Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing,
Can touch him further.”
Therefore, in spite of quickly fading years, in spite of age irrevocable, and (Love’s Labours Lost, act i. sc. 1, l. 4, vol. ii. p. 97),—
“In spite of cormorant devouring Time,
The endeavour of this present breath may buy
That honour which shall bate his scythe’s keen edge,
And make us heirs of all eternity.”
A brief resumé, or recapitulation, will now place the nature of our argument more clearly in review.
When writing and its kindred arts of designing and colouring were the only means in use for the making and illustrating of books, drawings of an emblematical character were frequently executed both for the ornamenting and for the fuller explanation of various works.
From the origin of printing, books of an emblematical character, as the Bibles of the Poor and other block-books, were generally known in the civilised portions of Europe; they constituted, to a considerable degree, the illustrated literature of their age, and enjoyed wide fame and popularity.