Intimately connected with Giovio’s little work, indeed often constituting parts of the same volume, were Ruscelli’s “Discorso” on the same subject, Venice, 1556; and Domenichi’s “Ragionamento,” also at Venice, in 1556. From the testimony of Sir Egerton Brydges (Res Lit.), “Ruscelli was one of the first literati of his time, and was held in esteem by princes and all ranks of people.”

Very frequently, too, in combination with Giovio’s Dialogue on Emblems, are to be found Ruscelli’s “Imprese illvstri,” Venice, 1566; or Symeoni’s “Imprese heroiche et morali,” Lyons, 1559; and “Sententiose Imprese,” Lyons, 1562.

Roville’s Lyons edition, of 1574, thus unites in one title-page Giovio, Symeoni, and Domenichi, “Dialogo Dellimprese militari et amorose, De Monsignor Giouio Vescouo di Nocera Et del S. Gabriel Symeoni Fiorentino, Con vn ragionamento di M. Lodouico Domenichi, nel medesimo soggetto.”

Taking together all the editions in Italian, French, and Spanish, of these four authors, single or combined, which I have had the opportunity of examining, there are no less than twenty-two between 1555 and 1585, besides five or six other editions named by Brunet in his Manuel du Libraire. Roville’s French edition, 4to, Lyons, 1561, is by Vasquin Philieul, “Dialogve des Devises d’Armes et d’Amovrs dv S. Pavlo Iovio, Auec vn Discours de M. Loys Dominique—et les Deuises Heroiques et Morales du Seigneur Gabriel Symeon.”

At this epoch we enter upon ground which has been skilfully upturned and cultivated by Claude Francis Menestrier, born at Lyons in 1631, and “distinguished by his various works on heraldry, decorations, public ceremonials, &c.” (Aikin’s Gen. Biog. vii. p. 41.) In his “Philosophia Imaginum,”—Philosophy of Images,—an octavo volume of 860 pages, published at Amsterdam, 1695, he gives, in ninety-four pages, a “Judicium,” i.e., a judgment respecting all authors who have written on Symbolic Art; and of those Authors whom we have named, or may be about to name, within the Period to which our Sketch extends, he mentions that he has examined the works of

A.D.
1555.[[58]]Paulus Jovius, p. 1.
1556.Ludovicus Dominicus, p. 3.
”Hieronymus Ruscellius, p. 4.
1561.Alphonsus Ulloa, ibid.
1562.Scipio Amiratus, p. 5.
1571.Alexander Farra, p. 6.
”Bartholoæmus Taëgius, p. 7.
1574.Lucas Contile, p. 9.
1577.Johannes Andreas Palatius, p. 10.
1578.Scipio Bergalius, p. 12.
1580.Franciscus Caburaccius, p. 12.
1588.Abrahamus Fransius, p. 15.
1591.Julius Cæsar Capacius, ibid.
”D. Albertus Bernardetti, p. 17.
1594.Torquatus Tassus, p. 14.
1600.Jacobus Sassus, p. 18.
1601.Andreas Chioccus, ibid.
1612.Hercules Tassus, p. 19.
”P. Horatius Montalde, p. 23.
”Johannes Baptista Personé, ib.
1620.Franciscus d’Amboise, ibid.

It may also be gathered from the “Judicium” that Menestrier had read with care what had been written on Emblems by the following authors:—

A.D.
1551.Gabriel Simeoni, p. 63.
1557.Claudius Paradinus, p. 68.
1562.Mauritius Sevus, p. 55.
1565.J. Baptista Pittonius, p. 70.
1573.Claudius Minos, p. 54.
1588.Bernardinus Percivalle, p. 64.
”Principius Fabricius, p. 76.
1600.Johannes Pinedi, p. 60.
1609.Jacobus Le Vasseur, p. 91.
1613.J. Franciscus de Villava, p. 55.

Excluding the editions before enumerated, the books of emblems which I have noted from various sources as assigned to the authors in the above lists from Menestrier, amount to from twenty-five to thirty, with the titles of which there is no occasion to trouble the reader.

Returning from this digression, Vincenzo Cartari should next be named in order of time. At Venice, in 1556, appeared his “Imagini Dei Dei degli Antichi,”—Images of the Gods of the Ancients,—4to, of above 500 pages. It contains an account of the Idols, Rites, Ceremonies, and other things appertaining to the old Religions. It was a work often reprinted, and in 1581 translated into French by Antoine du Verdier, the same who, in 1585, gave in folio a Catalogue of all who have written or translated into French up to that time.