BOOKS BURNT BY THE COMMON HANGMAN.
(Vol. viii., pp. 272. 346.)
The Histoires of Theodore Agrippa d'Aubigné were condemned, by an arrêt of the parliament of Paris, to be burnt by the common hangman. The charge against the works was, that D'Aubigné had spoken too freely of princes; and it may be added, too freely also of the Jesuits, which was probably the greatest crime. D'Aubigné said upon the occasion, that he could not be offended at the treatment given to his book, after having seen the Holy Bible ignominiously hanged upon a gibbet (for thus some fiery zealots used the Bible which had taken from the Huguenots, to show their pious hatred to all translations of that book into their native tongue), and fourscore thousand innocent persons massacred without provocation.
The Histoire of James Augustus de Thou (a Roman Catholic, though a moderate one) met with the same fate at Rome that D'Aubigné's had at Paris, and it was even debated in council whether the like sentence should not pass against it in France. D'Aubigné, however, spoke strongly in its favour, affirming that no Frenchman had ever before given such evident proofs of solid
judgment and steady application, qualities not generally allowed to be the characteristic of the nation. (Scott's Life of Theodore Agrippa d'Aubigné, p. 419.)
In 1762 the Emilie of Jean Jacques Rousseau was burnt at Geneva by the common hangman. Le Contrat Social had soon afterwards the same fate. (Biographie Universelle, article "J. J. Rousseau.")
On June 17th, 1553, nearly the whole of the edition of the De Christianismi Restitutione of Servetus, which had been seized at Lyons, was cast into the flames, and Servetus burnt in effigy at Vienne in Dauphiné. (Biographie Universelle, art. "Servetus.")
In 1538 the English Bible, printed by Grafton at Paris, was (with the exception of a few copies) burnt by the order of the Inquisition. During the reign of Henry VIII. (observes Mr. D'Israeli in Amenities of Literature, vol. iii. p. 358.), the Bishop of Durham had all the unsold copies of Tindal's Testament bought up at Antwerp and burnt. In this age of unsettled opinions, both Roman Catholic and Protestant books were burnt. In the reign of Edward VI. Roman Catholic works fed the flames.
"All red-lettered illuminated volumes were chopped in pieces with hatchets, and burned as superstitious. The works of Peter Lombard, Duns Scotus, and Thomas Aquinas, carried on biers, were tumbled into bonfires. In the reign of Mary pyramids of Protestant volumes were burnt. All the Bibles in English, and all the commentators upon the Bible in the vernacular idiom (which we are told from their number seemed almost infinite), were cast into the flames at the market-place, Oxford."—D'Israeli's Amenities of Literature, vol. ii. pp. 164, 165.
In Strype's Memorials (3rd part, 2nd ed., p. 130.) is a proclamation of Philip and Mary, "that whoever finds books of heresy and sedition, and does not forthwith burn the same, shall be executed for a rebel."
The Stationers' Company (who were granted a charter of incorporation during the reign of Philip and Mary) had power to seize, take away, and burn books which they deemed obnoxious to the state or to their own interests.
"When Elizabeth was upon the throne, political pamphlets fed the flames, and libels in the reign of James I. and his son."—D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature, "Licensers of the Press."
"In the first year of the reign of King William III., A.D. 1688, a grand auto-da-fé was performed by the University of Oxford on certain political works. Baxter's Holy Commonwealth was amongst those condemned to the flames."—D'Israeli's Amenities of Literature, vol. iii. p. 325.
Perhaps some correspondent of "N. & Q." may furnish other instances of books burnt.
L. A.