How much more communicative, in the matter of personal particulars, are some people, upon their book-plate, than others! What a contrast, for instance, between the inscription on Walpole's book-plate—'Mr. Horatio Walpole'—and that on one of Pepys's, on which he styles himself 'Esquire,' and states that he is of Brampton in Huntingtonshire, 'Secretary of the Admiralty of his Maty King Charles the Second,' and 'Descended of ye ancient family of Pepys of Cottenham in Cambridgeshire.'
Of course Sam Pepys was a vain man—that we all know; but the difference between the two inscriptions has more to do with the fashion of the time than with the characteristics of the two men. In enlarging on his pedigree, social position, and secretaryship to the Admiralty, Pepys was only following the custom of his day. There are many examples of similar inscriptions on book-plates contemporary with Pepys's:—'Charles Pitfeild of Hoxton, in the Parish of St. Leonards, Shoreditch, in Middlesex, Esqr., descended of the ancient family of the Pitfeilds of Symsbury in Dorsetshire, and is now married to Winifred, one of the daughters and Cœheyrs of John Adderley, of Coton in Stafordshire, Esqr.' And again:—'Sr. Henry Hunloke of Wingerworth, in Derbyshire, Bart. In ye escocheon of pretence is ye Armes of Katherine his Lady, who was sole daughter and heyre of Francis Tyrwhit of Kettleby, in Lincolnshire, Esqe, ye last of ye Eldest branch of yt great and ancient family.' Equally proud of his ancestry is 'Thomas Windham of Sale in Devonshire, Esqr., one of the Grooms of his Majesties Bed-chamber, third son of Sr Edmund Windham of Cathanger in Somersetshire, Kt., Marshall of his Majesties most Honble household,' who concludes the inscription on his book-plate by telling us that he was 'lineally descended from the antient family of the Windhams of Crown-Thorpe, in the County of Norfolk.'
But this habit of expressing pride in ancestry, though it became less frequent, certainly survived Pepys's time. Mr. J. Paul Rylands, F.S.A., has a copy of the Eikon Basilike, printed in 1649, on the title-page of which is written, 'Dan. Mercator.' Within the book is an armorial book-plate engraved in the Jacobean style, and, since it belonged to a man born in 1640, one of the early examples of that style. The owner was the eminent mathematician, Nicholas Mercator, who was born at Holstein, and afterwards settled in England, where his mathematical ability was recognised by his election as a Fellow of the Royal Society. Nicholas was proud of his ancestors' efforts in the cause of Protestantism, and also wished his English friends to be aware of them; he therefore inscribes his book-plate, 'Nicholas Mercator, a Descendant of the Kauffmans of Prague, in Bohemia, Coadjutors with Luther in the Reformation.'
On the Continent, lengthy eulogies of ancestors are common, and they commence at an early date. Here is one, which is also a sigh for the purity of nobility in ages past. It is uttered, in 1565, by John Giles Knöringen, who writes, below his shield of arms, given in colour:—
'These are the famed insignia of my sires,
Which in their proper colour you may see;
Not bribes, as is the fashion in these days,
But virtue, raised them to nobility.'
It is, however, most frequently in an enumeration of his offices or degrees that the owner of a book-plate allows himself to get wordy. Let us take, for instance, the already mentioned book-plate of Sir Edward Dering (see [pp. 31], [32]), which bears date 1630, and displays a shield of twenty coats of arms; it has a proportionately impressive description of Sir Edward's many offices—Lieutenant of Dover Castle, Vice-Chancellor, and Vice-Admiral of the Cinque Ports, etc. Sir Robert Southwell, Knight, tells us that he is 'one of the Clerkes attending His Majesty King Charles the Second in his most Honourable Privy Councell, etc.'
William Wharton, who was killed in a duel, in 1689, calls himself 'fourth son to the Right Honourable Philip Lord Wharton of Wharton, in Westmoreland, by Ann, Daughter to William Carr, of Fernihast, in Scotland, Esqr., one of the Groome (sic) of the Bedchamber to King James'; whilst Randolph Egerton, in the inscription on his book-plate, recalls the time when the unhappy Duke of Monmouth was yet a trusted officer in the royal army: 'Randolph Egerton of Betley, in Staford Shire, Esquire, Lieutenant of his Majestyes own Troop of Guard, under the comand of his Grace James Duke of Monmouth, etc.'
The book-plates of Thomas, Earl of Wentworth, contain a curiously lengthy enumeration of the offices enjoyed by that distinguished soldier and diplomatist, who, at a critical time, steered his country through a great many difficulties. The first is dated in 1698, and on it the owner describes himself as 'The Right Honourable Thomas Wentworth, Baron of Raby, and Colonell of his Maiesties owne Royall Regmt of Dragoons, 1698.' In 1703 Wentworth was sent as envoy to Berlin, and two years later was advanced to the post of ambassador. On this appointment he had a second book-plate engraved, bearing the following inscription:—'His Excellency The Rt Honble Tho. Wentworth, Lord Raby, Peer of England, Collo of her Matys Royal Regt of Dragoons, Lieut General of all her Matys Forces & her Matys Embassador Extrary to ye King of Prussia, 1705;'—size 4 × 3. On the face of it, this is foreign work, and the expression 'Peer of England' could hardly have been put on it by an English engraver.
Wentworth's later diplomatic post has been made famous by Swift's allusion to it, in reference to his being associated with Mat Prior. 'Wentworth,' says the Dean, 'is as proud as hell, and how he will bear one of Prior's mean birth on an equal character with him I know not.' Proud as hell, was he? Well, he certainly was proud of his advance in title and his many high offices, all of which he sets out in his third and last book-plate, also, I think, foreign work, dated in 1712. Here is the inscription: 'His Excellency the Right Honourable Thomas Earl of Strafford, Viscount Wentworth of Wentworth Woodhouse, and of Stainborough, Baron of Raby, Newmarch, and Oversley, Her Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the States General of ye United Provinces, and also at the Congress of Utrecht; Colonel of Her Majesty's own Royal Regiment of Dragoons, Lieutenant-General of all Her Forces; First Lord of the Admiraltry (sic) of Great Britain and Ireland; one of the Lords of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council; and Knight of the Most Noble Order of ye Garter.' On the accession of George I., an attempt was made to impeach this busy Lord, but it failed, and he retired into private life for the rest of his days. His memoirs, published a few years back by Mr. Cartwright, F.S.A., give an excellent picture of life at the time he lived.