"In 1710 there was printed in London the most elegant edition that has ever appeared of these letters, which the editor, Mich. Mattaire, gravely represents as the productions of their ostensible authors."
Now this edition, though neat, has no claim to be termed most elegant, which is hardly to be reconciled with what the reviewer says in a note, p. 210., "that the text of this ed. of 1710 is of no authority, and swarms with typographical blunders."
The work on its first appearance produced great excitement, and was condemned by Pope Leo X. See Dict. des Livres Condamnés, &c., par Peignot, tom. ii. p. 218.
Many amusing anecdotes and notices are to be found in Bayle's Dict. See particularly sub nomine Erasmus. Burton, in his Anatomy of Mel. pt. i. sec. 2. Mem 3 sub 6. citing Jovius in Elogiis, says,
"Hostratus cucullatus adeo graviter ob Reuchlini librum qui inscribitur, Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum dolore simul et pudore sauciatus, et scipsum interfecerit."
See also Nouv. Diction. Historique in the account of Gratius, O.
There is also a good article on these letters in a very excellent work entitled Analectabiblion, or Extraits Critique de divers Livres rares, &c., tiréz du Cabinet du Marq. D. R. (oure). Paris, 1836. 2 tomes 8vo.
F.R.A.
Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum.—The article inquired for by H.B.C. (Vol. ii, p. 55) is probably one in the Edinburgh Review, vol. liii. p. 180., attributed to Sir William Hamilton, the distinguished Professor of Logic in the university of Edinburgh.
CH.