, 1595, 654. 
 
 Markland, Mr. James Heywood, his Roxburghe edition of the Chester 
 Mysteries, 785. 
 
 . — , Jeremy, his edition of Statius , 1728, 645. 
 
 Marlborough, John Churchill, Duke of, his Memoirs, 545. 
 
 Marlow, Christopher, sale and price of his Ovid's Elegies, 653. Eulogy on 
 him, 76 8. Dido Queen of Carthage , 1594, 708. Marlow and Chap- 
 man’s Hero and Leander, 1606, sold at Sir M. M. Sykes’s Library, 
 708. Expected new edition of ditto, 788. His other works, 796, 797- 
 
 Marmol, Carvajal Luys, his Description General de Africa, 1573-99, 451. 
 
 Marot, Clement, Jean, et Michel, ses (Euvres, 1731, 773. Editio princeps, 
 Hague edition, ibid. 
 
 Marriage, Complaynte of them that be too soone maryed, 659. Ditto, of 
 them that ben too late maryed, ibid. The Payne and soroive of Evil 
 Mary age, ibid. The Fyftene Joyes of Maryage , ibid. A new and 
 pleasaunt Enterlude, entitled the Marriage of Wytte and Science , 1570, 
 794. 
 
 Marsand, Abbate Antonio, his edition of Petrarch , 1819, 762. 
 
 Mars and Venus, by Julian Notary, price of, at the sale of Sir M. Sykes’s 
 Library, 666. 
 
 Marsden, Mr. William, his edition of Marco Polo's Travels , 1818, 415. 
 His History of Sumatra, 416. 
 
 Marsh, Dr. Herbert, Bishop of Peterborough, references to his Lectures on 
 Divinity, 38, 26, 42. 
 
 Marthe, Pbre Denis de Sainte, his edition of the Gallia Christiana, 104. 
 
 Martialis, Marcus Valerius, editions of, Editiones principes, Aldine, Serive- 
 rius’. Variorum, Smid’s Raderus, 640. 
 
 Martini, A. Archbishop of Florence, his Italian Bible and Annotations , 
 1776, 20. 
 
 Martyn, William, Histirrij and Lives of XX. Kings of England, 207- 
 
 Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland, names of Works concerning her, 275, 2 77* 
 
 Masch, Andrew Gottlieb, references to his Bibliotheca Sacra, 21, 22. 
 
 Mascrier, Abb6 John Baptist Le, his French Translation of De Thou's 
 History of his Own Time , 1734, 305. 
 
 Masdeu, — his Hisloria Critica de Espana y de la Cultura Espanola, 1 783- 
 97,319. 
 
 Maseres, Francis, Cursitor Baron of the Exchequer, his Selections from 
 Duchesne's Norman Writers, 160. His edition of Sir John Temple's 
 Account of the Irish Rebellion , 1812, 267. Of May's History of the 
 Long Parliament, 290. 
 
 Mason, William, his Memoirs of Thomas Gray, 1773, 536. 
 
 Massacre of Money, 1602, verses from, 729. 
 
 Massillon, Jean Baptiste, character of his Works, 99. Editions, &c. of 
 ditto, ibid. 
 
 Masson, — his Secret Memoirs of Catherine II. Empress of Russia , 1800-3, 
 374. 
 
 Matthews, Lieut. John, his Voyage to the River Sierra Leone , on the Coast 
 of Africa, 1788, 463. 
 
 Matthei, Christian Frederick, his Greek and Latin New Testament, 1782,42. 
 
 Mathias, Thomas James, his edition of Gray's Works, 1814, 740. 
 
 Maundrell, Rev. Henry, his Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem , 1697, 434. 
 
 Maury, Cardinal, his Collection of Select Discourses , 99. 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 875 
 
 Mauvillon, — , his History of Charles XII. King of Sweden, 1764, 365. 
 
 Mawe, Mr. John, his Travels in the Interior of Brazil, particularly in the 
 Gold and Diamond Districts, 1812, 483. * 
 
 May, Thomas, his History of the Long Parliament, 1647,289. 
 
 Mazarine, Cardinal Julius, Memoirs of him, 555. 
 
 , Hortensia Mancini, Duchesse de, her Mdmoires , 1675, 556. 
 
 Mazocco, Giovanni and Luigi, their editions of Ariosto, 1515, 1516 764 
 
 Mede, Rev. Joseph, character -of his Writings, 53. Best edition '&c. of 
 his Works, 57. 
 
 Meibomius, Marcus, his Rerum Germanicarum, 1688, 342. His edition of 
 Diogenes Laertius, 1692, 501. 
 
 Mellish,— his Geographical Description of the United States* 1822, 468. 
 
 Melvil, Sir James, Memoirs of, 1683, 278. 
 
 Melzi, Count, his vellum copy of Malherbes Italian Bible, 20. 
 
 Memoirs, Collection de Mdmoires Particulieres 1785-86,559. Memoires 
 Historiques, Litteraires et Anecdotiques, 1812-13, 561, 562. 
 
 Memoirs of Jean D’ Arc, 308. 
 
 Mdmoires de Guy Joly, 1 738, 554. 
 
 Memoirs of Literature, Old, 1725-27. Various references to the, 9, 16, 67, 
 
 Memoirs of Literature , New, 1730, Various references to the, 98, 100. 104 
 233, 342. ' ’ 
 
 Menckenius, Friderich Otto, his Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum , 1728, 
 343. ' 
 
 Mendoza, D. Diego Hurtado, his Life of Lazarillo de Tormes, 316. His 
 Guerra de Grenada, 1 776, 316. 
 
 , Don Pedro Gonzalez de, his Chronicle, 1625, 
 
 313. 
 
 Menezes, Don Fernando de, his Historia de Tanger, 1732, 459. 
 
 Meon, M. his edition of Le Roman de la Rose, 1814, 773. 
 
 Meredith, Henry, his Account of the Gold Coast of Africa, 1812, 463. 
 
 Merly, vide Willett. 
 
 Merriments, Penny, some account, 605, 607. 
 
 M6ry, Moreau de St., his edition of Houckgeest’s Dutch Embassy to China, 
 1797, 440. 
 
 Messenius, John, his Chronologia de Rebus Sue cite Danice et Norwegice, 
 1700, 344. His works concerning Sweden, 363, 
 
 MessinghanvRev. Thomas, his Florilegium Sanctorum , 1624, 248. 
 
 Metastasio, his Opere, 1780-2, 1795, 771. 
 
 Meun, Jean de, Le Roman de la Rose, 773. 
 
 Meuselius, his Bill. Hist, commended, 137. 
 
 Meyrick, Dr. Samuel Rush, his History and Antiquities of Cardiganshire , 
 
 H 1810,284. 
 
 Mezerai, Francois Eudes de. Singularities of, 300. His History of France, 
 301. 
 
 Michaelis, John David, his edition of Castell's Lexicon , 1788. His Hebrew 
 Bible, 1720, 25. His edition of Abulfeda's Account of Egypt, 1776, 
 450. 
 
 Mycro-cynicon, T. M., sale and price of his Sixe Snarling Satyr es, 1599, 
 646, 654, 706. 
 
 Middleton, Dr. Conyers, his Life of Cicero, 1741, 531. 
 
 , Thomas, his Appendix to Spottiswoode’s History of the Church 
 
 of Scotland, 1677 , 278. 
 
 Mill, Mr. James, his History of British India, 426. 
 
 Millinger, Mr. his Medallic History of the Reign of Bonaparte, 308. 
 
 Milman, Rev. H. H., 745, 750. Fazio, ibid. Samor, ibid. Fall of 
 Jerusalem, ibid. Belshazzar, 751. Fall of Babylon, ibid. 
 
 Millot, Claude Xavier, his Ele'mens d’Histoire Universelle, 1 779, 140, 304. 
 
876 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS, 
 
 Milner, Dr. Isaac, his Ecclesiastical History , 126. 
 
 Milton, John, his History of England, 21*0. His imitation of Du Bartas, 
 707,713. Editions of his Poetical Works, 7 13-71B. Defended against 
 a false quotation from, by Dr. Farmer, 814. 
 
 Mirrour for Magistrates, 1569, 690. 
 
 Mitford, Rev. John, his edition of Grafs Latin and English Poems, 1814. 
 740. His expected edition of Thomson, ibid. 
 
 — , William, his History of Greece, 144. 
 
 Mittarelli, Giovanni Benedetto, his Accessiones to Muratori's Scriptores 
 Rerim Italicarum, 1771, 148, 330. 
 
 Modern Universal History , reference to, 355. 
 
 Moleville, Ant. Fr. Bertrand de, his Chronological Abridgement of the 
 History of England, 1811, 246. 
 
 Moliere, Jean Baptiste Pocquelin de, editions of his Works , 776. 
 
 Moiling, M. his Views in Constantinople, 435. 
 
 Monipennie, — his Works, concerning Scotland, 277- 
 
 Monk, Rev. Dr. — , Dean of Peterborough, his editions of two Plays of 
 Euripides , 633. 
 
 Monstrelet, Enguerrand de, best editions of his Chronicles , 176. 
 
 Montagu, Basil, Esq. his projected edition of Bacon’s Entire Woi'ks, 
 noticed, 603. 
 
 Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat, Baron de, his Grandeur et Decadence 
 dcs Romains, 147- 
 
 Montfaucon, Bernard de, his works on History and Antiquity, 303. 
 
 Montgomery James, Beauty of his Poetry, 755. 
 
 Monthly Review, Criticisms of, Henry’s History of Great Britain, 245. Of 
 Dr. Robertson, and other Historical Writers, 341. Of Bruce’s Tra- 
 vels, 457. Of Boswell’s Life of Johnson, 537- Of Roscoe’s Life of 
 Lorenzo de Medicis, 539. Of Gibbon’s Letters, &c. 543. 
 
 Montpensier, Anne Marie Louise d’Orleans, Duehesse de, her Mbnoires, 
 1735, 556. 
 
 Monument of Matrons, 1582. Account of, and Extracts from the, 130-133. 
 
 Moorcroft, Mr. William, his Travels in the Mountains of India, 427. 
 
 Moore, Mr. Daniel, his copy of the first folio Shakspeare, 817- 
 
 , Mr. Thomas, Irish Melodies, 749. J^alla Rookh , ibid. Character 
 
 of his Poetry, ibid. His edition of Sheridan's Works, 831. 
 
 More, Dr. Henry, his Library, at Cambridge, 57. 
 
 , Sir Thomas, Reference to the Author's edition of his Utopia, 1808, 
 
 60, 522, 523, 524, 525, 593, 606. His character by Dr. Drant, 8J. 
 Ditto, by Erasmus, reference to, 97. 
 
 Moreri, Louis, his Grand Dictionnaire Historique, 1759, 494. 
 
 Morhoff, Daniel George, various illustrative references to his Poly Ids tor 
 Litterarius Philosophicus , et Practicus , 310, 490, 497, 503, 504, 507, 
 522, 523, 525. 
 
 Morier, Mr. James, his Journies through Persia, fyc. 430. 
 
 Moryson, Fynes, his Ten Years Travel through Germany, &c. 1617, 445. 
 Extracts from ditto, 445-447. Reprint of ditto, 1735,447- 
 
 Moschus, modern edition of, 631. 
 
 Mosheim, Dr. John Lawrence, his Ecclesiastical History , 1755, 126. No- 
 tice of him, ibid. 
 
 Motteville, Mad. Franqoise Bertaux de, her Mdmoires , 1723, 555. 
 
 Motraye, Aubry de la, his Voyage en Europe , Asic , et Afrique, J 727, 534. 
 
 Moule, Mr. his Bibliotheca Heraldica commended, Pref. iii. 
 
 Moyes, Mr., his printing of Mr. Wiffen’s Tasso, 1824, 77 1 - 
 
 Miiller, his work on Germany, 343. 
 
 Munday, Anthony, Banquet of Daintie Conceits, 1588, 709. Fountayne 
 of Fame, 1580, ibid. 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 877 
 
 Mundy, Anthony, his Briefe Chronicle of the Successe qf Times , 1611, 192. 
 
 Muratori, Luigi Antonio, Scriptores Rerum Italicarum, 1723-61, 147 330 
 Notices of his other Works, 147, 331 . Character and Works of’ 329.* 
 
 INI ur din. Rev. William, his edition of the Burghley Papers , 1749, 296 
 
 Murdock, Patrick, his edition of Thomson's Seasons , 1762, 740. 
 
 Murphy, Arthur, his Translations of Tacitus and Sallust , 146. His edition 
 of Johnson’s Works, 617. 
 
 , James Cavannah, his Antiquities of the Arabs in Spain , 319. His 
 
 Plans, SfC. of the Church of Batalha, and Travels in Portugal, 320. 
 
 Murray, Mr. Hugh, his Historical Account of Discoveries and Travels in 
 Asia and Africa, 1818-20,379. 
 
 , Mr. John, his publication of the Voyages of Captains Franklin 
 
 and Parry, 352. His copy of Knolles’ History of the Turks, 444. Of 
 Campbell’s Essay on English Poetry, large paper, 744. Of the first 
 folio Shakspeare, 821. 
 
 Muscovy, Muscoviticarum, , Rerum Scriptores, 1600, 369. 
 
 Museum, the British, Vide Garrick, Library of, references to the Catalogue 
 of the, 690. 
 
 Museum Criticum , various illustrative references to the, 573, 629, 630. 
 
 Musgrave, Sir Richard, History of the Irish Rebellion, 1743, 260. 
 
 Mussi, Luigi, his edition of Machiavelli's Works, 1810, 332. His impres- 
 sion of Dante, 1809, 76 1. 
 
 Myrrour of the Churche , 1514, 657- 
 
 Mysteries and Moralities, French, vide Lang. Le Mistere de la Passion , 
 784. English, vide Markland, Sharp. 
 
 Nalson, Rev. John, his Impartial Collection of the Great Affairs of State , 
 1682, 293. 
 
 Nashe, Thomas, character of his Works, 5, 600. A pleasant Come die, 
 called Summer's Last JVill and Testament, 1600, 793. 
 
 Nassau, Hon. G. sale and price of his copy of De Bry’s Voyages, 384. 
 
 Nelson, Horatio Lord, Memoirs of, 550. 
 
 , Robert, his English edition of Bishop Bull's Worhs , &c. 67. 
 
 Nemours, la Duchesse de. Memoirs of, 1738, 555. 
 
 Nepos Cornelius, best editions of his Lives , 502. 
 
 Nestorius, character of his Library, Pref. xxii. 
 
 Neunberg, Mr. G. V., sale of his copy of Fox’s Book of Martyrs, 1 13. Of 
 a Tract concerning Judge Hales and Bishop Gardiner, 125. Of Ful- 
 well’s Flower of Fame, 705. 
 
 Newbery, William of , — Historia sive Chronica Rerum Anglicarum, 1719, 
 154, 229. 
 
 Newbery, Mr. recent vendor of Books for Children, Pref. xiv. 
 
 Newcastle, the Duke of, notice of Alford’s Fides Regia , communicated by, 
 
 118. 
 
 Newdigate, Sir Roger, his copy of the first folio Shakspeare, 823. 
 
 Newman, Arthur, Sale and price of his Pleasure's Vision , 1619, 655. 
 
 Newton, Sir Isaac, best edition of his Works, 611. 
 
 , Dr. Thomas, Bishop of Bristol, his edition of Milton's Works, 
 
 1749-54, 609, 716. 
 
 Niagara, Descriptions of the Falls and Rapids at, 376, 3 77- 
 
 New College, Oxford, Library of, copy there of Aristotle’s Works, by 
 Aldus, on vellum, 534. 
 
 Niceron, John Peter, references to his Mdmoires des Homines Illustres, 
 1729-40, 159, 210, 333, 381, 470, 495. Particulars of ditto, 561. ^ 
 
 Nichols, Mr. John, reference to his Brief Memoir of W. Bowyer, 1778, 
 164. To his Anecdotes of Literature, 1780, 215, 216. 566. His 
 Fragment of the Sixth Volume of the Biographia Britannica, 499. 
 References to his Literary Anecdotes, 510, 520. Particulars concern- 
 
878 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS, 
 
 ing them, 566. His edition of Swift's JVorJiSy 1808, 614. His account 
 of Robert Herrick, 71 1. 
 
 Nicolson, Dr. William, Bishop of Carlisle, various references to his Histo- 
 rical Libraries, , 1736, 152, 154, 158, 195, 199, 202, 203, 206, 207, 
 208, 216, 249, 252, 253, 254, 255, 258, 259, 271, 273, 274, 28 7. 
 Editions and prices of ditto, 518. 
 
 Nicol, Mr. George, his vellum copy of the Mazarine Bible, 13. His pub- 
 lication of Capt. Cook’s Third Voyage, 408. His copy of the first 
 folio Shakspeare, 822. 
 
 . , Mr. William, his aqcouut of the Fourth Volume of Rudbeck’s At- 
 
 lantica, 367- 
 
 Nicolay, Mr. H. B. his expected new edition of Davison’s Poetical Rhap- 
 sodies, 728. 
 
 ■■ ■■ — , Nicolas, his Navigations, Peregrinations, et Voyages, 1576, 444. 
 
 Niebuhr, Carsten, his Description de VArabie , 1773, 436. 
 
 NieuhofF, John, his Embassy from the Dutch East-India Company , to the 
 Emperor of China, 1665, 439. 
 
 Nodal, Bartolomeo Garcia, and Gonqalo, their Relation del Viage al descu - 
 brimiento del estrecho nuevo de S. Vincente, y reconoscimiento de Ma - 
 gellanes, 1621, 474. 
 
 Nordberg, J. A. Histoire de Charles XII. Roi de Subde, 1748, 365. 
 
 Norden, Frederick Louis, his Voxjage d' Egypte et de Nubie, 453. 
 
 Norris, Mr., reference to his Letter to the Earl of Liverpool, 1822, 93. 
 
 North, Hon. Roger, Origin of his Eocamen, 1740, 216. His Biographies, 
 1742, 532. 
 
 Northern Histories, vide Synoptical Table. 
 
 Notary, Julian, his editions of Caxton’s Chronicle, &c. His impression 
 of John Splynter, 666. Of the Loue betwene Mars and Venus, 
 ibid. 
 
 Nott, Dr. George Frederick, his edition of the Poems of the Earl of Surrey 
 and Sir Thomas Wyatt, 1815, 690. His Reflections on the Death of 
 the former, 691. Quotations from the above, 733. 
 
 Nouveau Dictionnaire Historique, various illustrative references to, 330, 
 331. 
 
 Nugent, Dr. Thomas, his English Translation of Benvenuto Cellini's Me- 
 moirs, 1771, 336. 
 
 Nye, Rev. Stephen, reference to his Account and Defence of the Canon of 
 the New Testament , 38. 
 
 Ocampo, Florian de, his edition of Cordova's Chronicle of Spdin, 1541, 
 315. His Chronica General d' Espana, ibid. 
 
 O’Connor, Dr. Charles, Librarian to the Marquess of Buckingham, his 
 Remarks on Lynch’s Life of Kirwan, 254. On the Primatiale Arma- 
 canum in omnes Archiepiscopiis, 259. His Tracts on Irish History, 
 1812, 268. Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores Veteres, 1814, ibid. 
 
 , Dermot, his edition of Keating's General History of Ireland, 
 
 1723, 259. 
 
 Octavian and the Sybils, a French Mystery, 7S4. 
 
 Offelius, — his Rerum Boicarum Scriptores, 1763, 346. 
 
 O’Flaherty, Roderic, his Attacks on Peter Walsh, 255. His Ogygia sen 
 Rerum Hibernicarum Chronologia, 1685, 258. 
 
 Ogilby, John, his Africa, 1670, 451. His History of America, 1671, 471. 
 
 Ogle, Duncan and Co. Messrs., their Catalogue commended, Pref. xxvi. 
 References to, 24, 25, 26, 47, 53, 59, 93, 1 10, 113, 119, 130. 
 
 O’Halloran, General Sylvester, his General History of Ireland, 1772, 260. 
 
 Olaus, Elricus, his Hisloria Suecorum Gothorumque , 1654, 363. 
 
 Olaus Magnus, Archbishop of Upsal, his book De Gentibus Septentrionalis, 
 1555, 353. 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 879 
 
 Oldys William, various references to his British Librarian , 1737 , 172, 183 
 28 /. 
 
 Origen, Adamantius, best edition and price of his works 51 
 
 Orleans, Due d’, Mdmoires of, 1685, 557. 
 
 Ormond, James, Duke of, alluded to in the work called Unkind Deserter of 
 Loyal Men , 1676, 25 7. 
 
 Ortus Vocabulorum , 1500, 576. 
 
 Osanna,— his edition of Tasso, 1584, 768. 
 
 Osborne, Thomas, prices in his Catalogues for Poleno’s Utriusque The- 
 sauri Antiquitatum, Nov. Suppl. &c. 146. For Holinshed’s Chro- 
 nicles, 196. For Heath’s Chronicle of the Wars in Eno-land, 201. 
 For Sandford’s Genealogical History, 218. For Hearne^s Leland’s 
 Itinerary, 226. Of Prynne’s Records, 288. Of Birch’s Lives of Illus- 
 trious Persons, 509. Of Caxton’s Governayle of Health, 672. Of 
 his Fruitful and Ghostly Matters, 676. Of his Life of St. Wenefrid. 
 ibid. Of his Virgil’s yEneid, ibid. 
 
 Osburn, Thomas, his Collection of Voyages and Travels from the Earl of 
 Oxford’s Library , 1745, 399, 400, 403. 
 
 Osorio, editions of his works, 324. 
 
 Osullevanus, Philippus, his Historice Catholicce Ibernice Compendium, 1621, 
 25 1 . 
 
 Os wen, John, his Worcester edition of the Common Prayer , 1549, 46. 
 
 Otterbourne, Thomas, Hearne’s edition of his Rerum Anglicarum Scrip- 
 tores Veteres , 1732, 235. 
 
 Ottley, Mr. William Young, reference to his History of Engraving, 760. 
 
 Ottridge, Mr. his collection of Bruce’s Travels, 458. 
 
 Otway, Thomas, his Dramatic Works, 1812, 830. « 
 
 Oudin, Pkre Casimir, his Commentarius de Scriptoribus Antiquis, 1722, 
 
 Ovidius, Naso, Publius editions of, 637. 
 
 Oviedo y Valdes, Goncalo Hernandez de, Summaria de la Historia General 
 y Natural de las Indias, islas y terra firma del mar Ocean , 469. 
 
 Ouseley, Sir William, his Travels in various countries of the East, 1819, 
 430. 
 
 Paesi novamente ritrovati, 1507, 380. 
 
 Pagninus, Sanctus, his Latin Bible, 1528, 16. 
 
 Paley, William, Archdeacon of Carlisle, character of his writings, 94. 
 
 Pallas, Dr. Peter Simon, his Observations faites dans un Voyage entrepris 
 dans les Gouvernemens Meridionaux de V Empire de Russie, 1801, 374. 
 
 Palsgrave, John, his Eclaircissemens de la Langue Franqoise, 1530, 574. 
 His Comedy e of Acolastus, 1540, ibid. 
 
 Paradise of Dainty Devices, 1576, 6.97 
 
 Paraineticorum Veterum Scriptores VIII . 1604, 251. 
 
 Park, Mungo, his Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa, 1823, 461. 
 
 , Mr. Thomas, his edition of the Harleian Miscellany , 294. Of Har- 
 rington’s Nugce Antiques, 295. His account of Whetstone’s works, 
 601. OfWynkyn de Worde’s Prophecye of Merlin, 65 7. Of the 
 Phoenix Nest, 698. Of Davies’s Works, 719. Of Withers’s works, 
 720 . 
 
 Parker, Matthew, Archbishop of Canterbury, his Antiquitates Britannic ce 
 Ecclesiee, 1572, 114. Notices of his Portrait, 114, 115. His editions 
 of Asser and Thomas of Walsingham, 1574, 151. Praise of by Gibbon, 
 ibid. 
 
 Parliament of Devylles, 1509, 661. 
 
 Paris, Royal Library of, copies there of the Comp*lutensian Polyglot, 7- 
 , Of the Mentz Bible, 12. Of Pfister’s ditto, 14. Of Bishop Taylor’s 
 works, 58. Of Renouard’s edit, of Massillon’s Sermons, 99. First 
 
880 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS 
 
 edition of Bede's Church History, 111. Of Philip de Comines, on 
 vellum, 1 77- Of Le Nouveau Monde d’Americ de Ve3puce, 381. Of 
 De Bry’s Voyages, 384. Of Holland’s Basiloolegia, 505. Of Eus- 
 tratius’ Commentary on Aristotle de Moribus, large paper, 580. Of 
 the editio princeps of Homer, 621. Ditto, of Theocritus, on large 
 paper, 626. Of early editions of Virgil, 634. Of the edit. prin. of 
 Ovid, 637. Ditto of Ariosto, 764. 
 
 _ , copy there of the Aldine Aristotle, on vellum, 
 
 579. 
 
 Paris, Matthew of, editions, &c. of his Historia Major , 167, 168. 
 
 Parry, Capt. William Edward, his Journal of a Voyage for the Discovery 
 of a North-West Passage , 1821, 352. Account of the Trade Sale 
 on the publication of, 351. His second voyage to the Polar sea, 1824, 
 352. 
 
 Pasquil's Jests mixed with Mother Bunches Merriment, 1609, 607- 
 
 Patrick, St. various editions of his Life and Acts, 247. 
 
 Patrick, Dr. Simon, Bishop of Ely, his English Bible and Commentary , 
 1731, 39, 40. 
 
 Patten, W. , his Expedicion of the Earl of Hertford, 27 5. 
 
 Paul’s, St. Cathedral Library of, ancient New Testaments in the, 31. De- 
 cayed state of the Bibles there, 34. 
 
 Pausanias, best editions and prices of, 142. 
 
 Payne and Foss, Messrs. ; their Catalogues commended, Pref. xxv. Their 
 purchase and reprint ot the first edition of Hamlet , 813. 
 
 — references to their catalogue, 14, 25, 27, 47, 48, 52, 
 
 57,108, 111, 113, 117, 130, 161, 174, 197, 198,204, 207, 211, 212, 
 213, 216, 218, 219, 231, 233, 257, 260, 268, &c. &c. 
 
 Peacham, Henry, Complete Gentleman , 1622, 604. His Worth of a Penny , 
 1642, 605. 
 
 Pearson, Dr. John, Bishop of Chester, character of his writings, 53. His 
 Exposition of the Creed , 56. Editions and Abridgments of ditto, 58. 
 
 Pedlefs Prophecie, 1595, 794. 
 
 Peele, George, David and Bathsheba, 791, 792. Old Wives Tale , 791. 
 
 Pemberton, Dr. Henry, his edition of Newton's Principia , 1726, 611. 
 
 Pembroke, Earl of, his vellum copy of Fust’s and Schoifferis Bible, 15. Of 
 Caxton’s Eleven Grammars, 572. 
 
 , Mary, Countess of, Antonins , or the Tragedy of Marc An- 
 thony, 1595, 793. 
 
 Penn, William, extracts from his No Cross no Crown , 61. His imitation 
 of Anthony Brewer’s Lingua, 63. 
 
 Pennant, Dr. Thomas, his Tour in Wales, 1778, 284. 
 
 Pepysian Library, Cambridge, copies there of Purchas’ Pilgrims, 393. Of 
 Hudson’s Greek Geographers, 414. Collection of Facetiai there, 605 
 Collection of Ballads there, 669. Of Old English Poetry there, 672. 
 Copy there of Lydgate’s Siege of Troy, on vellum, 675. Of Caxton's 
 2d edit, of the Canterbury Tales, 677- 
 
 Percival, Robert, his Account of the Cape of Good Hope, 1804, 464. 
 
 Percy, Dr. Thomas, Bishop of Dromore, reference to his Old Ballads, 
 1794, 183. His English Translation of Mallet? s Northern Antiquities, 
 359. 
 
 , William, The Cuck Queanes. The Faery Pastor all, 7 89. Sonnets 
 
 to Celia, 1594, 702. 
 
 Per^fixe, Hardouin de. Archbishop of Paris, his Histoire de Henri le Grand 
 1664, 559. 
 
 Peringskiold, John, his edition of Snorro Sturleson's Chronicle, 1697, 349. 
 Ditto of Messenius' Chronologia, 1700, 355. His Notes on the Scandia, 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 881 
 
 Illustrata of ditto , 1700, 363. His Monuments Sueo-Gothica, 1710 
 364. 
 
 Perouse, John Francis Galoup cle, his praise of Captain Cook, 407. His 
 Voyage autour du Monde, 179 7, 410. 
 
 Perrault, Charles, his Homines Illustres, &c. 1696-1700, 508. 
 
 Persius Flaecus, Aulus, editions of, 639. 
 
 Peru, Historie van Conynkryk van Peru, 1573, 487. 
 
 Perry, Mr. James, his late collection of Facetiae, 5. His copy of the Ma- 
 zarine Bible, 13. Sale of his pamphlets on the French Revolution, 
 308. Of his copy of Fraunce’s Phyllis and Amyntas, 596. Of De- 
 foe’s works, 616. Of the first folio Shakspeare, 821. 
 
 Peter I. Czar of Muscovy, various Memoirs of, 373. 
 
 Petersburg-, Imperial Academy of. Atlas Russians, published by, 1743, 369. 
 
 Petrarch, Francesco, editions of, 762. 
 
 Petrie, Mr. Henry, Keeper of the Records in the Tower, his copy of the 
 Acta Sanctorum, 109. His researches after the remaining Manu- 
 scripts of do. 110. His notice of the Annals of Waverley, 163. His 
 copy of Muratori’s Scriptores, 330. 
 
 Petronius Arbiter, best editions of, 589. 
 
 Pez, Bernard, his Scriptores Reruin Austriacarum , 1721, 343. His The- 
 saurus Anecdotorum Novisshnus, 1721, 344. 
 
 Pfister, Albertus, notice of his Latin Bible, 13. 
 
 Phillips, Edward, his Continuation of Balter’s Chronicle, 1660, 202. 
 
 Phoenix Nest, 1593, 698. 
 
 Physiognomical Portraits ; work so called commended, Pref. iv. 
 
 Picedi, Papirio, his Annotations, Sfc. on Guicciardini’s Istoria d’ Italia, 1564, 
 333. 
 
 Pickering, Mr. his Miniature Virgil, 636. His edition of Chaucer’s Can- 
 terbury Tales, 1822, 684. Various references to Tyrwhit’s Introduc- 
 tion to, 680, 681. His intended editions of Italian Poets, 758. His 
 miniature impression of < Shakspeare, 808. His sale copies of the first 
 four folios of Shakspeare, 823. 
 
 Pigafetta, Antonio, his Voyage round the World, 1517, 410. 
 
 Filippo, his Account of the Kingdom of Congo, 410. 
 
 Piles, Fortia de, Voyage de deux Francois au Nord de l’ Europe, 1796, 366. 
 Pin, Louis Ellies Du, his Universal Library of Historians , 1709, 13. 
 Pindarus, editions of, 627- 
 Pine, John, his edition of Horace, 1733, 643. 
 
 Pinkerton, John, reference to his Vitae Antiques Sanctorum , 1789, 250. 
 His edition of Barbour’s Bruce, 1790, 271. His Historical work on 
 Scotland, 281. His Collection of Voyages and Travels, 1808-14, 401. 
 Various references to do. 409, 411, 414, 418, 423, 431, 433, 434, 435, 
 439, 441, 442, 459, 477, 480, 486, 488.. His Geography, 1817, 401. 
 Pinnock’s Catechisms ; great sale of, Pref. xiv. 
 
 Pinto, Ferdinand Mendez de, his Voyages and Adventures, 417- 
 Pistorius, John, his Rerum Germanicarum , Scriptores aliquot Insignes , 
 1726-31, 342. 
 
 Pitman, Rev. John Rogers, his expected edition of Lightfoot’s Works, 56. 
 His censure of the old editions of Taylor’s works, 59. Family Shak- 
 
 speare, 826. 
 
 Pits, John, his Relationes Historicce de Rebus Anghcis, 516, 17. 
 Plan tin, Christopher, his Antwerp Polyglot Bible, 1569-72, 9. 
 Plato, best editions of his works, 5 77, 8. 
 
 Plautus, editions of, 650. 
 
 Plays, Volumes of in the Malone Collection at Oxford, 795. 
 Pliny, C. Csecilius Secundus, best editions of his Epistles , 588. 
 J 30 
 
882 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS, 
 
 Plowden, Dr. Francis, his Historical Review of the State of Ireland , 1804, 
 261. 
 
 Plutarchns, best editions of his Parallel Lives , 500. 
 
 Pococke, Dr. Richard, Bishop of Meath, his Description of the East and 
 some other countries , 1743, 433, 453. 
 
 Poetry, Old English, sale and prices of, 652, 655. 676, 707, 734. 
 
 Poetry, various pieces and fragments of, 19, 36,37, 57, 133, 200, 230, 238, 
 271, 272, 313, 396, 397, 596, 600, 624, 625, 657, 658, 661, 662, 663, 
 665, 667, 668, 669, 670, 671, 674, 675, 687, 688, 713, 714, 720, 721, 
 722, 723, 726, 727, 729, 736, 752, 77 1, 787, 811, 818. 
 
 Poleno, John, Utriusque Thesauri Antiquitatum Romanarum Grcecarumque, 
 Suppl. Nov. 1753, 147. 
 
 Polo, Marco, character and new edition of his Travels , 403. Translations 
 of, 415. 
 
 Polybius, best edition of, 145. 
 
 Poncella de Francia, Historia de la , 312. 
 
 Ponton, Mr. Thomas, his collection of Strype’s Biographies, large paper, 
 52 7. 
 
 Pontoppidan, Eric, Bishop of Bergen, his Natural History of Norway, 
 1 755, 361. 
 
 Poole, Matthew, his Synopsis Criticorum, 1669, 52. 
 
 Poole, Mr. E. his intended work on the Elzevir Press, Pref xviii. 
 
 Pope, Alexander, account of his works, 736-739. His edition of Shak- 
 speare, 1725, 800. 
 
 Porret, M. his Voyage en Barharie , 1789, 448. 
 
 Porro, Girolamo, his embellishments to Ariosto, 766. 
 
 Porter, Sir Robert Kerr, his Travels in Asia , 1822, 460. 
 
 Portuguese, Itinerarium Portugallensium in Indium et bide in Occidentem, 
 1508, 380. 
 
 Pory, John, his English Translation of Africanus’s Description of Africa, 
 451. 
 
 Possevinus, Antonius, prices of his Muscovia , 1587,354. 
 
 Potter, Dr. John, Bishop of Oxford, his Antiquities of Greece , 144. 
 
 Poulle, Abb6 Louis, excellence of his Sermons , 1778, 94. 
 
 Poullet, le Sieur, his Nouvelles Relations du Levant , 1668, 441. 
 
 Powel, Rev. David, his edition of Virunii Historia Britannica , 1585, 152. 
 
 Praet, M. Van, reference to his Catalogue of vellum boohs , &c. 9. 
 
 Praetorius, Matthew, his Orbis Gothicus, 1688, 355. 
 
 Pray, George, his works on the History and Antiquities of Hungary, 344. 
 
 Prayer-Books, early, vide Synoptical Table. 
 
 Priests may lawfully marry , extract from, 30. 
 
 Prior, Matthew, Poetical JVorhs, 1718, 735. 
 
 Promptuarius Puerorum , 1499, 576. 
 
 Propertius, Sextus Aurelius, editions of, 648. 
 
 Prophecye of Merlin , 1510, 657. 
 
 Pry nne, William, his Records, 1666-70, 28 7- Destruction of ditto, ibid. 
 His Observations on the Sale of Shakspeare’s Plays, 800. 
 
 Puerto, Alonso del, his edition of Valera's Cronica de Espana, 1482, 314. 
 
 Puffendorf, Samuel, his Commentariorum de Rebus Suecicis , 1686, 365. 
 His Res Gestae Caroli Gustavi, 1696, ibid. 
 
 Purchas, Revd. Samuel, his Pilgrims and Pilgrimage , 1625-26, 392. His 
 verses to Capt. Smith, 397. 
 
 Puteanus, Erycius, his collection of Public Acts, 523. 
 
 Pyrard, Francis, his Navigation aux Indes Orientates , 1615, 418. 
 
 Quadrio, Francesco Saverio, his mention of Mazocco’s Ariosto, 764. 
 
 Quarterly Review ; extensive sale, Pref. xvii. 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 883 
 
 Quarterly Review , sundry references to, 92, 94, 109, 282, 312 392 
 412, 425, 426, 428, 430, 433, 437, 443, 455, 457, 460, 462, 482, 486, 
 530, 546, 547, 551, 561, 564, 567, 740, 755, 7 59, 770, 771, 828, 829, 
 Queen’s College, Oxford, Christmas Carol Sung at, 667. 
 
 Quintilianus, Marcus Fabius, editions of his Oratorical Institutes, 589. 
 Racine, Jean, editions of his works, 775. 
 
 Raderus, Matthew, his Bavaria Sancta , et Bavaria Pia, 1615, 1628, 346. 
 
 His edition of Martial , 1 607, 040. 
 
 Raffles, Sir Stamford, his History of Java, 442. 
 
 Raleigh, Sir Walter, his Relation of the Discovery of Guiana , 1596, 475. 
 Ralph, James, History of England during the reigns of King William , 
 Queen Ann, and King George /., 243. 
 
 Ramon, Noguera y, his edition of Mariana’s Spanish History, 1783, 96, 
 
 Ramusio, John Baptist, account of him and his Navigationi e Viagffi, 
 1563,381. 
 
 Randolph, Thomas, his Poems and Dramas, 1640, 727- 
 
 Randulffus, Envald Nicholas, his Tuba Danica, 1644, 358. 
 
 Rapin-Thoyras, Paul de, editions of his Histoire d’Angleterre, 221, His 
 Acta Regia, 292. 
 
 Rastell, John, his Pastyme of People, 187, 8. 
 
 William, his edition of Fabian’s Chronicle , 1533, 186, of the Sta- 
 tutes, 286. 
 
 Rawlinson, Dr. Richard, references to his New Method of Studying His- 
 tory, 1728-30, 106, 108, 109, 154,216. 
 
 Raymond, M. Damaze de, his Tableau historique, giographique, militaire, 
 et naval dela Russie, 1812, 370. 
 
 Raynal, Abb6 Gillaume Thomas, his Histoire des Etablissemens et du Com- 
 merce des Europdens dansles deux Indes , 1770, 422. 
 
 Raynald, Odoric, Epitome of his Ecclesiastical Annals, 1668, 108. 
 
 Raynouard, M. Choice des Poesies Originates des Troubadours, 1807, 773. 
 Lais, Fables, et autres productions de Marie de France, 1820, ib. 
 
 Recueil des Historiens des Gauls, &c. 1738, &c. 148, &c. 
 
 Reed, Isaac, his editions of Shakspeare , 806. Reference to do. 735. His 
 edition of Dodsley’s Old Plays, 1780, 787- 
 
 Reeves, Mr. John, his editions of the Bible and Prayer Booh, 48. 
 
 Reineccius, Reinier, notice of his Four-Tongued Bible, 1750, 10. 
 
 Reitzius, . . . his edition of Herodotus , 140. 
 
 Remedy of Love, 1600, 659. . 
 
 Rennell, Major James, his Geography of Herodotus, 1800, 141. His Ob- 
 servations on the Plain of Troy, 338. His Memoir of a Map of Hin- 
 doostan, 1785, 424, 431. His Bengal Atlas, and works on Classical 
 Geography, 431. His Memoir on the Geography of Africa, 461. 
 
 Rennell, °Rev. T. late Vicar of Kensington, his copy of Herbert’s Temple, 
 710. 
 
 Rennie, Mr. John, his copy of Fernando de Menezes Historia de Tanger, 
 459. Of Las Casas Relation de la Destruycion de las Indias, 470. Of 
 the Tears of the Indians, 489. 
 
 Renouard, M. Antoine August, references to his Annales de I’lmpnmene 
 des Aides 27, 332, 428. To his Catalogue de la Bibliothbque d’un 
 Amateur, 553, 554, 555, 766, 767, 774, 775, 779. HU edition of Mas- 
 sillon’s Sermons, 1810, 99. Of Corneille, 775. Of Boileau, 1809, 777, 
 Of Voltaire, 779. Of Gresset, 1811, 780. His account of the editions 
 of Amyot’s Plutarch, 500. His copy of Brettoneau’s edition of Bour- 
 daloue 100. Of the Baskerville Ariosto, 766. Of the Molini Ariosto, 
 767. Of Elzevir’s Tasso, 768. Of Fontaine’s Works, 769. Of the 
 first edition of Plautus, 650. 
 
884 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS 
 
 Repton, Mr. J. A., his Fragment of Wynkyn de Worde’s Syr Degore, 660. 
 
 Resenius, Peter John, his Leges Antiques Aulicce Norvegorum et Danorum, 
 1673, 358. 
 
 Retrospective Review ; commendation of, Pref. xvii. 
 
 Retrospective Review , references to, 97, 291, 401, 432, 603, 604, 609, 612, 
 616, 617, 680, 721, 724, 728, 731, 789. 
 
 Retz, John Franqois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de, his Memoirs , 1731, 554, 
 
 Reviews , Pref. xvi. 
 
 Reuberus, Justus, Veteres Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum, 1619, 342. 
 Destruction of the new edition of, 1726, ibid. 
 
 Reynard the Fox, 1481, 591. 
 
 Rhodes, J. B. Esq. his copy of the first folio Shakspeare, 823. 
 
 Rhunkenius, David, his edition of Apuleius, 1786-1823, 58 7. 
 
 Ricci, Father Matthew, Literce Chinenses , 1517, 442. 
 
 Rice, Rev. J. M. his copy of the Four Leaves of True Love, 658. Of 
 Skelton’s Works, 688. 
 
 Richard II., King of England, ancient memoirs of, 234. 
 
 Riche, Barnabe,"his Allarme to England, 261, 262. Extracts from, ib. 
 Titles of his other works concerning Ireland, 263, 4. Extract from 
 
 his Catholicke Conference , 263. 
 
 Richelieu, Armand du Plessis, Cardinal de, his Diamond-letter Bible , 1656, 
 17- Memoirs of, 1650-67, 334. 
 
 Ridpath, Rev. George, his Border History , 1776, 270. 
 
 Riley, James, his Authentic Narrative of the loss of the Brig Commerce on 
 the Western Coast of Africa , 1816, 461. 
 
 Ritson, Joseph, (vide Haslewood), his censure of Matthew Paris, 167. 
 Remark on Arthur Kelton, 191. Censure of Snorro Sturleson, 354. 
 do. Of Mallet’s Northern Antiquities, 359. Various references to, 
 his Bibliographia Poetica , 1819, 685, 686, 693, 706. Expected new 
 edition of, 674. To his Ancient Popular Poetry , 1791,359. His cen- 
 sure of Lydgate, 675. 
 
 Rivingtons and Cochrane, Messrs, their catalogue commended ; Pref. 
 xxv. references to, 7, 51, 353, 354, 356, 357, 361, 503, 52 7, 609, 
 613. Set of the Bampton Lectures, 93. 
 
 Rivius, Dr. Thomas’ Regiminis Anglicani in Hibernia Defensio adversus 
 Analecten , 1624, 35 i. 
 
 Roberts, Rev. Peter, Chronicle of the Kings of Britain, 1810, 284. 
 
 Robertson, Dr. William, notice of his History of Scotland, 280. Of his 
 Life of the Emperor Charles V., 340, 536. His History of America, 
 473. 
 
 Robinson, Clement, Handefull of Pleasant Delites, 1584, 698, 757- 
 
 Robortellus, Francis, his edition of Callimachus, 1555, 629. 
 
 Rocha Pitta, Sebastian de, his Historia da America Portuguesa, 1730, 481. 
 
 Roche, Mr. James, his notice respecting the different editions of Henault’s 
 Nouvel Abre'gl Chronologique, 302. Detection of a passage in Warton’s 
 edition of Pope, taken from Bayle, 805. 
 
 Michael de la, vide Memoirs of Literature. 
 
 Rochefoucalt, Francois, Due de, Mdmoires de M. D. L. R. surles brigues 
 a la mort de Louis XIII., 1754, 558. 
 
 Rodrigo, King of Spain, Chronicle of, 312. 
 
 Roe, Sir Thomas, liis Voyages to the East Indies, 420. 
 
 Roger, Eugene, Description de la Terre Sainte, 1664, 431. 
 
 Rogers, Major Robert, his Concise Account of North America, 1765, 476. 
 
 Mr. Samuel, excellence of his Pleasures of Memory, 746. Orna- 
 mented editions of do. 746, 74 7- Ode to superstition, 746. Epistle 
 to a Friend, 74 7. Human Life, ibid. 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 885 
 
 Romeus et Juliet , the Tragicall History of, 1562, 811. 
 
 Rondet, Laurent Etienne, his Table Raisonnde to Fleury’s Ecclesiastical 
 History, 107. Improves Le Long’s Bibliothfcque Historique de la 
 France, 137- 
 
 Rooth, David, Bishop of Ossory, Analecta Sacra Nova et Mira , de Rebus 
 Catholicorum in Hibernia, 1617, 251. 
 
 Roper, William, editions of his Life Sir T. More, 523, 4. 
 
 Roquefort, J. B. B., Glossaire de la langue Romane, 1808, 773. 
 
 Roques, Pierre, his Continuation of Saurin’s Discourses, 1728-39, 102. 
 
 Roscoe, Thomas, his Translation of Sismondi’s Historical View of the Lite- 
 rature of South Europe , 332. His Edition of the Memoirs of Ben- 
 venuto Cellini, 1823, 535. 
 
 William, his Life of Lorenzo de Medecis, 1795, 539. His Life and 
 
 Pontificate of Leo X., 1805, 540. His Illustrations of the Life of Lo- 
 renzo de Medecis, 1822, 542. Eulogium on him from the Sketch 
 Book, ibid. His expected edition of Pope’s Works, 738. Sale of his 
 copy of Bartoli’s Tasso, 768. 
 
 Rose, Mr. William Stewart, his English Translation of Ariosto, 771. 
 
 Ross, Capt. John, his Voyage of Discovery for exploring Baffin’s Bay, 
 1819, 353. 
 
 John, Historia Regum Anglice, notice of Hearne’s edition of, 1716, 
 
 227. 
 
 Rotermund, H. W. his Supplement to Joecher’s and Adelung’s Allgemeins 
 gelehrten Lexicon, 498. 
 
 Rotuli Parliamentorum, 285. 
 
 Rousseau, Jean Baptiste, editions of his poetical works, 1797* Crapelet’s, 
 
 Routh, Dr. Martin Joseph, account of his Reliquiae Sacrce, 1814,50. His 
 edition of Burnet’s History of his own Time, 1823, 293. 
 
 Rowe, Nicholas, his edition of Shakspeare, 1709, 801. 
 
 Rowlands, Samuel, Sale and Price of his Knaves of Clubs, Spades, Diamonds, 
 and Hearts, 1611-12, 655, 712. Betrayal of Christ, 1598, 712. Doctor 
 Merrie-man, 1609, ibid. Night Raven, 1634, ibid. 
 
 Roy, his Satire against Cardinal Wolsey, 193. 
 
 Royal Institution, Library of the, copy there of the Thesaurus Antiquita- 
 tum Sacrum, 53. Of the Cologne edition of Bede’s Works, 112. Of 
 Labbe’s Collectio Maxima Conciliorum, 127* Of Savile’s Scriptores 
 post Bedam, 158. Of Bertram’s Scriptores, 166. Of Matthew of 
 Westminster, 167. Of Holinshed’s Chronicles, 197. Of Brady’s 
 History of England, 212. Of the Public Records, 286. Of Prynne’s 
 Records, 289. Of Belus’ Rerum Hispanicarum Scriptores Aliquot, 
 311. Of Steevens’s Translation of Mariana’s Spanish History, 318. 
 Of the Biographia Britannica, 498. Of Anthony & Wood’s Athenae 
 Oxonienses, 519. 
 
 Royal Society, Library of the, copy thereof an illuminated Froissart, 171. 
 Of the Oesta proximb per Portugalenses in India, 380. Of Wickliffe’s 
 Translation of the Scriptures, 529. 
 
 Roxburghe Club, Books printed for the, 432, 657, 658, 666, 690, 693, 728, 
 768, 7 85, 788, 789. 
 
 Rubris, John Vincent de, his Pinacotheca Virorum Illustrium, 1643-45, 
 497. 
 
 Rudbeck, Olaus, his edition of V erelius’s Index Lingua Scytho-Scandicce, 
 364. Particular description of his Atlantica, 366, 7* 
 
 Ruddiman, Thomas, his edition of Livy, 1761, 145. Of Buchanan’s His- 
 tory, 274. 
 
 Ruffhead, Dr. Owen, his edition of the Statutes, 1763, 286. 
 
 Rumold. St., various editions of his Life and Acts, 247- 
 
886 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS, 
 
 Runnington, Mr. Serjeant Charles, his Continuation of Ruff head's Statutes, 
 1800, 286. His edition of the Statutes , 1786, ibid. 
 
 Rushworth, John, Historical Collections of, 290. 
 
 Russell, Dr. Alexander, Natural History of Aleppo, 1 756, 434. 
 
 Dr. Patrick, his Account of the Plague at Aleppo, 1791, ibid. 
 
 Russia, Description de toutes les Nations de V Empire de la Russie, 1776, 
 370. Les Peuples de la Russie, 1817, 375. 
 
 Rycaut, Sir Paul, his edition of Knolles’s History of the Turks, 1687, 444. 
 His English Translation of Vega's Royal Commentaries of Peru, 1688, 
 488. 
 
 Rymer, Thomas, his Feeder a, various editions of, 291. Notice of his 
 works on Tragedy, ibid. 
 
 Sabatier, Peter, notice of his Latin Bible, 1743, 16. 
 
 Sackville, Thomas, Lord Buckhurst, 689. His share in the Mirror for 
 Magistrates, 692. Gorboduc, 790, 792. Ferrex and Porrex, 790. 
 
 Sacy, A. J. Silvestre de,his attack on Savary’s Lettres sur l’Egypte, 453. 
 
 St. John’s College, Oxford, Library of, copy there of Grafton’s Bible on 
 vellum, 34. Of Grafton’s Chronicle, 194. Of Chartier’s Cathon, 
 591. Of Caxton’s second edition of the Canterbury Tales, 677- 
 
 Sainte Marthe, Scevola et Louis de, their Sammarthanorum Gallia Chris- 
 tiana, 1715, 104. 
 
 Salazar, Dr. Pedro de, his edition of the Chronicle of Don Pedro Gonzalez 
 de Mendoza, 1625, 313. 
 
 Salisbury, Cathedral, Library of, mutilated copy of Walton’s Polyglot, 
 there, 8. Of the Salisbury Missal, 44. 
 
 Sallengre, Albert Henri de, his Novus, Thesaurus Antiquitatum Romanorum , 
 1716-19, 146. 
 
 Sallustius Crispus, best edition of, 146. 
 
 Salt, Mr. Henry, his Travels and Collections in Abyssinia, 459. 
 
 Sammes, Aylett, his Britannia Antiqua Illustrata, 1676, 242. 
 
 Sancho the Brave, King of Spain, his Chronicle , 1554, 303. 
 
 Sanctius, Rodericus, his Historia Hispanica, 1470, 310. 
 
 Sandford, Francis, Lancaster Herald, his Genealogical History of England, 
 1677- His Coronation of King James II. 1687, 217, 218. 
 
 Mr. buys a copy of the Soncino Hebrew Bible, 23. 
 
 Sandys, George, Travels of, 432. His merits as a Poet, 71 L Character 
 of his Job, ibid. 
 
 Santos, Emanuel dos, his Continuation of Brito's Monarchia Lusitania, 
 1729, 325, 6. 
 
 Sardinia, King of, his vellum copy of Plantin’s Polyglot, 9. 
 
 Savage, James, various references to his British Librarian, 286, 510, 
 532. 
 
 Sauvage, Denis, his edition of the Chroniques de St. Denys, 1559, 172. 
 
 Of Monstrelet's Chronicles, 176. 
 
 Savary, Nicole, his Lettres stir I'Egypte, 1 785, 453. 
 
 Savile, Sir Henry, his Scriptores post Bedam, 154, 5. Best edition of, 158. 
 Prices of, ibid. 
 
 Saunders, Mr. his sale of a first edition of Fox’s Book of Martyrs, 1 12. 
 Of a first folio Shakspeare, 818. 
 
 Saurin, James, his character, 101. Editions of his works, ibid. 
 
 Sawbridge, Mr. Henry, his collection of pictures from Hudibras, by Ho- 
 garth, 731. 
 
 Saxo Grammaticus, his History of Denmark, 356. 
 
 Saxon Chronicle, (vide Gurney, Ingram,) various historical particulars of 
 the, 163. 
 
 Scaliger, Joseph, his praise of Baronius’s Ecclesiastical Annals, 108. 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 SS7 
 
 SCh *18lb‘631 hiS editi ° n ° f Xen ° ph0n ’ 143 * Do ‘ of Apollonius Rhodius, 
 
 Scliardius, Simon, De Rebus Germanicis , 1574, 342. 
 
 Scheffer, John, his works concerning Sweden, 363. 
 
 Scheuchzer, J. G. his translation of Kaempfer’s History of Japan, 1728, 
 
 Schilter, John, his Thesaurus Antiquit atum Teutonicarum Ecclesiasticarum 
 et Literarmm , 1728, 355. 
 
 Schmidt, his work on Germany, 343. 
 
 Schoenemann, C. T. G.,his Bibliotheca Patrum , 1792, 501. 
 
 Schoettgenius, Christian, his Diplomataria et Scriptores Historici Germa- 
 nicce Medii JEvi, 1753, 342. 
 
 Schott, Andrew, his Hispania Illustrata , 1603, 31 1. 
 
 Schweighaeuser, John, his edition of Herodotus , 1816, 140. His Lexicon 
 Herodoteum, ibid. His edition of Polybius , 1785-89, 145. Of Athe- 
 nceus , 1801, 583. 
 
 Scoresby, Mr. William, his account of the Arctic Regions , 1819, 352. 
 
 Scott, Rev. Thomas, his edition of the Bible, 1822, 42. 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter, excellence of the Poems and Notes in his Minstrelsy of 
 the Scottish Border , 270, 748. His edition of Lord Somers’s Tracts 
 1809-16, 293, 747. Ditto of Dryden’s IVorlis , 1808, 1821, 612, 734,5! 
 747. Ditto of Swift’s ditto , 1814, 614, 747- His Literary character! 
 747. Versatility of his Genius, 747- 
 
 Scourge of Venus , 1613. Verses from 729. 
 
 Seckendorff, Vitus Louis de, his Commentarius Historicus Apologeticus de 
 Lutheranismo , 1694, 541. 
 
 Second Maiden’s Tragedy , 788. 
 
 Sedan New Testament , unique copy of the, 43. 
 
 Selden, John, his notices of misprints in the Bible, 37. His edition of 
 Eadmer , 1623, 166. His notes on Drayton’s Polyolbion, 725. 
 
 Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, best editions of his works, 1672, 587. 
 
 Senkenberg, Baron H. C. de, his Continuation of Hceberlin’s Modern His- 
 tory of Germany , 1804, 343. 
 
 Sepulveda, John Genes de, allusion to his Vindication of the Cruelties of 
 the Spaniards against the Indians , 470. 
 
 , Lorenzo, his Romances de la Cronica de Espana , 1580, 470. 
 
 Serassi, Pietro Antonio, his observation cn Osanna’s Tasso, 768. 
 
 Sermons, Modern, Vide Synoptical Table. 
 
 Serra, Jose Correa de, his Collecqao de Livros ineditos de Historia Portu- 
 gueza , 1790, 327. 
 
 Serrarius, Nicholas, his Res Moguntinos, 1 722, 347. 
 
 Servetus, Michael, notice of his Latin Bible , 16. 
 
 Shakspeare, William, account of all the earlier and some late editions of 
 his Plays, 788, 825. 
 
 Shakspeare, Professor, one of the editors of Murphy’s Antiquities of the 
 Arabs in Spain , 320. 
 
 Sharp, Dr. John, Prebendary of Durham, bequeaths a Library to Bam- 
 burgh Castle, 8. 
 
 — , Mr. Thomas, his expected edition of the Coventry Mysteries, 786. 
 
 Sharpe, Rev. John, his expected Translation of William of Newbury, 154. 
 His Translation of William of Malmesbury, 1815, 156. 
 
 Shaw, Dr. Thomas, his Travels and Observations in several parts of Bar- 
 bary and the Levant , 459. 
 
 Shepherd, Rev. William, his account of the editions of the Life of Poggio, 
 334. His Life of Poggio Bracciolini , 1802, 543. 
 
 Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, his Dramatic Works , by Moore, 830. 
 
 Shirley, Sir Anthony, his Travels in the East , 428. 
 
888 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS, 
 
 Ship of Safe guar de, 1569, 697- 
 
 Shirley, — Mr. Gifford’s expected edition of his works, 829. 
 
 Sherwen, John, M. D. Vindicatio Shakspeariana , expected publication of, 
 826. 
 
 Shore, Jane, her person and character described by Sir T. More, 523. 
 
 Silius Italieus, Cf. editions of, 645, 6. Drakenborch’s, 646. 
 
 Silva, Mendez, his Poblacion General de Espana, & c. 1645, 313. 
 
 Singer, Mr. Samuel Weller, his copy of Las Casas’ Relation dela Destruy- 
 cion de las Indias, 470. Of the Life of Cardinal Wolsey, 521. His 
 edition of Spence's Anecdotes of Boohs and Men, 1820, 571. Reference 
 to ditto, 73 7- His edition of Hall's Satires , 1824, 706. Of Fairfax’s 
 Tasso, 1807, 770. 
 
 Sirinus, Thomas, his Patricii Flemingi Hiberni , &c. Collectanea Sacra , &<?. 
 1667. 
 
 Sismondi, J. C. L. Sismonde, his History of France , 307. His praise of 
 Machiavelli, 332. His History of the Italian Republics , 335, 542. 
 
 Sixtus V., Aldine Bibles called by his name, 16. 
 
 Skelton, John, Poet Laureate to Henry VIII. — A r igvamansir, 660. Repli- 
 cacyon , ibid. Chaplet of Laurel, 1523, 661. His character by Camp- 
 bell, 685. Account of his Tunning of Elynoure Rummyne, 686. 
 Verses from ditto, 687* Verses supposed by, ibid. His Works, 1568 
 688. Prices of several of his pieces at the sale of Sir M. Sykes’s 
 Library, ibid. 
 
 Skottowe, Augustine, Life of Shaksp ear e, 826. 
 
 Slatyer, William, The History of Great Britain , 208. 
 
 Sledmere, vide Sykes. 
 
 Sloane, Sir Hans, his Voyage to the Islands of Madeira , Barbadoes , Nieves , 
 St. Christopher, and Jamaica, 1707-25, 498. 
 
 Smirke, R. R. A. his Paintings to illustrate Shakspeare, 809. 
 
 Smith, Drs. John and George, their edition of Bede's Church History , 
 
 1722 , 111 . 
 
 , Capt. John, his Travels and Adventures in Europe , &c. 1630, 396. 
 
 His General History of Virginia, 1624, 397- 
 
 , William, his Translation of Xenophon's Affairs of Greece , 143. 
 
 Smollett, Dr. Tobias, his History of England, &c. 245. 
 
 Snorro, Sturleson, his Chronicum Regum Norwegorum, 1697, 354. His 
 Son’s Historia Regum Norvegicorum, 1778, 361. 
 
 Solis, De, Conquista de Mexico, 1/48, 1783, 479. 
 
 Somers, John, Lord and Baron of Evesham, Lord Chancellor, his Collection 
 of Tracts, 1748, 293. 
 
 Soncino, Hebrew Bible published there, 1488, 22. 
 
 Sonnerat, M. P. his Voyages aux Indes Orientales et a la Chine, 1782, 439. 
 
 Sonnini, C. S. his Voyage en Grece, &c. 338. His Voyage dans la Haute , 
 et la Basse Egypte, 1799, 455. 
 
 Sophocles, various editions of, 632. 
 
 Sotheby, Mr. William, his Translations of Virgil's Georgies, and Wieland's 
 Oberon, 764. 
 
 Soubiaco, Monastery of. Second Book printed in Italy, executed there, 52. 
 
 Sousa, Antonio Cajetano de, his Historia Genealogica da Casa Real Portu - 
 gueza, 1735-47; and Supplement to ditto, 1739, 326. 
 
 -, Manuel Faria de, his Asia et Europa Portuguesa, 420. 
 
 Southwell, Robert, — St. Peters Complaint, 1596, 712. Mcenonice, 1595, 
 ibid. Triumphs over Death, 1595, ibid. 
 
 Southey, Robert, LL.D. ; &c. his article on the Spanish Inquisition in the 
 Quarterly Review, 109. His copy of the Acta Sanctorum, ibid. His 
 Criticism on the Spanish Chronicle of the Cid, 312. His History of the 
 Peninsular War, 321. His Letters, written during a short residence in 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 889 
 
 Spain and Portugal, 323. His History of Brazil, 1810-23, 482. His 
 Life of Nelson, 550, 551. Ditto of Wesley, ibid. His Review of 
 Huntingdon’s Works, 551. Ditto of Evelyn’s Memoirs, 564. His 
 Thalaba, Curse of Kehama, Roderic , and Madoc , 745. Specimens of 
 the later English Poets, ibid. His supposed Review of Montgomery's 
 Poems, 765. 
 
 Souza, Fr. Louis, liis History and Description of the Church of Bctalha „ 
 1792-96, 320. J 
 
 Sparke, Joseph, — Histories Anglicanw Scriptores varii, 1723, 164. 
 
 Sparmann, Dr. Andrew, his Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, 1786, 464 
 
 Sparrow, late Mr. Thomas of Worlingham, vide Gosford. His copies of 
 Walton’s Polyglot, 8. Of the Elzevir French Bible, 17. Of Lempe- 
 reur’s ditto, 28. Of Hayes’s Cambridge ditto, 35. Of Buck’s and 
 Daniel’s Bible and Prayer Book, large paper, 36. Of Erasmus’s 
 works, 97. Of Dugdale’s Monasticon, large paper, 116. Of Eus- 
 tratius’s Commentary on Aristotle de Moribus, 580. Of Taylor’s 
 Poetical works, 728. 
 
 Spectacle of Louers , 658. 
 
 Speed, John, Historie of Great Britaine, editions of, 205. Theatre of 
 Great Britaine , 207. 
 
 Spelman, Edward, his Translation of Xenophon’s Expedition of Cyrus, 143. 
 
 , Sir Henry, commences the Concilia ? Magnee Britannia et Hiber- 
 nia:, 1737, 127. His jest concerning Speed, 206. His Life of Alfred, 
 by Hearne, 1709, 225. 
 
 Spence, Rev. Joseph, liis Anecdotes of Boohs and Men, 1820, 571. 
 
 Spencer, Right Hon. George John, Earl, his copy of the Mazarine Bible, 
 13. Of Fust’s and Schoiffer’s, on vellum, 14. Of Pagninus’ ditto, 16. 
 Of the Aldine, and Sabatier’s ditto, ibid. Of the Elzevir, and Edin- 
 burgh ditto 17. Of Luther’s New Testament, on vellum, 18. Of 
 the first Hebrew Psalter, 21. Of Jarchi's Hebrew Pentateuch, 21. 
 Of Jahn’s Hebrew Bible, on large paper, 26. Of Greek Bibles at 
 Althorp, 27. Of the first Scotch Bible, 35. Of Grafton’s and Os- 
 wen’s Prayer Books, 46. Of the first edition of St. Austin’s City of 
 God, 52. Of Renouard’s edition of Massillon, on large paper, 99. 
 Of the Gesta Dei, per Francos, 105. Of Archbishop Parker’s De 
 Antiquitate Britannicae Ecclesise, 114. Of Dugdale’s Monasticon, 
 large paper, 116. Of Burnet’s History of the Reformation, large 
 paper, 121. Of a volume of Catholic Prayers, 136. Of Kuhnius’ 
 edition of Pausanias, unique and large paper, 142. His enquiries after 
 the MSS. of Richard of Cirencester, 166. His copy of Matthew 
 Paris, large paper, 168. Of French Chronicles, 172. Of Caxton’s 
 Chronicle, and the Description of Britain, 179. Of the Fructus 
 Temporum, 179, 180. Of other editions of Caxton’s Chronicle, 180. 
 Of the Polychronicon, 182. Of Arnold’s Chronicle, 184. Of Fa- 
 bian’s ditto, 185. Of Rastell’s ditto, 188. Of Godet’s ditto, 189. 
 Of Holinshed’s ditto, 196. Of Lord Clarendon’s History illustrated, 
 220. Of Rapin’s History of England, fine paper, 223. Of Hearne ’s 
 "Works on large paper, 241. Of Carve’s Lyra, 253. Of Walsh’s 
 Causa Valesiana Epistolis Ternis Prselibata, 255. Of Bellenden’s 
 Chroniklis of Scotland, 273. Of Caxton’s impression of the Sta- 
 tutes, 284. Of Wynkyn de Worde’s ditto, ibid. Of Pynson’s ditto, 
 284. Of Prynne’s Records, 288. Of Mezerai’s History of France, 
 large paper, 30 1. Of Buckley’s edition of De Thou’s History of his 
 Own Time, large paper, 305. Of Sir Charles Stuart’s privately printed 
 Account of the Capture of Constantinople, 309. Of Ibarra’s and 
 Ramon’s editions of Mariana’s Spanish History, 318. Of Raderus’ 
 Bavaria Sancta, 347. Of Pontoppidan’s Natural Historv of Norway, 
 
 3 p 
 
S90 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS, 
 
 large paper, 361. Of Rudbeck’s Atlantica, 366. Of De Bry’s Voyages, 
 387- Of Purchas’s Pilgrims, 392. Of Linschoten’s Voyages, 395. 
 Of the French Circumnavigators, 411. Of Hudson’s Minor Greek 
 Geographers, large paper, 414. Of Marco Polo’s Travels, editio 
 princeps, 415. Of Sir John Mandeville’s ditto, 416. Of Camoens’ 
 Lusiad, edit. 419. Of Nicolay’s Navigations, 444. Of Hoffmann's 
 Portraits des Homines Illustres, large paper, 511. Of Bale’s Scrip- 
 tores, 517- Of Lord Herbert’s Life of Henry VIII. large paper, 526. 
 Of King Henry VIII. De Septem Sacramentis, on vellum, 573. Of 
 Horman’s Vulgaria, ibid. Of the Promptorius Puerorum, 1499, 
 576. Of the Book for Travellers, 577 Of the Aldine Plato, 577- 
 Of Serranus’s edition of Plato, large paper, 578. Of the Aldine 
 Aristotle, on vellum and paper, 578, 9. Of the Spanish edition of 
 Esop, 1489, 582. Of Bartholomews de Proprietatibus Rerum 
 590. Of Caxton’s Reynard the Fox, 591. Of Alain Chartier’s 
 Cathon, 591. Of Wilson’s Epistola, 595. Of Fraunce’s Phyllis 
 and Amyntas, 596. Of Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy, 606. Of 
 the editio princeps of Homer, 621. Of the editio princeps of Theo- 
 critus, 626. Of the Aldine Pindar, on vellum, 627. Of the Oxford 
 Pindar, large paper, 628. Of Apollonius Rhodius, editio princeps on 
 vellum, 631. Of editions of Virgil, 634, 635,642. Of the sale of the 
 Spencer Duplicates, vide Cassano. His Brescia Lucretius, 636. Co- 
 pies of Ovid, editio princeps, 637. Of the Aldine Ovid, ibid. Of 
 Ulric Han’s Juvenal, 638. Of the Aldine Martial on vellum, 639. Of 
 A. de Bruxclla’s Horace, 642. Of the Aldine ditto, on vellum, ibid. 
 Of Sweynheim and Pannartz’s Silius Italicus, 646. His unrivalled 
 Collection of early editions of Terence, 651. Of Gamaliel Ratsey, 
 654. Of the Canterbury Tales, edit. prin. 676. Of Caxton’s Fruitful 
 and Ghostly Matters, 67 6. Of the Canterbury Tales, 2nd edition, 677 
 Of Pynson’s edition of ditto, 678. Of the Earl of Surrey’s Poems, 
 690. Of Churchyard’s Ovid de Tristibus, 693. Of the Ship of Safe- 
 guarde, 697* Of Cartwright’s Poems, 727- Of the Je3i Dante, 759. 
 Of the Naples ditto, 760. Of the Florence, ibid. Of the Aldine 
 Dante, on vellum, 761. Of Bodoni’s andMussi’s ditto, ibid. Of his 
 illuminated ditto, 761. Of Jenson’s Petrarch, 762. Of the Aldine 
 ditto, 763. Of Mazocco’s edition of Ariosto, 764. Of the Ferrara 
 ditto, 765. Of the Pisan ditto, 767- Of Cresset’s Works on large 
 paper, 781. Of Steevens’s Shakspearc, illustrated, 806. Of the first 
 folio Shakspeare, 819. 
 
 Spenser, Edmund, Chronicle of Ireland , 1633, 252. Order of Publication 
 of his Poems , 701. Prices of several copies of his Minor Poems at the 
 sale of Sir M. Sykes’s Library, ibid. 
 
 Splynter, John , aniery gest and a true how he made his Testament , 666. 
 
 Spotiswood, John, his History of the Church and State of Scotland , 278. 
 
 Sprott, Thomas, Hearne’s edition of his Chronica , 1719, 229. 
 
 Staden, Hans, his fVahrhaftige Historia und Beschreibung einer Landschaft 
 der wilden nacketen grimmig Menschenfresserleuten in der newen 
 Welt, America, gelegen ( Brasilien ) durch einen Erfahrung , 1556, 480. 
 
 Stafford, Marquess of, his Manuscript Tract on the Cales Voyage, 390. 
 His copy of Naslie’s Terrors of the Night, 599. Of Chaucer’s Can- 
 terbury Tales in Manuscript, 683. Of the first folio Shakspeare, 823. 
 
 Thomas, his Pacata Hibernia , 1633, 252. 
 
 Stanbridge, John, his Grammatical Works, 570. 
 
 Standish, Mr. his copy of Virgil, edit. prin. 634. Of the Aldine Virgil, on 
 vellum, 635. Of the Brescia Lucretius, 636. Of an ancient edition of 
 Tibullus, 649. 
 
 Stanhope, Rev. George, Dean of Canterbury, his Translation of the Imita- 
 tion of Christy 129. 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 891 
 
 Stanihurst, Rev. Richard, De Rebus in Hibernia gestis, 1584, 250. 
 
 Statius, P. Papinius, editions of, 644. 
 
 Statutes, account of the ancient editions of the, 284. 
 
 Staunton, Sir George Leonard, his Account of the Embassy of the Earl of 
 Macartney to China , 1797, 438. 
 
 Stebbing, Samuel, Somerset Herald, his edition of Sand ford's Hisioru of 
 England , 1707, 217- J 
 
 Steele, Sir Richard, his Works , 614. 
 
 Steinheim, . . . . , his Chronica Slavorum, 1581, 355. 
 
 Steuart, Dr. Henry, his Translation of Sallust, 1806, 146. 
 
 Steuen Steple to Mast. Cornell , 670. 
 
 Stevens, John, his Supplement to Dugdale's Monasticon, 1722-23, 116. 
 Price of ditto, ibid. 
 
 — , Capt. John, his English Translation of Mariana' 1 s Spanish History , 
 
 318. His ditto of Herreras VIII. Decads of General History, 47V. 
 His ditto of Leon's Chronicle of Peru, 487. 
 
 Stewart, Dugald, his edition of . Robertson's History of Scotland , 1806 
 280. 
 
 , Mr. William, his late copy of Redman’s Bible, 35. 
 
 Still, John, Bishop of Bath and Wells, Gammer Gur ton's Needle , 790 
 
 . . 794 ‘ 
 
 Stiliingfleet, Dr. Edward, Bishop of ’Worcester, opposed to Baxter, 54. 
 His remark on John Lynch, 254. 
 
 Stockdale, Percival, his edition of Waller's Poems , 1772, 733. 
 
 Stockholm, Library of the Academy of Sciences at, copy there of Rudbeck’s 
 Atlantica, 368. 
 
 Stothard, Thomas, Esq. R. A. his illustrations of Rogers’s Poems, 747- 
 
 Stow, John, his character of Thomas Walsingliam, 151. His Summarie of 
 English Chronicles, 192. His Chronicle, &c. 197, 8. 
 
 Stowe, vide Buckingham. 
 
 Strafforde, Thomas Wentworth Earl of, his State Papers and Dispatches , 
 296. 
 
 Strawberry Hill, copy of Baskerville’s Prayer Book there, 47- Lord Whit- 
 worth’s Account of Russia printed at, 370. Ditto of Lord Herbert’s 
 Memoirs, 535. Edition of Grammont’s Memoirs, 559. Of Lucan, 
 1760, 644. 
 
 Slritterus, John Gotthelf, his Memoriae Populorum olim ad Danubium , &c. 
 1771-79, 355. 
 
 Strutt, Joseph, his Chronicle of England, 1777, 204. 
 
 Struvius, Burcardus Gotthelfius, his Bibliotheca Historica Selecta, 1705, 
 137. His Corpus Historicum Germanice, Jence, &c. 342. 
 
 Strype, Rev, John, Anecdote by, concerning Fox, 113. His Memorials , 
 1721, 124. His Annals, 1709-25, 125. Biographical Works of, ibid. 
 527. His account of Archbishop Parker’s edition of Asser’s Life of 
 Alfred, 151. His reprint of Stoic's Annals, 197. His Life qf Arch- 
 bishop Cranmer, 52 7. 
 
 Stuart, Sir Charles, French Ambassador, his Library, and Books privately 
 printed, 309. His copies of Las Casas’ Brevissima Relatione de la 
 Destruycion de las Indias, 470. 
 
 Stubbes, Philip, his Anatomy of Abuses, 1583, 602. 
 
 Stuttgart, copy there of Walton’s Polyglot, 8. Of Malherbi’s Italian 
 Bible, 19. OfTuppo’s Dante, 759. 
 
 Sturzius, Frederick William, his Lexicon Xenophonteum, 1804, 144, 
 580. 
 
 Suetonius, editions of his Lives of the Caesars, 502. 
 
 Sully, Maximilien de Bethune, Due de, M6moires of, 1638, 554, 
 
 Summaris, his Tables to Mariana’s Spanish History, 318. 
 
892 - 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS 
 
 Sunannoi, . . . , his Memoir es de Pierre le Grand, 1740, 3/3. 
 
 Surrey, Henry Howard, Earl of, his Poems, 1557, 689. Other editions of, 
 690. His Translations of Virgil's JEneid, 1557, ibid. 
 
 Sussex, H. R. H. Duke of, his copies of the Mazarine Bible, 13. Of 
 Hearne’s Thomas of Elmham, large paper, 234. 
 
 Sutherland, Mr. liis illustrated copy of Lord Clarendon’s History, 220. 
 
 Sweden, names of anonymous works relating to, 362, 3. 
 
 Swift, Dr. Jonathan, Dean of St. Patrick’s Dublin, his edition of Temple's 
 Works, 1720, 610. His works, 613, 14. His censure of the Duke of 
 Marlborough, 614. 
 
 Sydney, Letters and Memorials of State, by Sir Henry, Sir Philiy, and Sir 
 Robert Sydney, 1748, 297- 
 
 Sykes, the late Sir Mark Masterman, his copy of the Mazarine Bible, 
 13. Of Fust and Sehoifler’s ditto on vellum, 14. Of the Aldine ditto, 
 16. His copy of Erasmus’ New Testament on vellum, 27- Of Bishop 
 Wilson’s Bible on large paper, 40. Of the Recueil des Hist, des 
 Gaules, 149. Of Sauvage’s Monstrelet, 176. Of the Polychronicon, 
 182. Of Vicars’s Parliamentary Chronicle, 200. Of Tindall’s edition 
 of Rapin, 223. Sale and price of ditto, ibid. Of Prvnne’s Records, 
 288. Of Bayle’s Dictionary, large paper, 496. Of Fraunce’s Phillis 
 and Amyntas, 596. Of Horace, edit. prin. 641. Of Patrick Han- 
 nay’s Nightingale, 653. Of W. de Worde’s Castle of Pleasure, 662. 
 Of the Loue betwene Mars and Venus, 666. Of Hawes’s Pastime of 
 Pleasure, 674. Of Skelton’s works, 688. Of the Earl of Surrey’s 
 Poems, 690. Of the Shepherd’s Calendar, edit. prin. ibid. Of Spen- 
 ser’s Minor Poems, 701. Of Chester’s Love’s Martyr, 709. Of the 
 Aldine Petrarch, 763. Of Steevens’s Shakspearc, large paper, 806. 
 
 Sylvester, Joshua, his translation of Du Bartas, probably imitated by Mil- 
 ton, 707, 713. His verses descriptive of the end of the world, 713. 
 Poetical epithets used by, 714. 
 
 Symes, Major Michael, his Account of an Embassy to the Kingdom of Ava, 
 1800, 437. 
 
 Symmons, Dr. Charles, his edition of Milton's Prose Works, 1806, 609. 
 
 Syr Degore , 666. 
 
 Tacitus, best edition of, 145. 
 
 Tanner, Dr. Thomas, Bishop of 8t. Asaph, his Bibliotheca Britannica, Hi - 
 bernica, 519. 
 
 Tartini, J. M. his Continuation of Muratori's Scriptores Rerum Italicarum , 
 1748-70, 330. His Antiquitatcs Jtalicce Medii JEvi, 1738-42, 331. 
 
 Tassman, Capt. Abel Jansen, see Coreal, 
 
 Tasso, Torquato, editions of his Jerusalem Delivered , 768. Translations 
 of, Fairfax’s, Hunt’s, Wiffen’s, 77 0. 
 
 Tatham, Rev. Dr. Edward, his Bampton Lectures, 1789, 93. 
 
 Tavernier, Bernier John Baptist, his Travels in Turkey, 421. 
 
 Taylor, Jeremy, Bishop of Down and Connor, character of his writings, 
 54. Fine copy of his works, 59. New and best editions of ditto, ibid. 
 His life by the Rev. R. Hebcr, 60. 
 
 John, his Poetical Works, 1630, 728. 
 
 Taxatio Ecclesiastica , 1802, 285. 
 
 Tellez, Bartholomew, his Historic General de Ethiopia alta, 456. 
 
 Temple, Sir John, his account of the Irish Rebellion, 267. 
 
 — — - Sir William, his Works, 610. 
 
 Temple of Glass, 611. Ditto of Brass. Error concerning, ibid. 
 
 Templeman, Dr. Peter, his English Translation of Norden’s Travels, 1757, 
 453. 
 
 Tena, Ludovic, Commentaries upon St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, 1661, 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 893 
 
 Tenison, Dr. Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury, his edition of Sir Thomas 
 Browne’s Worhs , 1686, 617. 
 
 Terentius, editions of, 650, 51. 
 
 Teresa, Giuseppe di San, his Descriptio totius Brasilia, 1698, 481 
 Tertullian, best edition of his works, 51. 
 
 Testament, Le tres excellent et Sainct mystbre du Vieil Testament , 1542, 
 784. 
 
 Textus Roffensis , Hearne’s edition of the, 1720, 229. 
 
 Theocritus, ancient and modern editions of, 626. 
 
 Theophylactus, best edition and price of his works, 1754, 51. 
 
 Thevenot, John, his Travels in Asia, 1689, 421. 
 
 ■ Melchisedec, his R elation des Divers Voyages Curieux, 1663-96 
 
 396. 
 
 Thevet, Andrew, his Vrais Pourtraits et Vies 
 50 7. 
 
 des Homines Piastres, 1584, 
 
 Thomas, William, his Avorks, 595. 
 
 Thompson, James, similarity between a passage in his Seasons, and one in 
 Penn’s Works, 62. Murdoch’s edition of his Seasons, 1 762, 740. 
 
 Thomas, Esq. Editor of the Parliamentary Record publications 
 
 of Scotland, 285. 
 
 Thompson, Aaron, his Translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's History , 1718, 
 
 Thorkelin, Dr. Grime Johnson, Royal Librarian at Copenhagen, his Poema 
 Danicum Dialecto Anglo- Saxonico, 1815, 359. 
 
 Thorpe, Mr. his sale references to his catalogues, Pref. xxvi. 7, 26 40 
 226, 229, 230, 231, 239, 249, 265, 276. Historia of Cambria,' 
 283. Of Casiri’s Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana, 310, 312, 313, 314 
 330, 392, 417, 447, 475, 504,505, 578, 655, 656, 692, 701, 712, 715! 
 725, 730, 800, 801, 802, 821, 823, 824. 
 
 Thou, James Augustus de, his Historiarum sui Temporis, 305. 
 
 Thucydides, best editions and prices of, 141, 2. 
 
 Thurloe, John, his Collection of State Papers, 1742, 296. 
 
 Thyer, Robert, his edition of Butler's Remains, 1759, 731. 
 
 Tibullus, editions of, 648. 
 
 Tickell, Thomas, his edition of Milton's Poetical Worhs, 1720, 716. 
 Tieffenthaler, Father Joseph, his Beschreibung von Hindustan, 1785, 
 423. 
 
 Tillemont, his Works on Ecclesiastical History, 108. 
 
 Tiliotson, Archbishop of Canterbury, his Worhs , 1748, 57. 
 
 Tindall, Nicholas, his Translation of Rapin' s History of England, 222. 
 
 Todd, Rev. Henry John, references to his Life of Brian Walton , 7, 34. 
 Vindication of the Translation of the Bible, 1819, 34. References to 
 his edition of Spencer, 1805, 599. Excellence of ditto, 702, 703, 
 References to his edition of Milton's Poetical Worhs, 612, 713, 716, 
 722. References to his Lives and Writings of Gower and Chancer , 
 1810, 680, 683. His remarks on the editions of the Paradise Lost, 
 715. 
 
 Tomlins, Sir Thomas Edlyne, his edition of the Statutes, 1804-10, 286, 
 
 Tonson, Jacob, his editions of Milton's Poetical Worhs, 716. Of Denham's 
 and Donne's Poems, 1710* 730. Of Waller's ditto, 1711* 732, 3. Ol 
 Tasso, 1724, 769. Of Beaumont and Fletcher, 1750, 828. 
 
 Tonstall, Cuthbert, Bishop of Durham, his character and works, 573. 
 
 Tooke, Rev. John Horne, sale of his copy of Lord Surrey’s Poems, 690. 
 
 William, his Life of Catherine //. Empress of Russia, 3/4, 
 
 Torfseus, Thermodus, his works on Danish History, 35 7. 
 
 Tormes , Lazarillo de, editions of his Life, 316. 
 
 Torquemada, F. J. de, his Monarquia Indiana, 1730,471- 
 
894 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS 
 
 Torrez, Diego de, his Relations des Voyages de Fez et de MaroQ , 1 636, 459. 
 
 Tottel, Richard, his impression of Lydgate’s Daunce of Machaubree, 1554, 
 685. Of Lord Surrey's Poems, 1557, 689. 
 
 Tournefort, Joseph Pittonde, his Voyage au Levant, 1717, 435. 
 
 Tovvers, Dr. Joseph, his British Biography , 1773, 498. 
 
 Townely, Rev. James, references to his illustrations of Biblical Literature , 
 1813, 16, 18, 24. 
 
 — Colonel John, his French Translation of Hudibras , 1737, 732. 
 
 Townsend, William, his Travels in Spain, 320. 
 
 Toye, Elizabeth, her presents to the Stationer’s Company, 669. Titles of 
 Ballads printed by her, 669, 670. 
 
 Tragedies, The Tragedy of Soliman and Pcrseda , 1599, 792. The La- 
 mentable Tragedy of Locrine, 1595, 793. A Lamentable Tragedie 
 containing the Life of Cambises King of Persia, 794. The first part 
 of the Tragicall r eigne of Selimus , 1594, ibid. The True Tragedie of 
 Richard the Third,S\0 
 
 Travellers , The Booh for , 570. Extract from, 57 6. 
 
 Treatise made of a Galaunt,\e rses from, 663. 
 
 Trepperell, Jean, and his widow. Mysteries printed by and for, 784, 785. 
 
 Trevelyan, Mr. W. C. particulars from concerning a copy of Walton’s 
 Polyglot, 8. 
 
 Trcvisa, John de, his Translation of Higden's Polychronicon , 1482, 181. 
 
 Treuttel and Wurtz, Messrs, their copy of Laborde’s Tableaux de la Suisse, 
 336. Their magnificent work on Constantinople, 435. 
 
 Trinity College, Cambridge, Capel Closet in the Library of, copy there of 
 Child facioned Love, 659. Of the Remedy of Love, ibid. Of Tottel’s 
 edit. Of Surrey’s Poems, 690. Of Turbevile’s Epitaphs, &c. 696. 
 Of his Heroical Epistles of Ovid, ibid. Of the original manuscript of 
 Capell’s Shakspeare, 802. Original Manuscript of Milton’s Masque 
 of Comus there, 714. 
 
 Triphook, Mr. Reference to his Catalogue, Pref. xxvi. His sale copies of 
 different works, 16. Ditto, 25, 28, 52, 113, 139, 175, 180, 205, 241, 
 242, 288, 296, 383, 432, 523, 725, 823. 
 
 Trokelowe, John de, Hearne’s edition of his Annales , 1729, 234. 
 
 Troy, La Destruction de Troye le Grand, 786. 
 
 Trussell, John, his Continuation of Daniell's Collection of the History of 
 England, 209. 
 
 Tuckey, Capt. James Kingston, his Narrative of an Expedition to explore 
 the River Zaire, commonly called the Congo, in South Africa, 1818, 
 462. 
 
 Tudela, Rabbi Benjamin of, editions of his Travels in Asia, 414. 
 
 Turbervile, George, Epitaphs, Epigrams, Songs, and Sonnets, 695. He- 
 roical Epistles of Ovid, 696. Eclogs of the Poet B. Mantuanus , ibid. 
 Tragicall Talcs, ibid. 
 
 Turner, J. M. W. his Picturesque Tour of Italy, 336. 
 
 , Capt. Samuel, his account of an Embassy to the Teshoo Lama in 
 
 1800, 427, 437 
 
 , Mr. Sharon, his account of Bishop Asser, 151. His censure of 
 
 Gildas, 154. His History fyc. of the Anglo-Saxons, 245. His History 
 of England, ibid. 
 
 , Mr. Dawson, Commendation of his Library, Pref. xxi. 
 
 Twysden, Sir Roger, Histories Anglicance Scriptores Decern, 1652, 161. 
 Prices of ditto, ibid. 
 
 Tyndall, William, excellence of his works, 29. His edition of the English 
 Pentateuch, 1534, 32. 
 
 Tyrrell, James, his General History of England, 1696 — 1704, 213. 
 
 Tyrwhitt, Thomas, his censure of editions of Chaucer, 680. His denial of 
 the Plowman’s Tale, 681. His censure of Urry’s Chaucer, 682. Excel- 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 895 
 
 lence of his own edition of the Canterbury Tales, ibid. Publication 
 and price of ditto, 683. His edition of the Poetics of Aristotle, 1794 
 682 
 
 Vaillant, Francois le. Voyage dans I’Interieur de I’Afrique , 1796, 464. 
 
 Valentyn Franc. Description of Old and New East India , 1726, 424. 
 
 Valera, Don Diego de, Cronica de Espana , 314. 
 
 Valerius Flaccus, editions of, 649. 
 
 Valiancy, Colonel Charles, Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis , 1786, 260. 
 His Vindication of the Ancient Kingdom of Ireland, 1786, 261. His 
 Grammars of the Irish Language , 261. 
 
 Vallegas, Rev. J. Alfonso, his Spanish Lives of Saints, 250. 
 
 Valliere, Louis Caesar la Baume le Blanc, Due de la, sale of his copies of 
 Verard’s Froissart, 172. Of Denina’s Revoluzioni d’ltalia, 335. Of 
 Rudbeck’s Atlantica, 366. His Collection of Memoirs of Mazarine, 
 555. 
 
 Valor Ecclesiasticus , 1816-17, 285. 
 
 Vancouver, Capt. George, his Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific 
 Ocean, 1793? 408. Price of ditto, 409. 
 
 Van Mildert, Dr. his edition of Waterland’s works, 1823, 68. 
 
 Vasaeus, Johannes, his Rerum Hispanice Memorabilium Annales, 315. 
 
 Vasari, Giorgio, his Lives of the Painters , 1568, 503, 4. 
 
 Vatican, Library of the Palace of the, copies there of the Complutensian 
 Polyglot, on vellum, 7- Of Asulanus’ Greek Septuagint, 27- 
 
 Vega, Garcilasso de la, his works concerning Peru, 488. 
 
 Velly, Paul Francois, his works on the History of France, 303. 
 
 Venice, St. Marc’s Library at, copy there of Homer’s Odyssey, on vellum, 
 621. Of Jenson’s Petrarch, on vellum, 762. 
 
 Verelius, Olaus, his works relating to Sweden, 363. 
 
 Vergil, Polidore, — Historia Anglica , 1534, 204. 
 
 Vertot, D’Aubosuf Ren£, Aubertde, his Histoire des Revolutions de Su&de, 
 1734,365. v 
 
 Vesputius, Americus, earliest account of his Voyages, 380. French Trans- 
 lations of ditto, 381. 
 
 Ugolinus, Blasius, Thesaurus Antiquitatum Sacrum , 1744-69, 53. 
 
 Vicars, John, Parliamentary Chronicle , 1643-46, 199. Verses by, 200. 
 
 Vienna, Imperial Library at, copy there of the Soncino Hebrew Bible, 24. 
 Of Apuleius, first edition, on vellum, 58 7. Of Aulus Gellius, first 
 edition on vellum, 588. Of the Florence Dante, 760. 
 
 Villaret, Claude, his Continuation of Velley’s History of France, 303. 
 
 Villebrune, Le Fevre de, his French Translation of J. J. Ulloa’s Noticias 
 Americanas, 1787, 480. 
 
 Villeroy, — Memoirs of, 558. 
 
 Vincent, Dr. William, late Dean of Westminster, his V oyage of Nearchug 
 and Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, 1809, 413. Ilis Annotations on 
 Gibbon’s Enquiry into the Cireumnavavigation of Africa, 450. 
 
 Vincenti, Oggeri, his Continuation of Muratori's Annali d’ltalia, 1790, 331. 
 
 Vinsaufe, Geoffrey, excellence of his works, 163. 
 
 Virgilius Maro, Publius, editions of, 634-636. 
 
 Virginia, names of ancient Tracts concerning, 475. Voyage to, in De Bry’s 
 Set of Voyages, 384. e 
 
 Virunnius, Ponticius, Historia Britannica, abridged from Geoffrey of Mon- 
 mouth, 152. 
 
 Ulfeldius, — his Legatio Muscovitica , 1608, 369. 
 
 JJlloa, Alphonso de, Italian Translation of Zarate ’ s History of the Discovery 
 and Conquest of Peru, 487* 
 
 , Antonio de. Physical and Historical Discourses on East and South 
 
 America , 1772, 472. 
 
896 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS 
 
 Ulloa, Jorge, Juan de, Relation Historicadcl Viage a la America Meridional , 
 fyc. 480. 
 
 Unicersal Review , Pref. xvi. Notice in of Boaden’s Enquiry into the Por- 
 traits of Shakspeare, 803. 
 
 Unkind Deserter of Loyal Men , 1676. 25 7. 
 
 Volney, C. F. Voyage en Syrie et en Egypte, 1783, 434. 
 
 Voltaire, Francis Maria, Arouetde, his Histoire de Charles XII. 365. His 
 Life of Peter the Great , 373. Editions of his Works , Beaumarchais, 
 778. Basle, 770. Didot’s ibid. Renouard’s, ibid. Of his Pucelle, 
 1789, 1797, 780. 
 
 Upsala, Library of the University of, copy there of Rudbeck’s Atlantica, 
 367. 
 
 Upton, Rev. John, his edition, of Spencer’s Faerie Queene , 1758, 701. 
 
 Urry, John, William, and Dr. Timothy Thomas, their edition of Chaucer , 
 1721, 681 
 
 Usher, Dr. James, Archbishop of Armagh, character of his Writings, 53. 
 56, 57- Best editions and prices of his Works, 58. 
 
 Utterson, Mr. Edward Vernon, his private impression of the Life of Vir- 
 gilius, 184. His copy of Fabian’s Chronicle, 185. Of Godfrey’s edit, 
 of the Canterbury Tales, 681. Of Lovelace’s Lucasta, 720. Of War- 
 burton’s edition of Pope’s Works, 738. His Collection of French 
 Poetry, 7/3. His copy of the first folio Shakspeare, 821. 
 
 Waddington, Mr. George, his Journal of a Visit to some parts of Ethiopia, 
 1822, 459. 
 
 Wagelinus, — his Thesaurus Rerum Suevicurum, 1756, 346. 
 
 Wakefield, A pleasant conceited Comedieof George a Greene , the Pinner of 
 Wakefield, 1599, 793. 
 
 , Edward* his Account of Ireland, Statistical and Political, 1812, 
 
 261. 
 
 , Gilbert, his Memoirs, 1792, 538. His editions of Lucretius, 
 
 637- Ditto of Pope’s Works, 1806, 737* Notes to ditto, 1794, 738. 
 
 Walchius, John George, references to his Bibliotheca Theologica Selecta, 
 1757-65, 98, 227. His praise of Bingham, 119. 
 
 Waller, Edmund, Poems, various editions of, 732, 3. 
 
 Walpole, Memoirs of Sir Robert and Horatio, 545. 
 
 Walsh, Father Peter, his Causa Valesiana Epis tolls Ternis Proelibata , 1684, 
 265. 
 
 Walsinghain, Thomas, his Ypodigma Neustriw, tyc. 151. 
 
 Walter, William, The History of Titus and Gesyppus , 663. 
 
 Walton, Dr. Brian, Bishop of Chester, his Polyglot Bible, 1657- Republi- 
 can copies of ditto, 8. 
 
 , his Lives of Donne, Wotton, Hooker, Herbert , vnd Saunder- 
 
 son, 526. 
 
 Warburton, Dr. William, Bishop of Glocester, his edition of Pope’s Works, 
 1751, 738. His edition of Shakspeare, 174 7, 800. Price paid him 
 for ditto, 801. 
 
 Ware, Sir James, illustrative references to his Irish Writers, 252, 256. His 
 other Works on Ireland, 1658, 1664, 259 
 
 Warner, Dr. Ferdinand, his History of Ireland and the Rebellion, 1763-67, 
 259. 
 
 Warrington, Rev. William, his History of Wales, 1786, 283. 
 
 Warton, Joseph, his criticism on Hall’s Satires, 60. His edition of Dry- 
 den’s Works, 1811, 735. Of Pope’s ditto, 1797, 738. His Essay on 
 the Writings and Genius of Pope, 1762, ibid. 
 
 — — , Dr. Thomas, his observation upon Fabian’s Chronicle, 185. His 
 
 Life of Sir Thomas Pope, 1 772, 526. His edition of Theocritus , 1770, 
 
PERSONS, AND THINGS. 
 
 S 97 
 
 m His censure of Skelton, 685. His edition of Milton's Poetical 
 JrorkSy 1/85, 71 6. V anous references to his History of English 
 Poetry, 65/, 662, 675, 690,696, 697, 698, 706. New edition of, 672 
 Dr. Mant’s edition of his Poems, 74 3. 
 
 Waterland’s Works, 1823, 68. 
 
 Watson, Rev. John, his Memoirs of the Earls of Warren and Surrey, 1782, 
 
 Dr * Richard > Bishop of Llandaff, his praise of Boyle’s Collection 
 
 of Lectures, 67. 
 
 Watt, Dr. Robert, various references to his Bibliotheca Britannica Pref 
 xix. 5, 199, 280, 357, 400, 417, 441, 599, 600. 
 
 Watts, Dr. Isaac, character of his works, 71- 
 
 Waverley, Annals of, notices of the, 163. 
 
 Weber, Henry, hi3 edition of Beaumont' s and Fletcher's Works . 1812 828 
 Of Ford's ditto, 1811, ibid. 
 
 Welwood, Dr. James, his edition of Whit dock's Memorials, 1709, 212. 
 
 Werburghe, St. Metrical Life of , 1521, 665. 
 
 Westminster, Matthew of, editions of his Flores Historiarum, 167. 
 
 Wetsten, John Jacob, his Greek New Testament, 1751, 42. 
 
 Wetenhall, Dr. Edward, Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh, extract from his 
 Scripture authentic, and Faith uncertain, 1686, 35. 
 
 Wethamstede, John, Hearne’s edition of his Rerum Anglicarum Scrintores 
 Veter es, 1732, 235. 1 
 
 Whalley, Rev. Peter, his editien of Ben Jonson's Works, 1756, 827. 
 
 Wharton, Rev. Henry, biographical and literary notices concerning, 120. 
 Ditto, of his death and portrait, 121. References to his Aneclia Sacra 
 1691, 155, 271. 
 
 Wheler and Spon’s Travels, 33 7- 
 
 Whetstone, George, his works, 601 . 
 
 Whitelock, Bulstrode, his Memorials of English Affairs, 1682, 211, 212. 
 
 Whitby, Dr. Daniel, his Commentary on the Scriptures, 1731, 38, 40. 
 
 White, Dr. Joseph, late Arabic Professor at Oxford, his edition of Abdolla- 
 tiph's Compendium Rerum Egypti, 1800, 450. His Egyptiaca, 1801, 
 455. 
 
 Whittaker, Dr. Thomas Dunham, his review of Warburton’s Works, 95. 
 Of Chalmers’ Caledonia, 282. 
 
 Whittingham, Mr. his impression of JEsop's Fables, 582. Of Shakspeare , 
 
 ^ 1823, 808. 1814, ibid. 
 
 Whittinton, Robert, his Grammatical Works, 570. 
 
 Whitworth, Charles, Lord, his account of Russia, 1710, 370. 
 
 Wiffen, Mr. J. H. his English Translation of Tasso, and verses from ditto, 
 
 770, 771. 
 
 Wilbraharn, Mr. Roger, his copy of the Fructus Temporum, 181. Of 
 Arnold’s Chronicle, 184. Of Slatyer’s History of Britain, 208. Of 
 Mandeville’s Travels, 416. Of Nicolay’s Voyages, 444. His copy of 
 Burchard’s Historia Arcana, 541. Of the Ortus Vocabulorum, 576. 
 Of the Promptorius Puerorum, ibid. Of Pynson’s edit, of the Can- 
 terbury Tales, 679. Of Marino’s Adamo, 721. Of the first folio 
 Shakspeare, 821. 
 
 Wilkin, Mr. his expected new edition of Sir T. Brown’s Works, 617- 
 
 Wilkins, Rev. David, concludes the Concilia Magnce Britannia et Hiber- 
 nia, 1737, 127. Excellence of his edition, 292. \ 
 
 Williams, Mrs. Helen Maria, her English Translation of Humboldt's Tra- 
 vels, 485. 
 
 , Rev. Theodore, his impression of Lewis’s MS. Life of Fisher, 
 
 Bishop of Rochester, 529. 
 
 3Q 
 
898 
 
 INDEX OF BOOKS, 
 
 * 
 
 Wilson, Rev. Bernard, his Translation of De Thou’s History of his Own 
 Time , 307- 
 
 Wilson, Robert, The Cobier’s Prophecie , 1594, 792. 
 
 , Sir Thomas, his works, 595. 
 
 , Dr. Thomas, Bishop of Sodor and Man, his English Bible , 39, 40. 
 
 , Mr. T., his collection of Houbraken’s Engravings, 509, 510. Of 
 
 Hayman’s plates to Shakspeare, 801. His sumptuous copy of Boy- 
 dell’s Shakspeare illustrated, 809. 
 
 , his Description of America , 1739, 472. 
 
 Winterbottom, Dr. Thomas Masterman, his Account of the Native Africans 
 in the neighbourhood of Sierra Leone , 1 803, 463. 
 
 Winwood, Sir Ralph, his Memorials of State Affairs , 1725, 295, 6. 
 
 Wither, George, references to lists of his works, 720. 
 
 Wodrow, Rev. Robert, his History of the Sufferings of the Church of 
 Scotland , 1721, 279. 
 
 Women, A Warning for Fair e Women, 1599,793. The Beucte and good 
 properties of W omen , 794. 
 
 Wolsey, Cardinal Thomas, New Life of, under the care of Mr. Singer, 
 521. 
 
 Wood, Anthony a, vide Bliss, his account of the Boar’s Head Carol, 667. 
 Remark on Lovelace, 720. On Carew, 723. 
 
 — reference to his History and Antiquities of the Col- 
 leges and Halls of Oxford , 1786-92, 154. His Athenae Oxonienses , 
 518. 
 
 , Robert, his Ruins of Palmyra and Baalbeck, 1753, 1757, 433. 
 
 Worcester, Florence of, editions of his Chronicle , 167. 
 
 Wordsworth, Dr. Christopher, references to his Ecclesiastical Biography , 
 112, 185. Remarks on ditto, 126. 
 
 , William, Lyrical Ballads, &c. 746. 
 
 Worlingham, vide Gosford— Sparrow. 
 
 Wormius, Olaus, his works on Danish History and Antiquities, 356. 
 
 Worral, John, his Law Catalogue , 285. 
 
 Wotton, Sir Henry, his praise of Baker’s Chronicle, 203. 
 
 Wrangliam, Rev. Francis, Archdeacon of Cleveland, Pref. xxi. His 
 Abridgment of Leslie’s Short and Easy Method, &c. 69. His edition 
 of Langhorne’s translation of Plutarch, 500. 
 
 Wright, James, his English Epitome of Dugdale’s Monasticon, 1718, 116, 
 Price of ditto, 116, 117- 
 
 — , Dr. Sale of his collection of Nashe’s Works, 599. Of Church- 
 
 yard’s Chippes and Choice, 693. Of Marlow’s Dido Queen of Car- 
 thage, 797- Of the first folio Shakspeare, 819. 
 
 Wren, Christopher and Stephen, their Parcntalia , 1750, 532. 
 
 Wyatt, Sir Thomas, editions of his Poems, 689. 
 
 Wynn, Mr. C. W. liis copy of the first folio Shakspeare, 823. 
 
 , John Huddlestone, his History of the British Dominions in North 
 
 America, 1763-73,476. 
 
 Wyntown, Andrew of, his Scottish Chronicle , 1795, 272. 
 
 Ximenes, Cardinal Francesco, his Complutensian Polyglot , 1514, 22, 6. 
 Greek New Testament to ditto, 1516-24, 42. 
 
 York Minster, Library at, copy there of Erasmus’s New Testament, on 
 vellum, 27. Missal of, 1516 ; Breviary, 1493; Manual, 1509; 44. 
 
 Young, Dr. Edward, editions of his Night Thoughts, 742. Blake’s Illus- 
 trations of, ibid. Satires, 743. Passage cited from his Complaint, 
 752. 
 
 Mr. John, his Series of Portraits of the Emperors of Turkey , 
 
 445. 
 
 Youth, The Enterlude of Youth, 1557, 794. 
 
PERSONS AND THINGS. 
 
 899 
 
 Ysabel , Donna , Queen of Spain , Chronicle of, 314. 
 
 Zanetti, Francis, his Greek Bible, 1586, 27. 
 
 Zarate, A. de, Historia del Descubrimiento y Conquista del Peru , 487- 
 Zarotus, Antonio, his edition of Virgil, 1472, 635. Ditto of Petrarch, 
 1473, 762, 3. 
 
 Zatta, Antonio, his edition of Ariosto, 1 772, 766. 
 
 Zeiner, Johan, his edition ofiEsop, 582. 
 
 Zell, Ulric, reference to his Cologne Chronicle, 1499, 12. 
 
 Zeno, Apostolo, his praise of the Ferrara Ariosto, 765. 
 
 Zeunius, Charles, his edition of Xenophon, 142. Ditto of Horace , 1788, 
 643. 
 
 Zotti, Romoaldo, his edition of Dante, 1811, 763. Price of ditto, 764. 
 Zouch, Dr. Thomas, Prebendary of Durham, his character of Richard 
 Hakluyt, 391. His biographical works, 526. His Life of Sir Philip 
 Sidney, 1808,549. 
 
In the Press, A new Edition of an 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF 
 
 RARE AND VALUABLE EDITIONS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 GREEK AND LATIN CLASSICS, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. THOMAS FROGNALL DIBDIN, 
 
 F.R.S. F.A.S. 
 
 The Fourth Edition. 
 
 The new Matter acquired by the accession of Materials during 
 the period of Sixteen Years, since the Work was last printed, will 
 extend it to TwcfJ^rge octavo volumes. 
 
 *** A few Copies will be struck off upon Large Paper to arrange with 
 the other Works of the Author; and, in consequence of the claims for 
 Large Paper Copies of the Library Companion having greatly exceeded 
 the number printed, to the consequent disappointment of such as have 
 neglected to make early application, the Publishers earnestly request those 
 Persons who wish to possess Large Paper Copies of the Introduction to 
 the Classics, to signify the same to them in writing, and to take an 
 Acknowledgment of the receipt of the Order, without which they will not 
 hold themselves engaged to supply any claims that may be made at the time 
 of Publication. ? 
 
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 June 1 , 1825 .