BOOKS OF EMBLEMS.
(Vol. vii., p. 469.)
In your 185th Number, two or three Queries are proposed by the Rev. Mr. Corser in
connexion with that interesting branch of literature called Books of Emblems. To these it shall be my endeavour to reply.
First. Some years ago I made particular inquiry from the surviving relatives of the late Rev. William Beloe, whether among his manuscripts there had been found any "Treatise on Emblems," or any notices which had a bearing on the subject? They informed me that they had made search, but without success.
Second. Of Thomas Combe, mentioned by Meres in his Palladis Tamia, I have been unable to learn anything.
Third. It appears certain that Bunyan never published any Book of Emblems, whatever may have been hawked under his name; nor can I find, in the Account of his Life and Writings just published in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and London, or in any preceding edition of his works, that such a production was ever contemplated by him.
Fourth. In the extensive and valuable "English Books of Emblems" furnished (chiefly from his own library) by Mr. Corser, he mentions R. Burton's Choice Emblems, Divine and Moral; or Delights for the Ingenious, &c., 12mo. 1721. Perhaps my learned and accomplished friend may not be aware that Burton is an assumed name, placed in the title-pages of several cheap books which appeared at the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries, but which were thought to have been written by a Mr. Nathaniel Crouch, a bookseller, who sold them. I have a sixth edition of these "choice emblems," dated 1732, which was then sold for "two shillings bound." The work is merely a collection of fifty emblems, taken, without acknowledgment, from George Wither, the copper-plate engravings being poor copies from those of Depasse. To this sixth edition there is prefixed a portrait of K. Charles I., with eight pages of sympathising verses.
Mr. Corser's list of English works is very complete. I possess, however, an unpublished manuscript translation of Alciato into English verse. It is of the time of James I., and possesses much merit; but it has unfortunately been mutilated.
I also possess the following:
"Amorum Emblemata figuris æneis incisa studio Othonis Væni, Batavo-Lugdunensis. Emblemes of Love, with verses in Latin, English, and Italian, obl. 4to.: Antverpiæ, 1608."
Prefixed is an English dedication "to the most Honourable and Worthy Brothers William, Earl of Pembroke, and Philip, Earl of Montgomerie, Patrons of Learning and Chevalrie," whose coat of arms also is given.
"The Doctrine of Morality, or a View of Human Life according to the Stoic Philosophy, &c. A translation, by T. M. Gibbs, from the French of M. De Gomberville, with 103 copper plates by Daret, folio: London, 1721."
To each engraving are appended quotations from Horace, &c., with English translations: but both engravings and quotations have been pirated (without the least acknowledgment) from Van Veen's Horatia Emblemata.
It must be admitted that a comprehensive work on European Books of Emblems, illustrated with fac-similes of the various engravings, &c., is a great desideratum in modern literature. I feel highly flattered by the kind commendations which Mr. Corser has bestowed upon my two small attempts towards such a work, and by his encouraging me to proceed "to enlarge and complete" the same. Now, I do not altogether despair of enlarging it. But when my excellent friend puts forward a proposal to complete it, he should be informed that my library alone contains nearly 250 volumes strictly emblematical, and published during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. By far the greater part of these are in Latin. To carry forward a work of such magnitude to anything like completion must therefore be rather wished for than expected.
Jos. B. Yates.
West Dingle, near Liverpool.
Allow me to add the following to Mr. Corser's list:
"The Christian's Divine Amusement, consisting of Emblems and Hieroglyphicks on a great Variety of Subjects, Moral and Divine, in four books. By the late Rev. Mr. J. Jones. Embellished with near 100 beautiful emblematical cuts, 12mo. pp. 191.: London, 1764."
I know not who the Rev. Mr. J. was, but his book is the old one of Francis Quarles. The author, or rather adapter, attacks and demolishes the fable as a method of instruction, and would substitute the emblems. In remodelling Quarles, Mr. Jones makes the following alterations, or improvements:—Instead of the Latin motto under each cut, he presents us with four lines of English verse, which contain a general explanation of the emblem. The page facing the cut he divides into two parts or sections of odes and hymns suited to common psalmody, and the moral, or application, also in a poetical dress.
A prose work belonging to the class under notice is an
"Emblematical Representation of the Paradise of God; showing the Nature of Spiritual Industry, in the similitude of a Garden well ordered, dressed, and kept. London, 1779."
The author of this was a visionary Scots gardener named Alexander Clark, who had been favoured with a special manifestation of divine glory, "by which," he says, "(to my own astonishment) I was enabled to see through every profound passage of Scripture, and to spiritualise every material thing;" but he belongs to my fanatical rather
than to my emblematical shelf, and may be worth a separate Note hereafter.
Under the name of Farlie, or Fairlie, Mr. Corser mixes up the titles of two distinct books; they are now before me, and divide themselves thus:
1. "Lychnocavsia, sive Moralia Facvm Emblemata. Light's Moral Emblems. Authore Roberto Farlæo, Scoto-Britanno. 12mo.: London, Th. Cotes for M. Sparke, 1638."
Containing fifty-eight emblems in Latin and English, each with a cut, with a dedication in Latin to the Earl of Ancrum, and one in English to his Countess. There are also complimentary verses by J. Hooper, Christ. Drayton, Mr. Povey, Thos. Beedome, and Edm. Coleman.
2. "Kalendarium Humanæ Vitæ. The Kalendar of Man's Life. Authore R. F., S.-B. 12mo. London, for W. Hope, 1638."
With a Latin dedication to his patron the Earl of Ancrum. The book contains verses upon the various stages of man's life, under the heads of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter; again subdivided into moralisations upon the months, as corresponding with the periods of life, as "August, or Man's Youth," &c. This has also a variety of curious cuts, and both have engraved emblematical titles, the latter bearing on its face "G. Glover fecit."
When book-rarities were in more request, these were costly little volumes; and I shall be glad if any of your correspondents can direct me where to find any notice of Robert Fairlie, the author of two of the most interesting of the emblematical series.
J. O.