A word or two may be allowed respecting the translations into English which are offered of the Emblem writers’ verses occurring in the quotations. An accurate rendering of the original was desirable; and, therefore, in many instances, rhymes and strictly measured lines have been abjured, and cadence trusted rather than metre; the defect of the plan, perhaps, is that cadence varies with the peculiar pitch and intonation of each person’s voice. Nevertheless, among rhymes the Oarsman’s Cry (p. 61) might find a place on Cam, or Isis, and the Wolf and the Ass (p. 54) be entitled to abide in a book of fables.

In behalf of quotations from the original, it is to be urged that, to defamiliarise the minds of the public, so much as is now the custom, from the sight of other languages than their own, is injurious to the maintenance of scholarship; and were it not so, the works quoted from are many of them not in general use, and some are of highest rarity;—it is, therefore, only simple justice to the reader to place before him the original on the very page he is reading.

The value of the work will doubtless be increased by the Appendices and the very full Index which have been added. These will enable such as are inclined more thoroughly to compare together the different parts of the work, and better to judge of it, and to pursue its subjects elsewhere.

My offering I hang up where many brighter garlands have been placed,—and where, as generations pass away, many more will be brought; it is at his shrine whose genius consecrated the English tongue to some of the highest purposes of which speech is capable. For Humanity itself he rendered his Service of Song a guidance to that which is noble as well as beautiful,—a sympathy with our nature as well as a truth for our souls. God’s benison rest upon his memory!

Knutsford,

August 10, 1869.

PAGE.
Frontispiece[ii]
Title-page[iii]
Preface[vii]
Contents[xiii]
CHAPTER I.
Emblems and their Varieties, with some Early Examples[1–29]
CHAPTER II.
Sketch of Emblem Book Literature previous to a.d. 1616[30–104]
Sect.1.General Extent of the Emblem Literature to which Shakespeare might have had Access[30–37]
”2.Emblem Works and Editions down to the end of the Fifteenth Century[38–59]
”3.Other Emblem Works and Editions previous to A.D. 1564[60–83]
i.e.1.Before Alciat’s first Emblem Work, A.D. 1522[60–68]
2.Down to Holbein, La Perriere, and Corrozet, A.D. 1543[69–75]
3.Down to Shakespeare’s birth, A.D. 1564[75–83]
Sect.4.Emblem Works and Editions from A.D. 1564 to 1616[84–104]
i.e.1.Before Shakespeare had entered fully on his Work, A.D. 1590[84–92]
2.Until he had ended the Twelfth Night in 1615[92–104]
CHAPTER III.
Shakespeare’s Attainments and Opportunities with respect to the Fine Arts[105–118]
CHAPTER IV.
The Knowledge of Emblem Books in Britain, and general Indications that Shakespeare was acquainted with them[119–155]
CHAPTER V.
Six direct References in the Pericles to Books of Emblems, some of their Devices described, and of their Mottoes quoted[156–186]
CHAPTER VI.
Classification of the Correspondencies and Parallelisms of Shakespeare with Emblem Writers[187–462]
Sect.1.Historical Emblems[188–211]
”2.Heraldic Emblems[212–240]
”3.Emblems for Mythological Characters[241–301]
”4.Emblems Illustrative of Fables[302–317]
”5.Emblems in connection with Proverbs[318–345]
”6.Emblems from Facts in Nature, and from the Properties of Animals[346–376]
”7.Emblems for Poetic Ideas[377–410]
”8.Moral and Æsthetic Emblems[411–462]
CHAPTER VII.
Miscellaneous Emblems, Recapitulation, and Conclusion[463–496]
APPENDICES.
I.
Coincidences between Shakespeare and Whitney[497–514]
II.
Subjects, Mottoes, and Sources of the Emblem Imprese[515–530]
III.
References to Passages from Shakespeare, and to the corresponding Devices of the Emblems treated of[531–542]
GENERAL INDEX[543–571]